["Two Somali reporters released on bail, two still jailed. Mogadishu (AFP) - Two Somali journalists from a major radio station have been released on bail after two months in jail but two others remain behind bars accused of inciting violence, colleagues said Wednesday.","Ex-player jailed for impersonating Chelsea player. MANCHESTER, England (AP) — A failed footballer, who lived a luxury lifestyle after pretending to be Chelsea player, has been jailed for four years.","Poland and Spain split points for 1-1 in Fed Cup. BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Agnieszka Radwanska beat Silvia Soler-Espinosa to give Poland the first point of its Fed Cup World Group playoff against Spain on Saturday, only for sister Urszula Radwanska to surrender a one-set lead and lose to Maria-Teresa Torro-Flor.","UNHCR: 'catastrophe of unspeakable proportions' in Central Africa. Bangui (Central African Republic) (AFP) - The head of the UN's refugee agency said Wednesday he had witnessed \"a humanitarian catastrophe of unspeakable proportions\" during his visit to the Central African Republic. Shocking barbarity, brutality and inhumanity have characterised this violence,\" Antonio Guterres, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, said in a statement. His statement clashed awkwardly with a speech on Wednesday by the CAR's new transitional president, Catherine Samba Panza, who vowed war against a mostly Christian anti-balaka (\"anti-machete\") militia whose recent attacks have led to a mass exodus of Muslims. \"We are going to go to war against the anti-balaka,\" she told a crowd in the town of Mbaiki, south of the capital Bangui.","Australia's first banknote fetches US$310,000. The only surviving example of Australia's first official banknote exceeded expectations when it was auctioned for Aus$334,000 ($310,000), officials said Thursday. The 10 shilling note -- one of 100 issued in 1817 by the Bank of New South Wales (now called Westpac) on the day it opened -- attracted bids from around the world, said Jim Noble of Noble Numismatics, which handled the sale. \"It will stay in Australia (but) I've no idea what the gentleman who bought it plans to do, he's a high up executive in a big organisation. Noble said the note was discovered in a private collection in Scotland in 2005, with Scots-born former New South Wales governor Lachlan Macquarie or one of his staff thought to have taken it there.","Brazil's Rousseff, Neves race for support in tight election runoff. By Brian Winter and Paulo Prada SAO PAULO/RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) - An unexpectedly competitive runoff campaign for Brazil's presidency kicked off on Monday with leftist incumbent Dilma Rousseff and her pro-business rival Aecio Neves racing to win over supporters of an ousted third-place candidate and other voters frustrated with a stagnant economy. Neves, a centrist senator who has pushed for greater trade and lower government spending but who had been widely written off until the last few days of the campaign, rode a late surge in support to a strong second place with 33. ...","Dozens die as Malaysia, Thailand, Philippines battered by storms. KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Malaysia, southern Thailand and parts of the Philippines have been battered by heavy rain and flash floods in recent days, killing dozens, officials said on Tuesday. Malaysia's worst flooding in a decade forced nearly a quarter of a million people from their homes, officials said, with the government coming under renewed fire for its perceived slow response. The National Security Council said that \"exceptionally high\" water levels had cut off rescuers from relief centers as the death toll rose to 21 across the northeast. ...","TD Bank settles Massachusetts data breach probe, to pay $625,000. By Jonathan Stempel (Reuters) - TD Bank agreed to pay $625,000 and tighten security practices to resolve a probe into a 2012 data breach that affected more than 260,000 customers, and which it was too slow to report, Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley said on Monday. Coakley said TD lost unencrypted computer server back-up tapes containing customers' personal information in March 2012 but waited until October of that year to alert her office and customers, more than 90,000 of whom were in Massachusetts. ...","Los Angeles Clippers sale to Steve Ballmer finalized: NBA. LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The sale of the Los Angeles Clippers to former Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer closed on Tuesday after a California court confirmed co-owner Shelly Sterling has the right to sell the basketball team, the NBA said. The NBA Board of Governors had previously approved the sale and Ballmer is now the Clippers Governor, the NBA said in a statement. (Reporting by Mary Milliken; Editing by Meredith Mazzilli)","Gaza ceasefire holding on second day. By Nidal al-Mughrabi and Jeffrey Heller GAZA/JERUSALEM (Reuters) - A Gaza ceasefire was holding on Wednesday and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, echoing Israel's position, linked a lifting of blockades of the devastated enclave to Hamas giving up its rocket arsenal. Israel withdrew ground forces from the Gaza Strip on Tuesday morning and started a 72-hour ceasefire with Hamas mediated by Egypt as a first step towards negotiations on a more enduring end to the month-old war. \"What we want to do is support the Palestinians and their desire to improve their lives and to be able to open crossings and get food in and reconstruct and have greater freedom,\" Kerry said. \"But that has to come with a greater responsibility towards Israel, which means giving up rockets, moving into a different plane,\" he said on the BBC's HARDtalk program.","Chinese paper calls for retaliation over Australia tycoon attack. An influential Chinese newspaper called for retaliation against Australia on Wednesday after Australian mining mogul and politician Clive Palmer described China's government as \"bastards\" who shoot their own people. The Australian government has already rebuked Palmer for his comments, and Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said she planned to contact the Chinese embassy to stress that the Australian parliament does not share Palmer's \"abusive\" views. While the Chinese government has yet to publicly comment, a prominent Chinese newspaper, the state-run Global Times tabloid, weighed into the controversy, saying Australia should be taught a lesson. \"China cannot let him off, or show petty kindness just because the Australian government has condemned him,\" the newspaper said in an editorial in its Chinese and English editions.","Explosion hits market in Nigerian city Maiduguri. BAUCHI, Nigeria (AP) — Witnesses and a security official say an explosion hit a bustling market during the morning rush hour in Nigeria's northeastern city of Maiduguri.","New Swedish government faces crisis over budget. COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — A Swedish far-right party that made strong gains in the September election says it won't vote for the minority government's budget, likely forcing the collapse of Prime Minister Stefan Lofven's minority government.","Japan shrugs off embarrassing court loss, vows resumption of Antarctic whaling. By Elaine Lies TOKYO (Reuters) - An embarrassing court ruling that halted Japan's Antarctic whaling will actually help Tokyo take whales in the name of science, a top whaling official said just a day after the prime minister vowed to press for commercial whaling. Tokyo's decades-old and disputed \"scientific whaling\" program suffered a blow in March when the International Court of Justice (ICJ), in a surprise ruling, ordered a halt to annual hunts in the Southern Ocean. Though Japan abandoned its Antarctic hunt for this year, it immediately vowed to retool its research program with an eye to resuming it as early as the 2015-2016 season, and eventually to resume commercial whaling as well. The court ruling was actually good for Japan by upholding the legal basis for whaling, said Joji Morishita, Japan's commissioner to the International Whaling Commission (IWC).","Report: Patty Mills out for 6-7 months with injury. SYDNEY (AP) — Australian media reported that NBA champion San Antonio Spurs point guard Patty Mills will be sidelined for up to seven months with a right shoulder injury.","Sudan, rebels trade accusations but press on with peace talks. Sudan and rebels traded accusations on Monday but vowed to press ahead under African Union mediation with their first peace talks in nearly a year. The United Nations has urged Khartoum and rebels from the Sudan People's Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N), who began talks in the Ethiopian capital on Thursday, to declare an immediate ceasefire so aid can reach more than one million civilians. They are at a deadlock and we couldn't move anywhere because of the intransigence of the Khartoum government,\" head of the rebel delegation, Yassir Arman, told AFP. The government denied talks have stalled and accused SPLM-N of raising issues unrelated to the two warzones of South Kordofan and Blue Nile, where the ethnic rebels have been fighting for almost three years.","Uganda probes alleged army atrocities in LRA rebel war. Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni has ordered investigations into alleged atrocities committed by the army during 20 years of war against Lords Resistance Army rebels, officials said Wednesday. Tens of thousands of people were killed and nearly two million displaced in the fight in northern Uganda between the rebels and security forces, before rebel chief Joseph Kony and key fighters shifted into neighbouring nations around 2005. \"Information has been coming up that some officers may have committed crimes, but these cases were never reported to the government,\" presidential spokesman Tamale Mirundi said. \"But now that they are being reported he (President Museveni) has directed an inquiry.\"","Lower bad loans shore up Unicredit in Q1. MILAN (AP) — Italy's largest bank, Unicredit, says lower bad loan provisions helped its net profit rise by 58 percent in the first quarter, in a further sign that the country's economy is stabilizing following years of crisis.","Halep wins 1st title of year at Doha. DOHA, Qatar (AP) — Seventh-seeded Simona Halep of Romania won her first title of the year with a 6-2, 6-3 victory over sixth-seeded Angelique Kerber of Germany in the Qatar Open final on Sunday.","Germans to help Tobago police solve 2 murders. PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad (AP) — Two police officers and a forensic pathologist from Germany have arrived in Tobago to help local authorities solve the slaying of an elderly German couple on a beach.","Canada cop killer faces 75 years in prison. A man who killed three Canadian police officers on the streets of a New Brunswick city appeared in court Monday, facing a possible 75 years in prison. Prosecutors asked for Justin Bourque, 24, to serve three consecutive life sentences -- an unprecedented penalty in Canada -- for the rampage that also wounded two officers. The shooting in Moncton, in the eastern province of New Brunswick, shocked Canada, which prides itself on being largely free of the gun violence that regularly plagues cities in the neighboring United States. It was the worst tragedy to hit the Royal Canadian Mounted Police since 2005, when four of its federal agents were killed in Alberta in the west.","Yamanaka retains WBC bantamweight title. TOKYO (AP) — Shinsuke Yamanaka of Japan has retained his WBC bantamweight title with a unanimous decision over Suriyan Sor Rungvisai of Thailand on Wednesday.","Russia's Lavrov criticizes U.S. airstrikes on Syria. UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Russia repeated its criticism of the U.S.-led airstrikes against Islamic State's positions in Syria on Friday, saying they any global action against terrorism should abide by international law and should have been agreed with its ally Damascus. \"We believe that any action taken globally, including use of force, to overcome terrorist threats should be done in accordance with international law,\" Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told reporters on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly. ...","Philippines refuses to free 2 top communist rebels. MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Philippine officials said Sunday they will not release two leaders of a violent rebel group fighting to overthrow the government, whose arrests were a major setback for the long-running insurgency.","Amnesty urges Morocco to end 'total impunity' for torture. Amnesty International on Tuesday said perpetrators of torture enjoy almost \\\\\"total impunity\\\\\" in Morocco and Western Sahara, calling for an end to the practise, while acknowledging that it had become less frequent. Amnesty singled out five countries where torture is considered a particular problem and where it believes its campaign can have the most impact, the others being Nigeria, Mexico, the Philippines and Uzbekistan. It said that, despite being explicitly criminalised since 2006 and prohibited by the new 2011 constitution, torture continues in Morocco, with perpetrators enjoying \\\\\"virtual total impunity\\\\\" and judges rarely investigating reports of torture. \\\\\"The resulting climate of impunity cancels out the dissuasive power of Morocco's anti-torture legislation,\\\\\" Amnesty said.","Former Ireland prime minister Reynolds dies aged 81. Former Irish prime minister Albert Reynolds, a central figure in the Northern Ireland peace process who helped broker the 1994 IRA ceasefire, has died aged 81, current taoiseach Enda Kenny said Thursday. Reynolds served as taoiseach twice, once in 1992 and then again in 1993-94, but had recently been suffering from the last stages of Alzheimer's disease, his son Philip revealed earlier this week. \"Albert Reynolds brought an energy and drive to the development of business and economic growth during his tenure in office as minister for industry and as minister for finance,\" he said. Kenny hailed Reynolds' contribution in working toward peace in Northern Ireland, saying he \"played an important part in bringing together differing strands of political opinion\".","Bulldogs advance to NRL grand final vs Souths. SYDNEY (AP) — Canterbury advanced to the National Rugby League grand final for the second time in three seasons after the Bulldogs beat Penrith 18-12 Saturday to book a place in the championship match next Sunday against South Sydney.","New satellite images show more than 100 objects that may be from plane: Malaysia. KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - New satellite images have revealed more than 100 objects in the southern Indian Ocean that could be debris from a Malaysian jetliner missing since March 8 with 239 people on board, Malaysia's acting transport minister said on Wednesday. Hishammuddin Hussein told a news conference that the images were captured by France-based Airbus Defence and Space on March 23. They are the fourth set of satellite images to show potential debris from Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 in a remote part of the Indian Ocean roughly 2,500 km (1,550 miles) south west of Perth. ...","View from the Shard can surprise hotel guests. LONDON (AP) — The new hotel at one London's skyscrapers offers rooms with a view — but it isn't always what guests expect.","One dead as French military plane crashes into home for disabled. One person was killed and five were injured in central France Wednesday after a military training jet crashed into a home for the disabled, authorities said. The accident involving an Alpha Jet trainer on a night flying exercise took place in the Vouvray region, near the city of Tours in the Loire valley. The pilot and student pilot parachuted to safety after making for \"a dark area that appeared to be uninhabited,\" said Colonel Cyril Duvivier, commander of the airforce base from where the plane took off. Health Minister Marisol Touraine, who travelled to Vouvray late on Wednesday, said the 63-year-old resident who was killed had been living in the home \"for several years\".","Agent: Pistorius planned travel with girlfriend. PRETORIA, South Africa (AP) — Oscar Pistorius had a heightened concern for his personal safety and was making plans to take girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp on international trips shortly before he fatally shot her, his agent testified at the double-amputee runner's murder trial Tuesday.","Syrian rebels battle al-Qaida-linked fighters. BEIRUT (AP) — Syrian rebels seized a compound held by al-Qaida-linked militants Sunday as their one-time allies used car bombs against them, some of the most serious infighting between fighters battling against the rule of President Bashar Assad.","Canucks sack coach Tortorella after one season. The Vancouver Canucks sacked coach John Tortorella on Thursday after the NHL team failed to make the playoffs in his only season behind the bench. \"Today we are making an important change in the direction of our team,\" said new Canucks president of hockey operations Trevor Linden, who added that assistant coach Mike Sullivan was also relieved of his duties. \"On behalf of the entire organization, we extend our thanks to John, Mike and their families for their commitment to the Canucks and wish them the very best,\" Linden said. Linden took over as Vancouver's president on April 9, just a day after Mike Gillis was fired as president and general manager.","Guard: 3 probes launched into boat crash off PR. SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — The U.S. Coast Guard says three separate investigations have been launched into a collision between one its cutters and a commercial fishing boat off Puerto Rico.","Leicester back in Premier League after 10 years. LEICESTER, England (AP) — Leicester ended its 10-year absence from the Premier League by securing promotion on Saturday courtesy of defeats by rival clubs.","Pakistan executes militants and bombards tribal areas. ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistan hanged two convicted militants Friday in the country's first executions in years, while warplanes and ground forces pounded insurgent hideouts in a northwest region bordering Afghanistan — part of a stepped-up response to the Taliban slaughter of scores of schoolchildren.","Germany welcomes Ukraine talks but warns of human rights abuses. BERLIN (Reuters) - The German government on Friday welcomed apparent progress in 'round table' talks in Ukraine but said international monitors had evidence of grave human rights abuses by pro-Russian groups in annexed Crimea and in the east of the country. Angela Merkel's spokesman Steffen Seibert said the German chancellor was glad that talks would continue this weekend in the east Ukrainian city of Kharkiv. But he said Berlin was very concerned by an OSCE report on the human rights situation. ...","Pentagon: media lacking patience at start of Islamic State fight. By Phil Stewart WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Pentagon on Tuesday criticized some media coverage for lacking patience at the start of a long fight against the Islamic State, cautioning that progress would take time and saying \"we cannot bomb them into obscurity\" in Syria and Iraq. Rear Admiral John Kirby, a Pentagon spokesman, declined to specify which coverage was, in his words, \"a little shrill and hyperbolic and not exactly in balance. ...","Couche-Tard adjusted profit rises as U.S. same-store sales increase. (Reuters) - Canadian convenience store and gasoline station operator Alimentation Couche-Tard reported a higher adjusted quarterly profit, helped by a jump in same-store sales in the United States. Net income fell to $145.1 million, or 25 cents per share, in the quarter ended April 27, from $146.4 million, or 26 cents per share, a year earlier. Adjusted net income rose to 22 cents per share from 20 cents. (Reporting By Tanvi Mehta in Bangalore; Editing by Don Sebastian)","Australia, N.Zealand mark 100 years since first troops left for WWI. Australia and New Zealand on Saturday marked 100 years since their first convoy of troops left for the battlefields of World War I, with thousands attending events to commemorate the \"heavy day in history\". The convoy left the Western Australian town of Albany on November 1, 1914, carrying 20,000 Australian and 8,500 New Zealand soldiers bound for Gallipoli in modern day Turkey and later the battlefields of Europe. \"It was a heavy day in our history and it led to even heavier times to come,\" Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said in remarks welcoming New Zealand leader John Key to the country. Losses in Gallipoli were hard, with the offensive claiming the lives of more than 11,000 New Zealand and Australian troops in a matter of months, although worse battles were to follow in the Great War, Key said.","Workers occupy Paris opera in protest. PARIS (AP) — Union members have occupied Paris' Opera Garnier in a protest over proposed changes to labor rules for theater workers.","Tsunami generated by major 8.0 Chile quake: Pacific warning center. SYDNEY (Reuters) - A tsunami measuring almost two meters (six feet) was generated off the northern coast of Chile on Tuesday after a massive 8.0 magnitude earthquake struck, the U.S. Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said. \"It may have been destructive along coasts near the earthquake epicenter and could also be a threat to more distant coasts. Authorities should take appropriate action in response to this possibility,\" said the Center. (Reporting by Michael Perry; Editing by Paul Tait)","Putin and Ukraine president-elect call for end to bloodshed. Moscow (AFP) - Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukraine's president-elect Petro Poroshenko met Friday and called for an end to bloodshed and violence on both sides, Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.","Hague calls Germany closest ally in EU reform. Germany is Britain's closest partner in reforming the European Union, Foreign Secretary William Hague said on Sunday ahead of talks this week between the leaders of the two countries. German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Thursday is to visit British Prime Minister David Cameron, who will be pushing his agenda for changing the way the 28-member bloc works, and repatriating powers. \"Germany is our most important partner on seeking reform in the European Union because it's Germany that has such a strong position in the eurozone, that has managed to maintain a dynamic economy itself,\" Hague told BBC television.","U.S. stands by assertion that North Korea behind Sony attack: NSC spokesman. HONOLULU (Reuters) - The United States stands by its assertion that the North Korean government was behind the massive cyberattack on Sony Pictures, a spokesman for the White House National Security Council said on Saturday.","Kenyan aid workers freed in Somalia after two years. Three Kenyan aid workers held hostage by pirates in northern Somalia for close to two years have been freed unharmed, their employer said Friday. International Aid Services (IAS) is \"overjoyed to announce that three of its staff members who were kidnapped in Somalia over 22 months ago have been released and are safe and well,\" the organisation said in a statement. Spokesman Andreas Zetterlund said Friday that the release of the three -- named as Janet Muthoni Kanga, Martin Mutisya Kioko and Abdinoor Dabaso Bor -- was \"great news\". \"Although all will undergo routine medical screenings, we believe that they are uninjured and under the circumstances, in reasonably good health,\" IAS added.","Putin tells Russian government to honor Ukraine aid deals. MOSCOW (Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin instructed his government on Wednesday to honor agreements for Russia to lend $15 billion to Ukraine and cut the price of gas it sells to its crisis-hit neighbor. Putin's order, reported by Interfax news agency, underscored his pledge at a Russia-European Union summit in Brussels on Tuesday, when asked whether Russia would review the aid package if the opposition took power in Kiev. First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov, attending a meeting with Putin, said talks would be as soon as a new Ukrainian government is formed. ...","Iran's leader urges regional unity in Afghan visit. KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — In his first visit to Afghanistan as Iran's president, Hasan Rouhani has called for regional unity while at the same time saying international forces brought \"destruction\" to Afghanistan.","Shiite rebels clash with pro-army tribesmen near Yemen capital. Fierce clashes broke out Saturday between pro-government tribesmen and Shiite Huthi rebels near the Yemeni capital, as the president vowed that authorities will not tolerate any violence. The Huthis -- also known as Ansarullah -- have advanced from their northern mountain strongholds towards the capital in a suspected attempt to expand their sphere of influence as Yemen is reorganised into six regions. Fighters from the two sides clashed, using machine guns and medium weapons, in the villages of Darwan, Bani Maymun, Al-Jaef and Al-Maamar, in the northern town of Hamdan, around 10 kilometres (six miles) from Sanaa International Airport, tribal and army sources said. Further north in Amran province, tribal and military sources said \"fierce clashes\" pitting troops against Huthi militants raged late on Friday.","Local emergency services start collecting MH17 wreckage: Dutch air inspectors. By Thomas Escritt AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Local emergency services in eastern Ukraine have begun collecting parts of the wreckage of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 from its crash site in the middle of the conflict zone, Dutch air accident investigators said on Sunday. Dutch inspectors had hoped to collect the parts themselves, following the downing of the flight on July 17 that killed 298 people, two thirds of them Dutch citizens. ...","Nobel peace prize 'an honor to children in slavery': Satyarthi. NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Indian children's rights advocate Kailash Satyarthi dedicated his Nobel Peace Prize on Friday to children in slavery. \"It's an honor to all those children still suffering in slavery, bonded labor and trafficking,\" Satyarthi told TV news channel CNN-IBN after he shared the prestigious award with Pakistani teenager Malala Yousafzai. (Reporting by Douglas Busvine; Editing by Jeremy Laurence)","Aussie Mills scores 32 to spark Spurs over Bobcats. Australian guard Patty Mills came off the San Antonio bench to score a game-high 32 points and lift the Spurs over Charlotte 104-100 in an NBA game. Mills rescued the Spurs on a night when their starters struggled to find their shooting touch. French guard Tony Parker went 3-of-13 and scored only nine points, while countryman Boris Diaw had 13 points and French reserve guard Nando de Colo added 15 points. Spurs big man Tim Duncan had 16 points and 13 rebounds but made only 6-of-13 from the floor.","Samurai collection spawns museum, touring exhibit. DALLAS (AP) — Gabriel Barbier-Mueller bought his first samurai armor about 20 years ago from an antiques dealer in Paris, sparking a fascination that helped him create one of the most significant private collections in the world related to the Japanese warriors.","France's Hollande feels backlash over Valerie dumping. Paris (France) (AFP) - French President Francois Hollande has been hit with a backlash over the manner in which he dumped former first lady Valerie Trierweiler after being caught out having a secret affair. He left the mother of his four children, Segolene Royal, for Trierweiler after an affair that biographers say was conducted in secret for years before he owned up to it. Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet, a leading light in the opposition UMP, warned Hollande that women voters would not quickly forget the dry manner in which he announced that the relationship with Trierweiler was over in a statement to AFP. Even an ally of Hollande said the president had dealt with Trierweiler ruthlessly after denying for months that he was having an affair with actress Julie Gayet.","Israel unveils tribute to gay victims of Nazis. Israel unveiled Friday a memorial in Tel Aviv to remember the gay and lesbian victims of Nazi persecution, in a ceremony attended by Germany's ambassador. Members of Tel Aviv's gay community turned out to see the stone monument, modelled on the pink triangle Nazis made homosexuals wear in concentration camps during World War II, which features inscriptions in German, Hebrew and English. \"In addition to the extermination of Europe's Jews, the Nazis committed many atrocities, in an attempt to destroy anyone who was considered different,\" Tel Aviv Mayor Ron Huldai said at the unveiling. The heart of Israel's cultural life and a bastion of secularism, Tel Aviv hosts an annual gay pride parade with relatively few objections from the country's religious community, unlike similar events in Jerusalem that have seen violence and even one stabbing.","Bank of England chief dampens rate-rise talk. Bank of England chief Mark Carney on Thursday played down speculation that British interest rates were due to rise following a shock fall in unemployment. Speaking in Switzerland ahead of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Carney told BBC's Newsnight that there was \"no immediate need to increase interest rates\". The possibility of a hike in the bank's key rate rose on Wednesday after unemployment fell to 7.1 percent, just above the 7 percent threshold that Carney set as a potential trigger for a tightening of monetary policy. But the bank chief stressed it was \"overall conditions in the labour market\" that would affect the institution's decision.","EU leaders order tougher sanctions against Russia. BRUSSELS (AP) — European Union leaders have ordered tougher sanctions against Russia because of its actions in Ukraine, asking the asked the European Investment Bank to sign no new financing agreements with Moscow.","Sony's Tokyo HQ taking greater role in Hollywood studio after furor. TOKYO/LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Sony Corp's Tokyo headquarters is changing its usual arm's-length relationship with its U.S. studio following a massive cyberattack and the controversy over the comedy \"The Interview\", with the group CEO being consulted on key decisions, company officials said. Before the devastating cyberattack, Sony Pictures Entertainment was relatively independent of the Tokyo HQ, despite the company's slogan that it is \"One Sony\" across an empire of movies, music, gadgets and even insurance. ...","After 100 gold, Schippers eases into 200 final. ZURICH (AP) — With the 100-meter gold medal secured, Dafne Schippers dominated the 200 semifinals, too, the second step in a potential sprint triple at the European Championships on Thursday.","Mickey Rourke wins exhibition bout in Moscow. MOSCOW (AP) — Hollywood actor Mickey Rourke returned to the boxing ring Friday at the age of 62, defeating a fighter less than half his age in an exhibition bout.","Al Qaeda-linked insurgents capture Iraq's second city. By Ziad al-Sinjary MOSUL Iraq (Reuters) - Sunni Islamist insurgents seized control of Iraq's second largest city of Mosul early on Tuesday in a spectacular show of strength against the Shi'ite-led government, which called on parliament to declare a state of emergency. The capture of Mosul by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) - an offshoot of al Qaeda - and its allies followed four days of fighting in the northern city and attacks in other towns. Residents said ISIL black flags and banners were flying on captured government buildings. The fall of Mosul deals a serious blow to Baghdad's efforts to fight Sunni militants who have regained ground and momentum in Iraq over the past year, pushing into Mosul last week and overrunning a military base and freeing hundreds of prisoners.","EU unity on Russia sanctions fraying despite tough talk. By Adrian Croft and Barbara Lewis BRUSSELS (Reuters) - European Union foreign ministers voiced concern on Friday at reports that Russian military vehicles had crossed into Ukraine overnight, but behind the tough talk there were signs that EU unity over sanctions against Moscow was fraying. British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said he was alarmed by reports in British papers that at least 23 Russian military vehicles had crossed the border, and warned Moscow of serious consequences if it did not withdraw any forces it had there. NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen later said there had been a \"Russian incursion\" into Ukraine, but stopped short of characterizing it as an invasion. Ministers from two of the more hawkish EU countries, Sweden and Latvia, said the EU could impose more sanctions if the Ukraine situation deteriorated or Russia used an aid convoy as a pretext for invasion.","Nolito's late goal gives Celta 1-0 win at Elche. ELCHE, Spain (AP) — Manuel \"Nolito\" Agudo scored in the 90th minute to give Celta Vigo a 1-0 win at Elche and provisionally lift the undefeated side into fourth place in the Spanish league.","Mexico launches special police force to guard economic activity. By Anahi Rama MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexico on Friday launched a scaled-back version of a new police force President Enrique Pena Nieto had vowed to create while on the campaign trail to safeguard businesses against rampant organized crime. Pena Nieto originally promised to create a 40,000-member Gendarmerie Division to take the lead in tackling violent crimes such as extortion and kidnapping, given that poorly paid security forces have been easy targets for the cartels to infiltrate and corrupt. \"If there is organized crime that could disrupt production, then the Gendarmerie will be there,\" he told a news conference on Friday.","US tells jury London imam pursued global terror. NEW YORK (AP) — The Egyptian imam of a London mosque used his influential position in the late 1990s to train and aid terrorists and used the cover of his religion to hide in plain sight, a prosecutor told jurors in his opening statement Thursday before a defense attorney promised that the defendant will explain himself during the trial.","Putin holds key to Ukraine peace but keeps world guessing. By Timothy Heritage MOSCOW (Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin took a break from his official duties to slip into a Russian Orthodox Church this week and light a candle for fighters killed in eastern Ukraine. \"I left a candle for those who died defending people in Novorossiya,\" he told reporters after emerging from the Church of the Holy Trinity on a Moscow hilltop. ...","Alibaba investment gives Tango a reason to dance. SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Tango is joining the conga line of mobile messaging services that have turned into hot commodities as more people use them to communicate and share photos, music and other content.","Islamic State training pilots in three captured jets: Syria monitor. BEIRUT (Reuters) - Iraqi pilots who have joined Islamic State in Syria are training members of the group to fly in three captured fighter jets, a group monitoring the war said on Friday, citing witnesses. The group has been flying the planes over a captured Syrian military airport in the northern Aleppo province, said Rami Abdulrahman, who runs the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. \"They have trainers, Iraqi officers who were pilots before for (former Iraqi president) Saddam Hussein,\" he said. \"People saw the flights, they went up many times from the airport. ...","Thai King continues to recover in hospital, palace says. BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thailand's King Bhumibol Adulyadej, the world's longest-reigning monarch, continues to recover in hospital following surgery to remove his gallbladder and treatment for an intestinal infection, the palace said in a statement on Monday. The health of the king, who is 87 and has been in hospital for over two months, is a subject of keen public concern. He is regarded as almost divine by many Thais and is widely seen as a unifying figure through years of political unrest. A team of doctors reported after examinations on Monday that the king's condition was improving. ...","Malaysia's tiny, strutting serama fowl gains fans. Marching imperiously with a puffed-out chest and soldier's ramrod posture, Mohamad Hatta Yahaya's tiny chicken strutted its rich yellow plumage for a stone-faced judge. \"Yes my hero, puff out your chest!\" Mohamad Hatta cried out above the din of fellow fowl-owners as his $10,000 bird pranced to victory in a \"beauty contest\" for serama chickens outside the capital Kuala Lumpur. The breed -- among the world's smallest chickens with adults weighing less than 500 grammes (17 oz) -- has been a favoured pet in its native Malaysia for decades.","Cyprus defense minister dies from brain hemorrhage. NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) — Doctors say Cyprus' defense minister has died a day after suffering a brain hemorrhage.","Image of Asia: Climbing for democracy in Hong Kong. In this photo by Kin Cheung, a hiker looks at the yellow banner reading \"I want genuine universal suffrage\" in Chinese and \"Umbrella Movement\" in English hanging from the face of Lion Rock mountain in Hong Kong. Democracy activists hung the banner on the mountain in support of the protest movement in which thousands of demonstrators have camped out on the streets of the southern Chinese financial center for nearly a month to press their demands for greater democracy.","US takes control of base in Romania. BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) — The U.S. Navy has taken control of a new missile defense base in southern Romania, one of two European land-based interceptor sites for a NATO missile shield which Russia strongly opposes.","Cue samba: Brazil's World Cup bound to be special. Like sunshine and happiness or Lennon and McCartney, football and Brazil go together, each making the other better. So the first World Cup in Brazil in 64 years is bound to be special.","Acquisitions boost profit at Canadian dairy Saputo; shares rise. (Reuters) - Saputo Inc , Canada's largest dairy producer, reported higher quarterly earnings on Tuesday, boosted by recent acquisitions. For the first quarter through June 30, net income rose to C$145.3 million ($133.3 million), or 73 Canadian cents a share, from C$136.7 million, or 69 Canadian cents, a year earlier. Revenue during the quarter jumped nearly 21 percent to C$2.6 billion, bolstered by Saputo's February acquisition of a majority control of Australia's Warrnambool Cheese and Butter Factory Company Holdings Ltd .Saputo's shares gained 1.2 percent to C$68. ...","Senegal seeks new site for Turkish embassy after protests. Senegal will seek a new site for the Turkish embassy after plans to built it on a pristine stretch of coastline in the capital Dakar sparked fierce protests from environmentalists and civil society groups, an official said on Tuesday. \"We have agreed with the Turkish government that we will find them another site in Dakar,\" Souleymane Jules Diop, an advisor to President Macky Sall, told Reuters. Luxury villas, hotels and shopping centers have sprung up along Dakar's coastal road in recent years, diminishing the public spaces used by residents to relax, walk and exercise. Hemmed in by water on three sides, Dakar's population is on track to hit five million by 2025, experts say.","Murderers wander with machetes at idyllic Philippine prison. One hundred convicts armed with machetes wander through a vast prison without walls in one of the Philippines' most beautiful islands, a unique approach to reforming criminals. Two token guards with shotguns slung on their shoulders relax in the shade nearby as the blue-shirted group of inmates chop weeds at a rice paddy at the Iwahig Prison and Penal Farm on Palawan island. Surrounded by a thick coastal mangrove forest, a mountain range and a highway, the 26,000-hectare (64,000-acre) Iwahig jail is one of the world's largest open prisons, more than two times the size of Paris. A mere 14 kilometres (nine miles) away is Puerto Princesa, a city of 250,000 people and a top tourist destination as the gateway to an island famed for stunning dive sites, a giant underground river system and beautiful beaches.","Lepchenko, Riske to meet in Tianjin quarterfinals. TIANJIN, China (AP) — Varvara Lepchenko and Alison Riske set up an all-American quarterfinal match at the Tianjin Open with straight-set wins on Wednesday.","Asian shares slump, yen gains as investors await BOJ. By Lisa Twaronite TOKYO (Reuters) - Asian stocks slumped in early trading on Tuesday as Wall Street gloom cast a shadow over the session, while caution ahead of the Bank of Japan's meeting outcome limited gains of the safe-haven yen. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was down about 0.1 percent, and Japan's Nikkei stock average shed 0.7 percent. On Monday, the Nasdaq Composite suffered its worst three-session decline since November 2011 as Internet stocks tumbled, while the S&P 500's three-day fall was its steepest since late January. The BOJ is expected to maintain its current monetary policy at a two-day meeting ending on Tuesday, and affirm its conviction that the economy is on track to meet the target of 2 percent inflation within a year or so even as this month's sales tax hike clouds the economic outlook.","Vogt wins 1st gold medal in Olympic ski jumping. KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia (AP) — Carina Vogt of Germany won women's ski jumping's first-ever Olympic gold medal Tuesday.","One dead in Somali car bomb attack. At least one person was killed and several others wounded on Saturday in a car bombing outside a hotel in Somalia's capital Mogadishu, officials said. A Somali police official, General Mohamed Yusuf Madale, told reporters the car bomb went off outside the Golden Hotel shortly after midday, \"killing at least one person and injuring another one\". He did not identify the person killed, but Somali news reports said it was a telecoms official.","Argentina, creditors willing to keep talking settlement: mediator. A court-appointed mediator overseeing settlement talks between Argentina and holdout investors said on Monday that the parties had \"indicated an intention to keep meeting.\" Daniel Pollack, a New York lawyer appointed by U.S. District Judge Thomas Griesa to act as special master in the negotiations, confirmed meeting earlier in the day with Axel Kicillof, Argentina's economy minister. The holdouts, to which Argentina has been ordered to pay $1.33 billion plus interest, are led by Elliott Management's NML Capital and Aurelius Capital Management.","Britain's Hague, Jolie to chair summit on rape in war. British Foreign Secretary William Hague and Hollywood screen idol Angelina Jolie are joining forces to co-host a high-profile summit this year focused on ending rape as a weapon of war. Hague pledged Tuesday that the four-day London gathering in June would \"be a summit like no other\" bringing together foreign ministers from 140 countries as he was awarded the 2014 Hillary Clinton prize for Women, Peace and Security. It was Jolie's film \"In the Land of Blood and Honey\" which first opened his eyes to the extent of sexual violence in conflict zones, he told the award ceremony at the prestigious Georgetown University in Washington. \"Sexual violence is often one of the first things that happens as soon as conflict or instability take hold,\" Hague said.","UN health worker dies of Ebola in Germany: hospital. BERLIN (AFP) - A UN health worker infected with Ebola has died in Germany, the hospital that had been treating him said Tuesday, in the country's first death from the virus.","Libyan PM flees country after tanker escapes rebel-held port. By Ulf Laessing TRIPOLI (Reuters) - Former Libyan Prime Minister Ali Zeidan sought refuge in Europe on Wednesday after parliament voted him out for failing to stop rebels independently exporting oil in a challenge to Libya's fragile unity. According to varying accounts by government officials, the navy or air force then fired on the vessel, although it was not clear if this happened in Libyan or international waters. He said Libya had asked Egypt and other countries to help stop the ship. The debacle underlines the impotence of the authorities in Tripoli, whose fledgling army and police force are no match for the militias and other armed groups who remain a law unto themselves three years after the fall of Muammar Gaddafi.","Armin Veh returns to coach at Stuttgart. STUTTGART, Germany (AP) — Armin Veh is returning to coach Stuttgart, the Bundesliga club he guided to the championship in 2007.","Greece jails Romanian trucker pending crash trial. THESSALONIKI, Greece (AP) — A Romanian truck driver involved in a 35-car highway pileup in northern Greece that killed five motorists and injured dozens has been remanded in prison pending trial for multiple manslaughter.","Police move against protesters as calm dissolves in Ferguson, Missouri. Police in riot gear ordered dozens of lingering demonstrators in Ferguson, Missouri, to disperse late on Tuesday and charged into the crowd to make arrests as relative calm dissolved amid protests over the police shooting death of an unarmed black teen in the St. Louis suburb. Street protests in the predominantly African-American community of 21,000 people have been punctuated by looting, vandalism and clashes between demonstrators and police every night since 18-year-old Michael Brown was killed by a white police officer.","'World's longest aircraft' unveiled in Britain. An airship-type vehicle billed by its makers as the world's longest aircraft currently in operation was unveiled in Britain on Friday. The Airlander, which was originally developed for the US military, is 300 feet (91 metres) long, according its British maker Hybrid Air Vehicles. The environmentally friendly helium-filled behemoth is designed to stay airborne for up to three weeks and can carry up to 60 tonnes, the company said.","4 wounded in blast at Bangkok protest site. BANGKOK (AP) — Authorities say at least four people have been wounded in a blast at an anti-government protest site in Thailand's capital.","Queensland beats Melbourne 36-20 in Super Rugby. MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Stand-in scrumhalf Nick Frisby made the best of a rare starting opportunity by scoring two tries for the Queensland Reds as they beat the Melbourne Rebels 36-20 in Super Rugby on Friday.","Iranian woman forgives son's killer at the gallows. The execution of an Iranian convicted of murder was halted at the very last minute in a dramatic scene this week when the mother of his victim forgave him as he stood on the gallows with the noose around his neck, according to Iranian media.","British preacher lost hands in Pakistan army experiment. British hate preacher Abu Hamza told his US terror trial Thursday that his hands were blown off during a Pakistan army explosives experiment in Lahore in 1993. The device was prepared by an Arab with the same name as an expert alleged to have taught Al-Qaeda recruits in Afghanistan in 2000-01. Mustafa Kamel Mustafa, 56, better known in Britain as Abu Hamza al-Masri has pleaded not guilty in New York to 11 kidnapping and terror counts that pre-date 9/11. He is charged over the 1998 kidnapping in Yemen of 16 Westerners, conspiracy to set up a jihad training camp in Oregon in 1999, of providing material support to Al-Qaeda, of assisting the Taliban and of sending recruits for terror training in Afghanistan.","Chiangmai Golf Classic postponed in wake of coup. The Asian Tour says organizers of the Chiangmai Golf Classic have postponed the $750,000 tournament in the wake of the military coup in Thailand.","Police file terror charges against Canadian teen. The boy, who cannot be named under laws protecting minors, is only the second person in the country ever to face such charges, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police said late Wednesday. \"He was allegedly planning to leave Canada to engage in terrorist activity abroad,\" the RCMP added. The first person convicted in Canada of seeking to join an overseas terrorist group was Mohamed Hersi, 28.","Hagel to unveil reforms for troubled US nuclear force. Pentagon chief Chuck Hagel will unveil measures Friday designed to shore up the US military's troubled nuclear force after a spate of embarrassing incidents exposed management and morale problems, officials said. \"While our nuclear arsenal remains safe, secure, and effective today, the reports tell us we must take action now in order to ensure that remains the case in the future,\" the official said. Hagel's reforms will seek to make the nuclear force a higher priority, increase funding, boost morale among the troops who maintain it and improve the way the force is managed, officials said. After announcing his plan, Hagel is due to travel to Minot Air Force Base in North Dakota, where airmen oversee intercontinental nuclear missiles and bomber aircraft.","Australian officials say should complete current underwater search for plane in 5-7 days. By Matt Siegel SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australian officials supervising the search for missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 told Reuters on Saturday that an underwater search for the black box recorder based on \"pings\" possibly from the device could be completed in five to seven days. A U.S. Navy deep-sea autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) is scouring a remote stretch of the Indian Ocean floor for signs of the flight, which disappeared from radars on March 8 with 239 people on board and is believed to have crashed in the area. The current underwater search has been narrowed to a circular area with a radius of 10 km (6.2 miles) around the location in which one of four pings believed to have come from the black box recorders was detected on April 8, officials said.","Germany coach Loew calls up newcomer Bellarabi. FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — Germany coach Joachim Loew has called up newcomer Karim Bellarabi for the upcoming European Championship qualifying matches against Poland and Ireland.","Japan's Abe: return to yen strength would lead to hollowing out, job losses. TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said on Friday if the country returns to a period of excessive yen strength it would lead to a further hollowing out of manufacturing and job losses. Abe, speaking to reporters, said now the yen was weakening the era of companies shifting jobs overseas was over. Abe also said he wanted to support low-income households with tax transfers to rural governments. (Reporting by Stanley White; Editing by Alex Richardson)","Gang-raped Indonesian woman faces public caning. BANDA ACEH, Indonesia (AP) — An official says an Indonesian woman who was gang raped by men who accused her of having extramarital sex now faces possible public caning for violating Islamic law.","US fears Islamic State group attack on Jordan. WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. is stepping up its intelligence cooperation with Jordan, one of its most stalwart Middle East allies, concerned that the Arab country could be vulnerable to the Islamic State militant group.","Maliki, Iraq's rebel-turned-PM who fought to the end. Iraq's Nuri al-Maliki, a rebel-turned-leader who rose from anonymous exile to powerful premier widely criticised as authoritarian, fought to the end for another term but lost support and ultimately his office as security collapsed. After a strong showing in April polls, the two-term premier insisted the top job should again be his, but President Fuad Masum tasked Haidar al-Abadi, a member of Maliki's Dawa party, with forming a new government instead. Maliki, a 64-year-old Shiite Arab, vowed to sue Masum, a Kurd, railed against him for allegedly violating the constitution, and ordered a massive security deployment in Baghdad. \"I announce before you today... the withdrawal of my candidacy in favour of the brother Doctor Haidar al-Abadi,\" Maliki said in a televised address on Thursday, with his successor at his side.","Pope condemns 'unacceptable' synagogue attack. VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis is condemning what he calls an \"unacceptable\" attack on a Jerusalem synagogue and is calling for Israel and the Palestinians to take \"courageous\" steps to forge peace.","Tear gas and fireworks: Brazil World Cup off to a bang. It was a day of contrasts in Brazil as the country opened the World Cup with clashes between riot police and protesters in Sao Paulo, before wild street celebrations when the \"selecao\" beat Croatia 3-1 after coming from behind. The fireworks that exploded over the mega-city after each goal for Brazil made the tear gas and clashes just up the road from Corinthians Arena seem so much more distant. After months of violent protests over the $11 billion cost of hosting the World Cup, some who watched the victory with 300 others in a Sao Paulo street bedecked in yellow and green banners voiced hope such victories could tame the street rage.","Argentina factory blast injures more than 60. BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — Authorities say an explosion at a chemical factory in Argentina has injured more than 60 people.","Prudent on talks, Turkish Cypriots say gas find could be obstacle. By Marine Pennetier PARIS (Reuters) - Turkish Cyprus's chief negotiator played down on Wednesday the prospect of a quick solution in peace talks with his Greek rivals, warning that the discovery of natural gas in the region was possibly more of an obstacle than of help. Greek and Turkish Cypriots re-launched peace talks in February, the latest of many attempts to heal the wounds of a conflict that saw Turkey invade in 1974 after a Greece-inspired coup, followed by the eastern Mediterranean island's division between its two communities. U.S. Vice President Joe Biden said in a landmark visit to Cyprus on May 22 that the rival leaders had agreed to speed up the slow-moving talks, restarted after a two-year hiatus, to patch up one of Europe's most intractable rifts. But speaking to reporters in Paris, Turkish Cyprus' chief negotiator Kudret Ozersay said the next phase of talks was uncertain, the first time either side has warned of possible trouble ahead since talks were restarted in February.","Thousands of Israelis rally for abducted youths. TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Tens of thousands of Israelis gathered in a central Tel Aviv square on Sunday night to draw attention to the plight of three Israeli teenagers who were abducted in the West Bank earlier this month.","Israeli official confirms Israel's acceptance of Egyptian-brokered cease-fire in Gaza war. JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli official confirms Israel's acceptance of Egyptian-brokered cease-fire in Gaza war.","Syrian refugee set herself alight in Lebanon. BEIRUT (AP) — Lebanese police say a Syrian woman has been hospitalized after setting herself on fire to protest difficult living conditions for refugees in Lebanon.","Anelka gets five-match ban for 'quenelle'. Nicolas Anelka was banned for five matches on Thursday for his controversial 'quenelle' goal celebration, a gesture which was widely condemned as anti-Semitic. The West Bromwich Albion forward was also ordered to complete a \"compulsory education course\" although he does have right of appeal. Anelka made the 'quenelle', a gesture condemned in France as anti-Semitic, after scoring the first of his two goals in a 3-3 Premier League draw against West Ham at Upton Park on December 28.","West seeks to isolate Russia over Ukraine dispute. THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — Seeking to isolate Russia, President Barack Obama and Western and Asian allies moved to indefinitely cut Moscow out of a major international coalition on Monday, including canceling an economic summit President Vladimir Putin planned to host this summer.","Injured Kagawa to sit out Brazil friendly. NIIGATA, Japan (AP) — Shinji Kagawa will not travel to Singapore for Japan's friendly against Brazil after showing symptoms of a concussion, the Japan Football Association said following Friday's 1-0 win over Jamaica.","Czech deadly liquor makers get life in prison. PRAGUE (AP) — A court has sentenced 10 men up to life in prison for being responsible for a 2012 wave of methanol poisoning in the Czech Republic that killed dozens of people.","Danish film director Gabriel Axel dies at 95. COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — Gabriel Axel, director of the film \"Babette's Feast\" which made him the first Dane to win an Oscar for best foreign film, has died. He was 95.","Ukraine's Tymoshenko says carry on with protests. Ukrainian opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko urged President Viktor Yanukovich's opponents on Saturday not to abandon their protests in central Kiev even though parliament has voted to oust him. In an emotional speech to thousands of protesters in Kiev's Independence Square after she was carried on to a stage in a wheelchair, she said: \"You have no right to leave the Maidan (square)... Don't stop yet.\" Tymoshenko, a former prime minister, was released earlier on Saturday from the hospital where she had been held under prison guard for much of the time since she was convicted in 2011 on charges of abuse of office.","Asian stocks mostly higher, Europe muted. KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — European stocks were muted but Asian markets mostly gained Friday after China's inflation was steady in January, leaving its government room to stimulate the economy if a slowdown worsens.","North Korea to hold sea border live-fire drill. North Korea readied a live-fire drill near its maritime border with South Korea on Tuesday -- one month after a similar exercise triggered the exchange of hundreds of artillery shells across the disputed boundary. \"The North notified us there would be live-fire drills today north of the (border) near Yeonpyeong and Baengnyeong islands,\" a defence ministry spokesman told AFP. North Korea carried out a similar drill on March 31 during which a number of shells dropped into South Korean territorial waters. The South responded, and the two rivals traded hundreds of rounds of live artillery fire, forcing South Korean islanders to take shelter.","Brazilian fans throw rocks, bottles at team's bus. SAO PAULO (AP) — One of Brazil's most successful clubs is facing harsh criticism from supporters after enduring one of its worst losses ever, prompting some fans to throw rocks and bottles at the bus carrying its players.","Third-placed Silva endorses Neves in Brazil election runoff. SAO PAULO (Reuters) - The third-placed candidate in Brazil's presidential election, environmentalist Marina Silva, announced on Sunday that she would endorse pro-business candidate Aecio Neves in the Oct. 26 runoff against leftist incumbent Dilma Rousseff. \"In view of Aecio Neves' commitments, I declare that I will vote for and support his candidacy,\" Silva said at an event in Sao Paulo. (Reporting by Eduardo Simoes; Writing by Asher Levine; Editing by Robin Pomeroy)","PSV Eindhoven advances to last 32 of Europa League. ESTORIL, Portugal (AP) — PSV Eindhoven advanced to the knockout stage of the Europa League on Friday after drawing 3-3 at Estoril in a Group E game that was abandoned at halftime on Thursday because of heavy rain.","Video shows suicide bomber who killed 16 in Egypt. CAIRO (AP) — An al-Qaida inspired group in Egypt posted a video online Thursday showing a suicide bomber attacking a security headquarters in the Nile Delta city of Mansoura, an assault that killed 16 people in December.","Shooting erupts at South Africa street protest. JOHANNESBURG (AP) — South African police say some people were injured when shooting broke out during a protest near Cullinan, a town known for diamond mining.","Red Bull: New F1 engine rules fail to achieve aims. SAKHIR, Bahrain (AP) — Red Bull master designer Adrian Newey has mocked Formula One's new engine rules, claiming they have produced slower cars without achieving the intended green goals.","French court rules to end care for comatose man. PARIS (AP) — France's highest administrative body says doctors can stop feeding a man left comatose after a car accident six years ago, saying the man had made it clear beforehand that he did not want to be kept in a vegetative state.","Turkish security breach exposes Erdogan vulnerability to ex-ally. By Ralph Boulton ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkey's spymaster discusses possible military intervention in Syria with army and civilian chiefs, and days later it all appears on the Internet. This breach appears to highlight a shocking truth for Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan: that Turkey can no longer keep even top-level security planning secret, despite his purge of thousands of officials to root out a covert network of enemies he accuses of sabotaging the state. Erdogan was out of public action on Friday, resting his voice strained by campaigning for local elections this weekend - the first in a string that will decide the future of a man who has reformed Turkey fundamentally but is now accused of authoritarian and divisive tendencies. Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, in whose office the security meeting took place, said \"everyone and everything within the Foreign Ministry will be investigated with utmost scrutiny\" - a measure of the alarm stirred by the tape and fears of others that might follow.","2 arrested, 22 dead in India building collapses. NEW DELHI (AP) — Police in southern India detained two construction company directors Sunday as rescuers using gas cutters and shovels searched for dozens of workers believed buried in the rubble of a building that collapsed during monsoon rains. It was one of two weekend building collapses that killed at least 22 people.","Finland, Russia play for women's hockey 5th place. SOCHI, Russia (AP) — Finland goalie Noora Raty has one more game in her Olympic career, then she will say goodbye to women's hockey's biggest event.","Libya violence kills 643 people in 2013. Violence in Libya killed 643 people last year, amid a sharp rise in crime, according to a parliamentary report that laments a lack of effective policing in the increasingly lawless North African country. Excerpts of a report by the internal affairs committee of the General National Congress did not give comparative figures for deaths in 2012 nor data on crimes committed. Since a NATO-backed uprising ousted and killed Moamer Kadhafi in 2011, Libya's authorities have struggled in vain to contain lawlessness, much of it perpetrated by former militias who fought to overthrow the long-time dictator. The eastern city of Benghazi, cradle of the 2011 uprising, has seen numerous assassinations of security personnel and judges, as well as a jihadist attack in 2012 against the US consulate that killed ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans.","Italy captain Buffon: We made a bad impression. MILAN (AP) — Italy captain Gianluigi Buffon admitted the Azzurri \"made a bad impression\" at the World Cup as the players returned home.","French official: Key week for Ebola fight in Mali. PARIS (AP) — The French president's point man on Ebola says this is a \"decisive week\" for Mali in its efforts to block the spread of the virus.","British judge says Pakistani man can sue over torture claim. London (AFP) - A British judge on Wednesday gave the go-ahead for a Pakistani man to take Britain to court over his alleged unlawful detention and torture by UK and US forces in Iraq and Afghanistan, his lawyers said.","Italian migrant rescue includes 100 children. MILAN (AP) — The Italian Navy has rescued nearly 500 migrants, including 100 children, in an all-night operation.","Rugby Union - New Zealand retain Rugby Championship. - New Zealand defeated Argentina 34-13 Saturday after leading by 14 points at half-time to clinch a third consecutive Rugby Championship title.","Malaysia police: Jet mystery may never be solved. KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Malaysia's national police chief has warned that the investigation into what happened to Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 may take a long time and may never determine the cause of the tragedy.","Bayern set to sign Xabi Alonso from Real Madrid. MUNICH (AP) — A Bayern Munich official says the Bundesliga champions are set to sign midfielder Xabi Alonso from Real Madrid.","Heavy gunfire heard in north Nigerian city hit by insurgency. By Lanre Ola MAIDUGURI, Nigeria (Reuters) - Heavy gunfire raged for two hours in Nigeria's northeastern city of Maiduguri on Friday morning, residents said, and explosions were heard at the Giwa barracks, where the army has detained hundreds of Islamist insurgent suspects. Al Qaeda-linked Boko Haram has killed thousands in an almost five-year-long insurgency aimed at carving out an Islamic state in the religiously diverse country of about 170 million people. \"The sound of heavy gunfire and what sounds like RPGs (rocket propelled grenades) began at around 7:15 a.m. and it is still going,\" a Reuters witness said. Boko Haram is the biggest security threat in Africa's top oil exporter and the continent's second biggest economy.","Chelsea cruises past Schalke 5-0. GELSENKIRCHEN, Germany (AP) — Chelsea crushed Schalke 5-0 on Tuesday to seal a place in the knockout stages of the Champions League with a dominant performance by midfielder Cesc Fabregas.","Former UK PM Blair offered to advise Murdoch over phone-hacking. Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair offered to act as an unofficial adviser to Rupert Murdoch during his media empire's phone-hacking scandal, suggesting the firm follow steps he took to address Iraq War anger, a London court heard on Wednesday. Rebekah Brooks, the ex-boss of Murdoch's British newspapers, wrote an email to Murdoch's son James detailing advice Blair had given her during an hour-long phone call in July 2011 at the height of a furor over phone-hacking allegations at the media moguls' News of the World tabloid. \"He (Blair) is available to you, KRM and me as an unofficial adviser but needs to be between us,\" said the email from Brooks to James Murdoch who at the time ran News Corp. operations in Britain.","BAE Systems announces profit slump on US hit. BAE Systems net profit slumped 82 percent last year owing to a huge one-off charge linked to a reduction in US government spending, the defence giant announced on Thursday. Profit after tax tumbled to £168 million in 2013 compared with £948 million a year earlier, BAE said in a statement, adding that it expected a further drop in earnings during 2014. \"Following last year's non-recurring benefit from the Salam price escalation settlement, together with continuing US budget pressures, the group's reported earnings per share is expected to reduce by approximately 5 to 10 percent compared to 2013,\" BAE said.","Survivors tell of terror after China market attack. URUMQI, China (AP) — Mrs. Zhang had just bought her morning fruit and vegetables when an explosive tossed from one of two speeding SUVs slammed her to the ground.","Pacific island states pushed aside in race for UN funds: Kiribati. By Stian Reklev ULAN BATOR (Reuters) - Tiny Pacific island nations, among those hardest hit by climate change, are being outmuscled by larger states in the race to get U.N. funds earmarked for climate change adaptation, Kiribati's agriculture minister said on Wednesday. At a meeting in the Mongolian capital Ulan Bator where land-locked developing countries and small island states debated how to ensure future food security amid hotter weather and rising sea-levels, Elisala Pita slammed the U.N.'s funding mechanisms. The low-lying South Pacific island nation of Kiribati has an average height of 2 m. (6-1/2 feet) above sea level, making it one of the countries most vulnerable to rising waters and other climate change effects.","McIlroy overcomes double bogey to shoot 66 at PGA. LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Rory McIlroy has opened the PGA Championship with a 5-under 66, living up to the hype as a big favorite to win the final major of the year.","Enel Green Power to spend $60 mln to raise Buffalo Dunes stake. Italy's biggest green energy company Enel Green Power said on Monday it had agreed to pay $60 million to take its stake in U.S. wind farm Buffalo Dunes to 75 percent. In a statement Enel Green Power, which is controlled by Italy's biggest utility Enel, said its North America unit had signed an agreement with GE Capital to buy a further 26 percent stake in the company that runs the U.S. wind farm.","Daft Punk's 'Random Access Memories' wins album of the year at Grammy Awards. LOS ANGELES, Calif. - Daft Punk has won the top honour at Grammy Awards, taking album of the year for \"Random Access Memories.\"","Hamas says Israel killed three top Gaza commanders. An Israeli air strike killed three senior Hamas military commanders in the Gaza Strip on Thursday, the Islamist group said, the clearest sign yet Israel is focusing its assault on those leading attacks from the Palestinian enclave. The Israeli military had no immediate comment on what would constitute the killing of the most senior Hamas men since it launched its offensive on Gaza six week ago with the declared aim of curbing rocket fire into its territory. Hamas, which dominates the Gaza Strip, named the men as Mohammed Abu Shammala, Raed al-Attar and Mohammed Barhoum and said they were killed in a bombing of a house in the southern town of Rafah.","Syria jihadi group captures town near Iraq border. BEIRUT (AP) — A powerful truck bomb exploded on Friday in a government-held village in central Syria, killing at least 34 civilians and wounding more than 50, as an al-Qaida breakaway group captured a major town to the east, near the Iraqi border, activists said.","Obama to Putin: U.S. ready to 'impose additional costs' for Ukraine. President Barack Obama told Russian President Vladimir Putin in a phone call on Sunday that the United States rejected the results of a referendum in Ukraine's Crimea region and warned that Washington was ready to impose sanctions on Moscow over the crisis. \"He (Obama) emphasized that Russia's actions were in violation of Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity and that, in coordination with our European partners, we are prepared to impose additional costs on Russia for its actions,\" the White House said in a statement. Obama told Putin the crisis could still be resolved diplomatically, but said the Russian military would need to first stop its \"incursions\" into Ukraine, the White House said.","As U.S. lawmakers vote on arming Syrian rebels, big questions remain. By Patricia Zengerle and Richard Cowan WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. House of Representatives votes on Wednesday on legislation to train and arm moderate Syrian rebels, but questions remain over whether it will give them the advanced weapons they say they need to defeat Islamic State militants. The vote is a test of support within President Barack Obama's own party for his stepped-up campaign to \"degrade and destroy\" Islamic State fighters who have seized a third of both Iraq and Syria, declared war on the West and seek to establish a caliphate in the heart of the Middle East. ...","Netanyahu urges U.S. not to work with Iran to stabilize Iraq. By Will Dunham WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday the United States should try to weaken both Iran and the Sunni Muslim insurgents driving toward Baghdad, urging the Obama administration not to work with Tehran to help stabilize Iraq. \"What you're seeing in the Middle East today in Iraq and in Syria is the stark hatreds between radical Shi'ites, in this case led by Iran, and radical Sunnis led by al Qaeda and ISIS and others,\" Netanyahu told the NBC program \"Meet the Press,\" referring to the group Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. Weaken both,\" Netanyahu added. Netanyahu, known for a strained relationship with U.S. President Barack Obama, has described as a \"historic mistake\" the interim agreement that the United States and other world powers reached with Iran in November on curbing some aspects of its nuclear program in return for a limited easing of sanctions imposed on Tehran.","Romain Grosjean hit with 20-place grid penalty. ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Romain Grosjean has been hit with a 20-place grid penalty at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix for changing elements of his power unit, although the Lotus driver's punishment could be changed to a time penalty.","Air Berlin slumps to 2013 loss. FRANKFURT (Reuters) - German airline Air Berlin reported late on Sunday that it had slumped to a 2013 loss, citing an unexpectedly sluggish summer season due to high temperatures in central Europe and a traditionally difficult winter period. It said it would publish full financial results for 2013 on April 30. (Reporting by Maria Sheahan; editing by Andrew Roche)","At least nine dead in Pakistan mosque collapse. At least nine worshippers were killed when the roof of a mosque collapsed in the eastern Pakistani city of Lahore on Tuesday and an unknown number are still buried under rubble, officials said. Recent monsoon rains that have caused deadly flooding in Pakistan's Kashmir region and Punjab province may have contributed to the collapse, Punjab food minister Bilal Yasin told AFP. \"The bodies of at least nine worshippers have been pulled out from the rubble of the roof, while an unknown number of people are still buried,\" rescue official Jam Sajjad said. Local government official Usman Ahmed confirmed the roof collapse and toll.","3-month sentence for Japan-Hawaii flight assault. HONOLULU (AP) — A Japanese man who pleaded guilty to assaulting a flight attendant while flying to Hawaii for his honeymoon received a three-month sentence Tuesday in U.S. District Court.","Standard Chartered buys chunk of Zambia power firm. Standard Chartered private equity arm on Tuesday said it acquired a $57-million stake in Zambia's Copperbelt Energy Corporation, a vote of confidence in Africa's growing power sector. The investment, the first of its kind for Standard Chartered's Private Equity Africa unit, gives the firm a 25.8 percent controlling stake. Copperbelt Energy Corporation distributes power to mines operating on the Copperbelt, a mineral-rich region in Zambia.","India opposition ends parliament standoff over minister's speech. NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India's parliament returned to business on Monday after the opposition dropped its demand for the sacking of a government minister for an alleged hate speech, raising hopes that lawmakers will move forward with reform legislation. The upper house of parliament - where the opposition commands a majority - has been paralyzed for nearly a week after junior food processing minister Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti made derogatory remarks about non-Hindus at a campaign rally. ...","Thai coup chief: elections could occur in 1 year. BANGKOK (AP) — The head of the military junta that took control of Thailand in a coup last week said Friday that new elections may not occur for more than a year because peace and reforms must be achieved first.","China meat scandal spreads to Japan in Chicken McNuggets. A scandal involving expired meat sold by a China unit of US food supplier OSI Group spread to Japan Tuesday, as McDonald's confirmed that the now shut factory provided Chicken McNuggets to its restaurants. Shanghai authorities on Sunday shut an OSI plant -- a supplier to McDonald's and KFC in China -- for mixing out-of-date meat with fresh product, re-labelling expired goods and other quality problems following an investigative report by a local television station.","Spanish judge extends detention of ill British boy's parents. Madrid (AFP) - A Madrid judge on Monday ordered the parents of an ill British boy to be detained for another 72 hours, following their arrest for having removed their son from hospital without medical consent.","Hoax suspect arrested after Greek earthquakes. ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Police have arrested a 44-year-old man in southern Greece for allegedly posing as an official from the country's main seismological institute, following powerful earthquakes on the western island of Kefalonia.","Traffic to Gmail from China cut, regulators suspected. BEIJING (AP) — Connections to Google Inc.'s popular email service have been blocked in China amid efforts by the government to limit access to the company's services.","Putin -- not so easy to isolate. Vladimir Putin is proving a hard man to snub. US-orchestrated efforts to isolate Russia over the Ukraine crisis saw Moscow ejected from the G8 and the summit shaved to a G7 in Brussels starting Wednesday. But when world leaders gather in France Friday to honour soldiers who waded ashore under Nazi fire on D-Day, Putin will be conspicuous by his presence. And leaders of the key European triumvirate of France, Britain and Germany will not be fighting Putin on the beaches -– they will be meeting him one-on-one.","Nyman earns final spot on US downhill squad. KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia (AP) — Austria and the United States completed their squads for the Olympic men's downhill.","Oops: College exams already had all the answers. VIENNA (AP) — Students in Austria sitting down to take university entrance exams this week found themselves with a guaranteed pass — at least for a minute or two. The answers were already filled in.","Pro-Russian rebels free 4 OSCE observers. MOSCOW (AP) — Pro-Russian insurgents on Saturday released a second team of observers from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe who had been held captive since the end of May, the organization said.","Pussy Riot supports US protesters. MADISON, Wisconsin (AP) — Members of the Russian punk band Pussy Riot are calling on Wisconsin Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen to dismiss cases against protesters arrested for singing in the Capitol building.","AP video journalist Simone Camilli killed in Gaza. BEIRUT (AP) — Simone Camilli was a consummate storyteller — a passionate, talented newsman with an eye for detail and the ability to convey events with powerful video images that touched people around the world.","Top Shiite cleric calls for new government in Iraq. BAGHDAD (AP) — The spiritual leader of Iraq's Shiite majority called for a new, \"effective\" government Friday, increasing pressure on the country's prime minister as an offensive by Sunni militants rages on.","Swiss minister says EU threats over immigration overblown. By Caroline Copley ZURICH (Reuters) - Switzerland's defense minister said it was \"unthinkable\" that his country's accords with the European Union would be terminated as result of a referendum to curb immigration, saying threats of retaliation by the bloc were overblown. Swiss voters this month narrowly backed a proposal to curtail immigration, a move that could violate a free movement of citizens pact with the 28-member bloc that came into force in 2002. The treaty is part of a package of seven accords that stand or fall together and cover economic and technological cooperation, public procurement, and a host of other areas European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso has warned the vote will have \"serious consequences\" for ties with the EU, which has already postponed talks with the Swiss on multibillion-dollar research and educational schemes. \"The EU and Switzerland both have an interest in coming up with sensible solutions,\" Ueli Maurer, a member of the right-wing Swiss People's Party (SVP) that spearheaded the proposal, told the Schweiz am Sonntag newspaper.","4,000 killed in Ukraine conflict, president seeks to 'unite' country. More than 4,000 people have been killed in fighting in eastern Ukraine between the army and pro-Russian separatists, the UN said Friday, as the Ukrainian president took steps to \"unite\" the country after elections. The United Nations said in over six months there have been 4,035 deaths, more than 300 in the last 10 days alone, showing the fragility of a ceasefire reached in September. The new UN report comes after legislative polls last weekend that elected a pro-Western government and led Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko on Friday to back rival Arseniy Yatsenyuk as future premier in a bid for unity. Poroshenko said his choice was dictated by the \"need for the country to unite\" in order to implement reforms and push Ukraine along a path towards European integration.","Ukraine's forces attack rebel positions; Putin growls. Ukrainian forces struck at pro-Russian separatist bases in eastern regions with air and artillery strikes on Tuesday after President Petro Poroshenko announced he would not renew a ceasefire but go on the offensive to rid Ukraine of \"parasites\". His decision quickly drew fire from Russian President Vladimir Putin who said Poroshenko had disregarded the advice of himself and German and French leaders. Putin said Poroshenko would now have to bear full responsibility for veering off the road to peace. Repeating a threat he made in March when Russia annexed Crimea, Putin said Moscow would continue to defend the interests of ethnic Russians abroad - up to 3 million of whom live in the east of Ukraine, which has been in separatist ferment since April.","Injured Federer withdraws from Tour Final showdown. London (AFP) - Roger Federer pulled out of his ATP Tour Finals showdown with Novak Djokovic just before the final was due to start Sunday because of a back injury, casting doubt on his fitness ahead of the Davis Cup final.","Table-topping Sharks edge upstart Rebels in Melbourne. (Reuters) - The Sharks held off the Melbourne Rebels 22-16 in a tight Super Rugby match on Friday to remain top of the standings and become the first South African side to win in Australia or New Zealand this year. The Durban-based team, who beat the Rebels 64-7 last year, were forced to rely on a single second-half try from winger JP Pietersen and 17 points from the boot of flyhalf Frans Steyn to record their eighth win of the year. The try came in the 67th minute when the Sharks won a turnover deep in their own half and fed the ball down the backline for the Springbok flyer to touch down.","Oil rises on industry data showing stockpile fall. The price of oil rose Wednesday after industry data showed a decline in U.S. supplies.","French tourist killed in Arizona plane crash named. PAGE, Arizona (AP) — Authorities have released the identity of a French tourist who died from injuries she suffered in a northern Arizona plane crash.","EU to fund court for Kosovo organ harvesting probe. PRISTINA, Kosovo (AP) — A senior European Union official says the 28-member bloc plans to set up an international tribunal in the Netherlands that would focus exclusively on crimes allegedly committed by Kosovo's ethnic Albanian rebels during their war with Serbia in 1998-1999.","Ukraine: Russian tank column enters southeast. KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — A column of Russian tanks and armored vehicles entered southeastern Ukraine around dawn Monday, a Ukrainian official said — a move that brings the conflict to an area that has so far escaped the intense fighting of recent weeks.","Nepal ends landslide search, counts 156 as dead. KATMANDU, Nepal (AP) — Nepal has ended the search for bodies buried in a massive landslide over the weekend after recovering few of the 156 victims.","U.S. court refuses to hold Occidental liable in Colombia bombing. By Jonathan Stempel (Reuters) - A divided federal appeals court on Wednesday refused to hold Occidental Petroleum Corp and a security contractor legally responsible for alleged complicity in a 1998 military bombing of a Colombian village that killed 17 people, including six children. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Pasadena, California said victims' families could not pursue claims against Occidental and Florida-based AirScan Inc under two U.S. human rights laws, the Alien Tort Statute (ATS) and Torture Victims Protection Act. ...","Ethiopian refugee wants UK action over hacking. LONDON (AP) — An Ethiopian refugee is calling on British authorities to open an investigation after experts found traces of sophisticated surveillance software on his computer.","Force scrumhalf Mathewson receives 1-week ban. WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Western Force and former All Blacks scrumhalf Alby Mathewson has been suspended for one week after pleading guilty to stamping during his team's 18-15 upset win over the Chiefs in the latest round of Super Rugby.","Cricket-Steyn, Du Plessis set up convincing win over Australia. (adds details, quotes) HARARE, Sept 6 (Reuters) - A superb spell of reverse-swing bowling from Dale Steyn and another fluent innings from Faf du Plessis helped South Africa cruise to a six-wicket victory over Australia in the final of the triangular series at the Harare Sports Club on Saturday. Steyn took key wickets in recording figures of 4-34 as the Proteas limited Australia to 217-9 in their 50 overs. South Africa always looked in control of their reply as Du Plessis finished with 96, just missing out on his fourth century in five matches and third in the series against Australia.","Ukraine seeks way out of deadly crisis. Kiev (AFP) - Ukraine's President Viktor Yanukovych met with the opposition Thursday for crunch talks in search of a way out of a crisis that has turned parts of Kiev into a battle zone, as pressure builds on him from the EU.","Lebanese lawmakers vote, fail to elect president. BEIRUT (AP) — Lebanon's Parliament has held a round of voting but failed to elect a new head of state in its first try before President Michel Suleiman's six-year term expires on May 25.","Battle of generations in women's Olympic curling. SOCHI, Russia (AP) — The women's Olympic curling tournament is shaping up as more than just a fight for gold. It's also a battle of the generations.","Two military pilots safely eject from training plane before Saskatchewan crash. MOOSE JAW, Sask. - Two Royal Canadian Air Force officers suffered minor injuries Friday when they ejected from their plane before it crashed into a field near the 15 Wing base near Moose Jaw, Sask.","Lawmakers in troubled northeast Nigeria state impeach governor. Lagos (AFP) - The governor of Nigeria's northeast Adamawa state, one of three areas under a state of emergency since last year amid Boko Haram violence, was impeached on Tuesday over corruption charges.","Quake shakes Mexico's Gulf coast. MEXICO CITY (AP) — A strong earthquake has shaken eastern Mexico, but there are no immediate reports of damage or injury.","Archaeologists dig at ancient site near Syrian war. GAZIANTEP, Turkey (AP) — Archaeology and war don't usually mix, yet that's been the case for years at Karkemish, an ancient city on the Turkey-Syria border where an excavation team is boasting of its latest treasures found just meters (yards) from Islamic State-controlled territory.","Erdogan to unveil Turkey's controversial new presidential palace. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is on Wednesday set to unveil his new presidential palace on the outskirts of Ankara, denounced by ecologists as an environmental blight and by the opposition as new evidence of his autocratic tendencies. Erdogan will host his first official event at the new palace, a reception marking Turkey's annual republic day which celebrates the foundation of modern Turkey in 1923 out of the ruins of the Ottoman Empire. The Cankaya has been the seat of the Turkish president ever since the modern republic's founder Mustafa Kemal Ataturk became president and for many has been a symbol of Turkey's modern history as a progressive secular state.","Bangladesh sentences war collaborator to death. DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) — A special tribunal in Bangladesh sentenced a senior Islamist party leader to death Tuesday after convicting him of leading a militia that committed mass killings and rape during the country's 1971 independence war against Pakistan.","Obama 'strongly condemns' killing of British citizen by Islamic State militants. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama strongly condemned on Friday the killing of British citizen Alan Henning by Islamic State militants fighting in Iraq and Syria and said the United States would seek to bring his killers to justice. \"The United States strongly condemns the brutal murder of United Kingdom citizen Alan Henning\" by the Islamic State group, Obama said in a statement. ...","Enbridge to spend C$7 billion to replace pipeline to U.S. By Nia Williams CALGARY, Alberta (Reuters) - Canada's No. 1 pipeline company, Enbridge Inc , will nearly double capacity on a major crude export line to the United States through a C$7 billion ($6.3 billion) replacement program, the largest project in the company's history. Enbridge, whose pipelines carry the bulk of Canada's crude exports to the United States, intends to replace all segments of pipeline on Line 3 between Hardisty, Alberta, and Superior, Wisconsin, by the second half of 2017. By replacing the existing 34-inch diameter pipeline with 36-inch high-strength steel pipe, Enbridge said the line will be able to run at a maximum capacity of 760,000 barrels per day. However, Enbridge Chief Executive Al Monaco said overall capacity on the Enbridge mainline system between Western Canada and the United States will not change as the system is already in balance.","China's Tianhe denies overstating profits, cites investor support. By Pete Sweeney and Stephen Aldred SHANGHAI/HONG KONG (Reuters) - Tianhe Chemicals has denied allegations that it made false statements in its initial public offering prospectus and said key investor Morgan Stanley Private Equity Asia (MSPEA) has given it full support. A report by Anonymous Analytics, which describes itself as a \"faction\" of the hacker group Anonymous, accused the Chinese chemicals company of conducting \"one of the largest stock market frauds ever conceived,\" based on analyses of different company reports, tax statements, market analysis and visits to customers mentioned in Tianhe filings. It also accused Tianhe of giving its auditor Deloitte forged documentation prior to its IPO in Hong Kong in June, an allegation Tianhe denied in a statement on Wednesday. Deloitte declined to comment when contacted by Reuters, referring Reuters to Tianhe's statement.","RC Saracens supremo in 'double' limbo. \\\\\"We are on the verge of history -- or nothing.\\\\\" It could have been the voice of many a Saracens fan as they prepare for some of the most momentous weeks in the life of the 138-year-old club. But Nigel Wray, the man who made that rueful comment, is no ordinary supporter. Since rugby union turned professional 20 years ago, the Saracens chairman has invested an estimated £40 million of his own money in helping transform a 'Cinderella' side into a major force.","Several provinces not pursuing unconstitutional prostitution charges. TORONTO - A spokesman for Ontario's Ministry of the Attorney General says Crown lawyers will \"likely\" not be prosecuting people under three prostitution laws struck down by the Supreme Court.","Egypt says efforts to halt Gaza conflict face 'stubbornness'. Egypt said Friday its efforts to halt violence in the Gaza Strip have met with \"stubbornness\", as it appealed to the international community to intervene to end the deadly conflict. Israel's aerial military campaign targeting rocket-firing militants in Gaza has killed at least 100 Palestinians and wounded more than 500 since it was launched early Tuesday. Egypt, which signed a peace treaty with Israel in 1979, played a key role in mediating ceasefires in past wars between the Jewish state and Hamas, the Palestinian Islamist movement that controls Gaza.","'Fast & Furious 7' to film in Abu Dhabi in April. ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Vin Diesel and other members of the \"Fast & Furious 7\" cast are heading to the Mideast city of Abu Dhabi after months of uncertainty about the fate of the film.","Climate change impacts heat up UN talks in Lima. LIMA, Peru (AP) — With 2014 on track to become the warmest year on record and time running short, more than 190 nations began talks on a new worldwide deal to limit greenhouse gas emissions and keep global warming from causing irreversible damage.","Nigerian president sacks chief of staff: sources. Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan has dismissed his chief of staff, three senior government sources told Reuters on Monday, extending a wave of government changes a year before elections. Africa's second largest economy and biggest oil producer is advancing as an investment destination but political instability is a concern for investors, especially as wasteful government spending tends to spike ahead of elections. Presidency spokesman Reuben Abati told reporters that chief of staff Mike Oghiadomhe had resigned because he wanted to pursue political opportunities in the ruling People's Democratic Party (PDP). Government sources said he was sacked.","Sarkozy's phones tapped in September: French prosecutors. Paris (AFP) - The phones of Nicolas Sarkozy were tapped in September as part of a probe into his links with Moamer Kadhafi, prosecutors said Wednesday, adding fuel to a fresh scandal rocking the former French president.","Russia says to tighten ties with Georgian breakaway region of Abkhazia. MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin and the leader of Georgia's breakaway region of Abkhazia will sign a strategic partnership agreement on Monday, the Kremlin said. Abkhazia relies on financial and political support from Moscow since Russia recognized it as independent along with South Ossetia following a five-day war with Tbilisi in 2008. Putin will meet Abkhazia's Raul Khadzhimba in Russia's Black Sea resort of Sochi on Monday to sign an \"alliance and strategic partnership\" agreement, the Kremlin said in a statement. ...","Front companies, embassies mask North Korean weapons trade: U.N.. By James Pearson SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea has developed sophisticated ways to circumvent United Nations sanctions, including the suspected use of its embassies to facilitate an illegal trade in weapons, a United Nations report issued on Tuesday said. It said North Korea was also making use of more complicated financial countermeasures and techniques \"pioneered by drug-trafficking organizations\" that made tracking the isolated state's purchase of prohibited goods more difficult. The report, compiled by a panel of eight U.N. ...","Mexican army, police to take over duties in Michoacan towns. MORELIA, Mexico (AP) — The Mexican army and federal police will assume control of security in several municipalities in the western state of Michoacan, replacing recently legalized rural police forces that engaged in a deadly clash last week.","Erdogan threatens to unveil graft accusations against rival. Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan threatened on Friday to t divulge a file of corruption allegations against the main opposition candidate for Istanbul mayor, raising the stakes in a political battle after a graft investigation implicating his own government. Erdogan, speaking to party members in the capital Ankara, also accused a key business leader of \"treason\" for saying the government's efforts to reform the judiciary might unnerve investors and deter foreign capital from coming to Turkey. Erdogan called on Kemal Kilicdaroglu, chairman of the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP), to disclose what he called corruption allegations in a party file against Mustafa Sarigul, the CHP's candidate for Istanbul mayor in March municipal elections. If you don't disclose the corruption file on the Istanbul municipal candidate, I will,\" Erdogan said in comments aired live on television.","SOCHI SCENE: Board battle. SOCHI, Russia (AP) — Women's hockey in the Winter Olympics is largely considered a two-country race between Canada and the United States. But that doesn't mean they're taking it easy on the other countries.","SEC sues Canadian fugitive for 'scalping' investors. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has sued a Montreal man who in 2012 became a fugitive after being charged in Canada with tax evasion, and accused him of securities fraud known as \"scalping.\" John Babikian, 26, was accused by the SEC of reaping an illegal $1.9 million profit by selling shares of a thinly traded coal mining company he touted online, without revealing he had already bought the shares. According to the SEC complaint filed on Thursday in the U.S. District Court in Manhattan, Babikian had scalped investors by amassing America West Resources Inc shares before touting the stock on February 23, 2012 through two websites he controlled, AwesomePennyStocks.com and PennyStocksUniverse.com. The SEC said the touts contained America West's stock ticker and headlines such as \"Brand new pick coming March 1st!\", and caused other investors to quickly drive up the stock's price. It said Babikian then sold nearly 1.4 million America West shares within 90 minutes of his touts for an average $1.38 per share, far above the 29 cents where the stock had been trading.","Rugby league - Australia Test star Boyd out for season with depression. - Australia Test back Darius Boyd has completed treatment for depression but will not play for the Newcastle Knights in the NRL again this season, his club said Thursday. The Knights said the Queensland State of Origin winger was released from a mental health facility after being admitted three weeks ago. \"Darius Boyd has completed his rehabilitation programme for depression in a Sydney mental health facility,\" a Knights statement said. The Knights said Boyd was yet to make a decision on his future.","Royal family's private archive on display in UK. LONDON (AP) — Official papers recording the purchase of Buckingham Palace — for 28,000 pounds — is going on display for the first time as part of an exhibition at Windsor Castle.","Photographer killed covering north Iraq clashes. Kirkuk (Iraq) (AFP) - A news photographer was killed while covering fighting between Kurdish security forces and jihadists in northern Iraq on Thursday, medical and security sources said.","France's Levy leads BMW Masters in China. SHANGHAI, China (AP) — France's Alexander Levy had five straight birdies in the middle of his round and finished with a 7-under 65 on Thursday to take the lead in the BMW Masters.","Thai military promises government by August, lifts curfew. By Amy Sawitta Lefevre BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thailand's ruling military government lifted a nationwide curfew on Friday to bolster the country's vital tourism industry and promised to install an interim government in August. General Prayuth Chan-ocha, who heads the council that has overseen the country since taking over on May 22, said that power would be handed to a government in August. That, he said, was part of a three-phase plan of reconciliation, formation of a government and elections. \"A government will be set up by August, or at the very latest September,\" Prayuth told a meeting devoted to the 2015 national budget.","Dubai isolates traveller from Liberia over Ebola signs. Dubai (AFP) - Dubai health authorities quarantined Wednesday an air passenger who arrived from Liberia after he showed symptoms of Ebola, in the first suspected infection registered in the Gulf region.","A fresh setback for efforts to cure HIV infection. Researchers are reporting another disappointment for efforts to cure infection with the AIDS virus. Six patients given blood-cell transplants similar to one that cured a man known as \"the Berlin patient\" have failed, and all six patients died.","Asterix artist, daughter call truce in family feud. PARIS (AP) — The artist behind the famous French comic book Asterix has ended a years-long family feud over control of the valuable cartoon icon.","Condoms rebranded in South Africa as HIV infections rise. South Africa is seeking to rebrand its free condoms to appeal to young people after a new study showed rising HIV infections and flagging contraception use, the health department said on Thursday. Condoms distributed by the government will come in a wider range of colours and flavours, as authorities seek to mend the damage done to their image when thousands of faulty condoms were recalled in January 2012. The rebranding effort comes as new figures released on Tuesday showed there were 470,000 new HIV infections in 2012, compared with 370,000 the year before. South Africa has the world's highest number of people living with HIV, a crisis that has seen millions of people placed on a vast state-sponsored treatment programme.","China government survey shows 16 percent of its soil is polluted. A nationwide investigation has shown that as much as 16 percent of China's soil contains higher-than-permitted levels of pollution, the environment ministry said on Thursday. China is desperate to tackle the impact of rapid industrialization and urbanization on its food supplies, with the aim of maintaining self-sufficiency and reducing its dependence on grain imports amid soaring demand. The Ministry of Environmental Protection said in a notice posted on its website (www.mep.gov.cn) that its long-awaited soil survey involved samples taken across 6.3 million square kilometers (sq km) of land, two-thirds of the country's total. The ministry said China is working on a series of measures to help resolve the problem of soil pollution and would also speed up the drafting of related legislation.","Syria activists: heavy rebel infighting near Iraq. BEIRUT (AP) — Syrian activists say heavy clashes are underway between several rebel factions and an al-Qaida breakaway group over control of a border crossing with Iraq.","Five Vietnamese, 16 others described as Chinese dead in Vietnam rioting: doctor. Five Vietnamese workers and 16 other people described as Chinese died during anti-China rioting in the central Vietnamese province of Ha Tinh on Wednesday night, a doctor at a hospital in the province said. More are being sent to the hospital this morning,\\\\\" the doctor at Ha Tinh General Hospital told Reuters by phone on Thursday.","Liberia convicts 13 for killing peacekeepers in Ivorian raids. A Liberian court on Tuesday sentenced 13 people to life imprisonment for cross-border raids into Ivory Coast that killed seven U.N. peacekeepers in a controversial case. The Liberian nationals were indicted for their alleged involvement in a series of attacks in neighboring Ivory Coast between 2011-2012 in which they burned houses, murdered civilians and raped women. During raids on the Ivorian villages of Tai and Para in June 2012, seven peacekeepers from Niger were killed. Supporters of the convicted said the trial was a political witch hunt against the Krahn group - the ethnicity of former President Samuel Doe who was assassinated in 1990, sparking a 14-year civil war.","Netanyahu reiterates Israel will not talk with Hamas-backed Palestinian government. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday his government would not take part in Middle East peace talks with a Palestinian government backed by Islamist group Hamas. In an interview with CNN, Netanyahu also said Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's comments earlier on Sunday denouncing the Holocaust could not be reconciled with his alliance with Hamas. Israel this week called off peace talks with the Palestinians after Abbas announced an alliance with the militant group, viewed by the United States, the European Union and Israel as a terrorist organization.","China says it's hard to resume cyber security talks with U.S.. BEIJING (Reuters) - Resuming cyber security cooperation between China and the United States would be difficult because of \"mistaken U.S. practices\", China's top diplomat told U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry. Cyber security is an irritant to bilateral ties. On Wednesday the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation said hackers it believed were backed by the Chinese government had launched more attacks on U.S. companies, a charge China rejected as unfounded. ...","Murray misery: Dimitrov takes down Wimbledon champ. LONDON (AP) — Andy Murray's reign as Wimbledon champion ended Wednesday with a straight-set loss in the quarterfinals to Bulgaria's Grigor Dimitrov, who is making his breakthrough after years of being touted as the game's next top player.","Robbers strike at Berlin's famed KaDeWe store. BERLIN (AP) — Police say robbers struck at Berlin's famous KaDeWe department store, smashing display cases and running off with their loot.","Egypt president gives army control of arms imports. CAIRO (AP) — The Egyptian president has amended a law, giving the country's army control over weapons and ammunition imports.","Russia says latest U.N. human rights report 'hypocritical'. Russia said on Tuesday the latest U.N. human rights report on fighting between Ukrainian forces and pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine was \"hypocritical\". \"The report is unobjective and even hypocritical,\" the Foreign Ministry said in a statement, adding the report had failed to mention the detentions of Russian journalists in eastern Ukraine and the reported use of heavy rockets by the Ukrainian army against civilians.","Time Warner Cable employees to share $416 million under retention plan. Employees of Time Warner Cable will be $416 million richer even if the cable operator's merger with Comcast does not close, a move designed to keep staff from bolting while federal regulators contemplate the deal. A proxy statement, prepared for the shareholders meetings of both companies in October to vote on the merger, also lays out the nearly $81.8 million golden parachute that Time Warner Cable's chairman and chief executive, Robert D. Marcus, would receive. Comcast Corp last February said it would buy Time Warner Cable Inc in a $45.2 billion stock swap that combines the two largest U.S.","Israel, Palestinians seek another meeting Monday: U.S. official. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Israeli and Palestinian negotiators held \"serious and constructive\" talks Sunday and asked the United States to convene another meeting on Monday, a U.S. State Department official said. \"Israeli and Palestinian negotiators met last night to discuss ways to overcome the crisis in the talks,\" State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said. \"The meeting was serious and constructive and both sides requested that the United States convene another meeting today to continue the effort.\" (Reporting by Arshad Mohammed; Editing by Bill Trott)","Elderly ex-sex slaves want solace, help from pope. SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Lee Yong-soo hopes a meeting Monday with Pope Francis will provide some solace for the pain that still feels fresh more than seven decades after Japanese soldiers forced her into prostitution during World War II.","Death toll in new Kenya coast attack rises to 15. NAIROBI (Reuters) - Somali-linked Islamist militants killed at least 15 people in a second night of attacks on Kenya's coast, a day after an assault on nearby Mpeketoni town left almost 50 dead, the interior minister said on Tuesday. “These attacks are unfortunate and the perpetrators must be held accountable,\" Joseph Ole Lenku said in Mpeketoni, where he was jeered by locals. \"We condemn yesterday’s killings and the latest attack today where about 15 other people were killed and houses burnt,” he said of the new attack on Poromoko village. ...","With Alibaba's big debut, 10 things to know. NEW YORK (AP) — China's e-commerce giant Alibaba began trading its shares Friday on the New York Stock Exchange. Here are ten things to know about Alibaba, and why its initial public offering made history:","Indonesia's democracy faces test as tally comes in. JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — After an ugly presidential election campaign, Indonesia is set to declare the winner on Tuesday — but that may not settle a simmering dispute between the two candidates, both of whom claim victory.","EU's Juncker wrestles with Slovenian hitch to team's approval. By Alastair Macdonald BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The incoming head of the EU executive was in intensive talks with the European Parliament and the government of Slovenia on Thursday to try and unblock a final obstacle to legislative approval of his new team. Jean-Claude Juncker welcomed a series of committee votes in parliament late on Wednesday that saw all but one of his line-up approved by a broad left-right coalition following several days of party wrangling that had threatened to disrupt the process. ...","Algerian shot dead at checkpoint after car failed to stop. Algiers (AFP) - The army shot dead a civilian and wounded two others when their car failed to stop at a checkpoint in the Kabylie region of eastern Algeria early Wednesday, security sources said.","Spain's Socialists to select party leader in November. Spain's opposition Socialist party announced on Saturday that it would select a leader in November to run against the ruling center-right People's Party in 2015 parliamentary elections. The contest will be Spain's first open-door primary by a major party, meaning that any citizen will be able to vote. That marks a shift from the past when the Socialist party alone chose its leader. \"We are opening a new chapter in Spanish politics,\" said Socialist leader Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba, 62, at a party event on Saturday.","Super Rugby may expand outside southern hemisphere. By Greg Stutchbury WELLINGTON (Reuters) - Super Rugby's latest plans for realignment are likely to see it expand outside the southern hemisphere and could potentially lay the groundwork for a global competition one day, New Zealand Rugby Union chief executive Steve Tew has said. SANZAR, the sport's governing body in the southern hemisphere, has signed off on a new 18-team competition with a sixth South African side, one from Argentina and an as yet un-named team to join the current 15 sides in 2016. \"We are going to go to market,\" Tew told reporters at the New Zealand Rugby Union headquarters in central Wellington on Thursday, a day after his Australian counterpart Bill Pulver revealed the new format without informing his SANZAR partners. \"We think that's a great opportunity for rugby and for our competition to explore the possibilities.\" Potential sites for the team could include Asia, North America or even southern Europe, he said, adding that SANZAR had an open mind as to where it was based.","Surrendered Central African rebels flee. Bangui (Central African Republic) (AFP) - Around 200 rebel fighters in the Central African Republic who surrendered to African Union troops at the weekend in the key town of Sibut fled overnight, a military source said on Sunday. They've gone to Kaga Bandoro,\" an officer in the African Union force (MISCA) told AFP. Kaga Bandoro is some 160 kilometres (100 miles) north of Sibut, the town which had been held for several days by former members of the mainly Muslim Seleka rebellion -- causing terrified residents to flee -- before it was recaptured by MISCA troops on Saturday.","Group says Syria used chemical weapons in April. BEIRUT (AP) — A leading international human rights group said on Tuesday it has strong evidence that Syria's army used chlorine gas on rebel-held neighborhoods last month, dropping the canisters in crude bombs on residential areas.","China says Australian tycoon's attack 'irrational and absurd'. BEIJING/SYDNEY (Reuters) - China's foreign ministry has condemned a verbal attack by Australian mining mogul and politician Clive Palmer as irrational and absurd, after the businessman described China's government as \"bastards\" who shoot their own people. The Australian government has rebuked Palmer, who holds the balance of power in the parliament's upper house. Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said she planned to contact the Chinese embassy to stress that the Australian parliament does not share Palmer's \"abusive\" views. \"Palmer's words about China in recent days are totally irrational and absurd.","15 Australian fighters killed in Iraq, Syria: spy chief. Fifteen Australians, including two young suicide bombers, are believed to have died fighting in Syria and Iraq, intelligence chief David Irvine said Wednesday, warning that espionage and foreign intervention threats were increasing. Canberra has expressed alarm that around 60 Australians have joined violent jihadist groups such as Islamic State (IS) overseas. One Islamic State fighter, Australian man Khaled Sharrouf, sparked outrage when an image of his Sydney-raised son posing with the rotting head of a Syrian soldier was reportedly posted on Twitter. \"The draw of foreign fighters to Syria and Iraq is significant and includes more Australians than any other previous extremist conflicts put together,\" Irvine said.","Japan PM may attend Sochi Games, China says no plans to meet Xi. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe may attend the opening ceremony for the Sochi Winter Olympics, but China has ruled out any formal meeting with President Xi Jinping whose attendance at the Games has already been confirmed. Japan's ties with China have recently deteriorated due to a series of disputes, including Abe's visit to a shrine seen as a symbol of Japanese militarism - a visit that also infuriated South Korea, which like China also suffered from Japan's wartime aggression.","Ebola neglected because it started in Africa: ex-UN head Annan. London (AFP) - Wealthy countries were slow to tackle the Ebola epidemic as it began in Africa, former United Nations secretary general Kofi Annan said in tough criticism of the response to the crisis on Thursday.","Column: In backing Scudamore, EPL turns on women. It's now crystal clear why Premier League boss Richard Scudamore is often called the most powerful man in English football.","US ship sails off to destroy Syrian weapons at sea. GIOIA TAURO, Italy (AP) — A United States cargo vessel loaded with hundreds of tons of Syria's chemical weapons left an Italian port Wednesday to destroy the arms at sea as part of the international effort to rid Syria of its chemical weapon stockpile.","Defending champ Sevilla eyes Europa knockout stage. LONDON (AP) — Defending champion Sevilla is one of 18 teams vying for 10 remaining places in the knockout rounds of the Europa League when the last group matches kick off on Thursday.","Testimony: Montana man on edge before shooting. MISSOULA, Montana (AP) — A lawn care worker testified that a Montana man charged in the slaying of a German exchange student pointed a shotgun at him a few days before the teen's fatal shooting.","Greek opposition declares anti-austerity triumph in local vote. By Lefteris Papadimas ATHENS (Reuters) - Greece's main opposition party Syriza declared a victory for its anti-austerity message on Monday after its candidates fared strongly in big local election races in Athens and the surrounding region. In what may have been a foretaste of the upcoming European Parliament vote, the radical leftist party's candidates got most votes on Sunday in the race to govern the wider Athens region and for Athens mayor, knocking out Prime Minister Antonis Samaras's mayoral candidate. \"This is an omen for political change because Greeks are extremely frustrated, disappointed and desperate because of austerity policies and are trying to find a way to express this frustration,\" Syriza leader Alexis Tsipras told La Repubblica newspaper in Italy where he was campaigning on Monday. \"The polls show that Syriza will win the EU (Parliament) elections next Sunday and this will probably trigger political developments in the country but also send a strong message to Europe against austerity.\" Syriza, which is against Greece's European Union/International Monetary Fund bailout, has sought to cast the local and EU elections next week as a referendum on the ruling coalition's pro-bailout, austerity policies.","Police: 48 killed in terror attack on Kenya town. NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Dozens of Somali extremists wielding automatic weapons attacked a small Kenyan coastal town for hours, assaulting the police station, setting two hotels on fire, and spraying bullets into the street. At least 48 people were killed, officials said Monday.","Group of deputies wants Gorbachev investigated over Soviet break-up. By Gabriela Baczynska MOSCOW (Reuters) - A small group of lawmakers have asked Russia's top prosecutor to investigate whether the last Soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachev, should face treason charges over his role in the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union. Gorbachev dismissed the request as an act of publicity-seeking and said there were no grounds to charge him. It follows a surge of patriotism since Russia's annexation of Crimea from Ukraine last month, which has revived nostalgia among some Russians for the Soviet Union and boosted President Vladimir Putin's popularity ratings. The seven-page request for an investigation says Gorbachev and other senior Soviet officials violated the law and the will of the people by letting the republics that made up the Soviet Union declare independence and break away.","Guessing game: What are OPEC nations thinking?. NEW YORK (AP) — Does Saudi Arabia have it out for frackers in the U.S.? Or Iran? Or Russia? Will low oil prices make it easier to fight the Islamic State? Or harder?","Ghanaian soccer fans seek asylum in Brazil. SAO PAULO (AP) — Police in southern Brazil say hundreds of Ghanaians who entered Brazil as tourists to watch World Cup games have asked for asylum.","China paper slams West's \"Cold War mentality\" over Ukraine. China's top newspaper criticized the West on Thursday for remaining locked in a \"Cold War mentality\" against Russia in the contest for influence over Ukraine, calling for the shackles of such outmoded thinking to be cast off to deal with the crisis. The commentary published in the People's Daily, the flagship newspaper of the ruling Communist Party, was the strongest reaction yet in Beijing to the rift between the West and Russia that has been growing since the ouster of Moscow's ally Viktor Yanukovich as president following weeks of protests. \"The theories related to politics, economics and security during the Cold War period are still influencing many people on their concept of the world, and some Western people are still imbued with resentment towards Russia,\" the paper said. \"Ridding the shackles of the Cold War mentality will reduce unnecessary confrontation, thereby allowing for a smoother transition in international relations.\" The commentary was published under the pen name \"Zhong Sheng\", meaning \"Voice of China\", which is often used to give the paper's view on foreign policy issues.","Olympic Oracles: A Rat, Rabbit and Otters Predict Sochi Results. It doesn’t take much to get on TV during the Winter Games in Sochi. The reporters on the story were unable to confirm this independently, but Ingrid Rylance, a self-proclaimed animal psychic in the United Kingdom, is unsurprised by the animals’ reported accuracy.","Israeli airstrike kills 1 in northern Gaza. JERUSALEM (AP) —","Autopsy on ex-Brazilian president is inconclusive. RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Brazil's human rights minister say an autopsy on the late President Joao Goulart was inconclusive.","Sarkozy detained in French corruption probe. NANTERRE, France (AP) — Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy has been detained and is reportedly being questioned by financial investigators in a corruption probe.","Suspicious packages sent to British military recruitment offices. British counter-terrorism police said on Thursday they were dealing with a series of suspect packages sent to a string of armed forces recruitment offices. Packages have been sent to offices in Aldershot, Chatham, Brighton, Oxford, Reading, Slough. \"Because suspicious packages were found at various locations yesterday, notes were sent out to all the army careers offices, as well as the Post Office, asking staff to be extra vigilant and look out for any suspect packages,\" said Detective Superintendent Stan Gilmour, of the South East counter terrorism unit. The Queensmere Shopping Centre in Slough was evacuated, while cordons were placed close to all offices where packages have been found.","Lone gunman kills Canadian soldier in Ottawa attack. A gunman whose name was on a terror watch list killed a soldier and attempted to storm Canada's parliament Wednesday before the assembly's sergeant-at-arms shot him dead. The attack -- the second this week targeting Canadian military personnel -- came as Canadian jets were to join the US-led bombing campaign against Islamist militants in Iraq. Dave Bathurst, a family friend who said he met 32-year-ld suspect Michael Zehaf-Bibeau in a mosque about three years ago, said his friend did not at first appear to have extremist views or inclinations toward violence, the CBC reported. Bathurst last saw Mr. Zehaf-Bibeau praying in a Vancouver-area mosque six weeks ago and that he spoke of wanting to go to the Middle East soon.","EU imposes sanctions on Ukraine rebel vote organizers. By Robin Emmott BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union has imposed sanctions on the organizers of rebel elections in eastern Ukraine this month, the bloc said on Saturday, hitting the separatists and their organizations with asset freezes and travel bans. As reporting by Reuters on Thursday, EU governments decided to add 13 Ukrainian separatists and five of their political organizations to a sanctions list that already covers 119 people and 23 entities. Rebels in eastern Ukraine held their elections on Nov. ...","Despite concessions to U.S. farmers, Big Data giants still in control. In the tussle between U.S. farmers and Big Data purveyors, farmers are winning some control over details about crop and growing conditions on their land, but most data sellers are retaining ultimate say over how they can use the information that could be worth billions of dollars. Although companies like Deere & Co and Monsanto Co's Climate Corp are giving some ground by putting legal teeth behind promises made during sales pitches, they are refusing to back away from claims they have an absolute right to all data collected as combines, tractors and other equipment work fields across the country. Some farmers suspect they are not getting their share. They're still after what they really want and that's to get the data for free,\" said Billy Tiller, a farmer and founding member of the Grower Information Services Cooperative, a farmer cooperative focused on data.","Egypt clears Gaza border area to create security buffer. By Yusri Mohamed ISMALIA Egypt (Reuters) - Egypt began clearing residents from its border with the Gaza Strip on Wednesday to create a buffer zone following some of the worst anti-state violence since President Mohamed Mursi was overthrown last year. A day after being ordered by the army to move, many in the area had already packed their belongings and begun to leave when an announcement from Cairo made the eviction official. \"If any resident resists leaving the area in a cordial manner, their property ... will be forcibly seized,\" read the decree signed by Prime Minister Ibrahim Mehleb. ...","Saudi women renew push for the right to drive. DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — In the six months since Saudi activists renewed calls to defy the kingdom's ban on female drivers, small numbers of women have gotten behind the wheel almost daily in what has become the country's longest such campaign.","US arms drop, Iraq Kurd fighter boost for Syria's Kobane. Mursitpinar (Turkey) (AFP) - Washington made a first arms drop to Kurdish fighters battling jihadists for the Syrian border town of Kobane Monday as neighbouring Turkey said it was helping Iraqi Kurdish forces to join the fight.","Landslide blocks river in northern Nepal; 8 dead. KATMANDU, Nepal (AP) — A massive landslide killed at least eight people and blocked a mountain river in northern Nepal on Saturday, causing the water to form a lake that was threatening to burst and sweep several villages, officials said.","British couple jailed for praising Rigby's murder. LONDON (AP) — A British Muslim couple has been sentenced for posting \"offensive\" videos praising the murder of British soldier Lee Rigby.","Pressure mounts at Tesco as British sales slide worsens. By James Davey LONDON (Reuters) - Tesco, Britain's biggest retailer, posted the worst quarterly drop in underlying sales in its key home market since Chief Executive Phil Clarke took the helm in 2011, raising further questions over his trading strategy. Clarke is two years into a multi-billion pounds turnaround plan for its British business which contributes two-thirds of sales and profit for the group, the world's third-largest retailer after Wal-Mart and Carrefour. Tesco said on Wednesday sales at UK stores open over a year, excluding fuel and VAT sales tax, fell 3.8 percent in its fiscal first quarter, hurt by price cuts and a weak food market, and that it expected the difficult times to continue. Analysts had forecast a decline of 3.5-4.1 percent, after a fall of 3 percent in the fourth quarter of Tesco's 2013-14 year.","Premier League braced for bumper Boxing Day. For the first time in the 2014-15 season, all 20 English top-flight clubs will be in action on the same day, with leaders Chelsea's home game against high-flying London rivals West Ham United the stand-out match. Chelsea's professional 2-0 victory at Stoke City on Monday allowed Jose Mourinho's side to re-establish a three-point lead over champions Manchester City, who visit West Bromwich Albion on Friday.","British flood victims angry at lack of help. Datchet (United Kingdom) (AFP) - The floodwaters are rising in Datchet but there appears to be no one around to help except David Cannon the water-taxi man. This quaint English town may be just a mile from the elite Eton College where Britain's prime minister went to school, but residents say they are waiting in vain for any substantial help from the government. Instead it is up to people like Cannon, a 52-year-old scoutmaster, and other volunteers to help get people through the waters that have come from the swollen River Thames. \"We have been running some children to school and also taking sandbags where they're needed.\"","Syrian airstrikes kill at least 18 in Aleppo. BEIRUT (AP) — The Syrian government extended its intense aerial campaign against rebel-held areas of the northern city of Aleppo on Monday, conducting a series of airstrikes that killed at least 18 people, including five children, activists said.","India-Bangladesh 3rd ODI abandoned due to rain. MIRPUR, Bangladesh (AP) — Scores Thursday after the third one-day International between India and Bangladesh was abandoned at Mirpur's Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium. India won the series 2-0.","Correction: Venezuela-Actress Slain story. CARACAS, Venezuela - In a story Jan. 8 about the slaying of a former Miss Venezuela, The Associated Press erroneously reported the number of homicides estimated by the non-governmental Venezuelan Violence Observatory to have occurred in the country last year. The correct estimate is nearly 25,000, not nearly 45,000 as reported.","Ukraine presidential vote hopes to restore order. KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainians are casting ballots Sunday in a presidential election seen as essential for stabilizing the country rocked by a deadly uprising in the east, where pro-Russia rebels have vowed to block the ballot.","Four Afghans killed in Pakistani border strike, say Afghan officials. An airstrike by Pakistani forces along the Afghan border killed four civilians on Saturday, officials said, as a Pakistani offensive against Taliban militants continued despite protests by the Afghan government. Pakistan launched its first major offensive in years against insurgents near the Afghan border on May 22 after several rounds of government-led peace talks ended in failure. \"A Pakistani army helicopter strike in Dangam district killed four civilians and wounded ten others,\" said Abdul Habib Sayed Khel, police chief of Afghanistan's Kunar province, adding that 124 rockets had landed in the province on Saturday alone.","US asks auction house to suspend Navajo, Hopi sale. PARIS (AP) — The U.S. Embassy in Paris is asking a French auction house to suspend the planned sale Monday of Navajo and Hopi artifacts.","Libyan judge orders video link to try Gadhafi son. TRIPOLI, Libya (AP) — A Libyan judge in the trial of former regime officials has decided that Moammar Gadhafi's son, held by a militia in the country's west, can attend the proceedings through a video link.","Western intelligence talking to Damascus, minister says. Western intelligence officials have visited Syria to discuss security cooperation with the regime, its deputy foreign minister told the BBC as the West worries about Islamist extremists among the Syrian opposition. Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad told the BBC that the visits to Damascus pointed to a \"schism\" between what Western politicians were saying about President Bashar al-Assad's regime and what Western security services were doing in practice. Separately the Wall Street Journal newspaper reported that British, German, French and Spanish agencies have been speaking to Assad regime officials since mid-2013. Western governments have backed the opposition fighting to topple Assad but are increasingly concerned about the influence jihadist groups are wielding in Syria's nearly three-year-old civil war.","Video prompts look at killing of Palestinian teens. JERUSALEM (AP) — Security-camera video showing two unarmed Palestinians crumpling to the ground during a lull in a stone-throwing clash with Israeli soldiers revived allegations by human rights activists Tuesday that the troops often use excessive force.","UK Treasury chief set to pay off World War I bonds. LONDON (AP) — Britain is repaying some of the 2 billion pounds ($3.2 billion) it still owes investors who helped finance World War I.","Greek court sentences doctor for racism offence. THESSALONIKI, Greece (AP) — A court in the northern Greek city of Thessaloniki has given a Greek doctor a 16-month suspended sentence for breaking anti-racism laws and for weapons possession after he put up a sign outside his office that said, in German, \"Jews not welcome.\"","Austrian Brandle takes Tour of Britain's fifth stage. Austria's Matthias Brandle won stage five of the Tour of Britain on Thursday, but overall leader Michal Kwiatkowski maintained his grip on the yellow jersey. Brandle of IAM Cycling held his nerve to emerge victorious from a four-man breakaway alongside MTN-Qhubeka's Andreas Stauff, Belkin's Maarten Wynants and Shane Archbold of An Post-Chainreaction. The decisive moment of the 177.3-kilometre route from Exmouth came on the drag into Exeter up Stoke Hill, with Brandle turning on the power to win by eight seconds from second-placed Archbold, who beat Wynants in a two-up sprint, while Bardiani CSF's Sonny Colbrelli led the peloton in 14secs behind in fourth.","13 Ukraine troops dead, over 30 wounded in attack. BLAHODATNE, Ukraine (AP) — Three days before Ukraine holds a key presidential vote, pro-Russia insurgents attacked a military checkpoint Thursday in eastern Ukraine, killing 13 troops in the deadliest raid yet in weeks of fighting, Ukraine's leader said","Iraq crisis threatens food safety in the country, says FAO. Iraq's food harvest is under threat with recent violence in the country driving more than a million people from their homes and farms, the UN's food agency said Wednesday. With the conflict hitting in two of the country's breadbasket states, the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) warned that the country is \"facing serious food security concerns\". While Iraq's harvest had looked promising, \"now, however, prevailing civil insecurity and associated access problems, labour shortages, and disruptions in transport and marketing are expected to significantly impact harvesting and domestic production and supply,\" the FAO said. The FAO is calling for $12.7 million (9.3 million euros) in emergency aid before August to provide \"urgent support\" to farmers, and to mitigate the damage to food, income and employment, the agency said in a statement.","Basque group ETA starts giving up weapons: monitors. Bilbao (Spain) (AFP) - Basque group ETA has begun giving up its weapons, international monitors said Friday, a possible step towards a historic disarmament by western Europe's last major violent separatist movement. The Spanish government and victims' groups shrugged off the gesture, insisting that ETA, which is blamed for more than 800 killings, disband unconditionally without foreign mediation. A commission monitoring a ceasefire in ETA's decades-long campaign released a video of black-masked members of the group presenting to monitors revolvers, a rifle, bullets and explosives. \"The commission has verified that ETA has sealed and put beyond operational use a specified quantity of arms, ammunition and explosives,\" the body's spokesman, Ram Manikkalingam, told reporters in the Spanish Basque city of Bilbao.","Pope names private secretary to No. 2 econ spot. VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis has once again made politics personal, tapping his own private secretary to be the No. 2 in the Vatican's new economy secretariat.","South Korea's Park apologizes for latest scandal to rock spy agency. South Korean President Park Geun-hye apologized on Tuesday for the latest scandal to rock the intelligence service where three officials have been charged with conspiracy to fabricate evidence against a man accused of spying for North Korea. The case is the latest in a long line of controversies marking the National Intelligence Service's troubled history that have triggered calls for reform, but it has been notoriously averse to change. \"Regrettably, the National Intelligence Service's wrongful practices and a system of lax oversight were revealed and caused concern among the public, and I would like to apologize for this,\" Park said at a cabinet meeting. Park's father, Park Chung-hee, was assassinated in 1979 by the disgruntled head of the agency's precursor at the peak of a power struggle that involved the late president's close aides.","Under Abbas, majority say they can't speak freely. RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) — Two-thirds of Palestinians say they are afraid to criticize Mahmoud Abbas, according to a poll, and some of the Palestinian president's recent actions only seem to confirm claims that dissent comes at a price.","Vinyl 'renaissance' boosts British album sales. London (AFP) - Vinyl records are enjoying a \"renaissance\" in Britain, the music industry's trade body said on Friday, with sales for the year on track for their highest result in nearly two decades.","Boca remain in 5th spot after loss to San Lorenzo. BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — Boca Juniors lost 2-0 to San Lorenzo on Sunday and remains fifth on the standings after the fourteenth round of Argentina's first division.","UN official 'appalled' by S Sudan leaders' apathy. NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — The U.N.'s top official for human rights says she is appalled by the apparent lack of concern by leaders in South Sudan over the risk of a potential famine.","Sri Lanka 237-1 vs. Bangladesh's 232. MIRPUR, Bangladesh (AP) — Sri Lanka's Kaushal Silva hit his maiden test century to give the visitors a commanding advantage on day two of the first test against Bangladesh.","Germany-Gibraltar match moved amid policing spat. BERLIN (AP) — The German football federation has moved a European Championship qualifier between Germany and Gibraltar out of Bremen after the city's government decided that organizers should help pay for police deployments at high-risk football matches.","Poland to honor Wikipedia with monument. WARSAW, Poland (AP) — A university professor says that an eastern Polish town is taking up his suggestion and will put up a monument to honor the authors of Wikipedia, the Internet encyclopedia which allows anyone to contribute.","Afghanistan completes election audit in step toward new president. By Mirwais Harooni KABUL (Reuters) - A U.N.-supervised audit of votes in Afghanistan's disputed presidential election has finished, an Afghan electoral official said on Friday. Chaos in Afghanistan as Western forces pull out most of their troops would be a political blow for those countries which have spent billions of dollars and lost about 3,500 soldiers in a bid to bring peace and stability since the Taliban were ousted in 2001. \"The auditing and recount process of all votes were concluded late on Thursday,\" Independent Election Commission (IEC) spokesman Noor Mohammad Noor told reporters in Kabul. Preliminary results from the run-off put candidate Ashraf Ghani, a former finance minister and World Bank official, well ahead of his rival Abdullah Abdullah, a former foreign minister.","Amos trumps Rudisha, Okagbare speeds to sprint double. Botswanan tyro Nijel Amos trumped world record holder David Rudisha in thrilling style over 800m at the Commonwealth Games on Thursday. In another high-quality track and field session at Hampden Park, Nigerian Blessing Okagbare claimed a women's sprint double, dominating the 200m after first striking gold in Monday's 100m. Kenya's Rudisha, who set a blistering world record when winning Olympic gold in London, had finished ahead of silver medallist Amos in the British capital in 2012. Rudisha started in the lane inside Amos and, as usual, made sure he went straight out to the front of the pack when it broke, the Botswanan and Australian Jeffrey Riseley on his coattails.","Nigeria reassures citizens about extremists. MAIDUGURI, Nigeria (AP) — Nigerian officials are trying to reassure citizens about a spreading Islamic insurgency in the country's northeast where fleeing residents report that extremists are urging people to join their fight and take their children out of school.","Bermuda swears in new premier following surprise resignation. By Sam Strangeways HAMILTON (Reuters) - Michael Dunkley was sworn in as acting premier of Bermuda on Tuesday following the surprise resignation of Premier Craig Cannonier over allegations that he accepted $300,000 in campaign funds from a U.S. real estate developer. \"Nothing illegal was done, but I accept there was a failure over time to be completely transparent,\" Cannonier announced on Monday night. Cannonier, 51, has led Bermuda's One Bermuda Alliance (OBA) since its formation as the opposition to the Progressive Labor Party in late 2011. He was elected premier in December 2012, when the OBA won a small majority in the island-nation's lower house of parliament.","Nigeria: 'Good news' soon on kidnapped girls. ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — Nigeria's National Council of State is promising \"some good news\" very soon about the fate of more than 200 schoolgirls held captive by Islamic extremists for nearly three months.","Soldier killed by explosive device in southeast Turkey. A Turkish soldier was killed by an explosive device in southeastern Turkey, the first such death since Kurdish militants declared a ceasefire a year ago, security sources said on Thursday. The Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) called the truce in March 2013 to help bolster peace talks between the Turkish state and their jailed leader, Abdullah Ocalan. In the past, PKK rebels have used remote-controlled devices to attack troops, or it may have been a land mine placed there previously. The PKK took up arms in 1984 in a bid to carve out an ethnic homeland, but it has since scaled back its demands to greater political and cultural rights for Turkey's estimated 15 million Kurds.","Switzerland: IS suspects arrested over attack plan. GENEVA (AP) — Prosecutors say three people suspected of supporting the Islamic State group and thought to have been planning an attack in Europe were arrested in Switzerland earlier this year.","Uruguay, US draw 27-27 in 1st leg of 2015 playoff. MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay (AP) — Uruguay blew a 19-6 lead and had to score a late try to draw with the United States 27-27 in the first leg of their Americas playoff on Saturday in qualifying for the 2015 Rugby World Cup.","French president's girlfriend to remain in hospital. Valerie Trierweiler, the long-term girlfriend of French President Francois Hollande, was to remain in hospital on Monday where she was admitted after reports emerged her partner was having an affair with an actress. Trierweiler, 48, was taken to hospital suffering from stress on Friday, and was initially expected to check out on Monday. But \"doctors believe she needs more rest,\" an aide to Trierweiler said. The Socialist leader, 59, had initially been hoping to ride out the storm created by last week's revelation of an affair with Julie Gayet, a blonde actress 18 years his junior.","Obama win on Guantanamo prison may be short-lived. WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama scored a rare win in his 5-year-old campaign to close the federal prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, as a Senate panel approved giving him the authority to transfer terror suspects to the United States if Congress signs off on a comprehensive plan to shutter the facility.","Brazil joy as World Cup opens with a bang. Brazil rode a wave of national fervour to launch the World Cup with a 3-1 victory over Croatia on Thursday as an opening day which began with violent clashes gave way to an outpouring of joy. Barcelona superstar Neymar scored in each half as Brazil recovered from conceding an early Marcelo own goal to set up a win before hordes of golden-shirted fans at the 61,600 Corinthians Arena in Sao Paulo. The host nation's Group A victory was greeted by an explosion of fireworks across Sao Paulo, a sharp contrast to several hours earlier when riot police fired tear gas and stun grenades to disperse angry protests.","Gunfire as Israeli troops surround house in flashpoint West Bank city. HEBRON West Bank (Reuters) - Israeli troops searching a West Bank city for three Israeli teenagers who are believed to have been abducted by Palestinian militants surrounded a house on Sunday and gunfire was heard, witnesses said. An Israeli army spokeswoman had no immediate comment on the incident in Hebron. (Writing by Dan Williams; Editing by Sonya Hepinstall)","Bus crash in Poland injures 7, mostly teens. WARSAW, Poland (AP) — A Swedish bus drove into a ditch in southwestern Poland Friday, injuring seven people including four Swedes and an American teenager.","French forces detain suspects in Mali U.N. attack. DAKAR (Reuters) - French forces have detained three men and seized a large cache of arms which they believe were linked to a recent rocket attack on a U.N. base in northern Mali in which a Senegalese peacekeeper was killed, the French military said on Sunday. Friday's raid on a house in the north Malian town of Kidal led to the seizure of large quantities of munitions of the kind used in attacks on U.N. forces, as well as rocket launchers, rockets and explosives, French forces said. The owner of the house is believed to be directly linked to the attack on the U.N. base on Oct. ...","UN accuses Chad troops of unprovoked C.Africa killings. The UN accused Chadian soldiers Friday of carrying out an unprovoked attack when they opened fire in a crowded market in the Central African Republic's capital Bangui, killing at least 30 people. The damning findings came a day after Chad -- under fire over the Saturday attack, which also left 300 people wounded -- angrily announced it was withdrawing from the African peacekeeping force struggling to restore security in the strife-torn state. An investigation into the attack found the Chadian troops had \"opened fire on the population without any provocation,\" said a spokesman for the UN's human rights arm. \"As panic-stricken people fled in all directions, the soldiers allegedly continued firing discriminately,\" the spokesman, Rupert Colville, said.","Polls close in Colombia's presidential election. BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — Former Colombian Finance Minister Oscar Ivan Zuluaga appears to have won the most votes in the first round of the country's presidential election, delivering a blow to President Juan Manuel Santos' re-election bid. But Zuluaga is failing to secure enough votes to avoid a runoff against the incumbent.","Obama: US offers Mexico help on missing students. WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama says the U.S. has offered to help Mexico figure out what happened to 43 college students who've been missing since September.","National Bank of Canada reports stronger quarterly profit. TORONTO (Reuters) - National Bank of Canada , the country's sixth-largest lender, reported a stronger quarterly profit on Wednesday, helped by a sharp jump in earnings at its wealth management and financial markets arms. The Montreal-based bank said its net income rose to C$441 million, or C$1.24 per share, in the third quarter ended July 31 from C$402 million, or C$1.16 a share, a year earlier. Excluding special items, earnings were C$1.20 a share. Analysts had expected C$1.11. (Reporting by Jeffrey Hodgson)","Storm leaves over 183,000 without power in U.S. Midwest, East. (Reuters) - Over 183,000 homes and businesses in the U.S. East and Midwest, mainly in Michigan, remained without power early Monday after severe storms rolled through the region over the weekend. DTE Energy Corp, the biggest power company in Michigan, said it had 165,000 customers without power, down from 186,000 affected at the peak. DTE said it expected to restore service to most customers by late Wednesday. (Reporting by Scott DiSavino and Robert Gibbons in New York; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn)","Russia holds military exercises in Baltic in response to NATO. Russia has begun military exercises in its Baltic enclave of Kaliningrad in what the Defence Ministry said was a response to drills by NATO allies in parts of eastern Europe, which were launched after Moscow's intervention in Ukraine. Russia's annexation of Ukraine's Crimea region and a pro-Russian separatist revolt in the country's east after its Moscow-backed president was ousted by protesters have led to the worst East-West crisis since the end of the Cold War. In a statement on its website, the Defence ministry did not reveal the scale of the Russian exercises but said the equipment and number of troops involved \"corresponds\" to the size of the NATO maneuvers.","China warns foreign powers not to use Hong Kong as a 'bridgehead'. By Sui-Lee Wee BEIJING (Reuters) - China has warned against any foreign interference ahead of a crucial ruling on the city's political future on Sunday, saying Beijing will not tolerate the use of Hong Kong \"as a bridgehead to subvert and infiltrate the mainland\". China's largely rubber-stamp parliament is set to meet on Sunday, when it is expected to limit 2017 elections for Hong Kong's leader to a handful of pro-Beijing candidates, a move likely to escalate plans by pro-democracy activists to blockade the city's Central business district. According to state media, an unidentified spokesman from the Chinese foreign ministry's Department of Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan Affairs said China would promptly \"make solemn representations\" to any \"external force\" that interfered in Hong Kong's internal affairs. Hong Kong is a special administrative region (SAR) of China, administered by what is known as the Basic Law.","Futures point to flat open, BoC rate decision awaited. (Reuters) - Canadian stocks looked set to open little changed on Wednesday, with the Bank of Canada expected to keep interest rates unchanged. Deutsche Lufthansa AG said on Tuesday that it met with Bombardier Inc on Monday and assured the Canadian planemaker it still believes in the $4.4 billion CSeries jetliner program despite an engine failure last week.","Move over unions _ French bosses protesting, too. PARIS (AP) — In France, workers aren't the only ones who take to the streets to protest — their bosses do, too.","Syria's Assad to seek re-election in June vote. DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — Syrian President Bashar Assad declared his candidacy Monday for a new seven-year term in June presidential elections, more than three years into a revolt against his rule that has killed more than 150,000 people, uprooted another 9 million and touched off a humanitarian crisis.","Amnesty accuses Cyprus of holding refugees in prison conditions. Cyprus routinely detains asylum seekers and refugees in prison-like conditions, sometimes breaking European Union law by holding them for more than an 18-month maximum, Amnesty International said on Monday. While Cyprus is not one of the main routes for migrants to reach Europe, thousands do enter the island each year and Amnesty accused the government of using detention as a way of discouraging the flow. \"By detaining scores of people for months at a time, Cyprus is displaying a chilling lack of compassion and a complete disregard for its international obligations,\" said Sherif Elsayed-Ali, head of refugee and migrants' rights at Amnesty. \"It is incomprehensible that the Cypriot authorities are detaining Syrian nationals ... when it is Cyprus' official policy not to return Syrians to Syria,\" Elsayed-Ali said.","'Downton Abbey' star heads on US tour with band. NEW YORK (AP) — \"Downton Abbey\" won't be the only place fans can see Elizabeth McGovern this winter: The show's star is heading on a tour with her folk-rock band in December.","Japan's mixed data for May show economy slowing. TOKYO (AP) — Mixed economic data for May suggests Japan's economy is continuing to slow after a sales tax increase at the beginning of the second quarter.","BRAZIL BEAT: Rare Canadian sighting at World Cup. SALVADOR, Brazil (AP) — Canada had rare representation at the World Cup in Friday's rematch between the Netherlands and Spain.","Analysis: Erdogan may prevail at high cost in Turkey's political civil war. By Nick Tattersall and Asli Kandemir ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan looks to have the upper hand in a civil war rocking Turkey's political establishment, but his bid to break the influence of a potent Islamic cleric could roll back reforms and undermine hard-won business confidence. What erupted a month ago as a damaging inquiry into alleged government corruption has spiraled into a battle over the judiciary with potentially much further-reaching consequences for the country's international image and Erdogan's own future. \"There is considerable risk of Turkey losing the gains in credibility and investment it has won in the past decade,\" a senior Turkish banker said, declining to be named for fear of repercussions for publicly criticizing the government. Despite fist fights in parliament, the opposition looks unable to prevent Erdogan's plan to put the appointment of judges, held to be under the sway of U.S.-based cleric Fethullah Gulen, more under government control.","Political conflicts worsening Yemen food security: U.N. agency. By Maha El Dahan ABU DHABI (Reuters) - An escalation of political turmoil in Yemen, one of the poorest countries in the world, risks aggravating an already dire food security situation, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said on Monday. Shi'ite Muslim rebels seized the Yemeni capital Sanaa this month, prompting President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi to warn of a drift towards civil war in a country long riven by deep political, religious and tribal divisions. ...","'Qaeda' gunmen kill defector in Yemen's Hadramawt. Aden (AFP) - Suspected Al-Qaeda loyalists killed a defector in a drive-by shooting in Yemen's restive southeastern province of Hadramawt on Wednesday, witnesses and a security official said.","Puerto Rico military police unit leaves Guantanamo. SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — A yearlong tour of duty at the Guantanamo Bay prison is ending for a Puerto Rico-based U.S. Army military police unit.","UN Security Council threatens sanctions on S.Sudan warring sides. Voicing alarm over the crisis in South Sudan, the UN Security Council threatened Friday to slap sanctions on warring factions for failing to live up to a peace deal signed three months ago. The warning came in a unanimous statement released ahead of a South Sudan visit by Security Council ambassadors next week during which the envoys are to deliver the message directly to the country's leaders. \"The actions of President Salva Kiir and former vice president Riek Machar in continuing to pursue a military solution to this conflict are unacceptable,\" said the 15-member council. The council \"expresses its readiness to consider, in consultations with relevant partners... all appropriate measures, including targeted sanctions against those who take action that undermines the peace, stability and security of South Sudan, including those who prevent the implementation of these agreements,\" the statement said.","China welcomes new Indian government. BEIJING (AP) — China is welcoming the new Indian government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying it wants to strengthen the sometimes troubled relationship between the Asian giants.","European Central Bank unanimous in considering more measures to boost inflation if needed. FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — European Central Bank unanimous in considering more measures to boost inflation if needed.","Spain desperate to avoid early exit against Chile. RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Routed in its opening match, Spain aims to avoid an unwanted World Cup hat-trick against Chile on Wednesday.","British expat leaves job after Singapore 'poor people' remark. A Singapore-based British wealth adviser who set off a firestorm by publicly insulting Singaporeans who have to rely on public transport has \"parted ways\" with his former employer, the firm said Saturday. Porsche-driving Anton Casey, 39, who is married to a former Singapore beauty queen, has gone to Australia but has not said what his future plans are following the controversy. He holds permanent residency in Singapore, which he calls his adopted home, and claims to have received death threats after he referred to public transport users as \"poor people\" in a social network post. Casey's employer Crossinvest (Asia) Pte Ltd said in a statement: \"Those comments go against our core corporate and family values that are based on trust, mutual understanding and are respectful of diversity.\"","Rebels deny responsibility for shelling of east Ukraine refugee convoy. DONETSK (Reuters) - A senior rebel leader denied on Monday separatists were responsible for a deadly missile strike on a convoy carrying refugees from the east Ukrainian city of Luhansk. Earlier a Ukrainian military spokesmen had accused separatists of firing Grad missiles at the convoy, resulting in an unknown number of casualties. Andrei Purgin, deputy prime minister of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic said rebel forces did not have the military capability to conduct such an attack. \"The Ukrainians themselves have bombed the road constantly with airplanes and Grads. ...","Hamstrung from the start, Moyes fights on at Man U. LONDON (AP) — In this bleakest of introductions to Manchester United, David Moyes is struggling with the hand dealt to him by the club. A squad that was in need of more than just tinkering when Alex Ferguson retired, has faded as a force and seems incapable of competing with the elite.","US game seems made for Belgium's Hazard to shine. MOGI DAS CRUZES, Brazil (AP) — Belgium coach Marc Wilmots was sure about two things coming into the World Cup. One: a single action can turn a whole match and a whole campaign. Two: Eden Hazard can produce that single decisive action.","Ebola cases to triple to 20,000 by November unless efforts raised: WHO. Geneva (AFP) - The number of Ebola infections will triple to 20,000 by November, soaring by the thousands every week if efforts are not significantly stepped up to stop the outbreak, the WHO warned Tuesday.","Locals love it as MLB makes quick trip Down Under. SYDNEY (AP) — Yasiel Puig and Paul Goldschmidt hadn't left the stadium before workers began dismantling what was quite an impressive place to play baseball.","UN condemns Syria fighters' activity on Golan. UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N. Security Council is expressing concern about ongoing military activity on the Golan Heights by the Syrian army and opposition fighters and condemning the decapitations of five apparent members of Syria's military.","U.S. says reports of killings in Syria suggest widespread, systematic violations. A report on the torture and killing of thousands of detainees in Syria are horrific and suggest systematic violations by the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, the U.S. State Department said on Tuesday. \"These reports suggest widespread and apparently systematic violations by the regime,\" said State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf. They're horrible to look at.\" A Syrian military police photographer has supplied \"clear evidence\" showing the systematic torture and killing of about 11,000 detainees in circumstances that evoked Nazi death camps, former war crimes prosecutors said.","Greeks evoke past injustices to overcome bailout shame. By Harry Papachristou ATHENS (Reuters) - Germany is footing much of the bill for Greece's 237 billion euro bailout but Athens-trained dentist Aristomenis Syngelakis feels no gratitude; Berlin owes his country billions in reparations for Nazi crimes during World War Two, he says. \"They're wagging the finger at us while they are themselves the biggest cheats,\" says Syngelakis, stung by headlines in popular German newspapers calling Greeks lazy swindlers. Syngelakis is one of the leaders of a campaign, backed by opposition parties, to make Berlin pay as much as 162 billion euros ($223 billion) for the hundreds of villages destroyed, thousands of civilians executed and huge sums looted from the Greek central bank by the Nazis in 1941-1944.","U.S. opens door to oil exports after year of pressure. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Obama administration on Tuesday bowed to months of growing pressure over a 40-year-old ban on exports of most domestic crude, taking two steps expected to unleash a wave of ultra-light shale oil onto global markets.","London pays homage to immortal myth of Sherlock Holmes. London (AFP) - Sherlock Holmes never existed but his fictional address of 221B Baker Street still receives a steady flow of letters addressed to the famously intuitive detective.","Western militaries scramble to aid Ebola-hit west Africa. Freetown (AFP) - Western militaries readied aid missions Friday to help Africa's Ebola-hit nations battle an epidemic which has sparked killings in panicked southern Guinea and forced a nationwide shutdown in Sierra Leone.","Egypt army chief Sisi promoted to field marshal: presidency. Cairo (AFP) - Egypt's army chief General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who led the ouster of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi, has been promoted to the rank of field marshal, the highest in the military, the presidency said Monday.","Hong Kong protesters scrap vote on next step. HONG KONG (AP) — Organizers of Hong Kong's democracy protests say they're canceling a Sunday vote on the next step in their monthlong street occupation.","Ships race to investigate signals in jet search. PERTH, Australia (AP) — Searchers hunting for the missing Malaysia Airlines jet raced toward a patch of the southern Indian Ocean on Sunday to determine whether a few brief sounds picked up by underwater equipment came from the plane's black boxes, whose battery-powered pingers are on the verge of dying out.","WIMBLEDON 2014: Tournament at a glance. A look at Wimbledon, the year's third Grand Slam tennis tournament:","Naver says Line messenger app mulls IPO. SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Naver Corp. says its subsidiary Line Corp. that operates a popular mobile messaging app is considering listing its shares in Tokyo or New York.","Eurozone rates unchanged despite deflation fear. FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — The European Central Bank is sizing up the problems facing the 18-country eurozone before it decides whether to cut interest rates to support the anemic recovery, its president said Thursday.","Backlash against Australia gagging order. An Australian court's gagging order banning the reporting of allegations against several foreign political leaders in a major bribery scandal was Thursday slammed as unacceptable by activists and media groups. Details of the suppression order, imposed by the Victorian Supreme Court in Melbourne on June 19, were revealed by whistleblowing website WikiLeaks. It relates to an ongoing investigation into allegations that Asian officials and their families were bribed to secure contracts to print their currencies by a company -- Securency -- linked to Australia's central bank. The Australian Broadcasting Corporation said the gag was issued after the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade stepped in, arguing that publication of the names could affect national security and international relations.","Swiss mother allegedly kills in Spanish hospital. MADRID (AP) — A Swiss woman detained by Spanish authorities and taken to a hospital with her 10-month-old son allegedly cut the boy's throat with a hidden knife and killed him after receiving permission to give him a bath, Spain's Civil Guard said Thursday.","Ottawa facing new war with veterans over benefit claw-back compensation. OTTAWA - Canada's veterans ombudsman and the Royal Canadian Legion are calling on the Harper government to say once and for all whether it will retroactively compensate ex-soldiers whose pensions and benefits were unfairly clawed back.","Biting off trouble: Suarez in World Cup spotlight. NATAL, Brazil (AP) — Uruguay striker Luis Suarez could once again be in trouble and facing a long ban after appearing to bite an Italian opponent Tuesday in a key World Cup group game.","Ukraine government gets backed by Central Europe. KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — The new government of Ukraine has won the support of leading countries in Central Europe.","France must deal with new pressure of expectation. RIBEIRAO PRETO, Brazil (AP) — Having captured the attention at the World Cup with some scintillating attacking football, France's players are now in unknown territory after raising expectations back home.","Turkey to mull proposals for military re-trial. ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — A lawyers' association says Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has instructed Turkey's justice minister to work with the group on legal arrangements that could lead to the re-trial of hundreds of military officers and others.","Dubai security official says Qatar part of UAE. A top Dubai security official, General Dahi Khalfan, has claimed Qatar as forming part of the United Arab Emirates, adding a new dimension to a dispute with Doha. \"Qatar is an integral part of the UAE,\" the outspoken Khalfan, a longtime critic of the Doha-backed Muslim Brotherhood, wrote on Twitter on Monday, demanding his country \"reclaim\" Qatar.","Montanes, Tursunov advance at Open de Nice. NICE, France (AP) — Defending champion Albert Montanes and fifth-seeded Dmitry Tursunov each won in straight sets Monday to move into the second round of the Open de Nice.","Take That returns and embraces Google Play. New York (AFP) - Take That returned Monday with a new album of 1990s-style boy band pop and, entering a more contemporary debate, snubbed streaming giant Spotify for Google Play.","Lavrov: Ukraine's rebels ready for cease-fire. MOSCOW (AP) — Russia's foreign minister said Thursday that the pro-Moscow separatist rebels in eastern Ukraine are ready for a cease-fire but that Kiev has to initiate the process.","Sea Anemones Found Clinging to Underside of Antarctic Ice. A robot surveying the underside of Antarctica's Ross Ice Shelf has made a startling discovery: Clinging upside-down from crannies in the ice shelf with their tentacles dangling into the icy water were thousands and thousands of tiny sea anemones. Other anemones have been found in Antarctica, but these are the first reported to live in the ice. \"When the robot got down, the engineers noticed the ice looked kind of fuzzy, and when it drifted up to take a look they saw anemones, and knew it was really something special,\" said Frank Rack, science leader of the Antarctic Geological Drilling Program at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Other groups have drilled through Antarctic ice shelves before, he said, \"but nobody looked up.\" [Gallery: Unique Life at Antarctic Deep-Sea Vents]","TSX set to start big earnings week little changed. (Reuters) - Canadian stocks looked set to start a heavy earnings week little changed, as fresh rounds of European sanctions on Russia weighed on investor sentiment. September futures on the S&P TSX index were up 0.03 percent at 0715 ET. The index showed no signs of slowing its ascent into uncharted territory on Friday, with gold miners and banks helping it to another record close and a 1.2 percent gain in a week of all-time highs. Dow Jones Industrial Average e-mini futures were down 0.02 percent at 0715 ET, while S&P 500 e-mini futures were down 0.04 percent. ...","Bitterness in Gaddafi town shows divisions as Libyans go to polls. By Ulf Laessing BANI WALID Libya (Reuters) - Damaged ancient columns, smashed glass display cases and a visitors book from 1999 are pretty much what's left from the historic museum in the Libyan city of Bani Walid. Once a European tourist destination, the museum was occupied by militia fighters from different cities who smeared slogans on its walls when they seized the former bastion of Muammar Gaddafi during heavy fighting in 2011 and 2012. It is difficult to forget it,\" said Abdel Nasser al-Rabasi, a civil servant and candidate for parliament when Libya goes to polls on Wednesday. Officials and diplomats hope the North African country's second vote since the ousting of Gaddafi will help ease political tensions and chaos gripping the major oil producer.","Britain's SFO opens criminal probe into Tesco profits error. London (AFP) - Britain announced a criminal investigation on Wednesday into accounting practices at the country's biggest retailer, Tesco, after the supermarket group overstated its profits by £263 million ($424 million, 333 million euros).","Golf-U.S. PGA Tour CIMB Classic scores. Oct 31 (Infostrada Sports) - Scores from the U.S. PGA Tour CIMB Classic at the par-72 course on Friday in Kuala Lumpur 134 Billy Hurley III (U.S.) 67 67 136 Kevin Streelman (U.S.) 68 68 137 Kevin Na (U.S.) 69 68 Ryan Moore (U.S.) 68 69 Sergio Garcia (Spain) 69 68 Lee Westwood (Britain) 72 65 Noh Seung-Yul (South Korea) 68 69 Jeff Overton (U.S.) 68 69 Kevin Chappell (U.S.) 69 68 138 Jonas Blixt (Sweden) 69 69 Danny Lee (New Zealand) 69 69 139 Angelo Que (Philippines) 67 72 Prom Meesawat (Thailand) 68 71 Bae Sang-Moon (South Korea) 71 68 Brian Stuard (U.S. ...","Asia stocks muted as China data, Wall St weighed. TOKYO (AP) — Asian stock markets were subdued Friday as investors weighed a fall in Chinese inflation against a negative cue from Wall Street.","Thai army ruler Prayuth says has king's formal endorsement. BANGKOK (Reuters) - Coup leader General Prayuth Chan-ocha said on Monday that Thailand's king had formally endorsed his position as head of the military council that will run the country. He also said in a statement he read on television that he would have no choice but to use force if political protests flared up again. He said he aimed for an election as soon as possible but gave no timeframe for a vote. The army imposed martial law on May 20 and then seized power on May 22 after nearly seven months of political turmoil. ...","U.N. launches 2015 Syria appeal, focuses on helping refugees' host nations. By Magdalena Mis LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - The United Nations called on Thursday for more than $8.4 billion to help nearly 18 million people in need in Syria, wrecked by civil war, and across the region in 2015. As well as calling for cash for essential humanitarian aid for millions of Syrians inside and outside their homeland, the annual appeal included for the first time development plans to help neighboring countries hosting Syrian refugees. Launched at a donor meeting in Berlin, the 2015 appeal includes $2. ...","Amazon Indians, victims of war, exhumed in Peru. LIMA, Peru (AP) — Forensic teams have begun the long-delayed exhumation of members of an Amazon tribe that suffered mightily during Peru's 1980-2000 conflict with Shining Path rebels.","Strike shuts Lisbon subway for 12th time this year. LISBON, Portugal (AP) — The Portuguese government's plan to privatize debt-heavy public transport companies is meeting tough opposition from trade unions as Lisbon subway workers walked off the job for the 12th time this year.","Suicide bomber kills 27 militiamen south of Iraqi capital. By Michael Georgy BAGHDAD (Reuters) - A suicide bomber killed at least 27 Shi'ite militiamen outside the Iraqi town of Jurf al-Sakhar on Monday after security forces pushed Islamic State militants out of the area over the weekend, army and police sources said. The attacker, driving a Humvee vehicle packed with explosives and likely stolen from defeated government troops, also wounded 60 Shi'ite Muslim militiamen, who had helped government forces retake the town just south of the capital. ...","Australia coach looking for positive play at WCup. BRISBANE, Australia (AP) — Ange Postecoglou cherishes memories of watching the 1974 World Cup on a small black-and-white TV with his dad, recalling how that shared experience when he was 9 helped transform him into an ardent Australia supporter.","5 workers die in fire at Indian fireworks factory. HYDERABAD, India (AP) — Police say at least five workers have been killed in a blaze in a fireworks factory in southern India.","US announces $212 million in new aid to Palestinians. CAIRO (AP) — US announces $212 million in new aid to Palestinians.","Isles exec wants Olympic exit after Tavares injury. A season-ending injury suffered by star John Tavares while playing at the Sochi Winter Olympics has New York Islanders general manager Garth Snow wanting National Hockey League players to stay home. The 23-year-old Canadian center suffered a torn ligament and torn meniscus in his left knee when struck by Latvian defenseman Arturs Kulda in Canada's 2-1 quarter-final triumph. The Islanders expect Tavares, third top scorer in the NHL, to be back in time for next season's training camp in September. But in losing team captain Tavares, the Islanders had their hopes crushed for making a run at the NHL playoffs after losing 38 of 60 games before the NHL shutdown for the Olympics.","Abbas asks West Bank PM to form unity government. RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) — The official Palestinian news agency WAFA says President Mahmoud Abbas has issued a decree calling on the prime minister of his West Bank-based Palestinian Authority to form a temporary Palestinian unity government.","Quebec school security guard charged in U.S. for $1.3M worth of cocaine. MONTREAL - A senior security guard at an elite Quebec private school is facing criminal charges in Illinois after more than $1 million worth of cocaine was allegedly found in his vehicle.","Colorado River begins flooding Mexican delta. LOS ALGODONES, Mexico (AP) — Colorado River water has begun pouring over a barren delta in northwest Mexico, the result of a landmark agreement between the U.S. and Mexico that is being celebrated Thursday.","Syria talks 'laborious': UN envoy. The latest round of Syria peace talks has made little progress, international mediator Lakhdar Brahimi said Tuesday, calling on the government and the opposition to stop the \"nightmare\" of the civil war. The opposition says the only way to end the three-year conflict is to form a transitional government -- without President Bashar al-Assad. \"The regime is not even budging on this, insisting that they want to talk about one thing,\" said opposition spokesman Louay Safi.","Putin spokesman says Ukraine's east should remain part of the country. President Vladimir Putin's spokesman said on Sunday that areas of eastern Ukraine where pro-Russian separatists are fighting Kiev government forces should remain part of the country and he called the conflict a domestic one. Dmitry Peskov was speaking after Putin was quoted by Russian media as calling for meaningful talks between the separatists and Kiev on issues including \"society's political organisation and statehood in southeastern Ukraine to protect legitimate interests of people living there\". \"This is not a conflict between Russia and Ukraine, this is a domestic Ukrainian conflict,\" Peskov told reporters. Asked if \"Novorossiya\" - the name the rebels give to the region in dispute - should remain part of Ukraine, he said: \"Of course.\" (Reporting by Vladimir Soldatkin;","Fire spurs evacuation of Northern Calif. island, winds bring spike in Southern Calif. danger. ANTIOCH, Calif. - An out-of-control wildfire spurred the evacuation of a small Northern California island and Southern California firefighters attacked several small but potentially dangerous blazes Tuesday as gusty Santa Ana winds swept the region and humidity plunged to vegetation-withering levels.","Wal-Mart gives weak forecast amid higher taxes, tighter credit. (Reuters) - Wal-Mart Stores Inc gave a profit forecast for the year that missed analyst expectations and said sales growth would be hurt by reduced government benefits, higher taxes and tighter credit this year. As a result, Wal-Mart expects net sales this year to grow at the lower end of its previous forecast range of 3 to 5 percent growth, Chief Financial Officer Charles Holley said in a statement on Thursday. Analysts expect about $5.54 a share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. Wal-Mart also reported another quarter of declines in comparable sales at its U.S. stores, its biggest unit, which fell 0.4 percent in the three months through January 31 - which included the crucial holiday season.","Canada slaps fresh sanctions on Russia. Canada on Monday slapped fresh sanctions on two Russian banks and nine officials for Moscow's failing to stop soaring tensions in Ukraine. \"The illegal occupation of Ukraine continues and Russia's military aggression persists. That is why we are imposing sanctions against an additional nine individuals and two entities today,\" Prime Minister Stephen Harper said in a statement. Canada, with the world's third-largest population of ethnic Ukrainians, was the first Western power to recognize Ukraine's independence in 1991.","First road to Canada's Arctic coast breaks ground. Prime Minister Stephen Harper officially broke ground Wednesday on the US$185 million first all-season highway to Canada's Arctic coast, which it is hoped will open up resource development in the far north. The extension of the Dempster Highway is to connect Inuvik to Tuktoyaktuk, a hamlet on the Arctic coast currently accessible only by winter ice road, barge or air. At latitude 70 degrees North, above the Arctic Circle, Tuktoyaktuk (or colloquially Tuk) will become the furthest point on the North American continent connected by land, once construction is completed in 2018. It would also become a crucial disembarkation point for oil exploration in the Beaufort Sea.","US official visits Haiti to help with adoptions. PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — A U.S. State Department official is visiting Haiti to help the impoverished Caribbean nation improve its procedures for adoptions by foreigners.","Israel shells Gaza militants, probes Hamas claim of captured soldier. By Nidal al-Mughrabi and Allyn Fisher-Ilan GAZA/JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israeli tanks shelled militant targets in the Gaza Strip on Monday and a woman died in an air strike after the bloodiest day for both sides of a nearly two-week military offensive that showed no signs of abating despite global calls for a truce. In its push against militants in Shejaia, Israel also suffered its worst losses in the offensive it launched to stop rocket fire from Gaza at Israel, with 13 soldiers killed, for a total of 18 and another two civilian deaths. Israel's army said it had been targeting militants from Gaza's dominant Hamas group, charging they fired rockets from Shejaia and built tunnels and command centers there. The army said it had warned civilians two days earlier to leave The one-day death toll was the highest for the Israeli military's since a 2006 war against Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon.","Indian wrestlers mentor others for major meets. INCHEON, South Korea (AP) — These two Indian wrestlers are informally following the age-old Hindu tradition of teacher and disciple even as they contribute to India's growing stature in the sport.","Kerry visits UAE for talks on Syria. ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is in Abu Dhabi for discussions with Emirati officials on the deteriorating situation in Syria, nuclear talks with Iran and the Middle East peace process.","Pro-Ukraine forces clash with separatists, at least two dead. By Sabina Zawadzki and Gabriela Baczynska KARLOVKA, Ukraine (Reuters) - Armed pro-Russian separatists clashed with Ukrainian self-defense fighters near the eastern city of Donetsk on Friday, two days before the presidential election, and at least two people were killed, a Reuters witness and militia sources said. A leader of a Ukrainian militia group said his men had been on a reconnaissance mission near the rural settlement of Karlovka, about 15 km (10 miles) west of Donetsk, when it ran into a checkpoint manned by heavily-armed separatists. Kiev's pro-Western government hopes the election will stabilize Ukraine after mass street protests toppled Moscow-backed president Viktor Yanukovich in February, but the separatists have vowed to prevent the vote going ahead in eastern towns where they have seized control.","Libya Islamists press advance on key oil region. Islamist fighters clashed with pro-government forces for the second consecutive day Sunday as they pressed an advance on a key oil region in eastern Libya, sources on both sides reported. Separately, at least four Fajr Libya militiamen were killed and 10 wounded in an air strike by pro-government forces near the Ras Jedir border crossing with Tunisia, a military source said. Fajr Libya, an anti-government coalition of Islamist militias, said its men were advancing on Al-Sidra oil terminal in Al-Hilal region, which is also home to the Ras Lanuf and Brega terminals. A news agency linked to the group quoted Islamist commander Tareq Shanina as saying his men \"advanced toward Al-Sidra\" and were coming under air attack from pro-government forces.","Haiti PM defends tenure after forced resignation. PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — The Haitian prime minister who resigned under pressure over the weekend says the country has made significant progress even as the political standoff that led to his ouster continues.","'What would we die for?' Pope asks at mass for Korean martyrs. Pope Francis beatified 124 early Korean martyrs on Saturday at a mass in Seoul and challenged the massive crowd to ask what values they might be willing to die for in an increasingly materialistic, globalised world. Hundreds of thousands of believers, most of them invited church groups from across South Korea. The centrepiece of the pope's five day visit, the beatification mass was the subject of a massive security operation, with bridges, roads and subway stations closed, and police snipers posted on the roofs of overlooking office buildings, which had their windows sealed. According to the Church, around 10,000 Koreans were martyred in the first 100 years after Catholicism was introduced to the peninsula in 1784.","Unchallenged candidate wins Costa Rica vote. SAN JOSE, Costa Rica (AP) — Opposition candidate Luis Solis easily won Sunday's presidential runoff in Costa Rica, an expected result given that his only rival had stopped campaigning a month earlier because he was so far behind in the polls.","Verratti pens new contract at PSG. PARIS (AP) — Marco Verratti has signed a new contract with Paris Saint-Germain, tying him to the club until 2019.","Factbox: British banks warn they'll head south if Scotland quits. Scotland's biggest five banks will relocate to England if Scots vote for independence next week, adding to the economic uncertainties the country faces if it decides to end its 307-year union with the rest of the United Kingdom. The diminished presence of Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds Banking Group, which owns Bank of Scotland and Scottish Widows, could be a significant loss given the sector's importance to the Scottish economy. Three smaller Scottish banks - Clydesdale, which is owned by National Australia Bank, TSB and Tesco Bank, owned by Britain's biggest retailer, - have also said they will relocate in the event of a \"yes\" vote. Reasons for relocation - Moving their registered offices, or legal home, to England will ensure that they retain the Bank of England as a lender of last resort and remain under the control of London-based regulators.","Police clash with students in Kosovo, dozens reported injured. About 30 police officers were injured in the Kosovo capital Pristina on Friday in clashes with students protesting over suspicions of fraud in the state university, police said. A police spokeswoman, Florije Ahmeti, said the clashes began when protesters started throwing rocks and red paint at police, who then fired teargas at the students. One policeman suffered head injury and several others were reported to have their legs or arms broken, she said, adding that more than 30 students were arrested. Students have been protesting for weeks after reports in the Kosovo media accused professors at the university of publishing works in fake online journals in order to get academic credentials.","Israeli MP visits Al-Aqsa site, defying Netanyahu plea. An Israeli far-right lawmaker visited the flashpoint Al-Aqsa mosque compound in east Jerusalem on Sunday, defying calls for restraint from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The hardline member of Netanyahu's rightwing Likud bloc is a leading advocate of the right of Jews to pray on the compound. Longstanding practice at the compound, known to Jews as the Temple Mount, allows visits by other faiths but limits prayer to Muslims. Netanyahu, who has repeatedly said he has no intention of changing the status quo, on Saturday urged the far right to act \"responsibly\" in the face of mounting tensions and almost daily clashes in Jerusalem.","Pakistan: 910 militants killed since June. ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistan's military says it has killed 910 suspected militants and lost 82 soldiers in a major offensive launched in June in a restive tribal region near Afghanistan.","PSG looks for better form despite unbeaten run. PARIS (AP) — Two-time defending champion Paris Saint-Germain will look to Zlatan Ibrahimovic to make an impact again in Wednesday's trip to play Lille. The imposing Sweden striker has scored in his past two games as he regains his form following a heel injury which kept him out of action for nearly two months.","Soldier and civilian killed in clashes in Lebanon's Tripoli. A soldier and a civilian were killed in fighting between Sunni Muslims and Alawites in the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli, bringing the death toll from four days of clashes to 12, security and medical sources said. Tensions between the Sunni Muslim majority and small Alawite community in Lebanon's second city have festered for decades, but the long-standing rivalry has worsened because of the sectarian war raging in neighbouring Syria, where a Sunni-led uprising is seeking to overthrow the Alawite president.","Qayyum Karzai quits Afghan presidential race. KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — A campaign official says the Afghan president's elder brother is dropping out of the April 5 presidential race and throwing his support behind the country's former foreign minister.","EU sharply increases aid for Ebola-hit West Africa. The European Union on Friday announced 140 million euros ($183 million) in funds to fight the deadly Ebola virus in West Africa, a sharp increase over its previous pledge as the outbreak worsens. The EU commission said the aid was necessary to help stop the \"worst ever outbreak of the epidemic\" from ravaging Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia and Nigeria. \"Today the commission is unveiling a 140-million-euro package of funding for all the countries currently affected by the Ebola virus,\" said David Sharrock, spokesman for the Humanitarian Aid Commission, at a briefing. The aid is designed to boost overstretched health services, fund mobile laboratories for detecting the disease, safeguard the provision of food, water and sanitation as well as help the broader economy and strengthen overall public services.","Guinea-Bissau holds presidential runoff vote. BISSAU, Guinea-Bissau (AP) — Long lines formed outside polling stations in Guinea-Bissau for a presidential runoff vote intended to restore constitutional order in a country known for coups and unrest.","Japan has record deficit, lowers growth estimate. TOKYO (AP) — Japan has racked up a record current account deficit in January, and is lowering its economic growth estimate for the October-December quarter.","How Islamic State uses Syria's oil to fuel its advances. By Suleiman Al-Khalidi AMMAN (Reuters) - In an oil field in northeastern Syria, trucks line up daily to load crude sold cheaply by Islamic State militants who have hijacked parts of the country's energy industry in their bid to build a caliphate. Sales at Shadada field, described by an oil trader, are just one example of how the group, which has seized land in war-torn Syria and neighboring Iraq, is creating its own economy through a series of pragmatic trades. ...","Colombia grieves young victims of bus inferno. Fundación (Colombia) (AFP) - Tiny shoes and charred toys are still strewn along the road in Fundacion, Colombia, two days after a tragic bus fire claimed the lives of 33 children. \"We want answers,\" said Humberto Castro, inconsolable after losing four grandchildren in the tragedy. The accident in this town of some 80,000 people occurred midday Sunday, as about 50 children between the ages of three and 12 were being driven home after Pentecostal church event. The panicked, screaming children had no way to escape, and most lost their lives.","Obama warns NKorea against nuclear threats. SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — President Barack Obama warned North Korea on Saturday that the United States \"will not hesitate to use our military might\" to defend allies, as he sought to showcase U.S. power in the region amid China's growing influence and Pyongyang's unpredictable nuclear threats.","Israeli attack on Gaza school 'unjustifiable:' UN chief. San José (AFP) - UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon condemned an Israeli strike on a Gaza school that killed 16 people as \"unjustifiable\" Wednesday, calling for those responsible to be held to account. \"I want to make it clear that the exact location of this elementary school has been communicated to the Israeli military authorities 17 times, as recently as last night, just a few hours before this attack,\" he said.","TSX may open higher as China data reassures investors. (Reuters) - Canadian stocks were set for a higher open on Wednesday as better-than-expected economic growth in China reassured investors. June futures on Canada's main index, the S&P TSX index, were up 0.32 percent at 0715 ET. Data on foreign securities bought by Canadians and BoC rate decision is due at 0830 ET and 1000 ET respectively. The index edged higher on Tuesday after upbeat U.S. economic data and corporate results helped offset worries about increasing instability in Ukraine and a sharp decline in gold-mining shares. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures were up 0. ...","Pineda plans solo album, but not leaving Journey. MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Arnel Pineda says he's been putting together an album of his own compositions in his own voice to release this year, but he quashed rumors that he's gearing up to leave the American rock band Journey.","Syrian rebels free hundreds in attack on prison. BEIRUT (AP) — A suicide bomber blew himself up at the gates of a Syrian prison Thursday and rebels stormed in behind him, freeing hundreds of inmates as part of an offensive aimed at capturing key government symbols around the northern city of Aleppo.","India 224 for 3 at lunch, trail Australia by 306. India were 224 for three at lunch on the third day of the third Test to trail Australia by 306 runs in Melbourne on Sunday.","Indonesia shakes up corruption-tainted energy ministry. By Wilda Asmarini JAKARTA (Reuters) - Indonesia's new energy minister on Tuesday launched a major shakeup of the graft-tainted ministry, requiring all top directors to re-apply for their jobs. Oil Minister Sudirman Said took office last month and pledged to repair the image of his ministry, which has been rocked by a series of high-profile corruption scandals that implicated several top oil officials. Said dismissed his director general of oil and gas last week after presidential advisers gave the unit a poor review. \"Building a reputation and public trust is our homework,\" Said told ...","Fighter jets escort Toronto flight after alleged threat. A flight carrying Canadians on vacation to Panama was turned around and escorted back to Toronto by two fighter jets Friday after an unruly passenger made threats against the aircraft. Flight 772 carrying 181 passengers and six crew turned around approximately 45 minutes into the flight as it passed over West Virginia, a spokeswoman for the Sunwing airline told AFP. Captain Jennifer Stadnyk at North American Aerospace Defense Command said two F16 fighter jets were diverted to escort the jetliner back to Toronto, where it landed safely and the passenger was arrested by police. Constable Lilly Fitzpatrick of the Peel Regional Police said a 25-year-old Canadian man was taken into custody for questioning while a tactical unit \"conducted a thorough search of the plane on the tarmac.\"","Sixteen arrested after clashes at Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa. Israeli police arrested 16 Palestinians Sunday as they clashed with demonstrators at the Al-Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem, a sensitive holy site that is frequently the scene of tensions. \"This morning, after the site was opened for visitors and tourists, the suspects threw rocks at the police, wounding two of them,\" police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld told AFP. The mosque compound in Jerusalem's Old City -- built on the holiest site in Judaism and considered the third holiest in Islam -- has over the past week seen clashes between Muslim protesters and Israeli police. Dozens of Palestinians were wounded Wednesday in clashes with police after Jewish visitors were allowed onto the compound, which is known to Jews as the Temple Mount -- the site where the biblical first and second temples stood.","Beware of pushing Iran too far, says UK politician. The West should not push Iran too far in talks over the Islamic republic's nuclear ambitions because failing to get a deal could bolster hardliners in Tehran, a former British foreign minister warned on Friday. But Jack Straw told the BBC he was \"optimistic\", on returning to London from Iran where he led a British delegation including former finance minister Norman Lamont, Conservative member of parliament Ben Wallace and Labour lawmaker Jeremy Corbyn. In an interim deal reached in Geneva on November 24, Iran agreed with world powers to freeze some of its nuclear program as the first step towards a long-term deal that many hope could resolve a dispute over its nuclear ambitions.","GM to start compensating ignition switch victims: CEO Barra. General Motors Co expects to begin processing victims' claims related to faulty ignition switches by Aug. 1, Chief Executive Officer Mary Barra will tell the U.S. Congress on Wednesday. In prepared testimony to be delivered to the House of Representatives Energy and Commerce Committee, Barra also will say that Kenneth Feinberg, who is overseeing the creation of a compensation fund, will have \"full authority to establish eligibility criteria for victims and determine compensation levels.\" The defective ignition switches in older model Chevrolet Cobalts, Saturn Ions and other GM models have been linked to at least 13 deaths. Barra testified to the panel in early April and was unable to answer many of the lawmakers' questions. She promised to come back after the company's internal investigation was completed.","Tunisia urges foreign investors to join democratic 'startup'. Tunisia on Monday urged foreign investment in its democratic \"startup\", three years after the country set the ball rolling on the Arab Spring uprisings that swept away longtime dictators. \"To invest in Tunisia, in this startup, is to invest in democracy,\" Prime Minister Mehdi Jomaa told an international investment conference in Tunis. His visiting French counterpart, Manuel Valls, backed the appeal. \"At a time when chaos threatens Libya, when barbarity is rampant in Iraq and Syria, Tunisia needs all our support to continue on the path of democracy,\" he told participants.","Zenit fires coach Luciano Spalletti after poor run. MOSCOW (AP) — Zenit St. Petersburg fired coach Luciano Spalletti on Tuesday following a poor run of form despite having turned the Russian club into a consistent Champions League team.","U.S. judge orders ExxonMobil produce documents on Arkansas spill. A U.S. federal judge has denied ExxonMobil Corp's bid to dismiss a government lawsuit and instead ordered the oil giant to hand over documents going back decades on a pipeline that ruptured last year and inundated an Arkansas town with oil. U.S. District Judge Kristine Baker ruled on Tuesday the company must hand over requested information on the entire 850-mile (1,370-km) Pegasus pipeline, which spilled about 5,000 barrels of crude oil in a residential neighborhood in Mayflower, Arkansas, in March 2013. She also said ExxonMobil should speed up the handover of documents sought by the state's attorney general and the U.S. Department of Justice, which brought the case, and set a deadline of July 10. On Monday, Baker rejected the oil company's motion to drop the suit brought by the state and federal government.","Four close to U.S. Ebola patient quarantined in Dallas apartment. By Lisa Maria Garza DALLAS (Reuters) - Four people close to the first person diagnosed with Ebola in the United States were quarantined in a Dallas apartment where sheets and other items used by the man were sealed in plastic bags as health officials widened their search for others who had direct or indirect contact with him. In Liberia, an American freelance television cameraman working for NBC News in Liberia has contracted Ebola, the fifth U.S. citizen known to be infected with the deadly virus that has killed at least 3,300 people in the current outbreak in West Africa. ...","Glasgow mourns six killed by runaway lorry. London (United Kingdom) (AFP) - Flags were flown at half mast above Scottish government buildings on Tuesday to remember six people killed when an out-of-control lorry ploughed into Christmas shoppers in Glasgow.","Exclusive: Ally targets March IPO to raise up to $4.5 billion, government exit. Ally Financial Inc is hoping for an initial public offering of as much as $4.5 billion next month, sources familiar with the matter said, in a deal that would allow the U.S. government to make a profit on its crisis-era bailout of the auto lender. Only the U.S. Treasury Department, which owns 37 percent of the former General Motors Co unit, is expected to sell stock in the IPO. Both the government and Ally are hoping it would be able to sell the stake in one go, which would translate to a roughly $4.5 billion IPO at the valuations being considered, the sources said. At the very least, Ally is expecting the U.S. government will be able to sell $2 billion worth of stock in the IPO, which is roughly the money that the company still owes Treasury.","Lloyds not off hook yet after $370 million Libor fines. By Matt Scuffham and Huw Jones LONDON (Reuters) - Lloyds Banking Group could face further punishment after agreeing to pay fines totaling $370 million for its part in a global interest rate rigging scandal and for attempting to manipulate fees for a government lending scheme to help banks. This special liquidity scheme (SLS), launched in 2008, was an attempt to free up banks' balance sheets and boost confidence in the financial system. Bank of England Governor Mark Carney said in a July 15 letter to Lloyds' chairman Norman Blackwell the attempted manipulation could lead to criminal action against those involved. He said Britain's financial regulator would consider whether further action should be taken against Lloyds or the individuals involved.","DEFENDING CHAMPION NOVAK DJOKOVIC KNOCKED OUT OF THE AUSTRALIAN OPEN TENNIS BY STANISLAS WAWRINKA. ","Mom in UK admits manslaughter of disabled children. LONDON (AP) — A British court on Monday dropped murder charges against a woman who killed her three severely disabled children after accepting manslaughter pleas.","Guinea closes land borders with Liberia, S. Leone over Ebola fears. Conakry (AFP) - Guinea on Saturday said it was closing its land borders with Liberia and Sierra Leone in a bid to halt the spread of the deadly Ebola virus which has claimed hundreds of lives in the three west African countries.","Cuban doctor found dead in Brazil. SAO PAULO (AP) — The Health Ministry says a Cuban doctor sent to work in impoverished areas apparently committed suicide in Brazil's capital.","Photographer killed covering north Iraq clashes. Kirkuk (Iraq) (AFP) - A news photographer was killed while covering fighting between Kurdish security forces and jihadists in northern Iraq on Thursday, medical and security sources said. Kamran Najm Ibrahim died and 14 Kurdish security personnel were wounded in the clashes west of the oil city of Kirkuk, where the militants have seized a string of mainly Sunni Arab towns in the ethnically divided province. Ibrahim, a well-known freelance photographer, was the first journalist to lose his life covering a major offensive spearheaded by jihadist group the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, which began late on Monday. The militants have overrun a large swathe of northern and north-central Iraq, including second city Mosul.","Hamas member killed in clashes with Israeli troops. JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel's military says a Palestinian was shot dead when he threw a grenade at forces carrying out an arrest raid hours after the discovery of the bodies of three Israeli teenagers who went missing over two weeks ago.","Western-backed Syrian opposition re-elects Jarba as leader. ISTANBUL (Reuters) - The Western-backed Syrian opposition re-elected Ahmad al-Jarba as its leader for a second 6-month term on Sunday, a senior coalition member told Reuters. Jarba secured 65 votes to former Syrian prime minister Riyad Hijab's 52, the source said. (This story was refiled to correct day in lead paragraph to Sunday) (Reporting by Dasha Afanasieva; Editing by Kevin Liffey)","Man guilty in semi-secret British terror trial. LONDON (AP) — A Turkish-born law student has been found guilty in Britain of a terrorism-related offense after a rare semi-secret trial.","Morgan Stanley sells Zenith parent company stake. LONDON (Reuters) - Morgan Stanley has sold its majority stake in Accelerate Acquisitions, the parent company of British car provider Zenith, to UK private equity fund HgCapital for 3.8 times its original investment. Morgan Stanley said on Thursday that the sale by its private equity arm came four years after its initial investment in the car fleet manager. (Reporting By Freya Berry. Editing by Chris Vellacott)","Russia says wants to send second aid convoy to east Ukraine. Russia wants to send a second humanitarian aid convoy to eastern Ukraine in the near future, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Monday after Kiev and the West criticized Moscow for sending the first cargo without official permission. \"We want to reach an agreement on all conditions for delivering a second convoy by the same route... in the coming days.\" Lavrov also said damage to civilian infrastructure in east Ukraine, where Kiev is fighting a pro-Russian rebellion, cannot all be put down to errors or chance.","Canada FM concerned about Egypt's Brotherhood. Canada on Thursday expressed concern about the Muslim Brotherhood, the target of a relentless crackdown by Egypt's military-installed authorities since the army ousted Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in July. \"Canada has taken an aggressive stand when it comes to listings (of terror groups)... but there is a certain process,\" Canadian Foreign Minister John Baird said at a news conference in Cairo. Egypt's authorities in December declared the Brotherhood a \"terrorist organisation\", and Saudi Arabia followed suit last month. Since Morsi's removal, Egypt has cracked down brutally on the movement, with more than 1,400 people killed and thousands imprisoned, including the Brotherhood's top leadership.","Kidnapped Italian priests and Canadian nun freed in Cameroon. By Ann Mereille Nzouankeu YAOUNDE (Reuters) - Two Italian priests and a Canadian nun kidnapped in northern Cameroon nearly two months ago by suspected Boko Haram gunmen were released on Sunday, smiling and apparently in good health as they arrived in the capital. Giampaolo Marta and Gianantonio Allegri, missionaries from the diocese of Vicenza in northeast Italy, and Canadian Gilberte Bissiere were seized on the night of April 4 from the parish of Maroua, close to the border with Nigeria. There has been no claim of responsibility for their kidnapping but Cameroonian officials have pointed the finger at the Nigerian Islamist group Boko Haram, which has become active in a region that it had for some time used as a logistical base.","Co-op group CEO quits troubled mutual society. LONDON (AP) — The chief executive of Co-operative Group, Euan Sutherland, has resigned, deeming the troubled mutual society as being ungovernable.","Crimea's return to Russia leaves Tatars fearful of future. By Mike Collett-White BELOGORSK, Ukraine (Reuters) - Among the voices drowned out by victory celebrations across Crimea as it voted to leave Ukraine and join Russia were those of the Tatars, a minority group for whom the prospect of a return to Moscow rule brings only fear and uncertainty. The Sunni Muslims, who are of Turkic origin, consider Crimea their home, and their deportation to Central Asia by Soviet forces during World War Two and earlier suppression by Josef Stalin meant they were far more comfortable with Ukraine. Now they face being dragged into modern-day Russia against their will, despite their boycott of Sunday's referendum in which 97 percent of voters in the Russian-majority region were said to have rejected Kiev. Tatars account for 12 percent of the Black Sea peninsula's population of two million people and their protest was not enough to change the outcome of a vote that has brought East-West relations to their lowest ebb since the Cold War.","After 32 years, Algeria seeks revenge vs. Germany. MANGARATIBA, Brazil (AP) — Thirty-two years is a long time to wait for revenge.","Pope Francis 'dismayed' by violence and suffering in Iraq. Pope Francis expressed \"dismay and disbelief\" on Sunday over the violence in Iraq, calling for an \"effective political solution\" to a crisis which has forced thousands to flee their homes. Giving the traditional Angelus prayer in St Peter's Square at the Vatican, the head of the Roman Catholic Church renewed his call for prayer and assistance for those hit by the conflict. \"The news reports coming from Iraq leave us in dismay and disbelief: thousands of people, including many Christians, driven from their homes in a brutal manner; Hundreds of thousands of people have fled their homes in northern Iraq due to the rapid advance of jihadists from the Islamic State (IS).","Defense Ministry: 11 dead in Tunisia plane crash. TUNIS, Tunisia (AP) — A civilian aircraft crashed at dawn Friday in a field near Tunisia's capital, killing all 11 people on board, the defense ministry said.","Canada beef, pork production seen below USDA official estimates: attache. (Reuters) - Following are selected highlights from a report issued by a U.S. Department of Agriculture attache in Ottawa: \"Beef production is expected to decline in 2014. The new Post estimate is 1,010,000 metric tons (MT), or 10,000 MT below the USDA estimate and 25,000 MT below the anticipated production level for 2013. \"The new hog slaughter estimate for 2014 is 20,900,000 head, or 500,000 head below the official USDA estimate, and only marginally lower than in 2013.","Deadly ice and snow storm bears down on U.S. South. By Colleen Jenkins WINSTON-SALEM, North Carolina (Reuters) - A major winter storm that has caused at least six deaths unfurled across much of the U.S. South on Tuesday, and forecasters warned that ice could cripple road travel and bring widespread power outages in coming days. The storm could be \"a catastrophic event\" of \"historical proportions,\" the National Weather Service office in Peachtree City, Georgia, said of the latest blast of wintry weather to hit the region. Conditions were expected to worsen overnight, with up to an inch of ice predicted in parts of Georgia and central South Carolina. Two to 6 inches of snow fell in north Georgia on Tuesday, with another 5 to 9 inches expected by Thursday morning, said National Weather Service meteorologist Dan Darbe.","Earthquake felt across large parts of southern Italy. An earthquake shook southern Italy on Monday, sending residents onto the streets, but there were no immediate reports of injuries or serious damage. The quake, measured by the U.S. Geological Survey at a magnitude of 4.4 and by Italian scientists at 4.2, was felt in the densely populated cities of Naples, Isernia and Benevento. Italy's civil protection agency said it was looking into the extent of possible injuries and damage. The temblor hit the same rural area between the Campania and Molise regions where a 5.2 magnitude quake struck on December 29.","Thailand's army declares martial law. BANGKOK (AP) — Thailand's army declared martial law in a surprise announcement in Bangkok before dawn on Tuesday, intensifying the turbulent nation's deepening political crisis. The military, however, denied a coup d'etat was underway.","Support for Scotland staying in United Kingdom at 53 percent: Ipsos. LONDON (Reuters) - Supporters of keeping Scotland within the United Kingdom held a 6 percentage-point lead in a final independence opinion poll which was published as voters were taking part in the referendum on whether Scotland should break the 307-year-old union. The Ipsos Mori poll for the London Evening Standard newspaper put support for staying within the UK at 53 percent, with support for independence at 47 percent. It said four percent of Scots who were certain to vote were still undecided. ...","Oil back above $100 on tighter supply outlook. The price of oil bounced back comfortably above $100 a barrel Wednesday on expectations of tighter supplies and record imports of crude by China, the world's second-largest oil consumer.","Some sponsors compose Olympians' tweets. SOCHI, Russia (AP) — Between photos and insights about their Olympic experience, some Olympians are turning over their social media accounts to sponsors, agreeing to quotas of postings on Twitter and Facebook and letting other people send commercial messages in their name.","Smith's ton earns Australia 93-run win in 1st ODI. SHARJAH, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Steven Smith's maiden century in limited-overs cricket spurred Australia to a convincing 93-run victory in the first one-day international against Pakistan on Tuesday.","Officials: Pot haul seized on Caribbean cargo ship. SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — U.S. authorities say they have seized a haul of marijuana from a Guyana-flagged cargo ship in the Caribbean south of Puerto Rico.","Spain test no dead rubber, insists Aussie coach. Australia manager Ange Postecoglou believes his side have plenty to prove against dethroned world champions Spain on Monday despite both sides having already been eliminated from the World Cup. In contrast to Spain's disastrous defence of their title, Australia come into the game having been encouraged by their performances despite losing to Chile and the Netherlands in their opening two games. \"I have already said that this is our fourth World Cup and we've only won two World Cup games, so if we are going to make an effort to improve and become the nation we want to become we need to start winning games at this level.","Rights group says Kuwait strips 33 of nationality. KUWAIT CITY (AP) — Human Rights Watch says Kuwait has stripped citizenship from 33 people this year, including at least three who were vocal critics of the government.","Satellite spots 122 objects in Malaysia jet search. KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — A French satellite scanning the Indian Ocean for remnants of a missing jetliner found a possible plane debris field containing 122 objects, a top Malaysian official said Wednesday, calling it \"the most credible lead that we have.\"","Ukraine debt insurance costs fall on IMF deal expectations. Ukraine debt insurance costs fell below the key 1,000 basis point level for the first time in a month on Wednesday on expectations of an imminent IMF deal. The International Monetary Fund is expected to announce a bailout package for Ukraine of about $15 billion as early as Thursday, the Financial Times said, citing officials involved in the negotiations. Ukraine's five-year credit default swaps fell 43 basis points from Tuesday's close to a one-month low of 970 basis points, according to Markit, below the 1,000 level that indicates distressed debt.","Bank of Canada to keep rates steady next week; hike in third quarter 2015. By Louise Egan OTTAWA (Reuters) - The Bank of Canada is unlikely to raise interest rates until the third quarter of 2015, possibly later than the U.S. central bank, and will stick to a staunchly neutral stance in its policy statement next week, a Reuters poll of analysts showed on Wednesday. The Canadian central bank may forecast a slightly higher profile for inflation in its quarterly Monetary Policy Report (MPR) on April 16, and it may sound upbeat about the positive effects on Canada of a strengthening U.S. economy. None of the 36 analysts surveyed expected an interest rate move next week. With policy moves a long way off, markets will watch for any changes to the bank's quarterly projections, or, in particular, in its tone on inflation, as well as its views on gross domestic product growth in Canada and the United States.","Reed ready to let emotions fly in World Match Play. ASH, England (AP) — With his fist-pumping, spiky exchanges with spectators and brilliant play on the course, Patrick Reed was the standout American player in every sense in the Ryder Cup at Gleneagles.","Nigeria 'willing to talk' to Boko Haram over missing girls. Nigeria on Tuesday said it was willing to talk to Boko Haram militants, as the United States sent its top Africa general for talks on the rescue mission of more than 200 kidnapped schoolgirls. The governor of Nigeria's northeastern Borno state, Kashim Shettima, confirmed that all of the girls shown in the latest video released by the militant Islamist group had been identified as students in the school attacked in Chibok last month. President Goodluck Jonathan on Tuesday requested a six-month extension to the state of emergency declared in Borno and two neighbouring states a year ago because of the \\\\\"daunting\\\\\" security situation. Special duties minister Taminu Turaki restated the Nigerian government's position that it was open to negotiations on ending Boko Haram's increasingly bloody five-year insurgency.","Ferrari takes top off with 458 Speciale A. PARIS (AP) — The top draw at Ferrari's stand at the Paris Motor Show is its 458 Speciale A - 'A' for Aperta, which means 'open' in Italian. It's what's otherwise known as a spider, with an open top to give drivers the ultimate Ferrari driving experience.","Fragile Israel-Hamas humanitarian truces takes effect. Israel tank fire killed three people in Gaza on Thursday, just minutes before a five-hour humanitarian ceasefire took effect, bringing a temporary reprieve from nine days of fighting. Egypt meanwhile continued its efforts to broker a lasting truce but there seemed little appetite from both sides to end their confrontation, with Gaza militants firing off more rockets into the Jewish state during the night and Israel hitting back with air strikes. \"We are holding our fire until 3:00 pm (1200 GMT) today in order to enable a humanitarian window in Gaza.","Battle-hit Ukraine village picks up the pieces. HRABSKE, Ukraine (AP) — Alexander Bespalko and his son lifted parts from a burned-out Ukrainian armored personnel carrier in a village ravaged by the past week's battles. With homes destroyed and livelihoods lost, residents in the village of Hrabske must scrape for a living and at least scrap metal is reliable — with wrecked tanks, cars and APCs everywhere.","Conditions 'ripe' for peace in northern Mali, says Algeria. Armed groups from northern Mali are ready to launch peace talks with Bamako to put an end to the instability plaguing the region, Algerian Foreign Minister Ramtane Lamamra said Monday. His comments, at a meeting of foreign ministers from six Sahel countries, came after three armed movements from northern Mali announced in Algiers that they were ready to work for peace with the central government. \"The conditions are increasingly ripe for progress towards peace,\" Lamamara said, adding that there was a \"very clear desire among the senior leaders of the movements in northern Mali to work for peace.\" Algeria, which has a long porous border with Mali criss-crossed by jihadist movements, is helping to mediate in the conflict affecting its southern neighbour.","Emirates police make arrest in American's stabbing. ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The United Arab Emirates' interior minister said Thursday that police have arrested a female suspect in the stabbing death of an American schoolteacher in the country's capital and revealed that the attacker also planted a bomb outside the home of another American.","Suicide bomber kills 8 in Afghan capital. KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — A suicide bomber attacked an air force bus in Afghanistan's capital early Wednesday, killing eight military personnel and wounding another 13, security officials said.","Iraq militants seize village as 18 killed in nationwide attacks. Kirkuk (Iraq) (AFP) - Militants seized a village in north Iraq on Friday as attacks nationwide killed 18 people, including 10 policemen, amid a surge in bloodshed ahead of parliamentary elections. The latest unrest comes barely a week before campaigning begins for the April 30 election due to take place as Iraq grapples with its worst protracted bloodletting since a brutal 2006-07 Sunni-Shiite sectarian war in which tens of thousands of people were killed. The unrest has been primarily driven by anger in the minority Sunni Arab community, which alleges discrimination at the hands of the Shiite-led government and security forces, as well as by the civil war in neighbouring Syria. Shootings and bombings on Friday mostly took place in Sunni-majority parts of northern and western Iraq, killing 18 people and wounding 55, security and medical officials said.","Calls for Roche to cut price of breast cancer drugs. Pharmaceutical giant Roche was on Wednesday urged to cut the cost of a groundbreaking breast cancer drug that the NHS is set to phase out in 2016. NHS watchdog NICE recommended that the use of trastuzumab emtansine be stopped due to its £90,000 cost, even though it can add months of life to women dying of breast cancer. It is currently available in England under the Cancer Drugs Fund, but this will end in 2016. The drug, which attacks cancerous cells from within thus avoiding many of the side effects of chemotherapy, could potentially help a fifth of breast cancer sufferers.","U.N. Security Council declares Ebola threat to peace and security. UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The U.N. Security Council on Thursday declared the Ebola outbreak in Africa a \"threat to international peace and security\" and called on all states to provide urgent resources and assistance to help tackle the crisis. The 15-member body unanimously adopted a resolution that also calls on states \"to lift general travel and border restrictions, imposed as a result of the Ebola outbreak, and that contribute to the further isolation of the affected countries and undermine their efforts to respond.\" (Reporting by Michelle Nichols; Editing by James Dalgleish)","Report: 11 injured in subway explosion near Seoul. SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea's Yonhap news agency says an explosion at a subway station south of Seoul has left 11 people injured.","Google's contact lens glucose monitor prototype could end finger pricks for diabetics. MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. - Google unveiled Thursday a contact lens that monitors glucose levels in tears, a potential reprieve for millions of diabetics who have to jab their fingers to draw their own blood as many as 10 times a day.","US stocks move lower on earnings, Chinese data. NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. financial markets were lower in mid-morning trading Tuesday, hurt by disappointing earnings results out of retail giant Target as well as economic data that appeared to show the Chinese economy slowing down.","Gaza attacks triggers Israeli exodus from border. JERUSALEM (AP) — Tens of thousands of Israelis have fled their homes in communities along the border with the Gaza Strip, reflecting growing fear and frustration as the war with Hamas drags on with no end in sight.","Guardiola: won't change style at Bayern. MUNICH (AP) — Pep Guardiola is insisting he won't change his football philosophy after Bayern Munich's Champions League exit raised questions over his possession-heavy strategy. He says it's up to the club to decide whether he's the right coach.","Biden urges Russia to uphold east Ukraine truce. KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — U.S. Vice President Joe Biden criticized Russia on Friday for its role in eastern Ukraine, urging Moscow to uphold a cease-fire in the war-torn region as he visited Kiev on the anniversary of the start of the country's anti-government protests.","Maliki faces struggle to secure third term as Iraqi PM. By Ned Parker and Raheem Salman BAGHDAD (Reuters) - A casual wave to fellow diners in a Baghdad restaurant in 2008 sealed Nouri al-Maliki's reputation as the man who restored a degree of normality to a city that civil war had nearly destroyed. \"People in their offices with air conditioners over their heads don't feel their discomfort.\" The highest levels of violence since Maliki took on the militias in 2008 are undermining his message. A year-long offensive by al-Qaeda inspired Sunni militants is moving ever closer to the capital and Shi'ite militia, often teamed with security forces, are taking revenge on Sunni communities, diminishing the stature of Maliki's Shi'ite-led government. In March alone 180 civilians were killed and 477 were wounded in Baghdad among more than 2,000 killed across Iraq so far this year.","Albania seizes 2 tons of marijuana. TIRANA, Albania (AP) — Albanian authorities say they have seized 2 metric tons of marijuana hidden in a rocky part of a bay and destined for Greece or Italy.","Kerry says U.S., Russia agree to share more intelligence on Islamic State. PARIS (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Tuesday that Russia and the United States had agreed to share more intelligence regarding the fight against Islamic State insurgents. He spoke after a meeting in Paris with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, who said that as many 500 fighters from Russia may have joined the ultra-radical militant group. (Reporting by Matt Spetalnick; Writing By Nicholas Vinocur; Editing by Mark Heinrich)","Burkina Faso leader refuses to quit after day of violence. Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso) (AFP) - Burkina Faso's President Blaise Compaore on Thursday refused to give up power but called off a state of emergency imposed after a violent uprising against his 27-year rule that saw parliament set ablaze.","Mob attacks alleged gays in Nigerian capital. ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — Human rights activists say a mob dragged men accused of being homosexuals from their homes in the Nigerian capital and beat them up with wooden clubs and iron bars.","Chaves wins Tour de Suisse 8th stage, Martin leads. VERBIER, Switzerland (AP) — Johan Chaves of Colombia held off Roman Kreuziger and Bauke Mollema to win the mountainous eighth stage of the Tour de Suisse on Saturday as Tony Martin moved closer to the overall victory.","International court weighs Kenya president's case. AMSTERDAM (AP) — Prosecutors at the International Criminal Court have asked judges not to reject their faltering case against Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta entirely, despite acknowledging they do not have enough evidence to convict him.","Vice-principal of South Korea school in ferry disaster commits suicide. By Jungmin Jang and Ju-min Park MOKPO/JINDO, South Korea (Reuters) - The vice-principal of a South Korean high school who accompanied hundreds of pupils on what turned out to be a disastrous ferry trip has committed suicide, police said on Friday, as hopes faded of finding any of the 268 missing passengers alive. Kang Min-gyu, 52, had been missing since Thursday.","Belgian police probe death of famed freeloader. BRUSSELS (AP) — Belgian authorities are investigating the death of an unrepentant gastronomic freeloader as a possible murder.","Britain bans 'herbal high' khat. Britain on Tuesday became the latest nation to formally outlaw the herbal stimulant khat, the bushy leaf chewed by many Somalis, Yemenis, Kenyans and Ethiopians. Under a new law that came into effect on Tuesday, khat is now a \"class C drug\", making possession punishable by up to two years in jail and supply and production punishable by up to 14 years. British Prime Minister David Cameron said in an article for the Somali website Hiraan Online that the move would protect \"vulnerable members of society.\" \"What is most concerning is khat's social impact,\" he wrote, adding that it had been blamed for \"family breakdown, unemployment, debt and crime links to the global illicit drugs trade.\"","FTSE drops at open. London (AFP) - London equities fell at the start of trading on Tuesday after a mixed session earlier in Asia.","Armed tribesmen kill 4 soldiers in Yemen. SANAA, Yemen (AP) — Yemeni officials say armed tribesmen have killed four soldiers protecting an oil pipeline, in another blow to one of the country's last sources of revenue.","BNP Paribas chairman Prot to leave bank, board meets Friday: sources. PARIS (Reuters) - Baudouin Prot, Chairman of BNP Paribas since 2011, is to leave the French bank and the board is due to meet on Friday to choose a successor, two sources close to the situation said on Wednesday. One of the sources said Jean Lemierre, an adviser to the bank since 2008 who was a key negotiator with U.S. authorities over its $8.9 billion fine this year for sanctions busting, is a potential successor. \"It was a personal decision,\" said a second source of Prot's move, confirming recent press reports. \"After more than 30 years with the bank, he wants to take a step back. ...","Greek FM jet makes safe unscheduled landing. ATHENS, Greece (AP) — A government jet carrying the Greek foreign minister to Italy has made a safe unscheduled landing in northern Greece due to a crack in a cockpit window.","Canada labor productivity rises 1.8 percent in second quarter. OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canadian labor productivity in the second quarter grew 1.8 percent from the first quarter as businesses boosted their output at a much faster pace, Statistics Canada said on Friday. Market analysts had expected productivity to rise by 1.6 percent. Statistics Canada said the number of hours declined, also contributing to productivity growth. (Reporting by David Ljunggren and Randall Palmer; Editing by Bernadette Baum)","U.N. documents new war crimes in Syria for future prosecution. By Stephanie Nebehay GENEVA (Reuters) - U.N. war crimes experts have documented more torture and killings by both sides in Syria and are confident they can build a case that could be taken up by the International Criminal Court, a leading member of the team said on Friday. They are drawing up a fourth confidential list of suspects, either individuals or units linked to crimes committed since July, Karen Koning AbuZayd, an American expert serving on an independent commission of inquiry set up by the United Nations in 2011, said in an interview. U.N. human rights chief Navi Pillay said in December that evidence collected by the investigators implicates President Bashar al-Assad, later denying that she had direct knowledge of their secret lists.","Greek minister says failure to elect president would hurt 2015 growth. ATHENS (Reuters) - Greece's finance minister has said a failure by parliament to elect a president by the end of the month will lead to lower growth next year. Prime Minister Antonis Samaras has brought forward the presidential election by two months in a bid to end political uncertainty as Greece recovers from a six-year economic crisis. But if the government's candidate does not win, an early parliamentary election will be called. ...","China approves of Norwegian leaders not meeting Dalai Lama. China's foreign ministry said on Monday that it approved of a decision by Norway's prime minister and foreign minister not to meet exiled Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama when he visits next month. The Dalai Lama is scheduled to visit Norway from May 7 to May 9 at the invitation of civil groups in Oslo, in part to celebrate the 25th anniversary of his Nobel Peace Prize. While the prime minister and foreign minister have not accepted invitations to meet him, the Dalai Lama is scheduled to be in parliament and meet some members, including those on a \"Tibet Committee\". \"If you say that the Norwegian government previously viewed the Dalai Lama as a good friend, then I can tell you that this policy was wrong.","Many Savile victims initially ignored or laughed at: NSPCC. Many of the young people abused by Jimmy Savile were laughed at or ignored when they first spoke out, a new report from the NSPCC said Monday. Others were told they were \"lucky someone like Savile had paid them attention\" or simply stayed silent because they did not think anyone would listen to their claims, the NSPCC added. A police investigation found last year that the TV and radio presenter, who died in 2011 aged 84, was a predatory sex offender who abused children as young as eight over more than 50 years. An inquiry by former senior judge Dame Janet Smith due later this year is reportedly set to say BBC staff turned a blind eye to sexual abuse by Savile of up to 1,000 girls and boys on its premises.","Zenit extends lead at top of Russian league. MOSCOW (AP) — Zenit St. Petersburg extended its lead at the top of the Russian Premier League to four points on Sunday with a 5-0 thrashing of Mordovia Saransk.","US envoy says no sign North Korea wants to reopen talks. BEIJING (AP) — The chief U.S. envoy for North Korea says that, despite Pyongyang's freeing three American captives, the hardline communist state's leadership appears no closer to reopening a dialogue with the outside.","Former guerrilla leads in final El Salvador presidential vote recount. A former Marxist guerrilla leader held a narrow lead in El Salvador's presidential election, final results showed on Thursday, but officials held back from declaring him the winner as his right-wing rival wants the vote annulled. Salvador Sanchez Ceren of the ruling Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN), which as a militant group fought a string of U.S.-backed governments in the 1980-92 civil war, won 50.11 percent support in Sunday's vote, results showed. Challenger Norman Quijano, the 67-year-old former mayor of San Salvador and candidate of the right-wing Nationalist Republican Alliance (Arena) party, had 49.89 percent support. Sanchez Ceren's beat Quijano by 6,364 votes.","Albania: tons of drugs seized from lawless village. LAZARAT, Albania (AP) — A five-day raid on a lawless southern Albanian village which netted huge amounts of marijuana and heavy weapons shows the government's determination to tackle drug gangs, the prime minister said Friday.","Peng beats Bencic to reach US Open semis. NEW YORK (AP) — Unseeded Peng Shuai of China beat 17-year-old Belinda Bencic 6-2, 6-1 in the U.S. Open on Tuesday to reach her first Grand Slam semifinal.","How the 'Of Mice and Men' broadcast happened. NEW YORK (AP) — There were tears and hugs in July after the final performance of the Broadway run of \"Of Mice and Men.\" Then everyone came back two days later to do it all over again.","'Nymphomaniac' film is banned in Turkey. ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkey's film board has banned the screening of director Lars von Trier's movie \"Nymphomaniac Volume 1\" at cinemas in the country because of the film's sex scenes.","Russia's Proton-M rocket launch fails. MOSCOW (AP) — Russia's Proton-M booster rocket has failed and broken apart during a test launch, just months after a shake-up in the country's space agency that was meant to boost its dented image.","It's finally here! Brazil World Cup begins. SAO PAULO (AP) — \"Tudo bem\" — all good — as the Brazilians like to say.","Bombs, clashes kill 7 from Iraq security forces. BAGHDAD (AP) — Officials say bombings and clashes in central Iraq have killed seven members of the security forces and wounded eight.","UK premier hosts talks on Scottish voting rights. LONDON (AP) — British Prime Minister David Cameron sought Monday to limit the divisive political fallout following the Scottish referendum, gathering senior Conservatives at his official country retreat to placate anger over promises made to Scotland to keep it in the United Kingdom.","U.N. Security Council unanimously approves Syria aid access resolution. UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The U.N. Security Council on Saturday unanimously adopted a resolution to boost humanitarian aid access in Syria, where the United Nations says 9.3 million people need help, that threatens to take \"further steps\" in the case of non-compliance. Russia and China, which have shielded Syria's government on the U.N. Security Council during the three-year-long civil war, voted in favor of the resolution. They had previously vetoed three resolutions condemning Syria's government and threatening it with possible sanctions. ...","China says Xinjiang attack work of extremists. BEIJING (AP) — Authorities in western China say a group of religious extremists planned and carried out an attack on police officers last week in which police fatally shot eight people.","One policeman killed in Cairo bomb attack: security sources. CAIRO (Reuters) - One Egyptian policeman was killed and at least one other injured in a bomb attack in Cairo's Heliopolis district, security sources said on Friday. The attack came hours after a suicide bomber killed himself and a soldier at a security checkpoint in Egypt's South Sinai, and a second bomb attack in the same area wounded at least three. (Reporting by Shadia Nasralla; Editing by Alison Williams)","At UN, Syria closes the door on peace talks. United Nations (United States) (AFP) - Syria will not begin talks to end the three-and-a-half-year war while Islamist militants are rampaging through the country, the foreign minister told the United Nations on Monday.","Nike dresses the stars at the Australian Open. The Australian Open has just kicked off, and Nike has revealed what the stars are wearing on the blue courts of Melbourne Park.","Lille grabs last Champions League spot. PARIS (AP) — Titleholder Paris Saint-Germain broke the record for most victories in a French league with a 4-0 win over Montpellier while Lille secured the last Champions League berth by finishing third with a 4-1 defeat of Lorient on Saturday.","U.S., citing new hope for Somalia, to reopen embassy. The United States, seeing new hope for Somalia, will reopen its diplomatic mission in Mogadishu which it closed 23 years ago as the East African country descended into chaos, a senior U.S. government official said on Tuesday. Wendy Sherman, Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs, didn't specify exactly when the mission would reopen but said it would be “soon.” There were hopeful signs of improvement in the security and economic conditions in the country, following years when Somalia had become \"a synonym for chaos,\" she said at the United States Institute of Peace think tank in Washington. \"As a reflection both of our deepening relationship with the country and of our faith that better times are ahead, the president will propose the first U.S. ambassador to Somalia in more than two decades,\" Sherman said. A U.S. diplomat based in Nairobi, the capital of neighboring Kenya, who traveled sporadically to Mogadishu, has represented U.S. interests in Somalia.","Iraq's Maliki says Abadi's appointment as PM 'has no value'. BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq's Nuri al-Maliki said on Wednesday the appointment of Haider al-Abadi to replace him as prime minister was a \"violation\" of the constitution and \"had no value\". In a televised speech, Maliki said everyone should accept a federal court ruling on an objection he filed against Abadi's appointment. (Reporting by Raheem Salman; Writing by Alexander Dziadosz, editing by John Stonestreet)","Basketball-United States look to have easy World Cup draw. Defending champions the United States have been given a comfortable group after the basketball World Cup draw on Monday. They are the clear favourites to retain the gold medal they won in Turkey four years ago at the tournament which will be held from the Aug. 30 to Sept.14 in Spain. The U.S., who also won gold at the 2012 Olympics, face the Dominican Republic, Turkey, Finland, New Zealand and the Ukraine in Group C and should have a simple passage into the next round.","CANNES WATCH: DSK film party pokes fun at tone. CANNES, France (AP) — Abel Ferrara's movie \"Welcome to New York,\" inspired by the sex scandal involving the former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn, has been grabbing headlines, and a secretive party to celebrate it here created even more of a buzz.","Bride's family 'wants truth' as murder trial opens in S.Africa. Johannesburg (AFP) - The family of Anni Dewani, who was shot dead while on honeymoon in South Africa four years ago, said they finally hope to learn \"the full story\" when her British millionaire husband goes on trial Monday for arranging the murder.","Ukrainian positions were fired on twice from Russia overnight: Ukraine. KIEV (Reuters) - Ukrainian positions were fired on twice from across border with Russia overnight, the Ukrainian armed forces said on Sunday. On the Facebook site for what the government calls its \"anti-terrorist operations\" which details fighting in eastern Ukraine, the army said mortar attacks from the direction of Russia aimed at Ukrainian posts were recorded just after midnight and again at almost 2 a.m. local time. (Reporting by Natalia Zinets, writing Elizabeth Piper, editing by Timothy Heritage)","Gold tumbles after Swiss referendum, oil hits five-year low. By Hideyuki Sano TOKYO (Reuters) - Gold prices tumbled on Monday after Swiss voters overwhelmingly rejected proposals to boost gold reserves in a referendum, joining a broad rout in commodities that sent copper and oil prices to four- and five-year lows. The slide in the oil and commodity prices is hurting many assets tied to the resource sector - from Australian mining shares to the Malaysian ringgit. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fell 1.9 percent, hitting six-week lows. U.S. stock futures also slipped 0. ...","Al Qaeda-linked militants in Yemen free South African hostage. Militants linked to al Qaeda have freed a South African woman kidnapped in the Yemeni city of Taiz in May and mediators are trying to secure the release of her husband, a Yemeni security official and South African negotiators said on Friday. Accounts of the case were confused, after local officials and tribal sources said earlier in the day that both Pierre and Yolande Korkie had been released. The Yemeni security source said Yolande had been released after tribal mediation efforts and her husband was expected to be freed \"within days\". The couple had been working as teachers in Yemen for the previous four years, according to Imtiaz Sooliman, head of South Africa Gift of the Givers, a non-governmental organization which has been negotiating for their release.","Yellowknife Aurora watchers 'forget normal life' in rapture over northern lights. YELLOWKNIFE - A van picks up a score or so of tourists from a Yellowknife hotel and heads off into the night, destination wonderment.","Besiktas, Chelsea agree on Ba's transfer. ISTANBUL (AP) — Turkish club Besiktas says it has finalized a deal with Chelsea for Senegalese striker Demba Ba's move to Istanbul.","EU eyes warmer Cuba ties with push for new accord. By Robin Emmott BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union agreed on Monday to launch negotiations with Cuba to increase trade, investment and dialogue on human rights in its most significant diplomatic shift since Brussels lifted sanctions on the communist-ruled country in 2008. After more than a year of discussions, EU foreign ministers decided to seek better ties with Havana to support the Caribbean island nation's market-oriented reforms and to position European companies for any transition to a more open economy. \"These negotiations will help consolidate our engagement with Cuba,\" the EU's foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said after the decision. \"I hope Cuba will take up this offer.\" EU negotiators aim to agree the so-called Political Dialogue and Cooperation Agreement by the end of 2015 and say Cuba has signaled a willingness to sign.","Good Dubai finish, pity about the rest from Woods. DUBAI (Undefined) (AFP) - Tiger Woods finished with a flourish at the Dubai Desert Classic on Sunday but it was a case of too little, too late from the world number one. The 38-year-old American birdied his last three holes at the Emirates Golf Club to close with a 71 and a six-under total that left him languishing well down the field. It was Woods's second tournament of the year and following his missed cut at Torrey Pines, California last week, his sojourn in the Gulf will have done little to raise his confidence levels. From all accounts, Woods will have plenty time to work on those tricky technique adjustments as he is expected to take a month off after Dubai before honing in on the year's first major, the Masters, at Augusta National in early April.","Insurer Allianz hikes dividend on higher FY profit. BERLIN (AP) — Insurance company Allianz says it is increasing its dividend to 5.30 euros ($7.27) from 4.50 euros a share after profits rose 15 percent last year.","Search widens for missing Malaysian passenger jet. KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Authorities hunting for the missing Malaysia Airlines jetliner expanded their search on land and sea Tuesday, reflecting the difficulties in finding traces of the Boeing 777 more than three days after it vanished with 239 people on board.","18th-seeded Stephens of US loses at Wimbledon. LONDON (AP) — Sloane Stephens' streak of reaching the second week at six consecutive Grand Slam tournaments ended Monday at Wimbledon with a 6-2, 7-6 (6) first-round loss to 109th-ranked Maria Kirilenko of Russia.","Image of Asia: Starting the hajj in Kashmir. In this photo by Dar Yasin, a Muslim in Indian-ruled Kashmir is hugged by her relative before leaving on the hajj to Mecca. Governments of many countries help arrange travel for local Muslims making the journey, and daily flights from Kashmir's main city, Srinagar, to Saudi Arabia started Wednesday and continue until Sept. 12. More than 3 million Muslims worldwide make the pilgrimage each year, but recent reports say Saudi Arabia plans to restrict the number this year to about 1.3 million because of construction projects in the holy city.","Former Murdoch CEO Brooks denies knowledge of murdered girl phone-hack. By Michael Holden LONDON (Reuters) - Rebekah Brooks, former editor of Rupert Murdoch's News of the World newspaper, told a London court on Tuesday she knew nothing about the 2002 hacking of the mobile phone of a murdered schoolgirl and spoke of her \"horror\" it had occurred. Brooks, 45, who later became chief executive of the British newspaper arm of News Corp., also said she did not know phone-hacking was illegal while she was the paper's editor. The revelation in 2011 that Dowler's phone had been intercepted by the tabloid while the 13-year-old was missing led to widespread public condemnation that caused Murdoch to shut the 168-year-old paper and forced Brooks to resign. Asked whether she had anything to do with a journalist tasking private detective Glenn Mulcaire to hack Dowler's phone, she said: \"No I didn't\", adding she first learned the News of the World had hacked the phone on July 4, 2011, just days before the paper was shut and she was arrested.","Iran not on Syria peace conference list: UN. UN leader Ban Ki-moon on Monday started sending out invitations to a Syria peace conference on January 22, but Iran was not on the first list, a UN spokesman said. US Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will meet on January 13 in a bid to decide on whether Iran should take part, said UN deputy spokesman Farhan Haq. \"Iran was not among the first invitations,\" Haq said. \"US Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will meet on January 13 and we very much hope they will reach agreement on Iran's participation,\" he added.","After Fukushima, Japan gets green boom _ and glut. TOKYO (AP) — Like other Japanese who were banking on this country's sweeping move toward clean energy, Junichi Oba is angry.","Nigeria president blasts activists for 'cancelling' meet with kidnap victims. Nigeria's leader Goodluck Jonathan on Tuesday accused activists of playing politics, saying they cancelled a meeting between him and family members of more than 200 schoolgirls kidnapped by Boko Haram in April. Malala, who survived a Taliban assassination attempt in 2012 and has become a champion for access to schooling, was in Abuja on her 17th birthday to mark three months since the Islamist rebels abducted more than 276 girls from a secondary school in Chibok.","Bulgaria says identified third suspect in Burgas bus bombing. A third suspect has been identified in the bombing of a bus that killed five Israeli tourists in the Black Sea city of Burgas in 2012 that Bulgarian authorities have blamed on the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah. They are now three,\" Chief Prosecutor Sotir Tsatsarov told reporters on Thursday. Bulgarian authorities previously named two men of Lebanese origin as suspects and said it believed the Shi'ite Muslim group Hezbollah was behind the bombing. The European Union last July put the armed wing of Hezbollah on its terrorism blacklist over the incident.","Special Report: The battle for Hong Kong's soul. By Greg Torode, James Pomfret and Benjamin Kang Lim HONG KONG/BEIJING (Reuters) - Since Britain handed back colonial Hong Kong in 1997, retired primary school teacher and Falun Gong devotee Lau Wai-hing has fully exercised the freedoms China promised this city of 7.2 million. Lau and fellow believers regularly staged protests to explain the teachings of their spiritual movement and draw attention to the persecution of followers on the mainland, where the sect is banned. Until about a year ago, their protests were uneventful. \"It is much more difficult now given these attacks, this external pressure, these forces from China,\" said Lau amid the amplified din on Sogo Corner, Hong Kong's neon-lit version of New York's Times Square. For critics of the pro-Beijing government in Hong Kong, groups like the Care for the Youth Group Association are part of a campaign from the mainland to tighten control over China's most freewheeling city. Increasingly, they say, Beijing is raising its voice.","Justice for Hamas, Fatah victims costly, elusive. GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — Foes Hamas and Fatah managed to set aside some of their differences to form a Palestinian unity government, but the hardest part of reconciliation may still lie ahead — settling demands of justice for hundreds killed and wounded in fighting that culminated in the 2007 Hamas takeover of the Gaza Strip.","Dreams on hold, Brazil's 'new middle class' turns on Rousseff. By Asher Levine SAO PAULO (Reuters) - The streets of Jardim São Luis, a poor and violent neighborhood near the edge of São Paulo, have not been this quiet in years. After a decade of economic growth and welfare policies that lifted more than 30 million Brazilians out of poverty, Jardim São Luis and other tough neighborhoods across Brazil had high hopes for the future.","Landslides add to misery of Kashmir's worst floods in decades. By Fayaz Bukhari SRINAGAR India (Reuters) - Rescuers raced to help communities hit by landslides in Indian Kashmir on Friday while thousands were stranded, homeless and hungry in the city of Srinagar, most of which was submerged by the region's worst flooding in 50 years. Both the Indian and Pakistan sides of the disputed Himalayan territory have been hit by extensive flooding since the Jhelum river, swollen by unusually heavy rain, surged last week. The river flows from Indian Kashmir to the Pakistan side, and then down into Pakistan's lower Indus river basin. In New Delhi, Home Minister Rajnath Singh said about 200 Indians had been killed and around 130,000 rescued.","Saputo becomes biggest holder in Warrnambool with 20.1 percent holding. Canada's Saputo Inc has raised its stake in takeover target Warrnambool Cheese and Butter Factory Holdings Co to 20.1 percent, the company said on Thursday, making it the biggest shareholder just ahead of its offer deadline on Friday. Saputo is battling with Local bidder Murray Goulburn Co-operative Co Ltd for Australia's oldest dairy firm, eyeing a platform for rapidly growing sales of both traditional dairy products and high-tech milk extracts to China. Saputo's unconditional cash offer of A$515 million ($461 million) will rise as high as A$549 million ($492 million) if it receives acceptances of 90 percent or more of Warrnambool shareholders. Murray Goulburn, with its A$530 million ($474.96 million) offer, is waiting for a regulatory decision and said it may increase its stake in Warrnambool via market purchases.","Uganda anti-gay bill author says aid cuts small price to pay. By Drazen Jorgic and Philippa Croome KAMPALA (Reuters) - The author of Uganda's new anti-gay bill that imposes tough jail terms for homosexual acts said aid cuts imposed by disapproving Western donors were a price worth paying to protect the east African nation's moral values. Lawmaker David Bahati, who first sought the death penalty for some acts when he introduced the law in 2009, said aid suspensions were tantamount to blackmail but that he expected more to follow. The donor backlash after President Yoweri Museveni's approval of the bill last week, imposing jail sentences of up to life for gay sex, reflects a gulf in social attitudes between the West and conservative African governments. The World Bank, Norway and Denmark have withheld or diverted aid totaling about $110 million.","UN hopeful for way out of Iraq vote impasse. United Nations (United States) (AFP) - The UN envoy to Iraq said Thursday there was a \"window of opportunity\" for Baghdad to resolve a pre-election crisis sparked by the resignation en masse of its election commission. Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki warned Wednesday that April 30 legislative elections may be delayed given Tuesday's resignations, and with violence at its worst in six years. But in New York, Nickolay Mladenov, the UN special representative to Iraq, gave a slightly more upbeat assessment. He said the resignations of the Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC) had not yet been formally endorsed by the speaker of Iraq's parliament.","Officials: Car bomb kills 5 in eastern Libyan city. TRIPOLI, Libya (AP) — Libyan officials say a car bomb has targeted a military base in the eastern city of Benghazi, killing five soldiers and wounding at least 14 people.","No reason to feel sorry for Jim Furyk. PARAMUS, N.J. (AP) — The good news for Jim Furyk is that people finally stopped talking about his golf swing that only a mother could love and a father could teach.","Capello and Russia may start looking ahead. RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Fabio Capello hasn't entirely given up hope for his Russian squad at the World Cup in Brazil, even if he's already planning for 2018.","OECD sees U.S. growth accelerating through 2015. By Howard Schneider WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. economic recovery should accelerate in coming months as an energy boom, steadily falling unemployment and a rebound in investment push growth to its fastest pace in a decade, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development said on Friday. The OECD is more optimistic on U.S. growth than most private forecasters and some other international organizations, including the World Bank, which looks for growth in 2015 of only 3.0 percent. The OECD said it saw several positive trends converging to make the recovery faster, more entrenched and more driven by private demand. Low energy prices and continued low borrowing costs, coupled with record corporate stores of cash, should produce a surge of 10 percent in business investment in 2015, the OECD projected, while steadily falling unemployment would mean rising consumer demand and a firm recovery in housing over the next year.","Two endangered Florida panther cubs die after being hit by cars. By Letitia Stein TAMPA Fla. (Reuters) - Two rare Florida panther cubs were struck and killed by cars during the weekend, authorities said on Monday, bringing the total road deaths for the endangered species to 16 this year. The 4-month-old panther cubs appeared to have been hit in separate incidents while crossing a rural road in Collier County in the southwestern part of the state, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. \"Our concern is that she may come back looking for her kittens,\" said Darrell Land, the agency's Florida panther team leader. The number of Florida panthers has more than tripled in recent decades to between 100 and 180, according to government estimates, but the species remains a long way from being downgraded on the endangered list.","New Shell CEO: won't drill in Alaska in 2014. AMSTERDAM (AP) — Royal Dutch Shell PLC's new chief executive unveiled plans Thursday to slash capital spending and stop drilling for oil in the Arctic Circle as the company reported a sharp drop in fourth quarter earnings.","Obama says wants progress on China: U.S. investment treaty. BEIJING (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama said on Monday he hopes to make progress with his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, on a bilateral investment treaty and more could be done to reduce barriers to trade. Speaking in Beijing at an Asia-Pacific summit, Obama said he looked to China to create a level playing field and reject the use of cyber-theft for commercial gain. The United States welcomes the rise of a peaceful and prosperous China, he said. (Reporting by Matt Spetalnick and Michael Martina; Writing by John Ruwitch; Editing by Robert Birsel)","U.S. may adjust 2014 corn ethanol target after outcry: sources. By Ayesha Rascoe WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Obama administration is likely to partly backtrack on proposed steep cuts to renewable fuel targets for 2014 when it finalizes a rule due out in June, industry sources said. Biofuel groups expect the Environmental Protection Agency to send the final proposed targets to the White House as soon as Friday. The EPA shocked biofuel supporters in November with a draft rule that slashed federal requirements for biofuel use in gasoline and diesel. The agency argued that U.S. energy markets could not absorb the levels of renewable fuels that would be required by a 2007 law.","China widens currency's fluctuation against dollar. BEIJING (AP) — China announced Saturday it will ease exchange rate controls that have been criticized by Washington and other trading partners as part of reforms aimed at making its economy more efficient.","Biden warns Ukraine president of 'consequences' to more violence. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Vice President Joe Biden urged Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich on Thursday to end violence against protestors in Kiev, warning him that failing to de-escalate the standoff could have \"consequences,\" the White House said. \"The Vice President underscored that only the government of Ukraine can ensure a peaceful end to the crisis and further bloodshed would have consequences for Ukraine's relationship with the United States,\" the White House said. (Reporting by Steve Holland, Roberta Rampton; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)","Arsenal boss Wenger refuses to bemoan Giroud's absence. Arsenal's trip to face Leicester City on Sunday will provide another test of Arsene Wenger's belief his squad is strong enough to cope without Olivier Giroud. The Frenchman suffered a broken leg in last weekend's 2-2 draw at Everton and is expected to be out until January, depriving Wenger of his main striker. With the transfer deadline approaching on Monday, Wenger has refused to rule out making a late effort to bring in a new face, but the Gunners boss maintains he already has enough forward options to cover for the absent France forward. Alexis Sanchez scored the winner while operating in the main striker role in the midweek victory over Besiktas in the Champions League play-off round and is again expected to lead the attack at the King Power stadium this weekend.","Island quarantine for Filipino troops from Liberia. MANILA, Philippines (AP) — More than 130 Filipino soldiers and police back home from peacekeeping duties in Liberia are on their way to an island quarantine as a precaution against the Ebola virus.","US warns of possible threat to flights to Russia. WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. Homeland Security Department is warning airlines flying to Russia that terrorists may try to smuggle explosives on board hidden in toothpaste tubes.","Army breaks up protests as Yemen raises fuel prices. Protests erupted in Sanaa on Wednesday and were dispersed by the army after the Yemeni government announced a rise in fuel prices, part of a bid to ease the burden of energy subsidies on the impoverished country's state finances. Yemeni officials were not immediately available for verification of the incident. The government spent about $3 billion on energy subsidies last year, nearly a third of state revenue. Yemen has been trying for over a year to secure a loan of at least $560 million from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), but the fund is pressing for subsidies to be slashed.","Lucky koala Sir Chompsalot gets kiss of life. A lucky koala was recovering Friday after being caught by firefighters when it fell unconscious from a tree before being given mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. Emergency crews were called to the Melbourne suburb of Langwarrin on Thursday night after reports that an injured animal was lying on the road after being hit by a car. When officials arrived, they found the furry native marsupial had climbed a tree for shelter and firefighters were brought in to bring it down. \"We believed it had died in the tree, just when we were trying to rescue it,\" Langwarrin Country Fire Authority's Sean Curtin told Fairfax radio.","China economy grows at slowest pace in 5 years. BEIJING (AP) — China's economic growth waned to 7.3 percent last quarter, the lowest rate since early 2009, resuming a slowdown that had been eased by mini-stimulus measures in the second quarter.","Ukraine military helicopter shot down; 14 dead. KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine's acting president says 14 soldiers, including a general, have been killed when their helicopter was shot down by rebels in eastern Ukraine.","Iran woman to be spared stoning sentence. A sentence of death by stoning handed down against an Iranian woman convicted of adultery in 2006 will not be carried out, a senior judicial official said on Tuesday. The judgement, which drew widespread international condemnation, was overtaken by a separate death sentence on charges of complicity in her husband's murder, which was commuted to a 10-year jail term in 2007, the judiciary's human rights chief said. The stoning sentence against Sakineh Mohammadi-Ashtiani was upheld by a different appeals court in 2007, but in 2010 Iran suspended the stoning sentence pending a new examination of her case. Mohammad Javad Larijani, head of the judiciary's Committee of Human Rights, charged that the focus on the adultery sentence over the murder one was just Western \"propaganda\".","State media: Plane with 40 aboard crashes in Iran. TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — A small Iranian passenger plane crashed Sunday while taking off from an airport near the capital, Tehran, state media reported. The country's state-run news agency said 40 people were feared killed in the crash.","Saudi Arabia reports 3 more deaths from MERS virus. RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) — Saudi Arabia's health ministry says three more patients who contracted a potentially fatal Middle East virus related to SARS have died amid a recent increase in infections.","70 vigilantes arrested in western Mexico. MEXICO CITY (AP) — Authorities in the western state of Michoacan say federal and state police have arrested 70 suspected vigilantes, including one of the founders of the \"self-defense\" movement, for carrying unauthorized weapons.","China's Xi: confrontation between China, U.S. would be a disaster. BEIJING (Reuters) - Confrontation between China and the United States would be a disaster, Chinese President Xi Jinping said on Wednesday as he opened annual talks between the world's two biggest economies. (Reporting by Kevin Yao; Writing by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Paul Tait)","Afghan capital sees 1st polio case since 2001. KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — A young girl from Kabul has been diagnosed with polio, the first case linked to Afghanistan's capital since the fall of the Taliban in 2001, according to officials.","U.S. says has fresh Russia sanctions 'ready to go'. The United States said on Wednesday it has fresh sanctions ready to impose on Russia if Moscow does not take steps to de-escalate tensions with Ukraine, including halting the flow of fighters and arms to Ukrainian separatists. A senior U.S. official said on Friday that Washington had ramped up talks with the European Union about \"scalpel\" sanctions on Russia's financial, defense and high-tech industries as more Russian military material has flowed into Ukraine. Separatist rebellions erupted in eastern Ukraine in early April after street protests in Kiev toppled Moscow-backed leader Viktor Yanukovich, and Russia in turn annexed the Crimean peninsula. Eastern rebels have called for union with Russia.","Malaysian plane downed in Ukraine was in unrestricted airspace: IATA. LONDON (Reuters) - A global airline industry group said on Thursday that a Malaysian airliner downed over Ukraine appeared to have been flying through ordinary and open airspace when it crashed. \"Based on the information currently available, it is believed that the airspace that the aircraft was traversing was not subject to restrictions,\" the Geneva-based International Air Transport Association said in a statement. (Reporting by Tim Hepher; Editing by Louise Ireland)","Germany's Natalie Geisenberger earns 6th win of season, closes in on World Cup luge title. KONIGSSEE, Germany - Canada's Alex Gough won bronze at a luge World Cup on Saturday while Natalie Geisenberger won her sixth race in as many tries this season.","Turkish drama 'Winter Sleep' wins Palme d'Or, the top honor of the Cannes Film Festival. CANNES, France (AP) — Turkish drama 'Winter Sleep' wins Palme d'Or, the top honor of the Cannes Film Festival.","Germany asks soldiers to volunteer to fight Ebola. BERLIN (AP) — Germany's defense minister is asking for volunteers from the country's military to staff a clinic it plans to set up in West Africa, where the deadly Ebola disease has claimed more than 2,600 lives.","French jets strike in Iraq, expanding U.S.-led campaign against Islamic State. By Oliver Holmes and Alexandria Sage BAGHDAD/PARIS (Reuters) - French jets struck a suspected Islamic State target in Iraq for the first time on Friday, expanding a U.S.-led military campaign against militants who have seized a third of the country and also control large parts of neighboring Syria. President Francois Hollande said Rafale jets hit \"a logistics depot of the terrorists\" near the city of Mosul, which has been held by Islamic State for more than three months. It promised more operations in coming days. The French military action, which follows U.S. ...","Egypt's Sisi arrives in Algiers on first state visit. Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi arrived in Algiers on Wednesday for his first trip abroad since being elected in May, official media reported. The ex-army chief was welcomed on arrival by Algerian premier Abdelmalek Sellal and Senate speaker Abdelkader Bensalah, and was due to meet President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, whose chronic health problems have severely limited his movements. Algeria and Egypt both neighbour Libya, which has been gripped by deadly violence since the NATO-backed ouster of dictator Moamer Kadhafi in 2011. Algeria called for a \"peaceful transition\" in Egypt after Islamist president Mohamed Morsi was ousted by Sisi, then head of the army, in July last year.","S.Sudan FM vows accountability for all behind violence. South Sudan's foreign minister warned Wednesday that all those behind the recent violence would be held accountable, regardless of ethnic origin, as he announced the arrests of about 100 army officers from President Salva Kiir's Dinka ethnic group. \"We will equally hold accountable those who got engaged in targeting, killing, trying to use the ethnic card, definitely within the organised forces,\" Barnaba Marial Benjamin told reporters during a visit to London. \"A good number of officers have been arrested -- about 100 who were engaged in this -- of the Dinka members within the army who targeted the Nuer community (of former vice-president Riek Machar). British Foreign Office minister Mark Simmonds, who met Benjamin earlier Wednesday, welcomed this assurance and stressed the need for a \"credible and independent process to provide accountability\".","Belgium counting on Hazard to dazzle at World Cup. MOGI DAS CRUZES, Brazil (AP) — Jose Mourinho has sung the praises of Eden Hazard. The best club in Paris, the city of lights, has wooed him. And Eden has finally arrived in his garden — the World Cup — wearing the same storied No. 10 as the likes of Pele, Diego Maradona and Zinedine Zidane did before him.","Wary investors slow to warm to Barrick Gold's latest shakeup. By Euan Rocha TORONTO (Reuters) - Worried they may be given the cold shoulder by an imperious leadership, shareholders of Barrick Gold Corp, the world's biggest gold miner, are taking a \"show me\" approach to the company's latest management shakeup. Barrick said last week that Chief Executive Jamie Sokalsky will leave the company in September. He will be replaced by two co-presidents, a move that concentrates power in the hands of Executive Chairman John Thornton, a man handpicked for the job by Peter Munk, who founded the company and headed it his way for decades. \"The concern in this situation is that the person setting the strategy does not listen to the shareholders, who are the real owners of the company,\" said Chris Mancini, an analyst at Gabelli Gold Fund, which owns more than 2.4 million shares in Barrick according to Thomson Reuters data.","2014 Formula One Teams and Drivers. Teams and drivers for the 2014 Formula One championship:","Venezuela's president pays visit to Fidel Castro. HAVANA (AP) — Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro made ??a belated birthday visit to Fidel Castro, the former Cuban leader revealed in one of his regular columns.","Flooding in Paraguay sends thousands fleeing to shelters. Asuncion (AFP) - Flooding has forced the evacuation of about 150,000 people in Paraguay's capital city Asuncion, authorities said.","Image of Asia: Food and water during the monsoon. In this photo by Anupam Nath, a woman cooks inside her flooded house in Assam state in northeastern India. Heavy rains in recent days have flooded dozens of villages in Assam and displaced thousands of people. Monsoon season brings rains vital to growing crops in India, but floods and landslides each year kill thousands of people and submerge hundreds of villages.","US drone crashes at Niger airport. Niamey (AFP) - A US drone crash-landed at Niger's main airport for unknown reasons on Monday, the US army said, forcing the closure of the runway for several hours.","Cambodia tribunal opens 1st genocide case against aging Khmer Rouge leaders. PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) — Cambodia tribunal opens 1st genocide case against aging Khmer Rouge leaders.","Tropical Storm Hanna forms off coast of Nicaragua. MIAMI (AP) — Tropical Storm Hanna has formed off the coast of Nicaragua and is forecast to move inland, producing heavy rainfall.","Pistorius 'needs to pay' says Steenkamp cousin. Pretoria (AFP) - A cousin of slain model Reeva Steenkamp made a tearful plea Thursday for Oscar Pistorius to \"pay for what he has done,\" as the prosecution sought to ensure the Paralympic athlete goes to jail.","Political changes come fast, furious in Ukraine. KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — In a fast-moving day that aimed to reshape Ukraine's political destiny, opposition leaders reached a deal Friday with the country's beleaguered president to form a new government and hold an early election, while parliament slashed his powers and voted to free his rival, former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, from prison.","Jailed India ex-film star politician replaced as chief minister. Bangalore (India) (AFP) - Former film star Jayalalithaa Jayaram, one of India's most colourful and controversial politicians, was replaced as head of a southern state on Sunday after she was jailed in a corruption case, reports said.","Egypt: 4 including 2 Israelis charges with spying. CAIRO (AP) — Egypt's prosecutor general has referred two Israelis and two Egyptians to trial over charges of forming an espionage ring for Israel.","Breakthrough hopes dented as Ukraine accuses Russia of new incursion. By Richard Balmforth and Anton Zverev KIEV/DONETSK Ukraine (Reuters) - Ukraine accused Russia of launching a new military incursion across its eastern border on Wednesday, as hopes quickly faded that Tuesday's talks between their two presidents might mark a turning point in a five-month-old crisis. Accusations of direct Russian support for pro-Russian separatists in Ukraine have prompted Western governments to impose sanctions on Moscow, despite its vehement denials, and fanned tensions with NATO to levels not seen since the Cold War. Ukrainian military spokesman Andriy Lysenko said a group of Russian soldiers had crossed the border in armoured infantry carriers and a truck and entered the town of Amvrosiyivka, not far from where Ukraine detained 10 Russian soldiers on Monday. No comment was immediately available from the Russian defence ministry on the alleged incursion.","China probes Canadian Christians for alleged spying. China is investigating two Canadian Christian activists for alleged espionage, state media and their son said Tuesday, a week after Ottawa accused Beijing of cyber-spying. Kevin Garratt and Julia Dawn Garratt \"are under investigation for suspected theft of state secrets about China's military and national defence research,\" the state-run Xinhua news agency reported. The two run Peter's Coffee House, a coffee shop in Dandong, on the border with North Korea, their son Simeon told AFP. China's definition of state secrets can be very broad, and the Xinhua report did not specify what was allegedly stolen, adding only that the probe was being conducted by the State Security Bureau in Dandong.","Philippines to evacuate workers from parts of Iraq. MANILA, Philippines (AP) — The Philippines says it will evacuate its nationals from all areas of Iraq except the northern region due to the rapidly deteriorating security situation there.","Russia says U.S. destroying 'carcass of cooperation' with Ukraine law. MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia's Foreign Ministry on Friday sternly criticized a law backed by the U.S. Congress over Ukraine and said Washington was doing its utmost to \"destroy the carcass of cooperation\" between the two countries. The ministry added in a statement that U.S. authorities were unable to abandon outdated phobias in their dealings with Russia and warned that the law could undermine bilateral relations. U.S.-Russian relations are at their lowest since the Cold War over the Ukraine crisis. (Reporting by Alexander Winning, Editing by Thomas Grove)","Armed clashes in Libya's Tripoli, airport shutdown. TRIPOLI (Reuters) - Armed clashes broke out in Libya's capital Tripoli closing down the city's main working airport, local residents and an official said on Sunday. Tripoli has been mostly calm since the Libya Dawn force, an armed faction allied to the city of Misrata, took over the capital in the summer and set up its own government in rivalry to Prime Minister Abdullah al-Thinni. It was not immediately clear who was involved in Sunday's fighting, and there was no confirmation from health authorities of any casualties. ...","Nadella to head Microsoft; Gates leaves chair role. REDMOND, Washington (AP) — Microsoft has named Satya Nadella, an executive in charge of the company's small, but growing business of delivering software and services over the Internet its new CEO. Company founder Bill Gates is also leaving the chairman role for a new role as technology adviser.","Stocks recover some ground but questions remain. LONDON (AP) — Global stock markets recovered some recent lost ground Monday in the wake of last week's U.S. jobs data. However, questions over whether the recent sell-off in markets, which saw the Dow Jones industrial average in the U.S. slip into negative territory for the year, was over.","Thai coup leader to get royal endorsement, address nation. By Martin Petty and Panarat Thepgumpanat BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thai coup leader General Prayuth Chan-ocha will receive the endorsement of King Bhumibol Adulyadej on Monday as head of a ruling military council and the general will then give his first address to the nation since seizing power last week. 'MEANINGLESS' Thaksin was ousted in a 2006 coup after big-spending policies had won him the passionate support, and votes, of the poor but the animosity of the establishment, who saw him as a corrupt, authoritarian opportunist and a threat to the old order.","Zou wins before home crowd on Pacquiao undercard. MACAU (AP) — Zou Shiming treated the home crowd to an entertaining win Sunday, knocking down Kwanpichit Onesongchaigym three times on his way to a foul-plagued unanimous decision on the undercard of the Manny Pacquiao-Chris Algieri title fight.","Court hears arguments on law that strips some Canadian expats of voting rights. TORONTO - An Ontario Superior Court begins hearing a challenge today of a law that strips some Canadian expatriates of their voting rights.","Surge in crime in Mexico City suburbs raises alarm. CUAUTITLAN IZCALLI (Mexico) (AFP) - While murders have dropped across Mexico, a burst of violence has rattled the capital's suburbs, with criminals dumping bodies on roadsides, kidnapping people in broad daylight and levying protection taxes. The crime surge in the State of Mexico, which wraps around the capital like a horseshoe, has challenged President Enrique Pena Nieto's pledge to reduce the murders, kidnappings and extortion plaguing his nation. This has again revived fears that the gangland violence seen elsewhere could infect Mexico City, which remains a relative oasis from such mayhem. \"This has complicated the situation,\" she said, noting that her state neighbors Michoacan, Guerrero and Morelos, all known for drug cartel violence.","Ten Chinese among 27 hostages freed in Cameroon: Cameroon presidency. YAOUNDE (Reuters) - Twenty-seven hostages seized by suspected militants from Boko Haram in Cameroon this year, including 10 Chinese workers, have been released, the Cameroon presidency said on Saturday. The Chinese workers were seized in May near the town of Waza, 20 km (12 miles) from the Nigerian border. The others freed include the wife of Cameroon's vice-prime minister who was seized in July, the presidency said. (Writing by Matthew Mpoke Bigg; Editing by Pravin Char)","Exclusive: Canada in talks to provide its own Ebola vaccine in Africa. By Rod Nickel WINNIPEG Manitoba (Reuters) - The Canadian government is in talks with the World Health Organization and the United States about possibly providing its Ebola vaccine for use in Africa, a senior Canadian health official said on Tuesday. The U.S. is also working on a vaccine and the WHO and governments involved will collectively decide whether to use either one in Africa, Dr. Greg Taylor, deputy chief public health officer of the Public Health Agency of Canada told Reuters. Canada owns a small quantity of the vaccine and would need four to six months to make a large quantity, he said.","Scolari: Revamped Mexico a tough rival for Brazil. FORTALEZA, Brazil (AP) — A year after Brazil struggled to beat old rival Mexico in the Confederations Cup, Luiz Felipe Scolari says he is bracing for another hard time from the Central Americans when they meet in the World Cup on Tuesday.","German court questions eurozone crisis program. BERLIN (AP) — Germany's top court cast doubt Friday on the legality of a key part of the European Central Bank's rescue plan for the 18-nation eurozone, taking the rare step of asking an EU court for its opinion.","Israel puts Jewish extremists under house arrest for pope visit. Israel has decided to place under house arrest three young Jewish extremists suspected of planning to disrupt Pope Francis's visit to the Holy Land this weekend, police said on Wednesday. \"The police and Shin Bet (security service) have taken out restraining orders against several right-wing activists who, according to information from Shin Bet, are planning to commit provocative acts during the pope's visit,\" police spokeswoman Luba Samri told AFP. Media said the three activists were to be put under house arrest on Thursday, two days before Francis arrives in the region.","Australian prime minister says Sydney siege gunman dropped off security watch list years ago. SYDNEY (AP) — Australian prime minister says Sydney siege gunman dropped off security watch list years ago.","Nobel Laureates condemn South Africa visa denial to Dalai Lama. By Abhishek Madhukar DHARAMSALA India (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Nobel Peace Laureates Jody Williams and Shirin Ebadi on Wednesday slammed South Africa's refusal to give fellow laureate and Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, a visa to attend a peace conference and said they would boycott the event. The Dalai Lama, who lives in exile in India and is at loggerheads with China over Tibet, had been hoping to join a Nobel peace conference in Cape Town on Oct. 13. ...","Clash between Yemen troops, southern separatists wounds 4. Hardline secessionists, who are calling for independence for the south, took to the streets of the southern city of Ataq two days after a national dialogue concluded in Sanaa. \"The Yemen dialogue does not concern us,\" chanted protesters in Ataq, according to witnesses. Moderate factions in the Southern Movement had joined the talks, part of a Gulf-brokered exit deal that ended a year of Arab Spring-inspired protests against former president Ali Abdullah Saleh, who stepped down after 33 years in power.","'Octomom' accused of failing to report income, charged with welfare fraud in California. LOS ANGELES, Calif. - Octomom Nadya Suleman did porn films, boxed D-list celebrities, even endorsed birth control for dogs after giving birth in 2009 to eight babies after she received in vitro fertility treatments.","Pet boom in Mexico amid rising middle class. MEXICO CITY (AP) — The growth of Mexico's middle class is creating a new market for fancy goods and services for dogs. Those include clothing and accessory boutiques, spas and restaurants with doggie snacks cooked by a pastry chef.","Strike, curfew shut Kashmir as India PM visits. SRINAGAR, India (AP) — Newly elected Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday made his first official trip to Indian-controlled Kashmir, where separatist groups called a strike that shut shops, businesses and schools.","AP Source: UN helicopter shot down in South Sudan. NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — The U.N. mission in South Sudan says one of its helicopters has crashed, and a U.N. official told The Associated Press that it appears the aircraft was shot down.","British retail sales rebound as shops slash prices. London (AFP) - British retail sales rebounded in October after a fall the previous month, as shops slashed prices in the run-up to Christmas.","China provinces on track to meet 2015 energy targets: NDRC. BEIJING (Reuters) - Most of China's provinces are ahead of schedule or on track to meet 2015 energy savings targets, the government said on Friday, with Beijing and Shanghai among the frontrunners as the world's No.2 economy seeks to reduce its impact on the environment. China has pledged to reduce its energy intensity - the amount of energy it uses to add a dollar to its gross domestic product (GDP) - to 16 percent below 2010 levels by 2015. ...","Bank of England keeps interest rates steady. LONDON (AP) — The Bank of England has decided to keep the main interest rate at a record low 0.5 percent as policy-makers look to sustain growth and nudge up inflation in Europe's third-largest economy.","Factbox: Western sanctions against Russia. European Union foreign ministers could approve sanctions against Russia on Monday beyond the largely symbolic measures taken so far in response to Russia's actions in the southern Ukrainian region of Crimea. A day before the meeting, Crimea's pro-Russian authorities plan to hold a referendum - condemned as illegal by the West - which is expected to overwhelmingly back Crimea's unification with Russia. The EU is expected to adopt measures similar to those ordered by U.S. President Barack Obama, who has authorized asset freezes and travel bans on Russian or Crimean officials whom the U.S. holds responsible for threatening Ukraine's territorial integrity.","Two-week search for Malaysian jet finds only frustration and suspicion. By Michael Martina and A. Ananthalakshmi KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Two weeks after a Malaysia Airlines airliner went missing with 239 people on board, officials are bracing for the \"long haul\" as searches by more than two dozen countries turn up little but frustration and fresh questions. The international team hunting Flight MH370 in the remote southern Indian Ocean yielded no results on Friday, and Australia's deputy prime minister said suspected debris there may have sunk. China, Japan and India are sending planes and Australian and Chinese navy vessels are steaming to the zone, more than 2,000km (1,200 miles) southwest of Perth. Aircraft and ships have also renewed the search in the Andaman Sea between India and Thailand, going over areas that have already been exhaustively swept to find some clue to unlock one of the biggest mysteries in modern aviation.","U.S. pledges millions more in aid to Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia. The United States pledged millions of dollars in additional aid to Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia on Saturday, deepening American support to the Western-leaning countries on Russia's border. Vice President Joe Biden announced the extra aid, which must be approved by Congress, during a visit to Kiev for the inauguration of Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko. Washington pledged $48 million to Ukraine, $8 million to Moldova and $5 million to Georgia after Biden met the presidents of the three countries. Russia's annexation of the Crimea region from Ukraine in March, after weeks of protests ousted Poroshenko's pro-Moscow predecessor Victor Yanukovich, has provoked the most serious crisis in relations with the West since the end of the Cold War.","Nigeria to use 'soft' tactics to curb Boko Haram violence. Nigeria's national security advisor on Tuesday said the authorities would begin using a \"soft approach\" to stem the Boko Haram Islamist violence raging across the northeast. Sambo Dasuki said the military would continue to battle the insurgents, who are blamed for killing thousands of people since 2009, but the government was also set to use \"a carrot and stick approach\". Analysts and Western diplomats have consistently said that Nigeria cannot defeat Boko Haram with force alone and they have called for massive economic development programmes in the deeply poor north to curb the violence. Nigeria is Africa's top oil producer but more than half of its 170 million people live on less than $2 (1.4 euros) per day.","U.S. officials expect stiffer Pakistani resolve in wake of Taliban attack. By Matt Spetalnick and David Rohde WASHINGTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) - The United States offered further counter terrorism help to Pakistan on Tuesday after a deadly Taliban attack on a school, and U.S. officials said privately they expect stronger Pakistani resolve in fighting the insurgents. President Barack Obama said the raid, which killed at least 132 students and nine staff at a military-run high school in the city of Peshawar, was an act of “depravity” and he promised that Washington would back Pakistan against the militants. ...","Ukraine oligarch freed on record 125-mn-euro bail in Austria. Ukrainian oligarch Dmytro Firtash has been released from prison in Austria after paying a record 125 million euros ($172 million) in bail and promising not to leave the country, authorities said Friday. \"The bail was credited to the bank account of Vienna's higher regional court after its provenance was checked by the police (money laundering section). Dmytro F. was therefore released,\" the court said in a statement. The energy, chemicals and media magnate, a backer of ousted Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych, was arrested in Vienna on March 12 on the basis of a US arrest warrant after a lengthy FBI investigation.","US to compensate Philippines for coral reef damage. MANILA, Philippines (AP) — A Philippine official says the United States will pay 87 million pesos ($1.9 million) for damage caused by a U.S. Navy minesweeper that ran aground on a protected coral reef last year.","Ship hunts for more 'pings' in Malaysia jet search. PERTH, Australia (AP) — Search crews have failed to relocate faint sounds heard deep in the Indian Ocean, possibly from the missing Malaysian jetliner's black boxes whose batteries are at the end of their life.","Report: Cannavaro investigated for tax evasion. ROME (AP) — Italy's winning World Cup captain Fabio Cannavaro is reportedly under investigation for tax evasion.","Poroshenko party short of majority in Ukraine vote: poll. Kiev (AFP) - The last major poll published Wednesday ahead of Ukraine's parliamentary election showed President Petro Poroshenko's party seizing up to a third of seats but reliant on help from nationalist parties to form a ruling coalition.","Yatseniuk says Ukraine will guarantee transit of gas to Europe. KIEV (Reuters) - Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk, speaking after a gas agreement with Russia was nailed down, said that Ukraine would guarantee transit deliveries of gas to Europe by pipeline so as not to give Russia room for \"blackmailing\". Yatseniuk, speaking to Ukrainian energy officials, criticized Russia's South Stream project to transport Russian gas through the Black sea to Europe and added: \"Ukraine will guarantee transit. \"It (Ukraine) will not give Russia the means of blackmailing Ukraine and Europe with different (gas) flows),\" he said. ...","Day of reckoning looms for Barclays' investment bank. By Steve Slater LONDON (Reuters) - Barclays Plc is set to announce plans to cut thousands of jobs and shrink its investment bank as Chief Executive Antony Jenkins tries to get his turnaround plan for the British bank back on track after a bad 10 months. Jenkins, who took the CEO hot seat in August 2012 after investment banker Bob Diamond was ousted following a scandal over the rigging of benchmark interest rates, will lay out a revised strategy for Barclays on Thursday. UK rules forcing the bank to hold more capital than expected, a slump in trading revenues, an exodus of U.S. investment bankers and another row about their bonuses has left Jenkins needing to revise his strategy and make deeper cuts. Barclays' group RoE was just 4.5 percent for the whole of last year and 6.4 pct in the first quarter, including 4.7 percent in the investment bank.","Thailand rules Uber illegal, orders to halt taxi services. BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thai transport authorities on Tuesday said U.S. online taxi booking company Uber was operating illegally and has ordered it to stop providing services, on the same day taxi apps were banned in the Indian capital of New Delhi.","Turkey's Erdogan in Iran to mend ties after split over Syria. By Parisa Hafezi ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan has arrived in Iran to bolster trade and energy relations, state TV said, in what also looked like a bid to defuse tensions over Syria by capitalizing on Tehran's diplomatic opening to regional rivals and the West. Iran has been a strong strategic ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad since the start of the uprising against him, while Turkey has been one of his fiercest critics, supporting his opponents and giving refuge to rebel fighters. But Iran's election last June of President Hassan Rouhani, a relative moderate who says he wants to thaw its ties with the West, and shared concern over the rise of al Qaeda in Syria, have spurred hopes of a Turkish-Iranian rapprochement. While deep divisions remain between Ankara and Tehran over the conflict in Syria, diplomats and government officials say both sides want to mend a relationship that could be pivotal to the fast-changing political map of the Middle East.","A challenging job for US special forces in Iraq. WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. teams of special forces going into Iraq after a three-year gap will face an aggressive insurgency, a splintering military and a precarious political situation as they help Iraqi security forces improve their ability to battle Sunni militants.","After Cavendish falls, Kittel wins 1st Tour stage. HARROGATE, England (AP) — Marcel Kittel of Germany won the first stage of the Tour de France for a second year in row after a late crash brought down British rival Mark Cavendish in the presence of royals on Saturday.","Jordan to activate defense ministry. AMMAN, Jordan (AP) — Jordan's King Abdullah II has ordered the activation of a Defense Ministry to support the military, which is under increasing pressure from the wars in neighboring Syria and Iraq as well as a massive influx of Syrian refugees.","French leader to CEOs: Hire more to get tax cut. PARIS (AP) — French President Francois Hollande told top companies that they have to promise to hire and invest more if they want to benefit from a promised cut in payroll taxes.","Over 50 rebels killed in Syria region near Lebanon: activists, sources. At least 50 rebels were killed in an ambush by Syrian government forces in a mountainous area near the Lebanese border on Saturday, activists and security sources said. Forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad backed by allies from the Lebanese Shi'ite militant movement Hezbollah have largely pushed insurgents from towns and villages in the Qalamoun region bordering Lebanon since March, but some pockets of rebels have held out. On Saturday, pro-government militias and Hezbollah fighters led an artillery ambush killing \"dozens\" of rebels, including from the al Qaeda-linked Nusra Front and the Islamic State, an al Qaeda offshoot, the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.","Kenyan lawmakers approve controversial anti-terror bill: MP. Nairobi (AFP) - Kenyan lawmakers on Thursday voted in favour of a tough anti-terror bill following a heated debate that sparked a brawl in parliament between opposition and pro-government MPs.","Boeing, 5 Japanese suppliers ink 777X deal. TOKYO (AP) — Boeing has inked a deal for five Japanese companies to manufacture key components for its twin aisle 777X jets.","EU warns Israel, Palestinians over peace vacuum. Israel deployed more than 1,300 police across troubled east Jerusalem Friday as the EU's new top diplomat warned of a fresh wave of Israeli-Palestinian violence if peace efforts remain deadlocked. Nightly protests have raged in Palestinian neighbourhoods over Israel's policies in east Jerusalem and anger over efforts by far-right Jewish fringe groups to secure prayer rights at the compound which is holy to Jews as well as Muslims. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke by phone with Jordan's King Abdullah II to reassure him there would be no change to the decades-old status quo at the shrine which is one of the most sensitive flashpoints in the Middle East. Jordan had recalled its ambassador to Israel in protest after Wednesday's clashes in which police faced off with Palestinian stone-throwers bent on preventing a visit by Jewish extremists.","Afghan president seeks Chinese investment. BEIJING (AP) — Afghanistan's new president began a visit to Beijing on Tuesday seeking Chinese help in rebuilding his country and promoting regional stability.","Prime minister says election will be triumph for Ukraine. Ukraine's interim prime minister urged people to take part in what he said would be a clean and fair presidential election on Sunday that would be a triumph before the world against Russian aggression. In a statement on Saturday, Arseny Yatseniuk told Ukrainians they had a responsibility to vote, for the future of their children, and assured those in rebel-held eastern regions that \"bandits won't be terrorizing your area for much longer\". \"Tomorrow we will demonstrate to the whole world, but above all to ourselves, that we cannot be intimidated,\" said Yatseniuk, who took power in February following the overthrow of the previous elected president, Moscow-backed Viktor Yanukovich. But said he was sure the winner would make a priority of signing up to a closer alliance with the European Union - a move which Yanukovich rejected in November, triggering months of protests in Kiev that ended when he fled to Russia.","Obama, Germany's Merkel speak amid spying flap. WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama has spoken with Germany Chancellor Angela Merkel about cooperation between the United States and Germany.","Al Jazeera suspends Egypt channel as Doha, Cairo mull closer ties. CAIRO (Reuters) - Qatari-owned Al Jazeera suspended broadcast of its Egypt-focused channel on Monday, citing a product restructuring, as Doha and Cairo seek to mend ties that deteriorated last year after the army toppled elected Islamist President Mohamed Mursi. Qatar was one of the main supporters of Mursi and his Muslim Brotherhood during their year in power. Ties between Egypt and Qatar have been strained since then-army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi ousted Mursi in July 2013 after protests against his rule. ...","Canada gives Ukraine helmets, tents to secure eastern region. Canada will provide Ukraine with non-lethal equipment such as helmets, protective vests and tents to help secure the country's unstable eastern region, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said on Thursday. Pro-Russian rebels control parts of eastern Ukraine. \"This equipment, which includes helmets, ballistic eyewear, protective vests, first aid kits, tents and sleeping bags, will provide physical and medical protection to those on the front lines against the insurgency,\" Harper said in a statement.","South Korea, Japan to hold rare official talks on 'comfort women'. Senior South Korean and Japanese officials will meet this week to discuss Japan's wartime sexual enslavement of Korean women, South Korea's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Sunday. Ties between the two close U.S. allies have long been poisoned by what South Korea consider Japan's failure to atone for its wartime past, including the issue of so-called comfort women, forced to work in Japanese brothels. The talks on Wednesday will be held a week or so before U.S. President Barack Obama will visit both countries. Japan reportedly wanted the upcoming talks to include other issues including overlapping claims to some islands and North Korea, but South Korea's Yonhap news agency said they had agreed to focus on the \"comfort women\" as South Korea insisted.","Suicide attacker kills 3 in southwestern Pakistan. QUETTA, Pakistan (AP) — A police officer says a suicide attacker has blown himself up in a Shiite neighborhood in southwestern Pakistan, killing at least 3 people and wounding 17.","North Korea athletes on mission for political gold. PYONGYANG, North Korea (AP) — It's a hot, sunny morning at the newly refurbished Sosan Football Stadium in Pyongyang. Two women's soccer teams head to the sidelines of the artificial turf, leaving only a row of archers to continue their practice before several senior sports ministry officials. So sure are they of their aim — or, perhaps, so impromptu is the decision to have them shoot here — that there are no barriers behind the targets, posted on simple squares of straw.","Balotelli scores as Liverpool knock Swansea out of League Cup. London (AFP) - Mario Balotelli scored just his second goal for Liverpool in 12 appearances as they came from behind to beat Premier League rivals Swansea 2-1 and advance into the last eight of the League Cup at Anfield on Tuesday.","FIFA denies Barcelona exception to transfer rules. ZURICH (AP) — FIFA says Barcelona will not get special permission to sign a defender after Thomas Vermaelen was sidelined by injury for several months.","At least 33 killed in suicide bombing in central Yemen: medics. SANAA (Reuters) - A suicide bomber killed at least 33 people in central Yemen on Wednesday when he blew himself up at a cultural center where students were celebrating Prophet Mohammad's birthday, medical sources and a resident said. They said at least 20 bodies, including women and children, were transferred to al-Thawra hospital in the city of Ibb, while 13 more bodies were taken to another hospital called al-Manar. The provincial governor was reported to be among a number of people wounded in the attack, local residents said. (Reporting by Sami Aboudi; Editing by Dominic Evans)","Norwegian general is first woman to lead UN force. UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has appointed the first woman to command a United Nations peacekeeping force — a Norwegian general who has served in Lebanon, the first Gulf War, Bosnia and Afghanistan.","Tonga beats US 40-12 in rugby. GLOUCESTER, England (AP) — A three-try burst in six minutes raced Tonga away from the United States in a 40-12 rugby win at Kingsholm on Saturday.","EU summit to discuss only second phase Russian sanctions: Germany. Any discussion between EU leaders at a summit this week about sanctions against Russia over the Ukraine crisis will be limited to a second phase of measures, a senior German official said on Wednesday. The EU has imposed travel bans and asset freezes on people deemed responsible for Russia's incursion into the Ukrainian region of Crimea. In response to a question about whether a third phase of sanctions could be discussed, the senior official said: \"Based on the current situation I expect a discussion on the second phase,\" adding that the condition for third phase sanctions was a \"massive destabilization\" of other parts of Ukraine beyond Crimea.","Soviet industrial giant's struggle symbolizes Russia's economic dilemma. By Jason Bush YEKATERINBURG Russia (Reuters) - Viktor Livshits will never forget May 9, 1945, the day he first laid eyes on Uralmash, a giant factory making tanks and other heavy machinery that has for decades symbolized Russia's industrial might. Livshits was 4 years old on that day when the Soviet Union celebrated victory over Nazi Germany. He went on to spend half a century working at Uralmash, following his father, who headed tank production there in World War Two. Now 73, he is devoting his retirement to a campaign to save the famous plant, as a severe economic downturn, exacerbated by threats of Western sanctions over Ukraine, takes a heavy toll on Russia's industrial heartland.","Yemeni security officials say now clearing out Shiite rebels blocking capital's airport road. SANAA, Yemen (AP) — Yemeni security officials say now clearing out Shiite rebels blocking capital's airport road .","Britain's anti-EU leader denies expenses allegations. Eurosceptic UK Independence Party leader Nigel Farage said Tuesday he was considering legal action after a British newspaper reported that he faces an investigation over his EU expenses. Farage told the BBC that the \"outrageous\" allegations published by Rupert Murdoch's The Times were politically motivated, ahead of European Parliament elections on May 22. The Times reported that a former UKIP official had made a complaint to the European Union's anti-fraud office OLAF over allowances that Farage receives for his constituency office in Britain. The newspaper said Farage gets £15,500 ($25,900, 18,700 euros) a year to run the office in a converted grain store, citing transparency reports on the party's website, but reported that it is provided rent-free by local supporters, while a former office manager said the premises only cost £3,000 a year to run.","RBC reports raises dividend as profit edges higher. TORONTO (Reuters) - Royal Bank of Canada reported a 4 percent increase in quarterly earnings on Friday, driven by strong results from its wealth management and capital markets divisions. Canada's largest bank reported net income of C$2.38 billion, or C$1.59 a share, for the third quarter ended July 31, compared with C$2.29 billion, or C$1.51 a share, a year earlier. The bank, as analysts widely expected, also raised its quarterly dividend by nearly 6 percent to 75 Canadian cents a share. (Reporting by Euan Rocha; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn)","Moeen Ali keen to follow India example. England all-rounder Moeen Ali said watching India's Suresh Raina had encouraged him to maintain an attacking approach to batting in one-day internationals. Ali's 67 -- his team's first fifty of the series -- was the lone highlight for England in their nine-wicket thrashing by world champions India in Birmingham on Tuesday. The match marked Ali's series debut and his first ODI in England.","Top Asian News at 11:00 p.m. GMT. SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — A prosecutor says the captain of the South Korean ferry that sank two days ago has been arrested. Senior prosecutor Yang Jung-jin says 68-year-old Lee Joon-seok and the crew members were detained early Saturday.","Iraqi forces break militant siege of Shiite town. BAGHDAD (AP) — A military spokesman and a lawmaker say Iraqi security forces and Shiite militiamen have broken a two-month siege imposed by the Islamic State extremist group on the northern Shiite Turkmen town of Amirli.","AP Photos: Football like a religion for Brazilians. SAO PAULO (AP) — The relationship between Brazilian fans and their football teams transcends sports. It's loyalty by history, by blood. It's an association that passes from generation to generation. The son of a Flamengo fan will be a Flamengo fan. And you can bet his son will be a Flamengo fan too.","Bieber summoned to Argentina for alleged photographer assault. Pop music star Justin Bieber has been ordered to appear before a court in Argentina for the alleged assault last year of photographer outside a Buenos Aires nightclub. The incident allegedly took place in November 2013, while the Canadian heart throb was on a music tour in Argentina. According to the complaint, the bodyguard, following Bieber's orders, forcefully seized the photographer's camera and cellphone outside the nightclub in the exclusive Buenos Aires neighborhood of Palermo.","LeBron, Cavs roll in front of royal audience. NEW YORK (AP) — LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers turned a close game into a clinic after Prince William and his wife, Kate, took courtside seats to watch them, beating the Brooklyn Nets 110-88 on Monday.","Greece rules out new cuts ahead of bailout talks. ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greece's government says it won't enact further austerity measures ahead of talks later this week with bailout creditors.","Woeful Scots change 3 in pack for Italy in 6N. EDINBURGH, Scotland (AP) — Scotland has changed three forwards and retained the same backline for the Six Nations rugby match against Italy in Rome on Saturday.","India's top court again rejects Sahara chief's bail plea. India's Supreme Court on Wednesday once again rejected a bail plea by the chief of the Sahara conglomerate, who has been held in jail for three months over his group's failure to repay investors who bought bonds that were later ruled to be illegal. Sahara Chairman Subrata Roy has been in a Delhi jail since March 4 after failing to appear at a contempt hearing in a long-running legal battle between his group and the Indian capital markets regulator. The court - which on Wednesday said Sahara's liability was between 330 and 350 billion rupees ($5.6-$5.9 billion) - had asked Sahara to deposit 100 billion rupees initially to secure the release of Roy on bail. Sahara, a household name in India as the former main sponsor of the national cricket team, has so far failed to do so.","Putin discusses 'deterioration' in east Ukraine with security chiefs. MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed the \"deterioration of the situation\" in eastern Ukraine with security chiefs on Thursday, Russian news agencies quoted his spokesman as saying. They did not they say what decisions, if any, had been reached over the conflict between government forces and pro-Russian separatists following what Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov called \"repeated violations of the ceasefire by Ukraine's armed forces.\" Ukrainian forces have denied allegations by the separatists that they have launched a new offensive in eastern Ukraine. ...","Biden: Russia can't alter Europe borders by force. WASHINGTON (AP) — Vice President Joe Biden is drawing parallels between Russia's interference in Ukraine and the world wars of the last century.","Migrant flow to Morocco-Spain border fence 'doubles'. Madrid (AFP) - The flow of migrants scrambling to reach Spain's north African territory Melilla is at double the rate of last year, an official said Tuesday as he defended police after a video showed abuse by border guards.","AP PHOTOS: Editor selections from Latin America. This gallery highlights pictures published last week by AP photographers in Latin America and the Caribbean.","SKorean prime minister resigns over ferry sinking. JINDO, South Korea (AP) — South Korea's prime minister resigned Sunday over the government's handling of a ferry sinking that has left more than 300 people dead or missing and led to widespread shame, fury and finger-pointing, blaming \"deep-rooted evils\" in society for the tragedy.","Vigilantes vs. narcos: a security threat in Mexico badlands. By Simon Gardner BUENAVISTA, Mexico (Reuters) - Clutching shotguns, rifles and battered submachine guns, dozens of vigilantes prepare to head out on patrol in this rugged corner of restive western Mexico, where they are at war with a drug cartel. Moments later, an armored convoy of federal police passes by. In violence-racked Michoacan, an impoverished agricultural state about 1-1/2 times the size of Switzerland, vigilantes are battling a cartel called the Caballeros Templarios, or Knights Templar, for control of swathes of the failing state. After letting the conflict brew, the government this month vowed to assert control but its messages have been contradictory.","Cycling-Australian Rogers wins Tour de France Stage 16. BAGNERES DE LUCHON, France, July 22 (Reuters) - Australia's Michael Rogers won the 16th stage of the Tour de France, a 237.5-km trek from Carcassonne on Tuesday. France's Thomas Voeckler was second and Belarussian Vasil Kiryienka took third place. (Reporting by Julien Pretot; Editing by Ed Osmond)","Israel confirms 12-hour Gaza ceasefire from 0500 GMT: army. The Israeli military said on Saturday that it would observe what it called \"a humanitarian window in the Gaza Strip\" for 12 hours from 8:00 am (0500 GMT). An army statement said that Gazans who had previously been warned by the military to vacate their homes due to planned attacks should \"refrain from returning\" and said forces would retaliate if attacked or if militants were to fire rockets into Israel. It added that under the agreement the army would continue to destroy militants' tunnels in areas of the Gaza Strip under its control. Hamas said earlier that it and other militant groups in Gaza had reached \"national consensus on a humanitarian truce\".","Juventus beats Olympiakos 3-2 in Champions League. TURIN, Italy (AP) — Juventus scored twice in as many minutes to rescue a 3-2 victory at home to Olympiakos and keep its hopes of qualifying for the Champions League knockout stages alive.","Clinton says she urged end to Cuba embargo. PARIS (AP) — In her new book, former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton says she pushed President Barack Obama to lift or ease the decades-long U.S. embargo on Cuba because it was no longer useful to American interests or promoting change on the communist island.","Mining stocks dig FTSE out of a hole. London (AFP) - London shares ended the day slightly higher on Monday after positive Chinese trade data gave mining stocks a boost.","San Francisco radio stations ban hit song 'Royals'. SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — The popular song \"Royals\" by New Zealand artist Lorde is getting caught up in the fervor over baseball's upcoming World Series between the San Francisco Giants and Kansas City Royals.","Torino completes Italian sweep in Europa League. ROME (AP) — The entire Italian league stands to benefit as Torino came back to beat nine-man Copenhagen 5-1 Thursday and complete a clean sweep with all four Serie A clubs advancing from the group phase of the Europa League.","Jihadists seize areas in Iraq's Kirkuk province, say police. Kirkuk (Iraq) (AFP) - Jihadists seized five areas in Iraq's Kirkuk province on Tuesday, a police officer said, after the militants took control of all of another province to its west.","Car bomb explodes at market in northeast Nigeria. BAUCHI, Nigeria (AP) — A car bomb exploded in a market in Nigeria's northeastern city of Maiduguri on Tuesday morning, and dozens of people are feared dead, witnesses said.","Memorial University professor apologizes for rape and suicide assignment. ST. JOHN'S, N.L. - Memorial University says a professor has apologized for an assignment that the school's student union said made light of sexual assault and mental health.","Drought worsens China's long-term water crisis. HEXINGTEN, China (AP) — The corn has grown to only half its normal height on Yan Shuqin's ranch in the hills of Inner Mongolia this year, as a swath of northern China suffers its worst drought in 60 years.","Seizing its chance, Iran seeks tourism revival. At the foot of Persepolis, busloads of foreign tourists gaze in awe at the ancient mud-brick ceremonial capital that Iran hopes will be part of a rebirth of its tourism industry. Persepolis, a jewel of the first Persian empire whose palace and terraces took more than 100 years to build, starting under Darius the Great in 518 BC, is one of the highlights. \"Before coming to Iran I knew the vision of this country from the outside was very dark,\" says Piotr Chwalba, from Poland, finally looking at Persepolis after thinking for years of visiting. \"A place like Iran has two sides -- the one created by the media and the other version, the truth, where everyone helps you when you travel and everyone smiles at you.","Libya ex-deputy PM kidnapped in Tripoli: family. An armed group abducted a former Libyan deputy prime minister and newly-elected MP, Mustapha Abu Shagur, in the capital Tripoli on Tuesday, his nephew said. \"Twenty minutes before his abduction, Mr Abu Shagur received a call from a stranger who asked him to leave the house because of imminent danger,\" he added. Abu Shagur was elected a deputy in Libya's June 25 legislative election, in which he stood as an independent candidate. Abu Shagur was deputy prime minister for a year under Abdelrahim al-Kib, who led a first transitional government in the wake of the 2011 uprising that ousted dictator Moamer Kadhafi.","Alibaba IPO seeks to raise up to $24.3 bn. New York (AFP) - Chinese online giant Alibaba said Friday it would raise up to $24.3 billion in its upcoming US stock offering, making it the largest stock flotation in history.","Iran must reduce nuclear fuel capacity to secure deal: Kerry. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Tuesday dismissed the idea that Iran could maintain its current number of nuclear enrichment centrifuges as part of a long-term deal with six world powers that would lead to a gradual end of sanctions. \"We have made it crystal clear that the 19,000 (centrifuges) that are currently part of their program is too many,\" Kerry told reporters after three days of talks with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif. He said he will return to Washington and consult with President Barack Obama and Congress on prospects for a deal with Iran and what to it cannot be reached.","Oregon wolf famous for his wanderings may have found a mate. By Shelby Sebens PORTLAND Ore. (Reuters) - An Oregon wolf which became the subject of a documentary after making a monumental trek from Oregon to California and back may have finally found what he’s been searching for: love. Oregon wildlife officials said on Tuesday they believe the gray wolf, dubbed OR 7 because he was the seventh wolf collared for tracking in 2011, may have found a mate. If the pair have pups, it would be the first known wolf breeding in the Oregon Cascades since the early 20th century. OR 7 became well known when he traipsed into California in December 2011, making him the first known wild wolf in the state since 1924. He traveled more than any of the seven wolves collared, making him a celebrity and the focus of a documentary being made to track his progress, Wolf OR 7 Expedition. “I think it brings awareness of the issue of recovery of an endangered species, especially with the potential for his finding a mate and possibly having a family,” said Elizabeth Materna, public affairs specialist for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Oregon Fish and Wildlife Office.","Russia's Kasparov backs case of dissident banker. PARIS (AP) — Russian chess master and political activist Garry Kasparov says a Kazakh dissident banker is in danger if a court rules he should be extradited from France.","Brazil group launches campaign to save armadillo. SAO PAULO (AP) — An environmental group in Brazil has launched an effort to save the endangered three-banded armadillo, the mascot for the World Cup that starts next month.","Australia considers temporary visas for refugees. CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Australia's Parliament on Thursday appeared close to passing a bill creating a new class of temporary visas for refugees that will allow them to stay and work in the country for three to five years but prevent them from making Australia their permanent home.","Replica 18th-century frigate due for maiden France voyage. Rochefort (France) (AFP) - A life-size replica of the Hermione, the French navy frigate that shipped General Lafayette to America to rally rebels fighting British troops in the US war of independence, will undertake its maiden voyage on Sunday, organisers said.","England rugby union coach glad to get Ford into the Test squad. England coach Stuart Lancaster insisted now was the \"right time\" to bring George Ford into the Test squad after calling up the 20-year-old fly-half into his Six Nations training group. The uncapped Bath stand-off, one of the rising stars of the English game, was included in a 35-man squad announced after Lancaster omitted Toby Flood, effectively ending the Leicester fly-half's 60-cap Test career. Leicester captain Flood is due to join French giants Toulouse at the end of the season. He also took the opportunity on Wednesday to bring in Northampton No 10 Stephen Myler on a temporary basis as well.","Protesters clash with police near Ukraine's parliament. By Pavel Polityuk KIEV (Reuters) - Several thousand anti-government protesters clashed with police near Ukraine's parliament on Tuesday, torching a police truck and hurling stones in the first real violence in the capital Kiev in more than three weeks. The protesters marched to the parliament building in a move to keep up pressure on President Viktor Yanukovich to relinquish some of his presidential powers. Inside parliament, opposition leaders brought proceedings to a halt by blocking the speaker's tribune and insisting that deputies discuss their call for constitutional changes that would curb Yanukovich's powers. Yanukovich has been battling an opposition-led street revolt since he walked away from a trade pact with the European Union in November and opted instead for forging closer economic ties with Russia, Ukraine's Soviet-era master.","Stowaway boy's refugee mom cries for son. SHEDDER REFUGEE CAMP, Ethiopia (AP) — The Somali mother's home is a small shelter with a frame of sticks covered by ragged blankets on the dusty grounds of a refugee camp. It was to her that her 15-year-old son wanted to travel to on an impossible journey as a stowaway on a plane from California.","Ebola cases rise in Africa as doctors sound alarm. RABAT, Morocco (AP) — The international medical organization Doctors Without Borders is sounding the alarm over the outbreak of the Ebola disease in West Africa as some 20 new deaths have been reported.","As caliphate declared, battle continues in Iraq. By Oliver Holmes and Isra'a al-Rubei'i BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraqi troops battled to dislodge an al Qaeda splinter group from the city of Tikrit on Monday after its leader was declared caliph of a new Islamic state in lands seized this month across a swathe of Iraq and Syria. Alarming regional and world powers, the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) claimed universal authority when it dropped the local element in its name and said its leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, as leader of the Islamic State, was now caliph of the Muslim world - a mediaeval title last widely recognized in the Ottoman sultan deposed 90 years ago after World War One. The move, which follows a three-week drive for territory by ISIL militants and allies among Iraqi's Sunni Muslim minority, aims to erase international borders drawn by colonial powers and defy Baghdad's U.S.- and Iranian-backed, Shi'ite-led government.","Twitter reports image blocking in Venezuela. LIMA, Peru (AP) — Twitter says Venezuela has blocked images on its service and it offered a workaround for users who want to get tweets via text message on their cellphones.","Romanian PM calls for stability after poll defeat. By Luiza Ilie and Radu-Sorin Marinas BUCHAREST (Reuters) - Prime Minister Victor Ponta looked to allay fears of political tensions in Romania after suffering surprise defeat in presidential elections, saying on Monday he was committed to dialogue and stability. Provincial mayor Klaus Iohannis, who was backed by two center-right parties, defied expectations to win Sunday's run-off ballot -- a result that maintains a potentially destabilizing split between the country's executive powers. ...","Muslim men over 50 return to Jerusalem's Aqsa mosque, tension high. By Luke Baker JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Muslim worshippers over the age of 50 returned to pray at Al Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem's Old City on Friday, a day after Israeli authorities shut down all access to the sacred compound following violence in East Jerusalem. The Muslim quarter of the Old City was calm early in the day, the Muslim holy day, and police said pre-dawn prayers had passed off without incident. However, security was tight ahead of midday prayers, when more people were expected to attend. ...","2 Ukraine helicopters shot down during offensive. SLOVYANSK, Ukraine (AP) — Pro-Russia forces shot down two Ukrainian helicopters Friday as Ukraine launched its first major offensive against an insurgency that has seized government buildings in the east. The Kremlin said Kiev's move against the insurgents \"destroyed\" hopes for peace in the region.","Shots fired in air during raid at Crimea naval base. By Andrew Osborn SEVASTOPOL, Ukraine (Reuters) - Unidentified armed men fired in the air as they moved into a Ukrainian naval post in Crimea on Monday in the latest confrontation since Russian military groups seized control of the Black Sea peninsula. With diplomacy at a standstill, Russia said the United States had spurned an invitation to hold new talks on resolving the crisis, the worst East-West standoff since the Cold War. Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk, who said he would address the U.N. Security Council on Thursday, put the blame for the crisis on Russia and accused Moscow of undermining the global security system by taking control of Crimea. Russian forces have in little more than a week taken over military installations across Crimea, home to the Russian Black Sea Fleet and Russian territory until Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev gave it to Ukraine in 1954.","Poland warns Russia it could face tougher EU sanctions over Ukraine. WARSAW (Reuters) - The European Union will impose tougher sanctions on Russia unless Moscow's policy in Ukraine changes, Polish Foreign Minister Grzegorz Schetyna said on Tuesday. Since a ceasefire was agreed between pro-Moscow separatists and Ukraine's government a month ago, most European leaders have focused on when the sanctions on Russia can be eased, with little discussion about making them tougher. But breaches of the ceasefire in eastern Ukraine have renewed Western diplomatic pressure on Moscow. ...","Jamaica panel starts examining bloody 2010 raid. KINGSTON, Jamaica (AP) — A fact-finding panel appointed to examine a bloody 2010 security operation in Jamaica has started its work in the island's capital.","Cyprus passes international bailout review. NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) — Cyprus' international creditors said Friday that the country's bailout program is making good progress as fiscal targets have been comfortably met, welfare reform has moved forward and more steps have been taken to shore up the banking sector.","Bank scandal tarnishes powerful Portuguese family. LISBON, Portugal (AP) — Portugal's Espirito Santo family business survived wars, dictatorship, revolution and family feuds for almost 150 years. Now, one of Europe's last banking dynasties is being stripped of its wealth and influence amid accounting irregularities, huge unreported debts, and a police investigation.","Canada November building permits dip 6.7 percent, more than forecast. (Reuters) - The value of Canadian building permits fell by a sharper-than-expected 6.7 percent in November, following an upwardly revised 8.0 percent gain in October, Statistics Canada data indicated on Thursday. Residential construction intentions sank by 7.6 percent with both single- and multi-family dwellings declining, while the nonresidential sector dropped by 5.2 percent as institutional and industrial building plans decreased. Commercial building intentions, however, edged up. (Reporting by Alex Paterson; Editing by Randall Palmer)","Two killed in border skirmish between Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. By Roman Kozhevnikov and Olga Dzyubenko DUSHANBE/BISHKEK (Reuters) - Two Tajiks were killed in a border shootout between Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan, the bloodiest clash so far this year on the frontier between the former Soviet neighbors, officials said on Tuesday. Tajik police said gun fire from Kyrgyzstan on Monday evening had killed a border guard and one civilian and wounded four other civilians. The Kyrgyz border force blamed the incident on Tajikistan, saying Tajik servicemen had tried to erect a border post \"on an undelimited part of the border\" and started to destroy a bridge across a river used by Kyrgyz citizens. \"The calls of the Kyrgyz border guards not to destroy the bridge and to remove the border post were met with stones thrown by Tajik nationals.","Moscow police say 200 detained outside protest trial courthouse. MOSCOW (Reuters) - Police detained about 200 people on Friday outside a Moscow courthouse where eight people were convicted of rioting and assaulting police at a protest against President Vladimir Putin in 2012, a police spokesman said. The spokesman said those detained had attempted to violate public order. Russian authorities say that by law, most large outdoor gatherings require prior approval from government officials. (Writing by Steve Gutterman; Editing by Alexei Anishchuk)","American released by Syrian militants thanks Qatar, U.S. officials. Peter Theo Curtis, who was held by Nusra Front, al Qaeda's official wing in Syria, said he had no idea while he was imprisoned that there had been hundreds of people around the world pushing for his release. \"I will respond, but I can't do it now,\" said Curtis, who along with his mother Nancy Curtis raised a U.S. Their son's return came just days after rivals of Nusra Front, the militant group Islamic State, last week said it killed journalist James Foley and threatened another still being held hostage, Steven Sotloff.","U.S., Australia push for global response to Middle East foreign fighters. By Lesley Wroughton and Jane Wardell SYDNEY (Reuters) - The United States and Australia plan to push the United Nations to adopt international standards to deal with growing numbers of foreign fighters in Middle East conflicts and the threat they could pose when they return to their home countries. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Tuesday he would take the issue to the United Nations later this year, calling for the adoption of a \"best practice\" that all countries can follow to reduce the threat. ...","McLaren boss recalls Senna 20 years later. LONDON (AP) — Twenty years after Ayrton Senna's tragic death, Ron Dennis still struggles to speak about the special bond he shared with the Formula One great.","Bomb kills 4 in Pakistan; airstrikes hit militants. KARACHI, Pakistan (AP) — A bombing in southern Pakistan killed a police officer known for his anti-militant campaigns and three other people on Thursday while army officials said the Pakistani air force carried out airstrikes against insurgents in a northwestern tribal region, killing 16 militants.","Leeds takeover suffers blow as Cellino fined. Massimo Cellino's proposed takeover of Leeds United could be in jeopardy after the Cagliari president was handed a hefty fine on Tuesday for failing to pay duty on a yacht he imported from the United States, according to reports. The Football League board is due to meet in England early next week to consider Cellino's proposal to buy a 75 percent stake in Leeds. Cellino avoided paying 400,000 euros in import duty although the fine is far inferior to the figure of 1.165m euros demanded by the public prosecutor Andrea Massidda. The Football League's rules prohibit people with unspent convictions for dishonesty offences from having any influential role at one of its clubs.","Striker Diego Costa signs 5-year Chelsea contract. LONDON (AP) — Spain striker Diego Costa has completed his move to Chelsea from Atletico Madrid.","Suspected Filipino extremists abduct couple. MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Philippine military officials say suspected Abu Sayyaf extremists have kidnapped a Filipino couple in the south, the latest addition to their hostages, who include two European tourists.","Kenya doping report blames foreign agents. A probe into allegations of widespread doping in Kenyan sports has uncovered serious incidences of drug use and sounded the alarm that the country's athletes are at risk of being manipulated by some foreign sports agents. However the government-appointed commission, which completed its work earlier this month and has presented its findings to the Kenyan sports minister, Hassan Wario, did not uncover evidence of doping among its record-breaking distance runners. The reports has blamed ignorance, lack of education and manipulation by foreign agents as the main reasons for the recent upsurge in cases of athletes testing positive for performance-enhancing drugs, including the blood-booster EPO. \"We have left our athletes in the hands of foreigners,\" the head of the taskforce, Professor Moni Wekesa, told AFP.","Venice mayor arrested in corruption scandal. VENICE, Italy (AP) — Italian authorities have arrested the mayor of Venice and 35 others in a sweeping corruption investigation related to the construction of underwater barriers to protect the historic city from flooding.","Michael Matthews wins 3rd Vuelta stage, takes lead. ARCOS DE LA FRONTERA, Spain (AP) — Michael Matthews of Australia sprinted to victory on the third stage of the Spanish Vuelta on Monday to take the overall lead of the three-week grand tour.","No selfies: Brazil keeps phones out of vote booths. RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Some of the globe's biggest users of social media, Brazilians snap selfies at the beach, at soccer matches, at the gym, in maternity wards and even inside the dens of drug-dealing gangs.","Plushenko’s Retirement Is Proof He Should Have Quit Before Sochi. After his aborted performance on Thursday—and the subsequent announcement of his retirement—it became all too clear that Evgeni Plushenko should have passed the torch to a younger skater before the Sochi Olympics commenced. For nearly a decade, the flamboyant figure skater has dominated the sport in Russia. At the age of 31, which is right around retirement age for an Olympic figure skater, he decided to try his Olympic luck for the third time despite a recent spinal surgery. It worked out well for him on Sunday, when he won a gold medal along with nine of his teammates in Sochi as part of the team figure skating competition.","IS snipers, mortars hinder Kobane evacuations: local official. Beirut (AFP) - Sniper and mortar fire from jihadists are preventing authorities from evacuating civilians caught up in the battle for the Syrian border town of Kobane, a local official said Friday.","Volvo to launch online car sales in marketing shift. PARIS (Reuters) - Volvo Car Corp said it will start selling vehicles online as it rolls out new models to compete with German luxury rivals such as BMW .","Israel keeps up Gaza assaults, Kerry presses for truce. By Nidal al-Mughrabi and Allyn Fisher-Ilan GAZA/JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel kept up its assaults in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, killing a Palestinian man in an air strike, as U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry arrived in the region with a mission to seek a ceasefire in the 14-day-old conflict \"as soon as possible.\" The death of a man in the town of Khan Younis raised the Palestinian toll to 537 killed, including nearly 100 children and many other civilians, Gaza health officials said. Israel's losses totalled 25 soldiers in ground battles with militants, plus two civilians killed by rocket fire. Israel said a Palestinian shot at a car and seriously wounded an Israeli in the Nablus area on Tuesday. Kerry arrived in Cairo on Monday and, during talks with United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, said the United States would provide $47 million in humanitarian aid for Gaza.","Canadian aid to help Jordan cope with Syrian refugees. Canada said on Thursday it will provide Jordan with around $100 million (US $90 million, 65 million euros) to help Jordan cope with an influx of hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees. The new funds were announced as Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper held talks with Jordan's King Abdullah II on the Syrian conflict and its impact on the neighbouring kingdom. \"The king urged a comprehensive political solution in Syria and warned against repercussions of terrorism and violence for the region,\" a palace statement said following the meeting. \"He also talked about the burdens shouldered by Jordan in hosting a large number of Syrian refugees.\"","France, US back sanctions against S.Sudan. United Nations (United States) (AFP) - France and the United States called Wednesday for the UN Security Council to consider sanctions against South Sudan over spiraling violence in the country's civil war, diplomats said. US ambassador Samantha Power relayed Washington's position in a closed-door meeting of the 15-member Council, diplomats said, and France's Gerard Araud told reporters before the session that it was time to think about sanctions against those responsible. \"I think we should consider sanctions because it is horrendous,\" he said.","China defends block on British MPs' Hong Kong trip. Beijing (AFP) - China on Monday defended its refusal to allow a group of British MPs into Hong Kong, describing their planned trip to the former colony as \"overtly confrontational\" in words echoing those of the legislators' leader.","How to travel Australia like the royal couple. A luxury retail website has created a travel package inspired by the royal itinerary of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge as they continue along their three-week tour of Australia and New Zealand with Prince George. Capitalizing on the worldwide interest in the couple’s first tour with Prince George, London-based VeryFirstTo.com has created a luxury travel package fit for, well, a king, that includes visits to the places on the royal itinerary like the Blue Mountains and the Taronga Zoo in Sydney, which will be naming its bilby enclosure after the pint-sized royal tot. Created in partnership with luxury Australian travel operator Bridge & Wickers, the month-long package also includes a Tiffany’s sterling silver baby cup, Prada baby bag, and white gold, diamond-encrusted pacifier for couples who will be bringing baby in tow. The complete travel package, which includes travel from Heathrow Airport to Australia and accommodation for the couple, costs £341,000 or $571,110.","Ukraine president demands Russia end 'blackmail', pull back troops. Ukraine's acting president Oleksander Turchinov called on Russia on Thursday to pull troops back from their border, stop interfering in Ukraine's internal affairs and end its \"permanent threats and blackmail\". Turchinov broadcast his brief address to the nation after Russia said it had begun military exercises near the border in response to escalation by Ukraine. Saying Russia was \"demonstratively concentrating armed forces\" on the frontier, Turchinov added: \"We will not give in to terrorist threats and will go on taking measures to protect the lives of our citizens.","Student survivors testify in South Korea ferry trial. Ansan (South Korea) (AFP) - Student survivors of South Korea's ferry disaster, testifying for the first time Monday in the murder trial of the captain and crew, recalled being repeatedly told to stay put as the ship was sinking.","Boko Haram attacks kill more than 50 in Nigeria. Kano (Nigeria) (AFP) - Boko Haram gunmen killed more than 50 people in three separate attacks, including two near Chibok, the Nigerian town where the Islamists kidnapped more than 200 schoolgirls last month, witnesses said on Wednesday. The first attack on Monday afternoon killed 10 in the village of Shawa, some seven kilometres (4.3 miles) from Chibok, in northeastern Borno state, a number of residents told AFP on condition of anonymity. \"It was a sudden attack,\" said resident Haruna Bitrus, in an account supported by other locals. Many of those who fled the Alagarno attack ran to Chibok, where Boko Haram seized 276 schoolgirls on April 14.","Australia repeals maligned, 2-year-old carbon tax. SYDNEY (AP) — Australia's government repealed a much-maligned carbon tax on the nation's worst greenhouse gas polluters on Thursday, ending years of contention over a measure that became political poison for the lawmakers who imposed it.","British PM, Iran president hold first talks since 1979. United Nations (United States) (AFP) - British Prime Minister David Cameron held talks with Iran's President Hassan Rouhani on Wednesday at the United Nations, the first meeting between the countries' leaders since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.","Family feud renews in southern Egypt, killing 1. ASWAN, Egypt (AP) — Clashes between an Arab clan and a Nubian family restarted Sunday in Egypt's south, leaving one person killed and four injured, state TV said, despite high-profile government mediation to end the protracted feud that has now claimed 24 lives.","Japan's First Lady speaks out on sales tax, nuclear power. By Linda Sieg TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese First Lady Akie Abe - often called the \"household opposition\" for her penchant to speak out - said on Thursday the country should consider cutting wasteful spending and boosting the economy before going ahead with a rise in the sales tax to 10 percent, as her husband wrestles with just that decision. Mrs. Abe is a rarity among Japan's First Ladies, most of whom have been largely invisible. \"Considering the falling birth rate and ageing society, it probably can't be helped,\" Akie Abe, 52, told Reuters in an interview on Thursday at the prime minister's official residence, referring to an eventual rise in the sales tax. \"I can understand there are aspects that would be difficult if we don't raise the sales tax, but in my personal opinion, before doing that, shouldn't we put a bit effort into the economy, fix what can be fixed and cut what can be cut?\" But she added: \"This won't change just because I say so.\" Prime Minister Abe must decide by December whether to proceed with a second-stage rise in the sales tax to 10 percent that is planned for October 2015 to help curb Japan's huge public debt and fund the ballooning costs of its ageing society.","BP to spend $1 billion on hundreds of job cuts, restructuring. By Ron Bousso LONDON (Reuters) - BP will cut hundreds of jobs cut across its global oil and gas business by the end of next year in a $1 billion restructuring program announced on Wednesday following steep falls in oil prices. The bulk of the costs will go towards staff redundancies in all segments, including oil exploration and production, refining and trading and administration, a company spokesman said. The British oil major said a first charge will be taken in the fourth quarter of 2014 as it implements a plan drawn up over the past 18 months to increase efficiency. ...","Vandals leave anti-Arab graffiti on Israel mosque. Vandals left anti-Arab graffiti on a mosque in northern Israel overnight and damaged a door of the building, Israeli police said Friday. \"There was an incident in which graffiti was written on a mosque in the city of Umm al-Faham,\" police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld told AFP, adding that the words \"Arabs Out\" were painted in Hebrew. \"Such incidents aim to harm relations between Arabs and Jews,\" Israeli news site Ynet quoted the mosque's imam, Jamil Mahagna, as saying. Earlier this month, suspected Jewish extremists slashed the tyres of some 40 cars in an Arab village in northern Israel, and a Roman Catholic convent west of Jerusalem was vandalised by attackers who sprayed offensive graffiti on the walls and damaged five nearby cars.","Mexico recalculates number of missing: 21,000. MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico has recalculated the number of people who have gone missing since the start of the country's drug war in 2006, lowering estimates to 21,000 from around 28,000.","Wiggins leads Tour of California. FOLSOM, California (AP) — British rider Bradley Wiggins, the 2012 Tour de France winner and Olympic time trial gold medalist, powered to a 44-second victory in the Stage 2 individual time trial Monday to take the race lead at the Tour of California.","Chelsea face PSG, Man City tackle Barca in last 16. Paris (AFP) - Jose Mourinho's Chelsea were drawn on Monday against Paris Saint-Germain and Manchester City will tackle Barcelona in two blockbuster Champions League last-16 ties.","Obama shows skepticism on Russia in Ukraine. WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama conveyed skepticism Thursday about Russian promises to de-escalate a volatile situation in Ukraine, and said the United State and its allies are ready to impose fresh sanctions if Moscow doesn't make good on its commitments.","South African unemployment dips slightly. Johannesburg (AFP) - An uptick in construction jobs helped South Africa's unemployment rate ease slightly to 25.4 percent in the third quarter, official data showed on Thursday.","S.Sudan president, rebel chief to meet Friday in Ethiopia. Addis Ababa (AFP) - South Sudan's president and rebel chief will meet for direct talks Friday in Ethiopia in a bid to stem a brutal civil war, mediators from the bloc of regional nations said Wednesday.","Federer beats Murray to reach Cincinnati Masters semis. Cincinnati (AFP) - World number three Roger Federer defeated eighth seeded Andy Murray 6-3, 7-5 to reach the semi-finals of the Cincinnati Masters.","Afghanistan: 6 killed in blast outside mosque. KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — A police spokesman in Afghanistan says a bomb blast killed six people and wounded 12 shortly after they left a mosque following Friday prayers.","Dutch PM vows justice for dead 'if Malaysia plane attacked'. Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte on Friday vowed \"not to rest\" in tracking down those responsible for downing Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 if it emerges it was attacked. The Netherlands has dispatched Foreign Minister Frans Timmermans and a team of forensic experts to Ukraine to probe the disaster, in which 189 Dutch citizens died. The Dutch prime minister said he had spoken to a number of world leaders, including US President Barack Obama, about the incident \"and just a short while ago by telephone to (Russian) President (Vladimir) Putin\".","Win or bust for Esperance in CAF Champions League. Star-studded Tunisian club Esperance must win at Algerians Entente Setif this weekend to keep alive slim hopes of reaching the CAF Champions League semi-finals. The Saturday night matchday 5 showdown at Stade du 8 Mai is a top-versus-bottom Group B clash with Setif having eight points and Esperance just three. A draw, ordinarily a good result to take away from Algeria, will not be enough for 1994 and 2011 African champions Esperance after three losses in four matches. The 'Black Eagles' of Setif hold a psychological advantage over the 'Blood and Gold' of Esperance having won 2-1 in Tunis last May.","Top Asian News at 10:00 p.m. GMT. HANOI, Vietnam (AP) — Two Boeing 777s. Two incredibly rare aviation disasters. And one airline. In what appears to be a mind-boggling coincidence, Malaysia is reeling from the second tragedy to hit its national airline in less than five months.","North Korea experiencing severe Internet outages. WASHINGTON (AP) — North Korea experienced sweeping Internet outages for hours before coming back online late Monday. One computer expert said the country's online access was \"totally down.\"","Airline probing report 2 visited cockpit in 2011. KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Malaysia Airlines says it is investigating an Australia television report that the co-pilot on its missing flight had invited two women to stay in the cockpit for the duration of a flight two years ago.","After wet weekend, new tornadoes, floods seen in U.S. Midwest. By Carey Gillam and Brendan O'Brien (Reuters) - A strong storm front that proved deadly in Iowa moved through northern Illinois and southern Wisconsin on Monday, bringing with it hurricane-force winds and thunderstorms that damaged homes and took down trees and power lines. The National Weather Service issued thunderstorm and flash flood warnings west of Milwaukee and Chicago as storm spotters reported 70 mph (112 kph) winds and baseball and golf ball-size hail that pelted parts of Iowa earlier on Monday. One person was killed in Linn County, Iowa, the sheriff's office said, where storm spotters reported a building collapse in heavy winds that also snapped limbs and downed trees.","Two die, hundreds are evacuated in Bulgaria floods. Two people drowned and 900 were evacuated from their homes as flooding caused by torrential rains hit northwestern Bulgaria, the latest in a string of such disasters since June, the interior ministry said on Sunday. Over 800 residents of the town of Mizia were evacuated overnight and during the day on Sunday after the swollen river Skut submerged large parts of the town under up to three metres (10 feet) of water, the interior ministry said. Aerial pictures released by the army showed vast parts of Mizia and its adjacent farmland covered in muddy green waters with rooftops sticking out and no sight of roads or bridges. Heavy rains have lashed northwestern Bulgaria on and off in the past weeks, prompting repeated flood alerts by the weather and rescue services.","EU says no date set for gas talks with Ukraine and Russia. BRUSSELS/KIEV (Reuters) - The European Commission said on Wednesday it is working on holding talks with Ukraine and Russia on a possible solution to Kiev's gas crisis, but no date has been set. Earlier Ukrainian Energy Minister Yuri Prodan said in Kiev that ministerial talks could be held in the Slovak capital of Bratislava on Thursday. However, a Commission spokeswoman said no meeting had been arranged for Thursday, although the European Union executive was ready for discussions as necessary and had responded positively to Russian President Vladimir Putin's suggestion that energy security talks should take place. \"It is not foreseen that EU Energy Commissioner Guenther Oettinger attends any quadrilateral meeting with representatives of Ukraine, Russia and Slovakia tomorrow in Bratislava,\" the spokeswoman said.","Voice recordings in Air Algerie crash 'unusable': investigators. Investigators probing the crash of an Air Algerie flight in Mali that killed 116 people last month said on Thursday they had been unable to access voice recordings from the flight deck. We were able to extract it... The BEA laboratory was able to restore the tape. Unfortunately the recordings are so far unusable,\" Remi Jouty, the head of France's Bureau of Investigations and Analyses (BEA) air safety agency, told journalists. Flight AH5017, a McDonnell Douglas 83 jet that had taken off on July 24 from Ouagadougou in Burkina Faso bound for Algiers, crashed in the Mali desert after asking to turn back as bad weather struck.","Obama: Gazans need 'sense of hope' for future. US President Barack Obama said Wednesday that the people of Gaza need greater hope for the future, as he urged the extension of an Israel-Hamas ceasefire. \"The US goal right now would be to make sure that the ceasefire holds, that Gaza can begin the process of rebuilding,\" Obama told a news conference. Similarly, Israelis need to \"feel confident that they're not going to have a repeat of the kind of rocket launchers that we've seen over the last several weeks,\" Obama said. Obama said that the United States was supporting ceasefire talks but said: \"Long-term, there has to be a recognition that Gaza cannot sustain itself permanently closed off from the world.\"","Bilbao routs Levante 3-0 in Spanish league. BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Athletic Bilbao forward Ibai Gomez set up two headed goals to help rout Levante 3-0 as the Basque side won its home opener in the Spanish league on Saturday.","Blast at Indonesia navy arsenal kills 1, wounds 86. JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — An explosion at an Indonesian navy ammunition warehouse on Wednesday killed one man and injured more than 80 other navy personnel, the military said.","Boyko Borisov: Bulgaria's karate-kicking comeback king. Sofia (AFP) - Boyko Borisov, who said he wants to form Bulgaria's next government despite his party falling well short of a majority in Sunday's elections, is not someone to shy from a fight.","Central African president vows war against militia. Bangui (Central African Republic) (AFP) - The new president of the Central African Republic vowed war on Wednesday against a mostly Christian militia accused of ethnic cleansing, on the same day as the UN launched a major foodlift operation. \"We are going to go to war against the anti-balaka,\" Catherine Samba Panza, said in the town of Mbaiki, south of the capital Bangui. Amnesty International this week reported that anti-balaka violence had triggered \"a Muslim exodus of historic proportions\". They are now the ones who kill, who pillage, who are violent,\" Samba Panza said.","Algeria aiming to ease pain of perceived 1982 plot. Algeria coach Vahid Halilhodzic hopes his side can ease the pain of a controversial exit from the World Cup 32 years ago by qualifying for the second round for the first time in their history when they face Russia on Thursday. The Desert Foxes will seal their place in the last 16 with a win, but should just need a draw barring a heavy victory for South Korea over Belgium. Algeria missed out on the second round in 1982 on goal difference after West Germany and Austria played out a 1-0 win for the Germans in the last group game to ensure both sides progressed. \"I think it is probably the most important match of my career, but it is also the most important match for Algeria.","TSX may open higher as Ukraine tensions ease. (Reuters) - Canada's stock index futures pointed to a higher open on Wednesday as Washington and Moscow set up talks to ease tensions over Ukraine. TOP STORIES Russia said it could not order \"self-defense\" forces in Crimea back to their bases ahead of the first face-to-face talks with the United States on easing tensions over Ukraine and averting the risk of war. German sportswear company Adidas warned that weakening emerging market currencies, notably the Russian ruble, would hurt 2014 results and pose a risk to its 2015 targets even as sales are helped by the soccer World Cup. ...","Missing plane's search area to be expanded. CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Australia's prime minister said Monday that the underwater search for the missing Malaysia Airlines jet will be expanded.","US soldier charged with killing comrade overseas. FORT CARSON, Colorado (AP) — A Fort Carson soldier was charged with murder in the shooting death of a 19-year-old comrade while they were deployed to Jordan in May, the Army said Tuesday.","Health worker 2nd in US to test positive for Ebola. DALLAS (AP) — A Texas health care worker has tested positive for Ebola even though she wore full protective gear while caring for a hospitalized patient who later died from the virus, health officials said Sunday. If the preliminary diagnosis is confirmed, it would be the first known case of the disease being contracted or transmitted in the U.S.","Rolls-Royce says 2013 sales accelerate to record peak. London (AFP) - German-owned luxury carmaker Rolls-Royce said Thursday that sales accelerated in 2013 to strike a new record for the fourth year in succession, aided by emerging markets.","Anglo American says losses narrow sharply in 2013. London (AFP) - Global miner Anglo American said Friday that net losses improved in 2013, but was weighed down by a vast impairment charge on assets, weak growth and strikes in South Africa.","Galaxy has a new Friend in Canadian striker. Rob Friend, an 1860 Munich striker who has spent most of his 11-year career in Europe, has signed with the Los Angeles Galaxy, the Major League Soccer club announced Monday. Friend has netted 79 goals in 256 matches in Europe and scored twice for Canada in 32 international appearances, his most recent appearance coming in 2011. \"The addition of Rob Friend to our roster brings a different dimension to our attack,\" Galaxy general manager and coach Bruce Arena said.","Syrian troops battle 'infiltrators' from Lebanon. BEIRUT (AP) — Syria's state news agency says government forces have \"wiped out\" a group of gunmen who were trying to infiltrate from Lebanon.","Miliband to vow bank break up. Opposition leader Ed Miliband was on Friday to outline plans to break up large High Street banks, laying down a marker ahead of next year's general election. Miliband is to slam the country's financial services industry as being an \"incredibly poor servant of the real economy\", and spell out how Labour will approach the sector if the party wins power in 2015. \"Of course, financial services are an important industry in itself. But for an industry that calls itself a 'service', it has been an incredibly poor servant of the real economy,\" he will say at his address to the University of London .","Five children among seven Palestinians killed in Israeli air strike: ministry. An Israeli air strike killed seven Palestinian civilians on Thursday, including five children, in the largest death toll from a single attack since the start of a three-day offensive against Hamas militants in Gaza, the Palestinian Health Ministry said. Residents and medical officials said an Israeli air strike bombed at least two houses in a densely populated area near Khan Younis while residents were asleep. Bodies were pulled out of rubble from three or four homes including neighboring structures, and the Palestinian Health Ministry said five of the dead were children. The attack raised the death toll to 60 Palestinians, most of them civilians, since Tuesday, in Israel's offensive aimed at halting rocket fire at the Jewish state from coastal Gaza.","Real Madrid extends Modric contract 4 seasons. MADRID (AP) — Real Madrid says Croatia midfielder Luka Modric has signed a four-season contract extension that will keep him with club until June 2018.","Canada 'Arctic passage' still a ways off: transportation minister. Logistical challenges to large-scale sea shipments within the Arctic Circle mean such trade will not be a near-term rival to existing routes, a senior Canadian official said on Tuesday. Insurance companies are beginning to weigh the hazards of sea traffic across waterways in northern Canada and investors are mulling the potential using Arctic trade routes, said Canadian Transportation Minister Lisa Raitt. But there are considerable challenges to opening a year-round passage across northern Canada and the dangers of a drilling mishap are at the forefront of concerns, said Raitt. Specifically, officials need to help define navigable routes and decide which ships are fit to move in Arctic waters.","TSX may open higher; U.S. retail sales, earnings eyed. (Reuters) - Canada's main stock index looked set to open higher on Tuesday despite some disappointing U.S. earnings pre-announcements in the previous session that fuelled worries that the upcoming reporting season may disappoint. TOP STORIES * Germany's world-beating current account surplus most likely hit a new record in 2013 of about $260 billion as much of its earnings from exported goods was invested abroad rather than spent at home, the Ifo think tank said. * JPMorgan Chase & Co JPM.N reported a better-than-expected adjusted quarterly profit as the biggest U.S. ...","Asian Games: Japan's Hagino wins Asiad 200m freestyle. Incheon (South Korea) (AFP) - Japan's Kosuke Hagino stunned heavyweights Sun Yang and Park Tae-Hwan to snatch Asian Games gold in an electrifying men's 200 metres freestyle final on Sunday.","Toronto mayor can't promise he will stay sober. TORONTO (AP) — Embattled Toronto Mayor Rob Ford said Friday that he won't guarantee he will stay sober if he's re-elected, telling a radio show that people will just have to trust him.","British captive in Libya released: officials. London (AFP) - British teacher David Bolam has been released after being held hostage in Libya for around five months, the Foreign Office in London said Saturday.","US lawmaker objects to pending Guantanamo transfer. WASHINGTON (AP) — The chairman of the U.S. House Armed Services Committee is objecting to the Pentagon's plan for an upcoming transfer of Guantanamo Bay detainees.","Marsh in, Inverarity out of Aust selection panel. MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Rod Marsh will replace John Inverarity as chairman of the national selection panel after an overhaul announced Friday, a day after Australia returned to the No. 1 ranking in test cricket for the first time since 2009.","Uganda says full-scale oil production to come within two years. Uganda's finance minister said on Thursday that the country hopes to begin full-scale oil production within two years, but vowed it will not become a petro-state. Maria Kiwanuka promised that the government would not squander the windfall that will come with the exploration of an estimated 3.5 billion barrels of crude, which could transform the economy. Uganda is not Saudi Arabia, it is not Venezuela, we are not even Nigeria.\" Uganda, she said, would remain an agriculture-first economy.","Fresh objects seen in new Malaysia jet search area. Australian authorities coordinating the operation dramatically moved the air and sea search 1,100 km (685 miles) north on Friday after new analysis of radar and satellite data concluded Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 travelled faster and for a shorter distance after vanishing from civilian radar screens on March 8. Australia said late on Friday that five international aircraft had spotted \"multiple objects of various colors\" in the new search area some 1,850 km (1,150 miles) west of Perth. One Chinese navy ship was in the area and would be trying to recover objects on Saturday, while other ships were steaming to the area, the Australian Maritime Safety Authority said. Malaysia says the Boeing 777, which vanished less than an hour into a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, was likely diverted deliberately but investigators have turned up no apparent motive or other red flags among the 227 passengers or the 12 crew.","Winter misery in Washington as massive storm strikes. Another huge winter storm walloped Washington and surrounding areas on Monday, shutting schools and the federal government, snarling air traffic and blanketing roads in snow. As a precaution, federal government employees were told to stay home and schools in the city and surrounding counties gave their students yet another snow day off. Many colleges also closed shop for the day due to the nasty conditions -- including Georgetown University, where only emergency employees were required to report to work on time. The National Weather Service (NWS) said a winter storm warning would remain in effect until 4 pm (2100 GMT) and that four to eight inches (10 to 20 centimeters) of snow were expected.","Iran denounces UN Security Council 'inaction' on Gaza. Iran's President Hassan Rouhani denounced Monday the \"inaction\" of the UN Security Council on Gaza, describing the conflict as a genocidal massacre of Palestinians by Israel. His comments came at a meeting of the Non-Aligned Movement's (NAM) committee for Palestine, with several foreign ministers among officials from Qatar, Kuwait, Oman, Venezuela, Bangladesh, Sudan, Uganda and other member states. \"The savage aggression by the army of this child-killer regime (Israel), continues with a deliberate policy to commit genocide and massacre civilians and destroy infrastructure, houses, hospitals, schools and mosques,\" Rouhani said in Tehran.","China charges GSK-linked investigators for illegally obtaining private information. SHANGHAI (Reuters) - Prosecutors in China have filed charges against British investigator Peter Humphrey and his American wife, the official Xinhua news agency said on Monday, after the couple were detained last year following work they did for British drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline PLC. The case against the couple, suspected of illegally obtaining private information, has been passed onto the Shanghai Number One Intermediate People's Court for trial, the report said. (Reporting by Adam Jourdan and Hui Li; Editing by Kazunori Takada)","EU sanctions won't have major impact on Crimea: deputy PM. By Alexander Winning SIMFEROPOL, Crimea (Reuters) - European sanctions on Crimea-based companies and individuals over Russia's annexation of the region from Ukraine will not have a major impact, the peninsula's deputy prime minister said on Monday. European Union foreign ministers agreed new sanctions over Russia's support for pro-Moscow separatists in Ukraine on Monday, adding two Crimean companies and 13 people to the bloc's sanctions list.","Trinidad to step up deportations of migrants. PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad (AP) — The government of Trinidad says it will crack down on the estimated 110,000 migrants living on the island illegally.","New Zealand sets elections for Sept. 20. WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — New Zealanders will go to the polls Sept. 20 for a general election, Prime Minister John Key announced Monday.","EU Commission does not foresee energy talks on Thursday. PARIS (Reuters) - The European Commission does not foresee energy talks on Thursday in Bratislava, a spokeswoman said, following comments from Ukraine such a meeting could take place. \"It is not foreseen that EU Energy Commissioner Guenther Oettinger attends any quadrilateral meeting with representatives of Ukraine, Russia and Slovakia tomorrow in Bratislava,\" a spokeswoman said. Earlier Ukraine's Energy Minister Yuri Prodan said the talks may take place to seek a possible solution to the country's gas crisis. (Reporting by Barbara Lewis; editing by Robin Emmott)","WHO urges 'drastic action' on Ebola, calls 11-nation meeting. The World Health Organization warned Thursday that dramatic steps were needed to fight the deadliest Ebola outbreak on record, calling an 11-nation meeting to address the crisis. \"As the number of deaths and cases of Ebola virus continues to rise in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, the World Health Organization is warning that drastic action is needed,\" the UN agency said in a statement. The agency was now \"gravely concerned (by) the on-going cross-border transmission into neighbouring countries as well as the potential for further international spread,\" said WHO's regional director for Africa, Dr. Luis Sambo.","RBS says attracting private equity cash one option for Irish arm. State-backed Royal Bank of Scotland said attracting private equity firms to inject cash into its Irish arm was one of several options it was considering as part of a restructuring of its Ulster Bank business. Asked if it could attract private equity investment for Ulster, RBS CEO Ross McEwan said: \"It's one of the options we're exploring. I know there's been a lot of speculation on that, and it's interesting how many people want to buy into Ireland at the moment.\" The Sunday Times newspaper has said Warburg Pincus, CVC, KKR and Permira were among private equity groups examining a plan to invest in Ulster.","Life slowly returning to normal in quake-hit Chile. Iquique (Chile) (AFP) - Life was gradually returning to normal in quake-hit Chile officials said Friday, with power restored to a majority of homes that lost electricity during this week's massive 8.2 magnitude temblor. Now, three days later, northern Chile had power and other basic services well on the way to being fully restored, according to regional power companies. Officials said water service also was running again in many areas that had seen disruptions. General Miguel Alfonso, head of the disaster zone, said water service was at nearly normal level in most areas, and that he expected normal food and energy distribution will be possible within about three weeks.","Mudslide swallows Indian village; at least 41 dead. MALIN, India (AP) — Rescuers using earth-moving equipment and their bare hands dug through heavy mud and debris Thursday after a landslide engulfed an entire village in western India, killing at least 41 people and leaving about 100 missing and feared dead.","Russian armoured vehicles near Ukraine border. KAMENSK-SHAKHTINSKY (Russia) (AFP) - Russian armoured vehicles were moving Friday towards the Ukrainian border, AFP journalists said, after British media reports that a small group had crossed into Ukraine. The journalists saw a column of about a dozen troop carriers on the road towards the border post in the Russian town of Donetsk, not far from a huge convoy of Russian trucks that Moscow says is carrying humanitarian aid for besieged rebel-held towns in eastern Ukraine. Journalists with British newspapers The Daily Telegraph and The Guardian had reported seeing armoured vehicles and military trucks crossing into Ukraine via Donetsk on Thursday night. Kiev is highly suspicious about the Russian convoy, fearing it could be a \"Trojan horse\" bringing in military support for the pro-Russian separatists fighting in eastern Ukraine.","Olympic curling tournaments begin at Sochi Games. SOCHI, Russia (AP) — The focus will be as much on fashion as rocks and brooms when the men's and women's curling tournaments begin Monday at the Sochi Games.","Tunisia seeks tougher sentences for rapist policemen. Tunisia's public prosecutor appealed a seven-year jail term on Monday for two policemen jailed for rape, and demanded a retrial with a view to seeking tougher sentences. The prosecution insists on characterising the facts as \"sex under duress with the threat of violence, under Paragraph 227 of the Penal Code, Article 1,\" his spokesman Sofiene Sliti told AFP. The article provides for capital punishment but Sliti did not indicate whether prosecutors would seek the death penalty. The two policemen were convicted on March 31 of raping a young woman and sentenced to seven years in prison in a case that captured international attention.","Far-right sets sights on European Parliament. PARIS (AP) — France's far-right National Front, coming off a historic electoral victory at home, is marching toward a new target: the European Parliament.","Ousted Nigerian central bank chief says passport seized. Kano (Nigeria) (AFP) - Nigeria's ousted central bank governor Lamido Sanusi said on Sunday that secret police had seized his passport as he tried to board a flight to France, despite a court ruling that an earlier seizure was illegal.","Gary Glitter charged with 8 sex offenses. LONDON (AP) — British prosecutors say they are charging former pop star Gary Glitter with eight sex offenses involving teenage girls.","Germany charges 3 with supporting Islamic State. BERLIN (AP) — German federal prosecutors say they've charged a man and two women with supporting the Islamic State extremist group.","Afghan expresses optimism Karzai will sign US pact. KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — President Hamid Karzai's national security adviser expressed optimism Thursday that the Afghan leader will sign a key U.S. security pact before leaving office this year, a positive sign after weeks of deadlock and anti-American rhetoric from the government.","OSCE observers give Ukraine election a clean bill of health. KIEV (Reuters) - OSCE election observers gave Sunday's parliamentary election in Ukraine a clean bill of health on Monday, saying it had offered real choice and largely upheld democratic commitments. \"The elections marked an important step in Ukraine’s aspirations to consolidate democratic elections in line with its international commitments,\" said Kent Harstedt, Special Coordinator for the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, a security and rights watchdog. ...","Target shows signs of turnaround as sales fall less than expected. (Reuters) - Target Corp reported a 16 percent drop in quarterly profit but showed signs of progress in its efforts to rebuild customer confidence in the wake of a massive theft of payment card data in the United States and a botched expansion into Canada. Target, which has fired both its chief executive and the head of its Canadian operation as it tries to regain its footing, reported a 0.3 percent drop in U.S. same-store sales. Analysts polled by Consensus Metrix had expected U.S. same-store sales to fall 1.1 percent. Interim Chief Executive John Mulligan said the company was \"pleased with this momentum\" but that more needed to be done.","Shells hit Turkish soil as Islamic State advances on Syria border town. KARACA Turkey (Reuters) - Islamic State fighters edged towards a strategic town on northern Syria's border with Turkey on Friday, battling Kurdish forces and sending at least two shells into Turkish territory, witnesses said. Islamic State launched an offensive to try to capture the border town of Kobani more than a week ago, besieging it from three sides. More than 140,000 Kurds have fled the town and surrounding villages since last Friday, crossing into Turkey. ...","Super Rugby: ACT 37, Rebels 10. CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — The ACT Brumbies dominated from the opening minutes and went on to defeat the Melbourne Rebels 37-10 Saturday to move into top-six playoff territory in Super Rugby.","Milk row threatens to sour Greece's latest bailout deal. By Karolina Tagaris ATHENS (Reuters) - Greece's government risks another rebellion over bailout terms this week after milk producers lobbied against a move to free up prices as part of efforts to make the economy more competitive. Six lawmakers from within the ruling coalition - three from Prime Minister Antonis Samaras's New Democracy party and three from the Socialist PASOK - have opposed the proposal that will be submitted to parliament on Friday as part of an omnibus reform bill that Greece must pass to secure bailout aid.","Germany beats Pakistan 2-0 to win Champions Trophy. BHUBANESWAR, India (AP) — Olympic champion Germany displayed superb precision play Sunday to carve out a 2-0 victory over Pakistan in the final of the Champions Trophy field hockey tournament.","Attacks by extremists kill about 75 Nigerians. MAIDUGURI, Nigeria (AP) — Suspected Islamic extremists used explosives and heavy guns to attack a village in one state and a church in another in Nigeria's northeast, killing about 75 people and razing hundreds of homes, officials and witnesses said Monday.","Libyan revolutionary fighters involved in Canada stabbing. A 28-year-old amputee was in the hospital and another, aged 21, was in police custody Thursday after a stabbing in the Canadian capital involving the two former Libyan revolutionary fighters. Police said they responded to an emergency call at 1:20 a.m. Wednesday outside a hotel in Ottawa \"regarding an altercation between two males.\" Abdol Fattah Elbishty, a spokesman for the Libyan embassy in Ottawa who had met with both men, told AFP the two were friends. \"They lost friends in the fighting (in Libya), one lost a leg, the other lost both of his legs.","US World Cup team player capsules. Players on the U.S. World Cup team:","Leopard seen on university campus in Indian city. MUMBAI, India (AP) — A wild leopard has been seen prowling the campus of a university on the outskirts of India's largest city. Authorities in Mumbai have cordoned off the area and are searching for the big cat.","Mexico: half artifacts in Bonhams auction fakes. MEXICO CITY (AP) — The Mexican government has upped its estimate of the number of fakes listed for sale in a Bonhams auction of pre-Hispanic artifacts scheduled for Wednesday in New York.","Mario Balotelli signs for Liverpool. LIVERPOOL, England (AP) — Liverpool signed Italy striker Mario Balotelli from AC Milan on Monday, taking a calculated gamble on a headline-grabbing player known as much for his controversies as his goals.","Japan's Abe: Hope to resume formal talks with North Korea soon. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said on Thursday he hopes to resume formal talks with North Korea as soon as possible. Abe also said that talks between officials from the Japanese and North Korean affiliates of the Red Cross this month on the return of the remains of Japanese nationals from North Korea was an important step toward repairing relations. Formal talks between Japan and North Korea have been suspended since North Korea launched a rocket which it said put a weather satellite into orbit in December 2012.","Israeli prime minister says that 3 teens missing in West Bank were kidnapped by a terror group. JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli prime minister says that 3 teens missing in West Bank were kidnapped by a terror group.","Allardyce irked by malingering Morrison. West Ham United manager Sam Allardyce has accused midfielder Ravel Morrison of exaggerating the extent of a groin injury that has caused him to miss the club's last three matches. Morrison, 21, made an impressive start to the season after signing from Manchester United, but his form has since waned, prompting media reports that he is to join second-tier Queens Park Rangers on loan. Although Allardyce refused to answer questions about Morrison's future at the club, he did express annoyance at his reluctance to play through the pain of his injury. \"Listening to our medical staff, there is no problem that he can carry on -- not at all,\" Allardyce said.","Brown tree snake found in Northern Mariana Islands. HAGATNA, Guam (AP) — A snake that can wipe out bird populations and short out electrical grids by climbing power poles has been found in Rota on the Northern Mariana Islands.","Obama, Netanyahu to meet as Iran deadline looms. WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will meet for the first time since a rash of civilian casualties during Israel's summer war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip heightened tensions between the two leaders who have long had a prickly relationship.","Moscow mayor fires metro chief after fatal accident. The mayor of Moscow has dismissed the head of the Russian capital's metro network following an accident that killed at least 22 people, the mayor's office said on Tuesday. Mayor Sergei Sobyanin replaced Ivan Besedin, who had run the metro since February 2011, with Dmitry Pegov, a former official at a subsidiary of state-controlled Russian Railways. Russian state investigators have detained four Moscow metro workers suspected of safety breaches but Besedin was not among them. The accident is the worst in years on Moscow's metro, one of the world's busiest subway networks, and highlights concerns about Russia's patchy transport safety record.","Extremists kill more than 100 in northeast Nigeria. MAIDUGURI, Nigeria (AP) — A civilian defense spokesman and human rights activist say Boko Haram militants have killed more than 100 people and hoisted their black and white flag over a town just 85 kilometers (53 miles) from Nigeria's northeastern state capital of Maiduguri.","UN experts say Libyan arms are fueling conflicts. UNITED NATIONS (AP) — U.N. experts say arms trafficking from Libya is fueling conflict, insecurity and terrorism on several continents.","Free Syrian Army sacks chief, appoints replacement. By Khaled Yacoub Oweis AMMAN (Reuters) - The Western-backed Free Syrian Army (FSA) has sacked its leader after he fell out with the Saudi-supported head of the moderate opposition to President Bashar al-Assad, opposition sources said on Monday. General Selim Idriss, whose relations with Saudi Arabia deteriorated after he opened channels with Qatar, was replaced by Brigadier General Abdelilah al-Bashir, head of FSA operations in Qunaitera province bordering the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, the sources said. A statement signed by 22 of the FSA's 30-member Supreme Military Council said the decision was prompted by \"the ineffectiveness of the command in the past few months... and to provide leadership for military operations against the criminal regime and its allies from terrorist organizations.\" A statement by the opposition National Coalition, which includes 15 members of the FSA, said news of Bashir's appointment came as a \"relief\".","SOCHI SCENE: India's back. SOCHI, Russia (AP) — It's probably the most important moment Olympic athletes can have besides competing: Walking in the opening ceremony for their country.","Fiery Chinese rights lawyer released from prison. BEIJING (AP) — One of China's best-known rights lawyers and a bold government critic whose accounts of torture drew international criticism of Beijing was released from prison Thursday but appeared to be under close supervision by the authorities.","Mob attacks India village in land dispute; 10 dead. GAUHATI, India (AP) — A mob armed with shotguns attacked a remote village in northeast India, killing at least 10 people in a long-simmering land dispute, police said Thursday.","Ukraine shows Britain should not cut military too far: lawmakers. By Kylie MacLellan LONDON (Reuters) - Events in Ukraine have shown Britain must not cut its armed forces too deeply, a committee of lawmakers said on Thursday, saying it was concerned that allies had begun to question the country's military capabilities. Britain has, over the last few years, been shrinking its armed forces by around a sixth as part of a plan to reduce the public debt, but the scale of the cuts has fuelled a debate about its ability to project force globally. \"Recent events in Ukraine illustrate the speed with which new threats, and indeed the reappearance of old threats, can manifest themselves,\" said James Arbuthnot, chairman of the Defense Committee, which scrutinizes government Defense policy and expenditure. \"Strong conventional forces provide the UK with a contingency against the unexpected threats that may emerge ... Events might require the reconstitution of conventional forces, but once cut back they will be very difficult to rebuild.\" Britain is due to hold its next strategic Defense and security review (SDSR) in 2015, the year of a national election.","Iran arrests 11 over insulting text messages. TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — An Iranian newspaper says 11 people have been arrested in the south after allegedly sending text messages deemed insulting to the founder of the Islamic Republic, the late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.","Boca Juniors fire coach Carlos Bianchi. BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — Boca Juniors have fired coach Carlos Bianchi, the most successful coach in the club's history.","UAW legal test of Volkswagen vote would be problematic. Tennessee U.S. Senator Bob Corker, other Republican politicians in the state, and several anti-union pressure groups from Washington slugged it out with the United Auto Workers in the campaign to win over employees at the Chattanooga plant. Even though VW management allowed the UAW to have limited access to the workforce on company property and publicly took a \"neutral\" stance over the vote, the workers voted not to join the union, which has been unable to expand into non-union plants in the U.S. South. The UAW has not ruled out a challenge, saying it will \"evaluate\" the conduct in the campaign. UAW President Bob King said after the ballots were counted on Friday night that the union was \"outraged at the outside interference in this election.\" President Barack Obama on Friday accused politicians in Chattanooga of being \"more concerned about German shareholders than American workers,\" according to a Democratic aide who heard the remarks at a closed meeting with lawmakers.","Jordan requests UN meeting over Israeli settlements. Jordan requested an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council to discuss Israeli plans to build more Jewish settlements in Arab east Jerusalem, diplomats said. The request followed a letter from Palestinian representative to the United Nations Riyadh Mansour calling for a urgent meeting to \"address this crisis situation in occupied east Jerusalem.\" Jordan, a Security Council member, put forward the request late Monday and was awaiting a response from Argentina, which chairs the 15-member council, on setting a date. Israel pledged to build more than 1,000 new settler homes in east Jerusalem on Monday, angering Palestinians who warned it could trigger an \"explosion\" of violence.","Messi vomits in World Cup final. RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Argentina captain Lionel Messi vomited during the World Cup final, as he has done on many occasions both for Argentina and club team Barcelona.","Cargo ship sinks, 12 missing near Hong Kong. Twelve crew members from a Chinese cargo ship are missing after it collided with a container vessel and sank just outside Hong Kong waters on Monday, authorities said. The collision happened in the early hours of the morning near Po Toi Island which lies on the edge of Hong Kong's territory, a fire department spokesman told AFP. \"Two cargo ships collided and one of them sank,\" a police spokeswoman told AFP. \"There are 12 people missing,\" a fire department spokesman told AFP, adding that they were crew from the cargo ship from mainland China which had collided with a container vessel.","Crimea faces motor fuel shortages as Ukrainian supplies dry up. By Maxim Nazarov MOSCOW (Reuters) - Crimea could be hit by severe gasoline and diesel shortages within a few weeks after the annexation of the peninsula by Russia cut off the majority of its supplies from Ukraine, senior trade sources in the region said. Fuel station owners in the region - some of whom have already described the supply situation as \"critical\" - are also contending with price cuts ordered by Moscow to bring them in line with Russian prices. Fuel shortages in the run-up to the peak summer holiday season in Crimea, which is expecting a large influx of Russian tourists, could be embarrassing for Moscow as it moves to cement its control over the peninsula.","Sevilla acquires Deulofeu from Barcelona on loan. BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Barcelona says it has agreed to loan forward Gerard Deulofeu to Sevilla for this season.","Cricket-Fan catches lucrative prize in NZ-Windies one-dayer. Catches, as cricket aficionados remind us, win matches yet one taken by Michael Morton during the fifth one-day international between West Indies and New Zealand on Wednesday earned the spectator NZ$100,000 ($82,800). The 28-year-old Morton took a spectacular one-handed catch while sitting on the Seddon Park bank off a Kieran Powell six to win the prize as part of a local beer brand's competition at New Zealand's limited-overs matches. \"He smashed it pretty hard, so it was going pretty quick,\" Morton told Fairfax Media in Hamilton. \"If it was a skyer, plenty of people would have had a chance to get underneath it, but it was pretty flat, so no-one really had any reaction time.\" Morton was the first person to succeed in the competition, which had staked NZ$100,000 for the first one-handed catch by a fan at each of the 12 limited-overs matches against West Indies (five ODIs and two T20s) and India (five ODIs).","Iraqi officials say suicide bombing, mortar fire kill 15 people in Baghdad. BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraqi officials say suicide bombing, mortar fire kill 15 people in Baghdad.","Israelis pay last respects to warrior-statesman Sharon. By Jeffrey Heller JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's body lay in state on Sunday outside parliament in Jerusalem, where thousands of Israelis waited to bid farewell to the maverick warrior-statesman who reshaped the Middle East. He will be buried on Monday in a military funeral on his farm in southern Israel. Arik Sharon faded away eight years ago, and now we truly say goodbye to him,\" Justice Minister Tzipi Livni, using Sharon's nickname, wrote in a tribute on Sunday. Sharon was one of Israel's finest military strategists and most powerful political figures, spearheading military invasion, Jewish settlement-building on land the Palestinians want for a state, and making the shock decision to withdraw from one of those territories, the Gaza Strip.","U.S. NHTSA opens investigation into Bosch electric car charger. (Reuters) - U.S. safety regulators have opened an investigation of electric car chargers made by German supplier Robert Bosch LLC after a driver of a 2013 Nissan Leaf reported one emitted smoke while charging. The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said in documents filed online over the weekend that it opened the preliminary evaluation into the possibility an estimated 50 chargers may overheat and result in a fire. Bosch spokeswoman Cheryl Kilborn said the company was reviewing the filing and would cooperate with NHTSA's investigation as it seeks to identify the cause. Nissan spokesman Brian Brockman said in an email the automaker was aware of the probe, which was focused on Bosch, and would assist in the investigation as needed.","UN condemns ethnic killings in South Sudan. KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) — The United Nations Mission in South Sudan is condemning what it calls \"the targeted killings of civilians based on their ethnic origins and nationality\" in a contested town.","Russia says MH17 probe should be done by 'international community', not Ukraine. Russia has called for the investigation into the downing of MH17 to be led by the \"international community\" and not Ukraine, its ambassador to Malaysia said on Tuesday. I think the international community should be flexible about that and act in a way acceptable to all sides,\" Russian ambassador to Malaysia Lyudmila Vorobyeva said in a news conference on Tuesday. \"Russia has been calling for a fair, thorough and full investigation led by ICAO since the beginning,\" she said. ICAO is the United Nation's International Civil Aviation Organization.","Improve leadership to fulfil potential, Nigeria told. Nigeria needs to improve the way it does business if it is to fulfil its potential to become one of the world's top economies, a leading economist said on Tuesday. Jim O'Neill, who has predicted that Nigeria could become one of the next global economic powerhouses, said the government needed to lead from the top to make doing business more efficient. \"What is clear is that it needs to be better,\" the former chairman of Goldman Sachs Asset Management told a news conference at an Africa Finance Corporation (AFC) summit in Nigeria's financial hub, Lagos, on infrastructure challenges. \"I think it's incumbent on all of Nigeria's 168 million people that the leadership of this country in terms of policy makers start to set themselves higher standards for the maintenance of their weekly business lives.","Israel, Hamas press ahead on Gaza war truce talks. CAIRO (AP) — Israeli and Hamas negotiators huddled for a second day of Egyptian-mediated talks Tuesday, seeking a formula for an extended cease-fire meant to end a monthlong war and bring relief to the embattled Gaza Strip.","'Vultures' hover over Argentina -US relations. BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — Relations between Argentina and the United States have sunk so low the South American nation's president is blaming the Obama administration for her country's debt crisis and suggesting Washington might even want to have her killed.","Liverpool sign Atletico defender Manquillo. LIVERPOOL, England (AP) — Liverpool has completed the signing of Atletico Madrid defender Javier Manquillo on loan with a view to a permanent deal.","Syrian group hacks CNN social media accounts. The Syrian Electronic Army claimed responsibility for hacking some of US broadcaster CNN's social media accounts. The network said the compromised accounts included its main Facebook page, its Twitter page and blogs for \"The Situation Room\" and \"Crossfire.\" It added that one of the posts on its Twitter account said: \"Syrian Electronic Army Was Here...Stop lying... All your reports are fake!\" On its Twitter feed, the SEA said it was behind the hack.","Czech who helped children get home after WWII dies. PRAGUE (AP) — Josefina Napravilova, a Czech woman who worked tirelessly as a volunteer to locate dozens of children taken by the Nazis from their families during WWII has died.","Top finance officials hope to boost growth. WASHINGTON (AP) — Finance officials from the world's largest economies are being urged to prevent the global economy from falling into a \"new mediocre\" in which growth remains stuck at subpar levels for years to come, trapping millions of people on unemployment rolls.","4 Palestinians killed after truce goes into effect. GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — Gaza officials say at least four Palestinians have been killed by Israeli tank fire nearly two hours after Israel and Hamas began observing a three-day cease-fire.","Japan PM makes offering to war shrine, but skips visit. Japan's Shinzo Abe offered a gift to the controversial Yasukuni war shrine Monday, but reportedly plans to stay away during the spring festival, in an apparent compromise between not angering Asian neighbours and playing to his nationalist base. The unapologetically nationalist Abe donated a sacred \"masakaki\" tree to coincide with the start of a three-day festival, a shrine official said, two days ahead of the arrival of US President Barack Obama. Yasukuni Shrine honours Japan's war dead, including some senior military and political figures convicted of serious crimes in the wake of the country's World War II defeat. That, and the accompanying museum -- which paints Japan as a frustrated liberator of Asia and victim of WWII -- makes it controversial, especially in China and South Korea, where it is seen as a symbol of Japan's lack of penitence.","China visit shows strains with US over Hong Kong. WASHINGTON (AP) — A visit by China's top diplomat intended to show growing U.S.-China cooperation has instead highlighted political differences between the two world powers as Washington spoke out about democracy protests gripping Hong Kong.","Agency allowing some Haitians to emigrate faster. WASHINGTON (AP) — The Obama administration is going to start letting thousands of Haitian immigrants come to the United States before a visa becomes available.","Ghana ready for World Cup rematch against US. MIAMI (AP) — With its rivalry against the United States about to be renewed in the World Cup, Ghana is practicing celebrating.","Seven dead as job-seekers stampede at Nigerian stadium. At least seven people were killed and dozens were injured in Nigeria's capital Abuja on Saturday after thousands of panicked job-seekers stampeded during a government recruitment drive at the national stadium. Survivors told AFP that thousands had gathered to apply for jobs with the immigration department in the Abuja stadium. Victims were taken to a public hospital, though many could not be admitted due to lack of capacity, according to hospital spokesman Tayo Haastrup. \"I cannot even imagine the number of people that stamped on me,\" said survivor Rosemary Ogida.","Federer, Murray, Bryan brothers win ATP awards. LONDON (AP) — Roger Federer, Andy Murray and the Bryan brothers are among the winners of the ATP World Tour Awards.","Billionaire Akhmetov's empire on frontline in Ukraine crisis. Mariupol (Ukraine) (AFP) - Shaken by deadly violence last week, residents in the southeastern Ukrainian city of Mariupol are now patrolling the streets -- with a big dose of help from billionaire powerbroker Rinat Akhmetov. \\\\\"The public was terrified and the police demoralised,\\\\\" 39-year-old Yury Zinchenko said of the atmosphere in the normally placid port city after clashes on Friday that ended with seven people killed and dozens injured. Zinchenko is the director of the Ilyich Steel metallurgical factory, a huge regional company that is part of Akhmetov's Metinvest industrial empire. Akhmetov is Ukraine's richest man and an influential force in eastern Ukraine, where pro-Russian separatists have vowed to break away.","Gunmen kill Egypt policeman north of Cairo. Gunmen killed an Egyptian policeman on Friday as he rode his motorbike across a bridge on the Nile in the city of Mansoura, north of Cairo, police said. Attacks on the security forces have surged since the army ousted Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in July, and as the military-installed authorities have pressed a deadly crackdown on his supporters. Sergeant Abdallah Metwally of Mansoura police station was shot dead by assailants, who were also on a motorbike, at about 7:30 am (0530 GMT), Brigadier General El-Saeed Omara told AFP. Mansoura, in the Nile Delta, was the site of a deadly car bombing in December when the city's police headquarters was attacked, killing 15 people, mostly policeman.","France scores late 7-pointer to beat England 26-24. PARIS (AP) — Substitutes Dimitri Szarzewski and Gael Fickou combined to score a late converted try for France to secure a dramatic 26-24 win against England in their Six Nations opener on Saturday.","Indonesian presidential rivals clash in 1st debate. JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — A Suharto-era general running for the Indonesian presidency was forced to defend his human rights record during the first televised debate of the campaign — a contest many observers thought was won by his opponent, former Jakarta Governor Joko Widodo.","UK High Court OKs extradition of mentally ill man. LONDON (AP) — Britain's High Court has cleared the way for the extradition of a mentally ill terrorism suspect to the United States.","Toll up to 19 dead in car bomb in Nigerian capital. ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — Police say the toll has risen to at least 19 killed in a car bomb that exploded on a busy road in Nigeria's capital, just days before the city is to host a major international conference.","US man pays fine in Bahamas pedestrian killing. NASSAU, Bahamas (AP) — Authorities in the Bahamas have released a New York state man from jail after he pleaded guilty to killing a pedestrian and paid a $5,000 fine.","Unruly passenger forces UK-bound flight back to US. PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Airline officials say a US Airways flight bound for London returned to Philadelphia because of a problem with a disruptive passenger.","Umpire chats to be aired in Australia-South Africa ODIs. Discussions between the on-field and television umpires will be aired during Australia's upcoming one-day series against South Africa, the International Cricket Council said Wednesday. Cricket's governing body said it would conduct a trial during the series, which starts on Friday, to make communication between umpires available to broadcaster Nine Network during decision-making. \"The umpire communications can be aired during umpire referrals, consultations and DRS (Decision Review System) player reviews,\" the ICC said in a statement. The ICC said if the trial was successful, it may consider allowing the broadcast of umpire discussions at \"select matches\" during the Cricket World Cup hosted by Australia and New Zealand from February.","Israel to continue Gaza campaign 'as long as necessary': PM. Tel Aviv (AFP) - Israel will continue its military campaign in the Gaza Strip for as long as needed and with as much force as necessary, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Saturday.","Aid groups raise fresh South Sudan famine warning. KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) — A coalition of British aid groups warns that parts of South Sudan may slip into famine by August if more aid is not delivered and fighting continues.","In Ukraine's Crimea, a tense and surreal standoff. By Alissa de Carbonnel KERCH, Ukraine (Reuters) - Holed up on their bases, Ukraine's besieged servicemen and the Russians surrounding them in Crimea are locked in a standoff that at times is tense and at others surreal. Almost a week after Russian forces began their swift and bloodless takeover of the Ukrainian Black Sea peninsula, there is a standoff as the two sides dig in and play a waiting game. \"Where it was possible they made a show of it ... They came and pushed the door in, but you can't come push our door,\" said Major Alexei Nikiforov, deputy commander of a Ukrainian marine battalion in Kerch, just across a narrow strait from Russia. Russian navy ships have blockaded the Kerch Strait linking the Black Sea to the Sea of Azov, Ukrainian officials say, portraying it as part of efforts to seal off the Ukrainian servicemen and force them to surrender or change sides.","North, South Korea trade heavy machine-gun fire on border. Seoul (AFP) - North and South Korea exchanged heavy machine gun fire across their border Friday, after the North fired at balloons carrying anti-Pyongyang leaflets launched by activists in the South, military officials said.","Small plane crash kills 9 in Bahamas, probe begins. FREEPORT, Grand Bahama (AP) — A small plane that crashed on approach to the island of Grand Bahama killed all 9 people on board, including a prominent Christian minister and his wife, the government of the Bahamas said.","Angry parents seek autopsies of S Korea ferry victims. Some parents of the mostly teenage victims of South Korea's ferry disaster are pushing for autopsies that might show their children were alive inside the submerged vessel and only died because the emergency response was so slow. \"They want to know for certain how their family members died,\" Kim said.","Olympic Alpine officials in minor car accident. KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia (AP) — Olympic women's Alpine race referee Atle Skaardal and two colleagues have been involved in a minor traffic accident.","Guard seizes cocaine haul in Dominican waters. SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — The U.S. Coast Guard says it has seized a haul of cocaine and captured two smugglers in waters south of the Dominican Republic.","100,000 Libyans flee fighting near Tripoli, UNHCR says. GENEVA (Reuters) - About 100,000 people have fled fighting near the Libyan capital Tripoli in the past three weeks, adding to a growing problem of internal displacement, the U.N. refugee agency UNHCR said on Friday. \"With fighting among rival armed groups intensifying in a number of areas of Libya, we are seeing growing displacement, now estimated at 287,000 people in 29 cities and towns countrywide,\" UNHCR said in a statement. ...","Spain hopes to create 622,000 jobs by end of 2015. MADRID (AP) — Spain expects a six-year run of job destruction will end next year, when it predicts 622,000 jobs to be created.","N. Korea sentences S. Korean 'spy' to hard labour for life. North Korea sentenced a South Korean missionary to hard labour for life after accusing him of espionage and setting up an underground church, state media said Saturday, the latest Christian preacher to run into trouble in the secretive state. Prosecutors had sought a death sentence for Kim Jeong-Wook, identified by the North's official news agency KCNA as Kim Jong Uk, during Friday's trial. However, according to KCNA, Kim confessed his guilt -- including state subversion, espionage, anti-state propaganda and agitation, and illegal entry into the country -- and \"sincerely repented\". \"The accused admitted to all his crimes,\" KCNA said in its report on the trial.","Obama to host CEOs whose firms are investing in US. WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama is hosting executives from 11 foreign and U.S.-based companies that have chosen to open new plants or relocate overseas operations in the United States. The gathering Tuesday is designed to illustrate growing interest in the United States by firms capable of creating high-paying jobs.","Ukraine soldiers 'allowed to use arms' following first death. Kiev (AFP) - Ukraine's defence ministry said on Tuesday its soldiers were \"allowed to use arms\" after suffering their first casualty in Crimea since Russian and pro-Kremlin troops seized the peninsula nearly three weeks ago.","Philippine peacekeepers pull out early from Golan. MANILA, Philippines (AP) — The Philippine military says the bulk of Filipino peacekeepers of more than 240 soldiers have pulled out two weeks early from the U.N. mission in the Golan Heights due to escalating fighting in the region.","South Sudan army use force at UN base. UNITED NATIONS (United States) (AFP) - South Sudan government troops tried to force their way into a United Nations compound sheltering thousands of civilians after taking a key town from opposition rebels, a UN spokesman said. Senior government figures and troops threatened UN staff when they tried to enter the compound at Bor, Martin Nesirky said in a statement condemning the tactics. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon \"is alarmed at the attempt today by senior members of the government of South Sudan and South Sudan army to force entry into the protection of civilians site,\" Nesirky said. The UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) says it faces growing threats from both sides as they shelter tens of thousands of civilians in compounds across the country.","Tunisian diplomat kidnapped in Libyan capital: minister. Unidentified gunmen have kidnapped a Tunisian diplomat in Tripoli, Tunisia's foreign minister said on Saturday, one of a string of diplomatic abductions in the Libyan capital this year. Three years after Libya's revolt to topple Muammar Gaddafi, the North African country is struggling to impose security in the face of brigades of former rebels, Islamist militants and ex-fighters who refuse to disarm. \"A Tunisian diplomat was kidnapped in Tripoli, the Tunisian ambassador told me that his car was found empty,\" Foreign Minister Mongi Hamdi told the local radio station Shems FM. But the minister urged Libyan authorities to protect members of its diplomatic mission.","Palestinians accuse Israel of breaking 7-hour Gaza truce. By Nidal al-Mughrabi and Maayan Lubell GAZA/JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Palestinians accused Israel of breaking its own ceasefire on Monday by launching a bomb attack on a refugee camp in Gaza City that killed an eight-year-old girl and wounded 29 other people. Gaza Health Ministry spokesman Ashraf Al-Qidra said the strike on a house in Shati camp took place after the truce was scheduled to start on Monday morning. Israel announced a seven-hour ceasefire to facilitate the entry of humanitarian aid and allow some of the hundreds of thousands of Palestinians displaced by an almost four-week-old war to go home. The announcement met with suspicion from Gaza's dominant Hamas Islamists and followed unusually strong censure from Washington at the apparent Israeli shelling on Sunday of a U.N.-run shelter that killed 10 people.","American Samoa receives major disaster declaration. PAGO PAGO, American Samoa (AP) — The federal government is approving American Samoa's request for help with storms, flooding and landslides that caused more than $5 million in damage and left one person dead.","GE's data-analysis business on track to deliver $1 billion in sales. (Reuters) - General Electric Co said it was on track to generate more than $1 billion in revenue this year from its data-analysis business that helps improve asset performance management. GE's \"Industrial Internet\" business is powered by a software called Predix, which analyzes data that helps a client's equipment run better, consume less fuel, receive service more efficiently and minimizes unplanned downtime. The Predix software, which works by bring all of a company's industrial machines into a cloud-connected system, would be available to any company in 2015, GE said in a statement. ...","Global stocks up on China inflation, Japan rebound. BEIJING (AP) — Global stocks rose sharply Monday as subdued Chinese inflation, a rebound by Japanese markets and the latest easing of tensions over Ukraine helped offset unease about Iraq.","US vs Belgium for place in World Cup quarterfinals. MOGI DAS CRUZES, Brazil (AP) — Highly physical, probably defensive and anxiety-ridden for sure. Not exactly the kind of happy football that fans have enjoyed so far at the World Cup, but it's the likely scenario for Tuesday's second-round clash between Belgium and the United States.","Tunisian diplomat, in video message, urges government to negotiate with Libyan kidnappers. By Feras Bosalum and Tarek Amara TRIPOLI/TUNIS (Reuters) - A Tunisian diplomat kidnapped in Libya pleaded with his government to negotiate with his Islamist captors, according to a video released by an Islamist group on Sunday evening. Libyan Islamists have seized two Tunisian diplomats in the past month to demand the release of fellow militants jailed in Tunisia for attacking security forces there in 2011, according to the Tunisian government. Entitled \"message of the kidnapped Tunisian diplomat Mohammed Bel Sheikh to the Tunisian government and his family\" the video, published on social media, showed the diplomat crying.","Slovak PM slams sanctions on Russia, threatens to veto new ones. Slovakia's Prime Minister Robert Fico slammed European Union sanctions on Russia as \"meaningless and counterproductive\" and threatened to veto additional measures, highlighting the internal divide within the EU over its tough stance on Russia. \"I consider sanctions meaningless and counterproductive,\" Fico told reporters early on Sunday after meeting fellow EU leaders in Brussels. \"Until we know the impact of the already imposed sanctions, it makes no sense to impose new ones.\" EU leaders asked the European Commission, the EU executive, to draw up proposals for new sanctions on Russia over its action in Ukraine within a week, though they did not say when they could be implemented.","Italian PM visits UAE to talk economic cooperation. DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Italy's prime minister is holding talks with senior officials in the United Arab Emirates during a visit to the Gulf nation aimed at boosting ties and strengthening economic cooperation.","Canada, US regulators urge safer rail transport of oil. Large swathes of the picturesque town of Lac-Megantic, Quebec, were reduced to rubble after a runaway freight train carrying crude oil crashed and derailed in July last year. \"In the course of our Lac-Megantic investigation, we found three critical weaknesses in the North American rail system which must be urgently addressed,\" said Wendy Tadros, chair of Canada's Transportation Safety Board (TSB). The statement was jointly issued by the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB). Their recommendations on tanker cars have been sent to Transport Canada and the US Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, for consideration.","Search for MH370 likely to take years: U.S. defense official. By Matt Siegel SYDNEY (Reuters) - The search for missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 is likely to drag on for years, a senior U.S. defense official told Reuters on Friday, as an underwater search appeared to have failed in finding any trace of the plane's wreckage. (Reporting by Matt Siegel; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore)","Ukraine's truce in trouble amid airport battle. DONETSK, Ukraine (AP) — A month-long cease-fire in Donetsk looks like this: nine civilians killed on Wednesday, a Red Cross staffer killed Thursday, scores killed and wounded since the fighting was supposed to stop.","South Libya clashes leave 88 dead in two weeks: hospital. Two weeks of ethnic clashes in Libya's main southern city Sebha have killed at least 88 people and wounded more than 130, the city's hospital director said on Saturday. \"Between the outbreak of the fighting on January 11 and Friday evening, the number of dead totalled 88,\" Abdallah Ouheida told AFP. There has since between fighting between the Awled Sleiman and other Arab tribes that is reported to have involved supporters of slain dictator Moamer Kadhafi.","Air strikes, clashes near two eastern Libyan oil ports. BENGHAZI, Libya (Reuters) - Forces loyal to Libya's recognized government conducted air strikes on targets on Saturday near the eastern oil ports of Ras Lanuf and Es-Sider to stop an advance by a rival force toward the facilities, officials said. The oil ports, two of Libya's biggest, accounting for more than 300,000 barrels a day of exports, were working normally, an oil official said. The North African country is caught in a conflict between two competing governments, parliaments and chiefs of staff, allied to armed factions, part of turmoil three years after the ouster of Muammar Gaddafi. ...","BRAZIL BEAT: Herding cattle outside Recife stadium. RECIFE, Brazil (AP) — A small herd of cattle crossed the main four-lane road encircling the glittering white Arena Pernambuco, less than a couple hours before the Ivory Coast was set to practice there Friday evening.","Rio given deadline on Olympic golf course changes. SAO PAULO (AP) — A judge has given the city of Rio de Janeiro and a local developer a deadline to decide whether they are willing to make changes to the Olympic golf course, which could help settle a legal dispute that is threatening its completion in time for the 2016 Games.","French troops arrest suspected terrorists in Mali. PARIS (AP) — France's military says French troops arrested three people near the Malian city of Timbuktu who are believed to be al-Qaida fighters posing a region-wide threat.","Cotter selects 2 squads for Scotland tour. EDINBURGH, Scotland (AP) — New Scotland coach Vern Cotter has selected separate squads for the North American and southern hemisphere legs of the team's summer rugby tour in June — but there is no place in either for lock Al Kellock and prop Euan Murray.","Spread of MERS in Saudi Arabia accelerates with 17 new cases. By Angus McDowall RIYADH (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia has discovered another 17 cases of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), as the total number of confirmed infections of the SARS-like disease has jumped by a third in the kingdom in the past week. King Abdullah replaced the health minister, Abdullah al-Rabeeah, on Monday amid growing public disquiet at the spread of the disease, which was discovered two years ago and kills around a third of sufferers. Rabeeah said on Sunday he did not know why there had been a surge but said it might be part of a seasonal pattern since there had also been a rise in infections last April and May. However, the jump is of particular concern as Saudi Arabia is expected to have a large influx of pilgrims from across the world in July during the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, followed in early October by the arrival of millions of people to perform the annual Haj in Mecca and Medina. Jeddah, Saudi Arabia's second-largest city where many of the new cases have been discovered, is the main entry point for pilgrims visiting nearby Mecca, site of the holiest places in Islam but where there have been no confirmed cases so far.","Arab League denounces IS \"crimes against humanity\" against Yazidis. Arab League chief Nabil al-Arabi denounced on Monday \"crimes against humanity\" committed by jihadists in Iraq against the minority Yazidi sect, demanding the perpetrators be brought to justice. The jihadists' advances in northern Iraq have also prompted an exodus of Christians. Referring to reports of hundreds of Yazidis killed in the jihadist onslaught, Arabi said \"these terrorist crimes amount to crimes against humanity that cannot be overlooked.\"","Highlights: Carney speaks after Inflation Report. CARNEY ON FORWARD GUIDANCE \"Forward guidance is working: expected interest rates have remained low even as the economy has recovered strongly, uncertainty about interest rates has fallen, and most importantly, UK businesses have understood the message.\" \"The objective is not to have forward guidance forever. \"If you leave it until slack has closed, that's a recipe for going too far, if you like.\" CARNEY ON SPARE CAPACITY \"We want to eliminate spare capacity over the forecast horizon. For the first time we are being clear about our assessment of the degree of spare capacity.\" CARNEY ON FUTURE RATE RISES \"When the point comes, and there will be many conversations between now and that point and lots of communications, ... the adjustments in rates will be gradual and they will be limited.\" CARNEY ON EMPLOYMENT THRESHOLD \"If we had perfect information about what we would have seen in the economy then as we do now, we would have had a greater sense of the degree of slack in the labor market that we've seen.","U.S. accuses Sudan of deadly attacks on civilians. By Louis Charbonneau UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The United States on Thursday condemned recent attacks by the Sudanese government's Rapid Support Forces on civilians in the Blue Nile and South Kordofan states, saying they have been deliberately targeting schools and hospitals. The statement from U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power came just days after a coalition of 45 organizations providing humanitarian aid or supporting peace efforts in Sudan wrote to the U.N. Security Council, African Union and Arab League demanding an end to attacks on civilians. \"The United Sates condemns in the strongest possible terms attacks by the Government of Sudan and its Rapid Support Forces (RSF) against civilians in South Kordofan and Blue Nile,\" Power said.","CP Rail's profit beats estimates as efficiency improves. (Reuters) - Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd reported a better-than-expected 17 percent jump in first-quarter earnings as it improved efficiency despite facing one of the harshest winters in decades. Analysts on average had expected earnings of C$1.41 per share on revenue of C$1.51 billion, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. \"Despite a slow start to the year and the reduced capacity, which limited our ability to meet strong customer demand, we still have the utmost confidence in our ability to achieve our financial targets for 2014,\" Chief Executive E. Hunter Harrison said.","EU: No Swiss study exchange after immigration vote. BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Commission says Swiss students won't be able to benefit from a popular Europe-wide exchange program this year after Swiss voters backed a referendum seeking to cap immigration.","Turkey softens stance on independence for Iraqi Kurds. After embarking on a peace process with homegrown Kurdish militants, Turkey is finally reconciling itself with the prospect of an independent Kurdish state in neighbouring war-torn Iraq. The idea of an independent Iraqi Kurdistan was once anathema for Ankara, which traditionally feared it would lead to a greater Kurdistan incorporating its own Kurdish-majority regions. In stark contrast to previous Turkish leaders who deferred to the once-powerful military, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has started a peace process with Kurdish rebels in Turkey and introduced reforms to ease discrimination against Kurds.","Boeing profit gets boost from increased deliveries. (Reuters) - Boeing Co reported a 52 percent increase in quarterly profit, helped by a rise in commercial aircraft deliveries. The company's net income rose to $1.65 billion, or $2.24 per share, in the second quarter ended June 30, from $1.09 billion, or $1.41 per share, a year earlier. Core earnings, which exclude some pension and other costs, rose to $2.42 per share from $1.67. Commercial aircraft deliveries rose 7 percent to 181. Revenue rose 1 percent to $22.05 billion. For 2014, the company said it expects core earnings of $7.90-$8.10 per share, up from its previous forecast of $7.15-$7. ...","Iran nuke talks end, next round March 17. VIENNA (AP) — Iran and six world powers on Thursday announced that they have agreed on a plan meant to produce a comprehensive deal that reduces concerns about Tehran's nuclear ambitions. Officials of both sides described their plans as \"very productive.\"","Sanctions relief to breathe new life into Iran economy. Unblocking billions of dollars in funds to Iran under a landmark six-month nuclear deal with the West will have a significant economic and psychological impact on the Islamic republic, experts said Monday. Iran and Western powers announced on Sunday that the deal will take will take effect from January 20. Tehran had agreed in November to roll back parts of its nuclear programme and halt further advances in exchange for the release of billions of dollars in frozen assets and limited relief from crippling sanctions. Analysts say unblocking the funds will breathe new life into the economy and provide much-needed relief across Iran.","Gaza militants launch rockets towards Israel's Dimona nuclear site. JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Islamist militants in the Gaza Strip launched three rockets towards the southern Israeli town of Dimona and its nuclear reactor on Wednesday, causing no injury or damage, the Israeli military said. One of the rockets was intercepted by Israel's Iron Dome defensive shield, and two others fell in open areas. None caused damage or injuries, an army spokesman said. Militants from Hamas's Qassam Brigades said they had launched long-range M-75 rockets. Other areas in southern Israel's Negev desert were also targeted, according to the Israeli military. ...","Canada grocer Metro's profit beats on Ontario rejig, acquisition. (Reuters) - Canadian grocer Metro Inc reported a higher-than-expected quarterly profit, helped by the reorganization of its Ontario store network and the acquisition of a majority stake in bakery chain Premiere Moisson. Metro converted some of its Metro stores into Food Basics discount grocery outlets to attract customers looking to spend less amid subdued growth in the economy. The company, which is facing intense competition from U.S. retailers such as Wal-Mart Stores Inc and Target Corp , also said in June it would buy a majority stake in Premiere Moisson to expand its product offerings. ...","Fate of Israel spy Pollard linked to peace talks: sources. Israel and the United States are discussing a possible deal which could secure the release of US-born Israeli spy Jonathan Pollard as a way of salvaging the crisis-hit peace talks. According to two separate sources close to the talks, Pollard's release is being discussed in the context of efforts to secure an extension of the peace talks with the Palestinians, although no decision has yet been made. Pollard was arrested in Washington in 1985 and condemned to life imprisonment for spying on the United States on behalf of Israel. In exchange, Israel would agree to release a fourth group of Palestinian prisoners, which it recently blocked, and both parties would agree to a US proposal to extend the negotiations beyond an April 29 deadline.","Nissan chief Ghosn shrugs off Lebanon politics career. Carlos Ghosn, the French-Lebanese chief of Nissan-Renault, on Thursday shrugged off any chance of vying for the Middle Eastern nation's presidency, saying he has \"too many jobs already\". The 60-year-old, widely credited with saving a near-bankrupt Nissan more than a decade ago, was born to Lebanese parents in Brazil. So unfortunately, I don't think this is part of the probabilities,\" he told reporters in response to a question about a political run, after delivering a speech at the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan. Speculation over a political career was fuelled by reports last year quoting Ghosn as saying he would rely on the same techniques for running Lebanon that he used to turn around Nissan.","Social networks 'in denial' on extremist use: GCHQ chief. Robert Hannigan, the new head of electronic spying agency GCHQ, used a Financial Times article to urge Silicon Valley big names to give security services more help in the fight against Islamic State (IS) jihadists. The rare public comments by a senior intelligence officer will fuel the debate ignited by US leaker Edward Snowden over how much access governments should have to personal online information and what steps social networks should take to regulate content. Classified information released by former intelligence analyst Snowden in 2013 revealed that GCHQ played a key role in covert US surveillance operations worldwide, including monitoring huge volumes of online and phone activity worldwide. While Hannigan did not name firms directly, he highlighted militants' use of Twitter, Facebook and WhatsApp and referred to graphic online videos showing the final moments of Western hostages executed by the IS group.","New UN resolution calls for Falklands dialogue. UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N. Decolonization Committee has approved another resolution calling on Britain and Argentina to negotiate a solution to their dispute over the Falkland Islands.","Pope says to ask God's advice on retirement. Pope Francis said in an interview Friday he will ask God's advice when the time comes to consider retiring like his 87-year-old predecessor Benedict XVI. \"Since we live longer, we get to an age at which we can no longer carry on with things,\" the 77-year-old Francis said in a wide-ranging interview with the Vatican correspondent of Barcelona-based daily La Vanguardia.","5 rescued after boat overturns in east Caribbean. FORT-DE-FRANCE, Martinique (AP) — Five people have been rescued in the eastern Caribbean after their pleasure boat overturned in rough waters.","Russia: Don't force Ukraine to choose between Russia and West. MOSCOW (Reuters) - Ukraine must not be forced to choose between close ties with Russia or the West, Russia Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Tuesday in Moscow's latest warning to the European Union and United States not to try to shape the ex-Soviet state's future. \"It is dangerous an counterproductive to try to force upon a Ukraine a choice on the principle: 'You are either with us or against us',\" Lavrov said at a joint news conference after talks with Luxembourg Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn. (Writing by Steve Gutterman)","New Burkina president vows to identify folk hero Sankara's body. By Mathieu Bonkoungou OUAGADOUGOU (Reuters) - Burkina Faso's new transitional president has promised to open an investigation to identify remains believed to be those of the West African nation's murdered revolutionary folk hero Thomas Sankara. Sankara rose to power in 1983 at the age of 33 after a coup and left a lasting mark during his short presidency, even changing his country's name from Upper Volta to Burkina Faso, meaning \"the land of upright people\" in local languages. ...","Colombia deports Venezuelan student activist. BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — Colombia has deported a Venezuelan student activist, drawing criticism on both sides of the border by groups who fear the man will be unjustly prosecuted for his opposition to President Nicolas Maduro's government.","Hong Kong pro-democracy movement Occupy kicks off blockade of city. HONG KONG (Reuters) - The leader of a Hong Kong movement seeking greater democracy announced in the early hours of Sunday the launch of a campaign to blockade the heart of the financial center to demand greater freedoms in the former British colony. The news came as tens of thousands of people massed in the center of Hong Kong less than 24 hours after riot police fired pepper spray to disperse activists who had stormed government headquarters to demand full democracy. ...","Top Muslim body demands Boko Haram free abducted girls. Egypt's prestigious Islamic institute Al-Azhar urged the Nigerian Muslim group Boko Haram group Tuesday to free more than 200 schoolgirls it kidnapped and has threatened to sell into slavery. Al-Azhar, which runs the main Sunni Islamic university in the region, said harming the girls \"completely contradicts the teachings of Islam and its tolerant principles.\" Abubakar Shekau, who leads the group that has killed thousands in a five-year uprising, claimed responsibility for the kidnappings. A total of 276 girls were kidnapped when Boko Haram stormed their school under the cover of darkness and loaded them onto trucks.","GM faces French dealer challenge over Chevy exit. General Motors is facing a legal battle with a group of French Chevrolet dealers who are preparing to go to court over the terms of the brand's withdrawal from Europe. The U.S. carmaker said in December it would halt Chevrolet sales in the region at the end of next year, opening negotiations to end dealer contracts. But France's CNPA, which represents retailers, repair shops and service providers across the auto industry, has called a news conference on Tuesday to announce legal action on behalf of a group of Chevrolet dealers who have rejected GM's terms. The court challenge, to be filed on Monday, accuses GM of failing to honor compensation payments owed to dealers as it unwinds franchise contracts, a CNPA spokeswoman said.","Judicial agents spied on Navas' personal records. SAN JOSE, Costa Rica (AP) — Costa Rica's Judicial Investigation Department says 24 of its own agents are being investigated after a database was wrongly used to access personal information about Real Madrid and Costa Rica goalkeeper Keylor Navas.","AP PHOTOS: Historic floods inundate Balkans. In Bosnia and Serbia, days of torrential rains have triggered the worst floods to hit the region since records began 120 years ago.","Lufthansa suspends flights to Tel Aviv for another day. German aviation group Lufthansa said Wednesday it was suspending services to Tel Aviv for another day over security concerns amid the escalating Gaza conflict, after halting flights for 36 hours. The German company, which also operates Germanwings, Austrian Airlines, Swiss and Brussels Airlines, said it was \"evaluating the security situation in close consultation with the responsible authorities\". It said it had cancelled a total of 20 scheduled flights to Tel Aviv on Thursday from Frankfurt, Munich, Cologne, Zurich, Vienna and Brussels.","Sears Canada reports loss, revenue slides 12 percent. (Reuters) - Struggling department store chain Sears Canada Inc reported a quarterly loss as sales declined. The company reported a net loss of C$21.3 million, or 21 Canadian cents per share, for the second quarter ended Aug. 2 compared with a profit of C$152.8 million, or C$1.50 per share, a year earlier. The year-ago quarter's profit included a one-time pre-tax gain of $185.7 million. Revenue fell 12 percent to C$845.8 million. Same store sales declined 6.8 percent. The company, majority-owned by Sears Holdings Corp , partly blamed the slump on a relatively cold spring. ...","Islamic militants crush tribal uprising in Syria. BEIRUT (AP) — Activists say Islamic militants have crushed a tribal uprising against their rule in eastern Syria following days of clashes.","Encana's operating profit falls 31 percent. (Reuters) - Encana Corp , Canada's largest natural-gas producer, said its operating profit fell 31 percent in the second quarter, hurt by lower gas production and prices. Operating profit, which excludes one-time items, fell to $171 million, or 23 cents per share, in the quarter ended June 30, from $247 million, or 34 cents per share, a year earlier. The company, which is restructuring its operations to end its reliance on low-value natural gas, said net income attributable to common shareholders fell to $271 million from $730 million. ...","Saturday's Highlights at the Sochi Olympics. SATURDAY'S HIGHLIGHTS AT THE SOCHI OLYMPICS:","Hanyu fights back to lead GP final. Olympic and world champion Yuzuru Hanyu put his doubts behind him after suffering head injuries early in the season to lead after the short programme at the ISU Grand Prix figure skating final on Friday. Hanyu, 20, scraped into the final after finishing fourth at the NHK Trophy, having ignored pleas not to compete following a collision which left him with bad head injuries during the Cup of China in which he took silver. He opened with a quad toeloop and included a triple Axel before falling on the second toeloop jump, his triple-triple combination, but pushed through to complete the programme cleanly. Home hope Javier Fernandez, who is Hanyu's training partner in Toronto, is struggling in fifth in the six-man field after succumbing to nerves amid the huge expectations.","Mercedes target extending reign in Spain. Not content with winning all four races this year, the outstanding Mercedes team head to this week's Spanish Grand Prix seeking to extend their advantage over the rest of the field. Lewis Hamilton and his Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg have dominated in Australia, Malaysia, Bahrain and China with Hamilton winning the last three in succession following Rosberg's success in Melbourne. But that -â and the prospect of continued successes â - is not enough for Mercedes whose motorsport boss Toto Wolff has called for a much greater effort in a bid to press home their advantage. \"We know our rivals are going to be relentless in their effort to close the gap on us so our aim is to increase the advantage we enjoyed at the last race, in China,\" said Wolff.","Laidlaw to captain Scotland for injured Gilchrist. EDINBURGH, Scotland (AP) — Gloucester scrumhalf Greig Laidlaw is Scotland's replacement captain against Argentina at Murrayfield on Saturday.","80 US Air Force personnel on ground in Chad. NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Eighty U.S. Air Force personnel have arrived in Chad and have begun their mission to help locate nearly 300 schoolgirls kidnapped in neighboring Nigeria, a U.S. military spokesman said Thursday.","Turk MPs back action against IS, Australia joins Iraq air war. Mursitpinar (Turkey) (AFP) - The Turkish government won parliamentary approval to deploy troops against the Islamic State group as Australia announced on Thursday that it was joining combat sorties against the jihadists in Iraq.","Switzerland beats Germany 3-2 for 1st worlds win. MINSK, Belarus (AP) — Switzerland ended a three-game losing streak at the ice hockey world championship by beating Germany 3-2 on Wednesday.","Mortar fired from Gaza, first since August 26 truce: Israel. JERUSALEM (Reuters) - A mortar bomb was fired into Israel from the Gaza Strip on Tuesday in the first such attack since an Aug. 26 truce halted a seven-week war in the Palestinian enclave, the Israeli military said. There were no casualties or damage, a military spokeswoman said. (Writing by Dan Williams; Editing by Dominic Evans)","Clashes near Iraq's Fallujah as conflict toll reaches 366. Clashes erupted between Iraqi troops and anti-government fighters on the outskirts of Fallujah on Saturday, as the militant-held city's main hospital said 366 people had been killed in the months-long conflict. The latest unrest comes after security forces pressed an apparently unsuccessful assault into the city, which is west of Baghdad and has been out of government control since the beginning of the year. Clashes on the city's northern fringes, in the region of Saqlawiya, broke out earlier on Saturday between Iraqi security forces and anti-government fighters, a tribal leader told AFP on condition of anonymity. \"With aerial cover, they tried to enter Fallujah from the Saqlawiya area,\" he said.","Egypt political parties concerned over new parliamentary election law. A law passed by Egypt's interim president will set the stage for parliamentary elections this year but political parties fear it will return the country to a system similar to one under ousted president Hosni Mubarak. One of the most significant changes in the election law is a return to a system where individual candidates take the majority of seats in parliament, rather than party lists of candidates. Of the 540 parliament members to be elected, 420 will be drawn from individual candidate lists while 120 will be from absolute closed lists. Such an arrangement would weaken the position of political parties in the country where they already have little influence on the ground, politicians say.","S.Africa opposition seek probe into Mandela memorial spending. South Africa's opposition parties Saturday demanded a probe into how taxpayers' money released for Nelson Mandela's memorial services had been used, after allegations that some of the funds had been misappropriated. An Eastern Cape provincial paper on Saturday alleged that a senior official of the ruling ANC party had embezzled part of the money released by Buffalo City Metropolitan municipality. Citing its own research, the newspaper said 5.9 million rand (US$532,000) was paid to a local transport company linked to the ANC official. The company then transferred some of the money to other firms -- some of which had nothing to do with transportation, even though the money was meant to be spent on driving mourners to the anti-apartheid icon's memorial services.","Chinese pays $2 million for Tibetan mastiff. BEIJING (AP) — A Chinese dog breeder says a property developer has paid 12 million yuan ($2 million) for a Tibetan mastiff.","Death toll hits 65 in Libya's eastern strife. BENGHAZI, Libya (AP) — A Libyan official says fighting in the eastern city of Benghazi between Islamist militias and pro-government fighters has left 65 people dead as fierce battles continued for a sixth day.","SOCHI SCENE: A figure skater's fall. SOCHI, Russia (AP) — This pair of photos By Associated Press photographer Bernat Armangue shows a fall by U.S. figure skater Jeremy Abbott during the men's short program on Thursday night at the Sochi Games.","Starbucks says 'will pay more tax' in UK after Europe HQ shift. Starbucks said on Wednesday it was re-locating its European headquarters from the Netherlands to Britain a year after the US coffee giant was heavily criticised by British lawmakers for tax avoidance. The company, the world's largest coffee shop chain, said it would pay more tax in Britain as a result of the re-location, which is expected to take place at the end of the year. Starbucks expects to open another 100 outlets there this year. Starbucks and a number of other multi-national companies, including Amazon and Google, have come under pressure from politicians and campaigners over their tax affairs.","Suu Kyi says law barring her from Myanmar presidency is unacceptable. By Gopal Sharma KATHMANDU (Reuters) - Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi put her political future in the hands of the people of Myanmar on Monday, saying that a parliamentary panel vote to retain a key constitutional clause was intended to bar her from running for the presidency. A parliamentary committee tasked with recommending amendments to the constitution in Myanmar has refused to change a provision that bars anyone married to a foreigner or with children of foreign citizenship from becoming head of state. Suu Kyi's late husband was British, as are her two sons. “I do believe the constitution was written with me in mind,” the 68-year-old opposition leader told reporters in Nepal.","UAE paper urges release of its reporter in Iran. DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The editor of a newspaper in the United Arab Emirates expressed hope Thursday that its correspondent in Iran detained last month on unspecified charges will soon be released.","Syrian opposition leader tells peace talks that Assad must go. MONTREUX, Switzerland (Reuters) - There can be no talk of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad staying in power, the Syrian opposition leader Ahmad Jarba told the first day of international talks convened in Switzerland to seek peace for the Middle East country. He accused Assad's forces of supporting al Qaeda on the ground in Syria and called on Assad's government delegation to commit to the so-called \"Geneva 1\" agreement immediately and transfer power to an interim governing body. ...","Egyptian soldiers killed in Sinai as protest toll rises to 49. By Maggie Fick CAIRO (Reuters) - Gunmen killed three Egyptian soldiers in an attack on a bus in the Sinai Peninsula on Sunday, the military said, prompting a warning from the army that it would eliminate the Muslim Brotherhood, which it blames for much of Egypt's political violence. Al Qaeda-inspired Islamist militant groups based in Sinai have stepped up attacks on security forces since the army toppled President Mohamed Mursi of the Brotherhood in July following mass protests against his rule. On Saturday, the third anniversary of the uprising that toppled autocrat Hosni Mubarak, 49 people were killed in anti-government protests which were attacked by supporters of the new political order and security forces, witnesses said.","China factory activity hits five-month high in May, confirming stabilization. Activity in China's vast factory sector increased to a five-month high in May on rising new orders, official data showed on Sunday, reinforcing views that the world's second-largest economy is regaining momentum in the second quarter following Beijing's targeted measures to bolster growth. The official Purchasing Managers' Index rose to 50.8 in May from April's 50.4, the National Bureau of Statistics said on Sunday, beating market expectations of 50.6. \"The PMI reading continued to improve in May, indicating that a trend of economic stabilization is becoming more evident,\" Zhang Liqun, a researcher at the Development Research Centre said in the statement accompanying the data. Beijing has unveiled a slew of targeted measures this year to help shore up the economy, including cutting reserve requirement ratios for rural banks, quickening construction of railways and public housing, and tax cuts for smaller enterprises.","World stocks fall as China manufacturing slows. TOKYO (AP) — Global stocks were mostly lower Monday as signs of weakness in another China manufacturing survey added to lingering jitters about developing economies.","President: Captive Colombia general to be freed. BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos says leftist rebels could free a captive general on Saturday.","Botswana president wins second term in power. Botswana President Ian Khama has won a second term in power after his party secured a parliamentary majority at the polls, an official announced Sunday. High Court Chief Justice Maruping Dibotelo said in a statement that Khama \"has been re-elected as the President of the Republic after his political party, the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) garnered at least 29 of the 57 parliamentary seats\" at Friday's general election. The newly formed Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC), led by Duma Boko, which was contesting elections for the first time becomes the official opposition with 12 seats in parliament.","Three newcomers in Aussie field hockey squad for Champions Trophy. Australia named three newcomers on Monday in their squad for next month's Champions Trophy field hockey tournament in India. Kookaburras head coach Graham Reid gave call-ups to youngsters Tom Craig, Matthew Dawson and Flynn Ogilvie as Australia defend the title they won in Melbourne in 2012. The trio made their senior international debuts against India this month and are part of an 18-man squad which contains 11 World Cup winners and 11 Commonwealth Games gold medallists. Returning to the squad are prolific goal-scoring forward Russell Ford, who has been playing in the Netherlands and who missed the World Cup and Commonwealth Games with a calf injury.","Censorship claims as Google cuts search results. BRUSSELS (AP) — Google's removal of some search results in Europe is drawing accusations of censorship.","Germany's Merkel urges Putin to influence separatists over Ukraine. German Chancellor Angela Merkel called on Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday to use his influence over pro-Russian separatists to reach a ceasefire in Ukraine, the German government said in a statement. The two leaders agreed in a phone call on Saturday morning that a swift, direct meeting of the contact group of diplomats from the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe, Russia and Ukraine was needed to reach the truce. \"Both agreed that an international, independent commission under the leadership of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) should get quick access to the crash site of the Malaysia Airlines passenger plane in east Ukraine,\" Berlin said in a statement.","FIFA: We won't hide from protests during World Cup. FLORIANOPOLIS, Brazil (AP) — FIFA says it is concerned about security challenges during the World Cup in Brazil but it isn't afraid of being targeted by public demonstrations expected in June.","Colombia's military chief fired in scandal. BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — Colombia's president fired his armed forces chief Tuesday for verbally maligning and suggesting action be taken against prosecutors investigating military officers accused in extrajudicial killings of civilians.","Canada's Dollarama hires former Metro executive as new COO. Canada's Dollarama Inc hired a former executive from Canadian grocer Metro Inc to handle the discounter's retail operations, the company said on Monday, eight months after the search for a new chief operating officer began. Johanne Choinière, who was previously senior vice president of Metro's Ontario Division, will join Dollarama on May 12 and oversee logistics, distribution and supply chain management for the dollar store operator. Choinière replaces Stephane Gonthier, who announced last August he was leaving the Montreal-based company to become chief executive officer of the California-based 99 Cents Only Stores retail chain.","Van Garderen wins 4th stage of Volta a Catalunya. SETCASES, Spain (AP) — American cyclist Tejay Van Garderen pulled away on the final uphill climb in snow and heavy fog to win the fourth stage of the Volta a Catalunya on Thursday, while Joaquim Rodriguez maintained the lead.","Rousseff goes negative as Silva leads Brazil presidential race. By Anthony Boadle and Jeferson Ribeiro BRASILIA (Reuters) - With polls showing Marina Silva well-positioned to win Brazil's election next month, President Dilma Rousseff's campaign team has taken off the gloves and is painting her rival as a dangerous wild card backed by an out-of-touch financial elite. Rousseff's campaign managers hope to reverse Silva's dramatic rise in polls by portraying the environmentalist as an obstacle to Brazil's development and a threat to the social gains made under 12 years of leftist Workers' Party rule. An icon of Brazil's anti-establishment movement, Silva has captured the support of voters who are fed up with corruption and traditional politicians. She vows to clean up politics and eschews the often murky alliances between the scores of parties in Brazil's political system.","Misbah in doubt for third New Zealand ODI. Pakistan coach Waqar Younis Saturday admitted skipper Misbah-ul Haq remains doubtful for the third one-day international against New Zealand after he hurt his hamstring.","Kate's phone hacked 155 times by newspaper, court told. The former royal editor of the News of the World tabloid hacked the phones of Britain's Prince William, his wife Catherine and brother Prince Harry dozens of times, a trial heard. Former royal editor Clive Goodman illegally listened to the voicemails of the then-Kate Middleton 155 times, William 35 times and Prince Harry nine times, the jury was told. Owner Rupert Murdoch shut down the Sunday tabloid in disgrace in 2011. The details came out as Goodman was being cross-examined by Timothy Langdale, the lawyer of Andy Coulson, Goodman's editor at the time of the offences.","Philippine militants free 2 kidnapped Germans. MANILA, Philippines (AP) — A Philippine official says two Germans kidnapped for six months have been released by a militant group just hours after it had threatened to behead one if no ransom payment was made.","Cambodia's Angkor temples added to Street View. PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) — The spectacular temples of Cambodia's historic Angkor civilization have been incorporated into Google's Street View.","Polish MP confronts hardships of migrant life in London. Sacrificing his bed for the floor and his corner office for a building site, a Polish MP says his mission to discover what attracts his countrymen to Britain in such numbers has been testing, but important for the future of his nation. Artur Debski, head of opposition centre-left party Twoj Ruch (Your Movement), came to London on a £20 flight (25 euros, $33.5) to try to understand why tens of thousands of Poles move to Britain each year. Having slept for the first three nights on a mattress on the floor, Debski was finally taken in by a Pole living in Poplar, a densely populated district of east London. \"I lived like them (Polish immigrants) for three days, but it wasn't good for my health.","AP Newsbreak: Bosnia missing project to go global. SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina (AP) — A Bosnia-based commission that has pioneered a DNA-based system to find and identify the remains of people missing in conflicts and natural disasters will become a permanent global body helping track down millions of missing around the world.","Henkel to buy laundry products company Spotless. BERLIN (AP) — Henkel, the German-based maker of Persil laundry detergent and Dial soap, says it is buying French laundry products company Spotless Group in a deal valued at 940 million euros ($1.28 billion).","Bulgarians swelter under heat wave. SOFIA, Bulgaria (AP) — Bulgarians are seeking relief in the mountains, city parks, rivers and lakes as authorities warned of high temperatures of up to 38 degrees Celsius (100 Fahrenheit.)","Chile's Bachelet stands by reform despite slowdown. SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) — Chile's new President Michelle Bachelet says she'll keep her promises to make profound changes to tackle the country's sharp inequality despite her country's economic slowdown.","PSG coach Laurent Blanc hits back at critics. PARIS (AP) — Paris Saint-Germain coach Laurent Blanc has hit back at mounting criticism of his team, saying that he \"couldn't care less about\" what critics think of his team.","Priests march, protest attacks in southern Mexico. MEXICO CITY (AP) — Dozens of Roman Catholic priests and religious workers have marched through the southern Mexico city of Ciudad Altamirano to protest the latest in a series of kidnappings, killings and robberies of priests.","Russia's Putin says Moscow wants solution to Ukraine crisis. MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday the Ukraine crisis should be resolved as quickly as possible and that Moscow's aim was to restore political unity to Ukraine. Putin also warned Kiev at his annual end-of-year news conference that it must respect all its regions if it wanted peace. (Reprting by Andrey Kuzmin, writing by Thomas Grove, editing by Elizabeth Piper)","Yemenis demonstrate to press Houthi rebels to quit Sanaa. SANAA (Reuters) - Hundreds of Yemenis demonstrated in Sanaa on Sunday demanding that Houthi rebels who had seized control of the capital last week leave, a day after the Shi'ite Muslim fighters attacked the home of the intelligence chief. The Houthis, named after a Zaydi tribe based in the city of Saada some 540 kms (336 miles) to the north, have refused to quit Sanaa despite an agreement signed last Sunday to make the Houthis a part of the government. Witnesses said activists chanted slogans against President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi for his apparent weakness before the Houthi fighters. ...","Libya shuts 2 TV stations taken over by Islamists. Libyan authorities have decided to shut down two public television stations taken over by Islamist militias embroiled in clashes in Tripoli, a government official said Tuesday. \"The authorities have closed 'Libya al-Wataniya' which had been under the control of the provisional government and 'Libya al-Ramia' which was the voice of parliament,\" the official said, asking not to be named. He said Nilesat had accepted requests from the heads of Libya's government and parliament to halt transmission of the two satellite channels.","Fidel Castro has 1st public appearance in 9 months. HAVANA (AP) — Cuban news media say former President Fidel Castro has appeared in public for the first time since April.","Australia's dingo is a unique species, study shows. By Pauline Askin SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australia's dingo is a unique species, not a kind of wild dog as previously believed, according to a new study that definitively classifies the country's largest land predator. The research by Australian scientists, published in the Journal of Zoology, resurrected the species name \"Canis dingo\", first adopted in 1793 by Friedrich Meyer, a German naturalist. \"What we've done is describe the dingo more scientifically,\" Mike Letnic from the University of New South Wales told Reuters. The confusion over whether the dingo was a distinct species partly originated from the previous classification based on a simple drawing and description in the 18th century journal of Australia's first governor, Arthur Phillip, without reference to a physical specimen.","Saudi Arabia: reported poison gas use by Syria is challenge to world. RIYADH (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia's Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal on Tuesday said the \"grave news\" that President Bashar al-Assad's forces had carried out two poison gas attacks last week was a challenge to \"international will\". Rebels and the Syrian government have blamed each other for the alleged poison gas attacks on Friday and Saturday on rebel-held Kfar Zeita village in the central province of Hama. Both sides said chlorine gas had been used. ...","Head of Syria Qaeda branch urges rebels to stop infighting. The head of an al Qaeda affiliate in Syria called in an audio message on Sunday for other rebel groups to stop attacking his fighters and instead join forces to defeat President Bashar al-Assad. The small but powerful al Qaeda arm - the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) - has been caught up in clashes with other Islamist insurgents, often triggered by disputes over authority and territory. It has killed hundreds of rebels this month. ISIL head Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi told rebels in an audio message posted on jihadi websites to \"repent to God for you have stabbed us in the back while our soldiers were at the front.\" He added that his group was \"extending its hand to you, so you can stop fighting it and we will stop fighting you and we can fight the Alawites,\" referring to Assad's sect, an offshoot of Shi'ite Islam.","Safety board wraps up ground investigation of New Brunswick train derailment. PLASTER ROCK, N.B. - Canada's Transportation Safety Board says it has wrapped up its investigation at the site of a fiery train derailment in New Brunswick.","At UN, Thailand defends its military takeover. UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Thailand is defending the political takeover by its military and says it won't \"go against the tide of democracy.\"","Baby body parts found in Bangkok package destined for US. The body parts of several babies have been found in a parcel destined for the United States, Thai police said Sunday. A baby's head, several feet and \"sheets of skin\" -- including one taken from an adult and bearing a large tattoo -- were discovered Saturday after staff at a Bangkok parcel company scanned the package. \"They were not from one body but were in small pieces,\" Police Major General Chawalit Prasopsin told AFP on Sunday. In 2012 Thai police discovered six human foetuses which had been roasted and covered in gold leaf as part of an apparent black magic ritual.","Canada March wholesale trade drops by 0.4 percent. (Reuters) - Canadian wholesale trade unexpectedly dropped by 0.4 percent in March from February, led by lower motor vehicles and parts sales, Statistics Canada data indicated on Tuesday. Sales declined in three of seven subsectors, representing 51 percent of wholesale trade. In volume terms, sales were down 0.2 percent. (Reporting by Alex Paterson; Editing by David Ljunggren)","H&M CEO warns rising Bangladeshi wages may spook some firms: paper. Hennes & Mauritz (H&M) , the world's second-biggest fashion retailer, supports higher wages for textile workers in Bangladesh, its chief executive said, but warned that higher costs could also prompt some companies to go elsewhere. The country needs to take into account that jobs could be lost to other countries,\" German daily newspaper Die Welt cited CEO Karl-Johan Persson as saying in an interview published on its website on Tuesday. \"In Bangladesh, the clothing industry offers 4 million jobs that are relatively well paid compared with others. Faced with growing competition from even cheaper rivals such as Britain's Primark and U.S. chain Forever 21, H&M has been seeking to differentiate itself by stressing a commitment to sustainability, including using more recycled materials and organic cotton as well as campaigning for better wages.","Egypt military kills 7 militants in volatile Sinai. CAIRO (AP) — An Egyptian military spokesman says troops have killed seven suspected militants and arrested five as part of an ongoing offensive in the volatile Sinai Peninsula where the military has been trying to quell a spreading insurgency by Islamic militants.","Inter's Podolski interest 'a joke' - Wenger. London (AFP) - Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger on Tuesday described Inter Milan's reported interest in Lukas Podolski as \"a joke\" and said he wants the out-of-favour Germany international to stay at the club.","U.N.'s Zeid accuses Sri Lanka of trying to sabotage war crimes probe. By Tom Miles and Shihar Aneez GENEVA/COLOMBO (Reuters) - The U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights on Friday accused Sri Lanka of trying to \"sabotage\" a war crimes inquiry, creating a \"wall of fear\" to prevent witnesses from giving evidence. The U.N. Human Rights Council set up the inquiry in March to investigate crimes allegedly committed by both government forces and Tamil rebels during the final stages of a 26-year conflict that ended in 2009. ...","Edinburgh airport reopening following bomb alert. LONDON (AP) — Officials say Scotland's Edinburgh airport is reopening after a closure of several hours following the discovery of a suspicious package.","Israeli fire on Gaza town raises war crimes claim. RAFAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — The first of August dawned as a day of promise for the Mahmoum clan and thousands of other Palestinians stuck in United Nations shelters in Rafah — thanks to a temporary cease-fire with Israel they could go home for three days.","Obama waiting for House action on immigration. WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama is backing away from immigration changes he could make on his own to the frustration of many of his supporters. He is kicking the issue to House Republicans instead, despite mounting evidence they won't address the millions of immigrants living illegally in the United States.","Group: Iraq holding thousands of women illegally. BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraq authorities are illegally detaining thousands of women, including many subjected to torture, the threat of sexual abuse and other ill-treatment despite promises of reform, Human Rights Watch said Thursday.","Slovenia alone atop group at basketball worlds. Goran Dragic got Slovenia out of the kind of trouble that Lithuania couldn't escape.","Obama: U.S. will 'do everything we can' to help find Nigeria girls - NBC. President Barack Obama said the United States will do \"everything we can\" to help Nigeria in its search for more than 200 girls kidnapped by the Boko Haram Islamist militant group. Obama told NBC News in an interview that Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan had accepted U.S. offers for assistance.","Libyans vote on panel to write new constitution. TRIPOLI, Libya (AP) — Libyans voted Thursday on who should draft a new constitution they hope will help defuse a potentially deadly conflict between powerful militias and parliament members backed by armed factions.","South Africans mourn slain compatriots. JOHANNESBURG (AP) — Mourners in South Africa have held separate services for two South African civilians who were killed in conflicts in Yemen and Afghanistan.","Angela Merkel to visit Israel end February. German Chancellor Angela Merkel will visit Israel at the end of February at the invitation of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, for annual talks between the two governments, a statement said Thursday. Government spokesman Steffen Seibert said the two leaders had a phone conversation Thursday in which Netanyahu \"invited the German government for talks at the end of February which must take place in Israel this year.\" The inter-governmental talks will be the first for Merkel's new team, a marriage of convenience between the Social Democratic Party (SPD) and Merkel's Christian Democrats (CDU). Germany's support of Israel has been a constant since the Second World War, although Berlin has upped pressure recently on Netanyahu to show greater restraint in building settlements in the Palestinian territories.","Pope Francis hosts Israeli-Palestinian peace prayer. Pope Francis on Sunday hosts an unprecedented peace prayer meeting with Israeli President Shimon Peres and Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas in a symbolic gesture to foster dialogue but unlikely to have any immediate effect. The Vatican is realistic about the effects of the ceremony. \"Nobody is fooling themselves that peace will break out in the Holy Land,\" said Father Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the head of the Franciscan Order in the Middle East who is organising the historic event in the Vatican Gardens. \"But this time to stop and breathe has been absent for some time,\" he said, after Francis made the offer to Peres and Abbas on a visit to the Middle East last month.","Liberia 'losing grip on Ebola' as hunt for patients goes on. Liberia was desperately searching for 17 Ebola patients Monday who fled an attack on a quarantine centre in capital Monrovia, as the outbreak appeared to overwhelm authorities in West Africa's worst-hit nation. Searches of the teeming West Point slum have so far failed to turn up any of the missing victims as neighbouring Guinea said a wave of sick Liberians had begun crossing the border, which it had officially closed 10 days ago. Club-wielding youths raided a medical facility set up in a high school in the dense-populated Monrovia slum on Saturday, some shouting \"there's no Ebola\", echoing wild rumours that the epidemic had been made up by the West.","Inside Mexican shelter, a world of fear and abuse. A nauseating smell of rotting food and excrement hangs in the air inside the Mexican shelter where authorities say hundreds of children lived in squalor and endured physical and sexual abuse. Parents have also accused the shelter of demanding they pay thousands of dollars to get their children back.","Report: Gulf region still a risk to investors. DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Despite improvements in regulations and moves to diversify Arab economies away from natural resources, global investors remain wary of doing business in Gulf countries because of regional upheaval and other potentially destabilizing factors, according to a report by The Economist Intelligence Unit released Monday.","Bahrain, GCC send air force to attack 'terrorist' sites: BNA agency. DOHA (Reuters) - Bahrain and other Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) members sent planes to attack a number of \"terrorist\" sites, the Bahrain Defense Force (BDF) General Headquarters said on Tuesday, state news agency BNA reported. \"A group of fighter jets from the Royal Bahrain Air Force (RBAF) carried out earlier this morning, along with the air forces of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), allied and friendly countries, air strikes against a number of selected targets ... and destroyed them,\" the agency said, quoting a military statement. It did not specify the targets. ...","Motor racing-Formula One Australian Grand Prix qualifying session 1. March 15 (Infostrada Sports) - Qualifying session 1 from the Formula One Australian Grand Prix at Albert Park on Saturday 1. Daniel Ricciardo (Australia) RedBull - Renault 1:30.775 2. Kevin Magnussen (Denmark) McLaren 1:30.949 3. Felipe Massa (Brazil) Williams-Mercedes 1:31.228 4. Fernando Alonso (Spain) Ferrari 1:31.388 5. Jenson Button (Britain) McLaren 1:31.396 6. Valtteri Bottas (Finland) Williams-Mercedes 1:31.601 7. Lewis Hamilton (Britain) Mercedes 1:31.699 8. Sebastian Vettel (Germany) RedBull - Renault 1:31.931 9. Kimi Raikkonen (Finland) Ferrari 1:32.439 10. ...","'Made in Dagenham' musical coming to London stage. LONDON (AP) — The story of a band of female workers who fight the powers at their Ford factory is heading to London's stage.","Head of Cuba's Ebola effort expects more aid soon. HAVANA (AP) — The head of Cuba's internationally lauded effort to slow the spread of Ebola says a regional summit Monday should lead to more aid for Africa, including Cuban doctors and support staff from other leftist Latin American countries.","Stub it out: Report suggests smoking ban in parks. LONDON (AP) — A leading cancer specialist is proposing a ban on smoking in London's parks and at landmarks like Trafalgar Square and Parliament Square.","Spain federation backs Del Bosque despite debacle. MADRID (AP) — The Spanish Football Federation says it wants national coach Vicente del Bosque to remain in charge despite the titleholders' stunning elimination from the World Cup after just two matches.","Argentina coach denies rift with Messi. BELO HORIZONTE, Brazil (AP) — Brushing off speculation over a power struggle with star player Lionel Messi, Argentina coach Alejandro Sabella has insisted the atmosphere in the squad is \"perfect\" ahead of Saturday's World Cup match against Iran.","Canada warns Russia on Ukraine, says G8 membership at risk. Canada's Prime Minister Stephen Harper Monday added his name to warnings that Russia could be stripped of membership in the Group of Eight industrialized nations if it doesn't reverse course in Ukraine. The move is being considered by Canada and other G8 members as part of a basket of sanctions targeting Russia over its military intervention in the Crimea region of Ukraine. On Sunday, the group withdrew from preparations for June's G8 summit in Sochi to protest Russia's violation of Ukraine's sovereignty.","Myanmar frees 3,000 prisoners including ex-military figures. Yangon (AFP) - Myanmar began releasing more than 3,000 prisoners on \"humanitarian\" grounds, officials said Tuesday, in the latest large-scale amnesty in the once pariah nation, with former military intelligence figures among those freed.","Brazil defender Dante wants to become German. MUNICH (AP) — Bayern Munich defender Dante doubts he will play for Brazil again and says he wants to become a German.","Russian President Putin's spokesman sees no 'Cold War' because of Ukraine. Dmitry Peskov, Russian President Vladimir Putin's spokesman, said on Saturday that he was sure there would be no \"Cold War\" in connection with Ukraine. \"With all our soul, we hope that both ourselves and our partners have enough political wisdom, feelings of political realism, to avoid sliding into an even deeper confrontation - ideological or otherwise - because of Ukraine,\" Peskov said in an interview with the television channel Ren-TV. Peskov said that Russia and the West were economically co-dependent, criticizing suggestions by economists that Russia was capable of self-isolation. \"We are interested in the development of cooperation, and we wouldn't like what is happening in Ukraine to have the opposite effect,\" Peskov said.","Bill bars US deals with Russian arms dealer. WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S Defense Department would be barred from entering into any contract with a Russian state arms dealer under a provision of the $1.1 trillion spending bill.","Navy rescues family with sick baby from sailboat. SAN DIEGO (AP) — U.S. sailors rescued a family with an ill 1-year-old baby from a disabled sailboat hundreds of miles off the Mexican coast and were headed Sunday to San Diego to get the girl medical treatment.","Ronaldo not in Real starting lineup. DORTMUND, Germany (AP) — Real Madrid striker Cristiano Ronaldo was not in the starting lineup for the Champions League quarterfinal second leg against Borussia Dortmund on Tuesday.","Chile says no reports of injuries or damage after new quake. SANTIAGO (Reuters) - There were no reports of casualties or damage to infrastructure after a powerful 7.6 magnitude quake that triggered a tsunami alert, Chile's Onemi emergency office told Reuters on Thursday. The quake struck off northern Chile late on Wednesday, prompting tsunami alerts and evacuations along the coast and in neighboring Peru. It was the strongest of several aftershocks that followed a huge 8.2-magnitude quake blamed for six deaths in the region on Tuesday. (Reporting by Anthony Esposito; Editing by Paul Tait)","Morgan Stanley targets higher returns in investment management. Morgan Stanley's investment management unit is setting a goal of reaching $500 billion in assets and a 20 percent return-on-equity by 2016, the head of that business said on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley Investment Management now has $338 billion in assets under management, well below top players like BlackRock Inc , which has $3.79 trillion in assets, according to a presentation at a Credit Suisse conference given by Greg Fleming, president of the Wall Street bank's wealth and investment management units. Morgan Stanley is in the process of reducing the capital it has in hedge funds and private-equity funds to comply with the Volcker rule, while trying to increase fee revenue from other types of funds, Fleming said.","Russia draws 1-1 with South Korea in World Cup. CUIABA, Brazil (AP) — Alexander Kerzhakov scored with one of his first touches after coming on as a substitute to earn Russia a 1-1 draw with South Korea on Tuesday in a World Cup match marked by the first big goalkeeping error of the tournament.","U.S. aid bill for Ukraine will not include IMF funding: aide. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A financial aid package for Ukraine that the U.S. House of Representatives plans to vote on soon will not include funding for the International Monetary Fund, a senior House Republican aide said on Wednesday. For a year now, the Obama administration has been pushing Congress to approve a shift of some $63 billion from an IMF crisis fund to its general accounts to make good on an international commitment made in 2010. U.S. failure to approve the funding has held up reforms to the global lender that would double its resources and give more say to emerging markets. ...","UAE premier: Egypt's Sisi could run as a civilian. The United Arab Emirates prime minister said on Monday Egypt's army chief should not run as a military man for president, but if he stood as a civilian that would be a personal matter, the Gulf state's official news agency reported. A story outlining the views of premier Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum appeared on the WAM agency several hours after he gave an interview to the BBC, in which he was quoted as saying Sisi was better off staying in the military than running for president. The UAE, along with the Gulf's dominant Sunni Muslim state Saudi Arabia, championed army chief General Abdel Fattah el-Sisi after he deposed Islamist President Mohamed Mursi last year. They have since given Egypt billions of dollars in economic aid.","Hare in Mandela's ear leaves South African government hopping mad. South Africa's government is up in arms over a bronze rabbit crafted inside the ear of a large statue of former president Nelson Mandela unveiled last month. The government said it wanted the creature removed to \"restore integrity\" to the 9-metre (30 foot) bronze sculpture of the anti-apartheid hero, who died on December 5 aged 95. The statue, the world's biggest representing Mandela, was inaugurated at South Africa's government buildings 11 days after his death. Artists Ruhan Janse van Vuuren and Andre Prinsloo say they added the animal, its ears erect, as a personal stamp after the government stopped them from engraving signatures on their 4.5 tonne statue, and as a nod to the tight deadline they faced.","Australian cyclists excel at Commonwealth Games. GLASGOW, Scotland (AP) — Australian track cyclists won two more events to turn the Commonwealth Games gold medal race into a two-country competition on Saturday, after only three days.","Syria calls for help rebuilding health system wrecked by 'terrorists'. By Tom Miles GENEVA (Reuters) - Syria's government begged the world for help on Wednesday to rebuild a healthcare system it said had been destroyed by \"terrorists\", despite reports by U.N. officials that Syrian government forces were largely to blame for the damage. In a speech to ministers from World Health Organization member countries, Syrian Health Minister Saad al-Nayef said his government was \"doing its utmost\" to save lives. \"I appeal to all of you, I appeal for assistance to rebuild our infrastructure, to re-establish our health centers, to recreate our health system, and please, I beg you, remove the blockade, the embargo that we have suffered from and that has had a very negative impact on my country.\" The war had shattered the health system, he said, killing 200 health professionals, including 11 doctors shot at point blank range.","Row over plan to merge Asia's top posts. Prince Ali bin Al Hussein has savaged plans to hand his current role as FIFA vice-president to Asia's football boss in a row which threatens to plunge regional soccer into a fresh round of infighting. In an open letter, the Jordanian royal \"strongly opposed\" the proposal backed by Asian Football Confederation (AFC) president Shaikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa, which will be put to the vote in June. \"I stand firm by my conviction that all sport... should be free from politics and completely devoid of politicos and self-interest individuals and groups that exploit the sport and all its stakeholders for their own personal gains,\" Prince Ali wrote. Four of football's six global confederations combine the role of regional president and FIFA vice-president, with the AFC and South America's CONMEBOL the two exceptions.","China Feb HSBC flash PMI hits seven-month low of 48.3. By Adam Rose BEIJING (Reuters) - Activity in China's factories shrank again in February as employment fell at the fastest pace in five years, a preliminary private survey showed on Thursday. The weak China preliminary index for January was believed to be one cause of last month's selloff of emerging market assets. The jobs sub-index in the PMI is one of the few indicators around that measures the health of China's labor market, an area of priority for Beijing which wants to keep unemployment low to maintain social stability. \"The building-up of disinflationary pressures implies that the underlying momentum for manufacturing growth could be weakening,\" said Qu Hongbin, chief economist for China at HSBC, in a comment accompanying the PMI data.","UN chief 'adopts' lion cub in Kenya. NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon capped off a week of high-level U.N. discussions on the environment by \"adopting\" a 6-month-old lion cub Saturday","Slovakia's Kuzmina wins biathlon sprint. OSLO, Norway (AP) — Slovakia's Anastasya Kuzmina won the women's 10-kilometer sprint race Saturday at the final biathlon World Cup meet of the season, while Norway's Tora Berger put herself in position to finish her career with the overall title.","Cheers and tears from winners and losers in Scotland referendum. By Angus MacSwan Edinburgh (Reuters) - As Scotland's regions reported their decisions in a momentous independence referendum to the central counting operation in Edinburgh in the early hours of Friday morning, the \"Yes\" supporters' mood grew ever more deflated. The votes piled up in favor of staying with the United Kingdom. And when it became clear that the independence campaign's dream was not to be realized, there were grim faces and tears on their side and whoops and cheers from the unionists. ...","No deal to draw, say Germany and US before game. PORTO SEGURO, Brazil (AP) — There won't be friendly phone calls, there won't be any dirty deals. That's the promise from both sides ahead of Germany's final Group G match against the United States.","Sweden, Canada meet in Olympic men's hockey final. SOCHI, Russia (AP) — Sweden and Canada are the last two Olympic champions in men's hockey, and they've both gone undefeated so far in Sochi.","Convoy thought to contain Burkina ex-president approaches Ghana: sources. DAKAR (Reuters) - A heavily armed convoy believed to be carrying Burkina Faso's former president Blaise Compaore was seen traveling on Friday towards the southern town of Po, near the border with Ghana, two diplomatic sources and local media said. The sighting took place as Compaore's resignation statement was announced on local media after days of widescale protests. (Reporting by David Lewis and Bate Felix; Writing by David Lewis; Editing by Emma Farge)","Syrian talks resume amid falling expectations. ","Egypt army chief Sisi says will run for president: Kuwaiti paper. CAIRO (Reuters) - Egyptian army chief Field Marshal Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has said he will run for president, a Kuwaiti newspaper reported on Thursday. Al-Seyassah quoted Sisi as saying that he had no alternative but to meet the demands of the Egyptian people for him to run in the elections. Presidential elections in Egypt are due within six months. (Reporting by Michael Georgy; Editing by Mohammad Zargham)","Female fighters battle for freedom and equality in Syria: TRFN. By Benedetta Argentieri TIL KOCHER, Syria (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Every night before 27-year-old Arin goes to bed, she hangs her Makarov, a Russian semi-automatic pistol, from a steel coat rack by the entrance to her one-bedroom apartment in a small, dusty town on the Syrian border with Iraq. The pistol was an award for her success on the front line in the battle to protect Kurdish areas of northeastern Syria and is a far cry from her life a year ago when she was working as a nurse in Cologne in Germany. ...","Jordan says accidental fall killed French climbers. An autopsy showed on Sunday that an accidental fall killed three French nationals as they climbed a mountain in southern Jordan, a security official told AFP. They found out that an accidental fall has caused their death,\" the official said. \"Their bodies were delivered today (Sunday) to the French embassy in Amman on orders from attorney general Tareq Shqeirat.\" Jordanian Minister of Tourism Nidal Qatamin and a French Foreign Ministry spokesman have confirmed the climbers fell after their ropes were broken accidentally.","FA unveil blueprint to revive England's prospects. London (AFP) - The Football Association revealed their grand plan to boost England's long-term prospects with a development programme inspired by similar systems in Germany and Belgium.","Canada PM vows crackdown after capital shocked by fatal attacks. By David Ljunggren and Leah Schnurr OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper vowed to redouble the country's fight against \"terrorist organizations\" abroad after a reported convert to Islam rampaged through parliament, shocking the usually tranquil capital city. Shortly after a gunman shot dead a soldier at the National War Memorial in central Ottawa on Wednesday morning, a man armed with a shotgun burst into the Center Block of Parliament, pursued by police. He died after dozens of shots rang out a few yards away from where Harper was talking to his legislators. ...","Sunderland beats Crystal Palace 3-1 in EPL. LONDON (AP) — Steven Fletcher scored twice as Sunderland beat Crystal Palace 3-1 Monday to climb out of the Premier League relegation zone.","Enbridge boosts capital growth plan to $44 billion. (Reuters) - Enbridge Inc has boosted its capital growth plan to $44 billion through 2018, with Canada's largest pipeline operator looking to rebalance its asset mix to include more gas after its current oil pipeline build out. Speaking at an investor event in Toronto, chief executive Al Monaco said that the industry will continue to face challenges building new pipelines, but that the company must \"manage through\" those challenges. (Reporting by Julie Gordon in Vancouver)","China's Three Gorges replaces top executives amid graft probe. China's Three Gorges Corp, which built the world's biggest hydropower scheme, has replaced its chairman and general manager, the company said, in the latest major reshuffle of a state-owned firm as the government steps up a fight on graft. Some officials of Three Gorges, set up in 1993 to run the hydropower scheme, were guilty of nepotism, shady property deals and dodgy bidding procedures, the ruling Communist Party's anti-graft watchdog found in February. Chairman Cao Guangjing has been removed from his position and would be assigned another job, the company said in a statement on Tuesday. Three Gorges will also replace its general manager, Chen Fei, with Wang Lin, the firm cited Wang Jingqing, a deputy head of the Organisation Department of the Communist Party's central committee, as saying at a company meeting on March 24.","Pope strikes 'monsignor' honorific for priests. VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis has done away with the honorific title \"monsignor\" for all but a few priests, further evidence of his desire for priests to be simple, humble servants.","US safety board faults key device in BP oil spill. WASHINGTON (AP) — A U.S. investigative board concludes that the last-ditch safety device that did not stop the 2010 BP oil spill had multiple failures, was not tested properly and still poses a risk for many rigs drilling today.","New products, cold boost Canada November retail sales. Cold weather and the release of new electronic products helped boost Canadian retail sales by a greater-than-expected 0.6 percent in November, more than erasing a 0.1 percent dip in October, Statistics Canada said on Thursday. Analysts had expected a seasonally adjusted gain of only 0.2 percent overall and 0.3 percent excluding motor vehicle and parts dealers. Early snowfalls boosted seasonal items in the \"other motor vehicle dealers\" category and in parts and tire stores.","Ousted Libyan PM flees country after tanker escapes rebel-held port. By Ulf Laessing TRIPOLI (Reuters) - Former Libyan prime minister Ali Zeidan has fled to Europe after parliament voted him out of office on Tuesday over his failure to stop rebels exporting oil independently in a brazen challenge to the nation's fragile unity. Zeidan was in Malta for two hours late on Tuesday on a short stop before going to \"another European country\", Prime Minister Joseph Muscat told state-owned television TVM. The standoff over control of oil exports runs across dangerous regional and tribal faultlines in Libya where rival militias with powerbases in the east and west back competing political factions in the transitional government. Parliament acted after rebels holding three key ports in the east disobeyed government orders and loaded a North Korean-flagged tanker with oil at Es Sider port as part of their drive for a federal state in their eastern region.","Deadly sectarian violence cripples Algeria desert city. Ghardaia (Algeria) (AFP) - Daily life has ground to a halt in Ghardaia, a picturesque Algerian city on the edge of the Sahara turned into a ghost town by a wave of sectarian violence. The UNESCO world heritage site, some 600 kilometres (370 miles) south of Algiers, has been rocked since December by clashes between the Chaamba community of Arab origin and the majority Mozabites, indigenous Berbers belonging to the Ibadi Muslim sect. Security forces patrolled the streets following the deployment of extra personnel, and after Algeria's newly-appointed premier Youcef Yousfi visited on Sunday in a bid to defuse the situation. Three young Chaambas were killed on Saturday night, in circumstances that remain unclear, and another 190 people wounded, including 29 members of the security forces, according to medical sources.","Two trains crash near Moscow, casualties reported: ministry. MOSCOW (Reuters) - Two trains collided near Moscow on Tuesday, causing casualties, Russia's Emergencies Ministry said. \"Keep calm, do not panic,\" the ministry said in a statement, providing no casualty figure. Itar-Tass news agency said the collision was between a freight train and a passenger train. Media reports of deaths could not immediately be confirmed. (Reporting by Vladimir Soldatkin, Editing by Timothy Heritage)","U.S. funds raise cash stakes as stock market wobbles. By David Randall NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S.-based fund managers cut their average stock holdings to a five-month low in March and held their highest average position in cash since December, as Russia's move into Crimea spooked global markets, a Reuters poll showed. It was the second straight month that fund managers have lowered their equity holdings in global model portfolios, suggesting investors do not expect the market to continue a rally that pushed the benchmark Standard & Poor's 500 index up nearly 30 percent in 2013. I know I am,\" said Alan Gayle, a fund manager at RidgeWorth Investments, who oversees approximately $400 million in assets.","Gerry Adams calls on Irish government to act over arrest. By Conor Humphries DUBLIN (Reuters) - Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams on Tuesday called on the Irish government to defend Northern Ireland's peace deal and stop Britain from \"persecuting Republicans\" in the wake of his arrest in a murder investigation last week. Northern Ireland police detained Adams for four days to question him about a gruesome 1972 murder, prompting party colleagues to question the neutrality of the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI), a key plank of the 1998 Good Friday agreement. That deal largely ended decades of sectarian conflict between mainly Catholic Republicans seeking Irish union and pro-British Protestants wishing to stay in the United Kingdom and brought Sinn Fein into a power-sharing government. \"The Irish government has to act,\" Adams told a rally of around 500 supporters in Dublin on Tuesday, saying the authorities were not doing enough to prosecute British soldiers guilty of crimes during the so-called \"Troubles\".","Suicide bomber kills at least 11 people south of Baghdad. A suicide bomber driving a car packed with explosives killed at least 11 people and wounded 30 on Saturday in a town just south of Baghdad, police and medical sources said. The attacker approached a major checkpoint at a northern entrance to the town of Yusifiya, 15 km (8 miles) from the capital, a police officer said on condition of anonymity. “The suicide bomber drove his car into the checkpoint and blew up the car in middle of vehicles waiting to be searched,” the officer said.","Exclusive: Lockheed, suppliers brainstorm how to lower F-35 operating costs. By Andrea Shalal WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Lockheed Martin Corp met with 90 key suppliers last week to brainstorm ways to lower the long-term cost of operating and maintaining the F-35 fighter jets from the Pentagon's current forecast of $1.02 trillion through 2065. Top officials from the Pentagon's Defense Contracts Management Agency and the Defense Contracts Audit Agency were also on hand during two days of talks in Fort Worth, Texas. Tom Owen, vice president of F-35 sustainment strategies for Lockheed, told Reuters the meeting was \"an initial, early step\" toward mapping out specific measures to cut the plane's hefty sustainment costs. The trillion-dollar so-called \"sustainment\" price tag for the Joint Strike Fighter, the Pentagon's costliest weapons program, comes on top of the $399 billion projected cost of developing and buying 2,457 jets for the U.S.","Iraq officials: Shiite lawmaker Ahmed al-Khafaji among 23 killed in Baghdad checkpoint bombing. BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraq officials: Shiite lawmaker Ahmed al-Khafaji among 23 killed in Baghdad checkpoint bombing.","S. Sudan soldier shot US Embassy vehicle: official. NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — The top U.S. Embassy official in South Sudan says that a soldier who was a part of the security team for South Sudan's vice president fired two bullets into an American embassy vehicle last month.","Typhoon Vongfong makes landfall in southern Japan. Tokyo (AFP) - Powerful typhoon Vongfong made landfall on Japan's southern main island of Kyushu Monday morning, an official said, after strong winds and heavy rain reportedly left 44 injured.","Costa Rica leftist easily wins presidential run-off. By Alexandra Alper SAN JOSE, Costa Rica (Reuters) - A center-left academic who has never held elected office easily won Costa Rica's presidential election on Sunday, ousting the graft-stained ruling party from power after its candidate quit campaigning a month ago. Former diplomat Luis Guillermo Solis, of the Citizen Action Party (PAC), won with around 78 percent of votes by tapping in to public anger at rising inequality and government corruption scandals. \"More than 1 million Costa Ricans have said yes to change,\" Solis told thousands of cheering supporters waving red-and-yellow party flags on Sunday night. \"We need to shift away from ... a violence expressed in poverty, in inequality and in the utterly perverse form of corruption.\" Solis was a relative unknown just a few months ago but he defied pollsters' predictions by coming in ahead of his rivals in a first round of voting in February, and then took a huge lead in opinion polls ahead of the run-off.","Suicide bomber kills 48 students in Nigeria. POTISKUM, Nigeria (AP) — A suicide bomber disguised in a school uniform detonated explosives at a high school assembly Monday in the northeastern Nigerian city of Potiskum, killing at least 48 students, according to survivors and hospital records.","South Africa passes contentious oil & gas bill. South Africa's ANC-controlled parliament Wednesday approved changes to oil and gas laws that will give the state free ownership of stakes in new energy projects, despite fierce opposition protests. Under populist pressure less than two months before general elections, the ruling African National Congress pushed through changes in legislation that will give the state 20 percent ownership in ventures and the right to buy an additional stake. Mining Minister Susan Shabangu branded parliamentarians who rejected the amendments as \"stuck in the past\", after the National Assembly passed the bill by 226 votes to 66. The main opposition Democratic Alliance said the measures would threaten new investment as the country tries to break into the oil and gas sector.","UN staff killed in attack on UN-run school in Gaza: Ban. An attack on a UN-run school in Gaza on Thursday has claimed lives among the UN staff, Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said. \"Many have been killed -- including women and children, as well as UN staff,\" Ban said in a statement. Ban said he was \"appalled\" by the news and \"strongly condemned\" the attack on the school in Beit Hanun, in the northern Gaza Strip. \"Today's attack underscores the imperative for the killing to stop -- and to stop now,\" he said in the statement released in Iraq, his latest stop on a tour to try to secure a ceasefire in Gaza.","Climate deal surprises after secret negotiations. BEIJING (AP) — The climate change agreement between the United States and China caught the world by surprise after months of secret negotiations, built on an opening that arose last year when President Barack Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping met in the California desert.","UN: Ebola outbreak a public health emergency. LONDON (AP) — The World Health Organization urged nations worldwide Friday to donate money and resources to stop the spread of Ebola as it declared the outbreak in West Africa to be an international public health emergency.","US, EU urge political solution in Libya's standoff. TRIPOLI, Libya (AP) — The U.S. Embassy and European diplomatic missions in Tripoli have expressed concern over the escalating violence in Libya as a renegade general's offensive against Islamists further splits the country.","Afridi to retire from ODIs after World Cup. KARACHI (Reuters) - Pakistan’s experienced all-rounder Shahid Afridi has announced his retirement from one-day internationals after next year's World Cup in Australia and New Zealand. Afridi told a news conference on Sunday that after the World Cup, which starts on Feb. 14, he will focus on T20 matches leading up to the T20 World Cup in India in 2016. Afridi has been named captain of the national T20 side by the Pakistan Cricket Board. \"I am the first Pakistan player to be able to announce his retirement properly and on a high. ...","Prince William meets Obama; Kate at NY child center. New York (AFP) - Britain's Prince William laughed and joked with President Barack Obama in the Oval Office on Monday while his pregnant wife, the Duchess of Cambridge, greeted disadvantaged children in New York.","EU slaps initial sanctions on Russia. BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union suspended talks with Russia on a wide-ranging economic pact and a visa agreement Thursday in response to its military incursion into Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula, threatening tougher sanctions unless Moscow swiftly defuses the crisis.","Sweden aims for relay double at Sochi Olympics. KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia (AP) — After a fiasco in the women's cross-country relay, Norway gets a chance to make amends right away in the men's event on Sunday.","Sassuolo fires Malesani, rehires Di Francesco. SASSUOLO, Italy (AP) — Last-place Sassuolo has fired Alberto Malesani after five straight losses in Serie A and rehired Eusebio Di Francesco.","UK to accept vulnerable Syrian refugees this year. MANILA, Philippines (AP) — British Foreign Secretary William Hague said Thursday that his country was preparing to accept the most vulnerable Syrian refugees this year.","Sudan's al-Bashir to seek re-election. KHARTOUM, Sudan (AP) — Sudanese state media says President Omar al-Bashir, who has led the country for 25 years, will run in upcoming presidential elections despite earlier statements that he intends to step down next year.","Jordan Spieth finally looks his age at the Masters. AUGUSTA, Ga. (AP) — As the errant shots began to pile up, Jordan Spieth swung his club angrily and spewed out his frustration for everyone to hear.","Highways fragment Southern California mountain lion gene pool. By Steve Gorman LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Mountain lions in Southern California are under growing pressure from a shrinking gene pool, fragmented by highways and urban sprawl that has left the cats' territories increasingly isolated from each other, a study published on Wednesday showed. Analysis of DNA from about 350 mountain lions, or cougars, statewide revealed that those in the Santa Ana Mountains southeast of Los Angeles are only about half as genetically diverse as more robust populations in the Rockies. ...","Japan's inflation slips as jobless rate edges up. TOKYO (AP) — Japan's economic recovery remained in the doldrums in September, as household spending fell, inflation edged lower and unemployment ticked up.","Indian actress and dancer Zohra Sehgal dies. NEW DELHI (AP) — Zohra Sehgal, a renowned Indian actress and dancer, has died of heart failure. She was a 102.","Exclusive: Paulson & Co amasses large stake in Allergan - sources. Hedge fund Paulson & Co has amassed a large stake in Allergan Inc of more than 6 million shares and is supportive of a deal between the Botox maker and Valeant Pharmaceuticals Inc , people familiar with the matter on Wednesday. The position is expected to rank the prominent U.S. hedge fund, led by John Paulson, among the top 10 to 15 holders of Allergan, according to Thomson Reuters shareholder data as of March 31. Paulson's new position in Allergan could give Valeant a boost, as the company tries to drum up support from at least 25 percent of Allergan shareholders so that it can call a special meeting. Valeant and its ally, Bill Ackman's Pershing Square Capital Management, are seeking to call a meeting to elect new directors to Allergan's board, which could pave the way for a takeover of the company.","Gaza electricity company: 2 Israeli tank shells hit fuel tank of Gaza Strip's power station. GAZA CITY, Gaza City (AP) — Gaza electricity company: 2 Israeli tank shells hit fuel tank of Gaza Strip's power station.","Canada's Giller book prize shortlist includes Toews, Bezmozgis. TORONTO (Reuters) - The shortlist for the Scotiabank Giller Prize, Canada's richest fiction award, includes former finalists Miriam Toews and David Bezmozgis, organizers said on Monday. The six writers on the shortlist are a step closer to winning the top prize of C$100,000 ($89,485) awarded to the author of the best Canadian novel or short-story collection published in English. Each of the other five finalists will receive C$10,000. The Giller jury, which included Canadian author Shauna Singh Baldwin, British novelist Justin Cartwright and American writer Francine Prose, reviewed 161 books. ...","With Khodorkovsky out, Yukos investors fight on. By Megan Davies and Douglas Busvine MOSCOW (Reuters) - Freed former tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky has ruled out trying to recover the fortune that made him Russia's richest man, but two multi-billion-dollar law suits involving his defunct oil giant Yukos could be decided this year. Pardoned by President Vladimir Putin in December after 10 years in jail for fraud and tax evasion, Khodorkovsky, 50, has bowed out of the ring, but the ex-managers and shareholders of Yukos fight on for compensation from the Russian Federation. A business once worth $40 billion that pumped two percent of the world's oil, Yukos was broken up and nationalized after Khodorkovsky's arrest in 2003. The two main lawsuits, one brought by former Yukos managers at the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg and one by shareholders at the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague, could be decided this year, according to those involved.","Tour de France 2016 to start in Manche. PARIS (AP) — The 2016 Tour de France will return home for its \"Grand Depart,\" starting in the wind-battered Manche region.","Militants kill five in attack on Pakistan's Karachi airport. Heavily armed militants attacked Pakistan's busiest airport in the southern city of Karachi Sunday night, killing at least five people as flights were suspended and the army was called in, officials said. The assault on Jinnah International Airport has raised fears about the possibility of a prolonged siege similar to other brazen attacks on key installations in recent years. A spokesman for the Civil Aviation Authority, Abid Qaimkhani told AFP: \"Four to five terrorists have managed to reach the runway, they are heavily armed with ammunition and grenades and Airport Security Force commandos have cordoned off the area along with police and rangers. A paramilitary ranger engaged in the operation said the militants had entered through the Engineering Section of the Pakistan International Airlines near the airport's old terminal.","Germany protests result in team sprint at Olympics. KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia (AP) — Germany has protested the results of the Olympic men's cross-country team sprint, which Finland won after the German anchor fell shortly before the finish.","Mexico probes kidnapping of drug-violence blogger. MEXICO CITY (AP) — Officials in northern Mexico say a woman identified as a blogger who denounced drug cartel violence has been kidnapped.","Gerrard warns against penalty fixation. England captain Steven Gerrard said on Wednesday that he is not worried about the prospect of a penalty shootout at the World Cup despite his country's terrible record at spot-kicks. England have been eliminated on penalties at the World Cup in 1990, 1998 and 2006 and also fell in shootouts at the European Championship in 1996, 2004 and 2012. Gerrard scored as England went out to Italy at Euro 2012, but saw a penalty saved in 2006 when his side were beaten by Portugal in the World Cup quarter-finals in Germany. Penalty shootouts have become something of a national obsession in England, but Gerrard says that he and his team-mates cannot afford to become obsessed by them.","Jet bombs Islamists' base in Libya's Benghazi. TRIPOLI, Libya (AP) — A senior Libyan military official in Benghazi says an air force aircraft has bombed positions held by Islamic militants in the eastern city.","British Islamist in Kenya 'possessed bomb-making instructions'. Mombasa (Kenya) (AFP) - A British detective gave evidence Monday in Kenya at the trial of suspected British militant accused of ties to Somalia's Al-Qaeda-linked Shebab and plotting attacks. Grant was arrested in December 2011 in Mombasa with various chemicals, batteries and switches, which prosecutors say he planned to use to make explosives. In Monday's hearing, the counter-terrorism officer, Detective Inspector Stephen Ball, told the court that Jihadist documents and other materials \"clearly dedicated to the making of explosives and weaponry\" were found on a flash storage drive allegedly in Grant's possession. The detective said other document detailed chemicals that could be used to make explosives, and various ways of making booby-traps to target government officials, police or bomb disposal teams.","Australia set to tighten Russia sanctions. Australia is preparing to tighten sanctions on Russia, Prime Minister Tony Abbott said on Friday as he warned President Vladimir Putin against sending his troops into Ukraine. Fears are mounting that Moscow is preparing to deploy troops in conflict-torn east Ukraine, with NATO accusing Russia of massing some 20,000 troops on the border with its former Soviet neighbour. \"Let's be very clear about this -- Russia has been a bully. Russia is a big country trying to bully a small country,\" Abbott told reporters in Sydney.","UN approves measure to combat al-Qaida fighters. UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Responding to the growing terrorist threat in Iraq and Syria, the U.N. Security Council imposed sanctions Friday on six men for recruiting or financing foreign fighters, and threatened additional sanctions against those supporting terrorist groups.","Ukraine president blames 'Kremlin agents' for violence in east. Ukraine's acting president accused \"Kremlin agents\" on Saturday of fomenting deadly violence in eastern cities, in one of the most direct and highest-level criticisms aimed by Kiev at President Vladimir Putin. From his speaker's chair in parliament, interim head of state Oleksander Turchinov referred to three deaths in two incidents this week in Donetsk and Kharkiv and told opposition lawmakers: \"You know as well as we do who is organizing mass protests in eastern Ukraine - it is Kremlin agents who are organizing and funding them, who are causing people to be murdered.\" Turchinov has warned of a risk of a Russian invasion of the east following Moscow's occupation of the Crimea peninsula.","Marksmen aim to end African Champions League goal droughts. Johannesburg (AFP) - CAF Champions League semi-finalists Vita, CS Sfaxien, Entente Setif and TP Mazembe enter the first legs this weekend hoping their leading goal scorers can end barren spells.","Over 25 killed in attack on Nigerian fishing community. MAIDUGURI, Nigeria (Reuters) - More than 25 people, mostly fishermen, have been shot dead in a remote community in Nigeria's northeastern Borno state, the heartland of Islamist group Boko Haram, police and witnesses said on Sunday. On Saturday suspected Boko Haram insurgents entered Doron Baga, north of Maiduguri, the Borno capital, and fired from motorcycles. A police source said more than 25 people had been killed. One person put the death toll higher. \"Boko Haram members laid ambush for traders who came to buy fish in Doron Baga ... ...","Groups: Immigrant kids need deportation lawyers. SEATTLE (AP) — A coalition of U.S. immigrant rights advocacy groups sued the federal government Wednesday, saying the vast majority of minors in deportation proceedings lack legal representation.","US, France cite concerns about Iran nuclear talks. PARIS (AP) — The top diplomats for France and the United States are urging Iran to prove that its nuclear program is peaceful, as time runs out on Tehran's negotiations with world powers.","Researchers: IMF policies hindered Ebola response. YORK, England (AP) — Professors from three leading British universities say policies favoring international debt repayment over social spending contributed to the Ebola crisis by hampering health care in the three worst-hit West African countries.","In conservative South, Virginia AG declares he will fight state's ban on gay marriage. RICHMOND, Va. - Attorney General Mark Herring says Virginia has a dark past of arguing against interracial marriage and school integration, and he wants the state to be on the right side of history with gay marriage.","Bomb attack kills 7 police in southern Pakistan. PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — Pakistani police say a bomb attack has killed seven officers in the southern city of Karachi.","Scale of Gaza civilian deaths 'mustn't happen again': Red Cross. The scale of civilian losses during the four-week conflict in the Gaza Strip must not happen again, the head of the International Committee of the Red Cross said on Thursday. Speaking to reporters after visiting Gaza, ICRC President Peter Maurer said he was \"deeply distressed and shocked to see the impact of violence on the civilian population\". Palestinian officials say 1,886 Palestinians were killed during four weeks of fighting between Israel and Hamas. The United Nations has said more than 1,300 were civilians.","Thai PM in court for hearing that may lead to her dismissal. By Amy Sawitta Lefevre BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra arrived at the Constitutional Court on Tuesday to defend herself against charges of abuse of power, one of two legal challenges that could see her removed from office this month. Yingluck is charged with abuse of power over her transfer of National Security Council chief Thawil Pliensri in 2011, which opponents say was designed to benefit her Puea Thai Party. These charges were brought by the National Anti-Corruption Commission, which is expected to deliver its ruling this month. Proposals by opposition leader Abhisit Vejjajiva for the six-month delay of a general election planned for July, so as to allow time for political and electoral reforms, have been rejected by the Puea Thai Party and leaders of the anti-government movement.","Bomb blast kills nine in bus in southern Philippines. Manila (Reuters) - An explosion ripped through a commuter bus in the southern Philippines on Tuesday, killing nine people and wounding 17, security officials said, blaming the attack on a splinter group of Muslim rebels. A 45-year conflict that killed more than 120,000 people and displaced 2 million ended in March, with a peace deal signed by the government and Islamic rebels belonging to the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) on the island of Mindanao. The bus was headed to the major commercial center of Cagayan de Oro City in the island's north on Tuesday, when the bomb exploded at about ...","GMO safety, weed control top concerns as U.S. study kicks off. By Carey Gillam (Reuters) - Agriculture experts raised a number of concerns with genetically modified crops, including safety and spreading weed resistance, at the first public meeting of a U.S. government sponsored study of genetically engineered crops held Monday. The study, led by the National Research Council (NRC) and sponsored in part by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, comes at a time of growing consumer suspicion of genetically modified crops, which are used in a variety of packaged food products. Many U.S. ...","US returns 45 Cuban migrants intercepted at sea. MIAMI (AP) — Coast Guard officials say 45 Cuban migrants picked up in the waters off the Florida Keys have been returned to their Caribbean homeland.","Al Qaeda's Yemen branch issues video purporting to show U.S. captive. DUBAI (Reuters) - Al Qaeda's Yemen branch published a video purporting to show an American hostage and threatened to kill him if unspecified demands were not met. In the video, the man identified himself as Luke Somers and said he had been kidnapped well over a year ago. He was looking for \"any help that can get me out of this situation\". Reuters was unable to confirm the authenticity of the video, which was posted on YouTube and social media late on Wednesday and carried by SITE, an organization that monitors militant statements. ...","MotoGP - Rossi wins Australian MotoGP. - Italian veteran Valentino Rossi won an incident-packed Australian MotoGP Sunday after world champion Marc Marquez crashed out while holding a big lead.","German factory orders drop unexpectedly. BERLIN (AP) — German factory orders plunged unexpectedly in March as demand for capital and consumer goods slumped both domestically and abroad, particularly from other nations using the euro, and the economy ministry cautioned the crisis in Ukraine could contribute to further weakness.","US urges action to keep Ebola from becoming 'next AIDS'. Washington (AFP) - A top US health official on Thursday urged swift action to prevent the deadly Ebola virus from becoming the next AIDS epidemic, as the health of an infected Spanish nurse deteriorated.","Back to school in rebel east Ukraine - to the sound of bombs and Soviet songs. By Maria Tsvetkova and Lina Kushch MAKIYIVKA Ukraine (Reuters) - On the first day of school outside the east Ukrainian rebel stronghold of Donetsk, 11th-grade teacher Yelena Sepik tells her class to get out of their seats to clap and sing along to the Soviet military music playing over the speakers. \"Louder!\" she yells, theatrically clapping in rhythm to the music coming from a classroom CD player in front of around 30 unamused 15- and 16-year-olds in the town of Makiyivka. \"We have witnessed the formation of a new state,\" she says. \"The Donetsk People's Republic, New Russia. ...","5 Americans killed in Afghanistan were elite force. WASHINGTON (AP) — Two U.S. defense officials say the five Americans killed in Afghanistan, apparently by fire from their own side, were special operations troops.","Exclusive: Peugeot takes low-cost step with Moroccan outsourcing. By Gilles Guillaume and Laurence Frost PARIS (Reuters) - PSA Peugeot Citroen will open an engineering centre in Morocco with consulting firm Altran in the first major step under new boss Carlos Tavares to increase the French carmaker's footprint in lower-wage countries, sources said. Peugeot will outsource some research and development functions to the new Altran centre, creating 1,500 jobs, two people familiar with the plan said, as the carmaker weighs an eventual investment in low-cost vehicle assembly in Morocco. ...","Blackberry sues company for violating keyboard patent. Montreal (AFP) - Blackberry Ltd. said Friday it had filed a suit in a California court against Los Angeles firm Typo Products for violating its patents with a Blackberry-like keyboard made for Apple's iPhone.","Uzbekistan votes in parliamentary polls. President Karimov has transferred some powers to parliament in recent years, including a mechanism for a vote of no confidence in the government and allowing the party with the majority of seats to nominate the prime minister. Four parties -- the Liberal Democratic Party, People's Democratic Party, the Democratic Party Milly Tiklanish (National Revival) and the Social Democratic Party Adolat (Justice) -- are competing to fill 135 seats. Sunday's vote will mark 90 days until presidential polls are held in March. Uzbekistan's parliament made constitutional changes shortening the presidential term from seven to five years in 2012.","Sharapova crashes out of Wuhan Open. Wuhan (China) (AFP) - Fourth seed Maria Sharapova crashed out of the $2.4 million WTA Wuhan Open in two sets Wednesday, while Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova and world number seven Caroline Wozniacki made the quarter-finals.","Israelis, Palestinians endorse Arab peace plan. JERUSALEM (AP) — A group of Israeli and Palestinian politicians have banded together to urge the Arab League to renew a comprehensive peace offer to Israel.","Mayweather remains unbeaten with decision win. LAS VEGAS (AP) — Floyd Mayweather Jr. refused to allow Marcos Maidana to turn their rematch into a brawl, boxing masterfully to win a 12-round unanimous decision Saturday night in their welterweight title fight.","American questioned for shipping human body parts. BANGKOK (AP) — Police say an American tourist visiting Thailand was questioned after a shipping company X-rayed his parcels and found they contained several preserved human parts, including an infant's head, babies' feet and heart.","Hamas tunnel threat at center of war with Israel. JERUSALEM (AP) — A network of tunnels Palestinian militants have dug from Gaza to Israel — dubbed \"lower Gaza\" by the Israeli military — is taking center stage in the latest war between Hamas and Israel.","Turkish Airlines suspends Irbil flights. ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkish Airlines says it has suspended flights to the Iraqi city of Irbil until further notice.","London's FTSE dips in opening trades. London (AFP) - London shares sagged in opening trades on Thursday as nervy investors awaited a decision by the OPEC oil cartel on whether it should cut output, analysts said.","Exit poll shows Petro Poroshenko winning Ukraine presidential election outright in 1st round. KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — Exit poll shows Petro Poroshenko winning Ukraine presidential election outright in 1st round.","After trophy drought ends, Arsenal needs EPL title. LONDON (AP) — For nine torturous years the absence of a trophy eluded Arsene Wenger. That burden was lifted when Wenger celebrated in May after clinching the FA Cup.","England scrambles to 219 against Sri Lanka. BIRMINGHAM, England (AP) — England managed 219 all out after deciding to bat first in its final one-day international against Sri Lanka at Edgbaston on Tuesday.","SOCHI SCENE: A return, and smiles. ROSA KHUTOR, Russia (AP) — The prodigal son received a warm welcome back into the Olympic family on Sunday. And not just because of the spring-like temperatures in Sochi.","U.S. believes video is authentic and hostage Kassig is dead: NYT. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. government believes a video purportedly showing the severed head of American Peter Kassig is authentic and that Kassig is dead, the New York Times said on Sunday. Citing a senior U.S. official as saying the government was increasingly convinced that the video was authentic and that Kassig was dead, the Times said U.S. intelligence agencies had previously received strong indications Islamic State forces had killed him. Kassig, an aid worker who previously served in the U.S. Army, had been missing more than a year after disappearing in Syria. ...","Islamist website says North Caucasus rebel leader Umarov is dead. MOSCOW (Reuters) - A website sympathetic to Islamist militants fighting against Russian rule in the North Caucasus said on Tuesday that insurgent leader Doku Umarov has died. (Reporting by Alissa de Carbonnel; editing by Steve Gutterman)","Uganda probes theft of ivory stockpile, suspends wildlife agency staff. KAMPALA (Reuters) - Uganda said on Tuesday it had launched an investigation into the theft of more than a ton of ivory from the vaults of its state-run wildlife protection agency and had suspended five staff members. Uganda and other sub-Saharan African countries are struggling to curb widespread poaching of elephant tusks by well-armed criminal gangs for shipment to Asia, where they fetch thousands of dollars per kilo for use in ornaments and medicine. ...","South Korea says North may be close to nuclear test. North Korea could well be preparing to carry out a fourth nuclear test, South Korea said Tuesday, citing increased activity at its main test site just days ahead of a visit to Seoul by US President Barack Obama. \"Our military is currently detecting a lot of activity in and around the Punggye-ri nuclear test site,\" defence ministry spokesman Kim Min-Seok told a press briefing. Kim stressed that North Korea's nuclear weapons programme was at a stage where it could conduct a test \"at any moment\" once the order was given by the leadership in Pyongyang.","China, Britain sign trade deals worth £14 bn. Britain and China signed trade deals on Tuesday worth more than £14 billion ($28 billion, 17 billion euros), during a visit to London by Premier Li Keqiang aimed at resetting economic and diplomatic ties. Links between Britain and China were strained after British Prime Minister David Cameron met exiled Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, in 2012. But Li and Cameron said they were now focused on strengthening British and Chinese economic ties after concluding deals and holding talks at Cameron's Downing Street office. The largest deal was a £12 billion agreement between British energy giant BP and Chinese state-owned peer CNOOC to supply China with 1.5 million tonnes of liquefied natural gas per year over 20 years from 2019.","Women accuse FIFA of discrimination over turf in Canada. Ottawa (AFP) - Dozens of the world's top female soccer players are suing governing body FIFA for discrimination over plans to stage matches at next year's Women's World Cup in Canada on artificial turf.","Poland's PM says daughter gets more security after death threats. Poland's prime minister said on Tuesday security for his daughter has been increased after she received many death threats vowing to avenge the \"murder\" of people killed in the 2010 crash of a government jet in Smolensk, Russia. Donald Tusk, speaking at a news conference to address criticism that his daughter Katarzyna benefits from unjustified government security, said his family had received hundreds of death threats over the last two months. Tusk quoted one of the messages received by his daughter, who is in her mid-20s and writes a popular fashion blog, as saying: \"Tell the ginger-haired mongrel that he will be killed for the Smolensk murder. Tusk was described as a \"ginger-haired bandit\" by a 45-year-old chemistry lecturer arrested in 2012 on suspicion he planned to detonate a vehicle packed with four tons of explosives outside Poland's parliament building.","Shell's Ho-Ho pipeline still shut after leak. NEW YORK (Reuters) - Royal Dutch Shell's entire Houston-to-Houma crude oil pipeline remained shut on Monday, following a reported leak late last week, the company said. Construction crew members accidentally punctured the Ho-Ho line near Port Neches, Texas, about 100 miles east of Houston, on Thursday afternoon, releasing about 364 barrels of crude oil. \"I am unable to speculate on how long the line will remain shut down,\" said Destin Singleton, a Shell spokeswoman. ...","Official tells AP: Egypt judge who oversaw mass death sentence cases against Islamists removed. CAIRO (AP) — Official tells AP: Egypt judge who oversaw mass death sentence cases against Islamists removed.","Anti-World Cup protests as Brazil play Cameroon. Brasília (AFP) - Activists burned a mock World Cup trophy Monday in protests called to demand more investment in health and education as Brazil played a clutch match against Cameroon. The protests in Brasilia, where the match was being played, and Sao Paulo, the cradle of Brazil's recent protest movement, drew relatively small crowds and did not descend into the violence that has at times marred similar demonstrations in the past. \"I want to see a worker earn the same salary as Neymar,\" was one of the rallying cries for some 200 protesters in Brasilia who marched from a bus station to the stadium where the star striker was leading the team into its final Group A match. One group of protesters burned a replica of the gold World Cup trophy Brazil hope to win for a sixth time.","Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg, wife most charitable Americans in 2013. SEATTLE - Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, were the most generous American philanthropists in 2013, with a donation of 18 million shares of Facebook stock, valued at more than $970 million, to a Silicon Valley non-profit in December.","Chinese man accused of hacking into US computers. SAN DIEGO (AP) — U.S. authorities have charged a Chinese businessman with hacking into the computer systems of U.S. companies with large defense contracts, including Boeing, and stealing data on military projects.","CN Rail, union to meet Wednesday in last push for contract. By Susan Taylor TORONTO (Reuters) - Canadian National Railway Co and the Teamsters union will meet in Montreal on Wednesday to make a final attempt at reaching a labor deal for some 3,000 conductors, yard workers, and traffic coordinators, the two groups said on Monday. The last ditch effort comes after union members last week narrowly rejected a second tentative contract with the railway. CN Rail agreed to meet with the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference (TCRC-CTY) for another round of talks contingent on the union's accepting binding arbitration if negotiations failed. ...","Cartel associates sentenced for attempted bribe. AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Two Mexican citizens associated with a powerful drug cartel have been sentenced in a U.S. court to one year and one day in prison for attempting to bribe a federal judge, federal prosecutors said Tuesday.","Sports bodies complain to IOC over crisis in Rio. BELEK, Turkey (AP) — International sports federations have complained to the IOC about the chronic delays in Rio de Janeiro, saying they need to consider a Plan B' if preparations for the 2016 Olympics fall further behind.","ECB holds rates, looks at back door measure to loosen policy. By Leika Kihara FRANKFURT (Reuters) - The European Central Bank left interest rates unchanged on Thursday, holding its nerve in the face of uncomfortably low inflation though it may unleash other measures to pep up a fragile euro zone recovery. The ECB also left the deposit rate it pays banks for holding their money overnight at zero. Secondly, if things get any worse in the near future, we absolutely will act.\" Attention now turns to ECB President Mario Draghi's 1330 GMT (8:30 ET) news conference, at which he may yet announce a measure to loosen lending conditions. With inflation running in the ECB's \"danger zone\" below 1 percent - 0.8 percent at the last count - the bank has discussed ending operations to drain funds from the financial system, a back door way of increasing liquidity.","Abbas aide calls Kerry peace formula a recipe for failure. By Ali Sawafta RAMALLAH, West Bank (Reuters) - A top Palestinian official said on Tuesday a framework agreement being crafted by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry to buttress troubled Israeli-Palestinian peace talks may be doomed to fail. Nabil Abu Rdeineh, spokesman to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, said the deal due to be submitted to the two sides in the coming weeks would be \"useless\" if it allowed them to nominally accept its principles but to express reservations. \"Use of the word 'reservations' bogs down the peace process and the use of this concept in the past has got the process stuck,\" Abu Rdeineh told Reuters. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu heads a governing coalition that includes a far-right party which could bolt over land-for-peace terms of any statehood deal with Palestinians.","UN's top Ebola official wants preparations for 'flareup'. Conakry (AFP) - The United Nations' new pointman on Ebola said Friday he was preparing for a possible flareup of the epidemic in West Africa.","British ambassador quits Tripoli as fighting spreads. London (AFP) - Britain's ambassador to Libya said Friday he had \"reluctantly\" decided to leave the embassy in Tripoli due to local fighting, as the security situation deteriorates.","Iceland raises volcano warning level to highest red after small eruption. A small volcanic eruption has occurred under Iceland's Dyngjujokull glacier, prompting authorities to raise the warning code for aviation to red, the highest level, Iceland's meteorological office said on Saturday. \"It is believed that a small subglacial lava-eruption has begun under the Dyngjujokull glacier,\" the Icelandic Met Office said. \"The aviation color code for the Bardarbunga volcano has been changed from orange to red.\" Ash from the eruption of Iceland's Eyjafjallajokull volcano in 2010 shut down much of Europe's airspace for six days. Brussels-based aviation authority Eurocontrol said that as soon as the volcano had erupted, the Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre in London would produce a regular forecast about the levels of volcanic ash in the atmosphere.","Saudi renews demand for 'stern' world action on Syria. Saudi Arabia Tuesday urged \"stern\" world action against Syria after the regime's decision to hold presidential elections and its alleged use of toxic gas against civilians. Saudi Arabia is one of the main backers of the uprising against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in a civil war increasingly seen as a proxy battle between it and regional rival Iran. Syria's plan to hold elections is \"an escalation and undermines Arab and international efforts to peacefully resolve the crisis based on the (outcomes of) the Geneva I conference,\" said Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal. Syrian daily Al-Watan reported Tuesday that the date for the presidential elections will be announced next week and is expected to be around June.","China demands openness to stop corrupt officials' early release. China's Supreme Court said on Tuesday that all cases involving early release or parole for officials sentenced for graft must be done in an open and transparent way, to prevent underhand means being used to secure lighter sentences. Early release or parole hearings for corrupt officials, mafia cases or those involving financial crimes must be open to the public and members of parliament or other well-regarded people must attend, the court said, in new rules carried by major state media outlets. The move is to prevent \"judicial corruption\" in such cases, the court said, saying that the problem of guilty people bribing judges for reduced sentences or release on parole had become \"quite acute\". It said that previously there had been no clearly defined rules of the process of sentence reductions or parole hearings.","Top Asian News at 6:00 p.m. GMT. THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — The future of whaling in Japan was thrown into doubt after the International Court of Justice ruled Monday that the nation's annual hunt in the Antarctic was not really for scientific purposes — as Tokyo had claimed — and ordered it halted. The ruling was a major victory for whaling opponents, as it ends for now one of the world's biggest whale hunts, for minkes in the icy Southern Ocean. The judgment was praised by Australia, which brought the case against Japan in 2010, and by environmentalists, who have been seeking an end to whaling since the 1970s on ethical grounds.","McCain confident of support for easing arms embargo on Vietnam. By Martin Petty HANOI (Reuters) - U.S. Senator John McCain said on Friday he was confident of bipartisan support in Washington for easing restrictions on arms sales to Vietnam as early as next month. Together with Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, McCain met Vietnam's prime minister and the ruling Communist Party's chief on Friday. Both senators said Vietnam needed better maritime capabilities and its human rights record had improved enough to justify more military support from Washington. The push to roll back the three-decade old arms embargo comes as Vietnam, like U.S. allies the Philippines and Japan, is locked in a dispute with an increasingly assertive China over sovereignty in the energy-rich South China Sea.","Cuba downgrades 2014 GDP forecast to 1.4 percent. HAVANA (AP) — Cuba has revised its 2014 economic growth forecast downward to 1.4 percent.","WWI battleground with practice trenches found in UK. Gosport (United Kingdom) (AFP) - A practice battleground complete with opposing sets of trenches used by British soldiers training for World War I has been discovered on the southern English coast, officials said Friday. The overgrown ditches on Ministry of Defence (MoD) land in Gosport, near Portsmouth, have long been used for military exercises. But it has only now emerged that they were in fact trenches used to emulate the conditions that soldiers would face on the bloody fields of northern France. A local authority official, Rob Harper, was researching a nearby airfield when he came across an aerial photograph from 1951, which revealed two sets of opposing trench systems with a no man's land in between.","Neymar's leg injury not serious, back to training. BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Neymar has trained with Barcelona two days after hurting his left ankle during a 5-0 rout at Levante in the Spanish league.","Boy on Father's Day visit, 5 others, die in fire. NEWARK, New Jersey (AP) — A teenager on a Father's Day visit to honor his deceased dad died, along with his mother and four others, when a fast-moving fire ripped through a three-story, authorities and the boy's grandmother said.","Rockets strike southern Israeli port of Eilat. Three rockets exploded in and near the Israeli Red Sea resort of Eilat on Tuesday, and rescue teams were investigating reports that several people were injured, a military spokesman said. They were the first rockets to strike Eilat since a week-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict in Gaza, though rockets fired from Egypt have struck in the city previously in the past few years. Two rockets struck inside the city that borders both Egypt and Jordan and which is filled with hotels and tourist attractions. Israel Radio said officials suspected it was fired from Egypt.","Tranmere manager suspended during FA betting probe. LONDON (AP) — English third-tier club Tranmere says it has suspended manager Ronnie Moore while he is investigated by the Football Association for potentially breaking betting regulations.","China agrees to reduce FX intervention 'as conditions permit'. By Kevin Yao BEIJING (Reuters) - U.S. and Chinese leaders have agreed that China will reduce its intervention in the currency market when conditions are ripe, reaching an understanding on a prickly issue that has hurt ties between the world's two biggest economies for years. China's Central Bank Governor Zhou Xiaochuan said on the sidelines of annual high-level talks between the two nations that China will \"significantly\" reduce its yuan intervention when some prerequisites are met. Analysts said Zhou's unusual candor about China's currency intervention, which was echoed earlier on Wednesday by the Chinese finance minister, suggested that China may be ready to let the yuan rise again once there are signs of stabilization in its economy. Indeed, U.S. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew told reporters at the end of talks on Thursday that China was committed to reducing its interference with the yuan, \"as conditions permit\".","Ugandan lawmakers in campaign to revive gay law. KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) — Ugandan parliamentarians are launching a campaign to revive a recently invalidated anti-gay measure and hope to have it passed within weeks, a lawmaker said Wednesday.","Attack-minded Nigeria held 0-0 at halftime by Iran. CURITIBA, Brazil (AP) — Nigeria and Iran were scoreless at halftime of their opening World Cup match in Group F on Monday.","Gun and grenade feud kills 14, mostly women and children, in Pakistan's Karachi. By Syed Raza Hassan ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Rival gangs opened fire and lobbed grenades in a notoriously violent district of Pakistan's financial hub, Karachi, on Wednesday, killing 14 people, including eight women and three children, police said. Karachi, a city and port of more than 18 million people, is home to many militant groups, including the Pakistani Taliban. More than two dozen people were wounded in the violence which erupted in Lyari, one of South Asia's most dangerous neighborhoods, where rival gangs have been fighting for years for control. \"In reaction, gangsters came to a market on Wednesday morning in Lyari and opened indiscriminate fire, killing women and children along with the men,\" senior police officer Abdul Khalique Shaikh told Reuters.","German minister in Iraq for talks with Kurds. BERLIN (AP) — Germany's defense minister is in northern Iraq to talk with Kurdish leaders about the fight against Islamic State extremists and Berlin's efforts to help with arms deliveries.","Britain still exporting arms to Russia. Britain is still exporting arms and military equipment to Russia, according to a parliamentary report released Wednesday just hours after Prime Minister David Cameron rapped France for selling weapons to Moscow. Cameron has urged the EU to ban military sales to Russia -- accused of equipping and training separatists in eastern Ukraine -- and said Monday Britain had already halted such arms exports. The British government promised in March to stop military sales to Russia.","Manufacturing, oil and gas boost Canada industrial capacity use. Manufacturing and oil and gas extraction boosted Canada's industrial capacity use to 82.0 percent in the fourth quarter of 2013, up from 81.2 percent in the third quarter, Statistics Canada said on Thursday. Statscan revised the third-quarter rate down from an initial 81.7 percent. The oil and gas extraction industry's utilization rate rose to 87.5 percent from 86.0 percent. Compared with 2012, the average capacity utilization of Canadian industries fell 0.2 percentage points to 81.3 percent, the first annual decrease since 2009.","North America curlers sweep evening matches to lead 6-3 at the Continental Cup. LAS VEGAS, Nev. - A huge double takeout by Olympics-bound Brad Jacobs played a huge role in giving Team North America the lead at the Continental Cup on Thursday.","Officials: French citizen kidnapped in Algeria. ALGIERS, Algeria (AP) — An Algerian security official says a Frenchman has been kidnapped by militants in an area where North Africa's al-Qaida branch has a hideout.","No baby boom from ease in China's 1-child policy. BEIJING (AP) — Chinese health officials say only 700,000 newly-qualified couples have applied for having a second child this year, far below earlier estimates that an easing in the country's birth policy would add 1 million to 2 million extra births per year in the first few years.","Police, protesters clash after Ukraine's president offers foes posts. By Pavel Polityuk KIEV (Reuters) - Police clashed with protesters who blockaded a building in central Kiev on Sunday and the fate of Ukraine's government was up in the air after embattled President Viktor Yanukovich offered opposition leaders key posts. One of the president's main foes called his offer a \"poisoned\" attempt to kill off a protest movement in a country plunged into political unrest by Yanukovich's U-turn away from the European Union and toward Russia. In the latest violence, a few thousand protesters tried to storm an ornate cultural center where hundreds of security forces were gathered in central Kiev, a few hundred metres from the hub of weeks of opposition protests on Independence Square. The police and security forces later left the building, its windows shattered, and streamed out through a corridor created by the crowd after an opposition leader, Vitaly Klitschko, arrived at the scene and helped negotiate a solution.","Messi scores winner, Klose ties Ronaldo's record. RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Miroslav Klose scored a World Cup goal for the record books. Lionel Messi grabbed a late winner to put Argentina into the round of 16.","Atlanta airport launches expedited security screening program. ATLANTA - Atlanta's Hartsfield Jackson International Airport is now home to the first expedited security screening system in the Southeast.","Peltz to join Mondelez board, ends push for PepsiCo deal. (Reuters) - Mondelez International Inc , maker of Cadbury chocolate and Oreo cookies, added activist investor Nelson Peltz to its board in a deal that ends his campaign to have the company merge with PepsiCo Inc . Peltz, who is on the PepsiCo board, said last year that Mondelez should be acquired by the beverage giant but that it could also almost double earnings per share by managing costs better.","Despite Homs truce, no evacuations, no food entry. BEIRUT (AP) — Aid workers failed to evacuate anyone from blockaded rebel-held neighborhoods in the central Syrian city of Homs on Tuesday or deliver any food, increasing pressure on them to complete the ambitious humanitarian operation before a fragile truce expires, activists and Syrian Red Crescent officials said.","Inbee Park takes 4-shot lead in LPGA Taiwan. TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — Inbee Park shot a 3-under 69 in windy conditions Saturday in the LPGA Taiwan Championship to increase her lead to four strokes.","Pakistan family slits throats of young couple over love marriage. By Mubasher Bukhari LAHORE Pakistan (Reuters) - A young couple in Pakistan were tied up and had their throats slit with scythes after they married for love, police said Saturday. The 17-year-old girl and 31-year-old man married on June 18 without the consent of their families in eastern Pakistan's Punjabi village of Satrah, police said. The girl's mother and father lured the couple home late on Thursday with the promise that their marriage would receive a family blessing, said local police official Rana Zashid. \"He (the girl's father) cut their throats.\" Police arrested the family, who said they had been embarrassed by the marriage of their daughter, named Muafia Hussein, to a man from a less important tribe.","Chinese envoy to Canada tries to ease bilateral ties in article. China's ambassador to Canada on Friday played down a sudden deterioration of bilateral ties which have been strained by allegations of Chinese hacking and the detention of a Canadian couple. Luo Zhaohui said in an article posted on the Globe and Mail's website on Friday that while it was \"hard to avoid bumps and grumps between countries,\" the overall state of relations was good. Late last month, for the first time ever, Canada accused Chinese hackers of being responsible for an attack on a government computer. A few days later China detained a Canadian couple on suspicious of spying.","Microsoft needs Minecraft to boost mobile ambitions. By Bill Rigby SEATTLE (Reuters) - Microsoft’s impending purchase of Mojang, the Swedish developer with 100 million players of its open world Minecraft game, is more aimed at pulling users onto the software company's obscure mobile platform than its better known PC system or Xbox game console. The software company's Windows Phone system has only 2.5 percent of the world's smartphone market, and its Surface tablet barely more, according to tech research firm IDC. Enter Minecraft, which is the top paid app both on Apple Inc's iOS and Google Inc's Android systems. Microsoft will unveil a $2.5 billion deal to buy its owner on Monday, according to a source briefed on the matter.","London shares end flat. London shares ended flat on Friday as traders paused after the previous day's solid gains that followed forecast-busting US jobs data. The benchmark FTSE 100 index closed at 6,866.05 points. \"European shares are trading little changed, managing to hold on to yesterdayâ s impressive gains on the back of a well-received US job report,\" said analyst Markus Huber at broker Peregrine and Black. Over in London, Experian was the star performer rising 1.79 percent to close at 1,021 pence.","Compensation battle rages four years after BP's U.S. oil spill. Four years after the Deepwater Horizon spill, oil is still washing up on the long sandy beaches of Grand Isle, Louisiana, and some islanders are fed up with hearing from BP that the crisis is over. Jules Melancon, the last remaining oyster fisherman on an island dotted with colorful houses on stilts, says he has not found a single oyster alive in his leases in the area since the leak and relies on an onshore oyster nursery to make a living. The British oil major has paid out billions of dollars in compensation under a settlement experts say is unprecedented in its breadth. Some claimants are satisfied, but others are irate that BP is now challenging aspects of the settlement.","Fognini, qualifier Cuevas in Croatia Open last 4. UMAG, Croatia (AP) — Top-seeded Fabio Fognini rallied to defeat Borna Coric of Croatia 5-7, 7-6 (4), 6-3 in the quarterfinals of the Croatia Open on Friday.","'Avatar' stars to return in fourth film. Sam Worthington and Zoe Saldana will slip back into the shoes of Jake Sully and Neytiri in a further three films in the Avatar franchise. Co-produced by \"Avatar\" director James Cameron, the second, third and fourth films in the \"Avatar\" franchise will be filmed all in one go. The production schedule is similar to that of Peter Jackson's \"Lord of the Rings\" and \"The Hobbit\" films and, just like those other franchises, the new \"Avatar\" films are being filmed in New Zealand, with Weta Workshop also providing special effects.","Top Asian News at 2:30 a.m. GMT. BANGKOK (AP) — Thailand's ruling junta deployed thousands of security forces on the streets of Bangkok on Sunday to thwart another round of small-scale protests denouncing last month's military coup. Hundreds of demonstrators came out and several were detained, but there was no violence. Fears over possible unrest, however, prompted a major downtown shopping mall to close and authorities temporarily shut down several subway and elevated train stations near where protests could have materialized.","1st test v India not priority for Aussies yet. SYDNEY (AP) — Australian cricketers still mourning the death of Phillip Hughes haven't been asked yet to make a choice about whether or not to play or postpone the first test against India next week.","Lauren Jackson returns from 11-month injury layoff. CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Seattle Storm forward and former WNBA most valuable player Lauren Jackson played her first competitive match in 11 months on the weekend, admitting she was \"terrible\" while scoring 13 points to lead the Canberra Capitals to victory in Australia.","US: Power to visit Ebola-ravaged West Africa. UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The United States ambassador to the United Nations is on her way to visit all three of the West African countries hit hardest by the Ebola outbreak, amid rising calls for travel restrictions back home in the U.S.","Powerful typhoon sweeps across Okinawa. TOKYO (AP) — A powerful typhoon pounded across the southern Japanese islands of Okinawa on Tuesday, as residents took refuge from destructive winds, towering waves and storm surges.","EU averts clash as Slovenian falls on sword. Brussels (AFP) - Slovenia's nominee for a European Commission job fell on her sword on Thursday after being rejected by the parliament in Brussels, saving incoming EU leader Jean-Claude Juncker from a damaging civil war with lawmakers.","UK unemployment rate edges up to 7.2%. Britain's unemployment rate edged up to 7.2 percent in the quarter to December, official data showed on Wednesday, easing pressure on the Bank of England to raise interest rates. Unemployment rose from a near five-year low level of 7.1 percent in the quarter to the end of November, the Office for National Statistics said in a statement. The Bank of England (BoE) is facing pressure from financial markets to begin raising its main interest rate from a record low-level of 0.50 percent as Britain's economic recovery takes hold. Canadian national Mark Carney took charge of the BoE last August and launched a forward guidance policy, under which he said the central bank would not raise borrowing costs until the unemployment rate falls to at least 7.0 percent.","Philippine military official says Swiss hostage has escaped from Abu Sayyaf extremists. MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Philippine military official says Swiss hostage has escaped from Abu Sayyaf extremists.","Amid Ebola cases, Mali braces borders and beyond. KOUREMALE, Mali (AP) — On Mali's dusty border with Ebola-stricken Guinea, travelers have a new stop: Inside a white tent, masked medical workers zap incomers with infrared thermometer guns and instruct them to wash their hands in chlorinated water.","As bombs fall over Iraq, old emotions rise in US. Old emotions about Iraq are resurfacing across America. People are conflicted about President Barack Obama's decision to bomb Islamic militants there.","Cape Verde loses bid to be reinstated in World Cup. LAUSANNE, Switzerland (AP) — Cape Verde has lost its legal bid to be reinstated in the World Cup.","5 killed as police, protesters clash in Pakistan. LAHORE, Pakistan (AP) — Officials in Pakistan say clashes between police and supporters of an anti-government cleric have killed at least five people in the country's east.","Obama, Hollande call on Russia to de-escalate Ukraine tensions. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama and French President Francois Hollande agreed that Russia could face further actions by the West if it fails to de-escalate tensions on the border with Ukraine, the French presidency said on Friday. Speaking by phone, the leaders urged Russian President Vladimir Putin to call on separatist militants to stand down and to stop sending military equipment to Ukraine. \"Without any progress in this direction, new measures would be taken against Russia,\" the French presidency said. ...","Kerry to meet Palestinian leader Abbas in Amman Wednesday. US Secretary of State John Kerry will travel to Amman Wednesday, interrupting a visit to Italy to meet with Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas as a deadline looms for reaching a peace deal with Israel. Kerry's surprise trip aims \"to continue to narrow the gaps between the parties\", State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said Tuesday, a tacit acknowledgement of the difficulties bogging down the negotiations. The US diplomatic chief would also be in touch with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu \"over the phone or by video conference\", she added. The new meeting with Abbas comes just over a week after the Palestinian leader visited the White House to meet President Barack Obama for what were described as \"difficult\" talks.","Australia sends 2 unarmed support planes over Iraq. CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Australia was sending two unarmed air force planes to support U.S.-led coalition combat operations against the Islamic State movement in Iraq, but would not yet launch its own airstrikes, the prime minister said Wednesday.","20 jihadists killed in failed east Syria airport attack. At least 20 Islamist State (IS) group members were killed in the second failed jihadist bid in a month to take over an air base in eastern Syria, a monitoring group said Sunday. \"The IS tried, starting late Saturday, to storm the air base. A total of 20 jihadists were killed in the attack, as well as two regime soldiers,\" said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. \"The withdrawing jihadists seized and took with them several anti-aircraft missiles,\" said Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman.","Afghan election could reset US-Kabul relations. WASHINGTON (AP) — While many Americans have given up hope that Afghanistan can ever prosper in peace, tens of thousands of Afghans are flocking to campaign rallies ahead of Saturday's presidential election.","Video review available to help on offside calls. RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — FIFA's fast-changing views on video review could one day see referees get outside help with offside calls.","Swimming-Australia surprise themselves as supersuit record beaten. It was a world record that few expected to be broken any time soon. \"World record,\" she exclaimed as she looked at the screen after world 100 freestyle champion Cate Campbell touched to stop the clock at three minutes, 30.98 seconds, eclipsing the 3:31.72 set by a flying Netherlands team five years earlier. The record by that Dutch team had been set in the madness that surrounded the 2009 world swimming championships in Rome, when 43 world marks were shattered - many aided by the use of polyurethane bodysuits that have since been outlawed. \"Not only a world record, but a supersuits world record,\" Cate Campbell told the Sydney Morning Herald after she anchored the team of younger sister Bronte, Schlanger and Emma McKeon to gold.","An embrace and a handshake: how John Kerry brokered peace between Afghan rivals. By Lesley Wroughton and Maria Golovnina KABUL (Reuters) - It was late on Saturday evening in a fourth-floor room of the U.S. ambassador's residence in Kabul that the election crisis in Afghanistan that had threatened to divide the nation was staved off. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry was in the room with former foreign minister Abdullah Abdullah, one of the two warring presidential candidates. The door was opened to Abdullah's rival and bitter foe Ashraf Ghani. Ending months of bitter squabbling, Ghani walked arms wide open toward Abdullah, embracing him warmly and shaking his hand, according to a U.S. official who was present.","Coach K: Basketball World Cup is big deal. BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — The name was changed to sound more like soccer. The date was changed to get away from soccer.","Ukraine plans $3 billion boost to defense spending. KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine's president has vowed to boost military spending by 40 billion hryvnia ($3 billion) in the next three years as government forces seek to overpower pro-Russian separatists in the east.","Ukraine says separatists hold hostages; activists deny charge. By Thomas Grove LUHANSK, Ukraine (Reuters) - More than 50 people left a state security service building overnight that had been seized by pro-Russia activists in eastern Ukraine, following negotiations between protesters and officials, Ukraine's state security service (SBU) said early on Wednesday. The SBU said on Tuesday that the protesters who seized the local headquarters of state security in Luhansk on Sunday had wired it with explosives and were holding 60 people hostage, though this was denied by the protesters themselves.","Deadline lapses in Peru for illegal gold miners. LIMA, Peru (AP) — The clock has run out for an estimated 40,000 illegal gold miners who had until Saturday to legalize their status in a region of southeastern Peru where fortune-seekers have ravaged rainforests and contaminated rivers. The government's vow to enforce a ban on illegal mining is raising fears of bloody confrontations.","Hamas tactics exact high toll in Israeli ground thrust. By Noah Browning GAZA (Reuters) - Using tunnels, mines, booby traps and snipers, Hamas fighters have inflicted record casualties on Israeli troops waging an offensive in the Gaza Strip, applying years of training in urban warfare with a new tactical acumen and suicidal resolve. The Israelis say weapons and know-how supplied by Iran and its Lebanese ally Hezbollah make Hamas a more formidable foe. Four days after Israel launched a withering ground assault on the Palestinian Islamist militants in their stronghold of Shejaia following intensive air strikes, the army still does not have complete control of the area. Exploiting a vast network of secret tunnels to snipe at enemy troops and blast their vehicles even inside Israel, Hamas has killed 32 Israeli soldiers -- almost three times as many as in the last major ground clashes in a 2008-9 conflict.","The 11 countries expected to buy F-35 fighter jet. Canada is poised to buy 65 F-35 fighter jets built by Lockheed Martin Corp, sources familiar with the process told Reuters, which would make it the 11th country to join the program. Following is a list of the expected purchases, according to data provided by Lockheed, the prime contractor for the $398.6 billion weapons program, and defense officials in the United States and other purchasing countries. Lockheed is developing three models of the plane for the U.S. military and eight partner countries that helped fund the plane's development - Britain, Australia, Italy, Turkey, the Netherlands, Denmark, Norway and Canada.","Inspections highlight safety risks at Bangladesh factories. By Emma Thomasson BERLIN (Reuters) - Initial inspections of Bangladesh garment factories organized after the collapse of the Rana Plaza complex have found safety problems including overloaded ceilings, exposed cables and locked fire escapes, an industry-backed group said on Monday. Working conditions in the $22 billion industry have been under scrutiny since the April, 2013 collapse of Rana Plaza in which more than 1,100 workers were killed. A November 2012 fire at another factory also resulted in 112 deaths. ...","Spain's Movistar team to ride at Australia Tour Down Under. Spain's Movistar Team will return to the Australia's Tour Down Under next month with an experienced squad, organisers said on Thursday. Among their lineup is sprinter Juanjo Lobato, whose victories this year include the Tour de Wallonie and the Vuelta a Burgos, plus a fourth place finish in the Milan-San Remo. The Tour Down Under is the first UCI World Tour event of 2015. \"Movistar is celebrating its second consecutive year as the top-ranked team in the world, with 34 victories in 2014,\" race director Mike Turtur said.","Lufthansa braces for next strike as board debates budget carrier plan. By Victoria Bryan BERLIN (Reuters) - Lufthansa's board meets on Wednesday to approve expansion of its budget flights against the backdrop of deteriorating relations with pilots who are now planning their tenth strike this year. With the dust barely settled after this week's two-day walkout that forced Lufthansa to cancel half its flights, affecting 150,000 passengers, pilots' union Vereinigung Cockpit called another strike for Thursday. ...","Over 1,000 arrested in unprecedented swoop: Europol. The Hague (AFP) - Police have arrested more than 1,000 suspects and rescued at least 30 trafficked children in an unprecedented swoop on organised crime groups across Europe, Europol's chief said on Wednesday.","Lawsuit over SFO runway death after Asiana crash. SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — The parents of a teenage girl who was run over and killed by emergency vehicles after an Asiana Airlines crash landing at the San Francisco airport filed a wrongful-death lawsuit against the city, saying rescuers were reckless and poorly trained.","Russia on the spot as fears mount over east Ukraine conflict. International pressure on Russia was mounting on Thursday over claims it is sending fresh military hardware into eastern Ukraine which could fuel a return to all-out conflict. After NATO accused Russia of deploying tanks, troops and military hardware to the region, Ukraine said four of its soldiers had been killed in the past 24 hours and 18 wounded. There were a string of explosions late Wednesday in the rebel stronghold of Donetsk but the situation was calm Thursday, an AFP reporter said, with only occasional exchanges of fire. Rebels said three people were injured in shelling in Donetsk Wednesday.","Ferdinand 'embarrassed' by United plight. Manchester (United Kingdom) (AFP) - Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand admitted Sunday that he is \"embarrassed\" by the English champions humble seventh place in the Premier League. United sacked manager David Moyes last week after just 10 months in charge and with the team unable to qualify for the Champions League next season. \"I haven't looked at the league table for ages because it is embarrassing,\" Ferdinand told www.manutd.com United will be under the guidance of caretaker coach Ryan Giggs for the rest of the season.","Al-Qaida fighters in Syria kill rival rebel leader. BEIRUT (AP) — Syrian activists say al-Qaida fighters have killed the military leader of a rival Islamic brigade in a twin car bombing near the northern city of Aleppo, an attack likely to further exacerbate rebel infighting.","Rosberg fastest in 1st practice for Brazilian GP. SAO PAULO (AP) — Nico Rosberg finished ahead of Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton in the first practice session for the Brazilian Grand Prix on Friday.","Obama condemns beheading of Briton by extremists. WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama condemned as a \"barbaric murder\" the slaying of British aid worker David Haines by Islamic State extremists.","Wanted man, member of security forces killed in Saudi clashes: al-Arabiya TV. DUBAI (Reuters) - A wanted man and a member of the security forces were killed in \"security clashes\" north of the capital Riyadh, the Saudi-owned al-Arabiya television reported. The Dubai-based satellite channel said the incidents happened in Shaqra, a town about 150 kms (93 miles) north-west of Riyadh, and in the al-Qassim province to the north. It gave no further details. (Reporting by Sami Aboudi; editing by William Maclean and John Stonestreet)","EU warns Russia against using gas for politics. BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union is warning Russia that interfering with gas deliveries to Ukraine to apply political pressure would backfire by damaging its reputation as a reliable supplier for the EU.","Hundreds of civilians killed in months of fighting in Libya: U.N.. GENEVA (Reuters) - Hundreds of civilians in Libya have been killed in fighting since late August, the United Nations said on Tuesday, warning commanders that they could face prosecution for possible war crimes. The conflict has driven at least 120,000 people from their homes and triggered a humanitarian crisis, said the joint report by the U.N. human rights office and U.N. Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL). ...","Pacos beats 10-man Setubal 4-1 in Portugal. LISBON, Portugal (AP) — Pacos Ferreira scored all four goals in the second half to earn a 4-1 win at home over 10-man Setubal, moving into fourth place in the Portuguese league on Sunday.","Hamas govt employees strike over expected job losses. Hamas civil servants went on strike Wednesday after the Palestinian government said it would rehire thousands of Gaza staff who were laid off when the Islamist movement seized power in 2007. Hundreds blocked the entrance to the Gaza City headquarters of the consensus government, a day after it pledged to rehire tens of thousands of workers laid off seven years ago, potentially threatening the livelihood of the 50,000 or so people Hamas hired to replace them. Government spokesman Ihab Bseiso said an unspecified number of the Hamas government's employees would also be taken on but only in case of ministerial \"need\". The protest took place as ministers from the West Bank-based government were on a working visit in Gaza in only their second trip to the war-torn territory since taking office in June.","Italy PM picks Paolo Gentiloni as new foreign minister in surprise choice. ROME (Reuters) - Prime Minister Matteo Renzi appointed Paolo Gentiloni, a close ally and former communications minister, to be Italy's new foreign minister on Friday, in a surprise decision. Gentiloni, who was sworn in on Friday night by President Giorgio Napolitano, replaces Federica Mogherini, who left the foreign ministry this week to become the EU's new top diplomat. As foreign minister, Gentiloni, a senior member in the prime minister's Democratic Party (PD), will now play a key role in the remaining two months of Italy's presidency of the European Union, which ends on Dec. 31. ...","Man accused of IS membership on trial in Germany. BERLIN (AP) — A 20-year-old German man is going on trial in Frankfurt accused of being a member of the extremist Islamic State group.","Romania holds Argentina to 0-0 draw. BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) — Romania held Lionel Messi's Argentina to a 0-0 draw in a friendly on Wednesday as the South Americans continued their preparations for the World Cup.","Bodies leave Ukraine war zone, truce called at MH17 crash site. A train carrying the remains of 280 people killed in the Malaysian plane disaster was finally allowed to leave a rebel-held region in eastern Ukraine as the militants declared a truce Tuesday around the crash site. Five days after Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 was allegedly shot out of the sky, pro-Russian separatists conceded to a furious international clamour for the bodies and the plane's black boxes to be handed over to investigators. The devices, which record cockpit activity and flight data, were handed to Malaysian officials by the prime minister of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic, Alexander Borodai, in front of scores of journalists. The rebel concessions came after US President Barack Obama insisted that Moscow force the insurgents it is accused of backing to cooperate with an international probe into the disaster, saying chaos at the impact site was an \"insult\" to families of the victims.","Australia rescues 13 shipwrecked Iranians off Pakistan. Sydney (AFP) - An Australian warship has rescued 13 Iranians shipwrecked off Pakistan on its way to the Middle East to join an international force conducting counter-terrorist and anti-piracy operations, officials said Wednesday.","Australia's Hackett confirms comeback aged 34. MELBOURNE (Reuters) - Australian swimming great Grant Hackett has confirmed his comeback to the pool after six years and has entered next April's national trials, local media reported. Hackett, who won 1,500 metres freestyle gold at the 2000 Sydney Olympics and defended the title four years later at Athens, had fuelled speculation of a return months ago after being spotted training on the Gold Coast with his old coach Denis Cotterell. ...","Tesco slashes dividend after second profit warning in two months. By Kate Holton and Neil Maidment LONDON (Reuters) - Tesco will slash its dividend and investment spending to give its new boss more firepower to rebuild Britain's biggest retailer, after a second profit warning in two months showed the scale of the task he faces. The grocer said on Friday that as a result of its worsening performance, former Unilever turnaround specialist Dave Lewis would start on Monday - a month earlier than planned - with a remit for a major review of the 95-year-old business. The latest profit warning lays bare the need for a change at a company once considered an unstoppable engine of growth, with annual trading profit now expected to come in around 25 percent lower than last year - a third straight year of decline. While analysts said a 75 percent cut in the half-year dividend was much deeper than expected, hammering Tesco's share price, they added the move would give Lewis greater flexibility to revive the world's No.3 retailer, such as by cutting prices.","IS, the jihadist group claiming world leadership. The Islamic State (IS) jihadist group which spearheaded a sweeping militant assault that overran swathes of Iraq is now claiming leadership of the world's Muslims. Known for its ruthless tactics and suicide bombers, IS has carried out frequent bombings and shootings in Iraq, and is also arguably the most capable force fighting President Bashar al-Assad inside Syria. The group led by \"caliph\" Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, and backed by thousands of fighters in Syria and Iraq, some of them Westerners, appears to be surpassing Al-Qaeda as the world's most dangerous and influential jihadist group.","Libya parliament rejects supreme court decision to nullify it. Benghazi (Libya) (AFP) - Libya's internationally recognised parliament on Thursday rejected a supreme court decision to nullify it, saying the ruling was taken \"under the threat of arms\".","Putin, Merkel discuss Ukraine over phone: Kremlin. MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin and German Chancellor Angela Merkel discussed the situation in Ukraine during a phone call initiated by Berlin, Kremlin's press service said on Sunday. \"The latest development of the situation in Ukraine was discussed,\" the press service said in a statement without disclosing any further details. (Reporting by Lidia Kelly; Editing by Sonya Hepinstall)","France sends soldiers to guard Air Algeria wreck. PARIS (AP) — French officials say a military unit has been sent to secure the site in Mali where an Air Algeria plane crashed with 116 people aboard.","Climate change to trigger longer, fiercer 'megadroughts': study. By Chris Arsenault ROME (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Climate change will unleash megadroughts in the coming decades worse than anything seen in the last 2,000 years, new research warns. In semi-arid regions such as the U.S. southwest, there is an 80 percent chance of a drought lasting more than a decade, according to a study published in the Journal of Climate. The paper from academics at Cornell University, the U.S. Geological Survey and the University of Arizona combines historical data on droughts with new climate models looking at changes to rainfall patterns caused by global warming. ...","Syria rebels push al Qaeda back; U.S. open to Iran role. By Khaled Yacoub Oweis and Arshad Mohammed AMMAN/JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Syrian rebel fighters loyal to al Qaeda ceded ground near the Turkish border to rival Islamists on Sunday, activists said, in what seemed to be a tactical withdrawal to end clashes between Syrian- and foreign-led opponents of President Bashar al-Assad. As Syria's civil war gets ever more complex amid a broad regional confrontation between Sunni and Shi'ite Muslims, the United States raised the prospect of Assad's sponsor Iran, the Shi'ite power long at odds with Washington and its Sunni Arab allies, playing some role in this month's Syrian peace talks. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said Tehran still should not take formal part in the peace conference scheduled to start on Lake Geneva on January 22 because it had not endorsed a 2012 accord calling for a new Syrian leadership. But he said there might be ways that Iran could \"contribute from the sidelines\".","Missouri governor lifts curfew in Ferguson on Monday. (Reuters) - Missouri Governor Jay Nixon said there will be no curfew in the St. Louis suburb of Ferguson on Monday night, two days after imposing one in an attempt to quell outbreaks of violence after a police officer shot and killed an unarmed teenager more than a week ago. \"We will not use a curfew tonight,\" Nixon said in a statement posted on his website, a few hours after he ordered the Missouri National Guard to \"restore peace\" to Ferguson. (Reporting by Jonathan Allen in New York; Editing by Susan Heavey)","Trudeau says Senate decision focused on long-term, despite immediate confusion. VANCOUVER - Justin Trudeau says former Liberal senators can call themselves whatever they want — but they're not in the Liberal caucus.","Bosnia, Serbia hit by worst flooding in 120 years; three die. By Daria Sito-Sucic and Ivana Sekularac SARAJEVO/BELGRADE (Reuters) - The heaviest rains and floods in the past 120 years hit Bosnia and Serbia this week, killing three people, cutting off electricity and leaving several towns and villages isolated. The three casualties, one of them a firefighter on a rescue mission, drowned in Serbia. Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic said on Thursday he would declare an emergency for the whole country at 1100 GMT. \\\\\"More rain fell in one day than in four months.\\\\\" In Bosnia, army helicopters evacuated dozens of people stranded in their homes in the central town of Maglaj, where the Bosna river swelled to record levels, reaching the first floors of apartment buildings.","Harper: Obama 'punted' Keystone XL decision, confident pipeline will be built. VANCOUVER - Prime Minister Stephen Harper says U.S. President Barack Obama has \"punted\" a decision on the controversial Keystone XL oil pipeline, but he's still confident the long-delayed $5.4 billion project will eventually be built.","Jordan police disperse protest over shootout death. Jordanian police fired tear gas to disperse angry protesters in the Islamist stronghold of Maan on Wednesday after police killed a suspect in a shootout in the southern city. \"On Monday, security forces raided an area of Maan to arrest two suspects. In April, a 20-year-old man was killed outside his home in clashes with security forces after gunmen opened fire on police guarding a courthouse.","France curbs Paris car drivers to combat dangerous smog. France will introduce driving restrictions in Paris on Monday to tackle dangerous pollution levels, the first such ban for twenty years as politicians try to get rid of health-threatening smog days before municipal elections. Paris is more prone to smog than other European capitals because of France's diesel subsidies and its high number of private car drivers. Free public transport, including cycle and electric car-sharing schemes, was introduced last week as a visible haze hung over Paris streets. Last week European Environment Agency (EEA) figures for Thursday showed there was 147 microgrammes of particulate matter (PM) per cubic meter of air in Paris - compared with 114 in Brussels, 104 in Amsterdam, 81 in Berlin and 79.7 in London.","Judging talk overshadows figure skating again. SOCHI, Russia (AP) — Leave it to figure skating and judging, where winning can be obscured by whining.","Hamburg signs forward Nicolai Mueller from Mainz. HAMBURG, Germany (AP) — Hamburger SV has signed attacking midfielder Nicolai Mueller from its Bundesliga rival Mainz.","Pistorius apologizes for killing girlfriend. PRETORIA, South Africa (AP) — Fighting back tears, Oscar Pistorius began testifying at his murder trial on Monday by apologizing to the family of the girlfriend he shot dead.","Red Cross: 30 dead in C. African Republic capital. BANGUI, Central African Republic (AP) — The International Committee of the Red Cross says at least 30 people have been killed in Central African Republic's volatile capital over the last three days.","Earthquakes rock Iceland volcano. LONDON (AP) — Earthquakes are rocking Iceland's Bardarbunga volcano, adding to concerns that magma movements may trigger an eruption that could hinder air traffic.","Polish FM urges Russia to bar fighters, weapons at Ukraine border. ST PETERSBURG Russia (Reuters) - Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski said on Tuesday that Russia could help defuse the crisis in Ukraine by preventing militants and weapons from crossing into eastern Ukraine, where pro-Russian rebels are fighting government forces. ...","Southern Copper says operations in southern Peru normal after Chile quake. LIMA (Reuters) - Southern Copper's mining operations in southern Peru continued normally late on Tuesday after a Magnitude 8.0 earthquake struck off northern Chile, a company spokesman said. (Reporting by Patricia Velez)","Bahrain court keeps top activist behind bars. A Bahrain court ordered prominent activist Nabeel Rajab kept behind bars on Wednesday as it adjourned his trial over remarks posted on Twitter deemed insulting to public institutions. Rajab appeared in the Manama court, where the judge set a new hearing for Sunday, activists said. Rajab, a member of Bahrain's Shiite majority, which has been protesting against the Gulf kingdom's Sunni rulers since 2011, was arrested on October 1 after posting comments on Twitter about the interior and defence ministries. In one of the tweets that were deemed offensive, Rajab charged that many of the Bahrainis fighting with jihadists in Syria were former security force personnel who had developed Sunni extremist views during their service.","Chinese officials will buy more electric cars. BEIJING (AP) — China says at least 30 percent of newly purchased government cars will be electric and other types of \"new energy vehicles\" as it attempts to tackle air pollution and encourage the electric car market.","Kremlin says Putin and Merkel discuss Ukraine and OSCE mission. Russian President Vladimir Putin and German Chancellor Angela Merkel spoke by telephone on Sunday and voiced satisfaction that an agreement had been reached to send monitors from the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe to Ukraine, the Kremlin said. \"The situation that has arisen after Crimea's reunification with the Russian Federation was discussed,\" Putin's press service said. \"As for the crisis in Ukraine, both sides expressed satisfaction in connection with the agreement on a mandate for an OSCE monitoring mission.\" Russia agreed on Friday with the 56 other members of the OSCE to send a six-month monitoring mission to Ukraine, but said it had no mandate in Crimea, which Moscow annexed after voters on the Black Sea peninsula chose to join Russia in a referendum dismissed by Western states as a sham.","Spanish PM promises 'transparency' in Ebola scare. Madrid (AFP) - Spain's Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy appealed for calm Wednesday after a Madrid nurse contracted the deadly Ebola virus, promising \"transparency\" over the scare which has sparked fierce criticism of national health safeguards.","South Africa's Ramaphosa defends actions before Marikana massacre. By Joe Brock JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa's Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa was trying to \"prevent further loss of life\" when he intervened in a wildcat strike that ended with the police killing 34 miners, he told an inquiry on Monday. Ramaphosa, who led a historic strike for fairer pay for black miners under apartheid in 1987, has faced accusations of putting political pressure on the police to take action against striking Lonmin employees before the shooting at the Marikana mine on Aug. 16, 2012. In the days before what has come to be known as the \"Marikana massacre\", at least nine people had already been killed in strike-related violence, including two police officers. Ramaphosa, who was a Lonmin director at the time, said that prompted him to contact the Lonmin leadership and the ministers of police and mining.","Russian foreign minister urges deputies to ratify Crimea treaty. By Steve Gutterman and Maria Tsvetkova MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov presented a treaty on annexing Crimea to the lower house of parliament on Thursday and urged legislators to accept the Ukrainian region as part of the Russian Federation. Approval of the treaty in the State Duma was in no doubt after President Vladimir Putin signed it on Tuesday, and ratification will be complete when the Federation Council, or upper house, votes on the treaty on Friday. \"I am certain the passage of these documents will be a turning point in the fate of the multi-ethnic peoples of Crimea and Russia, who are linked by the close ties of historical solidarity,\" Lavrov told the State Duma. Describing annexation of Crimea as needed to protect ethnic Russians there, he said: \"To this day, lawlessness continues, and there are daily actions by nationalists, anti-Semites and other extremists on whom the new (Ukrainian) authorities depend.\" He added: \"The unification of these peoples in one state will promote the well-being and prosperity and serve the interests of Russia.\" Russia's moves to annex the Black Sea peninsula, which has a narrow ethnic Russian minority, have turned a confrontation with Europe and the United States into the biggest crisis in East-West relations since the Cold War.","Islamist group says behind car bomb in Somalia. MOGADISHU (Reuters) - Islamist group al Shabaab claimed responsibility for a car bombing on Thursday that police said killed at least 10 people in the Somali capital Mogadishu and threatened more attacks. \"We are responsible for the car bomb blast,\" Sheikh Abdiasis Abu Musab, al Shabaab's military operations spokesman, told Reuters, saying the attack had killed 11 members of the security forces and injured 15 others. \"We targeted the national security forces who were sitting in the tea shop. Today's blast was part of our operations in Mogadishu and we shall continue,\" he added. ...","Warren joins Dredge in lead of Made in Denmark. AALBORG, Denmark (AP) — Scotland's Marc Warren mastered strong winds to shoot a 5-under 66 on Saturday and join Bradley Dredge of Wales for a share of the lead after the third round of Made in Denmark.","Marine Corps to retry major Iraq war case after murder conviction of sergeant overturned. SAN DIEGO - The Marine Corps has decided to retry a sergeant whose murder conviction from the Iraq war has been overturned twice by military courts.","Italy winger Candreva extends contract with Lazio. ROME (AP) — Italy winger Antonio Candreva has extended his contract with Lazio for one more season, keeping him at the team through 2018-19.","Sony hacking fallout puts all companies on alert. ATLANTA (AP) — Companies across the globe are on high alert to tighten up network security to avoid being the next company brought to its knees by hackers like those that executed the dramatic cyberattack against Sony Pictures Entertainment.","Crisis-hit Cypriots fuel illicit firewood trade. NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) — A Cyprus Forestry Department official says illegal logging in the bailed-out island nation has picked up sharply as people turn to firewood to save on heating bills.","Dudley says threshold high for changing taper plans. (Reuters) - The U.S. economic outlook would have to change substantially for the Federal Reserve to alter the pace at which it is winding down asset purchases, a top U.S. central banker said on Thursday. While growth is likely to quicken this year, the threshold for changing course on stimulus withdrawal is \"pretty high,\" said New York Fed President William Dudley during an event hosted by The Wall Street Journal.","Obama says siege at Iraq's Mount Sinjar broken. U.S. President Barack Obama said on Thursday that the Islamist militant siege of Iraq's Mount Sinjar had been broken and he did not expect to have to mount an evacuation or continue humanitarian airdrops. \"We helped vulnerable people reach safety and we helped save many innocent lives,\" Obama said at a press briefing. \"Because of these efforts we do not expect there to be an additional operation to evacuate people off the mountain and it's unlikely we are going to need to continue humanitarian airdrops on the mountain.\" Obama said the United States would continue airstrikes to protect U.S. facilities in Iraq and called on Iraqis to unite to defeat Islamist insurgents.","Canadian Solar posts profit as solar module shipments rise. (Reuters) - Canadian Solar Inc posted its third straight quarterly profit as the company shipped more solar modules. Net income attributable to the company was $3.8 million, or 7 cents per share, for the first quarter ended March 31 compared with a net loss of $4.4 million, or 10 cents per share, a year earlier. Revenue rose 77 percent to $466.3 million. (Reporting by Anannya Pramanick and Shubhankar Chakravorty in Bangalore; Editing by Kirti Pandey)","Drone strike kills three suspected militants in Yemen: sources. SANAA (Reuters) - A drone strike killed at least three suspected al Qaeda militants in Yemen on Wednesday night, tribal sources said. The strike targeted a vehicle in which the suspected militants were travelling in the Wadi Abida district of the central Maarib province, east of the capital Sanaa, the sources told Reuters. Yemen is the main stronghold of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), one of the Islamist militant group's most active wings. The United States acknowledges using drones in Yemen but does not comment publicly on the practice. ...","2nd test: Australia takes 95-run 1st-innings lead. BRISBANE, Australia (AP) — Steve Smith scored 133 in his first test as captain, reinforcing his leadership credentials and helping Australia take a 95-run first-innings lead over India at tea Friday, day three of the second test.","'Toxic stew' of militants lurk in Afghanistan as NATO heads home. By Mirwais Harooni and Missy Ryan KABUL, (Reuters) - The soldiers were asleep when attackers struck their outpost, tucked in the mountains of Afghanistan's eastern province of Kunar and on the front lines of a deepening war between the army and a potent mix of militants. Afghan officials say scores of militants killed 21 soldiers as they overran the tiny fortified base on February 23. While the circumstances remain murky, the assault underscores the challenges Afghanistan will face as foreign forces withdraw to prevent hard-to-govern areas such as Kunar reverting to the militant safe havens they once were. The diverse group of militants, including a small but stubborn contingent of al Qaeda fighters, will be all the more troubling if Western nations withdraw fully this year.","State Department: Kerry not giving specific timing on sanctions over Ukraine. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry was not speaking about the possible timing of fresh U.S. sanctions when he said Russia had \"hours\" to move on disarming Ukraine separatists, the State Department said on Thursday. \"The secretary wasn't outlining specific timing for additional sanctions but underscoring the need that this needs to happen quickly,\" spokeswoman Marie Harf told reporters. \"We have in place the infrastructure to do this very quickly if we want to.\" U.S. officials have threatened additional sanctions against Russia in response to what they say is Moscow's increased support to Ukrainian separatists, including the provision of Russian tanks and other weaponry and allowing separatist fighters to cross into eastern Ukraine. Separatist rebellions erupted in eastern Ukraine in early April after street protests in Kiev toppled Moscow-backed leader Viktor Yanukovich, and Russia in turn annexed the Crimean peninsula.","'We told you so' - Baltic jitters grow over former ruler Russia. By Aija Krutaine and Andrius Sytas RIGA/VILNIUS (Reuters) - Nervously eyeing Russian naval maneuvers and military flights near their borders, the three ex-Soviet Baltic states fear they may emerge as the next geopolitical flashpoint after Ukraine in a confrontation that could test their cherished Western ties. With President Barack Obama heading to Estonia on Wednesday on a visit designed to underline U.S. In their comments on the Ukraine crisis, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania are more hawkish than their Western partners. Anchored in NATO, unlike Ukraine, they have far less cause to fear a full-blown Russian military invasion, but they worry about cyber-attacks and other more stealthy forms of aggression.","As US airstrikes in Iraq grow, details stay thin. WASHINGTON (AP) — America has returned to war, of a sort, in Iraq with airstrikes that have intensified in recent days against Islamic State militants. But details about the execution of this limited campaign, which so far includes no reported U.S. ground combat, are thin.","Criminalise torture now, Amnesty tells Nigeria. Lagos (AFP) - Amnesty International on Thursday urged Nigeria's government to criminalise torture, as it published a new report documenting widespread abuses in the criminal justice system and military.","China plans to build up infant formula producers. BEIJING (AP) — China's government announced plans Friday to try to build up a handful of large producers of infant formula in its latest effort to revive an industry that is reeling from a scandal over tainted milk.","NRL grand final: South Sydney 30, Bulldogs 6. SYDNEY (AP) — The South Sydney Rabbitohs ended a 43-year championship drought in the National Rugby League with a 30-6 win over the Canterbury Bulldogs in the grand final Sunday.","Wal-Mart replaces chief of US division. US retail giant Wal-Mart Stores Thursday announced it is replacing the head of its Walmart US division, which has had declining same-store sales in recent quarters. Greg Foran, 53, currently head of Walmart Asia, will lead the Walmart US division starting August 9, reporting to chief executive Doug McMillon, the company announced. Foran will replace Bill Simon, who has held the post since June 2010 and \"will be transitioning out of the company,\" Wal-Mart said. Foran joined Wal-Mart in 2011 after previously working at Woolworths, a leading supermarket group in Australia and New Zealand.","Hong Kong protesters set for the long haul at self-sustaining village. By Farah Master HONG KONG (Reuters) - Hong Kong protesters have created a self-sustaining village within a month of taking their call for democracy to the streets, setting up changing rooms, tents for hire, a study area, first-aid stations and even their own security patrols as they ready for the long haul. What started out as hastily built barricades against police pepper spray and tear gas, relying mainly on cling film and umbrellas, has evolved into a fully fledged campus with carpeted stairs, water coolers, WiFi and gas-fueled generators supporting mobile phones, desk lamps and amplifiers. ...","Britain's SFO examining recent Rolls-Royce contracts: report. An investigation by Britain's anti-fraud watchdog into Rolls-Royce's dealings in Asia extends to contracts signed less than three years ago, the Telegraph newspaper said on Saturday. The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) is examining some of the aerospace and defense contractor's contracts won after Britain's new Bribery Act came into force in 2011, the newspaper said without citing sources. The Telegraph said this suggested the probe extended beyond bribery allegations by whistleblowers, one of which involved Tommy Suharto, the youngest son of Indonesia's late president, with respect to an engine deal in 1990. In December 2012, Rolls-Royce, the world's second-largest maker of aircraft engines behind General Electric, was ordered by the SFO to hand over details of possible bribery and corruption in China, Indonesia and other overseas markets.","Over 30 found in state of 'cardiopulmonary arrest' on Japan volcano. TOKYO (Reuters) - More than 30 people have been found on Sunday in a state of \"cardiopulmonary\" arrest near the peak of the Japanese volcano that erupted on Saturday, NHK national news said, without specifying they have died. Japan does not confirm deaths until a formal examination has been made. A Nagano prefectural official was unable to confirm the NHK report. Hundreds of people, including children, were stranded on the peak after it erupted without warning, sending ash pouring down the slope for more than 3 km (2 miles.) Most made their way down that evening. ...","Morkel takes 5-21, Australia score 154 in 2nd ODI. PERTH, Australia (AP) — Morne Morkel led a resurgent bowling performance Sunday, taking a career best 5-21 as South Africa dismissed Australia for 154 in the second one-day cricket international.","Abducted Swedish journalists released in Syria. STOCKHOLM (AP) — Authorities say two Swedish journalists who were abducted in Syria in November have been released.","In Afghanistan's rural Wardak, fear of Taliban keeps voters away. By Jessica Donati MAIDAN SHAHR Afghanistan (Reuters) - Little more than an hour's drive away from the lines of voters in Kabul, a polling station in rural Afghanistan was all but deserted on Saturday, with the threat of Taliban attacks undermining turnout and the legitimacy of the vote. In the province of Wardak, where militants use districts under their control to launch attacks on the capital, streets and polling stations were mostly empty, save for election staff and their observers. It was a scene repeated across rural Afghanistan in the second round of a presidential election that aims to transfer power peacefully for the first time in the country's tumultuous history. To many residents in Wardak, where rockets hit near the governor's compound and clashes broke out with insurgents on Saturday, voting was not worth the risk of losing their lives.","APNewsBreak: Domingo to sing ahead of Cup final. SAO PAULO (AP) — Placido Domingo is returning for his sixth concert ahead of a World Cup final.","France convicts 3 who tried to fight in Syria. PARIS (AP) — A Paris court has convicted three young men who tried unsuccessfully to travel to Syria to join militant fighters.","South Korean crew member says 'we were ordered' to leave sinking ferry. (This story from April 24 is corrected to attribute comment in lead paragraph to male crew member, not female) SEOUL (Reuters) - A member of crew of a South Korean ferry that sank last week said on Thursday he and his colleagues were \\\\\"under command\\\\\" to abandon ship. The unidentified crew member, speaking briefly to reporters on the way from court back into detention, was speaking behind a surgical mask and wearing a baseball cap with a jacket hood. As the ferry began sinking, the crew told the children to stay in their cabins.","Engagement off, French Open over for Wozniacki. PARIS (AP) — About a week after her engagement to two-time major golf champion Rory McIlroy was called off, Caroline Wozniacki exited the French Open in the first round.","Ukrainian PM reports accident at nuclear power plant. KIEV (Reuters) - Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk said on Wednesday an accident had occurred at the Zaporizhye nuclear power plant (NPP) in south-east Ukraine and called on the energy minister to hold a news conference. \"I know that an accident has occurred at the Zaporizhye NPP,\" Yatseniuk said, asking new energy minister Volodymyr Demchyshyn to make clear when the problem would be resolved and what steps would be taken to restore normal power supply across Ukraine. ...","Liverpool in charge of Premier League title race. LIVERPOOL, England (AP) — Liverpool took command of the Premier League title race by beating Manchester City 3-2 in a match of wide-ranging emotions at Anfield, although the destiny of the trophy is also in Chelsea's hands after its 1-0 win at Swansea on Sunday.","Ireland ready to salute record-breaker O'Driscoll. The latest stop on Brian O'Driscoll's long goodbye to rugby is at Lansdowne Road on Saturday against Italy in the Six Nations, with the centre marking his final home match for Ireland with a record 140th test cap.","EU will 'play its role' to support Ukraine-Russia gas deal. The European Union will \"fully play its role\" to implement the gas deal signed by Ukraine and Russia on Thursday, the French and German leaders said in a joint statement. Francois Hollande and Angela Merkel said they had spoken with Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Ukrainian counterpart Petro Poroshenko earlier in the evening, and all four \"have welcomed the conclusion of negotiations on the delivery of Russian gas to Ukraine, achieved thanks to the mediation of the European Union\". Russia, Ukraine and the EU signed a provisional deal in Brussels on Thursday on the delivery of Russian gas to Ukraine, and on to other parts of Europe, over the winter.","China condemns Japan leader on visit to Ethiopia. ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (AP) — China is expressing anger at Japan's prime minister on his visit to Africa.","UK's Osborne says more sanctions against Russia may be needed. LONDON (Reuters) - British finance minister George Osborne said on Monday that more sanctions against Russia may be needed, and that no-one should doubt Britain's resolve to punish those responsible for last week's Malaysia Airlines plane crash in Ukraine. \"I think further sanctions might well be required, and the European countries including Britain are getting together shortly to discuss that,\" Osborne told Sky News. (Reporting by Andy Bruce, editing by David Milliken)","As clock winds down, CP Rail's Harrison hunts for his dream deal. By Allison Martell and Nick Carey TORONTO/CHICAGO (Reuters) - Veteran railroad boss Hunter Harrison has won over many critics since taking over as chief executive of Canadian Pacific Railway , but he still has unfinished business - creation of a consolidated North American railway - and he is running out of time to do it. That might explain why CP, Canada's No. 2 railway with extensive operations in the United States, and the No. 3 U.S. railway, CSX Corp , have been talking about combining, even though such a deal would face tough regulatory barriers and alarm customers. ...","Ringleader in Canada terror case pleads guilty. Ottawa (AFP) - The alleged ringleader of a Canadian terror cell accused of planning attacks against the military was jailed for 24 years on Wednesday after admitting to possessing an explosive device.","Militants attack presidential palace in mounting Yemen turmoil. By Mohammed Ghobari SANAA (Reuters) - Suspected al Qaeda-linked gunmen attacked Yemen's presidential palace on Friday and tried to kill the defense minister in his car, selecting high profile targets in apparent reprisal for the army's biggest push against militants in nearly two years. Four soldiers were killed in a gun battle of up to an hour that broke out when militants attacked the main gate of the palace in the capital Sanaa, a security source said. Sanaa was in lockdown after the gunfight, with checkpoints set up at all the main entrances into the capital. An explosion was later heard near a building used by the government's intelligence services in another district of the city, residents told Reuters.","Man shot with stun gun dies at border crossing. SAN DIEGO (AP) — San Diego police say a 40-year-old man died after a border inspector shot him with a stun gun at the nation's busiest crossing.","Glitch sees Swiss charged twice for card payments. GENEVA (AP) — Shoppers in Switzerland must have thought they were seeing double when they checked their bank accounts this week.","Sweden, Canada reach Olympic curling semifinals. SOCHI, Russia (AP) — Sweden and Canada became the first two men's teams to qualify for the Olympic curling semifinals on Sunday, leaving a three-way fight between Norway, China and Britain for the two remaining spots.","Merkel pledges NATO will defend Baltic member states. Germany's Angela Merkel promised the Baltic states on Monday that NATO would defend them, although it would not send permanent combat troops but would increase maneuvers in the region. Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania - former Soviet republics with their own Russian-speaking minorities - are increasingly anxious that the conflict in Ukraine and Russia's annexation of Crimea could herald destabilisation in their own region by Moscow. The Baltic states have asked for an increased NATO presence to reinforce Article 5 of the alliance's constitution, which states that an attack on one of its members is an act of aggression against all, obliging them to react. \"I want to stress that ... Article 5 of the NATO contract - the duty to provide mutual support - is not something which just exists on paper, but is also something which must be filled with life,\" said Merkel on a visit to the Latvian capital, Riga.","State TV in Iran reports small passenger plane crashes in capital, Tehran; unknown casualties. TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — State TV in Iran reports small passenger plane crashes in capital, Tehran; unknown casualties.","US women lose hockey gold in heartbreaking fashion. SOCHI, Russia (AP) — A two-goal lead blown in the final four minutes. A long shot that clanged off the post of an empty net. Two perplexing penalties in overtime, setting up a golden goal for Canada.","Top Asian News at 5:30 a.m. GMT. BANGKOK (AP) — Thailand's prime minister is set to discuss with the country's polling body the possibility of postponing a general election set for Sunday. Election Commissioner Somchai Srisutthiyakorn said Tuesday that the election should be cancelled due to potential violence ahead of the vote.","Libyan Islamist militiamen move in to US embassy. Islamist militiamen have moved in to the American embassy compound in the Libyan capital after it was evacuated last month, an AFP photographer said on Sunday. Members of the Fajr Libya (Libya Dawn) group said they had gone in to secure the complex of several villas in southern Tripoli to prevent it from being looted. Washington evacuated its embassy staff on July 27, with Secretary of State John Kerry warning the mission had faced a \"real risk\" from fierce fighting between armed groups for control of Tripoli's international airport. Fajr Libya won the battle for the airport, seizing it on August 23 from nationalist fighters from Zintan, southwest of Tripoli, who had held it since the overthrow of long-time dictator Moamer Kadhafi in 2011.","Germany's changes pay off at World Cup. RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Germany coach Joachim Loew's decision to make several changes in his lineup and return captain Philipp Lahm to right back made his defense stronger and earned his team a place in the semifinals of the World Cup.","2004 tsunami: Children in mud, lone mosque in Aceh. Some 230,000 people were killed in the Indian Ocean tsunami set off by a magnitude 9.1 earthquake on Dec. 26, 2004. A dozen countries were hit, from Indonesia to India to Africa's east coast. Scores of Associated Press journalists covered the disaster, and as the 10th anniversary approached, the AP asked 10 of them to describe the images that have stuck with them the most. This is the ninth of their stories, which are being published daily through Dec. 26.","Tennis-Fed Cup world group quarterfinals Australia v Russia latest. Feb 9 (Infostrada Sports) - Latest from the Fed Cup World Group Quarterfinals match between Australia and Russia on Saturday Australia beat 2-Russia 3-0 On SaturdaySamantha Stosur (Australia) beat Veronika Kudermetova (Russia) 6-4 6-0 Casey Dellacqua (Australia) beat Victoria Kan (Russia) 6-0 6-2 On SundaySamantha Stosur (Australia) beat Victoria Kan (Russia) 6-2 6-3","Mauresmo advice helps Murray start in style. Andy Murray credited new coach Amelie Mauresmo with helping to quash his nerves as the champion kicked off his Wimbledon title defence with a 6-1, 6-4, 7-5 victory over Belgium's David Goffin. With Murray concerned about how he would cope with his first match back at Wimbledon since his historic final victory over Novak Djokovic last year, the 27-year-old was able to take inspiration from Mauresmo's advice during a dinner last week.","Barcelona hosts APOEL in Champions League. MADRID (AP) — Luis Enrique will make his Champions League debut as Barcelona coach when the team hosts Cypriot club APOEL on Wednesday at the Camp Nou.","Mission Unaccomplished: Containing Ebola in Africa. Looking back, the mistakes are easy to see: Waiting too long, spending too little, relying on the wrong people, thinking small when they needed to think big. Many people, governments and agencies share the blame for failing to contain Ebola when it emerged in West Africa.","South Ga. bank director accused of losing millions before disappearing facing court appearance. BRUNSWICK, Ga. - A south Georgia bank director accused of losing millions of investor dollars before vanishing is set to appear in court.","Rights group: Iraq militants executed 160 captives. BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraqi insurgents executed at least 160 captives earlier this month in the northern city of Tikrit, Human Rights Watch said Friday, citing an analysis of satellite imagery and grisly photos released by the militants.","Church of England takes step toward female bishops. LONDON (AP) — The Church of England's General Synod has moved a step closer to creating its first female bishop.","Russia: info 'war' in Malaysian plane disaster. UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Russia's U.N. ambassador cast doubt on the Netherlands-led investigation into the downing of a Malaysian Airlines jet over eastern Ukraine's rebel territory and called Friday for a new probe assisted by the United Nations.","China and Taiwan hold historic talks. Nanjing (China) (AFP) - China and Taiwan on Tuesday held their first government-to-government talks since they split 65 years ago after a brutal civil war -- a symbolic yet historic move between the former bitter rivals. Taipei's Wang Yu-chi, who oversees the island's China policy, met his Beijing counterpart Zhang Zhijun in Nanjing on the first day of a four-day trip. Nanjing, in eastern China, was the country's capital when it was ruled by Wang's Kuomintang, or Nationalist, party in the first half of the 20th century. When they lost China's civil war -- which cost millions of lives -- to Mao Zedong's Communists in 1949, two million supporters of the Nationalist leader Chiang Kai-shek fled to Taiwan, officially known as the Republic of China.","2 members of punk band Pussy Riot held in Sochi. SOCHI, Russia (AP) — A Russian human rights activist says two members of the punk band Pussy Riot have been detained near the Olympics in downtown Sochi.","Briton charged with courtside betting at Australia Open. A British man appeared in court Thursday charged with illegal courtside betting at the Australian Open, as police warned of the need to crack down on the practice. Daniel Dobson, 22, was arrested after a match on Tuesday following intelligence received by Tennis Australia and passed to police. This allowed him to wirelessly relay the results of points won in the match to an international betting agency in real-time, the Melbourne Magistrates Court heard. Reports cited police prosecutor Josh Diemar as alleging Dobson sent the results before they were available through official channels, which he claimed had the ability to affect betting odds.","World War I: the war that inspired innovative art. NEW YORK (AP) — In the summer of 1914, with the war in Europe just two weeks old, Henry James knew that something had been lost forever.","Sri Lankan asylum seekers to be taken to Australia. SYDNEY (AP) — Australia's immigration minister says Sri Lankan asylum seekers who have been languishing on board an Australian customs vessel for weeks will temporarily be brought to the mainland.","German cyclist Kittel sprints to stage win in Dubai. Dubai (AFP) - Germany's Marcel Kittel of the Giant-Shimano team won the third stage of the Dubai Tour on Friday as American Taylor Phinney maintained the overall race lead.","Suspected Islamists kill dozens in northeast Nigeria. MAIDUGURI Nigeria (Reuters) - Suspected Islamist militants killed dozens of civilians in three villages in remote northeastern Nigeria, continuing a pattern of almost daily deadly violence, a security source and a relative of one of the victims said on Wednesday. Gunmen in combat clothing riding on army trucks entered the villages of Attagara, Agapalawa and Aganjara, in the Gwoza area along the Cameroon border, on Tuesday. Gwoza is the main stronghold of militant Islamist group Boko Haram. They opened fire on villagers and burned houses and churches to the ground. ...","250 Anne Frank books vandalized in Tokyo libraries. TOKYO (AP) — Anne Frank's \"The Diary of a Young Girl\" and scores of books about the young Holocaust victim have been vandalized in Tokyo public libraries.","Nigeria's opposition slams ruling party on insecurity. Nigeria's main opposition party has taken up the issue of insecurity, slamming President Goodluck Jonathan's party for failing to stem the rising violence, ahead of what it calls \"watershed\" elections next year. Africa's most populous country and biggest economy will go to the polls in February 2015 to elect a new president and parliament, overshadowed by a five-year insurgency by Boko Haram Islamists who have killed thousands and whose abduction of more than 200 schoolgirls two months ago sparked global outrage. Former governor of southern Edo state John Oyegun emerged as the new chairman, while the party slated November for the selection of its presidential candidate. \"Our country is at its lowest moment since the end of the unfortunate civil war in 1970,\" former APC interim chairman Bisi Akande told thousands of party supporters at the convention, recalling the 30-month war that broke out when the southeast Igbo people attempted a secede from Nigeria and form a Republic of Biafra.","England v India scores. LONDON (AP) — Scores Monday at lunch on day five of the second test between England and India at Lord's:","China mulling cigarette price increase to curb smoking. BEIJING (AP) — A Chinese health official says the government is likely to raise cigarette prices as the nation of 300 million smokers cracks down on the habit.","Chinese elite push for release of jailed Nobel laureate. By Benjamin Kang Lim and Michael Martina BEIJING (Reuters) - A group of \\\\\"princelings\\\\\", children of China's political elite, has quietly urged the Communist Party leadership to release jailed Nobel laureate Liu Xiaobo on parole to improve the country's international image, two sources said. Liu's release is not high on the agenda of the party, which is trying to push through painful economic, judicial and military reforms amid the most extensive crackdown on corruption in over six decades, the sources with ties to the leadership said, requesting anonymity. But the back channel push for Liu's parole shows that a debate is taking place among leaders about damage to China's reputation caused by his jailing. Liu, 58, a veteran dissident involved in the 1989 Tiananmen Square pro-democracy protests crushed by the army, was jailed for 11 years in 2009 on subversion charges for organizing a petition urging an end to one-party rule.","Guinea-Bissau presidential vote goes to run-off. Guinea-Bissau's presidential election will go to a second round between the main party's candidate and the army-backed hopeful, the election commission said Wednesday, after no one secured a majority in the crunch poll. Jose Mario Vaz of the African Party for the Independence of Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde (PAIGC) came first in Sunday's ballot with 40.9 percent of the vote while Nuno Gomes Nabiam garnered 25.1 percent. Almost three-quarters of Guinea-Bissau's eligible voters turned out for the watershed elections, called to turn the page on years of political instability and military violence. Guinea-Bissau has seen four decades of chaos marked by a series of mutinies since it won independence from Portugal, and commentators have called for the new regime to finally bring the military into line.","CEO: Sony needed to act sooner, but will reform. TOKYO (AP) — Sony's chief executive says the company has accumulated huge losses because it has not responded quickly enough to changing market conditions but is promising a return to profit next year.","Algeria's Bouteflika set for re-election, foes cry fraud. By Patrick Markey ALGIERS (Reuters) - Algeria's President Abdelaziz Bouteflika appeared set to win re-election for another five years on Friday after a vote opponents dismissed as a stage-managed fraud to keep the ailing leader in power. Sitting a wheelchair, Bouteflika cast his vote on Thursday in a rare public appearance since suffering a stroke last year that has raised doubts about whether, after 15 years in power, he is fit enough to govern the North African oil state. Official results were scheduled to be released later on Friday by the interior ministry, but Bouteflika's allies on Thursday were already claiming a landslide victory for the veteran of Algeria's independence war. Bouteflika, 77, was already widely expected to win with the backing of the ruling Front de Liberation Nationale (FLN) party, which has dominated the political system since independence from France in 1962.","Court to look at 'born in Jerusalem' passport case. WASHINGTON (AP) — Confronting an issue fraught with Middle East politics, the Supreme Court has agreed to hear for the second time to hear a passport dispute centering on whether Americans born in Jerusalem may list their place of birth as Israel.","Leonard named AP's Ukraine correspondent. LONDON (AP) — The Associated Press has named Peter Leonard to be its correspondent for Ukraine, whose Western-leaning government is struggling to unite the nation in the face of a deadly insurgency.","Army: Bergdahl looked 'good' after returning to US. SAN ANTONIO (AP) — Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl \"looked good\" after arriving back in the United States and is working daily with health professionals after being held by the Taliban for five years, military officials said Friday.","Giroud, Koscielny miss France training session. RIBEIRAO PRETO, Brazil (AP) — Striker Olivier Giroud and center half Laurent Koscielny missed France's training session Wednesday, while center half Mamadou Sakho took part after having a scan for bruising on his right knee.","Man-made warming becomes main cause of glacier retreat, study says. Man-made greenhouse gas emissions have become the dominant cause of melting in glaciers from the Alps to the Andes that is raising world sea levels, a study said on Thursday. Human emissions accounted for an estimated 69 percent of loss of ice from glaciers from 1991-2010, overtaking natural climate variations that had been the main driver of a retreat since the mid-19th century, researchers wrote in the journal Science. Until now, scientists have struggled to quantify the impact of human behavior on glaciers because the frozen rivers of ice take decades, perhaps centuries, to respond to rising temperatures and shifts in snow and rainfall. It found that natural variations were not enough on their own, meaning man-made greenhouse gases played an increasing role.","Top Asian News at 7:00 p.m. GMT. KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — The Malaysian military has radar data showing the missing Boeing 777 jetliner changed course and made it to the Malacca Strait, hundreds of kilometers (miles) from the last position recorded by civilian authorities, according to a senior military official. The development injects more mystery into the investigation of the disappearance of Saturday's flight, and raises questions about why the aircraft was not transmitting signals detectable by civilian radar.","Hollande: French first lady on the mend, resting. THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — French President Francois Hollande is traveling abroad, hoping to concentrate on state business. It's his alleged monkey business that's on many minds instead.","Syria strikes on jihadist bastion kill 53, mostly civilians: NGO. Beirut (AFP) - Syrian air strikes against the northern jihadist bastion of Raqa on Saturday killed 53 people, a monitoring group said, updating an earlier toll, and adding that at least 31 were civilians.","Crimea vote fully legal, Putin tells Obama. Moscow (AFP) - President Vladimir Putin on Sunday told US President Barack Obama in telephone talks that the referendum on the Ukrainian region of Crimea joining Russia was \"completely in line with the norms of international law,\" the Kremlin said.","China tells reporters to work within state media. BEIJING (AP) — Chinese regulators have banned its journalists from sharing information they have obtained on the job with overseas media or publishing it in any venue outside the media they are employed.","Watch for companies to claim 'Jack Frost ate our profits'. By James B. Kelleher and Nivedita Bhattacharjee CHICAGO (Reuters) - Sick of hearing Americans complain about the winter weather? Analysts say experience shows it is inevitable some companies will use the severe temperatures and serial snow and ice storms as a cover to conceal problems, such as management missteps and other internal shortcomings.","Thai protest leader rejects compromise but says 'no civil war'. By Alan Raybould and Orathai Sriring BANGKOK (Reuters) - The leader of a movement trying to topple Thailand's government said he would call off his protest if civil war threatened to break out but rejected any compromise with the government ahead of a planned \"shutdown\" of the capital. Supporters of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra were rallying in her defence on Sunday but steered clear of Bangkok, where people went about their business as usual. The anti-government protesters accuse Yingluck and her brother, former premier Thaksin Shinawatra, of corruption. Protest leader Suthep Thaugsuban ruled out talks with the government in an interview published on Sunday, but said he would stand down his movement if, as some fear, violence escalates and civil war looms.","Suicide car bomb kills 2 in east Afghanistan. KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — An Afghan provincial official says a suicide car bomber has attacked a police facility in the country's east, killing two officers.","Nigerian police ban protests about kidnapped girls. ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — Nigerian police say they have banned protests in the capital demanding that the government rescues the more than 200 girls still held captive by Boko Haram militants.","China's Alipay offers mobile wallet for US sites. NEW YORK (AP) — China's half billion online shoppers will soon have an easier way to shop in the U.S.","Top Asian News at 11:00 a.m. GMT. KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Four military search planes were dispatched Thursday to determine whether two large objects bobbing in a remote part of the Indian Ocean are debris from the missing Malaysia Airlines flight. One of the objects spotted by satellite imagery was 24 meters (almost 80 feet) in length and the other was 5 meters (15 feet). There could be other objects in the area, a four-hour flight from Australia's southwestern coast, said John Young, manager of the Australian Maritime Safety Authority's emergency response division.","US, UK join major nuclear weapons conference. Vienna (AFP) - The US and Britain took part Monday for the first time in a conference of some 800 delegates from more than 150 countries exploring the risks posed by the world's 16,000 nuclear warheads.","Cambodians flee Thailand as junta targets illegal labor. By Amy Sawitta Lefevre SA KAEW Thailand (Reuters) - Squatting on the ground with their hands on each others' shoulders in 15 neat rows, hundreds of illegal Cambodian workers, including women and children, await deportation at an army base near the Thai-Cambodia border. On a dusty highway, trucks, buses and police cars packed with Cambodians, some with fingers poking through wire mesh windows, roll by. The International Organization for Migration (IOM) estimates that over the past week 100,000 Cambodians have poured over the border, as the military that seized power in a May 22 coup intensifies lax measures to regulate illegal labor. The military's ruling National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) insists Cambodians are leaving of their own accord and said 60,000 had crossed the border as of Saturday.","Vatican, Anglicans, Muslims unite to fight slavery. Catholics, Anglicans and Muslims came together Monday to fight slavery with the launch of a global network to tackle human trafficking, forced prostitution and child labour. The Global Freedom Network, the brainchild of billionaire Australian magnate Andrew Forrest, will pressure governments and businesses to free millions of men, women and children held in bondage around the world by 2020. The Vatican, the Anglican Communion and Cairo's Islamic al-Azhar University are leading the initiative, which \"brings together faith communities of almost three billion people -- nearly half of the world's population -- and will invite all faiths to join its leadership,\" he added. Overcoming strained relations between the Vatican and al-Azhar -- which deteriorated during the papacy of pope Benedict XVI -- the network brings together Pope Francis, Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby and the Grand Imam of al-Azhar, Ahmed el-Tayeb.","U.S. Senator offers measure to sanction Russian arms exporter. Lawmakers will consider legislation this week to cut off all U.S. business with Russia's state-owned arms exporting firm Rosoboronexport over Moscow's intervention in Ukraine. Indiana Republican Senator Dan Coats offered an amendment on Monday to a broad Ukraine aid bill that would bar the U.S. government from doing any business with Rosoboronexport and terminate any existing agreements. The amendment would also authorize President Barack Obama to deduct from foreign assistance programs any funds spent on Russian weapons through Rosoboronexport. \"(Afghanistan President Hamid) Karzai will have to buy his Russian helicopters with his own money, not ours,\" said Coats, a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee after noting Karzai has backed Russia's annexation of Crimea.","Dortmund scrapes 1-0 win at Freiburg in Bundesliga. BERLIN (AP) — Borussia Dortmund captain Sebastian Kehl scored the only goal as his team consolidated second place in the Bundesliga with a 1-0 win at his former club Freiburg on Sunday.","US Secret Service chief resigns over security breaches. Washington (AFP) - The director of the US Secret Service resigned Wednesday following a string of lapses by the elite presidential protection branch, including one in which an armed intruder ran into the White House.","AIG's income from premiums fall, shares down. (Reuters) - American International Group Inc posted a 27 percent fall in quarterly income, hurt by a drop in earnings from premiums and higher disaster losses in its core property and casualty insurance business. The U.S. insurer is in the middle of a turnaround after almost collapsing under the weight of soured derivative bets during the 2008 financial crisis. It has since repaid the $180 billion in bailout funds it received in 2008 and has focused on its core insurance business. Net premiums earned in its property casualty unit fell 4 percent to $8.23 billion in the first quarter ended March 31, AIG said on Monday.","BRAZIL BEAT: Sao Paulo traffic grinds to halt. SAO PAULO (AP) — Sao Paulo traffic crawls on a typical day. When Brazil is playing a World Cup game, it barely moves.","James Rodriguez signs 6-year deal with Real Madrid. MADRID (AP) — James Rodriguez has signed a six-year deal with Real Madrid.","Iran's Rouhani blasts critics as 'political cowards'. Iran's President Hassan Rouhani delivered a broadside Monday at critics of his efforts to engage with the West and seek a nuclear deal, accusing them of political cowardice and mischief. In a speech broadcast live, Rouhani attacked the hardline factions within Iran's parliament who have consistently opposed him since he took office a year ago after a surprise electoral victory. Rouhani, a moderate whose tenure has so far focused on economic and foreign policy rather than social reform, said Iran had to counter three phobias abroad; Such hardliners are \"50 years late\" Rouhani said, warning that such trenchant opposition would result in more volatility for Iran, rather than \"win-win relationships\" after years in the diplomatic wilderness.","Dutch speedskaters end Olympics with 2 more golds. SOCHI, Russia (AP) — The Netherlands won gold in the last speedskating event of the Sochi Olympics, routing Poland in the final of women's team pursuit Saturday.","Tevez looking for more success at Juventus. MILAN (AP) — Carlos Tevez is getting older, still scoring goals, and thinking about winning another Champions league title.","Celtic seek to finish season on a high. Celtic manager Neil Lennon says he wants the champions to end the season on a winning note when they take on Scottish Cup finalists Dundee United on Sunday. The Hoops will be presented with the Scottish Premiership trophy following the match at Celtic Park. Celtic's 3-3 draw with St Johnstone on Wednesday means the Glasgow giants won't be able to break the 100-point barrier this season. \\\\\"I wasn't happy with our defending for the final two goals, I thought we were lazy,\\\\\" Lennon said of the draw with St Johnstone, who are also through to the Scottish Cup final.","UN urges Venezuela to release jailed activist. GENEVA (AP) — The United Nations' top human rights official is calling for the immediate release of Leopoldo Lopez and dozens of other jailed opponents of Venezuela's socialist government.","Pilgrims amass in Poland to celebrate John Paul II. KRAKOW, Poland (AP) — From distant Canada to small Polish towns, pilgrims were arriving Saturday in places linked to Pope John Paul II for concerts and prayers held on the eve of him being declared a saint","Top Asian News at 5:30 p.m. GMT. WASHINGTON (AP) — A U.S. research institute says an upgrade of North Korea's main rocket launch pad could be complete by April meaning it would be ready for new launches. The U.S.-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies says new satellite imagery shows modifications underway at the west coast site of Sohae mean it could eventually accommodate rockets up to 50 meters long. The analysis was published Thursday on the institute's website, 38 North.","FIFA prosecutor Garcia wants his report published. ZURICH (AP) — FIFA prosecutor Michael Garcia says he wants his investigative report into alleged World Cup corruption to be published.","Sen. Paul: Give Caterpillar award for tax strategy. WASHINGTON (AP) — Caterpillar Inc. executives defended a tax strategy Tuesday that has saved the manufacturing giant billions in U.S. taxes. They got support from Republican senators, including one who said the company deserves an award.","British air traffic control: Computer glitch causing air delays over London has been resolved. LONDON (AP) — British air traffic control: Computer glitch causing air delays over London has been resolved.","US gains 288k jobs, most in 2 years; rate 6.3 pct.. WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. employers added a robust 288,000 jobs in April, the most in two years, the strongest evidence to date that the economy is picking up after a brutal winter slowed growth.","Vettori to play at Champions Trophy. WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Former New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori will play for Northern Districts province at next month's Champions League Twenty20 cricket tournament in India.","Raymond James reports strongest recruiting year since 2009. By Elizabeth Dilts NEW YORK (Reuters) - Brokerage and investment bank Raymond James Financial Inc just completed its best broker recruiting year since 2009, the firm reported on Thursday. The firm added a net of 68 U.S.-based advisers in the fiscal year ending Sept 30, 2013, bringing the total to 6,265 advisers. Actual recruitment was far higher, but many new hires were offset by brokers retiring and moving to other firms, said Paul Shoukry, Raymond James' vice president of finance and investor relations. ...","Ferrer retires in Mexico, Murray into semis. ACAPULCO, Mexico (AP) — Top-seeded David Ferrer withdrew from his Mexican Open quarterfinal against South Africa' Kevin Anderson in the second set on Thursday due to a left thigh strain.","Sailing official wants tests for Rio pollution. RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Sailing's governing body may conduct independent water-quality tests in Rio de Janeiro's polluted Guanabara Bay, the sailing venue for the 2016 Olympics and the site of Rio's first test event in 21⁄2 months.","History repeating as war-torn South Sudan faces famine. A fly-covered baby crawls on the baked earth of southern Sudan watched by a vulture: a brutal but iconic photograph of famine that shocked the world two decades ago. Today, aid workers warn that deadly famine will return in a matter of weeks, killing tens of thousands, as civil war in what is now South Sudan continues. \"The same politicians and their supporters are fighting for power, and once again civilians are paying the price,\" said Peter Moszynski, an aid worker during the famine of the 1990s who has returned to work there once again. The current civil war broke out in mid-December after sacked vice-president Riek Machar was accused by President Salva Kiir of a failed coup attempt.","Floods hit Brazil WCup city Natal before US game. RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Officials in the World Cup host city of Natal have declared a flood alert ahead of the U.S. team's debut match against Ghana in the northeastern Brazilian city.","Nine dead in Iraq attacks as unrest spikes. Attacks across Iraq, including in the normally peaceful south, killed nine people Monday after unrest a day earlier left 40 dead, the latest in a protracted surge in nationwide bloodshed. The violence comes as political leaders jostle to build alliances amid what is expected to be a months-long period of government formation following April elections, with bloodletting at its worst since Iraq emerged from a brutal Sunni-Shiite sectarian war. A spate of bombs went off around Baghdad and in restive Sunni-majority Salaheddin province Monday, as well as in Najaf and Dhi Qar in the typically quiet Shiite-dominated south, officials said. South of Baghdad, a roadside bomb near a secondary school in Mahmudiyah killed a male pupil, and a car bomb near a Shiite mosque in Iskandiriyah killed two people.","Tech jitters continue to weigh on world stocks. LONDON (AP) — Jitters over the valuations of technology companies pulled world stock prices lower on Wednesday, mainly in Asia and the U.S.","Inter opens Europa campaign with 1-0 win at Dnipro. PARIS (AP) — Three-time European champion Inter Milan opened its Europa League campaign with a hard-fought 1-0 win away to Ukrainian side Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk on Thursday.","Canada's Encana to sell full stake in PrairieSky for about C$2.6 billion. (Reuters) - Canada's Encana Corp said it would sell its entire stake in PrairieSky Royalty Ltd for gross proceeds of about C$2.6 billion ($2.4 billion). The company said it would sell 70.2 million shares at C$36.50 per share through a bought deal financing, which is expected to close by Sept. 26. The price represented a 4.2 percent discount to PrairieSky's Monday closing on the Toronto Stock Exchange. The sale is to underwriters joint bookrun by TD Securities Inc, CIBC, BMO Capital Markets and RBC Capital Markets. (Reporting by Anannya Pramanick in Bangalore; Editing by Savio D'Souza)","South Korea probes reports airline boss' daughter ordered attendant off plane. SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea's transport ministry is investigating reports that the daughter of the chairman of Korean Air Lines Co, who oversees in-flight service, caused a plane being pushed back from a gate to return in order to expel a flight attendant. Heather Cho, 40, was in a first class seat on a flight bound from New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport for Incheon, near Seoul, on Friday when she took issue with a flight attendant who handed her macadamia nuts in a bag and not on a dish, according to local media reports and an industry source. ...","Thai Airways reform to test business credentials of military government. By Khettiya Jittapong and Amy Sawitta Lefevre BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thailand's new military rulers have singled out the country's troubled flagship airline as the first state enterprise to undergo reform, an exercise that will test their unproven business acumen and ability to separate politics from business. Thai Airways International Pcl has racked up four quarters of losses due to declining ticket sales, high operating costs and ruthless competition. Boardroom fights have also led to slow decision-making and a lack of coherent strategy, sources in the company say. The junta led by General Prayuth Chan-ocha has told the chief of the Royal Thai Air Force to fix the airline. Air Chief Marshall Prajin Juntong, who also oversees economic matters for the military government, said on Friday a detailed restructuring plan aimed at returning the carrier to profit will be considered by the board at a meeting on July 24.","Muslims march in Central African Republic capital, call for evacuation. By Serge Leger Kokpakpa BANGUI (Reuters) - Hundreds of Muslims marched in their last major enclave in Central African Republic's capital Bangui on Saturday, protesting against a call by the president that they disarm and demanding their safe evacuation from the city. A tense calm has returned to Bangui following two days of violence ignited by an attack by Muslim gunmen on a church on Wednesday. In a televised address on Friday, Interim President Catherine Samba-Panza promised that those responsible for the church attack would be punished and that Bangui, including the Muslim-dominated PK5 neighbourhood, would be disarmed. \"We are defending ourselves because we have no one,\" Ousmane Abakar, one of the march organisers told Reuters.","Sinn Fein head still questioned over IRA killing. BELFAST, Northern Ireland (AP) — Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams remains in police custody as detectives question him over his alleged role in the Irish Republican Army killing of a Belfast mother of 10 in 1972.","Hong Kong democracy protesters and officials mark uneasy National Day. By Donny Kwok and Irene Jay Liu HONG KONG (Reuters) - Thousands of pro-democracy protesters thronged the streets of Hong Kong on Wednesday, some of them jeering National Day celebrations, as demonstrations spread to a new area of the city, ratcheting up pressure on the pro-Beijing government. There was little sign of momentum flagging on the fifth day of the student-led protest, whose aim has been to occupy sections of the city, including around the Central financial district, in anger at a Chinese decision to limit voters' choices in a 2017 leadership election. ...","Bracewell returns to NZ squad for Pakistan tests. WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Fast bowler Doug Bracewell has returned from disciplinary exile to claim a place in the New Zealand team which will play three tests against Pakistan in the United Arab Emirates next month.","New Hillsborough inquests give hope to victims' families. Fresh inquests into the 1989 Hillsborough disaster, in which 96 football supporters were crushed to death, begin in northwest England on Monday after the initial verdicts were quashed amid claims of a police cover-up. The families of Liverpool supporters who died in Britain's worst sporting disaster will gather in a purpose-built court near Warrington, east of Liverpool, after a two-decade fight to overturn the accidental death verdicts handed down at the initial 1991 inquiry. The fans were caught up in a crush on a terrace during an FA Cup semi-final against Nottingham Forest at the Hillsborough Stadium in Sheffield, northern England. Some died on the pitch as fellow fans and police officers desperately tried to revive them, while other fans made makeshift stretchers out of advertising hoardings.","Kenya Wildlife Service struggles to stop poaching. NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Kenya's wildlife authority says it needs help to curb the escalation of killings of the endangered elephants and rhinos for ivory tusks and horns.","Spain: King abdicates for his more popular son. MADRID (AP) — King Juan Carlos, who led Spain's transition from dictatorship to democracy but faced damaging scandals amid the nation's financial meltdown, announced Monday he will abdicate in favor of his more popular son so that fresh royal blood can rally the nation.","At least 74 dead in Boko Haram violence in Nigeria. Maiduguri (Nigeria) (AFP) - At least 74 people were killed in attacks blamed on Boko Haram militants this weekend, taking the overall death toll this year beyond 300, with no apparent end in sight to the carnage. Nearly 250 people had lost their lives since the turn of the year, even before the latest attacks, which saw twin blasts rip through the capital of Borno state, Maiduguri and heavily armed gunmen then open fire on a nearby village. The attacks will likely renew fears that Nigeria is struggling to contain the Islamist insurgency and the perception that militant fighters are able to roam the northeast with impunity, attacking at will. At least 35 people were killed in the crowded Gomari district of Maiduguri, many of them food vendors and children hawking goods, as locals prepared for evening prayers on Saturday.","Springboks beat England 31-28 at Twickenham. LONDON (AP) — South Africa withstood a second-half fightback from England to win 31-28 at Twickenham on Saturday, extending the Springboks' unbeaten run over the host to 12 games.","As PIMCO bleeds assets, Gross shows risk of star culture. By Simon Jessop and Nishant Kumar LONDON (Reuters) - Bill Gross' exit from Pimco has seen billions of dollars leave the fund group and even more value wiped off the share price of its parent company, offering a warning both to firms who rely on star managers and the investors who chase them. Gross's flagship Pimco Total Return Fund lost money every month from May last year, totaling nearly $70 billion by the end of August, Lipper data shows. More money has left since he was escorted to the door of the firm he co-founded in 1971. ...","U.S. investigates reports of American suicide bomber in Syria. By Mark Hosenball WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. government agencies were examining social media postings purporting to show how an American who was fighting with an Al Qaeda affiliate blew himself up recently in a suicide attack in northern Syria, U.S. officials said. According to internet postings, the suicide bomber, who called himself \"Abu Hurayra al-Amriki\" carried out one of four suicide bombings on May 25 in Syria's Idlib province on behalf of Jabhat al-Nusra, al Qaeda's affiliate fighting to oust the government of President Bashar al Assad. If his identity is confirmed, he would be the first American known to have committed a suicide bombing in Syria on behalf of al Qaeda, said Laith Alkhouri, a senior analyst with Flashpoint Global Partners, which monitors militant websites for government and private clients.","At 22, Courtois among best World Cup goalies. MOGI DAS CRUZES, Brazil (AP) — At the age of 22, Thibaut Courtois already has a slew of silverware and a reputation as one of the best goalkeepers in the world.","Nigeria's opposition leader slams Boko Haram 'reign of terror'. Nigeria's main opposition leader Mohammadu Buhari on Saturday condemned deadly Boko Haram attacks this weeks in two cities repeatedly hit by the extremist group which seeks to impose an Islamist state in the mainly Muslim north. On Wednesday four people lost their lives in Kano, northern Nigeria's largest city when two female bombers detonated their explosives in a market. The attack came less than two weeks after a horrific attack at Kano's central mosque that left some 120 dead. \"I condemn, unreservedly and with every strength in me, the recent terrorist attacks in Kano and Jos, the two historic cities that are known for their rich cultural and religious heritage,\" Buhari said in a statement.","Poland's Sikorski to remain as parliament speaker. WARSAW, Poland (AP) — The speaker of the Polish parliament, Radek Sikorski, has survived an attempt by some lawmakers to have him ousted for claiming falsely that Russia made an offer to Poland to carve up Ukraine.","Britain's Cameron isolated in EU leader search. BRUSSELS (AP) — Many political battles are ugly — but toss in 28 nations, high unemployment, angry voters and a skeptical Britain and the fight over who will be the European Union's next chief executive may have profound consequences.","Ukraine says Russia tries to seize airports, base. SIMFEROPOL, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine accused Russia of a \"military invasion and occupation\" on Friday, saying Russian troops have taken up positions around a coast guard base and two airports on its strategic Crimea peninsula.","Haunted Falklands vet finds Argentine marine's family. Buenos Aires (AFP) - A British veteran searching for the identity of an Argentine marine he killed in the Falklands War will get a chance for closure after a newspaper found the man's family.","Kamran, Malik summoned for T20, Alam for Asia Cup. ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistan has summoned seemingly forgotten wicketkeeper Kamran Akmal and allrounder Shoaib Malik for the World Twenty20 and recalled middle-order batsman Fawad Alam for the preceding Asia Cup.","American imprisoned in Cuba ends hunger strike. WASHINGTON (AP) — An American imprisoned in Cuba for more than four years after illegally working to set up Internet access on the island suspended his hunger strike Friday after more than a week.","Sudan arrests opposition leader al-Mahdi, could face death penalty. (This May 17 story is refiled to show Mariam is al-Madhi's daughter, not granddaughter, in paragraph 4) By Khalid Abdel Aziz KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Sudanese opposition leader Sadiq al-Mahdi was arrested on Saturday on charges that could lead to the death penalty, a government official said, a move that could hurt efforts to ease political tensions before elections due next year. Al-Mahdi, a former prime minister in Sudan's last elected civilian government, is the head of the Umma Party, the most prominent party opposing President Omar Hassan al-Bashir, who ousted him in 1989. The public prosecutor had in the past days already opened an investigation into accusations that he insulted state security forces over a surge in violence in the troubled Darfur region. A government official, who declined to be named, confirmed al-Mahdi's arrest and the possible punishment he could face and said the investigations into him would start on Sunday.","Convicted Mafia boss wins UK extradition case. LONDON (AP) — A convicted Mafia boss has won his extradition case in Britain.","China agrees North Korea's nuclear activities a serious threat, says South. South Korea and China agreed on Monday recent nuclear activity by North Korea posed a serious threat to the peace and stability of the region and Pyongyang must not conduct a nuclear test, the South said after a meeting of their top diplomats. Renewed activity at North Korea's nuclear test site has indicated Pyongyang may be preparing a fourth nuclear test in contravention of U.N. sanctions. Analysis suggested the North may be close to miniaturizing a nuclear warhead to mount on a missile, alarming regional powers that have for two decades tried to rein in Pyongyang's atomic program.","German bank rejects $33m offer from Ecclestone. MUNICH (AP) — A German bank that once held a major stake in Formula One on Friday rejected Bernie Ecclestone's offer of a 25 million euro ($33 million) settlement in a dispute over the sale of that stake.","Airlines call for more security, passenger checks. KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — The disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 highlights the need for security improvements both in tracking aircraft and screening passengers before they board planes, the International Air Transport Association said Tuesday.","Sri Lanka bans global Tamil political groups. COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — Sri Lanka has banned the government-in-exile of ethnic minority Tamils and several other global Tamil political groups, accusing them of committing and supporting terrorism and freezing their assets.","Govt announces plans to introduce 12-sided £1 coin. A new 12-sided £1 coin, said by the Royal Mint to be \"the most secure coin in circulation\" is to be introduced in an effort to curb counterfeiting, under government plans announced Wednesday. Figures released by the Royal Mint estimate that around three percent of all £1 coins are now forgeries.","US says military engagement key for Myanmar reform. WASHINGTON (AP) — The appointee to become the top U.S. defense official for Asia says engagement with the Myanmar military is crucial for democratic reform in the Southeast Asian nation.","Blast in Hezbollah-run area of Beirut kills 5. BEIRUT (AP) — An explosion tore through a crowded commercial street Thursday in a south Beirut neighborhood that is bastion of support for the Shiite group Hezbollah, killing at least five people, setting cars ablaze and sending a column of black smoke above the Beirut skyline.","Neymar leads Brazil to 3-1 win over Croatia. SAO PAULO (AP) — Neymar gave Brazil a winning start to its home World Cup, scoring twice to lead the host nation to a 3-1 come-from-behind victory over Croatia in the opening game on Thursday.","Frenzel a \"50-50\" chance for Nordic large hill. KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia (AP) — Normal hill gold medalist Eric Frenzel has a cold and a high temperature and is considered only a \"50-50\" chance of competing in Tuesday's large hill final in Nordic combined at the Sochi Olympics.","Tributes planned for Hughes at Australia-India Test. Cricket Australia said Sunday they will stage a number of tributes to the late Phillip Hughes at this week's first Test against India at the Adelaide Oval. The Australian players will wear Hughes' Test cap number 408 on their playing shirts for the match, while players and team management will also wear black armbands in honour of their former team-mate. Prior to the start of play on Tuesday, the Australian and Indian teams will stand before a large 408 painted on the Adelaide Oval's playing surface as they observe a video tribute to Hughes, narrated by former Australia Test captain and prominent cricket commentator Richie Benaud. Following the tribute, which will be displayed on screens at the Adelaide Oval, the team and spectators will be asked to stand for 63 seconds of applause in recognition of Hughes's final unbeaten score.","Afghan election board to release final results. KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Afghan officials are to release the final results of the first round of voting in the presidential election and a runoff between the top two candidates is widely expected.","Violence-wracked Venezuela targets police corruption. Venezuela urged police Saturday to report corruption in their ranks seen as part of the violent crime crisis, after a famous ex-beauty queen was slain. In this violent crime-wracked nation, Interior Minister Miguel Rodriguez gave out his cellular number during an address and asked police to call him to report corruption. Report them fearlessly because their (corruption) undermines police authority for the Venezuelan people,\" Rodriguez said in the address carried on state television. Experts often cite corruption as part of the crime crisis.","Uganda reprisal attacks after tribal killings: rights group. Ugandan security forces committed \"reprisal killings\" in a remote mountain region earlier this year to crush tribal clashes, Human Rights Watch said Wednesday, highlighting reports of torture and mass graves. Around a 100 people were killed, possibly more, in days of violence in the far western Rwenzori mountain range in July, when gangs armed with machetes, spears and guns launched a series of surprise raids to massacre neighbouring rivals, as well as raiding police and army posts. Witnesses interviewed by HRW said that \"some security officials were involved in reprisal killings and beatings and that numerous victims of the violence had been buried in mass graves\". HRW, in a report based on over 50 interviews with those involved, said it had credible reports of subsequent reprisal attacks against the Bakonzo people, who were \"attacked, detained in private homes, mutilated, tortured, killed, and burned or buried in mass and unmarked graves\".","Ford to build upcoming global Edge near Toronto. Ford Motor Co will build its redesigned Edge midsize crossover at its Oakville Assembly plant near Toronto, the second-largest U.S. automaker announced on Thursday. The Edge will be exported to more than 60 countries from Oakville, where Ford builds the current Edge as well as three other crossover models, the Ford Flex, Lincoln MKX and Lincoln MKT. In September, Ford said it would invest C$700 million to expand the Oakville factory and preserve more than 2,800 jobs. Ford showed a concept version of the Edge at the Los Angeles Auto Show last year.","Self-defence class 'mistaken' for jihad training in France. Strasbourg (France) (AFP) - A group of men accused by police of \"training for jihad\" in broad daylight in a French park were merely taking a self-defence class, one of them told AFP on Wednesday.","Thousands protest Spain bull-spearing event. MADRID (AP) — Thousands of people are protesting against an annual Spanish bull-spearing event that activists claim is extreme animal abuse.","Russia sanctions threaten to blow euro zone off course. By Annika Breidthardt and John O'Donnell BERLIN/FRANKFURT (Reuters) - The knock to confidence from harsher European sanctions on Russia could spoil the euro zone's budding economic recovery even if it shrugs off the fallout on trade. Following months of hesitation, the European Union will seek on Tuesday to seal the first broad economic sanctions on Russia - its third-biggest trading partner – following the downing of a Malaysian airliner over territory controlled by pro-Moscow rebels in eastern Ukraine. If endorsed by ambassadors from 28 European Union countries, Europe could limit access to capital markets by Russian state banks, impose an embargo on arms sales and restrict trade of high-tech energy technologies and \"dual use\" technology that has both civilian and defense applications.","Japan seeks to resume Antarctic whaling next year. Japan is seeking international support for its plans to hunt minke whales in the Antarctic Ocean next year by scaling down the whaling research program the U.N. top court rejected earlier this year, fisheries ...","BRAZIL BEAT: Aussie fans make 9,000-mile trip. CUIABA, Brazil (AP) — About 15,000 Australia fans have made the 9,000-mile trip to Brazil to cheer on their country in the World Cup, despite grisly predictions that the team — the lowest-ranked in the tournament — will lose all three group matches against Spain, the Netherlands and Chile.","Berkshire first-quarter profit falls as underwriting results drop. OMAHA, Nebraska (Reuters) - Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc on Friday said quarterly profit fell 4 percent, as earnings from its insurance underwriting operations declined. Net income fell to $4.71 billion, or $2,862 per Class A share, from $4.89 billion, or $2,977, a year earlier. Quarterly operating profit fell 7 percent to $3.53 billion, or $2,149 per share, from $3.78 billion, or $2,302 per share. Book value per share, Buffett's preferred measure of growth, rose 2.6 percent from year-end to $138,426 from $134,973. ...","Obama pledges justice in visit to Dutch embassy. WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama says Americans were heartbroken by the loss of so many citizens of the Netherlands in the downed Malaysia Airlines flight that was shot down in Ukraine.","Iran says nuclear talks might be extended if November deadline missed. ANKARA (Reuters) - Iran's nuclear talks with major powers might be extended if agreement over remaining issues cannot be reached by a November deadline, the semi-official Fars news agency quoted Iran's top negotiator as saying on Friday. \"Iran and the P5+1 (powers) are very serious on resolving the remaining disputes until November ... but everything including an extension is possible if we cannot reach an agreement,\" Abbas Araqchi was quoted by Fars as saying. (Writing by Parisa Hafezi, editing by John Stonestreet)","Du Plessis hails Steyn after last-ball heroics. Chittagong (Bangladesh) (AFP) - South African captain Faf du Plessis praised Dale Steyn as the world's best bowler after the ice-cool paceman kept his nerve to deny New Zealand in a last-ball thriller at the World Twenty20 in Bangladesh. The Black Caps, chasing a target of 171 runs on Monday, needed just seven runs from the final over with five wickets in hand and big-hitting Ross Taylor at the crease, unbeaten on 62. But Steyn had Luke Ronchi caught off his first ball and, despite being hit for four, took the wicket of Nathan McCullum with his fifth delivery, leaving Taylor needing to score three off the final ball of the Super 10 match to win. The South African bowled a full-pitched delivery to Taylor who could only drive it back to Steyn, who ran him out at the non-striker's end, consigning New Zealand to a two-run defeat.","Venezuelan president shakes up cabinet. Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro replaced Rafael Ramirez as head of the country's state oil giant PDVSA and appointed him as foreign minister. Ramirez, who held the post for a decade, on Tuesday was also relieved of his role as the oil minister and vice president for economic policy, to become -- in addition to top diplomat -- political vice president. Venezuela has the world's largest proven oil reserves and PDVSA is the world's fifth largest oil company, but the Latin American country is facing a growing economic crisis.","2010 Olympic champ to serve as US envoy. SOCHI, Russia (AP) — Evan Lysacek will travel from the Sochi Olympics to St. Petersburg on Saturday as part of the U.S. State Department envoy program.","Pakistan court issues arrest warrant for hardline cleric. A Pakistani court has issued an arrest warrant for a hardline Islamic cleric who suggested the massacre of school children in country's worst ever terror attack was understandable, after he allegedly threatened people criticising him. Maulana Abdul Aziz, the pro-Taliban cleric and head of the Red Mosque in capital Islamabad has been accused of threatening civil society activists, who this week staged several demonstrations outside the mosque, a police official and a spokesman for the mosque told AFP. \"Police have received the court order and we are trying our best to implement it,\" a police official in capital Islamabad told AFP, requesting anonymity as he was not authorised to talk to media. Hafiz Ihtesham Ahmed, a spokesman for the Red Mosque accused civil society activists of pressurising police to register a case against Aziz.","India's Modi condemns anti-Muslim remarks; colleagues remain defiant. By Rajesh Kumar Singh NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Indian opposition leader Narendra Modi on Tuesday distanced himself from colleagues on the Hindu far right, saying they must focus on development issues in the election campaign, rather than rail against minority Muslims and liberals. Modi, the prime ministerial candidate of the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), is running on a platform to revive an economy going through the worst slowdown since 1980s. But half-way through a five-week campaign to win over the country's 815 million voters, some members of the BJP and its hardline affiliates are facing accusations of trying to whip up a partisan agenda. \"Petty statements by those claiming to be BJP's well wishers are deviating the campaign from the issues of development & good governance,\" Modi, the biggest campaigner for the party, said in a Twitter post.","$37M worth of cocaine seized near Puerto Rico. SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Authorities in Puerto Rico have seized an estimated $37 million worth of cocaine south of the U.S. territory.","Turkish PM reportedly sued for for libel by former ally. Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's ally-turned-rival Fethullah Gulen is suing him in the wake of a deeply damaging corruption scandal, a newspaper close to Gulen's movement reported Tuesday.","Suspect detained in slayings of 2 Jamaica children. KINGSTON, Jamaica (AP) — Police in western Jamaica have detained a suspect in the slayings of two children whose bodies were found in a remote wooded area.","Hedge fund giants secure grip on industry despite lagging returns. By Simon Jessop LONDON (Reuters) - The world's biggest hedge funds are managing more money than ever before - even while the returns they provide look less attractive compared to those achieved by younger, smaller firms. Large institutions managing money for wealthy individuals have always tended to look towards well-established money managers but this trend has become more pronounced following the financial crisis. This means a record concentration of assets - much of the industry's nearly $3 trillion - in older and larger funds, hedge fund database eVestment said.[ID:nL6N0O136A] As a result young funds are finding it even more difficult to attract clients in an environment that is tougher than it has ever been. The combination of more demanding clients, higher regulatory costs and the fallout from the financial crisis saw the number of young hedge funds with a 10 month record of managing money fall from a peak of 1,610 in 2007 to 492 in 2013, eVestment data showed.","Honduras kids see better life on soccer field. TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras (AP) — The project that Luis Lopez created a year ago on a dusty soccer field in a rough neighborhood of Tegucigalpa is doing well.","U.S. asks North Korea to release two U.S. citizens said to be tried. The U.S. State Department, citing \"humanitarian concern,\" asked North Korea on Monday to release two Americans who North Korean official media said would be put on trial for committing crimes against the state. North Korea's official KCNA news agency, referring to the two imprisoned men, Jeffrey Fowle and Matthew Miller, said \"their hostile acts were confirmed by evidence and their own testimonies.\" Asked about the report, U.S. State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki told reporters, \"Out of humanitarian concern for Mr. Fowle and Mr. Miller and their families, we request North Korea release them so they may return home.\" (Reporting By Arshad Mohammed;","Canadian police say Ottawa gunman acted alone. OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canadian police on Thursday said Michael Zehaf-Bibeau, the suspect in Wednesday's gun attack in Ottawa acted alone, and that there is no evidence that he had any ties to the suspect in another attack in Montreal days earlier. Zehaf-Bibeau, a Canadian who may have had dual Libyan citizenship, was also not among the 90 high-risk travelers that the Royal Canadian Mounted Police had been investigating, police officials said at a press conference. (Reporting by Randall Palmer and David Ljunggren; Editing by Chris Reese)","Tsarnaev lawyers want evidence on triple killing. BOSTON (AP) — Lawyers for Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev have asked a judge to order federal prosecutors to turn over any information they have about his brother's participation in a 2011 triple killing or to consider postponing Tsarnaev's trial.","China says supports international financial aid for Ukraine. China's foreign ministry said on Wednesday that international financial bodies ought to be offering aid to Ukraine to ensure its economic stability, though it stopped short of saying whether Beijing would participate in such efforts. Ukrainian Finance Minister Oleksander Shlapak says he is negotiating with the International Monetary Fund for a loan package of $15 billion to $20 billion because the economy had been severely weakened by months of political turmoil and mismanagement. U.S. President Barack Obama has also urged the IMF to reach agreement swiftly on a financial support package for Kiev, which would unlock additional aid from the European Union and Washington. Asked about aid for Ukraine, China, whose President Xi Jinping discussed Ukraine with Obama on Monday, said that the government \"upholds the maintaining of Ukraine's financial stability\".","World War II bomb defused in German city. BERLIN (AP) — A World War II bomb has been successfully defused in an eastern German city after some 9,700 people were evacuated from the surrounding area and a meeting of a state legislature was interrupted.","Main fugitive in Mali prison break suspect in French kidnap: sources. By Adama Diarra and Tiemoko Diallo BAMAKO (Reuters) - A fugitive at the heart of a jail break in Mali's capital on Monday was being held for his alleged role in the 2011 kidnapping of two French citizens who ended up in the hands of al Qaeda's regional faction, sources said on Tuesday. Malian officials said Mahamed Aly Ag Wadoussene shot his way out of Bamako's central prison on Monday, allowing 22 other prisoners to escape and serving a reminder about the fragile security situation in the West African state. Eight prisoners were re-captured on Monday but Wadoussene, an ethnic Tuareg and deserter from Mali's army, remains at large and Mali state television warned citizens he was dangerous. \"He was the main organizer of the kidnapping of the two Frenchmen in Hombori on Nov. 24 2011,\" a Malian military official said.","Saudi announces 3 new MERS deaths, toll hits 105. Saudi health authorities announced Tuesday three new deaths from the MERS coronavirus, as a group of experts met to discuss means of preventing the spread of the disease. Three men -- aged 56, 61, and 79 -- died of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome in Riyadh, bringing to 105 the total deaths since the disease appeared in the kingdom in September 2012, the health ministry said. Meanwhile, acting health minister Adel Fakieh said a group of Western experts and representatives of the World Health Organisation (WHO) have met for two days in Riyadh to discuss \"a series of preventive measures... to contain the spread\" of MERS. Public concern over the spread of MERS mounted earlier this month after the resignation of at least four doctors at Jeddah's King Fahd Hospital who refused to treat patients for fear of infection.","Syria says ready to cooperate in anti-terror fight. BEIRUT (Reuters) - The Syrian government is ready to cooperate with international and regional efforts to fight terror but efforts must be coordinated with it, the Syrian foreign minister Walid al-Moualem said on Monday. Asked if Syria was ready to cooperate with the United States and Britain, he said: \"They are welcome.\" Moualem, speaking at a news conference broadcast on Syrian state TV, also condemned the killing of U.S. journalist James Foley, who was executed by Islamic State, the militant group that has seized wide areas of Iraq and Syria. ...","Gazprom files lawsuit in Stockholm court to recover Ukraine debt. MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian gas exporter Gazprom said on Monday it had filed a lawsuit at the Stockholm arbitration court to try to recover Ukraine's $4.5 billion debt for gas. Gazprom said earlier on Monday that Ukraine had failed to pay at least part of its gas debts by a 0600 GMT deadline and would now have to pay up front for deliveries, suggesting that supplies could be cut as it had not received payments for June. (Reporting by Maria Kiselyova; Editing by Elizabeth Piper)","Bank of Canada's Poloz sees softer growth in first quarter. Canada's economic growth rate likely slowed in the first quarter and inflation will also be softer in February than in January, Bank of Canada Governor Stephen Poloz signaled on Tuesday, although he expects both trends to improve over time. Poloz predicted the Canadian economy would grow by about 2.5 percent over the next two years.","Lebanon army arrests commander of jihadist group. Lebanon's army on Wednesday arrested a commander of a group loyal to Al-Qaeda that in November claimed a twin suicide attack against the Iranian embassy in Beirut, killing 25 people. \"After careful follow-up and monitoring, the (army) intelligence directorate in Beirut arrested the terrorist Naim Abbas, a commander of the Abdallah Azzam brigades,\" the army said in a statement. The Abdallah Azzam Brigades, which describes itself as loyal to Al-Qaeda, has been listed by the United States as a terrorist organisation since 2009. The arrest of its Saudi leader Majid al-Majid was announced in early January.","Russia not preparing new tit-for-tat sanctions: Deputy PM. SOCHI Russia (Reuters) - Russia is not working on a new package of measures in retaliation for Western sanctions over Moscow's role in Ukraine, Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich was quoted as saying on Saturday. Western governments have stepped up sanctions against Russia for allegedly arming separatists in Ukraine, with Moscow having already hit back against earlier sanctions imposed on the Russian financial and energy sectors by stopping imports of many food products. ...","Egypt: Ex-army chief, leftist to run for president. CAIRO (AP) — Egypt's election commission said Sunday only two presidential hopefuls, one of them the powerful former military chief who nine months ago ousted the country's first democratically elected leader, have submitted their papers to run in next month's polls.","Brazil's Rousseff picked by party for tough election October 5. By Anthony Boadle BRASILIA (Reuters) - Brazil's ruling Workers' Party formally nominated President Dilma Rousseff on Saturday to run for re-election in October in what is shaping up to be its toughest race since winning power in 2002. Rousseff's popularity is falling because of Brazil's high cost of living and slowing economy, and she was jeered at the opening game of the soccer World Cup last week. Rousseff survived massive protests last year by Brazilians demanding better health, education and public transport services instead of the costly stadiums built for the World Cup. \"We face a challenge because the quality of life has improved in Brazil and when that happens in a country, its people demand more and improved quality,\" Rousseff said in a speech to a cheering party convention.","US military conducts more airstrikes in Iraq. WASHINGTON (AP) — The Defense Department says a new round of airstrikes by U.S. fighter jets and unmanned drones has targeted Islamic militants in Iraq.","Ex-Israel PM Sharon's health worsens: radio. The health of former Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon, who has been in a coma for nearly eight years, worsened on Wednesday, Israeli media reported. The 85-year-old, who is at the Tel Hashomer hospital in the city of Tel Aviv, was suffering from \"serious kidney problems\" after undergoing surgery, army radio said.","Nonu out with possible broken arm, Pienaar has knee injury. WELLINGTON (Reuters) - New Zealand inside centre Ma'a Nonu and Springboks scrumhalf Ruan Pienaar could miss the rest of the Rugby Championship after both sustained bad injuries in the All Blacks' bruising 14-10 victory at Wellington Regional Stadium on Saturday. Nonu appeared to have broken his forearm, All Blacks coach Steve Hansen told reporters, while Pienaar had damaged his knee and could be out for between six and eight weeks, his Springboks counterpart Heyneke Meyer added. ...","Israel's Netanyahu phones father of murdered Palestinian teen. By Maayan Lubell JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel's prime minister phoned the father of a murdered Palestinian teenager on Monday to promise that the attackers would be prosecuted, the government said, as anger over the killing fuelled Arab street protests. The burnt body of 16-year-old Mohammed Abu Khudair was discovered in a Jerusalem forest last week. \"I wish to express my shock and the shock of Israel's citizens over the despicable murder of your son,\" Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the father, Hussein Abu Khudair, according to the statement. \"The murderers will be brought to trial and prosecuted to the full extent of the law,\" the right-wing leader added, according to the statement, a day after Israel announced that six Jewish suspects, whom it did not identify, were in custody.","Dutch populist Wilders targets Moroccans in EU campaign. \\\\\"I want to say thanks for the 20 years that I've been allowed to stay in the Netherlands.\\\\\" The clip, watched almost half a million times in the month since it was posted, is a TV satirist's response to a remark by Geert Wilders. The outspoken bleach-blond leader of the anti-immigration Dutch Freedom Party is one of leading anti-EU populists running in this month's European Parliament elections. In a March speech in The Hague, Wilders - who has attracted supporters as far afield as the United States and Australia - asked the crowd if they wanted more or fewer Moroccans. But Wilders has bounced back and some of his American backers, after squirming, say they will stick by him.","Turkey PM claims victory, warns rivals 'will pay price'. Turkey's Premier Recep Tayyip Erdogan claimed victory for his Islamic-rooted party in Sunday's key local elections and warned his foes they will \"pay the price\" for plotting his downfall. \"Those who attacked Turkey got disappointed,\" Erdogan told a jubilant crowd of thousands, speaking from the balcony of his party's Ankara headquarters after months of turmoil marked by street clashes, sleaze claims and an Internet clampdown. \"You have protected the independence struggle of the new Turkey,\" the man often called \"the sultan\" told his flag-waving followers, interrupted by chants of \"Turkey is proud of you\", \"Stand tall, don't bow\" and \"God is great\".","Canada economy slows to 2.8 percent growth in third quarter. Nov 28 (Reuters) - Canada's economy grew at a higher-than-expected annualized rate of 2.8 percent in the third quarter, following second quarter growth of 3.6 percent, Statistics Canada data indicated on Friday. Exports of goods rose at an annualized rate of 9.0 percent. Household spending grew by 2.8 percent, annualized, after 4.4 percent in the previous quarter, while business capital investment expanded by 5.9 percent. On a monthly basis, real GDP rose 0.4 percent in September, following a 0. ...","Official: Malaysian plane shot down over Ukraine. KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — A Ukrainian official said a passenger plane carrying 295 people was shot down Thursday over a town in the east of the country, and Malaysian Airlines tweeted that it lost contact with one of its flights over Ukrainian airspace.","US-South Korea war games loom over Korean reunions. SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — A year ago, North Korea vowed nuclear attacks to retaliate for U.S.-South Korean war games. But the start Monday of this year's joint military drills comes as Pyongyang allows wrenching reunions of elderly Koreans separated since the Korean War.","Government reports decline in airlines' on-time record, but passengers file fewer complaints. Airlines are falling behind when it comes to keeping flights on schedule, but fewer passengers are complaining to the government.","Britain's Prince Andrew in Saudi to reinforce ties. Riyadh (AFP) - Britain's Prince Andrew, the second son of Queen Elizabeth II, was in Saudi Arabia on Monday to reinforce longstanding ties between the kingdoms, the British embassy said.","Newsweek to use Slovak Piano paywall. BRATISLAVA, Slovakia (AP) — A Slovakia-based company that offers paywall projects for media to earn revenue for access to their online sites has made its first foray into the U.S. with a deal to provide its services to Newsweek.","Albania arrests Spanish drug trafficking suspect. TIRANA, Albania (AP) — Albanian police say they have arrested a Spanish man suspected of being involved in the smuggling of 250 kilograms (550 pounds) of cocaine seized in neighboring Montenegro.","Polish president says early election an option in leaked tape row. WARSAW (Reuters) - Poland's President, Bronislaw Komorowski, said on Thursday an early parliamentary election should be called if it proves impossible to resolve using normal means a row over leaked recordings of senior officials. \"If one see a particularly difficult situation, then there is a need to mobilize normal authority to act. And if it is impossible to do that, then one needs to refer to the mechanism of democratic elections,\" Komorowski said in brief televised remarks from the city of Lowicz. (Reporting by Marcin Goclowski and Marcin Goettig; Wditing by Christian Lowe)","Levy shoots 62 to open 4-shot lead at China Open. SHENZHEN, China (AP) — Alexander Levy of France shot a career-best 10-under 62 to open a four-shot lead after the second round of the China Open on Friday.","Australia 118-1 at lunch of 1st day of 3rd test. CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) — Scores Saturday at lunch on the first day of the third cricket test between South Africa and Australia at Newlands.","Tennis-Auckland Open men's singles round 1 results. Jan 7 (Infostrada Sports) - Results from the Auckland Open Men's Singles Round 1 matches on Tuesday Lukas Lacko (Slovakia) beat Jose Statham (New Zealand) 6-3 6-1","Syria refugee turns 100 in Lebanon, dreams of return home. Sidon (Lebanon) (AFP) - Hallum Al-Amin has just marked her 100th birthday, but the celebration took place far from her home in Syria, which she fled last year to become a refugee in Lebanon. \"I'm waiting for the hour when we'll return to Syria,\" she adds. Idlib, in northwest Syria, is among the provinces most affected by the country's conflict, which has killed more than 130,000 people since March 2011. Amin was so reluctant to leave that at first her family went to Lebanon without her.","Tennis-Australian Open order of play on Friday. MELBOURNE, Jan 16 (Reuters) - Order of play on the main showcourts at the Australian Open on Friday (play starts at 0000 GMT on all courts, prefix denotes seeding): Rod Laver Arena 1-Serena Williams (U.S.) v 31-Daniela Hantuchova (Slovakia) 29-Jeremy Chardy (France) v 3-David Ferrer (Spain) Not before 0300 Zheng Jie (China) v Casey Dellacqua (Australia) From 0800 17-Sam Stosur (Australia) v 14-Ana Ivanovic (Australia) Denis Istomin (Uzbekistan) v 2-Novak Djokovic (Serbia) - - Hisense Arena 9-Angelique Kerber (Germany) v Alison Riske (U.S. ...","Downed jet claimed victims from 13 countries. THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — The human cost of the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 hit home around the world Friday, upending scores of families and small communities spanning half of the planet, from a Dutch fishing village to an Australian soccer club and a Dubai cake store.","New protest hits Mexico over alleged student massacre. Protesters angry at the apparent massacre of 43 Mexican students clashed with police and besieged Acapulco's airport for hours over a scandal shaking President Enrique Pena Nieto's administration. Thousands of people marched to the Pacific resort town's international airport, with parents of the students leading the demonstration along with comrades from the missing young men's teacher-training college in the southern state of Guerrero. In a case causing national revulsion, Attorney General Jesus Murillo Karam downplayed chances of ever identifying the charred remains, warning that only two bones were salvageable for DNA tests. \"Pena out! Pena murderer! Stay in China,\" protesters chanted, referring to the president's controversial decision to travel to a summit in Beijing amid public fury over the crime.","Russia's Gazprom says does not want 'gas crisis' over Ukraine. MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian state-controlled energy company Gazprom said on Thursday it wants Ukraine to be able to pay for gas supplies and does not want a \"gas crisis\". Gazprom's Chief Executive Officer Alexei Miller said that Ukraine's debt for Russian gas stood at more than $1.8 billion. (Reporting by Denis Pinchuk; writing by Vladimir Soldatkin; editing by Steve Gutterman)","No solution in sight for China shoe factory strike. BEIJING (AP) — Workers on strike at a Chinese factory owned by the world's largest maker of athletic shoes have rejected management's latest offer.","Russia again blocks U.N. Security Council from condemning Syria attacks. Russia blocked a U.N. Security Council statement on Wednesday that would have expressed outrage at deadly airstrikes by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's forces and condemned the use of missiles and \"barrel bombs\" in towns, U.N. diplomats said. Russia, a staunch Assad ally, opposed a similar statement on December 19 that would have condemned attacks by Syrian government troops on civilians. Russia, joined by China, has also vetoed three Security Council resolutions that would have condemned Assad's government and threatened it with sanctions. The council could not reach agreement on Wednesday because amendments proposed by Russia were \"clearly designed to rob the statement of any reference to what has happened in Aleppo,\" said a U.N. diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity.","Israel strikes kill 3 Palestinians in Gaza: medics. Gaza City (Palestinian Territories) (AFP) - Three Palestinians were killed in two Israeli air strikes on the Gaza Strip on Tuesday night, raising the toll in eight days of violence to 197 deaths, medics said.","Foreign technocrats given Ukrainian citizenship before cabinet vote. KIEV (Reuters) - Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko on Tuesday granted citizenship to three foreign technocrats nominated for cabinet positions in a new government hoping to tackle severe economic and defense threats. Parliament is expected to vote on nominees for cabinet positions on Tuesday with Kiev under pressure to form a new government quickly. Ukraine has been offered billions of dollars in aid by international lenders if it implements a program of economic reform and Poroshenko said the administration would benefit from international specialist input. ...","Blanc: UEFA sanctions curb Champs League options. PARIS (AP) — Paris Saint-Germain coach Laurent Blanc says potential UEFA sanctions for the Qatar-owned club's big spending would make it tough to select Champions League squads next season.","Kerry: Both candidates will abide by results of \"largest, most comprehensive possible\" audit. KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Kerry: Both candidates will abide by results of \"largest, most comprehensive possible\" audit.","Google helps open new home for startups in Berlin. BERLIN (AP) — Internet entrepreneurs have received a new home in the German capital with the opening of the \"Factory\" — a workspace developed in partnership with Google Inc. that allows startups to innovate and collaborate under one roof.","S. Korea, Japan to hold three-way summit with US: Seoul. South Korea and Japan will hold a three-way summit with the United States next week, Seoul said Friday, in a breakthrough after Washington urged the pair to mend badly strained ties. The meeting in The Hague, on the sidelines of an international nuclear conference, will mark the first formal talks between President Park Geun-Hye and Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe since they took office more than a year ago, Yonhap news agency said. \"As to the summit involving South Korea, the United States and Japan which will take place in The Hague next week, the foreign ministry will make an announcement this afternoon\", Min Kyung-Wook, spokesman of the presidential Blue House told journalists.","Influential Syrian opposition bloc to reject peace talks. By Dasha Afanasieva ISTANBUL (Reuters) - An influential bloc within the Western-backed Syrian opposition is expected to vote on Saturday against participating in talks aimed at ending the nearly three-year conflict, members said. The Syrian National Council has opposed attending the January 22 negotiations because it says world powers have not done enough to force President Bashar al-Assad to cede power. Assad's forces have been gaining ground against the moderate rebel fighters backed by the opposition in recent months and he currently faces little pressure to make concessions. The council is part of a broader opposition coalition which is due to make its final decision on whether to attend the Geneva 2 talks on Monday.","Violent protests amid Somali political power struggles. At least two people were killed Monday in clashes in the Somali town of Baidoa, the latest violence in the war-torn nation sparked by political power struggles, police said. The United Nations, United States and European Union have all warned political power struggles are putting at risk fragile gains in the Horn of Africa nation. \"The demonstration turned violent after people started burning tires and threw stones at vehicles, then they stopped a pickup with gunmen who opened fire,\" said local police officer Mohamed Adris. Local officials said former national parliament speaker, Sharif Hassan Sheikh Aden, was elected to the post.","NATO, Ukraine join military exercise in Bulgaria. SOFIA, Bulgaria (AP) — Ukraine has joined two weeks of multinational military exercises that involve troops from 12 NATO member and partner nations, and demonstrate that cooperation continues between the alliance and the crisis-torn former Soviet republic.","National Australia Bank posts 16 pct profit hike. SYDNEY (AP) — National Australia Bank Ltd., one of Australia's biggest lenders, has posted a 16 percent increase in half-year profit to 2.86 billion Australian dollars ($2.67 billion), helped by a reduction in bad debts and an improving British economy.","Ukraine places anti-terrorist forces on alert. Ukraine's state security service on Sunday placed anti-terrorist units on alert in response to a sharp rise in unspecified threats against sensitive installations including atomic power stations, airports and gas and oil pipelines. The ex-Soviet republic is in the grip of mass anti-government protests and it was not clear if the unusual statement by Ukraine's SBU service, issued on its website, was connected to the unrest. Describing the move as preventive, it said: \"The SBU's anti-terrorist center, in accordance with the law, is obliged to put on readiness anti-terrorist units on the territory of the state.\" It said international airports, power stations, and railway and bus stations in large cities were particularly at risk. \"The decision was made in accordance with the law of Ukraine on combating terrorism,\" the SBU said.","Ebola: Liberians dying of ignorance, say aid workers. It is a sweltering morning in the over-stretched Ebola clinic in the Liberian capital Monrovia, and Kendell Kauffeldt scowls in frustration as a jeep pulls up with a new patient. Kauffeldt, the director in Liberia of Christian aid group Samaritan's Purse, is at the forefront of the country's battle with the worst outbreak of Ebola that the world has ever seen. Ebola is a terrifying spectre for the people of Liberia's remote forests, who have seen relatives die in agonising pain.","US Ebola doctor 'weak and quite ill,' says colleague. An American doctor who has contracted the dangerous Ebola virus in Liberia is \"weak and quite ill,\" a colleague of his told AFP on Tuesday. Kent Brantly, 33, became infected with Ebola while working with patients in the Liberian capital, Monrovia, as he helped treat victims of the worst Ebola outbreak in history. Brantly and another American healthcare worker are among the more than 1,200 people who have become infected with Ebola in West Africa since March. He is still in the early stages of the Ebola infection but having some daily struggles,\" David Mcray, a family medicine doctor in Fort Worth, Texas, told AFP by phone.","Nigeria car bombing death toll at least 118: relief agency. At least 118 people were killed in a car bomb attack in the central Nigerian city of Jos, the country's relief agency said on Tuesday, warning that the death toll could rise further. \"The exact figure of the dead bodies recovered as of now is 118,\" Mohammed Abdulsalam, coordinator for the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) in the city, told AFP. Fifty-six people were injured in the twin blasts, said Abdulsalam. Chris Olakpe, the police commissioner of Plateau state of which Jos is the capital, told reporters earlier that 46 people were killed and 45 others were injured.","Ailing Zuma misses first meeting of new S. Africa cabinet. South Africa's President Jacob Zuma, who spent time in hospital over the weekend suffering from exhaustion, will miss his new government's first meeting from Tuesday, Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa said. \"President Zuma will miss the cabinet meeting and continue to rest at home this week,\" said Ramaphosa, who is standing in for Zuma during his recuperation. Zuma left hospital late Sunday, the day after he was admitted for routine tests.","USDA seizes more than 1,200 illegal giant snails. WASHINGTON (AP) — The giant African snail damages buildings, destroys crops and can cause meningitis in humans. But some people still want to collect, and even eat, the slimy invaders.","Egyptian court sentences Brotherhood leader Badie to life in prison. CAIRO (Reuters) - An Egyptian court sentenced Mohamed Badie, general guide of the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood, and seven others to life in prison on Saturday for inciting violence during protests last year, judicial sources said. Badie had already been sentenced to death and received a life sentence in other cases, part of Cairo's toughest crackdown on the country's oldest and most organised political movement. The judge, Mohamed Nagi Shehata, also sentenced six other defendants to death in absentia. (Reporting By Mahmoud Mourad; Editing by Michael Georgy/Mark Heinrich)","Oracle Team USA to open 2014 training in Australia. SYDNEY (AP) — America's Cup holder Oracle Team USA says it has shipped one of its AC45 catamarans to Australia as it plans to begin its 2014 sailing program on Sydney Harbour next month.","Wayne Rooney to start WCup warm-up match. MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. (AP) — Wayne Rooney will have a chance to prove his World Cup match fitness for England when he starts against Ecuador in a friendly on Wednesday.","Italy's Super Mario sinks England. Manaus (Brazil) (AFP) - Mario Balotelli scored the winner as Italy beat England 2-1 in their World Cup duel in the Amazon on Saturday as Costa Rica provided a major shock with an upset win over Uruguay. AC Milan striker Balotelli nodded past former Manchester City team-mate Joe Hart on 50 minutes to decide the tense Group D encounter at Manaus's sweltering Amazonia Arena. Italy's Juventus midfielder Claudio Marchisio had fired the Azzurri into a deserved lead on 35 minutes, rifling home a low shot from outside the area after a well-worked corner routine wrong-footed the English defence.","Russia, Ukraine trade blame as fighting tests truce. Kiev (AFP) - Tensions over Ukraine festered on Saturday after Kiev accused the Kremlin of seeking to \"eliminate\" the pro-Western former Soviet nation while Moscow charged Washington with orchestrating the entire crisis.","Puerto Rico public corporations hit by downgrades. SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Two more of Puerto Rico's largest public corporations have had their credit ratings lowered as the U.S. territory's governor prepares to sign a bill that will allow them to restructure their debt if needed.","U.N. seeks sanctions waiver to ship arms to Mali via Ivory Coast. By Louis Charbonneau UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The United Nations is seeking an exemption from a U.N. Security Council arms embargo on Ivory Coast so it can ship weapons and military equipment across the East African nation to its peacekeeping mission in landlocked Mali, a spokesman said on Thursday. The statement came after U.N. sanctions monitors called for the world body to stop allowing arms to be shipped to the U.N. mission in Mali, known as MINUSMA, through Ivory Coast after they said a load of military hardware sent by China violated U.N. restrictions.","Indonesia pulls out of Singapore show amid row. SINGAPORE (AP) — Indonesian defense officials have pulled out of an air show in Singapore amid an escalating row over Jakarta's decision to name a warship after commandos who carried out a deadly bombing in the city state in 1965.","S.Africa police filmed beating a man on Cape Town street. South Africa's under-fire police faced a fresh scandal Friday after footage emerged of uniformed officers punching and kicking an unarmed man on a street in Cape Town. The footage, filmed by an eyewitness and posted on YouTube, showed two officers manhandling the suspect, with the help of two uniformed private security guards. A security guard rips the man's trousers off and then a police officer punches and kicks the man in the groin. But the opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) which governs the city and its surrounds, suggests the \"vicious attack\" took place on Thursday.","Obama's Cuba switch forces exile groups to adapt. MIAMI (AP) — Hours before President Barack Obama announced an end to a half-century of U.S. efforts to isolate Cuba's communist government, the Cuban American National Foundation opened the doors to its inviting new headquarters, with a modern glass and concrete lobby in the heart of Miami's Cuban exile community.","Afghanistan to free all but 16 of 88 prisoners seen as threat by U.S.. KABUL (Reuters) - Afghanistan has enough evidence to try only 16 of 88 prisoners that the United States considers a threat to security and plans to free the remaining detainees, the president's spokesman told Reuters on Thursday. The United States is strongly opposed to their release because it says the prisoners have been involved in the wounding or killing of U.S. and coalition troops. The move will further strain relations between the two countries, already near breaking point over President Hamid Karzai's refusal to sign a security deal to shape the U.S. ...","Italy court confirms Berlusconi ban from public office. Italy's highest appeals court on Tuesday confirmed a two-year ban from public office for center-right leader and former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi over a conviction for tax fraud. Berlusconi lawyer Niccolo Ghedini said he was \"extremely disappointed\" by the ruling of the Court of Cassation, which diminishes Berlusconi's hopes of running as a candidate in elections for the European Parliament in May. Berlusconi had appealed against the ban handed down by a Milan appeals court in October last year.","Top Asian News at 9:00 a.m. GMT. ATLANTA (AP) — Sony's \"The Interview\" has been a hacking target, a punchline and a political lightning rod. Now, with its release online at the same time it debuts in theaters, it has a new role: a test for a new kind of movie release. \"The Interview\" stars Seth Rogen and James Franco as journalists tasked by the CIA with killing North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Its Christmas Day release was canceled by Sony after threats of violence by hackers linked to North Korea. But after an outcry, the release was reinstated in some independent theaters and now, through a few online video services.","Taliban negotiator under house arrest in UAE, says Afghanistan. By Hamid Shalizi KABUL (Reuters) - A leading Taliban peace negotiator has been placed under house arrest in the United Arab Emirates, officials said on Thursday, dealing a blow to President Hamid Karzai's efforts to jump-start a nascent Afghan peace process before leaving office. Agha Jan Mutassim, a finance minister during Taliban rule from 1996 to 2001, has been missing for over a week, according to the Afghan government, disappearing after arranging a meeting in Dubai between Afghan and Taliban officials in February. \"Mutassim ... one of the key Taliban leaders and who supported Afghan peace initiative, was put under house arrest in the UAE where he lived,\" the Afghan High Peace Council, a body formed by Karzai to engage in peace talks with the Taliban, said on Thursday. \"The Afghan government has made requests to the UAE authorities to lift all the restrictions,\" it said in a statement.","Ex-editor admits hearing hacked voicemails in 2004. ","Marquez wins German GP for 9th straight victory. HOHENSTEIN-ERNSTTHAL, Germany (AP) — Marc Marquez won the German Grand Prix at the Sachsenring on Sunday for the fifth time in as many visits to make it nine victories from as many races in his MotoGP title defense.","Qantas posts record annual loss of US$2.65 billion. Struggling Australian flag carrier Qantas on Thursday posted a huge annual net loss of Aus$2.84 billion (US$2.65 billion), but chief executive Alan Joyce insisted better days lie ahead. Qantas' underlying loss before tax in the 12 months to June 30 -- its preferred measure of financial performance which excludes one-off costs and writedowns -- was Aus$646 million. Qantas in February announced it was axing 5,000 jobs, deferring aircraft deliveries and freezing growth at Asian offshoot Jetstar, and Joyce said the worst was now behind the airline. With our accelerated Qantas Transformation programme we are already emerging as a leaner, more focused and more sustainable Qantas Group.","Europe dominates fourballs, leads EurAsia Cup 5-0. KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Miguel Angel Jimenez and fellow Spaniard Pablo Larrazabal beat Asia captain Thongchai Jaidee and Kiradech Aphibarnrat 2 and 1 Thursday to set Europe on course for a commanding 5-0 lead on the opening day of the first EurAsia Cup.","French far right surges to lead in Europe vote. PARIS (AP) — France's far-right National Front party emerged from Sunday's European Parliament election as the country's leading political party, partial results showed, a victory that the prime minister called a political \"earthquake.\"","France makes 1 change to face Wales in 6 Nations. PARIS (AP) — France's new-look team is starting to take shape as the wins pile up, with just one enforced change to the unbeaten team for what is a decisive match away to defending Six Nations champion Wales on Friday.","TSX set to open higher, U.S. data supports. (Reuters) - Canada's main stock index looked set to extend the previous session's gains on Wednesday after investor confidence got a boost from Tuesday's U.S. housing and consumer confidence data. Dow Jones industrial average futures were up 0.13 percent, S&P 500 futures were up 0.36 percent and Nasdaq 100 futures were up 0.26 percent at 0715 ET. TOP STORIES Blackstone Group is close to a deal to buy industrial conglomerate Gates Global Inc from owners Onex Corp and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board for more than $5.5 billion, people familiar with the matter said. Goldcorp Inc would rather walk away from its hostile bid for Osisko Mining Corp than pay too much, Chairman Ian Telfer said without ruling out a higher bid.","Dubai vying to be world's next fashion capital. DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Dubai and luxury are nearly synonymous. The city is home to the world's tallest tower, massive man-made islands in the shape of palm trees and a fleet of police cars that includes a Ferrari, a Lamborghini and a $2.5 million Bugatti Veyron.","English manager admits to betting on own team. LONDON (AP) — The English Football Association says the manager of English third-tier club Tranmere has admitted to betting on matches involving his own team.","Attack at China station deemed 'violent terror attack'. BEIJING (Reuters) - An attack at a train station in the southwestern Chinese city of Kunming in which at least 27 people were killed has been deemed a \"violent terror attack\", state television said on its official microblog on Sunday. It provided no further details. (Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Kevin Liffey)","Rodgers chides England over Sturridge care. Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers criticised the England set-up on Thursday after striker Daniel Sturridge injured himself while on international duty. Sturridge, 25, strained his thigh in a training session last Friday, forcing him to miss England's 2-0 win over Switzerland in their opening Euro 2016 qualifier on Monday. The training session took place around 36 hours after Sturridge had played for 89 minutes in England's 1-0 friendly win over Norway and Rodgers believes the player should have been given more time to recover. When you are that type of quick player like Daniel Sturridge, Raheem Sterling and boys like Danny Welbeck, you need to recover them.","Britons, Romanians evacuated from Gaza. LONDON (AP) — British officials said Monday that 27 Britons and their Palestinian dependents have been evacuated from Gaza amid violence in the region, while Romania said 84 of its nationals and dependents have been repatriated.","Economic growth kills minority languages: study. Economic prosperity is the worst enemy of minority languages, said researchers Wednesday who listed parts of Australia and North America as \"hotspots\" for extinction risk. Study co-author Tatsuya Amato from the university's zoology department, explained that as economies develop, one language often comes to dominate a nation's political and educational spheres.","Johnson & Johnson plans Ebola vaccine testing. NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. (AP) — Johnson & Johnson will begin safety testing in early January on a vaccine combination that could protect people from a strain of the deadly Ebola virus.","Wanderers beat Mariners in A-League semifinal. SYDNEY (AP) — Central Coast's reign as A-League football champions ended Saturday with a 2-0 semifinal loss to the Western Sydney Wanderers in a rematch of last year's grand final.","Afghanistan wins toss, elects to field in Asia Cup. FATULLAH, Bangladesh (AP) — Afghanistan captain Mohammad Nabi won the toss and elected to bowl first against Pakistan in his country's maiden Asia Cup appearance on Thursday.","US bombs IS jihadists in Syria: Pentagon. Washington (AFP) - The United States and \"partners\" have launched bombing raids against Islamic State extremists in Syria, the Pentagon said.","Trinidad bank to inject $200M into local market. PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad (AP) — Trinidad & Tobago's finance minister has ordered the island's government bank to inject $200 million into the local market to help boost foreign exchange allocation.","Navy SEAL whose shots killed bin Laden goes public. WASHINGTON (AP) — The retired U.S. Navy commando who says he shot Osama bin Laden in the forehead publicly identified himself Thursday amid debate over whether special operators should be recounting their secret missions.","Israel moves troops toward Gaza as tensions soar. JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel began moving troop reinforcements to its border with the Gaza Strip on Thursday, defense officials said, raising the possibility of an expanded military operation in the Palestinian territory in response to intensifying rocket barrages.","Cagliari beats Udinese 3-0 in Serie A. ROME (AP) — With speculation swirling that the Sardinian club could be sold, Cagliari kept its focus to beat visiting Udinese 3-0 Sunday in the Serie A lunchtime fixture.","UN chief heads to Moscow, Kiev. UNITED NATIONS (AP) — U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon is heading to Moscow and Kiev to try to resolve the crisis between Russia and Ukraine over the Crimean Peninsula.","Asian stocks muted despite strong US data. BEIJING (AP) — Asian stocks were kept in check Tuesday as improvement in U.S. service industries competed with concern about disappointing Chinese manufacturing and anxiety over Ukraine.","Political accord in Haiti seeks to avert crisis. By Amelie Baron PORT-AU-PRINCE (Reuters) - The president of Haiti and heads of the country's two houses of parliament reached a tentative agreement on Monday to avert a political crisis that has sparked nationwide protests. The political accord announced late Monday seeks to open the way for approval by parliament of a new \"consensus\" government after prime minister Laurent Lamothe was forced to resign earlier this month. The agreement would extend the terms of the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies, due to run out Jan. 12, but only if an electoral law is passed first. ...","'In or out': Italy and Uruguay battle to advance. NATAL, Brazil (AP) — Luis Suarez and Uruguay are full of momentum after beating England.","Jamaica doubles number of doping control officers. KINGSTON, Jamaica (AP) — Jamaica's anti-doping agency says it has doubled the number of doping control officers on the Caribbean island that has produced the world's most dominant sprinters.","Leverkusen captain Simon Rolfes needs ankle op. LEVERKUSEN, Germany (AP) — Bayer Leverkusen captain Simon Rolfes needs an operation for a torn ligament in his right ankle.","Clarification: D-Day-Commemorations story. COLLEVILLE-SUR-MER, France (AP) — Some versions of a June 6 story by The Associated Press about the commemorations of the 70th anniversary of D-Day included a passage that referred to five beach landings by U.S. and British troops in Normandy in 1944. As the story later made clear, Canadian forces also played an important role in the Allied invasion of the five beaches, code-named Gold, Juno, Omaha, Sword and Utah. Troops from other countries, too, were involved in the D-Day landings.","Car bomb blast kills 3 in Somali capital. MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) — Police in Somalia say a car bomb explosion near Mogadishu's airport has killed at least three people and wounded five.","El Salvador election runner-up appeals to top court for recount. The runner-up in El Salvador's presidential election said he had requested the Supreme Court on Friday to order a recount of the weekend's tight contest. Norman Quijano, a former mayor of San Salvador and candidate of the right-wing Nationalist Republican Alliance (Arena) party, finished fewer than 7,000 votes behind Salvador Sanchez Ceren of the ruling leftist Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front. Quijano, 67, told reporters he filed a request for an injunction with the constitutional chamber of the Supreme Court. The electoral tribunal has said it could take until early next week to work through Quijano's legal challenge to the election and settle any remaining doubts.","EU signs association accords with Ukraine, Georgia, Moldova. Brussels (AFP) - The European Union on Friday signed association accords with Ukraine, Georgia and Moldova as the three former Soviet republics committed themselves to a future in Europe.","Nigeria's Jonathan warns spending at risk due to falling oil price. President Goodluck Jonathan warned Tuesday that Nigeria could be forced to cut further the amount of oil revenue it uses for government spending if the global crude price continued to plummet. The warning came on the evening of the presentation of the revised 2015 budget that could see politically sensitive spending cuts just weeks before presidential and parliamentary elections. Finance Minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala last month announced a cut in the proposed benchmark rate for next year from $78 to $73 a barrel and earlier this month reduced that to $65. Abuja sets a so-called benchmark oil price.","Gunmen kill 1 in ambush of Mexican vigilantes. PAROTILLAS, Mexico (AP) — A self-defense force commander in the southern state of Guerrero says gunmen ambushed his group as they were patrolling a rural road, killing one.","AP Interview: Hamas No. 2 says he'll move to Gaza. GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — Islamic militant group Hamas' No. 2 leader said in an interview Tuesday that he hopes to move from his base in Egypt to his native Gaza Strip following the formation of a Palestinian unity government.","Glitzy projects spark rare anger from Syria regime backers. Beirut (AFP) - Even for some of the Syrian regime's staunchest supporters, this month's launch of a glitzy new shopping mall and tourism projects seems to have been a step too far.","Aid access in Syria not improving: UN chief. United Nations (United States) (AFP) - Access for foreign aid for millions of Syrians desperately in need has not improved, violating a Security Council resolution passed two months ago, the UN chief said in a report Wednesday. But almost 3.5 million people remain without access to essential goods and services, including life-saving medicines, in a \"clear violation\" of international law, wrote Ban Ki-moon. \"The security situation is deteriorating and humanitarian access to those most in need is not improving. Thousands of people are not getting the medical care that they need -- which Ban described as \"arbitrary and unjustified\" and \"a clear violation of international humanitarian law\".","Prince William meets Obama; Kate at NY child center. New York (AFP) - Britain's Prince William met US President Barack Obama in the Oval Office on Monday as well-wishers braved the freezing cold to glimpse his pregnant wife, the Duchess of Cambridge, in New York.","Chiefs down Blues to make Super 15 finals. Defending champions the Waikato Chiefs scraped into the Super 15 finals with a tightly fought 11-8 victory over the Auckland Blues on Friday. \"It was extremely hard work,\" Chiefs captain Aaron Cruden said.","Hurricane Edouard forms in Atlantic, but no threat to land. (Reuters) - Edouard, the fourth hurricane of the 2014 Atlantic season, formed on Sunday but posed no threat to land, the National Hurricane Center said. The fifth named storm of the Atlantic season had top sustained winds of 80 mph (130 kph), making it a Category 1 storm on the five-step Saffir-Simpson scale of intensity. Its center was about 915 miles (1,470 km) east-northeast of the Northern Leeward Islands and was moving toward the northwest, the Miami-based hurricane center said. \"This is not a threat to land,\" NHC spokesman Dennis Feltgen said. \"This will curve harmlessly out to sea. ...","Federal police take control of 13 towns in Mexico. MEXICO CITY (AP) — Security officials say federal police have taken control of 13 municipalities in southern Mexico where local police are suspected of possible links to organized crime and the case of 43 missing students.","Syrian forces take rebel town near Lebanon border. DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — Syrian state media say pro-government troops have seized a rebel-held town near the border with Lebanon, continuing a march to dislodge opposition strongholds from along the rugged frontier.","France late show stuns Scotland. France kept their Six Nations titles hopes alive with a last gasp 19-17 win away to Scotland at Murrayfield on Saturday. The Scots were on the brink of winning their first Test in eight matches against France when New Zealand referee Chris Pollock awarded a debatable penalty in front of the posts as the ball came out from a ruck. Replacement Jean-Marc Doussain made sure of the kick and there was barely any time left for Scotland to mount a comeback. Victory -- France's first away from home since winning at Murrayfield two years ago -- left Philippe Saint-Andre's side in with a shout of a winner-takes-all clash with title rivals Ireland in Paris next week.","NZ 87-7, 379 ahead of India in 1st test. AUCKLAND, New Zealand (AP) — India loosened New Zealand's grip on the first test by reducing the home side to 78-7 in its second innings at tea on Saturday's third day.","Ethiopia clears swathes of land, displacing thousands: HRW. Ethiopia is clearing large swathes of land and forcibly displacing populations to make room for state-run sugar plantations in the Omo Valley, according to Human Rights Watch. The rights watchdog said 500,000 people are affected by the land clearance, which covers \"virtually\" the whole valley in southern Ethiopia. \"Ethiopia can develop its land and resources but it shouldn't run roughshod over the rights of its indigenous communities,\" said HRW's Africa director Leslie Lefkow. There are several large state-run sugar plantations in the Omo Valley and several new projects under way.","Senior U.S. lawmaker will not sign off on aid for Egyptian military. U.S. Senator Patrick Leahy, chairman of the Senate subcommittee that oversees foreign aid, said on Tuesday he will not approve aid for the Egyptian military. \"I'm not prepared to sign off on the delivery of additional aid for the Egyptian military,\" the Vermont Democrat said in a speech on the Senate floor. \"I'm not prepared to do that until we see convincing evidence the government is committed to the rule of law.\" The Obama administration said last week it would deliver 10 Apache attack helicopters and $650 million in aid to Egypt's military, relaxing a partial suspension of aid imposed after Egypt's military ousted President Mohamed Mursi last year and cracked down violently on protesters.","Luongo exits Canucks for Florida as Ducks deal big. Goaltender Roberto Luongo, a two-time Olympic champion for Canada, was traded from Vancouver to Florida as a flurry of deals began Tuesday, the eve of the National Hockey League trade deadline. Luongo backstopped Canada's four knockout-round triumphs on the way to gold at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics but was largely a backup behind Carey Price as Canada defended the crown last month in Sochi, Russia.","San Francisco moves closer to banning plastic water bottles. By Laila Kearney SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - San Francisco moved to restrict the sale of plastic water bottles on city property on Tuesday, the first such action by a major U.S. municipality and the latest in a string of waste-reduction measures that included a ban on plastic grocery bags. The Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to begin phasing out the sale and distribution of water in single-use plastic bottles on city-owned or leased land next fall, and to ban future water bottle purchases with city funds. \"There are incredible, enormous environmental costs of plastic water bottles,\" said Supervisor David Chiu, who introduced the measure. \"It takes 1,000 years for a typical plastic water bottle to biodegrade.\" Numerous cities in California and other states, including Maui County and a number of Hawaiian municipalities, have made it illegal for grocery stores to pack consumer purchases in plastic bags, and a bill recently introduced in the state legislature would extend such bans statewide.","London shares rise as struggling stocks bounce. London (AFP) - London shares ended the week on a high on Friday, rallying for a fourth straight day on the back of US Federal Reserve comments signalling a near-term rate rise is unlikely.","Cricket-Giant Irfan being kept fresh for World Cup. Pakistan's tall left arm pacer Muhammad Irfan has had to reject lucrative offers to play in England and South Africa after his cricket board told him to stay fresh for the World Cup. He will not feature in Pakistan's second test against Australia starting on Thursday or the three tests against New Zealand in the UAE next month. \"I got offers to play in England this year and more recently in the T20 event in South Africa in November but I couldn't accept them on advice of the board,\" Irfan told Reuters. Irfan, whose official height is recorded at 7 feet 1 inch, has been told by the PCB and national team management to also restrict his appearances in first class cricket in order to prepare himself for the World Cup Down Under in February and March.","Thick smoke affects flights in western Indonesia. JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Officials say heavy smoke from fires set to clear land for plantations has blanketed parts of Indonesia's Sumatra island and disrupted flight operations.","Ecobank board removes CEO following months of turmoil. By Matthew Mpoke Bigg ACCRA (Reuters) - The board of Ecobank removed its chief executive, Thierry Tanoh, on Tuesday following months of turmoil at one of the biggest financial institutions in sub-Saharan Africa. The crisis over corporate governance and leadership that led to Tanoh's departure is seen as a test case for regulators and has put a spotlight on the integrity of financial institutions on a continent where economies are expanding rapidly. Ecobank named Deputy CEO Albert Essien as its new chief executive. It also announced the reinstatement of finance director Laurence do Rego, which was a demand by Nigeria's securities regulator, which is investigating alleged breaches of corporate governance.","Iranian youth behind 'Happy' video sentenced. TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — A defense lawyer in Iran says six young Iranian men and women videotaped dancing to Pharrell Williams' \"Happy\" and the video's director have been sentenced to suspended jail terms and lashes.","Sleepy port city focus of North Korea tourism push. WONSAN, North Korea (AP) — Where do you go in North Korea if you're in the mood for a barbecue by the beach, maybe some pier-side fishing, or a dip in the ocean?","Canada on track to balance budget, even with oil fall: Oliver. TORONTO (Reuters) - Canadian Finance Minister Joe Oliver said again on Monday he was confident the federal government would balance the budget next year, even given volatile oil prices. He also repeated that he was monitoring the housing market following reports of overvaluation and would take steps to deal, if necessary, to deal with the matter, but does not see a property bubble. \"Dramatic steps are not called for and we certainly do not see a bubble,\" he told reporters in Ottawa. (Reporting by Randall Palmer; Writing by Jeffrey Hodgson; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe)","US calls on Russia to withdraw forces from Ukraine. WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama on Saturday called on Russian President Vladimir Putin to de-escalate tensions in Ukraine by pulling his forces back to bases in the country's Crimean region and to refrain from any interference elsewhere in Ukraine.","Canada youth find work, push down jobless rate to 6.9%. Canada's jobless rate fell slightly to 6.9 percent in March as thousands of youth who have struggled to break into the labor market found work, Statistics Canada said Friday. But the overall youth unemployment rate remained unchanged at 13.6 percent -- nearly double the national average -- as more young people joined the search for that elusive first paycheck. Last month, the number of jobs increased by 43,000 and the unemployment rate slipped 0.1 percentage points to 6.9 percent. The economy created twice as many jobs last month than expected, and the unemployment rate dip is the first so far this year.","Cook captain, no place for Trott in England squad. LONDON (AP) — England has confirmed Alastair Cook as captain in its preliminary squad of 30 players for next year's cricket World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.","B.C. woman arrested in U.S., accused of threatening hockey player boyfriend. KENNEWICK, Wash. - A B.C. woman has been arrested in the United States over allegations she threatened to kill her boyfriend, who is a junior hockey player for the Tri-City Americans.","Ukraine's Yanukovich returns to work, street protests go on. By Richard Balmforth and Natalia Zinets KIEV (Reuters) - Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich returned to his desk on Monday after four days of sick leave, while the political opposition pressed for further concessions to end more than two months of street protests. Yanukovich, caught in a tug of war between Russia and the West, is seeking a way out of a sometimes violent confrontation with protesters who have occupied city streets and public buildings following his decision in November to spurn a trade deal with the EU and accept financial aid from Moscow. His first urgent task, after returning from an absence that some saw as a tactical gambit to gain time, is to name a new prime minister to succeed Mykola Azarov, who stepped down on January 28 under pressure from the protest movement. The speaker of parliament, an ally of Yanukovich, told lawmakers on Monday ahead of a new session of the legislature starting on Tuesday that the president was still planning to discuss the choice of premier with opposition leaders.","Governments pledge more to prevent malnutrition. ROME (AP) — More than 170 governments have pledged to do more to prevent malnutrition around the globe, adopting a new voluntary set of guidelines to promote healthy diets and reduce levels of obesity.","Police arrest 4 for Rwandan spymaster murder. MAPUTO, Mozambique (AP) — Mozambican police say they have arrested four Rwandans, including a senior military official, for the murder in South Africa of a former spymaster in Rwanda and critic of the government there.","France ready to act against Islamic State group. NEWPORT, Wales (AP) — French President Francois Hollande says his country is ready to join a coalition to take action against the Islamic State group if Iraqi authorities request it and the United Nations approves.","Netanyahu: Boycott attempts won't hurt Israel. JERUSALEM (AP) — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday dismissed warnings by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry that Israel could be targeted by a growing boycott campaign if peace talks with the Palestinians fail.","Shell shuts Nigeria export terminal because of leak. Anglo-Dutch oil giant Shell said on Monday that it had halted crude exports from a key terminal in southern Nigeria because of a leak in a supply pipeline. Shell said its Nigerian subsidiary SPDC was working to repair a leak on one of its pipelines under the sea from its Forcados Oil terminal. \"The line was immediately shut down when we observed the leak on March 4, 2014,\" Shell said, without disclosing the volume of crude exports affected. With a capacity of 400,000 barrels of crude per day, Forcados is one of Nigeria's main export terminals.","Maine court rules transgender student should have been allowed to use bathroom of her choice. PORTLAND, Maine - Maine's highest court says a transgender student should have been allowed to use the bathroom of her choice.","Ebola fears hit Nigerian festival. Lagos (AFP) - Organisers of one of Nigeria's most famous cultural festivals on Monday said they were warning outsiders to stay away because of fears about Ebola.","Argentina slams Shell for fuel price hike. BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — Argentina is accusing Anglo-Dutch oil company Royal Dutch Shell of a conspiring attitude that goes against the country's interests after the oil major hiked the price of its fuels by 12 percent.","Climate change impacts heat up UN talks in Lima. LIMA, Peru (AP) — With this year on track to become the warmest on record, more than 190 nations began talks Monday on new limits for the greenhouse gases that are causing billions of dollars in damage and making life harder to sustain around the world.","Italy's Meucci wins men's marathon at Euros. ZURICH (AP) — Italy's Daniele Meucci won the European Championship marathon title on Sunday ahead of Yared Shegumo of Poland and Aleksey Reunkov of Russia.","Isner downs Aussie battler to reach Atlanta semi-finals. (Reuters) - Top seed John Isner has forged ahead into the semi-finals at the Atlanta Open after disposing of Australian eighth seed Marinko Matosevic in straight sets on Friday. Sela upset fourth seeded Canadian Vasek Pospisil 7-5 1-6 6-2 (Writing by Ben Everill;","Senegal ex-president's son to be tried for corruption. The flamboyant \"super minister\" son of former Senegalese leader Abdoulaye Wade is to be tried in June for corruption after accumulating a fortune valued at well over $1 billion, a judicial source said on Thursday. Karim Wade is alleged to have acquired by corrupt means companies and real estate valued at $1.4 billion (1 billion euros), including land in Dakar, a fleet of luxury cars and media and finance companies operating across Africa. \"Karim Wade will remain in prison and will go on trial in two months for illicit enrichment,\" the ministry of justice source told AFP. Wade, a powerful minister in his father's regime, has been on remand in a Dakar prison for exactly one year since his arrest and the city's anti-corruption court ordered he remain in custody, the source said.","6 hurt in explosion at Thailand protest site. BANGKOK (AP) — An explosion Friday night at a protest site in Thailand's capital injured at least six people, as political tensions wracking the country showed no sign of easing.","Vietnam's taste for cat leaves pets in peril. The enduring popularity of \"little tiger\" as a snack to accompany a beer in Vietnam means that cat owners live in constant fear of animal snatchers, despite an official ban. At an unassuming restaurant next to a carwash in central Hanoi, a cat is prepared for hungry clients: drowned, shaved and burned to remove all fur before being cut up and fried with garlic. \"A lot of people eat cat meat. Vietnam has forbidden the consumption of cats in an effort to encourage their ownership and keep the capital's rat population under control.","Officials say attacks kill 7 around Iraqi capital. BAGHDAD (AP) — Officials in Iraq say separate attacks around the country's capital, Baghdad, have killed at least seven people.","Ban Ki-moon urgently considering options on Syria peace talks. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is \"urgently considering his options\" after Tehran suggested on Monday it does not support the June 2012 deal which is the basis for Syria peace talks and the Syrian opposition threatened to withdraw if Iran attended. \"The secretary-general was deeply disappointed by Iranian statements today that are not consistent with the assurances he received regarding Iranian support for the Geneva communiqué,\" Ban's spokesman Martin Nesirky told reporters, referring to a June 2012 plan for a political transition in Syria. \"The secretary-general is currently urgently considering his options in light of the disappointing reaction of some participants,\" Nesirky said, adding that Ban was also disappointed that the Syrian opposition had conditioned its participation on the withdrawal of Iran's invitation.","India summons U.S. envoy over reports NSA spied on Modi's party. India summoned a senior U.S. diplomat on Wednesday and demanded a response to reports that the National Security Agency was authorized to spy on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's party in 2011, a senior government official said.","Switzerland votes on plan to hoard goal. BERN, Switzerland (AP) — Voters in Switzerland have begun casting their ballots in a referendum over whether to protect the country's wealth by investing in gold.","Mark Ramprakash gets England batting coach role. London (AFP) - Mark Ramprakash has been appointed as England's new batting coach this week, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) announced Thursday.","Erdogan unveils Turkey's controversial new presidential palace. Ankara (AFP) - Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday unveiled a new presidential palace on the outskirts of Ankara that has been denounced as an environmental blight and evidence of his autocratic tendencies.","China defiant on territory claims, demands respect. BEIJING (AP) — China's foreign minister sounded a note of defiance to the country's neighbors Saturday over rival territorial claims, and said good relations with Washington depend on mutual respect.","Jailed leader calls for more Venezuela protests. By Brian Ellsworth CARACAS (Reuters) - Jailed Venezuelan opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez urged sympathizers on Monday to maintain street protests against President Nicolas Maduro as the country's foreign minister prepared to meet the United Nations Secretary General. Lopez, who was arrested on February 18 after helping launch a nationwide protest movement, demanded top officials including the interior minister resign over the use of force against demonstrators in violence that has killed at least 18 people. \"They will never defeat those who refuse to give up.\" Opposition leaders called for another march on Monday after bringing thousands onto the streets on Sunday, despite the Carnival holiday that usually draws Venezuelans to the beach. By mid-day about 500 people had gathered in the well-heeled Las Mercedes district of Caracas, where they planned to march to the local office of the Organization of American States.","Basketball -Australia investigated over World Cup loss to Angola. Basketball's governing body FIBA has opened disciplinary proceedings against Australia over allegations they lost a World Cup game against Angola in order to delay an encounter with the USA. Australia were beaten 91-83 by Angola in the group stage of the World Cup in Spain last Thursday. The result ensured Australia finished third instead of second in their preliminary pool.","Mexico finds more graves at site of suspected student massacre. MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexican authorities have found four more clandestine graves containing charred human remains at a site in the restive southwest of the country, where officials fear missing students were massacred by gang members and police. Attorney General Jesus Murillo said on Thursday the motive behind the apparent massacre of dozens of student teachers, who went missing after clashing with police in Iguala in the volatile, gang-ridden state of Guerrero on Sept. 26, was not yet clear. The new find brings the number of graves discovered on the outskirts of Iguala to 10. ...","UN encourages travel to 'vibrant' Ebola-hit West Africa. The UN's Ebola czar on Wednesday encouraged tourists to visit West Africa, saying Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea were \"vibrant and alive\" and that contact with infected people was largely avoidable. \"I want to encourage everybody to maintain travel, tourism even to places that have Ebola. There is just no reason not to go to Freetown, Monrovia, Conakry,\" David Nabarro, the UN coordinator on Ebola, told the UN Economic and Social Council. The world's worst outbreak of Ebola has left around 5,000 dead and 13,000 seriously ill, mostly in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea.","Almeria beats Betis to move out of drop zone. BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Ramon Azeez's last-gasp goal gave 10-man Almeria a 3-2 win at home over relegated Real Betis on Sunday to help pull his team out of the Spanish league's drop zone.","Canada tornado destroys up to 100 small town homes. A tornado Tuesday afternoon destroyed or badly damaged up to 100 homes in Canada's Ontario province, authorities said Wednesday after surveying the devastation. \"It's pretty bad,\" government Minister Kellie Leitch told a nationally-televised press conference, adding that the twister destroyed \"up to 100 homes.\" A state of emergency has been declared in the township of Essa, north of Toronto, after Environment Canada reported an \"EF-2\" twister on the 0-6 Enhanced Fujita scale.","Pistorius returns for 3rd day of testimony. PRETORIA, South Africa (AP) — Oscar Pistorius is testifying for a third day at his murder trial, returning to the witness stand after breaking down in sobs and wailing a day earlier while describing the moments he said he realized he had fatally shot his girlfriend by mistake.","Powerful 7.1-magnitude quake rattles Mexican state of Chiapas. A 7.1-magnitude earthquake struck the Mexican state of Chiapas Monday morning, near the Pacific coast, seismologists said. There were no immediate reports of major damage. The US Geological Survey said the quake occurred around 1124 GMT and was located about 4 miles (8 kilometers) from the coast near the Guatemalan border, at a depth of 57 miles (92 kilometers). Although the USGS put the quake's magnitude at 7.1, Mexico's national seismological service gave a reading of 6.9.","Iran, world powers resume push for nuclear deal by July 20. Iran and six world powers resumed talks on Thursday aimed at clinching a long-term deal later this month on the scope of Tehran's contested nuclear programme, seeking to bridge still wide gaps in negotiating positions. After informal contacts on Wednesday, chief negotiators from Iran, the United States, France, Germany, China, Russia and Britain began a full plenary session shortly after 9 a.m. (0700 GMT), the sixth round of talks in Vienna since February. They have less than three weeks to try to agree on the future dimensions of Iran's uranium enrichment programme and other issues if they are to meet a self-imposed July 20 deadline for a deal. Washington and some of its allies have imposed sanctions on Iran over suspicions that its nuclear programme is designed to produce weapons - a charge denied by Iran, which says it is only interested in producing electricity and other peaceful projects.","80 missing in Central Africa riverboat sinking. Bangui (Central African Republic) (AFP) - Around 80 people are missing in Central African Republic after their boat sank last week on the M'poko River south of the capital Bangui, the government said on Wednesday.","Top Asian News at 7:00 p.m. GMT. MARYSVILLE, Washington (AP) — A 14-year-old girl died two days after a student opened fire inside a Washington state high school, raising the death toll in the shooting to three, including the gunman who killed himself as a teacher tried to stop him. Authorities scheduled a Monday afternoon news briefing, while the community wondered why a popular homecoming prince would open fire Friday in Marysville-Pilchuck High School cafeteria.","Moldova detains seven suspected of uranium smuggling. CHISINAU (Reuters) - Police in Moldova said on Tuesday they had detained seven people suspected of smuggling radioactive Uranium-238 on a train from Russia, a substance they said could have been used to make a \"dirty bomb\". Police discovered about 200 grams (7 oz) of hazardous substances worth about 1.7 million euros ($2.1 million) during a sting operation last week, said Ion Bodrug, head of an Interior Ministry investigative department. ...","At UN, Argentina remains defiant on debt. UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Argentina will not start negotiating to avoid a catastrophic default until a U.S. judge rules on a request to suspend his enforcement of an order to pay $1.5 billion in bad debts by June 30, Argentina's economy minister said Wednesday.","RWE to sue after German nuclear plant shut-down ruled illegal. DUESSELDORF/FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Germany's No.2 utility RWE is preparing to sue for millions of euros of damages after a federal court confirmed that a state's decision to shut down the company's Biblis nuclear plant for three months in 2011 was illegal. A spokeswoman for RWE said it planned the lawsuit over Biblis, Germany's oldest nuclear plant, which the state of Hesse had ordered closed as a precaution following the disaster at Japan's Fukushima plant. The spokeswoman declined to comment on the potential size of the claims but industry analysts have estimated that RWE suffered about 187 million euros ($255 million) in damages as a consequence of the forced shut-down. Shares in RWE, Germany's second largest utility by market value after E.ON, rose after the news and were up 4.7 percent, topping the German benchmark DAX index.","Wenger says Everton draw a sign of title class. Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger claimed the resilience shown by his players in their 2-2 draw with Everton underlines their Premier League title credentials. The Gunners showed plenty of grit as they battled back from two goals down to rescue a point in the closing minutes at Goodison Park on Saturday following a determined second-half showing. Last season the north London club were also faced with a 2-0 half-time deficit at Goodison, but offered a tame showing after the interval as they went on to lose 3-0. Before that we were a bit tentative and Everton are a good side as well.","Robshaw tells England there's no hiding place against All Blacks. London (AFP) - England captain Chris Robshaw underlined the scale of the challenge facing his side when they play New Zealand in their opening November international at Twickenham on Saturday by saying there was \"no hiding place\" against the world champions.","Kosovo university head resigns after protests. PRISTINA, Kosovo (AP) — Kosovo's top public university official has resigned from his post following days of clashes between police and protesters who accused him and other staff of faking their teaching credentials.","Zarif upbeat on eve of Iran nuclear deal implementation. Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said Sunday he was hopeful the implementation of a landmark deal with world powers would lead to a lasting agreement over Iran's nuclear drive. The deal clinched in Geneva in November and finalised last week is to go into effect on Monday and puts temporary curbs on Iran's nuclear activities in exchange for modest sanctions relief. \"I hope the implementation of the first phase of the Geneva (Joint) Plan of Action -- that will begin tomorrow -- will bring positive results for the country, as well as regional and global peace and security,\" Zarif said in remarks posted on his Facebook page. Clinched after years of tough negotiations, the accord will last for six months and gives Iran access to nearly $4.2 billion of frozen assets in return for Tehran limiting its enrichment of uranium to five percent.","Myanmar lifts curfew in violence-hit Mandalay. YANGON, Myanmar (AP) — Authorities in Myanmar's second-largest city of Mandalay have lifted a curfew imposed after attacks on minority Muslims left two people dead and injured 14 others.","Intl court orders Bemba, legal team to stand trial. THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — Judges at the International Criminal Court have ordered a former Congolese vice president and members of his legal team to stand trial on charges of interfering with justice.","European lawmaker sentenced to three-and-half years after bribery retrial. A former member of the European Parliament was sentenced to 3-1/2 years in jail by a Vienna court on Thursday after his retrial in a cash-for-laws case, Austrian media reported. Ernst Strasser, also an ex-Austrian interior minister, originally got a four-year term in 2013 after he was filmed by reporters from Britain's Sunday Times newspaper offering to propose amendments to European laws in exchange for 100,000 euros ($139,000) a year.","China refuses to let British lawmakers visit Hong Kong. LONDON (Reuters) - British lawmakers will not be allowed to enter Hong Kong as part of an inquiry into Britain's relations with its former colony and progress towards democracy there, the head of a parliamentary committee said on Sunday. \"I have been informed by the Chinese Embassy that if we attempt to travel to Hong Kong we will be refused entry,\" foreign affairs select committee chairman Richard Ottaway said in a statement. \"We are a committee of elected Members of Parliament from a democratic nation who wish to scrutinize British diplomatic work in Hong Kong. ...","Lisicki through to Hong Kong Open semifinals. HONG KONG (AP) — Top-seeded Sabine Lisicki of Germany advanced to the semifinals of the Hong Kong Open with a 6-4, 6-3 victory over China's Zheng Saisai on Friday.","Israeli prime minister making California visit. LOS ANGELES (AP) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is visiting California, trading a focus on the geopolitics of the Middle East for a Hollywood screening and visits with Silicon Valley tech entrepreneurs.","Judge orders release of information on CIA prisons. FORT MEADE, Md. (AP) — A military judge is ordering prosecutors to turn over never-revealed details about the time a Guantanamo Bay detainee spent in secret CIA prisons after being captured in connection with the 2000 attack on the USS Cole. Seventeen U.S. sailors were killed in the bombing in a Yemini port.","Swiss government bans Islamic State group. BERLIN (AP) — The Swiss government has banned the Islamic State extremist group and all activities to support the organization.","Biathlon union official faces doping allegations. SALZBURG, Austria (AP) — A vice president of the International Biathlon Union has provisionally stepped down amid allegations he helped his son obtain doping substances from banned doctor Michele Ferrari.","Putin defends Crimea's decision to hold referendum. Russian President Vladimir Putin defended breakaway moves by the pro-Russian leaders of Crimea on Sunday in a phone call with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and British Prime Minister David Cameron. The three leaders spoke amid tensions on the Black Sea peninsula since the Moscow-backed regional parliament declared the Ukrainian region part of Russia and announced a March 16 referendum to confirm this. \"Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin underlined in particular that the steps taken by Crimea's legitimate authorities are based on international law and aimed at guaranteeing the legitimate interests of the peninsula's population,\" the Kremlin said. Putin has said that Ukraine's new leaders seized power in an unconstitutional armed coup and that Russia has the right to invade Ukraine to protect Russians living in the former Soviet republic.","Wawrinka fells Berdych to reach Australian Open final. MELBOURNE (Reuters) - Stanislas Wawrinka will bid to break the 'Big Four' strangle-hold on grand slam silverware after edging Tomas Berdych 6-3 6-7(1) 7-6(3) 7-6(4) in a serving war on Thursday to reach the Australian Open final. In a slow-burning contest that occasionally roared to life, the Swiss eighth seed stepped up on big points to reach his first major final where he will meet either top seed Rafa Nadal or his great compatriot Roger Federer. ...","Yarnold credits 'well-oiled machine' after Sochi skeleton win. Rosa Khutor (Russia) (AFP) - Olympic skeleton champion Lizzy Yarnold has paid tribute to the \"well-oiled\" British machine that keeps churning out medal winners after taking gold at the Sochi Games. Yarnold dominated the event on Thursday and Friday, topping all four heats to keep the gold in British hands after the triumph of Amy Williams at the 2010 Vancouver Games. It was the fourth skeleton medal in four Olympics for Britain, and Yarnold said a culture of winning had been established. British skeleton is good because we find the right athletes that are good at it, that can learn tracks quickly and become winners,\" Yarnold added.","Obama: Right to self-determination being tested. BRUSSELS (AP) — President Barack Obama says the ideal that individuals have the right to determine their own destiny is being tested in Europe.","Argentina targeting historic win over Wallabies. MENDOZA, Argentina (AP) — Argentina is chasing its first win since joining the Rugby Championship and probably hasn't had a better chance of victory than it has Saturday against a wounded and weary Wallabies squad.","Pot cake leads to brief coma for Spanish student. MADRID (AP) — Officials in Spain say a university student went into a brief coma after eating a birthday cake baked with marijuana, and 10 others became seriously ill.","Murray soaks it in as Wimbledon welcomes him back. LONDON (AP) — It had been, famously, more than 75 years since a British man arrived at Wimbledon as the defending champion.","Recovery of Japan volcano victims suspended amid signs of rising activity. By Elaine Lies TOKYO (Reuters) - Search and recovery efforts for at least two dozen victims of Japan's worst volcanic eruption in decades were called off on Tuesday due to worries about rising volcanic activity, including the chance of another steam explosion. Hundreds of military searchers had been preparing to enter Mount Ontake by foot and helicopter to resume recovery of at least 24 people caught in a deadly rain of ash and stone after the peak erupted without warning on Saturday when it was crowded with hikers, including children. ...","Two British policemen sacked over 'Plebgate' scandal. London's Metropolitan Police force sacked two officers on Wednesday for their roles in the \"Plebgate\" scandal which led to the resignation of a government minister. Police constables Keith Wallis and James Glanville, who were both members of Scotland Yard's elite diplomatic protection squad, were sacked for \"gross misconduct\". Wallis is already serving a 12-month jail sentence after he falsely claimed to have witnessed a row between then government chief whip Andrew Mitchell and an officer at the gates of Prime Minister David Cameron's Downing Street residence in September 2012.","Hong Kong protesters clash with masked men at rally site. Hong Kong (AFP) - Hong Kong pro-democracy demonstrators clashed with dozens of masked men at the main protest site in the city centre Monday as police struggled to contain the chaos.","Aston Martin recalls 17,590 cars due to counterfeit material. Aston Martin is recalling most of its sports cars built since late 2007 after discovering a Chinese sub-supplier was using counterfeit plastic material in a part supplied to the luxury sports carmaker. Aston Martin, which is owned by Kuwaiti and private equity investors, is recalling 17,590 cars, including all of its left-hand-drive models built since November 2007 and all right-hand-drive models built since May 2012, affecting about 75 percent of all vehicles built in that period, a spokeswoman said. Aston Martin found that Shenzhen Kexiang Mould Tool Co Limited, a Chinese subcontractor that molds the affected accelerator pedal arms, was using counterfeit plastic material supplied by Synthetic Plastic Raw Material Co Ltd of Dongguan, according to documents filed with the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. A spokeswoman for Aston Martin said there had been no reports of accidents or injuries related to the issue and the financial impact to the automaker was small.","Graphic designer Massimo Vignelli dies in NY at 83. NEW YORK (AP) — Renowned graphic designer Massimo Vignelli, whose vision extended from subterranean transit maps to airline logos, died Tuesday at age 83.","'Fire up the barbie!' Sun teases swim rival Park. Incheon (South Korea) (AFP) - China's controversial Olympic swimming champion Sun Yang has bet rival Park Tae-hwan a barbecue dinner that he will beat the South Korean at the Asian Games.","German rapper-turned-jihadist reported dead in Syria. A German former rapper who joined jihadists fighting in Syria has been killed in a suicide bombing carried out by rival fighters, jihadist sources and a monitor said Tuesday. Denis Mamadou Cuspert, who rapped under the name Deso Dogg but took on the name Abu Talha al-Almani in Syria, was reported to have been killed in a suicide attack Sunday in an eastern province. He was a member of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and was reportedly killed in a double suicide bombing carried out by Al-Nusra Front, a rival jihadist group that is Al-Qaeda's Syria affiliate.","Obama: Time to 'fix our broken immigration system'. WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama says Democrats and Republicans in the House want to overhaul immigration laws. He calls on them to pass legislation this year.","Australia's David Jones shareholders back South African Woolworths bid. SYDNEY (Reuters) - Shareholders of David Jones Ltd , Australia's No. 2 department store by sales, on Monday voted in favor of $2 billion takeover bid from South Africa's Woolworths Holdings Ltd . The vote cements Woolworth's largest ever deal and marks a new era for the 176-year-old Sydney-based firm, which has languished for half a decade as online retail ravaged its traditional store-based model. David Jones said 96.8 percent of shareholders had voted in favor of the deal at a special meeting on Monday. (Reporting by Byron Kaye; Editing by Stephen Coates)","Nigeria's president suspends central bank governor: spokesman. LAGOS (Reuters) - Nigeria's President Goodluck Jonathan has suspended central bank governor Lamido Sanusi, presidency spokesman Reuben Abati said on Thursday. Sanusi, who was due to end his term in June, had been an increasingly outspoken critic of Jonathan's government and its record on tackling endemic corruption. (Reporting by Tim Cocks; Editing by Andrew Heavens)","Lyon coach Garde to leave club in June. LYON, France (AP) — Lyon coach Remi Garde says he is leaving the French club this summer because of family reasons.","Scores killed in Boko Haram village raids. Kano (Nigeria) (AFP) - Heavily armed gunmen raided four villages in northeast Nigeria leaving scores dead and sending survivors fleeing the attacks blamed on Boko Haram, a local lawmaker and residents said on Wednesday. \"There were deadly attacks on these villages by Boko Haram insurgents who killed a large number of people and destroyed homes,\" lawmaker Peter Biye, who represents the area in Nigeria's lower chamber of parliament, told AFP. \"Boko Haram have hoisted their flags in at least seven villages in the area which they now claim to be under their control,\" said the lawmaker. Military jets bombarded Boko Haram positions in the affected area to try to flush out the insurgents, he added.","Weak results from CSX, Citi drag US stocks lower; Best Buy plunges on holiday sales decline. NEW YORK, N.Y. - Retailers and railroads are among the biggest decliners in midday trading as investors react to disappointing earnings from Best Buy and a poor outlook from CSX.","Germany arrests suspected jihadist back from Syria. BERLIN (AP) — Authorities in Germany have arrested a 40-year-old man suspected of having trained and fought for an extremist group in Syria's civil war.","Californian voters support water bond two-to-one, poll finds. (Reuters) - A two-to-one majority of California voters support the state's $7.5 billion water bond that is slated for November's ballot, according to a new poll. The bond measure, which has been contentiously debated by the legislature and Governor Jerry Brown for the past few years, would improve the water quality, supply and infrastructure in drought-stricken California, if passed by voters. The poll, conducted by the independent and non-partisan Field Research Corp, found that citizen awareness of the water bond was low. Those who were aware of the water bond showed greater support.","EU to beef up border agency to deal with migrants. ROME (AP) — The European Commission agreed Wednesday to Italian demands to replace Rome's politically unpopular emergency operation for rescuing would-be refugees crossing the Mediterranean with an EU-wide project.","36 indicted in Puerto Rico in $1.8M fraud scheme. SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — FBI agents in Puerto Rico have issued 36 arrest warrants for people accused in a $1.8 million mail fraud scheme, roughly from 2003 to 2009.","Maroons veteran Thaiday to miss Origin opener. BRISBANE, Australia (AP) — Queensland will be without veteran forward Sam Thaiday when it starts its bid for a ninth consecutive State of Origin series victory against New South Wales.","UN judges approve provisional release of Serb. THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — United Nations judges have approved the provisional release on humanitarian grounds of an ailing Serb ultranationalist awaiting verdicts in his long-running war crimes trial.","Obama: Lack of will in Israel, Palestinian talks. SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — President Barack Obama says the halt in negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians underscore how neither side has shown the political will to make tough decisions that would sustain Mideast peace talks.","Florida executes first US inmate of 2014. The United States put to death its first inmate of the year in Florida, after a drop in executions during 2013. Askari Abdullah Muhammad, previously known as Thomas Knight, was convicted of abducting and killing a Miami couple in 1974 and fatally stabbing a prison guard six years later using a sharpened spoon. Muhammad, 62, died by lethal injection. He was pronounced dead at 6:45 pm (2345 GMT), Florida Department of Corrections spokeswoman Misty Cash told AFP.","China says more heavy smog expected ahead of APEC summit. BEIJING (Reuters) - China's capital is expected to face more heavy smog from Wednesday as it battles to try to guarantee air quality ahead of an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit starting on Saturday, forecasters said. Beijing, enveloped by thick smog over the past few days, has announced various long-term schemes over recent years to end the problem once and for all but none has worked. ...","Military says mortar fired from Gaza hits Israel. JERUSALEM (AP) — The Israeli military says a mortar round fired from Gaza hit southern Israel for the first time since the end of the Gaza war last month.","Dead cows stun beachgoers in Sweden, Denmark. COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — The carcasses of almost a dozen cows have washed ashore in Denmark and Sweden, puzzling police in the Scandinavian countries.","Hong Kong's loud American defies pro-Beijing 'smear campaign'. By Greg Torode HONG KONG (Reuters) - China has often accused \"foreign forces\" of trying to destabilize free-wheeling Hong Kong during the current pro-democracy protests, with a garrulous expat American emerging as a key target of attack. Mark Simon, the right-hand man of pro-democracy newspaper magnate Jimmy Lai, has moved his family out of Hong Kong for safety and has been pressed to deny that he is a U.S. spy. ...","Pro-Scottish independence side gaining ground: poll. Support for Scottish independence appears to be gaining ground three weeks ahead of the historic referendum, according to a poll published on Friday. The Survation survey found 47 percent of respondents would vote \"Yes\" to independence, compared to 53 percent who would vote \"No\", excluding people who were undecided. \"Yes\" campaign leader and Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond was widely seen to have won the debate against \"No\" campaign leader Alistair Darling. The survey was of 1,001 people of voting age, and found 11 percent of respondents said they remained undecided, a drop of 2 percent from the previous poll.","India's Jaitley in isolation ward, may skip U.S. trip. By Manoj Kumar NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India's Finance Minister Arun Jaitley may have to cancel a trip to the United States in October after he was moved to an isolation ward of a government-run hospital to help him recover from an infection that followed a stomach operation to treat diabetes. Jaitley is due to attend a World Bank meeting on Oct. 10-12 in Washington, where he is also expected to meet senior government officials. He was due to leave on Oct. 8. \"It seem doubtful that he would be able to take stress for the long journey to the U.S. ...","England rugby aim to 'nullify' Hooper. London (AFP) - England forwards coach Graham Rowntree said Australia captain Michael Hooper would receive \"special attention\" in Saturday's clash at Twickenham","US state coalition sues over immigration order. AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Texas is leading a 17-state coalition suing over President Barack Obama's recently announced executive actions on immigration, arguing in a lawsuit filed Wednesday that the move \"tramples\" key portions of the U.S. Constitution.","China says no room for compromise with Japan on history, territory. BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on Saturday that there was no room for compromise with Japan on questions of history and territory. China's ties with Japan have long been poisoned by what China sees as Japan's failure to atone for its occupation of parts of China before and during World War Two. China's anger over the past is never far from the surface, and relations have deteriorated sharply over the past 18 months because of a dispute over a chain of uninhabited islands in the East China Sea. (Reporting by Michael Martina; Writing by Ben Blanchard)","One pro-Russian activist killed in east Ukraine - Russian media. MOSCOW (Reuters) - One pro-Russian activist was killed in the east Ukrainian city of Slaviansk in clashes with forces loyal to the government in Kiev, Russian news agency RIA reported on Sunday, citing a local militant. \"On our side, another two were injured,\" RIA quoted pro-Russian militant Nikolai Solntsev as saying. (Reporting by Alessandra Prentice; Editing by Christian Lowe)","India boosts local wheat purchases, gives buffer against El Nino. By Mayank Bhardwaj NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Indian purchases of wheat from local farmers are set to climb at least 8 percent this year, bolstering government stocks against forecasts of below-average monsoon rains and the specter of a possible El Nino weather pattern. Poor rains in India, where farmers depend on the annual June-September monsoon to irrigate nearly half their land, typically stoke inflation - a key worry for Prime Minister Narendra Modi's newly formed government. \"Higher procurement this year will add substantially to higher stocks and that gives us a considerable cushion to deal with any price rise if lower monsoon rains affect sentiment, pushing up prices,\" said a government official who did not wish to be named as he is not authorized to speak with media. India has sold a total of about 11.5-12 million tonnes of wheat overseas in the past two years, dragging on global prices .","TSX futures point to slightly higher open, U.S. data awaited. (Reuters) - Stock index futures indicated a slightly higher opening for Canadian stocks on Thursday as investors awaited U.S. jobless claims and GDP data due at 0830 ET. June futures on the S&P TSX index were up 0.07 percent an hour before the release of the data. Stocks closed lower on Wednesday after President Barack Obama said Russian President Vladimir Putin had miscalculated if he thought he could divide the West or count on its indifference over his annexation of Crimea. Dow Jones industrial average futures were up 0.04 percent, S&P 500 futures were up 0. ...","Chinese, Japanese foreign ministers meet at APEC. BEIJING (AP) — The foreign ministers of China and Japan have held talks ahead of a hoped-for meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe after a more than two-year freeze in high-level contacts.","Britain's Cameron tells Ukraine to pull back government forces. British Prime Minister David Cameron on Wednesday called on the Ukrainian authorities to pull back security forces surrounding protesters in Kiev, telling Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich the world was closely watching his actions. \"I am deeply concerned by the scenes we are witnessing in Ukraine,\" Cameron said in a statement released by his office. \"The violence on all sides is completely unacceptable and President Yanukovich has a particular responsibility to pull back government forces and de-escalate the situation. \"President Yanukovich should be under no doubt that the world is watching his actions and that those responsible for violence will be held accountable.\" (Reporting by William James;","Berdych, Tsonga, Kohlschreiber win at ABN Amro. ROTTERDAM, Netherlands (AP) — Third-seeded Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic beat Andreas Seppi of Italy for the fifth time in a row 6-3, 6-3 to open his account at the ABN Amro tournament on Monday.","Top Asian News at 11:30 a.m. GMT. KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — A man traveling with a stolen passport on a missing Malaysia Airlines jetliner was an Iranian teenager trying to migrate to Germany, and is not believed to have any terrorist links, police said Tuesday. The announcement is likely to dampen, at least for now, speculation that the disappearance of the Boeing 777 was linked to terrorism. Police said a second passenger also traveling with a stolen passport has not been identified. Both bought their tickets in Thailand and entered Malaysia together.","Guard rescues 2 fishermen off US Virgin Islands. CHARLOTTE AMALIE, U.S. Virgin Islands (AP) — The U.S. Coast Guard has rescued two fishermen from a boat that capsized in rough waters off the U.S. Virgin Islands.","Lakes formed by quake in China threaten flooding. KUNMING, China (AP) — Rescuers raced Tuesday to evacuate villages near rising lakes formed by landslides, complicating relief efforts following a strong earthquake in southern China that killed at least 398 people and has left thousands homeless.","Rebel leader in east Ukraine says if Kiev orders ceasefire, 'maybe we will too'. MOSCOW (Reuters) - A senior pro-Russian rebel leader involved in talks with Kiev said on Thursday that if Ukrainian forces abide by a ceasefire in east Ukraine, rebel forces might also do so, Russian news agency Interfax reported. \"If there is a real ceasefire on their part, then maybe we will also cease fire,\" Andrei Purgin, a leader of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic who is due to hold preliminary peace talks with Kiev in Minsk on Friday, told the agency. \"We will see how they observe their ceasefire,\" (Reporting by Alissa de Carbonnel, Editing by Timothy Heritage)","Moderate earthquake felt in Costa Rica. SAN JOSE, Costa Rica (AP) — A moderate quake rattled Costa Rica on Thursday, but there were no immediate reports of damage.","U.S. Congress probe of deadly defect in GM cars expands. By Richard Cowan WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Congress's investigation of a deadly defect in some General Motors cars widened on Tuesday, and a House committee ordered the automaker and a federal regulator to provide details on steps they took to get unsafe cars off the road. In another development, federal prosecutors in New York are examining whether GM is criminally liable for failing to properly disclose the defect, according to a source familiar with that investigation. The malfunction, which first came to light a decade ago and involves more than 1.6 million GM vehicles, has been linked to 13 deaths and prompted a recent recall by the automaker. The defect, a problem with the ignition switch in some GM cars, could cause cars to stall, airbags to fail and other problems while moving at high speeds.","Berlin wants UK to stay in EU but won't negotiate on immigration. BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany wants Britain to remain an \"active and engaged\" member of the European Union but will not cede on Prime Minister David Cameron's plans to curb immigration from other EU countries, Chancellor Angela Merkel's spokesman said on Monday. \"It is up to Britain to clarify what role it wants to play in future in the European Union. This is not a bilateral matter between Germany and Britain but between Britain and all of its European partners,\" said Merkel's spokesman Steffen Seibert. ...","Cricket-Test Series Australia v India scoreboard. Dec 10 (Infostrada Sports) - Scoreboard at tea on the second day in the first Test between Australia and India on Wednesday in Adelaide, Australia Australia 1st innings (Overnight: 354-6)C. Rogers c Dhawan b I. Sharma 9 D. Warner c I. Sharma b K. Sharma 145 S. Watson c Dhawan b Aaron 14 M. Clarke not out 98 S. Smith not out 103 M. Marsh c Kohli b Aaron 41 N. Lyon b Shami 3 B. Haddin c Saha b Shami 0 Extras (lb-4 nb-2 w-4) 10 Total (for 6 wickets, 103.3 overs) 423 Fall of wickets: 1-50 C. Rogers,2-88 S. Watson,3-258 D. Warner,4-345 M. Marsh,5-352 N. Lyon,6-354 B. HaddinTo bat: P. Siddle, M. ...","Wal-Mart's unauthorized ways made China business look strong: Bloomberg. (Reuters) - Wal-Mart Stores Inc has been using questionable accounting and unauthorized sales practices to make its retail business in China appear stronger, Bloomberg reported, citing internal documents and interviews with employees. The sales practices, which include bulk sales to other retailers and sales being allegedly booked when no merchandise left the shelves, made business appear strong even as retail transactions slowed and unsold inventory piled up, Bloomberg reported. Representatives at Wal-Mart did not immediately respond to a request for comment. ...","Russian defence minister says Ukrainian troops left Crimea: report. MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said on Friday that all Ukrainian servicemen loyal to Kiev have left Crimea and all military installations on the Black Sea peninsula are under Russian control, Interfax news agency reported. Shoigu also told Russian President Vladimir Putin that Russia would hand over to Kiev military vessels and airplanes of Ukrainian forces that had not gone over to Russia's side. (Reporting by Alissa be Carbonnel and Vladimir Soldatkin, Editing by Timothy Heritage)","Ukraine queries shale deals as Yanukovich era under scrutiny. By Pavel Polityuk and Tom Bergin KIEV/LONDON (Reuters) - Commercial deals concluded by Ukraine during the presidency of Viktor Yanukovich are already coming under scrutiny, less than two weeks since he was deposed, with lucrative gas projects involving Western companies among the first. Since Yanukovich fled after three months of street protests that claimed nearly 100 lives, the new authorities in Kiev are looking for any evidence that he arranged deals to benefit people close to him. ...","Top EU court gives people right to ask for Google data deletion. Brussels (AFP) - The EU's top court ruled Tuesday that individuals have the right to ask Internet giant Google to delete personal data produced by its ubiquitous search engine.","Chile aids stranded Korean ship in Antarctica. SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) — A Korean-flagged fishing ship is stranded in Antarctica with 90 passengers aboard.","Protesters in Malaysia seek justice from Russia. KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Protesters marched on the Russian Embassy in Kuala Lumpur on Tuesday, waving placards and demanding justice for victims of the Malaysia Airlines flight that was shot down over Ukraine last week.","W. African leaders, WHO meet to address Ebola. CONAKRY, Guinea (AP) — Presidents from the West African countries hit by the Ebola outbreak are meeting with world health leaders to come up with ways to stop the spread of the deadly disease.","Compton, Koepka among those headed to British Open. BETHESDA, Maryland (AP) — Erik Compton's runner-up finish in the U.S. Open will be enough to get him into the next major championship.","UAE summons Qatar envoy over cleric's 'insults'. The UAE summoned the Qatari ambassador on Sunday to protest against remarks made by a Muslim Brotherhood-linked cleric who slammed the Emirates for jailing Islamists, the foreign ministry said. The summons was the first of its kind by a member of the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council -- Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates -- against another GCC state since the bloc's formation in 1981. Qatar's ambassador to the UAE, Fares al-Nuaimi, was summoned to the foreign ministry in Abu Dhabi and handed \"an official letter of protest\" over \"insults\" by cleric Yusef al-Qaradawi, WAM news agency reported.","Obama orders new round of sanctions on Russia. WASHINGTON (AP) — Seeking to intensify pressure on Russia, President Barack Obama on Thursday expanded U.S. economic sanctions against Moscow, targeting 20 individuals inside and outside the government, as well as a Russian bank that provides them support.","UK police charge 4 people with terror offenses. LONDON (AP) — U.K. authorities have charged four people with terror offenses after a series of raids in London over the past two weeks.","Sierra Leone's top Ebola doctor dies from virus. By Umaru Fofana and Adam Bailes FREETOWN (Reuters) - The doctor leading Sierra Leone's fight against the worst Ebola outbreak on record died from the virus on Tuesday, the country's chief medical officer said. The death of Sheik Umar Khan, who was credited with treating more than 100 patients, follows the deaths of dozens of local health workers and the infection of two American medics in neighboring Liberia, highlighting the dangers faced by staff trying to halt the disease's spread across West Africa. Ebola is believed to have killed 672 people in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone since the outbreak began in February, according to the World Health Organisation. The contagious disease, which has no known cure, has symptoms that include vomiting, diarrhea and internal and external bleeding.","Death toll in Washington state mudslide rises to 35. (Reuters) - The death toll in a mudslide that devastated a rural Washington state community last month rose to 35 on Tuesday as two more bodies were extricated from the rubble and President Barack Obama pledged to visit the town at the center of the devastation. A rain-soaked hillside collapsed without warning above the north fork of the Stillaguamish River on March 22, unleashing a torrent of mud that engulfed some three dozen homes on the outskirts of the tiny community of Oso. The death toll had stood at 33 on Monday.","Australia to deploy 200 special forces in Iraq. CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Australia will soon deploy 200 special forces troops in Iraq to advise and assist Iraqi security forces a month after the Australians were sent to the Middle East.","Boy also injured fingers on Disney World ride. ORLANDO, Florida (AP) — A report says a 12-year-old boy suffered cuts to four fingers on Walt Disney World's Pirates of the Caribbean ride, three months before a British tourist had a similar accident.","AP Essay: Air tragedies bring grief without order. LONDON (AP) — When air travel goes wrong, the modern world has given us a script to follow.","EU investigates Apple, Starbucks, Fiat tax deals. AMSTERDAM (AP) — The European Union's antitrust regulator has launched an investigation into tax deals that Apple, Starbucks and Fiat struck with some European countries, the start of a wider push to keep multinationals from taking advantage of loopholes.","Syria: Mortar shells kill 14 in central Damascus. DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — Four mortar shells exploded on Tuesday in central Damascus, killing 14 people and wounding scores, state media said.","North Korea blames the U.S. for Internet outages. By Jack Kim SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea accused the United States on Saturday of being responsible for Internet outages it experienced in recent days amid a confrontation between them over the hacking of the film studio Sony Pictures. North Korea's main internet sites experienced intermittent disruptions early in the week for reasons that U.S. tech companies said could range from technological glitches to a hacking attack. ...","Lebanon detains top suspect in car bomb campaign. Lebanese security forces have detained a Sunni militant suspected of recruiting suicide bombers and assembling car bombs for a radical group that was behind attacks on Iranian interests in Beirut, security sources said on Friday. They said Hassan Abu Afleh, arrested in Beirut on Saturday, is suspected of being a leading figure in the Abdullah Azzam Brigades, the group that claimed responsibility for Wednesday's twin suicide attack near the Iranian cultural center that killed eight people. It follows the arrest last week of Naim Abbas, another leading militant identified by one of the security sources as working for the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant - a hardline Sunni group that is fighting in Syria.","China sentences 2 to death for cult-related murder. BEIJING (AP) — A Chinese court has sentenced two people to death and another woman to life imprisonment for beating a woman to death in a McDonald's outlet after they unsuccessfully tried to recruit her into their cult.","Cancellation threat follows tragedy on Everest. Expedition leaders and guides threatened Monday to cancel all climbing on Mount Everest after the deadliest avalanche in its history as hundreds of Nepalese sherpas paid final respects to their fellow guides. At least 13 people were killed in the avalanche above base camp but the death toll is expected to rise further.","Schumacher records theft suspect hangs himself after arrest. Geneva (AFP) - A man arrested Tuesday suspected of involvement in the theft and leaking of a medical file on injured ex-Formula One champion Michael Schumacher was found hanged in his cell Wednesday, prosecutors said.","Renault reshuffle after Red Bull criticism. SILVERSTONE, England (AP) — The Renault engine supply team that powered Sebastian Vettel to four successive Formula One championships announced a major reshuffle on Thursday after mounting criticism from Red Bull.","Toyota to stop making cars in Australia from 2017. MELBOURNE/TOKYO (Reuters) - Toyota Motor Corp said on Monday it would stop making cars and engines in Australia by the end of 2017 in what would mark the end of an era for a once-vibrant auto production base and the loss of thousands of direct and indirect jobs. Toyota's decision follows the planned exits of General Motors and Ford Motor announced last year and would leave no global automaker remaining in Australia as high costs and a strong currency make it an unattractive production base. \"We did everything that we could to transform our business, but the reality is that there are too many factors beyond our control that make it unviable to build cars in Australia,\" Toyota Australia President Max Yasuda said in a statement. Toyota's exit from Australia after more than half a century there deals a further blow to Prime Minister Tony Abbott's conservative government, which is seeking to manage a slowdown in the $1.5 trillion economy as a decade-long mining investment boom slows.","Panel to consider Pardew headbutt. London (AFP) - Newcastle United manager Alan Pardew is to appear before a disciplinary commission on Tuesday after being charged with misconduct by the Football Association following his headbutt on Hull midfielder David Meyler.","Aston Martin expects to be profitable after 2016: CFO. By Costas Pitas MILLBROOK, England (Reuters) - Loss-making British luxury sports carmaker Aston Martin expects to make a significant return to profitability after 2016, its finance officer said on Monday. \\\\\"Once we finish the investment phase, we are very, very confident that it's going to take us to a very sustainable profitability,\\\\\" CFO Hanno Kirner said in an interview. \\\\\"We expect to return to significant profitability in the periods after 2016.\\\\\" Aston Martin said in April it was investing in new electrical and electronic technology alongside a 2013 strategic partnership with Daimler through which the company benefits from shared engine development.","Petkovic through, Stosur out at Stanford. STANFORD, California (AP) — Germany's Andrea Petkovic reached the second round of the Bank of the West Classic with a 6-1, 6-4 win over Croatia's Alja Tomljanovic on Monday and also benefited from the elimination of an experienced potential opponent in the next round.","'Exercise snacks' may help control blood sugar. By Shereen Jegtvig NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Short bursts of intense exercise before meals may help control blood sugar spikes better than one longer, less intense session, suggests a new small study. Researchers say these “exercise snacks” may be an effective way to improve blood sugar control among people with insulin resistance, a precursor to diabetes. “Exercise spread across the day reduces sedentary time, and spread before meals reduces blood glucose spikes after meals,” said lead author Monique Francois. “Exercise on top of an active lifestyle needs to be more intense than we normally do when walking or moving around,” Francois, from the University of Otago in Dunedin, New Zealand, added in an email to Reuters Health.","Iranian dissident freed on health grounds. Iranian dissident Mehdi Khazali, who was serving a six-year prison sentence for acts against national security and spreading propaganda against the regime, has been freed on health grounds. \"A representative of the prosecutor and a doctor went to my client's bedside and have judged that the continuation of imprisonment would be dangerous for his health,\" said lawyer Mostafa Tork-Hamedani. A doctor by profession and a veteran of the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war, Khazali is the son of Ayatollah Abolghassem Khazali, an important religious figure known for taking ultra-conservative positions. Ayatollah Khazali has disowned the views of his son, including his criticism of Iran's human rights situation.","Bangladesh garment factory owners surrender over deadly fire. Owners of a Bangladesh garment factory were denied bail on Sunday after surrendering to a court which sought their arrest over the country's worst industrial fire that killed 111 workers. Delwar Hossain and his wife Mahmuda Akter handed themselves in to the magistrates court almost six weeks after it issued warrants for their arrest over the 2012 blaze that gutted the Tazreen factory. Although warrants were issued on December 31, police have not arrested Hossain and Akter who have been charged over the tragedy at the factory where workers stitched clothes for Western retailers including Walmart. It was not clear why the couple, who have been been living freely in Dhaka despite the warrants, decided to give themselves up to the court on Sunday.","International experts start recovery work at Ukraine crash site. The OSCE rights and security organization said on Friday more than 60 international experts, including Dutch and Australians, had reached the site where a Malaysian airliner came down in eastern Ukraine. \"Recovery work starts immediately,\" the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) said on Twitter.","US Army knocks 2-star down to 1-star rank. WASHINGTON (AP) — A two-star U.S. Army general faulted for failing to properly investigate a sexual assault and other accusation against a colonel on his staff in Japan will be retired at one-star rank, the Army announced Wednesday.","Storm leaves 240,000 without power in U.S. Midwest. (Reuters) - More than 240,000 homes and businesses remained without power in the U.S. Midwest on Tuesday after severe thunderstorms rolled through the region overnight. Commonwealth Edison, a unit of U.S. power company Exelon Corp, in northern Illinois said it had almost 200,000 customers still without power. The company said the storm affected about 380,000 customers. The following lists outages by utility: Power Company State Out Now Exelon IL 197,100 Wisconsin Electric WI 28,300 Alliant IA 14,600 Ameren IL 2,800 Total 242,800 (Reporting by Scott DiSavino; Editing by James Dalgleish)","Obama criticizes 'sensational' exposure of spying. WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama says former National Security Agency analyst Edward Snowden's \"sensational\" revelations of classified spying programs could impact U.S. operations for years to come.","US Marine jailed for driving into Mexico with guns. SAN DIEGO (AP) — SAN DIEGO (AP) — A California congressman sent a letter Friday to Secretary of State John Kerry asking him to secure the release of a U.S. Marine veteran jailed in Tijuana after he drove into Mexico with three legally owned guns in his truck last month.","Australia says planes checking new search area. PERTH, Australia (AP) — Australia says four planes are now searching in a new area in the Indian Ocean for possible signs of the Malaysian airliner that went missing three weeks ago.","Toyota says Chinese regulators looking at Lexus. BEIJING (AP) — Toyota Motor Corp. said Friday that Chinese anti-monopoly regulators are looking at its Lexus luxury unit in a spreading investigation of foreign automakers.","Amnesty: Muslim exodus in CAR is ethnic cleansing. DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — Amnesty International is warning that the exodus of tens of thousands of Muslims from Central African Republic amounts to ethnic cleansing.","Italy's Mogherini says EU must keep diplomatic path open on Ukraine. Italian Foreign Minister Federica Mogherini, appointed the European Union's new foreign policy chief, said on Saturday that the EU must keep the path to a diplomatic solution of the Ukraine crisis open even as it worked on new sanctions against Russia.","China's Xi calls for tighter ideological control in universities. BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese President Xi Jinping has called for greater \"ideological guidance\" in China's universities and urged the study of Marxism, state media reported on Monday, as the country tightens control on Western ideology. Xi's comments are the latest sign of his politically conservative agenda and come amid a ratcheting up of controls over the media, dissidents and the internet. China's Communist Party has signaled that it will not embark on political reform, despite hopes that Xi, the son of a former liberal-minded vice premier, may loosen up. ...","Military: 37 militants killed in Yemen campaign. SANAA, Yemen (AP) — Yemen's military says it has killed 37 suspected al-Qaida fighters in an ongoing offensive in a southern province.","Sierra Leone army blockades Ebola areas, Liberia declares emergency. By Umaru Fofana and Clair MacDougall FREETOWN/MONROVIA (Reuters) - The army blockaded rural areas hit by the deadly Ebola virus in Sierra Leone on Thursday, a senior officer said, after neighboring Liberia declared a state of emergency to tackle the worst outbreak of the disease, which has killed 932 people. Worried Liberians queued at banks and stocked up on food in markets in the ramshackle capital Monrovia while others took buses to unaffected parts of the West African country after President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf announced the powers lasting for 90 days late on Wednesday. The state of emergency allows Liberia's government to curtail civil rights and to deploy troops and police to impose quarantines on badly affected communities to try to contain an epidemic that has struck four west African nations. \"Everyone is afraid this morning,\" civil servant Cephus Togba told Reuters by telephone.","Indonesian president-elect Jokowi calls for unity after bitter election. By Jonathan Thatcher and Kanupriya Kapoor JAKARTA (Reuters) - Joko \"Jokowi\" Widodo was declared the winner of Indonesia's presidential election on Tuesday, bringing the promise of major reforms to the world's third largest democracy. The Elections Commission, known as KPU, said the Jakarta governor had won by just over six percentage points, with 53.15 percent of the nearly 130 million votes cast on July 9. It was the closest and most bitterly fought election in Indonesia's history, pitting Jokowi against former general Prabowo Subianto, whose promise of strong leadership brought echoes of decades under autocratic rule. \"This victory is a victory for all the people of Indonesia,\" the president-elect told hundreds of supporters gathered at a port on the outskirts of the capital Jakarta, chosen to emphasize his commitment to Indonesia's maritime potential.","Crisis deepens as Ukraine says Russian soldiers back rebel thrust. By Richard Balmforth and Pavel Polityuk KIEV (Reuters) - Ukraine's president said on Thursday that Russian troops had entered his country in support of pro-Moscow rebels who captured a key coastal town, sharply escalating a five-month-old separatist war. Earlier he said he had canceled a visit to Turkey because of the \"rapidly deteriorating situation\" in the eastern Donetsk region, \"as Russian troops have actually been brought into Ukraine\". Russia's defense ministry again denied the presence of its soldiers in Ukraine, using language redolent of the Cold War, even as two human rights advisers to President Vladimir Putin said more than 100 Russian troops had died there in a single attack on Aug. 13. \"We have noticed the launch of this informational 'canard' and are obliged to disappoint its overseas authors and their few apologists in Russia,\" a defense ministry official, General-Major Igor Konashenkov, told Interfax news agency.","North Korea to send special envoy to Russia. SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea said Friday that leader Kim Jong Un will send a special envoy to Russia soon for a trip excepted to focus on how to strengthen their ties.","Investors see Greek upheaval ring-fenced from rest of euro zone. By Francesco Canepa and Alistair Smout LONDON (Reuters) - Greece's future in the euro zone may hang in the balance once more, but investors believe the market fallout from any current political turbulence can be insulated, unlike during the region's sovereign debt crisis of 2012. Investors are betting that a rout in Greek markets, sparked by the latest political upheaval in Athens, will not spread, placing their faith in firewalls built following the euro zone debt crisis. ...","Bayern fans banned for bad behavior, club fined. NYON, Switzerland (AP) — UEFA has banned Bayern Munich fans from a section of the stadium for the next Champions League game against Manchester United because of discriminatory behavior of supporters.","North Korea launches unprecedented personal attack on South Korea leader. North Korea published comments on Friday attacking South Korean President Park Geun-hye, descending to unprecedented levels of personal insult by describing her as a \"repulsive wench\" who had failed to marry or bear children. The KCNA news agency carried what it said were comments by a private citizen criticizing Park's offer last week to help the impoverished North's women and children as \"foul-smelling vituperation uttered by human scum. \"Park Geun-hye is but an unseemly wench who has never had a chance to marry or bear a child,\" the citizen, Kim Un Kyong, was quoted as saying by KCNA. Park, the citizen said, had no right to talk about the children of North Korea.","France calls up Lacazette to replace Giroud. PARIS (AP) — France coach Didier Deschamps has called up Lyon forward Alexandre Lacazette to replace the injured Olivier Giroud for matches against Spain and Serbia next month.","Germany scores first hat-trick in World Cup rout. Salvador (Brazil) (AFP) - Thomas Mueller scored a hat-trick as Germany thrashed Portugal 4-0 to leave Cristiano Ronaldo's dreams of dominating the World Cup in tatters on Monday. Bayern Munich star Mueller bagged the first treble of his international career as Germany shrugged off a troubled build-up to the tournament to make a flying start in Group G. But it was a disastrous afternoon at Salvador's Fonte Nova Arena for Ronaldo and Portugal, who had defender Pepe sent off for a first half headbutt on Mueller. Mueller opened the scoring from the penalty spot after 12 minutes before defender Mats Hummels doubled Germany's advantage on the half-hour mark.","Lampard to stay at Man City to end of season. MANCHESTER, England (AP) — Frank Lampard will carry on playing for Manchester City throughout the Premier League season, the English champions announced Wednesday night.","UK police probe murder claims in child abuse case. LONDON (AP) — British police say they are investigating three allegations of murder as part of an inquiry into claims that prominent people sexually abused children several decades ago.","Top German diplomat criticizes Israeli policy. JERUSALEM (AP) — Ahead of the arrival of Chancellor Angela Merkel, Germany's foreign minister says Israel's settlement policy is \"disruptive\" to peace talks with the Palestinians.","Balotelli sorry as FA probe 'racist' post. London (AFP) - Liverpool striker Mario Balotelli apologised on Tuesday for posting a message on Instagram that appeared to contain racist and anti-Semitic references and which has sparked a Football Association investigation.","Brazil police find bodies of men killed in jungle. SAO PAULO (AP) — Police say they have found the bodies of three men whose disappearance has aggravated a clash between Amazon tribes and settlers.","DNA being collected to ID Ukraine crash victims. THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — Forensic teams fanned out across the Netherlands on Saturday to collect material that will help positively identify the remains of victims killed in the downing of the Malaysia Airlines plane over Ukraine. Families and friends of the dead huddled to console one another at churches, schools and sports clubs across the nation.","Maliki remains many Iraqis' top choice as leader. Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki remains many Iraqis' top choice to lead the country even though militants have overrun large swathes of territory and his domestic and international support is eroding. A June 13 statement by the country's most senior Shiite cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, calling on Iraqis to join state forces battling jihadists, has helped rally Iraq's majority Shiites around Maliki and bolstered his image as a bulwark against a perceived Sunni takeover. \"I think support for him has gone up,\" said student Abbas Saadeq, 21, citing what he saw as backing for the prime minister from Iraq's most senior Shiite clerics, or marjaiya. Posters of the heavy-jowled leader still crowd Baghdad's skyline and checkpoints after April's parliamentary election, which his State of Law coalition dominated despite a litany of attacks in the run-up to the poll.","Israeli army agrees to 'humanitarian' pause. GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — The Israeli military says it has agreed to a U.N.-brokered five-hour pause in its strikes on the Gaza Strip to allow Palestinians to restock supplies.","Japan's lower house dissolved for snap election. TOKYO (AP) — Prime Minister Shinzo Abe dissolved the lower house of Japan's parliament Friday, forcing a snap election in an apparent bid to shore up support for his scandal-plagued government so that he can pursue his policy goals.","US senators voice doubts on Obama trade agenda. WASHINGTON (AP) — Lawmakers provided a reality check Thursday to the Obama administration's optimism overs its trade agenda following some progress in key negotiations with Japan.","Sweden's Princess Madeleine, 4th in line of succession, to give birth in NYC. COPENHAGEN - Sweden's Royal Palace says Princess Madeleine and her American husband, banker Christopher O'Neill, have decided that their first child should be born in New York City.","Lithuania to probe Saudi man's rendition by CIA. VILNIUS, Lithuania (AP) — Lithuanian prosecutors say they have reopened an investigation into allegations that a Saudi citizen suspected of involvement in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks was held at a secret CIA detention site in the Baltic country.","Mulders' mom shows the Dutch love of speedskating. SOCHI, Russia (AP) — Michel and Ronald Mulder arrived in this world a day later than planned. Their mother, you see, was busy watching speedskating on TV.","Venezuela government, opposition to resume talks Thursday. A Venezuelan opposition coalition and President Nicolas Maduro's government will meet for new talks aimed at ending more than two months of deadly anti-government protests, officials said Tuesday. \"We have a date, Thursday, but we still do not have a time and place,\" said Ramon Guillermo Aveledo of the Democratic Unity (MUD). Anti-government protests have rattled Venezuela since February, leaving at least 41 people dead and more than 600 injured, with opposing sides trading blame for the violence. The elected government and the opposition held preparatory talks on April 7, which were followed by an unprecedented televised meeting between President Nicolas Maduro and some opposition leaders, including the runner-up in last year's presidential election, Henrique Capriles.","Sri Lanka coach Farbrace quits for England post. COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — Sri Lanka coach Paul Farbrace resigned on Tuesday just three months into his two-year contract to become the England assistant coach.","Turkish court sentences 2 surviving leaders of 1980 military coup to life prison terms. ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkish court sentences 2 surviving leaders of 1980 military coup to life prison terms.","Mexico struggles to return order to Los Cabos. MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexican authorities are still struggling to restore services and calm residents five days after Hurricane Odile knocked out power, water and phone service, sparking widespread looting.","Iran nuclear deal 'very likely' by July deadline: Rouhani. Shanghai (AFP) - Talks between Tehran and six world powers on a comprehensive deal over its nuclear programme are \"very likely\" to reach a successful conclusion by a July 20 deadline, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said Thursday.","Rousseff gains on Silva a week from Brazil election: poll. RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) - President Dilma Rousseff gained on opposition candidate Marina Silva in a likely runoff to the Oct. 5 presidential election, a new poll said on Friday. The Datafolha survey showed Rousseff has 47 percent voter support compared with 43 percent for Silva in a simulation of an expected second-round vote. The poll was released on the TV Folha Internet news service. The gap between them has widened to four percentage points, compared with two points in the previous poll a week ago, which showed Rousseff with 46 percent and Silva with 44 percent. ...","Kerry calls on U.S. college graduates to face down climate change. By Scott Malone BOSTON (Reuters) - The rapidly changing climate poses a threat of sparking greater global conflict, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Monday told the graduating class of Boston College, urging the graduates to play a role in pushing for new energy policies. Citing recent reports from the United Nations and White House showing that a rising emissions of carbon dioxide from the burning of fossil fuels in contributing to a warming world, he warned of the possibility of climate-related conflict. If there are stronger more powerful storms, things will change in a hurry,\" Kerry said at Boston College, where he received his law degree in 1976. \"Climate change is directly related to the potential of greater conflict and greater instability.","Sri Lanka candidate vows to restructure government. COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — The opposition candidate says if he is elected he would scrap Sri Lanka's virtually all-powerful presidential system within 100 days and would govern through an all-party national government in the interim.","Palestinian prisoners in Israel end hunger strike. JERUSALEM (AP) — A Palestinian official says about 80 Palestinian prisoners have ended their hunger strike after 63 days, after reaching a deal with Israel.","France to set up military hospital to fight Ebola in West Africa. PARIS (Reuters) - France will set up a military hospital in West Africa in the coming days as part of France's contribution to the fight against the Ebola outbreak there, President Francois Hollande said on Thursday. Hollande said that France's response to the outbreak would not be limited to a financial contribution to European funds being made available to fight the virus, which the World Health Organization said on Thursday had claimed 2,630 lives so far. \"I have therefore taken the decision to set up a military hospital in the coming days in ... ...","Approval rating of Chile's President Bachelet falls to new low. SANTIAGO (Reuters) - Chile's President Michelle Bachelet saw her approval rating fall for the third straight month in September, though support for her key reforms improved, a poll showed on Thursday. Overall approval of the center-left president slipped 2 percentage points from August to 47 percent, said pollster Gfk Adimark, Bachelet's lowest rating in the monthly survey since returning to power in March. As well as flagging economic growth, there was a spate of bombings in capital Santiago in September, including one that left 14 people injured and another that left a man dead. ...","Liverpool striker Sturridge suffers new injury blow. London (AFP) - Liverpool striker Daniel Sturridge may not return until the new year after it was announced Wednesday that the England forward had suffered a fresh thigh injury.","U.S. call for South China Sea 'freeze' gets cool response from China. By Paul Mooney and Lesley Wroughton NAYPYIDAW (Reuters) - A U.S. proposal for a freeze on provocative acts in the South China Sea got a cool response from China and some Southeast Asian nations on Saturday, an apparent setback to Washington's efforts to rein in China's assertive actions. To China's annoyance, the United States is using a regional meeting in Myanmar this weekend to step up its engagement in the maritime tension by calling for a moratorium on actions such as China's planting of a giant oil rig in Vietnamese waters in May. Its ally the Philippines has also called for a freeze as part of a three-step plan to ease tension in the resource-rich sea, through which passes $5 trillion of trade a year. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry arrived in Myanmar's capital, Naypyidaw, on Saturday for the ASEAN Regional Forum, joining foreign ministers and other top diplomats from China, Russia, Japan, India, Australia, the European Union and Southeast Asia among others. \"The United States and ASEAN have a common responsibility to ensure the maritime security of critical sea, lands and ports,\" Kerry said in opening comments.","Ugandan rebels spread fear with DR Congo massacres. Eringeti (DR Congo) (AFP) - \"You sent soldiers to wipe us out, but here we are.\" That was the chilling message from Ugandan rebels during the latest massacre in the northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo, according to one survivor.","HRW accuses Sudan army, allies of Blue Nile killings, rapes. Human Rights Watch on Monday accused Sudanese government forces and allied militias of leading a campaign of killings and rapes in areas of Blue Nile state where they are battling insurgents. Khartoum has been struggling to crush an insurgency in Blue Nile and neighbouring South Kordofan since 2011, when the Sudan Peoples Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N) mounted a revolt. \"Sudanese government forces are getting away with abusive and illegal tactics under a guise of counterinsurgency, including rape, arbitrary detentions and killings,\" HRW's Daniel Bekele said in a report. HRW's report was based on interviews with six internally displaced persons inside Blue Nile and 42 refugees who had fled to South Sudan.","US warns citizens to avoid resort of Acapulco. MEXICO CITY (AP) — The U.S. Embassy in Mexico has issued a security message warning U.S. citizens to avoid the Pacific resort of Acapulco because of violence and protests.","Yemen peace holds as toll mounts from week of clashes. Sanaa (AFP) - A peace accord appeared to be holding in Yemen Monday after a week of clashes between Shiite rebels and Sunni militiamen that the government said killed at least 200 people.","Recovery gains no steam in Europe as France lags. FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — The economic recovery in the 18-country eurozone failed to gain any momentum in the first quarter as official figures showed quarterly growth unchanged at 0.2 percent in the first three months of the year.","No sign of life from missing Nicaragua miners. No one will rest,\" said Marcela Castillo of Nicaraguan mining firm Hemco, which is taking part in the four-day-old rescue effort. Rescuers have made 25 trips into the mine, where the unstable earth forces workers to \"walk on tiptoe,\" local government representative Lumberto Campbell told TV station Canal 4. He said rescue workers would not give up until they reached the spot where the missing miners' colleagues said they were working when a landslide, triggered by heavy downpours, caused the mine to cave in on 30 people early Thursday. The mine shaft, in the remote village of El Comal, was abandoned more than 80 years ago by the foreign mining firms that operate in Nicaragua's gold-rich northeast.","Icahn says eBay corporate governance worst ever: CNBC. Billionaire activist investor Carl Icahn said Wednesday that corporate governance at e-commerce giant eBay Inc., in which he is a shareholder, was the worst he had ever seen. \"I've never seen worse corporate governance than eBay,\" Icahn told CNBC television. Icahn, who has a 2.15 percent stake in eBay, is known for taking large stakes in companies and pushing for management change. Icahn also said that eBay chief executive John Donahoe should not have control over PayPal, the company's fast-growing payments business.","Google enhances encryption technology for email. WASHINGTON (AP) — Google has enhanced the encryption technology for its flagship email service in ways that will make it harder for the National Security Agency to intercept messages moving among the company's worldwide data centers.","Gerrard calls time on England career. England captain Steven Gerrard retired from international football on Monday after becoming a pillar of the team in 114 appearances, but making way after the country's disastrous World Cup campaign. Gerrard, 34, led England at the World Cup where they bowed out in the group stage. The Liverpool midfielder said he had \"agonised\" over the decision since returning from Brazil. \"This has been a very difficult decision, one of the toughest I've had to make in my career,\" Gerrard told the Football Association's FATV.","Engine in failed rocket launch likely to be pulled. NEW YORK (AP) — Orbital Sciences says it will likely stop using the type of engines that were employed when its unmanned Antares commercial supply rocket bound for the International Space Station exploded moments after liftoff last week.","Attacks in Israel weigh heavily on lacrosse team. DENVER (AP) — Israeli forward Noach Miller is leading his team on quite a run at the world lacrosse championships, even if his mind is thousands of miles away.","Bulgaria claims Hezbollah was behind bus bombing. SOFIA, Bulgaria (AP) — Bulgaria's interior minister says he is convinced that the Shiite militant group Hezbollah was behind a July 2012 bus bombing that killed five Israelis and their Bulgarian bus driver.","Ukraine pledges more autonomy to rebellious east. KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine's president promised Wednesday to introduce a bill as early as next week that would offer greater autonomy to the pro-Russian east, where separatists have been battling government troops for almost five months.","Asia Cup: Afghanistan 254-6 vs Bangladesh. FATULLAH, Bangladesh (AP) — Afghanistan's Asghar Stanikzai smashed an unbeaten 90 and Samiullah Shenwari made 81 to steer Afghanistan to 254-6 in their Asia Cup match against Bangladesh on Saturday.","Disquiet in Baltics over sympathies of Russian speakers. By Aija Krutaine and David Mardiste DAUGAVPILS, Latvia/TALLINN (Reuters) - In the former Soviet republics of Latvia and Estonia, there is unease over events in Crimea, which was formally annexed by Moscow last week on the pretext of safeguarding its Russian minorities. Russian news reports carried in Crimea had said Ukraine was being overrun by gangs of anti-Russian fascist thugs and that hundreds of thousands of Russian-speaking refugees had fled a \"humanitarian catastrophe\" in Ukraine, a claim for which no evidence has been found. In the Latvian town of Daugavpils, where a Russian Tzarist-era fortress and barracks meet grey Soviet-era apartment blocks, you are more likely to be greeted in Russian than Latvian, with 51 percent of the city's residents Russians. Russian speaker Irina Gorkina says the region, within two hour's drive of Russia's border, has never seen ethnic conflict.","Migrant smuggler costs for crossing Mexico to US. Migration experts and smugglers who charge from $5,000 to $10,000 to move Central Americans to the U.S. say these are the payments that must be made to get their human cargo to its destination:","Plastic pollution choking Australian waters: study. Three-quarters of the trash found off Australian beaches is plastic, a study released Monday said as it warned that the rubbish is entangling and being swallowed by wildlife. Researchers surveyed the vast Australian coastline at intervals of about 100 kilometres (62 miles), compiling the world's largest collection of marine debris data, the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) said. \"We found about three-quarters of the rubbish along the coast is plastic,\" CSIRO scientist Denise Hardesty said. \"Most is from Australian sources, not the high seas, with debris concentrated near cities.\" Rubbish found included glass and plastic bottles, cans, bags, balloons, pieces of rubber, metal and fibreglass as well as fishing gear and other items lost or discarded in or near the sea.","Israeli police arrest Jerusalem church vandal. JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli police say they have arrested a man who vandalized a cross at the Jerusalem church where Christian tradition says the Virgin Mary died.","Scans reveal new monuments at Stonehenge. A vast complex of monuments surrounding Britain's prehistoric Stonehenge site has been revealed using hi-tech underground scanning, archaeologists said Wednesday. \"Stonehenge is the most iconic archaeological monument, possibly along with the pyramids, on the planet,\" project leader Professor Vincent Gaffney told the British Science Festival in Birmingham, central England. \"Most of the area around Stonehenge is terra incognita. It has never been explored and everything we think about Stonehenge is on the basis of what we don't know about it.","France's Sarkozy: Secret recordings cloud future. PARIS (AP) — Former French president Nicolas Sarkozy and his pop-star-supermodel wife have always thrived under the public gaze. But recent scrutiny has given even this French glamour couple reason to squirm.","Reports: French leader arrives in Moscow. MOSCOW (AP) — French President Francois Hollande is meeting with his Russian counterpart in an impromptu visit to Moscow, Russian news agencies report.","Death toll from Islamist attack in northeast Nigeria doubles to 98. By Ibrahim Mshelizza BAMA, Nigeria (Reuters) - Gunmen from Nigeria's Islamist Boko Haram sect killed 98 people in the northeastern town of Bama on Wednesday, residents there said after burying their folk, more than double the figure given by police a day earlier. Gunmen stormed the town in the early hours of Wednesday, firing on a school, shooting or burning to death dozens of people and trashing the palace of a traditional ruler of one of West Africa's oldest Islamic kingdoms. \"We recovered 98 bodies that have already been buried since the attack,\" Akura Satomi, a pro-government civilian militia leader responsible for security in the town, told Reuters. The insurgents, fighting for an Islamic state in northern Nigeria and posing the main threat to Africa's top oil producer, seem to have adopted a tactic of maximum civilian casualties.","Conditions not met for warships delivery to Russia: French PM. French Prime Minister Manuel Valls said on Thursday that conditions have not yet been met for France to deliver two Mistral-class warships to Russia. \"Today the conditions have not been met for their (warships) delivery to Russia,\" Valls told reporters in the Serbian capital. Paris has been facing mounting pressure to scrap the 1.2 billion euro ($1.5 billion) deal with Moscow over Russia's role in the Ukrainian crisis. As a deadline for the controversial delivery of the first ship to Russia nears, France faces a gruelling dilemma: ditch the deal, lose billions and antagonise Moscow -- or go ahead and attract NATO's wrath.","Iran says does not seek indefinite power for Assad. By Michelle Moghtader ABU DHABI (Reuters) - Iran, Syria's main regional ally, does not see President Bashar al-Assad staying in power indefinitely but neither does it want \"extremist forces\" to replace him, a senior Iranian diplomat said on Wednesday. Amir Abdollahian, deputy foreign minister for Arab and African Affairs, added in an interview Iran hoped to have talks in a month or so with Saudi Arabia, Tehran's regional rival, to address their differences about the Middle East. Asked about Iranian activities in several Arab countries, he told Reuters that stability, peace and development \"in Yemen, Bahrain, Syria and any other country in the region will help the interests and security of the Islamic Republic of Iran\".","Bank of Canada cautious on January inflation pickup. VICTORIA, British Columbia (Reuters) - The Bank of Canada cautioned on Thursday against declaring an end to the problem of below-target inflation in the country just because the inflation rate picked up in January to the highest in 1-1/2 years. Answering questions from the audience following a speech, Murray also repeated the central bank's view that Canadian inflation and growth will gradually pick up over the next two years. ...","Jury picked in Detroit trial of Chicago activist. DETROIT (AP) — A jury has been seated in the trial of an activist who didn't disclose her conviction for bombings that killed two people in Israel when she applied for U.S. citizenship.","Chrysler Canada November sales rise 9 percent. TORONTO (Reuters) - Chrysler Canada's new vehicle sales rose 9 percent for the month of November compared with a year earlier to 20,922 cars and trucks, the company said on Tuesday, capping five full years of monthly sales gains. Jeep brand sales jumped 44 percent from a year earlier, to 5,887 units, and the company sold 6,699 Ram Pickups, up from 5,626 a year earlier. (Reporting by Allison Martell; editing by Matthew Lewis)","South Africa says toll in Nigeria church collapse rises to 115. By Joe Brock JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - The death toll from the collapse of a church guesthouse in Lagos has risen to 115, South African government minister Jeff Radebe said on Monday, urging the heavily criticized Nigerian government to investigate the \"tragedy\". The Sept 12. disaster in the church compound of popular preacher T.B. Joshua, which Radebe says killed 84 South Africans from visiting church groups, has opened up a diplomatic rift between the two African economic heavyweights. ...","Spain handing out $3B in planet's biggest lottery. MADRID (AP) — The drawing is underway in Spain for the world's biggest lottery payoff, a 2.5 billion-euro ($3 billion) pot of cash that will be divided among thousands of ticketholders.","Nibali wins 18th Tour de France stage. ARGELES-GAZOST, France (AP) — Vincenzo Nibali has won the 18th stage of the Tour de France, emphatically stamping his dominance on the race in its last mountain leg with a solo breakaway on the day's last climb.","Israeli premier brushes off Kerry boycott warning. JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday brushed off U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry's warning that Israel faced a growing boycott threat if peace talks with the Palestinians fail, saying the campaign would not achieve its goal.","Pope defensive on sex abuse as commission lags. VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis is coming under increasing criticism that he doesn't get it on sex abuse.","Gunmen torch churches, kill scores in Nigeria. BAUCHI, Nigeria (AP) — Suspected Islamic extremists sprayed gunfire at worshippers and torched four churches Sunday in a village just miles from the town where more than 200 schoolgirls were kidnapped, witnesses said.","Barry Diller-backed Aereo raises additional $34 million. (Reuters) - Aereo Inc, the Barry Diller-backed online television venture that is facing a legal battle from four major broadcasters said it had raised $34 million from its new round of financing. New investors included Gordon Crawford and Himalaya Capital Management, who joined Aereo's existing investors, Diller's IAC/InterActiveCorp, Highland Capital Partners, FirstMark Capital, among others. Walt Disney Co's ABC network, CBS Broadcasting Inc, Comcast Corp's NBCUniversal, and Fox Television Stations Inc claim Aereo's streaming service violates copyrights. ...","WHO will miss Ebola targets it set for Dec 1. LONDON (AP) — Two months ago, the World Health Organization launched an ambitious plan to stop the deadly Ebola outbreak in West Africa, aiming to isolate 70 percent of the sick and safely Ebola 70 percent of the victims in the three hardest-hit countries — Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone — by December 1.","5 France players to watch at the World Cup. PARIS (AP) — Several members of the France team that went on strike in training four years ago will be at the World Cup in Brazil, including mainstays Franck Ribery and Hugo Lloris.","Algerian militants issue video apparently showing killing of kidnapped Frenchman. By Patrick Markey ALGIERS (Reuters) - Algerian militants have released a video that appears to show them beheading Frenchman Herve Gourdel, who was kidnapped on Sunday, in what the group said was a response to France's action against Islamic State militants in Iraq. The video shows Gourdel, a 55-year-old tourist from Nice, kneeling with his arms tied behind his back before four masked militants who read out a statement in Arabic criticizing France's military intervention. They then pushed him on his side and held him down. ...","U.S. general says cannot rule out larger ground role in Iraq. By Phil Stewart WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The most senior U.S. military officer raised the possibility on Tuesday that U.S. troops might need to take on a larger ground role as they fend off Islamic State militants in Iraq, but the White House stressed there would be no combat mission for U.S. ground forces. General Martin Dempsey, chairman of the U.S. military's Joint Chiefs of Staff, said there was no intention of placing American military advisers on the ground for direct combat. The U.S. plan relies on other contributions, including air strikes. ...","Cuba agrees to open talks with EU on new political accord. By Daniel Trotta HAVANA (Reuters) - Cuba accepted a proposal by the European Union to open negotiations on a new political accord, Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez told a news conference in Havana on Thursday. On February 10, the EU agreed to begin negotiations with Cuba to increase trade, investment and dialogue on human rights in its most significant diplomatic shift since Brussels lifted sanctions on the communist-ruled country in 2008. Rodriguez said Cuba welcomed the proposal, saying it \"signifies the end of the unilateral policy of the EU towards Cuba\" and adding that Havana was ready to start negotiations.","Death toll from Boko Haram Cameroon raids rises to 15. Yaoundé (AFP) - At least 15 people were killed in two attacks blamed on Boko Haram in northern Cameroon, with the wife of the country's deputy prime minister among a dozen people reportedly kidnapped, a security source said Monday. The death toll from the two reportedly simultaneous raids on Sunday by Nigerian Islamic extremists on the palace of the Sultan Kolofata, and the nearby home of one of the country's most senior politicians, deputy premier Amadou Ali, rose on Monday from six to at least 15. The sultan, Seiny Boukar Lamine, his wife and their five children are among the hostages, a government spokesman confirmed. Two gendarmes and a member of the Cameroonian army's elite Rapid Intervention Battalion (BIR) were among the dead, a gendarme involved in the follow-up operation against the terrorists told AFP.","Former Japan PM Fukuda to meet China's Xi next week: source. By Yuko Yoshikawa TOKYO (Reuters) - Former Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda will meet Chinese President Xi Jinping next Wednesday in Beijing, a source familiar with the matter said, setting the stage for a possible meeting between the leaders of Japan and China in November. Expectations have been growing in Japan for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to meet Xi for an ice-breaking chat next month on the sidelines of a gathering of Asia-Pacific leaders in Beijing. ...","Sherpas leave Everest; some expeditions nix climbs. KATMANDU, Nepal (AP) — Sherpa guides were leaving Mount Everest's base camp on Wednesday as part of a walkout following the mountain's deadliest disaster, as some expedition companies announced that they were canceling their climbs this season.","Militants kill 21 people in two Iraq towns. Militants killed 21 leaders in the western Iraq towns of Rawa and Ana during two days of violence, officers and doctors said Sunday, after security forces made a \"tactical\" withdrawal. Some of those killed were shot dead on Saturday, when the militants moved into the towns, while others were slain the following day. The killings came after Iraqi security forces members departed the towns, clearing the way for the militant takeover.","Tennis-Li takes the extra step to win Australian Open. By Nick Mulvenney MELBOURNE, Jan 25 (Reuters) - China's Li Na banished the ghosts of two Australian Open final defeats by overpowering Dominika Cibulkova on Saturday to win her second major title and give the grand slam of the Asia-Pacific its first Asian singles champion. Li was the first Asian player to win a grand slam singles title at the French Open in 2011 and ended her 31-month membership of the \"one-slam wonder\" club when her Slovakian opponent sent a forehand long after 97 minutes. And also maybe you guys didn't know how hard I was working mentally to make this one.\" Cibulkova, one of the shortest women in the game at just 5ft-3in (1.6 metres) tall, had beaten four top 20 players, including third seed Maria Sharapova, on her fairytale run to her first grand slam final. \"It was my first grand slam final and I'm just proud with the way I handled it,\" she said.","Gunfire erupts in army base in South Sudan capital: witness. JUBA (Reuters) - Gunfire erupted inside the main military barracks in the South Sudanese capital Juba on Wednesday, a Reuters witness said, almost three months after fighting between soldiers in the city sparked a broader conflict. The body of a government soldier lay in the street outside the military headquarters and a column of smoke billowed into the sky from inside the compound, sending panicked residents running through the streets. It was not immediately clear what started the fighting but it did not appear to be a confrontation between government forces and rebels. ...","Lagos aims to use trash to make electric power. LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) — At Lagos' largest dump, dozens of men gather to sort iron, plastic and nylon atop a 20-foot wall of garbage where hundreds of white herons compete to eat the spoils.","Nigeria Islamists still holding 85 schoolgirls after raid: state. Nigerian Islamist militant group Boko Haram is still holding 85 girls it abducted from a raid on a secondary school in northeastern Borno state this week, although the other 44 were free, the state government said on Saturday. Monday's mass abduction of schoolgirls aged 15 to 18 by Boko Haram, who are fighting for a breakaway Islamic state in northern Nigeria, shocked Africa's most populous country. The Islamists attacked Chibok school, in remote Borno state, which had 129 girls staying in it, on Monday. Borno state education commissioner Inuwa Kubo said in a statement late on Saturday that 16 students had managed to flee back home during the night of the attack, while another 28 had escaped after being abducted.","China, Vietnam to address maritime disputes without using 'megaphone diplomacy': Xinhua. SHANGHAI (Reuters) - Senior Chinese and Vietnamese officials have agreed to settle their maritime disputes without resorting to \"megaphone diplomacy\", the official Xinhua news service said on Saturday. The agency's report follows a meeting in Hanoi on Friday between Chinese political advisor Yu Zhengsheng and Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung, and it comes as Beijing backs off from aggressive attempts to press its territorial claims in the South China Sea. ...","Stocks rise; Fed promises 'patient' approach, oil steadies. NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks rose Wednesday afternoon after the Federal Reserve said the U.S. economy was improving and that it would be \"patient\" in determining when to raise rates. Energy stocks jumped after the price of oil recovered some of its recent losses.","Stag state dinner for Hollande has French twist. WASHINGTON (AP) — Caviar and cotton candy are on the menu. Actor Bradley Cooper is on the guest list. Yet much of the focus for Tuesday's glitzy state dinner for French President Francois Hollande centers on the fact that the French leader is flying solo following a very public breakup from his first lady.","Radical Syria rebel pleads for infighting to stop. BEIRUT (AP) — The shadowy leader of one of Syria's most powerful rebel groups pleaded with his comrades to stop the spread of rebel infighting in opposition-held territories, warning it threatened to upend gains made against Syrian government forces.","Liverpool moves back on top, Arsenal sinks. LONDON (AP) — Steven Gerrard scored twice from the penalty spot as Liverpool stretched its Premier League winning streak to nine matches and returned to the top of the table with a 2-1 win at West Ham on Sunday, while Arsenal was dealt another blow by a top-five team in a 3-0 thrashing by Everton.","Polish miners block Russian coal imports at border. WARSAW (Reuters) - More than 200 Polish miners blocked trains carrying Russian coal at a border passage in northern Poland to protest against the cheaper Russian coal being brought in at a time when local mines are struggling, mining union leaders said on Wednesday. Poland, which uses coal to generate about 90 percent of its electricity, produced 76.5 million tonnes in 2013. It exported 10.6 million tonnes but at the same time imported 10.8 million, mainly from Russia and the Czech Republic. Imported coal proves cheaper than that from Poland's largest miners such as Kompania Weglowa or JSW. ...","Tatar minority to vote for autonomy in Crimea. Bakhchysaray (Undefined) (AFP) - Crimea's Tatars will on Saturday hold a vote on whether to push for self-rule in their historic homeland following its annexation by Russia. Ethnic Tatars from all over Crimea convened in the town of Bakhchisaray for an emergency Qurultai, or congress, to decide on the fate of the Muslim community of about 300,000 people on the Black Sea peninsula. He urged the audience packed into a community centre to vote for a draft resolution calling for the \"launch of political and legal procedures (for the) national and territorial autonomy of the Crimean Tatar people on their historical territory, Crimea.\" The document notes the Crimean Tatars' concern over the recent upheaval on the peninsula, which saw pro-Russian militia and Russian troops oust Ukrainian soldiers after a Moscow-backed referendum saw the peninsula split from Ukraine.","Russia questions Ukrainian government's legitimacy. MOSCOW (AP) — Russia's prime minister says the legitimacy of the new Ukrainian authorities is questionable.","Israel troops raid Palestinian newspaper offices. Ramallah (Palestinian Territories) (AFP) - Israeli soldiers Wednesday raided the offices of a Palestinian newspaper in the West Bank city of Ramallah, managers said, ordering them to stop printing publications by the Islamist movement Hamas. \"Officers informed us that Israel would not allow the printing and distribution of Falastin, Al-Resala, and Al-Istiqlal,\" three Hamas newspapers, Al-Ayyam's managers said in a statement. Al-Ayyam has been printing the three papers since April, when a surprise reconciliation deal between Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip, and their rivals Fatah brought the Islamist group's publications back to West Bank newsstands. Israel's army had no immediate comment.","U.S. cites crackdowns on protestors, gays in global rights report. By Susan Heavey WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States on Thursday expressed growing concern about government crackdowns on peaceful protest and persecution of gays in a number of countries in its annual review of global human rights. The State Department report highlighted conflicts in Syria, Ukraine, Turkey, Vietnam, Egypt and other countries where military forces have used violence and political repression to target protesters demanding their rights. \"The year 2013 may well be known for some of the egregious atrocities in recent memory,\" U.S. State Department's Acting Assistant Secretary Uzra Zeya told reporters. She referred in particular to a chemical weapons attack in Syria that killed over 1,000 people, and torture and detentions in North Korea.","Human Rights Watch accuses Israel of war crimes in Gaza. Human Rights Watch accused Israel of committing war crimes by attacking three U.N.-run schools in the Gaza Strip in fighting in July and August, killing Palestinian civilians who had sheltered there. The New York-based group issued a report on Thursday that it described as the first in-depth documentation of the incidents, which took place during a 50-day conflict between Israel and Palestinian militants that ended in a ceasefire on Aug. 26. \"Three Israeli attacks that damaged Gaza schools housing displaced people caused numerous civilian casualties in violation of the laws of war,\" it said in the report, based on interviews with witnesses and field research in the Hamas Islamist-dominated enclave. The group also said it was skeptical about the credibility of five criminal investigations announced by Israel's military on Wednesday into its Gaza war operations.","North Korea fires mid-range ballistic missiles into sea: South Korea. North Korea fired two mid-range ballistic missiles into the sea off its east coast and towards Japan early on Wednesday, South Korea's military said as the leaders of South Korea, Japan and the United States discussed North Korea's arms programs. The missiles, which appeared to be Rodong class, were launched from an area north of Pyongyang and flew about 650 km (400 miles) before dropping into the water, said an official at South Korea's office of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who asked not to be named. The North likely launched the missiles to drop short of its maximum range, which is believed to be more than 1,000 km and enough to hit much of Japan, \"mindful of neighboring countries' reaction,\" the official said, without elaborating. Wednesday's launch came on the day Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe met South Korean President Park Geun-hye and U.S. President Barack Obama.","CN Rail fourth-quarter profit stung as winter chill adds to costs. By Solarina Ho TORONTO (Reuters) - Canadian National Railway Co , the country's largest rail operator, reported higher quarterly earnings on Thursday, saying its full-year volumes and revenue hit record highs, but the results were tempered by extreme winter weather in December and came in slightly below estimates. CN Rail, which cautioned the weather challenges continued into January, raised its quarterly dividend by 16 percent. \"Unfortunately, this little twist of Mother Nature is also extending itself well into January and consequently we are having a similar monthly cost pressure to contend with starting in 2014.\" The Montreal-based railway reaffirmed its full-year 2014 outlook, first issued last month, when it said it was targeting double-digit growth in earnings per share from the C$3.06 adjusted diluted earnings per share in 2013. The company said the weaker Canadian dollar will be a positive tailwind compared to last year.","Egypt to try 163 Brotherhood members for murder. Egyptian prosecutors on Wednesday referred 163 alleged members of ousted president Mohamed Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood to trial on murder charges over protests in second city Alexandria, a judicial source said. Morsi's Islamist supporters have faced a sweeping police crackdown since his ouster by the army last July that has left more than 1,400 people dead and over 15,000 in jail. The 163 accused have been charged with the murder of 29 people and the attempted murder of others during clashes in the Mediterranean city.","2 Indian navy sailors missing after sub accident. NEW DELHI (AP) — Seven sailors were overcome by smoke on an Indian navy submarine off Mumbai's coast Wednesday and two other sailors were missing, the navy said.","Armed robbery sparked terrorism charge against Canada teen. MONTREAL (Reuters) - A 15-year-old charged with terrorism-related offences in Canada was initially arrested for armed robbery in October before authorities realized he had planned to travel abroad to join jihadist fighters, police said on Thursday. The teenager, who has not been named, is the youngest person and the first minor to face such charges in Canada, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police told Reuters. His arrest follows October attacks by suspected jihadist sympathizers in Montreal and Ottawa that killed two Canadian soldiers. ...","British aid drops expected 'imminently' in Iraq. The first consignment of British aid to civilians sheltering in the Sinjar mountains of northern Iraq is expected to be dropped \"imminently\", Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said on Saturday. Two Royal Air Force (RAF) C-130 transport planes took off from Britain earlier Saturday carrying reusable filtration containers filled with clean water, tents, tarpaulins and solar lights that can also recharge mobile phones. The United States has already started dropping food and water on Mount Sinjar and is conducting air strikes against militants, although Britain has said it currently has no plans for any military intervention. Britain's Department for International Development on Friday released £8 million ($13 million, 10 million euros) in emergency humanitarian aid for Iraq.","Much of country facing more bitter cold or rain, wind and snow today. TORONTO - The first Monday of 2014 brings more dangerous wind chill readings to the Prairies while other parts of Canada face a miserable mix of freezing rain, high winds and hazardous driving conditions.","Wawrinka dumps Djokovic out of Australian Open. By Ian Ransom MELBOURNE (Reuters) - A brilliant Stanislas Wawrinka ended Novak Djokovic's three-year reign at Melbourne Park on Tuesday, closing out a five-set classic at a heaving Rod Laver Arena to sensationally dump the Serb from the Australian Open quarter-finals. Heartbroken by Djokovic in two five-set epics in Melbourne and the U.S. Open last year, the eighth-seeded Swiss played out of his skin to upset his grand slam nemesis 2-6 6-4 6-2 3-6 9-7 in an exhilarating four hours. Wawrinka stayed cool in a deciding set of unrelenting tension, sealing it when the former world number one pushed a shot wide on match point. \"Last year was really tough, this year it's a new year.\" Wawrinka's bid to claim a maiden Melbourne Park semi-final appearance started nervously as he notched a trio of unforced errors to gift the Serb the opening break in the sixth game.","5 Peoples Temple victims among names released. DOVER, Delaware (AP) — Five victims of the 1978 Peoples Temple mass suicide-murder in Jonestown, Guyana, were among the names released by Delaware officials of people whose cremated remains were recently discovered inside an abandoned funeral home.","Kenyan court fines Chinese ivory smuggler $233,000 under new law. By Humphrey Malalo NAIROBI (Reuters) - A Kenyan court has ordered a Chinese man convicted of smuggling ivory to pay a 20 million shilling ($233,100) fine or serve seven years in jail in the first sentence handed out since Kenya introduced a tough new anti-poaching law. Highly lucrative ivory smuggling has blighted Africa in recent years, with surging demand from rapidly growing Asian economies leading to the slaughter of thousands of rare and endangered animals, often from well-protected game parks. Magistrate William Oketch said that Tang Yong Jian, who pleaded guilty to charges of illegal possession and dealing in ivory, could not claim ignorance given the huge publicity surrounding the illicit ivory trade. Jian, 40, was caught with 3.4kg of raw ivory in Kenya while in transit from Nampula, Mozambique, to Guangzhou in China, where ivory is sold in open markets.","EU adds 13 Ukrainian separatists, five organizations to sanctions list. BRUSSELS (Reuters) - European Union governments agreed on Thursday to add 13 Ukrainian separatists and five organizations to the bloc's sanctions list, diplomats said. The names of the new people and entities to be targeted with asset freezes and travel bans because of their role in the Ukraine crisis are expected to be published in the EU's Official Journal on Saturday, the diplomats said. (Reporting by Adrian Croft, Tom Koerkemeier; editing by Jan Strupczewski)","Ukraine's Poroshenko says army able to repel attack if needed. KIEV (Reuters) - Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said on Friday there was \"no reason to panic\" over the situation in rebellious eastern regions and that the army had sufficient resources to fend off an attack if a fragile ceasefire deal crumbles. \"If events begin to unravel in spite of the peace plan, Ukrainian armed forces today are ready and capable of repelling (an offensive),\" Poroshenko said in statement, adding Kiev remained committed to finding a peaceful solution to the conflict. (Reporting by Pavel Polityuk; Writing by Alessandra Prentice, Editing by Gabriela Baczynska)","UK looks to allow women in frontline combat roles. LONDON (AP) — Britain's defense minister says women should be allowed to serve in front-line army combat units.","Norway: group from Syria en route to commit terror. COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — The head analyst of Norway's intelligence agency says a group of people is en route from Syria \"to carry out an act of terror in the West,\" adding that Norway has been \"concretely named\" as the target.","Remains of Malaysian MH17 victims to be flown home. KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Malaysia's defense minister says the remains of at least 16 people killed when a jetliner was shot down over Ukraine last month will be returned to Malaysia this week.","Russia accuses Ukrainian troops of gunfire across border. MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia repeated accusations on Tuesday that Kiev's forces had fired across the border from eastern Ukraine into Russian territory with assault rifles and grenade launchers. \"We officially demand Kiev stop firing at the sovereign territory of the Russian Federation,\" the foreign ministry said in a statement. Kiev has denied firing into Russian territory. (Reporting By Alexei Anishchuk, editing by Thomas Grove)","Australia's PM decamps to Outback tent to promote Aboriginal rights. Canberra’s marble-lined corridors of power became a grove of eucalyptus trees this week as Prime Minister Tony Abbott moved his office to a remote corner of the Outback.","Algerian capital aims to reconquer its seaside. White-washed Algiers, with sweeping views over a glittering Mediterranean bay, has long neglected its greatest natural asset but a major project is restoring the city's seaside splendour. The urban development plan, requested by President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, aims to transform several kilometres of coastline that years of industrial development have prevented residents from appreciating. \"The transformation of the bay, which is at the heart of the new image of Algiers, will help to resolve the paradox of seeing the sea but not accessing it directly or benefiting from it,\" said architect Akli Amrouche. If blight of the port were not enough, pollution from waste water, emptied into the bay from the Oued El Harrach river, prompted a ban on swimming at most of the beaches once popular with bathers and sun-seekers.","Heavy rains trigger landslides in northeast India. GAUHATI, India (AP) — Heavy rains in parts of northeastern India triggered landslides and flash floods, killing at least seven people, officials said Monday.","US teens plead not guilty in Australian's death. DUNCAN, Okla. (AP) — Two Oklahoma teenagers charged in the shooting death of an Australian baseball player in Oklahoma pleaded not guilty and waived their right to a speedy trial during a brief court appearance on Thursday.","Kirsten rules himself out of England running. South African Gary Kirsten has said he does not want to be considered for the job of England team director because of personal reasons. The 46-year-old had been tipped by many as a potential replacement for Andy Flower, who resigned last week to allow the team to rebuild after their disastrous tour of Australia, where they lost the Test series 5-0. The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) are said to be looking for someone who can lead the team in all three formats of the game, but former batsman Kirsten, who left his role as South Africa coach last year, said his personal situation meant he could not be the man for the job. Whenever I've toured England I've always been amazed by the following,\" he told Sky Sports.","Ukraine wants NATO to look at how to protect territorial integrity. Ukraine has asked NATO to look at all possible ways to help it protect its territorial integrity, Foreign Minister Sergei Deshchiritsya said on Saturday. The minister said he had held talks with officials from the United States and the European Union and then asked NATO for help after what Ukraine's prime minister described as Russian aggression. A request had been made to NATO to \"look at using all possibilities for protecting the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine, the Ukrainian people and nuclear facilities on Ukrainian territory,\" he said.","EU foreign ministers unlikely to step up Russia sanctions on Monday. BRUSSELS (Reuters) - European Union foreign ministers are unlikely to step up sanctions against Russia next week over its involvement in destabilizing eastern Ukraine, EU diplomats said on Wednesday. EU foreign ministers meet on Monday in Brussels and Ukraine, which said it was redeploying troops in the east because of fears separatists will launch a new military offensive, is the main topic on their agenda. A ceasefire agreed by the pro-Russian rebels and government forces more than two months ago is now all but dead, and Western fears of a return to all-out conflict are growing. ...","Kvitova, Bouchard qualify for Wuhan Open semis. WUHAN, China (AP) — Third-seeded Petra Kvitova swept aside Caroline Garcia 6-3, 6-4 to reach the semifinals of the Wuhan Open on Thursday.","Canada aboriginals ready to challenge energy projects, new chief says. By Rod Nickel WINNIPEG, Manitoba (Reuters) - Canada's indigenous peoples will not hesitate to use courts, political channels and activism to halt pipelines, mines or other resource projects they oppose, the new head of the country's main aboriginal group said on Thursday. Perry Bellegarde, who was elected national chief of the Assembly of First Nations (AFN) on Wednesday, said aboriginals do not oppose development in general, but want to be involved in projects from the outset. Canada's 1. ...","Factbox: Top five deadliest attacks on commercial airliners. Since 1967 more than 700 people have been killed in 19 separate incidents involving live-fire attacks, according to UK-based aviation consultancy Flightglobal Ascend which keeps a detailed database of aircraft accidents. Following is a list of the five deadliest incidents: IRAN AIR, 1988 En route from Bandar Abbas to Dubai, Iran Air flight 655 was shot down by a U.S. warship off the coast of Iran, killing all 290 onboard. The U.S. Navy said it had mistaken the Airbus A300 for a hostile Iranian Air Force F-14 fighter jet. LIBYAN AIRLINES, 1973 After being intercepted and fired upon by the Israeli Air Force, a Libyan Airlines Boeing 727 was destroyed during an attempted forced landing.","Michael Schumacher's manager says doctors begin process of waking F1 great from coma. FRANKFURT - Michael Schumacher's manager says doctors have started the process of bringing the former Formula One champion out of the coma he has been in since a skiing accident a month ago.","Tensions in Donetsk, with Ukraine's future at stake. Donetsk (Ukraine) (AFP) - Tempers flared Friday on Lenin Square in Donetsk -- a Russia-friendly heartland city in eastern Ukraine that has been swept by unrest since the ouster of former president and native son Viktor Yanukovych. Pro-Russian activists have set up a round-the-clock picket on the square under a red Soviet flag with the hammer and sickle and they are calling for a secession referendum like the one planned in Ukraine's Crimea peninsula. \"Only Russia can help us so that our rights are not dragged through the mud!\" said one protester, Natalya, an employee at a local beauty salon.","Bangladesh vs. Sri Lanka Scores. MIRPUR, Bangladesh (AP) — Scores Thursday after Bangladesh's innings against Sri Lanka in the Asia Cup at Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium:","PL leader Chelsea held 1-1 by struggling West Brom. WEST BROMWICH, England (AP) — Victor Anichebe grabbed a late equalizer for relegation-threatened West Bromwich Albion to stun Chelsea on Tuesday, with the Premier League leaders barely looking like potential champions in a 1-1 draw.","Shani Davis content as he chases Olympic history. SOCHI, Russia (AP) — Shani Davis has a contentment that comes from knowing his legacy is secure, no matter what happens at the Sochi Olympics.","NBC's Costas back at work Monday from Sochi Games. SOCHI, Russia (AP) — NBC's Bob Costas plans to make his return to NBC on Monday after being off the air for a week with an eye infection.","ATP finals draw list. LONDON (AP) — Draw for the ATP finals, the season-ending tournament at the O2 Arena from Nov. 9-16:","Costa Rica top group after draw with England. Belo Horizonte (Brazil) (AFP) - Costa Rica drew 0-0 with England to assure themselves of topping Group D and leave their opponents without a win and an early flight home on Tuesday in Belo Horizonte.","Gaza church opens doors to war refugees. For the first time in years, Gaza City's Greek Orthodox church is packed to overflowing, having offered refuge to hundreds of Palestinians who fled their homes under Israeli bombardment. Around 600 people, mostly women and children, are sheltering in the church compound in the old sector of Gaza City, after escaping the inferno of neighbouring areas like Shejaiya. \"A big number of women and kids, babies, they don't have homes,\" Archbishop Alexios told AFP. The eastern district of Gaza City was pummelled by Israeli shelling, in one of the deadliest days of the more than two-week conflict between Israel and Hamas militants who control the coastal strip.","Bahrain Shiite leader detained for questioning. MANAMA, Bahrain (AP) — A lawyer for the leader of Bahrain's largest Shiite opposition group says Sheik Ali Salman is being held by the Interior Ministry, which is accusing him of inciting hatred against the government and calling for its overthrow by force.","Canada to impose economic sanctions on Yanukovich's inner circle. OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canada will impose economic sanctions on those who worked for ousted Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said on Wednesday. Harper has been a particularly strong critic of Russia's actions in Ukraine. \"At the request of the prosecutor-general of Ukraine, we will be imposing economic sanctions on members of the Yanukovich regime,\" Harper told Parliament. He gave no further details. ...","Japanese Trade Minister Yuko Obuchi resigns over campaign fund allegations. TOKYO (AP) — Japanese Trade Minister Yuko Obuchi resigns over campaign fund allegations.","Ukraine tells Russia to recognise president ahead of gas talks. Ukraine accused Russia of unleashing a massive campaign to persuade global powers not to recognise polls that gave the presidency to a pro-Western tycoon as both sides readied for a new round of talks on disputed gas prices. The United States for its part acknowledged a \"fundamental disagreement\" with Russia and said President Barack Obama would extend his support to Petro Poroshenko when he meets the winner of the May 25 election in Warsaw on Wednesday. Ukraine's separatist insurgency only intensified after 48-year-old chocolate maker Poroshenko won 54.7 percent of the vote in a poll that was disrupted across swathes of the eastern rust belt.","US Marines probe corporal who vanished in Iraq. CAMP LEJEUNE, North Carolina (AP) — U.S. Marine Corps officers have launched a formal investigation into whether a Lebanese-American Marine deserted his unit in Iraq or months later after returning to the United States, a military spokesman said Thursday.","Algeria confirms it killed jihadist chief behind beheading. Algiers (AFP) - The Algerian army confirmed on Tuesday that it has killed the head of the jihadist Jund al-Khilafa group that decapitated a Frenchman in September.","Artillery fire 'kills two civilians' in Donetsk. Donetsk (Ukraine) (AFP) - Two civilians were killed Saturday apparently by artillery fire in Donetsk, the main separatist stronghold in eastern Ukraine, an AFP reporter witnessed.","New documents show scramble to control bad publicity in NJ traffic-jam scandal. TRENTON, N.J. - Officials squabbled over media leaks and worried about bad publicity in the days after lane closings near the George Washington Bridge caused huge traffic jams that now appear to have been politically orchestrated by members of Gov. Chris Christie's administration, documents released Friday show.","11 Honduran miners trapped in small gold mine. TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras (AP) — Rescue workers using picks and shovels are clearing rubble as they try to reach 11 miners trapped since Wednesday inside a wildcat gold mine in southern Honduras.","Amid hype over constitution, Egypt's police brace for the worst. By Maggie Fick MANSOURA, Egypt (Reuters) - As Egyptians vote in a constitutional referendum meant to help bring stability, policemen such as Brigadier-General Sayed Emara have good reason to dig in for more bloodshed. He lost colleagues and friends last month, when a suicide bomber in a car ripped open a five-story building where security officials in the Nile Delta city of Mansoura worked. The next day, the government declared the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist group, encouraging policemen, who are frequently targeted, to harden their positions against the movement which says the army and security forces robbed it of power. While much of the world's attention has focused on a security crackdown on Islamists in the struggle between the Brotherhood and the army-backed government, killing and detaining thousands, Egypt's police have also paid a high price.","Syria says 11,000 freed in prisoner amnesty. Syria has freed around 11,000 detainees since President Bashar al-Assad declared a general amnesty in June, the country's National Reconciliation Minister Ali Haidar said. The Syrian government presented the amnesty as the largest since the outbreak of the country's conflict in 2011. \"Between 70,000 and 80,000 detainees were supposed to benefit from the amnesty, and only 10 percent of them have been released,\" Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP.","Polish PM Tusk wins confidence vote despite tapes scandal. By Pawel Sobczak and Adrian Krajewski WARSAW (Reuters) - Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk on Wednesday won a vote of confidence in parliament, facing down for now at least opponents who say he should quit over leaked conversations between senior officials that embarrassed the government. In a late night vote that was called earlier in the day on Tusk's own initiative, 237 members of parliament voted to express confidence in the government, over the 231 votes that Tusk needed to stay in power. On paper, the result was not in doubt because Tusk's Civic Platform party (PO), combined with his junior coalition partner the Polish Peasants Party (PSL), had enough seats to win the vote. Tusk previously raised the possibility of an early election in response to the row over the leaked conversations, but he acknowledged on Wednesday this was unlikely for now because no bloc in parliament has the two-thirds majority needed to force a snap election.","Observers held in Ukraine speak under armed guard. SLOVYANSK, Ukraine (AP) — Eight European military observers held prisoner by pro-Russia forces in eastern Ukraine were marched out under armed guard on Sunday to give public assurances that they weren't being mistreated.","Journalist leaves Turkey before forcible expulsion. ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — A Turkish newspaper says authorities decided to expel one of its journalists — an Azerbaijani national — after he posted anti-government tweets.","US House approves spending bill to avoid government shutdown. Washington (AFP) - The US House of Representatives narrowly approved a $1.1 trillion, nine-month federal spending bill late Thursday, barely two hours before a midnight government shutdown deadline.","German firm wins appeal in Spain thalidomide case. MADRID (AP) — A Spanish court has upheld an appeal by a German pharmaceutical company, ditching a previous ruling that ordered the company to pay compensation to 22 Spaniards who blame their disabilities on the drug thalidomide.","Australian PM lashes out at Russia over shot plane. CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — An angry Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott on Friday demanded an independent inquiry into the downing of a Malaysian jetliner and said Russia's response to what he called a crime was \"deeply, deeply unsatisfactory.\"","Chemical weapons watchdog says its inspectors came under attack in Syria but are safe. AMSTERDAM (AP) — Chemical weapons watchdog says its inspectors came under attack in Syria but are safe.","Turkish coal mine disaster cranks up pressure on miners, utilities. By Henning Gloystein LONDON (Reuters) - A coal mine explosion and fire that has killed over 200 people in Turkey coincides with increased pressure on miners and utilities to drastically improve safety and environmental standards for miners risking their lives. Coal mining is responsible for more fatalities than the production of any other energy source due to poor working conditions in producing countries such as China, Turkey, South Africa, Indonesia and Colombia.","Obama delays on immigration despite Cantor loss. WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama is backing away from actions he could take unilaterally on immigration to the frustration of many of his supporters. Instead, he is kicking the issue to House Republicans despite mounting evidence they will not address the millions of immigrants living illegally in the United States.","Victory, Sydney, Adelaide unbeaten in A-League. SYDNEY (AP) — Sydney FC and Adelaide United played out a scoreless draw to continue their unbeaten starts to Australian football's A-League while the Melbourne Victory stayed atop the table on points differential.","Madagascar strongman steps down, clears way for successor. Madagascar leader Andry Rajoelina stood down Friday, symbolically handing over power ahead of his elected successor's inauguration, a move designed to steer the Indian Ocean island out of crisis. \"I wish you all success, I give you my blessing,\" Rajoelina said, before handing a large golden key as a symbol of power to president-elect Hery Rajaonarimampianina. A 55-year-old former finance minister, Rajaonarimampianina will be officially sworn in on Saturday. Rajoelina, 39, who seized power in a 2009 coup, will likely remain a powerful figure either as prime minister or behind the scenes.","Friends search for victims of Nigerian bomb blasts. JOS, Nigeria (AP) — University students are among people searching mortuaries in Nigeria's central city of Jos for friends missing since twin car bombs killed at least 130 people.","Iraq attacks kill 10 with elections due in weeks. Attacks killed 10 civilians in Iraq on Sunday while six militants also died as the country grapples with its worst bloodshed in years just weeks before parliamentary elections. Among those killed were six who died in a mass assassination south of Baghdad, in scenes reminiscent of the worst of Iraq's 2006-07 sectarian conflict in which tens of thousands were killed. The deadliest of the bloodshed on Sunday struck in Latifiyah, south of Baghdad within the confessionally mixed Triangle of Death, so called because of the brutal violence which plagued the area during the peak of Iraq's confessional war. Six Sunni Arabs were killed by militants, security and medical officials said, but accounts differed as to how they died.","US, India see potential but new rifts emerge. The United States and India's new right-wing government voiced hope Thursday at working closely on the global stage, but fresh rifts over trade and spying cast a shadow. On his first visit since India's April-May elections, Secretary of State John Kerry said he was \"excited\" about new Prime Minister Narendra Modi and believed his \"historic mandate\" offered a chance for new US-India cooperation. \"The United States and India can and should be indispensable partners for the 21st century,\" he said. Kerry, who meets Modi on Friday, said he believed the new premier saw eye-to-eye on fighting climate change, boosting trade and expanding cooperation in the Asia-Pacific region -- where the world's two largest democracies are both wary of China's rise.","US to unleash tax collector on Russian banks. WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States is deploying an economic weapon against Russia that could prove to be more costly than sanctions: the Internal Revenue Service.","Vanishing spray to make Bundesliga debut. FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — The vanishing spray used by referees in free kick situations is making its debut in the Bundesliga this weekend despite a recent study that called it potentially unsafe.","Virginia's Natural Bridge landmark sold to conservation group. By Gary Robertson RICHMOND, Virginia (Reuters) - Virginia's Natural Bridge, a soaring landmark bearing George Washington's initials and once owned by Thomas Jefferson, has been sold to a conservation group, a real estate firm said on Thursday. One of the oldest U.S. tourist attractions, the 215-foot-high (65.5-meter-high) limestone feature in western Virginia was purchased by the Virginia Conservation Legacy Fund, which said it would eventually turn it over to the state park system.","China says 11 fishermen missing near Philippines. BEIJING (AP) — China said Wednesday it had lost contact with 11 fishermen allegedly taken away by armed men in disputed South China Sea waters.","Swiss forward Gavranovic out with knee injury. PORTO SEGURO, Brazil (AP) — The World Cup is over for Switzerland's back-up forward Mario Gavranovic after he tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee on Saturday.","Giroud ready to face up to Honduras battering. RIBEIRAO PRETO, Brazil (AP) — Olivier Giroud thinks he has done enough in recent games to earn a starting spot for France against Honduras on Sunday, and is looking forward to testing himself in what promises to be a bruising encounter.","'Europe must not relax' on Ukraine: UK's Hague. \"Europe must not relax\" on the Ukraine crisis as the situation remains tense with Russian troops making only \"a token withdrawal\" from the border, British Foreign Secretary William Hague said Friday. \"Any withdrawal of the forces has been only a token withdrawal,\" said Hague on arriving for talks with his 27 European Union counterparts. \"We have not seen real de-escalation by Russia. Therefore Europe must not relax,\" Hague added.","Death of Canadian in UK immigration custody sparks public debate. LONDON, England - A death of an elderly man identified as a Canadian who died in handcuffs in British custody has sparked questions about the treatment of immigration detainees.","Australia's walking wounded have extra day to heal. BRISBANE, Australia (AP) — Australia's four-day defeat of India in the second test gave the cricketers extra time for holiday shopping. And for the home side's various injuries to heal ahead of the third test which begins on Friday in Melbourne.","Rebels declare victory in east Ukraine vote on self-rule. By Matt Robinson and Alessandra Prentice DONETSK/SLAVIANSK, Ukraine (Reuters) - Pro-Moscow rebels declared a resounding victory in a referendum on self-rule for eastern Ukraine, with some saying that meant independence and others eventual union with Russia as fighting flared in a conflict increasingly out of control. Another said the vote simply showed that the East wanted to decide its own fate, whether in Ukraine, on its own, or as part of Russia. \\\\\"Eighty-nine percent, that's it,\\\\\" the head of the separatist electoral commission in Donetsk, Roman Lyagin, said by telephone when asked for the result of a vote that the pro-Western Ukrainian government in Kiev has condemned as illegal. Sunday's vote went ahead despite a call by Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday to postpone it - a move that briefly raised hopes for an easing of tension.","Christian militia, French forces fight in C Africa. BANGUI, Central African Republic (AP) — A witness says fighting between a Christian militia and French soldiers in Central African Republic has left several people dead, including some who appeared unarmed.","Violence kills seven in Iraq's Fallujah. Shelling in Iraq's city of Fallujah, held by anti-government fighters for more than two months, and a shooting targeting a local official killed seven people Friday, police and doctors said. Iraq has been hit by a year-long surge in bloodshed that has reached levels not seen since 2008, driven principally by widespread discontent among its Sunni Arab minority and by the civil war in neighbouring Syria. Shelling in Fallujah, just a short drive from Baghdad, killed six people and wounded 17, Dr Ahmed Shami told AFP. Anti-government fighters subsequently seized Fallujah and parts of Ramadi, to its west.","Warring S.Sudan leaders accept 'responsibility' for civil war. Arusha (Tanzania) (AFP) - South Sudan President Salva Kiir and his arch-rival rebel chief Riek Machar said Monday they accepted mutual responsibility for a 10-month civil war in which thousands of people have been killed.","Britain says teacher held hostage in Libya freed. LONDON (AP) — Britain's Foreign Office says a teacher who had been held hostage by militants in Libya for the past four months has been safely freed and reunited with his family.","Hong Kong protesters try to win over tourists. HONG KONG (AP) — The luxury boutiques of Hong Kong's Tsim Shai Tsui district are so mobbed with vacationing Chinese customers that store owners have put up red velvet ropes to control the crowds. Pro-democracy protesters saw it as a perfect spot to spread the word to their mainland brethren.","Explosion kills 17 at Syrian border with Turkey: monitoring group. At least 17 people were killed when a car bomb went off at a Syrian border post on the frontier with Turkey on Thursday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. Other activists put the casualty count as high as 30 with scores wounded. \\\\\"At least 12 ambulances have transported wounded people into Turkey, the death toll is very high,\\\\\" said an activist in the area.","Scots start voting in independence referendum. EDINBURGH (Reuters) - People in Scotland began voting on Thursday in a referendum on whether the country should become independent or stay part of the United Kingdom. After an intense final day of campaigning, voters turned up at polling stations in schools and halls as soon they opened at 0600 GMT on a day that will decide the fate of a 307-year-old union. The first to cast a ballot in Edinburgh's Waverley Court was a businessman who gave his name as Ron. \"This is a historic day for Scotland. I've waited all my life for this. It's time to break with England. ...","South African employer body says accepts government proposal to end strike. JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - The main employer body in South Africa's metals and engineering federation has accepted a government proposal to raise wages by as much as 10 percent, it said on Tuesday, raising hopes of an end to a strike by more than 200,000 workers. The Steel and Engineering Industries Federation of South Africa said unions led by the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa have until Friday to accept the offer. (Reporting by Tiisetso Motsoeneng; Editing by Stella Mapenzauswa)","Chrysler U.S. November auto sales up 20 percent, beating expectations. By Ben Klayman and Paul Lienert DETROIT (Reuters) - Chrysler Group U.S. auto sales rose 20 percent in November on strong showings by its Jeep brand and Ram pickup trucks, the unit of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV said on Tuesday. Jeep SUV sales jumped 27 percent, Ram pickup truck sales were up 21 percent, and Chrysler 200 sedan sales soared 155 percent to 14,317. A strong showing on Black Friday is seen pushing U.S. auto industry sales in November up 2.3 percent to about 1.27 million vehicles, according to a survey of 11 analysts by Reuters. ...","Lennon looks to wrap up title quickly. Celtic manager Neil Lennon has his sights set on sealing a third league title in a row as quickly as possible after their long unbeaten run came to an end at Aberdeen on Tuesday. The Hoops saw their 26-match run without losing brought to a halt at Pittodrie as the Dons dished out a 2-1 defeat to ruin Celtic's dreams of completing the season undefeated. Fraser Forster's run of 1,256 minutes without conceding a goal also came to an end in the 41st minute when Jonny Hayes sent a sensational strike past the English goalkeeper before Adam Rooney headed in another in the 45th minute. James Forrest pulled one back in the second half as 10-man Celtic - who had Virgil van Dijk sent off early on - battled for an equaliser but although there was collective frustration at the final outcome, the manager was proud of how his players had performed in difficult circumstances.","China says to cap greenhouse gas output soon, but no date set. BONN Germany (Reuters) - Beijing plans to cap its soaring emissions of greenhouse gases as soon as possible but there is still no decision on when, China's top negotiator at U.N. climate talks said on Thursday. Xie Zhenhua, vice chairman of China's National Development and Reform Commission, also welcomed U.S. measures to help combat global warming, saying that both nations were \"working very hard to address climate change\". \"We will try our utmost to peak as early as possible,\" Xie told reporters on the sidelines of U.N. talks in Bonn, Germany, referring to greenhouse gas emissions. ...","Tunisia's Larayedh, Islamist PM downed by political murders. Tortured under Tunisia's ousted dictatorship, Islamist premier Ali Larayedh preached reconciliation during his turbulent 11 months in office but twin political assassinations eventually forced his resignation Thursday. Larayedh took office last February, after the murder of leftist opposition leader Chokri Belaid by suspected jihadists brought down his Islamist predecessor Hamadi Jebali. The murder of a second opposition lawmaker, Mohamed Brahmi, in similar circumstances in July triggered a protracted political crisis that blocked the democratic transition for months and eventually forced him out. Speaking shortly before he resigned, Larayedh said he had striven to make Tunisia a model for other countries emerging from dictatorship and still hoped it could be one.","Dramatic footage shows moment gunman stormed Canada parliament. Canadian police have released dramatic surveillance footage showing the moment a gunman suspected of planning to travel to Syria to fight alongside Islamic militants breached security at parliament after shooting dead a soldier. The footage emerged Thursday as officials said they had found no evidence of a wider plot following another deadly attack on Monday -- also by a young Canadian convert to Islam who had sought to leave for Syria. The prospect of more such strikes was at the forefront of many minds in Canada, as a society proud of its reputation for openness and tolerance grappled with a new menace. Canadian authorities were scrambling to probe the background of the young men, the first of whom ran his car over a soldier, killing him, and another who shot the soldier at a war memorial before storming parliament and being gunned down.","India's prime minister to hand over after election. India's prime minister, Manmohan Singh, will hand over the top job to a new leader after general elections due by May, he said on Friday. Singh has been India's prime minister for the last decade and has headed a coalition government led by the Congress party. The Congress faces an uphill struggle for re-election in the upcoming polls due to an economic slowdown and a string of corruption scandals.","Federer and Djokovic to meet in Wimbledon final. LONDON (AP) — Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic will meet for the Wimbledon title after the old guard held off the new in the semifinals Friday at the All England Club.","UN chief: top mediator Brahimi to go to Iran. UNITED NATIONS (AP) — U.N.-Arab League mediator Lakhdar Brahimi will visit Syria's ally, Iran, in hopes of moving political talks forward.","Philippine police smash online child 'sextortion' ring. Philippine police on Friday arrested eight people suspected of running an online sexual extortion racket involving children and preying on Asians, seizing laptops and other equipment. The gang extorted money from foreigners by threatening to upload videos of them performing sexual acts, Gilbert Sosa, head of the police anti-cyber crime group, said. \"Today, we smashed a gang led by a woman who used children to lure foreigners to engage in sexual activities and later blackmail them on threats their sex videos will be uploaded on the internet,\" Sosa said. The children said they were paid about 70,000 pesos ($1,600) for three days' work, chatting with foreigners and luring them to perform sexual acts.","Iselle lashes Hawaii with wind, rain as Julio threatens. By Ken Wills KAPAAU Hawaii (Reuters) - Tropical Storm Iselle pummeled the Hawaiian Islands with high winds and heavy rain on Friday, forcing hundreds to seek shelter and knocking out power to over 20,000 people as residents kept a wary eye on an even more powerful storm headed their way. Iselle weakened into a tropical storm before reaching Hawaii and officials said it was blunted to some extent by the state's mountainous Big Island, though high winds and heavy rain were still expected to lash smaller islands in the chain.","Pakistani Islamists use floods to turn opinion against India. By Mehreen Zahra-Malik and Asim Tanveer MULTAN Pakistan (Reuters) - Hafiz Saeed, widely considered one of South Asia's most dangerous militants, has no doubt who is to blame for devastating floods that have submerged swathes of Pakistani countryside and claimed hundreds of lives. \"India irrigates its deserts and dumps extra water on Pakistan without any warning,\" the bearded Saeed told Reuters, as he surveyed a vast expanse of muddy water from a rescue boat just outside the central city of Multan. \"If we don't stop India now, Pakistan will continue to face this danger. ...","Scottish independence could mean messy divorce. LONDON (AP) — How do you divorce after a 300-year union? It's complicated, and there is a deadline.","Brandle beats Voigt's hour record. AIGLE, Switzerland (AP) — Austrian rider Matthias Brandle broke cycling's historic hour record on Thursday after covering a distance of 51.850 kilometers at the UCI Velodrome.","Sweden beats Germany 4-0 in Olympic women's hockey. SOCHI, Russia (AP) — Emma Nordin scored just one minute into the game and Cecilia Ostberg added a goal and an assist to give Sweden to a 4-0 victory over Germany on Tuesday and a likely spot in the Olympic women's hockey playoffs.","French chip stand gets up nose of British ex-boss of L'Oreal. A chip shop camped outside his luxury French ski apartment is getting up the nose of British former L'Oreal CEO Lindsay Owen-Jones. On Tuesday, the millionaire ex-cosmetics boss and three of his neighbours will ask a court in the Alps town of Albertville to shut down La Cabane chip stand for causing \"olfactory pollution\". The 68-year-old Briton, who stepped down as CEO of L'Oreal in 2011 and withdrew from its board last year, owns an apartment at the foot of the slopes in the upmarket Val d'Isere resort. The plaintiffs will ask the court to order La Cabane's owner, Valerie Maertens, to pack up her fryers or face a fine of 50 euros ($62) a day.","Court: UK spies get bulk access to NSA data. LONDON (AP) — A court document shows that British spies can help themselves to raw data gathered by the National Security Agency and other foreign intelligence partners without a warrant.","Syria antagonists 'haven't achieved much' in talks. GENEVA (AP) — The U.N. mediator trying to broker peace after three years of civil war in Syria says \"we haven't achieved much\" after two brief face-to-face encounters between the government and the opposition.","AirAsia plane with 159 aboard overshoots Philippine runway. MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Philippine officials say an AirAsia Zest plane with 159 passengers and crew members overshot a runway in a central province after landing in windy weather from Manila.","Thousands march in Haiti amid political discontent. PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — Thousands of anti-government protesters are gathering in Haiti's capital for the second time in two days amid anger over delayed elections and other issues.","Libya autonomy group to sell oil from seized ports. By Ghaith Shennib and Julia Payne TRIPOLI/LONDON (Reuters) - Armed groups demanding autonomy for eastern Libya have invited foreign companies to buy oil from ports they have seized in defiance of the central government in Tripoli. The development adds to an air of chaos as the weak Tripoli government struggles to rein in the armed groups that helped oust Muammar Gaddafi in 2011 but which kept their guns and are now demanding political power and a bigger share of the country's oil wealth. The conflict is hurting oil revenues, which fund the OPEC nation's government and the import of wheat and other staple foods. The government has warned it will be unable to pay public salaries if the standoff continues.","US Airways closing 600-employee flight operations centre at Pittsburgh International Airport. IMPERIAL, Pa. - US Airways is closing its 600-employee flight operations centre at Pittsburgh International Airport over the next 18 months.","Sarkozy's lawyer detained in French corruption probe. Paris (AFP) - Nicolas Sarkozy's lawyer and two magistrates were detained in custody on Monday for questioning in relation to a corruption probe embroiling the former president of France, judicial sources told AFP.","'Mature' Spain expected to deliver against Dutch. SALVADOR, Brazil (AP) — The Spanish team is creeping up in age and its core of Barcelona players are coming off a forgettable season.","Blasts kill at least 118 in Nigeria. By Adamu Jonah and Anamesere Igboeroteonwu JOS (Reuters) - Back-to-back bomb blasts killed at least 118 people and wounded 45 in the crowded business district of the central Nigerian city of Jos on Tuesday, emergency services said, in an attack that appeared to bear the hallmarks of the Boko Haram insurgents. But the militant group Boko Haram, which has set off bombs across the north and center of Nigeria in an increasingly bloody campaign for an Islamic state, was likely to be the prime suspect in what would rank among their deadliest single attacks in five years of insurrection. Boko Haram grabbed world headlines by abducting more than 200 schoolgirls on April 14 from the northeastern village of Chibok. If the Jos attack was the handiwork of Boko Haram, it would show their growing reach in Africa's top oil producing and most populous country, striking out beyond their heartland in Nigeria's semi-arid and weakly governed northeast.","Assailants kill five soldiers in south Yemen. Assailants killed five Yemeni soldiers Monday in an ambush in the southern province of Shabwa, an official said, the latest in a spate of attacks against the security forces. The unidentified attackers fired a rocket-propelled grenade at an army vehicle transporting the troops near the town of Mayfaa, the official said, adding that \"all five soldiers on board were killed\". Yemen has seen frequent attacks on its security forces usually blamed on Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, or AQAP, which remains active in the south and east despite successive government military campaigns.","Daimler buys into Agusta as motorbike and car tech converge. By Edward Taylor FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Daimler AG will buy 25 percent of Italian motorcycle maker MV Agusta - the latest sign that motorbike and car technologies are converging, driven by a push to lower emissions and improve safety. Daimler said on Friday it would buy the stake via its Mercedes-AMG performance cars unit and take a seat on the board at Agusta - a legendary name in the sport of motorcycling, having won at least 75 world championship rider and constructor titles. ...","Qaeda says kills 'spies' for aiding U.S. drone strikes in Yemen. Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) said it had executed four men accused of planting electronic chips in vehicles to help U.S. drones track insurgents in Yemen, in a video posted on a Yemeni news website and seen by Reuters on Monday. The 28-minute video showed what AQAP said were four spies confessing that they had planted devices in vehicles which resulted in the deaths of AQAP fighters two years ago in the southern Shabwa province. A man identified as AQAP security official Abu Islam al-Muhajir said the group had uncovered \"several spies who give them (drones) direction on the ground by putting chips in the cars of the mujahideen (fighters)\". Yemen is the main stronghold of AQAP, one of the Islamist militant group's most aggressive wings.","North Korea envoy tells U.N. rights forum 'mind your own business'. North Korea's ambassador told the United Nations Human Rights Council on Friday to \"mind your own business\" during a debate on crimes against humanity documented in his country by U.N. investigators. So Se Pyong, North Korea's ambassador to the U.N. in Geneva, speaking in response to unprecedented criticism of its human rights record, also said that \"cooperation can never be compatible with confrontation\".","NASA-UCI Study Indicates Loss of West Antarctic Glaciers Appears Unstoppable. WASHINGTON, May 12, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- A new study by researchers at NASA and the University of California, Irvine, finds a rapidly melting section of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet appears to be in an irreversible state of decline, with nothing to stop the glaciers in this area from melting into the sea. The study presents multiple lines of evidence, incorporating 40 years of observations that indicate the glaciers in the Amundsen Sea sector of West Antarctica \\\\\"have passed the point of no return,\\\\\" according to glaciologist and lead author Eric Rignot, of UC Irvine and NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California. These glaciers already contribute significantly to sea level rise, releasing almost as much ice into the ocean annually as the entire Greenland Ice Sheet. Rignot said these findings will require an upward revision to current predictions of sea level rise.","US and Afghanistan poised to sign security pact. Kabul (AFP) - Afghanistan will on Tuesday sign a long-delayed security deal to allow some US troops to stay in the country next year, signalling that newly-inaugurated President Ashraf Ghani intends to repair frayed ties with Washington.","UN says Syria refugees top 3 million mark. GENEVA (AP) — The United Nations refugee agency says the civil war in Syria has forced a record 3 million people out of the country, an increase of 1 million from almost exactly a year ago.","China decries call in U.S. to name street after jailed Tiananmen dissident. China on Friday criticized a group of U.S. lawmakers for calling for a Washington street near the Chinese embassy to be named after imprisoned Nobel Peace Prize laureate Liu Xiaobo, behavior it said was \"provocative\" and \"ignorant\". Thirteen members of the U.S. House of Representatives asked Mayor Vincent Gray in a letter to rename part of International Place NW after the 2010 Nobel recipient, saying it would bring \"renewed international attention to Chinese human rights violations\", the Washington Post reported on Thursday. Liu, 58, a veteran dissident involved in the 1989 Tiananmen Square pro-democracy protests that were crushed by the army, was jailed for 11 years in 2009 on subversion charges for organizing a petition urging an end to one-party rule. \"What kind of person is Liu Xiaobo?","250 to 300 workers evacuated from Iraq's Baiji refinery during brief truce in fighting: witness. The last of the trapped workers in Iraq's Baiji refinery were freed during a brief truce in the fighting between the Iraqi military and Sunni militants for control of the strategic facility, according to one of the workers who was released There had been 15,800 workers at the refinery and 100 foreign experts, most of whom had left by Tuesday when the plant was shut down by the government in anticipation of the attack. The workers were escorted out according to an arrangement brokered by local sheiks for the employees to be taken out on buses, the released worker said. The Sunni militants, led by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, attacked Baiji early Wednesday morning.","South Africa marks 20 years of freedom ahead of election. By Ndundu Sithole and Dinky Mkhize PRETORIA (Reuters) - South Africa marked two decades of multi-racial democracy on Sunday, still feeling the loss of Nelson Mandela and in somber mood just 10 days before elections which are expected to keep the African National Congress (ANC) party in power. His name was evoked several times by South Africa's current president Jacob Zuma during a ceremony attended by around 5,000 people under bright autumn skies outside of the ornate Union Buildings, the seat of government. \"Our country continues to contribute to building a better Africa and a better world, building on Madiba's legacy,\" Zuma said, referring to Mandela by his clan name. The ANC under Zuma has seen its star fade since the heady days of the liberation struggle against white domination and the one term in office served by Mandela, who devoted his formidable charisma and charm to the cause of racial reconciliation.","Rays sign Dominican Republic prospect Rondon. ST. PETERSBURG, Florida (AP) — The Tampa Bay Rays have signed 16-year-old Dominican Republic shortstop prospect Adrian Rondon for $2.95 million.","FIFA WCup study praises risk-taking, fast breaks. ZURICH (AP) — A FIFA study of tactics and technical trends at the World Cup says risk-taking and counterattacks are in fashion.","Polish PM says appointment to chair EU summits means Poland's future is in euro zone. BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Polish Prime Minister Donal Tusk, who was appointed to chair European Union summits for the next two and a half years, said on Saturday his nomination meant the future of Poland was in the euro zone. Tusk, who will have to take up his new job in Brussels from Dec 1, said he would be ready to discuss the new line-up of the Polish government next week. (Reporting By Jan Strupczewski)","Japan beats injury-plagued Canada 3-1 at Davis Cup. TOKYO (AP) — Japan clinched its Davis Cup World Group clash 3-1 on Sunday when Frank Dancevic of Canada was forced to retire in the second set of his reverse singles match with Kei Nishikori.","Israelis pay tribute to Rabin in memorial rally. JERUSALEM (AP) — Thousands of Israelis are gathering at the Tel Aviv square where Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated to mark the 19th anniversary of the former prime minister's death and remember his call for peace.","White House still seeking coalition in Mideast war. WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House said Sunday it will find countries willing to send combat troops to fight Islamic extremists in Syria and Iraq, but it's too early to identify them.","South Korean PM keeps job after nominees pull out. SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea's president has decided to retain the country's current prime minister after two possible replacements for the job both abandoned their nominations because of questions over past behavior.","Taiwan names new premier in cabinet reshuffle following poll defeat. TAIPEI (Reuters) - Taiwan on Wednesday named Vice Premier Mao Chi-kuo as the island's new premier, in a cabinet reshuffle that follows Saturday's resignation of the previous incumbent to take responsibility for the ruling party's defeat in local elections. Jiang Yi-huah quit after President Ma Ying-jeou's ruling Kuomintang party lost key mayoral and local-level posts islandwide. The shift in power in favor of the pro-independence opposition Democratic Progressive Party comes less than two years ahead of the next presidential election. Ma on Wednesday formally gave up his post as KMT chairman. ...","Toys talk to kids about Velvet Revolution. ","UNHCR bracing for possible exodus of 400,000 from Syrian town into Turkey. GENEVA (Reuters) - The United Nations refugee agency said on Tuesday it was making contingency plans for all 400,000 inhabitants of the Syrian Kurdish town of Kobani to flee into Turkey to escape advancing Islamic State militants. Some 138,000 Syrian Kurdish refugees have entered Turkey in an exodus that began last week, and two border crossing points remain open, the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees said. \"We are preparing for the whole population fleeing into Turkey. The population of Kobani is 400,000,\" UNHCR chief spokeswoman Melissa Fleming told a news briefing in Geneva. ...","Afghan official says 2,000 missing after landslide. KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — A landslide triggered by heavy rains buried a village Friday in northeastern Afghanistan, leaving as many as 2,000 people missing, a top official said.","Kurds push back IS in Iraq near Syria border: US general. Kurdish forces backed up by US-led warplanes have recaptured a large area in Iraq near the Syrian border in an offensive this week against Islamic State jihadists, a US commander said Thursday. More than 50 air strikes in recent days have allowed the Kurds to recapture some 100 square kilometers (38 square miles) of ground near Sinjar, said Lieutenant General James Terry, head of the US-led campaign against the IS group. Kurdish peshmerga forces said earlier they had captured several villages and were rolling back the IS militants around Sinjar in the country's northwest. It was the seizure of Sinjar by IS jihadists in early August and the plight of the mostly Yazidi minority population there that President Barack Obama cited when he first announced US military intervention in Iraq four months ago.","FM says Italy working to save Sudanese woman. NEW YORK (AP) — Italy is working to save the life of a pregnant Sudanese woman who was sentenced to death for refusing to recant her Christian faith, and is in contact with her lawyers as well as Sudanese authorities, the Italian foreign minister said Friday.","New Jersey congressman resigning after 23 years in US House. HADDON HEIGHTS, N.J. - Democratic Congressman Rob Andrews will leave the House of Representatives in two weeks after 23 years in office.","Lamouchi tiring of Drogba debate. Brasília (AFP) - The continuing debate over why iconic striker Didier Drogba is not deemed worthy of a place in the Ivory Coast's starting line-up appears to be getting to inexperienced coach Sabri Lamouchi.","Surging child abuse in Egypt overshadowed by strife. Eight-year-old Rahma was on her way home from school when she was raped -- another victim of a surge in child abuse that has been overshadowed by turmoil in Egypt. In the shadow of deadly political violence ever since Egypt's 2011 revolution, experts say the authorities have given a low priority to the plight of children and complain of a lack of legislation. Primary school pupil Rahma was assaulted in Kafr al-Sheikh province, 150 kilometres (95 miles) north of Cairo. Experts say physical and sexual violence against children in Egypt has surged in 2014.","Egypt calls for Gaza cease-fire, new talks. CAIRO (AP) — Egypt has called on Israel and Palestinian factions to observe a 72-hour cease-fire beginning within hours, and to resume talks on a more comprehensive Gaza agreement.","Carreno Busta ousts Kukushkin at Portugal Open. OEIRAS, Portugal (AP) — Pablo Carreno Busta of Spain ousted eighth-seeded Mikhail Kukushkin of Kazakhstan 6-1, 7-6 (3) Monday to reach the second round of the Portugal Open.","South Korea's Kia to invest $1 billion in Mexico. MEXICO CITY (AP) — South Korea's Kia Motors Corp. said Wednesday it will invest more than $1 billion to build a car factory in northern Mexico that is expected to begin production in 2016.","Cappellini, Lanotte win ice dance short program. SAITAMA, Japan (AP) — European champions Anna Cappellini and Luca Lanotte of Italy finished first in the ice dance short program Friday at the Figure Skating World Championships.","Sri Lanka steadily progresses to 174-2. GALLE, Sri Lanka (AP) — Sri Lanka's experienced pair Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene moved the hosts to 174-2 at lunch on the third day of the first test against Pakistan on Friday.","Pakistan pulls anti-government TV channel off air. ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistan's media regulation authority says it has taken an anti-government TV news channel off air for 15 days for \"maligning\" the country's judiciary.","Chrysler says snow, ice pressured Dec U.S. auto sales. By Bernie Woodall and Ben Klayman DETROIT (Reuters) - Chrysler Group LLC on Friday said that late-month snow and ice storms pressured U.S. auto sales, causing the industry to show only a 1 percent gain over last year, missing expectations of a 4 percent increase. \"It looks like the bad weather kept the sales penned in,\" said Chrysler spokesman Ralph Kisiel. December's late-month holiday period is generally one of the biggest selling times at U.S. auto dealerships each year. Chrysler expects the industry to show a December annualized selling rate of 15.8 million vehicles, which would miss expectations of a rate of 16 million but still be up 4 percent from a year ago.","IMF head: Improved policies needed to boost growth. WASHINGTON (AP) — The head of the International Monetary Fund says six years after the financial crisis struck, the world is still mired in a disappointing economic recovery and will only be able to regain momentum through improved government policies.","Nigerian army arrests 'spies' implicated in schoolgirls' kidnap. Nigeria's military said Monday it had broken up a Boko Haram intelligence cell and arrested its leader, alleged to have taken part in the abduction of over 200 teenage girls in April. A defence headquarters statement said that troops have found a militants' 'intelligence cell' headed by a businessman \"who participated actively in the abduction of school girls in Chibok,\" in northeast Borno state last April 14. The businessman identified as Babuji Ya’ari, who was also a member of a civilian youth group that worked along with the military, popularly known as Civilian JTF (Joint Task Force), allegedly used his position as a cover to work for the militants, it said. \"The arrest of the businessman who is known to deal in tricycles has also yielded some vital information and facilitated the arrest of other members of the terrorists’ intelligence cell who are women,\" the military said.","US sees Russian hand in envoy's bugged call. WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. officials say they suspect Russia is behind a leak of an apparently bugged phone conversation between two senior American diplomats in which they make disparaging comments about the European Union.","Merkel says Russia not contributing to de-escalation in Ukraine. German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Wednesday that Russia was not taking the necessary steps to ease the standoff over Ukraine. \"Unfortunately, in many areas it is not clear that Russia is contributing to a de-escalation of the situation,\" Merkel said in a speech in parliament. \"Therefore we will continue to do what we've been doing: on the one hand pursue dialogue, but on the other hand make clear that in our view Ukraine has a right to its own development path. Ukraine must decide its own future.\" (Reporting by Alexandra Hudson and Stephen Brown;","Sudan police fire tear gas at Darfur student demo. Sudanese police fired tear gas on Tuesday at Darfuri university students calling for peace in the war-torn region where violence has worsened in recent days. About 300 students, many of them from Darfur, demonstrated at the University of Khartoum until police gassed and beat them when they attempted to take their protest outside campus, an AFP reporter said. \"Peace, peace for Darfur!\" they called, adding: \"We want to bring the criminals to the ICC!\" President Omar al-Bashir and his Defence Minister Abdelrahim Mohammed Hussein are both wanted by the Hague-based International Criminal Court (ICC) for alleged war crimes in Darfur.","Japan's Mitsui pays China to release seized ship-court. BEIJING/TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's Mitsui O.S.K. Lines Ltd paid about $29 million for the release of a ship seized by China over a dispute that dates back to the 1930s war between the countries, China's Supreme Court said on Thursday. The Chinese government has described the case as a simple business dispute unrelated to wartime compensation claims, but it has become a cause célèbre for activists in China seeking redress from Japan. Mitsui paid about 2.92 billion yen ($28.5 million) in leasing fees, including interest and damages, China's Supreme Court said, in a statement on its official microblog.","China Telecom profit up 17.9 percent. BEIJING (AP) — China Telecom Ltd., one of China's three major state-owned phone carriers, says its latest quarterly profit rose 17.9 percent despite intense competition and weak growth in its mobile phone unit.","Niger army says it foiled Boko Haram attack. NIAMEY, Niger (AP) — The head of Niger's army says the country has foiled an attack that was being planned by radical Islamic militants who are based in neighboring Nigeria.","Bomb attacks kill at least 11 in Iraq. BAGHDAD (AP) — Two bomb attacks, one of which ripped through a sprawling Baghdad market, killed at least 11 people in Iraq on Thursday, officials said.","Japan issues Fukushima tsunami advisory after strong quake. Japan issued a tsunami advisory early Saturday after a strong 6.8-magnitude quake struck in the Pacific off Fukushima prefecture, authorities said. The Japan Meteorological Agency said a local tsunami of up to one metre (3.3 feet) could impact the Pacific coastline in Fukushima, Iwate and Miyagi prefectures after the quake, whose epicentre US geologists placed at a depth of 13 kilometres. Large areas of the coastline covered by the advisory are still recovering from the 2011 quake and tsunami disaster that killed more than 18,000 people and triggered a meltdown at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant. Plant operators Tokyo Electric said there were no immediate reports of abnormality after the quake, according to Kyodo news agency.","Switzerland treads careful path over Russia sanctions. By Caroline Copley and Oliver Hirt ZURICH/BERN (Reuters) - Switzerland said on Wednesday it would not be \"abused\" by those wanting to circumvent Western sanctions against Russia but stopped short of adopting its own measures. Transparency campaigners say it is taking a cautious stance to help protect its role as a global commodities hub that earns revenue from trade with Russia, although the government said it had no intention of allowing the sanctions to be bypassed. The United States, European Union and Canada have already imposed asset freezes and travel bans on a group of Russian officials over Moscow's annexation of Ukraine's Crimea region. But Switzerland, also a hub for private banking and a popular destination for Russia's wealthy elite, is reluctant to take measures it fears could compromise its cherished neutrality or damage closely nurtured trade relations with Moscow.","Suspended sentence requested against Brandao. PARIS (AP) — A French prosecutor has asked a Paris court to hand Brazilian striker Brandao an eight-month suspended sentence along with a 15,000-euro ($19,000) fine for head-butting Paris Saint-Germain midfielder Thiago Motta.","Germany pushing for new Ukraine talks in Geneva. BERLIN (AP) — Germany is pushing for a second round of diplomatic talks in Geneva in an effort to halt the violence in Ukraine.","Iranians back nuclear deal, fear tough demands. Washington (AFP) - As Iran and world powers prepare to resume nuclear talks, a new poll Wednesday revealed most Iranians back a deal but consider unacceptable some of the toughest demands to rein in their atomic program.","Ukraine says Russian tanks move toward key port. UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Ukraine's U.N. ambassador says a convoy of Russian tanks and armored vehicles has moved from the resort town of Novoazovsk toward the key port of Mariupol and was stopped by Ukrainian forces and civilians.","Hibs relegated from Scottish top flight. EDINBURGH, Scotland (AP) — The capital of Scotland will have no team in the country's top division next season after Hibernian joined Edinburgh rival Hearts in dropping out of the Scottish Premiership on Sunday.","Pope to create new batch of cardinals in February. VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis will soon be adding to the group of churchmen which will elect his successor.","Israeli military urges bomb shelters to open beyond Tel Aviv area. JERUSALEM (Reuters) - The Israeli military urged Israelis living as far as 80 kilometers (50 miles) away from Gaza, or beyond the Tel Aviv area, to open bomb shelters on Tuesday, as militants fired dozens of rockets when a truce broke down. Hamas said after a deadly Israeli air strike that it fired 40 rockets at Israel. Israeli media reported at least 30 strikes, with one person injured, and that municipalities in the Tel Aviv area had already reopened shelters shut during a 10-day truce period in the five-week-old Gaza war. (Writing by Allyn Fisher-Ilan; editing by Ralph Boulton)","Maple Leafs are happy to move on from '24/7,' Winter Classic hype. ANN ARBOR, Mich. - Randy Carlyle could barely contain his relief after the Winter Classic.","Honduran kids flee terror at home, hope for opportunity in U.S.. By Jose Cortes IXTEPEC Mexico (Reuters) - Driven from home by threats of gang violence and extortion and drawn to the U.S. by hopes of education and opportunity, Carlos, a 15-year-old from San Pedro Sula, Honduras, is stuck in southern Mexico, living in a shelter and trying to figure out how to get to California. He says he has an uncle there, who told him that in America he can go to school and find a job. He says that back in Honduras there's a local gang that wants to kill him. He's thinking of climbing on board \"La Bestia\", or \"The Beast\", one of the freight trains that carry thousands of illegal immigrants north through Mexico.","Ground crew work nights to keep MH370 search aloft. RAAF BASE PEARCE, Australia (AP) — As the brilliant orange glow of another Australian sunset fades and the raucous engines of the search planes stop whirring, the men and women who keep this high-profile operation in the air switch on the floodlights and get busy.","Ferrari appoints new board members, chairman and CEO stay on. MILAN (Reuters) - Ferrari said on Monday Luca Cordero di Montezemolo has been reappointed as chairman and Amedeo Felisa as chief executive of the luxury Italian sports car maker. The Fiat-controlled company also said in a statement Harald J. Wester, Scott Garberding, Antonio Picca Piccon and Giorgio Fossati had joined the board, replacing outgoing directors Gianni Coda, Sir Christopher Gent, Paolo Monferino and Lindsay Owen Jones. ...","Activists in Syria's besieged Homs make video satire. Activists in Syria's Homs have released a grim video satire in which they find gallows humour in two years spent under a crippling army siege and frequent bombardment. The YouTube clip, entitled \"Official Statement,\" takes the form of a series of video statements based on those commonly released by Syrian armed groups, with a commander reading a proclamation as fighters brandish guns and flags behind him. In the first \"statement,\" set at the start of the uprising, the fighters vow to overthrow President Bashar al-Assad in an amateurish video punctuated by miscues and laughter. The seven-minute video was released Friday by a group called A Patch of Light from Homs and has been viewed over 6,600 times on video-sharing site YouTube.","Sudan president says country's regional isolation ending. Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir vowed Saturday to end the sanctions-hit country's isolation, saying recent visits to regional powers Egypt and Saudi Arabia proved that ties were improving, an AFP correspondent said. Bashir, 70, who is wanted in the international court for alleged war crimes in Darfur, seized power in a coup 25 years ago. \"We promise you that Sudan will not be isolated, and our visit to Saudi Arabia removed doubts that our trip to Egypt had returned matters to normal,\" he said at the closing of the ruling National Congress Party's conference.","Ukraine faces gas cut threat as talks with Russia fail. By Natalia Zinets and Vladimir Soldatkin KIEV/MOSCOW (Reuters) - Ukraine faces the threat of Russia cutting off gas supplies when a 0600 GMT deadline passes on Monday after talks on a long-running gas pricing dispute failed. Russian natural gas producer Gazprom said it was not extending the deadline for Ukraine to start paying off its gas debts after the discussions ended in the early hours of the morning in Kiev, raising the prospect of disruptions to gas flows to the European Union via Ukraine. The breakdown of the talks is likely to increase political tensions that have mounted in the past few days between Kiev and Moscow as Ukrainian government forces clashed heavily with pro-Russian separatists in east Ukraine.","Hackers deface Bulgarian church website over mosque attack. Hackers defaced the website of Bulgaria's Orthodox Church on Thursday, accusing the organization of failing to condemn an attack on a mosque and underlining simmering sectarian tensions in the EU's poorest country. An online group calling itself Milli Gucler ('national forces' in Turkish) briefly replaced the website's homepage with a Turkish flag and a message saying the minority Muslim population would be defended. Many Bulgarian Muslims have roots in neighboring Turkey. Most Bulgarians are Orthodox Christians while Muslims make up about 12 percent of the population, according to surveys.","6.6-quake hits off PNG's Bougainville. A strong 6.6-magnitude earthquake struck off Papua New Guinea's Bougainville Island on Saturday but there was no risk of a widespread tsunami, seismologists said. The quake, scaled back from an initial reported magnitude of 6.9, hit at 0104 GMT and was centred 59 kilometres (36 miles) southwest of the town of Panguna on Bougainville at a depth of 24 kilometres, the US Geological Survey said. According to the Hawaii-based Pacific Tsunami Warning Center there was no threat of a destructive widespread tsunami based on historical data. \"Because it's such a large event there's a possibility of damage in that area,\" seismologist Emma Mathews told AFP.","Mediator says Damascus 'delaying' Geneva talks: diplomats. United Nations (United States) (AFP) - The international mediator on Syria told the UN Security Council on Thursday that Damascus was delaying efforts to resume Geneva talks to end the three-year-old civil war, diplomats said. UN and Arab League envoy Lakhdar Brahimi said the government was engaged in \"delaying tactics\" and that any re-election of President Bashar al-Assad would complicate mediation efforts. Brahimi was briefing a closed session of the 15-member Council after a second round of peace negotiations collapsed in Geneva on February 15. Brahimi told the Council that he doubted a new seven-year term for Assad would end the suffering of the Syrian people, diplomats told AFP.","Turkey sets Aug 10 for presidential election: source. Turkey will hold a presidential election on August 10 after incumbent Abdullah Gul's seven-year term expires, a source in the prime minister's office said on Friday. It will be the first time Turkey's head of state is elected by the voters and not by the parliament following a change of the constitution. Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan has signaled possible interest in the president's job but only if the constitution is further amended to turn what is now a largely ceremonial post into a more powerful executive role.","Vietnam's PM wins approval in parliamentary confidence vote. HANOI (Reuters) - Vietnam's Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung survived a confidence vote in parliament on Saturday, with 64 percent of the delegates giving a vote of 'high confidence' in his leadership and 14 percent showing' low confidence'. Since last year the National Assembly has begun voting annually to pass judgment on key officials' performance. As many as 485 delegates were present at the confidence vote, running the rule over 50 government officials State Bank of Vietnam Governor Nguyen Van Binh obtained a 'high confidence' vote of 64. ...","Weak investment, trade drive second quarter contraction in German economy. Weak investment spending and slow trade led Germany to contract for the first time in over a year in the second quarter, data showed, suggesting Europe's largest economy is running out of steam just as the impact of the crisis in Ukraine starts to bite. Germany's Federal Statistics Office confirmed on Monday an earlier estimate showing a 0.2 percent contraction in seasonally-adjusted gross domestic product (GDP) on the quarter. \"The second-quarter contraction was a reaction to the strong first quarter so I think we'll return to moderate positive growth in the third ... but there's no shortage of uncertainty factors at the moment,\" said Thilo Heidrich, an economist at Postbank, referring to the standoff between Moscow and the West over Ukraine and the crisis in Iraq. Gross capital investment in Germany fell by 2.3 percent and construction investment dropped by 4.2 percent, in part due to a mild winter which boosted building activity in the first quarter.","Firebomb attack wounds Israeli father and daughter in West Bank. JERUSALEM (Reuters) - A firebomb attack on a car in the occupied West Bank left an 11-year-old Israeli girl severely burned and her father injured on Thursday, the Israeli military said. The Israeli military said the suspected Palestinian attack was near the Ma'ale Shomron Jewish settlement, north of the West Bank city of Nablus. Video footage of the incident obtained by Reuters TV showed firefighters trying to douse the flames engulfing a vehicle on the side of a road after darkness fell. ...","US confirms American detained in North Korea. WASHINGTON (AP) — The State Department is confirming that a U.S. citizen has been detained in North Korea.","Gerrard in Premier League spotlight as Reds face Chelsea showdown. London (AFP) - Brendan Rodgers insists there is no chance Steven Gerrard will crack under pressure when the Liverpool captain bids for redemption against Chelsea on Saturday.","Good news for Luongo: Turkish holiday has to wait. SYDNEY (AP) — Midfielder Massimo Luongo figured his chances of making Australia's team for the World Cup were so remote he planned a holiday to Turkey during the tournament.","U.S. backs Japan's Abe, tells China to stop destabilizing actions. By David Brunnstrom SINGAPORE (Reuters) - The United States threw its weight on Saturday behind a push by Japan to take a more active role in regional security and bluntly warned China to halt destabilizing actions in support of territorial claims. Using unusually strong language, U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel told an Asia-Pacific security forum that the United States was committed to its geopolitical rebalance to the region and \"will not look the other way when fundamental principles of the international order are being challenged\". \"In recent months, China has undertaken destabilizing, unilateral actions asserting its claims in the South China Sea,\" he said in the speech to the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore. Hagel said the United States took no position on the merits of rival territorial claims in the region, but added: \"We firmly oppose any nation’s use of intimidation, coercion, or the threat of force to assert these claims.\" On Friday, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told the same forum that Tokyo would offer its \"utmost support\" to Southeast Asian countries in their efforts to protect their seas and airspace, as he pitched his plan for Japan to take on a bigger international security role.","Russian, Ukrainian foreign ministers to hold talks. MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov is to meet his Ukrainian counterpart Andriy Deshchytsya on the sidelines of a nuclear security summit now under way in the Hague, a Russian diplomatic source said on Monday. The source cited by Russian news agencies RIA and Interfax said the Ukrainian delegation had asked for the meeting. The nuclear security conference runs through Tuesday. (Reporting by Alissa de Carbonnel; Editing by Mark Heinrich)","Russia's upper house approves annexation of Crimea. MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia's upper house of parliament unanimously approved a treaty on annexing Ukraine's Crimea region on Friday, clearing the way for President Vladimir Putin to sign it into law. The Federation Council followed the State Duma lower house by voting for the treaty. Putin was expected to complete the ratification process by signing the treaty at a ceremony with the speakers of both chambers later on Friday. (Reporting by Maria Tsvetkova, Editing by Timothy Heritage)","Rocket fire hits Israel as humanitarian lull ends. Jerusalem (AFP) - A rocket fired from Gaza hit the Israeli city of Ashkelon on Thursday, the army said, just as a five-hour lull in 10 days of Israel-Hamas fighting ended.","Celski falls but judges advance him in short track. SOCHI, Russia (AP) — J.R. Celski fell on his own in 500-meter short track, but the American advanced to the semifinals after another skater was disqualified.","No quick deal at Ukraine-Russia gas talks: sources. Ukraine and Russia failed to secure any breakthrough in an initial round of talks on a gas pricing dispute on Sunday but will resume their discussions, sources close to the talks said.","Crashed Ghana chopper transporting oil workers. A helicopter that crashed off the coast of Ghana, killing at least three people, was carrying oil service workers, an oil exploration firm said Friday. Moscow-based Lukoil said the helicopter took off from the western Ghanian city of Takoradi on Thursday carrying two crew and six employees from some oil service companies, but went down about five kilometres (3 miles) off Takoradi. The helicopter operated by a local company \\\\\"was on a routine crew shuttle mission transporting contractor personnel from the airport in Takoradi to the Jack Ryan offshore drilling rig ... to conduct exploration activities offshore Ghana,\\\\\" the company said in a statement. \\\\\"There were no Lukoil employees on board,\\\\\" it added.","Parties agree road map for Cyprus talks. The Greek and Turkish Cypriots have agreed on a road map prepared by the UN to resume talks on a reunification of the island, the Northern Turkish presidency said Friday. \"The Greek and Turkish sides in Cyprus have reached an agreement on a common declaration for resuming negotiations,\" the Northern Turkish presidency said in a statement. Efforts to relaunch the UN-brokered talks on ending the four-decade division of the eastern Mediterranean island of Cyprus had gathered pace this week after being deadlocked for nearly two years. Recent days have seen Greek and Turkish Cypriots working feverishly to finalise a joint declaration that would allow them to restart the negotiations.","Airbus revamps A330 jet in long-haul battle with Boeing. By Sarah Young and Jack Stubbs FARNBOROUGH England (Reuters) - Airbus announced a revamp of its twin-aisle A330 passenger jet on Monday, offering a cheaper alternative to the Boeing 787 Dreamliner as the two planemakers vie for up to $250 billion in orders from cost-conscious airlines. The European planemaker launched the A330neo to open Britain's July 14-20 Farnborough Airshow with a deal for 25 planes from leasing company Air Lease Corp . Airbus boss Fabrice Bregier predicted up to 100 purchase commitments this week for the model, which features new, more fuel-efficient Rolls-Royce engines. Airbus is aiming to prolong the success of its A330 planes amid a challenge from Boeing's all-new carbon-fiber 787 Dreamliner.","Saudi says Iraq charge it backs terrorism is 'ludicrous'. DUBAI (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia dismissed as ludicrous on Thursday an accusation by Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki that the kingdom backed Sunni militants who have seized swathes of northern Iraq. Speaking to reporters in Jeddah, Foreign Minister Saudi al-Faisal added that the kingdom had criminalized terrorism, especially that perpetrated by the militant Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), and he advised Maliki to follow the policy pursued by the kingdom in eradicating terrorism. (Reporting by Amena Bakr, Writing by William Maclean)","FIFA bans Barcelona signing any players in 2015. LONDON (AP) — Barcelona will be barred from signing any players in 2015 after FIFA rejected the club's appeal against a one-year ban for breaching rules over the transfer of youngsters.","Islamic State seizes villages in Syria as drone scouts skies. By Tom Perry and Laila Bassam BEIRUT (Reuters) - Islamic State fighters captured villages and besieged a Kurdish city in northern Syria near the border with Turkey on Thursday in a major assault that prompted a commander to appeal for military aid from other Kurds in the region. With the United States planning to expand military action against Islamic State from Iraq to Syria, a surveillance drone was spotted for the first time over nearby Islamic State-controlled territory in Aleppo province, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which tracks Syria's civil war, said. ...","Barnes & Noble to buy Microsoft's stake in Nook business. (Reuters) - Bookseller Barnes & Noble Inc said it would buy Microsoft Corp's 17 percent stake in its Nook business, comprising e-readers, e-books and college bookstores. The company said its total revenue fell 2.6 percent to $1.69 billion in the second quarter, hurt mainly by its Nook business. Net income fell to $12.3 million, or 12 cents per share, for the quarter ended Nov. 1 from $13.2 million, or 15 cents per share, a year earlier. Pearson Plc owns 5 percent of the Nook business. (Reporting By Ramkumar Iyer and Yashaswini Swamynathan in Bengaluru; Editing by Don Sebastian)","Egypt increases electricity to Gaza: official. GAZA/CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt has increased the amount of electricity it provides to Gaza and urged Israel to repair power lines damaged during Israeli bombardment that has left at least one million people without electricity, an Egyptian official said on Saturday. The official told Reuters that Egypt has added an extra seven megawatts to the 27 it feeds into Gaza and plans to increase that by 15 megawatts more in an effort to alleviate the electricity crisis.","Ukraine president faces tough realities at home. KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine's president-elect will likely have little trouble wooing Western leaders, including President Barack Obama, when he travels to Poland and France this week — many have already hailed the rise of the pragmatic, Western-leaning leader.","4-time winner Cancellara to skip worlds time trial. BERN, Switzerland (AP) — Four-time gold medalist Fabian Cancellara will skip the time trial at the road cycling world championships this month.","Experts conclude Pistorius not mentally ill during shooting. A psychiatric panel and a psychologist have found that Paralympian Oscar Pistorius, who is facing charges of murdering his girlfriend, is not mentally ill, the state prosecutor said Monday. \"Mr Pistorus did not suffer from a mental illness or defect that would have rendered him criminally not responsible for the offence charged,\" said state prosecutor Gerrie Nel, reading from the psychologist report, one of two reports that said the star runner should be held criminally responsible. After a six-week break, the murder trial that has gripped South Africa and the world has resumed when Pistorius returned to the dock after a month of psychiatric tests. The star sprinter has tried to argue that a \"generalised anxiety disorder\" contributed to him shooting dead his 29-year-old model girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp on Valentine's Day last year.","Domracheva eyes 3rd straight Olympic biathlon gold. KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia (AP) — Darya Domracheva of Belarus is aiming for her third straight gold medal in Monday's final individual biathlon competition of the Sochi Olympics.","Sea survivor appears weaker in public appearance. WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — The Salvadoran man who says he spent more than a year drifting across the Pacific Ocean made a brief public appearance looking much weaker than he did earlier in the week.","China's Tianjin to restrict vehicle use to curb pollution. The government of the industrial city of Tianjin in northern China will limit the number of vehicles allowed on roads during heavy smog, state media reported on Monday, in the latest attempt to fight pollution. On days of severe pollution, Tianjin will halve the number of vehicles allowed on roads by restricting licence plate numbers, as well as halt construction and manufacturing activity, close schools for the day, and halt large-scale outdoor activities, the official Xinhua news agency said. China has vowed to reverse the damage done to its environment by decades of untrammeled economic growth, and has identified the region of Beijing, Hebei and Tianjin as one of the key targets of a programme to curb big industries like steel, thermal power and cement, all major sources of smog. About one third of the pollution in Beijing, whose often choking smog has been dubbed the \"airpocalypse\", comes from outside the city, a pollution watchdog said last month.","Activists say ecological, sustainable rebirth of Cyprus ghost town could be global model. DERYNEIA, Cyprus - Time virtually stopped in 1974 for the Mediterranean tourist playground of Varosha. When Turkey invaded Cyprus in the wake of a coup by supporters of union with Greece, thousands of residents fled, and chain-link fences enclosed a glamorous resort that it's said once played host to Hollywood royalty like Elizabeth Taylor.","Budget-strapped Israeli military banks on future US aid. By Dan Williams JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Budget-strapped Israel is pressing the United States to conclude a deal extending defense aid beyond 2017, when Washington's current $3 billion annual payouts to its Middle East ally expire, officials said on Friday. They said a swift agreement on future U.S. grants would help Israel's military draft a five-year austerity plan accommodating Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's conservative government. U.S. Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel will visit Israel next week and the future aid will probably be raised by his hosts, according to a different official who declined to be identified by name or nationality. The previous Republican administration signed a 10-year deal with Israel in 2007 granting it $30 billion, most of it going on American defense products.","Putin warns West against curbing use of payment systems in Russia. NOVO-OGARYOVO, Russia (Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin warned the West on Thursday that curbing Russians' use of payment systems based in the United States and Europe would backfire by causing companies involved to lose money and market share. Visa and MasterCard last week stopped providing services for payment transactions for clients at Bank Rossiya, which has been hit by U.S. sanctions over Russia's annexation of Crimea, as well as some other banks. Services were later resumed for most of the banks. \"It is really too bad that certain companies have decided on ... ...","Li Na, Cibulkova to meet in Australian Open final. MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Li Na has advanced to her third Australian Open final and will have to beat Dominika Cibulkova to win her first title at Melbourne Park.","Asia-Pacific bloc vows support for China-backed trade area. BEIJING (Reuters) - Members of an Asia-Pacific economic bloc have repeated their commitment to a trade liberalization framework being pushed for by China, a joint statement said on Tuesday. The 21 members of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) would pursue the Free Trade Area of the Asia Pacific (FTAAP) in a step-by-step manner based on consensus, the group said in a statement after a two-day summit attended by state leaders in Beijing. ...","Putin says United States want to subdue Russia. MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday accused the United States of wanting to subdue Moscow but warned Washington it would never succeed. \"They (United States) do not want to humiliate us, they want to subdue us, solve their problems at our expense,\" Putin told a meeting with a core support group, the People's Front, triggering loud applause. \"No one in history ever managed to achieve this with Russia, and no one ever will.\" (Reporting by Denis Dyomkin and Gabriela Baczynska, writing by Gabriela Baczynska, Editing by Thomas Grove)","Gummy bear loses latest round in copyright fight. BERLIN (AP) — Swiss chocolatier Lindt & Spruengli AG has won the latest round in its battle of the bears against Germany's Haribo GmbH.","Activist group: US-led Syria strikes kill over 900. BEIRUT (AP) — A prominent Syrian activist group monitoring its civil war says U.S.-led airstrikes in the country have killed over 900 people since September, many fighters of the militant Islamic State group, though some civilians as well.","N. Korea fires rockets as Pope arrives in South. North Korea fired five short-range rockets into the sea off its east coast Thursday, just as Pope Francis arrived in Seoul for a five-day visit. The launches began at 9:30 am (0030 GMT) at a site near the North's eastern port of Wonsan, with the rockets fired into the East Sea (Sea of Japan) at a maximum range of 220 kilometres (130 miles), a defence ministry spokesman said. The pope is expected to send a message of peace to Pyongyang when he conducts a special inter-Korean \"reconciliation\" mass in Seoul next week on the last day of his visit. Church officials in the South had sent several requests to Pyongyang to send a group of Catholics to attend the event, but the North declined the offer, citing its anger at upcoming South Korea-US military drills.","Groups say Thailand should face U.S. sanctions over trafficking. Thailand should be liable to potential U.S. sanctions for failing to crack down on trafficking in migrant workers, a group of human rights and labor organizations said on Friday. In a letter to U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, 19 organizations, including Human Rights Watch and the American Federation of Labor, said Thailand \\\\\"does not meet the minimum standards of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act, nor is it taking real steps to meet those standards.\\\\\" As such, Thailand, although an important U.S. ally, should be downgraded to Tier III of the State Department's 2014 Trafficking in Persons Report, the letter said.","Putin meets Ukraine's Yanukovych in Sochi. SOCHI, Russia (AP) — Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych and Russian President Vladimir Putin have met on the sidelines of the opening ceremony for the Sochi Olympic Games.","Bundesbank unfazed by emerging markets, Nowotny cool on rates. By Eva Taylor and Francesco Canepa FRANKFURT/LONDON (Reuters) - The turbulence experienced in emerging markets early this year is insufficient to derail a recovery in the global economy, which could strengthen during 2014, Germany's Bundesbank said on Monday. With euro zone inflation far below the European Central Bank's target, policymakers in Frankfurt, including Bundesbankers, are watching the turmoil in case it affects the economic outlook. The ECB says the bloc has proved resilient so far. Speaking in London, ECB Governing Council Ewald Nowotny said it was \"good news that we see improvements in the real economy\" but added that the central bank still needed to discuss how this affected inflation.","Obama urges Lebanon to stick to election timetable. US President Barack Obama has urged Lebanon to hold elections as planned in May, despite tensions aggravated by the conflict in neighbouring Syria, the American embassy in Beirut said Saturday. President Michel Sleiman's mandate ends on May 25 and there are worries a successor will be hard to find because of disagreements between Lebanon's pro- and anti-Syria regime blocs. In a telephone call to Salam, Obama \"urged that the upcoming presidential elections be held on time and in keeping with the Lebanese constitution\", a statement from the US embassy said. It said Obama recognised \"the difficulties facing Lebanon due to the conflict in Syria,\" and \"emphasised the importance of all parties observing Lebanon’s policy of disassociation\".","NATO suspends cooperation with Russia over Ukraine crisis. By Adrian Croft and Sabine Siebold BRUSSELS (Reuters) - NATO suspended all practical cooperation with Russia on Tuesday in protest at its annexation of Crimea, and ordered military planners to draft measures to strengthen its defenses and reassure nervous Eastern European countries. Foreign ministers from the 28-nation, U.S.-led alliance were meeting for the first time since the Russian occupation of Ukraine's Crimea region touched off the worst East-West crisis since the Cold War. NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said Russia's actions meant there could be no \"business as usual\". \"So today, we are suspending all practical cooperation with Russia, military and civilian,\" he told a news conference.","Iran frees wife of jailed Washington Post reporter. DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The National newspaper says Iran has released its correspondent Yeganeh Salehi on bail, while her husband, Washington Post correspondent Jason Rezaian, remains in detention.","EU condemns Russia convoy entering Ukraine, urges Moscow to reverse decision. Russia's decision to send a convoy of aid trucks across the border into eastern Ukraine without Kiev's consent or an escort of international observers is a clear violation of Ukraine's border, the EU's foreign policy chief's office said on Friday. This also goes counter to the previous arrangements reached between Ukraine, Russia and the ICRC (International Committee of the Red Cross),\" Sebastien Brabant, spokesman for the European Union's foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, said.","Portugal's main opposition Socialists win European elections. Portugal's main opposition Socialists won elections for the European Parliament on Sunday in an austerity-weary country which earlier this month exited an international bailout. With more than 99 percent of the vote counted, the center-left Socialists had won with 31.45 percent of the ballot that was marked by high abstention levels at over 66 percent. The ruling coalition of Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho's Social Democrats and their smaller rightist partner CDS-PP that implemented painful cuts over the three years of bailout, garnered 27.7 percent. It was followed by the Communist-Greens alliance, with 12.7 percent and the agrarian-environmentalist Partido da Terra (Party of the Earth), which built its campaign on disillusionment with traditional political parties.","Bosnia unrest is 'local fire' that can be put out: PM. By Marc Jones LONDON (Reuters) - The recent unrest in Bosnia is a local \"fire\" than can be quickly put out by moves to raise living standards, Prime Minister Vjekoslav Bevanda said on Monday. Speaking at an EBRD conference, Bevanda played down the impact of this month's protests in parts of the Balkan country that have seen government buildings set ablaze in what has been the worst violence since the 1992-95 war. Observers, including Paddy Ashdown the former top international official in post-war Bosnia, have called for outside intervention to ensure the situation does not deteriorate into a more dangerous crisis. It has created a highly-decentralized and dysfunctional system of power-sharing woefully unfit to steer Bosnia through economic transition or the process of integration with the European Union, to many their best hope of prosperity.","Ukraine acts to push through anti-corruption laws before election. By Richard Balmforth KIEV (Reuters) - Ukraine's pro-Western government pressed ahead to secure new laws to tackle top-level government corruption on Tuesday, hoping to ease public discontent before an election from which it wants backing for its plan to end a separatist rebellion. The proposed laws - presented by Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk ahead of an Oct. 26 parliamentary election - will oblige high-level officials in government, the judiciary and law-enforcement to declare their own and their families' assets and financial transactions. ...","World's worst Ebola outbreak tests global response. (Reuters) - International agencies and governments are struggling to contain the world's worst epidemic of the Ebola hemorrhagic virus, which has killed over 1,900 people in West Africa. Here is a timeline of the main developments in the outbreak. March 22 - Guinea confirms that a previously unidentified hemorrhagic fever, which killed over 50 people in its southeast Forest Region, is the Ebola virus. One study traces the suspected original source to a 2-year-old boy in the town of Gueckedou. Cases are also reported in the capital, Conakry. ...","Panama orders release of crew of N. Korean ship. PANAMA CITY (AP) — Panama's judicial authorities have ordered the release of 32 of 35 crew members of a North Korean ship detained last July for carrying hidden arms from Cuba.","India sets age limit for Krishna birthday pyramids. NEW DELHI (AP) — India's top court said Thursday that children as young as 12 can climb atop towering human pyramids in a popular Hindu celebration that has seen deaths and injuries in past years.","Iran general, 70 aides helped Iraq battle IS group. TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — A senior Revolutionary Guard commander says a top Iranian general and 70 Iranian advisers were on the ground in Iraq this summer, helping Kurdish fighters defend the regional capital of Irbil against Islamic State militants.","Getafe beats Eibar 3-0 in Spain's Copa del Rey. MADRID (AP) — Pablo Sarabia scored twice and provided an assist to help Getafe beat Eibar 3-0 in the first leg of their round-of-16 match in the Copa del Rey on Friday.","Bangladesh court: UK journalist guilty of contempt. DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) — A special tribunal in Bangladesh dealing with war crimes committed during the country's independence war has found a British journalist guilty of contempt for questioning the official death toll of the 1971 conflict.","Fiji's UN peacekeepers in Golan to be released soon. Suva (Fiji) (AFP) - A group of 45 UN peacekeepers from Fiji taken hostage in the Golan Heights two weeks ago by Syrian Al-Nusra Front rebels will be released soon, the Fiji government said Wednesday.","Crowd sets fire to Hindu center in Pakistan. KARACHI, Pakistan (AP) — Police say a crowd set fire to a Hindu community center in southern Pakistan after allegations circulated that a Hindu had desecrated Islam's holy book.","Ottawa not doing enough to free Egyptian-Canadian reporter jailed in Cairo:group. TORONTO - A coalition of media organizations says Ottawa isn't doing enough to free an Egyptian-Canadian journalist imprisoned in Cairo.","Serbia: 188 evacuated from snow-bound cars, buses. BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — Emergency officials have evacuated 188 people from cars and buses stranded in deep snow in northern Serbia, where snow drifts have also blocked two passenger trains.","Merkel says Swiss challenge is to stay close to EU after vote. German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Tuesday she regretted the results of a Swiss referendum in favor of immigration curbs and said the challenge now was for Switzerland to implement the results while maintaining close ties to the European Union. \"I regret the decision of the vote in Switzerland but our talk was in the spirit that we respect it,\" Merkel said at a news conference with Swiss President Didier Burkhalter. \"The challenge will now be that we deal with the results in a way that relations between the European Union and Switzerland remain as intense as possible with respect for the referendum,\" she added.","Oshie's 4 shootout goals lead US past Russia 3-2. SOCHI, Russia (AP) — T.J. Oshie brainstormed while he skated to center ice, desperately trying to come up with one last move to end an epic shootout. He had already taken five shots at Sergei Bobrovsky, and the Russians were still even.","March in Hungary remembers the Holocaust. BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — Seeking atonement for their relatives, the grandchildren of some of those involved in the Holocaust joined the annual March of Life walk this year as it shifted to Hungary.","Guinea frets as Ebola virus spreads. A second spike in Ebola virus cases has panicked residents and health officials in Guinea, who fear a west African outbreak of the killer disease may now be out of control. We do not know what to expect,\" Mamady Traore, a trader in the suburbs of the capital Conakry, told AFP on Thursday. According to figures released by the World Health Organization (WHO) on Wednesday, a total of 398 cases of haemorrhagic fever -- causing 264 deaths -- have been reported in Guinea since the start of 2014. Of these, 254 were caused by Ebola.","Holocaust historian returning award to Hungary. BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — Holocaust survivor and historian Randolph L. Braham said Sunday he is returning a high state award to Hungary to protest what he says are government efforts to rewrite history and exonerate the country from its role in the Holocaust.","Champions Spain out of World Cup, Dutch march on. * Holders Spain stunned 2-0 by Chile and eliminated * Dutch survive Aussie scare to secure second win * Fans thrilled as attacking play dominates games By Andrew Cawthorne BELO HORIZONTE, Brazil, June 18 (Reuters) - Holders Spain crashed out of the World Cup on Wednesday with barely a fight after their second shock defeat while 2010 runners-up the Netherlands continued their perfect start with another high-scoring win. Thrashed 5-1 by the Dutch in their opening game, Spain's normally composed and incisive team again collapsed quickly at the back, this time against Chile who scored twice in the first half then held firm for a glorious win. \"It is difficult to explain,\" bemoaned Spain captain and goalkeeper Iker Casillas. We are responsible but also the first ones to feel the pain.\" The undisputed kings of global football in recent years, Spain won the 2008 European Championship and their first World Cup in South Africa four years ago plus Euro 2012.","'Another Wall falls': Europe hails U.S.-Cuba breakthrough. BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Twenty-five years after the fall of the Berlin Wall reunited Europe, the European Union hailed a \"historic turning point\" in the Caribbean with the renewal of diplomatic relations between Cuba and the United States. \"Today another Wall has started to fall,\" EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said in a statement. \"These moves represent a victory of dialogue over confrontation. ...","Divorce without judges? For cases without disputes, France considers easing the process. PARIS - France is considering a plan to allow divorces by mutual consent to proceed without a judge, simplifying a process that some critics say is already too easy.","SKorean PM offers to resign over ferry sinking. JINDO, South Korea (AP) — South Korea's prime minister offered to resign Sunday over the government's handling of a deadly ferry sinking, blaming \"deep-rooted evils\" and societal irregularities for a tragedy that has left more than 300 people dead or missing and led to widespread shame, fury and finger-pointing.","Berber protesters clash with Algeria police. Tizi-Ouzou (Algeria) (AFP) - Fresh clashes erupted between protesters and security forces in the mainly Berber Kabylie region east of Algiers on Monday, as the authorities announced an inquiry into allegations of police violence. The security forces confronted around 400 demonstrators in the region's main city Tizi Ouzou, firing tear gas and making a number of arrests, an AFP journalist reported. The rally was called to mark the anniversary of the so-called Berber Spring, a movement demanding recognition of Berber language and culture that was brutally suppressed by the Arabising regime of the time in an operation that climaxed on April 20, 1980. Opposition parties condemned the violent suppression of anniversary demonstrations, while the national security service (DGSN) announced it had launched an inquiry into the contents of a video showing \"police actions that are contrary to professional ethics.\"","FCC votes to restrict AT&T, Verizon in 2015 spectrum auction. U.S. telecom regulators on Thursday voted to limit how much spectrum Verizon Communications Inc and AT&T Inc will be able to buy in next year's auction of highly valuable wireless airwaves. In a 3-2 vote along party lines, the Federal Communications Commission approved a plan that would reserve part of the spectrum in each market for carriers that do not already have substantial blocks of low-frequency airwaves there, largely restricting the participation of Verizon and AT&T. Sprint Corp and T-Mobile USA Inc had urged the FCC to ensure their two biggest rivals did not dominate the auction. FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler had agreed, saying last month that Verizon and AT&T already controlled almost two-thirds of the coveted low-frequency airwaves.","Google's outsized ad growth offsets steep price decline. By Alexei Oreskovic SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Google Inc's quarterly revenue beat Wall Street's target despite an ongoing decline in prices for its online ads and deepening losses at Motorola, the handset-making division to be sold to China's Lenovo. Shares of Google, which have risen more than 20 percent in the past three months, rose nearly 4 percent to $1,178 in after-hours trading on Thursday. Google executives said in a conference call on Thursday that the company benefited from strong demand from brand marketers and retailers in the fourth quarter, as well as healthy demand for online ads in international markets. \"In the holiday season one thing has become very clear, the Web has truly become the new holiday store window,\" Google Chief Business Officer Nikesh Arora said.","Sierra Leone to have lockdown amid Ebola crisis. FREETOWN, Sierra Leone (AP) — A Sierra Leone government spokesman says the country is going to put the entire country into lockdown for three days later this month to try to stop the spread of Ebola.","Gassy German cows blamed for barn explosion; 1 cow lightly injured. BERLIN - A herd of dairy cows nearly lifted the roof off their barn in central Germany when methane released by the animals caused an explosion.","Malawi president says 'serious irregularities' in election. Blantyre (Malawi) (AFP) - Malawi's President Joyce Banda on Thursday called for an immediate manual audit of this week's election results, alleging serious irregularities after the electoral commission reported its vote tallying system had collapsed. \"It has come to my attention that there (are) some serious irregularities in the counting and announcement of results in some parts of the country,\" she told reporters. Discarded and tampered ballots had also been discovered, said Banda who is facing her first electoral test since she succeeded her late processor Bingu wa Mutharika two years ago. \"In light of these concerns and concerns emerging from other stakeholders which includes other political parties, I call upon the Malawi Electoral Commission to carry out an immediate manual audit of the whole process,\" she said.","Egypt court upholds sentence for 3 activists. CAIRO (AP) — An appeals court on Monday upheld the convictions and three-year prison sentences handed down to three of Egypt's most prominent political activists, a ruling that is likely to revive opposition to a draconian protest law they were accused of violating.","Russia says seeking to resolve detention of OSCE observers in Ukraine. MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia said on Saturday that it was doing what it could to resolve the situation involving the detention of military observers from the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe by pro-Moscow separatists in eastern Ukraine In a statement, the Foreign Ministry said Russia was \"taking measures to resolve the situation within the framework of existing possibilities\". It gave no details about what it was doing. (Writing by Steve Gutterman; Editing by Nigel Stephenson)","After Iraqi battles, residents choose displacement. GWER, Iraq (AP) — Misspelled graffiti on walls pockmarked by bullets and torn up propaganda stickers make up the few remaining traces of the Islamic State group in this northern Iraqi ghost town after Kurdish forces finally managed to free it from militant control.","Palestinian president calls for swift resumption of Gaza peace talks. CAIRO (Reuters) - Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas called on Saturday for a swift resumption of the Cairo-mediated talks between Israel and the Palestinians that failed last week to put an end to the Gaza crisis. \"My main goal is for the truce talks to resume in Egypt as soon as possible to avoid more casualties and sacrifices,\" Abbas told a news conference after meeting Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi. (Reporting by Yasmine Saleh; Editing by Pravin Char)","Fed-up Bulgarian voters may fail to end political deadlock. By Tsvetelia Tsolova and Angel Krasimirov SOFIA (Reuters) - Bulgarian voters fed up with political deadlock may end up with another shaky coalition after a snap election on Sunday, leaving the European Union's poorest member struggling to resolve a banking crisis and revive growth. Led by a former bodyguard and karate expert, the center right GERB party is expected to win but fall short of a majority, which could spark a period of haggling with smaller parties and the opposition to shore up support. ...","China top worry in annual Japan defense report. TOKYO (AP) — Japan's annual defense white paper expresses strong concern about China's military build-up, citing its neighbor's increased airspace and maritime activities.","Fay downgraded after brushing Bermuda with high winds, rain. By Samantha Strangeways HAMILTON Bermuda (Reuters) - Tropical Storm Fay lost strength after briefly reaching a Category 1 hurricane in the Atlantic on Sunday, sweeping past Bermuda with strong winds, felling trees and knocking out power to thousands in the British territory. The U.S. National Hurricane Center said on Sunday evening that Fay carried top sustained winds of 65 miles per hour (100 km per hour). Fay was about 400 miles (645 km) east northeast of Bermuda and moving in an easterly direction. A Category 1 storm is at the low end of the five-stage Saffir-Simpson scale of intensity. ...","Ukrainian ex-premier Tymoshenko freed. KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — The party of former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko says that she has been released after 21⁄2 years in prison.","France, Iran may discuss an Iranian role against Islamic State. NEW YORK (Reuters) - The question of whether Iran might play a role against the Islamic State militant group is likely to come up when the French and Iranian presidents meet this week, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius told reporters on Monday. French President Francois Hollande and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani are due to meet on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly on Tuesday. Islamic State militants have taken over large swaths of Iraq and Syria and are blamed for multiple massacres of civilians and beheadings. (Reporting by Louis Charbonneau; Editing by David Gregorio)","Palestinian police, refugee camp residents clash over U.N. strike. By Ali Sawafta JALAZOUN, West Bank (Reuters) - At least 50 people were hurt on Sunday in a clash between Palestinian police and residents of a refugee camp protesting against a strike in a U.N. aid agency that has paralyzed services, police and an ambulance service said. The demonstration, in Jalazoun camp in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, was the most violent in a series of protests over the past week stemming from a more than month-old strike for higher pay by local employees of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA). UNRWA, which employs more than 5,000 Palestinians in 19 camps for some 730,000 West Bank refugees, has been forced to shut schools, clinics and suspend trash collection at the camps since the strike began.","Pakistani Taliban refuse to extend ceasefire, will continue talks. Miranshah (Pakistan) (AFP) - The Pakistani Taliban Wednesday said they would not extend a ceasefire called to help peace negotiations with the government, but insisted they were still committed to the talks process. The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) announced a one-month ceasefire at the start of March as the government sought a negotiated end to their bloody seven-year insurgency. The TTP extended the ceasefire to April 10, but complained there had been \"complete silence\" from the government since then and hinted that the military was trying to thwart talks. \"TTP's central shura (council) has unanimously agreed not to extend the ceasefire,\" the group said in a statement.","FIFA charges Luis Suarez for biting in World Cup. RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — FIFA has officially charged Uruguay's Luis Suarez with biting Italy defender Giorgio Chiellini in the teams' World Cup match, a process that could lead to a suspension for Uruguay's best offensive player.","Greek deputy PM says ready for elections if president vote fails. ATHENS (Reuters) - Greek deputy Prime Minister Evangelos Venizelos urged lawmakers on Wednesday to back the government in a crucial vote to decide the next president but said his center-left party would be ready for a snap election if the vote in parliament fails. \"We are ready for elections but up until the last minute, until Dec. 29, we will keep hoping that a sense of responsibility prevails,\" Venizelos told lawmakers in his Pasok party, part of the ruling coalition led by conservative Prime Minister Antonis Samaras. ...","Philly Inquirer co-owner among 7 dead in jet crash. BEDFORD, Massachusetts (AP) — The co-owner of the Philadelphia Inquirer, Lewis Katz, was killed along with six other people in a fiery plane crash in Massachusetts, just days after reaching a deal that many hoped would end months of infighting at the newspaper and restore it to its former glory.","West Ham's Morrison charged with assault. West Ham United midfielder Ravel Morrison was on Thursday remanded in custody after being charged with assaulting his ex-girlfriend and her mother. The 21-year-old former Manchester United player is accused of punching and slapping his former girlfriend Reah Mansoor, 19, and her mother, 39-year-old Parveen Mansoor, in the early hours of Sunday morning. The England Under-21 international, who was arrested on Wednesday, was remanded until August 7 after appearing before Manchester and Salford Magistrates' Court to face two counts of common assault. Morrison, who wore a white T-shirt and white tracksuit bottoms, did not enter a plea and spoke only to confirm his name and age.","South Sudan rebel chief promises talks to end war. South Sudan rebel chief Riek Machar on Tuesday promised to attend peace talks to end a brutal civil war in the world's newest nation as the US unveiled its first sanctions in response to the \"unthinkable violence\". The two men were \"responsible for perpetrating unthinkable violence against civilians,\" said US Secretary of State John Kerry.","Image of Asia: A healthy trio of panda cubs. In this photo by Kin Cheung, panda triplets are examined at their 1-month medical checkup at the Chimelong Safari Park in Guangzhou, China. The official Xinhua News Agency says the girl and two boys are healthy and have grown to about a kilogram in weight since their birth July 29. The cubs were only the fourth triplets known to have been born in artificial breeding programs, but it wasn't clear how many survived previously. China devotes major resources to increasing the population of its unofficial mascot and regularly announces the births of giant pandas at zoos and at the Wolong breeding center in the southwestern province of Sichuan, where most wild pandas live.","Soccer-Australian championship results and standings. Nov 8 (Infostrada Sports) - Results and standings from the Australian championship matches on Saturday Saturday, November 8Brisbane Roar 1 Melbourne City FC 3 Newcastle Jets 2 Melbourne Victory 2 Friday, November 7 Adelaide United 0 Sydney FC 0 Wellington Phoenix 1 Western Sydney Wanderers FC 0 Standings P W D L F A Pts 1 Melbourne Victory 5 3 2 0 14 6 11 2 Sydney FC 5 3 2 0 8 3 11 3 Adelaide United 5 3 2 0 7 3 11 4 Wellington Phoenix 5 3 0 2 8 6 9 5 Perth Glory 4 3 0 1 7 6 9 6 Melbourne City FC 5 1 2 2 8 10 5 -------------------------7 Central Coast Mariners 3 1 0 2 2 4 3 8 Newcastle Jets 5 0 ...","Kontaveit ousts top-seeded Cornet at Swedish Open. BASTAD, Sweden (AP) — Estonian qualifier Anett Kontaveit upset top-seeded Alize Cornet of France 7-6 (3), 6-3 Tuesday in the first round of the Swedish Open.","Catholic diocese to file for bankruptcy protection. HELENA, Montana (AP) — The Roman Catholic Diocese of Helena planned to file for bankruptcy protection Friday in advance of proposed settlements for two lawsuits that claim clergy members sexually abused 362 people over decades and the church covered it up.","Terrorists have changed methods since Snowden leaks: UK official. By Michael Holden LONDON (Reuters) - Terrorists have substantially changed their methods of communication since leaks by former U.S. intelligence operative Edward Snowden, hindering intelligence agencies' efforts to track them, a senior British security official said on Tuesday. \"The Snowden effect has been a very, very severe one,\" Stephen Phipson, a director at Britain's Office for Security and Counter Terrorism (OSCT), told a London security conference. Snowden, a former National Security Agency (NSA) contractor, caused international uproar last June when he disclosed details of the extent of surveillance and electronic intelligence gathering by his former employers and by the British equivalent GCHQ to the Washington Post and Britain's Guardian newspaper.","3 killed as Libyan militias fight over airport. CAIRO (AP) — Rival Libyan militias battled for control the capital's international airport Sunday, fighting that killed at least three people, a security official said.","Sparkling finish brings title for Aussie Senden. Palm Harbor (United States) (AFP) - Australian John Senden birdied two of the last three holes in impressive fashion Sunday to win the Valspar Championship, his first US PGA title in eight years. Senden had a tap-in birdie at the par-5 opening hole and sank a three-foot birdie putt at the fifth to take sole possession of the lead at eight-under.","Former Fed Chairman Bernanke takes stand in AIG bailout trial. By Aruna Viswanatha WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Former Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke took the stand on Thursday to defend the U.S. government's bailout of American International Group in 2008, describing how policymakers sought to avoid giving AIG shareholders a \"windfall\" through a rescue. Bernanke's comments came in a fourth day of testimony by former top government officials looking to convince a federal judge that the rescue of the insurance company was legal. ...","Kerry says he'll consult with Obama, Congress about possible extension of nuclear talks. VIENNA (AP) — Kerry says he'll consult with Obama, Congress about possible extension of nuclear talks.","13 OSCE observers detained in Ukraine: German defence ministry. Berlin (AFP) - Pro-Russian separatists have detained 13 members of an OSCE observer mission in Ukraine, German Defence Minister Ursula von der Leyen said Friday.","Ciganda gets tip from Olazabal and shares lead. NAPLES, Fla. (AP) — Carlota Ciganda needed help with her putting going into the final event of the LPGA Tour season.","Chrysler says its Canada auto sales up on trucks. Chrysler Canada sold 28,007 cars and trucks last month, up from 26,209 a year earlier, with its Ram and Jeep brands setting July records, the company said on Friday. Strong truck sales, up 11.8 percent, offset a 19.6 percent drop in car sales in July, Chrysler Canada said.","2 Ukraine regions set to vote on sovereignty. MARIUPOL, Ukraine (AP) — Pro-Russian insurgents in two of the most tense regions in eastern Ukraine were prepared to conduct a vote Sunday on declaring sovereignty, while the country's acting president warned that it represented \"a step into the abyss.\"","Suicide attack at cafe in Iraqi capital kills 12. BAGHDAD (AP) — A suicide bomber struck a Baghdad cafe overnight as customers watched a football game on television, killing at least 12 people and wounding 38, Iraqi officials said Thursday.","Haiti hopes to woo back tourists with resorts. COTES-DE-FER, Haiti (AP) — Off this sleepy southern Haitian village, fishermen in weathered wooden boats slowly move across azure waters. Miles of picture-perfect sandy beaches slope gently, fringed by grasses and framed by mountains.","US court grants new appeal hearing for Buju Banton. KINGSTON, Jamaica (AP) — A lawyer for convicted Jamaican reggae star Buju Banton said Tuesday that a U.S. federal appellate court agreed to a new hearing on his latest appeal.","Ukraine conscripts prefer going home to joining rebels. As his now-former comrades hugged their goodbyes and wished each other a safe journey home, Junior Sergeant Pavel Stupka explained why he refused to renounce his oath of allegiance to Ukraine. I took an oath to the Ukrainian people,\" Stupka said, pushing his beret back on his head. For around a year Stupka had been carrying out his obligatory military service at a Ukrainian interior ministry base housing a munitions plant on the outskirts of his hometown Donetsk.","China dismisses North Korea rights report at U.N. debate. GENEVA (Reuters) - China dismissed a United Nations report into North Korean human rights on Monday, saying an independent commission of inquiry had made unfounded accusations, with some recommendations that were \"divorced from reality\". \"The inability of the commission to get support and cooperation from the country concerned makes it impossible for the commission to carry out its mandate in an impartial, objective and effective manner,\" Chinese diplomat Chen Chuandong told the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva. ...","Thai stocks sink as martial law declared. HONG KONG (AP) — Thailand's stock market fell and the currency wobbled Tuesday after the military declared martial law in what it called an attempt to stabilize the country's precarious political situation. Stocks elsewhere around the globe were mixed as markets drifted in the absence of major economic news.","Hong Kong reports third H7N9 bird flu death. A 75-year-old man infected with the H7N9 bird flu virus has died in Hong Kong, the government said on Wednesday, the third such death in the city. He had recently traveled to the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen across the border from Hong Kong. Hong Kong culled 20,000 chickens on Monday following the discovery on the H7N9 virus in a chicken at a live poultry market.","Fear grips village divided between Russia, Ukraine. VYSELKI, Ukraine (AP) — The prospect of Russian troops marching into eastern Ukraine is accomplishing what a national border could not: dividing the villagers of Vyselki.","Thousands flee Boko Haram attacks in Nigeria for Cameroon. Yaoundé (AFP) - Sustained Boko Haram attacks in Nigeria's far northeast have forced thousands of people from their homes, swamping towns in the north of neighbouring Cameroon, authorities said on Sunday. \"We've been flooded here in Mora by Cameroonians and Nigerians fleeing Boko Haram,\" a police officer in the northern town told AFP on condition of anonymity. The number of internally displaced people in Nigeria and those who have crossed its borders into Cameroon, Niger and Chad because of the militant violence has been increasing, with no end sight to the insurgency. The United Nations' humanitarian office (OCHA) said on August 5 that Boko Haram attacks have forced nearly 650,000 people from their homes in the northeast states of Borno, Yobe and Adamawa.","BMW extends recall worldwide to half-million cars. BERLIN (AP) — German automaker BMW is issuing a worldwide recall of many models of cars with certain six-cylinder gas motors after identifying a problem with a bolt used in the engine.","Extremist leader to be freed as Pakistan mulls new terror steps. Islamabad (AFP) - The leader of a banned Pakistani sectarian militant group is set to walk free from jail, officials said Tuesday, even as the government considers \"radical changes\" to tackle militancy after a Taliban school massacre.","Turkish power-ship maker Karadeniz says to provide electricity to Gaza. ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkish power-ship builder Karadeniz Holding said on Tuesday it would send an electricity-generating vessel to provide urgently-needed supply to Gaza following a request from the Palestinian authorities. Karadeniz said in a statement to Reuters that the ship would be sent within 120 days once necessary approvals had been obtained. The Istanbul-based company, the world's only maker of self-propelled floating power stations, already produces electricity for Iraq and Lebanon, part of its fleet of seven power ships with a combined capacity of 1,200 megawatts. ...","Stirling's 60 brings Ireland last-ball T20 win over Zimbabwe. Sylhet (Bangladesh) (AFP) - Opener Paul Stirling smashed 60 off 34 balls to set Ireland up for a last-ball victory over Zimbabwe in their first-round match in the World Twenty20 championship on Monday.","Destination Maternity: Mothercare nixes proposals. PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Destination Maternity says the U.K.'s Mothercare has rejected two proposals to combine the businesses.","Athletics - Pearson wins 'The Don' award in Australia. - Olympic hurdles champion Sally Pearson has been crowned Australia's most inspirational athlete of the past 12 months.","Israel launches air strike, Hamas police says. GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — A Hamas police spokesman says Israel has struck an apartment building in northern Gaza.","Jazeera plans Egypt embassy protests to win journalists' freedom. By Amena Bakr DOHA (Reuters) - Broadcaster Al Jazeera called for vigils outside Egyptian embassies across the world on Thursday to press Egypt to free four of its journalists, three of whom have been charged with aiding a \"terrorist organization\". Al Jazeera Arabic's Abdullah Elshamy has been detained without charge since 14 August 2013, and has been on hunger strike in protest since 23 January, the network said.","Elton John to wed long-time partner in England. New York (AFP) - The pop icon Elton John will wed his partner of more than 20 years this weekend in England, reports said.","2 new Ebola deaths confirmed in West Africa. CONAKRY, Guinea (AP) — Health authorities in Guinea and Sierra Leone say two new deaths are confirmed to be from Ebola, taking the fatalities to 170 and raising fears that West Africa's first outbreak is not yet under control. The new fatalities are far from where the outbreak began.","Minnesota Wild star Zach Parise named captain of U.S. hockey team. Zach Parise of the Minnesota Wild will be the captain of the U.S. men's hockey team at the Sochi Olympics.","Balotelli has tense verbal exchange with TV studio. ROME (AP) — Mario Balotelli has expressed astonishment at the reaction to an argument he had with some Italian football pundits after a game on Friday.","Air testing lapse at N.M. nuclear waste dump blamed on staff vacancy. State regulators failed to collect air samples in the week following a radiation release at a New Mexico nuclear waste dump because of a vacancy in the office responsible for monitoring the site at the time, a state official said on Friday. The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, where drums of plutonium-tainted refuse from government nuclear weapons laboratories are buried in caverns a half a mile deep, has been closed since Feb. 14, when unsafe radiation levels were detected at the site. The plant, the only facility of its kind in the United States, is run under contract for the government by Nuclear Energy Partnership LLC. Plant managers initially denied that employees working above ground at the site had been affected but said later that 22 workers were exposed to radiation, though at low levels not considered harmful to their health. State sampling resumed a week after the radiation leak, said Susan Kamat, director of that office.","UK police search singer Cliff Richard's house. LONDON (AP) — British police say they are searching a house belonging to singer Cliff Richard in connection with sexual allegations dating back to the 1980s.","Gambia lawmakers pass bill to jail gays for life. ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast (AP) — A Gambian lawmaker says the National Assembly has passed a bill imposing life imprisonment for some homosexual acts.","Twitter stock slumps 50 percent as Goldman, Deutsche Bank still say `buy'. Twitter Inc investors who heeded the advice of high-profile banks such as Goldman Sachs Group Inc and Deutsche Bank AG to buy the social media company's shares might be kicking themselves. Much more accurate calls were made by Wells Fargo, Atlantic Equities and Macquarie Research, whose analysts advised clients to get out of the high-flying stock about the time it peaked in December. On Wednesday the stock fell as low as $37.24, 50 percent below its peak of $74.73 the day after Christmas, wiping almost $18 billion off Twitter's market capitalization. The downgrades, and the subsequent swoon by the stock, reflect concern about slowing growth in Twitter's user base and the company's ability to reverse the trend.","Liverpool dealt shock Hammer blow. London (AFP) - Liverpool suffered a surprise 3-1 loss away to West Ham on Saturday as fresh questions were raised about whether they have the defence required to win the Premier League title.","Workers comb through Malaysian plane crash site. ROZSYPNE, Ukraine (AP) — A Malaysian jetliner shot from the sky by what U.S. intelligence officials believe was a surface-to-air missile scattered wreckage and bodies across the Ukrainian countryside, leaving investigators scrambling Friday to figure out how that could have happened.","Explosion hits Hezbollah area south of Beirut. BEIRUT (AP) — A large explosion has rocked a stronghold of the Shiite Hezbollah group in the southern suburbs of the Lebanese capital.","Suspected drone strike kills 4 in Pakistan. ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistani intelligence officials say a suspected U.S. drone strike on a Taliban compound in the North Waziristan tribal region has killed at least four militants.","Asian Cup expansion sparks debate. A proposal to expand the Asian Cup to 24 teams has sparked a debate among the region's football bodies, with commercial and developmental considerations on one side, and on the other a fear that it will dilute the quality of the competition.","China appeals disqualification, confirms WR. INCHEON, South Korea (AP) — A successful appeal against their disqualification gave Olympic champion Yi Siling's Chinese team a world record in the women's 10-meter air rifle event and an Asian Games gold medal on Monday.","French minister Benguigui suspected of lying about assets: watchdog. France's minister in charge of relations with French-speaking countries, Yamina Benguigui, is suspected of lying about her assets, a state-appointed transparency watchdog said Monday. Francophonie Minister Benguigui has repeatedly and formally denied media allegations that she failed to declare assets of up to 430,000 euros ($592,000) in April last year. President Francois Hollande's party however won the race for the Paris mayor's office, with Anne Hidalgo becoming the first female mayor of the French capital. Benguigui was also elected as a councillor from Paris's 10th district.","US lawmakers urge inclusion of Sikhs in military. WASHINGTON (AP) — A bipartisan group of 105 lawmakers Monday urged the Defense Department to make it easier for practicing Sikh Americans who wear beards and turbans to serve in the military.","Motorsport/MotoGP - Aussie bike ace steps up. - Australian rider Jack Miller, currently sitting atop the Moto3 World Championship standings, will race alongside Briton Cal Crutchlow for the Honda-LCR team in the MotoGP category next year.","Kenya tourism in turmoil amid terror warnings. KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) — Mombasa and its sandy white coastline beckon vacationers, but on a recent day Harald Kampa watched helplessly as more than 100 guests checked out of his hotel, heeding a British government warning that the coastal region should be avoided because of fears that a terrorist attack might be imminent.","London shares on firmer ground after global sell-off. London shares stabilised and Wall Street rebounded following a rout in global stocks triggered by weak US data and worries about emerging markets. \"Weâ ve seen a predominantly weaker session in Europe today, not altogether surprising given yesterdayâ s heavy sell-off in US markets,\" said analyst Michael Hewson at CMC Markets UK. Asian markets slumped on Tuesday -- led by a four-percent fall in Tokyo -- following a huge sell-off on Wall Street overnight as disappointing Chinese and US manufacturing data rocked sentiment. Wall Street rebounded as Microsoft made a long-awaited announcement on a new chief executive and a handful of corporate results bested expectations.","Yemen: Al-Qaida militants attack police station. SANAA, Yemen (AP) — Yemeni security officials say that al-Qaida militants have attacked a police station as part of an effort to make a comeback in a southern city.","U.S. consumer spending accelerates in August. By Jason Lange WASHINGTON (Reuters) - American consumers spent more in August, a positive sign for the U.S. economy which appears to have shifted into a higher gear. The Commerce Department said on Monday consumer spending rose 0.5 percent last month after being unchanged in July. The growth in August was just above the median forecast in a Reuters poll of a 0.4 percent gain. \"(The data) is a further signal that the positive momentum in domestic activity is being sustained,\" said Millan Mulraine, an economist at TD Securities in New York. Even after adjusting for inflation, spending was 0. ...","Smartphone cameras step closer to DSLR cameras. SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Expect sharper, clearer selfies this year.","Guam military exercises to draw 18,000 US forces. PEARL HARBOR, Hawaii (AP) — American forces are converging on Guam, a strategically important U.S. territory 1,500 miles (2,400 kilometers) south of Tokyo, this month for a week of sophisticated military exercises involving two aircraft carriers.","Cameron to meet van Rompuy over Juncker appointment. Prime Minister David Cameron will meet with EU Council President Herman van Rompuy in London on Monday to press his case against the appointment of Jean-Claude Juncker as head the European Commission. Cameron is ready to force fellow EU leaders to vote on who should head the Commission, the EU's executive arm, in a last ditch attempt to block Juncker, Downing Street sources said Sunday. Cameron views the former long-serving Luxembourg prime minister as a federalist who will not adopt the modernising reforms he says the European Union badly needs, and has vowed to \"fight this right to the very end\".","Valls seeks reform boost with French confidence vote. By Leigh Thomas PARIS (Reuters) - New Prime Minister Manuel Valls will test France's political commitment to reform on Tuesday in a confidence vote that should allow the Socialist government to press ahead with a drive for greater competitiveness. Hours ahead of the vote, Valls unveiled plans for new budget savings on top of belt-tightening already in the works, but his Socialists said they understood his aim was simply to channel the extra cash into tax breaks for low-income households. Valls, appointed by President Francois Hollande last week after his Socialists suffered a rout in local elections, was expected to win the confidence vote.","Hollande: group that killed French man is a threat. UNITED NATIONS (AP) — French President Francois Hollande says the terrorists who beheaded a French citizen in Algeria are a global threat.","Pro-Russia militia displays captured Ukrainians. SLOVYANSK, Ukraine (AP) — Pro-Russian insurgents in eastern Ukraine have shown journalists what they said were three captured Ukrainian security service officers, bloodied and blindfolded with packing tape.","Russia can't thwart Afghan war drawdown, U.S. commander says. By Phil Stewart and David Alexander WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Russia, locked in a standoff with the West over Ukraine, would be unable to thwart a complete or partial U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan even if it cut off access to Russian supply routes, a top U.S. general said on Wednesday. Asked at a Senate hearing whether the United States could still get its equipment out of Afghanistan even if Russia cut off routes running through its territory, General Joseph Dunford, the top U.S. and NATO commander in the war effort, replied: \"Yes.\" \"We've got resilience in the system and I'm not concerned at all about a loss of the Russian (routes in the) Northern Distribution Network,\" Dunford said, referring to the military's network of supply routes through Russia, the Caucasus and Central Asia.","Indonesia to release Australian drug convict soon. JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Indonesia's justice minister says an Australian convicted of drug smuggling in 2005 in a blaze of publicity could get parole as soon as this weekend.","Asian shares waver, euro steady but ECB talk weighs. By Lisa Twaronite TOKYO (Reuters) - Asian stocks erased early modest gains on Tuesday, while the euro steadied but remained vulnerable after overnight comments from the European Central Bank chief heightened expectations of easing steps in the euro zone. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan dipped about 0.1 percent, after opening higher, as investors locked in profits following its rise to a one-year high on Monday. Japan's Nikkei stock average was a regional standout, adding about 0.9 percent after marking its highest intraday level since early April. \"Short covering has been continuing since last week's strong China PMI data and U.S. housing data,\" said Norihiro Fujito, senior investment strategist at Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities.","Kerry says Ukraine's president must do more to end crisis. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Friday concessions made by Ukraine's President Viktor Yanukovich to the opposition were still not sufficient to defuse the country's political crisis. Kerry, speaking with German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier during a visit to Berlin, also said \"outside powers\" should not get involved in a crisis that he said was for the Ukrainian people to resolve. \"The offers of President Yanukovich have not yet reached a level that would be sufficient regarding the reforms,\" Kerry said, according to a German translation of his remarks. Yanukovich has accepted the resignation of his government and has offered an amnesty from prosecution for peaceful protesters, in a gesture towards the demonstrators camped out in Kiev.","Injured German caver 'hours away' rescued after 11-day ordeal. German rescuers on Thursday brought to safety an injured caver, ending his 11-day ordeal and a massive recovery operation deep below the Bavarian Alps. \"The victim has been brought to the surface and is receiving emergency medical care,\" said a mountain rescue official after the team reached the mouth of the cave, where a helicopter was waiting. Explorer Johann Westhauser, 52, suffered serious head injuries in the accident about 1,000 metres (3,300 feet) below ground in the Riesending cave complex, Germany's longest and deepest. \"It was one of the most difficult rescue operations in the history of the mountain rescue service,\" said Klemens Reindl, who runs the service and who supervised the operation.","Reports: Islamic State group kills Syria tribesmen. BEIRUT (AP) — The extremist Islamic State group shot and beheaded hundreds of tribesmen from eastern Syria over the past two weeks after crushing an uprising they led amid the country's civil war, activists said Monday.","London shares slide on China strains. London shares slipped into negative territory on Wednesday as growing unease over Chinese growth dealt a blow to the mining and engineering sectors, dealers told AFP. The benchmark FTSE 100 index slipped 0.71 percent to 6,775.42 points as it mirrored a retreat by all the major European markets. \"UK markets have taken a turn for the worse this morning after more news from China and a number of disappointing updates weighed on the benchmark,\" said CMC Markets trader Toby Morris. \"China re-affirming a 7.5-percent growth target should be good news on recent form, but analysts have cast doubt over whether that is achievable... The lack of clarity has weighed on basic resources which is one of the worst performing sectors.\"","Security boosted as Jamaica rapper's trial ending. KINGSTON, Jamaica (AP) — Jamaican authorities have blocked off streets around the island's supreme court as a high-profile murder trial for dancehall reggae star Vybz Kartel winds down.","Cricket teams trek to world's highest game on 'roof of Africa'. Kilimanjaro (Tanzania) (AFP) - Map, tent, water, food: check. All needed to scale the snow-capped peak of Africa's highest mountain Kilimanjaro.","London police to wear body cameras in year-long trial. Police officers across London will wear video cameras when responding to emergency calls as part of a year-long pilot project launched on Thursday. A total of 500 cameras will routinely collect evidence from public order and domestic abuse incidents in 10 of London's 32 boroughs, as well as potentially contentious \\\\\"stop and searches\\\\\", Scotland Yard said. The force has been testing body-worn cameras for several years but was given new impetus following the police shooting of suspected gang member Mark Duggan in 2011, which sparked days of rioting in the capital and cities across England. Scotland Yard Commissioner Hogan-Howe said at the time that armed police would in future wear video cameras to ensure a more accurate record was made of their actions.","Villa beats Leicester 2-1 for 2nd straight win. BIRMINGHAM, England (AP) — Aston Villa secured back-to-back victories in the Premier League by beating last-place Leicester 2-1 in a feisty Midlands derby on Sunday, with Alan Hutton grabbing a 71st-minute winner.","Kenya president says will not allow radicalization in places of worship. By Drazen Jorgic and Joseph Akwiri NAIROBI/MOMBASA (Reuters) - Kenya's president said he would not allow places of worship to be used to radicalize young people, in the wake of a police raid on a mosque in the port of Mombasa that triggered renewed clashes with Muslim protesters on Friday. Armed officers swooped on the Masjid Mussa mosque over the weekend, saying they had a tip-off youths were being trained there for militant attacks. \"Under no circumstance will we allow places of worship, like I said, be it a Hindu temple, a Muslim mosque, be it a Christian church, to be used as a place to radicalize and to threaten the lives of Kenyans,\" said President Uhuru Kenyatta. But his comments underlined tensions in a country still reeling from an attack by Somali Islamists on a Nairobi shopping mall that killed at least 67 people in September.","UN removes former Somali warlord from sanctions list. A former Somali warlord who allied to the Islamist Shebab group but severed links this summer has been removed from a UN sanctions list.","Tottenham's Rose has red card overturned. The red card shown to Tottenham Hotspur left-back Danny Rose during his team's 5-1 loss to Manchester City has been rescinded, the Football Association announced on Friday. Rose was shown a straight red card after sliding in on Edin Dzeko early in the second half of Wednesday's game at White Hart Lane, with Yaya Toure converting the resulting penalty to put City 2-0 up. Replays showed that despite making a challenge from behind, Rose made contact with the ball, and after studying video evidence the FA decided to overturn referee Andre Marriner's decision. \"Danny Rose's one-match suspension has been withdrawn with immediate effect after the Tottenham player's wrongful dismissal claim was upheld by an Independent Regulatory Commission,\" read a statement from the FA.","U.S. judge recommends dismissal of U.S. lawsuit against Bank of America. NEW YORK (Reuters) - A U.S. magistrate judge recommended dismissal of a lawsuit against Bank of America Corp over $850 million in mortgage debt, according to a court filing. Judge David Cayer in Charlotte, North Carolina, made the recommendation in a civil fraud lawsuit brought last August by the U.S. Justice Department. (Reporting by Karen Freifeld in New York. Editing by Andre Grenon)","Ohio memorial honors US doctor killed in Pakistan. GROVEPORT, Ohio (AP) — A memorial service in central Ohio has honored an American cardiologist shot and killed last month in Pakistan in front of his wife and toddler.","Israel kills Palestinian teen in escalating West Bank arrest raids. By Yusri al-Jamal HEBRON West Bank (Reuters) - Israeli troops killed a Palestinian teenager in the occupied West Bank on Friday and arrested 25 people, pursuing a crackdown on Islamist militants and house-to-house searches for three Israeli teenagers who went missing eight days ago. Palestinian medics said Mohammed Dudin, 15, was killed in the village of Dura, near the city of Hebron in the West Bank. The Israeli military said troops had fired live ammunition when rocks and firebombs were thrown at them during an arrest raid. Thousands attended a funeral in Dudin's hometown and Palestinian police dispersed a protest by some 200 women and men in Hebron demanding that Israel release Palestinian prisoners held in its jails.","Dollar hits four year high, Asian stocks on edge as Hong Kong seethes. By Hideyuki Sano TOKYO (Reuters) - The dollar hit a four-year peak against a basket of currencies in early Asian trade on Monday, bolstering Japanese shares, but other Asian shares shrugged off Friday's Wall Street rebound in the face of political unrest in Hong Kong. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan dropped 0.4 percent, hitting a 20-week low. Japan's Nikkei average rose 0.7 percent after U.S. shares bounced on Friday from sell-off the day before, with the yen's weakness flattering the export sector. The region's other big share markets were less robust. ...","U.N. envoy warns of deepening ethnic divisions in Myanmar. By Paul Mooney YANGON (Reuters) - A senior U.N. official on Saturday warned of a growing polarization between Buddhist and Muslim communities in Myanmar and said the living conditions in camps housing displaced Muslims were deplorable. Yanghee Lee, Special Rapporteur on human rights in Myanmar, held a news conference at the end of a 10-day visit to the country and called on the government to tackle the recurring issue of inter-communal violence. Lee's itinerary included camps in the western state of Rakhine housing some 140,000 stateless Muslim Rohingya.","Mexico female jockeys vie for spot in horse racing. MEXICO CITY (AP) — Elisabeth Garrido stacks bales of hay into the shape of a horse, straps reins around a mock head and sets off on an imaginary but energetic ride, whipping the hay with a riding crop.","China looking to curb fertilizer, pesticide use. By Dominique Patton BEIJING (Reuters) - China, the world's top producer of rice and wheat, is seeking to cap the use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides that have helped to contaminate large swathes of its arable land and threaten its ability to keep up with domestic food demand. More than 19 percent of soil samples taken from Chinese farmland have been found to contain excessive levels of heavy metals or chemical waste. In central Hunan province, more than three quarters of the ricefields have been contaminated, government research has shown. ...","Britain, Germany to collaborate on 5G next mobile network. Hanover (Germany) (AFP) - Britain and Germany will team up to work on developing the next super-fast mobile network, 5G, Prime Minister David Cameron told the opening of the world's biggest high-tech fair. Cameron said the initiative was one of three areas he wanted Britain and Germany to collaborate on to \"pool ideas, share data, innovate and to lead on the next big ideas\" in what he dubbed \"a world on fast forward\". The future fifth-generation, or 5G, network will enable a full-length film to be downloaded on the Internet in one second, Cameron said Sunday at the official CeBIT inauguration in the northern city of Hanover, attended also by Chancellor Angela Merkel. \"This is a prize that researchers all over the world are going for,\" he said, unveiling the new collaboration between Germany's Dresden University and Britain's King's College University in London and the University of Surrey.","Anamul ton powers Bangladesh to 326-3. MIRPUR, Bangladesh (AP) — Opener Anamul Haque hit a century and led Bangladesh to its highest one-day international total of 326-3 against scrappy defending champion Pakistan in the Asia Cup on Tuesday.","Suspected militants kidnap Cameroon minister's wife, kill 6: police. Yaoundé (AFP) - Suspected Boko Haram militants on Sunday kidnapped the wife of a senior Cameroonian minister and a traditional leader in attacks in the far north of the country that left at least six dead. Cameroon sent warplanes and elite troops from its Rapid Intervention Battalion to stop the fighters after two attacks in Kolofata, close to the Nigerian border, said a regional police source. Another source close to the local police force, who asked to remain anonymous, said Boko Haram had \"kidnapped many people,\" adding: \"There was the sultan, the wife of the deputy prime minster and several police officers\". Four civilians and two police officers were killed in the attacks on the residence of Amadou Ali, the deputy prime minster in charge of parliamentary relations, and the sultan of Kolofata, Seiny Boukar Lamine, said the source.","Angola gives strife-torn C.Africa $10m in aid. Angola on Wednesday announced $10 million in aid for the strife-torn Central African Republic, with a possible credit line in the future, during a visit by Bangui's president. Joaquim do Espirito Santo, Africa director in the foreign affairs ministry, told Angolan television that the aid was to support the transitional government and to respond to the ongoing humanitarian crisis. Making an official two-day visit to Luanda, Central Africa's interim President Catherine Samba Panza said there were \"still peaks of violence\" but that the general situation was beginning to come under control.","Cook says he is 'right man' to rebuild shattered England. Captain Alastair Cook said Sunday he knows what it takes to rebuild shattered England from the rubble of their 5-0 Ashes series humiliation against Australia. The crushing defeat -- with more than two days to spare after winning the toss and sending Australia in to bat -- is expected to have major ramifications for English cricket just months after they beat Australia 3-0 in England. Cook said he has been given the vote of confidence from the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) to continue on as captain as England look to rebuild after sliding to fourth in the International Cricket Council rankings below Australia at three.","South Africa: Briton acquitted of honeymoon murder. JOHANNESBURG (AP) — The family of a Swedish citizen who was killed on her honeymoon in Cape Town said they will have sleepless nights for the rest of their lives, after her husband was acquitted of the murder on Monday.","Australia boosts illegal logging fight as summit starts. Australia on Tuesday pledged Aus$6 million (US$5.2 million) to the fight against illegal logging as top officials and conservationists met in Sydney for the Asia-Pacific Rainforest Summit. The two-day forum, being held ahead of the once-a-decade World Parks Congress that begins Wednesday, was set up by the Australian government as part of an election pledge to help countries reduce rainforest loss and cut global greenhouse gas emissions. \"Deforestation is one of the biggest contributors to greenhouse gas emissions,\" Australia's Environment Minister Greg Hunt said at the summit's launch. \"With the Asia-Pacific region home to 6.2 percent of the world's forests, reducing forest loss can make a big difference to reducing global carbon emissions,\" he said.","Bombardier says CSeries to resume test flights this month. TORONTO (Reuters) - Flight testing for Bombardier Inc's grounded CSeries will resume this month, the Canadian train and plane maker said on Friday. The tests were halted in May after an engine failure. Montreal-based Bombardier said the first set of modified engines have been re-installed, and it was still confident that entry-into-service for the new plane will take place in the second half of 2015. (Reporting by Solarina Ho; Editing by Paul Simao)","Cruzeiro misses chance to increase lead in Brazil. SAO PAULO (AP) — Cruzeiro conceded a late goal in a 3-2 loss to rival Atletico Mineiro on Sunday, missing a chance to increase its lead in the Brazilian league.","Yarnold wins Britain's first gold at Sochi. Rosa Khutor (Russia) (AFP) - Lizzy Yarnold of Great Britain earned her country's first gold medal of the Sochi Olympics on Friday with victory in the skeleton.","U.S. SEC's Stein says Bank of America waiver policy is 'breakthrough'. By Sarah N. Lynch WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A top U.S. regulator praised the structure of a regulatory waiver granted last month to Bank of America Corp , saying the tougher conditions imposed on the bank may help deter repeat offenses. Securities and Exchange Commission Democratic member Kara Stein said such conditions as requiring the bank to hire an independent compliance consultant if it wants to keep selling shares in private deals will help \"focus and empower\" company management to change the corporate culture. ...","OSCE confirms ceasefire agreed in east Ukraine. MINSK (Reuters) - The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) said representatives of Kiev and pro-Russian rebels agreed to declare a ceasefire on Friday. Representatives of the warring parties have signed a protocol declaring ceasefire at 11.00 a.m. EDT (1500 GMT) on Friday, Heidi Tagliavini, an OSCE representative at talks in Minsk told reporters. (Reporting By Andrei Makhovsky; Writing by Alexei Anishchuk; Editing by Alissa de Carbonnel)","Jamaica lawyer leaves panel on deadly operation. KINGSTON, Jamaica (AP) — An attorney has withdrawn from a fact-finding commission appointed to examine a 2010 security operation in Jamaica that killed more than 70 citizens during a state of emergency.","Albania seeks to bring law to Europe's pot capital. LAZARAT, Albania (AP) — Plumes of pungent smoke rise above the small but prosperous southern Albanian village of Lazarat, while gunfire and the occasional rocket-propelled grenade or even mortar greet the police advance.","Foreign Minister Timmermans is Dutch EU commissioner candidate: Dutch paper. Dutch Foreign Minister Frans Timmermans has been put forward by the Netherlands as the Dutch candidate for a European Commission post, a newspaper reported on Monday. The Netherlands is seeking the post of deputy commission head, under incoming European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, with a \"hefty portfolio\", Dutch daily de Volkskrant said, citing unnamed sources in Brussels. Timmermans gained international prominence with a speech at the United Nations following the July 17 shooting down over Ukraine of Malaysian Airlines flight MH17, which had 196 Dutch nationals on board.","AP reporter: Heavy gunfire near Libya's parliament. TRIPOLI, Libya (AP) — An Associated Press reporter says heavy gunfire has erupted outside the Libyan parliament in the capital, Tripoli.","Stocks fall in Argentina as country enters default. BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — Stocks fell sharply in Argentina on Thursday as the country defaulted on its bills for the second time in 13 years, raising fears the move could diminish foreign reserves, stoke inflation and drive the economy deeper into recession.","Venezuelan protesters discuss explosives in video. CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Two student activists recently deported by Colombia have surfaced in a homemade video discussing a plans to stockpile weapons and detonate explosives on Venezuela's western border","6 killed in rebel attack on house of Yemen leader. SANAA, Yemen (AP) — Yemen security officials say Shiite Houthi rebels have attacked and occupied the seat of power of an influential tribe in the capital, killing six guards and injuring four.","Major events in the life of former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. JERUSALEM - A look at the life of former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, who died Saturday at the age of 85:","Rouble crisis could shake Putin's grip on power. MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia failed to halt the collapse of the rouble on Tuesday, leaving President Vladimir Putin facing a full-blown currency crisis that could weaken his iron grip on power.","2 UN workers killed by gunmen in Somalia. MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) — The United Nations mission in Somalia says gunmen inside an airport have shot and killed two consultants working for the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.","Girls killed, hurt in attack in Thailand's south. HAT YAI, Thailand (AP) — Police say a 12-year-old girl was killed and seven people, including two other girls, were wounded in a roadside bomb attack in Thailand's insurgency-plagued south.","Ukrainian opposition sees high chance of ending violence after meeting with president. KYIV, Ukraine - A spokesman for a top Ukrainian opposition leader says chances of ending the violence that has convulsed the capital are high after a meeting with the president.","Bouchard and Suarez Navarro into French Open quart-finals. Canada's Eugenie Bouchard and Carla Suarez Navarro of Spain led the way into the French Open quarter-finals at Roland Garros on Sunday. Bouchard, a 20-year-old Canadian from Montreal, who has stormed up the world rankings in the last year, crushed German eighth seed Angelique Kerber 6-1, 6-2 to reach her second Grand Slam quarter-final. Suarez Navarro a 25-year Canary Islander, is through to her fourth Grand Slam quarter-final, six years after playing in the last eight at Roland Garros on her debut in the competition. The youngest player left in the draw, Bouchard, seeded 18, had made a slow start to her two previous matches, but she hit the deck running against the big-hitting Kerber, a Roland Garros quarter-finalist in 2012.","Little progress made in latest Iran nuclear talks: diplomats. UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Iran and six world powers made little progress in overcoming significant disagreements in the most recent round of nuclear talks, including on uranium enrichment, Iranian and Western diplomats close to the negotiations said on Friday. \"On the core issues we remain pretty far apart,\" a Western diplomat told reporters on condition of anonymity. \"On enrichment, we are not there yet. On sanctions, we are not there yet.\" He added that Iran and the powers would likely meet again in the coming weeks, though no date and venue have been set. ...","McIlroys have double success at British Open. HOYLAKE, England (AP) — Rory McIlroy was not the only winner at the British Open on Sunday.","Container truck drivers reach tentative deal at Vancouver port. By Julie Gordon VANCOUVER (Reuters) - Container truck drivers at Canada's largest port reached a new deal on Thursday, narrowly avoiding an expanded job action that would have seen some 400 unionized drivers join about 1,200 non-unionized drivers who walked off the job last week. The tentative agreement, which addresses demands made by both unionized and non-unionized drivers at Port Metro Vancouver, came after a morning of intense discussions with a government-appointed mediator and could help get hundreds of millions of dollars worth of products back on the roads. \"We have now secured a deal that will hopefully get things back to normal at the port by early next week,\" said Gavin McGarrigle, British Columbia area director for Unifor, which represents the unionized drivers. Their non-unionized colleagues walked off the job on February 26 in protest over long wait times at Vancouver's port facilities, which they say cut into their profits.","Conservative PM Gruevski set to win again as Macedonia votes. By Kole Casule SKOPJE (Reuters) - Macedonians voted in a snap parliamentary election on Sunday likely to hand conservative Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski a third term, after his solid economic record overshadowed opposition complaints that his rule has been authoritarian. Gruevski's VMRO-DPNE party could score a double victory as the vote coincided with a presidential runoff in which its candidate, the incumbent Gjorge Ivanov, looked set to beat a Social Democrat rival and win the largely ceremonial post. \"VMRO-DPMNE and DUI are set to win again. Gruevski, 43, has ruled the landlocked ex-Yugoslav republic of 2 million people since 2006 in coalition with the DUI party of former ethnic Albanian guerrillas.","Hollande confirms Valls as PM, stands by pro-business pact. French President Francois Hollande said on Monday he had named Interior Minister Manuel Valls to be his new prime minister, replacing Jean-Marc Ayrault, in a government reshuffle triggered by a rout for his Socialists in local elections. Addressing the country in a short televised speech, Hollande said a key objective for the new government would be pursuing the so-called \"responsibility pact\" to lower employers' costs in order to spur job creation.","Charles Michel, Belgium's youngest PM in 174 years. Brussels (AFP) - Belgium's Charles Michel, who became prime minister on Tuesday, is a 38-year-old French-speaking liberal who is now one of the youngest leaders in Europe.","Germany paves way for expanded Mali mission. BERLIN (AP) — The German government has paved the way to expand its military deployment in Mali, raising the number of soldiers who can serve on a training mission in the West African nation.","US Embassy in Kenya requests security upgrade. NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — The U.S. ambassador in Kenya has requested additional Kenyan and American security personnel and is reducing the size of the embassy staff because of an increase in terrorist threats in Kenya, according to a letter sent to embassy employees Friday.","Yellen strongly defends easy Fed policies, cites labor slack. Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen said on Monday the U.S. central bank's \"extraordinary\" commitment to boosting the economy, especially the still struggling labor market, will be needed for some time to come. Yellen, in her first public speech since becoming Fed chair two months ago, strongly defended the Fed's policies of low interest rates and continued bond-buying, saying there remains \"considerable\" slack in the economy and job market. \"I think this extraordinary commitment is still needed and will be for some time, and I believe that view is widely shared by my fellow policy-makers at the Fed,\" Yellen said at the 2014 National Interagency Community Reinvestment Conference.","Israel's top court says mother need not have son circumcised. Israel's Supreme Court has overturned a ruling by a court of rabbis that would have forced a mother to have her son circumcised under the terms her divorce. Circumcision is not legally obligatory for Jews in Israel, but a rabbinical court presiding over the woman's divorce case had ruled she must fulfill her husband's wish to carry out the procedure in a religious rite known in Hebrew as a \"brit milah\". The mother then appealed to Israel's highest court. Circumcision is one of Judaism's most fundamental decrees, symbolizing the covenant between God and the Jewish people and nearly all Jews in Israel abide by it, performing the ritual when their babies are eight days old.","Fatah militant killed in West Bank shootout. A Palestinian militant was shot dead early Monday in an exchange of fire with Israeli troops in the northern West Bank, witnesses and a Palestinian security source said. Zacharia Akra, a 24-year-old militant allied to the Fatah movement of president Mahmud Abbas, was killed in a shoot out in Qabalan village some 10 kilometres (six miles) south of Nablus, they said.","Somali rebels say shot down Kenyan military plane. MOGADISHU (Reuters) - Somali Islamist group al Shabaab said it had shot down a Kenyan military plane on Thursday in southern Somalia, after Kenyan newspapers had reported that it crashed due to technical problems after a combat mission. \"We hit the Kenyan jet and downed it. It was bombing Bulaguduud town today,\" Al Shabaab's spokesman for military operations, Sheikh Abdiasis Abu Musab, said. \"We hit it using a missile.\" The pilot was \"burnt inside\", he said. (Reporting by Feisal Omar; Writing by Edmund Blair; Editing by Angus MacSwan)","Sunderland, West Ham draw 1-1 in Premier League. SUNDERLAND, England (AP) — Jozy Altidore had a first-half horror miss as Sunderland drew for the fifth time in the last six matches at the Stadium of Light, finishing 1-1 against West Ham in the Premier League on Saturday.","Cargo ship sinks off Yemen killing 12 Indian crew. A cargo ship sank off the coast of Yemen killing all 12 crew, the Interior Ministry said on Saturday. The ship, which was carrying car tyres and car parts, ran aground on Thursday night but the incident did not come to the attention of Yemeni security until 10 hours later, its statement said. The ship was owned by a Yemeni and was on its way from the United Arab Emirates to Al Mukalla port in Yemen. It sank off the coast of Al Shehar town in Yemen's southeastern Hadramout province, the ministry said.","Genoa signs Chile striker Mauricio Pinilla. GENOA, Italy (AP) — Genoa has signed Chile forward Mauricio Pinilla from Serie A rival Cagliari.","Iraq and Syria pose Saudi dilemma - failed states or Iran proxies. By Angus McDowall and William Maclean RIYADH/DUBAI (Reuters) - With militant Islamists gaining the upper hand in Syria's rebel movement and grabbing big tracts of Western Iraq, Saudi Arabia's ruling family faces an increasingly uncomfortable dilemma. The Al Saud have long seen the conflicts in Iraq and Syria as a pivotal battle for the future of the Middle East, pitting Sunni Muslims against a radical, revolutionary, Shi'ite Iran.","Rolling Stones in insurance feud over Scott suicide. New York (AFP) - The Rolling Stones are embroiled in a legal feud with insurance underwriters who refused to pay $12.7 million for a tour cancellation following the suicide of Mick Jagger's girlfriend L'Wren Scott.","Scotland's Hamilton dreams of Six Nations rugby title. Scotland lock Jim Hamilton wants to end his career having won a Six Nations title and believes that is a realistic prospect. Earlier in the Championship they suffered a humiliating 20-0 loss to England in Edinburgh. But they were just some 80 seconds away from beating title contenders France at Murrayfield on Sunday only for Jean-Marc Doussain to convert a somewhat fortunately-awarded penalty to give Les Bleus a lucky 19-17 win. Scotland have not won the tournament since claiming the final edition of the then Five Nations in 1999 and 31-year-old Hamilton, who plays his club rugby for French side Montpellier, knows he may not have many more chances to lift the Championship trophy.","Obama says Russia isn't abiding by spirit or letter of Geneva agreement on Ukraine. TOKYO (AP) — Obama says Russia isn't abiding by spirit or letter of Geneva agreement on Ukraine.","Kerry to woo Modi's India, but quick progress unlikely. By David Brunnstrom WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry travels to India this week as Washington tries to revitalize ties it sees as a counterbalance to China's rising power, but rapid progress is unlikely, despite the reformist reputation of India's new leader. The visit by Kerry and a trip by Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel next month follow the resounding election win of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in May and are meant to create a good climate for Modi's planned visit to Washington in September. Analysts said it would only be once Modi meets President Barack Obama that the United States may have a more realistic hope for progress on big defense projects, on removing obstacles to U.S. firms' participation in India's nuclear power industry, and for firmer statements of shared interests in Asia.","Hagel says time was running out to save prisoner. WASHINGTON (AP) — Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel told lawmakers Wednesday that last month's prisoner swap with the Taliban may have been the \"last, best\" chance to secure the release of Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, the only U.S. soldier held captive in Afghanistan. He said mediators indicated time was slipping away to get Bergdahl out safely.","Russian deputy PM on gay rights: Leave kids alone. SOCHI, Russia (AP) — Russia's deputy prime minister has confirmed the Kremlin's view on gay rights in Sochi, asking athletes to \"leave the kids alone.\"","Experts meet to discuss ways of saving sage grouse from extinction. CALGARY, CAN. - Experts from throughout North America are meeting with ranchers and landowners at the Calgary Zoo for a three-day workshop to determine the best way of helping the sage grouse recover from the brink of extinction.","Ukraine says Russian troops move back from border. Kiev (AFP) - Ukraine said Tuesday that Russian troops had moved away from the border, just five days before the country's make-or-break presidental poll, but stopped short of confirming a full withdrawal as demanded by the West.","Pietersen axed over Cook concerns - ECB. Kevin Pietersen's England career was brought to an end due to concerns about his support for captain Alastair Cook, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) revealed on Sunday. Pietersen confirmed that he would no longer play for England last Tuesday after the South Africa-born batsman was left out of the England squads for the tour of the Caribbean and the ICC World Twenty20. At the time, the ECB would only cite the need for a new \"team ethic and philosophy\" in the wake of the 5-0 Test series defeat in Australia. However, following calls for an explanation from players including former England captains Ian Botham and Michael Vaughan, the ECB issued a joint statement with the Professional Cricketers' Association.","First Ebola case diagnosed in the United States: CDC. By Julie Steenhuysen and Sharon Begley (Reuters) - U.S. health officials said on Tuesday the first patient infected with the deadly Ebola virus had been diagnosed in the country, in a new sign of how the outbreak ravaging West Africa can spread globally. The patient had recently traveled to West Africa and developed symptoms several days after returning to Texas, state officials said. The patient was admitted to an isolation room at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed the diagnosis. U.S. ...","Crimea to vote on joining Russia, Moscow wields U.N. veto. By Richard Balmforth and Mike Collett-White KIEV/SIMFEROPOL, Ukraine (Reuters) - Pro-Russian leaders in Crimea made final preparations on Saturday for a referendum widely expected to transfer control of the Black Sea region from Ukraine to Moscow, despite an outcry and threat of sanctions from the West. Russia vetoed a U.N. Security Council resolution that declared the referendum invalid, as Ukraine's defense ministry scrambled aircraft and paratroopers to confront what it said was a Russian encroachment just beyond Crimea's formal regional boundary. Ukraine's new rulers accused \"Kremlin agents\" of fomenting violence in the Russian-speaking east of the country. They urged people not to respond to provocations that Kiev fears Moscow may use to justify further incursions after its takeover of Crimea.","Cambodian opposition barred from park in capital. PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) — Cambodian authorities say they won't permit the opposition to hold a gathering this Sunday at a park in the capital, retaining a ban on demonstrations imposed three months ago after political violence.","Thousands mourn Canada soldier killed in Ottawa attack. Thousands of mourners lined the streets of the Canadian city of Hamilton Tuesday for the funeral of a soldier killed last week in an attack in the center of the nation's capital. To the tune of wailing bagpipes and a solitary drum beat, hundreds of soldiers, veterans and police officers walked alongside the flag-draped casket of Corporal Nathan Cirillo to a cathedral in Hamilton, his hometown in Ontario. Cirillo was fatally shot last week while standing watch at the War Memorial in Ottawa. His attacker, Michael Zehaf-Bibeau, then stormed into parliament and exchanged fire with police before being shot dead.","British insurers called in for floods talks. Insurance chiefs were called in for talks with the British government on Tuesday about payouts over the widespread flooding that has left thousands of homes submerged, amid signs that bills could run into hundreds of millions of pounds. River levels are expected to fall gradually this week, though the misery is unlikely to end any time soon for the towns and villages affected. Insurance industry chiefs held a first monthly meeting with floods minister Dan Rogerson at the Cabinet Office ministry in London. A further £24 million has been paid out for emergency accommodation, according to the Association of British Insurers (ABI).","Syria says hopes new peace mediator will be fair. Syria urged a newly appointed international mediator to be \"objective and honest\" as he seeks an end to the country's civil war, Syrian state television reported on Wednesday. It was Damascus's first reaction to the appointment of Staffan de Mistura by United Nations chief Ban Ki-moon two weeks ago, shortly after President Bashar al-Assad was re-elected in a June 3 poll. A U.N. official for 30 years, he replaces Lakhdar Brahimi, who stepped down in May, frustrated by global deadlock over how to resolve the more than three-year conflict. Citing a letter sent to the United Nations by the foreign ministry, it said Syria had also called on Mistura to have \"respect for the choices of the Syrian people\".","Hamas delegation arrives in Cairo for Gaza talks. A delegation of members from Palestinian militant groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad arrived in Cairo on Sunday for indirect ceasefire talks with Israel, to be conducted through Egyptian and U.S. officials, Egyptian sources said. Truce talks would include Hamas' demand that Egypt ease movement across its border with blockaded Gaza. Israel said on Saturday it would not send envoys as scheduled, accusing enemy Palestinian Islamists of misleading international mediators. A U.S./U.N-brokered ceasefire proposal broke down within hours on Friday, with Israel and Hamas trading blame.","Pope, patriarch seek dialogue, peace in Ukraine. ISTANBUL (AP) — Pope Francis and the spiritual leader of the world's Orthodox Christians have called for peace in Ukraine and for all sides to pursue dialogue based on international law to resolve the conflict.","CANNES WATCH: Designers set up shop. CANNES, France (AP) — Cannes is about so much more than film: It's also the world's premier fashion festival.","Muslim rebels attack Central African Rep. church. BANGUI, Central African Republic (AP) — Muslim rebels stormed a Catholic church compound in the capital of Central African Republic on Wednesday, launching grenades and spraying civilians with gunfire, witnesses said. At least five bodies were brought to area hospitals, though some witnesses said the death toll could be as high as 30.","General: US assessing whether Iraq forces can hold. HONOLULU (AP) — A key role of the American troops in Iraq is assessing whether the country's security forces can hold together and whether its leaders are confident they can do their jobs, a top U.S. military official said Tuesday.","EU backs broader sanctions for Ukraine crisis. BRUSSELS (AP) — Senior European Union diplomats say EU officials have given preliminary approval to broadening Ukraine-related sanctions to include people, companies or organizations that have profited illicitly from Russia's takeover of Crimea.","Asia falls, Europe drifts on Wall Street drop. HONG KONG (AP) — Japanese stocks led most Asian benchmarks lower Friday while European stocks drifted in lackluster early trading after Wall Street's worst day since July, as investors awaited the latest economic data on the world's largest economy.","Greece hit by heavy flooding. Greek authorities Saturday assessed the damage from severe flooding in the southern Attica region, which includes Athens, in the after-effects of a Caribbean hurricane. There were no victims from Friday night's flooding but one town, Acharnes, declared a state of emergency and suffered serious damage to its town centre. \"It was like a sea raining down,\" Andreas Pachatouridis, the mayor of Peristeri, the seventh largest town in Greece, told state-run news agency ANA. Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras ordered the release of emergency funds to help deal with the damage.","British EU exit 'wouldn't break my heart', PM Cameron says. By Guy Faulconbridge BIRMINGHAM England (Reuters) - Prime Minister David Cameron said on Tuesday he would not be heartbroken if Britain left the European Union because he felt little attachment to a relationship he said was not serving British interests. Cameron, who has promised to renegotiate Britain's EU membership if re-elected before offering voters an in-out referendum by 2017, is under pressure from the anti-EU UK Independence Party (UKIP) and some of his own lawmakers to toughen his rhetoric on Europe. ...","Olympian Michael Phelps apologizes for DUI arrest. Michael Phelps' comeback has been sidetracked by more trouble away from the pool.","Pakistan's Bhutto lashes out at the 'stone-age' Taliban. Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, the son of Pakistan's assassinated premier Benazir Bhutto, on Saturday slammed the Taliban for trying to drag the country back to the \"stone-age.\" \"The Taliban want to impose the law of terror in the country, but I want to tell them, if you have to live in Pakistan you will have to follow its constitution,\" he said. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's government has been under fire from political opponents for failing to mount a strong response to the upsurge in attacks. The government has for months said it favoured talks with the Taliban but 25-year-old Zardari has spoken in favour of military action against them.","Russian oil firm says Asian buyers willing to use euros. By Vladimir Soldatkin and Florence Tan MOSCOW/SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Russian state-controlled oil producer Gazprom Neft said it had received positive responses from Asian clients about the possibility of using euros as a settlement currency instead of the dollar. Company head Alexander Dyukov said this week Gazprom Neft had broached the idea of dropping the dollar, traditionally the currency of choice for the global energy sector, in response to a possible new round of Western sanctions over Russia's annexation of Crimea. \"Gazprom Neft has held discussions with its eastern partners about the possibility of completing settlements in the European currency. Three buyers in Japan and China said they had been approached by Gazprom to settle oil payments in currencies other than the dollar.","Japan's reporter pleads innocent in S. Korea trial. SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — A Japanese reporter on Thursday pleaded not guilty to charges of defaming South Korea's president by reporting rumors that she was absent for seven hours during a ferry disaster in April because she was with a man.","Northern Ireland set for terror 'amnesty' spat. Northern Ireland's assembly was to hold an emergency debate Friday over letters sent to on-the-run IRA terror suspects, which threatened to bring down the province's administration. The devolved legislature in Belfast has been recalled at the request of First Minister Peter Robinson, who threatened to quit over the affair. Had he done so, the move would almost certainly have collapsed Northern Ireland's power-sharing executive and triggered a snap election. Prime Minister David Cameron's government on Thursday averted Robinson's resignation by announcing a judge-led investigation into the so-called 'amnesty' letters sent to suspected Irish Republican Army paramilitaries living outside UK jurisdiction.","Rwanda ex-officer jailed for life after 'attack plot' trial. Kigali (AFP) - A Rwandan court on Friday convicted ex-army officer Joel Mutabazi on charges of plotting attacks against the central African nation and ordered he spend the rest of his life behind bars.","Ditching cars for buses, bikes best way to cut city pollution : study. By Laura Onita LONDON, Sept 17 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Encouraging people to abandon their cars and use public transport or walk or cycle around cities offers the \"least pain, most gain\" way to cut air pollution from traffic by 2050, a new international study said on Wednesday. The report, by the University of California and the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy (ITDP), proposed governments expand rail and bus transport and ensure cities are safer for pedestrians and cyclists. ...","Syria's Assad makes rare public appearance at Eid prayers. Damascus (AFP) - Syria's President Bashar al-Assad made a rare public appearance on Saturday, attending prayers on the Muslim Eid al-Adha holiday at a mosque in Damascus, state media said.","CAS upholds FIFA transfer ban imposed on Barcelona. MADRID (AP) — The Court of Arbitration for Sport on Tuesday dismissed Barcelona's appeal and upheld the transfer ban that FIFA imposed on the club for breaking rules on registering minors as youth players.","No, Russia Will Not Intervene in Ukraine. A decade ago, when he was starting his second term as Russia‘s President, a popular uprising broke out in Ukraine. The current revolution in Ukraine looks very different. But the questions it has forced Russia to ask are much the same. When do we cut our loses and accept Ukraine’s drift toward the West?","Tracing shift from everyday American to jihadi. WASHINGTON (AP) — A college dropout from Florida. A nurse's aide from Denver. The owner of a pizza-and-wings joint from upstate New York.","Special Report: How scams and shakedowns brought down Ukraine to its knees. By Steve Stecklow, Elizabeth Piper and Oleksandr Akymenko KIEV (Reuters) - Late last year, Ukraine’s consumer protection agency began filing lawsuits against Foxtrot, the country’s largest electronics retailer. Many of the suits accused the company of minor violations of Ukraine’s labeling law – such as not placing a \"quality seal\" on tiny memory cards and wafer-thin batteries inside mobile phones. Six months after a popular uprising toppled President Viktor Yanukovich, Ukraine’s new leaders are fighting wars on two fronts. The other is against staggering corruption that top officials say infected every level of government - and continues to this day.","Pistorius trial: Boxer recounts gunshot at eatery. PRETORIA, South Africa (AP) — A boxer, testifying in the murder trial of Oscar Pistorius, said the double-amputee runner apologized after a gun was accidentally fired in a Johannesburg restaurant table and asked another person to take the blame.","Brazil's president snubs FIFA gathering. RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — If it were a marriage, the divorce papers would've been filed already. But with the spotlight now turned on Brazil and the opening of the World Cup, the nation's embattled president and the head of soccer's governing body have no choice but to play nice.","First food aid convoy from Sudan reaches South. The United Nations said on Sunday it has sent its first aid convoy from Sudan into South Sudanese territory with enough supplies to feed 45,000 people for a month. Juba, Khartoum and the United nations agreed in July to send food aid to South Sudan, where fighting flared last month in the country's 11-month civil war. The first 18 trucks crossed into South Sudan on Saturday, \"carrying some 700 metric tons of food for 45,000 people for one month,\" UN Resident Coordinator and Humanitarian Coordinator in Khartoum Ali Zaatari said in an announcement. It was also signed by Sudan's Humanitarian Aid Commission, the South Sudanese embassy in Khartoum and the World Food Programme.","Euro zone business growth slows in August, prices fall: PMI. By Jonathan Cable LONDON, Aug 21 (Reuters) - Euro zone private business growth slowed more than expected this month, despite widespread price cutting, as manufacturing and service industry activity both dwindled, a survey showed on Thursday. Euro zone economic growth ground to a halt in the second, quarter, dragged down by a shrinking economy in Germany and a stagnant France, even before any impact from sanctions imposed on and by Russia over Ukraine. Markit's Composite Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) will provide gloomy reading for the European Central Bank (ECB), suggesting its two biggest economies are struggling like smaller members. Markit said the data point to third-quarter economic growth of 0.3 percent, matching predictions from a Reuters poll last week.","Germans already gathering to watch World Cup final. BERLIN (AP) — Crowds were already gathering at the German capital's famous Brandenburg Gate six hours before the World Cup final kicked off between Germany and Argentina.","Cricket-South Africa 140-6 v Australia (397) - second day close. PRETORIA, Feb 13 (Reuters) - South Africa were 140 for six wickets in their first innings when rain brought an early close to play on the second day of the first test at SuperSport Park on Thursday. Scores: South Africa 140-6 (AB de Villiers 52 not out, M. Johnson 4-51) v Australia 397 (S. Marsh 148, S. Smith 100; D. Steyn 4-78) (Compiled by Mark Gleeson; Editing by Ed Osmond; mark.gleeson@thomsonreuters.com; +27 82 8257807; Reuters Messaging: mark.gleeson.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net; To sign up for our Global Sports Forum chatroom, click on https://forms.thomsonreuters. ...","In film on alternative car fuels, former Shell exec speaks out. By Lucas Iberico Lozada NEW YORK (Reuters) - Frustrated by what he describes as a lack of political courage, a former president of the U.S. unit of Royal Dutch Shell takes center stage in a new documentary film that makes the case for using alternative fuels in cars. The movie, \"PUMP,\" blames oil companies, and what is described as their obstructive tactics, as well as political inertia for preventing the widespread adoption of cheaper and cleaner fuels based on natural gas and alcohol in the United States, world's largest economy. ...","Peacekeeping force on idyllic Cyprus hits 50 years. NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) — Cyprus has long touted its pristine beaches as the perfect holiday escape. It can also boast hosting the world's longest-serving U.N. peacekeeping force.","Time Warner Cable loses more video customers in latest quarter. Time Warner Cable lost a net 184,000 household video customers in the three months ended Sept. 30, far more than the 136,000 that market research firm StreetAccount had estimated. The company, which is being acquired by market leader Comcast Corp for $45.3 billion, lost a net 152,000 customers in the April-June quarter. Comcast reported higher quarterly revenue and income last week as more people signed up for high-speed internet and fewer customers dropped their cable subscriptions. As of Sept. 30, Time Warner Cable had 10.8 million household video subscribers, down from 11.4 million a year earlier.","Top UN official supporting peacekeepers resigns. UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says Ameerah Haq is stepping down as the U.N. undersecretary-general in charge of providing logistics and support for the more than 100,000 U.N. peacekeepers deployed around the world.","At NY trial, prosecutor vs. combative London imam. NEW YORK (AP) — An Islamic cleric accused of supporting terrorist operations in Yemen and in the United States became combative when confronted with his past statements by a U.S. prosecutor.","Machete attack may signal wider China troubles: analysts. A brazen and bloody machete attack at a Chinese railway station could herald an ominous change in the violence Beijing blames on separatists from Xinjiang, analysts say, threatening more incidents far beyond the restive region. Until now, disturbances have largely been confined to Xinjiang, a vast resource-rich area in far western China, and focused on symbols of the Chinese state, such as police. But the scale, location, nature and timing of the Kunming mayhem potentially points to a change in mindset with the overt targeting of civilians -- whoever was behind it. Beijing immediately labelled the incident as terrorism, and Washington followed suit on Monday after initially referring to it as a \"tragedy\", in language that drew angry accusations of double standards on Chinese social media.","Ronchi excels as New Zealand all out for 230. South Africa cruised to a six-wicket win over New Zealand in the first one-day international at Mount Maunganui on Tuesday, guided home by a captain's knock from AB de Villiers.","Malaysian PM demands swift justice if flight was shot down. Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak demanded swift justice for those responsible if a Malaysian airliner that came down in Ukraine was found to have been shot down. Najib, reading out a statement at a news conference on Friday, said Malaysia had not been able to verify what caused the plane to crash while on a flight from Amsterdam to the Malaysian capital, Kuala Lumpur, but it had not made a distress call. \"At this stage, however, Malaysia is unable to verify the cause of this tragedy. No stone will be left unturned.\" \"If it transpires that the plane was indeed shot down, we insist that the perpetrators must swiftly be brought to justice.\" He said also that Malaysia was sending a special flight to Kiev with a disaster assistance and rescue team.","'El Chapo' denied petition against US extradition. MEXICO CITY (AP) — A Mexican judge has denied drug lord Joaquin \"El Chapo\" Guzman an injunction against any extradition to the United States.","US weighing military exercises in Eastern Europe. WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States is considering deploying about 150 soldiers for military exercises to begin in Poland and Estonia in the next few weeks, a Western official said Saturday. The exercises would follow Russia's buildup of forces near its border with Ukraine and its annexation last month of Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula.","FTSE rises 0.15% at open. London (AFP) - London equities rose at the start of trading Tuesday, as markets clawed back some of the heavy losses of the previous session when shares plunged on gloomy economic data from Asia.","Turkey detains US journalist, Syrians after illegal crossing. Turkish security forces on Sunday detained an American journalist and two Syrians as they tried to cross a river flowing from Syria into southern Turkey by raft, the army said.","Rugby-Australia squeak past South Africa in Perth. Rob Horne scored a brilliant converted try two minutes from time to give Australia a 24-23 victory over South Africa in the Rugby Championship at a rain-soaked Subiaco Oval on Saturday. Fullback Israel Folau crossed for his 15th test try after two minutes but for much of the rest of the evening Australia were chasing the game and it was only when winger Horne went over in their best move of the match that victory looked likely. South Africa had a try from winger Cornal Hendricks and six penalties from six attempts from Morne Steyn but will rue the harsh 65th minute yellow card shown to winger Bryan Habana, who was playing his 100th test. Flyhalf Bernard Foley, who also kicked four penalties, stepped up to nervelessly convert Horne's try and give coach Ewen McKenzie his first win over one of the southern hemisphere superpowers since he took over last year.","Matsuyama wins Memorial in a playoff. DUBLIN, Ohio (AP) — Hideki Matsuyama earned his first victory in America and validation as one of golf's young stars Sunday with birdie on the 18th hole to force a playoff and a 10-foot par putt on the first extra to win the Memorial.","No date for Pope meeting with abuse victims-Vatican spokesman. No date has been set for Pope Francis' planned meeting with victims of sexual abuse by Catholic priests, originally expected to take place early next month, Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi said on Wednesday. The pope said this week that he would meet a group of sex abuse victims early in June after he compared child abuse with a \"satanic mass\". However in an interview with Vatican Radio, Lombardi said there had been a \"slight confusion\" and no date had been set for the meeting, which would be the first for the pope since he took office just over a year ago. He said the pope's characterization of child sexual abuse by priests was \"an incredible condemnation for a believer, perhaps the most severe condemnation which can be made\".","Scottish independence campaign lead before vote: ICM poll. EDINBURGH, Sept 13 (Reuters) - Support for Scottish independence from the United Kingdom has taken the lead over unionists five days before a referendum in an ICM poll reported by the Sunday Times. The poll was taken for the Telegraph newspaper but was reported by the Sunday Times on its front-page before its official release. It showed support for the pro-independence \"Yes\" campaign rise to 54 percent, a 9-point swing from their last online poll, with support for \"No\" at 46 percent. ...","Suspected Fulani herdsmen kill 30 in Nigeria. Kano (Nigeria) (AFP) - Gunmen believed to be Fulani herdsmen stormed a meeting in northern Nigeria's Zamfara state and killed 30 people, police said Sunday. \"Thirty people were killed and several others injured,\" Zamfara state police spokesman Lawal Abdullahi told AFP. He said security forces had deployed to the area. The conflict between Fulani herdsmen and local farmers over land rights, particularly in central Nigeria, has persisted for more than a decade despite a series of peace efforts across several states.","2010 final ref Webb gets Colombia-Ivory Coast duty. RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Four years after refereeing the World Cup final, Howard Webb gets his first duty this tournament in the Colombia vs. Ivory Coast match.","Lack of prospects, financial lure pushing youth to IS: Vatican. Young Syrians are gravitating towards the radical Islamic State due to a lack of prospects and the lure of financial support more than \"ideological conviction\", the pope's Syria envoy said Saturday. IS militants, which have been active in the Syrian conflict for several years, have made headlines in recent months after grabbing large swathes of northern Iraq and declaring a caliphate spanning the territory they hold in both countries. In an interview with Radio Vatican, Mario Zenari -- who has remained in Syria throughout the bloody conflict -- said he believed that young militants rushing to join their ranks did not as a rule do so out of \"ideological conviction\". The rise of IS has also sent alarm bells in the West as nationals from many European countries have gone to join the ranks of the jihadists.","Fueling drug gangs' impunity, unidentified corpses pile up in Mexico. By Lizbeth Diaz MAZATLAN Mexico (Reuters) - In Mexico's blood-soaked northern state of Sinaloa, a simple gravestone adorned with pink, blue and yellow plastic flowers marks the tomb of 42-year-old assistant carpenter Carlos Montano. \"Legally, I'm dead,\" Montano said, standing in the same Tijuana street where his death certificate says he was gunned down with shots to the neck and chest. \"They buried me to banda,\" he said, referring to a brass-based traditional music genre popular in Mexico. His 'death' illustrates the administrative chaos that families of drug war victims often face in Mexico.","Military: Rocket hits house in southern Israel. JERUSALEM (AP) — The Israeli military says a rocket launched from Gaza has hit a house in southern Israel. No injuries were reported.","'Syria recruiters' in court as Australia stems terror financing. Two men charged in Australia with allegedly recruiting, funding and sending jihadist fighters to Syria faced court Thursday as Prime Minister Tony Abbott announced new measures to stem terrorism financing. Omar Succarieh, 31, and Agim Kruezi, 21, appeared in a Brisbane court after their arrests in anti-terrorism raids on Wednesday following a year-long police investigation. Police said Succarieh -- the brother of Abu Asma al Australi, the first suspected Australian suicide bomber in Syria -- and Kruezi have links to militant group Jabhat al-Nusra in Syria. Their appearance coincided with Abbott allocating Aus$20 million (US$18 million) for anti-laundering agency AUSTRAC \"to improve detection and disruption of terrorism financing\" as part of a Aus$630 million counter-terrorism package.","Malaysia Airlines to cut 6,000 jobs, de-list in $1.9 billion restructuring. By Al-Zaquan Amer Hamzah KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Malaysia Airlines , the country's loss-making flag carrier, will cut 30 percent of its workforce as part of a sweeping restructuring that will cost 6 billion ringgit ($1.90 billion), majority investor Khazanah Nasional [KHAZA.UL] said. Malaysia Airlines will be de-listed from the Kuala Lumpur exchange by the end of 2014, Khazanah said, adding that it aims to return the carrier to profitability within three years of the de-listing. \"Recent tragic events and ongoing difficulties at MAS have created a perfect storm that is allowing this restructuring to take place,\" Khazanah Managing Director Azman Mokhtar told reporters in Kuala Lumpur. Ahmad Jauhari Yahya will stay on as chief executive until July next year, Khazanah said, adding that the search for a new CEO has begun.","Turkey unveils new cabinet of Erdogan allies. Ankara (AFP) - Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Friday approved a new cabinet stacked with loyal allies just a day after he became head of state, with former Europe minister Mevlut Cavusoglu promoted to foreign minister.","Australian airline passengers told to flush drugs. CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — An Australian airline has apologized for a warning a flight attendant gave passengers who might have been flying high that there were drug-sniffer dogs awaiting them at Sydney airport.","England leads India by 338 runs in 5th test. LONDON (AP) — Joe Root's undefeated 149 helped England tighten its grasp on the fifth test against India as the hosts made 486 for a commanding lead of 338 runs at the Oval on Sunday.","North Korea struts in style on world sports stage. INCHEON, South Korea (AP) — North Korea is making a statement on the international sports stage — a fashion statement.","At least 15 police hurt as thousands rally in Ecuador. Quito (AFP) - At least 15 officers were wounded and multiple arrests were reported in Quito as thousands gathered for rallies for and against leftist President Rafael Correa, officials said.","Israeli official: Israeli soldier missing in Gaza. JERUSALEM (AP) — An Israeli soldier is missing following a deadly battle in the Gaza Strip, a defense official told The Associated Press on Tuesday.","Scots on twin track to Sevens succes. Gregor and Lewis Young made history when they became the first twin brothers to represent Scotland at the same time in the modern era in the final leg of the IRB Sevens World Series at Twickenham. And the duo went one better than that in their Pool D clash against Portugal on Saturday, with both brothers running in a try in the Scots' 31-5 mauling of Portugal. Gregor already has five World Series appearances to his name but for Lewis this was an international debut and the 22-year-old admitted it was something of a dream come true to have his sibling alongside him.","U.N. chief 'alarmed' by new mass death verdicts in Egypt. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon expressed alarm on Monday at reports that an Egyptian court has issued a new mass death sentence to the leader of the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood and 682 supporters, the U.N. press office said in a statement. \"The Secretary-General is alarmed by the news that another preliminary mass death sentence has been handed down today in Egypt, the first of which was on 24 March,\" the statement said. \"Verdicts that clearly appear not to meet basic fair trial standards, particularly those which impose the death penalty, are likely to undermine prospects for long-term stability,\" the U.N. statement added. The Muslim Brotherhood, in a statement issued in London, described the ruling as chilling and said it would \"continue to use all peaceful means to end military rule.","Rockets from Syria hit Lebanese border towns, killing 7, including several children. BEIRUT - A barrage of almost two dozen missiles and shells from Syria slammed into Lebanese border towns and villages on Friday, killing seven people, including several children who were out playing, Lebanese security officials said.","Netanyahu slams UNESCO delay of Jewish exhibit. JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday criticized the U.N.'s cultural agency for postponing an exhibit on Jewish connections to the Holy Land following objections from Arab countries.","Family of Mexican boy fighting tumor to stay in US. ALBUQUERQUE, New Mexico (AP) — The parents of an 11-year-old Mexican boy who recently had portions of a massive tumor removed have been allowed to stay in the U.S. while he receives treatment.","Panama says freed North Korean ship to sail later Wednesday. By Lomi Kriel PANAMA CITY (Reuters) - A North Korean ship detained near the Panama Canal for smuggling Cuban weapons will set sail with most of its crew aboard later on Wednesday after the ship's representatives paid a trafficking fine to free it, Panama's government said. The Chong Chon Gang ship was seized in July for smuggling Soviet-era arms, including two MiG-21 jet fighters, under thousands of tonnes of sugar. It was not immediately clear whether the ship, carrying 32 members of its North Korean crew, would be headed straight home or whether they would first sail elsewhere. The ship has been moored at a terminal on Panama's Atlantic side while the canal authority waited for the payment of at least two-thirds of a $1 million fine imposed for trying to traffic illegal weapons through the waterway.","Austria looks for 3rd team win at Sochi Games. KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia (AP) — Austria will attempt to win its third consecutive team large hill gold medal when the event closes out the Sochi Olympics Nordic combined program at the RusSki Gorki Jumping Center on Thursday.","EU struggles to unpick the knot of Russia-Ukraine gas logistics. By Jan Lopatka and Christoph Steitz VELKE KAPUSANY, Slovakia/FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Unprecedented talks across the European Union on Tuesday showed it scrambling for solutions on the ground to break its dependence on Russian gas and help supply Ukraine. The EU faces a daunting task in quickly overcoming a mountain of logistical challenges, avoiding breaking binding contracts and making sure Ukraine does pay up for gas. Russia supplies 30 percent of Europe's gas needs. It has threatened to cut off supplies to Ukraine because of debts reviving fears of a repeat of supply crises across Europe of 2007 and 2009.","Australian government backs down on planned changes to universal healthcare. SYDNEY (Reuters) - The Australian government has ditched plans to charge patients a blanket fee to see their doctor, a major backflip for Prime Minister Tony Abbott in his attempts to chip away at universal healthcare to pay off state debts. Abbott said on Tuesday the A$7 \"co-payment\" fee will be scrapped. Instead, adults can be charged a A$5 fee at the discretion of the doctor. Children, the elderly and those on state allowances will be exempt. ...","Jordan's ambassador to Libya kidnapped after gunmen attack his car. TRIPOLI (Reuters) - Jordan's ambassador to Libya was kidnapped on Tuesday morning after masked gunmen attacked his car and shot his driver, a spokesman for Libya's foreign ministry said. The driver survived the attack and was in hospital, spokesman Said Laswad said. A Jordanian foreign ministry source said they believed that the incident occurred as their ambassador, Fawaz al-Itan, was leaving his house. (Reporting by Feras Bosalum and Suleiman al-Khalidi in Amman; Writing by Julia Payne; Editing by Sonya Hepinstall)","Weeks, Tomane to miss Rugby Championships start. SYDNEY (AP) — Prop Paddy Ryan and winger Tom English have been added to Australia's Rugby Championships squad as cover for Laurie Weeks and Joe Tomane, who are sidelined for three weeks with hamstring injuries.","US sub records detailed images of WWII wreck. BOSTON (AP) — An unmanned submarine has recorded some of the most detailed images of two American ships that sank off the coast of England during World War II, according to the Massachusetts company that surveyed the wreckage to mark the disaster's 70th anniversary.","Ethiopian lawmakers to pass bill deemed anti-gay. ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (AP) — Lawmakers in Ethiopia are set to pass a bill that puts homosexuality on a list of offenses considered \"non-pardonable\" under the country's amnesty law.","UN chief Ban Ki-moon visits C. African Republic. BANGUI, Central African Republic (AP) — The head of the United Nations is visiting Central African Republic for the first time since the country erupted into sectarian bloodshed four months ago.","UK unemployment drops as economy strengthens. LONDON (AP) — Britain's unemployment rate has fallen to 6.6 percent in the three months ending in April as the economy continues to strengthen.","Report: 11 injured in subway explosion near Seoul. SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — An explosion at a subway station south of Seoul injured 11 people Monday, South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported.","Pope calls for calm in Venezuela as both sides march. By Daniel Wallis and Tomas Sarmiento CARACAS (Reuters) - Pope Francis on Wednesday called for an end to violence in Venezuela that has killed at least 13 people and urged politicians to take the lead in calming the nation's worst unrest for a decade. Both political camps were marching in cities around the country, with the focus being rallies in different parts of the capital Caracas: one by female opposition supporters and another by agricultural workers who support the socialist government. Students and other opponents of President Nicolas Maduro are demanding he quit over grievances including high inflation, shocking levels of violent crime, shortages of basic foodstuffs, and what they say is his repression of political rivals. Pope Francis told tens of thousands of people in St. Peter's Square he was \"particularly concerned\" about recent events.","Barcelona loses 1-0 at Valladolid ahead of City. BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Barcelona's title defense took a blow on Saturday when it stumbled to a 1-0 defeat at Valladolid, missing the chance to move to the top of the Spanish standings ahead of its Champions League clash with Manchester City at Camp Nou.","Moyes hoping to build momentum before Bayern return. Manchester (United Kingdom) (AFP) - Manchester United manager David Moyes insists all his focus is on his team's Premier League performance at Newcastle United following what he described as one of his best nights in football. United's 1-1 draw with Champions League title-holders Bayern Munich on Tuesday night breathed new life into their flagging season ahead of next week's quarter-final second leg in Germany. The performance against the Bundesliga champions was one of United's most effective under Moyes and, according to the former Everton manager, was a career highlight.","All passengers on ship stuck in Antarctic ice since Christmas Eve rescued by helicopter. CANBERRA, Australia - A helicopter rescued all 52 passengers from a research ship that has been trapped in Antarctic ice since Christmas Eve after weather conditions finally cleared enough for the operation Thursday.","Somali Islamist rebels say attacking main African Union base in Mogadishu. MOGADISHU (Reuters) - Somali Islamist militant group al Shabaab attacked the main African Union (AU) peacekeeping base in the capital Mogadishu on Thursday, the group's military spokesman said. A Reuters photographer near the base said sporadic gunfire could be heard from inside the compound. African Union officials could not be reached for comment. \"Our fighters have entered AU's Halane base by force through the gate and now fighting is going on inside the base,\" Sheikh Abdiasis Abu Musab, al Shabaab's military operation spokesman, told Reuters. ...","German man, 20, goes on trial for Islamic State membership. By Christoph Steitz FRANKFURT (Reuters) - A 20-year-old German man charged with joining Islamic State militants in Syria last year went on trial in Frankfurt on Monday, the first such case in Germany. Kreshnik B., who was born in Germany and whose parents are from Kosovo, is charged with membership of Islamic State in Iraq and Greater Syria (ISIS) between July and December 2013. The group has captured swathes of territory in Syria and Iraq, changed its name to Islamic State (IS) and declared a caliphate or Islamic state ruled under Sharia, Islamic law, in the heart of the Middle East. ...","Liberia holds Senate vote amid Ebola fears. MONROVIA, Liberia (AP) — Polls opened Saturday morning in Liberia for a twice-delayed Senate vote amid concern the process could facilitate the spread of Ebola.","Wal-Mart recalls donkey product in China after fox meat scandal. By Adam Jourdan SHANGHAI (Reuters) - Wal-Mart Stores Inc, the world's largest retailer, has recalled donkey meat sold at some outlets in China after tests showed the product contained the DNA of other animals, the U.S. company said. Wal-Mart will reimburse customers who bought the tainted \"Five Spice\" donkey meat and is helping local food and industry agencies in eastern Shandong province investigate its Chinese supplier, it said late on Wednesday in official posts on China's Twitter-like Weibo. The Shandong Food and Drug Administration earlier said the product contained fox meat. The scandal could dent Wal-Mart's reputation for quality in China's $1 trillion food and grocery market where it plans to open 110 new stores in the next few years.","France's Alstom confirms $17 billion offer from GE. PARIS (AP) — The French engineering company Alstom says it will decide by the end of May whether to accept a 12.35 billion euro ($17 billion) offer from General Electric Co. for its energy business.","De Kock, de Villiers centuries lift South Africa. HAMBANTOTA, Sri Lanka (AP) — Opener Quinton de Kock and captain A.B. de Villiers each smashed centuries Saturday as South Africa reached 339-5 for its highest one-day international total against Sri Lanka in the third and final match between the teams.","US Air Force copter crashes in England, killing 4. LONDON (AP) — A U.S. Air Force Pave Hawk helicopter crashed in a coastal area of eastern England during a training mission on Tuesday night, killing all four crew members aboard, officials said.","East Ukraine rebels call for Russian troops after deadly gunfight. Slavyansk (Ukraine) (AFP) - Pro-Kremlin rebels in east Ukraine appealed Sunday for Russian \"peacekeepers\" to sweep in after a deadly gunfight killed at least two of their militants, shattering an Easter truce and sparking \"outrage\" in Moscow. But the Western-backed authorities in Kiev claimed the violence was a set-up by Russia to create a pretext for it to send troops in. The attack, near the flashpoint town of Slavyansk, undermined an accord worked out in Geneva between Russia, Ukraine and Western powers on Thursday that demanded \"illegal armed groups\" surrender their weapons and cease occupations of public buildings.","Zuniga apologizes to Neymar for tackle. RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Colombia defender Camilo Zuniga has sent a letter of apology to Neymar, saying he is \"deeply sorry and sad\" for causing the injury that knocked the Brazil striker out of the World Cup.","Hungary prime minister seeks re-election. BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — Prime Minister Viktor Orban's Fidesz party is favored to win Hungary's parliamentary elections by a wide margin, with a left-wing coalition and the far-right Jobbik party vying for second place.","Iranian court sentences Facebook activists to jail. TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — TEHRAN, Iran (AP) —An Iranian court handed jail sentences of eight to 21 years to eight Facebook page administrators, the official IRNA news agency reported on Sunday.","Raptors snap Indiana's six-game winning streak. Toronto (Canada) (AFP) - Toronto's DeMar DeRozan scored 26 points and sparked a fourth-quarter run Wednesday that lifted the Toronto Raptors to a 95-82 victory over Indiana, snapping the Pacers' six-game winning streak. The Pacers fell to 25-6, leaving them level with Oklahoma City for the best record in the NBA with San Antonio and Portland on 25-7 and defending NBA champion Miami at 24-7. The Raptors improved to 15-15 on the season, boosting their lead atop the Atlantic division with their fourth win in a row and eighth in 10 games.","Neglected islanders resist plan for Haiti tourism revival. By David Adams ILE-A-VACHE, Haiti (Reuters) - For decades the mostly dirt-poor residents of the small island of Ile-à-Vache off Haiti's south coast lived in anonymity, virtually ignored by the government and visited only by the most adventurous backpackers and yachters. Then in 2012, helicopters started dropping off big shots: Haiti's president, Michel Martelly, Bill Clinton, ad agency models and photographers, tourism executives. Madonna and Sean Penn were spotted in November. Last year came the surprise: the government claimed the 17.3-square-mile former pirate lair as \"a public utility,\" potentially stripping the 14,000 residents of their land to develop a high-end tourist resort.","Fognini crashes out on day of upsets in Hamburg. HAMBURG, Germany (AP) — Serbian qualifier Filip Krajinovic defeated defending champion Fabio Fognini 6-4, 6-0 Wednesday as a host of seeded players crashed out in the second round of the Hamburg Open.","Indonesian court opens hearing on election dispute. JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Indonesia's Constitutional Court on Wednesday began hearing a challenge to the result of the country's July 9 presidential election, which ended in victory for Jakarta Gov. Joko Widodo.","New home sales hit five-and-a-half year high in January. Sales of new single-family homes surged to a 5-1/2-year high in January, which could ease concerns of a sharp slowdown in the housing market. The Commerce Department said on Wednesday that sales jumped 9.6 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 468,000 units, the highest level since July 2008.","Dozens feared trapped in village landslide in India - TVs. NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Dozens of people are feared trapped after heavy rains triggered a landslide in a village in western India, television channels reported on Wednesday. Seven teams of 42 rescue workers each were on their way to the site near the western city of Pune on Wednesday morning, S.S. Guleria, deputy inspector general of operations at the National Disaster Response Force told Reuters. (Reporting by Sruthi Gottipati and Krishna N Das; editing by Malini Menon)","Dutch appeals court lifts block on Pirate Bay. AMSTERDAM (AP) — A Dutch appeals court has lifted an order for major Internet providers in the Netherlands to ban access to The Pirate Bay, saying it has proved impossible to enforce.","United States look to have easy World Cup draw. BARCELONA (Reuters) - Defending champions the United States have been given a comfortable group after the basketball World Cup draw on Monday. They are the clear favorites to retain the gold medal they won in Turkey four years ago at the tournament which will be held from the August 30 to September14 in Spain. The U.S., who also won gold at the 2012 Olympics, face the Dominican Republic, Turkey, Finland, New Zealand and the Ukraine in Group C and should have a simple passage into the next round. ...","Man City wins League Cup, seeks further trophies. LONDON (AP) — The celebrations were still continuing in Manchester City's dressing room at Wembley Stadium on Sunday when Manuel Pellegrini started to move on from the League Cup triumph.","Pakistan reaches 140-3 at tea. GALLE, Sri Lanka (AP) — Pakistan reached 140-3 at tea on the first day of the first test against Sri Lanka at the Galle International Stadium on Wednesday.","EU will finance projects worth $68M in Moldova. CHISINAU, Moldova (AP) — The European Union says it will finance projects worth 50 million euros ($68 million) in Moldova as the former Soviet republic prepares to sign an association agreement with the 28-nation bloc amid protests from Moscow.","Neureuther leads 1st slalom run; Hirscher only 11th. MADONNA DI CAMPIGLIO, Italy (AP) — Germans Felix Neureuther and Fritz Dopfer stood 1-2 following the opening run of a night slalom Monday, while three-time defending overall World Cup champion Marcel Hirscher was only 11th.","PSG coach Blanc to sign new deal when title is won. PARIS (AP) — Paris Saint-Germain coach Laurent Blanc will renew his contract when the French league title has been secured.","Belgian energy island may get go ahead in early 2015: ministry. BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Belgium will decide early next year whether to build a ring-shaped island off its coast to store wind energy, in one of the world's first attempts to make the renewable source available on demand, the government said. Wind energy is often abundant in the large wind parks off the Belgian coast, but storing it for when there is little wind is an issue, along with not wasting it when there is a surplus. Using an idea borrowed from hydroelectric dams, the island would be emptied of water when there is a lot of wind, using energy from windmills. ...","Albania: Army on standby amid heavy flooding. TIRANA, Albania (AP) — Torrential rain in Albania has caused power and water supply cuts in the western part of the country, and authorities are investigating media reports that three people have been killed.","Lambie penalty gives Boks thrilling win over All Blacks. Johannesburg (AFP) - A 55-metre Patrick Lambie penalty gave South Africa a thrilling 27-25 victory over New Zealand Saturday in the Rugby Championship, condemning the world champions to a first defeat in two years.","Teen murder forces Israel to face its extremist demons. The involvement of Jewish extremists in the brutal murder of a Palestinian teenager has forced Israel to confront the growing danger of violently anti-Arab narrative peddled by the far-right fringe. \"The diabolical murder of 16-year-old Palestinian Mohammed Abu Khder is the Shin Bet's nightmare scenario,\" wrote Yossi Melman in Maariv newspaper, referring to Israel's internal security agency. Shin Bet is leading the inquiry into the murder of Abu Khder, whose charred body was found in woodland on Wednesday morning, shortly after he was kidnapped from annexed east Jerusalem. Six Jewish suspects, three of them minors, were arrested early on Sunday in connection with the killing -- which is believed to be a bloody act of revenge for the murder of three Israeli teenagers in the West Bank last month.","Wozniacki completes 2-set win at Wimbledon. LONDON (AP) — Caroline Wozniacki reeled off four consecutive games to complete a 6-3, 6-0 win over Israel's Shahar Peer in a rain-suspended first-round match at Wimbledon on Tuesday.","Japan Olympics organizers review Tokyo 2020 plans. TOKYO (AP) — Japan's Olympics organizers say they are reviewing their plans for the venues of Tokyo's 2020 Summer Games due to concerns about cost.","Seven dead in shooting at Turkey statistics office - TV. ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Seven people were shot dead at a Turkish Statistics Institute office in the eastern province of Kars, state broadcaster TRT Haber reported on Wednesday. TRT said a former TUIK employee who was sacked was responsible. The individual shot himself after killing 6 people, the channel said. (Writing by Daren Butler; Editing by John Stonestreet)","Merkel aide rules out working with Assad despite rise of Islamic State. BERLIN (Reuters) - Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is to blame for the civil war engulfing his country and the West should not talk to him just because Islamic State (IS) is \"even worse\", German Chancellor Angela Merkel's foreign policy adviser said on Tuesday. IS militants have seized swathes of territory in both Syria and Iraq and a U.S-led coalition is targeting them in air strikes, providing some respite for Assad's forces and prompting some to suggest a possible rapprochement with the president. ...","Global stocks lifted by China trade, Yellen stance. SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Global stock markets were mostly higher Thursday after China's trade improved and Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen vowed low interest rates would continue until the U.S. job market is healthy.","Former Australia captain Ian Craig dead at 79. SYDNEY (AP) — Ian Craig, who was Australia's youngest test cricket player at 17 and its youngest captain at 22, has died aged 79, Cricket Australia said.","EU diplomats preparing next level of sanctions on Russia. By Luke Baker BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union is preparing to impose travel bans, asset freezes and other restrictions on Russia for its failure to \"de-escalate\" the crisis in Crimea, officials said on Monday. While the formal decision to impose the sanctions is only expected to be taken when EU foreign ministers next meet on March 17, preparations on the measures have already started. ...","Platinum miners strike in South Africa. RUSTENBURG, South Africa (AP) — Tens of thousands of platinum miners in South Africa are on strike, demanding higher wages in a protest that is disrupting one of the country's major industries.","Davis Cup: France leads Czech Republic 1-0. PARIS (AP) — Richard Gasquet's all-risk approach paid dividends as he dispatched Tomas Berdych 6-3, 6-2, 6-3 to give France a 1-0 lead over two-time defending champion Czech Republic in the Davis Cup semifinals on Friday.","Avs sign Semyon Varlamov to 5-year extension. DENVER (AP) — The Colorado Avalanche have signed Russian goaltender Semyon Varlamov to a five-year extension that goes through the 2018-19 season.","Qualifiers tour Australia in Cricket World Cup warm-up. Sydney (AFP) - The four qualifiers for the ICC Cricket World Cup -- Afghanistan, Scotland, Ireland and the UAE -- are all in Australia this week in preparation for next year's tournament.","Son of ex-president of Senegal given corruption trial date. Karim Wade, the flamboyant son of the former Senegalese president, will go on trial over multi-million-dollar corruption charges at the end of July, a government official said. The 45-year-old is the son of Abdoulaye Wade, who led the country between 2000 and 2012.","Olympic ski champ Mayer out with knee injury. VIENNA (AP) — Olympic downhill champion Matthias Mayer has been ruled out of the season-opening World Cup giant slalom in Soelden next week after tearing ligaments in a training accident.","Israel PM: Military ready to expand Gaza offensive. JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel's prime minister says he has ordered the military to prepare for a \"significant expansion\" of its ground operation against Gaza militants.","Turkey's Kurdish peace process at risk amid fury over Syrian town. By Humeyra Pamuk DIYARBAKIR Turkey (Reuters) - Windows shattered by looting protesters, the largest city in Turkey's mainly Kurdish southeast shows plenty of signs of the violence that swept it last week, but optimism over a fragile peace process with Kurdish guerrillas is far harder to find. There are fears that the fate of the border town of Kobani in neighboring Syria could wreck efforts by the Turkish government to end a three decades long insurgency by the militants, and tip Turkey back into a conflict that has cost 40,000 lives. ...","Celtic youths chance to shine in season twilight. Celtic assistant manager Johan Mjallby says the champions will give their youth players more opportunities to impress in the remaining games of the season. The Glasgow giants wrapped up their third Scottish Premiership title in a row in record time last week with seven games to spare. Several young starlets have been given their chance in recent weeks with Eoghan O'Connell joining Liam Henderson and Darnell Fisher in making the step up to the top team. And the former Swedish international hopes they use their opportunity to shine and stake a claim for a place in Neil Lennon's first team, starting with Saturday's trip to Tannadice to take on in-form Dundee United.","Russia says EU opts against Ukraine peace process by imposing sanctions. Russia's Foreign Ministry said on Thursday that the European Union had shown itself to be against the peace process in Ukraine by imposing a new set of sanctions against Moscow. \"By taking this step, the European Union has de facto made its choice against a peaceful resolution of the inter-Ukrainian crisis,\" it said in a statement. \"Today Brussels and the leaders of the EU nations need to give a clear answer to EU citizens as to why they are putting them under the risks of confrontation, economic stagnation and unemployment.\" Russia has denied any involvement in the Ukraine crisis, despite Western accusations that it has been arming separatist rebels and deploying troops in the neighboring former Soviet republic. The new EU sanctions are expected to put Russia's top oil producers and pipeline operators Rosneft, Transneft and Gazprom Neft on a list of Russian state-owned firms that will not be allowed to raise capital or borrow on European markets, an EU diplomat said.","Jansrud has an explanation for his speed domination. VAL GARDENA, Italy (AP) — Some critics have attributed Kjetil Jansrud's domination of speed skiing to the injuries to Aksel Lund Svindal, Bode Miller and Erik Guay.","Russia: 6 men found dead in 4 cars. MOSCOW (AP) — Russian investigators were trying Thursday to determine who killed six men whose bodies were found in four cars abandoned in an area of southern Russia close to the volatile Caucasus Mountains.","Tornadoes sweep through northeastern Nebraska. (Reuters) - Two large tornadoes swept farming areas of northeastern Nebraska on Monday, causing severe damage to at least one town and some injuries, according to officials and media reports. The tornadoes, part of a super-cell thunderstorm system, cut a swath across northeastern Nebraska, uprooting trees and leveling homes, officials said. The towns of Pilger and Stanton had suffered damage and emergency officials were searching for survivors, said Al Vacanti, city administrator for the nearby town of Wisner. \"Pilger is totally destroyed.","Robertson into world quarter-finals as landmark waits. Sheffield (United Kingdom) (AFP) - Australia's Neil Robertson booked his place in the quarter-finals of this year's World Championships with a 13-7 win over Mark Allen on Monday only to barely miss out on a notable landmark. The world number one was left stranded on 99 competitive century breaks for the season, with Robertson still one shy of becoming the first man to compile 100 hundreds in a single tour campaign. Melbourne-born Robertson, the 2010 world champion, resumed with an overnight 9-7 lead and then made breaks of 59 and 69 to pull further in front against his Northern Irish opponent. \"Throughout the whole match Mark kept sticking with me and I thought he played really well,\" Robertson told the BBC after his latest victory at Sheffield's Crucible Theatre in northern England.","U.N. chief voices alarm at increased Gaza violence. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon expressed alarm on Sunday that hostilities in and around the Gaza Strip appeared to be worsening, warning that an Israeli ground offensive would \"undoubtedly increase the death toll and exacerbate civilian suffering in the Gaza Strip.\" Ban reiterated his call for an end to the fighting, which he said had \"grave implications for the safety of both Israeli and Palestinian civilians,\" his press office said in a statement. The U.N. Security Council called on Saturday for a ceasefire. Thousands fled their homes in a Gaza Strip town on Sunday after Israel warned them to leave before it attacked rocket-launching sites, on the sixth day of an offensive that Palestinian officials said had killed at least 160 people. Militants in Hamas-ruled Gaza kept up rocket salvoes deep into the Jewish state as the worst bout of Israel-Palestinian bloodshed in two years showed no signs of abating, and Western foreign ministers said a ceasefire was an urgent priority.","New video shows scenes inside 'Boko Haram-controlled town'. A new Boko Haram video obtained by AFP on Sunday shows militants on an armoured vehicle parading down a road in an unidentified town they apparently control and the group's leader Abubakar Shekau preaching to locals. In the 44-minute video, Boko Haram voices support for other so-called caliphates, including the one proclaimed in Iraq and Syria by the Islamic State (IS) group. Shekau, who is pictured in close-up shots with rare clarity, again dismisses government claims about ceasefire talks and threatens to kill the man who has presented himself as Boko Haram’s negotiator. The video, which was delivered through the same channels as past messages, shows armed men lined along a well-paved road, with three pick-up trucks equipped with heavy weapons also visible.","Tiger Woods splits with his swing coach. PARAMUS, N.J. (AP) — Tiger Woods is leaving swing coach Sean Foley after four years and no majors.","Aussie couple with 'surrogate' baby refused exit from Thailand. A gay Australian couple have been stopped from leaving Thailand with a baby for having incomplete documents for the infant, immigration police said Friday, in the latest twist in a widening surrogacy scandal in the kingdom. The men were trying to leave for Singapore through the capital's main international airport on Thursday. Immigration police official, Major General Suwichpol Imjairach, said it was unclear if the baby had been born to a Thai surrogate mother. Australian media have reported that the men were one of four foreign couples to be stopped leaving Thailand with surrogate babies over recent days.","Credit Suisse faces threat of new U.S. tax probe. Credit Suisse faces the threat of a new investigation into its role in helping wealthy Americans avoid paying taxes after New York state's top financial regulator requested documents from the Swiss bank. Switzerland's second-largest lender had raised expectations it was putting the long-running American tax controversy behind it when it set aside an extra half a billion dollars last week to deal with a U.S. Department of Justice probe into its involvement in offshore tax evasion. But Benjamin Lawsky, New York's financial services superintendent, is now examining whether the bank lied to New York authorities about creating tax shelters, raising the prospect of a new probe, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters. Shares in Credit Suisse dropped 2.2 percent to 28.82 Swiss francs in Zurich on Monday as investors digested the possibility of a costly investigation.","Italy lower house approves new electoral law. ROME (Reuters) - Italy's lower house of parliament approved a new electoral law proposal on Wednesday, giving a boost to Prime Minister Matteo Renzi as he prepares to unveil a fresh package of tax cuts and economic reforms. The electoral reform, intended to ensure stable governments and prevent a repeat of last year's deadlocked election, must now go to the Senate where it is likely to face additional amendments from Renzi's own center-left Democratic Party (PD). ...","Asia stocks rise as crude oil rebound brings relief. By Shinichi Saoshiro TOKYO (Reuters) - Asian equities gained on Tuesday as a rebound in the crude oil price gave resource-related sectors a breather, but Tokyo shares bucked the trend and slipped as the yen's losing streak was tempered. Crude oil held to a swathe of gains after rebounding sharply overnight from five-year lows. The bounce in oil and other commodities was a good omen for currencies such as the Canadian and Australian dollars and also helped gold to bounce back. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was up 0.2 percent. Australian shares gained 0.6 percent. ...","Nigeria human rights advocate hails progress. LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) — Two generals and top officials of Nigeria's feared State Security Service had to testify at the National Human Rights Commission's hearing on the killings of unarmed civilians — a \"quantum leap\" in accountability in Nigeria, according to the country's top rights advocate.","Morocco scraps law allowing rapists to marry young victims. Morocco on Wednesday scrapped a highly controversial law allowing a child rapist to evade punishment if he marries his victim, as rights activists pressed the government to legislate to protect women from violence. The amendment to Article 475 of the penal code, first proposed by the country's Islamist-led government a year ago, was adopted unanimously by lawmakers, parliamentary sources said. The offending article made international headlines in March 2012 when Amina Filali, 16, killed herself after being forced to marry the man who had raped her, and who remained free. Right activists hailed the amendment, while stressing that much more remained to be done to promote gender equality and protect women from violence in the North African country.","Russian Sotnikova wins gold, Kim silver. SOCHI, Russia (AP) — Russia's cupboard was so bare of world-class female figure skaters that the sport's most dominant nation had to turn to the kids a few years ago.","Mexico announces friendly against Israel. MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico will face Israel on May 26 in Aztec Stadium, its last World Cup warm-up on home soil.","Honda to expand U.S. regional air bag recall to include California. By Yoko Kubota TOKYO (Reuters) - Honda Motor Co said on Friday it was expanding to the state of California a U.S. regional recall of vehicles over potentially explosive air bags made by Takata Corp after a driver was injured in an accident in the state. California is one of the biggest markets for the Japanese automaker in the United States. Honda decided to expand the recall after it was told on June 25 about an accident involving a 2005 model Accord that had taken place there in May, a spokeswoman said. According to a complaint filed to safety regulator the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), the air bag in the car shot out \"hot metal and plastic shrapnel\" after a collision, leaving the driver with \"severe burns, bruises and abrasions on her arms and legs\".","Syria talks set to open amid low expectations. BEIRUT (AP) — With stakes high and expectations low, Syria's government and its opponents sit down face-to-face at an international peace conference this week for the first time — muscled to the negotiating table by foreign powers that fear the bloodiest of the Arab Spring uprisings may engulf the entire region in sectarian war.","Shelling kills 11 in Iraq's Fallujah: doctor. Baghdad (AFP) - Shelling in the Iraqi city of Fallujah, held by anti-government fighters for over four months, has killed 11 people in less than 24 hours, a doctor said on Sunday.","SOCHI SCENE: Loud and clear. KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia (AP) — Russian skier Elena Yakovishina wears hearing aids in both ears, allowing her to enjoy the roar of the adoring hometown crowd at the bottom of the course.","Greek opposition says will try to force election. Greek opposition leader Alexis Tsipras said on Sunday he will not support any candidate for president in spring 2015, in the hope of forcing a parliamentary election. The Greek parliament needs 180 votes to select a president but the government has only 153 seats. This means that the necessary parliamentary majority to elect a president will not be there ... There will have to be new elections,\" Tsipras said in an interview with German newspaper Sueedeutsche Zeitung, according to a transcript sent by his office on Sunday.","Hamas military wing claims abducted Israeli soldier. Gaza City (Palestinian Territories) (AFP) - The armed wing of the Palestinian Hamas group claimed on Sunday night that it had kidnapped an Israeli soldier, prompting celebrations in the streets of Gaza City.","Pistorius trial: Defense tries to build case. PRETORIA, South Africa (AP) — Oscar Pistorius' lawyers at his murder trial Wednesday tried to roll back the prosecution's momentum, but the prosecutor sharply questioned the credentials and findings of a forensic expert for the defense.","Germany: G-7 ministers to meet on IS strategy. BERLIN (AP) — Germany's foreign minister says officials from the Group of Seven powers will meet later this month to discuss a political strategy against the extremist Islamic State group.","Gatlin wins 100 meters at Golden Spike. OSTRAVA, Czech Republic (AP) — Justin Gatlin remained unbeaten this season by winning the 100 meters at the Golden Spike meet on Tuesday, clocking 9.86 seconds to improve his own world-leading time of the year.","Seven militants killed by Russian forces in North Caucasus. (Adds militant leader among the dead) MOSCOW, May 24 - Seven militants in the North Caucasus province of Ingushetia were killed in a three-hour gun battle with Russian security forces after which their hide-out was consumed by fire, the Russian authorities said on Saturday. Russia is battling insurgents in its largely Muslim North Caucasus region where Islamist groups want to carve out an Islamic state. Last August, Ahmed Kotiyev, head of the regional Security Council, an advisory body on security and defense, and his driver were shot dead in Ingushetia. Russia's Anti-Terrorism Committee said in a statement that one of the militants killed, Artur Gatagadzhev, was responsible for the attack.","Flight 370 search intensifies after pings heard. PERTH, Australia (AP) — With hopes high that search crews are zeroing in on the missing Malaysian jetliner's crash site, ships and planes hunting for the aircraft intensified their search efforts on Thursday after equipment picked up sounds consistent with a plane's black box in the deep waters of the Indian Ocean.","3 rockets land outside Timbuktu in northern Mali. BAMAKO, Mali (AP) — A spokesman for the United Nations peacekeeping mission in Mali says three explosions have gone off outside the northern town of Timbuktu.","TSX futures indicate a lower start to the week. Stock futures pointed to a lower opening for Canada's main stock index on Monday, with December futures on the S&P TSX index down 0.1 percent at 7.15 a.m. ET. The RBC Canadian Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' index for October is scheduled for release at 9.30 a.m. ET . The Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index advanced on Friday after fresh stimulus measures from the Bank of Japan drove up most major sectors, but shares of gold miners slumped with the price of bullion. Dow Jones Industrial Average e-mini futures were down 0.17 percent at 7.15 a.m. ...","US forces launch missile strike against Shebab leader in Somalia. The US military launched a missile strike in Somalia on Sunday targeting a suspected Shebab militant leader, defense officials said. The US government has \"been tracking this guy for years,\" the official told AFP on condition of anonymity. The US strike took place just a day after the Shebab, which are linked to Al-Qaeda, called for attacks against foreign forces after arch-enemy Ethiopia joined the African Union force battling the extremists. Hardline Shebab insurgents control large parts of rural southern Somalia, and despite having been driven from a string of towns by the UN-backed mission known as AMISOM, guerrilla units stage regular deadly attacks in the capital Mogadishu.","$4M sought for Guam maternity ward renovations. HAGATNA, Guam (AP) — A Guam doctor is pushing to renovate his hospital's maternity ward for the first time in 25 years.","Gunmen fire on plane at Pakistan's Peshawar airport. By Jibran Ahmad PESHAWAR Pakistan (Reuters) - Gunmen fired on a Pakistan International Airlines plane as it was landing in the northern Pakistani city of Peshawar on Tuesday night, killing a woman on board and injuring three crew members in the third incident at a Pakistani airport this month. Flight PK 756 was carrying 178 passengers travelling from Saudi Arabia when it came under attack as it was preparing to land, policeman Asghar Khan said at the airport. The woman's daughter was sitting next to her when she was shot in the head, PIA official Mohammad Kifayatullah Khan said. \"It would have been a disaster had he been hit.\" The incident will raise further questions about whether the government is prepared for a Taliban backlash after officials announced a military operation to flush the militants from their mountain strongholds in North Waziristan on June 15.","Timmins to include shareholder nominee in board slate. (Reuters) - Canadian gold producer Timmins Gold Corp said its slate of nominees for the board would include Anthony Hawkshaw, earlier nominated by top shareholder Sentry Investments Inc, in a settlement that ended a month-long proxy battle. Sentry, which holds 17 percent of Timmins' outstanding shares, has agreed to vote for all eight company nominees. Timmins had announced four new independent nominees and had said five of the eight current directors would not run for re-election at its July 31 annual meeting.","Exclusive: Tech firms HP, EMC call off merger talks - sources. By Nadia Damouni NEW YORK (Reuters) - Hewlett-Packard Co has ended merger talks with EMC Corp and may announce this development as soon as Wednesday, deciding to walk away after months of fruitless negotiations, people briefed on the matter told Reuters. The official cessation of discussions to merge two of the tech industry's largest enterprise-oriented firms may come as a disappointment to activist investors Elliott Management, which has pushed hard for storage products maker EMC to pursue merger or spinoff opportunities. ...","Conservative edge in fundraising dramatically reduced as Liberals up their game. OTTAWA - Conservatives are still king of the federal fundraising hill, but Liberals are moving up fast.","Bulgarian lawmakers pave way for election with bank crisis unresolved. By Tsvetelia Tsolova and Angel Krasimirov SOFIA (Reuters) - Bulgarian lawmakers voted overwhelmingly to accept Prime Minister Plamen Oresharski's resignation on Thursday, paving the way for an interim government to take over in August and a snap election in early October. Oresharski's departure leaves his successor to sort out the Balkan state's worst banking crisis since the 1990s, with the fate of its fourth largest lender undecided. Bulgaria's credit default swaps rose on Thursday to their highest level since July 4, according to Markit, the financial information services company, as investors sought insurance against losses. Approval of his resignation was largely a formality after Bulgaria's political parties had agreed to hold early polls.","Taliban hangs five in Afghanistan's Helmand as fighting rages. By Mohammad Stanekzai LASHKAR GAH Afghanistan (Reuters) - The Taliban executed five people in a busy opium market in Afghanistan's southern Helmand province and left their bodies hanging overnight after accusing them of kidnapping a businessman, officials told Reuters. Thursday's public hanging, in the largely Taliban-controlled Kajaki district, was the second group execution reported in Helmand since the offensive began. \"Five kidnappers ... were hanged to death by an order from the Islamic Emirate's prosecution authorities,\" a Taliban spokesman, Qari Yousuf Ahmadi, said in a text message. \"We hanged them in order to teach others a lesson.\" Mass public executions, common when the Taliban ruled Afghanistan from 1996, ceased after the movement was ousted in the U.S.-led invasion in 2001.","African rivalries weaken U.N. hand against rebels in Congo. By Aaron Ross KINSHASA (Reuters) - Hundreds of Rwandan rebels in eastern Congo are defying a six month ultimatum to disarm, ratcheting up pressure on regional powers and U.N. peacekeepers to eliminate, once and for all, a force at the heart of two decades of conflict. Midway to a deadline set by regional leaders, not one Hutu rebel had laid down his weapon and yet rivalries among African nations are undermining the prospect of U.N.-led military action against insurgents Rwanda has previously hunted down in Congo. ...","Italy rescues 600 Syrian, Palestinian, Eritrean boat migrants. The Italian navy said on Tuesday it had rescued nearly 600 Syrian, Palestinian and Eritrean migrants crossing the Mediterranean in two overcrowded boats, including 62 minors. The Italian frigate Grecale pulled 323 Syrians and Palestinians to safety late on Monday, after helping rescue another 273 migrants from Eritrea, who were taken aboard the gunboat Sfinge, the navy said in a statement. The migrants, including 103 women, were spotted by a plane patrolling the seas off Italy as part of an operation launched after two October shipwrecks in which hundreds drowned. Italy began its operation \"Mare Nostrum\" -- (\"Our Sea\") a Latin reference to the Mediterranean -- after more than 400 migrants from Eritrea and Syria perished in twin tragedies off Italian shores in October 2013.","Suarez starts for Uruguay against England. SAO PAULO (AP) — Luis Suarez will start for Uruguay against England in Group D at the World Cup on Thursday after recovering from injury.","Dutch Ebola aid ship finishes West Africa tour. MONROVIA, Liberia (AP) — The European Union says a Dutch aid ship is finishing its tour of the three West African countries hardest hit by the Ebola epidemic, docking in Liberia to deliver supplies including medical equipment.","Afghans line up to vote in presidential runoff. KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Amid tight security, Afghans lined up Saturday to vote in a presidential runoff between two candidates who both promise to improve ties with the West and combat corruption as they confront a powerful Taliban insurgency and preside over the withdrawal of most foreign troops by the end of the year.","4 guilty in California in fake kidnapping scheme. SAN DIEGO (AP) — Four people have pleaded guilty to running a scheme that collected ransoms from 128 families across the United States by falsely claiming their loved ones had been kidnapped.","European states struggle with Draghi's challenge. FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — European Central Bank head Mario Draghi made the first move in his grand plan to rescue the economic recovery. Now it's over to the governments of the 18 countries that use the euro.","Georgian prime minister fires seven ministers in first reshuffle. Georgian Prime Minister Irakly Garibashvili fired five ministers on Monday and moved two to other ministerial positions in the first cabinet reshuffle since coming to power two years ago. The coalition government, initially headed by billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili, came to power in 2012, when his Georgian Dream group defeated a party of former president Mikheil Saakashvili. In November, when Georgian Dream's Georgy Margvelashvili was elected president, Ivanishvili stepped down for his ally Garibashvili to take over the more powerful role of prime minister. Garibashvili said the reshuffle, which did not affect key ministers, was needed to give a new energy to the government and to increase its efficiency.","Firefighter spotted girl before running her over in aftermath of plane crash. SAN FRANCISCO - Video from the helmet camera of a firefighter responding to the crash landing of an Asiana Airlines flight in San Francisco shows at least one rescuer was aware someone was on the ground outside the aircraft and even warned a colleague. Yet two fire trucks subsequently ran over an injured passenger.","Blast on Indian oil tanker docked in China kills 4. BEIJING (AP) — Chinese state media say an explosion on an Indian oil tanker being repaired at a shipyard in eastern China has killed four people and left three missing.","Israeli military says government has authorized it to call up thousands of reserve soldiers. JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli military says government has authorized it to call up thousands of reserve soldiers.","Timing of Ajmal's suspension irks Pakistan coach. DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Pakistan head coach Waqar Younis has blamed the ICC for \"destroying\" the combination of his team by suspending offspinner Saeed Ajmal before next year's World Cup","Health insurance a casualty of Greek austerity. ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greece says perhaps a fifth of the country's 10.8 million residents have lost their public health insurance, particularly families of long-term unemployed who have had state benefits withdrawn.","Obama announces $33 bn in new commitments to Africa. US President Barack Obama on Tuesday announced $33 billion in new investment and financing commitments to Africa during a three-day summit with dozens of leaders from the continent. \"That will support development across Africa and jobs in the United States,\" Obama said. \"The bottom line is that the United States is making a major long-term investment in African progress.\"","4 die in flooding in southern Romania. BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) — Romanian authorities say four people have died and 250 were evacuated after heavy rain and flooding hit southern areas over the weekend.","U.S. to send 600 troops to Eastern Europe to reassure allies. The United States will send about 600 U.S. troops to Poland and the three Baltic states to take part in exercises in the coming days to reassure NATO allies following Russia's seizure of the Crimean region from Ukraine, the Pentagon said on Tuesday. Rear Admiral John Kirby, a top Defense Department spokesman, said the bilateral exercises planned for Poland, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia were in addition to the regular training schedule the U.S. military has with those countries and were added due to the events in Ukraine.","Algeria's Bouteflika sacks senior aide: state media. Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika sacked a close aide on Tuesday and barred him from taking a job in any state institutions, in a move local media said pointed to infighting in the ruling National Liberation Front (FLN). Under the unexpected move, the ailing Bouteflika, 77, also banned Abdelaziz Belkhadem, his special adviser, from activities within the FLN, the state news agency reported, citing a presidential statement. The statement gave no reason for the president's decision but local media speculated that Belkhadem had angered Bouteflika with comments seen as attempting to implicate him in a leadership struggle inside the FLN.","Rock captain Colin Doyle still in love with lacrosse after all these years. TORONTO - First game of the season and the Toronto Rock locker-room is jumping.","Japan lets first evacuees live in nuke no-go zone. TOKYO (AP) — For the first time since Japan's nuclear disaster three years ago, authorities are allowing residents to return to live in their homes within a tiny part of a 20-kilometer (12-mile) evacuation zone around the Fukushima plant.","Kerry says constructive relations with China needed for regional stability. By Lesley Wroughton HONOLULU (Reuters) - A constructive relationship between Washington and Beijing is necessary to maintaining regional stability despite China's behavior in the South China Sea, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Wednesday at the end of an eight-day trip to Asia. In a speech in Hawaii, Kerry focused on the Obama administration's so-called pivot to Asia instead of crises engulfing Iraq, Afghanistan, Gaza and Ukraine. During the speech, Kerry said President Barack Obama had asked him to redouble efforts in building relations with countries in Asia and the Pacific. Kerry referred to tensions in the South China Sea, which was the focus of a recent summit of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) he attended in Myanmar.","US launches $1 billion push for off-grid Africa power. US companies have promised $1 billion for off-grid power projects in Africa, putting a growing focus on small-scale and renewable energy in the push to ease the continent's chronic electricity shortages. President Barack Obama's administration announced commitments by 27 investors as it moves forward on a goal of doubling electricity access in sub-Saharan Africa, where a lack of power has been a key impediment to improving education and public health. \"With close to 600 million people without access to modern-day electricity, it is clear that centralized grid access is not a comprehensive solution for these countries in one of the world's least urban continents,\" Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz said Tuesday on a visit to Ethiopia, according to a statement. \"But through solutions including off-grid and small scale energy projects, we can bring electricity to these rural areas,\" he said.","Parts of Britain struggling with immigration, say government advisers. Immigration has joined the economy at the top of voter concerns ahead of a 2015 national election, fuelling the rise of the anti-European Union UK Independence Party and increasing pressure on Prime Minister David Cameron to get tougher on the issue. Cameron has pledged to cut net migration to below 100,000 a year, but the figure has actually continued to rise.","No significant change in Russian troop positions near Ukraine: NATO. BRUSSELS (Reuters) - NATO does not see significant changes in the positioning of Russian troops close to Ukraine's eastern border, a NATO military official said on Monday, after pro-Russian protesters seized public buildings in three cities in eastern Ukraine. \"We do not see significant changes to Russian troop dispositions east of the Ukrainian border,\" the NATO military official said, when asked if the Western alliance had detected any movement by Russian forces near the Ukrainian border. NATO officials estimate that Russia has around 40,000 troops close to Ukraine's eastern border. ...","Wanderers, Kawasaki Frontale into 2nd round in ACL. SYDNEY (AP) — Shinji Ono's stunning second-half strike helped Western Sydney to a 5-0 win over Guizhou Renhe and a spot in the second round in its debut season in the Asian Champions League.","Rare stamp could set record at NYC auction. NEW YORK (AP) — A 1-cent postage stamp from a 19th century British colony in South America is poised to become the world's most valuable stamp — again.","League Cup triumph whets Man City appetite. Manchester City manager Manuel Pellegrini ambitiously declared that one trophy would not suffice for his team this season after they overcame Sunderland 3-1 to win the League Cup. Sunderland took an early lead through Fabio Borini in Sunday's final at Wembley, but a pair of memorable goals from Yaya Toure and Samir Nasri put City in charge before Jesus Navas sealed victory in the final minute. It was Pellegrini's first major trophy in European football, but with City still in contention for honours in the Premier League, the FA Cup and the Champions League, there could be more to come.","Peace at stake in Colombia's scandal-tainted presidential vote. By Helen Murphy and Julia Symmes Cobb BOGOTA (Reuters) - Colombians vote on Sunday in a tightly fought presidential election that has seen the top two candidates tainted by scandal as they wrestle over the pivotal issue of how to end a five-decade insurgency by Marxist FARC rebels. The battle for the presidential palace in Latin America's No. 4 economy is between incumbent leader Juan Manuel Santos and bitter rival Oscar Ivan Zuluaga, a right-wing economist whose late surge in polls has left them neck-and-neck. Though once cabinet colleagues as the ministers of defense and finance respectively, Santos and Zuluaga differ sharply on how to end a conflict that has killed more than 200,000 people and gave Colombia a basket-case image it shed only in recent years. \"We are deciding between war and peace and you can't make peace overnight,\" said Jhon Jairo Ramirez, a 29-year-old Bogota shoe-shiner who remained undecided on which way to vote.","Rugby Union - McCaw eyes matching Meads, All Blacks eye title. - Skipper Richie McCaw will equal a 43-year record Saturday when New Zealand seek a bonus-point win over Argentina in La Plata to retain the Rugby Championship title.","Afghanistan's Abdullah urges calm on Massoud anniversary amid election deadlock. Afghan presidential contender Abdullah Abdullah urged his supporters to avoid violence on Tuesday's anniversary of the assassination of Ahmad Shah Massoud, as a bitter feud with his rival over a disputed election showed no sign of resolution. The former foreign minister, who was close to anti-Taliban fighter Massoud before he was killed in 2001, restated his intention to reject the results of the run-off against former finance minister Ashraf Ghani and said that talks for a national unity government had made no progress. The row over the election which both men claim to have won could reignite Afghanistan's dangerous ethnic divisions. President Barack Obama urged Abdullah and Ghani in separate telephone calls to quickly agree the terms of a U.S.","Obama calls for immediate access to crash site. WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama is calling for international investigators to have \"immediate and full access\" to the site in eastern Ukraine where a passenger jet was shot down last week.","IOC to contribute to Munich massacre memorial. MUNICH (AP) — The International Olympic Committee will contribute $250,000 toward a memorial for the victims of the attack on the Israeli team at the 1972 Munich Games.","Basketball World Cup has record 45 NBA players. BILBAO, Spain (AP) — The Basketball World Cup started Saturday with a record 45 current NBA players on the rosters of the 24 teams.","Australia to ship Tamil asylum seekers to its mainland: government source. SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australia will transfer 157 Tamil asylum seekers that it has been holding at sea to the mainland Curtin Detention Centre, a government source told Reuters on Friday, in a setback for Prime Minister Tony Abbott's tough policy on refugee boat arrivals. (Reporting by Matt Siegel; Editing by Kim Coghill)","Murray ready for late show on Scottish independence vote. Andy Murray will stay up late into the night to watch the result of the historic referendum on Scottish independence next month, but refuses to get distracted by the issue during his assault on a second US Open title. Murray, who won Britain's first Wimbledon title in 77 years in 2013, admitted that he has been taking a keen interest in the debate and will be glued to the screen on the night of September 18 when the issue will be decided. If the 'yes' campaign succeeds it will see the 27-year-old Murray play under the Scottish flag at the 2016 Rio Olympics, four years after he won gold for Great Britain at the 2012 London Games. \"If Scotland became independent, then I imagine I would be playing for Scotland,\" he said.","Harsh weather helps depress Canada December retail sales. Extreme weather helped slash Canadian retail sales by a seasonally adjusted 1.8 percent in December, data which will help cement expectations that the economy shrank in the month, according to a Statistics Canada release on Friday. The volume of retail sales, relevant for real gross domestic product, fell by even more, 2.2 percent.","Insurgents overrun northwestern Iraqi town: witnesses. MOSUL Iraq (Reuters) - - Insurgents overran the northwestern Iraqi town of Tal Afar on Sunday, witnesses in the town said by telephone. Several people in the town reached by telephone said militants from the Sunni Arab group the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant had attacked it and taken control after fighting with security forces. (Writing by Peter Graff)","China labels Japan a 'trouble maker'. BEIJING (AP) — China is firing back after criticism from Tokyo over a rise in tensions, labeling Japan a \"trouble maker\" that is damaging regional peace and stability.","Belarus tightens control over online media. MINSK, Belarus (AP) — The Belarusian parliament has approved a bill that would allow authorities to shut Internet media if they carry content deemed illegal.","El Salvador's presidential election proves tight. SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador (AP) — A former Marxist guerrilla and the conservative former mayor of El Salvador's capital were in a tight race Sunday night in early returns from their presidential runoff election.","Canadian Tire takes its 56-year-old paper 'money' into digital era. Canadian Tire Corp said on Tuesday it will take the store's famous paper \"money\" into the digital era as it looks to better compete with deep-pocketed U.S. Started in 1958, Canadian Tire money is actually a store coupon that resembles cash and offered to customers with their change. The low-tech loyalty program has become something of a Canadian institution, with the alternative currency tucked away in wallets and purses, glove compartments and junk drawers across the country. The retailer says some C$1 billion worth of Canadian Tire \"money\" has been issued since its inception.","Saints score 3 in 11 minutes against Fulham. LONDON (AP) — Southampton scored three second-half goals in 11 minutes to beat Fulham 3-0 on Saturday in the English Premier League.","China's Communist Party expels official of power gear maker for graft. China's ruling Communist Party has expelled a senior official of a state-run power equipment maker for taking huge bribes in violation of the law, the party's anti-graft watchdog said on Monday. The removal of Huang Baodong, deputy general manager of Power Construction Corporation of China, adds to evidence that the power sector could be the latest to face anti-graft probes by the government. After Xi Jinping became president in March last year, China has launched several probes into the energy sector, as part of a broader campaign to clamp down on graft in a government widely seen as rife with corruption. But the drive is also seen as a tool to remove Xi's opponents, in an unprecedented campaign that targets some of China's most high-ranking officials.","Sweden suspects match-fixing in 2nd-tier league. STOCKHOLM (AP) — Sweden's football federation says it suspects a case of match-fixing in the Scandinavian country's second-tier league, Superettan.","Cleveland zoo's Nile hippopotamus, believed to be oldest in North America at 59, euthanized. CLEVELAND - A Nile hippopotamus believed to be the oldest in North America has died at an Ohio zoo.","Exclusive: GM's new recall risk - the spare parts market. By Ben Klayman, Marilyn Thompson and Julia Edwards DETROIT/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - As General Motors Co recalls 1.6 million vehicles that have defective ignition switches linked to at least 12 deaths, it faces another potential risk - this time in the spare parts market. Repair shop owners say it is still possible to purchase GM brand ignition switches manufactured by Delphi Automotive carrying the same parts number as the product at the center of the recall. A spokesman for GM, which buys the switches from Delphi and sells them under GM-owned brands, said the automaker was not clear whether it had sold switches to parts dealers and was getting answers for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, (NHTSA), which is now carrying out an investigation into accidents linked to the defective part. \"We are in the process of responding to the very questions you are asking, per our pledge to be fully cooperative with NHTSA,\" GM spokesman Jim Cain said.","U.S. Embassy in Uganda tells citizens to seek shelter amid anti-terror operation. Embassy in Uganda told its citizens to seek shelter on Saturday as Ugandan authorities carry out an operation against a \"suspected terrorist cell\" in the capital Kampala. \"Ugandan authorities are conducting operations against a suspected terrorist cell in Kampala.\" As one of the countries that contribute forces to an African Union peacekeeping mission battling the Islamist militant group al Shabaab in Somalia, Uganda has suffered militant attacks in recent years, and al Shabaab has threatened more. In 2010, Al Shabaab, which is aligned with al Qaeda, bombed sports bars in Uganda where people were watching the soccer World Cup on television. Embassy says Uganda faces a \"continued threat\" and has issued other alerts during the year about possible attacks.","Man Utd ban laptops, tablets over security fears. English Premier League giants Manchester United announced on Wednesday they were banning supporters from bringing laptops and tablets into their Old Trafford stadium over security fears. The three-time European champions issued a statement on their official website telling supporters that they would not be able to bring in any electronic devices measuring more than 150mm x 100mm (6 inches x 4 inches), including laptops and tablet devices such as iPads and iPad minis. United said the scale of the 75,000 capacity stadium, dubbed the \"Theatre of Dreams\", and the club's high profile meant Old Trafford was at \"unique\" risk.","Global Warming Slows Down Antarctica's Coldest Currents. A shift from briny to fresh in Antarctica's ocean waters in recent decades could explain the shutdown of the Southern Ocean's coldest, deepest currents, a new study finds. The cold currents, called the Antarctic Bottom Water, are chilly, salty rivers that flow from the underwater edge of the Antarctic continent north toward the equator, keeping to the bottom of the seafloor. Previous studies have found this deep, dense water is disappearing, though researchers aren't sure if the shrinkage is part of a long-term trend linked to global warming, or a natural cycle. The new study suggests that Antarctica's changing climate is to blame for the shrinking Antarctica Bottom Water.","Spanish prosecutors to sue Catalan president over referendum. Spanish prosecutors said Wednesday they will sue Catalan president Artur Mas after he went ahead with a symbolic independence referendum in defiance of a court injunction. \"The public prosecutor's office will take the appropriate legal actions in the High Court of Justice of Catalonia,\" the public prosecutor's office said in a statement. The Catalan government says 2.3 million people took part in the vote on November 9 which Mas held following a legal block by the central government against his plans to hold an official, non-binding referendum on the issue that day. It has triggered the biggest clash between Catalonia and the central government since Spain returned to democracy following the death of longtime dictator General Francisco Franco in 1975.","Obamacare sign-ups hit seven million target: W.House. The White House said Tuesday it had reached its target of signing up seven million people to new insurance plans under President Barack Obama's health care law. \"I think it is fair to say we surpassed everybody's expectations,\" spokesman Jay Carney said, noting that 7,041,000 people had signed up before a midnight deadline. Senior White House officials saw the deadline day rush as vindication after the disastrous rollout of the federal health care website -- HealthCare.gov -- late last year. The law demands that all Americans have health insurance or pay a fine, but offers subsidies for the less well-off.","Red Sox temporarily replace Uehara as closer. BOSTON (AP) — Koji Uehara has been removed temporarily from his closer's role with the Boston Red Sox.","Dutch man's case may be linked to Amanda Todd. AMSTERDAM (AP) — Dutch prosecutors have filed indecent assault and child pornography charges against a 35-year-old man suspected of blackmailing underage girls to perform sexual acts in front of a webcam.","Kangaroos too strong for Samoa to reach Four Nations final. Australia's Kangaroos eased into the Four Nations rugby league final with a convincing 44-18 win over Samoa in Wollongong on Sunday. The Kangaroos, in danger of missing their first major tournament final in 60 years after losing 30-12 to New Zealand in the opening game, will have another crack at the Kiwis in the decider in Wellington next Saturday. The Australians posted eight tries to Samoa's three and were in control at halftime with a 28-6 lead. Team mainstays Greg Inglis and Cooper Cronk both scored two tries, while skipper Cameron Smith landed four goals from six attempts.","Thousands of anti-Putin protesters march in Moscow to demand release of jailed demonstrators. MOSCOW - Several thousand protesters marched through central Moscow on Sunday to call for the release of 20 people who were arrested after clashes between police and demonstrators in May 2012.","Richie McCaw hints at retirement after World Cup. WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — All Blacks captain Richie McCaw says he is unlikely to continue his international rugby career after the 2015 World Cup.","Akmal returns for tests, Younis back in ODI team. ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistan selectors have recalled Umar Akmal for next month's two-test series against Sri Lanka while experienced Younis Khan has returned to the one-day squad after 16 months.","French first lady hospitalized: media. French first lady Valerie Trierweiler has been hospitalized in Paris following revelations about an affair between French President Francois Hollande and an actress, French media said on Sunday. BFM Television said the Elysee presidential palace had confirmed that Trierweiler had been hospitalized since Friday because of exhaustion. French daily Le Parisien said earlier on its website that Trierweiler, shaken by the revelations about the affair, had been taken to hospital on Thursday, right after hearing about Hollande's liaison. Trierweiler's spokesperson was not immediately available.","Pakistan rallies to test government, its democracy. ISLAMABAD (AP) — Ahead of planned massive anti-government protests, Pakistan's capital feels like a city preparing for a siege.","London shares open lower ahead of key rate meetings. London (AFP) - London shares opened lower on Thursday in tentative trading ahead of Bank of England and European Central Bank rate decisions.","French city bans foreign flags during World Cup. PARIS (AP) — The city of Nice, on France's Cote d'Azur, is banning the \"ostentatious display\" of foreign flags during the World Cup, citing security concerns.","Officials: Attackers on motorcycle kill 5 policemen in southern Egypt. CAIRO - Egyptian security officials say masked gunmen riding on a motorcycle have killed five policemen at a checkpoint in the country's south.","Obama to announce manufacturing institute in NC. DURHAM, N.C. (AP) — Highlighting the growing manufacturing sector of the U.S. economy, President Barack Obama is proposing new ways for the government and the private sector to help keep those jobs coming.","Corporate deals set to return to pre-crisis levels. LONDON (AP) — After a year that's been awash with multi-billion dollar deals, the number and value of mergers and acquisitions looks set to return to pre-crisis levels over the coming 12 months, consulting firm EY said Monday.","AP Photos: Thousands at religious summit in Haiti. BOIS-NEUF, Haiti (AP) — The Christian pilgrims crowded on to a barren mountainside in central Haiti by the thousands, seeking favors and spiritual renewal.","Iraqi forces ready push after Obama offers advisers. By Isra' al-Rubei'i BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraqi forces were massing north of Baghdad on Friday, aiming to strike back at Sunni Islamists whose drive toward the capital prompted the United States to send military advisers to stiffen government resistance. President Barack Obama offered up to 300 Americans to help coordinate the fight. But he held off granting a request for air strikes from the Shi'ite-led government and renewed a call for Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki to do more to overcome sectarian divisions that have fuelled resentment among the Sunni minority. Speculation that Maliki might be forced aside was heightened when the country's senior Shi'ite cleric urged a speedy formation of a new government following the ratification this week of the results of a parliamentary election held in April.","Obama confronts shortcomings in Myanmar reforms. BEIJING (AP) — When President Barack Obama arrives in Myanmar's remote capital, he will confront a nation backsliding in its pledges to enact economic and political reforms that were rewarded with U.S. sanctions relief and made the long-isolated country a darling of Obama's efforts to stake out a legacy in Asia.","Kumaritashvili's death remembered at Sochi Games. KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia (AP) — Members of the International Luge Federation will hold a private remembrance of Georgian slider Nodar Kumaritashvili on Feb. 12, the four-year anniversary of his death.","At least 20 dead in Syria 'barrel bomb attack in Aleppo'. Beirut (AFP) - Syrian regime helicopters on Monday dropped barrel bombs on an opposition-held district in northern Aleppo city, killing at least 20 people, including several children, an NGO said.","Francis deeply influenced by both saintly popes. VATICAN CITY (AP) — When Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio almost became pope in 2005, he told a confidant that — had he been elected — he would have named himself after the pope he so admired: John XXIII.","FIA to review Perez penalty after Canadian GP. SPIELBERG, Austria (AP) — Formula One's governing body will review the stewards' decision at the Canadian Grand Prix to issue Force India driver Sergio Perez a five-place grid penalty for Sunday's race in Austria.","Switzerland prepares to tighten screws on whistleblowers. By Tom Miles GENEVA (Reuters) - Switzerland's parliament will consider a bill on Monday that critics say will tighten the rules on whistleblowers, shutting the door to what is often a last resort for people trying to stop wrongdoing and corruption. Although the bill aims to clarify a grey area of the law, it will effectively outlaw whistleblowing unless Swiss authorities -- renowned worldwide as a model of efficiency -- fail to follow correct procedures. ...","LA stage show fuses Mexican wrestling, striptease. LOS ANGELES (AP) — It's hard to say which zany circus-like act wins over the audience at Lucha VaVoom.","New film tells Holocaust story of Polanski ally. WARSAW, Poland (AP) — They were both Holocaust survivors from Poland who suffered through unspeakable tragedies. But when director Roman Polanski and producer Gene Gutowski teamed up in the 1960s they never spoke of the war, preferring to focus on life by making movies and partying hard.","Abbas demands immediate Security Council session on Gaza. Ramallah (Palestinian Territories) (AFP) - Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas called Sunday for an immediate session of the UN Security Council, as the Palestinian toll on the 13th day of Israel's Gaza offensive rose to 438.","Aide to Islamic State's Baghdadi killed near Falluja: Iraqi TV. BAGHDAD (Reuters) - An aide to Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi has been killed in an air strike near the city of Falluja, Iraqi state television reported on Monday. State television identified the man as Abu Huthaifa al-Yamani. It did not say when the strike took place or give further details. It was not immediately possible to confirm the death or whether Yamani was an aide to Baghdadi. Iraqi security officials have not confirmed the death. ...","Spain: Search for 4 after helicopter sea crash. MADRID (AP) — Spain's Air Force says rescue units are searching for four its members missing after their helicopter plunged into the sea off the Canary Islands.","2nd blogger detained in Vietnam crackdown. HANOI, Vietnam (AP) — Vietnamese police have detained a second blogger in a week in the latest crackdown on dissent.","Germany arrests 3 accused of spying for Turkey. BERLIN (AP) — German prosecutors say they have arrested three Turkish men accused of spying on compatriots in Germany for Turkish intelligence.","PQ Premier Marois revives referendum talk with election call expected in Quebec. SHAWINIGAN, Que. - Quebec Premier Pauline Marois is reviving discussion about whether her Parti Quebecois government should hold another sovereignty referendum — but says such a vote would happen only when the population is ready.","Suspected Boko Haram rebels attack Chinese work site in Cameroon. By Tansa Musa YAOUNDE (Reuters) - Suspected Boko Haram rebels from Nigeria have attacked a Chinese work site in northern Cameroon, killing at least one Cameroonian soldier and at least 10 people are believed to have been abducted, the regional governor and Cameroon state radio said. The Chinese embassy in Yaounde confirmed the attack on Friday at a site near the town on Waza, 20 km (12 miles) from the Nigerian border close to the Sambisa forest, a Boko Haram stronghold. The governor of Cameroon's Far North Region, Augustine Fonka Awa, said he believed Boko Haram had carried out the attack. Authorities are investigating reports that at least one Cameroon soldier was killed and 10 people were abducted, he said.","Iran seen honoring nuclear deal but stockpile may grow: diplomats. By Fredrik Dahl VIENNA (Reuters) - A monthly update by the United Nations atomic watchdog is expected to show later this week that Iran is complying with last year's landmark nuclear agreement with six world powers, diplomats said on Monday. But the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is also likely to report that Iran's stockpile of lower-grade refined uranium has increased in recent months, one of them said. Iran's holding of uranium - which Tehran says it needs to fuel a planned network of nuclear power plants - is closely watched in the West as it could provide weapons-suitable material if refined much further. Iran denies any such aim.","Panama Canal turns 100 as expansion hits snags. PANAMA CITY (AP) — It was supposed to be a grand celebration of the engineering triumph that forged a nation.","Afghan president Ghani makes Saudi visit. Afghanistan's new President Ashraf Ghani performed a pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia and held talks with the oil-rich kingdom's crown prince on his first foreign trip, local media reported Sunday. Ghani was sworn in last month after a prolonged political stand-off over the results of a fraud-tainted presidential election. In talks Sunday with Crown Prince Salman bin Abdul Aziz, the two sides \"reviewed prospects for cooperation between the two brotherly countries,\" and discussed regional and global developments, the official Saudi Press Agency said without elaborating. Local newspapers on Sunday published photographs of Ghani performing a pilgrimage and praying in the Muslim holy city of Medina, western Saudi Arabia.","US whistleblower Snowden wins Swedish rights prize. Stockholm (AFP) - Fugitive US intelligence agent Edward Snowden was jointly awarded a Swedish human rights award on Wednesday.","Ukraine activist in hospital vows to fight on. VILNIUS, Lithuania (AP) — Ukraine opposition activist Dmytro Bulatov says he will continue to fight for democratic reforms in his country as he convalesces from injuries in a Lithuanian hospital.","Russia targets space station project in retaliation for U.S. sanctions. By Alissa de Carbonnel MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia cast doubt on the long-term future of the International Space Station, a showcase of post-Cold War cooperation, as it retaliated on Tuesday against U.S. sanctions over Ukraine. Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin said Moscow would reject a U.S. request to prolong the orbiting station's use beyond 2020. It will also bar Washington from using Russian-made rocket engines to launch military satellites. Moscow took the action, which also included suspending operation of GPS satellite navigation system sites on its territory from June, in response to U.S. plans to deny export licenses for high-technology items that could help the Russian military.","Britain's Cameron says Europe must stand up to Putin. (Reuters) - The loss of Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 must prove a catalyst for changing Russia's approach and ending the conflict in Ukraine, British Prime Minister David Cameron wrote on Friday in an opinion piece in the New York Daily News. Russia has been attempting to destabilize a sovereign state, violate its territorial integrity and arm and train thuggish militias, he wrote, and the world has paid the price. Cameron has been pushing the European Union to impose harder-hitting sanctions on Russia after the downing of a Malaysian airliner in Ukraine, advocating an EU ban on future sales of military equipment to Moscow.","Syria rebels cross from Turkey to join Kobane battle. A group of fighters from the rebel Free Syrian Army (FSA) crossed into Syria from Turkey on Wednesday to join Kurdish fighters defending the border town of Kobane against Islamic State jihadists, a local Turkish official said. The official, who asked not to be named, said 150 FSA fighters crossed overnight in several buses. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, confirmed the information but put the number at 50 fighters. The pro-Kurdish Firat news agency said the FSA fighters had crossed in eight vehicles at the Mursitpinar border crossing.","Syria Kurds 'recapture' areas of Kobane from IS. Kurds battling the Islamic State jihadist group in Kobane reportedly made advances Tuesday in the south of the flashpoint Syrian town on the border with Turkey. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights backed up the report. \"The (Kurdish) People's Protection Units (YPG) recaptured streets and buildings in the south of Kobane, after a fierce battle against the IS that began yesterday (Monday) evening,\" said the Britain-based Observatory. The monitor also said the YPG and its Iraqi peshmerga backers shelled IS positions on Tuesday elsewhere in Kobane, which is known in Arabic as Ain al-Arab.","China shackles Uighur scholar's feet for a month. BEIJING (AP) — A lawyer says a Chinese minority scholar accused of separatism and awaiting trial has been shackled on his feet for more than a month.","China police kill man who took 50 students hostage. BEIJING (AP) — Chinese police say they shot and killed a convicted criminal who took 50 elementary school students and a teacher hostage.","Flamengo player probed for alleged ties to militia. RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Brazilian authorities say they will interrogate Flamengo midfielder Luiz Antonio as part of an investigation into criminal militia groups in Rio de Janeiro.","Britain's Prince Harry joins photobomb craze. Britain's Prince Harry has followed his grandmother Queen Elizabeth II into the photobomb craze, giving the thumbs up in an image of acclaimed New Zealand rugby sevens coach Gordon Tietjens at the Commonwealth Games. Just days after the queen was snapped beaming in the background as Australian hockey players Jayde Taylor and Brooke Peris took a selfie, the 29-year-old prince popped up as Tietjens was being photographed at the swimming pool. Tietjens, New Zealand deputy chef de mission Trevor Shailer and sports psychologist Gary Hermansson were photographed as they sat a few rows in front of the prince, his brother Prince William and Catherine, the Duchess of Cambridge.","Ukraine attempts news cease-fire in the east. KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine's military authorities said they suspended hostilities Tuesday against Russian-backed separatists in the east in line with a truce declared last week.","Von Trier brings longer 'Nymphomaniac' to Berlin. BERLIN (AP) — Lars von Trier brought an extra-long version of his \"Nymphomaniac Volume I\" to the Berlin International Film Festival on Sunday, a cut that increases to nearly 2 1⁄2 hours the first installment of the two-part drama about a woman's sexual life from girlhood to age 50. The Danish director left his stars to do the talking — some of them, anyway.","China tells rich to do more to lead fight against climate change. China, the top greenhouse gas emitter, urged rich nations on Thursday to do more to lead the fight against climate change and help avert heatwaves, floods and rising sea levels. In a submission to the United Nations before a March 10-14 meeting of governments in Germany, Beijing called on developed countries to make deeper cuts in greenhouse gas emissions and increase aid to help the poor tackle global warming. They should \"take the lead\", it said in a document that highlighted its deep differences with the United States despite promises of greater cooperation between the two biggest emitters of greenhouse gases. Beijing said developing nations were doing most to curb rising world greenhouse gas emissions to limit warming.","Egypt court tries 26 men for debauchery. An Egyptian court on Sunday tried 26 men for alleged debauchery after accusing them of homosexual activity at a Cairo public bathhouse in a case that sparked international condemnation. The handcuffed defendants, many of them crying, arrived in court with their heads bowed as police pushed them inside a metal cage, an AFP correspondent reported. The defendants were arrested on December 7 in a night raid on a hammam in central Cairo's Azbakeya district. An Egyptian television presenter who filmed the raid as the near naked men were loaded aboard police trucks aired the footage days later.","US troubled by new Ukraine violence. WASHINGTON (AP) — The Obama administration on Thursday expressed new concerns about rising violence in eastern Ukraine, including the downing of a military helicopter by pro-Russian rebels battling the government.","Iraqi planes, artillery strike rebel-held Falluja. By Ahmed Rasheed BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraqi government forces battling al Qaeda-linked militants intensified air strikes and artillery fire on the rebel-held city of Falluja on Sunday, and at least seven people were killed, according to hospital officials and tribal leaders. Religious and tribal leaders in the city, 50 km (30 miles) west of Baghdad, said they feared an imminent assault by the army to expel militants and end a three-week standoff that has driven thousands of people from their homes. Iraqi security forces have set up a loose cordon around Falluja and have clashed sporadically with insurgents inside. \"There is no time left for talks and we're afraid a military solution is looming,\" said a local cleric in Falluja, which was the scene of two major battles with U.S. troops in 2004.","EU urges Israel to reverse West Bank moves. EU foreign affairs chief Catherine Ashton called on Israel Friday to reverse recent actions, such as announcing new settlements in the occupied West Bank, to bolster faltering peace talks. Earlier this month, an EU official said Israel had demolished several EU-funded humanitarian housing shelters in a highly sensitive strip of West Bank land near Jerusalem. Ashton also said she \"condemns the recent killing of an Israeli man in the West Bank and calls for an immediate end to all acts of violence\".","U.S. Congress passes Ukraine aid, sanctions. By Patricia Zengerle WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly on Tuesday for a package of aid and sanctions in response to Russia's annexation of Ukraine's Crimea region, and sent the measure to the White House for President Barack Obama to sign into law. The 378-34 vote backed a package that was overwhelmingly approved last week by the U.S. Senate, a rare show of bipartisanship after weeks of haggling between Democrats and Republicans over how best to respond to the crisis. The legislation backs a $1 billion loan guarantee for the Kiev government, provides $150 million in aid to Ukraine and surrounding countries and requires the U.S. State and Justice Departments to help the Kiev government recover assets amassed by corrupt Ukrainian officials. It also imposes mandatory sanctions, including visa bans and asset freezes, against Russians and Ukrainians determined to have engaged in violence or human rights abuses in Ukraine, who undermined Ukraine's sovereignty or participated in \"significant\" corruption in Ukraine.","Goetze's full talent on show in winning goal. RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Mario Goetze displayed all his considerable talent in scoring the goal that ensured Germany became the first European team to win the World Cup title in South America.","U.N. Arms Trade Treaty takes leap toward entry into force. By Louis Charbonneau UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The U.N. Arms Trade Treaty took a major step forward on its eventual entry into force on Wednesday as 18 countries, including five of the world's top 10 arms exporters, delivered proof of its ratification to the United Nations. The Arms Trade Treaty aims to set standards for all cross-border transfers of conventional weapons ranging from small firearms to tanks and attack helicopters. It would create binding requirements for states to review cross-border contracts to ensure that weapons will not be used in human rights abuses, terrorism, violations of humanitarian law or organized crime. Anna Macdonald of the Control Arms Coalition, an international advocacy group that has long lobbied for the Arms Trade Treaty, painted a bleak picture of what she said was \"an arms trade that is out of control.\" \"More than 520,000 people are killed every year by armed violence and millions more live in fear of rape, assault and displacement caused by weapons getting into the wrong hands,\" she said.","Hundreds pay respects at viewing for BART officer killed by colleague. HAYWARD, Calif. - Hundreds of mourners paid their respects Tuesday at the viewing for a San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit sergeant accidentally shot and killed by a fellow officer last week during a search of an apartment.","Brother of Norwegian skier Jacobsen dies. KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia (AP) — The Norwegian Olympic team says the brother of one of the country's cross-country skiers has died on the eve of the Sochi Olympics.","Venezuela warns airlines not to cut flights amid debt woes. By Deisy Buitrago CARACAS (Reuters) - President Nicolas Maduro on Friday warned airlines not to limit flights in and out of Venezuela, a day after reports a Colombian airline was reducing services to Caracas amid industry complaints of billions of dollars in unpaid debts. \"Airlines have no excuse to reduce their flights to Venezuela,\" Maduro said during a press conference. \"If airlines reduce (flights), I will take severe measures.\" Airlines have struggled to obtain dollars in exchange for the bolivar currency as a result of long-running delays in Venezuela's 11-year-old currency control system. The International Air Transport Association this week said that airlines are owed $3.7 billion and that some are considering halting service to Venezuela.","PSG advances to League Cup quarterfinals. PARIS (AP) — Paris Saint-Germain labored to a 3-1 win at second-division Ajaccio on Wednesday as the holders reached the quarterfinals of the League Cup.","Key events in latest Israeli-Palestinian fighting. Israel launched a ground invasion of the Gaza Strip on Thursday after a 10-day military campaign aimed at destroying Hamas' weapons arsenal and rocket-firing capabilities. The fighting has killed more than 240 Palestinians and one Israeli, according to officials from each side.","AT&T in talks to buy DirecTV for nearly $50 billion: sources. By Soyoung Kim and Ronald Grover NEW YORK/LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - AT&T Inc is in active talks to buy satellite TV provider DirecTV and may finalize a deal in the next few weeks that could be worth close to $50 billion, two people familiar with the matter said on Monday. The second largest wireless operator is discussing an offer in the low to mid-$90s per share for DirecTV, one of the people said, compared with the company's closing price of $87.16 on Monday. A bid at around $95 per share would value DirecTV at more than $48 billion based on its shares outstanding. The talks are the latest sign of a rising tide of potential megadeals in the telecoms, cable and satellite TV space, which is being roiled by Comcast Corp's proposed $45 billion takeover of Time Warner Cable Inc as well as market forces like the rise of Web-based TV and surging mobile Internet usage.","Senegal reports first case of Ebola: health ministry. Senegal confirmed its first case of Ebola on Friday, as the country's health minister announced that a young Guinean had tested positive for the deadly virus. Guinean health services had reported on Wednesday \"the disappearance of a person infected with Ebola who reportedly travelled to Senegal,\" Senegalese health minister Awa Marie Coll-Seck said, adding that the infected patient was a young Guinean man who was immediately quarantined.","Australia: Electronic signals detected by Chinese ship consistent with aircraft black box. PERTH, Australia (AP) — Australia: Electronic signals detected by Chinese ship consistent with aircraft black box.","Senate ready to OK Sen. Baucus as China ambassador. WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. Senate was preparing Thursday to confirm longtime Sen. Max Baucus as ambassador to China, handing the job to a lawmaker who is familiar with U.S. trade policy but has little expertise about military and other issues that have caused tensions in recent years with Beijing.","Turkey summons German ambassador over spying report: official. ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkey summoned the German ambassador to Ankara on Monday over a report in magazine Der Spiegel that Germany's BND intelligence agency had been spying on its NATO ally for years, a Turkish foreign ministry official said. The German magazine reported at the weekend that Berlin had identified Ankara as a top surveillance target in an internal government document from 2009. Turkey's acting foreign ministry undersecretary Erdogan Iscan met German Ambassador Eberhard Pohl to voice Turkey's concerns about the report, the official said, without giving further details. ...","Webber OK after serious crash in race in Brazil. SAO PAULO (AP) — Former Formula One driver Mark Webber escaped without serious injuries after a scary crash in an endurance race in Brazil.","Rights court orders Dutch to pay over Iraq death. PARIS (AP) — Europe's top human rights court is ordering the Netherlands to pay €25,000 euros ($31,000) in damages to the father of an Iraqi man who was shot dead by a Dutch soldier at a checkpoint in 2004, ruling that the investigation into the killing was inadequate.","European Court agrees to hear Berlusconi tax fraud appeal. MILAN (Reuters) - The European Court of Human Rights has agreed to hear an appeal by former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi against his conviction for tax fraud in August 2013, Berlusconi's lawyer said on Friday. Piero Longo told Reuters that the Strasbourg-based court had agreed to examine Berlusconi's argument that he had been denied a fair trial in the case. But he said no date had been set for the appeal to begin. ...","Putin signs bills completing Russia's annexation of Crimea. MOSCOW (AP) — Putin signs bills completing Russia's annexation of Crimea.","Top US commander: Obama ended Afghan uncertainty. KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — The top U.S. and coalition commander in Afghanistan says that President Barack Obama's decision to keep about 10,000 American troops in the country past 2014 has eliminated any uncertainty Afghans may have had about America's commitment.","Amid competition and crackdown, China reports a 9 per cent decline in microblog users in 2013. BEIJING, China - The number of online microblog users in China dropped by more than 27.8 million last year, marking the first major decline in popularity of a social media genre that has offered a way to share unfiltered information in a country with strict controls.","Mexico police chief sought in reporter attack. MEXICO CITY (AP) — Authorities in central Mexico are looking for a police chief who they allege ordered an attack on a journalist who was beaten in her newsroom by three men.","Wenger backs Rosicky to stay at Arsenal. Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger is \"absolutely adamant\" midfielder Tomas Rosicky will stay with the Gunners when his contract expires at the end of the season. The Czech replaced club record signing Mesut Ozil, suffering from a thigh injury, last weekend and scored title-chasing Arsenal's third goal ina 4-1 Premier League win over Sunderland at the Emirates Stadium. Rosicky, 34, joined Arsenal from Borussia Dortmund in 2006, but has seen his time with the north London club hampered by a string of injuries. However, Wenger said Monday: \"Tomas Rosicky will stay.","UN rights council launches Sri Lanka war crimes probe. Geneva (Switzerland) (AFP) - The UN Human Rights Council on Thursday launched an inquiry into alleged war crimes in Sri Lanka, a move angrily rejected by Colombo as counter-productive. In a 23-12 vote, the council backed a Western-sponsored resolution saying it was time for a \"comprehensive investigation into alleged serious violations and abuses of human rights and related crimes by both parties in Sri Lanka\". Colombo has come under pressure over alleged war crimes committed in 2009 when it launched its final offensive to end one of Asia's deadliest civil wars. The UN has said up to 40,000 Tamil civilians may have been killed during the last months of fighting against Tamil Tiger rebels and blamed many of the atrocities on government forces, a charge Colombo vehemently denies.","Henman wants Murray to question Mauresmo partnership. London (AFP) - British great Tim Henman believes Andy Murray might need to question his coaching relationship with Amelie Mauresmo unless the former Wimbledon champion can quickly return to peak form.","Drone strike kills 11 militants in northwest Pakistan. By Haji Mujtaba BANNU Pakistan (Reuters) - A U.S. drone strike in volatile northwestern Pakistan killed 11 militants on Saturday, a Taliban commander and security officials said, as Pakistani security forces press ahead with an offensive in a Taliban stronghold near the Afghan border. Two missiles slammed into a house in the village of Doga Madakhel of the Datta Khel area in the border region of North Waziristan, intelligence officials said. A Taliban commander told Reuters members of the Punjabi Taliban and Uzbek fighters were killed. Drone strikes in Pakistan resumed in June after a hiatus of six months, during which the Pakistani government pursued peace talks with the Taliban.","Australia says cost not a concern in MH370 search. Perth (Australia) (AFP) - Australia said Wednesday cost was not a concern in the search for Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370, after the mini-sub plumbing the depths of the Indian Ocean for wreckage ended its ninth mission empty-handed. Australia is leading the multinational search for the Boeing 777 which vanished on March 8 carrying 239 people, and is bearing many of the costs of the mission expected to be the most expensive in aviation history. \"There will be some issues of costs into the future but this is not about costs,\" Defence Minister David Johnston told reporters in Canberra. China, whose citizens made up two-thirds of the passengers onboard the ill-fated flight, and Malaysia are among eight countries including Australia which have committed assets to the Indian Ocean search.","British political newcomers see gains ahead. LONDON (AP) — The UK Independence Party claims its support is growing throughout Britain ahead of European Parliament elections in May.","Rosol, Berlocq advance at Croatia Open. UMAG, Croatia (AP) — Fifth-seeded Lukas Rosol of the Czech Republic needed a late rally to beat 100th-ranked Diego Sebastian Schwartzman 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (2) in the first round of the Croatia Open on Tuesday.","Americans lead dance at world juniors. SOFIA, Bulgaria (AP) — Americans Kaitlin Hawayek and Jean-Luc Baker won the short dance Wednesday at the World Junior Figure Skating Championships.","Thousands of Georgians protest against Russia, own government. By Margarita Antidze TBILISI (Reuters) - Tens of thousands of Georgians protested on Saturday against Russia, accusing Moscow of trying to annex the country's breakaway regions and denouncing their own government for not doing more to defend national interests. Critics of the government say it is too reluctant to criticize their powerful neighbor, particularly over the crisis in Ukraine, which stirs uncomfortable memories of their own, disastrous war against Russia in 2008. Following that conflict, two breakaway provinces, Abkhazia and South Ossetia, declared independence with Russian backing. ...","Afghan soldier who killed U.S. general spent three years in army. By Hamid Shalizi and Krista Mahr KABUL (Reuters) - The Afghan soldier who killed U.S. Major General Harold Greene had spent three years in the army before he squeezed off two to three bursts of gunfire from a first-floor window at a senior military delegation in Kabul, officials said on Wednesday. As details emerged about Tuesday's attack at a military complex in the Afghan capital, a picture was forming of a rogue Afghan soldier who may have been difficult to spot before he killed Greene and wounded 14 coalition troops. Greene was the most senior U.S. ...","Ewen McKenzie resigns as Wallabies coach. BRISBANE, Australia (AP) — Embattled Australia rugby coach Ewen McKenzie announced his resignation following the Wallabies' 29-28 loss to New Zealand on Saturday.","Britain raises terror funding concerns with Qatar. London (AFP) - Britain's David Cameron raised the issue of funding for extremist groups at a meeting with the emir of Qatar in London on Wednesday, the prime minister's office said.","Japan's core CPI rises to 3.2 on back of tax hike. TOKYO (AP) — Japan says its core consumer price index, which excludes fresh foods, rose 3.2 percent from a year earlier in April to the highest level since 1991, while household spending plunged as expected following a sales tax hike.","Iraq Sunni militant group vows to march on Baghdad. BAGHDAD (AP) — The al-Qaida-inspired group that led the charge in capturing two key Sunni-dominated cities in Iraq this week vowed on Thursday to march on to Baghdad, raising fears about the Shiite-led government's ability to slow the assault following the insurgents' lightning gains.","China's official news agency says central bank cuts interest rate. BEIJING (AP) — China's official news agency says central bank cuts interest rate .","Afghan 'insider' attack at base kills 1, wounds 15. KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — A man dressed in an Afghan army uniform opened fire Tuesday on foreign troops at a military base, killing at least one NATO soldier and wounding 15, including a German brigadier general, authorities said.","Mauritius finance minister quits, breaking ruling coalition. Port Louis (Mauritius) (AFP) - Mauritian Finance Minister Xavier-Luc Duval quit his post Friday in protest at electoral reform proposals by the main party in the ruling coalition, claiming the changes would bolster its power, he said. Duval, who is also Vice Prime Minister of the Indian Ocean island, said he had resigned in a row with the ruling Labour Party of Prime Minister Navinchandra Ramgoolam, breaking the ruling coalition in power since 2010. \"I submitted my resignation as a result of a profound disagreement with the Labour Party on a crucial issue for the future and stability of Mauritian democracy,\" Duval told reporters. Duval, who heads the Parti Mauricien Social Democrate (PMSD), opposes moves for an electoral reform bill that would expand voting systems to include proportional representation, claiming it would favour the main party.","British and Iranian officials hold talks in Tehran. A senior British diplomat made a brief visit to Tehran on Monday for talks with officials on the strained ties between the two countries and on Iran's nuclear program, Iran's official IRNA news agency reported. Earlier, IRNA said Tehran and London were looking to restore full diplomatic ties, all but severed after a 2011 raid on Britain's embassy in the Iranian capital.","Nigeria president says believes kidnapped girls are still in Nigeria. Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan said on Friday he believes 200 schoolgirls abducted by Islamist insurgents last month are still in his country and have not been moved to Cameroon. But if they move that number of girls to Cameroon, people will see, so I believe they are still in Nigeria,\\\\\" Jonathan told journalists on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in the Nigerian capital.","Lawyer: US man held in Cuba seeks to go home soon. HAVANA (AP) — The lawyer for a U.S. man jailed for nearly five years in Cuba says he is determined to go home in the next year, be it alive or dead.","Japan economy holds steady as tax hike looms. TOKYO (AP) — Japan's recovery is holding steady ahead of a looming sales tax hike, economic indicators showed Friday, though weakness in wages and spending suggest it remains vulnerable to a reversal.","UN warns South Sudan at risk of famine. The United Nations food agency on Saturday warned South Sudan risked famine due to the conflict between the government and rebels and appealed for free access for humanitarian supplies along roads and rivers. \\\\\"Some areas of the country appear to be at high risk of famine in the coming months,\\\\\" the Rome-based Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) said in a statement following an assessment carried out in April and May. With a ceasefire due to come into force on Saturday, the FAO said hunger had been caused by \\\\\"displacement, destroyed markets and disrupted livelihoods\\\\\" since fighting first broke out in December last year. \\\\\"There is a small window of opportunity to prevent this terrible crisis from deteriorating into catastrophe,\\\\\" said Sue Lautze, FAO's head of office in South Sudan.","Austrian politician compares EU with 3rd Reich. VIENNA (AP) — The head of Vienna's Jewish community is urging that a far-right politician running for EU parliament withdraw his candidacy over his suggestion that Hitler's rule was more liberal than the European Union.","Merkel challenges Putin after Ukraine crash but wary on further sanctions. By Stephen Brown and Annika Breidthardt BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany's Angela Merkel challenged Moscow's attempt to pin the downing of a Malaysian airliner on Ukraine, pointing to Russia as a source of separatists' weapons. The chancellor said there was evidence that the Malaysian Airlines Boeing 777, which crashed into a field in Ukraine killing all 298 people on board, had been shot down. It needed a ceasefire between Ukrainian government forces and the pro-Russian rebels to permit a full, independent investigation into the tragedy, Merkel said, issuing a \"very clear call\" for Russian President Vladimir Putin to help make this happen. \"These events have once again shown us that what is required is a political solution and above all that it is also Russia that is responsible for what is happening in Ukraine at the moment,\" Merkel told her pre-summer holiday news conference on Friday.","Romania: Putin is creating a Black Sea barrier. BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) — Romania's president said Monday that Russia has created a chain of conflicts around the Black Sea to further President Vladimir Putin's goal of rebuilding the former Soviet Union along its former border with the West.","Obama to meet with Pope Francis in March. WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama will meet with Pope Francis at the Vatican as part of a European trip scheduled for March.","Analysis: Beyond Kerry, seeking new Mideast ideas. JERUSALEM (AP) — Nine months of U.S.-driven diplomacy have left Israelis and Palestinians less hopeful than ever about a comprehensive peace agreement to end their century of conflict. Although a formula may yet be found to somehow prolong the talks past an end-of-April deadline, they are on the brink of collapse and the search is already on for new ideas.","Parma snatches 1-1 draw at Bologna in Serie A. MILAN (AP) — Parma scored late on to snatch a 1-1 draw at relegation-threatened Bologna in Serie A on Sunday.","Yemen's Shiite rebels take town south of Sanaa. SANAA, Yemen (AP) — Security officials say Yemen's Shiite rebels have captured a town south of the capital Sanaa, where they have also blown up the house of a rival Islamist politician.","Pakistan Taliban says truce over but talks ongoing. ISLAMABAD (AP) — The Pakistani Taliban said Wednesday they will not renew a ceasefire they called over a month ago to facilitate peace negotiations but said they will still continue talks with the government.","Airlines halt flights to Yemen amid fighting. SANAA, Yemen (AP) — Yemen's civil aviation authority says foreign airlines have halted flights into the main international airport in the capital because of heavy fighting in Sanaa between Shiite rebels and Sunni militias.","Vienna Philharmonic receives Birgit Nilsson Prize. STOCKHOLM (AP) — The Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra has been awarded the $1 million Birgit Nilsson prize in a ceremony attended by Sweden's royal couple.","Jordan's King: World must stand up to radicals. WASHINGTON (AP) — Jordan's King Abdullah says the threat posed by the Islamic State organization represents a struggle between \"good and evil.\"","US-led strikes hit IS group oil sites for 2nd day. BEIRUT (AP) — Activists say airstrikes have targeted oil installations and other facilities in territory under the control of Islamic State militants in eastern Syria for a second consecutive day.","How to make a romantic ski vacation work when one person is a beginner, other life-long skier. ASPEN, Colo. - This winter I put my relationship to the ultimate test: a romantic ski vacation.","Gang apparently helps Rio squatter invade housing. RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — A few heavily armed members of a notorious Rio de Janeiro drug gang have apparently helped a group of about 200 homeless people invade a complex of government-built low-income housing units.","US claims win in car trade dispute with China. GENEVA (AP) — The world's main trade body has ruled that China's anti-dumping duties on imports of American-made cars and sport-utility vehicles violate international trade rules, in what the United States calls a major victory for its manufacturers and workers.","New York to form first U.S. state Ex-Im bank: Cuomo. NEW YORK (Reuters) - New York plans to form the first U.S. state version of the federal Export-Import Bank to help businesses expand overseas, Governor Andrew Cuomo said on Tuesday, in a vote of confidence in a credit agency that critics have decried as corporate welfare. \"We're going to capitalize it with $35 million to start,\" Cuomo said at a trade summit in New York, according to a recorded version of his speech. \"We will have a real vehicle that can facilitate companies that want to make exactly this transaction. ...","S.African central bank boss to step down. Pretoria (AFP) - The South African Reserve Bank's respected governor Gill Marcus on Thursday announced that she will not stay in the job after her term expires in November.","Indonesia's surprise election result unsettles investors. By Jonathan Thatcher JAKARTA (Reuters) - An unexpectedly weak election result for the party behind the frontrunner to be Indonesia's next president hurt stocks and the currency on Thursday, with concern Southeast Asia's biggest economy could be heading into a period of political confusion. Early returns from Wednesday's parliamentary election show that the Indonesian Democratic Party-Struggle (PDI-P) will have no choice but to cut a deal with other parties to nominate its hugely popular candidate for president in a July 9 poll. Investor enthusiasm for Indonesia had been on the rise on the belief that Jakarta governor Joko Widodo might even win enough votes to avoid having to go to a run-off in three months time. \"At the very least, expectations on the duration of the presidential election is likely to move from one to two rounds, which increases the period of uncertainty,\" Trimegah Securities wrote in a research note.","Farage: Breast-feeding women might 'sit in corner'. LONDON (AP) — British politician Nigel Farage has defended a hotel that insisted a breast-feeding mother cover up, suggesting women might \"sit in the corner\" while they feed their babies.","United misses out on Europa League. SOUTHAMPTON, England (AP) — Manchester United failed to qualify for next season's Europa League after drawing with Southampton 2-2 Sunday on the final day of the Premier League.","8 killed in car crash in northeastern Brazil. SAO PAULO (AP) — Police in northeastern Brazil say eight people are dead following a head-on car crash that also left three others seriously injured.","Albania readies power imports to make up for drought. By Benet Koleka TIRANA (Reuters) - Albania is working to arrange the import of electricity worth up to 90 million euros ($124.93 million) to make up for the loss of domestic output caused by a drought, officials said on Friday. The Balkan state, which relies almost entirely on hydro power plant to produce electricity, has seen water flows to its power stations cut by 40 percent in another year of little rain. Finance Minister Shkelqim Cani said this year's rainfall and snow, below the decade-average by more than a third, meant Albania had \"very serious problems with energy\". \"We have one month to find alternative sources because we shall import 100 million to 200 million euros of additional power, outside the budget,\" Cani told a local television.","Thai farm workers may not get any of $8.7M award. HONOLULU (AP) — A federal judge is ordering a California-based labor contractor to pay $8.7 million in damages to Thai workers who were exploited while working at Hawaii farms.","Longtime Berlusconi ally declared fugitive ahead of mafia verdict. By Wladimir Pantaleone PALERMO, Italy (Reuters) - A longtime political ally, business associate and friend of former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has left the country ahead of a final ruling on mafia collusion charges, a Palermo prosecutor said on Friday. This week the Palermo court issued an arrest warrant for former Senator Marcello Dell'Utri, who co-founded Berlusconi's Forza Italia party in 1994, after prosecutors said they had evidence he might abscond before the verdict due next Tuesday. \"Now we will start the procedure for tracking him down abroad, with help from the justice ministry and Interpol.\" Dell'Utri's lawyer, Giuseppe Di Peri, said he did not know his client had left the country. A year ago, a Palermo appeals court convicted the 72-year-old Dell'Utri of acting as a go-between for the Sicilian mafia and the Milan business elite, including Berlusconi's companies, and sentenced him to seven years in prison.","Life in prison for refugee convicted of murder. SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — A Burmese refugee convicted of killing a 7-year-old girl has been sentenced to life without possibility of parole.","Mozambique opposition chief registers for October vote, says wants peace. Mozambique's Renamo opposition leader Afonso Dhlakama on Thursday registered as a voter for an October presidential election, a move that would legally allow him to run as a candidate. Dhlakama, who has lived in the bush for more than a year to escape what he said was government persecution, said he was interested in finalizing a deal with President Armando Guebuza's Frelimo administration to end a low-level Renamo insurgency. \\\\\"I am interested in maintaining peace in the country,\\\\\" he told reporters at Vunduzi in Sofala province in central Mozambique, where Renamo guerrillas have battled the army and police and ambushed road and rail convoys over the last year. Dhlakama, who led the former rebel movement against the ruling Frelimo party in Mozambique's 1975-1992 civil war, said a Renamo congress would decide whether he would be the opposition party's candidate in the October 15 election.","Bouchard emphatically leads Canada to 3-0 sweep of Serbia in Fed Cup tie. MONTREAL - Montreal's Eugenie Bouchard beat Serbia's Vesna Dolonc 6-0, 6-3 to power Canada to victory in its Fed Cup World Group II tie Sunday.","Cricket-New Zealand hit back after India strike early. (Updates at tea) AUCKLAND, Feb 6 (Reuters) - Captain Brendon McCullum and Kane Williamson counter-attacked after lunch to guide New Zealand to 179 for three at tea after the home side lost three early wickets on the first day of the first test at Eden Park on Thursday. McCullum was on 71 with Williamson 79 not out, the pair enjoying an unbroken 149-run partnership. Williamson's half-century was his sixth in succession against the tourists, having scored one in each of the five one day internationals that preceded the test series. The 23-year-old Williamson was dropped on 32 by Murali Vijay at first slip off Mohammed Shami, and went on to bring up his half-century from 79 balls with a top-edge six that flew over captain and wicketkeeper Mahendra Singh Dhoni's head.","Senegal prime minister sacked after losing election. Senegalese President Macky Sall sacked Prime Minister Aminata Toure on Friday after she failed to win a seat at local elections on Sunday, a presidential source said. Writing by Matthew Mpoke Bigg;","Extension of Iran talks deadline 'highly probable': diplomat. Vienna (AFP) - An extension of Sunday's deadline to strike a nuclear deal between Iran and world powers is now \"highly probable,\" and by months not weeks, a Western diplomat said Tuesday.","Murray leads British team for Davis Cup vs. Italy. LONDON (AP) — Andy Murray will lead Britain's team in the Davis Cup quarterfinals against Italy next month.","GM questioning employees in ignition-switch recall probe: sources. By Ben Klayman DETROIT (Reuters) - General Motors Co is moving to learn more internally about its handling of the recall of ignition switches linked to 13 deaths, including questioning employees involved in the process from the start, according to two people familiar with the situation. GM spokesman Greg Martin did not reveal details of the company's internal probe but pointed to Chief Executive Mary Barra's letter to employees on Tuesday, in which she said the company would take an \"unvarnished\" look at how the process was handled. Barra said in the letter that she was leading a team of senior executives that is directing GM's response to the recall, as well as, monitoring progress and making adjustments as needed. Also on Tuesday, GM said it received a 27-page list of 106 questions from U.S. safety regulators at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration about the company's handling of the recall.","John Kerry talks Asian relationships, trade pact. BEIJING (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry's address to Hawaii's East-West Center think tank this week drew attention primarily for its focus on the need for a constructive relationship with China to ensure regional peace and stability. However, Kerry touched also on U.S. relationships with five other key players in the region — Australia, Indonesia, Vietnam, the Philippines and Thailand — some of them locked in contentious disputes with Beijing. He also dwelt at length on the Trans-Pacific Partnership — a free trade pact the U.S. is negotiating with 11 other nations. Here's what Kerry had to say about those overlooked issues, along with some background explanation.","Sri Lanka 131-2 at lunch on day 3, 1st test vs New Zealand. CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand (AP) — Trent Boult and Tim Southee took a wicket each before lunch on the third day of the first cricket test against Sri Lanka on Sunday to edge New Zealand closer to a win and 1-0 lead in the two-match series.","Basement club Fulham make Magath manager. Fulham, the Premier League's bottom club, announced Friday they had appointed Felix Magath as first team manager after Rene Meulensteen was sacked just over two months into his reign at Craven Cottage. The west London side, at the foot of the table following a dramatic last-gasp 3-2 home defeat to Liverpool on Wednesday, are currently four points adrift of safety and have 12 games between now and the end of the season to save themselves from relegation. Former Manchester United coach Meulensteen was appointed Fulham head coach under Martin Jol before taking charge of the side on December 1 after his fellow-Dutchman was sacked as the Cottagers' manager.","Dundee United victory ends Celtic's winning run. Dundee (United Kingdom) (AFP) - Dundee United moved up to second in the Scottish Premiership with a 2-1 win over leaders Celtic to end the Hoops' eight game winning run on Sunday.","Merkel rebukes US, Britain over surveillance. German Chancellor Angela Merkel issued a strong rebuke to the United States and Britain on Wednesday over the sweeping digital spying revealed by fugitive IT contractor Edward Snowden. In a major speech to parliament ahead of talks with US Secretary of State John Kerry on Friday, Merkel said Western powers sacrificing freedom in the quest for security were sending the wrong signal to \"billions of people living in undemocratic states\". Merkel, whose own mobile phone was allegedly monitored by the US National Security Agency (NSA), is planning to travel to Washington in coming months for talks with President Barack Obama. US State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki confirmed Kerry would travel to Berlin and Munich from Friday to Sunday to meet \"senior German officials to discuss our ongoing bilateral cooperation as well as pressing international issues.\"","Martha Stewart settles legal dispute with Macy's. (Reuters) - Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia Inc said it had settled a legal dispute with retailer Macy's Inc over exclusive rights to its home products. Terms of the settlement were not disclosed. Macy's sued J.C. Penney Co Inc and Martha Stewart after the two announced a partnership in December 2011. Macy's said Martha Stewart's contract with Penney breached their agreement that included exclusive rights to Martha Stewart-branded cookware, bedding and bath products. (Reporting by Neha Alawadhi in Bangalore; Editing by Kirti Pandey)","Probe urged over missing Thai environment activist. BANGKOK (AP) — Relatives and human rights groups urged Thai authorities on Monday to investigate the disappearance of an environmental activist who has worked to help ethnic Karen villagers report illegal activity at Thailand's largest national park.","Rob Ford was drinking and 'talking gibberish' in B.C. bar, Star reports. TORONTO - There's a media report that Toronto Mayor Rob Ford was \"talking gibberish\" and appeared impaired at a Vancouver-area pub last weekend, just hours after he received a ticket for jaywalking.","Confident Madrid hosts low-scoring Liverpool in CL. MADRID (AP) — Having lost 3-0 at home to defending champion Real Madrid, Liverpool needs to rediscover last season's flair and rhythm to keep alive hopes of rising above third place in Group B of the Champions League.","Iran, six powers seek nuclear progress in shadow of Ukraine crisis. By Fredrik Dahl and Parisa Hafezi VIENNA (Reuters) - Iran and six world powers will try to make headway toward resolving their nuclear dispute in talks that started in Vienna on Tuesday, with Western officials hoping the challenge will not be made even more difficult by the Ukraine crisis. So far, diplomats say, there is little sign that the worst East-West confrontation since the Cold War will undermine the quest for a deal to end the standoff over Iran's atomic activity and avert the threat of a Middle East war. But unity among the powers on Iran may be tested in the meeting of their chief negotiators on the issue in the Austrian capital Vienna, with the four Western states and Russia at loggerheads over the future of Ukraine. Russia and the West have in the past differed on how best to deal with Iran, with Moscow generally enjoying warmer ties with the Islamic Republic and suggesting Western fears about any nuclear military aims by Tehran are overblown.","Merkel condemns U.S. diplomats' comments on Ukraine: aide. (Please note profanity in paragraph two) BERLIN (Reuters) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel finds the disparaging remarks of U.S. diplomats about the European Union's role in the Ukrainian crisis \"totally unacceptable\", a spokeswoman said on Friday. In a leaked conversation posted on Youtube, State Department official Victoria Nuland tells the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine in a discussion about the strategy for political transition \"fuck the EU\". German spokeswoman Christiane Wirtz said Merkel appreciated the work of EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, who has led the bloc's efforts to mediate between President Viktor Yanukovich and his opponents who have taken to the streets.","Canada wholesale trade the latest to disappoint in December. Canadian wholesale trade fell by more than expected in December, by 1.4 percent to the lowest level in six months, the latest in a series of negative indicators for the month, according to Statistics Canada data released on Wednesday. The median forecast in a Reuters survey of analysts was for a decline of 0.5 percent from November, and the actual number was worse than the most pessimistic estimate in the survey, of -1.0 percent. Statistics Canada had earlier reported falls of 0.9 percent in manufacturing sales and 4.1 percent in building permits, and economists had already expected a weak reading for December GDP. Five of the seven sectors fell, representing 79 percent of wholesale trade.","Filipino militants kidnap 2 people in Malaysia. KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Suspected Filipino insurgents seized a Chinese tourist and a hotel receptionist from a dive resort in eastern Malaysia and then fled in a speed boat, Malaysian and Philippine officials said Thursday.","Danone profit slumps in 2013. PARIS (AP) — French food manufacturer Danone says its profits slumped 15 percent last year as markets in Europe weakened, and warned that a return to growth won't come before late in the year.","Baby lost in bombing chaos to be reunited with mum. ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — A Nigerian newspaper reports that a baby lost in the chaos of the bus station bomb blast in Nigeria's capital is set to be reunited with her critically wounded mother.","Larson named AP's West Africa bureau chief. JOHANNESBURG (AP) — Krista Larson, who has covered the Ebola outbreak and the deadly conflict in Central African Republic for The Associated Press, has been named bureau chief for West Africa for the news cooperative.","Hurricane alerts posted for parts of Caribbean as Gonzalo strengthens. (Reuters) - Tropical Storm Gonzalo gained strength as it moved through the northern Leeward Islands of the Caribbean and was forecast to become a hurricane by late Monday or early Tuesday, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said. The storm, with sustained winds of 65 miles per hour (100 km per hour), was located about 10 miles (16 km) northwest of Antigua and was moving west-northwest at 10 mph (16 kph). A hurricane warning was issued for the British Virgin Islands and hurricane watches were in effect for Puerto Rico, St. Maarten/St. Martin, Anguilla, Vieques and Culebra, and the U.S. ...","LeBron James wows fans in Hong Kong. HONG KONG (AP) — LeBron James put on a demonstration of his basketball skills in Hong Kong, the midway stop on his tour through China.","Fifty-nine people arrested in South Africa post-election protests: police. JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Fifty-nine people were arrested after post-election protests in a Johannesburg township turned violent overnight, a police spokesman said on Saturday. Police used rubber bullets and stun grenades to disperse protestors in the impoverished Alexandra area who had burned tires and barricaded roads, Brigadier Neville Malila told Reuters. Alexandra was \"calm this morning,\" Malila added. Earlier, broadcaster eNCA reported the army had been deployed overnight to restore order. It was not immediately clear if the army remained in the area. ...","Judge: Review immigrant's residency application. LOUISVILLE, Kentucky (AP) — A federal judge in Kentucky is compelling immigration officials to make a decision about an application for permanent residency brought by an Iranian immigrant who distributed leaflets for a violent organization in his home country 30 years ago.","Swiss women beat Sweden 4-3 for hockey bronze. SOCHI, Russia (AP) — Jessica Lutz broke a third-period tie with 6:17 to play and Switzerland rallied from a two-goal deficit to beat Sweden 4-3 and claim the bronze medal in Olympic women's hockey on Thursday.","Putin's visit to China set to bolster ties. MOSCOW (AP) — Amid a bitter crisis in relations with the West over Ukraine, Russia's President Vladimir Putin is moving to bolster ties with China.","The global business of secondhand clothes thrives in Kenya. By Portia Crowe NAIROBI (Reuters) - Shaded by ragged squares of canvas, amid choking dust and the noise of hawkers, shoppers in Nairobi's Gikomba market can turn up Tommy Hilfiger jeans or a Burberry jacket for a fraction of the price in London's Regent Street or New York's Fifth Avenue. But there's a catch: the clothes are all secondhand, discarded as worthless at charity shops or thrift stores in Europe or the United States and then shipped thousands of miles to another continent, occasionally in such pristine condition that an original price tag is still attached. ...","Official: Ballot count so far shows overwhelming majority voted for Egypt's new constitution. CAIRO - A senior Egyptian election official says the ballot count so far from the country's referendum on a new constitution shows an overwhelming majority has endorsed the draft charter.","Hoffenheim ends Bayern's winning Bundesliga run. BERLIN (AP) — Hoffenheim dampened Bayern Munich's Bundesliga title celebrations by grabbing a 3-3 draw to end the champions' 19-game winning run on Saturday.","Man charged with recruiting Bosnians to fight in Syria. SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina (AP) — A court says a man has been charged with recruiting Bosnians to fight with Islamic militants in Syria and organizing a terrorist group.","EU sanctions Russian intelligence chiefs over Ukraine. Brussels (AFP) - The European Union announced Saturday it had broadened its sanctions against Russia over its role in conflict-torn Ukraine to include the heads of intelligence services.","No clear leader yet in Mauritius election count. PORT LOUIS (Reuters) - A clear leader has yet to emerge from a parliamentary election in Mauritius as ballots were being counted on Thursday, election officials said. Results of the race, which could lead to more powers being granted to the president if a coalition led by the ruling Labour Party wins, are expected later on Thursday. But not enough votes had been counted so far following Wednesday's election to indicate if either of the two main coalitions had a lead. A total of 726 candidates competed for 62 seats in the Indian Ocean island's National Assembly. ...","Russian deputy FM 'reasonably optimistic' of Iran nuclear deal. Muscat (AFP) - Russia's deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov said Tuesday he was \"reasonably optimistic\" world powers can reach a nuclear deal with Iran by a November 24 deadline, despite big gaps remaining.","UK papers show hunt for Thatcher-Reagan hoaxers. ","July elections in Thailand 'unlikely' amid crisis. BANGKOK (AP) — Thailand's Election Commission said Thursday it is \"highly unlikely\" that the country will be able to hold July 20 elections due to political unrest that has disrupted necessary preparations. The turmoil was highlighted Thursday by protesters who forced the acting premier to flee a key poll-planning meeting and overnight violence that left three dead.","Declassified documents show punk band's prank Thatcher-Reagan recording sparked spy search. LONDON - Declassified documents reveal how British spies hunted in vain for the creator of a fake recording of a spat between British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and U.S. President Ronald Reagan.","Europe failing to protect Roma from violence: Amnesty. European states are failing to protect their Roma communities, many of whom live in precarious conditions and are the victims of hate crimes sometimes perpetrated by police, Amnesty International warned Tuesday. In a report coinciding with International Roma Day, the rights group said many of the 10 to 12 million Roma living in Europe face \"the daily threat of forced eviction, police harassment and violent attacks\". \"The conditions in which many Roma are forced to live are a damning indictment of years of official neglect and discrimination,\" the group said.","U.S. finalizing plan to boost support for Syrian rebels: sources. By Mark Hosenball and Missy Ryan WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. government is finalizing a plan to increase training and small-arms shipments for Syrian rebels, two U.S. security sources said on Friday, as Syrian government troops gain momentum following the collapse of U.S.-backed peace talks. The United States would increase assistance and send the shipments to moderate rebel factions mostly based in Jordan, along Syria's southern border, the officials familiar with the plan told Reuters. But the United States fears supplies of advanced weapons to pro-Western rebels could be diverted to Islamic militant groups, who could use them to attack allied, Israeli or civilian aircraft, the U.S. officials said, explaining why the surface-to-air missiles won't be included in the assistance. President Barack Obama has resisted becoming entangled in Syria's complex, two-year civil war, but has faced criticism for failing to take a tougher stand given the immensity of the humanitarian crisis.","Signs of torture on body of slain Myanmar reporter. YANGON, Myanmar (AP) — The body of a freelance journalist shot by Myanmar's army show signs that he was tortured before he died, his wife said Thursday.","Female suicide bomber attacks Nigerian teaching college. A female suicide bomber injured four people on Wednesday at a teacher training college in northwest Nigeria, blowing herself up before she could reach her target, police said. At least 10 people had been feared dead in the blast at the Federal College of Education in Kontagora, Niger state, according to a student at the scene. \"An unidentified suicide bomber blew herself up before she could reach her target, which was the school library where many students were reading for their exams,\" he told AFP. The blast came two days after nearly 60 people were killed in a suspected Boko Haram suicide bombing at a school in the town of Potiskum in northeast Yobe state.","New UN rep for South Sudan warns of 'huge challenge'. The new UN chief for South Sudan arrived in the conflict-wracked country Tuesday, a week after gunmen shot down a UN helicopter to break the fourth ceasefire deal in nine months. \"It is a huge challenge,\" Danish diplomat Ellen Margrethe Loj told reporters of the task ahead after arriving in the capital Juba, although she said she was \"looking forward\" to the task. Loj, 65, the new UN special representative and head of the UN peacekeeping mission in South Sudan (UNMISS), arrives after almost nine months of conflict and amid warnings there could be a famine in the world's youngest nation if the fighting continues. Loj's predecessor, Norway's Hilde Johnson, said when she left the country in July that South Sudan's \"self-serving elite\" of leaders and rebels were sick with \"the cancer of corruption.\"","Russian accused of hacking seeks new detention. SEATTLE (AP) — Lawyers for the Russian man charged with hacking into the computer systems of businesses throughout the U.S. are asking a federal judge in Seattle to hold a hearing as soon as possible so they can make their case for moving Roman Seleznev out of a Special Housing Unit.","Nissan's quarterly profit jumps on sales, yen perk. TOKYO (AP) — Nissan's quarterly profit jumped nearly 15 percent to a better-than-expected 124.9 billion yen ($1.1 billion) as vehicle sales improved in almost all regions.","'Up to 15,000 Russian soldiers' sent to Ukraine say rights groups. Up to 15,000 Russian soldiers have been sent to Ukraine over the past two months, and at least 200 may have died in combat there, rights groups told AFP on Monday. Moscow denies that it has deployed regular troops to Ukraine to prop up separatists battling Kiev forces, but multiple indications have emerged over the past weeks that Russian soldiers are on the ground in Ukraine. Valentina Melnikova, head of the Committee of Soldiers' Mothers, the main organisation representing the families of servicemen, said some 7,000 to 8,000 Russian troops are believed to be in Ukraine at present.","Obama says to take several days to decide how to help fight Iraq insurgency. By Steve Holland and Roberta Rampton WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama said on Friday he will take several days to review options for how the United States can help Iraq deal with a militant insurgency, saying any action would need significant involvement by Iraq itself. \"The United States is not simply going involve itself in a military action in the absence of a political plan by the Iraqis that gives us some assurance that they are prepared to work together,\" Obama said, making it clear that he would not send U.S. troops back into combat in Iraq. The threat by militants from the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant, or ISIL, in Iraq poses a danger to the people of Iraq and also, potentially Americans, Obama told reporters at the White House.","Son of Zambian ex-leader appeals against graft conviction. Zambian ex-diplomat and son of former president Rupiah Banda will appeal against his conviction after a court last week found him guilty of corruption, a lawyer said Tuesday. Andrew Banda, 53, will challenge the verdict of a magistrate court which last week sentenced him to two years in prison for soliciting bribes from an Italian road construction firm. \"The trial court erred in law when it held that he solicited and received gratification for assistance rendered to Fratelli Locci in the absence of specific evidence regarding the alleged assistance,\" lawyer Milner Katolo told AFP.","Greenpeace activists block Chevron shale site in Romania. Greenpeace activists chained themselves to the gates of a Chevron shale gas exploration well in eastern Romania on Monday, blocking access to the site and urging the leftist government to ban fracking. Romania could potentially hold 51 trillion cubic feet of shale gas, which would cover domestic demand for more than a century, the U.S. Energy Information Administration estimates. U.S. energy major Chevron began work on the exploration well in the village of Pungesti in eastern Romania in December, after postponing operations several times because of protests from hundreds of local residents.","Honeywell profit beats estimates; sales up 8 percent. (Reuters) - Honeywell International Inc reported higher-than-expected fourth-quarter profit and revenue on Friday, as sales grew across its major segments. The diversified U.S. manufacturer of aerospace parts and climate control systems said net income rose to $947 million, or $1.19 per share. That's up considerably from $251 million, or 32 cents per share, a year earlier, when the company recorded a large pension expense. Excluding one-time items, earnings of $1.24 per share beat the average estimate of analysts by 3 cents, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. ...","Contador wins Tirreno leg, cuts Kwiatkowski's lead. CITTAREALE, Italy (AP) — Alberto Contador won the grueling fourth stage of the Tirreno-Adriatico race to close the gap on overall leader Michal Kwiatkowski to 16 seconds on Saturday.","Hull City name set to stay the same. Controversial plans to change the official name of English Premier League club Hull City appeared to have been thwarted on Monday by the Football Association. The membership committee of English football's governing body said it had made a \"unanimous recommendation\" to the FA council to reject a plan from the club's wealthy Egyptian owner Assem Allam to change the name from Hull City AFC to Hull Tigers. However, Ehab Allam -- Assem's son and a Hull vice-chairman -- said the name change could still happen. \"The proposed name change is not about a quick win.","Staff member for Canada's ruling Conservatives jailed in robocalls case. TORONTO (Reuters) - A former campaign worker Canada's governing Conservative Party was sentenced to nine months in jail on Wednesday for an illegal robocall campaign during the last election aimed at sending voters who supported other parties to the wrong polling station. The campaign official, Michael Sona, faced a potential sentence of up to five years in prison after being found guilty in August of one charge of preventing voters from casting their ballots in the May 2011 federal election. ...","Egypt stock market plunges on reports of new taxes. CAIRO (AP) — Egypt's stock market has seen a sharp plunge that forced a temporary suspension of trading after reports of a newly proposed government tax on capital gains.","Egypt court upholds prison terms for protest leaders. An Egyptian appeals court on Monday upheld three-year prison sentences served on three prominent activists charged with violating a controversial law restricting protests. The three, including the founder of the April 6 movement, Ahmed Maher, rose to prominence in the 2011 uprising that toppled veteran strongman Hosni Mubarak. The interim government in place after the army overthrew Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in July jailed them for violating a law it had passed banning all but police-sanctioned protests. Ahmed Maher, Mohamed Adel and Ahmed Douma were charged with organising an unauthorised and violent protest in November, days after the passage of the law.","NATO calls Crimea developments 'dangerous and irresponsible'. BRUSSELS (Reuters) - NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said on Thursday that an armed group's seizure of regional government headquarters and parliament in Ukraine's Crimea was \"dangerous and irresponsible.\" \"I am extremely concerned about the most recent developments in Crimea. This morning's action by an armed group is dangerous and irresponsible,\" Rasmussen told a NATO meeting also attended Ukraine's acting defense minister. \"I urge Russia not to take any action that could escalate tension or create misunderstanding.\" (Reporting by Phil Stewart, editing by Adrian Croft)","Deal on women, children in besieged Syrian city. GENEVA (AP) — The U.N. mediator brokering peace talks on Syria's civil war says the two sides have reached a deal to allow women and children to leave a city under government siege for more than a year.","Mexico pressed to solve 43 students' disappearance. Iguala (Mexico) (AFP) - Mexico came under growing international pressure Tuesday to solve the disappearance of 43 students who vanished after they were attacked by police linked to a drug gang.","Report: China bans works by wayward actors. BEIJING (AP) — Chinese state media say authorities have banned productions with actors who are guilty of vice crimes such as using drugs or visiting prostitutes.","Villarreal fined 12,000 euros for banana taunt. MADRID (AP) — The Spanish league's disciplinary committee has fined Villarreal 12,000 euros ($16,000) for a fan racially taunting Dani Alves by throwing a banana at him.","Confusion on the menu for European allergen rule. PARIS (AP) — A European rule requiring restaurants, bakeries and cafes — or anyone mass-producing meals — to list any of 14 allergens that might appear on their menus is being met with confusion.","Turkish Airlines says cancels flights to Arbil due to security concerns. ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkish Airlines has cancel led all flights to Arbil, capital of Iraqi Kurdistan, until further notice due to security concerns, a spokesman said on Twitter on Friday. Sunni Islamist militants have advanced to within a half hour's drive of Arbil, prompting a U.S. air strike on Friday, the first such intervention since American troops pulled out in 2011. (Reporting by Evrim Ergin, Writing by Humeyra Pamuk,; Editing by Nick Tattersall)","Closed cockpits must be considered, says F1 Williams team. Sochi (Russia) (AFP) - The deputy team principal of the Williams team Claire Williams has called for Formula One to consider the introduction of closed cockpits in the wake of Jules Bianchi’s life-threatening crash at the Japanese Grand Prix.","Canada to impose new sanctions on Russian individuals, entities. OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canada will impose a broad range of new sanctions on Russian individuals and entities, in consultation with allies, and is also looking at applying sanctions against entire Russian sectors, Foreign Minister John Baird said on Monday. Baird told reporters by conference call from London that the sanctions were under way before the Malaysian air crash in Ukraine, but said that the disaster expedited consideration of wider sanctions. (Reporting by Randall Palmer; Editing by Amran Abocar and Chizu Nomiyama)","Libya's outgoing provisional Congress 'plans to reopen'. Libya's outgoing provisional General National Congress (GNC) is to resume operations despite being superseded by an elected national parliament, its spokesman said on Saturday. \"The General National Congress will hold an emergency meeting in Tripoli to save the country's sovereignty,\" spokesman Omar Ahmidan said on a local television station. He made the announcement after Islamists said they have lost confidence in the new parliament, holed up in the eastern city of Tobruk because of the violence in the capital Tripoli.","Uruguay begins registering marijuana growers. Just a handful of people had registered by midday Wednesday to be private growers of marijuana in Uruguay, the first country to fully legalize the production, sale and distribution of the drug. On the first day of registration for private growers, 10 people had signed up in the morning -- three in the capital Montevideo and seven in the South American country's interior, according to the newly created Institute for the Regulation and Control of Cannabis (IRCCA). The first to register in Montevideo was Juan Vaz, spokesman for the Uruguay Association for Cannabis Studies (AECU). AECU estimates there are currently 30,000 to 40,000 cannabis growers in Uruguay.","Turkey recovers 2 bodies from flooded coal mine. ISTANBUL (AP) — Authorities in southern Turkey have retrieved the bodies of two miners who were among 18 trapped in a coal mine that flooded 10 days ago, according to the state-run Anadolu news agency.","Concern for US citizen on hunger strike in Cairo jail. Washington (AFP) - The family of an American citizen on hunger strike in an Egyptian jail for some 250 days are appealing to the US government to press Cairo to let him go, fearing his life is at risk.","EU Court adviser backs cap on bank bonuses. BRUSSELS (AP) — A key adviser to the European Union's highest court is siding against Britain and wants the EU cap on bankers' bonuses to be maintained.","Judge finds Chinese drywall maker in contempt. NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A federal judge has ordered a China-based maker of drywall to pay $55,000 in penalties and attorney fees — and to stop doing business in the United States — as punishment for refusing to take part in court proceedings over harm allegedly done by the product.","Air strikes in Syria hit Islamic State-held areas near Turkey border: monitor. BEIRUT (Reuters) - Air strikes overnight hit Islamic State-held territory in Syria near the Turkish border, an organization that tracks violence in the Syrian war said on Wednesday. Rami Abdulrahman, who runs the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said the warplanes that carried out the raids west of the city of Kobani, also known as Ayn al-Arab, had come from the direction of Turkey. He added that they were not Syrian. A U.S.-led alliance launched air strikes on Islamic State in Syria on Tuesday. ...","Fed's Lockhart says no rush to remove 'considerable time' from statement. ATLANTA (Reuters) - Atlanta Federal Reserve Bank President Dennis Lockhart said on Monday he saw no rush to remove language from the central bank's policy statement that there remains a \"considerable time\" before the first interest rate increase. \"For my purposes I am not in a rush to drop it,\" particularly if there is a risk in doing so of suggesting that a rate hike is imminent, Lockhart said. Though the U.S. ...","Qaeda drives moderate Syria rebels from northern bastion. Fighters from Al-Qaeda affiliate Al-Nusra Front have driven rebels of the Western-backed Syrian Revolutionary Front from their bastion in the northwestern province of Idlib after 24 hours of combat, a monitor said Saturday. The defeat, in which some of the SRF fighters deserted and joined Al-Nusra, is seen as a blow to US efforts to create and train a moderate rebel force as a counterweight to jihadists and the forces of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Al-Nusra captured Deir Sinbel and also controls most of the other towns and villages in the Jabal al-Zawiya area, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. It \"seized SRF arms and tanks, and some of the rebels swore allegiance to Al-Nusra, while others fled,\" the Britain-based organisation said.","Pope to pray with Orthodox patriarch in Jerusalem. Pope Francis will pray side by side with Orthodox patriarch Bartholomew in Jerusalem on May 25 during his visit to the Middle East in a powerful sign of Christian unity, the Vatican said on Thursday. The prayer with the patriarch of Constantinople -- the spiritual leader of the world's Orthodox -- will take place in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre where Jesus Christ is believed to have died and been buried. The two will also sign a \"joint declaration\", the Vatican said of the meeting, which is taking place on the 50th anniversary of a visit to Jerusalem by pope Paul VI and Constantinople patriarch Athenagoras.","Pakistan steadily moves to 82-1 on day 1, 3rd test. SHARJAH, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Pakistan progressed steadily to 82-1 at lunch after New Zealand veteran Daniel Vettori made a surprise return to test cricket Wednesday in the third test.","Libyan motorists' patience wears thin as many petrol stations shut for week. By Ahmed Elumami and Hani Amara TRIPOLI (Reuters) - Angry motorists in Libya's capital Tripoli queued to fill up on Thursday, some having slept in their cars for nights as petrol stations awaited promised supplies from a state oil firm. \"I have been queuing in front of this gas station for two days,\" said one driver in a long line at a petrol station in central Tripoli. Libya is in turmoil as the government struggles to control the militias who helped oust Muammar Gaddafi in 2011 but now defy state authority and seize oil ports at will. State oil firm Brega Petroleum Marketing Company, which is in charge of delivering fuel to petrol stations, said a lack of security at some petrol stations where motorists were lining up made it difficult to deliver supplies.","J-League punishes Urawa for discriminatory banner. TOKYO (AP) — The J-League has disciplined Japanese club Urawa Reds over racist fan behavior, ordering the popular team to play its next home game at an empty stadium.","Iraqi killer of Kuwaiti coast guard gets reduced term. Kuwait's appeals court Monday commuted the death sentence of an Iraqi fisherman who killed a coast guard to life imprisonment, according to the court verdict. Taha Mahmud Sabhan was handed the death sentence by the lower court in November 2012 for killing a Kuwaiti coast guard in a shootout in January last year. The shooting took place after an Iraqi fishing boat with Sabhan and seven others aboard crossed into Kuwaiti waters and refused to stop, according to Kuwait's interior ministry. But the appeals court on Monday commuted all the life terms to three years in jail and upheld the other sentences.","Mexico leftists to propose raising marijuana allowance in capital. By Julia Symmes Cobb MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - The opposition party governing Mexico City said on Thursday it would propose raising the amount of marijuana residents of the capital can possess to seven times the current limit to help speed up drug liberalization in Mexico. Since former President Felipe Calderon launched a military crackdown on drug cartels seven years ago, Mexico has been wracked by gang-related violence, and there is growing pressure to explore regulation as a way of tackling the problem. The leftist Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD) has led the drive to liberalize Mexico's drug laws, and aims to use the capital, which it has governed since 1997, as starting ground. Vidal Llerenas, a PRD member of the Mexico City assembly, said the initiative that is due to be presented in the next two weeks would increase the amount of marijuana local residents are allowed for personal consumption to 35 grams from 5 grams.","Royal commute: Prince hops a train to Cambridge. LONDON (AP) — Prince William has started a special 10-week course in agricultural management, commuting by train to the University of Cambridge.","More floods threaten. The Environment Agency has issued severe flood warnings -- meaning a danger of death -- in six areas of Gloucestershire and Dorset, while around 300 less serious alerts are in place in other parts of the country. Meanwhile police and coastguards in Devon are set to resume the search for 18-year-old Harry Martin, who was last seen heading out to take photos of the ferocious waves near Plymouth at lunchtime on Friday. While coastal towns in Cornwall and Devon suffered some flooding on Friday, officials said it was not as bad as they had feared -- and in Belfast, a tidal surge failed to breach flood defences. Environment Secretary Owen Paterson was forced to deny that staff cuts will have an impact on flood defences, after unions said the axing of some 550 staff from flood risk management jobs would inevitably take their toll.","Manchester City join Real Madrid in Australia tournament. Sydney (AFP) - English Premier League champions Manchester City will join European champions Real Madrid at next year's International Champions Cup in Melbourne, organisers said on Friday.","Nepal OKs some Sherpa demands amid boycott threat. KATMANDU, Nepal (AP) — Nepal agreed Tuesday to set up a relief fund for Sherpas who are killed or injured in climbing accidents, one of several key concessions to the mountain guides after Mount Everest's deadliest disaster.","Archbishop of Canterbury has pneumonia. LONDON (AP) — Church of England officials say Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby has pneumonia.","French court annuls wind power decree ending legal saga. France's highest administrative court on Wednesday annulled the decree setting wind power feed-in tariffs, marking the end of a complex legal procedure that has stifled investment in the French onshore wind sector. The French government has already prepared a new decree, which was cleared by the European Commission in March and will replace the one that has now been annulled.","Geisenberger is hot favorite to win Olympic luge. KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia (AP) — Natalie Geisenberger's goals when she began competing at luge's top level was to win a world championship and an Olympic medal.","Euro gets lift from business activity data, China PMI helps emerging stocks. European stocks edged up too after digesting Markit's Composite Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) of companies across the euro zone and a good early indicator of overall growth. \"But there are concerns about domestic growth in the euro zone and possible sanctions on Russia are likely to have an impact.\" The euro hit the day's highs at $1.3471, pulling off eight-month lows, while the dollar index dropped from an earlier six-week peak. EU states will meet later on Thursday to discuss harsher measures against Russia for its continued involvement in Ukraine and support for pro-Moscow rebels whom Kiev accuses of shooting down a Malaysian Airlines plane last week, killing 298. European stocks rose 0.2 percent, reversing earlier losses on mixed earnings data and relatively weak manufacturing data from France, the euro zone's second largest economy.","Putin, Merkel discuss Ukraine crisis, laud OSCE monitors mission: Kremlin. MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin and German Chancellor Angela Merkel discussed the Ukraine crisis during a phone call on Wednesday, the Kremlin said in a statement. They also praised the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) mission monitors at the Russia-Ukraine border, the Kremlin said. (Reporting by Alexei Anishchuk; Writing by Polina Devitt; Editing by Louise Ireland)","Takata, auto executives to face Senate over deadly air bag scandal. By Karey Van Hall and Chang-Ran Kim WASHINGTON/TOKYO (Reuters) - Executives from Japan's Takata Corp and two automakers will face tough questions from U.S. senators on Thursday over the risk of millions of potentially defective air bags that can rupture upon deployment, shooting metal shards into cars. Automakers, regulators and Takata - which supplies one in five air bags globally - have yet to pinpoint why these air bags are at risk. One theory is that moisture in humid climates can make the air bag inflator's chemical mix more volatile, even years after installation. ...","Obama: Time is now to resolve trade pact issues. TOKYO (AP) — President Barack Obama says the time is now to resolve issues preventing the conclusion of a major, 12-nation trade agreement.","Arab TV airs video of Frenchman kidnapped in Mali in 2011. Frenchman Serge Lazarevic, kidnapped in Mali by Al-Qaeda in 2011, appeared in a video aired on Tuesday by Dubai-based Alaan television urging French President Francois Holland to act to secure his release. Lazarevic, wearing a black turban, sporting a long beard and flanked by armed men, said the video was being recorded on May 13. The 50-year-old was kidnapped by Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) on November 24, 2011, along with Philippe Verdon who was found shot dead last July.","Pope excommunicates pedophile Argentine priest. BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — Pope Francis has excommunicated a pedophile Argentine priest, a move greeted by advocates for victims of clerical abuse.","Australian wildfires raze homes, hurt firefighter. MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Scores of wildfires raging across southeast Australia in dry and windy summer conditions have destroyed homes and injured a firefighter.","Myanmar's Kachin rebels say 22 dead in attack. YANGON, Myanmar (AP) — Ethnic Kachin rebels in northern Myanmar say the army has killed 22 of their fighters in a mortar attack near the Chinese border.","Ukraine rebels seen moving large military convoys. SNIZHNE, Ukraine (AP) — Associated Press reporters have seen more than 80 unmarked military vehicles on the move in rebel-controlled areas of eastern Ukraine, indicating that intensified hostilities may lie ahead.","Searchers find 4 more victims on Japanese volcano. TOKYO (AP) — Authorities say four more bodies have been found near the summit of a Japanese volcano that erupted last weekend, raising the death toll to 51.","Japan leads Canada 2-1 in Davis Cup World Group. TOKYO (AP) — Kei Nishikori and Yasutaka Uchiyama beat Frank Dancevic and Daniel Nestor of Canada, 6-3, 7-6 (3), 4-6, 6-4 on Saturday to give Japan a 2-1 lead in their Davis Cup World Group clash.","US senators visiting Guantanamo. WASHINGTON (AP) — Seven senators are visiting the U.S. detention center at Guantanamo Bay on Friday on a fact-finding oversight trip.","Iraq's Islamist insurgency puts its southern oil in the spotlight. By Rania El Gamal DUBAI August 4 (Reuters) - Iraq's Sunni Islamist insurgency, crippling further its dream to match the oil power of Saudi Arabia, makes oilfields in the safer south more vital, but even that region has not been completely free from attacks. Baghdad is struggling to contain the Islamic State militancy which seized some oil facilities when it swept through the northwest in June, emboldening the Kurds in their autonomous northern region to capture the giant Kirkuk oilfields. The south's oil capital Basra has seen less violence this year than other cities - but there have been few car bombs, assassination attempts and kidnappings of foreign workers there over the past several months, security and oil sources say. In 2011, bombings of southern pipelines disrupted output from the Rumaila oilfield, Iraq's largest, at least twice. Thamer Ghadhban, top energy adviser to Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, said at present everything \"is going on as planned,\" with southern output unaffected and national output targets in place.","Wary of Russia, Norway urges NATO vigilance in Arctic. By Gwladys Fouche OSLO (Reuters) - NATO needs to become more watchful about defending its members' security, including in the Arctic, because of the 'completely new' situation created by Russia's behavior towards Ukraine, Norway's defense minister said in an interview. Until now, NATO's response to Russia's annexation of Crimea has chiefly focused on reassuring anxious members in Central and Eastern Europe that until a generation ago were dominated - or, in the case of the Baltic states, directly ruled - by Moscow. But Norway's Ine Eriksen Soereide told Reuters that Russia's actions raised broader questions about NATO's collective defense - significant comments from a country that borders Russia and is as keen as Moscow to tap Arctic minerals, oil and gas.","Foreign minister Davutoglu will be new Turkish PM, says Gul. Turkish President Abdullah Gul said Tuesday that Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu is set to take over from Recep Tayyip Erdogan as the country's next prime minister. Erdogan won the vote to be Turkey's first elected head of state on August 10, replacing Gul with whom he founded Turkey's ruling Islamic-rooted Justice and Development Party (AKP). \"As far I understand, Ahmet Davutoglu will be the next head of government,\" the outgoing president told the media at his last reception at the presidential palace in Ankara. I am going to support him,\" said Gul of the understated former academic, who has been foreign minister since 2009.","Ferdinand charged for sending offensive tweet. LONDON (AP) — The English Football Association says Queens Park Rangers defender Rio Ferdinand has been charged with misconduct for sending an offensive tweet that included a \"reference to gender.\"","WHO: 21,000 Ebola cases by November if no changes. LONDON (AP) — New estimates from the World Health Organization warn the number of Ebola cases could hit 21,000 in six weeks unless efforts to curb the outbreak are ramped up.","Ravel Morrison makes 'emergency' QPR move. West Ham midfielder Ravel Morrison is to step down a division from the Premier League to aid London rivals Queens Park Rangers in their push for promotion after agreeing a 93-day emergency loan spell. Morrison's move from east to west London will take effect formally on Friday and he could make his QPR debut against Charlton -- another capital club -- in a second-tier Championship match on Saturday. QPR, bankrolled by Malaysian businessman Tony Fernandes, the man behind budget airline AirAsia and the Caterham Formula One team, are currently fourth in the Championship table and four points adrift of one of the two guaranteed automatic promotion places. \"I just want to help QPR get to the Premier League -- that's my only objective during my time here,\" said England Under-21 international Morrison in a statement released by the Hoops.","Kurds say they have halted Islamic State advance on Syrian town. BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syrian Kurdish fighters have halted an advance by Islamic State fighters to the east of a predominantly Kurdish town near the border with Turkey, a spokesman for the main armed Kurdish group said. \"Fierce clashes are still under way but the ISIS (Islamic State) advance to the east of Kobani has been halted since last night,\" Redur Xelil, spokesman for the main Kurdish armed group, the YPG, said via Skype. He said the eastern front was the scene of the fiercest fighting in the offensive launched by Islamic State last Tuesday on Kobani, also known in Arabic as Ayn al-Arab. ...","Losses for Hollande, far right gains expected in French town-hall vote. By Mark John and Nicholas Vinocur PARIS/MARSEILLE (Reuters) - President Francois Hollande's Socialists fear heavy mid-term losses that could jeopardize reforms and the far-right National Front is seen making major gains when voters elect mayors in towns and villages across France from Sunday. But dissatisfaction with Hollande's rule and a string of legal intrigues involving opposition conservatives are seen hitting turnout and helping the anti-immigrant National Front (FN), which hopes to win outright in a record handful of towns. Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault called on the opposition conservative UMP party to urge its voters to back Socialist candidates in towns where it stood no chance of election, promising the Socialists would do the same in a joint effort to keep the FN out. \"Those who believe in the Republic must do everything to make sure no town ends up with an FN mayor,\" he told Radio J. Heavy losses for Hollande's Socialists could trigger a re-shuffle of his unpopular cabinet and encourage backbench attacks of new pro-business policies on which Hollande has called a mid-year vote of confidence in his government.","Iran expands 'smart' Internet censorship. By Michelle Moghtader DUBAI (Reuters) - Iran is to expand what it calls \"smart filtering\" of the Internet, a policy of censoring undesirable content on websites without banning them completely, as it used to, the government said on Friday. The Islamic Republic has some of the strictest controls on Internet access in the world, but its blocks on U.S.-based social media such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube are routinely bypassed by tech-savvy Iranians using virtual private networks (VPNs). Under the new scheme, Tehran could lift its blanket ban on those sites and, instead, filter their content. ...","Election candidate from Kosovo PM's party shot dead. A parliamentary candidate from the party of Kosovo's Prime Minister Hashim Thaci was shot dead on Sunday, police said, one week after an inconclusive general election in the tiny Balkan nation. It was not clear whether there was any political motive for the shooting of Elvis Pista, who was killed as he left a restaurant in the southern town of Rahovec with his wife and some friends, the police said. Kosovo authorities have not yet certified the results of last Sunday's election, so it is not known whether Pista had won a seat in parliament with Thaci's ruling Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK). The PDK won most votes in Kosovo's election but three opposition parties have vowed to unite to form a government and thwart Thaci's bid for a third term in office.","Italy PM vows reforms as tensions with Renzi grow. By Roberto Landucci ROME (Reuters) - Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta on Tuesday promised new measures to lift the economy and strengthen his fragile coalition after weeks of tension with his own party leader Matteo Renzi over the slow pace of reforms. Renzi, the new leader of the centereft Democratic Party (PD), has said the government would be better off calling new elections if it is unable to push reforms more effectively.","US court hears 'born in Jerusalem' passport case. WASHINGTON (AP) — A nearly 12-year-old court case over whether Americans born in Jerusalem may list Israel as their place of birth is returning to the U.S. Supreme Court at a time of acute Palestinian-Israeli tension over Jerusalem and significant strain in Israeli-American relations.","Diplomat chosen as Burkina Faso's interim president. Ouagadougou (AFP) - Diplomat Michel Kafando has been chosen as Burkina Faso's interim president, officials in the west African country announced Monday and will head the country until 2015.","France's Hollande calls for quick EU-U.S. trade deal. By Mark Felsenthal WASHINGTON (Reuters) - French President Francois Hollande said on Tuesday speed is of the essence for a European Union-U.S. trade deal and that the accord would strengthen economic growth on both sides of the Atlantic. \"As soon as principles have been set, as soon as mandates have been given, speed is not a problem, it's of the essence,\" Hollande told a joint news conference with President Barack Obama at the White House. Otherwise, we know there would be a pileup of fears, of threats, of anxiety,\" Hollande said. \"So, if we are in good faith, if we are all respectful of the other party's position, if we are attached to growth, we can move quickly.\" However, quick movement on trade issues is in doubt in the United States amid resistance from members of the president's Democratic Party to a bill deemed crucial for getting Congress to pass trade deals.","Israel holds off on escalating Gaza barrage; West wants truce. By Nidal al-Mughrabi and Dan Williams GAZA/JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel appeared to hold off on a threatened escalation of its week-old Gaza Strip barrage on Monday despite balking at Western calls for a ceasefire with an equally defiant Hamas. On Sunday, the Israeli military had warned residents of the northern border town of Beit Lahiya to leave or risk their lives when, after nightfall, it planned to intensify air strikes against suspected Palestinian rocket sites among civilian homes. A U.N. ...","Yemen Qaeda chief praises Iraq jihadists. An influential Al-Qaeda leader in Yemen has praised Islamic State jihadists for their \"victories in Iraq\" but without pledging allegiance to their self-proclaimed \"caliph\" or leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. \"I congratulate all the mujahedeen on different fronts and all Muslims for the victories won by our brothers in Iraq against the puppets (of Shiite Iran),\" ideological leader Ibrahim al-Rubaish says in a video posted online. Rubaish is considered to be the religious affairs chief of Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), the Yemen-based franchise of the jihadist network, formed in a 2009 merger of its Saudi and Yemeni branches. \"Who does not welcome the victories of Sunnis and the defeat of (Nuri al-) Maliki's gangs that have mistreated the Sunnis?\" he asks of Iraq's controversial Shiite premier who continues to defy the president and international pressure to quit.","Montes scores before injury as Mexico tops Ecuador. ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Luis Montes scored two minutes before a leg injury sent him to the hospital, helping Mexico beat Ecuador 3-1 Saturday in the first of three tuneups in the U.S. leading to the World Cup.","Egypt to try Morsi for giving Qatar security papers. Cairo (AFP) - Deposed Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi will be tried on accusations that he handed over to Qatar documents relating to national security, the state prosecutor said on Saturday.","Rwanda's story now growth, not genocide: president. London (AFP) - Rwandan President Paul Kagame said Tuesday the central African nation was no longer \"just a country of genocide\" and now had a positive story to tell about reconciliation and economic growth.","Thai protesters disrupt early voting for disputed election. By Amy Sawitta Lefevre BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thai anti-government protesters surrounded almost half of the polling stations in Bangkok on Sunday, election officials said, chaining doors shut and forcing the cancellation of advance voting in many centers for a disputed election next week. Embattled Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra called the February 2 election in the hope of cementing her hold on power in the face of more than two months of protests trying to force her from office. The success of Sunday's advance voting could determine whether the election proceeds as scheduled, even after Yingluck's government warned anyone who tried to stop voting would face jail or fines, or both. \"Around 20 polling booths out of 50 in Bangkok can't hold advanced voting because protesters have surrounded the booths and moved to close them,\" Veera Yeephraew, a senior election official in Bangkok, told Reuters.","Youzhny drops out of Zagreb Indoors. ZAGREB, Croatia (AP) — German qualifier Bjorn Phau upset second-seeded Mikhail Youzhny to reach the quarterfinals of the Zagreb Indoors on Thursday.","From dumb iron to Big Data: Caterpillar's dealer sales push. Caterpillar Inc has a long tradition of proudly - and publicly - proclaiming how much it loves its dealers. Now the world's largest maker of construction and mining equipment is adopting a cooler tone with those dealers, asking them: \"What have you done for us lately?\" Caterpillar believes its distributors are missing out on somewhere between $9 billion and $18 billion in easy-to-capture revenue each year because they are falling down in at least three ways. So Caterpillar, which is in a hunt for new revenue because of weakness in key markets, is giving dealers until the end of the year to come up with a three-year plan to capture those lost sales. \"That would be the last resort, the last outcome and certainly not desirable,\" says Chief Executive Officer Doug Oberhelman.","Injured Ronaldo likely to miss Copa final. MADRID (AP) — Real Madrid forward Cristiano Ronaldo is likely to miss Wednesday's Copa del Rey final against Barcelona due to a leg injury.","India's building collapse death toll rises to 49. NEW DELHI (AP) — Rescuers in India pulled another 20 bodies from the ruins of a collapsed building, bringing to 49 the death toll since the weekend with slim chances of finding more survivors, police said Wednesday.","Canada court kills off government's Senate reform plan. By Randall Palmer OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canada's Supreme Court ruled on Friday that Parliament cannot enact major reforms to the Senate on its own, effectively killing off Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper's efforts to make the unelected upper house more democratic. The court said Harper's Plan B -- to abolish the Senate if reform proved impossible -- must win the approval of the legislatures of all 10 provinces, not just an outright majority. Parliament has two chambers, the elected House of Commons and the Senate, whose members are named by prime ministers over the years and which rarely blocks House legislation. The court severely diminished the prospect of Senate reform by requiring constitutional amendments.","US warship deployed near Sochi runs aground. WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. Navy says one of two U.S. warships dispatched to the Black Sea before the Sochi Winter Olympics is being inspected for damage after it ran aground at a Turkish port last week.","Pope fires entire board of Vatican financial watchdog. By Philip Pullella VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Francis sacked the five-man board of the Vatican's financial watchdog on Thursday - all Italians - in the latest move to break with an old guard associated with a murky past under his predecessor. The Vatican said the pope named four experts from Switzerland, Singapore, the United States and Italy to replace them on the board of the Financial Information Authority (AIF), the Holy See's internal regulatory office. All five outgoing members were Italians who had been expected to serve five-year terms ending in 2016 and were laymen associated with the Vatican's discredited financial old guard. Reformers inside the Vatican had been pushing for the pope, who already has taken a series of steps to clean up Vatican finances, to appoint professionals with an international background to work with Rene Bruelhart, a Swiss lawyer who heads the AIF and who has been pushing for change.","Clear Kiev protesters first, says pro-Russian sit-in group. Pro-Russian separatists occupying a local government building in the eastern Ukrainian city of Donetsk said on Thursday they would not leave until supporters of Ukraine's new government quit their camp around Kiev's main square, known as the Maidan. Asked how his group would react to an international accord in Geneva under which the Ukrainian and Russian governments agreed that illegal occupations of buildings and squares must end, Alexander Zakharchenko, a protest leader inside the Donetsk regional government building, told Reuters by telephone: \"If it means all squares and public buildings then I guess it should start with the Maidan in Kiev.","Venezuelan conspiracy theories a threat to critics. ","Egyptians set to vote on army-backed post-Mursi constitution. By Tom Perry CAIRO (Reuters) - Egyptians vote this week for the first time since Mohamed Mursi's downfall in a constitutional referendum that will likely give a final push to a presidential bid by the man who deposed him, army chief General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi. Approval of the rewritten constitution appears a foregone conclusion: Mursi's now outlawed Muslim Brotherhood is urging a boycott rather than a 'no' vote, while many Egyptians who backed his overthrow are expected to vote 'yes' in a show of support for the army-backed order that has replaced Islamist rule. Analysts say it hopes that the turnout and the 'yes' vote will outstrip ballots won by the Muslim Brotherhood to give the new order an electoral seal of legitimacy. \"Egypt is on the threshold of a decisive stage in its history, the results of which are awaited by the world,\" Sisi said on Saturday in public remarks that included the clearest indication to date that he will stand.","Central American officials to press Biden on migrant rights. By Mike McDonald GUATEMALA CITY (Reuters) - U.S. Vice-President Joe Biden travels to Guatemala on Friday to discuss the rising tide of unaccompanied Central American minors crossing the U.S. border, but he is likely to face pressure from local leaders to improve migrant rights in the United States. Biden will meet the presidents of Guatemala and El Salvador as well as top officials from Honduras and Mexico's Interior Minister Miguel Angel Osorio Chong as the region seeks to solve a problem that has hit the U.S. border regions hard this year. Responding to what President Barack Obama has called an urgent humanitarian crisis, the U.S. Congress on Tuesday advanced legislation boosting funds by as much as $2.28 billion to handle a surge of foreign children entering the United States illegally. U.S. data show that between October and May more than 47,000 unaccompanied minors, mostly from Central America, have crossed into the U.S., nearly double the number in the previous year.","Drogba starts for Ivory Coast against Greece. FORTALEZA, Brazil (AP) — Didier Drogba is starting for the Ivory Coast in their final group game against Greece, while Yaya and Kolo Toure were also included despite the recent death of their brother Ibrahim.","Nigeria's Boko Haram kills 29 in village attack: sources. By Tim Cocks MAIDUGURI (Reuters) - Suspected Boko Haram gunmen have shot dead 29 farm workers as they tilled their fields in a village in the remote northeast, a police source said on Thursday. The source at police headquarters for Borno state, in the heart of the insurgency, said around 10 more people had been wounded in Wednesday's attack on Chukku Nguddoa, in which most of the village, including its grain store, were razed. In the past two months, Boko Haram militants have stepped up their five-year-old campaign to carve an Islamic state out of religiously mixed Nigeria. Bomb attacks are growing more sophisticated, including two on the capital Abuja last month, and massacres of villagers in the area where Boko Haram is based are an almost daily occurrence.","Some in northeast Nigerian form vigilante groups. BAUCHI, Nigeria (AP) — Some residents of a northeastern Nigerian village say they killed and arrested scores of suspected Boko Haram militants that they believed planned to launch an attack.","Bank of America seeks to void verdict in $1.27 billion 'Hustle' case. By Nate Raymond NEW YORK (Reuters) - Bank of America Corp on Thursday asked a federal judge to throw out a jury verdict finding it liable for fraud over defective mortgages sold by its Countrywide unit that resulted in a $1.27 billion penalty. District Judge Jed Rakoff in Manhattan to rule for it as a matter of law or order a new trial, arguing that the evidence at trial did not support the jury's October 2013 verdict. Bank of America said prosecutors were required at trial to prove that loans originated by Countrywide Financial Corp in a process called \"Hustle\" that were then sold to government mortgage finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were not as good as the lender represented. Attorney Preet Bharara, whose office brought the case in 2012, declined comment.","Sri Lanka 104-3 at lunch on day three. Sri Lanka were 104-3 off 36 overs at lunch on the third day of the first Test against South Africa in Galle on Friday.","UN letter to Kim Jong Un warns on accountability. GENEVA (AP) — A U.N. panel has warned North Korean leader Kim Jong Un that he may be held accountable for orchestrating widespread crimes against civilians in the secretive Asian nation.","Exclusive: G20 signals flexibility on big bank failures - sources. Global regulators, led by Bank of England governor Mark Carney, want to agree a set of rules that would force bondholders to cover the losses that arise when a major bank fails, to avoid a repeat of the last financial crisis when taxpayers were forced to foot the bill. Under the new plan, major banks including HSBC, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, Mitsubishi UFJ and Citigroup, will be able to count their surplus capital, including shares, earnings and some types of bonds, towards new buffers which are meant to be tapped when a bank gets into trouble. Initially, banks expected they would have to issue new \"bail in\" bonds for the whole of the buffers regardless of whether they had surplus capital. The new proposal means fewer bonds will now have to be issued by those banks among the 29 whose capital buffers are already well above the minimum requirement.","Prince Harry joins photobomb craze. Prince Harry has followed his grandmother Queen Elizabeth II into the photobomb craze, giving the thumbs up in an image of acclaimed New Zealand rugby sevens coach Gordon Tietjens at the Commonwealth Games. Just days after the queen was snapped beaming in the background as Australian hockey players Jayde Taylor and Brooke Peris took a selfie, the 29-year-old prince popped up as Tietjens was being photographed at the swimming pool. Tietjens, New Zealand deputy chef de mission Trevor Shailer and sports psychologist Gary Hermansson were photographed as they sat a few rows in front of the prince, his brother Prince William and Catherine, the Duchess of Cambridge.","At least 33 dead in bus crash in Egypt's Sinai. At least 33 people died and dozens were injured when two buses collided before dawn on Friday in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, the state news agency and security sources reported. The Middle East News Agency (MENA) quoted local health ministry official Mohamed Lashin as saying that Russian, Yemeni and Saudi Arabian citizens were among the more than 40 people injured but did not give further details. The buses were traveling in the southern part of the Sinai, one of them from the Red Sea resort city of Sharm el-Sheikh and the other from a Nile Delta province, security sources said. Egypt's roads and railways have a poor safety record and Egyptians have long complained that successive governments have failed to enforce even basic safeguards, leading to frequent, deadly crashes.","Ernst & Young to pay $4 million to settle SEC charges over lobbying. By Sarah N. Lynch WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Accounting giant Ernst & Young will pay $4 million to settle civil charges that it violated auditor independence rules after one of its units lobbied congressional staffers on behalf of audit clients, U.S. regulators said Monday. SEC rules prohibit auditors from serving as \"advocates\" for audit clients because doing so may cloud their independence. The SEC's case comes after Reuters exclusively reported in 2012 that Ernst & Young's Washington, D.C.-based lobbying arm had been hired by several audit clients.","Egypt arrests militants recruiting for IS group. CAIRO (AP) — Egypt's state news agency says security forces have arrested four suspected members of a militant cell recruiting fighters for the Islamic State group in Syria.","Kate, Wills add royal flair to Commonwealth Games. GLASGOW, Scotland (AP) — The second in line to the British throne visited the Commonwealth Games on Monday, and he brought along a few of his relatives.","Under fire and out of cash, U.N. overwhelmed by Gaza crisis. By Nidal al-Mughrabi and Noah Browning GAZA/JERUSALEM (Reuters) - The United Nations in Gaza is struggling to withstand a flood of almost a quarter of a million refugees into shelters that have repeatedly come under Israeli fire. Out of cash, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), the main U.N. body in the impoverished enclave of 1.8 million Palestinians, says it can barely handle the humanitarian crisis unleashed by more than three weeks of fighting between militants and Israel. Asked to explain the scale of the civilian suffering to an Arab news station, an UNRWA spokesman simply burst into tears. Mine pale into insignificance compared with Gaza's,\" Chris Gunness said.","Messi scores winner as Argentina beats Croatia 2-1. LONDON (AP) — Lionel Messi scored the winner from the penalty spot as World Cup runner-up Argentina came from behind to beat Croatia 2-1 in a friendly on Wednesday.","After record strike, life returns to South African platinum town. By Ed Stoddard MARIKANA South Africa (Reuters) - An armored vehicle carrying banknotes for an ATM machine rolled down Marikana's dusty main street on Tuesday, a rare sight for locals in the gritty South African mining town starved of cash during a five-month platinum strike that has just ended. \"I haven't seen a cash vehicle coming out this way in a long time,\" said Mohamed Moosa, who runs a general store in Marikana, a town 120 km (70 miles) northwest of Johannesburg that has been at the center of the longest strike in South African history. As the stoppage at the nearby shafts and smelter of London-listed Lonmin ground on month after month, the town all but emptied as miners and their families trekked back to their ancestral villages to sit it out. The strike formally ended this week as Lonmin and larger rivals Anglo American Platinum and Impala Platinum signed a wage deal with the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU).","New fighting in South Sudan 2 days after ceasefire. NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Fighting has again broken out in South Sudan two days after the conflict's second peace agreement was signed.","Russia warns Ukraine over 'lawlessness' in east. KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine's foreign minister said Monday that his country was practically in a state of war with Russia, as Moscow further ratcheted up pressure on Kiev, claiming that Russian-leaning eastern regions have plunged into lawlessness.","Pimco posts $12.59 billion of net outflows across its open-ended funds in November. NEW YORK (Reuters) - Pacific Investment Management Co posted net outflows of $12.59 billion across its open-ended funds in November, down considerably from $48.3 billion of netflows the previous month, according to Morningstar data on Wednesday. So far this year, Pimco, a unit of Allianz SE , has seen net outflows of $121.73 billion across its open-ended funds, Morningstar added. (Reporting By Jennifer Ablan)","Syrian government says women, children can leave Homs district: mediator. International mediator Lakhdar Brahimi said on Sunday that the Syrian government delegation at peace talks in Geneva had told him that authorities would allow women and children to leave the besieged old district of Homs city straight away. \"What we have been told by the government side is that women and children in the besieged area of the old city are welcome to leave immediately,\" Brahimi told a news conference after talks with government and opposition delegations. The veteran diplomat said the opposition delegation, which has been calling on the government to release tens of thousands of detainees, had agreed to a government request to provide a list of detainees held by armed rebel groups.","Rugby union - Ireland beat Australia 26-23. - Ireland pulled off a gripping 26-23 win over Australia in their one-off test at Lansdowne Road on Saturday.","Attackers among dead in Nairobi bombing. Authorities in Kenya said Thursday that two suspected militants were among the four people killed in a car bomb explosion outside a police station in Nairobi. The car then exploded outside the police station, killing two policemen. The policemen had suspicions about the car, so they decided to take the suspects to the police station. That's when they arrived at the police station that they blew the car,\" said Mwenda Njoka, an interior ministry official.","Puerto Rico coastal town first to ban plastic bags. SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — A popular tourist town in western Puerto Rico has become the island's first municipality to ban plastic bags.","Cook says England have put Pietersen row behind them. England captain Alastair Cook insisted Friday the controversy over Kevin Pietersen's autobiography was well and truly in the past for his side ahead of their one-day international series in Sri Lanka. England fly out on Sunday for a seven-match series designed as part of their preparations for next year's World Cup in Australia and New Zealand. They do so with the furore over star batsman Pietersen's book having just about died down since it was launched in a blaze of publicity last month. South Africa-born Pietersen, ditched by England earlier this year following the 5-0 Ashes series loss in Australia, blasted former coach Andy Flower and several current players, saying a \"bullying culture\" had been created in the dressing room.","Drought hits China food production: Xinhua. Severe drought and scorching heat has damaged over a million hectares of farmland in China's Henan and Inner Mongolia provinces, with no immediate relief in sight, state news agency Xinhua reported. Henan in central China is experiencing its worst drought in 40 years with precipitation at less than half of normal levels, the agency said. Some 900,000 hectares of crops have been damaged, it said. Henan is a big producer of food crops, including soybeans, barley and rice.","Girl dies, dozens hurt in Thai political violence. BANGKOK (AP) — A small explosion at an anti-government protest site in Thailand's capital injured two dozen people Sunday, a day after a bloodier attack at a demonstration in an eastern province killed one child and left more than 30 people wounded.","Weather restrains U.S. private hiring, services sector growth. U.S. private employers added fewer workers than expected in February and services sector growth slowed, the latest signs that severe weather continues to be a drag on the economy. \"Bad winter weather, especially in mid-month, weighed on payrolls. Job growth is expected to improve with warmer temperatures,\" said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Analytics in West Chester, Pennsylvania. With unusually cold weather blamed for the weak private sector hiring, the report raised the prospect of a third straight month of sub-par nonfarm payrolls gains in February.","9 illegal migrants die, hundreds rescued in Sudan-Libya desert. Nine illegal immigrants have died among some 300 abandoned by smugglers in the scorching Sudanese-Libyan desert, with the others in poor condition, Khartoum's army said Wednesday. \"They were on their way to Libya as illegal immigrants,\" spokesman Sawarmi Khaled Saad told AFP. \"The smugglers left them in the desert... on the border between Sudan and Libya,\" he said, adding that all of the dead were Sudanese.","Twitter tries to block images of Foley killing. AMSTERDAM (AP) — Twitter and some other social media outlets are trying to block the spread of gruesome images of the beheading of journalist James Foley by Islamic State militants, while a movement to deny his killers publicity is also gaining momentum.","Unpopular Hollande to meet Pope Francis. French President Francois Hollande will meet Pope Francis this month, the Vatican said on Thursday, after failing to visit on four previous trips to Rome since being elected and with his popularity at a low ebb. Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi told reporters that the meeting would take place on January 24.","Kerry feels heat on Keystone oil pipeline at U.N. climate talks. By Valerie Volcovici LIMA (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Thursday urged countries at U.N. climate talks in Lima to move away from using fossil fuels while demonstrators gathered outside the meeting urged him to reject the Keystone oil pipeline. \"Coal and oil may be cheap ways to power an economy today... but I urge nations around the world: Look further down the road,\" he said. ...","Lenovo resumes talks to buy IBM unit: source. China's Lenovo Group Ltd has resumed discussions to buy International Business Machines Corp's low-end server unit, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters. Bloomberg, citing a person with direct knowledge of the matter, said Lenovo was in serious discussions to buy the unit and that a deal may be signed within weeks. The Wall Street Journal, also citing unnamed sources, said Dell Inc may be among the potential buyers, though it was unclear how serious Dell was.","OSCE in talks to release monitors held in Ukraine, says they're 'OK'. A special mission of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe is in talks with a number of groups in eastern Ukraine to release two of its teams that have been detained there for days, a spokesman said on Sunday. A team of four monitors has been held in the Donetsk region since last Monday evening, while another four plus a Ukrainian translator were detained around the Luhansk region on Thursday. We've been on the ground in that region for about two months now and we're well known to many people who hold sway in those areas so we're in a good position, we feel, to get our colleagues back to base,\" said Michael Bociurkiw, spokesman of the special mission. \"We're quite confident that they're in good shape, they haven't been harmed,\" he told journalists outside the OSCE's office in Kiev.","Former Olympic gold medalist on drug charges. BRISBANE, Australia (AP) — Former Olympic champion diver Chantelle Newbery was sentenced for drug offenses Wednesday for the second time in three months.","VP Webb says FIFA's bad image affecting football. MANCHESTER, England (AP) — FIFA Vice President Jeffrey Webb says the governing body's image problems are harming football and it must work to regain trust over \"ethics and morals.\"","Obama: US grieves for of Steven Sotloff, slain in 'horrific act of violence' by militants. TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — Obama: US grieves for of Steven Sotloff, slain in 'horrific act of violence' by militants.","U.S. says Russian-directed counteroffensive in Ukraine cities likely underway. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States said on Wednesday new military incursions on Ukraine's eastern border indicate a Russian-directed counteroffensive is likely underway in two Ukrainian towns. \"These incursions indicate a Russian-directed counteroffensive is likely underway in Donetsk and Luhansk,\" State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki told a daily briefing. (Reporting by Lesley Wroughton and Arshad Mohammed; Editing by Eric Beech)","Danish police arrest dozens in drug raids. COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — Danish police say they have arrested about 100 people in several drug raids in the capital, Copenhagen, seizing hundreds of kilograms of hashish and up to 14 million kroner ($2.6 million) in cash.","Puerto Rico authorities charge local man in fatal stabbing of Ohio tourist in beach town. SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico - Authorities in Puerto Rico have charged a man suspected in the slaying of a tourist from Ohio.","Tunisian pardoned for Mohammed caricature to remain in jail. A Tunisian jailed for posting Prophet Mohammed caricatures online is to stay behind bars despite a presidential pardon, pending a separate trial which his supporters said Thursday amounted to \"judicial harassment\". \"I contacted the judge investigating the case at the court in Mahdia who confirmed the embezzlement charges relating to when Jabeur (Mejri) worked for the SNCFT (Tunisian railways),\" his lawyer Ahmed Mselmi told AFP. Mejri, 29, was sentenced to seven and half years in jail for posting cartoons of the Muslim prophet on his Facebook page, in a case that sparked heated controversy in Tunisia, with secular opposition and human rights groups campaigning for his release. The atheist activist was an unemployed graduate at the time of his imprisonment, but had worked previously at the train station ticket office in his hometown of Mahdia, 150 kilometres (90 miles) south of Tunis.","US blacklists Myanmar ruling party lawmaker. WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. Treasury on Friday blacklisted a hard-line lawmaker of Myanmar's ruling party, accusing him of undermining political and economic reforms.","UK confirms first F-35 jet orders. London (AFP) - Britain on Monday announced it had signed a contract with US manufacturer Lockheed Martin to buy the first of 14 F-35B combat jets.","Top Filipino diplomat to oversee Libya evacuations. MANILA, Philippines (AP) — The Philippines' top diplomat is on his way to arrange the evacuation from Libya of thousands of Filipino workers, one of whom was beheaded and a nurse gang-raped amid the worsening turmoil.","Mine injures peacekeeper as diplomats visit Mali's Kidal. A mine exploded in the northern Malian town of Kidal on Wednesday, seriously injuring a United Nations peacekeeper but not affecting a delegation of visiting diplomats, a U.N. spokesman said. There was no immediate claim for the blast but al Qaeda-linked Islamists who seized northern Mali in 2012 have carried out a series of insurgent-style attacks since they were scattered across the Sahara by a French-led offensive last year. Olivier Salgado, spokesman for the U.N. mission, known as MINUSMA, said a U.N. vehicle struck a mine near Kidal's airport but the vehicle was not part of the security detail for the Bamako-based diplomats visiting the town, a flashpoint for Tuareg separatism.","Iran nuclear talks extended through end of June: Britain. VIENNA (Reuters) - Iran and six world powers will extend through the end of June 2015 talks on Tehran's nuclear program after failing to clinch a final agreement that could end a 12-year atomic dispute, British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said on Monday. He told reporters that Iran and the powers \"made some significant progress\" in the latest round of talks, which began last Tuesday in the Austrian capital. Hammond added that there was a clear target to reach a \"headline agreement\" of substance within the next three months and talks would resume next month. ...","Italy's Renzi wins confidence vote on labor decree. Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi easily won a confidence vote on Wednesday over his plans to ease rules for companies that hire temporary workers, part of a broader plan to overhaul labor regulations. The Senate voted 158 to 122 to back Renzi, the 39-year-old former mayor of Florence who took power in February from party rival Enrico Letta. The confidence vote allows the government to accelerate the passage of the decree that must be approved by the lower house by May 19 to become law.","N. Korea should face ICC over crimes against humanity: UN. North Korea's leaders should be brought before an international court for a litany of crimes against humanity that include exterminating, starving and enslaving its population, a UN team said Monday. A hard-hitting report on the nuclear-armed totalitarian state also strongly criticised its denial of basic freedoms of thought, expression and religion, and its abduction of citizens of neighbouring South Korea and Japan. \"Systemic, widespread and gross human rights violations have been and are being committed by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, its institutions and officials,\" said the report by the Commission of Inquiry on North Korea set up in March 2013 by the UN Human Rights Council. \"In many instances, the violations of human rights found by the commission constitute crimes against humanity.","Man guilty of slaying UK soldier sentenced to life; accomplice gets minimum 45 years. LONDON (AP) — Man guilty of slaying UK soldier sentenced to life; accomplice gets minimum 45 years.","South Africa's biggest union calls strike for March 19. South Africa's biggest union has called a one-day strike for Wednesday to highlight youth unemployment in the country, where one in four people are jobless, the union said. The 340,000-member National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA) draws its members from car manufacturing, the metal industry, transport and general workers. The strike would be the latest in a string of work stoppages in Africa's largest economy, weeks before a May 7 general election. We think half a million workers will take part,\" Karl Cloete, deputy general secretary of NUMSA, told Reuters on Sunday.","Togo intensifies crackdown on ivory trafficking. Togo is intensifying its efforts to crack down on ivory trafficking after a number of large seizures, warning smugglers that the country will no longer be a staging post for the illegal trade. In the past week alone, nearly four tonnes of ivory have been discovered at the tiny west African nation's main port in the capital, Lome, following other large seizures last year. The discoveries came after African and Asian nations pledged last month to introduce urgent measures to tackle the illegal ivory trade, from slaughter of elephants to trafficking of tusks. On January 23, nearly 1.7 tonnes of ivory was found in a shipping container bound for Vietnam from Lome, while on Thursday, a further 2.1 tonnes were discovered during a search of the same shipment.","FIFA 'ignored' terror alert over Qatar bid. A security briefing ordered by FIFA less than a month before it awarded Qatar the 2022 World Cup found the Gulf state was a \"high risk\" target for terror attacks during the tournament, the Sunday Times reported. The British newspaper accused members of football's world governing body of having \"ignored its own terror alert\" in choosing Qatar in a secret ballot in December 2010, in a third week of revelations raising questions about the decision. The security review of bid countries, ordered by FIFA Secretary General Jerome Valcke in mid-November 2010, reportedly found that Qatar would find it \"very difficult to deal with a major incident\" during the World Cup. It was written by Andre Pruis, the South African police chief in charge of security at the 2010 World Cup and FIFA's security consultant for the current tournament in Brazil.","EU seeks to secure winter gas supply in Ukraine crisis: Oettinger. European Energy Commissioner Guenther Oettinger said on Thursday the bloc was seeking to fill its gas storage facilities and de-escalate a row between Ukraine and Russia in order to safeguard its own gas shipments from Russia in the 2014/15 winter. Ukraine warned Europe on Wednesday Russia could cut off gas to the continent this winter, but Moscow said the supplies would continue regardless of the political situation. Oettinger told Germany's ARD television diplomacy to defuse tensions between Kiev and Moscow was of the highest importance. \"We need a solution that prevents an escalation between Ukraine and Russia,\" he said.","South Africa beats NZ by 6 wickets in 1st ODI. MOUNT MAUNGANUI, New Zealand (AP) — South Africa beat New Zealand by six wickets in the first one-day cricket international on Tuesday to take the lead in the three-match series.","Civilians take cover, flee Ukrainian city as shells land. By Thomas Grove SLAVIANSK Ukraine (Reuters) - Dozens of charred bicycles stand upright in the rubble of a burnt-out sports shop in Slaviansk, a strategic stronghold for pro-Russian separatist rebels in eastern Ukraine. The Kiev government, battling to restore its authority after Russia annexed the Crimea peninsula following the overthrow of Poroshenko's predecessor, said over 300 rebels were killed in one 24-hour period last week although the separatists deny this.","S.Africa, Mozambique reach deal to fight rhino poaching. Kruger National Park (South Africa) (AFP) - South Africa signed an anti-poaching agreement on Thursday with neighbouring Mozambique, a major transit route for rhino horn trafficked to Asia. Mozambique is a prime source of illegal hunters hired and armed by transnational crime syndicates to cross the border into South Africa to kill the huge, prehistoric beasts. South Africa's Kruger National Park shares a long border with Mozambique and has borne the brunt of rhino poaching in recent years.","Relief in Philippines as typhoon weakens, leaving just four dead. MANILA (Reuters) - Hundreds of thousands of Filipinos returned on Monday to homes battered by a powerful typhoon, amid relief in a nation where thousands were killed by a super storm last year that a massive evacuation operation appeared to have minimized fatalities. The death toll from Typhoon Hagupit stood at four on Monday, after more than a million people took shelter in evacuation centers across the central belt of the archipelago over the weekend to escape the fury of the Category 3 storm. ...","Pakistan says top al-Qaida militant killed in raid. ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistan military says a top al-Qaida militant indicted in the U.S. over a plot to bomb New York's subway system has been killed.","Libyans protest against protracted transition. Thousands of Libyans took to the streets peacefully Friday to protest against a decision by the interim parliament to extend its mandate, amid fears that lingering political instability could unleash fresh violence. The fears rose after an overnight attack on army headquarters in Tripoli, the latest incident in the growing lawlessness gripping the country since the 2011 uprising that toppled longtime dictator Moamer Kadhafi. Leading a transition that has proved chaotic since Kadhafi's ouster and killing by NATO-backed rebels, the General National Congress was elected in July 2012 for a term of 18 months. But on Monday, the GNC ratified a decision to extend its mandate to December, despite opposition by a large segment of the population critical of its inability to halt Libya's slide into chaos.","Adversaries seize chance to lecture U.S. on Ferguson unrest. By Angus MacSwan LONDON (Reuters) - Governments scolded by the United States over their human rights records have seized on racial unrest and a police crackdown in the Missouri town of Ferguson to wag their fingers back in disapproval. Adversaries and uneasy allies from Russia and Iran to China and Egypt have accused the United States of hypocrisy as images of police brandishing lethal weapons and tear-gassing protesters have been shown around the world. Many of the countries draw criticism of their own democratic credentials from independent rights group as well as the U.S. Nonetheless, activists say the events in Ferguson, where the shooting of an unarmed black teenager by a white policeman has provoked 11 nights of protests, undermine the United States' credibility in criticizing others.","Malaysia Airlines has one of Asia's best safety records. By Siva Govindasamy and Alwyn Scott MUMBAI (Reuters) - Malaysia Airlines, operator of Flight MH370 that went missing en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on Saturday, has established a record as one of the Asia-Pacific's best full-service carriers in terms of safety and service despite some recent financial problems. The Kuala Lumpur-based carrier competes with AirAsia domestically, and with the likes of AirAsia X, Emirates, Singapore Airlines , Thai Airways and Cathay Pacific on international routes. The airline, part of the Oneworld alliance that includes British Airways and Qantas, has 88 aircraft in its fleet, including Airbus A330s and A380s, and Boeing 777-200s and 737s, according to its website. These aircraft are deployed on its long-range services within the Asia-Pacific and to Europe.","Muslim Brotherhood stages massive pro-Hamas rally in Jordan. By Suleiman Al-Khalidi AMMAN (Reuters) - More than 15,000 Muslim Brotherhood supporters gathered at a pro-Hamas rally in Jordan's capital on Friday, with many chanting \"death to Israel\" and urging the militant Palestinian group to step up rocket salvos against Israeli towns and cities. The evening rally, the largest such protest in Amman in years, saw scores of masked youths dressed in the uniform of Izzedine al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, stage a mock military parade to the cheers of a flag-waving crowd. The Muslim Brotherhood, the ideological counterpart to Hamas and Jordan's largest political group, is seeking to take advantage of a rise in anti-Israeli sentiment arising from the Jewish state's month-long offensive in the Gaza Strip. Gaza officials say at least 1,880 Palestinians, many of them civilians, have died in the offensive, which Israel says is aimed at ending Hamas rocket strikes on Israeli territory and rooting out the tunnels the Islamist militant group uses to funnel supplies and launch raids.","Iran's diplomatic push aims to reduce nuclear mistrust. Direct meetings this week between Iran and world powers, including the US, aim to deliver what diplomats are calling a \"trust mechanism\" meant to ensure both sides honour a nuclear deal. The announcement of separate talks with the United States, Russia, France and Germany -- all members of the P5+1 that is negotiating with Iran -- underscores that serious differences remain. Iran has in the past few weeks repeatedly declared its \"inalienable\" right to pursue a nuclear programme for peaceful purposes, while insisting that sanctions be lifted. While the Western powers and Iran both say they want an agreement, neither is yet willing to cede sufficient ground.","Top Asian News at 1:00 a.m. GMT. BANGKOK (AP) — A Thai court ordered the government on Wednesday not to use force against protesters who are attempting to oust the prime minister, a day after violent clashes between riot police and demonstrators left five people dead and dozens injured. The decision leaves beleaguered Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra with fewer options in dealing with the protesters, who have camped out for a month with virtual impunity in major intersections across the capital to press for her resignation.","Australia drugs probe over, ex-judge to review evidence. By Ian Ransom MELBOURNE (Reuters) - Australia's peak anti-doping agency has completed a 13-month probe into the use of performance-enhancing drugs in local sports and a retired judge will now decide whether to pursue individual cases, the country's anti-doping chief said. The Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority (ASADA) investigation has cast a pall over the country's top-flight Australian Rules football and rugby league competitions for over a year, but has so far resulted in only one player ban. Outgoing ASADA chief Aurora Andruska said the evidence would be weighed by retired Federal Court judge Garry Downes. \"Mr Downes will look at the information and the evidence and say how the cases will be taken forward,\" Andruska told lawmakers at a Senate committee hearing in Canberra late on Wednesday.","At 'Donkey Springs', bombers choke off Iraq oil exports. By Ziad al-Sinjary and Ahmed Rasheed MOSUL/BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Militants whose bombs have shut Iraq's main northern oil export pipeline for 40 days are preventing repairs, threatening to extend an outage that is already the longest since the days of sanctions in the 1990s. Targeting the Kirkuk-Ceyhan pipeline where it crosses a stretch of desert known as Ain al-Jahash, or Donkey Springs, the saboteurs - described as Islamists by Iraqi officials - have set several more bombs since a first blast halted oil on March 2. Significantly for an Iraqi government hoping for a big rise in exports this year - and long used to brief halts on the route to the Mediterranean - gunmen have also massacred repair crews, prompting oil executives in Mosul to question optimism in Baghdad that the pipeline should be back in action next week. \"We have decided to stop all repair operations in Ain al-Jahash until we are sure our crews won't get killed,\" a senior official of Iraq's North Oil Company told Reuters.","At least 150 people killed in SW China quake: state media. Beijing (AFP) - At least 150 people were killed after a strong earthquake hit southwest China's mountainous Yunnan province Sunday, state media said.","Shiite wanted over Saudi protests surrenders. A Saudi man wanted in connection with protests in 2011 among the Shiite Muslim minority in the conservative, Sunni-majority kingdom has handed himself in, police said on Sunday. Musa Jaafar Mohammed al-Mabyuq surrendered to police in the mostly Shiite district of Qatif, in Eastern Province, a police spokesman said in a statement carried by the official SPA news agency. The unrest in Eastern Province started after an outbreak of violence between Shiite pilgrims and religious police in the Muslim holy city of Medina, in western Saudi Arabia, in February 2011. The protests escalated when Riyadh led a force of Gulf troops into neighbouring Bahrain the following month to help crush Shiite-led pro-democracy demonstrations in the tiny Sunni-ruled Gulf kingdom.","Zambian court rules Lungu is PF presidential candidate after party rift. LUSAKA (Reuters) - Zambia's high court has declared defense minister Edgar Lungu the duly elected presidential candidate of the ruling Patriotic Front (PF), after a power struggle that has rocked the party ahead of next month's election shifted to the law courts. The decision, however, is unlikely to end the dispute as a rival presidential candidate said he would take the matter to the supreme court. The divisions in the PF could open the door to an opposition party candidate winning the Jan. ...","Strong typhoon batters southwest Japan; 28 hurt. TOKYO (AP) — A powerful typhoon has poured heavy rains over Japan's southern island of Okinawa and veered northeastward toward the main island of Kyushu, becoming the second severe storm to hit in a week.","Vials of smallpox discovered in US govt storage room. Federal investigators are probing how vials of smallpox made their way into a storage room at a Food and Drug Administration lab near the US capital, health authorities said. Though there is no treatment for smallpox, it has been eradicated after a worldwide vaccination program. The vials were labeled \"variola,\" another name for smallpox, and appear to date from the 1950s, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in a statement. They were found in an unused portion of a storeroom in an FDA laboratory, located on the National Institutes of Health campus in Bethesda, Maryland.","Airlines, cruise ships monitoring Caribbean system. KINGSTON, Jamaica (AP) — Airlines and cruise ship companies are monitoring the progress of a tropical disturbance approaching the Lesser Antilles.","Australia says more planes added to search for jet. Search crews hunting for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 headed back out to a remote patch of the Indian Ocean on Friday, a day after leaders of the two countries heading multinational efforts to find the ...","Beyond earnings, buybacks to give market support. By Rodrigo Campos NEW YORK (Reuters) - It is a tossup whether the market found a bottom this week, but bulls could find some support as corporations, mostly on the sidelines as the market tumbled, step up their stock purchases in the coming weeks. The equities selloff had its climax on Wednesday afternoon when the S&P 500 set its low for the week as concern over the global economy, conflicting views on the timing of the next policy move by the Federal Reserve, and headlines about the Ebola virus made investors even more skittish. ...","Downed plane could alter course of Ukraine fight. PARIS (AP) — The downing of a passenger jet in Ukraine could prove to be a turning point in the country's conflict. But which way it turns depends mainly on who carried out the attack and how convincingly it can be proved to the world.","Russia's Gazprom says Ukraine will owe $5.2 billion as of June 7. Ukraine will owe Russia about $5.2 billion for natural gas as of June 7 if it makes no payments by that date, the CEO of state-controlled Russian gas exporter Gazprom, Alexei Miller, said on Wednesday. Gazprom says Ukraine now owes more than $3.5 billion, and has threatened to stop supplying the neighboring former Soviet republic with gas if it fails to make a pre-payment for June supplies by June 2. Miller told President Vladimir Putin that Ukraine would consume a total of 3.5 billion cubic meters of Russian gas in May worth around $1.7 billion, increasing Kiev's gas debt.","Montreal to host Formula E race: mayor. Montreal (AFP) - Montreal is poised to host a leg of the fledgling Formula E electric motorsport championship, the Canadian city's mayor said Tuesday.","Japan lawmaker in hot water over sexist remark as government embarks on 'womenomics'. By Elaine Lies TOKYO (Reuters) - A lawmaker from Japan's ruling party apologized on Monday for telling a female member of the Tokyo city assembly to \"hurry up and get married\", an incident that embarrassed the government as it makes a major push to increase women in the workforce. City assembly member Ayaka Shiomura, 35, was talking about measures to support child raising and boost fertility during a session last week when male lawmakers interrupted her with cries of \"Hurry up and get married\" and \"Can't you give birth?\" Lawmaker Akihiko Suzuki, who earlier had denied making one of the remarks, on Monday bowed deeply at a hastily-called news conference to apologize for what he called an \"inappropriate\" remark. My comments were lacking in concern towards people like that.\" The jeers outraged Japan and also riled officials in Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) since it comes just as the government is set to unveil economic plans that include boosting women in the workforce in a society where many believe a woman's place is still at home.","Hundreds die as heaviest rain in 50 years catch India, Pakistan off guard. By Abu Arqam Naqash and Adnan Abidi MUZAFFARABAD/SRINAGAR (Reuters) - The heaviest rains to fall on Kashmir in 50 years caught Indian and Pakistani authorities off guard, with criticism of their disaster preparedness growing on Tuesday as the number of dead hit 420 and thousands remained trapped on rooftops. On the Indian side of the heavily militarized de facto border that divides the Himalayan region, more than 2,000 villages and the city of Srinagar were submerged. \"The damage is shocking, people have been stranded on rooftops of their homes for the last three days in some parts of Kashmir,\" a senior official of National Disaster Response Force said in New Delhi. The official, who requested anonymity, said he would have deployed disaster response teams in Kashmir before the floods if his office had been given accurate weather predictions.","US criticism boosts Hungary's dissent movement. BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — Buoyed by pressure from the United States, throngs of ordinary Hungarians are fighting back against Prime Minister Viktor Orban's drive to consolidate power through a perceived crackdown on civil liberties.","Shaqiri leads attacking Swiss against Honduras. MANAUS, Brazil (AP) — Xherdan Shaqiri will lead a three-man attacking midfield behind striker Josip Drmic for Switzerland in its final Group E match against Honduras on Wednesday at the World Cup.","Newcastle tribute to fans killed in Malaysia air crash. (Reuters) - Newcastle United paid tribute on Friday to two lifelong supporters who were killed in the Malaysian Airlines crash on Thursday while on their way to watch the club's pre-season tour of New Zealand. John Alder, thought to be in his 60s, and Liam Sweeney, 28, were on the passenger list for flight MH17, Malaysia Airlines confirmed. The pair, well known to club officials as regulars at away matches, were among 295 people on the flight from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur that was brought down over eastern Ukraine. \"The loss of John and Liam is truly devastating news,\" said Newcastle's managing director Lee Charnley.","ACC CEO says Oceania will boost cricket at games. INCHEON, South Korea (AP) — The chief executive of the Asian Cricket Council says the prospect of Oceania countries participating in the Asian Games would boost the quality of cricket in the continental event.","Hundreds of refugees return to Syria after Lebanon clashes. Several hundred Syrian refugees who had been sheltering in a Lebanese town where the army and jihadists have been fighting crossed back into Syria on Friday, a nun assisting them said. Sister Agnes, a nun based in Syria, told AFP a first group of 350 of some 1,700 refugees who left the town of Arsal yesterday passed through the Masnaa border crossing back into Syria on Friday. The group set out from Arsal on Wednesday after a ceasefire between jihadists and the Lebanese military, following clashes that began on Saturday and have killed 17 soldiers and, reportedly, dozens of civilians. The departure appeared to be the first time a group of refugees has left Lebanon en masse to return to Syria.","Plan for Canada-wide securities watchdog wins another, though small, convert. TORONTO (Reuters) - Tiny Prince Edward Island has become the fifth Canadian province to sign up for a plan to establish a national securities regulator, the country's finance ministry said on Thursday. The planned national body, a long-time project of late federal finance minister Jim Flaherty, who died in April, would replace the current patchwork of regulators covering Canada's 10 provinces and three territories. The French-speaking province of Quebec and the oil and gas powerhouse of Alberta have put up the stiffest opposition to the plan so far. ...","Thousands throng to pay respects to Di Stefano. MADRID (AP) — Thousands of football fan have queued for hours in midsummer heat to pay their respects and mourn the death of Real Madrid great Alfredo Di Stefano.","Israeli strike kills 4 Gaza youths on coastal road. GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — Palestinian officials say an Israeli airstrike has killed four youths and wounded seven other people on a coastal road near a beach in the Gaza Strip.","India's political parties open arms for diplomat at center of U.S. row. By Sanjeev Miglani NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Indian diplomat Devyani Khobragade, heading home from the United States after she was indicted for visa fraud in a case that has strained bilateral ties, could have a political career for the asking. India's foreign ministry, which fully backed her in her month-long battle against U.S. prosecutors, has said she will be given a new assignment in New Delhi. She is an inspiration to the people of our country,\" said Mayur Borkar, the spokesman of the Republican Party of India. \"We are going to offer her a ticket.\" Another political group, the Samajwadi party which governs the big heartland state of Uttar Pradesh and is one of India's most important regional parties, has offered Khobragade a seat from the state even though she is an outsider.","Repsol sells $6.3B in Argentine bonds, YPF shares. MADRID (AP) — The Repsol energy company says it has ended its ties with Argentina's YPF with final bond and share sales this month totaling $6.3 billion.","Kiev says captured Russian soldiers were in Ukraine \"on special mission\". Ukraine said on Tuesday a group of Russian servicemen had crossed into Ukrainian territory on a \"special mission,\" contradicting Russian media which cited a defense ministry source in Moscow as saying they got there by accident. \"This wasn't a mistake, but a special mission they were carrying out,\" Ukrainian military spokesman Andriy Lysenko said in a televised briefing. Twelve Ukrainian service personnel had been killed in fighting in the past 24 hours, he said.","Old Duvalier party plans to run in Haiti election. PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — A member of an old political party founded under the Duvalier dictatorship says that it plans to enter candidates in Haiti's upcoming elections.","U.S. court rules for groups defending historic site from coal mining. The Sierra Club and a coalition of local historical associations sued the government for removing the Blair Mountain Battlefield in southern West Virginia from the National Register of Historic Places in 2009, a move the group said would open up the area to large-scale surface mining. The mountain was the scene of a five-day clash in September 1921 between more than 5,000 West Virginia coal miners and around 3,000 men backed by the coal companies, the largest armed labor conflict in the nation's history.","Mauritanian vote gets off to slow start amid opposition boycott. By Joe Penney NOUAKCHOTT (Reuters) - Small groups of voters trickled into polling centers in Mauritania early on Saturday in an election where incumbent President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz was counting on a high turnout to see off an opposition boycott and boost his authority. Abdel Aziz - a Western ally in the fight against al Qaeda-linked Islamists in West Africa - is sure to win the poll in the nation straddling black and Arab Africa. Analysts said his main challenge will be to persuade enough voters to turn out for the presidential vote and give him a strong mandate. \"There aren't too many people voting now because it's early in the morning and it's the weekend,\" Toinssi Cheikh, a trader, told Reuters after voting at the largely empty polling station at the Olympic Stadium in the city center.","Lebanon must overcome civil war 'amnesia': rights group. Lebanon's \"state-sponsored amnesia\" towards its 15-year civil war has left communities segregated and without justice or reconciliation, a non-governmental organisation reported Tuesday. The International Centre for Transitional Justice (ICTJ) said real peace and reconciliation in multi-sectarian Lebanon requires \"meaningful accountability\" for violence during the war and \"institutional reform.\" \"Lebanon has made no serious attempts to comply with its international legal obligations to pursue perpetrators of serious human rights violations\" in the nearly 24 years since the war ended, the group said in a report released Tuesday. Lebanon's civil war killed some 150,000 people before it was ended by the power-sharing Taif Agreement, but many warlords and other protagonists of the 1975-1990 conflict are now active, influential politicians.","Ohio executions face criticism after new drug method takes almost 25 minutes to cause death. LUCASVILLE, Ohio - Ohio's capital punishment system likely faces new challenges following an unusually long execution in which the condemned man appeared to gasp several times.","Singapore activates air force, navy for search for missing jet. SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Singapore said on Sunday it has activated its air force and navy to help in the search and rescue operation for the AirAsia jet that went missing on a flight from Surabaya, Indonesia to Singapore. \"Two C130s are already on stand-by for this purpose. We remain ready to provide any assistance to support the search and rescue effort,\" the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore said in a statement. A waiting area, and facilities and support have been set up for relatives at Changi Airport Terminal 2, it said. ...","London crime gangs expand operations around country. London's top crime gangs are expanding their operations around the country, the Metropolitan Police said on Friday. In an announcement coinciding with fresh raids on gang targets around Britain, the Met said some 54 London gangs have \"tentacles\" in other towns and cities in a search for profits in underserved markets, the BBC reported. \"What we are noticing is that gangs are spreading their wings, so rather than working in London, they are going into the counties, even Scotland, to deal drugs. So basically it's an expanding trade,\" Detective Chief Inspector Tim Champion, from the Met's Operation Trident gang crime command, told BBC Radio 4.","Akhmetov: Ukraine's 'oligarch-in-chief' and top powerbroker. Ukraine's richest man Rinat Akhmetov may have just swung the tide in favour of Kiev's beleaguered Western-backed leaders by denouncing pro-Russian rebels who have run riot over his industrial base in the east. The 47-year-old coal miner's son with a fortune Forbes puts at $12.2 billion (8.9 billion euros) made his career by shrewdly navigating through the turmoil that exploded during the Soviet Union's breakup and the cut-throat politics that followed in Ukraine ever since. The industrialist and title-winning owner of the Shakhtar Donetsk football club obliged with flying colours on Tuesday by comparing the separatists to bandits and warning that their uprising could lead to \"genocide\". The call was cheered almost instantly by Ukrainian Interior Minister Arsen Avakov.","Greying Japan set for canine nursing home. A new Japanese nursing home has everything seniors could want, from a hair salon and 24-hour medical care to comfy beds and a swimming pool to keep those legs in shape -- all four of them. The facility in a Tokyo suburb is throwing open its doors to ageing dogs of all shapes and sizes with the promise of a comfortable retirement for the elderly canines, and their equally wrinkly human owners. Aeonpet Co., a unit of major shopping mall operator Aeon, billed its nursing home as the ticket for a pet-loving nation which also has a rapidly ageing population. This is a serious social issue,\" company president Akihiro Ogawa said during a media tour Wednesday.","Gunmen capture Lebanese soldier in border town. BEIRUT (AP) — Lebanon's state news agency and a military official say gunmen have crossed the border from Syria and captured a Lebanese soldier from a border town.","Popov expects Olympics to bolster Russia's image. SOCHI, Russia (AP) — Alexander Popov believes the Sochi Olympics will go down as a landmark event for Russia, and he hopes it will change outside impressions of his homeland.","EU court upholds national green energy subsidies. BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union's top court is confirming countries have the right to limit subsidies for renewable energy to plants based on their territory, as opposed to companies' operations abroad.","Top Asian News at 9:30 a.m. GMT. OHN TAW GYI CAMP, Myanmar (AP) — Born just over a year ago, Dosmeda Bibi has spent her entire short life confined to a camp for one of the world's most persecuted religious minorities. And like a growing number of other Muslim Rohingya children who are going hungry, she's showing the first signs of severe malnutrition. Her stomach is bloated and her skin clings tightly to the bones of her tiny arms and legs. While others her age are sitting or standing, the baby girl cannot flip from her back to her stomach without a gentle nudge from her mom.","Pole-sitter Hamilton retires from Australian GP. MELBOURNE (Reuters) - Pole-sitter Lewis Hamilton retired from the Australian Formula One Grand Prix on his third lap of the Albert Park circuit on Sunday. The 29-year-old Mercedes driver was told to retire over his team radio due to a reliability problem and duly pitted, removing the steering wheel after parking up. (Reporting by Ian Ransom; Editing by Alan Baldwin)","Germany and Poland draw 0-0 in friendly. HAMBURG, Germany (AP) — Germany and Poland's second-string sides played to a lackluster 0-0 draw on Tuesday that gave Germany coach Joachim Loew few insights into possible World Cup candidates.","Top Asian News at 1:30 p.m. GMT. LONDON (AP) — Global stock markets rose strongly Monday amid hopes that some stability was emerging in oil markets following a rout that's seen prices slide to five year lows. KEEPING SCORE: In Europe, Britain's FTSE 100 rose 1 percent to 6,608 while Germany's DAX rose 1.3 percent to 9,909. France's CAC 40 advanced 0.8 percent to 4,274. Wall Street looked set to make further gains at the open, with Dow futures up 0.3 percent and the broader S&P 500 futures 0.2 percent higher.","Death of Turkish boy hurt in protests triggers fresh unrest. By Mehmet Emin Caliskan ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Police and protesters clashed in Turkey's two biggest cities on Tuesday following the death of a 15-year-old boy who suffered a head injury during anti-government demonstrations last summer. Berkin Elvan, then aged 14, got caught up in street battles in Istanbul between police and protesters on June 16 after going out to buy bread for his family. Police fired tear gas and water cannon in the capital Ankara to disperse more than 2,000 people, mainly students from the Middle East Technical University (ODTU), who blocked a main highway to protest against the teenager's death. Police also used tear gas in Istanbul after a crowd outside the hospital where Elvan died began pelting a police minibus with objects.","Barcelona president appointed to key UEFA panel. LISBON, Portugal (AP) — Barcelona has regained a seat on an influential European football panel which it lost when former club president Sandro Rosell resigned.","FIFA upholds 8-match ban for Portugal coach Santos. ZURICH (AP) — Portugal's new coach Fernando Santos has lost his appeal against an eight-match FIFA ban for misconduct at the World Cup.","Obama-Saudi king talks may ease friction but no breakthrough seen. By William Maclean and Angus McDowall DUBAI/RIYADH (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia's leaders hope U.S. President Barack Obama and their King Abdullah understand each other better after talks and can stabilize a close regional security alliance after months of rockiness over Middle East policy, diplomats said. Friday's two-hour exchange at Abdullah's desert camp did not yield a shared statement or any evidence of policy changes, leading some Saudis to question whether differences over Syria's war or Iran's nuclear programme were closer to being resolved. But diplomats said the mere fact Obama made the effort to visit and discuss issues \"frankly\" - in a U.S. official's words - with the king should reduce the margin for public spats and counter an impression that both sides value the alliance less. Obama visited the world's top oil-exporter and birthplace of Islam aiming to soothe Saudi fears that the United States was retreating from its commitment to the security of Middle East allies and allowing Riyadh's rival Iran more influence.","Sri Lanka air force plane crashes with 5 onboard. COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — A spokesman says a Sri Lankan air force plane has crashed with five crew members onboard outside the capital.","World court awards Peru swathe of Chile's fish-rich sea. The Hague (AFP) - The UN's highest court on Monday handed Peru a wedge of sea under Chilean sovereignty, redrawing the border at the heart of a maritime dispute spanning more than a century.","South Sudan army battles rebels in worsening war. South Sudan's army said Saturday they had \"lost communication\" with commanders battling rebels in a key oil state where rebels have seized a major town, amid a worsening conflict engulfing the young nation. However, army spokesman Malaak Ayuen said the situation was \"all calm\" in the flashpoint town of Bor, where at least 58 people were killed and more than 100 others wounded when gunmen stormed a UN base on Thursday. The UN Security Council called the attack on the camp -- where thousands of civilians were sheltering -- an \"outrage\" that may \"constitute a war crime\". In the north of the country in the troubled oil-state of Unity, the army is fighting rebels loyal to sacked vice-president Riek Machar, after the insurgents launched a renewed offensive targeting the young nation's key oil fields.","Hamas official investigated for 'irregularities'. Gaza City (Palestinian Territories) (AFP) - Hamas-run authorities in the Gaza Strip are investigating a senior member of the Palestinian Islamist movement over unspecified \"irregularities\", a source in the office of another senior Hamas official said Sunday. The implication of a high-ranking Hamas member in misdeeds could potentially tarnish the reputation of the Islamist group, which won a landslide victory in Palestinian elections in 2006 largely because of its reputation for honesty and incorruptibility. An official in the office of senior Hamas member Ahmad Bahar did not provide further details on the allegations or the state of the investigation into Ayman Taha, who also served as a spokesman for Hamas. \"With regard to Ayman Taha there are some irregularities and the brothers are investigating and he will be held accountable like any other ordinary citizen.\"","Independent luxury watchmakers expect growth this year. By Silke Koltrowitz GENEVA (Reuters) - Swiss luxury watchmakers predict the market will grow this year, expecting rising demand from North America and Europe to more than offset slowing sales to China. Independent watchmakers Audemars Piguet, Parmigiani, Greubel Forsey and Richard Mille, told Reuters at an industry show they were expecting higher sales in 2014 than last year. The Chinese government's crackdown on the use of luxury goods as bribes and illegitimate gifts has hurt sales of luxury watches in mainland China, the third largest market for Swiss watch exports. \"The biggest dark cloud on the horizon is a potential Chinese bubble, we don't know if it's going to burst or not,\" Jean-Marc Jacot, head of independent high-end watch brand Parmigiani told Reuters in an interview on Tuesday.","Circumstances of Palestinian official's death 'disturbing': UN. The UN's human rights chief on Friday said the circumstances of the death of a senior Palestinian official while manhandled by Israeli soldiers this week were \"disturbing\" and called for a timely and impartial investigation. UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein welcomed an investigation launched by the Israeli military into the death of Ziad Abu Ein in the West Bank on Wednesday. Abu Ein was pronounced dead after the confrontation with Israeli soldiers, which occurred during a march against settlements by about 300 Palestinians who intended to plant olive trees as a symbolic act.","Australia's first banknote going under hammer. The only known specimen of the first official banknote issued in Australia, uncovered in Scotland, is expected to fetch at least Aus$250,000 (US$224,000) at an auction in Sydney this month, officials said Wednesday. The ten shilling note, issued on the order of New South Wales governor Lachlan Macquarie in 1817 by the Bank of New South Wales (now called Westpac) on the day it opened, is expected to attract bids from collectors around the world. \"We have put a conservative estimate of a quarter of a million dollars on it in the catalogue,\" said Jim Noble of Noble Numismatics, which is handling the sale. Noble told AFP that the note was discovered in a private collection in Scotland in 2005, with Macquarie or one of his staff thought to have taken it there.","China uses APEC to boost regional role. HUAIROU, China (AP) — Chinese President Xi Jinping called on Asia-Pacific leaders Tuesday to strengthen trade ties at a summit Beijing is using to boost its role as a regional power with a flurry of trade and finance pacts.","London hammer attacker jailed for minimum 18 years. London (AFP) - A British judge on Monday handed out a life sentence with a minimum of 18 years in prison for a thief who brutally attacked three sisters from the United Arab Emirates in a London hotel room with a claw hammer.","China should prepare for 'instability' from home-price cooling - editorial. Chinese policymakers must ensure the property market, which has started to show signs of cooling, does not become a source of social and financial instability, the official China Daily said in an editorial published on Wednesday. Investor jitters over the housing market heightened after data showed on Monday house price growth slowed for the first time in 14 months in January, with prices in five cities having a decline on a month-on-month basis. The news triggered a selloff in shares of property developers and pulled down the overall market on Tuesday to its lowest level in two weeks. China Daily, noting local media reports about angry homeowners in the southeastern city of Hangzhou protesting offers of deep discounts by some developers, said policymakers also need to be prepared to deal with any social impact that may result from a weaker housing market.","Philippine central bank raises interest rate. MANILA, Philippines (AP) — The Philippine central bank has raised its key interest rate by a quarter percentage point to counter inflation.","Opposition supporters flood Caracas after Lopez arrest. CARACAS (Reuters) - Tens of thousands of protesters against President Nicolas Maduro's government blocked Caracas streets on Tuesday after the arrest of hardline opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez. Opposition supporters crowded around a military vehicle taking Lopez into custody, while demonstrators also took to streets in other parts of the Venezuelan capital, paralyzing traffic, Reuters reporters around the city said. (Reporting by Eyanir Chinea; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)","Filipino rebels free 4 policemen taken 3 weeks ago. MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Philippine military officials say communist guerrillas have freed four police officers they abducted in an attack on a police station in the south three weeks ago.","Japan's PM says no change to comfort women apology. TOKYO (AP) — Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe says his government is not considering a revision of the country's 1993 apology for forcing South Korean and other women to have sex with Japanese soldiers during World War II.","Greece pins hopes for Parthenon Sculptures on UN. ATHENS, Greece (AP) — After more than a century of fruitless lobbying, Greece is now pinning its hopes of reclaiming the 5th-century B.C. Parthenon Sculptures from Britain on a mediation effort backed by the U.N. cultural agency.","Gunbattle in eastern Ukraine kills four. Slavyansk (Ukraine) (AFP) - Three pro-Russian militants and one attacker were killed in a gunbattle near the volatile eastern Ukrainian town of Slavyansk early Sunday, a local leader told journalists.","Premium car brands eye China's secondhand market. By Edward Taylor and Jan Schwartz BEIJING (Reuters) - Strong demand for new automobiles in China has laid the foundations for the next leg of business for carmakers BMW , Audi and Mercedes-Benz: the second-hand premium car market. China's auto market is the world's biggest and is set to grow between 8 percent and 10 percent this year, fuelled by increasingly affluent buyers, who use them for the daily commute, with some opting for luxury brands as a status symbol. We have 290 dealers who offer certified pre-owned Audis,\" Rupert Stadler, chief executive of Volkswagen's premium brand, Audi, said during the Auto China show in Beijing. \"In China, we have some dealers that sell between 1,500 and 3,000 cars.\" Audi, which expects China to contribute 40 percent of its sales by 2020, plans to train 40,000 to 50,000 new sales staff a year by 2017 to meet growing demand for brand-new and used cars, he said.","Trofimov wins 4th stage of Criterium du Dauphine. GAP, France (AP) — Yury Trofimov won the fourth stage of the Criterium du Dauphine on Wednesday, while Chris Froome recovered from a punctured tire to keep the overall lead.","Dodgers' Puig focuses on baseball despite threats. SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder Yasiel Puig says he is trying to maintain his focus on baseball despite reports that smugglers who helped him defect from Cuba had threatened his life.","Putin to push trade in Turkey despite disagreement on Syria. By Tulay Karadeniz and Gabriela Baczynska ANKARA/MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin's visit to Turkey on Monday will have trade and energy issues at its heart, but is not expected to bridge deep differences over Syria and Crimea. The two issues have tested a relationship usually kept on track by mutual economic advantage: Russia is Turkey's main energy supplier, and Ankara is Moscow's second biggest trade partner after Germany. Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan has strongly criticized Russia's backing for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. ...","Controversial French comic seeks to overturn show ban. Nantes (France) (AFP) - Dieudonne, the French comic at the heart of a furore over sketches widely condemned as anti-Semitic, has asked courts to reverse bans on his shows as he kicks off his nationwide tour, his lawyer and court documents said Wednesday. The 47-year-old was due to start his tour on Thursday in the western city of Nantes, but as in several other cities around France, authorities banned his performance after Interior Minister Manuel Valls gave local officials the go-ahead to do so -- an initiative backed by President Francois Hollande. Dieudonne's material has been viewed as anti-Semitic for years, but he has gained greater prominence in recent months as a result of the Internet-driven success of the \"quenelle\", his trademark straight arm gesture which some have described as a reverse Nazi salute. Jacques Verdier, one of Dieudonne's lawyers, told AFP he had filed an application to a court in Nantes asking that the ban be overturned before Thursday's show in an emergency legal procedure.","China angered by U.S. environment chief's visit to Taiwan. China said on Tuesday it had lodged a protest with the United States over a visit by Washington's environmental protection chief to self-ruled Taiwan this week. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) administrator Gina McCarthy's visit is the first by a cabinet-level official since 2000, according to Taiwan's presidential office. Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou met her on Monday. McCarthy was visiting to highlight environmental cooperation between the United States and partners in the Asia-Pacific region.","Yemeni army kills seven al Qaeda fighters, including one Uzbek. By Mohammed Mukhashaf ADEN, Yemen (Reuters) - Yemeni troops have killed an Uzbek commander of al Qaeda and six other fighters in a fierce battle in south Yemen, officials said on Thursday, the third day of a large-scale military offensive aimed to stamp out the violent Islamist group. A local military source said the Uzbek citizen, known as Abu Muslim al-Uzbeki, died during fighting in the province of Abyan. Two days ago, President Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi said 70 percent of al Qaeda fighters in Yemen were foreigners. Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) and its off-shoot called Ansar al-Sharia have hampered the U.S.-allied country's efforts to restore stability since a revolt in 2011 that forced a change in government.","Ukraine prosecutor's office: 9 crew, 40 troops aboard plane shot down by rebels; all dead.. KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine prosecutor's office: 9 crew, 40 troops aboard plane shot down by rebels; all dead. .","China to outlaw eating of protected animal species. China will jail people who eat rare animals for 10 years or more under a new interpretation of the criminal law, state media reported, as the government seeks to close a legal loophole and better protect the natural environment. China lists 420 species as rare or endangered, including the panda, golden monkeys, Asian black bears and pangolins, some or all of which are threatened by illegal hunting, environmental destruction and the consumption of animal parts, including for supposedly medicinal reasons. Consumption of rare animals has risen as the country has become richer, with some people believing spending thousands of yuan on eating them gives a certain social cache. \"Eating rare wild animals is not only bad social conduct but also a main reason why illegal hunting has not been stopped despite repeated crackdowns,\" Lang Sheng, deputy head of parliament's Legislative Affairs Commission said, the official Xinhua news agency reported late on Thursday.","India announces general elections to start April 7. NEW DELHI (AP) — India says its general election will be held in several phases from April to May, with the largest election in the world kicking off April 7.","Green groups urge U.S. to drop solar trade case against India. Environmental groups urged the United States on Wednesday to drop a challenge to India's massive solar program and said the World Trade Organization case would only hurt the growth of renewable energy resources. The United States is taking action at the WTO over the domestic content requirements in India's program, which aims to ease chronic energy shortages in Asia's third-largest economy. U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman has said making Indian solar developers use locally made equipment discriminates against U.S. producers, in breach of WTO rules, and could hinder the spread of solar power globally by making equipment more expensive. But green groups including the Sierra Club, Greenpeace USA and Friends of the Earth U.S. said supporting the U.S. industry should not come at the expense of India's push to cut fossil fuels and build a viable domestic renewables industry, which would in turn help global efforts to tackle climate change.","Turkish graft scandal triggers feud over judicial independence. By Orhan Coskun ANKARA (Reuters) - One of Turkey's most senior legal figures warned Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan's AK Party on Friday that efforts to tighten its grip on the judiciary would breach the constitution, deepening a crisis triggered by a damaging corruption scandal. Erdogan has cast a wide-ranging graft investigation, which poses one of the biggest challenges of his 11-year rule, as an attempted \"judicial coup\" and has responded by purging the police force of hundreds of officers and seeking tighter control over judicial appointments. His AK Party unveiled plans this week, due to be discussed by parliament's justice commission, to give government more say over the appointment of judges and prosecutors, rolling back reforms championed by the European Union. \"These regulations concerning the independence and impartiality of judges ... will be in contravention of the constitution,\" said Ahmet Hamsici, deputy chairman of the High Council of Judges and Prosecutors (HSYK), in a 66-page report.","Putin: cease-fire in Ukraine should be extended. MOSCOW (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin says that the weeklong cease-fire declared by the Ukrainian president should be extended and accompanied by talks between the government and the rebels.","Oracle quarterly results disappoint Wall Street; shares fall. By Noel Randewich SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Oracle Corp posted higher third-quarter revenue and profit that failed to satisfy investors looking for signs of a sustained turnaround and its shares fell about 4 percent. Chief Financial Officer Safra Catz forecast fourth-quarter revenue growth of between 3 percent and 7 percent in constant dollars, equivalent to between $11.3 billion and $11.7 billion. It continues to be a 'prove me' stock in the eyes of investors.\" The company said new software sales and Internet-based software subscriptions in its fiscal third quarter ended February 28 rose 4 percent from the year-ago period. New software sales are scrutinized by investors because they generate high-margin, long-term maintenance contracts and are an important indicator of future profit.","Putin says Kiev's refusal to negotiate with separatists is problem. LAKE SELIGER Russia (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin said Kiev must sit down for negotiations with representatives of separatist eastern Ukrainian regions in order to achieve peace. \"It is necessary to force the Ukrainian authorities to substantively begin these talks -- not on technical issues ... the talks must be substantive,\" Putin told a youth camp outside Moscow. (Reporting by Alexei Anishchuk; Writing by Thomas Grove; Editing by Christian Lowe)","Madrid hospital: Spanish priest with Ebola dies. MADRID (AP) — A Spanish missionary priest being treated for Ebola died Tuesday in a Madrid hospital, authorities said.","Mourners, civil rights leaders attend funeral of slain Missouri teen. By Edward McAllister and Nick Carey ST. LOUIS (Reuters) - Mourners sang, clapped and danced on Monday at funeral services for Michael Brown, remembering the slain black teenager with words of goodwill and joy rather than the violence and outrage that followed his killing by a white police officer. Brown's body lay at the Friendly Temple Missionary Baptist Church in a black and gold casket, topped with the St. Louis Cardinals baseball cap he was wearing when he was killed on Aug. 9 in Ferguson, Missouri. As hundreds of people filed into the modern red-brick church on Dr. Martin Luther King Drive in St. Louis, Brown's coffin was surrounded by photos of him as a child, graduating from school and smiling in his Cardinals cap. Outside, gatherers sang the civil rights hymn \"We Shall Overcome,\" in a scene markedly different from the violent protests that rocked the St. Louis suburb of Ferguson after Brown was shot to death on Aug. 9.","Iran dismisses U.S. criticism of its election to U.N. NGO committee. Iran on Thursday rejected U.S. criticism of its election to the United Nations' committee on non-governmental organizations (NGOs), saying Washington's rebuke came from \"baseless accusations\" and violated the spirit of cooperation needed at the world body. U.S. Ambassador Samantha Power on Wednesday said, \"The unopposed candidacy of Iran, where authorities regularly detain human rights defenders, subjecting many to torture, abuse, and violations of due process, is a particularly troubling outcome.\" Hamid Babaei, spokesman for Iran's U.N. mission in New York, vehemently rejected Power's remarks. \"Iran categorically rejects baseless accusations raised in the statement of (Power) regarding status of human rights and civil liberties in the Islamic Republic of Iran and find these assertions both unconstructive, obstructive and against the spirit of cooperation between sovereign member states,\" he said.","Kurds retake Christian villages from Iraq jihadists. Arbil (Iraq) (AFP) - Kurdish peshmerga forces on Tuesday recaptured seven Christian villages in northern Iraq in clashes with Islamic State (IS) jihadists, an officer and a cleric said.","New French PM suffers setback as he prepares to unveil government. France's new Prime Minister Manuel Valls suffered his first setback as Green allies refused to take part in his government, due to be unveiled Wednesday. President Francois Hollande nominated the tough-talking interior minister to the post on Monday after the ruling Socialists suffered a drubbing at municipal polls. Valls replaces Jean-Marc Ayrault who had headed up a deeply unpopular government which struggled to create sorely-needed jobs and straighten out a battered economy. Wasting no time, Valls went to the Elysee presidency early Wednesday morning to hold what were thought to be final talks with Hollande on who will be included in the new government.","South Africa's townships blaze with anti-ANC anger. By Ed Cropley HEBRON, South Africa (Reuters) - It has become an almost daily ritual in the townships ringing Johannesburg and Pretoria - disaffected youths burning tires, looting shops and throwing rocks in a furious demand for jobs, electricity and, increasingly, political change. In the last three months alone, police in the province of Gauteng, South Africa's commercial hub, have been called out to at least 569 \"service delivery\" protests, as they have become known. On Friday, when rioters barricaded roads, pelted vehicles with stones and looted a Pakistani-owned store in Hebron, a township in rolling hills 30 km (20 miles) northwest of Pretoria, the police response was too little and too late. An R5 automatic rifle is tucked under his arm but Swaratlhe, mindful of persistent accusations of police brutality, is loathe to use it.","Group: Justice elusive year after Syria gas attack. BEIRUT (AP) — One year after the deadly chemical attack on rebel-held areas outside Damascus, the victims and their families have yet to see those behind the mass killings held responsible, a human rights group said Thursday.","London fathers' rights protest ends with arrests. The final protesters who scaled a building in London's Hyde Park to campaign for fathers' rights voluntarily came down on Monday and were arrested, police said. Two men, the last remaining after several protesters had already descended, climbed down and were arrested for aggravated trespass, causing a public nuisance and being in breach of Royal Park regulations, according to police. \"They are currently in custody at a central London police station,\" police said. The demonstrators had climbed the Apsley Gate entrance to Hyde Park, central London's biggest, which is adjacent to Apsley House, one the home of the dukes of Wellington and now a museum.","Italian poll shows reform plan could favor Berlusconi-led center-right. A center-right alliance led by Silvio Berlusconi would be the most likely winner if Italians were to vote now under a reform proposal currently before parliament, according to an opinion poll published on Monday. Italy is attempting to change electoral rules blamed for a succession of weak, unstable governments that have struggled to revive a chronically sluggish economy or cut a public debt of around 130 percent of output. The survey, conducted by the Ipsos agency for the daily Corriere della Sera, gave the potential center-right coalition 37.9 percent of the vote, above the 37 percent threshold needed to obtain a large winner's bonus of seats and avoid the need for a second round run-off. The center-right benefited from a recent decision by the centrist UDC to move back into its camp, having fought last year's election allied to former technocrat Mario Monti's unaligned Civic Choice movement, which has now all but disappeared.","Castles in the air: Afghans pay a heavy price for uncertainty. By Jeremy Laurence and Mirwais Harooni KABUL (Reuters) - A bored security guard, a Kalashnikov rifle over his shoulder, stands guard alone outside an idle construction site for a 10-storey building in downtown Kabul, one of more than a dozen concrete shells with not a single construction worker in sight. Over the past few years, shiny new shopping malls started to spring up around the Afghan capital and construction cranes dotted Kabul's spectacular, snow-capped horizon. Business has ground to a halt across much of Afghanistan. Political uncertainty abounds before another presidential vote and security fears are growing as the last foreign combat troops prepare to leave.","Croatia hands over Yugoslav-era spy chief to Germany. Croatia has handed over its communist-era intelligence chief to Germany, where he is wanted over the 1980s killing of a Yugoslav dissident, and ended an extradition row that marred Zagreb's entry to the European Union. Josip Perkovic boarded a plane bound for Germany on Friday afternoon after the Constitutional Court rejected his request for the extradition to be delayed. Perkovic was arrested on New Year's Day, along with nine other people, as an amended extradition law took effect to bring the country into line with most of the rest of the EU. A Zagreb court ruled on January 8 he should be extradited to Germany and the supreme court confirmed the ruling this week.","Porsche to hit 200,000 car-sales target years ahead of plan: CEO. By Andreas Cremer LEIPZIG, Germany (Reuters) - Porsche expects to hit a target of selling more than 200,000 sports cars next year, three years earlier than originally scheduled, as the brand keeps pushing into sport-utility vehicles, Chief Executive Matthias Mueller said. Volkswagen-owned Porsche is entering the lucrative segment of compact SUVs with its new Macan model, which has already sold out about eight months of production ahead of its arrival at German dealerships on April 4, sales chief Bernhard Maier said. The Macan, which competes with BMW's X3 model and the Mercedes-Benz GLK, will replace the more roomy Cayenne SUV as Porsche's top-selling model next year, research firm IHS Automotive said, pegging 2015 Macan sales at 81,025 units compared with 70,055 for the Cayenne. Porsche originally set the 200,000 sales goal for 2018 when parent VW is aiming to overtake Toyota and General Motors as the world's biggest carmaker.","ECB holds rates, assesses inflation 'danger zone'. By Sakari Suoninen FRANKFURT (Reuters) - The European Central Bank left interest rates at a record low on Thursday, holding off fresh action for now while it assesses whether it needs to respond to cost-of-living numbers weak enough to raise concerns about deflation. The decision to hold the main rate at 0.25 percent, which was widely expected, came despite news earlier this week that euro zone inflation slowed to 0.8 percent in December - well below the ECB's target of just below 2 percent. Attention now shifts to ECB President Mario Draghi's 1330 GMT news conference, at which he will explain the reasoning behind this month's decision. \"We expect President Draghi to continue to emphasize that the ECB is ready and able to act if required,\" said Nomura economist Nick Matthews.","Russian, US diplomats discuss key arms treaty. MOSCOW (AP) — Russian and U.S. diplomats have traded mutual complaints over a landmark nuclear arms treaty, but pledged their adherence to it.","Police, elections investigators search firm owned by MP Del Mastro's cousin. OTTAWA - A company owned by a cousin of Tory MP Dean Del Mastro has been searched as part of an investigation by Canada's political financing watchdog.","Bombers kill 31 at Iraq campaign rally for Shiites. BAGHDAD (AP) — Suicide bombers killed 31 people Friday at a sports stadium hosting a campaign rally for thousands of supporters of a militant Shiite group before parliamentary elections, authorities said — an attack that could unleash more sectarian violence.","Euro surges as ECB holds fire. LONDON (AP) — Global markets stabilized Thursday as tensions in Ukraine eased while the euro surged after traders reined in expectations of further easing measures from the European Central Bank.","U.S. consumer spending falters; wage gains highest since 2008. By Lucia Mutikani WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. consumer spending fell for the first time in eight months in September, suggesting the economy lost some momentum heading into the fourth quarter. But rising consumer sentiment and faster wage growth suggest the weakness in spending will be temporary, with the economy remaining on firm ground. \"The fundamentals ... remain very solid,\" said Gus Faucher, a senior economist at PNC Financial Services in Pittsburgh. \"The conditions are in place for continued above-trend growth. ...","Gunmen kill Libyan journalist in restive Benghazi. TRIPOLI, Libya (AP) — A Libyan security official says gunmen have shot dead a journalist who was an outspoken critic of Islamists in the country's volatile east.","Swiss business, with eye on EU accords, urges dialogue on immigration. ZURICH (Reuters) - Switzerland's business elite published an appeal in a Swiss newspaper on Sunday to save the country's accords with the European Union from unraveling due to a vote earlier this year to curb immigration from the bloc. The Swiss government said in June it would introduce quotas for EU citizens from 2017 after voters in February narrowly backed proposals to curtail immigration. The move could violate a free movement of citizens pact and threaten Switzerland's other agreements with the 28-member union. Switzerland will also vote on an even more radical initiative on Nov. ...","Obama names Tefft as new US ambassador to Russia. WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama said Thursday he is returning to service a career diplomat deeply experienced in eastern Europe to be the next U.S. ambassador to Russia.","Four killed in clashes between Yemeni soldiers and Al-Qaeda. Two Yemeni soldiers and two al-Qaeda militants were killed on Tuesday during clashes in Yemen's western province of Al-Hadida, ministry of interior said on its website. Yemen has been in turmoil since mass protests forced long-term leader Ali Abdullah Saleh to step down in 2012. Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) is one of the most active branches of the network founded by Osama bin Laden and militants have plotted attacks against international airlines from there. It is allied to a large group of local militants who have staged an insurgency in southern Yemen for three years, seizing areas of land, killing soldiers and bombing government and foreign targets.","Palace continues recovery with 3-1 win over WBA. LONDON (AP) — Thomas Ince and Joe Ledley scored on their debut for Crystal Palace as the London club continued its recovery with a 3-1 win over West Bromwich Albion on Saturday.","New study explores sinister side of meerkats. JOHANNESBURG (AP) — One of the most captivating sights of African wildlife is that of dark-eyed meerkats standing side-by-side on their hind legs, as though posing for a group photograph. They look cuddly and endearing. But a new study says they have a dark side.","Man parks plane at pub in Australia. A man who taxied his light plane down a street in Australia and parked it at a pub while he went inside for a beer was being questioned Monday by police, who were not amused. Locals in Newman, Western Australia, were stunned when they saw the wingless Beechcraft two-seater aircraft chugging down the main drag of the mining town in the Pilbara region, before pulling up at the local watering hole. \"It was a pretty stupid thing to do,\" Newman police sergeant Mark McKenzie told reporters, saying the propeller was running and it needed to be steered by foot pedals. The West Australian newspaper said staff at the pub had dubbed the man a \"legend\" for his casual arrival.","Ill British boy's parents head to Spanish hospital. MADRID (AP) — The British parents who took their critically ill son for treatment abroad headed Wednesday to visit him at a hospital in southern Spain following their release from custody after U.K. authorities dropped accusations of child cruelty against them.","Cyclone batters Australia's Great Barrier Reef coast. Australia's Barrier Reef coast was Saturday taking a battering from a tropical cyclone which knocked out power and phones, but no deaths or major devastation had been reported. Queensland state Premier Campbell Newman said the focus was now on assessing how quickly electricity and communications could be restored. Heavy rain and gales from tropical cyclone Ita continued to lash the far north. Roofs were ripped off two homes and a pub in the coastal resort of Cooktown where several trees were uprooted during the night, officials said.","Motor racing-Vettel's winning streak ends in Australia. By Ian Ransom MELBOURNE, March 16 (Reuters) - Sebastian Vettel's record run of nine consecutive race victories ended on Sunday when the quadruple world champion retired his Red Bull from the season-opening Australian Grand Prix with a reliability problem. Vettel told his team over the radio before the race started that \"the engine is not running smoothly\" and after a few laps around Albert Park circuit headed back to the pits. Vettel's retirement snapped a winning streak that started at the Belgian Grand Prix in August. Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton, the last driver to beat Vettel when he won the Hungarian Grand Prix in July, also retired on Sunday with an engine problem.","SOCHI SCENE: Consolation trip. SOCHI, Russia (AP) — Austria's Benjamin Karl is hoping for a consolation prize for winning the bronze in men's snowboard parallel giant slalom.","S&P upgrades Cyprus on better economic performance. NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) — Credit rating agency Standard & Poor's is more upbeat about Cyprus' public finances following a better-than-expected performance since the country's financial rescue a year ago.","Aviation to drive 37% of Dubai economy by 2020: study. Aviation will account for more than a third of Dubai's economy by 2020, a study said on Monday of the Gulf emirate which has become a major international travel hub. Oil-poor Dubai has spent years trying to diversify its economy with core sectors now including trade, transport and tourism. Aviation contributed 27 percent -- or $26.7 billion (21.4 billion euros) -- to Dubai's gross domestic product in 2013, Oxford Economics said in a report for Emirates Airline and Dubai Airports. \"Between now and 2020 the contribution of the aviation sector to Dubai's economy is expected to grow at a faster rate than the economy as a whole,\" the global research firm said.","Kasai wins medals 20 years apart at Olympics. KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia (AP) — Noriaki Kasai came close to being the oldest individual gold medal winner at any Winter Olympics on Saturday. Don't worry, he says, he'll be back in four years to try again.","'SwaziLeaks' looks to shake up jet-setting monarchy. As WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange prepares to end a two-year forced stay at Ecuador's London embassy, he may take comfort in knowing he inspired resistance to secrecy in places as far away as Swaziland. SwaziLeaks members -- who refuse to say who or where in Swaziland they are, for fear of being targeted -- started a Twitter feed a year ago. \"We wanted to try and expose some of the exploitation and corruption of the rich and powerful,\" SwaziLeaks told AFP. Swaziland is an absolute monarchy ruled by King Mswati III. The government is frequently accused of stifling dissent and jailing opponents.","Pakistan's prime minister resolved to ride out protests crisis. By Mehreen Zahra-Malik ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif told parliament on Wednesday he would not be cowed by thousands of demonstrators camped outside the assembly demanding his resignation. Protesters led by cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan and firebrand cleric Tahir ul-Qadri have rallied in Islamabad for almost two weeks and vowed to occupy the capital until Sharif resigns - a demand the premier has firmly rejected.","Hamlin wins Lillehammer Cup preseason luge race. LILLEHAMMER, Norway (AP) — Erin Hamlin of the United States won the season-opening Lillehammer Cup luge race Saturday, edging Germany's Julia Orlamuender to take the preseason event.","Credible reports of Congo's defeated M23 rebels regrouping: U.N.. By Michelle Nichols UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Congolese rebel group M23 appears to be regrouping just two months after the Tutsi-led insurgency was defeated by Congolese troops and U.N. peacekeepers, the top U.N. official in the Democratic Republic of Congo said on Monday. Martin Kobler told the U.N. Security Council there were \"credible reports of emerging M23 activities in Ituri in northeastern Congo\" and called on the Congolese government to speed up the disarmament, demobilization and reintegration of ex-M23 fighters, who ended their 20-month revolt in November. \"At the same time, I call upon the governments of Uganda and Rwanda to do everything possible to prevent M23 elements from sheltering or training troops on their territory.","Syrian army advancing on rebel town near Lebanon. AL-SAHEL, Syria (AP) — Syrian government forces are tightening their grip on the last rebel stronghold near the border with Lebanon a day after taking control of a key village in the area, a field commander told reporters on Tuesday.","Protest against new airport for west of France turns violent. Violence erupted when about 20,000 people demonstrated against an airport project near the city of Nantes on Saturday, leaving six riot police officers injured. Environmental activists have been protesting for more than a year against the government's plan to build a new airport for the west of the country, with some activists occupying the area by living rough in makeshift wooden cabins. The protest on Saturday in Nantes, homeland of French Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault, involved around 20,000, according to police, and was the first since local authorities gave the project a green light. Riot police used tear gas to disperse protesters who lobbed projectiles and threw paint onto Nantes' city hall, set fire to construction vehicles and vandalized the offices of Vinci, the project's contractor.","Abuse victims' leader: Pope's meeting a 'gesture'. Pope Francis says his plans to meet with a group of sex abuse victims at the Vatican is part of an effort to \"go forward\" with \"zero tolerance\" in confronting and preventing clergy abuse. But the head of a U.S. victims' group has dismissed the upcoming session as \"another gesture, another public relations coup\" that could prove meaningless.","Star NYC prosecutor deflects attorney general buzz. NEW YORK (AP) — Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara is not doing much to encourage speculation that he's on the short list to be the next attorney general. And he's not exactly discouraging it either.","Asia stocks slide as China manufacturing shrinks. HONG KONG (AP) — Asian stock markets slid Monday after a survey showed that Chinese manufacturing shrank in April for the fourth month in a row.","NATO Secretary General says sees no role for alliance in Iraq. NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said on Thursday he saw no role for Western alliance in Iraq after Islamist militants seized swathes of territory in the country and took 80 Turkish citizens hostage. \"NATO's role is the defense of our allies... and we don't have a mandate or request on Iraq,\" said Rasmussen, who also condemned the violence and called for immediate release of the hostages. Nothing can justify this criminal act ... I don't see a role for NATO in Iraq, but of course we follow the situation closely and urge all parties involved to stop the violence,\" he said during a conference in Madrid. NATO ambassadors held an emergency meeting at Turkey's request on Wednesday at which Turkey briefed the other allies on the situation in the Iraqi city of Mosul and the hostages.","US supports high-level UN debate on NKorea rights. WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States supports U.N. Security Council discussion of allegations North Korea committed crimes against humanity, a senior official said Friday. But he questioned whether the council had time to take up the issue.","WHO: Ebola transmission 'intense' in Sierra Leone. FREETOWN, Sierra Leone (AP) — The World Health Organization says the transmission of Ebola remains \"intense\" and widespread in Sierra Leone, even as some improvements are being seen in the two other countries worst hit by the crisis.","Hopes fading for scores buried in Indian landslide. NEW DELHI (AP) — Hopes are fading of finding scores of people still missing three days after a landslide in western India buried a village, killing at least 76 people, an official said Saturday.","Google Glass to feature Ray-Ban, Oakley frames. SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Google is hoping to make its Internet-connected eyewear more stylish as part of a partnership with the makers of Ray-Ban and Oakley frames.","Colombia investigates Santos email hacking. Colombian prosecutors Monday opened an investigation after President Juan Manuel Santos said more than 1,000 of his personal emails had been hacked, as spying allegations mar peace talks with the FARC rebels. Santos claimed unknown parties were trying to slander him ahead of the May presidential vote, accusing them of breaking into his own email account as well as those of his family. Prosecutors said Monday they will probe whether the suspected hackers are linked to a special Colombian army intelligence unit accused of spying on its own government's negotiating team at peace talks with FARC rebels in Cuba. The disclosures of electronic eavesdropping touched off a political scandal in Colombia, with Santos declaring that the spying was \"totally unacceptable\" and warning that \"dark forces\" were intent on sabotaging the peace process.","Moderate 5.8 quake rattles Peru's capital. LIMA, Peru (AP) — A moderate earthquake has shaken Peru's capital, with no immediate reports of injuries.","EU's Mogherini says detects some 'willingness' from Russia to resolve Ukraine conflict. By Alessandra Prentice KIEV (Reuters) - The European Union's foreign policy chief said on Wednesday that she and Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko had detected signs of greater willingness from Russia to resolve the crisis in Ukraine's pro-separatist eastern territories. But Poroshenko balanced this judgment by saying Ukraine was in a virtual state of war with Russia and he pledged to work to integrate his country with \"Euro-Atlantic security\", a clear reference to the U.S.-led NATO alliance. The cautiously-worded comments of the EU's Federica Mogherini echoed those of U.S. ...","Aston Martin issues recall over throttle fault. British luxury car manufacturer Aston Martin on Wednesday announced it was recalling 17,590 of its sports cars due to a problem with the accelerator pedal. \"Although there has been no report of any accidents or injuries involving the throttle pedal, Aston Martin's commitment to customer safety is paramount, which is why the company is taking this action,\" said a spokeswoman.","Thai protesters rally to 'sweep' away Thaksin regime. By Apornrath Phoonphongphiphat BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thousands of royalist protesters fanned out across Thailand's capital on Friday to try to bring down a caretaker government after a court threw Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra out of office and an anti-graft agency indicted her for negligence. The interim government is hoping to organize a July 20 election that it would probably win, but the protesters want the government out, the election postponed and reforms to end the influence of Yingluck's brother, former premier Thaksin Shinawatra. Protest leader Suthep Thaugsuban, speaking to supporters in a city park, urged them to rally outside parliament, the prime minister's offices and five television stations to prevent them being used by the government. Thaksin is vilified by his enemies as a corrupt crony capitalist.","German court jails four men in al Qaeda cell for planning attack. By Matthias Inverardi DUESSELDORF Germany (Reuters) - A German court convicted four men on Thursday of being members or supporters of al Qaeda and planning a potentially lethal attack on German soil, handing them sentences of up to nine years behind bars. The group, dubbed the \"Duesseldorf cell\" by German media, was arrested in 2011 in the western cities of Duesseldorf and Bochum, just days before Osama bin Laden was killed. ...","OSCE says contact lost with second team near Ukraine's Donetsk. The European security body OSCE said Wednesday it had lost contact with a second group of observers near the east Ukrainian city of Donetsk a day after a first team was detained. \"At around noon today the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) to Ukraine lost contact with some members of its Donetsk-based team. The team was west of Donetsk City on its way to Dnipropetrovsk when contact was lost,\" the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe said in a statement. On Tuesday, the OSCE already announced it had lost contact with a first group of four observers.","Kerry says evidence pro-Russian separatists downed Malaysian jet. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Sunday that evidence in the downing of a Malaysian jetliner points to pro-Russian separatists in Ukraine using a missile system that came from Russia. \"It's pretty clear that this is a system that was transferred from Russia,\" Kerry said in an interview on CNN. Kerry said the information currently available \"obviously points a very clear finger at the separatists.\" (Reporting by Jim Loney;","Al-Qaida group in Lebanon vows to strike at Iran. BEIRUT (AP) — An al-Qaida-linked group that has carried out attacks across the Middle East has vowed to target Iran and Hezbollah following the death of its leader in Lebanon.","Hurricane briefly strengthens; still no threat. MEXICO CITY (AP) — Hurricane Amanda unexpectedly regained strength briefly Tuesday, before resuming a predicted weakening far off Mexico's Pacific coast where it posed no threat to land.","Pope names British woman to head academy. VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis has named a British sociologist to run a pontifical academy, marking the highest-ranking appointment of a woman in his papacy.","Obama says more sanctions 'teed up' against Russia over Ukraine. TOKYO (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama said on Thursday that additional sanctions were \"teed up\" against Russia if it does not deliver on promises in an agreement in Geneva last week to ease tensions in Ukraine. He added that Russia could avoid further sanctions by changing course but that the evidence so far had not left him hopeful that Moscow would do so. Obama made the remarks at a joint news conference after a summit meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. (Reporting by Mark Felsenthal; Writing by Edmund Klamann; Editing by Dominic Lau)","Pistorius 'consumed with sorrow' year after shooting lover dead. South African Paralympic sprint star Oscar Pistorius said Friday he was consumed with \"sorrow\" as he marked one year since he shot dead his girlfriend on Valentine's Day in what he maintains was an accident. The world-famous double amputee, 27, shot Reeva Steenkamp through his toilet door, claiming he mistook her for an intruder at his upmarket Pretoria home. \"No words can adequately capture my feelings about the devastating accident that has caused such heartache for everyone who truly loved -- and continues to love Reeva,\" Pistorius wrote on his personal website. \"The pain and sadness –- especially for Reeva's parents, family and friends consumes me with sorrow,\" said Pistorius breaking his long silence since he shot dead his model lover -- an aspiring actress.","Washington state euthanizes 300 birds after cockfighting farm raided. By Jonathan Kaminsky OLYMPIA, Washington (Reuters) - Washington state authorities have euthanized scores of steroid-filled roosters after raiding a farm and arresting a man on suspicion of raising the birds for cockfighting, prosecutors said on Tuesday. Victor Hugo Gallegos Chavez, 35, the lone defendant in the case, was arrested at his home in Rochester, about 70 miles southwest of Seattle by authorities acting on a search warrant on Monday. Some 240 roosters and 60 hens seized in the raid were euthanized after Chavez's arrest, said Thurston County Senior Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Joseph Wheeler, adding that the steroids rendered the birds unsuitable for rehabilitation or human consumption. The case against Chavez was built during a two-year investigation by the Washington State Gambling Commission, Wheeler said.","German Islamist charged over failed Bonn station attack in 2012. Germany's federal prosecutor on Friday charged a 26-year-old German man, described as a radical Islamist, with planting a pipe bomb in Bonn train station in 2012 and intending to kill as many people as possible. The man, named only as Marco G., was also charged with planning to assassinate the leader of a far-right anti-Muslim political party, Pro-NRW, with three accomplices, a 43-year-old Albanian man, a 25-year-old German-Turkish citizen, and a 24-year-old German. Germany faces an increased threat of attack, officials say, because about a dozen German jihadis have returned from fighting in Syria, prepared to use their knowledge of weapons and bomb-making for attacks in the West.","Djokovic races into Monte Carlo Masters quarters. MONACO (AP) — Defending champion Novak Djokovic of Serbia raced into the Monte Carlo Masters quarterfinals on Thursday, dispatching Pablo Carreno Busta 6-0, 6-1 in just 47 minutes.","Quebec sovereignty push in doubt after election defeat. Quebec's independence movement faced an uncertain future on Tuesday after its standard-bearer, the Parti Quebecois, suffered a crushing defeat in snap elections. The Parti Quebecois (PQ) leader Pauline Marois had triggered the midterm elections 18 months into her first mandate hoping to gain seats to form a majority in the Canadian province. But in a shocking turnaround, the PQ lost 24 seats while the federalist Liberals led by Philippe Couillard gained 21. Marois, who lost her own seat in the race, was left with little choice but to resign after nearly 40 years in Quebec politics -- both in government and opposition.","Hamas agrees to 24-hour holiday truce in Gaza war, starting at 2 p.m. (1100 GMT) Sunday. GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — Hamas agrees to 24-hour holiday truce in Gaza war, starting at 2 p.m. (1100 GMT) Sunday.","Tight security, unity drive clash in China's west. KUQA, China (AP) — In this ancient oasis town in China's restive west, assault rifle-toting police officers patrol the cobblestone lanes of ochre-brick houses in an ethnic Uighur neighborhood. Three police surveillance cameras atop a white pole watch over a narrow dirt road frequented mostly by cows. Wanted posters for suspected Uighur assailants are stuck on walls every few hundred feet.","Flights cancelled at London Heathrow due to storm. London (AFP) - Around one in 10 flights may be cancelled at Britain's biggest airport Heathrow on Tuesday due to stormy weather, an airport spokesman said.","U.S. rebukes peacekeepers, Khartoum over Darfur violence. By Louis Charbonneau UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The United States on Wednesday condemned the recent upsurge in violence in Sudan's western Darfur region, saying civilians continue to be \"terrorized, displaced, and killed\" despite the presence of one of the world's biggest peacekeeping missions. U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power criticized both the Sudanese government and the joint U.N.-African Union peacekeeping force in Darfur, known as UNAMID. Dozens have been killed in Darfur in recent weeks in fighting between rebels and security forces. \"The Government of Sudan's proxies and other armed groups continue to attack civilians in Darfur,\" Power said in a statement issued during a closed-door meeting of the U.N. Security Council on Darfur.","Chad's Deby plays for high stakes in Boko Haram talks. By Emma Farge N'DJAMENA (Reuters) - Chad's President Idriss Deby, a wily survivor of rebellions, is looking to bolster his powerbroker role in the Sahel and his nation's own security by backing peace talks between neighbor Nigeria's government and Islamist Boko Haram insurgents. The Boko Haram rebels, whose five-year revolt has killed thousands and caused mayhem in the northeast of Africa's biggest economy Nigeria, have been threatening Chad's own frontiers and disrupting cross-border trade. ...","China investigates brother of ex-president's aide. BEIJING (AP) — China's latest anti-graft investigation has raised questions about the fate of the former president's top aide, who was hurt by a lurid scandal two years ago over his son's death in a speeding Ferrari.","Cruzeiro loses 2nd in a row in Brazilian league. RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Defending champion Cruzeiro went down 3-0 to Flamengo at the Maracana Stadium on Sunday, losing its second game in a row as its Brazilian league lead shrank to six points entering the competition's final stretch.","Afghan official says NATO air strike killed up to 14 civilians. A NATO air strike in eastern Afghanistan killed 14 people, including civilians, and wounded at least 13 others, an Afghan official said on Wednesday, just months before most foreign forces pull out of the country. President Hamid Karzai condemned the deaths. The governor of Kunar province, Shuja ul-Mulk Jalala, said villagers brought the bodies of the 14, including two children, from their insurgent-dominated district of Narang to the provincial capital to complain that they were all civilians.","Iran leader slams West's 'stupid' missile stance before talks. By Michelle Moghtader and Mehrdad Balali DUBAI (Reuters) - Iran's Supreme Leader described as \\\\\"stupid and idiotic\\\\\" Western expectations for his country to curb its missile development, striking a defiant tone ahead of a fresh round of nuclear talks. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei called on Iran's Revolutionary Guards to mass produce missiles and said the nuclear negotiations were not the place to discuss Tehran's defense program or to solve the problem of sanctions damaging the Iranian economy. \\\\\"They expect us to limit our missile program while they constantly threaten Iran with military action,\\\\\" Khamenei was quoted as telling the IRNA news agency while on a visit to an aeronautics fair held by the Revolutionary Guards.","Russia calls for OSCE-mediated dialogue in Ukraine. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov called in a telephone conversation with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Friday for urgent dialogue, mediated by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, between Kiev and south-eastern regions of Ukraine. Lavrov also called for Washington to help end Ukrainian military operations in the south-east of the country. \\\\\"Sergei Lavrov expressed the hope that... Washington will closely work with Kiev to bring about an end to military actions in the south-east, the freeing of political prisoners and an amnesty for protesters,\\\\\" the ministry in a statement.","Yang beats Conners in final of US Amateur. JOHNS CREEK, Georgia (AP) — South Korea's Gunn Yang has completed his improbable run to the U.S. Amateur title with a 2-and-1 victory over Canada's Corey Conners on Sunday.","Quake of 6.4 magnitude detected northwest of Cocos Islands. () - An earthquake of 6.4 magnitude struck in the Indian Ocean on Saturday, 420 miles (675 km) northwest of Bantam in the Cocos Islands, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. The center of the quake was at a depth of 4.4 miles (7.1 km), it said. (Writing by Elaine Hardcastle; Editing by Pravin Char)","Female serial killer jailed for life in Britain. A British female serial killer who admitted murdering three men and dumping their bodies in ditches was on Friday sentenced to a life in prison without parole. Joanna Dennehy, 31, had expressed no remorse for killing the men, who she knew, although she apologised for two attempted murders of strangers while she was on the run last year. Sentencing her at the Old Bailey court in London, Judge Robin Spencer told Dennehy she was a \"cruel, calculating, selfish and manipulative serial killer\". Dennehy had earlier pleaded guilty to murdering Lukasz Slaboszewski, 31, Kevin Lee, 48, and John Chapman, 56, in and around Peterborough in eastern England over a ten-day period in March 2013.","Thai army summons over 100 from rival political camps. Bangkok (AFP) - Thailand's army summoned more than 100 prominent figures from the nation's rival political sides on Friday, including \"Red Shirt\" leaders, former police and military officers and politicians from the opposing parties.","Rugby Championship condensed to three rounds in 2015. Sydney (AFP) - Next year's Rugby Championship will be condensed into three rounds to fit in with the World Cup in England, with holders New Zealand kicking off the first match against Argentina, SANZAR said Tuesday.","Activists: Syria airstrikes toll over 500. MURSITPINAR, Turkey (AP) — U.S.-led coalition airstrikes on Syria have killed more than 500 people, mainly Islamic militants, since they began last month, activists said Thursday, as fighting flared in the northern Syrian border town of Kobani.","2 dead amid clashes after Turkish teen's death. ISTANBUL (AP) — Officials say two people have died amid clashes that erupted in Istanbul and other cities following the funeral of a teenager, who died nine months after being hit by a police tear-gas canister.","Anger grows towards Russia over MH17 crash. Outraged world leaders heaped pressure on Russia Sunday to press Moscow-backed rebels in eastern Ukraine to allow investigators proper access to the crash site of the Malaysian MH17 jet. Ukraine has warned that the rebels, who Kiev and the US have accused of blowing the plane out of the sky with a missile, were \"hours away\" from removing key evidence across the Russian border. As fears grew that evidence was being tampered with world leaders voiced their frustration with Moscow, pushing East-West ties to crisis point after months of discord over the Kremlin's interference in ex-Soviet Ukraine.","Insiders seen most at fault in data breaches. BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — A new study says that most breaches of personal data in Europe over the past decade were due to errors and abuse committed by an organization's employees, not hackers.","Western nations mistreating Ebola 'heroes'. The head of a leading British charity hit out Sunday at western nations for quarantining health worker \"heroes\" returning from Ebola-hit west Africa and refusing visas to people from the worst-hit countries. Save the Children chief executive Justin Forsyth, on a trip to Sierra Leone, singled out immigration rules imposed by Canada and Australia and measures by some US states that quarantine medics who have treated infected patients. Experts say quarantining medical professionals who have shown no symptoms of the virus is counter-productive and could deter other workers from helping contain west Africa's Ebola crisis. In a case which attracted international criticism, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie kept a nurse in an isolation tent for three days after she flew back from Sierra Leone.","China detains journalist ahead of anniversary. BEIJING (AP) — Beijing police have detained a Chinese news assistant for a Japanese newspaper, her family said Wednesday, in the latest in a string of detentions ahead of the 25th anniversary of the 1989 crackdown on pro-democracy protests in Tiananmen Square.","Tavares could take helm of Peugeot in March: sources. By Gilles Guillaume PARIS (Reuters) - Carlos Tavares could take over as chief executive of PSA Peugeot Citroen in March, two sources close to the situation said. Tavares, the former second in command at rival Renault , joined the loss-making French carmaker as CEO-in-waiting on January 1. Peugeot, which is in talks on a capital injection from the French government and China's Dongfeng Motor Co. , had previously only said that he would take over from current boss Philippe Varin sometime this year. \"Some observers had thought Tavares could take over by February 19 when Peugeot announces its annual results.","Mozambique's Frelimo selects Guebuza loyalist as presidential candidate. By Manuel Mucari MAPUTO (Reuters) - Mozambique's ruling Frelimo party early on Sunday picked Defense Minister Filipe Nyusi, a close ally of current two-term President Armando Guebuza, to be its candidate for an election in October that will choose the country's next leader. Frelimo's Central Committee voted by a two-thirds margin for Nyusi, 56, after an internal debate in which Guebuza loyalists beat off a challenge from a rival group backing former Prime Minister Luisa Diogo to be the candidate. Buoyed by accelerating foreign investment, Mozambique's economy is forecast to grow by up to 8.3 percent this year from 7 percent in 2013, according to the IMF, which calls it \"one of the most dynamic economies in Sub-Saharan Africa\". Guebuza, now 71, has served two terms as Mozambique's president and under the constitution cannot stand again.","New Zealand names Commonwealth Games athletes. WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — World and Olympic shot put champion Valerie Adams was among the first contingent of New Zealand athletes named Monday to compete at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games.","Iran says has no plans to substitute UN envoy pick. ","Cambodia to build memorial at genocide museum. PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) — Cambodia is building a memorial at the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum to remember at least 12,000 people tortured and killed there during the radical Khmer Rouge regime.","Saudi Arabia, UK's BAE agree new Typhoon jet price. DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Europe's largest defense contractor BAE Systems announced Wednesday that the governments of the United Kingdom and Saudi Arabia have agreed on new pricing for the sale of 72 Eurofighter Typhoon jets.","Quebec heading for provincial election, separatists lead. By Randall Palmer OTTAWA (Reuters) - Quebec's two main opposition parties said on Thursday they would oppose the separatist Parti Quebecois government's budget, assuring a spring election, and raising the possibility of an eventual third referendum on independence from Canada. The Parti Quebecois currently heads a minority government, and has a comfortable lead in the polls. If Premier Pauline Marois decided not to call an election on her own, her Parti Quebecois would need the support of either the Quebec Liberals or the Coalition Avenir Quebec (CAQ), but both have said they oppose the budget. \"It will be impossible for us to support the budget,\" Quebec media quoted Liberal leader Philippe Couillard as saying.","Britain's PM orders review into Muslim Brotherhood's activities. By Kylie MacLellan and Andrew Osborn LONDON (Reuters) - The Muslim Brotherhood's activities in Britain will be reviewed over concerns about possible links to violence, Prime Minister David Cameron said, widening pressure on a veteran Islamist movement facing an intensifying crackdown in the Arab world. The Brotherhood and affiliated organizations and parties are part of the political landscape in many Arab and Islamic states where they have placed deep roots in society thanks to their involvement in social and charitable works. But the Brotherhood has been crushed in Egypt after the military overthrew an elected Islamist president in July, declared a terrorist organization in Saudi Arabia and subjected to a wave of prosecutions and jailings in Gulf Arab kingdoms leery of any spread of Islamist influence since the Arab Spring. Britain, where many Brotherhood-influenced organizations are based, said its review would include looking at allegations made by authoritarian Arab leaders that the group was linked to violence, a charge it has repeatedly denied.","Tokyo's National Stadium hosts final sports event. TOKYO (AP) — Tokyo's National Stadium, the centerpiece of the 1964 Summer Olympics, hosted its final sporting event on Sunday before it is demolished to make way for a new 80,000-seat structure that will be the main venue of the 2020 Olympics.","Another GM engineer linked to defective ignition switch retires. By Ben Klayman DETROIT (Reuters) - A General Motors Co engineer who oversaw an internal investigation of the defective ignition switch linked to at least 13 deaths retired on Monday. Jim Federico, 56, is a previous direct report to now-Chief Executive Mary Barra. Before that he was executive chief engineer for global subcompact cars and SUVs, and electric vehicles, and he had worked at GM for almost 36 years. According to GM documents made public last month by Congress, Federico had received reports from an engineer in the company's product investigations department trying to learn the root cause of air bag failures in GM vehicles.","China backs Sri Lanka over U.S. rights complaint. China's Foreign Minister on Tuesday offered support for Sri Lanka after the United States said it would table a U.N. resolution against Colombo over its human rights record. \"China opposes some countries' interference in the internal affairs of Sri Lanka under the pretext of human rights issues,\" Foreign Minister Wang Yi told his Sri Lankan counterpart G. L. Peiris in Beijing. China backs the Sri Lankan government in safeguarding national independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity, Wang said, according to China's Foreign Ministry.","Japan defence ministry asks for record budget. Japan's defence ministry on Friday made its biggest ever budget request, as Tokyo bolsters its military amid worries over China's expanding naval reach. The request, if approved, would mark the third straight annual defence budget increase and a 3.5 percent rise from the budget for the current fiscal year, which ends in March 2015. The trend reflects Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's wish to build a more active military, with an eye on a possible escalation of tensions with China. Japan is increasingly wary of Beijing, which is seen by several countries in the region as becoming increasingly aggressive in various sovereignty claims, including a suppurative row over island ownership with Tokyo.","Venezuela opposition musters thousands for march despite Carnival holiday. By Girish Gupta CARACAS (Reuters) - While many Venezuelans went to the beach to enjoy the Carnival holiday, thousands of anti-government demonstrators marched in the capital on Sunday, trying to keep up the momentum from weeks of protests demanding President Nicolas Maduro resign. The opposition repeatedly staged street protests later that year as well as in 2004, but they fizzled out as protesters grew weary of blocked streets and barricades made from smoldering trash.","Petrobras worker dies from burns in refinery explosion. A worker severely burned in an accident at a Petrobras refinery in the Brazilian city of Manaus died of his injuries on Wednesday, union officials representing workers at the company said. The Brazilian union for petroleum workers, FUP, said the tragedy highlighted the worsening working conditions at Petrobras plants, saying the accident was the sixth in a week at different refineries run by Brazil's state-run oil company. The worker, Antonio Rafael Santana, 26, suffered first, second and third degree burns to 75 percent of his body after gasses from a water and oil waste pool at the Reman Refinery ignited while he was inspecting a faulty pump, the union said. Petrobras said that company was extending assistance to Santana's family and had installed a committee to investigate the accident.","Malawi: presidential ally, party financier resigns. BLANTYRE, Malawi (AP) — A trusted ally and important party financier is resigning from Malawi's Cabinet and the party of which he is vice president in a blow to President Joyce Banda as she tests her popularity in her first election.","Canada beats US 3-2 in Olympic women's hockey. SOCHI, Russia (AP) — Megan Agosta scored twice and assisted on Hayley Wickenheiser's goal to lead Canada to a 3-2 victory over the United States on Wednesday in a tense preview of the expected gold medal match.","Communists roast in hell in Montenegro fresco. PODGORICA, Montenegro (AP) — Look up at the wall and you can see Yugoslavia's late autocratic leader Josip Broz Tito drowning in red fiery waves of hell — along with Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, authors of the 1848 Communist Manifesto.","David Rushida finishes 3rd in 800m at Weltklasse. ZURICH (AP) — World record holder and Olympic gold medalist David Rushida could only finish third in the 800 meters at the Weltklasse meeting in Zurich, behind Botswana's Nijel Amos and Ayanleh Souleiman of Djibouti.","Coast Guard: missing UK yacht search ends Friday. BOSTON (AP) — The U.S. Coast Guard will suspend its search for a missing British yacht in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean by midnight on Friday if efforts by American, British and Canadian rescuers turn up no signs of the 40-foot Cheeki Rafiki or its four-member crew.","Libya's premier Zeidan says to reshuffle cabinet soon. TRIPOLI (Reuters) - Libya's Prime Minister Ali Zeidan said on Wednesday he would reshuffle his cabinet this week or next. He is facing a potential no-confidence vote from opponents in the country's parliament. (Reporting by Ulf Laessing; writing by Patrick Markey; Editing by John Stonestreet)","Madrid into Copa semifinals with win over Espanyol. MADRID (AP) — Real Madrid beat 10-man Espanyol 1-0 at home Tuesday to advance to the semifinals of the Copa del Rey with a 2-0 aggregate score.","UN mission evacuates from Libya. CAIRO (AP) — The United Nations mission in Libya has announced it is withdrawing its staff from Libya \"temporarily\" because of security deterioration in the country.","Australian mother charged with murder of eight children. By Jane Wardell and Morag MacKinnon SYDNEY (Reuters) - An Australian mother has been charged with the murder of eight children, seven of them hers, two days after their bodies were found in a home in the city of Cairns. Police said the 37-year-old woman was charged in a bedside hearing at a Cairns hospital, where she is recovering from stab wounds, with the murder of four girls and four boys, aged from 18 months to 15 years. \"It is simply eight counts of murder, one for each victim,\" Detective Inspector Bruno Asnicar told reporters. ...","Navy searches for pilot after jets crash into sea. WASHINGTON (AP) — Pentagon officials say two U.S. Navy jets have crashed into the western Pacific Ocean and that one pilot was rescued and a search is on for the other.","Kerry tells North Korea to shut 'evil system' of prison camps. By Lesley Wroughton NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Tuesday called on North Korea to close its prison camps, saying their existence and the systematic torture, punishment and execution of people bring shame on the country. \"We say to the North Korean government, all of us here today, you should close those camps, you should shut this evil system down,\" Kerry told an event before U.N. meetings to highlight human rights abuses in North Korea. \"We simply cannot be blind to these egregious affronts to human nature and we cannot accept it. ...","Rights group says Muslims massacred in Myanmar amid official denials. By Jared Ferrie YANGON (Reuters) - Security forces in western Myanmar massacred at least 40 Rohingya Muslims last week in a new outburst of violence since the end of military rule in 2011, a human rights group said on Thursday, despite official denials. Bangkok-based Fortify Rights said it spoke to witnesses and other sources who confirmed the killings and said the dead included women and children. If true, it would be the deadliest incident in western Rakhine state since October 2012, when ethnic Rakhine Buddhists fought minority Rohingya Muslims. After emerging from 49 years of military rule in 2011, Myanmar has faced repeated sectarian violence that has marred its transition to democracy.","Cubans angered by new restrictions on importing consumer goods. By Daniel Trotta HAVANA (Reuters) - Cuba has raised duties and restricted imports on consumer goods brought in by air travelers or sent by mail, imposing greater hardship for a fledgling private sector and angering people looking to counter chronic shortages. The new restrictions, which began on Monday, take aim at black market dealers of goods that are hard to find on store shelves or come with steep excise taxes, while protecting the state monopoly on selling imported goods. They also burden Cubans who run small businesses like restaurants and beauty parlors and depend on travelers carrying suitcases full of goods into the country. \"Nobody likes this and the people are angry,\" said Silvio Madero, a Cuban-American from Homestead, Florida, who has visited his Cuban family six times over the past four years, each time bringing merchandise.","Berkshire share gains may offer Buffett cover at annual meeting. By Luciana Lopez OMAHA, Nebraska (Reuters) - A ho-hum stock market so far this year may be just what Berkshire Hathaway shareholders needed. As they gather this week at the sprawling conglomerate's annual meeting in Omaha, Nebraska, and rub shoulders with its iconic chairman, Warren Buffett, the fact that its shares are once again beating the broader market should help dim the sour memory of its recent run of underperformance. Last year, for the first time in nearly half a century, the gain in Berkshire's book value over five years - Buffett's preferred measure of performance - lagged the total return of the S&P 500 . Berkshire, which saw its net worth grow just 91 percent by comparison in that run, does best in a weak market - the weaker the better, perhaps.","Zimbabwe opposition expels official who asked leader to quit. Harare (AFP) - Zimbabwe's main opposition party on Thursday expelled a senior official who recently called on the party leader and former prime minister Morgan Tsvangirai to step down.","Mental health nurse Nathan Filer wins Britain's Costa Book Award for tale of madness. LONDON - Mental health nurse Nathan Filer has won Britain's Costa Book Award for his saga of schizophrenia, \"The Shock of the Fall.\"","Italy police arrest 24 for plotting violent Veneto secession. Italian police arrested two dozen separatists including a former parliamentarian on Wednesday on suspicion of gathering arms to violently split the wealthy northern region of Veneto from the rest of Italy. Their plan recalled the 1997 seizure of the square's famed bell tower by armed separatists who proclaimed an independent Venetian republic, harking back to the city-state that was a major power in the eastern Mediterranean for centuries until it fell to Napoleon Bonaparte in 1797. After searching premises in several regions of Italy, police arrested 24 people on suspicion of terrorism, subversion of the democratic order and making and possessing weapons of war. Those arrested included Franco Rocchetta, a former lawmaker and campaigner for Venetian independence who helped organize an self-styled \"referendum\" that caught attention abroad last month because it took place during the Russian annexation of Crimea.","Weirather injured before Olympic women's downhill. KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia (AP) — Olympic downhill contender Tina Weirather of Liechtenstein says she is struggling with a leg injury ahead of Wednesday's race.","US, other nations condemn violence in Libya. WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States and four other nations are strongly condemning the ongoing violence in Libya and calling for an immediate cessation of hostilities.","Confrontations await Obama after productive trip. WASHINGTON (AP) — After a productive trip abroad, President Barack Obama is back in Washington, where he faces confrontations with Republicans on immigration and an oil pipeline project.","France identifies second national in IS execution video. France on Wednesday identified a second national who appeared unmasked in a grisly Islamic State execution video and announced it was sending more jets to the region to step up air strikes. He said French aircraft in Iraq had pummelled trenches used by IS fighters around the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk on Tuesday night. Currently France is using nine Rafale jets based in the more distant United Arab Emirates as part of a US-led international campaign to provide air support to Iraqi and Kurdish forces fighting the group. Meanwhile, Nozad Hadi, the governor of Arbil, the capital of Iraq's Kurdistan region, blamed IS jihadists for a suicide car bombing which left four dead on Wednesday.","Nishikori wins, Federer advances at ATP Finals. LONDON (AP) — Roger Federer equaled Ivan Lendl's record of 12 semifinal appearances at the ATP Finals without stepping on court Thursday as Kei Nishikori defeated David Ferrer 4-6, 6-4, 6-1 in his final round-robin match.","Missing Malaysia plane puts new satellite sensors in the spotlight. By Victoria Bryan and Andrea Shalal FRANKFURT/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The unexplained fate of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 has thrown the spotlight on some satellite technologies that will make it easier in future for authorities to track and communicate with aircraft over water and uninhabited areas. The plane vanished from radar screens on March 8 with 239 people aboard. Currently, information on a plane's location can be picked up by ground-based radar, which loses coverage over oceans or remote areas, or it can be combined with optional on-board satellite communications tools that require pilot actions and that airlines, many under budget constraints, must pay for. While automated signals giving an aircraft's location could still be switched off, as may have happened in the Malaysian case, the new satellite sensors could still aid search and rescue efforts and help airlines save fuel.","Spieth confirms Australian Open appearance. Ultra-talented American teenager Jordan Spieth is the latest big name to confirm participation in November's Australian Open in Sydney. Spieth, who has never previously travelled to Australia, will join World No.1 and defending champion, Rory McIlroy along with Australian and former Masters champion Adam Scott at the event taking place from November 27-30 at The Australian Club. The 21-year old Dallas-born golfer confirmed his participation in the event ahead of teeing up on day two of the second of the PGA Tour's Play-Off Series events in Boston. \"I'm extremely excited to be going to Australia as I've always wanted to go given my instructor comes from Melbourne, plus there's a lot of Australian players on Tour saying how great their country is,\" said Spieth.","UN chief warns Iraqi forces: Stay out of politics. UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says it's \"imperative\" that Iraqi security forces stay out of the political process leading to the formation of a new government.","Iran FM visits Iraqi neighbour at war with IS. Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif on Sunday began a two-day visit to Iraq, which is fighting a Sunni Muslim insurgency led by Islamic State jihadists, state news agency IRNA reported. It said he was to meet his Iraqi counterpart Hoshyar Zebari as well as the prime minister-designate, Haidar al-Abadi, with the issue of the Iran-Iraq border demarcation also on the agenda. Iran, which like Iraq is predominantly Shiite, was a longtime backer of the outgoing premier, Nuri al-Maliki, before dropping its support of the divisive leader in favour of Abadi.","NY snowplow victim was nervous about storm. NEW YORK (AP) — A pregnant woman killed by a mini-snowplow in New York City was nervous about going out in the storm before she was struck, forcing doctors to perform an emergency procedure to deliver her baby.","Liberia nurses threaten strike over Ebola pay. MONROVIA, Liberia (AP) — Liberian officials are pleading with nurses and physician assistants to show up to work Monday amid a dispute over hazard pay that has prompted calls for a strike in the middle of the Ebola epidemic.","Pakistan's biggest city shuts down as protests over politician's UK arrest spread. By Syed Raza Hassan KARACHI Pakistan (Reuters) - Pakistan's biggest city was in lockdown for a second day on Wednesday, with shops and markets closed and people staying home for fear of violence following the arrest in London of one of the country's most feared men. Altaf Hussain, leader of the powerful Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) party and wanted in Pakistan in relation to a murder case, was arrested in northwest London where he has lived in self-imposed exile since the early 1990s. Karachi, a sprawling and violent port city of 18 million, is virtually controlled by Hussain's party, and reports of sporadic violence emerged as soon as news of his arrest reached the city. \"The people of Karachi and other big and small cities of Sindh (province) still see Altaf Hussain as their leader,\" Nasir Jamal, a senior MQM official, told Reuters.","Thai coup leader to receive royal endorsement. BANGKOK (AP) — One day after Thailand's military junta stiffened warnings to crackdown on civilian opposition to its takeover of power, the country's monarchy was set Monday to officially endorse the general who staged the coup.","US troop increase in Iraq signals 'new phase': Obama. Washington (AFP) - The deployment of an additional 1,500 American troops to Iraq marks a \"new phase\" in the campaign against Islamic State jihadists, US President Barack Obama said in comments broadcast Sunday.","Pope to Davos: Money must serve, not rule. VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis has urged the world's political and financial elite attending the Davos forum to put their expertise and ingenuity at the service of the poor to move beyond a welfare mentality for dealing with hunger and poverty.","Iraq MPs stall presidential vote as violence rages. Iraqi lawmakers on Wednesday postponed choosing a new president for their ailing country while air strikes, suicide car bombs and summary executions yielded their daily grim crop of bodies. A government air raid on the jihadist-held town of Sharqat nearly 300 kilometres (180 miles) northwest of Baghdad killed at least three women and a child, a senior army official told AFP. Police and medical sources in the town said another four people were killed in the strike, which destroyed the municipality building and a house in an area believed to shelter Islamic State (IS) fighters. Civilians have been paying a heavy price for the government's aerial campaigns against the group, which conquered large swathes of Iraq's west and north in a devastating offensive last month.","London shares close flat at Pearson and IAG sink after results. London shares closed flat on Friday as Pearson and IAG dropped sharply after their results failed to please investors, dealers said. Pearson tumbled 5.86 percent to 1,013 pence as the Financial Times publisher admitted woes in the US and gave a gloomy forecast for 2014. Profits after taxation soared to £538 million from £311 million in 2012, Pearson said in a results statement. Pearson, which has widespread publishing interests notably in educational publishing, added that sales grew two percent to £5.18 billion, aided by its focus on digital learning and emerging markets.","Steven Bochco says he's comfortable with slower pace; 'Murder in the First' is on tap for TNT. PASADENA, Calif. - Veteran television producer Steven Bochco has a three-word explanation for why he's slowing down: \"I'm just old.\"","Germany says Ukraine is close to war, widens travel warning. Ukraine is close to war, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier warned in interviews published in four European newspapers on Tuesday. Dozens of people died in the Ukrainian city of Odessa last week when pro-Russian militants clashed with their opponents, and Kiev forces are fighting separatists who have seized control of towns in the east of the country. \"The bloody pictures from Odessa have shown us that we are just a few steps away from a military confrontation,\" Steinmeier told El Pais, Le Monde, La Repubblica and Gazeta Wyborcza. Steinmeier's ministry also warned Germans on Tuesday against travelling to Crimea, which Russia annexed from Ukraine in March, and reiterated an earlier advisory to avoid eastern areas.","Israel reissues tenders for E. Jerusalem settler homes: NGO. Israel reissued Tuesday a call for tenders for settler homes in annexed east Jerusalem in a move said likely to hike tensions as Washington struggles to salvage crisis-hit peace talks, an NGO said. Peace Now's Hagit Ofran, confirming the tenders were for 708 homes in Gilo, a settlement neighbourhood of Arab east Jerusalem, saying \"the ministry of housing is trying to forcefully undermine the peace process... and (US Secretary of State) John Kerry's efforts to promote it. \"This morning, the Israel Land Authority announced this project, which is actually a renewed tender which was published (in two parts) last year but found no bidders,\" she told AFP. Israeli army radio, which first reported the news, said the tenders had been reissued under conditions significantly better than last year, making it more likely they would be taken up.","Marine veteran says missed exit, hit Mexico. TIJUANA, Mexico (AP) — A Marine veteran jailed in Mexico on weapons charges for allegedly bringing guns across the border says he never intended to leave the country but missed an exit when heading to meet friends in a border town.","Mexican writer Federico Campbell dies at 72. MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexican author, journalist and essayist Federico Campbell has died. He was 72.","Clock ticking for Thai PM as court verdict nears. By Amy Sawitta Lefevre BANGKOK (Reuters) - A Thai court will decide this week whether to give embattled Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra more time to defend herself against charges of abuse of power, accusations that could bring her down, or whether to move swiftly to a verdict. The fate of Yingluck and her government will determine the course of politics in Thailand which is polarized between the supporters of her and her brother, ousted former premier Thaksin Shinawatra, and supporters of the royalist establishment. The Constitutional Court will decide on Wednesday whether to grant her an extension to prepare her defense. \"If the court does not grant the prime minister an extension this week and there is enough evidence, then the next court date will be the verdict,\" Constitutional Court spokesman Pimon Thampitakphong told Reuters on Monday, adding that the verdict could come at the end of April.","Sunni insurgents close in on Iraq's biggest oil refinery. By Ghazwan Hassan TIKRIT Iraq (Reuters) - Sunni insurgents from an al Qaeda splinter group closed in on Iraq's biggest oil refinery on Wednesday after seizing the northern city of Mosul in a devastating show of strength against the Shi'ite-led government. Security sources said militants from the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) - Sunni militants waging sectarian war on both sides of the Iraqi-Syrian frontier - drove into the town of Baiji late on Tuesday in armed vehicles, torching the court house and police station after freeing prisoners. The militants offered safe passage to some 250 men guarding the refinery on the outskirts of Baiji on condition they leave. Iraq's Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari called on his country's leaders to come together to face \"the serious, mortal\" threat.","Malian army flees Kidal amid rebel fighting. BAMAKO, Mali (AP) — Residents say Malian soldiers have retreated from the northern town of Kidal after heavy gunbattles with ethnic Tuareg separatist rebels.","White House says gov't can't force Kimmel off air. WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House has responded to a petition calling for an apology and the removal of Jimmy Kimmel's television show by saying the comedian can't be forced off the air.","ON THIS DAY: Argentina earns maiden title in 1978. On June 25 in World Cup history: Confetti greets Argentina after it beats the Netherlands to win 1978 final in Buenos Aires. Algeria eliminated after West Germany and Austria play out controversial match in Gijon, Spain, in 1982.","DNA study dates Eurasian split from East Asians. BERLIN (AP) — The human populations now predominant in Eurasia and East Asia probably split between 36,200 and 45,000 years ago, according to a study released Thursday.","Guyana to launch its first floating police station. GEORGETOWN, Guyana (AP) — The South American country of Guyana is preparing to launch its first floating police station to target a spike in crime in mining areas near rivers.","South Africans mark anniversary of Mandela's death. JOHANNESBURG (AP) — Friends and family of Nelson Mandela laid wreaths Friday at a bronze statue of the late statesman to mark the anniversary of his death.","Former Montreal cop waives right to bail in gangsterism-related case. MONTREAL - A retired Montreal police detective accused of selling sensitive police information to criminal biker gang members has waived his right to bail.","Sangakkara's 76 propels Sri Lanka to 253-6. MIRPUR, Bangladesh (AP) — Kumar Sangakkara hit a half century Monday and led Sri Lanka to 253-6 against Afghanistan in the Asia Cup.","Mexico sees sign of hope for Monarch butterflies. MEXICO CITY (AP) — Experts in Mexico say there is a tentative sign of hope for the mass migration of monarch butterflies, whose numbers dropped to their lowest level ever last year.","Ukraine politics turns trashy as mood sours. KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — In Ukraine, trashing a politician isn't a metaphor. It's literal: Find a suspected shady official, grab him and throw him into a dumpster.","Tennis-Australian Open women's first round draw. Jan 13 (Reuters) - First round draw for the women's singlesat the Australian Open after qualifying and the withdrawal ofJamie Hampton (U.S.). The tournament begins in Melbourne onMonday (prefix denotes seeding): 1-Serena Williams (U. ...","Sri Lanka beats South Africa in World T20. CHITTAGONG, Bangladesh (AP) — Scores Saturday after Sri Lanka beat South Africa by 5 runs in the World Twenty20 at Chittagong's Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium:","Kerry meets Abadi, says he is encouraged by Iraqi PM's plans to push broad reforms. US Secretary of State John Kerry met Iraq's new Prime Minister Haider Abadi on Wednesday and said he was impressed by the premier's plans to rebuild the Iraqi military and push broad political reforms. Speaking in front of reporters, Kerry told Abadi he was \"encouraged\" by the premier's plans for the \"reconstituting\" of the military and \"your commitment to broad reforms that are necessary in Iraq to bring every segment of Iraqi society to the table.\" He highlighted Abadi's readiness \"to move forward rapidly on the oil agreements necessary for the Kurds, (and) on the representation of Sunnis in government and participation.\" (Reporting By Ned Parker;","Olympic Alpine history beckons skier Hoefl-Riesch. KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia (AP) — Olympic Alpine history beckons several contenders for the women's downhill on Wednesday, none more than Maria Hoefl-Riesch.","Latvia's foreign minister tweets that he's gay. RIGA, Latvia (AP) — Latvia's Foreign Minister has announced on Twitter that he's gay, becoming the first openly homosexual Cabinet member in the Baltic country.","US voices concern on Rwanda arrests. The United States on Wednesday accused Rwanda of carrying out arbitrary arrests as it urged President Paul Kagame's government to respect freedom of expression. The United States said it was \"deeply concern by the arrest and disappearance of dozens of Rwandan citizens\" as well as \"credible reports\" of threats to journalists. \"The United States calls upon the government of Rwanda to account for individuals arrested over the past two months and currently in custody, and to respect the rights under Rwandan law and international human rights law of the individuals detained and arrested,\" State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf said in a statement. \"We also call upon Rwanda to fully respect freedom of expression, including for members of the press so that they can investigate, report and facilitate discussion on issues of public concern,\" she said.","Empoli returns to Serie A after 6-year absence. ROME (AP) — Empoli has returned to Serie A after a six-year absence.","UN: No sign of Islamic State group militants in Philippines. MANILA, Philippines (AP) — A U.N. counterterrorism official says there is no evidence that Islamic State militants have gained a foothold in the Philippines but that the country can take more steps to help fight a group that has vowed to expand its reach.","South African AIDS group says treatment stalling. JOHANNESBURG (AP) — One of South Africa's largest AIDS awareness groups said the country's response to the disease is beginning to stall.","Aussie Clarke grilled over cricket captaincy. Australian captain Michael Clarke on Wednesday said he still had plenty to offer the team as he was grilled over his captaincy after the side's comprehensive 2-0 Test loss to Pakistan. \"You know, obviously we didn't perform as well as we would have liked in this series, but we did pretty well to beat the number one team in the world in their own conditions -- South Africa -- (in March). \"But I guess the selectors make that decision and the Cricket Australia board make that decision.\" Clarke has averaged just 27.46 in his last 16 innings and managed just 2, 3, 47 and 5 in his four innings during Australia's series loss to Pakistan in the United Arab Emirates.","Brazil congressman resigns over electoral crimes. SAO PAULO (AP) — A Brazilian congressman has resigned after being sentenced to more than three years of house arrest for offering women free sterilization in exchange for votes.","China's Xi receives royal welcome in Belgium. Xi Jinping received a royal welcome and an honorary knighthood in Brussels on Sunday at the start of a three-day visit that will see him become the first Chinese leader to visit EU headquarters. Dozens of royal horsemen escorted Xi and his wife Peng Liyuan as they rolled up to the Brussels palace to be greeted by King Philippe and Queen Mathilde as more than 300 people including many Chinese waving national flags looked on. In the palace's Empire Room, the king bestowed the Order of Leopold on Xi, who is on the last leg of his maiden swing through Europe as president. Later Sunday, the royal couple will join the Chinese pair for the official opening of a special park for two giant pandas on loan from China for the next 15 years.","Policewoman killed in China's Xinjiang: state media. BEIJING (Reuters) - Two \"thugs\" stabbed to death a policewoman in the Chinese region of Xinjiang where the government says Islamists are using violence to campaign for a separate state, media reported on Monday. The motorcycle-mounted attackers used sharp weapons to \"cruelly attack and kill\" the policewoman, China Central Television (CCTV) said on its official microblog on Monday. Media did not specify the ethnicity of the policewoman but judging by her name, she was Uighur, a Muslim minority that calls Xinjiang home. CCTV citied a colleague of the woman as saying she was two months pregnant. ...","S.Africa's Zuma targets economy in keynote address. Besieged South African President Jacob Zuma made his first public appearance in 10 days Tuesday to deliver a state of the nation address pledging \"radical socio-economic transformation\". Zuma, 72, who was hospitalised for two days for fatigue and tests before taking a week off, made a similar commitment at his inauguration for a second term last month. He said Tuesday that \"the economy takes centre stage\" in efforts to combat poverty, inequality and unemployment 20 years after the end of apartheid. Zuma was speaking after a battering of bad economic news against a background of high unemployment, a crippling miner's strike and protests over housing and service delivery.","Fiat Chrysler heads for Wall Street, schooled by struggling sister truckmaker. By Agnieszka Flak MILAN (Reuters) - Sergio Marchionne needs a New York stock market listing to bring in the investors required to fund future growth at Fiat Chrysler, but a lukewarm response to the chief executive's most recent Wall Street launch suggests he has a bumpy journey ahead. Fiat expects to finalize the merger with its U.S. unit Chrysler this year. Marchionne plans an October listing in New York for Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) to help foot the bill for his 48 billion euro ($65 billion) spending plan to grow net profits five-fold and sales by 60 percent within five years. Fiat shares currently trade in Milan, where they will be replaced by FCA stock.","Indian player dies from injury in goal celebration. NEW DELHI (AP) — The Mizoram Football Association says a 23-year-old Indian soccer player has died after injuring his spine while celebrating a goal with somersaults.","Hoffenheim signs Bosnia defender Bicakcic. FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — Hoffenheim has signed Bosnia-Herzegovina defender Ermin Bicakcic from demoted Bundesliga rival Eintracht Braunschweig.","London mulls pollution charge on diesel vehicles. London may introduce a charge on polluting diesel vehicles that enter the centre of the British capital, in a bid to meet EU rules, mayor Boris Johnson said on Tuesday. The fee would be on the lines of the \"congestion charge\" for all vehicles entering central London, which is currently £11.50 a day ($19.50, 14.50 euros), a spokesman said. The plan is part of a new Brussels-compliant Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) being introduced in London from 2020, which Conservative Johnson announced last year. \"We've got a big air quality problem in London, like many other big cities around the world, we've got people dying prematurely, we're in breach of European guidelines.\"","Watchdog shows illicit money flows in Philippines. MANILA, Philippines (AP) — An anti-graft watchdog says the Philippine government was cheated of $3.85 billion in tax revenues in 2011, part of massive illicit money flows that totaled more than $400 billion in the past five decades.","Tunisia election date spells end for transition. TUNIS, Tunisia (AP) — Tunisia's assembly on Wednesday set parliamentary and presidential elections for October and November of this year to complete the transition to democracy after its 2011 revolution.","Afghan election in crisis as candidate pulls out of audit. Afghanistan's fraud-hit election teetered on the brink of collapse Wednesday as one of the two candidates boycotted the UN-supervised vote audit set up to end a prolonged dispute over the rightful winner. Abdullah Abdullah, who claims that massive fraud was committed against him in the June 14 vote, pulled out of the audit after his senior campaign officials dismissed the process for invalidating fake votes as \"a joke\". The stand-off between Abdullah and his poll rival Ashraf Ghani has threatened to revive ethnic violence in Afghanistan as US-led NATO troops withdraw after 13-years of fighting the Taliban insurgents. \"We will not join the process today, and maybe we will not re-join the process at all,\" Fazel Aqa Hussain Sancharaki, a spokesman for the Abdullah campaign, told AFP.","AU seeks C.Africa reinforcements as key vote nears. Bangui (Central African Republic) (AFP) - The African Union called Wednesday for more troops to help stabilise the conflict-torn Central African Republic, which remains tense as its transitional parliament prepares to elect a new interim president. As lawmakers struggled to reach agreement on the rules for the Saturday vote -- warning this raised the prospect of a delay -- an African Union official told leaders from the continent's Great Lakes region that the AU-backed MISCA force needed more troops. The force, which currently has 4,400 soldiers but was meant to have up to 6,000, struggled to contain the country's descent into a sectarian bloodbath after a rebel coalition called Seleka installed its leader, Michel Djotodia, as the majority-Christian country's first Muslim president in March. \"The AU calls on your authority to provide the means for MISCA... to comfortably pursue its mandate,\" AU special representative for the Great Lakes Boubacar Diarra told a summit in Angola, urging the leaders present to help \"definitively stabilise the situation\" in the Central African Republic.","Wales eyes first win over All Blacks in 61 years. Scarred by a run of 25 straight losses to New Zealand stretching back to 1963, Wales will cling to any signs of potential weakness in the All Blacks going into their latest crack at the world champions.","Car bomb in Shi'ite area of Baghdad kills seven: police. BAGHDAD 24 (Reuters) - A car bomb killed seven people on Sunday in a mostly Shi'ite area of Baghdad, police and medical sources said. Police said the car bomb exploded in a commercial area of the Shu'ala district in northwest Baghdad. (Writing by Michael Georgy)","Germany can play its part in foreign missions despite equipment problems: defense minister. By Michelle Martin BERLIN (Reuters) - German Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen said on Sunday that Germany could still play a strong role in foreign military missions despite reports of problems in defense equipment and procurement. Von der Leyen has acknowledged in recent weeks that some of Germany's military hardware is in such disrepair that it is unable to meet its NATO commitments. ...","Germany: 1 killed, 5 injured as dare goes awry. BERLIN (AP) — German authorities say a man was killed and five others injured when a mechanical digger tipped over and hit them during a so-called Cold Water Challenge, a dare that has been spreading on Facebook.","China considering replacing central bank head: WSJ. (Reuters) - Chinese central bank Governor Zhou Xiaochuan may lose his job, the Wall Street Journal reported, in a reshuffle that follows internal battles over economic reforms. Chinese President Xi Jinping is considering replacing Zhou, the paper reported, quoting officials with knowledge of the plans. (http://on.wsj.com/1uZtmyj) The top contender to head the People's Bank of China is Guo Shuqing, a former banker and securities regulator who is currently governor of eastern Shandong province, the paper said. ...","British annual growth downgraded to 1.7%. London (AFP) - Britain's economy expanded by 1.7 percent last year compared with output in 2012, down from a previous estimate of 1.8 percent, revised official data showed on Friday.","New battles as Ukraine says 300 separatists killed in fighting. Fighting raged for a second successive day in the east of Ukraine on Friday, a day after clashes in which Ukrainian government forces said about 300 separatists were killed. The casualty figures for the pro-Russian separatists could not be independently confirmed though a rebel commander said on Thursday the rebels had sustained \"heavy losses\" when they were outgunned by government forces backed by heavy armor. The government forces said seven of their own number had been killed in Thursday's fighting. Fighting broke out just east of the town of Krasny Liman early on Thursday after pro-Russian separatists refused to lay down their weapons in line with a peace plan proposed by President Petro Poroshenko, the government forces said.","Cuba invites US to cooperate on Ebola. HAVANA (AP) — Cuban President Raul Castro says his country is willing to work with the United States in the fight against Ebola.","Belfast man wrongly convicted of IRA bombing dies. BELFAST, Northern Ireland (AP) — Gerry Conlon, who was imprisoned unjustly for an IRA bombing and inspired an Oscar-nominated film, has died. His family says he died Saturday at his Belfast home following a long battle with cancer.","Swiss skier Gisin leads women's downhill training. KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia (AP) — Dominique Gisin of Switzerland led the third women's Olympic downhill training session in a race that many of the top skiers elected to sit out.","Plane crashes while landing in Taiwan, killing 47. TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — A plane attempting to land in stormy weather crashed on a small Taiwanese island late Wednesday, killing 47 people and wrecking houses and cars on the ground.","From Brazil to Russia: A look at 2018 World Cup. MOSCOW (AP) — Brazil just barely managed to get everything ready in time for the World Cup. Russia insists it won't have any such problems in 2018, although the country faces other issues ahead of football's next showcase tournament — including the threat of racism and violence.","Iraq says it found 50,000 'ghost soldiers' on payroll. BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq's new government has discovered 50,000 \"ghost soldiers\" who received army salaries without showing up for work, a practice which accelerated the military's collapse in the face of Islamic State fighters six months ago. The names were uncovered in an investigation launched by Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi, who took office in September, his spokesman Rafid Jaburi said. \"Ghost soldiers\" were men on the army payroll who paid their officers a portion of their salaries and in return did not show up for duty, enriching their commanders and hollowing out the military force. ...","Puerto Rico to build $196M cancer treatment center. SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Puerto Rico is building a $196 million cancer treatment center that will provide services including chemotherapy and bone marrow transplants.","FIFA official 'amazed' by WCup drunkenness. RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — FIFA's number two official has said he's \"amazed\" by the levels of drunkenness in Brazil's World Cup stadiums, reviving a debate over whether alcohol sales should have been allowed at matches in the first place.","Militants positioned to hold captured Iraq territory, U.S. official says. By Mark Hosenball WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Sunni militants are \"well positioned\" to hold a broad swathe of territory captured in northern and western Iraq if the Baghdad government fails to produce a robust counter-offensive, a senior U.S. intelligence official said on Tuesday. The Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), which seized the main northern city Mosul on June 10 and has since marched virtually unopposed towards Baghdad, is at its strongest \"in years,\" said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were discussing sensitive information. The official said ISIL is flush with money and weapons after looting military equipment in Syria and Iraq and raising money through kidnapping, robbery, smuggling and extortion schemes, including the imposition of a \"road tax\" in Mosul.","Peru's waste recyclers battle bottle ban. By Megan Rowling LIMA (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Just a few years ago, waste recycler Genaro Jorge Durán Contreras and his colleagues were branded \"nut cases\" and drug addicts, picked up by police or chased away from their foraging for recyclables. \"But now we have a permit to work. The abuse is over,\" said the 49-year-old father of six at the Lima office of Ciudad Saludable (Healthy City), a Peruvian organization that helps waste pickers set up formal groups and micro-enterprises. ...","World Health Organization says more than 4,000 deaths now recorded in Ebola outbreak. GENEVA (AP) — World Health Organization says more than 4,000 deaths now recorded in Ebola outbreak.","Netanyahu travels to US for key talks on peace deadline. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu left for Washington on Sunday for talks about the US-led peace process with the Palestinians and nuclear negotiations between world powers and Iran. Although Netanyahu would like the talks with US President Barack Obama on Monday to focus on Iran, the White House appears to have a different agenda. \"Obama will press him to agree to a framework for a conclusive round of Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations that is being drafted by Secretary of State John Kerry,\" the New York Times quoted senior US officials as saying this week. Direct peace talks between Israelis and Palestinians, which began last July with the goal of reaching a deal within nine months, have made no visible progress.","Egypt jihadists release video of 'executions'. An Egyptian jihadist group released video footage on Tuesday that it said showed the execution of two army informants in the insurgent flashpoint of the Sinai Peninsula. Ansar Beit al-Maqdis, the country's deadliest militant group which has pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group that has seized large areas of Iraq and Syria, has previously released videos of beheadings. The new video posted on YouTube shows the \"confessions\" of four men who admitted to being informants. Ansar Beit al-Maqdis (Partisans of Jerusalem) says it has killed at least 12 people since August last year, often by beheading, for allegedly working for Israel's Mossad spy agency.","10 dead in India temple stampede, police say. NEW DELHI (AP) — A pre-dawn stampede killed 10 people Monday at a Hindu temple in central India, a top police official said.","Comatose boy, Roma evictions up pressure on France. GRIGNY, France (AP) — It looked like any shantytown the world over — tarps to keep out the weather, scattered bits of trash that no truck would ever collect, plastic buckets to lug water. Then one of the inhabitants of this Roma camp on the northwest edge of Paris, a teenage boy named Darius, was beaten into a coma, apparently by residents of a neighboring housing project.","UN council condemns minority attacks in Iraq. UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N. Security Council is condemning attacks on minorities in Iraq and urging international support for the Iraqi government.","High Court judge stumped by cricket. London (AFP) - All those who contend cricket is the sport of choice for the British 'establishment' were forced into something of a re-think when a case in London's High Court on Thursday led the judge to ask: \"What are sixes and fours?\"","Japan forward Kakitani to join Swiss club Basel. TOKYO (AP) — Japan forward Yoichiro Kakitani is set to join Swiss champion FC Basel.","Brisbane airport bans climate ad ahead of G20. CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Environmentalists' plan to confront world leaders with a digital billboard highlighting climate change has been thwarted by Brisbane airport authorities who deemed the message too political.","Italy captain Buffon, De Sciglio still injured. MANGARATIBA, Brazil (AP) — Italy goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon and fullback Mattia De Sciglio are still injured and it's not clear whether either will return in time for Friday's World Cup match against Costa Rica.","Go For the Food: Herring stands in Holland. AMSTERDAM (AP) — Tilting your head back, pinching a herring's tail between your thumb and forefinger and lowering it into your mouth, you're not just eating a raw fish. You're getting a briny taste of Dutch history.","Iraqi army recaptures town north of Baghdad: eyewitnesses. BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraqi armed forces recaptured a riverside town north of Baghdad on Friday, eyewitnesses said, after persistent attacks by Sunni Islamist insurgents who control large parts of northern Iraq. The witnesses in the town of Dhuluiya, about 70 km (45 miles) north of Baghdad, said a military commander had arrived in the town. \"He announced that Dhuluiya had been liberated completely,\" one eyewitness said, adding that celebrations had erupted in the town. ...","Obama doesn't rule out US embassy in Iran. WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama isn't ruling out the possibility the U.S. could one day reopen an embassy in Iran.","Zambian president's widow joins succession race. LUSAKA, Zambia (AP) — The contest to replace Zambia's recently deceased president is becoming a family affair as the late president's widow said Wednesday she will seek to become the ruling party's presidential candidate.","Iraq's Sadr: cleric, militia chief, kingmaker. Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, who has bowed out of Iraqi politics, was a fierce critic of the US-led invasion, chief of a once-feared militia and political kingmaker. Sadr, who has a grey-streaked, bushy black beard and wears the black turban of a \"sayyid,\" or descendant of the Prophet Mohammed, gained widespread popularity in the months after the 2003 invasion of Iraq. His rise, aided by the reputations of two famed relatives -- including his father, Grand Ayatollah Mohammed Mohammed Sadiq al-Sadr -- killed during Saddam Hussein's rule, eventually translated into political power. \"I announce my non-intervention in all political affairs and that there is no bloc that represents us from now on, nor any position inside or outside the government nor parliament,\" Sadr said in a written statement received by AFP on Sunday.","Uganda says begins sending ex-Congo rebels back home. By Elias Biryabarema KAMPALA (Reuters) - Uganda began sending home more than 1,000 fighters of a rebel group from Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) on Tuesday after Kinshasa pressured it to return them to prevent them regrouping to fight again. Some 1,430 fighters are believed to have fled into Uganda after Congolese and U.N. forces quashed their rebellion in eastern DRC in 2013. Most live in military-run camps awaiting amnesties promised under a peace deal. ...","On charm offensive, Iran leader sets lofty goals. DAVOS, Switzerland (AP) — In a charm offensive to the global political and business elite, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani set lofty ambitions for his country, including becoming one of the world's top 10 economies.","Marquez wins Malaysian motorcycling grand prix. Sepang (Malaysia) (AFP) - World champion Marc Marquez clinched a record 12th win in an eventful Malaysian MotoGP on Sunday.","Rugby Union - Brunel hails Haimona as Italy end win drought. - Coach Jacques Brunel hailed the impact of New Zealand-born fly-half Kelly Haimona as a spirited Italy ended their nine-game, 12-month winless streak with a 24-13 victory over Samoa.","Special Report: Why Ukraine's revolution remains unfinished. By Richard Woods KIEV (Reuters) - (This October 23 story corrects the spelling of Taras Talimonchuk) In the afternoon of February 20, after the morning’s dead had been cleared away, Volodymyr Melnychuk arrived outside Kiev’s October palace. Below lay Independence Square, or Maidan, covered in protesters’ camps and scarred with barricades and the detritus of battle. In fierce clashes that morning scores of protesters and government forces had been killed. A bullet hit him as he stood next to his partner of 13 years, Maria Kvyatkovska.","Russia warns West against interference in Ukraine. MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov warned the West against interfering in Ukraine's crisis, saying at a news conference with his German counterpart that citizens of the ex-Soviet state should be allowed to resolve matters themselves. \"We believe Ukrainians themselves should find a way out of the political crisis ... We expect all other partners of Ukraine to follow the same principle,\" Lavrov said after talks with German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier. (Reporting by Gabriela Baczynsk; Writing by Steve Gutterman, editing by Elizabeth Piper)","H&M to open first store in India in 2014. STOCKHOLM (AP) — Swedish fashion retailer Hennes & Mauritz says it has received all the necessary regulatory approvals and plans to open its first store in India in 2014.","Brazil Socialists name presidential candidate after Campos death. Brasilia (Brazil) (AFP) - Brazil's Socialist party named popular environmentalist Marina Silva their presidential candidate Wednesday, replacing her late running mate Eduardo Campos after his death in a plane crash last week.","Kerry delays trip to Vienna for Iran nuclear talks. US Secretary of State John Kerry has pushed back his trip to Vienna where international negotiators are in final talks on Iran's nuclear programme, his department said. Kerry, who has been in London since Monday evening, was due to arrive mid-week in the Austrian capital to complete negotiations with the \"5+1\" group (United States, Russia, China, France, Britain and Germany) and Tehran. Leaders hope to seal a landmark agreement by the November 24 deadline after months of negotiations but substantial differences remain between Iran and Western powers. Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and Europe's chief negotiator Catherine Ashton resumed discussions Tuesday in Vienna, along with representatives of 5+1, ahead of the arrival of their six foreign ministers.","Probe finds top Indonesian judge accused of corruption owned 33 cars and 31 motorcycles. JAKARTA, Indonesia - An investigation of an Indonesian chief justice who was arrested on suspicion of receiving a $250,000 bribe has found that he has more than $16 million in assets, including 33 cars and 31 motorcycles, the graft commission said Wednesday.","CBC says Canada's energy minister to become new finance minister. Canada's Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver, the Conservative government's point man on the Keystone XL pipeline, will be appointed the new finance minister, the Canadian Broadcasting Corp reported on Tuesday. Finance Minister Jim Flaherty resigned on Tuesday and his replacement will be announced on Wednesday. CBC did not cite any sources in its report and Prime Minister Stephen Harper's chief spokesman Jason MacDonald would not comment. In his current role, Oliver has been the Conservative government's main proponent of TransCanada Corp's Keystone XL pipeline to the United States.","Mali police question suspects in attack on ex-leader's home. Malian police said they were questioning three suspects in the attack on the Bamako home of former president Alpha Oumar Konare last week. Konare, who was head of state from 1992 to 2002, was away from the property in the eastern outskirts of Bamako when the gang struck. But his wife, historian Adame Ba Konare, was at home with the couple's grandchildren when the gunmen stormed the compound, a member of the family's official guard had told AFP. A senior officer in the national police force based in Bamako told AFP investigators were working on a theory that the robbers were members of an armed gang which specialises in stealing electric cables.","Owner of Ukraine ex-president's palatial estate slams 'dirty propaganda'. (Reuters) - A politician whose company owned the luxury country residence of the ousted president of Ukraine, Viktor Yanukovich, is ready to support the country's new government, he told Reuters on Thursday. Sergei Klyuev, a businessman and member of parliament, vowed to return home soon to fight allegations that he and other members of the country's political elite - described by their opponents as \"The Family\" - had enriched themselves at public expense, for example by rigging state contracts and privatizations. Klyuev also said his brother Andriy, the president's former chief of staff, was still in Ukraine and recovering from a gunshot wound. I don't know the details but I think he is much better now,\" Sergei Klyuev said without being more specific about his sibling's exact location.","Putin: Troops have pulled back from Ukraine border. MOSCOW (AP) — Russia has pulled back its troops from the Ukrainian border, Vladimir Putin told diplomats Wednesday as he urged insurgents in southeast Ukraine to postpone their planned referendum Sunday on autonomy.","Lawmakers want tougher US line on Myanmar. WASHINGTON (AP) — More than 70 U.S. lawmakers say conditions in Myanmar have taken a sharp turn for the worse and want Secretary of State John Kerry to warn its government that could seriously damage bilateral relations.","Ukraine's Yanukovich returns to work, street protests go on. By Richard Balmforth KIEV (Reuters) - Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich returned to his desk on Monday after four days of sick leave, while the political opposition pressed for further concessions from him to end more than two months of street protests against his rule. Yanukovich is seeking a way out of a confrontation with thousands of protesters who have seized control of Kiev's city center in a conflict which has at times flared into violent clashes between radicals and riot police. Yanukovich's first urgent task, after returning from an absence some saw as a tactical gambit to gain time, is to name a new prime minister to succeed Mykola Azarov, who stepped down on January 28 under pressure from the protest movement. In other concessions, Yanukovich last week approved the repeal of recent anti-protest laws and offered a conditional amnesty to activists who have been detained in the unrest.","Allianz rules out 'micro-managing' Pimco despite turmoil. By Kathrin Jones FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Allianz said on Monday it remained fully committed to its Pimco unit after the shock exit of co-founder Bill Gross and had no plans to step up oversight of the world's biggest bond investor despite months of turmoil that has hit the German insurer's shares. Speaking on a conference call three days after the 70-year-old Gross shocked markets by bolting the firm he helped start in the 1970s to join rival Janus Capital, top Allianz and Pimco executives tried their best to play down the departure. ...","Bradley to get start against Team Australia. SYDNEY (AP) — Top prospect Archie Bradley will get the start for the Arizona Diamondbacks against Team Australia in an exhibition game Friday with a potential spot in the starting rotation following a serious injury to Patrick Corbin.","Protest against Fiji leader in Australia. Fiji coup leader Voreqe Bainimarama's campaign rally in Sydney was met by a protest Saturday, as the military strongman prepares for the Pacific state's first election in eight years. Bainimarama is leading his FijiFirst Party in polls set for September 17, the first to be held since he overthrew the government in a bloodless military coup in 2006. Usaia Waqatairewa, national president of the Sydney-based Fiji Democracy and Freedom Movement, said about 200 people had joined the protest outside the Canterbury hall. \"Everything he has done for Fiji has turned out good,\" one man told the ABC.","Connecticut attorney general probing JPMorgan breach: source. By Karen Freifeld NEW YORK (Reuters) - Connecticut Attorney General George Jepsen is investigating the massive data breach at JPMorgan Chase & Co , according to a person familiar with the matter. The office has been in contact with JPMorgan Chase about the incident since it first surfaced in August, the person said. On Thursday, JPMorgan revealed the scope of the breach, saying names, addresses, phone numbers and email addresses of the holders of some 83 million households and small business accounts were exposed when its computer systems were compromised by hackers. ...","Russia says it is complying with troop limits near Ukraine border: Itar-Tass. Russia is complying with international agreements limiting the number of troops near its border with Ukraine, Deputy Defence Minister Anatoly Antonov said on Sunday. \"The Russian Defense Ministry is in compliance with all international agreements limiting the number of troops in the border areas with Ukraine,\" Antonov was quoted as saying by the state Itar-Tass news agency.","Selig hopes for modest cut in game times. NEW YORK (AP) — Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig hopes for incremental progress from his new committee that will try to take steps to shorten game times.","Ireland flanker Ferris retires due to bad ankle. DUBLIN (AP) — Ireland flanker Stephen Ferris has been forced to retire because of a chronic right ankle injury.","EU agrees to expand Russia sanctions, may hold emergency summit on Ukraine. By Justyna Pawlak and Adrian Croft LUXEMBOURG (Reuters) - The European Union agreed on Monday to step up sanctions against Russia over Ukraine by expanding a list of people targeted with asset freezes and visa bans, and said the bloc could hold an emergency summit next week to adopt further measures. EU foreign ministers acted in response to a deepening of the crisis in Ukraine, where pro-Russian separatists ignored an ultimatum on Monday to leave occupied government buildings in the east of the country. \"We have agreed ... to expand the sanctions,\" British Foreign Secretary William Hague told reporters after the meeting in Luxembourg. Over the next few days, EU officials will work on a list of new names of people they believe played a role in violating Ukraine's territorial integrity.","HK police arrest 12 pro-democracy protesters. HONG KONG (AP) — Hong Kong police say they arrested 12 protesters who were blocking several roads in the Mong Kok neighborhood overnight Wednesday as pro-democracy demonstrators returned to the site hundreds had occupied for more than two months.","Japan to renew bid for Antarctic whaling. Just three months after it was forced to cancel the jewel in the crown of its “research” whaling program, Japan is preparing to return to the Antarctic in search of whales, promising a new approach that will not only be of demonstrable scientific value but will pave the way toward a resumption of commercial whaling. Environmental groups celebrated in late March when the International Court of Justice [ICJ] in The Hague ruled that Japan’s “research” whaling program was in fact a cover for a commercial venture. But this week, Joji Morishita, Japan’s commissioner to the International Whaling Commission [IWC], claimed his compatriots felt backed into a corner by anti-whaling nations – and is pushing to send the whaling fleet back to the Southern Ocean.","Latham hits 82 but Taylor leads Windies fightback. PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad (AP) — Left-handed opener Tom Latham hit a resolute 82 on Monday but pacer Jerome Taylor took 4-34 as the West Indies hit back to bowl out New Zealand for 221 on day one of the second cricket test.","Attacks hit Tanzania and Kenya tourist sites. Tanzania and Kenya were targeted in separate attacks in key tourist sites in the east African nations, police said Tuesday, the latest in a series of bombings and gun battles scaring off foreign visitors. While the attacks -- including a restaurant bomb blast that wounded eight in Tanzania and a gun battle at a wildlife conservation centre in Kenya -- are not reported to be connected, they threaten to badly dent the countries' crucial tourism industry. Eight people were wounded late Monday when unknown attackers hurled a bomb through the window of a restaurant popular with foreigners and wealthy locals in the north Tanzanian town of Arusha. \"It was an improvised explosive device thrown through a window,\" top Tanzanian police officer Issaya Mngulu told AFP.","IAG airlines group cuts losses. International Airlines Group on Friday said it had significantly reduced group losses in the first quarter thanks to cost cutting at Spanish carrier Iberia and improved performance by British Airways. \\\\\"Iberia has almost halved its losses from quarter one last year,\\\\\" IAG chief executive Willie Walsh said in the statement. British Airways meanwhile made an operating loss of five million euros in the first quarter but down heavily compared with one year earlier.","UN's Ban Ki-moon arrives in Somalia. MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) — U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has landed in Somalia for his second visit to what was considered until recently a war-torn capital.","NATO to hold emergency Ukraine meeting Tuesday. Brussels (AFP) - NATO will hold fresh emergency talks on the Ukraine crisis Tuesday, after Poland requested consultations with its allies on the threat it poses under Article 4 of the alliance's founding treaty.","Hearing for Cole bombing suspect continues. FORT MEADE, Maryland (AP) — The Guantanamo detainee accused of orchestrating the 2000 attack on the USS Cole in Yemen is asking a military judge to order an MRI of his brain.","5 free things to see and do in Brussels, Belgium. BRUSSELS (AP) — The city of Brussels, which the famous Belgian cartoon character Tintin roamed as an intrepid reporter, has plenty on offer for any inquisitive mind. And the Belgian capital is making it easier for tourists. It is planning to make more of its center a no-go area for cars, opening up more medieval and 19th century streets for carefree strolling and biking. Enough of the city's attractions are free to fill the best part of two vacation days.","Olympiakos ends season with 1-0 win over Apollon. ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Javier Saviola's close-range goal in the 88th minute helped already-crowned champion Olympiakos finish the season on a high note by beating Apollon 1-0 in the last round of the Greek league Sunday.","4 held in French jihadist group; Syria fears rise. PARIS (AP) — Four people were arrested Monday in a sweep against French jihadist recruiters, the country's top security official said a day after authorities announced the detention of a French suspect in the deadly shooting at a Jewish museum.","Strong quake shakes Mexico's Gulf coast. MEXICO CITY (AP) — A strong earthquake shook much of eastern Mexico on Tuesday, but there were no immediate reports of damage or injury.","U.S. presses on with Mideast talks rescue attempt. By Jeffrey Heller JERUSALEM (Reuters) - U.S. efforts to save Middle East peace talks from collapse showed little sign of progress on Monday amid threats from Israel to retaliate for what it saw as unilateral Palestinian moves towards statehood. The U.S.-brokered negotiations plunged into crisis last week after Israel, demanding a Palestinian commitment to continue talking after the end of the month, failed to carry out a promised release of about two dozen Palestinian prisoners. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas responded by signing 15 global treaties, including the Geneva Conventions on the conduct of war and occupations, on behalf of the State of Palestine, a defiant move that surprised Washington and angered Israel. The wrangling attracted little interest on the streets, where both Israeli and Palestinians have become inured to decades of conflict and deadlock.","R&A vindicated over 2-tee start at British Open. HOYLAKE, England (AP) — If organizers of the British Open needed any vindication of their historic decision to use a two-tee start at Royal Liverpool on Saturday, it came from Rory McIlroy about 30 minutes after his round.","Somalia pirates release US-German hostage. Mogadishu (AFP) - Somali pirates on Tuesday freed a German-American journalist and writer, Michael Scott Moore, two and a half years after he was kidnapped in the war-torn country, officials said.","In first outside Africa, nurse at Spain hospital contracts Ebola. Madrid (AFP) - An assistant nurse who treated two Ebola patients at a Madrid hospital is infected with the virus herself, health officials said Monday, in what is believed to be the first time a person has contracted the disease in Europe.","Afghan attack kills US major general, wounds 15. KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — A man dressed in an Afghan army uniform opened fire Tuesday on NATO troops at a military base, killing a U.S. two-star general and wounding some 15 people, among them a German brigadier general and a number of Americans troops, authorities said.","Sri Lanka grab early wickets to seize control of Colombo Test. Sri Lanka spinners Rangana Herath and Dilruwan Perera launched an early assault to have South Africa down on the mat on the second day of the series-deciding second Test on Friday. The spin duo got rid of South African openers Dean Elgar (one) and Alviro Petersen (two) after Sri Lanka's first innings folded up on 421 shortly into the second session. At tea, South Africa were 23-2 with Faf du Plessis batting on 17 and new Test skipper Hashim Amla on two.","Hungary's far-right party gain after 'nice' campaign. Hungary's far-right Jobbik party, describing itself as the EU's \"most successful radical nationalist party\", was celebrating gains in weekend elections on Monday after a campaign that sought to curb its nastiest rhetoric. Ahead of European elections next month that are also expected to see strong results for anti-immigration, anti-EU parties, Jobbik increased its support base across many parts of Hungary to come third with 20.5 percent of the national vote. European Jewish Congress president Moshe Kantor said the \"neo-Nazi\" Jobbik's performance was a \"dark day\" for Hungary that gives Europe's far-right a \"strong tailwind\" ahead of May's vote. \"It is the duty of both European leaders and voters to ensure that a strong message is delivered by supporters of democracy throughout Europe to show these racists and xenophobes that hate has no place on our continent,\" he said.","Ilonen leads Irish Open by 2 shots. CORK, Ireland (AP) — Mikko Ilonen opened a two-stroke lead in the Irish Open, while Rory McIlroy missed the cut by a shot Friday at Fota Island.","FIFA president Blatter says Brazil further behind in WCup preparations than any previous host. GENEVA - FIFA President Sepp Blatter says Brazil is further behind in preparations for the World Cup than any other country has been during his time with the organization.","Russian forces tighten grip on Crimea despite U.S. warning. By Alissa de Carbonnel SIMFEROPOL, Ukraine (Reuters) - Russian forces tightened their grip on Crimea on Sunday despite a U.S. warning to Moscow that annexing the southern Ukrainian region would close the door to diplomacy in a tense East-West standoff. Russian forces' seizure of the Black Sea peninsula has been bloodless but tensions are mounting following the decision by pro-Russian groups that have taken over the regional parliament to make Crimea part of Russia. The operation to seize Crimea began within days of Ukraine's pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovich's flight from the country last month.","Vatican bank's ousted president comes out swinging. VATICAN CITY (AP) — The ousted president of the Vatican bank came out swinging Friday after he was cleared in a money-laundering investigation, accusing the bank's board of causing \"grave damage\" to the Holy See by firing him in 2012.","New Islamist group claims Egypt police killings. A new Egyptian Islamist group claimed responsibility for a spate of attacks on policemen in the Nile Delta that marked an escalation of a militant campaign following Islamist president Mohamed Morsi's overthrow. Ansar al-Shariah, a name used by jihadist groups in other countries, had recently announced its formation in Egypt, before issuing another statement on Monday saying it targeted 28 \"treasonous\" security men. More than 200 policemen and soldiers have been killed by militants based in the restive Sinai Peninsula since the army overthrew Morsi in July. Militants have spread their reach to the capital and the Nile Delta, carrying out car bomb and shooting attacks against police targets.","Turkish parliament approves changes to Internet law to tighten use. Parliament, where Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan's AK Party has a majority, voted in favor of the articles, which allow the telecommunications authority to block access to material within four hours without obtaining a prior court order. Once it has, the bill will be sent to President Abdullah Gul for his approval.","'Amazing' Tour de France crowd told to keep safe. Tour de France riders and organisers praised the \"amazing\" crowds in Yorkshire on Saturday but pleaded with people to take more care of their safety. Race winner Marcel Kittel of Germany said that while it was great to see, they needed to be more wary of their safety. Tour organisers took to Twitter to plead with people to be more careful, saying: \"SECURITY MESSAGE: please stay beside the road during the race.\" Australian Simon Gerrans crashed in the sprint finish when he came together with Briton Mark Cavendish but he had nothing but praise for the supporters.","Canada will send military supplies to Ukraine. TRENTON, Ontario (AP) — Canada says it is sending non-lethal military equipment to Ukraine to help the country protect its eastern border against Russia.","North Korea again fires projectiles into water. SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — A South Korean military official says North Korea has launched two projectiles into its eastern waters in an apparent continuation of a recent series of missile and artillery test launches.","'Piles and piles' of bodies in S. Sudan slaughter. NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — The townsfolk believed the mosque was safe. They crammed inside as rebel forces in South Sudan took control of the town from government troops. But it wasn't safe. Robbers grabbed their cash and mobile phones. Then gunmen came and opened fire on everyone, young and old.","PGA president sacked over Poulter 'lil girl' jibe. Palm Beach Gardens (United States) (AFP) - Ted Bishop has been sacked as president of the PGA of America, less than a day after he branded Ian Poulter a \"lil girl\" on Twitter.","Briton convicted of Syria-related terror offence. A 31-year-old man on Tuesday became the first person to be convicted in Britain of terror offences related to the Syria conflict. Mashudur Choudhury, from Portsmouth on the southern English coast, travelled to Syria in October with the intention of attending a terrorist training camp, his trial heard. He was arrested at London's Gatwick Airport on his return later that month and on Tuesday was found guilty of engaging in conduct in preparation of terrorist acts. Prosecuting lawyer Alison Morgan had told the jury: \"The evidence clearly shows that this defendant planned for and then travelled to Syria with the intention of attending a training camp.","Portugal PM: No need for new aid after bailout. LISBON, Portugal (AP) — Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho says Portugal will not seek a protective line of credit after his government fulfils requirements imposed by foreign bailout creditors as part of a 78 billion-euro ($107 billion) rescue package.","Wacky haircuts a standout feature of World Cup. CUIABA, Brazil (AP) — It was an odd place to find three international footballers on the eve of a crucial World Cup game, inside a small hair salon located on the forecourt of a gas station on the outskirts of a remote Brazilian city.","Venezuela reaches out to Vatican No. 2 to mediate crisis. By Andrew Cawthorne CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuela's government formally invited Vatican No. 2 Cardinal Pietro Parolin on Wednesday to mediate talks with the opposition in hopes of stemming violence that has killed dozens in the nation's worst unrest in a decade. In a letter, President Nicolas Maduro's government asked that Parolin, a former envoy to Venezuela who is now the Vatican's Secretary of State, be named a \"good faith witness\" to a dialogue finally agreed after two months of protests. A Vatican spokesman confirmed the Roman Catholic Church's willingness to mediate, but gave no more details. Venezuela's opposition coalition had indicated that current Vatican envoy, Aldo Giordano, would be attending the first formal talks, which are to start on Thursday in Caracas.","Players, families honour Hillsborough dead. Liverpool stars joined relatives of the 96 Hillsborough stadium disaster victims on Tuesday as the club marked the 25th anniversary of the tragedy with a solemn memorial service at Anfield. Club captain Steven Gerrard and former manager Kenny Dalglish were among those in a crowd of around 25,000 who gathered to honour the Liverpool fans killed after a crush during an FA Cup semi-final in Sheffield in 1989. A minute's silence took place at 3:06 pm (1406 GMT), reflecting the precise moment at which the fateful game against Nottingham Forest at Sheffield Wednesday's Hillsborough ground was called off. Beforehand, local religious leaders read out the names of those who had died, as Liverpool players past and present and family members of the victims looked on.","Ukraine: 3 killed after Black Sea base attack. KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — Three pro-Russian militants have been killed and 13 wounded after Ukrainian troops repelled an attack on a National Guard base in the Black Sea port of Mariupol, Ukraine's interior minister said Thursday.","Atletico closes in on 1st league title in 18 years. MADRID (AP) — Atletico Madrid can follow up its feat of reaching the Champions League final by winning its first Spanish league title in 18 years if closest rivals Barcelona and Real Madrid slip up this weekend.","Guay tops second Wengen downhill training. Wengen (Switzerland) (AFP) - Canada's 2011 world champion Erik Guay topped the second training on Thursday for the men's World Cup downhill set for this weekend. Heel came in sixth this time around behind Austrian Hannes Reichelt and Swiss racer Patrick Kueng. Guay, who last month won the downhill in Bormio, was left pleased with his showing in training as he aimed to build on his best performance in Wengen - a fourth place last season.","UN targets wildlife traders in Africa sanctions. UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N. Security Council has targeted illegal wildlife traffickers for sanctions in a pair of resolutions against African armed groups, a step conservationists called unprecedented and a major shift on a problem that has morphed from an environmental issue into a security threat.","Slovak underdog has chance to beat PM Fico in presidential vote. By Jan Lopatka PRAGUE (Reuters) - Slovakia's political heavyweight Prime Minister Robert Fico faces the threat of his biggest defeat at the ballot box from an underdog philanthropist in presidential election runoff on Saturday. In the second round, bookmakers give an edge to political newcomer Andrej Kiska, a businessman turned philanthropist who is riding on the wave of anti-Fico sentiment among right-wing voters as well as distrust in mainstream political parties suspected of complicity in graft scandals.","Cameroon sends troops to Nigeria border to tackle Boko Haram. By Bate Felix DAKAR (Reuters) - Cameroon has deployed some 1,000 troops and armoured vehicles to its border region with Nigeria as it steps up its military presence to counter a rising threat from Boko Haram Islamist militants, a defence ministry spokesman said on Tuesday. Boko Haram, which has outraged international opinion with the abduction of some 200 schoolgirls in northern Nigeria seven weeks ago, has also carried out several attacks and kidnappings in northern Cameroon. Lieutenant Colonel Didier Badjeck said about 1,000 Special Forces of Cameroon's rapid intervention brigade (BIR) left the capital on Monday.","Disputed Kurdish oil tanker moving for 1st time since end-July: shiptracking data. NEW YORK (Reuters) - The tanker carrying $100 million worth of disputed Kurdish crude oil is moving for the first time since July 27, AIS ship tracking data showed on Wednesday. The status of the tanker, called United Kalavrvta, changed to \"underway using engine\" from \"at anchor\", but it was still 95 percent full, the data used by the U.S. Coast Guard and Reuters showed. (Reporting by Josephine Mason; Editing by David Gregorio)","Indonesia releases Australian drug smuggler. BALI, Indonesia (AP) — An Australian woman convicted of smuggling marijuana into Indonesia walked free from jail on Monday after being given parole, the latest chapter in what has been a media sensation in her home country since her arrest on the tourist island of Bali in 2005.","Wales make three changes for South Africa test. LONDON (Reuters) - Wales coach Warren Gatland has made three enforced changes to his starting line-up for Saturday's test against South Africa in Cardiff. Winger Liam Williams replaced the injured George North, prop Gethin Jenkins came in for Paul James and hooker Scott Baldwin was called up for Richard Hibbard who is unavailable due to club commitments. Leigh Halfpenny continues at fullback as Wales bid to avoid a 27th defeat in 28 matches against New Zealand, Australia and South Africa since Gatland took over as coach. ...","Iran tries to block Afghanistan's opium boom. TAIBAD, Iran (AP) — In the face of Afghanistan's unprecedented boom in opium production, neighboring Iran is trying to baton down its border to slow down smuggling, building moats, walls and other large-scale projects.","Reports: Ukraine president proposing cease-fire. KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said Monday he will this week propose a detailed peace plan, including a cease-fire with separatist rebels in the country's east.","AP PHOTOS: Soldiers take over base in Crimea. Several hundred Russian-speaking militiamen wearing uniforms with no identifying insignia met no resistance Wednesday as they took over the Ukrainian Navy's headquarters in Sevastopol, Crimea. Russia incorporated the strategic Crimean peninsula earlier this week.","Murray beats Tsonga, faces Djokovic for semi-final spot. Former champion Andy Murray beat the stifling New York heat and France's Jo-Wilfried Tsonga on Monday to reach the US Open quarter-finals -- where he'll face the even tougher test of Novak Djokovic. Murray, slow out of the blocks this season after back surgery late in 2013, has now reached at least the quarter-finals of every Grand Slam tournament he has played for the past four years.","Galhotra succeeds Farley at Ford as head of Lincoln brand. By Paul Lienert DETROIT (Reuters) - Ford Motor Co has named engineer Kumar Galhotra to succeed Jim Farley as head of the company's Lincoln brand, the automaker said Tuesday. Farley remains head of Ford's global marketing, sales and service. Farley and Galhotra report to Ford President and Chief Executive Mark Fields. \"As we are taking the brand global, adding new dealers in China and increasing the pace of new product introductions, it was time for a dedicated leader\" at Lincoln, Ford spokeswoman Susan Krusel said.","Yemen soldiers killed in attack on military camp. ADEN (Reuters) - At least seven Yemeni government solders were killed on Thursday in a an attack involving a suicide car bombing and a gun assault on a military camp in eastern Yemen, a local official and witnesses said. They said the attack, in a coastal region called Buroom in Hadramout province, occurred early on Thursday. Soldiers at the camp engaged the gunmen and forced them to retreat. ...","Russia launches Sochi clampdown a month before Games. Sochi (Russia) (AFP) - Russia launches the largest security operation in Olympic history on Tuesday with one month to go before Vladimir Putin kicks off the Winter Games in Sochi amid renewed fears of suicide bombings. Railway station and trolleybus blasts that killed 34 in Volgograd last month meanwhile revived fears that Islamists from the nearby Caucasus will seek to wreak havoc on the globally watched event. Putin responded to mounting diplomatic pressure over the weekend by easing the terms of a tough decree banning all forms of political protest in Sochi. And Russia's answer to the threat of terror will be unveiled Tuesday when the feared Federal Security Service (FSB) takes charge of a security clampdown even fiercer than that seen at the 2008 Summer Games in Beijing.","Gaza 72-hour ceasefire period begins. GAZA/JERUSALEM (Reuters) - A 72-hour Gaza ceasefire period began on Friday, the most ambitious attempt so far to end more than three weeks of fighting between Israel and Palestinian militants in the Hamas Islamist-dominated enclave. The humanitarian truce, brokered by the United Nations and the United States, went into effect at 1 a.m. EDT (0500 GMT), and was to be lead to talks in Egypt on a longer-term solution. (Writing by Ori Lewis,; Editing by Jeffrey Heller)","Obama to outline strategy to defeat Islamic State. WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama will outline plans this week for an expanded U.S. campaign to defeat violent Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria, a strategy that will also involve cooperation from allies in Europe, the Middle East and elsewhere.","Guantanamo's Camp 7, shrouded in secrecy. Guantanamo Bay Naval Base (Cuba) (AFP) - Everyone knows it exists and yet officials clam up at the mere mention of Camp 7, the most secure and secretive area of the US military prison in Guantanamo Bay. Hidden among the arid hills of the sprawling naval base on the Cuban coast, it holds about 15 so-called high value detainees -- including Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the self-proclaimed mastermind of the September 11, 2001 attacks on US soil. \"We simply just don't discuss Camp 7,\" said Brigadier General Marion Garcia, deputy commander of Joint Task Force Guantanamo (JTF-GTMO), which runs the base's detention centers. \"It's not a secret that it's here, but what is classified is its location and any other operation about it or who's in there,\" echoed Captain John Filostrat, a JTF-GTMO spokesman.","Souths dent Manly's minor premiership drive in NRL. SYDNEY (AP) — Sam Burgess returned from injury to lead Souths to a 23-4 win over Manly in the 22nd round of Australia's National Rugby League, damaging Manly's bid for the minor premiership while substantially advancing their own.","Seven killed in Israeli air strike in southern Gaza: medics. Gaza City (Palestinian Territories) (AFP) - Seven people were killed on Wednesday in an Israeli air strike near the southern city of Khan Yunis, medics said.","Russia has doubts about draft UN crash resolution. CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Russia's U.N. ambassador says his country still has reservations about the wording of an Australian-proposed Security Council resolution demanding international access to the Ukraine plane crash site.","Spurs rout Thunder to take 3-2 lead in West finals. SAN ANTONIO (AP) — Tim Duncan had 22 points and 12 rebounds and Manu Ginobili scored 19 points as the San Antonio Spurs rolled to a 117-89 victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder to take a 3-2 lead in the Western Conference finals.","Hurricane forms off Mexico, strengthens rapidly. MIAMI (AP) — Miami-based forecasters say the first hurricane of the eastern Pacific season has formed far off Mexico's coast.","Charges dropped against Venezuelan protesters. CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuelan courts have dropped all charges against hundreds of demonstrators detained during anti-government protests that wracked the South American country this spring.","Ebola-hit Sierra Leone declares state of emergency. Freetown (AFP) - Sierra Leone leader Ernest Bai Koroma declared a state of emergency on Thursday and cancelled a planned trip to the US-Africa summit as the country struggled to contain the deadly Ebola epidemic.","Ukraine to use all possible means to defend itself: OSCE envoy. Ukraine will use \"all possible means\" to defend itself from a Russian military threat, the country's envoy to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) said on Monday. \"Ukraine is a peaceful country but it will protect its sovereignty and territorial integrity from an aggressive war with all possible means in full compliance with the UN charter,\" Ambassador Ihor Prokopchuk told a session of the human rights and democracy watchdog's permanent council. He said Kiev wanted an immediate repeal of Russian authorization to use force in Ukraine, the return of military forces to their permanent duty stations and the establishment of dialogue between Moscow and the authorities in Ukraine.","Honduran migrants ask Mexico to allow safe passage. MEXICO CITY (AP) — About a dozen Honduran migrants missing legs and arms after falling off of or being pushed from trains during clandestine journeys through Mexico are asking the Mexican government to protect them from criminal gangs.","Peru's former president Fujimori suffers stroke, hospitalized. Peru's jailed former president Alberto Fujimori was hospitalized and in \"moderately serious\" condition after suffering a small stroke Friday, a doctor said. Fujimori, 75, was conscious and talking on Friday afternoon following a morning stroke in his jail cell, said doctor Juan Barreto with the Clinica La Luz in Lima where the former political leader is recovering. There may be more serious consequences and he will remain hospitalized.\" Barreto said that one of Fujimori's arms is numb and that he risks partial paralysis if his situation worsens. Fujimori, who has been imprisoned since 2007 on charges of human rights abuses and corruption committed during his 1990-2000 term, often coordinates with members of his influential political party from his jail cell and criticizes President Ollanta Humala via Twitter and Facebook.","Donetsk cleans up from shelling in eastern Ukraine. DONETSK, Ukraine (AP) — The rebel-held city of Donetsk is holding a city-wide clean-up day after months of shelling in eastern Ukraine, sending prisoners out to help remove the debris.","Eurozone inflation dips again as energy costs tank. BRUSSELS (AP) — Sharp falls in energy prices as a result of the dramatic decline being recorded in oil markets has pushed inflation across the 18-country eurozone down to 0.3 percent in the year to November.","Iraq violence kills at least 22. Attacks in Iraq, including a series of car bombs in Baghdad, killed at least 22 people Monday, officials said, as the country struggles with its worst violence in six years. In the deadliest attack, at least one car bomb exploded in the Urr neighbourhood of north Baghdad, killing at least eight people and wounding at least 27. Another car bomb hit the Karrada district in the centre of the capital, killing at least seven people, wounding at least 29 and sending a cloud of smoke into the sky. And a car bomb detonated in Ghazaliyah in western Baghdad, killing at least one person and wounding at least four.","Berahino thanks England for 'second chance'. London (AFP) - West Bromwich Albion's Burundi-born striker Saido Berahino thanks his adoptive country England for giving him a \"second chance\" after being called up by national team manager Roy Hodgson.","3 lawyers for Al-Jazeera journalists in Egypt quit. CAIRO (AP) — Three lawyers representing Al-Jazeera English journalists on trial in Egypt abruptly quit the case Thursday, accusing the Doha-based network of using the arrest of their staff to tarnish the country's image.","FIFA investigator has explosive Qatar documents. FIFA investigator Michael Garcia Wednesday said he had prior access to the \"vast majority\" of documents revealed recently which allege millions of dollars in bribes helped Qatar secure the 2022 World Cup. Garcia told the FIFA congress in Sao Paulo that he was prepared to use the documents printed by Britain's Sunday Times in his probe, shooting down media \"assertions\" that he may ignore them. The explosive documents have cast new doubt on Qatar's World Cup, with major sponsors urging a thorough investigation and some FIFA delegates calling for a re-vote if corruption is proved.","Blatter basks in FIFA support ahead of World Cup. SAO PAULO (AP) — FIFA President Sepp Blatter's re-election bandwagon is picking up momentum in the city hobbled by a transport strike before it hosts the opening match of the World Cup.","Canada's McMorris left bemused after Olympic slopestyle slump. Rosa Khutor (Russia) (AFP) - Canada's 2013 X-Games champion Mark McMorris was left bemused by his failure to qualify directly for the Olympic slopestyle final in Thursday's heats as action got under way at the 2014 Games.","Brazil's president holds wide lead ahead of re-election bid -poll. By Anthony Boadle BRASILIA (Reuters) - Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff is holding on to her wide lead over potential rivals and would win a second term outright in the October 5 general election, according to a poll published on Thursday. Despite Brazil's lackluster economic performance and stubbornly high inflation on her watch, Rousseff would be re-elected in the first round if the vote was held today, the Ibope poll showed. The survey of voter intentions found Rousseff has 43 percent of the electorate's support, against 15 percent for Senator Aecio Neves of the main opposition party PSDB and 7 percent for Eduardo Campos, governor of Pernambuco state. Brazil's presidential election race will get serious after the World Cup for soccer ends in mid-July and while no one has officially declared themselves a candidate, all three are expected to run.","Juve beats Del Piero and A-League All Stars 3-2. SYDNEY (AP) — Italian league champion Juventus staged a strong second half rally to win 3-2 over A-League All Stars, led by Alessandro Del Piero, in a pre-season friendly Sunday at Sydney's Olympic stadium.","Nigerian official says 7 more show Ebola symptoms. LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) — A total of eight people in Nigeria who were in direct contact with a man who flew to Lagos and died of Ebola now have symptoms of the dreaded and deadly disease and have been placed into quarantine, a Nigerian health official said Tuesday.","Swiss bolster EU sanctions over Ukraine. GENEVA (AP) — The Swiss government bolstered European Union sanctions over Russia's annexation of Crimea on Wednesday but stopped short of imposing any of its own.","Mali frees hunger-striking soldiers: lawyer. Thirty-two Malian soldiers arrested with ex-junta chief Amadou Sanogo have been freed six weeks after their arrest, one of their lawyers said on Friday. The soldiers had been denied visits from friends or family, and had been on hunger strike for three days before their release on Thursday, Tiesolo Konare told AFP. The group had been appointed by the government to work for Sanogo just two weeks before all were arrested, Konare said, and were freed on a decision by Defence Minister Soumeylou Boubeye Maiga. Sanogo, leader of a March 22, 2012 coup which overthrew democratically-elected president Amadou Toumani Toure, is accused of complicity in kidnappings, according to the government.","U.S. airlines doubled profit margins in first half, trade group says. \"The airlines have coped very well,\" said John Heimlich, A4A chief economist. Net profit at the airlines rose to $3.8 billion, up from $1.6 billion in the prior-year period. The nine airlines are Alaska Air Group Inc , Allegiant Travel Co , American Airlines Group Inc , Delta Air Lines Inc , Hawaiian Holdings Inc , JetBlue Airways Corp , Southwest Airlines Co , Spirit Airlines Inc and United Continental Holdings Inc .","UEFA wants rule to punish those who injure others. TURIN, Italy (AP) — UEFA wants players who hurt an opponent to stay off the field until the injured party is ready to return.","Hundreds of civilians killed in South Sudan ethnic massacre: U.N.. By Michelle Nichols UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Rebels slaughtered hundreds of civilians when they seized the South Sudan oil hub of Bentiu, hunting down men, women and children who had sought refuge in a hospital, mosque and Catholic church, the United Nations said on Monday. Rebel troops overran Bentiu, the capital of the oil producing Unity State, on Tuesday. More than 1 million people have fled their homes since fighting erupted in the world's youngest country in December between troops backing President Salva Kiir and soldiers loyal to his sacked vice president, Riek Machar. The U.N. peacekeeping mission in South Sudan said that its human rights investigators confirmed that rebels \"searched a number of places where hundreds of South Sudanese and foreign civilians had taken refuge and killed hundreds of the civilians after determining their ethnicity or nationality.\" The U.N. mission, known as UNMISS, strongly condemned the targeted killings on April 15-16 and the use of Radio Bentiu FM to broadcast hate speech.","Kenyan taskforce finds doping prevalence in sports. But the panel which presented its findings to Kenyan Sports Minister Hassan Wario on Thursday allayed fears of widespread doping among the country's athletes. Most of those found guilty were struggling to reach the top very quickly and were using a shortcut,\\\\\" said the head of the taskforce, Professor Moni Wekesa. The panel handed to the minister an envelope containing names of individuals to be investigated for deliberately doping Kenyan athletes.","Sudan re-arrests Christian woman one day after release from death row. Sudanese authorities re-arrested a Sudanese woman on Tuesday hours after she was freed from death row, and detained her and her family as they tried to board a plane in Khartoum, a security source and her lawyer said. Mariam Yahya Ibrahim, 27, sentenced to death last month for converting to Christianity from Islam, was released on Monday after what the government said was unprecedented international pressure. Ibrahim was freed by an appeal court on Monday which cancelled her death sentence. Her release was welcomed by human rights groups and Western governments that had voiced outrage at the death sentence.","In world's largest democracy, more lawmakers charged with crime. More legislators charged with crimes will sit in India's new parliament than previously, a democracy watchdog said on Sunday, in a reminder that crime still pays in the world's largest democracy. Prime minister-elect Narendra Modi, who made fighting graft a central plank of his victorious campaign, won a stunning mandate to govern India by claiming the first clear majority in three decades. But many of his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) colleagues elected to the new parliament faces serious criminal charges. Thirty-four percent of the winners in India's election have criminal cases pending against them, four percentage points more than in 2009, analysis of the candidates affidavits by the Association for Democratic Reforms found.","Egypt sentences 7 to life for sexual assaults. CAIRO (AP) — An Egyptian court has sentenced seven men to life in prison for sexual assaults on women during a number of public rallies in Cairo's iconic Tahrir Square.","Spotify's Top 10 most viral tracks. The following list represents the most viral tracks on Spotify, based on the number of people who shared it divided by the number who listened to it, from Monday, Nov. 17 to Sunday, Nov. 23 via Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter and Spotify.","Kenyan loses bid to defy international court arrest. A Kenyan ex-journalist accused of witness intimidation by the International Criminal Court (ICC) has lost his bid to defy an arrest warrant issued for him, a judge ruled Friday. The Hague-based ICC last year issued a warrant for the arrest of Walter Barasa for allegedly trying to bribe witnesses to drop their testimony in the crimes against humanity trial of Deputy President William Ruto. The ICC warrant must first pass before a Kenyan judge before it is acted upon. \"The applicant has not demonstrated that the extradition proceedings by the Cabinet Secretary are invalid,\" Kenyan High Court Judge Richard Mwongo said.","Analysis: After crude-by-rail accidents, experts mull U.S. oil market impact. A spate of high profile crude-by-rail accidents is making oil analysts consider how tighter rail safety standards could impact U.S. oil markets, by potentially crimping a mode of transport that has grown exponentially amid the shale drilling boom. Any regulation or industry-driven move to hastily sideline a fleet of some 75,000 older tank cars commonly used for shipping crude could roil U.S. oil logistics, boost costs for refiners, and even hit output from North Dakota's giant Bakken field, oil analysts said. Tank cars known as DOT-111s are used to transport most of the 10 percent of U.S. oil production, or around 800,000 barrels per day, that is shipped by railroad. Newer cars feature thicker steel and protective plates and fixtures, but the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) has so far allowed older cars to stay in circulation, even as the Association of American Railroads has called for their \"aggressive\" retrofitting.","Indian police say Danish tourist was gang-raped. NEW DELHI (AP) — A Danish tourist was gang-raped near a popular shopping area in New Delhi after she stopped to ask for directions, police said Wednesday, the latest case to focus attention on the scourge of violence against women in India.","American's Paris kitchen becomes way of life. PARIS (AP) — David Lebovitz snaps a photo of a practically perfect croissant before taking a bite, then smiling slightly.","Kiev government to deploy troops in Ukraine's east. DONETSK, Ukraine (AP) — Turning to force to try to restore its authority in the vital industrial east, Ukraine's government announced Sunday it was sending in troops to try to quash an increasingly brazen pro-Russian insurgency, despite repeated warnings from the Kremlin.","Thaw reveals Antarctic explorer's century-old notebook. A photographic notebook from Robert Scott's ill-fated Antarctic expedition has been found after a century trapped in the ice of the frozen continent, New Zealand's Antarctic Heritage Trust said. It belonged to scientist George Murray Levick and was discovered outside Scott's 1911 Terra Nova base during last year's summer ice melt. Writing in the notebook remains legible but the binding has been dissolved by years of ice and water damage, the trust's executive director Nigel Watson said. The notebook is a missing part of the official expedition record,\" he said.","Passenger charged with punching flight attendant. LOS ANGELES (AP) — A man who allegedly punched a Philippine Airlines flight attendant on a Los Angeles-bound jetliner has been charged with interfering with a flight crew.","Indonesian maid says tortured with vacuum cleaner tube in Hong Kong abuse case. HONG KONG (Reuters) - An Indonesian domestic helper told a Hong Kong court on Monday that she had been tortured by her employer, with a vacuum cleaner tube placed in her mouth and twisted to cause lacerations, public broadcaster RTHK said. The landmark trial, featuring pictures of Erwiana Sulistyaningsih's bruised body, has sparked international outrage at the treatment of maids in the Asian financial center. Former Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono denounced her treatment as torture. ...","Japanese bearings company fined $4.5M after guilty plea in bid-rigging scheme. GATINEAU, Que. - Japanese bearings manufacturer NSK Ltd. has been fined $4.5 million for its role in an international bid-rigging scheme.","South Sudan headed for upsurge in fighting: UN. United Nations (United States) (AFP) - The end of the rainy season in South Sudan could re-ignite fierce fighting, with factions battling for control of oil fields while the threat of famine looms, a UN official warned Thursday.","Ugandan gorillas under threat but tourist dollars protect. Powerfully pushing through thick jungle, the mountain gorilla is fearless in the face of strangers on his territory, but the endangered ape is unaware the family group he guards survives by the thinnest of threads. The gorillas here in Uganda's lush forests are protected by the economic lifeline they create for remote communities from the tourist dollars they generate, providing a key incentive for humans to protect the giant animals. The forest in Uganda's far southwest is home to an estimated 400 mountain gorillas -- roughly half of the world’s population -- including several families which have been habituated to human presence. \"In order to protect this endangered specie we needed to show the economic benefit of these gorillas,\" said Charles Tumwesigye, deputy head of conservation for the government's Ugandan Wildlife Authority.","Erat replaces Sobotka on Czech team for Olympics. SOCHI, Russia (AP) — Martin Erat of the Washington Capitals will replace injured Vladimir Sobotka on the Czech team for the Sochi Olympics.","Gunmen wound Lebanese religious mediators. BEIRUT (AP) — Gunmen attacked a delegation of clerics sent to mediate between the Lebanese army and a band of Syrian militants that took over a Lebanese town, wounding a prominent Sunni sheik who then left Tuesday, one of his associates said.","With Saint Nick's entry comes racial controversy. SINT-NIKLAAS, Belgium (AP) — In this town named after Saint Nicholas, Yuletide cheer is being clouded by controversy over the good saint's helpers.","Russia says no military personnel in Ukraine relief convoy: Pentagon. Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu told U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel that no Russian military personnel were involved in a humanitarian convoy bound for Ukraine, the Pentagon said on Friday. Hagel sought clarification about the Russian convoy from Shoigu during a phone call on Friday and was \"guaranteed\" it did not include Russian military personnel and would not be used as a pretext for intervening in Ukraine, the Pentagon said in a statement.","Kranjcar's free kick gives QPR draw against Stoke. LONDON (AP) — Niko Kranjcar scored from a free kick as Queens Park Rangers twice came from behind to draw 2-2 with Stoke in the Premier League on Saturday.","Ukraine supporters hope UN vote isolates Russia. UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Supporters of Ukraine's territorial integrity are hoping to demonstrate the strength of opposition to Russia's takeover and possible annexation of the Crimean Peninsula in a U.N. Security Council vote on Saturday.","Tropical Storm Hanna forms off Nicaragua coast. Managua (AFP) - Nicaragua was bracing for severe weather Monday after Tropical Storm Hanna formed off its Caribbean coast.","Hundreds protest dropped charges over Fukushima crisis. Hundreds rallied in Tokyo on Saturday to protest at Japanese prosecutors' decision to drop charges over the Fukushima nuclear crisis, with no one yet punished nearly three years after the \"man-made\" disaster. In March 2011, a huge tsunami triggered by a 9.0-magnitude earthquake crashed into the Fukushima nuclear plant, swamping cooling systems and sparking meltdowns that spewed radiation over a wide area. No one is officially recorded as having died as a direct result of the radiation released by the meltdowns, but some Fukushima residents committed suicide citing concerns over radiation, while others died during evacuation. \"I used to grow organic rice... But I can't do it anymore because of consumers' worries over radioactive contamination,\" Kazuo Nakamura, 45, a farmer from Koriyama city in Fukushima prefecture, told the rally.","Bruce Boudreau's Ducks are atop the NHL amid anonymity in Anaheim. The Anaheim Ducks have quietly been rolling over the NHL, and that's exactly how coach Bruce Boudreau likes it.","Ukraine, pro-Russian rebels agree ceasefire deal. By Andrei Makhovsky MINSK (Reuters) - Ukraine and pro-Russian rebels agreed a ceasefire on Friday, the first step towards ending fighting in eastern Ukraine that has caused the worst standoff between Moscow and the West since the Cold War ended. We must do everything possible and impossible to end the bloodshed and put an end to people's suffering,\" Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said in a statement announcing the truce, agreed in Minsk with representatives of Russia and the OSCE security watchdog. The Kremlin welcomed the agreement, based largely on proposals made by President Vladimir Putin and leaving the pro-Russian separatists in control of vast swaths of territory. OBAMA HOPEFUL BUT SKEPTICAL Attending a NATO summit in Wales, Poroshenko told reporters Ukraine was ready to grant a significant decentralization of power and economic freedom to the regions as well as the right to use the language of their choice, and an amnesty.","U.S. releases satellite images of Russian forces near Ukraine. The U.S. government released new satellite pictures on Tuesday which it said showed Russian forces were still near the Ukrainian border in recent days, contradicting Russian assertions they had been withdrawn. President Vladimir Putin announced last Wednesday that the troops had moved, but NATO and the United States both said they had seen no sign of a Russian withdrawal from the frontier. NATO officials have previously estimated Russia has around 40,000 soldiers close to Ukraine's border, exacerbating the worst East-West crisis since the Cold War. The commercial satellite photos, published by the U.S. State Department and on the U.S. Mission to NATO's Twitter account, showed what appeared to be about 20 Russian helicopters at Belgorod, near the Ukrainian border, on May 9.","Chicago health center confirms doctor killed in Afghanistan. A Chicago pediatrician was among those killed in an attack on a Kabul hospital funded by the U.S. Christian charity Cure International on Thursday, a clinic where the doctor worked in Chicago said. \"For nearly a decade, Dr. Jerry Umanos volunteered in Afghanistan to train medical residents and to see pediatric patients,\" said Dr. Bruce Rowell, a medical director of clinical quality at Chicago's Lawndale Christian Health Center.","Decree: Brazilian banks must be open during WCup. RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Brazilian banks will be required to stay open on working days during the World Cup, even when Brazil plays a match.","France's Hollande asks PM to form new government: presidency. Paris (AFP) - France was thrown into fresh crisis on Monday after President Francois Hollande asked his prime minister to form a new government.","Pistorius due to give evidence as murder trial resumes. South African Paralympic and Olympic track star Oscar Pistorius is expected to take the stand for the first time on Monday in a bid to prove his innocence against charges he murdered his model girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp. Pistorius, nicknamed the \"Blade Runner\" due to the carbon-fiber prosthetic limbs he uses in competition, is accused of killing Steenkamp deliberately by firing four rounds from a 9 mm pistol through a locked toilet door after an argument. The track star has pleaded not guilty, saying he mistook 29-year-old model and law graduate Steenkamp for an intruder hiding in the toilet at his luxury Pretoria home. Pistorius is expected to be one of the first witnesses called when his defense team begins laying out its case after a break of more than a week due to the illness of a court official.","SOCHI SCENE: Love those spills. Like rubber-necking motorists who crawl past a car wreck, television viewers seem to be intrigued by young Olympians falling down in the snow.","Sudan woman who faced death over faith lands in US. PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A Sudanese woman who refused to recant her Christian faith in the face of a death sentence, which was later overturned, arrived in the United States on Thursday after a flight from Rome.","Car bomb kills at least 4 in Lebanese Shiite town. BEIRUT (AP) — A car bomb blew up Saturday near a gas station in a Shiite town in northeast Lebanon, killing at least four people, officials said.","Nigeria's Jonathan pledges to free schoolgirls, end 'terrorism'. ABUJA (Reuters) - Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan pledged on Thursday to find more than 200 schoolgirls abducted by Islamist rebels, saying their rescue would mark \"the beginning of the end of terrorism\" in the country. Speaking at the World Economic Forum (WEF) being hosted in the capital Abuja, Jonathan also thanked foreign nations including the United States, Britain, France and China for their support in trying to rescue the girls, who were kidnapped from a secondary school on April 14. He thanked delegates for coming despite the terrorist threat facing Nigeria. ...","Bulgaria wary as Russia steps up military flights over Black Sea. Bulgaria has put on high alert or deployed its air force about 30 times in two months in response to a recent spike in Russian military aircraft flying near its aerial borders on the Black Sea, its defense minister said on Tuesday. Both the West and Russia have carried out a series of military drills as a show of force in the worsening standoff over Russia's annexation of Crimea, which has sparked retaliatory sanctions from Washington and Brussels. NATO said it was \"considering all options\" as it studied new steps to bolster its military presence in eastern Europe on Tuesday, while saying it saw no sign that Russia was withdrawing tens of thousands of troops from the Ukranian boarder. Despite its longstanding friendship with former Cold War ally Russia, Bulgaria joined NATO 10 years ago and has twice participated in navy drills with a U.S. warship in the Black Sea since the Ukraine crisis.","Jihadists kidnap dozens in north Iraq village. Jihadists kidnapped dozens of residents of a northern Iraq village on Thursday after villagers burned one of their positions along with a jihadist flag, police and witnesses said. The militants of the Islamic State (IS) group had withdrawn from Tal Ali in Kirkuk province on Wednesday, but returned in force on Thursday and abducted some 50 people, the sources said. It is not the first time IS has carried out mass kidnappings in Iraq, with the group abducting thousands of civilians as it overran minority-populated northern villages last month, according to human rights group Amnesty International. Amnesty has accused IS of \"systematic ethnic cleansing,\" including mass killings, of ethnic and religious minorities in Iraq.","Obama says Poroshenko a wise choice for Ukraine, pledges aid. U.S. President Barack Obama on Wednesday called Ukraine's President-elect Petro Poroshenko a \"wise selection\" to lead the country and pledged more military aid to help address security threats from Russian-backed separatists. Obama, speaking to reporters after a meeting with Poroshenko in Warsaw, said they discussed the new leader's plan to restore peace, boost economic growth, and reduce energy dependence on Russia. \"In my discussions with him today it's clear he understands the hopes and aspirations of the Ukrainian people,\" Obama said. Obama said he discussed with Poroshenko ways the United States can help train Ukrainian law enforcement and military personnel.","France warns against war in Ukraine. PARIS (AP) — French President Francois Hollande is warning against military pressure in Ukraine and threatening new European sanctions if tensions don't subside.","Taliban attack in Afghanistan kills 6 policemen. KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — An Afghan official says a Taliban attack on several police checkpoints in the country's northeast has killed six officers.","Britain pledges to investigate child sex abuse conspiracy claims. Britain pledged on Monday to investigate allegations that politicians may have sexually abused children in the 1980s and then used their position to scuttle attempts to uncover their crimes. Claims of a high-level conspiracy to abuse children in the care of the state have roiled the political establishment after the unmasking of once-feted celebrities such as late television presenter Jimmy Savile as prolific child abusers. \"We need to get to the truth,\" finance minister George Osborne told BBC radio from India. No evidence has yet been published to support the allegations, but fears that claims about the abuse were not properly investigated at the time were stoked when Britain's Home Office admitted 114 \"potential relevant files\" had been destroyed, were missing or could not be found.","Hong Kong activists mull Beijing visit during APEC. HONG KONG (AP) — Hong Kong student protest leaders are considering visiting Beijing while it hosts a major Asian summit next week to press their demands for greater democratic reforms.","Chinese flight school plane crashes, killing 2. BEIJING (AP) — A small plane belonging to a Chinese flight academy has crashed into a farm field in southwest China, killing both people on board.","White House 'very concerned' by Russian troop movements. The White House is \"very concerned by the potential for escalation\" after Russia massed its troops on the border with Ukraine, a close aide to US President Barack Obama said Monday. \"We are watching very closely, we believe that Russia stands an enormous amount to lose\" from any escalation, Deputy National Security advisor Ben Rhodes told journalists as leaders gathered in The Hague to discuss a response to the crisis. A US military officer told AFP on Monday the Russian military presence continued to increase along Ukraine's eastern border. However, there was no sign that Russian forces were about to launch an invasion of eastern Ukraine, the officer said.","Hacking trial: Blair offered to advise Murdoch. LONDON (AP) — Britain's phone-hacking trial has heard that former Prime Minister Tony Blair allegedly offered to work as an unofficial adviser to Rupert Murdoch as revelations of illegal phone hacking engulfed the mogul's media empire.","Africa stems Ebola via border closings, luck. NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Health officials battling the Ebola outbreak that has killed more than 4,500 people in West Africa have managed to limit its spread on the continent to five countries — and two of them appear to have snuffed out the disease.","Look for world records to fall at world indoors. SOPOT, Poland (AP) — Whenever Ashton Eaton walks into an arena, a multi-event world record is up for grabs.","UN provides aid for record 4.1 million in Syria. BEIRUT (AP) — The World Food Program says it provided food to a record 4.1 million people inside Syria last month.","Vietnam welcomes US partial lift of arms sales ban. HANOI, Vietnam (AP) — Vietnam on Friday welcomed a decision by the U.S. government to ease a ban on lethal arms sales, saying it will benefit both nations.","Czech Embassy targeted with poison in envelope. BRATISLAVA, Slovakia (AP) — Police say an envelope mailed to the Czech Republic's Embassy in the Slovakia's capital contained the highly toxic substance sodium azide.","Swollen creek not enough to halt food order. FAIRBANKS, Alaska (AP) — A little thing like a flooded creek was not enough to keep an Alaska restaurant owner from delivering Thai ribs and fried rice to stranded customers over the weekend.","Image of Asia: Deterring protesters in Kashmir. In this photo by Mukhtar Khan, police spray colored water at Kashmiri government employees who are protesting for better job conditions in Srinagar, the main city in the Indian-controlled portion of Kashmir. The protesters are demanding more pay and a regular status for contract workers. Protests are common in Indian Kashmir, where many residents oppose Indian rule, and police have often used colored water to identify protesters and deter them by ruining their clothes.","UN warns climate change is drowning Senegal. The United Nations' head of disaster risk warned Tuesday that flooding caused by climate change had become an emergency in Senegal, with some towns finding themselves underwater for large parts of the year. Margareta Wahlstrom, on a three-day visit as part of preparations for a new global disaster risk-reduction strategy, told AFP she had met mayors of coastal and riverside towns who said their streets were flooded ten months out of 12. I think particularly the flooding issue is so critical... because it's very acute,\" said Wahlstrom, the United Nations Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Disaster Risk Reduction. Wahlstrom, speaking on the sidelines of a news conference in Dakar, said she had witnessed the impact of climate change on a trip to St Louis, a northern archipelago in the mouth of the Senegal River often referred to as the \"Venice of Africa\".","France charges Yemen airline over deadly 2009 crash. France has charged Yemenia Airways with manslaughter over a 2009 crash off the Comoros islands in which 152 people were killed, sources said Wednesday. The Yemen carrier was charged on November 15 in connection with the crash of an Airbus A310 which French authorities have said should not have been allowed to fly, a judicial source said. All but one of the 142 passengers, who included dozens of French nationals, and 11 crew members, died in the disaster in the Indian Ocean as the craft tried to land in the Comoros capital Moroni. The passengers were transferred to the older plane in the Yemen capital.","Last-gasp draw for relegated Fulham. LONDON (AP) — Fulham ended 13 seasons in the Premier League with a 2-2 draw against Crystal Palace, thanks to Chris David's wonder strike in stoppage time for the already relegated hosts.","Arsenal, Man United in Premier League duel to stay in touch. London (AFP) - Arsene Wenger says Arsenal striker Danny Welbeck has been playing with a point to prove as he prepares for his first reunion with former club Manchester United on Saturday.","New killings spark protests in Libya's Benghazi. The killings of two policemen in Libya's second city Benghazi on Wednesday sparked protests by angry residents who blocked roads and burned tyres. The fatal shootings of the two officers -- one serving, one retired -- came just a day after the UN mission in Libya voiced \"deep concern\" over the near-daily violence plaguing the North African country, particularly the east. Benghazi, cradle of the 2011 uprising that toppled veteran Libyan dictator Moamer Kadhafi, has seen near-daily attacks on security and other targets in recent months as the weak central government has tried to rein in former rebel brigades turned militias. On Tuesday, the UN Support Mission in Libya called on authorities to make every effort to rein in the rampant violence, which has hit not only security personnel, but also civilians, including foreigners.","Kurdistan regional government confirms deal with Baghdad over oil exports. ARBIL Iraq (Reuters) - The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) confirmed on Thursday it has reached a deal to ease tensions with the central government over oil exports and Baghdad's payments to civil servants in the north. \"What they have agreed is that Baghdad will release some funds - $500 million - and the KRG will give 150,000 barrels per day of oil to Baghdad,\" KRG spokesman Safeen Dizayee told Reuters. ...","Judgement day for 'Blade Runner' Pistorius. Pretoria (AFP) - \"Blade Runner\" Oscar Pistorius appears in court on Thursday to face judgement over the killing of his model girlfriend, ending a six-month trial that turned the amputee's private life into a global spectacle. The 27-year-old celebrity athlete faces life behind bars -- and notoriety that would eclipse his athletic achievements -- if found guilty of deliberately killing lover Reeva Steenkamp on Valentine's Day 2013. Judge Thokozile Masipa's ruling, on charges of murder and three firearms offences, will likely be laid out in two days of careful legal argument and then a final verdict, perhaps on Friday. The court heard transcripts of phone messages in which the pair argued, Steenkamp texting: \"I'm scared of you sometimes, of how you snap at me.\"","Missouri All-American and NFL prospect Michael Sam says in interview he is gay. Missouri All-American Michael Sam says he is gay, and the defensive end could become the first openly homosexual player in the NFL.","Canadian, Swedish curlers chase golden hat-tricks in Sochi. Sochi (Russia) (AFP) - Canada's men's curlers and Sweden's women's team are both chasing golden hat-tricks in Sochi as they seek to extend their Olympic stranglehold on the sport. The top-ranked Canadians, who took gold in 2006 and 2010, also won three consecutive men's world titles from 2010-2012 before finishing second behind Sweden in front of their own fans last year. Brad Jacobs, 28, is skip of the team, which includes brothers E.J. Harnden and Ryan Harnden, and has the tough task of following in the footsteps of the Vancouver gold medallists, who boasted an unblemished 11-0 record. He said he was impressed by the Ice Cube Curling Centre in Sochi.","NTSB investigating fatal Delaware bus crash. NEW CASTLE, Del. (AP) — The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating a fatal bus crash in Delaware that left two dead and dozens injured.","Factbox: Algeria's Bouteflika, aging independence veteran, wins re-election. Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika has won re-election for another five-year term with an officially tabulated 81.53 percent of the vote, despite suffering a stroke last year. He is seen by supporters as a symbol of stability after he helped to lead Algeria out of a civil war that lasted more than a decade. * Born on March 2, 1937, Bouteflika is a veteran of Algeria's war for independence from France. * Bouteflika's fortunes waned after the death of President Houari Boumedienne, and he went into self-imposed exile in 1981 to escape corruption charges that were later dropped.","Torpedo close in on Australia fullback Franjic. MOSCOW (AP) — Torpedo Moscow says the club is close to signing Australia full-back Ivan Franjic.","Commonwealth Games - New Zealand win men's team sprint. - World champions New Zealand smashed the Commonwealth record on their way to winning the men's Team Sprint at the Commonwealth Games on Thursday.","Ukrainians feel the pinch as Crimea crisis simmers. As world powers and international institutions cobble together aid packages for a debt-laden Ukraine on the brink of default, regular Ukrainians feeling the pinch fear they will see none of the cash. At an outdoor market north of Kiev's city centre on Friday, stallholders sold everything from colourful stuffed toys to freshly baked pastries and bouquets of flowers for International Women's Day. Nikolay, a 23-year-old from Crimea, said: \"I think everyone is trying to save their money because they're getting ready in case the situation changes for the worse\" on the tense Black Sea peninsula. Irina and Sergiy Lutay, a retired couple shopping for household appliances at a nearby chain store, said they had taken their savings out of the bank in January, before pro-Moscow president Viktor Yanukovych was ousted.","Holders Arsenal face Hull in Cup Final rematch. London (AFP) - FA Cup holders Arsenal face a rematch with last season's beaten finalists Hull in the third round of this year's competition.","Judge deciding state of 9/11 case at Guantanamo. GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba (AP) — Lawyers for Guantanamo prisoners charged in the Sept. 11 attack say the FBI has questioned more people who work as support staff on their legal teams than previously disclosed, a development that may prompt a new detour in an already snarled case when the war crimes tribunal reconvenes Monday at this U.S. base.","Iran border guards kill 1 from Pakistani patrol. QUETTA, Pakistan (AP) — A Pakistani official says Iranian border guards opened fire at a Pakistan patrol van, killing a member of the paramilitary Frontier Corps and wounding three other troops.","West Indies close in on victory, NZ 6 down at tea. PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad (AP) — The West Indies bowlers continued to pry out New Zealand wickets to have victory in sight by tea on the fourth day Thursday of the second cricket test at Queen's Park Oval.","Chardy and Sela advanced in Acapulco. ACAPULCO, Mexico (AP) — American Sam Querrey narrowly avoided a major upset on Monday with a 6-7 (5), 6-4, 6-3 victory over the 646th-ranked local Tigre Hank in the first round of the Mexican Open.","Palestinian official dies in confrontation with Israeli troops. Ramallah (Palestinian Territories) (AFP) - A senior Palestinian official died Wednesday after being struck in a confrontation with Israeli forces during a protest march in the West Bank.","Iran bans human rights lawyer from practicing law. TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran's semi-official ISNA news agency says a court has banned a prominent human rights lawyer from practicing her profession for three years.","Costa Rica seizes 1.9 metric tons of cocaine. SAN JOSE, Costa Rica (AP) — Costa Rica's top security official says coast guard officers have seized a fishing boat that was carrying 1.9 metric tons of cocaine from South America.","Israel approves 243 new settler homes in East Jerusalem. JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel has given preliminary approval for the construction of 243 new homes on West Bank land that Israel annexed to Jerusalem, and advanced plans for another 270 homes in the same area, officials said on Thursday. Such moves run counter to calls by the United States and other world powers for Israel to freeze construction of new settler homes. The land in question was captured by Israel in a 1967 war and annexed to Jerusalem in a move never recognized internationally. Palestinians, who seek statehood in Israeli-occupied territory, want it as part of a future state. ...","France's Hollande says must tackle global threat from Islamic State. PARIS (Reuters) - French President Francois Hollande called on Monday for a global response to counter Islamic State militants, saying the group posed a security threat the world over. \"What is the threat? It is global so the response must be global,\" the French leader said, opening a Paris conference of some 30 countries aimed at coordinating a strategy against the group, which has taken control of parts of Northern Iraq and has a power base in Syria. (Reporting By Brian Love; editing by Mark John)","Dominican Republic bus crash kills 8. SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic (AP) — Authorities in the Dominican Republic say a bus carrying hotel workers has crashed into a truck, killing at least eight people and injuring more than a dozen.","Nintendo chief stays on, health business planned. TOKYO (AP) — Nintendo's president refused to resign or cut product prices despite the company's dismal earnings but says the Kyoto-based video game maker plans to enter the health care industry.","Obama visit to South Korea tinged by mourning. SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — President Barack Obama's visit to South Korea is being tinged by the nation's mourning over this month's ferry disaster.","Ruler of the World favourite in Dubai World Cup. DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Ruler of the World could live up to its name in the $10 million Dubai World Cup it starts as favorite at Meydan Racecourse on Saturday.","Reaction to the death of Nobel laureate Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Colombian author Gabriel Garcia Marquez, who won the Nobel Prize for Literature and was a master of magical realism, died on Thursday. Tributes poured in from presidents, authors and pop stars: U.S. President Barack Obama: \"With the passing of Gabriel Garcia Marquez, the world has lost one of its greatest visionary writers - and one of my favorites from the time I was young ... I offer my thoughts to his family and friends, whom I hope take solace in the fact that Gabo's work will live on for generations to come. Peruvian author Mario Vargas Llosa, who also won the Nobel Prize and once punched Garcia Marquez during a dispute, leaving him with a black eye: \"A great writer whose works brought wide knowledge and prestige to the literature of our language has died. His novels will outlive him and continue gaining readers from all over.\" Former U.S. President Bill Clinton, who was a friend of Garcia Marquez: \"I was always amazed by his unique gifts of imagination, clarity of thought, and emotional honesty.","Report: 23 trapped in Turkish mine collapse. ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkey's state-run television says a coal mine in southern Turkey has collapsed, trapping 23 workers inside.","Turkey's PM Erdogan seen winning presidential vote. ISTANBUL (AP) — An unofficial vote count indicates Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is set to win the country's first ever direct presidential election in the first round, cementing his position as Turkey's all-powerful leader, the state-run Anadolu news agency said Sunday.","Franck Ribery says he is quitting France team. FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — Bayern Munich star Franck Ribery is retiring from the France national team, saying he wanted to spend more time with his family and make place for younger players.","Report: Iran builds surface-to-surface missile. TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — A news agency in Iran is reporting that the Islamic Republic has built a new surface-to-surface cruise missile capable of being launched from an airplane.","NATO agrees to 'readiness action plan' to counter Russia. NATO defence ministers agreed Tuesday series of steps to bolster protection in eastern Europe after the Ukraine crisis, but insisted they were acting within the limits of a key post-Cold War treaty with Moscow. NATO head Anders Fogh Rasmussen said ministers had agreed to develop a \"readiness action plan... to respond to the changed security environment\" created by the escalating conflict in Ukraine. This will include measures such as pre-positioning supplies and equipment in member states and stepping up work to improve military capabilities to help NATO speed up its reaction time to any threat. The plan will go to NATO leaders at their September summit in Britain for approval.","Hamilton looking for hat trick at Japanese GP. SUZUKA, Japan (AP) — Lewis Hamilton will be aiming to complete a hat trick of wins and extend his narrow Formula One championship lead over Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg at this weekend's Japanese Grand Prix, a race that has been dominated by Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel in recent years.","A look at major players in Iraq national elections. BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraq is set to hold its first national parliamentary elections Wednesday after the withdrawal of the U.S. forces in 2011. More than 22 million voters will be eligible to cast their ballots to choose 328 lawmakers out of more than 9,000 candidates.","New Czech coach names squad for Norway friendly. PRAGUE (AP) — New Czech Republic coach Pavel Vrba has chosen no new players for his first match, a home friendly against Norway next week.","Debutants shine as Wales beat EP Kings. Port Elizabeth (South Africa) (AFP) - Wales ran out easy 34-12 winners over South Africa's Eastern Province Kings on Tuesday, in a warm-up match ahead of the first Test against the Springboks on Saturday.","French military chiefs denounce budget-cut plans. PARIS (AP) — A military official says the chiefs of France's armed forces have jointly threatened to resign over budget cuts planned by President Francois Hollande's debt-saddled government.","Cibulkova knocks Sharapova out of Australian Open. Third seed Maria Sharapova was knocked out of the Australian Open by Slovak Dominika Cibulkova on Monday, the second major upset in as many days. The Russian, who took a medical timeout between the second and third sets, crashed 3-6, 6-4, 6-1 against the 20th seed in the fourth round to follow Serena Williams out of the tournament. Cibulkova had never been beyond the fourth round in six previous attempts in Melbourne, although she has made the last eight at all the other three Grand Slams. It was an error-strewn and see-sawing match in which Cibulkova won five straight games in the second set and then lost the next four.","Iraqi officials say death toll in triple bombing in eastern Diyala province rises to 58 killed. BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraqi officials say death toll in triple bombing in eastern Diyala province rises to 58 killed.","Malaysian plane search widens on new images of 'debris'. Perth (Australia) (AFP) - The search for missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 was set to resume Sunday with greater resources and boosted by a new satellite image of unidentified floating debris. Coordinating the hunt in the vast southern Indian Ocean, the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) said overnight \"further attempts will be made to establish whether the objects sighted are related to MH370,\" on Sunday. A grainy March 18 photo released by China's State Administration of Science Technology and Industry showed an object measuring 22.5 metres by 13 metres (74 by 43 feet) in the southern Indian Ocean. The location was just 120 kilometres (75 miles) distant from where March 16 satellite images -- released by Australia on Thursday -- had detected two pieces of possible wreckage in the remote ocean about 2,500 kilometres (1,500 miles) southwest of Perth.","Protesters call for legal marijuana in Brazil. SAO PAULO (AP) — Brazilian police say about 2,000 people have gathered in downtown Sao Paulo in a demonstration demanding the legalization of the production and sale of marijuana in Latin America's largest country.","China, South Korea FTA to cover 17 areas: Xinhua. BEIJING (Reuters) - A free trade agreement between China and South Korea will cover 17 areas including e-commerce and government purchasing, state news agency Xinhua reported on Monday. China is South Korea's largest trading partner, with bilateral trade amounting to $228.9 billion in 2013 - accounting for 21 percent of South Korea's total trade valued at $1.08 trillion, government data shows. (This story has been refiled to fix the day of the week in the first paragraph) (Reporting by Ben Blanchard)","French companies, unions question Hollande's new vision. By Mark John PARIS (Reuters) - French business raised doubts on Wednesday over Socialist President Francois Hollande's plan for public spending cuts and structural reform to revive the euro zone's second largest economy. His allies hailed a new \"social democrat\" vision for France but unions said they were worried about job cuts to the army of state sector workers and far-left politicians accused him of a sell-out as he moved towards the political center. Hollande, who has not denied magazine allegations last week of an affair with actress, deflected questions on his personal life at a marathon news conference on Tuesday unveiling plans to find at least 50 billion euros of spending cuts between 2015-2017 and cut corporate charges by 30 billion euros. The European Commission said the moves should make French business more competitive.","World stocks rise on strong US jobs report. LONDON (AP) — World stock markets rallied on Thursday after the official U.S. jobs report showed a strong increase in hiring in the world's largest economy.","Hong Kong protesters defy tear gas and batons to renew democracy call. By Farah Master and Clare Baldwin HONG KONG (Reuters) - Hong Kong democracy protesters defied volleys of tear gas and police baton-charges to stand firm in the center of the global financial hub on Monday, one of the biggest political challenges for Beijing since the Tiananmen Square crackdown 25 years ago. The unrest, the worst in Hong Kong since China resumed its rule over the former British colony in 1997, sent white clouds of gas wafting among the world's most valuable office towers and shopping malls as the city prepared to open for business. ...","Central American leaders convening at White House. WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama is summoning Central American leaders to the White House to discuss the influx of young immigrants from their countries to the U.S., hoping to show presidential action even as Congress remains deeply split over proposals to stem the crisis on the border.","IMF to start negotiations with Ukraine on aid program. An International Monetary Fund team in Kiev will begin negotiations with Ukrainian authorities about an economic reform program, the IMF's chief said on Thursday. \"Following an informal briefing today of the IMF's Executive Board, (IMF) management has asked the team to stay in (Kiev) and begin a process of negotiation,\" IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde said in a statement. An IMF team has been in Kiev since March 4 to gather data about the government's finances. IMF support is widely seen as critical to Kiev's finances and to getting its economy on a growth track.","Gunmen kidnap Tunisian diplomat in Libya. A Tunisian diplomat was kidnapped on Thursday in the Libyan capital Tripoli, Libya's foreign ministry said, two days after gunmen seized Jordan's ambassador. The weak government has been unable to disarm former rebels and Islamist militants who fought to depose leader Muammar Gaddafi in 2011 and who have formed increasingly powerful and violent militias. A spokesman for the Libyan foreign ministry said it was unclear who was behind the kidnapping of the Tunisian diplomat, the second to have been seized within one month. An official in Tunisia's foreign ministry said: \"We cannot confirm that he has been kidnapped but we have been unable to contact him.\" The same official said the missing diplomat is called Aroussi Gantassi and works as an adviser at the Tunisian embassy in Tripoli.","5 killed in blast in south Beirut. BEIRUT (AP) — Lebanon's Health Ministry says an explosion in a southern suburb of Beirut that is a stronghold of the Shiite Hezbollah group has killed at least five people.","Police seeking killer of Rwandan spy chief. JOHANNESBURG (AP) — A Rwandan man was reportedly being sought Friday by South African police in the death of former Rwandan spymaster Patrick Karegeya whose body was discovered in a plush Johannesburg hotel on New Year's Day.","Chinese police find 790,000 fake ID records on their system. BEIJING, China - Police in China have discovered 790,000 fake ID records in their system, which can be used to gain benefits, hide assets and circumvent property ownership restrictions.","Iran says new U.S. sanctions 'inconsistent' with nuclear negotiations. Iran said on Saturday that new U.S. \"These actions are inconsistent with the current process of nuclear negotiations,\" Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Marzieh Afkham said in remarks quoted by the state news agency IRNA, referring to measure announced by Washington on Friday. \"At a time when the Islamic Republic of Iran has taken confidence building measures based on the agreements, as was reflected by the IAEA reports in Tehran, Iran is expecting the same actions by the U.S.","Russia yet to decide on Ukraine vote recognition: paper cites U.N. envoy. Russia is reserving judgment on whether to recognize Ukraine's presidential election on May 25, Russia's ambassador to the United Nations, Vitaly Churkin, told the Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper in an interview published on Saturday. Western leaders have agreed to impose new sanctions against Russia as they regard a stable and peaceful election as an urgent step. Ukraine has accused Russia of trying to undermine the vote. Churkin also told Komsomolskaya Pravda that the Kiev government \"must take the first step\" to implement an international agreement to defuse the Ukraine crisis reached in Geneva on April 17 \"because they consider themselves the government\".","Russia tensions hurting European companies. BERLIN (AP) — Russia's standoff with the West is hurting European companies, from heavy industry to sports goods makers, even before the latest sanctions have a chance to take effect.","U.S. sanctions won't affect Crimea's accession into Russia: Interfax. The U.S. sanctions imposed on 11 Russian and Ukrainian officials will not affect Crimea's drive to join Russia, a senior Crimean government official was quoted as saying on Monday. U.S. President Barack Obama's sanctions order freezes any assets in the United States and bans travel to the United sates for those listed, including Crimea's Moscow-backed government chief Sergei Aksyonov and the speaker of the region's parliament, Vladimir Konstantinov. \"These sanctions will not affect the work of Sergei Aksyonov and Vladimir Konstantinov, nor will they interfere in the process of Crimea's accession into Russia,\" Interfax quoted Crimean First Deputy Prime Minister Rustam Temirgaliyev as saying.","Nine dead in linked western Canadian city homicides: CBC TV. CALGARY (Reuters) - Nine people have been killed in three separate but connected incidents in the western Canadian city of Edmonton, Canadian media reported on Tuesday. CBC TV said seven people were killed in a home in the Albertan city while two others were killed in two separate homes. The Edmonton Journal newspaper said some of the victims are believed to be children. Edmonton police said they were investigating \"a multiple homicide scene.\" Police did not state the number of people killed nor whether the incidents were connected. ...","Britain to pay 850 million pounds of EU budget bill in two installments: Osborne. BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Britain will pay 850 million pounds of its surprise extra EU budget bill in two installments next year, the country's finance minister said on Friday. \"The bill instead of 1.7 billion pounds will be around 850 million pounds,\" British Chancellor George Osborne told reporters following a meeting with his EU peers. \"The British rebate will apply in full, and in the year in which the payments are made, we will pay two installments in the second half of next year,\" he said. (Reporting by Robin Emmott)","China jails students of outspoken minority scholar. BEIJING (AP) — A Chinese lawyer says seven students of a prominent Muslim Uighur scholar who received a life sentence for separatism have been jailed for three to eight years after being convicted on the same charge.","Ragtag camp grows on Russia's new frontier. CHONGAR (Undefined) (AFP) - A gun turret pointed towards Kiev, a bunch of pro-Russia militiamen and a queue of impatient drivers: this strip of land near the village of Chongar is Russia's new de facto border. They were all being searched by Crimea's \"self-defence\" forces and Berkut riot police -- a feared unit that was disbanded by Ukraine's new government for its involvement in the crackdown on protests in Kiev. The coastal road linking Crimea to the mainland is one of only two access points to the now Russian-ruled peninsula. The barricades at the checkpoint are improvised -- car tyres and sand bags -- not unlike the ones seen on the Maidan in Kiev, where protests toppled Kremlin-backed president Viktor Yanukovych last month, prompting the Russian takeover of Crimea.","Guatemala army chief of staff dies in helicopter crash. Guatemala City (AFP) - Guatemalan army chief of staff Rudy Ortiz and four other military officers died Wednesday when their helicopter crashed in a mountainous region where drug traffickers operate, the government said.","Kerry says urged Russia to join US, allies in helping Ukraine. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Thursday urged Russia to join the United States and allies to help stabilize Ukraine, and cautioned this was not the time for provocative actions. Kerry said he had spoken to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov by phone on Thursday about tensions in Ukraine's Crimea region and Russian military forces on the border. Lavrov underscored that the military exercises were not related to Ukraine and had been previously scheduled, Kerry added. ...","European stress tests to challenge banks' political defences. By Carmel Crimmins and Andreas Kröner DUBLIN/FRANKFURT (Reuters) - For the first time since its financial crisis struck in 2008, Europe is carrying out stress tests that could force change at banks with strong political connections. The European Central Bank is leading the latest attempt to uncover problems that would endanger any lender's survival in a future crisis. Unlike the three previous efforts, which were hamstrung by national authorities' reluctance to expose their banks' weaknesses, Frankfurt has a vested interest in revealing problems before it takes over as supervisor in November. ...","Three suicide bombs, 12 mortars hit Shi'ite Baghdad district. BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Three suicide car bombs were detonated in the Shi'ite Baghdad neighborhood of Kadhimiya on Thursday followed by 12 mortar rounds fired in from outside the district, killing at least 16 people, security sources said. The area in northern Baghdad is the site of a major Shi'ite shrine. A mortar round landed near the shrine, the sources said. They added that gunfire was heard in the district. (Reporting by Oliver Holmes; Editing by Robin Pomeroy)","Berlin taxi drivers hail city's Uber ban. BERLIN (AP) — Berlin taxi drivers are celebrating a decision by authorities to ban the ridesharing service Uber from operating in the city.","Turkey fails in bid to join UN Security Council. UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Venezuela, New Zealand, Spain, Angola and Malaysia were elected Thursday to coveted seats on the United Nations Security Council, while Turkey failed in its effort to join the U.N.'s most powerful body.","Antarctica's Mysterious Mountains Preserved By Ice. Earth's best-kept secret to looking young is buried under Antarctica's deep, old ice. The planet's fountain of youth is frozen water mantling Antarctica's mighty Gamburtsev Mountains, a new study reports. Instead, the Gamburtsevs are as rugged as the Rocky Mountains. \"The question is, why does it look young?\" said lead study author Timothy Creyts, a glaciologist at Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory.","Taiwan students occupy legislature over China trade deal. By Faith Hung TAIPEI (Reuters) - Hundreds of protesters in Taiwan opposed to a trade pact with China which they fear gives the mainland too much economic influence and access to opportunities have occupied Taiwan's legislature. The students said they were demanding an apology to the Taiwan people from President Ma Ying-jeou for the trade pact and that an initial review of the pact by the ruling Kuomintang (KMT) party be scrapped. China and Taiwan have been ruled separately since Nationalist forces, defeated by the Communists, fled to the island at the end of the Chinese civil war in 1949. China considers Taiwan a renegade province and has never ruled out the use of force to bring it under its control.","Mexico drops gun charges against 'El Chapo's aide. MEXICO CITY (AP) — The self-described \"assistant\" to drug lord Joaquin \"El Chapo\" Guzman was charged Wednesday with possessing illegal weapons when he was captured this weekend with the Sinaloa cartel boss, a Mexican federal official said.","C. African Republic: Militants decapitate Muslim. BANGUI, Central African Republic (AP) — Christian militiamen in Central African Republic's capital have decapitated a young Muslim man just two days after peacekeepers escorted some of the last remaining Muslims from the city.","UEFA punishes 3 European clubs for fan racism. NYON, Switzerland (AP) — UEFA has punished three Champions League clubs, including former winner Steaua Bucharest, for racist behavior by fans at matches last month.","Paris police fire tear gas as Gaza protesters defy rally ban. Riot police fired tear gas in Paris on Saturday as tensions rose at a 5,000-strong pro-Palestinian rally that went ahead in defiance of a ban, days after similar rallies ended in violence. The demonstration against Israel's Gaza offensive that has killed more than 1,000 Palestinians comes after other protests last weekend in Paris and a suburb town that had also initially been banned descended into chaos. Organisers of Saturday's protest had tried going to court to get the ban overturned, but they were unsuccessful and Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve warned that they would be held \"responsible for any unrest... and liable to penal sanctions.\" According to estimates, about 5,000 people turned up at Place de la Republique in central Paris, brandishing Palestinian flags and the red banners of the far-left New Anticapitalist Party that had called on people to defy the ban.","Alibaba symbol of China's new tech giants. BEIJING (AP) — Alibaba Group's U.S. stock offering is a wakeup call about an emerging wave of technology giants in China's state-dominated economy.","In Washington, growing chorus calls for Iraq's Maliki to go. By Patricia Zengerle and Matt Spetalnick WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama came under pressure from U.S. lawmakers on Wednesday to persuade Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki to step down over what they see as failed leadership in the face of an insurgency threatening his country. As Obama held an hour-long meeting with congressional leaders on U.S. options in Iraq, administration officials joined a chorus of criticism of Maliki, faulting him for failing to heal sectarian rifts that militants have exploited. Army General Martin Dempsey, chairman of the U.S. military's Joint Chiefs of Staff, told a congressional hearing that Maliki's Shi'ite-led government had asked for U.S. air power to help counter Sunni militants who have overrun northern Iraq.","Steady medal pace expected in Sochi instead of last-minute stampede of 2010. SOCHI, Russia - Canada was a second-half team at the 2010 Winter Olympics. The medal intake in Sochi is forecasted to happen at a more measured pace.","UN chief urges action on Central African Republic. BRUSSELS (AP) — U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged European and African nations on Wednesday to step up their efforts to end the desperate plight of the people of Central African Republic.","IOC rejects Ukraine request to wear black armbands. SOCHI, Russia (AP) — Ukraine's Olympic Committee says the IOC has rejected a request for its athletes at the Sochi Games to wear black armbands honoring those who died in violent protests in Kiev.","Jordanian warplanes destroy vehicles trying to cross from Syria: state TV. AMMAN (Reuters) - Jordan's airforce hit and destroyed military vehicles trying to cross from Syria, Jordanian state television said on Wednesday. \"The Royal Airforce destroyed a number of military vehicles which tried to cross the Jordanian-Syrian border,\" the television said, without giving more details. (Reporting by Suleiman Al-Khalidi; Editing by Sonya Hepinstall)","Aussie skipper Clarke back for final England ODI. Australian skipper Michael Clarke will return for the final one-day match against England Sunday, with coach Darren Lehmann warning the tourists will have gained confidence from their first win against the home team. After dominating England this summer, winning the Ashes 5-0 and taking the first three one-day internationals, Australia were outplayed in the fourth 50-over game in Perth on Friday -- losing by 57 runs. Batting first, England posted a score of 316 with Jos Buttler (71) and Ben Stokes (70) top scoring, while Ian Bell got 55 and captain Alastair Cook contributed 44. Opener Aaron Finch high-scored for Australia with 108 but he lacked support and the home side were bowled out in the 48th over 57 runs short of victory.","Senator wants US probe of Cuba role. WASHINGTON (AP) — The head of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee has asked the Justice Department to investigate whether the Cuban government had a role in allegations against him that have prompted a federal probe of the New Jersey Democrat.","Private consumption spike helps Germany avoid recession in third quarter. BERLIN (Reuters) - A sharp rise in private consumption more than compensated for stubborn weakness in investment, helping the German economy post modest growth in the third quarter and avoid recession, data showed on Tuesday. Germany's Federal Statistics Office confirmed an earlier flash estimate showing a 0.1 percent rise in seasonally-adjusted gross domestic product (GDP) on the quarter between July and September. Private consumption rose 0.7 percent quarter on quarter, the biggest increase in three years, and exports climbed at a faster pace than imports, helping trade make a positive 0. ...","Witness: 21 killed by Mexico army had surrendered. ARCELIA, Mexico (AP) — A woman says she saw Mexican soldiers shoot and kill her 15-year-old daughter after a confrontation with a suspected drug gang even though the teenager was lying wounded on the ground. Twenty others also were shot and killed in rural southern Mexico after they surrendered and were disarmed, the mother told The Associated Press.","Central American kids risk everything on road to US. Marco saw his hopes and dreams crumble before his eyes, barely scraping a living in his western Guatemalan town as it fell victim to drugs and gangs. His dangerous trek took him across the border into Mexico on a boat before walking for hours in the desert, dodging snakes, sleeping in warehouses and battling gnawing hunger. He passed through the hands of two \"coyotes,\" or smugglers, and in Mexico, a bus driver snatched his last pesos. Tens of thousands of migrants each year chose to clamber onto \"The Beast,\" a network of trains crossing Mexico from south to north, to reach the US border.","Qatar reviewing World Cup stadium commitment. DOHA, Qatar (AP) — Qatar organizers are yet to decide whether to build all 12 stadiums outlined in their successful bid to host the 2022 World Cup.","Arab Bank to face May damages trial over Hamas attacks: judge. By Nate Raymond NEW YORK (Reuters) - Arab Bank Plc will face a trial in May to determine how much it owes for providing material support to Hamas in three of two dozen attacks attributed to the Islamic militant group in Israel and the Palestinian territories, according to a court order. U.S. District Judge Brian Cogan in Brooklyn, New York, on Wednesday scheduled jury selection for May 18 for a damages trial involving claims by 17 of the 310 Americans who were either victims or related to victims of the attacks. ...","Italy draws 1-1 against Croatia amid crowd trouble. MILAN (AP) — Italy drew 1-1 against Croatia in a trouble-filled European Championship qualifier at the San Siro on Sunday, to leave both teams level at the top of their group.","Germany's Merkel: no need to loosen euro rules. BERLIN (AP) — German Chancellor Angela Merkel is making clear she won't back changes to the 18-nation eurozone's budget deficit rules after her deputy signaled greater flexibility.","Brutal winter set to hit war-torn eastern Ukraine. DONETSK, Ukraine (AP) — Dark tunnels in the basement of a bombed-out hospital in the eastern city of Donetsk lead to a makeshift shelter. Opening the door hardly alleviates the gloom, for the only lighting inside is the flicker of handmade oil lamps.","Obama meets with Dalai Lama, upsetting China. By Roberta Rampton and Sui-Lee Wee WASHINGTON/BEIJING (Reuters) - President Barack Obama held low-key talks with the Dalai Lama on Friday, prompting the Chinese government to ask why the White House ignored Beijing's warnings that the meeting with the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader would damage ties. China's vice foreign minister, Zhang Yesui, summoned Daniel Kritenbrink, charge d'affaires of the U.S. embassy in China, on Friday night, according to a statement posted on the Chinese Foreign Ministry's website. \"The United States must take concrete actions to gain the trust of the Chinese government and people,\" Zhang said. Obama's private meeting with the Dalai Lama, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, lasted about an hour.","Egypt trial for Jazeera journalists set for Feb 20. Al-Jazeera journalists accused of backing Egypt's blacklisted Muslim Brotherhood are to go on trial on February 20, judicial sources said on Monday. Since president Mohamed Morsi was ousted by the military in July, Egypt's interim government has been incensed by Al-Jazeera television's coverage of a deadly crackdown against the Brotherhood to which the deposed Islamist belongs. On January 30, prosecutors referred to trial 20 people they said worked as journalists for Al-Jazeera, accusing them of portraying Egypt in a state of \"civil war\" and \"airing false news\".","Russia accuses US of 'running the show' in Kiev. Russia on Wednesday accused the United States of controlling the actions of the pro-West Ukrainian government, saying that Washington was now \"running the show\" in Kiev. Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told the state-controlled RT English language channel in an interview that Ukraine had chosen to relaunch military operations against separatists in the east during a visit to Kiev by US Vice President Joe Biden. He reaffirmed Moscow's belief that the Ukrainian government had failed to carry out any of its obligations under the agreement reached in Geneva last week aimed at de-escalating the crisis. \"Nothing that was agreed in Geneva that the Kiev authorities had to carry out has been implemented by them,\" he complained.","Bahamas court won't halt Bimini resort dredging. NASSAU, Bahamas (AP) — A court in the Bahamas has rejected an effort by environmental activists to halt dredging off Bimini that is part of a resort development for the cluster of islands near Florida.","Spain Feb jobless falls for first time since 2007. MADRID (AP) — Official figures show the number of Spanish people registered as unemployed fell in the month of February for the first time since the global financial crisis started.","Science academies explain global warming reality. WASHINGTON (AP) — Man-made global warming is worsening and will disrupt both the natural world and human society, warns a joint report of two of the world's leading scientific organizations.","UK came 'within days' of Sydney-style terror attack: top policeman. LONDON (Reuters) - Britain thwarted a Sydney-style 'lone wolf' attack just days before it was due to happen, London's top policeman said on Wednesday, saying his force had foiled five terror plots in the last four months alone. Britain raised it terrorism alert to the second-highest level in August and last month said it was facing the biggest terrorism threat in its history because of radicalized Britons returning from fighting in Syria and Iraq. \"They've been very close to going and hurting somebody, badly, or killing them ... ...","Siege mentality grips Pakistan ahead of Independence Day. By Katharine Houreld ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Thousands of riot police sealed off Pakistan's capital with barbed wire and shipping containers on the eve of the country's Independence Day, in a bid to foil mass protests aimed at toppling embattled Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. Two groups, led by cricket star turned opposition politician Imran Khan and fiery cleric Tahir ul-Qadri, plan to converge on Islamabad on Thursday intent on forcing Sharif to call an early election little more than a year after his landslide victory at the polls. The latest challenge to Pakistan's fragile democracy will inevitably sow unease among neighbors and allies.","Hope for strongman fuels Egypt's el-Sissi campaign. CAIRO (AP) — Posters of former army chief Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi hang everywhere on the streets of Egypt. In Cairo, his face lines highways and bridges and towers over city squares. In Alexandria, loudspeakers blast down the Mediterranean seaside road with songs praising him as the next president and a gift to Egypt after years of turmoil.","Honda admits under-reporting serious U.S. accidents since 2003. By Paul Lienert and Jessica Dye DETROIT/NEW YORK (Reuters) - Honda Motor Co failed to notify U.S. safety regulators of 1,729 claims of injuries and deaths related to accidents in its vehicles since 2003, the automaker acknowledged on Monday. Honda said in a statement that its count of underreported claims came from a third-party audit. Honda cited \"various errors related to data entry\" and also said it used an \"overly narrow interpretation\" of its legal reporting requirements. The company said it is taking steps to remedy these shortcomings. The Japanese automaker's U.S. arm responded to a ...","Magnitude 7.1 quake hits near Visokoi Island, off South America. SINGAPORE (Reuters) - A magnitude 7.1 earthquake hit about 100 miles north-northwest of Visokoi Island in the South Sandwich Islands off South America, the U.S. Geological Survey said. The quake's depth was measured at 9.1 miles deep. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said that based on historical data the threat of a widespread destructive tsunami did not exist. (Editing by Matt Driskill)","Italy suffers another Korea elimination in 2002. On this day: Another Korea elimination for Italy in Daejeon, South Korea, in 2002.","Canada port drivers hope for deal ahead of back-to-work law. By Julie Gordon VANCOUVER (Reuters) - A three-week long strike by container truck drivers at Port Metro Vancouver could be nearing an end, with union officials hopeful that a negotiated deal can be reached ahead of plans by the province to legislate drivers back to work early next week. This as some of the non-union drivers, who walked off the job late last month, returned to their rigs on Friday, after the port threatened to start revoking licenses in an effort to get goods moving again at Canada's largest port. \"We'd like to get a negotiated resolution and hopefully get our members back to work as soon as possible, by Monday, if possible,\" said Gavin McGarrigle of Unifor, Canada's largest private sector union, which represents the unionized drivers.","Myanmar military releases 91 child soldiers. Myanmar's military released 91 children and young people from military service on Friday, the United Nations said as it encouraged the army to speed up demobilization to ensure it has no under-age soldiers in its ranks. Myanmar has for years been listed among countries where children have been recruited to fight, by both the government army and ethnic minority guerrilla groups battling the government for autonomy. \"Such discharges must be accelerated so that the Tatmadaw can quickly achieve the double objective of zero under-age recruitment, and full discharge of those that are under 18,\" said Shalini Bahuguna of the UN Children's Fund, referring to the military by its traditional name in Burmese. Myanmar's military ran the country for 49 years and was condemned internationally for human rights abuses including the use of child soldiers.","Russia says will sever ties with NATO if Ukraine joins Atlantic bloc: agency. MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia said on Wednesday it would respond adequately by severing ties with NATO if Ukraine becomes a member of the Atlantic bloc. \"If this decision in the future takes on a military character (the accession to NATO), then we will respond adequately. Then there will be a complete severing of ties with NATO, which will be practically impossible to repair,\" Deputy Defence Minister Anatoly Antonov was quoted as saying by RIA Novosti. (Reporting by Thomas Grove; editing by Katya Golubkova)","Ukrainian heavyweight boxing champion Wladimir Klitschko draws attention to crisis in homeland. NEW YORK, N.Y. - Ukrainian heavyweight boxing champion Wladimir Klitschko says his trip to New York was not just about enjoying his first Super Bowl. Foremost on his mind these days is bringing attention to the political crisis in the former Soviet republic.","Nigeria condemns 'merciless beating' of national by S. Africa police. Nigeria on Thursday protested the \"merciless beating\" of one its nationals by South African police and demanded that the perpetrators be punished. Amateur video footage of two armed uniformed policemen and private guards punching and kicking a man on a Cape Town street went viral last week. The alleged victim has been identified as Nigerian national Clement Emekeneh. \"The video of the attack which has appeared on the social media is particularly disturbing,\" Nigeria's foreign ministry said in a statement, which described the incident as a \"merciless beating.\"","BoE's Carney to visit Scotland as independence campaign heats up. LONDON (Reuters) - Bank of England Governor Mark Carney will travel to Scotland this month where he is expected to make his first comments on issues relating to September's referendum on Scottish independence with the economy ranked as the key issue by voters. Carney is due to make a speech to the Scottish Council for Development and Industry in Edinburgh on January 29, according to the association's website. It will be his first visit to Scotland since he took over the British central bank last July. ...","Syria-linked sectarian clash in Lebanon kills 3. BEIRUT (AP) — Lebanese police say sectarian clashes linked to the civil war in neighboring Syria have killed at least three people overnight in the northern city of Tripoli.","Al-Qaeda declares new branch in Indian sub-continent. Al-Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri declared Wednesday in a video message that the global Islamist extremist movement has launched a new branch to lead its struggle in the Indian sub-continent. In the video, found in online jihadist forums by the SITE terrorism monitoring group, Zawahiri said the new force would \"crush the artificial borders\" dividing Muslim populations in the region. Al-Qaeda is active in Afghanistan and Pakistan, where its surviving leadership are thought to be hiding out, but Zawahiri said \"Qaedat al-Jihad\" would take the fight to India, Myanmar and Bangladesh. Founded by Osama bin Laden, who was killed in Pakistan by US commandos in May 2011, Al-Qaeda has long claimed leadership of the jihadists fighting to restore a single caliphate in Muslim lands.","Bahrain opposition holds talks with government. MANAMA, Bahrain (AP) — Members of Bahrain's political opposition say they have held additional talks with the government in a further step toward reconciliation in the strategic Gulf island nation.","US Congress concerned Iran's oil exports may be up. WASHINGTON (AP) — The Obama administration faces a grilling from the U.S. Congress amid reports China and India are expanding their imports of Iranian petroleum.","Church of England female bishops would be 'seismic'. The Church of England could be set to allow its first female bishops -- and not before time, says one of those tipped for the job, adding the days of women being left to arrange the flowers are gone. Rose Hudson-Wilkin thinks it would be \"seismic\" if the Church votes on Monday to allow Anglican women to take the top jobs after decades of debate on their role. As a chaplain to Queen Elizabeth and the Speaker of the House of Commons, Jamaican-born Hudson-Wilkin is already one of the most prominent women in the Church of England. \"This has been on the agenda of the Church since the 1920s, from the time of the suffragettes when women were saying actually, we're human beings, we don't want to be patted on the head and told: 'There dear, you'll be alright doing the flowers or making the cups of tea'.","Ex-sex slaves demand Japan PM acknowledge past. TOKYO (AP) — Five former victims of Japan's wartime sex slavery and their supporters have submitted to the government hundreds of official documents, demanding Prime Minister Shinzo Abe face Japan's past atrocity and formally apologize.","S.African golfer Els curses long-running hip problem. Hong Kong (AFP) - Four-time major winner Ernie Els said Sunday he would \"try anything\" to fix a long-running hip problem that led to a disappointing showing at the Hong Kong Open.","Hedge fund manager charged in Carter's insider trading probe. By Joseph Ax NEW YORK (Reuters) - A New Jersey hedge fund manager pleaded not guilty on Thursday to charges he traded on inside information about the children's clothing company Carter’s Inc, according to court papers. Steven Slawson, the co-founder of Titan Capital Management, is the latest defendant to be charged in a probe centered on the Atlanta-based retailer. Prosecutors accused Slawson of obtaining advance information about Atlanta-based Carter’s quarterly results from 2005 to 2010 from a paid consultant who, prosecutors said, had learned the details in turn from former Carter’s executives Eric Martin and Richard Posey. Titan Capital and Slawson’s own personal accounts traded in Carter’s stock based on the inside tips, prosecutors said, illegally netting profits and avoiding losses.","Zidane takes over as coach of Real Madrid reserves. MADRID (AP) — Former France great Zinedine Zidane began his head coaching career Monday after taking charge of Real Madrid's reserve team.","G20 monitoring Ukraine for economic risks: draft communique. By Lidia Kelly and Krista Hughes WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The world's top economies are monitoring the economic situation in Ukraine for any fallout that may pose risks to economic and financial stability, according to a draft communique by the Group of 20 finance ministers and central bankers. The draft, which was obtained by Reuters on Friday during the International Monetary Fund-World Bank spring meetings in Washington, also said the G20 was eyeing the effects on the global economy as national policies are recalibrated. Addressing the crisis in Ukraine, the G20 said the IMF and the World Bank remain best-placed to help countries deal with their economic challenges \"through policy advice and catalytic financing.\" \"We are monitoring the economic situation in Ukraine, mindful of any risk to economic and financial stability, and welcome the IMF's recent engagement with Ukraine as the authorities work to undertake meaningful reforms,\" the draft communique said.","Petra Kvitova to lead Czechs in Fed Cup final. PRAGUE (AP) — Following an early exit from the WTA Finals, Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova will lead the Czech Republic in next week's Fed Cup final against Germany.","Decriminalize drugs in West Africa to avoid failures of past: report. By David Lewis DAKAR (Reuters) - Governments in West Africa should decriminalize drug use and treat the issue as a health problem, because a \"war on drugs\" will fail in the region as it has elsewhere, a new report by regional experts said on Thursday. The West Africa Commission on Drugs report says a time of fewer civil wars, booming economies and increased democracy risks being spoiled by the \"destructive new threat\" of drug trafficking. West Africa has long produced and consumed cannabis but its collection of weak states have over the last decade become a major transit zone for Latin American cocaine destined for Europe. Experts say West Africa is also becoming a producer and exporter of synthetic drugs such as amphetamine-type stimulants (ATS) and governments there are not yet responding to the fact that the consumption of hard drugs is on the rise too.","Russian banya one of treats of Sochi Games. KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia (AP) — \"What's the score?\" asks Svetlana Fedorenko as she enters a bathhouse in The Russian Caucuses mountains with her husband and friends: the U.S.-Russia hockey game is still on and most of the country is glued to a television.","Hezbollah says border attack was message to Israel. BEIRUT (Reuters) - An attack by Hezbollah on Lebanon's border with Israel which wounded two Israeli soldiers was a message that the group remained ready to confront its old foe despite its engagement in Syria's civil war, the group's deputy leader said. The soldiers were wounded by a bomb planted by Lebanese Hezbollah fighters in the Shebaa hills, drawing Israeli artillery fire in response. It was the first time Hezbollah has claimed responsibility for an attack against the Israeli army since 2006, when the two sides fought a 33-day war. \"This is a message.. ...","Surprise names in Ecuador squad for WCup warm-up. QUITO, Ecuador (AP) — Defender Cristian Ramirez of Fortuna Dusseldorf and midfielder Carlos Gruezo of Stuttgart were some of the surprise names in Ecuador's squad for its World Cup warm-up against the Netherlands on May 17 in Amsterdam.","Suspected fraud plot foiled at Vatican bank. ROME (AP) — Italian police say two men toting a briefcase stuffed with false bond certificates with a purported worth of trillions of euros (dollars) tried to bluff their way into the Vatican's exclusive bank in a foiled fraud plot.","Brazil prosecutors file charges in Petrobras case. SAO PAULO (AP) — Brazilian prosecutors have filed formal charges against 35 people in connection with the corruption scandal engulfing the state-owned oil company Petrobras.","UN calls for Lebanese election 'as soon as possible'. United Nations (United States) (AFP) - The UN Security Council expressed \"disappointment and concern\" Thursday that an election of a new Lebanese president has not occurred and demanded that polls be held without delay. In a unanimous declaration, the Council's 15 member states urged the country's parliament \"to uphold Lebanon's long standing democratic tradition and to work to ensure that presidential elections take place as soon as possible and without external interference.\" Over the past two months, Lebanon's parliament convened five times to try to elect a successor to President Michel Sleiman but failed each time due to a lack of quorum. The Council said it \"reiterates its full support for the government of Lebanon to discharge its duties during this interim period.\"","Evolution in US cellphone plans over past year. BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — In the old days, U.S. wireless customers typically paid $100 or $200 for a phone and agreed to a two-year service contract. Although the phone actually cost hundreds of dollars more, wireless companies made up for it through the monthly service fees for voice, text and data.","Jackson Bird cleared for South Africa series. SYDNEY (AP) — Fast bowler Jackson Bird has overcome a back injury and will fly to South Africa on Friday to join the Australia squad for a three-match test series against the world's No. 1-ranked test team.","Ukraine's president will not be fully legitimate: Russian official. Ukraine's next president, to be elected on May 25, will not be fully legitimate, the speaker of Russia's lower house of parliament said in an interview broadcast on Wednesday.","Thai PM, Election Commission agree to hold new vote in July. Thailand's prime minister and the country's Election Commission agreed on Wednesday to hold an election in July despite the opposition's reluctance to say whether it will take part after boycotting a February poll that was later annulled. \"The prime minister and the Election Commission agree on a July 20 election,\" Puchong Nutrawong, secretary-general of the commission, told reporters. Thailand has been in crisis since November and protesters disrupted the February election, which acting Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra's party had been expected to win.","Sailboat carrying 3 Germans missing in New Zealand. WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Three German nationals, including two 19-year-old tourists, are missing off New Zealand after their sailboat vanished.","EU chief calls for more tax law harmonization. BRUSSELS (AP) — The chief of the European Union's executive has called for more tax harmonization to counter the sort of sweet deal practices that countries like his own Luxembourg have used to attract multinationals and the super-rich.","Top Asian News at 5:00 p.m. GMT. SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Troops from the rival Koreas exchanged gunfire Sunday along their heavily fortified border in the second such shooting in less than 10 days, South Korean officials said. There were no reports of injuries or property damage, but the 10 minutes of shooting highlighted rising tensions between the divided countries. The Koreas' first exchange of gunfire came after North Korea opened fire at balloons carrying anti-Pyongyang leaflets that were floating across the border from the South. Sunday's shootout began after North Korea sent soldiers close to the border line. The move was an attempt by the North to increase worries in the South about what might happen if leafleting continues, analysts say.","Iranians deliver Rouhani's first political defeat. Eight months after taking office, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has suffered his first major political defeat, with the public overwhelmingly brushing aside appeals to forgo direct government aid. The 455,000-rial ($14) monthly handout scheme, initiated in December 2010 by Rouhani's predecessor Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, is part of broader economic reforms aimed at overhauling the country's massive subsidy system. The reform -- which phases out parts of remaining subsidies on energy, utility bills and basic food costs -- is forecast in this year's budget to save the cash-starved government $18 billion. Encouraged by economists as a way of regulating Iran's economy, which is stretched thin with debilitating sanctions and mismanagement, the second phase of the plan started Friday with petrol prices being raised as much as 75 percent.","Basel 'keeper Sommer to join Moenchengladbach. BASEL, Switzerland (AP) — Switzerland and Basel goalkeeper Yann Sommer will join Borussia Moenchengladbach at the end of the season.","Weimann goal gives Villa opening-day win at Stoke. STOKE, England (AP) — An early second-half strike from Andreas Weimann gave Aston Villa a 1-0 victory against Stoke at the Britannia Stadium on the opening day of the Premier League season Saturday.","With 1 month to go, a look at the good and bad news about the Winter Olympics in Sochi. LONDON - Tuesday marks the 1-month countdown to the start of the Winter Olympics in Sochi, a defining moment on the world stage for Russia and Vladimir Putin.","Putin signs treaty for Crimea to join Russia. MOSCOW (AP) — With a historic sweep of his pen, President Vladimir Putin signed a treaty Tuesday to annex Crimea, describing the move as correcting past injustice and a necessary response to what he called Western encroachment upon Russia's vital interests.","GM gets 104 more claims for faulty ignition switch compensation. (Reuters) - General Motors Co has received 104 claims for compensation for ignition switch defects in its cars in the past week, bringing the total to 2,430, according to the official administering the compensation program. Through Friday, GM had received 260 claims for death, 172 for catastrophic injuries and 1,998 for less-serious injuries requiring hospitalization. The number of claims found eligible for compensation remained unchanged from last week. ...","Favourite Australia looks to give O'Brien fifth Derby. All eyes will be on favourite Australia on Saturday to see if he is as good as his trainer Aidan O'Brien believes he is and win the Epsom Derby to give the record-breaking Irishman a third successive win in the blue riband of flat racing and fifth in all. Australia will face 15 rivals -- including two useful stablemates in Geoffrey Chaucer and Orchestra and a pacemaker in Kingfisher -- with his 44-year-old trainer confident that he is the best Derby runner he has ever saddled. Australia, who is superbly bred with his sire being 2002 Derby winner Galileo and his dam 2004 Oaks champion Ouija Board, produced an excellent performance in the English 2000 Guineas in May, just being edged into third place over a distance that is half a mile shorter than the one he will travel at Epsom. Although none of the past 10 winners of the Derby had finished outside the first two in their race prior to the classic O'Brien -- whose son Joseph will ride him -- has no fears about that statistic.","Ukraine accuses Russia of 'aggression' amid east unrest. Slavyansk (Ukraine) (AFP) - Ukraine accused Moscow of \"aggression\" on Saturday after Kalashnikov-wielding gunmen seized two security building in its restive eastern rust belt amid spreading protests demanding the Russified region join Kremlin rule. The coordinated attacks and a series of gunfights between militants and police in two eastern towns underscored the volatility of the crisis ahead of first direct talks between EU and US diplomats and their Moscow and Kiev counterparts in Geneva on Thursday. Ukraine's foreign minister blamed the occupations on the \"provocative activities of Russian special services\" while a prominent nationalist called on militants in his Right Sector party -- branded as a neo-Nazi organisation by Moscow -- to \"fully mobilise and prepare for decisive action\". And acting president Oleksandr Turchynov convened an emergency security meeting after his interior minster reported that a \"gunfight\" had erupted between local security forces and militants who had attacked a police station in the eastern town of Kramatorsk.","PETA: Indian elephant still being abused. NEW DELHI (AP) — An animal rights group says a 14-year-old elephant is still being abused despite a 2012 appeal by former Beatle Paul McCartney.","Suicide bomber kills two soldiers as clashes erupt in Yemen. ADEN (Reuters) - A suicide bomber drove his explosives-laden car into the entrance of army base in the central Yemeni city of Seiyun, killing two soldiers on Thursday, security officials said. At the same time, soldiers clashed with suspected al Qaeda militants at the city's nearby airport, the officials told Reuters. Western powers fear al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) could use Yemen as a springboard for future international attacks. ...","Feds: Man shot by Border Patrol posed no threat. TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) — A Mexican man shot by a U.S. Border Patrol agent in Arizona four years ago did not pose a threat, according to a letter by federal prosecutors in Arizona who reviewed the case.","Merkel : Germany no place for anti-Semitism. BERLIN (AP) — German Chancellor Angela Merkel has called on the country's citizens to attend a rally against anti-Semitism next week in Berlin where she will speak.","Messi brace equals record as Barca beats Ajax 2-0. AMSTERDAM (AP) — Lionel Messi's brace gave Barcelona a 2-0 victory Wednesday over 10-man Ajax and moved him level with Raul Gonzalez's all-time Champions League scoring record of 71 goals.","Belgium agrees to sex offender's request for mercy killing. Brussels (AFP) - Belgium, one of only a few countries to allow euthanasia, has accepted a serial rapist's request that he be allowed to die, his lawyer said on Monday.","Report: David Pocock arrested at coal mine protest. SYDNEY (AP) — An environmental group says former Australia rugby union captain David Pocock was arrested Sunday after chaining himself to a digger during a protest against a coal mine in northern New South Wales.","Officials: Homeless man survived mountain lion attack at Southern California encampment. PERRIS, Calif. - A homeless man was repeatedly bitten and clawed by a mountain lion at a Southern California encampment, but was expected to survive, state game wardens said Sunday.","Iraq crisis offers hint of vindication for Biden. WASHINGTON (AP) — As Iraq edges toward chaos, Vice President Joe Biden is having a quiet moment of vindication for a grim forecast that was dismissed by the Bush administration.","Kerry: Syrian president election a 'farce'. LONDON (AP) — Secretary of State John Kerry says the U.S. and other nations supporting the Syrian opposition agree that President Bashar Assad's planned presidential election is a \"farce\" because tens of thousands of Syrians have been displaced by fighting.","Cricket-No spinning out of the World Cup for Australia - Hussey. By Ian Ransom MELBOURNE, Nov 13 (Reuters) - Back on their favoured quick and bouncy pitches, Australia's failings against spin bowling are unlikely to figure at the World Cup and the co-hosts have an excellent opportunity to win a fifth trophy, according to former batsman Mike Hussey. Australia's batsmen had their confidence rocked with a 2-0 test series loss to Pakistan in the United Arab Emirates which followed a humiliating loss to Zimbabwe in a one-day match in Bulawayo. ...","Asia stocks make cautious gains, yen edges higher. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.24 percent. Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen gives a speech on \"financial stability\" on Wednesday and will take questions.","Two militants blow themselves up in southern Saudi Arabia -al-Arabia TV. DUBAI (Reuters) - Saudi-owned al-Arabia television said on Saturday that two suspected al Qaeda militants who had been surrounded inside a government building in southern Saudi Arabia after an attack on a border post with Yemen blew themselves up early on Saturday. The satellite channel gave no further details on casualties from the blast. Saudi security forces had been searching for militants who had fled after the attack, in which six people, including one suicide bomber and two security personnel, were killed. (Reporting by Mostafa Hashem; Writing by Sami Aboudi; Editing by Kim Coghill)","Soldier who killed U.S. general spent three years in Afghan army. By Hamid Shalizi and Krista Mahr KABUL (Reuters) - The Afghan who opened fire on a high-ranking delegation visiting a military complex in Kabul, killing U.S. Major General Harold Greene, had served in the army for three years, an Afghan defense official said on Wednesday. In the immediate aftermath of Tuesday's attack, the Defence Ministry had described the gunman, who was also killed, as a \"terrorist in army uniform\", indicating its belief he was an Islamist militant who had infiltrated the army from outside. Initial findings from the investigation were due to land on Afghan President Hamid Karzai's desk by the evening. The attack has raised fresh questions about the ability of NATO soldiers stationed in Afghanistan to train local forces, and will undermine trust between them at a crucial time.","Ronaldo in starting lineup for Portugal. EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) — Cristiano Ronaldo was among Portugal's starting 11 against Ireland in the team's final friendly Tuesday before heading to Brazil for the World Cup.","China media say 17 soldiers killed in explosion. BEIJING (AP) — Chinese state media say 17 soldiers have been killed in an accidental explosion at an armory in central China.","China to boost defense budget by 12.2 percent. BEIJING (AP) — The Chinese government has announced a big bump in spending on the armed forces, saying it will increase its defense budget by 12.2 percent this year to $132 billion.","Vienna man convicted of training with Syrian militants. A man accused of traveling to Syria to receive weapons training from Islamist militants was sentenced in Austria on Tuesday to 21 months in jail, in the latest case to highlight the lure of the Syrian conflict for radicalized young men based in Europe. The unnamed defendant was arrested in December as he returned to Austria from what he had described as a holiday in his birthplace of Turkey. Prosecutors said he instead want to a training camp on the Syrian-Turkish border. Judge Norbert Gerstberger said the man joined up with the Nusra Front, al Qaeda's Syrian wing, and got \"at least ideological instruction and basic weapons training\" at a camp north of Aleppo, although he was a low-level participant, the Austria Press Agency reported.","Syria's Assad reappoints Halaqi as PM: state media. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has reappointed Wael al-Halaqi as prime minister and asked him to form a cabinet, state media reported on Sunday. Assad was sworn in for a new term as president last month, requiring him to form a new government. Halaqi was appointed in 2012 after his predecessor, Riad Hijab, fled Syria to join the opposition. Assad had asked Halaqi to form a new government, state media reported.","Lower freight rates weigh on Moller-Maersk's Q4. COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — Danish shipping and oil group A.P. Moller-Maersk says fourth-quarter profits fell 7.5 percent because of a fall in oil production and lower freight rates.","Scolari: 'Stupid' to say Brazil will pick opponent. BRASILIA, Brazil (AP) — Brazil coach Luiz Felipe Scolari said Sunday it would be \"stupid\" to think his team would consider playing deliberately for a draw against Cameroon in order to choose its second-round opponent at the World Cup.","Argentine shot in Brazil bar fight during World Cup. By Angus MacSwan PORTO ALEGRE Brazil (Reuters) - An Argentine fan in Brazil for the World Cup was shot in the leg during a bar fight over rival soccer clubs, security officials said on Wednesday, heightening concerns about possible violence if Argentina meets Brazil in the tournament's final match. More than 100,000 Argentines flooded across the border ahead of their national team's Wednesday game in Porto Alegre, the southernmost city hosting World Cup games, prompting increased security measures focused on Argentina's notorious hooligans. Brazil has already stopped more than 30 Argentines from entering the country due to their involvement with the violent \"barras bravas\" in their national soccer league. Argentina's state news agency, Telam, identified the injured fan as 35-year-old Gonzalo Nunez.","Central African Republic rebels block key highways in capital. BANGUI (Reuters) - Seleka rebels in Central African Republic blocked two highways through the capital Bangui on Thursday and exchanged gunfire with U.N. peacekeepers, witnesses said, in a further bout of the violent disorder plaguing the country. The fighters, based at Camp Beal in Bangui since their leader ceded power to a transitional government in January, were protesting at a plan to relocate some of their ranks to a southern province to improve security in the capital. ...","China warns officials against aping Western morality. China's ruling Communist Party will step up ideological education of officials to prevent them from aping Western moral standards and strengthen their faith in communism to help in the fight against pervasive corruption, state media said. \"Profound social-economic changes at home and abroad have brought multiple distractions to officials who face loss of faith and moral decline,\" the official Xinhua news agency cited a statement from the party's powerful Organisation Department, which oversees personnel decisions. \"The conviction and morals of officials determine the rise and fall of the Communist Party and the country,\" Xinhua added, in a report late on Sunday. President Xi Jinping has mounted a sweeping campaign against deeply-rooted corruption since assuming office last year, warning, like others before him, that the party's rule could be threatened if it does not stop the rot from graft.","Palestinian killed in clash with Israeli military. RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) — A Palestinian hospital official says a teen was killed during clashes with the Israeli military in the West Bank.","BP: committed to Russia stake despite sanctions. LONDON (AP) — BP says it remains committed to its investment in the Russian oil firm Rosneft, despite U.S. sanctions targeting its president, Igor Sechin, and sharp drops in income from its stake.","EU assesses sports sanctions against Russia. BRUSSELS (AP) — European Union nations are looking at sporting sanctions to punish Russia for its involvement in the Ukraine crisis but diplomats say the immediate targeting of high-profile events like the 2018 World Cup is unlikely at this stage.","MLS says Chivas USA might not play in 2015. NEW YORK (AP) — Major League Soccer Commissioner Don Garber says Chivas USA might not play in 2015 and perhaps longer, a decision that won't be made until a new owner takes over the team.","China's economic growth down to 7.3 percent last quarter, lowest level in more than 5 years. BEIJING (AP) — China's economic growth down to 7.3 percent last quarter, lowest level in more than 5 years.","Salvadoran sea survivor leaves hospital. SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador (AP) — The Salvadoran fisherman who says he drifted at sea for more than a year has left the hospital where he has been treated for the psychological and physical effects of his journey.","Malaysia Airlines jet crash insurance may be complex, lengthy. By Alwyn Scott NEW YORK (Reuters) - Insurance on the Malaysian airliner brought down over Ukraine is likely to pay out relatively quickly if the cause of the crash is determined, but observers say insurance for the loss of 298 lives and other liability could be complex and lengthy. Malaysia Airlines said flight MH-17 disappeared at 1015 ET as it flew over eastern Ukraine toward the Russian border, bound for Asia. Flight tracking data indicated it was cruising at 33,000 feet when it lost contact with air traffic controllers, apparently struck by a missile. It should be fairly easy for investigators to determine whether the plane was hit by a missile or blew up for some other reason, said Robert Cohn, an aviation attorney and partner at Hogan Lovells in Washington, D.C. \"Then the interesting issue is who do you go after as the malefactors?\" he said.","Lima climate talks at crossroads on ways to fighting warming. By Alister Doyle and Valerie Volcovici LIMA (Reuters) - About 190 nations were at a crossroads about how boldly to combat global warming on the final day of United Nations talks in Lima on Friday amid fears that low ambition could undermine a U.N. climate summit in Paris next year. The Dec. 1-12 talks, which opened with hopes for new momentum after a climate deal between China and the United States last month, focused on the scope of pledges that countries are due to make early next year to tackle warming. ...","Canada locates British explorer ship lost in 1846. Canada has located the remains of one of two British explorer ships lost in the Arctic in 1846, Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced Tuesday, hailing the find as historic. The search for the ill-fated HMS Erebus and HMS Terror, headed by British explorer Sir John Franklin, involved six major expeditions since 2008 that scoured the seabed in the far-flung and frigid region. \"This is truly a historic moment for Canada,\" Harper said. \"Franklin's ships are an important part of Canadian history given that his expeditions, which took place nearly 200 years ago, laid the foundations of Canada's Arctic sovereignty.\"","Gunmen kill 2 workers at Sufi shrine in Pakistan. PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — Police say gunmen have shot to death two workers at a small Sufi Muslim shrine in northwest Pakistan.","UN rights chief blasts Kinshasa for expelling top envoy. Geneva (AFP) - The UN rights chief on Sunday condemned Kinshasa for expelling his top envoy to the Democratic Republic of Congo, and accused the authorities of intimidating other members of his staff.","Canadian PM bans Chinese media from Arctic trip. TORONTO (AP) — Canada says \"past incidents and behaviors\" are to blame for China's official news agency and the Communist Party newspaper being banned from an Arctic trip with Prime Minister Stephen Harper.","Gebrselassie to run as pacemaker at London Marathon. Haile Gebrselassie, one of the world's all-time great distance runners, will find himself in the unusual position of pacemaker at this year's London Marathon. Organisers said on Monday the Ethiopian athletics hero would be the \"lead pacemaker\" when the latest edition of the London Marathon takes place on April 13 -- just five days short of Gebrselassie's 41st birthday. Twice an Olympic and four-times a world 10,000 metres champion, Gebrselassie also broke the marathon world record on two occasions. This year in London, officials hope he will pace the elite men's field to the 30km mark in \"world-record speed\".","Firefighter in Asiana rescue files lawsuit. SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A San Francisco firefighter accused of accidentally running over a passenger thrown from the wreckage of an Asiana Airlines flight that crashed at San Francisco International Airport is suing the San Francisco Fire Department.","Indicted Internet entrepreneur Dotcom avoids jail. Indicted Internet entrepreneur Kim Dotcom has defeated efforts to send him back to a New Zealand jail but says his long-running legal battle has left him broke. After a three-day hearing Monday, Auckland ...","Turkish PM Erdogan rallies against 'terrorist' rivals. By Ralph Boulton ISTANBUL (Reuters) - With a huge rally on the approach to the Bosphorus waterway, Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan will launch a final electoral push on Sunday to stifle rivals he described this weekend as an 'alliance of evil' in cahoots with terrorism. Erdogan, who vowed last week to wipe out Twitter in Turkey for carrying anonymous postings accusing him and associates of corrupt dealings, accused the networking site of \"systematic character assassination\". The site remained blocked on Saturday in Turkey, access denied as a \"protection measure\". Leading condemnation from Western governments and rights groups, the White House said the Twitter ban ahead of March 30 local elections undermined democracy and free speech.","Turkey's top judge criticizes PM Erdogan. ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkey's most senior judge has delivered a sharp rebuke to Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan for criticizing his court's decisions, including one that lifted a ban on Twitter on the grounds that it violated freedoms.","Fresh airstrikes on jihadist positions in key Syrian border town. Mursitpinar (Turkey) (AFP) - Fresh air strikes by the US-led coalition on Tuesday hit positions held by Islamic State jihadists in the southwest of the key Syrian border town of Kobane, according to an AFP journalist just across the border in Turkey.","Merkel urges Putin to stop sending arms, advisors to Ukraine. German Chancellor Angela Merkel urged Russian President Vladimir Putin to \"stop the flow of military equipment, military advisers and armed personnel crossing the border with Ukraine,\" in a telephone call on Friday. During the conversation, Merkel expressed \"concern about the situation in eastern Ukraine\", her spokesman Steffen Seibert said in a statement. Merkel also \"expressed hope that the humanitarian convoys reach their destination quickly, to relieve the suffering\" in Ukraine. Kiev and Moscow have been wrangling for days over a Russian convoy that Moscow says is carrying humanitarian aid for besieged rebel-held cities but which Kiev suspects could be a \"Trojan horse\" to provide military help to the insurgents.","Detroit funeral held for Cardinal Edmund Szoka. DETROIT (AP) — Catholic leaders and faithful packed the Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament in Detroit on Tuesday for the funeral of Edmund Szoka, an American cardinal who served as governor and financial administrator of the Vatican.","Jane Campion: 'Indefatigable pioneer' of film. Head of the Cannes jury Jane Campion made her name portraying complex, strong-willed female protagonists and knows from first-hand experience that the festival is a place where careers are made. The New Zealand director, the only woman ever to win the top Palme d'Or Prize with \\\\\"The Piano\\\\\", was a little known arthouse film-maker when she brought her movie to the French Riviera in 1993. The New Zealand-set movie about a mute pianist and her daughter starring Holly Hunter, Harvey Keitel, Sam Neill and Anna Paquin, went on to pick up three Oscars and was a huge critical and commercial hit. Born in Wellington in New Zealand, the second of three children, Campion grew up in a theatrical family.","Nishikori 'almost perfect' as he returns to court. Kuala Lumpur (AFP) - Kei Nishikori said his crushing recent defeat in the US Open final left him drained, but Japan's rising tennis star showed no hint of that Wednesday, cruising into the Malaysian Open last eight in his return to the court.","Body found in Jerusalem after Palestinian youth forced into vehicle. Israeli police found the body of a teenager in the Jerusalem area on Wednesday and were investigating a possible connection to the reported kidnapping of a Palestinian youth in East Jerusalem earlier the same morning, a police spokesman said. The incident occurred the day after Israel buried three teenagers who had been kidnapped near a Jewish settlement on June 12 and whose bodies were found in the West Bank on Monday. Palestinian residents told a Reuters photographer that they saw a teenager forced into a vehicle outside a supermarket in the Shoafat section of Jerusalem on Wednesday. Micky Rosenfeld, a spokesman for Israeli police, said police had been notified of a youth \"pulled into a vehicle and possibly kidnapped\" and roadblocks were set up in search of suspects.","Kosovo mired in worst political crisis since independence. Just when Kosovo appeared to be heading for a degree of stability and normalcy, feuding politicians and fresh corruption scandals have plunged the fledgling Balkan nation into its worst political crisis to date. A quirk in the young nation's constitution has left Kosovo in a seemingly unfixable political deadlock that could yet force fresh elections only five months after the last vote.","Canada lawmakers approve air strikes against Islamic State. OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canadian legislators on Tuesday approved government plans to send fighter jets to Iraq, where they will take part in U.S.-led air strikes against Islamic State militants for up to six months. The result of the vote was never in doubt, since the ruling Conservatives have a majority in the House of Commons. Members of Parliament voted 157-134 in favor of the mission. The two main opposition parties had opposed the mission on the grounds that Prime Minister Stephen Harper had not given enough details and could drag the country into a long drawn-out war. ...","More Scots would back greater devolution over independence: poll. By Belinda Goldsmith LONDON (Reuters) - More Scots would prefer the Scottish parliament to be given greater powers to control their tax and spending than the riskier option of independence from the United Kingdom, according to a survey released on Tuesday. Social research institute ScotCen found further devolution, or \"devo max\", was the preferred future for many Scots although this option will not feature when they go to vote on September 18 on whether Scotland should break away from Britain. But analysts said devolution was likely to become more central to the debate as the vote neared and UK parties offered swaying voters sweeteners if they opposed independence. Scotland has had its own devolved parliament since 1999;","Turkey vows to go ahead with new airport despite court order. Turkey vowed Tuesday to press ahead with building what could become one of the world's busiest airports in defiance of a court order halting the project over environmental concerns. A court last month suspended work on Istanbul's third airport after local residents and environmental groups filed a lawsuit arguing that the project would cause serious damage to the environment, the Hurriyet newspaper reported. But Transport Minister Lutfi Elvan said the suspension would not interfere with construction of the airport in a heavily forested area near Terkos Lake, 50 kilometres (30 miles) north of Istanbul. In no way will it affect the construction of the airport,\" Elvan told reporters.","Anna Fenninger leads World Cup giant slalom. ARE, Sweden (AP) — Anna Fenninger led the first run of a World Cup giant slalom on Friday, putting herself in position to take the lead in the overall standings.","Obama seeks $500M to train, equip Syrian rebels. WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama is asking Congress for $500 million to train and arm vetted members of the Syrian opposition, as the U.S. grapples for a way to stem a civil war that has also fueled the al-Qaida inspired insurgency in neighboring Iraq.","England replace injured Parling with Launchbury. Hamilton (New Zealand) (AFP) - England were on Friday forced into a forward reshuffle on the eve of the third Test against the All Blacks in Hamilton with Joe Launchbury replacing injured lock Geoff Parling.","Qatar's foreign minister denies paying ransoms to militant groups. By Daniel Bases PRINCETON N.J. (Reuters) - Qatari Foreign Minister Khaled al-Attiya defended on Monday his government's connections with armed militant groups in the Middle East and its involvement in negotiating the release of hostages but denied ever paying ransoms to secure their freedom. \"No, Qatar does not pay ransoms. Again, Qatar will not apologize for any soul or life we saved in Syria. ...","Turkey PM threatens to 'wipe out' Twitter. Turkey's combative prime minister warned on Thursday that he would eradicate Twitter in the wake of damaging allegations of corruption in his inner circle that have spread across social networks in recent weeks. \"We will wipe out Twitter. I don't care what the international community says,\" premier Recep Tayyip Erdogan said at an election rally in the western province of Bursa. The Internet Publishers Association, a body representing online and media companies, said the move was an attempt to \"destroy freedom of expression\".","Rodgers set to sign new deal with Liverpool. LIVERPOOL, England (AP) — Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers is set to sign a new contract at the end of the season after reviving the fortunes of one of England's biggest clubs.","Pakistan militant resurfaces, ignites Indian fears of attacks. By Sanjeev Miglani and Katharine Houreld NEW DELHI/ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - The Pakistani Islamic hardliner blamed for an attack on India's parliament that brought the nuclear rivals to the brink of war has resurfaced after years in seclusion, setting off alarm bells in New Delhi. Twice since the end of December, Indian authorities have issued an airport security alert, warning of an attempt by members of a Pakistan-based militant group called Jaish-e-Mohammad, or Army of Muhammad, to hijack a plane, with smaller airfields most at risk. Indian officials have said the alerts followed reports of increased activity by Maulana Masood Azhar, the leader of the outlawed militant group. Azhar was named by an Indian court as the prime suspect in a 2001 attack on India's parliament aimed at taking top political leaders hostage.","Indian river bathers swept away as dam releases water, four dead. Indian rescuers were searching on Monday for 20 students and a professor swept away by waters released from a dam while the group was bathing in a river in the mountainous northern state of Himachal Pradesh. \"I think they were playing in the water,\" said a police official, who declined to be named because he was not authorized to speak to the media. \"There was no warning,\" said D. Naidu, principal of the VNR Vignana Jyothi Institute of Engineering and Technology, the south Indian college from which 65 students had set off on the trip. Mandeep Singh, an engineer on the dam's power plant, told news channel CNN-IBN that staff sounded warnings before releasing the water and local residents \"definitely warned the students to come out of the river\" several times.","Sri Lanka aims for 2-0 series win over Pakistan. COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — Sri Lanka captain Angelo Mathews says they will be able to set aside their emotions in the second cricket test against Pakistan starting on Thursday in order to win and give an ideal sendoff for the retiring Mahela Jayawardene.","Iraq defence minister heads to Moscow with wish list. Iraq's defence minister flew to Moscow on Wednesday to ask his counterpart for military equipment, as his forces struggle to hold off a jihadist-led Sunni militant offensive, a spokesman said. \"Defence Minister Saadun al-Dulaimi left Baghdad for Moscow,\" Staff Lieutenant General Mohammed al-Askari told AFP. He said the minister was carrying a letter from Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki to Russian President Vladimir Putin \"explaining the security and political situation in Iraq and the need to strengthen military cooperation\".","Bomb explodes at Hezbollah checkpoint in eastern Lebanon. BEIRUT (Reuters) - A car bomb exploded at a checkpoint controlled by Shi'ite Muslim group Hezbollah in eastern Lebanon on Saturday, security sources and the state news agency NNA said, without giving information on casualties. The explosion took place outside the village of Khraibeh in Lebanon's Bekaa Valley, a region that has experienced increased violence and spillover from Syria's civil war next door. It was not clear who was behind Saturday's attack. (Writing by Sylvia Westall; Editing by Leslie Adler)","Australian PM cites 'chatter' of attacks on government, parliament. By Matt Siegel SYDNEY (Reuters) - Intelligence \"chatter\" has revealed that militants plan to attack Australian politicians and government buildings, the prime minister said on Friday, a day after hundreds of police carried out a sweeping counter-terrorism operation. Prime Minister Tony Abbott said he had ordered security boosted at Parliament House in Canberra, amid mounting concerns over the possibility of attacks by Australians radicalized in Iraq or Syria. ...","Hockey great Fetisov chronicled in Cannes film. CANNES, France (AP) — Viacheslav \"Slava\" Fetisov has had a storied hockey career — including two Stanley Cups with the Detroit Red Wings — but he was initially reluctant to see it documented with a movie.","Canadian woman says 'safe' after reports of IS capture. \"Guys, I'm totally safe and secure,\" said the update on Gill Rosenberg's account. The Canadian-Israeli dual national who had served in the Israel Defense Forces had volunteered to fight with the Kurds. Islamic State jihadists claimed a woman described as a \"female Zionist soldier\" had been captured in the embattled Syrian border town of Kobane, and some jihadists said the woman might be Rosenberg, according to US-based monitoring group SITE.","Ashes agony spells end for Flower as England coach. Andy Flower has quit as England's head coach following the team's whitewash Ashes loss in Australia, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) announced Friday. Despite the former Zimbabwe international being in charge of England's recent 5-0 Ashes series Test drubbing in Australia, the ECB said they wanted to retain his services, while Flower himself said he would remain a selector \"for the time being\".","US says some nations not doing enough on economy. WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States expressed frustration that a number of countries were not doing enough to boost economic growth as finance ministers from the world's largest economies expressed determination to prevent a slide into another global recession.","Still no success as deep-sea drone searches for MH370. By Byron Kaye PERTH, Australia (Reuters) - Hopes that a deep sea drone scouring the Indian Ocean floor might soon turn up a missing Malaysian jetliner were fading on Friday, as the remote-controlled submarine embarked on a fifth mission with still no sign of wreckage. Sonar footage by the U.S. Navy owned Bluefin-21 has become the focal point of the search some 2,000 kms (1,200 miles) west of the Australian city of Perth, where authorities believe Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 hit the ocean after disappearing from radars on March 8 with 239 people on board. The search has centered on a city-sized area where a series of \"pings\" led authorities to believe the plane's black box may be located. But after four missions to depths of about 4.5 kms (2.8 miles), two of those aborted early for technical reasons, Australian search authorities said on Friday that the drone had yet to turn up a meaningful lead.","Tokyo Gov. defends call to review Olympic plans. TOKYO (AP) — Tokyo governor Yoichi Masuzoe has defended his call for a review of the venue plan for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, even if it threatens the proposal of having almost all the facilities close to the Athlete's Village.","Golf-Golf in Australia is like drinking beer with 'buddies' - Weekley. By Ian Ransom MELBOURNE, Nov 19 (Reuters) - Playing golf in Australia is no different to playing at home with friends while throwing back a few beers, according to Boo Weekley, who plans to spend time fishing Down Under after battling Adam Scott at the Australian Masters. The laid-back American will appear at all three of the nation's marquee tournaments, and after playing the Masters in Melbourne, will head to Sydney for next week's Australian Open before finishing off on the Gold Coast at the Australian PGA Championship. ...","Iran tries to save Asiatic cheetah from extinction. TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran is rushing to try to save one of the world's critically endangered species, the Asiatic cheetah, and bring it back from the verge of extinction in its last remaining refuge.","Missing airliner carrying 239 triggers Southeast Asia search. Malaysia Airlines said a flight carrying 239 people from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing went missing early Saturday, and the airline was notifying next of kin in a sign it feared the worst. The airline said flight MH370 disappeared at 2:40 am local time (1840 GMT Friday), about two hours after leaving Kuala Lumpur International Airport. It had been due to arrive in Beijing at 6:30 am local time (2230 GMT Friday). It was carrying 227 passengers, including two infants, from 13 different nationalities, and 12 crew members.","Pakistani police charge 68 lawyers with blasphemy over protest. By Syed Raza Hassan ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Pakistani police have registered a case of blasphemy against 68 lawyers who made a public protest after a police officer detained one of their colleagues, officials said on Tuesday, the latest in a tidal wave of such accusations flooding the country. Monday's charges followed a protest in which lawyers shouted slogans against senior police officer Umar Daraz for allegedly illegally detaining a lawyer in the Jhang district of central Pakistan. \\\\\"Lawyers were protesting against police, using foul language and the name of the inspector,\\\\\" the district's police officer, Zeeshan Asghar, told Reuters. One of the companions of the Prophet Muhammad, founder of the Islamic religion, was called Hazrat Umar.","Egypt's top Islamist leader sentenced to death. CAIRO (AP) — An Egyptian court has sentenced to death the top leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, from which ousted President Mohammed Morsi hails, along with 13 other members and supporters over violence last summer.","Hiddink recalls Afellay, Pieters, Van der Vaart. AMSTERDAM (AP) — New Netherlands coach Guus Hiddink recalled midfielder Ibrahim Afellay for his team's opening European Championship qualifier against the Czech Republic and a warm-up friendly against Italy as he begins building on the legacy of Louis van Gaal's World Cup campaign.","Former Obama adviser: Build Keystone XL pipeline. WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama's former national security adviser said Thursday that Obama should approve the Keystone XL oil pipeline to send Russian President Vladimir Putin a message that \"international bullies\" cannot use energy security as a weapon.","Sri Lanka out for 239 in 5th ODI vs. England. PALLEKELE, Sri Lanka (AP) — Chris Woakes' six wickets overshadowed Kumar Sangakkara's fourth straight half-century of the series as England dismissed Sri Lanka for 239 in the fifth one-day international on Wednesday.","Ethiopia tests thousands for HIV in record attempt. ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (AP) — Ethiopian officials say more than 3,300 people were tested for HIV Sunday in the rural region of Gambella, a massive turnout that exceeded expectations among AIDS campaigners who had hoped to test 2,000 people.","Rampaging Reds secure bonus-point win over weary Cheetahs. (Reuters) - The Queensland Reds held off the Cheetahs 43-33 in their Super Rugby match in Brisbane on Friday to ensure the South African side remained without a victory on their tough road trip. Improving centre Chris Feauai-Sautia scored a try in each half for the Reds, who moved out to a 40-26 lead off the boot of flyhalf Quade Cooper with 11 minutes to play but were made to work hard to close out the win at Lang Park. Replacement flyhalf Elgar Watts crossed in the 72nd minute and converted his own try to put the Cheetahs within seven points, but Cooper slotted his fourth penalty after the final hooter to complete the scoring. Cooper finished with 18 points, overtaking Elton Flatley as the Reds' all-time leading points scorer.","Artist Emin's messy bed sells for $4.4 million. LONDON (AP) — Artist Tracey Emin has sold her bed — and the disheveled sheets, empty vodka bottles, cigarette butts and discarded condoms were part of the lucrative deal.","Dozens hospitalised in Guinea after eating petrol-laced rice. Dozens of people in Guinea were hospitalised on Tuesday after eating rice cooked with petrol, doctors told AFP. \"In all, 114 people were admitted\" to the main hospital in Guinea's capital Conakry, a doctor, speaking on condition of anonymity, told AFP. The patients suffered stomach aches, diarrhoea and vomiting, the doctor said, adding that they were \"treated after having consumed rice with sauce prepared with petrol\".","5 things to know about Sri Lanka at the World T20. COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — Five things to know about the Sri Lanka team to play at the World Twenty20 tournament in Bangladesh:","South Sudan, rebels sign cease-fire. ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (AP) — South Sudan's government and rebels signed a cease-fire deal Thursday that leaders hope will put a pause to five weeks of warfare that has killed thousands of soldiers and civilians.","Greek coast guard rescues migrants at sea. ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greek authorities say the coast guard has rescued 73 migrants found crossing illegally from Turkey to nearby Greek islands in rickety boats that were in danger of sinking.","US cites state secrets in civil lawsuit over Iran. NEW YORK (AP) — The U.S. government, citing state secrets and a threat to national security, has asked a judge to toss out a defamation lawsuit that a wealthy Greek shipping magnate brought against a nonprofit organization seeking to thwart Iran's efforts to obtain nuclear weapons.","Rich nations' greenhouse gas emissions fall in 2012, led by U.S. By Alister, Doyle,, Environment and Correspondent OSLO, April 25 - Industrialized nations' greenhouse gas emissions fell by 1.3 percent in 2012, led by a U.S. decline to the lowest in almost two decades with a shift to natural gas from dirtier coal, official statistics show. Emissions from more than 40 nations were 10 percent below 1990 levels in 2012, according to a Reuters compilation of national data submitted to the United Nations in recent days that are the main gauge of efforts to tackle global warming. In 2012 \"the success story is the declining emissions in the United States,\" said Glen Peters, of the Center for International Climate and Environmental Research in Oslo. \"Europe is a mix with slow GDP growth offset by a shift to coal in some countries.\" Total emissions from industrialized nations fell to 17.3 billion tonnes in 2012 from 17.5 billion in 2011 and compared with 19.2 billion in 1990, the base year for the U.N.'s climate change convention.","Post reporter charged in Iran after day in court. WASHINGTON (AP) — A Washington Post reporter detained in Iran for more than four months has been charged after a day in a Tehran courtroom.","French FM insists Gaza truce 'absolute priority'. French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius insisted on Saturday that his country's \"absolute priority\" is to secure a truce in Gaza, saying an Egyptian initiative for ceasefire enjoys international support. At a joint news conference with his Jordanian counterpart, Nasser Judeh, Fabius said his regional tour seeks to help \"break the spiral of violence and to protect the civilian population as much as possible\" in Gaza, where the Israeli bombardment has killed more than 330 Palestinians. \"The human toll is already heavy... and I repeat here in Amman, our absolute priority must be the ceasefire,\" he told reporters.","Asian stocks meander after mixed China trade data. TOKYO (AP) — Asian stock markets meandered in holiday-thinned trading Monday after Chinese trade figures suggested domestic demand is lackluster.","Libyan lawmakers elect judge as new speaker. TOBRUK, Libya (AP) — Libyan lawmakers, gathered far from the country's chaos and warring militias, have elected a judge as the new parliament speaker.","Three bomb blasts targeting Pakistan polio team kill 12. Peshawar (Pakistan) (AFP) - At least twelve people were killed and 11 injured when three roadside bombs targeting a polio vaccination team in Pakistan's restive northwest exploded on Saturday, officials said. The blasts near the Afghan border were the latest attack on efforts to stamp out the crippling disease in Pakistan, which is one of only three countries where polio remains endemic. Eleven paramilitary troops and one child died when the bombs detonated in the Lashora area of Jamroud Tehsil in Khyber Agency, 30 kilometres (miles) southwest of Peshawar, senior official Jahangir Khan told AFP. Polio persists in Pakistan with militant groups seeing vaccination campaigns as a cover for espionage.","Cyprus lifts almost all domestic capital controls. NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) — Cyprus has reached another milestone in getting rid of capital controls it put in place after being bailed out last year, saying all domestic controls have been lifted except the opening of new bank accounts.","30 new arrests as Israel presses West Bank hunt for teens. Israeli troops have arrested some 30 Palestinians in the West Bank as they ramped up a search for three teenagers believed kidnapped by Hamas, the army said on Thursday. The teenagers, two of them minors, disappeared from a popular hitchhiking spot in the sprawling southern West Bank Gush Etzion settlement bloc late on June 12. Israel accuses Hamas of the abductions and has launched a far-reaching military operation aimed at finding the teenagers and crushing the movement's infrastructure in the West Bank. It's absolutely certain,\" Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a Thursday briefing at a West Bank army base near Hebron.","World Pie Eating Championships wrecked by mix-up. London (AFP) - The World Pie Eating Championships were declared null and void when a trainee sent the pies to a divorce party instead, reports said Friday.","London FTSE shares climb at open. London (AFP) - London shares made a solid start on Monday following the holiday break with confidence boosted by Asian stimulus measures and another Wall Street record.","Mexico finds radioactive load from stolen truck. Mexican authorities on Friday found a load of dangerous radioactive material that was in a stolen pick-up, a top civil protection official said. The load of iridium 192 was found abandoned on a street a few miles from where the truck was stolen in the industrial Mexico City suburb of Tlalnepantla, Luis Felipe Puente, the head of the country's civil protection agency, said on Twitter. Military troops mounted a security perimeter around the small container emblazoned with logos for hazardous materials until it was removed from the site by the country's nuclear safety commission, according to media reports. The material, normally used in industrial radiography, was housed in a specialized container and would only pose a health risk if the housing was tampered with, Mexico's interior ministry said in a statement.","Dozens dead as Ukraine claims control of Donetsk airport. Donetsk (Ukraine) (AFP) - Ukraine said Tuesday it had regained control of the airport in the eastern city of Donetsk after a day of punishing air strikes and fierce fighting with pro-Russian separatist gunmen left dozens of people dead. The battle for the main transport hub in the rebel-held east erupted on Monday, in a sharp escalation of the conflict after president-elect Petro Poroshenko vowed to take a tough stand against the \"terrorists\". \"The airport is under our full control. He said however that the military was continuing its operation at the airport, and AFP journalists reported hearing explosions and heavy gunfire during the morning.","U.S. backed talks with ISIS over American hostage: newspaper. LONDON (Reuters) - U.S. counter-terrorism officials backed negotiations with two prominent jihadi clerics in a failed attempt to save the life of an American hostage who was later beheaded by Islamic State militants, the Guardian newspaper reported on Friday. Citing emails, the Guardian said talks with the spiritual leaders of Islamic State, also known as ISIS, aimed at releasing hostage Peter Kassig began in mid-October and ran for several weeks with the knowledge of the FBI. U.S. officials were not immediately available to comment on the newspaper report. ...","Malaysia air force denies tracking missing jet to Strait of Malacca. KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Malaysia's air force chief denied a media report that the military last tracked a missing Malaysia Airlines jetliner over the Strait of Malacca, far from where it last made contact with civilian air traffic control when it disappeared four days ago. \"I wish to state that I did not make any such statements,\" air force chief Rodzali Daud said in a statement on Wednesday. The Strait of Malacca, one of the world's busiest shipping channels, runs along Malaysia's west coast. ...","Sinn Fein to skip UK inquiry into IRA fugitives. DUBLIN (AP) — Sinn Fein leaders say they have nothing to hide about their deal with Britain granting effective amnesties to Irish Republican Army fugitives — but won't testify to a British parliamentary investigation into the controversy.","'Bollywood Oscars' begin in US with star power. TAMPA, Florida (AP) — The Indian film industry's top awards show sailed into the U.S. on Saturday with a pirate-themed opening musical number and celebrities ranging from \"Slumdog Millionaire\" star Anil Kapoor to John Travolta.","Venezuela to crush cars, bikes to build houses. By Diego Ore CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuela said on Tuesday it would start crushing abandoned cars and bicycles to provide raw materials for housing construction and supplement drastically reduced amounts of local steel. \"We have sent 10,485 automobiles, 9,651 motorbikes and 539 bicycles to the national steel industry,\" Maria Martinez, a deputy justice minister, said during a visit to an abandoned car deposit outside Caracas. That quantity of steel, she said, could be used for rebars, which reinforce concrete, in the construction of tens of thousands of housing units. In one of late socialist leader Hugo Chavez's most popular policies, the \"Great Venezuelan Housing Mission,\" authorities built or refurbished more than 250,000 housing units in 2012 for low-income families.","Sharp to sell U.S. solar unit to Canadian Solar: report. TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's Sharp Corp is set to sell its U.S.-based solar energy development unit Recurrent Energy to Canadian Solar Inc for about 30 billion yen ($247 million), the Nikkei business daily said on Sunday. Sharp aims to reach a basic agreement with the Canadian firm by the end of the month and complete the sale by spring, the report said, without citing sources. The Japanese firm could not be immediately reached for comment. Sharp paid $305 million in cash in 2010 to acquire Recurrent Energy. ...","Russia plans to build up to eight new nuclear reactors in Iran. MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia plans to sign a contract with Iran this year to build two more nuclear reactors at its Bushehr power plant, as part of a broader deal for four to eight reactors in the Islamic state, a source close to the negotiations told Reuters on Thursday. (Reporting by Svetlana Burmistrova; Writign by Alissa de Carbonnel; Editing by Steve Gutterman)","China sends 700 peacekeepers to South Sudan. BEIJING (AP) — Chinese state media have reported that China will send 700 troops to South Sudan as part of the country's first infantry battalion to participate in a United Nations peacekeeping mission.","Chocolat Frey acquires majority of NY's SweetWorks. BUFFALO, New York (AP) — A Swiss chocolate maker has acquired a majority of New York-based candy company SweetWorks, Inc.","Airbus's 'neo' plane seduces as US F-35 fighter misses key airshow. Airbus racked up orders for its new long-haul A330neo plane on Tuesday, as airlines and leasing companies cash in on demand for cheap long-haul air travel. As the European aircraft maker celebrated strong demand for its neo planes at one of the aviation industry's key shows in Farnborough, near London, the US military announced another setback for the most expensive programme in Pentagon history. Washington said it would not send its F35 fighter jets to the week-long Farnborough airshow because of safety concerns.","Stoch hot into Olympic final, Morgenstern in too. KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia (AP) — World Cup leader Kamil Stoch of Poland has taken his hot form into the men's normal hill ski jumping gold medal final at the Sochi Olympics.","Where do we start? Afghan unity talks at early impasse. By Hamid Shalizi and Jeremy Laurence KABUL (Reuters) - The two men vying to become Afghanistan's next leader may have shaken hands on a deal to resolve a bitterly disputed election, but they are miles apart on a critical component of their gentleman's agreement - forming a united government. Four months after Afghans first went to the polls to choose President Hamid Karzai's successor, the final result could still be weeks, possibly months away, as hundreds of international monitors painstakingly audit the ballot - one vote at a time - to vet for fraud. More worryingly, the two protagonists, Ashraf Ghani and Abdullah Abdullah, have not yet started work on the most difficult part of a pact brokered by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry amid some fanfare: how they will share power. \"Ashraf Ghani is smart and not ready to sign these details now ... because his camp believe they are winning, and why concede a huge amount of power to his rival?\" a senior Afghan government official told Reuters.","Pistorius pleads not guilty at murder trial. PRETORIA, South Africa (AP) — Oscar Pistorius pleaded not guilty Monday to murdering his girlfriend on Valentine's Day last year, marking the start of the Olympian's murder trial that was being broadcast live on TV.","Serbs in tense Kosovo town remove roadblock. PRISTINA, Kosovo (AP) — NATO in Kosovo says minority Serbs have used trucks and bulldozers to dismantle a roadblock in the tense city of Mitrovica put up almost three years ago to stop ethnic Albanians authorities from extending authority over the Serb-run north.","Chinese official shot dead in Tibetan area. An official in charge of preserving social stability was shot dead in a mountainous area of a Tibetan prefecture in southwestern China last week, state media reported. Simmering ethnic tension in the region has spurred at least 119 Tibetans to set themselves alight in protests against Chinese rule since 2009, often in heavily Tibetan areas of the provinces of Sichuan, Gansu and Qinghai. The 36-year-old victim, Zhang Wei, was an ethnic Tibetan official with the ruling Communist Party's stability preservation authority in the Ganzi Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of China's Sichuan province. The report did not say how many attackers were involved but said police had identified a 35-year-old Tibetan man, Xue Xia, as a major suspect, and offered a 500,000 yuan ($80,500) bounty for information leading to his capture.($1=6.2090 Chinese yuan) (Reporting by Li Hui and Megha Rajagopalan;","Shocking opulence revealed as Ukraine leader flees home. A vast country estate, marble-lined mansions, a private golf course and zoo: the unimaginable luxury of the private residence of departed Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych was flung open for all to see. As parliament voted to oust Yanukovych Saturday and he fled to a pro-Russian bastion in east Ukraine after months of bloody protest against his rule, thousands of Ukrainians wandered awestruck around the breathtaking luxury of his abandoned property some 15 kilometres (10 miles) from Kiev after it was taken by demonstrators. \"I am in shock,\" said retired military servicewoman Natalia Rudenko, as she looked out over the manicured lawns studded with statues of rabbits and deers.","UN agency encourages family planning in Nigeria. ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — The Executive Director of the United Nations Population Fund is encouraging family planning in Nigeria to control the country's population growth.","Bulgarian court to decide on extradition of Putin opponent. A Bulgarian court said it would decide on Friday whether to extradite to Moscow a prominent opponent of Russian President Vladimir Putin, who was detained in Sofia earlier this week. Nicolay Koblyakov was held for 72 hours after being detained at Sofia airport on Tuesday following an extradition request from Russia, where he is wanted for crimes allegedly committed between 2004 and 2005. \"The extradition request hearing (for Koblyakov) will be held today,\" Sofia City Court's spokeswoman told Reuters. Koblyakov, who is 44 and has dual Russian and French nationality, is a founder of the French non-governmental organization Russie-Libertes, which has staged a series of anti-Putin protests in France.","Listening devices found in Oslo, prompting spying investigation. OSLO (Reuters) - Norwegian police are investigating a possible spying operation by a foreign power after electronic devices designed to intercept telephone conversations were discovered near government buildings. In its own two-month investigation, the daily newspaper Aftenposten detected signals from several surveillance devices that had been placed near the prime minister's offices, the central bank, parliament and major company headquarters. ...","Reuters Sports Schedule at 1410 GMT on Sunday, Nov 30. Reuters sports schedule at 1410 GMT on Sunday: - - - - CRICKET Pakistan v New Zealand, Sharjah, third test (to 1) New Zealand beat Pakistan in Sharjah Paceman Trent Boult took four wickets as New Zealand beat Pakistan by an innings and 80 runs to win the third and final test within four days and level the series 1-1. ...","Swiss champion Basel signs veteran Walter Samuel. BASEL, Switzerland (AP) — Basel has signed former Champions League-winning defender Walter Samuel on a one-year contract.","Oracle's Ellison steps aside, co-CEOs Catz and Hurd take over. By Noel Randewich and Bill Rigby SAN FRANCISCO/SEATTLE (Reuters) - Oracle Corp longstanding Chief Executive Larry Ellison stepped down on Thursday, to be replaced by younger co-CEOs Safra Catz and Mark Hurd, as the business software company looks to modernize and counter fast-moving, cloud-based rivals. The move comes earlier than expected by many investors, but appears to designed to address concerns about the company's direction under Ellison, 70, who has been the company's only CEO for more than three decades. ...","Weekend violence kills 11 civilians in Afghanistan. KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — A roadside bomb ripped through a car in southern Afghanistan, the deadliest of a series of weekend attacks that killed 11 civilians, officials said Sunday.","Dick Advocaat introduced as Serbia coach. STARA PAZOVA, Serbia (AP) — Dick Advocaat, who coached the Netherlands and South Korea at previous World Cups, has been formally introduced as the new Serbia coach.","Microsoft unveils Xbox in China as it faces probe. Microsoft on Wednesday unveiled its Xbox game console in China, the first to enter the market after an official ban 14 years ago, even as it faces a Chinese government probe over business practices. China's State Administration for Industry and Commerce said Tuesday it was investigating the US technology firm for \"monopoly actions\" related to its flagship Windows operating system and Office suite of software. The day after the announcement of the investigation, Microsoft introduced its newest Xbox One model to the potentially vast Chinese market ahead of the official sales launch, which a company representative said would be September 23. \"We are deeply committed to deliver the very best games and entertainment experience for fans in China,\" Yusuf Mehdi, chief marketing and strategy officer for Xbox, told reporters at an event billed as a chance to \"experience\" the Xbox.","IRA veteran arrested after Irish wife stabbed. DUBLIN (AP) — A prominent Irish Republican Army veteran has been arrested on suspicion of stabbing his wife several times on Christmas Eve, an attack condemned by the IRA-linked Sinn Fein party.","Iraqi officials: 3 car bombs strike Baghdad, killing 15. BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraqi officials: 3 car bombs strike Baghdad, killing 15.","U.S. prosecutors again indict Indian diplomat Khobragade. A grand jury has returned a new indictment against Indian diplomat Devyani Khobragade for visa fraud, two days after a U.S. federal judge dismissed a similar indictment because she had diplomatic immunity. Khobragade's arrest last December and subsequent strip search drew outrage in India, causing a major diplomatic rift that ended when the United States granted her diplomatic immunity and then requested her departure from the country in January. U.S. District Judge Shira Scheindlin ruled on Wednesday that Khobragade, who was India's deputy consul-general in New York, had diplomatic immunity when she sought on January 9 to dismiss the indictment, and thus could not be prosecuted for allegedly underpaying her nanny.","Jamaica drought leads to $8 million in crop losses. KINGSTON, Jamaica (AP) — A Jamaican official says a severe drought and bush fires on the Caribbean island have led to roughly $8 million in crop losses over the last few months.","Cricket council raises World Cup prize money. The International Cricket Council on Monday announced a 20 percent increase in prize money for next year's World Cup in Australia and New Zealand. \"A total of $10 million, an increase of approximately 20 per cent over the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011, will be available,\" said the ICC. The 2011 edition jointly hosted by India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka had prize money of $8.01 million. The four losing quarter-finalists will receive $300,000 each while the winners of each group matches will get $45,000 per match, the ICC said.","Leak shows scale of Luxembourg's sweet tax deals. BRUSSELS (AP) — Documents leaked to a group of investigative reporters allegedly show that scores of major multinational companies have sweet deals with the government of Luxembourg that help them avoid taxes in others nations.","Chile adds more believers after ousting Spain. RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Chile started the World Cup as rank outsiders. But by eliminating defending World Cup champion Spain with a 2-0 win on Wednesday and reaching the last 16 — with a game to spare — it suddenly has more believers.","Growing herbs a remedy for some Gaza economic woes. AL-QARARA, Gaza Strip (AP) — Gaza farmers have begun growing mint, basil and coriander, saying such herbs can serve as a remedy for some of the blockaded Palestinian territory's economic woes.","Tunisia's fishermen save rising tide of migrants. ZARZIS, Tunisia (AP) — The fishermen of this small North African port are used to catching sea bass and sea bream in their nets, but lately they've been hauling in something else: shipwrecked migrants fleeing war-ravaged Libya on flimsy boats.","Officials: US drone strike kills 8 in NW Pakistan. PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — Pakistani intelligence officials say a U.S. drone has fired two missiles at a compound in a northwestern tribal region, killing eight militants.","Florida university opens TB lab in Haiti. PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — The University of Florida is opening a state-of-the-art lab in Haiti to train researchers to better understand and fight tuberculosis.","PSG beats Evian 1-0 in France. PARIS (AP) — Paris Saint-Germain beat struggling Evian 1-0 to restore its 10-point lead over Monaco at the top of the French league on Wednesday.","US eases ban on lethal arms sales to Vietnam. WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States announced Thursday it was partially lifting its ban on sales of weaponry to Vietnam to help its maritime security in a sign of deepening ties between the former enemies.","Norway says time for Uganda to reduce troops in South Sudan. By Edmund Blair and Aaron Maasho ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) - Uganda should start withdrawing troops from South Sudan, where they have been backing government forces against rebels, to avoid worsening a crisis in the world's newest state, major donor Norway said on Wednesday. The comments were the clearest statement of concern from a member of the troika of South Sudan's main Western backers about the impact of Uganda's military presence. Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, who backed South Sudan's ruling SPLM in its long conflict with Sudan before independence in 2011, sent his troops across the border at Juba's invitation shortly after fighting began in mid-December. Both South Sudan's government and rebels have agreed to a ceasefire and shaky peace talks are due to resume in neighboring Ethiopia on February 7.","TSX may open lower as Ukraine referendum looms. (Reuters) - Canadian stock index futures pointed to a lower open on Friday on heightened tensions ahead of Ukraine's weekend referendum in Crimea. TOP STORIES Heightened tensions ahead of Ukraine's weekend referendum in Crimea and stresses over China's growth pushed world stocks to their lowest in a month on Friday and sent investors scurrying into safe-haven gold and bonds. The European Union has drawn up a list of 120-130 names of senior Russian officials who could be subjected to travel bans and asset freezes as part of EU sanctions, European officials told Reuters. ...","Gambia rebuffs Western criticism of anti-gay law. DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — The Gambian government is lashing out at Western donor nations that have criticized a new law that punishes some homosexual acts with life in prison.","Factbox: Indonesians elect a president. (Reuters) - Indonesia's third direct presidential election will be held on Wednesday, July 9. The race to lead the world's third-largest democracy is closely contested by ex-general Prabowo Subianto and Jakarta governor Joko \"Jokowi\" Widodo. Current President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is in the last year of his second term and is barred by the constitution from running again. DATES July 9 - Presidential election. Vote counting starts after polls close at 2 a.m. EDT. July 9 - Independent agencies provide a quick tally of votes counted across the country, by around 8 a.m. EDT. ...","Video shows Vietnam fishing vessel sink after collision with Chinese boat. Vietnam state television has broadcast video showing a Chinese ship colliding with a small Vietnamese fishing boat which capsizes in its path not far from where China has parked an oil rig in disputed waters. Vietnam and China have already traded accusations over who was to blame for the May 26 incident, as tensions fester between the two countries over the giant drilling platform in the South China Sea. The video, shot from a nearby Vietnamese craft, shows a much larger Chinese vessel steaming after two Vietnamese fishing boats. At the moment of impact, one man on the boat from where the footage was filmed yells in Vietnamese: \"Oh! The boat's sinking.\" Vietnamese fishing boats operating nearby rescued the 10 fishermen from the sunken vessel, the government and the coastguard have previously said.","German hostage freed in Yemen. Sanaa (AFP) - Yemeni tribesmen have freed a German man who was kidnapped in the capital Sanaa in late January, state news agency Saba reported on Tuesday.","Luise Rainer, first to win consecutive acting Oscars, dies. LONDON (AP) — Luise Rainer, a star of cinema's golden era who won back-to-back Oscars but then walked away from a glittering Hollywood career, has died. She was 104.","Toronto Mayor Ford opens re-election bid with 'cut the gravy' vow. By Cameron French TORONTO (Reuters) - Toronto Mayor Rob Ford launched his re-election campaign on Friday, acknowledging the crack-cocaine scandal that has made him a topic of water cooler talk across North America, but also happy to trade on his notoriety. Ford, whose authority was reduced last year by a city council fed up with his antics, took over a massive convention center in Toronto's west end for the event, hawking bobble-head dolls to raise funds ahead of the election on October 27. First elected mayor in 2010 on a cost-cutting platform, Ford has become indisputably the most famous leader in the city's history, and continues to poll relatively strongly in spite of a scandal that prompted staffers to desert him and has cost him nearly all of his allies on city council.","G7 to focus on Syria foreign fighters after Brussels attack. Leaders of the Group of Seven powers are hoping to draw up plans Wednesday on how to guard against the threat of attacks by European jihadists returning home from the Syrian front, diplomats said. In the wake of a fatal shooting at the Jewish Museum in Brussels just days ago, British and French diplomatic sources said the matter would be raised when G7 leaders kick off a two-day summit with talks over dinner. The gunman suspected of the May 24 attack in Brussels, who killed three people outright and left a fourth clinically dead, spent more than a year fighting in Syria. Europe can expect further \"small-scale attacks\" like the Brussels shooting, the EU's anti-terror chief Gilles de Kerchove said this week.","Murray to avoid controversy after Scotland tweet. LONDON (AP) — After publicly backing Scottish independence, Andy Murray says he doesn't plan regular interventions in political debates.","Japan to send officials to North Korea for update on abductee investigation. TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan is sending a team to North Korea next week for an update on the investigation into the fate of citizens kidnapped decades ago, despite the objections of some of their family members, its top government spokesman said on Wednesday. Japan eased some sanctions on North Korea in July in return for the North reopening its probe into the status of the abduction victims and had expected an initial report by early autumn, but Pyongyang said last month there were no details to report and invited Japanese officials to visit for an update. ...","North Yemen clashes kill 13. Renewed clashes between Shiite Huthi rebels and armed tribesmen have killed 13 people in northern Yemen, tribal sources said Tuesday. Heavy fighting erupted on Monday and continued Tuesday in Wadi Khaywan and Danan, in Amran province, between the rebels and Hashid tribesmen, sources said.","EU antitrust czar nears end of term with dragons to slay. By Paul Taylor PARIS (Reuters) - The clock is ticking for the European Union's antitrust czar, whose extensive powers put him in the front line of battles with some of the titans of the global economy. European Competition Commissioner Joaquin Almunia aims to take landmark decisions on the alleged abuse of dominant market positions by U.S. search engine king Google and Russian gas monopoly Gazprom in his remaining time. His term officially ends in November, but Brussels insiders say the Spanish socialist may be sidetracked by extra duties when some of his European Commission colleagues step down in April to contest the European Parliament election. Despite deep misgivings among software rivals, he seems poised to strike a deal with Google after having rejected the company's first two rounds of concessions, a senior EU official said.","Algerian Islamists to boycott presidential election. Algeria's main Islamist party, the Movement for the Society of Peace (MSP), on Saturday announced a boycott of the presidential election due to be held April 17. Party chief Abderrazak Mokri made the announcement to journalists following two days of debate within the MSP. President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, 76, has ruled for 14 years, and has still not officially declared that he will seek a fourth mandate. Despite his ailing health, the ruling National Liberation Front (FLN) in November named Bouteflika as its candidate.","Ukraine, Russia trade blame for shootout in east. BYLBASIVKA, Ukraine (AP) — Within hours of an Easter morning shootout at a checkpoint manned by pro-Russia insurgents in eastern Ukraine, Russia's Foreign Ministry issued a statement blaming militant Ukrainian nationalists and Russian state television stations aired pictures of supposed proof of their involvement in the attack that left at least three people dead.","Prince William to break new ground with US trip. London (AFP) - Prince William and his pregnant wife Kate head to New York on Sunday for a glitzy visit that marks a step-up in their role representing Britain abroad, royal commentators said.","Filipino sisters freed from 8 months of captivity. MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Two Filipino sisters kidnapped by Muslim extremists eight months ago escaped their captors in the jungles of the southern Philippines and told authorities they were kept in isolation in a hut on a meager diet.","Malawi rights groups to hold anti-govt protest vigils. Blantyre (Malawi) (AFP) - Rights groups in Malawi will launch anti-government protest vigils Thursday to press for quick action after an audit revealed officials had stolen at least $30 million from the state, organisers said. \"The vigil is the launching of a series of civil disobedience processes to be rolled out in Malawi,\" said Lucky Mbewe, spokesman of the Grand Coalition for the Defence of Democracy and the Constitution, which represents more than 200 local and international organisations. A much-awaited report by British auditors showed this week that $30 million (22 million euros) was stolen in six months from April to September in 2013, during President Joyce Banda's second year in office.","Euro zone industry stumbles in May. Euro zone industrial production dropped sharply in May with the energy sector the only one to thrive, data showed on Monday, highlighting the fragile state of the bloc's recovery. Output in the 18 countries sharing the euro dropped 1.1 percent on the month in May, following a 0.7 percent rise in April, the European Union's statistics office Eurostat said. Industrial production in the euro zone's three biggest economies - Germany, France and Italy - fell month-on-month. Germany saw the biggest drop since May 2013 with a 1.4 percent fall.","Greenland commission will probe Danish colonial abuses. By Stine Jacobsen COPENHAGEN (Reuters) - Greenland plans to force former colonial ruler Denmark to confront past human rights abuses against the island's indigenous Inuit people such as the confiscation of ancestral hunting grounds, its prime minister said. A new commission will begin this month to investigate the abuses, which also include removing children from Inuit families in the 1950s for better integration into Danish society. But the creation of the commission has already stirred anger in Denmark. The overwhelming majority of Greenland's 57,000 people are of Inuit decent, thinly spread out across the vast, barren North Atlantic island that is a quarter the size of the United States.","Tel Aviv: 5 free things for visitors to do. TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — As a city regularly ranked the most expensive in the Middle East, you are going to have a hard time enjoying Tel Aviv's plethora of hopping clubs, swanky bars and mouthwatering restaurants without making a major dent in your wallet. But if you are ready to pack a lunch, use your legs and lose yourself in the seaside city's urban vibe, you'll find there is still plenty to take in without shelling out a shekel.","Zimbabwe central bank has 'no tools' to fix economy. Zimbabwe's new central bank chief on Wednesday said the country's economy was weakening and the bank did not have the tools to fix it. In his first statement since assuming the role Reserve Bank governor on May 1, John Mangudya said the past three years had been tough for the economy and for many Zimbabweans. \"The economy is weaker and the financial system is depressed,\" he said, admitting that the \"Reserve Bank has no tools at the moment to influence the economy.\" Zimbabwe is saddled with high unemployment levels and a dearth of foreign investment.","More than 250 migrants may have died in shipwreck off Libya. More than 250 migrants may have died when a boat sank a kilometer (half a mile) off the Libyan coast, a coastguard official said on Sunday. \"We believe there are still more than 250 bodies trapped underwater,\" coastguard official Mohammad Abdellatif told Reuters. Thousands of migrants, mainly from sub-Saharan Africa, have crowded into rickety vessels in recent months in an effort to reach Italian shores.","Street theater in Mexico City's rough Tepito area. MEXICO CITY (AP) — Few outsiders dare venture after dark into Tepito, a neighborhood known as Mexico City's main clearinghouse for contraband ranging from guns and drugs to counterfeit sneakers.","France urges nationals to leave Libya due to security situation. France on Sunday called on all French nationals to leave Libya, which in the last two weeks has descended into its deadliest violence since the 2011 war that ousted Muammar Gaddafi. The United States evacuated its embassy in Libya on Saturday, driving diplomats across the border into Tunisia under heavy military escort after escalating clashes near the embassy compound in Tripoli.","Romanian president says new warship to come to Black Sea. Another U.S. warship will come to the Black Sea after destroyer USS Donald Cook will leave, Romanian president Traian Basescu told reporters in the Black Sea port of Constanta on Monday. Donald Cook arrived in the Black Sea last week for exercises and operations to improve interoperability, increase readiness and enhance relationships. Last month, a U.S. guided-missile destroyer conducted naval drills with Romania and Bulgaria in the Black Sea, in a show of Washington's military reach, in operations officials said were planned before Russia's annexation of Crimea.","Udinese beats Parma 4-2 to move 3rd in Serie A. MILAN (AP) — Antonio Di Natale scored twice as Udinese beat Parma 4-2 to move third in the Serie A standings on Monday.","End of the high life for Hong Kong's unwanted rooftop dwellers. Their precarious rooftop houses have offered refuge from an unaffordable Hong Kong property market, but some of the territory's poorest residents face losing their makeshift homes as the government seeks to dismantle them. The government says they are too unsafe -- and many of those who live in them agree. It costs at least several thousand (Hong Kong) dollars, we cannot afford it,\" said Su Xingyun, whose family of four lives in a tiny two-room rooftop hut which is under a government removal order. She says she has been applying for public housing for several years.","Anti-gay remarks at debate spark anger in Brazil. SAO PAULO (AP) — A minor character in Brazil's election faced a firestorm of criticism from activists on Monday after saying during a presidential debate that the country needs to stand up against gay people who should receive psychological help far away from the general population.","Cuevas beats Melzer at Malaysian Open. KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Fifth-seeded Pablo Cuevas of Uruguay opened the Malaysian Open with a 6-4, 7-6 (1) victory over Jurgen Melzer of Austria on Monday.","France to shun Rwanda genocide ceremony after Kagame accusations. France said on Saturday it had canceled plans to attend a ceremony marking the 20th anniversary of the Rwandan genocide following accusations of French involvement in the massacre by Rwandan President Paul Kagame. The African weekly Jeune Afrique quoted Kagame last month as saying in an interview that both France and Belgium had played a \"direct role ... in the political preparation of genocide and participation in its execution\". The French Foreign Ministry said France was \"surprised by the recent accusations made by the Rwandan president\", and that French Justice Minister Christiane Taubira, who had been due to travel to the Rwandan capital Kigali on Monday, would no longer attend the commemoration.","Czech Republic advances to Davis Cup semifinals. TOKYO (AP) — Radek Stepanek and Lukas Rosol beat Tatsuma Ito and Yasutaka Uchiyama of Japan 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 on Saturday as the Czech Republic advanced to the semifinals of the Davis Cup.","Man U held by Sunderland, leaving Van Gaal winless. SUNDERLAND, England (AP) — Louis van Gaal remains without a win as Manchester United manager after the team's opening-day loss was followed by a 1-1 draw at Sunderland in the Premier League on Sunday.","Chanderpaul hits century for WI against Bangladesh. CASTRIES, St. Lucia (AP) — Shivnarine Chanderpaul completed his 30th test century as the West Indies tightened its grip on the second test against Bangladesh on Tuesday, setting the tourists a victory target of 489 on day four.","Scientists set for historic comet landing attempt. BERLIN (AP) — Scientists at the European Space Agency are poised to begin a historic attempt to land a spacecraft on a comet.","13-year-old girl: My father gave me to Boko Haram. KANO, Nigeria (AP) — A 13-year-old says her father gave her to Boko Haram extremists and that she was arrested after refusing to explode a suicide bomb at a market in Kano, Nigeria's second largest city in the north.","Palestinians say Israeli extremists killed boy. JERUSALEM (AP) — A Palestinian teen was abducted and killed Wednesday, Palestinians said, accusing Israeli settlers of carrying out a revenge attack for the deaths of three Israeli youths. The accusation sparked clashes with Israeli forces and demands by the Palestinian president that Israel hold the killers accountable.","Britain's Major calls UKIP the 'anti-everything' party. BERLIN (Reuters) - Britain's former prime minister John Major called Eurosceptic party UKIP a \"thoroughly negative body\" which should be pushed back onto the political sidelines, during an appearance in Berlin on Thursday. UKIP, which wants to take Britain out of the European Union, has poached two lawmakers and taken a parliamentary seat from Major's ruling Conservative party in recent months, and is expected to make more gains in May elections. ...","AP EXCLUSIVE: CIA halts spying in Europe. WASHINGTON (AP) — The CIA has curbed spying on friendly governments in Western Europe in response to the furor over a German caught selling secrets to the United States and the Edward Snowden revelations of classified information held by the National Security Agency, according to current and former U.S. officials.","Swift takes Basque fifth, Contador stays in front. Britain's Ben Swift claimed victory on the fifth stage of the Tour of the Basque Country on Friday as Alberto Contador maintained his overall lead. Swift, riding for Team Sky, timed his sprint to the line perfectly to take the 160.2km stage from Eibar to Markina-Xemein ahead of Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) and Michal Kwiatowski (Omega Pharma-QuickStep) in a time of 3hr 56min 56sec. Italy's Damiano Cunego (Lampre), Australian Cadel Evans (BMC), Frenchman Jean-Christophe Peraud (Ag2r) and Russia's Yury Trofimov (Katusha) are all tied for third a further 24 seconds back.","CN Rail service to resume after fiery Canada derailment. TORONTO (Reuters) - Canadian National Railway will resume service on a line in rural Saskatchewan on Wednesday after workers removed debris from a fiery train derailment that occurred a day earlier and led to the evacuation of a nearby village. Twenty-six cars derailed near the community of Clair, Saskatchewan, on Tuesday. Six of the derailed cars were carrying dangerous goods, and two of the cars, loaded with petroleum distillate, caught fire. The four other derailed cars that were carrying dangerous goods were intact. Two were hauling hydrochloric acid and two were hauling caustic soda. ...","Even before he is crowned, India's Modi struts the global stage. By John Chalmers NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Narendra Modi will be sworn in on Monday as India's prime minister at a glittering ceremony that will be as much a show of his determination to be a key player on the global stage as a celebration of his stunning election victory. For the first time in India's history, a clutch of South Asian leaders will be among the guests watching Modi's inauguration at the presidential palace in New Delhi - including the prime minister of arch-rival Pakistan, Nawaz Sharif. Modi's Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its allies swept India's elections this month, ousting the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty in a seismic political shift that has given his party a mandate for sweeping economic reform. Modi, 63, has spoken with the presidents of the United States and Russia, and he has become one of only three people that Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe follows on Twitter.","American diggers identify tomb of Egypt pharaoh. A US team in Egypt has identified the tomb of pharaoh Sobekhotep I, believed to be the founder of the 13th dynasty 3,800 years ago, the antiquities minister said Monday. The team from the University of Pennsylvania had discovered the quartzite sarcophagus of Sobekhotep I, which weighed about 60 tonnes, a year ago, but was unable to identify who it belonged to until last week, the ministry said. Its identity was established after the team found fragments of a slab inscribed with the pharaoh's name and showed him sitting on a throne, Antiquities Minister Mohamed Ibrahim said in a statement. \"He is likely the first who ruled Egypt at the start of the 13th dynasty during the second intermediate period,\" the minister said.","Owner arrested over Lincoln dog attack. London (AFP) - The owner of a dog that mauled a woman in Lincoln and left her with serious head injuries has been arrested, police said on Monday.","Nine Ugandan soldiers killed in South Sudan: army. Nine Ugandan soldiers have been killed and 12 others wounded during a month fighting in South Sudan, the army said Tuesday, dismissing rebel claims to have killed scores. Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni confirmed last week that troops had been killed during combat in the war-ravaged young nation in support of President Salva Kiir. However, army spokesman Paddy Ankunda said Tuesday that nine had died in a single rebel ambush. \"Uganda has lost nine soldiers and 12 injured in South Sudan.\"","Case against Congolese militia leader is test for global court. Congolese militia leader Bosco Ntaganda appears at the International Criminal Court on Monday charged with war crimes and other atrocities in a hearing that will be a test for the global legal institution after a string of troubled cases. Ntaganda is accused of crimes against humanity and war crimes including murder and rape, all allegedly committed during a 2002-03 conflict in the mineral-rich east of the Democratic Republic of Congo. The court, 11 years old this year, has handed down just one conviction - jailing another Congolese warlord, Thomas Lubanga, for 14 years in 2012 for using child soldiers. The session will be a test of chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda's promise that cases will be \"trial ready\" by the time they come to court - an implicit response to criticisms by academics and member states of earlier cases which collapsed when judges ruled evidence was not strong enough.","Overtime fraud trial begins for Guam govt employee. HAGATNA, Guam (AP) — Federal prosecutors say several public works employees in Guam claimed inflated and false overtime as part of a scheme to collect extra pay.","Ebola riot in S. Leone kills two as WHO to launch vaccine trials. Freetown (AFP) - Tensions surrounding the Ebola epidemic raging in west Africa sparked a deadly riot in Sierra Leone as the World Health Organization prepared Wednesday to coordinate clinical trials of an experimental vaccine against the killer virus.","Egypt bus blast near Israel border 'kills three tourists'. Cairo (AFP) - A blast ripped through a bus near an Egyptian resort town bordering Israel on Sunday, killing at least three foreign tourists, police said.","NY police: Heroin found at Philip Seymour Hoffman's home tests negative for additive fentanyl. NEW YORK, N.Y. - Heroin recovered at Oscar-winning actor Philip Seymour Hoffman's apartment after he was found there dead with a syringe in his arm has tested negative for the powerful additive fentanyl, a police official said.","Syrian planes pound rebel town near Lebanon border. BEIRUT (AP) — Activists say that Syrian warplanes are pounding a rebel-held town near Lebanon's border in an apparent attempt to dislodge opposition fighters from the area.","Catalonia head says vote on independence from Spain will not go ahead as planned. MADRID (Reuters) - The head of Spain's Catalonia region Artur Mas on Tuesday said a referendum on independence from Spain will not go ahead as planned on Nov. 9 although another vote, a \"consultation of citizens\", will take place that day. Mas said this new vote would be within the law and its results would be known on Nov. 10. (Reporting by Julien Toyer, Editing by Sarah White)","Australia, Netherlands to send unarmed force to MH17 site. Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said his country's police will Sunday join the first contingent of an unarmed, Dutch-led international humanitarian mission entering the MH17 crash site in eastern Ukraine to recover victims' remains. Abbott said a deal to allow the police mission into the rebel-held territory was reached after discussions were held in Donetsk, Ukraine, under the auspices of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe. \"Today, I announce that the Australian Federal Police will be deployed to the site as part of an unarmed, Dutch-led international humanitarian mission,\" Abbott said at a press conference in Canberra Sunday. The prime minister stressed that while Australian Defence Force (ADF) personnel were part of the team his country had sent to Europe after the plane crash, the operation was \"not a military one\".","Bombings in Iraqi capital kill at least 23 people. BAGHDAD (AP) — A wave of explosions rocked mainly Shiite neighborhoods in Baghdad shortly after sunset on Monday, killing at least 23 people and wounding dozens, officials said.","Iran denies report linking Iraq cooperation to nuclear talks. Iran denied a report that it is ready to help counter Islamic State insurgents in return for progress in negotiations with world powers over its nuclear program. France, one of the six nations in nuclear talks with Tehran, said on Wednesday it wanted Arab states, Iran and the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council to coordinate a comprehensive response against Islamic State, whose militant forces control large parts of Syria and Iraq. The Sunni Islamist insurgency threatening to tear apart Iraq has alarmed both Shi'ite Muslim Iran and the United States, which have had no diplomatic relations since soon after the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Tehran.","Cruise line ends 10-day Caribbean cruise after illness outbreak sickens over 500 people. KINGSTON, Jamaica - The Royal Caribbean cruise line on Sunday ended a ship's 10-day trip in the Caribbean early after hundreds of passengers and crew members were sickened with a gastrointestinal illness.","Humanitarian crisis looms in western Myanmar as foreign aid workers leave. With food stocks dwindling and prices rising by the hour in his camp for displaced Rohingya in Myanmar's Rakhine state, Hla Maung decided to ask a friend in the neighbouring village for food. The situation is about to get dramatically worse for Hla Maung and tens of thousands of others dependent on food and water rations, said humanitarian workers evacuated after recent riots in the state capital, Sittwe. At least 20,000 people in displacement camps around Sittwe will run out of drinking water within 10 days, while food stocks will run out within two weeks, imperilling thousands more. The overall numbers of people facing shortages are likely much higher, because the aid workers were referring only to communities in the Sittwe area.","Canada's Gagnon wins Altenmarkt super-combined. Altenmarkt (Austria) (AFP) - Canada's Marie-Michele Gagnon won the women's super-combined in Altenmarkt on Sunday, scoring a first ever World Cup victory in a surprise result. The 24-year-old finished with a total time of 2min 05.55sec after one super-G and one slalom run, ahead of Austrian Michaela Kirchgasser and German double Olympic champion Maria Hoefl-Riesch. Kirchgasser improved from a 20th place after the super-G to take her fourth World Cup super-combined podium. The leader after the first round, Austria's Nicole Hosp looked strong at the start of the slalom as she chased her first World Cup win in six years.","Kurdish forces kill 16 jihadists in Syria. Kurdish forces killed at least 16 Islamic State group fighters in an attack on Saturday in northeast Syria near the border with Turkey, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. The assault targeted IS positions south of the town of Ras al-Ain in Hasakeh province, the Britain-based monitoring group added. Ras al-Ain was the scene of fierce fighting last year before Kurdish forces ousted the jihadists from the border town. The Observatory, which relies on activists and medics on the ground for its information, also reported clashes at the jihadist-besieged border town of Kobane, some 100 kilometres (60 miles) away.","Egypt's Morsi trial adjourned to March 1. An Egyptian court on Wednesday adjourned the murder trial of ousted president Mohamed Morsi to March 1, to review video evidence against the Islamist. Morsi and 14 co-defendants, some of them former aides, are charged with inciting the killings of opposition protesters outside the presidential palace in December 2012. The court also postponed witness testimony scheduled for Wednesday's session, after Morsi's defence requested more time to prepare for cross examination. Morsi was present in the court, inside a soundproof glass dock to prevent him from interrupting proceedings with defiant outbursts, as he had done in previous hearings.","Sierra Leone begins 3-day Ebola lockdown. FREETOWN, Sierra Leone (AP) — Sierra Leone confined its 6 million people to their homes Friday for the next three days as the Ebola-ravaged West African country began what was believed to be the most sweeping lockdown against disease since the Middle Ages.","Robben says he won't change despite penalty furor. RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Arjen Robben says he won't change his playing style or personality after winning a decisive stoppage-time penalty in the Netherlands' 2-1 win against Mexico.","Builder Persimmon buoys London's FTSE after Help to Buy extension. Britian's benchmark FTSE 100 index edged higher in early trading on Monday, with housebuilder Persimmon the morning's strongest riser by far. Also apparently benefiting from the news of greater housing market support was Ashtead Group, which rents out construction and industrial equipment, whose shares were the day's second highest riser at 919.5 pence, up 2.17 percent.","Penguins agree to sign defenseman Ehrhoff. The Pittsburgh Penguins addressed a significant need on their blue line by signing veteran Germany defenseman Christian Ehrhoff to a one-year, $4 million contract.","Kremlin tells media to play down investment forum boycott: email. By Dmitry Zhdannikov ST PETERSBURG, Russia (Reuters) - Global business leaders are thin on the ground at Russia's main investment conference in the face of government pressure to stay away because of the Ukraine crisis, but the Kremlin has advised Russian media not to make a big deal of it. In a confidential email seen by Reuters, the Kremlin advised loyal and state-run organizations to focus instead on the growing participation of Asian investors and the quality of discussions at the St Petersburg International Economic Forum. \"The quality and number of companies participating has not decreased,\" the Kremlin message said, after big names were conspicuous in their absence following the imposition of U.S. and European Union sanctions on Moscow over Ukraine. The remark may not go down well with chief executives who showed up on Thursday, the first day of the forum, despite suggestions by Washington that it is \"inappropriate\" to attend following Russia's annexation of Crimea from Ukraine.","Support for Scottish independence rising: Panelbase poll shows. Support for Scottish independence has risen, a poll for the Sunday Times showed, leaving a referendum on Thursday over whether to split with the rest of the United Kingdom balanced on a knife edge. The Panelbase poll for the Sunday Times showed a rise in support for independence to 49 percent, up one point since last weekend, with pro-unionists at 51 percent.","China expresses regret at U.S. failure to pass IMF reforms. BEIJING (Reuters) - China expressed regret on Friday at the failure of U.S. Congress to pass reforms to give emerging markets greater say at the International Monetary Fund. The White House signed off on the reforms in 2010, but U.S. lawmakers need to back changes in how the IMF is funded before they can be put into place, given Washington's position as a controlling shareholder in the global lender. But a must-pass $1.1 trillion U.S. spending bill unveiled late on Tuesday omits the IMF voting reform provision, dooming prospects that it will get passed by a year-end deadline. ...","Britain's Prince Philip has 'minor medical procedure' on his hand. Prince Philip, the 92-year-old husband of the Queen, has undergone a minor medical procedure on his right hand but royal officials were quick to downplay any health concerns on Wednesday, saying he was attending a garden party. A spokeswoman for Buckingham Palace said Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, underwent the procedure at the palace on Tuesday which meant his hand needed a bandage as protection. He is currently in the middle of a garden party,\" the spokeswoman said.","Norway's former PM Jens Stoltenberg named new NATO chief. Brussels (AFP) - Former Norwegian premier Jens Stoltenberg was named the next NATO chief on Friday, taking over from current secretary general Anders Fogh Rasmussen, the alliance said.","Kiribati leader visits Arctic on climate mission. STOCKHOLM (AP) — The president of Kiribati who fears that his Pacific island nation could be swallowed by a rising ocean, says a visit to the melting Arctic has helped him appreciate the scale of the threat.","Namibia's ruling party seen winning Africa's first electronic vote. By Wendell Roelf WINDHOEK (Reuters) - Namibians voted on Friday in Africa's first electronic election that is expected see the SWAPO party extend its 24-year rule with people in the mineral-rich country seeking stability in the face of a global commodities downturn. Namibia has one of Africa's healthiest economies and SWAPO, the former liberation movement that secured independence from South Africa, has maintained its popular support although dissent is growing over inequality and a lack of housing. ...","Former Sevilla president Del Nido jailed. SEVILLE, Spain (AP) — Former Sevilla president Jose Maria del Nido began serving a seven-year jail sentence on Wednesday.","TSX may open higher on Bernanke's comments. (Reuters) - Canadian stock index futures pointed to a flat to slightly higher open on Monday as Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke's upbeat outlook for the U.S. economy overshadowed weak services sector data from China. ($1= $1.06 Canadian) (Reporting by Samarendra Sahoo in Bangalore; Editing by Nick Zieminski)","Tunisia coastguard rescues 90 illegals after breakdown. Zarzis (Tunisia) (AFP) - Tunisian coastguards on Saturday intercepted 90 African migrants whose makeshift boat heading from Libya for the Italian island of Lampedusa broke down off Zarzis, the Red Crescent said.","Suspected suicide blast hits heart of Pakistani capital: police. A bomb explosion hit the heart of the Pakistani capital on Saturday morning and police said it was caused by a suspected suicide bomber whose vest may have detonated prematurely. The suspected bomber was in critical condition after the blast at a popular complex of shops in Islamabad but no one else was wounded, a senior policeman at the scene told Reuters. The blast came after a week when Pakistani military jets pounded suspected militant hideouts. Islamabad has been relatively peaceful in recent years, but in the past few months it was hit by an attack on the district court and a bombing at a vegetable market that killed 22 and wounded scores of others.","Chinese, Russian media turn criticisms back on US. BEIJING (AP) — Chinese and Russian state media have seized on the U.S. police shooting of an unarmed black 18-year-old and ensuing protests to fire back at Washington's criticisms of their own governments, portraying the United States as a land of inequality and brutal police tactics.","Israel says Gaza has used up or lost half its rockets. Israel's army said on Saturday Gaza-based militants had used up or lost about half of their rockets in 12 days of fighting - though the Islamist fighters say they have been replenishing their arsenal. The Israeli military said Palestinian fighters had fired at least 1,705 rockets out of an estimated stockpile of about 10,000, a depletion of about 17 percent. \"I think that we have hit and destroyed 30 to 40 percent of the rockets,\" chief military spokesman Brigadier-General Moti Almoz said, referring to an Israeli offensive on Gaza that escalated on Thursday. Israel says it has launched air strikes, naval barrages and a ground assault in Gaza, controlled by Islamist group Hamas, to halt rockets fired into Israeli territory.","Spain's Repsol accepts $5B for Argentine unit. MADRID (AP) — Spain's Repsol energy firm says its board has accepted a $5 billion (3.6 billion euro) offer from Argentina as compensation for the South American country's seizure of the company's YPF petroleum division.","Europe seizes command over Americans at Ryder Cup. Gleneagles (United Kingdom) (AFP) - European golfers tightened their grip on the Ryder Cup, stretching their lead over the United States to 10-6 after Saturday's foursomes and fourball matches at Gleneagles.","Appeals court rules against California growers over Delta smelt. By Dan Levine SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - As California faces a historic drought, a U.S. appeals court on Thursday sided with federal wildlife regulators who had recommended that the state reduce exports of water from north to south California in order to protect a finger-sized fish, the threatened Delta smelt. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against growers and California water districts in the case and said a lower court had erred in describing the regulators' determination as arbitrary and capricious. In a blog post, Damien Schiff, an attorney for growers, said the ruling \"is terribly disappointing and bodes ill for farmers, farm laborers and millions of other Californians dependent on a reliable water supply.\" Efforts to save the Delta smelt, which lives only in the wetlands stretching north of San Francisco, have become the most visible battle over water in drought-hit California, pitting environmentalists against farmers who say that humans' interests are being put second to a small fish.","Cyprus passes 5th bailout review. NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) — Cyprus' international creditors say the country's bailout program is making good progress as fiscal targets have been comfortably met, welfare reform has move forward and more steps have been taken to shore up the weak banking sector.","Al-Qaida fighters storm security base in Yemen. SANAA, Yemen (AP) — Yemeni officials say suspected al-Qaida militants overran a security base south of the capital, Sanaa, killing three policemen before fleeing to nearby mountains.","Afghanistan hangs five men over gang rape despite concerns of rights groups. By Mirwais Harooni KABUL (Reuters) - Afghanistan hanged five men on Wednesday over a gang rape that had shocked the country, officials said, despite requests from human rights groups for new President Ashraf Ghani to stay the executions to address concerns about the handling of the case. A gang rape by armed men is rare in Kabul, the capital, and the case tapped into a vein of anxiety as foreign troops leave the country while a badly stretched Afghan army and police fight a deadly Taliban insurgency. ...","Amnesty accuses Ukraine rivals of war crimes. Amnesty International accused rival fighters in the Ukraine conflict of war crimes including indiscriminate shelling, abductions, torture, and killings, in a report compiled ahead of the ceasefire deal. \"All sides in this conflict have shown disregard for civilian lives and are blatantly violating their international obligations,\" Amnesty Secretary General Salil Shetty said in the report published Sunday. The London-based rights group also charged that Russia -- accused by the West of secretly sending in troops and heavy weapons to support the rebels -- had been \"fuelling separatist crimes\" in Ukraine. \"Their testimonies suggest that the attacks were indiscriminate and may amount to war crimes,\" it said.","GM unit gets subpoena over subprime auto loans. (Reuters) - General Motors Co's auto financing arm said it received a subpoena from the U.S. Department of Justice to produce documents related to subprime auto loans since 2007. The subpoena requests information relating to the underwriting criteria used to originate these automobile loan contracts, among other matters, General Motors Financial Co Inc said in a regulatory filing on Monday. (Reporting by Sagarika Jaisinghani in Bangalore; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila)","West Bank exhibit gives Gaza artists rare showcase. GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — The Gaza Strip is tough turf for artists. An Israeli-Egyptian border blockade of the Hamas-ruled territory keeps them away from an international audience and potential buyers, while the local art market is close to nil.","I.Coast's former first lady to face trial October 22. Abidjan (AFP) - Ivory Coast's former first lady Simone Gbagbo, who has been accused of genocide for her role in deadly post-election violence, will go on trial on October 22, her lawyer said Tuesday.","Lorenzo signs 2-year extension with Yamaha. MADRID (AP) — Former MotoGP champion Jorge Lorenzo has agreed to a two-year contract extension with team Yamaha.","Reporter's death galvanizes anger, little action. PARIS (AP) — The killing of an American reporter is galvanizing international anger at Islamic State extremists and fueling fears about the flow of foreign fighters joining their ranks. But governments from the Mideast to Europe and even Washington appear uncertain about how to stop them.","Fear hackers? Sochi is little worse than elsewhere. LONDON (AP) — How safe is Sochi for your electronics and personal data?","Suicide attack in Pakistan kills 5. ISLAMABAD (AP) — A suicide bomber blew himself up Wednesday near a vehicle carrying Pakistani military personnel, killing two officers, both lieutenant colonels, and three civilians near the capital Islamabad, the military said in a statement.","Vaultier wins men's snowboardcross at Olympics. KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia (AP) — Pierre Vaultier of France held off hard-charging Nikolay Olyunin of Russia to win gold in men's Olympic snowboardcross on Tuesday.","Afghanistan's presidential campaign to begin. KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — The posters are printed. The rallies are organized. A televised debate is planned.","Modi orders Indian officials to clean loos on Gandhi's birthday. By Manoj Kumar NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India's new Prime Minister Narendra Modi has ordered government officers to work on Mahatma Gandhi's birthday, a national holiday, to clean ministries - including toilets - in a nationwide cleanliness drive. Modi plans to honor the independence hero by launching on Thursday the Clean India campaign, which aims to solve the country's sanitation and rubbish problems within five years to mark the 150th anniversary of Gandhi's Oct 2 birthday. ...","Nishikori beats Dodig to advance at Japan Open. TOKYO (AP) — Fourth-seeded Kei Nishikori of Japan beat Ivan Dodig of Croatia 6-3, 6-4 to advance to the second round of the Japan Open on Wednesday.","Swedish princess gives to daughter. COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — Sweden's Royal Palace says Princess Madeleine has given birth to a daughter in New York City — the first child for her and American husband, banker Christopher O'Neill.","Colombia's FARC rebels confirm they have captured army general. HAVANA (Reuters) - Colombia's FARC rebels confirmed in a statement on Tuesday they have captured Colombian army General Ruben Dario Alzate, whose kidnapping on Sunday led the government to suspend two-year-old peace talks taking place in Havana. (Reporting by Daniel Trotta; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)","Bale homecoming, Rodriguez set for debut. CARDIFF, Wales (AP) — There's little doubt the UEFA Super Cup's star local attraction will be Gareth Bale, the Cardiff boy turned $130-million Real Madrid star, playing for the Spanish giants on home soil for the first time.","IMF says Ebola having 'acute' impact on West African economies. The worst ever outbreak of the Ebola disease is likely to lead to sharply lower growth in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone and raise financing needs in all three West African countries, an IMF spokesman said on Thursday. \"The Ebola outbreak is having an acute macroeconomic and social impact on three already fragile countries in West Africa,\" IMF spokesman Gerry Rice told reporters. \"We are actively working with all three countries to prepare a preliminary economic assessment of the impact of the Ebola crisis, and additional financing support that may be required.\" All three countries are already getting IMF loans under the extended credit facility, a longer-term IMF program available for poor countries with protracted balance of payments problems. Guinea has a three-year, $200 million IMF program, Liberia is getting about $80 million over three years, and Sierra Leone has a three-year IMF program of about $96 million.","Argentina wants deal with all holdout investors together. By Alejandro Lifschitz BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) - Argentina's government on Wednesday ruled out further piecemeal debt talks with a small group of U.S. Latin America's No. 3 economy fell into default again last month after failing to reach an agreement with a group of holdout funds led by NML Capital Ltd and Aurelius Capital Management, which are suing for full payment on their bonds.","Tesla to raise $1.6 billion to build battery factory. (Reuters) - Tesla Motors Inc said on Wednesday that it plans to raise $1.6 billion from investors to build a new battery factory that will help the company reach its goal of producing a lower-priced, mass-market electric car by 2017. The Palo Alto, California-based maker of high-priced electric cars would raise the money through a sale of convertible senior notes, half of them due in 2019 and the other half in 2021, it said in an 8-K filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, The money is expected to help fund a new U.S. car battery plant that Tesla expects to go online in 2017 and bolster the supply of the lithium-ion batteries that power the company's electric vehicles. The company said that by 2020, the Gigafactory will produce \"more lithium ion batteries annually than were produced worldwide in 2013.\" (Reporting by James B. Kelleher and Bernie Woodall in Detroit;","Pole-vaulter Lavillenie pulls out of world champs. PARIS (AP) — New indoor pole vault world record-holder Renaud Lavillenie will not defend his title in the world championships next month because of a foot injury.","Kashima beats Shimizu 1-0 to lead J-League. KASHIMA, Japan (AP) — Luis Alberto's first goal of the season propelled Kashima Antlers past Shimizu S-Pulse 2-1 and back into first place in the J-League on Tuesday.","Exclusive: Icahn says Family Dollar wasting over $300 million in breakup fees. By Jennifer Ablan NEW YORK (Reuters) - Billionaire activist investor Carl Icahn told Reuters late Monday that efforts by Family Dollar’s board to fend off competing bids in favor of a deal with Dollar Tree have resulted in more than $300 million being needlessly spent on breakup fees. Icahn has pushed Family Dollar to sell itself to Dollar General and has been openly critical of Family Dollar Chief Executive Howard Levine, who would have retained his position after an acquisition by Dollar Tree. On Monday, Dollar General offered to buy Family Dollar Stores for $8.9 billion, trumping an agreed-to merger with its rival Dollar Tree and aiming to strengthen its dominance of a growing segment of retailers serving penny-pinching customers.","Divers pumping air into submerged SKorean ship. MOKPO, South Korea (AP) — Coast guard officials say divers have begun pumping air into a submerged South Korean ship 48 hours after it listed and sank. But it wasn't immediately clear if the air was for survivors or for a salvage operation.","Samsung earns $6.1 billion, shares plunge. SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Samsung earned $6.1 billion last quarter but investors were dissatisfied, sending its share price down 4 percent. The panoply of numbers in its earnings report for the April-June quarter show why.","Zimbabwe puts Australia in to bat in ODI. HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) — Zimbabwe won the toss and sent Australia in to bat in the opening game of the triangular one-day international series at Harare Sports Club on Monday.","Indian defense minister says Pakistan border clashes 'extremely serious'. NEW DELHI (Reuters) - A series of clashes along India's border with Pakistan are extremely serious, provocative and not conclusive to talks, Defense Minister Arun Jaitley said on Saturday. The nuclear-armed arch rivals recently called off top level diplomatic talks after Pakistan held talks with separatists from the disputed region of Kashmir. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said he was disappointed that Pakistan had made a \"spectacle\" of the peace efforts. ...","Obama: Reported comments by team owner 'racist'. KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — President Barack Obama on Sunday described comments reportedly made by the owner of the Los Angeles Clippers \"incredibly offensive racist statements,\" before casting them as part of a continuing legacy of slavery and segregation that Americans must vigilantly fight.","Svindal struggles in Olympic super-G, finishes 7th. KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia (AP) — By his count, Aksel Lund Svindal made not one, not two, not three, but four bad turns near the top of the super-G course on Sunday.","Syrian TV: Huge explosion levels Aleppo hotel. BEIRUT (AP) — Syrian state television is reporting that a \"huge explosion\" in the northern city of Aleppo has leveled a hotel and several other buildings in a government-held area.","Catalan clubs face La Liga axe if region secedes. MADRID (AP) — The president of La Liga says Catalan clubs like Barcelona and Espanyol would be excluded from Spain's top tier should the region succeed in its push for independence from Spain.","Spotify's Top 10 most streamed tracks. The following list represents the most streamed tracks on Spotify, based on the number of people who shared it divided by the number who listened to it, from Monday, Nov. 10 to Sunday Nov. 16 via Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter and Spotify.","Lebanon news agency says two rockets fired from south Lebanon towards Israel. BEIRUT (Reuters) - Lebanon's national news agency said on Friday two rockets were fired from southern Lebanon towards Israel at 6.30 a.m. local time (0030 ET). The agency said it was not clear who had fired the rockets, which were launched from the Hasbaya area towards \"occupied territories\". (Reporting by Sylvia Westall; Editing by Paul Tait)","EU has 'blood on its hands' over Ukraine: Farage. Eurosceptic leader Nigel Farage came under fire Thursday for saying that the EU was to blame for provoking Russian President Vladimir Putin to take action in Ukraine. Farage, the head of the UK Independence Party, said in a televised debate with Liberal Democrat Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg on Wednesday that the EU had \"blood on its hands.\" Britain had encouraged the 28-member bloc to pursue an \"imperialist, expansionist\" agenda in Ukraine, which had led to the uprising in Kiev and Russia's absorption of Crimea earlier this month, said Farage. \"We have given a false series of hopes to a group of people in the western Ukraine and so geed up were they that they actually toppled their own elected leader.","Turkey bans YouTube after Syria security talk leaked. Turkey banned YouTube on Thursday after the video-sharing website was used to spread damaging leaked audio files from a state security meeting debating possible military action in Syria. The recording purports to be of senior Turkish government, military and spy officials discussing plans to stage an armed clash in Syria or a missile attack that would serve as a pretext for a military response. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan -- already ensnared in a corruption scandal and hit by recent mass protests ahead of crucial local elections on Sunday -- angrily lashed out at his political opponents for leaking the recording. \"They have leaked something on YouTube today,\" he told a campaign rally in the southeastern province of Diyarbakir.","Pronounced dead, 91-year-old Polish woman awakens. WARSAW, Poland (AP) — A Polish doctor says she has been in \"deep shock\" since learning that a 91-year-old woman she pronounced dead woke up in a morgue.","Canadian sues hospital for shortening penis in botched surgery. A Canadian man is suing a Montreal area hospital over a botched surgery that left his penis one inch shorter, claiming it ruined his sex life and his marriage, media said Friday. The man, whose identity was withheld by Sun Media, told the newspaper chain he had been rushed to hospital in 2011 with a fractured appendage. He is seeking Can$155,000 ($142,680) in damages for negligence and \"indescribable anguish,\" according to a statement of claim cited by Sun Media.","Ford to recall about 434,000 vehicles. (Reuters) - Ford Motor Co said on Monday it would recall about 434,700 vehicles mainly in North America due to two separate and unrelated issues. Ford said that rusting could occur in vehicles used in high-corrosion environments, particularly those areas where salt was used on the roads to melt ice. The company also said it was calling back about 48,950 model-year 2013-2014 Fusion, Lincoln MKZ, Escape and C-MAX vehicles to replace seat-back frames that did not comply with National Highway Traffic Safety Administration standards.","Court asked if \"No cops\" sign enough to ward off police. A man prosecuted for selling marijuana has asked Canada's high court to weigh in on whether posting a \"No Cops\" sign should have warded off police scrutiny of his storefront. The defendant operated a small shop selling drug paraphernalia in Abbotsford, British Columbia. The man's lawyer also wrote to the market town's police chief advising officials they are not welcome at the store.","Northern Ireland's first minister tells Scots 'don't go'. By Maurice Neil BELFAST (Reuters) - Northern Ireland's first minister said on Monday he would summon \"every fiber of his being\" to urge Scottish voters not to leave the United Kingdom as fellow Unionists fretted about next week's referendum. Peter Robinson, whose Protestant Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) shares power with nationalist Sinn Fein in the British-controlled province's devolved government, said it would be a tragedy to lose a \"family member\" Northern Ireland has so much in common with. \"I respect the fact that it's their choice, but summon every fiber of my being to say don't go! Stay and continue to shape our nation,\" Robinson wrote in an opinion piece in Northern Ireland's Newsletter newspaper. \"Devolving power into the hands of locally accountable political institutions helps to solidify the Union, not dilute it.\" A Scottish exit would be a huge psychological blow to Northern Ireland's loyalists, who express their allegiance to London by lining their streets with Britain's Union Jack flags, some even painting kerbstones in its red, white and blue.","Russian suspected of spying resists leaving Poland. WARSAW, Poland (AP) — A Russian journalist suspected of spying in Poland says he is fighting an attempt by Polish authorities to expel him and says he wants the case against him to be declassified.","Lebanon imposes new measures against Ebola. BEIRUT (AP) — Lebanon is imposing new measures to prevent the Ebola virus from reaching the Middle Eastern nation, the health minister said Monday.","Frustration lingers in Rwanda amid France genocide spat. As France digs in its heels and maintains it has nothing to apologise for when it comes to the Rwandan genocide, ordinary victims and survivors are unimpressed: the French authorities, they say, should say sorry. Feeling insulted by renewed allegations from Rwandan President Paul Kagame of French complicity, France's Justice Minister Christiane Taubira cancelled her trip to Kigali for a memorial ceremony. Rwanda in turn decided that a downgraded French presence at the commemorations was not on, and told France's ambassador to Kigali to stay at home.","New Australian law targets leakers, not reporters. CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Australia's attorney-general says a contentious new law that carries a prison term for anyone who reveals information about certain secret security operations was aimed at Edward Snowden-like leakers rather than investigative reporters.","Israel says foiled Hamas plans for Jerusalem attacks. JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel said on Thursday it had foiled plans by Islamist group Hamas to attack Israelis in Jerusalem's largest soccer stadium, other parts of the city and the occupied West Bank. Israel's Shin Bet security service said it had arrested 30 members of the group in September, some of whom had received weapons and explosives training from Hamas militants in Jordan and the Gaza Strip. Planning for attacks against Israeli targets, including Jerusalem's Teddy soccer stadium and the city's light railway, was carried out by Hamas officials in Turkey, Shin Bet added in a statement. ...","Piracy expected to increase ahead of Nigeria's election. By Ole Mikkelsen COPENHAGEN (Reuters) - Piracy will increase in the Gulf of Guinea as Nigeria prepares for an election next February in order to funnel ransom money into campaign financing, intelligence experts told a shipping conference in Copenhagen on Tuesday. Risk Intelligence, which advises private shipping companies and governments on security, said two \"mother ships\" belonging to pirates are currently located just south of Nigeria and five seafarers are know to be held hostage onshore. ...","Indonesia releases man accused of hijack scare. BALI, Indonesia (AP) — Indonesia says it has released an Australian man who caused a hijack scare on a Virgin Australia flight to Bali by trying to break into the cockpit.","2 Peru governor candidates win despite drug probes. LIMA, Peru (AP) — Two gubernatorial candidates under investigation for drug trafficking-related crimes have won election in Peru and two face runoffs after a nationwide vote for mayors, governors and municipal councils.","First plant in Morocco solar mega-project to open in 2015. Ouarzazate (Morocco) (AFP) - Morocco's first solar energy plant will begin operating in 2015, an official said Sunday, as part of a multi-billion-euro project the oil-scarce kingdom hopes will satisfy its growing energy needs.","Brazil investigates alleged assault of US tourist. SAO PAULO (AP) — Police are investigating the alleged assault of an American woman visiting the Brazilian World Cup host city of Cuiaba, but a medical examiner's report said Saturday there were no indications that she was raped, as earlier feared.","Ukraine in 'emergency' talks with European neighbors over gas imports. Ukraine is in emergency talks with European neighbours on the possibility of importing natural gas from the West, Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk said on Friday. The urgency of securing affordable supplies has grown since Moscow boosted the price it charges Kiev for its gas twice this week, almost doubling its fees in three days, in price hikes criticised by Yatseniuk as \"political\" \"We are carrying out emergency talks with our European partners. \"On a technical level, the idea of reverse gas raises no problems and we hope our European partners make the right decision. If it will be to reverse (gas), then it means the price for gas will be $150 dollars lower than Russian gas.\" Russia has raised the price of gas to $485 per 1,000 cubic metres for Ukraine, where it is locked in the biggest confrontation with the West since the end of the Cold War.","Collapse of coup trial unnerves Turks as Erdogan switches tack. By Gareth Jones ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan welcomed the jailing of army officers, academics and journalists on coup plot charges last year as a key moment in his drive to tame Turkey's army. The slow collapse of the \"Ergenekon\" case has exposed the judiciary - central to efforts to anchor democracy in Turkey - as a system in disarray, caught in a new power struggle between Erdogan and an Islamist cleric. The men include former armed forces chief retired General Ilker Basbug and other high-ranking military officers, prominent journalists, ultra-nationalist lawyers and even the convicted killers of Christian missionaries and an Ankara judge. These must surely be evaluated and innocent people should not be charged.\" The Ergenekon defendants were all caught up in a trial targeting nationalist, secularist opponents of Turkey's ruling AK Party that was strongly backed at first by Erdogan as well as by his then-ally Fethullah Gulen, an influential preacher.","Mexico anti-drug militias return land to villagers. Tancitaro (México) (AFP) - Mexican vigilante militias battling drug-traffickers in the restive state of Michoacan said Thursday they had returned several hundred acres of land seized from villagers by the notorious Knights Templar cartel. The symbolic handover of some 654 acres (265 hectares) of land, which included many avocado and lemon orchards, took place in the village square of Tancitaro in the Michoacan highlands. Let's get them out of our land,\" militia leader Estanislao Beltran told AFP at the end of the ceremony. Civilians first took up arms in February 2013 to oust the Knights Templar from the region, saying local police were either colluding with gangs or unable to deal with the violence and extortion rackets.","Port Adelaide maintains Aussie Rules lead. MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Port Adelaide overcame a slow start to dominate St. Kilda and increase its first-place lead in the Australian Football League to eight points with a 19.15 (129) to 9.5 (59) win over the Saints.","U.S. commends Iraqi president over selection of new prime minister. U.S. Vice President Joe Biden commended Iraqi President Fouad Masoum in a phone call on Monday for selecting a new prime minister to replace Nuri al-Maliki and urged the timely creation of an inclusive government. The two discussed the nomination of Haider al-Abadi as prime minister, the White House said in a statement about the call. \"The Vice President commended Masoum for meeting this key milestone and reiterated President Obama’s repeated calls for the timely creation of a new, more inclusive government that will be able to address the legitimate concerns of all Iraqis,\" the White House said.","Image of Asia: Feeding quake survivors in China. In this photo by Andy Wong, a woman feeds instant noodles to children outside a tent set up for earthquake survivors in Ludian county of southwest China's Yunnan province. Many of the homes in the hard-hit county, which has a population of about 429,000, were rudimentary mud-brick structures that collapsed easily in the quake. Sunday's 6.1-magnitude temblor in the mountainous farming region was the country's deadliest temblor in four years and its biggest test of emergency response under leader Xi Jinping.","Modi's BJP makes big gains in Indian state polls: partial results. NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Hindu nationalist party made big gains in two Indian state elections, partial results showed on Sunday, in an endorsement that will encourage him to step up the pace of economic reforms. Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was leading in 115 of 288 seats in Maharashtra, NDTV news said. That more than doubled its seat count in the state that is home to the financial capital, Mumbai, but fell short of an outright majority. The BJP was ahead in 48 of 90 seats in Haryana, which borders the capital New Delhi to the west, enough to rule alone. ...","S.Africa inflation rises, another rate hike expected. South African consumer prices rose 5.8 percent in January, official statistics showed on Wednesday, tipping the scales towards another interest rate rise when the reserve bank next meets in March. Statistics South Africa reported that consumer prices rose by 0.4 of a percentage point versus December, pushed higher by increased transport and food prices. The 5.8-percent rate was slightly above consensus and is close to the six percent upper end of the South African Reserve Bank's target range. \"Despite the fact that the rand has pulled back recently, the inflation outlook remains poor,\" said analysts at Nedbank.","Syria army captures town in strategic Homs province. Syrian regime troops Saturday captured a rebel-held town near a famed Crusader castle in the strategic province of Homs, state media and a monitoring group said, after nearly a month of fighting. The town of Zara, near the Krak des Chevaliers castle in Homs province, fell to government forces a day after it was hit by air strikes, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. A source in the pro-regime National Defence Forces militia was quoted by state news agency SANA as saying the army had \"seized full control of Zara after having wiped out the terrorists\" -- the regime's term for rebel fighters. The Observatory said the town, which is mostly inhabited by the Sunni Turkmen minority, was taken after \"fierce fighting between loyalist troops and fighters from Jund al-Sham and other Islamist groups.\"","Bangladesh court sentences top Islamist to death for arms smuggling. Chittagong (Bangladesh) (AFP) - A Bangladesh court on Thursday sentenced 14 people to death, including the leader of the country's largest Islamist party, over a massive arms smuggling racket 10 years ago.","Separatists in Ukraine agree to ceasefire until June 27: rebel leader. Separatist leaders in two main areas of Ukraine's east have agreed to observe a ceasefire until June 27, one of them, Alexander Boroday, said on Monday. Speaking after meeting a \"contact group\" which included a former Ukrainian president, Moscow's envoy to Kiev and a representative of the OSCE security watchdog, Boroday said: \"The consultation ended with authorities of the Luhansk and Donetsk Republics agreeing to maintain a ceasefire for their part ... until the 27th.\" Their truce will run parallel to a unilateral Ukrainian military ceasefire that was declared by President Petro Poroshenko on Friday as part of a peace plan to end an insurgency by pro-Russian separatists in the Russian-speaking east of Ukraine.","US manufacturing expands at brisk pace in December as new orders, hiring pick up. WASHINGTON - U.S. manufacturing grew at a healthy pace in December as factories stepped up hiring and received more orders. The expansion suggests solid growth at the end of the year.","Stoke beats Hull 1-0 in Premier League. STOKE, England (AP) — Stoke earned its third straight Premier League victory by beating Hull 1-0 Saturday to firmly entrench itself in the middle of the table.","PSG beats Barcelona 3-2 in Champions League. PARIS (AP) — Paris Saint-Germain may finally have what it takes to compete with the best teams in Europe after the French side upstaged Lionel Messi's Barcelona in a thrilling 3-2 Champions League win on Tuesday.","Paderborn wins promotion to top division. FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — Paderborn won promotion to the Bundesliga for the first time by beating Aalen 2-1 on Sunday, while Greuther Fuerth will play Hamburger SV in a playoff for a place in the top tier.","Ukrainian police, protesters exchange fire in Kiev: police. (Reuters) - Ukrainian police shot back when protesters opened fire on officers between the main protest square in Kiev and the parliament building, a police statement said. The protesters did not immediately comment on the police statement.","Prosecutors say Karadzic was 'driving force' behind Bosnian genocide. By Thomas Escritt THE HAGUE (Reuters) - War crimes prosecutors concluding their case against former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic on Monday said he had been a \"driving force\" behind a genocidal campaign to rid Bosnia of its non-Serbian population in the 1990s. Prosecutors are seeking the maximum penalty of life imprisonment against Karadzic, a leading political figure during the 1992-1995 war in Bosnia that left 100,000 dead. ...","Kenya gov't: 3 killed in 2 blasts at Kenyan coast. NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — A Kenyan government agency says three people have been killed in two blasts along the Kenyan coast.","Jordan sentences 6 militants to jail. AMMAN, Jordan (AP) — Jordan's military court says it has found six men guilty of shooting two Jordanian soldiers manning the border with Syria and sentenced them to jail.","Top Asian News at 10:00 a.m. GMT. HONG KONG (AP) — Pro-democracy protesters kept behind police barricades heckled Hong Kong's embattled leader on Wednesday when he attended a flag-raising ceremony on China's National Day. The protesters, upset that Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying has refused to meet them, have threatened to expand their demonstrations unless he resigns and the Chinese leadership agrees to broader electoral reforms.","5 things to know about 6th round of Super Rugby. WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Five things to know about the sixth round of Super Rugby:","Pakistan official: 126 people dead, 122 injured in attack on school. ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - At least 126 people were killed and 122 injured on Tuesday in an attack by Taliban militants on a Pakistani high school, a provincial official said. \"It may rise,\" said Bahramand Khan, director of information for the Chief Minister's Secretariat. He said more than 100 of the dead were school children. (Reporting By Katharine Houreld; Editing by Mike Collett-White)","U.S. storms kills 21, tornado roars through Mississippi city. By Robbie Ward TUPELO Miss. (Reuters) - On a second day of ferocious storms that have claimed at least 21 lives in the southern United States, a tornado tore through the Mississippi town of Tupelo on Monday destroying homes and businesses, according to witnesses and emergency officials. At least one person was killed in Tupelo, a city of about 35,000 and birthplace of Elvis Presley. Most of the deaths from the severe storm system occurred on Sunday when tornadoes tossed cars like toys in Arkansas and other states. Monday's twister in Tupelo, one of several to tear across Mississippi, damaged hundreds of homes and businesses, downed power lines and tore up trees, the National Weather Service said.","Britain tops Norway to reach Olympic curling semis. SOCHI, Russia (AP) — Britain advanced to the semifinals of the men's Olympic curling tournament by beating Norway 6-5 in a tiebreaker on Tuesday.","In Syria, desperate residents see little hope in U.N. Aleppo truce plan. BEIRUT/GAZIANTEP, Turkey (Reuters) - As winter sets in along the front lines of Aleppo, residents are desperate for the sort of relief United Nations officials hope a new ceasefire push will soon bring to the war-battered Syrian city. The plan, led by the U.N. peace envoy to Syria, Staffan de Mistura, would set up local truces in so-called \"freeze zones\" to stop fighting and allow aid into rebel districts. Residents could certainly use the help. But after nearly four years of conflict and countless failed peace plans, civilians and fighters alike are skeptical. ...","Roche CEO plans to steer clear of big acquisitions. Roche plans to steer clear of the wave of big takeovers sweeping through the healthcare industry and focus instead on small acquisitions and partnerships, the Swiss drugmaker's chief executive said in an interview published on Saturday. This includes targeted, small acquisitions and partnerships like the ones we have carried out in recent months,\" Severin Schwan told business newspaper Finanz und Wirtschaft. Several multi-billion dollar deals and bids over the past few months have made 2014 a busy year for healthcare acquisitions as companies look to build scale in leading businesses or slash their tax bill, a tactic known as inversion. On Friday, U.S. drugmaker AbbVie Inc finally clinched Dublin-based Shire Plc in a $55 billion deal that will give it access to expensive medicines to treat rare diseases.","Spanish news to vanish from Google News globally. MADRID (AP) — Google's decision to close Google News in Spain because of a law requiring aggregators to pay news publishers for linking content also means that the publishers' content will vanish around the world.","Drogba on bench again for Ivory Coast v Colombia. BRASILIA, Brazil (AP) — Didier Drogba will start on the bench again for Ivory Coast in its Group C match against Colombia in the World Cup on Thursday.","Thai army warns on dissent in government's northern stronghold. By Aubrey Belford and Pairat Temphairojana CHIANG MAI, Thailand (Reuters) - For police and officials summoned by Thailand's new military rulers in the northern pro-government stronghold of Chiang Mai on Saturday, the reception at the headquarters of the 33rd Army was all sweetness - up to a point. But inside, with doors closed and tea and biscuits served, Major General Sarayuth Rungsri, the regional army commander, wasted little time. Such a call reflects the army's unease about whether it can ensure control of the country's north and northeast, both hotbeds of support for the deposed government of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra. Chiang Mai, home of the Shinawatra clan, is a particular challenge.","Ex-foreign minister to make third run for Ghana presidency. Accra (AFP) - Ghana's main opposition party has nominated former foreign minister Nana Akufo-Addo as its candidate for president in 2016, giving him his third shot at the west African country's top job.","Costs of natural disasters in China surge to $69 billion. Natural disasters including droughts, floods and earthquakes cost China 421 billion yuan ($69 bln) in 2013, official data showed on Monday, nearly double the total in the previous year. China has always been prone to natural disasters but a changing climate is causing more extreme weather, which hits food production, threatens scarce water resources and damages energy security, according to the government. Data released by the National Statistics Bureau showed flooding and mudslides cost China 188 billion yuan in 2013, 20 billion more than in the previous year. \"In recent years, China has seen a combination of floods and droughts simultaneously, with the rain belt moving north past the Yangtze River,\" Zhu Congwen, a researcher with the China Academy of Meteorological Sciences told Reuters, speaking in a personal capacity.","Factbox: Ukrainians whose assets will be frozen by Switzerland. (Reuters) - Following are names published by the Swiss government on Friday of Ukrainians whose assets will be frozen: Serhiy Arbuzov, born 24 March 1976, former acting prime minister Mykola Azarov, 17 December 1947, ex prime minister Raisa Bohatyryova, 6 January 1953, ex health minister Mykhailo Dobkin, 26 January 1970, Kharkov governor Yuri Ivanyushchenko, 21 February 1959, member of parliament Hennadiy Kernes, 27 June 1959, Kharkov mayor Oleksander Klymenko, 16 November 1980, ex tax minister Andriy Klyuev, 12 August 1964, ex Yanukovich chief of staff Serhiy Klyuev, 12 August 1969, member of ...","Eight Azeri troops killed in clashes with Armenia. Azerbaijan said Friday it had lost eight soldiers in three days of clashes with arch-foe Armenia near the disputed Nagorny Karabakh region in a dramatic spike in tensions in the long-simmering territorial conflict. Azerbaijan's defence ministry said Armenian troops had ramped up their activity in the past few days and attacked Azeri positions. \"Reconnaissance and sabotage groups of the Armenian armed forces attempted to break through the line of contact between the troops along the entire front line,\" the ministry said, adding that Armenian troops had been repelled. \"As a result of clashes over the past three days, eight Azeri troops have died,\" it said.","China pushes for developing world's rights as BRICS summit opens. China will dedicate itself to \"perfecting\" the role developing countries play in international affairs to give them better representation and a greater say, President Xi Jinping said ahead of a summit of BRICS nations in Brazil. China has already started doing this by promoting international development banks which will either be led by China or will have a very strong Chinese role, as opposed to Western-dominated institutions like the World Bank. Brazil, China, India, Russia and South Africa are due on Tuesday to sign off on a new development bank being launched by the BRICS emerging market nations, with Shanghai set to become its headquarters. China is also planning an Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank.","Musical of 'American Psycho' heading off-Broadway. NEW YORK (AP) — The yuppie serial killer Patrick Bateman from \"American Psycho\" is about to stalk an off-Broadway stage.","Putin has 'no intention' of further military moves into Ukraine: Ban. United Nations (United States) (AFP) - The UN secretary general said Friday that Russian President Vladimir Putin assured him he had no intention of ordering further military incursions into Ukrainian territory. Ban Ki-moon made the remarks to reporters after briefing the UN Security Council on his recent talks in Moscow and Kiev, as he urged the international community to de-escalate the crisis. He responded to a question on whether Putin gave him any assurances that Russia was not planning to go into southern and eastern Ukraine after the annexation of Crimea. Putin told Ban \"that he had no intention to make any military move.","Blast in Damascus suburb market kills 2. DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — A car bomb exploded in a busy market in a rebel-held suburb of the Syrian capital Saturday, killing at least two people and wounding dozens as Muslims went shopping a day before the start of their holy month of Ramadan, activists said.","Cameron, British Muslims condemn beheading of aid worker Alan Henning. By Stephen Addison LONDON (Reuters) - Muslim groups across Britain united on Saturday to join Prime Minister David Cameron in condemning the beheading of aid worker Alan Henning by Islamic State insurgents, with one leading cleric calling it a \"despicable and offensive act\". Prayers for the 47-year-old taxi driver from Salford in northern England were said in mosques throughout the country at the start of the Muslim Eid al-Adha festival. Cameron called Henning a gentle, compassionate man who had simply tried to help others. Britain would do all it could to destroy his killers, he said. ...","China censors squash giant inflatable toad reports. Chinese reports about a giant inflatable toad have been deleted from the Internet after social media users compared the puffed-up animal to a former Communist Party chief. The installation of a giant inflatable duck in Hong Kong's harbour last year sparked a national craze for oversized blow-up wildlife, with several Chinese cities launching their own imitations. The latest, a 22-metre-high (72-feet) toad, appeared in a Beijing park last weekend, but met with mockery from social media users who compared its appearance to that of former President Jiang Zemin. The website of China's official Xinhua news agency and popular web portal Sina had deleted their reports on the animal -- seen as a symbol of good fortune in traditional Chinese culture -- by Wednesday.","Whistleblower phone app seeks to outsmart corruption. Kampala (AFP) - Douglas Buule, a teacher at Kiwenda primary, a government school outside Uganda's capital Kampala, has a recurring problem.","Kerry warns Iraq's Maliki not to cause trouble. US Secretary of State John Kerry on Monday warned Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki not to cause trouble as he threw his weight behind newly-elected President Fuad Masum to help fight Islamic militants. His comments came after Maliki announced Sunday on state television he would be filing a complaint against Masum and as troops and police massed in the capital Baghdad. Masum's election on Thursday is another step towards forming a government which could see the embattled Maliki replaced as prime minister, even though his party won the largest bloc in April parliamentary elections. \"We stand absolutely squarely behind President Masum (who) has the responsibility for upholding the constitution of Iraq,\" Kerry said in Sydney, where he will attend annual US-Australia military talks.","Interpol offers help in hunt for Nigeria girls. PARIS (Reuters) - International police agency Interpol said on Friday it stood ready to provide whatever support might be required in the hunt for more than 200 schoolgirls kidnapped by the Islamist militant Boko Haram group in Nigeria last month. Secretary General Ronald K. Noble has written to Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan offering assistance, an Interpol statement said. Support offered includes the immediate publication of so-called Yellow Notices for the girls. These are circulated to all 190 Interpol member countries to assist police worldwide to locate and identify the victims. ...","UK grapples with delicate issue of returning jihadists. London (AFP) - Do you lock them up, or try to rehabilitate them? Britain has taken a hard line on citizens returning from fighting in Syria and Iraq, but anti-extremism groups and experts say more good might come from trying to help them.","Las Vegas police: Gunman with apparent road rage kills motorist with 2 kids in back seat. LAS VEGAS, Nev. - Police say they're sure someone knows the gunman who shot a motorist to death in a vehicle with two young children in the backseat during rush hour traffic several miles west of the Las Vegas Strip.","U.S. opposes French sale of Mistral warships to Russia: senior official. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States opposes France's plan to sell Mistral helicopter carriers to Russia, a senior U.S. administration official told reporters on Monday, echoing concerns expressed on Monday by British Prime Minister David Cameron. President Barack Obama expressed concerns about the French contract in June because of Russia's support for separatists in eastern Ukraine. Cameron on Monday said the sale would be \"unthinkable\" in Britain after a passenger jet was shot down last week from eastern Ukraine. (Reporting by Steve Holland and Roberta Rampton; Editing by Doina Chiacu)","IMF warns Dubai of risk of real estate bubble. DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The International Monetary Fund is warning that Dubai's megaprojects could increase the risk of a real estate bubble.","Iraq attacks kill nine. A series of attacks around Baghdad and in northern Iraq killed nine people Monday as officials tallied votes from elections held last month during a protracted surge in unrest. Monday's deadliest violence struck near Beiji, north of the capital, as four people were killed by a suicide car bomb targeting a military checkpoint, officials said. Attacks also struck in northern Nineveh province, as well as in the towns of Madain and Mahmudiyah, near Baghdad.","Chile leads Australia 2-1 at halftime in World Cup. CUIABA, Brazil (AP) — Alexis Sanchez scored one goal and set up another to help Chile take a 2-1 lead at halftime of its opening Group B match against Australia in the World Cup on Friday.","Maduro replaces Venezuela's longtime oil chief. CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — President Nicolas Maduro has replaced the Venezuela's longtime oil minister and economic czar as part of a cabinet shakeup sidelining the most-prominent voice within his administration for much-needed reforms to address the country's economic crisis.","Betis signs ex-Madrid goalkeeper Antonio Adan. SEVILLE, Spain (AP) — Real Betis has signed former Real Madrid goalkeeper Antonio Adan as it tries to avoid relegation in the Spanish league.","US: Russia has 'days, not weeks' to follow accord. KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia has \"days, not weeks\" to abide by an international accord aimed at stemming the crisis in Ukraine, the top U.S. diplomat in Kiev warned Monday as Vice President Joe Biden launched a high-profile show of support for the pro-Western Ukrainian government. Russia in turn accused authorities in Kiev of flagrantly violating the pact and declared their actions would not stand.","Turkey disappoints West with low-key role in IS fight. Ankara (AFP) - Blamed by some for prompting the rise of the Islamic State insurgency, Turkey has finally taken steps to tighten its borders with Iraq and Syria but is still disappointing the West over its low-key role in the anti-IS fight.","US man charged with violating Iran export ban. HARRISBURG, Pennsylvania (AP) — The owner of a Pennsylvania company that makes steel-processing equipment has signed a plea agreement with U.S. prosecutors on a charge he conspired to illegally sell an $800,000 machine to an Iranian firm.","India forced to make last-minute change in travel. INCHEON, South Korea (AP) — The Indian Olympic Association has been forced to make last-minute changes to its travel plans for athletes because of a new government directive, leaving little time for its athletes to acclimatize and for the organizers to re-work the practice schedules.","Kidnapped UNICEF workers freed in Pakistan: U.N. Two U.N. Children's Fund (UNICEF) workers kidnapped in Pakistan's southern city of Karachi have been freed, the United Nations said on Monday. We're very pleased,\" United Nations spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters. UNICEF said the police had led the investigation and that the men were safe and well. The port city of Karachi is Pakistan's financial heart and home to 18 million people.","Effort to kill California's ban on plastic grocery bags moves forward. (This Dec. 30 story was corrected to fix the spelling of Barrier to Berrier in the third paragraph.) By Sharon Bernstein SACRAMENTO, Calif. (Reuters) - An effort to kill California's first-in-the-nation state ban on single-use plastic grocery bags advanced this week after bag makers spent several million dollars on a campaign to gather signatures for a proposed ballot initiative to overturn it. ...","McLaren hires Boullier as racing director. WOKING, England (AP) — Formula One team McLaren has hired Eric Boullier as its new racing director, less than a week after the Frenchman left as team principal of Lotus.","China, Thailand to set up fight against illegal immigration. BEIJING (Reuters) - China and Thailand have agreed to step up their cooperation in the fight against illegal immigration and terror, the Chinese government said on Wednesday, as Thailand deals with an influx of Uighurs from China's unruly far western region of Xinjiang. Chinese officials in Thailand have identified numerous Uighurs among the individuals Thai police have rescued from a people-smuggling camp, and those confirmed to be from China will be sent home, a state-run Chinese newspaper said last month. ...","HRW says Saudi govt targeting dissidents with malware. Human Rights Watch on Friday demanded a clarification from Saudi Arabia over allegations from security researchers that the kingdom is infecting and monitoring dissidents' mobile phones with surveillance malware. The New York-based rights watchdog said surveillance software allegedly made by Italian firm Hacking Team mostly targeted individuals in Qatif district in Eastern Province, which has been the site of sporadic Shiite-led protests since February 2011. \"We have documented how Saudi authorities routinely crack down on online activists who have embraced social media to call out human rights abuses,\" said Cynthia Wong, HRW's senior Internet researcher.","England rugby coach Lancaster set for journey of discovery. Stuart Lancaster has insisted this season's Six Nations will not be a mere 'warm-up' ahead of next year's World Cup in England. But injuries mean the England coach is set to be forced into fielding a new-look side for next month's Six Nations opener against France, with fly-half Owen Farrell the only member of the Red Rose back division who can be reasonably certain of starting in Paris. \"The challenge is to get the team ready to try and win the World Cup because ultimately that's what we'll all be judged on,\" Lancaster said at the Six Nations launch in London on Wednesday. \"You would never approach a game against France, or any Six Nations match, as an experiment because you want to win,\" added Lancaster.","Islamic State fight seen costing U.S. $2.4 billion or more annually. By David Alexander WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. military efforts against Islamic State have cost nearly $1 billion so far and are likely to run between $2.4 billion and $3.8 billion per year if air and ground operations continue at the current pace, according to a think tank analysis. But a ramp-up, including more air strikes and a significant boost in ground forces, could send costs soaring to between $13 billion and $22 billion annually, said the analysis released on Monday by the nonpartisan Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments. ...","Hamilton targets home win to boost title bid. Lewis Hamilton heads into his home British Grand Prix this weekend bidding for a victory that could revive his title challenge and prove that his Mercedes team retain a speed advantage over their rivals. The 29-year-old, who is 29 points behind German team-mate Nico Rosberg in the drivers’ championship, believes he has the talent to triumph again – as he did in 2008 – and use that success as a launch-pad to his second title. “I know that I'm 29 points down now, but even though I've not finished as many races as I would like -- and I lost another seven points to Nico in Austria -- there's still a long way to go,” said Hamilton. I'm going to Silverstone with the best package I've ever had, so I'm thrilled about that.","Teams all on knife-edge in Champions League. LONDON (AP) — With at least $12 million guaranteed for Champions League participants, it's little wonder the final playoffs for the group stage are so tight.","Israeli parliament dissolves itself, sets election. JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli lawmakers have overwhelmingly voted to dissolve parliament, officially kicking off the country's election campaign.","Scientists warn Florida governor of threat from climate change. By Bill Cotterell TALLAHASSEE Fla. (Reuters) - Five climate scientists warned Florida Governor Rick Scott in a meeting on Tuesday that a steadily rising ocean was a major threat to the state's future, urging it to become a leader in developing solar energy and other clean power sources. The Republican governor, who disputed the human impact on climate change in his 2010 campaign, agreed recently to meet with the scientists after his main Democratic challenger for re-election this year, former Governor Charlie Crist, proclaimed himself a firm believer in global warming. “I’m inherently an optimist,” said David Hastings, a professor of marine science and chemistry at Eckerd College on Florida's west coast. I’m concerned he might not do anything.” The scientists said they hoped Scott would respond to the Obama administration's proposal to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from power plants by 38 percent in Florida by 2030.","GE in talks to buy Alstom's global power arm: sources. General Electric is in talks with Alstom to take over its global power business and a deal could be announced in the coming days, two sources familiar with the matter said on Friday. One of the sources said the approach was initiated by Alstom and that its top shareholder Bouygues - which has a 29 percent stake - backed the proposed deal. Alstom declined to comment.","Brazil faces issues around racism despite image. RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Former Brazilian national midfielder Arouca, playing for Pele's old club Santos, was doing a sideline TV interview a few months ago when opposing fans began to chant \"monkey, monkey, monkey.\"","Swiss TV: Voters reject minimum wage plan. GENEVA (AP) — The Swiss have rejected a referendum proposal to create the world's highest minimum wage in 24 of 26 cantons, according to Swiss TV.","Benfica loses 2-1 at Braga for 1st league defeat. LISBON, Portugal (AP) — Benfica lost 2-1 at Braga on Sunday as the Portuguese league leaders were dealt their first loss of the season.","Royal Mail in Sunday parcel delivery trial. Royal Mail will trial a Sunday delivery service to meet increasing demands from online shoppers, the postal group said on Monday. Royal Mail also plans to extend the opening hours of its 100 busiest delivery offices as it seeks to keep pace with demand. The newly-privatised postal group also said that Parcelforce Worldwide -- its express parcels business -- will start a Sunday delivery service in June for online shoppers through participating e-retailers. Royal Mail said the news measures were being planned under the Agenda for Growth agreement with the Communication Workers Union (CWU).","England captain Broad rules himself fit for World T20. By Ruma Paul DHAKA (Reuters) - England captain Stuart Broad is confident he will play a \"full part\" in his side's World Twenty20 campaign in Bangladesh despite suffering from a knee injury. Broad, suffering from patellar tendonitis in his right knee, missed the last two games during the tour of West Indies and will also miss Tuesday's warm-up match in the tournament against the same opponents in Fatullah. \"It's unlikely that I'll play tomorrow because I haven't actually run on my knee since I've had the injection yet, but I'd say I'll definitely play against India the next day.\" England, who lost the three match T20 series in West Indies 2-1, will begin their campaign in the World Cup on Saturday against New Zealand in Chittagong.","Shelling in eastern Ukraine kills 2, wounds 3. DONETSK, Ukraine (AP) — Shelling in the rebel-held eastern Ukraine city of Donetsk killed two people Wednesday and wounded three others, municipal authorities said.","Ex-gov, ex-con Edwin Edwards on the stump again. HAHNVILLE, La. (AP) — Off a narrow gravel road running between a handful of mostly abandoned lots near a Mississippi River levee, down past sprawling oak trees and thick weeds, a lectern framed by banana trees has been set up in front of three short rows of folding chairs.","Kunming attack shouldn't be treated as ethnic issue: China official. By Michael Martina BEIJING (Reuters) - A deadly knife attack at a Chinese train station last week should not be linked to ethnicity, a senior government official said, days after authorities blamed the incident on separatists from the country's troubled far western region of Xinjiang. China says militants from Xinjiang, home to a large Muslim Uighur minority, launched a terrorist attack in the southwestern city of Kunming, killing at least 29 people and injuring about 140. \"Such sentiments - although not widespread - deserve our attention,\" Zhu told the official China Daily, adding that the \"overwhelming majority\" of the migrant Uighurs from Xinjiang were \"good people\". \"...We should not relate such cases to an ethnic issue in a casual way.\" The comments highlight Beijing's concern over the growing frictions between Uighurs and Han Chinese and the potential for further unrest.","Barclays bank takes £500m charge against forex probes. London (AFP) - British bank Barclays on Thursday set aside £500 million ($800 million, 634 million euros) linked to probes into price-rigging allegations in foreign exchange markets, and posted slumping third-quarter net profits.","3 found dead in Swiss Alpine town. GENEVA (AP) — Police say they have found three people dead in a Swiss Alpine town, but aren't immediately giving details on how they died.","British tabloid reporter cleared of bribery charge. LONDON (AP) — A journalist with Rupert Murdoch-owned tabloid The Sun has been cleared of bribing a press officer for stories about government spending plans.","Ponting under par at New Zealand Open. QUEENSTOWN, New Zealand (AP) — Former Australia cricket captain Ricky Ponting used to win attention in New Zealand for his high scores, but it was his low score at the New Zealand Golf Open that caught the eye on Thursday.","London shares gain on strong US retail sales, Citi earnings. London (AFP) - London shares closed higher on Monday, reversing early losses as US retail sales came in strong and Citi posted higher than expected earnings, dealers said.","Getafe ends winless run at Valencia to escape drop. BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Getafe fought back for a sorely needed 3-1 victory at Valencia on Sunday, breaking a 15-round winless streak and escaping from the Spanish league's relegation zone.","Markets take in stride Crimea vote to join Russia. LONDON (AP) — Confirmation that the people of the Ukrainian region of Crimea have voted to join Russia caused barely a ripple in financial markets Monday, partly because the verdict had been widely discounted.","Russia grants asylum to banker wanted by Lithuania: prosecutors. Russia has granted asylum to Lithuanian banker Vladimir Romanov, who is wanted on embezzlement charges, and has said it will not extradite him, Lithuanian prosecutors said on Monday, in a move likely to further chill relations between Moscow and Vilnius. Romanov is the former owner of cash-strapped Scottish soccer club Hearts and the main shareholder in Ukio Bankas, which Lithuanian authorities placed in administration last year after it ran into financial trouble. Romanov is wanted by Vilnius on charges of embezzling 25 million euros ($33 million) from the bank.","Voters in Scotland reject independence in historic vote with unprecedented turnout. EDINBURGH, Scotland (AP) — Voters in Scotland reject independence in historic vote with unprecedented turnout.","UN says Syria chemical deadline still possible. The June deadline to destroy Syria's chemical arms can still be met despite delays moving the most dangerous chemicals, the head of the UN mission monitoring the operation said Wednesday. Sigrid Kaag, head of the UN-Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons joint mission, expressed guarded optimism after the first chemicals were loaded onto a ship in the Syrian port of Latakia on Tuesday. Syria's most dangerous chemicals were meant to have been moved out of the country by December 31. Under a UN-backed plan, all of Syria's declared 1,290 tonne arsenal should be destroyed by June 30.","Top Asian News at 6:30 p.m. GMT. BANGKOK (AP) — A Thai court ordered the government on Wednesday not to use force against protesters who are attempting to oust the prime minister, a day after violent clashes between riot police and demonstrators left five people dead and dozens injured. The decision leaves beleaguered Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra with fewer options in dealing with the protesters, who have camped out for a month with virtual impunity in major intersections across the capital to press for her resignation.","South Africa allows imams to perform marriages. South Africa on Wednesday accredited over 100 imams as marriage officers, allowing the Muslim clerics to officiate at fully recognised weddings for the first time. Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe hailed \"a new chapter in the story of the Muslim community in South Africa\". \"This will enable the legal official recognition of the unions of Muslim couples,\" he said at a ceremony in Cape Town. Motlanthe said Muslim couples would now have the \"protective instruments\" of the secular state, while maintaining \"Koranic values\"","Rescued Antarctic passengers resume journey home. CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — An Australian icebreaker carrying 52 passengers who were retrieved from an icebound ship in the Antarctic resumed its journey home on Saturday after it was halted for a second potential rescue operation.","Europe weighs Russia sanctions, energy security at summit. By Luke Baker BRUSSELS (Reuters) - European leaders hold critical talks on Thursday about how to tighten the screws on Russia following its seizure of Crimea, how to support Ukraine's stricken economy and how best to wean themselves off Russian oil and gas in years to come. With President Vladimir Putin celebrating Crimea's addition to the Russian Federation, and his officials mocking the EU's response so far, leaders are expected add around a dozen names to the 21 Russians and Crimeans already placed on a travel-ban and asset-freeze list. Speaking ahead of the summit, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said a discussion of financial sanctions - what the EU is referring to as phase three of its response - would take place at the summit, but no agreement on it is expected. \"The (summit) will make clear that we are ready at any time to introduce phase-three measures if there is a worsening of the situation,\" Merkel said in a speech to parliament.","UN committee takes no action on Iran envoy dispute. UNITED NATIONS (AP) — A U.N. committee has taken no action on the U.S. refusal to grant a visa to the Iranian diplomat chosen by Tehran to be its new U.N. ambassador after hearing from both sides.","Kerry to hold second day of talks with Afghan election candidates. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry will hold a second day of talks with Afghanistan's two presidential candidates on Saturday with talks focused on \"many ideas\" about a review of votes and ways to build an inclusive, broad-based government in the country, a senior U.S. official said on Friday. Asked whether the sides were close to a breakthrough on resolving the disputed election, a senior administration official said: \"What is on the table is fairly fluid, there are a lot of ideas out there, we will have to see.\" (Reporting by Lesley Wroughton;","Riot police called to quell Liberia Ebola protest. MONROVA, Liberia (AP) — Liberian authorities say riot police were dispatched to a protest against the government's handling of the Ebola outbreak.","Asia's manufacturers buoyant at end 2013, China a question mark. By Aileen Wang and Se Young Lee BEIJING/SEOUL (Reuters) - Asia's manufacturing sector ended 2013 on a strong note, with expansion hitting multi-year highs in export-driven Japan and Taiwan, but signs of moderation in China raises concerns about the outlook for the new year. Both official and private measures of manufacturing activity in China fell in December, reinforcing views the world's second-largest economy lost some steam in the final quarter of 2013. The HSBC/Markit Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) for China slipped to a three-month low of 50.5 in December, consistent with a dip in the government's PMI to a four-month low of 51.0. That could temper some of the optimism about export-dependent countries such as Japan, where the last week the Markit/JMMA Manufacturing PMI rose to a 7-1/2 year high in December.","Funeral of disaster-hit ferry owner starts in S. Korea. The funeral of a South Korean tycoon who was the target of a massive manhunt connected to April's ferry disaster began Saturday under tight security at the compound of the religious group he led. Yoo Byung-Eun, 73, was the head of the family which owned and operated the Sewol ferry that sank on April 16 with the loss of around 300 lives, most of them schoolchildren. Following a 24-hour vigil, Yoo will be buried on Sunday at the compound of the pseudo-Christian religious group he headed in Anseong, 80 kilometres (50 miles) south of Seoul.","Rebel attack during Syrian election campaigning kills more than 20 -monitoring group. More than 20 people were killed when Syrian rebels shelled a tent being used for election campaigning in the southern province of Deraa, a monitoring group said on Friday. At least 11 civilians, including a child, were among those killed in the attack which occurred in the al-Matar district of Deraa city on Thursday night, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. Syria is holding an election next month that looks all but certain to give President Bashar al-Assad a third seven-year term. The death toll is expected to rise because about 30 people were seriously wounded in the attack, the Observatory said.","Bank of England united in holding rates. The Bank of England was unanimous in its decision to maintain its record-low interest rates earlier this month, minutes showed on Wednesday. The central bank's Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) voted 9-0 to keep its key lending rate at 0.50 percent, where it has stood since March 2009 to stimulate growth, amid Britain's strengthening economic recovery. The MPC was also united in keeping the bank's quantitative easing stimulus amount at £375 billion ($636 billion, 469 billion euros), according to minutes from the June 4-5 gathering. BoE governor Mark Carney had hinted last week that the bank could lift rates sooner than expected, prompting analysts to price in an increase by the end of the year.","American jailed over photo in Emirates back home. ATLANTA (AP) — An American man who was jailed over taking an unauthorized photo in the United Arab Emirates has returned to the United States.","Se accidenta avión en Colombia; un muerto. BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — Un avión que cumplía una misión de entrenamiento se accidentó el martes y uno de sus dos tripulantes falleció, se informó oficialmente.","Yemen air force strikes Shiite rebels. Yemeni warplanes hit Shiite rebel positions Tuesday in the north, where the army has come under repeated attacks after the collapse of a short-lived truce, local and military officials said. The latest fighting with Huthi rebels, also known as Ansarullah, erupted Sunday, ending an 11-day truce reached through mediation backed by United Nations envoy Jamal Benomar. The Tuesday raids targeted rebel positions in the villages of Salata, Sahab and Bani Maymun, located at the foot of the strategic Jabal al-Dhine mountain, an army official said. Rebels and allied tribesmen have been trying to control the rocky mountain that overlooks the road linking Sanaa with the rebel stronghold of Amran.","Romanian mogul gets 10 years in prison for fraud. BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) — A Romanian court has handed a media mogul a 10-year prison sentence for money laundering and fraudulently privatizing an agricultural institute. Six other people were also given prison sentences in the 2003 sale.","11 EU nations set to tax financial transactions. BRUSSELS (AP) — A group of 11 European Union countries agreed to introduce a financial transaction tax from 2016 onward, Austrian Finance Minister Michael Spindelegger said Tuesday.","All Blacks change 2 for Springboks test. JOHANNESBURG (AP) — New Zealand has made two changes in its forward pack for the final round of the Rugby Championship against South Africa.","Fighting between rival factions kills 17 in Central Africa. At least 17 people were killed in fighting between rival factions of the former rebel movement Seleka in the Central African Republic, an officer in the African peacekeeping force there said Tuesday. The dead were all ex-rebels who battled on Monday in the heart of the central town of Bambari, where the Seleka forces set up their headquarters in May, said the officer in the MISCA force deployed by the African Union, asking not to be named. \"One side was the group of General Joseph Zoundeko, head of the Seleka general staff in Bambari, and the other is that of General Ali Djarras, made up of armed ethnic Peuls (Fulani)\" active in the region,\" he added. A transitional president, Catherine Samba Panza, took office that same month, and she has overseen the signing of a ceasefire pact between Seleka forces and the largely Christian \"anti-balaka\" militias that emerged to wreak vengeance against Muslims for atrocities by ex-rebels.","Waratahs trounce Highlanders 44-16 in Super Rugby. SYDNEY (AP) — Fullback Israel Folau scored his 12th try of the season as the New South Wales Waratahs beat the Highlanders 44-16 Sunday to clinch first place and a home semifinal in Super Rugby with a round to spare.","China looks to Kenya for athletics comeback bid. Iten (Kenya) (AFP) - It is over 20 years since Chinese women athletes took the world by storm, dominating the middle and long distance races at the 1993 world athletics championships in Stuttgart. But as the world's most populous nation prepares to welcome the world back to its capital, Beijing, for the 2015 world championships, China is keen to restore its former glory. A team of 16 young women athletes have set up camp in Kenya's northwestern highland town of Iten to train in ideal high-altitude climatic conditions in their rebuilding process. After finishing seventh at the 2011 world championships in Daegu, China plummeted way down the medals table to the 22nd position at the last world championships in Moscow in 2013.","Italy grapples with specter of corruption as EU vote nears. By James Mackenzie ROME (Reuters) - A corruption scandal surrounding next year's Expo 2015 in Milan and separate criminal cases involving allies of former premier Silvio Berlusconi look set to fuel voter anger at this month's European elections, Italian politicians warned on Sunday. Even for a country long inured to scandal, the arrest last week of seven officials connected with Expo 2015 Milan, including the event's procurement head, on charges of bribery and manipulating public tenders has caused anger. The case has already reawakened memories of the \\\\\"Bribesville\\\\\" scandals of the 1990s, which began with an investigation into political bribes in Milan and exposed an entrenched system of corruption. It ended up toppling the entire party structure that had governed Italy since World War Two.","Few Nicaraguan child migrants join in trek to US. MANAGUA, Nicaragua (AP) — Guillermina Flores had lost her $130-a-month job at a clothing factory and the 29-year-old single mother was struggling to feed her three children. So like tens of thousands of others across Central America, she decided to leave her homeland and seek a better life abroad.","New plan avoids mud dumping in Barrier Reef Park. BRISBANE, Australia (AP) — The government of Australia's Queensland state has approved a plan that will prevent 3 million cubic meters (106 million cubic feet) of seabed mud from being dumped in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park.","Merkel: Russia should withdraw from Ukraine border. BERLIN (AP) — Germany is calling on Russia to withdraw its troops from the Ukrainian border and tone down reports in its state-owned media about the crisis in eastern Ukraine.","SOCHI SCENE: Skiing, skating and ... cows?. SOCHI, Russia (AP) — You're speeding up and down a highway in the foothills of the Caucasus, heading back to Olympic Park, when suddenly — SCREECH. The car slams to a halt.","Climate change boosts conflict risk, flood, hunger. Yokohama (Japan) (AFP) - Soaring carbon emissions will amplify the risk of conflict, hunger, floods and migration this century, the UN's expert panel said Monday in a landmark report on the impact of climate change. Left unchecked, greenhouse gas emissions may cost trillions of dollars in damage to property and ecosystems and in bills for shoring up climate defences, it said. The report said the impact of climate change was already being felt and would increase with every additional degree that temperatures rose. The report is the second chapter of the fifth assessment by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), set up in 1988 to provide neutral, science-based guidance to governments.","Fiji says its 45 UN peacekeepers being held captive in Syria are shown in new YouTube video. SUVA, Fiji (AP) — Fiji says its 45 UN peacekeepers being held captive in Syria are shown in new YouTube video.","Obama urges Russia to pull back troops from Ukraine border: CBS. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama on Friday said Russia's troop buildup on the Ukraine border was out of the ordinary and called on Moscow to pull its military back and begin talks to defuse tensions. \"You've seen a range of troops massing along that border under the guise of military exercises,\" he told CBS \"This Morning\" in an interview in Vatican City. \"But these are not what Russia would normally be doing.\" Obama said the moves might be no more than an effort to intimidate Ukraine, but also could be a precursor to other actions. ...","Pentagon says Iraq operations costing on average $7.5 million per day. Rear Admiral John Kirby, the Pentagon press secretary, told a briefing the expense of U.S. He did not offer an estimate of the Pentagon's total costs so far, but an average cost of $7.5 million per day for 71 days would mean the department has spent roughly $532 million. By comparison, the Pentagon has been spending roughly $1.3 billion per week on Afghanistan, analysts said.","India's Parliament approves new 29th state. NEW DELHI (AP) — India's Parliament has approved a plan to create a 29th state following days of political mayhem, including a melee in which a lawmaker unleashed pepper spray on his colleagues.","GM CEO says only learned of defective cars in late January. By Ben Klayman DETROIT (Reuters) - General Motors Co Chief Executive Mary Barra said on Tuesday that she did not learn details about defective GM cars linked to 12 deaths until January 31, just two weeks after she took over as CEO and nearly 13 years after GM engineers first documented problems. The automaker last month recalled more than 1.6 million cars from 2003 to 2007 to replace faulty ignition switches that could cause the engine to shut down and turn off the airbags. \"I am very sorry for the loss of life that has occurred,\" Barra said at a roundtable meeting with reporters on Tuesday. Also on Tuesday, GM named a 40-year company veteran to the new position of vehicle safety chief, responsible for product safety issues including recalls.","Syrian air raids kill at least 12 in southern town. BEIRUT (AP) — Syrian activists say government airstrikes on a southern town have killed at least a dozen people, including children.","Toronto mayor Ford finds rehab 'amazing,' paper reports. Toronto Mayor Rob Ford, who said last month he would take time off to get treatment for an alcohol problem, described rehab as \"amazing\" and said he would return in time for the upcoming city election, a Toronto newspaper reported on Wednesday. In an interview with the Toronto Sun, Ford said going into treatment was the \"best decision\" he has ever made. \"I feel great,\" Ford said. Kind of like the Washington Redskins camp I went to as a kid.\" He didn't name the treatment center or say where it was located.","London wildlife summit moves to choke off illegal markets. More than 40 countries including China and African states have signed a declaration aimed at stamping out the illegal trade in wildlife, in a move broadly welcomed by conservation groups. The London Declaration urges practical steps to end the illegal trade in rhino horn, tiger parts and elephant tusks that contributes to criminal activity worth more than $19 billion (14 billion euros) each year. British Foreign Secretary William Hague, who hosted Thursday's meeting, said: \"I believe the measures we have agreed can mark a crucial turning point.\" Hague highlighted the attendance of China and Vietnam, two major consumers of the banned products.","Indian court reduces death sentence of Sikh rebel. NEW DELHI (AP) — India's top court has commuted the death sentence of a Sikh separatist convicted for a 1993 bombing to life in prison.","PM orders probe into Muslim Brotherhood. Prime Minister David Cameron has ordered an investigation into the Muslim Brotherhood over concerns that the group is planning radical activities in Britain, Downing Street revealed Tuesday. Number 10 confirmed a report in the Times newspaper that said he had asked intelligence agencies to gather information on the \"philosophy and activities\" of the Brotherhood and its potential threat to the UK. The government acted following reports that Brotherhood leaders had met in London last year to decide their response to the Egypt crisis, triggered when one of its leading members, Mohamed Morsi, was unseated as president, according to the Times. A Downing Street spokeswoman said: \"The Prime Minister has commissioned an internal government review into the philosophy and activities of the Muslim Brotherhood and the government's policy towards the organisation.\"","Column: All-white all wrong at the Ryder Cup. GLENEAGLES, Scotland (AP) — There is a white persons' get-together in a beautiful valley in Scotland this week, also known as the Ryder Cup.","Van Gaal wants United job. Louis Van Gaal said Wednesday he wants to be the new manager of Manchester United. \"I hope that I shall be the one,\" added van Gaal, who also said United were the \"biggest club in the world\". The 62-year-old has long been the leading candidate to become the next full-time manager of the struggling English champions since United sacked David Moyes. United, who have failed to qualify for next term's Champions League, are currently under the caretaker charge of 40-year-old club great Ryan Giggs, still an active player.","Zimbabweans give new coins the cold shoulder. HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) — Coins introduced by Zimbabwe's Reserve Bank earlier this month are receiving a cold reception from locals who are fearful they could be the first step to reinstating the ruined Zimbabwean dollar.","Boko Haram casts shadow over Chad's economy. N'Djamena (AFP) - Though Chad has so far been spared from an attack by Boko Haram, the fact the Islamist militants are so close and so dangerous has been bad for business in this landlocked country. \"Prices for commodities have spiked,\" Moussa Oumar, the owner of several auto parts stores in Chad's capital city N'Djamena told AFP. The armed militants of Boko Haram operate in the extreme north of Cameroon which borders their Nigerian stronghold of Borno State -- a mere 50 kilometres (30 miles) from N'Djamena. \"Boko Haram is just over there, on the other side,\" taxi driver Dounama Boukar said pointing across the Chari River that delineates the border with Cameroon.","Schipp leads Australia over Czech Republic 10-1. SOUTH WILLIAMSPORT, PA. (AP) — Callum Schipp struck out 11 batters to help Australia defeat the Czech Republic 10-1 Saturday in the Little League World Series.","China and Qatar seek more Russia investment as U.S. interest fades. By Megan Davies ST PETERSBURG, Russia (Reuters) - Sovereign wealth funds in China and Qatar on Friday signaled their increased commitment to Russia, boosting Moscow's hopes of strengthening ties with Asia and the Middle East as relations with the West deteriorate. Major sovereign wealth funds in the Middle East and Asia have invested in Russian businesses and backed its state-funded private equity fund, the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF). \"CIC has invested several billions of dollars in Russia,\" said Ding Xuedong, chairman of the $575 billion CIC, on the sidelines of the country's main annual investment conference in St Petersburg. \"We will continue to increase our investment in Russia, not only in the public markets, but in direct investments,\" he said.","Syrian town of Kobane no longer on brink. Macdill Air Force Base (United States) (AFP) - A bid by Islamic State jihadists to seize the Syrian border town of Kobane has stalled and Kurdish fighters likely will be able to hold out indefinitely with the help of American warplanes, US officials said Thursday.","Rescuers save 50,000 as floods hit south Pakistan. ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistan's disaster management agency says rescuers with boats and helicopters have evacuated about 50,000 people from the country's south after raging floods inundated more villages there.","China export growth seen slowing, loans surging in January. China's export and import growth likely cooled in January, a Reuters poll showed, underlining a broader slowdown in the world's second-largest economy, though the Lunar New Year holiday effect may overstate the soft momentum. Weakness in China's imports could be bad news for the rest of the world, particularly for major commodity exporters such as Australia. HSBC estimates China will overtake the United States to become the world's biggest importer this year. Bank loans in China are expected to see a typical seasonal surge in January as banks get fresh lending quotas at this time every year, underlining relatively stable credit demand from the real economy.","Even if attacked, airline could be liable in crash. Families of passengers who were on the Malaysia Airlines plane shot down over Ukraine are starting to sort through the long process of gaining compensation for their loss.","UN to help Guyana minimize gold mining impact. GEORGETOWN, Guyana (AP) — The United Nations Development Program is providing more than $800,000 to help limit environmental damage in Guyana as a result of gold mining activities.","Boat migrants in EU's hands as Italy weighs future of rescues. The EU will launch a patrol mission in the Mediterranean on Saturday amid warnings the number of boat migrant deaths could rise with Italy mulling pulling the plug on its own rescue mission. To complicate matters further, Britain said Tuesday it won't support the planned EU search and rescue operation, arguing it will create an unintended \"pull factor\" for more migrants to attempt the dangerous sea crossings, \"Mare Nostrum is being wound up. There will be a formal decision during one of the next cabinet meetings,\" Deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister Angelino Alfano said recently.","Erdogan calls for ground operation as Kobane is 'about to fall'. Istanbul (AFP) - Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned on Tuesday that the Syrian border town of Kobane is on the verge of falling to jihadists, saying a ground operation was needed to defeat the militants.","Georgia's ex-president exiled in trendy NYC area. NEW YORK (AP) — Georgia's former president is spending his self-imposed exile in one of New York City's hippest neighborhoods.","Too few charging ports for electric cars in Silicon Valley creates 'charge rage' incidents. PALO ALTO, Calif. - An increasing number of electric-vehicle driving employees at Silicon Valley companies are finding it hard to access car-charging stations at work, creating incidents of \"charge rage\" among drivers.","Criticizing Ukraine, Russia says gas should be paid for. MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said on Thursday gas supplies should be paid for and payments should be free of politics in a speech that took aim at Ukraine and its Western backers. At an energy conference, Medvedev said: \"We are talking about various crisis situations and I want to mention one very simple, almost banal, thing - it is necessary to pay for delivered energy supplies. \"I hope all countries understand this, all consumers like those present and those who are not present for whatever reason at the forum, including Ukraine. ...","Geneva jewelry auction hauls record $141.5 million. GENEVA (AP) — Sotheby's says its spring auction has sold a world record $141.5 million in jewelry.","Countries rethink pot laws in wake of US, Uruguay. The marijuana legalization experiments underway in Washington state, Colorado and Uruguay have prompted or accelerated discussion about changing pot laws in many nations, and activists say momentum is building in advance of a special United Nations convention on drugs scheduled for 2016. Here's a look at how some countries are rethinking their approach to marijuana.","Pope's envoy for Legion ends mandate. ROME (AP) — The pope's envoy running the troubled Legion of Christ has ended his three-year reform effort, declaring the order \"cured and cleaned\" but acknowledging it bears the guilt of its pedophile founder and those who delayed admitting his crimes.","China, Japan resume talks over maritime issues. BEIJING (AP) — State media say China and Japan have resumed high-level talks on maritime issues, in a sign they want to improve relations that have been badly strained in recent years by territorial disputes and wartime historical issues.","Japan pins Asian Games medals on runners. INCHEON, South Korea (AP) — Japan is pinning its hopes of leaving the Asian Games with 50 gold medals on its track stars — and the marathon could be their biggest prize.","Cook to be axed as England Cricket World Cup captain - reports. Alastair Cook is set to be dismissed as captain of England's one-day team ahead of the World Cup after the opener's miserable run of form, according to reports on Friday. Cook has scored just one fifty in his last 22 one-day innings for England and he has paid the price for failing to stop the rot during his country's recent 5-2 series defeat in Sri Lanka. England's selectors are reported to have decided to axe Cook as skipper at a meeting on Friday, with the Daily Telegraph saying Eoin Morgan is now set to lead the side for the tri-series in Australia after Christmas and then the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand in February and March. After England's series-ending defeat in Colombo on Tuesday, Cook, who hasn't scored a one-day century since June 2012, conceded he could have no complaints if he lost the one-day captaincy.","Russia poised to react to Kiev's new visa regime -RIA. MOSCOW (Reuters) - Moscow will decide whether to introduce visas for Ukrainians visiting Russia after it is officially informed of Kiev's new visa regime for Russians, Russian state news agency RIA reported a source at Russia's Foreign Ministry as saying on Wednesday. Ukrainian security chief Andriy Parubiy said earlier in the day that Ukraine's Foreign Ministry had been given instructions to introduce visas for Russians visiting Ukraine, as tensions rise between the two neighbors. (Reporting by Thomas Grove; Editing by Robin Pomeroy)","Spanish local government offices raided in new corruption investigation. MADRID (Reuters) - Law enforcement officers searched local government offices in 13 Spanish provinces on Tuesday as part of a crackdown on corruption by politicians and officials. The operation, headed by an investigating magistrate from the southern city of Seville, targeted the city council offices there and in several other towns in the Andalusia region, the Guardia Civil said. ...","Quebec archbishop among 19 new cardinals appointed by Pope Francis. VATICAN, Vatican City - The archbishop of Quebec is among a new batch of cardinals selected today by Pope Francis.","Horwill back in Wallabies starting pack vs France. SYDNEY (AP) — Ex-skipper James Horwill has been recalled to Australia's starting pack to face France on Saturday in the only change to the Wallabies lineup that opened its European test campaign with a 33-28 win over Wales at Cardiff.","Liverpool scores late for 2-2 draw vs Arsenal. LIVERPOOL, England (AP) — Martin Skrtel powered home a header deep into stoppage time to earn 10-man Liverpool a 2-2 draw against Arsenal in the Premier League on Sunday.","Tunisian jailed after pardon for 'blasphemous' cartoons. A young Tunisian freed in March after two years in prison for posting cartoons deemed insulting to Islam, saw his eight-month sentence on a separate charge confirmed on appeal Wednesday. Jabeur Mejri received the same sentence handed down by the court of first instance in April for insulting a public official, his lawyer Ahmed Mselmi told AFP. Mejri, an atheist activist, was jailed in 2012 for seven and half years for posting caricatures of the Muslim Prophet Mohammed, but walked free in March after receiving a presidential pardon. \"It's clear... that there is a desire not to accept the presidential pardon and to keep Jabeur in prison at all costs, to make him pay dearly for his freedom of expression and deter him from any further attempts,\" the group said in a statement.","Long faces, but chins up for USA fans in Brazil. RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — It's all long faces but heads mostly held high for the legions of American fans in Brazil for the World Cup after the U.S. team bowed out against Belgium.","Iran claims to have tested two new missiles. Tehran (AFP) - Iran said Monday it has \"successfully tested\" two missiles on the eve of the 35th anniversary of its Islamic revolution, the official IRNA news agency reported.","German hostage in Yemen shown on TV. A German citizen held hostage in Yemen was shown on a private television channel Monday, the first time he has been seen since he was taken hostage two months ago in a tribal region. Wearing dark glasses and a white robe traditional on the Arab peninsula, the man identified as Rudiger Schwidt appeared to have lost weight and, according to a reporter, is suffering from lung cancer and needs urgent treatment, The Al-Yemen Al-Youm channel cited the hostage-taker named as Ali Harijiwan as saying he had threatened to \"sell the hostage to Al-Qaeda\" and also demanded $5 million. A source close to the kidnapper told AFP that the hostage's health was deteriorating and he required cancer treatment unavailable in Yemen.","Australia takes up southern search for plane. KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Australia took the lead Monday in searching for the missing Boeing 777 over the southern Indian Ocean as Malaysia appealed for radar data and search planes to help in the unprecedented hunt through a vast swath of Asia stretching northwest into Kazakhstan.","Young people hold Middle East peace talks online. JERUSALEM (AP) — With the collapse of peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians, hundreds of thousands of young people across the Middle East are talking reconciliation online, a former Israeli peace negotiator and founder of the movement said Monday.","Madrid celebrates Champions League final success. MADRID (AP) — Madrid is celebrating the success of its two major football clubs after Atletico Madrid ensured a historic Champions League final derby against crosstown rival Real Madrid.","Polish editor questioned in probe into tape leaks. WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Polish prosecutors are questioning the chief editor of the magazine that published secret recordings of conversations between top officials in a case that has severely shaken and embarrassed the government.","Cricket-Fireworks expected as Australia host South Africa. By Nick Mulvenney SYDNEY, Nov 13 (Reuters) - Fireworks can be expected when Australia meet South Africa in five one-day internationals over the next two weeks even if the focus for both sides will be putting in place the structures for World Cup success next year. The series pits the second-ranked Proteas against the third-ranked hosts with the strain in relations from Australia's hardfought test triumph in South Africa in March sure to make it anything but a gentle warm up. ...","AIDS conference attendees on downed Malaysian jet. SYDNEY (AP) — Researchers and activists heading to an AIDS conference in Australia were on the Malaysian jetliner shot down over Ukraine, news that sparked an outpouring of grief across the scientific community.","Mexico down Cameroon 1-0 as officials flop again. Natal (Brazil) (AFP) - Mexico beat Cameroon 1-0 at a rain-drenched Natal on Friday in a World Cup Group A match scarred by more refereeing blunders.","Egypt court dissolves Muslim Brotherhood party. CAIRO (AP) — Egypt's administrative court dissolved Saturday the political party of the banned Muslim Brotherhood and ordered its assets liquidated, the state news agency reported.","India's new PM meets leader of rival Pakistan. NEW DELHI (AP) — New Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi met with the leaders of rival Pakistan and other neighboring nations on Tuesday, a day after being sworn in.","UN rights chief urges Myanmar to probe sectarian killings. The United Nations has called on Myanmar to investigate reports that dozens of men, women and children were killed in attacks on Rohingya Muslims in the country's strife-torn Rakhine state. The UN said it had received \"credible information\" of a series of attacks in a remote area of Rakhine earlier this month, in the latest statement of international concern over the fresh bout of unrest in the volatile region. Myanmar, whose sweeping political reforms have been overshadowed by religious bloodshed, has vociferously denied civilians were killed but said a police officer was presumed dead after a clash. \"I deplore the loss of life in (the village of) Du Chee Yar Tan and call on the authorities to carry out a full, prompt and impartial investigation and ensure that victims and their families receive justice,\" the UN's human rights chief Navi Pillay said in the statement late Thursday.","Sri Lanka releases intercepted migrants; 5 held. COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — A Sri Lankan court has released dozens of asylum seekers who were detained after Australia intercepted their boat and sent them back to their home country.","Russia has 'severed' partnership with Europe, says Germany. Russia has \"effectively severed its partnership\" with Europe and wants to establish a new order, German President Joachim Gauck said Monday. \"We want partnership and good neighbourly relations (with Russia)\" but on the condition that Moscow changes its policies and that there is a \"return to respect for the rights of nations\", Gauck said at a ceremony in Gdansk to mark the 75th anniversary of Germany's invasion of Poland that set off World War II. Evoking the \"miracle\" of post-war reconciliation between Germans and Poles, Gauck said he was disappointed with the turn of events in Russia. \"We believed and wanted to believe that Russia too, the country of Tolstoy and Dostoevsky, could be part of Europe.\"","Egyptian prosecutors refer ousted President Morsi to new trial for insulting judges. CAIRO - Egypt's state news agency is reporting that the country's ousted Islamist President and 24 other politicians, media personalities, activists and lawyers will be tried on charges of insulting the judiciary.","Canada won't recognize Crimea referendum. OTTAWA, Ontario (AP) — Canada's prime minister says Canada would not recognize Crimea's forthcoming referendum on whether to join Russia.","Group: Chinese logging threatens Myanmar monkey. YANGON, Myanmar (AP) — A conservation group says illegal Chinese logging and demand for monkey bones are threatening a rare monkey species in northern Myanmar.","Bus in southwestern China catches fire, killing 5. BEIJING (AP) — Authorities in southwestern China say a bus has caught fire on a city street, killing five people and injuring 32.","SOCHI SCENE: Stalin's Dacha. SOCHI, Russia (AP) — Before it was an Olympic city, Sochi was a Black Sea resort town favored by Russians trying to escape the cold up north.","South Africa: Mandela comrade stays in the game. JOHANNESBURG (AP) — One of Nelson Mandela's closest confidants is still challenging the powers that be, with plenty of guidance from his ancestors, the ancient Greeks.","Tate Modern puts defaced Rothko back on display. LONDON (AP) — How do you rebuild a Rothko? Slowly and with great care.","Global stocks lackluster after tech tumble. BEIJING (AP) — Global stocks were mostly lackluster Tuesday after Japan's central bank refrained from expanding its stimulus and declines in tech stocks weighed on sentiment.","New NATO chief: better ties with Russia possible. BRUSSELS (AP) — NATO's new secretary-general struck a more conciliatory tone Wednesday on Russia, saying there's a chance now for improved relations between Moscow and the West.","Coca-Cola sales miss estimates as North America growth stalls. (Reuters) - Coca-Cola Co reported lower-than-expected quarterly revenue as sales in North America, its biggest market, failed to show growth for the second straight quarter. Unit case volume sales were flat in North America in the quarter ended June 27, despite increased marketing around the FIFA World Cup and the launch of its 'Share a Coke' campaign. JP Morgan analysts had expected volumes to be up 1-2 percent in North America in North America, which accounted for 45 percent of total revenue in the second quarter. Still, sparkling beverages volume, which includes carbonated energy drinks and waters, was flat in the quarter in North America, with brand Coca-Cola volumes up 1 percent.","Militants in Somalia attack presidential palace. MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) — Police in Somalia say that militants wearing suicide vests and carrying guns and grenades have attacked the presidential palace.","Real Madrid remains top of AP Global Football 10. LONDON (AP) — Real Madrid is at the top of the Associated Press Global Football 10 at the end of 2014 after beating Argentina's San Lorenzo 2-0 in the Club World Cup final.","Teddy Sheringham joins West Ham as attack coach. Former England striker Teddy Sheringham has joined West Ham United in the role of attack coach as the Premier League club bid to improve their forward play. The 48-year-old, who scored 147 Premier League goals, played for West Ham during the course of a 24-year-career that also saw him win the 'treble' with Manchester United in 1999. His appointment, on a part-time basis, comes after Hammers manager Sam Allardyce was told by the owners of the east London club to provide more \"entertainment\" following fans' criticism of a style of play that yielded just 40 goals in 38 Premier League matches as the team finished 13th in the table. \"I'm very excited,\" Sheringham, who played alongside Allardyce at Millwall at the start of his career, said Friday.","Over 25 killed in Nigeria militant attack, government air strike. By Lanre Ola MAIDUGURI Nigeria (Reuters) - At least 26 people were killed when suspected Islamist Boko Haram militants stormed a village in northeast Nigeria and a government warplane opened fire to repel the attackers, local residents and a security source said on Tuesday. The warplane strafed Boko Haram fighters fleeing in pick-up trucks after raiding Dille, near Lassa in the south of Borno State, for several hours on Monday. \"I counted 26 corpses yesterday evening,\" one of the residents, Dauda Illiya, told Reuters. Nigeria's defense headquarters in Abuja did not respond to a request for comment on the incident, but a security source in Borno State confirmed the deployment of the military plane.","Correction: Uganda-HIV Nurse story. KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) — In a story May 19 about the conviction in Uganda of a nurse, The Associated Press reported erroneously that she was found guilty of trying to infect her patient with HIV. She was found guilty of negligence which exposed her patient to HIV, not of intentionally trying to infect the patient.","Kenyan president says tourism sector 'on its knees' after attacks. By James Macharia NAIROBI (Reuters) - Kenya's vital tourism sector is \"on its knees\" after attacks by al Qaeda-linked Islamist militants carried out in retaliation for its intervention in neighboring Somalia, President Uhuru Kenyatta said on Friday. Kenyatta met ethnic Somali leaders and asked for their help in identifying people they thought may be behind attacks that have dented the president's plans to boost the tourism sector in east Africa's biggest economy. Kenya has large Somali communities in parts of the country near the frontier with Somalia and in Eastleigh, a part of the capital Nairobi known as \"Little Mogadishu\" for its large Somali population. Tourist arrivals in Kenya in the first five months of 2013 were down 15 percent on the previous year as visitors stayed away, worried by attacks blamed on Somalia's al Shabaab rebel group and by fears of trouble around elections in March, which in the event passed off peacefully.","Surrounded by rebels, Ukrainian soldiers battle on. Frunze (Ukraine) (AFP) - The boom of incoming artillery fire from the Ukrainian position sends the pro-Russian rebels scrambling for cover.","Detroit, creditors lay groundwork for fight over bankruptcy plan. By Karen Pierog DETROIT (Reuters) - Detroit claimed on Wednesday that its plan to adjust its debt and exit bankruptcy is feasible and fair to creditors, but a bond insurance company contended the plan calls for \"historic levels of discrimination\" among creditors. Bruce Bennett, a Jones Day attorney representing Detroit, wrapped up his three-hour opening statement by disputing arguments from creditors who claim the city's plan to adjust its $18 billion in debt is inadequate and should be scrapped. \"We think this is the city's last best chance and we think it will work,\" Bennett told Judge Steven Rhodes, who on Tuesday began a confirmation hearing on the Detroit plan that is scheduled to last for weeks.","More Eurostar trains cancelled after power failure. The high-speed cross-Channel train service Eurostar cancelled four trains on Tuesday as a section of the track remained closed following a power failure the previous day. Eurostar also warned of delays of up to 60 minutes on other trains \"due to an ongoing problem with the overhead power line in the Eurotunnel\". The cancelled trains were between London and Paris, London and Brussels, in both directions, scheduled between 7:31 am (0631 GMT) and 11:43 am (1043 GMT).","BlackBerry aims to reverse emerging market slump with budget handset. By Randy Fabi and Euan Rocha JAKARTA/TORONTO (Reuters) - BlackBerry Ltd launched a low-cost touchscreen device in Jakarta, the Z3, as the embattled smartphone maker looks to revive sales in emerging markets like Indonesia where its once-fervent following has shriveled. The handset, to be presented at a glitzy launch event in the Indonesian capital on Tuesday, is the first in a line of devices being made with FIH Mobile Ltd, a unit of the giant Taiwanese Foxconn Technology Group best known for assembling gadgets like iPhones and iPads for Apple Inc. The success of the handset retailing for less than $200 could well decide the outcome of both BlackBerry's tie-up with the contract manufacturing giant and its own future in smartphones. That says there is still room for BlackBerry in Indonesia,\\\\\" said Ryan Lai, market analyst at consultancy IDC. The Z3 is the first phone to be launched by BlackBerry since new Chief Executive John Chen took the helm late last year.","Attacks in northern Iraq kill 20 people. BAGHDAD (AP) — A back-to-back car bombing targeting an ethnic minority in northern Iraq and militant attacks on Iraqi soldiers and police killed at least 20 people on Friday, officials said.","Environment, economy linked at new UN assembly. NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — The first-ever United Nations Environmental Assembly opened in Kenya on Monday, as more than 150 high-level delegations began a weeklong examination of the intersection between global economic progress and the environment.","Yemeni Guantanamo prisoner told he can be released. MIAMI (AP) — A Guantanamo Bay prisoner who was accused of being a bodyguard for Osama bin Laden has been cleared for release from the U.S. base in Cuba.","Russia vows to retaliate against U.S. human rights sanctions. Russia vowed on Wednesday to retaliate against what it called \"unfounded\" U.S. sanctions imposed a day earlier on 12 Russians for human rights abuses, including allegedly withholding medical care to a whistleblowing lawyer who died in a Russian prison. \"We view the decision by the U.S. administration to impose visa and financial sanctions against 12 Russian citizens ... as unfounded and dictated by a cynical desire to use human tragedy for unscrupulous political goals,\" the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.","Pope celebrates Christmas Eve Mass after excoriating staff. VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis is celebrating Christmas Eve with a late-night Mass in St. Peter's Basilica just days after excoriating his staff for a laundry list of sins.","Obama: U.S. won't stop confronting Islamic State. President Barack Obama pledged Wednesday to continue to confront Islamic State militants despite the beheading of an American journalist in Iraq, standing firm in the face of the militants' threats to kill another hostage unless the U.S. military changes course.","Inspector probing US 'Cuban Twitter' plan. WASHINGTON (AP) — The chief investigator the U.S. international aid agency is probing a once-secret Obama administration program that created a social media network in Cuba, The Associated Press has learned.","German CEOs stay away from Russia business forum. BERLIN (AP) — Chief executives of major German companies have turned down invitations to this week's St. Petersburg International Economic Forum amid tension between Russia and the West over Ukraine.","Belarus's Lukashenko, Ukraine's Poroshenko to meet in Kiev on Sunday. MINSK/KIEV (Reuters) - Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko and Ukraine's Petro Poroshenko will meet on Sunday, Belarus's official news agency Belta reported. A spokesman for Poroshenko the meeting between the two men in Kiev \"was entirely unrelated\" to the international contact group seeking to resolve the separatist conflict in east Ukraine. Belarus is a close ally of Russia but also has a solid relationship with Ukraine. It hosted a round of peace talks in September of the contact group of envoys from Russia, Ukraine and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. ...","Somalia's Shebab launch suicide attack on presidential palace. Somalia's Al-Qaeda-linked Shebab rebels launched a major suicide attack Friday against the heavily-fortified presidential palace, home to the country's internationally-backed government, killing officials and guards before dying in a fierce gunbattle. The country's president, Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, said he was unharmed. He branded the Shebab \"a marginal group on the brink of extinction\" and vowed Somali and African Union forces would \"eliminate\" the group. \"A suicide bomber rammed a car full of explosives into the perimeter wall of the presidential palace and another one with heavily armed men penetrated the area where the first one hit,\" said Hussein Isa, who witness the attack unfold.","Israel 'approves callup of 40,000 reservists for Gaza'. Israel's security cabinet authorised the military Tuesday to call up 40,000 reservists for a possible assault on the Gaza Strip, media reported. The move came during the most serious flare-up over Gaza since November 2012, as Palestinian militants rained rockets onto southern Israel and Israel hit back with deadly air strikes. \"The security cabinet has voted to call up some 40,000 reservists in preparation for a possible ground operation in the Gaza Strip as part of Operation Protective Edge,\" the Ynet news website said, referring to the campaign launched to stamp out rocket fire. \"We have been instructed by the political echelon to hit Hamas hard,\" chief military spokesman General Moti Almoz told army radio earlier, saying the operation would take place \"in stages.\"","EU-Cuba talks delayed by dispute over cultural event. By Robin Emmott and Daniel Trotta BRUSSELS/HAVANA (Reuters) - Cuba has delayed negotiations towards an accord with the European Union aimed at opening up the Communist-ruled island, citing a dispute over an EU cultural event in Washington, people close to the matter said on Tuesday. The third round of talks, due to take place on Jan. 8-9 in Havana, was scheduled to discuss human rights, always a sensitive topic for Cuba, a one-party state that represses dissent and controls the media. ...","Drone in Yemen kills at least 9 al-Qaida members. SANAA, Yemen (AP) — A U.S. drone strike in southern Yemen killed at least nine suspected al-Qaida militants and three civilians Saturday, authorities said, as part of America's ongoing strikes in the country against what it considers the terror network's most dangerous local group.","Exclusive: Carlyle seeking to buy a traditional asset manager. By Greg Roumeliotis NEW YORK (Reuters) - Carlyle Group LP is considering buying a traditional money manager to broaden its own investment platform, as the private equity firm tries to attract more retail investors and achieve the higher stock market valuation commanded by such managers, according to sources familiar with the situation. In a sign of this interest, Carlyle recently considered buying Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance's Russell Investments fund managing unit using its own rather than investors' money, the sources said. But Washington, D.C.-based Carlyle eventually decided to pursue the business through its private equity division, where it buys and sells companies using money primarily from institutional investors, they said.","Iraq family's flight reveals depth of Sunni grief. BAGHDAD (AP) — For nearly a decade Abu Omar has been fleeing Iraq's many conflicts, but they always seem to catch up to him.","German minister asks bankers to help with regulation. German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble on Monday urged financiers to use their knowledge to improve international rules aimed at preventing future financial crises. Schaeuble told a group of some 1,000 commercial and central bankers, brokers and politicians at exchange operator Deutsche Boerse's New Year's reception there could be no end to regulation because financial markets continue to innovate. Regulators are aware of the need for strong capital markets, Schaeuble said, pledging to take the arguments of the financial sector seriously and try to proceed with moderation. \"So don't invest your energy and competence only in warding off new regulation, but rather help to find better solutions and to put them in place internationally,\" Schaeuble said.","Rugby-Northern hemisphere pretenders face month of reckoning. By Ed Osmond LONDON, Nov 6 (Reuters) - With less than a year to go before the World Cup it is time for the northern hemisphere countries to show their mettle in the November internationals against their southern counterparts. World champions New Zealand, Australia and South Africa have arrived in Europe looking to continue their customary ascendancy over England, Wales, Ireland and France, the four teams most likely to challenge them for the Webb Ellis trophy next October. ...","BRAZIL BEAT: Holiday from traffic in Sao Paulo. SAO PAULO (AP) — The perpetual traffic jam in South America's most populous city lifted Thursday, and the 4-mile ride from downtown to the U.S. team's training camp at Sao Paulo Futebol Clube took just 15 minutes, down from two hours two days earlier.","Wigan chairman Whelan accepts FA misconduct charge. London (AFP) - Wigan Athletic chairman Dave Whelan on Monday accepted a Football Association misconduct charge over racially insensitive remarks in a British newspaper interview.","Quebec seeks C$409 million from rail operator for Lac-Megantic disaster. The Quebec government said on Monday it was seeking some C$409 million ($377 million) from Montreal, Maine and Atlantic, the insolvent rail operator at the center of the rail disaster in the town of Lac Megantic last year. The claim is the latest in a growing list against the rail operator and other companies involved in the train shipment of oil from the Bakken fields that derailed and exploded, killing 47 people in the small town of Quebec and flattening the center of the town.","Dead immigrant, 34 survivors found in English port. LONDON (AP) — Emergency officials say a dead man and 34 survivors, including women and children, have been found inside a shipping container in England.","GM recommends light key rings after recall. Also on Wednesday, U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill said a Senate subcommittee plans to hold a hearing in early April on GM's recall last month of more than 1.6 million vehicles with the faulty ignition switches which have been linked to 12 deaths. GM became aware of the problem a decade ago. \"We need to find out who dropped ball and put millions of Americans at risk.\" GM has been telling owners affected by the recall that until the repairs are made only the key should be on the key ring. \"We recommend that customers only utilize the key, key ring and key fob (if equipped) that came with the vehicle,\" GM said in the document filed with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.","Brazil candidate's death makes runoff more likely, pressures Rousseff. By Anthony Boadle BRASILIA (Reuters) - The death of presidential candidate Eduardo Campos makes it even more likely Brazil's October election goes to a second round and could put President Dilma Rousseff under more pressure as she seeks a second term. Campos died in a plane crash on Wednesday and his running mate Marina Silva is expected to pick up the baton and run for president herself. Her candidacy could give his Brazilian Socialist Party a boost and deprive Rousseff of votes she needs to avoid a second-round runoff against her main contender, Senator Aecio Neves. \"The chances of a second round have increased a lot, because Marina Silva will draw more votes away from Rousseff than she will from Aecio Neves,\" said David Fleischer, a professor of politics at the University of Brasilia.","Rugby union - All Black coach defends Sonny Bill rule change. - New Zealand coach Steve Hansen on Wednesday defended special treatment given to code-swapper Sonny Bill Williams, saying it was needed to ensure he is ready to join the All Blacks' World Cup defence next year. Williams, who is returning to rugby union after a second stint in Australia's National Rugby League, has been exempted from a rule that forces players to participate in the domestic ITM Cup before being eligible for All Blacks honours.","Cyclone leaves 3 dead, 6 missing in Vanuatu. WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Three people are dead and six more missing in Vanuatu after a cyclone hit the Pacific Island nation.","England face second All Blacks Test selection headache. England coach Stuart Lancaster faced a selection headache on Sunday as he rued the missed opportunity of a rare Test win over the All Blacks in New Zealand. Lancaster said he was mulling whether to give his combative second-stringers another crack after they were eclipsed 20-15 in the first Test, or to unleash many of England's \"quality players\" who only arrived in New Zealand last week. While Conrad Smith's try in the dying minutes gave the All Blacks victory in Auckland on Saturday, the match statistics were heavily tilted in England's favour. But England were unable to score a try, with their points coming from five penalties.","Oklahoma earthquake surge tied to energy industry activity -study. A dramatic jump in the number of earthquakes in Oklahoma to a rate never seen there by scientists before, appears to be caused by a small number of wells where wastewater associated with oil and gas production is injected into the ground, a study released on Thursday said. Just a few of these so-called disposal wells, operating at very high volumes, \"create substantial anthropogenic seismic hazard,\" according to findings from Cornell University researchers published in the journal Science. Earthquake activity in Oklahoma has skyrocketed in recent years, and the U.S. Geological Survey recently warned that the state faces increasing risk of more potentially damaging earth-shaking activity. \"There is an awful lot of smoke here,\" said Matt Skinner, spokesman for the Oklahoma Corporations Commission, which oversees oil and gas activities in the state.","Denis Johnson, Tobias Wolff to enter arts academy. NEW YORK (AP) — Fiction writers Denis Johnson, Ha Jin and Tobias Wolff are among this year's inductees into the American Academy of Arts and Letters.","U.S. accuses Sudan of deadly attacks on civilians. By Louis Charbonneau UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The United States on Thursday condemned recent attacks by the Sudanese government's Rapid Support Forces on civilians in the Blue Nile and South Kordofan states, saying they have been deliberately targeting schools and hospitals. The statement from U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power came just days after a coalition of 45 organizations providing humanitarian aid or supporting peace efforts in Sudan wrote to the U.N. Security Council, African Union and Arab League demanding an end to attacks on civilians.","Florida scientists urge state leaders to join climate summit. By Bill Cotterell TALLAHASSEE (Reuters) - A group of 42 scientists from Florida universities submitted a joint letter on Thursday urging Governor Rick Scott and other state leaders to participate in a summit this fall to seek solutions for climate change. The group plans to host a conference of state and national policymakers and scientists, along with engineers and entrepreneurs who have \"job-creating solutions.\" Scott, who is a Republican, has come under fire from environmentalists for not taking stronger action over sea level rise and climate change. ...","Moeen banned from wearing political messages. SOUTHAMPTON, England (AP) — England allrounder Moeen Ali has been banned from displaying political messages on the field by the International Cricket Council, after wearing wristbands supporting Palestinians during the third test.","Crimea's parliament adopts Kremlin-backed constitution. By Alissa de Carbonnel SIMFEROPOL, Crimea (Reuters) - Crimean lawmakers adopted a new constitution on Friday, taking another step to cement the region's absorption into Russia despite strong objections from the Muslim Tatar minority. Pro-Moscow legislators are eager to complete the Black Sea peninsula's integration into Russia and smooth over financial and legal difficulties that have left businesses in limbo since its break with Ukraine. All 88 deputies present in the 100-seat legislature broke into applause and stood for the Russian national anthem after approving the constitution in the vote at a session ignored by dissenting lawmakers. \"Step by step we have led Crimeans to realize their dream of returning home to Russia,\" speaker Vladimir Konstantinov told the assembly of the region, which Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev transferred from Russia to Ukraine in 1954.","Ruler of the World favorite in Dubai World Cup. DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Ruler of the World could live up to his name in the $10 million Dubai World Cup when he starts as the 9-2 favorite at Meydan Racecourse on Saturday.","Ebola kills 31 people in DR Congo: WHO. An outbreak of the Ebola virus in the Democratic Republic of Congo has killed 31 people and the epidemic remains contained in a remote northwestern region, UN the World Health Organization (WHO) said Tuesday. \"There are now 31 deaths,\" Eugene Kambambi, the WHO's head of communication in DR Congo, told AFP, citing Congolese authorities and stressing that the epidemic \"remains contained\" in an area around 800 kilometres (500 miles) north of the capital Kinshasa. Health officials had previously given a death toll of 13 people from the lethal haemorrhagic fever since August 11 around the isolated town of Boende, surrounded by dense tropical forest in Equateur province. Kabambi was speaking by telephone from Mbandaka, the provincial capital, where he was accompanied by Health Minister Felix Kabange Numbi and the WHO representative in DRC, Joseph Cabore.","Top Asian News at 5:30 a.m. GMT. WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — The Salvadoran man who says he spent more than a year drifting across the Pacific Ocean made a brief public appearance looking much weaker than he did earlier in the week. Jose Salvador Alvarenga greeted about 50 officials and media Thursday at the Marshall Islands Resort hotel where he is staying. Sporting a haircut and a shave, he was assisted into the room by two people while others stood by ready to help.","Mega-city, mega-commute: Lagos and life on the road. Ochuko Oghuvwu is surprisingly chirpy for a man who spends upwards of 30 hours a week in his car, commuting to and from his office in Nigeria's financial hub, Lagos. Then again, he has just started the working week after two whole days without having to battle giant pot-holes, monster traffic jams, roadworks, irate drivers and police checkpoints. Oghuvwu's stockbroking firm in the Ikoyi area of Lagos is only about 32 kilometres (20 miles) from his home in Ojo, due west towards the border with neighbouring Benin. But those days are as rare in Lagos as 24 hours of uninterrupted electricity from the national grid.","French President announces new operation in Africa. N'DJAMENA, Chad (AP) — France's president announced the redeployment of 3,000 French troops in five of its former colonies across northwest Africa as part of an operation to help fight terrorism in the region.","Special Report: Scotland stays in UK, but Britain faces change. By Alistair Smout, Kylie MacLellan and Kate Holton EDINBURGH/LONDON (Reuters) - When 3.6 million Scots voted on Thursday on whether to leave or stay within the United Kingdom, they were answering one simple question: Should Scotland be an independent country? But for a time some politicians on both sides of the debate wanted to include a third choice on the ballot: maximum devolution of powers to Scotland within Britain, or so-called devo-max. ...","Barclays chairman defends staff bonuses as Standard Life leads shareholder protests. By Steve Slater and Matt Scuffham LONDON (Reuters) - Barclays Chairman David Walker defended pay levels at the bank on Thursday, telling shareholders that it needed to raise bonuses to stop an exodus of senior executives. Speaking at Barclay's annual general meeting - at which a significant minority of investors led by Standard Life are expected to vote against plans to bump up salaries - Walker said Barclays was losing people critical to its development because U.S. rivals are upping pay by at least 15 percent. The resignation rate for senior Barclays employees in the United States almost doubled in 2013, he said, and there had been a marked increase in the number of people turning down offers of employment at the bank. \"The challenge was the need for damage limitation and franchise protection... Despite all the reservations that have been expressed, I remain confident in my view that we took the right decision,\" Walker told around 840 shareholders at the meeting in London on Thursday.","Iran leader: Nuclear progress not significant. NEW YORK (AP) — Iran's President says progress so far in nuclear talks with six major powers \"has not been significant.\"","Aussies, Sri Lanka in form _ will it help in T20?. NEW DELHI (AP) — Australia is on a hot streak, making veterans like Shane Watson increasingly confident of winning the World Twenty20 title for the first time.","Markets edge up after mixed US economic data. LONDON (AP) — Stocks in Europe and the U.S. edged higher on Thursday despite an earlier retreat in Asia as confidence grew that the past weeks' turmoil in markets has run its course.","Palestinians won't 'flood Israel' with refugees: Abbas. Ramallah (Palestinian Territories) (AFP) - Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas said Sunday he was not looking \"to flood Israel\" with returning Palestinian refugees, at a rare meeting with 250 Israeli students at his West Bank headquarters. He also said there was no need to \"re-divide\" Jerusalem in order to have a Palestinian capital in the Arab eastern sector, a central demand of the Palestinians in US-brokered peace talks relaunched last year that have shown little sign of progress. \"Propaganda says Abu Mazen wants to flood Israel with five million refugees to destroy the state of Israel,\" he told the group at his Muqataa presidential compound in Ramallah, referring to himself by his nickname. \"But we will not seek to flood Israel with millions of refugees to change its social character.","2 members of punk group Pussy Riot released. SOCHI, Russia (AP) — Two members of the Russian punk group Pussy Riot have been released after being detained by police in Sochi, the host city of the Winter Olympics.","Explosion damages symbolic Gaza boat. GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — A Palestinian activist says an explosion has damaged a boat preparing for a symbolic journey to Europe from the Gaza Strip.","Israel indicts 3 Jews in Jerusalem school arson. JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel has indicted three members of a Jewish extremist group for setting fire to a bi-lingual school in Jerusalem where Jews and Arabs study together.","AstraZeneca profits tumble in third quarter. London (United Kingdom) (AFP) - British pharmaceuticals group AstraZeneca announced on Thursday a slump in quarterly profits, in part on higher investment costs, but raised its outlook for full-year revenues.","China defends Tiananmen crackdown on eve of 25th anniversary. China defended the bloody 1989 crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators around Beijing's Tiananmen Square on Tuesday, the eve of the 25th anniversary, saying it had chosen the correct path for the sake of the people. For the ruling Communist Party, the 1989 demonstrations that clogged Tiananmen Square in Beijing and spread to other cities remain taboo after the government termed the protests \"counter-revolutionary\". The anniversary of the date on which troops shot their way into central Beijing in 1989 has never been publicly marked in mainland China, though every year there are commemorations in Hong Kong, which returned to Chinese rule in 1997, as well as in self-ruled Taiwan, which China claims as its own.","Biden: I never apologized to Turkey. WASHINGTON (AP) — Vice President Joe Biden says he never apologized to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan for claiming Turkey's mistakes helped foreign fighters enter Syria.","Lille edges Caen 1-0. LE MANS, France (AP) — Lille earned its first win of the season in the French league on Friday after beating newly-promoted Caen 1-0 courtesy of a controversial penalty.","Hamburg holds Bayern to 0-0 draw in Bundesliga. BERLIN (AP) — Hamburger SV held Bayern Munich to a 0-0 draw in Josef Zinnbauer's debut as coach, while Julian Draxler scored and got sent off on his 21st birthday for nine-man Schalke in the Bundesliga on Saturday.","Team Brunel holds Volvo Ocean Race 2nd-leg lead. ALICANTE, Spain (AP) — Three teams have held the Volvo Ocean Race second leg lead within the last 24 hours as the fleet sped toward the stage's conclusion in Abu Dhabi.","Water leak forces flight to return to Los Angeles. LOS ANGELES (AP) — Qantas Airways says a water leak aboard a flight bound for Australia has forced the plane to return to Los Angeles.","Mexico arrests vigilante leader in state torn by violence. Mexican authorities detained one of the most well-known leaders of vigilante groups that have been battling drug gangs in the western Mexican state of Michoacan, a federal official said on Friday. Jose Mireles, a medical doctor who became one of the most visible leaders of vigilante groups that sprung up last year, was arrested for carrying illegal guns, Alfredo Castillo, the federal government commissioner in the state, told Milenio TV. Mireles was detained on Friday in the port city of Lazaro Cardenas with 82 other people who also were allegedly carrying illegal firearms and who planned to travel to the state capital of Morelia, Castillo said. Michoacan has been ravaged by the Knights Templar drug cartel, which had controlled much of the state until an uprising by armed vigilantes that began early last year.","Los Angeles mayor vows to cut water use by 20 percent over drought. By Alex Dobuzinskis LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The mayor of Los Angeles aims to reduce local water use by 20 percent over the next three years to address a record drought through a mix of voluntary measures for residents and mandatory restrictions for city departments, the city said on Tuesday. Mayor Eric Garcetti, in an executive order, asked residents in the city of 3.9 million people to limit watering their lawn to twice a week and ordered city departments to reduce watering of municipal lawns. ...","Profit-taking pushes FTSE down 0.21%. London (AFP) - London's leading share index weakened at the open on Friday as investors took profits following the previous day's gains.","Islamic State group storms air base in east Syria. BEIRUT (AP) — Activists say Islamic State group fighters have stormed parts of a sprawling army air base in eastern Syria after days of clashes that killed dozens.","CANNES WATCH: 'The Hunger Games' lays down stakes. CANNES, France (AP) — The \"Hunger Games\" is back in Cannes with a fiery billboard to promote the upcoming \"Mockingjay: Part 1.\"","Uruguay's leader declares $322,883 in wealth. MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay (AP) — Uruguayan President Jose Mujica has declared $322,883 in wealth.","Japan, Australia agree on stealth technology deal. TOKYO (AP) — Japan and Australia agreed Wednesday to jointly develop stealth submarine technology, as Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe pushes his country toward a more assertive global military role.","2 British tourists found dead Thai beach. BANGKOK (AP) — Police say the bodies of two British tourists were found naked with gruesome head wounds on a beach at a popular island in southern Thailand.","Death toll rises to 24 in Philippine road attack. MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Officials say the death toll in a brazen road attack by Abu Sayyaf extremists on some 50 villagers traveling in the southern Philippines to celebrate the end of Ramadan with their families has climbed to 23 after a 3-year-old boy and his father died from their injuries.","Egypt FM heads to US as helicopter delivery freeze lifted. Egypt's foreign minister Nabil Fahmy was travelling to the United States on Wednesday, his ministry said, a day after Washington decided to provide Cairo with 10 Apache military helicopters. Washington had imposed a temporary freeze on the delivery of major weapons to Egypt, including the Apaches, following the military-installed authorities' brutal crackdown on supporters of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi since his ouster last July. Fahmy is expected to meet officials in Washington and UN chief Ban Ki-moon during his visit.","Oscar winner Helen Mirren honoured as Woman of the Year by Harvard's Hasty Pudding Theatricals. CAMBRIDGE, Mass. - Helen Mirren is being honoured as woman of the year by Harvard University's Hasty Pudding Theatricals.","Soccer-Australian championship results and standings. Nov 29 (Infostrada Sports) - Results and standings from the Australian championship matches on Saturday Saturday, November 29 Brisbane Roar 1 Perth Glory 1 Western Sydney Wanderers FC 1 Sydney FC 1 Friday, November 28 Melbourne Victory 3 Adelaide United 2 Standings P W D L F A Pts 1 Perth Glory 8 6 1 1 13 9 19 2 Melbourne Victory 8 5 3 0 18 8 18 3 Adelaide United 8 5 2 1 13 7 17 4 Sydney FC 8 4 4 0 11 5 16 5 Wellington Phoenix 7 3 0 4 10 10 9 6 Melbourne City FC 7 1 3 3 11 14 6 -------------------------7 Central Coast Mariners 7 1 2 4 4 9 5 8 Brisbane Roar 7 1 1 5 9 12 4 9 Western Sydney ...","Nationwide blackout hits Bangladesh. A nationwide power blackout hit Bangladesh on Saturday after a transmission line failed, the government said. Engineers \"are working to fix the outage\" which hit all areas linked to the national electricity grid, Masud Alberuni, a senior power ministry official, told AFP. \"The national grid tripped\" close to mid-day, Alberuni said. Saturday is a weekend day in Bangladesh so the impact on industry was not as severe as if the blackout had occurred on a weekday.","Athletes bemused by Sochi haters. By Julian Linden SOCHI, Russia (Reuters) - The potshots and constant stream of criticism of the Sochi Olympics is starting to wear thin on some of the athletes at the Games, who can't understand what all the fuss is about. While Sochi has largely been portrayed as a shambles, athletes and even visitors to the Games are painting a very different picture. One American speedskater described Sochi as \"Disney World\" while a New Zealand freestyle skier said the criticism was fuelled by jealousy. \"There's so much hate online from anybody who's not here, just like 'Sochi sucks', and this and that,\" said skier Jossi Wells.","Afghanistan: Gunmen kill local election candidate. KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — An Afghan official says Taliban gunmen have killed nine people, including a candidate running for a seat in the provincial council, who had been abducted in northern Afghanistan.","Solid U.S. employment growth eyed in August. It would mark the seventh straight month that employment has expanded above 200,000 jobs - a stretch last witnessed in 1997. The Labor Department will release its monthly employment report at 8:30 a.m. on Friday. The report regularly sets the tone for financial markets worldwide. Should employment meet expectations, it will add to data such as automobile sales and manufacturing and services sector gauges in casting the economy in a bullish light.","UN: Assault on Yazidis may be genocide attempt. UNITED NATIONS (AP) — A United Nations official says evidence strongly indicates that the Islamic State group's assault on Iraq's Yazidi religious minority is \"an attempt to commit genocide.\"","New Canadian cardinal condemns Quebec charter for dividing people, stirring fear. QUEBEC - Canada's freshly appointed cardinal says Quebec is making its people increasingly fearful of each other by moving forward with its controversial values charter.","Glencore appoints first female board director. Glencore , the last British blue-chip company with an all male board, has appointed Patrice Merrin as its first female board director. The commodity trader and mining group had come under fire from some shareholders over its apparent failure to follow recommendations in a 2011 British government review that called for more women on company boards. The government's Davies Review set a target for all companies in the FTSE 100 to have a quarter of board roles held by women by 2015. In May, Glencore chairman and former BP boss Tony Hayward said that the company would appoint a female director by the end of the year.","Japan, North Korea to meet next week on abductees. TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese and North Korean officials will meet next week for an update on the North's probe into the fate of Japanese citizens it kidnapped decades ago, Japan's top government spokesman said on Thursday. North Korea agreed in July to reopen an investigation into the fate of Japanese citizens it kidnapped in the 1970s and 1980s to help train spies, prompting Japan to ease some sanctions on the North. ...","Top Asian News at 7:00 a.m. GMT. CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott, who rose to power in large part by opposing a tax on greenhouse gas emissions, is finding his country isolated like never before on climate change as the U.S., China and other nations signal new momentum for action. Abbott tried and failed to keep the issue off the agenda of the annual G-20 summit of wealthy and emerging countries that was hosted by the Australian city of Brisbane in mid-November. An agreement between Washington and Beijing to curb emissions, announced days before the summit, suggests he had misjudged the international mood on the issue.","Last British governor of Hong Kong says confront China on rights; U.S. report cites military intimidation. By David Brunnstrom and Clare Baldwin WASHINGTON/HONG KONG (Reuters) - Countries should not be afraid to stand up to China over democratic rights in Hong Kong, the last British governor of the territory said on Thursday. Chris Patten rejected Chinese charges that Hong Kong pro-democracy protesters were puppets of foreigners as a \"slur\" on a \"wonderfully principled\" movement. It was important to stand up for principles and ridiculous to suggest that to do so carried the risk of economic damage, Patten told a U.S. commission via a video link from London. ...","Australian airlines ground flights due to Indonesia volcano ash cloud. By Morag MacKinnon PERTH (Reuters) - Some flights between Australia and southeast Asia and all domestic flights operating out of Darwin airport in the country’s north were canceled on Saturday after the eruption of Sangeang Api in Indonesia’s south produced a large cloud of ash. International flights to and from Australia to Singapore, East Timor and the Indonesian holiday island of Bali were among those cancelled, including those departing from Australia’s eastern seaboard after an ash cloud from Sangeang Api’s initial eruption on Friday evening tracked across central Australia.","Rebels: C. African Republic ceasefire 'broken'. BANGUI, Central African Republic (AP) — A spokesman for the mostly Muslim Seleka rebel group in Central African Republic says a ceasefire has been \"broken\" after its fighters came under attack from the mostly Christian anti-Balaka militia.","U.S. to train Liberian armed forces to help tackle Ebola crisis. By Derick Snyder and Umaru Fofana MONROVIA/FREETOWN (Reuters) - The United States said on Friday it would train Liberia's security forces to assist in isolation operations to tackle an Ebola epidemic ravaging the West African nation, after a boy was killed when soldiers opened fire on a protest last month. The worst Ebola outbreak on record has killed more than 2,400 people in West Africa - more than half of them in Liberia. Ambassador to Liberia Deborah Malac told reporters in Monrovia that the United States would support Liberia both through the epidemic and beyond.","Venezuela rally supports jailed opposition leader. CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Thousands of Venezuelans who oppose their country's socialist-led government rallied peacefully in the capital Sunday to protest the continued detention of an opposition leader and to call for an early presidential election.","PSG inflicts Barcelona's first loss of the season. LONDON (AP) — Even Lionel Messi and Neymar scoring couldn't prevent Barcelona losing for the first time this season.","Putin orders guards to reinforce Ukraine border: agencies. Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday ordered the border service to reinforce the state border with Ukraine, the Kremlin press service told Russian news agencies. Putin issued the order for border guards to take all necessary measures to prevent illegal crossings, Russian news agencies reported. Kiev said Thursday that it had abandoned three border posts neighbouring Russia in the volatile Lugansk region of eastern Ukraine after attacks by separatists. It has also said that fighters are entering Ukraine frequently from Russia, some having travelled from the North Caucasus region.","Nazi war crimes suspect, 89, hospitalized in US. PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A Nazi war crimes suspect has been hospitalized while awaiting an extradition hearing in Philadelphia.","Putin accuses Obama of hostility, meddling. Moscow (AFP) - President Vladimir Putin accused US counterpart Barack Obama of a hostile attitude towards Russia, warning against \"attempts to blackmail\" Moscow.","Renzi boosted by European vote. MILAN (AP) — Italian Premier Matteo Renzi pledged Monday to accelerate his government's reform course after receiving a boost in European elections that helped Italy join Germany as the continent's strongest pro-EU forces.","Anti-Obama protesters clash with police in Manila. MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Philippine police armed with truncheon, shields and water hose have clashed with more than 100 left-wing activists who rallied at the U.S. Embassy in Manila to oppose a visit by President Barack Obama and a looming pact that will increase the American military presence in the Philippines.","Asia stocks hit three-year high on Wall St. bull run, dollar steady. By Shinichi Saoshiro NEW YORK (Reuters) - Asia stocks edged up to a three-year high on Tuesday after a record-breaking Wall Street bull run continued on the back of economic optimism, while rising yields supported the dollar. Monetary easing by the European Central Bank last week has brightened the mood for risky assets globally, with an upbeat U.S. nonfarm payrolls report released Friday giving further impetus. On Wall Street overnight the S&P 500 ended at a fourth straight record closing high and the Dow at its third. \"The week ahead is likely to be a quiet one for emerging market asset prices as the focus shifts to the World Cup,\" strategists at Brown Brothers Harriman wrote in a note to clients.","Exclusive: Hamas fighters show defiance in Gaza tunnel tour. By Nidal al-Mughrabi GAZA (Reuters) - Hamas fighters, clad in black and armed with assault rifles, navigated the dimly lit tunnel with ease, saying they felt at home in their network of underground passages in the Gaza Strip. A rare tour that Hamas granted to a Reuters reporter, photographer and cameraman appeared to be an attempt to dispute Israel's claim that it had demolished all of the Islamist group's border infiltration tunnels in the Gaza war. \"We are speaking to you today from inside one of those tunnels, which Israel said it had destroyed. Our men are still operating in those tunnels prepared for all options,\" said a masked fighter from Hamas's Izz el-Deen al-Qassam Brigades.","Liverpool to start stadium expansion at Anfield. LIVERPOOL, England (AP) — Liverpool will start the $150-million expansion of Anfield early next year after plans to build a new stadium were thwarted in recent years by financial and ownership disputes.","Attack on Liberia isolation clinic highlights Ebola denial. Seventeen Ebola patients are missing after fleeing an attack on an isolation ward in Monrovia by armed youths claiming the epidemic does not exist, training the spotlight on the struggle to raise awareness in the fight against the deadly virus. The attackers, mostly young men armed with clubs, shouted that President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf \"is broke\" and \"there's no Ebola\", she said. The head of Health Workers Association of Liberia, George Williams, said the unit housed 29 patients who \"had all tested positive for Ebola\" and were receiving preliminary treatment before being taken to hospital. The raid is a dramatic illustration of aid workers' warnings about denial of Ebola in some of the worst-affected areas in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea.","Battered Venezuelan opposition will reorganize: wife of jailed leader. By Julia Symmes Cobb CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuela's beleaguered opposition coalition, rocked by in-fighting and a high-profile resignation, will come back stronger after reorganization, the wife of jailed opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez said in an interview. The turmoil is a chance for new leadership to take over the coalition and finally push out President Nicolas Maduro, who succeeded firebrand leader Hugo Chavez after his death last year, said Lopez's wife Lilian Tintori. \"The MUD is restructuring, it's an opportunity, giving way to new, more organized, leadership,\" Tintori said in an interview outside the Caracas court where her husband's trial, which is closed to the press and the public, is being held. The Democratic Unity (MUD) coalition has long been battered by discord between hard-liners and moderates, which intensified after tens of thousands took to the streets earlier this year to protest the country's socialist government.","Google starts Street View in Greece after spat. ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Google has launched its Street View map service in Greece after winning approval from the privacy authority that blocked the ground-level map application five years ago.","Politicians criticize York siding with student who snubbed working with women. OTTAWA - A chorus of federal politicians say a Toronto university went too far when it sided with a student who asked not to work with women for religious reasons.","Waqar warns hurt Australia will bounce back in second Test. Pakistan coach Waqar Younis on Tuesday warned his team to be prepared for a backlash from wounded Australia in the second Test. Pakistan thrashed Australia in the first Test by 221 runs in Dubai on Sunday. They now seek their first series win over Australia for 20 years in the second Test starting in Abu Dhabi from Thursday. \"We all know that Australia are very positive about their cricket and they feel hurt, they will bounce back, I am sure, and we have to be prepared for that.\"","Chilean arrested in Mexico protest returns home. MEXICO CITY (AP) — A Chilean man who was in Mexico studying for a doctorate and ended up jailed for participating in a protest march has returned home.","Cyclone Hudhud reaches peak strength, pounds India's eastern seaboard. By Jatindra Dash VISAKHAPATNAM India (Reuters) - Cyclone Hudhud, packing gusts of up to 195 kilometers an hour (over 120 mph), reached peak strength and caused extensive damage to India's eastern seaboard on Sunday morning. It was expected to hit the coast with full force around noon local time. India's disaster relief agency organized the evacuation of more than 150,000 people on Saturday to minimize the toll from Hudhud - which is similar in size and power to cyclone Phailin that devastated the area a year ago to the day. ...","Van Persie's misses nearly cost Dutch at World Cup. SALVADOR, Brazil (AP) — On the same ground where Robin van Persie's spectacular diving header earned him the nickname the Flying Dutchman, the Netherlands striker nearly fell flat against Costa Rica.","Turkish opposition leader summoned to testify. ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkey's opposition party has complained of harassment after a prosecutor summoned its leader to testify for alleged \"insults,\" despite a legal immunity that protects legislators from prosecution.","Islamic State executed 700 people from Syrian tribe: monitoring group. By Oliver Holmes and Suleiman Al-Khalidi BEIRUT/AMMAN (Reuters) - The Islamic State militant group has executed 700 members of a tribe it has been battling in eastern Syria during the past two weeks, the majority of them civilians, a human rights monitoring group and activists said on Saturday. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which has tracked violence on all sides of the three-year-old conflict, said reliable sources reported beheadings were used to execute many of the al-Sheitaat tribe, which is from Deir al-Zor province. The conflict between Islamic State and the al-Sheitaat tribe, who number about 70,000, flared after the militants took over two oil fields in July. “Some were arrested, judged and killed.” Reuters cannot independently verify reports from Syria due to security conditions and reporting restrictions.","Marlins President David Samson a castaway on new season of CBS' 'Survivor'. MIAMI - Miami Marlins President David Samson is among 18 castaways on the new season of \"Survivor,\" which begins Feb. 26 on CBS.","Session to elect Lebanon president on April 23. BEIRUT (AP) — Lebanon's parliament speaker on Wednesday called for a meeting to elect a new president on April 23, kicking off what is expected to be a lengthy and fiercely contested vote for the country's top Christian post amid regional unrest.","Spokesman for Somalia's Shebab confirms leader killed in US attack. Somalia's Al-Qaeda-linked Shebab rebels on Saturday confirmed their leader Ahmed Abdi Godane has died in a US air strike, their first official comment on his fate since the attack. \"The Shebab leader has been killed by a US drone on Monday, alongside two other comrades,\" the Shebab's military spokesman, Abdulaziz Abu Musab, told AFP in a brief statement. On Friday the Pentagon confirmed that Ahmed Abdi Godane, the leader of Al-Qaeda's main affiliate in Africa, was killed in a Monday attack in which US drones and manned aircraft rained Hellfire missiles and laser-guided bombs on a gathering of Shebab commanders.","Libyan armed groups may have committed war crimes in Tripoli: HRW. Libyan armed factions' attacks on civilians and destruction of property over five weeks of fighting to control Tripoli may amount to war crimes, Human Rights Watch said on Monday. An alliance of armed groups from the western city of Misrata called Operation Dawn took Tripoli two weeks ago by expelling a rival faction from Zintan, part of growing turmoil that has beset the oil producer since the fall of Muammar Gaddafi. \"The militias have seized people and looted, burned, and otherwise destroyed property,\" HRW said in a report, adding that both sides appeared to have taken prisoners during the fighting whose fate was unclear. \"Libyan militia forces battling for control of Tripoli and surrounding areas have engaged in attacks on civilians and civilian property that in some cases amount to war crimes, \" HRW said in the report.","Hamilton crashes as F1 struggle with new rules. JEREZ, Spain (AP) — From defending champion to late finisher, all of Formula One's teams struggled to get on the track during the first session of preseason testing on Tuesday following a rules overhaul forcing cars to be thoroughly redesigned.","Canada's Tuckamore fires back at dissident investor Access Holdings. By Euan Rocha TORONTO (Reuters) - Tuckamore Capital Management Inc fired back at dissident investor Access Holdings Management Co LLC on Thursday, saying that Access had previously tried to seize control of Tuckamore without paying a premium to all shareholders. Earlier this week, Access said it plans to vote the shares it controls against Tuckamore's proposed management-led buyout as it materially undervalues the holding firm that invests in early- and mid-stage private companies across sectors. Toronto-based Access, which has the backing of a group of Tuckamore investors that control over 5 percent of the firm's shares, said it believes Tuckamore can be worth more than C$2 a share with the right strategy and proper management. Access has named a slate of six nominees for election to Tuckamore's board if the buyout plan is defeated.","Brazil inaugurates its World Cup training center. RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — The Brazilian football federation has inaugurated the training center it will use during the World Cup.","Turkey seeks to bolster global influence with G20 role. By Nick Tattersall and Orhan Coskun ISTANBUL/ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkey aims to use its approaching presidency of the G20 to promote its image as a global economic power and alleviate a sense of a country increasingly isolated on the world stage and buffeted by conflict on its southern frontiers. Ankara takes over the G20 presidency in December, its relations with Washington and Europe strained by its reluctance to take a frontline role against Islamic State militants in Syria and Iraq. President Tayyip Erdogan's tightening grip on power has also raised concern in Europe and the United States. ...","Dortmund signs Serie A top scorer Ciro Immobile. DORTMUND, Germany (AP) — Borussia Dortmund has signed Italy striker Ciro Immobile, a move that should help fill the void of the departing Robert Lewandowski.","London shares rise after Draghi eurozone comments. London (AFP) - London shares opened higher on Tuesday after European Central Bank chief Mario Draghi signalled the bank could buy government bonds to support the flagging eurozone economy.","FBI: Militants may be working on plan to strike US. WASHINGTON (AP) — An al-Qaida cell in Syria that was targeted in American military airstrikes last month could still be working on a plan to attack the United States or its allies and is \"looking to do it very, very soon,\" the head of the FBI says.","Cowboys owner would like to see a team in London. LONDON (AP) — Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones would like to see the NFL put a team in London.","Canada signs tax deal with U.S., allows CRA to collect info about U.S. residents. OTTAWA - The federal government says it has signed a deal with the United States over a new American law aimed at rooting out tax cheats north of the border.","Parties 'close to agreement' on more powers for Scotland. Britain's three main parties are coming closer to agreement on giving more powers to Scotland if voters reject independence, Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg was due to announce on Friday. The Liberal Democrat leader said his party, their Conservative coalition partners, and the Labour opposition had to offer the Scottish people opportunities if they opt to stay in the United Kingdom in the September 18 referendum. The three main UK parties are united in being firmly opposed to Scottish independence. The campaign to break away from the rest of the UK is being led by Scotland's First Minister, Alex Salmond, who leads the pro-independence Scottish National Party.","UN names South American Inca roads a heritage site. LIMA, Peru (AP) — The United Nations has designated parts of the road network used by the Inca empire as a World Heritage site.","Goosen kicks Cheetahs to historic victory. Bloemfontein (South Africa) (AFP) - Johan Goosen was the star as Central Cheetahs overcame Northern Bulls for the first time in Super Rugby with a 15-9 victory in wet Bloemfontein Friday. After 11 consecutive losses to fellow South Africans the Bulls in the southern hemisphere inter-provincial championship, the Cheetahs finally got one over their greatest bogey team. Fly-half Goosen, viewed by many as the long-term successor to Springboks No. 10 Morne Steyn, was the 15-point match-winner.","Marcel Granollers beats David Ferrer at Japan Open. TOKYO (AP) — Marcel Granollers of Spain rallied from a set down to beat second-seeded David Ferrer 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 Monday and advance to the second round of the Japan Open.","Baghdad election rally car bomb 'kills six'. Baghdad (AFP) - A car bomb at an election rally for a Shiite political party in Baghdad killed at least six people Friday, officials said, just days before nationwide parliamentary elections.","2 Japanese, 1 American win Nobel Prize in physics. STOCKHOLM (AP) — Isamu Akasaki and Hiroshi Amano of Japan and U.S. scientist Shuji Nakamura have won the Nobel Prize in physics for the invention of blue light-emitting diodes — a new energy efficient and environment-friendly light source.","Paris suspends delivery of warship to Russia over Ukraine. France suspended the delivery of the first of two Mistral-class warships to Russia \"until November\" after fierce criticism from its allies given the crisis in Ukraine. Paris agreed in 2011 to build and sell the two advanced helicopter assault ships to Russia for a total of 1.2 billion euros ($1.6 billion), with the first scheduled for delivery in October or November and the second in 2015. French leaders had refused to back down on a sale seen as crucial to a country suffering from stagnant growth and record unemployment, despite widespread condemnation due to Russia's involvement in the Ukraine crisis. \"The President of the Republic declared that, despite the prospect of a ceasefire, the conditions for France to deliver the first warship are not to date in place,\" Francois Hollande's office announced Wednesday, on the eve of a major NATO summit in Wales.","Ivory Coast leader urges end to militia attacks. Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara on Monday asked a group of traditional hunters blamed by the UN for summary executions and human rights abuses to put an end to their paramilitary activities. The Dozos are traditional hunters linked to the Ivorian regime who have killed and maimed hundreds of people in Ivory Coast over the past four years with impunity. The hunters come from the north of Ivory Coast and fought in the rebellion that brought fellow northerner Ouattara to power as president in 2011, five months after contested 2010 elections that triggered violence killing 3,000 people.","19 candidates in race for Sri Lankan presidency. COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa and his former health minister are among 19 people to hand in their nominations to contest a presidential election next month.","Panathinaikos beats Apollon 3-1 in Greek league. ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Marcus Berg scored twice to lead Panathinaikos to a 3-1 victory over Apollon in the Greek league Saturday.","Britain plans political upheaval after Scot vote. LONDON (AP) — The saga of Scottish independence is over, but a new journey of political upheaval is only beginning for the United Kingdom.","Pakistan says Indian fire kills a soldier. ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistan's foreign ministry says Indian forces have fired across the border into the Pakistan-administered portion of the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir, killing a soldier.","CANNES WATCH: Marion Cotillard wants to play a man. CANNES, France (AP) — Oscar-winning actress Marion Cotillard has an unusual confession: She's always wanted to play a man on screen.","Tottenham's Davies relishes Swansea reunion. Swansea (United Kingdom) (AFP) - Ben Davies admits he will have to keep his emotions in check when he makes his first return to Swansea as Tottenham visit the Liberty Stadium on Sunday.","Syria rebels explode mines under Aleppo hotel: NGO. Rebels detonated mines in tunnels under a hotel used by the army in northern Syria's Aleppo on Friday, killing at least five soldiers, a monitoring group said. \"Islamist rebels dug several tunnels under and around the Carlton hotel in Aleppo's Old City, where government troops are positioned. They used mines to detonate it this morning,\" said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. \"At least five troops were killed and 18 others wounded in the attack, which also damaged parts of the hotel,\" the monitoring group added.","In Kiev, Kerry visits protest sites, promises aid. KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — In a somber show of U.S. support for Ukraine's new leadership, Secretary of State John Kerry walked the streets Tuesday where more than 80 anti-government protesters were killed last month and promised beseeching crowds that American aid is on the way.","US announces $1.2B Toyota settlement. WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. has reached a $1.2 billion settlement with Toyota Motor Corp. and filed a criminal charge alleging the Japanese automaker defrauded consumers by issuing misleading statements about safety issues in Toyota and Lexus vehicles.","New kitten moves to Churchill's estate. LONDON (AP) — There is a new kitten at the Winston Churchill estate.","Writers, artists produce literary projects. HAGATNA, Guam (AP) — Hitting the ground running, Malice Ink is a collective of young writers and artists looking to put Guam's stamp on the mainstream world of literature.","Mexico on alert as strong hurricane closes in. Mexico put the Baja California peninsula on high alert Sunday as Hurricane Odile churned towards the popular Los Cabos tourist resorts with swirling 135-mile-per-hour winds. Odile was a highly dangerous storm likely to trigger deadly flash floods and landslides, officials warned, rating the hurricane category four on the five-point Saffir-Simpson scale, with five being the most destructive. \"It could approach or make landfall as a category four in Los Cabos,\" said National Weather Service coordinator Juan Manuel Caballero, referring to the tourist resorts at the peninsula's southern tip. Hotel occupancy in Los Cabos is low at this time of year, but authorities were concerned about people living in coastal areas and were preparing shelters for 30,000 residents.","Cross-Canada fundraiser says he was attacked on New Year's in Banff. BANFF, Alta. - A British fundraiser who has been walking across Canada for charity says his possessions have been retrieved after they disappeared during an attack in Banff.","OSCE 'very concerned' by tanks, convoys in Ukraine. Kiev (AFP) - The OSCE said it is \"very concerned\" after its monitors witnessed columns of tanks, howitizers and troop carriers moving through east Ukraine in territory held by pro-Russia separatists.","Ukraine says top commander held after base stormed. KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine's acting president says a top air force commander is being held after his base in Crimea was stormed by pro-Russian forces and is calling for his release.","Cruise worker accused of raping passenger. FORT LAUDERDALE, Florida (AP) — A cruise ship worker from Indonesia is accused of raping a passenger aboard a Holland America Line vessel and then trying to throw her overboard, authorities said Tuesday.","Iran, Israel cross swords at Davos. Davos (Switzerland) (AFP) - Iran on Thursday stepped up attempts to normalise its relations with the West with a Davos charm offensive that was immediately attacked by Israeli as a confidence trick. On a visit to the Swiss resort aimed at enticing international investors back to Iran, President Hassan Rouhani told the World Economic Forum his government was sincere in its desire for a new relationship based on mutual trust and a rebuilding of economic ties that have been shattered by international sanctions. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned the West not to take the media-friendly Iranian's offer at face value, insisting there was no concrete evidence of any fundamental change in the nature of the Islamic regime. \"Hassan Rouhani can say something but it doesn't make it real,\" Netanyahu said.","Libya risks civil war with spike in anarchy. A dramatic spike in lawlessness in Libya's two largest cities has edged the country closer to civil war between heavily armed rival militias, stirring concern abroad and on oil markets. Gunmen stormed parliament in southern Tripoli on Sunday, hot on the heels of an anti-Islamist offensive by a rogue general in the eastern city of Benghazi. With interim authorities failing to build a regular army and police force, militias have ruled the roost since they ousted longtime dictator Moamer Kadhafi in a 2011 revolution. After the attack on parliament, a colonel claiming to speak on behalf of the army declared that the General National Congress (GNC) had been suspended.","U.N. nuclear inspectors in Iran to visit uranium mine. DUBAI/VIENNA (Reuters) - U.N. nuclear inspectors arrived in Iran on Tuesday to visit a uranium mine, Iranian media reported, as part of a cooperation pact meant to help allay international concern about the country's nuclear program. Wednesday's planned inspection of the Gchine mine in southern Iran will be the first by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) at this site since 2005. Allowing the U.N. nuclear agency - which is investigating allegations that Iran has carried out atomic bomb research - to go to Gchine was among six concrete steps Iran agreed to under the November 11 agreement with the IAEA. \"The inspectors have arrived in Tehran to make a visit to Gchine mine,\" Behrouz Kamalvandi, a spokesman for Iran's Atomic Energy Organisation, was quoted as saying by Fars News Agency.","South African president in hospital for tests. JOHANNESBURG (AP) — South African President Jacob Zuma was admitted to a hospital for tests on Saturday, and doctors are satisfied with his condition, his office said.","Ireland humbles Wales 26-3 in 6 Nations. DUBLIN (AP) — Ireland has a sniff of its first Six Nations rugby title in five years after humbling defending champion Wales 26-3 at Lansdowne Road on Saturday.","'Specific threat' of attack at Kampala airport: US embassy. The US embassy in Uganda warned Thursday of a \"specific threat... by an unknown terrorist group\" to attack the airport serving the capital Kampala. \"The US embassy has received information from the Uganda police force that according to intelligence sources there is a specific threat to attack Entebbe International Airport by an unknown terrorist group today, July 3rd, between the hours of 2100-2300 (1800 GMT to 2000 GMT),\" the statement said.","Two dead, flights disrupted as Indonesia volcano erupts. Blitar (Indonesia) (AFP) - A spectacular volcanic eruption in Indonesia has killed two people and forced mass evacuations, disrupting long-haul flights and closing international airports Friday. Mount Kelud, considered one of the most dangerous volcanoes on the main island of Java, spewed red-hot ash and rocks high into the air late Thursday night just hours after its alert status was raised. Sunar, a 60-year-old from a village eight kilometres (five miles) in Blitar district, said his home also collapsed after being hit with \"rocks the size of fists\". A man and a woman, both in their 60s, were crushed to death after volcanic material that had blanketed rooftops caused their homes in the sub-district of Malang to cave in, National Disaster Mitigation Agency Spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said.","Swiss expand ban on defense sales to Russia, Ukraine. Switzerland's government said on Wednesday it would expand an export ban on defense materials to Russia and Ukraine and look to beef up measures to stop Russians using the country to bypass sanctions. The Swiss government also said in a statement it wanted quickly to draft and submit new proposals on how to prevent Switzerland from being used to circumvent recently announced European Union sanctions against Russia. Last month, the EU outlined its toughest Russian sanctions yet and published a law that would curb arms sales to Russia and to cut off financing for five major Russian banks over Moscow's support for rebels in Ukraine. Wednesday's move by the Swiss government follows its decision last week to add 26 Russians and Ukrainians, and 18 organizations to a list designed to prevent it being used as a conduit to get around Western sanctions against Russia.","Japan pledges $200 million in aid for Palestinians. JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Japan pledged more than $200 million in aid Saturday to help the Palestinian Authority, as representatives from 22 nations reiterated their support of the Palestinians' quest for their own state.","Putin says annexation of Crimea partly a response to NATO enlargement. President Vladimir Putin on Thursday said Russia had been forced to respond to NATO enlargement and that its annexation of Crimea, home to its Black Sea Fleet, was partly influenced by the Western military alliance's expansion into eastern Europe. Putin said Moscow will respond if the United States moves ahead with plans to base elements of a missile defense shield in eastern Europe, accusing Washington of fuelling a Cold War-style arms race.","Bayern hosts Freiburg, Dortmund plays Frankfurt. FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — Second-place Bayer Leverkusen hosts fourth-ranked Schalke, while Borussia Dortmund plays Eintracht Frankfurt as the Bundesliga weekend can produce some reshuffling behind the runaway leader Bayern Munich, which is at home against Freiburg. But the match of the day could be the showdown between the two bottom clubs, Hamburger SV and Eintracht Braunschweig.","Germany considers sending soldiers to eastern Ukraine: source. BERLIN (Reuters) - Berlin is considering deploying soldiers to monitor the ceasefire negotiated by the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) between separatists and the army in eastern Ukraine, a German government source said on Saturday. The source said on Saturday that the German armed forces were prepared to provide soldiers and equipment if political decisions were made to the effect that there should be an OSCE mission involving German troops. ...","Sony's latest MP3 player comes inside a bottle of water. Sony's W Series Walkman is a barebones MP3 player with one key selling point: it's waterproof. But that can be a difficult thing to highlight on store shelves — at least when you're limited to traditional retail packaging. For its customers in New Zealand, Sony decided to try something different. With the help of ad firm DraftFCB, the company came up with a brilliant plan to help set its product apart from alternatives like Apple's iPod shuffle. ...","Suspected extremists kill pastor in NE Nigeria. YOLA, Nigeria (AP) — A local leader says gunmen ransacked a mainly Christian village in Nigeria's northeast, killing the pastor before being repelled by vigilantes.","Lennon quits but vows to help find next Celtic boss. Neil Lennon quit as Celtic manager on Thursday but insisted he would help the Scottish champions find his replacement. Lennon steps down having led the Glasgow club to three Scottish Premiership titles during his four-year spell in charge. Former Celtic striker Henrik Larsson - currently in charge of Swedish outfit Falkenbergs - has been installed as the bookmakers' favourite to replace him, but there is also backing for fellow Parkhead old boys Malky Mackay, sacked by Cardiff earlier this season, and Aston Villa boss Paul Lambert. Lennon will now help Bhoys chief executive Peter Lawwell pick the man to succeed him and he said: \"Serving the club was always a privilege.","Kerry calls Bahrain minister over expulsion of U.S. official. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Monday expressed his deep concern to Bahrain Foreign Minister Khaled al-Khalifa over the expulsion of a U.S. diplomat for meeting with an opposition leader and over charges brought against the politician. A senior State Department official said Kerry, who was in Vienna for talks between Iran and major powers over curbing Tehran's nuclear program, spoke by telephone with the Bahraini minister. Bahrain expelled Tom Malinowski, Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, last week, saying he had \"intervened flagrantly\" in the country's internal affairs by holding the meeting. The official said Kerry also expressed concern about charges against al-Wefaq party leader Sheikh Ali Salman and his political assistant, Khalil al-Marzouq for holding an illegal meeting.","South Sudan rebels attack oil-producing state capital: govt official. South Sudanese rebels attacked the capital of oil-producing Upper Nile state on Tuesday, a spokesman for the regional administration said, the first fighting in a provincial capital since rebels and the government signed a ceasefire in January. Rebel forces could not immediately be reached for comment, but President Salva Kiir's government and rebels loyal to former vice president Riek Machar have both accused the other of violating the January 23 ceasefire deal signed in Ethiopia. \"The fighting is continuing, but our forces are still in control of Malakal,\" Philip Jiben, spokesman for the Upper Nile administration, told Reuters by telephone.","EU member states back compromise to allow GM crops: diplomats. By Barbara Lewis BRUSSELS (Reuters) - European Union member states on Wednesday backed a compromise deal likely to make it easier to get approval to grow genetically modified (GM) crops, diplomats said. Although widely grown in the Americas and Asia, public opposition to GM crops is strong in Europe. Following years of haggling over the issue, the compromise deal is intended to accommodate both the member states that support GM crops and those who oppose them. After that it would need the backing of the newly elected European Parliament later this year.","Image of Asia: Prayer before pope's Sri Lanka trip. In this photo by Eranga Jayawardena, a Roman Catholic devotee prays at a church in the Sri Lankan capital of Colombo. The Indian Ocean island nation, which was wracked by civil war with Tamil Tiger rebels that ended in 2009, is preparing to welcome Pope Francis on his three-day visit beginning Jan. 13. It comes five days after the country's presidential elections in which the two main candidates promised to refrain from violence. Ethnic and religious tensions remain high, with extremists among the majority Sinhalese and Buddhist population accusing minority Muslims and Christians of undermining their faith. Mobs have attacked churches and burned Muslim homes and shops over the past several months.","Syria agrees greater access for aid supplies: UNICEF. By Dominic Evans ZAHLE, Lebanon (Reuters) - Syria's government has promised greater access for aid groups supporting millions of Syrians, but faster progress is needed to tackle a dire humanitarian crisis, the head of the United Nations children's agency said on Friday. UNICEF executive director Anthony Lake, speaking at a refugee camp for Syrians in Lebanon's Bekaa Valley, said he was encouraged by \"business-like\" talks he held this week with Syrian officials in Damascus and Homs. In a rare display of unity over Syria, the U.N. Security Council last month called unanimously for greater aid access in Syria, including a demand for cross-border access which Damascus has resisted because it has lost control of some border regions. Lake gave no details, but aid workers said Syria had offered to let relief goods pass through Turkey's Nusaybin crossing into northeastern Syria, a Kurdish region which has assumed a degree of autonomy but where Assad's security forces are still present.","Italy to play Luxembourg friendly in Perugia. MILAN (AP) — Perugia's Renato Curi Stadium will host Italy's last friendly before the World Cup.","Argentina launches investigation into holdouts' investments. By Sarah Marsh and Eliana Raszewski BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) - Argentina's markets watchdog on Monday launched an investigation into what it believes may have been unlawful speculation by holdout creditors whose litigation against the country for repayment of their defaulted bonds pushed it into a new default last week. The government also reiterated its fierce criticism of the mediator in debt talks with the holdout hedge funds for being \"biased\" and a \"spokesman of the vulture funds\". ...","Zimbabwe switches $1.3 bn China power tender: minister. The Zimbabwe government has awarded a $1.3 billion thermal power generation project to China's Sino Hydro after another Chinese company failed to conclude the contract, a minister said on Wednesday. Energy minister Dzikamai Mavhaire said the tender for the expansion of the Hwange power station had been awarded initially to China Machinery and Engineering Company (CMEC). \"CMEC however failed to conclude the contract within the stipulated time frame that they had agreed upon with the Zimbabwe Power Company and the government of Zimbabwe,hence,the tender was cancelled in May 2014,\" he said. Sino Hydro's bid for the project was the next best, Mavhaire said.","Sebastien Loeb to compete in Monte Carlo Rally. PARIS (AP) — Nine-time rally world champion Sebastien Loeb will compete in the season-opening Monte Carlo Rally in January.","HL:Manhunt widens for three Quebec inmates who escaped using helicopter@. MONTREAL — The search widened Sunday for three Quebec inmates who used a helicopter to make a brazen escape from jail as dusk approached a day earlier.","Ukrainian forces retake city hall in eastern port of Mariupol. KIEV (Reuters) - Ukrainian forces have retaken city hall in the eastern port of Mariupol, Ukrainian media said on Wednesday, after heavy fighting with pro-Russian militants overnight. Ukraine's Channel 5 television said the National Guard had seized the building, forcing rebels into the streets, where they blocked the main thoroughfare, burning tires and a trolleybus. By Wednesday morning, traffic could again move. The report could not be immediately confirmed. (Reporting by Elizabeth Piper, editing by Nigel Stephenson) nL6N0NT1EH","Senator: CIA improperly searched computer network. WASHINGTON (AP) — The head of the Senate Intelligence Committee says the CIA's improper search of a stand-alone computer network established for Congress has been referred to the Justice Department.","Kenya police fire teargas at protest on security at president's office. By Humphrey Malalo NAIROBI (Reuters) - Kenyan police used teargas to disperse demonstrators shouting \"President, Stop the killings!\" outside President Uhuru Kenyatta's offices on Tuesday, in a protest over 28 people killed in a weekend attack claimed by Islamist militants. The crowd also laid crosses and four coffins outside the building during the protest dubbed #OccupyHarambeeAve, a reference to the president's address. Backers also lit up Twitter with demands the government act to prevent attacks - the most deadly of which, on a shopping mall, killed 67 in 2013. ...","A look at the married couples who have won Nobels. STOCKHOLM (AP) — Norwegians May-Britt Moser and Edvard Moser are not the first husband-and-wife team to win a Nobel Prize together.","Australian killed by shark on Great Barrier Reef. BRISBANE, Australia (AP) — An 18-year-old man was killed by a shark on Monday while spearfishing on the Great Barrier Reef off the eastern Australian tourist town of Port Douglas, police said.","Obama urges progress in Myanmar ahead of rare roundtable. By Aung Hla Tun and Paul Mooney YANGON (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama urged Myanmar's government to make every effort to conclude a national ceasefire and protect the rights of minorities, just hours before the country's president and the military chief met opposition political parties and ethnic minority groups. Some critics are calling Friday's hastily arranged get-together an attempt to burnish Myanmar's image ahead of a visit by Obama next month, his second to the country. ...","Tobago police arrest alleged cocaine courier. PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad (AP) — Police in Trinidad & Tobago have arrested an alleged drug mule as he was attempting to board a flight destined for London.","Foreign experts inspect Taiwan plane crash site. International experts were examining the site of the fatal TransAsia Airways crash in Taiwan on Saturday, as new evidence surfaced that the plane may have collided with nearby trees before plunging to the ground. Seven French and one Canadian expert representing France's Bureau of Enquiry and Analysis for Civil Aviation Safety, the French-Italian aircraft maker ATR as well as aircraft engine maker Pratt & Whitney Canada arrived in Taiwan late Friday to help investigate the crash that killed 48 people. One expert stayed in Taipei to help examine the black boxes -- which record cockpit voice and other in-flight data -- while the rest flew to Magong earlier Saturday to examine the wreckage that was moved to an air force base and inspect the crash site, officials said. \"ATR manufactured the plane and they know it the best, the structural engineer and technical specialists will provide us the information needed for the investigation,\" said Thomas Wang, director of Taiwan's Aviation Safety Council.","West seeks to inflict more economic pain on Russia. WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. and European officials hope a new round of sanctions targeting energy and defense entities, as well as major banks, will deepen Russia's economic pain and force President Vladimir Putin to end provocations in Ukraine.","Praise for Srikanth, Nehwal after China victories. NEW DELHI (AP) — Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi joined in the praise for badminton players Kidambi Srikanth and Saina Nehwal after their victories at the China Open super series event on Sunday.","Tropical storm flooding shuts down Philippine capital. Manila (AFP) - Heavy rains brought by the outer bands of Tropical Storm Fung-Wong shut down the Philippine capital Manila on Friday, stranding motorists and forcing tens of thousands to flee their flooded homes, officials said.","Philippine health minister resigns over vaccine purchase. MANILA (Reuters) - Philippine President Benigno Aquino has accepted the resignation of his health minister over the purchase of pneumonia vaccines in 2012 which government investigators later questioned, a spokesman said on Friday. Health Secretary Enrique Ona, who has been on leave since October, submitted his letter of resignation on Thursday even before the completion of a government inquiry into four deals at his ministry. \"The President has accepted his resignation effective today,\" Herminio Coloma, the president's press secretary, told reporters in a text message. ...","What air investigators can learn from black boxes. WASHINGTON (AP) — One the world's foremost black box laboratories opened its doors to journalists Friday to provide some insight on how technicians can recover information from flight data and voice recorders, like those from missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370.","Iran resumes auto exports to Russia. TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran is exporting automobiles to Russia for the first time in five years, after meeting upgraded emission standards.","Putin, Ukraine leader back talks to end eastern revolt. Ukraine's new Western-backed leader and Russian President Vladimir Putin have both called for dialogue to end a pro-Moscow uprising that has threatened the ex-Soviet state's survival and brought Europe to the edge of war. The twin calls on Sunday from the central figures of the worst East-West crisis since the Cold War era came with the ragtag militias in Ukraine's eastern rustbelt showing no desire to end their independence drive. Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko -- who will crown his May 25 election promise by signing a historic EU trade pact in Brussels on Friday that pulls Kiev further out of the Kremlin's reach -- called a peaceful settlement \"our plan A\". The Ukraine crisis will dominate an EU foreign ministers' meeting in Luxembourg on Monday amid uncertainty about Russia's real intentions just days before Brussels signs the historic association accord with Kiev.","Finland's Niinisto to Putin: sanctions bite both, let's discuss Ukraine. Finnish President Sauli Niinisto told his counterpart Vladimir Putin on Friday that Western sanctions against Moscow and the food ban Russia introduced in response were damaging bilateral ties and proposed to seek ways to end the Ukraine crisis. Finland is one of the EU states hardest hit by trade embargoes that Moscow has imposed in retaliation for EU sanctions, yet it does not want to be seen as a weak link in the European front to pressure Putin over Ukraine.","Bank of Canada sees rates on hold despite some calls for hike. The Bank of Canada should keep its key interest rate on hold until the data persuades it otherwise, central bank chief Stephen Poloz said on Tuesday, adding that he was not worried about calls from some international players to tighten. His comments follow controversial remarks by Canada's finance minister on Sunday suggesting there would be pressure to raise interest rates in 2014. Finance Minister Jim Flaherty told CTV television on Sunday there would be some pressure to raise rates this year because of the U.S. Federal Reserve scaling back its bond purchasing program.","Toll from wave of Baghdad bombs up to 25 dead. The toll from a wave of bombings across Baghdad late Saturday has risen to at least 25 dead, security and medical officials said, the latest in a surge of unrest. The violence, which included at least a half-dozen car bombs and left more than 70 people wounded, struck all over the capital, including against an upscale shopping centre, and sparked a prison break at a juvenile detention centre. The bombings and a deadly weeks-long standoff in the western province of Anbar, part of a nationwide rise in violence that has killed more than 600 people this month, come just months ahead of parliamentary elections. In Baghdad on Saturday evening, seven attacks -- including six car bombs -- killed at least 25 people and wounded more than 70 others, security and medical officials said on Sunday, updating earlier tolls.","Carey Mulligan heads to London stage in 'Skylight'. LONDON (AP) — Carey Mulligan is heading to the London stage to play a teacher trying to rekindle feelings for a former flame.","Assad's warnings start to ring true in Turkey. By Samia Nakhoul BEIRUT (Reuters) - When Sunni rebels rose up against Syria's Bashar al-Assad in 2011, Turkey reclassified its protégé as a pariah, expecting him to lose power within months and join the autocrats of Egypt, Libya, Tunisia and Yemen on the scrap heap of the \"Arab Spring\". Assad, in contrast, shielded diplomatically by Russia and with military and financial support from Iran and its Shi’ite allies in Lebanon's Hezbollah, warned that the fires of Syria’s sectarian war would burn its neighbors. For Turkey, despite the confidence of Tayyip Erdogan, elected this summer to the presidency after 11 years as prime minister and three straight general election victories, Assad’s warning is starting to ring uncomfortably true. Turkey’s foreign policy is in ruins.","Hamilton profits from Rosberg mistake to win Monza. MONZA, Italy (AP) — Lewis Hamilton pressured Nico Rosberg into a mistake and overtook his Mercedes teammate and rival to win the Italian Grand Prix on Sunday.","In Ebola outbreak, bad data adds another problem. LONDON (AP) — As health officials struggle to contain the world's biggest-ever Ebola outbreak, their efforts are being complicated by another problem: bad data.","Fake lesbian duo tATu to perform at Sochi opener. SOCHI, Russia (AP) — The Russian pop duo tATu will perform at the opening ceremony of the Sochi Olympics, with a song about two schoolgirls in love.","Pope Francis leaves South Korea after five-day trip that delighted huge crowds of faithful. SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Pope Francis leaves South Korea after five-day trip that delighted huge crowds of faithful.","Lavrov, Kerry discuss Syria ahead of peace talks. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov spoke on the telephone Wednesday with his US counterpart John Kerry ahead of next week's Syria peace talks, with Moscow warning negotiating parties against imposing any conditions unilaterally. Lavrov and Kerry discussed \"the preparations for the international peace conference on Syria and the measures aimed at easing the humanitarian crisis in the country,\" the Russian foreign minister's office said in a statement. Negotiators from Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime and representatives of the opposition are expected to meet on January 22 at the peace conference dubbed Geneva II, which is to be held at the Swiss lakeside city of Montreux.","SOCHI SCENE: Thankful bobsledders. KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia (AP) — Australian bobsledders Heath Spence and Duncan Harvey knew they had no medal chance in the two-man competition at the Sochi Games.","Vigil in Idaho city for pastor jailed in Iran. MERIDIAN, Idaho (AP) — More than 100 people gathered for a vigil at the Meridian City Hall Ampitheater to pray for the safe return of a pastor from Boise, Idaho, jailed in Iran for preaching Christianity.","Separate bombings in Iraq kill at least 37. BAGHDAD (AP) — A series of bombings Thursday struck commercial areas in central Iraq, killing at least 37 civilians, authorities said.","China weighs in as S.Sudan peace talks open. Peace talks between South Sudan's government and rebels started in Ethiopia on Monday, as key power China added its weight to efforts to end weeks of fighting in the world's youngest nation. Sudan said meanwhile that it and South Sudan agreed meanwhile during a visit to Juba by Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir to consider setting up a joint force to protect vital oilfields. Ethiopian government spokesman Getachew Reda, whose government has spent days trying to get the two sides into the same room, told AFP that formal negotiations on a possible ceasefire had finally started in an Addis Ababa luxury hotel -- even as fighting continued to rage back in South Sudan.","British PM Cameron nominates Jonathan Hill as next European Commissioner. British Prime Minister David Cameron on Tuesday nominated Jonathan Hill, a peer and a man who is not well-known outside Britain, as the country's next European Commissioner. Cameron has promised to try to renegotiate Britain's ties with the European Union and hold a membership referendum in 2017 if he wins a national election next year and Hill is expected to play an important role in that process. In a statement released by Cameron's office, Hill, whose old job as Leader of the House of Lords involved coordinating the ruling Conservative party's legislative business in the upper house of parliament, said he backed Cameron's strategy of keeping Britain inside a reformed EU.","Israeli airstrikes kill 1 Syrian soldier, wound 7. DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — The Syrian army says Israeli airstrikes against its military posts in the Golan Heights have killed one Syrian soldier and wounded seven.","Argentina's request to delay payments is denied. NEW YORK (AP) — A New York judge has denied Argentina's request to extend deadlines to repay a debt to bondholders, which the country claims could lead it into a catastrophic default.","In Uganda, a nurse is accused of spreading HIV. KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) — Goaded by journalists who wanted a clear view of her face, the Ugandan nurse looked dazed and on the verge of tears. The Ugandan press had dubbed her \"the killer nurse,\" after the HIV-infected medical worker was accused of deliberately injecting her blood into a two-year-old patient.","Canada tightens train handbrake rules, to impose 'audit blitz'. By Richard Valdmanis OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canada will require railways to secure unattended trains with a minimum number of handbrakes and other physical defenses to prevent runaways, Canada's transport ministry said on Wednesday in its latest response to last year's deadly crash in Quebec. Transport Canada will also tighten enforcement of railway labeling of hazardous materials like volatile crude, and add staff to perform an \"audit blitz\", Transport Minister Lisa Raitt said. ...","Kerry defends US Mideast policy. DAVOS, Switzerland (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry hit Friday at criticism that the Obama administration's Middle East policy is in disarray, maintaining that the U.S. is actively engaged in multiple ambitious diplomatic initiatives in the region and elsewhere.","Chelsea beats Man City 1-0 in title showdown. MANCHESTER, England (AP) — Chelsea neutralized the Premier League's most rampant attack in beating title rival Manchester City 1-0 on Monday, with Branislav Ivanovic's first-half goal ending the deposed leaders' 100 percent winning record at home.","Pakistan survivor of honor killing attempt fears for her life. By Mubasher Bukhari LAHORE Pakistan (Reuters) - A Pakistani woman who survived an attack by relatives who tried to kill her for marrying for love told Reuters on Friday that she feared for her life and appealed for protection. Saba Maqsood, 18, survived being shot and thrown in a canal by her family on Thursday, weeks after the \"honor killing\" of another woman in Pakistan drew worldwide condemnation. Maqsood angered her family by marrying the man of her choice a few days ago in the Punjabi city of Gujranwala - an act of defiance in a conservative part of Pakistan where women are expected to agree to arranged marriages. \"Even though police provided me with security, I fear that my family will try to kill me and my husband,\" Maqsood, still weak after being shot twice in the cheek and right hand, told Reuters by telephone from her hospital bed.","Finnish police hold 3 on suspected terror crimes. HELSINKI (AP) — Finnish police say they have detained three men suspected of participating in the operations of an armed group abroad.","A brother seeks answers in 'The Look of Silence'. VENICE, Italy (AP) — What is it like to look into the eyes of the men who killed your brother and went unpunished?","At least two killed by gunfire at Venezuela protests. By Daniel Wallis and Diego Ore CARACAS (Reuters) - At least two people were shot dead on Wednesday during anti-government protests in Caracas, escalating the worst bout of unrest in Venezuela since turmoil after President Nicolas Maduro's election last year. The deaths illustrated the South American OPEC nation's deep political divide and volatility almost a year after the death of former socialist leader Hugo Chavez. Government officials said a Maduro supporter and one other person were killed amid chaotic scenes as a march against Maduro's government and a rally to support the president ended just a few blocks apart in the city center. With both sides blaming each other for the violence, the opposition said two student protesters had died, but there was no official confirmation.","U.S. seeks $700,000 in illegal proceeds traced to ex-South Korea leader. The U.S. Justice Department said on Thursday it has sued in court to recover $700,000 in alleged corruption proceeds traced to former South Korean President Chun Doo-Hwan. The money, seized from a California bank account, comes from the sale of a home in Newport Beach, California, that Chun's son bought in 2005 using funds allegedly traced to his father's corruption, the department said. Chun, a general who seized power in a 1979 coup, was convicted in South Korea in 1997 of receiving more than $200 million in bribes. He and his relatives laundered some of the money through shell companies in South Korea and the United States, the Justice Department said.","Australia passes tougher spy laws. Laws giving Australian intelligence agencies stronger powers have passed the nation's upper house of parliament, as the government also introduced new wording to prohibit torture.","Team by team analysis of Australian Grand Prix. Team by team analysis of Sunday's season-opening Australian Formula One Grand Prix (listed in championship order): MCLAREN (Kevin Magnussen 2, Jenson Button 3) Magnussen became the most successful F1 debutant since Jacques Villeneuve in 1996 with second place after Red Bull driver Daniel Ricciardo was disqualified for a fuel flow irregularity. - MERCEDES (Nico Rosberg 1, Lewis Hamilton retired) Rosberg, starting from third on the grid, had a brilliant start to seize the lead and powered away to an easy win. - FERRARI (Fernando Alonso 4, Kimi Raikkonen 7) Alonso qualified fourth and ended up there after Ricciardo's exclusion.","MLB concerns grow after Taveras' death. SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic (AP) — In the last hours of St. Louis Cardinals rookie outfielder Oscar Taveras' life, a video posted to social media shows him behind the wheel of a flashy new car, grinning alongside his girlfriend.","French authorities to fine Royal Mail. London (AFP) - Royal Mail has reached a settlement with French competition authorities over alleged breaches of antitrust laws at its French subsidiary, the part-privatised group said on Thursday.","US cool to Argentina world court bid over default. WASHINGTON (AP) — An attempt by Argentina to sue the U.S. in the world court appears unlikely to get off the ground.","Radical Greek leftist taps into anti-austerity anger. By Renee Maltezou ATHENS (Reuters) - Greek leftist Rena Dourou first shot to fame for having a glass of water thrown in her face on live television by a far-right Golden Dawn lawmaker. Two years later, the 39-year-old has a more impressive claim to fame - becoming the first radical leftist to win the first round vote to be governor of the greater Athens region, giving the opposition, anti-austerity Syriza party, a sharp boost in momentum ahead of European elections this weekend. \"But thankfully people no longer know of Rena Dourou because of that incident.\" Dourou's style - she often bangs her hand on the table to emphasize a point and is known for using slang - and her pledge to end a \"humanitarian crisis\" in debt-ridden Greece have helped Syriza breakthrough in a region that has so far been a bastion of support for the coalition centre-right and Socialist parties.","Russia slams 'outside interference' in Ukraine affairs. Ukraine's former master Russia on Wednesday slammed \"outside interference\" in its neighbour's affairs and accused the radical opposition against President Viktor Yanukovych of crudely violating the constitution. \"Ukraine's legitimate authorities face outside interference in its internal affairs,\" Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin told Interfax, referring to a number of statements from the United States and the European Union.","IMF sees deep weaknesses in Iran economy after sanctions. The International Monetary Fund said Wednesday that Iran's economy faces deep structural weaknesses as intensified nuclear sanctions have added to other domestic challenges to the government. But it also said that prospects for the country to return to growth over the coming year have improved with the interim agreement in nuclear talks with global powers -- though those prospects \"remain highly uncertain\". A combination of shocks, including the start of subsidy reforms, poorly funded social programs, and the intensification of trade and financial sanctions, had weakened the economy, the IMF said. “Iran now stands at a crossroad.... The new authorities should embark on a prompt and vigorous implementation of fundamental reforms to the frameworks supporting product, labor, and credit markets.\"","Fuel-cell maker Hydrogenics expects to post adj profit in 2014. (Reuters) - Fuel-cell maker Hydrogenics Corp reported a much smaller-than-expected quarterly loss and said it expects to post a profit on an adjusted basis for the year as backlog rose. Hydrogenics said the increase was mainly driven by a joint venture announced in June with Kolon Water & Energy, part of a leading conglomerate in South Korea, to power its renewable energy projects in the country. \"... We have visibility on a number of sizeable opportunities which could bring the backlog to well over $100 million within the next twelve months,\" Chief Executive Daryl Wilson said on Wednesday. Hydrogenics's fuel cells convert hydrogen and oxygen into electricity and offer a cleaner alternative to lead-acid batteries.","New Zealand names Malaysian diplomat in sex case. WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — New Zealand officials have identified a diplomat charged with sexual assault as Malaysian.","UN: Iraq deaths drop to 1,700 in July. BAGHDAD (AP) — The United Nations says 1,737 people, mostly civilians, were killed in Iraq in July, marking a dramatic decline from the previous month, when some 2,400 people were killed as Sunni militants swept across large parts of the country, capturing the second largest city Mosul.","Rugby-New Zealand recall Kaino to face England. (Adds details, quotes) AUCKLAND, June 5 (Reuters) - New Zealand recalled number eight Jerome Kaino in their team for the first test against England in Auckland on Saturday. Three uncapped players were named on the replacements' bench by the world champions, lock Patrick Tuipulotu, scrumhalf TJ Perenara and utility back Malakai Fekitoa. \"I would firstly like to congratulate Jerome on his return to the test side and also the three uncapped players who have been selected in the 23,\" New Zealand coach Steve Hansen said in a New Zealand Rugby Union statement. \"It is the first time in our long history that we are playing a three-match series against England and they are the perfect opponent for us at this time.","US Seals take control of rogue Libya oil ship, Pentagon says. Washington (AFP) - US Navy Seals have boarded and taken control of a North Korea-flagged tanker that had loaded crude oil at a port held by rebels in eastern Libya, the Pentagon said Monday.","Mali freed four militants in exchange for French hostage: minister. DAKAR (Reuters) - Mali freed four Islamist militants with ties to al Qaeda in north Africa in exchange for the release of Serge Lazarevic, a French national who was being held by the group, Mali's justice minister said on Friday. \"Mali cannot deny that it freed them because it is a fact. Everyone knows, it serves no purpose to hide it, but Mali did it under a precise framework,\" Mohamed Ali Bathily, told French television channel France24. The minister did not say what, if anything, Mali itself had gained from the deal that led to the release of Lazarevic, 51, on Tuesday. ...","Raonic, Nishikori win, Isner out at Washington. Canadian second seed Milos Raonic and Japan's fourth-seeded Kei Nishikori advanced while US fifth seed John Isner lost in second-round matches at the ATP and WTA Washington Open. Raonic ousted American Jack Sock 7-6 (7/3), 7-6 (7/3) while Nishikori outlasted American Sam Querrey 6-4, 5-7, 6-4 and Steve Johnson downed countryman Isner 6-7 (5/7), 6-3, 7-6 (8/6). Czech top seed Tomas Berdych was set to face US qualifier Robby Ginepri in a later match at the $1.9 million (1.4m euro) hardcourt tune-up for the US Open.","Redemption for Scot swimmer after Florida arrest. GLASGOW, Scotland (AP) — Dragged to the ground after trying to evade arrest on a street in Florida, swimmer Dan Wallace was in handcuffs and fearing his dream of reaching the pinnacle of his sport had just ended.","Top 25 Capsules. SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Ryan Boatright had 20 points, Rodney Purvis added 19, and No. 17 Connecticut rallied from five points down in the second half to defeat Dayton 75-64 in the semifinals of the Puerto Rico Tip-Off on Friday.","Russia says EU sanctions to increase energy prices for Europe. Russia's Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday that sanctions imposed by the European Union over the crisis in Ukraine will \"inevitably\" lead to higher energy prices in Europe. \"By going on a sanctions spree, Brussels, by its own will, is creating barriers for further cooperation with Russia in such a key sphere as energy.","Violence threatens Iraqi diversity, says UN. The flare-up of sectarian violence that saw jihadist-led militants conquer large swathes of Iraq over the past month has displaced 600,000 people and threatens the country's diversity, the UN warned Wednesday. The head of the UN's refugee agency, Antonio Guterres said that ongoing population movements were alarming.","MLB, players' union team in Puerto Rico. CAROLINA, Puerto Rico (AP) — Major League Baseball and the players' union are teaming to launch the Puerto Rico Summer League for players 14-17 years old.","Ex-president Gbagbo's party withdraws from Ivory Coast poll body. The party of former Ivory Coast President Laurent Gbagbo withdrew from the country's election commission on Sunday, setting back efforts to draw it into the political mainstream before a scheduled presidential election next year. Gbagbo's Ivorian Popular Front (FPI) boycotted parliamentary polls in 2011 and local elections last year. Negotiations in recent months between President Alassane Ouattara's government and the FPI, however, had led to the party agreeing to participate in the elections commission, raising hopes it would take part in next year's poll.","Chinese interceptions of U.S. military planes could intensify due to submarine base. By Greg Torode and Megha Rajagopalan HONG KONG/BEIJING (Reuters) - One Chinese naval officer has advice for fighter pilots intercepting U.S. The comments by Rear Admiral Zhang Zhaozhong from the National Defense University in Beijing, reported in state media this week, reflect what Chinese military experts say is China's determination to shield its expanding ballistic missile submarine fleet from U.S.","Egypt says not invited to US Africa summit. CAIRO (AP) — Egypt's Foreign Ministry spokesman says that Cairo was not invited to a summit of African leaders to be held in Washington this summer, a decision it describes as \"wrong and short-sighted.\"","France says $3 billion deal to provide weapons to Lebanon can go ahead. PARIS (Reuters) - France said on Wednesday that a $3 billion contract to provide weapons and military equipment to the Lebanese army with Saudi Arabian financing could now go ahead after all sides had agreed on the deal. \"All the work is done and President (Francois Hollande) indicated yesterday ... that the conditions to fulfil the contract had been met,\" Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian told parliament. (Reporting By John Irish; Editing by Nick Vinocur)","Sri Lanka beats New Zealand by 59 runs in T20. CHITTAGONG, Bangladesh (AP) — Rangana Herath led Sri Lanka into the semifinals of the World Twenty20, claiming five wickets in a 59-run victory over New Zealand on Monday.","75 killed in attacks on Nigerian cities: hospital. BAUCHI, Nigeria (AP) — Hospital workers say at least 75 people were killed in twin attacks by suspected Islamic extremists on two northeastern Nigerian state capitals.","Experts make recommendations to save sage grouse from extinction. CALGARY - Conservation experts from around the world are making five main recommendations to protect one of Canada's most highly endangered birds from extinction.","Pro-Russian rebels hold out on hilltop in east Ukraine. A camouflaged tank pokes out from under a tree in the rebel camp, pointed in the direction of the Ukrainian army about three kilometres away. A Russian flag has been hand-drawn on the side. \"We took this tank and five armoured troop transport vehicles from the Ukrainian army. They number around 50, perched on a hillside beside Siversk, a town of 3,000 west of the separatist stronghold city of Slavyansk.","Maradona among stars in interreligious peace match. ROME (AP) — Diego Maradona and Roberto Baggio were among a host of former soccer stars who played in an interreligious charity match backed by Pope Francis on Monday night.","11 dead as fire hits Chile's historic Valparaiso. VALPARAISO, Chile (AP) — A raging fire leaped from hilltop to hilltop in this colorful port city, killing at least 11 people and destroying more than 500 homes. More than 10,000 people were evacuated, including more than 200 female inmates at a prison.","Nadal to renew rivalry vs. Djokovic in Rome final. ROME (AP) — Top-ranked Rafael Nadal and No. 2 Novak Djokovic will renew their rivalry in the Italian Open final on Sunday.","Inspection tensions add to Bangladesh garment industry's woes. By Nandita Bose DHAKA (Reuters) - It took Western safety inspectors only about an hour to tour a factory the size of three football fields before ordering a partial shutdown of Sonia & Sweaters Ltd, a Bangladesh clothing supplier to Wal-Mart Stores Inc and Debenhams . Such erratic decision-making poses a new set of problems for Bangladesh's $22 billion garments industry, whose safety record has been under the microscope since the collapse of a factory near Dhaka that killed more than 1,100 workers last year. Now factory owners say they are concerned about arbitrary shutdowns and meeting the cost of demands for remedial work, while workers worry about who will pay their wages if their workplace is temporarily closed. \"But with their trigger-happy attitude, I am left wondering if they at least care about the workers, who they are meant to protect, because nobody has to explain to them what the implication of one factory shutdown is.\" The garment industry accounts for 80 percent of Bangladesh's exports, and turmoil in the sector has put at risk the livelihoods of nearly 4 million garment workers, mostly women.","Support for Iraq should respect sovereignty: FM. Baghdad (AFP) - Iraq's foreign minister said Wednesday that international assistance in the fight against the Islamic State jihadist group should respect the country's sovereignty.","Growing numbers fleeing South Sudan conflict. Thousands of people are fleeing the conflict in South Sudan each day, the United Nations said Tuesday, as it reported seeing whole villages looted and burned. More than 23,000 South Sudanese are now in Uganda and growing numbers are fleeing to Ethiopia and Kenya, said deputy UN spokesman Farhan Haq. Some 62,000 people are sheltering in UN compounds across South Sudan, where fighting erupted on December 15 between forces loyal to President Salva Kiir and his former vice president Riek Machar. Haq said the capital Juba, where nearly 30,000 people are in two compounds, remains \"tense\" and UN peacekeepers are carrying out day and night patrols in the city.","New York Times unexpectedly replaces top editor Abramson. By Jennifer Saba NEW YORK (Reuters) - The New York Times Co on Wednesday abruptly ousted the newspaper's top editor, Jill Abramson, after less than three years in the job and named managing editor Dean Baquet to replace her. Baquet, 57, a Pulitzer prize-winning reporter and former editor of the Los Angeles Times, becomes the paper's first African-American editor. Abramson, 60, became the Times' first woman executive editor in 2011. The shakeup is the latest sign of turmoil at the New York Times Co, which is controlled by the Ochs-Sulzberger family.","Celtic boss aims to develop young talent. Glasgow (AFP) - Celtic boss Ronny Deila hopes the Scottish champions can become a magnet for the best young talent in Europe.","Fight for growing Pentecostal vote in Brazil. RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Brazil's rapid religious transformation is reverberating through the country's tight presidential race, where abortion and gay marriage have emerged as hot-button issues and Pentecostal televangelists could be political power brokers.","A look at key events in Syria's uprising. Here's a look at some of the key events in the Syrian uprising as the conflict marks its third anniversary:","Nigerian army accused of 'extensive' rights violations. Global rights watchdog Amnesty International accused Nigeria's military and its supporting civilian militia on Tuesday of \"extensive human rights violations\" in their fight against Boko Haram in the country's northeast. Amnesty said gruesome video footage, images and witness testimonies gathered during a recent research mission to Borno State provided \"fresh evidence of extrajudicial executions and serious human rights violations\" carried out in the region as Nigerian troops battle the extremist group. The footage includes images of detainees having their throats slit one by one and dumped in mass graves \"by men who appear to be members of the Nigerian military and the Civilian Joint Task Force (CJTF), state-sponsored militias,\" it said. \"The ghastly images are backed up by the numerous testimonies we have gathered which suggest that extrajudicial executions are, in fact, regularly carried out by the Nigerian military and CJTF,\" said Salil Shetty, Amnesty's secretary general.","Court filing: FBI impersonated repairmen in ruse. WASHINGTON (AP) — Lawyers defending a group of Asian gamblers accused of running an illegal online sports betting ring from a trio of exclusive Las Vegas high-roller villas say government agents caused an Internet outage, then impersonated computer technicians to fix it so they could gather evidence in the case.","House passes $1.1T election-year budget with scant tea party protests as Senate waits its turn. WASHINGTON - A $1.1 trillion spending bill for operating the government until just before next fall's election steamed through the battle-weary House on Wednesday over tepid protests from tea party conservatives, driven by a bipartisan desire to restore painful cuts in domestic and defence programs and show disaffected voters that Congress can do its job.","Waratahs beat Hurricanes 39-30 in Super Rugby. SYDNEY (AP) — Much-traveled winger Matt Carraro scored his first try in Super Rugby to break a 24-24 halftime deadlock and put the New South Wales Waratahs on the path to a 39-30 win over the Wellington-based Hurricanes in Super Rugby on Saturday.","Playful Pole wins Tour stage, as Nibali marches on. PLA D'ADET, France (AP) — On the last of four Pyrenees ascents, Rafal Majka winked at a French TV camera and tugged playfully at a motorcycle's antenna.","Pique agrees to 4-year extension with Barcelona. BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Barcelona defender Gerard Pique has agreed to a four-year contract extension that will tie him to the club until 2019.","Kurds advance against IS group in Syria's Kobani. BEIRUT (AP) — A Kurdish official and an activist group say Kurdish fighters have advanced in the contested northern Syrian town of Kobani after heavy clashes with the Islamic State group.","New York mayor talks migration with Vatican No. 2. VATICAN CITY (AP) — New York City's mayor has paid a call on Pope Francis' top aide to discuss migration issues.","China puts 4 on trial for train station attack. BEIJING (AP) — Chinese state media say a trial has started for four man accused of killing 29 people in a knife attack outside a railway station in the southern city of Kunming.","Asian fans only have eyes for European football. HANOI, Vietnam (AP) — There were so few people watching Vietnam take on Hong Kong in a recent Asian Cup qualifier that turnstile staff hardly bothered checking tickets on the damp, cold Hanoi evening.","Snow, sleet delays 2nd run of Olympic giant slalom. KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia (AP) — Driving snow and sleet delayed the start of the second run of the Olympic women's giant slalom by nearly 15 minutes on Tuesday.","Root ton restores England pride against India. Joe Root marked his first one-day international at his Yorkshire home ground with a century as England tried to avoid a series whitewash against India at Headingley on Friday. Root's 113 was the cornerstone of England's 294 for seven. World champions India had already won the series by going 3-0 up and it seemed they would restrict England to another meagre total when the hosts slumped to 117 for four off 29 overs after losing the toss. For England, it was initially an all-too-familiar story as India's pacemen make early breakthroughs.","Obama urges united riposte to Russia for 'destabilizing' Ukraine. By Matt Spetalnick and Thomas Grove KUALA LUMPUR/SLAVIANSK, Ukraine (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama on Sunday said the United States and Europe must join forces to impose sanctions on Russia to stop it destabilizing Ukraine, where armed pro-Russian separatists were for a third day holding eight international observers prisoner. Washington and Brussels are expected, possibly as early as Monday, to name new people and firms close to Russian President Vladimir Putin who will be hit by punitive measures, but there is no consensus yet on wider economic sanctions. Speaking during a visit to Malaysia, Obama said any decision on whether to slap sanctions on sectors of the Russian economy at a later time would depend on whether the United States and its allies could find a unified position on how to proceed.","Pentagon dossier to detail secretive U.S. Afghan detainee policy. Some are suspected fighters from Yemen, Russia or Pakistan, arrested by U.S. forces in Afghanistan or elsewhere. Several have been linked to al Qaeda. As the U.S.-led war in Afghanistan winds down, the White House will soon provide Congress a dossier on about 50 non-Afghan detainees in a U.S. military prison north of Kabul. Their uncertain fate presents sensitive security and legal problems for the Obama administration in an echo of Guantanamo Bay.","Platini: Europe deserves 1 extra World Cup place. MONACO (AP) — UEFA President Michel Platini says Europe deserves an extra team at the next World Cup and he will ask FIFA for it.","Bach: IOC will not reopen 2022 Olympic bid race. LONDON (AP) — IOC President Thomas Bach says the Olympic body will not reopen the bidding process for the 2022 Winter Games after Oslo's withdrawal left just two cities in the race.","Finnish couple wins quirky 'wife carrying' race. HELSINKI (AP) — A Finnish couple has narrowly won the 19th World Wife Carrying Championships — a quirky competition in which men race to be the fastest while carrying a female teammate.","Judge orders exam for Guantanamo hunger striker. MIAMI (AP) — A federal judge has ordered an independent medical evaluation for a prisoner on hunger strike at the U.S. base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.","Saudi: Hajj free of Ebola amid protective measures. MINA, Saudi Arabia (AP) — Saudi Arabia's acting health minister said Monday that this year's hajj has been free of Ebola and other contagious diseases because of measures taken by the kingdom to protect more than 2 million pilgrims who took part in the annual Islamic pilgrimage.","Marseille's Bielsa blasts president over transfers. MARSEILLE, France (AP) — Marseille coach Marcelo Bielsa has strongly criticized his president Vincent Labrune for not consulting him during the transfer window, saying he did not even know the club was signing Brazilian defender Doria until he arrived for his medical.","European Union licks envelope cartel. AMSTERDAM (AP) — The European Commission's top competition regulator has unveiled a settlement with five envelope-makers, fining them a total of 19.4 million euros ($24 million) for forming a cartel.","Ukraine promises 'adequate response' over shot-down plane. KIEV (Reuters) - Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko summoned his defense and security chiefs for consultations on Saturday after pro-Russian separatists shot down a military transport plane in east Ukraine, killing 49 people. \"All those involved in cynical acts of terrorism of this magnitude must be punished. Ukraine needs peace. However, the terrorists will receive an adequate response,\" Poroshenko said in a statement released by his press service. (Reporting By Pavel Polityuk, Editing by Timothy Heritage)","Indiana aid worker threatened in Syria is Army vet. INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — The family of a former Army Ranger from Indiana who in an online video has been threatened with beheading by militants in Syria says the man moved to the Middle East to provide humanitarian aid to refugees.","Ex-president's son wounded as Nigeria battles militants. By Felix Onuah ABUJA (Reuters) - Nigerian ground forces backed by warplanes on Tuesday battled Islamist Boko Haram militants in a second day of heavy fighting around a northeast town, in which the officer son of former president Olusegun Obasanjo was wounded, a senior official said. Since the weekend, the government of Africa's biggest economy has sent in reinforcements to check a push southwards into northern Adamawa state by Boko Haram, which has seized towns and territory in the northeast in recent weeks. They were also hitting the militants at Madagali, Bazza and Uba. Nigeria's defense headquarters has not provided details of the fighting, despite repeated requests.","18 killed in shooting at Nigeria State Security HQ. ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — A shootout at Nigeria's State Security Services headquarters near the presidential villa killed at least 18 people Sunday, a government spokeswoman said of what appears to be an attempted jailbreak by Islamic extremists.","Bosnia concerned over arrival of Russian Cossacks. BANJA LUKA — Bosnia-Herzegovina (AP) — The arrival of a group of Russian Cossacks in Bosnia ahead of elections there has stirred controversy in the Balkan nation.","Satellite's Tour of Earth Begins in Ice. As with any satellite, the European Space Agency's new Sentinel-1A satellite's tour of duty will eventually end in fire. One of the first snapshots beamed back from the new orbiter is a black-and-white view of icebergs scattered like cookie crumbs along Pine Island Bay in Antarctica. Sentinel-1A is the first of a fleet of planned satellites from the European Space Agency (ESA), according to the ESA website.","Ugandan newspaper prints list of '200 top' gays. KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) — A Ugandan newspaper published a list Tuesday of what it called the country's \"200 top\" gays, outing some Ugandans and raising fears of violence against those named just a day after the president enacted a severe anti-gay law.","Allianz eyes sale options in Fireman's Fund revamp. FRANKFURT (Reuters) - German insurer Allianz will overhaul and may sell parts of its U.S. property and casualty business Fireman's Fund after struggling for years to bring underwriting losses under control, the company said on Wednesday. Allianz said its Fireman’s Fund commercial property and casualty (P&C) business would be integrated into the specialty insurance business Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty (AGCS), giving the combined business more than $3 billion in revenues. ...","UN: 45 detained Fijian peacekeepers freed in Syria. UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The United Nations says all 45 captured Fijian peacekeepers held captive by an al-Qaida-linked Syrian rebel group have been released in Syria's Golan Heights.","Thai protesters disrupt early voting for disputed election. By Amy Sawitta Lefevre BANGKOK (Reuters) - Protesters trying to force Thailand's prime minister from office swarmed polling stations in Bangkok on Sunday, chaining doors shut and halting advance voting in nearly all centers ahead of a disputed election next week. A deputy prime minister said 45 of 50 polling stations in the capital had been closed down and advance voting was disrupted in 10 of Thailand's 76 provinces. On Saturday, a government minister said Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra was prepared to discuss cancelling the February 2 election if activists ended more than two months of often unruly protests.","UN announces emergency aid for 500,000 northern Iraqis. The UN refugee agency said Tuesday it was poised to mount a massive aid operation for 500,000 Iraqis driven from their homes by jihadist rebels. \"In response to the deteriorating situation in northern Iraq, UNHCR is this week launching one of its largest aid pushes aimed at helping close to half a million people who have been forced to leave their homes,\" spokesman Adrian Edwards told reporters. To date, the United Nations estimates that 1.2 million Iraqis have been displaced by fighting this year, Edwards said ahead of the extraordinary aid push set to begin Wednesday.","Qatar frees detained British rights researchers. DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — A Norwegian rights group says two British employees who were arrested while researching migrant worker issues in Qatar have been released.","Second round of Syria talks makes faltering start. By Khaled Yacoub Oweis and Mariam Karouny GENEVA/BEIRUT (Reuters) - A second round of Syria peace talks got off to a shaky start on Monday, with the two sides complaining about violations of a local ceasefire and an Islamist offensive respectively in separate meetings with the international mediator. Ahead of the talks, mediator Lakhdar Brahimi told delegates to commit first to discussing both ending the fighting and setting up a transitional government. The government side said combating \"terrorism\" - its catchall term for the revolt - should be agreed first. ...","US Army: Bergdahl shifted to outpatient care. SAN ANTONIO (AP) — Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, who had been a prisoner of war in Afghanistan for five years, has been shifted to outpatient care at a Texas military base, the U.S. Army said in a statement Sunday.","Toyota recalls 690,000 pickups to fix rear springs. DETROIT (AP) — Toyota says it is recalling 690,000 Tacoma pickup trucks because the rear leaf springs could break, puncture the gas tank and cause a fire.","Sony in China joint venture to sell PlayStations. HONG KONG (AP) — Sony is joining forces with a state-owned company to make and sell PlayStations and games in China after the country dropped a longstanding ban on video game consoles.","US first lady meets rural Chinese students via web. BEIJING (AP) — U.S. first lady Michelle Obama encouraged rural Chinese students to aim high and get a good education despite humble roots, in a speech Tuesday that was delivered via satellite technology to remote communities in southwestern China.","Hertha Berlin signs Switzerland midfielder Stocker. BERLIN (AP) — Hertha Berlin has signed Switzerland midfielder Valentin Stocker from Swiss champion FC Basel.","Deadly Mystery: Why Did 9 Killer Whales Die in New Zealand?. Just when you thought things couldn’t get worse for killer whales, nine of them have been found beached and dead on a rocky shoreline at the southernmost tip of New Zealand. On Monday, a resident discovered the whales washed up in a row along a beach near the town of Tautapere, on the southern end of New Zealand’s South Island, in one of the largest mass strandings of killer whales in recorded history. The beaching was particularly tragic for Dr. Ingrid Visser, founder of New Zealand’s Orca Research Trust, who has studied the country’s killer whale population most of her adult life and come to know many of its members through diving repeatedly with them. She said strandings of single orcas were not rare, but mass strandings of this magnitude were extremely uncommon.","Moldova to sign EU accord on June 27. CHISINAU, Moldova (AP) — The president of the European Council on Tuesday invited Moldova to sign an association agreement with the European Union on June 27, saying the 28-nation bloc would help defend the former Soviet republic from threats by Russia which opposes the EU's eastward expansion.","New Zealand raises interest rate to 3.5 percent. New Zealand has raised its benchmark interest rate for the fourth time this year, to 3.5 percent. The central bank on Thursday said it expects the economy to grow at a healthy annual rate of 3.7 percent ...","Moscovici says confident will have important economic role in EU Commission. By Ingrid Melander and Emmanuel Jarry PARIS (Reuters) - France's candidate for the European Commission Pierre Moscovici is convinced he will have an important economic portfolio, he told Reuters on Wednesday, rebuffing German concerns that France lacked the budget credibility to take such a job. President Francois Hollande proposed his former finance minister on Tuesday to be France's representative in the next European Commission, which takes office early November. A keen admirer of Keynesian economics, Moscovici said it was crucial for Europe to refocus on growth and jobs via higher investments.","Bandits in Guinea steal suspected Ebola blood. CONAKRY, Guinea (AP) — Officials in Guinea say bandits during a roadside robbery stole a cooler containing blood samples that are believed to have Ebola.","China's Li promises more open economy. BEIJING (AP) — China's premier has promised to open the world's No. 2 economy wider to foreign companies amid a wave of anti-monopoly investigations that business groups say might be aimed at limiting foreign competition.","Rival Libyan lawmakers hold UN-brokered talks. CAIRO (AP) — Rival Libyan lawmakers have held talks brokered by a United Nations envoy, in the first attempt to bridge the gap between warring groups that left the North African nation torn between two governments and parliaments.","Magnitude-6.5 quake shakes Puerto Rico's northern coast, causing some minor damage. SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico - A strong earthquake out to sea has shaken Puerto Rico's northern coast, causing minor damage in some places.","Canada, defending champ Sweden win at worlds. MINSK, Belarus (AP) — Canada rebounded from a stunning loss to France to edge Slovakia 4-1 at the world ice hockey championship on Saturday.","Bieber under investigation for theft: report. Police are investigating Justin Bieber over allegations he tried to steal a cell phone from a woman he thought had taken pictures of him with it, a newspaper said. The incident happened Monday at a miniature golf course in the San Fernando Valley area, the Los Angeles Times reported late Tuesday. \\\\\"He has been accused of attempted robbery,\\\\\" Officer Rosario Herrera told the Times. The paper said Bieber is not accused of keeping the phone.","US official: Auto safety agency under review. WASHINGTON (AP) — A senior Obama administration official says the \"safety culture\" of the U.S. agency that oversees auto recalls is being reviewed.","Merkel, Hollande call Putin on eve of Ukraine vote. BERLIN (AP) — The leaders of Germany and France have called Russian President Vladimir Putin to discuss the situation in Ukraine on the eve of elections there.","Wolfsburg beats Leverkusen for 1st Bundesliga win. BERLIN (AP) — Ricardo Rodriguez scored two goals and set up another as Wolfsburg defeated 10-man Bayer Leverkusen 4-1 in the Bundesliga for its first win of the season on Sunday.","Monsoon rains cause floods, but fewer wildfires, in New Mexico. By Joseph Kolb ALBUQUERQUE N.M. (Reuters) - In normally drought-stricken New Mexico, near-historic levels of monsoon rains this month caused a sharp rise in flash flood warnings, but have dampened the risk of devastating wildfires, experts said on Friday. The city of Albuquerque saw a total of 3.4 inches of rain in July, the highest level recorded for the month since 1930 when 4.45 inches fell. \"This is the third wettest July on record,\" said Don Shoemaker, spokesman for the National Weather Service's office in Albuquerque. \"We have also seen a significant rise in flash floods.\" The National Weather Service has needed to put out more than 400 flood advisories for northern and central New Mexico since January, with 300 of them issued in July alone.","Barclays sounding out buyers for Spanish retail bank: sources. Britain's Barclays is sounding out potential buyers for its Spanish retail bank, people familiar with the matter said, adding that local peers and private equity firms could be interested in parts of the business. Barclays earlier this month outlined a major restructuring and as many as 19,000 job cuts as it refocuses on its British and African businesses, investment banking in the UK and United States, and credit cards. It will park its retail banking operations in Spain, Italy, France and Portugal in a \"bad bank\", and these will be sold, separated or floated. Barclays is contacting potential bidders with preliminary information about the Spanish unit and confidentiality agreements, two banking sources familiar with the process said, adding no formal auction was yet underway.","Atletico's loss at Levante tightens title race. BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Atletico Madrid's march to the Spanish league title hit a bump when it lost 2-0 at Levante on Sunday, meaning it must win its remaining two games to clinch the title for the first time since 1996.","Soccer-Australian championship results and standings. Nov 21 (Infostrada Sports) - Results and standings from the Australian championship matches on Friday Friday, November 21Melbourne Victory 1 Brisbane Roar 0 Perth Glory 2 Wellington Phoenix 1 Standings P W D L F A Pts 1 Perth Glory 7 6 0 1 12 8 18 2 Melbourne Victory 7 4 3 0 15 6 15 3 Adelaide United 6 4 2 0 9 4 14 4 Sydney FC 6 3 3 0 8 3 12 5 Wellington Phoenix 7 3 0 4 10 10 9 6 Melbourne City FC 6 1 3 2 10 12 6 -------------------------7 Central Coast Mariners 6 1 2 3 4 7 5 8 Brisbane Roar 6 1 0 5 8 11 3 9 Newcastle Jets 6 0 2 4 5 14 2 10 Western Sydney Wanderers FC 5 0 1 4 4 10 1 1-6: ...","FIFA confirms model Bundchen's role at final. RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Brazilian model Gisele Bundchen will be part of World Cup final ceremonies on July 13.","Bangladesh wins toss, bats in 2nd ODI vs Zimbabwe. CHITTAGONG, Bangladesh (AP) — Bangladesh captain Mashrafe Bin Mortaza won the toss and elected to bat first Sunday in the second limited-overs International against Zimbabwe.","Ghanaian garage start-up targets world's well-shod. When Michael Agyeman-Boaten needed some shoes to match one of his custom-made suits, he turned not to a fancy Italian shoemaker but to a group of craftsmen working out of a garage in Accra. Ghana is west Africa's second-largest economy and is known more for its export of raw materials than for craftsmanship of luxury items \"We're competing with Louis Vuitton and Hermes from our garage,\" says the company's chief executive, Fred Deegbe. Ghana's economy has seen rapid growth in recent years thanks to exports of gold, cocoa and, since 2010, oil.","Angry Birds maker Rovio to cut jobs. HELSINKI (AP) — Mobile game developer Rovio Entertainment Ltd. says it plans to cut some 16 percent of its workforce amid signs that its Angry Birds game is losing some of its luster.","She sought good life in New Delhi, but found trash. NEW DELHI (AP) — Six months ago, Marjina stepped off a train in New Delhi with her two children, hoping to find a better life after her husband abandoned them without so much as a goodbye.","Hacking case belies profitable US links with China. WASHINGTON (AP) — China may be trying to steal trade secrets from U.S. businesses, as federal prosecutors allege. Yet for many U.S. companies, China's vast market remains an irresistible source of business.","Pope decries tensions over immigrants in Europe. VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis says sharp tensions in European cities over immigrants could get worse unless authorities, citizens and the newcomers sit down and discuss their prejudices.","Spain judge orders arrest of former China president Jiang Zemin. A Spanish judge on Monday sought international arrest warrants for former Chinese President Jiang Zemin and four other top Chinese officials as part of a probe into alleged genocide in Tibet. High Court Judge Ismael Moreno ordered Interpol to issue the arrest warrants for the five for genocide, torture and crimes against humanity as part of a case brought against them in Spain by human rights groups. \"Jiang exercised supervisory authority over the people who directly committed abuses, which makes him responsible for acts of torture and other major abuses of human rights perpetrated by his subordinates against the people of Tibet,\" Moreno wrote in his ruling. \"He promoted and actively implemented policies whose objective was to populate the Autonomous Region of Tibet with a majority from the Han ethnic group, detain thousands of Tibetans during lengthy periods, torture the detained and submit them to other illegal abuses.\"","Iraq to overhaul Baghdad security to stop bombings. BAGHDAD (AP) — Baghdad's neighborhood of Gorayaat, a small Shiite enclave on a bend in the Tigris River, exemplifies the failures of Iraq's security agencies trying to protect the capital from attacks by the Islamic State. The district has been a target for years, hit by so many bombings, suicide attacks, rockets and mortars that residents have lost count.","Country crooner George Canyon seeks Conservative Party nomination in Alberta. HIGH RIVER, Alta. - Canadian country crooner George Canyon wants to sing from the Conservative Party song sheet as a member of Parliament.","UK says not ruling out airstrikes against Islamic State, says hostage video genuine. Britain's foreign minister said on Wednesday Islamic State's seizure of a British hostage did not make airstrikes on the militants more likely, but said he wasn't ruling that option out. IS released a video on Tuesday purporting to show the beheading of a second American hostage, journalist Steven Sotloff, and issued a threat against a British hostage warning governments to back off \"this evil alliance of America against the Islamic State\". \"If we judge that airstrikes could be beneficial ... then we will certainly consider them. He said the IS militant who appeared in the Sotloff video appeared to be the same man with an apparently British accent whose voice was featured in the video of the beheading of U.S.","Tsonga stuns Federer to win Toronto Masters. French 13th seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga won the Toronto Masters title on Sunday with a 7-5, 7-6 (7/3) victory over second seeded Roger Federer. Tsonga hit 11 aces and 26 winners while Federer, two days after his 33rd birthday, was undone by 37 unforced errors. The 29-year-old Tsonga had knocked out world number one Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray on his way to the final. It was Tsonga's second career Masters 1000 title, coming almost six years after his first at Paris Bercy in 2008.","'Jihad recruiters' arrested in Netherlands, Germany. Police in the Netherlands and Germany have arrested two men for allegedly recruiting jihadi fighters to go to Iraq and Syria, Dutch police said Thursday. A woman was also held with the man arrested in Germany as part of a long-running investigation, police said in a statement. All three are from The Hague and are accused of inciting hatred through social media and plotting terror attacks, police said, likely referring to help allegedly given to would-be Islamist fighters to reach the Middle East. \"The two male suspects are suspected of recruiting for the armed terrorist struggle in Syria and/or Iraq and conspiring to commit murder with terrorist intent,\" the statement said.","Virgin America says it expects union drive will fail. Virgin America on Wednesday called its flight attendants' drive to join a union detrimental and said it expects the effort to fail like a similar vote two years ago. The Burlingame, California-based airline's flight attendants petitioned on Tuesday for a vote on whether to be represented by the Transport Workers Union (TWU), a move that, if successful, would leave no non-union airline in the U.S. industry. Since launching in 2007, Virgin America has focused on \"making flying good again,\" and \"a third party like the TWU would only detract from that,\" spokeswoman Jennifer Thomas said. Flight attendants rejected a previous TWU organization drive in December, 2011.","AP PHOTOS: Editor selections from the Middle East. Across the Middle East this past week, Shiite Muslims commemorated Ashoura, recalling how a grandson of the Prophet Muhammad was killed in a seventh-century battle along with his extended family in Karbala in present day Iraq.","Rowland-Smith: a tale of 2 teams in 2 days. SYDNEY (AP) — Arizona Diamondbacks relief pitcher Ryan Rowland-Smith is being pulled in two directions this week as Major League Baseball prepares for its season-opening series at the Sydney Cricket Ground. Make that two different teams.","Jonathan ally resigns as Nigerian ruling party chairman. A close ally of Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan, Bamanga Tukur, has resigned as chairman of the ruling People's Democratic Party (PDP), Jonathan told a party committee on Thursday. \"Members of this party are still faithful to the party.","Netherlands bowl SAfrica for 145. CHITTAGONG, Bangladesh (AP) — Netherlands pace bowler Malik Ahsan Jamil claimed his career best 5-19 to bowl mighty South Africa to 145-9 in the World Twenty20 on Thursday.","Iraq officials: Premier has selected final Cabinet ministers, including defense and interior. BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraq officials: Premier has selected final Cabinet ministers, including defense and interior.","Islamists win support in battle for Tripoli airport. Powerful militias from the city of Misrata announced their support Thursday for Islamists in their battle against another armed group for control of the Libyan capital's international airport. The fighting erupted on Sunday when Islamist gunmen launched an attack on the airport, which has for the past three years been held by liberal, anti-Islamist fighters from Zintan, southwest of the capital. Ex-rebel fighters from Zintan and Misrata, east of Tripoli, both played a key role in the NATO-backed uprising that topple dictator Moamer Kadhafi in 2011. There have been fierce clashes at the airport, which has been shut down indefinitely, with dozens of planes and the main terminal badly damaged by rocket fire.","A nation in peril - Iraq's struggle to hold together. By Dominic Evans BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Salman Khaled has already lived through Baghdad's sectarian disintegration; \"Things are really tense and it could get worse,\" said the 23-year-old Sunni Muslim student. \"If the politicians continue as they are doing now, we are on the path to separation.\" When Khaled's father was shot dead by Shi'ite gunmen at the height of Baghdad's religious bloodshed seven years ago, his family took shelter in a Sunni neighborhood of the capital. Today the family lives in the Adhamiya district, close to the Abu Hanifa mosque where one of Sunni Islam's most influential theologians is buried.","Klinsmann: Donovan 'could have done a bit more'. EAST HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — Landon Donovan set U.S. national team and Major League Soccer records for goals and assists, scored in a signature stoppage-time moment that lifted America to a first-place finish in a World Cup group for the first time in 80 years and won five MLS titles — with a sixth still possible.","SKorean lawmaker gets 12 years for pro-North plot. SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — A South Korean court has sentenced a left-wing lawmaker to 12 years in prison for plotting a pro-North Korea rebellion in the event of a war on the Korean Peninsula.","Dowsett, Villumsen wins road cycling golds. GLASGOW, Scotland (AP) — Alex Dowsett used the disappointment of missing the Tour de France as motivation to win a Commonwealth Games gold medal in the time trial on the streets of Glasgow on Thursday.","Kuzmina takes 20-second lead into Olympic pursuit. KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia (AP) — Her strong run to gold in Sunday's 7.5-kilometer sprint has earned Anastasiya Kuzmina of Slovakia a useful head start in the second women's biathlon event at the Sochi Olympics.","ON THIS DAY: Zidane gives France 1st World Cup win. On July 12 in World Cup history: Zinedine Zidane's headers help France beat subdued Brazil in 1998 home final.","Official: Refugees could soon settle in Cambodia. CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Refugees rejected by Australia could be resettled in Cambodia this year under a bilateral agreement to be signed Friday that will cost the Australian government more than 10 million Australian dollars ($9 million) a year, a senior minister said.","'Downton Abbey' costumes to be featured in exhibit at Toronto's Spadina Museum. TORONTO - Canadian fans of the hit historical drama \"Downton Abbey\" will be able to see the styles of their beloved characters up close at an upcoming exhibit.","UN envoy: Keep up hope amid climate change battle. COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — The head of the U.N.'s panel on climate change has urged world governments not to be overcome by hopelessness as they negotiate a new agreement to fight global warming.","US forces headed for Iraq mountain: Kurdish spokesman. Dohuk (Iraq) (AFP) - US military advisors in Iraq are headed for Mount Sinjar to study means of evacuating civilians who have been trapped there by jihadists, a spokesman for the Kurdish peshmerga forces said Wednesday.","Williams chief: F1 should consider closed cockpits. LONDON (AP) — A Williams team executive says Formula One should consider introducing closed cockpits after Jules Bianchi's crash at the Japanese Grand Prix.","Opposing Scottish independence camps both appeal to voters' pockets. By Alistair Smout and David Milliken EDINBURGH/LONDON (Reuters) - The debate over whether Scots will be better off if they break away from the United Kingdom intensified on Wednesday, as pro- and anti-independence camps both claimed Scots would be at least 1,000 pounds ($1,700) a year richer. Scotland holds a referendum on Sept. 18 over whether to end its 307-year union with England, and as that date moves nearer the number of people who are still undecided exceeds the majority who want to retain the union. Britain's deputy finance minister, Danny Alexander - sensitive to criticism that the anti-independence campaign had been too negative - said Scots would each be 1,400 pounds a year wealthier if they stayed in the United Kingdom. \"By staying together, Scotland's future will be safer, with stronger finances and a more progressive society,\" Alexander said.","Russia's Putin asks upper house to revoke right of military intervention in Ukraine: report. President Vladimir Putin asked Russia's upper house of parliament on Tuesday to revoke the right that it had granted for Russian forces to intervene militarily in Ukraine in defense of Russian-speakers there, Russian news agencies cited his spokesman as saying. \"The head of state has filed to the Federation Council a proposal to revoke the resolution ... on the use of Russia's armed forces on the territory of Ukraine,\" Interfax quoted Dmitry Peskov as saying.","Ten migrants die in shipwreck off Libya: Italian navy. Rome (AFP) - Italian sailors have recovered 10 bodies of migrants after their rubber dinghy sank off the Libyan coast, Italy's navy said Saturday.","March in Johannesburg for rhinos and elephants. JOHANNESBURG (AP) — Hundreds marched through Johannesburg Saturday to call for the protection of rhinos and elephants, part of demonstrations for World Wildife Day in 136 cities around the world.","UN prosecutors: Former Bosnian Serb leader Karadzic should get life sentence if convicted. THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — UN prosecutors: Former Bosnian Serb leader Karadzic should get life sentence if convicted.","Libya's ousted PM stops in Malta on way to 'another European country' :Maltese PM. VALLETTA (Reuters) - Former Libyan prime minister Ali Zeidan was in Malta for two hours late on Tuesday on a refueling stop before going to \"another European country\", Prime Minister Joseph Muscat told state-owned television TVM. Muscat said he spoke briefly to Zeidan. Libya's parliament voted Zeidan out of office on Tuesday after rebels humiliated the government by loading crude on a tanker that fled from naval forces. Parliament swore in Defence Minister Abdallah al-Thinni as acting prime minister. ...","Man Utd beat Valencia 2-1 in van Gaal home debut. MANCHESTER, England (AP) — Manchester United named Wayne Rooney as its new captain on Tuesday shortly after the team beat Valencia 2-1 in manager Louis van Gaal's first home game in charge of the English Premier League club.","Russia halts student exchange program with US. MOSCOW (AP) — The U.S. Embassy in Moscow has voiced regret about Russia's decision to cancel its participation in a major high school student exchange program.","Iraq hangs 11 convicted of terrorism. Iraq hanged 11 people convicted of terrorist offences on Thursday, the justice ministry said, pursuing what a U.N. official has criticized as a \"conveyor-belt of executions\". All those executed were Iraqi nationals, justice ministry spokesman Haider al-Saadi said in a text message to Reuters, bringing the total number of people executed in less than one week to 37. Violence in Iraq has surged in the past year to its highest levels since the Sunni-Shi'ite sectarian bloodshed that peaked in 2006 and 2007, when tens of thousands of people were killed. Iraq hanged at least 151 people in 2013, up from 129 in 2012 and 68 in 2011, New York-based Human Rights Watch said in its annual world report published on Tuesday.","France bemoans troop shortage for EU force in C.Africa. The French commander of a European Union peacekeeping force which had been due to deploy in the Central African Republic this week said Wednesday he did not have enough soldiers. \"The deployment hinges on the creation of a logistical unit of around 100 forces,\" General Philippe Ponties told French radio RFI, describing the shortage of volunteers as \"worrying\". Stopping the violence has proved more difficult than expected however and France has already once extended the mandate of its mission but received little support from European partners Brussels last month approved the creation of a European Union peacekeeping force of 800 to 1,000 troops to help the French and African Union forces.","Sweeting storms to early lead, claims 10-3 Scotties win over Quebec. MONTREAL - Alberta's Val Sweeting earned a 10-3 win in eight ends over Quebec's Allison Ross on Thursday at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts.","Mexico says detainees confess to mass killing in missing student probe. MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Members of a gang arrested in a probe into the disappearance of a group of 43 trainee teachers feared massacred have admitted to killing a large group of people, Mexico's attorney general said on Friday. Attorney General Jesus Murillo said three new detainees admitted setting fire to the group, some of whom were still alive, in a rubbish dump near Iguala in the state of Guerrero, where the students went missing on Sept 26 after clashing with police. Dozens of police have also been arrested. ...","US evacuates embassy in Libya amid clashes. WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States shut down its embassy in Libya on Saturday and evacuated its diplomats to neighboring Tunisia under U.S. military escort amid a significant deterioration in security in Tripoli as fighting intensified between rival militias, the State Department said.","Motor racing-Aussie GP boss raps Ecclestone about quiet cars. Australian Grand Prix organisers have complained to Formula One commercial supremo Bernie Ecclestone about the quieter V6-powered cars and say their reduced volume may have breached race contracts with Formula One management. Australian Grand Prix Corporation (AGPC) Chairman Ron Walker had already expressed his misgivings to Ecclestone, the organiser's CEO Andrew Westacott told Fairfax radio on Monday. Westacott said the quieter cars had taken something away from the F1 spectacle for fans at the race.","Egypt says restoration of oldest pyramid on track. SAQQARA, Egypt (AP) — Egypt's antiquities minister has brought journalists inside a 4,600-year old pyramid to reject recent accusations of mismanagement at the site as false and \"without evidence.\"","SOCHI SCENE: Big shot. KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia (AP) — Ty Walker's biggest obstacle to running in the women's snowboard semifinals wasn't the gnarly course at the Rosa Khutor Extreme Park, but something far scarier.","Egypt's Brotherhood entrenched for war of attrition. Unbowed by a savage crackdown, Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood promises a war of attrition against the army chief who ousted it from power and appears certain to win next week's election. Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, the now retired field marshal who overthrew Islamist president Mohamed Morsi and the frontrunner in the May 26-27 presidential election, has pledged to wipe out the movement. Since Morsi's overthrow in July, he has been arrested along with the leadership of his Brotherhood. \"As the Brotherhood, we've been psychologically prepared for the long run,\" said one who asked to be identified as Ahmed, a pseudonym.","Gunmen kill foreign woman on Kenya coast. NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — A Kenya police official says a female tourist has been shot dead in the coastal town of Mombasa, the second foreigner shot in same area this month.","Bank of England holds key interest rate at 0.50%. London (AFP) - The Bank of England held its main interest rate at a record-low of 0.50 percent, it announced on Thursday.","Outrage in Italy after asbestos case is thrown out. ROME (AP) — Italian Premier Matteo Renzi has added his voice to a chorus of outrage after Italy's highest court threw out a conviction against a Swiss businessman for some 3,000 asbestos-related deaths blamed on contamination from a construction company.","Martin in control at British Open as Wie misses cut. While many of the bigger names struggled in the tough conditions, American Mo Martin, the world number 99, shot a second straight three under 69 to take a three shot lead at the British Open on Friday. Beatriz Recari, the Spanish Solheim Cup player, shared second place at Royal Birkdale on three under with South Koreaâ s Ryu So Yeon. Sheâ s suffered with a bad hip and poor form and she arrived at Royal Birkdale with a wrist injury. Recari had a fleeting visit to St Andrews last Sunday for a sponsorâ s day ahead of her trip to Birkdale.","Australia sees chance of El Nino at 70 pct, some signs ease. By Colin Packham SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australia's weather bureau said on Tuesday the chance of an El Nino forming over the next few months remains at 70 percent, though the agency said some key indicators associated with the weather pattern had eased in recent weeks. \"We still believe an El Nino is likely,\" Andrew Watkins, Supervisor Climate Prediction at the Australian Bureau of Meteorology, said. \"The recent observations may suggest a later El Nino and it has perhaps reduced the chance of very strong El Nino like we saw in 1997/1998.\" The bureau said ocean warming had leveled off, counter to typical observations prior to previous El Nino events when temperatures continued to rise. However, despite the easing of some indicators, the Australian bureau said it continued to expected an El Nino in the southern hemisphere's 2014 spring.","Australia 217-9 in 50 overs v England - fifth ODI. (Reuters) - Australia made 217 runs for nine wickets in their 50 overs in the fifth and final one-day international against England in Adelaide on Sunday. Scores: Australia 217-9 in 50 overs (George Bailey 56; Stuart Broad 3-31, Ben Stokes 3-43) v England","Brazil bus driver strike enters second day. SAO PAULO (AP) — The trade association representing Sao Paulo's bus companies says the strike by bus drivers demanding higher pay in Brazil's largest city is losing steam as it enters a second day.","Image of Asia: The 'Wind Stone' and the sea. In this photo by Rob Griffith, a couple sit on rocks at a Sydney beach near a sculpture titled \"Wind Stone - The Threshold of Consciousness,\" created by Japanese-Australian artist Koichi Ishino. It's part of the Sculpture By The Sea exhibition on display until Nov. 9 around Sydney. The popular exhibition in its 18th year also features a giant frying pan, a breaching whale, a rhinoceros and other sculptures. This year's main prize winner, American Peter Lundberg, whose \"ring\" looks like a misshapen bronze circle, said the exhibition is one of the best around because of the view of the surrounding landscape.","Upper house to demand recall of Moscow ambassador to U.S.. MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia's upper house of parliament will ask President Vladimir Putin to recall Moscow's ambassador from the United States, the chamber's speaker said on Saturday. Valentina Matviyenko, the head of the Federation Council, asked the Council's Committee on Foreign Affairs to draw up a proposal setting out the demands to Putin. (Reporting by Lidia Kelly, Editing by Tikothy Heritage)","Russian lawmakers propose harsh new security laws ahead of Sochi. Russian lawmakers on Tuesday announced plans to push through legislation introducing harsher punishments for those who carry out deadly attacks, as Russia tightens security ahead of February's Winter Olympic Games in Sochi. A cross-party group of lawmakers will submit three draft bills to parliament on Wednesday, Irina Yarovaya, a ruling party lawmaker and the head of the Duma's security and anti-corruption committee, told the Interfax news agency. The draft legislation is also aimed at fighting money laundering by restricting the terms of use of electronic payment systems, Yarovaya said. Yarovaya said she expected the lower house of parliament would consider the bills \"as a priority.\"","Magnitude-6.0 quake near Tokyo; trains pause. TOKYO (AP) — A magnitude-6.0 earthquake has struck near Tokyo, but no tsunami warning was issued.","Rio police stop protesters from reaching World Cup arena. Police blocked a small group of anti-World Cup protesters who were trying to reach the Maracana stadium in Rio de Janeiro on Sunday, before Argentina played Bosnia in the city's first game of the tournament. About 150 bandanna-clad protesters carrying banners that said \"Fifa go home\" marched towards the stadium, causing some stores to shut their doors temporarily and one metro station to close briefly. A similar sized march was held ahead of the Switzerland-Ecuador game in Brasilia on Sunday, but the peaceful demonstrators simply laid down their banners in front of a police cordon and dispersed when the game started.","German league president says UEFA could leave FIFA. BERLIN (AP) — UEFA would have to consider leaving FIFA if world football's governing body does not publish in full American attorney Michael Garcia's report into bidding for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups, says German Football League President Reinhard Rauball.","Palau to ban commercial fishing, promote tourism. UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The president of Palau has declared that his Pacific island nation will ban commercial fishing and become a marine sanctuary.","World stocks slide on Wall St drop, Iraq violence. HONG KONG (AP) — World stock markets slumped Wednesday after Wall Street's biggest decline in two weeks and ongoing violence in Iraq dampened sentiment.","Malaysia says jetliner did not make distress call. KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Malaysia's prime minister said Friday that a Malaysia Airlines jetliner did not make any distress call before it went down in Ukraine, and that the flight route had been declared safe by the International Civil Aviation Organization.","Italy's Renzi: Immigration crisis tests EU unity. ROME (AP) — Italian Premier Matteo Renzi issued a warning Tuesday to his European allies, saying they need to pitch in much more and help rescue tens of thousands of refugees who are risking their lives to reach the continent.","Man City, Ronaldo top of this week's AP footy poll. Manchester City has team of the week honors in the Associated Press Global Football 10, edging Real Madrid by two points after beating Everton 3-2 in the English Premier League.","Blackwater jurors granted request to watch video. WASHINGTON (AP) — Jurors deliberating the fate of four former Blackwater security guards in the shootings of more than 30 Iraqi citizens were granted a request to watch a videotape showing the aftermath of the violence.","Malaga beats Bilbao 1-0 to kick off Spanish league. BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Malaga held on to beat Athletic Bilbao 1-0 to kick off the Spanish league on Saturday and give new coach Javi Gracia a winning debut at La Rosaleda Stadium, although the game was marred by two red cards in the final minutes.","Moyes investigated over wine bar 'assault'. Former Manchester United manager David Moyes was being investigated by police on Thursday over allegations he assaulted a man in a wine bar. An incident between Moyes, 51, and a 23-year-old man is said to have happened in the Lancashire town of Clitheroe, northwest England, on Wednesday. A police spokesman said: \"Officers attended the bar at about 10:00 pm yesterday and it was reported that a 23-year-old local man had been assaulted by a 51-year old man. The local newspaper, the Clitheroe Advertiser, reported that Moyes was having a drink with a friend when an \"alleged minor scuffle\" broke out in the bar.","Modric, Mandzukic to lead Croatia at WCup. OSIJEK, Croatia (AP) — Luka Modric and Mario Mandzukic were included in Croatia's 23-man final squad for the World Cup announced Saturday.","Ukraine issues arrest warrant for president. SEVASTOPOL, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine's acting government issued a warrant Monday for the arrest of President Viktor Yanukovych, last reportedly seen in the pro-Russian Black Sea peninsula of Crimea, accusing him of mass crimes against protesters who stood up for months against his rule.","Environmentalists criticise Australia reef protection plan. Environmentalists criticised a new Australian government plan released Monday to protect the Great Barrier Reef in the face of UN concerns, saying it will not do enough to halt the marine park's decline. The draft plan, now open for consultation, comes after UNESCO threatened to put the reef on its World Heritage \"in danger\" list and gave Canberra until February 1, 2015 to submit a report on what it was doing to protect the natural wonder. Australia's Environment Minister Greg Hunt said Monday the draft 'Reef 2050 Long-Term Sustainability Plan' was an effort to balance priorities. \"Maintaining and protecting this iconic World Heritage area, while considering the needs for long-term sustainable development, is a critical priority,\" Hunt said.","Morgan glad to leave England all smiles after T20 win. Stand-in skipper Eoin Morgan said he hoped England's thrilling three-run Twenty20 win over India in their final home international match of the season would spur the team on to greater heights ahead of the World Cup. Morgan, leading the side in the absence of injured all-rounder Stuart Broad, produced a stunning captain's innings of 71 in just 31 balls, including seven sixes, as England made 180 for seven at Birmingham's Edgbaston on Sunday. He then saw his 'death' bowlers, put paid to what threatened to be yet another victorious rescue act by India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who narrowly fell short in trying to score the 17 his side needed off the last over, delivered by paceman Chris Woakes on his Warwickshire home ground. Having lost series in all formats to Sri Lanka earlier in the season, England -- after a poor start -- recovered to beat India 3-1 in a five-Test campaign.","Amal Clooney in Greece for Parthenon Marbles bid. ATHENS, Greece (AP) — A team of London lawyers, including Amal Clooney, are in Athens to submit proposals for a new boost to Greece's campaign to reclaim the 5th-century B.C. Parthenon Sculptures from Britain.","Wayne Rooney to captain England team. LONDON (AP) — Wayne Rooney has been named England captain, taking over the leadership role of an inexperienced team in a rebuilding phase following its worst-ever World Cup.","Algeria hunts for kidnapped Frenchman, Paris says no deals. By Abdelaziz Boumzar and John Irish AIT OUABANE Algeria/PARIS (Reuters) - Algerian military and police set up checkpoints and sent troops into mountains east of Algiers on Tuesday to look for a Frenchman kidnapped by militants who threatened to execute him over France's intervention in Iraq. The Caliphate Soldiers, a splinter group linked to Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria, on Monday published a video claiming responsibility for the abduction and showed a man identifying himself as Herve Gourdel, a tourist from Nice. ...","Quarter of Slovenian homes in the dark after ice, blizzards cut power. A quarter of households in Slovenia were left without electricity on Monday after a weekend of blizzards and very low temperatures wreaked havoc on power lines and roads, the national STA news agency reported. It said the power cuts had affected more than 250,000 people, or one in four families, in the country. This prompted the government to ask for help from the European Union's civil defense team in the form of power generators for the affected areas, the government said on its website. Farming Minister Dejan Zidan said ice and snow had damaged 500,000 hectares of forest, or roughly a half of Slovenia's total forest area.","Protesters ransack government buildings in Guinea smelting town. Protesters angered by the death of a young man in police custody ransacked a police station and government buildings in Guinea's main aluminum smelting town on Wednesday, local residents said. Work at Russian aluminum giant RUSAL's Friguia refinery has been suspended since April 2012, hitting household incomes hard and aggravating social unrest in the town of Fria, 160 km (99 miles) north of the capital Conakry. Protesters threw stones and burned tires in the town's streets, before attacking the police station. \"The municipal police station is looted.","Dissent quieted with most Israelis behind Gaza war. JERUSALEM (AP) — Despite Israeli casualties and world criticism, a near-consensus in Israel supports the government's conduct of the Gaza war, views Hamas as the aggressor and considers outsiders' moralizing as hypocritical, ignorant or both. And in an echo-chamber fed by ubiquitous updates on Hamas rocket and tunnel attacks, the minority of local voices that do agonize over Gazans' suffering are being silenced in a way rarely seen in a country long proud of its spirited, democratic debate.","Russia hopes talks on east Ukraine status to start 'quickly': Lavrov. Russia said on Tuesday it hoped that talks on the status of eastern Ukraine would start shortly between Kiev and pro-Moscow rebels. \"We are hoping that the talks will start quickly,\" Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov told reporters, also urging Ukraine to conduct constitutional reforms. Kiev and separatist representatives on Friday inked a 12-point plan in Minsk mapping out a roadmap to resolving five months of brutal conflict but the truce has already been shaken by sporadic shelling on the ground. The deal avoids calling for Ukraine to be turned into a federation but offers rebel regions \"temporary special status\".","Italy cheers Oscar return but critics remain. ROME (AP) — Italy celebrated Monday after \"The Great Beauty\" ended the country's 15-year hiatus and won the Oscar for best foreign-language film. But even the film's muse lamented the fallen Rome it portrays and critics including the Vatican said it was just a cheap Fellini knockoff.","Harry Potter is back in new J.K. Rowling story. LONDON (AP) — Harry Potter is back — mysterious, married, and going gray.","Nationalists lead in race for Bosnia presidency, reflecting divisions. SARAJEVO (Reuters) - Nationalists with little shared vision of Bosnia's future were in the lead in an election for the three-person presidency on Sunday, likely portending more dysfunction in a country still haunted by the divisions of a 1992-95 war. Based on a partial vote count, authorities said Bakir Izetbegovic, Dragan Covic and Zeljka Cvijanovic were out in front in the race for the tri-partite state presidency, as the Bosniak, Croat and Serb representatives, respectively. ...","Anger in China at brutality in chemical plant protests. By Megha Rajagopalan and Ben Blanchard BEIJING (Reuters) - Protests against a proposed chemical plant in southern China spread to the provincial capital of Guangzhou on Tuesday, even as authorities signaled they may back down on their construction plans in attempt to head off more unrest. Public anger has grown after graphic photos surfaced on Chinese social networks early this week, showing demonstrators in the nearby city of Maoming - the location of the proposed plant - lying bloodied on the streets as rows of paramilitary police marched in formation. On Sunday, hundreds of Maoming residents poured into the streets protesting against the plant producing paraxylene, a petrochemical used in making fabric and plastic bottles, and environmental degradation. Protesters in the Guangdong provincial capital of Guangzhou on Tuesday renewed calls for an end to the chemical plant project, as well as justice for those who they believe were hurt or killed at the hands of paramilitary police on Sunday.","Egypt's Sisi submits bid for president: spokesman. Egypt's ex-army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on Monday officially submitted his bid to run for president, with his lawyer handing over the required documents to the authorities, a spokesman said. Sisi, who is riding on a wave of popularity after ousting Islamist leader Mohamed Morsi in July, is widely expected to win the May 26-27 election. \"Lawyer Abu Shoqa submitted the required documents on behalf of Sisi that include endorsements by citizens, medical reports, and an application for his candidacy,\" Ahmed Kamel told AFP. \"Sisi has already received more than 460,000 signatures from citizens across the country endorsing his candidacy,\" said Kamel.","Macedonia conservatives eye win in early poll. SKOPJE, Macedonia (AP) — Macedonia's ruling conservatives hope to cement their dominance in elections Sunday for prime minister and president, banking on their economic program despite high unemployment and the failure to resolve a dispute with Greece that has kept the tiny country from joining NATO or achieving closer ties with the European Union. Here is a look at the elections:","China finds no terror link to its nationals on jet. KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Checks into the background of all the Chinese nationals on board the missing Malaysian jetliner have uncovered no links to terrorism, the Chinese ambassador in Kuala Lumpur said Tuesday.","Chinese VP in Zambia to boost ties with Africa's copper giant. Chinese Vice President Li Yuanchao kicked off a three-day visit to Zambia on Wednesday by signing development loan and grant agreements worth $64 million (47 million euros). Zambia will use the funds to improve its water reticulation system in rural areas, upgrade the country's only international airport in Lusaka and improve education facilities, among a raft of other projects. China is Zambia's top foreign investor, but relations have occasionally been tense because of China's preponderant presence in Africa's copper giant. Besides their involvement in copper and coal mining, Chinese companies are building roads and revamping Zambia's international airport and stadiums.","Sodhi, Southee rock Pakistan 'A' in side game. Leg-spinner Ish Sodhi and paceman Tim Southee shared seven wickets as New Zealand restricted Pakistan 'A' to 215-9 on the opening day of a warm-up game in Sharjah on Monday. Sodhi finished with 4-58 while Southee took 3-20 as the Black Caps got a good bowling work out in the three-day game at Sharjah cricket stadium ahead of their Test series. Pakistan 'A' won the toss and decided to bat but the second string, comprising some talented players, failed to stand up to some fine bowling, with only opener Shan Masood scoring 67 and Adil Amin making 43.","Exclusive: NSA infiltrated RSA security more deeply than thought - study. By Joseph Menn SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Security industry pioneer RSA adopted not just one but two encryption tools developed by the U.S. National Security Agency, greatly increasing the spy agency's ability to eavesdrop on some Internet communications, according to a team of academic researchers. Reuters reported in December that the NSA had paid RSA $10 million to make a now-discredited cryptography system the default in software used by a wide range of Internet and computer security programs. The system, called Dual Elliptic Curve, was a random number generator, but it had a deliberate flaw - or \"back door\" - that allowed the NSA to crack the encryption. A group of professors from Johns Hopkins, the University of Wisconsin, the University of Illinois and elsewhere now say they have discovered that a second NSA tool exacerbated the RSA software's vulnerability.","Australia says more planes added to search for jet. PERTH, Australia (AP) — Search crews hunting for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 headed back out to a remote patch of the Indian Ocean on Friday, a day after leaders of the two countries heading multinational efforts to find the missing jetliner vowed that no effort would be spared to give closure to the families of those on board.","Ex-footballers seek to score points with Brazil voters. Sao Paulo (AFP) - More than 20 retired footballers are running in Brazil's elections next month, trading their boots for suits and the \"beautiful game\" for the sometimes ugly sport of politics.","Khan century spurs Pakistan to 261-4 in 1st test. GALLE, Sri Lanka (AP) — Younis Khan hit an eventful century and lifted Pakistan to a respectable 261-4 on the first day of the first test against Sri Lanka on Wednesday.","Japan coach Aguirre names 23-man squad for Asian Cup. TOKYO (AP) — Japan coach Javier Aguirre opt for experience as he named his 23-man squad for next month's Asian Cup, where the defending champion will be bidding for a record fifth title.","Swiss central bank imposes negative interest rates. BERN, Switzerland (AP) — Following the fallout of the slide in the Russian ruble, Switzerland sought Thursday to prevent the Swiss franc from breaching upper limits imposed on the currency by introducing negative interest rates on commercial bank deposits.","Fiji election results confirm big win to ruler. SUVA, Fiji (AP) — Official results from Fiji's election confirm a big win for the nation's military ruler.","Internet companies' growing ambitions spook 51 percent of Americans: Reuters/Ipsos poll. By Alexei Oreskovic SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - The personal data gathering abilities of Google, Facebook and other tech companies has sparked growing unease among Americans, with a majority worried that Internet companies are encroaching too much upon their lives, a new poll showed. Google and Facebook generally topped lists of Americans' concerns about the ability to track physical locations and monitor spending habits and personal communications, according to a poll conducted by Reuters/Ipsos from March 11 to March 26. The survey highlights a growing ambivalence towards Internet companies whose popular online services, such as social networking, e-commerce and search, have blossomed into some of the world's largest businesses. Now, as the boundaries between Web products and real world services begin to blur, many of the top Internet companies are racing to put their stamp on everything from home appliances to drones and automobiles.","Cyprus airport evacuated ahead of Biden visit. NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) — Cyprus' main airport was briefly evacuated following a bomb hoax, a day ahead of a visit to the small Mediterranean island nation by U.S. Vice President Joe Biden.","Isolated and misinformed, Syrian refugees struggle. ZAHLEH, Lebanon (AP) — Fear, confusion and a lack of information are preventing many Syrian refugees in Lebanon from knowing where to turn for aid.","Conrado Marrero, oldest living ex-MLB player, dies. HAVANA (AP) — Family members say Conrado Marrero, the oldest living former Major League Baseball player, has died in Havana. He was 102, just two days short of his 103rd birthday.","Serbia-Albania match abandoned after crowd trouble. FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — Serbia's match against Albania was abandoned after scuffles involving players and fans, while World Cup holder Germany was held to a 1-1 draw by Ireland and Portugal snatched a late 1-0 win over Denmark in European Championship qualifying on Tuesday.","Old bomb explodes in Bangkok scrap shop, killing 8. BANGKOK (AP) — Workers at a scrap shop in Thailand's capital accidentally detonated a large bomb believed to have been dropped during World War II, killing at least eight people and injuring 20 others, police said.","Ukraine: Russian military threat to nuke plants. VIENNA (AP) — Ukraine-Russia tensions have spilled over to a U.N. nuclear meeting, with Kiev warning that a Russian military invasion could result in damage to its nuclear reactors and Moscow dismissing the scenario as \"hysterics.\"","Kiev says it's \"helpless\" to restore order in east. HORLIVKA, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine's police and security forces are \"helpless\" to quell unrest in two eastern regions bordering Russia, and in some cases are cooperating with pro-Russian gunmen who have seized scores of government buildings and taken people hostage, the country's president said Wednesday.","Amla skippers South Africa against Zimbabwe. Harare (AFP) - Hashim Amla took charge of South Africa for their triangular series clash with Zimbabwe in Harare on Friday as AB de Villiers sat out following his exertions against Australia.","S.Africa economy shrinks for first time since 'Great Recession'. South Africa's economy shrank in the first quarter of the year, in the worst performance recorded since the global recession five years ago, official data showed Tuesday. Statistics South Africa reported the economy contracted by 0.6 percent, a stunning reversal for Africa's most advanced economy amid a rapid boom elsewhere in the continent. The worse-than-expected data comes during the first full day on the job for South African finance minister Nhlanhla Nene. The 55-year-old was sworn in as South Africa's first black finance minister on Monday.","Israeli diplomats end strike that closed embassies. The dispute had threatened to delay a visit by Pope Francis to Israel planned for May - one of 25 trips by foreign officials affected by what first started as a work slowdown on March 5, when wage talks broke down. The staff escalated the action to a full strike a few weeks later - the first by the diplomatic corps since the country was established in 1948 - closing all of Israel's 102 missions abroad and paralyzing most diplomatic work with other countries and the United Nations. \"We reached an agreement that will strengthen the foreign service and help the country's envoys in the world to work for a long time in Israel's diplomatic corps,\" said Finance Ministry official Kobi Amsalem in a statement.","US reassembles key officials for Iran nuke talks. WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. is reassembling key members of the diplomatic team that held secret negotiations with Iran over its nuclear program, leading to a breakthrough agreement, and sending them to Geneva for direct talks with representatives from Tehran in hopes of making progress toward a comprehensive final deal.","GM CEO to reveal multiyear financial strategy: WSJ. (Reuters) - General Motors Co's Chief Executive Officer Mary Barra will on Wednesday reveal a multiyear financial strategy that aims to boost the company's profits and launch \"market leading\" vehicles, the Wall Street Journal reported. In an interview with the Journal, Barra said she would give investors a more specific deadline for her financial targets and would detail how the company would spend its cash and cash assets. (http://on.wsj.com/1rGlDo4) The company's stock has fallen nearly 20 percent since Barra was appointed CEO in January. ...","Pregnant woman killed amid protests near Caracas. CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — A pregnant woman has been killed amid a protest outside the Venezuelan capital of Caracas. It's unclear why she was fired upon.","Tesla to raise $1.6 billion to build battery factory. Tesla Motors Inc said on Wednesday it plans to raise $1.6 billion from investors to finance a new battery factory that will help the upstart U.S. automaker reach its goal of producing a lower-priced, mass-market electric car by 2017. The company said the plant will open in 2017 and ship batteries to the company's assembly plant near San Francisco. The Palo Alto, California-based maker of high-priced electric cars plans to raise the money by selling convertible senior notes, half of them due in 2019 and the other half in 2021, it said in an 8-K filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Analysts believe the factory may ultimately cost $5 billion to $6 billion to build and will be funded with the help of some of Tesla's Japanese suppliers, including Panasonic Corp . Battery costs have been a major stumbling block to widespread electric car adoption in the United States, according to analysts.","Mexico captured alleged cartel capo near border. MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexican authorities say they have captured a regional leader of a drug cartel who controlled illegal trafficking of drugs, guns and money in a frontier region bordering Texas.","Ex-Syria envoy Annan says Iran should play regional role. By Stephen Adler DAVOS, Switzerland (Reuters) - Former U.N. secretary general Kofi Annan said on Friday that Iran had an essential role to play in guaranteeing stability in the Middle East and urged U.S. lawmakers to give a diplomatic detente with Tehran a chance. Annan's successor as U.N. chief, Ban Ki-moon, this week issued and then withdrew an invitation to Iran to join international peace talks on Syria in Switzerland. Shi'ite Muslim Iran is the main ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in his civil war against a host of mainly Sunni rebel groups, and is locked in a wider battle for influence with Saudi Arabia, its long-standing Sunni Muslim regional rival. \"If we are going to have peace and stability in the Middle East, it is essential that Iran plays its natural role in the region,\" Annan, who served as U.N./Arab League envoy to Syria for five months in 2012, told Reuters in an interview at the World Economic Forum in Davos.","Turkey's Erdogan outlines vision for hands-on presidency as election looms. By Humeyra Pamuk ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan made one of his strongest calls yet for the country to \"make a jump\" towards a presidential system, saying Sunday's election will nurture people's enthusiasm for the kind of executive presidency he has long sought. His vision for a strong, hands-on president sets him in sharp contrast with his main rival, Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, who has warned against an executive-style system, arguing that the head of state should be impartial and rise above the turbulence of daily politics. The stark difference between the two main rivals' visions for the role of the president means the Sunday election is not only about choosing who should be Turkey's 12th President but also how that President should rule. \"I see that my nation will embrace the presidential system with this election and will start talking about it,\" Erdogan told Kanal 24 television late on Monday.","Polls close in Scotland independence referendum. Edinburgh (AFP) - Polling booths closed in Scotland's historic referendum on independence at 10:00 pm local time (21:00 GMT) Thursday, and the counting of ballots began with the result expected in the early hours of Friday.","Few details month after reporters detained in Iran. DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — An Iranian-American correspondent for the Washington Post and his journalist wife have been held in custody for a month in Iran, suggesting a possible struggle between a new guard of moderates pushing for greater freedom and the old hard-line establishment.","Germany opens memorial to Nazis' disabled victims. BERLIN (AP) — Germany has inaugurated a memorial to more than 200,000 people with physical and mental disabilities who were killed by the Nazis after their lives were deemed \"worthless.\"","Ban 'shocked and appalled' by shelling of Gaza school. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon said he was appalled by the shelling of a U.N. school in the Gaza Strip on Thursday and made a vehement plea for both sides to end the conflict. \"I was shocked and appalled by what has happened in Beit Hanoun,\" Ban told reporters, referring to the northern Gaza town where the attack, in which at least 15 people died according to Gaza authorities, took place.","Britain says to pass emergency phone and email data law. Britain said on Thursday it would rush through emergency legislation to force telecoms companies to retain the data of users for a year, saying the move was vital to protect national security following a decision by Europe's top court. Communication companies had been required to retain data for 12 months under a 2006 European Union directive which was thrown out by the European Court of Justice in April. The scrapping of the directive could deprive police and intelligence agencies of access to information about who customers contacted by phone, text or email, and where and when, the British government said. British Prime Minister David Cameron said the emergency legislation would restore this capability and enshrine it in law, ensuring investigations would not be hampered and giving protection to the telecom firms from possible legal challenges.","Britons had less gum disease in Roman times than today: study. London (AFP) - Britons had far less gum disease in the Roman era than today, and oral health has seriously worsened despite the advent of toothbrushes and dentists, a study said Friday.","Ukraine developing Crimea withdrawal plan: security chief. Kiev (AFP) - Ukraine's security chief said on Wednesday that Kiev was developing a plan for withdrawing its soldiers and their families from Crimea following the Kremlin's claim on the flashpoint peninsula.","French girl investigated over alleged jihad plan. PARIS (AP) — A 14-year-old French girl has been placed under investigation for allegedly planning to carry out jihad, the third in a group of teenage girls caught before they left home.","Gas leak kills three at S. Korea nuclear plant. Three people were killed in a gas leak Friday at an under-construction atomic reactor in South Korea, but the national nuclear operator ruled out any connection to a cyber-attack that targeted the plant last week. The workers appeared to have inhaled nitrogen gas while performing safety checks in an underground cable room at the Gori plant near the southeastern port city of Busan, Korea Hydro and Nuclear Power (KHNP) said, adding that no radioactive leaks had been reported. \"They were found unconscious and pronounced dead after being sent to hospitals for treatment,\" a KHNP spokesman said. \"There was no radioactive contamination, although we have yet to find the cause of the leak.\" Other nuclear reactors at Gori were operating normally, he said, adding that the leak \"has nothing to do with the recent hacking attack\".","Hyundai Motor chief earned $13 million last year. Hyundai Motor Co chairman Chung Mong-koo earned a combined 14 billion Korean won ($13.09 million) in pay last year from the South Korean automaker and its two key affiliates in their first such disclosure under new rules. Chung, a son of the automaker's founder, received 5.6 billion won from Hyundai Motor and 4.2 billion won each from its steelmaking unit, Hyundai Steel Co , and its parts supplier, Hyundai Mobis Co Ltd , Hyundai Motor said in its filing with the stock exchange on Monday. Chung Eui-sun, the founder's grandson, took 1.8 billion won home from Hyundai Motor, the world's fifth-biggest automaker along with affiliate Kia Motors Corp .","Northern Ireland deputy leader hopes to benefit if Scots get more autonomy. By Conor Humphries TERMONFECKIN Ireland (Reuters) - Northern Ireland's deputy leader Martin McGuinness signaled on Thursday the British province would expect a greater say in social welfare spending if Scotland got more autonomy following a vote against independence in next week's referendum. British finance minister George Osborne on Sunday promised to set out plans to give Scotland more autonomy on tax, spending and welfare if it chose to stay in the United Kingdom in the Sept. 18 vote. McGuinness, whose Sinn Fein party is refusing to implement cuts to social welfare mandated by London, said the devolution of social welfare rates in particular could have \"huge implications for us\".","Kerry heads to talks on Palestinian statehood bid. US Secretary of State John Kerry left early Sunday for a series of meetings in Europe seeking to head off an end-of-year UN showdown over a Palestinian bid for statehood. His first stop was to be Rome where he will meet separately with both Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Diplomats say negotiations on a UN resolution to revive Israeli-Palestinian peace prospects are making little headway, with Europeans waiting for a US response to proposals. Jordan last month circulated a draft Palestinian text to the Security Council setting November 2016 as a deadline for the end of the Israeli occupation.","Canada's Trudeau boots unelected senators from Liberal caucus. By Randall Palmer OTTAWA (Reuters) - Liberal Party leader Justin Trudeau, fighting to unseat Canada's Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper in the 2015 election, expelled all his party's members in the scandal-plagued Senate from the Liberal caucus on Wednesday. The reputation of Canada's Senate, the unelected upper chamber of its Parliament, is in tatters after controversial expense claims by four senators - three Conservative appointees and one Liberal appointee. Opponents of Trudeau, son of former Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau, said his motive was to insulate his party from the seething expense scandal. But the Liberal leader said he was moving to fix what he called a broken Senate.","Apple's new iPads sport modest upgrades; minis start at $399. By Christina Farr CUPERTINO Calif. (Reuters) - Apple Inc introduced a faster, slimmer iPad Air 2 on Thursday, tacking on modest improvements such as a fingerprint sensor to its mainstay tablet in time for what is expected to be a hotly contested holiday season for mobile devices. Pre-orders start Friday for the larger iPad Air 2, priced at $499 and up, with shipping beginning next week. The smaller iPad mini 3 will be about $100 cheaper. ...","Rival South Korea parties reach agreement on ferry disaster bill. South Korean government and opposition leaders reached agreement on Tuesday on legislation to investigate in more detail the sinking of the Sewol ferry in April that killed over 300 passengers, most of them children. The bill remains subject to approval by committees and the full parliament, Yonhap News Agency reported.","Belgium full of confidence before Group H opener. BELO HORIZONTE, Brazil (AP) — Belgium returns to its first World Cup in 12 years brimming with confidence and determination before the Group H opener against Algeria.","Protesters clash with police in Ukraine's capital. KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — Hundreds of Ukrainian protesters threw rocks at police outside parliament, as opposition lawmakers accuse the government of stalling constitutional reform that would decrease president's powers.","Maliki's Dawa Party backs his replacement as Iraq PM. The Dawa Party of Iraq's Nuri al-Maliki on Wednesday called on Iraqi politicians to work with his replacement as prime minister, Haider al-Abadi, to form a new government. In a statement, the Dawa Party said it \"called on political blocs to cooperate with the constitutionally designated prime minister, Mr. Abadi, and accelerate the formation of a government in the defined time period.\" Maliki has refused to stand aside.","Guinea-Bissau votes in poll aimed at turning page on coup. By Bate Felix and Alberto Dabo BISSAU (Reuters) - Voters in Guinea-Bissau began casting their ballots on Sunday to elect a new president and lawmakers in an election meant to draw a line under a 2012 military coup that plunged the West African nation into chaos. The frontrunner in a field of 13 for the presidency is Jose Mario Vaz, the former finance minister and candidate of the dominant African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde (PAIGC). Most of the presidential candidates come from a new generation of politicians. Chief amongst these is Paulo Gomes, a former World Bank executive and Harvard graduate who is seen as the strongest challenger to Vaz.","Egypt's Sisi says will run for presidency. Egypt's Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said on Wednesday he had resigned from his positions as defense minister and army chief and announced he would run for the presidency in a forthcoming election that he is expected to win easily. In a televised statement, Sisi said he could not \"perform miracles\" and called on Egyptians to work hard to improve their country. The 59-year old who deposed President Mohamed Mursi last year also said Egypt was threatened by terrorists and he would work to make a country \"free of fear\".","Rouhani returns to UN as nuclear talks stall. UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Stalled nuclear talks and the delicate diplomacy surrounding the fight against Islamic extremists have lowered expectations for a rapid warming of relations between Iran and the United States as the Iranian leader returns to speak at the United Nations on Thursday.","Official: Gunmen abduct Jordan ambassador in Libya. TRIPOLI, Libya (AP) — A Libyan official says gunmen have abducted Jordan's ambassador to Tripoli.","Sabella expected to leave as Argentina's coach. BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — Argentina coach Alejandro Sabella is expected to resign Wednesday, ending weeks of speculation about his future following his country's loss in the World Cup final.","Pope says it is wrong to equate Islam with violence. By Philip Pullella ABOARD THE PAPAL PLANE (Reuters) - Pope Francis said on Sunday that equating Islam with violence was wrong and called on Muslim leaders to issue a global condemnation of terrorism to help dispel the stereotype. Francis, the leader of 1.2 billion Roman Catholics, told reporters aboard his plane returning from a visit to Turkey that he understood why Muslims were offended by many in the West who automatically equated their religion with terrorism. ...","Slovak PM follows Czechs in ruling out foreign NATO troops. Slovakia joined neighbor the Czech Republic on Wednesday in effectively ruling out hosting NATO units, when Prime Minister Robert Fico said he could not imagine there would be foreign soldiers on its territory. Fico spoke a day after U.S. President Barack Obama promised to beef up military support for eastern European members of the NATO alliance who fear they could be next in the firing line following Russia's intervention in Ukraine. The White House also said it would review permanent troop deployments in Europe in light of the Ukraine crisis, though that fell short of a firm commitment to put troops on the ground that Poland and some of its neighbors - but not the Czechs or Slovaks - had sought. Slovakia, a NATO and European Union member since 2004, has kept warm relations with Russia throughout the crisis under Fico, whose Smer party has an absolute majority in parliament.","Venezuela opposition leader to face trial over demos. A Venezuelan opposition leader has been ordered to stand trial on charges of instigating violence at an anti-government demonstration in February, prosecutors said Thursday. A judge ruled that Leopoldo Lopez, who has been in custody for more than three months, should stand trial over his alleged role in violence that broke out during a rally against the government of Nicolas Maduro on February 12. Separately, another prominent opposition leader and Lopez ally, Maria Corina Machado, said she has been summoned for questioning Monday in an alleged plot to assassinate Maduro. Machado, who was ousted from her seat in the National Assembly in March, has been accused by leaders of the ruling United Socialist Party of plotting a coup and Maduro's murder, on the basis of what they asserted were incriminating emails among a handful of opposition leaders.","Bitter cold temperatures descend on the U.S. Midwest, Northeast. CHICAGO - A whirlpool of frigid, dense air known as a \"polar vortex\" descended Monday into much of the United States, pummelling parts of the country with a dangerous cold that could break decades-old records with wind chill warnings stretching from Montana to Alabama.","War crimes court won't prosecute over Israel's Gaza flotilla raid. The Hague (AFP) - The International Criminal Court will not prosecute over Israel's raid on a Gaza-bound flotilla in 2010 in which 10 Turkish activists died, despite a \"reasonable basis to believe\" war crimes were committed.","Boulder smashes French Alps tourist train; 2 dead. PARIS (AP) — An enormous boulder hurtled off a mountain and smashed into a tourist train in the French Alps on Saturday, derailing it on the mountainside and killing two passengers, officials said. Nine people were injured.","Sunday's Maracana match beefed up with more police. RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Six hundred additional military police will be assigned to Sunday's World Cup match at Rio's Maracana stadium after almost 100 un-ticketed Chilean fans rampaged through the stadium media center before the last game.","Hong Kong official tells democracy protesters to clear sites. HONG KONG (Reuters) - Hong Kong's acting chief executive on Tuesday called on pro-democracy protesters to clear sites they have occupied in the Asian financial centre for more than six weeks and warned that those who remained could face arrest. Hong Kong media reported that authorities could start removing protesters as early as Wednesday. \"To those who are unlawfully occupying the roads, we call for you to leave the areas quickly and peacefully,\" said Carrie Lam, who is acting leader while chief executive Leung Chun-ying attends the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Beijing. ...","Malaysia Airlines says 'fearing the worst' for missing jet. Malaysia Airlines said on Sunday it now feared the worst for its missing plane carrying 239 people, more than a day after it went missing, and was working with a U.S. company that specializes in disaster recovery. \"In fearing for the worst, a disaster recovery management specialist from Atlanta, USA will be assisting Malaysia Airlines in this crucial time,\" the airline said in a statement.","Court: Poland violated human rights in CIA case. PARIS (AP) — Europe's top human rights court has ruled that Poland violated the European Convention on Human Rights by allowing the CIA to imprison two alleged terrorists on Polish soil.","North Korea: No 'physical reaction' to new film. UNITED NATIONS (AP) — North Korea says it likely will have no \"physical reaction,\" just condemnation, to the release of the comedy film \"The Interview,\" which depicts the assassination of leader Kim Jong Un.","Vladimir Putin oversees military exercise involving Russian nuclear forces. MOSCOW (AP) — Vladimir Putin oversees military exercise involving Russian nuclear forces.","Thousands attend tense pro-Gaza march in Paris. PARIS (AP) — Days after two banned pro-Gaza protests degenerated into violence, thousands of demonstrators were marching through Paris under the eye of hundreds of riot police, this time in a legal protest.","Israel closes down for Jewish New Year. Jerusalem (AFP) - Israeli Jews began marking at sunset Wednesday the two-day Jewish New Year holiday, Rosh Hashana, with public transport ceasing in most places and government offices and major businesses closing.","Syrian warplanes pound key rebel area. Syrian warplanes pounded an area near the rebel-held town of Yabrud near the Lebanese border Friday, a day after at least 17 jihadists were killed in fighting there, a monitor said. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the Islamist fighters were killed during an offensive by loyalist forces backed by Hezbollah, aimed at seizing hills surrounding Yabrud, which is north of Damascus. The Yabrud offensive by Syrian ground forces bolstered by fighters from Lebanon's Shiite Hezbollah movement, an ally of President Bashar al-Assad, is aimed at severing a key rebel supply line linked to the town of Arsal in Lebanon's Bekaa Valley. Hezbollah says that car bombs used to attack the movement inside Lebanon originated in the Yabrud area and were driven to their targets via Arsal, a Sunni town where support for the Syrian uprising runs high.","Colombian election seen as referendum on peace talks. Colombia holds legislative elections Sunday that are seen as a referendum on peace talks with FARC leftist guerrillas and a trial run for a presidential vote in May. Since they opened in late 2012 in Cuba, the talks that President Jose Manuel Santos has held with the Marxist rebels have dominated political life in Colombia. The FARC, or Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, have been fighting successive governments for 50 years and are Latin America's oldest insurgency. That would be key for the peace process, which so far enjoys the support of most Colombians.","State Department warns Americans on Ukraine travel. WASHINGTON (AP) — The State Department is warning U.S. citizens to put off all nonessential travel to Ukraine, and particularly Crimea.","World stocks hold at all-time high after bumper week. By Marc Jones LONDON (Reuters) - World stocks were enjoying the view at an all-time high on Friday, lifted by a week of strong U.S. economic data and promises from the European Central Bank that cheap money will be sloshing around for years. European shares were marginally in the red as the dust settled from Thursday's forecast-busting U.S. jobs data and ECB meeting, with investors taking the opportunity to lock in profits after the biggest week of gains since March. A new three-year peak for Asian stocks overnight meant MSCI's All World share index , which tracks 45 countries, set its fourth consecutive record high, while the dollar , U.S. bond yields and growth-sensitive copper were also up for the week. \"Markets keep going up,\" said Daniel McCormack an equities strategist at Macquarie Capital in London.","US using send-off finale as tune-up for Ghana. JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) — The U.S. soccer team is hoping one African club will teach them a thing or two about another.","Saudi sentences Qaeda militant to death over US firm attack. A Saudi court has sentenced to death an Al-Qaeda militant and jailed 10 others over a May 2004 attack that killed six Westerners and a policeman, state media reported. The defendants, seven of whom are brothers, were convicted of aiding assailants who attacked a US company in the northwestern port town of Yanbu, killing two Americans, two Britons, an Australian and a Canadian, as well as a Saudi, SPA news agency said late Sunday. A wave of deadly Al-Qaeda attacks in the kingdom between 2003 and 2006 prompted authorities to launch a crackdown on the local branch of the group founded by Saudi-born Osama bin Laden, who was killed in a US commando operation in May 2011.","Pakistan wins toss, elects to bat. DAMBULLA, Sri Lanka (AP) — Pakistan captain Misbah-ul-Haq won the toss and elected to bat in the series-deciding third and final one-day international against Sri Lanka on Saturday.","Africa sees violent, deadly start to 2014. NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Sub-Saharan Africa has seen a very violent start to 2014, with raging conflicts in South Sudan and Central African Republic, as well as continued violence in Congo, and attacks in Somalia and Kenya.","Bolivia legalizes work by children as young as 10. EL ALTO, Bolivia (AP) — Alicia weaves through El Alto's stalled traffic under a blazing sun, hawking colorful woven flowers to grumpy drivers and lovers.","Powerful typhoon sweeps across Okinawa. TOKYO (AP) — A powerful typhoon pummeled the southern Japanese islands of Okinawa on Tuesday, paralyzing transport and prompting U.S. forces based there to cancel all outdoor activity.","British radical's trial opens in US. New York (AFP) - Jury selection began Monday in the US trial of British hate preacher Abu Hamza, who faces life behind bars if found guilty on kidnapping and terror charges that predate the September 11 attacks.","Nigeria minister 'optimistic' Boko Haram will free girls. Berlin (AFP) - Nigeria's foreign minister said Tuesday that Abuja hopes to end the conflict with Islamist militant group Boko Haram soon and win the release of more than 200 kidnapped schoolgirls.","Wall Street rejects Ackman's Herbalife 'death blow'. By Svea Herbst-Bayliss and Ryan Vlastelica NEW YORK (Reuters) - Billionaire investor William Ackman's latest volley of accusations against Herbalife Ltd on Tuesday missed its mark on Wall Street, with investors sending the stock price soaring 25 percent. Ackman, who has been battling the California-based nutrition company for 19 months and has a $1 billion bet it will eventually go bust, told 500 people in a New York auditorium - and thousands watching the webcast - that Herbalife is a criminal enterprise that targets minorities, counts nonexistent customers, and breaks labor laws. Ackman's $14.7 billion hedge fund Pershing Square Capital Management unveiled its $1 billion short bet against Herbalife in December 2012, calling the company a pyramid scheme where members earn more money from recruiting than by actually selling products to end users. Herbalife has rejected the claims.","Marseille loses 1-0 at home to Rennes in Ligue 1. Marseille extended its poor run of form with a 1-0 loss at home to relegation-threatened Rennes in the French league on Saturday.","Pakistan braces for wave of protests, army secures capital. By Katharine Houreld and Syed Raza Hassan ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Pakistan's civilian government is bracing for a wave of protests this month, days after the military took responsibility for securing the capital amid the threat of militant attacks and the specter of a political showdown. Some Pakistanis fear that the country's traditionally powerful military, which has ruled Pakistan for about half of its history, may use the protests to buttress its position at the expense of the fledgling civilian government. \"It's not something that the military has choreographed, it is just benefiting from the civilian government's weakness,\" said columnist Ejaz Haider. Activist and cleric Tahir ul-Qadri, known for his passionate monologues, will hold a protest on Aug. 10.","Latin American countries criticized at climate talks for oil plans. By Marcelo Teixeira LIMA (Reuters) - Latin American countries, participating in crucial global climate talks being hosted in the region this week, came under criticism for their plans to drastically increase oil production. Some influential Latin American nations in the negotiations for a new global treaty to reduce heat-trapping gases have significant plans to increase production and use of fossil fuels, seen as the main culprit of global warming. Brazil is going full speed with investments in areas off its coast that could hold up to 35 billion barrels of oil. ...","Oil slide puts Venezuela's Maduro under pressure for reforms. By Corina Pons CARACAS (Reuters) - The slump in global oil prices has heightened pressure on President Nicolas Maduro to enact politically risky reforms to bolster Venezuela's weak public finances and its ability to pay down debt. Crude prices under $85 have given new voice to reformers within Maduro's government, and critics outside, who say he needs to make urgent changes. \"The government continues to study the changes ... ...","South Korea president nominates new prime minister. SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea's president has nominated a new prime minister and accepted the resignations of two senior officials in what is seen as the start of a government shake-up in the wake of last month's ferry disaster.","Syria faces record low wheat crop after dry winter: UN. Syria faces a record low wheat crop this year after a winter drought compounded the impact of country's war on agricultural production, the UN's World Food Programme said Tuesday. \"WFP food security analysts say rainfall since September has been less than half the long-term average,\" the agency said in a report. \"Wheat production is expected to be between 1.7 to 2 million metric tonnes, which would be a record low, further increasing import requirements to meet Syria's wheat needs that last year stood at 5.1 million tonnes.\" Around nine million people in Syria are believed to require humanitarian assistance because of the brutal conflict that has ravaged the country.","Hundreds of DR Congo magistrates on indefinite strike over pay. Several hundred magistrates in the Democratic Republic of Congo began an \"indefinite\" strike over pay on Monday. \"We have declared an indefinite strike across the whole territory so that the government respects its promises,\" said Shabani Watenda, a magistrate in the capital Kinshasa. Up to now, we have never seen this money,\" he said, adding that the lowest-ranked magistrates currently earn around 600,000 francs ($650, 500 euros) and lack other benefits such as health insurance. President Joseph Kabila claimed during an election campaign in September 2011 that magistrate pay had increased from \"$724 in 2008 to $1,600 in 2011\".","NJ Gov. Christie says he was misled about aides' role in lane closures. TRENTON, N.J. - New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, frequently flagged as a potential presidential candidate for the Republican party, says that a top aide misled him about her role in apparent political retribution against a town mayor and that he knew nothing about the situation.","Boeing airplanes chief says considering 52 737s a month by 2018. By Alwyn Scott NEW YORK (Reuters) - Boeing Co appears increasingly likely to boost production of its top-selling 737 jetliners to 52 a month starting in 2018 after the head of its commercial airplanes business spoke about that possibility on Tuesday. \"Our focus today would be around a 52-a-month rate in (737 production) somewhere in that 2018 time frame,\" Boeing Commercial Airplanes Chief Executive Officer Ray Conner told an investor conference held by Morgan Stanley. \"Now, I can tell you that the demand is there for those airplanes, significant demand. ...","Australian parents haunted by Egyptian court scene. BRISBANE, Australia (AP) — The parents of jailed Australian journalist Peter Greste say they are haunted and depressed by images of him caged in an Egyptian court.","Snowden no whistleblower: FBI chief. FBI Director James Comey said he does not consider Edward Snowden worthy of being called a whistleblower or hero, and was baffled by reports granting him the label. The federal criminal investigation and intelligence chief swiftly dismissed calls for clemency issued by The New York Times and The Guardian newspapers, which said Snowden had done the United States a service by exposing the vast scope of secret digital surveillance run by the National Security Agency. Reports based on Snowden's leaked files have revealed a global dragnet run by Washington and its allies in the English-speaking world, scooping up Internet traffic and telephone call logs.","Boeing says frustrated by Canada move to extend life of fighter jets. By David Ljunggren OTTAWA (Reuters) - U.S. aerospace giant Boeing Co is frustrated by Canada's decision to extend the life of its aging fleet of fighter jets, a move that will delay a decision on buying replacements, a company official said on Wednesday. The comments were a rare public expression of unhappiness by Boeing about the way Canada is conducting the process to buy new fighters. Lockheed Martin Corp's F-35 is seen as the leading contender to replace Canada's 80 CF-18 Hornet fighters, and the country could take delivery of an initial four F-35 jets in 2017 under an agreement with the ...","34 missile launch officers implicated in nuclear cheating scandal. WASHINGTON - The U.S. air force disclosed Wednesday that 34 officers entrusted with the world's deadliest weapons have been removed from launch duty for allegedly cheating — or tolerating cheating by others — on routine proficiency tests. The announcement was a stunning setback for a nuclear missile force already beset by missteps and leadership lapses.","State grants check grinding poverty in South Africa. A dramatic increase in South African government grants helped reduce poverty in the last decade, but millions remain on the breadline and deep inequality persists, according to official data released Thursday. Between 2006 and 2011 Africa's largest economy saw a significant a drop in the number of citizens languishing in poverty -- from 57 percent to 46 percent. Statistics South Africa said the drop was thanks to \"a growing social safety net, income growth (and) above inflation wage increases.\" The government provides an array of help including free health care, schooling, old-age pensions, child support grants, housing, water and electricity.","Iran official: No new details on detained reporter. TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — A spokeswoman for Iran's Foreign Ministry says there still is no new information about the Washington Post correspondent detained with three others last month.","'Devastated' Hodgson clings to England promise. England manager Roy Hodgson believes that there are exciting times ahead for his youthful squad despite overseeing his country's first group-phase elimination at a World Cup for 56 years. Costa Rica's shock 1-0 win over Italy in Recife on Friday condemned England to a first-round exit for the first time since Just Fontaine and a teenage Pele were plundering goals at the 1958 tournament in Sweden. After an unbeaten qualifying campaign and pre-competition training camps that Hodgson described as \"perfect\", England's World Cup lasted just six days, following consecutive 2-1 losses to Italy and Uruguay. Bottom of Group D, England now face the ignominy of playing their final game against a Costa Rica team who could elect to rest players in preparation for the last 16, and Hodgson made no attempt to disguise his disappointment.","South Africa: mining company announces find of rare blue diamond. JOHANNESBURG - A mining company says it has found a rare blue diamond in South Africa.","UN slams Israel destruction of Jordan Valley homes. The UN humanitarian coordinator for the Palestinian territories Friday criticised Israel's demolition of 36 homes in the Jordan Valley and urged a halt to such actions in the West Bank. The demolitions in the Jordan Valley community of Ain el-Helwe on Thursday displaced 66 people, including 36 children, James Rawley said in a statement. \"I am deeply concerned about the ongoing displacement and dispossession of Palestinians... along the Jordan Valley where the number of structures demolished more than doubled in the last year,\" he said. His office said more than 1,000 people had been displaced last year in the West Bank and annexed east Jerusalem by demolitions on the grounds that homes had been built without Israeli permits, \"which are virtually impossible to obtain.\"","Prosecutors seek to arrest head of ferry company. SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korean prosecutors are seeking to formally arrest the head of the company that owns a doomed ferry in part of their investigation into its sinking last month that left more than 300 people, mostly high school students, dead or missing, officials said Friday.","Does Canada really have the best record on job creation in the G7?. OTTAWA - Government House Leader Peter Van Loan is using the return of Parliament to boast about the Conservatives' economic track record — but OECD figures cast a small doubt over his claim that Canada tops the G7 in job creation.","2 newspapers calls for clemency for Edward Snowden. LONDON (AP) — The New York Times and Guardian newspapers have called for clemency for Edward Snowden, saying that the espionage worker-turned-privacy advocate should be praised rather than punished for his disclosures.","Venezuela projects calm at regional trade summit. CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Heads of state from around Latin America are converging in Caracas for a long-delayed trade summit, a sign of returning normalcy for a country only recently wracked by violent protests.","Spain back on track, England wins again. Diego Costa finally transferred his prolific club form to international level to help Spain get back on track in European Championship qualifying, while Wayne Rooney edged England to another win on the road to France.","Kerry says Assad attracting terrorists to Syria, not protecting Syrian people. BAD RAGAZ, Switzerland - U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is ramping up criticism of Syrian President Bashar Assad, calling him a \"one-man super-magnet for terrorism\" who could be responsible for the disintegration of Syria.","USOC decides to bid for 2024; city still undecided. The U.S. Olympic Committee has decided to bid for the 2024 Olympics, hoping to bring the Summer Games back to America after a 28-year absence.","Ukraine's leader gains stature with honest image. KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — When new Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk invited anti-corruption activists to his apartment in Kiev last month, the first thing he showed off was his toilet. \"See for yourself,\" Yatsenyuk joked. \"It's not gold.\"","Weir off to flying start in Glasgow, Bolt hits back in row. Jamaica's world 200m silver medallist Warren Weir got his Commonwealth Games campaign off to a confident start on Wednesday while Usain Bolt hit back at claims that he had made disparaging remarks about the event. In the absence of double world and Olympic champion Bolt, Weir, who also won bronze behind Bolt and Yohan Blake at the 2012 London Olympics, is one of the hot favourites to claim the 200m to make it a sprint double for Jamaica after Kemar Bailey-Cole won the 100m gold on Monday.","Attorneys releasing documents showing how Chicago archdiocese handled priest sex abuse claims. CHICAGO - Internal documents showing how officials from the Archdiocese of Chicago handled allegations of child sexual abuse by priests are about to become public.","Iran will not attend Syria peace talks: U.S. officials. Iran will not attend peace talks on the Syrian civil war due to take place in Switzerland this month, senior State Department officials said on Friday. The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that barring a dramatic change in Tehran's position, Iran would neither participate formally in the January 22 talks nor join informally on the sidelines. On Sunday, Secretary of State John Kerry had said there might be ways that Iran, which has backed and armed Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's government, could \"contribute from the sidelines\" at the so-called Geneva 2 peace conference, which will take place in Montreux, Switzerland. Iran appeared to reject the offer the next day.","UK inflation rate edges up from 5-year low. LONDON (AP) — The rate of inflation in Britain has edged up slightly to 1.3 percent in October, but remains well below the Bank of England's target of 2 percent for the 11th month in a row.","Subtropical storm Fay forms south of Bermuda: NHC. (Reuters) - A subtropical depression to the south of Bermuda has strengthened into subtropical storm Fay, the U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC) said in its latest advisory on Friday. The subtropical storm was located about 525 miles (845 km) south of Bermuda with maximum sustained winds of 40 miles per hour (65 km/h), the NHC said. Additional strengthening is forecast during the next 48 hours, the Miami-based weather forecaster said. (Reporting by Kevin Jose and Vijaykumar Vedala in Bangalore; Editing by Chris Reese)","Merkel: EU leadership deal will take time. BERLIN (AP) — German Chancellor Angela Merkel is signaling that agreeing on a new head of the European Union's executive will be a lengthy process and warns it would be negligent to freeze out Britain.","Syrian activists say rebels detonate bomb-packed tunnels in Aleppo, killing at least 13 troops. BEIRUT (AP) — Syrian activists say rebels detonate bomb-packed tunnels in Aleppo, killing at least 13 troops.","Saudi club demands investigation into finals refs. RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) — Angry Al Hilal officials are demanding an investigation into the appointment and performance of match officials in the Saudi club's 1-0 aggregate loss to Western Sydney in the Asian Champions League finals, blaming referee decisions that \"wasted the players' rights in getting six penalties.\"","Better scrutiny of intelligence, security services needed: MP. Intelligence and security services should face much tougher scrutiny, MPs said Friday, adding the current system did not suit 21st century realities. The Home Affairs Select Committee slammed the exclusive oversight powers of the Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC) and recommended it should face an overhaul. The report comes in the wake of revelations by the US whistleblower Edward Snowden of the scale of mass surveillance by GCHQ, MI5 and MI6. Keith Vaz, chairman of the Home Affairs Select Committee and a Labour MP, said: \\\\\"The current system of oversight is designed to scrutinise the work of George Smiley (a fictional spy created by author John Le Carre) not the 21st Century reality of the security and intelligence services.","Tunisian navy rescues nearly 100 migrants off Jerba. Tunisian naval forces rescued nearly 100 African migrants off the coast on Wednesday after their vessel got into trouble on route from Libya to Europe, Tunisia's defense ministry said. African migrants frequently try to reach Europe from Libya's coast, and the southern Italian island of Lampedusa is just 113 km (70 miles) from the coastline of North African neighbor Tunisia. In October, more than 300 people drowned or were feared dead after a boat packed with migrants sank off Lampedusa, one of the worst disasters in Europe's struggle to cope with heavy immigration.","Ukraine tells UN that 16,000 Russian troops there. UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Ukraine's mission to the United Nations is claiming that 16,000 Russian troops have been deployed in the strategic Crimea region, while Russia's U.N. ambassador told the council Monday that Ukraine's fugitive president requested troops.","G-7 leaders say more Russia sanctions possible. WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States and European leaders say they are prepared to intensify sanctions against Russia unless it moves to de-escalate the crisis in Ukraine.","Number of Yazidi refugees in Turkey swells to 16,000: official. The number of refugees from Iraq's Yazidi religious minority who have fled to Turkey from the advance of jihadists has risen to 16,000 and may rise further, a top provincial official was quoted as saying Saturday. The number marks a sharp rise from the figures of several thousand previously given and shows Turkey is dealing with another major influx of refugees as it gives sanctuary to some 1.2 million fleeing the Syria conflict. Some 2,000 Yazidi refugees have entered Turkey through legal border crossings and another 14,000 through other routes, Sirnak province governor Hasan Ipek was quoted as saying in a statement by his office. Turkey is already setting up a refugee camp for Yazidis in the town of Zakho inside northern Iraq and Ipek said it had to function well, \"otherwise we are faced with the prospect of 40,000 (Yazidi) refugees entering Turkey.\"","Mozambique's Frelimo picks presidential candidate. Matola (Mozambique) (AFP) - Mozambique's ruling Frelimo party picked Defence Minister Filipe Nyussi as its presidential candidate late Saturday, a decision likely to see current President Armando Guebuza maintain influence even after he steps down following October polls. \"Filipe Nyussi won with 68 percent,\" party spokesman Damiao Jose told AFP shortly after midnight Sunday following two rounds of voting. \"Congratulations Frelimo,\" Nyussi told AFP after his win. Armando Guebuza is set to step down as president of the resource-rich country after his two terms are up.","Officials: Camilla's brother's death an accident. NEW YORK (AP) — The death of the Prince of Wales' brother-in-law in New York City has been ruled an accident.","Russia media: Putin says May 11 referendum on autonomy in southeast Ukraine should be delayed. MOSCOW (AP) — Russia media: Putin says May 11 referendum on autonomy in southeast Ukraine should be delayed.","Explosion heard near army base in Egypt's Sinai: witnesses. CAIRO (Reuters) - A loud explosion rang out near the Egyptian town of al-Arish in the Sinai Peninsula on Friday afternoon in what appeared to be an attack on an army installation, eyewitnesses said. The military post was on the road between al-Arish and Rafah, near the border with the Gaza Strip, the witnesses said. Ambulances were heading to the scene, medical sources told Reuters. (Reporting By Yusri Mohamed; Writing by Maggie Fick)","Activists: Jihadi killed near Syria-Lebanon border. BEIRUT (AP) — A Syrian opposition group says Lebanese Hezbollah fighters have killed a senior member of the Islamic State group.","The Estate Shampoo Built: A Colorado ranch measuring some 55,486.... A Colorado ranch measuring some 55,486 acres just hit the market for $54.7M. It's owned by Tom Redmond, founder of Aussie hair products, outdoorsman, and lover of castrated horse testicles, which he apparently keeps in a jar of formaldehyde at...","Report: Sun Yang banned from training in Australia. GOLD COAST, Australia (AP) — Chinese swimmer Sun Yang has reportedly been banned from training in Australia and his Gold Coast-based coach Denis Cotterell plans to cut ties with the Olympic and world champion following a positive doping test.","Germany voices concern over Egypt media freedom. Germany's foreign minister voiced concern Wednesday over media freedom in Egypt, which has detained a number of Al-Jazeera broadcast journalists accused of being part of a \"terror cell\". Berlin sees \"developments that cause us concern\" in the areas of freedom of expression and freedom of the press, said Frank-Walter Steinmeier in a meeting with his Egyptian counterpart Nabil Fahmi.","Jon Hamm hopes Ferguson will come out stronger. LONDON (AP) — Jon Hamm, a St. Louis native, says he hopes \"cooler heads prevail\" in the Missouri city of Ferguson and \"people come through it for the better.\"","Where in the world is Rob Ford?. Questions arose about the whereabouts of Toronto's crack-smoking mayor Tuesday after it was reported that US border agents have thwarted his efforts to enter a rehab program in Chicago. Mayor Rob Ford, 44, apparently flew to the \"Windy City\" on May 1 aboard a private jet and was expected to check in at a rehab center for drug and alcohol abuse. But Canadian media said Ford turned back after landing in the US city, and officials are not saying where he ended up. Ford's brother Doug meanwhile told reporters in Toronto that the mayor has entered a rehab program.","Iran says six-month extension of nuclear talks may be needed. By Stephanie Nebehay and Michelle Moghtader GENEVA/DUBAI (Reuters) - Iran's talks with world powers on curbing its nuclear programme in exchange for an end to sanctions could be extended for another six months if no deal is reached by a July 20 deadline, a senior Iranian official said. U.S. and Iranian officials held talks in Geneva on Monday to tackle ways of breaking a deadlock which has raised the likelihood that the deadline will lapse without a deal meant to head off the risk of a Middle East war over the nuclear issue. An extension should be possible, but President Barack Obama would need to secure the consent of Congress at a time of fraught relations between his administration and lawmakers. Iran, the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China included the July 20 deadline to reach a comprehensive agreement in an interim deal they reached in Geneva on Nov. 24.","Australia checking 2 objects in search for plane. KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Australia's prime minister says objects possibly related to the missing Malaysia Airlines flight have been spotted on satellite imagery.","British and Canadian news shows win Int'l Emmys. NEW YORK (AP) — British and Canadian productions have been awarded the 2014 International Emmys for News and Current Affairs.","After Obama speech, Islamic State wins new recruits in Syria-monitor. BEIRUT (Reuters) - Islamic State has won new recruits in Syria since President Barack Obama signaled last week that air strikes against the group will be expanded from Iraq to its strongholds in northern and eastern Syria, a group monitoring the war said on Wednesday. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 162 people had joined Islamic State training camps in Aleppo province since Sept 10, when Obama said he would not hesitate to strike Islamic State in Syria. ...","Marine suspect guarded by US in Philippine camp. MANILA, Philippines (AP) — A U.S. Marine suspected in the gruesome killing of a transgender Filipino was flown Wednesday from his warship to the Philippine military's main camp, where he will continue to be guarded by fellow Marines, in a compromise that eased a looming irritant over his custody.","Israel says won't cooperate with UN Gaza inquiry. Israel will not cooperate with a United Nations inquiry into its 50-day war with rocket-firing militants in Gaza this summer, a government spokesman said Wednesday. \"Since the Schabas commission is not an inquiry but a commission that gives its conclusions in advance, Israel will not cooperate with the UN Commission on Human Rights over the last conflict with Hamas,\" foreign ministry spokesman Emmanuel Nahshon said in a statement.","Foes of Canada's Pacific pipeline vow legal blitz. By Julie Gordon VANCOUVER (Reuters) - Opponents of Enbridge Inc's proposed Northern Gateway crude oil pipeline are vowing to ramp up their legal challenge to the politically charged project if Canada lives up to expectations and approves its construction. With a Tuesday deadline looming, Prime Minister Stephen Harper's Conservative government appears ready to bless the C$7.9 billion ($7.3 billion) project despite fierce resistance from aboriginals and environmental groups. While its capacity would represent a fraction of the 2.5 million barrels that flow each day to Canada's largest customer, the United States, Ottawa sees market diversification as crucial to the industry's long-term health and Canada's economic future. \"We've been putting together a number of legal strategies,\" said Art Sterritt, head of the Coastal First Nations, an alliance of aboriginal groups in the Pacific Coast province of British Columbia.","Thailand to install cameras after tourist murders. BANGKOK (AP) — Thailand's government says it will install more surveillance cameras nationwide and better lighting in major tourist areas after the murders of two British tourists on a resort island.","Australia, China witness 14 commercial pacts worth $18 billion. SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australia and China said on Monday they witnessed 14 commercial agreements between companies worth potentially more than A$20 billion ($17.56 billion) after the countries signed a historic free trade agreement. (Reporting by Byron Kaye; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)","Canada jobless rate rises to 7.2 percent. Canada's unemployment rate jumped 0.3 percentage points to 7.2 percent in December, wiping out most of the job gains of the past year, government statistics showed Friday. Dampened by last month's loss of 46,000 jobs, employment gains for 2013 amounted to a mere 102,000 -- up 0.6 percent from 2012. Monthly job growth averaged less than a third of the 26,000 jobs created monthly in 2012, Statistics Canada said. Fewer people were employed in December in Canada's education, agriculture, and natural resources sectors, as well as in \"other services\" such as personal care and civic and social organizations.","U.S. sanctions aimed at changing power in Russia: deputy minister. MOSCOW (Reuters) - A deputy Russian foreign minister accused the United States on Monday of trying to bring down President Vladimir Putin by imposing sanctions on Moscow over the crisis in Ukraine, TASS news agency reported. \"It is hardly a secret that the goal of the sanctions is to create social and economic conditions to carry out a change of power in Russia,\" TASS quoted Sergei Ryabkov as telling the lower house of parliament. (Reporting by Maria Kiselyova, Writing by Gabriela Baczynska, Editing by Timothy Heritage)","Woolly creatures join tourists in Louvre Museum. PARIS (AP) — It's not every day that you can stand in line at the Louvre Museum next to a flock of live sheep.","Man who says he killed 40 won't divulge associates. FRESNO, California (AP) — A man in an Alabama jail who has confessed to killing dozens across the country did not name the drug cartels he said employed him, a detective said.","Japan may only be able to restart one-third of its nuclear reactors. By Mari Saito, Aaron Sheldrick and Kentaro Hamada TOKYO (Reuters) - Three years after the Fukushima disaster prompted the closure of all Japan's nuclear reactors, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is moving to revive nuclear power as a core part of the energy mix, but many of those idled reactors will never come back online. This means Japan is likely to remain heavily reliant on imported fuel to power the world's third-largest economy, straining a trade balance that has been in the red for nearly two years. Hokkaido Electric Power Co, facing a third year of financial losses, is seeking a capital infusion from a state-owned lender, which would make it the second utility, after Fukushima operator Tokyo Electric Power Co, to get a government bailout since the March 2011 disaster. Continuing indefinitely to burn more coal and gas also means Tokyo will find it much harder to meet targets for reducing greenhouse-gas emissions.","Pienaar out of Springboks tour of Europe. Ruan Pienaar was ruled out of South Africa's tour of Europe on Tuesday, ahead of their opening international against Ireland, after failing to recover in time from a knee ligament problem. Pienaar, who knows European rugby well from his time with Irish province Ulster, suffered the injury playing for the Springboks in their 14-10 defeat by New Zealand in Wellington in September and has been sidelined since that match. The 30-year-old scrum-half, a veteran of 80 Tests, will be replaced in South Africa's squad by Jano Vermaak. \"Ruan was re-assessed on Tuesday morning following the on-field fitness tests from Monday, and unfortunately he has developed some swelling and puffiness around the knee, indicating that he is not yet ready to partake in full training and playing in a match,” said Springbok team doctor Craig Roberts in a statement issued by team management in Dublin, where South Africa play Ireland at Lansdowne Road on Saturday.","China to boost funding for local governments that cut emissions. China will boost funding to regions that do well in reining in air pollution and punish laggards, the cabinet has decided, as Beijing pushes local governments to step up the war on smog. The fight on crippling pollution that prematurely ends hundreds of thousands of lives annually has risen to near the top of the national agenda, but is still ignored by some local governments that remain focused only on growing their economies. Beijing now promises more money to regions that do well on cutting emissions of pollutants such as sulphuric dioxide and nitrous oxide. Regulations released on Tuesday by China's State Council, or cabinet, said from now on it would rate provincial governments in one of four categories ranging from \"excellent\" to \"substandard\", based on whether they meet air pollution targets.","Macedonia: Judges arrested for not imposing fines. SKOPJE, Macedonia (AP) — Macedonian court officials say police have arrested 13 judges and 12 court employees from Skopje's misdemeanors court on charges of negligent service for failing to impose fines worth a total of 1.1 million euros ($1.4 million).","Leader of Iraq insurgents is jihad's rising leader. By Mariam Karouny BEIRUT (Reuters) - The leader of radical Sunni fighters who have made rapid military advances in Iraq is the rising star of global jihad, driven, Islamist fighters say, by an unbending determination to fight for and establish a hardline Islamic state. Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, commander of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), now controls large parts of eastern Syria and western Iraq, a vast cross-border haven for militants in the Sunni Muslim core of the Middle East. Fighters from ISIL and its rivals who spoke to Reuters praised Baghdadi as a strategist who succeeded in exploiting turmoil in Syria and Iraq's weak central authority after the U.S. military withdrawal to carve out his powerbase. \"In short, for Sheikh Baghdadi, each religion has its state except Islam, and it should have a state and it should be imposed.","Norway's former PM named NATO chief as Ukraine crisis looms. Former Norwegian premier Jens Stoltenberg was named the next NATO chief on Friday, stepping in to take over from current secretary general Anders Fogh Rasmussen at a key moment in Europe. An economist by training and a radical opponent of the defence alliance in his youth, Stoltenberg takes the helm of the 28-nation transatlantic alliance as Europe worries over a Russian build-up on its eastern fringe after Moscow's takeover of Crimea. The appointment came quicker than anticipated, with the decision made \"without opposition\" and after a comfortable consensus grew around Stoltenberg, a diplomatic source said. \"I've known Jens Stoltenberg for many years and I know he's the right man to build on NATO's record of strength and success,\" Rasmussen, who hails from nearby Denmark, said on Twitter.","Cash incentive mulled to give endangered Florida panther room to prowl. By Letitia Stein TAMPA Fla. (Reuters) - The endangered Florida panther, running out of room to prowl as its numbers rebound, may find its best chance at survival is a program to pay distrustful ranchers to protect what remains of its habitat. The payment plan proposed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has never been tried before on a large scale with a wide-ranging predator, officials say. A growing number of panthers are hemmed into a shrinking corner of southwest Florida, where their ability to roam is threatened by ever expanding subdivisions and highways. \"It's really about buying us some time,\" said Kevin Godsea, manager for the Florida Panther National Wildlife Refuge.","Obama reignites political debate over Cuba. WASHINGTON (AP) — The surprising move by President Barack Obama to restore U.S. ties with Cuba reignited long-simmering political passions over the fate of the island nation, reinforcing yet another flashpoint difference between Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton and several Republicans eyeing bids for the White House.","India and China look to put knotty relations on new footing. By Rupam Jain Nair AHMEDABAD India (Reuters) - The electricity board in this Indian city has been instructed to avoid any power cuts and officials have been told to have their shoes polished and their shirts tucked in: Nothing has been left to chance for this week's visit by Chinese President Xi Jinping. India's new prime minister, Narendra Modi, is determined to build closer relations with the world's second-largest economy, whose leader comes with pledges to invest billions of dollars in railways, industrial parks and roads. ...","Rousseff falls ill after tense Brazil debate. Rio de Janeiro (AFP) - Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff fell ill at the end of a tense and at times bitter televised debate Thursday with challenger Aecio Neves.","Nigeria sent $9.3 million cash for arms in SAfrica. JOHANNESBURG (AP) — A Nigerian watchdog group is demanding an international investigation into the Nigerian government for flying $9.3 million in cash to South Africa to buy weapons.","Germany to examine BlackBerry's planned Secusmart buy. Germany will examine BlackBerry's planned acquisition of Secusmart, whose encryption technology protects the devices of government officials including Angela Merkel. BlackBerry, which is trying to reinvent itself under new Chief Executive John Chen, wants to buy the privately held German firm to burnish its credentials with highly security-conscious clients like government agencies. German Chancellor Merkel, whose mobile phone was eavesdropped on by the U.S. National Security Agency, has a BlackBerry mobile device with Secusmart encryption, as do many other members of the government administration. Shares in BlackBerry, which fell as much as 4.5 percent on Tuesday's news of the planned acquisition, traded up 1.6 percent at $9.67 on the Nasdaq and up 2 percent on the Toronto Stock Exchange at C$10.54 by 1946 GMT.","Sri Lanka scores 189-4 vs England at World T20. CHITTAGONG, Bangladesh (AP) — Mahela Jayawardene struck 89 to steer Sri Lanka to a respectable 189-4 in its match against England in the World Twenty20 on Thursday.","France says backs evacuation of Muslims in CAR 'as last resort'. France said on Tuesday it supported the evacuation of Muslims under threat of reprisals in Central African Republic \"as a last resort\", saying that the priority was to save lives despite concerns it could lead to the division of the country. The United Nations said on April 1 it was trying to evacuate 19,000 Muslims urgently from the capital Bangui and other parts of Central African Republic who are surrounded by anti-balaka Christian militia threatening their lives. The militia has become more militarized as it steps up attacks on Muslims and African Union peacekeepers. The militias have previously attacked convoys of Muslims who were being evacuated by private convoys or Chadian troops to Chad or the north of the country.","Vatican: Argentina car crash kills papal relatives. VATICAN CITY (AP) — The Vatican says a road accident in Argentina has killed two young great-nephews of Pope Francis as well as their mother, the wife of the pope's nephew.","Security framework eyed as way out of Ukraine crisis. By Paul Taylor PARIS (Reuters) - Even as tension in Ukraine mounts anew, veteran diplomats are starting to think quietly about a way out of the worst East-West crisis since the end of the Cold War. It may seem a poor time to imagine a revamped security architecture for Europe when a frail ceasefire in eastern Ukraine is violated daily, raising the stakes in another \"frozen conflict\" in the post-Soviet space surrounding Russia. ...","Syria chemical weapons store attacked by rockets: sources. By Anthony Deutsch AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Five rockets were fired at the main transit point for Syria's chemical weapons this month, with one landing near to where experts overseeing the destruction of the toxic stockpile were staying, sources said on Tuesday. One rocket in the March 9 strike on the Mediterranean port town Latakia landed about 500 meters (yards) from the hotel used by the joint mission of the United Nations (U.N.) and the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons mission (OPCW), the sources told Reuters on condition of anonymity. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a British-based monitoring group, said three rockets hit the city of Latakia, killing a taxi driver and wounding six others. \"It was similar to earlier incidents in Damascus.\" Inspectors from the OPCW were fired upon by snipers last autumn and mortar bombs landed near their hotel in the capital, but it was not clear if they had been targeted.","Putin turns to India with energy, defense offers. NEW DELHI (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin was holding talks with Indian leaders Thursday to strengthen trade and energy cooperation with Asia's third-largest economy as Western sanctions threaten to push his country's economy to the brink of a recession.","5 things to know about chilly US-Russian relations. WASHINGTON (AP) — The weather is warm at this year's Winter Olympics in Sochi, yet U.S.-Russian relations are still in the deep freeze. Back in 2009, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton gave Russia's top diplomat a red button labeled \"reset\" to symbolize how U.S. relations had thawed — even though it was mistranslated into Russian. But the event was more of a downhill slalom, than a soaring ski jump. Russian President Vladimir Putin hopes hosting the Olympics will further seal his nation's status as a world power. But President Barack Obama is among several western leaders who decided not to show up.","After separatist votes, Russia urges talks on Ukraine's future. MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia called on Ukraine's interim government on Monday to hold a nationwide debate of the country's future structure after separatists in two eastern regions claimed victory in referendums on self-rule. In a statement, the Russian Foreign Ministry said \"the Kiev authorities continue to display a criminal lack of readiness for dialogue with their own people\" and urged the government to hold meetings with representatives of eastern and southern regions. (Writing by Steve Gutterman; Editing by Robin Pomeroy)","Racism ruling coming for Italian soccer president. ROME (AP) — UEFA President Michel Platini has promised a ruling from the organization's disciplinary body over an alleged racist comment by the Italian football federation's new leader.","Rare Roman inscription unearthed in Jerusalem. Jerusalem (AFP) - Israeli archaeologists on Tuesday unveiled a 2,000-year-old commemorative stone inscription dedicated to Roman Emperor Hadrian, which researchers say sheds light on the Jewish revolt against the ancient empire.","Top Asian News at 6:00 p.m. GMT. SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — The roof of a resort auditorium collapsed during a welcoming ceremony for South Korean university freshmen, killing at least eight students and seriously injuring 17 others, officials said Tuesday. About 10 people were feared trapped as heavy snow and ice hampered rescue operations. Emergency staff worked to pry students from beneath twisted metal and rushed the injured on stretchers to waiting ambulances.","US jury reaches verdict in Blackwater guards trial. WASHINGTON (AP) — A U.S. jury reached a verdict Wednesday in the case of four former Blackwater security guards on trial in the shootings of more than 30 Iraqi citizens in the heart of Baghdad. The verdicts were to be read during a late-morning court session.","U.S. EPA expected to tighten long-awaited ozone standards: sources. By Valerie Volcovici WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Environmental Protection Agency is expected to propose on Wednesday more stringent air quality standards for ground-level ozone, the main culprit in smog, sources said. Under a court-ordered deadline of next Monday to release its proposal, the agency could propose a National Ambient Air Quality Standard between 65 and 70 parts per billion concentration of ozone, and take comment on standards within a 60-75 ppb range, sources familiar with the matter said. That would compare with the current level of 75 ppb set under then-President George W. ...","At boozy festival in Cuba, villagers 'bury' man alive in 30-year-old mock funeral tradition. SANTIAGO DE LAS VEGAS, Cuba - Cuban villagers have staged a mock funeral and burial of a living man in a boozy festival that's an annual tradition in a small town near Havana.","US sends disaster relief teams to Iraq. WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. is deploying a disaster response team to Iraq help distribute humanitarian aid to tens of thousands of people who have been forced from their homes in the fresh wave of violence in the country's north.","Belfast officer who oversaw Adams arrest promoted. BELFAST, Northern Ireland (AP) — Rival factions in Northern Ireland's unity government are accusing each other of bias after a policeman who oversaw the arrest of Sinn Fein party leader Gerry Adams was promoted to the force's second-highest post.","Libya's top court to rule on new government's legality. Libya's supreme court is to issue a ruling next week on the legality of Ahmed Miitig's controversial election last month as interim prime minister, a court official said Thursday. Outgoing premier Abdullah al-Thani announced last week that he would ask for a court ruling on the election before handing over power. Jurist Mohamed Salem Dhraa told AFP the verdict would then be communicated to the administrative court in charge of the issue, which would also give its final ruling on Monday.","Sri Lankan church: candidates pledge no violence. COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — A Sri Lankan church leader says the two main candidates in January's presidential election have promised a violence-free vote, with Pope Francis scheduled to visit the country just days later.","Mexican police fail to stop protest for drug lord. CULIACAN, Mexico (AP) — Police in northern Mexico detained about 100 people Sunday in a failed attempt to stop a second demonstration in less than a week to voice support for captured drug lord Joaquin \"El Chapo\" Guzman.","Japan cuts whaling target in bid to resume hunt. TOKYO (AP) — Japan has slashed its whale catch target in the Antarctic by two-thirds in a bid to resume its annual whale hunt that an international court ruled must stop.","China takes aim at pollution after years of growth. PINGSHAN COUNTY, China (AP) — Huge chunks of concrete and broken machinery are all that is left of a cement plant that once spewed clouds of pollution over China's most polluted province, Hebei. Demolished in December, the factory was one of 35 closed or torn down in Pingshan county as part of the government's drive to clear up China's notoriously smoggy skies.","Groups: US political effort in Cuba hurts aid work. WASHINGTON (AP) — A U.S. program in Cuba that secretly used an HIV-prevention workshop for political activism was assailed Monday by international public health officials and members of Congress who declared that such clandestine efforts put health programs at risk around the world.","Freed U.S. soldier Bergdahl's life was in peril: Hagel. LONDON (Reuters) - U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said the U.S. government had had to act immediately to secure the release of Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl from Taliban captivity because a delay might have jeopardized the chances of securing his freedom. Bergdahl was handed over to U.S. special operations forces in Afghanistan on Saturday in exchange for the transfer of five senior Taliban members from Guantanamo prison in Cuba to Qatar. It provoked criticism from some lawmakers in Congress who were angry that U.S. ...","One in 40 jobs created since recession full-time. London (AFP) - One in 40 jobs created in Britain since the global financial crisis are full-time positions, according to a study by the TUC union.","Obama, Merkel say Russia will face consequences if it enters Ukraine. U.S. President Barack Obama and German Chancellor Angela Merkel agreed on Saturday that Russia would face additional consequences if it intervened in Ukraine without permission from the Ukrainian government, the White House said. \"The two leaders agreed that any Russian intervention in Ukraine, even under purported 'humanitarian' auspices, without the formal, express consent and authorization of the government of Ukraine is unacceptable, violates international law, and will provoke additional consequences,\" the White House said in a statement about the call between Merkel and Obama. (Reporting by Jeff Mason;","Italy's 5-Star Movement in bitter row over parliament speaker. By James Mackenzie ROME (Reuters) - Italy's anti-establishment 5-Star Movement faced strong criticism on Monday after attacks and online insults against the speaker of the lower house Laura Boldrini, who responded by branding her critics \"potential rapists\". Boldrini's retort followed days of escalating tensions in parliament where deputies of Beppe Grillo's Movement, angry over moves to push through approval of government decrees, have blocked committee work and clashed with rival parties. The 5-Star Movement, which has ridden a wave of anger against the mainstream political parties after years of scandal and economic stagnation, has called for both the impeachment of President Giorgio Napolitano and the removal of Boldrini as speaker of the lower house, accusing her of bias. She particularly angered the party by imposing a guillotine to speed up passage of decrees on the recapitalization of the Bank of Italy and a housing tax after 5-Star deputies had tried to stop approval by blocking access to committee rooms.","Yemen defence minister escapes Qaeda ambush. Yemeni Defence Minister Mohammed Nasser Ahmad and two senior security officers escaped unhurt when their convoy was ambushed on Friday by Al-Qaeda fighters in the south, a military source said. Ahmad, intelligence chief Ali Hassan al-Ahmadi and military police chief Awad Majwar al-Awlaqi were travelling from Abyan province to Shabwa province, when they came under fire, the source said. The source said none of the top brass was hurt in the attack that came as they were returning from a trip to monitor an ongoing army offensive against jihadists in Yemen's restive south. The attack came hours after a nightime operation in the capital, in which security forces killed an Al-Qaeda commander suspected of masterminding a wave of kidnap bids targeting Western diplomats.","French forces free five kidnapped Malian aid workers. French forces have freed five Malian aid workers who were taken hostage in a February kidnapping claimed by one of the country's top jihadist groups, the presidents of France and Mali said Thursday. \"An operation by the French armed forces\" freed the five workers -- four Red Cross employees and a veterinarian from another aid organisation -- after \"a terrorist group\" kidnapped them on February 8 in Mali's restive north, the presidents said in a joint statement. The kidnapping was claimed by the Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa (MUJAO), a splinter group of Al-Qaeda's regional franchise. MUJAO is one of the groups that occupied the north of Mali in 2012 before they were driven from the region's main cities by a French-led military offensive launched in January 2013.","Exclusive: Goldman Sachs in talks to acquire ETF provider IndexIQ - sources. By Jessica Toonkel (Reuters) - Goldman Sachs Group is in discussions to acquire IndexIQ, a Rye Brook, New York-based exchange-traded fund provider, according to three sources familiar with the situation. The deal, if finalized, would enable Goldman to introduce passively managed and actively managed exchange traded funds within months. A Goldman Sachs Asset Management spokeswoman declined to comment. A call and email to Adam Patti, the chief executive of IndexIQ, was not immediately returned. The acquisition could be announced within the next few weeks, according to two of the sources. ...","Germany labors to 4-0 win over Gibraltar. NUREMBERG, Germany (AP) — Thomas Mueller scored twice as Germany got its Euro 2016 qualifying campaign back on track with an unconvincing 4-0 win over Gibraltar on Friday.","American becomes a rebel with a cause in east Ukraine. By Marko Djurica and Maria Tsvetkova YASYNUVATA Ukraine (Reuters) - With his face hidden behind a camouflage balaclava and an assault rifle slung over his shoulder, \"Hunter\" looks like other separatist fighters in eastern Ukraine. What distinguishes him from his brothers in arms in the Vostok (East) battalion, an irregular pro-Russian militia fighting government forces, is his American accent - and English is the only language he knows. \"I'm an American. I joined an independence movement,\" said Hunter, flashing a U.S. passport as proof of his nationality. ...","Czechs seek to modify proposed EU sanctions, warn of escalation. The Czech Republic wants to modify some parts of the European Union's proposed new trade measures against Russia, Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka said on Tuesday, warning that escalating sanctions was risky. EU leaders decided at a summit on the weekend that direct engagement of Russian troops in the war in eastern and southern Ukraine called for a stepping up of sanctions imposed so far unless Russia pulled its soldiers back. The European Commission is to prepare a final draft of new sanctions against Moscow over its involvement in Ukraine by Wednesday and EU governments will make a decision on the final shape of the package by Friday. Russia denies sending troops or armor over the border.","U.S. aircraft carrier group in Mediterranean 'a few more days'. The Pentagon said on Friday it would keep a U.S. aircraft carrier battle group in the Mediterranean Sea for several days longer than planned as part of the effort to reassure U.S. allies worried about the crisis in Ukraine. Army Colonel Steven Warren, a Pentagon spokesman, said the carrier USS George H.W. Bush and its accompanying warships would remain in the region for \"a few more days to do additional training and to enhance maritime capabilities.\" \"This is a few more days over what the original plan was,\" Warren said. One is to conduct these additional training opportunities, and frankly because a lot of what we're doing there now is an effort to reassure our allies.\" Warren did not rule out the Bush remaining even longer in the Mediterranean, but said: \"Right now she's scheduled to continue on her mission within the next couple of days.\" The Pentagon has taken a number of steps to reassure allies over the crisis in Ukraine, which says Russian forces have occupied its Crimean peninsula, where Russia's Black Sea fleet is based.","CSKA Moscow fails to narrow gap with Zenit. MOSCOW (AP) — CSKA Moscow lost 1-0 to capital city rival Dynamo Moscow on Sunday, missing a chance to pressure Russian Premier League leader Zenit St. Petersburg.","Pregnant Kate plans to resume royal duties. LONDON (AP) — The Duchess of Cambridge plans to resume royal duties later this month after being sidelined by a prolonged bout of severe morning sickness.","Correction: US-SCI--Stem Cells story. NEW YORK (AP) — On Jan. 29, The Associated Press reported on two research papers published in the journal Nature that said a simple lab treatment could turn ordinary cells from mice into stem cells. On July 2, in a statement released by the journal, the Japanese and U.S. scientists withdrew the papers, citing \"extensive\" errors in their published work.","Italy hurting after 0-0 draw with Ireland. LONDON (AP) — Italy was held to a 0-0 draw by Ireland in a World Cup warm-up match Saturday that saw the Azzurri lose key midfielder Riccardo Montolivo to an apparently serious injury.","French power company to pay $772M in bribery case. WASHINGTON (AP) — A French power and transportation company has agreed to pay $772 million in penalties to theU.S. to resolve allegations that it bribed government officials in multiple foreign countries.","Iraq parliament fails to reach quorum for emergency session. Iraq's parliament failed to reach a quorum Thursday, officials said, preventing it from voting on a request to announce a state of emergency to deal with a major jihadist offensive. A senior government official told AFP only 128 of 325 MPs attended, and another official confirmed a quorum was not reached. Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and the president's office submitted a request for parliament to declare a state of emergency on Tuesday, as jihadists overrun swathes of territory. The failure of the session showcased how dysfunctional the Iraqi parliament, which has passed little significant legislation in years and is often poorly attended, has become.","South Africa names squad for Rugby Championship. CAPE TOWN (Reuters) - South Africa have named their 30-man squad for the 2014 Rugby Championship against Argentina, Australia and New Zealand. ...","Fiat Chrysler prices share offering at $11 each. (Reuters) - Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV said it had priced an offering of 87 million common shares at $11.00 each as the carmaker seeks funds to cut debt and pay for an ambitious investment plan. FCA is also offering $2.5 billion of mandatory convertible securities due 2016 with a coupon of 7.875 percent per annum. These securities will be converted at a rate of 7.7369 to 9.0909 common shares, the company said in a statement. The mandatory convertible securities will be issued in denominations of $100 each and will be converted into FCA common shares on Dec. 15, 2016, it said. J.P. ...","Moscow airports ban carry-on liquids before Sochi Olympics. Moscow's two main international airports Wednesday announced a flat ban on all carry-on liquids as part of a mass security clampdown ahead of next month's Sochi Winter Games. Sheremetyevo and Vnukovo airports handle the vast majority of Russia's international air traffic and will receive the bulk of foreign fans arriving for the February 7-23 Olympic festivities on the shores of the Black Sea. Russia this week launched the largest security operation in Olympic history aimed at warding off the threat of Islamist violence following last month's twin suicide strikes in the southern hub of Volgograd. The restrictions -- adopted by the Federal Air Transport Agency (Rosaviatsiya) -- will remain in force until March 21.","Marseille held 3-3 at Bastia. PARIS (AP) — Argentine coach Marcelo Bielsa got a close-up glimpse of the defensive work awaiting him at Marseille, which blew a two-goal lead to draw 3-3 at Bastia in the French league on Saturday.","Sanctions trump patriotism for Russian banks in Crimea. By Alissa de Carbonnel and Elizabeth Piper SIMFEROPOL, Crimea/MOSCOW (Reuters) - In the rush to serve clients keen to open ruble accounts, staff at the first Russian bank to open its doors in Crimea have yet to find time to open the boxes stacked in the entrance or put up a proper sign. Instead they are relying on a plastic banner with letters in red saying: \"Russian National Commercial Bank: Your Russian bank in Crimea!\" Not that RNCB needs to advertise its services. With Ukrainian and Western banks closing, Crimea's 2 million people have been forced to deal with a cash economy since Russia annexed the Black Sea peninsula last month - an illustration of the economic obstacles that might lie ahead for a contested region. Only three Russian banks have moved to fill the vacuum, the patriotism stirred by President Vladimir Putin by reclaiming \"an inseparable part of Russia\" falling flat in the face of Western sanctions that have deterred the country's big lenders.","Nokia deal with Microsoft delayed until April. HELSINKI (AP) — Nokia Corp. says the sale of its mobile phone unit to Microsoft will be delayed until next month because it is still waiting for approval from regulatory authorities in Asia.","IMF raises China growth outlook. BEIJING (AP) — The International Monetary Fund has raised its economic growth outlook for China this year by 0.3 percentage points to 7.5 percent and said Beijing needs to make more progress on promised reforms.","Afghan attack kills 9, including 4 foreigners. KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — A senior Afghan official says nine people, including four foreigners, have been killed in an attack on a luxury hotel in Kabul.","Weak manufacturing reports hit Asian stock markets. SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Weakness in U.S. and Chinese manufacturing sent Asian stock markets sharply lower Tuesday.","66 journalists killed in year of 'barbaric' attacks. Attacks on journalists have grown more barbaric and kidnappings have soared, Reporters Without Borders said Tuesday, in a year when violence against the media took centre stage. A total of 66 reporters were killed in connection to their work in the past year -- a slight drop from 71 in 2013 -- but kidnappings soared to 119 due to conflicts in Ukraine, Libya and the Middle East, the report said.","Takuma Sato wins pole for IndyCar season-opener. ST. PETERSBURG, Florida (AP) — Takuma Sato of Japan won pole position at St. Petersburg for Sunday's season-opening IndyCar Series race.","UN rights body urges action against right abuses in N.Korea. The UN's top rights body has called on the Security Council to act against officials responsible for a litany of crimes against humanity in North Korea. The 47-member UN Human Rights Council in Geneva adopted a resolution condemning the \"ongoing systematic, widespread and gross human rights violations\" in the isolated Asian nation. The resolution -- which passed with 30 votes in favour, six opposed and 11 abstentions -- urged the Security Council to make sure \"those responsible for human rights violations, including those that may amount to crimes against humanity, are held to account\". It also extended a probe into human rights violations in the country by the UN's special rapporteur for another year.","Qatar: Building team to spring surprise in 2022. DOHA, Qatar (AP) — It's a cold, hard fact of football: Countries with tiny populations don't generally beat big ones with deep wells of talented players.","Argentina reaches deal with Paris Club to clear $9.7 billion in debt. Argentina reached an agreement on Thursday with the Paris Club over repaying overdue debts, in a landmark deal that could open up much-needed international financing for the country, the group of creditor nations said. The agreement will allow Argentina to clear debt in arrears that stood at $9.7 billion as of the end of April over a five-year period, the group said in statement after negotiations that dragged into the early hours. The dispute is the legacy of Argentina's 2001/2002 default on roughly $100 billion, which left the country largely cut off from international capital markets. \"Paris Club creditors welcomed progress made by the Argentine Republic towards the normalisation of its relations with creditors, the international financial community and institutions,\" the group said in a statement.","US investment firm builds up stake in Man United. LONDON (AP) — U.S. investment firm Baron Capital has bought nearly a quarter of all publicly-traded shares in New York-listed English soccer club Manchester United PLC.","California moves closer to banning plastic grocery bags. By Joaquin Palomino SACRAMENTO Calif. (Reuters) - Prospects grew for a proposed California ban on plastic grocery bags on Thursday as the state Assembly broadly approved the prohibition after an earlier vote failed to garner enough support in the face of opposition from bag manufacturers. A number of cities in California and other states, including Hawaii's Maui County, have made it illegal for grocery stores to pack consumer purchases in plastic. The measure, which passed the Assembly by a 44-29 vote, would ban grocery stores from handing out single-use plastic bags with customer purchases, and would give local bag companies funds to retool to make heavier, multiple-use bags.","North Korea testing weapons much more than in past. SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Another day, another defiant weapons test from North Korea.","Putin may delay Japan visit over Tokyo's Ukraine sanctions: Russian state newspaper. President Vladimir Putin may delay his visit to Japan because of sanctions Tokyo has imposed on Russia for its role in the Ukraine crisis, Moscow's acting ambassador to Japan was cited as saying by Russian state media on Thursday. Japan, in a coordinated move with Western countries, has imposed sanctions on Moscow for its annexation of the Crimea peninsula in March and its involvement in a pro-Russian rebellion in eastern Ukraine.","Kerry warns Russia over ties to separatists in Ukraine. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Saturday warned Russia that the United States and its G7 partners would 'raise the costs' Moscow could face unless it curbed weapons flowing into Ukraine and cut ties with pro-Russia separatists. Kerry \"underscored the commitment of the United States and G7 partners to raise the costs for Russia if it does not end the flow of weapons across the border and break with separatists,\" a senior State Department official said of Kerry's call on Saturday with Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk.","Texas jury finds man guilty of killing Manitoba couple 25 years ago. EDINBURG, Texas - A jury in Texas has found a man guilty of the murder of a Manitoba couple 25 years ago.","Palestinians protest Jerusalem marathon. Some 100 Palestinians tried to disrupt the annual Jerusalem marathon on Friday, police said, as activists called for a boycott of the race through the Holy City. \"Around 100 demonstrators holding Palestinian flags tried, at two separate parts of the course, to disrupt the race,\" police spokeswoman Luba Samri told AFP. Some 20,000 people participated in Friday's marathon, in which Kenyan runner Ronald Kimbly raced to victory. Pro-Palestinian activists oppose the Israeli-organised marathon, particularly its route through Arab east Jerusalem, which was occupied by Israel during the 1967 Six-Day War and later annexed, in a move never recognised by the international community.","Chinese e-commerce rivals challenge Alibaba. BEIJING (AP) — China's biggest property developer has launched an e-commerce venture with Internet giants Baidu and Tencent, adding to competition for industry leader Alibaba Group.","Iron Stan surprised by schedule chaos. Stan Wawrinka was stunned that he had to play his Wimbledon third round tie on Monday in a scheduling nightmare which will force him to play five matches in seven days to win the title. The third-seeded Australian Open champion defeated Uzbekistan's Denis Istomin 6-3, 6-3, 6-4 to reach the fourth round for the first time since 2009. Wawrinka will now play his fourth round on Tuesday against 19th seed Feliciano Lopez of Spain who also waited until Monday to see off John Isner, the ninth seeded American, 6-7 (8/10), 7-6 (8/6), 7-6 (7/3), 7-5.","TSX futures indicate lower start. (Reuters) - Stock futures pointed to a lower opening for Canada's main stock index on Monday, with March futures on the S&P TSX index down 0.25 percent at 7.15 a.m. ET. No major Canadian economic events are scheduled. Canada's main stock index rose for a fourth straight session on Friday, posting its biggest weekly gain in three years as oil prices rallied from multi year lows.Dow Jones Industrial Average e-mini futures were up 0.23 percent at 7.15 a.m. ET, while S&P 500 e-mini futures were up 0.18 percent and Nasdaq 100 e-mini futures were up 0.16 percent. [. ...","Coroner: bitcoin exchange CEO committed suicide. SINGAPORE (AP) — A Singapore Coroner's Court has found that the American CEO of a virtual currency exchange committed suicide earlier this year in Singapore because of work and personal issues.","Nice stuns Lille 1-0 in French League. NICE, France (AP) — Lille extended its slump by losing 1-0 at Nice in the French league on Sunday.","Russia denies plans to introduce capital controls. Russia's Central Bank says it isn't planning to put limits on investors' ability to pull money out of the country, a statement meant to assuage market fears that have seen the ruble tumble in recent weeks. ...","Chelsea survives scare to make League Cup quarters. MANCHESTER, England (AP) — Premier League leader Chelsea needed a late own goal to squeeze past fourth-tier Shrewsbury 2-1 and reach the quarterfinals of the League Cup on Tuesday.","Germany wins at table tennis team championships. TOKYO (AP) — Dimitrij Ovtcharov, Timo Boll and Patrick Franziska all won quarterfinal matches on Saturday as Germany beat Singapore 3-0 to advance to the semifinals of the table tennis world team championships.","Firefighters make headway against Sacramento-area wildfire. SACRAMENTO Calif. (Reuters) - Firefighters made progress on Friday against a major wildfire burning northeast of Sacramento that destroyed six homes and charred 420 acres, allowing some residents to return to their homes near the community of Applegate. With slowing winds aiding the efforts, more than 1,400 firefighters aimed to cut off the blaze before it could burn through a canyon and threaten additional communities. \"Things are looking very positive,\" said Lynne Tolmachoff, spokeswoman for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Prevention (CalFire). ...","Russia and Poland have expelled some diplomats, Moscow says. MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia said on Monday several of its diplomats had been expelled from Poland and that a number of Polish diplomats had left Russia after Moscow took \"adequate\" measures in return. It was unclear why the Russian diplomats had been expelled and no more details were immediately available. \"The Polish authorities have taken an unfriendly and unfounded step,\" Russia's Foreign Ministry said in a statement. ...","Winners and losers under Obama's immigration plan. SAN DIEGO (AP) — President Barack Obama unveiled one of the most sweeping changes to the U.S. immigration system in decades, shielding millions from deportation.","Spike in requests to remove Google search results. BRUSSELS (AP) — Google says the number of requests from people seeking to have some search results removed in Europe has jumped to 70,000 by the end of June.","Champions League final goes to extra time. LISBON, Portugal (AP) — Sergio Ramos equalized in injury time to send the Champions League final between Atletico Madrid and Real Madrid into extra time level at 1-1.","Folau wins top Australian player award. Hard-running fullback Israel Folau has picked up Australia's prestigious John Eales Medal in only his second year in the 15-a-side code. The 25-year-old former rugby league international received the best player award, which is voted on by his peers, at a ceremony in Sydney on Thursday night. Folau polled 314 votes to 232 for his captain Michael Hooper, who had been tipped to become the first player to win in successive years the gong named after the former Wallaby skipper. Lock Sam Carter, who debuted against France in June and has played eight Tests, was named Wallabies rookie of the year.","Kerry: \"Irresponsible,\" \"morally difficult\" not to help Kurds fighting IS extremists in Kobani. JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Kerry: \"Irresponsible,\" ''morally difficult\" not to help Kurds fighting IS extremists in Kobani.","Hundreds of Bombardier workers on strike in Canada. Montreal (AFP) - About 900 employees of Canadian engineering giant Bombardier went on strike Monday at their Ontario factory over benefits and pension plans, the Unifor union said.","Machine gun, heavy weapons fire heard in flashpoint north Mali town. BAMAKO (Reuters) - Machine gun and heavy weapons fire broke out on Wednesday in the northern Mali town of Kidal, a rebel stronghold where the army has been reinforcing its positions ahead of an expected drive to retake it, an army officer and resident said. \"As you can hear... gunfire has started up again between the soldiers and rebels in Kidal. I can't say more about it,\" the officer told Reuters by telephone from the town. (Reporting by Adama Diarra; Writing by Joe Bavier; Editing by John Stonestreet)","Spain's ruling PP wins EU vote, political fragmentation rises. Spain's ruling People's Party (PP) won the country's EU election on Sunday but ceded more seats than expected to smaller parties which tapped into voter disenchantment after a deep economic crisis. The PP of Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, which swept to power in Spain in late 2011 with an absolute majority, took 26 percent of the vote, down from nearly 45 in the general election. The parties lost a combined 17 seats in the European parliament, leaving them with 30 out of Spain's 54. Spending cuts by the PP and corruption scandals surrounding the two parties that have dominated Spanish politics for four decades had been expected to push voters elsewhere.","Drive-by shooting kills 3 riot police in Cairo. CAIRO (AP) — Egyptian authorities say a drive-by shooting has killed three policemen during a rally by Islamist students overnight in Cairo.","Trapped commuter freed after Australians tilt train. Dozens of Australians tilted a train Wednesday to free a commuter whose leg was trapped between a carriage and a platform, with authorities praising their efforts as an example of \"people power\". The man was boarding in the Western Australia city of Perth when he slipped and became jammed in the five-centimetre (two-inch) gap between the carriage and the station, operator Transperth said in a statement.","Leverkusen signs Nuremberg striker Josip Drmic. LEVERKUSEN, Germany (AP) — Bayer Leverkusen has signed striker Josip Drmic from relegated Bundesliga rival Nuremberg.","As China row smolders, Vietnam rethinks its business plans. By Nguyen Phuong Linh HANOI (Reuters) - A train from Vietnam's border with China pulls up at a station in Hanoi as dawn breaks, ready to unload goods for trade at what was for years the capital's most bustling wholesale market. \"No one buys Chinese products anymore,\" said Le Thang Loi, who runs a shop in Hanoi selling household goods. \"I've switched over to sell Vietnamese and Thai things since last month.\" Vietnam's testy but economically vital ties with its fellow communist neighbor have soured since early May, when Beijing moved a $1 billion oil rig unannounced into a stretch of the South China Sea that Hanoi claims is its exclusive economic zone. The row has not only deepened mistrust of China, but increased awareness in Vietnam that its $171 billion economy is exposed, and at risk of being held hostage by Beijing at any time.","Cries of anguish as SKorea ferry toll reaches 135. JINDO, South Korea (AP) — The confirmed death toll from the South Korean ferry disaster rose to 135 Wednesday, but there were many more bodies left to be retrieved as divers swam through tight, dark rooms and passageways to search for nearly 170 people still missing.","Popular wave could lift Egypt army chief to office. CAIRO (AP) — Unknown only two years ago, the head of Egypt's military, Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, is riding on a wave of popular fervor that is almost certain to carry him to election as president. Many Egyptians now hail him as the nation's savior after he ousted the Islamists from power and as the only figure strong enough to lead.","Across Asia's borders, labor activists team up to press wage claims. By Eveline Danubrata and Prak Chan Thul JAKARTA/PHNOM PENH (Reuters) - Labor leaders behind the biggest strikes in Cambodia's $5 billion garment industry knew last year they had a strong case for higher wages: they had already compared notes with activists in neighboring countries. Negotiations over pay and working conditions have typically remained within national borders, but activists are now bringing more muscle to the table and putting more pressure on employers and governments by using shared experiences in nearby markets. For global companies that have shifted production to Southeast Asia's low-cost manufacturing hub, this could mean less room for wage bargaining, a squeeze on profits and maybe even higher price tags on anything from shoes and clothing to cars and electronics appliances. \"I see a trend towards more and stronger collaboration among labor leaders that can take different shapes and forms, from exchanging information to partnerships,\" said Peter van Rooij, director of the International Labor Organization (ILO) in Jakarta, noting ties would likely strengthen with next year's planned economic integration by the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).","Mortar attack kills six in Iraqi Shi'ite village. At least six people were killed on Saturday when three mortar bombs hit a Shi'ite Muslim village near the Iraqi city of Baquba, 65 km (40 miles) northeast of Baghdad, police said. A woman and a child were among the victims, five of whom belonged to the same family, the police said, adding that the assailants might have been aiming at a nearby police station. Sunni Muslim insurgents often target the security forces, as well as Shi'ite civilians and Sunni tribal militiamen paid by the Shi'ite-led government to combat al Qaeda-linked groups.","Pouliot scores in debut, Pens beat Panthers 3-1. PITTSBURGH (AP) — Derrick Pouliot scored in his NHL debut and Sidney Crosby ended his drought with a third-period goal for the Pittsburgh Penguins in their 3-1 victory over the Florida Panthers on Saturday.","Photos explore dynamics of youths' sexual identity. BIRMINGHAM, Alabama (AP) — For many, it's difficult to understand Foster Noone's sexual identity. The 17-year-old uses the labels of bisexual, trans and gender neutral all at once.","Family of Ugandan tortured toddler 'traumatised'. The father of a Ugandan toddler tortured by her nanny said Wednesday the family remained \"traumatised\" by the event, as sentencing was delayed for the maid. The 22-year-old maid, Jolly Tumuhiirwe, pleaded guilty on Monday to torturing the toddler, a case that shocked the country after a graphic video of her abusing the girl was made public. \"Our baby was tortured in a way that was unimaginable,\" Eric Kamanzi, 32, the father of the 18-month old girl, told AFP outside court.","CAZA questions wisdom of Copenhagen zoo's public giraffe cull. TORONTO - The organization which represents many of Canada's zoos is questioning the wisdom of a Denmark zoo's decision to kill a young giraffe and fed its remains to lions in front of an audience.","European financial tax proposal expected by May. BRUSSELS (AP) — France's finance minister says Europeans are pushing ahead with the introduction of a financial transaction tax and want to present a plan by May.","Muslim group demands apology from Harper, chief spokesman over comment. OTTAWA - A major Canadian Muslim group is demanding an apology from Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his chief spokesman for a comment it says links the organization to a terrorist group.","Putin's efforts on Ukraine meet with no understanding: Kremlin spokesman. Russian President Vladimir Putin's efforts to de-escalate the crisis in Ukraine are met with no understanding, his spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Friday. \"Regardless of all the efforts of our president, his readiness to explain Russia's position practically on a daily basis, we still hit a wall of no understanding,\" Peskov said in comments due to broadcast on state television Rossiya 24 on Sunday. \"It is rather sad and what is worse is that it is very bad from the point of view of possible repercussions.\" He added Moscow was not orchestrating events in Ukraine.","Alibaba shares rise 36 percent to open at $92.70 in public debut on New York Stock Exchange. NEW YORK (AP) — Alibaba shares rise 36 percent to open at $92.70 in public debut on New York Stock Exchange.","Myanmar mine protest continues after shooting. YANGON, Myanmar (AP) — Villagers protesting their eviction for expansion of a Chinese-backed copper mine in Myanmar are continuing a stand-off with security forces, a day after their confrontation left one woman dead and 20 other people hurt.","U.S. says it is deeply troubled by Palestinian move. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States said on Wednesday the move by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to sign on to 20 international agreements, including the International Criminal Court, was of deep concern and unhelpful to peace efforts in the region. \"It is an escalatory step that will not achieve any of the outcomes most Palestinians have long hoped to see for their people,\" State Department spokesman Jeff Rathke said in a statement. \"Actions like this are not the answer. ...","Seabed of jet hunt zone mostly flat with 1 trench. WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Two miles under the sea where satellites and planes are looking for debris from the missing Malaysian jet, the ocean floor is cold, dark, covered in a squishy muck of dead plankton and — in a potential break for the search — mostly flat. The troubling exception is a steep, rocky drop ending in a deep trench.","What US, China agreed to do to limit emissions. The United States and China are pledging to move faster to reduce or limit emissions of heat-trapping gases blamed for global warming. China and the U.S. are the world's two largest polluters, and by taking action together, leaders from both countries hope to spur other nations to be equally aggressive as they work to finalize a worldwide climate treaty next year.","Lebanon: Israel detonates spying device, 1 killed. BEIRUT (AP) — The Lebanese army says Israel remotely detonated a spying device planted in south Lebanon, killing one civilian.","Audi wins 13th title at Le Mans. LE MANS, France (AP) — Marcel Fassler, Andre Lotterer and Benoit Treluyer overcame turbocharger problems to drive Audi to its 13th title at the 24 Hours of Le Mans on Sunday.","Too soon to say 'winning' against Islamic State: Pentagon. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Pentagon said on Thursday it is too early to say that the U.S.-led coalition was \"winning\" against the Islamic State, pointing to the group's continued access to financing, volunteers and weapons even after bombings in Syria and Iraq. \"Your question gets at ... How do you know you're winning? And what I'm telling you is, it's going to take us a while to be able to say that,\" Pentagon spokesman Rear Admiral John Kirby told reporters. \"Even after the hits they've taken and they have been hit ... they still have financing at their fingertips. ...","Sentencing pending in Texas shoe stabbing trial. HOUSTON (AP) — A Texas jury that convicted a Houston woman of fatally stabbing her Swedish-born boyfriend with the 5 1/2 -inch (14 centimeter) stiletto heel of her shoe is set to hear more testimony before deciding on a sentence.","Uruguay coach resigns FIFA position over Suarez. RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Uruguay coach Oscar Tabarez has resigned from FIFA's strategic committee in protest at its punishment of his team's striker Luis Suarez.","Canary Wharf was Al-Qaeda target after 9/11, US trial hears. Al-Qaeda saw London's Canary Wharf as a terror target after the 9/11 attacks on the United States, a British convict told a federal court in New York on Monday. Al-Qaeda recruit, Saajid Badat, 35, testified at the trial of British hate preacher Abu Hamza, who faces life behind bars if convicted on 11 kidnapping and terror charges after being extradited to the United States. Badat expanded on his testimony last month at the trial of Osama bin Laden's son-in-law, in which he had said Al-Qaeda had an almanac of the world's tallest buildings. Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the self-declared 9/11 mastermind, crossed out the two World Trade Centers in New York as he leafed through the book looking for fresh targets, Badat had said.","Owners surrender in deadly Bangladesh factory fire. DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) — The two owners of a Bangladesh garment factory who are facing homicide charges for a 2012 fire that killed 112 workers surrendered to a court Sunday.","Nigerian police foil suicide bombing attempt by woman in Kano. Lagos (AFP) - Police on Sunday prevented a female would-be suicide bomber from carrying out an attack at a university in Kano, northern Nigeria's largest city, police said.","Bombs kill 4 Iraqi Shiite militiamen, 3 civilians. BAGHDAD (AP) — Officials say bombs in Iraq have killed seven people, including four Shiite militiamen who answered a government call to confront Sunni militants from the Islamic State group.","Winter weather prompts Chicago airports to cancel more than 275 flights on Sunday. CHICAGO - Cold, windy and snowy weather has prompted airlines flying in and out of Chicago's O'Hare International Airport to cancel more than 250 flights.","Asian stocks struggle higher, lack conviction. By Wayne Cole SYDNEY (Reuters) - Asian share markets eked out gains on Thursday as dovish comments from the head of the U.S. Federal Reserve combined with an upbeat economic assessment from the central bank to lift Wall Street for a third straight session. However, disappointing results from Google and IBM knocked their shares lower after the bell and could crimp technology stocks in the region. Indeed, the tech and telecoms sectors in Japan's Nikkei were in the red on Thursday, nudging the overall index down 0.2 percent following a 3 percent jump the previous session. Other markets fared better with shares in Australia up 0.5 percent and MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan adding 0.33 percent.","United Arab Emirates mandates military service. DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The United Arab Emirates has issued a law requiring compulsory military service for adult males, formalizing a proposal outlined earlier in the year to bolster the ranks of the U.S.-allied Gulf federation's armed forces.","New UN Ebola chief vows swift response to crisis. Accra (AFP) - The new head of the UN Ebola response team vowed Tuesday to take swift action on the crisis, saying ambitious targets must be met to prevent the spread of the virus worldwide.","Campaigners hit streets to avert Scottish independence. Campaigners against independence took to the streets of Scotland's oil capital Aberdeen with just days to go to a momentous referendum, with polls showing support for the \"Yes\" growing and voters now almost evenly split for and against. Oil is at the heart of the debate over whether Scotland can afford to go it alone or would be better off remaining part of Britain on September 18 -- and booming Aberdeen demonstrates how wealthy it has made some. A small group of pro-union supporters met up on a street corner to argue for keeping that wealth within Britain, armed with rucksacks and badges reading \"No Thanks\" -- the main slogan against independence. \"I think 'No' will win but I'm still concerned,\" said one of the campaigners, Willy Primrose, 62.","Westwoood late surge poaches victory in Thailand. Englishman Lee Westwood shot a final round five-under 67 to secure a smash and grab one shot victory in a thrilling finale to the $1 million Thailand Golf Championship on Sunday.","Romania interior minister quits over crash rescue. BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) — Romania's interior minister has resigned in a growing uproar over a plane crash rescue mission that many have criticized as being too slow.","Lawyer: Tourist sorry for Brooklyn Bridge climb. NEW YORK (AP) — The lawyer for a French tourist says his client is sorry he climbed the Brooklyn Bridge to take photos.","Turkish parliament to reconvene next Weds amid graft scandal. Turkey's parliament will reconvene for an extraordinary session on March 19, its speaker said on Friday, after the main opposition party demanded the recall to hear corruption allegations against four former government ministers. The recall to debate the graft scandal will be unwelcome news for Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan as he campaigns for local elections. He has cast the scandal as a plot to smear him and his government by U.S.-based Islamic cleric Fethullah Gulen, a former ally with influence in Turkey's police and judiciary. Speaker Cemil Cicek, a senior member of Erdogan's ruling AK Party, told reporters the assembly would reconvene at 1300 GMT next Wednesday, in line with parliamentary rules.","Army officer arrested for suspected plot against Mali's president. Authorities in Mali have arrested an army officer and a number of associates suspected of plotting against President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, military and intelligence sources said on Friday. The West African nation was plunged into chaos by a March 2012 military coup that allowed al Qaeda-linked fighters to seize its desert north. A French-led military intervention defeated the Islamists, paving the way for elections that swept Keita to power in August, but the arrests highlight the instability that persists in the coup-prone country despite the deployment of a U.N. peacekeeping mission. Lieutenant Mohamed Ouattara, a member of the elite red beret army unit considered close to deposed President Amadou Toumani Toure, was arrested late on Wednesday, sources said.","Tennis-Australian Open order of play on Tuesday. MELBOURNE, Jan 20 (Reuters) - Order of play on the main showcourt at the Australian Open on Tuesday (play starts at 0000 GMT, prefix denotes seeding): - - Rod Laver Arena 4-Li Na (China) v 28-Flavia Pennetta (Italy) 14-Ana Ivanovic (Serbia) v 30-Eugenie Bouchard (Canada) Not before 0330 7-Tomas Berdych (Czech Republic) v 3-David Ferrer (Spain) From 0800 8-Stanislas Wawrinka (Switzerland) v 2-Novak Djokovic (Serbia) - - (Compiled by Greg Stutchbury; Editing by Peter Rutherford)","Iraq parliament opens session to vote on government. Baghdad (AFP) - Iraq's parliament met for a key session on Monday under heavy pressure to approve an inclusive government to aid its fight against jihadist militants, an AFP correspondent reported.","NZ wins toss and decided to bowl vs Netherlands. CHITTAGONG, Bangladesh (AP) — New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum won the toss and decided to bowl first in its World Twenty20 match against the Netherlands on Saturday.","Dangerous Syrian chemicals in inaccessible area. UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The head of the mission charged with destroying Syria's chemical weapons says the last 16 containers of chemical agents awaiting transport out of the country are in a contested area near Damascus that is currently inaccessible.","2014 FRENCH OPEN: Tournament at a glance. PARIS (AP) — A glance at the French Open, the year's second Grand Slam tennis tournament:","Yuna Kim named 2018 Winter Olympics ambassador. PYEONGCHANG, South Korea (AP) — Olympic figure skating gold medalist Yuna Kim has been named an official ambassador for the 2018 Winter Games in her native South Korea.","Czechs force deciding Fed Cup rubber against Spain. SEVILLE, Spain (AP) — Lucie Safarova has kept the Czech Republic's Fed Cup hopes alive, beating Silvia Soler-Espinosa of Spain 4-6, 6-1, 6-3 to leave the outcome of the best-of-five series to the final doubles match.","Israel, Japan PMs compare notes on suspected nuclear neighbours. The prime ministers of Japan and Israel compared notes Monday about living near countries with suspected illicit nuclear weapons programmes. Benjamin Netanyahu, on the second day of a five-day trip to Japan, said the international community should keep up pressure on Iran, which the West suspects of trying to develop atomic bombs. In a joint statement released with his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe, the two men also \\\\\"expressed their strong hope for the early resolution of various issues of concerns regarding North Korea, including its nuclear development\\\\\". Speaking at a joint news conference after their meeting, Netanyahu said Abe had told him in no uncertain terms that Japan was facing a very real threat from the North, which observers say is preparing for a fourth nuclear test.","Russia questions 'unusual' Ukraine election if troops deployed. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Tuesday it would be \"unusual\" to hold a presidential election in Ukraine while the army was being deployed against Ukrainians. Lavrov's comments, after a meeting of the Council of Europe human rights organization in Vienna, suggested Moscow could be preparing a reason to question the legitimacy of the May 25 election if it is unhappy with the outcome. \"Holding elections at a time when the army is deployed against part of the population is quite unusual,\" he told a news conference in response to a question about whether Moscow would recognize the vote. \"We will see how this process ends.\" Lavrov said Ukraine should agree a new constitution to define presidential powers before people cast their ballots.","Some of Nigeria's kidnapped schoolgirls may never return - ex president. Nigeria’s former president Olusegun Obasanjo told media some of the schoolgirls kidnapped by militant group Boko Haram in April may never return, in the most pessimistic comments yet on their fate from a member of the political elite. Obasanjo said President Goodluck Jonathan's administration had taken too long to respond to the mass abduction. We will still be hearing about them many years from now,” Obasanjo told the BBC’s Hausa-language radio service on Thursday, in comments echoed in an interview with Nigeria's Premium Times website. \"If you get all of them back, I will consider it a near-miracle ... Do you think they (Boko Haram) will hold all of them together up till now?","Ferdinand to leave Man United after 12 years. MANCHESTER, England (AP) — Rio Ferdinand says he is leaving Manchester United after 12 years at the Premier League club but wants to continue playing.","Iran, 6 powers seek to narrow nuclear differences. VIENNA (AP) — Iran and six world powers are hoping to narrow differences at a new round of nuclear talks, less than three months before an informal July deadline for a deal.","Italy's prime minister wins labor reform confidence vote. By Francesca Piscioneri and Philip Pullella ROME (Reuters) - Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi won the most important parliamentary confidence vote of his eight-month-old government early on Thursday on a labor reform proposal he hopes will boost his EU credentials. Renzi won the vote in the upper house Senate 165-111. He would have had to step down if he had lost. The vote, expected in the afternoon, was delayed late into the night after a day of raucous stonewalling by opposition parties. The legislation now goes to the lower house Chamber of Deputies. ...","U.S. ship begins neutralizing Syrian chemical weapons. U.S. container ship Cape Ray began neutralizing chemical materials on Monday that were once part of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's weapons arsenal, the Pentagon said. The ship, in international waters in the Mediterranean Sea, began processing about 600 metric tonnes of chemical weapons and raw materials that could be used in them, Pentagon spokesman Colonel Steve Warren told reporters. The materials were transferred to the Cape Ray earlier in July from a vessel that brought them out of Syria. Assad agreed last year to turn over his chemical weapons stockpile as part of a disarmament deal.","Elche edges Almeria 1-0 in Spain. MADRID (AP) — Cristian Herrera's second-half goal gave Elche a 1-0 victory against Almeria on Sunday and lifted the club above its relegation adversary in the Spanish league.","European court: Google must yield on personal info. AMSTERDAM (AP) — People should have some say over the results that pop up when they conduct a vanity search online, Europe's highest court said Tuesday.","Brazil candidate Neves says hedge fund founder to be his finance minister. Brazilian presidential candidate Aecio Neves said on Wednesday hedge fund founder and former central bank chief Arminio Fraga would be his finance minister if he wins an Oct. 5 election. The announcement was made during an election debate on national television. Fraga, a Brazilian economist who was president of Brazil's central bank during the government of Fernando Henrique Cardoso, is one of the founders of JPMorgan’s flagship Brazilian hedge fund and private equity group, Gávea Investments. He previously accused Rousseff of weakening the so-called \"tripod\" of economic policies that have been sacrosanct in Brazil since they helped reverse a period of rampant inflation and erratic growth in the 1990s.","Young Canadian reunites Haitian 'orphans' with parents. By David Adams MIAMI (Reuters) - Morgan Wienberg, a slight 22-year-old from Canada, was only 18 when she joined the wave of volunteers who flew to Haiti to help out after the catastrophic earthquake in 2010. Unlike most volunteers she has returned, putting off a medical career to fulfill what she now calls a life mission to rescue abused Haitian children exploited by unscrupulous orphanages. It's simply outstanding what she is doing, and nothing fazes her,\" said Alison Thompson, an Australian nurse and veteran relief worker who ran a camp for earthquake victims in Haiti and now runs rape clinics there. Wienberg was living in Whitehorse, the capital of Yukon, Canada's westernmost territory, when her plans to study medicine at McGill University took a detour.","U.N. chief demands Israel scrap East Jerusalem settlement plan. JERUSALEM (Reuters) - U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called on Israel on Monday to scrap plans to expand settlements in East Jerusalem, which Palestinians want as the capital of a future state, and urged both sides to return rapidly to peace talks. Israel captured the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem in the 1967 Middle East War and annexed the city's eastern half in a move not recognized internationally. Palestinians seek to establish statehood in the three territories, while Israel considers Jerusalem its eternal and indivisible capital. ...","US general: Afghan casualties increase. WASHINGTON (AP) — The top U.S. general in Afghanistan says there has been a big spike recently in the number of Afghan forces, particularly police, who are being killed and wounded in battle due to increased Taliban attacks in the south and east.","Cricket-McCullum says was unsure of magnitude of triple ton. (Recasts, adds quotes) By Greg Stutchbury WELLINGTON, Feb 18 (Reuters) - Brendon McCullum was unsure of the magnitude of the task he was attempting when he walked on to the Basin Reserve on the fifth day of the second test against India with the opportunity to become the first New Zealander to score a test triple century. The 32-year-old McCullum had started the day on 281 not out, the second highest individual score by a New Zealand batsman with Martin Crowe's 299 in sight and a moderate crowd in nervously expectant mood. \"I wasn't too bad until I saw the size of the crowd then every ball that I defended, left or got a single they would start cheering and it made me a little bit more nervous,\" McCullum told reporters after the match ended in a draw and clinched the series for New Zealand 1-0. \"That's probably when I understood the magnitude of the task at hand and the immense joy it gives fans of this cricket team to see guys succeed and see records broken.\" McCullum reached the mark when he dabbed Zaheer Kahn behind square for his 32nd boundary and immediately raised his arms in celebration as the crowd roared and rose to their feet in thunderous applause that rolled around and around the Basin Reserve for more than a minute.","Pakistan: Gunmen kill cardiologist from minority. LAHORE, Pakistan (AP) — Pakistani police say gunmen have shot dead a visiting American cardiologist who belongs to the minority Ahmadi sect.","Brazil child-sex warnings to air on WC flights. LONDON (AP) — Videos warning football fans against paying for sex with children at the World Cup will be played on Brazil-bound flights from England.","Big fine for crashing drone in Yellowstone spring. YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK, Wyoming (AP) — A judge has ordered a Dutch man to pay more than $3,000 for crashing a drone into the biggest hot spring in Yellowstone National Park.","Republicans revive U.S. border security bills to speed deportations. By David Lawder WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. House of Representatives planned to vote on Friday on revised border security legislation that would make it easier to deport Central American child migrants from the southwestern border, satisfying a key demand from conservative Republicans. House Republican lawmakers said they will try again to pass two separate bills that failed to win enough support from the party on Thursday amid a revolt influenced by Senator Ted Cruz, the Tea Party firebrand from Texas. The Senate failed to advance its own $2.7 billion border funding plan on Thursday. One bill provides additional funding for border security and to care for tens of thousands of migrant children who have flooded over the border in recent months.","Leverkusen beats Hertha 2-1 I Bundesliga. FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — Bayer Leverkusen scored the fastest goal of the season on Sunday and beat Hertha Berlin 2-1 in the Bundesliga return for its new coach, moving up one place into fourth.","London Tube strike disrupts commute for millions. Millions of commuters in London face delays and disruption after Tube staff went on strike over plans to close London Underground ticket offices. With hoards of commuters forced above ground in search of buses and overland trains, the streets of London were unusually packed with people walking to work during rush hour and the roads were thronged with traffic. The strike action, and another 48-hour strike planned next week, is being taken by the RMT and TSSA unions in protest at the closure of all London Underground's 278 ticket offices, with the loss of more than 950 jobs. Mayor of London Boris Johnson said the strike was \"pointless\" and the reforms were \"essential\".","Israeli drone crashes inside Gaza Strip. GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — The Israeli military says one of its unmanned surveillance aircraft has crashed in the Gaza Strip after experiencing a technical malfunction.","US ambassador: Talks with Iran continuing. WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations says talks about Iran's nuclear program are continuing undisturbed by Washington's decision to block Tehran's new ambassador to the world body.","FC Rostov regains Europa League place. MOSCOW (AP) — Russian Cup winner FC Rostov has regained its place in next season's Europa League on appeal after earlier being barred from taking part due to unpaid debts.","Pissarro painting sells for $32 million in London. LONDON (AP) — A Paris streetscape by Impressionist painter Camille Pissarro has sold for double its top estimate in a week of strong sales at London auction houses.","Canadian housing starts pick up in Feb: CMHC. TORONTO (Reuters) - Canadian housing starts rose more than expected in February, data released on Monday showed, though the modest increase was unlikely to sway the view that the country's housing market is stabilizing. A report from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp showed the seasonally adjusted annualized rate of housing starts rose to 192,094 units last month from a upwardly revised 180,481 in January, topping economists' forecast for 189,500. January's housing starts were originally reported as 180,248 units. (Reporting by Leah Schnurr; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)","Stacy Lewis leads by 1 in LPGA's Malaysian event. KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — No. 1-ranked Stacy Lewis of the United States shot a 6-under 65 on Thursday to take a one-stroke lead at the Sime Darby LPGA Malaysia, the second event of the tour's six-tournament Asian swing.","China appeals to Malaysia for search information. BEIJING (AP) — China has urged Malaysia's government to release any information it has regarding the missing Malaysia Airlines jetliner to help narrow the search area.","London shares slip on eurozone recession fears. London (AFP) - London shares opened lower on Friday after warnings from the IMF about a possible eurozone recession, with the powerhouse German economy in the spotlight, dealers said.","McCullum vows to continue with investigation. WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum is standing by his testimony to the International Cricket Council's anti-corruption investigators and will continue to cooperate with them despite the leak of evidence to the media.","Protesters plant Ukraine flag on Moscow skyscraper. MOSCOW (AP) — Protesters have scaled one of Moscow's famed Stalin-era skyscrapers and painted the Soviet star on its spire in the national colors of Ukraine.","C. African Republic city tense after church attack. BANGUI, Central African Republic (AP) — Tensions are rising in the capital of Central African Republic a day after Muslim rebels attacked Christians sheltering at a Catholic church.","Greek Parliament passes 2015 budget. ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greece's Parliament has passed the 2015 budget which projects a narrowing deficit and an economic growth rate of 2.9 percent.","3 dead in weekend attacks on Thailand protests. BANGKOK (AP) — An apparent grenade explosion at an anti-government protest site in Thailand's capital killed two people on Sunday, a day after an attack at a similar demonstration in an eastern province killed a child.","Neighbors detail baiting plot in teen's death. MISSOULA, Mont. (AP) — Neighbors of the Montana man who fatally shot a German exchange student testified at the man's murder trial Tuesday that the man's girlfriend told them the couple planned to bait intruders in order to catch them in their garage.","White House reviewing policy toward U.S. hostages held by militants. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama has ordered a comprehensive review of U.S. policy governing efforts to free Americans being held by militant groups overseas, the White House said on Monday. In recent months, Islamic State militants have beheaded three Americans, including Peter Kassig, an aid worker and former U.S. Army Ranger, whose death was announced in a video released by the group on Sunday. ...","Captain back in French lineup vs Australia. MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — France has recalled captain Thierry Dusautoir as part of 10 changes to its starting lineup for Saturday's second rugby test against Australia.","Cameron on collision course with EU peers at summit. Britain's David Cameron looks set to be left out on a limb at an EU summit Thursday over his crusade to block Jean-Claude Juncker's nomination as powerful European Commission chief. After posing in a rowing-boat just two weeks ago with anti-Juncker allies the Dutch and Swedish premiers, Cameron saw the pair abandon his side Wednesday, the eve of a two-day European Union summit expected to be dominated by the row. \"We will support Juncker's candidacy,\" Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte told parliament shortly after Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt made a similar statement before a Swedish parliament committee. As for Germany's Angela Merkel, who was also in the boat and originally reticent over the choice of centre-right Juncker, she too has since changed her tune.","Charity defends 'green light' advice for sex between 13-year-olds. London (AFP) - A sexual health charity on Wednesday defended its guidance giving the \"green light\" to intercourse between children as young as 13 -- three years below the legal age of consent.","Port Adelaide beat Hawthorn, stay top in AFL. MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Chad Wingard kicked three goals and set up two more as Port Adelaide enlarged its flag favoritism with a 15.10 (100) to 13.8 (86) win over Hawthorn in the 10th round of the Australian Football League.","French judges want Sarkozy heard in kickbacks probe. Judges investigating alleged kickbacks from French arms sales want ex-president Nicolas Sarkozy to testify before a special court, a lawyer representing civil parties in the case said Friday. Olivier Morice told AFP that investigating magistrates in the \"Karachi Affair\" want the Cour de Justice de la Republique (CJR), which hears cases of ministerial misconduct, to take up the case. They also want the CJR to summon Sarkozy, who was budget minister in 1994 when the sale took place, as an \"assisted witness\" -- a status that implies he could face charges. French investigators suspect a web of corruption behind the 1994 sale of submarines to Pakistan and frigates to Saudi Arabia, with illegal funds going to fund former prime minister Edouard Balladur's 1995 presidential bid.","Second Tripoli fuel depot ablaze in 'very dangerous' turn. Libya said a second fuel depot caught fire Monday in Tripoli, in a \"very dangerous\" development following a huge oil tank blaze triggered by clashes around the capital's airport. They contain more than 90 million litres of fuel, according to the National Oil Company.","Ukraine rejects autonomy calls for ethnic Hungarians made by Orban. A senior Ukrainian official has rejected calls for autonomy for ethnic Hungarians in western Ukraine made by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, suggesting this would undermine the unity of the former Soviet republic. Ukraine is already threatened by fragmentation due to a separatist revolt by Russian speakers in the country's east that erupted after protesters toppled Moscow-backed president Viktor Yanukovich in February. Ukraine's deputy foreign minister told Hungarian newspaper Nepszabadsag in an interview published on Tuesday that minority languages would be treated equally to Ukrainian in education and official documents in regions with significant minorities. \"But cultural autonomy based on ethnicity... is not on the agenda,\" Natalia Galibarenko was quoted as saying.","Incumbent Rousseff to face Neves in Brazil run-off. Rio de Janeiro (AFP) - Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff will face Social Democrat Aecio Neves in a run-off election, after edging out environmentalist Marina Silva in Sunday's vote.","Suicide bomber hits foreign convoy in Afghan capital, casualties unclear. KABUL (Reuters) - A suicide bomber on a motorcycle attacked a convoy of foreign troops in the east of the Afghan capital, Kabul, on Thursday, police and a government official said, but there was no immediate indication of the extent of any casualties. General Ayoub Salangi, the deputy interior minister, confirmed the bomber was riding a motorcycle after he had earlier indicated it had been a suicide car bomb attack. ...","Sudanese police fire tear gas at protest over Darfur violence. Sudanese police used tear gas and batons against students protesting in Khartoum against government policies in the restive region of Darfur on Tuesday, a Reuters witness said. Around 200 students organized a march at Khartoum University against escalating violence in Darfur, where rebels have been fighting forces of President Omar Hassan al-Bashir. Bashir has stayed in power despite rebellions, U.S. trade sanctions, an economic crisis, an attempted coup and an indictment from the International Criminal Court on charges of masterminding war crimes in Darfur.","China's April services growth quickens slightly: government survey. Growth in China's services sector accelerated slightly in April as new orders held steady, an official survey showed, an encouraging sign of strength in an economy that otherwise faces a cloudy outlook. The purchasing manufacturing index (PMI) for the services industry edged up to 54.8 last month, the National Bureau of Statistics said on Saturday, up marginally from 54.5 in March. The mild improvement in the services sector, which mirrors a marginal gain in the official PMI survey of Chinese factories in April, should be welcomed by investors fretting about the health of the world's second-largest economy. But the pick-ups in the official PMI surveys for factories and services firms would not be enough to dispel concerns that China's slowing growth engine might cool at a sharper pace faster in coming months.","Malaysia bans Ultraman book over use of Allah. KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Malaysia has banned an Ultraman comic book because it uses the word \"Allah\" to describe the Japanese action hero.","Boko Haram Islamists 'kill many' in northeast attack. Boko Haram gunmen killed many people in an attack on the town of Damboa in the restive northeast, throwing explosives into residential homes and shooting dead civilians who tried to surrender, an official and witnesses said Friday. \"The insurgents attacked the town from 6:30pm (1730 GMT) on Thursday to the early hours of today,\" said the official in Damboa's local government who requested anonymity. The militants attacked a police station and an army camp in Damboa on July 6, chasing the security forces out of the town, which has been one of the hardest-hit areas in Boko Haram's five-year extremist uprising. Damboa residents have been left unguarded since the previous attack, the official and witnesses said.","US beats Swiss 9-0 in Olympic women's hockey. SOCHI, Russia (AP) — Monique Lamoureux, Brianna Decker and Amanda Kessel all scored within 55 seconds in the first period as the United States romped to a 9-0 victory over Switzerland on Monday to all-but clinch a spot in the Olympic women's hockey semifinals.","Head of Jamaica rights group resigns. KINGSTON, Jamaica (AP) — The head of Jamaica's most prominent human rights group has resigned over a sex education program implemented in children's group homes.","Station: 2 arraigned in Pa. man's death in Bahamas. FLEETWOOD, Pa. (AP) — Police have released the names of two American men arrested in connection with the stabbing death of an eastern Pennsylvania businessman in the Bahamas.","PSV cruises to 5-1 win over 10-man Utrecht. AMSTERDAM (AP) — PSV Eindhoven cruised to a 5-1 victory over 10-man Utrecht on Sunday to maintain its four-point lead over defending champion Ajax at the top of the Eredivisie after 10 rounds.","Putin says Russia committed to Ukraine peace process: Kremlin. Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday told his Ukrainian counterpart Petro Poroshenko that Moscow remains committed to helping find a peaceful resolution to the fighting in Ukraine, the Kremlin said. In a phone conversation between the two leaders \"Putin confirmed Russia's readiness to continue to contribute to a peaceful settlement of the crisis,\" the Kremlin press office said.","Prison officials deny Van der Sloot stabbing claim. LIMA, Peru (AP) — Peruvian prison officials are denying a claim that convicted killer Joran van der Sloot was stabbed in the highlands prison where he was recently transferred.","As Ukraine moves on rebel stronghold, residents live with sound of shelling. By Alissa de Carbonnel SLAVIANSK Ukraine (Reuters) - Only one of the Ukrainian army checkpoints encircling the separatist stronghold of Slaviansk, where a military operation was in its third day on Thursday, was letting traffic through - most on its way out. \"We're learning to live with it,\" Vlad Cherbanyuk, a car mechanic whose 6-year-old daughter was chasing pigeons under the gaze of a Lenin statue in the central square. Every minute, ' Bam! Bam!' ... Now it's quieter.\" The Kiev government, trying to break rebellions among Russian-speakers in the eastern flatlands, says over 300 rebels had been killed in the \"anti-terrorist operation\" since a new offensive in and around Slaviansk began on Tuesday. With violence continuing in Ukraine's east and tension high between Ukraine and Russia, the crisis is certain to dominate diplomatic exchanges when President-elect Petro Poroshenko meets world leaders this week ahead of his inauguration on Saturday.","South Korean president's leadership under question over PM troubles. By Jack Kim SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korean President Park Geun-hye rejected the resignation of her prime minister on Thursday and asked him to stay on after her second nominee for the job stood aside over controversial comments he had made about Korea's troubled past with Japan. The decision to keep incumbent Prime Minister Chung Hong-won, who tendered his resignation two months ago over the government's flawed response to a ferry disaster, heightened concerns about her ability to rule and push through reforms.","Malawi rights group seeks review of gays' jail sentences. Blantyre (Malawi) (AFP) - A Malawi high court on Monday began hearing a petition by a leading rights group seeking to obtain the review of jail sentences of three gays and to overturn laws that criminalise homosexuality. \"We want the court to declare the laws that criminalise homosexuality in Malawi unconstitutional,\" Gift Trapence, director of a rights group, the Centre for Development of People (CEDEP), told AFP. \"We are also seeking a review of sentences passed by the courts to three men who are serving long jail terms for homosexual acts,\" said Trapence. In 2011, a magistrate court sentenced Amon Champyuni, Mathew Bello and Mussa Chiwisi to between six years and 12 years in jail with hard labour for unnatural acts and buggery offences.","Production halted at Samsung China supplier amid child labor probe. By James Pomfret CHASHAN China (Reuters) - Production has been indefinitely halted at a Chinese supplier to Samsung Electronics Co Ltd after the factory was suspected of using child workers. Samsung, the world's biggest smartphone maker, said last week it had stopped doing business with the Dongguan Shinyang Electronics factory, a wholly owned subsidiary of South Korea's Shinyang Engineering Co Ltd , after an audit led to evidence of what Samsung called suspected child labor. The Dongguan Shinyang factory is a squat building in an industrial estate in Chashan, one of hundreds of towns spread across southern China's Pearl River Delta, dubbed the factory of the world. In Seoul, a senior official at parent firm Shinyang Engineering said its China factory had been idle since July 14.","Villarreal ends Atletico's home unbeaten run. BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Villarreal ended Atletico Madrid's streak of 27 straight home games without a loss in the Spanish league after striker Luciano Vietto scored late to grab a 1-0 win on Sunday.","Hollande, Draghi agree on threat from low growth, low inflation: official. French President Francois Hollande and European Central Bank chief Mario Draghi agreed on Monday that low inflation and weak growth were threatening the European Union's economy, an official in the president's office said. Draghi called last week for greater emphasis on fiscal stimulus over austerity - comments that irritated German leaders but were welcomed in France because they hinted at a shift away from a current emphasis on budgetary austerity. \"I think the diagnosis is a shared one,\" an advisor to Hollande told reporters after an hour-long meeting between the Socialist president and Draghi at the Elysee presidential palace. The two men shared the view that weak growth and dangerously low inflation in the European Union were problems that needed to be addressed, the advisor added.","Brazil sky-high prices shock World Cup tourists. Brazil is a land of sky-high prices, and here is a sample of the charges awaiting visitors coming for the World Cup:","UN rights chief: Libyan civil society under threat. CAIRO (AP) — The United Nations human rights chief is warning that civil society, bloggers and professionals in Libya face a \"climate of fear\" created by warring militias.","French troops go from heroes to villains in Central Africa. Bangui (Central African Republic) (AFP) - Six months after being welcomed as saviours in the Central African Republic, the 2,000 French soldiers in the country face growing hostility from a population accusing them of failing to curb interfaith violence. France launched Operation Sangaris in its former colony in December to stop the violence that exploded after a March 2013 coup by the mainly Muslim rebels of the Seleka alliance in the majority-Christian country. Civilians cheered the arrival of the French troops after enduring massacres by rogue Seleka fighters and then revenge killings targeting Muslim civilians that left the streets of the capital Bangui strewn with corpses. It peaked on May 28 when 17 people were massacred at a Bangui church and 27 were abducted, according to the United Nations, with no intervention by peacekeeping forces.","Turkey says no ransom paid for release of hostages held by Islamic State. By Seda Sezer ISTANBUL (Reuters) - President Tayyip Erdogan said on Sunday no ransom had been paid for the release of Turkish hostages held by Islamic State but he declined to be drawn on whether their release freed Turkey's hand to take a more active stance against the insurgents. Turkish intelligence agents brought 46 hostages seized by Islamic State militants in northern Iraq back to Turkey on Saturday after more than three months in captivity, in what Erdogan described as a covert rescue operation. \"A material negotiation is totally out of the question ... ...","South African IT executive tried to bribe police to win contract: police. An executive director of South African technology firm Pinnacle Holdings allegedly offered a 5 million rand ($460,400)bribe to a senior police official in order to win a contract for his company, police said on Tuesday. Takalani Tshivhase was arrested after he allegedly offered the bribe to a Lieutenant General in the South African Police Service in order to win a contract to provide the police service with field equipment, police said in a statement.","Loss of employees on Malaysia flight a blow, U.S. chipmaker says. By Noel Randewich SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Employees of Freescale Semiconductor who were on a Malaysia Airlines flight presumed to have crashed were doing sophisticated work at the U.S. chipmaker, a company spokesman said on Sunday. The 20 Freescale employees, among 239 people on flight MH370, were mostly engineers and other experts working to make the company's chip facilities in Tianjin, China, and Kuala Lumpur more efficient, said Mitch Haws, vice president, global communications and investor relations. \"It's definitely a loss for the company.\" None of Austin, Texas-based Freescale's most senior executives were on board the Boeing Co 777-200ER airliner that vanished from radar screens about an hour after it took off from Kuala Lumpur for Beijing on Saturday. The employees who were on board, 12 from Malaysia and eight from China, came from a range of disciplines and they were part of a broad push by Chief Executive Officer Gregg Lowe to make Freescale more efficient and cost effective, Haws said.","Beijing issues pollution alert ahead of three days of heavy smog. China's capital Beijing issued an emergency pollution alert for the first time on Thursday, warning residents to reduce outdoor activities and construction sites to control dust given a forecast of heavy smog over the next three days. Severe pollution in Beijing has made it \"barely suitable\" for living, according to an official report published earlier this month, and despite numerous measures aimed at improving air quality in recent years, Beijing still regularly suffers from choking smog. The Beijing Municipal Environmental Protection Bureau said on its website it had issued a Yellow alert - the first use of a color-coded warning system unveiled last October.","Dallas officials vow care for Ebola patient's dog. DALLAS (AP) — Texas officials say they're trying to find an appropriate place to monitor a dog that belongs to a nurse diagnosed with Ebola.","Pliskova beats Goerges to reach Pattaya Open final. PATTAYA, Thailand (AP) — Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic beat Julia Goerges of Germany 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 Saturday to reach the final of the Pattaya Open.","Obama to try to rally world to isolate Russia. AMSTERDAM (AP) — President Barack Obama delved into a day of delicate diplomacy Monday as he sought to rally the international community around efforts to isolate Russia following its incursion into Ukraine.","Pakistan talks with Taliban team delayed. ISLAMABAD (AP) — Peace talks between Pakistani officials and a three-member team representing the Taliban have apparently been delayed after government negotiators failed to show up for the first round.","Pope runs late, asks to skip prayers _ or else!. KKOTTOGNAE, South Korea (AP) — Pope Francis has long been a stickler for making enough time to pray, getting up at 4:30 a.m. to ensure he isn't rushed through his daily meditations.","UK Labour leader Ed Miliband embarrassed by U.S. adviser's gaffe. U.S. political adviser David Axelrod spelt British opposition leader Ed Miliband's surname wrongly in a Tweet on Friday erroneously linking to a spoof account that pokes fun at his new client instead. The gaffe, which came down to Axelrod, a former adviser to President Barack Obama, putting an extra 'l' in the Labour party leader's surname, delighted British Prime Minister David Cameron's Conservative party who sought to make political capital from the mistake. \"Labour's latest guru @davidaxelrod gets Ed Miliband's name wrong in tweet - DOH! £300k (300,000 pounds) a year for this?,\" the party's central office wrote in a Tweet, mischievously asking whether Axelrod had actually met the real Miliband. Axelrod, who swiftly fixed the spelling mistake, has been in London meeting Miliband and the Labour party for the first time since being hired by them to offer strategic advice ahead of a national election next year.","Israeli leader calls for independent Kurdistan. TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Citing the chaos in Iraq, Israel's prime minister has called for the establishment of an independent Kurdistan as part of a broader alliance between Israel and moderate forces across the region.","China's fake Sphinx to be demolished: state media. A replica of Egypt's iconic Sphinx built in northern China will be dismantled after an Egyptian ministry complained about the structure, state media said Sunday. A massive replica of the ancient statue was built in Hebei province, the official Xinhua news agency said. But Egypt's ministry of antiquities complained to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) about the Chinese imitation, it cited a source as saying.","Texas lab worker on cruise tests negative for Ebola. GALVESTON Texas (Reuters) - A Dallas hospital lab worker who spent much of a cruise holiday in isolation after possible exposure to Ebola has tested negative for the disease, and in Texas some of the dozens of people still being monitored were expected to be cleared on Sunday and Monday. The Carnival Magic docked in the port of Galveston, Texas after a week-long cruise that included being denied docking by Belize and Mexico because of the presence of the woman on board. The precautions taken over the Texas lab worker reflected anxiety over the spread of Ebola. ...","Bayern beats Mainz 2-0 to put 1 hand on title. BERLIN (AP) — Bayern Munich left it late to grind out a 2-0 win in Mainz on Saturday and move one victory away from the Bundesliga title.","Reporter among 3 Americans believed held by Iran. WASHINGTON (AP) — Three Americans, including a reporter for The Washington Post, appear to have been detained in Iran.","Queen Elizabeth to name warship Queen Elizabeth. Queen Elizabeth II will officially name Britain's biggest ever warship, the HMS Queen Elizabeth, at a ceremony in July, the Ministry of Defence announced on Saturday. The monarch will give the 65,000-tonne aircraft carrier a traditional champagne christening at the Rosyth dockyard near Edinburgh on July 4 to mark its completion. More than 7,000 people in more than 100 companies around Britain have played a hand in its construction. \"This will be a proud and historic day, not just for the Royal Navy but for the entire nation,\" Defence Secretary Philip Hammond said.","Japan PM Abe sends offering to Yasukuni Shrine: Japanese media. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe sends a ritual offering to Yasukuni Shrine, seen by critics as a symbol of Japan's past militarism, Japanese media reported on Monday, in a move likely to ruffle already strained ties with China and South Korea. Japanese media said Abe will not visit the shrine, where 14 Japanese leaders convicted as war criminals by an Allied tribunal are honored along with Japan's war dead.","Canadians protest loss of door-to-door mail delivery. Mail carriers and the elderly have come out strongly against the phasing out of door-to-door mail delivery in Canada since it was announced in December, holding protests and -- suitably -- writing letters. The union representing Canada Post workers said the Crown corporation should have looked at diversifying its services in order to boost revenues, instead of making cuts. The elderly and Canadians living with disabilities or mobility issues, meanwhile, say they will be disproportionately affected by the change, and have received backing from opposition parties. \"It was irresponsible of the government and Canada Post to cut door-to-door mail delivery,\" said opposition New Democratic Party MP Hoang Mai.","Meyer hails Springbok character after scare. South Africa coach Heyneke Meyer hailed the character of his team Sunday in the wake of a lucky 33-31 Rugby Championship victory over Argentina in Salta. Serial match-winner Morne Steyn ignored whistling and booing to slot a penalty three minutes from time and give the Springboks a second win over the Pumas within eight days. It was the climax of a stirring last-quarter comeback by the visitors as tries from right-wing Cornal Hendricks and flank Marcell Coetzee wiped out a 12-point deficit.","It's the pits for Hamilton in Hockenheim. Lewis Hamilton may have to start Sundayâ s German Grand Prix from the pit lane after his Mercedes team indicated they are likely to change brake suppliers for his car following his high speed crash during qualifying. The 29-year-old had switched to Brembo brakes on Saturday morning, but following a failure of his right front disc that pitched him into a collision with the barriers at the Sachskurve the team said they wanted to revert to Carbone Industrie discs on Hamiltonâ s car. Changing brake specification is a breach of the parc ferme regulations that would require Hamilton therefore to start the 67-lap race from the pit lane. Hamilton qualified 16th, but was expected to start 15th on the grid thanks to a penalty for Mexican Esteban Guttierez of Sauber.","Box with materials from ancient city recovered. LONDON (AP) — The things you find when you do a good clear out.","Croatian court rules to extradite Yugoslav-era spy chief to Germany. A Croatian court ruled on Thursday that the head of former Yugoslavia's secret service can be extradited to Germany where he is wanted for the killing of a dissident in 1983. Former spy chief Zdravko Mustac was arrested on January 1 along with a subordinate, Josip Perkovic, the day Croatia amended its extradition laws to end a dispute with the European Union that had clouded its accession to the bloc in July. Croatia said at the time it wanted to protect its veterans of the 1991-95 war from prosecution abroad and denied any connection with the Perkovic and Mustac cases. Perkovic was handed over to Germany shortly after his arrest and following the approval from the local and the Supreme Court.","Europe's centre right make gains on election eve: poll. By Robin Emmott BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The center right has extended its lead over the center left in the race for dominance in the European Parliament elections this week, a poll showed on Tuesday, but both sides are expected to fiercely contest the presidency of the European Commission. The European People's Party (EPP) will take 217 seats in the May 22-25 vote, a five-seat improvement on a week ago, according to an analysis of national surveys by PollWatch 2014, its final forecast before polls open. Meanwhile, the center-left Socialists and Democrats (S&D) have lost ground over the past week. According to the survey, the center right, the center left, the Liberals and the Greens - Europe's four mainstream groups - will take 69.5 percent of the 751 seats in the parliament.","Kerry confronts threat of new war in Iraq. BAGHDAD (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry has arrived in Iraq, where a nation that saw the departure of American troops just three years ago now faces threat of a civil war.","FIFA VP frustrated with Italy, Spain over racism. LONDON (AP) — FIFA Vice President Jeffrey Webb has condemned \"deep rooted racism\" in Italy after Mario Balotelli was racially abused while training with the national team.","French-led forces clash with 'terrorist group' in Mali. Violent fighting between French-led forces and an \"armed terrorist group\" in restive northern Mali erupted overnight, Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said Wednesday. \"Last night, as part of a planned operation to fight against jihadist movements in northern Mali, a violent clash pitted the Barkhane force against a big armed terrorist group in the Tigharghar mountain range. Le Drian gave no further details on whether there were any casualties. French troops intervened in Mali in January 2013 to chase out hardline Islamists, including Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, which had seized control of the country's northern desert cities.","China vows 'harsh punishment' for toxic smog culprits. China's environment ministry has vowed to 'harshly punish' factories and power plants that contributed to a hazardous smog which enveloped much of Northern China, official state media reported on Wednesday. Investigations had found that some thermal power plants, cement and steel makers in the northern province of Hebei had failed to halt or curtail production during severely smoggy days despite government orders, state news agency Xinhua quoted the Ministry of Environmental Protection as saying.","American forward Altidore trains on own again. SAO PAULO (AP) — Jozy Altidore has trained on his own again, an indication the injured forward isn't likely to start in the United States' second-round World Cup game against Belgium next week.","Obama: Sony decision to cancel movie a 'mistake'. WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama says he thinks Sony Pictures Entertainment \"made a mistake\" by canceling release of \"The Interview\" movie.","$580 million EU antitrust fine for drug makers. BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union's antitrust body is imposing a fine of 428 million euros ($580 million) on France's pharmaceutical company Servier and five producers of generic medicines for distorting competition.","Pricing is key for new heart drugs challenging cheap generics. While new treatments on show in Barcelona are certainly moving cardiovascular medicine forward after a series of setbacks in recent years, cardiologists say that cost will be key in determining how widely they are used. “We are entering a new era of treatment and, of course, it will cost a lot of money, which is a problem,” said Michel Bertrand, emeritus professor at the University of Lille and a past president of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC). Hopes have spiked for a heart failure drug from Novartis and an innovative class of injectable anti-cholesterol agents known as PCSK9 inhibitors after the release of data at the ESC's annual meeting indicated that they can save more lives than standard therapies. Novartis's new heart failure drug LCZ696, for example, was tested in a pivotal trial against enalapril, a generic drug in the so-called ACE inhibitor class, a month's supply of which can be bought at Wal-Mart stores for only $4.","Britain urges Russian, Ukraine ministers to meet in Paris. Britain on Wednesday urged Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov to meet with his Ukrainian counterpart in Paris to kickstart negotiations aimed at peacefully resolving the crisis in the Crimea. \"The goal for today is to bring the Russians into a diplomatic process...at least a start of it,\" Foreign Secretary William Hague said after talks with US Secretary of State John Kerry and acting Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Deshchytsya. Lavrov was expected in Paris to attend a pre-arranged meeting on Lebanon but it was unclear if he would accept to sit down with Deshchytsya at any point. Russia does not recognise the government that took power in Ukraine after Moscow-backed president Viktor Yanukovych was ousted after three months of pro-European Union protests which left nearly 100 dead.","Las Vegas Sands sites remain down, probe continues. LAS VEGAS (AP) — Websites for casino giant Las Vegas Sands Corp. remained down for a fourth day while company and U.S. investigators trace the origin and effect of a hacking intrusion.","Correction: Egypt-El-Sissi story. CAIRO (AP) — In a story Jan. 29 about Egypt's army chief Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, The Associated Press reported erroneously that Morsi aide Wael Haddara wrote after the coup that el-Sissi was chosen as army chief because he was the youngest of the top brass. Haddara said el-Sissi was the youngest but did not say that was the reason he was selected. The story also should have provided the context that Haddara's statement was made in the comments section of a publicly viewable Facebook page.","Germany finds 265 pounds of cocaine among bananas. BERLIN (AP) — German police say they have seized 265 pounds (120 kilograms) of cocaine hidden among crates of bananas in a container shipped from Ecuador — their second big find of cocaine from South America this year.","Mercedes pair fastest at Australian GP. MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Mercedes confirmed its status as favorite to win the Formula One season-opening Australian Grand Prix by setting the fastest two times in Friday's practice sessions, with Lewis Hamilton edging his teammate Nico Rosberg.","Ukrainian gas oligarch Firtash arrested in Vienna on FBI warrant. By Michael Shields and Angelika Gruber VIENNA (Reuters) - Industrialist Dmytro Firtash, one of Ukraine's most influential oligarchs with close links to Russia through his gas interests, has been arrested in Austria at the request of the United States. Austria's Federal Crime Agency said on Thursday that Firtash was held on Wednesday on suspicion of violating laws on bribery and forming a criminal organization in the course of foreign business deals. Ukraine's Foreign Ministry said: \"Our embassy in Austria has confirmed that Dmytro Firtash has been detained at the request of the (U.S.) Federal Bureau of Investigation.","Algerian nomads begin voting in presidential poll. Algerian nomads began voting Monday for the April 17 presidential election at 167 mobile polling stations in the country's vast desert interior, the authorities said. Campaigning ended on Sunday after the incumbent Abdelaziz Bouteflika, who is seeking a fourth term, waged a war of words with his only real rival Ali Benflis.","CME Group fines Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan for hog trades. CHICAGO (Reuters) - The Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan Board, which manages investments for Canada's largest single-profession pension plan, violated speculative position limits in CME Group Inc's lean hog futures market, the exchange-operator said on Friday. Chicago-based CME fined the board $15,000 and ordered it give up nearly $18,000 in profits for exceeding position limits on two dates in March 2013, according to a disciplinary notice. The pension plan had assets worth almost $141 billion as of December 31. A board representative could not immediately be reached for comment. ...","Vos hails women's Tour, eyes more progress. PARIS (AP) — World and Olympic champion Marianne Vos says women cyclists got a \"big boost\" when Tour de France organizers agreed to host a one-day race for them in Paris this year, but she's not stopping there.","Bayern signs Michael Reschke as technical director. MUNICH (AP) — Bayern Munich has signed Michael Reschke as technical director from Bundesliga rival Bayer Leverkusen.","Gunmen abduct British national in Yemeni capital. SANAA, Yemen (AP) — Security officials in Yemen say armed men have abducted a British national working with an oil services company on a main street in the capital of Sanaa.","Sea survivor's Salvadoran family thought he died. GARITA PALMERA, El Salvador (AP) — A Salvadoran fisherman's account of his survival after more than 13 months and about 6,500 miles in an open boat has proved a double miracle for his mother and father, who lost touch with him eight years ago and thought he was dead.","China's house prices fall further, economic gloom deepens. By Xiaoyi Shao and Lu Jianxin BEIJING/SHANGHAI (Reuters) - Worries that China's economy may be slowing further intensified on Thursday as data showed home prices fell for the fourth straight month, adding to expectations that Beijing will need to do more to stimulate activity. For now, policy easing is likely to come in the form of help to the most vulnerable sectors, rather than more aggressive steps such as cutting interest rates, but authorities are ready to step in with bolder measures if unemployment rises, policy insiders told Reuters. ...","Average Wall Street cash bonus highest since crash: NYS Comptroller. Wall Street's average cash bonus swelled last year to its highest since the financial crisis and the third largest on record, New York State's budget watchdog said on Wednesday. The cash bonus pool jumped 15 percent to $26.7 billion in 2013, pushing the average cash bonus was $164,530, according to the New York state comptroller's annual estimate based on personal income tax trends. The increased bonuses came as Wall Street posted a fifth consecutive year of profits after record losses during the 2008 financial crisis. \"Wall Street navigated through some rough patches last year and had a profitable year in 2013.","Image of Asia: Welcoming the new year in Nepal. In this photo by Niranjan Shrestha, a young Nepalese ethnic Gurung boy holds a Nepalese flag and marches in a parade to welcome in the new year Tuesday in Katmandu. The Gurungs mark Dec. 30 — known as Tamu Loshar — with feasting and family gatherings, as well as traditional music and dance. Tuesday marks the beginning of the Year of the Sheep for Gurungs, who are also known as Tamu.","Ukraine: Rebels attack from both sides of border. KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian troops have recaptured more than a dozen eastern villages from pro-Russia separatists but Russia is allowing the rebels to attack Ukrainian border posts from its territory, a top security official said Friday.","European Central Bank holds rates amid recovery. FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — The European Central Bank kept its interest rates unchanged on Thursday and raised its growth forecasts as it acknowledged that the recovery is strengthening.","Toronto crack mayor to undergo chemotherapy for cancer. Ottawa (AFP) - Toronto Mayor Rob Ford, who earned global notoriety for smoking crack cocaine in a \"drunken stupor\" while in office, will undergo chemotherapy to fight a malignant tumor, his doctor said Wednesday.","China summons Manila envoy over South China Sea legal case. By Ben Blanchard BEIJING (Reuters) - China summoned the Philippines ambassador on Monday to lodge a strong complaint over Manila's seeking of international arbitration in a festering territorial dispute over the South China Sea. The Philippines filed the case against China on Sunday at an arbitration tribunal in The Hague, subjecting Beijing to international legal scrutiny over the waters for the first time. The United States, a treaty ally of the Philippines, said on Sunday that the right of any state to use dispute resolution mechanisms under the Convention on the Law of the Sea should be respected. On Monday, the U.S. State Department accused China's coastguard of \"harassment\" of Philippine vessels and called its attempt on Saturday to block a Philippine resupply mission to the Second Thomas Shoal, a disputed atoll, \"a provocative and destabilizing action.\" Chinese Deputy Foreign Minister Liu Zhenmin told the Philippines' ambassador that Beijing was \"extremely dissatisfied and resolutely opposed\" to the case Manila had brought to The Hague, repeating that China did not accept it and would not participate.","British teenager admits killing teacher in class. LONDON (AP) — A British teenager who stabbed his teacher to death in a classroom has admitted responsibility for the killing.","Federal court finds protesters in contempt for ignoring order to halt anti-whaling campaign. SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Federal court finds protesters in contempt for ignoring order to halt anti-whaling campaign.","Britain says not making contingency plans for Scottish independence. LONDON (Reuters) - Britain is not making contingency plans for the possibility that Scots will vote for independence on Sept. 18, a spokesman for Prime Minister David Cameron said on Monday. When asked if Britain would now make plans given a poll on Sunday that showed for the first time that Scots might vote for independence, Cameron's spokesman said: \"No. There has been no change here. The government's entire focus ... is on making the case for the UK staying together.\" (Reporting by Kylie MacLellan, writing by Guy Faulconbridge, editing by Michael Holden)","Libyan militia fighters enter U.S. embassy annex in Tripoli: source. Members of a Libyan rebel militia have entered an annex of the U.S. Libya has been rocked by the worst factional violence since the 2011 fall of Muammar Gaddafi.","UN chief calls on Hamas to accept cease-fire. UNITED NATIONS (AP) — U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is calling on Hamas to accept the Egyptian-initiated cease-fire in Gaza.","Videos show teens' last moments on sinking ferry. SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Soon after the ferry began to tilt, high school students can be seen huddled below deck in a video, joking about the Titanic and taking selfies even as fear slowly built.","Circus matriarch Madame Rosa remains active at 103. PARIS (AP) — Madame Rosa appears at the circus apartment doorway in sparkling diamonds, red lipstick and a walking frame — and sits down beside her leopard skin rug.","Murdoch reported to be moving to consolidate European pay-TV holdings. Reports this weekend that Rupert Murdoch's 21st Century Fox wants to consolidate its pay-TV European holdings by combining the company's stake in British Sky Broadcasting Group Plc with its Sky Deutschland and Sky Italia assets would fit with the company's long-held view the Sky's would be strong together. Bloomberg reported on Friday that Fox was in talks for such a deal, worth about 10 billion euros ($13.76 billion), that would turn BSkyB into a European satellite-TV giant. Fox owns a 39 percent stake in BSkyB, a 55 percent stake in Sky Deutschland and all of Sky Italia.","Crime spree helps Pakistani Taliban squirrel away cash before raids begin. By Katharine Houreld and Jibran Ahmad PESHAWAR Pakistan (Reuters) - In the months before Pakistan jets began pounding Taliban hideouts in the lawless border region near Afghanistan, militants were busily conducting an unprecedented wave of kidnapping and extortion, stockpiling cash for the fight ahead. Businessmen in some areas say extortion increased five-fold before the long-awaited military offensive began in the frontier region of North Waziristan on June 15. Militant-related kidnappings also spiked in the commercial capital, Karachi. The crime wave means that, even if the military seizes control of remote and mountainous North Waziristan, the government still faces a well-armed and well-financed insurgency with roots dug deeply into Pakistan's big cities.","Former Hong Kong chief secretary says he accepted secret payoff from Beijing. HONG KONG (Reuters) - A former top Hong Kong civil servant told a court on Tuesday that he had received a secret payment of HK$11 million ($1.4 million) \"from Beijing\" in 2007 through a businessman intermediary, local media reported. Hong Kong's former chief secretary, Rafael Hui, was testifying in one of the financial hub's largest corruption trials, charged with accepting \"concealed and disguised\" payments from property tycoons Thomas and Raymond Kwok, the billionaire co-chairmen of Asia's largest developer, Sun Hung Kai Properties Ltd, seeking government favor. ...","Unilever sales growth hurt by slowing emerging markets. Unilever missed second-quarter sales estimates on Thursday, citing a slowdown in emerging markets and continuing malaise in developed markets. The Anglo-Dutch maker of Ben & Jerry's ice cream, Dove soap and Lipton tea said underlying sales - which exclude the impact of foreign exchange, acquisitions and disposals - rose 3.8 percent, compared to analysts' expectations of 4.3 percent. \"Overall there's a slowdown in Asia,\" Chief Financial Officer Jean-Marc Huet told Reuters, citing China and Vietnam in particular. \"Russia has been difficult, you can imagine why.\" The global markets in which Unilever operates are now growing at about 2.5 percent, Huet said, down from about 3 percent at the start of the year.","Ukrainian opposition leader pushes for support. MUNICH (AP) — A Ukrainian opposition leader said Friday that his country needs more than \"vocal support\" from the West and that he would push at a security conference for more active involvement to help resolve the current political crisis.","Last-place Parma docked a point for unpaid wages. ROME (AP) — Parma has fallen further into last place in Serie A with a one-point penalty for failing to pay players' salaries.","Guantanamo detainee transfer to Uruguay unlikely before vote: official. President José Mujica earlier this year accepted a request to take half a dozen inmates from the center used to imprison people detained after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States, but at least one poll showed the move to be unpopular among Uruguayans. \"I don't believe the process will be completed in the next two or three months,\" Diego Canepa, vice secretary of the presidency, told Reuters. Guantanamo has been criticized by human rights groups, with some of its prisoners held for a decade or longer without being charged or given a trial. President George W. Bush in 2002 to hold terrorism suspects rounded up overseas, Guantanamo became a symbol of the excesses of his \"war on terror.\" U.S.","Dewani trial hears wife's desperate emails. Cape Town (AFP) - The murdered wife of bisexual British millionaire businessman Shrien Dewani sent him desperate emails just days after their marriage questioning his \"feelings\" for her, a South African court heard Tuesday.","Gloves off as India's BJP woos the Hindu vote in northern heartland. By Sharat Pradhan MUZAFFARNAGAR, India (Reuters) - India's main opposition party, tipped to form the next government, appears to be returning to its Hindu nationalist roots at the start of a five-week general election, raking up divisive issues and using strong language in an area hit by religious riots. Criss-crossing the country for months before the first phase of voting began on Monday, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its candidate for prime minister, Narendra Modi, had mainly campaigned on a ticket of better governance, economic development and job creation. But just hours after voting started, the election commission demanded an explanation from Modi's chief aide Amit Shah, accusing him of incendiary speeches in towns where dozens of people, mostly Muslims, were killed in Hindu-Muslim riots last year. When justice is not done to all the parties and the action is one-sided action, then the public is forced to come out in the streets,\" Shah said in the town of Muzaffarnagar in Uttar Pradesh state last week, according to a transcript provided by the commission.","Japan issues highest alert over super typhoon Neoguri. Tokyo (AFP) - Japan's weather agency on Monday issued its highest alert as super typhoon Neoguri barreled toward the southern Okinawa island chain, warning of violent winds and high waves.","Suspect in 2013 Kansas killing caught in Mexico. MEXICO CITY (AP) — Authorities in Mexico say they have captured a man wanted for a 2013 killing in Kansas and will hand him over to U.S. authorities.","Rugby-Whatever the weather, we just have to play well - McCaw. By Greg Stutchbury NAPIER, New Zealand, Sept 5 (Reuters) - Rain, hail or typical Hawke's Bay sunshine, New Zealand captain Richie McCaw has told his team he wants an improved performance from his side when they meet Argentina in the Rugby Championship on Saturday. Some observers may consider McCaw's message strange given the All Blacks put Australia to the sword at Eden Park almost two weeks ago, running up a record 51-20 victory to retain the Bledisloe Cup. The All Blacks were delighted with the scoreline and much of their performance in Auckland, but felt they had left points on the field against Australia and would need to improve when they faced the Pumas in Napier. \"We have to walk off the field having had our level of performance the same if not better than what we did last time,\" McCaw told reporters at McLean Park on Friday.","Cameron reshuffles his cabinet on Twitter. Getting the latest news on a government reshuffle once meant loitering for hours in Downing Street waiting for ministers to emerge from the prime minister's office and judging their fate by the look on their face. Watch this Twitter feed for the very latest. When his Conservative party was still in opposition in 2009, Cameron was famously reluctant to join Twitter admitting he was wary of the instantness of the micro-blogging site. Government ministries routinely use Twitter and more than 450 of the 650 members of the House of Commons have accounts, with former foreign secretary William Hague one of the most enthusiastic users.","France, Germany and Poland warn on Crimea instability. France, Germany and Poland said on Friday that they were \"very worried\" by events in Crimea and urged all parties to refrain from any action endangering Ukraine's territorial integrity. In a joint statement by their foreign ministries, the three countries said that Ukraine's crisis could only be solved in a lasting manner if all political forces subscribed to that goal. \"We are very worried by the unstable situation in Crimea,\" the ministries said in the statement distributed in Paris by the French foreign ministry. \"Everything must be done to reduce tension in the eastern region and encourage all parties concerned to talk.","South Africa beat Wales 38-16 in first Test. Durban (South Africa) (AFP) - South Africa beat Wales 38-16 in Durban on Saturday in the first rugby Test of a two-match series.","Time presses as climate talks head for penultimate day. Lima (AFP) - Environment ministers from around the world face mounting time pressure on Thursday to shape a blueprint for a global pact on climate change with ground-breaking carbon curbs at its core.","Sudanese police clear protest calling for opposition leader's release. Police used batons to clear around 80 protesters who were blocking a major road in Khartoum on Friday to demand the release of Sudanese opposition leader Sadiq al-Mahdi, arrested last month. Mahdi, a former prime minister who heads the opposition Umma Party, was detained after the public prosecutor ordered an investigation into charges that he insulted security forces in comments about a surge in violence in the Darfur region. Mahdi was prime minister in Sudan's last elected civilian government before he was overthrown in 1989 by the current president, Omar Hassan al-Bashir.","Britain to consider outlawing 'revenge porn'. Angry lovers who post naked images of former partners on the Internet without their consent could face prosecution in Britain, the justice secretary said on Tuesday. So-called \"revenge porn\" is a growing problem in Britain and the government is open to creating a law against it, Justice Secretary Chris Grayling said.","Violence soars in Gaza as world pleads for truce. Bloodshed in and around Gaza surged Monday with a strike killing eight Palestinian children and a mortar shell leaving dead four in Israel, shattering hopes for an end to three weeks of devastating violence. \"In the name of humanity, the violence must stop,\" pleaded UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon after holding long talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, urging him to \"stop the violence\" and heed international calls for a ceasefire. \"We must be prepared for a lengthy campaign,\" he said in a live broadcast after a mortar attack killed four people in southern Israel, and troops fought a gun battle with Palestinian militants who sneaked across the border. As he spoke, the military sent messages to thousands of Palestinians in Shejaiya, Zeitun, Jabaliya, Beit Lahiya and Beit Hanun, urging them to flee their homes and seek shelter in central Gaza City as troops prepared to step up their 21-day campaign.","Column: Pour Yaya Toure, the wrong kind of blue. Yaya Toure, you prankster.","A glance at the game of no-limit Texas Hold 'em. In no-limit Texas Hold 'em, the game played at the main event of the World Series of Poker, two cards are dealt face down to each player, followed by a round of bets. Each player must either fold their hand, match the bet or bet more than the big blind — the mandatory minimum bet put in by the player two spots to the left of the rotating dealer button. That includes the player in the small blind, which is half the big blind, one spot to the left of the button.","Hamburg fires sporting director Oliver Kreuzer. HAMBURG, Germany (AP) — Hamburger SV has fired sporting director Oliver Kreuzer as part of a shake-up following a season in which the club narrowly avoided relegation from the Bundesliga.","Root to stay at Yorkshire for two more years. England batsman Joe Root has signed a new contract with his native county of Yorkshire that will keep him at Headingley for at least another two years, the club announced Monday. The 23-year-old is currently sidelined with a broken thumb and has missed the start of the new county season but Yorkshire hope to have him back in action later this month. His new deal will see him stay at Yorkshire until at least December 2016.","Al-Qaida chief blesses attacks on Egypt security. CAIRO (AP) — Al-Qaida leader Ayman al-Zawahri has given his blessing to attacks of Egyptian jihadis on the police and army, but said they should avoid harming civilians.","Somali Islamists plotting Djibouti attack: Britain. Somalia's Al-Qaeda-linked Shebab insurgents are planning further attacks in the Horn of Africa nation of Djibouti, Britain warned Thursday, after suicide bombers last month attacked a crowded restaurant. \"There are credible reports that Al-Shebab plan, and have the capability, to attack targets in Djibouti, including Western interests,\" the Foreign Office said, noting \"there is a high threat from terrorism\" in the port city. Troops from Djibouti are part of the African Union force in Somalia fighting the Shebab, and Djibouti's port also serves as a key base for ships taking part in international anti-piracy operations off the Somali coast.","Bahrain's Ali Hasan Mahboob wins Asiad marathon. INCHEON, South Korea (AP) — Ali Hasan Mahboob of Bahrain has won the Asian Games men's marathon in 2 hours, 12 minutes and 38 seconds.","Strong quake hits Mexico, Guatemala; 3 dead. TUXTLA GUTIERREZ, Mexico (AP) — A magnitude-6.9 earthquake on the Pacific Coast jolted a wide area of southern Mexico and Central America Monday, killing at least two people and damaging dozens of homes.","Kerry says Iran 'breakout' window now seen as two months. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Tuesday the current view of the Iran \"breakout\" period for developing nuclear weapons capability is two months. \"I think it's public knowledge today that we're operating with a time period for a so-called breakout of about two months. Iran's breakout time is defined as how long it would take it to produce fissile material for one weapon. Kerry made his comment in response to a question about whether negotiators over Iran's nuclear program were aiming for a 6- to 12-month \"breakout\" period, which Kerry declined to confirm as talks are continuing.","Rogelj wins women's ski jump World Cup event. LILLEHAMMER, Norway (AP) — Spela Rogelj of Slovenia won the opening women's ski jump World Cup event of the season on Friday for her first career victory.","EU expected to agree Ukraine sanctions urgently. The European Union moved quickly on Wednesday towards agreeing sanctions on officials who used excessive force during Ukraine protests that killed at least 25 people. European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said he expected EU governments to urgently agree on targeted sanctions \"against those responsible for violence and use of excessive force\" in Ukraine. EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton called an emergency meeting of EU foreign ministers to discuss the situation in Ukraine in Brussels on Thursday, where sanctions are expected to be discussed.","Lithuanian charged with Surrey couple's murder. London (AFP) - A man was due to appear in court Saturday charged with murder after a married couple were found dead in their home.","Brutality and 'The Beast': why child migration to U.S. is slowing down. By Gabriel Stargardter ARRIAGA Mexico (Reuters) - When 26-year-old unemployed Honduran Javier Soto tried to sneak into the United States earlier this year, he breezed all the way through to northern Mexico before he was finally caught. He made another attempt last week but this time he made it only as far as Arriaga, a wild-west railroad town, in southern Mexico. He was stopped in his tracks by immigration officials fanning out to deter migrants from clambering onto 'La Bestia', or \"The Beast\", a network of cargo trains bound north. Pickups carrying immigration agents and police took Soto and fellow migrants by surprise as they tried to hitch a ride on the train in Arriaga, sending them running off into the night.","Modi pitches India's frugal space prowess at rocket launch. Newly elected Prime Minister Narendra Modi made a pitch for India to be the world's low-cost space technology supplier, minutes after witnessing the launch of a rocket carrying five satellites from France, Singapore, Germany and Canada on Monday. The launch of the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle bolsters India's goal of capturing more of the $304 billion annual global space market, and Modi seized the moment with an uplifting speech about India's prowess in cheap space technology. \"This fills every Indian's heart with pride and I can see it reflected in the joy and satisfaction on your faces,\" said Modi, from the launch site of India's southeastern coast. \"Truly this is a global endorsement of India's space capability,\" he said, adding that India's current Mars mission cost less than the budget of the Hollywood science fiction film Gravity.","US reviewing ivory rule after bagpipes seized. CONCORD, New Hampshire (AP) — The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will review its rules about ivory imports after two teenagers' bagpipes were seized at the Canadian border, a spokesman said Friday.","Richardson wins speedskating sprint double. HEERENVEEN, Netherlands (AP) — Heather Richardson won the speedskating World Cup 1,500 and 500 meter races Sunday to add to her victory a day earlier in the 1,000.","Australian heatwave set to worsen as fires rage. Australians sweltering through a severe heatwave were warned on Thursday that the worst Is yet to come, with hundreds of fires raging in several states and temperatures nearing record highs. Most of southeast Australia has been sizzling in a heatwave that triggered a devastating wildfire on the west coast, razing 55 homes and claiming one life on Sunday. The mercury has soared above 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit) for successive days in South Australia and there is a total ban on recreational fires in neighbouring Victoria where players at the Australian Open fainted and vomited in blistering conditions. Health officials in South Australia said 129 people had presented to hospital in the past three days with heat exhaustion and dehydration.","Explosions, clashes kill 18 soldiers in Iraq. BAGHDAD (AP) — An explosion at a booby-trapped house, ensuing clashes with militants and a roadside bombing killed 18 soldiers Saturday in Iraq, authorities said.","Kerry to visit Saudi Arabia on Friday to discuss Iraq and Syria. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry will visit Saudi Arabia on Friday to meet King Abdullah and discuss the crises in Iraq and Syria, he said at a news conference in Brussels on Wednesday. \"President Obama has asked me to travel to Saudi Arabia in order to meet with His Majesty King Abdullah and to discuss regional issues, including the situation in Iraq, and how we can counter the shared threat that is posed by ISIL (the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant), as well as to discuss our support for the moderate opposition in Syria,\" he said.","US business group wants China to expedite reforms. WASHINGTON (AP) — A U.S. business group is urging China to expedite recently announced economic reforms, saying it will smooth the way for an investment treaty being negotiated between the world's two largest economies.","Venezuela's \"very weak\" judiciary undermines rules of law: jurists group. By Stephanie Nebehay GENEVA (Reuters) - Venezuela's judiciary is persecuting students, dissidents and independent judges while turning a blind eye to most crimes in a country with one of the world's highest murder rates, an international human rights watchdog said on Thursday. About 1,500 students face prosecution after three months of street protests this year with no evidence they took part in any criminal act, including about 160 still behind bars, the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) said. Forty-two people, including 38 civilians, were killed in the daily marches to decry crime, inflation and food shortages in Venezuela. The independence of legal institutions in Venezuela is \"very weak\", the Geneva-based jurists group concluded in a report.","2 men accused of smuggling devices from New Mexico. ALBUQUERQUE, New Mexico (AP) — Two Chinese nationals are suspected of trying to smuggle sensors made in New Mexico for U.S. military use, federal authorities said.","Ex-Goldman director Gupta loses bid to stay out of prison. (Reuters) - Former Goldman Sachs Group Inc director Rajat Gupta has failed to persuade the U.S. Supreme Court to delay the June 17 start of his two-year prison term while he pursues an appeal of his insider trading conviction. Gupta, also a former global managing director of the consulting firm McKinsey & Co, had asked the country's highest court for permission to stay free during his appeal, after the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan on May 30 denied him the same request. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who handles emergency applications from the 2nd Circuit, on Wednesday denied Gupta's request to stay out of prison.","Witnesses to be questioned in Europe over 'Canadian Psycho'. Witnesses will be heard in France and Germany in the case of a Canadian ex-porn actor accused of premeditated murder in the grisly killing and dismemberment of a Chinese student, officials said Friday. Luka Rocco Magnotta, 31, is due in court September 15 after pleading not guilty to first-degree murder and other charges, including committing indignities to a body and harassing Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper. Superior Court Justice Guy Cournoyer granted a request to launch a formal request for judicial assistance in Europe, out of concern French or German witnesses would not respond to a court summons in Canada. As part of the complex process, all the parties will travel to France and Germany in the coming weeks to question the witnesses, and those interviews will be used in the trial.","115 Nigeria schoolgirls still missing after kidnap. Maiduguri (Nigeria) (AFP) - A Nigerian school principal on Thursday denied military reports that most of the girls kidnapped by Islamist gunmen were now safe, as parents continued a desperate search for 115 children still held captive. A defence ministry spokesman, Chris Olukolade, claimed on Wednesday that all but eight of the 129 girls kidnapped from the Government Girls Secondary School in Chibok area of Borno state earlier in the week were now safe, citing the school's principal. \"The report from the military is not true,\" Asabe Kwambura told AFP in Lagos. She said the information provided by Borno's governor Kashim Shettima on Wednesday that only 14 girls had escaped their captors was \"correct\".","Gunmen release 57 de-miners in west Afghanistan. KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — A group of 57 civilian de-miners was released on Tuesday just hours after being after captured by unknown gunmen, officials said.","'Bibi' looks right to hold on to Israeli power. By Luke Baker JERUSALEM (Reuters) - One of Benjamin Netanyahu's school teachers once described him as \"friendly, disciplined and obedient\". Fifty years on, the Israeli prime minister could be forgiven for wishing coalition politics were the same. Barely 20 months after forming his latest government, Netanyahu dismissed two cabinet ministers on Tuesday, accusing them of undermining his authority, and announced new elections, which have been set for March 17, 2015, two years early. ...","Premier Kathy Dunderdale of Newfoundland and Labrador to resign: senior Tory. ST. JOHN'S, N.L. - Premier Kathy Dunderdale of Newfoundland and Labrador will quit politics Wednesday after cutting a family vacation short over political upheaval, a senior member of the province's Progressive Conservative party says.","Key dates in Knox prosecution. FLORENCE, Italy (AP) — Key dates in case of American student Amanda Knox, convicted then acquitted in slaying of British roommate Meredith Kercher.","Dutch lawmakers demand explanation from Turkey over race spat. By Thomas Escritt AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Opposition lawmakers on Friday demanded that the Dutch government seek clarification from Turkey after Ankara appeared to accuse the Netherlands of racism and Islamophobia against its ethnic Turkish population. What began as a domestic Dutch political row escalated into a diplomatic spat this week after the Turkish Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday Turkish immigrants were being discriminated against in the Netherlands. ...","Smooth jazz star Kenny G visit Hong Kong protests. HONG KONG (AP) — Smooth jazz star Kenny G has paid a surprise visit to Hong Kong's pro-democracy protests, causing bemusement among Chinese authorities who had warned about the influence of foreign forces.","Pillay: Israel, Hamas committing war crimes. GENEVA (AP) — The U.N.'s top human rights official is accusing Israel and Hamas militants of committing war crimes in the latest Gaza war.","Happy birthday Messi. Now put on your boots. PORTO ALEGRE, Brazil (AP) — Being a four-time world player of the year apparently doesn't mean you get special treatment from Argentina coach Alejandro Sabella on your birthday.","Attacks kill 13 people in Iraq. BAGHDAD (AP) — Attacks in Iraq killed 13 people on Tuesday, including off-duty soldiers on their way home, officials said.","Seaside resort set to make waves in British by-election. Clacton-on-Sea (United Kingdom) (AFP) - The coastal resort of Clacton could trigger a sea change in British politics on Thursday by voting the anti-EU UK Independence Party into parliament for the first time.","SocGen says 'nothing to expect' soon on U.S. sanctions probe. PARIS (Reuters) - Societe Generale said it plans to finish an internal investigation into dollar transfers made on behalf of entities based in countries subject to U.S. sanctions, linked to talks with the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control, by the end of next year. \"No news is good news,\" SocGen Chief Executive Frederic Oudea told an investor conference in London on Wednesday when asked for an update on outstanding litigation issues in the United States. ...","Keystone pipeline review looming, likely to show little climate risk. By Lesley Wroughton and Jeff Mason WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. State Department is poised to issue an environmental review of the proposed Keystone XL oil pipeline that will likely say the project will not appreciably increase carbon emissions, sources said late Thursday, forcing President Barack Obama closer to a tough decision. Rumors swept through Washington late Thursday that the long-delayed review of the 1,179-mile (1,900-km) pipeline to bring oil from Canada to Nebraska would finally be released as soon as Friday. \"The Environmental Impact Statement is in the final stages of preparation and we anticipate a release of the document soon,\" a senior State Department official said late on Thursday, speaking on condition of anonymity. Supporters say the TransCanada Corp project would create thousands of jobs and reduce U.S. reliance oil imports from nations that are less friendly than Canada.","UK to extend Libor manipulation laws to cover seven more benchmarks. LONDON (Reuters) - Britain will extend laws which make the manipulation of market benchmarks a criminal offense to cover a further seven benchmarks including the main foreign exchange and overnight interest rate fixes, the government said on Monday. \"Ensuring that the key rates that underpin financial markets here and around the world are robust, and that anyone who seeks to manipulate them is subject to the full force of the law, is an important part of our long-term economic plan,\" finance minister George Osborne said in a statement. ...","How Yemen's Houthis control Sanaa and alarm the West. By Yara Bayoumy and Mohammed Ghobari SANAA (Reuters) - It was Waddah al-Hitari's beard that killed him. Militiamen on the streets of Yemen's capital shot him dead one Friday because he looked like a terrorist, colleagues of the young doctor said. Hitari was killed by a member of the Houthis, an armed Shi'ite faction whose fighters had swept down from the north and stunningly captured Sanaa from the army about a month earlier. Their arrival following anti-government protests threatens to further destabilize Yemen, already wracked by political turmoil since the Arab Spring revolutions of 2011. The Houthis are fighting al Qaeda, two commanders have been sanctioned by the United States, and the group is viewed as Shi'ite Iran's ally in its proxy war with Saudi Arabia, which has suspended aid to Yemen since the Houthis arrived.","Money wielded to help Ukraine and threaten Russia. WASHINGTON (AP) — The international community gave a financial boost to a feeble Ukraine on Wednesday as Republican lawmakers in the U.S. sought to increase the economic pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin in an effort to deflate Moscow's designs on its neighbor.","Greek PM says won't seek more bailout money. ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greece's prime minister says the debt-strapped country will not ask for any additional bailout money and hopes to begin abolishing austerity taxes later this year.","World Cup stadium inauguration postponed in Brazil. SAO PAULO (AP) — The first test match at a World Cup stadium in the southern Brazilian city of Porto Alegre will not be played this weekend as planned because infrastructure work outside the venue has not been completed.","Bus-train accident injures 25 in Brazil. SAO PAULO (AP) — Rescue workers in Brazil say 25 people were injured when their passenger bus smashed into the side of a commuter train at a railroad crossing.","Arrests and online criticism after China prostitution exposé. An exposé by China's state broadcaster on rampant prostitution in the country's \"sex capital\" Dongguan triggered a huge police operation -- as well as a surprising online backlash. More than 6,000 police officers swept through hundreds of hotels, saunas and karaoke parlours in the city, in the southern province of Guangdong, arresting 67 people, shuttering 12 venues and suspending two police chiefs, state media said. The raid came hours after a Sunday night report by China Central Television (CCTV) detailing the extent of the prostitution industry in Dongguan, an industrial hub where by some estimates as many as one in 10 migrant workers are involved in the sex trade. Filmed using hidden cameras, the half-hour long CCTV programme showed young women lining up in rooms and on stage at several venues, talent-show style, while an undercover reporter inquired about the prices of each.","Klimov won't ski jump for Russia at Sochi Olympics. KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia (AP) — Nordic combined athlete Evgeniy Klimov won't do double-duty for Russia after all at the Sochi Olympics.","Juncker nomination a 'bad day for Europe', says Cameron. The choice of Jean-Claude Juncker to head the European Commission marks \"a bad day for Europe,\" British Prime Minister David Cameron said Friday after bitterly opposing the nomination. \"This is a bad day for Europe, it risks undermining the position of national governments,\" Cameron said after EU leaders voted 26-2 for the former Luxembourg premier to replace Jose Manuel Barroso. Asked if Britain was closer to an exit from the 28-member bloc as a result, Cameron said: \"The job has got harder of keeping Britain in a reformed European Union... Do I think it's an impossible job?","Russia probes cheese factory after workers shown bathing in milk. Russia on Friday launched a criminal investigation into breaches of hygiene at a cheese factory after footage of bare-chested workers bathing in vats of milk went viral on the Internet. The Investigative Committee announced it was probing the factory in the Siberian city of Omsk for producing food that could cause harm to health after photographs of grinning workers bathing in foaming milk horrified Russians. \"It has already been established that the liquid that the factory workers were bathing in was the raw milk that was used for making the cheese,\" the investigators said in a statement. The scandal broke after a worker at the Omsk Cheeses factory posted the photographs on a social networking site with the caption: \"Actually our work is pretty boring.\"","Net gain: NYR Lundqvist repped by Federer's agency. NEW YORK (AP) — Roger Federer's long-time agent is branching out beyond tennis.","Pakistan 32-1 after Taylor ton sets up gripping chase. Pakistan were 32-1 and chasing 261 for victory after a brilliant century by Ross Taylor lifted New Zealand in the second Test in Dubai on Friday.","US D-Day vets honor fallen comrades. VIERVILLE-SUR-MER, France (AP) — This time, the sun shone and no blood spilled. As veterans from the 29th Infantry Division gathered at dawn Friday on Omaha Beach, it was to remember their fallen comrades.","Document surfaces outlining Pietersen's misbehaviour. London (AFP) - Kevin Pietersen's monopoly of the airwaves and printed media regarding his claims of bullying in the England cricket team's dressing room ended abruptly on Tuesday with the leaking of an email outlining his poor behaviour on last year's disastrous Ashes series in Australia.","In Syria's Aleppo, children swim in bomb craters. In Syria's second city Aleppo, craters blasted by regime air raids on opposition-held areas have been transformed into improvised swimming pools for children to cool off in raging summer temperatures. Although the water is filthy, the war-weary children of the country's one-time commercial capital find in these pools a rare opportunity to both have fun and seek relief from the oppressive heat. In the battered district of Shaar, children and teenagers swim carefree in one flooded crater, the rubble of buildings in a totally destroyed street their backdrop, an AFP correspondent said.","Pliskova rallies to defeat Giorgi in Linz final. LINZ, Austria (AP) — Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic saved a match point before defeating Camila Giorgi of Italy 6-7 (4), 6-3, 7-6 (4) in the final of the Generali Ladies on Sunday.","Today on the Hill: Harper government unveils proposed changes to election laws. OTTAWA - The Harper government is poised to announce proposed legislative reforms to Canada's electoral system.","Canada's top banks agree to no-cost accounts for the low-income. Canada's eight largest banks have agreed to provide no-cost accounts to 7 million low-income people, Finance Minister Joe Oliver said on Tuesday as part of the Conservative government's consumer protection agenda ahead of a 2015 election. Three of Canada's biggest banks have reported bigger-than-expected profits in the second quarter, highlighting the strength of the sector and wealth management profit growth, despite signs that heavily indebted Canadian consumers are slowing their borrowing. The eight major banks are Royal Bank of Canada, Toronto-Dominion Bank, Bank of Nova Scotia, Bank of Montreal, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, National Bank of Canada, Laurentian Bank and Canadian Western Bank. The Conservative government of Prime Minister Stephen Harper outlined a pro-consumer agenda in its budget in February, touting measures aimed at lowering prices of mobile phone services, banking services and narrowing the price gap between retail goods in Canada and the United States, among others.","Deal with Iran could end isolation but would it stop an arms race?. A deal on Iran's nuclear programme this week would be a historic step towards ending the country's international isolation, but analysts remain divided on whether it would help stabilise the Middle East or even prevent a regional arms race. Having spent years pushing for an agreement -- whereby economic sanctions on Iran are relaxed in exchange for concrete guarantees that it will not pursue nuclear weapons –- the West hopes the last-ditch talks in Vienna set an example to the world. \"It would... demonstrate that the global non-proliferation system works,\" said Mark Fitzpatrick, a former US State Department official now at the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London. The hawks warn any rapprochement between the West and Shiite Iran will be viewed with deep concern by Sunni-led countries such as Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates –- America's traditional allies in the region –- who will not trust Tehran to keep its promises.","Peru says El Nino threat over, waters cooling and fish returning. The worst of the potentially disastrous weather pattern El Nino is now behind Peru and cooling sea temperatures are luring back schools of anchovy, the key ingredient in fishmeal, authorities said on Friday. Temperatures in Peru's Pacific peaked in June, rising 3 degrees Celsius (5.4 Fahrenheit) above average levels, but have since retreated and will likely return to normal by August, the state committee that studies El Nino said. \"The possibility of us seeing an extraordinary Nino is ruled out,\" said German Vasquez, the head of the committee. Peru is the world's top fishmeal exporter, producing about a third of worldwide supply.","Iran plans June launch of plant for curbing low-grade uranium stash: diplomats. By Fredrik Dahl VIENNA (Reuters) - Iran is planning to start up a plant in June that will convert low-enriched uranium gas into an oxide form less suitable for making nuclear bombs, as required by a landmark deal with world powers, diplomats said. Under last year's interim accord with six major powers to help ease tension over Iran's nuclear program, it needs to take action by late July to limit its stockpile of uranium gas refined to a fissile concentration of up to 5 percent. It was one of the terms of the six-month accord between Iran and the United States, France, Germany, Britain, Russia and China to curb Tehran's atomic activities in exchange for some easing of sanctions that took effect on Jan. 20. Iran is meeting all the other requirements of the deal that was designed to buy time for talks on a final settlement of the decade-old dispute over Tehran's nuclear program, a U.N. watchdog report showed last week.","Allies hit IS near Syrian Kurdish town as Briton slain. Mursitpinar (Turkey) (AFP) - A US-led coalition has carried out new air strikes against Islamic State group jihadists laying siege to a key Kurdish town on the Syrian-Turkish border, where fighting raged on Saturday.","China-bound Malaysian jet vanishes with 239 aboard. KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Southeast Asian nations dispatched ships and planes to scour the seas between Malaysia and Vietnam on Saturday in search of a missing Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 that disappeared with 239 people on board.","8 children killed in northern Australian city. SYDNEY (AP) — Eight children were found dead on Friday inside a home in a northern Australian city, police said.","Rome mayor refuses to back down over gay marriages. Rome's mayor refused Friday to back down in an increasingly heated dispute over his registering gay marriages celebrated abroad, in defiance of an order from the government to the delight of rights groups. Left-wing mayor Ignazio Marino registered 16 gay marriages made in countries from Belgium to Spain two weeks ago following a landmark decision by a court in April to recognise a same-sex marriage contracted overseas. Gay marriage in Italy remains illegal, however, and Interior Minister Angelino Alfano has ordered the prefecture of Rome to remove the gay unions from the city's registry. Flavio Romani, head of Italy's leading gay rights group, Arcigay, expressed esteem and support for Marino and slammed Prime Minister Matteo Renzi's government, saying it was \"clobbering Italians' requests for rights.\"","AIDS conference attendees on downed Malaysian jet. SYDNEY (AP) — Several passengers on board a Malaysian jetliner shot down over Ukraine were heading to an international AIDS conference in Australia.","Russia says troops return to barracks after exercises. Moscow (AFP) - Russia's defence minister told his US counterpart Monday the country's troops had returned to barracks after conducting exercises on the border with Ukraine, and urged Washington to dial down the rhetoric.","U.N. urges Mali peace accord at Algiers talks. By Lamine Chikhi ALGIERS (Reuters) - The United Nations peacekeeping chief on Saturday urged the Malian government to show a strong signal of its commitment to peace as negotiations with rebels restarted. U.N. Undersecretary General Herve Ladsous was visiting Algiers, where the Algerian government is hosting negotiations between Mali's government and six mostly Tuareg rebel groups. “Mali’s government should send a strong signal of its commitment to achieve peace,” Ladsous said at the start of the talks. ...","Producers: Next James Bond film will be called 'Spectre'. LONDON (AP) — Producers: Next James Bond film will be called 'Spectre'","China sends first ever minister-level official to Taiwan to build ties with self-ruling island. TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — China sends first ever minister-level official to Taiwan to build ties with self-ruling island.","US woos wary China on Ukraine. WASHINGTON (AP) — The Obama administration stepped up its attempts Monday to court China's support for efforts to isolate Russia over its military intervention in Ukraine.","Reports: Beale under investigation by Wallabies. SYDNEY (AP) — Australian media is reporting that Wallabies utility back Kurtley Beale is under investigation following a heated verbal exchange with an official during the trip from South Africa to Argentina for a Rugby Championship test this weekend.","Watchdog launches probe into Tesco profit error. London (AFP) - Britain's financial regulator on Wednesday launched a probe into Tesco after the troubled supermarket chain massively overestimated its half-year profits forecast.","G7 tightens defenses against Syria's foreign fighters. Leaders of the Group of Seven industrialised nations decided Thursday to tighten defenses against the risk of terror attacks by European jihadists returning from the Syrian front. \"We have agreed to intensify efforts to address the issue of foreign fighters travelling to and from Syria,\" British Prime Minister David Cameron said at the close of a G7 summit. He said talks were taking place with Syria's neighbours to strengthen their borders in the wake of an attack on the Jewish Museum in Brussels late last month believed to be the work of a young French jihadist fighter recently returned from Syria. French President Francois Hollande said more than 30 French fighters had already died on the Syrian battlefront.","South Korea warns North of 'strong' response after exchange of fire. SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea said on Monday it had warned North Korea of a \"strong\" response if it provoked an incident similar to one last week that sparked an exchange of machinegun fire across their border. The warning came as South Korean President Park Geun-hye reiterated on Monday her commitment to engage with the North, despite what she called \"the dual nature\" of ties, saying the \"door was always open to dialogue\". ...","Golf - Day, Tringale lead Florida shootout. - Aussie Jason Day and US partner Cameron Tringale stayed hot on Friday, teaming up for an eight-under-par 64 that pushed their lead to three strokes in the Franklin Templeton Shootout.","AP Interview: Assad adviser says he may run again. GENEVA (AP) — The adviser to Syrian President Bashar Assad says it is \"very difficult to imagine\" how presidential elections could be conducted within the violence raging in Syria.","Cesc is just Fab for Costa, says Mourinho. London (AFP) - Jose Mourinho has hailed Cesc Fabregas as the driving force behind Chelsea striker Diego Costa's blistering start to the season.","Liechtenstein gives Nigeria $227 million looted. LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) — Nigeria says Liechtenstein is returning $227 million in funds looted by a military dictator, the day after it dropped corruption charges against his eldest son.","Germany's Merkel: move forward Turkish-EU talks. BERLIN (AP) — German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Tuesday she supports broadening talks soon on Turkey joining the European Union, though she remains skeptical about whether it should be admitted and won't put a time limit on the process.","Selden scores career-high 24 points to help No. 18 Kansas beat Oklahoma 90-83. NORMAN, Okla. - During Kansas' shootaround on Wednesday before the Jayhawks faced Oklahoma, coach Bill Self told Wayne Selden Jr. that the freshman needed to be more aggressive on offence.","3 killed, 5 wounded in east Ukraine fighting. DONETSK, Ukraine (AP) — Overnight shelling in the eastern Ukrainian city of Donetsk killed three people and wounded five as government forces tighten their grip on the pro-Russian rebel stronghold, the city council said Thursday.","Former Nigerian leader doubtful over kidnapped girls' return. Nigeria's former president Olusegun Obasanjo has voiced fears that not all of the Nigerian schoolgirls kidnapped by Boko Haram would return. Boko Haram militants abducted 276 girls from their school in the remote town of Chibok, in northeastern Borno state, on April 14. Nearly two months on, there is little sign of the girls being freed or rescued, despite Nigeria's military saying that they knew where the teenagers were being held and an international rescue effort. Analysts suspect that the 219 girls still missing are likely to have been split into smaller groups and possibly taken outside Nigeria.","13-year-old boy faces murder charge. London (AFP) - A 13-year-old boy is to appear in court on Wednesday charged with the murder of a middle-aged man in north London who died after a verbal altercation with a group of youngsters.","Tensions simmer in riot-hit Myanmar city. Police patrolled tense streets in Myanmar's second-largest city on Friday as anger and disbelief rippled through violence-hit communities following deadly Buddhist-Muslim clashes that raised fears of spreading unrest. Calm returned to Mandalay after the city was placed under curfew Thursday to quell violence that saw mobs wielding airguns, swords, rocks and other weapons go on a rampage, leaving one Buddhist and one Muslim dead.","'Islamic State' extremists murder second US reporter. Washington (AFP) - \"Islamic State\" jihadists have murdered a second American reporter, releasing another video showing a masked militant with a British accent cutting the throat of a US captive. In the latest footage, the 31-year-old reporter Steven Sotloff calmly addresses the camera to say he is a victim of President Barack Obama's decision to press on with air strikes in Iraq against the jihadists.","Kerry pide ayuda a China para acercar a Norcorea. BEIJING, China (AP) — El secretario norteamericano de Estado, John Kerry, solicitó el viernes a China que contribuya a que Corea del Norte, que mantiene una postura beligerante, reanude las conversaciones para un desarme nuclear.","Batistuta asked legs be cut off to relieve pain. BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — Former star Gabriel Batistuta, Argentina's record goal scorer for the national team, says he once asked a doctor to amputate his legs to relieve intense pain in his ankles.","Sri Lanka court keeps five in Australia asylum case in detention. A Sri Lankan court on Monday ordered that five suspected ringleaders of a people-smuggling operation remain in custody for two more weeks, in a case that has fueled controversy over Australia's tough line on immigration. The five were among 41 Sri Lankan asylum seekers sent home by Australia after their refugee boat was intercepted. Immigration Minister Scott Morrison has denied that the operation violated international conventions. The men have not been charged but their detention was extended to July 28 by a magistrate in Galle, a port on Sri Lanka's southwestern coast, pending a ruling on whether they can be charged.","Australia hold Netherlands 1-1 at halftime. PORTO ALEGRE, Brazil (AP) — Tim Cahill's stunning volley cancelled out Arjen Robben's opener, helping Australia keep Netherlands to 1-1 at halftime in Wednesday's World Cup Group B match.","Russia might lose Czech nuclear deal over Ukraine. PRAGUE (AP) — A Russian company might lose a multibillion-dollar contract to build two nuclear reactors in the Czech Republic following Russia's military intervention in Ukraine, two members of the Czech government said on Monday.","SKorea to take over search after fishing disaster. JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — South Korean officials are expected to take over on-scene control of search efforts following the deadly sinking of a fishing vessel in the western Bering Sea last month.","Toronto Mayor Rob Ford diagnosed with tumor. Toronto Mayor Rob Ford, who gained global notoriety after a well-publicized battle with addiction, was admitted to hospital with a tumor in his abdomen on Wednesday, throwing his campaign for re-election into doubt. Ford went to a Toronto hospital, complaining of abdominal pains that had lasted three months and worsened over the past day, a hospital official told reporters. \"Examination and investigation today revealed that he has a tumor,\" Dr. Rueben Devlin, the hospital's president said at a news conference in the north Toronto facility. \"It's not a small tumor (but) the size is not as relevant as what it is.","Scotland Yard requests new genetic tests in McCann case. Lisbon (AFP) - Scotland Yard has asked for new genetic tests to be carried out in their hunt for the missing British girl Madeleine McCann, the head of a Portuguese medical investigation unit said Wednesday.","Top German Nazi-hunter readies Majdanek death camp cases. By Madeline Chambers BERLIN (Reuters) - Prosecutors in Germany will soon get files on former guards at a Nazi death camp who could still be charged for their role in the Holocaust, the country's top war-crimes investigator said on Tuesday, although he added that lack of evidence will keep many of the cases from going to trial. \"These investigations are largely completed,\" Kurt Schrimm, the head of the Central Office for the Investigation of National Socialist Crimes, told reporters. In the next two weeks, he said, the files will be handed over to prosecutors, who will then decide whether to press charges. \"With a few exceptions, most of them won't lead to investigations by prosecutors,\" he said.","IOC shoots down British report on moving Rio Games. LONDON (AP) — Is London being sounded out about possibly replacing Rio de Janeiro as host of the 2016 Olympics?","Asian stocks follow Wall Street lower. HONG KONG (AP) — Asian stocks followed Wall Street lower Friday on lingering concerns about weakness in the Chinese economy and tensions in Ukraine.","Australian Jeffress beats compatriot Higginbottom to Fiji title. (Reuters) - Australian golfer Steve Jeffress recorded the biggest win of his career after he beat compatriot Jake Higginbottom in a final-day shootout to claim the inaugural $1 million Fiji International on Sunday. The 38-year-old had started the day level with Higginbottom on eight-under-par but fired a final round two-under 70 to win the OneAsia and PGA Tour of Australasia event by four shots. I am over the moon and a bit surprised,\" said Jeffress after his biggest pay day in 15 years as a professional golfer. I just hit it in the right places this week.\" Jeffress and Higginbottom were locked level after 14 holes of the final round at the Vijay Singh-designed Natadola Bay Championship Golf Course only for the 20-year-old to drop a shot by hitting his tee shot into the hazard at the par-three hole.","Gun goes off in Chinese school during safety talk. BEIJING (AP) — A Chinese state news agency says a gun went off during a police officer's safety talk at a kindergarten, injuring five people.","Edward Snowden wins UK university role. Edward Snowden, the former US National Security Agency analyst who revealed US surveillance of phone and Internet communications, was elected rector of Glasgow University in Scotland on Tuesday. The group said: \"We are incredibly delighted to see Edward Snowden elected as the new rector of Glasgow University.\" \"What is more, we showed Edward Snowden and other brave whistleblowers that we stand in solidarity with them, regardless of where they are.\" Previous holders of the rector's post at Glasgow University include Winnie Mandela and Israeli nuclear whistleblower Mordechai Vanunu.","Red Wings' Pavel Datsyuk named Russian captain for Sochi Olympics. MOSCOW - Pavel Datsyuk has been named captain of the Russian men's hockey team at next month's Sochi Olympics.","Adidas investor says loses confidence in management: report. By Joern Poltz FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Adidas AG's failure to narrow the market share gap with rival sportswear maker Nike Inc means shareholders should refuse to back the German company's management, a top investor was quoted as saying. Ingo Speich, a fund manager with Union Investment, told German weekly Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung the company had failed to narrow the gap with Nike and he had lost confidence in management as a result. \"Even at home, in Germany as well as in Europe, Nike is gaining market share from Adidas,\" Speich is reported to have told the paper, according to an advance copy of an article set to be published on Sunday.","Putin turns to India with energy, defense offers. NEW DELHI (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin is holding talks with Indian leaders to strengthen trade and energy cooperation with Asia's third-largest economy as Western sanctions threaten to push his country's economy to the brink of a recession.","NBA's 'King' James to play Monday before Prince William. New York (AFP) - Prince William and his pregnant wife Kate will attend their first NBA game Monday during a three-day US visit when LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers visit the Brooklyn Nets.","Netanyahu, speaking to U.S. Jewish group, warns of Iran's nuclear threat. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, speaking to a conference of Jewish leaders in Washington, on Tuesday sternly warned against a possible international deal with Iran that would end sanctions but fail to stop it from getting nuclear weapons. Netanyahu spoke in an address to the assembly of the Jewish Federations of North America by satellite from Jerusalem as the United States and five other powers worked to try to reach a deal with Iran by a self-imposed Nov. 24 deadline. ...","New Wembley set for lowest England attendance. LONDON (AP) — The English Football Association says that Wembley Stadium is set to be more than half empty for England's friendly against Norway next week.","China ships evacuate almost 2,000 from Vietnam: Xinhua. Almost 2,000 Chinese citizens were evacuated from riot-hit Vietnam by sea on Monday, with another two ships following, as Hanoi stifled fresh protests over a territorial dispute and foreign investors counted the cost. The passenger vessels Wuzhishan and Tongguling left the central Vietnamese port of Vung Ang, each with more than 900 evacuees on board, China's official news agency Xinhua reported. They were among four Chinese ships -- each with a capacity of about 1,000 people -- sent to Vietnam, Xinhua said, with another two on standby. Relations between communist neighbours Vietnam and China have plummeted following Beijing's move earlier this month to send a deep-water drilling rig into contested waters in the South China Sea.","U.S. investigates Chinese oil rig move amid Vietnam complaints. By Greg Torode HONG KONG (Reuters) - The United States said on Tuesday it was investigating the movement of a huge Chinese oil rig that Vietnam says has entered its waters, the latest show of Beijing's growing assertiveness to raise alarm among smaller countries in the region. The Vietnamese accusation came days after U.S. President Barack Obama visited Asia to underline his commitment to allies there, including Japan and the Philippines who are themselves locked in territorial disputes with China. Obama, promoting a strategic \"pivot\" toward the Asia-Pacific region, also visited South Korea and Malaysia, but not China. Vietnam has condemned the operation of the deepwater drilling rig in what it says are its waters in the South China Sea and told China's state-run oil company to remove it.","US calls on Russia to withdraw forces from Ukraine. WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama is calling on Russia to de-escalate tensions in Ukraine by pulling its forces back to bases in the country's Crimean peninsula and to refrain from any interference elsewhere in Ukraine.","Lampard hope lights Man City's striker gloom. West Bromwich (United Kingdom) (AFP) - Manchester City's attacking injury problems remain ahead of Friday's trip to West Bromwich Albion, but manager Manuel Pellegrini expects better news concerning on-loan midfielder Frank Lampard before 2015 arrives.","China aims to build over 7 million public homes this year. China aims to start building more than 7 million units of public housing this year, the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development said on Saturday, signaling the latest government move to counter high property prices. Large-scale construction of public homes in China not only supports growth in the world's second-largest economy, it also helps to quell discontent over rising house prices. Yet some have in the past criticized China's public homes - also known as affordable housing - as being ineffective because they say good apartments are set aside for officials, leaving poorly built ones for the public. China's home price inflation slowed to an eight-month low in March.","'Beware of gangs' pope tells Salvadoran youth. Pope Francis on Thursday warned adolescents in El Salvador to \"beware of gangs\" during a videoconference with youth in the violence-wracked country. Speaking to a 15-year-old boy and dozens of his classmates in the town of Soyapango outside San Salvador, the pope urged the youngsters to steer clear of the violent groups which are plaguing the Central American nation. Francis told Gerardo Ernesto Mancia and some 30 of his school mates to instead focus on their studies, sports and to cultivate an interest in culture. \"Be very careful when there are groups that seek out destruction, who search for war, who don't know how to work on a team,\" the pope told the youngsters, warning in particular that they should \"beware of gangs.\"","G7 leaders say ready to intensify sanctions on Russia. Leaders of the G7 said in a statement on Monday they were ready to intensify sanctions on Russia in case of further destabilization of Ukraine. After a meeting in The Hague, the group said that in response to Russia's violation of Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity it had imposed a variety of sanctions against Russia and those individuals and entities responsible. \"We remain ready to intensify actions including coordinated sectoral sanctions that will have an increasingly significant impact on the Russian economy, if Russia continues to escalate this situation,\" the G7 said. It also said it plans to hold a G7 summit in Brussels in June instead of a scheduled G8 meeting with Russia in Sochi.","Leverkusen beats Hertha 2-1 in Bundesliga. FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — Bayer Leverkusen scored the fastest goal of the season on Sunday and beat Hertha Berlin 2-1 in the Bundesliga return for its new coach, moving up one place into fourth.","Researchers find thriving community under Antarctic ice. Eight hundred metres (2,600 feet) under the Antarctic ice, in the pitch dark, a vibrant community of rock-munching microbes are thriving in a submerged lake, researchers said on Wednesday. The water in Lake Whillans had been isolated from the surface for thousands of years, hidden under part of an ice sheet of 13 million square kilometres (five million square miles) and scientists had no idea what kinds of life, if any, lurked there. \"Given that more than 400 subglacial lakes and numerous rivers and streams are thought to exist beneath the Antarctic ice sheet, such ecosystems may be widespread,\" said the US National Science Foundation (NSF), which funded the project dubbed Whillans Ice Stream Subglacial Access Research Drilling (WISSARD). A previous discovery by Russian scientists in 2012 of a potential new bacterial life form in Lake Vostok, the largest lake under the Antarctic ice sheet and one of the largest on Earth, was later thrown into question as contaminants were found to have been introduced by the research itself.","Ukraine says it controls Crimean airports. SIMFEROPOL, Ukraine (AP) — A top Ukrainian security official says two airports in Crimea are under Ukrainian control despite attempts by gunmen to \"seize\" them.","Lloyds Banking Group to cut 9,000 jobs. LONDON (AP) — Britain's Lloyds Banking Group says it will eliminate 9,000 jobs over the next three years and shut some 200 branches in a bid to improve efficiency.","US Army promotes first Vietnamese-American general. FORT HOOD, Texas (AP) — A Fort Hood officer has become the first Vietnamese-American to reach the rank of general in the U.S. Army.","Port Adelaide ends Geelong's winning run in AFL. MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Port Adelaide supplanted Geelong atop the Australian Football League Sunday, claiming a 40-point victory that halted the Cats' season-opening winning streak at five games.","Russia's Putin basks in the glory of the Games. By Timothy Heritage SOCHI, Russia (Reuters) - Vladimir Putin says sport and politics do not mix but his actions at the Winter Olympics suggest the opposite. When he was not watching ice hockey in Sochi at the weekend, the Russian president was doing the diplomatic rounds, dropping in on foreign teams, sipping wine or tea with them, talking sport - and building bridges. The message was that more than a week after he declared the Games open, these are still very much Putin's Olympics, a global event on which his legacy depends. Back in Sochi after a four-day interval, his boldest step was to visit the U.S. team on Friday and sip red wine on the sofa with American officials.","Turkey detains police for 'spying' and wiretaps. ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkish police raided the homes of colleagues on Tuesday, detaining dozens of officers on suspicion of \"spying\" or of illegally wiretapping government officials, including Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Turkey's spy chief, news reports and officials said.","US: Obama disgusted by anti-Semitic leaflets. WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama's national security adviser says anti-Semitic leaflets distributed in Ukraine were \"utterly sickening\" and that Obama has bluntly expressed his disgust.","Career diplomat named Burkina Faso's interim leader. Career diplomat Michel Kafando was Monday chosen as Burkina Faso's interim president, to steer the west African nation during a one-year transition back to civilian rule following the ousting of its veteran leader. The appointment of the former foreign minister and UN ambassador is set to end weeks of uncertainty in the impoverished country after mass protests toppled the 27-year regime of president Blaise Compaore and the military seized power. It came ahead of a deadline imposed by the African Union, which warned the country would face sanctions unless it appointed an interim leader by Monday. He was also Burkina Faso's foreign affairs minister between 1981 and 1982.","40 bodies from jet solemnly returned to Dutch soil. EINDHOVEN, Netherlands (AP) — Victims of the Malaysian jetliner shot down over Ukraine returned at last Wednesday to Dutch soil in 40 wooden coffins, solemnly and gently carried to 40 identical hearses, flags at half-staff flapping in the wind.","Brazil grows wary of Venezuela under Maduro, reduces support. By Brian Winter SAO PAULO (Reuters) - Brazil, Latin America's biggest economy and diplomatic power, has toned down its support for Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro because of disappointment over how he is handling mounting economic problems and opposition-led street protests. Broadly speaking, Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff remains an ally of Maduro. While Rousseff is more moderate, both are part of a generation of leftist Latin American presidents who grew up opposing pro-Washington governments and believe they are united by a mission to help the poor. However, Rousseff has been increasingly disappointed by some of Maduro's actions and has reined in the more enthusiastic support that characterized Brazil-Venezuela relations under his predecessor, the late Hugo Chavez, according to two officials close to Rousseff's government.","Kremlin seeks talks for Ukraine, not annexation. DONETSK, Ukraine (AP) — The Kremlin made it clear Monday that Moscow has no intention of immediately annexing two regions in eastern Ukraine after a weekend referendum there showed most voters allegedly backing sovereignty.","Argentina winger Di Maria in doubt for semifinals. BRASILIA, Brazil (AP) — Argentina winger Angel di Maria is in doubt for the World Cup semifinals with a right thigh injury, possibly robbing the team of one of its best attacking threats.","BofA $8.5 billion settlement to move forward; AIG loses bid to delay. By Karen Freifeld NEW YORK (Reuters) - A New York state judge declined to delay court approval of Bank of America Corp's $8.5 billion settlement with investors in mortgage-backed securities, rejecting a move by American International Group Inc . At a hearing on Wednesday, Justice Saliann Scarpullo, of New York State Supreme Court, ordered the judgment by her predecessor in the case, Barbara Kapnick, to be officially recorded. \"Judge Kapnick issued the order. ... If you don't like it, your remedy is to appeal.\" Kapnick approved the settlement on January 31, her last day overseeing the case before she was elevated to a state appeals court, and ordered a five-day delay before it was officially recorded.","Frenzel to start Nordic combined large hill. KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia (AP) — Normal hill gold medal winner Eric Frenzel of Germany will start Tuesday's Nordic combined large hill final despite a virus.","Syria's Homs: evacuee tells of life under siege. BEIRUT (AP) — Weeping children begged for food in the streets and women picked grass growing in the cracks of the sidewalks to eat as hunger gripped residents of rebel-held neighborhoods of the Syrian city of Homs blockaded for nearly two years by the military, according to a rare first-hand account by a man evacuated during a truce this week.","Beirut blast was suicide car bomb, 2 dead. Beirut (AFP) - Two people were killed in a suicide car bombing in a south Beirut neighbourhood considered a stronghold of the Lebanese Shiite movement Hezbollah, the country's official news agency said.","Furyk in 3-way tie for lead at Barclays. PARAMUS, N.J. (AP) — Brendon Todd is keeping his name on the leaderboard at The Barclays and in the conversation as a Ryder Cup pick.","Top Asian News at 12:00 a.m. GMT. HONG KONG (AP) — The luxury boutiques of Hong Kong's Tsim Shai Tsui district are so mobbed with vacationing Chinese customers that store owners have put up red velvet ropes to control the crowds. Pro-democracy protesters saw it as a perfect spot to spread the word to their mainland brethren. But instead of support, many of the young demonstrators got an earful Wednesday from grumpy tourists who appeared more intent on shopping than talking about democracy. Some complained that Hong Kong already enjoys more freedom than the rest of the country.","'China station blast kills three, wounds 79'. Beijing (AFP) - Three people were killed and 79 others injured late Wednesday in an explosion at a railway station in Urumqi, the capital of China's Xinjiang region, state media reported.","France announces big air raid against Islamic State in Iraq. The international coalition currently battling the Islamic State group in Iraq dropped around 70 bombs on an arsenal and jihadist training centre in a large-scale overnight raid, the French military said Friday. The operation is a success,\" France's Chief of the Defence Staff Pierre de Villiers told Europe 1 radio, adding the raid took place in the Kirkuk region of northern Iraq. France's Rafale fighter jets took part in the operation, which destroyed buildings in which IS militants \"produced their traps, their bombs, their weapons to attack Iraqi forces,\" he said. Since it announced it would take part in the US-led coalition in September, France has carried out seven rounds of air strikes over Iraq but it has so far refused to join the United States in its air war against IS in Syria.","Merkel signals possible EU concessions to Britain. BERLIN (AP) — German Chancellor Angela Merkel is signaling willingness to consider policy concessions to Britain as leaders spar over who should head the European Union's executive arm.","Albania: Italian among 4 dead in shooting. TIRANA, Albania (AP) — Police in Albania say a 60-year-old Italian man and three Albanian men, aged between 19 and 38, have been shot dead at a nightclub in the capital.","After 'Hoovergate', EU torn over power-saving rules. By Barbara Lewis BRUSSELS (Reuters) - When word of an EU ban on high-power vacuum cleaners hit Eurosceptic British tabloids in August, \"Hoovergate\" brought home a dilemma for the bloc that goes well beyond house-proud devotees of deep-pile English carpet. Now, fear of fuelling rage at Brussels bureaucracy, especially in Britain where critics branded the \"Hoover ban\" a foreign attack on consumer freedoms, is pushing new EU leaders to axe a host of planned regulations in proposals expected on Tuesday. ...","Closing of Egypt's Rafah crossing leaves thousands of Gazans stranded. By Nidal al-Mughrabi RAFAH Gaza Strip (Reuters) - Egypt's decision to shut its border with the Gaza Strip has stranded thousands of Palestinians on the Egyptian side of the border while around a thousand people in Gaza are desperate to get out for medical treatment in Egypt, officials in Gaza say. Egypt closed Rafah, the only crossing point between Egypt and the Palestinian territory, on Oct. 25 after attacks by Islamist militants which killed 33 Egyptian soldiers, an assault that prompted Cairo to declare a state of emergency in the area. It is also pressing ahead with a one-km (0. ...","Campari to buy Canadian whisky company for $170 million. Drinks group Campari has agreed to buy Canada's Forty Creek Distillery (FCD) for 185.6 million Canadian dollars ($170 million), the Italian company said on Wednesday. Campari, famous for its bitter red aperitif of the same name, said that whiskey company FCD will give it the opportunity to grow in the United States, where it expects a revival in sales of brown spirits. \"The addition of FCD will enable us to further build our critical mass in key North American markets, providing us with a strong market position in Canada and positioning us for further growth in our core U.S. market,\" Campari Chief Executive Bob Kunze-Concewitz said in a statement. FCD founder John Hall said: \"Introducing customers around the world to my whisky is a dream come true.\" The Italian company said its purchase of FCD, the brand portfolio of which comprises vodka, brandy, rum and liqueurs, as well its core Forty Creek Whisky, valued the Canadian company at 14.5 times its forecast 2014 core earnings (EBITDA).","Barclays cuts several hundred investment bank jobs -sources. Barclays Plc has this week cut several hundred jobs in its investment bank as part of its plan to shrink the business by 7,000 staff over the next three years to save costs, people familiar with the matter said. The cuts will mostly be in the fixed income, currencies and commodities (FICC) trading and markets businesses, rather than in advisory and equities. FICC is the area that Barclays and several other banks such as UBS AG are scaling back due to falling revenues and tougher regulations. The latest cuts add to more than 400 already made by the British bank in its investment bank this year.","Egypt minister revises growth forecast downward. CAIRO (AP) — Egypt's new finance minister says economic growth will remain at around 2 or 2.5 percent for 2013-14, rather than increase as his predecessor had predicted.","Survivor of Nigeria church collapse tells of days in darkness. Lagos (AFP) - Lying in the rubble of the guesthouse, only able to tell if it was night or day through a tiny crack, Lindiwe Ndwandwe heard the screams of others beneath the debris slowly turn silent.","South Korea drawn into Group A with host Australia. SYDNEY (AP) — Australia's prospects of winning the Asian Cup on home soil in 2015 became significantly more difficult when the Socceroos were grouped with 2002 World Cup semifinalist South Korea during Wednesday's draw at the Sydney Opera House.","Ebola panic fears grow as Spanish nurse fights for life. Madrid (AFP) - A Madrid nurse infected with Ebola fought for her life Friday as authorities worldwide tightened screening of travellers and struggled to prevent public panic over the spread of west African contagion.","UN: 60 staffers remain detained or in captivity. UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The United Nations is marking a day of solidarity with the dozens of staffers around the world who remain in detention or in the hands of their abductors.","Islamic State video purports to show beheading of UK hostage David Haines. By Oliver Holmes and Ned Parker BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Islamic State militants fighting in Iraq and Syria released a video on Saturday which purported to show the beheading of British aid worker David Haines. Haines, a 44-year-old father of two from Perth in Scotland, was kidnapped last year while working for the French agency ACTED. The video entitled, \"A Message to the Allies of America,\" opened with UK Prime Minister David Cameron talking about working with the Iraqi government and allied Kurdish Peshmerga forces to defeat Islamic State.","USVI wins back control of its Housing Authority. CHARLOTTE AMALIE, U.S. Virgin Islands (AP) — The U.S. Virgin Islands is once again in control of its Housing Authority agency after more than a decade of federal receivership to correct ongoing problems.","Puerto Rican accused of defrauding US Army Reserve. SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — A Puerto Rico man has been arrested on charges of defrauding the U.S. Army Reserve by obtaining at least half a million dollars in veteran's benefits under a false name.","China opens separatism trial for students of jailed Uighur scholar. By Michael Martina BEIJING (Reuters) - China opened separatism trials for seven students of jailed Uighur scholar Ilham Tohti on Tuesday, a human rights lawyer said, the latest developments in a legal drama in the Xinjiang region that has drawn criticism from the West. Tohti, China's most prominent advocate for the rights of Muslim Uighurs, lost his appeal against a life sentence for separatism last week. ...","Kenya court seeks arrest of reporter wanted by ICC. NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — A Kenyan court has issued an arrest warrant for a journalist wanted by the International Criminal Court for interfering with witnesses in the crimes against humanity trial of Deputy President William Ruto.","U.S. says Russia must pull convoy from Ukraine or face more sanctions. By Natalia Zinets and Dmitry Madorsky KIEV/DONETSK-IZVARINO BORDER CROSSING Russia (Reuters) - The United States demanded Moscow remove an aid convoy it sent into rebel-held eastern Ukraine without permission on Friday, accusing Russia of a flagrant violation of the sovereignty of its former Soviet neighbor and threatening more sanctions. Moscow, which has thousands of troops close to the Russian side of the border, warned against any attempt to \"disrupt\" the convoy, which it said was purely humanitarian. NATO's top military commander said the movement of trucks looked like a disguised attempt to reinforce separatist forces. The Western defense alliance said Russian troops had been firing artillery across the border and within Ukraine in a major escalation of military support for pro-Moscow rebels since mid-August, a de facto charge that Russia was already waging war.","Zimbabwe platinum miners meet refinery ultimatum. Major platinum miners in Zimbabwe have handed in plans to build a refinery in the country ahead of a planned ban on raw platinum exports, an official said on Monday. \"They have submitted their plans and they are being looked into,\" said deputy mines minister Fred Moyo, declining to give more detail. Zimbabwe, the world's third producer of platinum, gave three miners -- Anglo-American Platinum, Impala Platinum and Aquarius Platinum -- a January 18 deadline to hand over plans to build a refinery by 2016. President Robert Mugabe warned in December that the government would ban the export of platinum and gold ore in a bid to cash in on value-addition on minerals by processing them domestically instead of exporting them raw.","Ex-Guantanamo inmates leave hospital in Uruguay. Montevideo (AFP) - Six former Guantanamo inmates being resettled in Uruguay have left hospital and been taken to a house where they will adjust to their new lives in South America, the labor union hosting them said Thursday.","Claims that British soldiers unlawfully killed Iraqis withdrawn. There is \"insufficient material\" to prove that British soldiers unlawfully killed Iraqi civilians following a vicious battle in 2004, lawyers for families of the alleged victims told a British public inquiry on Thursday. The Al-Sweady Inquiry is investigating claims that British troops committed abuses in the aftermath of a notorious firefight near the town of Majar al-Kabir, southwest Iraq, that came to be known as the \"Battle of Danny Boy\" after a nearby checkpoint. Troops had been accused of unlawfully killing 20 or more Iraqis at Camp Abu Naji near Majar-al-Kabir in May 2004 after they were taken prisoner following the battle, which was triggered when Iraqi insurgents mounted an ambush. But following a year of evidence from 281 witnesses, at a cost of more than £22 million ($36.3 million, 26.3 million euros), lawyers for the claimants told the London hearing there was no evidence that British soldiers had carried out unlawful killings.","Pistorius selling house where he shot Steenkamp. JOHANNESBURG (AP) — Oscar Pistorius is selling the house where he killed Reeva Steenkamp to raise money for his legal bills, the athlete's lawyer said Thursday.","New Czech PM signals more pro-EU policies. PRAGUE (AP) — The Czech Republic's new prime minister has taken two steps to improve his nation's ties with the European Union and its policies.","17 NRL players get notices over banned supplements. SYDNEY (AP) — The Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority began issuing notices Wednesday to 17 current and former National Rugby League players from the Cronulla Sharks over the use of illegal supplements during the 2011 season.","Threat of famine, fighting loom over South Sudan: U.N. delegation. By Carlvin Odera and Drazen Jorgic JUBA (Reuters) - The risk of famine and reports of growing arms imports could bring fresh woe to South Sudan, a delegation from the U.N. Security Council warned on Tuesday, urging the state's warring leaders to resolve their differences. At least 10,000 people have been killed since fierce fighting erupted in South Sudan in December, pitting President Salva Kiir's government forces against supporters of Riek Machar, his former deputy and longtime political rival. Adding to the country's many problems, aid agencies say South Sudan could be headed for the worst famine since the mid-1980s, when malnutrition swept through East Africa and killed over a million people. \"There is a grave risk of famine that now looms, that hangs over this visit,\" United States ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power told reporters, saying 50,000 children under five were at risk of dying of malnutrition in the coming months.","Couple cleared in daughter's death arrives in US. LOS ANGELES (AP) — A U.S. couple cleared in the death of their 8-year-old daughter arrived home to Los Angeles on Thursday following a legal battle that kept them in Qatar for nearly two years, including almost a year spent in jail.","Exclusive: Crimean leader in New Delhi during Putin visit. By Douglas Busvine NEW DELHI (Reuters) - The leader of Crimea, the former Ukrainian territory annexed by Russia, arrived for unofficial talks in New Delhi on Thursday as President Vladimir Putin met Prime Minister Narendra Modi for a summit. Sergey Aksyonov met a Mumbai businessman to discuss boosting trade with the Black Sea region. India does not support Western sanctions against Russia, but the meeting may prove an irritant before President Barack Obama visits India in January. ...","Israeli official says 3 missing teens likely alive. JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel's defense minister said Saturday that authorities believe the three teens who disappeared in the West Bank while reportedly hitchhiking are alive.","Man shot in suspected assassination in Jerusalem. JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli police say a man has been shot in Jerusalem in a suspected assassination attempt.","Latif refuses to take over as PCB chief selector. ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistan's former test captain and wicketkeeper Rashid Latif has refused to take over as chief selector just nine days after he was supposed to join the Pakistan Cricket Board.","Anxious wait for Nigeria girls after Boko Haram 'deal'. Abuja (AFP) - Relatives of Nigeria's kidnapped schoolgirls on Saturday dared voice cautious hope of seeing the teenagers finally freed after officials claimed to have reached a deal with Boko Haram militants.","ECB holds course in face of deflation fears. By David Milliken and Eva Taylor FRANKFURT (Reuters) - The European Central Bank kept interest rates steady on Thursday despite a fall in inflation to its lowest in more than four years, counting on the euro zone recovery to gain strength unaided. The ECB held its main interest rate at a record low of 0.25 percent and the rate for bank deposits at central banks at zero, refraining from taking more drastic measures in the face of fears that the euro zone could slip into deflation. The focus now shifts to a news conference with ECB President Mario Draghi, due to start at 8.30 a.m. GMT, where he is expected to explain the central bank's decision and markets will watch out for any comments that may indicate possible action ahead. \"The ECB is likely to give a very strong verbal message that they are willing to take further action on both the rate side as well as on the side of quantitative easing (QE),\" Michels said.","Senna, Ratzenberger deaths prompt safer F1. The deaths of Ayrton Senna and Roland Ratzenberger at the San Marino Grand Prix in 1994 were the last driver fatalities in Formula One, due largely to the safety review prompted by their deaths and ongoing measures to reduce the almost annual incidence of such tragedies in the series.","Chile's navy cancels tsunami alert following 7.6 quake. SANTIAGO (Reuters) - Chile's navy canceled a tsunami alert for all of the coastline on Thursday following a strong 7.6 magnitude quake off the north of the country a day earlier. It was the strongest of several aftershocks that followed a huge 8.2-magnitude quake blamed for six deaths in the same region on Tuesday. Chile's emergency office, Onemi, which had earlier asked residents to evacuate the coastline, said \"people can return to their homes.\" (Reporting by Anthony Esposito; Editing by Nick Macfie)","Vietnam: Chinese ships ram vessels near oil rig. HANOI, Vietnam (AP) — Chinese ships have been ramming into and firing water cannons at Vietnamese vessels trying to stop Beijing from putting an oil rig in the South China Sea, according to officials and video footage Wednesday, in a dangerous escalation of tensions over waters considered a global flashpoint.","China February inflation tame, room for policy easing. China's consumer prices rose at their slowest rate in 13 months in February as pork prices fell by their most in over a year, a sign that slowing growth rather than rising prices poses a bigger risk to the world's second-biggest economy. The consumer price index rose 2 percent in February from a year earlier, the National Bureau of Statistics said on Sunday, exactly in line with market expectations. And in an indication that China's wobbly economy is fighting substantial slack, producer prices fell for the 24th consecutive month by dropping 2 percent, slightly above forecasts for a 1.9 percent drop. The tepid price data could fuel investor worries about the health of China's economy, which drew new concerns this week after figures showed export growth slumped by nearly a fifth last month.","Australia wins toss, bats in 3rd T20 vs England. SYDNEY (AP) — Australia won the toss and elected to bat Sunday in the third and final Twenty20 cricket international against England at Stadium Australia.","Prodigal son returns, Lachlan Murdoch back in News Corp. By Jane Wardell and Byron Kaye SYDNEY (Reuters) - Lachlan Murdoch's appointment to senior positions within his father Rupert Murdoch's media empire marks the return of the prodigal son. Nearly a decade after walking away from the News Corp inner circle in New York to set up his own investment company and settle in Sydney with his young family, it appears Lachlan has accepted the mantle of successor, whether alone or jointly with younger brother James. \"It's like the royal family,\" said Alan Knight, professor of journalism at the University of Technology in Sydney. \"Murdoch senior has always treated News Corp as a family business and this guy is just basically accepting his inheritance.\" Lachlan, 42, will become non-executive co-chairman of both entertainment company 21st Century Fox and publishing operation News Corp, sharing both roles with his father.","Obama to deliver statement at 1600 EDT: White House. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama is set to deliver a statement at the White House at 1600 EDT on Thursday ahead of a meeting with his national security council on Iraq and Syria, the White House said. (Reporting by Roberta Rampton; Editing by Sandra Maler)","Unclear when plane communications system switched off: official. KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - A communications system in the missing Malaysia Airlines jetliner could have been switched off before or after the last verbal contact with the flight deck, which likely came from the co-pilot, the airline's chief executive said on Monday. \"We don't know when the ACARS system was switched off. What we know is the last transmission,\" chief executive Ahmad Jauhari Yahya told reporters. ...","Saudi King calls on Egypt to back Gulf accord: statement. DUBAI (Reuters) - Saudi King Abdullah called on Egypt on Wednesday to back an agreement between Gulf Arab states that ended an eight-month dispute over Qatar's backing of Islamist movements and its promotion of Arab Spring revolts. In a statement published by the Saudi Press Agency, the king appealed to the leadership and people of Egypt to \"work with us for the success of this step in the march of Arab solidarity\". Egypt's ambassador to Qatar was recalled to Cairo earlier this year over political tension between the two states. ...","UK government lends hand to BP in U.S. Gulf oil spill rulings. (Reuters) - The British government has urged the U.S. Supreme Court to review appeals court rulings against BP Plc over a 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill that produced one of the largest class actions in American history. In a friend of court brief, the UK government said lower court rulings raise grave international concerns by undermining confidence in the \"vigorous and fair resolution of disputes.\" The filing said BP, which has \"gone to great lengths to restore the Gulf Coast\", was now being required to pay large sums to others who were not injured by the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. The United States and Britain conduct more than $200 billion in trade each year, and UK businesses are responsible for 17 percent of all foreign direct investment in the United States, according to the filing.","Netherlands holds Argentina 0-0 at halftime. SAO PAULO (AP) — The Netherlands and Argentina are level at 0-0 after the first half of the second World Cup semifinal.","Putin, Germany's Merkel discuss efforts to resolve Ukraine crisis: Kremlin. MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin and Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel discussed possible international efforts to help improve the situation in Ukraine in a phone call, the Kremlin said in a statement on Wednesday. The West has threatened sanctions against Russia which effectively occupied Crimea after the ouster of President Viktor Yanukovich. Moscow accused the Western powers of supporting a \"coup\" to topple him and did not recognize the legitimacy of the new Ukrainian authorities. (Reporting by Alexei Anishchuk; Editing by Sonya Hepinstall)","Kerry says formation of Iraqi government critical for stability. By Lesley Wroughton and Jane Wardell SYDNEY (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Monday the formation of an Iraqi government was critical for stability and urged Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki not to stoke political tensions further. U.S. President Barack Obama has urged Iraqi political leaders to bury their sectarian differences and form a more inclusive government that can unite Iraqis against Islamic State militants. The United States has carried out three consecutive days of air strikes over Iraq, stepping up assistance to Kurdish forces to counter the advance of Islamic militants in the north of the country. \"The government formation process is critical in terms of sustaining stability and calm in Iraq, and our hope is that Mr Maliki will not stir those waters,\" Kerry told reporters in Sydney ahead of annual Australia-United States Ministerial Consultations (AUSMIN).","Korean 'superfan' of Royals headed back to KC. SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — A die-hard long-time Kansas City Royals fan from Seoul who was superstitiously credited with sparking the team's playoff run is headed for Missouri to watch the Royals appear in their first World Series since 1985.","Australian police say gunman among three killed in cafe siege. SYDNEY (Reuters) - A gunman at the center of a 16-hour siege in a Sydney cafe was one of three people killed when heavily armed security forces stormed the building following an exchange of gunfire, Australian police said on Tuesday. No explosives had been found and 17 hostages had been accounted for, Andrew Scipione, police commissioner for the state of New South Wales, told reporters. (Reporting by Colin Packham and Lincoln Feast; Editing by Dean Yates)","UCI head suggests track cycling for Winter Games. LONDON (AP) — The head of cycling's world governing body would like to see track cycling in the Winter Olympics.","Olympiakos beats Real Madrid 78-76, avoids sweep. ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Defending Euroleague champion Olympiakos stayed alive in its quest for a third consecutive title when it beat Real Madrid 78-76 on Monday.","Australia declares on 494-7 vs South Africa. CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) — Michael Clarke declared Australia's innings on its overnight score of 494-7 as the tourists looked to make early inroads into South Africa's batting lineup on the third morning of the third test at Newlands.","Bahrain arrests 29 as uprising's start remembered. MANAMA, Bahrain (AP) — Bahrain announced the arrest of 29 people as anti-government protesters tried to converge in the capital on Friday to mark the third anniversary of the uprising in the small Gulf island nation.","The countries and vacations that top bucket lists. Australia has emerged as the top dream destination in a new travel survey that reveals the most coveted cities on people’s bucket list. After the Land of Oz, respondents named Italy, New Zealand, France and Fiji as their fantasy destinations. When asked to name their dream trip of a lifetime, the 8,830 respondents from 33 countries identified a cruise around the world, followed by a visit to the Amalfi coast. The findings align with the growing popularity of worldwide cruising, says Virtuoso, with cabins for 2015 world cruises nearly sold out.","Golf-New Zealand teen Ko becomes youngest LPGA rookie of year. WELLINGTON, Nov 13 (Reuters) - New Zealand teenager Lydia Ko has become the youngest winner of the LPGA's rookie of the year award in a season in which she has won twice, secured two runner-up finishes and nine other top-10s. The 17-year-old already owns records as the youngest LPGA title winner and the youngest player to win a $1 million in prize money. \"It's really been a dream rookie season for me,\" Ko said on the LPGA website. \"I learned so much and am glad to have achieved some of my goals along the way. ...","Ukraine president signs amnesty but anger remains, currency slumps. By Richard Balmforth KIEV (Reuters) - Ukraine's embattled President Viktor Yanukovich on Friday signed into law an amnesty for demonstrators detained during mass unrest and repealed anti-protest legislation, in a fresh bid to take the heat out of the political crisis. But the move by Yanukovich, which demonstrated he remains politically active despite going on sick leave on Thursday, was not likely to be enough to end the sometimes violent anti-government protests on the streets of Kiev and other cities. And TV coverage of a prominent opposition activist showing marks of torture inflicted by mystery kidnappers - along with reports police tried to arrest the man in hospital - fuelled anger that has become so explosive that the army made a rare statement, calling for urgent moves to ease the tension. Many protesters rejected Yanukovich's amnesty outright, because it is conditional on occupied buildings being cleared of activists, and a radical Ukrainian nationalist group behind much of the violence pressed new tough demands on Friday.","Dutch move to 1974 final after outwitting Brazil. On this day: Johan Cruyff stars against Brazil as Dutch claim final berth in Dortmund, West Germany, in 1974.","West voices alarm on Crimea, calls on Russia to respect Ukraine sovereignty. The West expressed alarm on Saturday over fast-moving developments in Ukraine's Crimea, urging all sides to avoid further escalation and calling on Russia to respect Ukraine's sovereignty. A week after violent protests forced Russian-backed President Viktor Yanukovich to abandon power in Kiev, Ukraine's new leaders say Russia is trying to take control of the southern Crimea region, which has a majority ethnic Russian population. France, Britain and Germany issued calls for de-escalation in Crimea hours after U.S. President Barack Obama warned that military intervention in the region would be deeply destabilizing and \"carry costs\".","Two killed as suicide bomber targets police bus in Kabul. A Taliban suicide bomber riding a bicycle detonated himself next to a police bus in Kabul on Sunday, killing a policeman and a civilian in the first major attack in the Afghan capital this year. The attacker targeted the bus as it left a police training centre on the Jalalabad road, a main route out of the city and a regular scene of militant strikes in recent years. He said the suicide bomber riding a bicycle targeted the police bus and that 20 police and passers-by had also been wounded, some of them seriously. Sayed Gul Agha Hashimi, chief of Kabul's Criminal Investigation Department, confirmed the death toll and estimated number of injured.","U.S.-led air strikes intensify as Syria conflict destabilizes Turkey. By Humeyra Pamuk and Daren Butler MURSITPINAR Turkey/ISTANBUL (Reuters) - American-led forces have sharply intensified air strikes in the past two days against Islamic State fighters threatening Kurds on Syria's Turkish border after the jihadists' advance began to destabilize Turkey. The coalition had conducted 21 attacks on the militants near the Syrian Kurdish town of Kobani over Monday and Tuesday and appeared to have slowed Islamic State advances there, the U.S. military said, but cautioned the situation remained fluid. U.S. ...","Mozilla says CEO resigns amid gay marriage controversy. SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Mozilla chief executive Brendan Eich has stepped down amid a controversy over his views on gay marriage, the company said in a blog post on Thursday. The software company, best known for its Firefox Internet browser, came under fire for appointing Eich as CEO last month. Eich has donated money to oppose the legalization of gay marriage, a hot-button issue in recent years. (Reporting by Sarah McBride)","Image of Asia: Stocking up on coal for winter heat. In this photo by Andy Wong, a man stacks coal briquettes, his only source of home heating, in an outer courtyard in Beijing. Many people living in older homes in northern China rely on coal fires for heat in winter. But cities including the capital are starting to phase out coal burning to reduce their extreme air pollution. The central government is considering a nationwide cap on coal use, and China's use of other energy sources such as solar power is growing.","France to renegotiate deficit target with EU. PARIS (AP) — France's new finance minister says he wants to renegotiate the speed at which France cuts its budget deficit to limits set by the European Union.","Mayor of Ukrainian city shot and wounded: report. KIEV (Reuters) - Gennady Kernes, the mayor of Ukraine's second-biggest city, Kharkiv, is in hospital undergoing emerging surgery after being shot in the back, Interfax Ukraina news agency quoted the mayor's spokeswoman as saying on Monday. \"The doctors are fighting to save his life,\" the agency quoted the spokeswoman, Tatiana Gruzinskaya, as saying. (Reporting by Christian Lowe, Editing by Timothy Heritage)","Clashes between Egypt troops, protesters kill teen. CAIRO (AP) — An Egyptian security official says a teenager has been killed in clashes between supporters of the ousted Islamist president and security forces.","Italy cheers Oscar return amid funding angst. ROME (AP) — Italians are celebrating after Paolo Sorrentino's \"The Great Beauty\" won the Oscar for best foreign language film, ended a 15-year hiatus for the country with more foreign Oscar wins than any other.","Adoption a hope for C. African children in crisis. Bangui (Central African Republic) (AFP) - Two-year-old Mercia clung unsteadily to Pierrette's dress, a potential candidate for adoption in the orphanage run by the elderly lady as clashes wracked the Central African Republic's capital. During weeks of inter-religious violence, Pierrette took in children of all ages in Bangui, seeking to provide a safe haven for young victims of conflict in a house lost on a dusty street among tin shacks. \"There is nobody to count on... Parents, save us,\" a choir of some 30 children sung for visitors to their makeshift abode. Mercia looked a little lost in the chorus and probably remembered nothing of being held and hugged by Laure, who wants to adopt her and is waiting 5,000 kilometres (3,100 miles) distant in France.","Israeli says he has found King David's citadel. JERUSALEM (AP) — An Israeli archaeologist says he has found the legendary citadel captured by King David in his conquest of Jerusalem, rekindling a longstanding debate about using the Bible as a field guide to identifying ancient ruins.","Samsung suspends China supplier over child labor. SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Samsung Electronics Co. says it has suspended business ties with a Chinese supplier that allegedly hired children.","Hughton sacking highlights game's diversity issues. LONDON (AP) — Norwich didn't sack Chris Hughton because he's black. It fired him because it is petrified of dropping out of the Premier League and the millions in revenue that would be lost. Still, the result is the same: Every manager leading his team out next weekend will be white.","Bombings kill 9 civilians in Afghanistan. KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Officials say bombings killed nine Afghan civilians in a volatile southern province.","Rebels say no to Colombian military role in peace. Leftist FARC guerrillas in peace talks aimed at ending a five-decade conflict rejected Monday a Colombian plan to put the military in charge of disarming the rebels. \"There is no way\" that the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia will accept a military role \"to resolve issues that are of political nature by definition,\" top rebel negotiator Ivan Marquez told reporters. Marquez spoke in the Cuban capital Havana, where peace talks began in November 2012 even though hostilities have continued in the absence of a ceasefire. President Juan Manuel Santos said Friday that he would put Colombia's top general, Javier Florez, in charge of a military operation to demobilize and disarm the guerrillas.","Spanish team in Egypt finds 3,600-year-old mummy. CAIRO (AP) — Egypt's Antiquities Minister says Spanish archeologists have unearthed a 3,600-year-old mummy in the ancient city of Luxor.","De Mistura succeeds Brahimi as UN envoy for Syria. Italian-Swedish diplomat Staffan de Mistura was named UN mediator for Syria on Thursday, taking on the Herculean task of finding a political solution to the dragging civil war. He replaces the hugely respected Lakhdar Brahimi, who resigned in May after two rounds of peace talks collapsed and as the conflict escalated into a fourth year, killing more than 162,000 people. UN chief Ban Ki-moon confirmed the appointment of the special representative and his Egyptian deputy, urging the much-divided Security Council and Syrian parties to work closely with him. Ban has frequently criticized animosity on the Council between Western powers and Russia, a close ally of Damascus, which has all but paralyzed an international response to the crisis.","Israeli PM in Jordan for talks with king. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made an unannounced visit to neighbouring Jordan on Thursday for talks with King Abdullah II on the Middle East peace process, palace officials said. The rare meeting in Amman comes as US Secretary of State John Kerry is pushing to get the Palestinians and Israelis to agree on a framework to guide peace talks forward. His proposals include a security plan for the border between a future Palestinian state and Jordan, involving high-tech equipment to enable Israel to reduce or end its troop presence on the ground, Israeli media say. \"King Abdullah and Netanyahu discussed peace process developments in light of the current US-sponsored Israeli-Palestinians peace negotiations,\" a palace statement sad.","Full house likely as Nebraska top court hears Keystone XL case. Backers and opponents of the Keystone XL pipeline are expected to pack a courtrooom in Lincoln on Friday when the Nebraska Supreme Court hears arguments about whether the state's governor was wrong to approve a route for the controversial project. At issue is a 2012 law that gave Governor Dave Heineman the authority to approve a route for TransCanada Corp's proposed Canada-to-Texas project, which would carry tar sands crude oil from Alberta to Texas. Siting issues are typically settled by the state's Public Services Commission (PSC) but Heineman used the law to bless a route for the 1,700-mile pipeline early last year. In February, a Nebraska court ruled that the governor had been wrong to interrupt the normal sitting process.","Norway, Germany win openers at hockey worlds. MINSK, Belarus (AP) — Norway blanked Italy 3-0 and Germany prevailed in a shootout to beat Kazakhstan 2-1 in their first games at the ice hockey world championship on Saturday.","Germany urges Russia to desist transgressing Ukraine's sovereignty. BERLIN (Reuters) - German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said on Sunday the situation in Ukraine was \"extremely dangerous\" and he urged Russia to desist transgressions of Ukrainian sovereignty and territorial integrity. \"It is urgently necessary that all those responsible desist from taking further steps that can only be seen as a provocation,\" Steinmeier said in a statement. \"Anything else would lead to an escalation with uncertain, possibly dramatic consequences. ...","Car bombs in Baghdad, Iraqi town kill 34 people. BAGHDAD (AP) — Car bombs hit several mostly Shiite neighborhoods of Baghdad and a town south of the Iraqi capital on Wednesday, killing at least 34 people and wounding dozens, officials said, the latest bout of violence ahead of the country's first parliamentary elections since the 2011 U.S. troop withdrawal.","Sarkozy allies urge him to return, lead divided opposition. Allies of former French president Nicolas Sarkozy lined up on Wednesday to call for his return to head an opposition UMP party beset by crisis, setting the stage for a comeback that could propel him to a re-election bid in 2017. Sarkozy, who lost power to Socialist President Francois Hollande in 2012, has since avoided direct involvement in politics but is widely expected to seek re-election in 2017 and has been commenting with increasing frequency on European current affairs. With his former UMP party in crisis, hit by a campaign funding scandal that forced its chief to step down and set off a leadership contest, friends of the former president urged him to take its reins and run for president. \"We need a leader, a project and a direction,\" European deputy Brice Hortefeux, a close ally of Sarkozy and formerly his interior minister, told Le Monde in an interview.","Easing of EU sanctions on Zimbabwe a 'non-event': Mugabe party. President Robert Mugabe's ruling ZANU-PF party on Tuesday dismissed the easing of European Union sanctions on Zimbabwe as a \"non-event,\" after the veteran leader and his wife remained blacklisted. The EU on Monday lifted a visa ban and assets freeze against members of Zimbabwe's ruling elite with the exception of Mugabe, who turns 90 on Friday, and his wife Grace. \"We want total removal of sanctions. We don't accept piecemeal removal of sanctions,\" Rugare Gumbo, ZANU-PF spokesperson told AFP.","Saudi Arabia agrees to host training of moderate Syria rebels. Saudi Arabia has agreed to host training camps for moderate Syrian rebels as part of President Barack Obama's broad strategy to combat Islamic State militants who have taken over parts of Syria and Iraq, U.S. The agreement, outlined by Obama's aides on the night of his speech to the American people laying out his expanded campaign against the Islamist group, appeared to reflect the depth of Saudi concern about Islamic State's threat to the region. \"Now what we have is a commitment from the kingdom of Saudi Arabia ... to be a full partner with us in that effort, including by hosting that training program,\" a senior U.S.","Canada posts tiny jobs gain in July as employment growth stalls. Canada's economy created a net 200 jobs in July, far fewer than analysts had expected, in a further sign of how employment growth has stalled, Statistics Canada data indicated on Friday. The unemployment rate dipped to 7.0 percent from 7.1 percent because fewer people were looking for work. The labor force participation rate fell to 65.9 percent, the lowest level since October 2001. Despite an economic recovery in the United States, Canada has struggled to boost employment.","With no new signals, Abbott sees long jet search. PERTH, Australia (AP) — With no new underwater signals detected, Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said Saturday that the massive search for the Malaysian jet would likely continue \"for a long time\" as electronic transmissions from the dying black boxes were fading fast.","France, Greece help lift eurozone growth. BRUSSELS (AP) — A surprisingly solid performance by France and confirmation that Greece has come out of one of the developed world's deepest recessions in living memory helped the 18-country eurozone grow by more than anticipated in the third quarter of the year, official figures showed Friday.","Back to Cold War as Russia probes NATO defences. Nuclear-capable Russian bombers in European airspace, NATO intercepts, a foreign submarine in Swedish waters -- the fall-out from the Ukraine crisis feels like a return to Cold War days. NATO has intercepted Russian aircraft on more than 100 occasions so far this year, three times more than all 2013, its new head Jens Stoltenberg said on Thursday. We intercept, we are ready and we react,\" Stoltenberg said, repeating that NATO must deal with Russia from a position of strength. Earlier this week, NATO tracked and intercepted four groups of Russian warplanes, including long-range TU-95 strategic bombers and sophisticated fighters \"conducting significant military manoeuvres\" over the Baltic Sea, North Sea/Atlantic Ocean and the Black Sea.","Hyundai Motor promotes younger executives, with eye on succession planning. By Hyunjoo Jin SEOUL (Reuters) - Hyundai Motor and affiliate Kia Motors promoted younger executives on Friday, in moves analysts said would help smoothen an eventual leadership succession at the family-owned conglomerate. Hyundai Motor said it elevated chief marketing officer Cho Won-hong to executive vice president. Cho, 50, was handpicked by the automaker' s heir apparent Chung Eui-sun, people familiar with the matter said. ...","Taliban free most of 27 hostages in Afghan province. The Islamist Taliban have freed most of the 27 prisoners captured last week in Afghanistan's northern Badakhanshan province, a local official said on Sunday, but three remained captive because of their senior rank. The prisoners, most of them police officers, were taken in a battle for Yamgan district, after several days of fighting. \"They still hold the prison chief, police chief and a NDS (intelligence agency) agent,\" district governor Nawroz Mohammad Haidari said by telephone. Yamgan initially appeared to have fallen to the Taliban, but local officials say it has since been recaptured by Afghan security forces.","N. Korea test-fires missiles as Obama hosts summit. North Korea test-fired two ballistic missiles Wednesday, as US President Barack Obama hosted a landmark Japan-South Korea summit and pledged \"unwavering commitment\" to Tokyo and Seoul's security concerns in the face of Pyongyang's nuclear threat. South Korea's defence ministry said both missiles flew 650 kilometres (400 miles) into the Sea of Japan, upping the ante after a series of short-range missile and rocket launches by the North in recent weeks. UN Security Council resolutions prohibit North Korea from conducting any ballistic missile tests.","Mary Kom draws crowds even in far-away venues. INCHEON, South Korea (AP) — India's star woman boxer M.C. Mary Kom is not surprised at the crowd support for her at the Asian Games. The sprightly 31-year-old acknowledges cheers from the stands and does not even mind being pushed around as her fans jostle with each other to get pictured with her.","Sharapova advances to 2nd round at French Open. PARIS (AP) — Maria Sharapova took advantage of a break in the rain to win her opening match at the French Open on Monday.","Kiribati leader visits Arctic on climate mission. STOCKHOLM (AP) — Fearing that his Pacific island nation could be swallowed by a rising ocean, the president of Kiribati says a visit to the melting Arctic has helped him appreciate the scale of the threat.","Thousands rally in Niger in support of president. By Abdoulaye Massalaki NIAMEY (Reuters) - Thousands of supporters of Niger President Mahamadou Issoufou rallied in the capital Niamey on Saturday in a show of force against an increasingly well-organized and vocal opposition movement. Interior Minister Massoudou Hassoumi this week accused leading opposition figure Amadou Hama of calling for a coup and inciting ethnic hatred. \"The opposition proclaims everywhere that it controls Niamey. They must be disillusioned now,\" Bazoum Mohamed, Niger's foreign minister and the leader of Issoufou's Nigerien Party for Democracy and Socialism, told the crowd.","Haddin ruled out of ODI series, in doubt for tests. BRISBANE, Australia (AP) — Brad Haddin has been ruled out of Australia's limited-overs international series against South Africa due to a shoulder injury, which has put him in doubt for the four-test series against India.","Australia vows help to secure Ukraine crash site. CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — The Australia's foreign minister said on Thursday her country stood ready to provide whatever resources were needed to secure the Malaysian airliner's crash site in Ukraine, as newspapers reported Australian troops and police could soon be sent.","US worried over Boko Haram land grab. The United States on Thursday said it was concerned by increasing Boko Haram violence and territorial gains in Nigeria, warning that the deteriorating situation threatened the African giant's future. \"We are very troubled by the apparent capture of Bama and the prospects for an attack on and in Maiduguri, which would impose a tremendous toll on the civilian population,\" US Assistant Secretary of State Linda Thomas-Greenfield said on a visit to Abuja. Boko Haram, which has been waging a violent insurgency that has claimed thousands of lives since 2009, has in recent weeks overrun and held swathes of territory in Nigeria's far northeast. Thomas-Greenfield, who leads Washington's African Affairs team, told delegates at a bilateral meeting on regional security that the upsurge in violence \"constitutes a serious threat\" to Nigeria.","Leftist ex-guerrilla wins El Salvador presidency. El Salvador's election officials on Sunday declared ex-leftist guerrilla commander Salvador Sanchez Ceren the winner of a March 9 presidential election, after rejecting the opposition's last challenges to the results. Eugenio Chicas, the president of the Supreme Electoral Tribunal confirmed a razor-thin election win by Sanchez Ceren over Norman Quijano of the conservative ARENA party who had challenged the results.","Chelsea loans midfielder Oriol Romeu to Stuttgart. STUTTGART, Germany (AP) — Spanish midfielder Oriol Romeu has joined Bundesliga club Stuttgart on a one-year loan from Chelsea.","HP pays $108 million to settle foreign bribery probes. By Edwin Chan and Aruna Viswanatha SAN FRANCISCO/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Hewlett-Packard will pay $108 million and one of its subsidiaries will plead guilty to bribery charges over its role in a scheme to secure a contract with a Russian government office, the Justice Department said on Wednesday. HP units in Poland and Mexico also resolved criminal charges related to contracts in those two countries, the department said. In Poland, an HP unit provided gifts and cash worth more than $600,000 to obtain contracts with a national police agency, it said. And in Mexico, an HP subsidiary paid more than $1 million in inflated commission in order to seal a software deal with Mexico's state-owned petroleum company, the agency said.","Stuart Broad fined for criticizing umpires. CHITTAGONG, Bangladesh (AP) — England captain Stuart Broad has been fined for criticizing umpires for not halting his team's World Twenty20 opener against New Zealand sooner due to lightning.","Pistorius says he mourns for girlfriend he killed. JOHANNESBURG (AP) — Oscar Pistorius, the celebrated athlete who became a murder suspect, said Friday that he is consumed by grief on the first anniversary of the day that he fatally shot his girlfriend in his home.","Prominent Chinese activist on trial, refuses to defend himself. By Sui-Lee Wee BEIJING (Reuters) - Prominent Chinese rights advocate Xu Zhiyong went on trial on Wednesday in the country's most high-profile dissident case in years, but his lawyer said he refused to offer any defense and called the court unjust. Outside the courtroom, Xu's supporters chanted slogans and raised banners in his support. The government has waged a 10-month drive against Xu's \"New Citizens' Movement\", which advocates working within the system to press for change, including urging officials to disclose their assets. Xu's lawyer, Zhang Qingfang, told Reuters by telephone that Xu told the judge: \"This court is not just so I will maintain my silence.\" The judge tried to persuade Xu and Xu's lawyers to speak but to no avail, so the judge called for a recess.","France to unveil plan to fight Syrian jihadist threat. By John Irish and Marine Pennetier PARIS (Reuters) - France's interior minister on Tuesday unveiled a raft of policies to stop its citizens joining the Syrian civil war, aiming to prevent young French Muslims becoming radicalized and posing a threat to their home country. France, which has been a staunch opponent of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, estimates the number of its nationals directly or indirectly involved in the Syrian conflict at about 700 of which a third are fighting against the government. President Francois Hollande has made clamping down on violent cells and self-radicalized operators planning domestic attacks a priority since a Toulouse-based al Qaeda-inspired gunman, Mohamed Merah, shot dead seven people in March 2012. But with the Syrian conflict entering its fourth year, the government has increasingly come under criticism for failing to stop its nationals - some as young as 15 - from heading to Syria.","Fazio joins Tottenham from Sevilla. LONDON (AP) — Tottenham has signed Argentina defender Federico Fazio from Spanish side Sevilla on a four-year deal.","World trade body cuts forecasts. BERLIN (AP) — The World Trade Organization has sharply reduced its forecast for global trade growth this year, pointing to uneven economic growth in countries including China and the U.S.","Russia's Putin outlaws denial of Nazi crimes. By Alexei Anishchuk MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a law on Monday making the denial of Nazi crimes and distortion of the Soviet Union's role in the World War Two a criminal offence punishable by up to five years in jail. The law, described by critics as an attempt to curb freedom of expression to appease conservative Russians, the ex-KGB spy's main support base, also criminalizes the public desecration of war memorials. The Kremlin has used World War Two as a pillar to unite a society that Putin has said lost its moral bearings following the 1991 Soviet collapse. The new law would ban \"wittingly spreading false information about the activity of the USSR during the years of World War Two\".","'I was true friend to Muslims,' Karadzic tells war crimes court. The Hague (AFP) - A defiant Radovan Karadzic on Wednesday told the Yugoslav war crimes court he was \"a true friend\" to Bosnia's Muslims, against whom he is accused of committing some of Europe's worst atrocities since World War II.","No need yet to send troops to Ukraine: Putin. Moscow (AFP) - Russia has no need yet to send troops into Ukraine but reserves the right to use \"all means\" to protect citizens should the necessity arise, President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday.","Georgia eyes economic development, wary of Russia: deputy PM. By Daniel Bases NEW YORK (Reuters) - The Ukraine crisis has refreshed Georgia's wariness in dealing with Russia, its former Soviet master with whom it fought a five-day war in 2008 that left it with two breakaway regions loyal to Moscow, the country's deputy prime minister said. \"But at the same time we need to be in line with the European policy of de-escalation in the region. De-escalation is the most important thing now,\" Georgian Deputy Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili told Reuters in an interview on Wednesday. ...","US retail sales report helps steady markets. LONDON (AP) — Modestly stronger than anticipated U.S. retail sales figures helped shore up sentiment across financial markets Thursday despite disappointing Chinese economic figures and a rate hike in New Zealand.","Top-seeded Ferrer reaches Mexican quarterfinals. ACAPULCO, Mexico (AP) — Top-seeded David Ferrer defeated fellow-Spaniard Feliciano Lopez 7-6 (1), 6-2 on Wednesday to advance to his fifth-straight Mexican Open quarterfinals.","Top China diplomat meets Vietnam officials amid tensions over oil rig. By Ho Binh Minh HANOI (Reuters) - China's top diplomat began a round of meetings with Vietnamese officials in Hanoi on Wednesday as the two countries try to repair a rupture in ties over China's positioning of an oil rig in disputed waters early last month. Among the challenges likely to come up in talks: The continued presence of the rig in South China Sea waters claimed by both countries as well as Beijing's demand for compensation in the wake of anti-Chinese riots that erupted in Vietnam in the days after the drilling platform was deployed. Chinese State Councilor Yang Jiechi, who outranks the foreign minister, first met Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh. Yang will later hold talks with Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung as well as the head of Vietnam's ruling communist party before attending a dinner hosted by Minh.","Three suspects arrested in Chile subway bombing. Santiago (AFP) - Two men and a woman were arrested early Thursday on suspicion of involvement in a recent bombing in a subway station in the Chilean capital, police said.","Urawa wins to go top of Japanese league. TOKYO (AP) — Urawa Reds beat defending champion Sanfrecce Hiroshima 1-0 to take over top spot in the J-League from Sagan Tosu, who lost 2-0 at home to FC Tokyo on Saturday.","Ukraine's leader talks with NATO about closer ties. MOSCOW (AP) — Undeterred by threats from Russia that Ukraine's NATO ambitions would derail peace talks, Ukraine's leader discussed closer ties with NATO at a meeting Thursday with President Barack Obama and other NATO leaders in Wales.","Actress Jolie takes plight of kidnapped Nigerian girls to red carpet. By Katharina Urban-Oberberg LONDON (Reuters) - Hollywood actress Angelina Jolie, in London to promote her new film \\\\\"Maleficent,\\\\\" used the red carpet event on Thursday to renew her plea for the safe return of more than 200 Nigerian school girls kidnapped by Islamist rebels. The 38-year-old actress, who serves as a United Nations special envoy for refugees, said it was \\\\\"heart-warming\\\\\" to hear reporters' questions and people's concern for the abducted girls at a movie event. \\\\\"The important thing though is to understand that this happens because these men think they can get away with this and they can do this,\\\\\" Jolie told reporters. U.S. first lady Michelle Obama and Pakistani schoolgirl and human rights activist Malala Yousafzai are among those backing an online campaign and have posted photos of themselves holding a sign reading \\\\\"#BringBackOurGirls.\\\\\" Jolie also said she was increasingly concerned about for people in Ukraine, where pro-Moscow separatists have ignored a public call by Russian President Vladimir Putin to postpone a referendum on self-rule in eastern Ukraine, declaring they would go ahead on Sunday with a vote that could lead to war.","Egypt: Insulting revolutions to be criminalized. CAIRO (AP) — Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi says a law is being drafted to criminalize insulting the uprisings that toppled President Hosni Mubarak in 2011 and his Islamist successor Mohammed Morsi in 2013.","OSCE urges Azerbaijan to stop repression of free media. By Margarita Antidze TBILISI (Reuters) - Europe's main security and rights watchdog urged Azerbaijan on Monday to stop an intensifying crackdown on independent media and human rights activists. Rights advocates accuse veteran President Ilham Aliyev's government of muzzling dissent and jailing opponents, charges it denies. The West has actively courted the energy-rich ex-Soviet republic as an alternative to Russia in supplying oil and gas. ...","US rescuers work to get Chinese sailors off boat. SAN DIEGO (AP) — U.S. Air Force rescuers worked to get two badly burned Chinese sailors off a boat in the Pacific Ocean as seven of their uninjured comrades and the bodies of two others returned home on a Chinese-flagged vessel, an official said Monday.","Ukrainian naval commander released. KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine's acting president says the commander of the country's navy has been freed after being held by Russian forces and local Crimean militia at the navy's headquarters.","Fremantle beats Collingwood in AFL season opener. MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Fremantle beat Collingwood by 70 points and held the Magpies to their lowest-ever score against the Dockers to open the Australian Football League season with a convincing win.","Salvini seeks to fill Berlusconi boots on Italy's right. Italy has a rising star: Matteo Salvini, head of the Euro-sceptic Northern League, is scoring high in the polls as he bids to fill the political vacuum on the right left by Silvio Berlusconi. As the country's 39-year old Prime Minister Matteo Renzi and his centre-left Democratic Party (PD) battle to comply with European budget rules, Salvini, 41, is wooing recession-weary voters on an anti-immigration, anti-euro and overtly anti-Muslim platform. \"We want to have the majority in Italy. Giovanni Orsina, a professor of political science at the Luiss University in Rome, said Salvini is on track to emerge as a major player in the country's political landscape.","China's girl power set to last. Incheon (South Korea) (AFP) - Chna's female swimmers added three gold medals to an already impressive haul at the Asian Games Wednesday, stating they had no intention of giving up their dominance in the pool.","Texas school evacuated as district says 'potential explosive device' identified. KATY, Texas - A bomb squad has been dispatched to a Texas school where officials say a \"potential explosive device\" has been identified in the building.","Associated Press video journalist killed with 4 people in Gaza Strip explosion.. BEIT LAHIYA, Gaza Strip (AP) — Associated Press video journalist killed with 4 people in Gaza Strip explosion.","Obama says Nobel Peace Prize choice a victory for human dignity. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama congratulated Pakistani teenager Malala Yousafzai and Kailash Satyarthi, an Indian campaigner against child trafficking, for winning the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday, calling it a victory for those who uphold human dignity. \"Today's announcement is a victory for all who strive to uphold the dignity of every human being,\" Obama, himself a Nobel Peace Prize winner, said in a statement. ...","BRAZIL BEAT: Van Gaal enjoying World Cup offenses. SAO PAULO (AP) — With his team already comfortably qualified for the round of 16, and only positioning at stake in a matchup with Chile, Netherlands coach Louis van Gaal turned his attention to World Cup games at large, saying he was pleased with the offensive brand of football seen so far.","Syria Islamists threaten world peace: UN chief. United Nations (United States) (AFP) - UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said Tuesday that Islamists in Syria and Iraq pose a threat to world security but he stopped short of endorsing US-Arab airstrikes in Syria.","Hernandez retains IBF cruiserweight belt. ERFURT, Germany (AP) — Yoan Pablo Hernandez of Cuba retained his IBF cruiserweight title by split decision over German challenger Firat Arslan on Saturday.","N. Irish bakery faces action over 'gay Bert and Ernie cake' snub. A Christian bakery in Northern Ireland said Tuesday it had been threatened with legal action after declining to make a cake featuring \"Sesame Street\" characters Bert and Ernie with a slogan supporting gay marriage. Ashers Baking Company, which takes its name from a verse in the Bible, did not want to make the cake, which was also to feature the QueerSpace campaign group logo as well as the bedroom-sharing puppets. The bakery chain said it has received a letter from Northern Ireland's Equality Commission threatening legal action.","Nepal stuns Afghanistan by 9 runs at World T20. CHITTAGONG, Bangladesh (AP) — Nepal beat Afghanistan to have a stunning chance of reaching the World Twenty20 Super 10 but Hong Kong couldn't quite help in a late upset victory over Bangladesh on Thursday.","Upbeat earnings, hopes of more ECB stimulus lift mood in Europe. By Marius Zaharia LONDON (Reuters) - European shares edged up and the euro hit a one-week low against the dollar on Wednesday, driven by upbeat company earnings results and hopes of corporate bond buying by the European Central Bank. Shares in Swiss engineering group ABB gained 3.1 percent after posting a bigger-than-expected rise in orders, helped by demand from the oil and gas industries. Outdoor equipment maker Husqvarna surged 6.1 percent after reporting a rise in earnings that was above forecasts. ...","Old building topples in India, killing at least 11. NEW DELHI (AP) — A dilapidated building collapsed in the Indian capital on Saturday, killing at least 11 people as rescuers searched for others feared trapped, a fire service official said.","Bombing at northeast Nigeria football pitch kills at least 40: police. Kano (Nigeria) (AFP) - A bomb attack targeting fans watching a match at a football pitch in Nigeria's restive northeast killed at least 40 people on Sunday, a police officer told AFP.","Renault-Nissan's Russian resilience has limits. By Laurence Frost and Megan Davies PARIS/MOSCOW (Reuters) - Renault is looking closely at Western sanctions on Russia even though its carmaking alliance with Nissan appears better positioned than others to ride out the crisis over Ukraine. The European Union and the United States have already imposed economic sanctions on Russia, including some against the deputy chairman of OAO AvtoVAZ, a Russian carmaker in which Renault-Nissan has a controlling majority. The political turbulence has dented economic confidence and car sales in Russia have fallen this year, but Renault says it is confident in its long-term prospects. Nevertheless, Western countries have warned of tougher sanctions and Renault and other carmakers are looking to see what impact these could have.","Officials say car bombs in Iraq's capital kill 16. BAGHDAD (AP) — Two car bombs exploded in Shiite neighborhoods of Iraq's capital Thursday night, killing at least 16 people as violence roars on before a crucial election later this month, authorities said.","Ukraine says rebel attacks continue. MOSCOW (AP) — A Ukrainian security official said Sunday that attacks by Russia-backed rebel fighters are continuing despite a cease-fire called for by both sides more than two weeks ago.","Firefighters make progress controlling California blaze. By Steve Gorman LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Firefighters battling a blaze sweeping across acres of dry brush for a second day in the foothills near Los Angeles kept advancing flames largely in check on Friday, helped by diminishing winds that allowed most evacuees to return home. The blaze, which officials said started from a campfire on Thursday morning, has blackened more than 1,850 acres of drought-parched chaparral, destroyed five homes and damaged 17 other structures. After suppressing flare-ups overnight and making progress in efforts to encircle the flames, crews had managed to contain about 30 percent of the fire's perimeter, said Marc Peebles, a spokesman for the fire command. He said the hot, dry Santa Ana winds fanning the flames on Thursday had subsided by early Friday in the immediate area, helping some 1,100 firefighters consolidate their gains against the blaze.","Lewis Hamilton scorches to victory in first Russian GP. Sochi (Russia) (AFP) - Lewis Hamilton reeled off his fourth consecutive victory to extend his lead in the Formula One drivers' title race and secure Mercedes’ maiden triumph in the constructors' championship on Sunday when he won the inaugural Russian Grand Prix in emphatic fashion.","Banned player can still earn Web.com Tour card. SHANGHAI (AP) — A Chinese player serving a six-month suspension for signing incorrect scorecards at two PGA Tour China Series events is still eligible to be promoted to the Web.com Tour, a PGA Tour official said Sunday.","U.N. launches inquiry into Israeli violations in Gaza. GENEVA (Reuters) - The United Nations Human Rights Council agreed on Wednesday to launch an international inquiry into violations that may have been committed during Israel's latest military offensive in Gaza. At the end of an emergency session, the 47-member Geneva state forum adopted a resolution presented by Palestinians by a vote of 29 states in favor, 1 against (the United States) with 17 abstentions (including some European Union members). (Reporting by Stephanie Nebehay; Editing by Sonya Hepinstall)","Syrian opposition chief urges airstrikes in Syria. UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The head of Syria's Western-backed opposition group is calling for immediate U.S. airstrikes targeting the Islamic State group in Syria.","Indian opposition party heads for landslide win. NEW DELHI (AP) — Opposition leader Narendra Modi will be India's next prime minister, winning the most decisive election victory the country has seen in more than a quarter century and sweeping the long-dominant Congress party from power, partial results showed Friday.","New Israeli law limits Palestinian prisoner releases. JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel's parliament has passed a law aimed at limiting the practice employed in the past of releasing Palestinians convicted of killing Israelis to promote peace efforts. \"Terrorists should die in jail,\" Israeli Economy Minister Naftali Bennett, from the far-right Jewish Home party, which promoted the legislation, said after parliament voted 35-15 late on Monday to approve it. Palestinians regard their people jailed by Israel as heroes in a campaign for an independent state in the occupied West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza Strip. ...","U.S., Afghanistan fail to track U.S.-supplied small arms: watchdog. The U.S. government has failed to effectively track many of the more than 465,000 light weapons it has supplied to Afghanistan's army and police, creating the risk that machine guns and other small arms could fall into insurgent hands, a U.S. watchdog said on Monday. A report from the office of the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR), an independent U.S. government watchdog, found that multiple databases maintained by the U.S. government often had missing or duplicate information about weapons provided to Afghan forces. SIGAR said its investigation into weapons oversight found even more serious problems in the Afghan government's system for keeping track of small arms once it receives them. Afghanistan is expected to reduce the size of its police and army from about 335,000 today to around 228,000 by 2017.","HK court: Tycoon can sue Google over autocomplete. HONG KONG (AP) — A court has ruled that a Hong Kong tycoon can sue Google over its autocomplete results suggesting he has links to organized crime.","Iraq car bombing kills at least 10 people. BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraqi police say a car bomb in eastern Baghdad has killed at least 10 people.","England draw Ecuador 2-2 in World Cup warm-up. Wayne Rooney and Rickie Lambert were on target for an experimental England side in a 2-2 friendly draw with Ecuador on Wednesday which turned sour with two late red cards. Ecuador grabbed an eighth minute lead through a thundering header from Enner Valencia before England drew level in the 29th minute with Rooney poking home after a scramble in the area. Midfielder Ross Barkley produced a moment of fine individual skill to set up Lambert for a sweet strike in the 51st minute, but Ecuador fought back with a thundering drive from Michael Arroyo.","Official: More aid for Syrian rebels 'could help'. WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama's intelligence chief says more U.S. training and equipment for Syria's moderate rebels could boost the fight against the Assad government.","Iraq's Kurds start exporting oil unilaterally. BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraq's self-ruled northern Kurdish region on Thursday started exporting crude oil to the international market through the Turkish port of Ceyhan despite objections from the central government in Baghdad, Turkey's energy minister said.","Yemeni accused of plotting to kill troops. ROCHESTER, New York (AP) — A New York business owner from Yemen plotted vengeance attacks against members of the U.S. military for American actions overseas and Shiite Muslims over the civil war in Syria, according to federal authorities.","2022 World Cup will not take place in Qatar - FIFA's Zwanziger. Berlin (AFP) - Qatar will not host the World Cup in 2022, according to Theo Zwanziger, the German member on the executive committee of world football's governing body FIFA.","Ukraine vows to block Russian 'aid' convoy heading for border. A convoy of 262 Russian trucks rolled toward the Ukrainian border on Tuesday as Kiev vowed to block the aid mission from its territory over fears it was a ploy to bolster pro-Kremlin rebels. The convoy of what Russia says is humanitarian aid has sparked fears of an escalation in a conflict that has left hundreds dead in eastern Ukraine in recent months and plunged Moscow's ties with the West to their lowest point in decades. France warned Tuesday that Russia could use the operation as \"a cover\" for sending in troops, echoing earlier concerns from Washington, Berlin and London. Kiev said the trucks would be stopped at the border for any aid to be unloaded and transported into conflict-torn eastern Ukraine with the help of the Red Cross.","Darfur rebel says peacekeepers turning blind eye to new violence. By John Irish PARIS (Reuters) - A veteran rebel leader from Sudan's Darfur region accused international peacekeepers on Friday of turning a blind eye to what he called a renewed campaign of ethnic cleansing by government-backed Arab militias. The joint U.N/African Union UNAMID peacekeeping force told Reuters it was doing as much as it could policing the vast western territory - and Sudan's government dismissed rebel leader Minni Minnawi's account of a fresh offensive. International efforts have failed to end clashes in Darfur, more than 10 years after Khartoum unleashed militias to try and crush a rebellion by mostly non-Arab insurgents. Frustrated with the lack of progress, the U.N. Security Council last week demanded improvements in UNAMID, and urged Khartoum to improve cooperation with the mission.","Nigeria rejects swap of Boko Haram prisoners for schoolgirls: UK official. By Isaac Abrak MAIDUGURI, Nigeria (Reuters) - Nigeria's president has rejected an offer from Islamist rebel group Boko Haram to exchange schoolgirls it abducted for imprisoned militants, but the government is open to broader talks with the rebels, a visiting British minister said. President Goodluck Jonathan is under pressure to crush the rebels who have killed thousands in their campaign for an Islamist state and to free the girls whose abduction a month ago has sparked global outrage. Government officials initially said they were exploring all options with respect to the swap proposal and later said they were willing to negotiate with Boko Haram without specifying whether any putative talks might include an exchange for the girls. Jonathan further refined that position on Wednesday during talks with Britain's Minister for Africa Mark Simmonds.","UK foreign minister William Hague stepping down. LONDON (AP) — The British government says Foreign Secretary William Hague is leaving his job, a surprise announcement that precedes a major shakeup of the Conservative-led administration.","Japan PM sends offerings to war shrine. TOKYO (AP) — Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe sent religious offerings Friday to a Tokyo shrine honoring the war dead including convicted wartime leaders, as dozens of lawmakers prayed at the site in a ceremony that drew a rebuke from China.","Australian man 'surfs' dead whale's floating carcass. Harrison Williams, who jumped into shark-infested waters to \"surf\" a dead whale's floating carcass off the coast of Western Australia, is getting plenty of grief for it at home.","Emirates calls for airlines summit on MH17 'outrage'. By Tim Hepher PARIS (Reuters) - The head of one of the world's largest airlines has called for an international meeting of carriers to agree a response to the downing of a Malaysian airliner, including a potential rethink of the threats posed by regional conflicts. Tim Clark, president of Dubai's Emirates, the world's largest international airline by number of passengers, also said domestic regulators worldwide may decide to be more involved in giving their carriers guidance on where it is safe to fly. \"The international airline community needs to respond as an entity, saying this is absolutely not acceptable and outrageous, and that it won't tolerate being targeted in internecine regional conflicts that have nothing to do with airlines,\" Clark told Reuters in a telephone interview. He said the International Air Transport Association could call an international conference to see what changes need to made in the way the industry tackles regional instability.","As Ukrainian forces advance, Putin plays a double game. By David Rohde NEW YORK (Reuters) - As fighting intensifies in eastern Ukraine, signs are emerging that Russian President Vladimir Putin has adopted a twin strategy: pledge his willingness to support a negotiated settlement, but continue funneling arms to separatist rebels. \"Putin in the last several weeks has been playing a dual game,\" said Steven Pifer, a former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine and Brookings Institution senior fellow. \"There have been things that suggest that Russia wants to help solve this diplomatically ... But you’ve continued to see evidence that Russians weapons are flowing into Ukraine.\" After months of bellicose rhetoric, Putin three weeks ago had Russia's parliament revoke his authority to use Russian military force in Ukraine.","Fiat agrees to buy remaining stake in Chrysler from Veba. Italian carmaker Fiat said on Wednesday it had signed an agreement to buy the remaining 41.46 percent stake it does not own in its U.S. unit Chrysler from the VEBA Trust. In a statement, Fiat said VEBA, a voluntary employee beneficiary association, would receive an overall $3.65 billion for the stake. In view of the financial structure of the deal Fiat said it would not need to make any capital increase through a rights issue.","Britain to boost military presence in Persian Gulf. MANAMA, Bahrain (AP) — Britain's top diplomat says his nation has signed a deal with the Gulf Arab nation of Bahrain to bolster the United Kingdom's military presence in the region.","Car bomb kills four in Hezbollah Beirut bastion: minister. A car bomb killed four people in south Beirut Thursday, the fourth attack to hit the Hezbollah bastion since the Shiite group announced its intervention in Syria last year, the health minister said. The bombing came just weeks after a twin suicide bombing killed 25 people at the Iranian embassy in the same area and marked a new breach of the tight security in Hezbollah's stronghold. Health Minister Ali Hassan Khalil said four people had been killed and 77 wounded. Interior Minister Marwan Charbel said it may have been a suicide bombing.","Roadside bomb kills 14 civilians in eastern Afghanistan. Ghazni (Afghanistan) (AFP) - A roadside bomb killed 14 civilians in eastern Afghanistan on Saturday, officials said, the latest violence in the country as US-led troops prepare to leave after 13 years of war. The victims were travelling in the Giro district of Ghazni province after a wedding ceremony when the bomb ripped through their vehicle, district governor Abdullah Khairkhwah told AFP. \"Fourteen civilians were killed, seven of them were women, and the rest were men, as their minivan vehicles hit a roadside bomb,\" Khairkhwah said. The district governor said the death toll could rise.","Obama slams Russia for blocking UN Syria action. UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Western powers are pushing forward with a U.N. Security Council resolution that would raise the prospect of sanctions against Syria despite Russia's vow to veto it.","Ukraine's border to Russia wide open -- in rebel-held zone. USPENKA (Ukraine) (AFP) - Ukraine's president may have ordered the closure of his nation's border with Russia but, when asked about it, the rebel commander of this crossing point just smiles and points to the snaking queue of cars traversing the international line.","Tunisia elections probably to be held in November: election chief. By Tarek Amara TUNIS (Reuters) - Tunisia's next presidential and parliamentary elections will probably be held in the second half of November, the election agency chief said on Saturday, about polls that will mark the country's final step towards full democracy. Tunisia's often turbulent political transition began after an 2011 uprising that ousted autocrat Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali and inspired the \"Arab Spring\" revolutions across the region. Since then, Tunisia has been led by a caretaker government and has adopted a new constitution. Islamist party Ennahda rose to power in the first election after the uprising, held in October 2011, and Tunisia, one of the Arab world's most secular countries, has struggled with growing divisions over the role of Islam in politics.","Envoy: Ukraine getting closer to deal with IMF. WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Ukraine appears close to reaching a bailout deal with the International Monetary Fund because its new leaders have the \"determination\" needed to carry out the financial reforms the IMF is demanding, Poland's foreign minister said Wednesday.","Publisher Penguin warns of India's free speech curbs after withdrawing book on Hindus. Freedom of expression is under threat in India, publisher Penguin Books India said on Friday, adding that it had little choice but to withdraw from sale a controversial book on Hinduism by a U.S. academic. The move triggered anger on social media and from writers and academics, rekindling a debate on freedom of speech in the world's largest democracy. The withdrawal comes just months ahead of a national election that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), a conservative Hindu nationalist party, is tipped to win. \"We believe that the Indian Penal Code ... will make it increasingly difficult for any Indian publisher to uphold international standards of free expression without deliberately placing itself outside the law,\" Penguin said in a statement.","SOCHI SCENE: A matter of perspective. SOCHI, Russia (AP) — You've heard it many times: \"Depends on how you look at things.\" Here's a dramatic Olympic example of that very precept, shown with the help of remote cameras set up in advance in the Bolshoy Ice Dome in Sochi.","Exclusive: Prosecutor freezes accounts of ex-Vatican bank heads. By Philip Pullella VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - The Vatican's top prosecutor has frozen 16 million euros in bank accounts owned by two former Vatican bank managers and a lawyer as part of an investigation into the sale of Vatican-owned real estate in the 2000s, according to the freezing order and other legal documents. ...","Belgium offers forces to campaign against Islamic State. BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Belgium is willing to offer fighter jets and special forces to the U.S.-led coalition to fight Islamic State militants in Iraq, the country's defense ministry said on Thursday. Defense Minister Pieter De Crem has outlined three possible contributions, but is still awaiting a formal request from the United States, a ministry spokesman said. Any Belgian engagement would require the approval of parliament, although there appears to be a very broad majority in favor of action. ...","G7 'deeply concerned' at tensions in East, South China Seas. (Reuters) - Group of Seven leaders expressed their concern about tensions between China and a number of other Asian countries over resources in the East and South China Seas and warned against any use of force. \"We are deeply concerned by tensions in the East and South China Sea. \"We call on all parties to clarify and pursue their territorial and maritime claims in accordance with international law.\" China claims almost the entire oil- and gas-rich South China Sea, and dismisses competing claims from Taiwan, Brunei, Vietnam, the Philippines and Malaysia. Japan also has a territorial row with China over islands in the East China Sea.","Palestinian leader accuses Israel of 'genocide'. United Nations (United States) (AFP) - Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas has accused Israel of a \"genocidal crime\" in Gaza, telling the United Nations negotiations had failed and the time for Palestinian independence had come, drawing a sharp rebuke from Washington.","Stielike promises winning football to South Korea. SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea coach Uli Stielike has promised to deliver winning football to the team that struggled at the World Cup.","Poland marks 70th anniversary of Warsaw Uprising. WARSAW, Poland (AP) — On the 70th anniversary of the Warsaw Uprising, Poland is honoring the fighters and victims of the rebellion against Nazi Germans by laying wreaths, sounding sirens and singing insurgent tunes.","Brazilian women celebrate WCup bonanza of men. RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Renata de Mouro Moitinho sambas so fast her feet blur, but her partner moves with the bumbling tentativeness of a toddler taking his first steps.","Steven Gerrard retires from international football. LONDON (AP) — England captain Steven Gerrard has announced his retirement from international football.","Bangladesh 316-4 at lunch on day 2 vs Zimbabwe. KHULNA, Bangladesh (AP) — Scores at lunch Tuesday on the second day of the second cricket test between Bangladesh and Zimbabwe at Khulna's Sheikh Abu Naser Stadium.","Germany beats Japan 3-0 to win Algarve Cup. FARO, Portugal (AP) — A flurry of goals at the start the second half helped Germany to a 3-0 victory over world champion Japan in the final of the Algarve Cup on Wednesday.","Hamburg hosts Bayern in key Bundesliga match. FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — Bayern Munich is reeling from its crushing 4-0 defeat to Real Madrid in the Champions League semifinals and now travels to Hamburg for what could be a decisive match for the hosts' desperate attempt to escape relegation in the last matches of the season.","Seven burned to death in Tanzania 'witchcraft attacks'. Dar es Salaam (AFP) - Attackers in Tanzania burned alive seven people they accused of witchcraft, police said Friday, who have arrested 23 people for murder in the latest killings of suspected witches.","Asia trip tests Obama's postelection global clout. His influence at home fading, President Barack Obama is looking abroad to China, the opening stop of a three-country trip that will test his ability to play a commanding global role during his final two ...","Nick Cummins to return to Western Force in 2015. PERTH, Australia (AP) — Nick Cummins will rejoin the Western Force for next season's Super Rugby competition on a loan deal which will make him eligible for Australia for the 2015 World Cup.","Pope: No-work Sundays good, not just for faithful. CAMPOBASSO, Italy (AP) — Pope Francis says abandoning the traditionally Christian practice of not working on Sundays isn't such a good change.","Sharapova, Ivanovic win in Madrid. MADRID (AP) — Maria Sharapova brushed aside Klara Koukalova 6-1, 6-2 in the first round of the Madrid Open on Sunday, while Ana Ivanovic beat Madison Keys 6-1, 7-6 (4).","Diplomats: Iran nuke talks make little progress,. VIENNA (AP) — Diplomats say Iran continues to resist efforts to crimp nuclear activities that could be used to make weapons, with the clock ticking down on a July 20 target date for a deal.","No sex please, we're parliamentarians: S.Africa's ANC. South Africa's ruling ANC on Wednesday protested the opening of a sex shop near parliament in Cape Town, saying it could undermine the \"integrity and standing\" of the legislature. Adult World, a countrywide chain, has unveiled its red and yellow sign at a small shop squeezed between two cheap fast-food joints in Plein Street, a bustling but down-at-heel road opposite the parliament complex. \"The opening of such (a) store within the vicinity of the houses of parliament does not augur well for the integrity and standing of such a constitutional body,\" the African National Congress said in a statement issued by its chief whip. The ANC said that since the end of the racial system of apartheid in 1994 parliament had been \"transformed into an open and accessible institution\", which daily welcomes scores of visitors including schoolchildren, religious groups and tourists.","California protesters block Israeli-owned ship. OAKLAND, California (AP) — Officials say a group of pro-Palestinian protesters are again blocking an Israeli-owned commercial ship from unloading its cargo at a port in California.","Putin proposes to send Russian armed forces to Ukraine. Russian President Vladimir Putin has asked the upper house of parliament to approve sending armed forces to Ukraine's Crimea region, the Kremlin said in a statement on Saturday. \"In connection with the extraordinary situation in Ukraine, the threat to the lives of citizens of the Russian Federation, our compatriots, and the personnel of the armed forces of the Russian Federation on Ukrainian territory (in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea) ... I submit a proposal on using the armed forces of the Russian Federation on the territory of Ukraine until the normalization of the socio-political situation in the that country,\" the statement said.","Further economic sanctions on Russia not planned, Merkel says. BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany's Angela Merkel said on Tuesday there were no plans at present for further economic sanctions on Russia over Ukraine but she was unhappy that a ceasefire agreement was being broken and that pro-Russian rebels had gone ahead with their elections. \"We are not satisfied with the situation of the Minsk agreement because large parts of the Minsk agreement are not being implemented,\" she said, adding that the ceasefire and respect for Ukraine's borders were both being flouted. ...","Jilted French first lady gets little sympathy. PARIS (AP) — France's president is reported to be sneaking around on a motorcycle to have a secret affair with an actress. Who takes the brunt of the heat? In a very French twist, it's increasingly looking like his jilted first lady, who has been hospitalized since she found out.","Russian president denies he fled summit pressure. BRISBANE, Australia (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin made an early exit on Sunday from a two-day summit of world leaders where he was roundly criticized over Russia's escalating aggression in Ukraine, but brushed off suggestions that he had felt pressured.","Mexican singer Juan Gabriel hospitalized in Vegas. LAS VEGAS (AP) — Mexican musical icon Juan Gabriel has been hospitalized in Las Vegas with pneumonia, postponing three California shows this week that were part of the top-selling artist's \"Volver\" tour.","Tokyo governor passes on Japan PM's goodwill on China visit. By Ben Blanchard BEIJING (Reuters) - Tokyo's governor said on Saturday that he had passed on a message from Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to Chinese leaders that Abe wants relations to improve, during a rare high-level visit as bilateral ties continue to sour. Governor Yoichi Masuzoe, who was Abe's favored candidate during the governor election in February, said he delivered the message on behalf of Abe to China's Vice Premier Wang Yang and former top Chinese diplomat Tang Jiaxuan. The 65-year-old Masuzoe is at the end of a three-day visit to China that analysts have said had the potential to open an alternate channel of dialogue between the countries. \"In my meetings with Chinese leaders, I said that Prime Minister Abe totally supported my visit, and that he hoped Sino-Japan relations could take a turn for the better,\" Masuzoe said at a news conference.","S. Korea halts search for bodies from sunken ferry. Seoul (AFP) - South Korea on Tuesday finally called off the search for bodies from the sunken Sewol ferry, nearly seven months after the vessel capsized with the loss of more than 300 lives.","Area north of Tokyo hit by magnitude 5.6 earthquake. TOKYO (Reuters) - An earthquake with preliminary magnitude of 5.6 shook buildings in eastern Japan, including the capital Tokyo, on Tuesday but there were no immediate reports of damage. Tokyo Electric Power Co, the operator of the destroyed Fukushima nuclear power plant, said it was still checking conditions at the facility. The earthquake was centered in Ibaraki Prefecture, just northeast of Tokyo, Japan's Meteorological Agency said. The depth of the earthquake was 50 kilometers and there was no risk of a tsunami, it added. (Reporting by Antoni Slodkowski; Editing by Miral Fahmy)","Swedish police detain man who tried to enter cockpit on flight from Dubai to Stockholm. STOCKHOLM - Police at Arlanda airport in Stockholm have detained a man who tried to enter the cockpit on a flight from Dubai to Stockholm.","Rugby-Fear of losing drove All Blacks' streak - MacRae. By Greg Stutchbury WELLINGTON, Aug 14 (Reuters) - The insatiable desire of the New Zealand public for rugby success was the driving force behind the All Blacks' record run of 17 consecutive victories in the late 1960s, according to key member of the team, Ian MacRae. MacRae, now 71, played in the backline as the side went on the winning streak from 1965 to 1969 to set a record for top-tier nations that has since been matched by the 1997-98 Springboks and the current New Zealand team. Steve Hansen's side have the opportunity to eclipse the mark against the Wallabies on Saturday but MacRae believes the players will not be overly concerned about setting records. \"It's the same today.\" MacRae played 13 of the 17 tests in the streak, which included a perfect 14-0 record under coach Fred Allen from 1966 until 1968, and said the success had only created greater pressure.","Boat accident kills US woman in Bahamas. NASSAU, Bahamas (AP) — Authorities in the Bahamas are investigating a boating accident that left a U.S. citizen dead.","VP Biden's son joins Ukrainian gas company's board. WASHINGTON (AP) — Vice President Joe Biden's youngest son, Hunter Biden, is joining the board of a gas company operating in Ukraine.","Nadal back in French Open semifinals for 9th time. PARIS (AP) — Rafael Nadal rallied to advance to the French Open semifinals for the ninth time, beating David Ferrer 4-6, 6-4, 6-0, 6-1 Wednesday.","Officials: Israel's Eisenkot named military chief. JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli defense officials say a career officer with deep experience battling Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon has been selected as the country's next military chief.","Lebanon's political system sinks nation into debt. BEIRUT (AP) — Lebanese politicians are looking for tens of millions of dollars in aid at a Paris conference on Wednesday with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and world diplomats to help their country cope with a flood of refugees from neighboring Syria's civil war. But while authorities plead for cash, Lebanon's house is hardly in order.","BRAZIL BEAT: Frantic construction in Porto Alegre. PORTO ALEGRE (AP) — As the French team held its final training session inside, frantic efforts were still being made to complete work at the Estadio Beira-Rio.","Former Australian swimming great Hackett in rehab. Australian swimming great Grant Hackett is seeking treatment for addiction to prescription drugs, his manager and father said on Wednesday, days after he was pictured half-naked in a hotel lobby looking for his young son. Hackett, who won the 1,500m freestyle at both the 2000 and 2004 Olympics and claimed four world titles in a dominant decade at the top, jetted to the United States on Tuesday, apparently to begin rehabilitation. It comes just weeks after fellow Australian swimming star Ian Thorpe began treatment for depression after a mixture of painkillers and anti-depressants left him disoriented on a Sydney street. Stilnox is a drug used to treat insomnia, with athletes sometimes prescribed it if they are having trouble sleeping before big events, although it was banned by the Australian Olympic Committee just before the 2012 London Games.","Iran summons Facebook's Zuckerberg over privacy. An Iranian judge has summoned Facebook co-founder and chief executive Mark Zuckerberg to answer allegations that his company's apps have breached people's privacy, it was reported Tuesday. A series of rows over Internet access have in recent months underscored the gulf between Iranian moderates, who seek fewer online restrictions, and conservatives who want more. In Iran, Zuckerberg has been dubbed the \"Zionist manager\" of Facebook, on account of his Jewish heritage. The court in Fars province has ordered the American tech tycoon to address violation of privacy claims over the reach of the Facebook-owned WhatsApp and Instagram services, ISNA news agency reported.","Zimbabwe 140-2 at lunch on day 3 of 2nd test. KHULNA, Bangladesh (AP) — Scores at Lunch Wednesday on the third day of the second cricket test between Bangladesh and Zimbabwe at Khulna's Sheikh Abu Naser Stadium:","Russia wins men's relay for 1st biathlon gold. KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia (AP) — Russia won gold in the men's 4x7.5-kilometer relay on Saturday, the final biathlon event of the Sochi Olympics.","Muslims celebrate Eid as hajj pilgrimage nears end. MINA, Saudi Arabia (AP) — Muslims around the world celebrated the start of Islam's biggest holiday on Saturday as more than 2 million pilgrims took part in one of the final rites of the annual hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia.","Britain probing missing rights workers in Qatar. Britain said it was investigating Thursday after two British researchers were reported detained in Qatar while probing the working conditions of migrants building infrastructure for the 2022 football World Cup. \"We are aware of reports that two British nationals have been detained in Qatar and we are investigating,\" a spokesperson for the British embassy in Doha told AFP. The Norway-based Global Network for Rights and Development (GNRD) said Wednesday that two British staffers -- Krishna Upadhyaya and Ghimire Gundev -- had disappeared in the Qatari capital after complaining of being followed by police.","Ukraine Interior Minister says Putin behind seizure of state buildings. Ukraine's Interior Minister Arsen Avakov accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of being behind the seizure of state buildings by pro-Russia protesters in eastern Ukraine on Sunday and promised that police would restore order peacefully. He also accused Ukraine's ousted president Viktor Yanukovich of conspiring with Putin to fuel tensions in the region. Earlier, pro-Russian protesters demanding a referendum on whether to join Russia seized a regional government building in the city of Donetsk and the offices of security services in nearby Luhansk.","French leader heads to Silicon Valley to talk tech. SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — France's president was visiting San Francisco on Wednesday and meeting with Silicon Valley technology leaders, just days after a French regulator hit Google with an embarrassing regulatory slap and after years of efforts to wrest more taxes from tech companies.","Syria starts moving remaining chemical weapons, Pentagon says. Syria is starting to relinquish the remaining stockpile of materials from its chemical weapons arsenal after months of delay it blamed on security concerns, the Pentagon said on Tuesday. \"It is starting to be moved as we speak,\" Pentagon spokesman Rear Admiral John Kirby told reporters. The news followed an announcement by the joint mission of the United Nations and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemicals that Syria had destroyed its entire declared stockpile of isopropanol, a precursor for producing sarin nerve gas. \"Now 7.2 percent of Syria's chemical weapons material remains in country and awaits swift removal for onward destruction.","Two soldiers jailed for life over Congo mass rape case. A military court in the Democratic Republic of Congo has sentenced two soldiers to life in prison over a notorious incident of mass rape in 2012, a lawyer for the defense said on Monday. At least 97 women and 33 girls, some as young as six, were reported to have been raped in the eastern town of Minova over two days as thousands of civilians fled fighting between Congo's ill-disciplined army and the M23 rebel group. Following the incident, senior officers including commanders and deputy commanders of Congo's 41st and 391st battalions were suspended. Human rights groups say rape has been used as a weapon of war in eastern Congo, where more than five million people are estimated to have been killed by violence, hunger and disease during more than two decades of conflict.","Stevenson warns Fonfara ahead of world boxing title bout. Adonis Stevenson will rely on his explosive power and speed when he defends his World Boxing Council light heavyweight world title against Andrzej Fonfara on Saturday. But I have the power to end this fight quickly,\" said Stevenson, the 2013 Ring Magazine Fighter of the Year. The 36-year-old Canadian southpaw Stevenson is coming off some impressive victories last year over Chad Dawson and Tavoris Cloud. Stevenson (23-1, 20 KOs) is hoping a win on Saturday will earn him a shot later this year at legendary Bernard Hopkins.","Bombings kill 10 in Iraq. BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraqi authorities say bombs targeting commercial streets and an army patrol have killed 10 people around Baghdad.","Encana adjusted profit beats as liquids production rises. (Reuters) - Encana Corp , Canada's largest natural gas producer, reported a smaller-than-expected fall in quarterly operating profit as the company ramped up production of liquids such as light oil and condensate. Encana is in the midst of a restructuring launched by new Chief Executive Doug Suttles and is now looking to cut production of low-value natural gas and increase output of more lucrative oil and natural gas liquids. Encana said it expected liquids production to rise 30 percent in 2014, making up for the small decrease expected in natural gas output. The company, which has said its strategy now is to value profitability over production volumes, is planning to spin off its freehold lands in Western Canada into a separate company.","Report: China's ports fail to regulate pollution. China's busy ports fail to regulate heavy emissions of sulfur oxide and other pollutants mostly from cargo ships although they're the biggest source of air pollution in port cities such as Hong Kong, according ...","AP Interview: Syrian official slams Turkey's role. DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — Syrian President Bashar Assad's political adviser has accused Turkey of committing \"aggression\" against his country by allowing rebels to cross into the Syrian Kurdish border town of Kobani.","Jamaican bobsled team faces uncertain future. SOCHI, Russia (AP) — The Jamaican bobsled team was the life of the party once again at the Winter Olympics, laughing and joking its way through a trip to Sochi that was fraught with enough financial hardship and travel hijinks to film a sequel to \"Cool Runnings.\"","Egyptian leader meets pope, Italian premier. VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis and the Egyptian president exchanged warm greetings during a private meeting Monday in which the pontiff emphasized Egypt's role in establishing peace in the Middle East.","Malaysia's Anwar faces sodomy ruling as rights groups question court motive. By Stuart Grudgings KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Malaysian prosecutors began their appeal on Thursday against the acquittal of opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim on a charge of sodomy, a case that international human rights groups have condemned as politically motivated. The charismatic Anwar, 66, remains a potent threat to the Barisan Nasional coalition led by Prime Minister Najib Razak, leading a three-party opposition that has made deep inroads into its parliamentary majority in the past two national elections. If convicted of sodomy, the former finance minister and deputy prime minister would be disqualified from holding political office in the Muslim-majority country and face a jail sentence of up to 20 years and whipping. He had already spent six years in prison on sodomy and corruption charges after he was sacked as deputy prime minister in 1998 and lost his status as heir apparent to then prime minister Mahathir Mohamad.","Japan: Peace treaty talks with Russia going fast. SOCHI, Russia (AP) — Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe says negotiations with Russia are accelerating toward a long-awaited peace treaty over four islands that both have claimed since World War II.","Some fraud charges dropped against ex-Anglo chiefs. DUBLIN (AP) — Thirteen fraud charges have been dismissed against two former leaders of Anglo Irish Bank.","FTSE closes higher on upbeat economic data. London's FTSE 100 closed higher on Tuesday boosted by a slew of robust economic data and hopes that global policy makers will continue to keep interest rates low. ARM Holdings plc followed, advancing 4.91 percent to 1,047.","Rio seeks federal help on violence ahead of World Cup. Brasília (AFP) - Rio de Janeiro's state governor headed to Brasilia on Friday to seek help from the government in a bid to stamp out a surge in slum violence ahead of the World Cup. A series of attacks on police units in Rio's sprawling favelas have raised alarms among state security officials, less than three months before the World Cup kicks off. \"It is clear that criminals want to weaken our policy of pacification and take back territories which were in criminal hands for decades,\" Rio state governor Sergio Cabral said. Seven World Cub matches, including the July 13 final, are to be played in Rio.","Albanian arrested for alleged Syria recruitment. TIRANA, Albania (AP) — Albanian police say they have arrested a 30-year-old man for allegedly recruiting men to enlist with Muslim rebel groups fighting in Syria.","Toyota profit up nearly 5 percent on sales growth. TOKYO (AP) — Toyota Motor Corp. reported a better-than-expected rise in quarterly profit as vehicle sales grew in North America and Europe, offsetting a drop in Japan.","Starbucks gives up exclusive license to high-end Keurig pods. Starbucks Corp will get a wider selection of Keurig Green Mountain Inc's single-serve K-Cup coffee packs, in exchange for giving up the exclusive license for Keurig's highest-end coffee pods, the companies said on Friday. Keurig Green Mountain shares rose 8 percent on Friday to $114.71 on speculation changes to the agreement will open the door for it to secure licenses with other leading coffee brands with which it does not already have such arrangements. \"We think the amended agreement allows Green Mountain to pursue a relationship with Peet's, the largest unlicensed super-premium not currently on the Keurig system,\" Stifel Nicolaus analyst Mark Astrachan said in a research note. The new terms to the Starbucks-Keurig deal are changes to the five-year agreement the two companies reached last year that tripled the number of Starbucks drinks sold in K-Cups, adding Seattle's Best and Torrefazione Italia coffees, Teavana teas and Starbucks cocoa.","Russia recalls ambassador in Ukraine for consultations. Russia said on Sunday it had recalled to Moscow its ambassador in Ukraine for consultations on the \"deteriorating situation\" in Kiev, a day after the ouster of President Viktor Yanukovich. \"Due to the deteriorating situation in Ukraine and the need for a comprehensive analysis of the situation, the decision was made to recall the Russian ambassador to Ukraine for consultations in Moscow,\" the ministry said in a statement. Writing by Matt Robinson;","At least 13 killed, polling stations torched in Bangladesh election boycotted by opposition. DHAKA, Bangladesh - Police in Bangladesh fired at protesters and opposition activists torched more than 100 polling stations Sunday during a national election boycotted by the opposition and described as flawed by the international community. At least 13 people were killed in election-related violence.","Helicopter crash off Ghana kills at least 3. Three people were killed on Thursday when a helicopter carrying eight passengers crashed off Ghana's western coast, home to the nation's offshore oil industry, the military said. \\\\\"Three people have been confirmed dead,\\\\\" Ghana Armed Forces spokesman M'Bawine Atintande told AFP, adding that four people have been rescued and one remained missing. Ghana's respected Joy FM radio station reported online that five Ghanaians and three foreign nationals -- British, French and Nigerian -- were on board the helicopter, citing an official at Ghana's Civil Aviation Authority, Albert Taylor. Atintande could not confirm the nationalities reported by Joy FM.","Asian stocks higher after record Wall Street close. TOKYO (AP) — Share prices rose cautiously in Asia on Monday, after the Dow Jones index closed last week at a record high and market players waited for a U.S. jobs report later in the week for confirmation of such optimism about the American economy.","Tunisia votes for gender equality in new charter. Tunisia's national assembly voted Monday to enshrine gender equality \"without discrimination\" in its draft constitution, a key step towards safeguarding the most liberal laws in the Arab world on women's rights. They are equal before the law without discrimination,\" states article 20 of the text, which was approved by 159 lawmakers out of the 169 who voted. Tunisia has set itself a tight timetable for adopting the long-delayed new charter of January 14, the third anniversary of the overthrow of dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali in the popular revolt that sparked the Arab Spring. Since the 1950s, when it gained independence from France, Tunisia has had the Arab world's most progressive laws on women's rights, although men remain privileged notably in the question of inheritance.","Gitga'at add to list of court challenges to Northern Gateway recommendation. VANCOUVER - The Gitga'at (GIT-gat) First Nation in British Columbia has filed a court challenge to a federal review panel recommendation in favour of the Northern Gateway pipeline.","Dispute among Bolivian gold miners leaves 1 dead. LA PAZ, Bolivia (AP) — Officials say a violent dispute over a gold mine in a remote part of southeastern Bolivia has left one miner dead and seven others injured.","Questions asked about Pistorius judge. During the first week of Oscar Pistorius's murder trial the judge presiding over the case has come under fire for giving defence lawyers too much leeway and not protecting witnesses. With the trial broadcast live on television, presiding judge Thokozile Masipa has not escaped the scrutiny of millions watching around the world. Criticism has centred on Masipa permitting a fierce line of questioning from Barry Roux, Pistorius's defence lawyer known for his hectoring style of cross-examination. But his badgering is par for the course, according to some of South Africa's legal fraternity.","Taliban kills Afghan official in country's south. KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — An official in Afghanistan says Taliban gunmen have killed a district chief and his security guard in the country's southern Helmand province.","Puerto Rico police detail federal reform changes. SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Puerto Rico's police department has released its first report detailing changes it is undertaking as part of a 10-year federally mandated reform.","South Korea nuclear operator says cyberattacks continue, reactors safe. By Meeyoung Cho SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea's nuclear power operator said on Sunday that cyberattacks on non-critical operations at the company's headquarters are continuing but the country's nuclear power plants are operating safely and are secure from attack. Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power Co Ltd has been intensifying its cyber security, President and CEO Cho Seok said. He gave no details of the continued cyberattacks or the company's response, citing security reasons. \"We cannot let cyberattacks stop nuclear power operation,\" Cho told a news briefing. ...","SUPER BOWL WATCH: Cold-weather Super Bowl ready to kick off in not-so-cold weather. EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. - A look at the Super Bowl on Sunday night between the Denver Broncos and Seattle Seahawks at MetLife Stadium.","Three arrested in murder of British tourist in St. Lucia. By Sarah Peter CASTRIES, St. Lucia (Reuters) - Authorities in the Caribbean island of St. Lucia said they have arrested three people on Sunday in connection with the murder of a British tourist who was traveling around the world with his wife. The victim, Roger Pratt, 62, was on a trip with his wife, Margaret, ahead of her 60th birthday when their boat was boarded by three unidentified attackers on Friday, police said. Margaret Pratt was also treated for injuries. The murder has raised concerns on the small, eastern Caribbean island, where tourism accounts for about two-thirds of the economy.","Philippine police file charges against U.S. Marine in murder case. MANILA (Reuters) - Philippine police on Wednesday filed murder charges against a U.S. Marine over the death of a transgender Filipino he met in a bar outside the former U.S. naval base of Subic Bay. The Philippine government also wants to take custody of Private First Class Joseph Scott Pemberton while he stands trial, said a senior Philippine official, who warned that the case could damage military ties between the allies. \"Based on two witnesses' testimonies, we believe we have a strong case against the U.S. ...","SOCHI SCENE: Help across countries. KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia (AP) — It was diplomacy, playing out on the snow: An American who helped a Russian finish his Olympic race has drawn praise from the IOC.","A look at destruction in Gaza in Hamas-Israel war. CAIRO (AP) — Here is a look at the scope of destruction in Gaza during the Israel-Hamas war this summer, based on statistics from the United Nations, other international agencies and the Palestinian government.","Kiss makes surprise Milan Fashion Week appearance. MILAN (AP) — Gene Simmons wagged his trademark tongue as an all-glammed-up Kiss swept down the John Varvatos runway in an unannounced appearance during Milan Fashion Week.","A lonely fight defending Egypt's jailed dissidents. CAIRO (AP) — When a group of activists is arrested in Egypt, the call for help goes most often to lawyer Ragia Omran. She then starts a long trek through police stations and prosecutors' offices, trying to get their release or at least some respect for their rights.","Anti-government protesters clash with Haiti police. PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — Thousands of people have marched through Haiti's capital demanding that long-delayed elections be held and calling for the president and prime minister to resign.","Blatter: World Cup corruption probe to stay secret. ZURICH (AP) — FIFA President Sepp Blatter says ethics prosecutor Michael Garcia's report into alleged corruption in the 2018-2022 World Cup bidding will stay secret.","UN chief spotlights plight of young in war-torn Syria. United Nations (United States) (AFP) - UN chief Ban Ki-moon spotlighted the plight of children in war-torn Syria Friday, saying more than 2 million were not getting an education due to the bloody, three-year conflict. \"More than two and a quarter million (Syrian) children are out of school,\" Ban told the UN Security Council during a debate about children in armed conflicts. He added that one in five public hospitals in Syria have also stopped functioning due to the war that has killed more than 140,000 people since March 2011. \"The killing and maiming of children and attacks on schools and hospitals continue unabated and children are recruited and used by various armed groups,\" Leila Zerrougui, Ban's special representative for children and armed conflict, told the council.","Israeli minister hints at action against Iran. JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel's defense minister says his country cannot depend on the United States to lead an action against Iran's nuclear program and that Israel can only rely on itself.","Car bomb at Cairo police HQ kills at least one. Cairo (AFP) - A car bomb blast devastated the facade of Cairo's police headquarters Friday, killing at least one person, officials said.","S. Korean leader's aides, brother summoned over scandal. SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korean President Park Geun-hye is facing a political crisis over allegations a former chief adviser pulled strings behind the scenes on key state affairs.","Nigeria beefs up security ahead of Ramadan feast. ABUJA (AP) — Nigerian forces say they are increasing security nationwide ahead Eid al-Fitr, the Muslim celebration marking the end of Ramadan.","South Sudan violence targeting healthcare says MSF. Warring fighters in South Sudan have looted hospitals and murdered patients in their beds, cutting life-saving healthcare to hundreds of thousands of people, Doctors Without Borders said Wednesday. Warning of an \"alarming pattern of lootings and attacks on patients\" and health facilities, Doctors without Borders (MSF, Medecins sans Frontieres) said their crucial work was being strangled by a \"climate of utter disrespect and fear.\" Medical care has \"come under fire, with patients shot in their beds, wards burned to the ground, medical equipment looted, and, in one case, an entire hospital destroyed,\" MSF said in a statement. \"Assaults on medical facilities and patients are part of a broader backdrop of brutal attacks on towns, markets and public facilities,\" said Raphael Gorgeu, MSF head of mission in the war-torn nation.","Caliphate declaration 'heresy', say Islamists. The surprise declaration of a \"caliphate\" by jihadists accused of committing atrocities in Syria and Iraq has provoked an outcry even among Islamists who dream of a state under Sharia law. \"All Islamist groups want the caliphate,\" said Mathieu Guidere, who teaches Islamic studies at France's University of Toulouse.","Eight S.Africa miners shot dead at disused gold mine. Eight suspected illegal gold miners were found shot dead at a disused mine near Johannesburg at the weekend, police said Monday. \"There are eight bodies which were shot execution style,\" Paul Ramaloko of an elite police unit told AFP. Two of them were found underground and six on the surface at an abandoned gold mine in Benoni, east of Johannesburg. Police spokesman Lungelo Dlamini said the eight had wounds on their upper bodies.","Pakistan police: Muslim mob kills Christian couple. ISLAMABAD (AP) — Police in Pakistan say a Muslim mob has beaten to death a Christian couple and burned their bodies in a brick kiln where they worked over them allegedly desecrating the Quran.","Food distribution under way for 60,000 in Syria's Aleppo: Red Cross. By Stephanie Nebehay GENEVA (Reuters) - The Red Cross said on Wednesday it begun a major distribution of emergency rations on both sides of the battle lines around the divided northern Syrian city of Aleppo, its first since October. Syria's government finally gave approval this week for the plan, submitted in January, to feed 60,000 displaced people in rural areas, International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) President Peter Maurer said. \"We have a major food distribution ongoing in Aleppo. \"It is on both sides of the front line.\" Six thousand family food parcels were being distributed in rebel-held eastern areas of rural Aleppo, and nearly the same number in government-held areas to the south, he said.","Spanish fashion brand DelPozo getting attention. NEW YORK (AP) — Luxury fashion can sometimes look like a fast-food business, Josep Font says, with items that are mass-produced and mediocre quality despite high prices.","North Korea: rocket firing not timed to coincide with papal visit to South. By Sohee Kim and Tony Munroe SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea said on Friday its firing of three short-range rockets shortly before Pope Francis arrived in the South Korean capital the previous day had nothing to do with the papal visit. The rockets were fired from multiple launchers in the North Korean port city of Wonsan and travelled 220 km (135 miles) before landing in waters east of the Korean peninsula, a South Korean defence ministry official said on Thursday. ...","Israel police arrest 22 Palestinians in east Jerusalem. Jerusalem (AFP) - Israeli police said on Tuesday they arrested 22 Palestinians in annexed Arab east Jerusalem overnight on suspicion of throwing stones and petrol bombs, as three months of protests showed no let-up.","Russia says France due to hand over first warship November 14. Russia on Wednesday said that France is still due to complete the controversial handover of a warship next month, despite pressure for the deal to be scrapped over Moscow's role in the Ukraine crisis. Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin said that the country's state-run arms dealer had received an invitation to attend a ceremony on November 14 for the handing-over of the first of two Mistral helicopter carriers, Russian news agencies reported. \"As concerns the political decision, we think that France has to defend its reputation as a reliable partner,\" he added. French Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said Tuesday that the decision on whether or not to deliver the state-of-the-art warship to Moscow would be made in November.","Australia's former sprint record holder Sullivan retires. Former 100 meters freestyle world record holder Eamon Sullivan has retired from the pool following medical advice not to swim on to the 2016 Rio Olympics, Swimming Australia said on Wednesday. The 28-year-old, who also held the 50m freestyle world record, pulled out of the Commonwealth Games with a shoulder injury last month. Alhough he won a relay world title in Melbourne in 2007 and another in Shanghai four years later, Sullivan has battled a succession of injuries in recent years and finishes his career without an individual title at any of the major international meets. \"Eamon made his debut onto the Australian swim team as an 18-year-old in Athens and then 10 years later was able to take out the men's 50m freestyle at this year's Australian championships which was a remarkable achievement,\" Swimming Australia CEO Mark Anderson said in a statement.","Manitoba's Carey defeats Saskatchewan's Lawton to win 7-3 in bronze game. MONTREAL - Chelsea Carey's Manitoba rink won the bronze medal at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts with a 7-3 victory over Saskatchewan's Stefanie Lawton on Sunday afternoon.","First Libyan minister backs forces of renegade general. TRIPOLI (Reuters) - Libya's culture minister said on Wednesday he would support irregular forces led by a renegade general who is challenging the Tripoli government, the first government member to back him. \"I support the Libyan National Army,\" Habib Amin told Reuters, referring to the forces of renegade general Khalifa Haftar. He said he would not recognise parliament any longer as it had proved unable to run the country. (Reporting by Feras Bosalum; Writing by Ulf Laessing; Editing by Kevin Liffey)","Ted Turner hospitalized in Argentine capital. BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — American media mogul Ted Turner has been hospitalized for an undisclosed ailment in Argentina's capital.","Disputed Afghan election result to be announced Sunday. Kabul (AFP) - The result of Afghanistan's disputed election will be declared on Sunday, officials said Saturday, as last-minute talks between the two rival candidates struggled to nail down a proposed power-sharing deal.","Satellites picked up \"pings\" from Malaysia jet, source says. (Reuters) - Communications satellites picked up faint electronic pulses from Malaysian Airlines Flight 370 after it went missing on Saturday, but the signals gave no indication about where the stray jet was heading nor its technical condition, a source close to the investigation said on Thursday. The \"pings\" equated to an indication that the aircraft's maintenance troubleshooting systems were ready to communicate with satellites if needed, but no links were opened because Malaysia Airlines and others had not subscribed to the full troubleshooting service, the source said. Two sources familiar with the investigation into the disappearance of the jet five days ago also confirmed that manufacturers Boeing and Rolls-Royce did not receive any maintenance data from the jet after the point at which its pilots last made contact.","Three Israeli teens missing in West Bank, says army. Three Israeli teenagers have gone missing near a West Bank settlement, the army said Friday, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he held the Palestinian leadership responsible for their safety. \"The IDF (Israeli military) confirms three teenagers are currently missing,\" an army statement said. \"The individuals were last seen late last night in the area of Gush Etzion,\" a Jewish settlement southwest of Bethlehem in the southern West Bank, it said, adding that security forces were trying to find them.","Chinese leader signs accords, wraps up Cuba visit. HAVANA (AP) — Chinese President Xi Jinping is wrapping up his visit to Cuba after signing dozens of agreements for such things as investment by Chinese firms on the island.","Kerry: U.S. told Turkey arms drop to Syrian Kurds 'momentary' response to crisis. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States told Turkey that a U.S. military air-drop of arms to Syrian Kurds battling Islamic State near the Syrian town of Kobani was a response to a crisis situation and did not represent a change in U.S. policy, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Monday. \"We talked with Turkish authorities - I did, the president did, to make it very very clear that this is not a shift in policy by the United States. It is crisis moment, an emergency,\" Kerry told reporters on a visit to Indonesia, adding that it was a \"momentary effort. ...","Gunvor pins future on Swedish CEO after Russian co-founder exits. By Dmitry Zhdannikov NEW YORK (Reuters) - In 2007, when Torbjorn Tornqvist first emerged from the shadows of the Geneva-based oil trading empire he helped build, he had one message to tell: Russian President Vladimir Putin has nothing to do with Gunvor. \"To involve Mr Putin and any of his staff in this dialogue is speculation.\" Seven years on, Tornqvist, 60, is still dogged by the same speculation, this time provoked by the United States slapping sanctions on his long-time partner, Gennady Timchenko, one of the most loyal businessmen to Putin. The U.S. government says Putin has \"investments\" in Gunvor and may have access to its funds, an allegation Gunvor fiercely denies. Hours after the announcement of the sanctions - designed to put pressure on Russia for its annexation of Crimea - Gunvor said Timchenko had sold his stake to Tornqvist.","Five-try Northampton reclaim Premiership summit. Inspired by their powerful pack, Northampton won 39-13 at home to Gloucester on Saturday to return to the top of the English Premiership table at the expense of Saracens. Saracens had taken over at the summit following a 23-10 victory at Bath on Friday, but Northampton moved back above them thanks to a five-try bonus-point win that extended their club-record unbeaten run to 13 matches. After Ken Pisi crossed for Northampton inside the first minute, Calum Clark, Tom Stephenson, Alex Waller and Will Hooley all touched down during a rampant second-half display by the hosts. A Henry Trinder try and a conversion and two penalties by Freddie Burns had seen Gloucester level the scores at 13-13, but Clark's 55th-minute score took the game away from the visiting side.","Australia's Wanderers mulling boycott of Club World Cup. MELBOURNE (Reuters) - Players for Australian soccer team Western Sydney Wanderers are mulling a boycott of this week's FIFA Club World Cup in Morocco over a pay dispute, the country's players association has said. The Wanderers, who qualified as Asian club champions, are scheduled to play Mexican side Cruz Azul on Saturday with the winners going on to face Real Madrid in the semi-finals. ...","MasterCard loses EU court battle over fees. BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union's highest court has thrown out an appeal by MasterCard against a decision by the bloc's antitrust authority to scrap some of its fees charged to merchants.","Ukraine sparks Russian funds selloff, but winners emerge. By David Randall and Ashley Lau NEW YORK (Reuters) - The crisis in Ukraine sent the Russian stock market tumbling on Monday, delivering a blow to already-punished portfolio managers who took outsized bets on eastern Europe this year, but generously rewarding those who had shorted the country. Investors of the Direxion Daily Russia Bear 3x Shares exchange-traded fund , which tracks three times the inverse of the performance of the DAX Global Russia Index, saw their fund up as much as 28.3 percent at its high on Monday. Russia's benchmark stock index dropped 12 percent after the country's central bank on Monday raised interest rates to prop up its currency. Popular funds issued by T. Rowe Price and others with large positions in Russia saw some of their largest holdings tumble by 15 percent or more in one day.","Comet lander shuts down as batteries go flat after sending data. By Irene Klotz (Reuters) - A pioneering robotic spacecraft shut down on Saturday after radioing results of its first and probably last batch of scientific experiments from the surface of a comet, scientists said. Batteries aboard the European Space Agency’s Philae comet lander drained, shutting down the washing machine-sized probe after an adventurous and largely unscripted 57-hour mission. Carried aboard the orbiting Rosetta mothership, Philae floated to the surface of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko on Thursday, but failed to deploy anchoring harpoons. ...","Uganda president not keen on rushing anti-gay law. KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) — President Yoweri Museveni of Uganda is urging parliamentarians not to rush to reintroduce a controversial anti-gay law that was invalidated earlier this month, saying the measure is not a priority and could hurt the country's economic development.","Olympic men's halfpipe schedule unchanged. KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia (AP) — The men's Olympic halfpipe competition will begin with qualifying at 2 p.m. local time as originally planned.","Singapore's OCBC offers $4.95 billion for Wing Hang bank. SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp Ltd , Singapore's second-biggest lender, made a formal offer to buy Hong Kong's Wing Hang Bank Ltd for a slightly lower than expected HK$38.428 billion ($4.95 billion). It is offering HK$125 a share to buy all shares of Wing Hang, according to a joint announcement, after having reached a deal with the bank's biggest shareholder to purchase a nearly 45 percent stake. The offer price is below earlier expectations, with sources previously estimating the deal could be worth $5.3 billion. The offer price translates to a book value of 1. ...","Conflict in Ukraine is draining economy by the day: PM Yatseniuk. KIEV (Reuters) - Ukraine's conflict with separatist rebels in its eastern regions is draining the potential of the economy by the day, Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk said on Wednesday. Attacks by pro-Russian separatists on the infrastructure of the industrial east - mines, power stations, railways and bridges - were intended to strangle the economy, he told a government meeting. \"Russia is aware that rebuilding the Donbass (the industrial east) will cost not millions but billions of hryvnia,\" he said. One billion hryvnia is approximately 80 million dollars. ...","Israel PM slams EU 'hypocrisy' on settlements. Jerusalem (AFP) - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu slammed the European Union Thursday for summoning envoys over recently unveiled plans for some 1,800 new settler homes in the occupied West Bank.","Canada's Magna says Brazil competition regulator visited its offices. TORONTO (Reuters) - Auto parts supplier Magna International Inc said on Friday that Brazil's competition regulator had visited the offices of its Brazilian subsidiary in connection with an antitrust investigation. The Canadian company, which has operations around the world, offered no details on the focus of the investigation. It said it would cooperate with the authority, the Conselho Administrativo de Defesa Economica. (Reporting by Allison Martell; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn)","North Korean leader limps at televised event. TOKYO (AP) — As North Korea begins a 10-day period of mourning to mark the 20th anniversary of the death of its first leader, Kim Il Sung, Pyongyang watchers are paying closer attention to his grandson — who was shown on state media walking to his seat for a memorial event with a noticeable limp.","Caterham to race in Abu Dhabi after crowdfunding. LONDON (AP) — Formula One team Caterham will compete in the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix next week after a successful crowdfunding campaign.","Political fever rises as Ukraine breaks apart. Financial journalist Yulia Sarotsyna spent a year living only off products made in Ukraine for a relentlessly upbeat blog to promote local brands. On the road for five months, she found toothbrushes from Kharkiv, sausage in the north, and even snails in the capital Kiev: \"I discovered that Ukraine produces absolutely everything for a comfortable life,\" she wrote. But two weeks after she finished her project, an uprising forced Ukraine's pro-Russian president to flee the country. Tens of thousands of Russian troops are massed on the frontier, with President Vladimir Putin openly threatening to invade to protect Russian speakers.","Latvia's first female PM pledges to stick to fiscal discipline. By Aija Krutaine RIGA (Reuters) - The Latvian parliament approved on Wednesday the country's first woman prime minister, Laimdota Straujuma, who pledged to stick to the fiscal discipline of the previous cabinet and to push ahead with liberalizing the country's gas market. Her predecessor, Valdis Dombrovskis, 42, steered Latvia through economic crisis and into the euro zone. Latvia saw its economy shrink 18 percent in 2009, the worst recession in the European Union. \"My government will be a continuity government,\" Straujuma told parliament, pledging to stick to the goal of keeping the budget deficit at 0.9 percent of gross domestic product this year.","Seven people die in Poland after falling into cesspit. Seven people in Poland were killed after falling into a septic tank where they were overcome by toxic gas, rescue services said on Thursday. \"One person fell into the septic tank while emptying it and the others were trying to rescue this person and also fell in,\" Magdalena Bilinska, a spokeswoman for the local fire service, told TVN24 broadcaster. The incident happened in the village of Karczowka, in western Poland.","In US, fearful campers eye Middle East conflict. OTISFIELD, Maine (AP) — Fighting in the Middle East has made for a summer of high tension, tearful phone calls and unlikely friendships between Israelis and Palestinians attending camps in the U.S. that host participants from the region.","Suicide car bomb hits Iraqi Kurdish capital. Arbil (Iraq) (AFP) - A suicide bomber detonated an explosives-rigged vehicle near the provincial government headquarters in the capital of Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region on Wednesday, a spokesman said.","Hong Kong police arrest 19 in protest clash. HONG KONG (AP) — Friction between pro-democracy protesters and opponents of their weeklong occupation of major Hong Kong streets persisted Saturday as police denied any connection to criminal gangs suspected of inciting attacks on largely peaceful demonstrators.","Indonesia appoints top businessman as chief econ minister. Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on Friday appointed one of the country's richest businessmen, Chairul Tanjung, as his chief economic minister. Tanjung, 51, is founder and chairman of CT Corp, and head of the president's economic advisory body, the National Economic Committee (KEN). \"I see that he has the skill and commitment to promote the economy,\" Yudhoyono said. The appointment of the Yudhoyono confidant follows the resignation this week of Hatta Rajasa, who left to become the running mate of Prabowo Subianto in July's presidential election.","Mothers protest at hotel in breast-feeding row. LONDON (AP) — Several dozen breast-feeding women have protested outside a luxury London hotel where a mother was asked to cover up with a napkin as she fed her baby.","Desmond Tutu warns of 'Nazi' parallel to Uganda anti-gay law. South African peace icon Desmond Tutu warned on Sunday that Uganda's controversial anti-gay law recalled sinister attempts by the Nazi and apartheid regimes to \"legislate against love\". The Anglican cleric said he was \"very disheartened\" to learn that Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni intended to sign a bill that will see homosexuals jailed for life, urging him instead to clamp down on rape, child abuse and the sex trade. \"In South Africa, apartheid police used to rush into bedrooms where whites were suspected of making love to blacks,\" Tutu said in a statement.","3 people killed at Scottish road rally. EDINBURGH, Scotland (AP) — Police say three people were killed and six injured at a road rally in Scotland after two cars collided with spectators in separate accidents.","Obama demands West stand firm against 'brute force'. US President Barack Obama urged the West on Wednesday to stand firm in opposing Moscow's takeover of Crimea, saying that \"with time\" Russians will realise \"brute force\" cannot win. Winding up a daylong visit that kicked off with a moving tour through the only Belgian World War I cemetery to hold US graves, Obama said \"we must never forget that we are heirs to a struggle for freedom.\" He told a crowd of some 2,000 people massed in a concert hall alongside Belgian's king and queen that Russia's actions had challenged \"truths that only a few weeks ago seemed self-evident\". The Kremlin's incursion into Crimea had violated the beliefs that international law matters, that borders cannot be redrawn, that people must decide their own future, Obama said before departing Brussels for Rome where he will meet Pope Francis.","Delta force for peace? US uses films as aid in Nigeria. A prominent director goes to Nigeria's troubled oil-producing region and recruits 21 youngsters with absolutely no film experience. \"This is pretty out there,\" the US Consul General in Nigeria's economic capital Lagos, Jeffrey Hawkins, said of a new TV programme which chronicles the search for new moviemakers. Dubbed \"Dawn in the Creeks\", it aims to showcase Niger Delta role models \"who did not win (their) fame and respect with a gun\", said Hawkins. The United States -- as well as other countries and big oil firms -- is concerned that conflict could return to the Niger Delta, which churns out some two million barrels of oil day -- the highest crude output in Africa and Nigeria's lifeline.","Central African Republic's new president says to listen to armed groups. By Paul-Marin Ngoupana and Emmanuel Braun BANGUI (Reuters) - Central African Republic's new interim president said on Tuesday she would hold talks with armed groups in an effort to restore order to the former French colony, where at least seven more people were killed in sectarian violence in the north. In a sign of the growing support for Catherine Samba-Panza, the mayor of Bangui appointed as interim president on Monday, a representative of former Seleka rebels, who seized power in a coup last March, gave her his backing. Samba-Panza replaced former Seleka leader Michel Djotodia, who stepped down on January 10 under international pressure for failing to stop months of killings that have pitted Seleka's mostly Muslim fighters against anti-balaka militia drawn from the Christian majority. \"I want to meet with the armed groups and listen to them,\" Samba-Panza told reporters on Tuesday.","US pressures IS with strikes and diplomatic drive. Damascus (AFP) - The United States and its Arab allies turned up the heat on jihadists in Syria on Thursday, striking the oil facilities that funded their brutal rise and building an international coalition to oppose them.","Abdullah, Ghani go through to run-off Afghan vote. KABUL (Reuters) - The Afghanistan election is set to go to a second round run-off between former foreign minister Abdullah Abdullah and ex-World Bank economist Ashraf Ghani after none of the candidates won an absolute majority, preliminary results showed on Saturday. Abdullah finished top with 44.9 percent, followed by Ghani with 31.5 percent, the Independent Election Commission said. Zalmay Rassoul was a distant third with 11.5 percent. Final results are due May 14, and a run-off would take place at the end of May. (Reporting by Jeremy Laurence and Mirwais Harooni; Editing by Robin Pomeroy)","Biden heads to Ukraine as tensions rise. WASHINGTON (AP) — Vice President Joe Biden is heading to Ukraine to meet with leaders of the turbulent country.","Mexico catches mayor blamed for students' disappearance. Mexican police detained Tuesday a fugitive ex-mayor and his wife accused of ordering a police attack that left six people dead and 43 college students missing. Jose Luis Abarca, the former mayor of the city of Iguala, and Maria de los Angeles Pineda \"were detained by federal police in Mexico City,\" the spokesman said. The arrests come more than a month since the students vanished after they were attacked by municipal police linked to the Guerreros Unidos drug gang in Iguala, 200 kilometers (125 miles) south of Mexico City.","Milan Expo will include food trucks from the US. NEW YORK (AP) — The U.S. will show itself off as \"Food Truck Nation\" at the Milan Expo, bringing six authentic food trucks to Italy as part of its participation in the event opening in May for six months.","Tottenham sign American international Yedlin. Tottenham Hotspur have signed United States right back DeAndre Yedlin from American outfit Seattle Sounders on a four-year contract, the Premier League club announced late on Wednesday. Yedlin, 21, will remain with the Sounders for a further year before joining up with Tottenham in time for the start of the 2015-16 Premier League season. \"We are delighted to announce that we have reached agreement with Seattle Sounders for the transfer of United States international right back DeAndre Yedlin,\" read a statement on the Tottenham website.","Peru to extradite suspect in U.S. teen's disappearance after his 28-year sentence. LIMA (Reuters) - Peru has passed a law to extradite Dutch citizen Joran van der Sloot to the United States for questioning about the high-profile disappearance of an American teenager, but not until he finishes a 28-year jail term for murdering a Peruvian woman. The Peruvian law, signed by President Ollanta Humala and published on Sunday, abides by a 2012 Supreme Court ruling that the government cannot extradite van der Sloot until he completes his jail term and pays a 200,000 soles ($71,400) fine for retribution. ...","EU regulator: Morning-after pill OK for all women. LONDON (AP) — The European Medicines Agency says a commonly used morning-after pill is suitable for use by heavier women after reviewing the evidence, sparked by a French pharmaceutical company's declaration last year that the drugs didn't work in women weighing more than 80 kilograms (176 pounds).","Jet search cut short; more satellites spot objects. PERTH, Australia (AP) — Hints about the lost Malaysian jetliner piled up Thursday, but there was precious little chance to track them down. Bad weather cut short the hunt for possible debris fields from the aircraft as satellite data revealed hundreds more objects that might be wreckage.","5 Chile players to watch at the World Cup. SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) — Even with a strong team at this year's World Cup, Chile will be facing some huge challenges.","Egypt on alert before vote on charter. CAIRO (AP) — Egypt's security chief on Monday warned supporters of the ousted Islamist president that troops guarding polls during the next day's constitutional referendum will deal with anyone attempting to disrupt the vote with unprecedented force.","Quebec seniors' residence fire kills three, 30 unaccounted for. TORONTO (Reuters) - At least three people died and 30 were unaccounted for after a major fire broke out in a seniors' residence in the French-speaking province of Quebec, Canadian media reported on Thursday. The fire happened in the small community of L'Isle-Verte, Quebec, located on the St. Lawrence river northeast of Quebec City. Initial reports were that 20 residents had been transported to safety, the Canadian Press reported. (Reporting by Jeffrey Hodgson; Editing by Stephen Powell)","Israel advises citizens to avoid Turkey amid Gaza protests. Israel advised its citizens on Saturday not to travel to Turkey, citing \"the public mood\" after heated protests there against Israel's ground offensive into Gaza. The Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem said Israelis should \"avoid non-essential visits\" to Turkey - once Israel's closest regional ally - or be especially vigilant and steer clear of anti-Israel demonstrations. The travel advisory could affect commercial air connections between Tel Aviv and Istanbul, expanded in recent years as the two countries sought to rebuild relations. Israel said on Friday it would pare back already an reduced staff at its embassy in Ankara and consulate in Istanbul, scenes of furious street protests at Israel's escalation of its Gaza offensive into a ground invasion.","AP source: US talking with Israel about early release of spy Jonathan Pollard for concessions. JERUSALEM (AP) — AP source: US talking with Israel about early release of spy Jonathan Pollard for concessions.","Google faces up to image problem in Europe. AMSTERDAM (AP) — As Google bowed to a European court ruling to consider users' claims to remove embarrassing search results, the company took the first step toward preventing any more such punishing decisions — acknowledging it has an image problem in Europe.","Cuba says doctor catches Ebola in Sierra Leone. HAVANA (AP) — A member of the 165-member medical team Cuba sent to fight Ebola in Sierra Leone has been diagnosed with the disease, according to state media.","Biden urges Ukraine government to show restraint. WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. Vice President Joe Biden has called Ukraine's president to express \"grave concern\" about violent clashes in the capital of Kiev.","Roof won't be finished for World Cup opener. SAO PAULO (AP) — Construction officials say the roof of the stadium hosting the World Cup opener will not be finished for the tournament.","Syria: Turkey sending foreign fighters to Latakia. DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — Syria's information minister has lashed out at Turkey, accusing Ankara of sending foreign fighters across the border to fight Syrian government troops in President Bashar Assad's ancestral homeland in Latakia province.","Asian stocks lackluster as China growth slows. KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Asian stock markets were lackluster Monday with Wall Street closed for a long weekend and China's economic growth slowing.","GSK chooses Philip Hampton as next chairman. LONDON (Reuters) - GlaxoSmithKline said on Thursday it had chosen Philip Hampton, who currently chairs Royal Bank of Scotland , as its next chairman. He will join the board in January and will become chairman with effect from Sept. 1, 2015, or at an earlier date if released from other commitments. (Reporting by Ben Hirschler; editing by Sarah Young)","Cuban blogger launching independent newspaper. HAVANA (AP) — Cuba's best-known blogger says she will start publishing a general-interest newspaper online Wednesday in a move that will test both the government's openness to free expression and the dissident's ability to build a following inside her country.","Froome hopes new probe will close doping era. GENEVA (AP) — Tour de France champion Chris Froome wants an investigation into cycling's doping history to finally close an era dominated by Lance Armstrong.","UN delegation meets with armed groups in Mali. BAMAKO, Mali (AP) — The U.N. Security Council met Monday with representatives of armed Tuareg groups active in northern Mali as part of an effort to accelerate peace talks with the government, though participants said disagreements on conditions for the talks had not been resolved.","Bjoerndalen's farewell highlights Olympic biathlon. KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia (AP) — Weather worries. Track troubles. Ukraine's unity. Domracheva dominating. And Bjoerndalen being brilliant.","South Sudan bans all foreign workers, including aid staff. Juba (AFP) - War-torn South Sudan has banned the employment of all foreign workers, including those with non-governmental organisations, and ordered they be replaced by locals, an official notice said on Tuesday.","More than 20 dead, thousands evacuated in Bosnia, Serbia floods. By Marko Djurica OBRENOVAC, Serbia (Reuters) - More than 20 people have been killed in the worst floods in more than a century in Serbia and Bosnia, authorities said on Saturday, with thousands evacuated from towns still under threat from rising rivers. The death toll in Bosnia alone reached 19, including nine found on Saturday when waters receded from the northeastern town of Doboj. Thousands of volunteers joined soldiers, police and fire-fighters in building flood barriers made of sandbags in the Serbian capital Belgrade and the western town of Sabac. The River Sava hit its highest-recorded level in Serbia, the army said, rising at a rate of three centimeters (one inch) per hour after several days of the heaviest rainfall in almost 120 years.","Rebrov appointed Dynamo Kiev coach. KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — Serhiy Rebrov has been appointed new coach of Dynamo Kiev following the club's season-ending 3-1 victory Sunday over Zorya Luhansk.","Kachin rebels renew plea for U.S. role to ensure fair Myanmar peace. By David Brunnstrom WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The last ethnic insurgent group still fighting Myanmar's government has issued a new plea for the United States to become involved in peace efforts in order to guarantee future minority rights. General Gun Maw, deputy commander in chief of the Kachin Independence Army and a member of the insurgents' main political committee, said he made the request to U.S. officials during a visit to the United States that began last week. Gun Maw, thought to be the most senior KIA official ever to visit Washington, said the invitation was first extended to the United States, Britain, China and the United Nations in February last year. \"This trip, I reaffirmed that invitation,\" Gun Maw told Reuters in an interview on Monday.","In Ukraine, NATO sticks to a war of words against Russia. By Luke Baker BRUSSELS (Reuters) - From the moment Russia first moved on Ukraine and seized Crimea, NATO has not lost an opportunity to admonish Moscow for its actions, warning that peace in Europe is under threat and the sovereignty of a friend being violated. Yet between NATO's tough rhetoric and its ability and willingness to act, there is now a substantial gap, one that Russia is exploiting. The 28-country alliance - on paper the world's most powerful military organization - has no intention of getting militarily involved in Ukraine. The risks of escalation with Russia are far too great, and neither President Barack Obama nor his European allies have any appetite for war.","South Sudan war displaced in 'acute' need, UN says. War-torn South Sudan is in a \"spiralling humanitarian crisis\", the UN warned Monday, as top aid chiefs visited the young nation, where more than a million people have fled months of conflict. \"People are in acute need,\" UN World Food Programme (WFP) boss Ertharin Cousin said as she arrived for a two-day assessment. More than 800,000 people are displaced inside South Sudan, while almost 255,000 have fled to the neighbouring countries of Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda and Sudan, the UN says. Many had only returned to South Sudan after it won independence from Sudan in July 2011, following the end of the 1983-2005 civil war.","Indonesia's Widodo to name ex-Astra chief state enterprises minister. By Chris Nusatya and Randy Fabi JAKARTA (Reuters) - Indonesian President-elect Joko Widodo is expected to appoint former Astra International chief Rini Soemarno as minister for state-owned enterprises (SOE), two advisers said on Saturday. Widodo will be sworn in as Indonesia's seventh president on Monday and is expected to announce his cabinet the next day. \"Rini Soemarno has a lot of experience in managing the corporations,\" Hasto Kristianto, a senior member of the transition team, told Reuters. ...","Barrett, Harris in focus as All Blacks seek title. (Reuters) - New Zealand can seal their third successive Rugby Championship title with a bonus-point win against the Pumas in La Plata on Saturday but the long-term focus will be on the performances of flyhalf Beauden Barrett and rookie hooker Nathan Harris. Steve Hansen's side lead the annual southern hemisphere tournament on 16 points with South Africa and Australia, who meet earlier in Cape Town, on 10 apiece. ...","Goaltender Scrivens to make first start for Oilers tonight against Wild. EDMONTON - Ben Scrivens will make his first start in goal for his hometown team tonight when the Edmonton Oilers visit the Minnesota Wild.","Pistorius: Prosecutor counters witness objectivity. PRETORIA, South Africa (AP) — The chief prosecutor in the murder trial of Oscar Pistorius has challenged the credibility of a physician who testified that the athlete has an anxious nature linked to his disability.","Joy for Iraq in dramatic day of Asian Games athletics. Incheon (South Korea) (AFP) - A sensational triple disqualification in the Asian Games men's 800 metres on Wednesday lifted Iraq's Adnan Taess Akkar from fourth to win his country's first gold medal in Incheon.","Pakistan to host NZ in 3-test series in November. ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistan will host New Zealand in a test cricket series for the first time in 12 years in November.","Nabbed Libyan militant lived openly in Benghazi. CAIRO (AP) — The Libyan militant suspected in the deadly Sept. 11, 2012 attack on Americans in Benghazi was not a difficult man to find.","Turkey launches new mass purge of police and judiciary. Turkish authorities removed hundreds of police from their posts on Wednesday in the latest mass purge following the eruption of a damaging corruption scandal. The government action came as parliament debated controversial reforms to the judiciary that have heightened the political crisis engulfing Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Around 470 police were sacked or reassigned in the capital Ankara, another 100 in Istanbul and a dozen police chiefs in the western port city of Izmir, local media reported.","Yemen's crisis reflects arc of Arab Spring revolts. SANAA, Yemen (AP) — Yemen's 2011 Arab Spring revolt began with a nucleus of young men and women, a mix of socialists, secularists and moderate Islamists. In the capital's \"Change Square,\" they launched their sit-in protest, a dreamy and romantic movement seeking to end autocrat Ali Abdullah Saleh's 33-year rule and transform the poorest Arab nation into a democratic, modern society.","Lampard stuns former club Chelsea, United implodes. MANCHESTER, England (AP) — Chelsea's winning start to the Premier League was ended by a dramatic goal from one of its greatest players while Manchester United's all-star attack was undermined by its jittery defense in a 5-3 loss at Leicester on Sunday.","Sunni gunmen 'seize more turf in Iraq's Ramadi'. Sunni gunmen, including fighters linked to Al-Qaeda, made gains in the contested Iraqi city of Ramadi Tuesday in a setback for pro-government forces, as attacks killed 10 in the capital. The clashes came after UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon called for Iraqi leaders to address the \"root causes\" of nationwide unrest, echoing calls from diplomats for Baghdad to focus more on political reconciliation. But Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has ruled out talks to resolve the standoff, as April 30 parliamentary elections loom and his government faces Iraq's worst protracted period of bloodshed since it was emerging from a brutal Sunni-Shiite sectarian war in 2008. Parts of Ramadi and all of Fallujah, which lies just 60 kilometres (35 miles) from Baghdad, fell out of government control more than two weeks ago, the first time militants have exercised such open control in major cities since the insurgency that followed the 2003 US-led invasion.","Latrines, sewers show varied ancient Roman diet. ROME (AP) — Archaeologists picking through latrines, sewers, cesspits and trash dumps at Pompeii and Herculaneum have found tantalizing clues to an apparently varied diet there before the eruption of Mount Vesuvius destroyed those Roman cities in 79 A.D.","36 Thai senators indicted over charter amendment. BANGKOK (AP) — Thailand's state anti-corruption body on Tuesday indicted 36 senators for alleged misconduct in attempting to amend the constitution to make the Senate fully elected, which a court ruled was unconstitutional last year.","VW union chief won't give up fight for US plant. BERLIN (AP) — Volkswagen's top workers' representative says he won't give up the fight for unionization at the German automaker's plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee.","Belgium, allies try to halt flow of Islamist fighters to Syria. Several European countries met Thursday with officials from the United States, Turkey, Morocco, Jordan and Tunisia to discuss how to stop young Islamist fighters joining rebels in Syria. The fear is that the young fighters become even more radicalised and return home with extensive military experience which can be put to terrorist ends, Belgian Interior Minister Joelle Milquet said. \\\\\"It is not just a national problem, it is international, with many countries affected,\\\\\" Milquet said, highlighting the presence of Al-Qaeda-linked groups in Syria. The two ministers said it was essential to work together and share information so as to break up recruitment and funding networks channelling Islamic fighters into Syria.","Spurs hang on to draw 0-0 at home to Palace. LONDON (AP) — Tottenham was forced to hang on to draw 0-0 against Crystal Palace on Saturday, continuing its poor home form in the Premier League.","Greek conservatives regain lead in polls ahead of EU election. Greece's co-ruling conservatives have regained a narrow lead over the main, anti-bailout opposition three weeks before a European Parliament election, two polls showed. The election, which coincides with a key local vote, is seen as a test for Prime Minister Antonis Samaras' fragile coalition in a country still reeling from the debt crisis and banking on loans from the European Union and International Monetary Fund. Samaras' New Democracy - which leads the coalition with the Socialist PASOK party - and its rival, the leftist Syriza party, have been running neck-and-neck in polls for months, with voters often swinging in favor of one or the other party. But New Democracy has seen a boost in ratings since Athens tapped bond markets in April for the first time in four years and Samaras promised to spend a 527 million euro ($731 million) windfall from Greece's 2013 budget surplus on poor, austerity-hit Greeks.","Zambian minister sounds alarm over crumbling Kariba Dam. A Zambian minister on Monday sounded the alarm over the condition of the Kariba Dam as he appealed for hundreds of millions of dollars to pay for urgent repairs. The hydro-electric dam's wall, which is 128 metres (420 feet) high, must to be repaired within the next three years, Energy and Water Development Minister Christopher Yaluma said on state radio. The gigantic dam, which straddles Zambia and Zimbabwe, is one of the world's largest, generating more than 1,300 megawatts of hydropower for the two countries. Should its wall collapse, flooding from the Zambezi River could hit parts of Zambia, Zimbabwe, Malawi and Mozambique, affecting millions of people.","IMF sees limited room for Bank of Canada rate cut. By Louise Egan OTTAWA (Reuters) - The International Monetary Fund (IMF) says Canada's central bank is likely to hold its main interest rate steady until early 2015, and said the bank has limited room to cut rates because of overvalued housing prices and record-high household debt. After consultations with Canadian officials on the state of the economy, completed in late January, the IMF concluded the Canadian economy will pick up speed in 2014, but highlighted concerns that growth is still too reliant on consumer spending and home-building, while exports and business investment lag. \"Monetary policy should remain accommodative until there are firmer signs that growth is picking up above potential, with a sustainable transition from household spending to exports and business investment,\" the Washington, D.C.-based lender said in its report. The IMF's projections assume the Bank of Canada's overnight target rate will start increasing in \"early 2015\".","Syria at 'critical moment', China tells opposition chief. Syria has reached a \"critical moment\" as the world awaits news of fresh peace talks, China's foreign minister told the warring nation's opposition leader Ahmad Jarba in Beijing Wednesday. Wang Yi was speaking at the start of four days of talks with a delegation led by the head of the Syrian National Coalition, as Beijing attempts to portray a neutral stance in the three-year conflict.","Burkina Faso military chief says he has taken over as head of state. OUAGADOUGOU (Reuters) - Burkina Faso's armed forces chief General Honore Traore said on Friday that he had taken charge of the West African state after former President Blaise Compaore resigned. (Reporting by Mathieu Bonkoungou; Writing by David Lewis)","Small French park becomes home for desperate Syrian families. Saint-Ouen (France) (AFP) - They ended up there penniless after wandering from country to country for months. Yahya, Aziz and 150 other Syrians swapped the brutality and death of a war zone for hand-to-mouth survival in a small park in a working-class suburb of Paris, squeezed in behind a hotel just a few metres away from a busy ring road. Some come from Homs, others from Aleppo or the Syrian port city of Latakia, leaving behind the violence of a three-year conflict that has now claimed more than 150,000 lives and forced around half the population to flee their homes. At night, some manage to get hotel rooms paid for, others sleep in cars or at the mosque,\" says Yahya, a former dental technician from the central city of Homs who speaks French fluently, pointing to refugees lying down on mattresses in the park in Saint-Ouen.","France warns C. Africa crisis could be longer than expected. Bangui (Central African Republic) (AFP) - France's defence minister warned on Saturday that ending sectarian strife in the Central African Republic could take longer than expected as peacekeepers went door-to-door in the capital Bangui seizing weapons from militia. A military operation \"cannot run like clockwork,\" said Jean-Yves Le Drian after France pledged to send 400 more troops to the war-torn country. French President Francois Hollande said the operation would be brief when it began in early December. The European Union and France pledged a sharp increase in the number of troops deployed in the Central African Republic on Friday, as concern mounted over a horrific spiral of violence across the country.","India nurses stranded in Iraq to fly home Saturday. NEW DELHI (AP) — An Indian official says dozens of Indian nurses who have been stranded in northern Iraq are safe and will be flown back to India on Saturday.","Lawyer to ICC: Investigate Cambodian leaders. THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — A human rights lawyer is calling on the International Criminal Court to investigate Cambodian authorities and the country's authoritarian leader, Prime Minister Hun Sen, for what he says is a systematic pattern of crimes to crush dissent and attempts to shield former Khmer Rouge leaders from genocide prosecutions.","High Court battle over Richard III's remains. LONDON (AP) — Distant relatives of England's King Richard III are launching their High Court Battle over where to rebury the 15th-century monarch's remains.","Illegal miners holed up in South African mine. JOHANNESBURG (AP) — South African police say several illegal miners are still believed to be holed up underground at an abandoned mine shaft near Johannesburg after 22 others had been rescued and arrested.","Merkel says EU will discuss bridging finance for Ukraine next week. BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union and Ukraine will discuss a bridging loan to Kiev next week so that the country can pay in advance for Russian gas deliveries for the coming months, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Friday. \"There is a necessity for a certain amount of bridging finance,\" Merkel told reporters after the first day of a European Union summit. The latest round of talks between Moscow and Kiev, brokered by the European Commission, to try to resolve a row over Ukraine's unpaid gas bill took place on Tuesday. ...","Bitcoin traders settle class actions over failed Mt Gox exchange. U.S. and Canadian customers of failed Tokyo-based bitcoin exchange Mt. Gox have agreed to settle their proposed class action lawsuits that alleged the company defrauded them of hundreds of millions of dollars. The class action plaintiffs agreed to support a plan by Sunlot Holdings to buy the shuttered exchange and accept their share of bitcoins still held by Mt. Gox, according to a statement and court filings. \"BEST OPTION\" Once the world's biggest bitcoin exchange, Mt. Gox is slated to be liquidated after the Tokyo District Court granted the company's request to abandon plans to revive its business. In return for settling separate class actions, the U.S. and Canadian customers will share in a 16.5 percent stake after Mt. Gox is sold to Sunlot, a firm backed by child actor-turned entrepreneur Brock Pierce and venture capitalist William Quigley.","Mosaic CEO has cancer, plans to stay on job. Mosaic Co Chief Executive Jim Prokopanko has been diagnosed with cancer, but plans to continue in his role, the U.S. fertilizer company said on Thursday. Mosaic, the world's biggest producer of finished phosphate products and a major potash miner, on Monday completed its $1.4 billion acquisition of CF Industries' phosphate business. Mosaic's management will continue to advance the strategic direction set by Prokopanko and the board, Chairman Robert Lumpkins said.","Egypt policeman killed in Sinai drive-by shooting. Gunmen killed an Egyptian policeman and wounded another in a drive-by shooting in the Sinai Peninsula on Sunday, security and medical officials said. The attack occurred near a police post in the town of El-Arish, scene of frequent attacks by Islamist militants on security forces, as the two policemen made their way to work. Egypt's military has been battling an insurgency on the peninsula since it overthrew Islamist president Mohamed Morsi last year and cracked down on his supporters. The government declared a state of emergency in parts of North Sinai after an October 24 suicide attack near El-Arish killed 30 soldiers in the deadliest assault on security forces since Morsi's ouster.","Rey's 2 goals help America beat Chivas 4-0. GUADALAJARA, Mexico (AP) — Luis Gabriel Rey's two first-half goals helped America to a 4-0 win over Chivas on Sunday in the big game between Mexico's most popular teams.","Gross human rights abuses seen in S. Sudan: report. NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Amnesty International documents in a new report the horrific, ethnically motivated attacks of physical and sexual violence seen in South Sudan.","Lebanese army shells militant positions in Syria border zone. (Reuters) - BEIRUT, Aug 27 (Reuters) - The Lebanese army shelled militant positions in the border zone with Syria on Wednesday near a town that was seized by Islamist insurgents earlier this month, a security source said. It was the first such engagement since the radical Sunni Muslim militants including fighters affiliated to Islamic State withdrew from the town of Arsal three weeks ago following five days of deadly battles with the army. The insurgents including members of the Nusra Front, al Qaeda's official affiliate in the Syrian war, and Islamic State, which has seized swathes of territory in Syria and Iraq.","Rugby-Argentina switch wingers for Australia test. * Alemanno replaces suspended Lavanini in second row * Pumas hope for dry weather to play their best game (Adds quotes, details) MELBOURNE, Sept 10 (Reuters) - Argentina coach Daniel Hourcade has switched his wingers and replaced suspended lock Tomas Lavanini with Matias Alemanno for the Rugby Championship match against Australia on the Gold Coast on Saturday. Juan Imhoff has been promoted to right wing from the bench to replace Horacio Agulla with Manuel Montero coming in for Lucas Gonzalez Amorosino on the left in the team named on Wednesday.","No clarity from economists on clarity of BoE's new policy: Reuters poll. By Jonathan Cable LONDON (Reuters) - The Bank of England's revamped forward guidance has split economists in a Reuters poll as to whether it has improved clarity about where British interest rates are headed. While the 64 economists polled this week were unanimous in saying the Bank Rate would be left unchanged at a record low of 0.5 percent on March 6, there was no consensus on what they thought of Governor Mark Carney's updated guidance. While inconclusive, this shows how tough it is for markets to make sense of the new policy, which is more complex than the previous one but aimed at reducing uncertainty over the timing and speed of any future interest rate rises. Within six months of tying monetary policy to joblessness, the central bank was forced to abandon its initial plan after unemployment fell within a whisker of its 7 percent target three years earlier than when they first forecast it would.","Hofland wins second stage at Tour of Utah. TOOELE, Utah (AP) — Moreno Hofland of the Netherlands won his second stage in three days at the Tour of Utah, out-sprinting a host rivals after a flat, windy stage at Miller Motorsports Park on Wednesday.","Another CN Freight train derails in New Brunswick, second in three weeks. SAINT BASILE, N.B. - Another CN (CN) freight train has derailed in New Brunswick, the second to run off the tracks in the province this month.","Federal police take control of 13 towns in Mexico. MEXICO CITY (AP) — Federal police have taken control of 13 municipalities in southern Mexico where local police are suspected of links to organized crime and possibly to the case of 43 missing students, a top official said.","China arrests 39 in scam targeting Malaysians. BEIJING (AP) — Chinese state media say police have busted a telephone scam ring that tricked Malaysians into wiring them money.","Britain picks Bombardier for trains on new London line. The British government intends to award Canadian engineering giant Bombardier a contract worth £1.0 billion to supply trains on a new line connecting east and west London, it said on Thursday. The trains are for a new link between key spots in London, including the top shopping area, described as a \"revolution\" for travel in the capital. The Crossrail project will connect also suburbs to the east and west of the capital to meet business needs and serve a growing population, the Department for Transport said in a statement. Francis Paonessa, managing director of Bombardier Transportation UK, said the Canadian firm was \"absolutely delighted to have been recommended as the winning bidder\".","British drones strike IS jihadists in Iraq. London (AFP) - Britain has used its unmanned aerial drones in Iraq for the first time to strike Islamic State jihadists, the Ministry of Defence said Monday.","Dutch crush Argentina to make final vs Australia. THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — The Netherlands routed defending champion Argentina 4-0 and lined up a women's final against Australia at the field hockey World Cup on Thursday.","Black boxes found from Libyan plane crash in Tunisia. Searchers in Tunisia have found the black boxes of a Libyan military hospital plane that crashed early on Friday, killing 11 people including a top former jihadist, the transport ministry said. \"The transport ministry announces that the two black boxes from the Libyan military aircraft that crashed yesterday in the Grombalia region have been found,\" a statement said, without elaborating. It had been transporting Meftah al-Mabrouk Issa al-Dhawadi to Tunis from a military airfield near Tripoli for medical treatment, the Libyan government said in a statement.","East Ukrainian border post attacked from Ukrainian side. About 40 armed men attacked a Ukrainian border post on the frontier with Russia on Thursday and tried to seize control of it, but were beaten off by Ukrainian forces, the border guard in Kiev said. It said two minivans arrived at the border as if about to leave Ukraine at the Izvarino crossing point in the eastern region of Lugansk, a hotbed of pro-Russian insurgency.","Scotland, UAE grab 2015 World Cup berths. (Reuters) - Scotland pipped Kenya to secure their third World Cup appearance on Thursday while United Arab Emirates (UAE) also booked their ticket for next year's marquee 50-over tournament in Australia and New Zealand. On the final day of the Super Sixes in Christchurch, Rob Taylor shrugged off his poor form and, batting at number eight, blasted 46 unbeaten runs off 37 balls to help Scotland reach the 261-run victory target with three balls to spare. Opting to bat first, Kenya rode on Alex Obanda's 89 off 101 balls to post a competitive 260 before being all out on the last ball of the 50th over. Matty Cross (55) and captain Preston Mommsen (78) shone with the bat for Scotland but it was Taylor's late assault that earned them a thrilling three-wicket victory and their first World Cup appearance since 2007.","Southampton second in Premier League after 1-0 win. SOUTHAMPTON, England (AP) — Southampton maintained its incredible start to the Premier League on Saturday when Sadio Mane's strike propelled the club to second place with a 1-0 victory over Stoke.","Investigator questions Bernie Ecclestone claims. BERLIN (AP) — A German investigator cast doubt on the credibility of Bernie Ecclestone's assertion he was blackmailed into making a $44 million payment to a Munich banker, telling the Formula One boss' trial on Friday the claim was \"very vague.\"","Time Warner revenue beats estimates. (Reuters) - Time Warner Inc reported a better-than-expected 5 percent rise in quarterly revenue, helped by growth in its Warner Bros movie studio business and premium TV service Home Box Office (HBO). Revenue rose to $8.56 billion in the fourth quarter, from $8.16 billion a year earlier. Analysts had expected $8.39 billion, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. Time Warner's net income fell to $983 million, or $1.06 per share, from $1.11 billion, or $1.15 per share. (Reporting by Sruthi Ramakrishnan in Bangalore; Editing by Maju Samuel)","Skeleton horse, big thumb to be on London square. LONDON (AP) — A big thumbs-up and a skeletal horse will soon stand in London's landmark Trafalgar Square.","Final Crimea count: 97 percent back Russia. MOSCOW (AP) — The head of the referendum commission in Ukraine's Crimea says the final results of the Sunday vote show that 97 percent of voters have supported joining Russia.","Qaeda suspects 'kill police officer in Yemen'. Unidentified gunmen suspected of belonging to Al-Qaeda shot dead on Sunday a Yemeni police officer in the southeastern province of Hadramawt, a security official said. Mahthuthi died on the spot and the attackers \"who belong to Al-Qaeda,\" fled the scene, the official said. Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula has been blamed for most of the increasingly common hit-and-run strikes targeting military personnel.","Euro dips in pre-ECB jockeying, U.S. yields bolster dollar. By Marc Jones LONDON, (Reuters) - The dollar was bobbing near a 3-1/2 month high and shares dipped for a second day on Wednesday, as the recent jump in U.S. borrowing costs weighed on markets before what is set to be an action-packed ECB meeting. Safe-haven gold XAU= was stuck near a four-month low while there were also signs pressure was building again on emerging market assets that suffered badly earlier in the year from rising U.S. rates. EMRG/FRX Investors were already beginning to move to the sidelines before Thursday's ECB meeting, where expectations are intense that the bank will respond to the euro zone's low inflation and sluggish growth with an aggressive set of easing measures. The euro sagged 0.1 percent to about $1.3611 EUR= in early trading, while shares steadied and the region's main bond markets clawed back some of the ground they had conceded on Tuesday following the rise in U.S. rates.","Jury begins deliberating in ex-Dallas Cowboys player Josh Brent's trial over deadly crash. DALLAS - Jurors on Tuesday began deliberating the intoxication manslaughter case against former Dallas Cowboys player Josh Brent, who is accused of drunkenly crashing his car during a night out and killing his passenger, who was a close friend and teammate.","Walking Italy: A picturesque way to see Tuscany. MONTALCINO, Italy (AP) — Walking from the towns of Buonconvento to Montalcino as part of a weeklong trek through Tuscany, I was faced with a tough decision.","Ukraine reports military success in the east. KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — The Ukrainian army destroyed two military bases of pro-Russian insurgents in overnight operations, the country's acting president said Thursday, as the government returned to the offensive a day after the start of European-brokered talks which have yet to draw in the warring sides.","Saudi MERS death toll rises to 62. Saudi health authorities said Thursday a man has died from the MERS coronavirus, bringing the death toll from the respiratory disease in the worst-hit country to 62. The 55-year-old national, who died in Riyadh from the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome, was suffering from \"chronic illness,\" the health ministry website said. The ministry also announced a new case in the province of Riyadh, bringing the total number of cases in Saudi Arabia to 150 people since the virus first appeared in September 2012. MERS is considered a deadlier but less-transmissible cousin of the SARS virus that erupted in Asia in 2003 and infected 8,273 people, nine percent of whom died.","Lincicome maintains LPGA Championship. PITTSFORD, New York (AP) — Brittany Lincicome maintained her lead Saturday in the LPGA Championship, the tour's fourth major championship of the season.","Spanish shepherds guide 2,000 sheep across Madrid. MADRID (AP) — Shepherds have guided a flock of 2,000 sheep through Madrid's streets in defense of ancient grazing, droving and migration rights increasingly threatened by urban sprawl and modern agricultural practices.","Turkey president, officials urge more Gulf investments. Turkish President Abdullah Gul on Wednesday called on wealthy Gulf states to boost investments and cooperation with Ankara, assuring them of political stability and high profitability. \"There are few risks and big profits in Turkey. It is an ideal country\" for investments, Gul told a Kuwaiti-Turkish business forum in Kuwait City. \"Be assured that the same environment will continue to prevail in Turkey over the next 10 years,\" Gul said, in an apparent reference to Sunday's impressive victory by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's AKP party in local elections.","Australia aims to nearly halve budget deficit. CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Australia's government said Tuesday it will nearly halve its fiscal deficit as part of a tough budget that includes tax hikes, less welfare and the layoff of more than 16,000 state employees.","Tesla resolves trademark dispute in China. By Samuel Shen and Norihiko Shirouzu SHANGHAI/BEIJING (Reuters) - U.S. electric carmaker Tesla Motors Inc said it has \"completely and amicably\" resolved a trademark dispute in China, removing a hurdle that had threatened CEO Elon Musk's ambition to expand rapidly in the world's biggest auto market. It is the second time Tesla has announced an end to the dispute with Chinese businessman Zhan Baosheng, who registered the \"Tesla\" trademark before the Palo Alto, California-based carmaker came to China. Tesla said in January that the issue had been resolved, but last month, Zhan moved to bring Tesla to court. A complete solution to the long-standing trademark dispute would remove an obstacle to Tesla's growth plan in China, which billionaire co-founder Musk expects to become the company's biggest global market next year.","Man released in S.Africa soccer star killing case. JOHANNESBURG (AP) — Prosecutors say they have dropped charges against a man who was arrested in the killing of South African national soccer team captain Senzo Meyiwa.","Ghani arrives on Pakistan visit with eye on Taliban talks. Afghan President Ashraf Ghani made his first official trip to neighbouring Pakistan on Friday, seeking to improve ties crucial to his hopes of reviving Taliban peace talks as US troops end their 13-year war. Ghani will hold talks with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and the pair are expected to watch a cricket match between the two countries on Saturday in a public demonstration of better relations despite fraught cross-border tensions. Former Afghan president Hamid Karzai routinely accused Pakistan of continuing to fuel the Taliban insurgency to destabilise his country as a hedge against Indian influence there. Islamabad denies the charge but its support, and that of its powerful military, are seen as important for peace in Afghanistan as NATO pulls out its combat troops.","Egypt to raise fuel prices by up to 78 percent from midnight -source. Egypt was set to raise mainstream fuel prices by up to 78 percent from midnight on Friday, an Oil Ministry source told Reuters, as it tries to cut energy subsidies to ease the burden on its swelling budget deficit. Food and energy subsidies traditionally eat up a quarter of state spending and the government is taking steps to reform its subsidy program and revive an economy that has been battered by more than three years of political turmoil. The source said the price of 92 octane gasoline would be 2.60 Egyptian pounds (36 cents) per liter, up 40 percent from its previous current price of 1.85 pounds, while 80 octane gasoline would rise to 1.60 pounds per liter, up 78 percent. Newly elected president Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has already raised electricity prices in his efforts to reform energy subsidies, one of a range of politically sensitive subsidies that also cover transport, food and agriculture.","Revolutionary spirit gone as Syria's Homs votes. Homs (Syria) (AFP) - It was in Baba Amr, in Syria's Homs, that the armed uprising against Bashar al-Assad erupted, but with people turning out to vote Tuesday as the president sought re-election, the spirit of revolution seemed to have vanished. A loudspeaker outside the Hassan al-Sabet school, the district's sole polling station, blared out the words of a patriotic song: \"We salute this land of Syria, its heroes and its army.\" \"Homs may have once been the 'capital of the revolution,' but today it is clearly the city of the election,\" she added. At the beginning of the uprising three years ago, Homs got its nickname because of the massive anti-Assad demonstrations that were brutally crushed by the regime.","Bafin exonerates Deutsche Bank's Jain in Libor probe: Handelsblatt. FRANKFURT (Reuters) - German financial watchdog Bafin has found that Deutsche Bank co-Chief Executive Anshu Jain was neither aware nor part of possible attempts at the German lender to manipulate interest rates, German newspaper Handelsblatt reported. After a two-year investigation, Bafin concluded there was no evidence the bank's board members participated in or knew about any possible interest rate manipulation efforts, the German business daily said, citing unnamed financial sources. Deutsche Bank and Bafin declined to comment on the report. ...","Seized nuclear material in Iraq 'low grade': IAEA. By Fredrik Dahl VIENNA (Reuters) - The U.N. atomic agency said on Thursday it believed nuclear material Iraq said had been seized by insurgents was \"low grade\" and did not pose a significant security risk. Iraq told the United Nations in a July 8 letter that the nuclear materials had been taken from a university in the country's north. It appealed for help to \"stave off the threat of their use by terrorists in Iraq or abroad\". Al Qaeda offshoot, the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant, took over swathes of Syria and Iraq before renaming itself the Islamic State on June 29 and declaring its leader caliph - a title held by successors of the Prophet Mohammad.","Thai caretaker Cabinet appoints new acting PM. BANGKOK (AP) — Thailand's caretaker Cabinet has appointed a new acting prime minister after a court removed Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra from office.","Ship slams into boat in Manila Bay; 9 missing. MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Philippine authorities say a cargo ship smashed into a small fishing boat in Manila Bay, causing the fishing boat to sink and leaving nine of its 21 crew members missing.","U.S. prosecutors eye new approach on company misconduct after Toyota. By Aruna Viswanatha WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. prosecutors are considering using the legal theory behind a $1.2 billion penalty imposed on Toyota to go after misconduct in industries ranging from auto and airplane makers to mining, a Justice Department official told Reuters. The charges of wire fraud against Toyota for concealing safety problems marked the first criminal case of its kind against an auto company. The announcement last week of the settlement between the Department of Justice and Toyota immediately prompted speculation about its ramifications for General Motors, which is under investigation over its handling of a problem with ignition switches. Prosecutors have generally used a narrower approach in previous criminal cases against companies for misleading the public over safety issues.","Asia stocks rise on data, narrow Russia sanctions. BEIJING (AP) — Asian stocks rose Tuesday on stronger U.S. factory production and relief that sanctions imposed on Russia following the Crimea reference avoid its vital economic interests.","US solider freed from captivity in Afghanistan. WASHINGTON (AP) — The only American solider held prisoner in Afghanistan has been freed and is back in U.S. custody after nearly five years of captivity, U.S. officials said Saturday.","At midnight hour, UK holds first same-sex weddings. LONDON (AP) — Gay couples in Britain waited decades for the right to get married. When the opportunity came, it took just a few minutes to make history.","Ukraine crisis sends NATO 'back to basics'. By Paul Taylor PARIS (Reuters) - More than two decades after the collapse of the Soviet Union brought an end to the Cold War, Ukraine's crisis is driving the U.S.-led defense alliance back to its original purpose: To protect its members against a perceived Russian threat. President Vladimir Putin's annexation of Crimea and support for Russian-speaking separatists in eastern Ukraine has raised dramatically a sense of vulnerability among NATO's new eastern members from the Baltic to the Black Sea. ...","Iran hangs woman in defiance of international campaign. Iran executed Saturday a 26-year-old woman who had spent five years on death row for the murder of a former intelligence official, defying international pressure to spare her life. Reyhaneh Jabbari was hanged at dawn, the official IRNA news agency quoted the Tehran prosecutor's office as saying. Amnesty International said in a statement issued late Friday that Jabbari, an interior designer, was due to be executed for the 2007 stabbing of Morteza Abdolali Sarbandi. Jabbari's mother was allowed to visit her for one hour on Friday, Amnesty said, a custom that tends to precede executions in Iran.","Israel vows response as 4 soldiers wounded in Golan blast. Four Israeli soldiers were wounded by a roadside bomb on the occupied Golan Heights Tuesday, prompting artillery fire into Syria and a sharp warning that Israel would act forcefully to defend itself. The army said one of the soldiers was severely wounded in what was the third such incident in two weeks along Israel's northern frontier, prompting a blunt warning from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. \"Recently the border with Syria has filled with jihadists and Hezbollah elements, which represents a new threat for the state of Israel,\" he said, referring to Lebanon's powerful Shiite movement, which is fighting alongside Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's troops. Netanyahu said the ceasefire line in the Golan had remained largely calm, despite the three-year civil war raging in Syria, but that Israel would not hesitate to act in self-defence.","Indian Aces top team in inaugural IPTL. DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Novak Djokovic signed off in style at the International Premier Tennis League by thrashing Gael Monfils 6-0, but it was not enough for his UAE Royals to win the inaugural exhibition event on Saturday.","Tunisia papers downbeat on constitution vote. Tunisian newspapers were decidedly downbeat on Saturday in their assessment of the first full day of voting by the National Constituent Assembly on a new constitution. The assembly began going through the charter on Friday in a process expected to end on January 14, the third anniversary of the ouster of Zine El Abidine Ben Ali in the revolution that sparked the Arab Spring. \"Tunisians who expected to see scenes of solemnity as the constitution was being discussed\" were disappointed, it said, comparing scenes in the assembly to \"a wild arena in which every cheap shot is permitted.\" Parliament began voting Friday on the long-delayed new constitution whose adoption is intended to mark a crucial democratic milestone in the north African nation.","Reports: 280 Russian aid trucks leave for Ukraine. MOSCOW (AP) — Russian state media is reporting that about 280 trucks have left the Moscow region for war-torn eastern Ukraine, a day after the Kiev government welcomed an international humanitarian relief mission into the rebellious region.","Bomb blast in Bahrain's Sitra village injures policeman: official. A bomb exploded on Saturday in the Bahraini village of Sitra, east of Manama, causing minor injuries to a policeman, a source from Bahrain's interior ministry said. The source told Reuters that some protesters in Sitra had also clashed with the police using iron rods and Molotov cocktails, but that no further details on casualties were available. Both the UAE and Bahrain are members of the Gulf Cooperation Council, a political and military alliance that also includes Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Oman and Kuwait. In 2011, Saudi Arabia and UAE sent forces to support Bahrain's rulers and quell pro-democracy demonstrators demanding reforms.","SOCHI SCENE: Cheering Julia. SOCHI, Russia (AP) — How do you prepare a 15-year-old for the goosebumps that come when an entire country howls her name?","Al Qaeda chief Zawahri tells Islamists in Syria to unite: audio. BEIRUT/ABU DHABI (Reuters) - Al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri called on rebels in Syria to stop fighting each other as a faction linked to his group pushed rival insurgents from a northern town on Thursday. The small but powerful al Qaeda-linked Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) has been caught up in clashes with other insurgents in Syria in recent weeks, often triggered by disputes over authority and territory. About 1,400 people have died in the infighting over the last 20 days, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Thursday. The internecine fighting is the worst to break out during the nearly three-year revolt against President Bashar al-Assad and has further divided an already fractured opposition.","New Zealander, Australian killed in Yemen drone strike. A New Zealander with terrorism links was killed in a US drone strike in Yemen last year, Prime Minister John Key said Wednesday, with Canberra confirming that an Australian was also killed in the attack. The man who called himself \"Muslim bin John\" was born in New Zealand and had been attending \"some sort of terrorist training camp\" in Yemen, Key said. The Australian newspaper said that the man died in a US Predator drone strike on five Al-Qaeda militants travelling in a convoy of cars in Yemen in November.","Pirazzi wins 17th Giro stage; Quintana keeps lead. VITTORIO VENETO, Italy (AP) — Stefano Pirazzi won the 17th stage of the Giro d'Italia on Wednesday, while Nairo Quintana retained the overall leader's pink jersey as controversy from the previous day continued to rumble on.","Korean Air Lines exec resigns over nut dispute. SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — A top executive of Korean Air Lines resigned Tuesday amid mounting public criticism that she delayed a plane over how she was served macadamia nuts.","Mozambique's opposition scraps election boycott threat. Mozambique's main opposition party said Thursday it no longer planned to boycott upcoming elections, amid a violent conflict with the government, prompting a delay in the start of registration. \"We will register,\" Renamo MP and chief negotiator, Saimon Macuiane told AFP, saying that the party would contest the local and national polls. For months Renamo supporters and government forces have clashed in Mozambique's central province, skirmishes which faintly echo the country's brutal 16-year civil war. Renamo had boycotted country-wide municipal polls last year demanding equal representation on the bodies overseeing the polls.","Scheidt to defend Star Sailors League title. NASSAU, Bahamas (AP) — Two-time Olympic gold medalist Robert Scheidt of Brazil returns to defend his title in the Star Sailors League Finals, which will be sailed this week at the Nassau Yacht Club.","Chinese admiral to snub Japan at regional meeting: Xinhua. The commander of the Chinese navy will refuse to meet Japanese military officials one-on-one at a regional naval symposium in China this week, a navy spokesman was quoted as saying on Sunday, citing what he called hurtful actions by Japanese leaders. The decision to snub Japanese officials attending the Western Pacific Naval Symposium in Qingdao on Tuesday and Wednesday comes during a chill in relations between the world's no.2 and no.3 economies, amid a row over a chain of disputed islands in the East China Sea. In addition to the territorial quarrel, China's ties with Japan have long been poisoned by what Beijing sees as Tokyo's failure to atone for its occupation of parts of China before and during World War Two. On Sunday the head of Japan's National Public Safety Commission visited the Yasukuni Shrine, which critics including the Chinese government see as a symbol of Tokyo's wartime aggression.","Netanyahu UN speech 'blatant manipulation of facts': PLO. Jerusalem (AFP) - The Palestine Liberation Organisation said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu blatantly manipulated the facts when he compared Hamas with the Islamic State group in a UN speech on Monday.","Albasini wins Tour de Romandie stage, leads race. MONTREUX, Switzerland (AP) — Michael Albasini of Switzerland won a second straight sprint finish to lead the Tour of Romandie overall on Thursday.","S.Africa yet to repatriate bodies, months after Lagos collapse. The bodies of 81 South Africans killed in a building collapse in Nigeria have yet to be repatriated two months after the accident, South Africa's government said Thursday. \"It is certainly heartbreaking that the families of the 81 South Africans presumed dead continue to wait for their mortal remains to be returned home,\" said Minister in the Presidency Jeff Radebe in a statement at Parliament. A total of 116 people were killed when a guesthouse collapsed at the Lagos megachurch of one of Nigeria's most popular preachers, TB Joshua. Six South Africans wounded in the incident are still being treated at a Pretoria hospital.","Sanofi 3rd quarter net profit slips 2.4 percent. PARIS (AP) — Sanofi's net profit slipped 2.4 percent in the third quarter as the maker of the Lantus diabetes treatment booked a higher charge for restructuring at its French operations.","Catt wants England rugby to wing it against France. Mike Catt has insisted novice England wings Jack Nowell and Jonny May have been urged to play their natural game against France in Saturday's Six Nations opener in Paris. Exeter's Nowell, who will be making his Test debut, has risen to prominence this season on the back of his ability to burst through tackles while the pure speed of May, who will be winning just his second cap at the Stade de France, has seen him score some memorable tries for Gloucester. England, for all their world-class forward strength, have long been accused of pedestrian play behind the scrum. But former England back Catt, now the team's attacking skills coach, was adamant that players had been encouraged to use their initiative.","Russian, Ukrainian leaders talk amid D-Day pomp. OUISTREHAM, France (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke face-to-face with Ukraine's incoming president about ending the violence in the former Soviet state, and Kiev's new leader said talks could begin in earnest as soon as Sunday — a diplomatic breakthrough playing out along the battlefield beaches of Normandy.","Police exhume body of Australian killed in India. NEW DELHI (AP) — Police say a 75-year-old Australian woman missing for two months in southern India has been killed and three men are facing charges.","Djokovic holds off Murray for 23rd China Open win. BEIJING (AP) — Top-ranked Novak Djokovic reached his fifth China Open final and improved his spotless record at the tournament to 23-0 with a 6-3, 6-4 win over Andy Murray on Saturday.","Four EU states eye funds to ease Ukraine-Russia trade hit. Three other Central European states agreed on Tuesday to join a Polish initiative to tap into EU funds to help their companies cope with a loss of trade due to the tensions between neighbouring Ukraine and Russia. The Visegrad Four - Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary - are already losing trade with the region, putting their economic growth at risk. \"We will propose that not just Ukraine should receive sums from the localization fund of the EU but also companies of the V4 countries that have significant exposure to the region,\" Hungarian Economy Minister Mihaly Varga told a news conference. The European Glamorization Adjustment Fund provides support to people losing their jobs as a result of major structural changes in world trade patterns or an economic crisis.","Thai court drops murder charge against ex-PM Abhisit. A Thai court on Thursday dismissed charges of murder and abuse of power against former prime minister Abhisit Vejjajiva and his ex-deputy over a bloody crackdown on opposition protests in 2010. Scores of demonstrators died under Abhisit's establishment-backed government in 2010 in street clashes between mostly unarmed \"Red Shirt\" demonstrators and security forces firing live rounds in Bangkok. A criminal court in the capital ruled that it did not have jurisdiction to hear the case because Abhisit and his then-deputy Suthep Thaugsuban were holders of public office at the time and acting under an emergency decree.","AHL All-Stars beat Sweden's Farjestad BK 7-2. ST. JOHN'S, Newfoundland (AP) — Brandon Pirri scored twice and added set up another goal to lead the American Hockey League All-Stars to a 7-2 victory over Sweden's Farjestad BK on Wednesday night.","Australia to send 'non-threatening' force to MH17 site. Australia said Sunday \"a number\" of armed personnel will enter the MH17 crash site next week, but stressed they would be a \"non-threatening force\" not accompanied by military troops. Australia and the Netherlands have been readying their forces ahead of a possible deployment to rebel-held territory in eastern Ukraine to secure the MH17 crash site and recover victims' remains and aircraft wreckage. Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said some of the Australian team at the site would be armed to protect the crash investigators, but did not specify how many. \"All we want to do is secure the site so that we can inspect it thoroughly and bring back any remains.\" Her country's special envoy to eastern Ukraine, retired Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston, said Sunday Australian Defence Force (ADF) troops would not be part of the police-led team that searches the debris zone.","London shares end higher in choppy trade. London (AFP) - London shares ended slightly higher on Tuesday with International Airlines Group leading the pack.","Philippines asks neighbors to join case vs. China. MANILA, Philippines (AP) — The Philippines is calling on Malaysia, Vietnam and other neighbors to join its legal challenge to China's massive territorial claim in the South China Sea.","North Korea fires 10 short-range missiles: Yonhap. SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea fired 10 short-range missiles into the sea off the east of the Korean peninsula on Sunday, South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported, citing unidentified government officials in South Korea. Yonhap said the missiles flew for 70 km (45 miles) before splashing into the sea. North Korea is not banned from short-range missile launches under U.N. sanctions and frequently tests its arsenal. The North has toned down its bellicose rhetoric towards the South, although it has denounced joint U.S.-South Korean military exercises that are currently taking place. ...","Atletico signs goalkeeper Miguel Moya from Getafe. MADRID (AP) — Spanish champion Atletico Madrid says goalkeeper Miguel Moya has agreed to a transfer from crosstown club Getafe.","Gunfight kills 22 suspected gang members near Mexico City. By Lizbeth Diaz MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Twenty-two suspected gang members were killed southwest of Mexico City early on Monday and one soldier was wounded, the government said, in one of the bloodiest shootouts with security forces since President Enrique Pena Nieto took power. According to a Defense Ministry statement, the gunfight took place in Tlatlaya on the southern fringes of the State of Mexico, which borders Guerrero and Michoacan, states plagued by gang violence. A spokesman for federal prosecutors said all the dead - 21 men and one woman - were believed to be gang members. The shooting started after soldiers came under fire from the suspected gang members, resulting in a gunfight lasting several minutes, the government said.","Syria: Army ambushes al-Qaida-linked rebels. BEIRUT (AP) — Syrian state media say troops have killed scores of al-Qaida-affiliated rebels in an ambush near the capital, Damascus.","UniCredit bosses get no bonus for fourth year in a row. UniCredit , which reported record losses last year, will not pay bonuses to senior management for 2013, the fourth year in a row they will not receive one. Federico Ghizzoni, chief executive of Italy's largest bank by assets, received 2.3 million euros ($3.2 million) in total compensation in 2013, but no bonus, the bank said in its remuneration report on Friday. UniCredit said Ghizzoni earned a fixed salary of 1.47 million euros. UniCredit reported a 14 billion euro loss for 2013.","Eurozone figures expected to show rebound. FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — Official figures are expected to show that the recovery in Europe is gaining strength despite worries about low inflation.","Philippines Congress dismisses impeachment motions against Aquino. Lawmakers allied with Philippine President Benigno Aquino on Tuesday threw out three impeachment motions in the House of Representatives, the first political challenge to the popular leader in four years. The impeachment motions stemmed from Aquino's controversial economic stimulus fund, which the Supreme Court declared partly illegal in July, and a new military agreement with the United States. Voting 54-4, the justice panel in the lower house of Congress declared the complaints \"insufficient in substance\", dismissing the three motions only after two hearings. \"This is a terrible day for the Filipino people,\" said Neri Colmenares, a left-wing member of Congress.","QPR, Sunderland charged over player disorder. London (AFP) - Queens Park Rangers and Sunderland have been charged with failing to control their players during Premier League matches at the weekend, the Football Association announced on Thursday.","ECB's Coeure: rates to diverge from UK, U.S. for years. By James Regan and Yann Le Guernigou PARIS (Reuters) - Euro zone interest rates will diverge from those in the United States and Britain for a number of years, European Central Bank (ECB) Executive Board member Benoit Coeure told France Inter radio on Saturday. Speaking after the ECB this week cut rates to record lows, Coeure said they would remain around that level for a long time, whereas central banks in the United States and UK would at some point raise rates. \"Clearly what we wanted to indicate on Thursday is the fact that monetary conditions will diverge between the euro zone on one hand and the United States and the United Kingdom on the other for a long period, which will be several years,\" he said. \"We are going to keep rates close to zero for an extremely long period, whereas the United States and the United Kingdom will at some point return to a cycle of rate rises.\" Coeure said this should help to weaken the strong euro, which is threatening economic recovery and importing disinflation.","Liverpool wary of traps in Chelsea title clash. Liverpool will attempt to surmount the last major obstacle barring their path to a first league title since 1990 when they welcome third-place Chelsea to Anfield on Sunday. Victory for Brendan Rodgers's side would eliminate Chelsea from the title race and leave Liverpool needing just four points from their final two games against Crystal Palace and Newcastle United to claim the crown. Should Liverpool win and City lose their game at Palace later on Sunday, however, the Merseyside club could secure the Premier League trophy as early as next weekend. With Liverpool on a run of 11 straight wins and the title now in sight, these are heady days at Anfield, and Rodgers has dismissed fears that his players might suddenly succumb to the pressure of expectation.","Police official says temple stampede in central India kills 10 people. NEW DELHI (AP) — Police official says temple stampede in central India kills 10 people.","Asia stocks rise despite weak China manufacturing. SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Asian stock markets were higher Monday as investors focused on signs of strengthening overseas demand in an otherwise weak China manufacturing survey.","Chile summons ambassador over bombings controversy. SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) — Chile is ordering an ambassador to return home and explain recent comments blaming \"right-wing entrepreneurs\" for a string of bomb attacks.","Diana leaked royal directory to UK tabloid, court hears. London (United Kingdom) (AFP) - The late Princess Diana leaked a royal phone directory to the now defunct News of the World tabloid, its former royal editor told Britain's phone-hacking trial on Thursday. Clive Goodman said that Diana sent him the contacts book by post in 1992, the year she separated from her husband Prince Charles, the heir to the throne. Goodman is accused of two counts of conspiring to commit misconduct in a public office while working at Rupert Murdoch's News of the World tabloid, which he denies. The 56-year-old was previously jailed in 2007 for hacking into the phones of members of the royal household, along with private investigator Glenn Mulcaire.","Robson set for England debut against Sri Lanka. Australia-born Sam Robson was in line to make his England debut after the Middlesex opener was named Thursday in the squad to play Sri Lanka in next week's first Test at his Lord's 'home' ground. Robson was one of three uncapped players named by national selector James Whitaker in a 12-man group along with Barbados-born all-rounder Chris Jordan, who impressed during the recent 3-2 one-day series defeat by Sri Lanka, and Moeen Ali, who provides England with their lone spin option. Meanwhile Yorkshire seamer Liam Plunkett was recalled having last played Test cricket seven years ago.","Israel OK's gay Jews to immigrate with spouses. JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel says it will now allow Jews to immigrate to Israel with their non-Jewish same-sex spouses.","France and South Africa sign nuclear energy agreement. Paris (AFP) - Paris and Pretoria signed Tuesday an agreement which could open the way for French nuclear giant Areva to bid to build eight nuclear reactors in South Africa worth up to $50 billion (39.5 billion euros).","US first lady promotes freedom of speech in China. BEIJING (AP) — First lady Michelle Obama told students in China, which has some of the world's tightest restrictions on the Internet, that freedom of speech and unfettered access to information make countries stronger and should be universal rights.","Facebook first-quarter revenue grows 72 percent on rising mobile ads. By Alexei Oreskovic SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Facebook Inc's mobile advertising business continued to accelerate in the first three months of the year, helping the Internet social networking company top Wall Street's revenue target. Shares of Facebook were up nearly 3 percent at $63.05 in after-hours trading on Wednesday. Facebook said that mobile ads represented 59 percent of its ad revenue in the first quarter, up from 30 percent in the year-ago period. Facebook's overall revenue grew 72 percent year-on-year to $2.5 billion in the first quarter, above the $2.36 billion expected by analysts polled by Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. Facebook also announced that Finance Chief David Ebersman is resigning.","France's Le Pen attacks suspension of Russia warship delivery. Marine Le Pen, leader of France's National Front, attacked the French government's decision to suspend delivery of a first warship to Russia, saying on Thursday it had acted against the national interest and caved in to U.S. Le Pen, whose extreme-right party has been winning voters from mainstream political groups of both left and right, has been a fierce critic of the West's policy towards Russia in the Ukraine conflict, which she sees as overly hostile to Moscow. On the eve of a NATO summit, President Francois Hollande's office said on Wednesday France would hold off on delivery of a first helicopter carrier, slated for October. It accused Russia of actions in Ukraine which ran \"against the foundations of security in Europe.\" For months he had resisted pressure from Washington and other allies to make the move.","Pakistan tells two Indian journalists to leave within week. By Katharine Houreld ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Pakistan has told both Indian journalists stationed in Islamabad that they must leave within a week, the journalists told Reuters on Wednesday, saying they had been informed that their visas would not be renewed. The move came amid simmering tensions between Pakistan's powerful military and a civilian government that appears dovish towards archrival India, where Hindu nationalist opposition leader Narendra Modi appears set to win a general election. Late on Tuesday night, Snehesh Alex Philip of The Press Trust of India and Meena Menon of The Hindu received letters telling them that their visas would not be renewed. Both had been in Pakistan for less than a year.","Gotta Be You: Tomlinson takes over Doncaster. DONCASTER, England (AP) — Things are heading in a new direction for English third-division soccer team Doncaster.","Factbox: Crime and corruption among Israel's political elite. Former Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert was found guilty of corruption on Monday in a case revolving around a contested real estate deal during his time as Jerusalem mayor. Here is a look at some prominent Israeli politicians who were convicted of offences or forced to leave office because of indiscretions. * EHUD OLMERT: Olmert served as mayor of Jerusalem from 1993 to 2003 and became prime minister in 2006, but quit two years later when various allegations of corruption surfaced. He was largely acquitted in one major case in 2012, but any hopes he might have had of a political comeback have been killed off by Monday's bribery conviction tied to the construction of the Holyland apartment complex in Jerusalem.","Celtic earn play-off reprieve as Legia kicked out. Nyon (Switzerland) (AFP) - Celtic will take their place in Friday's Champions League play-off draw despite crashing out of the qualifying competition, after an unlikely reprieve by UEFA.","U.S.-led strikes have killed 910 people in Syria: monitor. BEIRUT (Reuters) - Air strikes by U.S.-led forces in Syria have killed 910 people, including 52 civilians, since the start of the campaign against Islamic State and other fighters two months ago, a group monitoring the conflict said on Saturday. The majority of the deaths, 785, were Islamic State fighters according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. Islamic State, a hard-line offshoot of al Qaeda, has seized land in Syria and neighboring Iraq, where it has also been targeted by U.S.-led strikes since July. ...","Algeria beat South Korea 4-2 to make African World Cup history. Algeria put themselves in pole position to reach the World Cup knock-out stages for the first time with a 4-2 win over South Korea in Porto Alegre on Sunday. First half goals from Islam Slimani, Rafik Halliche and Abdelmoume Djabou put Algeria in total control. Yacine Brahimi's second half strike, sandwiched by efforts from Son Heung-Min and Koo Ja-Cheol, ensured Algeria moved up to second in Group H behind Belgium.","Analysis: JPMorgan set to reap rewards of playing it safe on rates. In 2010, senior executives at JPMorgan Chase & Co came to realize that interest rates, already at zero for more than a year, ultimately had only way to go: up. Executives looked at the bank from top to bottom, and took steps ranging from adjusting its investment portfolio to finding ways to hang on to deposits when higher rates give customers an incentive to move money elsewhere. Then JPMorgan waited. \"It costs us a significant amount of current income to be positioned this way,\" JPMorgan Chief Executive Jamie Dimon wrote in a letter to shareholders in April.","Serbia experts use heavy machinery to move mammoth. KOSTOLAC, Serbia (AP) — Serbian archaeologists on Friday used heavy machinery to move a female mammoth skeleton — believed to be one million years old — from an open mine pit where it was unearthed nearly five years ago.","Rugby Union - New Zealander Whitelock joins Bayonne. - New Zealand utility back Adam Whitelock will switch to Top 14 side Bayonne from Canterbury Crusaders at the end of October, the French club announced on Tuesday.","British PM to speak in Israel parliament next week. British Prime Minister David Cameron will speak before Israel's parliament next week during a visit planned for last month but postponed due to floods in England, the parliament said. \"British Prime Minister David Cameron is scheduled to address the Knesset plenum next Wednesday, March 12,\" it said in a statement, without giving further details of the trip. Cameron had been scheduled to visit Israel and the Palestinian territories on February 18 and 19 but stayed at home to deal with the devastating floods.","White House calls Russia's ICBM test launch 'routine'. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House called Russia's test launch on Tuesday of an Intercontinental Ballistic Missile \"routine\" and said the United States was given advanced notification, as required under the New START treaty. \"This was a previously notified and routine test launch of an ICBM,\" National Security Council spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden said in a statement, adding that \"Russia and the United States routinely flight test their ICBMs and SLBMs (submarine-launched ballistic missiles).\" (Reporting by Phil Stewart; Editing by Peter Cooney)","Family of Texas man on flight comforted by faith. KELLER, Texas (AP) — The brother of a North Texas man who was aboard the Malaysia Airlines flight that went missing over the South China Sea said Sunday his family is leaning on their faith as they wait for news about the man they last saw about a week ago.","Salvador's top court orders massacre probe. SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador (AP) — El Salvador's Supreme Court has ruled that prosecutors must investigate the massacre of 45 farmers allegedly at the hands of the military during the country's civil war, heeding a decades-long claim by the victims' relatives.","LeBron still undecided about Rio Olympics. RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — The beaches and glamor of Rio de Janeiro haven't convinced LeBron James that he should come back in two years for a shot at a third Olympic gold medal.","Venus wins opener in Doha. DOHA, Qatar (AP) — Venus Williams eased past Croatian qualifier Petra Martic 6-2, 6-2 to line up a second-round match with former Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova in the Qatar Open on Monday.","Morgan Stanley first-quarter earnings up 49 percent. (Reuters) - Morgan Stanley reported a 49 percent rise in first-quarter earnings on Thursday, helped by higher income from wealth management and institutional securities. The sixth-largest U.S. bank by assets reported net income from continuing operations applicable to the company of $1.47 billion, or 72 cents per share, compared with $981 million, or 49 cents per share, in the same quarter a year earlier. (Reporting by Anil D'Silva in Bangalore; Editing by Robin Paxton)","Asia stocks bolstered by US earnings, home sales. SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Asian stock markets posted moderate gains Wednesday, bolstered by solid U.S. earnings and home sales. Indonesian stocks advanced after the official vote count showed Joko Widodo the clear winner of a bitterly contested presidential election.","Top Asian News at 6:00 p.m. GMT. WASHINGTON (AP) — A U.S. research institute says an upgrade of North Korea's main rocket launch pad could be complete by April meaning it would be ready for new launches. The U.S.-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies says new satellite imagery shows modifications underway at the west coast site of Sohae mean it could eventually accommodate rockets up to 50 meters long. The analysis was published Thursday on the institute's website, 38 North.","Tropical Storm Ana churns toward Hawaii, could become hurricane. (Reuters) - Tropical Storm Ana churned across the central Pacific and remained on track to hit Hawaii by Friday, forecasters said, in what could be the island's first hurricane in more than two decades. Ana was swirling about 340 miles (545 km) south-southeast of the Big Island late on Thursday local time, packing maximum sustained winds of 65 miles per hour (100 kph), according to the U.S. National Weather Service. Tropical storms get classified as hurricanes when maximum sustained winds reach 74 mph (119 kph). ...","Philippines unlikely to meet full-year growth goal. MANILA, Philippines (AP) — The Philippines is unlikely to meet its 2014 growth target after the economy's expansion slowed to 5.3 percent in the third quarter.","Players hope squash will get nod for Olympics. INCHEON, South Korea (AP) — Squash great Nicol David of Malaysia believes the sport's brilliant singles finals at the Asian Games will help its case for admission into the Olympics.","37 homes collapse, dozens injured in Japan quake. TOKYO (AP) — Helicopter surveys on Sunday showed more extensive damage than earlier thought from an overnight earthquake in the mountainous area of central Japan that hosted the 1998 Winter Olympics.","TS Fay to generate heavy rains across Bermuda. HAMILTON, Bermuda (AP) — Bermuda is bracing for heavy rains and winds as Tropical Storm Fay approaches the British island territory.","Duncan Campbell wins British art's Turner Prize. LONDON (AP) — Video artist Duncan Campbell has won Britain's prestigious Turner Prize with a work that includes a dance sequence inspired by Karl Marx.","China unveils fresh double-digit military spending boost. China on Wednesday extended its spending spree on the world's largest armed forces, unveiling a 12.2 percent increase in the defence budget for 2014 and provoking fresh concern in rival Japan. Beijing has for years been raising spending on the People's Liberation Army (PLA) in double-digit steps, reflecting its military ambitions as it asserts its new-found economic might and its claims in a series of territorial disputes with Tokyo and others. The spending has raised eyebrows in the region and Washington. \"We will resolutely safeguard China's sovereignty, security and development interests,\" Premier Li Keqiang said at the opening of the Communist Party-controlled National People's Congress (NPC).","Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan injured while shooting new film in Mumbai. NEW DELHI - Shah Rukh Khan's office says the Bollywood superstar has suffered a minor injury while shooting a new movie.","Islamic State influence spreads to African jihadists. Its main battlegrounds are far away and its true influence hard to judge, but the Islamic State's black banner is attracting the attention of jihadists in Africa, particularly in Nigeria. IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi's so-called caliphate is based in Syria and Iraq and draws most of its recruits from the Middle East, North Africa and Europe's immigrant communities. Outside observers see the Islamic State's influence, for example, in the tactics, rhetoric and even online media presence of the Boko Haram rebels of northeast Nigeria and neighboring border areas.","Gunman among two killed as Sydney cafe siege ends: Sky News. SYDNEY (Reuters) - The gunman who held an unknown number of hostages in a Sydney cafe was one of two people killed in the siege that ended when police stormed the building, Sky News reported on Tuesday. Heavily armed officers stormed the Lindt cafe in central Sydney in the early hours of Tuesday after a 16 hour stand-off, throwing flash grenades and firing heavily. New South Wales police declined to comment on the report. (Reporting by Lincoln Feast; Editing by Mike Collett-White)","Italy PM Renzi says will quit if Senate reform blocked. By James Mackenzie ROME (Reuters) - Italy's new prime minister threatened on Monday to resign if a plan to reduce the powers of the upper house of parliament, a central part of his ambitious constitutional reform agenda, is blocked. In the latest step of Matteo Renzi's reform drive, the cabinet is due to approve a draft bill on Monday to transform the Senate into a non-elected chamber stripped of the power to approve budgets or hold votes of no-confidence in a government. Renzi, who became Italy's third prime minister in a year in February, has said that without a change in the system, the country risks being stuck with a rotating series of short-lived governments incapable of passing meaningful economic reforms. Renzi, head of the center-left Democratic Party, made a similar threat to quit over Senate reform on March 12 while pushing through a package of tax cuts aimed at reviving Italy's sluggish economy, the third largest in the euro zone.","UK court says terror trial be partly secret. LONDON (AP) — Britain's appeals court has ruled that a criminal trial could be held largely in secret — a decision some say sets a dangerous precedent.","Algerian troops kill two Islamist militants: ministry. Algiers (AFP) - Algerian soldiers killed two armed Islamists on Saturday in the Jijel region east of the capital, the defence ministry website announced.","Russia calls Japan sanctions 'unfriendly', to harm ties. Russia called on Tuesday Japan's plans to impose sanctions on the assets of those it considered to be involved in instability in eastern Ukraine \"unfriendly\" and said they would harm relations between the two countries. \"The imposition by Tokyo of new sanctions on Russia ... inevitably threaten a whole range of bilateral relations, and set them back,\" the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.","Historic canonization of two popes brings joy and controversy. By Philip Pullella VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Two giants of Roman Catholicism in the 20th century will become saints on Sunday at an unprecedented twin canonization that has aroused both joy and controversy in the 1.2 billion member Church. Pope John XXIII, who reigned from 1958 to 1963 and called the modernizing Second Vatican Council, and Pope John Paul II, who reigned for nearly 27 years before his death in 2005 and whose trips around the world made him the most visible pope in history, will be declared saints by Pope Francis. ...","Australia plans to push retirement age to 70. The Australian government said Friday that it wants to lift the pension entitlement age to 70 -- the highest in the developed world -- by the year 2035 to help cope with an ageing population. Treasurer Joe Hockey said the previous Labor government planned to raise the age from 65 to 67 in 2023 and the new administration of conservative Prime Minister Tony Abbott wanted to take it further by 2035. \"Increasing the pension entitlement age to 70, we are intending for that to occur in 21 years' time,\" said Hockey, who is due to hand down his first national budget on May 13. Australia has no statutory retirement age but men have been entitled to the pension at age 65 and women at 60 since it was introduced in 1908.","Homicide declared in case of New York man choked by police. Medical examiners ruled that the case of a New York man wrestled to the ground and choked to death in a police arrest in July was a homicide. Eric Garner, 43, a black father of six, died on July 17 after being tackled by white officers for allegedly selling illegal cigarettes in the New York City borough of Staten Island. An autopsy revealed that Garner suffered \"compression of neck (choke hold), compression of chest and prone positioning during physical restraint by police,\" Julie Bolcer, spokeswoman for the New York Office of Chief Medical Examiner told local media. In a video captured by a local resident, Garner cried out repeatedly that he could not breathe as an officer gripped him in a choke hold.","'Magic mushroom' in Queen Elizabeth II's garden. LONDON (AP) — A mushroom with hallucinogenic properties has been found growing at Buckingham Palace but no one suspects Queen Elizabeth II of cultivating the magic mushroom.","Valeant may raise Allergan bid, says it won't walk away. (Reuters) - Valeant Pharmaceuticals Inc may raise its hostile takeover bid for Allergan Inc and will not walk away from its pursuit ahead of Allergan's Dec. 18 special shareholder meeting, Chief Executive Michael Pearson said on Monday. Pearson also said speculation that Valeant's relationship was strained with Pershing Square Capital Management, Allergan's biggest shareholder, is false. (Reporting by Rod Nickel in Winnipeg, Manitoba Editing by W Simon)","Brazilian club relegated after fans' racist taunts. SAO PAULO (AP) — A sports tribunal has stripped points from a Brazilian club because its fans racially abused a referee during a match, causing its relegation in a regional championship in southern Brazil.","China arrests US aid work in N Korean border town. BEIJING (AP) — The lawyer for a Korean-American aid worker working in a Chinese city near the North Korean border says his client has been arrested.","Ugandans charged with sneaking 'piglets into parliament'. Two Ugandan men who sneaked piglets into the east African nation's parliament to protest against corruption have been sent to prison awaiting trial, and the animals impounded as evidence, relatives said Friday. \"At the court the magistrate read to them three charges of criminal trespass, conspiracy to sneak piglets into parliament and a third charge of interrupting parliament work,\" Richard Sebuliba, a relative of one of the men, told AFP. Officials said the protestors had painted the piglets in the colours of the ruling party of President Yoweri Museveni, one of Africa's longest serving leaders, and had written slogans insulting MPs as corrupt on the animals. The pair, Robert Mayanja and Norman Tumuhimbise, are members of a protest movement calling themselves the \"jobless brotherhood group\".","Hollande to meet GE, Siemens-MHI heads on Alstom on Friday. PARIS (Reuters) - French President Francois Hollande will hold successive meetings on Friday afternoon with the heads of General Electric , and Siemens and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries about their rival tie-up proposals for Alstom , an official in Hollande's office said. The official was speaking after Hollande consulted with key ministers on the matter on Thursday. The official said Hollande would hold fresh meetings with his ministers early on Friday before the discussions with the company principles but did not make any comment on whether the government had formed a preference. ...","UN says Iraq humanitarian crisis at highest level. BAGHDAD (AP) — The United Nations has announced its highest level of emergency for the humanitarian crisis in Iraq in the wake of the onslaught by Islamic militants who have overrun much of the country's north and west and driven out hundreds of thousands from their homes.","Leading candidate withdraws from Israeli presidential race. Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, one of two leading candidates to succeed Shimon Peres as Israel's next head of state, withdrew from the race on Saturday, a day after police questioned him under caution over a loan he had received. The move appeared to smooth the path to the presidency of Reuven Rivlin, a former speaker of parliament with whom Likud Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has had a rocky relationship. Ben-Eliezer, a former general and defence minister and a veteran Labor lawmaker, denied any wrongdoing and said he had been \"deliberately targeted\", but declined to say who might have tried to sabotage his campaign. With a heavy heart, I have decided to withdraw from the race,\" Ben-Eliezer said in his statement.","Spanish, Catalan leaders stand ground in independence tussle. Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy and Catalan President Artur Mas failed to break the deadlock over Catalonia's independence drive on Wednesday, both standing firm on their positions when they met for the first time in a year. The meeting had been seen as an opportunity for the two leaders to work on a possible compromise over an independence referendum that the northern region wants to hold on Nov. 9 - two months after a similar vote in Scotland that is being closely watched in Catalonia.","Jamaica school serves as cradle for island's music. KINGSTON, Jamaica (AP) — Barefoot and dressed in donated clothes, 12-year-old Renaldo Brown methodically plays scales on a flute under the canopy of trees at a Jamaican vocational school renowned for nurturing many of this music-steeped island's top instrumentalists.","Kerry expects 'deep' engagement with Congress on Iran talks. BERLIN (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on a visit to Berlin on Wednesday that the Obama administration planned to fully consult Congress about ongoing negotiations with Iran over its nuclear program. \"I personally believe, as does the president, that Congress has an extremely important role to play in this and Congress will play a role in this,\" Kerry said in response to a question about whether U.S. lawmakers might be shut out of the decision-making process. ...","Nephew of Mexican drug lord acquitted. MEXICO CITY (AP) — A Mexican court has ordered the release of the nephew of deceased Sinaloa drug cartel leader Ignacio Coronel. Officials earlier portrayed him as Coronel's successor as boss.","France delays Sahel counter-insurgency plan after Mali violence. France has delayed plans to redeploy 3,000 soldiers to fight militants across West Africa, saying it first needs to help deal with a fresh outbreak of violence in northern Mali. Paris had hoped to move the troops from its former colony Mali and other bases to target Islamist groups operating between southern Libya, northern Chad and northern Niger. But it paused the plans after deadly clashes broke out between Mali government troops and Tuareg separatists in the north over the weekend, said officials. \"Given the events of the last 48 hours, the operation to transfer operation Serval (in Mali) to a Sahel-Sahara French force must be delayed for several weeks,\" a defense ministry source said.","Pakistan: Bomb kills police officer, 2 others. KARACHI, Pakistan (AP) — A Pakistani official says a bombing in the country's south targeted a police officer known for his anti-militant campaigns, killing him and his two friends.","Iran's FM discusses peace talks with Syria's Assad. DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — Syria's president and Iran's foreign minister on Wednesday discussed next week's United Nations conference that aims to resolve Syria's three-year conflict, calling on regional nations to \"fight terrorism.\"","Obama pledges help for drought-stricken California. By Steve Holland LOS BANOS, California (Reuters) - President Barack Obama toured parts of California's drought zone on Friday and pledged to speed help to the No. 1 farm state, but he said harsh weather in the United States will get worse until more steps are taken to address climate change. California is coming off its driest year on record and a recent winter storm did little to dull the impact of the drought in the state that produces half the country's fruits and vegetables. A recent drought monitor said 91.6 percent of the state is experiencing severe to exceptional drought. Obama walked past a below-normal canal in a dusty field that would otherwise be producing asparagus and organic melons.","Heavy snow kills 12 in Japan, disrupts power and flights. Heavy snow hit Tokyo and other parts of eastern Japan over the weekend, leaving 12 people dead, hundreds of thousands of households without electricity, and causing major disruptions to air and ground traffic. Tokyo saw as much as 27 cm (10.6 inches) of snow, on par with last weekend's snowstorms, which were the heaviest in 45 years. ANA Holdings, Japan's largest carrier, said 338 domestic flights and 12 international flights were canceled on Saturday due to the heavy snow. The heavy snow also caused wide-spread power outages.","Gazans rush to enjoy life after ruinous war. GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — After a ruinous war, Gaza is rushing back to a veneer of normalcy at astonishing speed. Street cafes and beaches are packed with people until late at night. Families crowd the few public parks. Wedding halls are booked solid.","Rugby union - Dusautoir to miss Top 14 kick-off with thigh injury. - Toulouse and France captain Thierry Dusautoir will miss the opening three games of the Top 14 with a thigh injury, according to club coach Guy Noves. There was further bad news for the four-time European champions with South African Schalk Ferreira ruled out for at least five months after rupturing a bicep tendon in Toulouse's friendly victory over Biarritz on Saturday. Ferreira's injury was the third of its kind to have hit Toulouse in recent months, Dusautoir and New Zealand playmaker Luke McAlister having been sidelined last season.","Actavis to buy Forest Labs in $25B deal. NEW YORK (AP) — Irish drugmaker Actavis PLC says it will acquire Forest Laboratories Inc. in a cash-and-stock deal worth about $25 billion.","Taliban bomber kills 13 near Pakistan army headquarters, day after militants killed 20 troops. ISLAMABAD - A Taliban suicide bomber blew himself near Pakistan's main military headquarters on Monday, killing 13 people just a day after the militants struck inside an army compound in the northwest of the country killing 20 troops, officials and militants said.","Macedonia opposition refuses seats in parliament. SKOPJE, Macedonia (AP) — Macedonia's center-left opposition says it will not take up the seats it has won in parliament after refusing to recognize the results of last weekend's general election.","NY jury acquits ex-hedge fund founder's brother. NEW YORK (AP) — The brother of an imprisoned ex-billionaire hedge fund founder was acquitted of conspiracy on Tuesday.","Study: Crime laundering billions on sports bets. PARIS (AP) — A new study of sports betting, corruption and match-fixing has estimated that organized crime launders $140 billion (100 billion euros) each year by laying bets on sporting events.","South Africa’s Test champions tag in danger. Centurion (South Africa) (AFP) - South Africa entered their Test series against Australia as undisputed world champions in the five-day form of the game. Irrespective of the result of the current three-Test series South Africa will remain on top of the International Cricket Council rankings – but they will need to raise their game in order to be regarded as champions in more than name only. Left-arm fast bowler Mitchell Johnson was the destroyer with match figures of 12 for 127. Johnson not only blasted through South Africa’s top order batting in both innings, he intimidated the hosts with fast, hostile short-pitched bowling.","Israel defence minister blasts Kerry security plan. Israel's defence minister accused US Secretary of State John Kerry of an \"incomprehensible obsession\" with the Middle East conflict, drawing a public rebuke from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday. Defence Minister Moshe Yaalon came in for a barrage of criticism after Israel's top-selling newspaper Yediot Aharonot quoted him as saying a security plan Kerry presented was \"not worth the paper it was written on\".","Senate panel advances tough sanctions on Russia. WASHINGTON (AP) — A Senate panel has advanced significant U.S. sanctions on Russia in a bid to pressure President Vladimir Putin to pull Russian troops out of Ukraine's Crimea peninsula.","Nadal out of 2 tournaments because of right wrist. Rafael Nadal is withdrawing from hard-court tournaments in Toronto and Cincinnati because of a right wrist injury, putting his status in doubt for a title defense at the U.S. Open.","Chile says Russia met with Latam embassies over food imports. By Anthony Esposito SANTIAGO (Reuters) - Russia's government met with various Latin American embassies on Wednesday to discuss the possibility of looking for more food providers, in the wake of its ban on many western products, the head of Chile's trade body said on Thursday. Russia has banned all imports of U.S. food products and certain goods from the European Union, Australia, Canada and Norway after President Vladimir Putin ordered retaliation for sanctions against Moscow over the Ukraine crisis. \"What we had was a meeting yesterday (Wednesday) between the Russian government and various Latin American embassies, where of course Chile was invited,\" Andres Rebolledo, the head of the Chilean government's Direcon trade body, said in an interview.","Kenya faces uphill battle to revamp police, stem insecurity. Their capital tarred with the nickname \"Nairobbery\" and under almost constant threat of attack by Islamist militants, Kenyans are losing patience with the ill-equipped and notoriously corrupt police force. A catalogue of security failures has exposed the inability of Nairobi's underpaid police to deal with the severe security problems, prompting President Uhuru Kenyatta to step in and promise a massive overhaul. \"The public in Kenya has never really trusted the police, hence the failure of such noble concepts as community policing,\" said Ken Ouko, a sociology professor at the University of Nairobi. There was particularly vehement ridicule in January when police downplayed an explosion at Nairobi airport, saying it was an exploding light bulb, only later to arrest four Somalis and charge them with a terrorist attack.","In Ukraine, nationalists gain influence - and scrutiny. (This March 7 story was corrected in paragraph three to make clear that Dmytro Yarosh was proposed as a Ukraine security council member, but not appointed.) By Sabina Zawadzki, Mark Hosenball and Stephen Grey KIEV/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - When protest leaders in Ukraine helped oust a president widely seen as corrupt, they became heroes of the barricades. Russia's president Vladimir Putin claims Ukraine has fallen into the hands of far-right fascist groups, and some Western experts have also raised concerns about the influence of extremists. Two of the groups under most scrutiny are Svoboda, whose members hold five senior roles in Ukraine's new government including the post of deputy prime minister, and Pravyi Sector (Right Sector), whose leader Dmytro Yarosh was acclaimed by protesters as a future member of the National Security and Defence Council but not subsequently appointed to the post. Right Sector activists wearing black ski masks, bullet-proof vests and military fatigues still hold several buildings close to Kiev's Independence Square.","Jungle ruins and sea life await in tiny Belize. SAN IGNACIO, Belize (AP) — The same turquoise waters that lure tourists to Caribbean destinations slosh around Belize's island chain. But tiny Belize has a major advantage in reeling in the holidaymakers — spectacular Maya ruins tucked away in lush jungle. The nation is home to more prehistoric buildings than modern-day ones, according to its Institute of Archaeology.","South Korea identity thefts forces ID overhaul. SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — After an avalanche of data breaches, South Korea's national identity card system has been raided so thoroughly by thieves that the government says it might have to issue new ID numbers to every citizen over 17 at a possible cost of billions of dollars.","England lose in netball and hockey semis. England were dealt a double blow in team events at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow on Saturday with defeats in the semi-finals of the women's netball and the men's hockey. The defending champion Silver Fearns will play either top-ranked Australia or Jamaica in Sunday's final. Australia comfortably saw off England 4-1 in the hockey semis and will face either India or New Zealand for their fifth consecutive Commonwealth Games gold. A total of 33 golds were up for grabs on a busy Saturday schedule with notably Usain Bolt and Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce headlining two Jamaican quartets bidding for victories in the men's and women's 4x100m relays at Hampden Park.","National Museum of American History Collects History Related to Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender History. WASHINGTON, Aug. 19, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- As part of its mission to document the full breadth of the American experience, the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History will add a significant number of objects and archival materials related to LGBT history, including Renee Richard's tennis racquet, the original transgender pride flag, materials from the NBC television series Will & Grace and the diplomatic passports of former U.S. Ambassador to New Zealand and Samoa David Huebner and his spouse, Duane McWaine, and will acknowledge several other recent donations.","Passenger train derails in India; at least 10 dead. NEW DELHI (AP) — A passenger train derailed in western India on Sunday, killing at least 10 people and injuring 57 others.","Biden sees 'less than even' chance of nuclear deal with Iran. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Vice President Joe Biden said on Saturday there was a \"less than even shot\" of a nuclear deal with Iran but that it was still worth pursuing. Biden, speaking at a forum on the Middle East at the Brookings Institution think tank, rejected calls for more sanctions against Tehran over its nuclear program because \"this is not the time to risk a breakdown when we still have a chance for a breakthrough.\" Biden said the sanctions imposed by the United States and allies were working by slowing Iran's economy, as well as its nuclear program. ...","BoE's Carney to return to UK early for Scotland vote. Bank of England Governor Mark Carney will leave a meeting of Group of 20 finance ministers and central bank governors early next week in order to be back in Britain in time for the result of Scotland's Sept. 18 independence vote. A BoE spokesman said Carney would chair a meeting of the Financial Stability Board of bank regulators in Cairns, Australia, on Sept. 17, then fly back to London to be present on the evening of Sept. 18. Carney has said the BoE has contingency plans in place should Scots vote to end their 300-year union with the rest of the United Kingdom. BoE Deputy Governor Jon Cunliffe will represent Britain for the remainder of the meeting, which continues until the weekend.","Eurozone economy picking up steam despite France. LONDON (AP) — A closely watched survey suggests economic growth in the 18-country eurozone picked up during July despite ongoing concerns over France, the currency bloc's second-largest economy.","France investigates mystery drone activity over nuclear plants. PARIS (Reuters) - France has launched an investigation into unidentified drones that have been spotted over nuclear plants operated by state-owned utility EDF , its interior minister said on Thursday. Seven nuclear plants across the country were flown over by drones between Oct. 5 and Oct. 20, an EDF spokeswoman said, without any impact on the plants' safety or functioning. ...","Rocket hits Ashdod in first strike on city since 'truce'. A Gaza rocket struck the southern port city of Ashdod on Tuesday, police said, just hours after Israel agreed to abide by an Egyptian truce that was rejected by Hamas. \"The rocket struck a yard outside a house in Ashdod, several people have been treated for shock,\" police spokeswoman Luba Samri said in a statement. The attack was claimed by the armed wing of Hamas, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, which said it had fired \"eight Grad rockets\" at Ashdod, which is home to some 212,000 people.","Hamas leader says latest conflict with Israel not the last. Hamas's overall leader Khaled Meshaal said on Thursday the latest war between Israel and Hamas would not be the last round of conflict between the two, but a \"milestone to reaching our objective\". This is just a milestone to reaching our objective, we know that Israel is strong and is aided by the international community.","What to serve a guest who's fasting? Hospitality. WASHINGTON (AP) — What do you serve a man who isn't eating?","Solomons town first in Pacific to relocate due to climate change. Under threat from rising sea levels and tsunamis, the authorities of a provincial capital in the Solomon Islands have decided to relocate from a small island in the first such case in the Pacific islands. Choiseul, a township of around 1,000 people on Taro Island, a coral atoll in Choiseul Bay, is less than two meters (6.6 feet) above sea level. Aware of these risks, communities in Choiseul Bay consulted a team of engineers, scientists and planners, funded by the Australian government, on how best to adapt to the impact of climate change. Philip Haines, project manager for BMT WBM, an international consultancy that worked on the strategy, said relocation was the only option that would keep the community safe but it would take \"many decades\" to complete.","Hamas leader's daughter received medical treatment in Israel: sources. JERUSALEM (Reuters) - A daughter of the leader of Hamas in Gaza was admitted to an Israeli hospital for emergency medical treatment this month after she suffered complications from a routine procedure, two sources familiar with the case said. Ismail Haniyeh's daughter's week-long admission to a hospital in Tel Aviv - which Israeli and Palestinian officials declined to confirm or deny - shows humanitarian coordination between the sides continues just weeks after the Gaza war ended. ...","Doubt raised over whether 'pings' came from missing Malaysia jet. The U.S. Navy described as \"speculative and premature\" a media report on Thursday that said four acoustic pings at the centre of the search for a missing Malaysia Airlines jetliner are no longer believed to be from the aircraft's black boxes. The report on CNN quoted Michael Dean, the U.S. Navy's deputy director of ocean engineering, and said authorities now almost universally believe the pings did not come from the onboard data or cockpit voice recorders of Flight MH370. Australian search authorities narrowed the search for the missing jet last month after picking up a series of pings near where analysis of satellite data put the last location of the plane some 1,600 km (1,000 miles) off Australia's northwest. \"Our best theory at this point is that (the pings were) likely some sound produced by the ship ... or within the electronics of the Towed Pinger Locator,\" Dean told CNN.","Monte Paschi board says CEO to stay on. The board of Monte dei Paschi di Siena has unanimously confirmed its faith in CEO Fabrizio Viola despite him being forced to delay a crucial capital increase, the bank said on Tuesday. Viola had threatened to resign last month after a shareholder meeting voted down his proposal to launch the 3-billion euro share issue this month.","Senate Committee says Benghazi Attacks Preventable. WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate Intelligence Committee released a report on the deadly assault on the diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya, Wednesday, laying blame on the State Department, the intelligence community — even the late Ambassador Chris Stevens — for failing to communicate and heed warnings of terrorist activity in the area.","Japan says economy contracted 7.1 percent in 2Q. TOKYO (AP) — Japan says revised data show its economy contracted at an annual rate of 7.1 percent in April-June.","Kerry to promote peace, sanctions in South Sudan. WASHINGTON (AP) — Secretary of State John Kerry is bringing his two main tools of diplomacy — peace talks and threatened sanctions — to Africa this week to help find a way to end months of killing that is threatening to rip apart the world's newest nation, South Sudan.","Djokovic, Federer finish off IPTL's India leg. NEW DELHI (AP) — Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer finished off the India leg of the International Premier Tennis League with a highly-anticipated meeting between the two stars in front of a frenzied New Delhi crowd on Monday.","China says nets 180 graft suspects in overseas manhunt. BEIJING (Reuters) - China says it has captured 180 people suspected of committing economic crimes as part of an aggressive anti-corruption campaign targeting suspects who have fled abroad, state news agency Xinhua reported. The campaign, dubbed Operation Fox Hunt, included the arrests of 104 suspects, Xinhua said late on Thursday, citing China's Ministry of Public Security. Seventy-six people returned to China to give themselves up, according to Xinhua. ...","Mozambique ceasefire a beginning, not the end, say analysts. Mozambique rebel movement Renamo's agreement to a ceasefire is seen as aimed at keeping its political aspirations alive ahead of national and presidential elections on October 15. Renamo became the main opposition in the country’s parliament, but support for its leader, Afonso Dhlakama, waned in presidential elections from a peak of 48 percent in 1999 to 17 percent in 2009.","Peru postpones coca crop destruction. LIMA, Peru (AP) — Peru's president says he is indefinitely postponing plans to forcibly eradicate coca fields in the world's top cocaine-producing valley.","FIFA orders officials to return expensive watches. ZURICH (AP) — FIFA's ethics investigator has ordered football officials to return luxury watches worth more than $25,000 over the coming weeks.","Vatican denies pope is open to recognition of gay civil unions. By Philip Pullella VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - The Vatican on Sunday denied Italian media reports that recent comments by Pope Francis signaled his openness to the legal recognition of same-sex unions in Italy. Francis, in a conversation with leaders of religious orders published by a Jesuit journal on Friday, said the Catholic Church had to try not to scare away children who live in complex family situations, such as those whose parents were separated and those living with gay couples. The pope told the leaders of religious orders that a great challenge for the Church would be to reach out to children living in difficult or unorthodox domestic situations. \"The situation in which we live now provides us with new challenges which sometimes are difficult for us to understand,\" the pope said, according to the transcript of the conversation.","Pakistan police: Karachi airport attack killed 18. KARACHI, Pakistan (AP) — Pakistani officials say a brazen five-hour attack by militants on the international airport in Karachi left 18 people dead but police managed to regain control of the terminal.","Washington undecided on U.N. resolution for Israel-Palestine. By Jeffrey Heller and Lesley Wroughton JERUSALEM/ROME (Reuters) - Israel said it hoped the United States would veto any moves at the United Nations to set a time frame for its withdrawal from territory Palestinians seek for state, but a senior U.S. official said it was too early to say. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry will meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Rome on Monday to discuss various proposals for a Palestinian state that are circulating at the United Nations. ...","Investor group offers to buy Mt. Gox for one bitcoin: WSJ. (Reuters) - A group of investors is seeking to buy bankrupt bitcoin exchange Mt. Gox for a token payment of one bitcoin, or about $400, the Wall Street Journal reported citing sources. The group justified the near-zero price citing an \"information vacuum\" over Mt. Gox's missing bitcoins that made it hard to place a value on the lost digital currency, the paper said. The investor group includes Brock Pierce, a former child actor-turned entrepreneur, and venture capitalists William Quigley and Matthew Roszak. Mt. Gox said in March it \"found\" 200,000 bitcoins in an old-format online wallet which it had thought was empty, raising creditors' hopes of recovering some of their lost digital wealth.","Desperate Rohingya kids flee alone by boat. SITTWE, Myanmar (AP) — The two children stood on the beach, at the end of the only world they knew, torn between land and sea.","Pop star Tulisa guilty of assaulting celebrity blogger. Singer Tulisa Contostavlos has been found guilty of assaulting a celebrity blogger at a music festival. The former X-Factor judge, 26, was convicted on Friday of hitting Savvas Morgan during a dispute at the V Festival in Chelmsford, Essex. Contostavlos was ordered to pay a £200 fine and £100 compensation to Mr Morgan, as well as £2,700 in prosecution costs. Earlier this week, a separate trial involving Contostavlos collapsed when the judge said there were \"strong grounds\" to believe that undercover reporter Mazher Mahmood, known as the \"Fake Sheikh\", had lied during a pre-trial hearing.","Turkey's Erdogan: Muslims discovered Americas. ISTANBUL (AP) — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is claiming that Muslim sailors reached the Americas more than 300 years before explorer Christopher Columbus.","Jewish pilgrimage in Tunisia grows despite debate. TUNIS, Tunisia (AP) — Despite years of security concerns and a harsh debate over Israeli passports, officials say the number of Jewish pilgrims taking part in an annual rite in Tunisia is up dramatically for the first time in years.","Putin tells U.N. chief that Crimean vote entirely legal. President Vladimir Putin on Friday rejected Western accusations that a referendum on whether Ukraine's Crimea region should join Russia would be illegal, making clear the vote would go ahead as planned on Sunday. In a telephone conversation with U.N. Secretary Ban Ki-moon, Putin \"underscored that the decision to conduct (the referendum) fully corresponds to the norms of international law and the U.N. Charter\", the Kremlin said. The pro-Russian politicians who took control of Crimea after the ouster of Ukraine's president late last month have expressed confidence that a large majority of people in the region would vote to secede from Ukraine and join Russia. Ban told reporters at the United Nations that he and Putin had \"discussed the need to work towards a durable and fair political solution\" in Ukraine, and that they had agreed to stay in touch.","Thousands line up to vote in Indian Kashmir. SRINAGAR, India (AP) — Thousands of voters have lined up to cast their votes in state elections in Indian Kashmir amid a boycott call by Muslim separatist groups who reject India's sovereignty over the disputed Himalayan region.","West Ham beats Burnley 3-1 to move 4th. BURNLEY, England (AP) — West Ham provisionally moved fourth in the Premier League on Saturday after Sam Allardyce's team beat Burnley 3-1 Saturday at Turf Moor.","British business lobby attacks Scottish independence. Scotland's continued economic success is best achieved as part of the United Kingdom, Britain's biggest employers' organisation said on Wednesday, six months before an independence referendum. The Confederation of British Industry (CBI) said it had reached the conclusion after analysing the Scottish government's legal argument for ending the more than 300-year-old union with England. \"The Scottish governmentâ s economic plan for independence does not add up, even taking into account oil and gas revenues,\" the CBI said in a statement. The CBI concluded that Edinburgh's plan \"fails to provide a coherent vision for how an independent Scotland would be better off economically from putting up barriers with its biggest export market -- the UK\".","Tank to float Concordia shifts. MILAN (AP) — One of the tanks fastened to the shipwrecked Costa Concordia cruise liner to help prepare it for removal to land has shifted due to a tangled chain.","Rights group decries judges' sacking in Maldives. COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — An international rights group on Thursday criticized the dismissal of two top judges in the Maldives, including the chief justice, calling it an assault on judicial independence.","1st test: Bangladesh beats Zimbabwe by 3 wickets. DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) — Scores Monday after Bangladesh's three-wicket win over Zimbabwe in the first cricket test at Mirpur's Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium:","Netanyahu warns world on Holocaust memorial day. JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu opened the country's annual memorial day for the 6 million Jews killed in the Holocaust by issuing a stern warning Sunday to the world to learn the lessons of the past and prevent another Holocaust.","Federer advances to 4th round at French Open. PARIS (AP) — Roger Federer needed four sets to make it through to the fourth round of the French Open on Friday, beating Dmitry Tursunov 7-5, 6-7 (7), 6-2, 6-4.","Kerry meets family of American held by NKorea. WASHINGTON (AP) — Secretary of State John Kerry has met with relatives of an American held by North Korea and is calling for him to be pardoned.","Canada to remove foreign investment limit on Nordion. The Canadian government will remove the 25 percent foreign investment cap on medical isotope provider Nordion Inc in cases that are deemed to be of net benefit to Canada, under legislation introduced on Friday. Currently, non-residents may not acquire more than 25 percent of Nordion's voting shares. \"The removal of the foreign ownership restrictions will allow Nordion to access more investment capital, enabling it to better grow and create jobs, but is conditional on approval of a transaction under the Investment Canada Act.\" A spokeswoman for Nordion could not be immediately reached. Nordion shares were down slightly in Toronto and New York in late Friday trading.","Seven arrests in Greece over baby trafficking. Police in central Greece on Saturday said they had arrested seven people including five Bulgarians for attempted baby trafficking. \"A police operation prevented the illegal adoption of a ten-day-old baby for the sum of 5,000 euros ($6,800),\" police in the central city of Larissa said in a statement. The authorities said a 62-year-old Greek had attempted to arrange an illegal adoption with the aid of a lawyer in the central city of Volos. A pregnant woman was found in neighbouring Bulgaria and persuaded to give birth in a Volos hospital on January 5, the police said.","Israel escalates aerial offensive on Gaza. JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel dramatically escalated its aerial assault in Gaza, now in its 3rd day, hitting hundreds of Hamas targets as its missile defense system once again intercepted rockets.","U.S. won't recognize Crimea annexation: security official. The United States will not recognize the annexation of Crimea by Russia if residents of the region vote to leave Ukraine in a referendum next week, U.S. national security official Tony Blinken said on Sunday. Crimean officials have called a March 16 vote to confirm that the region, which has an ethnic Russian majority, is a part of Russia in the wake of the ouster of Ukraine's Moscow-allied president last month. Blinken, U.S. President Barack Obama's deputy national security adviser, said on CNN's \"State of the Union\" program that Russia would come under increased international pressure as a result of the referendum in Crimea.","Ruble firms as government steps up verbal support. MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia's ruble strengthened on Friday after Finance Minister Anton Siluanov confirmed his ministry had sold foreign currency and on expectations that exporters will step up dollar sales.","BOJ's Iwata upbeat on economy, unfazed by post-tax hike slump. By Leika Kihara KANAZAWA Japan (Reuters) - Bank of Japan Deputy Governor Kikuo Iwata on Wednesday reiterated policymakers' conviction that the economy can recover from a deep slump, saying that households and companies will boost spending as the pain from an April sales tax hike eases. Iwata acknowledged that weak exports and the rising burden on households from the tax hike were among risks to the outlook, but said a pick-up in global demand and wages will keep the world's third-largest economy on track for a moderate recovery. Japan's economy shrank an annualized 7.1 percent in April-June from the previous quarter, the biggest contraction since the global financial crisis in 2009, due to the hit from the sales tax hike in April.","Cameroon closes all borders with Nigeria over Ebola outbreak. Yaoundé (AFP) - Cameroon has closed all its land, sea and air borders with Nigeria in a move to help prevent the spread of the Ebola virus, the government spokesman told AFP Monday. \"All borders (land, sea and air) between Cameroon and Nigeria are closed. Our thinking is that it is better to act preventively rather than have to heal\" later those who may fall ill, said Issa Tchiroma Bakary, who is Cameroon's communications minister.","Russia's Gazprom says Ukraine did not pay for gas on time. Russian natural gas producer Gazprom said on Tuesday Ukraine had failed to pay for its March gas supplies on time but did not say whether the company would take any action against Kiev. \"They haven't paid for March,\" a spokesman said, confirming that Ukraine's total debt of $2.2 billion had not been reduced by the deadline of midnight on Monday. Gazprom has often in the past not taken any action when Kiev failed to pay its bills on time. But it cut off gas supplies to Ukraine during price disputes in the winters of 2008/2009 and 2005/2006, disrupting supplies of Russian gas to Europe that are carried via Ukraine.","FDIC sues 16 banks for rigging Libor. NEW YORK (Reuters) - The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation sued 16 of the world's largest banks on Friday, accusing them of collusively suppressing interest rates. The lawsuit, filed in the federal district court in New York, was the latest to accuse financial institutions of conspiring to manipulate Libor, or the London Interbank Offered Rate. The FDIC said the defendants' conduct caused substantial losses to 38 banks that the U.S. regulator had taken into receivership since 2008, including Washington Mutual Bank and IndyMac Bank. ...","US stocks finish mostly higher after a weak start. For much of Wednesday, the U.S. stock market appeared to be headed for its third decline in three days.","Iran says it has copied US drone. Iran said on Sunday it has succeeded in copying a US drone it captured in December 2011, with state television broadcasting images apparently showing the replicated aircraft. \\\\\"Our engineers succeeded in breaking the drone's secrets and copying them. The broadcast showed supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's visit to an exhibition organised by the powerful Revolutionary Guards air wing about Iran's military advances, particularly regarding ballistic missiles and drones. \\\\\"This drone is very important for reconnaissance missions,\\\\\" Khamenei said, standing in front of the Iranian copy of the American unmanned aircraft.","U.S. beefs up Mediterranean crisis force with warship, Marines. A U.S. warship carrying about 1,000 Marines has moved into the Mediterranean Sea to augment the American crisis response force already deployed in the region, a military official said on Tuesday. The amphibious assault ship USS Bataan, which carries a Marine Expeditionary Unit of about a thousand troops, had been participating in the Jordanian-led multinational military exercise Eager Lion before heading into the Mediterranean, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. The Bataan will increase the U.S. crisis response force already in the region. Earlier this month, U.S. officials said about 250 Marines plus several tilt-rotor Osprey aircraft, normally based in Spain, were at Naval Air Station Sigonella in Sicily in case they were needed to evacuate Americans from the U.S. Embassy in Tripoli during unrest there.","Young Algerians say Bouteflika win dashes hopes for change. A day after Algeria's ailing President Abdelaziz Bouteflika won a fourth term, many young people in the oil-rich nation wonder if the next generation will ever have a chance to rule. Results announced on Friday by Interior Minister Tayeb Belaiz showed that Bouteflika, 77, won 81.53 percent of the votes in an election marred by low turnout and opposition claims of fraud. \"Bouteflika is obsessed by the desire to rule. Bouteflika's campaign manager Abdelmalek Sellal told AFP before the vote that the president was determined to see young people play a more efficient role in the nation's affairs.","Barclays and Morrisons help lift London shares. Lender Barclays' new restructuring strategy -- including the loss of 19,000 jobs -- helped lift London shares on Thursday, as well bargain-hunters snapping up struggling grocer Wm Morrison. Barclays led the day's risers, up 7.95 percent at 262.65 pence after announcing plans to shrink its investment bank unit as part of plans to overhaul the struggling lender. Wm Morrison finished 4.14 percent higher at 198.7 pence, reversing losses earlier in the session after the supermarket chain announced falling sales. \\\\\"The reaction of our customers to the 1,200 'I'm Cheaper' price cuts we announced last week has been very positive ... We are confident that these meaningful and permanent reductions in our prices will enable our clear points of difference to resonate strongly with consumers,\\\\\" said Chief Executive Dalton Philips.","Putin oversees Russian nuclear forces exercise. MOSCOW (AP) — President Vladimir Putin has overseen a military exercise involving Russia's nuclear forces amid escalating tensions over Ukraine.","Mexico nabs Knights Templar leader. Mexican troops on Monday seized a high-ranking leader of the Knights Templar drug cartel, blamed for much of the crime in troubled Michoacan state, prosecutors said. Dionicio Loya Plancarte, alias \"El Tío\" (\"Uncle\"), was arrested in Morelia, a prosecutors' office official told AFP. Federal forces have moved into Michoacan, in western Mexico, in recent weeks to disarm vigilantes and flush out the Knights Templar gang, which controls large areas of the state. Poverty-stricken Michoacan has become the most pressing security issue facing Mexico's President Enrique Pena Nieto.","Climate change likely to make Everest even riskier. NEW DELHI (AP) — Climbing to the roof of the world is becoming less predictable and possibly more dangerous, scientists say, as climate change brings warmer temperatures that may eat through the ice and snow on Mount Everest.","France, Poland seek quick, targeted EU sanctions on Ukraine. France and Poland called on the European Union to impose targeted sanctions on those responsible for the deadly violence in Ukraine as early as Thursday. \"The president condemned the unacceptable police violence and called for its immediate end,\" French President Francois Hollande's office said in a statement after 25 people were killed on Tuesday. \"He agreed with (Poland's Prime Minister) Tusk on the need for quick and targeted sanctions against those responsible for these acts.\" Hollande called on the EU to make preparations so that sanctions could be imposed at a meeting of foreign ministers set for Thursday.","Palestinians kill four in Jerusalem synagogue attack. By Maayan Lubell JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Two Palestinians armed with a meat cleaver and a gun killed four people in a Jerusalem synagogue on Tuesday before being shot dead by police, the deadliest such incident in six years in the holy city amid a surge in religious conflict. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pledged to respond with a \"heavy hand\", and again accused Western-backed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas of inciting violence in Jerusalem. ...","US allies condemn torture; praise report on CIA. ISTANBUL (AP) — Turkey's foreign minister says this week's report on the CIA's harsh treatment of terrorist suspects reveals \"unacceptable torture and treatment.\"","Kosovo imams arrested in push to stop fighters going to Syria, Iraq. By Fatos Bytyci PRISTINA (Reuters) - At least nine imams were among 15 people arrested in Kosovo on Wednesday in the second major operation in weeks to try to stem the flow of young ethnic Albanians joining Islamist fighters in Iraq and Syria. A police source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Reuters the 15 faced charges including \"terrorism, threatening the constitutional order, incitement and religious hate speech\". In the last such operation on Aug. 11, 40 people were arrested on suspicion of fighting in Iraq and Syria or recruiting insurgents. ...","8 dead in northern Mexico plane crash. MEXICO CITY (AP) — A private plane has crashed in a northern Mexico city, killing all eight people on board.","Uber to use regular taxi drivers in Germany. FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Online transportation company Uber said on Monday it would offer services using regular, licensed taxi drivers in Germany, where taxi associations have been trying to stop it operating. Uber said it would start its UberTaxi service -- which uses regular taxi drivers to pick up rides in their down time -- in Berlin and Hamburg before rolling it out in other cities. ...","Tyco selling South Korean security arm for $1.93B. NEW YORK (AP) — Fire protection and security company Tyco is selling its South Korean security business to asset manager The Carlyle Group for about $1.93 billion.","USAID tamped down internal criticism: report. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Auditors and employees at the U.S. Agency for International Development say critical assessments of the agency's work in Egypt were removed from a report before it was released by the agency's inspector general, the Washington Post reported on Thursday. The 21-page report was trimmed to nine pages and among the details cut was the payment of $4.6 million in what was described as bail money to the Egyptian government in 2012 to free 16 American non-government workers who had been arrested, the newspaper said. ...","Top Asian News at 2:30 p.m. GMT. BANGKOK (AP) — Thailand's government announced Tuesday it will go ahead with an election this weekend despite an opposition boycott, months of street protests and the likelihood of more violence in the country's political crisis. The government made the announcement after a meeting between Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra and the Election Commission, which had sought a delay in the polls.","US lawmakers boost funding for Israel's Iron Dome. With US ally Israel facing a barrage of rocket attacks from Gaza, a Senate panel on Tuesday approved a 50 percent funding boost for the Jewish State's Iron Dome anti-missile system. The measure, if it becomes law, would provide $621.6 million for Israeli missile defense programs for the 2015 fiscal year starting in October, including $351 million for the short-range Iron Dome system that has been put to the test over the past eight days amid a raging conflict between Israel and Hamas. Congress appropriated $235 million to Iron Dome last year. The White House had requested about $176 million for the system for 2015, but lawmakers doubled the amount.","C. African Republic dad gives all to save family. BANGUI, Central African Republic (AP) — Who could bear to break the news to Yaman Ahmat?","Petkovic wins Tournament of Champions final. SOFIA, Bulgaria (AP) — Fourth-seeded Andrea Petkovic of Germany rallied to defeat third-seeded Flavia Pennetta 1-6, 6-4, 6-3 Sunday in the final of the season-ending Tournament of Champions, clinching her third WTA title of the year.","U.S. lawmakers threaten renewed push for Iran sanctions. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Two senators who wrote a tough sanctions bill against Iran said on Wednesday they would work with other members of Congress to push for action against Tehran if a potential deal does not dismantle Iran's nuclear program. New Jersey Democrat Robert Menendez, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and Illinois Republican Mark Kirk said a \"good deal\" would require strict limits on nuclear-related research, development and procurement and a robust inspection regime for decades in Iran. ...","Smartphone suit against Google plays into rivals' hands. By Dan Levine SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - A U.S. consumer lawsuit accusing Google of monopolizing prime real estate on Android smartphones will help mobile rivals like Microsoft make their antitrust case with European regulators should damaging secrets emerge in court. The suit, filed in California federal court in May by two smartphone consumers, said Google requires handset manufacturers such as Samsung Electronics Co Ltd to restrict competing apps like Microsoft's Bing search on Android phones, partly by making Google's own apps the default. Google argued last week the proposed class action should be dismissed because consumers still are free to use the other apps. If a judge lets the lawsuit proceed, plaintiffs' attorneys would be allowed to delve into internal Google emails and contracts with smartphone companies, and could interview Google executives under oath, said Steve Berman, who represents the consumers.","U.N. committee spotlights 'highly intrusive' digital spying. By Michelle Nichols UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - A United Nations General Assembly committee on Tuesday expressed concern at digital spying and said unlawful or arbitrary mass surveillance, interception and collection of online data are \"highly intrusive acts\" that violate the right to privacy. But a reference to metadata surveillance as an intrusive act was removed from the resolution, which was adopted by consensus, to appease the United States, Britain, Australia, Canada and New Zealand, known as the Five Eyes surveillance alliance, diplomats said. ...","Thai junta gives ex-PM green light to go abroad. BANGKOK (AP) — Thailand's military government has given permission for former premier Yingluck Shinawatra to travel overseas for the first time since they overthrew her government.","McIlroy surprised by reaction to comments on Tiger. ATLANTA (AP) — Rory McIlroy is perplexed that his remarks on Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson not being eligible for the Tour Championship caused so many headlines.","Doumbia double gives CSKA 2-1 win at Man City. MANCHESTER, England (AP) — Two goals from Seydou Doumbia either side of a Yaya Toure free kick gave CSKA Moscow a 2-1 victory over nine-man Manchester City in Group E in the Champions League on Wednesday.","Thai protesters target revenue offices, PM awaits graft ruling. By Amy Sawitta Lefevre and Apornrath Phoonphongphiphat BANGKOK (Reuters) - Protesters in Thailand trying to paralyze ministries to force the government to resign said they would target revenue offices on Thursday, but their numbers appeared to be dwindling and ministers say the movement could be running out of steam. A state anti-corruption panel is due to give a ruling on Thursday on irregularities in a rice-buying scheme, that the government introduced to support farmers, that could give ammunition to opponents of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra. ...","Mexico: River spill to keep 88 schools closed. MEXICO CITY (AP) — Eighty-eight schools in a northern Mexico state will not open Monday along with the rest of the country because of the danger of water contaminated by the spill of 10 million gallons (40,000 cubic meters) of acids from a copper mine into two rivers this month.","Demonstrators ask Brazil to grant Snowden asylum. BRASILIA, Brazil (AP) — Activists have given Brazil's Foreign Ministry a petition signed by 1.1 million people demanding that the South American nation grant asylum to National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden.","Don't forget Mali's refugees, aid groups urge. Mali's conflict and the ensuing flood of refugees must not be forgotten amid the multiplication of global crises, the UN's refugee agency and the World Food Programme insisted Tuesday. A 2012 coup in Mali toppled what had been heralded as one of west Africa's most stable democracies, and precipitated a crisis in which Al-Qaeda-linked groups seized control of the country's north, enforcing a brutal form of Islamic law until a French-led military intervention forced them out. \"We are urgently calling on donors to help us continue to feed and provide shelter to these refugees, in addition to allowing their children to keep going to school in our camps and providing them with access to basic health services,\" explained UNHCR regional coordinator for the Mali crisis Valentin Tapsoba. However, without regular assistance, malnutrition can quickly wreak havoc on these extremely vulnerable families and can seriously compromise a child's physical and mental development,\" said Denise Brown, WFP Regional Director for West Africa.","Spain no country for judges, says graft case magistrate. By Fiona Ortiz MADRID (Reuters) - Eight months ago Spanish examining magistrate Elpidio Jose Silva was investigating a sensational corruption case that briefly landed politically connected former bank boss Miguel Blesa in jail. Now Silva, whose job combines the roles of prosecutor and judge, is organizing his own criminal defense after Blesa, president of savings bank Caja Madrid from 1996 to 2009, complained he was being persecuted. The judge's predicament stems from a quirk that allows the accused in Spain to lodge complaints against judges, one of many factors that have slowed down a string of high-profile fraud cases, damaging confidence in the justice system and raising concerns about political influence, surveys show. Silva, who denies any wrongdoing, has been removed from the case and could face trial for alleged misconduct in his probe into possible crimes at Caja Madrid before it became part of Bankia, which later required Spain's biggest-ever bank bailout.","ADB: Japan likely to return to growth in 4Q. MANILA, Philippines (AP) — The president of the Asian Development Bank says Japan's economy is expected to return to growth in the fourth quarter of this year and its recession will have little impact on Southeast Asian economies.","Saudi king decrees half brother Moqren to be a future monarch. Riyadh (AFP) - King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia Thursday appointed his half-brother Moqren bin Abdul Aziz to become a future king.","Car bomb kills at least 3 in Lebanese Shiite town. BEIRUT (AP) — A car bomb blew up Saturday near a gas station in a Shiite town in northeast Lebanon, killing at least three people, officials said.","EU and Africa hold summit to boost ties. BRUSSELS (AP) — Leaders of some 70 nations in Africa and Europe are seeking to improve political and economic cooperation between the two continents at a two-day summit.","Aerial reenactment caps D-Day celebrations. LA FIERE, France (AP) — Nearly 1,000 paratroopers dropped out of the sky in Normandy on Sunday — but this time they did so in peace, instead of to wrest western France from the Nazis as they did in World War II.","UK judge jails man who jumped barrier outside Buckingham Palace armed with a knife. LONDON - A man who tried to dart through a gate at Buckingham Palace armed with a 6-inch knife has been sentenced to 16 months in jail.","Rights groups criticise Saudi-Indonesia maid agreement. Rights groups Thursday criticised an agreement between Indonesia and Saudi Arabia aimed at giving Indonesian maids more protection in the kingdom, with one saying \"justice is still far away\" for them. Saudi Arabia is the world's biggest destination for Indonesian maids, with around one million in the kingdom. However Indonesia placed a moratorium on sending new maids to the country in 2011 after a helper was beheaded for murdering her employer. The case worsened existing tensions caused by reports of abuse and complaints by rights groups that maids are deprived of their basic entitlements.","GE to study shore in latest clean-up step for NY's Hudson River. By Lewis Krauskopf (Reuters) - General Electric Co has agreed to conduct a study of shoreline contamination of New York's Hudson River, the company's latest step in an extensive clean-up effort of toxic chemicals it dumped into the waterway decades ago. The study will cost GE an estimated $20.5 million, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, which announced the agreement on Wednesday. It will evaluate floodplains in a 40-mile stretch of the upper Hudson River, and will develop clean-up options. ...","London shares drop as miners tumble on China woes. London (AFP) - London shares closed lower on Friday as miners tumbled amid concerns about weaker commodities demand China, dealers said.","Myanmar's Suu Kyi says wants West to spur reform not reimpose sanctions. LONDON (Reuters) - Myanmar's opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi on Friday called on the West to encourage her country's government to enter meaningful reform talks but told it not to reintroduce punitive sanctions even though democratic reforms were foundering. Suu Kyi, who is ineligible to become president after planned parliamentary elections next year because of a technicality in the constitution, criticized the West for being too optimistic about change but said it could help by pushing for talks. \"That's a problem with the international community. ...","Nespresso opens its coffee machines to knockoffs. PARIS (AP) — No more worries about the warrantee, the machine breaking or — worst of all — a botched cup of coffee.","Algerian militants claim to have killed kidnapped Frenchman: SITE monitoring. TUNIS (Reuters) - Algerian militants who kidnapped Frenchman Herve Gourdel have claimed in a video to have killed him after demanding France stop its action against militants in Iraq, the SITE jihadi monitoring service reported on its Twitter account. The Caliphate Soldiers, a splinter group linked to Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria, on Monday published a video claiming responsibility for the abduction and showed a man identifying himself as Gourdel, a tourist from Nice. There was no official immediate confirmation from the French or Algerian governments. ...","US capsules for the Ryder Cup. A capsule look at the U.S. team in the 40th Ryder Cup, to be played Sept. 26-28 at Gleneagles, Scotland. Players listed in the order they made the team:","EU strikes compromise to set new climate target. By Barbara Lewis and Alastair Macdonald BRUSSELS (Reuters) - European Union leaders struck a deal on a new target to cut carbon emissions out to 2030, calling it a new global standard but leaving critics warning that compromises had undermined the fight against climate change. Talks in Brussels stretched into the small hours of Friday as Poland battled to spare its coal industry and other states tweaked the guideline text on global warming to protect varied economic interests, from nuclear plants and cross-border power lines to farmers whose livestock belch out polluting methane. ...","China says sanctions won't help Ukraine crisis. BEIJING (Reuters) - Sanctions are not the best way to resolve the crisis in Ukraine, China's foreign ministry said on Friday, after Crimea's parliament voted to join Russia, in a dramatic escalation of the crisis in the region. China and Russia, both permanent members of the United Nations' Security Council, have close ties and see eye-to-eye on many global diplomatic issues, such as the crisis in Syria. On Thursday, U.S. ...","Video shows Toronto mayor inhaling from glass cylinder -police. By Allison Martell TORONTO (Reuters) - A video obtained by police last year shows Toronto Mayor Rob Ford, who has admitted to using crack cocaine, inhaling some kind of vapor from a glass cylinder, according to police documents unsealed on Wednesday. The documents also said some of Ford's meetings and calls with friend and occasional driver Sandro Lisi were \"indicative to that of drug trafficking\" and showed that police asked for a warrant to access some of Ford's phone records. Ford, who is running for re-election, made international headlines last May when media blog Gawker and the Toronto Star newspaper said they had seen a video that appeared to show him smoking crack. Days later, Ford admitted he had smoked crack, probably in a \"drunken stupor.\" \"The video appears to have been filmed surreptitiously showing Mayor Ford consuming what appears to be a narcotic,\" said the documents released on Wednesday.","Pope Francis warns of 'social emergency' after Rome clashes. ROME (Reuters) - Pope Francis warned on Sunday of a \"social emergency\" after violent protests against a migrant reception center in Rome highlighted growing social tensions in disadvantaged areas of the Italian capital. The reception center in the Tor Sapienza area of the city has been the target of several days of angry protests by residents who have accused migrants in the building of drug trafficking, sexual harassment and petty crime. ...","China blames Vietnam for sea collisions, but calls for talks. By Ben Blanchard and Nguyen Phuong Linh BEIJING/HANOI (Reuters) - China accused Vietnam on Thursday of intentionally colliding with its ships in the South China Sea, but called for talks to end a bitter row sparked by Beijing's parking of a giant oil rig in contested waters. A senior foreign ministry official in Beijing demanded that Vietnam withdraw its ships after its southern neighbor asserted that Chinese vessels used water cannon and rammed eight of its vessels at the weekend near the rig. Hanoi said two vessels were badly damaged and six people were wounded in the worst setback to ties between the two Communist nations in years. China said the drilling operations were being carried out in its territory and it had acted with the \\\\\"utmost restraint\\\\\" in using water cannons in response to rammings it blamed on Vietnam.","US: Sinaloa cartel member cooperating with US. CHICAGO (AP) — A high-ranking member of Mexico's Sinaloa cartel and son of one of the drug ring's leaders pleaded guilty to drug trafficking a year ago and has been cooperating with authorities, federal prosecutors in Chicago announced Thursday.","Dangerously cold temps spread from U.S. Midwest to South and East. INDIANAPOLIS - Dangerously cold polar air snapped decades-old records as it spread Tuesday from the Midwest to southern and eastern parts of the United States, making it hazardous to venture outside and keeping many schools and businesses shuttered.","C.Africa on the 'brink of genocide', warns Tutu. Nobel peace laureate Desmond Tutu warned Sunday that the Central African Republic was \"on the brink of genocide\", as he urged warring sides to reconcile their differences and \"re-learn to live together\". \"Over the past 13 months, the nation's seemingly incessant struggles for political power and resources have degenerated into anarchy, hatred and ethnic cleansing -- the country stands on the brink of genocide;","Merck buys Swiss biotech with promising cancer drug. KENILWORTH, N.J. (AP) — Drugmaker Merck says it's bought a Swiss biotech company developing cancer drugs as part of its strategy to be a top player in cancer, one of the hottest pharmaceutical research areas.","China will not fill U.S. void in Afghanistan: official. By Michael Martina BEIJING (Reuters) - China does not seek to fill a void left in Afghanistan by the withdrawal of U.S. troops but will play a \"huge\" commercial role in helping rebuild the country, a newly appointed Chinese special envoy said on Monday. China, which is connected to Afghanistan by a narrow, almost impassable mountain corridor, has been quietly preparing for more responsibility there after the bulk of U.S.-led troops pull out by the end of this year. Some Western officials have said China is likely to emerge as a strategic player in Afghanistan but Sun Yuxi, who was appointed special representative to the country on Friday, said China's involvement would remain largely commercial. \"This idea about filling a void after the withdrawal of troops, I think it doesn't exist,\" Sun told reporters in Beijing before heading to Afghanistan on Tuesday for talks.","Iran takes legal action against opposition leaders. TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — A top member of Iran's judiciary said Tuesday it is taking unspecified legal action against two opposition leaders held under house arrest without charge since 2011 — a possible tentative step toward meeting their supporters' demands that they be given a fair trial to resolve their status.","Polish foreign minister called ties to U.S. 'worthless': report. A Polish news magazine said on Sunday it had obtained a secret recording of Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski, in contention for a senior European Union job, saying that Poland's relationship with the United States was worthless. The Wprost news magazine said the recording was of a private conversation earlier this year between Sikorski and Jacek Rostowski, a member of parliament with the ruling Civic Platform who until last year was finance minister. The magazine did not say who recorded the conversation, or how it obtained the recording. Aides to Sikorski and Rostowski said they had no immediate comment.","ISS recommends votes for two Loeb nominees to Sotheby's board. By Svea Herbst-Bayliss BOSTON (Reuters) - A prominent investor shareholder advisory firm recommended that Sotheby's investors should vote for two of the three board candidates suggested by activist investor Daniel Loeb. Institutional Shareholder Services sent a report to clients early on Thursday morning that backs Loeb, an avid art collector who has been pushing the auction house to cut costs and become more competitive since last year. ISS recommended shareholders vote for Loeb and Olivier Reza and said: \"It appears that introducing some change into the boardroom is warranted.\" The report gave fresh support to Loeb whose $14.5 billion hedge fund, Third Point, is Sotheby's single biggest investor, and who compared the company to \"an old master painting in desperate need of restoration.\" Loeb's proxy contest, launched earlier this year, quickly became one of Wall Street's most-watched battles, pitting one of the industry's best-known activist investors against the 270-year old auction house.","FTSE drops at open. London (AFP) - London equities fell at the opening of trading on Tuesday following a sharp loss for Tokyo and in the wake of falls on Wall Street.","Germany's Merkel insists Britain remain in EU. Sydney (AFP) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel insisted Monday that Britain remain in the European Union, saying it was a vital gateway to the world for continental nations.","Cuba releasing spy for US in move to restore ties. WASHINGTON (AP) — Cuba has freed a Cuban man who was imprisoned for nearly 20 years for spying for the United States, American officials said Wednesday as President Barack Obama announced steps toward restoring diplomatic relations.","World pushes for truce as Israel batters Gaza. The UN chief and Washington's top diplomat were holding a flurry of meetings in Cairo on Tuesday to push for an end to violence in Gaza that has killed more than 590 Palestinians. As the conflict entered its third week, neither side showed any sign of willingness to pull back, with Israel pursuing a relentless campaign of shelling and air strikes, and militants hitting back with rocket fire and fierce attacks on troops operating on the ground. Gaza medics say the Palestinian dead include many women and children, while 27 of the 29 Israeli victims were soldiers killed since a ground assault began late on July 17. On Tuesday morning, civil defence crews with a crane parked outside the Salam building in Gaza City, which was hit in an Israeli air strike on Monday.","Anti-Maduro protests persist in Venezuela, dozens jailed. By Andrew Cawthorne and Diego Ore CARACAS (Reuters) - President Nicolas Maduro's government kept dozens of student protesters behind bars on Friday as unrest still rumbled across Venezuela following this week's violence at political rallies that killed three. \"We're going to stay out in the streets for the same reasons as yesterday and the day before: inflation, insecurity and a repressive state that refuses to release our colleagues,\" student Marcos Matta, 22, told Reuters, in Caracas. Defying the president's prohibition of demonstrations, about 500 people gathered in Caracas' Altamira Square, a heartland of past opposition protests, to chant slogans and wave banners. Maduro, a 51-year-old former union activist and bus driver, accuses his foes of seeking a coup against him similar to one that briefly toppled his predecessor Hugo Chavez in 2002.","Pound hits two-year high against euro on Scotland results. Tokyo (AFP) - The British pound surged to a more than two-year high against the euro Friday, while it also rallied against the dollar as early results suggested Scotland will vote against independence from the United Kingdom.","Churchill's last surviving child dies aged 91. Lady Mary Soames, the last surviving child of Britain's World War II prime minister Winston Churchill, has died at the age of 91, her family announced Sunday. The baroness died peacefully at her home on Saturday surrounded by family members, following a short illness. She married the Conservative politician Baron Christopher Soames, and they had three sons and two daughters. Her late husband served as Britain's war secretary and ambassador to France, was a European commissioner and the last British governor of Southern Rhodesia before its transition to Zimbabwe.","New U.S. cybersecurity prosecutor unit to focus on prevention. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Justice Department is creating a unit within the criminal division to advise on electronic surveillance in cyber investigations and work with the private sector to prevent online crime, an official said on Thursday. The new unit, housed within the Computer Crime and Intellectual Property section, will work with law enforcement, the private sector, and Congress, said Leslie Caldwell, head of the department's criminal division. ...","Gold mine collapse traps workers in Colombia. BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — A wall of rain-sodden earth collapsed into an illegal open-air gold mining pit in southwestern Colombia on Friday, trapping people beneath, authorities said.","Eyes on army chief as Egypt announces referendum results. Officials are to announce on Saturday the results of a constitutional referendum likely to set the stage for a presidential bid by the army chief who toppled Egypt's first freely elected head of state. Initial tallies suggest this week's two-day referendum passed with an overwhelming majority, in what the military-installed government said was a strong stamp of approval for the overthrow of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi. Army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, the general who ousted Morsi in July after massive protests, was monitoring the outcome for an indication of support for a possible presidential bid, military officials said. Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood and its Islamist allies had boycotted the referendum, which is to be followed by presidential and parliamentary elections.","Iraqi officials: Islamic State group kills 50 people, including children, in Anbar province. BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraqi officials: Islamic State group kills 50 people, including children, in Anbar province.","Ukrainian opposition leader Tymoshenko freed. MOSCOW (Reuters) - Ukrainian opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko was freed on Saturday from the hospital where she had been held under prison guard for most of the time since she was convicted in 2011. The former prime minister, a bitter rival of President Viktor Yanukovich, waved to supporters from a car as she was driven out of the hospital in the northeastern city if Kharkiv, a Reuters photographer said. Tymoshenko, 53, was jailed in 2011 for abuse of office over a gas deal with Russia but her supporters and Western leaders say her trial was politically motivated. ...","C.Africa militia is 'enemy of peace': French commander. Bangui (Central African Republic) (AFP) - The commander of French troops in the Central African Republic on Monday accused a militia known as the anti-balaka of being the country's \"main enemy of peace\" to be treated as outlaws and thugs. The mainly Christian vigilantes have been accused of brutal attacks against Muslims after the ouster of president Francois Bozize in March 2013 by mainly Muslim rebels led by Michel Djotodia, who was himself forced out last month after failing to end the sectarian violence. \"Those who call themselves 'anti-balaka' have become the main enemy of peace in the Central African Republic,\" General Francisco Soriano said in a meeting in Bangui with the impoverished country's religious leaders, accusing the militia of inciting violence by \"stigmatising\" certain areas as Muslim.","Ukraine disbands army unit after fiasco push into east. Ukraine on Thursday disbanded an army unit that lost six armoured vehicles to pro-Russian militants, as Kiev's military reeled from a disastrous attempt to oust separatists in its eastern regions. \"The 25th parachute brigade, members of which showed cowardice and gave up their weapons, will be demobilised and the guilty servicemen brought before court,\" acting President Oleksandr Turchynov told parliament. Ukraine's enfeebled army suffered a major embarrassment Wednesday as a much-hyped \"anti-terrorist\" operation to force pro-Moscow protesters out of a string of eastern towns descended into humiliating farce when separatists seized six armoured personnel carriers and forced another mechanised column of troops to disarm. Ukraine's defence ministry said in a statement Thursday that the column of armoured vehicles and soldiers blockaded a day earlier by pro-Russian activists in the town of Kramatorsk was returning to base after the tense stand-off.","Russian sailors arrive in France for amphibious assault ship training. SAINT-NAZAIRE France (Reuters) - About four hundred Russian sailors arrived in western France on Monday for training on Mistral amphibious assault ships before the first of two is delivered to Moscow by the end of the year. The United States and some European partners have urged Paris to reconsider the 1.2 billion euro ($1.6 billion) sale to Moscow following Russian action in Ukraine, including its annexation of the Crimean Peninsula in March. France has rebuffed those calls, saying that cancelling the deal would do more damage to Paris than Moscow, illustrating the limitations of European Union sanctions meant to punish Russia.","Honduras brings in Boniek Garcia for Najar. CURITIBA, Brazil (AP) — Honduras coach Luis Fernando Suarez will start Oscar Boniek Garcia at the expense of 21-year-old winger Andy Najar in Friday's World Cup Group E match against Ecuador.","Ashley Cole dropped for WCup, retires from England. MANCHESTER, England (AP) — Ashley Cole says he has been left out of the England World Cup squad, prompting the veteran defender to retire from international duty.","Victory for plaintiff in China gay conversion case. BEIJING (AP) — A Chinese psychological clinic has been ordered to pay compensation to a gay man who sued it for administering electric shocks intended to make him heterosexual.","2 Azerbaijan rights activists charged with treason. BAKU, Azerbaijan (AP) — Two prominent human rights activists in Azerbaijan have been charged with spying for Armenia, with one of them jailed for three months pending trial.","Afghan election campaign stirs both violence and hope. By Jessica Donati and Hamid Shalizi KABUL (Reuters) - Presidential candidates in Afghanistan begin two months of campaigning on Sunday for an election that Western allies hope will consolidate fragile stability as their forces prepare to leave after nearly 13 years of inconclusive war. The Taliban have rejected the April 5 election and have already stepped up attacks to sabotage it. The militants will also be looking to capitalize if the vote is marred by rigging and feuding between rivals seeking to replace President Hamid Karzai, who can not run for a third term under Afghan law. Whoever replaces him will inherit a country beset by deepening anxiety about security as most foreign troops prepare to pull out by the end of the year, leaving Afghan forces largely on their own to battle the insurgency.","Nigeria confirms 2 new Ebola cases. ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — Nigerian Health Minister Onyebuchi Chukwu says the country has confirmed two new Ebola cases, the first two to have spread beyond those who had direct contact with the ill traveler from Liberia who brought the disease to Nigeria.","England favored over Canada in women's rugby final. PARIS (AP) — England has the superior experience, power, and pedigree in the Women's Rugby World Cup final on Sunday.","Sweden to recognise Palestinian state, US urges caution. Stockholm (AFP) - Sweden's new prime minister announced Friday that the country will recognise a Palestinian state, becoming the first EU member in Western Europe to do so.","Myanmar military 'tortures civilians': human rights group. By Jared Ferrie YANGON (Reuters) - Myanmar security forces \"systematically\" torture civilians in conflict-racked Kachin state, a rights group said on Monday, the third anniversary of renewed fighting between government forces ethnic minority insurgents in the northern state. The Bangkok-based Fortify Rights group said it interviewed 78 survivors and witnesses of torture perpetrated by Myanmar's army, police and military intelligence agency. \"The torture and the abuses taking place right now in Kachin state constitute war crimes and crimes against humanity and very little is being done to stop it,\" Matthew Smith, the group's executive director, said in an interview. Myanmar's government has been battling autonomy-seeking ethnic-minority guerrillas since shortly after the country, also known as Burma, gained independence from Britain in 1948.","Yemen says security forces kill senior al Qaeda leader. By Mohammed Ghobari SANAA (Reuters) - Yemen's security forces on Sunday killed a senior al Qaeda leader wanted for attacks on local and foreign targets in Sanaa, the Yemeni government said, after a raid near the capital in which at least four other militants died. The government said in a statement that two officers also died when anti-terrorism units raided an al Qaeda hideout and a car bomb-making facility in Bayt al-Adhari and Bani Hakam districts, in the Arhab region, and fought a gunbattle with its occupants. Security forces also conducted two other separate raids in downtown Sanaa, the statement said, but gave no details. \"Five were killed and four were captured.\" The government statement, received by email, said one of the dead militants was Saleh al-Tais, who it said was involved in the January killing of Ahmad Sharafeddin, a delegate at national reconciliation talks representing the Shi'ite Muslim Houthi group and a former dean of the law faculty at Sanaa University.","Somalia facing disaster three years after devastating famine. Three years after famine in Somalia killed a quarter of a million people in six months, aid agencies warned Sunday a new catastrophe is looming unless urgent aid arrives. A joint statement issued by a group of charities and aid agencies said there were more than 300,000 malnourished children in the east African country and 2.9 million people in need of life-saving help. \"Aid agencies today caution, again, that the signs of a drought are re-emerging in Somalia and urge for these not to be ignored in order to avoid a relapse into the conditions of the 2011 catastrophe,\" the statement said. This time, we must not fail the people of Somalia,\" said Francois Batalingaya, World Vision's country director for Somalia.","U.S., Pakistan increase cooperation in faint hope of Afghan peace. By Mehreen Zahra-Malik and Katharine Houreld ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Recent battlefield successes point to renewed willingness by the United States to work with Pakistan on curbing Islamist militancy, but a promise Islamabad made in return – to bring insurgents to the negotiating table – looks a distant prospect. Closer ties between Afghanistan, Pakistan and the United States are key to defeating the Taliban and al-Qaeda holed up on the Afghan-Pakistan border, especially as most foreign troops withdraw from Afghanistan by the end of the month. ...","Ukraine leader's secret residence opened to public. NOVI PETRIVTSI, Ukraine (AP) — The opulent residence of President Viktor Yanukovych has always been a closely guarded secret — and a symbol of the alleged corruption at Ukraine's highest levels. On Saturday, after he fled the capital and its gates were thrown open, thousands streamed into the compound to get a first-hand look.","Egypt sex attacks marred Sisi's inauguration, says HRW. Human Rights Watch said on Friday that sexual attacks on women \"marred\" Abdel Fattah al-Sisi's presidential inauguration, as he urged YouTube to remove a video showing a woman being assaulted. Activists say at least nine cases of sexual assault were reported last week as revellers celebrated Sisi's presidential election victory and inauguration. But a graphic video footage of a woman being sexually assaulted at Cairo's Tahrir Square during the celebrations triggered outrage in Egypt and abroad after it was shared widely on websites including YouTube, Facebook and Twitter.","In Saudi Arabia, Muslims pray on climax of hajj. MOUNT ARAFAT, Saudi Arabia (AP) — Some 2 million Muslims from around the world have converged at the desert hill near Mecca in Saudi Arabia for the climactic emotional and spiritual moment of the annual hajj pilgrimage.","Shifts in rainfall, not warming pause, slow sea level rise. By Alister Doyle, Environment Correspondent OSLO (Reuters) - Heavy rains from the Amazon to Australia have curbed sea level rise so far this century by shifting water from the oceans to land, according to a study that rejects theories that the slowdown is tied to a pause in global warming. Sea level rise has been one of the clearest signs of climate change - water expands as it warms and parts of Greenland and Antarctica are thawing, along with glaciers from the Himalayas to the Alps. Writing in the journal Nature Climate Change on Sunday, experts said the rate from 2003-2011 would have been 3.3 mm a year when excluding natural shifts led by an unusually high number of La Nina weather events that cool the surface of the Pacific Ocean and cause more rain over land. \"There is no slowing in the rate of sea level rise\" after accounting for the natural variations, lead author Anny Cazenave of the Laboratory for Studies in Geophysics and Spatial Oceanography in Toulouse, France, told Reuters.","Valcke says 'time is flying' for Brazil World Cup. RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Top FIFA official Jerome Valcke says \"time is flying\" towards the World Cup and getting three stadiums finished at the last minute presents \"risks\" with insufficient time to test the venues.","Albanian police exchange fire with heavily armed cannabis growers. By Benet Koleka TIRANA (Reuters) - Police raided a cannabis plantation in a lawless Albanian village on Monday, exchanging fire with locals who responded with anti-tank grenades and heavy machineguns. There were no casualties in the gun battle in Lazarat, a village some 150 km (100 miles) south of the capital Tirana that has long been a no-go area for police who risk being shot at by drugs gangs. The security crackdown began just days before the European Union's 28 member states decide whether to confirm Albania as a candidate to eventually join the bloc - something that would require convincing undertakings about the rule of law. \"We are determined to walk the path of justice and rule of law,\" Interior Minister Saimir Tahiri told reporters in Tirana.","Rivals challenge Iraq PM's election success. Nuri al-Maliki may be in pole position to remain Iraq's prime minister, but allegations of malpractice during last month's polls are clouding the prospect of forming a government anytime soon. Iraq's political parties have already begun meeting and manoeuvring as they seek to build post-election alliances, but forming a new government could still take months.","Kenyan troops to leave the Somali town of Kismayo. NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — A Kenyan military spokesman says most Kenyan troops will soon leave Somalia's port city of Kismayo which they have controlled since September 2012 after ousting al-Qaida-linked militants.","Russian prosecutor seeks five-six years in jail for anti-Putin protesters. A Russian prosecutor demanded prison terms of between five and six years for eight demonstrators charged with mass disorder at a protest in 2012 against President Vladimir Putin, which if brought down could provoke an outcry before the Winter Olympics. Putin has staked his reputation on next month's Sochi Games, signaling an easing of a clampdown on dissent by releasing members of the Pussy Riot punk band and former billionaire tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky as part of a wider amnesty.","Rugby Union - France beat Australia 29-26 in November Test. - France beat Australia 29-26 in a thrilling one-off Test at Paris' Stade de France on Saturday.","Israel rejects Kerry Gaza ceasefire proposal: Israeli TV. Gaza City (Palestinian Territories) (AFP) - Israel on Friday rejected a Gaza ceasefire proposal presented by US Secretary of State John Kerry, Israeli public television reported.","3 tons of seized illegal ivory crushed in Paris. PARIS (AP) — France is crushing more than 3 tons of illegal ivory in Europe's first destruction of a stockpile of the banned elephant tusks.","Explosion on bus in Nairobi, casualties reported: police, Red Cross. Nairobi (AFP) - An explosion ripped through a passenger bus in the Kenyan capital Nairobi on Sunday, causing casualties, police and Kenyan Red Cross officials said.","'Victim faints' at Morocco trial of British paedophile suspect. An alleged victim of a suspected British paedophile on trial in Morocco fainted in court Tuesday as the case was adjourned for a fifth time, a rights activist who attended the hearing told AFP. The 6-year-old girl passed out at the courthouse in the northern town of Tetouan when she saw Robert Bill, who is accused of kidnapping and attempting to rape her, said Mohammed Benaissa, who heads the Northern Observatory for Human Rights. Bill, originally from North Wales, was arrested at a petrol station in Tetouan last June when locals overheard the screams of the six-year-old girl he allegedly abducted, surrounded his Spanish-registered car and alerted the police. \"She was the only victim present at the trial,\" Benaissa said, adding that the other alleged victims were represented in court by their parents.","MPs slam 'national scandal' of FGM in Britain. The prevalence of female genital mutilation (FGM) in Britain is a \"national scandal\", lawmakers said Thursday, warning that up to 170,000 women may have had the procedure and another 65,000 young girls are at risk. A damning report from the House of Commons home affairs committee condemned the failure of the government, police, health and education authorities over many years to address what it said was an \"extreme form of child abuse\". FGM, which ranges from removal of the clitoris to more widespread mutilation, has been outlawed in Britain since 1985, but the first prosecution only took place this year. It called for prosecutions to send a \"clear message\" that the practice was taken seriously in Britain, as well as increased checks by medical professionals on girls considered to be at high risk.","Lebanese patriarch embraces exiled militiamen. CAPERNAUM, Israel (AP) — The leader of Lebanon's Maronite Catholic church celebrated an outdoor Mass Wednesday for hundreds of exiled countrymen who are considered traitors by many back home for helping Israel maintain an 18-year occupation of south Lebanon.","Chelsea recruit Salah wins Swiss best player award. LUCERNE, Switzerland (AP) — Mohamed Salah, Chelsea's new signing from Basel, has been named best player of 2013 at the Swiss Football League awards.","Mexico's new rural police: Same old problems?. APATZINGAN, Mexico (AP) — A new police force made up of former vigilantes fighting a drug cartel in violence-plagued western Mexico already faces some of the same problems as the disbanded local law enforcement agencies it is replacing.","Kerry faces tough sell in China on NKorea, tension. BEIJING (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Friday appealed for China's help in bringing a belligerent North Korea back to nuclear disarmament talks but faced an uncertain response as the request was accompanied by demands for Beijing to roll back a series of increasingly aggressive steps it has taken to assert itself in territorial disputes with its smaller neighbors.","US OPEN SCENE: Djokovic gives singer the spotlight. NEW YORK (AP) — Novak Djokovic used some of his spotlight as the world's top tennis player to let another light shine.","Image of Asia: Marking graves of typhoon victims. In this photo by Bullit Marquez, workers erect wooden crosses at a mass grave for Typhoon Haiyan victims in preparation for the observance of its anniversary in the outskirts of Tacloban, Philippines. The typhoon ravaged Leyte, Eastern Samar and other provinces in the central Philippines and left more than 6,300 people dead and 1,000 missing. One mass grave in Tacloban has more than 2,000 mostly unidentified bodies. Other mass graves containing typhoon victims are in nearby Palo and Tanauan townships.","60 Africans scramble over Morocco-Spain border fence. Madrid (AFP) - About 60 Africans scrambled over a border fence from Morocco into Spanish territory Monday, as a UN official urged Spain to protect migrants' rights following evidence of police abuse.","Strong quake kills at least 175 in southern China. BEIJING (AP) — A strong earthquake in southern China's Yunnan province toppled thousands of homes on Sunday, killing at least 175 people and injuring more than 1,400.","Turkey's moderate ex-army chief pushed to the limit. Former Turkish army chief Ilker Basbug, the highest-profile defendant convicted in a mass trial over an alleged coup plot, was set to walk free from jail on Friday, less than a year after being given a life sentence. A staunch defender of the military in its showdown with the Islamic-rooted government of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Basbug branded his trial a \"black stain\" on the country's history. The 71-year-old, a former NATO-trained career soldier seen as a political moderate, once led Turkey's military campaign against outlawed Kurdish rebels but later took a conciliatory approach to resolving the three-decade conflict. The decorated general was sentenced to life in prison last August after a long-running trial of 275 people accused of plotting to overthrow Erdogan's Justice and Development Party (AKP) government.","Israeli military: rockets misfired by Palestinian militants hit Gaza hospital, nearby park. JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli military: rockets misfired by Palestinian militants hit Gaza hospital, nearby park.","German court: church facilities can ban headscarf. BERLIN (AP) — A German federal court has ruled that church-run institutions are within their rights to refuse to allow Muslim employees to wear headscarves at work.","Castro survived odd, often inept, US schemes. WASHINGTON (AP) — For over half a century, the U.S. government's schemes to overthrow the Castro government were, if not successful, always creative: the poisonous cigars, the exploding seashell, the secret Twitter-like service in Cuba.","Officials: 2nd US case of MERS reported. NEW YORK (AP) — Health officials have confirmed a second U.S. case of a mysterious virus that has sickened hundreds in the Middle East.","Reputed Guzman lieutenant to plead guilty. CHICAGO (AP) — A reputed lieutenant of recently captured drug lord Joaquin \"El Chapo\" Guzman has indicated during a federal court hearing in Chicago that he intends to plead guilty in a $1 billion trafficking conspiracy that also allegedly involved his boss.","US ship arrives in Italy port for Syria weapons. GIOIA TAURO, Italy (AP) — The U.S. ship MV Cape Ray has arrived in the southern Italian port of Gioia Tauro, where it will pick up about 1,300 tons of Syrian chemical weapons and then destroy them.","S.African police seen assaulting man arrested. Two South African police officers who were allegedly caught on video taking part in the beating and stripping of an unarmed man on a Cape Town street have been arrested, the police watchdog said on Saturday. The Independent Police Directorate said the officers, aged 42 and 45 years old, would appear in court on Monday on charges of assault. On Friday, video footage showing two armed uniformed policemen and private guards punching and kicking a man on a Cape Town street went viral, prompting public outrage. The man has been identified as Nigerian national Clement Emekensha.","Turkish ruling party says mine had been inspected 11 times since 2009. ANKARA (Reuters) - A Turkish mine in which at least 284 workers died had been inspected 11 times over the past five years and there are no loopholes in the country's mining safety regulations, a spokesman for the ruling AK Party said on Friday. \"This mine has been inspected 11 times thoroughly since 2009,\" AKP spokesman Huseyin Celik told a news conference in Ankara. (Reporting by Gulsen Solaker and Humeyra Pamuk; Writing by Nick Tattersall)","Netflix to launch in six more European countries this year. By Lisa Richwine and Robert-Jan Bartunek LOS ANGELES/BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Netflix Inc will launch its online movie and TV subscription service in six more European countries including France and Germany this year, a test of its global expansion strategy as it faces a patchwork of local rules and competitors. The other new countries it will enter in late 2014 are Austria, Switzerland, Belgium and Luxembourg, the California-based company said on Wednesday. Netflix, which already operates in Britain, Scandinavia and the Netherlands, will offer a mix of Hollywood movies and TV series in the new markets and plans to include its own original shows such as \"House of Cards\" where possible. However, it does not have exclusive rights to all its own shows in all markets - House of Cards, for example, has been broadcast in Germany by ProsiebenSat1 and Sky Deutschland .","Motor racing-Ricciardo happy to show the steel behind the smile. By Alan Baldwin BUDAPEST, July 25 (Reuters) - Daniel Ricciardo may come across as a bit of a softie but behind that smiling exterior there lurks an Aussie hard man up for a fight. No Formula One driver has a broader, or more permanent, smile than the 25-year-old Perth native who has seized his opportunity at champions Red Bull with both hands this season. Ricciardo is third in the world championship and, going into Sunday's Hungarian Grand Prix, has scored 106 points compared to quadruple world champion team mate Sebastian Vettel's more modest haul of 82. His first victory in Canada makes him the only driver, apart from the dominant Mercedes duo of Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton, to have won a race this season.","Priest sentenced for aiding Salvadoran gangs. SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador (AP) — A Spanish priest has been sentenced to 30 months in prison for aiding imprisoned gang members by smuggling contraband and seeking favorable treatment.","Australia, Canada: Climate change steps must not hurt economy. By David Ljunggren OTTAWA (Reuters) - The right-leaning leaders of Canada and Australia, both under pressure over their environmental records, on Monday said action to fight climate change should not harm their nations' economies. The Obama administration last week unveiled regulations that would force the U.S. power sector to cut carbon dioxide output 30 percent by 2030 from 2005 levels. The move focused critics' attention on Canada - a big energy exporter that has no chance of meeting current climate change targets - and Australia, where the new government is pushing to repeal taxes on carbon and mining emissions. \"We think that climate change is a significant problem.","Cyber spying, maritime disputes loom large in U.S.-China talks. By Lesley Wroughton and Michael Martina BEIJING (Reuters) - The United States will press China to resume cooperation on fighting cyber espionage to ensure an orderly cyber environment, a senior U.S. official said on Tuesday ahead of annual talks between the world's two largest economies this week. The talks, which start on Wednesday, will be led by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Treasury Secretary Jack Lew, likely taking in China's currency, North Korea's nuclear program and escalating tensions between China and neighbors in the South China Sea and with Japan in the East China Sea.","Top Ghanaian journalist Komla Dumor dies at 41. BBC presenter Komla Dumor, one of Ghana's best known journalists, has died suddenly at the age of 41, his family have said. The BBC said Dumor, a presenter on its World News channel and its \"Focus on Africa\" programme, suffered a heart attack at his London home on Saturday. Ghana's President John Dramani Mahama said on his Twitter page that the nation had lost \"one of its finest ambassadors\". The journalist's family said in a statement on Saturday: \"The Dumor, Gbeho and allied families with deep sorrow announce the passing of our beloved Komla Dumor today in London.","Chinese media: 17 soldiers killed in armory blast. BEIJING (AP) — An accidental explosion ripped through an armory in central China and killed 17 soldiers while they were stacking ammunition, state media said Wednesday.","US weighs refugee status for Central American kids. WASHINGTON (AP) — The Obama administration is considering creating a pilot program giving refugee status to young people from Honduras as part of a plan to slow the influx of unaccompanied minors arriving at the U.S.-Mexico border, White House officials said Thursday.","Taliban battle Afghan forces at Helmand's Camp Bastion. By Mohammad Stanekzai LASHKAR GAH, Afghanistan (Reuters) - Taliban militants have launched an offensive against Afghan forces at Camp Bastion, the huge base in southern Helmand province vacated by the British military a month ago, officials said. \"Taliban attacked under the cover of darkness during the night, but our security forces fought against them well and prevented any damage to the camp,\" General Ghulam Farooq Parwani, deputy commander of Maiwand 215 military corps said on Friday. ...","Israel cabinet 'mulls steps against Hamas'. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu convened his security cabinet on Monday to discuss possible punitive steps against Hamas which Israel has blamed for the kidnapping of three teenagers, media reports said. Israel is in the throes of a massive manhunt in the West Bank to find the three youths, whom Netanyahu has said were kidnapped last week by militants from the Islamist Hamas movement. Reports published by the Walla news website and Haaretz online said the security cabinet was to look into the possibility of banishing Hamas members from the West Bank to Gaza as a way of both punishing it and exerting pressure on the movement.","Qatar seeks to free more U.S. hostages in Syria: source. By Amena Bakr DOHA (Reuters) - Qatar is working to help free four Americans held hostage in Syria by various armed groups, a Gulf source familiar with the matter said on Monday, a day after the Gulf Arab state's diplomacy helped free a journalist held since 2012. The reported initiative by Qatar coincides with an effort by the tiny state to rebut accusations by some of its Arab neighbors and Western politicians that it supports the most anti-Western militant armed groups in Iraq and Syria. Those allegations followed months of criticism by human rights groups over its treatment of Asian guest workers and charges – denied by Doha – of corruption in its successful bid to host the 2022 World Cup. The wealthy country, which does back some rebel factions fighting to oust Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, has mediated the release of foreign and Syrian captives on several occasions in the course of Syria's three-year-old civil war.","PNG immigration riot inevitable: refugee advocates. Unrest rocked the immigration camp on Papua New Guinea's Manus Island on Monday night as tensions flared among inmates about their fate under Canberra's hardline asylum-seeker policies. An Iranian man died from a head injury and 77 other people were injured, some seriously, with Immigration Minister Scott Morrison putting 100 extra security staff on standby, although there were no further protests on Tuesday night. Both Australia and Papua New Guinea said they will carry out investigations, but Australian Human Rights Commission president Gillian Triggs said she fears they will not be objective enough. \"I think we've reached a stage now with the violence that it really does call for a more objective inquiry into what is happening at these detention centres and what the conditions are that lead to the levels of very high anxiety and in some cases violence,\" she told ABC radio.","Chinese leader means business on lavish French trip. France rolled out the red carpet for China's leader Tuesday as he arrived for a nostalgia-tinged trip due to be dominated by the signing of scores of business deals. President Xi Jinping and his glamorous wife Peng Liyuan touched down in the eastern city of Lyon, where authorities were on maximum alert, closing streets, forcing some residents to carry a proof of address to get home and mobilising hundreds of riot police. The power couple will be given VIP treatment on their three-day visit to France, culminating in a concert at the Versailles palace, as the two countries celebrate 50 years of full diplomatic ties. Speaking Tuesday during a dinner in Lyon's stately town hall after a main course of thyme and hay-flavoured lamb, he said his trip to France would \"allow (him) to work with President Francois Hollande... to sum up 50 years of Sino-French relations and to plan the future together\".","7-time Grammy nominees Macklemore & Ryan Lewis warm up for show with concert in Los Angeles. LOS ANGELES, Calif. - Macklemore & Ryan Lewis were a little-known rap duo from Seattle with an album that sold beyond modest expectations a year ago.","UNESCO urges Iraqis to protect heritage amid fighting. The UN's cultural organisation on Tuesday urged Iraqis to protect the country's heritage amid heavy fighting, warning that destroying religious sites would amount to war crimes. UNESCO Director General Irina Bokova expressed concern at \"renewed human suffering and loss of life in Iraq\" and fears that the country's cultural heritage will be looted or destroyed. \"I call on all actors to refrain from any form of destruction of cultural heritage, including religious sites,\" Bokova said in a statement. Iraq has descended into the worst violence in years as militants from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) have overrun swathes of the country.","US chemical arms ship to arrive in Spain. ROTA, Spain (AP) — The American ship MV Cape Ray is set to arrive Thursday at the Spanish naval base of Rota to resupply ahead of an unprecedented mission to collect and destroy highly toxic substances that form part of Syria's chemical weapons program. Here are some questions and answers about the Cape Ray and its mission:","Nearly 150 feared trapped in landslide in India. NEW DELHI (AP) — An Indian official says that more than 150 people are feared buried under a landslide that hit a village in western India following torrential rains.","Yemeni air strike kills five suspected militants in south. SANAA/ADEN (Reuters) - Five suspected al Qaeda militants were killed when Yemeni fighter planes targeted their vehicle in the southern province of Shabwa, military sources said, as part of a sustained army offensive against Islamist insurgents. Yemen is waging a U.S.-backed campaign to eliminate Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, the global jihadi network's regional wing. Yemen is a U.S. strategic ally whose instability concerns neighboring oil-exporting giant Saudi Arabia as well as Western nations worried that al Qaeda could use the weakly governed and impoverished country as a launchpad for international attacks. A series of air strikes, apparently carried chiefly by U.S. drones, killed some 65 militants in late April.","IMF to decide on cash for Ukraine this month: central bank governor. KIEV (Reuters) - The International Monetary Fund's mission to Ukraine will determine at the end of October how much additional financial aid Kiev needs, Central Bank Governor Valeria Gontareva said on Thursday. An IMF program already in place, part of a broader $27-billion funding package, was agreed in April, to shore up the former Soviet republic's foreign currency reserves and support the state budget. But last month, the IMF warned that Ukraine may need as much as $19 billion in additional funds if its conflict with pro-Russian separatists continues during 2015. ...","New York Times publisher denies sexism, calls Abramson bad manager. New York Times Co publisher Arthur Sulzberger Jr. on Saturday denied the ouster of top editor Jill Abramson was due to gender bias and listed ways in which she was a bad manager. Sulzberger issued a statement that identified a pattern of behavior including \"arbitrary decision-making, a failure to consult and bring colleagues with her, inadequate communication and the public mistreatment of colleagues\" as reasons for the firing. Abramson, the Times' first woman executive editor, was abruptly ousted on Wednesday in a decision that sparked a firestorm of commentary on women managers in the workplace. He denounced these as \"persistent but incorrect reports.\" Sulzberger said that \"the saddest outcome\" of his decision to remove Abramson was that it \"has been cast by many as an example of the unequal treatment of women in the workplace.\" Instead, he said it was \"a situation involving a specific individual who, as we all do, has strengths and weaknesses.\" The New Yorker reported earlier this week that Abramson had confronted Times' executives after she discovered her pay and pension benefits were less than those of Bill Keller, whom she succeeded, citing an unidentified close associate of Abramson.(New Yorker: http://nyr.kr/1mYSQG6) \"This is untrue,\" Sulzberger said, adding that Abramson's package was more than 10 percent higher that his in her last year as editor.","Kerry to urge climate change action in Indonesia speech. US Secretary of State John Kerry will on Sunday issue a clarion call for the world to do to more to combat climate change, warning the planet is being pushed to \"a tipping point of no return\". \"Kerry will call on the global community, not just countries but individual citizens around the world, to do more now because addressing the threat of climate change will require a global solution,\" a senior State Department official said. The Secretary of State, who has long been a passionate advocate of the need to protect the environment, arrived in Indonesia late Saturday for bilateral meetings. Later he was to deliver his speech before Indonesian students and professors at a US-run centre in Jakarta.","Dozens injured as clashes erupt in Egypt cities. Clashes erupted Tuesday between student supporters of Egypt's ousted Islamist president Mohamed Morsi and security forces in several cities, wounding at least 33 people, the health ministry said. The violence came as registration of candidates for the May 26-27 presidential election entered its second day, with former army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who led Morsi's ouster last July, widely expected to win. At least 31 people were hurt when students of Al-Azhar University's branch in the southern city of Assuit clashed with security forces, officials said. Fighting was also reported at Cairo's Ein Shams University, while police fired tear gas in the Mediterranean city of Alexandria and in the central city of Mansoura as pro-Morsi students clashed with security forces.","Ford recalls 65,000 Fusion models on ignition key issues. DETROIT (Reuters) - Ford Motor Co on Tuesday said it is recalling about 65,000 Fusion sedans in North America because the key can be removed from the ignition even if the car is not in the \"park\" position 30 minutes after the ignition is off, the company said. Ford said it is not aware of any injuries or crashes as a result of this issue. This is caused by a programming fault in the instrument cluster of the sedans, Ford said. Affected are some 2014 and 2015 model year Fusion sedans, including Ford's primary version as well as Energi and hybrid versions built through October 31. ...","S.Africa economy shrinks prompting recession fears. South Africa's economy has contracted for the first time since the global crisis five years ago, raising the spectre of recession in Africa's most developed economy. Statistics South Africa reported Tuesday that the economy shrank by 0.6 percent in the first quarter, a stunning reversal amid a rapid boom elsewhere in the continent. The South African economy has struggled to recover since the 2009 crisis and the possibility of another recession, two consecutive quarters of negative growth, is not being ruled out. \"This makes for grim reading,\" said Razia Khan, Africa's regional head of research for Standard Chartered Bank.","Beijing emerges as 2022 Winter Olympics favorite. The new front-runner to host the 2022 Winter Olympics doesn't have a long winter sports tradition. Then there's the matter of snow, or lack thereof. The mountains near Beijing where Olympic bidders want to hold skiing events receive less than a meter (yard) of snow each winter.","BP committed to Russia stake despite sanctions. LONDON (AP) — Energy company BP said Tuesday that it remains committed to its investment in the Russian oil firm Rosneft, despite U.S. sanctions targeting its president, Igor Sechin, and sharp drops in income from its stake.","Desperate shortages leave Ukraine ill-prepared for trauma of war. With Ukraine still trapped in a Soviet-era approach to mental health and psychiatric hospitals so under-funded that some have less than 10 cents a day to feed patients, the country has been left ill-prepared for the trauma of war. As with so many aspects of its sudden descent into conflict, Ukraine has turned to volunteers to help deal with post-traumatic stress among soldiers. Psychologist Tetyana Nazarenko, who works with a volunteer group, recalls her toughest task to date: dealing with a frontline brigade that had just lost 12 men in a single battle. Another volunteer, Uliana Fedoryachenko, has been helping at the Central Military Hospital in Kiev.","Bill to sanction Venezuela takes step forward. WASHINGTON (AP) — A bill that seeks to punish Venezuelan officials accused of human rights abuses has surmounted another hurdle in the U.S. Senate.","Arabs meet on Palestinian call for swift U.N. vote to end Israel occupation. By Louis Charbonneau and Ali Sawafta UNITED NATIONS/RAMALLAH, West Bank (Reuters) - Arab U.N. delegations on Monday discussed a Palestinian plan to make peace with Israel within a year and end Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories by late 2017, despite Israeli and U.S. opposition. Several Western council diplomats told Reuters they had been surprised by the Palestinians' sudden push to submit over the next few days a final draft resolution to the U.N. Security Council. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas told U.S. ...","Adebayor gives Tottenham 1-0 victory over Everton. LONDON (AP) — Emmanuel Adebayor gave Tottenham's Champions League pursuit a timely tonic on Sunday, clinching a 1-0 victory over Everton to dislodge the losers from fifth place in the Premier League.","Mali peace envoy meets rebel leaders in Mauritania. Mali sent a peace envoy to neighbouring Mauritania on Wednesday for talks with the leaders of rebel groups waging an insurgency against the war-torn west African state's government in Bamako. The gesture comes after the regional ECOWAS bloc of countries urged the United Nations at the weekend to strengthen its peacekeeping force and consider imposing \"targeted sanctions against the armed groups or individuals who impede the peace process\" in Mali. \"I made contact with these organisations to first get know who they are, then to pass on the message of the president favouring dialogue and receive their suggestions,\" Modibo Keita told AFP in the Mauritanian capital Nouakchott. Keita, who was appointed by President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita in April to negotiate with the rebels, met members of the Arab Movement of Azawad (MAA) and the mainly-black Coordination of Patriotic Movements and Forces for Resistance.","Chardy and Sela advanced in Acapulco. ACAPULCO, Mexico (AP) — Jeremy Chardy of France advanced to the second round of the Mexican Open with a 7-5, 6-0 win over Australia's Matthew Ebden on Monday.","Drone attack killed 30 Al-Qaeda suspects in Yemen: tribe. Aden (AFP) - A drone strike in south Yemen killed at least 30 suspected Al-Qaeda militants on Sunday, the latest in an intensified aerial campaign in the impoverished country, a tribal chief said.","Mexican judge orders trial for drug kingpin. A Mexican judge decided Tuesday to put drug baron Joaquin \"El Chapo\" Guzman on trial even as authorities left the door open to extraditing the fallen kingpin to the United States. The National Judicial Council said in a statement that Guzman was formally ordered to stay in prison for \"organized crime with intent to commit crimes against health\" -- a legal euphemism for drug trafficking. Guzman, 56, has three days to appeal the ruling, which represents the first formal charges against the Sinaloa cartel boss since Mexican marines captured him in a US-backed operation on Saturday in a Pacific beach town. Guzman faces drug trafficking charges in several US jurisdictions from New York to Chicago and San Diego, California.","Former Tel Aviv mayor Shlomo Lahat dead at 87. JERUSALEM (AP) — Former Tel Aviv mayor Shlomo Lahat has died at the age of 87.","Gaza official: Palestinian death toll tops 300. GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — A Gaza health official says the death toll from Israel's 12-day offensive against Hamas militants has topped 300.","Lukas Podolski to miss Germany's match vs. Algeria. PORTO SEGURO, Brazil (AP) — Germany forward Lukas Podolski will miss the World Cup second-round match against Algeria on Monday in Porto Alegre because of a leg injury.","Court rules defecting Nigerian lawmakers must vacate seats. Nigerian lawmakers who defected to the main opposition coalition must vacate their seats, a court has ruled in a victory for President Goodluck Jonathan ahead of what will be a closely fought election in February 2015. The 37 lawmakers defected from Jonathan's People's Democratic Party (PDP) to the opposition All Progressive Congress (APC) in December, leaving the PDP without a majority in the lower house. \"It is clear and unambiguous that the defendants were sponsored by the PDP and won the election on its platform,\" Justice Adeniyi Ademola said late on Monday. He added that there was also no evidence of division within the PDP, which might have provided a case for them to keep their seats.","Blast in busy Cairo square kills 1 officer. CAIRO (AP) — An Egyptian security official says an explosion has rocked a busy square in central Cairo, killing one police officer and causing panic.","Ex-Chinese planning official on trial for graft. BEIJING (AP) — Chinese state media say a former powerful economic planning official has gone on trial accused of taking bribes.","Former Ivory Coast president backs Ouattara for 2015 election. By Loucoumane Coulibaly DAOUKRO Ivory Coast (Reuters) - Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara on Wednesday received the endorsement of former president Henri Konan Bedie for re-election in 2015, boosting his chances of a second term. Support from Bedie, who heads the Democratic Party of Ivory Coast (PDCI), was previously uncertain and some had speculated that his party would field a separate candidate. ...","South Africa beat NZ by 72 runs in 2nd ODI. MOUNT MAUNGANUI, New Zealand (AP) — Hashim Amla smashed his fourth one-day century of the year as South Africa put its World Cup credentials on display Friday, beating New Zealand by 72 runs in the second one-day cricket international to take a winning 2-0 lead in the three-match series.","Safarova shoots down rising Swiss star Bencic in Tokyo. Tokyo (AFP) - Seventh-seeded Lucie Safarova battled back to beat wild card Belinda Bencic 3-6, 6-4, 6-2 Wednesday and reach the Pan Pacific quarter-finals, spoiling the Swiss teenager's upward momentum this year.","Pistorius defence targets police photos. Oscar Pistorius's defence team on Tuesday picked through the testimony of a police photographer who took images of the bloodied crime scene where the Paralympian shot dead his girlfriend. Defence lawyer Barry Roux accused police photographer Bennie van Staden of \"great disturbance\" for moving evidence, and pointed out suspicious timing overlaps that seemed to contradict his testimony. Van Staden, who often seemed like an accused in the dock himself, moved bloodied towels and a duvet which he said was to check for evidence beneath the objects, but always took pictures of the original scene. This did not deter Roux, who has hammered away with the argument that police bungles tainted the crime scene so much that the evidence cannot be used against Pistorius.","US: Russia facing diplomacy or new sanctions. GENEVA (AP) — A senior U.S. official says high-stakes diplomatic meetings in Geneva on Thursday to try to ease burgeoning violence in eastern Ukraine will mark Kiev's final attempt to engage with Russia before the West hits Moscow with additional economic sanctions.","Marathon bombing suspect wants trial delayed. BOSTON (AP) — Lawyers for Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the surviving Boston Marathon suspect, are again asking a federal judge to delay his trial until September.","British officials tell citizens to leave Crimea. LONDON (AP) — Britain is advising against all travel to Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula and telling its citizens now there to leave.","Pun by French far-right party founder slammed as anti-Semitic. Anti-racism campaigners reacted with outrage on Sunday to an apparent anti-Semitic pun by France's former far-right leader Jean-Marie Le Pen that even his own party and daughter were quick to criticise. SOS Racisme denounced as \"the most anti-Semitic filth\" a pledge by the founder of the National Front (FN) party to put his critics in their place using a pun suggesting Nazi gas chambers. The remark was contained in a video clip posted on the FN website and since removed. In the video, Le Pen railed against a number of critics including pop star Madonna and Yannick Noah, the French singer and former tennis champion.","Bilbao counting on home advantage in return. BILBAO, Spain (AP) — Athletic Bilbao has a long-standing tradition of only fielding players with Basque connections, a policy that has sometimes worked to its advantage but more often made it hard to progress at Europe's top level.","Stampede kills 6 primary schoolchildren in China. BEIJING (AP) — Chinese authorities say six schoolchildren have been killed in a stampede at a primary school in the southern city of Kunming.","Police: British man died from blast in St. Vincent. KINGSTOWN, St. Vincent (AP) — Authorities on the eastern Caribbean island of St. Vincent say a British tourist found dead last week near his sunken boat had injuries consistent with an explosion.","Backers: Report on rail risks boosts Keystone XL. WASHINGTON (AP) — A government warning about the dangers of increased use of trains to transport crude oil is giving a boost to supporters of the long-delayed Keystone XL pipeline.","Turkey briefly stops suspicious trucks near Syria border. Turkish security forces on Sunday stopped and searched seven trucks near the Syrian border suspected to be loaded with weapons -- but let them go when they discovered Turkish intelligence personnel on board, according to media and officials. However the local governor's office later issued a statement saying all personnel on the vehicles belonged to Turkey's National Intelligence Organisation (MIT) and were on duty. The operation came just days after Turkish police carried out multi-city raids against Al-Qaeda suspects accused of helping radical fighters in Syria. The Turkish government itself has been accused by Western powers of shipping arms to rebels and turning a blind eye to militants crossing the border to fight in Syria, claims it has repeatedly denied.","South African prosecutor asks for Pistorius mental evaluation. By Siyabonga Sishi PRETORIA (Reuters) - A South African prosecutor asked on Tuesday for Oscar Pistorius to be sent for a mental evaluation after a psychiatrist told the Olympic and Paralympic track star's murder trial he had an anxiety disorder. Prosecutor Gerrie Nel argued he wanted to prevent the 27-year-old sprinter, who faces life in prison if convicted of murdering his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp, from later appealing on the basis of a disturbed mental condition. Nel told the court there was a \\\\\"reasonable possibility\\\\\" that Pistorius suffers from a mental illness, adding that without a proper evaluation the case could later be appealed over Pistorius' mental health.","Haley traveling to India to lure jobs. COLUMBIA, South Carolina (AP) — Gov. Nikki Haley is leading South Carolina's first trade trip to India in hopes of persuading companies in her parents' native country to bring jobs to South Carolina.","Australia raises terror alert level to 'high'. Sydney (AFP) - Australia on Friday raised the terror threat level to \"high\" from \"medium\" for the first time in a decade, on concerns about Australians returning from fighting in the Middle East.","Death of British 'troll' sparks debate over Internet bile. London (AFP) - The death of a British woman accused of a vicious campaign of online abuse against the parents of missing girl Madeleine McCann has ignited debate over the growing scourge of Internet \"trolls\".","Madagascar names new prime minister: presidency official. Madagascar has named Kolo Christopher Laurent Roger as its new prime minister, a senior presidency official said on Friday, part of a process aimed at ending years of political crisis on the Indian Ocean island. In January, Hery Rajaonarimampianina an ally of former president and coup leader Andry Rajoelina, took office pledging to woo investors after winning an election the month before, the first such poll since a coup in 2009. Rajoelina has been at the heart of a power struggle that has stoked five years of turmoil in the nickel-producing Indian Ocean island. \"Kolo Christopher Laurent Roger has been named prime minister and head of government,\" Colonel Roger Ralala, secretary general of the presidency, said.","Militants order female genital mutilation in Iraq: U.N.. The United Nations, expressing deep concern, said on Thursday that militant group Islamic State had ordered all girls and women in and around Iraq's northern city of Mosul to undergo female genital mutilation. One document posted on Twitter suggested it may be a year old and have been issued by the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant, the group's previous name. Such a \"fatwa\" issued by the Sunni Muslim fighters would potentially affect 4 million women and girls, U.N. resident and humanitarian coordinator in Iraq Jacqueline Badcock told reporters in Geneva by videolink from Arbil. There was no immediate comment from Islamic State which has led an offensive through northern and western Iraq.","Three victims of rally crash in Scotland named. Police released the names on Sunday of the three people who were killed when a rally car ploughed into a group of spectators in Scotland at the weekend. John Provan, 64, Elizabeth Allan, 63, and John Leonard Stern, 71, all from near Glasgow, were killed when a car lost control at the Jim Clark rally near Kelso, close to the English border, on Saturday. \"Investigations into both incidents are ongoing,\" Police Scotland said in a statement. Eyewitness Colin Gracey, 46, called the incident \"traumatic\".","Icahn cuts stake in Family Dollar. (Reuters) - Activist investor Carl Icahn cut his stake in Family Dollar Stores Inc , a day after the company agreed to be bought by rival discount chain Dollar Tree Inc for $8.5 billion. Icahn said he was \"determined\" to dispose part of his stake rather than wait for the deal to close or for higher offers to emerge. Icahn, who had threatened a proxy war against the struggling discount chain if it did not put itself up for sale, said on Monday there were \"a handful of potential buyers\" who could be a better fit to buy Family Dollar. He had earlier touted fellow discounter Dollar General Corp as a potential buyer.","GM compensation fund makes first offers to victims, gets more claims. DETROIT (Reuters) - The fund to compensate for deaths or injuries linked to General Motors Co vehicles with faulty ignition switches this week made its first cash offers to about 15 people, the office of the lawyer overseeing the program said on Wednesday. The fund will pay at least $1 million for each death claim or more if they had dependants. GM has set aside $400 million to cover the compensation costs. The total number of claims filed by Wednesday was up to 850 from the 675 claims through last Friday, including 150 death claims, said an official with the office of lawyer Kenneth Feinberg. ...","Lebanon IDs leader of al-Qaida-linked group. BEIRUT (AP) — The Lebanese army says DNA tests have shown that the man detained in Beirut and suspected in the Iran embassy bombing is the Saudi commander of an al-Qaida-linked group.","Lebanese soldier killed while dismantling bomb near Syria. BEIRUT (Reuters) - A Lebanese soldier was killed while dismantling an explosive device outside the town of Arsal on the border with Syria on Wednesday, security sources said. The death comes a day after gunmen who crossed from Syria into the nearby mountainous border town of Ras Baalbek killed six Lebanese soldiers when they ambushed a patrol near the border. Two more soldiers were wounded in Wednesday's blast, which occurred in the outskirts of Arsal, the sources said. The national news agency also reported the incident. Spillover from Syria has repeatedly shaken Lebanon. ...","Russia lambasts Ukraine minister who swore about Putin. By Timothy Heritage and Alissa de Carbonnel KIEV/MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia accused Ukraine's acting foreign minister on Sunday of \"going beyond the limits of decency\" by calling President Vladimir Putin a \"dickhead\" during a violent protest outside its embassy in Kiev. A senior member of Russian parliament called for Andriy Deshchytsia to resign and Moscow protested to Kiev about Saturday's violence, during which cars were overturned, windows broken and a Russian flag ripped up. Deshchytsia said he had gone to the rally to try to stop it turning violent but video footage on YouTube also showed him saying: \"I am for you protesting.","Top Asian News at 9:00 a.m. GMT. COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — The \"Queen of Jaffna,\" a once-popular train linking the ethnic Tamil's northern heartland to the rest of Sri Lanka before a bloody civil war cut the link 24 years ago, chugs back into service next week, reinforcing the government's authority in a region once controlled by Tamil rebels. For the old, it is a nostalgic piece of the Indian Ocean island's past. For the young, the train represents something novel and opens opportunities to explore the north. For the central government, the resumption of the \"Yarl Devi,\" as it is known in Tamil, marks a step toward restoring national unity five years after the Tamil separatists were defeated.","Pakistan's Musharraf survives assassination bomb attempt. Pakistan's former military ruler Pervez Musharraf, who is on trial for treason, narrowly escaped an assassination attempt as a bomb went off shortly before his convoy was due to pass early Thursday, police said. The bomb was planted on Musharraf's route from an army hospital where he has been staying since January to his home on the outskirts of Islamabad. \"Four kilograms of explosive device planted in a pipeline under a bridge exploded around 20 minutes before the former president was supposed to cross the spot,\" senior police official Liaqat Niazi said. Muhammad Naeem, a spokesman for the Islamabad police, confirmed the incident, saying a bomb disposal squad had cleared the area after the blast.","AP NewsBreak: Iran looks at compromise nuke offer. VIENNA (AP) — Diplomats say Iran is considering a U.S. proposal at nuclear talks that would allow it to keep more of its atomic infrastructure while still reducing its ability to make an atomic bomb.","Global stocks sluggish as China, US in focus. BEIJING (AP) — Global stocks were mostly lower Tuesday amid jitters about China's housing market and a surprise drop in a key measure of U.S. consumer confidence.","Rugby-Queensland Reds 22 Stormers 17 - Super Rugby result. March 29 (Reuters) - Queensland Reds (Australia) 22 beat Stormers (South Africa) 17 (halftime 13-10) in their Super Rugby clash at Lang Park in Brisbane on Saturday. Scorers: Queensland Reds - Try: Rob Simmons; Conversion: Quade Cooper; Penalties: Cooper (4); Dropgoal: Cooper Stormers - Tries: Damian de Allende, Sikhumbuzo Notshe; Conversions: Peter Grant, Demetri Catrakilis; Penalties: Grant (Compiled by Greg Stutchbury; Editing by John O'Brien)","Pandemonium after explosion in north Nigeria city. MAIDUGURI, Nigeria (AP) — A car bomb exploded at a military post in a commercial area in a northeastern Nigerian city on Tuesday, causing pandemonium with blood-spattered bystanders running away and vehicles colliding as drivers rushed to flee.","Mogherini: Italy's young rising star. Italy's Federica Mogherini, named the European Union's new foreign policy chief on Saturday, is a member of what Prime Minister Matteo Renzi calls the up-and-coming \"Erasmus generation\". The 41-year-old former foreign minister represents the kind of Europe that Italy is aiming for: open and internet-savvy, closer to young people and based more on common values than the single currency. Her candidacy initially ran into difficulties as Eastern European countries criticised her for being both too inexperienced and too close to Moscow -- a key issue given the crisis in Ukraine.","Russia proposes curbs for foreign media ownership. MOSCOW (AP) — Russia's parliament has given preliminary approval to a bill limiting foreign ownership in Russian media to 20 percent.","Obama calls for a 'rethinking' on Crimea vote. WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama expressed hope Wednesday that a referendum on the future of Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula can be halted, as he met with the new leader of the former Soviet republic.","Brangelina wine sequel called 'mouthwatering'. PARIS (AP) — The latest Brad Pitt-Angelina Jolie sequel is being described as powerful and elegant with a \"mouthwatering finish.\"","Kenya says 30 Shebab rebels killed in Somalia air strike. Kenya said Friday it had killed at least 30 Shebab rebels including top commanders in an air strike on a training camp in Somalia. The raid on Thursday evening targeted a Shebab camp in Garbarahey in Gedo region, situated around 600 kilometres (390 miles) northwest of the Somali capital Mogadishu and near the border with Kenya and Ethiopia, the Kenyan military said. \"KDF (Kenya Defence Force) fighter jets attacked an Al Shebab camp, where a meeting was being held,\" a senior KDF official said. \"Initial battle damage assessment indicates more than 30 Al Shebab militants killed, including key commanders,\" the official added.","US military: American aircraft conduct 4 airstrikes on Iraqi militants to defend civilians.. WASHINGTON (AP) — US military: American aircraft conduct 4 airstrikes on Iraqi militants to defend civilians.","Ebola News Guide: Deaths keep rising; world reacts. American Marines scrambled to add Ebola treatment beds in Liberia on Friday, while the U.S. and Britain readied new disease screenings for passengers arriving at their airports from West Africa. Doctors tried out experimental drugs in a global battle against the deadly sickness.","South Sudan peace talks may be too late to stop war. As East African mediators attempt to push South Sudan's government and rebels into signing a truce, analysts and diplomats fear it may already be too late to halt the war. Regional nations are trying to broker a ceasefire but have already been drawn into the brutal five-week-old conflict, with Ugandan troops battling alongside government forces loyal to President Salva Kiir. The longer it continues, the more \"those who have remained on the sidelines are increasingly pulled into the conflict,\" US Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Linda Thomas-Greenfield warned in a statement this week. \"Each day that the conflict continues, the risk of all-out civil war grows as ethnic tensions rise,\" she added.","Ukrainians in Canada send money, shed tears for Kiev. By Andrea Hopkins and Rod Nickel TORONTO/WINNIPEG, Manitoba (Reuters) - The small gilded chapel at the Ukrainian Canadian Care Center, a retirement residence in suburban Toronto, is usually shuttered and dark midweek. But on Thursday, dozens of elderly immigrants and their caregivers gathered to pray for protesters and family back in Kiev. At a mid-morning service, a priest from Toronto's Ukrainian Orthodox Cathedral, Jaroslaw Buciora, told people the best thing they could do is pray for those back home. He and many others in the Ukrainian-Canadian community, which is estimated to number 1.2 million, are doing more than that, however - everything from sewing ribbons to sending cash in support of the Kiev demonstrators.","Etihad in final due diligence stage for Alitalia stake buy. Etihad Airways is in the final phase of a due diligence process that may result in a potential investment by the Abu Dhabi carrier in troubled Italian airline Alitalia, both companies said in a joint statement on Sunday. Alitalia and Etihad have been in talks for weeks on a possible investment by the Gulf carrier, which sources close to the matter say may involve Etihad buying a 40 percent stake in Alitalia. The Gulf airline had earlier confirmed talks with Alitalia but declined to give any further details on the discussions. The announcement comes as Italy's Prime Minister Enrico Letta is on a visit to United Arab Emirates to boost bilateral ties between the two countries.","IS-linked group beheads Frenchman abducted in Algeria: video. Algiers (AFP) - IS-linked group beheads Frenchman abducted in Algeria: video","Hertha Berlin signs Dutch defender John Heitinga. BERLIN (AP) — Hertha Berlin has signed Dutch defender John Heitinga on a two-year contract.","Emirates jails man over social media posts. DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The son of a jailed activist in the United Arab Emirates was himself sentenced to prison and fined Tuesday after being convicted over messages sent on social media and of joining an illegal group.","Yemen's al Qaeda leader vows to attack America in new video. By Yara Bayoumy DUBAI (Reuters) - The leader of al Qaeda's wing in Yemen has vowed to attack the United States, in a video apparently showing a gathering of the group celebrating a mass jailbreak of fighters. The 15-minute video, dated March 2014 and posted on a website used by Islamists, shows masked men waving al Qaeda's black flag and celebrating the arrival of the freed prisoners. We have to remember that we are always fighting the biggest enemy,\" says a man speaking in the open in a mountainous area, whom the video identifies as its leader Nasser al-Wuhaishi. The video, entitled \"Images from the reception of the freed prisoners from Sanaa's central prison,\" included testimony from fighters involved in the jailbreak.","Blanc dares not drop Ibrahimovic, even for a rest. PARIS (AP) — Even though Paris Saint-Germain striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic has been hindered by a sore back and could do with a rest, coach Laurent Blanc will not sit him for the Champions League match against Bayer Leverkusen on Wednesday.","Gun and suicide attack kills 23 near Pakistan-Iran border. Quetta (Pakistan) (AFP) - At least 23 people including several Shiite pilgrims were killed in a gun and suicide attack on the restive Pakistan-Iran border late Sunday night, Pakistani officials said. The attack came when a bus carrying Pakistani pilgrims returning from a visit to holy Muslim sites in Iran stopped at a restaurant in the Pakistani town of Taftan in the border area. \"So far we can confirm 23 people killed including several Shiite pilgrims and security personal.","Barclays to get rid of 14,000 jobs this year. LONDON (AP) — British bank Barclays says it will cut around 14,000 jobs this year as it looks to streamline its operations and reduce the size of its investment banking arm.","Egypt: Military helicopter crashes in Sinai. CAIRO (AP) — Spokesman of Egypt's military says an army helicopter crashed and its crew is missing in the northern Sinai Peninsula, where troops are battling Islamic militants.","UN: More than half Yemen's people need aid. UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N. humanitarian coordinator for Yemen says over half the country's 14.7 million people need humanitarian aid this year.","Thai police urged to prevent suicide in profession. BANGKOK (AP) — Thai police say steps are being taken to reduce rising suicide rates in the profession, warning that senior police officials could face punishment if any of their officers kill themselves.","Indonesia inaugurates parliament likely to curb Widodo's reforms. By Kanupriya Kapoor JAKARTA (Reuters) - Indonesia inaugurated a new, opposition-dominated parliament on Wednesday, one that is expected to obstruct incoming president Joko Widodo's ambitious reforms for Southeast Asia's biggest economy. Widodo, the popular former governor of the capital, Jakarta, narrowly won an election in July, becoming the first businessman to become president of the world's third-largest democracy, a post previously held by members of the military or political elite. ...","Boko Haram attacks 'a challenge to sovereignty': Nigeria. Nigeria's military on Friday said that increasing Boko Haram attacks were a challenge to the country's sovereignty but rejected claims it was in denial about the seriousness of the threat. \"It is not only the pride and reputation of the military that is at stake but that of the entire nation,\" said defence spokesman Chris Olukolade, calling for support for the armed forces. \"All steps are being taken to ensure the success of the counter-insurgency operations, especially at this crucial time when our sovereignty is being challenged,\" he added. Olukolade's comments come a day after the United States said it was concerned by the upsurge in violence and the Islamists' recent territorial gains in Nigeria's far northeast.","How Pakistan's Sharif stumbled into protests crisis. By Katharine Houreld ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - As thousands of protesters blockaded Pakistan's parliament last week, the spirits of the lawmakers inside were briefly lifted by a rare appearance from Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. But Sharif only listened in silence as legislator after legislator denounced the protesters seeking his government's resignation. He then stood up, and left through a back door. Toppled in a 1999 coup, jailed and then exiled, Sharif made a triumphant comeback as prime minister for a third time in last year's general election. \"This is a symptom of arrogance and bad governance,\" said independent senator Mohsin Leghari. \"When issues are not discussed in parliament they spill out into the streets.\" That is what happened this month when opposition leader Imran Khan and firebrand cleric Tahir ul-Qadri led tens of thousands of supporters to the capital, Islamabad, to demand that he step down. Many believe that Sharif, a wealthy steel magnate from Pakistan's wealthiest and most populous province, has only himself to blame for his current crisis.","IOC president pays tribute to Volgograd bombings at Olympic truce ceremony. SOCHI, Russia - IOC President Thomas Bach paid tribute Tuesday to the victims of the recent suicide bombings in southern Russia that killed 34 people and heightened security concerns for the Sochi Olympics.","Russia says now is not the time for U.N. resolution on aid to Syria. By Michelle Nichols UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - As Western and Arab nations prepared to push for a U.N. Security Council resolution calling for better access to aid in war-torn Syria, Russia said on Wednesday that now was not the right time for such a move. The United Nations says some 9.3 million Syrians, nearly half the population, need help and U.N. aid chief Valerie Amos has repeatedly expressed frustration that violence and red tape have slowed the delivery of humanitarian assistance to a trickle. \"We're against moving to a resolution now on the Security Council. That's as clear as I can put it,\" Russia's U.N. Ambassador, Vitaly Churkin, told reporters.","Police in Kosovo stop driver with explosives. PRISTINA, Kosovo (AP) — Kosovo police say they have foiled an apparent attempt to detonate a car filled with explosive material in the capital Pristina.","Germany's Catholic bishops elect Marx as leader. BERLIN (AP) — Germany's Catholic bishops have elected Cardinal Reinhard Marx as their new leader.","Australia 32-0, leads India by 105 on day 4. ADELAIDE, Australia (AP) — Nathan Lyon took 5-134 as Australia quickly dismissed India's tail then reached 32-0, taking an overall lead of 105 runs at lunch Friday on the fourth day of the first test.","Malaysian passenger plane crashes in Ukraine near Russian border: Ifax. A Malaysian passenger airliner with 295 people on board crashed in Ukraine near the Russian border on Thursday, the Interfax news agency cited an aviation industry source as saying. The Interfax report said the plane came down 50 km (20 miles) short of entering Russian airspace.","US defence chief warns China over territorial claims. US Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel on Sunday warned China against unilateral action to resolve a territorial dispute with Japan or other Asian countries, drawing a parallel with Russia's incursion in Ukraine. \"All nations deserve respect, no matter how large or how small,\" Hagel said during a visit to Tokyo. \"I think we're seeing some clear evidence of a lack of respect, and coercion and intimidation with ... what the Russians have done in Ukraine,\" he told a joint news conference with his Japanese counterpart, Itsunori Onodera. Countries had to speak up and clearly reject such a blatant violation of international law, said Hagel, referring to Russia's annexation of Ukraine's Crimean peninsula.","MSF warns Liberia Ebola 'progress' could be illusory. Global aid agency Doctors Without Borders urged caution Thursday over claims of a slowdown in infections in Ebola-hit Liberia, saying the apparent drop could be due to poor management of the sick. The warning follows an announcement by the World Health Organization (WHO) that data from a range of sources including funeral directors and treatment centres indicated lower admission rates and burials. \"It is too soon to draw conclusions on the reduction of Ebola cases in Monrovia,\" Fasil Tezera, MSF head of mission in Liberia, said in a statement.","Airlines body calls on governments to lead review of airspace risks. Governments should take the lead in reviewing how risk assessments for airspace are made, the head of the International Air Transport Association said, after airlines called for a summit following the downing of an airliner over Ukraine. The issue of flying over conflict zones has come into sharp focus after Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 was shot down over rebel-held territory in eastern Ukraine on Thursday, with airlines Emirates and Lufthansa calling for an international summit to discuss how the industry evaluates risk. \"No effort should be spared in ensuring that this outrage is not repeated,\" IATA Director General Tony Tyler said in a statement on Tuesday. Geneva-based IATA represents around 200 global airlines.","Juncker: Greece offered example to Argentina. ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greece's recent efforts to get its public finances into shape could have been the model for recently defaulted Argentina to follow.","Nets edge Raptors to advance in playoffs. Toronto (Canada) (AFP) - The Brooklyn Nets survived a frantic final push by Toronto on Sunday, edging the Raptors 104-103 to reach the second round of the NBA playoffs. The Nets won the best-of-seven Eastern conference series four games to three to earn a shot at two-time defending champions Miami in the second round. LeBron James and the Heat will host game one of that series on Tuesday. But it came down to the final second, when Brooklyn's Paul Pierce managed to block Raptors guard Kyle Lowry's potential game-winning jump shot to preserve the one-point margin.","Strikes in Iraq, Syria expected under new war plan. WASHINGTON (AP) — As U.S. forces gear up for airstrikes in Syria, the first demonstration of President Barack Obama's more aggressive military campaign against the Islamic State group is likely to unfold first in Iraq as early as next week, officials say.","France defends billion-euro guarantee demand in UBS probe. By Chine Labbé PARIS (Reuters) - A 1.1 billion euro ($1.48 billion) guarantee payment demanded by French judges of Swiss bank UBS reflects the size of the fine it could pay if found guilty of helping wealthy French customers avoid tax, the French prosecutor's office said on Thursday. In a major escalation of a 15-month inquiry, the Zurich-based bank said on Wednesday it had been put under formal investigation on allegations it laundered the proceeds of tax evasion and was ordered to make what it called an \"unprecedented and unwarranted\" guarantee payment. French authorities defended the move, which comes as Paris seeks to cooperate more closely with its neighbors Switzerland to crack down on its citizens with hidden Swiss bank accounts.","Iraq PM faces fractured opposition in reelection bid. Nuri al-Maliki is bidding for a third term as Iraqi premier on Wednesday without any obvious challenger, in marked contrast to the 2010 election when he faced an ex-premier in a tight race. \"For Maliki, it is a matter of life or death,\" said Aziz Jabr, a political science professor at Baghdad's Mustansiriyah University. Though not codified, Iraq's leaders have established a de facto agreement whereby the prime minister is a Shiite, the president a Kurd, and the speaker of parliament a Sunni Arab. Wednesday's parliamentary election, the first since US troops pulled out in late 2011, comes with violence at its worst since Iraq's brutal sectarian war between Sunnis and Shiites in 2006-2008, and with anti-government fighters in control of the town of Fallujah a short drive from Baghdad.","London's FTSE index opens slightly lower. London (AFP) - London's FTSE 100 stock exchange opened slightly lower on Friday, edging 5.23 percent down to 6,553.05 points by 0912 GMT.","Tough starts for favoured sides in Super Rugby. WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — The first full round of Super Rugby separated hype from reality for some purported title contenders and revealed a competition that may be stronger across the board than at any time in recent seasons.","Drug safety agency authorizes sales of cannabis-based medicine for the first time in France. PARIS - The French drug safety agency has approved commercial sales of a medicine derived from cannabis for the first time in France.","7 charged with defaming India's new prime minister. NEW DELHI (AP) — Seven people, including four students, have been arrested in southern India on charges of defaming the country's new prime minister in a college magazine.","2 Americans held in North Korea whisked back home. JOINT BASE LEWIS-McCHORD, Washington (AP) — Two Americans released from captivity in North Korea returned to the United States, landing at a Washington state military base after their departure was secured through a secret mission by the top U.S. intelligence official to the reclusive country.","With Romo on the field, Cowboys beat Jaguars 31-17. LONDON (AP) — Bad back or not, the Dallas Cowboys are a better team with Tony Romo on the field.","Hearing reset for suspect in UN soldier deaths. DETROIT (AP) — A federal immigration court judge delayed a hearing Thursday for a Lebanese-born man suspected by the Irish government in the deaths of two United Nations peacekeeping soldiers in Lebanon in 1980.","Hague tribunal asks China to defend sea claims. MANILA, Philippines (AP) — A Hague-based tribunal has asked China to defend its territorial claims in the South China Sea by submitting evidence within six months despite Beijing's refusal to respond to a Philippine legal challenge to Beijing's vast claims to the strategic waters.","USVI rejects bill to sell Hovensa oil refinery. CHARLOTTE AMALIE, U.S. Virgin Islands (AP) — Legislators in the U.S. Virgin Islands have rejected a proposal to sell the former Hovensa oil refinery in St. Croix.","Situation in Syria is 'appalling,' getting worse: U.N.. UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The humanitarian crisis in Syria is getting worse as all parties to the war, including forces aligned with the government and Islamic State militants, show \"callous disregard\" for millions of suffering civilians, the United Nations said on Thursday. The comments from Kyung-wha Kang, U.N. assistant secretary-general and deputy emergency relief coordinator, came during a monthly briefing for the Security Council on compliance with U.N. demands for greater aid access across Syria, now in its fourth year of civil war. ...","Brazil arrests 8 in Amazon deforestation swoop. Brazilian police said Thursday they had made eight arrests in raids to smash a gang considered the worst perpetrators of deforestation in the Amazon region. Police are searching for a further six (suspects) considered to be on the run,\" a police spokesman in the Amazonian state of Para told AFP. According to the Brazilian Environmental Institute, the group has carried out environmental crimes valued at $230 million, making them \"the greatest destroyers of the Brazilian Amazon currently active.\" Para authorities say the state has suffered some 15,500 hectares (38,300 acres) of deforestation, with the state prosecutor's office estimating that the area where the gang was operating accounts for about 10 percent of the total.","Bangladesh eye 3-0 test series sweep vs Zimbabwe. CHITTAGONG, Bangladesh (AP) — Having won its third ever test cricket series, Bangladesh wants to compound Zimbabwe's misery by achieving a first 3-0 series whitewash when the last match starts on Wednesday.","UN scientist with Ebola in Germany for treatment. BERLIN (AP) — A scientist who was infected with Ebola while working for the World Health Organization in Sierra Leone has arrived in Germany for treatment in a Hamburg hospital, officials said Wednesday.","Three killed in militia violence in Central African Republic's capital. BANGUI (Reuters) - At least three people were killed and hundreds forced to flee their homes in attacks by the \"anti-balaka\" militia in the capital of Central African Republic, officials said on Wednesday. The violence erupted late on Tuesday in a district of Bangui near the banks of the Oubangi river, close to President Catherine Samba-Panza's residence, as armed men ransacked homes. Samba Panza's transitional government said on Tuesday that a recent spike in violence in the capital -- in which more than a dozen people have been killed -- was part of a plot to destabilize her administration. ...","Syrian government air strikes target Islamic State in Raqqa. Forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad hammered the eastern Syrian city of Raqqa with more than two dozen air strikes on Sunday, targeting areas controlled by the Islamic State militant group, a monitoring group said. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which has tracked violence on all sides of the conflict that began in March 2011, said at least 31 fighters from the Islamic State were killed and dozens wounded in the air strikes that hit Raqqa city and the surrounding areas. It said 26 strikes on Sunday hit Islamic State buildings, including the military court and bases in the city. The conflict in Syria started when Assad cracked down on a pro-democracy uprising, which then armed itself.","India's opposition holds strong lead in last big poll before election. India's opposition BJP party, headed by its prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi, is set to win 35 percent of votes in the general election starting Monday, a poll released late on Friday showed. The ruling Congress party is expected to get 25 percent of votes, according to the poll by CNN-IBN and Lokniti at the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS), the last major poll before the election. The opposition Bharatiya Janata Party and its allies are expected to win a combined 38 percent, giving them between 234 and 246 seats out of the 543-seat assembly. Congress and its allies are expected to win 28 percent, entitling them to between 111 and 123 seats, according to the poll.","Scottish National Party driving Scotland to edge of independence. The Scottish National Party (SNP) has gone from being a fringe force to within touching distance of taking Scotland independent from Britain, its defining purpose, in 15 years. To most Scots, the party means two things -- First Minister Alex Salmond, the combative horse-racing fanatic who has led it on and off since 1990, and independence, at the party's heart since its foundation 80 years ago. \"They're either going to win narrowly, which is just a possibility, or they're going to poll so high that the union is never going be the same again,\" said Gerry Hassan, an academic and leading commentator on Scottish politics. The opening of the Scottish Parliament in 1999 under Britain's then prime minister Tony Blair gave the SNP its big boost.","AP PHOTOS: Editor selections from Asia. At the tsunami-damaged nuclear plant in Fukushima, nearly all the 6,000 workers are devoted to a single, distracting task: Coping with the enormous and growing amount of contaminated water used to keep the tsunami-damaged reactors from overheating. They have built nearly 1,000 large tanks to store the water in.","Sailing-All hands on deck as Ainslie prepares Cup challenge. By Martyn Herman LONDON, Sept 9 (Reuters) - Ben Ainslie is the most successful Olympic sailor of all time but he said he might not necessarily helm Britain's America's Cup challenge in 2017, despite being the team boss. Ainslie, who won medals at five consecutive Olympics and gold in the last four, is busy with the colossal task of putting together a British boat capable of beating Team Oracle, the American outfit he masterminded to one of the greatest sporting comebacks in San Francisco last year. \"We are a British team,\" Ainslie told Reuters at a news conference on Tuesday also featuring Oracle skipper Jimmy Spithill and Dean Barker, whose Team New Zealand crew snatched defeat from the jaws of victory a year ago, having led 8-1. \"If we were going racing tomorrow I would be steering the boat, but maybe that's not the same answer I would give you in a couple of years time.\" WHIRLWIND LIFE Since entering for the 35th America's Cup with his Ben Ainslie Racing (BAR) team, life has been a whirlwind.","Biden warns of further costs for Russia over Ukraine violence. U.S. Vice President Joe Biden told Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko on Wednesday the United States would work with its allies to \"impose further costs on Russia\" if Moscow failed to use its influence to stop separatist violence in eastern Ukraine, the White House said. He said Russia has failed to stop sending weapons and militants across the border. \"The vice president noted that the United States would work with our partners to impose further costs on Russia if it continued on its current course,\" the White House said in a statement.","Ex-Raider, wrestler Manoukian dies in Reno at 80. RENO, Nev. (AP) — A longtime Reno athlete and civic leader who played for the Oakland Raiders and was a pioneer in professional wrestling has died.","Ebola death toll soars past 2,000: WHO. Geneva (AFP) - The death toll from the Ebola epidemic in west Africa has climbed above 2,000, the UN's World Health Organisation said on Friday after a two-day crisis meeting in Geneva.","French government seeks more museum opening hours. PARIS (AP) — If the Socialist government gets its way, visitors to France's three most touristic museums — the Louvre, the Musee d'Orsay and Versailles Palace — may get to visit seven days a week in coming years.","Much Ado About Nothing: London buzz for Clooney wedding. Rumours that George Clooney and his fiancee might be getting married on Friday in London's Chelsea Old Town Hall sparked a media frenzy but the registry office said \"not today\". The 53-year-old Hollywood actor and Beirut-born British human rights lawyer Amal Alamuddin, 36, are set to tie the knot within weeks, though a date and precise venue have not been publicly announced. Clooney's spokesman has confirmed the film star's comments that they will marry in the coming weeks in Venice -- but that did not stop a media scramble to Chelsea on Friday. \"We are NOT conducting the wedding of Mr Clooney at this office today,\" said a statement posted outside.","Cuba looks to mangroves to fend off rising seas. HAVANA (AP) — Many people in this tiny hamlet on the southern coast of Cuba remember when the shore lay about 100 meters (yards) farther out. That was four decades ago.","China's Xi ramps up military spending in face of worried region. China will increase military spending by 12.2 percent this year to 808.23 billion yuan ($131.57 billion), the government said on Wednesday, partly to beef up coastal and air defenses and to develop more high-tech weapons. \"We will comprehensively enhance the revolutionary nature of the Chinese armed forces, further modernize them and upgrade their performance, and continue to raise their deterrence and combat capabilities in the information age,\" Premier Li Keqiang told the largely rubber-stamp legislature. Li added that China would \"strengthen research on national defense and the development of new- and high-technology weapons and equipment\" and \"enhance border, coastal and air defenses\". China's military spending is now second only to that of the United States, allowing Beijing to create a modern force that is projecting power deep into the disputed waters of the East and South China Seas.","Syria jihadists seize Daraa rebel leader: monitor. Al-Nusra Front, the Al-Qaeda franchise in Syria, has seized a moderate rebel commander in the southern province of Daraa, a monitoring group said on Sunday. \"Al-Nusra Front last night arrested the head of the Military Council of Daraa, Captain Ahmad Naameh, along with five other commanders of opposition factions,\" said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. Activists also reported his capture, which took place amid significant rebel advances in the province, where Al-Nusra Front has only a limited presence.","Cricket-Rahane put 90s wobbles out of mind to score maiden ton. By Greg Stutchbury WELLINGTON, Feb 15 (Reuters) - Ajinkya Rahane consciously ignored that he was closing in on his first test century on the second day of the second test against New Zealand, mindful that he had fallen in the 90s against South Africa when he was too keen to achieve the milestone. Rahane top-scored with 118 for India and contributed to valuable partnerships with Virat Kohli (38), captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni (68) and pace bowler Zaheer Khan (22) to guide the visitors to 438, an overall lead of 246 runs. New Zealand finished the day struggling on 24 for one, still needing 222 runs to make the visitors bat again after Peter Fulton was trapped leg before for one by Zaheer in the second over of the innings. \"During the 90s when me and Zaheer were batting, I wasn't thinking about my hundred,\" Rahane told reporters at the Basin Reserve.","Libyan armed group frees detained Egyptian trucks. TRIPOLI, Libya (AP) — Officials say militiamen in Libya have freed over 50 Egyptian trucks on the road to the country's east after they detained them to protest the prosecution of members of their group in Egypt on arms smuggling charges.","Everton's Barkley could be out for months. LEICESTER, England (AP) — Everton manager Roberto Martinez says England midfielder Ross Barkley could be out for several months with ligament damage in his right knee.","London-area airport evacuated in security alert. LONDON (AP) — The passenger terminal at Luton Airport near London has been evacuated and flights suspended for several hours after a suspicious package was found.","France awards highest honour to modest WWII spy heroine. A World War II heroine who parachuted behind German lines on \"perilous\" spy missions, but was so modest she only told her children about it 15 years ago, was Tuesday presented with France's highest honour. British-born Phyllis (Pippa) Doyle, now 93 and living in New Zealand, was awarded the Chevalier de l'ordre national de la Légion d'Honneur, or Knight of the national Order of the Legion of Honour. The French ambassador to New Zealand, Laurent Contini, who presented the award to Doyle at a military barracks in Auckland, praised her courage in spying on German movements ahead of the D-Day landings in 1944.","Russia ordered to pay $50B over Yukos. LONDON (AP) — The former majority shareholder in oil producer Yukos says it has won in excess of $50 billion in a court ruling against Russia for the expropriation of the company.","Citizenship threat hangs over Haiti, Dominican talks. By Amelie Baron OUANAMINTHE, Haiti (Reuters) - Haitian and Dominican authorities announced progress to resolve their differences over migration and trade in talks on Tuesday held under the cloud of a controversial court ruling that threatens to strip Dominican nationality from thousands of residents of Haitian descent. The topic of migration dominated the talks, according to Haitian Prime Minister Laurent Lamothe, speaking to reporters after the meeting ended. Agreement was reached to set up a program to provide visas to Haitian workers in the Dominican Republic, and the Dominican delegation agreed to \"evaluate\" a request for extended stay student visas for Haitian students. They also agreed to continue meeting on a monthly basis, with the next meeting in the Dominican Republic.","Swedish anti-doping expert Bengt Saltin dies at 79. STOCKHOLM (AP) — Bengt Saltin, a Swedish professor of human physiology and a leading anti-doping expert, has died. He was 79.","Prominent Belarusian activist released from prison. MINSK, Belarus (AP) — A Belarusian human rights advocate who was once nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize has been released early after spending nearly three years in prison.","UN climate chief urges investors to bolster global warming fight. By Valerie Volcovici NEW YORK (Reuters) - Institutional investors managing trillions of dollars should shift their portfolios away from fossil fuel investments toward cleaner energy sources to put a stop to the dangerous rise in global temperatures causing climate change, the United Nations' climate chief said on Wednesday. Christiana Figueres, executive secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, told an investors conference at the United Nations that their investment decisions should reflect the latest scientific evidence of dangerous climate change to protect the health and financial savings of ordinary citizens well into the future. \"Climate change increasingly poses one of the biggest long-term threats to those investments and the wealth of the global economy,\" Figueres added.","Official says fundraiser ripped off NYC parade. NEW YORK (AP) — A fundraiser bilked the leading Puerto Rican parade in the U.S. of $1 million amid lax oversight from its organizers, New York state Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said Thursday.","Tutu lashes out at Pretoria over Dalai Lama Nobel row. Cape Town (AFP) - South African Nobel peace laureate Desmond Tutu Wednesday lashed out at the government for \"kowtowing\" to China by barring the Dalai Lama from attending a global summit of fellow prizewinners in Cape Town.","Nigerian press in Boko Haram t-shirt protest. Cuiabá (Brazil) (AFP) - Nigerian journalists covering their country's World Cup match with Bosnia on Saturday wore t-shirts protesting the Boko Haram Muslim militant group. Reporters wore t-shirts with the slogan 'World unites against Boko Haram', days after a bomb killed 21 fans watching a World Cup match on a big screen in the northern Nigeria on Tuesday. A further 10 people died on Saturday in raids by suspected Boko Haram gunmen near villages where Islamists abducted more than 200 girls in April, residents and local leaders said. \"We felt it was important to wear these t-shirts,\" Steven Alabi Akimjidi, a Nigerian journalist told AFP.","Ryan Tannehill leads the way in London. LONDON (AP) — Keeping Ryan Tannehill guessing may have been just what was needed.","AP survey: China's lending bubble a global threat. WASHINGTON (AP) — Just as the global economy has all but recovered from debt-fueled crises in the United States and Europe, economists have a new worry: China. They see a lending bubble there that threatens global growth unless Beijing defuses it.","Oil rig helicopter crashes off Ghana's coast, killing three. ACCRA (Reuters) - A service helicopter carrying workers to an oil rig off the coast of Ghana operated by Russia's Lukoil crashed into the ocean on Thursday, killing at least three people, a military spokesman said. Four people were rescued and another was missing, military spokesman Mbawine Attintande said. The Ghana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) said the incident occurred after the helicopter took off from the western port of Takoradi on its way to the Jack Ryag oil rig near the giant Jubilee field. The cause of the crash was not immediately known. ...","French author popular bet for literature Nobel. STOCKHOLM (AP) — Betting on French novelist Patrick Modiano to win the Nobel Prize in literature has surged in the days ahead of the announcement of the coveted award.","Airbus seeks $1.2 billion compensation over German Eurofighters. BERLIN/MUNICH (Reuters) - Airbus Group will demand around 900 million euros ($1.24 billion) compensation from Germany over plans to cancel delivery of a final shipment of Eurofighter jets, a source close to a German parliamentary committee said on Tuesday. Airbus said it would seek compensation but declined to say how much. \"The contract sets out compensation payments if Tranche 3B is not taken up,\" a spokesman for Airbus told Reuters. The air force had wanted to sell some older Eurofighters and still order the 37 newer aircraft, but the financial crisis made the sale difficult.","West Ham beats QPR 2-0 in London derby. LONDON (AP) — Diafra Sakho scored his fifth goal in as many games as West Ham climbed into the top half of the Premier League with a convincing 2-0 victory over Queens Park Rangers on Sunday.","Developer dead in mystery crash revamped a NY city. KINGSTON, Jamaica (AP) — A developer presumed dead with his wife in a private plane crash near Jamaica had an \"uncanny instinct\" for revitalizing properties and an \"incalculable\" impact on his western New York hometown's resurgence from crumbling industrial center to trendy destination for young professionals, friends and colleagues said.","Pakistan government ordered to bring anti-drone activist to court. By Katharine Houreld ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - A court in Pakistan on Wednesday ordered authorities to produce an anti-drone activist abducted just days before he was due to travel to Europe to meet lawmakers, in a case that spotlights citizens' distrust of the unmanned aircraft and government security forces. Drones have long been an irritant in relations between Pakistan and the United States, which prizes them for their accuracy in killing al-Qaida and Taliban militants. But Pakistan says they kill civilians and infringe its sovereignty. A former military ruler has acknowledged he permitted drone flights, however, and many Pakistanis believe the government is still complicit in their use.","Bombs kill 12 in Baghdad, militants stage big attack near Falluja. Two car bombs killed 12 people in Baghdad on Tuesday and Sunni Muslim militants staged coordinated attacks near the western city of Falluja, destroying two tanks and capturing a police station, police said. A suicide bomber in an explosives-laden fuel tanker blew it up under a highway bridge near Falluja, causing the bridge to collapse and destroying one of two army tanks parked on top. Simultaneously, dozens of militants attacked a police station in the nearby town of Saqlawiya, forcing the police manning it to surrender. Army helicopters later attacked the gunmen in the captured police station.","Bangladesh wins toss, bats in 2nd test vs Zimbabwe. KHULNA, Bangladesh (AP) — Bangladesh captain Mushfiqur Rahim won the toss and elected to bat first in the second test of its three-match series against Zimbabwe at Sheikh Abu Naser Stadium on Monday.","New prime minister sworn in after sweep in Antigua. ST. JOHN'S, ANTIGUA (AP) — A new prime minister has been sworn into office in Antigua following a sweep of parliamentary elections by the country's Labor Party.","Ukrainian leader calls rebel vote a farce inspired by Russia. Ukrainian acting president Oleksander Turchinov condemned Sunday's unofficial self-rule referendum in eastern regions as a farce inspired by Russia to destabilize Ukraine and topple the country's leaders in Kiev. \\\\\"These processes are inspired by the leadership of the Russian Federation and are destructive to the Donetsk and Luhansk regions' economies and threaten the lives and welfare of citizens and have the aim of destabilizing the situation in Ukraine, disrupting (May 25) presidential elections and overthrowing Ukrainian authorities.\\\\\" (writing by Ralph Boulton;","Starbucks Americas sales weaker than expected. (Reuters) - Starbucks Corp on Thursday reported sales at established cafes in its U.S.-dominated Americas region that missed Wall Street expectations in the latest quarter, despite the early return of the popular Pumpkin Spice latte. Sales at Americas-region Starbucks cafes open at least 13 months rose 5 percent for the fiscal fourth-quarter ended Sept. 28, less than the 6.2 percent gain analysts expected. The Americas region contributes the majority of Starbucks revenue. Sales for the region were up 6 percent for the third quarter. ...","US, West brace for Crimea vote to leave Ukraine. LONDON (AP) — The West braced Friday for a vote by the Crimean Peninsula to secede from Ukraine — and likely be annexed by Russia — as the last attempt for diplomacy broke down despite threats of costly international sanctions and other imminent penalties against Moscow for forcibly challenging a pro-European government in Kiev.","Russia says won't deal with 'mutineers' who took power in Ukraine. By Elizabeth Piper MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia said on Monday it would not deal with those it said stole power in \"an armed mutiny\" in Ukraine, sending the strongest signal yet that Moscow does not want to be drawn into a bidding war with the West in its southern neighbor. Querying the legitimacy of the new pro-European authorities after the Ukrainian parliament's removal of the Kremlin-backed president following months of unrest, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said he saw no one to do business with in Kiev. He did not declare a $15-billion bailout for Ukraine dead, although its future is in question, but signaled that a deal which cut the price Ukraine pays for Russian gas had an expiry date and that any extension would have to be negotiated. With President Vladimir Putin still basking in the afterglow of Russia's success at the Sochi Winter Olympics, it has been left to aides to address a crisis that has not turned out as he wanted and reduced Russian clout in Ukraine.","Teen Shiffrin chases gold in slalom, her specialty. KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia (AP) — Mikaela Shiffrin came to the Sochi Games hoping for two medals. Didn't matter one bit that she's only 18 or that she's at her first Olympics.","Gaza's newly displaced cram into packed UN schools. Dozens of displaced Gaza families flooded into a UN school early Tuesday after Israel warned them to leave their homes, struggling to set up camp in a cramped, dirty courtyard. Hundreds of homeless Gazans were already living there, with this school in the northern town of Jabaliya packed to overflowing. Those who don't are entirely responsible for their own lives,\" said Ghassan Abed, who fled his home in the nearby town of Beit Lahiya the night before. The warning was sent by text message and automated voice calls to hundreds of thousands of people living in the northern areas of Beit Lahiya, Beit Hanun and Jabaliya, as well as to those living in Zeitun and Shejaiya to the south and east of Gaza City.","Grenade attack in Pakistani cinema city kills 10. By Hameedullah Khan PESHAWAR, Pakistan (Reuters) - Unknown assailants lobbed grenades into a cinema in the northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar on Tuesday, killing 10 people and wounding 16, hospital officials and police said. It coincided with peace talks between representatives of the government and Taliban insurgents in the capital, Islamabad. There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but the Islamist Taliban said it had nothing to do with it. Pakistani Taliban spokesman Shahidullah Shahid denied involvement.","Rights groups urge India, Qatar action on migrant deaths. India came under pressure Friday over the deaths of over 450 nationals in almost two years in Qatar, the host of the 2022 World Cup, with rights groups branding the figures as \"very disturbing\". Amnesty International called on the Indian government to release more information about the deaths amid mounting criticism over safety and working conditions of migrants in Qatar's booming construction community. The Indian embassy in Qatar said the number of deaths was \"quite normal\" given the large size of the Indian community in the gas-rich Gulf state, adding that most were by natural causes. \"Instead of simply saying that such deaths are normal, the Indian government should provide clearer and more transparent information,\" said Amnesty International India spokesman Nikhil Eapen.","Albania takes 1st hurdle to EU membership. TIRANA, Albania (AP) — Albania cleared the first hurdle on its long path to European Union membership Tuesday, with the EU granting candidate status on the country's fourth try. Albania has failed to win the coveted status three times since 2009.","EU pledges 140 million euros in Ebola aid as West Africa toll tops 2,100. By Joe Bavier and Tom Miles ABIDJAN/GENEVA (Reuters) - The European Union on Friday pledged 140 million euros ($180 million) to boost the fight against Ebola in West Africa, where the death toll in the worst outbreak on record has passed 2,100 people. \"We are helping make a difference on the ground but the needs are outpacing the international community's capacity to react.\" The outbreak was first confirmed in Guinea in March and has since gripped Liberia and Sierra Leone. The EU funding will be used to strengthen health systems, train health workers and pay for mobile testing laboratories, highlighting how the disease has struck some of the continent's poorest nations and exposed the fragility of their medical care. Over 97 million euros will be spent on budget support to Liberia and Sierra Leone in order to help them deliver public services, including health care, and maintain macroeconomic stability, the European Commission said in a statement.","Israel advances building plans in east Jerusalem. JERUSALEM (AP) — The Israeli government is advancing construction plans to build about 1,000 housing units built in parts of Jerusalem that Palestinians demand for their future state.","Durban, Edmonton bid for 2022 Commonwealth Games. LONDON (AP) — Durban and Edmonton are vying to host the 2022 Commonwealth Games.","Australian FM lashes Snowden 'treachery' on US visit. Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop lashed out Wednesday at Edward Snowden, accusing the US intelligence leaker of \"unprecedented treachery\" after he unveiled Canberra's efforts to spy on Indonesia. On a visit to Washington, Bishop praised cooperation with Washington and reserved harsh words for Snowden, whose revelations led Indonesia to halt work with Australia to stem people-smuggling, a key priority for new conservative Prime Minister Tony Abbott. Shortly before a meeting with US Vice President Joe Biden, Bishop said Snowden \"continues to shamefully betray his nation while skulking in Russia. Reports based on Snowden's leaks said that Australia, which works closely with the United States, tried to bug the phones of Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, his wife and members of his inner circle in 2009.","No JPII fever in Poland as canonization nears. WADOWICE, Poland (AP) — His death triggered a massive outpouring of grief in Poland. His beatification, an explosion of pride and jubilation. But days before John Paul II is to be declared a saint, many of his countrymen are greeting the landmark with little more than a shrug.","Germany arrests man on Iran smuggling charges. BERLIN (AP) — German authorities say they have arrested a German-Iranian man suspected of supplying Iran with components for use in its missile program.","'Underdog' Kilty shocks field to win world indoor 60m. Sopot (Poland) (AFP) - Briton Richard Kilty, only racing as a replacement for injured teammate James Dasaolu, was a shock winner of the men's 60m gold at the World Indoor Athletics Championships on Saturday. Kilty, 24, made a storming start and held his form to time a personal best of 6.49 seconds for a remarkable gold and said he thrived on his underdog tag in the lead-up to the race. \"I'm stunned, I cannot believe it,\" said Kilty. \"At the finish line I felt that the others were far behind.","Attorney: Guam rampage suspect assaulted in jail. HAGATNA, Guam (AP) — The lawyer for a Guam man accused of killing three tourists in a crash and stabbing rampage says his client was assaulted in jail by another inmate.","Dubai stocks plunge as builder questions swirl. DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Dubai's stock market has plunged 6.7 percent after a construction giant in the Mideast commercial hub confirmed it has fired some of its staff following the sudden departure of its CEO last week.","Medical aid reaches Syrian town for first time in 18 months. Desperately needed medicines and medical supplies have reached the besieged Syrian town of Douma for the first time in a year and a half, the World Health Organization said Wednesday. The United Nations' health agency said two of its trucks loaded with medical supplies had been part of an aid convoy that reached the rebel-held town in the Eastern Ghouta area of Damascus province on Saturday. \"It was the first time medical help had reached Douma since the siege of the area began in November 2012,\" WHO said in a statement.","Shiels treble sends Rangers into last eight. Dean Shiels grabbed a hat-trick as Rangers booked their place in the Scottish Cup quarter-finals with a 4-0 thrashing of Dunfermline at Ibrox on Friday. The fallen Glasgow giants were far too strong for their League One rivals and can now look forward to a first appearance in the last eight of the competition since 2010. Shiels took just eight minutes to break the deadlock as he capitalised on some poor defending to fire past Ryan Scully. The Northern Ireland international added a second in the 24th minute before a superb solo goal from David Templeton made it 3-0 eight minutes before the break.","Self-storage site SpaceWays expands to France. BERLIN (AP) — A website aiming to shake up the self-storage market says it is expanding to Paris to take advantage of the French capital's notoriously small apartments.","Yuvraj omitted from India's preliminary CWC squad. NEW DELHI (AP) — Allrounder Yuvraj Singh is among five prominent India players from the 2011 World Cup-winning squad who are not in a preliminary list of 30 for the upcoming Cricket World Cup.","Kidnappers of diplomat want Tunis to free jailed Libyans. Tunis said Friday that the kidnappers of a Tunisian diplomat in Tripoli and an embassy colleague are demanding the release of Libyans jailed in Tunisia on terrorism charges. Al-Aroussi Kontassi, the diplomat, was abducted Thursday in the Libyan capital, a month after Tunisian embassy employee Mohamed ben Sheikh was seized in Tripoli. Tunisian Foreign Minister Mongi Hamdi said the two men were abducted by relatives of \"Libyan terrorists\" serving jail sentences in Tunisia over a deadly 2011 attack that killed soldiers. \"It seems they belong to the same family as Libyan terrorists detained in Tunisia in connection with the Rouhia terrorist operation who were sentenced to long jail terms,\" Hamdi told Express FM radio.","Suspect arrested in Canadian police killings, ending manhunt: police. By Christinne Muschi MONCTON New Brunswick (Reuters) - Canadian police have arrested a man suspected to have shot dead three police officers and wounded two more, ending a massive manhunt, the police said on Friday. The shooting in the eastern city of Moncton was one of the worst of its kind in Canada, where gun laws are stricter than in the United States and deadly attacks on police are rare. \"Justin Bourque arrested by RCMP at 12:10 in Moncton,\" the Royal Canadian Mounted Police said in a tweet. \"He is in police custody.","Children in Nepal orphanages 'at risk of abuse'. British teacher Sarah Robinson knew something was wrong even before leaving the orphanage in the Nepalese capital Kathmandu in 2012 with her precious new daughter. Private orphanages have mushroomed across Nepal in the absence of a state-run welfare system, their growth fuelled by corruption and the prospect of attracting donations from foreigners, activists say. \"Kids who live in orphanages, are just not important in this society ... the way they are treated,\" she said in Kathmandu. Robinson, who lives in Nepal, is awaiting a court ruling on her 2013 petition.","Prisoner boycotts Guantanamo over body search. MIAMI (AP) — A prisoner at the Guantanamo Bay naval base will not attend an upcoming review board hearing because he does not want to submit to what he considers an overly intrusive body search, according to a statement released Friday from a military official appointed to represent him.","Adam Peaty breaks 50 breaststroke world record. BERLIN (AP) — Adam Peaty of Britain has set a world record in the 50-meter breaststroke, finishing in 26.62 seconds in a semifinal heat at the European Swimming Championship on Friday.","Thailand beats host Singapore 2-1 in Suzuki Cup. SINGAPORE (AP) — Chaaryl Cappuis converted a penalty with two minutes remaining to give Thailand a 2-1 victory over host and defending champion Singapore on Sunday in their opening match of the Suzuki Cup.","Aston Martin recalls 17,590 cars due to counterfeit material. By Ben Klayman DETROIT (Reuters) - Aston Martin expanded a recall on Wednesday to cover most of its sports cars built since late 2007 after discovering a Chinese sub-supplier was using counterfeit plastic material in a part supplied to the British luxury sports carmaker. Owned by Kuwaiti and private equity investors, Aston Martin said it would now recall 17,590 cars, including all of its left-hand drive models built since November 2007 and all right-hand drive models built since May 2012. Aston Martin found that Shenzhen Kexiang Mould Tool Co Limited, a Chinese subcontractor that moulds the affected accelerator pedal arms, was using counterfeit DuPont plastic material, according to documents filed with the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The material was supplied by Synthetic Plastic Raw Material Co Ltd of Dongguan, according to the documents.","Jamaica commission charges policeman with murder. KINGSTON, Jamaica (AP) — A Jamaican agency that investigates abuse allegations against the island's security forces says a police officer has been arrested and charged with murder.","Nigerian army losing grip on northeast as Islamists rampage. By Joe Brock ABUJA (Reuters) - Nigeria's military is losing control of swathes of the largely Muslim northeast to radical Islamist insurgents who are killing civilians almost daily, and the run-up to elections next year risks aggravating the violence further. Islamist sect Boko Haram has killed thousands since it launched an uprising in 2009 in a bid to carve out an Islamic state in the West African country of 170 million people, divided roughly equally between Christians and Muslims. More than 150 civilians have died in Boko Haram attacks in the last four days, adding to the 300 killed last month, according to Reuters figures and security sources, one of the worst periods in the northeast since the sect intensified its insurgency three years ago. A security source, who asked not to be named, said 2,100 people were killed in Boko Haram violence in the last six months.","Benfica beats Braga 1-0 to close on title. LISBON, Portugal (AP) — Benfica continued its march toward the Portuguese league title by winning 1-0 at Braga on Sunday.","TSX futures indicate higher open. (Reuters) - Canadian stocks were set to open higher on Tuesday, with June futures on the S&P TSX index up 0.14 percent at 0715 ET. The S&P TSX index advanced on Monday as a jump in stocks of energy and financial companies helped offset the impact of a sharp drop in shares of gold miners after the price of bullion tumbled. Dow Jones Industrial Average e-mini futures were up 0.08 percent at 0715 ET, while S&P 500 e-mini futures were down 0.01 percent. Nasdaq 100 e-mini futures were up 0.11 percent. No major Canadian economic data is due for release on Tuesday. ...","Strong earthquake strikes off Papua New Guinea. SYDNEY (AP) — A powerful earthquake has struck off the South Pacific nation of Papua New Guinea. There were no immediate reports of injuries or damage, but a tsunami warning was in effect.","S. Koreans to light new frontline Christmas tree. SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea said Tuesday it had approved a Christian group's plan to set up and illuminate a large Christmas tree near the border with North Korea in spite of the almost certain fury it will provoke from Pyongyang.","Pope says 'enough' to human trafficking, calls it crime against humanity. By Philip Pullella VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Francis said \"enough\" to human trafficking on Thursday, denouncing it as a crime against humanity as police leaders and religious groups from around the world pledged to work together to combat it. Francis addressed the final session of a two-day Vatican-sponsored international conference on human trafficking attended by top law enforcement officials, politicians and representatives of religions. \"Human trafficking is an open wound on the body of contemporary society, a scourge upon the body of Christ. It is a crime against humanity,\" he said. ...","Northern Mali rebels agree to ceasefire: diplomat. Bamako (AFP) - Armed rebels who humiliated Mali's army in a deadly offensive across the northern desert agreed to a ceasefire on Friday after talks with African Union chairman Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz, a diplomatic source said.","Australia the underdogs in South Africa, says Smith. Australia are underdogs for the three-test series in South Africa despite last month's 5-0 Ashes whitewash of England, home captain Graeme Smith said on Tuesday. \"If you're the number one team in the world you have to be favourites,\" Smith told a news conference on the eve of the first test in Centurion. We've been number one in the world and travelled to some tough places to get it firstly and then to defend it.\" Smith said he was banking on his team to carry on performing at their best against Michael Clarke's Australia. \"South Africa have through my career been as tough as any opposition.","Ethiopia arrests journalists, bloggers. NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Rights groups are calling on Ethiopia's government to release six bloggers and three journalists arrested last week.","String of explosions rocks Iraqi capital, killing at least 15 people. BAGHDAD (AP) — String of explosions rocks Iraqi capital, killing at least 15 people.","Bayern ban British tabloids for Man Utd clash. Bayern Munich on Thursday refused two British tabloids accreditation for the Champions League quarter-final second leg at home to Manchester United over 'insulting' headlines referring to midfielder Bastian Schweinsteiger. The Germany midfielder was sent off after receiving a second yellow card for a 90th-minute foul on United's England star Wayne Rooney as Tuesday's first leg finished 1-1 at Old Trafford. Reporters from both newspapers have now been refused accreditation for Wednesday's return leg at Munich's Allianz Arena, with reigning European champions Bayern not amused by the play on words, 'Schwein' meaning 'pig' in German. \"Bayern Munich do not accept this kind of reporting and condemn these headlines in the strongest terms,\" said the Bavarian giants in a statement, referring to the headlines as \"disrespectful, discriminatory and personally insulting\".","Puerto Rican accused of impregnating granddaughter. SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — U.S. federal authorities have arrested a 64-year-old man in Puerto Rico on accusations he twice impregnated his young granddaughter.","EU sanctions people linked to Ukraine unrest. BRUSSELS (AP) — European Union foreign ministers slapped travel bans and asset freezes on 21 people they have linked to the push for the secession and possible annexation of Ukraine's Crimean peninsula.","Porter may sell and lease back Toronto airport terminal. Porter Aviation Holdings Inc, the parent of upstart Canadian carrier Porter Airlines, said on Friday it was considering selling and then leasing back the passenger terminal it operates at Toronto's Billy Bishop City Airport. Closely-held Porter Aviation said in a release that a deal would let it focus on its core airline business. Last year Porter Airlines unveiled a plan to more than double its fleet, with a conditional order worth up to $2.08 billion for Bombardier Inc's new CSeries jets. Porter said a deal would not change its operations, and it would still be based at the regional airport, on an island just off Toronto's downtown core.","Google makes more concessions in EU antitrust case. BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union's antitrust watchdog says Google is offering new and far-reaching concessions to address allegations it is abusing its dominant position in Internet searches.","PCB to invite Sri Lanka to play in Pakistan. ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistan cricket chief Najam Sethi says he is sending an invitation to Sri Lanka Cricket to play in Pakistan, five years after the tourists' convoy came under a deadly attack by terrorists in Lahore.","Disgraced theatre mogul Drabinsky granted full parole after emotional hearing. TORONTO - Disgraced theatre mogul Garth Drabinsky has been granted full parole.","Hazlewood gets 5 wickets, Haddin equals record. BRISBANE, Australia (AP) — Josh Hazlewood took a five-wicket haul on debut and wicketkeeper Brad Haddin equaled a record with six catches as Australia forced its way back into the second test on the second morning against India.","Divorce without judges? France puts plan forward. PARIS (AP) — France is putting together a plan to allow divorces by mutual consent to proceed without a judge, simplifying a process that some critics say is already too easy.","Swansea City and Chivas Guadalajara draw 1-1. MILWAUKEE (AP) — English Premier League side Swansea City played out a 1-1 draw with Mexico's Chivas Guadalajara in a friendly at baseball's Miller Park on Wednesday","Skier Lindsey Vonn has surgery on right knee; Facebook post calls it 'successful'. Lindsey Vonn announced on her Facebook page that she had surgery on her right knee.","AP PHOTOS: Colors, shapes, symbols shine at Sochi. An image freezes the moment Britain's David Murdoch delivers the stone in a curling match against Norway. Another shows the Olympic torch through a rain-soaked window. Other photos capture South Korean athletes waving to fans and American Mikaela Shiffrin as she approaches a gate in the women's giant slalom at the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics.","ICC: Gadhafi-era spy chief can be tried in Libya. THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — Appeals judges at the International Criminal Court have upheld a decision that allows Libyan authorities to put on trial a former intelligence chief from Moammar Gadhafi's era.","BlackBerry returns to biz user roots with new smartphone. Ottawa (AFP) - BlackBerry on Wednesday unveiled its newest smartphone with a full physical keyboard and a large screen, aiming to return to its roots targeting business users.","FIFA to ban 3rd parties owning transfer rights. ZURICH (AP) — FIFA's executive committee has voted to ban \"third-party ownership\" of players which allows outside investors to profit from transfers.","Pistorius defense team closes case. JOHANNESBURG (AP) — The chief defense lawyer in the murder trial of Oscar Pistorius says he has closed his case, and the judge says final arguments will be held in court on Aug. 7 and 8.","Suspected Mexican drug trafficker arrested at World Cup in Brazil. A suspected Mexican drug trafficker wanted in the United States was arrested in Rio de Janeiro on Monday night as he tried to board a plane to watch Mexico play in the World Cup soccer competition, federal police said. Federal police agents detained the 49-year old man at Rio's international airport as he waited to board a plane to the northeastern city of Fortaleza. \"He had tickets to go to the Brazil-Mexico game today,\" the police said in a statement, adding that the man is wanted for methamphetamine trafficking. Federal police said the man was wanted by Interpol and was detected as soon as he crossed the border from Argentina on June 11.","Liberia closes borders and steps up Ebola screening. Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf has announced the closure of most of the Ebola-hit country's land borders, with stringent medical checks being stepped up at airports and major trade routes. The measure comes as Liberia struggles to contain an outbreak of the tropical virus which has infected some 1,100 people in four west African nations and left 660 dead across the region since the start of the year. \"All borders of Liberia will be closed with the exception of major entry points,\" the president said in a statement late Sunday which exempted Monrovia's international airport, a provincial airport and three major border crossings. Liberia has seen 127 deaths from Ebola, which causes severe fever and muscle pain, vomiting, diarrhoea and, in the worst cases, organ failure and unstoppable bleeding.","Mitch Marsh ruled out of 4th test vs India with injury. MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Mitch Marsh will miss Australia's fourth test against India after aggravated his hamstring injury while training Friday.","French to cut 50 billion euros in public spending. PARIS (AP) — French President Francois Hollande is promising to cut 50 billion euros ($68 billion) in public spending over the years 2015-2017 to try to improve public finances.","Israeli spying on US at 'alarming level'. Israel spies on the United States more than any other ally does and these activities have reached an alarming level, Newsweek magazine reported on Tuesday. The main targets are US industrial and technical secrets, the weekly said, quoting classified briefings on legislation that would make it easier for Israeli citizens to get visas to enter America. Newsweek said a congressional staffer familiar with a briefing last January called the testimony \"very sobering ... alarming ... even terrifying\", and quoted another as saying the behavior was \"damaging.\" \"No other country close to the United States continues to cross the line on espionage like the Israelis do,\" said a former congressional staffer who attended another classified briefing in late 2013, according to Newsweek.","NBA reaches commercial deal with Brazilian league. SAO PAULO (AP) — The NBA has reached a commercial partnership with Brazil's top basketball league, taking over its marketing, advertising and licensing deals.","Pass the salt, not the politics: Catalan families split over independence. By Elisabeth O'Leary SANT CUGAT DEL VALLES Spain (Reuters) - The nine-member Vecino family are in many ways a close-knit southern European clan. The movement, which will be tested in a symbolic and non-binding independence vote in the region on Sunday, has as much to do with the present as with Catalonia’s rich cultural past. Family chief Rafael, a 65-year-old who lived through Spain’s 1939-1975 dictatorship, says the country should stay united. He and his son Daniel are among millions throughout Spain who are outraged by an austerity drive that has cut welfare services.","Svendsen, Domracheva win biathlon pursuits. POKLJUKA, Slovenia (AP) — Emil Hegle Svendsen of Norway won a men's 12.5-kilometer pursuit race on Saturday to take the overall biathlon World Cup lead.","Ethnic minorities in focus in British election race. GRAYS (United Kingdom) (AFP) - Feeling \"surrounded\" by ethnic minorities, retired factory worker Peter Harvey voted for Britain's anti-immigration UK Independence Party (UKIP) in last month's European and local polls and plans to do so again in next year's national election. \"I'm the only white British person in my area,\" the 66-year-old said, explaining his voting preference in Grays, a town in southeast England, where UKIP did particularly well amid spectacular gains across the country. Ostensibly fuelled by antipathy to immigration and Europe, UKIP's rise has nonetheless helped bring the issue of race to the fore ahead of the May 2015 general election. At the same time, there is a growing realisation of the importance of the ethnic minority vote, as studies show the numbers of black and Asian Britons growing at a faster rate than whites.","'Security breach' concern after man runs into British PM. London (AFP) - British police ordered a review of an \"incident\" on Monday in which a man ran into Prime Minister David Cameron after he had given a speech in an apparent breach of security.","Security forces dismiss reports Russia's top militant is dead. Chechnya's Moscow-backed leader said on Thursday he believed police had killed Russia's most wanted man Doku Umarov, who has called for attacks on the Winter Olympics, but security sources suggested Umarov is still alive. The death of Islamist leader Umarov would be a breakthrough for President Vladimir Putin in the fight against militants before next month's Games, on which the Kremlin chief has staked much of his political and personal reputation. But Chechen regional leader Ramzan Kadyrov, a maverick appointee of Putin, said no body of Umarov had been found. \"We have long been 99 percent certain that D. Umarov was liquidated during one of the (police anti-militant) operations.","Deutsche Bank shares drop 5 percent after quarterly loss. By Thomas Atkins FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Deutsche Bank shares fell 5 percent on Monday after it posted a surprise pre-tax loss of 1.15 billion euros ($1.6 billion) for the fourth quarter and warned that 2014 would be another year of challenges and reform. Germany's biggest bank said revenue at its strategically important debt-trading division, one of the bank's top money-makers, fell 31 percent in the quarter, dragging down overall revenue from investment banking. Deutsche Bank shares pared losses after the open to trade down 4.4 percent, compared to a decline of 0.9 percent by an index of its peers . The unexpected loss is likely to compound problems that have dogged the bank over the past year, which include a lengthening list of lawsuits and regulatory clashes, and to redouble pressure on co-chief executives Anshu Jain and Juergen Fitschen to prove a turnaround plan is on track.","Ukraine leader's bloc holds election lead, Tymoshenko threatened: poll. By Richard Balmforth KIEV (Reuters) - President Petro Poroshenko's bloc holds a big lead ahead of Ukraine's election on Sunday while a rising populist party looks set to take second place, an opinion poll showed on Wednesday. A surge in support for the Radical Party of populist Oleh Lyashko, the champion of government troops and scourge of super-wealthy oligarchs, threatens former prime minister Julia Tymoshenko's chances of winning a seat in the new parliament, according to the survey by the Democratic Initiative Foundation. ...","Bahrain says two children injured as bomb explodes. MANAMA (Reuters) - Bahrain's interior ministry said on Thursday two children were injured after they were instructed to plant a bomb in the same village where a bomb killed two local policemen and an officer from the United Arab Emirates earlier this week. The two children, aged 10 and 11, had been instructed by \"terrorists\" to plant a bomb in Daih, west of the capital Manama, but it exploded as they were handling it causing serious injury to one of them, the statement by the ministry said. ...","Ghana to have formal agreements for player bonuses. RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Ghana is planning to take pre-emptive action for the next World Cup to avoid off-the-field problems over bonus payments.","Russia warns Kiev against NATO integration. MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia warned Ukraine against integration with NATO on Tuesday, saying Kiev's previous attempts to move closer to the defence alliance had had unwelcome consequences. \"(Past attempts) led to a freezing of Russian-Ukrainian political contacts, a headache between NATO and Russia and ... to a division in Ukrainian society,\" the Russian Foreign Ministry said on the same day as NATO foreign ministers were meeting in Brussels. (Reporting by Thomas Grove, Editing by Timothy Heritage)","Brazil's Silva winning over investors in presidential race. By Walter Brandimarte RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) - Investors are warming up to a possible victory by Marina Silva in Brazil's presidential election as the popular environmentalist emerges as their best shot at avoiding four more years of a government they strongly dislike. Disdain for President Dilma Rousseff's leftist policies runs so deep in Brazilian financial markets that one comment making the rounds there says: \"Marina is like Russian roulette, but Dilma is like a fully-loaded revolver.\" It captures the mistrust that many investors feel toward Silva, whose history of volatile decisions, lack of executive experience and emphasis on eco-friendly policies, even at the possible expense of economic growth, have all raised red flags.","Palestinians hurt when Gaza rocket fire 'goes wrong'. Four Palestinians were wounded Tuesday, two of them seriously, when a militant rocket or mortar fired at Israel from Gaza fell short and struck inside the enclave, witnesses and medics said. Earlier, two rockets fired at southern Israel from Gaza were intercepted by the Iron Dome defence system, an army spokeswoman said. According to the army, more than 200 rockets have been fired on Israel since the beginning of the year. Attacks on Israel and retaliatory air strikes by the Jewish state's forces have increased recently amid tensions over the disappearance of three Israeli youths in the West Bank.","Lebanon detains wife of Islamic State leader. By Laila Bassam and Sylvia Westall BEIRUT (Reuters) - The Lebanese army detained a wife and daughter of Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi as they crossed from Syria nine days ago, security officials said on Tuesday, in a move seen as likely to put pressure on the Islamist chief. The woman was identified as Saja al-Dulaimi, an Iraqi, by a Lebanese security official and a senior political source. The Lebanese newspaper As-Safir reported she had been detained in coordination with \"foreign intelligence\". ...","Nissan recalling 260,000 vehicles globally with Takata air bags. TOKYO (Reuters) - Nissan Motor Co said on Thursday it is recalling 260,000 vehicles globally due to a defect in driver-side air bags made by Takata Corp. The Japanese parts maker is at the center of a burgeoning number of recalls over air bags that could spray shrapnel at occupants. The recalls affect Nissan's March model, called Micra in Europe, and the Cube, a Nissan spokesman said. They are chiefly in Japan, with 104,905 cars, 30,000 in Europe and 11,000 in China, he said. The Japanese recall covers models from 2008 to 2012, he said. ...","1st test at lunch, 1st day: Australia 113 -2. ADELAIDE, Australia (AP) — Australia was 113-2 at lunch after winning the toss Tuesday and batting on the first day of the first cricket against India at the Adelaide Oval.","Voegele beats former champ Goerges in Bad Gastein. BAD GASTEIN, Austria (AP) — Stefanie Voegele of Switzerland defeated former champion Julia Goerges 7-6 (0), 6-2 in the opening round of the Gastein Ladies clay-court event on Monday.","Mead Johnson warns of possible violations in China. NEW YORK (AP) — Infant formula maker Mead Johnson Nutrition Co. says its Chinese subsidiary may have violated U.S. and Chinese laws, including anti-bribery statutes.","Bahamas to seek space for hold migrant families. NASSAU, Bahamas (AP) — Officials in the Bahamas say they will seek additional space to hold migrant women with children amid complaints about conditions at the island chain's main detention center.","Turk charged over death of Serbian basketball fan. ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkey's state-run news agency says an Istanbul court has charged a Turkish man with murder over the stabbing death of a Serbian basketball fan and ordered him imprisoned pending trial.","Death toll in Iraq rally attack rises to 33. BAGHDAD (AP) — Security and hospital officials in Iraq say the death toll in the suicide bomb attack on a campaign rally for supporters of a Shiite militant group has risen to 33.","Pakistan's Musharraf again a no-show at trial. ISLAMABAD (AP) — It is Pakistan's biggest trial in years: The country's former strongman, a veteran of the powerful military, faces charges of high treason in a case that could result in the death penalty. But so far authorities can't get former President Pervez Musharraf into the courtroom.","China demands answers from US over spying claims. BERLIN (AP) — China is demanding an explanation from Washington over allegations that a U.S. intelligence agency hacked into the email servers of Chinese tech giant Huawei and targeted top Chinese officials and government institutions.","All toxic chemicals removed from Syria now at destruction sites: OPCW. All the toxic chemicals removed from Syria under a deal with the Syrian government to destroy its chemical weapons stockpile have been delivered to destruction facilities outside the country, the global chemical weapons watchdog said on Thursday. The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) said in a statement that the 1,300 tonnes of chemicals removed from Syria were now being destroyed at various locations. The OPCW also announced that the 12 former chemical weapons production facilities in Syria would be placed beyond use.","US reviews military ties with Thailand after coup. WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. says there is no justification for Thailand's military coup and it is reviewing its military relationship and other assistance and engagement with its Asian ally.","Men's biathlon race delayed due fog at Olympics. KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia (AP) — The start of the men's 15-kilometer mass start biathlon event at the Sochi Olympics has been delayed again due to fog.","Iran signs deal with Russia for 2 new nuclear reactors. Russia on Tuesday signed a deal with Iran to build two new nuclear reactors and agreed to expand the total number of Russian reactors in the country to eight, the state nuclear agency Rosatom said. A series of agreements, signed during a visit to Moscow by Iran's nuclear programme chief Ali Akbar Salehi, includes a contract for two new reactors at the existing Russia-built Bushehr plant. The so-called Bushehr Phase II consists of two reactors at the same Persian Gulf coast site as the existing 1,000 megawatt reactor Russia launched last year.","Former Rwanda intel chief goes on trial in France, 20 years after genocide his country. PARIS - The first trial in France over Rwanda's genocide has opened in a Paris court.","Korean school tribute leaves empty spaces for unfound ferry victims. By Ju-min Park and James Pearson ANSAN, South Korea/SEOUL (Reuters) - A floral tribute to the children who drowned in a sinking South Korean ferry features photographs of the victims in their school uniforms and lines of empty spaces waiting to be filled with photos as the confirmed death toll rises.","Knights appoint Stone to replace Bennett in NRL. NEWCASTLE, Australia (AP) — The Newcastle Knights have appointed Rick Stone as head coach on a two-season contract from 2015 to replace Wayne Bennett, who will return to the Brisbane Broncos next year in the National Rugby League.","Egypt jails eight men for three years over 'gay marriage'. Cairo (AFP) - An Egyptian court jailed eight men for three years Saturday over a video prosecutors claimed was of a gay wedding, which went viral on the Internet.","Jury begins deliberations in case of slain elderly journalist, socialite. WASHINGTON - A jury in Washington has begun deliberating the fate of a German man charged with killing his 91-year-old socialite wife.","Obama highlights need for US-EU energy cooperation. BRUSSELS (AP) — A trans-Atlantic free trade deal would allow the European Union to reduce its dependence on Russian energy and strengthen its ability to stand up to Moscow on issues like Ukraine, U.S. President Barack Obama said Wednesday.","Athletics in Australia faces independent review. MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — The government-run Australian Sports Commission says it will conduct an independent review of athletics to address \"systemic issues\" facing the sport in Australia.","Japan does not recognize Crimea vote: government spokesman. TOKYO (Reuters) - The Japanese government does not recognize a referendum in Crimea on seceding from Ukraine and calls upon Russia not to annex the Ukrainian region, its top government spokesman said on Monday. Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told reporters that Tokyo will respond on sanctions against Russia in coordination with the Group of Seven leading economies. Crimea's Moscow-backed leaders declared a 96-percent vote in favor of quitting Ukraine and annexation by Russia in a referendum Western powers said was illegal and will bring immediate sanctions. ...","World stocks gain as focus shifts to Fed meeting. TOKYO (AP) — Global stock markets swung higher Wednesday, cheered by a surge in U.S. stocks that were buoyed by solid earnings, while investors were also waiting for signs from the Federal Reserve on U.S. monetary policy.","Home Depot says 56 million card details likely stolen in breach. (Reuters) - Home improvement retailer Home Depot Inc said 56 million card details were likely stolen in a data breach between April and September at its stores in the United States and Canada. Criminals used unique, custom-built malware to evade detection in the breach, the company said. Home Depot's payment security systems had been breached and customers' details who shopped at its stores as far back as April were exposed, the company confirmed last week. The malware has been eliminated from its U.S. and Canadian networks, the company said. ...","Protest against World Cup hits Sao Paulo. RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — About 1,000 protesters have gathered in Brazil's biggest metropolis of Sao Paulo, demonstrating against the billions of dollars being spent to host this year's World Cup while the nation's public services remain in a woeful state.","F1's new sound gets thumbs down. MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Formula One's new sound has received the thumbs down from a few big names of motorsport.","UNESCO team 'shocked' at Egypt Islamic museum loss. CAIRO (AP) — UNESCO pledged Friday to help restore a renowned museum dedicated to Islamic history in Cairo that was devastated by a bomb last week, with officials expressing \"shock\" at the scale of the damage.","Thai junta leader stacks Cabinet with military men. BANGKOK (AP) — The general who transitioned from Thailand's junta leader to prime minister has awarded top posts in his Cabinet to senior military officials, in the latest move that critics say will prolong the military's grip on power.","Jobless claims drop, four-week average lowest since 2000. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits fell more than expected last week, in the latest sign of tightening labor market conditions. Initial claims for state unemployment benefits dropped 10,000 to a seasonally adjusted 278,000 for the week ended Nov. 1, the Labor Department said on Thursday. The four-week moving average of claims, considered a better measure of labor market trends as it irons out week-to-week volatility, fell 2,250 to 279,000, the lowest reading since April 2000. ...","10 dead, 70 wounded amid new Kenya terror warnings. NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Two blasts hit Kenya's capital on Friday, killing 10 people and injuring 70 more in the latest in a string of increasingly frequent terror attacks.","OSCE sends team to work on freeing detainees in eastern Ukraine. BERLIN (Reuters) - The Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) has dispatched a negotiating team to try to secure the release of observers being held by pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine, a German government source said on Saturday. \"A negotiating team from the OSCE is on the way to the region,\" said the source, declining to give further details, including exactly where they were heading. (Reporting by Sabine Siebold; Writing by Madeline Chambers; Editing by Victoria Bryan)","Talisman Energy posts $1 billion loss on asset impairment charge. (Reuters) - Talisman Energy Inc , Canada's No. 5 independent oil and gas producer, posted a $1 billion quarterly loss as it recorded a $826 million impairment charge. Separately, the company said it aims to sell a further $2 billion of assets over the next 12-18 months. Talisman raised over $2 billion from asset sales in 2013. The company's loss was $1.01 billion, or 98 cents per share, in the fourth quarter, compared with a profit of $376 million, or 37 cents, a year earlier. ...","Sudan mother facing apostasy death sentence to be freed soon. Khartoum (AFP) - A Christian Sudanese woman sentenced to hang for apostasy will be \"freed within days\", a foreign ministry official told AFP on Saturday.","Anger in Italy as EU officials 'laugh at Renzi'. Italian newspapers reacted angrily on Friday after senior European officials exchanged ironic smiles at a Brussels news conference when asked if Rome may be granted extra flexibility on its budget targets. European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso and European Council President Herman Van Rompuy told journalists in the Belgian capital that all countries would have to respect budget commitments. They appeared to laugh slightly when asked if there could be room for Italy to fund growth-creation measures through deficit spending. \"No those smiles will not do at all,\" the Corriere della Sera, Italy's most influential daily, said on a front page editorial.","S.Africa, China sign nuclear power agreement. South Africa has signed a nuclear energy cooperation agreement with China as the government looks to expand the critical power supply system, officials said Friday. Pretoria said the agreement was a \"preparatory phase for a possible utilisation of Chinese nuclear technology in South Africa\". The energy ministry said in a statement that the government had committed to expanding nuclear power generation by an additional 9.6 gigawatts by 2030. The country has already signed similar agreements with Russia and France, potentially putting firms Rosatom and Areva in line for the development of nuclear reactors worth billions of dollars.","Colombia's Zuluaga concedes defeat to Santos in presidential race. BOGOTA (Reuters) - Colombia's right-wing challenger Oscar Ivan Zuluaga conceded defeat to President Juan Manuel Santos who won a second mandate in Sunday's presidential election, in which he has vowed to conclude a peace process he launched with Marxist FARC rebels. (Reporting by Bogota newsroom)","Survey indicates eurozone growing slowly. FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — A survey of business activity indicates the economy in the 18-country eurozone slowed but still grew modestly in August.","Bomb found near Ukrainian president's office: source. Ukrainian presidential bodyguards have disposed of a powerful explosive device discovered near President Petro Poroshenko's headquarters, a security source said on Saturday. The presidential administration did not immediately issue any statement. His predecessor, Viktor Yanukovich, was ousted in February after protests in Kiev and the government is facing a rebellion by pro-Russian separatists in east Ukraine.","Yanukovych has no political future, says Putin. Moscow (AFP) - Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday said that deposed Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych had no political future but asserted he was legally still head of state.","Mali free of deadly Ebola epidemic: govt. Mali said on Tuesday it was clear of the Ebola epidemic suspected to be behind around 130 deaths this year in Guinea and Liberia. The health minister told reporters samples taken from patients displaying symptoms compatible with Ebola infection had tested negative for the deadly tropical pathogen. This means that, as of today, Mali has no suspect or confirmed cases of Ebola haemorrhagic fever,\" Ousmane Kone told a news conference in Bamako. The outbreak in Guinea is one of the most deadly in history, with 168 cases \"clinically compatible\" with Ebola virus disease reported, including 108 deaths, since the start of the year, according to the World Health Organisation.","Kerry returns to Middle East to push flailing peace talks. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry broke from his travel schedule for the second time in a week to return to the Middle East on Monday to discuss fragile peace talks with Israeli and Palestinian leaders. \"After consulting with his team, Secretary Kerry decided it would be productive to return to the region,\" State Department Spokesperson Jen Psaki said. Kerry had interrupted a visit to Rome last week to go to Amman for talks with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to try to convince him to prolong the talks beyond an end-April deadline and to press Israel to release the prisoners.","Lightning strike kills police dog in Florida. A lightning strike apparently killed a police dog in northern Florida after the animal was left in a kennel during a thunderstorm, the local police department said on Tuesday. Announcing the news \"with heavy hearts,\" the Panama City Beach Police Department said in a brief statement that its K-9 officer, named Argo, had served for about five years with the same handler. The News Herald, a local newspaper, said the dog's body was found with most of the hair missing from his right front leg. The police department says its two K-9 units help in the detection and seizure of controlled substances and contraband, as well as being trained in offender tracking and apprehension.","UK police: Missing boy with tumor may be in Spain. LONDON (AP) — British police say a critically ill 5-year-old boy whose parents took him out of a hospital against doctors' advice may be in Spain.","EU weighs reaction to Russian incursion in Ukraine. BRUSSELS (AP) — European Union foreign ministers are working on a joint response to Russia's military incursion in Ukraine's Crimean peninsula that could include economic sanctions.","Ivory Coast: Mob attacks gay rights group office. DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — The head of Ivory Coast's most prominent gay rights organization says its headquarters were \"ransacked\" by an anti-homosexual mob that destroyed property, stole equipment and injured a security guard.","24 accused of running Puerto Rico criminal ring. SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Federal authorities in Puerto Rico are serving arrest warrants for 24 people accused of drug trafficking, carjackings, drive-by shootings and other crimes.","France hands over suspected Jewish Museum gunman to Belgium. France handed over to Belgium on Tuesday the man suspected of carrying out a deadly shooting in May at the Jewish Museum in Brussels. A spokeswoman for the Belgian police told AFP that Mehdi Nemmouche, a 29-year-old Frenchman of Algerian descent, \"has arrived\" in Brussels. \"He will be interrogated,\" added spokeswoman Tine Hollevoet, who declined all further details. France's final appeals court last week cleared his extradition for questioning over the May 24 killings of a Jewish couple, a Frenchwoman and a Belgian man at the downtown Brussels museum.","S.Sudan rebel chief agrees to direct peace talks: Ban. Juba (AFP) - South Sudan's rebel chief Riek Machar has said he will attend direct talks with President Salva Kiir to end to a four-month long civil war, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said Tuesday.","US senators call for Sri Lanka war crimes probe. WASHINGTON (AP) — Two U.S. senators are calling for an international investigation into allegations of war crimes in Sri Lanka's civil war and for its government to uphold media freedoms.","Thai ruling party opposes delay to troubled election. Thailand's ruling party called Monday for controversial elections to go ahead, despite widespread disruption to advance voting by opposition protesters who besieged polling stations Sunday and stopped hundreds of thousands from casting ballots. Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra has faced nearly three months of mass street demonstrations demanding her elected government step down to make way for an unelected \"people's council\" that would oversee reforms aimed at curbing the dominance of her billionaire family. An anti-government rally leader was shot dead in broad daylight Sunday while giving a speech from the back of a pickup truck in a Bangkok suburb. Yingluck is due to meet election authorities Tuesday to discuss a possible delay to the February 2 general election, after the Constitutional Court ruled that the polls could legally be pushed back because of the civil strife.","Poland in uproar after pedophile killer is freed. WARSAW, Poland (AP) — A serial pedophile killer's release from prison is causing an uproar in Poland.","'No discrepancy' between U.S. and Turkey over Islamic State: Kerry. PARIS (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Tuesday there was \"no discrepancy\" between the United States and Turkey with regard to the strategy for fighting Islamic State militants trying to take over a Kurdish town in Syria near the Turkish border. Kerry, in Paris for talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, added that Ankara would define its role according to its own timetable. (Reporting by Matt Spetalnick; Writing by Nicholas Vinocur; Editing by James Regan)","Scots, English face off at Bannockburn battle once again. Scottish and English fighters will meet again on the battlefield Saturday to mark 700 years since their legendary clash at Bannockburn, in an anniversary laden with symbolism just months before Scotland votes on whether to leave the UK. For many Scottish nationalists, the victory of King Robert the Bruce's small force over the mighty English army of King Edward II was a decisive moment in Scotland's fight for independence from its overbearing southern neighbour. Up to 15,000 people are expected at the site in Stirling on Saturday and Sunday to watch a re-enactment of key moments from the 1314 Battle of Bannockburn, performed by the group behind the epic scenes in Hollywood movies \"Gladiator\" and \"Robin Hood\". The anniversary falls three months before Scotland holds a referendum in September on whether to stay or leave the United Kingdom, and critics of the nationalist government in Edinburgh say the timing of the vote was deeply cynical.","Cricket-Australia drop assistant coach Rixon from support staff. Australia continued to make changes to the team's off-field structure by announcing the departure of assistant coach Steve Rixon from its backroom staff, the country's cricket board said on Wednesday. \"I've taken the opportunity to look at our current coaching structure and the levels of support I feel we need moving into the future,\" head coach Darren Lehmann said in a statement. \"This will see various coaches and experts in their field working with the team as and when it is needed.\" Former wicketkeeper Rixon, 59, played 13 tests for Australia. The team recently announced that former spin great Shane Warne will work with Australia's slow bowlers ahead of the Twenty20 World Cup in Bangladesh in March.","Lithuanian president says she wins re-election bid. VILNIUS, Lithuania (AP) — Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite has declared victory in her bid for re-election in the Baltic country.","FIFA bans players for fixing in Estonia, Slovakia. ZURICH (AP) — FIFA has imposed a worldwide life ban on a Russian player implicated in fixing Estonian top-division matches.","Poland backs regional aspirations of top lender PKO BP: minister. Poland's largest lender, the state-controlled PKO BP , has the backing of the government for its regional expansion plans, including any acquisitions, the Polish treasury minister said on Saturday. PKO BP announced in April last year that, as part of a new three-year strategy, it wanted to expand in the region, in part through possible takeovers. In June, the bank signed a deal with Sweden's Nordea to buy the Polish assets for 2.83 billion zlotys ($934 million), but PKO still awaits approval from the Polish financial regulator to close the deal. PKO BP has the green light from us to strengthen its position in the region,\" Treasury Minister Wlodzimierz Karpinski told Reuters on Saturday.","Afghan cricketers begin 3-week tour of Australia. PERTH, Australia (AP) — Afghanistan's fledging cricket team began a three-week playing tour of Australia on Sunday to help it prepare for its first appearance at next year's 50-over World Cup tournament.","Raina's 100 helps India to 304-6 against England. CARDIFF, Wales (AP) — Suresh Raina hit a rapid 100 and put on a 144-run stand with Mahendra Singh Dhoni to lift India to 304-6 against England in the second one-day international on Wednesday.","US first lady to avoid politics on Beijing visit. BEIJING (AP) — U.S. first Lady Michelle Obama arrived in China on Thursday for a weeklong visit that will avoid politics and focus on education and people-to-people contacts.","Tennis-'Brand Kyrgios' on the rise, but Australian must tread carefully. By Ian Ransom MELBOURNE, July 3 (Reuters) - Teenager Nick Kyrgios's ranking is not the only thing that will soar after his electrifying run at Wimbledon. The Australian's brand has also shot into the stratosphere, according to marketing experts. An exhausted Kyrgios bowed out of Wimbledon with a four-set loss to big-serving Canadian Milos Raonic on Wednesday, with the 226,000 pounds ($379,500) quarter-finalist's cheque by far the biggest pay-day of his fledgling career. The real pay-off is yet to come for the rangy 19-year-old, who started the tournament ranked at 144th then announced himself to the world with a stunning fourth-round upset of world number one Rafa Nadal on centre court.","Kohli defies helmet bouncer to score vital ton. Stand-in skipper Virat Kohli survived a fearsome blow on the helmet from a Mitchell Johnson bouncer as he scored a defiant century to keep India in the first Test against Australia Thursday. Kohli was heavily struck by the first ball he faced from Johnson, briefly setting nerves jangling following last month's freak death of Australian batsman Phillip Hughes. Kohli was out for 115, three overs from stumps, when he hooked Johnson to Ryan Harris at fine leg.","Attacks in Iraq kill at least 29 people. BAGHDAD (AP) — A wave of suicide and car bomb attacks in Iraq killed at least 29 people and wounded dozens more on Thursday, officials said, as political rivals prepared to launch negotiations on forming a new government after last month's national elections.","Anderson eyes second Delray Beach ATP title. Delray Beach (United States) (AFP) - Former champion Kevin Anderson of South Africa booked a return to the Delray Beach ATP final, where he'll face Croatia's Marin Cilic for the crown. Fourth seeded Anderson on Saturday defeated US qualifier Steve Johnson 6-2, 6-4 in a battle between two players who enjoyed standout careers in the US university ranks. Anderson avenged a loss to Johnson in Auckland this season, delivering 13 aces and breaking the American three times to secure the victory in 76 minutes. \"I think from the first game, getting that break was really key for me,\" Anderson said.","Pro-Russian rebels in Ukraine face citizen anger. SLOVYANSK, Ukraine (AP) — From the country's richest man to citizens under fire, anger and dismay over Ukraine's eastern turmoil gained strength Tuesday, but pro-Russian rebels who have declared the region independent vowed defiance.","Airbus beats Boeing at Farnborough in orders race. FARNBOROUGH, England (AP) — Airbus beat rival Boeing in the aircraft order stakes at this year's Farnborough International Airshow, garnering nearly twice as many orders and commitments.","More rain on the way for California, but drought may not be over. SACRAMENTO, Calif. (Reuters) - This week's California storms dumped up to three inches (7.6 cm)of rain on the parched state and more wet weather is on the way, but it is too soon to know whether there will be enough precipitation this winter to remedy three years of drought, forecasters said. Although the sun came out on Thursday, the torrents pouring down overnight and earlier in the week opened up sinkholes in San Francisco, stranded motorists in their cars near Los Angeles and led to mudslides near San Diego. ...","50 bodies found in Iraq, raising sectarian worries. BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraqi officials discovered 50 bodies, many of them blindfolded and with their hands bound, in an agricultural area outside a city south of Baghdad on Wednesday, raising concerns over a possible sectarian killing amid the battle against a Sunni insurgency.","China censors try to blunt Hong Kong protests, don't always succeed. By Paul Carsten BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese censors and opponents of the protests sweeping Hong Kong are engaging in a cat-and-mouse game with demonstrators and commentators in a bid to stop news of the unrest spreading online and, in particular, reaching the mainland. Tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters have braved police tear gas to make their views known. Spreading the word over Western and Chinese social networks is a lot safer, but it is becoming increasingly difficult as mobile phone networks are disrupted and concerns about possible surveillance grow. ...","Czechs look for explosive killing ambassador. PRAGUE (AP) — Czech authorities are working to identify the explosive that killed the Palestinian ambassador, what caused the substance to explode and why it was being kept in an embassy safe.","At least 22 killed in clashes in Central African Republic: witnesses. At least 22 people have been killed in two days of clashes in Central African Republic, witnesses said on Tuesday, as foreign troops struggle to curb cycles of violence between Muslim and Christian communities. Witnesses in Bambari, a town 380 km (236 miles) northwest of Bangui, said an initial attack early on Monday by mainly Christian militia just outside the town led to waves of reprisals by Muslim youths. Bambari sits on a fault line that has emerged across the country, where over a year of violence has killed thousands, forced a million from their homes and led to most Muslims fleeing into northern zones closer to Chad and Sudan. Ibrahim Alawad, a witness in Bambari, said he had counted at least 22 bodies in a village 7 km from the town after the initial attack by militia, known as 'anti-Balaka'.","Israel's Peres expresses regret for Jordan death. JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel's president has issued an unusual televised statement to Jordanians to express \"deep regret\" over the shooting of a Jordanian judge.","UK to host talks over Ukraine crisis. London will on Tuesday host a meeting of international partners to discuss possible sanctions on Russia following its incursion into Ukraine. David Cameron warned on Monday that Russia faced \"further consequences\" if it sought to legitimise Crimea's annexation in a referendum scheduled for March 16 after troops loyal to Moscow took control of the peninsular following the removal of Ukraine president Viktor Yanukovych.","To stem extremists, Iraq to reduce Baghdad's power. BAGHDAD (AP) — To get a home or an office built in the central Iraqi province of Salahuddin, contractors have usually had to pay hefty bribes to corrupt officials in Baghdad to clear away the red tape.","Ukraine's Poroshenko to be sworn in as east seethes with separatist conflict. By Richard Balmforth KIEV (Reuters) - Petro Poroshenko will be sworn in on Saturday as Ukraine's president, buoyed by messages of support from the West but still seeking a strategy to deal with Russia's Vladimir Putin, who opposes Kiev's military drive against pro-Russian separatists. Government forces are almost certain to be fighting rebel fighters in the east even as Poroshenko takes the oath of office and delivers his inaugural speech. Kiev began an intensified campaign against the rebels the morning after Poroshenko's May 25 election, and the fighters have fought back, turning parts of the east into a war zone. The billionaire confectionary magnate, 48, will be Ukraine's fifth president since independence and its first since 1991 to win election with more than half the vote in a single round, after promising to bridge the east-west divide that has split the country and thrust it into a battle for its very survival.","Interfax: Russia starts air force drills. MOSCOW (AP) — Interfax says Russia's air force has started military drills in central and western regions of the country, a move that could spark further fears that Moscow is ready to flex its military muscle in neighboring Ukraine.","West Brom seeks stability with Irvine at the helm. WEST BROMWICH, England (AP) — After a chaotic year marred by managerial changes, Nicolas Anelka's controversial \"quenelle\" salute and a season-long relegation battle, West Bromwich Albion will hoping for a much more serene campaign in the Premier League this time round.","Rafael Nadal to return to playing in January. MADRID (AP) — Rafael Nadal says he will return to playing at the start of the year.","Al Shabaab claims responsibility for Djibouti suicide attack. Somali rebel group al Shabaab was behind the restaurant attack in Djibouti by two suicide bombers over the weekend that killed a Turkish national and wounded several Western soldiers, the militants said on Tuesday. Djibouti, which hosts military bases for France and the United States, contributes troops to the African Union mission (AMISOM) trying to stabilise neighbouring Somalia to the south. \"The attack was carried out against the French Crusaders for their complicity in the massacres and persecution of our Muslim brothers in the Central African Republic and for their active role in training and equipping the apostate Djiboutian troops in Somalia,\" al Shabaab said in a statement. The al Qaeda-linked al Shabaab has carried out many gun and bomb attacks outside Somalia, including as assault on a Kenyan shopping mall last year that killed 67 people.","Baseball Capsules. NEW YORK (AP) — Nelson Cruz hit his 23rd home run, J.J. Hardy connected for his first of the season and the Baltimore Orioles beat the New York Yankees 6-1 Saturday after starter Bud Norris left with tightness in his groin.","Going digital hurting newspapers: industry spokesman. Going digital is what's hurting Canadian newspapers, not a lack of revenues or readers, which are both up, a publishing industry spokesman said Tuesday. \"Newspapers don't have an audience problem,\" John Hinds, president and chief executive of industry association Newspapers Canada, told the Vancouver Sun. The comments come after Glacier Media this week announced the closure of the Kamloops Daily News after 80 years, citing insufficient cost-cutting. Canada's largest newspaper publisher, Sun Media, also eliminated more than 1,000 jobs at its newspapers nationwide as part of a restructuring to meet \"unprecedented changes in the print media industry driven largely by the digital revolution,\" it said.","Air raid near Damascus during aid distribution: activists. Syria's air force on Saturday struck a besieged, rebel-held town near Damascus where UN and Red Crescent workers distributed aid, a monitoring group and activists said. \"Two air strikes hit Douma during a visit of a delegation of the United Nations to the town's outskirts,\" said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. Douma is in the Eastern Ghouta area of Damascus province, where local residents suffer food and medical shortages. Activist Hassan Takieddin said 400 aid parcels were distributed \"to the whole of Eastern Ghouta.","Four killed near Zimbabwe game park. Zimbabwe police said Thursday they were investigating the killing of four people who were shot near a game park in what local media reported could have been a deal gone wrong with suspected poachers. The bodies of a man and a woman were found inside an abandoned van in a riverbed near Ngongonye Bridge in the Binga region, close to the border with Zambia in the north, police spokeswoman Charity Charamba said. Cases of big game poaching including elephants are often reported in Binga, which borders Hwange, Zimbabwe's largest game park.","Canadian McMorris advances to slopestyle finals. KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia (AP) — Gold medal contender Mark McMorris is through to the men's snowboard slopestyle finals.","Hundreds honor US aid worker slain in Syria. FISHERS, Indiana (AP) — Hundreds of people have turned out to honor an Indiana aid worker who was killed by Islamic State militants.","US drug policy fuels push for legal pot worldwide. In a former colonial mansion in Jamaica, politicians huddle to discuss trying to ease marijuana laws in the land of the late reggae musician and cannabis evangelist Bob Marley. In Morocco, one of the world's top producers of the concentrated pot known as hashish, two leading political parties want to legalize its cultivation, at least for medical and industrial use.","Russia wins delay in EU-Ukraine trade pact. By Adrian Croft and Julia Fioretti BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union and Ukraine agreed on Friday to delay the implementation of their free-trade pact until the end of next year in a concession to Russia, which had complained its industry would be hurt by the deal. Russia and the West are bitterly at odds over Ukraine, and the European Union and United States both imposed new sanctions against Moscow on Friday over what they say is its military backing for separatist rebels in the east of the country. Russia, which denies involvement, said it would consider retaliating. Russia had threatened to slap import tariffs on Ukrainian goods from Nov. 1, arguing that the pact would squeeze it out of the Ukrainian market and provide a route for EU goods to flood into Russia.","Top Asian News at 7:30 p.m. GMT. SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — The roof of a resort auditorium collapsed during a welcoming ceremony for South Korean university freshmen, killing nine and likely trapping about 10, officials said Tuesday. The dead included seven students and an adult; officials weren't sure yet if the ninth victim was a student. About 80 people were sent to hospitals with minor injuries, according to officials at the state-run National Emergency Management Agency who spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to speak to the media.","Crowe meets Anglican leader after 'Noah' premiere. LONDON (AP) — The pope said no but the leader of the world's Anglicans was happy to meet Russell Crowe, star of watery Biblical epic \"Noah.\"","Shipping unit boosts AP Moller-Maersk results. STOCKHOLM (AP) — Shipping and oil group A.P. Moller-Maersk has posted a 30 percent increase in quarterly profits as higher freight volumes and rates offset falling oil prices.","Europe won't recognize vote in eastern Ukraine, Merkel tells Putin. BERLIN (Reuters) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel told Russian President Vladimir Putin on the phone that Sunday's planned elections in eastern Ukraine were illegitimate and would not be recognized by European leaders, a Berlin government spokesman said on Friday. Merkel and Putin held a joint telephone conversation with French President Francois Hollande and Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, Merkel's spokesman Georg Streiter said at a government news conference. ...","White House says Iran official will not get visa for U.N. ambassadorship. The White House said on Friday that an Iranian official who was in the student group that took U.S. diplomats hostage in 1979 will not be issued a visa to allow him to become Iran's ambassador to the United Nations. President Barack Obama had come under strong pressure from the U.S. Congress not to allow Hamid Aboutaleb into the country. White House spokesman Jay Carney said the United Nations and Iran had been told \"that we will not issue a visa to Mr. Aboutaleb.\" The decision effectively bars Aboutaleb of taking up the U.N. position.","Sri Lanka detains 32 India fishermen for poaching. COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — Sri Lanka's navy said Tuesday it has detained 32 Indian fishermen who were fishing illegally in Sri Lankan territorial waters less than two months after the two countries agreed to work together to combat poaching.","New India minister killed in car accident. A new Indian minister was killed Tuesday in a car accident in the capital just days after being sworn into government, officials said. Gopinath Munde, rural development and water and sanitation minister, died in hospital after his car was involved in an accident en route to New Delhi's airport early Tuesday. \"His car was hit by another car which gave him a shock and Munde himself asked his driver to rush him to the hospital,\" fellow minister Nitin Gadkari told reporters outside the AIIMS hospital. A veteran politician and a senior leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Munde hailed from western Maharashtra where he was a former deputy chief minister of the state between 1995 and 1999.","Caracas shaken by quake, no injuries reported. CARACAS (Reuters) - The Venezuelan capital Caracas was shaken on Saturday by a 4.6 magnitude earthquake, though no injuries or major damage were reported. The U.S. Geological Survey said the 8:09 a.m. quake was centered near the town of El Limon, along the country's Caribbean coast about 42 miles west of Caracas. (Reporting by Deisy Buitrago and Julia Symmes Cobb; Editing by Alison Williams)","China police blame land developer for fatal arson. BEIJING (AP) — A real estate developer and a village official in eastern China directed the arsonists who set a fire in which a farmer burned to death in a tent that he had pitched to guard his land against development, police said.","Hungarians rally against PM as discontent with government grows. By Krisztina Than BUDAPEST (Reuters) - Thousands of Hungarians protested on Tuesday against tax hikes and perceptions of corruption, signaling rising discontent with Prime Minister Viktor Orban's government. In the five years since he was elected prime minister, the charismatic Orban has courted controversy with Brussels, Washington and international financial institutions while managing to keep the majority of Hungarians on his side. ...","Ukraine's military says suspends combat operations on 'Day of Silence'. KIEV (Reuters) - Ukrainian government forces said they had suspended combat operations as a \"Day of Silence\" began in the war-torn east on Tuesday, marking an effective ceasefire on the front line of the conflict with separatist rebels. In the city of Donetsk, the separatists main stronghold, a Reuters correspondent said firing was heard up to 9 a.m. but later appeared to have slackened off. \"The Ukrainian military have suspended all combat actions and are ready for the Day of Silence, but if separatists attack we will fire in response,\" a military spokesman said by telephone. ...","US Senate ready to OK Baucus as China ambassador. WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. Senate is ready to confirm veteran Sen. Max Baucus to become the next U.S. ambassador to China.","Euro zone trade surplus rises in July on growing exports. The euro zone's trade surplus rose year-on-year in July as exports grew faster than imports, pointing to a positive contribution to economic growth at the start of the third quarter, the European Union's Statistics office data showed. Eurostat said the non-seasonally adjusted external trade surplus of the 18 countries sharing the euro was 21.2 billion euros (27.39 billion US dollar) in July, up from 18.0 billion in July 2013. The seasonally adjusted trade balance was a 12.2 billion surplus, down from 13.8 billion in June and 15.2 billion in May. There was no detailed data for July yet, but Eurostat said that in the first six months of the year the euro zone's trade deficit narrowed to 144.9 billion euros from 157.8 billion in the first six months of 2013. The trade deficit with Russia, Europe's main oil and gas supplier, rose slightly to 31.7 billion euros in the January-June period from 29.5 billion in the same period of 2013, because euro zone experts to Russia tumbled 14 percent and the value of imports fell only 6 percent.","Suspect in California deputy deaths had many names. SAN DIEGO (AP) — The man accused in a shooting rampage that left two sheriff's deputies dead and a motorist seriously wounded was living in the United States illegally. He had been convicted in Arizona for selling drugs and deported to Mexico twice.","Indian jihadist group calls for attacks on non Muslims. By Rupam Jain Nair NEW DELHI (Reuters) - A group of Indian Islamic militants, operating out of Pakistan, has called for attacks on non Muslims in the region in retaliation for U.S.-led air strikes on fighters of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. The head of the little-known Ansar al-Tawhid fi’Bilad al-Hind urged Muslims to kill foreigners and other infidels in mainly Hindu India where Muslims have largely stayed away from global jihad. ...","17 Indian police convicted of killing arrested man. NEW DELHI (AP) — An Indian court has convicted 17 police officers of kidnapping and killing a 22-year-old job seeker in custody, and all of them could face the death penalty.","How Crimea differs from the rest of Ukraine. Crimea is a pro-Russia part of Ukraine separated from the rest of the country geographically, historically and politically. And it's where Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych was last reported seen. Here's some key information about it:","Guantanamo hearing ends behind closed doors. WASHINGTON (AP) — A court hearing on the treatment of a Guantanamo Bay hunger striker has ended behind closed doors, with U.S. Justice Department lawyers and the legal team for the prisoner watching classified videotapes of the detainee's treatment.","Kerry tells Russia to disarm Ukraine separatists 'in hours'. By Lesley Wroughton PARIS (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry called on Russia on Thursday to disarm separatists in Ukraine within \"the next hours\" as the European Union prepared to discuss deeper sanctions against Moscow. Washington and other Western powers have stepped up pressure on Russia to take concrete action to defuse the conflict in eastern Ukraine, where a ceasefire between Russian-speaking rebels and government forces has appeared to be crumbling. \"We are in full agreement that it is critical for Russia to show in the next hours, literally, that they're moving to help disarm the separatists, to encourage them to disarm, to call on them to lay down their weapons and to begin to become part of a legitimate process,\" Kerry told reporters in Paris. He added that EU leaders would discuss possible sanctions on Russia at their summit in Belgium on Friday.","Bet on Buffett's company before Icahn's company: Barron's. (Reuters) - Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc trades at a lower premium and has more earnings power than Carl Icahn's Icahn Enterprises Inc , and investors wishing to invest alongside either billionaire may want to side with the so-called Oracle of Omaha, Barron's said in its March 10 edition. Both conglomerates posted record profit in 2013, with Berkshire recording $19.5 billion of net income and $15.14 billion of operating income while Icahn Enterprises, a so-called master limited partnership, posted a $1.03 billion profit. Berkshire owns more than 80 businesses including the BNSF Railway and Geico car insurance, and shares such as Wells Fargo & Co and Coca-Cola Co . Icahn Enterprises owns stakes in companies like auto parts maker Federal Mogul Corp , and through investment in an Icahn hedge fund stocks such as Apple Inc and Herbalife Ltd .","Syria must allow aid convoy into Homs to feed starving: U.S.. GENEVA (Reuters) - The United States called on the Syrian government on Monday to allow aid convoys into the Old City of Homs, where \"people are starving\", and said that all civilians must be allowed to leave the besieged area freely. The evacuation of women and children from rebel-held Homs, as proposed by the Damascus delegation at peace talks, is \"not sufficient\" and not an alternative to badly-needed aid, it said. \"The situation is desperate and the people are starving,\" U.S. ...","Madison Keys beats Vickery in Japan Women's Open. OSAKA, Japan (AP) — Second-seeded Madison Keys of the United States advanced to the second round of the Japan Women's Open by beating Sachia Vickery 6-3, 6-3 Monday.","Putin says Russia should not 'fence itself off' from West. President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that Russia should not \"fence itself off from the outside world\" despite a plunge in East-West relations over the pro-Kremlin insurgency in Ukraine. Putin added during a visit to Crimea -- seized by Russia from Ukraine in March -- that an ongoing trade war with the United States and Europe did not mean Moscow \"should break ties with partners.","Obama weighs strategy against Islamic State. WASHINGTON (AP) — The Obama administration is grappling with how to bridge the gap between its increasingly dire assessment of the threat posed by the Islamic State group and the limited, defensive air campaign it has so far undertaken, which military officials acknowledge will not blunt the group's momentum.","Colombia's verve sets tone in Group C at World Cup. BELO HORIZONTE, Brazil (AP) — Colombia's new generation unlocked Greece's notoriously steely defense with such verve that they could just have become the team to beat in Group C at the World Cup.","South Sudan president urges rebels to resume talks in independence day speech. By Carl Odera JUBA (Reuters) - South Sudan's president on Wednesday called on rebels to resume peace talks as the country marked its third birthday with celebrations overshadowed by fighting that has killed thousands and brought it to the verge of famine. Clashes erupted in Juba in December pitting the government forces of President Salva Kiir against supporters of his former deputy and long-time rival Riek Machar. The conflict has reopened deep ethnic tensions in the world's youngest country which only won independence from Sudan in 2011. South Sudan has been in political turmoil since President Salva Kiir sacked his deputy Riek Machar last year, triggering a conflict that has reopened deep ethnic tensions in the world's youngest country which only won independence from Sudan in 2011.","Don't fear Brussels, EU federalist says in campaign for top job. By Robin Emmott BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union must not retreat behind national borders to pull out of its economic slump, said Guy Verhofstadt, a prominent supporter of a federal Europe who is seeking the presidency of the European Commission. \"We are in a deep economic crisis,\" Verhofstadt said as he laid out his campaign at a news conference on Friday. \"We need to launch a new leap forward in European integration.\" Verhofstadt wants the 28-nation EU to use its scale as the world's largest trading bloc to strengthen cooperation in areas from energy to capital markets. \"We need to use the European Union's advantage of scale and integrated markets as an engine for growth.\" Given the fallout from the 2008 economic crisis, the European Parliament's elections from May 22-25 have taken on added significance.","Israeli drone crashes in Gaza; airstrike kills 3. GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — An Israeli airstrike killed three Gaza militants on Tuesday near an area where an unmanned Israeli surveillance aircraft crashed earlier in the day, a Gaza official said.","Top Asian News at 7:00 a.m. GMT. KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Afghan police say a suicide bomber targeting a hospital has killed one person and wounded four others in Kabul. Sayed Gul Agha Hashimi, the head of the Kabul Criminal Investigation Department, said the attacker's explosives detonated Thursday morning after he was shot by police.","JPMorgan was alerted of hiring concerns in China before U.S. probe: WSJ. (Reuters) - JPMorgan Chase & Co executives in New York were aware of potential problems tied to its recruitment practices in China well before U.S. regulators launched a probe into the issue, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing sources and documents it reviewed. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is examining the extent to which JPMorgan executives at its headquarters were involved in overseas hiring, the report said. ...","California's water conservation could weaken utilities' credit. California's strict new regulations for water conservation could have the unintended consequence of hurting the credit quality of water utilities in the drought-stricken state. On Thursday, Moody's Investor Service warned that a significant drop in water sales could weaken the credit quality of some water utilities, many of them public districts. \"Less sales is going to mean less revenue,\" said Eric Hoffmann, a Moody's senior vice president.","Canada posts trade surplus; exports hit pre-crisis high. Canada reported a small trade surplus in February for the first time in five months as exports bounced to their highest since before the recession in 2008, welcome news for the central bank which is betting on a long-overdue recovery in the sector. The trade surplus totaled C$290 million ($264 million), Statistics Canada said on Thursday, against forecasts for a C$200 million surplus and rebounding from a deficit of C$337 million in January. But they were overshadowed by a 3.6 percent surge in exports to C$42.35 billion on motor vehicles and parts and crude oil and bitumen. The last time exports were above that level was in August 2008, following a historic peak in July of that year.","European banking job numbers drop a further 21,000 in first half. By Clare Hutchison LONDON (Reuters) - The banking sector's long and painful restructuring accounted for a further 1.2 percent fall in staff numbers at Europe's biggest lenders in the first half of the year, data compiled by Reuters shows, with little prospect of an upturn any time soon. ...","Pensive pope at Good Friday Colosseum procession. ROME (AP) — Desperate migrants, suicidal failed business owners, battered women, torture victims and all people suffering in the world were remembered at a torch-lit Good Friday Way of the Cross procession presided over by Pope Francis at the Colosseum.","UN chief welcomes airstrikes in Syria. UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The United Nations secretary-general has welcomed airstrikes against militants in Syria which he says pose \"an immediate threat to international peace and security.\"","Report: Ukraine's Yanukovych in Moscow. MOSCOW (AP) — A respected Russian news organization is reporting that Ukraine's fugitive president is staying in a Kremlin sanatorium just outside Moscow.","Wildlife 'WikiLeaks' targets poaching in Africa. Poachers slaughtering Africa's elephants and rhinos with impunity are often shielded from police by powerful connections, but a group of conservationists has turned to the anonymity of tip-offs to try to stem the killing. The founders of WildLeaks -- a sort of WikiLeaks for the environment -- say it is the first secure, online whistle-blowing platform dedicated to wildlife and forest crime. While wildlife rangers face gun battles in national parks with poachers carrying out the slaughter, the online project hopes to target the top-end traffickers who cream off millions of dollars in profit. \"We got, for example, a very interesting leak on a very powerful individual in Kenya, linked to the government, who is behind the ivory trade,\" said founder Andrea Crosta, a former security consultant and longtime conservationist.","Swansea accept four-game Shelvey ban. Swansea City have \"reluctantly accepted\" midfielder Jonjo Shelvey's four-match ban after he was charged with violent conduct for elbowing Liverpool's Emre Can, the Premier League club announced on Wednesday. Shelvey swung his arm into Can's face during Swansea's 4-1 Premier League defeat at Anfield on Monday and although referee Andre Marriner allowed play to continue, the 22-year-old was charged retrospectively. \"Swansea City has reluctantly accepted the charge issued by the Football Association against Jonjo Shelvey for violent conduct following an incident in Monday night's Barclays Premier League defeat at Liverpool,\" Swansea said in a statement on their website.","Australian PM points finger at Russia over downed Malaysian plane. By Matt Siegel SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott blamed Russia on Friday over the shooting down of a Malaysia Airlines passenger jetliner over eastern Ukraine that killed all 298 people on board. Australia is due to host Russian President Vladimir Putin and other world leaders at the G20 Leaders Summit in November. Asked if he would still welcome Putin if Russia was proved to be behind the accident, Abbott hinted there may be repercussions. In a somber speech before parliament, Abbott earlier said he was \"filled with revulsion\" and blamed anti-Kiev separatists for shooting down the plane, killing 27 Australian citizens on board.","Lithuania protests Russian seizure of fishing ship. VILNIUS, Lithuania (AP) — Lithuania has accused Russia of violating international maritime law by seizing a Lithuanian fishing vessel and its 28-member crew in Arctic waters.","Santos promises to end draft if Colombia peace is struck. Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos, in a close re-election fight, promised Wednesday to abolish the military draft if a peace agreement is reached with FARC rebels. \"Once the conflict ends the obligatory military service is finished,\" he said in an interview with BLU Radio. The pledge comes as Santos finds himself virtually tied in the polls with rival Oscar Ivan Zuluaga less than two weeks before the country's run-off presidential elections June 15. Zuluaga beat the incumbent in the first round of voting last month and is a vehement opponent of the peace talks with the FARC, the centerpiece of Santos' presidency.","Malaysia Airlines plane lost contact over Ukraine. KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Malaysia Airlines said late Thursday it lost contact with a plane over Ukrainian airspace.","Canada meat packers slow production due to worker shortage. By Rod Nickel WINNIPEG Manitoba (Reuters) - Canadian meat packers are short hundreds of workers, forcing plants to run at well below full capacity, the industry group Canadian Meat Council said on Monday. Plants are operating at 77 percent of capacity on average, based on a survey by the council, resulting in more Canadian cattle and hogs are being shipped to the United States for slaughter. Canada is the world's third-largest pork exporter and seventh-biggest shipper of beef and veal. ...","Philippines, US to sign defence pact. The Philippines and the United States announced they would sign an agreement on Monday to allow a greater US military presence on Filipino soil for the next decade. The deal will be signed in Manila a few hours before US President Barack Obama is due to arrive for a two-day visit to the Philippines, one of the United States' most loyal but militarily weakest Asian allies which is embroiled in an increasingly hostile territorial row with China. He said it was \"the most significant agreement that we have concluded with the Philippines in decades\". The deal with the Philippines comes in the month before the United States sends 1,150 Marines to Australia to bolster a roughly 200-member force already in Darwin.","Families sue to find fugitive in slain DR Congo activist case. Lawyers for the victims' families have filed a lawsuit in Senegal to force authorities to arrest a fugitive sentenced to death for the murder of a human rights activist and his driver in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Floribert Chebeya, 47, was found dead in his car after a meeting at a police station in Kinshasa exactly four years ago. His driver Fidele Bazana, who is presumed dead, vanished completely. The officer who was in charge of security for the Kinshasa police station where Chebeya was killed, Paul Mwilambwe, has been on the run and was one of a number of officers sentenced to death over the murder.","Markets settle as investors digest economic news. LONDON (AP) — Financial markets settled down Monday following a run of economic news that has sent many stock indexes to all-time highs.","Iraq: al-Maliki's rivals jockey to replace him. BAGHDAD (AP) — With the country in turmoil, rivals of Iraq's Shiite prime minister are mounting a campaign to force him out of office, with some angling for support from Western backers and regional heavyweights.","Turkish teen protester with shattered skull sentenced to jail. A Turkish teenager who survived a severe head injury inflicted by the police in last year's anti-government protests was sentenced to more than three months in jail, local media reported on Thursday. Mustafa Ali Tonbul, 17, lost a large portion of his skull after being hit in the head by a tear gas canister fired by police during Gezi Park protests that swept Istanbul in May-June 2013. A juvenile court sentenced Tonbul and four of his friends to three months and 10 days in prison for \"resisting police\" in another demonstration in the western city of Izmir in support of the Gezi protests -- two weeks before he was injured. Last year's protests started as a relatively small environmentalist movement to save the Gezi Park, but evolved into a nationwide wave of protests against the perceived authoritarian tendencies of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, then premier.","Cook's resolve impresses England coach. England coach Peter Moores insisted Sunday he was always confident captain Alastair Cook had it in him to lead the team out of their lengthy slump. When India beat England by 95 runs to win the second Test at Lord's and go 1-0 up in the five-match series, Cook had presided over a run of 10 Tests without a win, including seven defeats. Several former England skippers called on him to resign the captaincy and some even went so far as to suggest the opener take a break from the game after a run of low scores. With their confidence restored, England thrashed India by an innings and 54 runs inside three days to win the fourth Test at Old Trafford on Saturday and now they lead 2-1 ahead of next week's finale at The Oval.","South Korea hopes to complete ferry search by Sat.. SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea's prime minister on Wednesday called for searches for people believed trapped inside a sunken ferry to be completed by the weekend.","As Wall Street watches Alibaba, stocks drift. NEW YORK (AP) — With Wall Street focused on the debut of Alibaba Group, the stock market drifted into the weekend and major indexes ended little changed.","Russia says Washington disseminating 'unfounded' accusation over Ukraine. Russia said on Friday the United States was trying to influence international opinion through unfounded insinuations and anti-Russian rhetoric over the crisis in Ukraine. \"We deny the unfounded public insinuations that State Department Spokeswoman M. Harf repeats day after day,\" Russia's Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Friday. Harf said at a briefing on Thursday that Russia was firing artillery across the border into Ukraine to target Ukrainian military positions in the conflict against pro-Russian separatists.","Russia says will complete legal moves to absorb Crimea this week. The legal process required to make Crimea part of Russia will be completed this week, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Thursday, two days after President Vladimir Putin signed a treaty to bring the Ukrainian region into Russia. \"Practical steps are being taken to implement the agreements on the entry of Crimea and (the Crimean port city of) Sevastopol into Russia,\" Itar-Tass news agency quoted Lavrov as saying. \"The legal process will be completed this week.\" Russia's lower house of parliament plans to ratify the treaty on Thursday, and to adopt legislation to make Crimea and Sevastopol regions of Russia.","State asks work be halted on Olympic golf course. RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Construction work on the golf course for the 2016 Olympics could be halted under a filing made by state prosecutors suing the city of Rio de Janeiro and the developer over environmental rules.","Israel orders migrants to new detention facility. JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli authorities have begun ordering hundreds of African migrants to report to a new detention center in the country's southern desert while it seeks to find them a place to settle and offers incentives to leave, an official said Wednesday.","T-Mobile deal helps Rhapsody hit 2M paying subs. SEATTLE (AP) — Rhapsody International Inc. said Tuesday its partnership with T-Mobile US Inc. has helped boost its number of paying subscribers to more than 2 million, up from 1.7 million in April.","Sony unveils virtual reality headset for PS4. SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Sony is getting into the virtual reality business.","Jack Bruce, bassist with rock legends Cream, dies aged 71. London (AFP) - Jack Bruce, a founding member of British psychedelic band Cream, died on Saturday aged 71 after a long battle against liver disease, his family announced.","Toronto mayor back at work after rehab, wants 'another chance'. Toronto Mayor Rob Ford admitted Monday he had been in \"complete denial\" about his drug and alcohol abuse, but asked voters for another chance as he returned to work following a stint in rehab. So far, Ford places second or third in public opinion polls.","Turkey president signs law tightening government grip on judiciary. Turkey's President Abdullah Gul on Wednesday signed into law a contested bill tightening the government's grip on the judiciary as it grapples to contain the fallout from a major corruption probe. The new law, which sparked fistfights among lawmakers debating it in parliament, will give the justice ministry greater control over the Supreme Board of Judges and Prosecutors (HSYK), an independent body responsible for appointing members of the judiciary. The legislation has been strongly condemned by the opposition and by rights groups, raising questions abroad about the state of democracy in Turkey. The legislative manoeuvres come as Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, seen as increasingly authoritarian by critics, is under intense pressure over a bribery and corruption investigation that has implicated some of his top political and business allies.","Obama to propose ending NSA bulk collection of phone records: official. By Roberta Rampton WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama plans to ask Congress to end the bulk collection and storage of phone records by the National Security Agency but allow the government to access the \"metadata\" when needed, a senior administration official said on Monday. If Congress approves, the Obama administration would stop collecting the information, known as metadata, which lists millions of phone calls made in the United States.","G20 to discuss policy coordination on emerging market unrest: South Korea. Policy coordination in response to the recent turmoil in some emerging markets will likely be among the main topics for discussion at this week's meetings of G20 policymakers, South Korea's Ministry of Strategy and Finance said on Monday. Finance ministers and central bank chiefs from the Group of 20 major economies will meet in Sydney, Australia, on February 22-23. Bond, currency and stock markets in developing countries have swung wildly in recent months as the U.S. Federal Reserve's tapering of its quantitative easing program and concerns about a rapid slowdown in China spooked investors.","13 morning finals scheduled for Rio Olympics. MONACO (AP) — At least one gold medal in athletics will be at stake during every morning session at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.","Futures edge lower after record high, China data. By Chuck Mikolajczak NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures edged lower on Monday, on the heels of a record high for the S&P 500, following unexpectedly weak data in China which tempered enthusiasm over the strength of the global economy. China's exports unexpectedly tumbled 18.1 percent in February, against expectations for a 6.8 percent rise, swinging the trade balance into deficit and adding to fears of a slowdown in the world's second-largest economy, despite the Lunar New Year holidays being blamed for the slide. In a speech at the Bank of France, Philadelphia Fed President Charles Plosser said severe winter weather likely affected U.S. jobs growth in February, the latest U.S. central banker to suggest that some weakness in the labor market was only temporary, indicating the Fed will stay on course in winding down its stimulus measures.","Family of British hostage call on IS to honour Sharia verdict. London (AFP) - The wife of a British taxi driver held by Islamic State jihadists renewed her appeal on Tuesday for her husband's release, saying that his captors were ignoring the \"verdict of their own justice system\".","Tottenham, Seattle play entertaining 3-3 draw. SEATTLE (AP) — Osvaldo Alonso scored early in the second half as the Seattle Sounders drew 3-3 with Premier League side Tottenham in a friendly Saturday, the first match for new Spurs manager Mauricio Pochettino.","Belgium and US 0-0 at halftime at World Cup. SALVADOR, Brazil (AP) — The United States held tough against Belgium's pressure and went into halftime even at 0-0 in the second round of the World Cup.","U.S. ambassador to meet India's Modi, ending isolation. By Frank Jack Daniel NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Washington's ambassador to New Delhi is to meet the Hindu nationalist who could be India's next prime minister, softening its stance towards a man denied a U.S. visa while ties between the two governments remain strained. Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is considered the favorite to form a government after a general election due by May. He is also the chief minister of Gujarat state where, in 2002, Hindu mobs killed at least 1,000 people, most of them Muslims. \"We can confirm the appointment\" with ambassador Nancy Powell, a U.S. embassy spokesman said. \"This is part of our concentrated outreach to senior political and business leaders ...to highlight the U.S.-India relationship.\" India's foreign ministry said the meeting had been fixed for this week.","Rugby-England's Corbisiero, Parling out of November tests. (Updates with Parling sidelined) LONDON, Sept 30 (Reuters) - England prop Alex Corbisiero and lock Geoff Parling have been ruled out of the November tests through injury. Corbisiero, 26, will be sidelined until next year due to a shoulder ligament injury, his club Northampton said on Tuesday. Parling, 30, will be out of action until December after a series of five concussions in just under a year. England coach Stuart Lancaster was already without props Dan Cole and Mako Vunipola for the November tests against New Zealand, South Africa, Samoa and Australia. ...","Uganda president blocks anti-gay bill. Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni has refused to approve a controversial bill that would have seen homosexuals jailed for life, insisting that there were better ways to cure the \"abnormality\". In a letter to parliament, the president said homosexuality was caused by either \"random breeding\" or a need to make money. \"The question at the core of the debate on homosexuality is what do we do with an abnormal person?","CSKA rescues 1-1 draw against Roma. MOSCOW (AP) — A freak equalizer in the third minute of stoppage time gave CSKA Moscow a 1-1 draw against Roma in the Champions League on Tuesday.","Libyan militia commander seeks US help. TRIPOLI, Libya (AP) — A Libyan commander whose militia seized vital oil terminals in the country's east says he is seeking help from the United States amid a standoff with the government.","Villagers bury dead nearly a week after Boko Haram attack. Maiduguri (Nigeria) (AFP) - More than 100 bodies have been buried almost a week after a Boko Haram attack in northeast Nigeria, local leaders said Monday, but added that many more victims of the attacks had yet to be found. Lawan Abba Kaka and John Gulla, from Attagara in Borno state, said nearly 110 people had now been interred after Islamist militant fighters stormed the village and at least three others nearby on Tuesday and Wednesday last week. Boko Haram, which kidnapped more than 200 schoolgirls from the town of Chibok in Borno in April, has in recent months stepped up its insurgency, with civilians bearing the brunt of the violence. Ali Ndume, who represents Borno South in Nigeria's Senate, said burials had taken place in nine villages: 42 in Attagara, 24 in Aganjara and 20 in Agapalwa.","35 'resilient cities' named in foundation contest. NEW YORK (AP) — Thirty-five cities from Accra, Ghana, to Wellington, New Zealand, are being recognized by the New York-based Rockefeller Foundation for their ideas on physical, social and economic resilience.","Heavy storm brings hail to Brazil's largest city. SAO PAULO (AP) — A storm has brought marble-sized hail to the city of Sao Paulo, leaving some streets flooded or coated in white in Brazil's largest city.","LA archdiocese to settle abuse cases for $13M. LOS ANGELES (AP) — The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles will pay $13 million to settle 17 clergy abuse lawsuits, including 11 that involve a visiting Mexican priest who fled prosecution and remains a fugitive more than 25 years later, plaintiffs' attorneys said Tuesday.","Israeli defence minister's comments trigger angry U.S. response. JERUSALEM - An Israeli newspaper quoted the defence minister Tuesday as deriding U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry's peace efforts as naive and foolhardy, triggering an angry response from Washington and rekindling simmering tensions with Israel's closest and most important ally.","Benn, Roach share wickets as NZ slump to 217-7. BRIDGETOWN, Barbados (AP) — Left-arm spinner Sulieman Benn took 4-68 and pacer Kemar Roach added 3-53 as the West Indies restricted New Zealand to 217-7 by tea on the opening day of the third cricket test at Kensington Oval on Thursday.","Lebanon struggles to address captive troops crisis. BEIRUT (AP) — Lebanon's government is forming a crisis committee to handle the case of some two dozen members of the security forces held captive by Syrian militants amid escalating criticism over the authorities' response to the hostage affair, an official said Thursday.","Tesco seeks Asia pick-up after fresh profit setback. Supermarket giant Tesco announced a second drop in annual profits in a row on Wednesday, leaving Britain's biggest retailer hoping that recent expansion into India and China can offset weakness in Europe. But annual profit after tax soared to £974 million from £28 million in the previous trading year when Tesco was hit by its decision to close the group's under-performing US business. \"While the decline in profitability and like-for-like UK sales comes as no surprise, it marks the end of a disappointing year for Tesco,\" said Bryan Roberts, analyst at consultancy group Kantar Retail. Speaking of 2013/14, Tesco said in its earnings statement: \"Our performance in the year was not where we had planned it to be.\"","Abused in childhood, Swiss victims seek compensation. Beaten, forced to work, even sterilised -- victims of a brutal policy that saw thousands of Swiss children taken from their families and mistreated completed Friday the process to have their demand for compensation put to a popular vote. \"I was 18 and had become pregnant when it happened,\" said Bernadette Gachter, unable to hold back the tears as she described how she was forced by her host family and doctors to have an abortion and undergo sterilisation. She was taken from her parents when she was very young -- and now, 42 years later, came to Bern with other victims to present a petition to the government that will force a popular vote on whether Switzerland should pay them reparations. They fell short of \"traditional social and moral values\", or, like Gachter's family, they were simply poor, according to Ueli Mader, a sociology professor at the University of Bern.","Stranded Kenyan workers demand evacuation after Islamist attack. MANDERA, Kenya (Reuters) - Scores of teachers and civil servants were stranded at a remote Kenyan airstrip on Thursday, demanding evacuation and protection five days after Islamist gunmen killed 28 non-Muslim bus passengers in the surrounding border region near Somalia. Somalia's al Shabaab militants claimed responsibility for Saturday's attack in the Mandera area, where gunmen commandeered the Nairobi-bound bus, then killed anyone who could not recite verses from the Koran. ...","Christians in Manaus pray to the 'Jewish saint'. MANAUS, Brazil (AP) — Deep in the Amazon rainforest, but right in the middle of the jungle region's biggest city, lies the final resting place of the \"Jewish saint.\"","UN resolution urges Myanmar to drop identity plan. UNITED NATIONS (AP) — A new U.N. draft resolution takes aim at Myanmar's aggressive campaign to have its Rohingya Muslims identify as a term they reject, urging \"access to full citizenship on an equal basis.\"","Israel faces growing condemnation after UN school strike. Israel faced growing international condemnation of its operation in Gaza on Monday, with France calling for action over \"massacres\" in the besieged Palestinian territory after a strike next to a UN school. As Israel's operation in Gaza entered its 28th day, the international community appeared to be losing patience with a confrontation the Palestinians say has left more than 1,800 dead. France led the charge, after the strike on the school sheltering civilians Sunday left 10 people dead and sparked widespread outrage. What is happening too in Gaza, massacres ... We have to act,\" President Francois Hollande said.","Glaxo in $350 mn cancer deal with biotech specialist. British pharmaceuticals giant GlaxoSmithKline has agreed a $350-million deal with Adaptimmune to help develop and sell the biotechnology firm's cancer drugs, the companies said on Monday. Adaptimmune announced in a statement that it has entered a \"strategic cancer immunotherapy collaboration\" with GSK to \"develop and commercialise novel cell-based therapies\" in its lead clinical cancer programme. The biotech firm, which is based in Oxford, southern England and Philadelphia, has had success in trials in using T-cells, the heavy weaponry of the immune system, to target cancer cells. The statement added that trials in Adaptimmune's lead programme, in multiple myeloma, melanoma, sarcoma and ovarian cancer in the United States, are generating \"encouraging\" results.","Libyan PM proposes rights activist Allaghi as foreign minister: deputies. BENGHAZI Libya (Reuters) - Libya's Prime Minister Abdulah al-Thinni presented a new cabinet of 16 ministers for approval to the country's elected parliament, deputies said on Wednesday. Thinni proposed human rights activist Farida Allaghi as the oil producer's next foreign minister, they said. (Reporting by Feras Bosalum and Ahmed Elumami; Writing by Ulf Laessing, editing by John Stonestreet)","Split loyalties in rocket-hit town in east Ukraine. Three days after a hail of rocket fire shook their homes, residents in Olenivka are still digging out casings from their gardens and arguing over which side shot at them. \"We're trapped between two fires,\" said Irina Yefimovich, a resident in the town just south of Donetsk, which is now lodged between the positions of pro-Russian rebels and Ukrainian troops camped out in the surrounding sunflower fields. The use of Grad rockets in populated areas by both the rebels and Kiev's army has been slammed by human rights organisations. Human Rights Watch said last month the practice \"violates international humanitarian law, or the laws of war, and may amount to war crimes.\"","Germany's Merkel to visit Kiev on Saturday. KIEV (Reuters) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel will travel to Kiev on Saturday for political talks on the Ukraine crisis, a Ukrainian foreign ministry spokesman said on Tuesday. The visit will take place on the eve of Ukraine's Independence Day celebrations. (Reporting by Natalia Zinets; Writing by Alessandra Prentice; Editing by Richard Balmforth)","Clashes with Kadhafi remnants erupt in southern Libya. Fresh clashes erupted Tuesday in the southern Libyan city of Sebha pitting supporters of slain dictator Moamer Kadhafi against government forces and former rebels, a military source said. The latest fighting was sparked by the arrival of government reinforcements who aim to dislodge the Kadhafi supporters from several positions they occupy in and around the desert city, said Al-Ferjani Akila, of the Sebha Operations Centre. The coastal city of Misrata saw some of the bloodiest combat of the eight-month uprising that toppled Kadhafi, who was captured and killed by rebels in October 2011. At least 88 people have been killed and 130 wounded over the past two weeks in fighting between rival tribes in Sebha.","Syria's war enters new year more fragmented than ever. By Alexander Dziadosz BEIRUT (Reuters) - Deep into its fourth year of conflict, Syria looks less and less like a state than a patchwork of warring fiefdoms, making outside powers more reluctant to intervene even as it becomes more destabilizing for the region. The United States finally entered Syria’s war this year, three years after President Barack Obama said Bashar al-Assad must leave power. But it did so only reluctantly, to staunch advances by Islamic State fighters in neighboring Iraq, and without challenging Assad. ...","Messi's worldwide World Cup attraction carries on. SAO PAULO (AP) — Lionel Messi fell, then jumped back to his feet with a little help from the gentlemanly Swiss player who had knocked him down. This happened all afternoon, because Argentina is still a one-man show at this World Cup attracting all of every opponent's attention.","Sudan frees woman on death row for apostasy. KHARTOUM, Sudan (AP) — A Sudanese woman sentenced to death for apostasy was freed Monday by a Khartoum court, and has rejoined her Christian husband with their two young children, her lawyer and state media said.","J.C. Penney holiday quarter comparable sales rise 2 percent. (Reuters) - J.C. Penney Co Inc on Tuesday said comparable sales rose 2 percent during the fourth quarter, which included the crucial holiday season. Chief Executive Myron Ullman said in a statement the struggling department store operator's turnaround \"is on track.\" (Reporting by Phil Wahba in New York; Editing by Sophie Hares)","Mali blames terrorists for violence in north. BAMAKO, Mali (AP) — Mali's government says terrorists killed 30 Tuaregs in the north of the country, contradicting reports of clashes between local Tuareg and Peul communities.","Malaysia PM says downed jetliner's flight route was declared safe by world civil aviation body. KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Malaysia PM says downed jetliner's flight route was declared safe by world civil aviation body.","Resist or cooperate? Crimean Tatars split over Russian rule. By Alexander Winning BAKHCHISARAY, Crimea (Reuters) - Seventy years after their families' mass deportation under Soviet leader Josef Stalin, the Crimean Tatars are in a quandary: should they cooperate with their homeland's new Russian authorities or resist them? Some Tatars - Sunni Muslims of Turkic origin - fear a return to Stalinist repression despite official promises to respect their rights and freedoms; If we don't adopt a unified approach, we risk splitting ourselves up and being marginalized,\\\\\" said Nariman Dzhelyalov, deputy chairman of the Mejlis, the Crimean Tatars' main representative body. The Tatars, who make up more than 12 percent of Crimea's largely ethnic Russian population of about 2 million, are among the most vociferous critics of Moscow's annexation in March of the peninsula previously governed by Ukraine.","West African airline suspends flights amid Ebola. MONROVIA, Liberia (AP) — Police officers deployed to Liberia's international airport to ensure passengers are screened for Ebola symptoms as a major regional airline announced Tuesday it was suspending flights to the cities hardest hit by an outbreak that has killed more than 670 people.","STORY REMOVED: BC-ML--Tunisia-Militants. TUNIS, Tunisia (AP) — The Associated Press has withdrawn its story about a counterterrorist operation in Tunisia. The government now says no one was killed in the operation.","Nearly half of Syrian chemicals removed: chemical mission. Nearly half of Syria's declared chemical weapons have been shipped out of the country after two more cargoes were loaded onto vessels in the Mediterranean over the last week, the international team overseeing the disarmament process said. The joint mission of the United Nations and the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons said in a statement late on Wednesday that 45.6 percent of the chemicals had been removed from Syria's Latakia port for destruction outside the country. Syria agreed to give up its chemical weapons program last year in a deal with Russia and the United States, but it is several months behind schedule and risks missing a June 30 deadline for the chemicals to be destroyed. It has asked to be given until April 27 to complete the removal of the chemicals, which would put the mission two-and-a-half months behind schedule.","Pakistan judge frees baby in attempted murder case. ISLAMABAD (AP) — A Pakistani lawyer says a judge has freed a nine-month old boy accused of attempting to murder police in the eastern city of Lahore after police withdrew charges.","Libyan planes attack unruly militias in south, army on alert. By Feras Bosalum and Ulf Laessing TRIPOLI (Reuters) - Libyan war planes attacked targets in the restive south on Saturday after gunmen stormed an air force base and the government ordered in ground troops following days of skirmishes between rival tribesmen and militias. Western powers fear the OPEC producer could slide into further instability as the government struggles to contain heavily-armed militias, tribesmen and Islamists who helped to topple Muammar Gaddafi in 2011 but refuse to disarm. Prime Minister Ali Zeidan went on national television to announce he had ordered troops to be sent to the south after a group of gunmen entered the Tamahind air force base outside Sabha, 770 km (480 miles) south of the capital Tripoli. Defence Ministry spokesman Abdul-Raziq al-Shabahi said later that government forces had regained control of the base after air strikes.","World stocks stabilize after US industry report. LONDON (AP) — Stock markets recovered somewhat on Thursday after a survey showing a strong increase in U.S. manufacturing eased concerns over a drop in China's own industrial activity.","Marathon confirms small diesel spill into Mississippi river. (Reuters) - Marathon Petroleum Corp confirmed that two barrels of diesel spilled into the Mississippi river on Tuesday from its 490,000-barrel-per-day (bpd) Garyville, Louisiana, refinery. \"We responded very quickly to clean it up,\" a company spokeswoman said in an email. Marathon had reported the spill into the Mississippi river in notices filed with the U.S. National Response Center. (For refinery outages in the Reuters Oil Fundamentals Database see http://bond.views.session.rservices. ...","Italian premier challenged from own party. ROME (AP) — Italian Premier Enrico Letta is facing a challenge from within his own party to keep his job.","First lawsuit filed in Malaysia over MH370. A Malaysian family on Friday sued the government and beleaguered national carrier for negligence in the mysterious disappearance of flight MH370, in what is believed to be the first lawsuit filed over the disaster. The suit was filed by lawyers on behalf of the two underage sons of Jee Jing Hang, who was on board the ill-fated Malaysia Airlines flight. Gary Chong, a lawyer for Jee's relatives, said the suit was filed in a Malaysian court on Friday. The family is suing Malaysia Airlines for breach of contract, saying the deeply troubled carrier failed in its contractual responsibility to deliver Jee to his destination.","Pentagon:2015 US budget would keep links to Europe. WASHINGTON (AP) — The Pentagon is unveiling a proposed 2015 U.S. defense budget that shrinks the armed forces while keeping a commitment to support European allies at a time of tension over Russia's military involvement in Ukraine.","Thai king endorses military's interim constitution. By Kaweewit Kaewjinda BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thailand's king endorsed an interim constitution on Tuesday that grants power to the military to intervene in politics for security reasons without approval of a civilian government, due to be elected next year. The constitution, posted online late on Tuesday, preserves the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO), or the junta that has ruled Thailand since a coup on May 22, and grants immunity from prosecution to those who led the putsch. The draft gave no timeframe for when a general election would take place, although junta leader General Prayuth Chan-ocha has said it would likely come at the end of next year. The charter was whittled down from 309 articles to just 48 and allows the NCPO to intervene in matters it deems \"destructive to the peace and safety of the country\" even if the that meant disrupting the interim government's work.","Embattled French government scrapes through confidence vote. Paris (AFP) - France's crisis-hit government on Tuesday narrowly won a crunch parliamentary vote of confidence in its economic reform path, in a rare respite for the deeply unpopular President Francois Hollande.","Malaysia's air force says jet may have turned back. KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — The missing Malaysian jetliner may have attempted to turn back before it vanished from radar, but there is no evidence it reached the Strait of Malacca, the country's air force chief said Wednesday, denying reported remarks he said otherwise.","Erdogan says he won Turkey's presidential vote. ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Recep Tayyip Erdogan has declared victory in Turkey's first direct presidential election Sunday, a watershed vote in the country's nearly 91-year history that will ensure the current prime minister remains at its helm for at least another five years.","Ukraine's Yanukovich to hold news conference in Russia: RIA. MOSCOW (Reuters) - Ousted Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich plans to hold a news conference in the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don on Friday at 5 p.m. (1300 GMT), Russian news agencies reported, citing people close to Yanukovich. Yanukovich's whereabouts have been widely unknown since he fled the Ukrainian capital on Saturday, losing a bloody three-month standoff against opponents who led protests against him after he spurned deals with the European Union. (Writing by Steve Gutterman; Editing y Alexei Anishchuk)","Egypt state TV reports large explosion in Cairo. CAIRO (AP) — Egyptian state TV says there has been a large explosion in downtown Cairo, near the city's police headquarters.","Goalkeeper Costil called up to France squad. PARIS (AP) — Rennes goalkeeper Benoit Costil has been called up by France coach Didier Deschamps as a replacement for the injured Stephane Ruffier for friendly matches against Portugal and Armenia.","Thai court to decide on election complaint; protest march to test state of emergency. By Apornrath Phoonphongphiphat BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thailand's Constitutional Court said it would decide on Thursday whether to accept a case against holding February 2 election that would almost certainly extend the government's shaky grip on power as protesters try to force it from office. The government declared a 60-day state of emergency from Wednesday hoping to prevent an escalation in protests now in a third month. That decree will face a fresh test on Thursday when popular anti-government firebrand Suthep Thaugsuban leads a march through the capital Bangkok. A leading pro-government activist was shot and wounded on Wednesday in Thailand's northeast, a stronghold of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, in what police said was a political attack, adding to fears the violence could spread.","Saudi Arabia names new intelligence chief. RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) — Saudi Arabia's state news agency says King Abdullah has named a new intelligence chief and elevated a former spy chief to a new advisory position.","Italy World Cup kits contain micro-massage taping. MILAN (AP) — Italy's new shirts for the World Cup feature micro-massage taping laced into the fabric to \"provide players with a faster, more effective energy supply to the active muscles.\"","Samsung introduces free streaming radio service. NEW YORK (AP) — Samsung on Friday unveiled a new free music service for its phones that it touts as a significant improvement from the apps already on the market.","UN investigating reported kidnappings in Yemen. UNITED NATIONS (AP) — A U.N. official says the United Nations is responding to reports that a U.N. staff member and driver have been kidnapped in Yemen's capital, Saana.","Netherlands says OK for biker gangs to fight Islamic State. The Hague (AFP) - The Dutch public prosecutor said on Tuesday that motorbike gang members who have reportedly joined Kurds battling the Islamic State group in Iraq are not necessarily committing any crime.","Germany says will help finance four new Israeli warships. BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany plans to finance part of the cost of four new corvette warships for the Israeli navy made by German firm Thyssen Krupp under a deal struck with the Jewish state in November, the government said on Monday. Following approval by German parliament's budget committee the contract could be finalised before the end of this year, government spokesman Steffen Seibert said. As part of its atonement for the Nazi Holocaust, Germany is committed to Israel's security and has often helped pay for the cost of military equipment such as submarines. ...","Dressed for cycling, Egypt's Sisi calls for help on fuel subsidies. Wearing sporting gear including cycling gloves, President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi asked Egyptians on Friday to cycle and walk more to help the cash-strapped government that spends tens of billions of dollars a year on fuel subsidies. Egypt spent about 170 billion Egyptian pounds ($24 billion), or around a fifth of its budget, on energy subsidies this fiscal year ending June 30, state media quoted the government as saying this month, and plans to cut that to 104 billion next year. \"If you use your car, you pay around 4 pounds for 20 or 25 kilometers (15 miles) and Egypt pays 8 pounds for those 20 kilometers,\" Sisi said in a speech broadcast by state media.","New Zealand party leader quits after election loss. WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — The leader of New Zealand's main liberal party resigned Saturday after suffering a humiliating election defeat.","U.N. nuclear chief suggests little headway in Iran probe. By Fredrik Dahl VIENNA (Reuters) - The U.N. nuclear watchdog sought to put pressure on Iran on Monday to address suspicions it may have carried out atomic bomb research, three weeks after Tehran failed to meet a deadline for providing information about the issue. In line with the findings of a confidential report by the International Atomic Energy Agency earlier this month, Director General Yukiya Amano said Iran had not carried out two of the five transparency steps it had agreed to implement by Aug. 25. A lack of progress in the IAEA investigation could further complicate efforts by six world powers to negotiate a resolution to a wider, decade-old dispute with Iran and curb its nuclear work in exchange for a gradual ending of sanctions. \"In order to resolve all outstanding issues, past and present, it is very important that Iran continues to implement, in a timely manner, all practical measures agreed,\" Amano told the U.N. agency's 35-nation board of governors.","Qantas Airways posts $2.6 billion loss for year. SYDNEY (AP) — Qantas Airways Ltd. on Thursday posted a record 2.8 billion Australian dollar ($2.6 billion) statutory loss for the last fiscal year reflecting a profit-draining battle with its smaller rival Virgin Australia and aircraft write downs.","Boko Haram 'will be defeated', says leading Nigerian emir. One of Nigeria's most powerful Muslim leaders, the emir of Kano, has expressed optimism that the Boko Haram insurgency which has claimed some 13,000 lives will soon be over. Terror must and will be defeated,\" Muhammad Sanusi II tweeted late Saturday. Sanusi, Nigeria's second most powerful Islamic leader, was presumably referring to the emergence of former military ruler Muhammadu Buhari as the candidate of the opposition All Progressives Congress in next year's presidential election. Buhari will challenge President Goodluck Jonathan's ruling Peoples Democratic Party for the country's top job on February 14.","Renewed Syria fighting breaks cease-fire in Homs. BEIRUT (AP) — Renewed fighting broke a cease-fire in the embattled central Syrian city of Homs and halted a plan to evacuate civilians and bring supplies into rebel-held areas under siege, an official and activists said Saturday.","Kerry announces more aid to Palestinians during Gaza conference. CAIRO (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry announced on Sunday an additional $212 million in aid to the Palestinian people at a Cairo conference on rebuilding Gaza following a war earlier this year. In a speech to the international meeting, Kerry said: \"The people of Gaza do need our help desperately, not tomorrow, not next week, but they need it now.\" (Reporting by Matt Spetalnick and Stephen Kalin; writing by Michael Georgy, editing by John Stonestreet)","Coetzee shoots 69 on 28th birthday at British Open. HOYLAKE, England (AP) — George Coetzee wasn't planning much of a celebration for his 28th birthday.","African troops capture junior rebel commander. KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) — Uganda's military says it has captured a junior commander with the Lord's Resistance Army and rescued 10 people abducted by the fugitive leaders of the rebel group notorious for abducting children.","In conservative Pakistan, politician and others challenge taboos hiding rise of breast cancer. ISLAMABAD - In Pakistan, a country where breast cancer kills more women than terrorist attacks, an awareness group couldn't even say the word \"breast\" while talking at a university about mammograms and how to check for lumps.","Vettel warns those writing off his title chances. MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Red Bull driver Sebastian Vettel has warned those writing off his chances of a fifth-consecutive Formula One title that the season is long and the team's current engine problems are only temporary.","Motorcycling - Motorcycling: Rossi wins Australian MotoGP. - Italian veteran Valentino Rossi won an incident-packed Australian MotoGP after world champion Marc Marquez crashed out while holding a big lead on Sunday.","Japan poised to ease constitution's limits on military in landmark shift. By Linda Sieg TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's cabinet is expected on Tuesday to end a ban that has kept the military from fighting abroad since World War Two, a major shift away from post-war pacifism and a political victory for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe who has pursued the change despite some public opposition. The move, seen by some as the biggest shift in defense policy since Japan set up its post-war armed forces in 1954, would end a ban on exercising \"collective self-defense\", or aiding a friendly country under attack. Long constrained by the pacifist post-war constitution, Japan's military would be more closely aligned with other advanced nations' armed forces in terms of its options to act, though the government would likely remain wary of putting boots on the ground in multilateral operations such as the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq. \"We have lived in the world of the second dimension, now we are entering a third dimension – which is the global standard.\" Abe has pushed for the change since taking office 18 months ago despite wariness among many Japanese voters worried about entanglement in foreign wars and angry at what some see as a gutting of the constitution's war-renouncing Article 9.","Russia works on law to hurt EU, U.S. companies as sanctions reply-RIA. Russian lawmakers are working on a draft law to allow the confiscation of property, assets and accounts of European or U.S. companies if sanctions are imposed on Russia over Ukraine, RIA news agency said on Wednesday. RIA quoted Andrei Klishas, head of the constitutional legislation committee in the upper parliament house, as saying the bill \"would offer the president and government opportunities to defend our sovereignty from threats\". He added that lawyers were examining whether the confiscation of foreign companies' assets, property and accounts would comply with the Russian constitution but said such steps would \"clearly be in line with European standards\".","For many in Crimea, 'it's about time' to get closer to Russia. Galina Patsiuk is so happy about tomorrow’s referendum vote to join the Crimean peninsula with Russia that she can hardly hold back the tears. “It’s like a new dawn for us,” Ms. Patsiuk says, excusing her emotions as she chokes up. “I’m so glad that we will be united again with Russia and Belarus. After the referendum vote on Sunday, in which voting for the status quo is not an option, the Russian-speaking population of Crimea will be safe from the cruel fascist government in Kiev, who are trying to divide Ukraine, Patsiuk adds.","Swiss probe Uzbekistan first daughter for money laundering. Swiss prosecutors said Wednesday they have been investigating Uzbekistan President Islam Karimov's eldest daughter on suspicion of money laundering since late last year. \"The Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland is investigating Gulnara Karimova ... on suspicion of money laundering,\" the office said in a statement, adding that a probe of four people in her entourage had been broadened to include her personally late last year. Karimova, 41, had been shielded by diplomatic immunity until last July, when she was removed from her position as Uzbekistan's ambassador to the United Nations and other international organisations in Geneva. She reportedly left Switzerland shortly after that and her name was added to the ongoing probe on September 16, 2013, the statement said.","SOCHI SCENE: World tunes in. SOCHI, Russia (AP) — The Olympics are big business for television, and the Sochi Games are feeding a voracious appetite from networks around the world for live sports programming. Some numbers from IOC managing director of television and marketing services:","Turkey: 4 Turks abducted in Iraq freed. ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkey says four of its citizens who were abducted by an armed group in Iraq have been freed.","Corruption saps enthusiasm for east Ukraine rebels. DONETSK, Ukraine (AP) — As battle raged in rebellion-wracked eastern Ukraine, cargo trains piled high with coal thundered along rail tracks to keep heating and power going to households in rebel-held territory.","South Korean nominee for PM withdraws in latest blow to Park. By Jack Kim SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korean President Park Geun-hye suffered another political setback on Wednesday when her choice for prime minister withdrew his name amid questions about the ethics of earning a large income after leaving public service. Park had nominated Ahn Dai-hee to replace the incumbent who resigned over the government's slow and ineffective response to last month's ferry disaster that killed more than 300 people. Ahn was expected to enforce bureaucratic ethics including ending a culture of officials leaving senior government jobs to go into the private sector which can blur the lines between businesses and those regulating them.","Rights group: Saudi silencing peaceful activists. DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Saudi Arabia is waging a \"systematic and ruthless campaign of persecution\" against peaceful activists in order to silence criticism of the state in the wake of the 2011 Arab Spring uprisings, Amnesty International said Friday.","Best Buy holiday same-store sales fall. Best Buy Co Inc said on Thursday that total revenue and sales at its established U.S stores fell in the all-important holiday season due to intense discounting by rivals, supply constraints for key products and weak traffic in December. The world's largest consumer electronics chain cut prices aggressively to thwart fierce competition from Wal-Mart Stores Inc and other rivals in what turned to be one of the most promotional seasons since the recession.","Top Asian News at 4:30 p.m. GMT. KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — The Malaysian military has radar data showing the missing Boeing 777 jetliner changed course and made it to the Malacca Strait, hundreds of kilometers (miles) from the last position recorded by civilian authorities, according to a senior military official. The development injects more mystery into the investigation of the disappearance of Saturday's flight, and raises questions about why the aircraft was not transmitting signals detectable by civilian radar.","Top Asian News at 6:00 p.m. GMT. BEIJING (AP) — Chinese state media reported Thursday that 50 people, including 40 assailants, were killed in a series of explosions over the weekend in the far western region of Xinjiang, in what officials called a severe terror attack. Regional authorities had earlier said that the explosions Sunday in Luntai county killed at least two people and injured many others.","Libya trial of Kadhafi son, aides adjourned. A Libyan court adjourned Monday until April 27 the trial of top figures from Moamer Kadhafi's regime, including heir apparent Seif al-Islam, for abuses committed during the 2011 uprising that toppled the dictator. The adjournment after some 40 minutes, was the second postponement since March 24, and came as a rights group voiced doubts over the possibility of a free trial. As was the case in March, the postponement was due to a number of defendants, notably Seif, being absent and is meant to give lawyers time to prepare their cases. Among them were former intelligence chief Abdullah Senussi and Kadhafi's last premier, Al-Baghdadi al-Mahmudi.","Kagawa recalled by Japan for Colombia match. CUIABA, Brazil (AP) — Japan playmaker Shinji Kagawa has been recalled for his team's must-win Group C match against already-qualified Colombia at the World Cup on Tuesday.","Family of American detained in North Korea reacts. SEATTLE (AP) — The family of a Washington state man imprisoned in North Korea for more than a year expressed alarm and sadness Monday after an invitation was cancelled for a U.S. envoy to visit Pyongyang and discuss Kenneth Bae's release.","Man says he ate birds, turtles in 13 months adrift. WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — It's a story that almost defies belief: A man leaves Mexico in December 2012 for a day of shark fishing and ends up surviving 13 months on fish, birds and turtles before washing ashore on the remote Marshall Islands some 5,500 miles (8,800 kilometers) away.","Gunmen cross from Liberia, seize Ivorian village, kill eight. By Ange Aboa ABIDJAN (Reuters) - Ivory Coast's army launched a counter-attack on Friday against a group of gunmen accused of entering the country from Liberia and killing at least eight people in a raid on the village of Fetai, the parliamentarian representing the region said. Gunmen from Liberia have staged several assaults on towns near the border in recent years that the government and United Nations have blamed on allies of former president Laurent Gbagbo. The world's top cocoa-producing nation, Ivory Coast is recovering from a decade-long political crisis that culminated in 2011 in a brief civil war after Gbagbo refused to accept his election defeat to Alassane Ouattara. Heavily armed fighters crossed the Cavally River, which forms the boundary between Liberia and Ivory Coast, and attacked the village of Fetai early on Thursday, officials said.","Iraqi oil production unaffected by jihadist push -- for now. Iraq's oil production and crude exports have so far been unaffected by the jihadist sweep into Iraq's second city and a swathe of northern territory, a senior official said Wednesday. Iraq, which boasts among the highest reserves of oil and gas in the world, produces about 3.5 million barrels of oil per day, with exports in February reaching 2.8 million bpd, the highest such figure in at least a quarter-century. Most the oil and gas fields however are in the centre and the south, although militants have seized territory in Iraq's oil-producing Kirkuk province. The Sunni militants spearheaded by fighters from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) overran Mosul on Tuesday, dealing the Shiite-led Iraqi government a spectacular blow and sparking a mass exodus of an estimated half a million people.","Danish police widen celebrity snooping probe. COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — Danish police say that two former reporters and the publisher of a local gossip magazine face preliminary charges of violating privacy laws by illegally accessing personal information — including credit card transactions — that enabled them to track the movements of the Danish royals and celebrities for several years.","After coup allegation, S Sudan treason trial opens. JUBA, South Sudan (AP) — A court in South Sudan has heard allegations of treason against four political leaders accused of plotting to topple President Salva Kiir.","Argentine judge hears testimony of Franco victims in Spain. An Argentine judge heard testimony in Spain on Thursday from two women in their 90s who say their family members were tortured and killed during General Francisco Franco's right-wing dictatorship. Teresa Alvarez, 93, said she told the judge how her father was jailed and tortured by Franco's henchmen who rammed the end of an umbrella in his ears, causing him to lose his hearing. Their testimony forms part of a probe into possible crimes against humanity by the Franco dictatorship which Argentine Judge Maria Servini de Cubria opened in 2010 under the principle of universal jurisdiction. Franco ruled Spain from the end of the country's 1936-39 civil war until his death in 1975 and brutally repressed political opponents during this period.","Americans being evacuated from Iraqi air base. WASHINGTON (AP) — Officials say three planeloads of Americans are being evacuated from a major Iraqi air base in Sunni territory north of Baghdad to escape potential threats from a fast-moving insurgency.","ON THIS DAY: Rossi breaks Brazil's hearts in 1982. On July 5 in World Cup history: Paolo Rossi's hat trick helps Italy beat Brazil in Barcelona, Spain, in 1982.","Britain says 'long way to go' for Iran nuclear deal. VIENNA (Reuters) - Six world powers and Iran have a \"long way to go\" if they are to succeed in reaching a nuclear agreement by a deadline of next Monday, British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said. Hammond, speaking after arriving in Vienna where the talks are taking place, said Iran must show more flexibility in the negotiations on the country's disputed nuclear program. \"In return we are prepared to show some flexibility,\" he told reporters. \"We are all determined to make some progress but these are very difficult, technically complex, matters. ...","Suicide car bomber kills 5 in southern Afghanistan. KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Authorities say five civilians have been killed and 36 wounded in a suicide car bomb attack on an Afghan army vehicle in southern Afghanistan.","Russian government admits economy in crisis as Ukraine weighs. By Darya Korsunskaya and Lidia Kelly MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia's government acknowledged for the first time on Monday that the economy was in crisis, undermining earlier attempts by officials to suggest albeit weakening growth could weather sanctions over Ukraine. Moscow markets wait to see the full scale of western measures over the seizure of Ukraine's Crimea and support of its referendum to join Russia, after losing billions of dollars in recent weeks in state and corporate money. For weeks, Russian officials have said the confrontation between Moscow and the West over Ukraine that threatens economic sanctions and asset freezes would \"weigh on the economy\".","Canada weighs revoking citizenship of convicted terrorists. The Canadian government on Thursday proposed sweeping changes to the country's immigration laws, including a provision that would strip citizenship from persons convicted of terrorism or spying. The measure specifically targets individuals with dual citizenship found to have \"membership in an armed force or organized armed group engaged in armed conflict with Canada,\" a government press release said. \"Canadians understand that citizenship should not be simply a passport of convenience,\" said Immigration Minister Chris Alexander in a statement. Other measures in the amended act include a hike in citizenship application fees, and a requirement that newcomers demonstrate proficiency in one of Canada's two official languages, French or English.","Goetze's WCup boot gets nearly $2.5M for charity. BERLIN (AP) — Mario Goetze's World Cup-winning left shoe has fetched a donation of 2 million euros (nearly $2.5 million) at a children's charity gala in Germany and is headed for a museum.","Missing jet may have strayed to west, Malaysia military says. By Eveline Danubrata and Nguyen Phuong Linh KUALA LUMPUR/PHU QUOC, Vietnam (Reuters) - Malaysia's military has traced what could have been the jetliner missing for almost five days to an area south of the Thai holiday island of Phuket, hundreds of miles to the west of its last known position, the country's air force chief said on Wednesday. His statement followed a series of conflicting accounts of the flight path of the Boeing 777-200ER with 239 people on board, which left authorities uncertain even which ocean to search in for Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370. The last definitive sighting of the aircraft on civilian radar screens came shortly before 1:30 a.m. on Saturday, less than an hour after taking off from Kuala Lumpur, as it flew northeast across the mouth of the Gulf of Thailand bound for Beijing. In the latest potential lead, a Chinese government agency website on Wednesday said a Chinese satellite had photographed three \"suspicious floating objects\" on Sunday in waters northeast of Kuala Lumpur and south of Vietnam.","Matthew Shepard's parents head to Russia. The parents of Matthew Shepard, the gay Wyoming college student tortured and murdered in 1998, are traveling to Russia on Friday to spread their message of tolerance and acceptance in a country where anti-gay policies and attitudes are widespread.","Militants attack Yemen-Saudi border post. SANAA, Yemen (AP) — Officials say militants have targeted a border post between Yemen and Saudi Arabia in an attack that left two soldiers and three of the gunmen dead.","Women charged with helping al-Qaida-linked group. ALEXANDRIA, Virginia (AP) — Five people, including two women in the U.S., were charged Wednesday with funneling money to the al-Qaida-linked extremist group al-Shabab in Somalia, prosecutors said.","Russia TV accuses Navalny of CIA contacts, taking foreign money. A pro-Kremlin channel accused Russian protest leader Alexei Navalny of taking money from abroad and having contacts with the CIA, in a sensationalist report based on bugged conversations aimed at smearing his reputation as a clean-cut corruption fighter. The report was broadcast by the NTV channel, owned by state-controlled gas giant Gazprom, late Wednesday, one day after President Vladimir Putin had warned over a \"fifth column\" in Russia after its taking of Crimea.","Canada, EU finalize trade deal text; 2016 implementation eyed. Canada and the European Union have finalized the text of a proposed free trade deal after months of disagreements, but implementation is still about two years away, Canadian officials said on Tuesday. The deal would make Canada the world's only major economy with preferential access to the world's two largest economies, the EU and the United States. For Europe, the accord is meant to be a template for its trade negotiations with the United States, which would encompass a third of world trade and almost half the global economy. A Canadian government official, briefing reporters on condition of anonymity, said the final outstanding issues were technical in nature and did not require leaders to go back to the negotiating table.","Norway on alert over feared 'terrorist' attack. Oslo (AFP) - Norway has taken exceptional security measures after being informed of a possible imminent \"terrorist\" attack by militants who have fought in Syria, the country's intelligence chief said Thursday.","U.S. in early talks with EU on Ukraine financial support: State Dept. The United States and the European Union are in preliminary discussions on possible financial assistance for Ukraine once a new government is formed, a State Department spokeswoman said on Monday. We are consulting with the EU ... and other partners about support Ukraine may need after a new technical government is formed,\" spokeswoman Jen Psaki told a daily briefing. U.S. officials have emphasized that Ukraine will need an IMF-backed economic program to put its economy on a more stable footing. Psaki said any final decision on US financial support for Ukraine \"will be guided by events in Ukraine and consultations with the new government after it is formed.\" Ukraine's economy has been hard hit by more than two months of unrest, which followed a decision by President Viktor Yanukovich in November not to pursue trade and other deals with the EU, which would have brought Kiev closer to Western Europe.","Sweden's newborn princess to be named Leonore. STOCKHOLM (AP) — Sweden's Royal Palace says the newborn daughter of Princess Madeleine and New York banker Christopher O'Neill will be called Princess Leonore Lilian Maria.","Neymar leaves World Cup unscathed by dreadful loss. BRASILIA, Brazil (AP) — Neymar will be leaving the World Cup with his image untarnished by Brazil's disastrous loss to Germany, widely seen as the player in charge of helping the nation recover from the historic home defeat.","Ex-Senegalese president's trip home in limbo. DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — An opposition party official says Senegalese authorities are refusing landing rights in Dakar to a plane carrying the former president in what was supposed to be his triumphant homecoming after two years abroad.","Top Asian News at 8:30 a.m. GMT. KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Carried by soldiers and draped in the national flag, coffins carrying Malaysian victims of Flight MH17 returned home Friday to a country still searching for those onboard another doomed jet and a government battling the political fallout of the twin tragedies. The bodies and ashes of 20 victims from the Malaysia Airlines jet that was shot down over eastern Ukraine in July were given full military honors and a day of national mourning was declared, the first in the country's history.","Russia sees harsh crackdown on independent media. MOSCOW (AP) — Among the five TV journalists interviewing Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, the odd one out was easy to spot. Mikhail Zygar's questions were sharper than those of the others, who headed back to spacious television studios while Zygar broadcast his piece from a Moscow living room.","Hitler remarks attributed to Prince Charles 'unacceptable': Putin. Saint Petersburg (AFP) - Russian President Vladimir Putin said Saturday that remarks attributed to Britain's Prince Charles comparing his actions to those of Adolf Hitler were unacceptable and not worthy of royalty.","Vietnam says possible debris area already searched. KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — The area where Chinese satellite images show what might be debris from the missing Malaysian jetliner has been thoroughly searched in recent days, Vietnam said Thursday as Malaysia urged caution over the findings.","Ted Cruz: Still Canadian as immigration lawyers express confusion. OTTAWA - U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz vowed months ago to renounce his Canadian citizenship by the end of 2013.","Lightning kills seven Burundi students, wounds 51. Bujumbura (Burundi) (AFP) - Lightning in Burundi killed seven high school students and wounded 51 others when it struck a classroom where they were sheltering from a ferocious storm, officials said Saturday. \"This was an exceptional disaster that hit not only our town, but also other areas of the country, when we should be in the dry season,\" said Prudence Kabura, a local government official in Nyanza-Lac, some 150 kilometres (90 miles) south of the capital Bujumbura, of the storm on Friday. The tragedy follows a series of fatal lightning strikes in recent days. Last week lightning killed four people and wounded nine others as they sheltered inside a small church in eastern Burundi, local official Egide Ndikuriyo said.","Poroshenko hails Ukraine 'warriors' freed by rebels. Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko on Saturday welcomed home as heroes 145 soldiers freed by pro-Russian rebels during the largest prisoner swap of the eight-month separatist war. The Western-backed leader, beaming and wearing a black bomber jacket, walked up to the back cargo bay of a military transport plane that landed at a military airport outside Kiev in the dawn hours of Saturday to hail the men. \"My heart as that of a president and citizen is brimming with joy that you -- as I had promised -- will be able to meet the New Year with your families and comrades and arms,\" Poroshenko said as the released men huddled around him on the tarmac. Ukraine's chronically underfunded army has been criticised heavily by the public for failing to stamp out a revolt that has claimed 4,700 lives and continues to threaten the former Soviet republic's very existence.","EU to host industry talks ahead of setting 2030 climate goals. The European Commission will hold three meetings this summer on how to ensure the bloc's industries can compete in global markets while meeting goals to cut greenhouse gas emissions, it said on Wednesday. The meetings aim to gather views on rules determining if companies can continue to receive free carbon permits under the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS) beyond 2020, when current measures expire. The announcement follows the failure last month by EU leaders to agree on the bloc's 2030 energy and climate goals, instead setting an October deadline amid divisions over whether to firm up the plan well ahead of global talks on tackling climate change. \"The results of the consultations will provide input to the European Council's October 22-23 discussions on the 2030 climate and energy framework,\" the Commission said on its website.","Kings blank Rangers to reach brink of Stanley Cup. Jonathan Quick made 32 saves and the Los Angeles Kings reached the brink of a Stanley Cup Final sweep with a 3-0 victory over the New York Rangers. The Kings took a 3-0 lead in the best-of-seven National Hockey League championship series and would complete a sweep for their second title in three seasons by winning game four Wednesday at Madison Square Garden. No team has swept the Stanley Cup Final since the Detroit Red Wings blanked the Washington Capitals in the 1998 NHL championship series. Los Angeles, which defeated New Jersey in six games in the 2012 final, ousted defending champion Chicago in seven games in the Western Conference final.","Administration seeks $1.2 billion for border. WASHINGTON (AP) — The Obama administration is asking Congress to agree to an additional $1.2 billion to deal with the unaccompanied minors arriving at the U.S. border with Mexico.","William and Kate meet director Peter Jackson. BLENHEIM, New Zealand (AP) — Britain's Prince William and his wife, Kate, have met with \"The Lord of the Rings\" director Peter Jackson during a visit to an aviation museum in New Zealand.","Ex-KHL boss seeks international fed presidency. MOSCOW (AP) — The former head of the Kontinental Hockey League says he plans to challenge long-time International Ice Hockey Federation president Rene Fasel in the next election.","Nine killed, 30 wounded in new clashes in Libya's Benghazi: medic. By Ayman al-Warfalli BENGHAZI Libya (Reuters) - Heavy clashes broke out on Tuesday between a former Libyan general's forces and Islamist fighters in the eastern city of Benghazi, killing at least nine people, medics said. Armed Islamists are trying to prise Benghazi's civilian and military airport from the control of government troops allied to former army general Khalifa Haftar, one of several conflicts gripping Libya three years after the ousting of Muammar Gaddafi. The government and parliament have already had to pull back from the capital, Tripoli, after fighters seized control there. ...","About 40 injured at Cambodia opposition protest. PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) — Security forces and opposition protesters have clashed at an opposition rally in Cambodia's capital, leaving about 40 people injured.","Radiation for prostate cancer may lead to more complications than surgery: study. TORONTO - For men with prostate cancer, deciding whether to opt for radiation or surgical removal of the gland can be a daunting prospect, as both carry the risk of unpleasant side-effects such as urinary incontinence and erectile dysfunction.","U.N. aided 38,000 victims of Syrian gender-based violence in 2013. By Tom Miles GENEVA (Reuters) - More than 38,000 people appealed to the United Nations for help after facing sexual assault or other gender-based violence in Syria in 2013, a figure which may represent the tip of the iceberg after nearly three years of conflict. U.N. humanitarian agencies have previously declined to produce statistics from Syria on gender-based violence, which covers any violence where gender is an issue, including rape, domestic violence, harassment and psychological abuse. But the U.N. Population Fund (UNFPA) released figures this week showing it provided psychological first aid or support for such violence to 33,430 people in Syria in the first 11 months of 2013, and to another 4,800 in December in Idlib, Homs, Damascus and rural Damascus.","Asia stocks supported; falling dollar a burden for Nikkei. By Wayne Cole SYDNEY (Reuters) - Asian markets could take heart on Monday after Wall Street managed to look past more soft U.S. data, though Japanese stocks will be pressured by a stronger yen as the dollar loses altitude. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan added 0.2 percent, having bounced 5 percent in seven sessions. The main data on Monday will be Japan's gross domestic product (GDP) report, which is forecast to show annualized growth of 2.8 percent for the fourth quarter. On Wall Street, the Dow ended Friday up 0.79 percent, while the S&P 500 gained 0.48 percent.","Brazil, Qatar continue to cause FIFA problems. SAO PAULO (AP) — Days before the World Cup kicks off in Brazil, the equally troubled 2022 tournament in Qatar continues to cause FIFA problems.","Air strike kills 13 suspected militants in central Yemen: sources. SANAA (Reuters) - An air strike killed 13 suspected al Qaeda militants in the central Yemeni province of al-Bayda on Saturday, security and tribal sources said. \"An air strike targeted cars that suspected al Qaeda militants were in and killed 13 of them in the Sawma'a area of al-Bayda,\" one security source said. (Reporting by Mohamed Ghobari; Writing by Yara Bayoumy; Editing by Alison Williams)","Eritrean forces board ship in Red Sea, not pirates: officials. Eritrean forces have boarded a merchant vessel that was in their territorial waters in an incident the crew initially reported as a pirate attack, maritime officials said on Sunday. Reuters data showed the vessel change direction sharply but also showed it moving towards the Eritrean coast early on Sunday, not the Gulf of Aden - the site of most pirate attacks and where one official had said the ship was headed. \"We assess this is an operation by the Eritrean forces, who went on board the vessel,\" said Lieutenant Commander Jacqueline Sherriff, spokeswoman for the European Union Naval Force Somalia (EU NAVFOR) whose operational region is further south. \"We believe the vessel is now in the hands of the Eritrean forces,\" she said, adding the incident had initially appeared on a system used for piracy alerts.","Hong Kong police start clearing main protest camp. HONG KONG (AP) — Hong Kong authorities cleared barricades Thursday from a pro-democracy protest camp spread across a busy highway as part of a final push to retake streets occupied by activists for two and a half months.","Renovated Mount Washington museum in NH scheduled to open in June. NORTH CONWAY, N.H. - The Mount Washington Observatory plans to show its renovated museum on the New Hampshire mountaintop in June.","Freund wins World Cup ski jump in Russia. NIZHNY TAGIL, Russia (AP) — Germany's Severin Freund won a shortened ski jump World Cup event on Sunday after the second round was canceled due to unsafe wind conditions.","Japan, Ethiopia urge peace in South Sudan. The leaders of Japan and Ethiopia on Monday urged South Sudan's warring parties to sign a ceasefire to end weeks of fighting that has left thousands dead. \"We agreed that the cessation of hostilities in South Sudan and national reconciliation is the most important way forward,\" Ethiopian Prime Minister, Hailemariam Desalegn, said at a joint briefing with his Japanese counterpart. Ethiopia and Japan said they were committed to stability in South Sudan, which gained independence in 2011. \"I have confirmed with (Hailemariam) that Japan and Ethiopia will maintain close contact and exchange information for stability for the situation in South Sudan,\" Japanese leader Shinzo Abe said.","Lion stolen from rehabilitation center in Brazil. SAO PAULO (AP) — Police say a 660-pound lion has been stolen from an animal rehabilitation center in southeastern Brazil.","Bahrain activist Nabeel Rajab freed as trial adjourned. Dubai (AFP) - A Bahrain court on Sunday freed prominent Shiite activist Nabeel Rajab and adjourned to next year his trial over remarks posted on Twitter deemed insulting to public institutions, a judicial source said.","Chinese teenager kidnapped in southern Philippines. MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Philippine police say a Chinese teenager who managed a family-run store has been kidnapped by four gunmen from the shop in a southern province where al-Qaida-linked militants kidnapped an Australian three years ago.","Analysis: Talks in Bergdahl release had wider goal. The announcement that the U.S. government had secured the release of missing U.S. Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl and that it was freeing five senior Taliban figures from Guantanamo Bay has been portrayed first and foremost as a prisoner exchange. But the four-year history of secret dialogue that led to Sunday's release suggests that the main goal of each side may have been far more sweeping.","Berlin aims to open much-delayed airport in 2017. BERLIN (AP) — Berlin's new airport should be open within three years — barring further unforeseen problems.","Netanyahu settlement stand draws fire from all sides. Comments by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the World Economic Forum make it clear he is against the establishment of a Palestinian state, chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat has said. \"Anyone who says they want the settlers to remain is actually saying they don't want the establishment of a Palestinian state,\" Erakat said in remarks published Monday in Palestinian daily Al-Ayyam. Erakat was reacting to comments by Netanyahu at last week's WEF gathering in Davos, where the premier insisted Israel would not evacuate Jewish settlements built on occupied land the Palestinians want for their future state. Netanyahu has publicly supported the two-state solution during US-sponsored talks which envisage the creation of a Palestinian state as part of a final peace agreement.","Hagel testifies Wednesday on Taliban prisoner swap. WASHINGTON (AP) — Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel will face angry lawmakers as he becomes the first Obama administration official to testify publicly about the controversial prisoner swap with the Taliban.","Slovakia signs deal to deliver gas to Ukraine. BRATISLAVA, Slovakia (AP) — Slovakia signed a deal on Monday to deliver natural gas to Ukraine, which is facing the threat of a cut-off in supplies from Russia because of a massive debt.","Bahrain: Blast hits police 3 years after uprising. MANAMA, Bahrain (AP) — An explosion rocked a bus carrying police in Bahrain on Friday, while security forces used tear gas in clashes with anti-government protesters on the third anniversary of an uprising in the small Gulf island nation.","New central bank stimulus launched for eurozone. FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — The European Central Bank launched its new stimulus program aimed at getting banks to lend more in a slack economy — but saw less demand than expected for its offering of super-cheap credit.","Lesotho MPs dance as parliament re-opens after coup crisis. Maseru (Lesotho) (AFP) - Lesotho's King Letsie III re-opened parliament Friday amid tight security, the first step in a peace deal aimed at ending a crisis sparked by an attempted military coup.","Appeals court revives Abu Ghraib torture lawsuit. RICHMOND, Virginia (AP) — A lawsuit by four former Iraqi detainees who said they were tortured at the notorious Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq may go forward, a U.S. appeals court said Monday.","NATO airstrike kills 5 Afghan soldiers. KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — An early morning NATO airstrike in Afghanistan's eastern Logar province killed five Afghan soldiers on Thursday, the coalition and Afghan defense ministry officials said.","Cup rules allow Oracle to sail with challengers. SAN DIEGO (AP) — The America's Cup has shaken the rules for the 2017 regatta.","Defeated nationalist leader says Scots 'tricked' out of independence. MANCHESTER England (Reuters) - Alex Salmond, the defeated leader of Scotland's nationalists, on Sunday accused Prime Minister David Cameron and other London politicians of tricking Scottish voters out of independence by making a false \"vow\" about granting them new powers. Salmond, who is stepping down as leader of the pro-independence Scottish National Party (SNP) after spearheading a failed campaign for Scotland to leave the United Kingdom, said Britain's three main political parties had won last Thursday's referendum vote by 55-45 percent by deception. ...","Ricker vows to defend snowboard cross gold at Sochi despite broken wrist. VANCOUVER - Maelle Ricker is confident she'll be able to defend her women's snowboard cross gold medal at the Sochi Winter Olympics.","116 gunshot wounds: S. Sudan's bloody violence. JUBA, South Sudan (AP) — Doctors Without Borders has treated more than 100 people with gunshot wounds in South Sudan, a sign of how intense the latest fighting has been.","U.S. has no evidence of any Islamic State plot against subways: sources. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States has no evidence to back up an Iraqi claim that Islamic State forces were plotting to attack U.S. subway systems, two senior U.S. government security officials told Reuters on Thursday. In the past, the United States had received threats that various militant groups were targeting such transportation systems but there is no recent information about an imminent plan by Islamic State, one official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity. ...","Nigeria opens long-awaited battle of ideas against Boko Haram. By Tim Cocks KADUNA Nigeria (Reuters) - In classrooms facing a sandy courtyard in the northern Nigerian city of Kaduna, Maska Road Islamic School teaches a creed that condemns the violent ideology of groups like Boko Haram. Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, known as the \"Pants Bomber\", spent his youth in this school - and ended up trying unsuccessfully to blow up a U.S. airliner on Christmas Day 2009 with explosives hidden in his underwear. \"We teach them that what they (Boko Haram) are doing is a total misunderstanding of the Islamic religion, that Prophet Mohammed was compassionate, he even lived together with the non-Muslims in Medina,\" said headmaster Sulaiman Saiki. Koranic schools like Maska Road will be a pillar of the strategy being launched in September to counter Boko Haram's ideology.","Jihadists free 70 kidnapped students in Syria: monitor. Beirut (AFP) - The Islamic State jihadist group on Tuesday freed more than 70 Kurdish school children it kidnapped in northern Syria in May, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.","Israel, Hamas trade fire in lead-up to brief truce. GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — The Israeli military says it has struck 37 targets in Gaza ahead of a five-hour humanitarian cease-fire meant to allow civilians to stock up after 10 days of fighting.","Nestle sells U.S. frozen pasta business to Brynwood Partners. ZURICH (Reuters) - Nestle said it would sell its U.S.-based frozen pasta business, Joseph's Pasta, to private equity firm Brynwood Partners VII LP as part of a drive to clean up its portfolio. \"We can confirm the divestiture of Joseph's Pasta,\" a spokesman for the world's biggest food group said in an emailed statement on Monday without giving details of the transaction. Headquartered in Haverhill, MA, Joseph's pasta employs more than 300 people. ...","US charges Chinese officials in cyberspying case. WASHINGTON (AP) — In a landmark case alleging international economic spying, the United States announced on Monday unprecedented cyber espionage charges against five Chinese military officials accused of hacking into U.S. companies to gain trade secrets.","Bombing at northeast Nigeria football match kills at least 40. Kano (Nigeria) (AFP) - A bomb attack targeting fans at a football match in Nigeria's restive northeast killed at least 40 people on Sunday, a police officer told AFP. \"There has been a bomb explosion at a football field this evening and so far more than 40 people have been killed,\" said the officer who requested anonymity in the town of Mubi, which has seen previous attacks by Boko Haram Islamists. The policeman's account was confirmed by a nurse at the Mubi General Hospital, who also requested anonymity, as the health worker was not authorised to discuss the attack with the media. Mubi is located in Adamawa state, one of three in the northeast which has been under a state of emergency for more than a year as the military has tried to crush Boko Haram's five-year extremist uprising.","Stopping deportations by any means necessary. DENVER (AP) — Immigrant rights activists have a new message: Just stop the deportations.","Spain town with 'Kill Jews' in name mulls change. MADRID (AP) — The tiny Spanish village of Castrillo Matajudios, whose second name means \"Kill Jews,\" will hold a referendum next month to decide if it should change the name that offends outsiders and embarrasses some residents.","U.S. reports 12 air strikes against Islamic State in Syria, Iraq. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. military conducted six air strikes against Islamic State militants near the Syrian border town of Kobani on Sunday and Monday, the U.S. Central Command said in a statement. U.S. forces, in coordination with Iraqi ground troops, also conducted six air strikes against the militant group in Iraq near Fallujah and Bayji with help from France and the United Kingdom, Central Command said. (Reporting by Susan Heavey; Editing by Doina Chiacu)","Brazil confirms Amazon deforestation sped up in 2013. By Marcelo Teixeira SAO PAULO (Reuters) - The destruction of the world's largest rainforest accelerated last year with a 29 percent spike in deforestation, according to final figures released by the Brazilian government on Wednesday that confirmed a reversal in gains seen since 2009. Satellite data for the 12 months through the end of July 2013 showed that 5,891 square km (3,360 square miles) of forest were cleared in the Brazilian Amazon, an area half the size of Puerto Rico. Fighting the destruction of the Amazon is considered crucial for reducing global warming because deforestation worldwide accounts for 15 percent of annual emissions of heat-trapping gases, more than the entire transportation sector. Besides being a giant carbon sink, the Amazon is a biodiversity sanctuary, holding billions of species yet to be studied.","Iraq unrest shows 'total' failure of US-led invasion: Russia. Moscow (AFP) - Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Thursday that the spectacular seizure of Iraqi cities by advancing jihadist fighters was a clear sign of the \"total failure\" of the US-led invasion.","NY state restaurant chain 'bans' Putin. BUFFALO, New York (AP) — Mighty Taco, a Buffalo-based chain of Mexican fast-foot restaurants, has banned Russian President Vladimir Putin from all of the company's 23 locations in western New York.","California wildfire destroys houses, thousands more threatened. (Reuters) - A wildfire sweeping through parts of California's Sierra Nevada mountains has destroyed 10 houses and 22 outbuildings and is threatening thousands of other structures, fire officials said on Sunday. So far no residents have been hurt, said fire service spokesman Tom Piranio, but 2,800 people had been evacuated. Firefighters had only recently able to enter burned areas to report on the damage, he added. Rain and lower temperatures have helped firefighters make some progress against the blaze which began on Sept. ...","Congress passes sanctions on Venezuela officials. WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. Congress has cleared and sent to President Barack Obama legislation directing him to levy sanctions against Venezuelan government officials involved in a crackdown on anti-government protesters.","Search for jet finds nothing; stopped by weather. PERTH, Australia (AP) — Searchers aboard planes and ships on Thursday failed to find any of the 122 objects captured by satellite as possible debris from the downed Malaysian Airlines jet, as heavy rain, winds and low clouds forced the aircraft to return to the base after only a few hours.","U.S. launches fresh strikes on Khorasan group in Syria. By Mark Hosenball and Susan Heavey WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States said it conducted air strikes on Wednesday night against the so-called Khorasan group, an al Qaeda-linked militant faction based in Syria, and said the group was plotting to attack Europe or the United States. Separately, one U.S. official said a target of the strike was David Drugeon, a French-born militant and convert to Islam who some U.S. officials say is a bomb maker for the group. U.S. officials have not confirmed whether Drugeon was killed. ...","EU says \"very good progress\" in nuclear talks with Iran. Senior officials from the European Union and Iran have made \"very good progress\" in talks in Geneva on the implementation of a landmark nuclear deal, the EU said on Friday. The officials met on Thursday and Friday to iron out remaining practical issues to put in place the November 24 deal, under which Iran agreed to curb its most sensitive atom work in return for some relief from western economic sanctions. \"Deputy Secretary General (Helga) Schmid and Deputy Foreign Minister (Abbas) Araqchi made very good progress on all the pertinent issues,\" EU spokesman Michael Mann said, referring to the EU and Iranian officials. He added, however, that any agreements had to be validated by the governments of Iran and the six world powers negotiating with the Islamic Republic over its atom work: the United States, Russia, China, France, Britain and Germany.","Draghi dials R for Reform. Line is busy. By Paul Carrel FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Two years ago, euro zone government leaders hung on Mario Draghi's every word. For financial markets, Draghi's words still count. Euro zone governments, however, seem to have forgotten the caveat. Draghi delivered his famous \"whatever it takes\" speech, and backed it up with a plan to buy \"unlimited\" amounts of bonds issued by stricken euro members - but only after governments agreed to his call for a \"fiscal compact\" on tougher budget discipline.","Earth's Magnetic Field Could Flip in Our Lifetime. A pilot looking down at her plane controls and realizing magnetic north is hovering somewhere over Antarctica may sound like a scene from a science-fiction movie, but new research suggests the idea isn't so far-fetched in the relatively near future. A magnetic field shift is old news. The poles have flipped several times throughout Earth's history. Scientists have estimated that a flip cycle starts with the magnetic field weakening over the span of a few thousand years, then the poles flip and the field springs back up to full strength again.","Malala in peace move after Nobel win with India's Satyarthi. Oslo (AFP) - Pakistan's Malala Yousafzai, who became the youngest ever winner of the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday, made a high-level peacemaking move after sharing the award with India's Kailash Satyarthi for championing children's rights.","Airbus sees no reason to leave if Britain quits EU. Toulouse (France) (AFP) - Airbus's chief executive said Thursday that if Britain voted to leave the European Union that would not be a reason for the European planemaker to quit the country where it employs 10,000 people. The comments by Fabrice Bregier run counter to those by many British business leaders who have begun a campaign against their country leaving the EU as could happen in possible 2017 referendum. With 90 percent of Airbus's market outside of Europe, competitiveness is the top priority for the planemaker, Bregier said at a company event in Toulouse on Thursday. Bregier said Airbus was very pleased with all the initiatives of the government of British Prime Minister David Cameron, and did not believe that would change if Britain left the EU.","Workers clear debris after Indian cyclone kills 8. HYDERABAD, India (AP) — More than 1,000 rescue workers and soldiers cleared away piles of uprooted trees and electrical poles blocking roads on Monday after powerful Cyclone Hudhud slammed into India's eastern coast, leaving at least eight dead.","Seoul: North Korea fires 3 short-range projectiles. SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea fired three short-range projectiles Thursday into the waters off its east coast, a South Korean defense official said. The move was most likely a routine test-firing, but the official said it could also be meant to stoke tensions with Seoul.","UN rights chief: Flight 17 possible war crime. GENEVA (AP) — The U.N.'s top human rights official says the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 may be a war crime.","Bilbao wins 2-1 at Levante to stay 4th in Spain. VALENCIA, Spain (AP) — Striker Aritz Aduriz scored two goals to help Athletic Bilbao win 2-1 at Levante on Monday, strengthening the Basque side's hold on fourth place in the Spanish league.","Interpol shows image of 2 Iranians on missing jet. LYON, France (AP) — Interpol has released an image of two Iranians who were traveling with stolen passports on a missing Malaysia Airlines jetliner.","Miranda, Luis added to Brazil's World Cup list. SAO PAULO (AP) — Brazil coach Luiz Felipe Scolari has included Atletico Madrid defenders Miranda and Filipe Luis to the list of seven players who will be on standby for the World Cup.","Russia may change budget rules to cope with Crimea: deputy PM. BERLIN (Reuters) - Russia's deputy prime minister has said Moscow may change its budget rules to cope with an additional population of about 2 million people in Crimea, the Ukrainian Black Sea territory annexed by Russian troops last month. First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov told German daily Die Welt in an interview published on Thursday, when he attended a business conference in Berlin, that Crimea needed investment in infrastructure that could not be covered by existing funds. \"When a country gets 2 million new people ... ...","Toronto mayor says he'll take leave, seek help. TORONTO (AP) — Toronto Mayor Rob Ford will take a leave of absence to seek help for alcohol, he said, as a report surfaced about a second video of the mayor smoking what appears to be crack cocaine.","Israeli military resumes Gaza fighting, says Hamas ignored truce. JERUSALEM (Reuters) - The Israeli military started fighting again in the Gaza Strip on Sunday, saying Hamas militants had ignored a 24-hour, humanitarian ceasefire requested by the United Nations. \"Following Hamas' incessant rocket fire throughout the humanitarian window, which was agreed upon for the welfare of the civilian population in Gaza, the (army) will now resume its aerial, naval and ground activity in the Gaza Strip,\" a military statement said. Residents in Gaza reported hearing heavy shelling east of Gaza City shortly after the announcement was made. ...","Indonesia landslide kills 3 people; 107 missing. JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Indonesia's disaster-response agency says three people have been confirmed dead and 107 others are missing after a landslide triggered by torrential rains buried houses on the main island of Java.","News UK ends bid to recoup Brooks' phone-hacking trial costs. LONDON (Reuters) - Rupert Murdoch's British newspaper arm dropped its claim on Wednesday to be reimbursed for the multi-million dollar legal bills amassed during the phone-hacking trial of its former boss Rebekah Brooks. Brooks, 46, was found not guilty by a jury in June on charges of phone-hacking, illegal payments to a public official and perverting the course of justice after a hugely expensive, high-profile eight-month trial at London's Old Bailey court. News UK, the British newspaper arm of News Corp. ...","Interim NATO force expected next year. BRUSSELS (AP) — NATO's chief says the alliance expects to have an interim rapid-reaction force in existence by next year to deal with new security challenges in Europe and elsewhere.","England rout Italy in Six Nations to put pressure on Ireland. Full-back Mike Brown scored two tries and Owen Farrell added 22 points to secure a 52-11 rout of Italy at the Stadio Olimpico and put England within sight of the Six Nations title on Saturday England's fourth win of the series put them top of the table ahead of Ireland's clash against France in Paris later where a French victory could hand England the title. Vowing to concentrate on their own task of defending a 19-match unbeaten run against Italy, England produced a solid performance throughout and were rarely troubled by a supposedly formidable Italian pack or defence. On the day, Italy simply didn't show up and have finished the tournament winless and with the wooden spoon.","Japan formally OKs additional Russia sanctions. TOKYO (AP) — Japan has formally approved additional sanctions against Russia over the unrest in Ukraine.","Fasting India activist forced to take medical test. NEW DELHI (AP) — Activists say India's most famous prisoner of conscience has been forcibly taken for a medical test by police just days after she was freed after nearly 14 years in prison for fasting to protest against an Indian law that suspends many human rights in areas of conflict.","Nishikori bids for US Open title and Asian lift-off. Japan's Kei Nishikori, the first Asian man to make a Grand Slam final, faces fellow first-timer Marin Cilic for the US Open title on Monday hoping to open a new frontier in tennis in Asia. After top seeds Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer were disposed of in the semi-finals, the championship match will be the first not to feature either Djokovic, Federer or Rafael Nadal since the 2005 Australian Open. No wonder Nishikori is still pinching himself after knocking out Wimbledon champion and seven-time Grand Slam winner Djokovic in the semi-finals.","BoE reveals Britain warned over eurozone crisis in 2011. The Bank of England revealed on Tuesday that it had warned the British government in late 2011 to prepare for more banking bailouts at the height of the eurozone sovereign debt crisis. The central bank's Financial Policy Committee also urged the Treasury to draw up \"wide-ranging\" contingency plans to deal with the eurozone's potential collapse, it emerged in minutes from the FPC's June meetings. \"In September 2011, the committee made an initially private recommendation to HM Treasury that its contingency planning should be as comprehensive as possible and include arrangements for recapitalisation, and the restructuring of bank liabilities in circumstances in which their survival was threatened,\" the minutes read. The FPC added: \"Against that backdrop, it thought that HM Treasury should prepare for a full range of eventualities;","Syria rebels battle to prevent regime seizing strategic town. Syrian rebels were engaged in fierce battles Thursday with regime forces trying to capture the town of Yabrud, their last stronghold in the strategic Qalamun region near the Lebanese border, an NGO said. Meanwhile, in the northern city of Aleppo, eight soldiers were killed by a rebel suicide bombing at the city's central prison, which rebels have long been trying to capture, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. The Observatory said rebels were fighting on Yabrud's outskirts against government troops, backed by National Defence Forces militia and Lebanon's Shiite movement Hezbollah. The rebel side included Islamist brigades and Al-Nusra Front, an Al-Qaeda affiliate, the Britain-based Observatory said.","Czech PM backs aid for coal mine in row with coalition partner. Czech Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka said on Friday the government must act to avoid a social crisis in the northeast of the country, where a planned coal mine closure threatens to put thousands out of work. The center-left government has considered plans to provide 1.1 billion crowns ($54.96 million) in aid to keep a coal mine owned by struggling miner OKD, a unit of New World Resources, in operation until 2016, instead of letting it close at the end of this year as planned by the owner. Sobotka's backing for aid to the region highlights a deepening conflict with the junior coalition partner, the centrist ANO movement of Finance Minister Andrej Babis, who has rejected any government support. NWR has said it would close the Paskov mine near the city of Ostrava, cutting more than 2,000 jobs at the end of this year, unless there is an agreement with the government on continuing operations.","Army: 8 Egyptian sailors missing after port attack. CAIRO (AP) — An Egyptian army spokesman says eight sailors are missing after an assault by \"terrorist elements\" on a navy patrol boat off one of the country's Mediterranean ports.","Islamic gunmen push into Iraq's Sunni heartland. BAGHDAD (AP) — Al-Qaida-inspired militants pushed deeper into Iraq's Sunni heartland Wednesday, swiftly conquering Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit as soldiers and security forces abandoned their posts and yielded ground once controlled by U.S. forces.","Israeli air strike kills two men on motorcycle in Gaza: medics. An Israeli air strike killed two people on a motorcycle in Gaza City early on Sunday, medical officials said, the latest development in the weeks-long conflict with Palestinian militants that has shown no sign of abating. The Israeli military had no initial comment on the strike and it was unclear if those killed had any particular militant affiliation. Israel launched an offensive on Gaza on July 8, with the declared aim of ending militant rocket fire on its territory. Egypt, which has been trying to mediate a ceasefire between Islamist Hamas, which dominates Gaza, and Israel, on Saturday called on them to halt hostilities and resume talks.","Polls close in New Zealand election. WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Polling booths closed Saturday in New Zealand's general election with Prime Minister John Key seeking a third term in office.","NY police promise to rebuild trust as protests spread. By Sharon Bernstein and Scott Malone BERKELEY, Calif./NEW YORK (Reuters) - The head of the New York Police Department vowed on Tuesday to repair relations with poor and minority communities following the death of a suspect, even as protests over police violence flared across the United States. The department will retrain its members in nonviolent ways of making arrests, Police Commissioner William Bratton said, adding that he had taken a non-confrontational approach to protests over a grand jury's decision not to charge the officer involved in the controversial chokehold case. ...","Alberta prosecutor behind Canada's toughest prison term becomes judge. EDMONTON - The Alberta Crown prosecutor who pushed for the toughest prison sentence in Canada since the country's last execution has become a judge.","Teen surfer's lucky escape after Australia shark bite. A teenage girl on Friday described her shock after being bitten by a shark when she landed on top of it while surfing off a popular Australian beach.","South Africa's 'spaza' shops suffer as big retail rolls in. By David Dolan SOWETO, South Africa (Reuters) - In this corner of South Africa's black township of Soweto, the biggest building used to be the Catholic church. Now it's been overshadowed by a shopping center and business has only gotten worse for Grace, a 68-year-old shopowner. Like many proprietors of \"spaza\" shops - the informal stores that dot township corners - Grace barely manages to keep afloat as more of her neighbors head to the mall. Grace has been running the shop with her husband since 1993, the year before South Africa's first all-race elections.","Ontario election will be held June 12: Premiere Wynne. An Ontario election will be held June 12, the province's Premiere Kathleen Wynne said on Friday, after a budget proposed by her minority Liberal government did not find support with the opposition parties. \"On June 12, the people of the province will have a choice,\" Wynne told reporters. \"They'll have a choice between the balanced approach of a Liberal government that will create jobs and nurture economic recovery and the opposition party that would put recovery in jeopardy with reckless schemes and irresponsible choices.\" (Reporting by Leah Schnurr and Cameron French;","Jordan charges top Brotherhood figure over anti-UAE comments. AMMAN (Reuters) - Jordan on Monday charged a top member of the Muslim Brotherhood with \"souring ties with a foreign country\" by criticizing the UAE after it designated his group as a terrorist organization. Zaki Bani Rushaid, deputy leader of the Jordanian branch of the Brotherhood, was arrested last month after saying on social media the UAE's rulers lacked popular legitimacy and served Israel's interests by playing a leading role in a crackdown on political Islam. ...","EU opens in-depth probe into Mondelez, DE Master Blenders coffee merger. BRUSSELS (Reuters) - European Union antitrust regulators opened an extensive investigation into a proposal by Mondelez International Inc and competitor D.E Master Blenders 1753 to combine their coffee businesses, concerned this may reduce competition. The companies are aiming to bring together Mondelez's grocery coffee brands such as Carte Noire and Gevalia and D.E Master Blenders' L'Or, Pilao and Senseo brands under one roof in a new Dutch-based company to be called Jacobs Douwe Egberts. ...","Pitch invasion among setbacks in Manaus test event. SAO PAULO (AP) — A pitch invasion and sound-system problems marked the first major test event at the World Cup stadium in the jungle city of Manaus.","Egypt's Brotherhood members aim to outwit informants. Muslim Brotherhood members in Egypt only agree to meet after sunset and are wary of everyone including family members, as part of tactics to outwit informants. Three years after Egypt's revolt which toppled president Hosni Mubarak, their 85-year-old movement is now designated a \"terrorist organisation\" by the country's military-installed authorities. The standing of the Islamist group has eroded dramatically in the face of a crackdown launched by the government since the military's July 3 ouster of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi. The Brotherhood, which has won all elections in post-Mubarak Egypt, is in complete disarray, with its top leadership behind bars and hundreds of members and supporters on the run or living in constant fear.","Guinea reopens Ebola clinic as sick spill over border. By Saliou Samb CONAKRY (Reuters) - Guinea said on Saturday it will reopen an Ebola clinic in its remote southeast as sick nationals living in Liberia and Sierra Leone spill over the borders in search of better treatment. West Africa's Guinea, the first country in the region to be affected by the deadly virus which has killed more than 1,100 people, says it has brought the outbreak under control. \"We are concerned about the length of the border with Sierra Leone and Liberia, specifically in Macenta and Pamelap,\" said Sakoba Keita from Guinea's Health Ministry, referring to border towns. \"The Guineans who are over there and are infected are inclined to come back to Guinea for better treatment,\" he added, describing Liberia's health system as in a state of decay.","Nut rage spat latest stumble for Korean Air family. SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — When South Koreans heard that a Korean Air Lines executive delayed a flight because she was angry at being served macadamia nuts in a bag there was outrage but no surprise.","SKorea ferry toll hits 150 as search gets tougher. JINDO, South Korea (AP) — The grim work of recovering bodies from the submerged South Korea ferry proceeded rapidly Wednesday, with the official death toll reaching 150, though a government official said divers must now rip through cabin walls to retrieve more victims.","F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone rejects bribery charges. MUNICH (AP) — Formula One boss Bernie Ecclestone has rejected accusations of bribery as his trial opened in Germany — telling a Munich court that the German banker at the center of the case didn't tell the truth.","China's Dalian Wanda slashes IPO to $3.9 billion; investors worry about debt. By Elzio Barreto HONG KONG (Reuters) - Dalian Wanda Commercial Properties Co Ltd, the world's second largest developer of shopping malls and office buildings, cut the size of its Hong Kong IPO by around a third to $3.9 billion to lure investors worried about its huge debt, analysts said. The company, backed by Chinese billionaire Wang Jianlin, launched the deal on Monday and offered 600 million new shares in a range of HK$41.80–HK$49.60 each, according to a term sheet seen by Reuters. It had earlier sought to raise as much as $6 billion via the deal, Reuters previously reported. ...","Mini-sub tries again after first search for MH370 aborted. Perth (Australia) (AFP) - A mini-sub hunting for Malaysian jet MH370 prepared to make a second mission to the remote Indian Ocean seabed Tuesday after aborting its first search as it encountered water deeper than its operating limits, officials said.","Algeria court approves 6 presidential candidates. ALGIERS, Algeria (AP) — Algeria's Constitutional Court has approved six candidates for the April 17 presidential election, including the 77-year-old incumbent who suffered a stroke last year.","Deforestation drops in Brazil's Amazon. SAO PAULO (AP) — Brazil says that deforestation in the vast Amazon rain forest has dropped 18 percent over the past 12 months — falling to the second-lowest level in a quarter century.","Ukrainian admiral fired, faces treason probe. KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — A Ukrainian security official says the head of the country's Black Sea fleet has been dismissed and faces a treason investigation after declaring allegiance to the pro-Russian government of the Crimea region.","Photos said to show jihadists executing Iraq troops. Militants from jihadist group the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) have executed dozens of captured Iraqi security forces members, according to photos posted online. The authenticity of the photos, which were shared on Twitter and elsewhere and said to have been taken in Salaheddin province, north of Baghdad, could not be independently confirmed. The militants said in one photo caption that they executed hundreds of soldiers. A major offensive spearheaded by ISIL but also involving supporters of executed dictator Saddam Hussein has overrun all of one province and chunks of three others since it was launched on Monday.","South Africa inflation eases to 5.8 percent. South Africa's headline inflation edged down in November, as lower oil prices contained costs, official figures released Wednesday showed. Statistics South Africa said there had been an annual rate decrease of 4.2 percent in the transport index in November, down from 4.8 percent in October.","Tears, anger and joy over Egypt death sentences. Reda Ramadan didn't get a chance to celebrate the acquital of his nephew after he learned his brother was among 183 defendants whose death sentences were confirmed in Egypt Saturday. The acquittal means nothing when there is a death sentence\" at the same time, a grieving Ramadan told AFP as he left the courtroom. The court in the central city of Minya confirmed death sentences against 183 defendants, including the chief of Muslim Brotherhood, Mohamed Badie. It also commuted the death sentences of four people to life in prison and acquitted 496 others.","Despite crush of children, illegal immigration low. WASHINGTON (AP) — Border Patrol agents stationed in South Texas are the busiest in the country, arresting tens of thousands of children illegally crossing the border without their parents and thousands more families with children.","Power opens IndyCar season with win in St. Pete. ST. PETERSBURG, Florida (AP) — For the fourth time in six races dating to last season, Will Power jumped from the top of his car to celebrate a win in Victory Lane.","Image of Asia: Returning turtles to the sea. In this photo by Firdia Lisnawati, locals and tourists on the Indonesian island of Bali help release endangered giant green turtles into the sea. Police Col. Djoko Hari Utomo says the turtles being released were among 17 turtles confiscated from a poacher last month. The poacher allegedly bought them from fishermen and they were to be sold to a food stall. Turtle meat is a traditional delicacy in Bali, although Indonesia has banned their trade and consumption due to concerns about dwindling numbers and the possibility of a tourist boycott. Turtles, especially green turtles, are among several protected species in the vast nation of 17,000 islands.","U.N. accuses Islamic State of executions, rape, forced child recruitment in Iraq. By Dominic Evans and Maggie Fick BAGHDAD (Reuters) - The United Nations accused Islamic State fighters in Iraq of executions, rape and forced recruitment of children during a campaign to seize much of northern Iraq, part of a conflict it said has killed almost 5,600 civilians this year. In a report, the U.N. focused on a range of violations committed against civilians, particularly by the Islamic State, though it also said Iraqi forces and allied fighters had not taken precautions to protect civilians from violence. \"(This)...may also amount to war crimes,\" it said in its report into months of unrest which culminated in advances by Sunni militants led by the al Qaeda offshoot Islamic State, formerly known as ISIL, across the north of the country.","Force beat Reds 30-20 in Super Rugby. PERTH, Australia (AP) — Western Force's departing winger Nick Cummins scored a try and had a hand in another as the hosts beat the Queensland Reds 30-20 on Saturday to continue their hunt for a playoffs place in Super Rugby.","Trial of SAC's Martoma begins with questions for potential jurors. By Nate Raymond NEW YORK (Reuters) - Jury selection began on Tuesday in the trial of Mathew Martoma, a former portfolio manager at Steven A. Cohen's SAC Capital Advisors hedge fund, who is accused of engaging in the most lucrative insider trading scheme in U.S. history. Court officials handed questionnaires to 80 potential jurors to determine their suitability to sit for more than three weeks in the high-profile trial in a federal court in New York. Potential jurors were, asked among other things, about the extent to which they had read about Martoma's case or heard of Cohen and SAC, and whether they had \"strong feelings\" against traders, stockbrokers and hedge funds.","France's Hollande and pro-reform allies get poll boost. PARIS (Reuters) - French President Francois Hollande saw his popularity ratings jump five points in a month to a still lackluster 25 percent in a poll released on Friday, with pro-reform ministers in his Socialist government also gaining. The Dec 17-18 survey by pollster BVA still left him the least popular president in its records but was nonetheless his best score since his party was trounced in European and local elections in the first half of 2014 as voters punished him for tax rises and a failure to combat rising unemployment. ...","10-man Sporting Kansas City beats Toronto FC 2-1. TORONTO (AP) — Substitute Jacob Peterson scored in the 80th minute to help 10-man Sporting Kansas City beat Toronto FC 2-1 on Saturday night.","Ferrari president Montezemolo to leave the company. TURIN, Italy (AP) — Ferrari president Luca Di Montezemolo will leave the company next month amid a very disappointing season by the flagship Formula One team.","Observers held in Ukraine say in good health, want to go home. By Thomas Grove SLAVIANSK, Ukraine (Reuters) - The leader of the international observers detained by pro-Russian separatists in the east Ukrainian city of Slaviansk said on Sunday all the group were in good health, but they were anxious to be allowed to go home soon. Guards in camouflage fatigues and balaclavas, carrying Kalashnikov rifles, were also in the room as journalists spoke to the observers, who were in Ukraine under the auspices of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). Colonel Axel Schneider, who was leading the observer mission, said the group came to Slaviansk without weapons and were there strictly in line with their mandate under OSCE rules, to carry out military verification work. \"All the European officers are in good health and no one is sick,\" Schneider said.","Official: US not aware of subway attack plot. NEW YORK (AP) — A senior Obama administration official says no one in the U.S. government is aware of a plot for an attack on subway systems in the U.S. and Paris.","S.Africa union rejects energy firm pay offer. A South African union said Tuesday it had rejected an offer of a 5.6 percent pay increase from state-owned energy company Eskom, accusing the utility of treating workers like \"slaves\". Eskom's three-year offer is less than half of the 12 percent that the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) is demanding, and below the rate of inflation, which last month hit 6.6 percent. Eskom, which supplies around 95 percent of South Africa's electricity, has struggled to keep the lights on in the continent's most developed economy while racing to construct new plants to meet rising demand. South Africa's public utility workers are banned from striking because their industry is classified as essential.","China breaks up gang offering sex-selective abortions. China has broken up a gang that offered illegal services to determine the sex of unborn children so that women could abort those they did not want, the country's health ministry said on Sunday. Three decades of strict family planning have bolstered a traditional bias for male offspring, seen as the main support of elderly parents and heirs to the family name, and have resulted in abortions, killings or abandonment of girls and trafficking of both male and female children. The health ministry said the crackdown netted 10 people who had since 2010 operated a service sending women from all over the country to a clinic in the central city of Zhengzhou to find out the sex of their unborn child. Last year alone, more than 1,000 women used the service, it said, although it did not say how many abortions resulted.","Putin asks parliament to use military in Ukraine. KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin has asked parliament for permission to use the country's military in Ukraine, the Kremlin said Saturday.","Oil stays above $100 ahead of Yellen testimony. The price of oil made small gains above $100 a barrel Tuesday ahead of Congressional testimony by the U.S. Federal Reserve's new chief and reports that are expected to show falling stockpiles of crude oil and distillates.","Greece: bridging differences with rescue creditors. ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greece's finance minister says the government is trying to \"bridge its differences\" with international debt inspectors in negotiations over fiscal reforms needed for the country to receive its next bailout installment.","Errani beats Petkovic in 1st round at Madrid Open. MADRID (AP) — Sara Errani of Italy beat Andrea Petkovic 7-5, 6-1 in the first round of the Madrid Open on Saturday, avenging a loss to the German in the same stage four years ago.","Gaza rocket fire towards Israel resumes as ceasefire expires. JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Palestinian militants resumed firing rockets into Israel from the Gaza Strip on Friday, Israeli police and municipal officials said, after a 72-hour ceasefire expired. There were no reports or casualties or damage after sirens sounded in southern Israel, nor was there any immediate Israeli military response. A spokeswoman for Hamas, the Islamist militant group that dominates the Gaza Strip, said it would not extend the truce but talks in Cairo mediated by Egypt would continue. (Reporting by Nidal al-Mughrabi; Writing by Ori Lewis; Editing by Jeffrey Heller)","Djokovic appeals for help for flood-hit Serbia. BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — Novak Djokovic has appealed for help for his flood-hit native Serbia.","Jaidee of Thailand wins Nordea Masters playoff. MALMO, Sweden (AP) — Thailand's Thongchai Jaidee quickly won a playoff against Stephen Gallacher of Scotland and France's Victor Dubuisson to clinch the Nordea Masters on Sunday.","Abu Sayyaf militants kill 6 Filipino soldiers. MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Abu Sayyaf gunmen on Sunday killed six soldiers who were guarding a road project that has been delayed by militant attacks in an impoverished southern Philippine province, the military said.","Good pay, no crime: life is good in Chilean Antarctica. Villa Las Estrellas (Antarctica) (AFP) - There is no crime or traffic and in this Antarctic hamlet paychecks can be much higher than on the Chilean mainland. But residents of Villa Las Estrellas also have to endure winters with howling blizzards and temperatures that plunge to -40 Celsius (-40 Farenheit) in winter, making it painful to even breathe outdoors. \"Living here is entertaining compared with the continent,\" said Jose Carrillan Rosales, principal of the tiny Las Estrellas school. Villa Las Estrellas is located at Fildes Bay on King George Island, located on the northernmost tip of the Antarctic peninsula.","London's Luton airport evacuated due to 'suspicious item'. London (AFP) - London's Luton airport was evacuated on Monday after a suspicious package was found in the passenger security checks area, a spokeswoman said.","Yobo first Nigerian to 100 caps if picked vs Arg. PORTO ALEGRE, Brazil (AP) — Defender Joseph Yobo will become the first Nigerian to win 100 caps if he is picked for the World Cup Group F decider against Argentina on Wednesday.","London's FTSE slips further at open. London shares continued their downward trend at the open of trade on Wednesday, despite gains in Tokyo and on Wall Street. The benchmark FTSE 100 index was down 0.24 percent to 6,433.63 points in opening deals compared with Tuesday's closing levels. A rally on Wall Street gave Tokyo the impetus to claw back some of its losses in the previous session, boosted by a surge in computer giant Panasonic which announced a swing back to profit. But Wall Street's three main indices, which each saw losses of more than two percent at the start of the week, rebounded slightly Tuesday on bargain buying and solid corporate results, including from fast food giant Yum Foods and fashion retailer Michael Kors.","EU opens formal probe on Amazon's tax practice. BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union's competition authority is opening a formal investigation of Amazon's European corporate income tax practices.","Ukraine asks for big EU loan during gas standoff. BRUSSELS (AP) — Ukraine has asked the European Union for an additional loan of $ 2.5 billion as it struggles to cope with the implications of its standoff with Russia.","Inside Takata, tantrums, but little sense of crisis over air bags. By Norihiko Shirouzu TOKYO (Reuters) - Shigehisa Takada, the third-generation head of Takata Corp, shows little sense of the crisis engulfing the Japanese air bag maker at the center of one of the auto industry's biggest safety recalls, according to three people who have met him recently. Just days before a Nov. 21 U.S. ...","U.S., Arab partners launch first strikes on IS in Syria. By Phil Stewart and Tom Perry WASHINGTON/BEIRUT (Reuters) - The United States and several Gulf Arab allies launched air and missile strikes on Islamic State strongholds in Syria on Tuesday, U.S. officials said, opening a new, far more complicated front in the battle against the militants. \"I can confirm that U.S. military and partner nation forces are undertaking military action against (Islamic State) terrorists in Syria using a mix of fighter, bomber and Tomahawk Land Attack Missiles,\" Rear Admiral John Kirby, Pentagon press secretary, said in a statement. ...","Former Egypt finance minister released hours after arrest in France: source. Former Egyptian finance minister Youssef Boutros Ghali was released following his arrest in Paris on an international warrant over corruption charges from his time in Hosni Mubarak's government, a judicial source said on Wednesday. French police released Boutros Ghali hours after he was arrested at the request of Interpol on arriving in Paris from London on Monday, the source said. The source said Boutros Ghali had to be released because of his status as a political refugee in Britain, which includes a guarantee against imprisonment under the Geneva Convention. Boutros Ghali was sentenced in absentia to 30 years in prison in Egypt for corruption and abuse of power following the uprising that unseated Mubarak in 2011.","Prime Minister Stephen Harper visits Inuvik to make announcement. INUVIK, N.W.T. - Prime Minister Stephen Harper will be making an announcement today in Inuvik that is expected to focus on an all-weather road linking Canada's Arctic coast to the south for the first time.","S. Korea's prime minister-nominee withdraws. SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea's prime minister-nominee withdrew from consideration Tuesday following mounting criticism over alleged pro-Japanese remarks he made.","Rosberg looking to turns things around in Brazil. SAO PAULO (AP) — Nico Rosberg knows he will need some help to overcome Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton for the Formula One title. The Brazilian Grand Prix may be where he gets some.","Syria rebels, Qaeda capture key southern town: monitor. Syrian rebels and Al-Qaeda seized the southern town of Nawa Sunday from troops loyal to President Bashar al-Assad after months of intense fighting, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. Both local rebel groups and Al-Qaeda affiliate Al-Nusra Front claimed credit for the opposition advance. The rebel and Al-Qaeda advance came a day after regime air raids on a town held by the jihadist Islamic State group in northeastern Syria killed 21 civilians and wounded 100, the Observatory said.","Eye-injury ends Maccarinelli's world title challenge. Germany's Jurgen Braehmer defended his world light-heavyweight title on Saturday with a fifth round technical knock-out of Britain's Enzo Maccarinelli, who had his right-eye completely closed by an early punch. Two punches in the first round effectively decided the bout as Wales-born Italian Maccarinelli was left boxing with only one functioning eye from the third round onwards. Maccarinelli's trainer Gary Lockett threw in the towel just before the start of the sixth round as the Welshman suffered the seventh defeat of his career, all by knock-out, in his 45 professional bouts.","Iran must back Syria transition to attend peace talks: London. Iran must clarify that it supports the formation of a transitional government in Syria if it is to attend this week's peace talks in Geneva, Britain said on Monday. \"Iran must now clarify that they accept the basis of the (UN) secretary-general's invitation. This makes it clear that the only basis for anyone to attend Geneva II is to implement in full the June 2012 Geneva communique, calling for mutually-agreed political transition,\" a Foreign Office spokesman said.","Bahrain: Protesters dismiss government plans. MANAMA, Bahrain (AP) — Witnesses say thousands of opposition supporters have rallied in the tiny island nation of Bahrain to protest a proposal outlined by the country's leadership related to legislative, security and judicial reforms.","France seeks ICC involvement on Syria war crimes. United Nations (United States) (AFP) - France will table a proposal before the United Nations Security Council authorizing the International Criminal Court to investigate crimes against humanity in Syria, French ambassador to the UN Gerard Araud said Tuesday. Araud told reporters that France hoped to introduce the resolution in the next few weeks, following a presentation to council members of a gruesome dossier containing thousands of photos showing detainees who had been starved or tortured in prisons run by the Syrian regime. \"We are going to try to obtain authorization for the ICC to act,\" Araud said.","Two Palestinians killed in Israeli raid on Gaza. Gaza City (Palestinian Territories) (AFP) - Two Palestinian members of Islamic Jihad were killed in an Israeli air raid in the Gaza Strip overnight, witnesses and medical sources said Wednesday.","Son of South Korean sunken ferry owner detained. SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korean police detained the eldest son of the sunken ferry owner Friday after two months on the run, three days after his billionaire father was confirmed dead.","Turkish lira surges after bold central bank action. ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — The surprisingly big interest rate rise by Turkey's central bank has paid dividends, at least in the short-term, as the country's currency surged on foreign exchange markets.","3 SKorea workers die at nuke plant construction site. SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Three South Korean workers have died after apparently inhaling toxic gas at a construction site for a new nuclear plant.","U.S. sanctions against Putin allies include two Finns. The personal sanctions against 20 close allies of Russian President Vladimir Putin announced by the United States on Thursday also include two Finnish, and thus European Union, citizens. The extension of visa bans and asset freezes into Putin's inner circle came as Moscow rushed to consolidate the annexation of the Crimean peninsula, seized from Ukraine. Oil trader Gennadi Timchenko and Boris Rotenberg, who received major contracts linked to Sochi Olympics, carry Finnish as well as Russian passports. \"We feel the situation is unjust but can say that the U.S. action does not have any immediate impact on the Rotenberg's businesses in Finland,\" Rotenberg's son Roman Rotenberg said in a statement.","Lebanese foes celebrate together as army deploys. TRIPOLI, Lebanon (AP) — Gunmen cheerfully shared coffee and cigarettes with men they have tried to kill with assault rifles, grenades and mortars. Women on balconies hurled rice to celebrate. Men chanted giddily to welcome soldiers deploying to the streets of this northern Lebanese city.","Court won't restore Oracle's $1.3B verdict vs. SAP. SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A federal appeals court is refusing Oracle Corp.'s request to reinstate a $1.3 billion verdict it won against German rival SAP SE in a long-running copyright dispute.","Crimean Tatars wary of Russia referendum. Bakhchysaray (Ukraine) (AFP) - Victims of Stalin's mass deportations in 1944, Crimea's Tatar Muslim minority look wearily on next week's referendum on joining Russia, which could well bring the crisis on the tense peninsula to new heights. The referendum is meant to confirm Thursday's decision by Crimea's pro-Moscow parliament to become part of the Russian Federation, even though the authorities in Kiev have deemed it \"illegitimate\". While the move has been greeted by Crimea's Russian-speaking majority, it has drawn a less than enthusiastic response from the minority Tatars. \"The only real threat is Russia, where there is no freedom of speech.\"","Exclusive: Tony James looks beyond Blackstone, would consider top job in U.S. government. By Greg Roumeliotis NEW YORK (Reuters) - Blackstone Group LP's No. 2 executive Tony James is considering taking a role outside the world’s largest alternative asset manager, including seeking a top job in a future U.S. government, according to people familiar with his thinking. James, 63, has not disclosed when or whether he will step down from being president and chief operating officer at the firm. The sources stressed that senior Blackstone executives see him as fully committed to his current role and do not expect his resignation in the coming months. ...","Weekend TV: Homeland, Survivor's Remorse, Mulaney. If last season (and the last parts of the season before) left you wanting to run away from Showtime's Homeland, the good news is that it's safe to come back. The show may never again achieve the intensely suspenseful and emotional heights of year one, with its psychosexual tango between Carrie and the enigmatic war hero/possible terrorist tool Brody, and I'm still not convinced that basket-case analyst Carrie Mathison (Claire Danes) should be posted anywhere hotter than Antarctica. But this Emmy-winning international spy thriller suddenly feels much more topical and urgent again in its fourth season, where the only remaining remnant of the Brody storyline is the infant daughter — a ginger baby, naturally (hauntingly Damian Lewis in aspect) — whom Carrie bore after witnessing the father's cruel fate. Read More > Other Links From TVGuide.com Claire Danes Damian Lewis Elliott Gould Mandy Patinkin Mike Epps Mike O'Malley RonReaco Lee Tichina Arnold LeBron James Corey Stoll John Mulaney Erica Ash Rupert Friend Nasim Pedrad Zack Pearlman Homeland Jessie T. Usher Suraj Sharma Mulaney Seaton Smith Survivor's Remorse","Iraq's new premier battles to unite a fractured nation. By Dominic Evans BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Three months after he took office with a mission to unite his broken, warring country, Iraq's new prime minister has swept away the divisive legacy of his predecessor with a burst of rapid and dramatic measures. But Haider al-Abadi faces a huge challenge forging a common front against Islamic State fighters, rebuilding an ineffective army and reasserting a degree of central government authority across Iraq. Time is short and the battle to contain the militants who control swathes of territory is draining the country's finances. ...","Palace beats Villa 1-0 in EPL. LONDON (AP) — Crystal Palace won a third straight English Premier League match when it beat slumping Aston Villa 1-0 on Saturday.","Car bombs kill nine in Shiite Baghdad districts. Car bombs killed at least nine people Wednesday on the main streets of two Shiite neighbourhoods of Baghdad, police and medical sources said. One explosion ripped through a petrol station in the large northern neighbourhood of Sadr City at around 7:00 pm (1600 GMT), as cars were queueing to fill up, witnesses said. \"I was on my way to having my mobile fixed at the shop when the car exploded on the other side of the street,\" irrigation ministry employee Ali Dakhel said. At least five people were killed, according to hospital and police sources.","China sacks senior officials for deadly factory blast. BEIJING (Reuters) - China's government has sacked two senior officials and will prosecute 18 others following an explosion in August at a car parts factory that killed 146, the country's worst industrial accident this year, state media reported. A room filled with metal dust exploded in Jiangsu province at the Kunshan Zhongrong factory that polished wheel hubs for car makers, including General Motors Co. ...","US court throws out Chiquita terror payment claims. MIAMI (AP) — A divided U.S. federal appeals court has thrown out claims against produce giant Chiquita Brands International made by thousands of Colombians killed during years of civil war.","Bighorn sheep back home on the range in Arizona mountains. By David Schwartz PHOENIX (Reuters) - Fourteen bighorn sheep ambled out of a trailer into their new home in a southern Arizona mountain range on Thursday as part of an attempt to bring back an animal that disappeared from the landscape there in the 1990s, wildlife managers said. The three rams and 11 ewes took to the hills after being released in the Santa Catalina Mountains north of Tucson, with officials optimistic about bolstering an effort that began in the area late last year. ...","Ford shuts doors of Belgium's Genk plant. GENK, Belgium (Reuters) - Ford Motor Company produced the last car at its plant in Genk, Belgium, on Thursday, closing the site which produced some 14 million vehicles over the past 50 years. The company decided in late 2012 to shut the factory which employed some 4,000 people and to relocate production of new models to Valencia, Spain. \"It seems so unreal. I think I'll only notice after the holidays. It's winter time, you're at home and have no idea what to do. That's when it will hit,\" said 60-year-old Rudi Beys on his way to one of his final shifts, adding he felt too young to retire. ...","Portugal counts days to end of bailout program. LISBON, Portugal (AP) — The Portuguese are less than three months away from their big day — May 17 — when they expect to get financial sovereignty back after three years of being told what to do by foreign bailout creditors.","Lawyer raps report on Myanmar journalist's death, demands new inquiry. By Aung Hla Tun and Paul Mooney YANGON (Reuters) - A report into the death of a Myanmar journalist while in military custody is inadequate and the country's president must now order an independent investigation, his family's lawyer said on Tuesday. Last month, Myanmar's President Thein Sein asked the state-run National Human Rights Commission to carry out an investigation into freelance journalist Par Gyi's death in response to calls from rights groups and the United States. The U.S. ...","Toyota recalls 2.27 million cars for airbag glitch. TOKYO (AP) — Toyota Motor Corp. says it is recalling 2.27 million vehicles due to problems with front passenger airbag inflators.","U.S. suspends Yemen Embassy operations to public, citing security. The United States has suspended operations of its embassy in Sanaa, Yemen, to the public, citing recent attacks against Western interests in the country, the State Department said on Wednesday. \\\\\"We continue to evaluate the security situation every day, and we will reopen the embassy to the public once it is deemed appropriate,\\\\\" State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said in a statement. \\\\\"The recent attacks against western interests and information we have received have given us enough concern to take this precautionary step,\\\\\" the statement added.","CAF reschedules African qualifiers over Ebola fears. African football's governing body has rescheduled qualifying matches in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone over concerns about the deadly Ebola virus, which has killed more than 1,000 people this year. \"CAF will maintain its schedule of matches on the entire continent, except for three countries: Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, which have recorded a great number of (Ebola) cases,\" a statement said. \"CAF has decided to ask the three federations to relocate to a neutral country the matches of their teams participating in CAF competitions, for a period up to mid-September 2014.\" Two 2015 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers -- Guinea v Togo on September 5 and Sierra Leone v DR Congo on September 10 -- will now be played at neutral grounds.","Too much time-wasting, top players says. LONDON (AP) — Rafael Nadal tugging at his shorts and doing his usual pre-serve routine. Novak Djokovic bouncing the ball more than a dozen times. Maria Sharapova facing away from the court between serves. Countless players going to the towel point after point.","Australia opens tender for next phase in Malaysia Airlines search. By Matt Siegel SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australia began the process of finding a private contractor on Wednesday to take over the hunt for a missing Malaysia Airlines plane after three months of military-led searches failed to find any trace of its wreckage. The next phase of the search mission is expected to start in August and take up to a year, covering some 60,000 sq kilometers of ocean at a cost of A$60 million ($55.5 million) or more. \"A single prime contractor will be chosen to bring together and manage the expertise, equipment and vessels to carry out the search,\" Australia's Joint Agency Coordinating Centre, which has been leading the multinational search, said in a statement. The search was narrowed in April after a series of acoustic pings thought to be from the plane's black box recorders were heard near where analysis of satellite data put its last location, some 1,600 km (1,000 miles) off the northwest coast of Australia.","Nokia says India plant unlikely to be part of Microsoft deal. Nokia said that due to an ongoing tax dispute its Indian mobile phone handset plant was unlikely to be included in a deal due to be concluded on Friday for the sale of its global handset business to Microsoft. Nokia will instead operate the factory as a contract manufacturing unit for Microsoft after the deal, a spokeswoman for the Finnish company's Indian unit said on Thursday. \"It's highly unlikely that the plant will transfer, given that the (deal) closing with Microsoft is tomorrow,\" the spokeswoman said. \"If the asset doesn't get transferred, we are entering into a service agreement with Microsoft.\" Nokia has yet to agree to conditions set by an Indian court, including payment of a guarantee for potential tax dues in a dispute with Indian authorities, before it transfers the plant to Microsoft.","BlackRock's first-quarter profit rises 20 percent. BlackRock Inc, the world's largest money manager, said on Thursday its first-quarter profit rose 20 percent, boosted by strength in its retail business and positive flows across asset classes. On that basis, they beat analysts' average forecast of $4.11 a share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. Of the $26.7 billion that investors poured into long-term funds during the quarter, roughly half came from retail investors, who accounted for $14 billion of long-term net inflows during the quarter. Retail fund assets at the end of March totaled $508.7 billion, representing 12 percent of total assets under management at the end of March. Investors added more money than they withdrew across asset classes during the quarter, with fixed-income driving the bulk of the long-term net inflows during the quarter.","Israel PM slams Iran move to send ships towards US. Israel on Sunday denounced an Iranian announcement that it was sending naval ships towards the United States as further evidence that loosening sanctions on Tehran was counterproductive. The move to send warships to the Atlantic was announced by the commander of Iran's northern naval fleet on Saturday, who described it as a \"message.\" The ships \"have already started their voyage towards the Atlantic Ocean via the waters near South Africa,\" said Admiral Afshin Rezayee Haddad, in remarks quoted by Iran's semi-official Fars news agency. But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the dispatch of the warships was clear evidence of Iran's \"aggression\" and proof it had not moderated its policies following a landmark deal with world powers to roll back its nuclear programme in exchange for sanctions relief.","Iraq's Maliki to deliver important speech. Baghdad (Reuters) - Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, who faces mounting pressure to drop his bid for a third term, will deliver an important speech on television on Sunday night, state television reported. Maliki, seen as a sectarian ruler, has defied calls by Sunnis, Kurds, some fellow Shi'ites and regional power broker Iran to step aside for a less polarizing figure. (Writing by Michael Georgy; Editing by Sandra Maler)","CAS registers 1st case of Sochi Olympics. SOCHI, Russia (AP) — The Court of Arbitration for Sport has registered its first case of the Sochi Olympics.","Birthday ceremony for ailing Thai king canceled. BANGKOK (AP) — A traditional birthday celebration ceremony for Thailand's King Bhumibol Adulyadej, the world's longest-reigning monarch, has been canceled because his doctors say he's not well enough to attend.","Australia sends 50 police to London in anticipation of joining UN security force in Ukraine. CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Australia sends 50 police to London in anticipation of joining UN security force in Ukraine.","Ukraine's parliament approves austerity laws needed for draft budget. KIEV (Reuters) - Ukraine's parliament backed on Sunday the final reading of laws that will simplify tax legislation and impose additional duties on imports, improving the chances a 2015 budget will be approved soon as required by the country's Western backers. Voting was delayed as deputies debated the merits of the amendments, with some arguing they unfairly increase prices for Ukrainians, many of whom are already struggling to make ends meet as the economy teeters on the edge of bankruptcy. ...","Jets escort Qatar Airways plane to Manchester airport over possible 'device'. British fighter jets escorted a passenger plane into Manchester airport on Tuesday after the pilot reported that a suspect device was possibly on board, police said. \"An incoming plane has been escorted into the airport by the Royal Air Force as a result of information received by the pilot about a possible device on board,\" Chief Superintendent John O’Hare said in a statement. A spokesman for the airport said the plane was operated by Qatar Airways.","Rosneft says 2013 net profit up 51 percent, above forecast. MOSCOW (Reuters) - Rosneft , Russia's No. 1 oil producer, said on Wednesday its 2013 net income rose 51 percent to 551 billion roubles ($15.6 billion), outperforming analyst forecasts, after the company bought oil firm TNK-BP. Analysts, polled by Reuters, had expected full-year net income at 511 billion roubles. The company's free cash flow was 201 billion roubles excluding prepayments for long-term delivery contracts. Last year revenue increased 52 percent to 4.69 trillion roubles, the company said in a statement. ...","Russian 'aggression' hits Ukraine's economy, prime minister says. Russia's deployment of forces in the Crimea region is having an \"extremely negative\" impact on the country's economy, Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk said on Wednesday. He also said at the start of a government meeting that the situation in Ukraine remained difficult, with Russian forces in control of the Black Sea peninsula. \"The Russian aggression on Ukraine's territory is having political and economic consequences,\" Yatseniuk said in remarks shown on television. \"The presence of the Russian military on Ukraine's territory is having an extremely negative effect on Ukraine' economy.\" He gave no details but the new government is holding talks with the International Monetary Fund on financial assistance to avert bankruptcy.","Syrian rebel 'hell cannons' kill 300 civilians: monitoring group. BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syrian rebels using improvised mortar bombs made of cooking gas canisters killed 311 civilians between July and December this year, a monitoring group said on Friday, condemning the use of the wildly inaccurate weapons. Two-thirds of the deaths, or 203 people, were in the northern city of Aleppo where the so-called \"hell cannons\" have been fired on government-held districts of Syria's second city. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which tracks the violence using sources on both sides, said that 42 children and 25 women were among the dead in Aleppo. ...","Egypt sentences five to death for policeman's murder. An Egyptian court sentenced five men to death on Saturday for the murder in January of a policeman on duty at a church just outside Cairo. Militant groups have been targeting security forces since a bloody police crackdown on supporters of former Islamist president Mohamed Morsi following his overthrow in a military coup in July 2013. Saturday's death sentences, set by a criminal court in Giza province, will be either confirmed or overturned in a final verdict due on September 20.","Sri Lanka-South Africa Scores. COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — Scores at stumps on the third day of the second test between Sri Lanka and South Africa at Sinhalese Sports Club ground on Saturday:","Canada basic wireless prices rise, average costs fall. By Randall Palmer OTTAWA (Reuters) - Changes allowing Canadian mobile phone customers to cancel their contracts without penalty after two years have increased the prices of basic plans, while overall average wireless costs continued to fall, a study to be released on Monday showed. The price of mobile services has become a hot issue, with the Conservative government trying to drive prices down by encouraging smaller companies to challenge the dominance of the Big Three: BCE Inc's Bell, Rogers Communications Inc and Telus Corp. The government-commissioned Wall Report showed the average price of three types of wireless plans was now 22 percent lower than in 2008. Though aimed at stimulating competition by letting people switch phone companies, the decision ended up boosting prices at the bottom end as carriers tried to recoup their subsidies for handsets faster. The Wall Report, a copy of which was seen by Reuters, showed the average monthly charge for basic mobile wireless service rose to C$35.70 ($33.36) in 2014 from C$30.71 in 2013 and C$32.73 in 2008.","Persistent Saudi-U.S. differences hurt Syria strategy. By Yara Bayoumy and Angus McDowall DUBAI/RIYADH (Reuters) - Differences between the United States and Saudi Arabia over Middle East policy persist, despite attempts to shore up their old alliance, and may prove calamitous for Syrian rebels. Although there is evidence that some American weapons are starting to find their way to more moderate groups fighting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, disagreements over what to supply, and to whom, have hindered the fight. Saudi Arabia and Qatar have been funding the rebels for years now, arguing that the war in Syria is a battle for the future of the Middle East, pitting pro-Western forces against Riyadh's main enemy Iran and Islamist militants. However, while the administration of U.S. President Barack Obama also blames Assad for the violence and wants him to leave power, it sees the conflict very differently.","Hong Kong protesters plan to occupy British consulate. Hong Kong (AFP) - Hong Kong students plan to occupy roads surrounding the city's British consulate in anger at a lack of support from London for their pro-democracy movement, as authorities ramp up pressure on protesters to go home.","Saudi gives Lebanon army $1 bn: ex-PM Saad Hariri. Saudi Arabia has provided Lebanon's army, battling jihadists on the Syrian border, with one billion dollars to strengthen security, former Lebanese premier Saad Hariri told reporters in Jeddah on Wednesday. King Abdullah \"has informed me of his generous decision to provide the Lebanese army... with one billion dollars to strengthen its capabilities to preserve Lebanon's security,\" Hariri told reporters in Jeddah.","Bahrain put 'unacceptable' conditions on US envoy: Kerry. Secretary of State John Kerry voiced deep concern to Bahrain for expelling an American envoy and making \"unacceptable demands\" that foreign ministry personnel attend his private meetings, the State Department said Monday. Kerry also told Foreign Minister Khalid bin Ahmed bin Mohammed Al-Khalifa in a \"frank\" phone call Sunday that Washington was displeased that the Gulf state charged two leaders of Bahrain's largest Shiite opposition movement who met with the US official earlier this month, a senior State Department official said. Bahrain ordered Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, Tom Malinowski, out of the country last week, accusing him of meddling in the country's internal affairs.","Iraqi government: airstrike kills 25 militants. BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraq's defense ministry spokesman says a government airstrike has killed 25 al-Qaida militants in a besieged province west of Baghdad.","India picks Israel's Spike anti-tank missile over U.S. Javelin: source. By Nigam Prusty NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India has opted to buy Israel's Spike anti-tank guided missile, a defense ministry source said on Saturday, rejecting a rival U.S. offer of Javelin missiles that Washington had lobbied hard to win. India will buy at least 8,000 Spike missiles and more than 300 launchers in a deal worth 32 billion rupees ($525 million), the source said after a meeting of India's Defense Acquisition Council. ...","Iraqi troops clash with al-Qaida militants in west. BAGHDAD (AP) — Fierce clashes erupted Friday between Iraqi special forces and al-Qaida-linked militants in a village in the embattled western Anbar province, officials said.","Gerrard, Mata leave Liverpool, United smiling. London (AFP) - Steven Gerrard and Juan Mata scored pivotal goals as Liverpool and Manchester United each posted victories over obdurate opposition in the Premier League on Tuesday.","Potgieter boots Bulls to first victory. Jacques-Louis Potgieter kicked 20 points as Northern Bulls shrugged off a dismal start to the Super 15 season by defeating fellow South Africans Golden Lions 25-17 Saturday. It was the first victory for the three-time champions after away losses against the Coastal Sharks and Central Cheetahs. And it was the first defeat for unexpectedly good starters the Lions following victories away to the Cheetahs and at home to the Western Stormers. Brilliant goal-kicking by fly-half Marnitz Boshoff had been the catalyst for the successes of perennial strugglers the Lions.","Wu re-elected as president of AIBA. JEJU, South Korea (AP) — Ching-Kuo Wu has been re-elected as president of the International Boxing Association (AIBA) for a third consecutive term.","Man United director David Gill seeks FIFA VP role. LONDON (AP) — Manchester United director David Gill will stand for election to become a FIFA vice president next year.","Column: Rebuilding United make or break for Moyes. When David Moyes strode into Old Trafford for the first time as Manchester United's new manager, with its long red tunnel leading to the pitch where so much football history has been made, he knew the job of replacing Alex Ferguson would be, as he now says, \"tough.\" Few imagined it would be this tough.","Five accused of trying to build a bomb in UAE: papers. Four citizens of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and one from the Comoros have gone on trial charged with trying to build a bomb in the Gulf Arab state, newspapers reported on Tuesday. The five are among 15 accused of membership of al Qaeda's Nusrah Front Syrian wing and another militant Syrian opposition group, Ahrar al-Sham, and of collecting funds for these groups, the newspapers reported. The 15 on trial at the state security division of the federal supreme court are made up of nine Emiratis, four from the Comoros islands off east Africa and two Syrians, the newspapers reported. The newspapers reported prosecutors as saying the accused had traveled to Syria to make contact with armed groups, and had collected money, devices and equipment for use in attacks on civilians in Syria.","Target says data breach affected up to 70 million customers. (Reuters) - Target Corp said a massive payment card data breach that occurred during the first three weeks of the holiday shopping season affected up to 70 million people, far more than previously estimated. Target's shares were down 1.5 percent at $62.40 before the bell on Friday. Target said an ongoing forensic investigation showed that certain customer information in addition to payment card data was stolen during the data breach. \"I know that it is frustrating for our guests to learn that this information was taken and we are truly sorry they are having to endure this,\" Chief Executive Gregg Steinhafel said in a statement.","Ford to halt Romanian production in Sept: report. BUCHAREST (Reuters) - Ford Motor Co. will halt production at its Romanian car factory for nine days in September because of low demand, Ford Romania spokeswoman Ana-Maria Timis was quoted as saying on Thursday by local news agency Mediafax. Ford took over struggling local carmaker Automobile Craiova in 2008 and started producing its B-Max model there four years later. Ford Romania, which employs about 4,000 people, has regularly stopped production for several days a month for over one year. (Reporting by Luiza Ilie)","Anti-Islam lawmaker investigated for hate speech. THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — Dutch prosecutors say they are investigating anti-Islam lawmaker Geert Wilders on suspicion of inciting hatred and discrimination against Moroccans in the Netherlands.","Russia should respect Ukraine's sovereignty, Kerry says. The United States said on Wednesday that Russia must respect Ukraine's territorial integrity as Moscow put combat troops on high alert for war games near its Western neighbor. White House spokesman Josh Earnest, briefing reporters as President Barack Obama flew from Washington to Minnesota, said the United States strongly supports Ukraine leaders' efforts to form an inclusive, multi-party government. \"We urge outside actors in the region to respect Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity, to end provocative rhetoric and actions, to support democratically established transitional governing structures and to use their influence in support of unity, peace and an inclusive path forward,\" Earnest said.","Kurds break through Turkey border to join anti-IS fight. Mursitpinar (Turkey) (AFP) - Hundreds of Kurds on Friday broke through the Turkish border into Syrian territory to join Kurdish forces battling the advance of Islamic State (IS) militants around the Syrian town of Ain al-Arab.","Matteo Trentin wins Tour de Suisse 6th stage. DELEMONT, Switzerland (AP) — Matteo Trentin held off Daniele Bennati in a final sprint to narrowly win the sixth stage of the Tour de Suisse on Thursday as Omega Pharma-QuickStep teammate Tony Martin retained his overall lead.","US air marshal attacked with syringe in Nigeria. A US air marshal was attacked with a syringe at the airport in Lagos, Nigeria and had been hospitalized, the FBI said Monday. It was not known what was in the syringe when it was injected Sunday into the on-duty marshal, whose name has not been given and is in hospital in Houston. The incident raised fears the syringe could have carried some form of the Ebola virus because Nigeria is one of the West African countries where the deadly epidemic has spread. The FBI said authorities were taking every precaution, but that initial signs were that the victim was not a danger to others and was not showing any symptoms.","Household debt overhang holding back Canada's economy. Canada's economy will grow only modestly over the next two years and underperform the United States as high household debt levels and a cooling housing market restrain consumer spending, a Reuters poll found. By contrast, economists predict that a long-awaited pick up in exports will take hold in the second half of this year as the Canadian dollar weakens and the United States, its top trading partner, recovers further. Those predictions are almost unchanged from January's poll and lower than forecasts for the United States, which is expected to grow 2.7 percent in 2014 and 3 percent in 2015. The Bank of Canada estimated growth of 2.5 percent in both 2014 and 2015 in January, but it might tweak those numbers in its quarterly report on Wednesday.","Neureuther leads German 1-2 finish at WCup slalom. KRANJSKA GORA, Slovenia (AP) — Felix Neureuther beat Fritz Dopfer for a German 1-2 finish at a men's World Cup slalom on Sunday, while Marcel Hirscher finished fifth to take the lead in the overall standings by four points.","Homeless but defiant, Bedouin to stay in Jordan Valley. Khirbet Ain Karzaliya (Undefined) (AFP) - Two weeks after their fragile tin shacks were destroyed by Israeli bulldozers, Atiya Bani Minna and his family are still sleeping under the stars, struggling to resume some semblance of normal life. For this 50-year-old Bedouin shepherd, it is the third time that he and his extended family have had their homes levelled as the Israeli army steps up the pace of demolitions in the Jordan Valley. It is an increasingly common story in this sparsely populated strip of West Bank land which borders Jordan and whose fate has become a major point of dispute between Israeli and Palestinian negotiators in the US-led peace talks. Like many other Bedouin communities in the Jordan Valley, Khirbet Ain Karzaliya has no electricity and is not connected to the water network, with the families relying on a small nearby spring for their flocks.","Al-Qaida in border town pledges loyalty to rivals. BEIRUT (AP) — A group of fighters from al-Qaida's Syrian affiliate in a border town has defected and joined the rival Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, the powerful jihadi faction currently leading a blitz offensive in Iraq, an activist group said Wednesday.","Turkish president seeks 2-state deal in Cyprus. NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) — Turkey's new president says his country will only approve of a deal to reunify Cyprus if it enshrines breakaway Turkish Cypriots as equal partners in a federation with the internationally recognized Greek Cypriot government.","Man City held in FA Cup, Blades fell Villa. Last season's beaten FA Cup finalists Manchester City tasted fresh disappointment in the competition on Saturday when they drew 1-1 at second-tier Blackburn Rovers in the third round. Stunned by Wigan Athletic in last year's final, City took the lead at Ewood Park through an Alvaro Negredo goal on the stroke of half-time, only for Scott Dann to equalise early in the second period. City, currently second in the Premier League, also had defender Dedryck Boyata sent off late on for two bookable offences and now face an unwelcome replay against Gary Bowyer's side. \"I think it was a very close game,\" City manager Manuel Pellegrini told BT Sport.","Australia return to Zimbabwe for one-day tournament. CAPE TOWN (Reuters) - Australia will return to Zimbabwe for the first time in a decade later this year to take part in a triangular one-day international tournament, Zimbabwe Cricket said on Thursday. The Australians have not toured the country since May 2004, but will open the triangular tournament - which also includes South Africa - on Aug. 25 against the host nation at Harare Sports Club. All six round-robin matches will be played in Harare, as well as the final on Sept. 7. South Africa will play one test match and three ODIs before the arrival of Australia. ...","Germans probe 2nd spy case reportedly involving US. BERLIN (AP) — German authorities are investigating a second spy case reportedly involving the U.S.","Israel: 8 Jews killed leaving Iran in the 1990s. JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel's Mossad intelligence agency says eight Iranian Jews who disappeared while trying to leave the Islamic Republic in the 1990's were killed.","Aid, rain save South Sudan from famine, 2015 outlook grim: WFP. By Katy Migiro NAIROBI (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Emergency food aid, normal rainfall and the start of the harvest have helped to stave off famine in South Sudan, the latest analysis shows, but there is a risk of mass starvation in early 2015. Aid agencies scrambled to avert famine in South Sudan by launching the world’s largest humanitarian operation after fighting erupted in the world's youngest country in December. Some 10,000 people have died and 1. ...","Canada dismemberment killing was planned and deliberate: prosecutor. By Allison Lampert MONTREAL (Reuters) - The Canadian man who killed and dismembered a Chinese student in Montreal in 2012 was \"a man on a mission\" who had planned to commit such an act and film it six months in advance, the prosecutor in one of the grisliest trials in Canadian history said in his closing argument on Thursday. Luka Magnotta, 32, has admitted to killing engineering student Jun Lin, 33, defiling a corpse, videotaping the acts, and mailing parts of the body to elementary schools and political parties. ...","Siemens says standing by should Alstom-GE talks collapse. The chief executive of Siemens said on Sunday the German engineering group was ready to resume negotiations with Alstom and the French state should they fail to agree terms with the French firm's suitor, General Electric. The doors are open for Alstom and the French government,\" CEO Joe Kaeser was quoted as saying by German tabloid Bild. France chose GE to form an alliance with Alstom on Friday, rejecting an offer from Siemens and partner Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, but said the deal still needed some work. The board of Alstom followed suit on Saturday and backed GE's proposal, as the French government worked on an agreement with Alstom shareholder Bouygues.","Tesla unveils all-wheel drive Model S, 'autopilot' features. By Nichola Groom HAWTHORNE Calif. (Reuters) - Tesla Motors Inc on Thursday took its first step toward automated driving, unveiling features that will allow its electric sedan to park itself and sense dangerous situations. The company also said it will roll out an all-wheel drive option of the Model S sedan that can go from zero to 60 miles per hour in 3.2 seconds yet doesn't compromise the vehicle's efficiency. The car is like having a \"personal roller coaster,\" Tesla CEO Elon Musk joked after making the announcement at the packed event in Hawthorne, California. ...","Companies gear up for vote on Scottish independence. Six months before Scotland votes in a referendum on whether to become independent from the rest of Britain, major companies are going public on their plans whatever the outcome. Firms ranging from Royal Bank of Scotland to British Airways and Royal Dutch Shell are stating their positions ahead of Scotland voting on whether to end its 300-year-old union with England. British PM David Cameron's Conservatives, their coalition partners the Liberal Democrats and the opposition Labour party have joined forces to campaign for a \"no\" vote. But First Minister Alex Salmond's governing Scottish National Party is in the \"yes\" camp and wants Scotland's 5.3 million people to quit the UK.","At least 10 dead in Dar es Salaam flooding. At least 10 people have died in heavy floods in Tanzania's commercial capital of Dar es Salaam, officials said Sunday. The city's regional commissioner, Said Mecky Sadick, said the toll may rise with roads damaged and several bridges swept away. The official said several roads linking Dar es Salaam and the rest of the country were cut off, with hundreds made homeless.","Kenya sentences two Iranians for using fake Israeli passports. NAIROBI (Reuters) - A Kenyan court on Wednesday ordered two Iranians held under anti-terrorism laws to serve two years in jail or pay a hefty fine after they pleaded guilty to using fake Israeli passports to enter the East African country last month. Kenyan anti-terrorism police arrested the two on suspicion of plotting an attack in Kenya as they prepared to board a flight at Nairobi aiport on Sept. 18 bound for Belgium. It was not immediately clear whether officials' concerns about a possible attack had been put to rest. ...","Zaccheroni wary of tenacious Greeks. Natal (Brazil) (AFP) - Japan coach Alberto Zaccheroni implored his team to take their rare chances against Greece or face an early World Cup exit. Both Japan and Greece are fighting for their Group C survival following respective defeats to Ivory Coast and Colombia. But after being outmuscled in a second half which saw Ivory Coast strike twice in the space of two minutes, the Blue Samurai face another bruising encounter in Natal's Estadio das Dunas on Thursday. Thanks to the likes of Giorgos Samaras, Greece are likely to tower over Japan.","Iran military ready to ship equipment to Lebanon. TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran's semi-official Mehr news agency is quoting the country's defense minister as saying Iran is ready to ship defensive materials to Lebanon to aid its army.","World Bank holds up Uganda loan over anti-gay law. The World Bank stalled a $90 million loan planned to help Uganda strengthen its health care system on Thursday after the country put in place a harsh anti-gay law. The World Bank loan had been slated for approval on Thursday. The move follows action by Norway and Denmark to freeze or change aid programs for Uganda and blunt criticism from the United States and Sweden after President Yoweri Museveni signed off Monday on one of the world's toughest anti-gay laws. Earlier Thursday, Uganda's government spokesman Ofwono Opondo brushed off the criticism.","Federer beats Falla for 7th Gerry Weber Open title. HALLE, Germany (AP) — Roger Federer won the Gerry Weber open for the seventh time by defeating Alejandro Falla 7-6 (2), 7-6 (3) in the final on Sunday.","Correction: Northern Ireland-Adams Arrested story. BELFAST, Northern Ireland (AP) — The Associated Press has determined that Jean McConville, a widowed west Belfast mother of 10 abducted and killed by the Irish Republican Army in December 1972, was 38 at the time of her death, not 37 as has been reported by news media including the AP since she was first reported missing in January 1973. The AP reported that she was 37 based on information provided by police, reference books and some of her children. After receiving conflicting information last week, the AP sought and obtained a copy of McConville's birth certificate, which gives her date of birth as May 7, 1934, making her 38 at the time of her death.","Aztec dog burial site found in Mexico City. MEXICO CITY (AP) — Archaeologists on Friday announced the discovery of \"an exceptional\" old burial site under an apartment building in Mexico City containing the remains of 12 dogs, animals that had a major religious and symbolic significance to the Aztec peoples of central Mexico.","Hungary to stand by EU's Russia sanctions, wants help on gas. BERLIN (Reuters) - Hungary will stand by its European Union allies' decision to impose sanctions on Russia over Ukraine but will need help to safeguarding energy supplies put at risk by the dispute, its foreign minister said on Wednesday. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban's talk of the need for a re-think on sanctions and his country's growing proximity with Moscow on energy policy have prompted concern that Budapest may be drifting into Moscow's orbit of influence. Hungary is heavily reliant on energy imports from Russia. ...","Hit to head of Slovakia's Kopecky will be reviewed. SOCHI, Russia (AP) — A hit that knocked Slovakia forward Tomas Kopecky out of an Olympic hockey game will be reviewed for possible discipline.","American begins sentence of farm work and isolation in North Korea: reports. SEOUL (Reuters) - Matthew Miller, the American held in North Korea since April for \"hostile acts\", began a six-year hard labor sentence on Thursday that he said involved farm work and isolation, media reports said. Miller, 25, said in an interview with the Associated Press he had written to U.S. First Lady Michelle Obama, Secretary of State John Kerry and his predecessor Hillary Clinton asking for help. \"Prison life is eight hours of work per day,\" Miller, dressed in grey prison clothes and a hat, said in the video interview. \"Mostly it's been agriculture, like in the dirt, digging around. ...","Ebola vaccine trial suspended after side effects. LONDON (AP) — Swiss researchers have suspended the testing of one of the leading Ebola vaccine candidates after some volunteers reported unexpected side effects.","Vigil held for death that led to English riots. Several hundred demonstrators rallied outside a London police station Saturday to condemn an inquest which found that police lawfully shot dead a man in 2011, in a killing that sparked nationwide riots. They condemned the \"perverse\" jury verdict returned on Wednesday, on the death of Mark Duggan, who was shot after armed police stopped the taxicab he was in as it travelled through Tottenham, north London, in August 2011. The few hundred protesters gathered outside Tottenham police station held placards reading \"Justice for Mark Duggan\" and remembered others who have died in police custody. Speaking from the police station steps -- with few officers in sight -- Duggan's aunt Carole told supporters: \"Mark is not the first person to die at the hands of the police.","CAS dismisses men's skicross appeal against France. SOCHI, Russia (AP) — The Court of Arbitration for Sport has dismissed an appeal by Canada and Slovenia that tried to disqualify France after it swept the men's skicross race at the Olympics.","Tensions flare as Gaza truce deadline looms. Fears rose Thursday that the Gaza conflict could resume as a temporary ceasefire entered a final 12-hour stretch and Palestinians accused Israel of stalling at truce talks in Cairo. Israel has said it is ready to extend the calm \"indefinitely\" but Hamas has so far hedged its bets, with an official on the negotiating team saying a decision would be taken later. \"The Israeli delegation is proposing extending the ceasefire while refusing a number of the Palestinian demands,\" he said, without elaborating. \"If Israel continues its procrastination, we will not extend the ceasefire.\"","Putin orders building hastened at new Russian spaceport. By Vladimir Soldatkin VOSTOCHNY Russia (Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday ordered construction sped up on a multi-billion-dollar spaceport in Russia's Far East that he said would break reliance on the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan and launch future missions to the Moon and Mars. Putin flew in a helicopter over the sprawling building site in Vostochny at a time when conflict with Ukraine, maker of Zenit and Dnepr rockets, is highlighting the fragility of Russia's dependence on former Soviet republics in defense and space. Building a new launchpad on its own soil is central to Putin's effort to reform a once-pioneering space industry hobbled by years of budget cuts and a brain drain in the 1990s. \"Our own space infrastructure and modern network of cosmodromes ... will allow Russia to strengthen its standing as a leading space superpower and guarantee the independence of space activities,\" Putin said at Vostochny, near Russia's border with China.","Crude oil futures slip as Iraq risks recede. The price of oil slipped Thursday as the risk of supply disruptions in Iraq faded and key export terminals in Libya were expected to reopen.","Nepal plane crash kills 18 in snow, rain and fog. KATHMANDU, Nepal (AP) — Rescuers in Nepal on Monday found the wreckage of a passenger plane that slammed into a snow-covered mountain and burst into flames, killing all 18 people on board, including a small child, authorities said.","China premier says to 'declare war' on pollution. China will \"declare war\" on pollution, Premier Li Keqiang said on Wednesday at the start of the annual meeting of parliament, with the government unveiling detailed measures to tackle what has become a hot-button social issue. It is not uncommon for air pollution in parts of China to breach levels considered by some experts to be hazardous. That has drawn much public ire and is a worry for China's government, which fears any discontent that might compromise stability. The battle against pollution will be waged via reforms in energy pricing to boost non-fossil fuel power and cutting capacity in the steel and cement sectors which are the sources of much air pollution.","Zaha, Kagawa make case to United in PKs win. Manchester United remained undefeated under new Dutch manager Louis Van Gaal after defeating Inter Milan 5-3 on penalty kicks Tuesday following a goal-less draw. Scouting striker talent for an English Premier League season only 18 days away, Van Gaal gave Ivory Coast striker Wilfried Zaha and Japan's Shinji Kagawa a look in the second half and kept Javier \"Chicharito\" Hernandez, reportedly being eyed for a transfer deal to Inter, on the bench until late. \"I am very pleased,\" Van Gaal said. United, which debuted new blue uniforms, began the US pre-season tour with a 7-0 romp over the host Los Angeles Galaxy last Wednesday and edged AS Roma 3-2 at Denver three days ago.","Peru police display record 7.7-ton cocaine haul. LIMA, Peru (AP) — Peruvian police have put on display what they call the largest cocaine haul ever in the Andean nation.","Ghana president intervenes in World Cup bonus row. RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — The Ghana Football Association says the country's president has intervened to appease unhappy World Cup players and avoid a possible strike over unpaid bonuses.","Ukraine demands that rebels in Donetsk surrender. DONETSK, Ukraine (AP) — Fighting raged in the city of Donetsk on Sunday, as government forces continued to close in on the rebel stronghold and pro-Russian insurgents backed away from an unconditional cease-fire offer that they announced just the day before.","WWE wrestlers in Saudi Arabia for live matches. RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) — Pro wrestlers with the WWE, including John Cena and champion Randy Orton, are in Saudi Arabia for three days of matches in the capital, Riyadh.","Analysts: Russian unlikely to pull back in Crimea. WASHINGTON (AP) — Analysts and former Obama administration officials say Russia is unlikely to pull back its forces in Ukraine's Crimea peninsula, forcing the United States and Europe into a more limited strategy of trying to prevent President Vladimir Putin from making advances elsewhere in the former Soviet republic.","Pussy Riot members tell Congress of rights abuses. WASHINGTON (AP) — Two members of the Russian dissident punk group Pussy Riot have visited the Capitol and asked Congress to add 16 officials to the list of Russian human rights violators who face U.S. sanctions.","Sharapova wins French Open for 2nd time. PARIS (AP) — Maria Sharapova won her second French Open title in three years, overcoming some shaky serving Saturday to beat fourth-seeded Simona Halep 6-4, 6-7 (5), 6-4 in the final.","UN steps up aid response in Iraq. United Nations (United States) (AFP) - The United Nations is stepping up aid deliveries to Iraq, where hundreds of thousands have already been displaced, setting up camps and providing medical supplies, a spokesman said Friday. \"UN agencies are moving further supplies into the country in anticipation of further displacement,\" UN deputy spokesman Farhan Haq told reporters in New York. A World Food Programme flight from Dubai would transport humanitarian supplies to Arbil, the capital of the autonomous Kurdish region in northern Iraq, he said. UN human rights chief Navi Pillay said earlier Friday that hundreds of people may have been killed in recent days and nearly 1,000 wounded as Sunni militants march on Baghdad.","Assad cousin killed in Latakia clash with Syria rebels. A cousin of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was killed on Sunday in battles with Islamist rebels near the border with Turkey, activists and state media said. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Hilal al-Assad, local head of the National Defence Force militia, and seven of his fighters were killed in clashes with the Nusra Front and other Islamist brigades. State television confirmed Assad's death, describing him as the head of the National Defence Force in the coastal province of Latakia, where the Assad family originates. The National Defence Force is a militia set up to support the army in its three-year battle with rebels seeking to overthrow Bashar al-Assad.","U.S. auto regulators played key role in GM recalls, report says. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Federal auto safety regulators played a significant role in General Motors Co's failure to promptly report and recall cars with defective parts that led to at least 19 deaths, a congressional report said on Tuesday. The report, made public ahead of a separate hearing on Tuesday, said officials at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration repeatedly failed to identify the potential problems with the faulty ignition switches and could have acted more quickly to catch the problem. ...","Mexico opens bidding for oil exploration. MEXICO CITY (AP) — The Mexican government has announced the start of bidding for oil exploration rights in 14 areas in the Gulf of Mexico open to domestic and international companies.","Israel police disperse riot at Jerusalem holy site. JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli police stormed a sensitive holy site in Jerusalem on Wednesday and fired tear gas to disperse a riot by Palestinian Muslim worshippers, officials said.","Britain's Deputy PM pledges wider UK reform after Scottish 'No' vote. LONDON (Reuters) - Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg on Friday said he wanted the coalition government to deliver new powers to Scotland, saying Scots' rejection of independence was a signal for wider constitutional reform across all of Britain. \"I’m absolutely delighted the Scottish people have taken this momentous decision to safeguard our family of nations for future generations,\" Clegg said in a statement. \"We must now deliver on time and in full the radical package of newly devolved powers to Scotland. ...","China's premier Li Keqiang begins first Africa trip. Chinese Premier Li Keqiang arrived in Ethiopia Sunday for the start of a four nation Africa tour, his first visit to the continent since assuming his position a little over a year ago. Li is scheduled to also visit Nigeria, Angola and Kenya during the week-long trip, and give a keynote speech on Monday at the Chinese-built headquarters of the African Union in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa. The trip follows one Chinese President Xi Jinping made to the continent last year, shortly after taking office, a journey that underscored resource-rich Africa's importance to the world's second-largest economy. \"Ethiopia is the first stop because there is a deep friendship between our two countries and Ethiopia is a major country in Africa and the seed of African union,\" Li said in a news conference after his arrival and talks with Ethiopia Prime Minister Hailemariam Dessalegn.","Hundreds rally, seek end to strikes on Gaza. DENVER (AP) — Hundreds gathered for a rally at the State Capitol and a march through downtown Denver to call for an end to what they called a humanitarian crisis brought on by conflict in Gaza.","Exclusive: Romania's Ponta could face leadership challenge. By Radu-Sorin Marinas and Matthias Williams BUCHAREST (Reuters) - Romanian Prime Minister Victor Ponta could face a leadership challenge next year from within his own ranks, as the ruling Social Democrat party looks to contain the fallout from an embarrassing presidential election defeat. Senior party officials told Reuters that the Social Democrats (PSD) may hold a special congress in February or March to take stock, after Ponta surrendered a ten-point lead to lose last Sunday's election to underdog Klaus Iohannis. ...","Guatemala apologizes to people displaced for dam. GUATEMALA CITY (AP) — Guatemala's president has apologized to 33 communities of indigenous Achi people who were forced to abandon their homes to make way for construction of the Chixoy hydroelectric dam in the north of the Central American country.","Cemex leadership unclear after sudden death of CEO. By Christine Murray and Elinor Comlay MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - The leadership of Mexico's Cemex , one of the world's leading cement makers, is uncertain after the death of Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Lorenzo Zambrano, irking some investors who would prefer a smooth transition. There had been no reports that Zambrano, who had been Cemex CEO for three decades, was ill and he said late last month he was not thinking about a succession plan. \\\\\"I would have liked a more orderly transition,\\\\\" a top-20 shareholder in Cemex, who asked not to be identified, said on Tuesday. \\\\\"The company faced rocky times to finance its debt, and I imagine that crisis affected the transition plan.\\\\\" The shareholder would like to see Francisco Garza, chairman of Cemex's advisory board, take over.","Obama: Not hopeful North Korea will change soon. TOKYO (AP) — President Barack Obama says he's not optimistic North Korea will shift away from its irresponsible behavior in the near future.","SOCHI SCENE: Torah and the trifecta. KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia (AP) — Good on ya, Torah Bright.","Iran minister: Currency market to stabilize. TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran's official IRNA news agency is reporting that the country's finance minister predicts the currency markets will stabilize soon.","Palestinians want ICJ probe on Gaza. Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Malki on Saturday said his government would soon try to haul Israelis before the International Criminal Court for war crimes. \"We will go to the ICJ, and put our signature on it. Israeli warplanes pummelled Gaza with 50 air strikes that killed eight Palestinians Saturday as militants slammed 25 rockets into Israel amid mounting calls for a fresh ceasefire.","Scalping ring probe looks 'to someone from FIFA'. RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Brazilian police who are investigating ticket scalping at the World Cup say that \"someone from FIFA\" is a source of tickets being resold for many times the face value.","Deal-making ahead as China president visits France. LYON, France (AP) — Chinese President Xi Jinping was the toast of France during a state visit — days after China ended an anti-dumping, anti-subsidy investigation of French wine.","Afghanistan delays election result announcement till Thursday. The final result of the presidential election held in Afghanistan over a month ago will be announced on Thursday, the country's Independent Election Commission (IEC) said, delaying the announcement by a day. Preliminary results late last month showed no candidate emerging with an absolute majority which, if confirmed by the final results, will lead to a run-off between the two leading contenders, former foreign minister Abdullah Abdullah and ex-World Bank economist Ashraf Ghani. According to the preliminary count Abdullah finished top with 44.9 percent, followed by Ghani with 31.5 percent, the Independent Election Commission (IEC) said. \\\\\"Tomorrow at 11 am (0630 GMT) the IEC will announce the final result,\\\\\" said IEC spokesman Noor Mohammad Noor.","Judge who arrested Ukraine protesters killed: ministry. A judge who placed several anti-government protesters under house arrest has been killed by two unknown assailants in central Ukraine, the interior ministry said on Wednesday. The ex-Soviet country has been hit by large-scale protests since November, when President Viktor Yanukovych balked at signing a deal deepening ties with the European Union under pressure from Russia. The ministry said Oleksandr Lobodenko, 34, was murdered in central Ukraine's industrial city of Kremenchuk overnight on Tuesday. According to the ministry, the judge had refused to detain the protesters, placing them under house arrest instead.","Verizon 1Q profit surges on Vodafone-related gains. NEW YORK (AP) — Verizon's $130 billion deal to take over of all of Verizon Wireless is helping lift its profit.","Thai premier reiterates refusal to resign. BANGKOK (AP) — Thailand's political crisis ground on Tuesday as the country's prime minister reiterated her refusal to quit as protesters trying to topple her administration blocked key roads in the heart of Bangkok for a second day.","Hamilton quickest in Belgian GP second practice. Lewis Hamilton topped the times ahead of his Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg in Friday's twice red-flagged second free practice session ahead of this weekend's Belgian Grand Prix. Rosberg was six-tenths of a second slower than Hamilton to finish second ahead of two-time champion Fernando Alonso of Ferrari, Felipe Massa and Jenson Button of McLaren on a rare dry day at the track. Valtteri Bottas was sixth for Williams ahead of Russian rookie Daniil Kvyat of Toro Rosso, Australian Daniel Ricciardo for Red Bull, Danish rookie Jan Magnussen in the second McLaren and Nico Hulkenberg for Ford India.","Ebola: Guinea, Sierra Leone qualifiers to be moved. CONAKRY, Guinea (AP) — Guinea said Tuesday that it had been told by Africa's top football body to move an important qualifier against Togo next month to another country because of the Ebola outbreak.","Drone kills three Qaeda suspects in Yemen. Three more Al-Qaeda suspects, including an alleged senior militant, were killed Monday in a drone strike in southern Yemen, a local official said. The attack was the latest in an intensified air campaign that has killed more than 40 suspected Al-Qaeda militants, including 30 on Sunday alone, days after the jihadist network's Yemen affiliate vowed to fight against Western \"crusaders.\" The United States is the only country operating drones over Yemen, but US officials rarely acknowledge the covert drone programme. The Yemeni official, requesting anonymity, said that shortly after midnight (2100 GMT Sunday) a drone fired a missile at an off-road vehicle carrying three men in the southern Shabwa province, seen as a stronghold for Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP).","Nigella Lawson says she's moving on after 'mortifying' courtroom claims about her private life. LONDON - Nigella Lawson says having her private life raked over in a London courtroom was \"mortifying\" but she is putting the case behind her.","Bombardier profit beats, company plans further cost cuts. (Reuters) - Canada's Bombardier Inc reported a slightly higher-than-expected second-quarter profit, boosted by higher sales of planes and trains. Bombardier, which last week unexpectedly said it would restructure its aerospace business, said on Thursday that further cost reduction measures were being implemented to boost profitability at its transportation business. Aerospace revenue rose 11.4 percent to $2.51 billion in the quarter, while revenue at its transportation business climbed 9.4 percent to $2.36 billion. The Montreal-based company's total revenue rose 10.4 percent to $4.89 billion.","Apple to unveil iPhone 6 in August, earlier than expected -report. TAIPEI (Reuters) - Apple Inc will unveil the next incarnation of its popular iPhone series in August, one month earlier than industry watchers were generally expecting, Taiwanese media reported on Friday citing unidentified supply-chain sources. A 4.7-inch screen version of the iPhone 6 will reach stores in August, the Economic Daily News reported without specifying which markets would receive the phone first. A 5.5-inch or 5.6-inch model will be released in September, the newspaper said, as the iPhone 5 series was previously. ...","Supreme Court rules taxpayer can challenge IRS summons. By Patrick Temple-West WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday ruled unanimously that taxpayers have a right to challenge an Internal Revenue Service summons enforcement action in court when they can show the tax agency might have issued the summons in bad faith. But the nine justices sent the case back to the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and said that court had wrongly decided that IRS agents could be examined at an evidentiary hearing based on a taxpayer's mere \"conclusory allegations.\" Although the Supreme Court scaled back the Atlanta-based appeals court's taxpayer-friendly ruling from 2013, the high court decision might make it harder for the IRS to avoid summons challenges in district court, tax lawyers said. \"This (decision) is a setback to the government's attempt to shield IRS agents from being cross-examined about potential IRS abuses,\" said Robert Kovacev, a former Justice Department tax lawyer and now a partner with law firm Steptoe & Johnson LLP.","NATO fears ground invasion as Russia masses troops on Ukraine border. By Barbara Lewis and Maria Tsvetkova BRUSSELS/DONETSK Ukraine (Reuters) - Russia has massed around 20,000 combat-ready troops on Ukraine's border and could use the pretext of a humanitarian mission to invade, NATO said on Wednesday, its starkest warning yet that Moscow could soon mount a ground assault against its neighbor. With fighting escalating and rebels losing ground in the weeks since a Malaysian airliner was shot down over separatist-held territory, Russia has announced military exercises this week in the border region. \"We're not going to guess what's on Russia's mind, but we can see what Russia is doing on the ground – and that is of great concern.","Latin Americans journey to Brazil World Cup. SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) — Planes, trains and automobiles? That's not all. With Latin American soccer fans eager to witness the sport's biggest event in their home hemisphere, travelers are taking to bikes, buses, boats and at least one homebuilt trailer.","Commodity slump erodes Australia's revenue: treasurer. Plunging commodity prices are weighing heavily on Australia's government revenue, Treasurer Joe Hockey warned Sunday, but said a mid-year budget update next week would serve as a \"shock absorber\" for the resources-driven economy. Australia is struggling to transition away from mining-led growth amid an expected fall-off in resources investment after an unprecedented boom. Meanwhile, sharp declines in commodity prices have had a huge impact on government revenue in a country where iron ore is the country's largest export.","Nigeria eyes private funds to spark agriculture boom. Can investors get rich by backing Nigerian agriculture? An increasingly loud chorus of voices say that answering this question may be the most pressing challenge facing Africa's most populous country, ahead of defeating Boko Haram Islamists or curbing rampant corruption. Nigeria last week jumped ahead of South Africa as the continent's biggest economy after the re-calculated results of national output were announced. But in terms of per capita income, Nigeria's global ranking is still a grim 121, with 84 percent of its 170 million people living on less than $2 per day, according to 2010 World Bank estimates.","Rugby-Tunnel-visioned Wales eye Six Nations hat-trick. By Mitch Phillips LONDON, Jan 30 (Reuters) - For about the 10th time in a row the Six Nations is being described as \"the most open for years\" as Europe's rugby elite shuffle for supremacy having suffered their usual November southern hemisphere hidings. Wales have quickly forgotten their autumn defeats by South Africa and Australia - their eighth in a row against the Wallabies - as they focus on trying to become the first country to win the Six Nations outright three years running. \"We're all looking forward to the Six Nations - it's what we're measured on,\" captain Sam Warburton said last week, in a worryingly insular analysis. The comment, admittedly a throwaway line during an on-stage interview at the tournament's launch, was reminiscent of the 1987 World Cup, when Wales were thrashed by New Zealand in the semi-finals and a leading administrator said it did not really matter because at least they had beaten the English in the quarters.","More U.S. forces arrive in Baghdad, two-star general leads effort. By Phil Stewart WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Another 50 U.S. special operations forces have arrived in Baghdad under the newly appointed command of a two-star general as the U.S. military steadily ramps up an advisory mission aimed at helping Iraq battle back Sunni militants, the Pentagon said on Thursday. The Pentagon said the first of two planned Joint Operations Centers in Iraq had also become activated, bolstering its ability to oversee U.S. teams and gather information about the situation on the ground, including about Iraq's security forces. \"It will of course serve as a fusion center where information that's coming in from the various teams can be consolidated and it can be analyzed,\" said Colonel Steve Warren, a Pentagon spokesman. Iraq's million-strong army, trained and equipped by the United States, largely evaporated in the north after Sunni fighters led by the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant launched their assault with the capture of the north's biggest city Mosul on June 10.","Pimco CIO says outflows slow, performance up since Gross exit. By Jennifer Ablan NEW YORK (Reuters) - Dan Ivascyn, who replaced Bill Gross as Pimco's chief investment officer, said on Tuesday that net cash outflows from various funds have tapered off significantly, and performance has improved since Gross' exit in late September. \"We've been very stable in implementing our investment process from the first day of Bill's departure,\" Ivascyn said. \"From that perspective, we’ve been in very good shape.\" In November, the $171 billion Pimco Total Return Fund, under a new leadership team led by long-time Pimco portfolio manager Scott Mather, posted returns of ...","Sunderland beats Stoke 1-0 in Premier League. SUNDERLAND, England (AP) — Adam Johnson scored in the first half to give Sunderland a 1-0 win over 10-man Stoke and lift his team out of the Premier League relegation zone for the first time since August.","Canada inflation rises to 2.3%. Canadians paid 2.3 percent more for goods and services in May than a year earlier, with a bump in energy prices leading the advance, the government's statistical agency said Friday. Economist Peter Buchanan of CIBC World Markets noted that core inflation of 1.7 percent -- excluding volatile items such as food, mortgage interest costs, energy prices, bus passes and cigarettes -- is now \"a full half point\" above the central bank's forecast for the quarter. The Bank of Canada considers core inflation when setting its key lending rate, which is currently at a near-record low of one 1.0 percent. Statistics Canada said higher prices were recorded in May for natural gas, electricity and fuel oil, passenger vehicles, meat, fresh fruit and vegetables, as well as restaurant meals.","Egypt reduces sentences for 23 young activists for protesting: sources. CAIRO (Reuters) - An Egyptian appeals court reduced the jail terms on Sunday for 23 young activists convicted of violating a law banning protests without a permit, judicial sources said. The arrest of the activists in June while they demonstrated against the law which tightly restricts protests was condemned by rights groups as a reflection of an increasingly repressive political climate in Egypt. Mass protests led to the ousting of autocrat Hosni Mubarak in 2011 and were used to express discontent with Islamist President Mohamed Mursi, who was toppled by the army last year. ...","Russia puts protest leader Navalny under house arrest. A Moscow court on Friday ordered Russian protest leader Alexei Navalny to be placed under house arrest and banned from using the Internet, a move he said was aimed at thwarting his fight against top-level corruption. The order came after a request from investigators probing an alleged embezzlement case which Navalny's supporters say is yet another attempt to remove one of the most dangerous foes of President Vladimir Putin from the political scene. Investigators had already made Navalny sign a pledge not to leave Moscow but asked for his restrictions to be stepped up to house arrest, arguing he had repeatedly violated the restrictions imposed on him. As well as being unable to leave his home in the Moscow region, the tough new restrictions imposed by a district court mean that Navalny will only be able to talk to relatives, investigators and his defence.","Russian crooner sings in Ukraine with rebel leader. DONETSK, Ukraine (AP) — In defiance of Ukraine, a revered Soviet-era crooner has traveled from Russia to the rebel stronghold in eastern Ukraine to perform in support of separatists fighting the Ukrainian government.","D-Day: Queen Elizabeth making rare foreign trip. LONDON (AP) — The queen's joints are creaky and her husband has recently battled serious illness, but the royal couple won't let aches and pains keep them away from a grand overseas commemoration: the 70th anniversary of the D-Day invasion.","Medvedev says Russia could slide into deep recession: RIA. MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia's economy is at risk of entering a period of deep recession, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev was quoted by RIA Novosti news agency as saying. (Reporting by Polina Devitt; Editing by Alison Williams)","India's Modi takes election battle to Gandhi citadel. By Sanjeev Miglani and Sruthi Gottipati AMETHI, India (Reuters) - Indian opposition challenger Narendra Modi, riding a wave of popular anger against the ruling Congress party, took his battle to the Gandhi citadel on Monday, telling voters it was time to send the dynasty packing for its broken promises. Modi, in the final leg of a mammoth general election, took his campaign to the seat of Congress heir apparent Rahul Gandhi, breaking a tradition in which top politicians stay off each other's home turf. Such has been the intensity of the campaign and the hostility between Modi and the Gandhis that he did not spare even Rahul's father and former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi, who was assassinated in 1991. I have come to fulfill your dream,\" the prime ministerial candidate of the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) told a large crowd.","Australia coach looks for elusive landmark win. After a draw and a lopsided loss to New Zealand in the Rugby Championship, Australia goes into its match against South Africa on Saturday with a chance to give coach Ewen McKenzie a first — a win against a team ranked ahead of the Wallabies.","Blatter: 2022 World Cup will be played in Qatar. MANILA, Philippines (AP) — FIFA president Sepp Blatter responded to the latest criticism of the World Cup bidding process by assuring Asian football delegates that the tournament will go ahead in Qatar in 2022.","Kenya police chief warns residents to be vigilant. NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Kenya's police chief is asking residents to be \"extra vigilant\" of attacks in the week following Sunday's anniversary of the Westgate Mall attack.","'Dead' French bombmaker: a football fan turned jihadist. From football stadiums to international jihad, the 24-year-old Frenchman who was likely killed in US air strikes in Syria converted as a teen to Islam before joining increasingly radical groups. David Drugeon is thought to have been travelling in a car in Syria's Idlib province when a drone strike hit the vehicle and likely killed him and the driver, a US official and media reports said Thursday. Born in 1989 in the western city of Vannes into a middle-class family, he became passionate about football and would travel to the southern city of Marseille with his father to see his favourite team, OM, play. When his parents divorced in 2002, Drugeon and his brother Cyril drew close to ultraconservative Salafist Muslims who would gather in their district.","U.S. small business sentiment rises in July: NFIB. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. small business sentiment rose in July, in a boost to the economic outlook at the start of the third quarter. The National Federation of Independent Business said on Tuesday its Small Business Optimism Index increased by 0.7 point to 95.7 last month. The NFIB index is a leading indicator for the economy and last month's rise followed a decline in June. The survey added to employment, manufacturing and services sector data in suggesting momentum in the economy early in the third quarter. The economy grew at a 4.0 percent annual pace in the second quarter. ...","Egypt court commutes Brotherhood leader's death sentence. An Egyptian court on Saturday commuted a death sentence against the Muslim Brotherhood's spiritual leader to life in prison, in one of many trials of Islamists since their removal from power. Mohamed Badie, the Brotherhood's Supreme Guide, still faces the gallows, however, after another court in southern Egypt passed a separate death sentence over deadly riots in August 2013, almost a month after the army toppled Islamist president Mohamed Morsi.","Iraq: Bombings kill 26 people in Baghdad. BAGHDAD (AP) — A series of bombings targeting commercial areas of Baghdad killed 26 people as residents were heading out on the town Thursday evening in a new spasm of violence to strike the Iraqi capital, according to Iraqi officials.","Canada's Mikael Kingsbury wins third consecutive World Cup gold medal. DEER VALLEY, Utah - Canada's Mikael Kingsbury continued his march to the Olympics with his third straight World Cup moguls victory Thursday.","Analysis: New focus on how Pakistan will address militancy. ISLAMABAD (AP) — Many wonder if the attack that killed 148 people at a Pakistani school will be a watershed in the country's long, conflicted history with Islamic militancy.","Hamas, Abbas's PLO announce reconciliation agreement. GAZA (Reuters) - The Gaza-based Islamist group Hamas and President Mahmoud Abbas's Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) agreed on Wednesday to implement a unity pact, both sides announced in a joint news conference. The move envisions forming a unity government within five weeks and holding national elections six months after a vote of confidence by the Palestinian parliament. (Reporting by Nidal al-Mughrabi, Writing by Noah Browning, Editing by Jeffrey Heller)","Female soldiers join the army ranks in Somalia. MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) — With an AK47 automatic rifle slung over her shoulder, Naeemo Abdi frisks people coming into a Mogadishu police station.","Obama: Religious freedom a US diplomatic priority. WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama tells a non-denominational gathering of political leaders that freedom of religion across the world is important to national security and is a central tenet of U.S. diplomacy.","Swiss bank UBS beats forecasts and shares surge. BERLIN (AP) — A strong performance from the investment bank division and a sizeable tax gain helped Switzerland's biggest bank, UBS AG, return to profit in the fourth quarter following a large loss a year earlier.","Fighting in Central African Republic kills 22. At least 22 people were killed in clashes between rival anti-balaka and Seleka militias in the Central African Republic this week, African peacekeepers said on Friday. \"We don't know what led the anti-balaka to provoke these clashes,\" local resident Paul Ngaimbe told AFP. The mostly Muslim Seleka carried out a campaign of violence against the majority Christian community in the following months, prompting the creation of the anti-balaka militia.","Pistorius out of Paralympic events for 5 years. LONDON (AP) — The International Paralympic Committee says Oscar Pistorius will be ineligible to compete during his five-year prison sentence.","Turkey seeks to boost peace talks with Kurds. ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkish lawmakers are debating legislation intended to advance a stalled peace process with the Kurdish rebels.","Fans invade pitch at Argentina training. BELO HORIZONTE, Brazil (AP) — Argentina's open training session ended in disorder on Wednesday as more than a dozen fans invaded the pitch.","Islamic State recruits broadly, not just fighters. WASHINGTON (AP) — The Islamic State organization is trying to recruit more than fighters to its cause.","U.S. federal prosecutors questioning GM lawyers on vehicle recalls: source. General Motors had issued a report in June which detailed how for 11 years it turned a blind eye to an ignition-switch problem linked to at least 13 deaths but largely pinned the blame on what the report described as incompetent lower-level employees, leaving top brass untouched.","Serbian court jails nine for 1999 war crimes in Kosovo. Serbia's war crimes court jailed nine former members of a Serbian paramilitary group on Tuesday for killing more than 120 ethnic Albanian civilians during the Kosovo conflict in 1999. All 11 men were former members of a group known as the \"Jackals\" and had been on trial for mass killings of ethnic Albanians in four villages in Kosovo, then a province of Serbia. As many as 10,000 people, mainly ethnic Albanians, were killed in the 1998-1999 conflict between the pro-independence guerrillas of the Kosovo Liberation Army and security forces loyal to Serbia's then-president Slobodan Milosevic.","UK PM Cameron says Scottish independence issue settled 'for a generation'. LONDON (Reuters) - British Prime Minister David Cameron said on Friday that the question of Scottish independence had been settled \"for a generation\" after what he called a clear vote by Scots to stay part of the United Kingdom. Cameron, whose own job would have been on the line if Scots had voted in favour of independence, said the result paved the way for a new balanced constitutional settlement for all of Britain, including England, and that draft laws granting Scotland new powers would be published by January. \"The debate has been settled for a generation ... ...","Court suspends ban on a show by French comic. PARIS (AP) — A French court has suspended a ban the city of Nantes imposed to prevent a show on Thursday night by a comic whose performances are considered anti-Semitic.","Greens exit Finnish government over nuclear spat. HELSINKI (AP) — The environmentalist Green Party says it's dropping out of Finland's coalition government, which has endorsed the construction of a new nuclear power plant.","Moldova sees Belarus buy up apples Russia banned. CHISINAU, Moldova (AP) — Moldova, which lost its largest market for apples when Russia placed an embargo on its fruit this summer, is finding a new buyer for its produce in Belarus.","Syria disarmament chief: June deadline feasible. THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — The Dutch diplomat leading an international mission to dismantle Syria's chemical weapons program says the pace of removing chemicals from the civil war-torn country is picking up and an end-of-June deadline for total destruction of the program is still achievable.","Bomb kills six on way to school in northwest Pakistan. By Jibran Ahmad PESHAWAR Pakistan (Reuters) - A roadside bomb killed six people traveling to school in northwestern Pakistan on Tuesday, officials said, as the military reported further air strikes against the Taliban. The violence underscored the myriad of challenges facing the Pakistani government, which is struggling to control political protests in the capital at the same time the military is engaged in an offensive against Pakistani Taliban fighters in the northwest. The roadside bomb killed ‎three female school teachers, two schoolgirls and a driver, officials said. Local government official Naeem Gul said all the victims died immediately.","Malaysia, FBI analyze missing pilot's simulator. KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — The FBI joined forces with Malaysian authorities in analyzing deleted data on a flight simulator belonging to the pilot of the missing Malaysia Airlines plane, while distraught relatives of the passengers unleashed their anger — wailing in frustration at 12 days of uncertainty.","Ukraine rebels seize coal mines, demand explosives. Separatist rebels on Thursday seized four Ukrainian coal mines in the east of the strife-torn country and demanded that its workers supply them with explosives, the energy ministry said. The energy ministry provided few details of the incident, which occurred in the industrial Lugansk region neighbouring Russia, and it remained unclear how many rebels had been involved or what happened to the miners. \"The energy ministry has asked the Ukrainian Security Service to take all the necessary immediate response measures,\" it said.","Buses arrive to evacuate Syrian rebels from Homs. BEIRUT (AP) — Syrian activists say five buses have arrived in the central city of Homs ahead of a planned evacuation of opposition fighters under a ceasefire deal struck last week with government forces.","No safe haven in China's corruption crackdown: People's Daily. China will not allow exceptions in its corruption crackdown, its main official newspaper said on Wednesday, a day after news of a probe into former domestic security chief Zhou Yongkang, one of China's most influential politicians of the last decade. The People's Daily, the mouthpiece newspaper of the Communist Party, said the probe into Zhou reflects the party's ability to self-regulate. Zhou, 71, is the highest-profile figure caught up in President Xi Jinping's crackdown on corruption since the party swept to power in 1949.","Exclusive: Brazil's Silva would get opposition's support in election runoff. By Brian Winter SAO PAULO (Reuters) - Brazil's biggest opposition party would support Marina Silva for president if its own candidate fails to make an October runoff, a party source told Reuters, an alliance that would damage President Dilma Rousseff's chances for a second term. The presidential race was upended last week by the late entry of Silva, a popular environmentalist and anti-establishment icon among many young voters, following the death of her party's previous candidate in a plane crash. A recent poll showed Rousseff in first place for the Oct. 5 vote, with Silva and Senator Aecio Neves of the centrist Brazilian Social Democracy Party (PSDB) in a statistical tie for second. The PSDB is fully confident that Neves will make the runoff, party leaders said on Wednesday.","Xi rebukes Japan for brutality in China, Koreas. SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — The leaders of China and South Korea expressed concern Friday about Japan's recent reinterpretation of its war-renouncing constitution and its re-examination of a past apology for wartime atrocities, a South Korean official said.","Smith, Denorfia lift Padres to 3-1 win over LA. SAN DIEGO (AP) — Seth Smith hit a tying homer leading off the eighth and Chris Denorfia singled home two runs to give the San Diego Padres a 3-1 victory against the rival Los Angeles Dodgers in baseball's North American opener Sunday night.","Syrian peace talks stuck over Assad's future. MONTREUX, Switzerland (AP) — Peace talks intended to carve a path out of Syria's civil war got off to a rocky start Wednesday as a bitter clash over President Bashar Assad's future threatened to collapse the negotiations even before they really begin.","Cricket-Test Series Pakistan v New Zealand scoreboard. Nov 26 (Infostrada Sports) - Scoreboard at tea on the first day in the third and final Test between Pakistan and New Zealand on Wednesday in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates Pakistan 1st innings M. Hafeez not out 123 S. Masood b Craig 12 Az. Ali c Taylor b Craig 39 Y. Khan lbw b Vettori 5 Misbah-ul-Haq not out 4 Extras (nb-1 w-2) 3 Total (for 3 wickets, 57 overs) 186 Fall of wickets: 1-44 S. Masood,2-131 Az. Ali,3-160 Y. KhanTo bat: A. Shafiq, S. Ahmed, Y. Shah, M. Talha, Z. Babar, R. AliBowling T. Boult 13 - 4 - 41 - 0(w-1) T. Southee 10 - 2 - 26 - 0 D. Vettori 8 - 1 - 27 - 1 C. ...","Brazilian club releases Adriano after 4 matches. SAO PAULO (AP) — Atletico Paranaense has released former Brazil striker Adriano after just four games, dealing a blow to the striker's ambitious hopes of returning to top form and playing in the World Cup this year.","Turkey defends actions over consulate seizure in Iraq, 80 still held. By Tulay Karadeniz ANKARA (Reuters) - Diplomats and soldiers trapped inside Turkey's consulate in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul had no option but to surrender this week after hundreds of heavily armed Islamist militants surrounded the building, the foreign ministry said on Saturday. The seizure by insurgents from the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) on Wednesday of 49 Turks, including special forces soldiers, diplomats and children, has prompted criticism of Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan's government for failing to foresee the danger and evacuate the consulate sooner. The ISIL offensive threatens to dismember Iraq and leaves Turkey facing a widening Islamist insurgency in two of its southern neighbors, with ISIL also making territorial gains in Syria near the Turkish border. Turkish Deputy Foreign Minister Naci Koru said every security precaution had been taken at the consulate but that events unfolded quickly and that Iraqi security forces stationed around the building abandoned their posts as ISIL seized Mosul.","Facebook says WhatsApp deal cleared by FTC. By Alexei Oreskovic SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Facebook Inc said U.S. regulators have cleared its $19 billion acquisition of mobile messaging service WhatsApp, even as the Federal Trade Commission warned the two Internet companies on Thursday that they must not backtrack on commitments to user privacy. The FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection, in a letter to the two companies on Thursday, said WhatsApp must adhere to its current privacy practices after the merger, including a promise not to use WhatsApp users' personal data for targeted ads. ...","170 migrants feared lost at sea off Libya. A Libyan coastguard official said on Friday a boat carrying 170 illegal migrants from sub-Saharan Africa was feared lost at sea off the capital Tripoli. \"We are looking for 170 African passengers on a wooden boat that has foundered off the Guarakouzi area\" some 60 kilometres (35 miles) east of Tripoli, coastguard official Abdellatif Mohammed Ibrahim told AFP. \"A few miles off the coast, we found the remains of a wooden boat which had had some 200 migrants on board,\" he said. The coastguard official was unable to give any firm details of the nationalities of the victims or survivors, but added: \"It seems that among them are Somalis and Eritreans.\"","U.S. small business confidence declines in September: NFIB. By Elvina Nawaguna WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. small business optimism fell in September as more owners said they expected a slowdown in profits and sales, tightening credit conditions and a harder time filling job openings, according to a survey released on Tuesday. The National Federation of Independent Business said its Small Business Optimism Index fell 0.8 point to 95.3. The index is now five points below where it was before the start of the 2007-2009 financial crisis and recession. Six of the index's 10 components fell in the survey of 608 randomly-selected small business owners. ...","Mali army chief offers to resign after Kidal defeat. Mali's army chief of staff, General Mahamane Toure, offered to step down on Thursday following the military's failed attempt to seize the Tuareg separatist town of Kidal, three military sources said. General Toure, if his resignation is accepted by President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, will be the second senior official to resign after Defence Minister Soumeylou Boubeye Maiga quit on Tuesday following fighting in which 50 Malians were killed. We do not have an answer yet, we do not know if it will be accepted or not,\" one military source close to the general told Reuters. Another military source close to the Malian presidential office confirmed the army chief had offered to resign.","Islamic State, Al-Qaeda rivalry could spark dangerous contest. The declaration of an Islamic caliphate in parts of Iraq and Syria is a direct challenge to Al-Qaeda and could set off a dangerous contest for the leadership of the global jihadist movement, experts say. \"This competition between jihadists could be very dangerous,\" said Shashank Joshi of the London-based Royal United Services Institute, warning that Al-Qaeda may look to make a \"spectacular\" show of force. The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) announced on Sunday it was establishing a caliphate in parts of Iraq and Syria where it has seized control.","Falling oil prices worry Algeria. ALGIERS, Algeria (AP) — With oil prices at their lowest in five years and showing few signs of hitting bottom, Algeria is feeling the pinch.","Chelsea edges past Bolton; City routs Sheff Weds. LONDON (AP) — Chelsea relied on Oscar's first goal of the season to beat Bolton 2-1 in the League Cup on Wednesday, while holder Manchester City routed another second-tier side, Sheffield Wednesday, with seven second-half goals.","Syrian forces clearing out rebels from stronghold near Lebanon: military source. BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syrian forces in Yabroud were in the final stages on Sunday of clearing out rebels holed up there for months and had begun dismantling roadside bombs laid by the militants, a military source told Reuters. Capturing Yabroud, the last major rebel bastion near the Lebanese border north of Damascus, would help President Bashar al-Assad secure the land route linking his Mediterranean coastal stronghold with the capital Damascus, and choke off a cross-border rebel supply line from Lebanon. ...","Hamilton wins Chinese Grand Prix. Shanghai (AFP) - Lewis Hamilton headed a Mercedes one-two at the Chinese Grand Prix Sunday to claim a third straight victory for the first time in his career and underline the German team's dominance.","Planes renew attempt to get 122 floating objects. KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — More satellite images have given searchers the latest clues in the hunt for the downed Malaysian jetliner, as planes flew out of Australia on Thursday trying to spot 122 objects seen floating in the turbulent Indian Ocean where officials believe the missing passenger jet may have crashed.","Vettel, Bayern win top Laureus awards in KL. KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Sebastian Vettel was honored as the sportsman of the year at the Laureus Sports Awards, and Bayern Munich was chosen as the best team in a German-double.","Morocco jails 'jihadists' for up to 20 years. A Moroccan court specialising in state security cases handed prison sentences of up to 20 years to dozens of members of a jihadist cell accused of sending fighters abroad, official media reported Friday. The court in Sale, Rabat's twin city, jailed the main suspect, Mustapha El Kadaoui, for 20 years and fined him nearly 50,000 euros ($70,000), the MAP news agency said. Charges against him included \"forming a criminal gang to prepare and commit terrorist acts,\" \"financing terrorism\" and \"inciting others to commit terrorist crimes.\" Another 25 suspects facing similar charges, as well as failing to denounce \"terrorist acts\", received sentences ranging from two to five years, with one person acquitted.","Top Asian News at 2:30 p.m. GMT. TOKYO (AP) — Former Japanese Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama said Thursday that the landmark 1995 war apology carrying his name is an international pledge that Japan must not change, amid speculation that the current conservative leaders want to revise it. Murayama said that Japan should also keep another apology over forced prostitution before and during World War II, and urged Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to stand by both statements.","China to crack down on fake data 'corruption': statistics chief. China will step up efforts to investigate and punish any cases of falsified statistics, the country's chief statistician said in remarks published on Wednesday, highlighting the issue of reliability of Chinese data. The accuracy of economic statistics in general in China has come under the spotlight in recent years as some growth-obsessed local governments published false economic data. \"In the area of statistics, falsification can be considered as the biggest form of corruption,\" Ma Jiantang, head of the National Bureau of Statistics told a meeting, in a reference to the Chinese government's broader crackdown on corruption.","Honda recalls 1,252 Crosstours over side air bags. NEW YORK (AP) — Honda is recalling 1,252 Crosstour vehicles due to a faulty side air bag made by troubled air bag supplier Takata.","Glance at pedophile teacher's career. A look at the career of teacher William Vahey, regarded by the FBI as one of the most prolific pedophiles in memory:","Australia's Qantas, Virgin allow smartphones throughout flights. Australian airlines Qantas Airways Ltd and Virgin Australia Holdings Ltd said passengers can use smartphones and tablets throughout flights from Tuesday after a regulator relaxed a ban on electronic devices on planes. The airlines said they would start letting passengers use personal electronic devices for the duration of their flight after Australia's Civil Aviation Safety Authority followed a similar ruling from the U.S.","Syria to hold presidential election on June 3: state media. Syria will hold a presidential election on June 3, state media reported on Monday, setting the date for a vote likely to give President Bashar al-Assad a third term.","Australian premier's resignation as a sign of less, not more, corruption. By Matt Siegel SYDNEY (Reuters) - There are few countries where it is considered a good thing when a powerful state premier resigns for misleading a corruption investigation. Australia, however, is apparently just such a place. Experts say that the resignation on Wednesday of New South Wales premier Barry O'Farrell over the gift of a bottle of wine is a sign of a political culture that has become allergic to even the whiff of corruption. \"I think what it shows is that we have a higher bar here,\" said Professor Adam Graycar, a professor of public policy at the Australian National University and expert on global corruption.","Cricket-One Day International Pakistan v Australia scoreboard. Oct 12 (Infostrada Sports) - Scoreboard at close of play in the third and final One Day International between Pakistan and Australia on Sunday in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates Australia Innings A. Finch c Irfan b An. Ali 18 D. Warner c&b Afridi 56 S. Smith b Tanvir 77 G. Bailey c Shehzad b Irfan 0 G. Maxwell c Amin b Afridi 20 P. Hughes lbw b Tanvir 5 B. Haddin run out (An. Ali) 2 J. Faulkner c Amin b Tanvir 33 M. Starc run out (Irfan) 5 K. Richardson not out 9 X. Doherty not out 1 Extras (lb-3 nb-1 w-1) 5 Total (for 9 wickets, 50 overs) 231 Fall of wickets: 1-48 A. Finch,2-102 D. ...","Pakistan cleric at rally warns of 48-hour deadline. ISLAMABAD (AP) — A Pakistani cleric leading a mass anti-government rally in front of parliament has issued a 48-hour deadline for the country's prime minister to step down or he says he's prepared to die.","France's Le Pen, in Moscow, blames EU for new 'Cold War'. By Alessandra Prentice MOSCOW (Reuters) - Marine Le Pen, leader of France's far-right National Front, blamed the European Union for declaring a new Cold War on Russia that would hurt all concerned, Russian media reported on Saturday as she paid an official visit to Moscow. Europe-Russia relations are at their lowest ebb in decades after President Vladimir Putin's annexation of Crimea prompted the EU to impose sanctions on dozens of prominent Russian officials and lawmakers. However Le Pen, along with other Eurosceptic leaders of the far left and nationalist right, believe the original fault lies with Brussels for offering closer ties with Ukraine, a move Russia opposes.","Wimbledon seedings boost for champion Murray. Wimbledon champion Andy Murray will be among the top seeds at this year's tournament despite having slipped down the ATP world ranking to eighth, organisers announced on Tuesday. \"We have a surfaced-based seeding system here at Wimbledon,\" All England Lawn Tennis Club (AELTC) chairman Philip Brook told a press conference at the tournament venue in south London. \"So we take the ranking points of each player, and add to that the ranking points they hypothetically received last year on grass, and we add to that 75 percent of the best-performing tournament in the previous year. \"So to put it into context for Andy Murray, as winner of Queen's last year and winner here last year, and a finalist here in 2012, there will be a significant impact on him.","Playboy model jailed in Australia for drug role. SYDNEY (AP) — Former Playboy model Brandi Brandt has been sentenced to up to six years in prison for being part of ring smuggling drugs into Australia.","Report: UK soldier's killers were on spies' radar. LONDON (AP) — British lawmakers say two Islamic extremists who murdered a soldier in a London street had been under scrutiny by the intelligence services, and one had expressed his intention of killing a soldier in an online exchange months before the attack.","Ivory Coast transfers Gbagbo right-hand man to ICC. Charles Ble Goude, the former right-hand man of ex-president Laurent Gbagbo, has been transferred to the International Criminal Court to face charges of crimes against humanity, the Ivorian government said Saturday. The 42-year-old former youth leader faces four counts of crimes against humanity at the court based in The Hague over post-electoral violence in 2010-11. The former youth leader for Gbagbo, who is also jailed at The Hague, was arrested in Ghana more than a year ago and extradited to Ivory Coast, but the authorities were hesitant to send him to the war crimes court which issued a warrant for his arrest in September. Gbagbo, who was transferred to The Netherlands in late 2011, also faces four counts of crimes against humanity but the court has yet to confirm the charges, pending further investigation.","Russian lawmaker says son, detained by U.S., needs medicine. By Andrey Kuzmin MOSCOW (Reuters) - A Russian lawmaker said on Friday his son, accused by the United States of hacking into U.S. retailers' computer systems, could die in detention if he does not receive medical treatment. In a case that has increased tension between Washington and Moscow, Roman Seleznev was arrested last week and accused of stealing credit card data. Russia says he was apprehended in the Maldives and was, in effect, kidnapped.. Valery Seleznev, a member of Russia's lower house of parliament, denied the charges against his son and said he was being held in a jail on the Pacific island of Guam, where a Russian diplomat would visit him on Sunday.","Milan goalkeeper Lopez out for at least 2 weeks. MILAN (AP) — AC Milan goalkeeper Diego Lopez will be sidelined for at least two weeks with a thigh injury.","S. Korean Cabinet reshuffled to win back trust. SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea's president is replacing seven Cabinet members in an apparent bid to win back sagging public trust in her administration after April's ferry disaster.","England not over-excited by 1st test win in year. SOUTHAMPTON, England (AP) — With an emphatic end to its worst run of test cricket results in 28 years, England wasn't quite ready to herald a turning point in the new era or say a home series victory against India was within reach.","Asian shares pinned at five-month lows, Turkey in spotlight. By Hideyuki Sano TOKYO (Reuters) - Asian shares were pinned near five-month lows on Tuesday as concerns that slower growth in China and reduced U.S. monetary stimulus could hurt some emerging economies dependent on exports and foreign capital. Japan's Nikkei hit 2 1/2-month intraday low before recouping the losses to trade 0.2 percent above its previous close. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan also briefly dipped to a five-month low, extending a 3.8 percent loss in the past three days and last stood almost flat. Investors drew some comfort from the news that a Chinese trust firm had reached an agreement to resolve a troubled high-yield investment product, just days away from what could have been a precedent-setting default in China's shadow banking system.","Van Dyck discovered by British TV programme fails to sell. A lost Van Dyck painting spotted on a British television programme failed to find a buyer at a Tuesday auction despite estimates it would fetch 1,000 times its original price. Auctioneers Christie's had estimated the sketch for the 1635 work \"The Magistrates Of Brussels\" would sell for between £300,000 and £500,000 ($856,000, 630,000 euros), but it did not find a buyer. It had originally been bought for £400 from an antiques shop in Cheshire, northern England, by Catholic priest Father Jamie MacLeod. In December, MacLeod took the bargain painting onto \"Antiques Roadshow\" -- a BBC television programme on which hopeful antique hunters have their purchases valued by experts.","PSG beats Bastia 3-0 in French league. BASTIA, France (AP) — Paris Saint-Germain opened up an 11-point lead over Monaco at the top of the French league by defeating Bastia 3-0 on Saturday.","Former Rangers star Jardine dies, aged 65. Former Rangers and Scotland defender Sandy Jardine has died at the age of 65 after losing his battle with cancer. Jardine, one of Rangers' most decorated players, was diagnosed with liver cancer 18 months ago and the Glasgow club announced his death on Thursday. Jardine, who also played for Hearts and served as joint manager of the Edinburgh outfit from 1986 to 1988, established himself as an Ibrox legend in more than 400 appearances for Rangers. He won the European Cup Winners Cup with Rangers in 1972 and also helped the team win the Scottish title three times, the Scottish Cup on five occasions and the Scottish League Cup five times.","Sevilla gets 'Gladbach in last 32 of Europa League. NYON, Switzerland (AP) — Defending champion Sevilla will play Borussia Moenchengladbach in the last 32 of the Europa League.","China police detain workers demanding back pay. BEIJING (AP) — Activists say police in southern China have detained seven employees of a shoe factory amid a quarrel over back pay and benefits in a rare case of detentions in a labor dispute.","France's unpopular Hollande vows no new taxes from next year. By Nicholas Vinocur PARIS (Reuters) - French President Francois Hollande said on Thursday he would impose no new taxes on anyone in France starting next year as he sought to shake off record-low approval ratings and bolster confidence halfway through a deeply unpopular presidency. In a live TV appearance lasting one and a half hours, the Socialist president also vowed not to seek re-election in 2017 if he failed to bring down unemployment, currently above 10 percent, by the end of his five-year term. ...","Met opening a big deal for Russian bass. NEW YORK (AP) — For Ildar Abdrazakov, this may go down as the biggest opening night that almost didn't happen.","Former Korean 'comfort women' for U.S. troops sue own government. By Ju-min Park PYEONGTAEK South Korea (Reuters) - Cho Myung-ja ran away from home as a teenager to escape a father who beat her, finding her way to the red light district in a South Korean town that hosts a large U.S. Army garrison. After she escaped home in the early 1960s, her pimp sold her to one of the brothels allowed by the government to serve American soldiers. \"It was a hard life and we got sick,\" Cho, 76, said in an interview in her cluttered room in a shack outside Camp Humphreys, a busy U.S. military garrison in the town of Pyeongtaek, south of Seoul. On June 25, sixty-four years after the Korean War broke out, Cho joined 122 surviving comfort women, as they were called, in a lawsuit against their government to reclaim, they say, human dignity and proper compensation.","Canada suspects 80 returnees of 'terror' links. Ottawa (AFP) - Canada said Wednesday 80 citizens and immigrants who recently returned from war zones including Iraq and Syria are suspected of having links to \"terrorism\" groups.","Glencore denies media claim it avoided Australia taxes. Glencore, one of the world's biggest mining and trading houses, on Friday denied claims by an Australian newspaper that its coal division had paid no taxes in Australia in the past three years on income of A$15 billion ($14.10 billion). The Sydney Morning Herald reported that Glencore Plc cut its tax exposure by claiming tax breaks on expensive loans that were not necessary. Interest rates on the loans, extended by Glencore's associates overseas, were up to double what it would have had to pay banks, the newspaper said. A Glencore spokesman said the claim that no income tax was paid over the last three years was \"preposterous.\" Glencore, which acquired fellow Swiss-based resources company Xstrata last year in a $36 billion takeover, is one of Australia's biggest producers of coal and also a major miner copper, zinc and other commodities.","NATO has scrambled jets 400 times: Stoltenberg. AMARI Estonia (Reuters) - NATO war planes have had to scramble 400 times this year in response to an increase in Russian air activity around Europe, a rise of 50 percent over last year, the new secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, said on Thursday. North Atlantic Treaty Organization members have sought to fill gaps in the alliance's land, air and sea defenses since Russia annexed Crimea and backed the secessionist movement in the eastern part of Ukraine. Speaking to U.S. ...","Obama: Republicans not even trying on immigration. WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama says House Republicans are trying to pass the most extreme and unworkable version of an immigration bill even though they know the bill isn't going anywhere.","Egyptians press Gaza truce talks between Israel, Palestinians. Egyptian officials mediating talks for a durable truce in Gaza met an Israel delegation during the night and were to relay their demands to Palestinian representatives, Palestinian sources said Wednesday. The shuttle diplomacy comes as a fragile ceasefire in the Gaza Strip after a month of fighting between Hamas and Israeli forces entered a second day on Wednesday. Palestinian officials in Cairo said they would respond to the Israeli terms through the Egyptian intelligence officials, although a senior Hamas official has already rejected an Israeli demand that militants in Gaza disarm. Meanwhile international Middle East peace envoy Tony Blair and UN Middle East peace process coordinator Robert Serry were scheduled to hold talks with Egyptian officials later on Wednesday.","Chinese communities prepare for Lunar New Year. BEIJING (AP) — Chinese communities around the world are gearing up Thursday for the Lunar New Year holiday that begins at midnight.","Ukraine's parliament says yet to receive PM's resignation, work stalls. Ukraine's parliament said on Friday it had yet to receive a resignation letter from Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk so could not vote on whether to accept it or not, stalling work at the heart of government. Yatseniuk, Ukraine's point man for the West during much of the turmoil in the country since November, tendered his resignation on Thursday, saying parliament was betraying its people's demands for change by failing to pass legislation. The move by Yatseniuk, an ally of former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko, could hamstring decision-making as Ukraine struggles to fund a war against pro-Russian rebels and deals with the aftermath of a passenger plane crash. The chamber's deputy speaker, Bohdan Koshulynsky, confirmed he had yet to receive Yatseniuk's resignation.","Pope Francis may make South Korea his first Asia visit in August. Pope Francis is considering a trip to South Korea in August to meet with young Catholics, a Vatican spokesman said on Wednesday, in what would be his first visit to Asia where membership of the Church is increasing. Father Federico Lombardi said the pontiff was also weighing visits to the Philippines and Sri Lanka, though these would not take place this year. Catholics make up roughly 10 percent of the population of South Korea, which was visited twice by Pope John Paul II, and where the number of Catholics has grown by around 3 percent per annum for the past 11 years, according to Church figures.","Oil price extends gains in Asia on cold US weather. The price of oil rose Wednesday in Asia on prospects U.S. demand will hold up amid cold weather, offsetting worries about a slowdown in emerging economies.","Imprisoned Dutch killer Van der Sloot now a father. LIMA, Peru (AP) — Imprisoned Dutch killer Joran van der Sloot is now a father.","Spain celebrates beatification of Opus Dei leader. MADRID (AP) — The second most important figure in the Opus Dei order was beatified Saturday at an open air Mass attended by tens of thousands of Catholics that sent Alvaro del Portillo on a key step toward sainthood and illustrated how the once secretive order has become more mainstream.","Korea ferry captain jailed for 36 years, acquitted of murder. The captain of the South Korean ferry that sank in April with the loss of more than 300 lives was jailed for 36 years Tuesday, but acquitted of murdering those who died in the disaster. In a ruling that followed five months of dramatic, often painful testimony, a three-judge court said prosecutors, who had demanded the death penalty, failed to prove Captain Lee Jun-Seok, 69, had acted with an intention to kill. Victims' relatives who were present in the courtroom in the southern city of Gwangju, reacted furiously to the murder acquittal.","UN chief opposes airstrikes on extremists in Iraq. NEW YORK (AP) — U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon warned Friday that any possible airstrikes against Sunni extremists in Iraq could be ineffective and backfire. He urged Iraq's feuding communities to unite against the terrorists who have captured a vast swath of territory.","Activist says jihadis besiege eastern Syrian city. BEIRUT (AP) — A Syrian activist group says the al-Qaida-breakaway Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant is preventing food and medical supplies from reaching an eastern city.","China arrests six from OSI unit in food scandal. Chinese authorities have formally arrested six employees from a unit of US food supplier OSI Group, the parent company and the government said, over a scandal involving expired meat sold to fast food giants. Authorities have previously announced the detention by police of six officials of Shanghai Husi Food Co., a subsidiary of OSI which operated a factory shut down by the city in July for mixing out-of-date meat with fresh product. OSI's clients in China previously included McDonald's and KFC. \"OSI Group confirms that 6 employees of Shanghai Husi have now been arrested following detention by authorities,\" the company said in a statement provided to media.","Market calm over Scottish vote at odds with disaster warnings. By Mike Dolan LONDON (Reuters) - The big question about investor anxiety over Scotland's independence referendum is not whether it's warranted, but why it took so long to materialize and why it's still so marginal. Even now, with opinion polls showing a near-equal split in Thursday's vote for and against Scotland's secession from the United Kingdom, market moves have been modest at most - especially when you strip out influences such as domestic interest rate speculation and the wider global economic pulse. ...","Hirscher can lock up GS title with race to spare. KRANJSKA GORA, Slovenia (AP) — With the fight for the overall championship tightening up, Marcel Hirscher can lock up the World Cup giant slalom title with a race to spare on Saturday.","Report: Afghan who killed US general not Taliban. CAIRO (AP) — A U.S. military report has found that the Afghan soldier who shot and killed an American major general in August was not a Taliban operative, but rather a disgruntled private who found a \"target of opportunity.\"","Hello Kitty on space mission. Hello Kitty has been sent on her first space mission, as Japan's global icon of cute celebrates its 40th birthday in extraterrestrial fashion. A Kitty figure is now circling the Earth aboard a small satellite equipped with a digital message board, part of government-funded project to attract private companies into the space business. The initiative calls on fans to come up with short messages that will be flashed on the board sitting above the four centimetre (1.5 inch) cat, according to Kitty's creator Sanrio. The white feline with a red bow sits by a window looking back at Earth, with the board displaying messages of up to 180 characters in English and Japanese.","Iran fails to address nuclear bomb concerns: IAEA. By Fredrik Dahl VIENNA (Reuters) - Iran has failed to address concerns about suspected atomic bomb research by an agreed deadline, the U.N. nuclear watchdog said on Friday, a setback to hopes for an end to an international stand-off over Tehran's atomic activity. The lack of movement in an inquiry by the International Atomic Energy Agency will disappoint the West and could further complicate efforts by six world powers to negotiate a resolution to the decade-old dispute with Iran over its nuclear ambitions. An IAEA report obtained by Reuters showed that little substantive headway had so far been made in the U.N. agency's long-running investigation into what it calls the possible military dimensions of Iran's nuclear program. The Islamic Republic has implemented just three of five nuclear transparency steps that it was supposed to by Aug. 25 under a confidence-building deal it reached with the IAEA in November, according to the quarterly report.","Honda, Mazda, Nissan issue recall over airbags. TOKYO (AP) — Honda, Mazda and Nissan are recalling millions of vehicles globally for a defective airbag manufactured by supplier Takata Corp. that could possibly explode.","Argentina accuses Britain over Falklands. BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — Argentina is complaining about a British military training exercise near the Falkland Islands.","Lebanese Sunni clerics urge protests over bombardment of Arsal. A group of Lebanese Sunni Muslim clerics urged Lebanese Sunnis on Monday to protest until the army halts its bombardment of a border town attacked at the weekend by Islamist militants. The Muslim Clerics Association called for a complete halt to the bombardment of Arsal, a Sunni town at the border with Syria where the army is trying to expel insurgents who staged an incursion on Saturday. Its demands included a complete halt to the bombardment and the opening of \"a secure humanitarian corridor to Arsal\".","Airbus faces tough battles over A330 longevity plan. By Siva Govindasamy and Tim Hepher SINGAPORE/PARIS (Reuters) - As Airbus races through flight testing of its newest plane, the next-generation A350, Europe's planemaker faces growing battles to secure a future for the A330, until now its only truly lucrative wide-body jet. Twenty years after it entered service, the 250 to 300-seat jet has repeatedly been pronounced dead by rival Boeing but refuses to lie down, outliving its A340 sibling and surviving for now the arrival of lighter new jets like Boeing's 787 and the A350. But analysts say time is finally ticking on Airbus's most profitable wide-body jet, despite a steady series of changes aimed at prolonging the end of its production cycle and with over 1,000 still in service. Without a fresh burst of sales or a slowdown from current record production levels, they say, Airbus faces a sharp drop in deliveries from 2016 onwards, with the visible backlog of undelivered aircraft now worth just 26 months of production.","S.Sudan leaders must heed ceasefire, mediators say. Mediators who brokered South Sudan's fragile ceasefire called Tuesday for the warring sides to abide by the deal, with bloodshed showing no sign of stopping despite promises made on paper. \\\\\"The parties should and must negotiate, and bring the fighting to an end,\\\\\" said Seyoum Mesfin, head mediator from the East African regional bloc IGAD. Fighting broke out soon after dawn on Sunday, a day after the ceasefire was signed by President Salva Kiir and rebel chief Riek Machar, the second time in the five-month conflict that a truce has failed to stick. The ceasefire agreement, signed last week in Addis Ababa, was the fruit of weeks of mounting international pressure and shuttle diplomacy.","Hafeez & Shehzad guide Pakistan to 85-0. ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Opening batsmen Mohammad Hafeez and Ahmed Shehzad gave Pakistan a confident start of 85-0 at lunch on the opening day of the first test against New Zealand on Sunday.","Israel lifts age bar on Jerusalem mosque prayers. Men of all ages will be allowed to attend the main weekly Muslim prayers Friday at Jerusalem's flashpoint Al-Aqsa mosque compound for the first time in \"months\", a police spokesman said. \"No age limit on the Temple Mount, we're hoping things will be calm and quiet today,\" spokesman Mickey Rosenfeld told AFP. Rosenfeld linked the decision to lift age restrictions to talks in Jordan on Thursday after which US Secretary of State John Kerry said steps were agreed between King Abdullah II and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to lower tensions at the mosque compound. \"Firm commitments\" were made to maintain the status quo at the compound, holy to both Jews and Muslims, in Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem, Kerry said at a press conference with Jordanian Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh.","Exclusive: Facebook plots first steps into healthcare. By Christina Farr and Alexei Oreskovic SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Facebook Inc already knows who your friends are and the kind of things that grab your attention. Soon, it could also know the state of your health. On the heels of fellow Silicon Valley technology companies Apple Inc and Google Inc , Facebook is plotting its first steps into the fertile field of healthcare, said three people familiar with the matter. The people requested anonymity as the plans are still in development. ...","Three killed in Cairo clashes, 48 wounded across Egypt. Three protesters were killed and dozens wounded as Muslim Brotherhood supporters and police clashed across Egypt on Friday, the health ministry and security sources said. Security sources said two were killed in street battles with the police in the Cairo district of Alf Maskin and a third in the capital's Abbaseya. The Interior Ministry said it had arrested 47 people it said were Brotherhood members during the violence, which broke out after Friday prayers. Police cars were burned by protesters in at least two Cairo districts.","China arrests ex-security chief for corruption, leaking secrets. BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese authorities have arrested former domestic security chief Zhou Yongkang and expelled him from the ruling Communist Party, accusing him of crimes ranging from accepting bribes to leaking state secrets, the official Xinhua news agency said on Saturday. In a statement released by Xinhua at midnight, the party's elite decision-making politburo said that Zhou's case had been handed over to judicial authorities, setting the stage for his trial. Zhou, 71, is by far the highest-profile figure caught up in President Xi Jinping's crackdown on corruption. ...","Russia denies trying to destabilize Ukraine. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov dismissed on Tuesday U.S. accusations that Moscow was destabilizing Ukraine and said the situation could improve only if Kiev took into account the interests of Russian-speaking regions. Moscow and Washington are at loggerheads over the conflict in Ukraine, where Russia has seized Crimea and says it has the right to protect Russian speakers and ethnic Russians from what it describes as a threat from far-right leaders in Kiev. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry warned Lavrov on Monday that Russia would suffer consequences if it further destabilized Ukraine.","Berlusconi's appeal in sex case starts in Italy. Silvio Berlusconi's appeal of his conviction for abuse of office and paying for sex with a minor began on Friday, opening a new legal battle that could severely limit any active political role for the former Italian prime minister. Berlusconi was convicted last year for paying for sex with former nightclub dancer Kharima El Mahroug, better known by the stage name \"Ruby the Heartstealer\", when she was under 18, and of abusing his authority to get her released from police custody over unrelated theft accusations. He will not serve any time in jail unless his conviction is upheld and the two-stage appeals process is exhausted. The final verdict in the so-called Ruby trial could have implications for Berlusconi and his freedom to engage in political activity beyond the case itself.","Australia wins toss, bats 1st in 3rd test vs India. MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Australia captain Steve Smith won the toss and elected to bat first in the third cricket test in warm and sunny conditions Friday at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.","Russia calls Ukraine PM's unity poll proposal a 'sham'. Russia's Foreign Ministry said on Thursday that a proposal from Ukraine's prime minister to hold a poll on Ukrainian unity and territorial integrity was a sham that would only deepen the crisis in the country. On Wednesday, Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk said the government would send to parliament a law on conducting a nationwide poll on Ukrainian unity and territorial integrity on May 25, when the country is also due to hold a presidential election. Russian Foreign Ministry also said in a statement that the plans were \"cynical\" given what it said were Kiev's military operation against \"it's own people\".","Once on the edge of defeat, Syria's Assad runs again for president. By Samia Nakhoul BEIRUT (Reuters) - It was not so long ago that Bashar al-Assad’s enemies thought he was finished. In the summer of 2012, the rebels were not just at the gates of Damascus, but inside the capital, preying on Assad’s harried forces. His government had lost big chunks of Syria’s territory and a string of strategic towns, and a small number of loyal and tested army units were rotating around the country in an exhausting attempt to hold back rebel advances on many fronts. Now, even as the United States seeks to increase aid and training to moderate rebels to fight Assad's forces, U.S. officials privately concede Assad isn’t going anywhere soon.","No text messages allowed in Central Africa. Bangui (Central African Republic) (AFP) - Text messages in the Central African Republic are now considered a security threat and their use has been suspended, the telecommunications ministry said Tuesday. Mobile phone users in the Central African Republic who try to send text messages are getting the response: \"SMS not allowed\". \"The use of any SMS by all mobile phone subscribers is suspended from Monday June 2, 2014, until further notice,\" the ministry said in a letter to mobile phone operators in the conflict-torn country. It said the decision was made by Prime Minister Andre Nzapayeke.","Yobo skippers Nigeria, no start for Bosnia's Ibisevic. Cuiabá (Brazil) (AFP) - Nigeria coach Stephen Keshi made three changes from the side that drew with Iran for Saturday's second Group H game against Bosnia-Hercegovina in Cuaiba.","Hedge fund manager Loeb launches proxy battle at Sotheby's. By Svea Herbst-Bayliss and Siddharth Cavale (Reuters) - Billionaire hedge fund manager Daniel Loeb is mounting a proxy fight at Sotheby's with the goal of winning three board seats after the auction house's promise to return $450 million to shareholders failed to appease activist investors. Loeb's $14 billion Third Point, Sotheby's biggest investor with a 9.53 percent stake, said on Thursday in a regulatory filing that it is proposing a slate that includes Loeb, restructuring expert Harry Wilson and former investment banker Olivier Reza. This lays the groundwork for a potentially bitter fight between one of the hedge fund industry's loudest fighters and a 270-year old company best known for selling hundreds of millions of dollars worth of paintings at hushed auctions. For Loeb, an art collector who last year compared Sotheby's to \"an old master painting in desperate need of restoration,\" this marks his first proxy contest since scoring a big victory with board seats at Yahoo in 2012.","Pakistan looking for new coaches again. ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistan is again looking for new coaches after the national team's poor performance in the World Twenty20.","Russia raises Ukraine aid issue, U.N. talks drag on Syria help. By Michelle Nichols UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Russia said on Monday that more than 100,000 people have fled across its border to escape violence in eastern Ukraine and signaled that it has been delivering humanitarian assistance to the region without Kiev's consent. As U.N. Security Council members mull a draft resolution to approve cross-border aid access in Syria without government consent - where the U.N. says 9.3 million people need help - Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said Moscow had found \"ways and means\" to get humanitarian help into neighboring Ukraine. \"There are people who come across the border, get Russian humanitarian assistance and bring it back to their families,\" he said after U.N. aid chief Valerie Amos briefed the Security Council behind closed doors on Ukraine at the request of Russia.","Euro zone recovery accelerates more than expected in fourth quarter. BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The euro zone economy grew more than expected in the last quarter of 2013 thanks to stronger expansion in its biggest countries France and Germany, the first estimate from the European Union's Statistics Office showed on Friday. The economy of the 17 countries that shared the single currency in the last quarter rose 0.3 percent in the three months to December against the previous three months, after a 0.1 percent rise in the third quarter. Analysts polled by Reuters expected a 0.2 percent quarterly rise. ...","Qantas posts $211m half-year loss, cuts 5,000 jobs. CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Qantas Airways Ltd. on Thursday posted a first-half loss of 235 million Australian dollars ($211 million) amid tougher competition and announced plans to cut 5,000 jobs.","Iran's president regrets food ration problems. TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — In a rare move, Iran's President Hassan Rouhani said Thursday that he regrets any troubles with the distribution of a food ration to the poor, following reports that three people have died waiting for the goods in subzero weather.","Congestion capital Brussels looks to unclog traffic arteries. By Philip Blenkinsop BRUSSELS (Reuters) - For two years running, Brussels has been named the most congested city in North America and western Europe, a mark of shame for the capital that guides Europe's environment and transport policies. The disgrace has, however, had the effect of uniting Belgium's environmentalist Green Party, center-right rivals N-VA and business and motoring groups in a call for a solution whose time may finally have come - charging drivers for distance traveled. Others are watching keenly to see what will work in a city the size of Brussels, whose issues are different from sprawling megacities like Bangkok or Beijing, or London, with its central congestion charge. \"Since London brought in their congestion scheme, technology has come a long way,\" said Nina Renshaw, deputy director of sustainable transport campaign group Transport & Environment.","Swiss hockey's improvement showcased in Olympics. SOCHI, Russia (AP) — Jonas Hiller has a prime spot to watch Switzerland's rise as a hockey power, and the goalie who hasn't allowed a goal at the Olympics is thrilled by what he sees.","Syrian charged in plot against troops is now in US. PHOENIX (AP) — A Syrian man has been extradited to Arizona to face charges of conspiring to use improvised explosive devices against U.S. forces in Iraq.","Thai princess relinquishes royal title. BANGKOK (AP) — The woman who was in line to be Thailand's next queen has relinquished her royal title.","Canada new home prices climb 0.3 percent in August. By Oct, 9 and (Reuters) New home prices in Canada rose by 0.3 percent in August from July, the largest increase in seven months, Statistics Canada said on Thursday. The metropolitan region of Toronto-Oshawa was the top contributor to the August growth, with prices up 0.3 percent from July. Prices rose by 0.5 percent in Calgary, while Vancouver prices increased 0.3 percent, the first gain since July 2013. Following are the percentage changes: Month on Month Year on Year Aug July Aug July Total +0.3 0.0 +1.5 +1.4 House only +0.3 0.0 +1.9 +1.7 Land only +0.2 0.0 +0.9 +0. ...","Greek ex-finance minister to stand criminal trial. ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greece's former finance minister, George Papaconstantinou, has been indicted before a special court on criminal charges over his handling of data on Greeks holding Swiss bank accounts.","Afghans line up for blocks to vote for new leader. KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Afghan voters lined up for blocks at polling stations nationwide on Saturday, defying a threat of violence by the Taliban to cast ballots in what promises to be the nation's first democratic transfer of power.","China replaces Communist Party leader in coal-rich province amid 'corruption problem'. China has replaced the Communist Party leader of the coal-rich northern province of Shanxi amid what a top leader said was a grim corruption problem and a troubled political scene, state media reported. Wang Rulin will take up the post of Shanxi party chief, replacing Yuan Chunqing, who will be shifted to the central government's leading group for rural work, the official Xinhua news agency reported. Wang previously served as the governor and party boss of the northeastern province of Jilin, bordering North Korea, Xinhua reported earlier.","Italy president to meet Renzi Monday, seen asking to form government. ROME (Reuters) - Italian President Giorgio Napolitano will meet center-left leader Matteo Renzi on Monday at 10:30 a.m. in Rome (0930 GMT/ 4:30 PM EST), according to a statement, and is expected to ask him to try to form the country's 65th government since World War Two. The 39-year-old Renzi would be the youngest prime minister in Italian history if, as expected, he takes over from party colleague Enrico Letta, who stepped down on Friday. ...","Japan ministers at Tokyo war shrine despite warming China ties. Tokyo (AFP) - Three nationalist ministers in Japan's cabinet paid homage at a war shrine hated by China Saturday, despite tentative signs of a thaw in Tokyo's long-frozen relationship with Beijing.","UN: More than 16,000 people sickened with Ebola. DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — The World Health Organization says the number of people sickened with Ebola has passed 16,000.","US, China vow to improve cooperation. BEIJING (AP) — The United States and China vowed Wednesday to improve their economic and security cooperation, saying they wouldn't let persistent differences over maritime claims, cyberhacking and currency hamper a relationship critical to global peace and prosperity.","Canadian farmers to lose veteran political correspondent in Ottawa. OTTAWA - While his press gallery peers criss-crossed the country over the years in the bubble of leaders' campaigns, Barry Wilson liked to fly under the mainstream radar with his own custom-made election tour.","UK court clears woman who had Syria jihad cash in underwear. A woman accused of trying to smuggle 20,000 euros ($27,000) in cash hidden in her underwear to jihadists fighting in Syria was found not guilty by a British court on Wednesday. The 11-person jury at London's Old Bailey found Nawal Msaad, 27, not guilty of funding terrorism, but convicted her friend Amal El-Wahabi, who allegedly used her as a \"trusted courier\". Msaad was stopped at London's Heathrow Airport and found to have the cash in notes wrapped in a condom that prosecutors alleged fell into her underwear after being lodged inside her body. El-Wahabi's husband, Aine Davis, had asked for the money after leaving Britain in July 2013 to join Islamist militants fighting in Syria, the court heard.","The Boston tapes that ensnared Gerry Adams. For insight into why Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams was arrested this week for questioning about a notorious 1972 Belfast killing, venture across the Atlantic to a cradle of American academia. In 2001 at 150-year-old Boston College, a prestigious Catholic institution in the city with America's largest Irish immigrant population, researchers quietly embarked on a project to interview participants in the Northern Ireland conflict known as the Troubles. They set about constructing an oral history of the violent period, interviewing dozens of former Irish Republican Army members and participants in voluntary paramilitary groups that supported union with Britain. That guarantee unraveled amid court orders, with potentially serious consequences for participants in Ireland, and fresh questions about academic freedom and the strength of researchers' confidentiality assertions in the face of a criminal investigation.","London brothers admit Syria terror training plot. Two brothers on Tuesday pleaded guilty in a court to conspiring to attend a terror training camp in Syria. Mohommod Nawaz, 30, and Hamza Nawaz, 24, were arrested in September as they entered the port of Dover on the southeast English coast. The men, from Stratford in east London, allegedly drove to France, then flew to Turkey before travelling over the border into Syria. Mohommod Nawaz also pleaded guilty to having ammunition without a firearms certificate, while the same charge against his brother was ordered to remain on file.","Afghan rivals said close to ending feud on how to share power. By Jessica Donati and Hamid Shalizi KABUL (Reuters) - Afghanistan's rival presidential candidates may reach a deal on how to share power late on Tuesday, according to Afghan and Western officials, potentially ending months of tension over the outcome of a run-off election held in June. The struggle to find a successor to President Hamid Karzai, who has held power since the Islamist Taliban were ousted in 2001, has destabilized Afghanistan and paralyzed its economy just as most foreign troops withdraw. ...","Asian stocks steady on strong U.S. data, dollar holds gains. By Shinichi Saoshiro TOKYO (Reuters) - Asian stocks were steady on Wednesday after strong U.S. Global equities have attracted funds in recent sessions on expectations major central banks, including the U.S. Federal Reserve, will continue to retain their easy money policies for a while. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was flat Wall Street drew support from robust housing data on Tuesday, which pushed up Treasury yields and drove the dollar to a nine-month high against the euro.","Man cured of Ebola isolated at New Delhi airport. NEW DELHI (AP) — India's Health Ministry says a 26-year-old Indian man who was cured of Ebola in Liberia has been placed in isolation at the New Delhi airport after traces of the virus were found in his semen.","Syrian opposition appoints new military chief. BEIRUT (AP) — The coalition of Syrian opposition groups in exile has appointed a new army chief, following a year of seeing their influence fade among fighters within Syria.","Golovkin eager to extend KO streak against Rubio. CARSON, California (AP) — Gennady Golovkin has stopped his last 17 opponents while rising to the top of the middleweight division. When he takes the outdoor ring Saturday night, the sellout crowd fully expects Golovkin's U.S. West Coast debut to end with his 18th straight knockout.","Nepal plane crash in bad weather killed all 18 on board. By Gopal Sharma KATHMANDU (Reuters) - All 18 people aboard a small plane that crashed in bad weather in Nepal were killed, an army spokesman said on Monday, after searchers battled heavy rain and harsh winds to reach the rugged site the day after the event. The crash highlights the poor safety record of Nepal, where more than a dozen airlines fly to nearly 50 airports, many in remote hills and mountains shrouded in cloud and cut off from roads. \"All 18 dead bodies have been found,\" army spokesman Jagadish Pokharel told Reuters. Many parts of Nepal experienced rain this weekend, with snow covering some mountainous areas.","South African credit history amnesty takes effect. A South African law requiring lenders to erase defaulters' credit history took effect Tuesday despite protests from banks and opposition parties that branded the move as populist vote-buying. Credit bureaus now have two months to wipe \"adverse consumer credit information\" from their records, according to the law, which comes ahead of elections on May 7. \"The amnesty doesn't remove the debt, it just removes the information related to an account,\" said National Debt Mediation Association CEO Magauta Mphahlele. \"You don't have to have paid off that debt to have the negative description removed,\" Mphahlele told AFP.","Russian swimmer Makov banned 2 years for doping. LAUSANNE, Switzerland (AP) — Russian swimmer Sergei Makov has been banned for two years for doping and will miss the 2015 world championships at home.","Yemen: Frenchman killed, another wounded in Sanaa. SANAA, Yemen (AP) — Unknown gunmen in Yemen's capital opened fire on three French security guards working with the European Union mission on Monday, killing one and wounding another, interior ministry officials said.","FedEx quarterly profit rises, falls short of analyst expectations. CHICAGO (Reuters) - Package delivery company FedEx Corp reported a 23 percent jump in quarterly profits on Wednesday driven by higher U.S. domestic package and international export volumes, but fell short of analyst expectations. The Memphis-based company reported net income of $616 million for the quarter ending Nov. 30, compared with $500 million a year earlier. The company reported earnings per share of $2.14, compared with $1.57 in the same quarter last year. Wall Street analysts had expected earnings per share of $2.22. FedEx reported revenue for the quarter of $11. ...","Canada's Telus withdraws Mobilicity bid, newspaper says. TORONTO (Reuters) - Canada's Telus Corp has withdrawn its bid to acquire struggling domestic wireless company Mobilicity, the Globe and Mail newspaper reported on Wednesday, citing a source it did not identify. The Western Canada-focused telecom company has made several bids for the much-smaller company, formally known as Data & Audio-Visual Enterprises Wireless Inc, despite federal government opposition. Telus, Mobilicity and court-appointed supervisors of the corporate restructuring weren't immediately available for comment. (Reporting by Alastair Sharp; Editing by Bernadette Baum)","All Blacks set up test date with United States. Rugby union world champions New Zealand will play minnows the United States for only the fourth time in their history on November 1 it was announced on Tuesday. The All Blacks, who share the same sponsor as the 'Eagles', will play the Americans in the historic home of the Chicago Bears NFL franchise the 61,000 capacity Soldier Field Stadium. “We are very excited to be taking the All Blacks to a part of the world we know is incredibly keen on all sports and where we believe there is a real thirst to see the style of rugby we are famous for,” said New Zealand Rugby Chief Executive Steve Tew, whose side will play there on their way to their tour of Europe. His USA counterpart, former England scrum-half Nigel Melville was equally effusive over the test which will be screened live by American broadcaster NBC.","Iran president pledges cooperation, trade ties. DAVOS, Switzerland (AP) — Iranian President Hassan Rouhani says his country is ready to do business and cooperate on global issues like climate change and Syria's crisis, in a speech aimed at persuading world leaders that Tehran is committed to ending years of international isolation.","Tunisia parliament approves new cabinet line-up. Tunis (AFP) - Tunisia's parliament on Wednesday approved a technocratic caretaker government tasked with leading the country out of a bruising political crisis and to fresh elections.","AP Interview: El-Sissi, Egypt and the terror fight. CAIRO (AP) — Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi is feeling vindicated by the world's alarm over Islamic extremism that is fueling wars and bloodshed across the Middle East.","Juventus beats bitter rival Inter Milan 3-1. MILAN (AP) — Juventus eased to a comfortable 3-1 win over bitter rival Inter Milan in the Italian league on Sunday to extend its lead at the top of the table to nine points.","India state's top elected official guilty of graft. NEW DELHI (AP) — A court in southern India has found the top elected official of Tamil Nadu state guilty of corruption in a case filed 18 years ago.","Bayern routs Schalke for 20-point Bundesliga lead. BERLIN (AP) — Arjen Robben scored a hat trick as Bayern Munich routed Schalke 5-1 on Saturday to extend its Bundesliga lead to 20 points, a league record after 23 games.","Brazil students inhale chemical product. SAO PAULO (AP) — Officials in a small city in southeastern Brazil say that 11 students and one teacher fell ill after inhaling a chemical sprayed on an orange grove near a public school.","Dancevic to replace Pospisil, team with Nestor for Canada in Davis Cup doubles. TOKYO - Tennis Canada said Frank Dancevic will replace Vasek Pospisil, and will team with Daniel Nestor in Saturday's Davis Cup World Group first round match against Japan.","Egypt deports man lobbying against mass death sentences. Egyptian authorities deported a rights campaigner hours after he flew in to deliver a petition against death sentences imposed on 529 supporters of deposed president Mohamed Mursi, the man and security officials said on Friday. Wissam Tarif, a Lebanese citizen from international group Avaaz, was hoping to hand over the appeal at a meeting with the grand mufti, Egypt's top religious authority who reviews all death sentences. Last month's mass sentencing of the 529 members of Mursi's Muslim Brotherhood in the southern province of Minya was widely criticised by rights organisations and Western governments. Most of the men were found guilty of murder, carrying out attacks and other offences during clashes after the forced dispersal of two Muslim Brotherhood protest camps in Cairo on August 14.","Egypt denies that presidency ratified sentences. CAIRO (AP) — The spokesman of the Egypt presidency denied Monday that the president ratified death sentences passed on 14 men convicted in connection to 2011 militant attacks in the Sinai.","Nestle adds skincare muscle by completing Valeant deal. Swiss food giant Nestle announced Thursday that it had bolstered its hand in the medical skin treatment market by finalising a deal with Canada's Valeant Pharmaceuticals International. \"As a result of the successful conclusion of the regulatory process and customary closing conditions, Nestle today completed its acquisition of Valeant Pharmaceuticals International's commercialisation rights to several key injectable aesthetic dermatology products in the US and Canada,\" a statement said. North America accounts for more than half of the fast-growing global medical aesthetics market, according to Nestle. They are manufactured by Nestle's Galderma medical unit, which sells them in all markets except North America, where Valeant has held the distribution rights.","Hong Kong destroys poultry from China after bird flu found. HONG KONG (AP) — Authorities in Hong Kong have begun destroying 15,000 chickens at a poultry market and suspended imports from mainland China after bird flu was found in some birds.","Child marriages double among Syria refugees in Jordan. The number of child marriages has doubled among Syrian refugee girls in Jordan because of poverty and fear of sexual violence, international agencies said on Wednesday. \"Child marriage is devastating for those girls concerned,\" said Saba al-Mobaslat, Save the Children's country director in Jordan. Figures from the UN children's agency UNICEF show that among Syrian refugees in Jordan, the rate of child marriages rose from 18 percent of all marriages in 2012, to 25 percent in 2013.","Hillary Clinton backs Obama move on Cuba. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Former U.S. Secretary of State and potential presidential contender Hillary Clinton said on Wednesday she supported President Barack Obama's move to establish diplomatic ties with Cuba after more than 50 years of hostile relations. \"Despite good intentions, our decades-long policy of isolation has only strengthened the Castro regime's grip on power,\" Clinton said in a statement. \"As I have said, the best way to bring change to Cuba is to expose its people to the values, information and material comforts of the outside world. ...","Three U.S. troops killed by Afghanistan explosion. Three U.S. troops and a working dog were killed by a bomb blast on Friday in southern Afghanistan, a U.S. official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. The NATO-led International Security Assistance Force, or ISAF, in Afghanistan said in a statement three service members died following an improvised explosive device attack. ISAF did not provide the nationality of the victims. The Taliban, ousted by U.S.-backed forces in the aftermath of al Qaeda's September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States, is engaged in a summer offensive ahead of the planned withdrawal of most foreign troops by the end of this year.","Asia stocks subdued, Nikkei weak on profit taking. HONG KONG (AP) — Asian stock markets were subdued on Thursday, with Japan's Nikkei faltering as investors locked in profits after a strong rally.","Wider U.S. trade deficit, weak exports point to slower growth. By Lucia Mutikani WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. trade deficit unexpectedly widened in September as exports hit a five-month low, a sign that slowing global demand could undercut economic growth in the fourth quarter. The Commerce Department said on Tuesday the trade gap increased 7.6 percent to $43.03 billion, ending four straight months in which the deficit had narrowed. ...","Russia kicks off Sochi Games with hope and hubris. SOCHI, Russia (AP) — A crowning achievement of Vladimir Putin's Russia kicked off Friday with a celebration of its past greatness and hopes for future glory, most especially for a raucous group of Russian athletes who marched into the rollicking opening ceremony of the Sochi Olympics with a message.","Ukraine ex-presidential aide wounded, not clear if with Yanukovich. Andriy Klyuev, a former presidential aide who is said by the new Ukrainian authorities to be on the run with ousted leader Viktor Yanukovich, has been shot in the leg, his spokesman said. Spokesman Artem Petrenko said a \"trusted source\" had told him that Klyuev, the head of the presidential administration until Yanukovich was toppled on Saturday, had come under fire twice and was wounded, but his life was not in danger. Protesters see Klyuev, 49, probably Yanukovich's only remaining ally, as being behind a police crackdown on pro-Europe students in Kiev on November 30 which triggered mass unrest and the beginning of the protest movement that brought down Yanukovich. He also said he did not know whether Klyuev was with Yanukovich, who fled Kiev on Friday and is wanted by the Ukrainian authorities to face accusations of murder following a three-month revolt against his rule and street clashes in which more than 80 people had been killed, many of them apparently by police shooting.","Officials: Egypt, UAE behind airstrikes in Libya. WASHINGTON (AP) — Egypt and the United Arab Emirates secretly carried out airstrikes against Islamist militias inside Libya, U.S. officials said Tuesday, decrying the intervention as an escalation of the North African country's already debilitating turmoil. They said the United States had no prior notification of the attacks.","After fan protest, Fred threatens not to play. SAO PAULO (AP) — Former Brazil striker Fred says he and his Fluminense teammates might not play this weekend following threatening behavior by fans after the team's recent run of defeats.","Oil prices fall as market awaits US inventory data. Oil prices edged lower in Asia Wednesday as market players tried to assess U.S. demand with the approach of warmer weather.","Canada pledges $27 million to fight Ebola. United Nations (United States) (AFP) - Canada announced Thursday it will contribute Can$30 million (US$27 million) to the United Nations and non-government agencies fighting the spread of Ebola in West Africa.","Chelsea loses but stays top; Spain's leading 3 win. LONDON (AP) — While Spain's top three all won, none of the England's leading sides could produce a victory on Saturday.","7 arrests as hooded youths clash with Spain police. BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Spanish police arrested seven people in Barcelona as youths clashed with police over the partial demolition of a popular social center, a local government spokesman said.","Exclusive: Singapore Airlines-Tata Indian jv orders Airbus A320s - sources. By Siva Govindasamy SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Singapore Airlines has chosen Airbus's A320 to launch its new Indian joint venture with Tata Sons , scoring a victory over rival Boeing as the airline market in Asia's third biggest economy shows signs of a revival. Sources familiar with the decision said a project team picked the European plane in preference to Boeing's 737 - the aircraft ordered by low-cost operator SpiceJet to expand its fleet in a deal reported by Reuters on Tuesday. The demise of Kingfisher Airlines in 2012 marked an end to the bitter competition that led to low ticket prices for Indian consumers and high levels of losses for its airlines. TATA SIA Airlines will start flying in the full service segment in the second half of 2014, as will an AirAsia-Tata joint venture in the low-cost market.","Race for title wide open in French league. PARIS (AP) — While many expected Paris Saint-Germain to reign supreme this season, the race for the French league title has turned into a three-horse contest.","Fresnillo, AstraZeneca help FTSE shrug off Ukraine jitters. London (AFP) - London shares edged slightly higher on Friday, shrugging off Ukraine jitters and another profits warning from supermarket giant Tesco.","Russia plans training on new weapons for reservists: ministry. Russia's Defence Ministry plans to call up military reservists across the country for two months of training exercises on new weapons, news agency Interfax reported on Friday. Moscow has previously used such exercises to boost troop numbers on its border with Ukraine. There are concerns in the West that Russian forces could intervene in the conflict between the Kiev's government forces and pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine. \"Special attention will be given to military reservists' mastering of new and modernized weapons, military and special equipment as well as their use,\" Interfax quoted the ministry as saying.","Hints of possible deal on Ukraine gas emerge at G20. By Lidia Kelly WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Behind statements that Russia will not budge in demanding Ukraine repay its debts for its natural gas deliveries, hints emerged at a meeting of G20 finance chiefs this week that a deal in which Moscow eases its stance might be in the works. Financial aid to Ukraine was a hot topic at a meeting of finance ministers from the Group of 20 leading nations, but the country's gas crisis, which could threaten deliveries to Europe, topped discussions with Russia that were held on the sidelines. Moscow, which alienated Western powers by annexing Ukraine's Crimea peninsula, this month raised the price it charges Kiev for gas and said it awaits $2.2 billion in unpaid bills. Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov reiterated the Kremlin's threats that it may switch to prepaid gas deliveries to Ukraine if payments don't start coming, but between the now-standard lines he signaled some room for maneuver.","Uruguay denies cold feet on taking Guantanamo detainees. Uruguay denied that it had delayed taking in six detainees from the US military prison at Guantanamo, saying no date for the transfer had been set yet. Uruguayan President Jose Mujica announced in March that his country had agreed to take detainees from the prison on human rights grounds, helping his US counterpart Barack Obama fulfill his long-delayed promise to close the controversial jail. Diego Canepa, an assistant secretary in Mujica's office, denied the report, which cited Obama administration officials. He also denied the newspaper's claim that US Vice President Joe Biden had called Mujica in August \"pressing him to resettle the men.\"","Ukraine says Russia withdrawing forces from east, sees boost for peace. By Pavel Polityuk and Gareth Jones KIEV (Reuters) - Ukraine's president said on Wednesday Russia had removed the bulk of its forces from his country, raising hopes for a peace drive now underway after five months of conflict in which more than 3,000 people have been killed. Moscow denies sending troops into eastern Ukraine to support pro-Russian rebels battling Ukrainian forces, despite what Kiev and its Western backers say is overwhelming evidence to the contrary. Moscow also denies arming the separatists. President Petro Poroshenko told a televised cabinet meeting Ukraine would remain a sovereign, united country under the terms of a peace roadmap approved last Friday, but said parts of the east under rebel control would get special status.","Wal-Mart's cuts 2,300 jobs at Sam's Club. (Reuters) - Wal-Mart Stores Inc said it cut roughly 2 percent of total employees, or about 2,300 jobs, at its Sam's Club retail warehouse chain on Friday, its biggest round of layoffs since 2010. The action comes on the heels of a lackluster U.S. holiday season and layoffs announced earlier this month from U.S. retailers Macy's Inc , J.C. Penney Co Inc and Target Corp . In a review of operations that began before the holiday season, Sam's Club found that its workforce was the same size, regardless of the revenue reaped by the business, company spokesman Bill Durling said in a telephone interview. Affected employees who are unable to find new positions at Sam's Club or Walmart will be eligible for severance, Durling said.","Palestinian killed in Israel West Bank raid. Birzeit (Palestinian Territories) (AFP) - A Palestinian died during an Israeli army raid on his home in the West Bank town of Birzeit on Thursday, the military and a Palestinian security source said. The death came as human rights group Amnesty International slammed Israel's killing of dozens of Palestinian civilians in the occupied West Bank over the past three years.","74 killed in three days in Ukraine's rebel-held Donetsk region. Donetsk (Ukraine) (AFP) - Fierce clashes between government forces and rebel fighters have killed 74 civilians over the last three days in east Ukraine's war-torn Donetsk region, local authorities said Thursday.","Plan to down high-rises at Games opening dropped. LONDON (AP) — Plans to demolish five high-rise apartment towers as part of the Commonwealth Games opening ceremony have been dropped.","Planes fly more victims from Ukraine crash site. KHARKIV, Ukraine (AP) — Two cargo planes have flown 38 more coffins carrying victims of the Malaysia Airlines disaster out of eastern Ukraine to a forensic center in the Netherlands for identification and investigation.","Venezuela police detain 243, dismantle protest camps. Venezuelan authorities demolished four protest camps and detained 243 people early Thursday, striking at the remaining bastions of a months-long and at times deadly anti-government protest movement. Riot police swept through the camps in surprise raids that began at 3 pm, Minister Miguel Rodriguez Torres said, claiming the sites occupied by students were \\\\\"being used by more violent groups to commit terrorist acts.\\\\\" Lawyer and human rights activist Elenis Rodriguez said \\\\\"very few young people were able to escape the onslaught.\\\\\" Over the past month, the protest movement has largely been concentrated in Occupy-style encampments in Caracas, with the main one set up opposite the office of the United Nations Development Program in an upscale part of town.","Pause in India-Pakistan fighting brings respite for civilians. By Fayaz Bukhari SRINAGAR (Reuters) - Fighting between India and Pakistan paused on Friday after days of heavy shelling and gun battles across their disputed Himalayan border in Kashmir, the worst skirmishes between the nuclear-armed rivals in more than a decade. The lull came a day after a heated exchange of rhetoric, with New Delhi warning Pakistan it would pay an \"unaffordable price\" if shelling and machinegun fire continued and Islamabad saying it was capable of responding \"fittingly\" to aggression. ...","EBay considering spinning off Paypal: report. (Reuters) - EBay Inc is considering spinning out its fast-growing payments unit PayPal as soon as next year, news website The Information reported, citing sources. EBay shares were up 5 percent at $56.08 on the Nasdaq. The company has told potential recruits for the position of PayPal CEO about a possible spin-off of the payments unit, the website reported. PayPal's previous chief executive, David Marcus, left the company in June to run Facebook Inc's messaging products.","Dempsey: US assessing whether Iraq forces can hold. HONOLULU (AP) — A top U.S. military official says a key role of the American troops in Iraq is assessing whether the country's security forces can hold together and whether its leaders are confident they can do their jobs.","South Sudan official: Rebels damage oil facilities. ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (AP) — Rebels badly damaged petroleum facilities in an oil-producing state and must answer for the destruction, a South Sudanese government official said Sunday.","Police: Guyana man kills wife, 4 children in fire. GEORGETOWN, Guyana (AP) — A man in the South American country of Guyana has being held on suspicion of killing his wife and four of his five children by locking them inside their home and setting it on fire, police said Saturday.","UN Security Council slaps sanctions on Yemen ex-president Saleh. United Nations (United States) (AFP) - The UN Security Council on Friday imposed sanctions on Yemen's former president Ali Abdullah Saleh and two allied rebel commanders for threatening peace in the impoverished Arab country.","Ebola toll tops 2,000, cases near 4,000: World Health Organization. More than 2,000 people have died in the Ebola outbreak in West Africa, the World Health Organization said on Friday, out of about 4,000 patients thought to have been infected in the three countries worst hit by the disease. The death toll in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone totaled 2,097 as at Sept 5, out of 3,944 cases, a WHO document said. A further eight people have died in Nigeria, out of 23 cases, and 1 confirmed case in Senegal. The WHO said health officials were trying to trace contacts of patients to halt the spread in those two countries, with 400 contacts being followed in the Nigerian cities of Lagos and Port Harcourt and 67 being followed in Senegal.","Lampard to leave Chelsea. Chelsea legend Frank Lampard on Monday brought down the curtain on his glittering career at Stamford Bridge as he announced he will leave the west London club when his contract expires at the end of June. Lampard had reportedly been offered a new deal on reduced terms by Chelsea, but he has opted to bring an end to his 13-year spell with the Premier League team. Several reports earlier on Monday claimed Lampard's representative has held talks with New York City over a prospective move to Major League Soccer's new franchise next March. He admitted it was a wrench to leave Chelsea after so many happy memories and he paid tribute to former chairman Ken Bates, who was in charge when he was signed from West Ham in 2001, and current owner Roman Abramovich, whose huge cash injection transformed the team into a European superpower.","Ukrainian parliament backs bill to open gas pipelines to EU, U.S. firms. KIEV (Reuters) - Ukraine's parliament approved a law on Thursday to allow gas transit facilities to be leased on a joint venture basis with participation from firms in the European Union or United States. Ukraine will hold 51 percent and foreign partners will be offered 49 percent in the venture, which would manage both transit pipelines and underground gas storage facilities. (Reporting by Pavel Polityuk; Writing by Alessandra Prentice; Editing by Richard Balmforth)","Russia protests over anti-Russian billboards in Montenegro. By Petar Komnenic PODGORICA (Reuters) - Russia has protested to Montenegro over anti-Russian billboards that popped up this month in the small Adriatic republic bearing the NATO logo and rejecting the \"Russian boot\". The billboards, signed \"Montenegrin Patriots\", appear to allude to tensions between an influx of Russian money into the former Yugoslav republic and its hopes of joining the European Union and NATO. The Montenegrin foreign ministry confirmed to Reuters that it had received a protest note from the Russian Embassy on Nov. 19, shortly after the billboards appeared. ...","Greek PM says hopeful a president will be elected. ATHENS (Reuters) - Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras said he remained hopeful that parliament would elect a head of state, after failing on Wednesday in the first of three attempts to elect his nominee and avert snap elections. \"Today was the first of three votes. We have two more ahead of us,\" Samaras told reporters as he left parliament. \"We are hopeful a president will be elected. Conditions are difficult, Greek lawmakers are aware that the country cannot afford adventures. ...","'We don't want revenge' on Pistorius, says Steenkamp's mother. London (AFP) - The mother of Oscar Pistorius's girlfriend said Wednesday she did not want \"revenge\", a day after the disgraced South African athlete began serving a five-year jail term for shooting her daughter dead.","Defunct bitcoin exchange Mt. Gox files for liquidation: WSJ. (Reuters) - Defunct bitcoin exchange Mt. Gox has given up plans to rebuild under bankruptcy protection and has asked a Tokyo court to allow it to be liquidated, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the situation. Mt. Gox's lawyers declined to comment on the matter. Mt. Gox CEO Mark Karpeles won't travel to the United States to answer questions about the bitcoin exchange's U.S. bankruptcy case, Mt. Gox lawyers told a federal judge this week.","Turkish central bank sharply hikes all main interest rates. Turkey's central bank sharply raised all of its main interest rates on Wednesday, bowing to market pressure to stem a slide in the lira fuelled by political turbulence at home and fears about cuts in U.S. monetary stimulus. At an emergency policy meeting, the bank raised its overnight lending rate to 12 percent from 7.75 percent, its one-week repo rate to 10 percent from 4.5 percent and its overnight borrowing rate to 8 percent from 3.5 percent.","Islamic State expels rivals from Syria's Deir al-Zor: activists. Al Qaeda offshoot the Islamic State expelled rival rebels from the eastern Syrian city of Deir al-Zor on Monday, tightening its grip on the oil-producing province abutting territory it also controls in Iraq, activists said. The Islamic State's hardline Sunni fighters have been advancing against rivals in Deir al-Zor province with the help of weapons it seized in a lightning offensive against Iraqi government forces across the border last month. On Monday, the Islamic State expelled dozens of rival rebels from Deir al-Zor city, including al Qaeda's Syria branch, the Nusra Front, and Ahrar al-Sham, a hardline Islamist group, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.","England crush India in fourth Test, lead series 2-1. Manchester (United Kingdom) (AFP) - England crushed India by an innings and 54 runs to win the fourth Test at Old Trafford on Saturday.","Bombing at Nigeria bus station kills 5. A bomb blast at a bus station in a north Nigeria area previously targeted by Boko Haram killed five people, police said Thursday, in what appeared to be the latest crack in the government's purported ceasefire with the Islamists. Area resident Musa Babale said the blast \"shook buildings\" and sent locals rushing for shelter. Bauchi police spokesman Mohammed Haruna said the bomb killed five people, leaving them \"burnt beyond recognition,\" and that 12 others were injured. While there was no immediate claim of responsibility, Bauchi has been one of the hardest hit areas in Boko Haram's five-year uprising against the Nigerian state.","Pistorius trial hears damaging testimony. PRETORIA, South Africa (AP) — In a day of potentially damaging testimony, a former girlfriend of Oscar Pistorius said at his murder trial Friday that he once shot his gun out of a car sunroof and later cheated on her with the woman he killed last year. And a security guard recalled the athlete telling him everything was \"fine\" after neighbors reported gunshots coming from Pistorius' house on the night of her death.","Brazil graft cases: Beginning of impunity's end?. RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — A federal investigation into a kickback scheme at Brazil's state oil company has, so far, ensnared 30 executives. In Sao Paulo, prosecutors accuse 33 businessmen of running a \"cartel\" to profit from the city's subway system.","US prosecutors appeal release of Russian student. PITTSBURGH (AP) — A Russian-born university student accused of building bombs in his apartment should remain in jail while he awaits trial, federal prosecutors argued Wednesday.","Mugabe appoints Mnangagwa as new vice president. Harare (AFP) - Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe on Wednesday named reputed hardline justice minister Emmerson Mnangagwa as his vice president, putting him in pole position to succeed the ageing leader.","Dutch move 122 tons of gold out of US. AMSTERDAM (AP) — The Dutch Central Bank says it has recently shipped 122.5 tons of gold worth around 4 billion euros ($5 billion) from safekeeping in New York back to its headquarters in Amsterdam.","In court, Egypt's ousted Mubarak defends his rule. CAIRO (AP) — Egypt's deposed President Hosni Mubarak has denied that he ordered protesters killed during an uprising in 2011, in his first lengthy speech to a court as his year-old retrial draws to an end.","Taiwan, China to restart talks on goods free-trade agreement. Representatives from China and Taiwan have reached an agreement to restart formal negotiations on a free-trade pact that would eliminate tax on the vast majority of goods flowing between the two, Taiwan officials said Tuesday. The negotiations, which have been underway for years, will resume at the end of the month, according to representatives from the Straits Exchange Foundation, which oversees the talks. Taiwan and China are historical foes that have seen an unprecedented softening in relations under Taiwan's China-friendly president Ma Ying-jeou.","Pakistani police: Head-on collision in south between passenger bus, truck kills 50 people. MULTAN, Pakistan (AP) — Pakistani police: Head-on collision in south between passenger bus, truck kills 50 people.","BRAZIL BEAT: Sinkhole swallows up cars in Natal. NATAL, Brazil (AP) — A giant sinkhole has swallowed cars and damaged the homes of some 150 families living in a poor neighborhood in a northern Brazilian city that's one of 12 hosting the World Cup matches.","At least 30 killed in east DR Congo inter-ethnic conflict. Kinshasa (AFP) - At least 30 people, including women and children, have been killed overnight in inter-ethnic fighting in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, local sources said on Saturday.","European shares gain, Asia lackluster. TOKYO (AP) — European shares rose Wednesday, led by BNP Paribas after the bank said it had enough funds to pay a nearly $9 billion settlement of charges it violated U.S. trade sanctions. Asian stock markets were lackluster despite an improvement in China's manufacturing.","Morocco demo demands release of jailed reform activists. Some 200 people demonstrated in the Moroccan capital Rabat Sunday to demand the release of activists from the February 20 pro-reform movement who were jailed this week. A court in Casablanca sentenced on Thursday 11 activists from the February 20 group to jail terms of up to one year for violence against police during an unauthorised protest in April. The demonstrators, who included activists and relatives of the accused, marched to parliament in the late afternoon watched by the security forces. They were arrested on April 6 during a march by some 10,000 participants in Casablanca called by trade unions in protest at the policies of Prime Minister Abdelilah Benkirane.","CANNES WATCH: Kapoor ready for gay Bollywood film. CANNES, France (AP) — Could there be a gay love story in Bollywood? One of its biggest stars says it's time to explore it.","Massive New York march aims to focus world's eyes on climate change. By Barbara Goldberg NEW YORK (Reuters) - World leaders including U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon were set to join farmers, fishermen, children and others in a massive demonstration on Sunday to demand action on climate change. Organizers are expecting 100,000 to join the People's Climate March in midtown Manhattan ahead of this week's U.N. General Assembly, which brings together 120 world leaders to discuss reducing carbon emissions that threaten the environment. ...","Samsung's new smartwatches have fitness features. BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Samsung is unveiling two new computerized wristwatches, this time with health sensors and related fitness features to give people a reason to buy one.","Attack closes airport in Libyan capital. TRIPOLI, Libya (AP) — Libyan officials say they stopped planes from landing and taking off at Tripoli's international airport after two explosive projectiles struck a runway.","French survivors keep D-Day gratitude alive. SAINTE-MERE-EGLISE, France (AP) — Andree Auvray, nine months pregnant, was hiding from German bombings in a Normandy ditch with her husband one night in June 1944 when their dogs started barking. The shadows of three soldiers appeared.","GM ignition switch fund gets 63 death case claims. (Reuters) - The lawyer overseeing a General Motors Co fund set up to compensate victims of accidents caused by faulty ignition switches in its cars said he received claims for cases involving 63 deaths. Kenneth Feinberg, who is overseeing the fund, also told Reuters that since the fund was set up a week ago 65 others had filed physical injury claims as of Friday afternoon. GM earlier this year recalled 2.6 million cars for the faulty ignition switches, which can cause engine stalls and stop power steering and power brakes from operating and air bags from deploying. The number of death claims represents nearly five times the 13 deaths that GM has attributed to the defective switches.","US high court rejects Argentina's appeal over debt. WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. Supreme Court has turned away Argentina's appeal of lower court rulings ordering it to pay more than $1.3 billion to hedge funds that hold some of the country's defaulted bonds.","DuPont cuts profit forecast on slow sales in farm business. (Reuters) - Chemicals maker DuPont cut its operating profit forecast for the second quarter and the full year, saying sales in its agriculture and performance chemicals units increased at a slower pace than it had expected. DuPont has been focusing on its agriculture business, its biggest, for the past few quarters. DuPont had then said it expected \"significant\" growth in the unit's operating earnings in the second quarter ending June 30. DuPont said it expected operating profit for the current quarter to fall moderately from $1.28 per share a year earlier.","Official: Ex-diplomat in counterintelligence case. WASHINGTON (AP) — A U.S. official says a federal investigation involving a former U.S. diplomat and expert on Pakistan is related to counterintelligence.","Nigeria's opposition sets out its vision for government. Nigeria's main opposition party has unveiled what it hopes will be a blueprint for winning power when voters in Africa's most populous nation go to the polls to elect a new president and parliament. The All Progressives Congress (APC), buoyed by a wave of defections from President Goodluck Jonathan's ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), called the manifesto a \"Road Map to a New Nigeria\". The 10-point plan prioritised the fight against corruption, tackling insecurity and made a bold pledge to create more than seven million new jobs across the country.","Wigan chair banned over racially offensive remarks. LONDON (AP) — The English Football Association has banned Wigan chairman Dave Whelan from all football-related activities for six weeks over offensive comments about Jews and Chinese people.","Trio say not sex assault victims of 'drunken' British MP. London (AFP) - Three men allegedly drunkenly sexually assaulted by a former deputy speaker of Britain's House of Commons do not consider themselves victims of any offence, a court heard Tuesday.","Roche to buy U.S. biotech firm Seragon for $725 million. ZURICH (Reuters) - Roche Holding AG said it will pay $725 million in cash to buy Seragon Pharmaceuticals, a privately-held biotech company that researches breast cancer treatments, and may pay up to another $1 billion based on certain milestones. The Basel-based drugmaker is looking to bolster its offering of breast cancer drugs with the purchase. It has won approval for Kadcyla, a treatment for patients whose cancer cells contain increased amounts of the protein known as HER2. ...","In Egypt's political vacuum, el-Sissi looms large. CAIRO (AP) — Former military chief Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, if he wins Egypt's presidency as is widely expected, will have an overwhelming presence over a shattered political scene. Egypt's once dominant political force, the Muslim Brotherhood, is crushed under a relentless crackdown. Non-Islamist parties are weak and largely acquiescent to his power.","Nyquist scores to help Red Wings beat Bruins 3-2. LOS ANGELES (AP) — The NHL-leading Boston Bruins followed their game plan of keeping Gustav Nyquist in front of them for more than two periods.","Adams wins 1st women's Commonwealth boxing title. GLASGOW, Scotland (AP) — Two years after winning the inaugural Olympic title, Nicola Adams on Saturday also become the first female Commonwealth Games boxing champion.","Alarm, ridicule for declaration of Islamic state. BAGHDAD (AP) — The audacious declaration of the establishment of a new Islamic state made by the al-Qaida breakaway group that has overrun much of northern Syria and neighboring Iraq sparked celebrations in the group's Syrian stronghold but was condemned by rival rebels and authorities in Baghdad and Damascus.","SOCHI SCENE: Explaining the net rule. SOCHI, Russia (AP) — It appeared Russia took a 3-2 lead on the United States in Saturday's preliminary men's hockey game when Fedor Tyutin's slapshot from the point beat Team USA goalie Jonathan Quick.","Thumbnails of key ministers in Palestinian Cabinet. The Palestinian unity government, formed Monday and backed by political rivals Hamas and Fatah, is made up of 17 ministers. They are nominally independent, but are overwhelmingly seen as loyal to President Mahmoud Abbas and his Fatah movement or to smaller leftist factions. None is believed to have close ties to Hamas, the Islamic militant group shunned by the West as a terror organization.","Libya's elected parliament fires central bank head. CAIRO (AP) — Libya's state news agency says the country's newly elected parliament has fired the president of the central bank after he tried to prevent funds that had been allocated for the lawmakers from leaving the bank.","Libya rebels hail progress in talks on reopening oil ports. Benghazi (Libya) (AFP) - Rebels demanding autonomy for eastern Libya said Thursday they had made progress in talks with the central government on reopening key oil ports that they closed to exports last July. A rebel spokesman said a first port might reopen as early as next week, raising hopes of an end to the nine-month blockade which has slashed Libyan oil exports from 1.5 million barrels a day to just 250,000 in a massive blow to the economy. The prospects of a return of Libyan supplies to the market prompted a sharp fall in world oil prices. Wednesday's meeting in the rebel-held port of Brega came two weeks after US Navy SEALs seized a tanker loaded with rebel oil in international waters in the Mediterranean, effectively ending their hopes of exporting crude in defiance of the central government.","Fiat Chrysler CEO confirms targets despite difficult Brazil. Fiat Chrysler Automobiles will meet its 2014 targets even though the Brazilian car market is set to remain difficult and Europe is showing no sign of improvement, Chief Executive Sergio Marchionne said on Friday. This is not a problem,\" Marchionne told reporters on the sidelines of an event in Venice. Asked about a possible stabilisation of the situation in Brazil, he said: \"Fiat will maintain its market share in the ups and downs. A sluggish economy, expiring tax breaks and weak exports have put the brakes on Brazil's car industry, stoking fears of lay-offs in an election year.","Glance: American men's slopestyle skiing sweep. KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia (AP) — A look at the three Americans who led the third U.S. podium sweep in Winter Olympics history with victory Thursday in men's slopestyle skiing.","Toyota to move U.S. sales HQ to Texas from California. By Anna Louie Sussman and Paul Lienert NEW YORK/DETROIT (Reuters) - Toyota Motor Corp. is moving its U.S. sales headquarters from southern California to suburban Dallas, according to two people familiar with the company's plans. Texas Governor Rick Perry has made luring businesses from other states a priority, making personal recruiting trips to sell what the Republican touts as a superior business climate, particularly lower taxes. Toyota is not the first company to announce plans to leave California for Texas. In February, Occidental Petroleum Corp. said it would move from Los Angeles to Houston.","Israel stages 12 air strikes on Gaza after rocket fire. The Israeli air force carried out 12 raids on the Gaza Strip overnight after militants fired more rockets at southern Israel, Palestinian security sources said Wednesday. The attacks struck training grounds used by Palestinian militants, leaving two people lightly injured, they told AFP. The raids took place after militants fired five rockets at southern Israel, one of which hit an open area. Two were intercepted by the Iron Dome anti-missile system while the other two landed inside Gaza, the statement said.","Ukraine's Poroshenko proposes National Guard commander for defense minister. KIEV (Reuters) - Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko on Monday proposed National Guard commander Stepan Poltorak for defense minister, the presidential website said. Poltorak would replace Valery Heletey, who offered his resignation as defense minister on Sunday after facing open criticism for the rout of Ukrainian forces by Russian-backed separatists at the end of August. Parliament will vote on Tuesday on Poroshenko's nomination of Poltorak, 49, who has headed the National Guard since April. ...","Watchdog: Turkey to improve journalists situation. ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — An international media freedom watchdog says Turkish government officials have defended Turkey's much-criticized press freedom record but have agreed to improve the situation for journalists.","Saudi deputy defense minister relieved of post. RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) — Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah relieved the deputy defense minister of his post Saturday, barely six weeks after he was appointed.","Ukraine PM: regions should have more powers. DONETSK, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine's prime minister has told leaders in the country's restive east that he is committed to allowing regions to have more powers.","French set to punish Hollande in mayoral runoffs. By Michel Rose PARIS (Reuters) - French President Francois Hollande's Socialists braced for losses in hundreds of towns and villages in mayoral elections on Sunday, with far-right National Front candidates seen winning a handful of cities for the first time since 1995. The runoff round of voting comes at the end of a week that saw French unemployment surge to a new record, making a reverse of first round losses unlikely and a cabinet reshuffle by Hollande possible as soon as Monday. Some 80 percent of the French want him to dismiss Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault, according to a recent Harris Interactive poll, and ambitious and tough-talking Interior Minister Manuel Valls comes top of their favorites for the job. \"I can't see how (Ayrault) could stay, unless we save about thirty towns, something nobody really believes,\" a Socialist Party source said.","Hamas leader Meshaal demands end to occupation. WASHINGTON (AP) — The leader of Hamas is demanding anew that Israel end its occupation of Palestinian land.","Soccer-Japan 4 New Zealand 2 - international friendly result. March 5 (Reuters) - Japan 4 New Zealand 2 - international friendly result At National Stadium, Tokyo Scorers: Japan: Shinji Okazaki 4 17, Shinji Kagawa 7 (pen), Masato Morishige 11 New Zealand: Chris Wood 39 80 Halftime: 4-1 Referee: Alan Milliner (Australia) (Compiled by Sudipto Ganguly; editing by Ken Ferris)","Obama: Iraq has regained control of Mosul dam. WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama hailed the recapture of Mosul dam Monday as a \"major step forward\" as a barrage of U.S. airstrikes helped Kurdish and Iraqi forces score the biggest victory of its counteroffensive against the Islamic State militants.","Tensions rise in Ukraine as referendum nears. SIMFEROPOL, Ukraine (AP) — Dozens of billboards throughout the capital of the restive Ukrainian republic of Crimea proclaim \"Together With Russia,\" but a few have been hit by spray-painters who scrawled out \"Russia\" and replaced it with \"Ukraine.\"","Israel laser shield moves closer to deployment. SINGAPORE (AP) — An Israeli state-owned arms company developing a laser-based missile shield that evokes \"Star Wars\" style technology says its deployment over the country is closer to becoming a reality.","White House hopeful Christie 'humiliated' by bridge scandal. New York (United States) (AFP) - Governor Chris Christie's US presidential ambitions ran into a jam on Thursday, when he was forced to admit his staff had lied to him about their role in blocking commuter traffic on a major bridge. The New Jersey leader, a larger-than-life Republican widely seen as a frontrunner for his party's 2016 presidential nomination, said he had been \"embarrassed and humiliated\" by the alleged dirty tricks. The lane closures caused massive traffic disruption for four days in the New Jersey town of Fort Lee, allegedly to punish the local mayor, who failed to endorse Christie's successful re-election bid. \"I've terminated the employment of Bridget Kelly, effective immediately.","Largest US business delegation ever visits Egypt. CAIRO (AP) — Representatives from over 60 U.S. companies are wrapping up a two-day visit to Egypt of what was described as the largest such delegation in history. But critics say the visit strikes the wrong tone amid a government crackdown.","Lava from Cape Verde volcano threatens to engulf town. PRAIA (Reuters) - Molten lava from a volcano in the Cape Verde archipelago slid towards the town of Cha das Caldeiras on Thursday, threatening to destroy it and a nearby village four days after an initial eruption. Television images showed a huge lake of steaming black lava just meters away from houses in the village of Portela. The village is close to Cha das Caldeiras, whose 1,200-strong population has been evacuated to emergency shelters. The eruption on the island of Fogo -- whose name means fire -- is the first since 1995 and the largest since 1951. ...","Victoria's Secret holds first London show. London (AFP) - Gold wings, jewel-encrusted bras and a bewildering array of lacy numbers take to the catwalk in London on Tuesday as US lingerie brand Victoria's Secret holds its first annual show in the British capital.","American spy's release would be high-stakes gamble. WASHINGTON (AP) — The Obama administration is bringing the U.S. closer than it has been in years to granting convicted spy Jonathan Pollard an early release as part of Mideast peace talks.","U.S. economy to see faster growth after winter freeze: OECD. By Lucia Mutikani WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. economic growth is set to rebound strongly in the second quarter as the scars of a brutally cold winter fade, but inflation pressures will remain tame through 2015, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. In its latest economic outlook published on Tuesday, the OECD forecast U.S. gross domestic product expanding at a 3.9 percent annual pace this quarter, and it said it expects growth to maintain a brisk pace for the remainder of the year as well. An unusually cold and snowy winter held down GDP growth to a 0.1 percent rate in the January-March period, the government said in an initial estimate last week, and that figure already looks overstated. \"However, forward-looking indicators, such as investment intentions and business expectations, and rises in measures of consumer and business confidence suggest activity is bouncing back,\" the Paris-based OECD said.","Malaysia Airlines staff try to cope with disasters. ","Excess nuclear materials removed from Belgium, Italy. Italy and Belgium said on Monday they had moved excess nuclear materials to the United States for disposal or downgrading under the terms of past agreements, at the start of a nuclear summit in the Netherlands. Italy said about 20kg of highly enriched uranium and separated plutonium had been moved from its territory. Belgium said a \"significant amount\" of the same materials had also gone. Both statements were countersigned by the United States.","Ukraine's Poroshenko says will meet Putin in Italy next week. Kharkiv (Ukraine) (AFP) - Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said Saturday that he will meet Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin next week to discuss the six-month conflict between Kiev and pro-Russian rebels in eastern Ukraine.","OSCE to meet on sending monitors to Ukraine. The OSCE will hold an extraordinary meeting on Friday evening and diplomats said the rights and security body may finally reach a unanimous agreement to send a monitoring mission to Ukraine. \"It seems so,\" one Western diplomat said when asked if an agreement had been reached on the observer mission. Ukraine and Western countries want monitors from the 57-nation Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe to be deployed in the former Soviet republic, locked in a confrontation with Russia over Moscow's annexation of its Crimean peninsula. Earlier attempts to reach agreement failed due to what Western diplomats described as Russian objections to the mission's mandate.","Kenya to US: Our terror laws are better than yours. NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — An official in Kenya is criticizing the United States for raising concerns about a new Kenyan law aimed at fighting terrorism.","WHO chief promises transparency in Ebola response. ROME (AP) — The head of the World Health Organization is refusing to respond to criticism about the U.N. agency's performance in containing the Ebola outbreak, saying the focus now should be on helping countries contain it.","Clashes in Ukraine leave 4 dead; deadline looms. KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine's festering political crisis took a deadly turn Tuesday, as thousands of anti-government protesters clashed with police outside Ukraine's parliament. Three protesters were killed in the melee, the opposition reported, and emergency workers found another person dead after a fire at the ruling party's office in Kiev.","Obama says U.S., France agree on continued enforcement of Iran sanctions. The United States and France agree on the need to enforce existing sanctions against Iran over its nuclear program, U.S. President Barack Obama said on Tuesday. \"President Hollande and I agree on the need to continue enforcing existing sanctions even as we believe that new sanctions during these negotiations would endanger the possibility of a diplomatic solution,\" Obama said in a joint news conference with French President Francois Hollande. \"And we remain absolutely united in our ultimate goal, which is preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon,\" Obama said.","4 French journalists back home after Syria ordeal. PARIS (AP) — Four French journalists kidnapped and held for 10 months in Syria returned home on Sunday to joyful families awaiting them at a military airport outside Paris.","Factbox: Supporters, foes react to Keystone's narrow defeat in U.S. Senate. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A bill to approve the Keystone XL pipeline was narrowly defeated in the U.S. Senate on Tuesday, failing one vote short of the 60 needed to get the measure to President Barack Obama's desk. Following are selected responses: SENATE MINORITY LEADER MITCH MCCONNELL “We came up one vote short on the Keystone pipeline today. This will be an early item on the agenda in the next congress, and I’m very confident that Senator Hoeven’s bill will succeed and we’ll be able to get it down to the president. ...","West Ham beats Sunderland 2-1 in Premier League. SUNDERLAND, England (AP) — Sunderland's relegation fears worsened with a 2-1 home loss to West Ham in the Premier League on Monday.","New data expand search for Malaysian jet debris. PERTH, Australia (AP) — Rain was expected to hamper the hunt Monday for the missing Malaysia Airlines jet, as a growing number of planes focus on an expanded area of the south Indian Ocean where a French satellite detected potential debris.","UK police seeking sex attacker in McCann case. LONDON (AP) — British police investigating the disappearance of Madeleine McCann said Wednesday they are seeking an intruder who sexually assaulted five girls in the region of southern Portugal where the British toddler was last seen.","Berlusconi denies children seeking EU seats. MILAN (AP) — Former Premier Silvio Berlusconi says none of his children will run for the European Parliament in upcoming elections.","US in first air strike near Baghdad on IS: officials. Washington (AFP) - The United States bombed the Islamic State near Baghdad, the first time the US has targeted the militants close to the Iraqi capital, US officials said Monday.","Rebels evacuated from Homs, the cradle of Syrian uprising. By Dominic Evans BEIRUT (Reuters) - Hundreds of Syrian rebels on Wednesday abandoned their last stronghold in the heart of Homs city, an epicenter of the revolt against President Bashar al-Assad, handing him a symbolic victory weeks before his likely re-election. Two convoys of buses snaked their way through the crumbling ruins of the besieged city, taking the fighters to safety in rebel-held areas outside the city under a deal agreed between the insurgents and forces loyal to Assad. The Sunni Muslim fighters had held out in the Old City of Homs and neighboring districts despite being undersupplied, outgunned and subjected to more than a year of siege and bombardment by Assad's forces. \\\\\"The people of Homs are real heroes.","Implementation of EU's Russia sanctions planned for next few days: Finnish minister. The European Union's latest sanctions against Russia are intended to come into force in the next few days, a Finnish minister said on Wednesday. \"Their entry into force is intended to take place in the next few days, leaving time for an assessment of the (Ukraine) ceasefire agreement and the peace plan,\" Leena Toivakka, the Finnish Minister for European Affairs and Foreign Trade, said in a speech. EU governments adopted the new sanctions on Monday but delayed enforcing them.","U.S. SEC expands probe into top banks' hiring in Asia: WSJ. (Reuters) - A U.S. regulator has expanded its probe into major banks' hiring practices in Asia and sent letters to at least five U.S. and European banks in early March seeking more information, the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday. According to the Journal report, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission sent the letters to Goldman Sachs Group Inc, Morgan Stanley, Citigroup Inc, Credit Suisse Group AG and UBS AG. The SEC is examining whether the banks or their employees violated anti-bribery laws by hiring relatives of well-connected officials, the WSJ reported.","Swiss mull creation of world's top minimum wage. GENEVA (AP) — In a nation of mostly haves and have-mores, Swiss voters head to the polls Sunday to decide on a union proposal that would create a new nationwide minimum wage at 22 Swiss francs ($24.70) an hour — the world's highest.","Bolivia on verge of legalizing work from age 10. EL ALTO, Bolivia (AP) — Alicia weaves through El Alto's stalled traffic under a blazing sun, hawking colorful woven flowers to grumpy drivers and lovers.","Uruguay to give medicinal marijuana to prisoners. MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay (AP) — Prisoners in the jails of Uruguay will be able to use marijuana if a doctor says it will benefit their health.","Ukraine plans $3 billion boost to defense spending. KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — As armored vehicles rumbled through downtown Kiev in an ostentatious celebration of Ukraine's independence, pro-Russian rebels who are battling government forces in the east paraded prisoners of war down the besieged streets of Donetsk and displayed charred wreckage of destroyed Ukrainian tanks.","New district in Sierra Leone gets Ebola. FREETOWN, Sierra Leone (AP) — The Ministry of Health in Sierra Leone has announced that deadly Ebola has come to the last untouched district in the nation.","Syria peace talks have 'not come out with very much': Brahimi. International mediator Lakhdar Brahimi said on Saturday the first two rounds of Syrian peace talks had not made much progress but said the two sides had agreed on an agenda for a third round at an unspecified date. He said the last session of the second round of talks was \"as laborious as all the meetings we have had, but we agreed on an agenda for the next round when it does take place,\" referring to points to be discussed including violence and terrorism, the transitional governing body, national institutions and national reconciliation.","Park, Ki included in South Korea's World Cup squad. SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Arsenal striker Park Chu-young is going to his third World Cup for South Korea despite concerns about his lack of game time in the Premier League.","India's Congress Party promises jobs, universities. NEW DELHI (AP) — India's struggling Congress party appealed to its main constituency of poor voters in an election manifesto unveiled Wednesday that promises new jobs and more funding for education and health care.","Blatter warns English FA over World Cup report. ZURICH (AP) — FIFA President Sepp Blatter has warned the English of the legal consequences of their demands for the World Cup corruption report to be published.","Early Turkish vote results suggest strong lead for Erdogan's party. Initial results in Turkey's local elections suggested a strong showing for Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan's ruling party on Sunday, an outcome likely to bolster his authority in battling \"traitors\" within the state he accuses of seeking to topple him. With around half of the votes counted, results broadcast on Turkish television put Erdogan's Islamist-rooted AK Party ahead with 44-46 percent of the vote. The main opposition CHP, the party of the modern secular republic's founder Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, captured around 23-28 percent. The nationwide elections are widely being seen in Turkey as a referendum on Erdogan's 11-year rule, a test of his support as he battles corruption allegations and security leaks he has cast as a \"dirty campaign\" of espionage by his political enemies.","Insight: Wall Street's most eligible banker Fleming waits for suitor. By Lauren Tara LaCapra NEW YORK (Reuters) - Wall Street power brokers are betting that Greg Fleming will be chief executive of a major U.S. company one day, but no one is quite sure of which one or when. Fleming, the head of Morgan Stanley's wealth and asset management businesses, is on the bank board's list of candidates who could potentially succeed Chief Executive James Gorman, according to sources with direct knowledge of the situation. But colleagues and recruiters say he is also a flight risk for Morgan Stanley. He is an external candidate for top jobs at companies including BlackRock Inc and American Express Co as part of their boards' regular succession planning.","More pilot whales die after stranding in New Zealand. A group of 22 pilot whales died Thursday when they re-stranded on a New Zealand beach less than a day after rescuers had shepherded them back out to sea, officials said. It brings the total number of pilot whale deaths in the North Island harbour to 58 since Tuesday. Darren Grover, from whale rescue volunteer group Project Jonah, said hopes the whales would head to deeper waters after being re-floated on Wednesday proved futile.","Nigerian police: Car bomb kills 16 at bus station in Gombe. MAIDUGURI, Nigeria (AP) — Nigerian police say at least 16 people were killed and 25 wounded by a car bomb at a bus station in the northeastern city of Gombe.","U.S. says no talk about extending Iran nuclear negotiations. VIENNA (Reuters) - World powers and Iran are not discussing extending a late November deadline for reaching an agreement over Tehran's nuclear program, a senior U.S. official said on Wednesday, adding there was still time to reach a deal. The State Department official spoke ahead of a meeting later on Wednesday between U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton in Vienna. \"We’re not talking about extension or anything like that in the room. ...","India breaks free of polio in boost to global immunization drive. By Nita Bhalla NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India on Monday marked three years since its last reported case of polio, paving the way for it to be declared free of the crippling virus and boosting efforts to wipe out the disease globally, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said. The country's last case of the wild polio virus was detected on Jan 13, 2011, in a two-year-old girl in the state of West Bengal. Three years without any new cases means India can be declared polio-free. Afghanistan, Pakistan and Nigeria are the only countries in the world where the disease remains endemic.","Mexico arrests 13 for extortion of migrants. MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexican authorities have arrested 13 members of a group linked to Central America's street gangs for allegedly robbing, kidnapping or killing Central American migrants.","Pope says orders investigation into sexual abuse in Spain. ABOARD THE PAPAL PLANE (Reuters) - Pope Francis said on Tuesday he had personally ordered an investigation into a case of sexual abuse of a minor by priests in Spain because he felt the church should not hide the truth. Three Spanish Catholic priests and a lay person were arrested in Granada on Monday. The case emerged after a man wrote to the pope telling him of how he had been molested when he was an altar boy. \"I read it. ...","Kerry warns Lavrov Russia faces 'costs' if it further destabilizes Ukraine. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry told Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Monday that Washington was watching events in eastern Ukraine with great concern and any moves by Moscow to destabilize Ukraine would \"incur further costs for Russia.\" State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said that in the telephone call Kerry \"called on Russia to publicly disavow the activities of separatists, saboteurs and provocateurs\" in Ukraine. She said the two discussed convening direct talks in the next 10 days between Ukraine, Russia, the United States and the European Union to defuse tensions.","Gaza security official says Hamas has killed 11 suspected informers for Israel. GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — Gaza security official says Hamas has killed 11 suspected informers for Israel.","European Union signs landmark political deal with Ukraine. By Adrian Croft and Justyna Pawlak BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union and Ukraine signed a landmark political cooperation accord on Friday, committing to the same deal former president Viktor Yanukovich rejected last November, a decision that led to his overthrow. Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk, EU presidents Herman Van Rompuy and Jose Manuel Barroso, and the leaders of the bloc's 28 nations signed the core chapters of the Association Agreement during an EU summit in Brussels. Soon afterwards, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed legislation completing the process of absorbing Crimea into Russia, defying Western leaders who say the Black Sea peninsula remains part of Ukraine. The deal commits Ukraine and the EU to closer political and economic cooperation, although its more substantial parts concerning free trade will be signed only after Ukraine has held a presidential election on May 25.","Angered by Iran pick, Senate OKs denying visas. WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate approved a bill Monday to bar a former hostage-taker tapped to be Iran's ambassador to the United Nations from entering the United States.","U.N. was told Golan peacekeepers seized 'for their protection'. The United Nations on Friday said it had been informed that the Islamist militants who seized 44 Fijian peacekeepers in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights did so \"for their own protection\" and that all the detained blue-helmeted soldiers are safe. U.N. officials had been trying to establish the whereabouts of the peacekeepers, who were seized by al-Qaeda-linked rebels this week inside Syrian territory along the rocky frontier between Syria and the Golan Heights. \"The United Nations has received assurances from credible sources that the 44 peacekeepers from the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) who were taken from their position on the morning of Thursday, 28 August, are safe and in good health,\" the U.N. press office said in a statement.","Official: Iraqi crude oil exports jump in February. BAGHDAD (AP) — A senior Iraqi official says daily oil exports have shot up in February to 2.8 million barrels from nearly 2.3 million barrels in the previous month, thanks to a small group of international oil companies developing oil fields and export infrastructure.","Argentine shares lag on World Cup defeat. LONDON (AP) — It's not just Argentine soccer fans who woke up depressed following their nation's 1-0 defeat to Germany in the World Cup final. Traders in Buenos Aires were also feeling blue.","Vettel warns those writing off his title chances. MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Sebastian Vettel has a warning for those already writing off his chances of a fifth consecutive Formula One title — the season is long and the team's current engine problems won't last.","Belgium looking for the big medals in field hockey. BHUBANESWAR, India (AP) — The number five holds a special significance for the Belgian field hockey team, not as a lucky number but as a precursor to bigger achievements.","Saudi Arabia, UK's BAE agree on Typhoon jet price. DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Europe's largest defense contractor BAE Systems says the governments of the United Kingdom and Saudi Arabia have agreed on new pricing for a massive sale of 72 Eurofighter Typhoon jets.","Nicaragua arrests man in Wyoming woman's killing. MANAGUA, Nicaragua (AP) — Nicaraguan authorities say they have arrested a man who confessed to robbing and killing a Wyoming woman found dead this week near a beach in northern Nicaragua.","Top Asian News at 1:00 a.m. GMT. MOKPO, South Korea (AP) — The captain of a sunken South Korean ferry was arrested Saturday on suspicion of negligence and abandoning people in need, as investigators looked into whether his evacuation order came too late to save lives. Two crew members were also arrested, a prosecutor said. The disaster three days ago left more than 270 people missing and at least 29 people dead.","Palone sets world harness racing win record. WASHINGTON, Pa. (AP) — Dave Palone is the winningest harness racing driver in the world — for now.","Abbas-led Palestinian body backs Hamas truce demands in Gaza. By Nidal al-Mughrabi and Dan Williams GAZA/JERUSALEM (Reuters) - The Palestinian decision-making body led by U.S.-backed President Mahmoud Abbas on Wednesday endorsed demands by Hamas for halting Gaza hostilities with Israel, a closing of ranks that may help Egyptian-mediated truce efforts. With Israeli and U.S. encouragement, Egypt has tried to get both sides to hold fire and then negotiate terms for protracted calm in the Palestinian enclave where officials said 624 people, mostly civilians, have been killed in 15 days of fighting. Hamas, the Gaza Strip's dominant Islamists, and other armed factions had balked at Cairo's offer, saying they wanted assurances of relief from an Israeli-Egyptian blockade and other concessions. The dispute was further complicated by distrust between Egypt under President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and Hamas.","Knox co-defendant Sollecito travelled to Austria. FLORENCE, Italy (AP) — Amanda Knox's ex-boyfriend left Italy and drove to Austria while an appeals court deliberated his fate, police said Friday, but he eventually returned to Italy and surrendered his passport following their joint conviction for murdering British student Meredith Kercher.","5 Ukrainian troops killed; fierce battles reported. KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — A Ukrainian official says five troops were killed and 21 injured while fighting pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine in the past 24 hours.","US secretary of state condemns severed head image. CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Tuesday described a photograph of a Sydney-born 7-year-old boy clutching the severed head of a Syrian soldier as \"disturbing\" and \"grotesque,\" and called for international cooperation against the terrorist threat posed by foreign fighters returning home from Iraq and Syria.","Saudi jails six for going abroad to fight. Saudi Arabia's Specialized Criminal Court jailed six people for up to six years for security offences including traveling abroad to fight, adopting militant ideology and \"breaking obedience to the ruler\", state media reported late on Sunday. The kingdom imprisoned dozens of people last month in security trials amid fears that the conflicts in Iraq and Syria will radicalize a new generation of young Saudis. These include al Qaeda, Islamic State, Nusra Front, the Muslim Brotherhood, Hezbollah and Yemen's Houthi movement. Saudi Arabia has detained over 11,000 people since a wave of attacks from 2003-06 against government and foreign targets in the conservative Islamic kingdom staged by al Qaeda militants who had fought in Afghanistan and Iraq.","China's Fan crashes and is out of 500 short track. SOCHI, Russia (AP) — Fan Kexin of China caught her skate blade and fell in the women's 500 meter semifinals Thursday, knocking out the Olympic gold-medal contender.","Cricket governing body backs chucking crackdown. The International Cricket Council (ICC) in its major drive to root out the problem of illegal deliveries suspended high profile bowlers like Pakistan's Saeed Ajmal, Sri Lanka's Sachitra Senanayake, Zimbabwe's Prosper Utseya and Bangladesh's Sohag Gazi in the last four months. New Zealand's part-timer Kane Williamson was also suspended in this period while Bangladesh's medium pacer Al-Amin Hossain was reported for suspect action. Under the ICC rules bowlers are permitted to straighten their bowling arm up to 15 degrees, which has been established as the point at which any straightening will become visible to the naked eye.","South Africa minister urges platinum industry to avoid strikes. By David Dolan JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa's ailing economy cannot afford more mine labor unrest, Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan said on Monday, after the platinum industry's main trade union said it would launch a strike at the world's top three producers this week. A wave of sometimes violent strikes in the factory and mining sectors constrained growth to a sluggish 2 percent in 2013, hampering efforts by President Jacob Zuma's government to create badly needed jobs as it braces for elections this year. Zuma's African National Congress has swept all elections since overturning white minority rule in 1994, but faces rising criticism it has failed to pull millions of blacks out of grinding poverty during 20 years in power. The rand currency turned weaker after Gordhan's comments on Monday, a day after members of the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU) voted to strike at the world's biggest platinum producer, Anglo American Platinum .","Thai May inflation seen picking up to 14-month high. Thailand's annual headline inflation rate likely rose to 2.59 percent in May, its highest level since March last year, adding to concerns for policymakers facing a rapidly cooling economy. Inflation in April was a stronger-than-expected 2.45 percent.","Israeli military lifts veil on its Iran listeners. By Dan Williams JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Iranian-born immigrants to Israel are drafted to its military intelligence units in disproportionately large numbers, an official report said on Thursday, reflecting high demand for Farsi speakers to monitor the Jewish state's arch-enemy. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sees a mortal menace in Iran's disputed nuclear program and has long hinted his country was waging a covert campaign to track and foil it. Netanyahu condemned the accord as cover for Iran to pursue projects with bomb-making potential. A story in the official Israeli military journal Bamahane included rare personnel data showing that, enrolling for mandatory national service, one in five Jewish immigrants from Iran go to intelligence units due to their native Farsi.","Afghan election impasse revives suspicions about Karzai's role. By Hamid Shalizi and Jessica Donati KABUL (Reuters) - As thousands of Afghans poured into the streets of Kabul on Friday to protest over the impasse in their country's presidential election, there was little doubt who they held responsible for the mess - outgoing President Hamid Karzai. \"Death to Karzai!\" some shouted through loudspeakers as protesters marched on the presidential palace, accusing him of creating the crisis over his successor. No one has provided any hard evidence that the protesters are right, but even within Karzai's family and inner circle, many believe the president quietly engineered the electoral debacle to keep his hands on the levers of power. Among them is his brother, Mahmoud Karzai, who says the man who has ruled the war-weary country for more than 12 years deliberately pushed powerful players apart to ensure no one candidate would emerge with a clear majority.","Israeli police detain extremists before pope visit. JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli police says it has issued restraining orders against several Jewish extremists who had planned to \"disrupt\" the upcoming visit of Pope Francis.","Senator committee orders review of 'Cuban Twitter'. WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate Foreign Relations Committee is asking the U.S. Agency for International Development to turn over all records about a Twitter-like program it secretly built in Cuba.","U.S. services growth quickens in Jan: Markit. Growth in the U.S. services sector quickened to a four-month high in January and hiring remained robust, an industry report showed on Wednesday. Financial data firm Markit said its services sector purchasing managers index rose to 56.7 from 55.7 in December. Service sector employers added to their staffs at the start of the year though at a slightly slower pace than in December. But the pace of hiring \"remains resilient as firms report the brightest business outlook for three years,\" said Chris Williamson, Markit's chief economist.","UN: Surge of Mideast violence means talks critical. UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N. political chief said a surge of Israeli-Palestinian violence last week brought the Middle East to the brink of a new crisis and underscored the importance of forging ahead with flagging U.S.-led peace talks.","Colombia mounts rescue operation for general. BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — Authorities in Colombia are mounting a massive search and rescue operation for an army general who went missing in an area dominated by leftist rebels.","Obama says Philippine pact promotes Asia security. MANILA, Philippines (AP) — President Barack Obama said a 10-year agreement signed Monday to give the U.S military greater access to Philippine bases will help promote regional security, improve armed forces training and shorten response times to humanitarian crises, including natural disasters.","Obama opens Japan trip at famous sushi restaurant. TOKYO (AP) — President Barack Obama is getting a lesson in the art of sushi making at a famous Tokyo restaurant with hard-to-come-by reservations.","Prizefighter Rubin 'Hurricane' Carter dies at 76. Rubin \"Hurricane\" Carter never surrendered hope of regaining his freedom, not even after he was convicted of a triple murder, then convicted again and abandoned by many prominent supporters.","McGrath to coach Indian pacers at MRF academy. NEW DELHI (AP) — Former Australia test paceman great Glenn McGrath will have a hand in coaching India's promising fast bowlers after the Indian cricket board signed an agreement with his Chennai-based bowling academy.","Australian senator produces fake bomb at hearing. CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — An Australian senator startled his colleagues by producing a fake pipe bomb during a committee hearing on Monday.","Saudi Cabinet shakeup targets key ministries. RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) — Saudi King Abdullah has announced a partial Cabinet shakeup, naming new ministers to key portfolios overseeing the kingdom's universities and mosques.","Petrobras to create department to fight corruption. SAO PAULO (AP) — The president of Brazil's Petrobras has announced the creation of a compliance department to deal with the unfurling corruption scandal that has shaken the state-owned oil giant.","Hirscher unhappy with 4th in Olympic giant slalom. KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia (AP) — Marcel Hirscher now knows what anguish Aksel Lund Svindal felt at the Sochi Olympics.","Geologist raised idea of removing homes from U.S. landslide area. By Jonathan Kaminsky DARRINGTON, Washington (Reuters) - A contractor who studied the risks to a rural neighborhood in Washington state wiped out by a mudslide last month made recommendations more than a decade ago that included possible relocation of homes elsewhere. News of the recommendations, made in a report for a Native American tribe with traditional fishing rights in the area, emerged as searchers scoured a pile of mud and debris for victims of the March 22 slide that left dozens dead or missing. About 30 people have been confirmed dead from the slide, which roared over the north fork of the Stillaguamish River and state Highway 530, engulfing about three dozen homes on the outskirts of the rural town of Oso in the foothills of the Cascade Mountains. Jim Miller, a geological engineer with GeoEngineers, said his company prepared a 2001 report for the Stillaguamish tribe that warned of a \"significant risk to human lives and private property\" at the slide site.","Embattled UK Labour leader promises not to 'shrink from the fight'. By Andrew Osborn and Kylie MacLellan LONDON (Reuters) - British opposition leader Ed Miliband vowed on Thursday not to \"shrink from the fight\", in a make-or-break speech after a week of media reports that his Labour Party could ditch him just six months before a general election. Under pressure after some of his own lawmakers criticized his leadership and polls showed few Britons think he has the stature of a prime minister, Miliband focused on inequality in a country where wages have failed to keep pace with inflation. ...","Filipinos express support for Hong Kong protest. MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Filipinos opposed to Chinese claims in the South China Sea have expressed support for the pro-democracy movement in Hong Kong, saying Beijing should not use force to stop the protests in the global financial hub or in resolving its territorial disputes with the Philippines.","Ontario's opposition NDP says will not support Liberal budget. TORONTO (Reuters) - Ontario's opposition New Democrat Party leader said on Friday her party would not vote to support the budget proposed by the minority Liberal government, likely setting up Canada's most populous province for a summer election. \"We do not support this government any longer, so we will not be voting in favor of any confidence motion coming forward, including the budget,\" the NDP's Andrea Horwath told reporters. (Reporting by Leah Schnurr; Editing by James Dalgleish)","Egypt calls early presidential election as violence spreads. By Asma Alsharif and Shadia Nasralla CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt will hold a presidential vote before parliamentary polls, President Adly Mansour said on Sunday, in a change to a political roadmap which could pave the way for the swift election of army chief General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi. Parliamentary elections were supposed to be held first under the timetable drawn up after the army overthrew President Mohamed Mursi of the Muslim Brotherhood in July following mass protests against his rule. The decision to revise the order of elections is likely to deepen tensions in Egypt, which is struggling to cope with waves of political violence.","PSG loses but wins French title after Monaco draws. PARIS (AP) — Paris Saint-Germain won its second straight title with two matches to spare despite playing one of its worst games of the season.","Strike-hit Amplats says suing union in South Africa. South African mining giant Anglo American (Amplats) on Saturday said it was suing a trade union for damages and losses suffered over the past three-week work stoppage. \"The company is suffering damages arising from the failure by AMCU (union) to maintain control of the strike,\" Amplats spokeswoman Mpumi Sithole told AFP. The world's top platinum miner is seeking a payment of 591 million rands ($54 million, 40 million euros) for property damaged by striking members of the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU) who it says have failed to adhere to picketing rules. The provisional damages claim comes to \"about 591-million rand, although as AMCU’s wrongful conduct is continuing, the damages will continue to accrue,\" she said.","Britain's 2020 child poverty goal unattainable: study. A government pledge to tackle child poverty is set to be broken as 3.5 million children will remain poor by 2020, a watchdog said on Monday. The report by the Social Mobility and Child Poverty Commission, headed by former health secretary Alan Milburn, concluded that the government's child poverty goal was \"simply unattainable\" and not enough was being done to meet it. The pledge to reduce the number of children in relative poverty to 10 percent by 2020 was enshrined in law in 2010.","Huge US-Iran gap on nukes as target date nears. VIENNA (AP) — Any thaw in relations between Iran and the United States under the pressure of Iraq's turmoil is unlikely to hasten progress in difficult negotiations seeking limits on Tehran's nuclear program.","Ancelotti defends stifling Italian-style defense. MUNICH (AP) — For Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti, catenaccio is a beautiful word.","South Sudan on verge of Africa's worst famine since 1980s: UN. War-torn South Sudan could become the scene of the worst famine catastrophe in Africa in decades without more aid and a ceasefire to let farmers reach their fields, the UN warned Thursday. \"If we miss the planting season, there will be a catastrophic decline in food security,\" Toby Lanzer, the UN's top aid official in the country, told reporters in Geneva.","At Ukrainian cliff-top base, shots fired as Russia cements control. By Andrew Osborn BELBEK AIR BASE, Ukraine (Reuters) - Perched on a cliff high above the Black Sea, Ukraine's Belbek military air base and its MiG-29 fighter jets fell into the hands of forces loyal to Russian President Vladimir Putin late last week. On Tuesday, the Ukrainian air force and the men who until recently used to fly its war planes, tried and failed to get it back. The standoff was one of the most dramatic since pro-Russian forces began to try to seize Ukraine's military assets on the Crimean peninsula, where Russia's Black Sea Fleet is based. Colonel Yuli Mamchur, commander of Ukraine's 240th tactical aviation brigade, led hundreds of his men up the long winding road from their barracks to the cliff top airstrip in a column early on Tuesday.","Neymar powers Brazil into World Cup last 16. Brasília (AFP) - Neymar hit two goals as rejuvenated Brazil beat Cameroon 4-1 to march into World Cup last 16 and the Barcelona striker took top place in the goalscorers' rankings. The victory secured the World Cup favourites top place in Group A, with a better goal difference than Mexico, and in theory an easier tie in the second round. Brazil coach Luiz Felipe Scolari will be more reassured by the free flowing display by a team who appeared uncertain in beating Croatia 3-1 and fragile in their goalless draw with Mexico. Neymar's first goal in the 17th minute was the 100th goal of the high-scoring tournament in Brazil's 100th match in World Cup finals.","WIMBLEDON 2014: No 'Fred Perry, 1936' references. LONDON (AP) — Imagine what the reception will be like for Andy Murray on Monday when he first strides onto the green grass of Centre Court at Wimbledon.","UN watchdog calls for funds to monitor Iran nuclear freeze. The UN atomic watchdog said Friday it needs 5.5 million euros to monitor Iran's partial nuclear freeze under a landmark deal with world powers struck in November. The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Yukiya Amano, called on member countries to help fund intensive checks over the next six months, the duration of the interim deal. \"The agency will need additional extra-budgetary contributions of some 5.5 millions euros ($7.5 million) for the six-month period,\" said Amano, according to the text of a speech delivered to a closed-door meeting of the IAEA's board of governors in Vienna. \"We will need to nearly double the staff resources devoted to verification in Iran.","At least 16 dead as French forces intervene in CAR rebel clashes. Bangui (Central African Republic) (AFP) - French peacekeepers killed up to seven people as they tried to control clashes between armed groups in the Central African town of Bambari that have left at least 16 dead, officials said on Thursday.","Afghanistan to inaugurate new president as conflict rages on. Kabul (AFP) - Afghanistan will host a grand presidential inauguration on Monday, with former US-based academic Ashraf Ghani taking power as NATO troops end their 13-year war without defeating the fierce Taliban insurgency.","Morgan Stanley central in Chinese stock dispute. WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. banking giant Morgan Stanley helped a Chinese company, Tianhe Chemicals, sell $654 million in stock in a June public offering. But The Associated Press identified significant discrepancies in publicly accessible financial records and statements Tianhe made to investors.","After food safety scares, China retailer offers baby milk insurance. By Clare Baldwin and Diana Chan HONG KONG (Reuters) - A Chinese retailer is offering insurance to customers who buy infant milk powder, highlighting the lengths to which companies are going to address concerns about food safety in China. Suning Commerce Group Ltd, which owns the Redbaby chain of stores, told Reuters it had launched the policy this week, backed by China's second largest insurer Ping An Insurance Group. The policy stipulates that if a brand of milk powder is recalled, customers who bought cans from any Redbaby store or its e-commerce website would be paid up to 2,000 yuan ($325) per can, with payments capped at 100,000 yuan. \"In recent years, the milk powder market in China has been in a mess,\" Suning said in an email.","Rugby Union - France targeting triple Aussie revenge. - France have \"triple revenge\" in mind ahead of Saturday's international Test against Australia.","UK gives Falklands medal for Argentine war role, hails Thatcher memorial. LONDON (Reuters) - Prime Minister David Cameron on Thursday hailed plans to erect a memorial to Margaret Thatcher in the contested Falkand Islands and announced Britain would be giving the British Overseas Territory a medal for its role in a 1982 war with Argentina. The announcement is likely to anger the Argentine government which claims the islands as its own and has stepped up a campaign to get what it calls Las Malvinas back as exploration by oil and gas firms nearby has raised diplomatic tensions. ...","Monkeys go on the run from Romanian zoo. BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) — Zookeepers wielding pieces of melon have lured back two escaped monkeys to their home in a Transylvanian zoo, but three more are still believed to be on the run in a nearby forest.","Malaysia axes fuel subsidies as oil prices drop. KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Malaysia's government says it will completely withdraw fuel subsidies from next month, following the plunge in global oil prices.","Canada off to quick start in Sochi medal race with McMorris snowboard bronze. SOCHI, Russia - Mark McMorris got Canada off to a quick start at the Sochi Olympics on Saturday.","Syria says it freed 25 in exchange for nuns. DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — The Syrian government says it freed only 25 prisoners in exchange for 13 Greek Orthodox nuns who had been held by al-Qaida-linked rebels — and not 150 as was reported earlier.","Lawsuit says GM concealed ignition defect in recalled cars. NEW YORK (Reuters) - General Motors was hit with a lawsuit on Friday from customers who said their vehicles have lost value because of ignition problems that have prompted a recall of 1.6 million cars. The proposed class action, filed in federal court in Texas, says GM knew about the problem since 2004, but failed to fix it, creating \"unreasonably dangerous\" conditions for drivers of the affected models. (Reporting by Jessica Dye. Editing by Andre Grenon)","Toyota recalls Lexuses in US for fuel leak risk. DETROIT (AP) — Toyota is recalling about 423,000 older-model Lexus luxury cars in the U.S. because a gasket can leak fuel and possibly cause a fire. The move is among three global recalls that Toyota announced Wednesday totaling about 1.7 million vehicles.","Exclusive: Poor and besieged, Myanmar's Rakhine join Rohingya exodus. By Andrew R.C. Marshall MAUNGDAW, Myanmar (Reuters) - For years, tens of thousands of Rohingya Muslim boat people have fled this remote corner of western Myanmar for nearby countries. But another huge exodus has grabbed far fewer headlines. Ethnic Rakhine Buddhists, bitter rivals of the Rohingya, are also leaving Rakhine State to seek jobs in Malaysia and Thailand. Small numbers of Rakhine are even following the same smuggling routes plied by the Rohingya and, like them, falling victim to human traffickers. The exodus reflects a wider economic malaise. ...","Burkina Faso military to make statement soon: local media. DAKAR (Reuters) - Burkina Faso's military command will make a statement on the situation in the country at 1400 GMT (6.00 a.m. EDT), local media reported on Thursday. Thousands of protesters had earlier marched on the presidential palace after burning the parliament building and ransacking state television offices, forcing President Blaise Compaore to scrap a plan to extend his 27-year rule. (Reporting by Bate Felix; Writing by David Lewis; Editing by Daniel Flynn)","Hamilton stays on top with best lap in final Hungary F1 practice. Lewis Hamilton completed a full set of perfect results on Saturday morning when he topped the times ahead of Mercedes team-mate and championship leader Nico Rosberg in final free practice for Sundayâ s Hungarian Grand Prix. Hamilton, 14 points behind Rosberg in the title race, is seeking his first pole position in seven races in Saturday afternoonâ s qualifying session as he bids to complete a hat-trick of Hungaroring wins, and a record fifth, to close the gap. Four-time champion Sebastian Vettel of Germany was third fastest for Red Bull, nearly half a second slower than Hamilton, in a session run in hot and dry conditions. His Red Bull team-mate Australian Daniel Ricciardo was fifth ahead of rising Finnish star Valtteri Bottas of Williams, two-time champion Spaniard Fernando Alonso and his Ferrari team-mate and 2007 champion Kimi Raikkonen of Finland.","Drmic strikes again, Switzerland beats Jamaica 1-0. LUCERNE, Switzerland (AP) — Josip Drmic's emergence as Switzerland's best source of World Cup goals continued Friday, striking late in a 1-0 warmup win over Jamaica.","Roma seeks to reverse poor run against Cesena. ROME (AP) — Juventus has restored a three-point lead atop Serie A.","With Syria at war, can Turkey and Ocalan still bring Kurds peace?. By Daren Butler and Humeyra Pamuk ISTANBUL/SURUC Turkey (Reuters) - As southeast Turkey's Kurds rioted last week in fury at Ankara's refusal to rescue the Syrian Kurdish town of Kobani from advancing Islamists, it was to Abdullah Ocalan that Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu turned for help. Sitting in jail on the windswept island where he has spent the last 15 years, Ocalan wields more power as a peacemaker than he ever did as the guerrilla commander leading a Kurdish insurgency in which 40,000 people have died. ...","Kentucky's Antigua doing double-duty in Dallas. ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Kentucky assistant Orlando Antigua is doing double-duty this weekend.","Pfizer enters takeover discussions with AstraZeneca: WSJ. (Reuters) - Pfizer Inc and AstraZeneca Plc have resumed talks about a trans-Atlantic merger of the two drug giants after Pfizer sweetened the terms of an earlier takeover offer for its British rival, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter. The renewed discussions suggest that the two sides might be getting closer to striking a friendly deal, but there is no guarantee the talks will go anywhere, the Journal said, adding that the terms of the informal offer from Pfizer couldn't be learned. Citing people with knowledge of the matter, the Bloomberg report said a new bid may value AstraZeneca at more than 50 pounds ($84.47) per share and could come as early as next week.","Bangladesh vs Zimbabwe Result. CHITTAGONG, Bangladesh (AP) — Bangladesh beat Zimbabwe by 68 runs in the second one-day International at Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium on Sunday.","USGS: 7.8 aftershock shakes Chile's north coast. IQUIQUE, Chile (AP) — The U.S. Geological Survey says a powerful 7.8-magnitude aftershock has rocked Chile's northern coast, which was hit by a powerful magnitude-8.2 earthquake Tuesday night.","Son-in-law suspected as mastermind in killing of Monaco heiress: prosecutor. The son-in-law of a wealthy Monaco heiress shot dead last month was placed under investigation by a French judge on suspicion of having ordered the killing in an apparent attempt to acquire an inheritance, a prosecutor said on Friday. Helene Pastor, 77, died late last month from wounds sustained during a May 6 ambush in the French Riviera city of Nice, near Monaco, when a gunman fired through the windows of her car. After the arrest of 23 people in the French cities of Marseille, Nice and Rennes, prosecutors focused on financial transactions made by Wojciech Janowski, common-law husband of Pastor's daughter, Marseille prosecutor Brice Robin said. Janowski, a businessman and previously Poland's honorary consul in Monaco, was brought before a Marseille judge on Friday and placed under formal investigation on suspicion that he ordered the killing, Robin told a news conference on Friday.","Chinese provincial agency may have confirmed secret long-range missile. A Chinese provincial department appeared to have inadvertently confirmed the existence of an intercontinental ballistic missile that may be able to carry several nuclear warheads and travel as far as the United States. The state-backed Global Times tabloid carried a report about the missile in its online edition on Friday based on an internet posting by the Shaanxi Provincial Environmental Monitoring Center Station, which said a military installation in the province was developing the weapons. The Chinese government has never acknowledged the existence of the Dongfeng-41 (DF-41) missile but the U.S. Department of Defense said in a 2014 report that it could carry a payload of multiple nuclear warheads.","Gunmen kill 1 Thai protesters, wound 4 in capital. BANGKOK (AP) — Gunmen killed one person and wounded four Tuesday, in another attack on anti-government protesters in Thailand's long political crisis, authorities said.","China: Fighters back from Iraq, Syria are threat. BEIJING (AP) — China and its Central Asian neighbors face increased terrorism threats as their citizens return home after fighting in Iraq and Syria, the head of a regional anti-terrorism organization said Thursday.","Retired coronel among 4 killed in Puerto Rico. SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Police say that four people have been fatally shot to death in Puerto Rico, at least three of them from the same family.","U.N. Security Council threatens action over girls abduction in Nigeria. The U.N. Security Council on Friday expressed outrage at the abduction of hundreds of Nigerian school girls in two attacks by Islamist militants, demanding their immediate release and threatening to take action against the insurgents. Boko Haram kidnapped more than 250 girls from a secondary school in Chibok in remote northeastern Nigeria on April 14 and has threatened to sell them into slavery, prompting a U.N. warning that the perpetrators would be liable for war crimes. Suspected Boko Haram gunmen kidnapped eight more girls from a village near one of the Islamists' strongholds in northeastern Nigeria, police and residents said on Tuesday. \\\\\"The members of the Security Council expressed their intention to actively follow the situation of the abducted girls and to consider appropriate measures against Boko Haram,\\\\\" the 15-member council, which includes Nigeria, said in a statement.","Report: 4 injured in explosion in Istanbul. ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — A private news agency says an explosion in a five-story building in Istanbul has injured at least four people.","Hackers trick way into ICANN computers. A \"spearfishing\" attack aimed at US-based nonprofit Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) hooked staff members with emails crafted to appear as though they were sent from peers using \"icann.org\" addresses, according to a blog post. \"The attack resulted in the compromise of the email credentials of several ICANN staff members,\" ICANN said.","Man City draws Liverpool at home in EPL 2nd round. LONDON (AP) — Manchester City begins the defense of its English Premier League title away to Newcastle then faces Liverpool at home.","China appeals WTO ruling on solar panel dispute with U.S.: WTO. GENEVA (Reuters) - China has appealed against a WTO dispute panel report on anti-dumping duties applied on certain Chinese products by the United States, the World Trade Organisation (WTO) said on Friday. The appeal covers products including solar panels, wind towers, thermal and coated paper, certain lawn groomers, kitchen shelving, steel sinks and cylinders, line pipes, and aluminium extrusions. It was not immediately clear why China lodged the appeal. ...","No nerves for Van Gaal as Premier League debut awaits. Louis van Gaal won't be suffering a sleepless night as the new Manchester United manager awaits his Premier League bow in Saturday's season opener against Swansea. Van Gaal will get his first taste of the English top-flight at Old Trafford, but the confident Dutchman insists he hasn't felt any nerves at the start of one of the toughest challenges of his career. The 63-year-old has impressed in his first four weeks at the United helm, overseeing five wins and a draw in pre-season, but it is in the league that his achievements will be judged. Swansea were one of eight teams who came to Old Trafford and won during the dismal reign of his predecessor David Moyes last season, creating a sense of vulnerability that van Gaal has been hired to banish for good.","India minister stirs anger by making light of Delhi rape case. Indian Finance Minister Arun Jaitley faced criticism on Friday for making light of the gang rape of a Delhi woman in 2012 and her subsequent death by saying it was a small incident that had cost India billions of dollars in tourism. Jaitley, who is also defense minister and a key lieutenant of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, denied he was trying to lessen the magnitude of the crime which shook the country and turned the spotlight on women's safety. She later died of her injuries, provoking an outpouring of anger and soul-searching about the place of women in Indian society. While laws relating to assault on women have since been toughened, the crime also exposed social attitudes in a country where the victim has often ended up being found responsible.","Reports: Benji Marshall to return to rugby league. WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Benji Marshall has reportedly abandoned his attempt to forge a new career in rugby union and is contemplating a return to Australia's National Rugby League.","Turkey bombs Kurdish rebel targets in southeast. Diyarbakir (Turkey) (AFP) - Turkish jets bombed targets in the southeast where members of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) are based, the first strikes on the outlawed group since a 2013 ceasefire, a security source said Tuesday.","Bomb blast in Philippines kills 4, wounds 30. MLANG, Philippines (AP) — Philippine police say a homemade bomb has exploded at the entrance of a packed market in a southern town, killing four people and wounding at least 30 others.","Ukraine targets Russian bank for 'financing terrorists'. Ukraine's state security service has opened a criminal case against officials at an unnamed Russian bank for \"providing financing to terrorists,\" the SBU said in a statement on Tuesday. The SBU said the bank transferred 45 million hryvnia ($3.75 million) between March and April for the financing of militant groups and had transferred between $200 and $500 per day to individual militants. It said the bank had transferred funds to militants involved in the takeover of SBU offices in the eastern Ukraine city of Luhansk.","27 missing, nine dead after boat sinks off Malaysia. Banting (Malaysia) (AFP) - Twenty-seven people were missing on Wednesday and nine were confirmed dead after an apparently overloaded boat carrying Indonesian illegal migrants headed home for Ramadan sank overnight in rough seas off western Malaysia. Officials said 61 people were rescued or made it to land by themselves after the accident around midnight near Port Klang, Malaysia's largest port, as authorities intensify the search with nine ships and a helicopter. They died due to drowning,\" said Mohamad Hambali Yaakup, head of the Port Klang office of the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency. The boat sank not far from shore, raising hopes that many of the missing had made it to safety on their own, Mohamad Hambali added.","U.S. warns of risk of renewed conflict after Mali clashes. By Tiemoko Diallo BAMAKO (Reuters) - The United States warned on Monday that northern Mali risked sliding back into war and called for the government and Tuareg separatists to return to talks after deadly weekend clashes in a traditional rebel stronghold. The Malian army was preparing to launch an assault on the northern town of Kidal where separatist fighters killed at least eight soldiers and took around 30 civil servants hostage in an attack on the regional governor's office on Saturday. Eight civilians including six government officials were killed, according to the United Nations, during Saturday's assault which took place while the prime minister was visiting Kidal. President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita was due to address the nation on Monday evening.","Tropical Storm Odile is slowly strengthening. MIAMI (AP) — Tropical Storm Odile is slowly strengthening as it swirls in the Pacific off Mexico's southern coast.","Kosovo expects findings of organ stealing investigation next week. By Fatos Bytyci PRISTINA (Reuters) - An EU-appointed task force will release its findings next week after an investigation into allegations that Kosovo Albanian guerrillas took body organs from Serb captives during the 1998-99 war, Kosovo's justice ministry said on Monday. Its conclusions could cause waves in Kosovo, where many in power have roots in the guerrilla Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) that took up arms against Serbian security forces in the late 1990s and eventually won military support from NATO. The investigation's head, U.S. ...","India 330 all out against England in third Test. India were bowled out for 330 in reply to England's first innings 569 for seven declared, a deficit of 239 runs, on the fourth day of the third Test at Southampton on Wednesday. Although England captain Alastair Cook could have enforced the follow-on, he decided to give his bowlers a breather on another hot day at the Ageas Bowl and decided to bat again instead. England paceman James Anderson marked his 32nd birthday by polishing off India, who resumed on 323 for eight, with two wickets for one run in six balls to finish with figures of five for 53 in 26.1 overs -- his 16th five-wicket haul in Tests. Stuart Broad took three for 66 in 25 overs as he and Anderson became only the third pace pair after Pakistan's Waqar Younis and Wasim Akram and West Indies' Curtly Ambrose and Courtney Walsh to have 500 Test wickets between them.","Obama authorizes limited air strikes in Iraq if needed. By Matt Spetalnick and Isabel Coles WASHINGTON/ARBIL Iraq (Reuters) - President Barack Obama said on Thursday he had authorized limited U.S. airstrikes to blunt the onslaught of Islamic militants in northern Iraq and began military airdrops of humanitarian supplies to besieged religious minorities to prevent a \"potential act of genocide.\" Speaking after meetings with his national security team, Obama - in his most significant response to the Iraq crisis – said he approved \"targeted\" use of air power to protect U.S. personnel if Islamic State militants advance further toward the Kurdish capital Arbil or threaten Americans anywhere in the country. The airstrikes would be the first carried out by the U.S. military in Iraq since the withdrawal of its forces at the end of 2011, but Obama insisted he would not commit ground forces and had no intention of letting the United States get dragged back into a war there. Obama took action amid international fears of a humanitarian catastrophe engulfing tens of thousands of members of Iraq’s minority Yazidi sect driven out of their homes and stranded on Sinjar mountain under threat from rampaging militants of Islamic State, an al Qaeda splinter group.","Asian shares, dollar tread cautiously ahead of Fed meeting. By Lisa Twaronite TOKYO (Reuters) - Asian shares were modestly higher while the dollar held steady on Tuesday, as investors awaited the outcome of the U.S. Federal Reserve's two-day meeting that begins later in the session for clues to the direction of U.S. interest rates. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan shrugged off early losses and a lackluster performance on Wall Street to rise about 0.3 percent. But Japan's Nikkei stock average extended losses, shedding 0. ...","Israel preparing to treat any casualties from Egypt border blast. JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israeli police said they were preparing medics to treat any casualties from an explosion on Sunday in Egypt's Sinai peninsula near the border with Israel. \"The event is happening on the Egyptian side, and we are making our preparations,\" a police spokesman said. An Egyptian army source said an explosion on a tourist bus wounded four people. (Reporting by Dan Williams, Editing by Jeffrey Heller)","Separatists tighten grip on east Ukraine, Obama and Putin talk. By Thomas Grove and Gabriela Baczynska SLAVIANSK/DONETSK, Ukraine (Reuters) - Pro-Russian separatists on Monday ignored an ultimatum to leave occupied government buildings in eastern Ukraine and instead seized more buildings as the government failed to follow through on a threatened military crackdown. U.S. President Barack Obama criticized Russia in a telephone conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin later on Monday, saying Moscow's actions in Ukraine were not conducive to a diplomatic solution. The Kremlin said it had requested the call. The White House said the call was frank and direct.","Record India election ends as polls tip Modi triumph. Indians cast final ballots Monday in a record election that saw 551 million people vote over five weeks, with exit polls predicting a new right-wing government under Hindu nationalist Narendra Modi. The final phase of voting in 41 constituencies ended at 6:00 pm (1230 GMT), with the first exit polls released soon afterwards pointing to a huge swing towards Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The surveys backed forecasts before voting started on April 7 that the BJP -- and its allies -- should be able to reach a majority in parliament after a resounding rejection of the ruling leftist Congress party and the Gandhi political dynasty. \\\\\"The politics of arrogance, dynasty and inheritance is being rejected by the people of India,\\\\\" BJP spokesman and parliamentarian Ravi Shankar Prasad told a press conference.","Jewish community 'forced out' of Guatemalan village. A community of 230 Orthodox Jews from several countries Thursday began leaving the Guatemalan Indian village where they have lived for six years after claims and counterclaims of discrimination and threats. Their exit from San Juan La Laguna, on the banks of Lake Atitlan and 200 kilometers (125 miles) from the capital Guatemala City, follows a meeting Wednesday in which Jewish and indigenous representatives failed to reach an agreement. \"We are a people of peace and in order to avoid an incident we've already begun to leave the village,\" Misael Santos, a representative from the Jewish community, told AFP. Most members of the small Jewish community are from the United States, Israel, Britain and Russia, and around 40 are Guatemalan.","Bardal wins WCup jump event, Stoch still in lead. TRONDHEIM, Norway (AP) — Anders Bardal of Norway won Friday's ski jump event ahead of Austria's Andreas Kofler and Noriaki Kasai of Japan but Olympic champion Kamil Stoch of Poland kept his lead in the overall World Cup standings.","Health scare interrupts Egypt's Mubarak retrial. CAIRO (AP) — An Egyptian security official says the retrial of Egypt's deposed President Hosni Mubarak was abruptly halted because of a sudden health scare.","Sam Querrey beats 2012 runner-up Jerzy Janowicz. PARIS (AP) — American qualifier Sam Querrey reached the second round of the Paris Masters by beating 2012 runner-up Jerzy Janowicz 6-7 (5), 6-2, 6-4 Monday.","Ukraine PM says Russia erecting new 'Berlin Wall'. Kiev (AFP) - Ukraine's Western-backed prime minister on Wednesday accused Russia of erecting a new \"Berlin Wall\" that threatened European security.","Turkey remains coy in coalition against militants. WASHINGTON (AP) — Moving from reluctance to refusal and finally to acceptance, Turkey is joining its NATO allies and fellow Sunni Muslim nations in a coalition to destroy the Islamic State militant group. But the U.S. is still waiting for details of any new, specific aid and is warily watching to make sure Ankara keeps its commitments.","Spain, Morocco arrest nine suspected jihadists. Madrid (AFP) - Spain and Morocco on Friday arrested nine suspected members of a group in north Africa linked to the violent Islamic State jihadists, the Spanish government said.","Canada moves to prevent Bitcoin money-laundering. Canada will bring in new anti-money laundering and anti-terrorist financing laws aimed at preventing abuses of virtual currencies such as Bitcoin, the finance minister confirmed Wednesday. Asked about Bitcoin, a so-called \"cryptocurrency\" that is gaining in popularity both as an investment and as a way to make online payments, Jim Flaherty said: \"We're going to have a look at it.\" The Canadian government had announced its plan to tighten rules around the use of virtual currencies in the federal budget a day earlier, but no details were provided. The budget document said Canada would \"address emerging risks, including virtual currencies, such as Bitcoin, that threaten Canada's international leadership in the fight against money laundering and terrorist financing.\"","German president warns Turkey not to stray from democratic path. Germany's president warned during a trip to Turkey on Monday against the consequences of curbing freedom of expression and he criticized Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan's leadership style. Gauck, a former East German Lutheran pastor who campaigned for the 1989 fall of the Berlin Wall, praised Turkey for the progress made under Erdogan on issues such as the economy and the Kurdish peace process, but added: \"Recently we have also heard voices of disappointment, bitterness and outrage at a style of leadership which many see as a risk to democracy,\" he said in an address at the Middle East Technical University in Ankara. \"All my life, experience tells me that where freedom of expression is curtailed, where people are not fully informed, not consulted nor allowed to participate, resentment and harshness, and finally also the willingness to resort to violence, grow,\" Gauck said.","Health concerns, succession weigh as Mugabe turns 90. Robert Mugabe, Africa's oldest leader and Zimbabwe's ruler since independence, turns 90 on Friday, but high-profile celebrations risk being overshadowed by rumours of ill health and a raging succession battle. While Mugabe's aides insist he is fighting fit, another medical trip to Singapore this week -- ostensibly for eye surgery -- has rekindled suspicions. He is not expected back in Zimbabwe until shortly before an elaborate stadium birthday celebration on Sunday that is said to be costing around $1 million. The man who took power in 1980 on Zimbabwe's independence from Britain has long been rumoured to be seriously ill.","India arrests five suspects over gang-rape in Uttar Pradesh. Katra Shahadatgunj (India) (AFP) - Five men have been arrested over the gang-rape and deaths of two girls found hanging from a mango tree in a northern Indian village, police said Saturday. The discovery of the two cousins, aged 14 and 12, in the Budaun district of Uttar Pradesh on Wednesday is the latest sexual violence case to have stirred national outrage. The cause of their death was asphyxia,\" Budaun district police superintendent Atul Saxena told AFP.","Stocks slump as earnings disappoint. NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks fell in early trading Thursday as investors reacted to some disappointing earnings reports and assessed the implications of the approaching end to economic stimulus from the Federal Reserve. That stimulus has underpinned gains in the stock market for years.","Russia tests Obama's ability to stop its advances. WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama is once again faced with the complicated reality of following through on his tough warnings against overseas provocations.","Top Asian News at 6:00 a.m. GMT. WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — New Zealand authorities made an embarrassing about-face on Friday when prosecutors dropped a murder-for-hire charge against AC/DC drummer Phil Rudd, saying there was not enough evidence to proceed. But the 60-year-old member of the popular Australian band still faces a serious charge of threatening to kill, which comes with a maximum prison term of seven years. He also faces charges of possessing methamphetamine and marijuana.","Nigeria confirms 2 new Ebola cases. ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — Two new cases of Ebola have emerged in Nigeria and, in an alarming development, they are outside the group of caregivers who treated an airline passenger who arrived with Ebola and died, Health Minister Onyebuchi Chukwu said Friday.","US, Iran deny military coordination plans over IS. The United States and Iran have denied plans for any military coordination in the fight against Islamic State militants operating in Iraq and Syria. \"We are not going to coordinate military action or share intelligence with Iran and have no plans to do so,\" State Department deputy spokeswoman Marie Harf said Friday, reacting to reports that Tehran had approved such an arrangement. Harf said that Washington was \"open to engaging\" with Iran as it had in the past on select issues, notably on Afghanistan in late 2001, when the two sides worked to put Hamid Karzai into power after the fall of the Taliban. The BBC reported, citing unnamed sources in Tehran, that Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei had approved cooperation with the US in the fight against the Islamic State.","Image of Asia: Sunny Christmas on Sydney beach. In this photo by Rick Rycroft, British traveler Dabriella Quayle rides the waves while celebrating Christmas Day at Bondi Beach in Sydney. Sunny weather and temperatures of 28 degrees Celsius (82.4 Fahrenheit) brought out locals and tourists to Australia's iconic beach, where lifesavers and many surfers donned Santa hats for the occasion.","Kuwaiti protesters arrested, police use tear gas. KUWAIT CITY (AP) — Kuwait police fired tear gas and stun grenades Sunday in a busy historic market to disperse several thousand protesters calling for the release of an opposition activist and a purge of corrupt judges.","Pesticides a concern for aquatic life in most U.S. urban streams : study. By Ian Simpson WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The proportion of urban streams in the United States with potentially worrisome levels of pesticides for aquatic life has surged to 90 percent, a two-decade government study said on Thursday. Some of the more than 500 million pounds (220 million kg) of pesticides used yearly in the United States are concentrated at levels that pose a concern for fish and water-dwelling insects, the U.S. Geological Survey report on pesticides from 1992 to 2011 said. \"We're at the stage of saying, 'OK, these (levels) compared to a benchmark indicate more evaluation need to be done,'\" said Wesley Stone, a Geological Survey hydrologist and the study's lead author.","Grief in town of students missing in ferry sinking. ANSAN, South Korea (AP) — The most poignant reminders of what's been lost here are the most ordinary.","Hardline Kenyan Muslim cleric shot dead: AFP. Mombasa (Kenya) (AFP) - A hardline Kenyan Muslim cleric was shot dead in the port city of Mombasa on Tuesday, said an AFP reporter who saw his bloody corpse, as rioting erupted in response.","Takata shares fall after report it hid air bags risks in 2004. TOKYO (Reuters) - Shares in Takata Corp fell more than 4 percent on Friday, reversing earlier gains after a newspaper reported that the Japanese auto parts maker had concealed the risks of potentially defective air bags following an accident in 2004. The New York Times reported Takata had secretly conducted tests on 50 airbags retrieved from scrap yards after the accident in Alabama, with results showing cracks in steel inflators in two of the air bags. ...","Vasquez leads Raptors past Maccabi Haifa, 92-85. TORONTO (AP) — Greivis Vasquez had 15 points, Lucas Nogueira scored six straight points in the final 2 minutes as the Toronto Raptors held off Israel's Maccabi Haifa 92-85 on Wednesday for their sixth victory in seven preseason games.","Solar lamps made from bike parts change lives in Mali. Cinzana (Mali) (AFP) - Mobile solar-powered streetlamps made from old bicycle parts are transforming lives in Mali, where villagers often work by night to escape the heat despite 90 per cent having no mains electricity. The project is the brainchild of Italian architect Matteo Ferroni, who visited the Segou region, 235 kilometres (150 miles) northeast of Bamako, in 2010 and noticed the locals were mainly sleeping during the searing day and getting up in the evening to work. Today his invention, named by locals as \"Foroba Yelen\", which means \"collective light\" in the Bambara language, has transformed lives in the 72-village rural commune of Cinzana, where 35,000 people live. Alou Coulibaly, who went to book one of the streetlamps for the baptism of his newborn girl, had nothing but praise for the initiative, telling AFP it had improved the lives of poor villagers who could not afford a generator or the fuel to run one.","Former Hong Kong leader warns lawmakers against anti-Beijing vote. HONG KONG (Reuters) - Hong Kong's first chief executive after its return to Chinese rule in 1997 warned city lawmakers on Monday not to try to vote down Beijing's plan to screen candidates for the city's next leader, broadcaster RTHK reported. Tung Chee-hwa said Hong Kong would be taking steps backward if lawmakers voted against Beijing's political reform package for the territory, RTHK said, quoting Tung speaking at the inauguration of a think tank. ...","UN chief sets up Gaza inquiry. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Monday appointed a five-member panel to investigate Israeli attacks on UN shelters during the Gaza war and the discovery of Hamas weapons at UN sites. Ban announced plans to set up a probe during his visit to Gaza last month after describing Israeli shelling of UN-run schools as a \"moral outrage\". Israel maintained that Hamas militants were using the schools to store weapons and denied it had deliberately targeted the facilities, which were being used as shelters by Palestinian civilians during the 50-day war. The inquiry led by retired Dutch general Patrick Cammaert will \"review and investigate a number of specific incidents in which death or injuries occurred at, and/or damage was done to United Nations premises,\" UN spokesman Farhan Haq said.","Khodorkovsky criticizes Putin at Kiev forum. KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — Mikhail Khodorkovsky, once Russia's most famous prisoner, has harshly criticized Russian President Vladimir Putin over the annexation of Crimea and Russian pressure against Ukraine.","Germany reports Eurofighter manufacturing fault. LONDON (AP) — The joint venture making the Eurofighter plane said Wednesday that it was managing a problem discovered with the fuselage after Germany's military suspended deliveries of the plane.","SOCHI SCENE: Russia's potential rival. SOCHI, Russia (AP) — Russian hockey fans are showing they love an underdog. Or maybe they'd just like a tougher path for Canada, their hometown team's biggest threat.","PSV beats Heracles to stay top of Eredivisie. AMSTERDAM (AP) — Defender Karim Rekik scored in injury time to give PSV Eindhoven a 2-1 win at Heracles Almelo on Sunday that kept Phillip Cocu's team on top of the Dutch Eredivisie.","Projectiles hit Macedonian government building. SKOPJE, Macedonia (AP) — Macedonian authorities say two projectiles were fired at a main government building in the capital Skopje overnight, causing minimal damage and no injuries.","Japan broadcaster chief expresses regret for remarks on wartime brothels. By Elaine Lies TOKYO (Reuters) - The head of Japan's public broadcaster expressed regret on Monday for his comments on the use of military brothels in World War Two, news reports said, as Asian countries voiced fresh outrage about a highly sensitive point in relations with Tokyo. Apparently trying to snuff out further controversy over Japan's view of its wartime role, new NHK chief Katsuto Momii told local media his comments had been \"extremely inappropriate\". Addressing a news conference on Saturday on the issue of \"comfort women,\" a euphemism for Korean and other women forced to work in military brothels, Momii said such things occurred at the time in all countries at war. Political parties in South Korea, the country most indignant about the wartime practice, demanded Momii's resignation, suggesting his remarks risked becoming a fresh diplomatic headache for Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.","Golf-Pinehurst ready to challenge a very different Scott in 2014. By Andrew Both June 5 (Reuters) - Adam Scott has certainly taken his game to another level in the majors recently but he is not exactly a new face on the golf scene as he sets his sights on next week's U.S. Open at Pinehurst in North Carolina. Nine years ago, the Australian was only three shots from the U.S. Open halfway lead on Pinehurst's No. 2 Course before fading over the weekend to finish equal 28th, 11 strokes behind winner Michael Campbell of New Zealand. \"Of course I am a different player (now),\" Scott said while preparing for the U.S. Open at Pinehurst Resort, the third time the year's second major will be staged at the venue. I think I generally played OK there that week (at Pinehurst) and maybe didn't finish the best on Sunday.\" Scott was ranked seventh in the world at the time but was largely ignored by the media, something that will not happen at next week's edition when he will return to Pinehurst in all likelihood as the game's top-ranked player.","Infighting as split emerges among Syrian rebels. BEIRUT (AP) — A Syrian activist group and rebels say there's infighting between rebel groups seeking the overthrow of President Bashar Assad.","Tibetans in Nepal say they were held for weeks. KATMANDU, Nepal (AP) — Tibetan refugees in Nepal say they were held for weeks in police custody without charges or access to legal aid in a sign that authorities are bowing to pressure from China.","Condoms hottest item at Asian Games. Seoul (AFP) - Athletes are snapping up thousands of free condoms being given out at the Asian Games, organizers said Thursday.","Russia, China agree on $25 billion prepayment under supply deal - Gazprom. ST PETERSBURG, Russia (Reuters) - Russia and China have agreed on a $25 billion prepayment under a supply deal signed earlier this week, Alexander Medvedev, chief executive of Gazprom Export, said on Friday. \"A prepayment has been agreed, agreed in principle, details are being discussed. It's $25 billion,\" Medvedev told journalists on the sidelines of the St Petersburg International Economic Forum. Russia and China signed a 30-year gas supply contract, worth a total of more than $400 billion, earlier this week during President Vladimir Putin's visit to the country. ...","Ukraine president announces early poll, reduced powers. By Sabine Siebold and Natalia Zinets KIEV (Reuters) - Ukraine's President Viktor Yanukovich announced concessions to his pro-European opponents on Friday, including a plan to hold early elections, but it was unclear whether the opposition would accept such an EU-mediated deal to end a violent crisis. Russian-backed Yanukovich, under pressure to quit from mass demonstrations in central Kiev, promised a national unity government and constitutional change to reduce his powers, as well as the presidential polls. He made the announcement in a statement on the presidential website without waiting for a signed agreement with opposition leaders after at least 77 people were killed in the worst violence since Ukraine became independent 22 years ago. \"There are no steps that we should not take to restore peace in Ukraine,\" he said.","Iran denies nuclear scientist killed in Syria. Tehran (AFP) - Iran on Wednesday denied a report that one of its nuclear scientists was killed in an ambush near the capital of its war-torn ally Syria.","A look at Egypt's 2 presidential candidates. CAIRO (AP) — Here is a look at the two candidates in Egypt's presidential election as voters on Monday and Tuesday decide on the nation's next leader.","Former Aussie cricket captains back Clarke. Former Australia captains Ricky Ponting, Steve Waugh and Allan Border threw their support behind embattled skipper Michael Clarke Thursday, saying it was ridiculous to be questioning his credentials. Clarke arrived in Sydney on Wednesday after the team's thumping 2-0 Test loss to Pakistan in the United Arab Emirates to a barrage of questions over whether he remained the best man to head the side. \"I think that was quite ridiculous, to tell you the truth,\" he said of the grilling Clarke received, as the three former captains gathered to mark 100 days before the start of the 2015 World Cup, to be co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand. \"We know that out of the last couple of weeks the guys didn't handle the conditions that well over there (in the UAE) but... it's two Test matches, a bit of a blip on what's otherwise been a pretty good copybook for the last couple of years.","U.S. says backs Iraqi president after Maliki forces deploy in Baghdad. The United States \"fully supports\" Iraqi President Fouad Masoum as the guarantor Iraq's constitution, the State Department said on Sunday after Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki accused Masoum of violating the constitution. \"We reject any effort to achieve outcomes through coercion or manipulation of the constitutional or judicial process,\" Marie Harf, deputy spokeswoman of the State Department, said in a statement. She said the United States is closely monitoring the situation in Iraq and is in touch with Iraqi leaders.","NZ's Alker takes 54-hole lead at Boise Open. BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Steven Alker of New Zealand shot a 6-under 65 to grab lead after the third round of the Webcom Tour's Albertsons Boise Open on Saturday.","Roosters move up while other leaders lose in NRL. SYDNEY (AP) — The Sydney Roosters ran in eight tries Sunday to beat the New Zealand Warriors 46-12 and consolidate their place among the top four in the National Rugby League after two of the other leading teams lost their matches.","U.S. Senate hearing set to press for quicker commodity bank curbs. By Anna Louie Sussman WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Members of the powerful U.S. Senate banking committee are set to grill financial regulators Wednesday on their plans to address the risks of Wall Street banks' involvement in physical commodities markets, fuelling pressure for a landmark crackdown. A day ahead of the hearing, the Federal Reserve, for the first time, laid out its heightened concerns that leasing oil tankers or owning power plants could endanger the banking system, and may pose serious conflicts of interest for banks. In a preliminary notice seeking public comment on possible new curbs, the Fed cited real-world risks including the BP Gulf oil spill and last year's Quebec oil train disaster as examples of the multibillion-dollar catastrophes that banks face by being involved in the risky, messy world of commodities. The notice also suggested possible remedies, including limits on assets and revenues as well as curbs on trade of some types of commodities, and posed questions to draw public input.","Man accused of mailing cyanide pleads not guilty. BANGOR, Maine (AP) — A man has pleaded not guilty to federal charges that he mailed a poisonous chemical to an Englishman who used it to kill himself.","Bubka: armband decision made 'after consultation'. SOCHI, Russia (AP) — Ukrainian Olympic chief Sergei Bubka says he has \"great sympathy\" with the desire of his athletes to wear black armbands to remember those killed in the political unrest in Kiev.","U.S. EPA makes strides in air toxics but work remains in cities: report. The United States has made progress in reducing dangerous air pollution since 1990 but work remains to reduce risks for the country's most overburdened urban areas, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's top official said on Thursday. The EPA released to Congress its second report on integrated air toxics, citing \"substantial progress\" toward reducing levels of contaminants such as arsenic, mercury and lead since it launched an Integrated Urban Air Toxics Strategy in 1999. Air toxics, also known as toxic air pollutants or hazardous air pollutants, are pollutants that may increase the risk of cancer or other serious health effects, such as birth defects.","Jewish Museum suspect Nemmouche extradition ruling set for June 26. Versailles (France) (AFP) - A French court said Thursday it will decide on June 26 whether to extradite to Belgium the man suspected of carrying out a deadly shooting at the Jewish Museum in Brussels last month. Franco-Algerian Mehdi Nemmouche, 29, who was detained several days after the attack that left four people dead, told the court he was not opposed to his transfer to Belgium as long as he has assurances he will not be sent on to a third country. The shooting on May 24 -- the first such attack in Brussels in three decades -- raised fears across Europe of a resurgence of anti-Semitic violence and of terror attacks from foreign fighters returning from Syria. Nemmouche had spent more than a year fighting with radical jihadists in Syria.","2 Japan Cabinet ministers visit Yasukuni Shrine. TOKYO (AP) — At least two Japanese Cabinet ministers have paid respects at a Tokyo shrine that honors the war dead including convicted criminals, but the prime minister is expected to stay away.","Boy, 15, due in court accused of teacher's murder. Ann Maguire, 61, was fatally stabbed in front of a class of pupils at Corpus Christi Catholic College on Monday, months before she was due to retire. The boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, will appear Thursday at Leeds Youth Court with a bail hearing to follow Friday at Leeds Crown Court, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said. \"Having carefully considered all of the evidence presented to us by West Yorkshire Police, we have concluded that there is sufficient evidence to charge this youth with the murder of Ann Maguire and that it is in the public interest to do so.\" Maguire, who taught Spanish, had worked at the school for more than 40 years, having started there as a student teacher.","Portuguese nurses strike over pay, working hours. LISBON, Portugal (AP) — Nurses in Portugal have begun a 48-hour strike over pay, working hours and what they say is an acute shortage of staff in the public health service.","Hong Kong pro-democracy activists heckle China official day after vote ruling. By Clare Jim HONG KONG (Reuters) - Hong Kong pro-democracy activists heckled a senior Chinese official on Monday, shouting slogans and forcing him to temporarily abandon a speech explaining Beijing's decision to rule out a fully democratic election in 2017. Li Fei, deputy secretary general of China's National People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee, was speaking a day after Beijing rejected demands by pro-democracy activists for the right to freely choose the city's next leader in 2017. Dressed in black and wearing yellow ribbons, members of Hong Kong's democratic camp were escorted out of the auditorium after they shouted and held up signs reading \"shameful\" and saying Beijing had lost credibility.","England's Root out of World Twenty20. London (AFP) - England batsman Joe Root will miss the World Twenty20 in Bangladesh and be replaced by Ian Bell, the International Cricket Council announced on Monday.","NASA to use space images to help monitor California drought. By Laila Kearney SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - NASA scientists plan to use images shot from space and within the Earth's atmosphere to help California monitor one of the worst droughts in its recorded history, officials said on Tuesday. Scientists said they would deploy imaging tools to measure snowpack and groundwater levels and use a host of other technologies to help better map and assess the water resources in a state that produces half the nation's fruits and vegetables. \"We're on the verge of being able to put all of these different kinds of instruments together, these measurements together, and start looking at the concept of perhaps closing the water budget of California,\" Tom Farr, a NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory geologist, told reporters at a news conference. While much of the United States has experienced torrential rains and heavy snowfall this winter, California is in the midst of a drought threatening to inflict the biggest water crisis in its modern history.","ICC hands three asylum-seeking Congolese to Dutch state. Three Congolese witnesses detained by the International Criminal Court were released on Wednesday into the custody of the Dutch state pending an asylum bid, the Hague-based court said. Floribert Ndjabu, Pierre Celestin Mbodina and Sharif Manda Ndadza \"were transferred from ICC detention to the Dutch authorities' custody\" in accordance with a court order, the ICC said in a statement. The three witnesses sought asylum in the Netherlands after giving testimony in 2011 in the cases of Congolese former militia boss Mathieu Ngudjolo Chui and Germain Katanga.","U.N. council overrides China to add North Korea to agenda. UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Members of the U.N. Security Council on Monday voted to override China's objections and formally add the situation in North Korea, including allegations of grave human rights abuses, to the council's agenda. There were 11 votes in favor, two against and two abstentions. Veto powers Russia and China voted against the inclusion of North Korea on the council's agenda, but as there are no vetoes in procedural votes of the council, the Chinese attempt to defeat the measure failed. It has been nearly a decade since the council held a similar procedural vote. ...","Japan slides into recession as tax hike takes toll. TOKYO (AP) — Japan's economy unexpectedly slipped back into recession as housing and business investment dropped following a sales tax hike, hobbling its ability to help drive the global recovery.","US to assist in Malaysia air crash investigation. WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal safety officials say a team of experts is en route to Asia to be ready to assist in the investigation of a Malaysia Airlines jetliner that disappeared with 239 people on board.","Ex-coup leader's aide set to become Madagascar's new premier. A close aide to Madagascar's ex-strongman is likely to become the Indian Ocean island's new prime minister, after he was nominated by lawmakers of the largest party on Monday. \"We are delighted to announce that we offer the post of prime minister to... Andre Resampa,\" said Jean de Dieu Maharante, the coordinator of MAPAR. Resampa, 43, was a top aide to Andry Rajoelina, who took power in a 2009 putsh that ousted president Marc Ravalomana, and plunged the country into five years of political crisis. Rajoelina's party has a majority in parliament and according to the law, enjoys the power to select a prime minister.","Alberta premier says budget surplus forecasts will be revised. CALGARY, Alberta (Reuters) - At current crude prices the oil-rich Canadian province of Alberta will have a \"tight balanced budget\" for the 2014/15 fiscal year, Premier Jim Prentice said on Friday as he scaled back oil price forecasts. In an address to the Calgary Chamber of Commerce, Prentice said a forecast of Alberta having a 2014/15 budget surplus of C$933 million, which was made earlier this week, will \"undoubtedly be revised.\" He said the province expected an oil price between US$65-75 for the second half of the current fiscal year, down from a previous forecast of $75. ...","Schalke coach Di Matteo meets Chelsea again. GELSENKIRCHEN, Germany (AP) — Roberto di Matteo will face his old club when Schalke hosts Chelsea in the Champions League on Tuesday.","ECB tested as push-bank against bank review rules begins. By Laura Noonan FRANKFURT (Reuters) - The European Central Bank's (ECB) determination to subject the euro zone's largest banks to the same, rigorous checks is being tested, with countries lobbying for their banks to be treated differently and lenders asking for their workload to be eased. Almost two weeks after the ECB published a 285 page manual spelling out how it will examine banks' trillions of euros of assets, lenders in Germany and Spain are leading the charge for special treatment, while banks across the euro zone have asked for changes to the process to make it less onerous. The ECB has resisted the lobbying from Spanish and German banks, but has agreed to adapt the data gathering process following some field testing, issuing revised guidance on this in recent days, sources familiar with the matter told Reuters. LEVEL PLAYING FIELD A key ECB objective is for the tests to be consistent across all 18 euro zone countries, so results are directly comparable.","Sharon funeral highlights conflicting views of former leader. By Matt Spetalnick SYCAMORE FARM, Israel (Reuters) - Israel buried former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon at his family farm on Monday, celebrating the military achievements of a man seen as a war hero at home but as a war criminal by many in the Arab world. U.S. Vice President Joe Biden and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair laid wreaths at his grave, 10‮‮‮ ‬‬‬km (6 miles) from the border of the Gaza Strip, with the army on high alert lest any rockets be fired out of the Palestinian territory. The army said two missiles were shot into southern Israel shortly after the funeral ended, causing no damage or injury. \"We are accompanying to his final resting place today a soldier, an exceptional soldier, a commander who knew how to win,\" Israeli President Shimon Peres said in Jerusalem, Sharon's hefty coffin draped in Israel's blue and white flag.","Thai interim PM says aiming for August 3 election. Thailand's caretaker prime minister, Niwatthamrong Boonsongphaisan, said on Tuesday he had asked the Election Commission to organize an election on August 3. \"The government has sent a letter to the Election Commission suggesting that it organize an election on August 3 which we think is suitable. If the commission agrees then next week we can issue a decree,\" Niwatthamrong told reporters.","Mauritius votes over presidency, economy. Mauritians voted Wednesday in parliamentary elections with rival parties promising to boost the economy and battling over the proposed strengthening of presidential powers. The issue of constitutional reform makes the polls some of the most important since the Indian Ocean nation gained independence from Britain in 1968. \"Everything is in place,\" said Electoral Commissioner Irfan Rahman, who said 14,000 election officials were working to ensure the smooth running of the polls. Two rival coalitions are competing for 62 parliamentary seats -- 60 on the main island of Mauritius, and two on the small island of Rodrigues, some 560 kilometres (350 miles) to the east.","Soccer-Australia's next goal is to instil the fear factor. By Keith Weir CURITIBA, Brazil, June 22 (Reuters) - Feared as tough opponents in many sports, Australia are aiming to build the same reputation in soccer after a creditable showing at the World Cup. Australia are out of the tournament but want to show that their narrow 3-2 defeat by the highly-rated Dutch was not just a flash in the pan when they face deposed champions Spain on Monday before both teams head for home. \"We've got plenty to play for,\" coach Ange Postecoglou told a news conference on Sunday. \"This is our fourth World Cup and we've only won two World Cup games,\" he added.","China says it 'rescues' 82 children from Xinjiang religious schools. A sweep on illegal religious activity in the capital of China's unruly far western region of Xinjiang has resulted in 82 children being \"rescued\" from unlicensed Islamic schools and the seizure of religious clothing, a state-run newspaper said on Saturday. Xinjiang, home to the Muslim Uighur people who speak a Turkic language, has been beset for years by violence that the Chinese government blames on Islamist militants and separatists. Hundreds have died in violence in Xinjiang in the past 18 months, prompting a sweeping crackdown by the government, including on religious activities. The latest campaign, in Xinjiang's capital Urumqi, resulted not only in the \"rescue\" of the children from religious schools known as madrassas, but closure of 27 places used for \"underground\" preaching and detention of 44 illegal imams, the official Xinjiang Daily reported.","'One Heart' radio's rare voice for peace in C.Africa. Bambari (Central African Republic) (AFP) - The premises of Be-Oko (\"One Heart\") radio in the town of Bambari are miserable but its mission immense: amid brutal sectarian violence, its call for peace hopes to stop this town in the Central African Republic from tearing itself apart. In December 2012, this town in the centre of the country was ransacked by the mostly Muslim Seleka rebel group as it advanced towards the capital Bangui, where it would eventually seize power for several months. Be-Oko was no exception to the pillage suffered by the rest of Bambari. When one of his colleagues complained to the local Seleka leader -- a notorious figure nicknamed \"Bin Laden\" -- she was severely beaten.","TSX futures point to lower opening for Canadian stocks. (Reuters) - Canadian stock futures pointed a lower opening for the main index on Monday as global stocks slipped amid concerns about high-flying U.S. technology shares. June futures on the S&P TSX index were down 0.37 percent at 0715 ET. The index closed little changed on Friday as a decline in the financial sector after slightly weaker-than-expected U.S. jobs data helped offset strength in natural resource shares. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures were down 0.22 percent, S&P 500 futures were down 0.4 percent and Nasdaq 100 futures were down 0.75 percent. ...","Italy, US arrest 24 in mob drug smuggling case. NEW YORK (AP) — Authorities say a New York City man conspired with a powerful Italian organized crime syndicate in a drug trafficking plot that stretched across three continents.","Russia says no multilateral talks on Ukraine aid yet. MOSCOW (Reuters) - There are no multilateral talks on forming a financial aid package for Ukraine, Russian Deputy Finance Minister Sergei Storchak said on Wednesday, adding that a solution to Ukraine's economic crisis must be found quickly. Storchak told Reuters that if there were talks on a financial package for Ukraine, they were only taking place at a national level at the moment, and that high-level international groups of experts had yet to be formed. (reporting by Lidia Kelly, writing by Elizabeth Piper, editing by Katya Golubkova)","Dane joins in Philippines' bloody Easter crucifixions. San Fernando (Philippines) (AFP) - A Danish man joined eight Filipinos in re-enacting the death of Jesus Christ Friday by being nailed to crosses in a bloody annual Easter spectacle in the Philippines before thousands of surprised onlookers. But local residents were surprised to see the Dane, identified by a local tourism officer as 48-year-old filmmaker Lasse Spang Olsen, participate in an act restricted to Philippine citizens after a series of embarrassing incidents involving foreigners in the past. Onlookers were surprised to see him take part, with one saying: \"It's a foreigner, a foreigner\", while another man remarked: \"He didn't cry out.","Power outage hits Cairo subway, TV stations. CAIRO (AP) — An hours-long power outage in Cairo has halted many subway trains and knocked several TV channels off the air in the Egyptian capital.","Final push in 'historic' Iran nuclear talks. Iran nuclear talks enter the decisive, dangerous endgame Thursday with a marathon final round of hardball negotiations potentially going all the way to the July 20 finish line. The deal being sought by Iran and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany would finally ease fears of Tehran getting nuclear weapons -- and silence talk of war for good. \"In this troubled world, the chance does not often arise to reach an agreement peacefully that will meet the essential and publicly expressed needs of all sides, make the world safer, ease regional tensions and enable greater prosperity,\" US Secretary of State John Kerry said this week. \"In the next three weeks, we have a unique opportunity to make history,\" Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said in a video message released ahead of the talks.","Activists: IS shoots down warplane over Syria. BEIRUT (AP) — Activists say that Islamic State fighters have shot down a warplane believed to be from the U.S.-led coalition over Syria.","Unfit Ronaldo to miss Madrid's visit to Sociedad. MADRID (AP) — Cristiano Ronaldo won't play in Real Madrid's first away game of the Spanish league season after Portugal ruled him unfit for its opening 2016 European Championship qualifier.","Lawyer: US man fears return after treatment. PORTLAND, Oregon (AP) — An attorney for a man who claims he was tortured in the United Arab Emirates at the behest of the U.S. government says his client is too afraid to attempt to travel back to the United States.","Jailed Venezuela protest leader mocks Maduro's talks. By Andrew Cawthorne and Eyanir Chinea CARACAS (Reuters) - Imprisoned Venezuelan protest leader Leopoldo Lopez scoffed on Friday at President Nicolas Maduro's efforts to open talks with opponents and businessman after a month of demonstrations and violence that have killed at least 13 people. Maduro, 51, seems to have weathered the worst of an explosion of protests against his socialist government that exposed deep discontent with Venezuela's economic problems and brought the nation's worst unrest in a decade. Some students are still setting up roadblocks and clashing with police in Caracas and western Tachira state. To try to defuse the crisis further, Maduro and his top officials have been holding talks with business leaders and some anti-government politicians, though the main opposition figureheads such as Henrique Capriles have boycotted that.","TSX Futures point to a lower start for the week. Sep 22 - Canada's main stock index was set for a lower start on Monday with December futures on the S&P TSX index down 0.36 percent at 0730 ET. No major economic events are scheduled for the day. The Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index took its sharpest one-day hit in seven months on Friday to end the week down 1.7 percent. Dow Jones Industrial Average e-mini futures were down 0.21 percent at 0730 ET, S&P 500 e-mini futures were down 0.31 percent and Nasdaq 100 e-mini futures were down 0.34 percent. (Reporting by Nikhil Kumar; Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty)","Ukraine accuses Russia of 'undisguised aggression' as rebels advance. By Pavel Polityuk and Polina Devitt KIEV/MOSCOW (Reuters) - Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko accused Russia on Monday of \"direct and undisguised aggression\" which he said had radically changed the battlefield balance as Kiev's forces suffered a further reverse in their war with pro-Moscow separatists. In the latest in a string of setbacks in the past week, Ukraine's military said it had pulled back from defending a vital airport in the east of the country, near the city of Luhansk, where troops had been battling a Russian tank battalion. Poroshenko said in a speech there would be high-level personnel changes in the Ukrainian armed forces, whose troops fled a new rebel advance in the south which Kiev and its Western allies say has been backed up by Russian armored columns. Russian President Vladimir Putin, who called on Sunday for immediate negotiations on the \"statehood\" of southern and eastern Ukraine, blamed Kiev's leadership for refusing to enter into direct political talks with the separatists.","Asia marks 10 years since Indian Ocean tsunami. KHAO LAK, Thailand (AP) — Beachside memorials and religious services were planned across Asia to mark 10 years since the Indian Ocean tsunami slammed into a dozen nations and killed nearly a quarter million people.","Iran's Khamenei says nuclear talks show U.S. enmity. Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Thursday that nuclear negotiations with world powers had revealed U.S. enmity towards the Islamic state. Khamenei was speaking hours before the resumption of talks between Iran and the European Union in Geneva. \"We had announced previously that on certain issues, if we feel it is expedient, we would negotiate with the Satan (the United States) to deter its evil,\" Khamenei told a gathering, reported by the official IRNA news agency. \"The nuclear talks showed the enmity of America against Iran, Iranians, Islam and Muslims.\" Talks between Iran and the EU started in Geneva on Thursday to discuss the practical details of implementing a nuclear agreement reached in Geneva in November, an EU spokeswoman in Brussels said.","Uber ordered to cease operations in Thailand, under scrutiny in Vietnam. BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thailand has ordered U.S. online taxi booking company Uber to cease operations, on the same day taxi apps were banned in the Indian capital New Delhi where an Uber driver is under arrest for suspected rape.","Button hits back at McLaren boss. SILVERSTONE, England (AP) — Jenson Button has hit back at his McLaren team boss Ron Dennis for saying the 2009 world champion needs to try harder to be more successful.","McIlroy docked two shots as Lee leads Abu Dhabi golf. Rory McIlroy on Saturday became the latest star to get into a rules controversy at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship, the world number seven docked two shots for taking an incorrect drop. He was found in breach of Rule 25-1 for not taking a full relief from a spectatorâ s crossing on the second hole of the Abu Dhabi Golf Club. Last year, Tiger Woods was penalized two shots for taking a wrong drop in the same tournament, thus missing the cut by one, and in 2011, Padraig Harrington was disqualified for moving the ball.","Euro zone factories end 2013 on a high, but France a worry: PMIs. Euro zone manufacturing grew at the fastest rate since mid-2011 in December on brisk business in Germany and Italy, setting the stage for a solid start to the year after a tumultuous 2013, a survey showed on Thursday. Markit's Eurozone Manufacturing Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) rose to 52.7 in December from November's 51.6, confirming an early estimate and marking its best reading in 31 months. New orders piled in at the fastest pace since April 2011, and a near two-year stretch of job cuts across euro zone factories almost came to an end last month. Looking at individual countries in the region, the mood was largely positive, with the exception of France.","23 killed in feud between families in south Egypt. LUXOR, Egypt (AP) — A bloody feud in Egypt's southern Aswan province between an Arab clan and a Nubian family has killed at least 23 people in two days of fighting, leaving bodies strewn on hospital floors and homes torched in its wake, government officials and witnesses said Saturday.","After Lebanon blasts, an app to tell loved ones 'I am alive!'. \"I am Alive,\" is the somewhat macabre brainchild of 26-year-old Sandra Hassan, a Lebanese masters student living in Paris. It allows users to quickly tweet a standard message after an attack: \"I am still alive!\" with the hashtags #Lebanon and #LatestBombing. Hassan uploaded the smartphone app on Tuesday, in the wake of a suicide car bomb in the southern Beirut suburb of Haret Hreik that killed four people. The blast was the third to hit Lebanon this month, coming after a car bomb in the northern town of Hermel and an earlier bombing that also targeted Haret Hreik.","Martoma cannot use testimony from SAC's Cohen at trial: judge. Mathew Martoma, a former SAC Capital Advisors portfolio manager on trial on charges of insider trading, cannot introduce excerpts from a deposition of his former boss, billionaire Steven A. Cohen, a federal judge ruled on Wednesday. U.S. District Judge Paul Gardephe in Manhattan also rejected Martoma's bid to exclude evidence about his role in SAC's trading in drugmakers Elan Corp and Wyeth, saying it presents questions of facts that jurors should resolve. Federal prosecutors have charged Martoma with arranging trades in Elan and Wyeth, which is now part of Pfizer Inc, based on confidential information from two doctors involved in a clinical trial of an Alzheimer's drug.","Islamic State seizes large areas of Syrian town despite air strikes. By Daren Butler and Oliver Holmes MURSITPINAR Turkey/BEIRUT (Reuters) - Islamic State fighters seized more than a third of the Syrian border town of Kobani, a monitoring group said on Thursday, as U.S.-led air strikes failed to halt their advance and Turkish forces looked on without intervening. With Washington ruling out a ground operation in Syria, Turkey said it was unrealistic to expect it to mount a cross-border operation alone to relieve the mainly Kurdish town. The U.S. ...","US, Europe impose tough new sanctions on Russia. WASHINGTON (AP) — Spurred to action by the downing of the Malaysian airliner, the European Union approved dramatically tougher economic sanctions Tuesday against Russia, including an arms embargo and restrictions on state-owned banks. President Barack Obama swiftly followed with an expansion of U.S. penalties targeting key sectors of the Russian economy.","Canadian inflation ticks up to 2.4%. Canadian consumer prices rose 2.4 percent in June, inching up from the 2.3 percent annual rate in May, Statistics Canada said Friday. The June uptick in the consumer price index (CPI) was based on across-the-board price increases, and met analyst expectations.","Southampton suspend Osvaldo for two weeks. Southampton have suspended record signing Dani Osvaldo for two weeks after an incident at the club's training ground, the Premier League side announced Thursday. The Saints did not disclose the details of the incident but Southampton's Southern Daily Echo newspaper reported Osvaldo had been involved in an incident with his team-mate, Jose Fonte, during a session at the club's Staplewood training ground on Wednesday. Earlier this month Osvaldo was suspended by the Football Association for three matches following his part in a touchline brawl at Newcastle on December 14. A club statement issued Thursday said: \"Southampton Football Club has today suspended striker Dani Osvaldo for two weeks, following an incident at the club's Staplewood training ground.","Vettel's winning streak ends in Australia. By Ian Ransom MELBOURNE (Reuters) - Sebastian Vettel's record run of nine consecutive race victories ended on Sunday when the quadruple world champion retired his Red Bull from the season-opening Australian Grand Prix with a reliability problem. Vettel told his team over the radio before the race started that \"the engine is not running smoothly\" and after a few laps around Albert Park circuit headed back to the pits. Vettel's retirement snapped a winning streak that started at the Belgian Grand Prix in August. Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton, the last driver to beat Vettel when he won the Hungarian Grand Prix in July, also retired on Sunday with an engine problem.","Christian rivals find unity in Nativity church restoration. Bethlehem (Palestinian Territories) (AFP) - When Pope Francis visits Bethlehem in May he will see scaffolding covering the roof of the Church of the Nativity. Following a historic agreement between the Palestinian Authority and the three churches that administer the site in an uneasy partnership, repairing the roof was designated as a priority. Marcello Piacenti, leader of the Italian-Palestinian renovation team, said that, \"damaged by fungus and damp, the wood fractures easily in places. The oldest beams date to 1470 when the Franciscans, the Roman Catholic Church's guardians of holy places, brought from Venice a shipment of larch, a weather-resistant resinous wood.","Quake of 5.8 magnitude hits Cephalonia island in western Greece. A strong earthquake rocked the island of Cephalonia in western Greece on Sunday but there were no immediate reports of casualties or serious damage, police and fire brigade officials said. The 5.8 magnitude quake struck at 3:55 p.m., according to the Athens Geodynamic Institute. The tremor was felt across western Greece, the Geodynamic Institute said. So far we have no reports of injuries but there are reports of damage in the road network and in homes, but (it is) ... not major,\" a police official on the Ionian Sea island told Reuters.","EU aid to Africa comes as carrot, not stick: Commissioner. Brussels (AFP) - The head of the EU's huge aid programme to Africa warned on Tuesday that tying investment on the continent to democratic reforms risked backfiring if viewed as neo-colonialism.","For Assad, U.S. plan will weaken one foe but bolster others. By Tom Perry and Alexander Dziadosz BEIRUT (Reuters) - By striking Islamic State in Syria, the United States would be weakening one of President Bashar al-Assad's major enemies. Eventually, a unified opposition better able to stand its ground could create new momentum for a stalled diplomatic track involving both the West and Assad's main allies, Russia and Iran which are also alarmed by the rise of Islamic State.","Cuba slashes more than 100,000 health care jobs. HAVANA (AP) — Cuban authorities say they have eliminated more than 100,000 jobs in health care, considered one of the \"pillars\" of the 1959 revolution.","Davydenko confirms retirement from tennis. MOSCOW (AP) — Former third-ranked player Nikolay Davydenko has confirmed his retirement from tennis.","Marine Le Pen could knock out Socialists in French president race: poll. French far-right leader Marine Le Pen would reach the final round of a presidential election if voters were to vote now, winning more votes than any mainstream party in the first round, a poll showed on Thursday. The survey by pollster IFOP showed Le Pen winning 26 percent of all votes in round one of the two-round election, versus 17 percent for either President Francois Hollande or his more popular prime minister, Manuel Valls. Le Pen, whose anti-European Union, anti-immigration party won most votes in the European Parliament election in May, would also get more votes in the first round than conservative ex-president Nicolas Sarkozy, whom the poll showed winning 25 percent of total votes.","US officials probe illnesses on Caribbean cruise. KINGSTON, Jamaica (AP) — U.S. health officials will board a cruise ship docked in the U.S. Virgin Islands to investigate an illness outbreak that has stricken at least 300 people with gastrointestinal symptoms including vomiting and diarrhea, a cruise company spokeswoman said Sunday.","U.S., allies conduct 12 air strikes against Islamic State: Task Force. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States and its allies carried out 12 air strikes against Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria on Saturday, the Combined Joint Task Force said. Six strikes near the Syrian town of Kobani on the Turkish border destroyed Islamic State buildings, fighting positions and vehicles, a task force statement said. In Iraq, targets including buildings, vehicles and an Islamic State refinery were hit in six strikes near Al Asad, Mosul, Falluja, Al Qaim and Baiji, it said. (Reporting by Mohammad Zargham; Editing by Toby Chopra)","Angry Pakistani passengers throw politician off plane. ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Fed up with constant delays and flight cancellations, disgruntled Pakistani passengers prevented a senior politician from boarding an airplane after he turned up at least two hours late for the flight. A video posted online on Tuesday shows a group of passengers shouting \"Shame on you\" as they blocked Rehman Malik, an influential former interior minister, from entering the plane and then chasing him back to the terminal building. ...","Thousands denounce HSBC board member's likening of Hong Kong people to freed slaves. HONG KONG (Reuters) - Thousands have signed an online petition denouncing reported comments by an HSBC Holdings board member in which she likened Hong Kong protesters' demands for democracy to the emancipation of slaves. Laura Cha, who is also a member of Hong Kong's policy-making Executive Council, chairwoman of the city's Financial Services Development Council and a member of China's parliament, reportedly made the comments at an event in Paris. ...","Iraq security forces 'preparing major attack' on Fallujah. Iraqi security forces are preparing a \"major attack\" to retake the city of Fallujah from Al-Qaeda-linked militants, a senior government official said on Sunday. \"Iraqi forces are preparing for a major attack in Fallujah,\" the official told AFP. Special forces had already conducted operations in the city, and the army was deployed around it to allow residents to leave, the official said. Then security forces would launch \"the attack to crush the terrorists\".","Benedict joins Francis in historic 1st ceremony. VATICAN CITY (AP) — Retired Pope Benedict XVI joined Pope Francis at a ceremony Saturday creating the cardinals who will elect their successor in an unprecedented blending of papacies past, present and future.","Berlin distances itself from ex-leader after Putin party. The German government distanced itself from former chancellor Gerhard Schroeder Tuesday after he was spotted exchanging hugs in Saint Petersburg with Russian President Vladimir Putin as the Ukraine crisis rages. A senior advisor to Chancellor Angela Merkel said Schroeder, her Social Democrat predecessor in office, had \"no mandate whatsoever from the government\" to meet with Putin after the two men attended a party together. An AFP correspondent saw Putin and Schroeder, longtime friends, greeting each other warmly at the historic Yusupov palace, an official residence in Saint Petersburg, amid Russia's worst standoff with the West since the Cold War.","Juventus shows dominance with 2-0 win at AC Milan. ROME (AP) — Fernando Llorente and Carlos Tevez scored either side of halftime as Juventus asserted its dominance in Serie A with a 2-0 win at AC Milan on Sunday.","Osisko settles lawsuit with Goldcorp, will allow due diligence. (Reuters) - Osisko Mining Corp said it agreed to settle its lawsuit against Goldcorp Inc and would allow Goldcorp to conduct due diligence related to the larger miner's hostile C$2.6 billion ($2.35 billion) bid for Osisko. Montreal-based Osisko's lawsuit filed in January alleged that Goldcorp \"misused confidential information\" and acted against confidentiality agreement terms. Osisko said on Monday that Goldcorp had agreed to not take up and pay - before April 15 - for any shares tendered under its hostile bid. In return, Osisko will waive the application of its shareholder rights plan for a limited period.","Injured Atletico back Filipe Luis may miss 6 weeks. MADRID (AP) — Atletico Madrid endured its first real injury blow to its impressive season on Thursday after it was revealed back Filipe Luis could be out for up to six weeks with a hamstring injury.","Australia beat South Africa by two wickets to win T20 series. Sydney (AFP) - Australia beat South Africa by two wickets to win the final Twenty 20 international and the series in Sydney on Sunday.","Del Potro through to quarterfinals at ABN Amro. ROTTERDAM, Netherlands (AP) — Top-seeded Juan Martin del Potro has beaten France's Paul-Henri Mathieu 6-2, 7-6 (2) to book his berth in the quarterfinals of the ABN Amro tournament in Rotterdam.","Suspected Liberian gunmen attack Ivorian border town. By Ange Aboa and Joe Bavier ABIDJAN (Reuters) - At least four Ivorian soldiers and several attackers were killed when suspected gunmen from Liberia raided a border town in the west of the country, authorities said on Sunday. Gunmen from Liberia have carried out several assaults on towns near the border in recent years which the government and the United Nations have blamed on allies of former president Laurent Gbagbo. Ivory Coast, the world's top cocoa producing nation, is recovering from a decade-long political crisis that culminated in 2011 in a brief civil war after Gbagbo refused to accept his election defeat to Alassane Ouattara. Ivory Coast defense minister Paul Koffi Koffi told Reuters that the latest attack took place early on Sunday in the small town of Grabo, but the situation was now under control.","Russia has no major racism problem, says minister. MOSCOW (AP) — Russia has no particular problem with racism in football as it prepares to host the 2018 World Cup— despite a series of recent incidents, Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko says Wednesday.","Boeing offering 'black phone' for secure communications. By Alwyn Scott NEW YORK (Reuters) - Boeing Co said on Wednesday it has begun offering a specialized mobile phone aimed at government agencies and contractors who need to keep communication and data secure. The Boeing Black Smartphone is based on Google Inc's Android operating system and built into a black, tamper-proof handset capable of accessing multiple cell networks instead of a single network like a normal cellphone, according to Boeing and filings with the U.S. Federal Communications Commission. The secure phone marks an extension of the communications arm of the Chicago-based aerospace and defense contractor, which is best known for jetliners and fighter planes. Though the phone is not yet commercially available, Boeing is talking to potential customers after 36 months spent developing the device, said Boeing spokeswoman Rebecca Yeamans.\" \"We saw a need for our customers in a certain market space\" that Boeing could meet with its technology expertise, she said.","EU lays groundwork for sanctions on Russian companies. By Justyna Pawlak and Tom Körkemeier BRUSSELS (Reuters) - European Union governments have laid the groundwork for possible sanctions against Russian companies, including energy giants, over Ukraine, but diplomats say there is little appetite for now to impose any far-reaching measures. Senior EU diplomats reached a preliminary agreement late on Wednesday to expand the legal criteria for imposing sanctions on Russia, with the goal of making it easier to freeze the assets of companies involved in the Ukraine crisis. Decisions on which companies to target could come as soon as Monday, but EU officials stressed the scope of new sanctions would be limited to firms or entities, if any, that were linked to Russia's annexation of the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea. \\\\\"It is related to Crimea ... to what we have witnessed there,\\\\\" a senior EU official told reporters.","Australia beat England by 13 runs in T20. Hobart (Australia) (AFP) - England lost the opening Twenty20 international in Hobart on Wednesday after narrowly failing to chase down Australia's massive 214-run target. But some prodigious late hitting by Ravi Bopara got England to within 13 runs of the target at the finish. Australia won the Ashes Test series 5-0 and the ODI series 4-1 before the three-game T20 series began. Cameron White was named man-of-the-match for his 75 off 43 balls as Australia set England 214 to win.","Kohlschreiber, Monaco advance at Duesseldorf Open. DUESSELDORF, Germany (AP) — Top-seeded Philipp Kohlschreiber cruised into the third round of the Duesseldorf Open by beating Teymuraz Gabashvili 6-3, 6-1 on Wednesday.","China busts smugglers of iPhone 6 in Shanghai. BEIJING (AP) — China in recent days has busted a slew of smugglers bringing Apple iPhone 6 models into the country ahead of their official release here. State media on Sunday announced the latest seizure of 453 smartphones in Shanghai.","Chand allowed to participate in domestic events. NEW DELHI (AP) — Indian athlete Dutee Chand will be allowed to compete in domestic competitions pending a final decision by the Court of Arbitration for Sport on her appeal against a suspension owing to high level of male hormones.","'Houses are bouncing;' quakes trigger controls on Oklahoma oil industry. By Carey Gillam GUTHRIE Oklahoma (Reuters) - Inside the small U-Haul rental office in Guthrie, Oklahoma, Tami Boxley routinely deals with something that once was rare: the rattling, booming roll of the earth. 10,191, have felt five quakes rock the town a half hour's drive from Oklahoma City. \"It's scary.\" Since January, Oklahoma has had 292 earthquakes that register a magnitude 3.0 or larger, more than any other state in the continental United States. Through 2008, Oklahoma averaged less than two a year.[http://link.reuters.com/vyg62w] The unprecedented earthquake activity has put Oklahoma in the center of an emerging debate over whether the disposal of wastewater from oil and gas production triggers earthquakes.","Dortmund windfall through share, sponsorship deal. DORTMUND, Germany (AP) — Main sponsor Evonik has taken a nine percent stake in Borussia Dortmund through a capital increase that raises 26.7 million euros ($36.5 million) for the Bundesliga club.","India's Modi: Will work hard for the good of all. NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Hindu nationalist Narendra Modi said on Friday that he would work for the good of all Indians after his opposition party's resounding general election victory. \"To run the government it is our responsibility to take everyone along,\" the prime minister-elect said in his constituency of Vadodara, promising also to work with opposition parties. Modi is polarizing figure, whose supporters see him as India's best chance of reversing the country's sharp economic slowdown. Critics say he is an autocrat with Hindu supremacist views. ...","Magnitude 5 earthquake kills 1 in Pakistan. KARACHI, Pakistan (AP) — A moderate earthquake rattled several towns in southern Pakistan before dawn Friday, killing one person and wounding 70, a government official said.","Windies tops England by 5 wickets, wins T20 series. BRIDGETOWN, Barbados (AP) — Medium-pacer Krishmar Santokie claimed 4-21 to limit England and captain Darren Sammy slammed an unbeaten 30 off nine balls to power West Indies home by five wickets in the second Twenty20 on Tuesday.","Ronaldo shakes off injury fears to play Bayern. MADRID (AP) — Cristiano Ronaldo shook off his injury fears to make a winning return for Real Madrid against Bayern Munich in the Champions League on Wednesday.","Some barricades cleared from HK protest site. HONG KONG (AP) — Backed by a court order, workers removed some barricades on Tuesday from a Hong Kong democracy protest site where activists have camped out for nearly two months in a standoff with authorities.","World stocks mostly higher ahead of Fed statement. KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — World stock markets were mostly higher Wednesday, buoyed by hopes that the Federal Reserve will not speed up plans to raise interest rates and reports that China is providing extra liquidity to major state banks.","Tunisia could hold elections 'in November'. Tunisia could hold legislative and presidential elections in November, the chairman of the electoral commission said on Friday, a day after parliament adopted a law to organise the polls. \"In principle, the first round could take place in November, if they (both elections) are at the same time, with a second round in December,\" Chafik Sarsar told Express FM radio. While Tunisia's leadership is committed to holding general election before year-end, there is disagreement over whether the legislative and presidential polls should be held simultaneously. On Thursday, the interim parliament approved the new electoral law after an often rowdy debate.","Senators get no clear answers on air bag safety. WASHINGTON (AP) — There were apologies and long-winded explanations, but after nearly four hours of testimony about exploding Takata air bags, senators never got a clear answer to the question most people have: whether or not their cars are safe.","Labor laws broken at Rio Olympic venues. SAO PAULO (AP) — Brazil's Labor Ministry says labor laws have been broken and health and safety standards not met in construction of the Olympic Park and athletes village for the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.","Two blasts rock market in central Nigeria city. Lagos (AFP) - Two blasts hit a crowded market Tuesday in Nigeria's central city of Jos, the area governor's spokesman said, but there was no immediate report on casualties.","Yahoo stock surges in anticipation of Alibaba IPO. SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Yahoo is benefiting once again from its stake in China's hottest Internet company, Alibaba Group.","Chile invokes anti-terrorism laws after device explodes in subway. The Chilean government said on Tuesday it will invoke anti-terrorist laws in the investigation and prosecution of those responsible for the explosion of a homemade device on a Santiago subway train late Sunday night. The incendiary device, which had been placed inside a backpack, caused minor damage and no injuries. Interior Minister Rodrigo Penailillo said on Tuesday that the government has decided the attack was serious and subject to the anti-terrorism laws. The laws, which date from the 1973-90 rule of dictator Augusto Pinochet, give prosecutors more powers and allow for harsher sentencing.","Kin of 9/11 hijacker to face judge in Guantanamo. MIAMI (AP) — The U.S. military is moving forward with a war crimes case against a Guantanamo prisoner related to a Sept. 11 hijacker.","Water everywhere for DR Congo city yet scarcely a drop to drink. Goma, a city in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, sits by one of the world's largest freshwater reservoirs and has some of Africa's heaviest annual rainfall, yet it is a thirsty place. Most of the city's one million residents, living close to the shores of Lake Kivu, have to struggle every day to fetch water home.","100 million people saved from hunger over last decade: UN. The number of hungry people in the world has dropped by 100 million over the last 10 years but one in nine are still undernourished, with Asia home to the majority of the underfed, the UN said on Tuesday.","Lawyer: Teen declared brain dead has received feeding and breathing tubes at unnamed facility. OAKLAND, Calif. - A 13-year-old California girl who was declared brain dead after suffering complications from sleep apnea surgery has been given the feeding and breathing tubes that her family had been trying to obtain for weeks.","Australian given death penalty in Vietnam for heroin smuggling. An Australian of Vietnamese origin has been given the death penalty after trying to smuggle four kilograms (8.8 lbs) of heroin out of the country, state media in the communist nation said Saturday. Pham Trung Dung, 37, was caught with two suitcases containing the heroin at Tan Son Nhat airport in May last year while trying to return to Australia with his wife and children. Vietnam has some of the world's toughest anti-drug laws. Anyone found guilty of possessing more than 600 grams (20 ounces) of heroin, or more than 20 kilos of opium, can face death.","Ex-India PM immune from some claims of Sikh genocide: U.S. judge. Former Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is immune from claims that he supported the genocide of Sikhs during his decade leading the country, a federal judge has ruled. District Judge James Boasberg in the District of Columbia said on Tuesday, Singh, who resigned in May, did not have \"head-of-state immunity\" from claims arising from his time as India's finance minister. Inderjit Singh, an Indian Sikh, claimed in the 2013 suit that as finance minister from 1991 to 1996, Manmohan Singh funded cash rewards for members of the military who murdered Sikhs. Boasberg said U.S.","U.S. drones killed no more than four civilians in Pakistan in 2013: study. By Katharine Houreld ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - U.S. CIA drone strikes against militants in Pakistan killed no more than four civilians last year, according to an annual study by a British-based organization, the lowest number of reported civilian deaths since the drone program began in 2004. The study by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism released this month showed that the number of civilian casualties stood at between zero and four. Information issued by Pakistan's government is patchy. The Bureau tracked 27 suspected strikes, using news reports, field investigations and research by Amnesty International.","Security tight on eve of Tiananmen anniversary. BEIJING (AP) — Beijing has launched a security crackdown on the eve of the 25th anniversary of the crushing of pro-democracy protests centered on the capital's Tiananmen Square.","Ecclestone: Crowdfunding idea a 'disaster' for F1. SAO PAULO (AP) — Formula One commercial boss Bernie Ecclestone has called Caterham's decision to launch a crowdfunding project to return to racing a \"disaster.\"","WHO backs use of experimental Ebola drugs in West Africa outbreak. GENEVA (Reuters) - A World Health Organization panel of medical ethics experts ruled on Tuesday that it is ethical to offer unproven drugs or vaccines as potential treatments or preventions in West Africa's deadly Ebola outbreak. (Reporting by Kate Kelland and Stephanie Nebehay, editing by Ben Hirschler)","Ukraine's Poroshenko orders extra army units to protect cities from possible assault. KIEV (Reuters) - Ukraine's President Petro Poroshenko said on Tuesday he had ordered his military chiefs to send in new army units to protect cities in the east and southeast from possible attack by Russian-backed separatists, Interfax news agency said. \"Several new (military) units and groups have been formed which will allow immediately for a possible offensive on Mariupol, Berdyansk, Kharkiv and northern Luhansk,\" Poroshenko said at a meeting of the national security and defense council. ...","Rosberg takes pole ahead of Hamilton. Nico Rosberg took pole position for Sunday's Canadian Grand Prix with a commanding demonstration of speed as he outpaced his Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton in a thrilling conclusion to Saturday's qualifying session. Two weeks after his controversial pole at the Monaco Grand Prix, Rosberg drove with flawless control to edge beyond his team-mate and nearest title rival by just 0.079 seconds. The 28-year-old German secured his second successive pole, his third this year and the seventh of his career with a best lap time of one minute and 14.874 seconds to shatter the impression that the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve would see Hamilton regain supremacy over this team-mate.","World Food Program can't meet demand in Syria. CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — A United Nations official says aid agencies have been overwhelmed by demand for food in Syria, with thousands surviving without a regular supply of nourishment for more than a year because of civil war in the Middle Eastern country.","IMF extends talks with Ukraine on aid package. The International Monetary Fund on Thursday extended talks IMF officials are holding with Ukraine on an aid package until March 25, saying progress had been made but more time was needed to wrap up the mission. \"The mission has made significant progress in discussing with the Ukrainian authorities the policies to put the country on the path of economic reform, sound governance, and sustainable growth while protecting the poor and vulnerable,\" IMF mission chief Nikolay Gueorguiev said in a statement.","Cameroon vows 'never' to provide haven for insurgents. Cameroon vowed it would \"never allow\" militants to use its territory to destabilise neighbour Nigeria, which is facing an Islamist insurgency that has claimed thousands of lives, according to an official statement released on Friday. Emmanuel Sadi Rene, minister of interior and special envoy of Cameroonian President Paul Biya, gave the pledge when he delivered a message from his leader to President Goodluck Jonathan in the Nigerian capital of Abuja, it said. \"He (Rene) also assured President Jonathan that the Cameroonian Government will never allow its territory to become a safe haven for terrorists or a base for the destabilisation of Nigeria,\" said the statement from Jonathan's office. Rene also conveyed Biya’s assurance that Cameroon was committed to cooperating fully with Nigeria \"to combat all forms of terrorism and cross-border criminality\".","Top Asian News at 7:30 a.m. GMT. BANGKOK (AP) — Thailand's prime minister was ordered to step down Wednesday along with part of her Cabinet after the Constitutional Court found her guilty in an abuse of power case, pushing the country deeper into political turmoil. Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra was charged with abusing her authority by transferring a senior civil servant in 2011 to another position. The court ruled that the transfer was carried out to benefit her politically powerful family and, therefore, violated the constitution — an accusation she has denied.","Credit Suisse profits down 34 percent. FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — Swiss bank Credit Suisse says its net profit fell 34 percent in the first quarter, more than expected, as bond-market woes hurt earnings at its investment banking business.","Iran says nuclear talks 'very successful' in clarifying issues. DUBAI (Reuters) - Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif said nuclear talks with six world powers this week were \"very successful\" in terms of clarifying the issues involved, Iran's official IRNA news agency reported on Thursday. \"In terms of understanding and clarification, Vienna-2 was among our very successful round of talks ... extremely beneficial and constructive,\" the news agency quoted him as saying. He added that until he had examined the minutes of the discussions it was not possible to say exactly how far the opinions of the two sides differed. ...","Christmas pilgrims gather in Bethlehem after hard year. Bethlehem (Palestinian Territories) (AFP) - Pilgrims from across the world descended on Jesus's birthplace in Bethlehem Wednesday to begin the global celebration of Christmas after a violence-plagued year brought suffering to many Middle Eastern Christians.","Toyota's most rugged Land Cruiser is back in Japan. TOKYO (AP) — Toyota Motor Corp. is bringing back the Land Cruiser 70 in Japan, catering to nostalgic demand for the rugged off-road vehicle.","Ukraine authorities say separatists holding 60 people in Luhansk building. Ukraine's state security service on Tuesday said that pro-Russian separatists have placed explosives in a building they seized in the eastern city of Luhansk and are using weapons to hold around 60 people against their will. Pro-Russian separatists occupied the SBU building on Sunday evening in one of a series of attacks in the east of the country. \"The anti-terror group of the security services of Ukraine (SBU) .. has established that the criminals have mined the building ... and are holding around 60 people, threatening them with weapons and explosives,\" the SBU said in a statement.","Jordan probes murder of Syrian rebel commander. Jordan is probing the murder of a Syrian rebel commander in the capital Amman, a security official said Sunday, as the opposition blamed the Damascus regime for his killing. Maher Rahhal, who headed the Liwa al-Mujahideen Brigade, one of the groups fighting the forces of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, \"was shot twice in Abu Nseir district\" in Amman late Friday, the official said. The opposition Syrian National Coalition condemned the killing in a statement posted on its official website, and said it holds the Assad government \"responsible for this crime.\"","Lawmakers threaten Ex-Im Bank subpoena in oversight rebuff. By Mark Felsenthal WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Top members of the House of Representatives Financial Services panel are threatening to subpoena the U.S. Export-Bank over the bank's refusal to make three employees available for questioning as Congress considers whether to renew the bank's charter. Chairman Jeb Hensarling and Representative Patrick McHenry, who chairs an oversight subcommittee, also expressed sharply worded disapproval that the bank had heavily redacted meeting transcripts sought by lawmakers. Another panel, the House Oversight Committee, had also requested documents on allegations that bank officials were suspended or removed as investigators looked into charges of improper gifts or kickbacks.","Barclays' boss treads fine line in investment bank review. By Steve Slater LONDON (Reuters) - Barclays' Chief Executive Antony Jenkins is facing a high-wire act to overhaul the firm's investment bank without undermining a division that contributes about half of group profits. Jenkins, criticized by investors and politicians for raising bonuses this year despite a big fall in earnings, has embarked on the third review of the investment bank in as many years in response to pressure to cut costs and improve returns, which lag other parts of the business such as Barclaycard. Analysts predict this might lead to a cut in the investment bank's size of up to 20 percent. On a four or five year view, the investment bank could probably halve.\" Despite his description of the investment bank as \"an essential part\" of Barclays, investors and analysts expect Jenkins, a retail banker, to pull out of areas where the bank lacks the scale to compete against Wall Street majors.","Canadians honor war dead weeks after terror attacks. Tens of thousands gathered at Canada's national war memorial Tuesday to remember the nation's war dead, weeks after an attack here claimed a soldier's life. The near-record attendance for a Remembrance Day ceremony in Ottawa included Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who cut short an official visit to China to be here, as well as Britain's Princess Anne. Corporal Branden Stevenson, a ceremonial guard who survived the October 22 lone wolf attack at the memorial that claimed the life of his friend Corporal Nathan Cirillo, was also present.","US OPEN SCENE: Rain comes too late for Sharapova. NEW YORK (AP) — The rain came too late for Maria Sharapova.","West Brom beats West Ham 1-0. WEST BROMWICH, England (AP) — West Bromwich Albion took a major step toward Premier League survival after Saido Berahino clinched a 1-0 victory over West Ham on Saturday.","U.S. isolates troops, Australia slaps visa ban on Ebola-hit West Africa states. By Phil Stewart and Matt Siegel WASHINGTON/SYDNEY (Reuters) - The U.S. military has started isolating soldiers returning from an Ebola response mission in West Africa and Australia became the first rich nation to impose a visa ban on the affected countries amid global anxiety about the spread of the virus. The latest measures, along with decisions by some U.S. states to impose mandatory quarantines on health workers returning home from treating Ebola victims in West Africa, have been condemned by health authorities and the United Nations as extreme. ...","Killing of 7 marks rise of Mexico drug corridor. HERMOSILLO, Mexico (AP) — The shooting deaths of seven men near the Mexico-Arizona border dramatize what appears to be an escalating use of the once-calm stretch of border as a drug trafficking corridor.","Honeymoon murder 'fixer' says he phoned Dewani before killing. A man jailed for killing British businessman Shrien Dewani's wife during their Cape Town honeymoon said Wednesday they spoke shortly before the murder to discuss payment. The testimony came after the Cape Town high court was shown footage of meetings between Dewani and taxi driver Zola Tongo captured on a hotel close circuit TV in which Dewani is seen handing a parcel believed to be money to Tongo. Tongo told the court Wednesday that he had phoned Dewani on the night of his wife's shooting to ask about payment as his accomplices wanted to know where the money would be left. Tongo said Dewani told him he would put the money in the pouch behind the front seat of Tongo's vehicle.","Hurricane Gonzalo strengthens, nears British Virgin Islands. SAN JUAN Puerto Rico (Reuters) - Hurricane Gonzalo strengthened as it churned through the Caribbean on Monday headed for the British Virgin Islands, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said. Gonzalo was about 5 miles (8 km) north of St. Maarten, the half-French, half-Dutch island, with maximum sustained winds of 80 miles per hour (130 km per hour), the center said. A hurricane warning was in effect for the British Virgin Islands, St. Maarten and Anguilla. Hurricane watches were in place for Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. ...","Victims of priest sex abuse say they'll push Chicago Archdiocese to release more documents. CHICAGO - Victims of childhood sexual abuse by priests vowed to keep pushing for more information on how allegations were handled by the Archdiocese of Chicago and other Catholic orders, and are encouraging other victims to come forward.","Leadership of revamped Portugal bank to resign. LISBON, Portugal (AP) — The leadership of Portugal's Novo Banco bank says it is resigning — just two months after being named to manage positive assets of the former Banco Espirito following its collapse and division into two parts under Portuguese government intervention.","China tells officials to fly discount on government travel. China has ordered officials to buy discount airfares for business trips, as part of Beijing's campaign to crack down on wasteful government spending. The new rules ban officials from travelling on full-price tickets and force domestic airlines to offer discounts of at least 12 percent. Government employees are also required to take domestic carriers as much as possible when traveling abroad, according to the rules jointly released by the Ministry of Finance and the Civil Administration of China on Tuesday. If domestic carriers do not provide a direct international service, officials should fly on a domestic carrier to a neighboring country and then transfer to a foreign carrier that can take them to the destination country, the rules state.","Pollard talks latest twist in long legal US saga. WASHINGTON (AP) — The arrest of Jonathan Pollard nearly 30 years ago set off an emotional legal saga that has confronted American presidents and Israeli prime ministers, wound through the courts and divided those who say the convicted spy has paid his debt to society and those who contend the damage he caused was incalculable.","Britain wins doubles to lead Italy in Davis Cup. NAPLES, Italy (AP) — Britain held off a comeback attempt from Italy to win the doubles match and take a 2-1 lead in their Davis Cup quarterfinal on Saturday.","5 things to know about Macedonia's election. SKOPJE, Macedonia (AP) — Macedonia holds presidential elections Sunday — its fifth since the Balkan country gained independence following the breakup of the former Yugoslavia in 1991. Here are five things to know about the poll and the country.","Germany sees no change in Crimea as action against Russia looms. The German government sees no substantial changes in the situation in Crimea, the Ukrainian region occupied by Russia, that would avoid sanctions against Moscow or permit a summit of G8 leaders in Sochi due in June to go ahead, Chancellor Angela Merkel's spokesman said on Wednesday. \"The German government continues to view the situation in Ukraine as alarming,\" said the chancellor's spokesman, Steffen Seibert, describing the situation in Crime as \"unacceptable\". European Union leaders meet in Brussels on Thursday to talk about possible measures against Russia if Moscow does not show signs of cooperation towards a diplomatic solution.","Russian military holds exercises in breakaway Moldova region: agency. Russia's military staged training exercises on Tuesday in Transdniestria, a breakaway sliver of Moldova that is a focus of tension following Russia's annexation of Ukraine's Crimea region. NATO's top military commander said on Sunday he was worried that Russia might have its eye on Transdniestria, a largely Russian-speaking region that borders western Ukraine, after seizing Crimea, which has a narrow ethnic Russian majority. The Interfax news agency quoted a spokesman for Russia's Western Military District, Colonel Oleg Kochetkov, as saying that Russian forces stationed in Transdniestria had \"conducted an anti-terrorism drill and practiced operations to rebuff an attack on their military base\".","Merkel ally warns SPD against own diplomacy towards Russia. BERLIN (Reuters) - A senior ally of German Chancellor Angela Merkel has warned the foreign minister and his fellow Social Democrats (SPD) against pursuing a more friendly approach towards Russia in the Ukraine crisis, according to Spiegel magazine. \"I know Mr (Frank-Walter) Steinmeier as a sensible diplomat. And we also need the dialogue with Russia,\" Horst Seehofer, leader of the Bavarian Christian Social Union (CSU), was quoted as saying in an interview published on Saturday. ...","Gorbachev hospitalised, 'determined to fight for life'. Moscow (AFP) - Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, 83, has been hospitalised but is determined to fight for his life, Russian press agencies reported Thursday.","Ukraine will not declare state of emergency -presidential aide. KIEV (Reuters) - A senior aide to President Viktor Yanukovich said on Tuesday there would be no declaration of a state of emergency to end the unrest in Ukraine that has brought violent confrontation between protesters and police in the capital. Asked by a journalist if the presidency was considering such a step, Andriy Klyuev, secretary of the National Council of Security and Defense, said: \"There will be no declaration of a state of emergency.\" (Reporting by Pavel Polityuk; Writing By Richard Balmforth; Editing by Mark Heinrich)","American Anya Alvarez leads NZ Women's Open. CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand (AP) — American Anya Alvarez had six birdies in an unblemished 66 to take a two-stroke lead after Saturday's second round of the New Zealand Women's Open, resisting a late charge from world No. 4 Lydia Ko.","Still no date for warship delivery to Russia: France. France's Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said Wednesday there was still no fixed date for the delivery of two Mistral-class warships to Russia. \"No delivery date can be fixed at this stage,\" Le Drian told the National Assembly lower house of parliament. France faces a difficult choice. Hopes that a September ceasefire between Ukrainian and pro-Russian forces might have provided a pretext for the deal to go ahead have been dashed by continued fighting and claims this week that Russia is sending more military hardware into Ukraine.","Sweden calls off search for mystery subs. Sweden called off a massive hunt Friday for at least one mystery foreign submarine in its waters that had worrying echoes of Cold War stand-offs, after calling the incursion \"unacceptable\". The search, which stirred up memories of cat-and-mouse games with suspected Soviet submarines along Sweden's long, rugged coastline before fall of the Berlin Wall, had involved battleships, minesweepers and helicopters as well as more than 200 troops. \"Our assessment is that there was at least one (vessel),\" Rear Admiral Anders Grenstad told reporters in Stockholm, saying it had now probably left. It was the first time the Swedish armed forces suggested that more than one vessel might have been operating in the Stockholm archipelago, whose 30,000 islands, islets and rocks make the area notoriously hard to patrol.","Shares of Russian companies traded in US plummet. NEW YORK (AP) — Shares of Russian companies traded in the U.S. are plummeting as the country's military forces stream into Ukraine, raising the possibility of sanctions by Western governments.","Iran policeman gets 3 years over death of blogger. TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran's semiofficial ISNA news agency is reporting that the policeman convicted of killing a blogger who died in custody in 2012 has been sentenced to three years in jail and another two in exile.","Halep loses to Muguruza at Wuhan Open. WUHAN, China (AP) — Garbine Muguruza knocked second-seeded Simona Halep out of the Wuhan Open on Tuesday, coming back for a 2-6, 6-2, 6-3 victory in the second round.","Putin says Russia is not a threat to anyone. SOCHI, Russia (Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday Russia would safeguard its own security and that of its allies but posed a threat to no one. \"We pose no threat to anyone and do not intend to get involved in any geopolitical games or intrigues, let alone conflicts, no matter who tries to draw us into them or how they do so,\" Putin told a meeting with military chiefs in his state residence in the Black Sea resort of Sochi. \"At the same time, it is indispensable to securely safeguard the sovereignty and integrity of Russia and the security of our allies. ...","Commonwealth Games - Singapore face Kiwis, Canada challenge in table tennis. - Singapore's men will face New Zealand in Saturday's quarter-finals of the team table tennis at the Commonwealth Games with the women coming up against Canada. New Zealand's top player Phillip Xiao accepts that his team, who beat Barbados 3-0 in the first round, face a tough struggle against Singapore. \"Our goal was to make the quarter-finals and we're very happy with that. Meanwhile, India's key man Sharath Kamal Achanta insists him and his team-mates can cope with the crowd after they reached the last eight with a 3-0 win over Malaysia.","Putin admits Russian troops in Crimea during referendum. Moscow (AFP) - Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday admitted for the first time that Russian soldiers were present on the Crimean peninsula before and during the referendum that backed rule from Moscow.","Blast near airport in Afghan capital, some casualties - Reuters witness. KABUL (Reuters) - A suicide bomber attacked a security checkpoint near the airport in Afghanistan's capital on Monday, minutes before new President Ashraf Ghani was sworn in, a member of the security forces said. There were casualties and a Reuters witness saw dead bodies at the scene. It was not clear how many people had been killed and wounded. The attack came as dignitaries gathered in Kabul for Ghani's inauguration. He is taking over from longtime leader Hamid Karzai at a crucial time as foreign forces prepare to leave and the fight against Taliban militants intensifies. ...","Tax expert: Bayern president dodged more taxes. MUNICH (AP) — Bayern Munich president Uli Hoeness may have evaded even more taxes than the 18.5 million euros ($25.7 million) he admitted to in court, an expert witness testified Tuesday.","Rebel fighter speaks out against east Ukraine separatist leaders. By Maria Tsvetkova DONETSK Ukraine (Reuters) - A 37-year-old rebel fighter in eastern Ukraine is speaking out against the separatist leadership, accusing them of adopting flashy lifestyles and pushing locals aside in a rebellion that has largely been taken over by Russians. The online post by Aleksander reflects simmering discontent among local people backing the self-proclaimed \"Donetsk People's Republic\" over the sidelining of its Ukrainian-born leaders. Interviewed by Reuters, Aleksander declined to give his full name for fear of reprisal. While the emerging strains in the rebel ranks do not reflect a change of heart in their bid to carve out autonomous pro-Russian enclaves in Ukraine, they do threaten the separatists' cohesion at a time when Kiev's troops are taking back ground.","Ukraine mobilizes after Putin's 'declaration of war'. By Natalia Zinets and Alissa de Carbonnel KIEV/BALACLAVA, Ukraine (Reuters) - Ukraine mobilized for war on Sunday and Washington threatened to isolate Russia economically after President Vladimir Putin declared he had the right to invade his neighbor in Moscow's biggest confrontation with the West since the Cold War. Yatsenuik heads a pro-Western government that took power in the former Soviet republic when its Moscow-backed president, Viktor Yanukovich, was ousted last week. Putin secured permission from his parliament on Saturday to use military force to protect Russian citizens in Ukraine and told U.S. President Barack Obama he had the right to defend Russian interests and nationals, spurning Western pleas not to intervene. Russian forces have already bloodlessly seized Crimea, an isolated Black Sea peninsula where Moscow has a naval base.","South Africa vs. Australia scores. CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) — Scores Monday at lunch on the third day of the third cricket test between South Africa and Australia at Newlands:","Hagel says Colombia to be valuable global trainer. TOLEMAIDA MILITARY BASE, Colombia (AP) — Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel is praising Colombia's advances in counterterrorism, and says the Central American country will provide valuable training and peacekeeping assistance around the globe as its internal conflicts wind down.","Netanyahu tells AP he is 'troubled' by US decision. JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel's prime minister says he is \"deeply troubled\" by the United States' decision to maintain relations with the new Palestinian unity government.","New India PM invites Pakistan leader to inaugural. NEW DELHI (AP) — India on Wednesday invited the leaders of rival Pakistan and other South Asian nations to the prime minister's inauguration, signaling what could be a first step in improving ties with its neighbors.","Element close to buying PHH's fleet leasing unit -sources. By Paritosh Bansal NEW YORK (Reuters) - Canadian equipment finance company Element Financial Corp is close to a deal to buy PHH Corp's auto fleet leasing business for about $1.35 billion in cash, two sources familiar with the matter said on Friday. A deal for the unit, PHH Arval, could be announced as soon as Monday, they said. Element, which provides financing for industrial, aerospace and automotive equipment leasing, declined to comment.","Libyan navy fired on tanker coming from rebel port, ship damaged. Libya's navy opened fire on Tuesday on a tanker after it had loaded oil at a rebel-held port in the east of the country, damaging the vessel, a Libyan military spokesman said. Italian vessels were helping the navy secure the tanker which had sailed further east after leaving the Es Sider port, Walid al-Tarhouni, spokesman for Libya's oil protection force, told al-Nabaa television.","UN nuke agency indicates slow going on Iran probe. VIENNA (AP) — The head of the U.N. nuclear agency is indicating that his attempted probe of allegations that Iran worked on nuclear arms is going slowly.","Ultra-Orthodox Jews protest after funds cut in Israel conscription row. Hundreds of ultra-Orthodox Jews in Israel blocked highways and clashed with police on Thursday in protest at a government decision to cut funds to seminary students who avoid military service. Police arrested about three dozen demonstrators at a number of hot spots, including eight who threw stones at officers, and used water cannon to disperse a crowd blocking the main road to Jerusalem, police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said. The unrest followed a Finance Ministry decision on Wednesday to stop giving stipends to students undertaking religious studies, who for decades have been granted military service exemptions that have stoked resentment in a country whose other Jewish citizens are called to duty at the age of 18. \"If you do not take on the duties, then why are you asking to get the privileges?\" said Finance Minister Yair Lapid in a radio interview in an admonition to ultra-Orthodox Jews after halting the funding in line with a Supreme Court ruling.","SOCHI SCENE: Spreading Burke's ashes. KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia (AP) — Before the Olympics started, the Canadian freestyle team spread Sarah Burke's ashes in the halfpipe and around other areas in the mountains above Sochi.","Djokovic upset in Western & Southern Open. MASON, Ohio (AP) — Top-ranked Novak Djokovic tumbled out of the Western & Southern Open on Thursday, while second-seeded Roger Federer avoided an upset in the round of 16.","Sevilla's Europa title extends Spain's winning run. TURIN, Italy (AP) — Spanish football wins. Again.","Uganda clashes with Central Africa Republic's Seleka rebels. By Elias Biryabarema KAMPALA (Reuters) - Uganda said on Tuesday its forces in Central African Republic (CAR) had clashed for the first time with fighters from Seleka, a mainly Muslim rebel force, killing 12, and would pursue them as part of a campaign against the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA). \"Seleka had never tasted our fire, I think it was important that they taste our fire so that they are careful... they are in bed with LRA and we shall treat them as such,\" Paddy Ankunda, spokesman for Uganda People's Defense Forces (UPDF) said.","Navas carries Costa Rica to World Cup quarters. RECIFE, Brazil (AP) — When Costa Rica sealed its first berth in the World Cup quarterfinals, the celebrating Ticos sprinted straight for Keylor Navas and mobbed him in celebration.","In tornado-prone Oklahoma, some better prepared than others. By Heide Brandes MOORE, Oklahoma (Reuters) - The mayor of Moore, Oklahoma, a municipality twice devastated by tornados in the past 15 years, is fixated on garage doors, knowing they are a key to protecting the city from even more damage during this year's tornado season. Moore, in the heart of \"Tornado Alley,\" where twisters frequently hit, will be operating this year under new building codes, arguably some of the most stringent in the nation, to protect people and structures from deadly winds. In all new construction starting this month, garage doors must be insulated and storm resistant, roofs must have sheathing to keep them in place, and structures must be better anchored and secured around their edges. \"Garage doors are the first to come off during a tornado.","Foxes on verge of clinching second tier title. Leicester City moved within touching distance of securing the Championship title after David Nugent fired the leaders to a 1-0 win over 10-man QPR on Saturday. Nigel Pearson's already-promoted side restored their seven-point lead over second-placed Burnley and now need just three more points from their last three games to go into the Premier League as champions of the second tier. \"We won't be able to dominate the Premier League like we have the Championship but we want to be competitive next season.\" Nottingham Forest are back in play-off contention as they ended their dismal run of 12 league games without a win with a 1-0 victory over Birmingham at the City Ground.","Mexico investigators comb gulley for missing 43. COCULA, Mexico (AP) — Forensic experts are combing a gulley in southern Mexico for the remains of 43 missing students based on testimony from two new suspects.","Rugby-Springboks take yellow card on chin, move on to Wellington. South Africa steadfastly refused to criticise the referee but it was hard to escape the feeling the Springboks had been robbed of a Rugby Championship win by an errant high tackle call for the second year in a row on Saturday. The visitors were leading Australia 23-14 with 15 minutes remaining at Perth's Subiaco Oval when winger Bryan Habana, playing in his 100th test, was shown a yellow card for a high tackle on Wallabies winger Adam Ashley-Cooper. Although Australia only managed a penalty while Habana was off the field, the last-ditch defending with 14 men took its toll and, two minutes from the end, the Wallabies found space to send Rob Horne in for a converted try to snatch a 24-23 win. South Africa now head to New Zealand, where a similarly contentious call for a tackle on Dan Carter by Bismarck Du Plessis last year ultimately cost the Springboks the chance of upsetting the All Blacks in Auckland.","Honda taps woman to board, promotes foreigner. TOKYO (AP) — Honda has appointed a woman to its board for the first time and given a major promotion to a foreigner in a sign the automaker wants to change perceptions of a hidebound corporate culture.","Singapore power through in Glasgow table tennis. Singapore's women made light work of their team quarter-final against Canada with a 3-0 victory but top player Feng Tianwei admits she must improve her game. They now face India, who defeated New Zealand 3-0, in the semi-finals later on Saturday, with a potential final against second seeds Australia to come. Australia beat Wales 3-0 in their quarter-final and they meet Malaysia, who pulled off the shock of the round with a surprise 3-2 win over third seeds England. Feng believes Singapore can achieve a clean sweep of table tennis gold medals in Glasgow but insists there are plenty more teams than Australia pushing for the women’s team title.","Israel to donate Anne Frank diaries after Tokyo copies vandalised. The Israeli embassy in Japan said Wednesday it would donate 300 copies of Anne Frank's \"Diary of a Young Girl\" to Tokyo libraries after hundreds of copies were damaged. News of the defacement of the books, which tells the tale of a young Jewish girl who fell victim to the Holocaust, sent shockwaves worldwide and sparked alarm amid a rightward shift in Japan's politics. The embassy and the Jewish Community of Japan will present the copies on Thursday to the capital's residential ward of Suginami, whose libraries were a main target of the vandalism, embassy officials said.","Homeless blame World Cup for high rent in Brazil. SAO PAULO (AP) — Thousands of impoverished Brazilians are living illegally on land near the World Cup stadium where the opening match will be played next month, blaming the arena's construction for rent increases that drove them out of their homes.","Heartbreaking texts from students on sinking S. Korea ferry. Heart-wrenching messages of fear, love and despair, sent by high school students from a sinking South Korean ferry added extra emotional weight Thursday to a tragedy that has stunned the entire nation. Mom, I love you,\" one student Shin Young-Jin said in a text to his mother that was widely circulated in the South Korean media. Unlike many others, the exchange had a happy ending as Shin was one of only 179 survivors rescued before the ferry capsized and went under the water. Another student, 16-year-old Kim Woong-Ki sent a desperate text for help to his elder brother as the ship listed violently over to one side.","Argentina: Court grants orangutan basic rights. BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — An Argentine court says an orangutan that has lived 20 years at the Buenos Aires zoo is entitled to some legal rights enjoyed by humans.","How a private commemoration of the Tiananmen protests riled Chinese police. By Sui-Lee Wee BEIJING (Reuters) - Early last month, 15 people went to a Beijing apartment to mark the 25th anniversary of the crushing of pro-democracy protests around Tiananmen Square. Among them were scholars, a prominent Chinese human rights lawyer, writers and the mother of a student who was killed by soldiers on June 4, 1989. A few days later, five were in police detention after a photograph of the gathering circulated on the Internet. It's the first time authorities have charged anyone for commemorating the Tiananmen crackdown privately in a home, activists said, showing China's determination to snuff out any mention of an event that riveted the world and convulsed the ruling Communist Party.","Syria's U.N. envoy says told of airstrikes by Samantha Power. UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Syria's U.N. Ambassador Bashar Ja'afari told Reuters on Tuesday that he was personally informed by U.S. Ambassador Samantha Power of imminent U.S. and Arab airstrikes against Islamic State targets on Syrian territory hours ahead of time. Ja'afari said Power told him on Monday morning that the military action would be carried out. He added that \"we're in close coordination with Iraq. ...","Rollback: Bishops seek to balance opening to gays. VATICAN CITY (AP) — Conservative Catholic bishops concerned about an unprecedented opening to gays and divorcees are seeking to make their voices heard at a Vatican meeting on family life, emphasizing the benefits of faithful Catholics, the fundamentals of church doctrine and the dangers of sin.","Power outages hit three million in Brazil. Several Brazilian states, including three set to host June World Cup action, suffered power outages Tuesday, fueling fears over the country's ability to keep the lights on. High demand combined with worries over supplies at a time of low rainfall led national grid operator ONS to warn of \"disruption\" in the integrated system as it noted outages in the north, southeast and south of the sprawling South American country. Media reports suggested some three million people had seen supplies cut in 11 states, including Rio de Janeiro, and Parana in the south. All three will welcome World Cup action in June.","Kummer wins gold in women's parallel giant slalom. KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia (AP) — Patrizia Kummer of Switzerland has won gold in women's snowboarding parallel giant slalom.","Ottawa shooter had sought Libyan passport: Libyan embassy official. OTTAWA (Reuters) - The man suspected of shooting dead a Canadian soldier on Wednesday had sought a Libyan passport in recent days but had been unsuccessful, an official at the Libyan embassy in Ottawa said on Friday. \"Even if your father was born in Libya, there are many documents that are required in order to get a passport. It is not easy,\" said the official, who refused to give his name. The suspected shooter, Michael Zehaf-Bibeau, 32, was a Canadian citizen who may also have held Libyan citizenship, Canadian police said on Thursday. ...","US, Japan, Australia agree to deepen security ties. BRISBANE, Australia (AP) — Eyeing Chinese assertiveness, President Barack Obama and the prime ministers of Japan and Australia committed Sunday to deepen their military cooperation and work together on strengthening maritime security in the Asia Pacific.","Mexico's circuses caught up in animal rights spat. MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico's \"circus wars\" are heating up, as a growing movement to ban circus animals meets growing anger from circus workers.","Senior U.N. official plans to visit Ukraine's Crimea. By Louis Charbonneau UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The U.N. assistant secretary-general for human rights, Ivan Simonovic, plans to visit western and eastern Ukraine soon, including the pro-Russian Crimea region, where another U.N. envoy was forced out earlier this week, the United Nations said on Thursday. The announcement comes after U.N. representative Robert Serry had to abandon a mission to Crimea on Wednesday.","2 Paris exhibits shed light on First World War. PARIS (AP) — Irish photographer Mike Sheil says he knew nothing about military history before he began taking photos of World War I battlefields.","Togo goes high-tech in crackdown on ivory smuggling. Togo has gone hi-tech in its crackdown on ivory smugglers, employing DNA testing to determine the origin and age of contraband tusks and expose those at the heart of the illegal trade. \"DNA tests were carried out from February 27 to March 8 on a sampe of 200 tusks from the consignment seized in 2013 and 2014 by a local team of specialists supported by experts from Interpol headquarters,\" commissioner Charles Minpame Bolenga, who runs the global law enforcement agency's bureau in Lome, told AFP. According to Bolenga, the results have allowed Togolese police to determine the origin of the tusks as well as the age of the elephants killed. \"We will share the results of this analysis with all the concerned countries in order for them to better protect their elephants because at the moment a single country can't effectively lead the fight.\"","South Sudan warring sides to resume talks. Addis Ababa (AFP) - South Sudan's warring leaders will resume peace talks by the end of the month, mediators said Thursday, as warnings grow of famine within weeks if fighting continues.","Nanny charged in US baby death denied bail. WOBURN, Massachusetts (AP) — A judge has denied bail for a nanny charged with murder in the death of a 1-year-old girl in her care, saying she would be detained by federal immigration officials if released and possibly deported to her native Ireland.","Israel says Hamas planned to assassinate Lieberman in West Bank. JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel has arrested four Palestinians suspected of planning to assassinate Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman with an anti-tank rocket while he drove to his Jewish settlement in the occupied West Bank, Israeli officials say. The alleged Hamas plot was hatched during the July-August war in Gaza. Its disclosure comes as ties fray between Israel and U.S.-backed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who is based in the West Bank, over a contested Jerusalem shrine. ...","House GOP chairman wants Afghan detainee names. WASHINGTON (AP) — House Republicans are seeking the names of 72 detainees that Afghan President Hamid Karzai ordered released from prison.","Injured strikers Herath, Eranga return home. COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — Strike bowler Rangana Herath and in-form seamer Shaminda Eranga will miss Sri Lanka's second test against Bangladesh starting Tuesday as they are returning home due to injury.","Plushenko to skate 7th, Chan 21st in men's short. SOCHI, Russia (AP) — Evgeni Plushenko didn't get any edge in the draw for Thursday's men's short program at the Sochi Games.","Hanyu aiming to add to Olympic gold at worlds. TOKYO (AP) — Japanese teenager Yuzuru Hanyu is aiming to add a world title to his Olympic gold medal when the World Figure Skating Championships begin Wednesday.","Canadian Press NewsAlert: First case of deadly pig virus confirmed in Canada. OTTAWA - The first case of a deadly pig virus that has killed millions of baby pigs in the U.S. has been confirmed in Canada.","Tunisia MPs question ministers over Israeli tourists. Tunisia's Islamist-dominated parliament questioned two ministers Friday accused of promoting \\\\\"normalisation\\\\\" with Israel, after Israeli tourists were allowed into the North African country, which does not recognise the Jewish state. A motion of censure was filed last month against Tourism Minister Amel Karboul, who is accused of receiving a group of Israelis recently, and Deputy Interior Minister for Security Ridha Sfar, suspected of facilitating their entry into Tunisia. The debate, focused on Israelis only and not all Jews, comes just a week ahead of an annual pilgrimage that draw Jews to Tunisia from around the world. Leftist MP Faycel Jadlaoui said allowing Israelis into Tunisia \\\\\"undermines state sovereignty.\\\\\"","Report: Dust storm roars into Iran, killing 5. TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — A heavy dust storm roared into Iran's capital Monday, blacking out the sun in a swirling cloud and tearing down trees in a squall that killed five people and injured 30, state television reported.","Police disperse World Cup protest with tear gas. Rio de Janeiro (AFP) - Police launched tear gas and stun grenades Sunday to disperse some 300 anti-World Cup protestors who tried to march toward Rio de Janeiro's Maracana Stadium shortly before the Argentina-Germany final.","Lukaku ready for pressure before Belgium opener. BELO HORIZONTE, Brazil (AP) — Romelu Lukaku knows he bears a huge responsibility before Belgium kicks off its World Cup campaign against Algeria on Tuesday.","Port wine in Portugal and Douro River vineyards. PINHAO, Portugal (AP) — Ribbons of bright green grape leaves alternated with golden stone walls as far as I could see along the steep banks of Portugal's Douro River.","Toyota raises forecast on profit jump, weak yen. TOKYO (AP) — Toyota raised its annual earnings forecast after posting a 23 percent jump in July-September profit as a favorable exchange rate added to the momentum of the Japanese automaker's sales growth.","Police close off Athens center for military parade. ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Thousands of police have been deployed in central Athens ahead of a military parade to mark Greece's Independence Day.","Pope demands 'legitimate redistribution' of wealth. VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis called Friday for governments to redistribute wealth to the poor in a new spirit of generosity to help curb the \"economy of exclusion\" that is taking hold today.","Syria spillover taints Turkey poll in border province. By Humeyra Pamuk HATAY (Reuters) - It is already past lunchtime and souvenir shop owner Halil Santoglu has yet to make a sale - a frequent complaint these days in this once bustling bazaar as the war in nearby Syria wreaks havoc with the economy of Turkey's southern borderlands. Santoglu and other residents of Hatay say Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan's ruling AK Party has mishandled the Syria crisis and exacerbated its impact on their province, and they plan to punish the party in Turkey's municipal elections on Sunday. \"Even if I had the right to vote a thousand times, I would not use one for the AK Party,\" said Santoglu, 54, in his shop in the Long Bazaar by the Orontes river that divides Hatay, the ancient Antioch, administrative capital of Hatay province.","Egypt's president swears in new government. CAIRO (AP) — Egypt's new Cabinet was sworn in on Tuesday by the country's newly elected President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi.","4 gymnastics judges banned for errors, bias. LAUSANNE, Switzerland (AP) — Four gymnastics officials have been banned for mistaken and biased judging at the 2013 world championships.","South Africa name Philander in ODI tour squad. CAPE TOWN (Reuters) - Vernon Philander is the only addition to the one-day squad that won the recent triangular tournament in Zimbabwe as Cricket South Africa (CSA) announced their selection to tour New Zealand and Australia starting next month. All-rounder Philander replaces seamer Mthokozisi Shezi in the 15-man touring party as selectors assess their options ahead of the 50-over World Cup to be co-hosted by those two countries early next year. Fast bowler Kyle Abbott retains his place as Beuran Hendricks, the man he replaced, remains on the sidelines with a long-term injury. ...","Del Potro crashes out of ABN Amro tournament. ROTTERDAM, Netherlands (AP) — Ernests Gulbis of Latvia has upset top-seeded Juan Martin del Potro 6-3, 6-4 to book a place in the semifinals of the ABN Amro tournament.","Scotland lay down CGames marker in Glasgow. Scotland won all three of their first-day matches in Glasgow on Saturday to reach the quarter-finals of the latest round of the IRB World Sevens series. The hosts defeated Australia (19-7), Spain (33-12) and the United States (26-0) to book a last eight-clash with South Africa on Sunday as they gave their supporters grounds for encouragement ahead of the Commonwealth Games sevens tournament in Glasgow in three months' time. Series leaders New Zealand also went through Saturday unbeaten, seeing off title-rivals South Africa (19-5).","Officials: US drone kills 7 militants in Pakistan. ISLAMABAD (AP) — Two Pakistani intelligence officials say a U.S. drone has fired two missiles at a sprawling compound in a northwestern tribal region, killing seven militants.","Egyptian militant group pledges loyalty to Islamic State in audio clip. CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt's most active militant group, Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis, has sworn allegiance to Islamic State, the al Qaeda offshoot which has seized territory in Syria and Iraq, according to an audio clip posted on its Twitter account. If genuine, the declaration of allegiance would be a boost for Islamic State, showing its widening influence in the region alongside its territorial advances in Iraq and Syria. ...","Bangladesh 127-2 at tea on day 1 vs Zimbabwe. KHULNA, Bangladesh (AP) — Opener Tamim Iqbal struck a patient half century to steer Bangladesh to 127-2 at tea Monday on the first day of the second test against Zimbabwe.","CAF baptism of fire for 'white witchdoctor' Troussier. No-nonsense French coach Philippe Troussier returns to African combat this weekend after a six-year absence when he leads CS Sfaxien against fellow Tunisians Esperance in the CAF Champions League. Sfaxien chairman Lotfi Abdennadher was thrilled at capturing a coach who rose to prominence by winning three consecutive Ivorian titles from 1990 for ASEC Mimosas. \"We have never had a coach of his level, experience, ability and vision. Talking with Philippe I quickly realised we were on the same wavelength.\" Troussier succeeds out-of-contract Hammadi Daou, who spend a short time in charge when Dutch coach Ruud Krol moved to Esperance.","Chinese rights lawyer Pu Zhiqiang denies all police charges. BEIJING (AP) — A defense lawyer says prominent Chinese legal activist Pu Zhiqiang has denied a series of police charges against him that fellow activists say were trumped up to silence a vocal government critic.","After arms drop, US coalition strikes IS group. BEIRUT (AP) — Syrian activists say the U.S.-led coalition has launched new airstrikes on Islamic State positions in Kobani, following overnight airdrops of weapons to Kurdish fighters in the Syrian border town.","Goldman Sachs second-quarter profit up 5 percent. (Reuters) - Goldman Sachs Group Inc reported a 5 percent increase in second-quarter profit on Tuesday, driven by higher revenue from its investing and lending business. The Wall Street bank earned $1.95 billion, or 4.10 per share, in the three months ended June 30, up from $1.86 billion, or $3.70 per share, in the same period a year earlier. (Reporting by Anil D'Silva in Bangalore and Lauren Tara LaCapra in New York; Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty)","Aid group: Ebola contagion risk can't be zero. CONAKRY, Guinea (AP) — Despite stringent infection-control measures, the risk of Ebola's spread cannot be entirely eliminated, Doctors Without Borders said Friday after one of its doctors caught the dreaded disease while working in Guinea and went to New York City.","Springboks may be forced to play second fiddle again. By Mark Gleeson CAPE TOWN (Reuters) - South Africa's annual quest to knock arch rivals New Zealand off their pedestal begins again in the Rugby Championship, with little to suggest any impending change in the status quo. A key injury, disappointing returns by South African sides in the recent Super Rugby competition and unconvincing form by the Springboks in June's warm-up internationals suggest the challenge may again prove a bridge too far. The Springboks finished runners-up to the all-conquering All Blacks in the four-nation competition - which also includes Australia and Argentina - last year, beaten both home and away by the New Zealanders in performances that emphasised the competitive nature of the rivalry but also the gulf in all-round quality between the two teams. In nine tests against the All Blacks since 2010, South Africa have won just once, when both Dan Carter and Richie McCaw were rested ahead of the 2011 World Cup.","As deaths rise, no end seen to Israeli offensive. JERUSALEM (AP) — Asserting it has broad international support for a fierce military offensive in the Gaza Strip, Israel is showing no signs of ending the operation, vowing to press on until there is a halt to rocket attacks from the seaside territory.","Ecclestone: Qatar GP talks thwarted by Bahrain. LONDON (AP) — Bernie Ecclestone says discussions about a potential Qatar Grand Prix are being stalled by Bahrain's right to block the Formula One race.","Napoli win fifth Italian Cup on violent night in Rome. By Terry Daley ROME (Reuters) - Napoli beat Fiorentina 3-1 to win their fifth Italian Cup on Saturday in a match that kicked off 45 minutes late after three fans were shot, one critically, in an incident near Rome's Olympic Stadium. A first half brace from Italy international Lorenzo Insigne and a late strike from Dries Mertens helped the southern side, who ended with 10 men, to their second Cup victory in three years. Insigne's goals in the 11th and 17th minutes put Fiorentina on the back foot but Juan Vargas brought his side back into the game just before the half hour with a fantastic volley. Mertens then added Napoli's third in injury time.","US official says immigration program up for review. WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama's new homeland security secretary is offering his first public hints at executive action the administration might take on immigration, suggesting changes to a much-criticized program that runs the names of people booked for local crimes through a federal immigration database.","Martin Kaymer sets US Open record at Pinehurst. PINEHURST, N.C. (AP) — Martin Kaymer is playing a brand of golf rarely seen in the U.S. Open. It might even be enough for soccer-mad Germany to pay attention.","South Sudan clashes force more refugees into UN bases. United Nations (United States) (AFP) - Government and opposition rebels are still fighting for control of key parts of South Sudan and numbers seeking refuge in UN bases are rising, the United Nations said Tuesday. The UN Mission in South Sudan has reported \"deteriorating security\" in parts of Unity state where there are important oil facilities, deputy UN spokesman Farhan Haq told reporters. Haq said \"sporadic\" clashes are still being reported between the forces of President Salva Kiir and former vice-president Riek Machar, though it is at a lower level than before a ceasefire which started on Friday.","QPR back in Premier League after beating Derby. LONDON (AP) — Queens Park Rangers secured an immediate return to the Premier League — and a promotion windfall of at least 80 million pounds ($135 million) — by beating Derby 1-0 in the League Championship playoff final thanks to a last-minute goal by Bobby Zamora.","President Obama congratulates Italy's new premier. WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama has congratulated Italy's new Premier Matteo Renzi on taking office, and expressed support for Renzi's goal to create economic growth and jobs.","Hong Kong police start removing protest barricades. Hong Kong (AFP) - Hong Kong police early Monday started removing street barricades erected more than a fortnight ago by pro-democracy protesters, AFP correspondents saw.","Algerian forces kill 7 militants near Tunisia. ALGIERS, Algeria (AP) — Algeria's Interior Ministry says it killed seven militants attempting to sneak into the country in a four-wheel drive vehicle from Tunisia near the city of Tebessa.","Egypt: Military-backed government resigns. CAIRO (AP) — Egypt's interim prime minister says his Cabinet has resigned.","EU, U.S., Russia, Ukraine to meet next week on Ukraine crisis: EU. BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The United States, the European Union, Russia and Ukraine will meet at ministerial level next week to discuss the Ukraine crisis, the EU said on Tuesday. The meeting, which will be held in Europe, will involve U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Ukraine's Foreign Minister Andriy Deshchytsia, an EU official said. (Reporting by Adrian Croft; Editing by Sonya Hepinstall)","Dortmund upset by Bayern moves on Marco Reus. DORTMUND, Germany (AP) — Borussia Dortmund has reacted angrily to Bundesliga rival Bayern Munich's attempts to lure star forward Marco Reus.","Despite woes, Argentines united in World Cup run. BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — Soccer has once again emerged as the patriotic touchstone that unites Argentines as they teeter on the precipice, this time threatened by a debt crisis, soaring inflation and the scandal-plagued end to a 12-year political dynasty that has polarized the nation.","Avalanche sweeps down Everest, killing at least 12. KATMANDU, Nepal (AP) — An avalanche swept down a climbing route on Mount Everest early Friday, killing at least 12 Nepalese guides and leaving three missing in the deadliest disaster on the world's highest peak.","Mullins hopes to add silver lining to Cheltenham cloud. Cheltenham (United Kingdom) (AFP) - Jump racing's showpiece The Cheltenham Festival gets underway on Tuesday but the 2014 edition will be known as the 'year of the cloud' according to leading Irish trainer Willie Mullins because of a doping case involving another Irish handler. Philip Fenton, who will saddle Irish hope Last Instalment, owned by Ryanair boss Michael O'Leary, in the blue riband Cheltenham Gold Cup on Friday, is facing a court case after anabolic steroids were allegedly found at his yard two years ago. However, he did get a boost when his horses were cleared to run at Cheltenham last week by British racing's governing body the British Horseracing Authority (BHA) after they carried out emergency dope tests on his intended runners. Mullins, who will send 40 horses to the Festival, is adamant that regardless of the outcome, the affair has had an impact.","Philippines protest Chinese water cannon attack. MANILA, Philippines (AP) — The Philippines has called in a Chinese envoy to protest what it says was the firing of a water cannon by a Chinese government vessel on Filipino fishermen in a disputed shoal in the South China Sea.","Rival group accuses Qaeda of betraying jihadist cause. A powerful rival organisation has accused Al-Qaeda leaders of betraying the jihadist cause, in the latest widening of divisions rooted in Syria's civil war. \"Al-Qaeda today is no longer a base of jihad (holy war),\" Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant spokesman Abu Mohammed al-Adnani said in a statement posted on jihadist forums. \"Its leadership has become a hammer to break the project of the Islamic State,\" Adnani said, adding that \"the leaders of Al-Qaeda have deviated from the correct path.\" Powerful rebel groups in Syria, including Al-Qaeda's designated affiliate Al-Nusra Front, have been locked in fierce fighting with ISIL since January that has killed thousands of fighters.","Saudi court jails 17 for seeking to fight in Iraq: SPA. A Saudi Arabian court jailed 17 men for up to 26 years on Monday for seeking to fight in Iraq and funding militants, official media reported, part of a security crackdown in which scores have been imprisoned in recent weeks. Worried about potential threats from citizens who have traveled to join Islamist insurgents in Syria and Iraq, Saudi Arabia has banned them from fighting abroad, donating money to any faction or sympathizing with militant ideologies. The official Saudi Press Agency reported that the 17 were sentenced to terms of imprisonment ranging from 2-1/2 years to 26 years. The men were charged with following extremist ideology, disobeying the country's leadership by planning to fight in Iraq, coordinating the travel of some \"misled\" members of society and trying to turn public opinion against the state.","Nigerian man whipped and fined for breaking gay laws. Kano (Nigeria) (AFP) - A 20-year-old Nigerian man was flogged in public and fined after being convicted of breaking Islamic law banning homosexuality, an official said on Friday. Mubarak Ibrahim received 20 lashes with a horse whip before a large crowd outside the Sharia court in the northern city of Bauchi on Thursday. \"The court ordered that (he) be given 20 strokes and ordered him to pay a 5,000 naira ($30) fine,\" Alhassan Zakari, an official with the Bauchi state Sharia Commission, told AFP. The conviction came after it was confirmed earlier this week that Nigeria's President Goodluck Jonathan had signed a bill outlawing gay marriage and same-sex unions.","First freeze causes little damage to U.S. Northern Plains crops. By Christine Stebbins CHICAGO (Reuters) - The U.S. northern Plains and far western Midwest crop regions saw their first freeze of the season but the cold temperatures were only in pockets of the belt, limiting damage to immature corn and soybeans, agricultural meteorologists said on Friday. The forecast called for more cold temperatures in the northern Corn Belt on Saturday morning after lows on Friday morning ranged from the mid-20s to low-30s degrees Fahrenheit (minus 3.9 to 1.7 Celsius) from western Nebraska northward into the western Dakotas, Colorado and Montana. ...","David Haines: military man drawn to aid work. British aid worker David Haines was a former military man who spent years helping the neediest in warzones, but his dedication led to him becoming the latest hostage to be beheaded by Islamic State militants in Syria. Haines, a father of two children, trained with the Royal Air Force (RAF) and worked with relief agencies in the Balkans, Libya, South Sudan and Syria. He was working in Syria for the Paris-based NGO Acted when he was seized by militants in March 2013, along with an Italian colleague, Federico Motka.","Iraqi airstrikes target Islamic militants. BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraqi government airstrikes on Friday targeted Islamic militants trying to capture the country's largest oil refinery, reportedly killing as many as 30 insurgents, authorities said.","Chivas earns vital draw in Mexican league. MEXICO CITY (AP) — Relegation-threatened Chivas secured a vital point with a 3-3 draw against Tijuana on Sunday in the Mexican first division.","Consumer debt swells to $1.4 trillion, but Canadians able to pay it: Equifax. TORONTO - The love affair Canadians have with debt is still going strong, according to a new report by credit monitoring agency Equifax Canada.","Ludogorets holds Liverpool to 2-2 draw. SOFIA, Bulgaria (AP) — Ludogorets scored a late equalizer to hold Liverpool to a 2-2 draw on Wednesday that ended the home side's hopes of reaching the knockout stages of the Champions League.","Fidel Castro, 87, makes rare public appearance. Former Cuban President Fidel Castro made a surprise appearance on Wednesday evening at the opening of a Havana cultural center sponsored by one of his favorite Cuban artists. State television on Thursday broadcast images of Castro arriving at the cultural center in a blue van, to the applause of local residents. The bearded, grey haired Cuban leader, 87, was also shown sitting and chatting with Alexis Leyva, the painter and sculptor known as Kcho, and others attending the opening. Castro lives in a villa on the outskirts of Havana where he regularly receives guests, but photos are rare and only occasionally do his writings appear in the local media.","Benzema, Madrid lead AP Global Football 10. LONDON (AP) — Karim Benzema beat Cristiano Ronaldo to take leading player honors in The Associated Press global football 10 on Tuesday, as Real Madrid was named team of the week.","Obama says U.S. committed to supporting MH370 search. By Matt Spetalnick and Morag MacKinnon KUALA LUMPUR/PERTH, Australia (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama said on Sunday that the United States was fully committed to providing more assets to assist in the search for missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 in the southern Indian Ocean. \"I can tell you the United States is absolutely committed to providing whatever resources and assets that we can,\" Obama told a news conference in Kuala Lumpur with Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak.","Turkey in talks to free citizens kidnapped in Iraq. Turkey said Thursday it is holding talks to secure the release of dozens of its citizens kidnapped by Islamist militants in northern Iraq amid international calls for their release. \"We are in touch with all the groups in Iraq including Kurds and Turkmens,\" a government official told AFP, without giving further details. Militants from the jihadist group the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) abducted 49 people from the Turkish consulate in Mosul, including the head of the mission, on Wednesday. ISIL also seized 31 Turkish truck drivers from a power station in the city on Tuesday, drawing a promise of harsh reprisals from Ankara if any are harmed.","Darvish strikes out 12 as Rangers beat Nationals. WASHINGTON (AP) — Yu Darvish struck out 12 batters over eight innings as the Texas Rangers secured a 2-0 victory over the Washington Nationals on Sunday.","Bach welcomes US decision to bid for 2024 Olympics. LAUSANNE, Switzerland (AP) — International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach has welcomed the U.S. decision to bid for the 2024 Games and says whichever city is chosen will be a \"very strong\" contender.","Venezuelan protests persist at start of holiday. CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — The start of a week-long string of holidays leading up to the March 5 anniversary of former President Hugo Chavez's death has not completely pulled protesters from the streets as the government has hoped.","Iran sanctions push gains supporters in Senate. WASHINGTON (AP) — Congressional aides say 59 senators now back a sanctions bill they say would increase the pressure on Iran to make nuclear concessions.","U.S., China security leaders spar over jet maneuvers. National Security Adviser Susan Rice, on a three-day visit to Beijing, told several senior Chinese officials that China must halt the \"dangerous intercepts\", senior Obama administration officials said. The row began in August when the United States complained that a Chinese military aircraft had launched a risky intercept of a U.S.","England: Cook not secure as World Cup captain. LONDON (AP) — England coach Peter Moores has cast doubt on Alastair Cook leading the team at next year's World Cup.","Bodysnatching China officials dead serious about cremation quota. Two Chinese officials bought corpses from grave robbers to meet government cremation quotas, local media reported, as Beijing pushes to enforce its controversial and highly sensitive burial policies. The officials from Guangdong province bought the bodies from a man who stole more than 20 in night-time raids on graveyards, the official news agency Xinhua said, citing Chinese media. \"Both were local officials in charge of funeral management reform,\" said Xinhua, naming them He and Dong. \"They told police that they bought the corpses to finish government cremation quota,\" it said, adding that Dong had paid 3,000 yuan ($484) each for 10 bodies, while He's cost half the price for an unspecified number.","Army: Roadside bomb kills 8 in northwest Pakistan. PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — The Pakistani army says a roadside bomb blast has killed eight paramilitary soldiers in a tribal region near the Afghan border.","Pentagon says Islamic State fight has cost $424 million since Aug. 8. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Pentagon said on Tuesday that the cost of fighting Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria has cost about $424 million since air strikes began on Aug. 8. Rear Admiral John Kirby, the Pentagon press secretary, said the conflict was costing an average of about $7.6 million per day. (Reporting by David Alexander)","Bangladesh opposition chief to face corruption trial. Bangladesh opposition leader Khaleda Zia is to go on trial next month over charges that she and her associates embezzled more than $600,000, a court ruled on Wednesday. Prosecutors say Zia and three of her co-accused siphoned off 31.5 million taka (about $400,000) from a charitable trust named after her late husband Ziaur Rahman, a former president who was assassinated in 1981. She is also accused of leading a group of five people, including her eldest son Tarique Rahman, in embezzling 21.5 million taka ($270,00), funds which were meant to go to orphanage set up in memory of her late husband, prosecutor Mosharraf Hossain told AFP. Zia's lawyer Masud Ahmed Talukder said the charges pressed by the country's anti-graft agency were \"false and fabricated\" and are part of a conspiracy to destroy Zia and her family.","Puerto Rico civilian officer accused of murder. SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — A Puerto Rico civilian police officer has been charged with second-degree murder in the killing of a young woman.","China targets 7.5 percent economic growth for 2014. China is targeting growth of about 7.5 percent in 2014, Premier Li Keqiang said Wednesday, unchanged from last year as the government tempers expectations for an economy transitioning to a more sustainable model. The announcement came in Li's speech to the annual session of the National People's Congress, which meets to approve policies decided by the ruling Communist party. \"We must keep economic development as the central task and maintain a proper growth rate,\" Li said. \"On the basis of careful comparison and repeatedly weighing various factors, as well as considering what is needed and what is possible, we set a growth target of around 7.5 percent.\"","German foreign minister welcomes reports of Russian pullback. Germany's Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said he welcomed reports of a pullback of Russian troops involved in a military exercise in western Russia on Tuesday, though he said he had no official confirmation of the move. Steinmeier was speaking shortly after what he termed \"difficult, long and serious\" talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov here on Monday. \"It is important to explore every possibility to prevent a collapse into violence,\" Steinmeier told reporters. Earlier Tuesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the troop pullback, an announcement that appeared intended to ease East-West tension over fears of war in Ukraine.","US man convicted of deliberate homicide in death of German student trespassing in garage. MISSOULA, Montana (AP) — US man convicted of deliberate homicide in death of German student trespassing in garage.","Americans finish 1-2 in Mooloolaba Triathlon. MOOLOOLABA, Australia (AP) — Gwen Jorgensen and Katie Hursey gave the United States a one-two finish Saturday in the women's sprint Mooloolaba Triathlon to open the ITU World Cup season.","Pistorius trial to resume after brutal cross-examination. Oscar Pistorius's murder trial resumes Monday after a two-week break, with the defence expected to call another round of expert witnesses after the prosecution tore apart the athlete's testimony. In the dock for the murder of his model girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp, Pistorius appeared to change his defence under cross examination, casting doubt on his credibility. The 27-year-old initially told the court that he shot Steenkamp through a locked toilet door, thinking the 29-year-old law graduate was an intruder coming to attack him in the dead of night.","Sabres goalie Neuvirth injured in 1st period. BUFFALO, New York (AP) — Buffalo Sabres goalie Michal Neuvirth of the Czech Republic is out after sustaining a lower body injury in the first period of a game against the San Jose Sharks on Tuesday.","England retains junior world rugby title. AUCKLAND, New Zealand (AP) — England came from behind to snatch an eight-point lead then held out a desperate South Africa 21-20 to retain its junior rugby world championship title at Eden Park on Friday.","Hurricanes beat Blues 39-20 in Super Rugby. WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — The Hurricanes stretched their mid-season winning streak to three games, scoring three second-half tries to claim a record 39-20 win over New Zealand conference rivals the Blues in Super Rugby on Friday.","Pro-European parties lead Ukraine poll. KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — With more than one-third of the votes counted, two allied pro-European parties in Ukraine that ran on a platform to enact radical reforms took a joint lead Monday in a parliamentary election.","Pakistan detects record number of polio cases. ISLAMABAD (AP) — A health official in Pakistan says authorities already have detected a record number of polio case this year, blaming militants for the outbreak.","GlaxoSmithKline discloses new bribery inquiries. NEW YORK (AP) — British drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline is looking into allegations of bribery within its operations in Jordan and Lebanon.","Sturridge earns Liverpool 2-1 win vs Southampton. LIVERPOOL, England (AP) — Daniel Sturridge ensured Liverpool began the post-Luis Suarez era in victorious fashion, scoring a late goal to seal a 2-1 win over Southampton in their first match of the Premier League season on Sunday.","Canada sending 75 more troops to Eastern Europe. WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper says his country is sending more soldiers than initially planned to a military exercise in Eastern Europe in response to Russia's recent actions in Ukraine.","5 cities submit bid files for 2022 Winter Olympics. LAUSANNE, Switzerland (AP) — All five contenders for the 2022 Winter Games have submitted their bid files to the International Olympic Committee.","Saudi prince says Gulf states must balance threat from Iran. A senior member of Saudi Arabia's royal family said on Wednesday that Gulf states should work on acquiring nuclear know-how to balance any threat from Iran. Prince Turki al-Faisal, a former intelligence chief, also told a security conference in the Bahraini capital Manama, that the Gulf states should be prepared for any possible outcome from Iran's nuclear talks with world powers. \"We do not hold any hostility to Iran and do not wish any harm to it or to its people, who are Muslim neighbors,\" he said in a speech. \"But preserving our regional security requires that we, as a Gulf grouping, work to create a real balance of forces with it, including in nuclear know-how, and to be ready for any possibility in relation to the Iranian nuclear file.","Canada jobless rate falls to 7% after January gains. The Canadian economy created 29,000 jobs in January, almost twice as many as expected, helping the unemployment rate fall to 7.0 percent, the government's statistics agency said Friday. The numbers showed that employment increased in transportation and warehousing in January, while it declined in business, building and other support services as well as public administration, Statistics Canada said. Some 50,500 full-time jobs were created last month, though part-time employment fell, meaning that over the past 12 months, employment has increased by 0.8 percent -- 146,000 jobs. The number of hours worked in Canada has risen 0.7 percent in the past year, the statistics agency added.","Iran's Zarif 'quite optimistic' of Iran nuclear agreement. By Adrian Croft BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif voiced optimism after talks with European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton on Monday that a dispute over Tehran's nuclear program can be resolved by a Nov. 24 deadline. \"I am quite optimistic after discussions with Lady Ashton that we can in fact resolve this issue in time,\" Zarif said after what he described as \"good\" talks with Ashton. \"I hope with the readiness and political will that I see in all parties to this discussion to have a resolution within the next three months,\" he told a news conference following separate talks with Belgian Foreign Minister Didier Reynders. Iran and global powers are working to strike a comprehensive agreement by the Nov. 24 deadline, under which Iran would curb its nuclear activities in exchange for an easing of economic sanctions that have crippled its economy.","Vietnam state-run paper fined for critical article. HANOI, Vietnam (AP) — Vietnam's government has fined a state-run newspaper 40 million dong ($1,900) for an article that said four of history's most famous communist leaders were also among the \"most notorious dictators.\"","Ebola expert calls for European anti-virus 'corps'. London (AFP) - Europe will be \"vulnerable\" if it does not regard viruses as a \"national security issue\" like the United States, the microbiologist who discovered Ebola said in an interview published Friday.","Bolt adds 1st Commonwealth gold to 6 Olympic wins. GLASGOW, Scotland (AP) — On a soggy track following torrential rain, Usain Bolt gave the Commonwealth Games a display of showmanship and speed to anchor Jamaica's 4x100-meter relay team to gold and glory on Saturday.","Canadian Press NewsAlert: Israeli media: Former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has died. JERUSALEM - Israeli media: Former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has died.","Lancaster not bemoaning absence of key players. WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — England rugby coach Stuart Lancaster says his team cannot afford to \"sit and moan\" that it will be without a dozen leading players when it meets New Zealand in the opening match of a three-test series.","Iraq ministry announces 72-hour truce in militant-held Fallujah. Baghdad (AFP) - Iraq's defence ministry on Saturday announced a 72-hour halt to military operations in the city of Fallujah, which has been held by anti-government militants since January.","Gunmen kill 4 Sunni fighters in Iraq. BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraqi authorities say gunmen have killed four Sunni anti-al-Qaida militiamen in a town north of Baghdad.","Francis Bacon painting sells for $70 million. LONDON (AP) — A portrait by Francis Bacon has sold for 42.2 million pounds ($70 million) at a London auction, while an egg by U.S. artist Jeff Koons cracked the 14 million pound ($23 million) mark.","Canada housing agency reduces mortgage insurance offerings. Canada's federal housing agency will stop offering two types of mortgage insurance next month, it announced on Friday in the latest move to curb its ballooning, taxpayer-backed mortgage insurance business and contribute to housing market stability. Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) will discontinue its current mortgage loan insurance for borrowers who purchase a second owner-occupied home and for self-employed workers who cannot provide independent validation of their income. \"As a result of changes to CMHC's mandate to contribute to the stability of the housing market, benefiting all Canadians, while effectively managing and reducing taxpayers' exposure to risk, CMHC is undertaking a review of its mortgage loan insurance business,\" the agency said in a statement.","New Band Aid single to fight Ebola crisis. Bob Geldof and Midge Ure on Monday announced a 30th anniversary version of their Band Aid charity single \"Do They Know It's Christmas?\" to raise money to fight Ebola. Artists including One Direction, Bono and Chris Martin are among those lined up to appear on the fourth incarnation of the song, which became one of the world's biggest-selling singles ever after its release in 1984 to raise funds for famine relief in Ethiopia. \"This is a particularly pernicious illness because it renders humans untouchable and that is sickening,\" Geldof said of the Ebola virus at a press conference in London. The Ebola outbreak in west Africa has claimed almost 5,000 lives, according to the World Health Organization -- almost all in Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone -- while the number of cases registered worldwide has soared to more than 13,000.","Murray signs 4-year Under Armour clothing deal. LONDON (AP) — Former Wimbledon champion Andy Murray has signed a four-year deal with American sportswear manufacturer Under Armour.","London FTSE 100 drops on weak European data. London's stock market slipped into negative territory on Monday as nervy investors reacted to a shock fall in eurozone business activity that offset positive news for Chinese manufacturing, analysts said. The benchmark FTSE 100 index lost 0.36 percent to 6,800.56 points, while Frankfurt's DAX 30 fell 0.66 percent to 9,920.92 points and the CAC 40 in Paris slumped 0.57 percent to 4,515.57 points compared with Friday's closing levels. \"Stocks in Europe were weak from the offset today as any hopes of a bounce from positive Chinese data were soon undone by concerns over Iraq and missed expectations for European services and manufacturing data,\" said Jasper Lawler, an analyst at CMC Markets. Markit Economics said its Eurozone Composite Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) for June, a leading indicator of overall economic activity, slipped to 52.8 points from 53.5 in May, coming in at the weakest level since December.","Juncker will not beg for British support. Luxembourg's former premier Jean-Claude Juncker has told European politicians he will not \"get on my knees\" before Britain in his bid to become European Commission chief, the Guardian reported Friday. Britain fiercely opposes Juncker's possible appointment as president of the European Union's executive branch, claiming that voters across the continent rejected his brand of federalism during last month's elections. But the European Parliament insists that Juncker has a democratic right to the job, given that he heads the European People's party (EPP), the grouping which secured most votes in the elections.","Japan industry fights 'Minamata' costs as mercury trade ban looms. By Yuka Obayashi and Minami Funakoshi TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's government lobbied hard for a global pact that limits mercury use and to name the resulting treaty after Minamata, the site of a homegrown industrial disaster from the 1950s when the toxic metal poured into a river, poisoning thousands. Industry pressure in Japan could prevent the government doing much more than the bare minimum to comply with the treaty's legal framework, leaving the door open to at least some mercury exports from the country and weakening the global crackdown on the metal's use. At issue is how far Japan will go under the more business-friendly Liberal Democratic Party of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe toward shutting down a system that has made its economy Asia's largest net exporter of the material, typically churned out as a by-product. If Japan's mercury exports are scaled back to virtually nothing as proposed, industries will need to secure disposal sites for tonnes of the poisonous metal in an earthquake-prone country where storing hazardous waste has become an especially fraught issue since the Fukushima nuclear crisis.","6 killed in blasts in Somali area of Kenya capital. NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Three blasts in central Nairobi killed at least six people and wounded two dozen Monday evening in a coordinated terrorist strike, officials said.","Atalanta beats Milan 2-1 with late winner. MILAN (AP) — Franco Brienza scored a stunning stoppage-time goal to help Atalanta beat AC Milan 2-1 Sunday in a Serie A match which was again blighted by racism.","Obama congratulates Turkey's Erdogan on presidential win. U.S. President Barack Obama congratulated Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday for his victory as the country's next president, the White House said. Erdogan vowed to pursue a period of reconciliation in Turkey after securing the post with more than 52 percent of the vote on Sunday. \"The president praised the prime minister’s speech on Sunday and noted that as Turkey’s first directly elected president, the prime minister has an historic opportunity to further move Turkey forward,\" the White House said in a statement. \"The president and prime minister agreed on the importance of close cooperation on Syria and Iraq and the terrorist threat emanating from the region,\" the White House said.","Pubs, flats, supermarkets: Britain's churches reborn. At one church, the only thing being worshipped is beer -- at another, gleaming cars are on sale. Increasingly, it seems, a different kind of conversion is taking place at Britain's churches. Thanks to a steady decline in religion and the high costs of maintaining these historic buildings, a rising number of churches are being given new lives that may have horrified their founders. Behind the imposing red-brick facade of one Presbyterian church in north London's upmarket Muswell Hill district, throbbing pop music and barrels of Guinness are the first clues that there's a new congregation.","Freiburg beats Werder 3-1 in Bundesliga. FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — Freiburg pulled itself out of the danger zone by beating Werder Bremen 3-1 in the Bundesliga on Friday.","Canada sets 2500 Mhz wireless spectrum auction for April 2015. OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canada will auction off another set of airwaves for wireless use, selling 2500 Mhz spectrum in April 2015 and structuring the rules in a way designed to boost competition, Industry Minister James Moore said on Friday. Together with a 700 Mhz auction that is due to start next Tuesday and other changes, such as shared cellphone towers and caps on wholesale roaming rates, Moore told a Vancouver news conference that he was confident that wireless consumer prices would continue to fall. (Reporting by Randall Palmer and Louise Egan)","Bomb wounds 12 near central Cairo court. Cairo (AFP) - A bomb explosion near a court house in the centre of the Egyptian capital wounded 12 people late Tuesday, security and medical officials said.","China port probe into metal financing rattles banks, trade houses. By Melanie Burton and Polly Yam SYDNEY/HONG KONG (Reuters) - Global trading houses and banks are scrambling to check on their exposure to a probe into metal financing at China's Qingdao port, as concern grows that a crackdown on commodity financing could hit trade in the world's top metal buyer. The investigation at the world's seventh-largest port is looking into whether single cargoes of metal were used multiple times to obtain financing, according to industry sources. This means different banks and trading houses were holding separate titles for the same metal, they said. The inquiry has revived worries about the impact of China's deepening credit crunch on its metal imports, many of which pile up in warehouses to be used as collateral.","Week of flooding in southern China kills 37. BEIJING (AP) — China's government says flooding over the past week in the country's south has killed 37, left six missing, and forced almost half a million people from their homes.","Russian vote monitor denounces London pressure in Scottish 'no' vote. MOSCOW (Reuters) - The director of a pro-Kremlin vote monitoring agency which sent observers to Scotland's referendum denounced the result on Friday, saying Scots were pressured into rejecting independence to avoid comparisons with Crimea's vote to secede from Ukraine. \"All strength and resources were thrown into preventing Scotland from splitting, and people were de facto threatened that if they secede...there will be all sorts of troubles,\" said Georgy Fyodorov, head of a Russian vote monitoring group. ...","Buffett says abstained from voting on Coca-Cola's compensation plan. (Reuters) - Warren Buffett, chairman of conglomerate Berkshire Hathaway , on Wednesday said he thinks Coca-Cola's controversial equity compensation plan was excessive, but that Berkshire Hathaway abstained in the shareholders vote. Earlier on Wednesday, Coca-Cola said 83 percent of shareholders approved the plan. Critics, most notably activist investor David Winters, said the plan would dilute the holdings of current shareholders too much. As of December 31, Berkshire owned 400 million shares of the company, just over 9 percent of the shares outstanding. ...","Murray defeats Troicki to reach final in Vienna. VIENNA (AP) — Andy Murray defeated Viktor Troicki of Serbia 6-4, 6-3 at the Erste Bank Open on Saturday to reach his second final of the season.","Obama sending 200 more US troops to Iraq. WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama says he's sending about 200 more U.S. troops to Iraq to protect Americans and the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad.","Coach blast knocks back Egypt's tourism recovery. By Victoria Bryan and Dominique Vidalon FRANKFURT/PARIS (Reuters) - The bombing of a coach carrying Korean holidaymakers in the Sinai peninsula on Sunday has dealt Egyptian tourism a hammer blow, just as it was attempting a fragile recovery from three years of political upheaval. By killing two holidaymakers near one of Egypt's biggest sea-and-sun resorts, the Islamist militants behind the attack have undermined Egyptian official assurances that foreigners face no threat from the turmoil that has shaken the country since the overthrow of autocrat Hosni Mubarak in 2011. The Islamist group Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis said it carried out the bombing and has told tourists to leave Egypt, threatening to attack any who are still in the country after Thursday. Georges Colson, chairman of French travel agency federation SNAV, said his organization was advising people to choose alternative destinations.","Costa's Brazil debut for Spain ugly, humiliating. SALVADOR, Brazil (AP) — Diego Costa's reception on his return to his native Brazil was as expected, although Spain's humiliating 5-1 loss to the Netherlands at the World Cup was not.","Joe Zinnbauer given Hamburger SV coaching contract. HAMBURG, Germany (AP) — Hamburger SV has officially named Joe Zinnbauer as head coach through the next season.","Gunmen shoot dead five people in Saudi Arabia: state news. DUBAI (Reuters) - Unidentified gunmen shot dead five people in Saudi Arabia's Eastern Province late on Monday evening, the state news agency reported. Nine people were wounded in the attack in al-Dalwah town in al-Ahsa district, a police spokesman was quoted as saying. \"As a group of citizens was leaving a building...three masked men opened fire at them with machine guns and pistols,\" the spokesman said, adding that the incident was under investigation. It gave no further details. ...","Ukraine marks 1944 deportation of Crimea's Tatars. KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — Several hundred people have marched in Ukraine's capital, Kiev, to commemorate the brutal deportation 70 years ago of Crimea's entire population of Tatars.","South African protesters burn buildings. JOHANNESBURG (AP) — Protesters used children as \"human shields\" during an attempt to burn down a police station and municipal offices, the South African government said Wednesday, reacting to escalating violence by residents of poor townships who complain that state services are inadequate or expensive.","Germany tries Iranians charged with smuggling drone engines as jet ski parts. Two Iranian men charged with smuggling dozens of German-made engines capable of powering drones into Iran by declaring them as jet ski engines went on trial at a Frankfurt court on Monday. The men, identified only as Iman J.L., who also holds German nationality, and Davood A., are accused of violating Germany's Foreign Trade Act by disguising the true nature of the goods, in an apparent effort to get around trade sanctions imposed on Iran over its nuclear work. Iman J.L. is accused of obtaining 61 engines between 2008 and 2009 delivering them to Iran through his own import-export company. Davood A. is accused of assisting in the transport and selling some of the motors in Iran.","Turkey's pro-Kurdish MPs sworn in after freed from prison. Turkey's parliament swore in five pro-Kurdish lawmakers on Tuesday after they were freed from prison during their trial on charges linking them to armed militants, lifting hopes for a shaky peace process. Two courts ruled last week that the lengthy imprisonment of Peace and Democracy Party lawmakers Selma Irmak, Faysal Sariyildiz, Gulser Yildirim and Ibrahim Ayhan and independent MP Kemal Aktas had violated their rights as elected officials. Parliamentarians enjoy immunity from prosecution in Turkey. \"I hope our release can contribute to the peace process, but it's really just a first step,\" Irmak told Reuters.","Mystery gunfight in east Ukraine sparks blame, counter-blame. By Aleksandar Vasovic SLAVIANSK, Ukraine (Reuters) - Pro-Russian authorities in eastern Ukraine presented identity documents, maps and a business card to support their view that Ukrainian far-right nationalists had carried out a deadly attack early on Sunday. The nationalists and authorities in Kiev said it was a staged display to conceal the hand of Russian secret services in the gunfight, in which at least three people were killed. The truth, as in so much of the standoff over Ukraine between Moscow and Kiev, was hard to establish. The local pro-separatist mayor of the nearby town of Slaviansk announced a curfew and urged Moscow to send in peacekeepers, complicating efforts to defuse the standoff between Ukraine's pro-Western leaders and Russia.","Ukraine: Russian aid can enter with Red Cross OK. MOSCOW (AP) — A convoy of more than 260 Russian trucks reportedly packed with aid rumbled toward the border with Ukraine on Tuesday, but Kiev said the goods would only be allowed in if they were inspected by the international Red Cross.","Errani, Vinci complete doubles career Grand Slam. LONDON (AP) — Italy's Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci became the fifth duo to complete a career Grand Slam in women's doubles together, winning Wimbledon for the first time Saturday.","Jay Z, Rihanna hold court at private mansion for pre-Grammy Roc Nation party. BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. - If there is a lesson to take away from attending Jay Z's super-exclusive pre-Grammy party, it's simple — don't come late.","Indian diplomat in U.S. row wins indictment dismissal. By Jonathan Stempel and Shyamantha Asokan NEW YORK/NEW DELHI (Reuters) - An Indian diplomat charged in New York with visa fraud and making false statements about her domestic worker has won a dismissal of her federal indictment, in a move that could help smooth over a dispute that has frayed U.S.-India ties. Devyani Khobragade, who was India's deputy consul-general in New York, had diplomatic immunity when she sought on January 9 to dismiss the indictment, and thus could not be prosecuted, U.S. District Judge Shira Scheindlin in Manhattan ruled on Wednesday. U.S. prosecutors could still seek a fresh indictment, while in India reports emerged that Khobragade's two children held both U.S. and Indian passports, in apparent violation of Indian rules.","Farce, defense cuts highlight hard task in Sweden submarine hunt. By Simon Johnson and Alistair Scrutton STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - With a depleted military lacking anti-submarine helicopters and intelligence so far based on civilian sightings, Sweden's hunt for a supposed U-boat intruder has an element of farce pointing to the difficulty of wrapping up the mission successfully. More than 200 troops, stealth ships and helicopters have scoured waters off Stockholm since Friday in Sweden's biggest military mobilization since the Cold War, after reports of foreign \"underwater activity\" - suspected to be a Russian sub. ...","Coach Lehman admits Australia failed to adapt. Australia's cricket coach Darren Lehmann Monday refused to blame the Dubai pitch and instead admitted his team didn't play well during their 221-run defeat against Pakistan in the first Test. Pakistan took a 1-0 lead in the two-match series on the back of a maiden five wicket haul (5-74) by left-arm spinner Zulfiqar Babar and 4-50 by leg-spinner Yasir Shah as Australia, set a mammoth 438-run target, were bowled out for 216 on Sunday. Lehman said the wicket at Dubai stadium wasn't a sharp turner.","India to foreign CEOs: 'we're waiting for you'. NEW DELHI (AP) — India's finance minister is urging foreign investors to help plug enormous gaps in the country's infrastructure blamed for holding up growth.","Woman arrested on suspicion of killing U.S. teacher: UAE police. ABU DHABI (Reuters) - United Arab Emirates (UAE) police have arrested a woman suspected of killing of an American teacher found stabbed to death in a ladies' toilet at an Abu Dhabi shopping mall, police said on Thursday. (Reporting by Matt Smith and Noah Browning, Writing by William Maclean)","Mexico starts moving children out of squalid shelter. Mexican authorities began Saturday moving children out of a shelter where investigators say hundreds of minors were kept in squalid conditions and subjected to physical and sexual abuse. Police raided the home, known as \"La Gran Familia\" and located in the western town of Zamora, Tuesday amid reports that five kidnapped children were being held there. They found those children and much more: large piles of rotting food and other fetid trash, as well as horror stories about sleeping amid rats and insects -- and even being forced to perform oral sex on adults. Of the shelter's more than 400 children, 48 were moved to the city of Guadalajara and were placed in the custody of the federal agency overseeing child welfare issues, representative Melissa Jonguitud told AFP.","Sri Lankan government denies using state resources to skew poll. By Shihar Aneez and Ranga Sirilal COLOMBO (Reuters) - Sri Lanka's government has denied allegations made by a group of independent monitors that it is using state resources to give an unfair advantage to President Mahinda Rajapaksa who is running for an unprecedented third term in next month's election. The seven observer groups, some of which are funded by foreign non-governmental organizations, on Thursday raised concerns that the ruling party was exploiting public services and employees and that the police were ignoring complaints. \"These are wild accusations. ...","Iraq crisis deepens; US directly arms Kurds. BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraq's president snubbed incumbent Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and picked another politician to form the next government Monday, setting up a fierce political power struggle even as the country battles extremists in the north and west.","ECB issues new dose of stimulus for slow economy. FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — The European Central Bank has handed out 130 billion euros ($162 billion) in cheap, long-term loans to banks — part of its effort to stimulate the eurozone economy.","Brazil moves to secure borders ahead of World Cup. Brasília (AFP) - Brazil began deploying some 30,000 troops Saturday to secure its borders as it prepares to host the World Cup that kicks off next month. The internationally coordinated effort is part of a strategic border security plan announced by President Dilma Rousseff in June 2011. A similar security operation took place ahead of last year's Confederations Cup, widely regarded as a test run for the World Cup extravaganza that will see football games held in 12 cities.","Women get go-ahead to compete in 4-man bobsled. LAUSANNE, Switzerland (AP) — Women can start competing in 4-man bobsled this season.","Chile jails man in killing of Japanese astronomer. SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) — A man has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for killing a Japanese astronomer who helped develop the international ALMA observatory in Chile.","European human rights body says concerned about abuses in Azerbaijan. By Margarita Antidze TBILISI (Reuters) - Human rights are deteriorating in Azerbaijan, a European watchdog said on Wednesday, calling on the authorities to uphold regional standards and expressing concerns over what it says is a \"worrying pattern\" of abuse. Azerbaijan, a mainly Muslim former Soviet republic, has been governed by President Ilham Aliyev since he succeeded his father in 2003. Rights groups accuse Azerbaijan of muzzling dissent and jailing opponents, charges the government denies. Nils Muiznieks, human rights commissioner at the 47-nation non-executive Council of Europe, said he had seen no progress towards greater freedom of expression since he published his previous report in August 2013.","AP PHOTOS: Horse poisoning alarms Venezuela racing. CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — It sounds like a page-turning novel: Venezuelan authorities say a gambling ring poisons one of the country's most popular race horses ahead of a key derby, nearly killing the animal and shining a light on an underworld where millions of dollars in bets are made under the table.","Thai junta to keep tight grip after transfer of power. By Kaweewit Kaewjinda and Panarat Thepgumpanat BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thailand's military makes way for a new administration in coming weeks, but the generals will keep a tight grip on power by filling an interim cabinet and legislature with soldiers, military sources said on Wednesday. The armed forces took power on May 22 in a bloodless coup following six months of street demonstrations that contributed to the ousting of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra. The junta has since purged officials linked to Yingluck and her brother, Thaksin, a former premier himself and widely seen as the power behind Yingluck's government. The commander who led the May 22 coup, General Prayuth Chan-ocha, will likely to become prime minister to head a cabinet of staunch loyalists, the sources said.","Indonesian TV shows objects in Java Sea, may be AirAsia jet debris. By Fergus Jensen JAKARTA (Reuters) - Countries around Asia on Tuesday stepped up the search for an AirAsia plane carrying 162 people that is presumed to have crashed in shallow waters off Indonesia, as television showed pictures of objects that could be debris from the jet. Soelistyo, head of Indonesia's search and rescue agency, told media the search area in the Java Sea between the islands of Sumatra and Borneo would be expanded. ...","Kerry urges Hamas to seek peace based on Egyptian proposal. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry urged Hamas on Tuesday to seek peace negotiations with Israel in Gaza based on an Egyptian truce proposal that the Islamist militant group has rejected. After meeting President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi of Egypt, a country which has mediated in the Arab-Israeli conflict in the past, Kerry said he had held constructive talks in a bid to end the conflict in Gaza which has killed more than 600 people. \"Hamas has a fundamental choice to make and it is a choice that will have a profound impact for the people of Gaza,\" Kerry said at a news conference with his Egyptian counterpart Sameh Shukri. \"The Egyptians have provided a framework and a forum for them to be able to come to the table to have a serious discussion together with other factions of the Palestinians.\" Hamas has said the Egyptian plan ignores its demands for the release of prisoners and a more comprehensive lifting of an economic blockade on the Gaza Strip.","Ireland records 2nd win in World T20. SYLHET, Bangladesh (AP) — Ireland beat the United Arab Emirates by 21 runs on the Duckworth/Lewis Method at the World Twenty20 on Wednesday after a game that was cut short by rain after being twice interrupted by power failures. Ireland was cruising at 103-3 in the 15th over of the Group B qualifier when the floodlights went out for a second time in 13 minutes — and the rain came down. No further play was possible.","RBS, Lloyds to move south if Scots vote for independence. By Matt Scuffham LONDON (Reuters) - Scotland's two biggest banks have said they would relocate to England if Scots vote for independence next week, adding to the economic uncertainties the country faces if it decides to end its 307-year union with the rest of the UK. The diminished presence of Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) and Bank of Scotland-owner Lloyds Banking Group , along with other leading financial groups which have also said they might relocate some operations on a \"yes\" vote, could be a significant loss given the sector's importance in the Scottish economy. RBS, based in Scotland since 1727 and which employees 11,500 staff there, said on Thursday it had taken the decision because a vote for independence would create uncertainties which could impact its ability to borrow. \"RBS believes that it would be necessary to re-domicile the bank’s holding company and its primary rated operating entity (The Royal Bank of Scotland plc) to England,\" it said in a statement.","US Oks first-ever DNA alternative to pap smear. WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal health regulators have cleared a genetic test from Roche as the first U.S.-approved alternative to the pap smear, the decades-old mainstay of cervical cancer screening.","US plans to transfer 6 from Guantanamo. WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. officials said Wednesday the Pentagon has notified Congress of its intent to transfer six Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, detainees to Uruguay.","Final countdown nears for 1st comet landing. BERLIN (AP) — The final countdown is approaching for one of the most audacious space adventures ever — the European Space Agency's attempt to land a robot on a comet.","JPMorgan report to outline improved controls: activist. By Ross Kerber BOSTON (Reuters) - JPMorgan Chase & Co will soon issue a report outlining improved controls it has been enacting in the wake of recent missteps, including its role in the 2008 financial crisis, according to a shareholder activist who has seen a draft. The report could add pressure on other banks to show tangible changes to policies after a slew of scandals tainted the industry, according to the activist, Seamus Finn, chair of the board of the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility. ...","Eight die as African troops clash with militia in C.Africa. Bangui (Central African Republic) (AFP) - Eight people, including six civilians, have been killed in a firefight between African peacekeepers and fighters from the mainly Christian \"anti-balaka\" militia, a police source said Tuesday. Troops of the MISCA African Union force clashed Sunday with anti-balaka militias at Cantonnier, near the border with Cameroon, a gendarmerie source in the western town of Bouar told AFP . A MISCA source confirmed that an incident took place near the frontier pitting African troops against the anti-balaka (anti-machete) fighters in \"circumstances that are not yet clearly known\". \"No MISCA soldier was hit during this incident,\" the source added.","Morocco, Spain break up militant cell sending fighters abroad. By Aziz El Yaakoubi RABAT (Reuters) - Morocco and Spain made seven arrests and dismantled an Islamist militant cell led by a Spanish citizen that sent fighters to \"hotbeds of tension\" such as Syria, officials from both countries said on Friday. Hundreds of fighters from Morocco and other Maghreb states like Tunisia and Algeria have joined Islamist-dominated rebel forces in Syria's civil war and North African governments fear they will pose security threats once they return home. Spain's interior ministry said the group's leader, Mustafa Maya Amaya, a nationalized Spaniard born in Belgium, was arrested in Melilla along with two French citizens. Melilla is a Spanish enclave on the Mediterranean, surrounded by Morocco.","Italy, Malta say 'forgotten' by EU over migrant influx. Italy and Malta on Sunday said they had been \"forgotten\" by Europe amid a massive influx of migrants -- an accusation rejected by Brussels which admitted however that other countries could do more to help. Thousands of migrants -- mainly from Eritrea and Syria but also sub-Saharan Africa -- have arrived or are on their way in what Malta said was the \"biggest\" search and rescue operation in recent years. Italy said that more than 50,000 migrants have landed since on its shores the start of the year -- around the same numbers as for the whole of last year. Maltese Prime Minister Joseph Muscat criticised the European Union in an interview with One Radio saying: \"Europe has forgotten everyone.","Nigeria hit by new car bomb attack, 46 dead. Twin car bombings on Tuesday killed at least 46 in central Nigeria in the latest in a series of deadly blasts that will stoke fears about security despite international help in the fight against Boko Haram Islamists. Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan swiftly condemned the attack in the central city of Jos, calling it a \"tragic assault on human freedom\" and condemning the perpetrators as \"cruel and evil\". Most of the victims were women, Pam Ayuba, spokesman for Plateau state governor Jonah Jang, said, while the emergency services said their workers were caught up in the second blast as they attended victims from the first. Plateau, of which Jos is the capital, falls in Nigeria's so-called Middle Belt, where the mainly Christian south meets the Muslim-majority north.","Thailand's army chief announces military coup. BANGKOK (AP) — Thailand's army chief has announced that the military has seized power in a coup to restore stability and order after six months of political deadlock and turmoil.","Japan prime minister Abe visits Anne Frank House. AMSTERDAM (AP) — Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has paid a visit to the Anne Frank House museum in Amsterdam, a diplomatic move ahead of a meeting with the leaders of the U.S. and South Korea to discuss North Korea.","217 more evacuated from Syria's Homs. More than 200 civilians were evacuated Wednesday from besieged rebel-held districts in the heart of Syria's third largest city Homs, governor Talal al-Barazi told AFP. \"Two hundred and seventeen civilians have been evacuated today from Homs Old City. The operation went well and smoothly,\" Barazi said. Aid workers also distributed 4,700 kilogrammes of flour and 190 food parcels in the besieged districts Wednesday, according to the Syrian Red Crescent's Khaled Erksoussi.","Small plane makes emergency landing on NYC expressway; highway closed, emergency crews there. NEW YORK, N.Y. - New York City emergency officials say a small plane has made an emergency landing on an interstate highway in the Bronx.","Setback for Pope Francis as synod fails to agree on gays, divorcees. Vatican City (AFP) - Roman Catholic bishops on Saturday failed to reach consensus on opening the Church's doors to remarried divorcees and gays after a special synod on the family, in a blow to Pope Francis.","Chretien's first cabinet meeting in 1993 trims ministers' office spending. OTTAWA - Jean Chretien chopped the size of his office and those of his ministers at his very first cabinet meeting in 1993, saying the previous Conservative administration had grown too large and controlling.","France's Valls announces tax and spending cuts. Manuel Valls used his first speech to parliament as France's prime minister on Tuesday to announce corporation tax cuts and outline public spending savings, saying Paris would respect EU budget commitments while rejecting austerity. Confirming an expected package of 30 billion euros ($41.23 billion) in payroll tax cuts on companies by 2016, Valls said the so-called \"C3S\" tax on companies would be scrapped by the same date, handing a total six billion euros back to companies. An existing surtax on the main corporation tax would be abolished in 2016 and the standard rate of corporation tax be cut to 28 percent from 33 percent by 2020, he said, adding that an initial reduction would take place in 2016. Valls said France wanted to respect its promises to the European Union to bring down its public deficit but would not go down the path of austerity.","Toro Rosso signs Dutch teenager as new F1 driver. LONDON (AP) — Max Verstappen is set to become the youngest ever driver in Formula One after Toro Rosso announced that the 16-year-old Dutchman will join the team next season.","Pope to visit European Parliament in November. BRUSSELS (AP) — The president of the European Parliament says Pope Francis will make an official visit to the assembly in Strasbourg on Nov. 25.","Obama calls outgoing Indian Prime Minister Singh after election. U.S. President Barack Obama called India's outgoing Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday to thank him for developing deeper relations with the United States, a day after Singh's political party was swept from power. On Friday, Obama called Singh's successor, opposition leader Narendra Modi, and invited him to Washington at a mutually agreeable time. Obama, who hosted Singh at a White House state dinner in his first term, thanked him for \"his critical role in transforming and deepening the U.S.-India strategic partnership and our cooperation on global challenges,\" a White House statement said.","Obama: US can't cut itself off from West Africa. WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama urged Americans on Saturday not to succumb to hysteria about Ebola, even as he warned that addressing the deadly virus would require citizens, government leaders and the media to all pitch in.","Jordan acquits, to free radical cleric Abu Qatada. Amman (AFP) - A Jordan court acquitted radical cleric Abu Qatada of terrorism charges Wednesday and ordered the release of the Palestinian-born preacher, who was deported from Britain last year after a long legal battle.","Dethroned Myanmar beauty queen blasts pageant boss. YANGON, Myanmar (AP) — A dethroned beauty queen from Myanmar says she won't return her $100,000 crown until the pageant's organizers apologize for calling her a liar and a thief.","FARC says Colombia peace talks not in 'limbo'. Colombia's FARC rebels on Tuesday denied peace talks with the government had been put in \"limbo\" by the country's presidential vote, which largely hinges on how to handle the Marxist rebels. Incumbent President Juan Manuel Santos, who has staked his political future on the bid to end Latin America's longest insurgency, came second in Sunday's first round vote. His rival Oscar Zuluaga, a fierce critic of the peace talks that have gone on for 18 months in Cuba, finished first on Sunday with 29.3 percent of the vote to 25.7 percent for Santos, forcing a June 15 run-off. That is not our impression,\" the head negotiator for the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, Ivan Marquez, said in Cuba as the guerrilla group marked the 50th anniversary of its founding.","West imposes new Russia sanctions, Putin defiant. Kiev (AFP) - The United States and European Union hit Russia with tough new sanctions Friday in a coordinated riposte to Moscow's \"unacceptable behaviour\" in Ukraine.","Merkel among dignitaries remembering WWI battle. NIEUWPOORT, Belgium (AP) — Leaders and dignitaries from former World War I enemies are uniting to mark the centenary of the first big battle on the infamous Flanders Fields which helped set the stage for four years of bloodletting by hundreds of thousands on the Western Front.","US Coast Guard to probe fatal St. Lucia ship fire. SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — The U.S. Coast Guard says it will help investigate a cruise ship fire that killed one crew member and two contractors in the eastern Caribbean island of St. Lucia.","U.S. to monitor South China Sea, talks with Australia on regional defense. By Lesley Wroughton SYDNEY (Reuters) - The United States will monitor the South China Sea to see whether \"de-escalatory steps\" are being taken, a U.S. State Department official said on Monday, a day after China repelled U.S. pressure to rein in actions in the disputed waters. The official spoke as U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry arrived in Sydney for a meeting with Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel and Australian officials to discuss increased defense and cyber security cooperation. A U.S. proposal for a freeze on provocative acts in the South China Sea got a cool response from China and some Southeast Asian nations at a regional meeting at the weekend, an apparent setback to U.S. efforts to thwart China's assertive moves.","Obama's NSA announcements just the starting point; few changes are likely to happen quickly. WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama's blueprint for overhauling the government's sweeping surveillance program is just the starting point. The reality is few changes could happen quickly without unlikely agreements from a divided Congress and federal judges.","Four girls escape Boko Haram, 219 still missing: official. MAIDUGURI (Reuters) - Four more girls kidnapped by Boko Haram militants last month have escaped their captors, the education commissioner for Borno state said on Wednesday, leaving 219 still missing. The girls were taking exams at a secondary school in the remote northeastern village of Chibok on April 14 when the Islamist gunmen surrounded it, loaded them onto trucks and carted them off. Fifty-three escaped shortly afterwards. Education commissioner Musa Inuwa declined to give further details of the escape. (Reporting by Lanre Ola; Writing by Tim Cocks; Editing by Andrew Roche)","French terror case against Iran opposition dropped. PARIS (AP) — French judges have thrown out terrorism-linked charges against nine members of an exiled Iranian opposition group, closing a case that began 11 years ago with mass arrests that provoked several deaths by protesters setting themselves afire.","Where Ukraine's separatists get their weapons. By Thomas Grove and Warren Strobel DONETSK Ukraine (Reuters) - On the last day of May, a surface-to-air rocket was signed out of a military base near Moscow where it had been stored for more than 20 years. According to the ornate Cyrillic handwriting in the weapon's Russian Defence Ministry logbook, seen by Reuters, the portable rocket, for use with an Igla rocket launcher, was destined for a base in Rostov, some 50 km (31 miles) from the Ukrainian border. In that area, say U.S. officials, lies a camp for training Ukrainian separatist fighters. Three weeks later the rocket and its logbook turned up in eastern Ukraine, where government troops seized them from pro-Russian separatists. The seal of the Russian Defence Ministry has been stamped over the signature sending the weapon to Rostov. A copy of the log was passed to a diplomat in Ukraine’s capital, Kiev. Reuters was unable to verify its authenticity with the Russian military, and Moscow has consistently denied arming the separatists in eastern Ukraine. The Igla and its logbook are just one indication that weapons are flowing from Russia into Ukraine.","Romania to extradite man over Texas slayings. BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) — A Romanian-born Texas fugitive charged in the shooting death of his wife and their son at the family's Houston-area house can be extradited to the U.S., a court ruled Thursday.","Pakistan protest leader to meet political figures to discuss crisis. Pakistani protest leader Imran Khan said on Tuesday he would hold talks with a conservative Islamist politician who has been trying to mediate between Khan's political party and the government since the beginning of a political crisis. \"We will put our stance in front of them and they will do the same ... The Door for talks should always remain open.\" Khan, who has refused to negotiate with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif whose resignation he is demanding, stopped short of saying that he could hold direct talks with the government.","Upstate NY man reunited with family after AP photo shows him keeping warm on DC street. WASHINGTON - Nicholas Simmons disappeared from his parents' house in a small upstate New York town on New Year's Day, leaving behind his wallet, cellphone and everything else.","Sudan journalists protest over Egypt holding Jazeera staff. About 100 Sudanese journalists and activists staged a silent vigil on Thursday in support of a global campaign to support Al-Jazeera television journalists detained in Egypt. The channel's local staff were among the demonstrators, who carried pictures of the four detained Al-Jazeera staff including Australian Peter Greste, Canadian-Egyptian Mohamed Fadel Fahmy and Baher Mohamed. Their trial began in a Cairo court last week, against the backdrop of strained ties between Cairo and Doha, which backed deposed Islamist president Mohamed Morsi and his now-banned Muslim Brotherhood. The journalists are accused of supporting the Brotherhood and broadcasting false reports, charges denied by the television network.","Zaccheroni quits after Japan World Cup flop. Japan coach Alberto Zaccheroni announced his resignation on Wednesday and said he took \"full responsibility\" for the Asian champions' winless exit from the World Cup. Zaccheroni, 61, brought a squad full of optimism to Brazil but the Blue Samurai suffered a brutal reality check culminating in Tuesday's 4-1 rout by Colombia. Japan also lost their opening game 2-1 to Ivory Coast and ground out a 0-0 draw with Greece.","Former All Black Jimmy Cowan joins Auckland Blues. WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Former All Blacks scrumhalf Jimmy Cowan will make a return to Super Rugby next season with the Auckland-based Blues.","Kerry warns Russia of greater response if Ukraine tensions rise. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said there would be an even greater response if Russia further increased tensions in Ukraine and threatened its people. After holding six hours of \"direct and candid\" talks with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov in London, Kerry said the U.S. and international community would not recognize the outcome of the referendum in Crimea on Sunday. He added that Russian President Vladimir Putin was not prepared to make any decision on Crimea until after the vote. \"If Russia does establish facts on the ground that increase tensions or that threaten the Ukrainian people then obviously that will beg an even greater response and there will be costs,\" Kerry told reporters after the meeting.","Exclusive: VistaJet in talks with banks on possible $900 million sale - sources. By Freya Berry and Pamela Barbaglia LONDON (Reuters) - Swiss private aviation firm VistaJet is in talks with bankers over a potential sale of the business which could fetch up to $900 million, two financial sources closely monitoring the deal said on Monday. VistaJet, which is known for its distinctive silver aeroplanes and is wholly owned by its multi-millionaire founder Thomas Flohr, is close to appointing financial advisers and could start a sale process in September, one of the sources said. VistaJet has core earnings of around $100 million, one of the sources said, giving a deal value of up to $900 million at those multiples. VistaJet reported a 25 percent rise in 2012 revenue to around $400 million.","Pakistani family sentenced to death over 'honor killing' outside court. By Mubasher Bukhari LAHORE Pakistan (Reuters) - Four relatives of a pregnant woman who bludgeoned her to death outside one of Pakistan's top courts were sentenced to death on Wednesday for the crime, their defense lawyer said. The 25-year-old's family attacked her because they objected to her marriage. Farzana Iqbal's murder in May this year briefly focused attention on Pakistan's epidemic of violence against women. Her father, brother, cousin, and another relative were all sentenced to death and a $1,000 fine, said defense lawyer Mansoor Afridi. ...","Ottawa condemns Kabul attack that killed two Canadians. The Canadian government on Friday condemned a Taliban attack on a Kabul hotel which killed nine people including two of its citizens, and called for the perpetrators to be punished. \"Canada condemns this brazen and cowardly terrorist attack on the Serena Hotel, in Kabul, which has claimed the lives of many and left several people injured,\" Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird said in a statement.","After attacks, Canada balances security, openness. OTTAWA, Ontario (AP) — Canada treasures its image as an orderly, open society, a place where the seat of government welcomes weekly public yoga sessions on its front lawn beneath a monument called the Peace Tower.","Buffett opposes Peltz's Pepsi split plan; surveyed investors like. By Lisa Baertlein LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Investor Warren Buffett and some Wall Street fund managers are divided on activist Nelson Peltz's renewed proposal to split PepsiCo Inc's robust snacks division from its beverage business. The packaged food and beverage industry has been dogged by lackluster demand, leading growth-seeking activist investors to demand spinoffs and deep cost cuts to \"unlock\" value. A majority of institutional investors in PepsiCo support a split, according to a Wall Street survey conducted by Bernstein Research and released on Monday. Peltz, who was instrumental in carving up food companies such as Cadbury and Kraft, has had Pepsi in his sights on and off since July.","Canada economy adds 25,800 jobs in May; full time positions hit. (Reuters) - The Canadian economy created a net 25,800 jobs in May, all of them part-time, but shed about 30,000 full-time positions for the second month in a row, Statistics Canada said on Friday. The unemployment rate edged up to 7.0 percent from 6.9 percent in April as more people sought work. Part-time jobs rose by 54,900 in May, while 29,100 full-time jobs vanished. In the 12 months through May, only 85,500 jobs were created, the lowest year-over-year gain since the 75,700 increase in positions recorded in February 2010, when Canada was still mired in recession.","Sagnol apologizes for comments on African players. PARIS (AP) — Bordeaux coach Willy Sagnol has apologized for comments he made about African players in football, although he maintains they were misinterpreted.","Gulf Arab states agree on measures to heal internal rift. Gulf Arab states took a step towards resolving a severe rift in the U.S.-backed alliance on Thursday by agreeing on ways to implement a security agreement they reached last year. Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates withdrew their ambassadors from Qatar on March 5, accusing Doha of not abiding by November's agreement, which called for not interfering in each other's internal affairs. The unprecedented move, which analysts said was ultimately motivated by Doha's support for the Muslim Brotherhood, complicated Gulf efforts to navigate regional turmoil, particularly in Syria and Egypt. The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) secretariat said in a statement that foreign ministers of the six-member body had met in Riyadh for a comprehensive review of measures used to implement foreign and security policies.","France to start pumping out Spanish ship broken in three. Anglet (France) (AFP) - Teams from a salvage company and a French coast guard anti-pollution squad are to start Friday pumping fuel out of a Spanish cargo ship which has broken into three sections after a spectacular shipwreck in bad weather. The operation will be a race against time as it must be carried out in the two hours of low tide and before new storms forecast for the weekend hit France's Atlantic coast. The coast guard teams, along with firefighters, salvage experts contracted by the ship's owner and the vessel's chief engineer plan to pump out the 60 to 70 tonnes of fuel found in the front part of the ship, which is washed up on a beach. The operation will be \"difficult,\" local mayor Jean Espilondo said, because the front end \"is lying at a 15-degree angle under the force of the waves\".","Volkswagen China growth slows to 10 percent due to capacity limits. By Samuel Shen and Matthew Miller SHANGHAI (Reuters) - Volkswagen AG's growth in China is expected to slow to around 10 percent this year from 16 percent in 2013 due to a conservative strategy that has limited its production capacity, the head of its Chinese operations said on Tuesday. A shortage in capacity is the only reason Volkswagen's growth rate has lagged overall growth in China's vehicle market recently, Volkswagen China President Jochem Heizmann told reporters in Guangzhou, ahead of an annual auto show that will open on Thursday in the southern Chinese city. ...","Japan nuclear regulator says review of Kansai Elec plant mostly complete. TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's nuclear regulator said on Wednesday that its assessment of Kansai Electric Power's Takahama nuclear plant in western Japan was moving along smoothly and was nearly complete on most issues. The Nuclear Regulation Authority gave preliminary approval of Kyushu Electric Power's Sendai plant, accepting upgraded design and safety features, clearing a key hurdle to become the first nuclear facility to restart under stricter standards adopted after the Fukushima crisis. ...","Vatican's year-by-year breakdown on abuse cases. VATICAN CITY (AP) — The Vatican on Tuesday released the first-ever complete statistics on the number of sex abuse cases reported to the Holy See and how they were adjudicated. Here is the year-by-year breakdown, starting from 2004.","Norway government rejects 2022 Winter Olympics. OSLO, Norway (AP) — The Norwegian government rejected Oslo's bid for the 2022 Winter Olympics on Wednesday amid financial concerns, meaning the candidacy will almost certainly be dropped.","Ebola vaccine doses could reach Africa by mid-2015: UN health agency. Hundreds of thousands of Ebola vaccine doses could be rolled out to west Africa by the middle of next year, the World Health Organization said Friday, after new cases of the killer virus were reported in New York and Mali. \"All is being put in place to start efficacy tests in the affected countries as early as December,\" WHO assistant director general Marie-Paule Kieny said, adding that several hundred thousand doses could be available in the \"first half\" of 2015. Fears the haemorrhagic virus could spread further were stoked with confirmed cases in New York city and the west African nation of Mali, adding urgency to the hunt for a cure. Whichever proves its mettle in trials, WHO hopes to send huge numbers of doses to Africa for \"real-world\" tests.","Iraq postpones vote for president, delaying power-sharing deal. By Isra' al-Rubei'i and Maggie Fick BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq's parliament, which had been due to elect the country's president on Wednesday, postponed the vote by a day, delaying the formation of a power-sharing government urgently needed to confront a Sunni Muslim insurgency. The advance by Sunni Islamist militants who seized swathes of northern Iraq last month has put the OPEC oil producer's survival in jeopardy. Islamic State, an al Qaeda offshoot that is leading the insurgency, claimed responsibility for an overnight suicide bombing in a Shi'ite district of Baghdad which killed 33 people, one of the deadliest recent attacks in the capital. The bloodshed highlighted the need for Iraq's politicians to form a united front against the militants, who want to march on the capital.","St. Maarten to extradite drug suspect to US. PHILIPSBURG, St. Maarten (AP) — Officials in the Dutch Caribbean say a judge has approved the extradition of a man arrested in St. Maarten who faces a drug charge in the United States.","Airlines debate costs of aircraft tracking after Malaysian's loss. By Siva Govindasamy and Victoria Bryan DOHA (Reuters) - Moves by airlines to keep track of their aircraft in real time following the disappearance of Malaysian Airlines' flight MH370 could push up ticket prices for passengers - but governments should also foot part of the bill, airline industry leaders said on Tuesday. Senior executives attending the International Air Transport Association's (IATA) annual meeting in Doha this week said they needed to install a tracking system to ensure no more airliners could simply vanish as the Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777-200ER did in March. \"This would be an additional cost and would be passed to passengers,\" Finnair's chief executive Pekka Vauramo told Reuters at the IATA meeting.","Myanmar parliament head rules out charter change. YANGON, Myanmar (AP) — The influential speaker of Myanmar's parliament says the military-drafted constitution that bars opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi from becoming president will not be changed before next year's general election.","Column: With 2022 games, IOC turns magic into mush. PARIS (AP) — How do you turn one of sport's most magical events into unappealing mush? Let the International Olympic Committee manage it.","Switzerland sending biggest winter team to Sochi. GENEVA (AP) — Switzerland is taking its biggest ever team to a Winter Olympics, sending 163 athletes to Sochi — including all five of its gold medalists from 2010.","German court convicts 3 over Rwanda militia ties. BERLIN (AP) — A German court has convicted three men over their links to an ethnic Hutu militia involved in killing Congolese citizens.","Palestinian leader in new bid UN to end occupation. NEW YORK (AP) — Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas returns to the United Nations General Assembly Friday where he is expected to demonize Israel for the death and destruction of the 50-day summer war in Gaza and press for a U.N. resolution to set a deadline for Israel to pull out of Palestinian lands captured in the 1967 war.","Wealthy Ukrainian businessman arrested in Vienna. VIENNA (AP) — Dmytro Firtash, one of Ukraine's most influential oligarchs, was under arrest in Vienna and facing possible extradition to the U.S. Thursday, a day after being detained in the Austrian capital on an American warrant charging him with bribery and other offenses.","Earthquake swarm in remote Nevada region intensifies. (Reuters) - An earthquake swarm that started rocking a secluded region in northwest Nevada this summer intensified over the past week, geology officials said on Wednesday. The swarm, centered just off the state's northwest border some 40 miles (65 km) southeast of Lakeview, Oregon, started July 12 and is being caused by stretching of the Earth's crust, said Graham Kent, the director of the Nevada Seismological Laboratory at the University of Nevada, Reno. The laboratory said in a statement that two magnitude 4. ...","Italy rapped for forcing kids to take father's surname. Strasbourg (France) (AFP) - Italy on Tuesday lost a long battle to hold on to one of its ancient family traditions: requiring children of married couples to take the father's surname only. An Italian law excluding offspring from having the option to be registered under the mother's maiden name was \"patriarchal\", \"discriminatory\" and a rights violation, the European Court of Human Rights ruled, ordering it be ended. In doing so, it sided with an Italian couple who have fought for 13 years to have their children carry the wife's maiden name, rather than the husband's last name. Alessandra Cusan and Luigi Fazzo had taken their case to the top European court after losing all their battles in Italy's courts to have their daughter born in 1999 named Maddalena Cusan instead of Maddalena Fazzo, as authorities required.","AP INTERVIEW: Leno says he's enjoying retirement. JERUSALEM (AP) — After two decades of hosting \"the Tonight Show,\" Jay Leno says his transition into retirement has been seamless. Without the daily grind of hosting NBC's top-rated late-night show, Leno said he feels \"liberated\" to travel and invest more in his standup routines.","Belgium PM Di Rupo hands in cabinet resignation after poll. Brussels (AFP) - Belgium's Prime Minister Elio Di Rupo on Monday handed in his government's resignation to King Philip following the country's general election this weekend, the palace said in a statement.","England 1-2 in road race at Commonwealth Games. GLASGOW, Scotland (AP) — Lizzie Armitstead led an England one-two finish in the 98-kilometer women's road race on Sunday, the final day of the Commonwealth Games.","Bayern's dominance makes for boring Bundesliga. FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — It wasn't always so easy for Bayern Munich.","G7 may meet in London without Russia. An alternative meeting for the Group of Seven most developed economies could be held in London if Russia is expelled from the G8 for its aggressive policy in Ukraine, a German weekly reported Saturday. Britain has proposed hosting the summit with Germany, Japan, France, Canada, Italy and the United States, Der Spiegel said, citing an unnamed source close to the German government. Initially, a Group of Eight meeting including Russia was set to be held in June in Sochi, where the Russians had successfully hosted this year's Winter Olympic Games. But Russia's expulsion from the rich countries' club is one of the international sanctions to be imposed if Moscow persists in its support for Crimea to quit Ukraine and join Russia, the subject of Sunday's referendum in the flashpoint peninsula which Kiev and Western powers have said is illegal.","Top Asian News at 2:00 p.m. GMT. PANGKALAN BUN, Indonesia (AP) — Family members of those aboard AirAsia Flight 8501 collapsed in agony Tuesday as images of debris and a bloated body flashed across Indonesian television screens, proof that the plane crashed into the sea two days earlier with 162 people on board. The low-cost carrier vanished Sunday halfway through a two-hour flight between Surabaya, Indonesia and Singapore after encountering storm clouds, sparking an international hunt with dozens of planes, ships and helicopters.","Thousands in Lebanon shout down domestic violence. Protesters took to the streets of Beirut Saturday on International Women's Day to demand better protection for women amid an uproar over husbands murdering their wives. Zoya Rouhana, director of KAFA (Enough), a leading women's rights group in Lebanon, said \"the fact victims' relatives are starting to talk about these crimes means that the consciousness that one must not be silent is growing\".","Two killed in Lebanon as Palestinian named as suicide bomber. TRIPOLI/BEIRUT, Lebanon (Reuters) - Two people were killed in the Lebanese city of Tripoli on Thursday including a military commander from the Alawite minority shot dead on his way to work, security sources said, the latest spasm of violence linked to the Syrian civil war. In Beirut, a Palestinian man was named as one of two suicide bombers who blew themselves up near the Iranian cultural center in the capital's southern suburbs on Wednesday, killing at least four other people in other Syria-related violence. The three-year-long civil war in neighboring Syria has exacerbated tensions in Lebanon between groups sympathetic to the rival sides, posing a major security challenge to a new government that is seeking to stabilize the fragile state. In Tripoli, the Syria war has fuelled tensions between Alawites loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's government and Sunni Muslim groups sympathetic to the uprising against him.","Torstar operating revenue falls as print ad sales stay weak. (Reuters) - Torstar Corp , owner of Canada's largest daily newspaper by circulation, said quarterly operating revenue fell more than 7 percent, hurt by weak print advertising. Torstar is trying to make up for losses in its traditional print business by charging users for access to the online version of the Toronto Star newspaper and cutting costs. \" ... We anticipate continued pressure on print advertising revenues, although we were pleased to experience some relative improvement in the print advertising trend in the fourth quarter,\" Chief Executive David Holland said in a statement on Wednesday. Total operating revenue fell to C$366.5 million from C$395.7 million.","AstraZeneca, fighting off Pfizer, forecasts $45 billion sales by 2023. By Ben Hirschler LONDON (Reuters) - AstraZeneca Plc laid out its defense against Pfizer Inc's $106 billion takeover approach on Tuesday, painting a bullish picture of its new drug pipeline and forecasting sales above $45 billion by 2023. While AstraZeneca faces declining revenue over the next three years as older medicines lose patent protection, the company said it sees \"strong and consistent\" growth from 2017 to 2023, driven by new treatments for cancer, diabetes, heart disease and lung disorders. AstraZeneca has rebuffed a series of approaches from Pfizer, which wants to create the world's biggest pharmaceuticals company - and cut its tax bill - by buying the group. AstraZeneca said on Friday that the U.S. firm's offer of 50 pounds a share undervalued it \"substantially\".","Israel arrests 37 in West Bank as manhunt drags on. Israeli troops detained 37 Palestinians in the West Bank overnight as its arrest campaign entered its 11th day on Monday, with no sign of three teenagers thought kidnapped by Hamas. Since the youths disappeared while hitchhiking in the southern West Bank on June 12, Israel has been rounding up hundreds of Palestinians in a bid to find them, while also dealing a crushing blow to the Islamist movement's West Bank network. \"Since the abduction 11 days ago, approximately 361 suspects been detained, 250 of them Hamas members, and 57 who were released during the Gilad Shalit prisoner exchange,\" she said, referring to detainees freed as part of a 2011 swap deal for a soldier held by Hamas.","Enyeama makes history as he wins Africa player of Ligue 1 award. Vincent Enyeama became the first Nigerian, the first goalkeeper and first player from English speaking Africa to be named France's Ligue 1 African player of the season on Monday. He won the Marc-Vivien Foe award -- named after the Cameroon international midfielder who died aged 28 of a heart attack during the 2003 Confederations Cup semi-final -- ahead of Ivory Coast defender Serge Aurier, who plays for Toulouse, and Lyon's Cameroon defender Henri Bedimo. Enyeama, who captained Nigeria to Africa Cup of Nations success last year, succeeds Borussia Dortmund's Gabonese international striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, who won it after a successful season with St Etienne last season.","Rugby-New Zealand 14 South Africa 10 - Rugby Championship result. WELLINGTON, Sept 13 (Reuters) - New Zealand 14 beat South Africa 10 (halftime 6-7) in their Rugby Championship clash at Wellington Regional Stadium on Saturday. Scorers: New Zealand - Try: Richie McCaw; Penalties: Aaron Cruden (2), Beauden Barrett South Africa - Try: Cornal Hendricks; Conversion: Handre Pollard; Dropgoal: Pollard (Compiled by Greg Stutchbury; Editing by Sudipto Ganguly)","Turkish authorities search plane over bomb claim. ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — A Turkish official says security forces are searching a plane that landed at an Istanbul airport after a passenger claimed there was a bomb on board.","Afghan president again demands an end to US airstrikes, says it's condition for security deal. KABUL - Afghanistan's president says the U.S. can no longer carry out military operations or airstrikes and must jump-start peace talks with the Taliban before his country signs a security deal to keep American troops in Afghanistan after 2014.","India plans 5-fold increase in clean energy. India says it is taking bold steps against climate change with plans for a five-fold increase in renewable energy capacity.","Leicester stun champions Toulon in European Champions Cup. Paris (AFP) - Leicester Tigers inflicted the first defeat on champions Toulon in the European Champions Cup for more than a year with a 25-21 success at Welford Road on Sunday.","Boy, girl charged with trying to steal baby in Toronto. A 14-year-old boy and a 12-year-old girl were charged Friday with assaulting a mother and trying to steal her baby in a random attack on a Toronto street, police said. Inspector Art Little of the Toronto Police Service called it a \"unique\" and \"shocking\" crime.","France says forces 'destroyed' Al-Qaeda arms convoy in Niger. Paris (AFP) - France said Friday its forces had \"destroyed\" an Al-Qaeda convoy in Niger carrying a large amount of weapons from Libya to Mali.","Nigeria clashes between Fulani herdsmen and vigilantes kill 72. Clashes in northwest Nigeria between suspected Fulani cattle rustlers mounted on motorbikes and local youth vigilantes from the rival Hausa ethnic group left at least 72 people dead, police said on Monday. Dozens of gunmen raided a meeting of youth vigilantes and local hunters who had gathered from different areas at the remote village of Yar Galadima, in northwest Zamfara state, on Saturday. \"The attackers came in large numbers on motorcycles and shot sporadically,\" police spokesman Lawal Abdullahi said by telephone. \"At the end 72 people were killed including the bandits, because the vigilantes and hunters fought back.\" Hundreds have been killed in the past year in clashes pitting the semi-nomadic, cattle-herding Fulani people against more settled communities that practice a mix of farming and cattle rearing, driven by disputes centered around land use.","Benzene in China city water cuts supply partially. BEIJING (AP) — Chinese authorities have cut water supplies to a district in a northwestern city after excessive levels of a toxic chemical were found in tap water.","South Africa's mines minister: from hunter to strike buster. By Zandi Shabalala and Ed Stoddard JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - In his spare time, South Africa's tough new mines minister, Ngoako Ramatlhodi, enjoys stalking game with a rifle in the wild bush of his native Limpopo province. Hunting season is in full swing but Ramatlhodi has his eye on bigger game: a solution to a crippling platinum strike, the longest in the history of the country's mines, which threatens to tip Africa's most advanced economy into recession. It's my breakfast, lunch and supper,\" Ramatlhodi told Reuters in an interview.","Slovenia's Maze adds giant slalom to downhill gold. KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia (AP) — This, Tina Maze can say now, was what she had in mind all along: An Olympic performance that hadn't been seen in 42 years.","Pimco appoints four more deputy CIOs after El-Erian quits. By Jennifer Ablan NEW YORK (Reuters) - Pimco on Wednesday promoted another four of its top investment managers into more strategic roles, expanding the pool of potential successors to the fund management firm's co-founder and star bond picker Bill Gross following the sudden resignation of his previous heir apparent. Mark Kiesel, Virginie Maisonneuve, Scott Mather and Mihir Worah, currently managing directors at Pacific Investment Management Co, will become deputy chief investment officers, Pimco said in a statement. The four will join Dan Ivascyn and Andrew Balls, who were appointed last week after Mohamed El-Erian, who is the chief executive officer and who shares the chief investment officer role with Gross, abruptly announced plans to resign from Pimco, the world's largest bond fund manager. The ongoing shakeup comes as many investors are turning their backs on the kind of bond investments Pimco is famous for offering.","Bolivia settles oil deal with Pan American. LA PAZ, Bolivia (AP) — Bolivia's government says it will pay $357 million to Argentina-based Pan American Energy for the nationalization of one of its subsidiaries over five years ago.","Reptiles, whips banned as Brisbane preps for G-20. BRISBANE, Australia (AP) — This weekend, the subtropical Australian city of Brisbane will emerge from the shadows of its flashier cousins Sydney and Melbourne when it welcomes leaders from the world's 20 largest economies along with thousands of delegates and journalists for a global summit.","UEFA taking action against BATE over fans' racism. NYON, Switzerland (AP) — UEFA has opened a racism case against Belarusian club BATE Borisov after Shakhtar Donetsk striker Luiz Adriano reported being racially abused in their Champions League match on Tuesday.","Egypt president meets Qatar envoy. CAIRO (AP) — Egypt's President has met with an envoy of the Emir of Qatar, the first such meeting since Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi took office last summer, signaling a thaw in relations between the two nations.","Alstom shares jump on report of GE bid. By Natalie Huet PARIS (Reuters) - Shares in Alstom jumped more than 14 percent on Thursday after a report that U.S. conglomerate General Electric was in talks to buy the struggling French turbine and train maker for about $13 billion. If confirmed, a takeover offer from a foreign company would raise eyebrows among politicians and unions in France, where Alstom employs around 18,000 staff, or 20 percent of its global workforce. A deal, which would be GE's biggest ever and would hand it control of Alstom's high-speed TGV trains and rail-signal technology, has the support of Bouygues , Alstom's biggest shareholder with a 29 percent stake, the report said. Alstom, which has put its transport division up for sale in an attempt to fill a hole in its balance sheet, said on Thursday it was \"not informed of any potential public tender offer for the shares of the company\" and promised an update on its options when it releases annual results on May 7.","U.N. raises alarm over escalating violence in Darfur. By Louis Charbonneau UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - United Nations and African Union officials sounded an alarm on Thursday over the worsening violence in Sudan's western Darfur region, which has led to the displacement of hundreds of thousands of people this year in the remote, conflict-torn territory. The expressions of concern came as a U.S. activist group released an analysis of new satellite images that it said showed signs of devastation in an area of Darfur in which Khartoum-backed Janjaweed fighters were recently present. Joseph Mutaboba, deputy head of the joint U.N. peacekeeping mission in Darfur, known as UNAMID, and Ali Al-Za'tari, U.N. Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Sudan, issued a joint statement that said it had become extremely difficult to deliver aid to the needy people of Darfur. \"In the last month, a wave of violence has been underway in Darfur, affecting tens of thousands of people,\" they said.","UN: Iraq violence kills 799 people in May. BAGHDAD (AP) — The United Nations says violence has claimed the lives of 799 Iraqis in May, the highest monthly death toll so far this year.","Volunteers start taking down London poppy installation. London (AFP) - Hundreds of volunteers on Wednesday began removing the nearly 900,000 blood-red ceramic poppies from an installation at the Tower of London to honour the UK forces killed in World War I.","Serb nationalist home after release by UN judges. BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — Serb ultranationalist Vojislav Seselj has arrived in Belgrade after U.N. war crimes judges approved his provisional release on humanitarian grounds because of his ailing health.","New Zealand wants action on diplomat's sex charge. New Zealand said Monday it would push for a foreign envoy to be prosecuted in his home country after he escaped sex charges by invoking diplomatic immunity. Neither the man's name nor his home nation can be published because of a court suppression order but officials in Wellington said they did not want the case \"swept under the carpet\". \"We're going to stay on the case, we're going to do everything that we possibly can to ensure that this person is held to account,\" Prime Minister John Key told reporters. Key said the country had given assurances that it was treating the case seriously and his government was closely monitoring developments to see if he was charged in his homeland, since no action could be taken in New Zealand.","Jordan says Syrian rebel commander killed in family feud. A Syrian rebel commander was shot dead in Amman in an apparent revenge killing by family members, Jordanian police said Sunday as the opposition blamed the Damascus regime for his death. Maher Rahhal, who headed the Liwa al-Mujahideen Brigade, one of the groups fighting to topple Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, \"was shot twice in Abu Nseir district\" late Friday, a security official said. A police statement said that an initial probe and witness accounts indicate that Rahhal's murder was linked to a \"family feud\" while the security official said it was not politically motivated. Police is looking for two Syrian suspected of having killed Rahhal days after he arrived in Jordan.","Sri Lanka vs. South Africa Scores. COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — South Africa scored 304-5 batting first in the first one-day international against Sri Lanka at R. Premadasa Stadium:","Bahrain puts groups on terrorism list after bomb kills three police. Bahrain blacklisted three anti-government groups as terrorist organizations on Tuesday, a day after a bomb killed two local policemen and an officer from the United Arab Emirates, state news agency BNA said. The attack has raised fears of more violence in the Sunni Muslim-ruled kingdom, where opposition groups led by majority Shi'ites have staged protests for the past three years demanding political reform and an end to perceived discrimination. The cabinet, meeting in emergency session in Manama, put the \"so-called February 14 movement, Saraya al-Ashtar (Ashtar Brigade) and Saraya al-Muqawama (Resistance Brigade) and any group associated or allied to them on lists of terrorist groups\", BNA said. Bahrain listed Lebanon's Shi'ite Hezbollah as a terrorist organization last year.","Stuttgart wins 4-1 at Freiburg in Stevens' return. BERLIN (AP) — Martin Harnik scored twice as Stuttgart won 4-1 at Freiburg to climb provisionally off the bottom of the Bundesliga in Huub Stevens' first game back in charge on Friday.","German cave explorer well enough for evacuation. BERLIN (AP) — Rescuers say a 52-year-old German explorer who was injured in a fall deep inside an Alpine cave is well enough for the evacuation process to begin.","Exclusive: SEC probes Schwab, Merrill, for anti-money laundering violations - sources. By Emily Flitter and Jed Horowitz NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. regulators are investigating Charles Schwab Corp and Bank of America Corp's Merrill Lynch brokerage over whether they are doing enough to police their clients' identities, sources said, the latest sign a crackdown on money laundering is expanding. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is probing Charles Schwab and Merrill Lynch for violations of anti-money laundering rules that require the brokerages to know their customers, the sources said. Schwab is conducting an internal investigation, one of the sources said. A spokesman for the SEC declined to comment.","Israel presses on with Gaza offensive, Palestinians fire rockets. By Nidal al-Mughrabi and Maayan Lubell GAZA/JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel pressed on for a fourth day on Friday with its Gaza offensive, striking the Hamas-dominated enclave from air and sea, as Palestinian militants kept up rocket attacks deep into the Jewish state. At least 82 Palestinians, most of them civilians, have been killed in the offensive, which Israel says it launched to end persistent rocket attacks on its civilian population, some of which have reached Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and other cities. Gaza medical officials said four people were killed in Israeli pre-dawn attacks. An air strike on a house in Gaza City killed a man described by officials as a doctor and pharmacist.","Airbus earns drop on loss-making A380. PARIS (AP) — Airbus says its net profit slumped in the third quarter as it delivered more of its loss-making A380 superjumbos.","Eight school children killed in Chinese bus crash. Eight school children died in a bus crash on China's southern island province of Hainan on Thursday on their way to a school outing, state media reported, in the latest in a string of traffic accidents to fuel public anger. Accidents involving vehicles carrying school children have become a sensitive issue in China after a series of gruesome incidents in recent years. In 2011, a nationwide outcry erupted over the deaths of 18 nursery school children after a coal truck slammed into their overcrowded school van in northwestern China. The tragedy prompted then-premier Wen Jiabao to promise more government funds to improve school bus services.","UAW appeals Tennessee VW plant election to U.S. labor board. The United Auto Workers filed an appeal with the U.S. government on Friday, asking it to set aside the results of an election last week where workers at a Tennessee Volkswagen plant voted not to join the union. Citing what it called \"interference by politicians and outside special interest groups,\" the union said the U.S. National Labor Relations Board would investigate the election and decide if there are grounds to scrap it and hold a new one. They said labor law does not limit what can be said in a union election campaign by politicians, as long as they are stating their own views and not doing the bidding of management. The UAW said in a statement that its appeal details \"a coordinated and widely publicized coercive campaign conducted by politicians and outside organizations to deprive Volkswagen workers of their federally protected right to join a union.\" The election result at the plant in Chattanooga was a blow to the UAW, which has been unable to organize workers at foreign-owned auto plants in the American South.","Rio Olympics end recruitment of volunteers. RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Organizers of the 2016 Olympics and Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro have closed recruitment for volunteers, registering 242,757 applicants for 70,000 unpaid positions — 45,000 for the Olympics and 25,000 for the Paralympics.","Afghan police: Suicide attack hits foreign convoy. KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — A police officer in the Afghan capital says a suicide attacker has targeted a convoy of foreign vehicles on a main road in eastern Kabul.","Brazil's Rousseff gains on Neves ahead of Sunday runoff: poll. BRASILIA (Reuters) - President Dilma Rousseff has gained 1 percentage point on her rival Aecio Neves ahead of an Oct. 26 runoff to Brazil's presidential election, a new poll showed on Wednesday. The leftist incumbent has 47 percent of voter support, according to the survey by polling firm Datafolha, up from 46 percent in the previous poll published on Monday. Support for Neves was unchanged at 43 percent. While Rousseff has widened her numerical lead to four percentage points, the difference between them is just within the poll's margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points. ...","Talks under way to end South African mining strike. The South African government hosted negotiations Friday aimed at ending a pay dispute between tens of thousands of striking platinum mineworkers and mining firms, amid reports of clashes on the picket lines. South Africa produces 80 percent of the world's platinum -- used in products from catalytic converters to computer hard disks to dental fillings, and around 134,000 people are employed in the sector. \"Decent employment and decent salaries, those are our demands,\" strike leader Joseph Mathunjwa, president of the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union told AFP as talks opened. Nearly 80,000 workers affiliated with AMCU have downed tool at South Africa's top three platinum producers, Lonmin and Anglo- American Platinum and Impala Platinum.","Quotes from voters in the AP Global Football 10. LONDON (AP) — Quotes from voters in this week's Associated Press Global Football 10 poll:","UN chief urges cease-fire first, then details. CAIRO (AP) — The U.N. secretary-general is urging Israel and Hamas to end the fighting, then hold dialogue in a bid to reach a truce to end two weeks of conflict.","Germany to send anti-tank weapons, rifles to Iraqi Kurds. Germany will send anti-tank rocket launchers, rifles and hand grenades to support Iraqi Kurds battling jihadist militants fighting for the Islamic State, the defence ministry announced Sunday. The move followed a meeting of ministers led by Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin to discuss what Defence Minister Ursula von der Leyen described as an \"extremely critical\" situation in Iraq. Islamic State (IS) militants are acting with \"merciless brutality\", she told a joint press conference with Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, adding the international community had to support the persecuted. The equipment, which will be delivered in three stages, will include 30 anti-tank missiles, 16,000 assault rifles, 8,000 pistols as well as portable anti-tank rocket launchers, the defence ministry said.","Dutch report: Flight 17 likely downed by \"high-energy objects from outside the aircraft.\". THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — Dutch report: Flight 17 likely downed by \"high-energy objects from outside the aircraft.\"","South Africa's Malema demands 'real freedom' for blacks. Tembisa (South Africa) (AFP) - Populist South African leader Julius Malema presented a typically fiery manifesto for upcoming elections to a stadium packed with supporters on Saturday, calling for \"real freedom\" for the black majority. The leader of the Economic Freedom Front (EFF) is infamous for his controversial statements, and has used a spate of miners' strikes to attack the ruling African National Congress, which booted him from its ranks two years ago. Malema's inflammatory statements have gained currency in a country with seven million unemployed. Twenty years on from the end of apartheid, South Africa's \"black people are still not free,\" he said.","Sierra Leone considers repeating Ebola shutdown. FREETOWN, Sierra Leone (AP) — Sierra Leone is considering another nationwide lockdown to slow the spread of Ebola, after a largely successful one in which teams visited more than 1 million households to hand out information on the disease and check for sick people, the president said Tuesday.","China to raise urban residents to 60 pct by 2020. BEIJING (AP) — China will build more railways to help to raise the proportion of urban residents to 60 percent of the total population by 2020.","Ireland to host England for 1st time in 20 years. DUBLIN (AP) — England will play a friendly international against Ireland in Dublin in June 2015, marking the first meeting between the countries in the Irish capital since 1995 when the match was abandoned because of crowd disorder.","Spain arrests Pink Panther jewelry theft suspect. MADRID (AP) — Spanish police say they have arrested a suspected member of the notorious Pink Panther gang of jewelry thieves believed responsible for hundreds of robberies across the world.","Chris Froome wins 2nd successive stage of Dauphine. COL DU BEAL, France (AP) — British rider Chris Froome showed he is in dominant form ahead of the Tour de France, beating main rival Alberto Contador to win the second stage of the Criterium du Dauphine on Monday.","Global stocks lower after weak China housing data. BEIJING (AP) — Global stocks were mostly lower Monday after a subdued increase in Chinese house prices fanned fears of weakness in the world's No. 2 economy.","New Benghazi probe inspires partisan animosity. WASHINGTON (AP) — Despite Democratic complaints, Republicans jumped into a new election-season investigation of the deadly Benghazi assault on Friday, naming majority members of a special House committee. Democrats mulled a boycott of the panel, which is inspiring bitter partisanship before even starting its work.","Image of Asia: Lawmakers scuffle in Taiwan. In this photo by Wally Santana, opposition lawmakers in Taiwan scuffle with ruling party legislators as they tried to block Premier Mao Chi-kuo from speaking on the floor of parliament. Opposition lawmakers are worried that President Ma Ying-jeou's proposed service trade agreement with China could undermine the island's autonomy. Taiwan split from the Chinese mainland amid civil war in 1949 and its government is regarded by Beijing as the illegitimate administration of a renegade province. Since 2008, Beijing has set aside its military threats to sign 21 deals with Taiwan, boosting two-way trade and bringing in about 3 million mainland tourists who were once all but banned. The service trade liberalization pact, however, has faced stiff opposition amid concerns that it would cost Taiwan tens of thousands of jobs and help China's efforts to bring the island under its control.","South Africa to extradite 'most-wanted' British fugitive. A South African court on Monday approved the extradition of convicted British fraudster and drug dealer Martin Evans, described as one of Britain's most-wanted men. Police spokesman Solomon Makgale said a court in Johannesburg had found Evans, who had been on the run for three years, \"to be extraditable\". Evans, 52, from Swansea in Wales, was arrested on Saturday in a house north of Johannesburg. He had been described by South African police as \"one of the United Kingdom's most-wanted fugitives\".","Manitoba premier took minister's misleading statement at face value. WINNIPEG - Manitoba Premier Greg Selinger says he and his staff were not involved in a controversial decision to invite government-funded immigrant service agencies to a legislature debate — an event that has been criticized by the province's ombudsman.","Prosecutor: Keep extra security for Russian inmate. SEATTLE (AP) — A federal prosecutor asked a judge to deny requests for changes in the custody of a Russian man charged with hacking into U.S. businesses, arguing his lawyers have illegally given him access to a cellphone and mail.","China, South Korea ready to rumble in short track. SOCHI, Russia (AP) — The last two individual short track events of the Sochi Olympics get underway with heats in the men's 500 and women's 1,000 meters.","Truck by truck, Israel builds trade gateway to Arab world. By Ari Rabinovitch and Tova Cohen HAIFA Israel (Reuters) - The hydraulic ramp of a Turkish freighter taps down on the eastern Mediterranean port of Haifa and, under a full moon, 37 trucks roll off onto an otherwise empty pier. In a convoy that stretches hundreds of meters, the trucks travel east across northern Israel, bringing goods from Europe to customers in Jordan and beyond. Until three years ago the cargo these trucks carry – fruits, cheese, raw material for the textile industry, spare parts, and second-hand trucks – would have come through Syria. Three years after Syria plunged into violence, Israel is reaping an unlikely economic benefit.","S. Sudan wants US, UN to verify who is attacking. NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — A South Sudanese official is asking the United States and the United Nations not to slap warring parties in the country's conflict with sanctions for violating a peace deal without verification from independent monitors.","Iraq Catholic leader says Islamic State worse than Genghis Khan. By Dominic Evans and Raheem Salman BAGHDAD (Reuters) - The head of Iraq's largest church said on Sunday that Islamic State militants who drove Christians out of Mosul were worse than Mongol leader Genghis Khan and his grandson Hulagu who ransacked medieval Baghdad. Chaldean Catholic Patriarch Louis Raphael Sako led a wave of condemnation for the Sunni Islamists who demanded Christians either convert, submit to their radical rule and pay a religious levy or face death by the sword. At the Vatican, Pope Francis decried what he said was the persecution of Christians in the birthplace of their faith, while U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said the Islamic State's actions could constitute a crime against humanity. Hundreds of Christian families left Mosul ahead of Saturday's ultimatum, many of them stripped of their possessions as they fled for safety.","UK PM Cameron to apologize to the Queen over 'purring' comment - Sky. LONDON (Reuters) - British Prime Minister David Cameron is to apologize in person to Queen Elizabeth after he was overheard saying she had \"purred\" with happiness on hearing that Scots had voted to reject independence, Sky News said on Thursday. Cameron's comments, made to Michael Bloomberg, the former New York mayor, were picked up by a TV crew on Tuesday during his visit to the city to attend the United Nations General Assembly. \"She purred down the line. ...","South Africa strike early blows in first Australia test. By Mark Gleeson PRETORIA (Reuters) - South Africa captain Graeme Smith will feel vindicated in his decision to bowl first having reduced Australia to 83 for three at lunch on the first day of the first test at SuperSport Park on Wednesday. With the top three batsmen gone, Shaun Marsh (23 not out) and skipper Michael Clarke (11 not out) will be looking to rebuild in the afternoon session on a wicket that is expected to flatten out as the day progresses. Morne Morkel (1-20) in particular troubled the visitors with some exaggerated bounce, but all the pacemen were a handful at the start of a series South Africa have been anticipating to cement their status as the world's best test side. Australia handed a debut to right-handed batsman Alex Doolan as a replacement for the injured Shane Watson, while Marsh came in for the axed George Bailey.","France fine-tunes pro-reform cabinet after rebel ministers ousted. By Mark John and Julien Ponthus PARIS (Reuters) - French President Francois Hollande fine-tuned his third government team in two years on Tuesday, seeking to reconcile pro-growth measures with deficit-reduction after ousting rebel ministers opposed to budgetary rigor. He and Prime Minister Manuel Valls were due later to unveil a new cabinet which will make its debut just a few weeks ahead of tough negotiations at home and with EU peers on a 2015 budget widely seen breaking promises to Brussels over deficit cuts. Valls handed in his government's resignation on Monday after Hollande judged outspoken Economy Minister Arnaud Montebourg had gone too far by attacking his economic recovery plan and crucial euro zone partner Germany's \"obsession\" with austerity. While Montebourg's appeals for fiscal loosening aimed at boosting growth have started to gain traction in some quarters outside France, others insist trimming welfare systems and state spending are needed to make economies more competitive.","FIFA fines Argentina for protest banner. ZURICH (AP) — FIFA has reprimanded the Argentine football association and fined it 30,000 Swiss francs ($33,000) after national team players were pictured with a political banner before a World Cup warm-up match.","Biden: Gay rights take precedence over culture. WASHINGTON (AP) — Seeking to mobilize a global front against anti-gay violence and discrimination, Vice President Joe Biden declared Tuesday that protecting gay rights is a defining mark of a civilized nation and must trump national cultures and social traditions.","Syria's southern rebels take step toward unity. By Tom Perry and Suleiman Al-Khalidi BEIRUT/AMMAN (Reuters) - Rebels in southern Syria say they have taken a step toward unity that may attract more support from their Western and Arab backers, forging a joint defense pact to help shield them from government forces and Islamic State. The south is the last major stronghold of the mainstream opposition to President Bashar al-Assad following the expansion of Islamic State in the east and north and gains by the al Qaeda-affiliated Nusra Front in the northwest. ...","Hurricane Ana stays well south of Hawaii. (Reuters) - Hurricane Ana stayed on a slow course south of Hawaii on Sunday, well off shore but spinning off threats of heavy rains, strong winds and high surf to the Pacific archipelago, the National Weather Service said. “Based on the latest forecast, there is little chance for hurricane conditions at this time,” the weather service said in statement at about 8 a.m. Hawaii time. The center of Hurricane Ana was about 90 miles west-southwest of Lihue on the island of Kauai and is expected to get no closer, the weather service said. ...","European press chief to UK: Ease up on Guardian over Snowden leaks. By Andrew Osborn LONDON (Reuters) - Europe's main media freedom watchdog told Britain on Wednesday it believed political pressure applied to the Guardian newspaper over its handling of leaked intelligence data could have a \"chilling effect\" on independent journalism. Former U.S. intelligence operative Edward Snowden's disclosures about activities of Britain's GCHQ eavesdropping agency and its cooperation with America's National Security Agency (NSA) have embarrassed Prime Minister David Cameron's government which has said they damaged national security. \"The continual accusations and attacks on the Guardian, their editor-in-chief and journalists by leading politicians is nothing but harassment and intimidation,\" Dunja Mijatovic, representative for media freedom at the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), told Reuters.","Hagel seeking to deepen US-Mexico ties. MEXICO CITY (AP) — U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said Wednesday he is exploring ways to deepen U.S.-Mexican defense ties, including the possibility of training exercises with Mexican forces.","Ajax beats AZ Alkmaar 4-0 in Dutch league. AMSTERDAM (AP) — Two goals from midfielder Lerin Duarte helped Dutch league leader Ajax to a 4-0 home victory over AZ Alkmaar on Sunday.","Tunisia lifts emergency rule in force since 2011 uprising. Tunisia's president has lifted a state of emergency in force since the 2011 uprising that ousted dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, his office said Thursday, despite a string of recent jihadist attacks. The country has been rocked by sporadic violence since the January 2011 revolution, which ignited the Arab Spring across North Africa and the Middle East. \"The president and commander-in-chief of the armed forces, Moncef Marzouki, issued a decree lifting the state of emergency in the whole country from Wednesday, March 5, 2014,\" his office said.","10 years on, where did all the tsunami debris go?. BANDA ACEH, Indonesia (AP) — Cars. Fishing boats. Houses. Entire villages. The 2004 tsunami left Banda Aceh with mountains of debris up to 6 kilometers (4 miles) inland.","Former Thai PM Yingluck arrives for meeting with military. BANGKOK (Reuters) - Former Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra arrived at an army facility in Bangkok on Friday, a Reuters reporter said, after she was summoned by the military, which runs the country after staging a coup. Yingluck was forced to step down on May 7 after the Constitutional Court found her guilty of abuse of power. A member of her cabinet took over but the army mounted a coup on Thursday to remove the government. (Reporting by Amy Sawitta Lefevre; Editing by Alan Raybould and Richard Pullin)","China slams door shut on full Hong Kong democracy in 2017 vote. BEIJING/HONG KONG (Reuters) - China's parliament said on Sunday it will tightly control the nomination of candidates for a landmark election in Hong Kong in 2017, a move likely to trigger mass protests in the city's Central business district by disappointed democracy activists. The Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC) said it had endorsed a framework to let only two or three candidates run in a 2017 vote for Hong Kong's next leader.","Ukraine: 3 dead after Black Sea base attack. KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine's interior minister says three pro-Russian militants have been killed and 13 wounded after Ukrainian troops repelled an attack on a National Guard base in the Black Sea port of Mariupol in the south-east part of the country.","Zimbabwe police beat, detain opposition protesters. Zimbabwe riot police detained more than a dozen opposition protesters and beat up others at a demonstration on Wednesday over high unemployment, an AFP correspondent witnessed. Police armed with batons descended on around 100 members of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change marching in the capital Harare, days after its party leader advocated a wave of nationwide demonstrations. They were doing so in terms of the Constitution,\" said MDC spokesman Douglas Mwonzora. The protesters want long-ruling President Robert Mugabe to fix Zimbabwe's economy, which has lurched from crisis to crisis over the last 20 years, bringing bouts of hyper-inflation and excruciating levels of unemployment.","Pope says Italy immigrant tensions a 'social emergency'. Pope Francis on Sunday described violent attacks on refugees in Rome as symptomatic of a \"social emergency\" that will only get worse if it is not addressed. \"In recent days in Rome there have been quite strong tensions between residents and immigrants,\" the pontiff said, in a reference to the unrest in the Tor Sapienza district. \"I call on the authorities, at every level, to address what now constitutes a social emergency which, if not dealt with soon in an adequate manner, risks degenerating further.","Alitalia reaches deal to avoid lay off for 1,900 workers: union. Alitalia's trade unions said on Friday they have reached a deal with the management to avoid lay off for 1,900 workers. The agreement, announced in a statement by the FIT-CISL union, is part of the restructuring plan for the troubled carrier and a prerequisite for a tie-up with Etihad Airways. The Abu Dhabi carrier entered in the final phase of due diligence for a possible investment by in the Italian airline at the beginning of February.","US warns that Ebola could infect 1.4 million. NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. health officials Tuesday laid out worst-case and best-case scenarios for the Ebola epidemic in West Africa, warning that the number of infected people could explode to at least 1.4 million by mid-January — or the outbreak could be almost over by then, if control efforts are ramped up.","SOCHI SCENE: A kiss for Bode. KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia (AP) — On Valentine's Day, here's a glimpse of Morgan Miller, the wife of American skier Bode Miller, blowing him a kiss Friday as he finishes a run on the downhill portion of the men's supercombined in the mountains above Sochi.","Russia says not involved in recent Ukraine escalation. BRISBANE Australia (Reuters) - Russia was not involved in the recent escalation of military activity in south-eastern Ukraine and supported the implementation of the ceasefire agreed in Minsk in September, a Kremlin spokesman said on Saturday. \"We are not involved,\" Kremlin foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov told reporters at a G20 meeting in Australia. Russia had met with other BRIC leaders on Saturday, who had all offered their support over the matter, he said. \"They all said that the sanctions are illegal, that they breach UN charter (rules) and hamper economic recovery. ...","'Cauldrons' in Iceland glacier could point to volcano eruption: Met Office. Ice over Iceland's rumbling Bardarbunga volcano has melted to reveal a row of 1-km wide \"cauldrons\", possibly due to a sub-glacial eruption, the country's meteorological office said late on Wednesday. Rumblings at Iceland's largest volcano system for about a week have raised worries of an eruption that could spell trouble for air travel. In 2010, an ash cloud from the Eyjafjallajokull volcano closed much of Europe's airspace for six days. The Met Office said on its website it had not observed an increase in the level of tremors in connection with the discovery of the 4 to 6-km long line of 10 to 15-metre deep \"cauldrons\".","Soccer-Australian championship results and standings. Dec 30 (Infostrada Sports) - Results and standings from the Australian championship matches on Tuesday Tuesday, December 30Brisbane Roar 0 Sydney FC 0 Newcastle Jets 2 Melbourne City FC 5 Standings P W D L F A Pts 1 Perth Glory 12 9 2 1 22 12 29 2 Melbourne Victory 12 7 4 1 25 12 25 3 Adelaide United 12 7 2 3 19 10 23 4 Wellington Phoenix 12 7 1 4 22 13 22 5 Sydney FC 13 4 6 3 15 15 18 6 Melbourne City FC 12 4 4 4 20 22 16 -------------------------7 Brisbane Roar 12 3 3 6 14 16 12 8 Central Coast Mariners 12 1 5 6 10 21 8 9 Newcastle Jets 13 1 4 8 12 28 7 10 Western Sydney Wanderers FC 10 0 3 ...","More than 1,200 Chinese evacuated from north Iraq. BEIJING (AP) — State media say more than 1,200 Chinese workers who had been trapped in the embattled northern Iraqi city of Samarra have been evacuated to Baghdad.","Spain PM calls Catalan breakaway vote 'deep failure'. Spain's Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy on Wednesday branded the Catalonia region's symbolic vote on independence a failure but said he was open to constitutional reform to answer Catalan demands. \"We have witnessed a deep failure for the independence movement,\" Rajoy told a news conference, adding that constitutional reform was \"the only legal and responsible course\". Catalonia's leaders said 2.3 million people in the region of 7.5 million turned out for Sunday's vote, which was stripped of legal force after challenges from Madrid.","Prosecutors won't indict former Tepco executives over Fukushima disaster: media. TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese prosecutors will likely decide again not to indict three former Tokyo Electric Power Co executives over their handling of the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster, media reported on Friday, but a rarely used citizen's panel could still force an indictment. The Tokyo District Prosecutors Office has been reinvestigating the case after a citizens' panel ruled in July that three former Tepco executives, including then-chairman Tsunehisa Katsumata, should be indicted over their handling of the world's worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl in 1986. ...","Sydney beats Newcastle 2-0 in A-League. SYDNEY (AP) — Sydney FC edged further away from a mid-season crisis of form and confidence with a 2-0 win over Newcastle which lifted it to fourth place in the A-League.","'No evidence' Arab Bank supported terror, NY trial told. New York (AFP) - There is no evidence that Arab Bank executives supported terrorism, a defense lawyer told a US jury Thursday at the end of a month-long trial.","Svendsen, Fourcade battle for 1st biathlon gold. KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia (AP) — Ole Einar Bjoerndalen will have a first shot at his seventh career Olympic gold medal Saturday, though fellow Norwegian Emil Hegle Svendsen and France's Martin Fourcade will start as favorites in the men's 10-kilometer sprint.","Turkey: Plan to train Syrian rebels not finalized. ISTANBUL (AP) — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says no final decisions have been reached for Turkey to start training rebels fighting the Islamic State and Syrian government forces.","Official: Slain Zetas founder was robbing banks. MEXICO CITY (AP) — A Mexican official says a founding member of the brutal Zetas cartel who was killed by soldiers last week was no longer a major player in the drug trade.","Nigeria 'atrocities' forcing thousands to flee, says UN. Thousands of refugees are fleeing harrowing scenes of atrocities and body-strewn streets in northern Nigeria, the UN said Tuesday. The UN's refugee agency said violence in the area had prompted some 2,000 people to flee into neighbouring Niger over the past four weeks alone. UNHCR spokesman Adrian Edwards said refugees arriving in Niger's Differ region, as well as Cameroon and Chad, were speaking of \"atrocities\", with one woman describing \"corpses strewn through houses and floating in the water.\" However, violence by Boko Haram militants that has raged in northern Nigeria since 2009 is known to have become particularly ferocious in recent weeks, with some 500 people killed in suspected Islamist attacks since the start of the year.","Pipeline break spills crude oil into Los Angeles' Atwater Village. (Reuters) - An estimated 50,000 gallons of crude oil spilled over a half-mile area due to a break in an above-ground pipeline in Los Angeles on Thursday, the fire department said on Thursday. No injuries were reported, the Los Angeles Fire Department said in a statement. The pipeline was shut off remotely, and the incident shut down a section of the Atwater Village area of the city, a local NBC affiliate reported. \\\\\"Oil is knee-high in some areas,\\\\\" the fire department said.","Kerry set to make 5th trip to Asia. WASHINGTON (AP) — Secretary of State John Kerry will make his fifth trip to Asia this week, traveling to South Korea, China and Indonesia.","S.Sudan refugees return to fight as peace talks drag. Gambella (Ethiopia) (AFP) - Paul Kuon's escape from his war-torn nation was the most brutal of journeys, with the South Sudanese rebel fighter forced to dodge gunfire as he trekked with his wife and two young children. \"There is no choice... we will not give up, we will continue fighting,\" said Kuon, a member of one rebel force that is fighting against the government. \"What was done by the government in Juba is not correct, they tried to kill each individual, brothers and sisters were killed,\" he told AFP, standing among hundreds of refugees under a cloud of buzzing flies, in a rapidly growing camp just across the border in western Ethiopia's Gambella region. Slow moving peace talks between the government and rebels failed to resume as scheduled on Thursday in the comfort of a high-end hotel in the Ethiopian capital, although mediators insisted they would restart soon.","Sudan government forces accused of gang rape in Blue Nile state: TRFN. By Emma Batha LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Sudanese government forces are gang raping teenage girls and women in government-held areas of Blue Nile state in a pattern of terror against civilians, a rights group said on Monday. \"Entire communities are trapped in camp-like conditions behind government lines, terrorized by government forces,\" said Daniel Bekele, Africa director at Human Rights Watch (HRW). Researchers said refugees interviewed in South Sudan last month described widespread abuses, including rapes, beatings, torture and cases in which men were beaten to death in custody. ...","South Africa says nuclear power deal with Russia in early stages. JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa's nuclear cooperation deal signed this week with Russia is part of a tender process that will involve other competing countries and is not a contract to build power plants, government officials said on Tuesday. The Russian atomic agency Rosatom issued a statement on Monday saying that it had signed a $10 billion deal with Pretoria for the installation of 9.6 gigawatts of nuclear capacity by 2030, to help Africa's most advanced economy cope with chronic electricity shortages. ...","NASCAR owner Gene Haas granted F1 License. DARLINGTON, S.C. (AP) — NASCAR owner Gene Haas says he has been granted a license from Formula One's governing body to start what he hopes will be a U.S.-based entry in the global series.","South Africa inaugurates president for 2nd term. JOHANNESBURG (AP) — South Africa's president has been inaugurated for a second term in a ceremony marked by prayer and air force flyovers.","Crashes mar women's snowboardcross qualifying. KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia (AP) — Two women's snowboardcross riders were taken off the course on stretchers after accidents during women's Olympic qualifying on Sunday.","Kerry pledges 'fair' Mideast plan as he woos Arab allies. Secretary of State John Kerry on Sunday rejected Israeli and Palestinian claims the US was biased as he made a whistlestop tour of allies Jordan and Saudi Arabia to woo support for his peace plan. Kerry promised any agreed plan would be \"fair and balanced\" and likened his efforts to broker a compromise between the conflicting demands of the two sides to a puzzle. \"In the end all of these core issues fit together like a mosaic, like a puzzle and you can't separate out one piece or another,\" Kerry said in Jerusalem before flying to Amman, and later Saudi Arabia. On the fourth day of his long trip to the region, Kerry was briefing the key Jordanian and Saudi stakeholders about his intense shuttling between Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas.","EU investigates Apple, Starbucks, Fiat tax deals. AMSTERDAM (AP) — The European Union Commission's antitrust regulator is investigating deals that Apple, Starbucks and Fiat struck with tax authorities in several European countries to see whether they amount to unfair state aid.","Blast hits Lebanon checkpoint on Damascus highway: security. Beirut (AFP) - A bomb attack hit a Lebanese security checkpoint on the main highway linking Beirut to Damascus on Friday, a security source told AFP.","Eibar beats Elche 2-0 in Spanish league. ELCHE, Spain (AP) — Goals by Dani Garcia and Raul Albentosa gave Eibar its second win of the season as it defeated Elche 2-0 in the Spanish league on Friday.","Garcia Marquez archive goes to University of Texas. AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — The archive of celebrated Colombian novelist and Nobel laureate Gabriel Garcia Marquez has been acquired by the University of Texas in Austin.","US wine seller set for sentencing on fraud charges. NEW YORK (AP) — A California wine collector the government has characterized as a prolific counterfeiter who sold at least $20 million in fake wine faces at least 11 years in prison when he is sentenced Thursday on fraud charges.","Yemen's Saleh denies theft, challenges accusers. By Yara Bayoumy SANAA (Reuters) - Other Yemeni officials may have looted public funds, but former president Ali Abdullah Saleh says he was not one of them and he has challenged his authorities to find one dollar acquired inappropriately and hold him to account. His critics in Yemen, an impoverished country of 25 million where 40 percent of the population live on less than $2 per day, accuse him of embezzling billions of dollars during his 33 years in power. Others say it is clear the veteran former president still wields immense informal power in Yemen's turbulent politics, and speculate this stems in part from access to significant wealth. Let them produce one dinar Ali Abdullah withdrew and judge him,\" said Saleh, appearing relaxed and confident and dressed in a sharp plaid black and gray suit jacket and a striped tie.","Far-right magazine use Nazi term to defend itself. VIENNA (AP) — A magazine published by a leading Austrian far-right politician is criticizing a demonstration that occurred against a ball organized by his party by comparing it to Kristallnacht, a series of coordinated attacks against Jews that occurred in 1938 in Nazi Germany and Austria.","'The Goblin': Crimean leader who pledges loyalty to Putin. Simferopol (Ukraine) (AFP) - Sergiy Aksyonov, Crimea's new prime minister, is a shadowy businessman who prospered in the chaos of the post-Soviet era and now looks set to lead his region back into Russia's orbit. Nicknamed \"The Goblin\", the 41-year-old strongly denies allegations he was involved in a criminal gang in 1990s post-Soviet Crimea. He was sworn in as prime minister in an emergency session of Crimea's local assembly last month after armed men seized the building and Russian flags were run up its flagpoles. While his allegiance to President Vladimir Putin's government in Moscow is clear, details of his past remain sketchy.","US charges Russian student with making bomb. PITTSBURGH (AP) — Federal agents have charged a university student from Russia with making a bomb in his Pennsylvania apartment.","NY judge: Citibank dilemma poses no great threat. NEW YORK (AP) — A New York judge says he doesn't think an effort by Argentina to pay some bondholders through a Citibank branch in the South American country will lead to a widespread effort to violate his orders.","Germany beats Slovakia 3-0 in Fed Cup. BRATISLAVA, Slovakia (AP) — Germany reached the semifinals of the Fed Cup on Sunday after Angelique Kerber won the first reverse singles to clinch the first-round series against Slovakia 3-0.","Italy needs EU help to handle tide of refugees, U.N. says. An estimated 6,000 people, many of them Syrians and Eritreans, have been rescued by Italy's navy in four days and thousands more asylum seekers keen to reach Europe have gathered in Libya, the U.N. refugee agency on Friday. The UNHCR urged the European Union to help Italy provide more reception facilities and find \"durable solutions\" for asylum seekers fleeing war and persecution. UNHCR spokeswoman Melissa Fleming said the Italian navy had rescued the migrants from more than 40 overcrowded boats in the Mediterranean off the shores of Sicily and Calabria.","Syrian govt, opposition face to face for 1st time. GENEVA (AP) — The first face to face meeting between Syria's government and the opposition hoping to overthrow Bashar Assad has started.","U.N. debate on Iraq hears of atrocities committed by both sides. GENEVA (Reuters) - Islamic State forces are committing atrocities amounting to crimes against humanity against minorities while Iraqi government forces have executed detainees and shelled civilian areas in acts that may constitute war crimes, the United Nations said on Monday. U.N. Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights Flavia Pansieri, opening an emergency session of the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva, said that the conflict is having a grave impact on Iraqi civilians, particularly women and children. ...","PM Cameron says Britain should stand up for Hong Kong rights. LONDON (Reuters) - Prime Minister David Cameron said on Wednesday Britain should stand up for the rights of people in Hong Kong, a former British colony, after more than two weeks of protests over Chinese restrictions on how the island chooses its next leader in 2017. Answering a question in parliament about the unrest, Cameron said it was important people in Hong Kong were able to enjoy freedoms and rights set out in an Anglo-Chinese agreement before Britain handed it back to China in 1997. ...","Japan's Koizumi backs fellow ex-PM in opposing nuclear power. By Linda Sieg TOKYO (Reuters) - Two former Japanese prime ministers challenged incumbent Shinzo Abe's pro-nuclear power policy on Tuesday, with charismatic Junichiro Koizumi backing ex-premier Morihiro Hosokawa's bid to become Tokyo governor on a platform opposing atomic energy. Hosokawa's candidacy could turn the local election into a referendum on Abe's energy policies and boost the anti-nuclear movement, which has lost momentum after a surge following the March 2011 Fukushima disaster, the world's worst nuclear accident in 25 years. Surveys show most voters favor abandoning nuclear power, but the electorate nonetheless propelled Abe's pro-nuclear Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) back to power in December 2012, largely because of his promises to revive the economy and divisions among anti-nuclear opposition forces. Asked why he was coming out of retirement to seek the Tokyo governor post, Hosokawa, 76, told reporters: \"Because I have a sense of crisis that Japan faces various problems, especially nuclear power that could imperil the fate of the country.\" Koizumi, one of Japan's most popular prime ministers from 2001 to 2006, has already nagged Abe with his anti-nuclear power pitch, a turnabout from the days when led the LDP.","Carlyle hires JPMorgan's Cavanagh as co-president, co-COO. (Reuters) - Private equity firm Carlyle Group LP said it appointed Mike Cavanagh, co-head of JPMorgan Chase & Co's corporate and investment bank, as co-president and co-chief operating officer. Cavanagh, who will also join Carlyle's executive board, will share both positions with company veteran Glenn Youngkin, who is currently the sole chief operating officer, Carlyle said in a statement on Tuesday. Cavanagh, 48, was a member of JPMorgan's operating committee and was seen as a possible successor to Chief Executive Jamie Dimon.","Column: Neymar a victim of the World Cup show. RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — \"I kept getting tripped up and kicked to pieces ...,\" said Brazil's superstar player, \"and the referee did nothing to protect me or my teammates from these rough-house tactics.\"","Eavesdropping agency must be more transparent with Canadians: watchdog. OTTAWA - The federal privacy watchdog wants the government's electronic eavesdropping agency to tell Canadians more about what it's doing.","New Nigeria central bank governor takes post. LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) — Experts say Nigeria's new central bank governor will keep a low public profile as he takes over the country's Central Bank following the end of the suspended governor's term.","At least 22 dead as violence flares in Kiev. KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — Fierce clashes between police and protesters shattered a brief truce in Ukraine's besieged capital Thursday, leaving at least 22 people dead. Government snipers were reported to be shooting at some of the protesters in Kiev.","Goalie Howard sets US wins record vs Turkey. HARRISON, N.J. (AP) — Tim Howard didn't need to do much in his record-breaking 54th win for the United States.","Exclusive: Small miners size up mergers, deals may be elusive - Reuters survey. By Allison Martell and Euan Rocha TORONTO (Reuters) - Many of the small Canadian-listed mineral explorers that supply global major miners with new projects are considering merging with peers, according to a Reuters survey, but for most it may be tough to close deals. Just over half the Toronto Stock Exchange and TSX Venture-listed miners and explorers that participated in the Reuters survey said they are at least somewhat likely to announce a \"merger of equals\" over the coming 12 months, but only a handful said such a deal is \"very likely.\" Out of favor with investors, most explorers - or junior miners - badly need cash. They're dreamers, and they'll hang in until the cows come home,\" said Tom Caldwell, head of brokerage and wealth manager Caldwell Securities. They drive global mineral exploration and when they succeed, often become takeover targets for bigger players.","Vatican praises, thanks US nuns in olive branch. VATICAN CITY (AP) — The Vatican is going out of its way to mend fences with American religious sisters, thanking them for their selfless work caring for the poor while gently suggesting ways to survive amid a decline in their numbers.","Ukrainian senior officials barred from Canada. OTTAWA, Ontario (AP) — Canada's foreign minister says Canada will bar senior Ukrainian officials from entering Canada as a response to the continuing crackdown on protests in that country.","Illegal Colombia mine collapse: 3 dead, 15 missing. BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — Rescuers were searching for at least 15 people missing after an illegal gold mine collapsed in southwest Colombia. Authorities said three dead bodies had been recovered.","France sends troops to secure crash site of Air Algerie plane. France said on Friday it had sent a military unit to secure the site of the wreckage of an Air Algerie flight carrying 110 passengers and six crewmembers which was found in Mali close to the border with Burkina Faso. \"A French military unit has been sent to secure the site and gather the first elements of information,\" it said.","Militants seize Turkish consulate in Iraq's Mosul: government sources. ANKARA (Reuters) - Militants have seized the Turkish consulate in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul and efforts are under way to ensure the safety of diplomatic staff, two Turkish government sources told Reuters on Wednesday. Sunni insurgents from an al Qaeda splinter group, the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), seized Mosul on Tuesday in a show of strength against Iraq's Shi'ite-led government. (Reporting by Orhan Coskun; Writing by Nick Tattersall; Editing by Humeyra Pamuk)","Qatar emir urges world to shun Israeli leaders. NEW YORK (AP) — The Qatari emir has accused Israel of committing war crimes and crimes against humanity during this summer's 50-day war against Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip.","Italy to play England in friendly game in Turin. LONDON (AP) — Italy will play England in an international friendly on March 31.","Israeli arrested in alleged US arms export scheme. NEW HAVEN, Connecticut (AP) — An Israeli citizen has been arrested on federal charges in the U.S. that he conspired to illegally ship military parts from the United States to Iran.","U.S. calls for 'urgent' restraint to ease Japan, South Korea tensions. By David Brunnstrom WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States appealed to Japan and South Korea on Tuesday to work urgently to reduce the tensions between them, saying its two main allies in Asia could not afford to let their troubled history interfere with ensuring regional security. It is important to handle them in a way that promotes healing,\" Washington's top diplomat for the East Asian region, Daniel Russel, said in prepared testimony for a U.S. Senate hearing. Russel, the assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, said strategic cooperation between the United States, Japan and South Korea was essential for future security in Northeast Asia, given the threat posed by North Korea and other \"regional uncertainties,\" a reference to concerns about an increasingly assertive China.","Congress concerned Iran's oil exports may be up. WASHINGTON (AP) — The Obama administration faces a grilling from Congress amid reports China and India are expanding their imports of Iranian petroleum.","Defiant H.K. protesters clash with police despite talks offer. Hong Kong (AFP) - Pro-democracy activists in Hong Kong scuffled with police outside government headquarters as tensions ran high Friday, despite an eleventh-hour agreement for talks, as China said the demonstrators were \"doomed to fail\".","Iceland shuts down 'Islamic State' website. Reykjavik (AFP) - Iceland has closed down a website believed to be used by the jihadist organisation Islamic State and which showed the murder of hostages, the authority responsible for the country's Internet domain name \".is\" said Monday.","Rugby-Otago Highlanders 33 Melbourne Rebels 30 - Super Rugby result. April 4 (Reuters) - Otago Highlanders (New Zealand) beat Melbourne Rebels (Australia) 33-30 (halftime 20-13) in their Super Rugby match in Dunedin on Friday. Scorers: Highlanders - Tries: Shane Christie, Aaron Smith, Ben Smith; Conversions: Lima Sopoaga (3); Penalties: Sopoaga (4) Rebels - Tries: Scott Fuglistaller, Angus Roberts, Jason Woodward; Conversions: Woodward (3); Penalties: Woodward (3) (Reporting by Nick Mulvenney; Editing by John O'Brien)","Factbox: Mexico's cartel kingpins: dead, captured and wanted. By Julia Symmes Cobb MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexico's most wanted man, cocaine kingpin Joaquin \"Shorty\" Guzman, has been captured by U.S. and Mexican law enforcement officials, sources said on Saturday, the highest profile drug cartel leader to fall in nearly a decade of raging violence. Below are some facts about the capture or death of some of the gang leaders who appeared on a list of Mexico's 37 most wanted posted in March 2009, and of others still at large. ...","Oliver appoints Jeremy Rudin as bank watchdog. OTTAWA (Reuters) - Jeremy Rudin, an internal finance department hire, will oversee Canada's banking watchdog, the country's finance minister said on Friday. Minister Joe Oliver appointed Rudin the new head of the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (OSFI), replacing Julie Dickson. Rudin currently serves as an assistant deputy minister in the financial sector policy branch of the department, a position in which he helped shape extraordinary policy measures in response to the global financial crisis. (Reporting by Alastair Sharp; Editing by Marguerita Choy)","Mormon missionaries leaving Venezuela amid unrest. SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Officials with the Mormon church say they're transferring 152 missionaries out of Venezuela because of unrest in the country.","SKorea, Canada reach free trade agreement. SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea and Canada have reached a free trade agreement meant to boost exports and investment.","Faceoff in Hong Kong: 3 sides, all with options. HONG KONG (AP) — Tens of thousands of protesters filled the streets of Hong Kong and crowds of students blocked the entrances to government headquarters Thursday as midnight approached — the deadline protest leaders had set for the resignation of the city's chief executive.","Tempers flare in heated TV debate on Scotland's future. The leaders in the battle for and against Scottish independence clashed in a heated live television debate on Tuesday, six weeks ahead of a historic referendum on whether Scotland should leave the United Kingdom. First Minister Alex Salmond, leader of the pro-independence Scottish National Party (SNP), went head-to-head for the first time with Alistair Darling, a fellow Scot and leader of the \"Better Together\" campaign. Darling, who was Britain's finance minister during the 2008 economic crisis, pressed the SNP leader early on his crucial claim that an independent Scotland would continue to use the pound sterling -- something London says will not be possible. Salmond insisted this would not be a problem, and hit back by asking Darling repeatedly whether he believed Scotland could successfully be an independent country, a question his opponent dodged.","Retired pope celebrates brother's 90th birthday with Mass and music in the Vatican. VATICAN CITY - Retired Pope Benedict XVI is marking a milestone of sorts.","France reclaims title: world's largest wine maker. PARIS (AP) — France has reclaimed its crown as world's biggest wine producer after a poor 2014 harvest saw Italy's wine production plunge 15 percent.","Drop goals not the Wallaby way but we'll take them - Horne. By Nick Mulvenney SYDNEY (Reuters) - Drop goals remain a part of Australia's attacking armoury despite their failure to take the option in the dying minutes of last weekend's draw with the All Blacks, winger Rob Horne said on Monday. Australia drew 12-12 with New Zealand in a tight, try-less encounter played out in a Sydney rainstorm on Saturday, coming up short of a famous victory to start the Rugby Championship despite having an extra man for most of the last 10 minutes. Presented with a late attacking scrum close to the position where England's Jonny Wilkinson dropped a goal to win England the 2003 World Cup, many expected to see replacement flyhalf Bernard Foley drop back into the pocket. The Wallabies, however, kept the ball in hand looking for a penalty but lost possession when they themselves were penalised at the next breakdown - the chance of a first win over the world champions in three years gone.","Greece: Anti-bailout party demands early election. ATHENS, Greece (AP) — A Greek anti-bailout party on Monday formally requested an early general election after getting the most votes for European Parliament seats in balloting that also saw the extreme right Golden Dawn party come in third place.","India lifts ban on Airbus A380s, foreign carriers interested. By Devidutta Tripathy NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India lifted a landing ban on Airbus A380s on Monday, enabling carriers such as Singapore Airlines and Emirates to fly their superjumbos into the world's second-most populous nation. A380s will be allowed to land at the country's four main airports - New Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore and Hyderabad - which are equipped to handle the planes, a decision welcomed by foreign carriers looking to tap India's fast growing air travel sector. \"The operation of A380s will help airports to generate more revenue, give more comfortable and luxurious travel to passengers, (and will) liberalize the civil aviation milieu in India,\" the civil aviation ministry said in a statement. The ban on A380s was imposed due to concerns that foreign airlines could grab a high share of international traffic, hurting state-run Air India .","Cadillac considers moving some functions to Manhattan. By Paul Lienert and Bernie Woodall DETROIT (Reuters) - General Motors Co's premium Cadillac group is considering expanding its offices from Detroit to Manhattan, GM said Thursday, as part of an effort to remake the brand's image and broaden its appeal outside North America under new boss Johan de Nysschen. \"As Cadillac grows, it's possible we could look to add to our team or expand,\" said Cadillac spokesman David Caldwell.","PSG coasts to 3-0 win against Reims in French lge. PARIS (AP) — Edinson Cavani made the most of a rare start in his favored center forward position, scoring his 15th league goal of the season as French leader Paris Saint-Germain coasted to a 3-0 win over Reims to move provisionally 16 points clear of second-place Monaco.","Iraq Sunnis play down Islamic State role in 'popular revolt'. Iraqi Sunni leaders in exile said Wednesday that last month's flare-up of violence was the result of a \"popular revolt\" against the Shiite-dominated government of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki. Several of around 300 Sunni clerics, tribal leaders, insurgent commanders and businessmen who attended a meeting in Amman insisted that the Islamic State (IS), which in June declared a caliphate straddling Iraq and Syria, was only a marginal player in their country. \"What is happening in Iraq now is a revolt of the oppressed,\" said Abdelmalek al-Saadi, a senior Sunni cleric. \"We call on Arab countries to support the rebels in Iraq,\" Ahmad Dabash, a commander of the Islamic Army of Iraq, a group which emerged after the 2003 US-led invasion and remains active, mainly in Salaheddin and Diyala provinces.","Morocco king warns UN chief over W.Sahara 'dangers'. Morocco's King Mohamed VI on Saturday warned UN chief Ban Ki-moon over \"dangerous options\" in the Western Sahara, ahead of a Security Council vote on the disputed territory. The UN Security Council is due to vote on April 23 to renew the mandate of its peacekeeping mission in the Western Sahara, annexed by Morocco in the 1970s.","Forty migrants missing after raft sinks near Libya: Italy coast guard. ROME (Reuters) - Forty migrants were missing after the raft that carried them sank around 30 miles (48.28 kilometers)from eastern Libya, an Italian coast guard official said on Sunday. Italian authorities sent boats to the scene and 55 people have been rescued, but survivors said there were around 95 people in total on the raft, the official said. The sinking will likely add to a death toll from such incidents in the waters between Italy and North Africa which the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said last week had risen to nearly 3,000 since the beginning of this year. ...","China releases man who wrote for foreign news site. BEIJING (AP) — Chinese police have released a man detained more than three months ago on charges of fabricating stories that disparaged the Chinese government.","Kenya: 1 year after attack, guards still unarmed. NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — David Odhiambo was one of the blue-uniformed security guards tasked with protecting Nairobi's Westgate Mall one year ago when four heavily armed terrorists attacked. The work David was paid to do — search purses and bags, mostly — earned him two bullets in the head, injuries that cost him his job.","British economic recovery incomplete, warns Osborne. Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne warned Sunday that Britain's economic recovery was on course but far from completion as he prepared to deliver his annual budget this week. Osborne said Britain was not exporting, investing, building or making enough to secure the revival. \"The message I'll be giving in the budget is that the economic plan is working but the job is very far from done,\" he told BBC television. \"We need to build a resilient economy and that means addressing the long-term weaknesses in Britain,\" the Conservative chancellor said.","Australia sees greater risk of El Nino weather pattern. By Colin Packham SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australian climate models indicate an increased chance of an El Nino weather pattern emerging later this year, the country's weather bureau said on Tuesday, raising the risk of drought and floods in some parts of the world. The forecast comes after the U.S. Climate Prediction Center last week also said there was an increasing chance of El Nino after expecting neutral conditions through the Northern Hemisphere spring 2014. \"The risk of an El Nino event in the second half of 2014 has increased, but it's certainly not guaranteed at this point in time,\" said Andrew Watkins, Supervisor, Climate Prediction at Australia's Bureau of Meteorology. El Nino can cause flooding and heavy rains in the United States and South America and can trigger drought conditions in Southeast Asia and Australia.","Lebanon deaths in suicide attack on Hezbollah checkpoint: security. Baalbek (Lebanon) (AFP) - A suicide bomber on a motorcycle blew himself up close to a Hezbollah checkpoint in eastern Lebanon Saturday, a security official said, adding that the explosion caused deaths.","Sherwood lets Spurs fan try out manager's seat. Tottenham boss Tim Sherwood gave a fan the chance to experience how it feels in the manager's hot seat during his team's 3-0 win over Aston Villa on Sunday. Sherwood has engaged in several conversations with boisterous Spurs supporters who sit behind the manager's dug-out at White Hart Lane this season, but one especially caught his eye after continually offering unsolicited advice about substitutions and tactics. And in a typically quirky gesture, the always-entertaining Sherwood invited the fan, who was even wearing the club-branded gilet often favoured by the Spurs boss, to take his seat on the bench during stoppage time of his team's final game of the Premier League season. He is the proper manager, so it was his chance to have a go,\\\\\" Sherwood said.","News Guide: Rise and fall of China's Zhou Yongkang. BEIJING (AP) — Chinese authorities announced that they have arrested Zhou Yongkang, a former member of the all-powerful Standing Committee of the ruling Communist Party's Politburo, on accusations including taking bribes and leaking state secrets.","Southwest Ohio woman offers beer, cigarettes as reward for finding lost dog. DAYTON, Ohio - An Ohio woman made fliers offering a case of beer and a pack of cigarettes as a reward for finding her lost dog — and it worked.","Lululemon founder turns on board, votes against new chairman. By Allison Martell and Euan Rocha TORONTO (Reuters) - Lululemon Athletica Inc's founder and biggest shareholder, Chip Wilson, lashed out at the yogawear retailer's board on Wednesday, saying the company's new chairman and another director are too focused on short-term growth and that he had voted against them in board elections. Just hours ahead of the company's annual meeting in Vancouver, Wilson issued a press release praising Lululemon's new management team, but saying the board is \"heavily weighted towards short-term results at the expense of product, culture and brand and longer-term corporate goals.\" Wilson, who remains on the board and owns a 27 percent stake in the company, said he had voted not to elect Lululemon's new chairman, Michael Casey, or director RoAnn Costin. Spots on Lululemon's board are awarded to nominees who receive the most votes. Lululemon said all board nominees had been elected, but did not immediately release vote counts.","London shares open lower as housebuilders drop. London (AFP) - London shares opened lower on Monday as housebuilders dropped amid growing concern about the impact of a house price bubble in Britain, dealers said.","Mourinho confident of long-term Hazard deal. London (AFP) - Jose Mourinho expects Eden Hazard to sign a long-term deal with Chelsea after announcing the Belgium playmaker is discussing a contract extension.","Pakistan bombs kill 19; Musharraf ordered to court. QUETTA, Pakistan (AP) — Two bombings in Pakistan killed 19 people and wounded dozens Friday as judges ordered former President Pervez Musharraf to appear in court to face charges of high treason or face arrest.","Sepp Blatter wants IOC age limit scrappped. SOCHI, Russia (AP) — FIFA President Sepp Blatter says imposing age limits on sports administrators is an \"act of discrimination.\"","France's PM defends French social model, says should be adapted. PARIS (Reuters) - France's Prime Minister Manuel Valls said on Friday that the French social model must be upheld but should be adapted, with \"indispensable reforms\" necessary for the country. \"Reforming isn't breaking our social model,\" Valls said ahead of a confidence vote in parliament, in the face of growing discontent from the left wing of his Socialist party. \"The only question that must concern us, is pushing through indispensable reforms with courage, but without calling into question our social model,\" Valls said. ...","Syria's Assad makes rare visit to frontline area. DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — In a rare public appearance, President Bashar Assad on Wednesday visited displaced Syrians in a frontline suburb of the country's capital, where he vowed to keep up the fight against gunmen whom he blamed for driving people from their homes, state TV said.","U.N. Security Council to discuss Dutch report on MH17 downing. By Michelle Nichols UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 over war-torn eastern Ukraine will be discussed by the U.N. Security Council on Friday after Russia requested a meeting on a Dutch finding that a large number of fragments hit the plane and tore it apart. Several foreign ministers are expected to attend the United Nations meeting on Friday morning, diplomats said, since they were already scheduled to attend a Security Council debate on Iraq on Friday afternoon, chaired by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry. ...","UN committee condemns Syria rights violations. UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N. General Assembly's human rights committee has again condemned Syria's rights violations by a strong vote.","Russia to free Khodorkovsky aide, hurdle to tycoon's return stands. By Maria Tsvetkova MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia's Supreme Court ordered the release of Kremlin critic Mikhail Khodorkovsky's business partner on Thursday after a decade in jail, but refused to drop a tax claim that is keeping the former oil tycoon abroad. Platon Lebedev is the latest high-profile prisoner to be freed in Russia as President Vladimir Putin tries to soften criticism of his record on human rights and democracy before next month's Winter Olympics in the Black Sea resort of Sochi. But the decision not to lift a demand that the pair pay the state 17 billion roubles ($521 million) in tax arrears reduces the likelihood of Khodorkovsky returning to Russia from Germany and challenging Putin. \"Concerning the Supreme Court's decision to overturn the tax claim: I get the message,\" Khodorkovsky said in a telephone interview with the New Times, an independent news weekly.","B.C. coast, St. Lawrence estuary most at risk for major marine oil spill: report. OTTAWA - A government-commissioned risk analysis says the coast of southern British Columbia and the Gulf of St. Lawrence are the Canadian areas most vulnerable marine oil spills and among the most likely for a major spill to occur.","Arsenal beats West Ham 3-1 in Premier League. LONDON (AP) — Lukas Podolski scored twice as Arsenal came from a goal down to beat West Ham 3-1 in the Premier League on Tuesday and provisionally reclaim the last Champions League spot.","Malaysian couple to hang for murder of maid. KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — A lawyer says a Malaysian couple have been sentenced to death by hanging for murdering their 26-year-old Indonesian maid three years ago.","Factbox: Syria's rebel groups. Syria's rebel movement has been a constantly shifting array of groups and alliances since the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad began nearly three years ago. Assad's security crackdown transformed Syria's largely peaceful protest movement in March 2011 into an armed insurgency in the first year of the revolt, and since then opposition formations have been increasingly overtaken by Islamist groups. As new leaders have emerged within the opposition, infighting intensified and reached a new level this month, with several rebel factions declaring war against the radical Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). Below is a description of some of Syria's main rebel groups: *Islamic Front: An amalgam of six major Islamist groups, this alliance is believed to be the biggest rebel army working in Syria.","Saudi Arabia beheads 4 drug traffickers. Three Syrians and an Iranian convicted of drug trafficking were executed by the sword in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday, the interior ministry announced. Syrians Hamud Hassoun, Hassan Musalamani and Yussef al-Halqi were all arrested with a \"large amount of banned amphetamine pills\", said three separate statements on the official SPA news agency. An Iranian, Reda Idrisawi, was put to death in Eastern Province after he was convicted of trafficking \"a large amount of narcotic hashish by sea\", another SPA statement said. Human Rights Watch last month expressed alarm at the surge in the number of executions in the country, where some 19 people were beheaded between August 4 and 20 alone.","Nigeria ruling party backs president's re-election bid. Abuja (AFP) - Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan said he was \"overwhelmed\" by his ruling party's unanimous decision on Thursday to choose him as its sole candidate for next year's presidential poll.","Ex-Guatemalan soldier will be sentenced for lying. RIVERSIDE, Calif. (AP) — Former Guatemalan soldier Jorge Sosa was a member of a special force suspected of killing at least 160 people in a remote village more than three decades ago.","British hostage appears in new video. BEIRUT (AP) — The Islamic State group on Thursday released a video showing a British journalist who says he is a prisoner of the extremists.","Fonterra pleads guilty to food-safety violations. New Zealand dairy giant Fonterra pleaded guilty Thursday to four food-safety violations following a botulism scare last year. Government officials earlier in the day filed charges accusing the world's ...","Tour de France Trophy arrives in Leeds. Leeds (United Kingdom) (AFP) - Leeds, the northern English venue for the start of this year's Tour de France, took delivery of the Grand Depart trophy on Thursday. The eyes of the cycling world will be on Leeds in some six months' time when the 2014 Tour starts on July 5, with Britain's Chris Froome set to defend the title he won last year. In all there will be three stages in England, with the first two in Yorkshire, as the peloton passes through Leeds, the Dales, Harrogate, York and Sheffield, before a third stage from Cambridge to London. \"The interest and media coverage in the last couple of weeks to mark the new year and six months to go is an indication of how excited everyone is getting around Leeds and Yorkshire hosting the start of the Tour de France,\" said Keith Wakefield, the leader of Leeds City Council.","Spain welcomes Scots' 'no' but Catalans undaunted. Arenys de Munt (Spain) (AFP) - The Spanish government on Friday welcomed Scotland's \"No\" vote on independence, but Catalans set on breaking away from Spain vowed to push on for their own ballot on self-rule.","GM recalls thousands of new pickups, SUVs, in U.S. and Canada. (Reuters) - General Motors Co announced on Friday that it would recall 428,211 more vehicles in the United States, including new four-wheel drive pickups and SUVs with a software problem that could cause the vehicles to automatically switch to neutral and roll away while parked. The software problem affects the four-wheel-drive versions of the 2014-2015 Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra; GM said dealers will recalibrate transfer case control module software in 392,459 full-size pickup trucks and SUVs in the United States and 53,607 in Canada. GM said it was not aware of any crashes or injuries related to the software issue.","Meth pours into Central California as liquid. FRESNO, California (AP) — In methamphetamine's seedy underworld, traffickers are disguising the drug as a liquid to smuggle it into the United States from Mexico.","Landmark Rwanda genocide trial opens in France. Paris (AFP) - The landmark trial of a former Rwandan army captain charged with complicity in the 1994 genocide kicked off in Paris on Tuesday, the first of its kind in France.","Top Asian News at 3:30 p.m. GMT. KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Authorities are expanding their search for a missing Malaysia Airlines plane to the Malacca Strait, far from its last confirmed location, the airline said Tuesday, injecting new mystery into an investigation that so far has failed to come up with any answers. More than three days after the Boeing 777 disappeared en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, no trace of the plane has been found in waters between Malaysia and Vietnam that have been scoured by more than 40 planes and ships from at least 10 nations.","Banned British cyclist blames binge for doping ban. LONDON (AP) — British cyclist Jonathan Tiernan-Locke blamed an \"alcoholic binge\" as the reason behind abnormal results in his blood sample that led to him being banned from the sport for two years.","Factbox: EU targets politicians, military chiefs in sanctions on Russia. The European Union on Tuesday released a list of 15 politicians and military leaders that will be subject to asset freezes and travel bans. The European Union had already sanctioned 33 Russians and Ukrainians in protest at Russia's annexation of Ukraine's Crimea region in March. The 15 new names are as follows: * Dmitry Kozak, deputy prime minister responsible for overseeing the integration of the annexed Crimea into Russia. * Oleg Belaventsev, the Russian president's representative in \"the so-called Crimean Federal District\", non-permanent member of the Russian Security Council, responsible for implementing constitutional prerogatives of the Russian president in Crimea.","Puncheon fined for abusive Twitter comments. LONDON (AP) — Crystal Palace midfielder Jason Puncheon has been fined 15,000 pounds ($25,000) by the Football Association for comments he made on Twitter regarding his former manager Neil Warnock.","World Cup's leading scorer going home. FORTALEZA, Brazil (AP) — Full of tears and inconsolable, the World Cup's leading scorer is going home.","EPA seeks more input on sweeping power plant rule. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. regulators on Tuesday said they want more public input on certain aspects of a sweeping plan to reduce carbon pollution from power plants, and about the role that natural gas can play to achieve emission cuts. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) identified areas of concern raised by \"multiple stakeholders\" since it unveiled its proposed regulations in June, and hopes to get additional input before its public comment period ends on Dec. 1. (Reporting by Valerie Volcovic; Editing by Ros Krasny and Sandra Maler)","Blasts roar near Donetsk airport in Ukraine. DONETSK, Ukraine (AP) — Strong explosions have been heard on the outskirts of the main rebel-held city in eastern Ukraine near the airport, raising new fears that a cease-fire signed two days ago is on the verge of collapse.","City captain Vincent Kompany out of QPR game. MANCHESTER, England (AP) — Manchester City manager Manuel Pellegrini says captain Vincent Kompany will miss the English Premier League game against Queens Park Rangers on Saturday with a calf problem that could also rule him out of Belgium's Euro 2016 qualifier against Wales this month.","Iran will send arms to Iraq but not troops: minister. Iran will not send troops to fight a militant offensive in Iraq but will supply weapons if the government in Baghdad asks for help, the deputy foreign minister said Tuesday. \"We have no intention of sending our armed forces into Iraq. Iraq has its own powerful army,\" Hossein Amir Abdollahian said on a visit to Moscow, although he said the country would be sending military \"consultants\". He said Iraq had not yet asked for arms but \"in the case that there was such a demand... we would supply the necessary weapons for the fight against terrorism.\"","Turkish court orders release of jailed former army chief: media. ISTANBUL (Reuters) - A Turkish court ordered the release of former army chief Ilker Basbug from a life sentence on Friday, Turkish media said, adding to uncertainty over the fate of court cases trying coup plots against Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan. The decision followed a constitutional court ruling on Thursday that Basbug's incarceration for his alleged role in the 'Ergenekon' conspiracy violated his rights as the court trying him had failed to publish a detailed verdict on the case. (Writing by Daren Butler; Editing by Gareth Jones)","No verdict after Day 2 in Tsarnaev friend trial. BOSTON (AP) — The jury in the trial of a man accused of trying to protect Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev will resume deliberations Monday.","Russia to support domestic car industry with subsidies. Russia plans to support its struggling auto industry with subsidies of up to 271 billion roubles ($8 billion) in the three years to 2016, the government said. Russian car sales fell in 2013 and face another weak year as a stuttering economy puts off buyers, according to lobby group the Association of European Businesses (AEB). The subsidies will be for research and development, to support jobs and to compensate for some costs related to meeting tighter exhaust emission standards, the government said in a statement on its web site. Russia's largest carmaker is Avtovaz, maker of the Lada, which is set to be controlled by Franco-Japanese alliance Renault-Nissan by mid-2014.","Russia says ready to discuss gas price if Ukraine pays part of debt. MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia is ready to discuss price and conditions for gas supplies to Ukraine if Kiev pays at least part of its gas debt, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said on Wednesday. \"Nobody ever said: hand over $4 billion straight away, rather (we said) show that you are ready to act ... If they pay part of it, that's the minimum requirement for resuming talks,\" he told reporters. (reporting by Darya Korsunskaya, writing by Elizabeth Piper, editing by Timothy Heritage)","French police detain man over 2012 Alpine killings. PARIS (AP) — French authorities have detained a 48-year-old Frenchman in connection with the grisly shooting death of a British-Iraqi man and three others in the French Alps nearly 18 months ago.","Thai army chief assumes role as crisis mediator. BANGKOK (AP) — Thailand's army chief assumed the role of mediator Tuesday by summoning the country's key political rivals for face-to-face talks one day after imposing martial law. Residents, meanwhile, tried to make sense of the dramatic turn after six months of turmoil.","Toronto IndyCar event postponed by rain. Heavy rain that created visibility problems for drivers and slick conditions for cars forced postponement of Saturday's scheduled IndyCar race at Toronto by a day. The race, the first IndyCar event to be postponed due to bad weather since Sao Paulo in 2011, will be staged as part of a double-header Sunday along with the weekend's other planned event, creating a crucial day in the hunt for the season points title. Brazil's Helio Castroneves leads with 471 points, just nine ahead of Australian Will Power with American Ryan Hunter-Reay, the Indianapolis 500 winner, third at 32 points adrift. Power crashed in a warm-up lap and the pace car spun as officials tried in vain to start the race on rain tires.","Alitalia needs a few weeks to close Etihad deal: CEO. Alitalia needs a few weeks to complete a deal with Etihad which could see the Abu Dhabi airline invest 560 million euros ($762.4 million) in its struggling Italian peer, Alitalia chief executive Gabriele del Torchio said on Monday. \"I am confident ... that we will finish the agreements in a few weeks,\" Del Torchio said in the Senate. On Friday, Alitalia's board expressed appreciation for Etihad's turnaround plan for the Rome-based carrier, which was kept flying by a government-engineered 500 million euro rescue package last year. Del Torchio said on Monday that Etihad, which already has stakes in Air Berlin and Aer Lingus was proposing to invest 560 million euros in Alitalia.","Kerry: Peace talks not open-ended. RABAT, Morocco (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry says the U.S. will evaluate its role in the Mideast peace process after negative Israeli and Palestinian moves.","SOCHI SCENE: Russia dejected, Finland hungry. SOCHI, Russia (AP) — After Russia's men's hockey loss in the quarterfinals to Finland, most of Russia's players rushed through a mixed zone with TV cameras and reporters without stopping, waving off requests to verbalize their disappointment in losing their medal chances in the Sochi Games.","Malaysia court upholds Allah ban for non-Muslims. KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Malaysia's top court on Monday upheld a lower court ruling that non-Muslims cannot use the word \"Allah\" to refer to God, adding to a contentious debate that has reinforced complaints that religious minorities are treated unfairly in the Muslim-majority country.","Ex-Barcelona president enters jail for bribery. BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Former Barcelona club president Jose Nunez has started his two years and two months prison sentence on Sunday after being convicted of bribing tax inspectors.","US-Cuba rapprochement isolates Venezuela: analysts. Cuba's surprise move to restore diplomatic relations with Washington leaves Havana's close ally Venezuela further isolated in a shifting political landscape, analysts here say. The stunning announcement on Wednesday was welcomed by Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro but it is likely to undercut the stridently anti-American stance he has adopted as his country slides into a deepening economic crisis. \"This announcement shakes up the Maduro government's US policy, including its political discourse, which is based in large part on the anti-imperialist struggle and the condemnation of the US embargo on Cuba,\" analyst Nicmer Evans told AFP. Warmer ties between the United States and Cuba will likely have \"profound implications for Venezuela,\" Evans added.","Eight dead as landslides hit Japan's Hiroshima, 13 missing. At least eight people were killed in Japan on Wednesday when landslides touched off by torrential rain slammed into the outskirts of the city of Hiroshima, media reported. At least 13 people were also missing after a month's worth of rain fell overnight, loosening slopes already saturated by heavy rain over the past few weeks. With land in short supply in many parts of Japan, cities often expand into mountainous areas, leaving such development vulnerable to landslides. About 240 mm (9 inches) of rain fell in the area in the 24 hours up to Wednesday morning, record-breaking levels equivalent to a month's worth of rain in a usual August, Japan's Meteorological Agency said.","US terror suspect wants details of his case. DENVER (AP) — A terror suspect challenging the constitutionality of the National Security Agency's warrantless surveillance program wants prosecutors to reveal how they built their case against him.","Bahrain holds elections, Shi'ite opposition boycotts vote. By Farishta Saeed MANAMA (Reuters) - Bahrainis voted on Saturday in the first parliamentary elections since 2011 when mostly Shi'ite protesters took to the streets demanding more democracy. The elections were boycotted by the Shi'ite Muslim opposition over accusations that constituency changes would still favor the Sunni Muslim majority represented by the ruling family. Bahrain has been shaken by low-level unrest since the February 2011 demonstrations. The country's Shi'ites have long complained of political and economic marginalization, an accusation the government denies. ...","Thai farmers put pressure on PM over rice payments. BANGKOK (AP) — Hundreds of disgruntled Thai farmers have breached razor-wire barricades outside the prime minister's temporary office in a protest over delayed payments from the controversial rice pledging scheme.","NATO says will have to consider permanent troops in eastern Europe. NATO will have to consider permanently stationing troops in eastern Europe as a result of the increased tension between Russia and Ukraine, the alliance's top military commander said on Tuesday. NATO has arranged a number of short-term rotations of personnel and equipment in eastern Europe but these are due to finish at the end of 2014. Asked whether NATO might have to look at permanently stationing troops in eastern Europe, top NATO military commander General Philip Breedlove told a news conference in Ottawa: \"I think this is something we will have to consider and we will tee this up for discussion through the leaderships of our nations to see where that leads.\" (Reporting by Randall Palmer, writing by David Ljunggren;","Ukraine's economy cushioned so far against unrest, needs boost: central bank. By Natalia Zinets KIEV (Reuters) - A bailout package from Russia has protected Ukraine's economy so far from unrest in the capital Kiev but monetary policy needs to be softened to try to kickstart growth after five quarters of recession, a top central bank official said. President Viktor Yanukovich's decision to spurn an EU free trade agreement in favor of closer ties with Russia in November sparked protests which have since turned into a mass anti-government demonstration punctuated by violence. But the violence, and resulting political twists and turns in Yanukovich's government, have yet to be felt by the economy, Olena Shcherbakova, head of the bank's monetary policy department told Reuters in an interview. She said a December agreement with Moscow which ended trade barriers against Ukrainian goods, cut the price of Russian gas and provided a $15 billion bailout by buying Ukrainian Eurobonds had cushioned the economy from any immediate fallout.","More than 40 dead in Taiwan plane crash. Taipei (AFP) - More than 40 people were killed in a plane crash in Taiwan on Wednesday, officials said.","Image of Asia: The blur of the crowd in Tokyo. In this photo by Koji Sasahara, people walk across the scramble crossing outside Shibuya Station in Tokyo on Friday afternoon. The Shibuya district is popular with young people and is known for entertainment and nightlife as well as high-tech ventures.","TSX ends higher as U.S. data, gold miners support. TORONTO (Reuters) - Canada's main stock index reached its highest in nearly six years on Wednesday, buoyed by U.S. economic data and a rally in shares of gold miners after the price of bullion advanced. The Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index unofficially closed up 78.56 points, or 0.55 percent, at 14,459.11. Eight of the 10 main sectors on the index were higher. (Reporting by John Tilak; Editing by James Dalgleish)","U.S. producer prices moderate as gasoline tumbles. U.S. producer prices rose marginally in July as a decline in the cost of energy goods offset higher food prices, pointing to a moderation of inflation pressures at the factory gate. The Labor Department said on Friday its producer price index for final demand edged up 0.1 percent after a 0.4 percent rise in June. Swings in prices received for trade services, a gauge of margins for retailers and wholesalers, have made it hard to see a clear trend in producer prices. In the 12 months through July, producer prices increased 1.7 percent after rising by 1.9 percent in the year to June.","AP sources: Millions to get deportation protection. WASHINGTON (AP) — The Obama administration is considering a plan that would shield possibly around 5 million immigrants living in the country illegally from deportation as part of a broad set of executive actions that President Barack Obama could announce as early as next week, people familiar with the discussions say.","Scottish nationalists warn Labour on spending, nuclear submarines. PERTH Scotland (Reuters) - If Scottish nationalists support a possible minority Labour government after the 2015 election, they will demand it ends state spending cuts and shelves plans to deploy new nuclear weapons in Scotland, their leader said on Saturday. Since Scots voted by 55-45 percent to preserve the United Kingdom in a Sept. 18 referendum, support for the Scottish National Party has surged and some polls show they could become Britain's third largest party in terms of Westminster seats. ...","Few oligarchs can beat Russia's weakening economy. By Jason Bush MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia's oligarchs are no strangers to misfortune, asset grabs, forced investments and financial crises. Many of them may publicly shrug off a 40 percent plunge in the rouble and the difficulties caused by a sanctions-hit economy heading for recession. And at least on paper, there are some winners, with metal producers benefiting from rising prices in export markets. But look closer and just about every Russian company is feeling the pinch, and perhaps the only success stories are those who sold in time -- or who just got lucky. ...","HRW urges Niger to explain decision to extradite Kadhafi. Human Rights Watch urged Niger to explain its decision to extradite a son of late Libyan dictator Moamer Kadhafi on Thursday. \"The authorities in Niger should explain why they were convinced that Saadi Kadhafi would not be mistreated and would get a fair trial,\" said Sarah Leah Whitson, HRW's Middle East and North Africa director. The New York-based group also pointed to the responsibilities of the Libyan authorities. \"Libya has the responsibility to see that Saadi Khadafi gets his full due process rights.","Syria refugees set to exceed a third of Lebanon's population. By Sylvia Westall BEIRUT (Reuters) - Lebanon faces the threat of political and economic collapse as the number of refugees pouring in from Syria is set to exceed a third of the population, Social Affairs Minister Rashid Derbas said on Thursday. Derbas said the total was expected to hit 1.5 million by the end of the year, an excessive burden for a country of just 4 million people. He said the influx of refugees fleeing Syria's civil war will have cost Lebanon's already fragile economy around $7.5 billion between 2012 and 2014. Border communities hosting Syrian refugees were under particular pressure because of the increase in people willing to work for low wages.","Greenpeace activists break into French nuclear plant. Environmental activists from Greenpeace entered a nuclear power plant operated by EDF in Fessenheim, eastern France, on Tuesday, demanding European governments cut the use of nuclear energy, the group said. Greenpeace said that more than 60 people of 14 nationalities had entered the plant, France's oldest. President Francois Hollande has promised to close Fessenheim by 2016 and cut France's reliance on nuclear energy to 50 percent of its electricity mix from 75 percent now.","Swiss chain sorry for 'unforgivable' packaging. GENEVA (AP) — A leading Swiss supermarket chain is apologizing for what it calls an \"unforgivable blunder\": distributing mini-containers of coffee cream bearing portraits of Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini.","Saudi Arabia has 26 more cases of MERS virus, 10 dead. Saudi Arabia confirmed 26 more cases of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), which has killed nearly a third of sufferers, and said 10 more people have died from the disease. The confirmations follow Egypt's announcement on Saturday that it had confirmed its first case of MERS in a man who had recently returned to the country from Riyadh, where he was working. Saudi Arabia, where MERS was discovered around two years ago and which remains the country most affected, has now had 339 confirmed cases of MERS, of which 102 have been fatal. The 143 cases announced since the start of April represent a 73 percent jump in total infections in Saudi Arabia this month.","Exclusive: Courting Vietnam, U.S. prepares to ease arms embargo. By Lesley Wroughton and Andrea Shalal WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Nearly 40 years after the United States helicoptered its last soldiers out of Vietnam in an ignominious retreat, Washington is moving closer to lifting an arms embargo on its former enemy, with initial sales likely to help Hanoi deal with growing naval challenges from China. Senior U.S. officials with knowledge of the initiative said Washington wants to support Vietnam by strengthening its ability to monitor and defend its coastline, and said unarmed P-3 surveillance planes could be one of the first sales. ...","What to look for Sunday at the French Open. PARIS (AP) — Five things to look for Sunday at the French Open:","Google set to lead $500 million investment in Magic Leap: tech website. (Reuters) - Google Inc and other investors are planning to invest about $500 million in hardware and software developer Magic Leap Inc to deliver \"cinematic reality\", technology website Re/Code said, citing sources. Google is leading the funding round for the company, the website cited sources as saying. (http://on.recode.net/1tXLKnb) Venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz may be one of the other investors in the consortium, Re/Code said. Google, Andreessen Horowitz and Magic Leap could not be reached for a comment outside of business hours. ...","Twitter's active users increase 24 percent to 271 million. SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Twitter Inc's monthly active users rose 24 percent to 271 million in the second quarter, as the online messaging service struggles to accelerate its pace of growth. On Tuesday, Twitter reported a 124 percent jump in quarterly revenue to $312 million, beating Wall Street's expectation for $283.1 million. (Reporting by Edwin Chan; Editing by Leslie Adler)","Sherpas struggle with climbing season in disarray. KATMANDU, Nepal (AP) — With Mount Everest's climbing season in disarray, the Sherpa guides who decided to abandon the mountain this year after a deadly avalanche said Friday that they would struggle to make ends meet.","Osasuna wins 2-1 at Almeria to escape drop zone. ALMERIA, Spain (AP) — Osasuna won 2-1 at Almeria to escape the Spanish league's relegation zone and push the hosts into danger on Friday.","Pope's English on display for first time in SKorea. SOLMOE, South Korea (AP) — Pope Francis usually refuses to speak anything other than Italian or his native Spanish in public, apparently uncomfortable with his abilities even when reading from a prepared text.","France intensifies sanctions against hooligans. PARIS (AP) — French authorities are strengthening their arsenal in the fight against hooliganism following serious incidents that marred the start of the football season.","Hotline marks return of Egypt's security agency. CAIRO (AP) — After a bombing hit a security headquarters in Egypt's Nile Delta, calls flooded into a hotline run by security agencies as people reported suspected members of the Muslim Brotherhood in their neighborhoods. In the weeks that followed, hotline numbers have run in a scroll on the bottom of many TV news broadcasts.","British MPs pass non-binding vote to recognise Palestine. London (AFP) - British lawmakers voted overwhelmingly in favour of recognising Palestine as a state on Monday, in a non-binding motion heavy with symbolism but unlikely to change government policy.","Germany finishes 1-2 in World Cup luge doubles. CALGARY, Alberta (AP) — Toni Eggert and Sascha Benecken extended their World Cup luge men's doubles winning streak to four races on Friday, leading a 1-2 German finish at Canada Olympic Park.","Bad boy Bracewell wins Black Caps reprieve. Wellington (AFP) - New Zealand bad boy Doug Bracewell was handed a career lifeline on Wednesday when he was named in the 15-man Test squad to face Pakistan next month.","Fighting blurs tribal, sectarian lines in holdout Iraqi town. Dhuluiyah (Iraq) (AFP) - When jihadists from the Islamic State group attacked last week, the Shiite village of Al-Saud in central Iraq received help from an unlikely source.","Wary lawmakers ready to OK arms for Syrian rebels. WASHINGTON (AP) — Wary House lawmakers are on track to give President Barack Obama authority to order U.S. military training and arms for moderate rebels confronting the growing danger of Islamic State militants in Syria.","Israel demolishes two homes in flashpoint Arab East Jerusalem district. JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israeli forces demolished two Palestinian homes on Tuesday in an East Jerusalem neighborhood that has been at the heart of clashes between Israeli police and Palestinian protesters, a move likely to exacerbate weeks of tension in the holy city. Authorities knocked down the buildings near the district of Abu Tor, southeast of the Old City, in the early hours, saying they had been built without construction permits. ...","Hollande tells Obama mooted BNP fine disproportionate: French official. French President Francois Hollande has written to U.S. counterpart Barack Obama to express concern that a possible $10 billion-plus fine for its biggest bank, BNP Paribas, would be \"disproportionate\", an official at Hollande's office said. U.S. authorities are investigating whether BNP evaded U.S. sanctions relating primarily to Sudan, Iran and Syria between 2002 and 2009.","Jordan expels Syrian ambassador over critical comments. U.S. ally Jordan said on Monday it was expelling the Syrian ambassador and giving him 24 hours to leave after comments accusing the kingdom of abetting the West against Damascus. A foreign ministry statement said Ambassador Bahjat Suleiman, a former general and intelligence chief, had violated diplomatic protocol by posting repeated comments on social media that criticized Jordan and its Gulf allies. \"Mr Suleiman used the territory of the kingdom as a platform to level unfounded accusations in more than one statement and post...this was despite repeated warnings for a long while,\" the statement on state news agency Petra said. Jordan maintains an embassy in Damascus and has avoided publicly supporting Syrian rebels fighting to overthrow Assad, calling instead for a political solution to a war that has cost over 100,000 lives.","Turkish president hopes Twitter ban will be lifted 'soon'. Turkey's president said Sunday he believed the country would soon lift its ban on Twitter, condemned as a bid to muzzle a corruption scandal dogging the government ahead of key elections. \"I believe this problem will be over soon,\" Abdullah Gul told reporters in Ankara before leaving for an official visit to the Netherlands. \"This is of course an unpleasant situation for such a developed country as Turkey, which has weight in the region and which is negotiating with the European Union. The ban was implemented Thursday shortly after Turkey's powerful Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan threatened to \"wipe out\" Twitter, earning strong rebukes from rights groups and the country's Western allies.","Royal Bank of Scotland to exit U.S. mortgage business. (Reuters) - Royal Bank of Scotland Plc's securities unit will now exit its U.S. mortgage trading business after originally planning to shrink it by two-thirds. Exiting mortgage backed-security, commercial real estate and commercial mortgage-bond sales and trading \"is a necessary part of repositioning our US business,\" an RBS spokesman said in an emailed statement. RBS said in May it will eliminate hundreds of jobs in the United States over the course of two years to help reduce assets ahead of new rules by the U.S. Federal Reserve. The largest foreign banks, with $50 billion or more in U.S. ...","Blast at Indonesia navy arsenal kills 1, wounds 87. JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — The Indonesian military says an explosion at a navy ammunition warehouse killed one officer and injured more than 80 others.","Watchdog says has evidence of chlorine attacks in Syria. AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Inspectors from the global chemical weapons watchdog have found \"compelling evidence\" that chlorine gas was used \"systematically and repeatedly\" as a weapon in northern Syria this year, it said in a statement on Wednesday. The Hague-based Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) said there had been a \"spate of new allegations\" of chlorine attacks in August, after a reduction in reported attacks since May. ...","Documents: Blackwater guards were out of control. WASHINGTON (AP) — A newly disclosed memo reveals a warning by a U.S. State Department investigator that contractors for Blackwater Worldwide saw themselves as above the law and that the contractors, rather than U.S. officials, were in command.","Busy playwright Ayad Akhtar finds his groove. NEW YORK (AP) — In a sun-splashed rehearsal room recently at Lincoln Center, the knives were out for Ayad Akhtar's new play.","Ex-al-Qaida spokesman recounts 9/11 aftermath. NEW YORK (AP) — Osama bin Laden's hours in a dark Afghanistan cave the evening of the Sept. 11 attacks were brought to light when his son-in-law testified in his own defense at his terrorism trial, portraying the al-Qaida leader as worried and apprehensive as he contemplated how America would respond.","Mujica agrees to restore police protection. MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay (AP) — Uruguay President Jose Mujica has agreed to restore police protection to domestic football matches, provided clubs sign a FIFA agreement that deducts points from those involved in hooligan violence.","Jailed Kurdish leader says peace talks with Turkey entered new phase. By Humeyra Pamuk ISTANBUL (Reuters) - The jailed Kurdish separatist leader said on Tuesday the peace process with the Turkish government had entered a new phase since Oct. 15 and he was upbeat over the chances of success. The mid-October date had been seen by some as a deadline for the shaky peace negotiations, which took a blow two weeks ago when at least 35 people died in the worst unrest in Turkey's southeast in years. ...","Rice: Congress 'aware' trade possible for soldier. WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama's national security adviser says Congress was well aware that the administration was considering trading Guantanamo Bay detainees for the only American prisoner of the Afghan War.","U.N. chief in South Sudan, keeps up pressure for peace. U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon flew into South Sudan on Tuesday to urge government troops and rebels to end more than four months of fighting - the second peace mission there by a major global figure in less than a week. Ban was expected to meet South Sudanese President Salva Kiir, part of a mounting international push to stop the increasingly ethnic violence that Washington and regional powers fear could descend into genocide. Showing the message had hit home, a South Sudanese official said there was no need to sanctions on the government side, as the president had already responded to international pressure and agreed to hold talks with the main rebel leader. \"(The government is) doing precisely what has been asked,\" Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Mawien Makol Arik told Reuters.","Exclusive: U.S. eyes China partnership on Africa power - sources. By Joe Brock JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - The United States is considering partnering with China on improving electricity in Africa and the proposal could be part of bilateral discussions when President Barack Obama visits Beijing next week, two sources involved told Reuters. The proposal could include $5-$7 billion of commitments to improve electricity generation and transmission in several African countries, one source involved in the initiative said. ...","'Seeds of genocide' in Central African Republic, U.N. warns. By Emmanuel Braun and Tom Miles BANGUI/GENEVA (Reuters) - A senior U.N. official warned of the risk of genocide in Central African Republic without a more robust international response to communal bloodshed in which at least 20 more people were killed on Thursday. More than a million people have been displaced by the violence since Seleka installed their leader Michel Djotodia as interim president. Over 1,000 people were killed last month alone in the capital Bangui, prompting neighboring countries to evacuate more than 30,000 of their citizens. There has been relative calm since Djotodia resigned last week under intense international pressure, but sporadic violence has persisted in Bangui.","Macedonia's conservatives win twin elections. SKOPJE, Macedonia (AP) — Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski's ruling center-right party has won its fourth consecutive general election victory in Macedonia, but looks likely to fall just short of gaining an outright majority. The main opposition Social Democrats are refusing to recognize the result.","Reports: Vladimir Putin tells warring sides in Ukraine to lay down their arms, engage in talks. MOSCOW (AP) — Reports: Vladimir Putin tells warring sides in Ukraine to lay down their arms, engage in talks.","Most blogged artists: Broods, Blonde. New Zealand brother-sister duo Broods have just premiered a new song off their upcoming LP, and UK electronic producers Blonde have a new track featuring Charli Taft that has bloggers buzzing.","DOD: Russian troops not moving from Ukraine border. WASHINGTON (AP) — The Pentagon says there are still no signs that Russia is withdrawing its troops from the Ukraine border, despite Moscow's claim that the order to pull out has been given.","Pistorius to start mental evaluation next week. PRETORIA, South Africa (AP) — A South African judge has ruled that Oscar Pistorius will start a period of psychiatric evaluation at a state institution on Monday.","Gaza truce efforts go up in smoke. The Islamist Hamas movement fired more rockets at Israel Sunday, despite claims it had accepted a UN request for a 24-hour extension of a humanitarian truce in war-torn Gaza. Hamas's belated acceptance of diplomatic calls for a temporary ceasefire was announced several hours after Israel resumed its devastating military assault on the Palestinian enclave after a pause of more than 24 hours. Although Hamas said its militants would halt their fire from 1100 GMT in response to a request from the United Nations, there was no response from Israel. \"They are violating their own ceasefire,\" Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the CNN news network.","Solemn tributes mark Boston Marathon bombing. BOSTON (AP) — Survivors, first responders and family members of those killed in the Boston Marathon bombing marked the anniversary Tuesday with tributes that combined sorrow over the loss of innocent victims with pride over the city's resilience in the face of a terror attack.","France says can not deliver first helicopter carrier to Russia. By Leigh Thomas PARIS (Reuters) - The French government cannot go ahead for now with the planned delivery of a first of two helicopter carriers to Russia, the president's office said on Wednesday, citing Moscow's actions in eastern Ukraine. France, due to join NATO partners at a summit in Britain from Thursday, has faced fierce pressure from Washington and other allies to halt the sale of the Mistral-class warships, the first of which had been due for delivery in October. Four hundred Russian sailors have been receiving training to operate the carrier since the end of June at shipyards at Saint-Naizaire, on France's Atlantic coast. Warning Moscow it could face more sanctions, President Francois Hollande's said last week it would be \"intolerable and unacceptable\" if it were proven that Russian forces had entered Ukrainian territory, something Russia denies.","France orchestrating Alstom deal at full tilt. PARIS (AP) — Officials close to talks on a proposed merger between Alstom and General Electric say France's president is open to the idea, despite a delay imposed by one of his top finance officials.","Snooker Champion O'Sullivan eases into second round. Defending champion Ronnie O'Sullivan began his quest for a sixth world snooker title with a comfortable 10-4 first-round win over Finland's Robin Hull at Sheffield's Crucible Theatre on Saturday. \"I'm just pleased to have got through,\" said O'Sullivan. \"There's one out of the way and I just move on to the next,\" said O'Sullivan, who will play either Jamie Burnett or Joe Perry in the second round. Lifting the world championship trophy for a sixth time would see 'The Rocket' draw level with one-time mentor Ray Reardon and Steve Davis while leaving him one shy of Scottish great Stephen Hendry's record of seven world titles.","Israel to stop distributing gas masks to public. Israel decided on Sunday to end a decades-old policy of issuing gas masks to the public in an apparent sign of confidence in Syria's chemical weapons disarmament. Since being hit by Iraqi Scud missiles during the 1991 Gulf War, authorities have handed out masks, though Syria's chemical arsenal was Israel's primary concern in recent years. That changed when Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, embroiled in a civil war and under threat of a U.S.-military strike, agreed last year to give up his chemical weapons stockpile. Israel's main security focus is now on Iran, which it accuses of developing nuclear weapons, an allegation Tehran denies.","France's Montebourg says seeks no new government role. Leftist Economy Minister Arnaud Montebourg announced he would not seek a role in the reshuffled French government to be unveiled by Prime Minister Manuel Valls on Tuesday. \"This afternoon, I informed the prime minister that, if he considered I was in the wrong, that if he deemed my convictions counter to the direction of the government he leads, then in that case I thought it necessary for me to be let go,\" Montebourg told a news conference. Montebourg at the weekend called for a U-turn in French economic policy he said was killing growth for the sake of narrowing the budget deficit, comments which on Monday prompted Valls to hand in the resignation of the government.","CAS upholds FIFA transfer ban imposed on Barcelona. LAUSANNE, Switzerland (AP) — The Court of Arbitration for Sport has dismissed Barcelona's appeal and upheld the transfer ban FIFA imposed on the club for infringing regulations on registering minors as youth players.","Passengers stuck in Hawaii for 3 nights get cash. WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — A group of Air New Zealand passengers has been stranded for three nights after being repeatedly told their plane was delayed due to mechanical problems.","Canadian Press NewsAlert:Obama orders changes to NSA programs. WASHINGTON - U.S. President Barack Obama orders changes to NSA programs, says he is ending phone data storage as it exists.","Anti-Putin protesters face verdict after \"show trial\" in Russia. By Gabriela Baczynska MOSCOW (Reuters) - A Russian court was expected to jail eight anti-Kremlin protesters on Friday, sending a message that President Vladimir Putin will brook no challenge to his rule as neighboring Ukraine burns, said activists. Tension was high ahead of the hearing, as police guarding the courthouse pulled several protesters out of the crowd that gathered to support the defendants and bundled them into buses. Demonstrators shouted: \"Shame!\" The mother of one of the defendants said she feared the violence in Kiev - in which at least 75 people have died in 48 hours of clashes between police and protesters - increased the chance of a harsh verdict, as Russian authorities set out to show how they dealt with unrest. Putin says he does not use the courts as a political tool.","U.S. military tried, but failed to rescue journalist Foley, other hostages. The unsuccessful rescue operation \"involved air and ground components and was focused on a particular captor network within ISIL,\" the Pentagon said in a statement, using a different name for the militant group. \"Unfortunately, the mission was not successful because the hostages were not present at the targeted location.\" President Barack Obama authorized the mission \"earlier this summer,\" Lisa Monaco, Obama's top counter terrorism aide, said in a separate statement. Foley, 40, was executed by an Islamic State militant in a video that surfaced on the Internet on Tuesday.","Week before US Open, Luiten keen to win in Austria. ATZENBRUGG, Austria (AP) — A week before his debut at the U.S. Open, Dutch golfer Joost Luiten has another first to manage — defending a European Tour title at the Lyoness Open.","Peace Corps evacuates over Ebola as 2 isolated. MONROVIA, Liberia (AP) — The largest recorded Ebola outbreak in history has led the U.S. Peace Corps to evacuate hundreds of volunteers from three affected West African countries, and a State Department official on Wednesday said two volunteers were under isolation after having contact with a person who later died of the virus.","More grocery gift cards coming from province to help ice storm victims. TORONTO - The Ontario government says more grocery store gift cards will be distributed in Toronto this week to people who lost food in the aftermath of this month's crippling ice storm.","National tour for 'Matilda the Musical' takes it to L.A., San Francisco, Seattle, Dallas. NEW YORK, N.Y. - Those naughty kids from \"Matilda the Musical\" are hitting the road.","Brazil investigates ticket scalping operation. SAO PAULO (AP) — Soccer's world governing body says it is helping Brazil's investigation of a ticket scalping ring believed to be re-selling World Cup tickets.","At least 60 killed in central Nigeria communal battle: police. Fighting between Fulani herdsmen and farmers from the Eggon ethnic group has left at least 60 people dead in central Nigeria, mostly from machete cuts, police said on Thursday. The clashes broke out on Wednesday in Nasawrawa state, a week after some Eggon villagers accused Fulanis of stealing cattle, Nasarawa police spokesman Umaru Ismaila said by telephone. \"Some bodies were burned beyond recognition.\" Hundreds have been killed in the past year in clashes pitting the semi-nomadic, cattle-herding Fulani people against settled communities that practice a mix of farming and cattle rearing, driven mostly by disputes over land use.","Man stages new protest on ledge of St. Peter's in Vatican. VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - An Italian man evaded Vatican security for the fifth time to reach a high ledge on the facade of St. Peter's Basilica to protest against laws he says caused him to lose his business. Marcello di Finizio apparently used mountain climbing ropes to lower himself down to the ledge late on Sunday from a roof that is accessible to tourists. He was still there on Monday morning. Television footage showed him pacing on the ledge talking on a cell phone. ...","Iraq's Maliki remains defiant on third term as insurgency rages. BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki indicated that he will not drop his bid for a third term and accused the president of violating the constitution in a tough televised speech likely to deepen political tensions as a Sunni insurgency rages. Maliki, seen as an authoritarian and sectarian leader, has defied calls by Sunnis, Kurds, some fellow Shi'ites and regional power broker Iran to step aside for a less polarising figure who can unite Iraqis against Islamic State militants. (Reporting by Ahmed Rasheed; Editing by Sandra Maler; writing by Michael Georgy)","UK's Cameron, EU's Juncker 'high five' and make up. BRUSSELS (Reuters) - David Cameron shared a \"high five\" greeting with Jean-Claude Juncker on Thursday when the two men held their first private talks since the British leader's failed attempt to block the Luxembourger from becoming European Commission president. Cameron also introduced Juncker to Jonathan Hill, the little-known British nominee to serve on the European Union's executive, and pressed his case for a high-profile Commission job to help reform Europe's economy. Cameron's spokesman described the meeting with the president-elect as \"good, substantive and amicable\". ...","Exclusive: China's Xi likely to promote army general who exposed graft - sources. By Benjamin Kang Lim and Ben Blanchard BEIJING (Reuters) - President Xi Jinping is likely to promote a corruption whistleblower to China's top military decision-making body to underscore his determination to tackle graft inside the country's rapidly modernizing armed forces, two sources said. General Liu Yuan, 62, the eldest son of late president Liu Shaoqi, is set to be appointed to the Central Military Commission during a meeting of the Communist Party's elite 205-member Central Committee in October, a source close to the leadership and a second source with ties to the military said. Security had been stepped up around Liu after he had received death threats for exposing the worst military graft scandal in modern China, which involved the widespread selling of positions in the People's Liberation Army (PLA), three separate sources added. His crackdown accelerated this week when the party said it was investigating former domestic security chief Zhou Yongkang for breaching party discipline, a euphemism for corruption.","Venezuelan anti-government protests turn violent. ","El Salvador ex-rebel claims victory in tight presidential election. Former Marxist guerrilla leader Salvador Sanchez Ceren claimed victory in Sunday's presidential election, as results showed he had a wafer-thin lead over his conservative rival with almost all votes counted. Sanchez Ceren of the ruling Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN), the rebel group in the country's 1980-1992 civil war, had 50.11 percent of the vote with returns in from 99.95 percent of polling stations. His conservative challenger Norman Quijano, the former mayor of San Salvador, had 49.89 percent of the vote.","Union calls on Frankfurt airport security staff to strike Friday. German trade union Verdi has called on security workers at Frankfurt airport to go on strike on Friday in a bid to push for higher pay, a move likely to cause widespread disruption at Europe's third largest hub. The airport employs around 5,000 people in areas such as security controls, freight checks and airport security and services, Verdi said in a statement on Thursday. \"We believe this could cause significant disruption,\" Verdi negotiator Mathias Venema said. Germany's largest airline Deutsche Lufthansa said on Thursday it would cancel 15 domestic and pan-European flights on Friday morning due to the planned strike.","Putin may pay dearly for Crimea gambit. Russian military intervention in Ukraine is a gambit by President Vladimir Putin that has far-reaching global consequences and harbours risks for the Kremlin that may well outweigh the benefits, analysts said Monday. The shock request by Putin and rapid parliamentary approval to use military force in Ukraine at the weekend will rally domestic patriotism but may ultimately cripple Russia's economy and drive the country into isolation worse than during the Cold War, they said. \"It's the most serious crisis in modern Russia since 1991, there has been no similar situation,\" said political analyst Alexei Makarkin, referring to the year the USSR collapsed. Unlike in Soviet times, when the country had a closed economy, Russia is now fully integrated into the global markets and likely sanctions will be \"catastrophic,\" he said.","German lawmakers want to interview Snowden. BERLIN (AP) — German lawmakers have agreed to ask NSA leaker Edward Snowden to testify in their inquiry into surveillance of Chancellor Angela Merkel by the U.S. National Security Agency.","Police probe suspected fraud plot for Vatican bank. ROME (AP) — Italian finance police say a suspected plot to swindle the Vatican bank was foiled after Vatican guards became suspicious of two foreigners who tried to enter the bank with a briefcase filled with false financial certificates.","As Colombia pursues peace, paramilitary killers walk free from jail. When Carlos Mario Ospina joined a rightwing paramilitary group in 1997, Colombia's militias were just beginning to extend their writ in his province. Mr. Ospina, known as \"Tomate,\" rose quickly through the ranks, and by 2004, he led paramilitary activity in Putumayo Province, in southwestern Colombia. His demobilization – along with that of another 30,000 members of the United Self Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC) – came after negotiations with the government of former President Alvaro Uribe. Paramilitary leaders were originally promised they would do no jail time, but this changed under a 2006 law that established a maximum sentence of eight years, compared to 40 years, the normal upper limit.","Canada PM in parliament at time of shooting: lawmaker. Ottawa (AFP) - Canada's Prime Minister Stephen Harper was meeting with lawmakers in Parliament at the moment when a gunman opened fire in the building Wednesday, a senator who attended the meeting said.","Tennis-Washington Open women's singles semifinal results. Aug 2 (Infostrada Sports) - Results from the Washington Open Women's Singles Semifinal matches on Saturday Kurumi Nara (Japan) beat Marina Erakovic (New Zealand) 0-6 6-4 6-4","US could 'send advisers into combat in Iraq'. Washington (AFP) - The US military's top officer on Tuesday raised the possibility that American troops serving as advisers to Iraqi forces eventually could be sent on combat missions against Islamic State extremists if it became necessary.","Valeant to launch exchange offer for Allergan this week. Valeant Pharmaceuticals Inc said on Tuesday it will launch an exchange offer for Allergan Inc this week, allowing it to eventually take the unsolicited bid directly to shareholders. Botox-maker Allergan has rejected Valeant’s $53 billion offer, but its biggest shareholder, Pershing Square Capital Management, intends to mail proxy materials as early as this month to seek a special meeting later this year to change most of Allergan’s board, Valeant said in a webcast presentation to investors. \"But this deal was so strategic and financially compelling that it really makes sense.\" To trigger a special meeting, Pershing needs to gain the additional support of shareholders representing 15.3 percent of Allergan's ownership, topping up its own 9.7 percent stake for a total of 25 percent. Valeant Chief Financial Officer Howard Schiller said the company is confident enough Allergan shareholders will support calling the meeting, noting that more than half of Allergan's shares have traded since word of Valeant's initial offer leaked out on April 21.","Apple issues fix for glaring security flaw on Mac computers. Apple Inc has issued fixes for a security flaw in its Macintosh computers that allows hackers to intercept data such as email, patching a major and embarrassing glitch that came to light several days ago. The security update for users of Apple's OS X computer operating software follows a fix issued for iPhones last week, meaning all Apple device users now have access to the patch. The flaw allowed attackers with access to a mobile user's network, such as a shared unsecured wireless service offered by a cafe, to see or alter exchanges between the user and protected sites such as Google Inc's Gmail or Facebook. On Tuesday, Apple said in a statement that the Mac security update also improved features such as its FaceTime videoconferencing service and email.","Iran's Rouhani arrives in longtime Gulf Arab ally Oman. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani arrived in Muscat Wednesday for a visit dedicated to talks with leaders of the Islamic republic's historic ally in the Gulf on regional tensions and bilateral cooperation . Rouhani was greeted on arrival at the royal airport in Muscat by Oman's deputy prime minister for the council of ministers, Fahd bin Mahmoud Al-Said, an AFP correspondent reported. He then headed to the Alam palace in eastern Muscat to meet Sultan Qaboos, who has acted as an intermediary between Western countries and the Islamic republic. The sultanate is reported to have hosted secret talks between Iran and the United States ahead of the signing in Geneva last November of an accord between world powers and Iran on its nuclear programme.","China's Feng takes 5-stroke lead in Dubai. DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — China's Shanshan Feng shot a 6-under 66 on Friday to take a five-stroke lead into the final round of the Ladies European Tour's season-ending Dubai Ladies Masters.","Afghan election hailed as Taliban threat remains. KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Afghans and the international community hailed its presidential election as a triumph of democracy over violence Sunday, despite complaints about ballot shortages and sporadic fraud after millions of people braved a Taliban threat to vote for a new president. But some cautioned against declaring a premature defeat of the Islamic militants.","French ex-first lady describes shock over affair. PARIS (AP) — France's former first lady says she and the president had grown detached recently but she was caught totally by surprise by his affair with an actress.","Britain says would support new Ukrainian government. Britain said Saturday it would support a new government in Ukraine once one is formed and called for an IMF package to help the country recover from the three-month crisis. Foreign Secretary William Hague said he was in close touch with European Union partners over what he called the \"extraordinary developments\" in Ukraine. \"We will work closely with our EU partners in support of a new government in Ukraine, as and when that is formed. \"In the meantime it is important that Ukraine's political leaders respond to events calmly and with determination to harness the united efforts of all Ukrainians to work together for a successful future.\"","Meryl Streep, Stevie Wonder get Medal of Freedom. BEIJING (AP) — President Barack Obama is awarding the Presidential Medal of Freedom to 19 people, including Meryl Streep and Stevie Wonder.","US: Immigrant center to expedite deportations. ARTESIA, New Mexico (AP) — A detention center being opened in New Mexico to deal with the surge in women and children caught crossing illegally into the U.S. from Central America will be focused on deporting the immigrants quickly, officials said Thursday.","GM in China announces Cadillac, Camaro recall. BEIJING (AP) — General Motors Co. and its main Chinese partner are recalling nearly 20,000 imported Cadillac SRX sport utility vehicles and Chevrolet Camaros to replace defective seat bolts.","S.Africa bans travellers from Ebola-hit nations. Pretoria (AFP) - South Africa on Thursday issued a ban on non-citizens travelling from three west African countries worst affected by Ebola.","S. Leone holding Ebola talk show host 'for Burkina comments'. Sierra Leone said Tuesday it was holding a journalist in a notorious prison because he had accused the government of provoking the kind of unrest seen in Burkina Faso through mismanagement of the Ebola crisis. David Tam Baryoh, host of the weekly \"Monologue\" programme on the private Citizen FM, has become a cause celebre in the west African nation since he was arrested a week ago on the orders of President Ernest Bai Koroma. He was detained in Freetown's maximum security Pademba Road jail after the show was taken off air during a live broadcast on November 1, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), citing local media. Attorney General Frank Kargbo said in a written statement released to AFP that the host had made \"inflammatory statements\" questioning the government's deployment of troops across the country, which has seen some 1,100 deaths in the Ebola epidemic raging in west Africa.","EU says Van Rompuy, Russia's Putin discuss Ukraine. BRUSSELS (Reuters) - European Council President Herman Van Rompuy and Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed the financial and security situation in Ukraine in a phone call on Friday, a European Union spokesman said. The EU gave no details of the call, which came amid international concern over the situation in Ukraine's Crimea region where armed men took control of two airports on Friday. Europe is also discussing a range of options for short- and longer-term financial assistance to Ukraine after President Viktor Yanukovich was ousted after months of protests. ...","Train accident kills 21 in eastern India. PATNA, India (AP) — A railway official says 21 people have died after a passenger train hit an overloaded rickshaw at a railway crossing in the eastern Indian state of Bihar.","FIA upholds penalty for Perez after Canadian GP. SPIELBERG, Austria (AP) — Force India has failed in its bid to overturn a five-place grid penalty for Sergio Perez at Sunday's Austrian Grand Prix.","Obama speaks to Ukraine's Poroshenko, White House says. EDGARTOWN Mass. (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama spoke to Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko while on vacation on the Massachusetts island of Martha's Vineyard, the White House said on Monday. Obama also spoke to Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, it said. Further details on the calls would be released later, the White House said. (Reporting by Jeff Mason; Editing by Susan Heavey)","Puerto Rico governor approves balanced budget. SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Puerto Rico's governor has signed the U.S. territory's first balanced budget in more than a decade amid an economic slump that has concerned U.S. investors.","Nigeria: Church obstructed rescue, lives lost. JOHANNESBURG (AP) — Nigeria's emergency agency says lives were lost as church officials prevented workers from rescuing victims at the scene of a collapsed building in Lagos.","China must drop 'mindset of expansionism' over Arunachal Pradesh: India's Modi. By Sruthi Gottipati NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Narendra Modi, the leading candidate to be India's next prime minister after a forthcoming election, declared the disputed territory of Arunachal Pradesh an integral part of India on Saturday and urged China to abandon its \"mindset of expansion\". India and China fought a brief border war in 1962. \"No power on earth can snatch away Arunachal Pradesh,\" Modi, donning the region's traditional headdress and jacket, was shown on television saying on a campaign stop to the state.","Police say bodies found are of dead boy's parents. DALLAS (AP) — Authorities confirmed Thursday that the bodies of a man and woman found at a suburban Dallas home are those of the Indian-born parents of a 10-year-old boy found dead in a bathtub at the house in January — a death for which the mother was charged with murder.","70 wounded as anti-vote Algerian youths, police clash. Raffour (Algeria) (AFP) - Clashes in Algeria's restive Kabylie region between security forces and youths opposed to Thursday's presidential election wounded around 70 people, local sources said. Separate groups of youths seeking to disrupt voting in the Bouira region, southeast of Algiers, ransacked polling stations in three localities shortly after they opened at 0700 GMT, with riot police firing tear gas to disperse them. At least 70 people were injured, including 47 policemen, and voting was temporarily suspended in Raffour, M'Chedellah and Saharij, the sources said. Graffiti scrawled across a metal barrier read: \"No to Bouteflika, no to Benflis, yes to a democratic transition,\" referring to President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, who is seeking re-election after 15 years in power, and his main rival Ali Benflis.","Hershey increases prices as costs rise. (Reuters) - Hershey Co, the No. 1 candy producer in the United States, said it would increase prices of its instant consumable, multi-pack, packaged candy and grocery lines by 8 percent to tackle rising commodity costs. Hershey, which said it expects significant commodity cost increases in 2015, also estimated adjusted profit between 75 and 77 cents per share for the quarter ended June 29. (Reporting by Mridhula Raghavan in Bangalore; Editing by Joyjeet Das)","Defense continues in Texas shoe stabbing case. HOUSTON (AP) — Attorneys for a Houston woman accused of fatally stabbing her boyfriend with her stiletto heel are trying to show jurors that injuries documented after her arrest prove she was attacked.","Jonathan Hill, from lord to EU financial services chief. Jonathan Hill, nominated the EU's new financial services commissioner Wednesday, is considered a pragmatic dealmaker hardened by his time at the heart of government during Britain's disastrous exit from the European Exchange Rate Mechanism. Before being sent to the European Union, the 53-year-old was the leader of the House of Lords, the upper chamber of the British parliament and is officially styled as Lord Hill. Hill is wary of the limelight and earlier this year scoffed at suggestions that he would be nominated Britain's commissioner.","Heathrow, Gatwick plans to overshoot cost targets: report. London (AFP) - Plans to expand Heathrow or Gatwick airports will cost billions of pounds more than project bidders have estimated, a report warned on Tuesday.","Five potential successors to David Moyes. Manchester United were on the lookout for a new manager after David Moyes was sacked on Tuesday after failing to see out his first season in charge at Old Trafford. Below, AFP Sports looks at five potential contenders to replace the Scot in one of the most high-profile jobs in world football. Has impressed while guiding Atletico Madrid to the Champions League semi-finals and to the top of La Liga, challenging the dominance of Real Madrid and Barcelona at the summit of Spanish football.","Eastern Ukraine rebel leader agrees to let encircled Ukraine troops leave. A leader of pro-Moscow rebel forces in eastern Ukraine, Alexander Zakharchenko, said on Friday he had agreed to open a humanitarian corridor for encircled Ukraine troops after Russian President Vladimir Putin's statement. Putin called on the rebels to provide the corridor in east Ukraine for Ukrainian government troops to leave the battlefield earlier on Friday. \"We are ready to give a humanitarian corridor,\" Zakharchenko, prime minister of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic, told Rossiya 24 TV, adding that troops would have to leave their heavy armored vehicles and ammunition.","HSBC first quarter profits fall 19 percent. LONDON (AP) — London-based bank HSBC has suffered a 19 percent fall in first-quarter net profit that it blamed in part on declines in the retail banking and wealth management businesses.","Greater tension could do systemic harm to Russian firms-Norilsk. By Silvia Antonioli LAUSANNE, Switzerland (Reuters) - Any worsening of tension between Moscow and the West that leads to stiffer sanctions would do systemic damage to Russian companies by deterring investors and making borrowing more difficult, a Norilsk Nickel executive said. Russia's annexation of Ukraine's Crimean peninsula has marked the biggest East-West crisis since the Cold War and prompted the United States and Europe to impose sanctions. Norilsk Nickel, the world's largest nickel and palladium miner, has not been hit by the political tension so far, but all Russian companies would suffer should the situation escalate, its deputy chief executive officer for government and investor relations said in an interview. \"The impact would be felt if the situation further aggravated and there would be some systemic implications for companies, like for example a decrease in the ratings...lack of interest from investors, an exodus of some of the investors from the shareholder base, tightening of the terms of financing,\" Andrei Bougrov said.","U.S. says reduced defense role for atom bombs, Britain against ban now. By Fredrik Dahl VIENNA (Reuters) - The United States said on Tuesday it is relying less on nuclear weapons as part of its defense planning, but Britain argued against banning such arms now. Both powers, taking part for the first time in an international conference on the humanitarian impact of atomic bombs, spoke in support of pursuing the goal of a world free of such weapons of mass destruction. The three other officially recognized nuclear weapon states -- Russia, France and China -- stayed away from the meeting. ...","U.S., China security leaders trade barbs over jet maneuvers. National Security Adviser Susan Rice, on a three-day visit to Beijing, told several senior Chinese officials that China must halt the \"dangerous intercepts\", senior Obama administration officials said. General Fan Changlong, vice chairman of China's Central Military Commission, called on the U.S.","Puerto Rico monitors whales after fatal stranding. SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Authorities in Puerto Rico are monitoring two dense-beaked whales that got free and are swimming off the U.S. territory's northwest coast after they became stranded on the island along with one that died.","Indian spacecraft on course to enter Mars' orbit. NEW DELHI (AP) — With home-grown technology and a remarkably low budget of about $75 million, India on course to become the first nation to conduct a successful Mars mission on its first try.","Al-Qaeda urges Libyans to fight rogue general. Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb urged Libyans to fight a rogue general who is pressing an offensive against Islamist militias in the country's east, labelling him an \"enemy of Islam\". Last month, ex-general Khalifa Haftar unleashed forces from his so-called National Army on Islamist militias in Benghazi in a campaign dubbed \"Operation Dignity\". \"We call on you to unite to remove the symbol of treachery and apostasy, Khalifa Haftar, and the supporters of (late dictator Moamer) Kadhafi who are under his command,\" AQIM said in a statement posted on jihadist Internet forums.","Car bomb kills at least 5 in Iraqi capital. BAGHDAD (AP) — Officials say a car bomb on a busy commercial street in the Iraqi capital has killed at least five people.","Around 30 civil servants 'kidnapped' by separatists in Mali: governor. Around 30 civil servants were abducted by Tuareg MNLA separatists in Mali's northern town of Kidal during fighting on Saturday that also wounded 23 government soldiers, the governor of the region said on Sunday. Fighting erupted early on Saturday ahead of the arrival of Prime Minister Moussa Mara, who was visiting Kidal for the first time since his appointment last month. \"Some 30 of our civil servants were kidnapped by the assailants who attacked the governor's office. There were 23 wounded, including three seriously who were evacuated by helicopter,\" Adama Kamissoko told Reuters.","More than 60 women, girls 'abducted in Nigeria'. Maiduguri (Nigeria) (AFP) - Suspected Boko Haram militants have abducted more than 60 women and young girls in restive northeast Nigeria, a local official and a vigilante leader said on Tuesday.","Ebola outbreak in Guinea may spread to Liberia. CONAKRY, Guinea (AP) — An outbreak of the deadly Ebola virus has killed at least 59 people in Guinea and is suspected to have spread to neighboring Liberia.","More than 100 bidders want to grow Uruguay pot. MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay (AP) — More than 100 businesses are hoping to compete for the right to grow the marijuana that Uruguay's government will sell in its newly legalized pot market, the country's drug czar said Thursday.","England puts away Scotland 20-0 in Six Nations. EDINBURGH, Scotland (AP) — England comfortably avoided a banana-skin possibility in dispatching Scotland 20-0 in Six Nations rugby on Saturday.","Secret documents say NSA had broad scope, scant oversight. The US National Security Agency has been authorized to intercept information \"concerning\" all but four countries worldwide, top-secret documents say, according to The Washington Post. \"The United States has long had broad no-spying arrangements with those four countries — Britain, Canada, Australia and New Zealand,\" the Post reported Monday. Yet \"a classified 2010 legal certification and other documents indicate the NSA has been given a far more elastic authority than previously known, one that allows it to intercept through US companies not just the communications of its overseas targets but any communications about its targets as well.\" The certification — approved by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court and included among a set of documents leaked by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden -- says 193 countries are \"of valid interest for US intelligence.\"","Putin begins Latin American tour amid Ukraine crisis. By Daniel Trotta and Alexei Anishchuk HAVANA (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin begins a six-day tour of Latin America on Friday, seeking greater influence in the backyard of the United States while under pressure from the West to help restrain pro-Russian separatists in Ukraine. Putin's first stop is Cuba, the Cold War ally of the former Soviet Union situated only 90 miles (145 km) from the United States. He will also visit Argentina and Brazil for bilateral talks. While in Brazil, Putin will participate in a summit of emerging market nations that include Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS) on Tuesday and Wednesday.","Thai army chief urges dialogue to end crisis. BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thai army chief Prayuth Chan-ocha said on Monday the military had no plans to intervene in the current political crisis and urged dialogue between the government and protesters. In a rare televised address, he said there were many more groups involved in the protest than in previous unrest in 2010 and it was difficult to know who was on what side. The military, which put down a protest movement in 2010, has staged numerous coups since Thailand became a constitutional monarchy in 1932. ...","Statoil sells Shah Deniz stake for $2.25 billion to Petronas. OSLO (Reuters) - Norway's Statoil has sold a 15.5 percent stake in the Azeri gas project Shah Deniz to Malaysia's Petronas for $2.25 billion, the latest asset the firm is selling to protect its cash flow and returns to shareholders. The deal also includes Statoil's stake in the pipeline carrying gas to markets and two related companies. Its second-quarter production from the Shah Deniz field was 38,000 barrels oil equivalent per day, it said. (Reporting by Gwladys Fouche, editing by Terje Solsvik)","Twelve Ukrainian nationalist fighters killed in separatist ambush. Twelve Ukrainian nationalist fighters, battling a pro-Russian insurgency in eastern Ukraine, were killed early on Wednesday and an unknown number taken captive when rebels ambushed their bus, a spokesman for their group said. The separatists opened fire on the bus, that was taking the men to fight just outside the rebel-held city of Donetsk, at the nearby village of Mandrykino, said a spokesman for Right Sector, extreme nationalists who are supporting government forces. Twelve Right Sector fighters were killed,\" spokesman Artem Skoropadsky told Reuters. The unit had run into separatists unexpectedly because a government forces' push against the rebels in the last few days had moved them from their usual positions, he said.","IOC: Activist not jailed for criticism. SOCHI, Russia (AP) — The International Olympic Committee says it's has been assured that a Russian activist's three-year prison sentence was not related to his criticism of the environmental impact of Olympic construction in Sochi.","Egypt's Mubarak to face trial on new charges. Ousted Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak, in court for alleged incitement to kill protesters and corruption, is to also stand trial this month on embezzlement charges, the prosecution said Thursday. Mubarak, 85, has remained in a military hospital in Cairo since he was freed from prison in August after the maximum pre-trial detention period expired. The latest charges brought against Mubarak and his two sons Alaa and Gamal involve their alleged embezzlement of 125 million Egyptian pounds ($18 million) earmarked for presidential palaces, a prosecution official said. Public attention has largely shifted away from Mubarak's case, with his successor Mohamed Morsi also on trial on similar murder charges.","Yahoo's 1Q lifted by Alibaba, modest ad progress. SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Yahoo is still prospering from its lucrative investments in Asia while the Internet company's listless advertising sales are picking up under CEO Marissa Mayer, if ever so slightly.","Kuwait opposition leader held 'for insulting judiciary'. Kuwait's public prosecutor on Wednesday ordered opposition leader Mussallam al-Barrak to be held in custody after he was questioned for allegedly insulting the judiciary, his lawyer said. \"The public prosecutor decided to detain him pending further questioning later today,\" Humoud al-Hajeri wrote on Twitter after Barrak was questioned for several hours overnight. Mohammad al-Jassem, another lawyer for the former MP, said his client was questioned for alleged slander and insults to the supreme judicial council and its chairman, Faisal al-Marshed. Dozens of activists and former opposition MPs gathered outside the police headquarters where Barrak was held as opposition groups called for a public rally in Kuwait City later Wednesday.","Glasgow marathon golds for Aussie Shelley, Kenyan Daniel. Australia's Michael Shelley stunned the favourites from east Africa to win the men's marathon gold at the Commonwealth Games on Sunday, but Flomena Daniel spearheaded a Kenyan one-two in the women's race. Shelley, who finished 16th in the London Olympics, clocked a personal best of 2hr 11min 15sec on the largely flat course around the streets of Glasgow, to better his silver-medal showing in Delhi four years ago. Kenya's Stephen Chemlany, a pacemaker for compatriot Patrick Makau's world record run in the Berlin marathon last year when he went on to finish fourth in a personal best of 2:06.24, claimed silver in 2:11.58.","New development system starting to pay off for US. Tab Ramos, then just 15, remembers walking off the field after what he thought would be his last practice with the under-20 United States soccer team.","Mandela opera cancelled after 3 performances. An opera telling the life story of the late South African icon Nelson Mandela showed only three performances before it closed down for lack of funds, its producer said Monday. \"This is due to non-payment from Lotto,\" said producer Unathi Mtirara, who is also Mandela's grandnephew. The opera, which tells the early life of the anti-apartheid icon who died last year, was supposed to be move to Mandela's childhood village and final resting place Qunu from Pretoria. It was then expected to tour South Africa before heading overseas.","'Canadian Psycho' trial takes photo tour of crime scene. Montreal (AFP) - The trial of Luka Magnotta took a grim photographic tour Tuesday of the Montreal apartment where he butchered a Chinese student, and got a peek inside body-parts packages he sent in the mail.","Russia says Ukraine vote may help peace, fears 'nationalists': RIA. MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia's Foreign Ministry said on Monday Ukraine's parliamentary election offered a chance for peace in its east but that a high number of \"nationalists\" in the chamber could undermine the process, RIA news agency reported. An initial vote count showed pro-European parties had secured a clear victory in Ukraine's parliamentary election, the first to be held since street protests ousted the country's pro-Russian leader, Viktor Yanukovich, earlier this year. (Reporting by Gabriela Baczynska, editing by Elizabeth Piper)","U.S. manufacturing growth accelerates in April: ISM. U.S. manufacturing growth accelerated for a third straight month in April, an industry report showed on Thursday, boosted by a pickup in employment growth. The Institute for Supply Management (ISM) said its index of national factory activity rose to 54.9 in April, up from 53.7 in March.","Vietnam tells China to keep oil rigs out of its territory. Vietnam on Wednesday demanded that China avoid sending any oil rigs into its territory, after one of the Asian giant's oil rigs finished drilling near the disputed Paracel islands in the South China Sea and was moved towards a southern Chinese province. Deployment of the rig on May 2 set off deadly anti-Chinese riots in Vietnam, while scores of Vietnamese and Chinese ships have regularly squared off around the platform. \"Vietnam demands that China not take the Hai Duong-981 rig back or bring in any other rigs for operation in the oil and gas block 143 of Vietnam or any other areas in Vietnam's waters,\" Foreign Ministry official Le Hai Binh told Reuters in a statement.","US likely to send teams of commandos to Iraq. WASHINGTON (AP) — A U.S. official says the Obama administration is poised to announce it will send about 100 Army special forces members, divided into teams of about a dozen each, to advise and assist the Iraq forces.","Approaching Philippine storm brings back nightmare. MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Villagers fled their coastal homes and sparked panic-buying in grocery stores and gas stations in a central Philippine region Thursday as an approaching powerful storm brought back nightmares of last year's deadly onslaught from Typhoon Haiyan.","Voters choose mayor of tense Kosovo town, 4th. MITROVICA, Kosovo (AP) — Voters in the Serb part of Kosovo's town of Mitrovica are choosing a mayor for the fourth time in as many months after previous attempts failed.","Foreign ministers invited to Iran talks Sunday, says EU. Vienna (AFP) - Foreign ministers from world powers have been invited to Vienna on Sunday to evaluate nuclear talks underway with Iran, a spokesman for lead negotiator Catherine Ashton said Thursday.","Building collapse kills 11 in India's Goa, many feared trapped. At least 11 workers were killed and many feared trapped when a half-built apartment block collapsed in the Indian resort state of Goa, police and media said on Sunday, the latest disaster to draw attention to safety standards amid a construction boom. The three-storey building in Canacona, just over 4 km (two and a half miles) from the popular Palolem beach in the western state, India's smallest, collapsed on Saturday. Around 50 people were working at the site at the time and at least a dozen were trapped under the concrete, according to witness accounts cited in media reports. India's booming construction industry is set to be worth $1 trillion by 2025, which would make it the world's third largest, according to a report by Global Construction Perspectives and Oxford Economics.","HK police use sledgehammers, chainsaws to clear protest barriers, open road. By Donny Kwok and Farah Master HONG KONG (Reuters) - Hundreds of Hong Kong police used sledgehammers and chainsaws on Tuesday to tear down barricades erected by pro-democracy protesters near government offices and the financial centre, reopening a major road for the first time in two weeks. Traffic flowed freely along Queensway Road after the protesters' obstructions were cleared but other major protest sites remained intact in the Admiralty and Mong Kok districts and pro-democracy demonstrators were defiant. \"We will rebuild them after the police remove them,\" said protester Bruce Sze. ...","Buttler called up as cover for Prior in lineup. NOTTINGHAM, England (AP) — England called up wicketkeeper Jos Buttler on Tuesday as cover for the first test against India after Matt Prior reported feeling tightness in his right thigh.","Islamic State supporter warns of attacks against U.S.: SITE. BEIRUT (Reuters) - A supporter of Islamic State militants has warned of attacks on the United States and its allies if they continue to carry out military action against the group that has seized large parts of Iraq and Syria, the SITE monitoring service said. The message on a well-known militant Islamist online forum is one of the few responses from supporters of Islamic State to Washington's announcement last week that it was prepared to extend airstrikes against the group into Syria. ...","Dubai concert organizers apologize many missed bash on New Year's Eve. DUBAI, United Arab Emirates - Organizers of a New Year's Eve bash at one of Dubai's most prominent hotels have apologized after many ticketholders were unable to attend because of the Gulf city's record-breaking fireworks attempt.","Chinese boat sinks in waters close to islets disputed with Japan. A number of Chinese fishermen are missing after a trawler sank in waters to the north of a group of islands disputed with Japan in the East China Sea, state media said on Friday, though it was unclear what had caused the sinking in highly sensitive waters. The incident happened on Friday morning, the official Xinhua news agency said, citing naval sources, near the islands which China calls the Diaoyus and Japan the Senkakus. China's proclamation last November of an air defense zone covering large parts of the East China Sea has raised concerns that a minor incident could quickly escalate. China also claims almost the entire South China Sea, rejecting rival claims to parts from Vietnam, the Philippines, Taiwan, Malaysia and Brunei in one of Asia's most intractable disputes and another possible flashpoint.","Cricket-Australia feted for Ashes triumph at Sydney Opera House. By Nick Mulvenney SYDNEY, Jan 7 (Reuters) - Australia's triumphant cricket team were feted by thousands of fans and the country's Prime Minister at Sydney Opera House on Tuesday after winning back the Ashes with a thumping 5-0 series sweep over England at the weekend. England's cricketers were derided in Australia after parading through London in a open-top bus after winning the urn in 2005 and this was a far more sober affair. \"The Ashes are the world's oldest continuous sporting contest,\" Prime Minister Tony Abbott said in a speech. \"And I just want to say to all of our players, thank you for making every one of us so proud this summer and thank you for showing the grit and the character which you displayed this summer.\" Abbott perhaps underestimated the edge that existed between the two teams, particularly in the opening test in Brisbane after which Australia captain Michael Clarke was fined for saying an England player was about to have his arm broken.","Iran ready to remove fears over Aral reactor. VIENNA (AP) — Iran's foreign minister said that Tehran is ready to eliminate fears that a reactor it is building could be used to make atomic arms, as his country and six world powers adjourned their nuclear talks Wednesday.","Pope says first trip in Europe will be to Albania. Pope Francis said on Sunday his first trip to a European country would be to Albania in September to pay tribute to those who suffered under communism. He will make a day trip to Tirana, the capital of one of Europe's poorest countries, on September 21, he told pilgrims and tourists in St. Peter's Square. The Vatican spokesman said the pope wanted his first trip in Europe to be to a \"country on the margins\" with a past of social and religious persecution and continuing poverty. Former dictator Enver Hoxha proclaimed Albania, for decades one of the world's most isolated countries, the world's first atheist state in 1967.","EU boosts aid to Iraq, but says access is key. The European Commission boosted aid to war-torn Iraq by five million euros on Tuesday but warned that finding access to desperate civilians, not funding, was the most urgent problem. \"In the case of Iraq, it is less a problem of money than a problem of access,\" said EU Humanitarian Aid Commissioner Kristlina Georgieva as she announced the increase in EU aid to Iraq, which brings the total from Brussels to 17 million euros ($22.8 million) for the year. \"This is to help hundreds of thousands of Iraqis, including minority groups displaced on the mountains of Sinjar,\" Georgieva said in reference to the desperate civilians who had been besieged by jihadists on a mountain in northern Iraq. With \"last resort\" air drops often the only option to reach civilians in Iraq, the commissioner warned that \"the spread of extremism around the world has meant more restriction to access.\"","Iran says number of foreign tourists surges. TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — The number of foreigners visiting Iran jumped dramatically over the 12-month period ending in March, with 35 percent more tourists compared to the same period a year earlier, Iran's top tourism official said Saturday.","8-year doping ban for British weightlifter. LONDON (AP) — British weightlifter Vasyl Kruk has been banned for eight years following a second doping violation.","Britain plans Gandhi statue in famed London square. NEW DELHI (AP) — British Foreign Secretary William Hague has announced plans for a statue of India's pacifist freedom fighter Mohandas K. Gandhi to be placed in London's Parliament Square.","Revitalized Man United completes trio of wins. LONDON (AP) — With Robin van Persie and Wayne Rooney scoring as Manchester United eased to a third successive victory, the fallen giants of English football appeared to be on the right track again on Saturday.","Croatia accuses Serbia of genocide at UN court. THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — Croatia on Monday accused its Balkan neighbor Serbia of genocide in the early 1990s as the former Yugoslavia shattered in spasms of ethnic violence, in a case at the United Nations' highest court that highlights lingering animosities in the region.","UAE coronavirus death toll rises to 10. The MERS coronavirus has killed 10 people and infected 68 in the United Arab Emirates since March 2013, the health minister said in comments published in the media on Wednesday. The minister, Abdul Rahman al-Owais, gave the toll in remarks to the national federal council, a partially-elected parliament, saying six UAE nationals and four foreigners had died from the disease, newspapers said. Sixty-eight people have been infected since March 2013, when the country's first case of MERS was diagnosed, he added. In April, health authorities in the UAE said a Filipino paramedic diagnosed with the disease in the eastern city of Al-Ain had died.","Sisi stays as defence minister in Egypt's new cabinet. Egypt's army chief, who has made no secret of his intention to stand for president despite not yet announcing his candidacy, remains defence minister in a new cabinet sworn in Saturday. Field Marshal Abdel Fattah al-Sisi retains the defence portfolio in the new line-up led by Ibrahim Mahlab, a former member of ousted strongman Hosni Mubarak's ruling party. The cabinet, which is tasked with organising the presidential election, is expected to work in Sisi's favour, after the previous government faced mounting criticism for failing to tackle a floundering economy and worsening industrial unrest. Sisi, who has emerged as Egypt's most popular political figure since leading the ouster of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi last July, has not officially announced his presidential candidacy.","Special Report: Fear and retribution in Xi's corruption purge. By David Lague , Benjamin Kang Lim and Charlie Zhu HONG KONG/BEIJING (Reuters) - Chen Zhenggao, a member of the Communist Party's elite Central Committee, clearly has enemies. While Chen was visiting Hong Kong last year, his adversaries were preparing a detailed dossier on his travel and entertainment spending. Among the materials was video surveillance footage of the powerful politician, then the governor of China’s Liaoning province, stepping out of the plush Conrad Hotel in Hong Kong on the evening of April 24, 2013. Chen was leading a large delegation of Liaoning officials seeking to drum up investment.","Modi visit draws pledges of support from Japan. TOKYO (AP) — Japan and India agreed Monday to step up their economic and security cooperation as visiting Prime Minister Narendra Modi won pledges of support for his effort to revitalize the lagging Indian economy.","Walsh out of Gold Cup with broken arm. CHELTENHAM, England (AP) — Irish jockey Ruby Walsh withdrew from the Gold Cup after being taken to hospital with a broken arm following a fall in the JCB Triumph Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival on Friday.","Burying the dead after Pakistan's school massacre. PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — One of the gravediggers at Peshawar's largest graveyard has a rule. He says he never cries when he buries the dead. He's a professional, he says.","'Insecurity' prevents UN, EU mission to Darfur camp. Instability in Sudan's Darfur region has prevented top UN officers and European ambassadors from visiting a camp where thousands have fled the worst fighting in a decade, officials said Thursday. The delegation led by European Union ambassador Tomas Ulicny and Ali Al-Za'tari, the chief United Nations official in Sudan, travelled to North Darfur on Wednesday to assess the situation on the ground and meet local authorities. They had hoped to visit Zam Zam camp, where more than 8,000 people have sought refuge from violence which has surged across the region since late February. \"The state authorities strongly advised not to visit Zam Zam camp\" because of security reasons, Ulicny told AFP.","Waiting for water: Myanmar villages left behind. DALA, Myanmar (AP) — Every afternoon, the long lines start to form, hundreds of men, women and children waiting to dip their plastic buckets into the lotus-filled reservoir just outside Myanmar's biggest city, Yangon. It's their only source of clean drinking water, they say, and during the dry season, April and May, there is only so much to go around.","U.S. judge restores protections to Great Lakes wolves. By Laura Zuckerman (Reuters) - A federal judge on Friday restored U.S. Endangered Species Act protections to gray wolves in the western Great Lakes in a decision hailed by wildlife advocates for halting wolf hunting and trapping planned in such states as Minnesota and Wisconsin. U.S. wildlife managers in 2012 lifted federal protections for wolves in the western Great Lakes, including Michigan, after determining that the animals had rebounded from near-extinction. The decision opened the way for state-regulated hunting seasons. ...","Most Sherpas decide to leave Everest for season. KATMANDU, Nepal (AP) — Most Sherpa mountain guides have decided to leave Mount Everest in a walkout certain to disrupt a climbing season that was already marked by grief over the lives lost last week in Everest's deadliest disaster.","Kerry: Mideast peace still possible despite rifts. JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu blasted his Palestinian partner in peace-making efforts on Thursday, accusing him of embracing terrorists \"as heroes,\" harsh words that clouded the start of Secretary of State John Kerry's tenth trip to the region to negotiate a peace deal he claims is \"not mission impossible.\"","More than 96 percent of Crimeans voted to join Russia: official. MOSCOW (Reuters) - A complete, preliminary ballot count showed that 96.77 of voters in Ukraine's Crimea region have voted to join Russia, the chairman of the regional government commission overseeing the referendum said on Monday. Mikhail Malyshev spoke in remarks shown on Russian state television following Sunday's referendum. (Writing by Steve Gutterman, Editing by Timothy heritage)","Senate bill proposes tough sanctions on Russia. WASHINGTON (AP) — Congress will weigh some of the most significant U.S. sanctions on Russia since the end of the Cold War in a bid to pressure President Vladimir Putin to pull Russian troops out of Crimea, according to a copy of a new Senate bill obtained by The Associated Press.","Ukraine's Security Service chief calls movement of the Russian aid convoy a \"direct invasion\". KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine's Security Service chief calls movement of the Russian aid convoy a \"direct invasion\"","Romanian opposition MPs challenge new government. By Radu Marinas BUCHAREST (Reuters) - Romanian Prime Minister Victor Ponta faced a constitutional challenge from the centrist opposition on Wednesday that could very briefly hinder pursuit of IMF-backed reforms but seemed unlikely to scuttle his newly-forged coalition government. Ponta's Social Democrat-led (PSD) government lost its majority last week with the departure of the Liberal Party. But he forged a new majority, albeit smaller, by pooling forces with the ethnic Hungarian UDMR and winning a confidence vote. ...","Airbus says Asia-Pacific will be key driver of growth. By Siva Govindasamy and Tim Hepher SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Airbus claimed bragging rights as the Asia-Pacific's dominant aircraft supplier on Tuesday, saying the region's fast growing economies and rising passenger demand will continue to drive demand over the next 20 years. The European planemaker said that in 2013, it won 80 percent of all new business in the Asia-Pacific with 379 firm orders. Speaking at the Singapore Airshow, senior executives from the European planemaker added that they were optimistic about more orders from the region's full-service carriers and budget airlines despite ongoing concerns about the health of emerging markets, many of which are located in the Asia-Pacific. This (Asia-Pacific) is where the action will be for the industry in the coming years,\" Fabrice Bregier, head of Airbus planemaking division, said at a news conference.","Bus swerves off road, kills 21 on Brazil highway. SAO PAULO (AP) — A bus swerved off a northeastern Brazilian road on Sunday, killing at least 21 people who were traveling to the coastal city of Fortaleza, police said.","British spymaster John Sawers, head of MI6, to step down. By Guy Faulconbridge and Andrew Osborn LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's foreign spymaster, who at times quoted Machiavelli and fought off demands to ease secrecy around his MI6 intelligence agency, will step down in November after five years, the Foreign Office said on Thursday. John Sawers, an ex-career diplomat, became the first outsider to head the Secret Intelligence Service (SIS) in 41 years when he took over in November 2009 under then-prime minister Gordon Brown. MI6, cast by novelists as the employer of some of the most memorable fictional spies from John le Carré's George Smiley to Ian Fleming's James Bond, operates overseas and is tasked with defending Britain and its interests. \"Sir John has spent 36 years in a range of jobs in public service, defending UK national interests and keeping our country safe.\" Sawers, who argued that al Qaeda and its affiliates posed the biggest threat to Britain, is believed to have wanted to relinquish his sensitive role before a national election next year.","Brazil vote veers into unknown with candidate's death. Brasília (AFP) - The death in a plane crash of Socialist Party candidate Eduardo Campos has put an unpredictable spin on Brazil's presidential elections, opening the way for a popular environmentalist to challenge incumbent Dilma Rousseff. The top two candidates, Rousseff and Social Democrat Aecio Neves, halted their campaigns as Brazil began a three-day period of national mourning for Campos, a 49-year-old former governor who had been running third in opinion polls when his jet crashed Wednesday en route to Sao Paulo. With the Socialists facing a 10-day deadline to name a new candidate or withdraw from the race, speculation buzzed on the implications for the October 5 first-round vote. Campos's running mate, 56-year-old environmentalist Marina Silva, could radically shake up the race if she replaces him, leveraging her compelling personal story and broad-based appeal.","Hungary opposition seeks to prove polls wrong. The chief candidate of Hungary's rickety centre-left opposition alliance predicted Saturday on the eve of elections that he would defy the opinion polls and defeat Prime Minister Viktor Orban. \"I don’t care about the polls, people are afraid of expressing their views,\" Attila Mesterhazy, head of the Socialist party and the alliance's joint candidate for premier, told AFP. \"I believe I will be prime minister in a few days,\" Mesterhazy said at a rally of around 200 people in a communist-era housing estate in the capital Budapest. Mesterhazy said that just stopping Orban getting a super-majority \"is not a victory.","Factbox: Who's who on the new EU executive. BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Parliament has largely concluded confirmation hearings for the incoming European Commission, the EU executive to be led by Jean-Claude Juncker. Juncker must find a job for a Slovenian nominated on Friday to replace a compatriot rejected by parliament. She then must pass a confirmation hearing in committee before a plenary vote, due on Oct. 22, at which parliament must approve the Commission. The new team is due to take office on Nov. 1. Each of the 28 member states nominates a commissioner. ...","U.N. nuclear chief Amano to visit Iran on Sunday. VIENNA (Reuters) - U.N. nuclear agency chief Yukiya Amano will visit Iran on Sunday in an effort to advance cooperation in the agency's long-running dispute with Iran over its nuclear activities, the IAEA said on Friday. The visit comes ahead of an Aug. 25 deadline for Iran to provide information relevant to the International Atomic Energy Agency's investigation into suspicions that Iran may have researched how to build a nuclear bomb, an accusation that Iran denies. (Reporting by Fredrik Dahl; Editing by Kevin Liffey)","France hopeful Cabaye will be fit to face Swiss. RIBEIRAO PRETO, Brazil (AP) — France is optimistic that midfielder Yohan Cabaye will recover from a groin problem in time to be fit to face Switzerland in their World Cup match on Friday.","Brazilians jam in front of TVs for World Cup start. RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — TV sets were on in scruffy bars tucked into shantytowns, clubs for the elite and the living rooms of countless homes across the expanse that is Brazil. Whether it was an old black-and-white model on a remote Amazon cattle ranch or a mammoth high-tech screen at the beach, all eyes were glued on the World Cup's opening game.","Soccer-Australia v Spain - teams. June 23 (Reuters) - Teams for Monday's 2014 World Cup Group B match between Australia and Spain at the Baixada arena, Curitiba. ...","Panasonic to initially invest $200-300 million in Tesla battery plant: source. (Reuters) - Panasonic Corp plans to initially invest about 20 billion to 30 billion yen ($200-300 million) in Tesla Motors Inc's planned lithium-ion battery plant in the United States, a person familiar with the matter said on Tuesday. The figures for Panasonic's investments were first reported by the Nikkei business daily earlier on Tuesday. A Panasonic spokesman declined to confirm the investment figures, saying that while the company has signed a letter of intent to participate in the Tesla battery project and was in talks on the matter, no concrete decisions had been made. A Tesla spokesman, asked about the Nikkei report, declined to comment on \"speculation regarding Panasonic\".","Campaigning kicks off for Indonesian presidential election. Campaigning for Indonesia's July presidential election officially kicked off Wednesday, with favourite Joko Widodo facing a tough challenge from a Suharto-era former general with a chequered human rights record. Widodo, who won legions of fans during his time as Jakarta governor, started the campaign period with a ceremony at his Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle's headquarters in the capital. The party head handed him a cone of rice, a traditional gift in Indonesian culture to mark important events. His only opponent, ex-general Prabowo Subianto, was heading to Bandung, in the west of the main island of Java, to begin campaigning later Wednesday.","Turkey says no Turkish military strike against IS. ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkey's defense minister says it is out of the question for Turkey to launch a military intervention against Islamic State fighters in Iraq, and that his country was not involved in U.S. airstrikes against the extremists near the Kurdish regional capital of Irbil.","Airbus first-quarter core profit falls 5 percent, confirms targets. By Tim Hepher and Cyril Altmeyer PARIS (Reuters) - Airbus Group posted a narrower-than-expected drop in core earnings on Tuesday, after dodging the impact of lower aircraft deliveries and higher research and development spending, and reaffirmed its financial goals for the year. Analysts were on average expecting underlying quarterly operating income to fall 13.1 percent to 644 million euros on broadly flat revenue of 12.4 billion, according to a poll carried out for Reuters. Confirming recent comments by Europe's aviation regulator, Airbus Group said its latest jetliner, the A350, was \\\\\"progressing towards certification\\\\\" in the third quarter in time for first delivery by the end of the year, as planned. Analysts say completing Europe's answer to the lightweight carbon-composite Boeing 787 Dreamliner is the biggest issue facing the Franco-German group as it aims to boost margins and avoid technical problems and delays experienced by its rival.","Tit-for-tat gestures would replace Middle East talks. By Crispian Balmer JERUSALEM (Reuters) - If Middle East peace talks collapse this month, lawfare rather than warfare looks likely to fill the void, with the Palestinians set to confront Israel on the diplomatic stage rather than in any popular uprising. After eight months of largely fruitless discussion aimed at achieving peace, the Israelis and Palestinians are at stalemate, prompting an increasingly glum U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry to call for a \"reality check\". The two sides have until the end of April to step back from the brink, with their row focused on how to proceed and not on the core issues which have stymied previous peace efforts, such as the status of Jerusalem or the fate of Palestinian refugees. President Mahmoud Abbas signed 15 conventions last week, with around 50 others being primed, including a possible application to join the International Criminal Court.","Leaders of Russia, Ukraine, Germany, France discuss Ukraine by phone. NOVO-OGARYOVO Russia (Reuters) - The presidents of Russia, Germany, France and Ukraine held a four-way phone call on Wednesday to discuss the situation in Ukraine, where Kiev is struggling with a pro-Russian rebellion in the east. Russian President Vladimir Putin called for a temporary ceasefire agreed on Monday between Kiev and some separatist rebel groups to be extended beyond Friday to allow time for more talks, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. Ukraine's newly-elected president, Petro Poroshenko, welcomed Moscow's move to rescind a mandate for military intervention in Ukraine in defence of its Russian speakers, which a loyal parliament granted Putin in March.","Springboks face 'monumental' All Blacks challenge, coach Meyer admits. The Springboks will need a monumental effort to down the All Blacks, but coach Heyneke Meyer believes South Africa can win for the first time in New Zealand in five years. South Africa face to the world champions in Wellington next Saturday trailing by three points on the Rugby Championship standings after a last-gasp 24-23 loss to the Wallabies in Perth on Saturday. It was the Springboks' first defeat in this year's four-nation tournament after winning back-to-back against Argentina, but they face their supreme test away to the All Blacks.","Protests break out in Brazil. Demonstrators from both ends of Brazil's political spectrum clashed briefly Saturday in Rio, where leftists came to blows with a group commemorating 50 years since the military coup. More than 2,000 people meanwhile demonstrated in Sao Paulo, sending out a message to President Dilma Rousseff which read, \"Dilma, listen, there will be fighting at the (World) Cup,\" and there were smaller protests in various other Brazilian cities. Right-wing elements in Rio had called for a reenactment of a 1964 \"March of Families for God and Freedom,\" which came just days before a military coup that lasted until democracy's restitution in 1985. \"Democracy doesn't exist in Brazil -- we don't have a majority but a slew of minorities, such as Indians and feminists, with Dilma in charge,\" activist Felipe Paulomo told AFP.","Suicide blast in central Baghdad kills at least nine: police. BAGHDAD (Reuters) - A suicide bomb blast in central Baghdad on Sunday killed at least nine people and injured 20, police and medical sources said. The suicide blast, which police said was carried out by an attacker wearing an explosive vest near Tahrir Square in the center of the capital, comes as the federal government battles a Sunni militant-led insurgency that threatens to split the country along ethnic lines. (Reporting by Ahmed Rasheed in Baghdad, Writing by David Sheppard in Arbil; Editing by Erica Billingham)","JPMorgan customers targeted in email phishing campaign. By Jim Finkle and Nadia Damouni BOSTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) - Fraudsters are targeting JPMorgan Chase & Co customers in an email \"phishing\" campaign that is unusual because it attempts to collect credentials for that bank and also infect PCs with a virus for stealing passwords from other institutions. The campaign, dubbed \"Smash and Grab,\" was launched on Tuesday with a widely distributed email that urged recipients to click to view a secure message from JPMorgan, according to security researchers with corporate email provider Proofpoint Inc. JPMorgan, the No. 1 U.S. \"It looks like they sent it out to lots of people in hopes that some of them might be JPMorgan Chase customers, because there are a lot of them,” said bank spokeswoman Trish Wexler.“We are seeing this as a very small incident.” She said the bank believes most of the spam was stopped by fraud filters at large Internet providers, adding that the email looked realistic because the attackers apparently used a screen grab from an authentic email sent by the bank.","Pope to nuns: Why aren't you answering the phone?. VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis has made another one of his cold calls to wish a group of nuns in a Spanish convent Happy New Year. Only he got their answering machine, instead.","Three more die in Venezuela unrest, students battle troops. By Andrew Cawthorne and Diego Ore CARACAS (Reuters) - Protesters battled soldiers in the streets of Caracas again on Wednesday as three more fatal shootings raised to 25 the death toll from a month of demonstrations against Venezuela's socialist government. Thousands of supporters and foes of President Nicolas Maduro took to the capital's streets for rival rallies marking a month since the first bloodshed in the recent unrest around the South American OPEC nation. Trouble began when National Guard troops blocked opposition marchers from leaving Plaza Venezuela to head to the state ombudsman's office. Students threw stones and petrol bombs while security forces fired tear gas and turned water cannons on them.","Obama says still in interest of Israel, Palestinians to seek peace. SEOUL (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama said on Friday it was still in the interest of Israel and the Palestinians to seek peace. Israel on Thursday suspended U.S.-sponsored peace talks with the Palestinians in response to President Mahmoud Abbas's unexpected unity pact with the rival Islamist Hamas group. The negotiations had appeared to be heading nowhere even before Wednesday's reconciliation agreement between the Palestinian groups plunged them deeper into crisis. The United States had been struggling to extend the talks beyond an original April 29 deadline for a peace accord. ...","8 inmates injured in fight inside Mexico prison. MEXICO CITY (AP) — A fight Monday among inmates at a prison in the border city of Matamoros left at least eight prisoners injured, some of them gravely, authorities said.","Republican leaders meet PM on N. Ireland tensions. Republican leaders Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness were meeting Prime Minister David Cameron on Wednesday for talks on resolving lingering tensions in Northern Ireland, 16 years after a landmark peace deal. The meeting comes alongside six days of talks in Belfast on three \"toxic\" issues between the province's Catholics and Protestants -- the flying of flags, sectarian parades and dealing with Northern Ireland's troubled past. In 1998, a historic peace deal was signed in Northern Ireland between Protestant unionists, who want to remain part of the United Kingdom, and Catholic republicans, who want it to join the Republic of Ireland, after 30 years of unrest known as \"The Troubles\". Before meeting Cameron in London, McGuinness, Northern Ireland's Sinn Fein deputy first minister, wrote on Twitter: \"His (Cameron's) Govt can't sit back.","Argentina's Supreme Court: Show us the money!. BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — Argentina's Supreme Court is demanding accountability from one of the pillars of the government of President Cristina Fernandez — the social welfare programs that have helped millions of the country's most vulnerable people.","Nepal flood toll hits 101, fears of disease rise. KATMANDU, Nepal (AP) — Nepalese authorities attempting to reach thousands of people stranded by flooding fear an outbreak of diseases from the disaster that has already killed 101 people and left more than 136 missing.","Toyota's $1.2 billion settlement may be model for U.S. probe into GM. By Aruna Viswanatha, David Ingram and Ben Klayman WASHINGTON/DETROIT (Reuters) - Toyota Motor Corp will pay a record $1.2 billion to resolve a criminal probe into safety issues, in a deal that could serve as a template for how U.S. authorities approach a similar investigation into General Motors Co. The settlement between the Justice Department and Toyota includes an admission by the auto manufacturer that it misled American consumers about two different problems that caused cars to accelerate even as drivers tried to slow them down. GM last month recalled more than 1.6 million vehicles 13 years after first noticing the issue. The payment Toyota agreed to marks the largest such penalty levied by the United States on an auto company, officials said. \"My hope and expectation is that this resolution will serve as a model for how to approach future cases involving similarly situated companies,\" Attorney General Eric Holder told a news conference.","China detains man in online 'rumour' crackdown. China has detained a man for \\\\\"publishing false stories\\\\\" on an overseas news portal alleging gross rights abuses, police said Tuesday, the latest step in a wide-ranging crackdown on \\\\\"Internet rumours\\\\\". Xiang Nanfu, 62, had allegedly posted untrue stories on the Chinese-language site Boxun since 2009 which \\\\\"seriously harmed the image of the state\\\\\" and \\\\\"caused a very bad influence\\\\\", a statement on the Beijing police website said. Hundreds of bloggers and journalists have been arrested in recent months as part of a government-backed campaign to assert greater control over social media which has seen influential critics of Beijing paraded on state television. The campaign, which began last year, appears to be part of a concerted effort by China's ruling Communist party -- which maintains an iron grip on power -- to rein in criticism.","Russia grants protection for Ukrainian president. MOSCOW (AP) — A Russian official is quoted as saying that Moscow has accepted the plea of fugitive Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych who had asked for protection.","Biden commends Ukraine's president on peace plan. BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — Vice President Joe Biden is commending Ukraine's new president for his commitment to move ahead with his peace plan and for further steps taken to unify the embattled country.","Lorenzi upsets Monaco in Brazil Open quarterfinals. SAO PAULO (AP) — Paolo Lorenzi of Italy reached his first ATP semifinal by upsetting fourth-seeded Juan Monaco of Argentina 7-6 (6), 6-7 (4), 6-4 at the Brazil Open on Friday.","Varela inaugurated as Panamanian president. PANAMA CITY, Panama (AP) — Juan Carlos Varela has been inaugurated as president of Panama.","Militants raid Nigerian city, fire on air force jet - witnesses. By Joe Hemba YOBE, Nigeria (Reuters) - Suspected Islamist militants launched a dawn raid on the capital of northeastern Nigeria's Yobe state on Monday and opened fire on an air force jet circling their forces and dropping bombs, witnesses said. Residents fled or tried to hide as the attackers charged into Damaturu firing their guns and shouting \"Allahu Akbar\" (God is greatest), people at the scene told Reuters. Yobe is at the heart of a five-year insurgency by Boko Haram militants, fighting to carve an Islamist state out of Africa's top oil producer. The gunmen arrived at 5.30 a.m. ...","Video shows Toronto mayor inhaling from glass cylinder -police. By Allison Martell TORONTO (Reuters) - A video obtained by police last year shows Toronto Mayor Rob Ford, who has admitted to using crack cocaine, inhaling some kind of vapor from a glass cylinder, according to police documents unsealed on Wednesday. The documents also said some of Ford's meetings and calls with friend and occasional driver Sandro Lisi were \"indicative to that of drug trafficking\" and showed that police asked for a warrant to access some of Ford's phone records. In October, Toronto Police Chief Bill Blair said his force had obtained a video consistent with media reports, but did not describe it in detail. Days later, Ford admitted he had smoked crack, probably in a \"drunken stupor.\" \"The video appears to have been filmed surreptitiously showing Mayor Ford consuming what appears to be a narcotic,\" said the documents released on Wednesday.","UN climate talks shuffle to a close in Bonn. Concern was high at a perceived lack of urgency as UN climate negotiations shuffled towards a close in Bonn on Saturday with just 14 months left to finalise a new, global pact. The six-day meeting of senior officials in the former West German capital was meant to lay the groundwork for the annual round of ministerial-level UN talks in Lima in December. In turn, the Lima forum must pave the way to a historic pact which nations have agreed must be signed in Paris next year, to curb planet-altering climate change. \"We will clearly have our work cut out for us in Lima,\" said Ronald Jumeau, spokesman for the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) -- the very countries at high risk from climate change-induced sea level rise.","Israel plans to expropriate 400 hectares of West Bank: army. Jerusalem (AFP) - Israel announced plans on Sunday to expropriate 400 hectares (988 acres) of Palestinian land in the Bethlehem area in the south of the occupied West Bank, the military said.","Obama presses Putin on Ukraine, warns of further 'costs'. U.S. President Barack Obama urged Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday to support peace in Ukraine and said Moscow would face further \"costs\" if it did not take steps to reduce tensions in the country, the White House said on Monday. \"The president spoke to President Putin and once again urged him to support peace instead of allowing the provision of arms and materiel across the border and continuing support for militants and separatists who are further destabilizing the situation in Ukraine,\" White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters.","EU court takes Hamas off terrorist list. BRUSSELS (AP) — A European Union court on Wednesday ordered the Palestinian group Hamas removed from the EU terrorist list for procedural reasons, but says the bloc can maintain asset freezes against Hamas members.","Iceland's Met Office lowers risk level for Bardarbunga volcano. REYKJAVIK (Reuters) - A Icelandic Met Office official said on Sunday it was lowering the risk level for the Bardarbunga volcano in central Iceland to orange from red, the highest level. The decision came after the office said on its website earlier on Sunday that there were signs of ongoing volcanic activity at Bardarbunga. The office had raised the risk level after detecting a small eruption under a nearby glacier. (Reporting by Robert Robetersson; writing by Niklas Pollard; editing by Andrew Roche)","Obama tells Netanyahu that US willing to negotiate cease-fire between Israel, Hamas. WASHINGTON (AP) — Obama tells Netanyahu that US willing to negotiate cease-fire between Israel, Hamas.","Former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer leaves board. SEATTLE (Reuters) - Former Microsoft Corp Chief Executive Steve Ballmer will leave the software company's board with immediate effect, Microsoft said on Tuesday. Ballmer, who retired when Satya Nadella took over as CEO in February, recently bought the Los Angeles Clippers basketball team for $2 billion, and plans to devote much of his energy to that project. Ballmer said, in a letter to CEO Nadella made public by Microsoft, that he intends to hold his large Microsoft stock position for the \"foreseeable future.\" (Reporting by Bill Rigby; Editing by Diane Craft)","Guerrilla groups hunt down Islamic State in Syria. BEIRUT (Reuters) - Small groups of Syrians are hunting down Islamic State fighters in one of their main strongholds in eastern Syria in a new guerrilla campaign that has emerged as a response to the Islamists' growing brutality. The main aim is to generate fear in Islamic State's ranks, said the head of \"White Shroud\" - a group that says it has killed more than 100 Islamic State fighters in attacks in Deir al-Zor province in recent months. ...","Blatter predicts a great tournament for Brazil. SAO PAULO (AP) — FIFA President Sepp Blatter says the World Cup will be \"a great event\" for Brazil and can unite the world.","Iraq's top Shi'ite calls on Baghdad to help Sunni tribes after killings. By Raheem Salman BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq's most senior Shi'ite cleric called on the government on Friday to rush to the aid of Sunni tribes battling Islamic State, after the militant group executed at least 220 tribesmen west of Baghdad this week. Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani's comments show how the threat posed by Islamic State, which follows an ultra-hardline version of Sunni Islam, has pushed some Shi'ites and Sunnis to overcome their sectarian differences and face a common enemy. ...","Shell hurt by oil price drop, names new chairman. AMSTERDAM (AP) — Shell, Europe's largest oil company, reported Thursday a small fall in third quarter net profit against a backdrop of sliding oil prices, and named former DuPont Chief Executive Charles Holliday to become chairman of the board in 2015.","Ecuador's Tungurahua volcano shoots ash and lava. QUITO, Ecuador (AP) — Ecuador's Geophysics Institute is reporting that the Tungurahua volcano has erupted three times, spewing ash and lava in what it called an important increase in activity.","Islamists quit Libya government amid censure debate. Tripoli (AFP) - Libya's Islamist Justice and Construction Party announced it was quitting the government Tuesday after it failed to win sufficient support for a censure motion in parliament.","Families caught in crossfire in eastern Ukraine. By Maria Tsvetkova SLAVIANSK Ukraine (Reuters) - When the daily shelling starts in this besieged city in eastern Ukraine, those who have not yet fled the fighting grab their children and head underground. If there is time before running into cellars and basements, the people of Slaviansk gather chairs, clothes, water and other provisions for stays that can last for hours or, sometimes, all night. \"We live in our cellar,\" said Svetlana Dobrostroy, who has a six-year-old daughter and a son aged 10. They're the first to run to the cellar.\" About half the 130,000 residents of Slaviansk are thought to have fled since fighters who want eastern Ukraine incorporated into Russia took control of the city in April, a month after Moscow annexed the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea.","Pliskova breezes into Malaysian Open 2nd round. KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic made a winning start to her defense of the Malaysian Open title by easing past Aleksandra Krunic 6-2, 6-2 in the first round on Tuesday.","Twelve dead in eastern Ukraine despite truce. Kiev (AFP) - Nine Ukrainian soldiers and at least three civilians died in eastern Ukraine over the past day despite a ceasefire, officials said Monday.","Ukrainian troops storm eastern police HQ, building ablaze. Ukrainian forces attacked police headquarters in the south-eastern port city of Mariupol on Friday in an attempt to drive out pro-Russian militants, and the building caught fire, according to a Ukrainian parliamentary deputy. The deputy, Oleh Lyashko, said eight rebels had been killed in fighting. Mariupol, situated in the \\\\\"People's Republic\\\\\" declared by local pro-Russian rebels, has been the focus of days of skirmishing between Ukrainian police and separatist gunmen. The area is due to hold a referendum on secession on Sunday that Kiev has declared illegal A local photographer at the scene told Reuters the police headquarters, a three-storey stone building, was ablaze and that he had seen two bodies lying in the street outside.","'Shaky' Ukraine ceasefire holding, president to visit frontline city. By Aleksandar Vasovic and Gabriela Baczynska MARIUPOL/DONETSK Ukraine (Reuters) - A ceasefire struck between Ukrainian government forces and pro-Russian separatists was largely holding on Monday in eastern Ukraine, although Kiev accused the rebels of sporadic violations overnight, especially near the port of Mariupol. The ceasefire, which took effect on Friday evening, is part of a peace plan intended to end a five-month conflict the United Nations' human rights envoy said on Monday had killed more than 3,000 people. It has also caused the sharpest confrontation between Russia and the West since the Cold War. \"Overall the ceasefire held even though it is still shaky,\" Ambassador Thomas Greminger of Switzerland, the current chair of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), said, adding the next days would be crucial.","5 things to watch as Olympic short track begins. SOCHI, Russia (AP) — Ready for some roller derby on ice? Short track speedskating starts Monday at the Sochi Olympics, promising thrills, chills and spills.","In Crimea, reporters and activists still defy Moscow. Simferopol (Undefined) (AFP) - Under mounting pressure from Moscow, a defiant group of pro-Ukrainian activists, journalists and minority representatives in Crimea continue to protest the annexation of the peninsula by Russia. \"We know very well that we are being watched,\" said Anna Shaidurova of the Centre for Investigative Journalism, an anti-Moscow news website based in the Crimean capital of Simferopol. \"It's become dangerous to work here,\" said her colleague, Natalia Kokorina. The truth for this 25-year-old, a Ukrainian flag on her desk, is that \"Crimea has submitted to an occupation.","'Enough work done' to resolve South Africa mines strike - minister. PRETORIA (Reuters) - South African mining minister Ngoako Ramatlhodi said on Saturday he had \"done enough work\" in mediating between the AMCU union and the world's top three platinum firms and he believed the two sides would resolve a five-month strike in talks on Monday. \"I think reason will prevail on Monday and we'll get a solution,\" he told a news conference. The government would pull out of mediation if the two sides did not reach an agreement, he added. (Reporting by Xola Potelwa; Writing by Ed Cropley; Editing by Olivia Kumwenda-Mtambo)","Russia Cancels Homework So Kids Can Watch the Olympics. The Russian constitution does not actually grant parliament the right to assign homework to every kid in the land. But during the Olympics, the chamber seems to have vested itself with those powers. On Wednesday morning, the ruling party of President Vladimir Putin told all of Russia’s teachers to reduce homework for students during the Winter Games in Sochi so that they all have time to watch Team Russia compete. “In my view, that would be the right decision,” said the chamber’s speaker, Sergei Naryshkin.","Ashraf removed as PCB chairman. ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Monday removed Zaka Ashraf as chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board and appointed an 11-member ad-hoc committee to run the affairs of the PCB.","China's women romp to Asian Games gymnastics team gold. Incheon (South Korea) (AFP) - China's women gymnasts delivered a performance of ruthless elegance to storm to a crushing victory in the Asian Games team event Monday, as North Korea pipped Japan to silver.","U.S. eases arms embargo against Vietnam for maritime security. By Lesley Wroughton and Andrea Shalal WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States on Thursday partially lifted a long-time ban on lethal weapon sales to Vietnam to help the country improve its maritime security, a historic move that comes nearly 40 years after the end of the Vietnam War. \"The State Department has taken steps to allow for the future transfer of maritime security-related defense articles to Vietnam,\" State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki told a briefing. ...","New brawl erupts in Turkey's parliament. ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — A new fist fight in Turkey's parliament has erupted between government and opposition legislations, forcing the speaker to adjourn debate for the day.","FIFA rejects World Cup whistleblowers' complaints. ZURICH (AP) — The FIFA disciplinary panel has dismissed complaints by two whistleblowers who were interviewed during the 2018-2022 World Cup bid investigation.","Quake hits south Iran, killing one injuring 30: state TV. ANKARA (Reuters) - A powerful earthquake jolted southern Iran on Thursday, killing at least one person and injuring 30 others, Iranian state television reported. The quake, measuring 5.5 on the Richter scale, damaged many buildings and electricity lines in the southern province of Hormozgan, where frightened people ran onto the streets. The tremor hit in the early morning in the town of Bastak, 750 miles south of Tehran. Local officials said rescue workers were on the scene and electricity had been restored. Iran is criss-crossed by faultlines and often experiences earthquakes. ...","Kerry heads to Mideast for talks on Islamic State. WASHINGTON (AP) — Secretary of State John Kerry will travel to Saudi Arabia and Jordan this week to meet with Mideast leaders about confronting threats from the Islamic State militant group.","Nuns held by rebels in Syria are freed, arrive at border: witnesses. By Firas Makdesi and Alexander Dziadosz JDAIDAT YABBOUS, Syria/BEIRUT (Reuters) - About a dozen nuns held by rebels in Syria for more than three months were released on Sunday and arrived back in Syria after traveling through Lebanon, officials and witnesses said. Witnesses at the Syrian border with Lebanon said the nuns arrived at the crossing late on Sunday night and headed toward Damascus in a minibus.","Pro-Russian rebels seize railway post near Ukraine's Donetsk, halt trains. KIEV (Reuters) - Pro-Russian separatists have seized the control center for Donetsk railways in eastern Ukraine, all but stopping trains from running, a spokesman for the Donetsk railway said on Friday. The rebels had seized the command post near Yasynuvata, just north of Donetsk, and had cut all electricity, he said. \"Movement has all but stopped.\" (reporting by Natalia Zinets, writing by Elizabeth Piper, editing by)","Argentina relaxes controls on US dollars. BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — Argentina is relaxing restrictions on the purchase of U.S. dollars following a sharp, sudden slide in the value of the local peso, the government said on Friday.","Separatists seize town police HQ in east Ukraine: ministry. KIEV (Reuters) - Pro-Russian separatists have seized the local police headquarters in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kostyantynivka, a spokeswoman for the Ukrainian Interior Ministry said on Monday. \"At 6:00 a.m. (11 p.m. EDT Sunday) about 30 separatists came to the local police headquarters and occupied the ground floor. Negotiations are underway with the local police chief. We do not know what their demands are,\" said Laryssa Volkova, interior ministry spokeswoman. (Reporting by Natalia Zinets; Writing by Christian Lowe)","Late goal sees Roma beat Torino 2-1 in Serie A. Alessandro Florenzi scored a stoppage-time winner to keep Roma's faint title hopes alive as it beat Torino 2-1 at home in Serie A on Tuesday.","Colombian govt, rebels to receive victims' group. LA HABANA (AP) — Representatives of the Colombian government and the country's main rebel group meeting in Cuba say they'll receive a commission of victims from the conflict.","Turkey's Erdogan says new cabinet to be announced on Friday. Turkish president-elect Tayyip Erdogan said on Wednesday he would ask incoming prime minister Ahmet Davutoglu to form a new government on Thursday and a new cabinet of ministers would be announced the following day. \"God willing we will give Davutoglu the mandate to form the government tomorrow, and the new cabinet will be announced on Friday,\" Erdogan told a crowd of his ruling AK Party supporters ahead of a congress. Writing by Daren Butler;","SOCHI SCENE: Lots of goodies. SOCHI, Russia (AP) — U.S. figure skater Jason Brown just doubled his shoe collection.","SOCHI SCENE: A valuable beard. KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia (AP) — Soon, Australia will no longer have to fear the beard.","Ukraine launches operation against insurgents. SLOVYANSK, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian forces launched an operation Thursday to drive pro-Russia insurgents out of occupied buildings in the country's tumultuous east, prompting new threats from Russian President Vladimir Putin.","Ukraine says Russian forces patrol Crimea airports. SIMFEROPOL, Ukraine (AP) — Russian troops took control of the two main airports in the strategic peninsula of Crimea, Ukraine's interior minister charged Friday, as the country asked the U.N. Security Council to intervene in the escalating conflict. Russian state media said Russian forces in Crimea denied involvement.","U.S. drone strike in Pakistan kills six suspected militants. By Saud Mehsud DERA ISMAIL KHAN Pakistan (Reuters) - Missiles from a U.S. drone on Tuesday slammed into a suspected militant training camp in northwest Pakistan, killing six, intelligence officials said, in the third such strike in as many days. Three missiles from the unmanned aircraft hit the camp in the Shawal area of South Waziristan just after midday, two intelligence officials told Reuters. Nine suspected militants were reported injured, they said. ...","Scotland's teenage voters hesitant about independence. By Paul Hackett and Belinda Goldsmith EDINBURGH (Reuters) - When Scotland's nationalist government dropped the voting age to 16 for this year's referendum on independence, it was widely seen as banking on teenage radicalism to ensure a break with the United Kingdom. Two opinion polls and Reuters interviews with 25 Scottish teenagers in 10 different locations suggest the ruling Scottish National Party (SNP) can't be sure of their support in the September 18 referendum. \"Whilst I'm proud to be Scottish, I believe we're financially and economically stronger in the larger union,\" student Charlotte Smith, 16, told Reuters during a break from revision for summer exams. \"But I am pleased that the reduced age limit allows me to participate,\" added Smith, from Dumfries in southwest Scotland, describing the vote as historic.","El Salvador church leaders call for new gang truce. By Nelson Renteria SAN SALVADOR (Reuters) - Church leaders in El Salvador on Tuesday said they want to revive a fragile truce between the country's powerful street gangs in order to curb a resurgence of violent crime. Catholic Bishop Fabio Colindres, who helped broker a 2012 deal between gang leaders, proposed that religious leaders establish new talks with gang leaders. The 2012 truce between the Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) and rival gang Barrio 18 helped cut the Central American country's murder rate in mid-2013 to around five per day, a 10-year low, from around 12 a day. While the homicide rate is still below levels seen before the 2012 truce, the country still has one of the highest murder rates in the world due to ongoing turf battles between the gangs.","EU Commission chief appeals to Russia over Moldova. By Alexander Tanas CHISINAU (Reuters) - The head of the European Commission urged Russia on Thursday not to stand in the way of tiny Moldova forging closer ties with Europe, despite the conflict caused by Ukraine's lurch towards the West. Moldova and another former Soviet republic, Georgia, plan to sign an \"association agreement\" on trade and political relations with the European Union on June 27 - a move which Moscow fears will take both countries further out of its sphere of influence. Visiting the capital Chisinau to show solidarity with Moldova, Jose Manuel Barroso, president of the EU executive, delivered a speech that made no mention of Ukraine but sought to assure Russia that it had no reason to feel threatened. \"The association agreement is a positive agreement meant to add more momentum to Moldova's established international relations, not to compete with or intrude on Moldova's relations with any of its other partners, in particular Russia,\" he told an investment conference.","European election: And the winner is ... Angela Merkel. Berlin (AFP) - Largely untouched by the eurosceptic wave sweeping the continent, Germany's Angela Merkel looks set to emerge the biggest winner of Sunday's European elections.","McKenzie quits as Wallabies coach after loss. BRISBANE, Australia (AP) — A one-point, stoppage-time loss to New Zealand was the last act in Ewen McKenzie's short and tumultuous stint as Australia coach, leaving the Wallabies rudderless a week ahead of a European tour and only 11 months before the Rugby World Cup.","Maduro to meet Venezuela opposition in bid to end crisis. Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and members of the opposition were to meet later Tuesday to lay the groundwork for talks to end more than two months of demonstrations that have killed dozens. It follows mediation efforts by a delegation of South American ministers, all members of the regional Unasur group, who have been in Caracas since Sunday to promote political dialogue in their crisis-hit neighbor. \"We accept the proposition of the Unasur foreign ministers for a preparatory meeting to set the conditions for a public dialogue,\" Ramon Aveledo, executive secretary of the Democratic Unity Roundtable opposition coalition (MUD), told reporters.","Six killed in gunfight in Somalia over claimed ransom payment. By Feisal Omar MOGADISHU (Reuters) - Six people were killed in central Somalia in a gunfight over a supposed ransom payment tied to the release this week of a German-U.S. journalist held hostage in Somalia for more than two years, police said on Thursday. The journalist, Michael Scott Moore, 45, was kidnapped by armed militia in the city of Galkayo in January 2012 while researching a book on piracy. After his release this week, local Somali officials said they were not unaware of any ransom paid. ...","Germany leads Slovakia 2-0 in Fed Cup. BRATISLAVA, Slovakia (AP) — Germany took a commanding 2-0 lead over Slovakia in the Fed Cup first round after Andrea Petkovic and Angelique Kerber won the opening singles on Saturday.","UN says at least 350 dead in Afghan landslide. KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — A United Nations spokesman says at least 350 people have died in a landslide in a remote area in northeastern Afghanistan.","Flooding in Nepal kills US tourist, capsizes boat. KATMANDU, Nepal (AP) — Officials in Nepal say a tourist from United States died while trying to cross a flooded river in western Nepal and an overcrowded boat crossing another swollen river capsized leaving at least two people missing.","Toxic algae warning expanded for Oregon's Willamette River. By Courtney Sherwood PORTLAND Ore. (Reuters) - Tests have confirmed that a green film shimmering on the surface of the Willamette River as it flows through Oregon's largest city is caused by toxic algae that can be dangerous to people and animals, public health officials said on Friday. Authorities also expanded the \"warning zone\" issued on Wednesday when the algae was first observed, declaring water recreation unsafe for the hundreds of boaters and swimmers who normally use the river daily at this time of year. ...","Suzuki recalls sedans in U.S. as spider webs block gas vents. Spiders drawn to gasoline vapors and weaving webs that block a hose to vent those vapors have caused Suzuki Motor of America to recall about 19,000 Kizashi mid-size sedans from model years 2010 to 2013, U.S. Air flow blocked in the cars' evaporative emissions system can cause negative pressure in the fuel tank, which can lead to cracks which could cause leaks that increase risk of a fire, said the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Mazda Motor Corp has recalled the Mazda6 twice since 2011 because of spiders building webs in ventilation hoses. No crashes or injuries have been reported in relation to this issue, Suzuki told NHTSA.","Dangote sues Zambian minister over bribe claim. Lusaka (AFP) - Dangote Industries Zambia is suing the country’s labour minister, Fackson Shamenda, for defamation after he claimed that a senior company official tried to bribe him, court documents showed Monday.","Marcelo stays in camp despite grandfather's death. BELO HORIZONTE, Brazil (AP) — The Brazilian football confederation says left back Marcelo's grandfather has died, but that the player will remain with the Brazil team at its World Cup training camp.","Rocket fired from Gaza hits Israel. Jerusalem (AFP) - Palestinian militants fired a rocket from the Gaza Strip on Thursday night which hit southern Israel without causing any damage, the army said.","Botswana parties gear up for tough election. Gaborone (Botswana) (AFP) - Two major parties contesting Botswana's upcoming general elections held their final rallies Saturday ahead of what is expected to be the most competitive election since independence from Britain in 1966.","Actor who sought German asylum returns to Bosnia. BERLIN (AP) — A Gypsy from a small Bosnian village who won the best-actor award at last year's Berlin International Film Festival has returned home after failing in his bid for asylum in Germany.","Messi to the rescue in faltering Argentine quartet. BELO HORIZONTE, Brazil (AP) — The \"fantastic four\" didn't look so fabulous, so once again the magnificent one had to come to the rescue for Argentina.","Russia says Snowden's Russian asylum could be extended in a week. Fugitive US intelligence contractor Edward Snowden could have his request to extend his asylum in Russia agreed within a week, a senior migration service representative said Friday. \"Snowden's life is still in danger, so the Federal Migration Service has every basis to extend his status,\" the head of the service's public chamber, Vladimir Volokh, said Friday, quoted by the Interfax news agency. Snowden's Russian lawyer Anatoly Kucherena said Wednesday that he had already filed a formal request to extend Snowden's one-year asylum beyond July 31.","Sony returns to profit, trying to sell Vaio. TOKYO (AP) — Sony is bouncing back from losses, posting a 27 billion yen ($266 million) profit for the fiscal third quarter, helped by a weak yen and better sales. Sony also announced it's trying to sell its troubled personal computer business.","Russia says will veto Syria aid resolution in current form. By Steve Gutterman MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia said on Wednesday it would veto a U.N. resolution on humanitarian aid access in Syria in its current form, denouncing the draft as an effort to lay a foundation for military strikes against President Bashar al-Assad's government. Moscow had already dismissed the Western-Arab draft debated in the Security Council on Tuesday as a non-starter, but a senior diplomat's unequivocal condemnation indicated Russia would seek major changes before dropping its opposition. \"Its whole purpose and aim is to create grounds for future military action against the Syrian government if some demands it includes are not met,\" Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov said of the draft, according to state-run news agency RIA. \"It is unacceptable to us in the form in which it is now being prepared, and we, of course, will not let it through.\" Since the civil war began in Syria in 2011, Russia and China have vetoed three Western-backed Security Council resolutions condemning Assad's government and threatening it with sanctions.","Small islands may amplify tsunamis. The findings are of concern, for many coastal communities have settled in areas traditionally believed to be shielded from waves by offshore islands. In 200 computer simulations, not one concluded that the presence of an island defended the coastal area behind it, they found. Instead, the tsunami's energy was amplified \"by as much as 70 percent,\" co-author Frederic Dias of France's Center for Mathematical Studies and their Applications (CMLA) told AFP. Dias said coastal communities in countries like Greece and Indonesia were particularly at risk from the phenomenon uncovered by the study.","Euro hits two-year low, yields fall after Draghi. By Chuck Mikolajczak NEW YORK (Reuters) - The euro slumped to a two-year low and peripheral European government yields fell on Thursday after ECB chief Mario Draghi reiterated plans to revive the struggling euro zone economy by increasing the ECB's balance sheet. Stocks on world markets were mixed, with Wall Street little changed a day ahead of the U.S. government's employment report for October. ...","F-35's no-show at Farnborough disappoints. LONDON (AP) — The failure of the Joint Strike Fighter to travel to England this week for a premier air show heaped further embarrassment on its developers as they try to convince skeptics that the $400 billion program was a price worth paying.","Ding goes down to shock defeat in world championships. Sheffield (United Kingdom) (AFP) - Chinese hopes of a first-ever snooker world champion were ended for this year as world number two Ding Junhui went down to a surprise 10 frames to nine defeat by English qualifier Michael Wasley in the first round in Sheffield on Tuesday. Ding, 27, had won five ranking tournaments this season and coming into the championships was seen the major threat to defending champion Ronnie O'Sullivan of England. He looked to be in control of the match when he led 6-3 overnight, but 24-year-old Wasley, ranked 75 in the world, showed remarkable nerve, in what is his first appearance in the championships, to take the final frame to set up a second round match with 13th seed Mark Davis or another Englishman Dominic Dale. Ding follows compatriot Xiao Guodong out of the tournament -- Hong Kong's Marco Fu is still in and leads England's Martin Gould 6-3 overnight going into Wednesday's final session.","Japan names islets in disputed area, around nation. TOKYO (AP) — Japan says it will give names to five uninhabited islands as part of a group in the East China Sea, a move likely to spark anger from other claimants China and Taiwan.","United offloads youth to signal shift in policy. MANCHESTER, England (AP) — Manchester United was minutes away from announcing a blockbuster move for Radamel Falcao in the final hours of the transfer window when the club released a statement that went largely unnoticed.","AP PHOTOS: Scenes of toil from Iran's coal mines. MAZANDARAN PROVINCE, Iran (AP) — In the coal mines of northern Iran men with their faces smeared black push rusty metal carts down into the earth in grim scenes that seem to belong to another century.","Hawaii prepares for dangerous currents after tsunami advisory. KAILUA-KONA, Hawaii (Reuters) - Hawaii residents were urged on Wednesday to stay clear of beaches and avoid swimming in the ocean after a tsunami advisory was issued for the state following an 8.2 magnitude earthquake that struck off the coast of Chile. The advisory from the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center cautioned that possible sea level changes and strong currents could pose a danger to swimmers and boaters, although experts said they did not expect evacuations to be ordered. \"We're sure the waves are not going to be large enough to cause any flooding,\" Gerard Fryer, senior geophysicist for the center, told reporters. \"However, we're worried there may be dangerous currents so we want people off the beach and out of the water.\" The advisory, issued late Tuesday after the quake struck off Chile's northern coast, is less significant than a tsunami warning, which would be prompted by expectations of widespread flooding.","White House: U.S., Europe to issue new sanctions on Russia. By Roberta Rampton and Steve Holland WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama and European leaders, in a show of solidarity, agreed on Monday to impose a wider set of sanctions against Russia's financial, defense and energy sectors in the wake of the shootdown of a passenger jet over Eastern Ukraine, a top Obama aide said. The coordinated measures come as the United States warned of a Russian troop buildup along the border with eastern Ukraine and the shipment of new sophisticated weapons to pro-Russian separatists. The new sanctions, which Obama and leaders of Germany, Britain, France and Italy discussed in a rare five-way conference call by video and phone, are aimed at increasing the pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin. \"It's precisely because we've not yet seen a strategic turn from Putin that we believe it's absolutely essential to take additional measures and that's what the Europeans and the United States intend to do this week,\" said Tony Blinken, a national security adviser to Obama.","Top Asian News at 1:00 a.m. GMT. SNIZHNE, Ukraine (AP) — It was lunchtime when a tracked launcher with four SA-11 surface-to-air missiles rolled into town and parked on Karapetyan Street. Fifteen hundred miles (2,400 kilometers) to the west, passengers were checking in for Malaysia Airlines Flight 17. It had been a noisy day in this eastern Ukrainian town, residents recounted. Plenty of military equipment was moving through. But still it was hard to miss the bulky missile system, also known as a Buk M-1. It left deep tread marks in the asphalt as it rumbled by in a small convoy.","Europe shares drift ahead of US data; Asia gains. TOKYO (AP) — World markets were mostly higher Wednesday ahead of U.S. economic data, while cheery earnings from major Japanese companies such as Honda Motor Co. boosted Asian stocks.","Shots fired at Ukrainian base in Crimea. BELBEK AIR BASE, Crimea (AP) — An Associated Press journalist says shots have been fired at a Ukrainian air force base in Crimea that has been blocked off by Russian forces.","Five MSF staff freed after being held months by kidnappers in Syria. Five staff members of the medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) have been freed after being kidnapped in northwestern Syria in early January by an armed group, the aid group said in a statement on Thursday. MSF, known for sending doctors to conflict zones, said that for security reasons it had closed a hospital and two medical centers in The Jabal Akkrad area in Syria's northwestern Latakia province. \\\\\"The reduction of humanitarian aid is a direct consequence of the kidnapping of aid workers,\\\\\" MSF said in the statement, adding that approximately 150,000 people in the wartorn area had been deprived of its help. Syria's civil war has left more than 150,000 dead.","Top Asian News at 2:00 p.m. GMT. TOKYO (AP) — Former Japanese Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama said Thursday that the landmark 1995 war apology carrying his name is an international pledge that Japan must not change, amid speculation that the current conservative leaders want to revise it. Murayama said that Japan should also keep another apology over forced prostitution before and during World War II, and urged Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to stand by both statements.","DNA tests to determine if body of U.S. woman was accidentally cremated in Ottawa. PROVIDENCE, R.I. - The daughter of a U.S. woman whose casket contained the wrong body says DNA tests will be performed to determine if her mother was accidentally cremated in Ottawa.","Wildlife body calls for less talk, more action on poaching. A wildlife protection agency has demanded less talk and more action against the poaching of elephants and other animals, saying it was time for the same \"frontline\" tactics used against human traffickers and drug gangs. \"Unprecedented demand, wildlife crime and loss of habitat is destroying entire species and the building blocks of the ecosystem that we all rely upon,\" said John Scanlon, head of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). He was speaking at the start of a global conference of 1,200 delegates in the Kenyan capital Nairobi organised by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) to discuss a range of green challenges.","Israeli warplanes strike eastern Lebanon near Syria. Israeli warplanes struck a target in eastern Lebanon near the border with Syria on Monday, security sources said. It was not immediately known what the target was or the exact location of the air strike, which was in a mountainous area near the border. The Israeli army declined to comment but an Israeli security source confirmed that there had been \"unusually intense air force activity in the north\", referring to Lebanon. Israeli planes have struck in the area several times in the last two years, and security sources say the targets may have been trucks of weapons destined for Lebanon's Hezbollah group from Syria.","Chevron sees Permian shale play as top five asset by 2020. By Ernest Scheyder NEW YORK (Reuters) - Chevron Corp is making the oil-rich Permian shale formation a top investment priority, aiming to turn its West Texas acreage into one of its top five assets by 2020, Vice Chairman George Kirkland said in an interview. The move is a return home of sorts for the second-largest U.S. oil company, which has operated in the Permian since the 1920s. \"In 2020, we'll be looking at (the Permian) as one of our top five assets in the whole company.\" As part of a choreographed plan to show Wall Street it's serious about the Permian, Chevron is taking the rare step of holding its 2014 shareholder meeting in the small city of Midland, Texas, next Wednesday. While Chevron has invested billions of dollars in energy projects across Africa, Asia and South America in recent years, investors have grown anxious as smaller independent oil and natural gas companies, including Chesapeake Energy and Continental Resources , successfully developed shale plays across the U.S. More than half of Chevron's 1.5 million Permian acres don't require royalty payouts to landowners, an advantage over rivals like Pioneer Natural Resources and Concho Resources .","Neymar: No pressure when you are living a dream. TERESOPOLIS, Brazil (AP) — Neymar feels he has nothing to worry about at the World Cup.","South Africa detains one of Britain's \"most wanted fugitives\". A South African court on Monday remanded convicted British drug trafficker and fraudster Martin Evans, a phoney ostrich farmer who was on the run for three years before his arrest in Johannesburg at the weekend. Evans, named by British police in 2012 as one of their \"most wanted fugitives\", appeared in a Johannesburg court on Monday but his extradition hearing was postponed until Aug. 11 because he did not have proper legal representation. The 52-year-old from Swansea was jailed in Britain for 21 years in 2006 for conspiracy to supply cocaine and fraudulent trading, but he escaped in 2011 when he failed to return to prison after being released on a five-day license. South African police arrested Evans at a housing complex in Johannesburg on Saturday night after a joint operation with Interpol and British security agencies.","Tropical Storm Cristobal re-forms near southeastern Bahamas. (Reuters) - Tropical Storm Cristobal re-formed near the southeastern Bahamas on Sunday and is moving to the northwest with winds near 45 miles per hour (72 km per hour), the U.S. National Hurricane Center said.A tropical storm warning is in effect for the southeastern Bahamas, including the Acklins, Crooked Island and Long Cay, as well as for the Turks and Caicos Islands, the Hurricane Center said.","Putin oversees test rocket launches ahead of holiday, says pre-planned. MOSCOW (Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin oversaw test launches of Russia's most powerful rockets on Thursday during military training exercises held across Russia ahead of celebrations of the anniversary of its World War Two victory. \"We are carrying out tests of the readiness of the Russian armed forces. It was announced in November last year. The exercises will involve all branches of the armed forces across the country,\" said Putin speaking to reporters at the Defense Ministry. (Reporting by Darya Korsunskaya, Writing by Thomas Grove, Editing by Gabriela Baczynska)","Bill Gross told rival Gundlach: ‘I am Kobe, you are LeBron’. By Jennifer Ablan NEW YORK (Reuters) - It was one of the most extraordinary meetings in the history of the bond market. Two of the biggest-ever names in fixed-income investing, Bill Gross and Jeffrey Gundlach, fierce rivals who had never previously talked, held a secret meeting over glasses of lemonade, water, and plates of crudites about whether to join forces. In the week of Sept. 15, just before Gross shocked the investment world on Sept. 26 by storming out of Pimco, he approached Gundlach and dropped a bombshell. ...","Former SS soldier, 88, charged over 1944 village massacre in France. By Sarah Marsh and Andreas Kranz BERLIN/COLOGNE (Reuters) - German prosecutors have charged an 88-year-old former member of Hitler's elite Waffen SS with taking part in a World War Two massacre of hundreds of French villagers, nearly 70 years after one of the most infamous Nazi atrocities. In the methodical June 1944 slaughter, SS soldiers took the small village of Oradour-sur-Glane in central France by surprise and killed nearly all its inhabitants within a few hours. They killed 642 men, women and children. The men were herded into barns and shot dead while the women and children were burned alive in the village church.","Turkey may let foreign troops use its bases in Islamic State campaign. ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkey may send troops into Syria and Iraq and allow foreign soldiers to use its bases for cross-border incursions against Islamic State militants, according to a government proposal to be debated by parliament on Thursday. The advance by Islamic State fighters to within clear sight of Turkish military positions on the Syrian border has piled pressure on Ankara to take a more robust role in the U.S.-led coalition carrying out air strikes against the insurgents. ...","EU says it has no plans for sanctions on Israel. BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union has no intention of imposing sanctions on Israel if it takes steps to block a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the EU's new foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said on Monday. European diplomats have said the EU is looking at new ways to press Israel to halt its building of settlements on land the Palestinians want for a state, as frustration over the construction program reaches a new high. ...","EXCLUSIVE: LightSquared has deal to end Chapter 11 under lender control - source. By Nick Brown NEW YORK (Reuters) - LightSquared, the bankrupt wireless venture owned by Phil Falcone's Harbinger Capital Partners, has reached a deal to bring the company out of bankruptcy under control of lenders, according to a person close to the matter. Harbinger had been fighting to keep at least some control of LightSquared by breaking up the company. However, the deal would keep the company together while distributing equity to lenders including Charles Ergen, chairman of Dish Network Corp , said the person, who declined to be named because the deal is not public. ...","Bank of Canada says housing-market crash not in the cards. By Jonathan Spicer NEW YORK (Reuters) - The Bank of Canada does not foresee the sort of sharp rise in joblessness or mortgage rates that would trigger a major housing market correction, Governor Stephen Poloz said on Thursday. Speaking to reporters in New York a day after the central bank said it estimates the Canadian housing market could be overvalued by 10 to 30 percent, Poloz said the probability of such a big drop in prices is low. \"The risk comes when some catalyst sets off the vulnerability,\" he said. ...","Morocco arrests four French Islamists with suspected militant links. RABAT (Reuters) - Morocco's interior ministry said on Thursday police have arrested four French nationals linked to what it called terrorist groups operating in the city of Marrakesh and Western Sahara's Laayoune. Morocco, a Western ally against Islamist militancy, often says it has broken up radical cells accused of plotting attacks inside and outside the kingdom \"Based on intelligence information ... ...","Italy, Napoli fullback Maggio has collapsed lung. NAPLES, Italy (AP) — Italy and Napoli fullback Christian Maggio has been hospitalized with a collapsed lung after getting hit in the chest earlier this week in training.","Indian woman alleges rape by Uber cab driver in New Delhi. By Malini Menon NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Indian police have opened a rape investigation after a woman reported that she was sexually assaulted by the driver of a cab she hired through Uber, the U.S. online taxi service that has launched an aggressive international expansion. The 26-year-old woman reported that she had been sexually assaulted and beaten when she got a ride with the Uber driver after a social event late on Friday in Vasant Vihar, south Delhi. ...","Toronto Mayor Rob Ford has tumor, election campaign up in air. By Andrea Hopkins TORONTO (Reuters) - Speculation swept Canada's biggest city on Thursday after Toronto Mayor Rob Ford, who made global headlines last year for admitting he had smoked crack cocaine, was hospitalized with an abdominal tumor just six weeks before the mayoral election. With biopsy results expected to take a week, Ford's illness raised the possibility he might have to pull out of the Oct. 27 election after having clung to power through a string of scandals, including his appearance in expletive-ridden videos and an admission he bought illegal drugs while in office. Ford was transferred to a downtown hospital on Thursday where he underwent a battery of tests, including a biopsy and scans on his abdomen and chest. \"We are still in a holding pattern,\" said Dr. Zane Cohen, a colorectal surgeon at Mount Sinai Hospital, adding that until the biopsy results came in, doctors could not say what treatment was needed.","Tunisia agrees new charter's chapter on judiciary. Tunisia's constituent assembly on Friday adopted a crucial chapter in the country's new charter defining the powers of the judiciary, and tackled others dealing with human rights and the fight against corruption. After approving articles on the creation and prerogatives of the constitutional court, lawmakers completed the chapter on the judiciary, qualifying the legal profession as \"free and independent, and which participates in the realisation of justice and the defence of rights and freedoms.\" Later on Friday MPs resumed their examination of the charter, after lengthy negotiations to forge consensus on the five \"constitutional bodies.\" These include the electoral commission, and those responsible for human rights and the fight against corruption.","Iran at talks: No scrapping any nuclear facility. VIENNA (AP) — Iran said Tuesday it would not scrap any of its nuclear facilities, drawing a red line in negotiations with six world powers seeking deep cutbacks in Tehran's atomic program in exchange for an end to crippling economic sanctions.","Popular recreation trail up Camelback Mountain in Phoenix reopens after work. PHOENIX - A popular and challenging recreation trail in Phoenix is open after a year-long renovation project.","Biden assures Israel about core sanctions on Iran: U.S. official. By Matt Spetalnick SHANNON (Reuters) - Vice President Joe Biden assured Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday that the United States is committed to enforcing its \"sanctions architecture\" against Iran even as world powers provide it with some relief in pursuit of a final nuclear deal. In four hours of wide-ranging talks during Biden's visit to Israel for the funeral of former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, the vice president briefed Netanyahu on an interim agreement to curb Iran's nuclear program and sought his views on efforts to reach a broader accord, a senior U.S. official said. Netanyahu has been at odds with the Obama administration over its diplomatic engagement with Iran, and Washington has tried to ease Israeli concerns that Tehran is getting too much in return for too few concessions.","Celtic boss Deila vows to stop tinkering. Glasgow (AFP) - Celtic manager Ronny Deila says consistency in team selection is key if his side are to progress and improve on their shaky start to the Scottish Premiership season.","Syria rebels seize border village as regime planes bomb frontier. Syrian rebels on Monday overran a key village on Turkey's border as Syria's air force launched raids along the frontier a day after Ankara's jets shot down a regime warplane. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that the rebels were now in full control of Kasab, the first border crossing with Turkey seized by opposition fighters in sensitive Latakia province, President Bashar al-Assad's heartland. \"The rebel fighters are in control of Kasab's main square. There is fighting on the edges of Kasab, but the rebels are in control of the village now,\" said Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman.","Palestinian embassy must move after blast: Prague officials. The Prague district hosting the embassy of the Palestinian Authority wants it moved after the ambassador was killed in a mysterious New Year's day explosion on the premises, local officials said Friday. \"We asked the Czech foreign ministry for the embassy to be moved out of our district,\" Petr Hejl, senior councillor of Prague's Suchdol district told AFP. A ministry statement also said Friday that Czech and Palestinian authorities had agreed to cooperate fully in the probe \"so that mutual relations between the Czech Republic and Palestine are not damaged in any way.\" Czech police have ruled out terrorism and homicide, while Palestinian foreign minister Riyad al-Malki described the blast as \"an accident\".","Turkey's under-fire Erdogan sidles up to military. Turkey's embattled Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan appears willing to mend fences with the once all-powerful army which he fought hard to rein in, as he seeks fend off attacks aimed at his government. In what is billed by observers as a dramatic turnaround, Erdogan said on Sunday he favoured fresh trials for hundreds of military officers jailed for coup-plotting in 2012 and 2013. The move comes after Erdogan's top political advisor Yalcin Akdogan last month suggested the military officers had been framed by the same prosecutors who launched a corruption probe into his government. The government sacked 350 police officers on Tuesday in Ankara in the latest purge against a force Erdogan once backed as a counterweight to the army.","Families in Ebola-hit S.Leone face long wait for freedom. Wary neighbours, police watches and food left outside the house -- the lot of the families quarantined due to Ebola in Sierra Leone's capital Freetown is a mix of ostracism and excruciating boredom. Amasoula Kagome, 19, knows the pain of Ebola only too well.","Pilgrim's Pride tops Tyson Foods' offer for Hillshire. (Reuters) - Pilgrim's Pride Corp, the second largest U.S. chicken processor, raised its offer for Hillshire Brands Co, escalating a bidding war with Tyson Foods Inc for the maker of Jimmy Dean sausages. Hillshire's shares rose 9 percent at $58.50 in premarket trading, after Pilgrim's Pride said it raised its offer to $55 per share in cash from $45. Tyson Foods, the largest U.S. meat processor, has offered $50 per share in cash. Hillshire said it would \"provide information\" to both bidders and conduct talks with them.","Militants who do not give up will be 'destroyed': Ukraine general. IZYUM (Ukraine) (AFP) - A Ukrainian general leading a new push against pro-Kremlin militants in the separatist east warned on Tuesday that gunmen who do not lay down their arms would be \"destroyed\".","Aviation officials call for anti-air weapons law. Aviation officials called for better dissemination of flight risks and a UN law restricting anti-aircraft weapons use, at an emergency meeting Tuesday on the downing of Flight MH17 over Ukraine. International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) Secretary General Raymond Benjamin and International Air Transport Association (IATA) Director Tony Tyler told a press conference in Montreal that both steps are urgently needed to fill gaps in airline safety in the wake of the MH17 disaster. Tyler pointed to international conventions on lethal chemical, nuclear and biological weapons, among others. \"But there's no international law or convention that imposes on states a duty to manage the design, manufacture, and deployment of anti-aircraft weapons,\" he lamented.","Afghan govt offers 2009 AFP photo as 'evidence' of 2014 airstrike. A photograph the Afghan government distributed to back up its claims about civilian casualties in a US airstrike 10 days ago was actually a 2009 AFP photograph of a different funeral, a media investigation revealed Sunday. The presidential palace gave journalists a dossier compiled by a fact-finding team sent by Afghan President Hamid Karzai to Parwan province to gather evidence on the airstrike on January 15. \"We are taking this issue very seriously to find out who put this photograph in the dossier, which was made by several government departments,\" Aimal Faizi, spokesman for President Karzai, told AFP.","WIMBLEDON 2014: 'Murresmo,' other things to watch. Last year's Wimbledon was the most unpredictable in memory.","WikiLeaks founder says he'll leave embassy soon. LONDON (AP) — WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange says he will be leaving the Ecuadorean Embassy in London soon — but did not say when or explain his decision.","Three more Greek far-right party MPs arrested. Three more far-right Golden Dawn lawmakers have been detained pending trial in Greece on charges of belonging to a criminal group, as part of a crackdown on the party following the killing of an anti-fascist rapper by one of its supporters last year. The stabbing of Pavlos Fissas in September, to which a Golden Dawn sympathizer has confessed, provoked protests across the country, a shake up of the police and a broad investigation into the party. Party leader Nikos Mihaloliakos and dozens more senior party officials were arrested last September, riveting a country which has not witnessed a mass round-up of elected politicians since a military coup nearly five decades ago. Golden Dawn members have been charged on evidence linking the party with a string of attacks, including Fissas's stabbing and the killing of an immigrant last year.","Syria opposition sacks rebel command over graft allegations. Syria's opposition government sacked the military command of the rebel Free Syrian Army late Thursday over corruption allegations, as the White House asked lawmakers for $500 million for moderate insurgents. A statement by the opposition government said its chief Ahmad Tohme \"decided to disband the Supreme Military Council and refer its members to the government's financial and administration committee for investigation\". The decision came amid widespread reports of corruption within the ranks of the FSA, which is backed by Western and Arab governments in its battle to overthrow the regime of President Bashar al-Assad. The government in exile said it was also sacking FSA chief of staff Brigadier General Abdelilah al-Bashir.","SOCHI SCENE: She'll be back. KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia (AP) — Freeskier Julia Marino wiped out on her final jump of the slopestyle completion Tuesday and had to climb all the way up the hill to fetch her skis.","Italian cashmere maker Cruciani poised for growth. MILAN (AP) — Italian cashmere maker Cruciani survived the economic crisis by focusing on clover-shaped lace macrame bracelets that became a global hit, and now it plans to grow by expanding its accessories line launched in 2013.","Traders in shelled Donetsk market left to 'eat ash'. Donetsk (Ukraine) (AFP) - Oleksandr picks up a handful of rusty screws and nails, all that is left of his market stall that was ripped apart in a volley of mortar fire in the Ukrainian city of Donetsk.","Head of USOC defends high-tech speedskating suits. SOCHI, Russia (AP) — The head of the U.S. Olympic Committee has defended the speedskating suits that were dumped midway through the Sochi Games.","Failed London subway bombers lose appeal bid. LONDON (AP) — Four men convicted of a failed plot to bomb the London subway system have lost an attempt to appeal against their convictions.","Iraq PM rebukes UN chief on execution moratorium. Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki on Monday publicly rebuked UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's call for the country to halt executions while standing beside him at a joint news conference. Despite widespread calls for a moratorium due to major problems with the country's criminal justice system, Iraq executed at least 169 people last year, its highest such figure since the 2003 US-led invasion, placing it third in the world, behind just China and Iran. \"I have urged the prime minister and Iraqi government to put (a) moratorium on (the) death penalty,\" Ban said in response to a question during the news conference with Maliki in Baghdad. \"We respect UN decisions and human rights, but we do not believe that the rights of someone who kills people must be respected,\" Maliki said.","Swiss bank UBS posts first-quarter profit gain. GENEVA (AP) — Switzerland's biggest bank, UBS AG, says its profit rose by 7 percent in the first quarter, citing sustainable profitability in all its divisions.","Palestinian Official Says ‘Armed Resistance’ an Option If Peace Talks Fail. The Palestinian official who headed Yasser Arafat’s security force at the start of the Second Intifada is warning that armed conflict may well follow the failure of current peace talks with Israeli. “They should expect a reaction,” Jibril Rajoub tells TIME in an interview. Rajoub, who now holds the title of minister of youth and sport in the Palestinian Authority, stops short of declaring the West Bank will erupt if U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry fails to coax a final agreement from the talks, set to end in April. Rajoub’s Jan. 28 visit to Iran was extraordinary for a senior official of Fatah, the secular movement that dominates the Palestinian Authority led by Mahmoud Abbas.","Egyptian police detain AP cameraman. CAIRO (AP) — Police on Wednesday detained a freelance Egyptian TV cameraman who was covering the country's constitutional referendum for The Associated Press.","Iran's parliament votes against censuring Zarif over Holocaust stance. By Mehrdad Balali DUBAI (Reuters) - Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif survived a censure vote in parliament on Tuesday for his refusal to deny the Holocaust, in the latest battle with hardliners trying to undermine President Hassan Rouhani's overtures to the West. Zarif, who is Iran's chief nuclear negotiator, caused uproar among hardline conservatives in Iran when he called the Holocaust a \"horrifying tragedy\" in an interview with a German television station earlier this year. In Tuesday's hearing, broadcast live on state radio, 75 Islamic hardliners in the 290-member assembly questioned him on a range of issues, including his stance on \"illegitimate\" Israel and the \"lie of the Holocaust.\" In a victory for moderates trying to shed the anti-Semitic image cultivated by former president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the house voted against censuring Zarif. The foreign minister turned the questions into an attack on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.","UK faces more flooding in wave of stormy weather. LONDON (AP) — Britain's coastal residents are braced for more flooding with lashing winds, rain and high tides expected.","Knee injury sidelines Arbeloa for 6-8 weeks. MADRID (AP) — Real Madrid defender Alvaro Arbeloa will be sidelined for nearly two months by a knee injury, putting the Spain international's participation at the World Cup in jeopardy.","Gang leader gets life in US consulate slayings. EL PASO, Texas (AP) — A Mexican gang leader has been sentenced to life in prison for his role in the 2010 slayings in the border city of Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, of a U.S. consulate employee, her husband and the husband of another employee.","East and West face off over Ukraine's Crimea. By Alessandra Prentice SIMFEROPOL, Ukraine (Reuters) - Waving the Russian flag and chanting \"Russia! Russia!\", protesters in Crimea have become the last major bastion of resistance to Ukraine's new rulers. President Viktor Yanukovich's overthrow on Saturday has been accepted across the vast country, even in his power base in the Russian-speaking regions of eastern Ukraine. But Crimea, a Black Sea peninsula attached to the rest of Ukraine by just a narrow strip of land, is alone so far in challenging the new order. As the only Ukrainian region with an ethnic Russian majority, and a home to Russia's Black Sea fleet, the strategically important territory is also now the focus of a battle between Russia and the West over the future of Ukraine.","South Korea, Japan leaders set to meet amid possibly thawing ties: media. South Korea will agree to a summit with Japan and the United States in The Hague next week, when leaders from around the world gather to discuss nuclear security, the Nikkei business daily said on Wednesday, raising hopes of thawing ties between Seoul and Tokyo. It would be the first official meeting between Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and South Korean President Park Geun-hye. Abe has visited the leaders of all 10 Southeast Asian nations since taking office 15 months ago but has yet to meet one-on-one with the leaders of South Korea and China. Japan's ties with both neighbors have worsened over bilateral territorial disputes and a feeling in Seoul and Beijing that Tokyo has not atoned for its wartime aggression.","U.S., partner nations launch first strikes in Syria: Pentagon. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States and partner nations are carrying out the first air strikes against Islamic State targets in Syria, the Pentagon said on Monday, in ongoing operations that mark the opening of a new, far more complicated front in battle against the militants. \"I can confirm that U.S. military and partner nation forces are undertaking military action against ISIL terrorists in Syria using a mix of fighter, bomber and Tomahawk Land Attack Missiles,\" Rear Admiral John Kirby, Pentagon press secretary, said in a statement. ...","UK warns it may not buy electricity from an independent Scotland. By Karolin Schaps LONDON (Reuters) - Britain may not buy electricity from an independent Scottish state if imports from alternative markets are cheaper, the UK government has warned, putting further pressure on Scotland five months before its independence vote. A Scotland split from Britain would have to rely on electricity exports to the United Kingdom to sell excess renewable energy generation because its grid is connected only with England and, to a lesser extent, Northern Ireland. \"With a range of generation sources within its own borders and elsewhere, a continuing UK would not be obliged to purchase energy from an independent Scottish state,\" Britain's Department of Energy and Climate Change said in a report.","Report: Iran's border guards start limited drill. TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iranian state television is reporting that a four-day, limited drill for border guards has begun in five provinces near the Islamic Republic's border with Iraq.","Israeli-Palestinian conflict echoes loudly in tense France. The Israeli-Palestinian conflict stirs up passions the world over and France -- where large Muslim and Jewish communities, a colonial past and divisions in society create an explosive mix -- is no exception. Like many European countries, France has been the scene of protests against the Jewish state's deadly Gaza offensive, but in Paris and the suburb town of Sarcelles, three rallies descended into violence, sending locals scurrying as protesters clashed with riot police.","Nadal wins Rio Open. RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Rafael Nadal returned from a troublesome back injury to win the Rio Open on Sunday, defeating Alexandr Dolgopolov 6-3, 7-6 (3).","Egypt's President in Africa, first foreign trip. CAIRO (AP) — Egypt's President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi on Wednesday traveled to Algeria and to Equatorial Guinea to attend an African summit and discuss security and water issues, in his first trip outside the country since he assumed the presidency earlier this month.","Report: Russian who fought with French dies at 95. MOSCOW (AP) — A Russian news agency has reported the death of a celebrated Russian veteran who fought in the French resistance during World War II.","Oil near $97 ahead of inventories, Fed statement. The price of oil held above $97 a barrel Wednesday, awaiting data expected to show rising crude inventories and a further cut in U.S. central bank stimulus.","FIS announces course-setters for Olympic ski races. KRANJSKA GORA, Slovenia (AP) — The International ski federation has announced the course-setters for the Alpine events at the Sochi Olympics.","Afghan official says 250 missing after landslide. KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — A police chief says 250 people are missing after a landslide buried a village in northeastern Afghanistan.","Sunderland says rivals accept club being fined. SUNDERLAND, England (AP) — Sunderland says Premier League rivals have not pushed for further action against the club after it was fined for fielding an ineligible player.","Australia's Abbott wants economic reform to be focus at G20. BRISBANE Australia (Reuters) - Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott, the host of the G20 Leaders Summit, said on Saturday he wanted an informal retreat of leaders to discuss economic reform but was open to other issues. With global security concerns on the rise in Ukraine and the Middle East, and high profile moves on battling climate change garnering headlines, Abbott has been working to keep the focus on growth and jobs. \"Obviously I would like this discussion to focus on the politics of economic reform,\" Abbott said as he opened the session. ...","Canada manhunt under way after three police officers shot dead. By Jeffrey Hodgson and Cameron French TORONTO (Reuters) - Three police officers were shot dead in the Canadian city of Moncton and two more were wounded as they conducted a manhunt for a man carrying a rifle and wearing camouflage clothes, Canadian police said on Wednesday Police said they were searching for Justin Bourque, 24, and urged residents to stay inside and locked their doors. \"Three RCMP members have been killed,\" RCMP spokesman Paul Greene said in an emailed statement. \"Two RCMP members were taken to hospital with what are believed to be non-life threatening injuries. The shooter remains at large.\" Moncton, a city of about 70,000 people, is located in Canada's east coast province of New Brunswick.","China rebukes U.S. for demanding release of Tiananmen activists. By Ben Blanchard and Sui-Lee Wee BEIJING (Reuters) - China rebuked the United States on Friday for urging the release of activists detained after attending a meeting about the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests, saying Washington had no right to demand that criminals be freed. Wednesday's call by the U.S. State Department to release prominent rights lawyer Pu Zhiqiang and others drew a sharp riposte from China's foreign ministry, which regards U.S. expressions of concern as unwarranted interference in its internal affairs. \\\\\"I want to ask the US spokesperson, what qualification does she have to demand that China's government release Chinese people who have broken or infringed on Chinese laws and rules?\\\\\" China's Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, Hua Chunying, asked. \\\\\"We hope that the U.S. side stops these unreasonable words and deeds which interfere in China's internal affairs and judicial sovereignty,\\\\\" Hua told a daily news briefing.","Russian court delays ruling on businessman's house arrest. MOSCOW (Reuters) - A Moscow court adjourned on Wednesday without ruling on an appeal by businessman Vladimir Yevtushenkov against his house arrest as part of an investigation into money-laundering charges. The court will meet again on Thursday to consider the appeal by the chairman of Russia's Sistema conglomerate in a case that has shocked Russian business leaders and hit the company's share price. Judge Yuri Pasyunin said Yevtushenkov's lawyers had offered to pay 300 million roubles ($8 million) in bail to release Yevtushenkov from house arrest. ...","France, Germany discuss Ukraine crisis with Poroshenko. The leaders of France and Germany discussed a shaky ceasefire deal and economic reforms for Ukraine in a telephone call with President Petro Poroshenko on Sunday. French President Francois Hollande and German Chancellor Angela Merkel spoke to the Ukrainian president about a ceasefire agreed in September, prisoner exchanges and possible renewed dialogue with Ukraine's separatists in the east, said a statement from the French presidency. The eight-month-old conflict between government forces and pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine has left at least 4,634 dead and 10,243 wounded, and displaced more than 1.1 million people, according to UN figures. The International Monetary Fund's number two David Lipton said Saturday he was \"impressed\" by Ukraine's plans for reform after lawmakers approved a government programme of severe austerity cuts.","Mother persuaded kidnapped woman to go to police. SANTA ANA, Calif. (AP) — A California woman who says she was kidnapped a decade ago by her mother's boyfriend lived a seemingly ordinary life with her alleged captor year after year, but she was too scared to go to authorities until she recently reunited with her mother, police said Thursday.","Are Syrians ready to talk? UN takes day to learn. MONTREUX, Switzerland (AP) — The United Nations is taking a day to see if there is enough common ground between Syrian President Bashar Assad's government and the opposition to talk directly for the first time since the rebellion began in 2011.","FBI: 100s have contacted us about pedophile case. Hundreds of people have contacted the FBI about a teacher suspected of drugging and molesting boys during a four-decade career at international schools on four continents, greatly expanding the potential number of suspected victims.","Police storm Sydney cafe to end hostage siege, three dead. By Lincoln Feast and Colin Packham SYDNEY (Reuters) - Heavily armed Australian police stormed a Sydney cafe early on Tuesday morning and freed a number of hostages being held there at gunpoint, in a dramatic end to a 16-hour siege in which three people including the attacker were killed. Police have not publicly identified the gunman but a police source named him as Man Haron Monis, an Iranian refugee and self-styled sheikh known for sending hate mail to the families of Australian troops killed in Afghanistan. ...","Air France says pilots may continue strike until September 26. PARIS (Reuters) - Air France said pilots protesting over cost cuts and a new expansion strategy for its Transavia unit gave notice that they may extend their strike until next Friday. Successive rounds of negotiations have failed to end the walkout, which began on Monday and has forced the carrier to cancel close to three-fifths of flights. \"I regret that our concrete proposals, designed to reassure our pilots, have to date not received a reasonable response,\" Air France Chief Executive Frederic Gagey said in a statement on Friday. ...","Yemeni Shiite rebels overtake key tribal area. SANAA, Yemen (AP) — Tribal officials say that Shiite Hawthi rebels have defeated one of Yemen's most dominant tribes after weeks of fighting between the two groups over territory in the northwest part of the country, in a landmark victory for the separatists.","Canada grocer Loblaw's revenue rises on Shoppers Drug Mart buy. (Reuters) - Loblaw Cos Ltd , Canada's largest grocer, reported a 37 percent rise in quarterly revenue, helped by sales from recently acquired Shoppers Drug Mart. However, Loblaw posted a net loss of C$456 million ($425.5 million), or C$1.13 per basic share, for the second quarter compared with a net income of C$177 million, or 63 Canadian cents per basic share, a year earlier, mainly due to costs related to the acquisition. Excluding items, Loblaw earned 75 Canadian cents per basic share in the quarter ended June 14. Revenue rose to C$10.31 billion from C$7.52 billion. ...","Mexico arrests 110 posing as vigilantes. Morelia (Mexico) (AFP) - Mexican authorities have detained more than 110 people posing as vigilantes battling a drug cartel in the western state of Michoacan in the last two weeks, an official said Tuesday. At least 46 suspected members of criminal groups were arrested in recent days in the town of Huetamo, where they acted as members of \"self-defense\" militias that spread in Michoacan in the past year, said senior federal official Alfredo Castillo. The suspects shot first when federal and state security forces arrived in the town, prompting police to return fire, said Castillo, the federal government's security envoy to Michoacan. \"The suspected criminals clearly covered their activities by posing as members of the self-defense groups in that town, wearing white shirts with the words 'Free Huetamo' and 'Self-Defense Group,'\" he said in a statement.","Exclusive: Lockheed starts final assembly of new U.S. weather satellite. By Andrea Shalal LITTLETON, Colorado (Reuters) - Lockheed Martin Corp has begun final assembly of a new U.S. weather satellite that will allow the U.S. government to provide far earlier warnings about potentially deadly tornadoes and solar flares when it is launched in early 2016. Lockheed this week powered on a key part of the satellite for the first time in a special \"clean room\" at a sprawling facility south of Denver, where engineers are assembling the satellite and testing components before the whole spacecraft moves to environmental and thermal vacuum testing in July. The company won a $1.09 billion contract in 2009 to build two 30-foot, 14,000-pound Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite R-Series (GOES-R) satellites for NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which have since exercised options for two additional satellites. The first of the new satellites is on track for delivery to the government by October 2015, followed by launch into geosynchronous orbit about 35,000 km (22,300 mi) above the Earth in early 2016, Steve Jolly, chief engineer for the GOES-R program, told Reuters during the first media tour of the cavernous \"high-bay\" room where the satellite is being built.","De Kock scores century for S Africa in final ODI. SYDNEY (AP) — Opener Quinton de Kock scored 107 and Farhaan Behardien added a late-innings 63 to lead South Africa to 280-6 after it won the toss and elected to bat in the fifth and final one-day international against Australia on Sunday.","Mourinho lone voice of dissent on Wenger's big day. LONDON (AP) — High-profile figures from English football have lined up to pay tribute to Arsene Wenger as the Frenchman prepares to take charge of his 1,000th match as Arsenal manager.","UN Libya envoy 'seriously concerned' over unabated fighting. The UN envoy to Libya expressed serious concern Tuesday about violence in the country, calling again for a ceasefire as a car exploded outside a police station in the eastern city of Benghazi. Libya has been rocked by fighting between militias in the west and in Benghazi, where troops are trying to dislodge Islamists who control most of what was the cradle of the 2011 uprising that ousted dictator Moamer Kadhafi. Bernardino Leon, at a press conference in the capital, which is also in the hands of militias, said the \"serious concern today is the situation on the ground in Benghazi and in Jebel Nefoussa, where the ceasefire was not respected.\" Southwest of Tripoli, in the Jebel Nefoussa region, clashes broke out in earlier this month when pro-government militia from the hill town of Zintan attacked the twin towns of Kekla and Al-Kalaa, which support the Islamist-led Fajr Libya militia.","Syrian army 'readies ground assault on Yabrud'. Syria's army is preparing to assault a key rebel bastion near Damascus, a pro-regime newspaper said Thursday, as activists reported heavy shelling and fighting in the area. \"The Syrian army is preparing to launch a new phase\" on the town of Yabrud near the border with Lebanon in its offensive in the Qalamun mountains, Al-Watan reported. It said troops loyal to President Bashar al-Assad have seized control of two strategic hills near Yabrud, which has been the target of heavy air raids and tank fire since early February. Regime forces backed by fighters of Lebanon's Shiite Hezbollah launched an offensive in the Qalamun area in November.","Expanded US role in Iraq? Not without Congress' OK. WASHINGTON (AP) — Congress members returning to Capitol Hill next week will face a debate over President Barack Obama's new $5.6 billion plan to broadly expand the U.S. mission in Iraq and send up to 1,500 more American troops to the war-torn nation.","Pakistani Christian loses appeal against death sentence for blasphemy. By Mubasher Bukhari LAHORE Pakistan (Reuters) - A Pakistani court upheld the death penalty on Thursday against a Christian woman accused of blasphemy, her lawyer said, in a case that drew global headlines after two prominent politicians who tried to help her were assassinated. In 2010, Asia Bibi, a mother of four, became the first woman to be sentenced to death under Pakistan's controversial blasphemy law. She is alleged to have made derogatory remarks about Islam after neighbours objected to her drinking water from their glass because she was not Muslim. ...","Hamas still has dozens of long-range rockets, Israel says. Israel said on Wednesday that Hamas Islamists in the Gaza Strip have dozens of long-range rockets capable of striking deeper into Israel than ever before. A military spokesman said that an M-302 surface-to-surface rocket fired from Gaza had struck the Israeli coastal city of Hadera late on Tuesday, some 60 miles (96.5 km) north of the Palestinian enclave. \"We understand that there are several other tens of these rockets within the Gaza Strip, that they can potentially reach that long distance,\" said military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Peter Lerner. He said the M-302s are similar to a shipment of Syrian-made, Iranian-supplied rockets Israel intercepted at sea in March.","UKIP's Farage hopes for deal with Italy's 5-star leader Grillo. The leader of Britain's anti-European Union UK Independence Party (UKIP) said on Sunday he hoped to form an alliance with Italy's anti-establishment 5-Star Movement in the European Parliament. UKIP's Nigel Farage met with 5-star leader Beppe Grillo earlier this week after both parties performed strongly in European Parliament elections earlier in May. Anti-establishment parties across the continent more than doubled their representation in the election, tapping into voters' anger with Brussels over austerity, mass unemployment and immigration. \"I met Beppe Grillo last week ... I am hoping we can do a deal with him and our group will sit bang in the middle politically of that parliament with a strong Europsceptic agenda,\" Farage told the BBC in an interview. In the new legislature, UKIP will have 24 seats and 5-Star will have 17 seats.","Sony hires Mandiant after cyber attack, FBI starts probe. BOSTON/LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Sony Pictures Entertainment has hired FireEye Inc's Mandiant forensics unit to clean up a massive cyber attack that knocked out the studio's computer network nearly a week ago, three people with knowledge of the matter said on Sunday. The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation is also investigating the incident, said one of the people, who were not authorized to publicly discuss efforts to deal with the attack. ...","Race to reach Brazil runoff vote goes down to wire. Brasília (AFP) - Brazil's presidential election took another dramatic turn Saturday on the eve of the first-round vote as the final opinion poll showed popular environmentalist Marina Silva losing her second-place spot.","Bloody Mexican shale fields sit idle while Texas booms. By David Alire Garcia NUEVO LAREDO Mexico (Reuters) - To grasp the difficulties Mexico faces in capitalizing on a North American shale boom, just wander into the dusty landscape due south of the U.S. border. On one side of the fence, thousands of wells work around the clock in Texas to produce record volumes of shale oil and gas, transforming towns like Carrizo Springs in a modern-day gold rush. The relatively few conventional wells operated by state oil giant Pemex and its contractors close down overnight as a security precaution. \"Organized crime is an additional operating cost companies will be keeping a close eye on,\" said Alberto Islas, head of Mexico City-based consultancy firm Risk Evaluation.","Saudi Arabia to jail citizens who fight abroad. Saudi Arabia will jail for 3-20 years any citizen who fights in conflicts abroad, according to a royal decree released on Monday, in an apparent move to deter Saudis from joining rebels in Syria and then posing a security risk once they return home. Saudi Arabia's Islamic religious authorities have previously spoken out against Saudis joining Islamist militants involved in Syria's civil war, but the Interior Ministry estimates that around 1,200 Saudis have gone there nonetheless. The decree underscored concern about young Saudis hardened by battle against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad coming home to target the ruling Al Saud royal family - as happened after earlier wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Saudi Arabia is the world's No. 1 oil exporter and a mainstay ally of the United States in the Middle East.","Gaza truce collapses in new wave of violence. A humanitarian truce in Gaza lay in tatters Saturday amid a new deadly wave of violence, which left 91 Palestinians dead, and the apparent capture by Hamas of an Israeli soldier. US President Barack Obama called for the soldier to be \"unconditionally\" released, but also said more must be done to protect Gaza civilians. Israeli Justice Minister Tzipi Livni, a member of the eight-strong security cabinet, accused Hamas of being behind the disappearance of the missing soldier and said the group would pay a high price.","Spain-Czech Fed Cup match goes to Monday. SEVILLE, Spain (AP) — A second straight day of rain has forced more delays to the Fed Cup match between Spain and the Czech Republic.","Countdown to missed opportunity for EU economy. PARIS (Reuters) - The countdown has begun to what threatens to be a missed opportunity to revive Europe's stalled economy.","Hong Kong police mass at protest sites. Hong Kong (AFP) - Dozens of Hong Kong police were massing early Monday at protest sites where pro-democracy demonstrators have been holding more than two weeks of rallies, paralysing parts of the Asian financial hub.","Pekerman includes Falcao in 30-man WCup squad. BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — Radamel Falcao, who is recovering from left-knee surgery, was named Tuesday in Colombia's preliminary 30-man squad for the World Cup.","Olympics-Australia win women's rugby, France take men's gold. Unbeaten Australia claimed women's rugby sevens gold in the sport's debut at the Youth Olympic Games on Wednesday after a hat-trick from flying winger Dominique du Toit helped them to a 38-10 win over Canada. In the men's tournament, France scored three late tries to record a comfortable 45-22 win over Argentina. “We knew that we were just about to make history, whether it be a silver or a gold, but we were so hungry for that gold medal and we’ve just made history,\" said Australia's Tiana Penitani.","Mexico: DNA tests confirm 3 dead were US citizens. MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexican authorities have officially confirmed through DNA testing that three U.S. citizens were among the four bodies found shot to death near the border more than two weeks after they went missing.","Vincenzo Nibali Fact Box. PARIS (AP) — Vincenzo Nibali fact box after his first Tour de France title on Sunday:","'08 French champ Ivanovic loses to Safarova in 3rd. PARIS (AP) — Former French Open champion Ana Ivanovic lost in the third round Saturday, beaten 6-3, 6-3 by 23rd-seeded Lucie Safarova of the Czech Republic.","U.S. seeks 'talk and trade' to rebuild India ties. By Douglas Busvine NEW DELHI (Reuters) - The United States sought on Thursday to rebuild rocky ties with India, while stressing it would tackle differences \"head on\" in pursuit of its drive to quintuple bilateral trade in a decade. That spat forced a trip to India by Assistant Secretary of State Nisha Biswal, Washington's point person for South Asia, to be rescheduled. \"Like any trading partners, we do have our differences, but the willingness to talk about them indicates that we are indeed confident, mature partners,\" Biswal said in a speech to an invited audience. President Barack Obama wants to bring about a strategic \"rebalancing\" towards Asia and expand trade with the region of more than 4 billion people that Washington believes could account for half of global economic output by 2050.","Ligety likes his progress entering super-combined. KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia (AP) — Ted Ligety, Alexis Pinturault and the other medal favorites will get one last training session in Thursday for the Olympic super-combined a day later.","Van falls into pond, killing 8 children in China. BEIJING (AP) — A state news agency says eight kindergarten-going children and three adults have died in central China after the minivan they were in crashed into a pond.","Security agents raid Sudan rights group's office. Sudanese security agents raided the headquarters of a human rights monitor Sunday and seized computers, a member of the group said, nearly two weeks after one of its founders was arrested. National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS) agents arrived at the office of the Sudan Human Rights Monitor in the early afternoon and searched the premises. He said the NISS did not close down the group, which documents human rights violations in Sudan. Britain's ambassador to Sudan, Peter Tibber, tweeted he was \"concerned by raid on Sudan HR Monitor\".","Thomaz Bellucci reaches 2nd round in Brazil Open. SAO PAULO (AP) — Home-crowd favorite Thomaz Bellucci defeated eighth-seeded Santiago Giraldo of Colombia 4-6, 7-5, 6-3 to reach the second round of the Brazil Open on Tuesday.","London shares close higher as markets predict 'No' vote. London (AFP) - London shares closed higher on Thursday as the pound jumped amid market expectations of a 'No' outcome in the Scottish independence referendum.","Gatlin clocks 10.02 to win 100 meter race in Tokyo. TOKYO (AP) — Justin Gatlin won the men's 100 meters on Sunday at the Seiko Golden Grand Prix in a time of 10.02 seconds.","Coral or coal decision looms for Australia's Great Barrier Reef. By Sonali Paul MELBOURNE (Reuters) - Australia's Great Barrier Reef watchdog is to decide by Friday whether to allow millions of cubic meters of dredged mud to be dumped near the fragile reef to create the world's biggest coal port and possibly unlock $28 billion in coal projects. A dumping permit would allow a major expansion of the port of Abbot Point for two Indian firms and Australian billionaire miner Gina Rinehart, who together have $16 billion worth of coal projects in the untapped, inland Galilee Basin. The Galilee Basin could double Australia's thermal coal exports and see it overtake Indonesia as the world's top coal exporter, further fuelling China's power plants and steel mills that have underpinned Australia's decade-long mining boom. The plan has sparked protests from environmentalists and scientists who fear the sensitive marine park will be damaged by the dumping and an expanded port, would nearly double shipping traffic through the reef, increasing the risk of accidents.","Canadian woman who helped ducks gets jail. A Canadian woman who caused the deaths of a motorcylist and his teen daughter while trying to help ducklings cross a busy highway south of Montreal got 90 days in jail Thursday. Emma Czornobaj, 26, was found guilty in June of criminal negligence causing the deaths.","UN says $1.0 billion needed to fight Ebola. Geneva (AFP) - Nearly $1.0 billion dollars is needed to fight the Ebola outbreak raging in west Africa, the United Nations said Tuesday, more than doubling the estimate it made less than a month ago.","U.S. threatens sanctions to curb Central African Republic conflict. The United States is deeply concerned with the escalation in clashes in Central African Republic and is prepared to impose targeted sanctions against those responsible for the religious-based violence, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry warned on Sunday. At least eight people were killed in mob violence in the capital Bangui on Sunday, the country's Red cross said. A Muslim former minister was hacked to death on Friday by militia, and at least nine others were killed when bands of people, some of them Christian groups, attacked and looted shops in a mostly Muslim neighborhood in the capital. \"The United States is prepared to consider targeted sanctions against those who further destabilize the situation, or pursue their own selfish ends by abetting or encouraging the violence,\" Kerry said in a statement.","West Indies continue to stretch first-innings lead. West Indies strengthened their hold on the second Test against New Zealand on Wednesday, reaching lunch at 396 for seven in their first innings on the third day at Queen’s Park Oval in Trinidad. Having dismissed the tourists for 221 on the opening day, the home side will be pushing to extend their advantage, which now stands at 175 runs, even further when play resumes in the afternoon with debutant Jermaine Blackwood (31 not out) and captain Denesh Ramdin (5 not out) poised to add to the Black Caps’ woes. New Zealand managed to remove the two overnight batsmen, Shivnarine Chanderpaul and nightwatchman Kemar Roach, in the morning session. However two dropped catches at short-leg offered by Blackwood and continued expensive bowling by the supporting cast conspired against the efforts of skipper Brendon McCullum to limit the West Indies lead in the morning session.","Canadian accused of 1980 Paris synagogue bombing lands in France. A Canadian academic accused of the deadly 1980 bombing of a Paris synagogue arrived in France on Saturday after losing his six-year legal battle against extradition to face charges for the notorious attack. University professor Hassan Diab, a Canadian of Lebanese descent, was due to face an anti-terror judge later on Saturday in Paris after arriving in the French capital from Montreal. The October 3, 1980, bombing of a synagogue on rue Copernic in Paris killed four people and marked the first fatal attack against the French Jewish community since the Nazi occupation in World War II. The 60-year-old sociologist had been fighting his extradition to avoid what he said would be an unfair prosecution in France for a crime he insists he did not commit.","Greek presidential vote enters second round, fuelling economy fear. Greece's high-stakes presidential election went into a second round Wednesday after parliament failed to pick a head of state in a first ballot, fuelling concerns about the future of fiscal reforms. The coalition government of Prime Minister Antonis Samaras failed to muster the required 200 out of 300 MPs to elect its nominee, former EU Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas, meaning a second vote will be held on December 23. The looming political stalemate has alarmed international markets, pushing up the yield of Greek bonds and prompting EU Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker to recently warn the nation against delivering the \"wrong\" election result. The official count showed a total of just 160 deputies voted for Dimas, nearly all of them from the government majority, which has 155 MPs.","Iraqi officials: Attack on prisoner convoy north of Baghdad kills 52 prisoners, 8 soldiers. BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraqi officials: Attack on prisoner convoy north of Baghdad kills 52 prisoners, 8 soldiers.","Scotland's leader: Voters 'tricked' in referendum. LONDON (AP) — Scotland's independence leader has accused Britain's politicians of reneging on their promises to give more powers to Scots, as the main political parties bickered over how to take political reform forward.","Bomb on Lebanese border targets Israeli soldiers: military. An explosive device was detonated against Israeli soldiers patrolling the border with Lebanon on Friday, causing no injuries, Israel's military said. Israel shot six mortars into southern Lebanon, causing no damage or injuries, a Lebanese security source said, and an Israeli military spokeswoman said she was checking whether the army had returned fire. The Israel-Lebanon border has been mostly quiet since Israel and the Lebanese militia Hezbollah fought an inconclusive war in 2006, even as civil war has raged in neighboring Syria. Earlier this month Israel said its troops shot two Hezbollah gunmen who tried to plant a bomb farther east near the fence between the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights and Syrian-held territory.","Kenya gov't: Police intercept bomb-laden vehicle. NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Kenyan authorities say police have intercepted a car with improvised explosive devices, foiling a planned terrorist attack in the coastal city of Mombasa.","Mourinho's 77-match unbeaten home run is over. LONDON (AP) — Chelsea suffered a major setback to its Premier League title aspirations with a 2-1 loss against last-placed Sunderland on Saturday, ending Jose Mourinho's 77-match unbeaten home run during two spells in charge at Stamford Bridge.","Syria Al-Qaeda affiliate says will free UN troops. Al-Qaeda's Syrian affiliate Al-Nusra Front has said it will free 45 Fijian UN peacekeepers who it kidnapped after the capture of a border crossing with the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. Al-Nusra had originally demanded various terms for the release of the peacekeepers, including the delivery of aid to areas besieged by the Syrian government, the release of prisoners and the group's removal from a UN terror blacklist. The peacekeepers, all Fijian nationals, were taken hostage two weeks ago when Al-Nusra fighters stormed the Syrian side of the Quneitra crossing that leads to the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. Earlier in the week, the Fijian government appeared to announce that the troops were to be released imminently in posts on social media that were subsequently removed.","France ups military deployment against IS group. PARIS (AP) — France is deploying an anti-aircraft frigate and more fighter jets in the Persian Gulf region to boost its ability to carry out airstrikes against Islamic State militants in Iraq.","Iran's top clergy back Rouhani's nuclear approach. President Hassan Rouhani has secured the backing of senior conservative clerics against hardliners opposed to a nuclear deal reached with major powers, Iran's official news agency IRNA said on Saturday. His first vice president, Eshaq Jahangiri, visited clerics in the Shi'ite Muslim holy city of Qom to explain the deal and seek their blessing over \"complex foreign policy issues\" ahead of talks next month on a long-term accord, IRNA said. An interim deal between Iran and the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council plus Germany was reached in November in Geneva, aimed at persuading Iran to curb parts of its nuclear work, in return for a limited easing of sanctions.","India's Modi to unveil top 10 policy priorities: aide. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to unveil his top 10 policy priorities on Thursday, seeking to unblock an investment logjam and setting deadlines for action in order to revive the economy. A top aide flagged the action points ahead of a cabinet meeting at which Modi will begin the task of meeting the aspirations of voters who handed his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) the strongest electoral mandate in India in 30 years. \"The entire machinery will be geared up to fulfill the mandate of the new leader,\" Nripendra Misra, newly named as principal private secretary in the Prime Minister's Office, told The Hindu in an interview. Misra said that Modi's policy priorities will \"necessarily have to be implemented in a time-bound manner\".","Australia attack potent enough without Johnson - Bailey. By Amlan Chakraborty DHAKA (Reuters) - Australia will miss injured paceman Mitchell Johnson but their bowling attack remains potent enough to help them win a maiden World Twenty20 title in Bangladesh, captain George Bailey said on Tuesday. The left-arm quick has been in the form of his life, bowling Australia to an Ashes whitewash of bitter rivals England followed by an impressive performance in the subsequent test series victory in South Africa. A toe infection, however, means Australia will miss Johnson's unnerving pace and the disconcerting bounce he generates from difficult angles as they bid for the only major cricket trophy to have eluded them. Fellow left-arm paceman Doug Bollinger has been called up as Johnson's replacement and Bailey backed him to be a success in Bangladesh.","Orlando MLS club formally introduces Kaka. ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Orlando City owner Flavio Augusto da Silva knows there's no way his MLS expansion franchise could take the place of any Brazil club in the hearts of any Brazilian soccer fan.","UN mission in Mali: Jihadist spokesman killed. BAMAKO, Mali (AP) — Malian intelligence officials and the U.N. peacekeeping mission in the country say a prominent jihadist spokesman has been killed by French forces.","22 Libya soldiers killed in speedboat attack on oil ports. Islamists killed at least 22 soldiers on Thursday after a surprise attack in which they used speedboats in a failed bid to seize some of Libya's main oil terminals, officials said. The fighting in the oil-rich region came as pro-government forces lost ground to Islamist militias in the eastern city of Benghazi, where jihadists beheaded six people and killed 14 others, military officials said. The militiamen belonging to the Fajr Libya, or Libya Dawn, launched the attack on Al-Sidra port by firing rockets from speedboats, setting an oil tank on fire, security sources said. Al-Sidra is in the \"oil crescent\" region that has been the scene of recent fighting between government forces and Fajr Libya.","Museum of Jewish history opens in Poland. WARSAW, Poland (AP) — The presidents of Poland and Israel have joined Holocaust survivors for a ceremony to open a multimedia museum that tells the 1,000-year history of Jewish life in Poland.","Suspected Islamists attack military in restive Nigeria city. Maiduguri (Nigeria) (AFP) - Suspected Boko Haram Islamists armed with explosives attacked a residential neighbourhood and a military barracks in Nigeria's troubled northeastern city of Maiduguri on Friday, witnesses said. Boko Haram, which says it wants to create a strict Islamic state in northern Nigeria, has killed thousands of people in its four-and-half-year uprising and the military has struggled to contain the violence.","Cuba demands US cease 'covert actions'. Cuba demanded Friday that the United States cease its \"illegal and covert actions\" against the communist country following disclosures Washington set up a Twitter-style application there. \"The US government must respect international law and the purposes and principles of the United Nations Charter and therefore cease its illegal and covert actions against Cuba, which are rejected by the Cuban people and international public opinion,\" foreign ministry official Josefina Vidal told AFP via email. \"This once again shows that the United States government has not renounced its subversive plans against Cuba,\" she added. These plans \"aim to create destabilizing situations in the country to bring about changes in our political system and to which (the United States) continues to devote multimillion dollar budgets every year.\"","Bodyguard scandal a threat to peace in Colombia. BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — In the 1980s, peace talks to end Colombia's long civil war instead triggered bloodshed. As the door opened for greater leftist power, thousands of former guerrillas, communist militants and trade unionists were gunned down by paramilitary death squads, sometimes in collaboration with state security forces, derailing the peace process and entrenching arguments for armed struggle.","Gunmen leave civilians to defend rebel stronghold in Ukraine. By Maria Tsvetkova SLAVIANSK, Ukraine (Reuters) - Most mornings Alexandra, a painter and decorator in her late 20s, leaves her 10-year-old daughter at home, puts a starting pistol in her belt and walks to barricades in her hometown Slaviansk. She is one of several volunteers at checkpoints inside the rebel stronghold town in eastern Ukraine replacing gunmen in camouflage who have melted into the background since Kiev stepped up what it describes as an anti-terrorist operation. The self-declared separatist mayor, Vyacheslav Ponomaryov, says they are training or resting, but other rebels say it is a strategic move to deter attempts by Ukrainian troops to retake the town by putting civilians in their way. \"Gunmen are standing at the most important checkpoints only,\" said pro-Russian activist Filipp.","Asia stocks surrender gains before earnings, data. SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Asia's major stock markets abandoned earlier modest gains, trading mostly lower on Thursday ahead of the release of U.S. economic data and corporate earnings reports.","Benfica beats Juventus 2-1 in Europa League semis. LISBON, Portugal (AP) — Substitute Lima scored six minutes from the end to give Benfica a 2-1 win over Juventus in the Europa League first-leg semifinals on Thursday.","Iran's leader Khamenei calls for self-reliance in face of sanctions. Iran's supreme leader on Friday sounded a battle cry for self-reliance in the face of international sanctions, saying Iranians should not pin their hopes on a nuclear deal with world powers. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's most powerful authority, has lent his support to nuclear talks that have brought limited sanctions relief, but harbours a deep mistrust of the West, believing it is bent on destroying the Islamic republic. \"Iran must strengthen itself,\" he said in an annual speech marking the Persian New Year which is widely seen as establishing guidelines for the elected president, in this case Hassan Rouhani, who has championed diplomatic engagement with the West. \"The extortionists in the world will blackmail a weak nation, insult it, attack it, and trample it under their feet,\" Khamenei said.","Joe Cole signs with Aston Villa on free transfer. BIRMINGHAM, England (AP) — Former West Ham midfielder Joe Cole has signed a two-year deal with Aston Villa.","Costa guides Chelsea to 2nd straight win. LIVERPOOL, England (AP) — Diego Costa kept up the prolific start to his Chelsea career on Saturday, setting the title favorites on their way to a 2-0 win over Leicester and a second straight victory to open the Premier League.","Prosecution fails in New Zealand's largest fraud trial. A New Zealand judge found two financiers not guilty in the country's largest fraud trial, saying prosecutors failed to prove they deliberately misled investors before their company collapsed with debts of NZ$1.6 billion ($1.3 billion).","Swedish game called off after fan killed. STOCKHOLM (AP) — A Swedish football league match was called off during the first half Sunday after a Djurgarden supporter died following clashes between fans in the southern city of Helsingborg.","North Korea's Kim warned he might face charges over atrocities. By Stephanie Nebehay and Tom Miles GENEVA (Reuters) - North Korean security chiefs and possibly even Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un himself should face international justice for ordering systematic torture, starvation and mass killings bordering on genocide, U.N. investigators said on Monday. The investigators told Kim in a letter they were advising the United Nations to refer North Korea to the International Criminal Court (ICC), to ensure any culprits \"including possibly yourself\" were held accountable. North Korea said it \"categorically and totally\" rejected the investigators' report, which it called \"a product of politicization of human rights on the part of EU and Japan in alliance with the U.S. hostile policy\".","Doping hits Sochi; US, Canada men in hockey semis. SOCHI, Russia (AP) — The first doping case hit the Sochi Olympics on a day when the United States and Canada were set to renew their rivalry in men's hockey.","Bank of Canada to hold rates steady, tone down inflation concern: Reuters poll. Worries about soft growth will keep the Bank of Canada from hiking interest rates until late next year although rising prices are expected to make it temper concerns about low inflation in its policy statement next week, a Reuters poll found. Twenty-five of 33 economists said the fragile state of growth was one of the biggest factors keeping rate hikes at bay in Canada. There is still a significant amount of uncertainty and that is weighing on any decision to raise rates,\" said John Clinkard, chief economist at Deutsche Bank Canada. The wider poll of 38 economists showed rates will stay at 1 percent, where they have been for almost four years, until the third quarter of 2015, when the Bank of Canada will lift rates by 25 basis points.","Malaysian leader: plane's disappearance deliberate. KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak says investigators now know that the missing Malaysian airliner's communications were deliberately disabled and that it turned back from its flight to Beijing and flew across Malaysia.","3 changes to All Blacks for test against Australia. AUCKLAND, New Zealand (AP) — Ryan Crotty will start a test or the first time in an all-new midfield combination with Conrad Smith among three changes to the All Blacks lineup for Saturday's Rugby Championships test against Australia.","Australia cautions hunt for MH370 will be arduous. PERTH, Australia (AP) — Investigators are conducting a forensic examination of the final recorded conversation between ground control and the cockpit of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 before it went missing three weeks ago, the Malaysian government said Tuesday. Meanwhile Australia, which is coordinating the search for the Boeing 777, cautioned that it \"could drag on for a long time\" and would be an arduous one.","Mitsubishi, Siemens mull joint bid for Alstom. BERLIN (AP) — Japan's Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and German rival Siemens AG say they are considering making a joint bid for parts of French engineering firm Alstom.","Auckland City take third place at Club World Cup. Marrakech (Morocco) (AFP) - New Zealand's Auckland City claimed third place at the Club World Cup on Saturday after defeating Cruz Azul 4-2 in a penalty shoot-out to become the first Oceania team to win a medal at the tournament.","Britain must lance EU membership 'boil': commissioner. London (AFP) - Britain's new European Commissioner sought to calm tensions between London and the EU Thursday, saying the question of its membership was \"a boil that needs to be lanced\".","Syria to miss deadline to destroy 12 chemical arms sites: OPCW sources. THE HAGUE (Reuters) - Syria will miss a major deadline next week to destroy its chemical weapons production facilities, sources at the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons said on Thursday. Syria declared 12 production facilities to the OPCW and has until March 15 to destroy them under a deal agreed with the United States and Russia. Damascus has already missed several deadlines laid out in the agreement. (Reporting by Anthony Deutsch; Editing by Alistair Lyon)","Blast in Afghan capital strikes near NATO convoy. KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — An explosion struck near a NATO convoy in the Afghan capital on Monday, drawing American troops to the scene, although the international coalition could not confirm whether it was the intended target of the attack.","Thousands protest in Ukraine, defying court ban. By Richard Balmforth and Natalia Zinets KIEV (Reuters) - Up to 100,000 Ukrainians massed in the capital Kiev on Sunday in defiance of sweeping new laws aimed at stamping out anti-government protests. The rally, the biggest this year in a cycle of pro-Europe protests convulsing the former Soviet republic for the past two months, was spurred by the legislation rushed through parliament last week and which the opposition says will lead to a police state. Significantly raising the stakes in the confrontation with President Viktor Yanukovich, opposition leaders announced a plan to gather people's signatures expressing no confidence in his leadership and that of parliament. Ukraine is united as never before in its struggle against those in power today, in its determination not to allow a dictatorship,\" declared boxer-turned politician Vitaly Klitschko, the strongest potential challenger for the presidency.","Dolphin virus adds to deaths in troubled Florida lagoon. By Barbara Liston ORLANDO Fla. (Reuters) - A measles-like virus that is blamed for killing hundreds of dolphins on the U.S. East Coast has spread into a Florida lagoon where hundreds of manatees, brown pelicans and dolphins already died mysteriously in recent years. The Indian River Lagoon, south of the Kennedy Space Center, was the scene of the unexplained deaths in 2012 and 2013 and is now threatened by cetacean morbillivirus, which is related to the virus that causes measles in humans. Megan Stolen, a research scientist from the Hubbs-SeaWorld Research Institute, said on Tuesday that the disease was new to Florida's Intercoastal Waterway, which includes the Indian River Lagoon, but that the deaths appear to be over.","Bombs kill at least 17 across Iraq: police and medics. At least 17 civilians and soldiers were killed in car and roadside bomb attacks across Iraq on Wednesday, police and medics said. No group claimed responsibility for any of the attacks, but Sunni Islamists and other insurgents have been regaining ground in a violent campaign to destabilize Iraq's Shi'ite-led government. In the deadliest incident, six soldiers were killed when a roadside bomb exploded near their patrol in the town of Mussayab, 60 km (40 miles) south of Baghdad, police and medical sources said. A mortar attack in the same town killed one civilian, police said.","Media covering Venezuela unrest subject to arrests, attacks: union. Nearly 100 journalists have suffered arbitrary arrests, robberies or physical attacks and harassment covering protests in Venezuela, the national press workers union SNTP said Wednesday. The union reported that 97 journalists in all, including 28 working for foreign news outlets, were affected. Some reported being subjected to arbitrary arrests while others said they had their equipment stolen or were physically assaulted, according to the union. The union's list includes journalists from CNN, Telemundo, Television Espanola, TV Globo, The New York Times, Reuters, the Associated Press and Agence France-Presse.","Bombings strike busy areas in Iraq, killing 25. BAGHDAD (AP) — Bombings tore through busy areas in the Iraqi capital and cities to the north and south on Wednesday, killing at least 25 people, officials said.","New clashes between Libya militia at Tripoli airport. Fresh clashes broke out Friday between rival Libyan militias battling for control of Tripoli airport, the target of 13 days of shelling that have disrupted air links to the outside world. Columns of smoke billowed into the sky around the airport perimeter, while loud explosions were heard throughout the morning, an AFP correspondent reported. Libya's main international airport has been shut since fighting erupted on July 13, a bout of violence that has killed at least 47 people and wounded 120, according to the health ministry. The clashes, the most violent since the overthrow of dictator Moamer Kadhafi in 2011, started with an assault on the airport by a coalition of groups, mainly Islamists, which has since been backed by fighters from third city Misrata.","Libyan navy intercepts 300 migrants heading for Italy. Zawiya (Libya) (AFP) - Libya's navy said Monday it had intercepted and rescued 340 illegal migrants off the coast of the western town of Sabratha when their boat began to take on water. The rescue came on the same day Italy's navy said at least 14 migrants had died when their boat sank between Libya and Italy, the latest in a string of shipwreck tragedies to hit the Mediterranean. Naval spokesman Colonel Ayub Kassem said their vessel was intercepted by a patrol 16 miles off Sabratha and Zuwara, near the border with Tunisia, at around 6:00 am (0400 GMT). The Italian navy had said earlier on Monday that at least 14 people died when a boat packed with migrants went down south of Lampedusa island, Italy's southernmost point.","Britain faces threat from Syria returnees: minister. British immigration minister James Brokenshire said on Sunday the country faces a major security concern from people who fought in Syria and have since returned to Britain. The minister told the BBC that Britain's security services were \"vigilant\" about those travelling between Britain and Syria, adding the issue was a \"big problem\". The comments came after the Sunday Times reported that security services were \"closely monitoring\" 250 British-based jihadis who trained and fought in Syria and have since returned home.","Thailand's junta releases 'Red Shirt' activist. BANGKOK (AP) — Thailand's military junta on Tuesday released an opposition activist who had appeared on an army television channel saying her detention was \"too good for words to say\" after demands from several human rights group for her freedom.","Air pollution costs EU up to $235 billion: EU agency. By Barbara Lewis BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Air pollution, chiefly from coal-fired power plants, cost society up to 189 billion euros ($235 billion) in 2012 - equal to the gross domestic product of Finland, the European Environment Agency (EEA) said in a report published on Tuesday. The agency provides research to guide EU policymakers, who are reconsidering proposals put forward last year by the European Commission, the EU executive, to tighten laws on air quality. ...","VW's forecast profit gain seen masking margin troubles. While a 5.8 percent increase in first-quarter deliveries, which VW revealed earlier this month, will help Europe's biggest carmaking group meet its 10 million vehicle sales goal four years early, profitability gains are not keeping pace with the group's rapid expansion. Behind the scenes there is evidence of faltering competitiveness at the core VW brand, some analysts say, and the group faces a struggle to both raise output and margins. First-quarter 2014 results, due on April 29, may underline the need for further action, said London-based analyst Arndt Ellinghorst at brokerage ISI Group, who expects the core VW division's operating margin to fall to 2.3 percent from 3.3 percent. \"Cost pressures keep growing and the namesake brand is VW's biggest trouble spot,\" said Ellinghorst, citing negative currency effects, depreciation costs and slowing emerging-market growth among the company's hurdles.","CANNES WATCH: Kelly brought glamour to Monaco. CANNES, France (AP) — Grace Kelly can bring to mind several things: an Oscar-winning Hollywood actress, a mother, a princess and a Nicole Kidman movie premiering at the Cannes Film Festival.","Ruling-party candidate wins Tokyo poll, relief for Japan's Abe: media. A candidate backed by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe won Sunday's election for governor of Tokyo, media said, frustrating a key rival's efforts to make the vote a referendum on the Japanese leader's pro-nuclear energy policy nearly three years after the Fukushima disaster. The widely expected victory by former health minister Yoichi Masuzoe comes as a relief for Abe, who had suffered a rare setback in another local election last month. Masuzoe, 65, backed by Abe's Liberal Democratic Party, was the winner by a wide margin, according to media exit polls. Masuzoe's most prominent rival was former prime minister Morihiro Hosokawa, 76, who came out of retirement to run and - with support from charismatic ex-premier Junichiro Koizumi - had put opposition to atomic energy at the core of his platform in the race to lead the capital city of 13.3 million people.","New Zealand minister quits as email leaks rock election campaign. A campaign of dirty tricks allegations in the lead up to the New Zealand general election claimed its first victim Saturday with the resignation of justice minister Judith Collins. It follows the emergence of an 2011 email alleging she was linked to attempts to undermine the then director of the Serious Fraud Office (SFO). Collins was the minister responsible for the SFO at the time. The lead up to New Zealand's September 20 election has been engulfed in a furore over underhand tactics following the release of a book based on emails hacked from the computer of a right-wing blogger.","Albertini running for Italian federation president. MILAN (AP) — Former AC Milan midfielder Demetrio Albertini has announced he is running for Italian football federation president.","Germany should play bigger role in world. Munich (Germany) (AFP) - German President Joachim Gauck opened an international security meeting Friday with an appeal for his country to play a greater role on the world stage and in tackling global trouble spots. \"Germany should engage as a good partner earlier, more decisively and more substantially,\" he told hundreds of political, diplomatic and defence leaders at the Munich Security Conference (MSC). The annual meeting of the global \"strategic community\" was set to deal with thorny international issues, from the Syrian war and Ukraine's turmoil to Iran's nuclear programme and US online surveillance. Host country Germany, the EU's biggest economy, has long stuck to an approach of \"military restraint\" and been criticised for not playing a military role that matches its economic and political weight.","Extra trespass charges for Germans who face caning for Singapore graffiti. SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Two Germans, who could face jail and caning in Singapore for breaking into a train depot and spray-painting graffiti on a carriage, have been charged with two extra counts of trespassing, a court heard on Friday. Andreas Von Knorre and Elton Hinz, both 21, have been charged with entering the depot in Central Singapore on two mornings before spraying graffiti on the train on Nov 8. The pair had their charges read out in German. Bail was set at S$100,000 ($76,805) and they were told to appear in court on Dec. 17. ...","Kurds, Islamic State clash near Kurdish regional capital - Kurdish official. Kurdish forces and Islamic State fighters are clashing in a town only 40 kilometers (25 miles) southwest of the Kurdish regional capital of Arbil in northern Iraq, a senior Kurdish official told Reuters on Wednesday. Jabbar Yawar, secretary-general of the ministry of the Kurdish peshmerga fighters, also said military cooperation had been re-established with Baghdad in a bid to hit back against the Sunni militants who staged another dramatic push through the north over the weekend.","Thumbnails of the 3 jailed Al-Jazeera journalists. CAIRO (AP) — Three journalists for satellite broadcaster Al-Jazeera English were given heavy prison sentences on Monday. Here is a look at the biographies of the three:","Europe court finds Ireland liable for sexual abuse in Catholic school. Strasbourg (France) (AFP) - The European Court of Human Rights on Tuesday found Ireland liable for sexual abuse suffered by a girl at a Catholic-run state primary school in the 1970s. \"The Court found that it was an inherent obligation of a Government to protect children from ill-treatment, especially in a primary education context,\" the court said in its ruling of a case brought by a woman who had been sexually abused by the principal of her school in 1973.","Ex-Socceroos coach Arnold takes Sydney FC job. SYDNEY (AP) — Former Australia manager Graham Arnold has signed a three-year deal to be head coach of Sydney FC.","Rooney scores, sent off as Man United wins. LONDON (AP) — The two sides of Wayne Rooney were on display Saturday as the Manchester United captain scored before being sent off for a reckless challenge.","Emotional Liverpool on top as Chelsea stay in title hunt. Liverpool maintained their charge for a first English championship of the Premier League era with a thrilling 3-2 win over title rivals Manchester City at an emotional Anfield on Sunday, where fans marked the 25th anniversary of the Hillsborough disaster. Victory, combined with second-placed Chelsea's 1-0 win away to 10-man Swansea, left Liverpool two points clear at the top with four games to play and seven in front of City. Significantly it meant the destiny of the title, which Liverpool last won in 1990, was now in the Reds' own hands. Third-placed City have two games in hand on both Liverpool and Chelsea, who travel to Anfield in a fortnight for what could be a title-decider.","Dr. Ian Ball Recommends Greece Implement GAAP. LONDON, June 12, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Dr. Ian Ball, Chairman of CIPFA International and former CEO of the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) and Central Financial Controller for the Government of New Zealand, strongly recommends that the Government of Greece implement generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP). In advance of the New Era in Sovereign Accounting Symposium (NESAS) to be held in Athens on June 16th and 17th, Dr. Ball provided insights based on his experience working with and studying leading sovereign governments that are earning the benefits of good accounting. He also noted that countries operating dated and non-transparent accounting systems face a range of risks and perils, including a reduced ability to foresee and manage economic shocks. Dr. Ball observed that the countries leading the world with the quality of their sovereign accounting and audit have earned significant benefits, including more sustainable economic growth, reduced taxation, better government performance, greater ability to withstand and rebound from economic shocks, and greater public confidence in the government. And, Greece can gain immediate benefits in improved investor confidence by making a serious and committed effort to implement IPSAS.","Sick cruise ship passengers recall days of misery. BAYONNE, New Jersey (AP) — Passengers aboard a Caribbean cruise ship where almost 700 people fell ill recalled days of misery as it returned to its U.S. home port Wednesday, its trip cut short by what is suspected to be one of the largest norovirus outbreaks in the last 20 years.","Lenovo's posts record profit on smartphone sales. HONG KONG (AP) — Computer maker Lenovo says annual profit rose 29 percent as surging smartphone sales in China and elsewhere made up for a lackluster personal computer business.","Samsung adding anti-theft solutions to smartphones. SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Samsung Electronics is adding two safeguards to its latest smartphone in an effort to deter rampant theft of the mobile devices.","2 bomb blasts in Nigeria kill at least 118. JOS, Nigeria (AP) — Two car bombs exploded at a bustling bus terminal and market in Nigeria's central city of Jos on Tuesday, killing at least 118 people, wounding dozens and leaving streets strewn with bloodied bodies.","Thailand beats host Singapore 2-1 in Suzuki Cup. SINGAPORE (AP) — Chaaryl Cappuis converted a penalty with just two minutes left to give Thailand a 2-1 victory over host and defending champion Singapore in their opening match of the Suzuki Cup.","Police seeking Chinese student find a body in car. IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — Police searching for a missing Iowa State University student from China found a body in the trunk of a car that had been linked to her and said Saturday that they believe a possible suspect in the case has already left the country.","Super Bowl most-watched TV event in US history; seen by 111.5 million people. NEW YORK, N.Y. - This year's telecast of the Super Bowl football championship was the most-watched television event in U.S. history, drawing 111.5 million viewers on Sunday night.","Iran airline eyes fleet growth plans post-sanctions. By Tim Hepher DOHA (Reuters) - Iran Air will need at least 100 passenger jets once sanctions against the country are lifted and will find it easier to do business with companies that co-operated during the current window for sanctions relief, the head of the airline said. However, in the absence of a long-term deal easing the country's economic isolation, Iran's flag carrier will turn instead to Russia and China as alternative suppliers, Farhad Parvaresh, chairman and managing director of Iran Air, said. The comments, in a rare interview with foreign media on the sidelines of an airline conference this week, come as Iran and six nations prepare to resume negotiations on a final deal aimed at ending a decade-old dispute over Tehran’s nuclear programme.","80 pct of participants in Catalan poll back independence: early results. Barcelona (AFP) - The vast majority of participants, 80.7 percent, in a symbolic independence referendum in Spain's northeastern region of Catalonia on Sunday voted in favour of independence, according to partial official results.","Migrant boat sinks in Greece; 2 dead, 20 missing. ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greek authorities say at least two people have drowned and about a further 20 are missing after a boat carrying immigrants trying to enter the country illegally sank off the Aegean Sea island of Samos.","Global business leaders push for infrastructure funding overhaul. By Jane Wardell SYDNEY (Reuters) - International business leaders are lobbying the Group of 20 bloc of advanced and developing countries to tackle a $57 trillion shortfall in global infrastructure, pressing for changes to funding rules they say would help big projects move ahead. G20 finance ministers agreed in Sydney in February to draw up \"real and effective plans to lift the global economy\" by more than 2 percent \"above the trajectory implied by current policies\" over five years. They meet again in Australia in September. \"We think that's one of the most important decisions made at G20 meetings in the last few years,\" B20 Chairman Richard Goyder, chief executive of Wesfarmers, told reporters ahead of the business leaders' gathering.","Bosnians want regional government down, PM urges snap election. By Daria Sito-Sucic SARAJEVO (Reuters) - Thousands of Bosnians rallied in several towns to demand the resignation of a regional government on Tuesday, driving on protests against corruption and unemployment that have plunged the country into crisis. Nermin Niksic, prime minister of the Bosniak-Croat Federation, which together with the Serb Republic makes up post-war Bosnia, dismissed the protesters' demands made in protests now in their seventh day, but proposed early polls. The peaceful protests have been contained to the Muslim Bosniak-dominated parts of the country's autonomous Bosniak-Croat Federation but were slowly starting to spread to other parts as well. The protesters now want the Federation government to step down in favor of a technocrat government.","Mexico begins court proceeding for mayor. MEXICO CITY (AP) — A federal judge has opened a court proceeding against the former mayor of a southern Mexico city in crimes that preceded the case of 43 missing students from a teachers' college.","Satellite clues could still be consistent with new plane search area: Malaysia. The moving of the location where investigators believe a missing Malaysian jetliner crashed into the Indian Ocean could still be consistent with potential debris spotted in satellite images, Malaysia's acting transport minister said on Friday. Ships and aircraft scouring the remote waters off western Australia were re-directed on Friday to a new area 1,100 km (685 miles) north of where they have been searching for more than a week for Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370, which went missing on March 8 with 239 people on board. \"The Australian authorities have indicated that they have shifted the search area approximately 1,100 kilometers to the northeast,\" he told a news conference. \"Because of ocean drift, this new search area could still be consistent with the potential objects identified by various satellite images over the past week.","Syria Qaeda loses ground to jihadist rivals on Iraq border. Syria's Al-Qaeda affiliate lost ground to its jihadist rivals around a town on the Iraqi border on Thursday in heavy fighting that left 24 people dead, a monitoring group said. Fighters of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), a cross-border group which has been disowned by the Al-Qaeda leadership, launched a three-pronged assault on positions held by Al-Qaeda affiliate Al-Nusra Front and its allies, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. ISIL fighters were driven out of Albu Kamal in heavy fighting earlier this year and are seeking to link up with their comrades over the border in Iraq, Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP.","German factory orders rise again in February. BERLIN (AP) — German factory orders rose in February in the latest sign that Europe's largest economy is picking up speed.","U.S. ready to give financial support to Ukraine to complement IMF aid: White House. The United States is ready to provide financial support to Ukraine to complement IMF aid, the White House said on Monday, in the aftermath of the ouster of Ukraine's Russian-backed president, Viktor Yanukovich. \"The United States, working with partners around the world, stands ready to provide support for Ukraine as it takes the reforms it needs to, to get back to economic stability,\" White House spokesman Jay Carney told a news briefing. \"This support can complement an IMF program by helping to make reforms easier and by putting Ukraine in a position to invest more in health and education to help develop Ukraine's human capital and strengthen its social safety net,\" Carney added.","Ukraine lobbies NATO, IMF as deaths mount. Donetsk (Ukraine) (AFP) - Ukraine dispatched top envoys to Washington and Brussels on Wednesday to secure help in the face of a surge in clashes with pro-Russian insurgents that killed eight more civilians and troops.","U.N. begins inquiry into attacks and weapons in Gaza. By Nidal al-Mughrabi GAZA (Reuters) - The United Nations has begun investigating Israeli attacks that hit U.N. facilities during last summer's Gaza war and how Palestinian militants came to store weapons at several U.N. schools, officials said on Wednesday. A team of UN investigators arrived in Gaza on Tuesday to conduct the inquiry, three months after the war ended. They had already met with Israeli representatives in Jerusalem. The investigation is expected to last three weeks. ...","Markets subdued despite AT&T bid for DirecTV. LONDON (AP) — Markets were subdued Monday as investors assessed the latest corporate news, including a possible merger between AT&T and DirecTV.","Kachin rebels say 23 cadets killed by Myanmar army shell. YANGON (Reuters) - Twenty three cadets of the ethnic insurgent group the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) were killed when they were hit by a single shell fired by Myanmar's army on Wednesday, the KIA said in a statement on Thursday. The KIA is the last ethnic insurgent group still fighting Myanmar's government after a 17-year ceasefire broke down in 2011 and a peace process to end conflict with ethnic minorities in Myanmar has stalled. U.S. President Barack Obama called on Myanmar's leaders to push forward with the peace process on a visit to the country last week. ...","Weakened typhoon lashes Japan; 1 dead, dozens hurt. TOKYO (AP) — A tropical storm was moving out into the Sea of Japan on Sunday after lashing the country with rain and winds, leaving one person dead, more than 50 injured and prompting evacuation alerts for about 1.2 million residents near swollen rivers.","Crimea leader sees over 80 percent backing Russia union. By Aleksandar Vasovic SIMFEROPOL, Ukraine (Reuters) - The leader of Crimea's separatist authorities said more than 80 percent of the region's people supported the break with Ukraine and union with Russia that they will vote on in a referendum on Sunday. Sergei Aksyonov, who came to power as Russian-backed forces seized the Black Sea peninsula last week, dismissed opponents' accusations that he will fix the outcome on Moscow's orders. Now Crimea's prime minister, he told Reuters on Thursday that the plebiscite would deliver a \"Yes\" vote to accepting Russian sovereignty without recourse to fraud. \"The process will be transparent and fair,\" he said inside Crimea's regional parliament building.","China's final HSBC PMI steady at 50.2 in September. BEIJING (Reuters) - Activity in China's vast factory sector showed signs of steadying in September as export orders climbed, a private survey showed on Tuesday, easing fears of a hard landing but still pointing to a sluggish economy. The final HSBC/Markit Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index(PMI) hovered at 50.2 in September, unchanged from the August reading which was a three-month low, but lower than a preliminary reading of 50.5. A sub-index measuring new export orders, a gauge of external demand, expanded to a 4-1/2-year-high of 54.5. ...","Radar search to find lost Aboriginal burial site. Scientists said Tuesday they hope that radar technology will help them find a century-old Aboriginal burial ground on an Australian island, bringing some closure to the local indigenous population. Peter Davies, from Queensland's University of the Sunshine Coast, is researching the ancient shoreline of World Heritage-listed Fraser Island, popular with tourists for its sandy beaches and dingo, or wild dog, population. He said he was approached by a Fraser Island group earlier this year to help find the graves, believed to be of more than 100 indigenous people, including many children. \"It's completely sand, and the ground penetrating radar works really well in sand,\" the soil scientist explained of the island.","Italy's premier resigns after sacking by own party. ROME (AP) — Italy's president has accepted the resignation of Premier Enrico Letta after he was sacked by his own party in a back-room mutiny.","Supreme Court 'Survivor': Eight judges to hear arguments on eligibility of Nadon. OTTAWA - The Supreme Court of Canada is set to begin grappling with an extraordinary first in its 139-year history: adjudicating the rules for the appointment of one of its own.","Canada regulator to have input on hiring of senior bank executives. Canada's financial regulator has issued guidelines that ensure it will have input in the hiring of senior management at Canada's banks and insurers, although it said final hiring decisions will be in the bank's hands. The guidelines, issued by the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (OSFI), will require financial institutions to notify the regulator in advance of potential senior executive hires or director candidates. \\\\\"To the extent that OSFI may have any specific concerns or comments regarding the appropriateness of a candidate, OSFI will inform the board of the (financial institution) prior to the candidate's appointment or nomination for election,\\\\\" the regulator said in an advisory.","Nepal's PM sworn in, but coalition loses partner. KATMANDU, Nepal (AP) — Nepal's newly elected prime minister has been sworn into office, but his party's main coalition partner says it will not join the government.","Palestinian factions including Hamas 'ready for 24-hour truce'. The Palestinian leadership, along with Hamas and Islamic Jihad, are willing to observe a 24-hour ceasefire in the war-torn Gaza Strip, a senior PLO official said on Tuesday. \"After extensive calls and consultations with the brothers in Hamas and Islamic Jihad, the Palestinian leadership announces on behalf of everyone the willingness for a ceasefire and humanitarian truce for 24 hours,\" said Yasser Abed Rabbo, Secretary General of the Palestine Liberation Organisation.","Australia's Cocos Keeling Islands threatened by Christmas Day cyclone. SYDNEY (Reuters) - Residents of the Cocos Keeling Islands, a remote Australian territory northwest of the mainland, are bracing for possible winds gusting up to 150 kph (90 mph) from a cyclone due to pass near the islands on Thursday. The Australian Bureau of Meteorology said tropical cyclone Kate, a category one cyclone, was intensifying as it approached the islands. The storm was expected to pass by late on Christmas Day and through Boxing Day. ...","Ukraine troop withdrawal in doubt after 12 killed. Kiev (AFP) - The shaky truce between pro-Russian rebels and the Ukrainian military was challenged Monday when 12 soldiers and civilians were reported killed in a surge of fighting across the separatist east.","Belcher to skipper Australian America's Cup team. SYDNEY (AP) — Olympic gold medalist Mathew Belcher has been named skipper of the Australian challenge for sailing's America's Cup.","Eibar beats Rayo Vallecano 3-2 in Spanish League. MADRID (AP) — Mikel Arruabarrena scored his second goal of the night in the 86th minute to give Eibar 3-2 win at Rayo Vallecano in the Spanish League on Monday.","Bishop in mob town seeks godfather moratorium. VATICAN CITY (AP) — A southern Italian archbishop has proposed a 10-year moratorium on the naming of godfathers in a bid to stem the way mob bosses uses the \"padrino\" system to spread their influence and authority to the next generation.","South Africa beat Sri Lanka in first Test. Galle (Sri Lanka) (AFP) - South Africa won the first Test against Sri Lanka by 153 runs on the fifth and final day in Galle on Sunday.","Paul McCartney cancels Japan tour due to virus. TOKYO (AP) — Paul McCartney is canceling his entire Japan tour because of illness.","Nibali now strong favorite to win Tour de France. BESANCON, France (AP) — With defending champion Chris Froome and two-time winner Alberto Contador out of the race, Vincenzo Nibali's path is wide open to become the first Italian to win the Tour de France since the late Marco Pantani in 1998.","Forlan starts up front for Uruguay. RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Diego Forlan will start up front for Uruguay in place of banned striker Luis Suarez in Saturday's second-round World Cup match against Colombia.","North Korea unleashes racist slurs against Obama. SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — After bombarding South Korea's female president with sexist invectives, North Korea's state news agency has fired off racist insults against President Barack Obama that U.S. officials condemn as \"disgusting.\"","US landslide towns divided by mud, united by grief. Arlington (United States) (AFP) - \"We're still in shock, really,\" says Ben Sullivan. As the likely death toll from the monster landslide in the picture postcard valley town of Oso climbs into the dozens, that's a common feeling round here, more than a week after the catastrophe. \"We all know someone who died, or is still missing,\" added Sullivan, who ran a bake sale Sunday with his sister Bea next in nearby Arlington, to raise funds for families of the victims.","Looking for Syria options, U.S. remains cool to using force. By Steve Holland and Lesley Wroughton WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Despite a forthcoming review of options in the deteriorating Syria crisis, the White House on Tuesday signaled that President Barack Obama remains wary of any direct U.S. involvement in the three-year-old civil war. U.S. policy toward Syria appears to be approaching a crossroads, with peace talks between Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's government and his armed opponents having failed for now and Russia unwilling or unable to pressure its ally Assad to cede power. The White House is beginning to take a new look at options in Syria, a process that could take several weeks, U.S. officials have said.","Oil up to near $100 ahead of US stockpiles report. The price of oil edged up to near $100 a barrel Wednesday as energy investors waited for the latest figures on U.S. crude and fuel stockpiles.","Car bomb kills 6 people in Iraq. BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraqi authorities say a car bomb has killed six people belonging to an ethnic minority in the country's north.","Carter on bench when New Zealand plays US. WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Some of the All Blacks' leading players face a crossroads when New Zealand plays the United States Eagles in Chicago on Saturday in a rare rugby international on U.S. soil.","DirecTV working with advisers on possible AT&T merger. (Reuters) - DirecTV is working with advisers including Goldman Sachs to weigh a possible merger with AT&T , according to Dow Jones, which cited sources. The two companies have been in talks since AT&T approached the satellite TV company about a deal, the sources said. (Reporting by Jennifer Saba in New York; Editing by Steve Orlofsky)","Doctors satisfied with rescued caver's condition. BERLIN (AP) — Doctors say they're satisfied with the condition of a cave researcher hauled out of Germany's deepest cavern after sustaining head injuries, though he will need a few months to recover fully.","Bouteflika says militants killed by Algerian troops were foreign. Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika said 10 militants killed by government forces this week included fighters from Libya, Mali and Tunisia, state news reported on Wednesday. Algeria heightened border security last year after a French military intervention to drive al Qaeda-linked militants from Mali and an attack on Algeria's Amenas gas plant near the Libyan border.","Top Asian News at 9:00 p.m. GMT. JOHANNESBURG (AP) — A teenager described in a blog post from his home in Afghanistan how he felt more comfortable there than in his native South Africa, which has a high crime rate. Just weeks later, he was killed by Taliban gunmen who stormed a Kabul aid office where his family lived. \"If you're going to be constantly paranoid that you're going to die if you go out, then there's no point in being here,\" the 17-year-old Jean-Pierre Groenewald had written. He was buried Friday in South Africa along with his father and sister. The three were fatally shot in the Nov. 29 attack in the Afghan capital, according to a family member in South Africa.","Spain calls up Diego Costa for Italy friendly. MADRID (AP) — Spain coach Vicente del Bosque has called up Brazilian-born Diego Costa for next week's friendly against Italy.","Japan says to \"strongly protest\" over Russia's military exercises on disputed islands. By Elaine Lies TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan said on Wednesday that Tokyo would \"strongly protest\" against Russia's military exercises on disputed Pacific islands also claimed by Japan, a row over which has strained relations between the two nations since the end of World War Two. The exercises on the islands are a blow to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's efforts to court resource-rich Russia and keep the door open to dialogue with Moscow, despite the Ukraine crisis. The dispute over the islands, which Russia seized from Japan in the waning days of World War Two, has also prevented the two countries from signing a formal peace treaty.","France-Kazakhstan kickback deals investigated. PARIS (AP) — France has launched an investigation into suspected kickbacks over deals worth 2 billion euro ($2.5 billion), signed between the French and Kazakh governments when Nicolas Sarkozy was president.","Lamouchi tiring of Drogba debate. Brasília (AFP) - The continuing debate over why iconic striker Didier Drogba is not deemed worthy of a place in the Ivory Coast's starting line-up appears to be getting to inexperienced coach Sabri Lamouchi. Lamouchi has resorted to sending on the 36-year-old former Chelsea star as an impact player in the middle of the second-half of their opening 2-1 win over Japan and then the 2-1 defeat by Colombia on Thursday. The player selected in preference to him, Wilfried Bony has failed to sparkle, despite a goal in the come from behind win against Japan which was largely put down to the introduction of Drogba striking fear into the hearts of the Japanese players. Ivory Coast remain on course for their first appearance in the last 16 in their third World Cup with victory over goal-shy Greece in their final match next Tuesday assuring them of that.","McIlroy set for BMW PGA Championship bid. Rory McIlroy has confirmed his participation in next month's BMW PG Championship at Wentworth, outside London, seeking to win the European Tour's flagship event for the first time. The Northern Irishman, a two-time major winner, has bounced back to near top form this year following a disappointing 2013 and has three top 10 finishes in five European Tour appearances in 2014. But he is aware that to date he has struggled at Wentworth in a tournament won last year by another young gun, Italy's Matteo Manassero.","NATO ups Baltic air patrols amid regional concern. VILNIUS, Lithuania (AP) — Lithuania says six U.S. fighter jets and two tanker planes have arrived in Lithuania following a U.S. decision to increase NATO's air policing mission of the three Baltic states.","Saudi Arabia detains 88 preparing 'terrorist' attacks: Al Arabiya. (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia has arrested 88 people plotting \"terrorist\" attacks at home and abroad, Al Arabiya television reported on Tuesday, citing the interior ministry. The ministry said the suspects had been monitored for months before their arrest and \"were on the verge of carrying out operations\". Fifty-nine had been detained previously, it added. (Reporting By Noah Browning, Editing by William Maclean and John Stonestreet)","Standard & Poors downgrades 15 European banks, cites reforms. (Reuters) - Ratings agency Standard & Poors said it has downgraded 15 European banks, including Barclays Credit Suisse and Deutsche Bank , after European lawmakers agreed on a framework that prevents governments from having to bail out troubled banks. The European Parliament signed off this month on new laws to make it easier - and less costly for taxpayers - to wind down problem banks, after long wrangling over rules for an industry blamed for triggering the worst economic slump in a generation. The banks, many of which are systemically important, also included ABN AMRO, Bank Of Ireland and ING Bank. \"We observe similar powers coming into force in Liechtenstein and Norway, and already in place in Switzerland, which are not EU members,\" the ratings agency added.","Turkey allows 1,300 Free Syria fighters to join battle for Kobane. Tallinn (AFP) - Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Friday that 1,300 Free Syrian Army fighters would join Kurds in defending the key Syrian border town of Kobane from an assault by Islamic State jihadists.","Iran says negotiation agenda agreed in nuclear talks with powers: IRNA. Iran and six world powers have agreed on an agenda for negotiations over Tehran's disputed nuclear program and will meet again in March in Vienna, a senior Iranian official was quoted as saying. Negotiators from Iran and the powers - the United States, France, Germany, Britain, China and Russia - have been meeting since Tuesday in the Austrian capital to hammer out an agenda for reaching an ambitious final settlement to the decade-old standoff over Tehran's atomic activities. Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi told the official IRNA news agency: \"The involved parties have agreed on an agenda and a framework and the next round of talks will be in the second half of March in Vienna.\" The meeting was due to resume on Thursday morning, expected to be followed by a news conference.","A tale of 2 music cities: Free of TV drama, real-life Nashville sites strike high notes. NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Being a little bit more rock'n'roll than country, I had never considered putting a country-fried city like Nashville on my travel bucket list. Yet here I was, standing in a strip mall parking lot in Music City on a chilly Sunday afternoon, outside The Bluebird Cafe.","Obama says U.S. committed to cooperating with China. U.S. President Barack Obama said the United States is committed to building a \"new model\" of relations with China that is defined by cooperation and the constructive management of differences. \"The United States welcomes the emergence of a stable, peaceful, and prosperous China,\" Obama said in a statement issued by the White House as officials from both countries began high-level annual talks in Beijing. \"We are committed to the shared goal of developing over time a 'new model' of relations with China defined by increased practical cooperation and constructive management of differences,\" he said.","Russia: Ukraine's import of US nuclear fuel risky. MOSCOW (AP) — Russia says Ukraine's deal to buy U.S.-made nuclear fuel for its Soviet-built reactors could trigger a nuclear accident.","Shakira: I thank World Cup for changing my life. RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Preparing to perform at her third World Cup, pop star Shakira says she thanks football for changing her life.","World powers, Iran to activate landmark nuclear deal after IAEA nod. By Justyna Pawlak and Fredrik Dahl BRUSSELS/VIENNA (Reuters) - World powers and Iran are due to start implementing a landmark deal on Monday curbing Tehran's nuclear program, amid hopes that it will pave the way for a broad settlement of a decade-old standoff and ease fears of a new Middle East war. If, as expected, the United Nations' nuclear watchdog confirms in the morning that Iran is meeting its end of the agreement, the European Union and the United States will later in the day suspend some economic sanctions in return. Iran said it expected to suspend its higher-grade uranium enrichment around noon local time (0830 GMT), when talks with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) are likely to have ended, the country's Fars news agency reported. The mutual concessions are scheduled to last six months, during which time six powers - the United States, Russia, China, France, Britain and Germany - aim to negotiate a final accord defining the permissible scope of Iran's nuclear activity.","Man attacked by shark in Western Australia. SYDNEY (AP) — A man has been seriously injured in a shark attack in Western Australia.","Canadian Solar outlook catches winter chill, shares fall. (Reuters) - Canadian Solar Inc forecast weaker-than-expected revenue for the first quarter and blamed severe winter in North America for delays in construction of power plants, sending its shares down 10 percent. Canadian Solar, which is pushing into the high-margin business of building solar power plants, joins rivals Trina Solar Ltd and JinkoSolar Holding Co Ltd in warning of a drop in current-quarter shipments from the fourth. Canadian Solar said it expects to recognize this revenue in the second and third quarters of 2014. The company forecast shipments of 470-490 megawatts (MW) of solar panels in the first quarter, lower than the 621 MW it shipped in the fourth.","Factbox: Russian companies on latest U.S. sanctions list. (Reuters) - The following are brief descriptions of the 17 Russian companies against which the United States imposed sanctions on Monday over Russia's role in the Ukraine crisis. * Aquanika - A producer of bottled water and 100 percent subsidiary of Volga Group (see below), which is controlled by Gennady Timchenko, a long-standing ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin. * Avia Group - The company, founded in 2006, develops infrastructure and provides services for aircraft maintenance at Moscow's Sheremetyevo international airport. Volga Group has a 74 percent stake.","Indians mark 30th anniversary of Bhopal disaster. BHOPAL, India (AP) — Indians are marking the 30th anniversary of the Bhopal gas leak tragedy with protests demanding harsher punishments for those responsible and more compensation for the victims of the world's worst industrial disaster.","Yemen's Qaeda threatens in video to kill US hostage. Dubai (AFP) - Al-Qaeda on Thursday threatened the imminent execution of an American journalist it kidnapped in Yemen, mocking as \"foolish\" a recently failed bid by US forces to free him.","Hawking helps England with WCup probability theory. LONDON (AP) — Stephen Hawking has turned his brilliant mind toward perhaps his toughest challenge yet — helping England win the World Cup.","Greek police clear apartment used by rebel monks. THESSALONIKI, Greece (AP) — Dozens of Greek police have taken part in an operation to clear an apartment used as the headquarters of a rebel monastery whose monks have been declared schismatic by the Orthodox Church.","ANZ Bank faces multimillion dollar payout after Australian court rules on credit card late fee. MELBOURNE, Australia - One of Australia's largest banks faces a multimillion dollar payout to thousands of customers after a judge ruled on Wednesday that late payment fees it charged on credit cards were exorbitant.","Iran nuclear talks to focus on centrifuges, reactor. An Iranian negotiator said nuclear talks with world powers this week would focus on advanced centrifuges and the unfinished Arak heavy water reactor, the official IRNA news agency reported Sunday. Iran is due to resume talks Tuesday in Vienna with the P5+1 -- Britain, France, the United States, Russia and China plus Germany -- aimed at reaching a comprehensive accord on its controversial nuclear programme following November's landmark interim deal. \"Using advanced and new centrifuges is one of the focal points which should be examined and solved for the long term and comprehensive deal, since we will definitely not accept to be deprived from having the right to replace the existing centrifuges with the new and advanced ones,\" Hamid Baeedinejad, an Iranian nuclear negotiator, told IRNA.","Ukraine tells UN that 16,000 Russian troops there. UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Ukraine's mission to the United Nations claimed Monday that 16,000 Russian troops have been deployed in the strategic Crimea region, while Russia's U.N. ambassador told an emergency Security Council meeting that Ukraine's fugitive president requested them.","Iraq: Separate attacks kill at least 12 people. BAGHDAD (AP) — Officials say attacks in Iraq have killed at least 12 people and wounded 35 others.","AP PHOTOS: Palestinians in exile dream of return. JENIN REFUGEE CAMP, West Bank (AP) — A lifetime has passed since hundreds of thousands of Palestinians fled or were forced out their homes in the Mideast war over Israel's 1948 creation.","Hodgson defends England's lacklustre Rooney. England manager Roy Hodgson said that he was satisfied with Wayne Rooney despite the Manchester United striker producing a subdued showing in his country's 3-0 friendly win over Peru. Goals from Daniel Sturridge, Gary Cahill and Phil Jagielka enabled England to sign off with victory in their final pre-World Cup game on home soil on Friday, but Rooney played a peripheral role. The 28-year-old, who missed United's last three games of the season with a groin injury, threatened only once, with a first-half header, before being replaced by Liverpool winger Raheem Sterling in the 66th minute.","Ivory Coast tells soldiers to return to barracks. ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast (AP) — The Ivory Coast government is calling on disgruntled soldiers to return to their barracks after they protested in the streets over their benefits.","Russia rebukes Washington after Obama comments on Syria. The Russian Foreign Ministry on Wednesday accused the United States of deliberately distorting its position on Syria after President Barack Obama criticized Moscow for objecting to a draft U.N. resolution on aid to Syria. Asked to comment on Obama's remarks in Washington on Tuesday, ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said that the United States was fully aware of the situation in Syria. \"In this regard a question arises - why is the Russian position on Syria being intentionally distorted in such a biased way?\" he said.","Cellphone operator reveals scale of gov't snooping. LONDON (AP) — Vodafone, one of the world's largest cellphone companies, revealed the scope of government snooping into phone networks Friday, saying authorities in some countries are able to directly access an operator's network without seeking permission.","ON THIS DAY: Bulgaria beats Germany in 1994. On July 10 in World Cup history: Iordan Letchkov's header enough for Bulgaria to beat Germany in East Rutherford, New Jersey, in 1994.","19 alleged abuse victims denounce Mexico priest. MEXICO CITY (AP) — Nineteen people have filed a criminal complaint alleging they were sexually abused by a now-suspended Mexican priest.","Fiction becomes reality at deadly Kabul theatre blast. Audience members who survived a suicide bomb at the French cultural institute in Kabul told Friday how they initially thought the explosion was part of the performance, which was about the impact of such attacks. At least one German man was killed and 15 other people wounded in the blast on Thursday evening inside the packed auditorium of the French Institute of Afghanistan, a popular venue for the performing arts. \"Suddenly a loud explosion erupted, and I fell down on my face and I thought it was part of the show,\" Ahmad Nasir Sarmast, head of Afghanistan's National Institute of Music, told AFP. Sarmast, who was hit by shrapnel in his head, back and leg, was taken to Kabul's Italian-run Emergency hospital.","Indian army says 7 rebels killed in Kashmir. SRINAGAR, India (AP) — Indian soldiers killed seven rebels in a gunbattle Monday in the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir, the army said.","European Central Bank to detail stimulus plan. NAPLES, Italy (AP) — European Central Bank head Mario Draghi is expected Thursday to underline the bank's willingness to deploy more economic stimulus measures, a stance that could send the euro skidding even lower.","In sweeping move, Pope creates office to oversee Vatican finances. Pope Francis has taken his boldest step yet to overhaul the Vatican's often murky finances, creating a new department with broad powers to oversee all of its economic and administrative affairs, the Vatican said on Monday. The Secretariat for the Economy will be headed by Australian Cardinal George Pell, currently the archbishop of Sydney. An existing economic department known as the Administration of the Patrimony of the Holy See (APSA) and which manages financial holdings and real estate, will formally assume the role of the Vatican's central bank. The role and structure of the separate Vatican bank, formally known as the Institute for Works of Religion (IOR) and which has been at the center of scandals for decades, will not change for the time being, a spokesman said.","Lithuania vote held in shadow of Ukraine crisis. VILNIUS, Lithuania (AP) — Lithuanians voted Sunday in the first round of a presidential election that was widely expected to give incumbent Dalia Grybauskaite another term.","Schalke chairman draws criticism over Kremlin trip. BERLIN (AP) — Schalke's chairman is drawing criticism from German Chancellor Angela Merkel's party for suggesting that his team, sponsored by Russian energy giant Gazprom, would accept an invitation to Moscow from President Vladimir Putin.","Pilot strike forces Air France to cancel over half of flights. By James Regan PARIS (Reuters) - A pilots strike at Air France entered its second day on Tuesday, with the two sides appearing no closer to resolving a dispute over cost cuts that has forced the airline to cancel 60 percent of flights. The pilots are carrying out a week-long strike over Air France's plans to expand the low-cost operations of its Transavia brand by setting up foreign bases as it seeks to fight back against fierce competition from budget carriers. ...","White House: investigators still need access to Ukraine crash site. International investigators still need \"immediate and full access\" to the site of the Malaysian Airlines plane crash in eastern Ukraine, the White House said on Tuesday. White House spokesman Josh Earnest said the United States welcomed news that victims' remains were being transferred to the Netherlands but said, \"I don't think we've seen yet the level of cooperation with international investigators that we'd like to see.\" President Barack Obama visited the Netherlands Embassy on Tuesday to sign a condolence book honoring victims of last Thursday's crash.","Russian, Ukrainian ministers meet for 1st time. THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov met for the first time Monday with his Ukrainian counterpart to discuss the crisis that has grown into one of the gravest security challenges to Europe since the end of the Cold War.","Kenyans march in pro-miniskirt protest. Hundreds of Kenyans marched through the streets of Nairobi on Monday to protest at the stripping of a woman wearing a miniskirt, saying they had the right to wear what they want. Protesters turned out to show their outrage following the widespread circulation on social media of a video showing a woman being attacked and stripped by a mob last week in central Nairobi after they said her skirt was too tight and short. \"Violence affects women, men, boys and girls, and if left to continue gaining currency, will deny us healthy relationships,\" organiser Ruth Knaust told Capital FM radio. With supporters singing and chanting, the crowd called for an end to violence against women.","Gunmen attack Indian Consulate in Afghanistan. KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Police in western Afghanistan say gunmen have launched an attack on the Indian Consulate in Herat province.","Top Asian News at 2:30 p.m. GMT. CAIRO (AP) — Lynne O'Donnell, a foreign correspondent who has covered major stories throughout the Middle East and Asia for two decades, has been named Kabul bureau chief for The Associated Press, leading the agency's coverage of Afghanistan at a time of transition and turmoil. The appointment was announced on Tuesday by Ian Phillips, AP's Middle East news director, and Dan Perry, the regional editor for text.","Fighting fern with fire in Florida's Everglades National Park. MIAMI Fla. (Reuters) - Wildlife officials are preparing to set a 10,000-acre fire on Tuesday to combat an invasive fern in Florida's Everglades National Park, hoping to burn away a vine that is blocking sunlight to native plants. The controlled burn is part of a fight against Lygodium microphyllum, commonly known as Old World climbing fern, which is threatening large areas of the 1.5 million-acre park in south Florida, the largest subtropical wilderness in the United States. The exotic intruder is native to Australia, Africa and tropical Asia. ...","Pro-Moscow protesters seize arms, declare republic; Kiev fears invasion. By Richard Balmforth and Lina Kushch KIEV/DONETSK, Ukraine (Reuters) - Pro-Moscow protesters in eastern Ukraine seized arms in one city and declared a separatist republic in another, in moves Kiev described on Monday as part of a Russian-orchestrated plan to justify an invasion to dismember the country. Kiev said the overnight seizure of public buildings in three cities in eastern Ukraine's mainly Russian-speaking industrial heartland were a replay of events in Crimea, the Black Sea peninsula Moscow seized and annexed last month. \"An anti-Ukrainian plan is being put into operation ... under which foreign troops will cross the border and seize the territory of the country,\" Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk said in public remarks to his cabinet. \"We will not allow this.\" Pro-Russian protesters seized official buildings in the eastern cities of Kharkiv, Luhansk and Donetsk on Sunday night, demanding that referendums be held on whether to join Russia like the one that preceded Moscow's takeover of Crimea.","Ecuador case against Chevron before Canadian court. TORONTO (AP) — Lawyers for a group of Ecuadoran villagers will ask Canada's high court to grant their clients access to Canadian courts to enforce a US$9.5-billion Ecuadorian judgment against Chevron Corp for rainforest damage.","Controversial Idaho wolf hunt approved, angering conservationists. By Laura Zuckerman SALMON Idaho (Reuters) - U.S. land managers approved a recreation permit on Thursday allowing a controversial hunting contest open to children to take place on public lands in Idaho, where contestants will seek to kill the most wolves and other wildlife for cash and prizes. The hunting group Idaho for Wildlife requested the permit for the so-called predator derby to take place each January for five years on millions of acres (hectares) overseen by the federal Bureau of Land Management (BLM) in east central Idaho near Salmon. ...","US says no longer has any detainees in Afghanistan. The United States has pulled out of all prisons in Afghanistan and no longer holds any detainees, a US official confirmed, as Washington extricates itself from the war-torn country. The announcement on Wednesday came after the release of a searing Senate report on the brutal US treatment of \"war on terror\" detainees triggered worldwide condemnation, including from Afghanistan's new President Ashraf Ghani. Asking not to be named, the US official confirmed to AFP that after a careful review by the Pentagon and the State Department, the last \"third-country nationals\" in US custody in Afghanistan had been transferred, and the US military no longer operates any detention facilities there. Afghan officials could not immediately be reached for comment and it remains unclear what will happen to the detainees.","Airstrikes in NW Pakistan kill about 100 militants. ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistani military jets pounded militant hideouts in the northwestern tribal region bordering Afghanistan early Sunday morning, officials said, killing as many as 100 militants in the second strike on the region since a deadly attack on the Karachi airport a week ago.","Recording Academy honours Beatles, Kristofferson with lifetime achievement awards. LOS ANGELES, Calif. - The unofficial theme for the Recording Academy's laughter-filled Special Merit Awards ceremony could easily have been old friends.","PetroChina annual profit rises 12.4 percent. BEIJING (AP) — PetroChina Ltd., China's biggest oil producer, says its profit rose 12.4 percent last year after higher retail gasoline prices helped to narrow heavy losses for its refining unit.","Residents: 50 bodies found in Nigeria violence. BAUCHI, Nigeria (AP) — Residents of a Nigerian town faulted security forces for responding slowly to the presence of Boko Haram fighters who later attacked, killing many people.","New leftist party becomes third force in Spain: poll. A new leftist party has become Spain's third most popular political force, a poll showed on Monday, tapping into discontent with the two mainstream parties after corruption scandals and austerity measures in an economic slump. Podemos (We Can) took a surprise 8 percent of the vote in Spain's European Elections in May to win five seats and would gain 15.8 percent of votes in a parliamentary election, the state-sponsored poll by the Centre for Sociological Research (CIS) showed.","1,000-pound alligator snared in Alabama hunt. (Reuters) - Hunters in Alabama snared an alligator weighing more than 1,000 pounds, the largest ever caught in a legal hunt in the state, conservation officials said on Monday. The alligator, caught with a snare hook in a southern Alabama state park early Saturday, was so heavy it required a backhoe to hoist it onto a scale, said Mike Sievering, a state wildlife biologist who supervised the hunt. \"He was an eyeful, I'll say that,\" Sievering said. Alabama began allowing alligator hunts in 2011, responding in part to the reptiles showing up unbidden in fish farm ponds, Sievering said.","Ferrari's 1st priority at Australian GP to finish. MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Two-time Formula One champion Fernando Alonso says he has every chance of a podium finish if his car lasts the distance in the season-opening Australian Grand Prix on Sunday.","Shortage-weary Venezuelans scoff at fingerprinting plan for food sales. By Alexandra Ulmer CARACAS (Reuters) - A government plan to combat Venezuela's food shortages by fingerprinting shoppers in grocery stores has sparked a backlash ranging from violent street protests to social media campaigns ridiculing the idea. President Nicolas Maduro says the biometric system, to be introduced this year, will allow authorities to weed out smugglers, often seen in lines buying conspicuous amounts of goods that are in short supply. It's only more regulation,\" said Jose Briceno, a pastry chef who was once a fervent supporter of late socialist President Hugo Chavez but says his handpicked successor, Maduro, should resign. Some Caracas residents banged pots and pans on Thursday night in a traditional display of anger although the issue looks unlikely to spark the kind of massive demonstrations that rocked Venezuela for three months this year.","UK holds crisis meeting on Ebola; warns of threat. LONDON (AP) — British officials have held a crisis meeting and warned of a potentially serious threat if the deadly Ebola virus spreads further.","Signs N. Korea preparing bomb material amid nuclear test threats. New satellite imagery suggests North Korea may be firing up a facility for processing weapons-grade plutonium, as Pyongyang threatened Thursday a fresh nuclear test in response to UN condemnation of its rights record. The images show steam rising from a re-processing plant at the North's main Yongbyon nuclear complex -- a sign consistent with maintenance and testing prior to commencing operations, the US-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins University said on its closely followed 38 North website. The facility is used to reprocess spent fuel from the five-megawatt reactor at Yongbyon that is North Korea's main source of weapons grade plutonium. The new analysis coincided with fresh threats from Pyongyang to carry out a new underground nuclear test following the UN adoption of a landmark resolution that condemns North Korean rights abuses.","NK expert says US must apologize to free detainees. PYONGYANG, North Korea (AP) — After an American was released from North Korean custody, the attention has now focused on two other U.S. citizens still in its jails, and at least one North Korean legal expert has some unusual advice to offer: let Washington formally apologize to Pyongyang, and the country's leader will consider pardoning them.","Serena Williams starts French with 6-2, 6-1 win. PARIS (AP) — Serena Williams began the defense of her French Open title with a 6-2, 6-1 victory Sunday over 138th-ranked Alize Lim, a wild-card entry from France.","China says polluting industry still growing too fast. China's energy-hungry, high-polluting industries continued to grow too fast in 2013, putting \"huge pressures\" on the environment and causing air quality to worsen further, the country's pollution agency said on Tuesday. Premier Li Keqiang \"declared war\" on pollution in a major policy address this month, but China has long struggled to strike a balance between protecting the environment and keeping up economic growth. China is still too slow when it comes to reforming its resource-intensive economy, the Ministry of Environmental Protection said on its website (www.mep.gov.cn) in a statement to mark a report on pollution in 74 Chinese cities last year. \"The pace of restructuring and upgrading industries has slowed, the mode of development remains crude, and emissions of atmospheric pollutants have long exceeded environmental capacity,\" it said, in explaining why air quality got worse.","Obama proposes to end NSA bulk data collection. US President Barack Obama is proposing to end the National Security Agency's controversial bulk telephone data collection, exposed by fugitive intelligence contractor Edward Snowden. A senior administration official said Tuesday that Obama had considered the results of a study he ordered in January into how the NSA could protect national interests without storing citizens' private data. The plan would store the data outside of government while allowing access for national security reasons, the official said. Obama \"will put forward a sound approach to ensuring the government no longer collects or holds this data, but still ensures that the government has access to the information it needs to meet the national security needs his team has identified,\" the official said.","Italy's anti-corruption czar to join Rome bid team. ROME (AP) — Italy's anti-corruption czar will join Rome's bid team for the 2024 Olympics, a response to the widening mafia scandal in the capital.","'Exodus' from Dutch far-right leader after Moroccan jibe. More members of Dutch populist Geert Wilders' party abandoned the anti-Muslim leader on Saturday amid an unprecedented storm of protest after he vowed \"fewer Moroccans\" in the Netherlands. Three councillors quit his Party for Freedom (PVV) party in the northern Friesland province, after similar moves by the head of the party's bloc in the European parliament and two Dutch MPs. National news agency ANP spoke of a PVV \"exodus\" after a jovial Wilders on Wednesday promised his chanting supporters he would arrange for there to be fewer Moroccans in the Netherlands. The entire city council of Nijmegen said they would go to the police station to file a discrimination complaint against Wilders, whose PVV party had been the most popular in the Netherlands, according to opinion polls before the furore erupted.","For US forces in Africa, spy drones in short supply. The US military faces a chronic shortage of surveillance aircraft in Africa needed to track extremists on the continent, particularly in the Sahel region, a top general said Thursday. Only seven percent of the military's requirements for reconnaissance and surveillance planes -- including drones and other aircraft -- were met last year in Africa, said General David Rodriguez, head of US Africa Command. \"It's up to 11 percent now,\" the four-star general told the Senate Armed Services Committee. US troops and hardware are not permanently assigned to AFRICOM, which must request aircraft and resources from other regional commands, such as US Central Command, which oversees forces in the Middle East, Central Asia and parts of North Africa and South Asia.","Court overturns EU law on keeping private data. The European Court of Justice on Tuesday struck down an EU-wide law on how private data can be collected and stored, judging it too invasive -- despite its usefulness in combating organised crime and terrorism. By allowing EU governments to access the data, \"the directive interferes in a particularly serious manner with the fundamental rights to respect for private life and to the protection of personal data,\" the court said. The decision to scupper the Data Retention Directive, which was issued in 2006, comes as Europe weighs concerns over electronic snooping in the wake of revelations about systematic US snooping of email and telephone communications. The directive called for the European Union's 28 member states to store individuals' Internet, mobile telephone and text metadata -- the time, date, duration and destination, but not the content of the communications themselves -- for six months to two years, with national intelligence and police agencies having access.","Farewell, Sochi! Russia closes costliest Olympics. SOCHI, Russia (AP) — Flushed with pride after a spectacular showing at the costliest Olympics ever, Russia celebrates 17 days of sport-driven global unity on Sunday night with a farewell show that hands off the Winter Games to their next host, Pyeongchang in South Korea.","Presbyterians to divest as protest against Israel. DETROIT (AP) — The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) on Friday became the most prominent religious group in the United States to endorse divestment as a protest against Israeli policies toward Palestinians, voting to sell church stock in three companies whose products Israel uses in the occupied territories.","Rugby Union - Henry says defeat good for All Blacks. - New Zealand's World Cup-winning former coach Graham Henry has expressed concerns about the All Blacks' long unbeaten streak and suggested Thursday it might do them good to lose before the 2015 World Cup.","Poland hopes to host 2022 Games despite setback. WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Prime Minister Donald Tusk says Poland still has a chance to host the 2022 Winter Games despite the resignation of the bid committee president.","Xi says hopes China, Philippines can return to past understanding on sea dispute. BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese President Xi Jinping said he hopes China and the Philippines can return to a past understanding on issues related to the South China Sea, the official Xinhua news agency reported on Tuesday. China hopes the Philippines can \"constructively deal with\" the issue, the report added. Xi made the remarks during talks with Philippine President Benigno Aquino during a summit of Asia-Pacific nations. Territorial disputes in the potentially oil-rich South China Sea have caused friction between China and some of its Asian neighbors. ...","Brazil floods force 6,000 to evacuate. Nearly a week of torrential rain has triggered widespread floods in southern Brazil that have forced 6,000 people from their homes, officials said Saturday. Most of those evacuated were in Rio Grande do Sul, according to the state's emergency agency, which said that in just five days there was more than twice the average rainfall for the entire month of June, while the Uruguay River was 18 meters (59 feet) above normal. The flooding comes as the World Cup knock-out round gets under way in Brazil, though neither of Saturday's matches -- Brazil-Chile in Belo Horizonte and Uruguay-Colombia in Rio de Janeiro -- is in the affected states.","Nordic, Baltic states demand Russia free detained Estonian. Nordic and Baltic foreign ministers on Friday demanded Russia immediately free an Estonian policeman charged with espionage in a case that has heightened tensions between Estonia and its Soviet-era master. NATO-member Estonia has accused Moscow of abducting Eston Kohver at gunpoint from its territory. Russia claims he was taken into custody on its side of the border while in possession of weapons and spying equipment. \"We ask Russia to release Eston Kohver immediately and to ensure his safe return to Estonia,\" said a statement by ministers from seven mostly European Union states meeting in Tallinn, a day after the EU's 28 members made the same demand.","Heavy rains, landslides hit China, at least 18 die. BEIJING (AP) — Heavy rains have killed at least 18 people in southern China and a state news agency said six more were missing Thursday after a landslide.","Van Persie return boosts Man United. Robin van Persie's return to the Manchester United line-up gives new manager Louis van Gaal some welcome good news ahead of the Premier League match away to Sunderland on Sunday. Van Gaal, hoping to bounce back from the 2-1 opening weekend defeat by Swansea, has been beset by injuries in midfield and Ander Herrera is the latest to be absent, with an ankle problem, alongside Michael Carrick, Marouane Fellaini and Jesse Lingard.","Dozens of migrants drown off coast of Libya. CAIRO (AP) — The spokesman of Libya's coast guard says that a boat carrying at least 250 African migrants to Europe capsized before leaving the coast near the capital, Tripoli, drowning dozens.","Biogen Idec wins Canadian approval for hemophilia drug Alprolix. (Reuters) - Biogen Idec Inc said on Friday it had won Canadian approval for its long-lasting hemophilia B drug Alprolix. Hemophilia B, a rare inherited disorder in which the ability of a person's blood to clot is impaired, affects some 4,000 people in the United States and roughly 25,000 worldwide. Biogen is developing the drug in partnership with Swedish Orphan Biovitrum AB. It is expected to be approved in the United States later this year. (Reporting by Toni Clarke in Washington, Additional reporting by Esha Dey in Bangalore; Editing by Simon Jennings)","Merkel tells Putin she wants bigger OSCE role in Ukraine. German Chancellor Angela Merkel told Russian President Vladimir Putin Sunday she backed a bigger role in Ukraine for the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), her spokesman said. In the latest in a series of often heated telephone talks between the two leaders since Russia seized Ukraine's Crimean peninsula earlier this month, Merkel's office indicated that she and Putin had found a point of agreement. \"The chancellor suggested quickly expanding the OSCE's presence in Ukraine and sending a greater number of observers to the crisis zones, in particular eastern Ukraine,\" her spokesman Steffen Seibert said in a statement summarising the conversation.","Canada deploys fighter jets for Eastern Europe patrols. Ottawa (AFP) - Six Canadian CF-18 fighter jets left for Romania Tuesday to take part in increased NATO patrols over Eastern Europe amid rising tensions with Russia over Ukraine.","Libya PM says he ordered troops towards occupied ports weeks ago. Libyan Prime Minister Ali Zeidan said on Monday he had given orders to move troops toward eastern ports occupied by protesters, but said deployment of the military was now in the hands of the army command. Zeidan gave no further details, but he has repeatedly warned he may use force to free up three key ports where protesters demanding more autonomy from Tripoli have cut off around 600,000 barrels per day of oil exports since summer. \"Weeks ago we ordered the minister of defense to give his instructions to the chief of staff to move toward the occupied ports in the east,\" Zeidan said at a press conference.","Iraqi forces battle militants near Fallujah. Baghdad (AFP) - Iraqi government forces launched an operation Sunday to rescue an army battalion which has come under repeated attack by militants near the western city of Fallujah, military sources said.","Canadian home sales rise in February: CREA. TORONTO (Reuters) - Sales of existing homes in Canada edged higher in February from January, the first monthly increase after five straight declines, the Canadian Real Estate Association said on Monday. The industry group for Canadian real estate agents said sales activity was up 0.3 percent last month from January. Actual sales for February, not seasonally adjusted, were up 1.9 percent from February 2013. CREA's home price index rose 5.1 percent from February 2013, a slight acceleration from January's 4.8 percent gain. (Reporting by Andrea Hopkins Editing by W Simon)","Catalonia independence vote unconstitutional: court. Madrid (AFP) - Spain's Constitutional Court ruled Tuesday that a referendum planned by the Catalonia region on independence from the rest of the country was unconstitutional.","Japan Red Cross says talks planned for return of remains from North Korea. Officials from the Japanese and North Korean chapters of the Red Cross will hold talks next week towards the return of the remains of Japanese nationals from North Korea, a Japanese Red Cross official said on Thursday. Several Red Cross officials from both nations will take part, along with Foreign Ministry officials.","Chinese police charge British former GSK China head with bribery. By Megha Rajagopalan and Kazunori Takada BEIJING/SHANGHAI (Reuters) - Chinese police on Wednesday said they had charged the British former China head of drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline PLC and other colleagues with corruption, after a probe found the firm made billions of yuan from bribing doctors and hospitals. Mark Reilly and two Chinese executives, Zhang Guowei and Zhao Hongyan, were also suspected of bribing officials in the industry and commerce departments of Beijing and Shanghai, the official Xinhua news agency reported, quoting police in Hunan province. It is the biggest corruption scandal to hit a foreign company in China since the Rio Tinto affair in 2009, which resulted in four executives, including an Australian, being jailed for between seven and 14 years. Officials gave no specific details on the amount of bribes paid or exactly how much the company had illegally earned, although they had previously accused the firm of funneling up to 3 billion yuan ($482 million) to travel agencies to facilitate bribes to doctors and officials.","Japan heatwave kills two, hundreds taken to hospital. Two people have been killed and hundreds treated in hospital after a weekend heatwave swept over Japan, officials and reports said Sunday. A 74-year-old women collapsed while working in a greenhouse in the eastern prefecture of Chiba on Saturday and was later pronounced dead.","Rain frustrates India in tour match. Leicester (United Kingdom) (AFP) - Rain meant no play was possible on the second day of India's opening warm-up match of their tour of England, against Leicestershire at Grace Road on Friday.","Kiev rally cancelled over protester memorial. KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine's opposition called off a massive rally planned for Sunday because of the funeral for a protester killed in clashes with police last week, underscoring the rising tensions in the country's two-month political crisis.","Defeated skaters Virtue, Moir question coach's loyalty. Sochi (Russia) (AFP) - Canadian figure skaters Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir on Tuesday questioned the loyalty of their long-time Russian coach after losing their Olympic title to their training partners. Virtue, 24, and Moir, 26, lost their title on Monday night when Meryl White and Charlie Davis gave the United States their first title in the discipline. Both couples train together at the same rink in Detroit under former Soviet ice dancer Marina Zoueva. And Moir admitted at times they felt that they were no longer the focus of the Zoueva's attention, particularly after she missed their nationals, preferring to join Davis and White at the US championships.","A look at Israeli soldiers who have been captured. JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli officer Hadar Goldin, a 23-year-old second lieutenant from the central Israeli city of Kfar Saba, was apparently captured on Friday in the mayhem that followed a surprise attack on Israeli troops by militants in the in Gaza Strip.","Swiss say danger of landslides, flooding persist. GENEVA (AP) — Swiss authorities say the risk of landslides remains a danger in drenched areas with two lakes near flood levels and abundant snowfall expected in southern Switzerland.","UN rights chief blames most crimes on Syrian gov't. UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Atrocities by the Syrian government \"far outweigh\" crimes by the opposition fighters and Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime is \"mostly responsible\" for the human rights offenses in the three-year war, the U.N. human rights chief said Tuesday.","Mexican army disarms police in missing students city. Mexico City (AFP) - Mexico's federal forces took over security Monday in a southern city where 43 students disappeared and disarmed the entire municipal police force after gang-linked officers shot at the aspiring teachers.","Suspected bomb kills 9 on Philippine passenger bus. MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Police say a suspected bomb blast has killed at least nine people and injured more than 20 others on a bus in front of a university in the southern Philippines.","Britain says too early to speak of extending Iran nuclear talks. VIENNA (Reuters) - It is too early to consider extending the talks between Iran and six world powers on Tehran's nuclear program beyond next week's deadline, though major divisions remain between the two sides, British Foreign Secretary William Hague said on Sunday. \"There ‎are very significant gaps, that is very clear,\" he told reporters about the positions of Iran and the six powers - the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China. \"It is unlikely there will be a quick breakthrough today but we ... ...","Obama deflects French appeal in massive bank fine. PARIS (AP) — President Barack Obama deflected France's appeal Thursday to intervene over a potential multibillion-dollar U.S. fine against the country's largest bank, clouding two days of meetings with the French leader in a case that could reverberate across Europe's financial sector.","Hurricane Arthur makes landfall on North Carolina coast: NHC. MIAMI (Reuters) - Hurricane Arthur made landfall on the North Carolina coast late on Thursday evening, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said. The center of Arthur hit at about 11:15 p.m. EDT (0315 GMT) near Cape Lookout at the southern end of the Outer Banks with winds gusting to 101 mph (163 kph) the Miami-based forecasters said. (Reporting by David Adams; Editing by Eric M. Johnson)","China indicts GSK-linked foreign investigators: Xinhua. Prosecutors in Shanghai have indicted two foreign investigators linked to drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), which is at the centre of a bribery scandal in China, state media reported Monday. British national Peter Humphrey and his wife Yu Yingzeng, a US citizen, are charged with illegally obtaining private information on Chinese citizens, the official news agency Xinhua reported, citing unnamed prosecutor sources. In other cases, state media have cited legal experts saying the maximum penalty for illegally obtaining and trading personal information is three years in prison.","NATO, facing assertive Russia, ponders what to do. BRUSSELS (AP) — Russia's ongoing confrontation with the West has ignited debate inside and outside the U.S.-led NATO alliance about what its responsibilities are, and how much of its time and effort should be spent to prepare for and if necessary counter Russian President Vladimir Putin's military ambitions.","Ander Herrera denies match-fixing in Spain. MADRID (AP) — Manchester United midfielder Ander Herrera has denied accusations that he participated in a match-fixing scheme while playing in Spain for former club Zaragoza.","Official: Armed drones guard US interests in Iraq. WASHINGTON (AP) — A Pentagon official says the U.S. has started flying armed drones over Baghdad to protect U.S. civilians and military forces in the Iraqi capital.","Verdict in landmark Rwanda genocide trial due in Paris. A French court is due to deliver its much-anticipated verdict in the landmark trial of a Rwandan army captain accused of complicity in genocide on Friday, just weeks ahead of the 20th anniversary of the 1994 atrocity. Prosecutors in the trial -- the first of its kind in France -- have asked for life imprisonment for Pascal Simbikangwa, branding him an ethnic \"cleanser\" who was \"radically committed\" to his work and a \"man capable of the worst\". The trial is being closely watched in France, which has long been accused of failing to rein in the Rwandan regime at the time of the genocide between April and July 1994 that left 800,000 dead. And in a rare case for France, it is being filmed, with recordings due to be available once the case is concluded.","China warns Japan, Philippines accuses China in maritime spat. By Sui-Lee Wee and Manuel Mogato BEIJING/MANILA (Reuters) - China warned Japan on Friday to stay out of a growing dispute with its neighbors over the South China Sea, as the Philippines implicitly accused Beijing of delaying talks aimed at a solution. China claims almost the entire South China Sea, rejecting rival claims to parts of it from Vietnam, the Philippines, Taiwan, Malaysia and Brunei in one of Asia's most intractable disputes and a possible flashpoint. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Thursday expressed concern about regional tensions that he said were stoked by China's \"unilateral drilling\" after China moved a giant oil rig into disputed waters, a moved denounced by the Philippines, Vietnam and the United States.","Hundreds trapped in Turkish coal mine. ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — An explosion and fire at a coal mine in western Turkey has killed at least one miner and left at least 200 others trapped, an official said Tuesday.","Foreign workers in Canada fear backlash, loss of dreams. By Andrea Hopkins TORONTO (Reuters) - Bugan Wigan could handle the hard work packing fruit and cleaning hotel rooms, and the crushing debt she owed recruiters who found her jobs. But a backlash against the foreign worker program that brought her to Canada means the clock is ticking on her ability to support her family in the Philippines. But now, we are just counting our days,\" said Wigan, 40, who currently works at McDonald's in Vancouver. She is one of about 400,000 people who came to Canada under the government's temporary foreign worker program, which is designed to fill jobs for which there are no qualified Canadian candidates.","Chinese economy remains primary worry in markets. LONDON (AP) — Stocks remained under pressure Thursday as modestly stronger than anticipated U.S. retail sales figures failed to offset concerns over the Chinese economy.","Natal had big role for US in WWII. NATAL, Brazil (AP) — Long before the U.S. soccer team arrived in this balmy coastal city for the World Cup, another group of uniformed Americans came through. They turned this isolated part of northeast Brazil — the closest point in the Americas to Africa — into a World War II boomtown.","Sharks beat NSW in Super Rugby to extend lead. WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — A series of surprise results compacted the standings in the Super Rugby tournament after the weekend's seventh round and shone a harsh light on the form of teams in the Australian and New Zealand conferences.","Envoy says Iraq can't wait for US military aid. WASHINGTON (AP) — Iraq's ambassador to the United States says his country turned to other nations for military support to fight a growing insurgency because Baghdad could wait no longer for additional aid from America.","Chile: HidroAysen dam construction to be reviewed. SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) — President Michelle Bachelet's government says it will review all the construction requirements for a controversial plan to power central Chile by damming Patagonian rivers.","2 Kenyan police arrested transporting ivory. NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Kenyan wildlife authorities say two police officers have been arrested transporting illegal elephant ivory as the government cracks down on poaching of the country's endangered elephants and rhinos.","Israel offers to help Arab nations over Iraq crisis. Israel offered to help moderate Arab nations threatened by a lightning offensive by Islamic militants in Iraq, as the country's top diplomat met with US Secretary of State John Kerry on Thursday. Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman told Kerry at a meeting in Paris that \"the extremists currently operating in Iraq will try to challenge the stability in the entire Gulf region, first of all in Kuwait,\" a statement from the Israeli minister's office said. \"Israel could provide effective and reliable assistance to moderate Arab states who are dealing with extremists,\" it added, without going into specific details.","Typhoon kills 38 in Philippines, spares Manila. MANILA, Philippines (AP) — A typhoon that barreled through the northern Philippines left at least 38 people dead and knocked out power in entire provinces and forced more than half a million people to flee its lethal wind and rains, officials said Thursday.","Instead of breather, US contemplates math. SAO PAULO (AP) — Instead of taking a breather, the U.S. created a World Cup math puzzle for its fans back in America.","Morocco rapper rebel gets 4 months in prison. CASABLANCA, Morocco (AP) — A Moroccan human rights organization says a rap artist belonging to a pro-democracy movement has been convicted of public intoxication and attacking police and was sentenced to four months prison with a $1,200 fine.","Rosberg leads 1st practice at British GP. SILVERSTONE, England (AP) — Nico Rosberg topped the times ahead of Mercedes teammate and Formula One championship rival Lewis Hamilton in the first practice for the British Grand Prix on Friday.","Sudan opposition chief's daughters held at demo. Sudanese police on Friday detained four daughters of opposition leader Sadiq al-Mahdi as they violently broke up a protest demanding freedom for political prisoners, his party said. \"Police used violence and arrested 17 people including four daughters of Umma party leader Sadiq al-Mahdi,\" party secretary general Sarra Naqdallah told AFP. Mahdi himself, a former prime minister, was arrested on May 17 after he reportedly accused the counter-insurgency Rapid Support Forces of rape and other abuses of civilians in the Darfur region of western Sudan. Journalists in Sudan were banned from investigating or publishing information about his arrest.","New caretaker PM seen capable of compromises but not miracles. By Martin Petty BANGKOK (Reuters) - With his willingness to compromise and public relations skills, Thailand's new caretaker prime minister, Niwatthamrong Boonsongphaisan, may be what is needed to take the heat out of a political crisis that is close to boiling point. Niwatthamrong, 66, will hold the fort until elections tentatively slated for July 20, but he inherits a stuttering economy and limited powers that for months dogged predecessor Yingluck Shinawatra, who the Constitutional Court ordered to step down on Wednesday for abuse of power. While barely known outside Thailand, Niwatthamrong has been in and around the fringes of Thai politics for years and has earned the trust of Thaksin Shinawatra, Yingluck's exiled brother and founder of a populist political juggernaut that has won every election for the past 13 years. Niwatthamrong was chief executive of broadcaster iTV, the once independent television channel that became the Shinawatras' public relations machine when Thaksin's telecoms conglomerate Shin Corporation bought a majority stake in it during his first term in office from 2001-2005.","Diao Yinan's 'Black Coal, Thin Ice' wins in Berlin. BERLIN (AP) — Chinese director Diao Yinan's \"Black Coal, Thin Ice\" has won the Berlin International Film Festival's main Golden Bear prize.","Lithuanian central bank cuts growth forecast as Russia restricts imports. Lithuania's central bank cut its 2014 economic growth forecast on Monday, citing in part Russia's ban on imports on certain foods from several Western countries. It lowered its 2014 growth forecast to 2.9 percent from a May forecast of 3.4 percent and said up to 0.4 percentage points could be lost because of the sanctions. It also pointed to negative effects from low growth in the European Union, its main trading partner, and uncertainty about geopolitical tensions. \"Private consumption, investment, the labor market will be negatively affected.\" Moscow's import ban, introduced in August in response to western sanctions on Russia over the Ukraine crisis, applies to around 4 percent of Lithuania's exports or about a fifth of its exports to Russia.","Harrington forced to play US Open qualifier. VIRGINIA WATER, England (AP) — The downturn in Padraig Harrington's career will see the Irish golfer enter U.S. Open qualifying for the first time on Monday at Walton Heath on London's outskirts.","U.S. says Iran's behavior has been favorable, studying options for talks. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House on Wednesday praised Iran for \"surprisingly\" favorable behavior over the last six months during nuclear talks with Western powers, but it declined to say whether an extension for the talks beyond a July 20 deadline would be granted. White House spokesman Josh Earnest said Secretary of State John Kerry and President Barack Obama would discuss the various possible paths forward for the Iran talks during a meeting on Wednesday. (Reporting by Jeff Mason; Editing by Susan Heavey)","Dominican Republic probes death of 11 children. SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic (AP) — Authorities in the Dominican Republic say they are investigating 11 deaths at the main children's hospital in Santo Domingo.","Kerry in Kabul to push for new president within weeks. Kabul (AFP) - US Secretary of State John Kerry arrived in Kabul on Thursday to pressure feuding presidential candidates to resolve the disputed election result that risks triggering instability as NATO troops withdraw.","WHO: Pollution kills 7 million people every year. LONDON (AP) — Air pollution kills about 7 million people worldwide every year, with more than half of the fatalities due to fumes from indoor stoves, according to a new report from the World Health Organization published Tuesday.","Top Asian News at 11:30 p.m. GMT. HONG KONG (AP) — The former editor of a Hong Kong newspaper whose abrupt dismissal in January sparked protests over press freedom is in critical condition after being hacked Wednesday by an assailant with a meat cleaver, police said. Police said a man wearing a motorcycle helmet attacked Kevin Lau in a residential neighborhood and then fled on a motorcycle driven by another man.","Obama to deliver prime-time address on militants. WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama will address the nation Wednesday night to outline plans for an expanded U.S. effort to confront violent Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria.","Palestinians: We don't want Kerry mission to fail. JERUSALEM (AP) — The Palestinians are not walking away from U.S.-led efforts to reach a peace deal with Israel, a top Palestinian official said Wednesday, a day after their renewed bid for international recognition of a \"state of Palestine\" threw Washington's already troubled Mideast mission into further disarray.","Highlights: India and Russia deepen energy, defense ties during Putin's Delhi visit. NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin got straight down to talks on Thursday on boosting nuclear and defense cooperation at a summit aimed at reviving an old friendship that has faded over the years. Putin's one-day visit to India, at which a raft of agreements were signed, comes at a time when Russia is at odds with the West over Ukraine, and its economy is stalling as oil prices tumble to their lowest in five years. ...","Google settles with ex-banker over online abuse. LONDON (AP) — Google has agreed to a settlement with a former Morgan Stanley banker who sued the search engine over defamatory Internet posts.","Health officials: US well-equipped to stop Ebola. WASHINGTON (AP) — The Obama administration is seeking to allay fear about the single confirmed case of Ebola in the United States, saying that despite some initial missteps the health care system is doing what needs to be done to prevent an outbreak.","Mexican victim's family don't blame sea survivor. MEXICO CITY (AP) — A relative of the Mexican fisherman who died during a reported 13-month sea odyssey says family members don't blame the survivor who turned up in the Marshall Islands.","No mega events but plenty on the sporting menu in 2015. By Nick Mulvenney SYDNEY (Reuters) - The lack of an Olympics or a soccer World Cup deprives 2015 of a single global focus for sports fans but a rich calendar of international events has more than enough world class action to satiate even the most refined palate. Tens of millions of cricket obsessives in South Asia will ensure plenty of eyeballs on the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand, while rugby's equivalent is among many contenders for the title of the world's third biggest tournament. The Tour de France, with a worldwide TV audience of 3. ...","Murray, Ferrer, advance to the 2nd round in Mexico. ACAPULCO, Mexico (AP) — David Ferrer and Andy Murray, the top two seeded players in the Mexican Open, advanced to the second round on Tuesday while American and third-seeded John Isner became the first major casualty of the tournament, losing 7-6 (4) 7-6 (5) to Croatia's Ivo Karlovic.","Malaysian PM: Chinese, Filipino hostages rescued. KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Malaysia's leader says a Chinese tourist and a Filipino worker have been rescued nearly two months after they were abducted from a resort off Borneo island.","Shipwrecked Concordia making final voyage off isle. GIGLIO ISLAND, Italy (AP) — The Costa Concordia cruise liner has begun its final voyage, slowly being towed away from the tiny Italian island where it capsized, killing 32 people in 2012.","Ford recalling 100,610 vehicles in North America in six actions. Ford Motor Co said on Tuesday it is recalling 100,610 vehicles in North America in six separate actions. There have been no injuries, crashes or deaths related to this issue or any of the six issues in the half dozen recalls, a Ford spokeswoman said. The front right axle issue is a potential hazard in 2013-2014 Ford Taurus, Flex, and Interceptor models, as well as Lincoln MKS and MKT models, and 2012-2014 Ford Edge and 2014 Lincoln MKX models. About 83,000 of the recalled vehicles are in the United States and federalized territories, along with about 8,200 in Canada and 600 in Mexico, Ford said.","Cricket-Faulkner heroics power Australia to dramatic win. James Faulkner's sensational late assault powered Australia to a dramatic one-wicket victory over England in the second one-day international in Brisbane on Friday. Crushed 5-0 in the Ashes series and thumped in the first one-dayer in Melbourne, England sensed the chance of securing their first win over Australia on the tour after Eoin Morgan's sparkling 106 powered them to a commanding 300 for eight. Australia made a feeble start to their chase but Shaun Marsh contributed 55 before Glenn Maxwell (54) and Faulkner (69 not out) provided the late surge that took the hosts past the victory target with three balls to spare. Facing Tim Bresnan in the final over and still needing 12 runs, Faulkner hammered three fours in a row to trigger wild celebrations around the ground.","White House applauds removal of chemical weapons. WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House says the removal of chemical weapons from Syria will ensure they will never be used against the Syrian people, Americans or U.S. partners around the world.","Israel defence minister lambasts Kerry over security plan. Israel's defence minister has lashed at US Secretary of State John Kerry, saying a security plan he presented is \"not worth the paper it was written on,\" an Israeli newspaper reported Tuesday. \"The American plan for security arrangements that was shown to us... provides neither security nor peace,\" Moshe Yaalon was quoted by Yediot Aharonot as saying. Kerry has tried to push Israelis and Palestinians towards an elusive peace deal after decades of conflict, shuttling back and forth in 10 visits to the region since March. His proposals include a security plan for the Jordan Valley, where the West Bank borders Jordan, including the use of satellite technology to monitor the situation on the ground, local media say.","Celebrities want Obama to link free-trade pact with Japan to stopping its dolphin slaughter. WASHINGTON - A group of American celebrities and other activists want President Barack Obama to refuse to sign an international trade agreement until Japan bans the capture and slaughter of dolphins in the fishing town of Taiji.","Tunisia's first parliament after revolution opens session. TUNIS (Reuters) - Tunisia's first full elected parliament held its opening session on Tuesday with a challenge to implement the democracy its people sought when they marched in the 2011 revolt against autocrat Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali. The country that saw the first of the Arab Spring revolts chose a temporary national assembly in 2011 to draw up the new constitution approved early this year. The full parliament will sit for the next five years. ...","Ukraine peace talks in Minsk on Wednesday and Friday: Poroshenko. A fresh round of peace talks with Ukraine's pro-Russian rebels will take place in the Belarussian capital on Wednesday and Friday, President Petro Poroshenko said after speaking by phone with his French, Russian and German counterparts. \"The heads of state agreed that the next meetings of the trilateral contact group in Minsk will take place on Wednesday and Friday this week,\" said a statement on the president's website.","Ramsey upbeat after signing new Arsenal deal. Aaron Ramsey believes his best is yet to come after signing a new contract with Arsenal that will reportedly keep the Wales midfielder at the north London club until 2018. Ramsey, 23, currently out of action with a thigh injury, hopes to return to full fitness soon and add to his tally of 13 goals so far this season as Arsenal continue their push for the Premier League and FA Cup. This season I've proven a lot of people wrong,\" he told Arsenal Player on Tuesday. Ramsey, who has been joined in signing a new Arsenal deal by Santi Cazorla and promising teenager Gedion Zelalem, added: \"Hopefully now I can get back out onto that pitch as quickly as possible and show what I'm capable of doing and hopefully finish off the season in some style as well.\"","Brazil inspiration for the Ivorian beautiful game. Bouaké (Ivory Coast) (AFP) - As Brazil gears up to host the World Cup Final next month at the legendary Maracana stadium, the Ivory Coast city of Bouake has held its own homage to the beautiful game -- the Maracana Cup. The competition takes its name from the mythical Rio de Janeiro ground, venue for the 1950 World Cup final, which Brazil lost to Uruguay in front of 200,000 tearful fans. A specialised form of Ivorian football, Maracana is played on a small pitch between two sides of six, without goalkeepers. Maracana's inspiration comes straight from Brazil where, in 1973, 20 Ivorian students were given the chance to spend a month's football pilgrimage by then president Félix Houphouet-Boigny.","Enbridge eyes Mainline oil pipe expansion if demand strong. By Julie Gordon and Scott Haggett (Reuters) - Enbridge Inc , Canada's largest pipeline operator, said on Tuesday it may have to build new pipeline capacity from its Superior, Wisconsin, storage hub if oil shipments from Canada and the Bakken shale field of North Dakota keep expanding. Speaking at the company's annual investor day in Toronto, Guy Jarvis, head of the oil pipeline unit, said Enbridge could handle up to 500,000 more barrels per day (bpd) on its 2. ...","Boeing says Dreamliner reliability still not satisfactory. The reliability of Boeing's 787 Dreamliner is slowly improving but it is still not at a satisfactory level and the firm is working to improve the jet's performance, Mike Fleming, Boeing's vice president for 787 support and services said. The Dreamliner's reliability rate is now around 98 percent, meaning that two out of every 100 flights is delayed, above the 97 percent reported in October but still short of the firm's target, Fleming told a news conference in Oslo. \"I'll tell you that's not where we want the airplane to be, we're not satisfied with that reliability level of the airplane, the 777 today flies at 99.4 percent ... and that's the benchmark that the 787 needs to attain,\" Fleming said. The Dreamliner was supposed to be a game-changer for the aviation industry as its lightweight body and sophisticated engines cut fuel consumption by 20 percent.","India internet taxi ban welcome, but provide more transport for women, say activists. NEW DELHI (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Activists on Tuesday called on authorities to ensure women's mobility in the Indian capital did not suffer as the government halted operations of unregistered, web-based taxi firms after a woman reported she was raped by a cab driver.","Image of Asia: Olive ridley turtles head into sea. In this photo by Firdia Lisnawati, released sea turtles make their way into the ocean in Bali, Indonesia, as tourists, schoolchildren and others watch. More than 2,000 baby and two adult protected olive ridley turtles from a breeding center were released as part of a campaign to save the turtles. Turtle meat is a traditional delicacy in Bali, although Indonesia has banned trade and consumption of sea turtles due to concerns about dwindling numbers and the possibility of a tourist boycott. Turtles, especially green and olive ridleys, are among several protected species in the vast nation of 17,000 islands.","Prosecutor says Berlusconi sentence should be community service. A Milan prosecutor on Thursday recommended that former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi should serve his one-year sentence for tax fraud doing community service, as requested by Berlusconi's lawyers, a judicial source said. Berlusconi could in theory be sent to prison or put under house arrest, but as both the prosecutor and his lawyers favor community service, this is the most likely outcome.","Lawmakers urge British leaders to fight harder to prevent Scotland split. British Prime Minister David Cameron was urged by fellow lawmakers on Wednesday to \"drop everything else and fight\" to keep Scotland part of the United Kingdom, two weeks before a referendum vote which polls show is becoming increasingly close. Edward Leigh, a member of Cameron's Conservative party, said that leaders of Britain's three main political parties - all of whom are campaigning against independence - had been complacent that they would win the vote. \"If we were to lose the union, that would not only be a disaster for Scotland but a national humiliation of catastrophic proportions.\" The unionists had enjoyed a healthy lead over independence supporters throughout much of the campaign, but the gap has narrowed since a televised debate last month in which nationalist leader Alex Salmond was judged to have bested his main opponent from the \"Better Together\" campaign. \"In spite of the political differences we have, we agree about one thing: not just that Scotland is better off inside the United Kingdom, but that the United Kingdom is better off with Scotland inside it,\" he said.","England coach: Burgess could be 'real asset'. LONDON (AP) — Sam Burgess' future switch to rugby union was welcomed by England coach Stuart Lancaster, who said the rugby league star will have little time to learn a lot to be considered for the 2015 World Cup.","Nazi graffiti on Stockholm mosque. STOCKHOLM (AP) — Swedish police have opened a hate-crime investigation after swastikas were spray-painted on the entrance of a mosque in downtown Stockholm.","NATO reports spike in Russian military flights. BRUSSELS (AP) — NATO has reported an \"unusual\" spike in Russian military flights over the Black, Baltic and North seas and the Atlantic Ocean during the past two days.","SOCHI SCENE: Surf's up, Sochi. SOCHI, Russia (AP) — Leave it to a skier from California to perfectly capture the spirit of the Sochi Winter Olympics.","Austria prepares to extradite Ukraine oligarch to US. Austrian authorities said Friday that Ukrainian oligarch Dmytro Firtash had been placed in \"extradition custody\", the first step towards a possible extradition to the United States. The Vienna district criminal court said that Firtash, a backer of ousted president Viktor Yanukovych arrested in Austria late Wednesday on the basis of a US arrest warrant, had \"filed an appeal against the decision\". US prosecutors said the arrest and extradition request comes after a years-long Federal Bureau of Investigation probe into \"an alleged international corruption conspiracy\". \"Firtash’s arrest is not related to recent events in Ukraine,\" the US Attorney's office in Chicago said in a statement Friday.","Nadal beats Bolelli 6-2, 6-2 at Swiss Indoors. BASEL, Switzerland (AP) — Rafael Nadal marked his return to the Swiss Indoors after a 10-year absence with a 6-2, 6-2 win over Italian qualifier Simone Bolelli in the first round on Monday.","Qaeda militants kill Yemeni soldiers in multiple raids. Al-Qaeda militants killed 10 Yemeni soldiers in three simultaneous attacks Thursday on army positions in the central province of Bayda, a military official said. \"Al-Qaeda assailants carried out simultaneous attacks against three military positions in Rada\" in Bayda, an extremist stronghold, the official told AFP. Ten soldiers were killed and others wounded, and four soldiers captured, the military source said.","Brazil players told not to wear hats, earrings. SAO PAULO (AP) — Brazil players are being told not to wear hats, earrings or flip-flops while serving the national team under the command of coach Dunga.","Wylys' lawyer warns SEC's $729 million claim would bankrupt them. By Joseph Ax NEW YORK (Reuters) - A lawyer for Texas tycoon Sam Wyly and the estate of his late brother Charles told a federal judge on Friday that a U.S. Harry Susman told U.S.","General Motors seeks more protection from suits. LONDON (AP) — General Motors Co. has filed suit in a U.S. bankruptcy court asking a judge to protect the company from legal claims for actions that took place before it emerged from bankruptcy in 2009.","Balotelli alone may not be enough to keep Italy in. NATAL, Brazil (AP) — Mario Balotelli alone may not be enough to keep Italy in the World Cup.","Vienna's famed dancing stallions put on diet. VIENNA (AP) — It seems that winter flab is not just a human problem: Austria's famed dancing stallions are being put on a diet.","Makeshift schools for Syrian refugee children. SURUC, Turkey (AP) — It's only a blue tent at the back of a refugee camp in the Turkish border town of Suruc. But for dozens of children who study in the makeshift school, it's a glimmer of hope.","Pakistani officials: Airstrikes in northwestern tribal regions kill as many as 100 militants. ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistani officials: Airstrikes in northwestern tribal regions kill as many as 100 militants.","Prosecutors: Boston bomb suspect expected to die. BOSTON (AP) — Federal prosecutors say Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev told his mother he expected to die.","At least 7 killed in central Mexico landslide. MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexican authorities say at least seven people were killed in a landslide unleashed by heavy rain in the central state of Puebla.","India target triple crown at World T20 final. MIRPUR, Bangladesh (AP) — Five things to know about the Indian team that has made Sunday's World Twenty20 final against Sri Lanka:","With an eye on economy and defense, India's Modi expands cabinet. By Frank Jack Daniel and Aditya Kalra NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi beefed up his cabinet on Sunday, appointing a separate defense minister to spur military modernization and free Finance Minister Arun Jaitley to focus on the budget and reforms to revive the economy. Jaitley had run both defense and finance since Modi took office six months ago, leading to criticism that neither of the key departments could be properly led. ...","Popular French PM Valls loses shine as approval ratings slips. French Prime Minister Manuel Valls has slipped below a 50 percent approval rating for the first time since he was nominated in a March cabinet reshuffle, a poll showed on Sunday, as President Francois Hollande remained deeply unpopular. Valls, who replaced ex-PM Jean-Marc Ayrault after the ruling Socialists suffered a bruising defeat in local elections, has presided over an economic policy shift which centered around hefty payroll tax cuts for companies meant to improve their competitiveness. Hollande's score was stuck at 18 percent, confirming him as the most unpopular French president since World War Two as unemployment remained stuck near a record high and France's economic recovery lagged behind European peers. Valls' support level had declined most sharply among center-right voters, with a 19 percent decline in one month, followed by far-left voters, with 13 percent, the poll showed.","21 die, 13 rescued as tourist boat sinks off India's Andaman and Nicobar Islands. NEW DELHI - A boat carrying local tourists capsized Sunday in India's Andaman Sea in the Bay of Bengal, killing 21 people, officials said.","Hantuchova and Cornet advance at Open GDF Suez. PARIS (AP) — Daniela Hantuchova will face top seed Maria Sharapova in the second round of the Open GDF Suez after beating Marina Erakovic on Tuesday.","Iran's elite Guards fighting in Iraq to push back Islamic State. By Babak Dehghanpisheh BEIRUT (Reuters) - In early July, hundreds of mourners gathered for the funeral of Kamal Shirkhani in Lavasan, a small town northeast of the Iranian capital Tehran. The crowd carried the coffin past posters which showed Shirkhani in the green uniform of the elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and identified him as a colonel. Shirkhani did not die in a battle inside Iran. He was killed nearly a hundred miles away from the Iranian border in a mortar attack by the militants of the Islamic State “while carrying out his mission to defend” a revered Shiite shrine in the city of Samarra, according to a report on Basij Press, a news site affiliated with the Basij militia which is overseen by the Revolutionary Guards.","For 23rd time, U.N. nations urge end to U.S. embargo on Cuba. By Mirjam Donath and Louis Charbonneau UNITED NATION (Reuters) - The U.N. General Assembly on Tuesday voted overwhelmingly for the 23rd time to condemn the decades-long U.S. economic embargo against Cuba, with many nations praising the island state for its response in fighting the deadly Ebola virus that is ravaging West Africa. In the 193-nation assembly, 188 countries voted for the nonbinding resolution, titled \"Necessity of Ending the Economic, Commercial and Financial Embargo imposed by the United States of America against Cuba. ...","Turkish miner who survived says company to blame. SAVASTEPE, Turkey (AP) — Miner Erdal Bicak believes he knows why so many of his colleagues died in Turkey's worst mining disaster: company negligence.","Pope kicks off Mideast peace summit of prayer. VATICAN CITY (AP) — Vatican officials insist no political agenda is lurking behind Pope Francis' invitation to the Israeli and Palestinian presidents to pray for peace together in the Vatican gardens.","Germany wins, Portugal loses in Euro qualifiers. LONDON (AP) — Two months after winning the World Cup, Germany began its 2016 European Championship campaign with a 2-1 victory over Scotland on Sunday, while Portugal and Greece both slumped to defeat in their qualifying matches.","British PM begs Scots not to break up 'family of nations'. By Angus MacSwan EDINBURGH (Reuters) - British Prime Minister David Cameron on Wednesday begged Scots not to rip apart the United Kingdom's \"family of nations,\" flying to Scotland to man the barricades against a surge in support for independence eight days before a referendum. He also warned that an independent Scotland could not keep the pound currency, jobs would head south, and the country's security be weakened. Cameron's visit was a sign of the panic that has gripped the British ruling elite over the possible disintegration of the 307-year-old union since two polls in the past showed the campaign for independence, led by Alex Salmond's Scottish National Party, gaining support to run neck-and-neck with the \"No\" campaign, which until a few weeks ago was looking comfortably ahead. There was some relief for unionists when a poll released on Wednesday evening showed 53 percent of Scots would vote against a split, with 47 percent intending to opt for independence - unchanged from its last survey on Aug. 28.","South Africans mark anniversary of Mandela's death. JOHANNESBURG (AP) — South Africans are marking the anniversary of the death of Nelson Mandela. The former statesman died Dec. 5 last year after a long illness at the age of 95.","Sarajevo marks war centennial with message of unity to divided country. By Matt Robinson SARAJEVO (Reuters) - Sarajevo marked the centennial on Saturday of a prince’s murder that lit the fuse for World War One, offering a message of unity to a divided country and a continent buffeted by deep social and economic strife. The centerpiece of a string of cultural and sporting events will be a concert by the Vienna Philharmonic orchestra in the Bosnian capital, where the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne was shot dead with his wife on a bright June morning in 1914. The murder of Franz Ferdinand by a 19-year-old Bosnian Serb called Gavrilo Princip set the Great Powers marching to war. Sarajevo closed the century under siege by Bosnian Serb forces during Yugoslavia's bloody disintegration.","Liverpool beats City 3-2, on course for EPL title. LIVERPOOL, England (AP) — Philippe Coutinho scored a 78th-minute winner as Liverpool beat title rival Manchester City 3-2 in an emotionally charged match at Anfield on Sunday to become the big favorite for the Premier League.","40 countries urge Libya to resolve military crisis. UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Forty countries and three major organizations are urging Libya's feuding parties to work together to peacefully resolve the political and military crisis that has engulfed the north African country.","Spain beats Macedonia 5-1 in 1st Euro qualifier. VALENCIA, Spain (AP) — Spain overcame a nervous start to ease past Macedonia 5-1 with five different goal scorers in its first qualifier for the 2016 European Championship on Monday.","Rights group says Kuwait strips 33 of nationality. KUWAIT CITY (AP) — The Kuwaiti Cabinet stripped citizenship from 33 people this year, including at least three who were vocal critics of the government, Human Rights Watch said Sunday.","Brazil power-broker Silva mulls backing Neves: reports. Brasília (AFP) - Environmentalist Marina Silva, who emerged as a key power-broker after Brazil's first-round election, is leaning toward endorsing business favorite Aecio Neves for president, though it could provoke a rift with her party, reports said Tuesday.","Egypt military denies report that el-Sissi to run. CAIRO (AP) — Egypt's military says the nation's top soldier will, if he decides to run for president, announce his intention in an address to the \"glorious people of Egypt,\" not through a third party.","Ex-UBS bank executive pleads not guilty in tax fraud case. By Zachary Fagenson MIAMI (Reuters) - A former high-ranking UBS banker charged with helping Americans dodge taxes through secret Swiss bank accounts pleaded not guilty to tax fraud conspiracy on Tuesday in federal court in Florida. Raoul Weil, a 54-year-old Swiss citizen and former head of global wealth management at UBS , was charged five years ago with conspiring to help thousands of Americans conceal $20 billion in numbered accounts at the bank. Weil's appearance in federal court in Fort Lauderdale on Tuesday was his second since he was extradited from Italy last month. Lawyers for UBS whistleblower Bradley Birkenfeld, the bank employee who revealed the tax fraud conspiracy to U.S. authorities in 2007, fear that Weil may be negotiating a \"sweetheart deal\" that would spare him a trial and ultimately shield secret account holders and other bankers from prosecution.","Syrian rebels kill 20 troops in tunnel blast. BEIRUT (AP) — Syrian activists say rebels have blown up a tunnel packed with explosives in the northern city of Aleppo, killing at least 20 pro-government fighters.","Amazon stops some Disney movie preorders: WSJ. Amazon.com Inc has halted pre-orders of some Disney movies, the Wall Street Journal reported, in what appears to be another contract dispute after the online retailer began a protracted spat with publisher Hachette Book Group this year. Amazon has been waging a battle against Hachette, the fourth-largest U.S. book publisher, over the price the online retailer can charge for e-books. A group called Authors United ran a two-page ad in the New York Times on Sunday, criticizing Amazon for halting pre-orders from some Hachette authors and slowing delivery of books by Hachette authors. The ad was signed by more than 900 writers, including Stephen King and Donna Tartt.","Strong undersea earthquake hits Indonesia. JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Authorities say a strong, shallow undersea earthquake has hit eastern Indonesia, but there are no immediate reports of injuries.","Police say no action on TV chef Lawson's drug-taking. Police have said they will take no further action against television chef Nigella Lawson after she admitted in court to drug-taking. Claims that Lawson was a habitual cocaine and cannabis user emerged during the trial of two personal assistants who were cleared last month of defrauding Lawson and her ex-husband, the wealthy art collector Charles Saatchi.","Ireland's Labor Party elects Joan Burton as new leader. By Padraic Halpin DUBLIN (Reuters) - Ireland's social protection minister, Joan Burton, was elected new leader of the Labor Party, junior partner in government, on Friday with the task of arresting a collapse in support that led to a local election hammering. Burton takes over from former deputy prime minister Eamon Gilmore, who resigned in May after Labor were punished by voters for implementing an austerity program that has put the country's finances back on track. Burton, the first woman to lead the center-left party, has said she would stick to EU-imposed deficit reduction targets but that austerity had reached its limits in Ireland ahead of the coalition's final round of budget cuts in October. \"Now that we have the economy in something of a better place, the critical thing is to move to have as much attention paid by the government to social recovery as has been paid to stabilizing the economy,\" Burton told reporters.","New Zealand names unchanged team for 1st test. AUCKLAND, New Zealand (AP) — New Zealand has retained the lineup that beat the West Indies in consecutive tests in December for the first of two cricket tests against India starting Thursday at Eden Park.","Cook: India making too much of Anderson incident. LONDON, England (AP) — England captain Alastair Cook believes India is making \"a mountain out of a molehill\" by launching a level three charge against bowler James Anderson for pushing India's Ravindra Jadeja.","NDP, Tories wrongheaded in battle against ATM, banking fees, says critic. OTTAWA - The NDP is pushing for a cap on automated teller fees, while the governing Conservatives promise more no-fee banking — but not everyone is convinced either measure will help much.","Wives, neighbors hold war of words in armed Crimea standoff. By Alissa de Carbonnel PEREVALNOYE, Ukraine (Reuters) - If there is a frontline in Russia's so far bloodless military operation in Ukraine, it is here at a run-down base near a village on a highway through the mountains of Crimea, where Ukrainian troops are holed up, refusing to surrender to hundreds of Russians who have them surrounded. A cluster of men from a nearby village carried Russian flags and periodically chanted \"Russia! Russia!\". Walking away, Ludmila Ivkina mumbled: \"They can shout, 'Russia' all they want, but we can't talk about Ukraine when standing on our own land.\" Another of the women, 22-year-old student Anya Dudnichko, had knotted a ribbon of Ukrainian yellow and blue in her hair. The Ukrainian military contingent in Crimea was far too small to provide armed resistance to Russian forces.","Mali government, northern rebels sign roadmap deal for peace talks. ALGIERS (Reuters) - Mali's government and northern Tuareg-led rebels on Thursday signed an agreement for a roadmap toward an eventual peace deal aimed at ending decades of uprisings in the north. The agreement was signed between the two delegations after a week of talks in the Algerian capital Algiers. The roadmap deal lays out the next steps in negotiations for a peace accord. (Reporting by Hamid Ould Ahmed; Writing by Patrick Markey; Editing by Sonya Hepinstall)","Mexico, California question Texas border troop plan. Mexico's foreign minister and the visiting governor of California questioned Monday plans by Texas to deploy troops to stem the flow of immigrant children, saying they need humanitarian aid instead. Governor Jerry Brown, on a visit focused on boosting trade with California's southern neighbor, said the Texas plan must be a short-term measure and that he hopes \"wiser minds will prevail over the next several months.\" The Democratic politician was referring to a plan announced last week by Texas Governor Rick Perry, a Republican seen as a potential 2016 presidential election candidate, to send 1,000 National Guard reservists to the enormous and porous border US-Mexico border.","UNESCO scuttles claim Haiti wreck was Christopher Columbus's ship. Paris (AFP) - UNESCO on Monday scuttled claims that a wreck found off Haiti was Christopher Columbus's flagship from his first voyage to the Americas after experts determined it was that of a ship from a later period.","Protests hurting Ukraine economy: interim PM. By Natalia Zinets and Jack Stubbs KIEV (Reuters) - The confrontation between opposition-led protesters and the government of President Viktor Yanukovich, and a refusal to agree a compromise, is weighing on the Ukrainian economy, acting prime minister Serhiy Arbuzov said on Wednesday. \"Political instability is putting pressure on the currency market. \"Every day of confrontation and a lack of desire to find a compromise weakens our country economically,\" said Arbuzov, who was appointed after the resignation of Prime Minister Mykola Azarov last week as Yanukovich tried to appease protesters. The data showed the balance of payments recorded a $3.288 billion surplus in December, the month when Russia bought $3 billion of two-year Eurobonds from Ukraine as the first tranche of a financial support package.","Nouvelle Wag: \"White God\" wins Cannes' Palm Dog. CANNES, France (AP) — It could be called the \"Nouvelle Wag.\"","UK sexual violence summit ends on hopeful note. LONDON (AP) — A conference focusing on rape in conflict zones ended on an upbeat note Friday, with hundreds of participants from Somalia to Kosovo encouraged by an outpouring of international support.","New Zealand makes 303-5 in 5th ODI vs. India. WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — New Zealand's Ross Taylor made his second-straight century and Kane Williamson his fifth-consecutive half century as the hosts made 303-5 batting first in Friday's last game of the one-day series against India.","Bento: I won't resign s Portugal coach. BRASILIA, Brazil (AP) — Paulo Bento intends to stay on as Portugal coach even if the team fails to qualify from its World Cup group, saying his tenure will be judged on results at the 2016 European Championship.","MERS or similar virus has been spreading in camels for at least a decade: study. A new study provides the first evidence that MERS or a very similar virus has been spreading in camels in parts of the Middle East for at least a decade.","Hong Kong students storm government HQ to demand full democracy. HONG KONG (Reuters) - Hundreds of pro-democracy activists stormed government headquarters late on Friday after student leaders demanding greater democracy urged them to charge into the compound. Police used pepper spray as the protesters smashed barriers and climbed over fences in chaotic scenes in the heart of the Asian financial center, following Beijing's decision to rule out free elections for the city's leader in 2017. ...","Thirteen Ukrainians dead in pre-election clash with pro-Russia rebels. By Natalia Zinets and Gareth Jones KIEV (Reuters) - Ukraine said more than a dozen servicemen were killed on Thursday in an early morning clash with pro-Russian separatists, fuelling security concerns ahead of a presidential election on Sunday seen as crucial for its fragile democracy. Kiev's pro-Western government said its forces had also rebuffed an attempt by the separatists to enter its territory from Russia, and it called for an emergency session of the U.N. Security Council to discuss Moscow's role in the violence. The government hopes the election will stabilize Ukraine after mass street protests toppled Moscow-backed president Viktor Yanukovich in February, but the separatists have vowed to prevent the poll going ahead in eastern towns where they have seized control.","Poland's Sikorski elected new speaker of parliament. WARSAW (Reuters) - Former Polish foreign minister Radoslaw Sikorski was on Wednesday elected as speaker of the lower house of parliament. An outspoken critic of Russia's interventions in former Soviet republics, Sikorski was for years one of the most high profile Poles on the international stage. Sikorski, who is married to Pulitzer Prize-winning author Anne Applebaum, had been tipped to become the new chief diplomat for the European Union, or secretary-general of NATO, but was overlooked for both jobs. ...","EU peacekeepers take charge at Central African Republic airport. European Union peacekeepers took charge of security at Central African Republic's main airport on Wednesday, easing the burden on French and African troops who are struggling to contain months of sectarian slaughter in the country. Thousands have taken refuge in a sprawling settlement of cardboard shacks and tarpaulins beside the airport in the capital Bangui to escape the violence that has raised fears of further turmoil in a fragile region. French troops formally handed over to the EU peacekeepers, who are also commanded by a French officer, Major-General Philippe Ponties, at the airport, the bloc said in a statement. The European Union launched its peacekeeping force in the former French colony at the beginning of April after weeks of delays caused by shortages of soldiers and equipment.","Hijacked Cuban planes still caught in limbo. KEY WEST, Florida (AP) — At face value, they are three old planes not worth much more their parts and scrap metal. Stolen from the Cuban government during a six-month period ending in April 2003 — two by hijackers, one by its pilot — all three landed at Key West International Airport, a 116-mile (186-kilometer) flight from struggling Havana to the gleaming shores of the U.S.","UN must task W.Sahara peacekeepers with rights monitoring: HRW. Human Rights Watch on Monday urged the Security Council to task UN peacekeepers in Western Sahara with rights monitoring, accusing Morocco of suppressing dissent in the territory it controls. The call, in a letter addressed to the Security Council, comes ahead of the annual vote next week on renewing the mandate of the peacekeeping mission, known as MINURSO. It is a move fiercely opposed by Morocco, which annexed the former Spanish colony in the late 1970s in a move never recognised internationally. On Saturday, King Mohamed VI warned Ban Ki-moon against \"dangerous options\" after the UN chief called for \"sustained, independent and impartial\" human rights monitoring in the disputed region and the refugee camps in western Algeria run by the pro-independence Polisario Front.","Nigeria's Boko Haram kills 29 in village attack: sources. Suspected Boko Haram gunmen have shot dead 29 farm workers as they tilled their fields in a village in the remote northeast, a police source said on Thursday. The source at police headquarters for Borno state, in the heart of the insurgency, said around 10 more people had been wounded in Wednesday's attack on Chukku Nguddoa, in which most of the village, including its grain store, were razed. In the past two months, Boko Haram militants have stepped up their five-year-old campaign to carve an Islamic state out of religiously mixed Nigeria. Bomb attacks are growing more sophisticated, including two on the capital Abuja last month, and massacres of villagers in the area where Boko Haram is based are an almost daily occurrence.","APNewsBreak: Threats bring Afghan girl back to US. LOS ANGELES (AP) — An Afghan girl whose love of painting won the hearts of U.S. doctors who fitted her with a prosthetic arm returned to the United States on Thursday, after the group that sponsored her first visit said it learned her newfound celebrity made her a subject of death threats at home.","South Yemen suicide car bomb kills one. A suicide car bombing at a military intelligence headquarters in southern Yemen Tuesday killed one person and wounded a dozen others, an official said. \"It seems Al-Qaeda is behind the attack,\" he said. Yemen has seen regular attacks on its security forces usually blamed on Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, which remains active in the south and east despite several military campaigns to crush the group.","Explosion at house of Afghan presidential candidate: police. An explosion and gunfire rattled the house of Afghan presidential candidate Ashraf Ghani on Tuesday, a senior police officer said, although Ghani was not there at the time. The Afghan capital is on high alert ahead of an April 5 presidential election which Taliban insurgents have threatened to disrupt through a campaign of bombings and assassination. \"Four people entered Ashraf Ghani's house and there was an explosion followed by gunfire,\" the officer told Reuters. Ghani is a former World Bank official who has picked powerful former Uzbek warlord Abdul Rashid Dostum as his running mate.","NZ wins toss, bowls in 3rd ODI vs. South Africa. HAMILTON, New Zealand (AP) — New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum won the toss and asked South Africa to bat Monday in the third one-day cricket at Seddon Park.","Top Asian News at 8:30 a.m. GMT. MOKPO, South Korea (AP) — An immediate evacuation order was not issued for the ferry that sank off South Korea's southern coast, likely with about 290 people trapped inside, because officers on the bridge were trying to stabilize the vessel after it started to list, a crew member said Thursday. The first instructions from the captain were for the passengers to put on life jackets and stay put, and it was not until about 30 minutes later that he ordered an evacuation, Oh Yong-seok, a 58-year-old crew member told The Associated Press.","Kurds clash with Salafis in Hamburg, 14 injured. BERLIN (AP) — Police in the north German city of Hamburg say 14 people were injured overnight in clashes between Kurdish protesters and members of a hard-line Islamic movement.","Man City draw a 'disaster' - Fernandinho. Manchester City midfielder Fernandinho on Thursday described his side's 2-2 draw at home to the Premier League's bottom club Sunderland as \"a complete disaster\". City were bidding to trim Liverpool's advantage at the top of the table to four points in Wednesday's game, but the draw left them six points off the pace, albeit with another game in hand still to come. Fernandinho put City in front in the second minute against Sunderland, but the hosts needed an 88th-minute equaliser from Samir Nasri after Connor Wickham's late brace threatened to give the visitors a shock win. Having lost their previous game 3-2 at Liverpool, City's form appears to be deserting them at just the wrong moment, but Fernandinho believes his side will bounce back when they host West Bromwich Albion on Monday.","Clashes at end of month-long 'march for dignity' to Madrid. Violence flared as tens of thousands descended on Madrid on Saturday, some having trekked from the furthest corners of Spain, at the end of a month-long \"march for dignity\" against the dire state of the economy. Police responded by firing rubber bullets and charging to disperse the protesters. Seventeen people were arrested and emergency services said 30 police and 41 protesters were wounded. Earlier in the day, eight columns had converged on the capital -- carrying flags from Andalucia in the south, Catalonia in the east, or the Asturias in the northwest -- at the culmination of nearly a month of walking for some of the protesters.","Airbus Group CEO keeping options open on new term. By Tim Hepher AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Airbus Group Chief Executive Tom Enders has ruled out taking another job in aerospace or going into politics when he eventually decides to step down from Europe's largest aerospace group - but is not yet ready to say when that will be. Speaking to Reuters ahead of a shareholders' meeting, the 55-year-old chief executive said he would not begin to address whether to seek a second three-year term before next year. It’s quite hard to move to another job in the aerospace industry if you’ve been the CEO of Airbus Group,\" he said, adding: \"No, I’m not thinking about politics.\" Tuesday's meeting marks the half-way point in Enders' eventful four-year mandate as CEO, which saw a bid for BAE Systems to create the world's largest defense company blocked by German opposition, and an overhaul of company structure designed to curb French and German state influence.","Rising African cachet poses choice for US ties. LUANDA, Angola (AP) — Traveling from lush green hilltops to hot dusty roads and seaside ports, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry asked African nations last week to make a choice: Choose democracy. Embrace economic stability. Reject violence, and move people into the modern world.","Iran criticizes UN chief for rescinding invitation. TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran is criticizing the U.N. chief for rescinding his invitation to Tehran for the Syria peace talks in Geneva, calling the diplomatic about-face \"deplorable.\"","Goldman, Prysmian, Nexans face cable price-fixing fines - sources. By Foo Yun Chee BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Goldman Sachs and world No.1 cablemaker Prysmian will be charged along with France's Nexans and several Japanese cable firms next month by the EU for operating an industry price-fixing cartel, four people with knowledge of the matter said on Friday. The European Commission's competition authority launched the case with raids on the companies more than five years ago. \"The Commission's decision is expected to come before Easter (April 20),\" one of the sources said. Authorities in Japan, South Korea and Australia have already levied million-dollar fines against cable companies for anti-competitive practices, and the United States Department of Justice is also investigating the industry.","Pope calls family of slain American journalist. ROCHESTER, New Hampshire (AP) — Pope Francis has called the family of an American journalist whose videotaped beheading by Islamic State militants has touched off torrents of outrage around the world.","1st woman elected as American Samoa delegate. PAGO PAGO, American Samoa (AP) — Voters in American Samoa have elected the first woman to represent the territory in Congress.","Cambodian opposition cancels rally, avoids clashes. PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) — Cambodia's opposition party has held a symbolic march to avoid possible clashes with authorities, after the government banned it from meeting in one of the capital's public parks.","India set to veer right as world's biggest polls begin. Indian voters, worried about jobs and angry about corruption, look set to turf out the ruling Congress party in the world's biggest election starting Monday in favour of the opposition Hindu nationalists under hardliner Narendra Modi. After 10 years of leftist rule by Congress and the Gandhi family dynasty, surveys show the young and increasingly aspirational electorate yearning for change, frustrated about the country's direction and irked by higher food prices. Modi, a hawkish three-times chief minister from western Gujarat state, is the son of a tea seller who has risen through the ranks of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to become the leading prime ministerial candidate. Though tainted by religious riots and often viewed with hostility by Muslims, the right-winger has marketed himself as an economic reformer intent on rebooting the economy and creating jobs.","Malaysia police probe flight engineer on missing plane. By Niluksi Koswanage KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Malaysian police are investigating a flight engineer who was among the passengers on the missing Malaysia Airlines plane as they focus on the pilots and anyone else on board who had technical flying knowledge, a senior police official said. The aviation engineer is Mohd Khairul Amri Selamat, 29, a Malaysian who has said on social media he had worked for a private jet charter company. \"Yes, we are looking into Mohd Khairul as well as the other passengers and crew. Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak said on Saturday evidence pointed to a deliberate diversion of the flight, given the controlled way it was apparently turned around and flown far to the west of its original route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.","She sold Belgian waffles at the 1964 World's Fair. NEW YORK (AP) — The notion of introducing a new food to the American public is almost inconceivable in an era of TV chefs, global cuisine and foodie websites.","Egypt government resigns, paves way for Sisi to seek presidency. Egypt's government has resigned, the prime minister said on Monday, a step likely to pave the way for army chief Field Marshal Abdel Fattah al-Sisi to declare his candidacy for president of a strategic U.S. ally gripped by political strife. \"(The government) made every effort to get Egypt out of the narrow tunnel in terms of security, economic pressures and political confusion,\" Prime Minister Hazem el-Beblawi said in a live nationwide speech. Beblawi, who was tasked by interim President Adly Mansour with running the government's affairs until the election, did not give a clear reason for the decision. \"This (government resignation) was done as a step that was needed ahead of Sisi's announcement that he will run for president,\" an Egyptian official told Reuters.","Cardiff boss Solksjaer swoops for Eirem. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer made his first signing as Cardiff manager when the Premier League side announced Wednesday his fellow Norwegian Magnus Wolff Eikrem had joined for an undisclosed fee from Dutch side Heerenveen. The 23-year-old Eirem is also a former Manchester United youth team player, where Old Trafford favourite Solskjaer got to know him as a coach. \"I've known Magnus for many years, having worked with him at Manchester United and then signing him for Molde,\" Solskjaer told Cardiff's official website. \"While I was there I had to sell him as he was our best player and now I feel lucky to get to sign him again for Cardiff City for a reasonable price.","Russia central bank in surprisingly big rate hike. MOSCOW (AP) — Russia's central bank has raised its main interest rate by more than anticipated as it tries to stem the ruble's fall.","Malaysia summons US envoy over rights criticism. Malaysia has summoned the US ambassador after both he and US Vice President Joe Biden questioned a government decision to retain and strengthen a controversial law limiting free speech, despite earlier pledging to abolish it. US envoy Joseph Yun was summoned Wednesday, the foreign ministry said, following his comments on the Sedition Act, which Prime Minister Najib Razak promised in 2012 would be binned. The law is used overwhelmingly against opposition politicians and other regime critics. \"Malaysia is disappointed that the US Ambassador has chosen to highlight his unwarranted comments on the decisions of the government,\" the ministry said in a statement late Wednesday.","US tells Iran UN ambassador pick is 'not viable'. The United States said Tuesday it had told Iran the selection of a UN ambassador who is allegedly linked to the 1979 American embassy hostage crisis was \"not viable.\" The disclosure from the White House came a day after the US Senate passed a resolution that would deny the diplomat, Hamid Aboutalebi, a US visa. \"The US government has informed the government of Iran that this potential selection is not viable,\" White House spokesman Jay Carney said.","Former Blackwater guard testifies against friends. WASHINGTON (AP) — Former Blackwater security guard Matthew Murphy and now-indicted ex-colleague Paul Slough were friends. They had survived the war in Iraq together, a bond that under different circumstances might have lasted a lifetime.","2 dead as Canadian aircraft crashes in Andes. BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — Authorities said Monday they have located a Canadian-registered aircraft that crashed high in the Andes in northeast Colombia. Two passengers aboard were killed.","Myanmar police fire shots to end sectarian riot in Mandalay. Myanmar police fired shots on Wednesday to disperse crowds of Buddhists and Muslims facing off in the streets of Mandalay, the country's second-largest city, police sources and a witness said. Myanmar has been racked by violence between the two communities since June 2012. Five people were injured during the rioting in Mandalay, including a police officer, said two officers who requested anonymity as they were not authorized to speak to the media. A witness who lives in the mostly Muslim neighborhood said a Buddhist mob had gathered late on Tuesday after rumors spread that the Muslim owner of a tea shop had raped a Buddhist woman.","Japan urges compromise with US to spur trade pact. WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. and Japan should reach a compromise in bilateral trade negotiations to help conclude a trans-Pacific free trade pact by year's end, a senior Japanese official said Tuesday.","Roadside bombing kills 7 Afghan police officers. KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Authorities in Afghanistan say a roadside bombing has killed seven police officers in a western province.","North Korea rescinds US envoy's invitation. North Korea has cancelled a US envoy's visit to discuss the fate of a Korean American imprisoned there, and civil rights leader Jesse Jackson offered to travel instead, American officials said. No reason was given for Pyongyang's decision to rescind Ambassador Robert King's invitation. But State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki stressed Sunday that North Korea had promised last year it would not use jailed Christian missionary Kenneth Bae as a \"political bargaining chip.\" Bae, a US citizen and tour operator described by a North Korean court as a militant Christian evangelist, was arrested in November 2012 and later sentenced to 15 years' hard labor on charges of seeking to topple the government.","Hong Kong tycoon Li Ka-shing calls on protesters to go home. HONG KONG (Reuters) - Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-shing on Wednesday urged pro-democracy protesters who have occupied the heart of the city for more than two weeks to go home to their families, a day after 45 people were arrested following clashes with police. Li, Asia's richest man and chairman of property developer Cheung Kong (Holdings) Ltd, also said in a statement that if Hong Kong's rule of law broke down it would be the \"greatest sorrow\" for the Chinese-controlled city. ...","Djibouti says Somali pair suspected of bombing restaurant filled with Western military. By Abdourahim Arteh DJIBOUTI (Reuters) - Djibouti's Interior Ministry said on Sunday that two Somalis are suspected of having carried out a suicide bombing at a restaurant filled with Western military personnel on Saturday that killed three and wounded at least 15. Several members of European Union naval and civilian maritime security missions were among those wounded in the attack, including three members of the Spanish military airforce. Djibouti, host to a French military base and the only U.S. military base in Africa, shares its southern border with Somalia where the al Qaeda-linked group Al Shabaab continues to flourish as the government struggles to impose any order. Al Shabaab is active inside Somalia but has also carried out gun and bomb attacks abroad.","Dutch lawmaker to be prosecuted for hate speech. THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — Dutch authorities say they will prosecute lawmaker Geert Wilders for hate speech over a chant in which he asked his supporters whether they wanted more or fewer Moroccans in the Netherlands and they shouted back \"Fewer! Fewer! Fewer!\"","French, Dutch hostages held by Qaeda appeal in video. PARIS (Reuters) - Al Qaeda's north African arm, AQIM, has issued a video of a French national and a Dutch national they are holding hostage in which the two men urge their respective governments to negotiate for their release. The video, posted on a popular jihadi forum by al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb's media branch, is divided into two scenes showing each hostage in a different location. ...","US drone attacks, destroys armed truck in Iraq. WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. military officials say a drone aircraft attacked and destroyed an armed truck operated by Islamic militants west of the village of Sinjar in northern Iraq.","Tennis - Aussie teen Kyrgios advances in Toronto. - Australian teenager Nick Kyrgios defeated Santiago Giraldo 7-6 (7/3), 7-5 on Tuesday at the ATP Toronto Masters to set up a second-round meeting with Andy Murray.","Stacy Lewis leads Swinging Skirts LPGA Classic. DALY CITY, California (AP) — Stacy Lewis matched 17-year-old playing partner Lydia Ko with birdies on Nos. 15 and 16 and added another on the 17th to take a one-stroke lead Saturday in the Swinging Skirts LPGA Classic.","Delhi's new leader battles India's age-old VIP perks. By Alistair Scrutton NEW DELHI (Reuters) - For years, India's senior politicians have resided in the capital's most luxurious colonial-era bungalows, protected by gun-toting police and chauffeur-driven cars running red lights with sirens blazing - even if it was for a wife's shopping trip. Now, these symbols have come under attack after bespectacled former tax collector Arvind Kejriwal, head of the anti-corruption Common Man's Party, shocked India by becoming chief minister of Delhi state in local elections last month.","Ronaldo scores, Madrid wins 1-0 at Malaga. BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Cristiano Ronaldo scored his Spanish league-leading 25th goal to give Real Madrid a lackluster 1-0 win at Malaga on Saturday, when the pacesetters extended their unbeaten run to 30 consecutive matches in all competitions.","China, US data keep a lid on global stocks. LONDON (AP) — Lackluster economic data out of China and the U.S. offset a string of positive developments in Europe to keep a lid on global stock markets on Wednesday following a strong run, particularly on Wall Street.","Special Report: In 'Umbrella Revolution,' China confronts limits of its power. By David Lague , James Pomfret and Greg Torode HONG KONG (Reuters) - In the heart of Mong Kok, one of the most densely populated districts on earth, an abandoned Hong Kong police van is enveloped in the student-led demonstrations paralyzing swathes of the city. Along with yellow ribbons and flowers, symbols of the city’s pro-democracy movement, protesters have taped a hand-written placard in Chinese and English to the side of the locked and undamaged vehicle. “We can’t accept the Hong Kong police becoming the Gong An,” it reads - a reference to China’s feared Public Security Bureau, which enjoys virtually unfettered powers on the mainland. The stranded police vehicle and the protesters’ warning encapsulate the dilemma that the mass protests pose for China’s rulers and the authorities in Hong Kong.","Others may follow RBC rate cut, but change isn't precedent setting. TORONTO - A move by Royal Bank to slightly decrease its fixed mortgage rates may have would-be homeowners wondering whether other banks may follow suit.","Vimeo urges Indonesia to reconsider its ban. JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Video sharing site Vimeo has written to the Indonesian government asking that it reconsider the block it has put on its platform.","South Korea recalls striker Park for friendlies. SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea coach Uli Stielike recalled former Arsenal striker Park Chu-young to the national team for friendlies this month against Jordan and Iran.","SOCHI SCENE: Keeping the focus. SOCHI, Russia (AP) — A video of the punk band Pussy Riot being assaulted by Russian authorities under a sign that reads \"Sochi 2014\" is garnering worldwide attention. A Ukrainian skier has pulled out of the Olympics as a political statement against the violence in Kiev. A gay activist drew headlines earlier in the week after being led away from Olympic Park.","Morocco suing French anti-torture group. PARIS (AP) — A French anti-torture organization being sued by the Moroccan government said Wednesday the action was an attempt by the North African kingdom to discourage future lawsuits against those responsible for torture.","Hundreds of police swarm Rio favelas. Hundreds of police troops took up position in two volatile Rio de Janiero favelas Saturday, part of a drive to clean up the city for the June-July World Cup and the 2016 Olympics. The favelas in Rio's north, Complexo do Alemao and Penha, are among those authorities say they have \"pacified,\" but a renewed uptick in organized crime and violence in recent weeks has regularly targeted police and security forces. Rio Governor Sergio Cabral said that he was in \"no doubt it is an orchestrated action by criminals to kill police officers.\" Four hundred police officers, among them special forces decked out in black, \"formed a security cordon\" in Complexo do Alemao and Penha, said Colonel Frederico Caldas.","U.S. and China look to manage differences, cooperate against threats. By David Brunnstrom BOSTON (Reuters) - America and China's top diplomats stressed the need to manage differences and cooperate against global threats including Islamic State and Ebola, as they sought to warm the mood between their countries ahead of a summit next month. \"There are many areas that the United States and China are cooperating on, even as we have some differences that we try to manage effectively,\" U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry told reporters in Boston on Saturday before a second day of talks with China's State Councilor Yang Jiechi. ...","Mudslide kills man as rain and flooding engulf northern Italy. ROME (Reuters) - A landslide killed one man and seriously injured another in Italy on Wednesday, a local emergency service said, as floods continued to engulf northern parts of the country and heavy rain persists. A fire department official in the northwestern province of Biella, in the Piedmont region, said the fire service was too busy for him to give any further details. Local media said the man was about 70 years old and was killed near his home. ...","Hackers invoke 9/11 in new chilling Sony threat. Hackers invoked the 9/11 attacks in their most chilling threat yet against Sony Pictures, warning cinema-goers not to see a film which has angered North Korea. The threat -- which was downplayed by US authorities -- came as lawyers filed a class action suit against the embattled studio, claiming it had failed to protect employees' data, stolen in a massive cyber-attack three weeks ago. In a new statement cited by US media, the so-called GOP (Guardians of Peace) hacking group announced the start of a \"Christmas gift,\" including leaked emails from Sony boss Michael Lynton. Specifically, it warned movie-goers against seeing \"The Interview,\" the Sony comedy starring James Franco and Seth Rogen about a fictional CIA plot to assassinate North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un.","Catholic group says reformed after abuse scandals. The Legionaries of Christ, a Catholic movement whose founder was a sexual predator, on Tuesday said they had managed to change with Vatican support, but one abuse victim told AFP the group was an \"unreformable sect\". \"The Legionaries have reconciled with themselves,\" Italian cardinal Velasio de Paolis, who was appointed by the Vatican to lead the troubled movement in 2010, said at mass following weeks of meetings near Rome. The congregation was created in 1941 by Marcial Maciel, who sexually abused seminarians and fathered at least three children despite his vow of chastity. The congregation last year said it had found a total of nine of its priests guilty of sexual abuse of minors including Maciel.","Poulter leads by 6 shots in Turkey. BELEK, Turkey (AP) — Ian Poulter completed a second-round 66 Saturday to take a six-shot lead at the Turkish Airlines Open.","US-led strikes pound jihadists in Iraq, Syria. US-led warplanes bombarded the Islamic State group Friday with new air strikes as heavily armed Iraqi Kurdish fighters were set to reinforce the besieged Syrian border town of Kobane. Kurdish forces, backed by US air power, have been holding out for weeks against an IS offensive around Kobane, which has become a high-profile symbol of efforts to stop the advance of the jihadists. The Kurdish regional government in northern Iraq unveiled plans on Friday for up to 200 well-trained peshmerga to join Syrian Kurdish forces defending Kobane in the coming week. Kurdish news agency Rudaw said the first contingent could head to the town as early as Sunday but there was no immediate confirmation of that timetable.","Petkovic loses in first round in Luxembourg. LUXEMBOURG (AP) — Top-seeded Andrea Petkovic of Germany exited the Luxembourg Open in the first round on Tuesday, losing 6-4, 6-2 to Pauline Parmentier.","Obama: no need yet for more U.S. military aid to Ukraine. By Jeff Mason WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama said on Wednesday Ukraine did not need additional military assistance to help fight insurgents in the eastern part of the country but a Russian invasion would raise \"a different set of questions.\" Obama's comments came after NATO said on Wednesday Russia had massed some 20,000 troops on Ukraine's border and could use the pretext of a humanitarian mission to invade. At a news conference at the conclusion of a U.S.-Africa summit in Washington, Obama was asked whether the United States would reconsider sending lethal aid to Ukraine. \"Now if you start seeing an invasion by Russia, that's obviously a different set of questions. Obama said the United States would continue to work on a day-by-day, week-by-week basis to determine what Ukraine needed to defend itself against separatists who were backed by Moscow.","OCED says Chile has widest inequality gap. SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) — Chile has the widest gap between rich and poor among the 34 countries of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development.","Carter has unfinished business at Rugby World Cup. LONDON (AP) — Dan Carter has unfinished business at the Rugby World Cup.","Liberals withdraw from Romanian coalition government. Romania's ruling Liberal Party voted to pull its ministers out of the coalition government of leftist Prime Minister Victor Ponta on Tuesday, after a series of squabbles that has dogged the alliance in recent weeks. \"We voted overwhelmingly by 96 percent to pull out our ministers from the cabinet,\" Health Minister Eugen Nicolaescu told Reuters.","BRAZIL BEAT: World Cup gets 1st scoreless draw. CURITIBA, Brazil (AP) — The very first day of the 2010 World Cup, both games ended as draws — one of them scoreless.","Historic Canadian ski movies by Hans Gmoser restored. BANFF, Alta. - The auditorium lights dim and as classical music begins to sing over the loudspeakers, a tall, handsome man in a ski sweater with an air of the outdoors about him steps onstage.","Robbers ambush Saudi prince's convoy in Paris. PARIS (AP) — Armed robbers ambushed a Saudi prince's diplomatic convoy on its way to an airport commonly used for private jets, raiding a Mercedes for valuables then torching and abandoning the vehicle, police and prosecutors said Monday.","Iraqi security forces recapture large sections of Dhuluiya town. BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraqi security forces and pro-government militias took control of large parts of the Tigris River town of Dhuluiya north of Baghdad on Monday from Islamic State fighters, police and army sources said. The assault, which began on Sunday and ran into Monday, enabled militia fighters and Iraqi army and federal police to break the militants' siege of the town 70 km (45 miles) north of Baghdad. Iraq's Shi'ite-led government, backed by U.S. ...","Stocks boosted by stronger European growth data. KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Stock markets pushed higher on Friday after new figures showed the European economic recovery gathered speed at the end of 2013.","Four men found guilty of gang-raping photojournalist in Mumbai. By Shilpa Jamkhandikar and Shyamantha Asokan MUMBAI/NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Four men were found guilty on Thursday of the gang-rape of a photojournalist last year in Mumbai, an attack that sparked street protests in the city and raised fresh questions about attitudes to women in the world's largest democracy. Women's safety in India has been under the spotlight since the gang-rape and murder of a student on a bus in Delhi in 2012, which provoked nationwide protests and the introduction of tougher sexual assault laws, yet an ongoing stream of high-profile attacks has raised concerns that little has changed. The four men convicted of gang-rape are due to be sentenced on Friday, prosecution lawyer Ujjwal Nikam told reporters outside the Mumbai court where the case was heard. \"Today's verdict will send a strong message to criminals,\" R. R. Patil, home minister for Maharashtra, the state where Mumbai is located, told reporters outside the court.","Study finds Fukushima radioactivity in tuna off Oregon, Washington. By Shelby Sebens PORTLAND Ore. (Reuters) - A sample of albacore tuna caught off the shores of Oregon and Washington state have small levels of radioactivity from the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan, researchers said on Tuesday. But authors of the Oregon State University study say the levels are so small you would have to consume more than 700,000 pounds of the fish with the highest radioactive level to match the amount of radiation the average person is annually exposed to in everyday life through cosmic rays, the air, the ground, X-rays and other sources. Still, the findings shed some light about the impact of the meltdown on the Pacific Ocean following the March 2011 tsunami and subsequent power plant disaster, said Delvan Neville, a graduate research assistant at OSU and lead author of the study. “I think people would rather have an answer on what is there and what isn’t there than have a big question mark,” Neville said. At the most extreme, radiation levels tripled from fish tested before Fuskushima and fish tested after.","Gaza health officials say 15 killed in Israeli airstrike near mosque. GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — Gaza health officials say 15 killed in Israeli airstrike near mosque.","Iraq airport official arrested over Lebanon flight row. The deputy head of Baghdad airport was arrested after a Lebanese airliner that left Beirut without the Iraqi transport minister's son was ordered mid-flight to turn back, the premier's spokesman said Friday. Samer \"Kubba was arrested... because his action was wrong and harmful to the prestige of the Iraqi state,\" Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's spokesman Ali Mussawi told AFP. Lebanon's Middle East Airlines said Thursday that Iraqi authorities forced its Baghdad-bound flight to turn around some 20 minutes out of Beirut because Transport Minister Hadi al-Ameri's son, Mahdi, had missed the flight. \"About 20 minutes after take-off, Middle East Airlines was informed by its Baghdad office that the plane would be prevented from landing by local civil aviation officials if a passenger was not on board.\"","Cypriots mark 40th anniversary of invasion. NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) — With a celebratory parade on one side and memorial services on the other, the two sides of divided Cyprus marked the 40th anniversary of Turkey's invasion that cleaved the island along ethnic lines.","Egypt court jails 126 Brotherhood supporters. CAIRO (Reuters) - An Egyptian court sentenced 126 Muslim Brotherhood supporters to 10 years in prison each on Sunday, state TV reported, in a case related to violence in the Nile Delta province of Kafr el-Sheikh last August after the overthrow of president Mohamed Mursi. The defendants chanted \"down with military rule\" as Judge Hassan Fareed read out the sentences at the court convened at a police academy in Cairo, a witness said. The charges against the defendants included membership of a terrorist group. (Writing by Tom Perry; Editing by Michael Georgy)","CANNES WATCH: Lupita, Kendall wow; Amy, MJ sell. CANNES, France (AP) — The Associated Press is all over the Cannes Film Festival — from its glitzy premieres to the celeb parties and quirky moments in between. Here's what reporters have seen and heard:","Beds scarce, staff scarcer, in Liberia's overrun Ebola wards. Monrovia (AFP) - They carry photos, bags of food -- and hope. But what the families idling at the gate of this Ebola centre in Monrovia lack is news of the fate of their sick loved ones inside.","Protesters in east Ukraine storm prosecutor office. DONETSK, Ukraine (AP) — Anti-government demonstrators in one of eastern Ukraine's main cities have stormed the local prosecutor's office.","India police fire water cannon at gang-rape protesters. Lucknow (India) (AFP) - Indian police fired water cannon on Monday at a group of mainly women protesting against the gang-rape and lynching of two girls in the country's largest state. Several hundred protesters were demanding an end to violence against women outside the office of the chief minister of the state of Uttar Pradesh, when riot police tried to disperse the crowd by hosing them, footage broadcast on Indian television showed. The protests came amid a growing uproar over last week's killings in Uttar Pradesh, with the United Nations saying violence against women should be regarded as a matter of basic human rights. \"There should be justice for the families of the two teenaged girls and for all the women and girls from lower caste communities who are targeted and raped in rural India,\" said Lise Grande, the UN's resident coordinator for India.","Israel hits Syria army post after 'errant' fire. The Israeli army said it struck a Syrian military position on Thursday after presumed \"errant fire\" hit the Israeli-occupied sector of the Golan Heights. A military spokeswoman told AFP it hit an open field without causing any damage or harm to anyone. \"Initial reviews suggest that this was a result of errant fire from the internal fighting in Syria,\" the statement said. \"In response, the IDF (Israel Defence Forces) targeted a Syrian army position.","Spanish university to probe 'horror chamber' find. MADRID (AP) — A Spanish university says it is investigating how dozens of bodies donated to medical science came to be piled up in a campus basement, following newspaper publication of grotesque images of the remains dumped in what the daily said resembled a chamber of horrors.","NSA collects all phone calls in a foreign country. WASHINGTON (AP) — The National Security Agency has been recording all of a foreign country's phone calls, then listening to the conversations up to a month later, The Washington Post reported Tuesday.","Italy rescues 1,800 more migrants from boats in rough seas. Italian navy and coastguard vessels have rescued around 1,800 more people from boats in rough seas off Sicily, authorities said on Friday, as the chronic migrant crisis continued around the southern island. More than 20,000 migrants have arrived by sea in Italy though North Africa and the Middle East so far this year, adding to a movement of people which has intensified since the \"Arab Spring\" upheavals of 2011 and the civil war in Syria. The Italian navy said a coastguard patrol aircraft spotted several boats in difficulty in the waters between Sicily and Tunisia on Thursday and a number of military and coastguard vessels went to the scene, as well as two civilian tugboats. The latest arrivals come on top of more than 1,000 migrants picked up earlier in the week.","Uganda: 9 bodies found after tribal clashes. KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) — A Ugandan police official says nine bodies have been discovered buried under four different sites in an ongoing investigation of mass graves in a western part of the country that had tribal violence recently.","Pearson celebrates Comm Games gold, exit of coach. GLASGOW, Scotland (AP) — Draped in an Australian flag, a gold medal round her neck, Olympic champion Sally Pearson was ready to unload her frustrations.","SOCHI SCENE: Winter Games, sunny skies. SOCHI, Russia (AP) — Sochi's seaside weather is making scarves and overcoats unnecessary. AP photographer Morry Gash even caught this woman lying in the sun outside the Swiss House.","Passenger train derails in northern India; 42 hurt. GAUHATI, India (AP) — A passenger train derailed in northeastern India early Wednesday, and dozens of passengers suffered mostly minor injuries.","Mexico prosecutor: 3 soldiers charged with homicide in army killing of 22 gang suspects. MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico prosecutor: 3 soldiers charged with homicide in army killing of 22 gang suspects.","Fourth person charged in Oklahoma killing of Australian athlete. By Heide Brandes OKLAHOMA CITY (Reuters) - An Oklahoma man was charged on Monday as an accessory after the fact in connection with the killing last summer of an Australian athlete who had been attending a state university, prosecutors said. Oddesse Barnes, 22, was the fourth person charged in the killing of Christopher Lane, a Melbourne resident who was shot in the back while out jogging in Duncan, Oklahoma, a town about 80 miles south of Oklahoma City, prosecutors said. No additional details about the charge brought by the Stephens County District Attorney's office were immediately available on Monday. Three teens were charged as adults with first-degree murder in Lane's killing last August: James Edwards Jr., Michael Dewayne Jones and Chancey Allen Luna.","Jordan says safe despite role in anti-IS coalition. Amman (AFP) - Jordan, which has joined a US-led coalition waging air strikes on the Islamic State group, said Sunday it has secured the country's borders against \"any threat\".","Obama to meet with India's Modi on Sept. 29-30. WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House says President Barack Obama will welcome India's new prime minister, Narendra Modi , to the White House for a Sept. 29-30 visit aimed at repairing frayed relations between their countries.","Lufthansa pilots' union threatens new strikes. BERLIN (AP) — A union representing pilots at Germany's Lufthansa says talks aimed at resolving a dispute over early retirement benefits have broken down and is threatening further strikes.","Guerrero gets new gov. after Mexico disappearances. ACAPULCO, Mexico (AP) — A sociologist and former university administrator has been named governor of Guerrero, a state in southern Mexico that has been rocked by protests over the disappearance of 43 college students who were last seen in police custody.","Tens of thousands stage Hong Kong pro-gov't rally. HONG KONG (AP) — Tens of thousands of people, many wearing red as a sign of their patriotism to China, took part in a demonstration march in Hong Kong on Sunday to protest a planned civil disobedience campaign by pro-democracy activists in the city.","Yemen: Simultaneous attacks leave 9 dead. SANAA, Yemen (AP) — Yemeni security officials say at least two simultaneous attacks by suspected al-Qaida militants on security forces in a province south of the capital Sanaa left nine people killed, including four assailants.","South Africa rejects hosting Africa Nations Cup. Johannesburg (AFP) - South Africa is not ready to host the Africa Cup of Nations in January if Morocco withdraws because of the Ebola epidemic, Sports Minister Fikile Mbalula said Monday.","Jayawardene looking good in Sri Lanka Test warm-up. Northampton (United Kingdom) (AFP) - Mahela Jayawardene was in typically fine touch as Sri Lanka faced Northamptonshire ahead of next week's first Test against England at Lord's. Sri Lanka, whose captain for the match Lahiru Thirimanne had won the toss, were 103 for two at lunch on the first day of this four-day fixture at Northampton. Opener Kaushal Silva had made a composed 38 not out off 86 balls in two hours at the crease but Jayawardene's unbeaten 35 had taken him just 33 balls, including six fours. Northamptonshire, struggling at the foot of the First Division of the County Championship table with five defeats from six matches, did manage an early breakthrough.","Kremlin to 'protect Russian cyberspace from unpredictable West'. Moscow (AFP) - Russia is considering measures to protect its cyberspace from the \"unpredictable\" West, President Vladimir Putin's spokesman said on Friday after a newspaper said Moscow was contemplating unplugging the Internet during protests or war.","At least 2 people appear to be injured in Sydney hostage situation as police swarm in. SYDNEY (AP) — At least 2 people appear to be injured in Sydney hostage situation as police swarm in.","World stocks hit by eurozone, emerging market woes. LONDON (AP) — Global stocks fell on Friday after a drop in eurozone inflation showed the recovery is still weak there and concern persisted over the outlook for emerging economies.","Qatar pares support for Islamists but careful to preserve ties. By Amena Bakr DOHA (Reuters) - Qatar has joined the American-led coalition to fight Islamic State, yet the emirate is a haven for anti-Western groups and foreign diplomats have reported seeing cars with Islamic State logos in an affluent bay district. When the United States sought allies against Islamic State in Sept, Qatar was among the Gulf Arab states that sent its warplanes into action. In fact, a security source close to the government said, its planes did attack Islamic State targets in Syria later in the campaign, although that has not been officially confirmed.","TD Bank's outgoing CEO urges tighter Canada lending rules. By Jeffrey Hodgson TORONTO (Reuters) - The Canadian government should tighten lending rules further to discourage consumers from taking on too much debt in an environment of low interest rates, the outgoing chief executive of Toronto-Dominion Bank said on Tuesday. Ed Clark, who will step down as CEO of Canada's No 2 lender in November, said the central bank's low interest rates were appropriate given the economic outlook, but this meant the federal government should use administrative measures to check a jump in household debt that's come amid a housing boom. ...","Britain says Russia faces extension of sanctions over Ukraine. Russia faces an extension of sanctions because of the Kremlin's refusal to support a process aimed at easing tensions in Ukraine, Prime Minister David Cameron's spokesman said on Friday. U.S. President Barack Obama held a conference call on Friday with Cameron, French President Francois Hollande, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi. \"While they continued to hold open the door to a diplomatic resolution of this crisis, based on the Geneva agreement, the five leaders agreed that in the light of Russia's refusal to support the process, an extension of the current targeted sanctions would need to be implemented, in conjunction with other G7 leaders and with European partners,\" Cameron's spokesman said in a statement.","Japan, U.S. make 'bit of progress' in trade talks - Japanese official. The United States and Japan made some progress on resolving a deadlock over tariffs on farm and industrial exports which is dragging on a wider Pacific trade deal, a senior Japanese official said on Wednesday. Plans for a free trade agreement among 12 Pacific Rim nations, the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), have been bogged down amid a stand-off between the United States and Japan over market access. Oe suggested Japan was in no hurry to compromise to get a deal before a planned visit to Japan by U.S. President Barack Obama's in late April. The United States had hoped to complete the TPP, which includes Canada, Mexico, New Zealand, Malaysia and others, by the end of last year but many issues are still on the table.","Asylum seeker dies in violent protest at PNG camp. CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — A violent protest culminated in a breakout from an immigrant detention camp Australia runs in Papua New Guinea where one asylum seeker was killed and scores were hurt, an Australian official said Tuesday.","Peacekeepers recapture rebel-held Central African town. Bangui (Central African Republic) (AFP) - Peacekeepers in the Central African Republic said Saturday they had recaptured the key town of Sibut from rebel fighters, while their mission received pledges of $132 million dollars from African countries. The commander of the African Union force told state radio his troops had taken control of the town from former members of the mainly Muslim Seleka rebellion, leaders of a March 2013 coup that plunged the country in chaos. \"As I speak, MISCA has taken control of the town of Sibut,\" said General Tumenta Chomud, referring to the force of around 5,500 peacekeepers deployed in the country.","Deutsche Bank clears co-CEO Jain in internal Libor probe: report. Deutsche Bank has concluded co-Chief Executive Anshu Jain is clean after an internal investigation into the role of the bank into the manipulation of global interest rates, German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung reported. Citing supervisory board sources, the paper reported that the internal probe had cleared Jain of involvement in the Libor scandal after scrutinizing bank documents and interviewing hundreds of Deutsche Bank employees. A Deutsche Bank spokesman declined to comment. Deutsche Bank, embroiled in a number of scandals, is working through a long list of investigations and fines that have resulted from the global financial crisis.","Canada introduces law banning polygamist immigrants. Canada's Immigration Minister Chris Alexander Wednesday unveiled plans to ban entry to migrants who practice polygamy and what he termed \"barbaric cultural practices.\" \"We are strengthening our laws to protect Canadians and newcomers to Canada from barbaric cultural practices,\" Alexander said in a statement. \"We are sending a strong message to those in Canada and those who wish to come to Canada that we will not tolerate cultural traditions in Canada that deprive individuals of their human rights.\" The sweeping changes to Canada's immigration act would also prohibit forced marriages, set a minimum age for marriage at 16 and limit possible defenses in \"honor\" killings and many spousal murders.","As seas rise, Pacific island president favors buying land abroad. By Alister Doyle OSLO, Sept 22 (Reuters) - The president of the Pacific island state of Kiribati favors buying more land abroad after a purchase in Fiji, to secure both food supplies and perhaps a future home if rising sea levels swamp low-lying atolls. Anote Tong, in Norway on a stopover to view melting Arctic ice pushing up sea levels before he attends a U.N. climate summit in New York on Tuesday, said he wanted to lay conditions for \"migration with dignity\" from the islands. ...","Ukraine upends Poland's EU election campaign. The Ukraine crisis has shifted Poland's campaign for next month's European elections, boosting the governing centre-right party's chances as its prime minister reassures voters nervous about Russia's next move. \"Issues relating to Ukraine and Poland's security have become essential in this EU election campaign, pushing matters of domestic politics into the background,\" political marketing specialist Eryk Mistewicz told AFP. Emigration, unemployment, pension and healthcare reform, education system issues and the spending of EU funds have all been overshadowed by talks with NATO allies and criticism of Russia in the run-up to May's European Parliament vote, he said. Appearing on television against the backdrop of a F-16 fighter jet and facing a row of Polish and US troops at the Lask air base in western Poland, Prime Minister Donald Tusk offered reassurance on Monday.","Israel issues tenders for 283 homes in W.Bank settlement. Israel said Friday it published tenders for 283 new homes in a West Bank settlement, just days after announcing its biggest land grab on occupied Palestinian territory for three decades. The expansion of the Elkana settlement, in the northwest of the West Bank, was approved in January and the tenders published Thursday, Israel's Land Authority said on its website. It came after Israel announced Sunday its biggest land grab in the West Bank since the 1980s, saying it planned to expropriate 400 hectares (988 acres) of land in the south of the territory, between the cities of Bethlehem and Hebron.","Egypt's Sisi turns Islam on the Islamists. By Tom Perry CAIRO (Reuters) - As the Egyptian state presses its crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood, the man expected to become president has deployed a new weapon in the battle with the Islamists: his own vision of Islam. Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, the former army chief who deposed the Brotherhood's Mohamed Mursi and is expected to be elected president later this month, has cast himself as a defender of religion and taken aim at the doctrinal foundations of Islamist groups the state is seeking to crush. Striking a pious tone that sets him apart from former president Hosni Mubarak, Sisi also appears to be taking on the mantle of a religious reformer. He has blamed outdated \\\\\"religious discourse\\\\\" for holding back Egypt.","Bahrain Shiites protest as Grand Prix practice begins. Thousands of Shiite Muslims turned out peacefully Friday to call for political reforms in Bahrain, as practice began for this year's Formula 1 Grand Prix in the Sunni-ruled Gulf kingdom. The influential Shiite opposition bloc Al-Wefaq had called for a rally Friday on the main Budaya highway, four kilometres (2.5 miles) west of Manama, which links several Shiite villages. Al-Wefaq leader Sheikh Ali Salman had urged supporters to protest \"peacefully... and exploit the presence of (foreign) media attending the F1... so the world could hear the voice of the opposition and its demands and the oppression we suffer from in our country\". The gathering passed off without incident, as demonstrators waved Bahrain's red and white flag and chanted their demands while avoiding direct reference to the race, which runs through the weekend.","China downplays visit of Taiwan African ally that upsets Taipei. China shrugged off Taiwan's concern over the visit of the president of Taiwan diplomatic ally Sao Tome and Principe on Wednesday, saying it was a private visit and that not too much should be read into it. The former Portuguese colony is among a few African nations, along with Burkina Faso and Swaziland, that recognize self-ruled Taiwan over China. China regards Taiwan as a renegade province to be recovered by force if necessary. The two sides have engaged in an unofficial diplomatic truce since signing a series of landmark trade and economic agreements in 2008, as China tries to convince Taiwan of its friendly intentions after decades of hostility and suspicion.","England keeps same squad for 5th test vs India. LONDON (AP) — After thrashing India in the fourth test, England has kept the same 13-man squad for the fifth and final test starting Friday at the Oval.","Nurse in Spain gets Ebola, raising global concern. NEW YORK (AP) — In a case underscoring the perils of caring for Ebola patients, a nurse in Spain has contracted the disease — the first time the virus has spread outside West Africa during the current epidemic.","US sending 2 warships to Japan to counter NKorea. TOKYO (AP) — U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel delivered a two-pronged warning to Asia Pacific nations Sunday, announcing that the U.S. will send two additional ballistic missile destroyers to Japan to counter the North Korean threat, and saying China must better respect its neighbors.","Pakistan government splits protests, some march on capital, some blocked. By Mubasher Bukhari LAHORE Pakistan (Reuters) - Thousands of protesters preparing to march on the Pakistani capital gathered in the eastern city of Lahore on Thursday, buoyed by a last-minute court order that a peaceful march could go ahead and a government promise to obey the ruling. The festive air at the home of cricketer-turned-opposition politician Imran Khan was in stark contrast to the grim determination at the blockaded home of cleric Tahir ul-Qadri, another would-be protest leader whose march has been banned. Khan and Qadri are not officially allied though both are calling for the ouster of a government they condemn as corrupt, which came to power after a sweeping general election victory for the party of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif last year. \"We are the ones who pose the biggest challenge to the government, that is why they are opposing us so strongly,\" Qadri's spokesman, Shahid Mursaleen, said late on Wednesday.","Asian shares slip, China data fail to temper growth concerns. By Lisa Twaronite TOKYO (Reuters) - Asian shares edged down on Monday, taking little comfort from mixed Chinese trade data, while sterling's decline after a poll showed rising support for Scottish independence helped bolster the dollar. China's exports rose more than forecast in August while imports unexpectedly fell, pushing the trade surplus to a record high for the second consecutive month and underlining the challenges of sluggish domestic demand. \"The China data (strong exports, weak imports) shows that the global economy is recovering while the Chinese economy is showing a weaker-than-expected recovery,\" said Hikaru Sato, a senior technical analyst at Daiwa Securities. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was down 0.2 percent, while the Nikkei stock average climbed about 0.2 percent, shrugging off data that showed Japanese economy fell into a deeper hole in the second quarter.","Missing Vietnamese oil tanker released by pirates. HANOI, Vietnam (AP) — A Vietnamese sailor says his oil tanker has been released after pirates stormed the ship and siphoned off some of its cargo of gas oil.","Spanish journalist freed after being kidnapped in Syria. MADRID (Reuters) - Veteran Spanish journalist Marc Marginedas, kidnapped in Syria in early September last year, has been freed, Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy said on Sunday. \"I am very happy...I spoke to him early today, he is in reasonable shape, he is happy,\" Rajoy told Radio 5, Spain's public radio station. Marginedas, a reporter for El Periodico de Catalunya, was abducted on September 4 near the Western town of Hama and moved to different locations in areas controlled by the opposition to President Bashar-al-Assad, the newspaper said on its website. ...","Vidic concedes title as Moyes vows to fight on. Manchester United captain Nemanja Vidic contradicted manager David Moyes by saying the reigning champions could no longer win the Premier League title this season following their defeat by Chelsea. Sunday's 3-1 loss at Stamford Bridge left United a huge 14 points behind leaders Arsenal with just 16 games of the season remaining. Chelsea striker Samuel Eto'o scored a hat-trick to exposed United's defensive frailties and the defeat was compounded for the visitors when Vidic was sent off late on for a rash challenge on Eden Hazard. Asked if United were now too far adrift of Arsenal to retain their title, centre-back Vidic told Sky Sports: \"Yes, I think so now we are too far behind.","Soccer-Australian championship results and standings. Nov 30 (Infostrada Sports) - Results and standings from the Australian championship matches on Sunday Sunday, November 30 Newcastle Jets 1 Central Coast Mariners 1 Wellington Phoenix 5 Melbourne City FC 1 Saturday, November 29 Brisbane Roar 1 Perth Glory 1 Western Sydney Wanderers FC 1 Sydney FC 1 Friday, November 28 Melbourne Victory 3 Adelaide United 2 Standings P W D L F A Pts 1 Perth Glory 8 6 1 1 13 9 19 2 Melbourne Victory 8 5 3 0 18 8 18 3 Adelaide United 8 5 2 1 13 7 17 4 Sydney FC 8 4 4 0 11 5 16 5 Wellington Phoenix 8 4 0 4 15 11 12 6 Central Coast Mariners 8 1 3 4 5 10 6 ...","Israel says Iron Dome scores 90 percent rocket interception rate. By Dan Williams JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel's Iron Dome interceptor has shot down some 90 percent of Palestinian rockets it engaged during this week's surge of Gaza fighting, up from the 85 percent rate in the previous mini-war of 2012, Israeli and U.S. officials said on Thursday. Seven batteries of the system, made by the state-owned Rafael Advanced Defense Systems Ltd and partly funded by Washington, have been rotated around Israel to tackle unprecedented long-range salvoes by Hamas guerrillas. Rafael said it had been working on improvements to Iron Dome, which is designed to fire guided missiles at rockets that threaten to hit populated areas while ignoring others. There have been few injuries and no fatalities from rockets that hit towns or cities - results that also reflect Israel's extensive investment in air raid sirens and shelters.","Australia 331-3 at end of day 1 of 3rd test. CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) — Australia combined aggression and courage to seize control of the third and decisive test against South Africa at Newlands on Saturday as it closed day one on 331-3.","Malaysian official says missing plane hijacked. KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — A Malaysian investigation into the missing flight 370 has concluded that one or more people with flying experience switched off communications devices and deliberately steered the airliner off-course, a Malaysian government official involved in the investigation said Saturday.","Ukraine rebels ignore Putin call to delay self-rule vote. By Matt Robinson and Gabriela Baczynska DONETSK, Ukraine/MOSCOW (Reuters) - Pro-Moscow separatists in eastern Ukraine ignored a public call by Russian President Vladimir Putin to postpone a referendum on self-rule, declaring they would go ahead on Sunday with a vote that could lead to war. The decision, which contradicted the conciliatory tone set by Putin just a day earlier, caused consternation in the West, which fears the referendum will tear Ukraine apart. U.S. Deputy Secretary of State William Burns said Russia was heading down a \\\\\"dangerous and irresponsible path\\\\\" and the situation in Ukraine was \\\\\"extremely combustible\\\\\". Denis Pushilin, a leader of the self-declared separatist Donetsk People's Republic, expressed gratitude to Putin but said the \\\\\"People's Council\\\\\" had voted unanimously on Thursday to hold the plebiscite as planned.","Image of Asia: Celebrating Krishna's birthday. In this photo by Rafiq Maqbool, youngsters in Mumbai form a human pyramid to break the \"Dahi handi,\" an earthen pot filled with curd, an integral part of celebrations to mark Janmashtami, the festival that celebrates the birth of child-god Krishna. The pyramids are formed to honor Krishna's effort to steal butter. The celebrations on Monday were the first after the Supreme Court set an age limit for participants. It said last week that only youths 12 or older could form the human pyramids, after children were injured in past years.","Jordanian, Israeli leaders to meet with Kerry on Jerusalem. AMMAN (Reuters) - Jordan's King Abdullah, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry will meet in Amman on Thursday to discuss problems between Israel and Palestinians in Jerusalem, the U.S. State Department said. The three-way meeting in the Jordanian capital \"will focus on ways to restore calm and de-escalate tensions in Jerusalem,\" State Department deputy spokeswoman Marie Harf said. (Reporting by Warren Strobel, Editing by Angus MacSwan)","England lead Australia 13-3 at half-time in rugby Test. Twickenham (United Kingdom) (AFP) - England were leading Australia 13-3 at half-time in their one-off Test match at Twickenham on Saturday.","UN blacklists Nigeria's Boko Haram, imposes sanctions. United Nations (United States) (AFP) - The United Nations blacklisted Boko Haram as an Al-Qaeda-linked terror group and imposed sanctions Thursday, a month after the it claimed the kidnapping of more than 200 schoolgirls in Nigeria. The designation, immediately welcomed by Britain and the United States, came into effect after no objections were raised by the Security Council's 15 members. The move automatically subjects Boko Haram to UN sanctions, including an arms embargo and asset freeze. The group, which was created 10 years ago, wants to establish an Islamic state in mainly Muslim northern Nigeria.","Employees arrested for baby theft in Guatemala. GUATEMALA CITY (AP) — Guatemalan authorities say five hospital employees have been arrested for allegedly stealing a baby from its mother and beginning the process for its adoption.","Local Spanish politician shot dead near her home. MADRID (AP) — Authorities say a local Spanish politician with the country's ruling party has been shot dead on a walkway near her home and two women have been taken into custody.","Russia to hold off on more sanctions against US: Putin. President Vladimir Putin on Friday said Moscow would hold off on further reciprocal sanctions against the United States, after Washington introduced punitive measures against his close allies over the Ukraine crisis. \"You know, both in the first case -- the American sanctions -- and in the second case -- the introduction of a visa regime with Ukraine -- I think we should for now hold off on reciprocal steps,\" Putin told a meeting of his Security Council. Putin made light of the fresh US sanctions, saying he would now open an account with a bank targeted by US punitive measures.","UK police charge man in case of enslaved women. LONDON (AP) — British police say they have charged a 74-year-old man who allegedly held three women against their will in a London house for 30 years.","Iran arrests several spies near Bushehr nuclear plant: Fars news agency. ANKARA (Reuters) - Iranian security services have arrested several suspected spies in the southern province of Bushehr where the country's first nuclear power plant is located, the semi-official Fars news agency reported on Tuesday. Iran has repeatedly cited signs of what it calls foreign plots to sabotage its nuclear program, which world powers fear could be put to developing an atomic bomb capability and are seeking to curb through high-level negotiations, with a deadline of Nov. 24 for an accord. ...","House Democrat: Immigration reform chances over. WASHINGTON (AP) — A year after the Senate passed a sweeping immigration bill, a leading backer in the House declared Wednesday that legislative efforts on the issue are dead.","French President Hollande's popularity sinks as new PM's rises. Popular approval for French President Francois Hollande has hit a new low of 18 percent, far below the 58 percent for his new Prime Minister Manuel Valls, an opinion poll showed Sunday. The least popular French president for decades, Hollande's poll rating fell five points, dipping below 20 percent for the first time since coming to power in 2012. In contrast Valls, who took office late last month, becomes the most popular French premier at the start of his tenure, according to the monthly findings of the Ifop polling institute which were published in the weekly Le Journal du Dimanche. The opinion poll findings also exposed the biggest gap between the popularity of a French president and prime minister.","Police blow up bag left near Rio's soccer stadium. RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — A Brazilian bomb squad has blown up a bag deemed suspicious that was left near a metro station entrance close to the stadium where the World Cup game between Germany and France was underway.","Sevilla and Benfica in extra time in Europa final. TURIN, Italy (AP) — Sevilla and Benfica headed into extra time after the regulation 90 minutes left the Europa League final deadlocked at 0-0 on Wednesday.","Tunisia presidential campaign gets under way. Campaigning opened Saturday for a presidential election in Tunisia, the birthplace of the Arab Spring, with secularist Beji Caid Essebsi seen as the frontrunner after his party won milestone parliamentary polls. Essebsi, 87, leads a field of 27 candidates in the November 23 vote, after Nidaa Tounes came out on top in last Sunday's legislative election, beating the previously dominant moderate Islamist movement Ennahda. Tunisians hope both elections will provide much-sought stability nearly four years after the revolution that drove longtime dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali from power in 2011. Presidential candidates include the incumbent, Moncef Marzouki, woman magistrate Kalthoum Kannou and also former Ben Ali ministers.","Palestinians: ICC if no Israeli pullout deadline. UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The Palestinian U.N. ambassador said Thursday his government will join the International Criminal Court if the U.N. Security Council refuses to set a deadline for Israel to withdraw from all Palestinian territories. Joining the court would allow the Palestinians to pursue war crimes charges against Israelis.","Gaza truce deadline looms as Obama questions blockade. A three-day ceasefire in Gaza that has brought relief to millions entered its final stretch on Thursday with Israel ready to extend the calm but Hamas hedging its bets. UN secretary general warned Britain, France and Germany have put forward an initiative that could bring EU representatives to the Gaza border, a diplomatic source said. Four weeks of bloodshed between Israel and Hamas killed 1,886 Palestinians and 67 on the Israeli side.","Hamas chief: We cannot coexist with occupiers. Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal demanded Israel lift its blockade of Gaza and warned that Palestinians cannot coexist with their neighbors while their land is occupied, in an interview broadcast Sunday. Asked by veteran interviewer Charlie Rose whether he could foresee living beside Israelis in peace, Meshaal said only a future Palestinian state could decide whether to recognize the Jewish state. \"When we have a Palestinian state then the Palestinian state will decide on its policies.","Some Ukrainian rebels vent frustration with Putin. By Aleksandar Vasovic DONETSK Ukraine (Reuters) - Western leaders may be Vladimir Putin's biggest critics over the conflict in east Ukraine but the Russian leader is also facing criticism from some of the rebels they accuse him of arming. The European Union and the United States have imposed new sanctions on Russia because they say Putin has not done enough to persuade the pro-Russian separatists to stop fighting and is supplying them with weapons. Squeezed by the Ukrainian army into their last two strongholds, the cities of Donetsk and Luhansk, the rebels complain they are outnumbered and outgunned. \"Oh, how we would like to see the Russian army here,\" said a fighter who gave his name only as Pavel, standing outside the rebel headquarters in Donetsk, an industrial city about 80 kilometers (50 miles) northeast of the nearest border crossing with Russia.","Libyan assembly asks for UN help as militias clash. CAIRO (AP) — Libya's newly elected parliament is turning to the United Nations, asking for an \"international intervention\" as militia violence rages across the country.","Russia will respond to increased NATO activity near border - top general. Russia's top general said on Friday that Moscow would retaliate against increased NATO activity near its border as tensions with the western alliance over Ukraine escalate. Since Russia annexed Ukraine's Crimea region, NATO has moved to reassure its nervous eastern European allies. \"NATO's military groupings in the Baltic states, Poland and Romania are being built up, as well as the military presence of the bloc in the Baltic, Mediterranean and Black Sea,\" General Valery Gerasimov, the chief of general staff of the Russian armed forces, told a defense conference in Moscow.","Wave of crime against women continues in India's biggest state. By Sharat Pradhan LUCKNOW India (Reuters) - A woman was hanged from a tree in India's state of Uttar Pradesh on Thursday and another allegedly raped in a police station, police said, the latest in a wave of crime against women in the country's most populous region over the past two weeks. \"The sub-inspector accused of committing the rape of the woman has been put under arrest while we have launched a manhunt for the three constables accused of being party to the crime,\" a spokesman at state police headquarters said. Crime against women in India has come under renewed scrutiny since two girls, aged 12 and 14, were gang raped and hanged from a tree in Uttar Pradesh on May 27, the day after Narendra Modi was sworn in as prime minister. Uttar Pradesh is one of the world's poorest regions and has largely missed out on the economic boom that swept much of India over the past decade.","Fatah cancels Arafat memorial in Gaza over security. By Nidal al-Mughrabi GAZA (Reuters) - Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah movement said on Sunday it had canceled a commemoration rally planned in Gaza for its late leader Yasser Arafat, in another setback to a unity pact with the territory's Islamist Hamas rulers. Two days after explosions rocked houses of Fatah leaders in Gaza, the group said it had to call off Tuesday's event after Hamas and security services loyal to it said they would not be able to secure the rally. ...","Syria misses deadline to hand over all critical chemicals. By Anthony Deutsch AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Syria on Wednesday missed a deadline to hand over all the toxic materials it declared to the world's chemical weapons watchdog, putting the program several weeks behind schedule and jeopardizing a final June 30 deadline. Under a deal reached in October between Russia and the United States, which helped avert a U.S.-led missile strike against the regime of President Bashar Al-Assad, Syria agreed to give up its entire stockpile of chemical weapons by February 5. Syria has said it would submit a handover timetable to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), which won the Nobel Peace Prize last year, but gave no indication of when that would happen. There have been no additional shipments since January 27 and the latest deadline was missed, said OPCW spokesman Michael Luhan.","Study: 35 percent in US facing debt collectors. WASHINGTON (AP) — More than 35 percent of Americans have debts and unpaid bills that have been reported to collection agencies, according to a study released Tuesday by the Urban Institute.","US Speedskating gambles on new suit, loses big. SOCHI, Russia (AP) — When U.S. Speedskating hooked up with Under Armour to develop a new high-tech speed skinsuit that would revolutionize the sport at the Sochi Olympics, the vision was gold, silver and bronze.","Rival parties warn of fraud in Turkey's key local elections. By Jonny Hogg and Gulsen Solaker ANKARA (Reuters) - The anger, threats and conspiracy theories in Turkey's election campaign have prompted both sides to warn about ballot abuse, with the main opposition saying it alone plans to deploy half a million poll observers. Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan's embattled ruling AK Party is expected to follow suit, with at least one of its prominent candidates warning of \"vanishing ink\" on ballots. Erdogan, in office for 11 years, was rocked by anti-government protests last June, rekindled in recent weeks, and is now dealing with a corruption scandal swirling around his inner circle, something he says is orchestrated by opponents. But there is an increasingly polarized political landscape, tight races in the major cities of Istanbul and Ankara, and a building concern about fraud.","Birmingham's Yeung sentenced to six years jail for money laundering. Hong Kong (AFP) - Hong Kong businessman and Birmingham City owner Carson Yeung was on Friday sentenced to six years in jail for laundering HK$720 million ($93 million).","David Moyes season of disaster at Manchester United. Manchester (United Kingdom) (AFP) - Timeline of how David Moyes' season at Manchester United went wrong following his sacking on Tuesday:","Judge cuts back Madoff trustee lawsuit versus Merkin. By Jonathan Stempel NEW YORK (Reuters) - The trustee seeking money for Bernard Madoff's victims suffered his second loss in less than a week to Wall Street hedge fund manager J. Ezra Merkin, as a Manhattan bankruptcy judge dismissed most claims in a roughly $565 million lawsuit. Judge Stuart Bernstein said the trustee Irving Picard failed to show that Merkin knew Madoff was running a giant Ponzi scheme while his \"feeder funds\" were sending money to the swindler's firm, Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC. Picard's allegations \"do not imply the level of certainty or absence of substantial doubt associated with actual knowledge,\" the judge wrote in a 66-page decision on Tuesday. Bernstein dismissed claims alleging various fraudulent transfers among Merkin's funds, and said Picard cannot block the funds from trying to recoup money from the Madoff firm's estate.","Japan, S.Korea agree to work towards warmer ties. Tokyo (AFP) - Japan and South Korea pledged Thursday to work towards the celebration of half a century of normal diplomatic ties, the latest in a series of baby steps as frosty ties gradually thaw.","Thousands pay tribute to 'visionary' Australian ex-PM Whitlam. Thousands of mourners turned out for the memorial service of former leader Gough Whitlam Wednesday, hailing him as a remarkable politician who helped shape modern Australia, including Prime Minister Tony Abbott who was booed. Abbott was joined by six former Australian leaders, Papua New Guinea Prime Minister Peter O'Neill, Hollywood star Cate Blanchett and almost 2,000 other dignitaries and members of the public for the service at Sydney's Town Hall. Many more watched the proceedings on a large screen in front of the building, with the crowd cheering for past and present Labor leaders while heckling others from the ruling Liberal Party, most notably Abbott. Four air force jets marked the occasion in a brief flyover above Sydney's central business district in the \"missing man\" formation.","Nigeria commission fines agency in killings. LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) — Nigeria's National Human Rights Commission finds security agents responsible for the unlawful killings of eight civilians in a September raid in Abuja, the Nigerian capital.","China sentences two cult members to death for McDonald's murder. BEIJING (Reuters) - China sentenced two members of a banned religious cult to death on Saturday for the murder of a woman at a McDonald's restaurant after she refused an apparent attempt by the group to recruitment her, state media said. The 37-year-old woman was attacked in May in the eastern province of Shandong by members of Quannengshen, the Church of Almighty God, which had preached that a global apocalypse would take place in 2012. ...","Egypt says global action needed to counter Islamic State. By Jason Szep and Shadi Bushra CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt's foreign minister said on Saturday ties existed between Islamic State, the group holding large parts of Iraq and Syria, and other militants in the region and that global action was needed to counter the threat. Sameh Shukri, speaking at a Cairo news conference with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, said regional militant groups shared the same ideology and must be dealt with. ...","Holcomb and Langton win 2-man bronze for US. KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia (AP) — The first thing Steven Holcomb noticed when he crossed the finish line Monday night was that the Russian fans were wildly cheering.","Puerto Rico touts $130M renovated airport terminal. SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Officials in Puerto Rico have unveiled a $130 million renovated terminal at the island's main international airport.","Yemen army clashes with Shiite rebels. SANAA, Yemen (AP) — Yemeni military officials say army troops have clashed with Shiite rebels who have been demonstrating for weeks demanding the government reinstate fuel subsidies and resign.","Rebel says 30 insurgents killed in eastern Ukraine. DONETSK, Ukraine (AP) — At least 30 bodies of killed fighters have been brought to a hospital following a day of heavy fighting in Donetsk in eastern Ukraine, in which the government forces used combat jets against pro-Russia rebels, an insurgent said Tuesday.","'Cocaine hub' Guinea-Bissau votes for new leaders to bring reform. Guinea-Bissau goes to the polls on Sunday in search of a new president and parliament who can return stability to a country plagued by drugs and upended in a military coup two years ago. Already mired in poverty, the west African nation has been stagnating since 2012 under the rule of a transitional government backed by its all-powerful military, with the economy anaemic and cocaine trafficking fuelling corruption. In the potholed streets of the dilapidated capital Bissau, where people burn piles of uncollected rubbish each night, many of the country's 750,000-strong electorate say they want to vote, as one put it, to \"get the country out of a hole\". Guinea-Bissau has a history of coups and no elected leader has served a full term in office since the country gained independence from Portugal in 1974 after a war that lasted more than 10 years.","Istanbul to host first ATP Tour event. ISTANBUL (AP) — The ATP has announced that Turkey will host its first-ever tour event, the Istanbul Open, in 2015.","Factbox: Mild winter makes EU less reliant on Russian gas via Ukraine. (Reuters) - A mild winter in Europe means the continent is less reliant on Russian gas pumped through Ukraine than in past years, easing worries that the crisis in Ukraine could hurt supplies. Russia has made clear it is unhappy with developments in Ukraine, where its friend President Viktor Yanukovich has been toppled. Although there has been no official statement so far suggesting Moscow might cut off gas supplies, it has done so in the past when negotiating prices with Kiev. Russia is Europe's biggest gas supplier, providing around a quarter of continental demand, around half of which is exported through Ukraine.","Spain's World Cup hopes higher with in-form Ramos. CURITIBA, Spain (AP) — Spain's chances of retaining the World Cup trophy will be a lot better if Sergio Ramos can do for his country what he did at Real Madrid this season.","Nantes beats Bordeaux 2-1 in French league. PARIS (AP) — Reserve goalkeeper Azbe Jug cost his side two goals as Bordeaux lost 2-1 to Nantes in the French league and saw its push for Champions League places come to a halt.","Three dead as Cambodian police open fire on protesters. Cambodian police opened fire on protesting garment workers Friday, leaving at least three people dead, as the kingdom's strongman premier faced growing public anger on the streets of the capital. Striking workers armed with sticks, rocks and Molotov cocktails clashed with rifle-wielding police in the Veng Sreng factory district of Phnom Penh, according to an AFP photographer. One blood-soaked worker was seen lying on the ground while another was rushed away by motorcycle after what was the latest in a series of violent clashes between security forces and textile workers demanding higher wages. Three people died and two were injured, Phnom Penh deputy police commissioner Chuon Narin said.","Kurds seek independence vote amid Iraq 'chaos'. Iraqi Kurdish preparations for an independence referendum met with frustration in Washington, which stressed unity was essential to tackle a jihadist-led onslaught that risks \"Syria-like chaos\". Iraqi Kurdish president Massud Barzani told the autonomous region's parliament on Thursday that it should make \"preparations to begin to organise a referendum on the right of self-determination\", but the US opposed the move. The White House gave the Kurdish leader's idea for an independence referendum a cool reception, with White House spokesman Josh Earnest saying that \"we continue to believe that Iraq is stronger if it is united\". \"That is why the United States continues to support an Iraq that is democratic, pluralistic and unified, and we are going to continue to urge all parties in Iraq to continue working together toward that objective.\"","Egypt: Qatar ordered Islamists out within 2 months. CAIRO (AP) — Egypt's Interior Minister says authorities will hunt down exiled Muslim Brotherhood leaders with the help of Interpol, after Qatar ordered leaders there to leave despite initially hosting them following the ouster of Egypt's Islamist President Mohammed Morsi.","Hodgson risks showdown over Sturridge. London (AFP) - England manager Roy Hodgson must decide whether to risk a row with Liverpool by selecting Daniel Sturridge against the wishes of the Premier League club.","Turkey to present Kurdish reform bill within days: minister. The Turkish government aims to present to parliament in the coming days a reform bill to advance its peace process with Kurdish militants, Deputy Prime Minister Besir Atalay said. Such a move could boost Kurdish support for Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan ahead of his expected bid to become the country's first directly elected president in August. Erdogan initiated peace talks with jailed militant leader Abdullah Ocalan in 2012 to end a three-decade insurgency by his Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) which has killed 40,000 people. Hurriyet newspaper said the new seven-article bill would provide a 'legal guarantee' to state officials involved in the peace process, protecting them from potential future prosecution, and facilitate the rehabilitation of militants.","Police fire tear gas at Istanbul anti-government protest. By Ece Toksabay ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkish riot police fired tear gas on Saturday to disperse thousands of demonstrators in central Istanbul protesting against what they see as authoritarian new laws from Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan's government. Battling a corruption scandal, Erdogan's AK Party has pushed through laws tightening government control over the Internet and courts this month, and has proposed a bill envisaging broader powers for the national intelligence agency. Officers backed by water cannon cleared demonstrators from the main Istiklal shopping street, some chanting \"Everywhere Taksim, Everywhere Resistance\", a reference to weeks of anti-government protests last summer on the nearby Taksim Square. \"(Prime Minister) Tayyip Erdogan, don't pull the Internet plug,\" read one banner among the crowds.","Libya's recognized PM vows military campaign to seize Tripoli. By Ahmed Tolba CAIRO (Reuters) - Libya's recognized government will continue a military campaign to claim back the capital Tripoli, Prime Minister Abdullah al-Thinni said on Wednesday. Libya is divided between two governments since a group called Libya Dawn seized Tripoli in August after a month-long battle with a rival group, setting up its own parliament and government. Prime Minister Abdullah al-Thinni has been forced to work from the East where the elected House of Representatives is also based, part of turmoil three years after the ousting of Muammar Gaddafi. ...","14 militants, 1 Philippine marine dead in clash. MANILA, Philippines (AP) — A battle between Philippine marines and Muslim militants, who launched a surprise attack to regain control of a captured jungle training encampment, has left 14 Abu Sayyaf fighters and one marine dead, officials said Wednesday.","Stars sing about Ebola 'chimes of doom' in Band Aid video. London (AFP) - Stars like One Direction, Bono and Chris Martin featured in the video for the new Band Aid single to raise money for anti-Ebola charities that was shown for the first time on British television on Sunday.","Israel evacuates protests from key West Bank site. JERUSALEM (AP) — The Israeli military has removed Palestinian activists protesting at a deserted village in the West Bank whose final status is a central issue in U.S.-mediated peace talks with Israel.","Stocks rally as investors ignore Russia sanctions. LONDON (AP) — Investors brushed aside the latest sanctions on Russia, sending stock markets around the world higher on Tuesday in the run-up to a wide array of potentially big economic news events later this week.","Gunmen blow up natural gas pipeline in Egypt. CAIRO (AP) — Egypt's state news agency says gunmen have blown up a natural gas pipeline in the volatile Sinai Peninsula.","New Crustaceans Found Crawling on Dead Whale Bones Off Antarctica. A new species of louselike crustacean has been discovered living on the bones of a dead whale at the bottom of the Southern Ocean around Antarctica. British researchers using a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) to explore the deep seafloor stumbled across the bare bones of a minke whale. The bones \"were absolutely covered in these little critters — there were 500 to 6,000 specimens per square meter [11 square feet],\" Katrin Linse, a researcher with the British Antarctic Survey who led the study, said in a statement. Scientists at the sea surface onboard the RRS James Cooksaw the bones and the critters via a live video feed from the ROV, and they used the ROV's robotic arm to grab some of the bones to bring up to the ship.","'Sugar daddy' Dotcom trying to game N.Zealand election: PM. New Zealand's Prime Minister John Key on Tuesday labelled Internet tycoon Kim Dotcom a political \"sugar daddy\" who is dabbling in the country's general election because he hopes it might help him escape justice. The founder of the Megaupload file-sharing site, who is fighting extradition to the United States on online piracy charges, has founded the Internet Party to contest the September 20 election and formed an alliance with an existing left-wing Maori-based party called Mana. Key said Mana has only aligned itself with Dotcom, who changed his name from Kim Schmitz, because he is pouring NZ$3.0 million ($2.6 million) into a joint campaign with his party. He also questioned Dotcom's motives for becoming involved in politics, suggesting he is looking to gain political influence in a bid to help his legal case.","Bomb kills three, wounds 16 in southwestern Pakistan. Quetta (Pakistan) (AFP) - A bomb explosion on a busy road in Pakistan's southwestern Baluchistan province on Saturday killed three people, including a paramilitary soldier, and wounded at least 16 others, security officials said.","England set for Viv Richards Stadium return. England on Monday released details of their 2015 tour of the West Indies, including a first match at Antigua's Sir Vivian Richards Stadium since their abandoned game there in 2009. In the second Test match at the venue five years ago, the West Indies managed to bowl only 10 balls before the game was called off after the outfield was deemed unsafe due to excess sand. The venue was subsequently banned from hosting international cricket for 12 months, but it staged a Test match against New Zealand last year and three one-day games against England earlier this year. It will now host the first of England's three Tests against the West Indies on April 13, which will be followed by matches in Grenada and Barbados.","Fan claims injury from Rod Stewart soccer ball. LAS VEGAS (AP) — A soccer ball kicked into the crowd is bouncing back to Rod Stewart in the form of a lawsuit by a Southern California man who says his nose was broken at a Las Vegas concert in October 2012.","UN humanitarian chief pushes Syria aid resolution. UNITED NATIONS (AP) — U.N. humanitarian chief Valerie Amos blamed the Syrian government and opposition Thursday for failing to protect civilians and said a Security Council resolution would help if it ensures the delivery of aid to millions of people trapped by the fighting.","Washington toughening stance on Venezuela abuses. WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama's administration is signaling that it will take a harder line against human rights abuses in Venezuela.","Britain 'seriously concerned' over Hong Kong press freedom. By Greg Torode HONG KONG (Reuters) - A British government report on Hong Kong expresses \"serious concerns\" about press freedom and self-censorship in its former colony and about reports that leading British banks had pulled advertising from a local pro-democracy newspaper. The six-monthly report, presented by Foreign Secretary William Hague to parliament on Thursday, is more explicit than London's recent summaries, reflecting rising tensions over democratic reform in the Asian financial hub. \"We believe that freedom of expression, including of the press, has played an important part in Hong Kong's success,\" the report, made available by the British Consulate General in Hong Kong, said. \"As such we take seriously concerns about press freedom, including fears about self-censorship,\" it adds, saying London would monitor the situation closely and noting Hong Kong leader Leung Chun-ying's \"clear statements on press freedom\".","Emirates cancels order for 70 Airbus planes. Emirates airline announced it had cancelled an order for 70 long-haul A350 planes from European manufacturer Airbus. The decision was taken following \"on-going discussions with the airline in light of their fleet requirement review\", Airbus said on Wednesday. Airbus added that it was still very confident in the A350 programme and said there were almost 750 planes on the order book ready to enter service. \"The programme of test flights for the A350 is progressing well and is on schedule for certification (by the Aviation Authorities) in the coming months,\" said Airbus.","Tanzania police hunt bombers after Zanzibar blast. Zanzibar (Tanzania) (AFP) - Tanzanian police on Saturday hunted for suspects amid tightened security a day after an explosion at a mosque in the busy capital of Zanzibar killed a Muslim preacher and wounded several people. The blast area in Zanzibar's Stone Town was cordoned off Saturday as police scoured the area for clues. Police named the victim as Sheikh Mohammed Abdalla Mkombalaguha, who had recently arrived from the Tanga region on the Tanzanian mainland. Senior police chief Yussuf Ilembo said several suspects had been questioned but none arrested.","U.S. Midwestern farmers fighting explosion of 'superweeds'. Resistance to glyphosate, the main ingredient in widely used Roundup herbicide, has reached the point that row crop farmers in the Midwest are struggling to contain an array of weeds, agronomists say. Extreme controls are needed to fight herbicide-resistant weeds in some areas, University of Missouri weed scientist Kevin Bradley said in a report to farmers.","Apple loses bid to block antitrust monitorship. By Nate Raymond NEW YORK (Reuters) - Apple Inc lost a bid on Monday to block an antitrust monitor appointed after a judge's finding that the company conspired to fix e-book prices. At a hearing, U.S. District Judge Denise Cote in Manhattan denied Apple's request to stay an order requiring an external compliance monitor pending the company's appeal. \"I want the monitorship to succeed for Apple,\" she said. The judge also said there was \"nothing improper\" about a declaration filed by a lawyer chosen to serve as monitor, Michael Bromwich, that became the basis of Apple seeking his disqualification.","White House proposes new energy efficiency rule in climate push. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Department of Energy unveiled its latest energy efficiency rule on Thursday, a standard for commercial air conditioning units that the White House believes could slash energy use in commercial and industrial buildings. The proposal would cut climate-changing carbon emissions by more than 60 million tonnes, and could save more energy than any other efficiency standard issued by the Energy Department to date, the White House said in a release. ...","Nine die in Pakistan suicide bomb attack targeting police. A suicide bomber blew himself up in front of a police vehicle in Pakistan's volatile city of Peshawar on Friday, killing at least nine bystanders, including a woman and a child, police said. The attack took place as the government of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif tries to engage Pakistani Taliban militants in talks to hammer out a permanent ceasefire agreement and end years of violence. In Peshawar, police chief Faisal Kamran said the target of the attack was an armored personnel carrier.","Ukraine parliament says 100s died in battle. KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — A report by Ukraine's parliament revealed Monday that more than 300 soldiers were killed during a weeks-long battle that marked a crushing setback in the military campaign to root out pro-Russian separatist forces in the east.","5 NATO troops killed in Afghan helicopter crash. KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — The NATO-led military coalition in Afghanistan says five of its troops have been killed in a helicopter crash in the country's south.","Juve lead Roma as battle heats up for third. Juventus coach Massimiliano Allegri has insisted the Serie A season is far from over after the champions guaranteed year-end top spot with a three-point lead on challengers Roma. Juventus face defending Cup champions Napoli in Doha on Monday where the Bianconeri will aim to secure their third consecutive Italian Super Cup. \"It's the last game of the year and our third objective of the season after the Serie A title and the last 16 of the Champions League,\" Allegri told reporters from Doha on Sunday. He added: \"We still have a long way to go in Serie A and a lot of points to pick up because Roma will be keeping the pressure on.","Ulissi wins tough 8th stage of Giro, Evans in lead. MONTECOPIOLO, Italy (AP) — A final push from Diego Ulissi saw the Italian win a tough eighth stage as the Giro d'Italia took to the mountains Saturday, while Cadel Evans ended Michael Matthews' grip on the overall lead.","Everest on speed: UK guide promises summit in 42 days. Raise your game, skip the queues and scale the world's highest peak in 42 days: that's British guide Adrian Ballinger's ambitious pitch to climbers preparing to summit Mount Everest. Ballinger's \"Rapid Ascent\" programme, which at around $79,000 is roughly double the cost of other Everest expeditions, aims to overturn the conventional wisdom that it takes 10 weeks to reach the top of the 8,848-metre (29,029-foot) peak. \"The best way to climb Everest is to do it fast -- spend less time hanging around at base camp and avoid the queues as you approach the summit,\" Ballinger told AFP from his home in Squaw Valley, California. \"People are going to be in stronger shape for the summit push, since they won't have spent two months going up and down the mountain to acclimatise, losing weight and muscle in the process,\" Ballinger said.","U.S. says finalizing possible new energy, financial sanctions on Russia. The United States is putting the finishing touches on possible new sanctions on Russia's defense, energy and financial sectors over its intervention in Ukraine, the U.S. State Department said on Tuesday. \"The United States is finalizing measures to both deepen and broaden our sanctions across Russia’s financial, energy and defense sectors,\" State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf said at her daily briefing.","Safety agency to carry out full probe of CN train derailment in New Brunswick. PLASTER ROCK, N.B. - The federal Transportation Safety Board said Monday it will conduct a full investigation into the cause of a CN freight train derailment in northwestern New Brunswick last week, with a specific focus on a cracked wheel.","Alibaba gets 'A-plus' debt rating from agencies. (Reuters) - Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd received its first debt ratings from international credit agencies on Thursday after the company announced plans for an issue of senior unsecured notes to raise an unspecified amount. Standard & Poor's and Fitch Ratings rated the notes at investment grade \"A-plus\", while Moody's Investor Service assigned an equivalent \"A1\" rating. Alibaba said it would use the net proceeds from the U.S. bond offering primarily to refinance debt. (Reporting by Supantha Mukherjee in Bangalore; Editing by Ted Kerr)","Bus strike paralyzes Brazil's second largest city. RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — The trade association representing Rio de Janeiro's bus transportation companies says Thursday's citywide strike by bus drivers has affected more than 2 million people in Brazil's second largest city.","Putin ally lambasts Western values embodied by Conchita Wurst. A confidant of Russian President Vladimir Putin accused the West on Thursday of trying to impose decadent values on the rest of the world, saying the bearded drag queen who won the Eurovision Song Contest last weekend symbolized its \\\\\"ethno-fascism\\\\\". Russian Railways boss Vladimir Yakunin, who has said he is flattered to be on a U.S. sanctions list introduced in response to the Ukraine crisis, launched a broad attack on Western values at a conference in Berlin. He cited sanctions slapped on the initiator of a Russian law against homosexual \\\\\"propaganda\\\\\" and Conchita Wurst's Eurovision win last weekend. \\\\\"The ancient definition of democracy had nothing to do with bearded women but with the leadership of the people.\\\\\" Even before the crisis in Ukraine erupted, Russia had drawn criticism from the West for its ban on what it terms propaganda about homosexuality.","Missing panda baby for Scottish zoo. Britain's only female giant panda, thought to be pregnant, has passed her due date with no sign of a panda baby appearing. Edinburgh Zoo's Tian Tian should have gone into labour over the weekend, according to experts, but tests indicated she may have miscarried. \"Giant panda Tian Tian is now past her due date and the evidence suggests that this may be bad news,\" said Iain Valentine, director of giant pandas for the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland. The 10-year-old pandas Tian Tian (Sweetie) and male Yang Guang (Sunshine), on loan from China, are the first giant pandas to live in Britain for 17 years.","Australia, NZ likely to play 1st night test. WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Australia and New Zealand cricket officials say their national teams will likely to meet in the world's first day-night test match in November next year, either at Hobart or Adelaide.","Italy upholds last US convictions in rendition. MILAN (AP) — Italy's highest court upheld guilty verdicts Tuesday against the final three U.S. defendants in the 2003 extraordinary rendition kidnapping of an Egyptian terror suspect.","Winners of the 2014 British Academy Film Awards. LONDON (AP) — Winners of the 2014 British Academy Film Awards, presented Sunday:","Night of cold-blooded executions in Kenyan town. Mpeketoni (Kenya) (AFP) - David Waweru was watching a World Cup match in a bar in the Kenyan coastal town of Mpeketoni when fighters from Somalia's Islamist Shebab militants began their attack. The Al-Qaeda-linked Islamists also appeared to follow the same tactic of singling out non-Muslims for immediate execution -- although the town, on the Muslim-majority Indian Ocean coast, is known as being home to mainly Christian settlers from central Kenya.","Obama puts Ukraine violence squarely on Russia. WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama suggested Thursday that the U.S. might impose new economic sanctions on Russia, blaming it squarely for the warfare in eastern Ukraine. But he ruled out any military options and proposed no shift in an American-led strategy that has yet to convince Moscow to halt operations against its far weaker neighbor.","Hong Kong leader: Democracy would see poor people dominate vote. Hong Kong's Beijing-backed leader Leung Chun-ying told media that if the government met pro-democracy protesters' demands it would result in the city's poorer people dominating elections.","UK boosts investment in military surveillance. British Prime Minister David Cameron on Monday announced an investment of £1.1 billion (1.38 billion euros, $1.88 billion) into the armed forces, the bulk of it on intelligence and surveillance equipment. The money comes from savings made in the past two years at the Ministry of Defence, which has cut thousands of armed forces jobs as part of the government's austerity programme. Some £800 million will be invested in intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition and reconnaissance, including special forces capabilities to address terror threats overseas including in the Horn of Africa.","U.N. Golan peacekeepers pull back from four positions amid tension. UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - U.N. peacekeepers in the Golan Heights are being relocated from four positions and one camp on the Syrian side of the Syrian-Israeli border, a diplomatic source said on Monday after recent clashes with al-Qaeda-linked militants. \"Staff in U.N. positions 10, 16, 31 and 37, as well as Camp Faouar on the (Syrian) side are being relocated,\" the source told Reuters on condition of anonymity. There was no suggestion that the U.N. peacekeeping mission in the Golan Heights, known as UNDOF, was shutting down. ...","Greece to formally assume EU rotating presidency. ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Security is tight in central Athens as Greece prepares to formally assume the European Union's rotating six-month presidency Wednesday afternoon with a ceremony to be attended by EU commissioners.","Japanese fans rejoice in Nishikori's US Open win. TOKYO (AP) — Japanese fans celebrated Kei Nishikori's stunning win over top-ranked Novak Djokovic at the U.S. Open, staying up to the wee hours of Sunday morning to catch a moment of tennis history.","Policeman admits lying over 'Plebgate' scandal. A policeman on Friday admitted he falsely claimed to have witnessed a row over a bicycle that brought down a government minister. Police constable Keith Wallis, 53, pleaded guilty to misconduct in a public office by pretending he witnessed the argument between former Conservative chief whip Andrew Mitchell and an officer at the gates of Prime Minister David Cameron's Downing Street residence last September. Wallis, 53, admitted at London's Old Bailey court on Friday that he lied in an email to his local MP that he was present during the row, and admitted arranging for his nephew to support the claim. The court heard that he has offered to resign from London's Metropolitan Police, where he served as a member of the Diplomatic Protection Group.","Tottenham defender Rose has red card overturned. LONDON (AP) — The Football Association has overturned a red card shown to Tottenham defender Danny Rose during his team's 5-1 defeat by Manchester City in the Premier League on Wednesday.","APNewsBreak: Nazi hunter pushes for new probe. BERLIN (AP) — The Simon Wiesenthal Center has identified dozens of former members of Nazi mobile death squads who might still be alive, and is pushing the German government for an investigation, The Associated Press has learned.","HK investigators interview 'tortured' Indonesian maid. Sragen (Indonesia) (AFP) - Hong Kong police Tuesday interviewed an Indonesian maid who was allegedly tortured by her employer in the Chinese city, as the Indonesian president phoned the helper to express his sorrow at the \"tragedy\". It came a day after police in Hong Kong arrested a woman accused of abusing the maid, Erwiana Sulistyaningsih, and a second Indonesian helper, as she attempted to board a flight to Thailand at the city's airport. Media reports said she was unable to walk due to her injuries when she flew home from Hong Kong this month. The case has renewed concern about the treatment of maids in Hong Kong and follows a spate of domestic helper abuse cases and strong criticism from rights groups.","Iraqi army battles militants in deadly Anbar siege. RAMADI, Iraq (AP) — An Iraqi special forces patrol moves on foot past ruined homes on the outskirts of Ramadi, a city west of Baghdad where al-Qaida-inspired militants have held off the military for three months. As they head down an alleyway, shots from snipers ring out, followed by grenade blasts.","Bishops say Venezuela seeks totalitarian rule. CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuela's organization of Catholic bishops is accusing the government of seeking totalitarian-style rule, comments that potentially could complicate the Vatican's offer to facilitate talks between the socialist government and its opposition.","After vacating Bangkok's streets, Thai protesters look to courts. By Amy Sawitta Lefevre BANGKOK (Reuters) - Anti-government protesters in Thailand have retreated to a central Bangkok park, freeing up traffic after blocking big intersections for more than a month, but Thailand's four-month political crisis looks no closer to a solution. The protesters, who moved to Lumpini Park over the weekend after orders from protest leader Suthep Thaugsuban, are now banking on judicial intervention from courts hostile to Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra to bring down her government. \"Bangkokians are able to go to work more easily but the state of play in Thailand has not changed since protesters scaled back,\" said Siripan Nogsuan Sawasdee, a political analyst at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok.","Ukraine premier: Crimea will remain in Ukraine. KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine's new prime minister said Wednesday that embattled Crimea must remain part of Ukraine, but may be granted more local powers.","Official results: Brazil's presidential election forced into runoff; Rousseff faces Neves.. RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Official results: Brazil's presidential election forced into runoff; Rousseff faces Neves.","Report: Ecclestone mulls F1 commercial takeover. SILVERSTONE, England (AP) — Bernie Ecclestone says he is considering buying back the commercial rights to Formula One, even as the 83-year-old remains on trial for alleged bribery.","Afghan official: Militants in standoff killed. KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — An Afghan interior ministry official says five militants who attacked the election commission headquarters in Kabul with rocket propelled grenades and machine guns have been killed, ending a four-hour standoff.","West Brom rallies for 2-1 win at Swansea. SWANSEA, Wales (AP) — West Bromwich Albion recovered from conceding an early goal by scoring twice in the second half to earn a 2-1 win at Swansea on Saturday in the Premier League.","French minister calls on protesters to observe ban. PARIS (AP) — French police fired tear gas as clashes broke out at a banned pro-Gaza demonstration on Saturday as thousands defied a ban on the protest.","Egypt's interim Cabinet resigns in surprise move. CAIRO (AP) — Egypt's interim prime minister announced Monday the resignation of his Cabinet, a surprise move that could be designed in part to pave the way for the nation's military chief to leave his defense minister's post to run for president.","Son of late golf great Seve Ballesteros turns pro. MADRID (AP) — Javier Ballesteros, son of late Spanish golf great Seve, has turned professional.","Daimler labor representative: Trucks cost cut plans put 2,000 jobs at risk. Daimler management wants to cut costs further at its truck plants in Germany, an objective which could threaten around 2,000 jobs, labor representative and deputy supervisory board chairman Michael Brecht said on Wednesday. Daimler management has approached labor representatives about plans to achieve the cost savings at three plants in Gaggenau, Mannheim and Kassel by 2022, Brecht said in a statement. \"This is not something we can accept as labor representatives,\" Brecht said. A Daimler spokesman declined to comment on the specific nature of potential cost saving plans, but acknowledged there were currently management deliberations about how to raise the competitiveness of various factories.","Fuel and C$ boost Canada producer prices in February. Higher fuel prices and a weaker Canadian dollar helped lift Canadian producer prices by more than expected in February, Statistics Canada data indicated on Tuesday. Excluding energy, the producer price index rose 0.8 percent. Because some producers who export their products report their price in U.S. dollars, the 1 percent depreciation of the Canadian dollar versus the greenback in February had the effect of boosting prices in Canadian dollars. Raw materials prices also rose more sharply than forecast, up 5.7 percent in February for the biggest gain since June 2009 due to a big jump in crude oil prices.","Li and Parupalli take badminton titles. Michelle Li became the first Canadian to win women's singles gold at the Commonwealth Games badminton as she saw off the challenge of Scotland's Kirsty Gilmour and her passionate home following at the Emirates Arena. Meanwhile India's Kashyap Parupalli was a popular winner in the men's singles final as he beat Derek Wong of Singapore in a three-game classic to win gold. Li, who had caused a surprise on Saturday by beating top seed PV Sindhu of India, was always in control of the final, winning the first game 21-14 before cruising to the second 21-7. Parupalli's clash with Wong was a tense affair from the start but the Indian, who was bronze medallist in Delhi, was helped by a noisy support to win the first game 21-14.","Bomb planted in gov't vehicle kills 5 in Somalia. MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) — Five people died and six others were wounded when a bomb exploded in Mogadishu, Somalia's capital, an official said Saturday.","Palestinian landowners win wildcat settlement payout. An Israeli human rights watchdog hailed as unprecedented Tuesday a court order for the state to pay compensation to Palestinians prevented from farming their land by a wildcat Jewish settlement. The court awarded six Palestinian landowners a total of 300,000 shekels ($85,700) in compensation for their losses from the presence on their land in the northern West Bank of the Amona settlement outpost, which even the Israeli government regards as illegal.","Bank of America quarterly profit drops 43 percent. (Reuters) - Bank of America Corp , the second largest U.S. bank by assets, reported a 43 drop in second-quarter profit as mortgage revenue fell and litigation costs increased. Earnings attributable to shareholders fell to $2.04 billion, or 19 cents per share, in the three months ended June 30 from $3.58 billion, or 32 cent per share, a year earlier. (Reporting by Tanya Agrawal and Peter Rudegeair; Editing by Ted Kerr)","Merkel presses Putin to help calm Ukraine. BERLIN (AP) — German Chancellor Angela Merkel says Russian President Vladimir Putin must send more \"signals of de-escalation\" to help calm the situation in Ukraine and make presidential elections there possible on May 25.","More than 50 killed in Libya's Benghazi, Tripoli after heavy clashes. At least 36 people were killed in Libya's eastern city of Benghazi, many of them civilians, in clashes between Libyan Special Forces and Islamist militants on Saturday night and Sunday morning, medical and security sources said. Another 23 people, all Egyptian workers, were killed in the capital Tripoli when a rocket hit their home on Saturday during clashes between rival militias battling over the city's main airport, the Egyptian state news agency reported. In the last two weeks, Libya has descended into its deadliest violence since the 2011 war that ousted Muammar Gaddafi, prompting the United States, the United Nations and Turkey to pull their diplomatic staff out of the North African country.","Iran's Rouhani does not rule out cooperation with US on Iraq. Tehran (AFP) - Iran would consider cooperating with the United States in fighting Sunni extremist fighters in Iraq if Washington acts against them, President Hassan Rouhani said Saturday.","Obama: Violent clashes not 'Cold War chessboard'. TOLUCA, Mexico (AP) — President Barack Obama says he doesn't see violent clashes in Ukraine and Syria between the governments and their people as part of a \"Cold War chessboard\" where the United States competes with Russia.","Earthquake shakes Iceland volcano, still no ash. REYKJAVIK (Reuters) - An earthquake struck the region around Iceland's Bardarbunga volcano on Sunday while fissures in the area continued to spew out lava but still none of the ash that could hamper airline traffic. The earthquake occurred at 0708 GMT and reached a magnitude of 5.4, making it one of the bigger quakes in the area in central Iceland since significant tremors began on Aug. 16, often producing thousands of quakes per day. \"There was also another quake, magnitude 4.6 at 0330 (GMT) in the night,\" said Bergthora Thorbjarnardottir, geologist at the Icelandic Meteorological Office. ...","Gap Inc seeks new berth in China with Old Navy. By Adam Jourdan SHANGHAI (Reuters) - When Gap Inc began an online campaign ahead of the launch its Old Navy label in China, the iconic U.S. clothes retailer posed an important question to its potential Chinese consumers: have you heard of Old Navy? Brand awareness is one of the uphill battles Gap faces in China as the U.S. firm looks to increase its stake in the world's second largest clothing market, where it lags rivals H&M , Japan's Uniqlo, owned by Fast Retailing Co Ltd and Inditex SA's Zara. Gap, which launched its first Old Navy store in Shanghai on Saturday, plans to open five stores of the value-end chain this year as well as adding 30 Gap stores to its current 81, Gap's Greater China president Jeff Kirwan told Reuters on Saturday.","Brazil: Google fined in Petrobras probe. SAO PAULO (AP) — A Brazilian court says it has fined Google around $200,000 for refusing to intercept emails needed in a corruption investigation at state-run oil company Petrobras.","Rousseff widens lead over Silva in Brazil election poll. BRASILIA (Reuters) - Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff has extended her lead over environmentalist Marina Silva ahead of the Oct. 5 presidential election and would win a likely second-round runoff, a new poll showed on Thursday. Rousseff has 43 percent of voter support against 36 percent for Silva, according to the survey by the Ibope polling firm, widening her advantage to seven percentage points from four since the previous poll released on Tuesday. In first-round voting that takes place on Sunday, Rousseff has 40 percent voter support and Silva 24 percent. ...","WHO: MERS virus isn't an emergency -- yet. LONDON (AP) — The spread of a puzzling respiratory virus in the Middle East and beyond doesn't yet constitute a global health emergency despite a recent spike in cases, the World Health Organization said Wednesday.","Grenade attacks threaten Thai newspaper, court. BANGKOK (AP) — Police say two grenades hit a Thai newspaper headquarters and a court in northern Bangkok but did not hurt anyone, as political tension heats up in the country.","Putin, Cameron to hold face-to-face Ukraine talks: London. Russian President Vladimir Putin will hold face-to-face talks on the Ukraine crisis with British Prime Minister David Cameron, Downing Street said on Monday. \"It is an important opportunity to set out the importance of a dialogue between the Russian government and the new Ukrainian government following the presidential elections that have happened over the last week or so in Ukraine,\" Cameron's official spokesman told reporters. The talks will take place the day after Cameron, US President Barack Obama and other G7 leaders meet in Brussels for a summit at which Russia's annexation of Crimea and the tense situation in eastern Ukraine will be at the centre of discussions.","Sony to stop selling PlayStation Portable. TOKYO (AP) — Sony Corp. is pulling the plug on its hand-held PlayStation Portable video game machine after 10 years.","Monaco beats Leverkusen 1-0 in Champions League. LEVERKUSEN, Germany (AP) — Substitute Lucas Ocampos scored with his first touch of the ball to give Monaco a 1-0 victory at Bayer Leverkusen in the Champions League on Wednesday.","National Bank of Canada profit rises on wealth, markets. TORONTO (Reuters) - National Bank of Canada , the country's sixth-largest lender, said on Monday its first-quarter profit rose 9 percent, driven by stronger wealth management and financial markets income. The Montreal-based bank earned C$405 million ($365.87 million), or C$1.15 a share, in the fiscal first quarter ended January 31. That compared with a year-before profit of C$373 million, or C$1.05 a share. ($1 = 1.1069 Canadian dollars) (Reporting by Cameron French; Editing by Jonathan Oatis)","Egypt's el-Sissi visits sex assault victim. CAIRO (AP) — Bearing red flowers, Egypt's newly sworn-in president Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi on Wednesday apologized in person to a woman who was sexually assaulted by a mob during weekend celebrations marking his inauguration, a gesture that is likely to bolster the career soldier's popularity.","Mexico City joins in banning animals in circuses. MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico City has become the latest place in Mexico to ban the use of animals in circuses. The city council voted overwhelmingly for the prohibition, which carries fines of $45,000 to $60,000.","Sudan's Bashir claims victory over ICC after court shelves Darfur probe. KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir claimed victory over the International Criminal Court on Saturday after it shelved further investigation of war crimes in Darfur, and reaffirmed his hard line on the rebel region. The Hague-based court indicted Bashir in 2009 for war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide in suppressing the Darfur revolt. ...","2 injured by fireworks at Rugby Championship test. AUCKLAND, New Zealand (AP) — Two spectators were injured when fireworks malfunctioned prior to Saturday's Rugby Championship test between New Zealand and Australia at Eden Park.","Carlos Ortiz wins Portland Open. NORTH PLAINS, Oregon (AP) — Carlos Ortiz of Mexico won the Portland Open on Sunday for his third Web.com Tour victory of the season, making him fully exempt on the 2014-15 PGA Tour.","Cricket-SAfrica name speedster Rabada in squad for West Indies. (Fixes spelling in headline) CAPE TOWN, Dec 2 (Reuters) - South Africa have named teenage speedster Kagiso Rabada in a 14-man squad for their three-match home test series against West Indies, Cricket South Africa announced on Tuesday. The 19-year-old, selected along with uncapped Lions team mate Temba Bavuma, is seen as a raw talent but one with a bright future and he could be given a run in the series with a busy summer of cricket for the Proteas that includes the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand. ...","Spying case heightens China-Canada tensions, reflects split in Ottawa. By David Ljunggren OTTAWA (Reuters) - China's decision to investigate two Canadians for suspected spying highlights a sharp and unexpected deterioration in bilateral ties just months ahead of a trip by Canada's Prime Minister Stephen Harper to Beijing. The detention of the couple, long-time residents in China who ran a coffee shop on the border with North Korea, could also make life tougher for the small group of Canadian government ministers who favor closer economic links with Beijing. Chinese authorities are investigating the couple - Kevin Garratt and his wife Julia Dawn Garratt - for suspected theft of military and intelligence information and for threatening national security. The detention came less than a week after Canada accused Chinese hackers of breaking into a key computer network, the first time it has ever singled out China for such a security breach.","Germany midfielder Christoph Kramer to return to Leverkusen. LEVERKUSEN, Germany (AP) — Bayer Leverkusen says Germany midfielder Christoph Kramer will return to the club next season and has signed a two-year contract extension through 2019.","Fighting erupts in Ukraine as crash investigators arrive. By Anton Zverev and Peter Graff DONETSK Ukraine (Reuters) - Ukrainian army tanks were reported to be launching an assault to break pro-Russian rebels' hold on the eastern city of Donetsk on Monday in the first major outbreak of hostilities in the area since Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 was shot down last week. A separatist leader said Ukrainian government forces were trying to break into Donetsk and fighting was under way near the railway station. Sergei Kavtaradze, of the rebels' self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic, said at least four tanks and armored vehicles were trying to break through into the city. A Ukrainian military spokesman said the operation was in progress but would not comment on reports of troops entering Donetsk.","One World Futbol passes out indestructible balls. SAO PAULO (AP) — Poor children around the globe come up with creative ways to make their own footballs, kicking rolled up tape, fishing nets or even broken off dolls' heads to play the world's most popular sport.","MP Nigel Evans cleared of sexual assaults. A former deputy speaker of Britain's House of Commons was cleared of charges of sexually assaulting six young men and raping another. Nigel Evans, 56, said he had been dragged through \"11 months of hell\" by the case, and \"nothing will ever be the same again\". But on Thursday a jury at Preston Crown Court in northwest England found Evans not guilty on all counts, including one count of rape, five sexual assaults, one attempted sexual assault and two indecent assaults. One alleged victim dismissed an incident where Evans put his hand down his trousers as \"crazy\" and \"just Nigel being drunken Nigel\".","Netanyahu slams UN rights council's censure of Israel. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday slammed a UN rights body for a string of resolutions condemning the Jewish state despite a wave of rights abuses elsewhere in the region. \"At the end of last week, the UN Human Rights Council condemned Israel five times, at a time when the slaughter in Syria is continuing, innocent people are being hung in the Middle East and human rights are being eroded,\" he told ministers at the weekly cabinet meeting. \"In many countries the free media are closed down and the UN Human Rights Council decided to condemn Israel,\" he added. The 47-member UN body on Friday passed four resolutions critical of Israel's conduct toward the Palestinians and one on its occupation of the Golan Heights.","UK government under fire over immigration report. LONDON (AP) — Britain's government is being accused of burying a report that suggests immigrants have only a small impact on the number of jobs for British people.","Insight: Bitter times for chocolate factory in Russia-Ukraine crisis. By Elizabeth Piper LIPETSK, Russia (Reuters) - After three years of court cases involving authorities and competitors, Taisiya Voronina thought she had seen everything in Russia's rough and tumble business environment. That was until a final ruling this month sent dozens of armed police and plainclothes officials through the Ukrainian owned chocolate factory she manages in southern Russia. Her factory now shuttered, Voronina, who wants little to do with politics, fears she may become another victim in a struggle for influence between Russia and the West in Ukraine. Her factory workers in the town of Lipetsk suspect they know better.","Tunisian pardoned over Mohammed caricatures. A Tunisian jailed since 2012 for posting caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed online has received a presidential pardon, an official said Wednesday, but it is unclear whether he will be released. President Moncef Marzouki signed the pardon for Jabeur Mejri concerning the \"main case,\" the president's spokesman Adnene Manser told Shems FM radio, but he added: \"We were surprised by the existence of another (criminal) case,\" without elaborating. Mejri, who comes from Mahdia, south of Tunis, is serving a seven-and-a-half year sentence for posting cartoons of the prophet on his Facebook page. Mejri and his co-defendant Ghazi Beji, both unemployed and militant atheists, were charged with \"publishing works likely to disturb public order\" and \"offence to public decency.\"","John Kerry joins calls for end to sexual violence. LONDON (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry has joined actress Angelina Jolie and Britain's foreign minister in calling for an end to rape and sexual violence in conflict zones.","Cement truck plows into NYC home after striking vehicles, killing driver and injuring 4. NEW YORK, N.Y. - Authorities say the driver of a cement truck was killed and four people were injured when the truck slammed into a 3-story home in the Bronx, causing the building to partially collapse.","Study: Tax reforms would curb income inequality. WASHINGTON (AP) — The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development on Wednesday recommended a series of tax changes to limit the worldwide rise in income inequality.","Putin urges Hollande to 'minimise risks' between Russia and France. Brisbane (Australia) (AFP) - Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday called on French President Francois Hollande to join him to \"minimise the risks\" between their countries after months of growing tensions.","France is ready to step up airstrikes in Iraq. PARIS (AP) — France's president said that the country is ready to step up airstrikes against Islamic State militants in Iraq, alongside the U.S.-led coalition.","Bomb kills two policemen on train north of Cairo. CAIRO (Reuters) - A bomb planted in a train killed two Egyptian policemen and wounded 11 other people when it exploded at a station in the Nile Delta province of Menufia late on Wednesday, state television said. Egypt has faced a growing Islamist insurgency since July 2013 when the army ousted elected Islamist President Mohamed Mursi following mass protests and cracked down hard on his Muslim Brotherhood. ...","Israeli leader criticizes Presbyterians. JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel's prime minister on Sunday criticized the decision by the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) to divest from U.S. companies that operate in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, saying the vote was misguided and unfair.","Australian PM insists nothing he could do on Toyota. Prime Minister Tony Abbott insisted Tuesday there was nothing he could do to prevent Toyota halting car manufacturing in Australia as fears it will spark an economic crisis gather pace. The Japanese giant on Monday said it would stop making cars in Australia in 2017, citing high production costs, a strong local dollar and a small domestic market in a decision that kills off the country's 66-year-old auto manufacturing industry. It follows Mitsubishi shuttering plants five years ago, Ford halting production in 2016 and US giant General Motors announcing in December that its Holden offshoot would also cease local manufacturing by 2017. The demise of the industry has sparked a political firefight with the Labor opposition blaming the government for not doing enough to prevent Toyota from walking away and unions warning 50,000 jobs could be lost down the supply chain, mostly in component manufacturing and transport.","El Salvador opposition party leads tight election race: poll. By Nelson Renteria SAN SALVADOR (Reuters) - The presidential candidate from El Salvador's right-wing opposition Nationalist Republican Alliance (ARENA) party is extending his narrow lead in the race to win February's election, according to a poll released on Monday. ARENA candidate Norman Quijano has 35.5 percent of voters' support, while former guerilla commander Salvador Sanchez, candidate for the ruling Farabundo Marti Front for National Liberation, is close behind with 31.8 percent, according to the survey by polling firm Mitofsky. \"I wouldn't call it a technical tie, but it's a close race,\" Roy Campos, president of Mitofsky Consulting, said in a television interview. Mitofsky in July had Quijano with 33 percent of voters' support and Sanchez with 32 percent.","Italy questions its fitness after Costa Rica loss. NATAL, Brazil (AP) — Italy boasted about its physical fitness preparation for this World Cup for weeks.","Day two of Gaza truce, Egypt begins shuttle diplomacy. Life in the battered Gaza Strip began returning to normal Wednesday as a ceasefire held for a second day and Egyptian mediators engaged in shuttle diplomacy on extending the truce. Shops, banks and markets reopened around the devastated enclave where residents seemed more confident that the 72-hour ceasefire, which began Tuesday, would hold after a month of fighting killed 1,875 Palestinians and 67 on the Israeli side. The Palestinians Nearly half a million Palestinians out of Gaza's 1.8 million people were displaced by Israeli bombardment, and many are still sheltering in schools after their homes were flattened in the offensive. Egyptian officials, with likely input from the United States, are likely to face tough talks aimed at securing a permanent ceasefire as Israel and the Palestinians press conflicting demands.","Portugal to rescue BES using bailout money. By Sergio Goncalves LISBON (Reuters) - Troubled Portuguese lender Banco Espirito Santo is expected to be split up into a \"bad\" and \"good\" bank under a multi-billion euro state rescue plan being hashed out by Lisbon and EU authorities, people familiar with the talks said on Sunday. The plan, aimed at saving a bank that has been engulfed by the dramatic fall of the Espirito Santo family’s business empire, includes using at least half of the 6 billion euros left from Portugal’s recently exited international bailout program, these sources said. The bailout money will be used to finance a special bank resolution fund set up by Portugal in 2012 that will in turn inject money into the new Banco Espirito Santo, or BES, \"good bank\", these people said.","Ukraine seeks UN vote against Crimea annexation. UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Ukraine is hoping the United Nations General Assembly will adopt a resolution later this week reaffirming the country's unity and territorial integrity and underscoring that the referendum in Crimea that led to its annexation by Russia \"has no validity.\"","Economic recovery still fragile: BCC. London (AFP) - Business lobby group the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) on Tuesday warned that sustained economic recovery was \"not yet secure\" due to potential imbalances in the system.","North Korea reports 'serious' building accident. PYONGYANG, North Korea (AP) — North Korea said a \"serious\" accident last week at a construction site in the capital, Pyongyang, claimed casualties and triggered a major rescue operation but no death toll was mentioned.","UN science report: Warming worsens security woes. YOKOHAMA, Japan (AP) — In an authoritative report due out Monday a United Nations climate panel for the first time is connecting hotter global temperatures to hotter global tempers. Top scientists are saying that climate change will complicate and worsen existing global security problems, such as civil wars, strife between nations and refugees.","China Film takes 1st stake in Hollywood movies. HONG KONG (AP) — China's state-owned film distributor is making its first investment in Hollywood movies by taking a stake in two projects by production company Legendary Entertainment.","Five illegal miners found dead in abandoned South African shaft. Five illegal miners have been found dead in an abandoned shaft near Johannesburg, emergency services said on Wednesday, highlighting the dangers of scavenging for bullion beneath Africa's financial center. Two illegal migrants from Zimbabwe died earlier this month in another disused gold mine on the outskirts of Johannesburg. Emergency services spokesman Robert Mulaudzi said the five bodies were brought to surface on Tuesday night and were confirmed dead at the scene. The bodies were recovered in an old shaft in Roodepoort, just west of Johannesburg.","Stadler leads French Open after 2nd round. SAINT-QUENTIN-EN-YVELINES, France (AP) — Kevin Stadler increased his lead at the French Open to three strokes by shooting a 3-under 68 in the second round on Friday.","Masimov returns as Kazakh PM to face economic crisis. By Raushan Nurshayeva ASTANA (Reuters) - Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev appointed Karim Masimov as his new prime minister on Wednesday, describing him as well-equipped to work with global finance and attract foreign investment in difficult times. Nazarbayev said he was worried because the previous cabinet had not presented plans to implement a $5.5 billion programme he had ordered to support innovation and small to medium-sized businesses, and to help reduce non-performing loans. Masimov, 48, was popular with foreign investors and led Kazakhstan's economy through the global financial crisis in his previous stint as prime minister from 2007 to 2012. In addition to dealing with the world of global finance, he will also have to prepare the country's integration into the Eurasian Economic Union, meant to link Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus in 2015 as a counterweight to the European Union.","Media outlets given free access to D-Day broadcasts. Broadcast images of events marking the D-Day landings will be made freely available to news agencies and media outlets across the world at the request of the French presidency, broadcasters announced on Wednesday. \"For all foreign channels and agencies, given the exceptional nature of the event and at the request of the Presidency of the Republic, pictures will be available for free... for live broadcasts outside France,\" the TF1 and France Television channels said. Contrary to convention for such major international events, TF1 and France Television wanted to charge agencies - such as Agence France-Presse, Associated Press, Reuters, and ENEX (a global network of private channels) - for the right to broadcast the live images, including any images shown on the Internet. The agencies had also protested to the French presidency, which had asked TF1 and France Television to broadcast the events.","IOC: 'Only a small hiccup here or there' for Sochi. SOCHI, Russia (AP) — IOC President Thomas Bach says things are going smoothly in Sochi with only a \"small hiccup here or there\" heading into Friday's opening ceremony of the Winter Games.","Iran says Obama remarks show U.S. not serious in fighting terrorism. President Barack Obama's plan to send advisers to Iraq to help Baghdad counter Sunni Islamist militants shows the United States is not serious about fighting terrorism, an Iranian official was quoted by official media as saying on Friday. Obama on Thursday offered up to 300 Americans to help coordinate the fight against Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). But he held off granting a request for air strikes from the Shi'ite-led government and renewed a call for Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki to do more to overcome sectarian divisions that have fueled resentment among the Sunni minority. “Obama’s recent remarks showed that the White House lacks serious will for confronting terrorism in Iraq and the region,” the official IRNA news agency reported Deputy Foreign Minister for Arab and African Affairs Hossein Amir Abdollahian as saying.","Walgreen reports 4Q loss. Walgreen booked a $239 million loss in its fiscal fourth quarter after swallowing a huge accounting charge from its Alliance-Boots acquisition, but the drugstore chain's beleaguered stock climbed after it posted results that met Wall Street expectations.","Kiev deadline for disarming in east Ukraine passes. DONETSK, Ukraine (AP) — A deadline set by the Ukrainian government for pro-Russian gunmen to free government buildings in eastern Ukraine and surrender weapons has passed.","Mourners flock to funeral of Myanmar pro-democracy hero. Thousands of mourners Wednesday attended the funeral of Win Tin, a giant of Myanmar's pro-democracy movement, in an outpouring of grief for one of the country's best loved champions of freedom. Activists, political figures and ordinary citizens crowded a cemetery on the outskirts of Yangon, filing past the coffin for a last glimpse of the co-founder of Myanmar's opposition party. Many wore blue -- the colour of a prison uniform -- in tribute to Win Tin, who was Myanmar's longest-serving political detainee under the former junta and who continued to wear a blue shirt after his release in 2008. A memorial ceremony was held earlier in a Yangon church for Win Tin, who died in hospital in the city early Monday at the age of 84.","Dunga picks Robinho for Argentina match. RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Brazil coach Dunga called up Robinho on Wednesday for the team's friendly matches against Argentina and Japan next month.","Gazprom says flow of gas to Europe uninterrupted. MOSCOW (AP) — Russian gas giant Gazprom says Tuesday's explosion at a key pipeline in Ukraine has not disrupted the flow of gas to Europe.","McCaw to test broken ribs against ferocious Sharks. Captain Richie McCaw entered the annals of New Zealand rugby folklore by playing in the 2011 World Cup with a broken foot but the pain was nothing compared to taking on England last month with fractured ribs. McCaw, who makes his return for the Canterbury Crusaders in their Super Rugby semi-final against the South African Sharks on Saturday, played part of the second test and all of the third in pain.","Chinese patriotism fuels cruises to disputed isles. ABOARD THE COCONUT PRINCESS (AP) — Zhang Jing watched the gray shells of the Paracel Islands emerge from the purple, pre-dawn South China Sea. Here was the focal point of a cruise more about politics than pleasure.","Protesters occupy small airport near oil block in Peru's Amazon. LIMA (Reuters) - Hundreds of indigenous community members took control of a small Amazonian airport inside Peru's biggest oil block, tribal leaders said on Tuesday, part of a dispute with Argentine energy firm Pluspetrol and the government over pollution and use of local resources. The airport, in the district of Andoas in Peru's northern region of Loreto, was occupied by native communities late on Monday, indigenous leaders Tedy Guerra and Aurelio Chino said in a phone interview. \"Right now there are about 500 of us at the airport ... ...","South Africa's Nobel winning writer Nadine Gordimer dies. Johannesburg (AFP) - South African Nobel literature laureate and anti-apartheid activist Nadine Gordimer has died at the age of 90, the family lawyers said on Monday.","Cameroon villagers live in terror of Nigeria's Boko Haram. In the villages that line the border with Nigeria, even those charged with protecting Cameroonians from Boko Haram fighters fear the fall of darkness. The Nigeria-born Islamist group has stepped up raids into northern Cameroon in recent days, murdering and stealing with impunity despite military efforts to clamp down on their bloody insurgency. On Sunday local police said one of their officers was killed during an attack on the village of Nariki, 500 metres from Boko Haram's Nigerian stronghold of Tarmoa, adding to scores of deaths from raids on local towns this month. The militants have long used Cameroon to launch attacks on Nigeria as the border between them is extremely porous, with no buffer-zone clearly separating the two countries.","Lewis Hamilton fastest in practice for Austrian GP. SPIELBERG, Austria (AP) — Lewis Hamilton beat teammate Nico Rosberg to the fastest time in the second practice for the Austrian Grand Prix as Mercedes set the pace on Friday.","Kiev forces push into rebel city ahead of Russia, Ukraine talks. Kiev (AFP) - Kiev forces battled into a key rebel bastion Sunday as Moscow denied fresh claims that Russian rocket launchers had crossed over into Ukraine to bolster the separatists' flagging insurgency.","House leader: US immigration bill faces difficulty. WASHINGTON (AP) — The leader of the U.S. House of Representatives said Thursday it will be difficult to pass immigration legislation this year, dimming prospects for one of President Barack Obama's top domestic priorities.","Russia's Putin wants beefed-up presence in Arctic. By Alexei Anishchuk MOSCOW (Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday that Russia should step up its presence in the Arctic and challenge other nations in exploring the world's largest untapped natural reserves, days after it started shipping its first oil from the region. Russia's ambitions in the Arctic have for some time been raising eyebrows among other states vying for a presence there, but the Kremlin's annexation of Ukraine's Crimea Peninsula is likely to put its Arctic plans under greater scrutiny. Russia has staked its future economic growth on developing the Arctic's vast energy resources and reviving a Soviet-era shipping route through the ice. Russia loaded its first crude tanker from an oil platform in the Pechora Sea last week.","Cuba arrests four Miami-based exiles suspected of attack plot. By Daniel Trotta HAVANA (Reuters) - Cuba has arrested four Miami-based exiles suspected of planning attacks on military installations with the goal of promoting anti-government violence on the communist-run island, the Interior Ministry said. Labeling the suspects as \\\\\"terrorists,\\\\\" it said in a statement late on Tuesday they were linked to Luis Posada Carriles, 86, a Cuban exile and former CIA operative living in Miami who for many years sought to overthrow former President Fidel Castro. The April 26 arrests could antagonize the already poor relations between Washington and Havana, and the case recalled a series of plots from the exile community in Miami against Cuba. Cuba said it would contact U.S. officials about the investigation and that the four suspects had admitted to planning the attacks.","Mexico small plane crash kills 5. MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexican officials say mysteries surround a small plane crash that killed five people in the northern state of Sinaloa.","WIMBLEDON WATCH: At least Gulbis has table tennis. LONDON (AP) — Ernests Gulbis went from semifinalist at the French Open to second-round loser at Wimbledon, but he jokingly took some solace from a victory over two-time Australian Open champion Victoria Azarenka — at pingpong, that is.","Obama open to appointing Ebola 'czar,' opposes travel ban. By Steve Holland and David Morgan WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama said on Thursday that he was considering appointing an Ebola \"czar\" to coordinate the fight against the virus in the United States but he remained opposed to a ban on travel from West Africa. Obama's administration is under growing criticism from lawmakers over its efforts to contain the disease at home. Obama authorized calling up military reservists for the U.S. fight against Ebola in West Africa on Thursday. U.S. ...","Kenya Wildlife Service struggles to stop poaching. NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Kenya's wildlife authority said Tuesday it needs help to curb the escalation of killings of the country's endangered elephants and rhinos for ivory tusks and horns.","Afghan president responds to concerns over law. KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Afghan President Hamid Karzai has ordered changes to a draft of new criminal legislation in response to an international outcry warning it would severely limit justice for victims of domestic abuse.","Brazil leader names 13 new ministers. SAO PAULO (AP) — Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff has named 13 of the new ministers who will serve during her second term.","Gunfire heard in Kenyan coastal area of Lamu: officials. Gunfire was heard on Saturday night in the Kenyan coastal county of Lamu, where 65 people were killed in two attacks last month, officials said on Sunday. The Kenya National Disaster Operation Center said on its Twitter feed that the gunfire had been at Hindi trading center, situated 15 km (9 miles) from the town of Lamu, and close to the town of Mpeketoni, which was nearly destroyed in one of the attacks last month. The Kenya Red Cross said it had dispatched its emergency teams to the area, situated north of the port of Mombasa, adding that the shooting had ceased. The Somali Islamist militant group al Shabaab, which has carried out a series of attacks in neighboring Kenya, said earlier it had staged an attack on Saturday evening in the coastal area.","China criticizes Japan's move to seek compensation over 2010 ship collision. China expressed anger on Wednesday over Japan's plan to seek compensation from the captain of a Chinese trawler that collided with a Japanese coastguard vessel in 2010 to spark a diplomatic crisis. Japanese media cited Transport and Construction Minister Akihiro Ota as saying the government would sue for compensation of 14.29 million yen ($139,600) in the Naha district court on the southern island of Okinawa. Diplomatic and economic relations chilled sharply in 2010 after Japan arrested the captain of the boat that collided with one of its coastguard vessels near disputed islands in the East China Sea that are called the Diaoyu in China and the Senkaku in Japan. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said the islands belonged to China, and it was Japan that should be providing compensation.","Magnitude 5.8 quake strikes Mexico's Oaxaca state. NEW YORK (AP) — The U.S. Geological Survey says a magnitude 5.8 earthquake has struck the southwestern Mexican state of Oaxaca.","Vietnam scales down search for missing Malaysian jet. PHU QUOC ISLAND, Vietnam (Reuters) - Vietnam said on Wednesday it was scaling back the search in Vietnamese waters for a Malaysian Airlines jetliner missing for four days, a senior Vietnamese official said. \"We still have plans to search with a few flights today, while other activities are suspended,\" Deputy Transport Minister Pham Quy Tieu, who heads the Vietnam search, told reporters. Tieu said searches by ships were being suspended. ...","Air raids kill 38 as Iraq forces hold off assaults. Iraqi air strikes killed at least 38 people on Tuesday as security forces held off attacks on a strategic town and an oil refinery, officials and witnesses said. In the town of Baiji, north of Baghdad, morning air strikes killed at least 19 people and wounded at least 17, officials said, while further raids in the evening killed six more. The officials said the dead and wounded were civilians, and it was unclear if there were any casualties among the militants who were the target of the strikes. In the Husseibah area of Anbar province, west of Baghdad, another air strike killed seven militants and six civilians, witnesses said.","After a kiss, Ukrainian troops leave Crimea by bus. FEODOSIA, Crimea (AP) — Giving last-minute kisses to wives and girlfriends, Ukrainian marines in Crimea piled into buses Tuesday to head back to the mainland. Former comrades saluted them from outside a base that has been overrun by Russian forces.","Asia stocks rise after US growth revised higher. Asian stock markets mostly posted modest gains Wednesday as stronger U.S. growth was tempered by a less rosy outlook for China.","Man claims sanctuary in Denver church basement. DENVER (AP) — A Mexican man who is living in a Denver church basement has claimed sanctuary to avoid deportation.","Controversial anti-protest laws in Ukraine come into force. Kiev (AFP) - Controversial anti-protest laws that sparked unprecedented riots in Ukraine entered force on Tuesday after they were officially published in a government newspaper.","Small Quebec town prepares to mourn 32 seniors killed in fire. By Randall Palmer L'ISLE-VERTE, Quebec (Reuters) - The small grief-struck Quebec town of L'Isle-Verte will hold a memorial service on Sunday for the 32 people who died in a massive fire that engulfed a three-storey wooden residence for seniors. Ten bodies have been recovered and 22 people are still missing in the frozen ruins of the Residence du Havre in L'Isle-Verte, a town of 1,500 people on the St. Lawrence River northeast of Quebec City and 65 km (40 miles) north of Maine.","UN chief calls for Ukraine crash investigation. UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N. secretary-general says \"there is clearly a need for a full and transparent international investigation\" into the plane crash in Ukraine.","Canada forecasts lower budget surplus next year. Canada's finance minister on Wednesday forecast a smaller budgetary surplus next year than was expected, citing lower oil royalties and tax cuts. In his fiscal update, Finance Minister Joe Oliver predicted a deficit of Can$2.9 billion (US$2.6 billion) in 2014-2015, followed by a Can$1.9 billion surplus the following fiscal year. Since then, commodity prices have declined 14 percent, led by lower crude oil prices, resulting in less revenue from royalties. Government revenues are also expected to be hit by Can$27 billion in tax cuts over six years promised by the ruling Tories.","Bahraini man sentenced to death over policeman killing. The attack last year followed clashes between security forces and demonstrators on the second anniversary of the 2011 uprising by mostly majority Shi'ite Muslims demanding democratic reforms in the Sunni-ruled kingdom, a key U.S. regional ally. In those clashes, security forces killed a teenager and injured dozens more protesters, an opposition website said. Security forces confirmed they had fired warning shots at the crowds and one young man had been killed. Bahrain crushed the demonstrations that began on February 14, 2011 amid the protest wave sweeping other Arab countries, but it has yet to resolve the conflict between majority Shi'ites and the Sunni-led monarchy they accuse of oppressing them.","FBI investigates Ford engineer after listening devices found: report. A 43-year-old former Ford Motor Co engineer is being investigated by the FBI after listening devices were found in meeting rooms at company offices, the Detroit News reported on Friday. The Federal Bureau of Investigation conducted a search at offices of the No. 2 U.S. automaker on July 11 and seized listening devices, computers and financial records, according to search warrants obtained by the newspaper. The search came three weeks after the FBI raided the suburban Detroit home of Sharon Leach, a Ford mechanical engineer who was fired after company security found listening devices planted in meeting rooms, the newspaper said. Leach's attorney Marshall Tauber could not immediately be reached for comment.","Violence abates in Vietnam as U.S. warns China for 'provocation\". By Nguyen Phuong Linh and Matt Spetalnick HANOI/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Anti-China violence subsided in Vietnam on Friday after the prime minister called for calm, but the United States said China's \"provocative\" actions in maritime disputes were dangerous and had to stop. Thousands of people attacked businesses and factories in Vietnam's industrial parks earlier in the week, targeting Chinese workers and Chinese-owned businesses after Beijing parked an oil rig in a part of the South China Sea claimed by Hanoi. ...","U.N. tries to locate Fijian peacekeepers seized on Golan Heights. By Luke Baker QUNEITRA Golan Heights (Reuters) - U.N. officials shuttled along the rocky frontier between Syria and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights on Friday, trying to establish the whereabouts of 43 United Nations peacekeepers seized by al-Qaeda-linked militants inside Syria. Israeli forces took up positions at Quneitra, a fortified crossing between Syria and the Golan, barely 400 meters from Nusra Front militants, who attacked a U.N. base on the Syrian side of the border on Wednesday and seized the 43 Fijians.","Supermodel Naomi Campbell launches Ebola fashion pop-up. London (AFP) - British supermodel Naomi Campbell launched a pop-up fashion shop in east London to raise awareness of the spread of Ebola on Thursday.","Volkswagen says it plans to invest $7 billion in North America. Volkswagen said on Sunday it plans to make a sport utility vehicle tailored for the North American market and to invest $7 billion in the region as it seeks to hike sales. Volkswagen, Germany's largest automaker, reiterated its goal of selling 1 million Volkswagen and Audi vehicles in the United States annually by 2018 as it launches more locally made cars suited to the U.S. market. \"As a group we will be investing over $7 billion in North America over the next five years,\" Chief Executive Martin Winterkorn said in a statement released on Sunday, on the eve of the North American Auto Show in Detroit. The $7 billion is part of an already announced multi-year investment program by the Wolfsburg, Germany-based Volkswagen Group.","Group of Burkina army officers say they have 'taken country in hand'. Ouagadougou (AFP) - A group of Burkina Faso army officers said Friday said they had \"taken the destiny of the nation in hand\" and were closing the west African country's borders hours after deposed President Blaise Compaore fled the capital.","GT Advanced sought to avoid costly battle with Apple: filing. SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - GT Advanced Technology Inc , which struck an agreement with erstwhile partner Apple Inc last week that allowed it to proceed with its bankruptcy, said the iPhone maker had threatened to seek damages of more than $1 billion against the company. Former stock market darling GT Advanced, once set to become the main supplier of scratch-resistant sapphire to Apple, surprised markets when it filed for Chapter 11 earlier this month. It failed to meet performance targets set out in its supply agreement with Apple, setting the stage for its failure, according to court filings. ...","India 90-3 at tea on day 5, chasing 435 vs. NZ. WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — The second test between New Zealand and India appeared headed for a draw at tea on Tuesday's final day, giving New Zealand an unlikely series victory.","Ukraine must stop 'punitive' military operation: Putin. DEAUVILLE France (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday that he welcomed plans put forward by Ukrainian president-elect Petro Poroshenko, with whom he had a brief initial meeting earlier, to stop the violence in Ukraine. However, he also said Ukraine must stop what he called a \"punitive\" military operation in its southeast region and warned Russia would retaliate with measures to protect its economy if Kiev signed an association pact with the European Union. (Reporting by Alexei Anishchuk; Editing by Mark John and James Regan)","Boss of company in China meat scandal apologizes. BEIJING (AP) — The chairman of an American meat supplier apologized Thursday for a Chinese subsidiary that is accused of selling expired beef and chicken to restaurants including McDonald's and KFC.","Grisly murders highlight social strains in Modi's India. By Sruthi Gottipati KATRA SHAHADATGANJ India (Reuters) - When a farm laborer in this hardscrabble village in northern India went to the police last week to report that his daughter and her cousin had gone missing, a constable slapped him in the face and sent him away. Three men were arrested for the crime in Uttar Pradesh state that underscored the enduring culture of sexual assault in India and the capacity for appalling violence between Hindu castes. One of Modi's biggest challenges will be making a break from the ineffectual responses of governments to heinous crimes like this and the gang rape and murder in December 2012 of a young woman in the capital, which provoked a rash of street protests, much of it over the authorities' apparent indifference. \"When these incidents occur, like the one in Delhi in 2012, there is public outrage,\" said Meenakshi Ganguly, South Asia director of Human Rights Watch.","NKorea sanctions bill passes US legislative hurdle. WASHINGTON (AP) — A bill to toughen sanctions against North Korea and restrict its access to hard currency has passed a legislative hurdle in the U.S. Congress.","Image of Asia: A day in the life in Mumbai. In this photo by Rafiq Maqbool, a vegetable seller pushes his cart in a Mumbai slum. Forty-one percent of households in India's largest city are crowded into shantytowns, according to India's first complete count of its slum population. The survey completed in 2011 and released last year showed residents have communication access such as cellphones but the lack of toilets and infrastructure in shantytowns mean people use open sewers and rig up elaborate systems to obtain electricity, usually illegally.","Filipino nabbed in bombing that killed 2 US troops. MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Philippine police on Sunday captured a suspected Muslim rebel bomber who allegedly was involved in a 2009 land mine attack that killed two U.S. Army Special Forces soldiers and a Filipino marine in a restive southern province.","Iraqi PM: Plot to attack New York, Paris subways. NEW YORK (AP) — Iraq's prime minister says his country's intelligence operation has uncovered a plot for an imminent attack on subway systems in United States and Paris.","Jamaica policeman arrested, facing murder charge. KINGSTON, Jamaica (AP) — A Jamaican policeman facing a murder charge has been arrested at an island airport.","Thai tensions rise, economy uncertain as power struggle intensifies. By Martin Petty BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thailand is heading for a political showdown, with anti-government protesters aiming to sabotage an election by shutting down Bangkok next week, deepening a crisis that has divided the country and looks set to squeeze economic growth this year. Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra faces swelling opposition in Bangkok ahead of the February 2 election in which her supporters in the rural north and northeast are expected to return her to power - if the vote can go ahead. Thousands of demonstrators marched through Bangkok on Sunday as a prelude to rallies starting on January 13, when they plan to block government offices and occupy key intersections for days in a bid to force out Yingluck and scuttle the poll. The protesters accuse Yingluck of being a puppet of her self-exiled brother and former premier, Thaksin Shinawatra, a man they say is a corrupt crony capitalist who used taxpayers' money to buy his electoral support with populist giveaways.","Embattled Iraqi Turkmen take up arms against militants. In the Iraqi town of Taza Khurmatu, a motley brigade of Shiite Turkmen locals adjust their weapons and headscarves before heading out to defend their homes from encroaching Sunni militants. At the time, the shifting loyalties helped turn the tide of Iraq's insurgency. \"During the time of the Americans, the Sahwa force fought the terrorists, and our men here were part of that,\" says the local commander of the force, Issam Abbas. Abbas, 45, used to work in commerce, but has committed himself fulltime to the Sahwa force in the town of Taza Khurmatu, 20 kilometres (12 miles) south of Kirkuk, for the past year.","Haiti PM vows action on documents for migrants. SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic (AP) — The prime minister of Haiti says his government will soon launch a program to help its citizens acquire documents needed to secure legal residency in the neighboring Dominican Republic.","Van Gaal's substitutes key to Dutch success. RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — The Netherlands coach Louis van Gaal is proving to be the master of well-planned substitutions at this World Cup.","Russia food ban offers big opportunity for Brazil. By Caroline Stauffer and Silvio Cascione SAO PAULO/BRASILIA (Reuters) - Russia's ban on many western food products presents a massive opportunity for meat and grain exports from agricultural powerhouse Brazil and a smaller one for its Latin American neighbors. Around 90 new meat plants in Brazil were immediately approved to export beef, chicken and pork to Russia and the South American nation is already working to increase its exports of corn and soybeans sales to Russian buyers, Brazil's secretary of agricultural policy, Seneri Paludo, said on Thursday. Brazil's enthusiasm for Russia comes as Moscow's relations with the rest of the West are at Cold War-era lows. Russia banned all imports of U.S. food products and certain goods from the European Union, Australia, Canada and Norway after President Vladimir Putin ordered retaliation for sanctions against Moscow over the Ukraine crisis.","Brazil's 'German' city finds allegiances frayed. BLUMENAU, Brazil (AP) — In this southern Brazil town populated by descendants of German immigrants, many soccer fans suddenly became even closer to their European roots as they watched Germany dismantle Brazil 7-1 in a World Cup semifinal Tuesday.","Mexican officials confirm arrest of Vicente Carrillo Fuentes, leader of Juarez cartel. MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexican officials confirm arrest of Vicente Carrillo Fuentes, leader of Juarez cartel.","China signs deal to purchase 123 Airbus helicopters. Airbus Group NV's helicopter division sealed a deal on Monday to sell 123 helicopters to Chinese companies during German Chancellor Angela Merkel's China visit. The orders, including both light single-engine helicopters from Airbus Helicopters' Ecureuil family and the light twin-engine EC135, are being placed by three Chinese general aviation service providers, the company said in a statement. “We are grateful to the operators for selecting Airbus Helicopters to be their partner in developing the general aviation market to serve China’s needs,” said Airbus Helicopters CEO Guillaume Faury. “It is evident that China’s relaxation of its low-altitude airspace regulations is enabling the country’s burgeoning helicopter market to realize its potential.” Germany's Deutsche Lufthansa AG and China's flag carrier, Air China Ltd , also signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to expand and strengthen their partnership in a separate deal signed earlier on Monday.","Kiev says three separatists killed in attempted storming of base. By Aleksandar Vasovic MARIUPOL, Ukraine (Reuters) - Separatists attacked a base of the Ukrainian national guard in an eastern city overnight and Kiev said three attackers were killed in the shooting that followed, making it the bloodiest incident so far in a 10 day uprising in the east. There were some women with them, but then they left,\" said police major Oleksandr Kolesnichenko, deputy commander of the base. We are safe.\" Heavily armed pro-Russian separatists have seized buildings in about 10 towns and cities in eastern Ukraine. We have verified that one person is dead and more than 10 wounded.\" Ukraine's interior minister Arsen Avakov said in a post on Facebook that an armed group of about 300 people had attacked the base in Mariupol on the Sea of Azov with guns and petrol bombs.","Trove from Churchill's daughter up for auction. LONDON (AP) — Sotheby's is selling books, furniture, a humidor and other possessions from a leading Briton who traveled the world on high-level diplomacy during World War II, met Roosevelt and Stalin, and loved a good cigar.","US frustrated with Sri Lanka's reconciliation. COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — A senior United States diplomat says Sri Lanka's government has made little progress on justice, reconciliation and accountability five years since the end of the civil war.","Online-addicted Korean man arrested over son's death. Seoul (AFP) - South Korean police said Tuesday they had arrested a man for allegedly allowing his infant son to starve to death while spending days playing online games at Internet cafes.","Japan beats Australia in Women's Asian Cup final. HO CHI MINH CITY, Vietnam (AP) — Azusa Iwashimizu's 27th-minute goal gave Japan a 1-0 win over defending champion Australia in the final of the Women's Asian Cup on Sunday.","Celtic captain Brown out for three months. Celtic captain Scott Brown will miss the start of next season after suffering a torn hamstring which will sideline him for up to three months. Brown sustained the injury in Sunday's 1-1 friendly draw against Rapid Vienna in Austria, with tests showing he had almost torn his hamstring clean off the bone. The 29-year-old doesn't need surgery, but even so he will miss a minimum of eight weeks, ruling him out of this month's Champions League second-round qualifier with KR Reykjavik. Brown's injury is a major blow for Scotland boss Gordon Strachan as well.","India's new government accused of interfering with judicial independence. By Frank Jack Daniel NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India's new prime minister, Narendra Modi, faces accusations his government ran a campaign to block the appointment of a Supreme Court judge it believed was biased against it, fuelling a debate about judicial independence in the world's largest democracy. Gopal Subramanium, a former solicitor-general who was invited in May to join the court, accused the government of undermining his appointment through malicious leaks to the media because of his involvement in murder cases brought against a key aide of Modi. \"(It is) the fear of independence and independent thinking,\" Subramanium told Reuters on Thursday, after withdrawing his candidacy through an open letter to the court on Wednesday.","Saudis confirm taking part in Syria air strikes. Riyadh (AFP) - Saudi Arabia confirmed it took part along with Arab allies in US-led air strikes against jihadists from the Islamic State group in Syria on Tuesday.","Euroskeptics surge but don't win in UK election. LONDON (AP) — Britain's Conservatives hung onto victory in a special election closely watched as a test of surging Euroskeptic sentiment.","Wall Street set for flat open after Wal-Mart results, data. By Chuck Mikolajczak NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stocks were poised to open little changed on Thursday, as the Dow and S&P hovered near record highs following earnings from Wal-Mart and data on the labor market. Wal-Mart shares advanced 2.1 percent to $80.85 in premarket trading after the retail giant posted a 2.9 percent increase in third-quarter revenue. Weekly initial jobless claims rose 12,000 to 290,000, above expectations for 280,000 claims, but remained near a 14-year low, and stood for a ninth straight week below the 300,000 mark. ...","U.S. seeks to boost troops in Romania amid Crimea crisis. The United States has asked to boost the number of troops and aircraft it has stationed at an airbase in NATO ally Romania, President Traian Basescu said on Tuesday, as tensions between the West and Russia simmer over neighboring Ukraine. U.S. forces have used the Mihail Kogalniceanu air base on the Black Sea in eastern Romania since 1999. \"The U.S. embassy in Bucharest has asked for support from Romanian authorities to expand current operations at the Mihail Kogalniceanu base,\" Basescu said in a letter of notification to the speaker of Romania's lower house of parliament. The U.S. request would add up to 600 U.S. troops to the roughly 1,000 currently stationed in Romania and would also increase the number of military aircraft there, the letter said.","Israeli official says leadership still examining Gaza truce proposal. JERUSALEM (Reuters) - An Israeli official said on Thursday that Israeli senior representatives at talks in Cairo had accepted an Egyptian proposal for a comprehensive Gaza ceasefire starting on Friday, but Israel's leaders still had to approve the deal. The official, who earlier said that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's decision-making security cabinet had agreed to the truce, later told Reuters the forum had not yet voted and was still examining its details. ...","Israeli leftwing firebrand Aloni dead at 85. Firebrand Israeli leftwinger and former cabinet minister Shulamit Aloni, a supporter of Palestinian statehood and opponent of the Orthodox Jewish establishment, died on Friday aged 85, her party said. \"Aloni died peacefully at a ripe old age, surrounded by her family,\" a statement on the website of the leftwing Meretz party that she headed. The civil rights campaigner and longtime supporter of Palestinian statehood was eulogised by liberals and even hawkish rightwingers, including the Jewish state's current defence minister. Aloni served during her 28-year parliamentary career as minister of education, of communications, science and as a minister without portfolio.","Saudi Arabia beheads three convicted of murder. Saudi authorities on Wednesday beheaded three citizens after they were convicted of murder in separate cases, the interior ministry announced, bringing to 41 the number of executions there this year. Nawaf al-Mutairi was executed in the western city of Medina for the machine-gun killing of fellow Saudi Adel al-Harbi in a dispute, a statement published by the official SPA news agency said. Another Saudi, Naji Al-Mutleq, was beheaded in the southwestern city of Najran for shooting dead fellow tribesman Abdelhadi al-Mutleq, also with a machine gun, SPA reported. In neighbouring Jazan, authorities executed Musa Dhafiri for stabbing to death Yehia Hamdi following a disagreement, the news agency added.","Ogunode wins 200 to achieve Asiad sprint double. INCHEON, South Korea (AP) — Days after setting an Asian record in the 100 meters, Qatar's Femi Ogunode powered to victory in the Asian Games 200 on Wednesday.","Erdogan, launching presidential bid, vows 'pioneering new Turkey'. By Humeyra Pamuk and Ece Toksabay ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Tayyip Erdogan outlined his vision for a \"pioneering new Turkey\" on Friday, pledging to re-write the constitution, forge a more prominent role on the world stage and deepen democracy if he becomes the country's first popularly-elected president. Launching his campaign for an August election he is almost certain to win, the man who has dominated Turkish politics for more than a decade cast his bid for the presidency as part of a historic path of change, breaking the shackles of a status quo he said had held Turkey back for decades. \"The old Turkey is in the past now. The gates of the old Turkey are closed.","Pakistani prisoner found dead in Indian jail. SRINAGAR, India (AP) — Officials at a jail in the Indian-controlled part of Kashmir say a Pakistani prisoner has committed suicide.","Media exaggerated horror tale at Irish orphanage. DUBLIN (AP) — Revelations this month that nuns had buried nearly 800 infants and young children in unmarked graves at an Irish orphanage during the last century caused stark headlines and stirred strong emotions and calls for investigation. Since then, however, a more sober picture has emerged that exposes how many of those headlines were wrong.","As Ukraine tensions ease, markets buoyant. LONDON (AP) — Global stocks were buoyant Wednesday as tensions in Ukraine continued to ease and investors anticipated further stimulus measures, particularly from the monetary authorities in China. Further solid U.S. economic data also reinforced hopes over the outlook for the world's largest economy.","3 years after Mubarak, reports of abuses in Egypt. EL-ARISH, Egypt (AP) — On the third anniversary of the day Hosni Mubarak stepped down as Egypt's president after an 18-day uprising, the government blocked access to Tahrir Square on Tuesday and letters emerged from activists reporting that they have been beaten and subjected to other abuses by police after being arrested in a string of protests in late January.","'Free Shorty': hundreds march for jailed Mexican drug lord. The largely young crowd, many dressed in white, bore signs that read \"We want Shorty Freed\" and \"We demand no extradition\" as they filed across the center of Culiacan, in the northwestern state of Sinaloa, to a church on a palm tree-lined plaza. Boys donned white t-shirts scrawled with messages written in marker pen in support for \"El Chapo,\" his nickname in Spanish.","Syria talks in disarray before they begin. By Samia Nakhoul and Khaled Yacoub Oweis GENEVA (Reuters) - Syria peace talks were in disarray on Tuesday before they began, buffeted by a botched U.N. invitation to Iran, an explosion in Beirut and new evidence that appears to show Bashar al-Assad's government has tortured and killed thousands. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's unexpected, last-minute decision on Sunday to invite President Assad's main foreign backer Iran - only to withdraw the invitation a day later - proved a diplomatic fiasco, undermining talks that are already given little chance of success. War crimes lawyers said photographs apparently smuggled out of Syria by a military police photographer were clear evidence Assad's government has systematically tortured and killed some 11,000 detainees. One of three former international war crimes prosecutors who signed the report compared the images from Syria to the \"industrial-scale killing\" of Nazi death camps.","Four people shot at western Canadian sawmill. (Reuters) - Four people were taken to hospital and a suspect was in custody after a shooting at a sawmill in British Columbia on Wednesday, police said. A CBC report identified the business as a sawmill operated by Western Forest Products . At this point it appears 4 people were shot and have been taken to hospital,\" the Royal Canadian Mounted Police said in a statement. A call to Western Forest Products was not immediately returned.","Scott 'three-peat' bid off to slow start at Australian Masters. By Ian Ransom MELBOURNE (Reuters) - World number two Adam Scott gritted his teeth in foul conditions for golf on Thursday, scratching out a one-over 73 in the first round of the Australian Masters to be six strokes behind clubhouse leaders Michael Wright and Stephen Allan. Bidding for an unprecedented third successive title in the A$1 million ($860,000) event, Scott fumed as hot, northerly winds turned Melbourne's Metropolitan Golf Club into a suburban dust-bowl, while his putter refused to cooperate. ...","UN says 70 people hacked to death in Congo. KINSHASA, Congo (AP) — The United Nations peacekeeping mission in Congo says that at least 70 people were killed in the Masisi territory of troubled eastern Congo.","Citi says to pay $7 billion to settle securities investigation. (Reuters) - Citigroup Inc said it agreed to pay $7 billion to settle a U.S. government investigation into mortgage-backed securities the bank sold in the run-up to the 2008 financial crisis. Citigroup said on Monday it would pay a total of $4.5 billion in cash and provide $2.5 billion in consumer relief. The bank said it would take a related pre-tax charge of about $3.8 billion in the second quarter. The settlement figure was more that twice what many analysts expected earlier this year but less than the $12 billion the government had sought in negotiations with the bank.","Bombs at Iraq funeral procession kill 20. Baquba (Iraq) (AFP) - Two bombs exploded near a funeral procession in the Iraqi city of Baquba on Tuesday, killing 20 people, police and a doctor said. The blasts in the capital of Diyala province, 60 kilometres (37 miles) north of Baghdad, also wounded 28 people, the sources said. Mourners were carrying the body of a teacher who was shot dead the previous night to a cemetery when the blasts occurred. The Baquba blasts came as militants seized control the entire northern province of Nineveh, including its capital Mosul.","Canada, Sweden look for strong position in hockey. SOCHI, Russia (AP) — Sidney Crosby is pretty sure Canada shook off all of its jet lag in its Olympic hockey opener.","Yuvraj Singh in India's squad for World T20. NEW DELHI (AP) — Allrounder Yuvraj Singh is in India's squad for the World Twenty20 in Bangladesh next month despite not finding favor from the selectors in recent one-day internationals.","Israel says shot down Syrian aircraft over Israeli-controlled airspace. JERUSALEM (Reuters) - An Israeli Patriot missile shot down a Syrian aircraft that flew into Israeli-controlled airspace on Tuesday, the military said, without disclosing the type of plane it intercepted. \"Moments ago a Syrian aircraft infiltrated Israeli airspace. The IDF (Israel Defense Forces) intercepted the aircraft in mid-flight, using the Patriot air defense system. The circumstances of the incident are being reviewed,\" a military statement said. ...","Exclusive - U.S. set to approve international debut of F-35 fighter: sources. The U.S. Defense Department is poised to approve the first trans-Atlantic flight of Lockheed Martin Corp's F-35 fighter jet in July, when the new warplane is expected to take part in two international air shows near London, according to multiple sources familiar with the issue. U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel is \"very close\" to a decision that would allow two or three F-35s to fly at the Royal International Air Tattoo (RIAT), an annual military air show held outside London, and the larger Farnborough air show, held every two years, said the sources, who were not authorized to speak publicly. Britain, which contributed $2 billion to the development of the new radar-evading fighter jet and plans to buy 138 F-35s in coming years, asked for the jet's participation to help showcase the increasing maturity of the new radar-evading plane.","Suspected militants kill two Kenyan soldiers near Somali border. Two Kenyan soldiers transporting food supplies into Somalia were shot dead in a gunfight near the countries' border, a senior police official said on Monday. Leonard Omolo, police commander in the coastal county of Lamu, said suspected militants ambushed the soldiers late on Sunday as they pushed their car out of mud after heavy rains in the area. Kenya sent troops into Somalia in late 2011, after al Shabaab militants carried out a series of raids on Kenyan soil. Kenya has seen a drop in tourist arrivals in recent months following a string of gun and grenade attacks blamed on al Shabaab or its sympathizers.","FIFA denies blocking Maradona from Maracana. RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — FIFA has played down the latest broadside aimed by Diego Maradona, one of the governing body's fiercest critics.","China to send 700 troops to South Sudan to assist U.N. mission. BEIJING (Reuters) - China said on Thursday it will send 700 troops to join a U.N. peacekeeping mission in South Sudan, where fighting has threatened Beijing's oil investments. The troops will assist the U.N. with protecting citizens and humanitarian workers and in other security-related activities in the newly independent country, said Defence Ministry spokesman Geng Yansheng in a statement. The location of the troops and the timing of the deployment were still being negotiated, the statement said. U.N. ...","First lap crash halts F1 British Grand Prix. SILVERSTONE, England (AP) — The British Grand Prix was halted on the opening lap Sunday after a collision involving Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen and Felipe Massa of Williams.","Kerry raps Israel in faltering Mideast peace. WASHINGTON (AP) — America's top diplomat says talks in the Mideast peace process faltered after Israel last month refused to release prisoners as Palestinian leaders demanded, and then moved forward with new construction in a settlement.","UBS cannot arbitrate with Nasdaq over Facebook IPO: court. NEW YORK (Reuters) - A divided U.S. appeals court on Friday rejected UBS AG's bid to compel Nasdaq OMX Group Inc to arbitrate a dispute over how the exchange operator handled Facebook Inc's May 2012 initial public offering. By a 2-1 vote, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York upheld a lower court judge's conclusion that UBS' claims were not subject to arbitration. UBS claimed that Nasdaq's mismanagement of the IPO caused the Swiss bank to unintentionally amass tens of millions of Facebook shares, ultimately resulting in more than $350 million of losses. ...","Jealousy over Facebook chat prompts Brazil murder. SAO PAULO (AP) — Brazilian police say a Facebook conversation made a man so jealous that he killed and dismembered a friend of his wife.","California governor issues second drought emergency proclamation. By Dana Feldman LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - California's drought is so severe that the state will roll back some environmental protections and loosen the rules on transferring water to farmers, Governor Jerry Brown said on Friday. \"The dry season is upon us,\" Brown declared at a meeting on environmental sustainability in Los Angeles. \"With this proclamation I'm calling upon all Californians, municipal water agencies, and anyone who uses water to do everything possible to conserve.\" Brown, who served two terms as governor from 1975 to 1983, during the state's last severe drought, said an executive order issued on Friday would shorten the application process for farmers who need water for their crops, and cut red tape for cities that need to improve or expand their water systems. At the meeting, sponsored by the Los Angeles Business Council and held at the Getty Center in Los Angeles, Brown warned of the impending summer wildfire season, when rain is extremely rare and blazes race through the state's dry, brushy canyons, threatening homes and causing millions of dollars' worth of damage.","Skills shortage causing pre-budget anxiety for Canadian businesses. OTTAWA - Businesses desperate for skilled labour will be keenly watching the upcoming federal budget, fearful the federal government will water down the Canada Jobs Grant amid provincial and territorial opposition.","Separatists seize another local government HQ in Ukraine. By Vasily Fedosenko LUHANSK, Ukraine (Reuters) - Hundreds of pro-Russian separatists seized the regional government headquarters in Luhansk on Tuesday, unopposed by police, underlining the lack of control of central government over swathes of eastern Ukraine. The government in Kiev has all but lost control of its police forces in parts of eastern Ukraine since pro-Russian activists seized buildings in the region's second biggest city of Donetsk and several smaller towns. \"The regional leadership does not control its police force,\" said Stanislav Rechynsky, an aide to Interior Minister Arsen Avakov, referring to events in Luhansk where separatists had earlier only occupied the local security services' building. \"The local police did nothing.\" He added that the ministry had information that they would next try to take the local television center.","Chiquita, Fyffes alter merger agreement. Changes to the proposed merger agreement between Chiquita and the Irish fruit company Fyffes will give Chiquita shareholders a larger stake in what would become the world's largest banana supplier.","Libyan TV station rocked by blast. The Tripoli headquarters of Libya's Alassema privately owned television channel was attacked early Wednesday, with three powerful blasts heard, an AFP journalist said. The channel has been accused by Islamists of urging people to demonstrate against the country's highest political body, the General National Congress. The GNC on February 3 took the controversial decision to extend its mandate until December, despite opposition by much of the population critical of its inability to halt Libya's slide into chaos. A week ago, the headquarters of two private television channels in the restive eastern city of Benghazi were targeted by gunmen.","Kerry says U.S. help will only work if Iraqi leaders unite. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said U.S. assistance to Iraq, which is seeking to repel a stunning militant advance, would only work if Iraqi leaders overcame deep divisions, the State Department said on Saturday. Kerry spoke with Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari in a call on Saturday, the State Department said in a statement. \"He emphasized to the Foreign Minister that assistance from the United States would only be successful if Iraqi leaders were willing to put aside differences and implement a coordinated and effective approach to forge the national unity necessary to move the country forward and confront the threat of ISIL,\" the statement said, referring to the Islamist militants who have taken over several important Iraqi cities.","Ethiopian Regassa wins Eindhoven Marathon. Eindhoven (Pays-Bas) (AFP) - Ethiopian Tilahun Regassa won Sunday's Eindhoven Marathon in 2 hr 06 min 20 sec ahead of Kenyans Jonathan Maiyo (2:06:47) and Alfers Lagat (2:07:11).","Poland offended by Cameron comment about Poles. WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Poland's prime minister is criticizing a comment that British leader David Cameron made about Poles who work in Britain and claim UK child benefits for their families back home.","Polish deputy PM says EU, Russian sanctions actions will cut GDP growth. WARSAW (Reuters) - Fallout from the sanctions row between the European Union and Russia will shave 0.6 percentage points off Poland's economic growth this year, Deputy Prime Minister Janusz Piechocinski was quoted as saying on Friday. Asked by the Rzeczpospolita newspaper what the sanctions imposed on Russia would cost the Polish economy, Piechocinski replied: \"0.6 percent of GDP by the end of the year. ...","Guam students to be tested for tuberculosis. HAGATNA, Guam (AP) — Students at five Guam schools who were exposed to a bus driver with tuberculosis will be tested for the disease.","Hungarian communist minister guilty of war crimes. BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — A Budapest court has sentenced former communist-era interior minister Bela Biszku to five years and six months in prison for war crimes related to reprisals against civilians after the anti-Soviet revolution of 1956.","Turkey could accept Muslim Brotherhood leaders. ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says Turkey could take in leaders of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood group who have been asked to leave Qatar.","Japan's Abe re-elected in low-turnout polls. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe won comfortable re-election Sunday in a snap poll he had billed as a referendum on his economic policies, but a record low voter turnout threatened to cloud any mandate.","Partial tally shows Rousseff leading Brazil vote. SAO PAULO (Reuters) - A partial count of votes in Brazil's presidential election on Sunday showed President Dilma Rousseff leading with 40.36 percent of valid votes, according to the country's electoral authority. An official tally of 74.66 percent of ballots showed Rousseff was followed by challengers Aecio Neves with 35.23 percent and Marina Silva with 20.79 percent. If Rousseff does not win more than 50 percent of valid votes, she will face her closest rival in a second-round runoff on Oct. 26. (Reporting by Todd Benson; Editing by Eric Walsh)","In Egypt, just speaking to Brotherhood is a risk for foreign reporters. By Michael Georgy CAIRO (Reuters) - When Hosni Mubarak was in power, a foreign journalist could spend unlimited time with members of the opposition Muslim Brotherhood, who roundly condemned the autocratic leader. The public prosecutor said on Wednesday that Egypt would put an Australian, two Britons and a Dutchwoman working for Al Jazeera on trial for aiding 16 Egyptians belonging to a \"terrorist organization\", a reference to the Brotherhood. Simply interacting with the Brotherhood may earn them prison sentences in Egypt, a major recipient of U.S. aid. Egypt has cracked down on dissent since the army toppled the Muslim Brotherhood's Mohamed Mursi, the country's first freely elected president, in July after mass protests against him.","Serena enjoys IPTL but ends up on losing side. MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Serena Williams made a much-awaited appearance at the franchise-based International Premier Tennis League on Sunday but could not lift Singapore Slammers as the team succumbed to a third straight defeat in the first leg.","Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and UAE pull ambassadors from Qatar over alleged breach of security deal. DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and UAE pull ambassadors from Qatar over alleged breach of security deal.","France enters World Cup as dangerous outsider. PARIS (AP) — Winning back the trust of the fans has proved to be a long and difficult process for France following the training ground strike that shamed the nation at the last World Cup.","Australian Open 'courtsiding' charge dropped. A British man accused of \"courtsiding\" by sending live point-by-point information to an English betting agency during the Australian Open tennis tournament Thursday had the charge against him dropped, reports said. Daniel Dobson, 22, had been accused of using a device hidden in his shorts and hooked up to a mobile phone to send point updates from the Grand Slam to Britain before they were available through official channels. But the charge of engaging in conduct that would corrupt a betting outcome was formally withdrawn in Melbourne Magistrates Court on Thursday, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation said. \"There was no evidence at all for the matter to proceed,\" Dobson's lawyer David Galbally said, the ABC reported.","Tom Watson fills out his Ryder Cup team. NEW YORK (AP) — Keegan Bradley hasn't stopped thinking about playing in another Ryder Cup. U.S. captain Tom Watson gave him that chance Tuesday night.","Central Africans call for rearming of their ragtag army. Bangui (Central African Republic) (AFP) - Since thousands of foreign troops have struggled in vain for more than a year to quell sectarian violence in the Central African Republic, growing numbers of people want the notoriously ragtag army rearmed. The idea is anathema to the international community, but it is backed by transitional President Catherine Samba Panza amid growing hostility towards the foreign military presence in the impoverished country of 4.6 million people. \"This army is no more than a skeleton, but we are determined and it is now up to the politicians to decide what to do with us,\" said Lieutenant Alain Taddas. Most of the regular Central African Armed Forces (FACA), which numbers nearly 8,000, are based in Bangui.","Loyalists, uncertainty surround Haiti's ex-leader. PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — Former Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide returned home from exile in 2011 to a jubilant welcome, but lately he has seemed more like a prisoner.","Phil Collins donates revolution artifacts to Alamo. SAN ANTONIO (AP) — Phil Collins is in San Antonio on Thursday, announcing the donation of his vast collection of artifacts related to the 1836 Battle of the Alamo and the Texas Revolution.","ICC opens new Central African Republic probe. THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — The International Criminal Court's prosecutor says she is opening a new investigation into atrocities including murder, rape and persecution during ruthless sectarian fighting since 2012 in the Central African Republic.","Bus plunges off north India mountain road; 17 dead. NEW DELHI (AP) — A private bus has plunged off a mountain road in northern India, killing 17 people and injuring five others.","Canadian housing starts rise in September: CMHC. TORONTO (Reuters) - Canadian housing starts rose more than expected in September, while the previous month was also revised modestly higher, data showed on Wednesday. A report from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp showed the seasonally adjusted annualized rate of housing starts climbed to 197,343 units last month from an upwardly revised 196,283 units in August. That topped analysts' forecasts for 196,100. August was originally reported as 192,368. (Reporting by Leah Schnurr; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)","Japan may review probe on WWII sex slavery. TOKYO (AP) — Japan's top government spokesman says Tokyo may consider re-examining a 20-year-old study that led to a landmark apology over its forced prostitution in World War II.","North Korea's Om Yun Chol sets world record. INCHEON, South Korea (AP) — North Korea's Om Yun Chol beat his own world record in the men's 56-kilogram clean and jerk by 1 kilogram on Saturday to grab weightlifting gold on the first day of competition at the Asian Games.","Central African Republic's new leader orders military crackdown. By Paul-Marin Ngoupana BANGUI (Reuters) - Central African Republic's new interim leader deployed hundreds more soldiers in the capital Bangui on Monday with orders to shoot troublemakers in an attempt to end months of religiously-fueled violence. Fighting, attacks on mosques and the looting of Muslim-owned shops have persisted in Bangui since the resignation of rebel leader-turned-president Michel Djotodia last Friday under intense international pressure. The Red Cross said its workers had collected 10 bodies from the streets over the weekend and it had treated some 60 wounded people at the Community Hospital in Bangui. Sporadic violence has continued despite the presence of 1,600 French troops and 4,000 African Union peacekeepers.","3 killed in building collapse in Indian capital. NEW DELHI (AP) — A three-story building under construction has collapsed in India's capital, killing at least three people and injuring 13.","EU rules $18 billion Spanish fuel tax illegal. BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union's top court has ruled that a fuel tax applied by Spanish regions to help finance health care is illegal, possibly opening the door to compensation claims totaling millions of euros (dollars).","Putin backs Ukraine cease-fire plan. DONETSK, Ukraine (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin has backed Ukraine's cease-fire plan and appealed to both sides to halt all military operations.","Hundreds of immigrants land in Italy. A boat laden with 352 migrants -- mainly from Eritrea, Somalia and Syria -- also arrived on the island of Lampedusa, managing to avoid detection. A second smaller boat came later with 94 migrants on board. The charity Save the Children said there were now 1,278 migrants on tiny Lampedusa alone, which is Italy's southernmost point and is closer to Africa than to the Italian mainland. The asylum centre on Lampedusa \"is not suitable to host the migrants.","Iran nuclear deal improbable by July 20, extension likely -diplomat. A deal on Iran's nuclear program is improbable by a July 20 deadline and talks between Tehran and six world powers are likely to be extended for some months, a Western diplomat said on Tuesday.","Swiss court: Nazi salute 'not always punishable'. GENEVA (AP) — Switzerland's top court has ruled that a Nazi salute isn't illegal racial discrimination provided it's intended as a personal statement.","Ukrainian troops drive rebels out of Mariupol. MARIUPOL, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian troops attacked pro-Russia separatists Friday in the southern port of Mariupol, apparently driving them out of buildings they had occupied in the center of the city.","Lydiate gets Wales dual contract offer. Cardiff (United Kingdom) (AFP) - Wales flanker Dan Lydiate was one of 12 players offered a new national dual contract by the Welsh Rugby Union on Tuesday.","Cole quits England after World Cup squad axe. Chelsea left-back Ashley Cole announced Sunday he was retiring from international football after being told he'd been left out of England manager Roy Hodgson's squad for the World Cup. \\\\\"I got the call from Roy and agree England team should be about the young players,\\\\\" the 33-year-old Cole told his Twitter followers. Cole's words indicated his failure to hold down a regular first-team spot at Chelsea this season, where he has been displaced by Spain's Cesar Azpilicueta, had cost him his England career. His omission means that Everton's Leighton Baines is set to be confirmed as England's leading left-back when Hodgson unveils his 23-man squad for the World Cup finals, with Southampton teenager Luke Shaw providing cover for the 29-year-old.","Teacher killed, set on fire in southern Thailand. HAT YAI, Thailand (AP) — A Buddhist teacher was fatally shot on her way to school and then set ablaze Friday in southern Thailand, becoming the 170th teacher killed by suspected Muslim insurgents in the country's decade-long insurgency, authorities said.","Steaua to keep identity until Dec. 15 despite ban. BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) — Romania's defense ministry has agreed to allow a one week reprieve that allows Romanian champions Steaua Bucharest to continue using its name and identity until December 15.","Guzman lieutenant set to plead guilty in Chicago. CHICAGO (AP) — A reputed lieutenant of recently captured drug lord Joaquin \"El Chapo\" Guzman is scheduled to change his plea to guilty in a federal trafficking case in Chicago.","China says gets tough on polluters, nixes projects worth $19.5 billion. By David Stanway BEIJING (Reuters) - China's environmental watchdog vetoed as many as 32 projects with a total investment of 118.4 billion yuan ($19.5 billion) last year as it stepped up efforts to get tough on industrial polluters, a senior official said on Tuesday. Zhai Qing, the vice-environment minister, told reporters his ministry was working to improve its environmental assessment capabilities and strengthen its powers to monitor and punish polluters. Beijing is under intense pressure to clean up its heavily polluted air, water and soil in the face of mounting public anger, but enforcement has been identified as one its biggest challenges, with the Ministry of Environmental Protection (MEP) struggling to find the clout to take on powerful industrial interests and growth-obsessed local authorities. The ministry is now hoping to extend its authority as China's new leadership promises to abandon the crude pursuit of economic growth.","Biden calls Iraq's prime minister to discuss security crisis. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Vice President Joe Biden called Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki on Thursday to discuss the country's deepening security crisis, a U.S. official said. No details were immediately available about the conversation, which comes as a militant group, the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), has seized broad swaths of northern Iraq, including Mosul, the country's second-largest city. The White House signaled on Wednesday that it was looking to strengthen Iraqi forces to help them deal with the insurgency rather than to meet what one U.S. ...","3 former bankers charged in UK in rates probe. LONDON (AP) — Britain's Serious Fraud Office is charging three former Barclays employees in a scandal related to the rigging of a key market interest rate.","Hamilton wins US Grand Prix, moves closer to title. AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Lewis Hamilton got the better of Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg once again Sunday, winning the U.S. Grand Prix to edge closer to his second Formula One world championship.","Suicide car bomber kills 11 police, soldiers in Afghanistan. PUL-I-ALAM Afghanistan (Reuters) - A suicide car bomber killed at least 11 members of the security forces and wounded more than 20 civilians near a police checkpoint in eastern Logar province in Afghanistan on Saturday, local officials said. The Taliban did not immediately claim responsibility for the attack and could not be reached for comment, but the militant group carry out daily attacks on the country's army and police. ...","Crude oil steady as US cold underpins demand. The price of oil was little changed Friday, underpinned by demand stemming from arctic weather in the U.S.","Obama urges Iran to seize opportunity of nuclear talks. Washington (United States) (AFP) - US President Barack Obama Thursday called on the \"entire\" government in Tehran to seize on nuclear talks with world powers to end Iran's economic isolation. Obama made a direct effort to build political support among Iranians in favor of the nuclear diplomacy led by the government of President Hassan Rouhani in an annual video message marking Nowruz, new year celebrations. Obama noted that Iranians elected the comparatively moderate Rouhani last year to strengthen the economy, improve their lives and engage constructively with the world. \"I hope that the entire Iranian government hears that message too,\" he said.","Greek opposition stalls debate on reforms bill. ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greece's main opposition party has tabled a motion of no-confidence in Finance Minister Yannis Stournaras, stalling debate on a bill introducing market reforms agreed with the country's lenders and making disbursement of the next tranche of bailout aid highly unlikely.","Spain bans rubber bullets at migrants on Africa border. Spain has banned its border guards from firing rubber bullets to stop migrants crossing the fence into its north African territories, an official said Tuesday. At least 14 migrants drowned in Moroccan waters on February 6 while trying to swim to the Spanish territory of Ceuta, raising an outcry at the civil guards who police Spain's side of the border. The Spanish interior ministry said civil guards fired rubber bullets, but denied this action contributed to the drownings. \"The Civil Guard has prohibited its agents from using rubber bullets to ward off attempts by immigrants to cross the borders of Ceuta and Melilla,\" an interior ministry spokesman said on Tuesday.","Qaeda suspects on motorbike kill Yemen intelligence officer. Suspected Al-Qaeda gunmen riding on the back of a motorbike shot dead a Yemeni intelligence officer in the south of the country on Saturday, a security official told AFP. The officer was killed on the spot and the attackers fled the scene, said the source blaming Al-Qaeda for the killing. A cheap form of transport frequently replacing taxis in the impoverished country, motorbikes have become a tool for hit-and-run shootings that have killed dozens of officials in recent years. Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), seen by Washington as the network's deadliest franchise, has been blamed for most of the motorbike attacks on the security forces despite never claiming them.","5 of 7 missing divers found alive in Indonesia. BALI, Indonesia (AP) — Indonesian police say fishermen have found five of the seven Japanese scuba divers who had been missing since Friday off the resort island of Bali.","Army: Bergdahl in stable condition. SAN ANTONIO (AP) — Army officials say Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl is in stable condition and working daily with health professionals after being held by the Taliban for five years.","Iraqi police officials: Baghdad car bomb kills 13. BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraqi police officials say a car bomb in a busy commercial neighborhood in southwest Baghdad has killed at least 13 people.","Sudanese police fire tear gas at student protesters. KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Riot police fired tear gas at dozens of Sudanese students protesting against President Omar Hassan al-Bashir on Monday, witnesses said. The protest outside the University of Khartoum was prompted by clashes between student supporters and opponents of Bashir. One student died last March during a similar protest at which the police used tear gas and batons. (Reporting by Khalid Abdel Aziz; Writing by Yasmine Saleh; Editing by Andrew Roche)","Israeli shoots Palestinian dead in W. Bank: security source. An Israeli shot dead a Palestinian who had been throwing stones at his car north of Jerusalem in the West Bank, a Palestinian security source told AFP late Monday. The security source named the fatality as Mahmud Shawamreh, 21, of Ar-Ram. He said the incident took place between Ar-Ram and the Hizma checkpoint, and the body was taken to Israel. Asked for comment, a spokeswoman for the Israeli army said: \"The incident in which the Palestinian was killed during a violent riot near Ramallah is being investigated by the military police.\"","Bangladesh official says ferry carrying hundreds of passengers has capsized. DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) — Bangladesh official says ferry carrying hundreds of passengers has capsized.","Rwanda cancels Ebola screenings for US, Spain. NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Rwanda's minister of health is reversing a decision she made to require visitors who had been in the U.S. or Spain during the previous 22 days to report their medical condition to Rwandan authorities daily.","England field against India in fifth Test. London (AFP) - England captain Alastair Cook won the toss Friday and elected to field in the fifth and final Test against India at The Oval.","U.S., France, Germany say Russia faces costs over Ukraine. By Mark Felsenthal WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The leaders of the United States, France and Germany agreed on Friday that Russia faces the risk of new sanctions from the West if it fails to defuse tensions on the Ukraine border, the White House said. As Ukraine's new president sought to end an insurgency in the country's east, U.S. President Barack Obama spoke separately with French President Francois Hollande and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, the White House said. \"They agreed that should Russia fail to take immediate, concrete steps to de-escalate the situation in eastern Ukraine, the United States and the European Union would coordinate additional steps to impose costs on Russia,\" the White House said in a statement.","Kuwait police fire teargas to break up opposition demo. Kuwaiti police fired teargas and stun grenades to disperse an opposition rally demanding the release of prominent dissident Mussallam al-Barrak, activists said on Thursday. The public prosecutor on Wednesday ordered Barrak, a former MP, to be held for 10 days after he was questioned for allegedly insulting the judiciary. On Thursday, the court turned down a petition filed by Barrak's lawyers to release him until his trial, defence lawyer Thamer al-Jadaei wrote on his Twitter account. The court set a July 7 date to start hearing the case against Barrak, who is charged with insulting the supreme judicial council and slander against its chairman.","Protesters storm governors' offices in Ukraine. KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — Enraged protesters stormed government offices in three western Ukraine cities Thursday, forcing one governor to write a letter of resignation, as demonstrations against the pro-Russian president and his allies intensified outside the smoldering capital.","Those linked to plane disaster have no role in peace talks: Ukrainian leader. Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko told his Polish counterpart on Saturday that those connected to the downing of a Malaysian airliner in eastern Ukraine should not be involved in talks on resolving the conflict there. In a statement on the presidential website, Poroshenko was quoted as telling Bronislaw Komorowsky: \"Those who are connected to the terrorist attack cannot be party to the negotiations.","Spain princess testifies in historic fraud probe. PALMA DE MALLORCA, Spain (AP) — A Spanish princess is heading to court for a historic judicial hearing to help determine whether she and her husband illegally used funds from a company to pay for expenses, including expensive parties at their modernist Barcelona mansion.","BRAZIL BEAT: F1's Massa inspired by Neymar. TERESOPOLIS, Brazil (AP) — Brazilian Formula One driver Felipe Massa said he got some extra motivation from Brazil striker Neymar before winning the pole position for the Austrian Grand Prix on Saturday.","Key al-Qaida militant reportedly killed in Syria. BEIRUT (AP) — A senior figure in an al-Qaida-linked group in Syria has been killed in a bloody dispute with rival rebel factions that has raged for more than three weeks across opposition-held parts of the country, activists and an Iraqi intelligence official said Monday.","Rugby Union - Pumas change three for All Blacks Test. - Argentina have made three changes to the team beaten by Australia for a Rugby Championship Test against New Zealand in La Plata Saturday.","Syrian FM: Russia to boost relations with Assad. MOSCOW (AP) — Syria's foreign minister has met with Vladimir Putin and says the Russian president wants to expand relations with Syria's beleaguered president and improve cooperation between Moscow and Damascus.","German foreign minister hopeful on US surveillance. BERLIN (AP) — Germany's foreign minister says he hopes Washington has understood that surveillance of political partners \"can have a political price\" and is confident it will end monitoring of allied countries' leaderships.","Wide-open race expected in 2-man bobsled. KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia (AP) — Alexander Zubkov of Russia knows that he's capable of driving his way to the Olympic two-man bobsledding gold medal at the Sochi Games.","Sharks killed after Australian surfer loses hands in attack. Sydney (AFP) - Two great white sharks have been caught and killed off Western Australia, officials said Friday, after an attack in which a young surfer lost parts of both arms.","Nigerian Islamists kill 12 in village attacks: witnesses. By Imma Ande YOLA, Nigeria (Reuters) - Gunmen from Islamist sect Boko Haram shot dead at least 12 people during a four-hour siege on villages in northeast Nigeria overnight, two days after a deadly attack on a school, witnesses said on Wednesday. Boko Haram, whose fight for an Islamic state in northern Nigeria has killed thousands and made them the biggest threat to security in Africa's top oil producer, is increasingly preying on the civilian population. The owner of a bakery, Martha Yakubu, said she counted 12 dead bodies, including two of her workers. A local government chairman Maina Ularamu and army spokesman Captain Jafaru Nuhu confirmed the attacks but said it was too early to give a death toll.","Poor demand, costs throw Electrolux into Q4 loss. STOCKHOLM (AP) — Sweden-based Electrolux has fallen to a fourth-quarter net loss of 987 million kronor ($152 million) as sales dropped slightly, mainly because of currency fluctuations, lower demand in Europe and restructuring costs.","No blast injuries on Lagos church collapse victims. A pathologist on Tuesday ruled out claims of an explosion as the cause of a fatal building collapse at the church of a popular Nigerian preacher, saying none of the victims had blast injuries. \"Bodies were mutilated, severe crush, head injuries, fractured bones, fractured ribs,\" Lagos state chief medical examiner Professor John Obafunwa told a coroner's inquest in the city. Evangelical preacher and televangelist TB Joshua has claimed that sabotage, possibly from a low-flying aircraft, was to blame for the building collapse at his Synagogue Church of All Nations.","Man claiming to have a bomb gives up in Stockholm. A man claiming to have a bomb in the office of a human rights group in Stockholm gave himself up on Thursday after negotiating with the police on the phone, law enforcement said. \"A man has left the building and he has been arrested,\" police spokesman Sven-Erik Olsson told AFP. Police officers had cordoned off two large areas of central Stockholm after the man entered the offices of Civil Rights Defenders with a suspect device. It was unclear why the suspect had targeted that specific human rights organisation, which was not immediately available for comment.","Deschamps: Guts and goals win you World Cup games. RIBEIRAO PRETO, Brazil (AP) — France coach Didier Deschamps has never lost a World Cup match, and his experience tells him that winning Friday's quarterfinal against Germany will come down to guts.","U.S. protests dangerous intercept of Navy jet by Chinese warplane. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States has lodged a formal protest with Beijing over an air intercept this week in which a Chinese warplane flew close to a U.S. Navy patrol jet and conducted acrobatic maneuvers around it in international air space, the Pentagon said on Friday. Rear Admiral John Kirby, the Pentagon press secretary, said the intercept took place on Tuesday 135 miles (200 km) east of Hainan Island. He said the Chinese fighter jet flew as close as 20 to 30 feet (7 to 10 meters) to the P-8 Poseidon maritime patrol plane and conducted a barrel roll over the plane. ...","Bank of Canada rates seen steady till 2015 despite dovish shift. By Sarbani Haldar and Louise Egan OTTAWA (Reuters) - The Canadian central bank's next interest-rate move will be a hike rather than a cut and won't happen until the second quarter of 2015, according to a Reuters poll of economists, though some predict the bank might sound more dovish in the interim. The median forecast in a Reuters poll of 37 economists, released on Wednesday, was for the Bank of Canada to raise its main interest rate by 25 basis points at some point between April and June of next year.","Champions League clubs can expect 30 percent raise. GENEVA (AP) — UEFA has told European clubs to expect a 30 percent raise in Champions League revenues for the next three seasons.","Palestinians hope prisoner release delay will be brief. Ramallah (Palestinian Territories) (AFP) - A senior Palestinian official said a release by Israel of Arab prisoners would not go ahead on Saturday as envisaged but he hoped there would only be short delay. \"Today the prisoners will not be released... maybe in the coming days,\" Issa Qaraqae, the minister of prisoner affairs, told AFP. Under the deal that relaunched peace talks last July, Israel agreed to release 104 Arabs held since before the 1993 Oslo peace accords in exchange for the Palestinians not pressing their statehood claims at the United Nations. So far, Israel has freed 78 prisoners in three batches but ministers had warned they would block the final release, which had been anticipated for Saturday, if the Palestinians refused to extend the talks beyond their April 29 deadline.","Sailors held by Somali pirates escape after 4 years. Eleven sailors mostly from Asia held hostage for almost four years by Somali pirates escaped their captors and are safe in Kenya, mediators who helped secure their freedom said Saturday. John Steed, a former British army colonel who has spent years helping negotiate their release, said the men had \"sneaked out a window\" to escape their captors. \"It is great news that they are at least free... given what they have been through, they are all in good health,\" Steed told AFP after arriving safely in Kenya with the men on a special flight from Somalia. After escaping through a window from their pirate prison, the men were rescued by security forces from the northern Somali Galmadug region, Steed added.","Some Iran to see sanctions relief at start of nuclear implementation -US. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Iran will receive some sanctions relief from the first day of the implementation of the November 24 Iran nuclear deal, including the suspension of sanctions on Iran's exports of petrochemicals, a senior U.S. official said on Sunday. The official told reporters such immediate relief -- which is contingent on the U.N. nuclear watchdog confirming that Tehran is carrying out the deal --- would also apply to imports for its auto manufacturing sector and trade in gold and other precious metals. (Reporting by Arshad Mohammed; Editing by Leslie Adler)","Japan defense budget request highest ever as Abe boosts military. By Kiyoshi Takenaka TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's defense planners are seeking its biggest budget ever for the coming fiscal year, including a bulk order of patrol planes and a stealthier submarine, as Prime Minister Shinzo Abe bolsters the military in the face of a territorial spat with China and North Korea's nuclear program. The Defense Ministry on Friday requested a 3.5 percent increase to 5.05 trillion yen ($48.7 billion) for the year starting next April. By testing the constraints of Japan's pacifist postwar Constitution, Abe has angered some neighbors, especially Beijing, which accuses him of reviving the nation's wartime militarism. Japan, in turn, is wary of the rapid military buildup in China, which has overtaken Japan in recent years as the world's second-biggest economy.","China detains employees of seller of suspect meat. BEIJING (AP) — Five employees of a company accused of selling expired beef and chicken to McDonald's, KFC and other restaurants were detained by police Wednesday after an official said illegal activity was an organized effort by the supplier.","German court frees alleged ex-guerrilla. BERLIN (AP) — A German court has ordered the release of a French woman accused of involvement in a guerrilla group's murder of a conservative Chilean politician.","Police: Submarine used for drugs found in Guyana. GEORGETOWN, Guyana (AP) — Police in the South American country of Guyana say they have discovered a rudimentary submarine they believe was going to be used to ferry drugs across the Atlantic.","Hiroshima takes over J-League lead with 1-0 win. HIROSHIMA, Japan (AP) — Kazuhiko Chiba scored in the 81st minute on Saturday as Sanfrecce Hiroshima beat FC Tokyo 1-0 to move into first place in the J-League standings.","UK's Billy Morgan in slopestyle final with chart-topping 90.75. Rosa Khutor (Russia) (AFP) - Britain's Billy Morgan reached the Sochi Winter Olympics snowboard slopestyle final on Saturday with a chart-topping 90.75, outscoring American Sage Kotsenburg (90.50) and Canadian two-time X-Games champion Mark McMorris (89.25). Morgan admitted he hadn't expected to make the final. Morgan added that he felt riders would need to land two triple corks to win gold.","Shiite militiamen kill 70 at Iraq Sunni mosque. Shiite militiamen gunned down 70 people in an apparent revenge attack at an Iraqi Sunni mosque Friday, dealing a blow to government efforts to regain territory seized by jihadist-led militants. The shooting in the Hamreen area of Diyala province will increase already significant anger among Iraq's Sunni Arab minority with the Shiite-led government, undermining an anti-militant drive that ultimately requires Sunni cooperation to succeed. It came as government forces battled to regain ground in Diyala, and Washington warned of the dangers of the Islamic State (IS) jihadist group, which spearheaded an offensive that overran swathes of Iraq in June, and this week released a video of American journalist James Foley being beheaded.","Eckert seeks out Garcia for World Cup probe talks. GENEVA (AP) — FIFA ethics judge Joachim Eckert says he wants to talk to American investigator Michael Garcia, who rejected his World Cup bid corruption report as \"incomplete and erroneous.\"","British and Irish leaders bid to break deadlock in Belfast. The British and Irish prime ministers engaged in marathon talks into the early hours of Friday in a bid to break political deadlock in Northern Ireland's fragile unity government. British leader David Cameron and his Irish counterpart Enda Kenny have cleared their diaries until Friday afternoon for the talks, amid increasing concern over whether the joint administration of unionists and nationalists is at risk of collapse. The Democratic Unionist Party and Irish nationalist Sinn Fein party are deadlocked over welfare reform, as well as issues such as flags and parades that remain deeply divisive 16 years after a landmark peace deal. \"The solution to the problems of Northern Ireland cannot be a big cheque,\" warned the British government's Northern Ireland secretary Theresa Villiers.","Car bomb, suicide attack in Baghdad kill 9 people. BAGHDAD (AP) — A car bomb and a suicide bomber struck on Thursday in a bustling area in downtown Baghdad, killing at least nine people and wounding 19, officials said.","Kurds from Iraq wage holy war in Syria with one eye on home. By Isabel Coles HALABJA, Iraq (Reuters) - Twenty-five year old Ako Abd al-Qadir went to wage holy war in Syria vowing to return and conquer all of Iraqi Kurdistan in the name of Islam on the way back to his home town of Halabja. \"God willing, we will come back and trample over your dead bodies until we reach Halabja,\" he said, threatening the region's \"infidel\" ruling parties in a video made en route to Syria and posted on social media sites. Ako is one of around 200 young Iraqi Kurds who have joined the ranks of militant Islamists in a conflict that has become a clarion call for home-grown jihadists across the world, keen to prove themselves amid fundamentalist fervor and war. The trend is alarming for Iraqi Kurdistan, a region that has managed to shield itself from the violence afflicting the rest of Iraq and nearby Syria, and to attract investment from some of the world's largest oil companies.","Erotica galore at London's first study of sex show. London (AFP) - Scientific discovery mingles with stimulation in Britain's first exhibition about the study of sex, with pioneering sex aids, ancient phallic charms and even a chair credited with inducing orgasms.","Langer takes 8-shot lead at Senior British Open. BRIDGEND, Wales (AP) — Bernhard Langer takes an eight-stroke lead into the final round of the Senior British Open championship after shooting a 3-under 68 at Royal Porthcawl on Saturday for a 14-under 199.","Alibaba prices IPO at $68 per share, valuing company at $167.6 billion. NEW YORK (AP) — Alibaba prices IPO at $68 per share, valuing company at $167.6 billion.","S.Africa police arrest Meyiwa killing suspects. South African police have arrested two people in connection with the murder of national football captain Senzo Meyiwa during a robbery at his pop-star girlfriend's home, media reported Wednesday. According to the public broadcaster SABC, two men were being held for questioning after they were arrested in Nongoma, in the eastern KwaZulu Natal province. Police in Johannesburg could not immediately confirm the arrest. The SABC said the suspects were nabbed following a tip-off by members of the public.","New Olympics, new things to see in Sochi. SOCHI, Russia (AP) — They come around only every four years, so it's easy to forget. That's especially true in the Winter Olympics, where new sports seem to multiply in the snow and only true fans can tell the difference between a Biellmann Spin and a Double Cab.","Drinking increases number of liver disease deaths in England. London (AFP) - Binge drinking and 24-hour alcohol shops have helped cause a \"shocking\" 40-percent jump in deaths from liver disease in England, public health officials said on Monday.","CORRECTS: Official: head of Ukrainian navy removed, under investigation for treason. KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — CORRECTS: Official: head of Ukrainian navy removed, under investigation for treason. (Corrects APNewsAlert to say that he's head of the Ukrainian navy, not the country's Black Sea fleet.)","UK Royal Navy escorts Russian ships in Channel. LONDON (AP) — A Royal Navy warship has met and tracked a group of Russian military ships entering the English Channel in an operation that the Ministry of Defense repeatedly stressed was a routine matter.","Jordan's King Abdullah says world faces fight against extremism. Amman (AFP) - Jordan's King Abdullah said Tuesday the world was engaged in a battle against extremism as his country takes part in US-led air strikes on Islamic State jihadists in Syria.","Niger's capital city fires entire municipal police force after strike. NIAMEY (Reuters) - The mayor of Niger's capital dismissed the city's entire 204-strong municipal police force on Thursday after officers clashed with security forces during a protest over working conditions. Municipal policemen blocked access to Niamey's city hall on Tuesday during a 48-hour walkout, prompting Mayor Assane Seydou to summon a detachment of national security forces which used truncheons and tear gas to disperse the protesters. \"The municipal police agents of the city of Niamey ... are dismissed ... ...","Iran to give U.N. nuclear agency detonator information: IAEA. VIENNA (Reuters) - Iran has agreed to give the U.N. nuclear agency information and explanations about so-called exploding bridge wire detonators, the IAEA said on Sunday, as part of its investigation into suspicions Tehran may have carried out atomic bomb research. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said in a statement that seven steps that Iran had agreed to implement by May 15 also included inspector access to the Saghand uranium mine. (Reporting by Fredrik Dahl; Editing by Janet Lawrence)","Iran says Egypt dragging its feet on allowing aid to Gaza. Iran criticized Egypt on Wednesday for delays in issuing permits to bring in aid to Gaza and to transport wounded women and children out of the area for medical treatment. Egypt's military-backed government, at odds with Gaza's Islamist rulers Hamas, has reinforced an Israeli blockade of the narrow strip of territory, in effect cutting off all routes to residents who have spent three weeks under Israeli bombardment. To get aid across, Iran would have to fly its shipments to Egypt and then cross by land through the Rafah border into Gaza.","Ex-rebels in Ivory Coast still plague Ouattara regime. Former Ivory Coast rebels whose support helped bring Alassane Ouattara to power are increasingly wreaking havoc, with the government seemingly unable to rein them in. Numerous incidents involving ex-rebels over the past six weeks -- including a strike by soldiers which brought the country to a halt -- culminated on Friday with shots being fired in the economic capital Abidjan after an ex-militia leader was arrested. Despite the escalating defiance, Ouattara appears unwilling or unable to confront the same forces that aided his ascent to the presidency following his 2010 election victory. Nevertheless, the image a calm and orderly Ivory Coast vaunted by the government has crumbled with every act of insubordination.","Insight: Nuclear deal heightens tension between Iran president and Guards. By Babak Dehghanpisheh BEIRUT (Reuters) - The article on Iran's semi-official Fars news agency appeared routine: the minister of roads and urban development said the ministry does not have a contract with construction firm Khatam al Anbia to complete a major highway heading north from Tehran. Two things made it stand out: Khatam al Anbia is one of the biggest companies controlled by the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) and company head Ebadollah Abdullahi had said just three days earlier that it did have the contract. The December report was one of a series of signs that President Hassan Rouhani, who came into office last August, is using the political momentum from a thaw with the West over its nuclear program to roll back the Guard's economic influence. Existing government contracts with the Guards have been challenged by ministers and some, like the highway contract, that were left in limbo when Rouhani succeeded the more hardline Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, have been rebuffed.","Toure deflates Man City title joy with complaint. MANCHESTER, England (AP) — Yaya Toure deflated Manchester City's Premier League title celebrations by complaining about the club's treatment of him and creating confusion about his future in a series of cryptic Twitter messages on Tuesday.","Death toll in Turkish mine blast exceeds 200, many still trapped. By Yesim Dikmen SOMA, Turkey (Reuters) - Rescuers pulled more dead and injured from a coal mine in western Turkey on Wednesday more than 19 hours after an explosion, bringing the death toll to 205 in what could become the nation's worst ever mining disaster. Hundreds more were still believed to be trapped in the mine in Soma, about 480 kilometers (298 miles) southwest of Istanbul. \\\\\"We are heading towards this accident likely being the deadliest ever in Turkey,\\\\\" Energy Minister Taner Yildiz told reporters at the scene. Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan declared three days of national mourning.","Putin, Poroshenko shake hands at Minsk talks. MINSK (Reuters) - Russia's Vladimir Putin and Ukraine's Petro Poroshenko greeted each other with a handshake at the start of talks in Belarus on Tuesday on the Ukraine crisis, the first time the two presidents have met since June. Tensions between the two countries were heightened before the meeting when Ukraine released video of Russian soldiers it has captured in eastern Ukraine, where its army has been fighting pro-Russian separatist rebels since April. (Reporting by Alexei Anishchuk, writing by Mark Trevelyan)","5 things to know about 3rd Australia-France test. SYDNEY (AP) — With a series win already under its belt, Australia can afford to pay attention both to history and the future in Saturday's third rugby test against France.","Analysis: World events endanger Obama legacy. WASHINGTON (AP) — Almost six years into a presidency that had inspired hope for a new era of American leadership, Barack Obama has reached a point where it will be difficult to salvage his international affairs legacy in the face of blooming crises that critics and even some supporters blame on a commander in chief they view as a feckless.","Mozambique striding confidently into new mine-free era. In the coming weeks, Mozambique, once one of the most heavily mined countries in the world, will mark a historic milestone and proudly declare itself free of the deadly scourge. In 1992 as it emerged from 16 years of civil war, Mozambique had won the dubious distinction of being -- along with Angola, Afghanistan, Bosnia-Hercegovina and Cambodia -- one of the five most heavily mined nations on Earth. Now sometime towards the end of this year or early in 2015, Mozambique will be the first of the five to be declared \"impact-free,\" US officials and observers say.","Messi hat trick breaks scoring record in Spain. BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Lionel Messi scored a hat trick to emphatically break the Spanish league's all-time scoring mark in Barcelona's 5-1 win over Sevilla on Saturday.","Burns Lake families expected charges, support NDP's call for probe of 'bungled' blast investigation. VICTORIA - Lucy Campbell says she felt the blast that killed her brother a second time when she heard the news that no criminal charges would result from the Burns Lake sawmill explosion.","Malaysian plane saga highlights air defense gaps. By Peter Apps and Frank Jack Daniel LONDON/NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Whatever truly happened to missing Malaysian Airlines flight MH370, its apparently unchallenged wanderings through Asian skies point to major gaps in regional - and perhaps wider - air defenses. On Saturday, Malaysia's Prime Minister Najib Razak said authorities now believed the Boeing 777 flew for nearly seven hours after disappearing early on March 8. Either its crew or someone else on the plane disabled the on-board transponder civilian air traffic radar used to track it, investigators believe. It appears to have first flown back across the South China Sea - an area of considerable geopolitical tension and military activity - before overflying northern Malaysia and then heading out towards India without any alarm being raised.","Exclusive - Would have done 'things differently': El-Erian. By Jennifer Ablan and Dan Burns NEW YORK (Reuters) - Mohamed El-Erian expected to go quietly. The one-time heir apparent to Pimco investment chief Bill Gross had no idea leaving the firm would create a fire storm, and he gave no real consideration to staying on and working less. In his most extensive discussion yet about his controversial decision in January to leave Pimco, which has nearly $2 trillion in assets, El-Erian told Reuters: \"If I had known that there would be this media circus, I would've done a lot of things differently.\" To begin with, he might have considered working part time. ...","Attack in western China kills 15, injures 14. BEIJING (AP) — Chinese state media say 15 people have been killed in an attack in the country's troubled western Xinjiang region.","Judge: Workers can operate closed Argentine plant. BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — An Argentine judge has ruled that the shuttered local subsidiary of Chicago-based printing company R.R. Donnelley & Sons can continue operations under the control of a workers' cooperative.","Bangladesh continues to struggle vs West Indies. KINGSTOWN, St. Vincent (AP) — Opener Tamim Iqbal hit an enterprising 53 Monday but Bangladesh continued to struggle against the West Indies on day four of the opening test at Arnos Vale Sports Complex.","Vatican panel to develop 'best practices' to curb sex abuse. A Vatican panel said Saturday it would develop \"best practices\" for Catholic parishes to combat paedophile priests, but stopped short of urging mandatory reporting of abuse to police. \"We see ensuring accountability in the Church as especially important, including developing means for effective and transparent protocols and processes,\" said the panel, which includes prominent Boston Archbishop Sean O'Malley and Irish abuse victim and campaigner Marie Collins. The Vatican has been more proactive in investigating allegations of abuse and listening to victims in recent years and has promised zero tolerance for abusers. Speaking to reporters after a three-day meeting of the panel at the Vatican -- their first since Pope Francis set up the panel in March -- O'Malley said there must be zero tolerance both for \"those who perpetrated the offences\" and \"those who were negligent\" in bringing them to justice.","Iran stands firm on maintaining a nuclear program. TOKYO (AP) — Iran's foreign minister is pushing back against calls for deeper cuts to its nuclear program.","U.S., European agencies warned pilots about Ukraine airspace dangers in April. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Aviation safety authorities in the United States and Europe warned pilots in April about potential risks flying in or near Ukraine airspace, where a Malaysian passenger airliner went down on Thursday. The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration on April 23 issued a \"special notice\" regarding Ukrainian airspace to U.S. aviators and air carriers advising them not to fly in airspace around the Crimean city of Simferopol without special approval of the U.S. government. The notice also warned U.S. ...","Nuclear deal elusive as Iran, six powers resume talks in New York. By Louis Charbonneau UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - A diplomatic breakthrough is unlikely on a nuclear deal to end sanctions against Iran when talks resume in New York this week between Tehran and six world powers deadlocked after a year of negotiations. The talks between Iran and the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China are re-starting after a two-month hiatus and amid Washington and Tehran ruling out cooperation on fighting Islamic State militants who have taken over swaths of Iraq and Syria. ...","VENICE WATCH: Bald James Franco turns heads. VENICE, Italy (AP) — James Franco was hailed as a visionary filmmaker as his latest directorial effort screened at the Venice Film Festival Friday. But everyone was talking about his head.","Samsung Electronics' 2Q profit miss forecast. SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Samsung Electronics Co. reported lower-than-expected profit for the second quarter on Thursday and said it was uncertain if handset business profit would improve during the current period.","Ukrainian protesters say control president's offices in Kiev. Ukrainian protesters said they had taken control of the presidential administration building in central Kiev, as opposition leaders pressed for the resignation of President Viktor Yanukovich on Saturday. \"He's not here, none of his officials or anyone linked directly to the administration are here,\" Ostap Kryvdyk, a protest leader, told a Reuters reporter inside the grounds of the administration building. He said protesters had not used force to enter the compound. Writing by Alessandra Prentice;","Gignac nets again as Marseille beats Toulouse 2-0. PARIS (AP) — Striker Andre-Pierre Gignac scored his 10th league goal in as many games as league leader Marseille beat Toulouse 2-0 on Sunday to secure an eighth straight win and stay seven points ahead of bitter rival Paris Saint-Germain.","Iran women flout dress code in Facebook campaign. Thousands of Iranian women have come together in an online campaign for greater social freedoms, posting pictures of themselves flouting the Islamic dress code required of all women in public. More than 146,000 people have supported the Facebook page \\\\\"Stealthy Freedoms of Women in Iran,\\\\\" which was created just 10 days ago with the aim of sparking debate on whether women should have the right to choose to wear the hijab. It has yet to provoke an official response from the Iranian authorities, who fear people are letting Islamic values slip as they turn towards a more Western lifestyle. The hijab, which is obligatory in Iran, requires women to cover their hair and much of their body in loose clothing in public.","West criticizes Russian draft resolution on Ukraine. United Nations (United States) (AFP) - A Russian draft resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire in Ukraine and a humanitarian corridor met with criticism from the West and cool response at the Security Council Monday. Moscow drafted the resolution at the start of its month-long presidency of the Council as Western powers want to enforce humanitarian corridors in Syria -- a prospect blocked by Russia. Moscow said it wanted to stop the violence in Ukraine, which has escalated between pro-Russian separatists and government forces, but its resolution met with strong rebuke from Washington.","Indonesia president orders action to handle fires. JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Indonesia's President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has ordered relevant ministers and local authorities in peat-rich Riau province to handle forest fires that have been sending out heavy smoke threatening health and disrupting flight operations.","Jordan intercepts drugs, arms haul from Syria: army. Jordanian border guards have intercepted two vehicles crossing from Syria loaded with arms and thousands of Captagon tablets, a drug widely used by Syrian rebels, the army announced Thursday. The Petra news agency quoted an army official as saying one of the vehicles and its cargo was destroyed when it was fired on by border guards during the operation late on Wednesday. Jordanian authorities announced at the beginning of the year that trafficking of arms between Jordan and Syria was up by 300 percent despite hundreds of smuggling attempts being foiled by the authorities. Commentators said Jordanians were rushing to buy arms, fearing a spillover of the conflict that has laid waste to much of neighbouring Syria over the past three years.","Scotland's next step? No independence but more powers. Edinburgh (AFP) - Scotland may have rejected independence but will now be handed new powers by Britain which could amount to effective home rule -- though experts warn that agreeing these could be messy.","British Open trivia quiz. HOYLAKE, England (AP) — How well do you know British Open history? Try this quiz:","EU's Rehn promises swift Ukraine aid, plays down Russia sanctions. The European Union will make a swift payment of financial aid to Ukraine, the European Union's economy chief said on Tuesday, dismissing the possibility of economic sanctions against Russia unless it takes more action. Olli Rehn's comments offered the prospect of quick financial backing from Europe for Ukraine, as Kiev faces a price hike on the gas that it buys from Russia following its attempt to resist interference from Moscow. The European Union has pledged 11 billion euros as part of a package of support with the International Monetary Fund.","5 things to look for Thursday at the French Open. PARIS (AP) — Five things to look for in the women's semifinals Thursday at the French Open:","Ukraine security source reaffirms Russian connection to crash. KIEV (Reuters) - A Ukrainian security source said on Monday Kiev stood by information indicating that pro-Russian rebels in eastern Ukraine had received a BUK-M1 (SA-11) radar-guided missile system from Russia, most likely with a crew. \"Earlier, the Ukrainian Security Service released information that militants were negotiating the delivery of Russian systems BUK,\" the source told Reuters. \"The fighters have no special training to operate such complicated military equipment so we are most likely talking about staff crew for the BUK, which came from Russia. ...","Protesters rally in Haiti capital demanding vote. PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — A few thousand protesters allied with Haiti's opposition are marching through the capital's streets demanding the chance to vote in legislative and local elections that are three years late.","England seek help for World Cup mind games. Portugal have Cristiano Ronaldo as their clinical penalty marksman, but if England are thrust into another World Cup sudden death clash their heads may turn to Steve Peters. The renowned sports psychologist has been hired to put steel into a squad often shown to lack killer instinct and which has the World Cup's worst penalty shootout record. England lost on penalties in 1990, 1998 and against Ronaldo's Portugal in the 2006 World Cup quarter-finals. Germany, by comparison, have played four and won four.","Latin Americans cheering for each other _ for now. RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Latin Americans are cheering for each other at the World Cup. But that camaraderie will disappear in a few days when the knockout games arrive.","Ousted Manitoba cabinet minister says premier hanging her out to dry. WINNIPEG - An ousted Manitoba cabinet minister says she was told she would have to take the blame for an immigration controversy to protect Premier Greg Selinger.","Situation for Iraqi children 'extremely volatile': UN. The Sunni militant onslaught in Iraq has created \"an extremely volatile and dangerous situation for children,\" a top UN official warned Tuesday. There were \"disturbing reports\" of the recruitment of child soldiers and other \"grave violations\" against minors in the conflict, said Leila Zerrougui, the UN special representative for children and armed conflict. The jihadist group leading the Iraqi offensive had since 2011 been on the United Nation's black list in particular because of its attacks against schools, Zerrougui noted. It accuses seven national armies and 50 armed groups of using child soldiers -- including Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of Congo, South Sudan and Syria.","Obama yuks it up with Washington reporters. President Barack Obama cracked jokes about the government's disastrous health care policy rollout and mocked political opponents at the White House Correspondents' Dinner. The annual event, known informally as the \"nerd prom,\" brings Washington's top journalists together with a clatch of celebrities and power brokers for a dinner with the president and first lady. The night was full of insider jokes and sharp jabs veiled in humor by Obama and the featured speaker, comedian Joel McHale. Near the end of the presentation there were mock technical problems with a video segment - and Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sibelius, blamed for the healthcare.gov debacle, showed up to \"fix\" it.","AP PHOTOS: Brazil housing shortage a daily drama. RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — When it rains, the dirt floor of the home where Taina Ferreira lives with her three small children turns to mud, and the contents of the open sewer that cuts in front of her front door sweep into the house.","Police: Submarine used for drugs found in Guyana. GEORGETOWN, Guyana (AP) — Authorities in the South American country of Guyana have discovered a rudimentary submarine they believe was going to be used to ferry drugs across the Atlantic, police said Friday.","Comic Jimmie Walker still cool with 'Dy-no-mite!' catchphrase he made famous in the '70s. PASADENA, Calif. - Jimmie Walker uttered one of the signature catchphrases of the 1970s, but it took some persuading to get him to do it.","Harmful road traffic noise affects a quarter of Europeans: study. OSLO (Reuters) - Harmful levels of road traffic noise affect one in four people in Europe and raise health risks ranging from sleepless nights to heart disease, the European Environment Agency said on Friday. In a first EEA assessment of the impact of noise pollution in Europe, it said the din undermines the ability of children to concentrate in some schools and disrupts nature, for instance by drowning out the songs birds use to attract mates. ...","Ex-CEO admits role in scheme to defraud US gov't. TRENTON, New Jersey (AP) — The former president and CEO of a New Jersey-based engineering consulting firm has admitted his role in a scheme to overcharge the U.S. government for reconstruction projects overseas, including Afghanistan.","Iran's army begins massive drill. TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran's state TV is reporting the country's army has begun a massive military drill near the strategic Strait of Hormuz at the entrance to the Persian Gulf.","Europe stuttering to lowest 2nd round numbers. CURITIBA, Brazil (AP) — While teams from the Americas have largely flourished, Europe could have its lowest representation in the second round of the World Cup since the current knockout format was introduced in 1986.","Bale to miss Madrid's trip to Bilbao. MADRID (AP) — Real Madrid forward Gareth Bale will miss Sunday's Spanish league match at Athletic Bilbao as he looks to get back to match fitness.","Britain warns Russia against intervening in Ukraine. Russia should not intervene in the Ukraine crisis, Britain's Foreign Secretary William Hague said on Sunday, insisting it would not be in Moscow's interests to weigh in. Speaking after Ukraine's parliament ousted President Viktor Yanukoych following a bloody end to three months of protests, Hague said there was a \"moment of opportunity\" for Ukraine but there were still \"many dangers\" ahead. Hague said London was talking with Moscow and stressing that Ukraine becoming closer to the European Union was in Russia's interests too. \"It's very important for us to continue to try to persuade Russia that this need not be a zero sum game,\" Hague told BBC television.","New South Sudan peace bid opens in Ethiopia. South Sudan's government and rebels on Tuesday began a fresh bid to end their bitter conflict as a new round of peace talks were opened in the Ethiopian capital. At an opening ceremony organised by regional mediators, the two sides set the stage for tense negotiations by trading accusations over who has been violating the truce, which was signed in Addis Ababa on January 23. The head of the rebel team, Taban Deng, meanwhile lashed out at neighbouring Uganda for sending in troops to support President Kiir. He randed Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni \"a new colonialist\" who has \"opted for a long civil war\" in South Sudan, the world's youngest nation which won independence from Khartoum in 2011.","Pimco Total Return posts $3.5 billion outflow in Jan: Morningstar. By Sam Forgione NEW YORK (Reuters) - The Pimco Total Return Fund, the world's largest bond fund run by Bill Gross, extended last year's record net outflows with investors pulling $3.5 billion from the fund in January, Morningstar data showed on Tuesday. The January outflows marked the ninth straight month of outflows from the fund, which posted outflows of $41.1 billion in 2013. The fund's size remained roughly unchanged at $237 billion after the outflows in January, however, in response to positive monthly performance. The Pimco Total Return Exchange-Traded Fund , an actively managed ETF designed to mimic the strategy of the flagship mutual fund, posted outflows of $32 million in January, marking the ninth straight month of outflows from the ETF.","Russian leadership backs restoration of Stalingrad name. Russia's deputy prime minister called on Saturday for the name Stalingrad to be restored to the city that was the site of a key World War II battle against the Nazis. \"I never doubted the need to give back great Stalingrad its name. Not for the sake of Stalin, but for the sake of the Stalingraders,\" Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin wrote on Twitter. On Friday, President Vladimir Putin responded positively to a request by a Soviet veteran at the D-Day commemorations in France for the city -- now called Volgograd -- to return to its wartime name.","UN chief in Sierra Leone to shut down peace mission. United Nations chief Ban Ki-moon arrived in Sierra Leone Tuesday to oversee the closure of the organisation's peace mission, with the nation in recovery after a brutal civil war. The secretary-general is due to attend a ceremony on Wednesday to formally shut down the UN Integrated Peacebuilding Office (UNIPSIL) which marks the end of 15 years of peace operations in the country. He was greeted at Freetown's international airport by Foreign Minister Samura Kamara before being flown by helicopter across the bay to the mainland, where he is due to hold talks with President Ernest Bai Koroma.","Palestinian president against Jewish state bill. PRETORIA, South Africa (AP) — Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas says he supports Israeli members of parliament who oppose the plan to formalize Israel's status as a Jewish state.","France signs $3B deal with Saudi to arm Lebanon. BEIRUT (AP) — France's foreign minister says his country has signed a deal with Saudi Arabia to provide the Lebanese army with $3 billion worth of French weapons.","Havana opens Chavez museum as summit nears close. HAVANA (AP) — The presidents of Venezuela and Cuba have inaugurated a new museum in Havana dedicated to the late Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.","Pakistan leader distances himself from army as crisis drags on. By Mehreen Zahra-Malik and Maria Golovnina ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Pakistan's prime minister, weakened by weeks of opposition protests calling for him to resign, distanced himself from an army move to intervene in the crisis on Friday, saying he did not turn to the military for help to defuse the stand-off. Nawaz Sharif's efforts to end the conflict have repeatedly failed in recent days, leaving Pakistan locked in a dangerous deadlock with thousands of protesters massing outside parliament for weeks in a country that has seen a string of military coups. Opposition leaders Imran Khan and Tahir ul-Qadri announced late on Thursday they would directly negotiate with army chief General Raheel Sharif. Prime Minister Sharif, who is not related to the army chief, emerged significantly weakened from the crisis.","Match-fix police probe Nigeria-Scotland game. Nigeria's World Cup warm-up friendly against Scotland in London on Wednesday is the subject of a match-fixing investigation by Britain's serious crime squad. The National Crime Agency, which investigates serious and organised crime, is said to have asked world football's governing body FIFA to issue an alert over attempts to influence the game at Fulham's stadium Craven Cottage. The NCA are said to have told FIFA they have general information from Asian betting markets suggesting there had been attempts to rig the friendly and they hope to stop any suspect activities by issuing the alert. A FIFA spokesman said they worked closely with law enforcement agencies and other sports organisations to tackle match manipulation, and encouraged anyone with information to contact their integrity hotline or confidential reporting system.","Hope and obstacles as Russia and Ukraine seek gas deal. By Vladimir Soldatkin and Pavel Polityuk MOSCOW/KIEV (Reuters) - A tentative agreement between the Ukrainian and Russian presidents has raised hopes of ending a dispute in which Moscow has halted natural gas supplies to Kiev, but several obstacles still have be overcome. Movement on the gas row was the only sign of progress at talks between Vladimir Putin and Petro Poroshenko on Friday which failed to resolve differences over fighting in eastern Ukraine and a deep crisis in relations. ...","Malaysia to send diplomat back to New Zealand to face charges. Malaysia will send a diplomat facing sexual assault charges back to New Zealand, where the alleged incident occurred in May, the foreign ministry said on Wednesday, a day after it said he would face an investigation at home. A ministry statement said the government believed the decision \"will provide an opportunity for Mr. Muhammad Rizalman to cooperate fully and assist the New Zealand authorities in the ongoing investigations into the allegations made against him\". Muhammad Rizalman Ismail, 38, a former defense ministry official attached to the high commission in Wellington, was arrested in early May for burglary and assault with intent to rape in an incident that involved a 21-year-old woman. He claimed diplomatic immunity and fled back home with his family almost two weeks later.","New fines may prompt BP to cut back in Russia, elsewhere. By Dmitry Zhdannikov and Ron Bousso LONDON (Reuters) - The prospect of up to $18 billion in new fines for the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill could pressure BP to sell assets from the Americas to Asia and Russia, where its interests risk being dragged into a political standoff between Moscow and the West. \"I wouldn't be surprised due to the ongoing crisis in Ukraine and Russia if BP would like to reduce its huge 19.75 percent stake in the BP-Rosneft joint venture to cut their risks there, even though it is profit making,\" said Natixis analyst Abhishek Deshpande. BP's assets in Russia generate up to a quarter of its global production and the company has said it remains firmly committed to them despite the crisis in Ukraine, where separatists are being supported by Moscow. The West has imposed economic sanctions on Russia and Moscow has countered with its own restrictions.","Lebanon supplies DNA samples in Air Algerie crash case. Lebanon has handed over DNA samples from relatives of 20 citizens killed in a July 24 Air Algerie plane crash in Mali, a foreign ministry source told AFP on Friday. Mali is leading the investigation into the crash in which 118 people were killed when their plane went down in a remote area on the southern edge of the Sahara. The Lebanese foreign ministry source said pathologist Fouad Ayub had taken DNA samples from the relatives of the Lebanese believed to have died in the crash to France, after visiting Mali with a Lebanese delegation following up on the crash.","Israel backs measure to limit early release for jailed Palestinians. Israel's parliament gave initial approval on Wednesday to a law that would prevent the release of any Palestinian prisoners jailed for murder in connection with an attack in which children were killed. The measure, backed by the government and introduced by far-right lawmakers who objected to the freeing of dozens of Palestinian prisoners during peace talks this year, passed by 36 votes to 20, but must still be approved in four more parliamentary votes before becoming law. Ofir Akunis, a deputy minister in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's cabinet, endorsed the measure in a speech, drawing attention to \"massive objection\" in the United States to its swap this month of five Taliban detainees to free Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl. Israel freed dozens of Palestinian prisoners under a deal achieved by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry last year to renew peace talks with the Palestinians, which collapsed in April in mutual recrimination.","Tokyo court starts Mt. Gox bankruptcy proceedings. TOKYO (AP) — Bankruptcy proceedings have begun for Mt. Gox, a move that was widely expected after the Tokyo District Court decided earlier this month that the bitcoin exchange would not be able to resurrect itself.","Evacuated Spanish priest first European to die of Ebola. Madrid (AFP) - An elderly Spanish priest became the first European to die from Ebola on Tuesday, succumbing to the virus in a Madrid hospital five days after being evacuated from Liberia.","Man, woman stoned to death for adultery in Syria: monitor. By Rasha Elass BEIRUT (Reuters) - A man and a woman have been stoned to death for adultery in separate executions in jihadist-controlled areas of Syria, a monitoring group reported on Tuesday. The man was executed in Idlib province in an area controlled by Islamist groups including the Nusra Front, al Qaeda's official affiliate in Syria, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which tracks violence on all sides of Syria's civil war. ...","Adriano joins Atletico Paranaense in comeback bid. SAO PAULO (AP) — Former Brazil striker Adriano is trying to make another comeback to football by joining Atletico Paranaense to play in this year's Copa Libertadores.","BRAZIL BEAT: Brazil players talk to flood victims. TERESOPOLIS, Brazil (AP) — Fifty kids who had their lives affected by the 2011 flooding that killed nearly 1,000 people in the Teresopolis region got to meet Brazil's team before practice on Wednesday.","Delta jet returns to Jamaica after fluid leak. KINGSTON, Jamaica (AP) — A Delta Airlines jet was forced to return to the airport in Jamaica shortly after takeoff Monday because of an apparent mechanical problem in one of its engines, the company said.","EU summit to discuss crisis-hit Russia, economic plan. EU leaders on Thursday will discuss tense relations with Russia and punishing sanctions imposed over Moscow's actions in Ukraine at a summit led for the first time by Poland's Kremlin-wary former premier Donald Tusk. Leaders will also back a huge 315-billion-euro ($380-billion) investment plan unveiled last month by new European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker -- although hard cash is expected to be lacking to help kickstart Europe's economy.","Site of Mexico mass grave is 'land of the wicked'. Iguala de la Independencia (Mexico) (AFP) - A resident of the rugged streets and hills of a southern Mexican hamlet where a mass grave was found this weekend describes the area as the \"land of the wicked.\"","Ukraine minister under fire for swearing about Putin. By Timothy Heritage and Alissa de Carbonnel KIEV/MOSCOW (Reuters) - Senior Russian parliamentarians urged Ukraine on Sunday to sack its foreign minister for calling President Vladimir Putin a \"dickhead\" during a violent protest outside Russia's embassy in Kiev. Acting Foreign Minister Andriy Deshchytsia tried to persuade protesters not to use violence at the rally on Saturday evening, during which the Russian flag was ripped up, vehicles overturned and stones and eggs thrown at the embassy. \"We must fulfill our international obligations, including defending the right of Russia to have an embassy in Ukraine,\" he told the protesters, angered by pro-Russian separatists shooting down a military cargo plane in east Ukraine, killing 49 people.","Macedonia holds presidential election. Macedonians will vote for a new president Sunday, in a poll seen as a test for the ruling party ahead of general elections later this month in the EU candidate country. Four candidates are in the running, including incumbent President Gjorge Ivanov, from the ruling conservative VMRO-DPMNE party, who is bidding for a second five-year term. The latest opinion polls put Ivanov on around 30 percent of the vote, with his main rival, opposition candidate Stevo Pendarovski, on 16 percent. If no candidate wins more than 50 percent of the votes cast in Sunday's first round, the two top rivals will go head-to-head in a final run-off on April 27, when the parliamentary elections will also be held.","China calls for Xinjiang 'terror suspects' to surrender. China has called for \"terror suspects\" to surrender to authorities in the far western Xinjiang region, promising lenient punishments for those who do, state media said, in the wake of the region's deadliest attack in years. \"Those who are involved in (activities relating to terrorism) will be given mitigated punishments if they turn themselves in within 30 days,\" the official Xinhua news agency reported late on Saturday, citing local authorities. Five suicide bombers carried out Thursday morning's attack in Urumqi, the capital city of Xinjiang, which killed 31 people at a vegetable market, according to state media.","'Recovered' Banksy works on display ahead of sale. LONDON (AP) — Elusive street artist Banksy says he has nothing to do with an auction of several of his works taken from walls and valued at up to 1 million pounds ($1.68 million).","London shares fall as banks sink after Carney's forex warning. London shares were flat on Tuesday as banking shares dropped after Bank of England governor Mark Carney warned of a scandal from alleged manipulation of foreign exchange markets. \"The Ukraine situation continues to rumble with no conclusion which doesn't help sentiment.\" Ukraine's Crimea peninsula on Tuesday voted for full independence ahead of a referendum to join Russia, while France threatened sanctions against Moscow as early as this week. The latest escalation of Europe's worst crisis for decades came moments after Ukraine's ousted pro-Kremlin leader Viktor Yanukovych defiantly vowed to return to Kiev from Russia and declared he was still the leader of the ex-Soviet country.","Coach Farina expects quick decision on Del Piero. SYDNEY (AP) — Sydney FC coach Frank Farina says he expects a fast decision will be made on whether former Juventus great Alessandro Del Piero remains in the A-League.","Japanese swimmer Tomita suspended for camera theft. TOKYO (AP) — The Japan Swimming Federation has suspended Naoya Tomita until March 31, 2016 after the swimmer was allegedly caught stealing a camera at the Asian Games.","U.N. chief alarmed as rockets found in Gaza school go missing. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon expressed alarm on Wednesday that 20 rockets found hidden in a United Nations school in the Gaza Strip had gone missing and directed the world body to deploy experts to deal with the situation. The main U.N. agency in Gaza, UNRWA, found the rockets in one of its vacant schools a week ago. It found a second batch in a vacant school on Tuesday, but said in a statement that because staff were withdrawn quickly, they were \"unable to confirm the precise number.\" In both cases UNRWA said it \"informed the relevant parties,\" but did not identify who had been contacted. Ban \"expresses his outrage and regret at the placing of weapons in a U.N.-administered school,\" a United Nations statement said.","Weight of the world: 2.1 billion people obese or overweight. By Will Dunham WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Obesity is imposing an increasingly heavy burden on the world's population in rich and poor nations alike, with almost 30 percent of people globally now either obese or overweight - a staggering 2.1 billion in all, researchers said on Wednesday. The biggest obesity rises among women came in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Honduras and Bahrain. Among men, it was in New Zealand, Bahrain, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and the United States.","WTO sides with China, India in 2 US trade disputes. GENEVA (AP) — The world trade body has ruled against the United States in two disputes with India and China, telling the U.S. government it must abide by international rules.","US shrugs off Maliki blast on 'national salvation' govt. The United States on Wednesday shrugged off a warning by Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki that he would not accept a national emergency government, following US calls for an inclusive coalition to outride the current crisis. US officials said they believed that Maliki was still committed to opening a process on piecing together a government on July 1, following his assurances to that effect to Secretary of State John Kerry. In fact, there was some uncertainty in Washington as to what Maliki was referring when he said \"the call to form a national emergency government is a coup against the constitution and the political process.\" Kerry said there had been no discussion on framing a short-term national salvation government when he met Maliki and other leaders of different ethnic and religious sects in Baghdad this week.","Stocks decline on concerns about global growth. NEW YORK (AP) — Concerns about slowing global growth and the threat of rising tensions between Russia and the West pushed stocks lower on Thursday.","Suspected Qaeda gunmen kill 15 Yemen soldiers. Suspected Al-Qaeda gunmen killed 15 Yemeni soldiers Friday when they attacked a checkpoint in Shibam in the southeastern province of Hadramawt, amid an intensified campaign targeting the jihadist network. \"Unknown armed men suspected to be from Al-Qaeda attacked an army checkpoint in Shibam, killing 15 soldiers and wounding several others,\" a security official said on condition of anonymity. The historic city of Shibam, dubbed the \"Manhattan of the Desert\" because of its high-rise mud-brick buildings, is a UNESCO world heritage site. The security official said \"Al-Qaeda took advantage of tension in Hadramawt province to carry out this cowardly attack\" on Friday.","Kerry holds new Paris talks with Abbas. US Secretary of State John Kerry held \"constructive\" talks in Paris with Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas meeting twice in less than 24 hours, a US official said Thursday. The two men met Thursday for two hours with their teams exchanging Abbas's Ramallah headquarters where they normally meet for an upscale hotel where the Palestinian leader also hosted Kerry for dinner on Wednesday. Palestinian ambassador to Paris, Hael al-Fahum, told Voice of Palestine radio that Abbas \"had outlined his vision of a peace which is based on international law\". The Palestinian leader also insisted there could be no deal without east Jerusalem as the capital of a state of Palestine and \"a resolution of all the issues, in particular security, refugees and the release of prisoners\".","Emirates calls for global airlines conference post-MH17 disaster. The head of one of the world's largest airlines has called for an international meeting of carriers to agree a response to the downing of a Malaysian airliner, including a potential rethink of the threats posed by regional conflicts. Tim Clark, president of Dubai's Emirates, the world's largest international airline by number of passengers, said domestic regulators worldwide may decide to be more involved in giving their carriers guidance on where it is safe to fly. \"The international airline community needs to respond as an entity, saying this is absolutely not acceptable and outrageous, and that it won't tolerate being targeted in internecine regional conflicts that have nothing to do with airlines,\" Clark told Reuters in a telephone interview. He said the International Air Transport Association could call an international conference to see what changes need to made in the way the industry tackles regional instability.","Moscow 'considering targeted strikes' on Ukraine. Moscow is considering targeted strikes against Ukraine after a shell reportedly crossed the border and killed a Russian civilian, the Kommersant daily reported Monday, citing a source close to the Kremlin. The respected daily quoted a source as saying that Moscow was considering the possibility of \"targeted retaliatory strikes\" against Ukraine, where escalating clashes between pro-Moscow rebels and government troops threatened to spiral into an all-out civil war over the weekend. \"Our patience is not limitless,\" the source was quoted as saying, adding that Russia \"knows exactly where they (Ukrainians) are firing from.\" The source said that Russia was not considering any large-scale action, but only targeted one-off strikes on positions from which fire is directed at Russian territory.","Official: Brazen Taliban assault on police station in eastern Afghanistan kills 10 policemen. KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Official: Brazen Taliban assault on police station in eastern Afghanistan kills 10 policemen.","Obama orders new round of sanctions on Russia. WASHINGTON (AP) — Seeking to intensify pressure on Russia, President Barack Obama on Thursday expanded U.S. economic sanctions against Moscow over its actions in Ukraine, targeting President Vladimir Putin's chief of staff and 19 other individuals as well as a Russian bank that provides them support.","China leader's stroll in Beijing alley sparks buzz. BEIJING (AP) — Chinese President Xi Jinping has made an unannounced visit to a trendy alley in central Beijing despite the hazardous smog that has enveloped the city for several days.","Factbox: Front-runners in Afghanistan's presidential election. Afghanistan's main presidential candidates have held a television debate two months before polls that Western allies hope will consolidate stability as their forces prepare to leave after nearly 13 years of war. Five candidates agreed on a range of subjects from cleaning up government to rights for women and all backed a security deal with the United States which would keep a contingent of U.S. troops in Afghanistan. President Hamid Karzai's refusal to sign the deal is sapping already scant support for the war in Washington, which has halved aid for civilian assistance in the 2014 fiscal year. ASHRAF GHANI AHMADZAI The U.S. trained anthropologist returned to Afghanistan after the Taliban were ousted and held various posts including finance minister.","Gaza ceasefire to start at 1600 GMT: Egypt's state news agency. CAIRO (Reuters) - A Gaza ceasefire between Israel and the Palestinians will start at 1600 GMT (12.00 noon EDT), the state's MENA news agency said. Egypt's Foreign Ministry is expected to issue a more detailed statement on the new ceasefire deal soon, according to two Egyptian officials. (Reporting by Yasmine Saleh; Editing by Alison Williams)","Marathon Majors ceremony postponed by doping rumor. LONDON (AP) — The World Marathon Majors series says it has postponed Sunday's awards ceremony because of reports that Kenyan runner Rita Jeptoo has tested positive for doping.","Agger leaves Liverpool to return to Brondby. LIVERPOOL, England (AP) — Denmark defender Daniel Agger has left Liverpool after more than eight years to return to former club Brondby.","Panama Canal expansion stops amid dispute. PANAMA CITY (AP) — Work on the ambitious Panama Canal expansion project was halted Wednesday after talks broke down on how to settle a dispute over $1.6 billion in cost overruns.","France hints at aero, nuclear deals during Xi visit. France expressed optimism on Friday over its ties with China in nuclear energy and aerospace in a sign of possible business deals when China's Xi Jinping makes his first trip as president to Europe in late March. Asked about the opportunity for France to win contracts, French Trade Minister Nicole Bricq told reporters: \"We are expecting much from the positive messages we have seen, especially in those areas.\" Europe's Airbus is seen as close to a deal to sell A330 jets to China and has offered to open its second plant in the country in a move that could also help resolve recent friction over Chinese objections to European aviation policies. Industry sources said last month that Airbus had offered to increase its industrial presence in China by opening a cabin completion center for the A330 jets.","Palestinians: Israeli occupation must end in 2016. UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The Palestinians are asking the U.N. Security Council to set a deadline of November 2016 for an Israeli withdrawal from all Palestinian territory occupied since 1967 including East Jerusalem.","Proud Canada hails stalwart Sergeant-at-Arms. Ottawa (AFP) - As Canada came to terms with finding itself in the firing line of militant Islamists it turned for reassurance to a 58-year-old former Mountie formerly best known for carrying a golden mace.","Jordan hangs 11 after eight-year death penalty freeze. AMMAN (Reuters) - Jordan executed 11 citizens on Sunday, ending an eight-year moratorium on capital punishment, judicial sources said. The hanged men were among 120 Jordanians convicted of capital crimes in the last 10 years, according to the sources. Jordan halted executions in 2006, but a recent rise in violent crime has resulted in calls to reimpose capital punishment. The kingdom has in the past been sensitive to international concerns on human rights and civil liberties because it relies greatly on Western aid. ...","Australia scores 329-5 to open 3rd ODI in Canberra. CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Opener Aaron Finch scored 109 and Steve Smith added an unbeaten 73 off 55 balls as Australia notched an imposing total of 329 for five after winning the toss Wednesday and batting first in the third one-day international against South Africa.","AP reporter witnesses carnage in Ukrainian capital. KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — I heard a strange clanking sound this morning in my hotel room overlooking the Ukrainian capital's main square. I carefully opened the balcony door and looked down. A bullet from a sniper rifle was on the floor of the balcony.","Jihadists must free Kurdish schoolboys held in Syria, say HRW. Jihadists from the Islamic State must free some 133 Kurdish schoolboys kidnapped in Syria a month ago, Human Rights Watch said on Tuesday. The group, formerly known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, kidnapped some 153 schoolchildren on May 29. Since their capture, IS has released around 15 children, including all the girls that had been held, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group. \"Two of the boys who escaped told the media that ISIS was forcing the children to undergo lessons in Sharia and jihadist ideology, and one of these boys said that ISIS beat the children who misbehaved,\" HRW said.","NHL teammates become foes at the Olympics. SOCHI, Russia (AP) — When the puck drops for men's hockey at the Sochi Games, friends will become foes.","Bruised and grumbling, foreign banks bend to U.S. rules. By Steve Slater and Michelle Price LONDON/HONG KONG (Reuters) - Financiers may grumble that the United States is acting like an imperial power in punishing foreign banks for dealings far beyond U.S. territory, but in the end they are more likely to bow to Washington than kick against its dollar muscle. Last week, French politicians and business leaders demanded an end to the global dominance of the U.S. currency - and hence of the U.S. banking system - after a New York court fined French bank BNP Paribas $9 billion for doing business in Sudan, Iran and Cuba. Yet despite irritation at the long reach of U.S. sanctions, most bankers see that as wishful thinking. Instead, major lenders in Europe and Asia are reacting to the steady flow of punishments from the United States by doing ever more to comply with U.S. laws and by cutting business ties in countries Washington dislikes rather than risk its wrath and, in the worst scenario, risk exclusion from the dollar system.","Egypt orders activist Abdel Fattah back to jail. An Egyptian court ordered prominent activist Alaa Abdel Fattah back to jail Monday after he was previously freed on bail during a trial for taking part in an illegal protest, a relative said. His sister Mona Seif told AFP Abdel Fattah had been taken into custody after a hearing into his case on charges of participating in a violent and illegal protest following the military's overthrow of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi last year. Abdel Fattah, 32, was one of the youth activists who spearheaded an uprising against veteran strongman Hosni Mubarak in 2011 and later backed the overthrow of the divisive Morsi. Hailed as an \"icon of the revolution\" by the authorities after Morsi's overthrow, Abdel Fattah and other secular leaning dissident leaders have not been spared an extensive crackdown aimed mainly at Morsi's Islamist backers.","SOCHI SCENE: Hamlin's medal. KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia (AP) — Erin Hamlin spent more than half her life waiting to become an Olympic medalist.","Amid sanctions, France in warship sale to Russia. PARIS (AP) — French President Francois Hollande is defending plans to deliver a warship to Russia, despite calls for a European arms embargo against Moscow over the fighting in Ukraine.","Bail granted for most Sri Lankan migrants returned by Australia. A Sri Lankan court Tuesday granted bail to 27 of 41 migrants who were returned to the country by Australia after a controversial mid-sea transfer, with one of them slamming Canberra for its lack of human rights. The group was detained for illegally leaving Sri Lanka. One of the detainees, Dhamith Caldera, told AFP that he would \"complain to the UN\" over his treatment by Australian customs authorities and denied that he had been screened as a possible asylum seeker. Where is Australia's human rights?\" The group arrived in the late morning by bus and were escorted by plain-clothed police officers after spending a night in the notorious Boossa detention centre.","Rallying-Rally of Australia leg 2 classification. Sept 13 (Infostrada Sports) - Leg 2 Classification from the Rally of Australia on Saturday 1. Sebastien Ogier (France) Volkswagen 2:03:55.300 2. Jari-Matti Latvala (Finland) Volkswagen +00:11.800 3. Andreas Mikkelsen (Norway) Volkswagen 00:25.300 4. Kris Meeke (Britain) Citroen 00:26.800 5. Mikko Hirvonen (Finland) Ford 01:27.200 6. Mads Ostberg (Norway) Citroen 02:08.200 7. Hayden Paddon (New Zealand) Hyundai 02:15.500 8. Thierry Neuville (Belgium) Hyundai 03:52.400 9. Elfyn Evans (Britain) Ford 03:59.000 10. Robert Kubica (Poland) Ford 04:59.200","Spain woman free of Ebola virus, 2nd test shows. MADRID (AP) — Doctors say a second and conclusive test shows a Spanish nursing assistant infected with Ebola is completely clear of the virus.","Big win could help Abe pursue nationalist goals. TOKYO (AP) — A projected landslide victory for Japan's ruling party in parliamentary elections Sunday could give Prime Minister Shinzo Abe political breathing space to push forward with his long-held nationalist agenda.","Jenny Lauren, niece of designer Ralph Lauren, appears in Irish court on 'air rage' charges. DUBLIN - The niece of fashion designer Ralph Lauren was arraigned Tuesday on charges of being dangerously drunk, threatening and verbally abusive on a New York-bound plane, forcing it to land in Ireland.","Top Asian News at 9:00 a.m. GMT. BANGKOK (AP) — The protest leader, a monk in flowing orange robes, sat sternly at the head of a long hardwood table, his newfound authority in this patch of Bangkok plain for all to see. Before him, three high-level Thai officials were begging permission to get back to work — in offices across the street his anti-government demonstrators had shut them out of two weeks earlier. Tens of thousands of passport applications were piling up, they said. Bankruptcy declarations needed tending to. One official was desperate to access environmental databases.","Polls open in landmark Afghanistan election. Voting began on Saturday in Afghanistan's presidential election, which will mark the first democratic transfer of power since the country was tipped into chaos by the fall of the Taliban regime in 2001. Taliban insurgents launched a spate of attacks in the run-up to the vote, which they brand as a U.S.-backed sham, but there was no word of violence as voting got under way at 7 a.m. (0230 GMT) local time. After 12 years in power, the incumbent Hamid Karzai is ineligible to run again due to the constitution, and there are eight candidates contesting the election. The favorites are former foreign ministers Abdullah Abdullah and Zalmay Rassoul, and former finance minister Ashraf Ghani.","La Niña Influences Melt of Major Antarctic Glacier. Though typically thought of as a tropical climate pattern, the influence of La Niña (the cold counterpart to El Niño) spreads as far as Antarctica, significantly slowing the melting rate of one of the continent's largest glaciers, according to a new study. Pine Island Glacier, which makes up about 10 percent of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet, empties into the Amundsen Sea.","American Air flight attendants reach pact on union representation. (Reuters) - Flight attendants at US Airways, which merged with AMR Corp late last year to form American Airlines Group , on Friday approved an agreement under which the union representing workers at the former AMR will become their bargaining agent. The US Airways flight attendants are currently represented by the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA union, while those same workers at American are represented by the Association of Professional Flight Attendants. The agreement sets the stage for joint negotiations for a labor contract for the new carrier's 24,000 flight attendants, the unions said. American Airlines Group is the world's biggest airline.","Sina losses double on Weibo IPO charge. HONG KONG (AP) — Chinese Internet portal Sina says first-quarter losses more than doubled as it booked a $40 million charge stemming from the stock listing of its Weibo microblog unit.","Notorious ex-cop to head S.Africa police watchdog. A former South African police officer once accused of gun running and jailed for a deadly anti-apartheid bombing was named on Friday as the new head of the country's police watchdog. Robert McBride, a former member of the ruling ANC's ex-military wing Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK), will start his job at the Independent Police Investigative Directorate on Monday. Minister of Police Nathi Mthethwa said he was confident McBride would steer the unit \"to become an effective and efficient oversight institution within the criminal justice system.\" As a member of MK, he was convicted by the apartheid government for the 1986 bombing of a bar in Durban that killed three people.","SOCHI SCENE: Close call, or not?. KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia (AP) — The official timing couldn't tell who had won as the difference was less than one-tenth of a second.","Top German court nixes European Parliament vote hurdle. Germany's top court on Wednesday struck down the country's three-percent electoral threshold for political parties to win seats in the European Parliament. The decision followed a complaint by 19 small parties that the rule put them at an unfair disadvantage in May's European parliamentary ballot. The Constitutional Court found the clause represented a \"serious encroachment\" on electoral equality and fairness that was \"not justified\" and flouted Germany's constitution. Political parties are currently lining up their lead candidates for the May elections.","3,000 victims of sexual violence in two DRC provinces. A medical group working in the restive east of the Democratic Republic of Congo reported Monday that there were nearly 3,000 victims of sexual violence in the region during the first half of this year. Heal Africa, which works with victims, mostly women, in the North Kivu and Maniema provinces, said it had identified 2,829 survivors of sexual violence and had treated 1,573 of them since January. The group, which runs a hospital in the North Kivu capital of Goma specialising in treating sexual assault victims, said many of the women had been raped and had come to them for medical care and treatment to prevent HIV infection. The violence had been carried out both by \"armed men and civilians,\" Heal Africa said in a statement.","Calls mount for British MP's head over expenses scandal. Pressure mounted on the British minister in charge of a new press regulation system on Sunday after a Conservative Party grandee called for her resignation over parliament's latest expenses scandal. Norman Tebbit, a member of the upper House of Lords and the party's chairman during the days of Margaret Thatcher, slammed Culture Secretary Maria Miller as \"arrogant\" for the way she responded to parliament's censure after she was found to have overclaimed on her mortgage. \"Most members of the Commons must have hoped that the scandals over fiddled expenses had at least calmed down, even if not gone away,\" he wrote on a blog for the Daily Telegraph. \"Now Mrs Miller has not just reignited the flames but, by the arrogance of her response to the scandal, poured petrol on the fire.","More than 400,000 Indians face risk of flooding after Nepal landslide. By Gopal Sharma and Jatindra Dash PATNA/KATHMANDU (Reuters) - More than 400,000 people in eastern India face the risk of flooding after a landslide that killed at least nine people in neighboring Nepal, an Indian government official said on Sunday, as thousands were being evacuated. The landslide triggered by heavy rains has left scores of people missing and has created a mud dam blocking the Sunkoshi river, which runs into India's Bihar state as the Kosi river. The fear is that as Nepal tries to blast its way through the landslide to clear it, it will unleash a torrent of water across densely populated Bihar. Around 425,000 people could be affected by the floods and authorities have already evacuated 44,000 across seven districts of Bihar, said Ashok Kumar, an officer at the state's disaster management unit.","Bahrain police, Shiites clash at jailed youth's funeral. Bahraini police and demonstrators clashed Friday during the funeral of a jailed Shiite youth who the authorities say died of natural causes and whose family said had been tortured, witnesses said. Bahrain has suffered from chronic, often deadly, violence since the authorities brutally suppressed an Arab Spring-inspired movement in 2011 calling for a constitutional monarchy. The demonstrators near the capital Manama hurled rocks at police, who responded with tear gas and stun grenades, the sources said. On Wednesday, the authorities said that the youth had died of natural causes after being hospitalised with a chronic illness.","Alajuelense advances to CONCACAF CL semifinals. PANAMA CITY (AP) — Costa Rica's Alajuelense advanced to the CONCACAF Champions League semifinals with a 2-0 win over Panama's Arabe Unido on Thursday.","Valverde signs new 3-year contract with Movistar. MADRID (AP) — Alejandro Valverde has agreed to a new contract with Movistar that will keep the Spanish rider on the team for the next three years.","Thousands press for term limits in Togo protests. LOME, Togo (AP) — Security forces in Togo used rubber bullets and tear gas to disperse thousands of demonstrators calling for term limits that would bar President Faure Gnassingbe from running for a third term next year.","Egyptian court jails policeman linked to Islamist deaths. A Cairo court sentenced a police officer to 10 years in prison with labor on Tuesday in connection with the deaths of 37 Muslim Brotherhood members and supporters last year, judicial sources and the state news agency said. The Interior Ministry said at the time that the Islamists had died during an attempted prison break after being suffocated by tear gas. The government has launched a widespread crackdown on the Brotherhood since the army toppled Islamist president Mohamed Mursi last July after mass protests against his rule. The government has denied the allegations and declared the Brotherhood a terrorist group which poses a grave security threat to the most populous Arab nation.","Valencia hires Espirito Santo as new coach. VALENCIA, Spain (AP) — Valencia says it has hired Portuguese manager Nuno Espirito Santo as its new coach.","Why the world should care about Scottish independence. By Mike Peacock LONDON (Reuters) - An opinion poll showing Scottish independence campaigners have a slim lead nine days before a crucial referendum has highlighted reasons for the wider world and investors to pay heed to the Sept. 18 vote, which could see Britain lose 5.3 million Scots. Foreign governments and financial markets had long assumed Scots would view independence from the United Kingdom as too risky a leap but the sudden swing, confirmed by another survey showing the two camps neck-and-neck, has exploded such complacency. Losing Scotland would likely weaken Britain as a power, dent its self-confidence and make it more introverted, increasing doubts about its future in Europe. \"BREXIT\" A lot of energy has been expended arguing whether an independent Scotland could join the European Union.","Detained Berlusconi ally in Beirut hospital. An Italian ex-senator and ally of former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi who was arrested in Lebanon at the weekend was hospitalised in Beirut on Wednesday, his lawyer said. Marcello Dell'Utri \"was transferred to the Al-Hayat hospital on the prosecutor's orders because he suffers from heart problems\", lawyer Nasser al-Khalil said. A senior judicial official confirmed Dell'Utri had been taken to hospital, and added that the Italian authorities had yet to seek his extradition.","Serbia to salute Putin but sees future with Europe. By Matt Robinson BELGRADE (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin is guest of honor at a military parade in Belgrade on Thursday to mark 70 years since the city's liberation by the Red Army, a visit loaded with symbolism as Serbia walks a tightrope between the Europe it wants to join and a big-power ally it cannot leave behind. The United States and European Union are unlikely to welcome the sight of Putin taking the salute at a parade of more than 3,000 Serbian soldiers while NATO says Russian troops are fighting on the side of separatist rebels in eastern Ukraine. ...","Apple loses court bid to block e-book antitrust monitor. By Nate Raymond NEW YORK (Reuters) - Apple Inc lost a bid on Monday to block an antitrust monitor appointed after a judge found that the company had conspired to fix e-book prices. At a hearing, U.S. District Judge Denise Cote in Manhattan denied Apple's request to stay an order requiring an external compliance monitor pending the company's appeal. \"I want the monitorship to succeed for Apple,\" she said. The judge also said there was \"nothing improper\" about a declaration filed by a lawyer chosen to serve as monitor, Michael Bromwich, that became the basis of Apple seeking his disqualification.","Samsung set to sell first Tizen phone in 3Q. SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Samsung Electronics Co. says it will begin selling a smartphone using its Tizen operating system in the third quarter of this year.","More than one million Iraqis receiving food aid from WFP. By Chris Arsenault ROME (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - More than 1 million Iraqis are now receiving emergency food aid, the World Food Program (WFP) announced this week, and Raed Hamdoon is one of them. He fled the northern city of Mosul on foot in June with his four daughters as fighting intensified, and they have taken refuge in the relative safety of Kurdistan, along with more than 850,000 other Iraqis. \"We escaped (Mosul) because we feared for our lives,\" Hamdoon said in an email interview with the Thomson Reuters Foundation, translated by an aid group. ...","Pink Floyd to release new album after 20-year gap. LONDON (AP) — A fresh Pink Floyd album is on the way — 20 years after the band last released new material.","Iran denies claim that nuclear deal 'finalised'. Iran's government was forced to deny Tuesday it had already struck a nuclear deal with the West, after a lawmaker accused its negotiators of secretly selling the country short. In a sign of the domestic political tension surrounding talks being held abroad with world powers, Iran's foreign ministry threatened to prosecute the member of parliament who said an agreement that breaches the Islamic republic's \"red lines\" had been settled. A group of hardline MPs in Tehran have repeatedly warned Iran has already given up too much in talks with the United States and other leading nations under an interim deal that traded curbs on its nuclear programme for limited sanctions relief.","Ukraine: Rebels have taken all plane crash bodies. HRABOVE, Ukraine (AP) — Separatist rebels have spirited away all 196 bodies that workers recovered from the Malaysia Airlines crash site to an unknown location, Ukraine's emergency services said Sunday.","Two Britons 'fighting alongside Kurds against IS group'. London (AFP) - At least two Britons are among around 15 Westerners fighting in Syria alongside Kurdish guerrillas against the Islamic State group (IS), according to British media.","Poland investigates Eurosceptic MEP over 'What is rape?' comment. WARSAW (Reuters) - Polish prosecutors are investigating whether comments made by a firebrand right-wing politician elected this week to the European Parliament warrant prosecution for incitement to rape. The investigation centers on remarks made during a live television debate in May by Janusz Korwin-Mikke, the leader of the New Right party which won a surprise 7.2 percent of votes in the European elections. During a discussion about what constitutes rape, he asked: \"Raped, what does it mean raped?\" \"Women are always pretending that they are showing some resistance and this is normal. ...","Court allows Musharraf to leave Pakistan. KARACHI, Pakistan (AP) — A Pakistani court has struck down a government order barring former military ruler Pervez Musharraf, who's facing treason charges, from traveling abroad.","A year on, typhoon-devastated Philippine city fails to rebuild homes. MANILA (Reuters) - The mayor of the central Philippine city worst hit by a super typhoon a year ago said on Tuesday fewer than 100 of 14,500 promised permanent homes had been built and that thousands were still living in danger zones. Typhoon Haiyan wiped out or damaged practically everything in its path as it swept ashore on Nov. 8, 2013, with seven-meter storm surges destroying around 90 percent of the city of Tacloban in Leyte province. Haiyan killed or left missing close to 8,000 people and displaced as many as four million. \"Building more permanent homes is very slow and takes time. ...","USS Donald Cook arrives in new home port in Spain. NORFOLK, Virginia (AP) — The USS Donald Cook has arrived at its new home port in Rota, Spain.","Rossi's World Cup chances ride on Ireland friendly. FLORENCE, Italy (AP) — Forward Giuseppe Rossi and midfielder Marco Verratti have been named as starters for Italy's friendly against Ireland on Saturday, giving both players the chance to show they belong in the Azzurri's World Cup squad.","Abbas rival sentenced to 2 years in absentia. RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) — A court has sentenced a leading rival of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in absentia to two years in prison, effectively sidelining him in a future leadership battle.","Pope presses anti-AIDS chastity strategy in Africa. VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis has praised church workers in Africa who promote chastity as a key way to prevent the spread of HIV.","Germany unveils Europe's biggest battery plant. By Helen Cahill BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany switched on Europe's largest commercial battery plant on Tuesday, an installation powered by 25,600 lithium-ion batteries that will help stabilize the region's growing supply of renewable energy. The 6-million-euro plant, the size of a school gymnasium, is designed to help even out short-term fluctuations that sometimes accompany power from renewable sources as Germany continues to raises its share of renewable energy from about 25 percent currently to 40-45 percent by 2025 and 55-60 percent by 2035. ...","Anti-Muslim bullying on rise after Canada attacks. By Richard Valdmanis OTTAWA (Reuters) - Reports of anti-Muslim harassment in Canada have risen, Muslim organizations say, after attacks last week in which two soldiers were killed by people authorities say were inspired by the militant group Islamic State. The National Council of Canadian Muslims said it has seen a tenfold increase in reports of harassment, including racial slurs on public buses, notes left on car windshields and bullying at schools. ...","Car bombs kill at least 10 people in Iraqi capital. BAGHDAD (AP) — Officials say two car bombs in Baghdad have killed at least 10 people.","Fighting in Libya's Benghazi kills 50 in past 10 days: medics. By Ayman and al-Warfalli BENGHAZI, Libya (Reuters) - - Almost 50 people have been killed in the past 10 days in fighting between Libyan pro-government forces and Islamist groups in the second-largest city, Benghazi, medical personnel said on Wednesday. That brings the death toll to around 450 since army special forces and troops led by former general Khalifa Haftar launched an offensive against Islamists in Benghazi, expelling them from the airport area and from several camps the army had lost during the summer. ...","Canadian-Egyptian among 3 journalists, working for Al-Jazeera, jailed in Egypt. More than 50 news organizations have called on Egyptian authorities Monday to release three journalists — including a Canadian-Egyptian — jailed while working for Al-Jazeera English and to stop arbitrary detentions of media representatives.","Fiji says Syrian rebels want compensation, removal from terror list. By Baz Ratner and Lincoln Feast EIN ZIVAN Golan Heights/SYDNEY (Reuters) - Islamist fighters who seized dozens of Fijian soldiers serving as U.N. peacekeepers on the Golan Heights last week are demanding that their group be removed from a global terrorism list and that compensation be paid for members killed in fighting, the head of Fiji's army said on Tuesday. Brigadier-General Mosese Tikoitoga said negotiations had been stepped up between the Al Qaeda-linked Nusra Front and a new U.N. negotiation team now in place in Syria. \"They also told us they are ensuring that they are taken out of battle areas.\" Heavy fighting erupted on Monday between the Syrian army and Islamist rebels near where 45 Fijian peacekeepers were captured and scores of their fellow blue helmets from the Philippines escaped after resisting capture. Syria's three-year civil war reached the frontier with Israeli-controlled territory last week when Islamist fighters overran a crossing point in the line that has separated Israelis from Syrians in the Golan Heights since a 1973 war.","Hundreds evacuated after London hotel explosion. LONDON (AP) — London fire officials say a suspected gas leak touched off an explosion in the basement of a London hotel, injuring 11 people and forcing the evacuation of hundreds of guests.","Hamilton, Rosberg set pace for Mercedes at Australian Grand Prix. Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg set the pace in practice for the Australian Grand Prix on Friday as Mercedes shaped as the team to beat at the much awaited season-opener. With teams adapting to a raft of technical changes in Formula One, Hamilton overcame mechanical problems in the first session to time quickest in the second run-out ahead of his team-mate. Ferrari's Fernando Alonso was third fastest while four-time defending world champion Sebastian Vettel, who endured endless problems in pre-season testing, placed an encouraging fourth. \"We got a nice foundation for the weekend in the second session today so hopefully we can build on that in P3 (free practice three) tomorrow afternoon and then see where we are in qualifying,\" said Hamilton, the 2008 world champion.","Celtic to sign 13-year-old goalkeeper. Glasgow (AFP) - Scottish champions Celtic are set to sign 13-year-old goalkeeper Joshua Rae after beating Liverpool and Everton for his signature.","No easy way out for African migrants in Israeli desert detention. By Allyn Fisher-Ilan HOLOT, Israel (Reuters) - A compound of one-storey buildings deep in the southern Israeli desert is now home to some 400 African migrants who face the prospect of being held in custody indefinitely. The detainees in what the authorities call an \"open\" detention centre are allowed to leave for a few hours each day, but given its remote location near the Egyptian frontier, travel is impractical. Israel opened the Holot complex in December after its Supreme Court stopped the practice of jailing illegal migrants for up to three years in regular prisons. But in what the migrants call a cruel twist and rights groups say is a rights violation, a law passed the same month allows the migrants to be detained indefinitely, pending the resolution of their requests to stay in Israel.","Lebanon's new government gets go-ahead from parliament. BEIRUT (Reuters) - Lebanon's parliament gave a newly-formed cabinet a vote of confidence on Thursday, ending almost a year of political deadlock during which the country has been pulled further into the civil war in neighboring Syria. The approval - by 96 of the 101 parliamentarians who attended the vote - was widely expected after the government reached a compromise last week on a policy statement following weeks of dispute that brought it to the verge of collapse. ...","'Theory of Everything' star Eddie Redmayne weds. LOS ANGELES (AP) — Eddie Redmayne is celebrating more than his best-actor nominations this week. \"The Theory of Everything\" star is also a newlywed.","Drugmaker Shire backs new $53.6-bn AbbVie takeover bid. Shire Pharmaceuticals on Monday backed a revised $53.6-billion takeover from US giant AbbVie, reversing its opposition to a deal, and added it was in \"detailed discussions\" over terms. AbbVie's latest cash-and-stock proposal for Shire was worth £53.20 per share, valuing the company at the equivalent of £31.35 billion or 39.5 billion euros ($53.8 billion), Shire said in a statement. \"Accordingly, the board is in detailed discussions with AbbVie in relation to these terms,\" added the group, which is listed in London and New York but based in Dublin.","Deutsche Bank net profit falls 34 percent. FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — Deutsche Bank AG says net profit fell 34 percent in the first quarter as slower trading of bonds and foreign exchange weighed on revenues.","Relatives sob after announcement on missing plane. BEIJING (AP) — Women shrieked and sobbed uncontrollably. Men and women held up their loved ones who were nearly collapsing. Their grief came pouring out after 17 days of waiting for some definitive word on the fate of their relatives aboard the missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370.","Japan economy minister Amari 'a little concerned' about recovery's strength. TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese Economy Minister Akira Amari expressed concern on Sunday about the strength of the economic recovery and said it will take time to establish self-sustaining growth. \"The recovery trend is certain,\" Amari told a talk show on public broadcaster NHK. \"The July-September numbers should show a robust recovery\" from the sharp second-quarter drop in the wake of an April 1 sales-tax increase. \"But I'm a little concerned that this robustness is a bit weak. ...","Egypt officials: Policeman killed in restive Sinai. CAIRO (AP) — Egyptian security officials say a police officer has died from wounds sustained in a firefight with militants in the restive Sinai Peninsula.","US alone in helping Nigeria find kidnapped girls says Kerry. The United States is alone in helping Nigeria locate more than 200 schoolgirls kidnapped by Islamists, Secretary of State John Kerry said, despite help on the ground from Britain, France and Israel. With 80 military personnel sent to neighboring Chad for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance missions, the United States is the biggest foreign participant in the effort against the militant group Boko Haram. Washington has also deployed surveillance drones, spy planes and about 30 civilian and military specialists to support Nigeria's security forces.","France could put four jets on Baltics security duty: source. France could send four planes to Lithuania on protection duty if NATO decides to boost air defenses over the Baltic states, a source close to French Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said on Friday, amid tension over Russia's seizure of Crimea from Ukraine. Le Drian began a rapid visit to Poland and the Baltic states of Lithuania and Estonia on Friday, with the aim of offering them reassurances on security, as European Union leaders sought to broaden sanctions against Moscow officials. The French offer would come on top of a NATO mission that has offered air policing for the past decade and follows a U.S. offer to provide extra aircraft. Since 2004, NATO has operated the \"police the skies\" mission over the Baltic states, with each NATO member country taking a turn every four months to supply planes that are based in Lithuania.","Dutch try installing solar panels in bicycle path. KROMMENIE, Netherlands (AP) — A project dubbed \"SolaRoad\" gets underway in the Netherlands this week, testing roadways as a potential canvas to collect solar energy. Fittingly for the cycle-crazy Dutch, the first SolaRoad is a bike path not far from Amsterdam.","Strike and curfew orders shut down Indian Kashmir. SRINAGAR, India (AP) — Shops, businesses and schools are shut in Indian-controlled Kashmir after separatist groups opposed to Indian rule announced a strike to protest a visit by the country's prime minister.","Sunnis accuse Iraq forces of jailhouse massacre. The world has been shocked this week by video footage of Sunni militants from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant gunning down scores of prisoners piled in a shallow grave during their lightning advance through northern Iraq. But Sunni residents say government forces and their allied Shi'ite militia are responsible for similar atrocities, pointing to the deaths of dozens of prisoners at a jail in Baquba, a provincial capital in a religiously-mixed area an hour north of Baghdad that came under insurgent attack on Monday night. According to the local chief of police, ISIL fighters tried to assault the jail in the Mafraq district of Baquba, capital of Diyala province, during an attempt to seize the town on Monday. \"After the battle cleared, we had one security forces member killed and found the prisoners had also been killed,\" he told Reuters.","American named CEO of Commonwealth Federation. LONDON (AP) — American sports administrator David Grevemberg will serve as the next chief executive of the Commonwealth Games Federation.","Fire in Mumbai building kills 1, injures 19. NEW DELHI (AP) — A massive fire on the top two floors of a 22-story business center in India's financial capital of Mumbai has killed one firefighter and injured 19 others.","US: St. Kitts citizenship program is being abused. BASSETERRE, St. Kitts (AP) — The U.S. Treasury has alerted financial institutions that some people are abusing a citizenship-by-investment program in St. Kitts & Nevis.","U.S. private sector creates 230,000 jobs in October: ADP. NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. private employers added 230,000 jobs in October, exceeding economists' expectations, a report by a payrolls processor showed on Wednesday. Economists surveyed by Reuters had forecast the ADP National Employment Report would show a gain of 220,000 jobs. September's private payrolls were revised up to 225,000 from the previously reported 213,000. Including October's gain, the U.S. economy has produced more than 200,000 private-sector jobs for a record seven straight months, dating back to the ADP series origin in May 2001. ...","Indonesia's presidential front-runner battles the puppet image. By Kanupriya Kapoor and Jonathan Thatcher JAKARTA (Reuters) - When one of Indonesia's most powerful politicians wanted to be part of a new government, he did not approach Joko \"Jokowi\" Widodo, the front-runner in next week's presidential election. The politician, Aburizal Bakrie of the Golkar party, was rebuffed by ex-President Megawati Sukarnoputri. Critics say he will defer to Megawati and she will call the shots in the new government in Southeast Asia's biggest economy. It is an image Jokowi does little to dispel with his public displays of deference to Megawati.","South Africa holds inflation rate at 5.9 percent. South Africa's headline inflation rate remained unchanged in October at 5.9 percent, slightly below the central bank's ceiling of six percent, official data showed on Wednesday. Statistics South Africa said prices had increased by a small fraction of a percent between September and October. Economist said inflation was likely to remain contained in the coming months, on the back of lower commodity prices. \"The volatile rand though does pose an inflation risk and we might start seeing the effects of the rand coming through in the numbers further on in 2015,\" Nedbank economists said in a note to clients.","Mickelson trails Cabrera by a shot at Quail Hollow. CHARLOTTE, North Carolina (AP) — Phil Mickelson kept it entertaining to the very end Thursday and finished one shot behind Angel Cabrera in the Wells Fargo Championship.","In rare winter sweep, US rules Olympic slopestyle. SOCHI, Russia (AP) — For only the third time in Winter Games history, the United States swept the podium, capturing the top three spots Thursday in slopestyle skiing's Olympic debut to revive the country's showing in Sochi.","China warns again ahead of Dalai Lama's Norway trip. BEIJING/OSLO (Reuters) - China warned again on Wednesday that it was resolutely opposed to a visit by the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama to Norway, saying if he really was a religious figure he should be \"resting in a temple\" not travelling the world. The Dalai Lama is scheduled to visit Norway from May 7 to May 9 at the invitation of civil groups in Oslo, in part to celebrate the 25th anniversary of his Nobel Peace Prize. The Norwegian prime minister and the foreign minister have not accepted invitations to meet him. However, the Dalai Lama is scheduled to be in parliament and meet some MPs, including members of a \"Tibet Committee\".","Israel looking to technology to counter Gaza tunnels: army. By Dan Williams and Ori Lewis JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel is preparing to build a network of sensors to try to detect tunnel building into its territory from the Gaza Strip, but it could take months to prove the technology works, a senior army officer said on Monday. In the meantime, the army might re-invade the Palestinian enclave to destroy any tunnels it discovers or that it thinks are under construction, another official said, looking to calm the fears of Israelis living close to the Gaza border. Israeli ground forces plowed into Gaza last month to demolish a warren of underground passages that Hamas Islamists had dug to infiltrate the border. After more than a decade of failed attempts to develop ways to reveal the infiltration tunnels, an army officer said the military was preparing to place sensors around Gaza's perimeter.","Egypt state TV says a 3rd blast has hit area outside Cairo University; no word on casualties. CAIRO (AP) — Egypt state TV says a 3rd blast has hit area outside Cairo University; no word on casualties .","UCI announces 3-man independent panel to investigate doping past and links to Lance Armstrong. LONDON - A three-man independent panel will investigate cycling's doping past, including allegations the sport's governing body colluded with Lance Armstrong.","Indian minister killed in head-on collision: TV. Indian Rural Development Minister Gopinath Munde died on Tuesday after a head-on road collision in the capital, New Delhi, a government colleague told reporters. Munde, appointed just over a week ago to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's new government, suffered serious injuries while driving to the capital's airport and died in hospital. Doctors declared him dead at about 8 a.m.,\" Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari told reporters.","UN says Ukraine death toll doubles in 2 weeks. GENEVA (AP) — The U.N.'s human rights office says the number of people who have been killed in eastern Ukraine appears to have doubled in the last two weeks.","Norway probes spy equipment found in central Oslo. HELSINKI (AP) — Norwegian police say they have warned politicians about possible eavesdropping of cellphone calls after several listening devices were reportedly found in central Oslo, including near government buildings and Parliament.","Liberian voter turnout low as Ebola overshadows senate election. By James Harding Giahyue MONROVIA (Reuters) - Turnout for Liberian parliamentary elections on Saturday appeared to be low as concerns about Ebola kept many voters at home. Polling stations were largely empty after voting began at 8 a.m. (3.00 a.m. ET) in the seafront capital Monrovia, with voters occasionally drifting in, despite precautions put in place by the National Elections Commission (NEC). Staff with temperature guns at polling stations checked voters for any signs of the hemorrhagic fever, which is spread via bodily fluids. ...","Irish economy bounces back strongly, up 7.7 pct. DUBLIN (AP) — Ireland's battered economy bounced back strongly in the second quarter, growing 1.5 percent from the quarter before and a very strong 7.7 percent from a year earlier.","Russia says no oil-for-goods deal yet with Iran. Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said on Friday that talks with Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh in Moscow on Thursday had not produced a final agreement on a potential oil-for-goods deal between the countries. \"We did not reach a final agreement,\" Novak told reporters, adding that he hoped a deal could be agreed in time for an inter-governmental meeting in the autumn. Reuters reported in April that Iran and Russia had made progress on a barter deal that could be worth up to $20 billion under which Moscow would provide Russian equipment and goods in exchange for Iranian oil.","Indian search for missing Malaysian plane on hold. NEW DELHI (AP) — An Indian official says navy and air search operations for the missing Malaysian aircraft have been put on hold until fresh search areas are identified by the Malaysian government.","Late Fukushima manager flagged risks of Japan's big nuclear plants. The late manager of Japan's destroyed Fukushima plant questioned the safety of large nuclear facilities, documents showed on Thursday, potentially affecting the debate over the restart of the world's biggest nuclear power station. The late Masao Yoshida, who led the emergency response at Tokyo Electric Power Co's Fukushima Daiichi plant after the March 2011 nuclear disaster, told investigators five months later that facilities with six or seven reactors were difficult to operate and had inherent safety risks, according to transcripts released by the government. His comments have implications for the debate over the world's biggest power station, Kashiwazaki Kariwa, Tepco's only hope of reviving idled reactors as it faces a decades-long cleanup of Fukushima.","U.S. raps Kyrgzstan's for proposed 'gay propaganda' law. By Olga Dzyubenko ALMATY (Reuters) - The United States has condemned Kyrgyzstan for planning to adopt legislation to ban \"gay propaganda\", saying the law discriminates and will hurt the Central Asian nation's fragile civil society. Last week Kyrgyzstan's parliament started debating changes to the nation's legislation which propose introducing tougher punishment for \"popularizing homosexual relations\" and \"propaganda of a homosexual way of life\". ...","Man United beats Crystal Palace 1-0 in EPL. MANCHESTER, England (AP) — Juan Mata came on as a substitute to score in the 67th minute and give Manchester United a much-needed 1-0 victory over Crystal Palace in the Premier League on Saturday.","Disney shares jump as film hit 'Frozen' heats up profit. By Lisa Richwine and Ronald Grover LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Media company Walt Disney Co reported higher profit for the quarter that ended in December, beating Wall Street expectations due to growth at sports network ESPN and the blockbuster performance of its animated hit film \"Frozen.\" Disney shares jumped 3.9 percent in after-hours trading on Wednesday to $74.52, up from their earlier $71.76 close on the New York Stock Exchange. The company posted adjusted earnings per share of $1.04, according to a statement it released, exceeding the 92 cents average estimate of analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. Net income for the quarter rose to $1.8 billion, a 33 percent gain from a year earlier. The company's five major business units all reported higher profit, with the biggest gain at Disney's movie studio. Disney Chief Executive Officer Bob Iger said \"Frozen\" sales were growing as the movie just opened in China and will debut in Japan in March.","France denies U.S. media story on al Qaeda defector agent: source. PARIS (Reuters) - A French defense ministry source denied on Monday a U.S. media report that a French intelligence officer had defected to al Qaeda's branch in Syria and was being targeted for elimination by U.S. air strikes. McClatchy DC, a Washington DC-based news web site, reported citing several European intelligence sources that the former French officer was the highest ranking defector to go over to al Qaeda and that coalition powers had failed to kill him in several air strikes. ...","US optimism ebbs over Myanmar reforms. WASHINGTON (AP) — Two years after the United States announced the normalization of diplomatic relations with Myanmar, optimism in Washington over the nation's embrace of democracy is waning and concern over the plight of minority Muslims is growing.","Zimbabwe cabinet orders changes to black empowerment law. Zimbabwe's cabinet has ordered that a controversial equity law which forces foreign companies to cede a majority shareholding to local investors be amended, a minister said on Thursday. \"Cabinet has said the law should be aligned with the constitution and we will soon be making the necessary adjustments,\" Indigenisation Minister Francis Nhema told AFP. Finance Minister Patrick Chinamasa on Wednesday told parliament that cabinet had decided that the law be changed to make it clearer and friendlier to investors. The indigenisation law has also been a source of conflict between President Robert Mugabe's allies, with some maintaining a hardline stance while others opposed the measures.","Israel cranks up media campaign ahead of Iran nuclear deal deadline. By Dan Williams JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu urged international negotiators on Sunday not to \"surrender\" to Tehran, as he launched a media blitz three weeks ahead of a deadline for an Iranian nuclear deal. In interviews to broadcasters from the six world powers involved in the talks, Netanyahu reiterated Israel's long-held demand Iran be stripped of its uranium enrichment and other technologies, saying that to do otherwise would leave nuclear weaponry within reach. \"What it would mean is Iran at any time could kick the (foreign nuclear) inspectors aside or deceive them – it's done that in the past – and go rush to make the enriched uranium that is necessary to make atomic bombs,\" he told Britain's Sky News, according to a transcript published by his office.","Retail investors rush to buy Alibaba IPO. (Reuters) - Retail investors were rushing to place orders for shares in the initial public offering Alibaba Group Holding Ltd, which is likely to be the largest in history. TD Ameritrade Holding Corp saw the number of investor orders for shares in the Chinese e-commerce company hit 75 percent of the orders that came in during premarket trading at the Facebook Inc IPO, JJ Kinahan, chief market strategist at TD Ameritrade, told Reuters on Friday morning. At the same time, the expected price of those shares kept climbing. ...","Moscow accuses US of 'abducting' Russian MP's son. Moscow accused Washington on Tuesday of abducting the son of a Russian lawmaker who was arrested in the Maldives on suspicion of being one of the world's most prolific traffickers of stolen credit card details. A Russian legislator who admitted to being the suspect's father expressed fear that Roman Seleznev, who is now being held in the American territory of Guam, will be accused of all sorts of sins including \"killing Kennedy.\" The US Justice Department said Monday that Seleznev, 30, was detained at the weekend and charged with hacking into US retail computer systems in a scheme that cost banks over $1.1 million (800,000 euros) in losses.","US stocks head lower for a third day straight. Concerns about slower economic growth in China and lingering tensions in Ukraine helped set the U.S. stock market on course for its third loss in a row Wednesday.","Strong earthquake strikes in China's Yunnan province: USGS. BEIJING (Reuters) - An earthquake with a magnitude of 6.4 struck in China's Yunnan province on Tuesday, the United States Geological Survey reported, but there were no immediate reports of casualties.The USGS said the quake's epicentre was 163 km (101 miles) north-northwest of Yunjinghong and 10.0 km deep. The official Xinhua news agency said shaking could be felt in the provincial capital of Yunnan. The epicentre is in a remote, mostly rural mountainous part of Yunnan. Hundreds died in a 6.3 magnitude quake which hit another part of Yunnan in August. ...","Cyprus parliament approves privatization plans in majority vote. NICOSIA (Reuters) - Cyprus's parliament approved a roadmap for privatizations on Tuesday, averting a showdown with international lenders insisting on state selloffs as part of a 10 billion euro ($13.77 billion) bailout. In a show of hands, 30 lawmakers in the 56-member parliament endorsed a guideline for asset sales just before a deadline for approval expired on March 5. Parliament's rejection of an earlier privatization motion on February 27 risked derailing the bailout accord brokered with the European Union and International Monetary Fund in March 2013. ($1 = 0. ...","Deadly fighting rages on in east Ukraine despite plane crash. Pensioner Oleksandr had just stepped out of his house in eastern Ukraine to say hello to a neighbour when a mortar shell landed at his feet. \"They are fighting and we are in the middle of it!\" Lyudmila, his grieving widow, told AFP in the rebel stronghold of Donetsk. After Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 crashed on Thursday in the strife-torn region, killing all 298 passengers aboard, both Kiev and the pro-Russian rebels it has been fighting for months raised the possibility of a ceasefire. Ukraine's armed forces over the weekend pushed on with their operation to stamp out the rebels controlling the south-east part of Lugansk, with combat over the last 24 hours leaving 13 wounded in the industrial hub.","Fire engulfs parts of Chile's Valparaiso port, 100 houses destroyed. A fire pushed by strong Pacific coast winds ripped through parts of the Chilean port city Valparaiso on Saturday, destroying at least 100 houses and causing the evacuation of thousands of residents as authorities battled the blaze. \"The weather is complicating the situation,\" emergency official Guillermo de la Mazza told reporters.","Nibali in yellow as 14th Tour stage starts. GRENOBLE, France (AP) — The Tour de France riders have set off on a second day of punishing Alpine climbs that will see them ride up and over the highest point on this year's race.","Obama lays out immigration goals, not timing. WASHINGTON (AP) — Leaving his timing uncertain, President Barack Obama laid out ambitious objectives Friday for immigration steps he intends to take on his own and said he had already received some recommendations from the Homeland Security and Justice departments for executive action he could implement without Congress.","Ukrainian soldiers call for lifting of ceasefire. KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — Several hundred Ukrainian soldiers and activists have gathered outside the presidential administration in Kiev to call for an end to the ceasefire in eastern Ukraine.","Madrid sets club record for wins, Chelsea stumbles. LONDON (AP) — Cristiano Ronaldo set up two goals help Real Madrid set a club record with a 16th straight victory across all competitions on Saturday, while Premier League leader Chelsea failed to score for the first time this season as it stumbled to a scoreless draw at Sunderland in the Premier League.","Yemen tribes kill six soldiers, tell Norway DNO to end oil work. Yemeni gunmen killed at least six soldiers in stepped up attacks on army installations in the southeastern Hadramout province, a local official and residents said on Sunday, after tribesmen warned Norway's DNO to stop operations in the area. Growing lawlessness in the poor Arabian Peninsula state is an international concern because of Yemen's strategic position next to oil exporter Saudi Arabia and shipping lanes. A local government official in al-Shihr said tribesmen tried to overrun an army camp on the outskirts of the Arabian Sea city on Sunday, killing four soldiers. The attack came hours after armed tribesmen attacked troops assigned to guard oil wells near a facility operated by DNO.","Algeria says killed militant involved in French tourist beheading. ALGIERS (Reuters) - Algeria's military has killed a militant involved in the abduction and beheading of French tourist Herve Gourdel in September, Justice Minister Tayeb Louh said on Wednesday. The Caliphate Soldiers, a splinter group which has allied itself to Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria, claimed responsibility for Gourdel's killing, saying it was in retaliation for France's intervention in Iraq. \"It emerges from the investigation on the assassination of French national Herve Gourdel that one of those who committed this murder, ... ...","7 senior officials arrested in Thai police scandal. BANGKOK (AP) — Thai police say they are investigating more suspects after a senior police officer and six colleagues were arrested on serious charges ranging from bribery to insulting the monarchy.","U.S. would reassess aid if Hamas-PLO form government - official. The United States would have to reconsider its assistance to the Palestinians if Islamist group Hamas and the Palestinian Liberation Organization form a government together, a senior U.S. administration official said on Thursday. \"Any Palestinian government must unambiguously and explicitly commit to nonviolence, recognition of the state of Israel, and acceptance of previous agreements and obligations between the parties,\" the official said, speaking to Reuters on condition of anonymity. \"If a new Palestinian government is formed, we will assess it based on its adherence to the stipulations above, its policies and actions, and will determine any implications for our assistance based on U.S. law,\" the official said.","Bank of England leaves interest rates steady. LONDON (AP) — The Bank of England has kept interest rates steady at a record low of 0.5 percent and refrained from pumping more money into the economy even as the recovery gathers strength.","Iraq's Islamic fighters profit from oil sales: U.S. officials. By Mark Hosenball WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Islamic State militants fighting in Iraq are selling oil from oilfields and refineries they control to local communities and smugglers, augmenting their existing ample finances, U.S. intelligence officials said on Thursday. At least some of the oil is used to fuel a power plant they seized after the radical Islamists captured large tracts of Iraq including the country's second city Mosul, killing thousands and causing hundreds of thousands to flee, the officials said. At some point, the intelligence officials predicted, the group is likely to find itself overextended, particularly if it keeps expanding the areas it controls. AL-QAEDA OFFSHOOT The self-styled Islamic State, an al-Qaeda offshoot that began in Iraq, grew in strength in Syria while fighting against President Bashar al-Assad and this year extended its sway across much of northwest Iraq.","Yemen government, Houthis reach agreement to end crisis: source. Yemen's government and Shi'ite Muslim Houthi rebels signed an agreement on Thursday to end a crisis that has seen weeks of sometimes bloody protests in the capital Sanaa, a member of the government's negotiating team said. Houthi protesters have been blocking the main road to Sanaa's airport and holding sit-ins for weeks at ministries in an attempt to oust the government and restore fuel subsidies. The negotiator told Reuters the agreement was signed by Sanaa's governor, Abdelqader Helal, and Houthi representative Hussein al-Ozzi, who is in charge of political affairs.","Liberia justice minister quits, says president blocked investigation. By James Giahyue MONROVIA (Reuters) - Liberia's justice minister has stepped down, saying President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf blocked her investigation into fraud allegations against the country's National Security Agency (NSA), which is headed by the president's son. Johnson Sirleaf, a Nobel Peace Prize winner praised for her leadership of Liberia in the aftermath of civil war, is under growing pressure from opponents who accuse her of corruption and nepotism. She has appointed several family members to senior government posts, but denies any favouritism. ...","Modi says India is shamed by rape in Independence Day speech. By Nita Bhalla NEW DELHI (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - India's recently elected Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke out against rape in his first Independence Day speech on Friday, saying the country was shamed by increasing reports of sexual violence against women and girls. \"Today when we hear about these rapes, our heads hang in shame,\" said Modi, from the ramparts of the 17th century Red Fort in old Delhi on the 68th anniversary of the country's independence. Newspapers and television channels in India carry daily reports of the rapes of women and young girls, some murdered by the perpetrators to cover the crime. The high-profile gang rape and murder of a 23-year-old student on a bus in Delhi in December 2012 led to country-wide protests for better security for women and sparked national debate about gender inequalities in India.","Syrian army kills dozens of rebels in central city. BEIRUT (AP) — Syrian state media and anti-government activists say army troops have killed dozens of rebels who tried to break the military's siege on opposition-held areas of the central city of Homs.","World urged to do more to battle Ebola. United Nations (United States) (AFP) - World leaders were asked Thursday to pledge urgently needed aid to battle Ebola in West Africa as Sierra Leone quarantined one million people in a desperate bid to beat back the deadly virus.","Canada to make it easier to shut down problem railroads. By David Ljunggren OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canada will bring in new rules making it easier to quickly shut down unsafe railroads, the government said on Friday, eight months after 47 people died in the Lac-Megantic, Quebec, crude-by-rail disaster. In case of serious problems, Transport Canada \"could suspend or cancel the company's operating certificate. This could put an immediate stop to the company's railway operations in Canada,\" it said. An official watchdog said last November that Canada was not doing enough to ensure rail safety.","Obama set limits, overhauls surveillance program, changes to overseas spying. WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama called for the end of his government's control over masses of phone data from hundreds of millions of Americans, and promised in a major and long-expected speech that U.S. intelligence would no longer be listening in on the telephone conversations of leaders of nations that are U.S. friends and allies.","US, Iran lay ground for nuclear talks extension. US Secretary of State John Kerry and his Iranian counterpart laid the groundwork Tuesday for an extension of a Sunday deadline to strike a historic nuclear deal after intense talks in Vienna. A Western diplomat went as far as to say that it was now \"highly probable\" Iran and world powers would agree to such a move, and that the extension would be months not weeks. \"As it's highly improbable that we will finalise in Vienna before the weekend, it is highly probable that there will be a wish to continue to negotiate in the coming months,\" the diplomat said on condition of anonymity. After a decade of rising tensions, the mooted accord between Iran and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany is aimed at easing concerns that Iran might develop nuclear weapons and silencing talk of war.","Japan March machinery orders soar, tax hike pain seen temporary. By Tetsushi Kajimoto and Stanley White TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese core machinery orders surged in March and firms expect orders to rise in the current quarter in a sign capital spending is picking up, backing the central bank's conviction that the economy can weather the impact of last month's sales tax hike. Companies surveyed by the Cabinet Office forecast that core orders will rise 0.4 percent in April-June from the previous quarter, which would mark the fifth straight quarter of gains. The readings bode well for the Bank of Japan's argument that the economy can weather the tax hike, likely easing pressure for fresh monetary stimulus. The BOJ is set to stick to its upbeat view of the economy at its policy review this week and may raise its view on capital expenditure, suggesting that no immediate expansion of monetary stimulus is forthcoming.","Russia, Egypt seal preliminary arms deal worth $3.5 billion: agency. MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia and Egypt reached a preliminary agreement under which Cairo will buy arms worth $3.5 billion from Moscow, Interfax news agency quoted the head of Russia's state arms trade agency as saying on Wednesday. Speaking in South Africa, the head of the agency, Alexander Fomin, gave no more detail. Russia is the world's second-largest arms exporter. (Reporting by Gabriela Baczynska, editing by Thomas Grove)","US rekindles its 'Downton Abbey' affair. Americans rekindle their peculiar love affair with the post-Edwardian demise of English aristocracy on Sunday when season four of \"Downton Abbey\" premieres on US public television. \"I would put this, in many ways, in the same family as 'Dallas' and 'Dynasty' and 'Falcon Crest' and 'Melrose Place',\" he told AFP, name-checking classic prime-time US soaps from the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s.","Growth slows in China passenger vehicle sales. BEIJING (AP) — Growth in China's car sales slowed again last month while the country's own brands increased their market share.","Regional Ebola response centre to be set up in Guinea. A regional centre is being set up in Guinea to coordinate the response to the worst-ever outbreak of Ebola that has killed hundreds of people in west Africa, the World Health Organisation said Friday. The virus, a form of haemorrhagic fever, has swept through Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone leaving an estimated 539 people dead, according to the latest WHO figures. Medical charity Doctors Without Borders, known by its French initials MSF, warned at the end of June that the outbreak was \"out of control\", with more than 60 hotspots.","AP PHOTOS: Universal's new Harry Potter park. ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — A new park, The Wizarding World of Harry Potter-Diagon Alley, is expected to open to the public at Universal Orlando Resort on July 8. It's the theme park's second attraction inspired by the Harry Potter series of books and movies. The first one opened in 2010 and has been wildly popular with visitors.","Reggae singer 'Bunny Rugs' Clarke dies at 65. KINGSTON, Jamaica (AP) — William \"Bunny Rugs\" Clarke, the husky-voiced singer of reggae band Third World, has died of leukemia at the age of 65.","France winger Franck Ribery ruled out of World Cup. CLAIREFONTAINE, France (AP) — France winger Franck Ribery has been ruled out of the World Cup after failing to overcome a back injury.","Egypt, Libya plunge in African governance index. London (AFP) - Egypt and Libya plunged in an annual rating of good governance in Africa released in London on Monday that saw Ivory Coast rise the fastest.","Fiat Chrysler reveals plans to grow sales by 2018. AUBURN HILLS, Michigan (AP) — The combined Fiat Chrysler Automobiles is counting on expanding sales at Jeep, Alfa-Romeo and Maserati, a revival of the Chrysler brand, and some new vehicles to place it firmly in the top ranks of global automakers.","Samsung Electronics China supplier to resume business after child labor allegations. A Chinese subsidiary of Shinyang Engineering Co Ltd will resume supplying parts to Samsung Electronics Co Ltd on Tuesday, a Shinyang official said, less than a month after business ties were suspended over child labor allegations. In July, Samsung Electronics halted business with Dongguan Shinyang Electronics Co Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of Shinyang Engineering, after a U.S.-based activist group said it found at least five child workers without contracts at the Guangdong province-based supplier. The suspension was prompted by a report released earlier in July by China Labor Watch, which said children were working on the assembly lines at Dongguan Shinyang.","Frenchman freed on parole from Indonesian jail: mother. A Frenchman was freed from an Indonesian jail on parole Monday more than 14 years after he was caught smuggling drugs into the resort island of Bali, his mother told AFP. He has signed his release papers,\" his mother, Helene Le Touzey, told AFP. Blanc had been imprisoned in a jail in the south of the Indonesian capital Jakarta. It is rare for Indonesian authorities to grant a foreign prisoner parole, and his early release raises hopes for high-profile Australian drug trafficker Schapelle Corby.","Ukraine 'biggest crisis in Europe in 21st century': Hague. The unrest in Ukraine is \"the biggest crisis in Europe in the 21st century\", Foreign Secretary William Hague said on Monday, as he warned Russia to back down in Crimea. \"It's difficult to rank these things but it's certainly the biggest crisis in Europe in the 21st century and it will require all our diplomatic efforts,\" Hague told BBC radio from Kiev, where he is meeting the interim Ukrainian government. The British foreign minister urged Russia to pull back its forces in Crimea or face \"significant costs\".","U.S. approves $700 million sale of Hellfire missiles to Iraq. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. State Department has approved the sale of 5,000 Hellfire missiles to Iraq as Baghdad tries to fend off militant Islamist forces. The deal is valued at $700 million, the Defense Security Cooperation Agency said on Tuesday. Iraq had requested 5,000 of the air-to-ground missiles, which are manufactured by Lockheed Martin Corp and enable helicopters to battle tanks and other armored vehicles. Much smaller Hellfire shipments have already been sent to Iraq. Parts, training and logistical support are part of the new deal. Iraq's U.S. ...","Australia defends its raid on East Timor lawyer's office as protecting national security. THE HAGUE, Netherlands - Australia has defended its agents' raid on the office of a lawyer for East Timor last month as a legitimate defence of Australian national security.","At least 13 killed in Central African Republic as rebels, militia clash. At least 13 people were killed when Christian militia forces attacked a town held by Muslim Seleka rebels in a rural area of Central African Republic, residents said on Thursday. The clashes in Dekoa took place on Tuesday two days before an expected U.N. Security Council vote to create a nearly 12,000-strong U.N. peacekeeping force which will take over from African troops from mid-September. An 800-strong European Union force is also due to start deploying in the first week of May, subject to airlift capabilities, a force spokesman said. Residents said the fighting in Dekoa, 300 km (190 miles) north of the capital Bangui, raged for hours when the 'anti-balaka' militia attacked Seleka positions in the early hours of the morning.","Yemen clash kills 4 troops, 13 suspected militants. SANAA, Yemen (AP) — Military officials in Yemen say clashes between the army and al-Qaida's local branch there have killed at least 13 suspected militants and four troops.","Biden discusses Ukraine with 2 European leaders. WASHINGTON (AP) — Vice President Joe Biden has discussed the crisis in Ukraine with the leaders of Montenegro and Slovakia.","Andy Murray opens Wimbledon defense with 3-set win. LONDON (AP) — Andy Murray came onto Centre Court to a standing ovation and walked off to another as he began his Wimbledon title defense Monday with a straight-set victory against David Goffin.","Malaysian airliner downed in Ukraine war zone, 298 dead. By Anton Zverev HRABOVE Ukraine (Reuters) - The United States believes a surface-to-air missile brought down a Malaysian airliner that crashed in eastern Ukraine on Thursday, killing all 298 people on board, an incident that sharply raises the stakes in a conflict between Kiev and pro-Moscow rebels. One U.S. official said Washington strongly suspected the missile that downed the Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 on a flight from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur was fired by Ukrainian separatists backed by Moscow. U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, speaking in Detroit, said the passenger jet apparently was \"blown out of the sky\".","Chile: regulator lifts Bocamina I plant suspension. SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) — Chile's environmental regulator is lifting a suspension on the Bocamina I thermoelectric plant.","Yemen: Prison break death toll reaches 10. SANAA, Yemen (AP) — Yemeni military and security officials says that the death toll from a prison break in the capital has reached 10, and that al-Qaida received help from inside the prison to facilitate the escape of 29 inmates.","UK prosecutor: Rolf Harris assaulted young girls. LONDON (AP) — A prosecutor told a British court Friday that veteran TV and music entertainer Rolf Harris got away with brazen sexual assaults on young girls because his fame made him untouchable.","Deutsche Bank braces for $1.3 billion in U.S., UK Libor fines: sources. FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Deutsche Bank is bracing to pay almost 1 billion euros ($1.3 billion) for Libor-related fines as it nears a deal with U.S. and UK authorities to settle allegations it attempted to manipulate the benchmark interest rate, two sources familiar with the matter said on Friday. The bank has already paid 6.1 billion euros in the past two and a half years as it attempts to clear a backlog of litigation and investigations, of which the Libor settlement is considered to be the most important. ...","Ukraine PM rejects Putin ceasefire plan as bid to deceive West. Ukraine's Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk on Wednesday rejected a ceasefire plan unveiled by Russian President Vladimir Putin as an attempt to deceive the West about Moscow's real intentions. \"This latest plan is another attempt to pull the wool over the eyes of the international community ahead of the NATO summit and an attempt to avert the EU's inevitable decision to unleash a new wave of sanctions against Russia,\" he said in a statement. \"The best plan for ending Russia's war against Ukraine has only one single element -- for Russia to withdraw its troops, its mercenaries and its terrorists from Ukrainian territory.\"","Call for end to 'patchwork' safety rules for seniors' residences across Canada. MONTREAL - A fire that swept through a seniors' residence in Quebec is raising questions about whether more stringent regulations are needed right across the country.","Iran denounces US ruling to sell property. TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran has condemned a ruling issued by a U.S. federal judge approving plans to sell a 36-story Manhattan office building and other properties owned by Iran nationwide in what will be the largest terrorism-related forfeiture ever.","Boeing CEO McNerney earns $23.3 million in 2013. (Reuters) - Boeing Co's Chief Executive W. James McNerney earned $23.3 million in 2013 compared with $27.5 million in 2012, as the value of his pension was unchanged last year. Boeing said last week that it would end pension plans for 68,000 non-union employees, including McNerney, effective January 1, 2016. McNerney's total compensation nearly doubled to $39.2 million last year, including stock options exercised and excluding the change in pension value, showed a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday. (http://r.reuters. ...","Rebels level historic Aleppo hotel in Syria. HOMS, Syria (AP) — With a gigantic explosion, Syrian rebels on Thursday leveled a historic hotel being used as an army base in the northern city of Aleppo by detonating bomb-packed tunnels beneath it, activists and militants said.","Hong Kong lawyers march in protest against perceived China meddling. By Adam Rose and Nikki Sun HONG KONG (Reuters) - Hong Kong lawyers dressed in black marched through the city on Friday to protest against what they see as Chinese interference, a sign of growing concern about the rule of law in the Asian financial centre and a further act of dissent against Beijing. Britain returned Hong Kong to Communist Party-ruled China in 1997 under a \"one country, two systems\" formula, with the promise of a high degree of autonomy. Unlike on the mainland, Hong Kong's judiciary enjoys a level of independence similar to that in the West. \"The legal profession in Hong Kong will never compromise on the rule of law,\" said Dennis Kwok, a lawyer and a member of Hong Kong's Legislative Council, who organised the march.","What is going on in Iraq and why?. An al-Qaida breakaway group, apparently backed by other Sunni groups and fighters, has seized a large section of northern Iraq after previously taking much of northeastern Syria with an eye toward establishing an Islamic state straddling the two countries. The situation on the ground is changing rapidly, but some patterns and explanations are now emerging:","India's weightlifters throw off spectre of doping. India's weightlifters will be looking to build on their new-found clean status at the Asian Games in Incheon after bagging 12 medals at this summer's Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. Indian weightlifting, dogged by rampant doping scandals in the past, appeared to turn a new leaf at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow when no positive tests were reported and they emerged as the top nation in the event. If it was an improvement on four years earlier at the Commonwealth Games in New Delhi, where the tally was eight medals with two golds, it was light years ahead of where they were in 2006. The haul in Glasgow was a reward for the years of effort spent cleaning up the sport in conjunction with the National Anti-Doping Agency, according to India's weightlifting chief.","Report: journalists, police detained raids. ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkey's state-run news agency says police have launched simultaneous raids in a dozen cities, detaining at least 23 people — including journalists, television producers and police — known to be close to a movement led by a U.S.-based a moderate Islamic cleric","England hold firm after Bell loss. England kept Sri Lanka at bay after losing dangerman Ian Bell in the first Test at Lord's on Thursday. England, after losing the toss, were 195 for four at tea on the first day with Bell having fallen early in the second session for 56. But Joe Root and debutant Mooen Ali, both 43 not out, repelled Sri Lanka with an unbroken fifth-wicket stand so far worth 75. England had struggled to 98 for three at lunch after debutant opener Sam Robson, captain Alastair Cook and Gary Ballance had all fallen cheaply in the morning session.","Sudan's Bashir wins party backing for vote, set to extend 25 year rule. By Khalid Abdelaziz KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Sudan's ruling party has given final approval to President Omar Hassan al-Bashir as its candidate in next year's presidential vote, sealing his bid to extend his rule after 25 years in power. Wanted on charges of genocide and war crimes by the International Criminal Court, Bashir has reason to fear his future should he leave office as he would have to entrust his fate to a successor. He can now cast those fears aside. National Congress Party leaders endorsed Bashir by a 94 percent margin at a party conference late on Saturday. ...","Kerry visits papal diplomat to talk Mideast peace. VATICAN CITY (AP) — Intrigued by signals of an invigorated papal diplomacy, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry enlisted a new ally Tuesday in his push for Mideast peace in what he described as a \"common enterprise\" between America and the Holy See.","Russia obliged to offer unloved Yanukovych sanctuary: analysts. Russia had little option other than to offer sanctuary to deposed Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych, even if there is little love lost between him and President Vladimir Putin, analysts said Thursday. Yanukovych is now widely believed to be in Russia after he released a statement saying he had asked Moscow to ensure his security and sources in the country said his wish had been satisfied on \"Russian territory\". Here are the fundamental questions about why and how he has come to Russia: --Why has Russia offered sanctuary to Yanukovych?","Venezuela opposition leader jailed over protests. CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez emerged from days of hiding and surrendered to police before thousands of supporters Tuesday, saying he hopes his arrest awakens Venezuela to the corruption and economic disaster caused by 15 years of socialist rule.","US Hurricane Center upgrades strengthening tropical depression to Tropical Storm Cristobal. NASSAU, Bahamas (AP) — US Hurricane Center upgrades strengthening tropical depression to Tropical Storm Cristobal.","Australia: U.N. vote a response to 'deplorable act'. Australia says the U.N. Security Council vote supporting an international investigation into the downing of a Malaysia Airlines flight is unambiguous response to an \"utterly deplorable act.\"","Turkey scrambles jets after Russian plane again flies near coast. The Turkish Air Force scrambled six F-16 fighter jets after a Russian surveillance plane flew parallel along its Black Sea coast, the military said on Friday, amid increased tensions between Russia and the West over Ukraine. Ukraine's Crimea peninsula, which juts into the north of the Black Sea, is at the center of the current standoff between Russia and Ukraine's new pro-Western government. On Friday, a U.S. navy guided-missile destroyer, the USS Tuxton, passed through Turkey's Bosphorus straits bisecting Istanbul on its way to the Black Sea in what the U.S. military described as a \"routine\" deployment scheduled well before the Ukraine crisis.","Economists up German growth forecast to 1.9 pct. BERLIN (AP) — A group of leading German economic think tanks has raised slightly its forecast for growth this year to 1.9 percent and is predicting a further improvement to 2 percent in 2015.","Kuwait minister accused by US of terrorism funding quits: report. Kuwait's justice and Islamic affairs minister has resigned, the local news service al-Rai said on Monday, after a senior U.S. official said he had called for jihad in Syria and promoted the funding of terrorism. Last month Nayef al-Ajmi rejected the comments made in March by U.S. Treasury Undersecretary David Cohen as \\\\\"groundless and baseless\\\\\", and was backed by the cabinet. Cohen said that Ajmi had \\\\\"a history of promoting jihad in Syria\\\\\" and that his image had featured on fundraising posters for a financier of a Syrian rebel group linked to al Qaeda - the Nusra Front. Kuwait has been one of the biggest humanitarian donors to Syria and Syrian refugees through the United Nations, but it has also struggled to control unofficial fundraising for opposition groups in Syria by private individuals.","Brazil gives go-ahead to 31 solar parks in push for new energy. By Marcelo Teixeira SAO PAULO (Reuters) - Brazil finally entered the solar power sector on Friday, granting contracts for the construction of 31 solar parks as it tries to diversify its sources of generation amid an energy crisis caused by the worst drought in eight decades. Brazil's energy regulator, Aneel, concluded its first exclusive solar power auction on Friday, clinching 20-year energy supply contracts with companies that will invest 4.14 billion reais ($1.67 billion) and start to feed the national grid in 2017. ...","Bahrain to hold first post-uprising parliament vote in November. Manama (AFP) - King Hamad has set a November 22 date for Bahrain's first parliamentary elections since a Shiite-led uprising rocked the Sunni-ruled Gulf state in 2011.","C. African Republic leader is subject of summit. N'DJAMENA, Chad (AP) — The rebel leader-turned-president of Central African Republic is at a regional summit where he's expected to face renewed pressure to step aside less than a year after he seized power.","Tehran mocks anti-jihadist front without Damascus. Tehran (AFP) - Tehran ridiculed an international conference on the jihadist threat that opened in Paris on Monday, insisting the Islamic State cannot be defeated without the support of its ally Damascus.","Los Angeles man charged in severed head case. LOS ANGELES (AP) — Los Angeles County prosecutors have charged a man with murdering his live-in boyfriend and dumping his severed head, hands and feet near the Hollywood sign two years ago.","Scottish identity celebrated as Glasgow Games open. GLASGOW, Scotland (AP) — The Loch Ness Monster, tartan-clad bagpipers and giant pieces of shortbread took the place of footballers on the Celtic Park pitch as the Commonwealth Games began with a celebration of Scottish mythology and traditions on Wednesday.","Collymore slams Twitter after receiving death threats. London (AFP) - Former Liverpool footballer Stan Collymore on Wednesday accused Twitter of turning a blind eye to abusive tweets after he was targeted for criticising star player Luis Suarez.","Gunmen kill 69 in northwest Nigeria attacks: lawmaker. Kano (Nigeria) (AFP) - Gunmen in northwest Nigeria's Katsina state killed 69 people in attacks on four villages, a local lawmaker told AFP Thursday, amid rising communal tension in the region.","Obama expresses concern about growing casualties in Gaza: White House. U.S. President Barack Obama raised \"serious concern\" to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday about the growing number of casualties in the Gaza conflict, the White House said. Obama also told Netanyahu in a telephone call that U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry would soon travel to Cairo to seek an immediate cessation of hostilities based on a return to the November 2012 ceasefire agreement, the White House said in a statement.","Indian court orders probe into gang rape. NEW DELHI (AP) — India's Supreme Court has ordered an investigation into the gang rape of a 20-year-old woman allegedly attacked on the direction of a village council, Press Trust of India news agency said Friday.","GSK-linked investigator does not dispute China charges: court. A British investigator once hired by scandal-hit pharmaceutical giant GSK in China did not dispute accusations that he had breached privacy laws as he went on trial Friday, the court said. Peter Humphrey and his American wife Yu Yingzeng were hired to investigate the source of a lurid sex tape of the China boss of GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), shortly before the British firm became embroiled in bribery allegations. \"Generally speaking... I don't dispute (the prosecutor's indictment),\" Peter Humphrey told the Number One People's Intermediate Court in Shanghai, the court said on a verified microblog account. The case has raised concerns amongst foreign investors in China, who often hire independent investigators to conduct due-diligence investigations into Chinese companies.","Armed men seize government HQ, raise Russian flag in Ukraine's Crimea. By Alessandra Prentice SIMFEROPOL, Ukraine (Reuters) - Armed men seized the regional government headquarters and parliament on Ukraine's Crimea peninsula on Thursday and raised the Russian flag. Crimea, the only Ukrainian region with an ethnic Russian majority, is the last big bastion of opposition to the new political leadership in Kiev following the ouster of President Viktor Yanukovich on Saturday. Ukraine's new leaders have been voicing alarm over signs of separatism there. Russian President Vladimir Putin has ignored calls by some ethnic Russians in Crimea to reclaim the territory handed to then Soviet Ukraine by Soviet Communist leader Nikita Khrushchev in 1954.","Egypt's Sisi in Sudan after Africa 'terrorism' warning. Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi landed in Islamist neighbour Sudan on Friday for what an analyst said would be an attempt to shore up a regional alliance against Islamic \"terrorism\". An AFP photographer at Khartoum airport confirmed the Egyptian leader's plane had touched down. The official SUNA news agency said Sisi was \"on a short visit to hold talks with President (Omar) al-Bashir.\" Sisi arrived a day after he told the African Union summit in Equatorial Guinea that the continent must reinforce cooperation to face a \"plague\" of cross-border terrorist groups.","Iran negotiator cancels dinner with EU's Ashton. TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iranian media are reporting that Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has cancelled a dinner meeting planned with EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton over meetings she had with opposition activists during her visit to Iran earlier this month.","Separate peace talks for Colombia's ELN and FARC rebels. Bogota (AFP) - Colombia's two top rebel groups, the ELN and the FARC, will hold separate peace talks with the government, the ELN said Monday, as the sides aim to end decades of conflict.","Afghan military official: Man in army uniform opens fire on foreign troops, causing casualties. KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Afghan military official: Man in army uniform opens fire on foreign troops, causing casualties.","Moscow wins overwhelming Crimea vote, West readies sanctions. By Mike Collett-White and Alastair Macdonald SIMFEROPOL/KIEV (Reuters) - Crimea's Moscow-backed leaders declared a 96-percent vote in favor of quitting Ukraine and annexation by Russia in a referendum Western powers said was illegal and will bring immediate sanctions. As state media in Russia carried a startling reminder of its power to turn the United States to \"radioactive ash\", President Barack Obama spoke to Vladimir Putin on Sunday, telling the Russian president that he and his European allies were ready to impose \"additional costs\" on Moscow for violating Ukraine's territory. But Obama said Russian forces must first end \"incursions\" into its ex-Soviet neighbor while Putin renewed his accusation that the new leadership in Kiev, brought to power by an uprising last month against his elected Ukrainian ally, were failing to protect Russian-speakers from violent Ukrainian nationalists. Moscow defended a military takeover of the majority ethnic Russian Crimea by citing a right to protect \"peaceful citizens\".","U.N. brigade will need to 'neutralise' Congo rebels: chief. By John Irish DAKAR (Reuters) - Only a few of Rwanda's FDLR rebels operating in eastern Congo have laid down their arms before a January deadline, meaning that U.N. troops will launch operations against the group next month, the U.N.'s peacekeeping chief said on Monday. Herve Ladsous said that the U.N.'s Democratic Republic of Congo's mission, MONUSCO, was also involved in an offensive to pick off the last remaining elements of Ugandan Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) Islamist rebels, which also operate in Congo's lawless east. ...","Puerto Rican troops honored under bill Obama signs. WASHINGTON (AP) — Puerto Rican Army troops from a segregated regiment known the Borinqueneers are being honored with a U.S. Congressional Gold Medal that has been a century in the making.","Advantage City as nine-man Chelsea crash. Chelsea lost two players, their manager, and the initiative in the Premier League title race after crashing to a damaging 1-0 defeat at Aston Villa on Saturday. The London club were looking to reassert their nine-point advantage at the top of the table after Manchester City had cut their lead to six points, but instead they fell to a cunning 82nd-minute back-heel by Fabian Delph. The visitors finished the game with nine men after Brazilian midfielders Willian and Ramires were both sent off, while their misery was compounded in stoppage time when manager Jose Mourinho was sent to the stands. We had no problems to cope with the danger that Aston Villa has,\" Mourinho told Sky Sports.","1.6 million C. Africans in 'urgent' need of food: UN. The crisis in the strife-torn Central African Republic has left 1.6 million people -- a third of the population -- in urgent need of food, the United Nations said Monday. Thousands of people have been killed in a wave of sectarian violence across the Central African Republic that has lasted for more than a year, despite the presence of African Union and French peacekeeping troops. The UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and World Food Programme (WFP) said the widespread conflict had \"caused the destruction of livelihoods, loss of food and cash crops, livestock and crucial productive assets across the country.\"","Davos Forum warns over global income inequality. LONDON (AP) — The World Economic Forum says the gap between the rich and the poor is the most likely risk to the global economy in coming years.","Nigeria: Boko Haram claims it is Islamic Caliphate. MAIDUGURI, Nigeria (AP) — Boko Haram, the Islamic extremist group, claims it has added the city of Gwoza to an Islamic state that it has established in northeastern Nigeria.","Robot writes Torah at Berlin's Jewish Museum. BERLIN (AP) — The robot's quill runs across the paper scroll, from right to left, scribbling down ancient Hebrew letters with black ink. It is penning down the Torah, the Jews' holy scripture, and it is doing it much faster than a rabbi could because it doesn't need to take breaks.","EU, post-Soviet republics meet on partnership plan. PRAGUE (AP) — Amid Ukraine's deepening crisis, the presidents of post-Soviet republics and EU member states are gathering in Prague to save a project to boost their ties.","Senior ICRC official to hold aid convoy talks in Kiev, Moscow. A senior official of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) will travel to Kiev and Moscow for talks on the delivery of Russian aid to eastern Ukraine, an ICRC spokeswoman said on Thursday. Laurent Corbaz, head of ICRC Operations for Europe and Central Asia, will stress the independent aid agency's \"strictly humanitarian role\" and that \"the delivery of aid should not be politicized\", spokeswoman Anastasia Isyuk said.","US confirms American carried out Syria suicide bombing. An American citizen fighting for a hardline Islamist group carried out a deadly suicide bombing in Syria, US officials confirmed Friday, in the first such case in the war. The State Department did not identify the man, said to have been behind a truck bombing on Sunday in the northern province of Idlib, but acknowledged concerns about the flow of foreign fighters into Syria. \"I can confirm that this individual was a US citizen involved in a suicide bombing in Syria.","Protests mar opening of French theater festival. AVIGNON, France (AP) — Organizers of one of Europe's premier theater festivals are canceling some shows amid a protest movement by cultural workers over changes to their off-season unemployment benefits.","Polish opposition calls for no-confidence vote. WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Poland's main opposition leader has called for a no-confidence vote in the liberal government of Prime Minister Donald Tusk following leaks of secretly taped conversations of some ministers and officials.","Red Cross: 22 dead in attacks on Kenyan coast. NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Twenty-two people were killed in overnight attacks by gunmen in two counties on the Kenyan coast, where al-Qaida-linked militants last month claimed responsibility for killing 65 people, the Kenya Red Cross said Sunday.","Colombian rebels announce cease-fire for presidential election. HAVANA (Reuters) - Colombia's leftist FARC and ELN rebels on Friday declared a unilateral cease-fire from May 20 to May 28, a period including the May 25 presidential election, as the guerrillas and the government continued work toward a comprehensive peace plan in negotiations in Havana. \"We are ordering all of our units to cease any offensive military action against the armed forces or the economic infrastructure as of 0000 hours on Tuesday, May 20, until 2400 hours on Wednesday, May 28,\" rebel leader Pablo Catabumbo told reporters in Havana. ...","Greece players say goals will come at World Cup. NATAL, Brazil (AP) — Despite their country's dismal scoring record at World Cup finals, Greece players insist the goals will come in Brazil — starting on Thursday against Japan.","Sri Lanka 174-2 on day 3 vs. Pakistan. GALLE, Sri Lanka (AP) — Sri Lanka reached 174-2 in its first innings at lunch on the third day of the first test against Pakistan at the Galle International Stadium on Friday.","Vaccine 'success' raises hopes of saving koalas from chlamydia. Australian scientists said Wednesday they have successfully tested a vaccine against chlamydia in wild koalas, in what they believe is a breakthrough in combating the sexually-transmitted disease ravaging the native marsupial. The much-loved furry animal has been under increasing threat, with the government classifying it as a vulnerable species amid a plunge in population numbers from habitat loss, disease and other factors. Microbiologists from the University of the Sunshine Coast in Queensland hope to be able to protect some of the remaining population after successfully trialling a chlamydia vaccine that they spent five years developing. \"It's all very promising and it's not just that it's doing the right thing from an immune response point of view, but it's actually protecting a significant number of them out in the wild climbing around trees,\" professor Peter Timms told AFP of the field trial, believed to be the first of its kind.","Egypt detains well-known belly dancer. CAIRO (AP) — Egyptian authorities have detained a belly dancer who rose to fame for her videos spoofing Islamists and other politicians over allegations that she is running an unlicensed satellite station.","Video: Islamic State hostage 'reports' for captors. BEIRUT (AP) — A captive British photojournalist is being exploited by the Islamic State group to take on the role of a war correspondent in the extremists' latest propaganda video.","Poll: India's opposition BJP leads Congress party. NEW DELHI (AP) — India's Hindu nationalist opposition party is leading the incumbent Congress party in the run-up to this year's national elections in the world's biggest democracy, a poll released Wednesday says.","Egypt offers military training to Libya, cites Islamic State threat. CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt has offered to train pro-government forces battling rival armed groups in Libya, stepping up efforts to eradicate what it says is a threat to its own stability from the anarchy engulfing its neighbor. The offer was the latest sign of intervention by competing Arab powers in Libya - a haven for Islamist militants and close to becoming a failed state - while Western governments are preoccupied with Iraq and Syria. Egypt is trying to reassert its regional authority on its own terms while also winning back the U.S. ...","Top Asian News at 9:00 a.m. GMT. INCHEON, South Korea (AP) — The doomed ferry Sewol exceeded its cargo limit on 246 trips — nearly every voyage it made in which it reported cargo — in the 13 months before it sank, according to documents that reveal the regulatory failures that allowed passengers by the hundreds to set off on an unsafe vessel. And it may have been more overloaded than ever on its final journey. One private, industry-connected entity recorded the weights. Another set the weight limit. Neither appears to have had any idea what the other was doing. And they are but two parts of a maritime system that failed passengers April 16 when the ferry sank, leaving more than 300 people missing or dead.","FIBA to review 'discriminatory' ban on headgear. GENEVA (AP) — Basketball's governing body will review its ban on players wearing headgear after claims Muslim and Sikh players were being discriminated against.","Four children dead in Israel tank shelling in Gaza: medics. Four children and a man were killed in Israeli tank shelling in the east of the Gaza Strip on Friday evening, medics said. The children, ranging in age from two to 13-years-old, were killed in three separate incidents of tank shell fire, emergency services spokesman Ashraf al-Qudra said. The man was killed by tank fire in Rafah, in southern Gaza. Another man, Yusef Astal, was also reported to have died of his wounds at the Nasser hospital in southern Khan Yunis.","Israeli forces kill Palestinian in massive W.Bank clash: security. Qalandia (Palestinian Territories) (AFP) - Israeli security forces shot dead a Palestinian man Thursday night during a massive protest in the West Bank, just north of Jerusalem.","Mexico cartel leader thrived by playing dead. MEXICO CITY (AP) — Cartel kingpin Nazario Moreno Gonzalez knew how to play dead.","Ukraine in 'emergency' talks with European neighbors over gas imports. By Pavel Polityuk and Michael Kahn KIEV/PRAGUE (Reuters) - Ukraine is in emergency talks with European neighbors on the possibility of importing natural gas from the West, following \"political\" rises in the price it pays for Russian gas, Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk said on Friday. The urgency of securing affordable supplies for Ukraine's struggling economy has grown since Moscow raised its discounted gas tariff for Kiev twice this week, almost doubling it in three days. Relations between Ukraine and Russia have turned hostile since popular protests in Kiev ousted pro-Russian president Viktor Yanukovich in February, after which Russia seized Ukraine's Crimea region and formally annexed it last month.","Detainees in North Korea test US patience strategy. TOKYO (AP) — A U.S. citizen arrested in North Korea for allegedly tearing up his visa and seeking asylum will go before the North's Supreme Court this weekend in a trial almost certain to end quickly with a guilty verdict. Along with two other Americans detained in the North, the young defendant says he has but one hope — for a senior U.S. statesman to come and get him out.","Murray beats Ferrer to reach Valencia final. VALENCIA, Spain (AP) — Andy Murray beat top-seeded David Ferrer 6-4, 7-5 Saturday to reach the final of the Valencia Open.","Subdued Ifo takes M&A shine off European stocks. By Jamie McGeever LONDON (Reuters) - European stocks and major currency and bond markets struggled for direction on Tuesday, underpinned by manufacturing data from China, Japan and the United States the previous day but unnerved by growing signs of economic weakness in Europe. Germany's Ifo index of business sentiment fell more than expected in June, eating into gains across Europe's major stock markets that had been racked up on merger and acquisition talk.","German confederation delays Olympic bid decision. FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — The German Olympic Sports Confederation (DOSB) will not decide until next year whether to present either Hamburg or Berlin as candidate cities for the 2024 or 2028 Olympics.","Tennis-Australian Open dark horse Del Potro reaches Sydney final. By Nick Mulvenney SYDNEY, Jan 10 (Reuters) - Former U.S. Open champion Juan Martin Del Potro underlined his status as a dark horse for next week's Australian Open by hammering Dmitry Tursunov to reach the final of the Sydney International on Friday. Two of those finals were at Masters events in Shanghai and Indian Wells, an indication for some that Del Potro might be returning to the level of form that he reached to win the 2009 U.S. Open title before a wrist injury nearly ended his career. The 25-year-old will meet Australian defending champion Bernard Tomic or Ukrainian qualifier Sergiy Stakhovsky in Saturday's final at Sydney's Olympic Park. Del Potro was seeded to meet world number one Rafa Nadal in the quarter-finals of the year's first grand slam, while Tomic was revealed as the Spanish 13-times grand slam champion's opponent in the opening round in Friday's draw.","8-time champ Nadal, Djokovic in French Open final. PARIS (AP) — This is what Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic wanted. It's what they expected. And now they'll meet in a French Open final with so much at stake for both.","Putin critic Navalny escapes immediate threat of jail. Prominent Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny on Thursday escaped the imminent threat of jail when a court ruled to extend his house arrest by another six months, his spokeswoman said. President Vladimir Putin's top critic, who has been under house arrest since February and banned from using the Internet, saw his detention extended until late October, spokeswoman Anna Veduta told AFP. Navalny faces charges of stealing and laundering 27 million rubles ($756,500) from French cosmetics company Yves Rocher and his lawyer had previously said the court could move to place him in a pre-trial jail already Thursday. A Moscow district court made the ruling despite a request from prosecutors to move Navalny to jail for violating the terms of his house arrest by using the Internet.","Deadly Chilean fire 'contained' but still burning. A massive blaze in the historic Chilean port of Valparaiso that killed 15 people was contained Thursday but workers need several more days to completely extinguish it. The national forestry agency said it had placed fire barriers around the flames' perimeter and that 12 brigades, 16 helicopters and 11 airplanes were still battling the blaze, which began Saturday. \"The fire is contained, it's no longer advancing,\" said Sergio Mendoza from the agency's fire division. More than 1,000 hectares (2,470 acres) were burned in the fire, Interior Minister Rodrigo Penailillo told television channel 24 Horas Wednesday.","Rugby-List of Super Rugby winners. WELLINGTON, Feb 12 (Reuters) - Super Rugby champions sincethe competition began in 1996 (home team in CAPS): Year Champions Runners up Score 2013 WAIKATO CHIEFS ACT Brumbies 27-22 2012 WAIKATO CHIEFS Sharks 37-6 2011 QUEENSLAND REDS Canterbury Crusaders 18-13 2010 BULLS Stormers 25-17 2009 BULLS Waikato Chiefs 61-17 2008 CANTERBURY CRUSADERS NSW Waratahs 20-12 2007 Bulls SHARKS 20-19 2006 CANTERBURY CRUSADERS Wellington Hurricanes 19-12 2005 CANTERBURY CRUSADERS NSW Waratahs 35-25 2004 ACT BRUMBIES Canterbury Crusaders 47-38 2003 AUCKLAND BLUES Canterbury Crusaders 21-17 2002 CANTERBURY ...","U.S., after strikes, says Khorasan group planned to attack Europe, U.S.. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States said it conducted air strikes on Wednesday night against the so-called Khorasan Group of al Qaeda-linked militants based in Syria, saying the group was plotting to attack Europe or the United States. \"We took decisive action to protect our interests and remove their capability to act,\" U.S. Central Command said in a statement on Thursday. It said the strikes, carried out by the U.S. military against five Khorasan targets, \"resulted in the intended effects by striking terrorists. ...","Liberian court bans justice minister from practising law. Liberia's supreme court said Wednesday it had barred the justice minister from practising law over her decision to grant a \"compassionate release\" to a journalist jailed for libelling a minister. Christiana Tah had committed contempt of court by allowing Frontpage Africa publisher Rodney Sieh to spend 30 days out of jail in October after he developed malaria, the court said. \"For her role in releasing Rodney D. Sieh from prison as well as her persistent affront to this court demonstrated in her refusal to reverse the action which formed the basis for the contempt proceedings... (Tah) is hereby suspended from the practice of law in the republic of Liberia directly or indirectly for the period of six months,\" the court said in a statement. Rodney Sieh, who publishes Frontpage Africa, was taken into custody in August following a supreme court ruling that the paper should pay $1.6 million (1.2 million euros) for libelling former agriculture minister J. Chris Toe.","Tunisia lifts emergency rule in force since 2011 uprising. Tunisian President Moncef Marzouki has lifted a state of emergency in force since the 2011 uprising that triggered the Arab Spring, his office said Thursday. Tunisia has been rocked by sporadic attacks blamed on jihadists since the 2011 revolution that toppled a decades-old dictatorship and touched off uprisings across North Africa and the Middle East. Special military zones were established last year on Tunisia's borders with Algeria and Libya, where the authorities say armed groups are active. Much of the deadly violence witnessed in Tunisia since the January 2011 uprising has been blamed on Ansar al-Sharia, a hardline Islamist movement accused of having links to Al-Qaeda.","Lawyer: US terror-case client is 'terminally ill'. NEW YORK (AP) — A New York lawyer says the government is rushing to bring to trial a terminally ill Libyan man it says helped orchestrate the 1998 deadly bombings of two U.S. embassies.","Twitter troll jailed for 18 weeks over MP abuse. London (AFP) - A man was jailed for 18 weeks on Monday for a campaign of rape threats and other abuse on Twitter against a female MP.","Tunisian forces assault home, killing 5 women. TUNIS, Tunisia (AP) — Tunisian authorities have assaulted the home of suspected militants to end a 24-hour standoff, killing five women and one man.","Runner from Fiji shot, killed in California. SACRAMENTO, California (AP) — A runner from Fiji was shot and killed in California, just weeks before friends say he was set to attend the University of Louisiana.","More Of That wins World Hurdle at Cheltenham. CHELTENHAM, England (AP) — More Of That outlasted big favorite Annie Power in the final sprint to win the World Hurdle, the feature race on day three of the Cheltenham Festival on Thursday.","Costa Rican centrist set for election win with no rival. San José (AFP) - Voting got under way in Costa Rica on Sunday, where historian and former diplomat Luis Guillermo Solis faced no opposition in the country's presidential run-off election. His lone rival in the race, conservative contender Johnny Araya, dropped out last month after polls showed he would be soundly defeated, giving the centrist Solis a glide path towards victory in the election to lead this country of some five million people. Araya was the candidate of the ruling National Liberation Party (PLN), which has fallen into disfavor because of alleged corruption and economic crisis under outgoing President Laura Chinchilla. The recent scandals have weakened not just Chinchilla and the PLN, but also the two-party system in Costa Rica, Latin America's oldest democracy.","2 Spanish journalists kidnapped in Syria go free. MADRID (AP) — Two Spanish journalists freed after being held hostage for more than six months in Syria by a rogue al-Qaida group returned home Sunday to an emotional welcome from friends and colleagues.","British annual inflation slides to 1.6%. The Consumer Prices Index (CPI) inflation measure headed back towards May's figure of 1.5 percent, which at the time was the lowest level for four and a half year years. Analyst expectations had been for a drop in the annual rate to 1.8 percent, according to a survey by Dow Jones Newswires. \"Falls in clothing prices provided the largest contribution to the fall in the rate,\" the Office for National Statistics said in a statement. On a month-on-month basis, the CPI fell by 0.3 percent in July from June.","Malmo secures Swedish title with 3-2 win at AIK. STOCKHOLM (AP) — Malmo FF clinched its second consecutive Swedish league title on Sunday by beating AIK away 3-2.","Sochi's 1st gold: Kotsenburg of US wins slopestyle. KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia (AP) — Sage Kotsenburg of the United States won the first gold medal of the 2014 Olympics on Saturday, soaring to victory in the men's snowboarding slopestyle final.","Bolt from the blue: warming climate may fuel more lightning. By Will Dunham WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Rising global temperatures may cause a big jolt in the number of lightning strikes in the United States over the rest of the 21st century in the latest example of extreme weather spawned by climate change, scientists say. Researchers forecast on Thursday that lightning strikes will increase by about 50 percent by 2100 in the continental United States because thunderstorms will become more explosive in the coming decades thanks to a warming planet. ...","Kerry, Abbas meet in New York to discuss Gaza situation. New York (AFP) - US Secretary of State John Kerry met with Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas to discuss the situation in Gaza, a state department official said.","Apple CEO discusses security with top Chinese official amid hacking claims: Xinhua. BEIJING (Reuters) - Apple Inc Chief Executive Tim Cook discussed user data security at a meeting on Wednesday with a top Chinese government official in Beijing, the official Xinhua news agency reported. The meeting comes days after a Chinese web monitoring group published a report saying Apple users in China have been targeted in a sophisticated and widespread attack by hackers seeking private user data stored on the iCloud service. The group, Greatfire.org, has alleged Chinese government involvement in the hack, a claim the government has strongly refuted. ...","UN envoy urges 'example' be made of C.Africa lynching culprits. Bangui (Central African Republic) (AFP) - The UN envoy to the Central African Republic called Thursday on the conflict-torn country to investigate the public lynching of a suspected ex-rebel by soldiers and make an example of the culprits.","APNewsBreak: Cupich to be next Chicago archbishop. The Associated Press has learned that Bishop Blase Cupich of Spokane, Washington, will be the next archbishop of Chicago.","White House releases plan to make Arctic shipping safer. By Timothy Gardner and Andrea Shalal-Esa WASHINGTON (Reuters) - As Arctic ice melts away, opening the way for greater oil development and mining, the White House outlined a plan on Thursday to promote safety and security in the region by building ports, improving forecasts of sea ice, and developing shipping rules. With warmer temperatures leaving Arctic sea passages open for longer periods of the year, billions of barrels of oil could be tapped beyond what is already being produced in the region. The White House plan was released on the same day that Royal Dutch Shell canceled drilling this year off Alaska, after a series of costly mishaps in the harsh conditions, as part of efforts to cut spending. The U.S. Defense Department will lead an interagency effort to forecast icy conditions by launching a satellite and improving analytic methods to forecast icy conditions.","EU leaders to pick new foreign policy chief. BRUSSELS (AP) — European Union leaders are set to decide who will get the prestigious job as the 28-nation bloc's foreign policy chief for the next five years.","EU backs mission to monitor Gaza crossing point. The European Union on Friday said it was willing to reactivate an EU mission on the Egypt-Gaza border to help stabilize the Palestinian enclave after weeks of war. At talks in Brussels, foreign ministers representing the 28 EU countries welcomed a ceasefire in Gaza and said they could relaunch the EU Border Assistance Mission for the Rafah crossing point (EUBAM Rafah) and possibly expand its scope. \"The EU is ready to support a possible international mechanism endorsed by the U.N. Security Council, including through the reactivation and possible extension in scope and mandate of its EUBAM Rafah,\" a statement following the EU meeting said. EUBAM started to monitor the Rafah crossing point - the main window on the world for Gaza's 1.8 million Palestinians - in 2005 as part of an accord aimed at easing Israeli security concerns after it pulled its troops and settlers from Gaza.","Puerto Rico police probe death of US tourist. SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Police in Puerto Rico say they are investigating the death of a U.S. tourist in the colonial district of the U.S. territory's capital.","Rugby union - RugbyU: New Zealand beat Wales 34-16. - New Zealand, captained for a record 100th time by Richie McCaw, beat Wales 34-16 at Cardiff's Millennium Stadium on Saturday to maintain their winning streak over the Welsh stretching back to 1953.","North Korea fires 2 missiles as its rivals meet. SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea test-fired two medium-range ballistic missiles on Wednesday, South Korea and the U.S. said, a defiant challenge to a rare three-way summit of its rivals Seoul, Tokyo and Washington that focused on the North's security threat.","China scolds Vietnam for \"hyping\" South China Sea oil rig row. By Ho Binh Minh and Ben Blanchard HANOI/BEIJING (Reuters)7 - China's top diplomat scolded Vietnamese officials during talks in Hanoi on Wednesday for \"hyping up\" a row over a Chinese oil rig drilling in disputed waters in the South China Sea, in tough comments that suggest relations will remain rocky. State Councilor Yang Jiechi also told his hosts that the rig's activities in waters that Vietnam lays claim to were \"completely legal\", China's Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said at a daily briefing in Beijing. Yang, who outranks the country's foreign minister, made the remarks in a meeting with Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh. He later met Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung.","Ukraine President thanks Canada for saving lives in rebel war. By David Ljunggren OTTAWA (Reuters) - Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko received a rapturous welcome usually reserved for sports stars from Canadian lawmakers on Wednesday as he thanked the country for helping save lives in the battle with Russian-speaking rebels. Canada last month promised to provide Kiev with helmets and bullet-proof vests to help it secure the unstable eastern region, scene of heavy fighting. Around 1.2 million of Canada's 35 million population are of Ukrainian descent. ...","U.S. diplomats' return to Libya could be more hazardous than exit. By David Brunnstrom WASHINGTON (Reuters) - If evacuating U.S. embassy staff from Libya was perilous - three F-16 fighters and Marines in Osprey aircraft flew overhead a road convoy from Tripoli to Tunisia - sending them back in could be politically hazardous for President Barack Obama. U.S. diplomats work in dangerous places such as Baghdad and Kabul, but the ghosts of Benghazi hang over the U.S. presence in Libya after an attack on a U.S. mission in the eastern Libyan city in 2012 that killed Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans. Republicans, preparing to battle Obama's Democrats in mid-term elections in November, have been quick to characterize the chaos in Libya as further evidence of the administration's weak foreign policy. The eight or so U.S. diplomats who had been in Libya and a security staff numbering 200 or more drove out of the country on Saturday under a heavy escort, amid the worst violence in the capital and in Benghazi since Washington and its NATO allies helped topple Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.","Turkish party keeps term limit, hinting at Erdogan presidency. By Orhan Coskun ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkey's ruling AK Party decided on Friday to maintain a three-term limit for its deputies, the clearest signal yet that Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan will run in the nation's first direct election for president in August. There has been speculation the AKP would change its rules to enable Erdogan, who has dominated Turkish politics for more than a decade, to stay on as prime minister for a fourth term and finish off a power struggle with an influential Islamic cleric he accuses of seeking to topple him. But in a five-hour meeting to discuss election strategy, chaired by Erdogan, the party's executive board decided not to amend the three-term limit, an internal regulation which the prime minister himself has long publicly championed. \"It was decided appropriate to take no steps on the three-term rule,\" AKP spokesman Huseyin Celik said in a statement.","Russian politician beaten after report on soldier burials. By Alexei Anishchuk MOSCOW (Reuters) - A Russian politician said on Saturday he had been badly beaten after publicising the mysterious funerals of two soldiers who may have died while fighting in Ukraine. Lev Shlosberg, a newspaper publisher who represents the liberal opposition Yabloko party in the regional assembly in the northwestern city of Pskov, said he was attacked on Friday evening near his home. \"They attacked me from behind, I did not see any of them,\" Shlosberg said in a phone interview from his hospital ward. Those people were very good professionals in their nasty business.\" Shlosberg's paper published the investigation into the funerals of two Pskov-based paratroopers last week.","Three dead, several injured in twin bomb attacks in Mombasa. Mombasa (Kenya) (AFP) - At least three people were killed and several others injured Saturday in two suspected bomb blasts in Kenya's port city of Mombasa, officials said.","Crimea Tatars say leader banned by Russia from returning. By Alastair Macdonald KIEV (Reuters) - Crimea's Tatar community assembly accused Russia on Tuesday of barring its leading political figure from returning to the peninsula following its annexation by Moscow. However, Russian officials declined comment and it was unclear whether Moscow had taken issued the banning order. In an online statement, the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People said Mustafa Dzhemilev, a member of the Ukrainian parliament and the former chairman of the Mejlis, had been handed a notice banning him from Russia for five years as he crossed back to mainland Ukraine after a weekend in Crimea. It said \"Mustafa Dzhemilev ... citizen of Ukraine\" was denied entry to Russia on the basis of federal law for five years until April 19, 2019.","Russia calls on U.N., OSCE to ensure impartial probe into Ukraine deaths. MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has called on the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe and the United Nations to ensure an \"open and impartial\" probe by Kiev into deaths that occurred in the Ukrainian city of Odessa this month, the Foreign Ministry said on Monday. At least 37 people in the southern Ukrainian port city died after a riot on May 2 ended with dozens of pro-Russian protesters being trapped in a burning building. (Reporting by Thomas Grove; Editing by Kevin Liffey)","England wins Women's Rugby World Cup. PARIS (AP) — England ended 16 years of heartbreak when it won the Women's Rugby World Cup by beating first-time finalist Canada 21-9 on Sunday.","Iran president under fire for branding critics 'cowards'. Iran's president came under fire from MPs Tuesday for branding his critics as \"political cowards\" and urging them \"go to hell\" if they insist on opposing his policies. President Hassan Rouhani's remarks 24 hours earlier were aimed at hardline conservatives who have bridled at his efforts to improve relations with the West and secure a nuclear deal. According to another MP quoted on Iranian media, parliament speaker Ali Larijani told a closed meeting that Rouhani's words were \"indefensible and unacceptable\".","French forces say 24 extremists killed in Mali operation. French forces have killed 24 extremists and seized arms in a large-scale operation in northern Mali, where it intervened last year to put down an Islamist rebellion, the French army said Saturday. The operation in the Kidal region resulted in \"weakening the terrorist networks in northern Mali and loosening their grip on the population\" in the area, it said. French troops intervened in Mali in January 2013 to chase out hardline Islamists, including Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, which had seized control of the country's northern desert cities. This intervention was replaced several months ago by a wider counter-terrorism operation, codenamed Barkhane, in five countries along the southern rim of the Sahara including Mali.","Nicaragua calls off search for 4 missing miners. MANAGUA, Nicaragua (AP) — Nicaragua's government says it has called off a search for at least four missing miners because cave-ins made the effort too dangerous to continue, and hopes have faded that anyone could be found alive after five days.","US-led air strikes 'hit Qaeda branch in Syria'. US-led coalition air strikes hit Al-Qaeda's Syrian branch overnight, expanding the raids to jihadists outside the Islamic State group for only the second time, a monitoring group said on Thursday. The strikes against Al-Nusra Front in northwestern Syria killed several jihadists as well as two children, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. Coalition aircraft carried out \"several raids after midnight\" targeting an Al-Nusra vehicle and one of its positions, the Observatory said. The Observatory said Thursday that the coalition had also carried out strikes for the first time on another Islamist group, Ahrar al-Sham, near the Turkish border.","Egypt invites Gaza foes to resume long-term truce talks. Egypt is to invite Israeli and Palestinian delegations to return to Cairo to resume talks on a long-term truce for Gaza, Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas announced on Saturday. \"Egypt is going to invite delegates to return to the negotiating table to consider a long-term truce,\" Abbas said after talks with his Egyptian counterpart Abdel Fattah al-Sisi. Egypt's foreign ministry, meanwhile, issued a statement calling for \"concerned parties to accept a ceasefire of unlimited duration and to resume indirect negotiations in Cairo\". A previous round of truce talks collapsed on Tuesday, shattering nine days of calm, as the deadly six-week conflict between Israel and its Islamist foe Hamas resumed.","Ariad signs deal to sell Iclusig in Australia. Ariad Pharmaceuticals Inc. has given an Australian specialty drugmaker the rights to sell its leukemia treatment Iclusig in that country. The Cambridge, Mass., company said Tuesday that Specialised Therapeutics ...","Egyptian militants say killed American oil engineer. CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt's deadliest militant group said on Monday it was behind the killing of an American petroleum engineer whose body was found in a car in a desert region almost four months ago. The group, Sinai Province, named the engineer as William Henderson and included a photograph of his passport and two photo identity cards showing he worked for U.S. energy company Apache Corp. and Qarun Petroleum. It did not show pictures or footage of Henderson himself or give details about how or why he was killed. ...","Cibulkova beats Halep to advance to semifinals at Australian Open. MELBOURNE, Australia - Dominika Cibulkova won the last eight games in a one-hour, 6-3, 6-0 quarterfinal rout of No. 11-seeded Simona Halep at the Australian Open on Wednesday.","Pistorius vomits during graphic testimony. PRETORIA, South Africa (AP) — Oscar Pistorius vomited in the dock and retched repeatedly and loudly at his murder trial Monday as he heard graphic details of the injuries sustained by the girlfriend he shot, including a head wound that was probably instantly fatal according to the pathologist who performed her autopsy.","Sudan army denies Darfur 'mass rape' report. The Sudanese army on Sunday said a media report that its troops had carried out a mass rape in the war-torn western region of Darfur was \"unjustified and unreasonable\". The denial came days after the military refused peacekeepers access to Tabit in North Darfur state, where they were travelling to investigate the alleged rape of 200 women and girls. Army spokesman Colonel Al-Sawarmy Khaled Saad told reporters mass rape \"cannot be committed by any Sudanese institutions, military or otherwise\". \"Mass rape is something completely new to us as Sudanese,\" he told a news conference.","Malaysia Airlines sued by 2 boys over Flight 370. KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Two Malaysian teenage boys on Friday sued Malaysia Airlines and the government over the loss of their father on Flight 370, the first lawsuit filed by the family of a passenger of the jetliner that mysteriously disappeared eight months ago.","Peres praises Kerry after attacks by Israeli hawks. Israel's President Shimon Peres Tuesday praised John Kerry's peace efforts, after Israeli hawks attacked the top US diplomat for warning of the growing boycott threat to the Jewish state. \"We thank (Kerry) for his efforts. We encourage him and hope to soon achieve positive results,\" Peres said in remarks broadcast on military radio after two days of verbal attacks against the US secretary of state by Israeli cabinet ministers. The outburst occurred after Kerry warned on Saturday Israel was facing a growing campaign of delegitimization which would worsen if peace talks collapsed, referring also to \"talk of boycotts.\"","China commodities imports hit record highs, though outlook uncertain. China's imports of crude oil, iron ore and copper hit record highs in January, though some of the unexpected strength was put down to stockpiling ahead of the Lunar New Year holidays rather than underlying strength in consumption. At the same time, data showed the value of China's overall imports and exports climbed around 10 percent last month from a year ago and handily beat expectations, raising optimism over the health of the world's second-largest economy after recent weak data. Mark Keenan, head of commodities research in Asia at Societe Generale, said the data on commodities imports underpinned strength across the board at a time when the world was very focused on China after the recent emerging markets rout. \"If China retains an element of stability, it will calm sentiment toward the rest of the emerging markets,\" he added.","Latest on Malaysian plane missing since March. Malaysia Airlines lost contact with one of its flights Thursday, four months after a plane flying to China disappeared. The latest information on Flight 370:","Bodies of three missing teens found in West Bank: Israeli media. Israeli security forces on Monday found the bodies of three teenagers who went missing in the West Bank earlier this month and confirmed them as the Israeli seminary students sought since June 12, Israeli media said. Al Jazeera television, quoting Israeli sources, also reported that the bodies had been found and said the inner Israeli cabinet was to hold an emergency meeting later in the evening. Israel has accused the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas, which has its power base in the Gaza Strip, of being behind the abduction of the teenagers. Hamas has neither confirmed nor denied involvement.","German language rule for immigrant spouses invalid: European court. Germany cannot insist the spouses of Turkish nationals living in the country speak basic German when they apply for a family reunification visa, Europe's highest court ruled on Thursday. Since 2007, Germany has demanded basic German language skills from those wishing to join their partner in Germany from outside the European Union, in an effort to prevent forced marriage and promote integration. In the case of a Turkish national who lived in Germany since 1998 and whose wife was refused a visa in 2012 because she did not speak German, the European Court of Justice said that the rule ran counter to European Union (EU) law. The court said this was because of an agreement the European Union made with Turkey in the 1970s to prohibit new restrictions on the freedom to settle in the EU.","Kenyan governor accused of links to tourist coast massacres. The governor of Kenya's coastal region of Lamu appeared in court on Wednesday on allegations of links to a spate of massacres, with the prosecution requesting more time to complete investigations. Governor Issa Timamy of Lamu county was arrested in connection with last month's killings in the town of Mpeketoni and nearby villages, which were claimed by Somalia's Al-Qaeda-linked Shebab militia but blamed by the government on local political networks. In Wednesday's hearing in the port city of Mombasa, senior prosecution counsel Alexander Muteti told Justice Martin Muya that the authorities needed two months to complete the probe.","China's leader Xi in first visit to European Union. BRUSSELS (AP) — China's president is meeting with the top officials of the European Union to discuss the two sides' close business ties and their wider diplomatic relations.","Bolivia intercepts weapons bound for Brazil. LA PAZ, Bolivia (AP) — Bolivian police have intercepted a shipment of machine guns and other weapons they say were being sent from the United States to Brazil.","Power producer says may cut supplies to India's capital. India's top power producer NTPC Ltd said on Saturday it might cut supplies to a company that distributes electricity to parts of New Delhi, something that could plunge the heart of India's capital into darkness. State utility NTPC said distribution company BSES Yamuna Power Ltd, which sells electricity in the central and eastern parts of the city of about 16 million people, must clear its dues or else supplies would be cut from February 11. Citing lower tariffs and a shortfall in revenues, BSES Yamuna Power Ltd, an arm of Reliance Infrastructure Ltd, has already expressed its inability to pay state-run power generation companies. The row could result in an outage of up to 10 hours a day, exacerbating problems for Delhi's newly-elected Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, elected on the promise of cutting electricity tariffs for millions of Delhi's voters.","Iran warns of 'difficult road' in nuclear talks. Iran and world powers have a \"difficult road\" ahead as they attempt to agree a nuclear deal by a November deadline, with major differences remaining, Tehran's lead negotiator said Thursday. Britain, France and Germany form part of a six-nation group with the United States, Russia and China due to resume negotiations with Iran in New York on September 18. The recent diplomatic flurry also saw Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif fly to Moscow, Brussels and Paris as well as Rome to meet Federica Mogherini, the incoming EU foreign policy chief from November 1. The P5+1 powers, all of which except Germany sit on the UN Security Council and have nuclear weapons themselves, want Iran to scale back its atomic programme to ease fears the Islamic republic gets the bomb.","Magnitude 6.9 earthquake hits near Tonga in South Pacific: USGS. (Reuters) - A magnitude 6.9 earthquake struck in the South Pacific on Saturday, 186 miles (300 km) west-northwest of Tonga, the U.S. Geological Survey said. There was no immediate tsunami alert following the quake, according to the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center. The quake was 259 miles (417 km) deep, according to USGS. (Reporting by Eric Beech in Washington; Editing by Doina Chiacu)","EU's finance chief to unveil capital market plan in 2015. BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The EU's new financial services chief pledged on Thursday to set out his plans for a pan-European capital market by the middle of next year, aiming to reduce companies' reliance on banks and help revive the bloc's fragile economy. Jonathan Hill, the European Commissioner for financial services, said he was seeking to create an integrated capital market over the next fives years and would develop a plan by next summer following a public consultation. ...","Bach: IOC will not reopen 2022 Olympic bid race. LONDON (AP) — The International Olympic Committee will not reopen the bidding process for the 2022 Winter Games after Oslo's withdrawal left just two cities in the race, IOC President Thomas Bach told The Associated Press on Thursday.","US: Man wanted to join Islamic State. CHICAGO (AP) — A 19-year-old American left a letter expressing disgust with Western society for his parents before trying to board a plane in Chicago, the first step in his plan to sneak into Syria to join the Islamic State group, according to federal court documents released Monday.","American, Spaniard gored at Spain's San Fermin. PAMPLONA, Spain (AP) — Fighting bulls gored an American and a Spaniard in a hair-raising third running of the bulls Wednesday at Spain's San Fermin festival.","Suspended sentence for Morocco civil servant who flagged 'graft'. A Moroccan civil servant who leaked documents to the press showing that senior officials had awarded each other large monthly bonuses received a two month suspended sentence Friday for \"divulging professional secrets.\" The verdict handed down by a court in Rabat comes more than two years after Morocco's ruling Islamist party came to power promising to roll back the endemic problem of corruption in the kingdom. Abdelmajid Louiz and his friend Mohamed Reda, who both worked at the finance ministry, were charged in July 2012 after leaking two documents to the press. The administrative documents indicated that ex-finance minister Salaheddine Mezouar and the head of the treasury, Noureddine Bensouda, had awarded each other monthly bonuses of more than 7,000 euros ($9,050).","Malawian president says will accept court ruling on disputed vote. By Mabvuto Banda LILONGWE (Reuters) - Malawian President Joyce Banda said on Thursday she is ready to step down if the High Court ratifies a disputed election last week and her opponent ends up as the winner, even though she still believes the vote was fraudulent. The High Court is due to decide on Friday whether the Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) should announce the result of the May 20 vote, which Banda's opponent is likely to have won, or if it should recount ballots, a process that could take two months. \"I have told the MEC and related stakeholders that I will accept their decision, and the decision of the courts,\" Banda told Reuters in an interview in the Malawian capital Lilongwe. The MEC had to extend voting in some urban areas into a second day and initial counting was held up by a lack of electricity at polling stations.","Government writes off England's chances. Expectations were already muted, but England's chances at the World Cup have now been written off -- by the government. An assessment by the Home Office about extending pub opening hours during the tournament came to the conclusion on Tuesday that Roy Hodgson's team could fail to even reach the knockout phase in Brazil. The report concluded: \\\\\"While England are certain to be playing in the matches in the first period, there is a high probability that they will not be playing in the later matches.\\\\\" Some lawmakers rounded on the downbeat tone, with a peer from the opposition Labour Party, Lord Richard Rosser, commenting: \\\\\"It is good to know what the government think of England's prospects.\\\\\"","Smoke on space station traced to water heater. CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (AP) — A galley water heater is being blamed for smoke aboard the International Space Station.","Slow progress in DR Congo's M23 rebel deal risking peace. Slow implementation of a critical peace deal for Democratic Republic of Congo's M23 rebels is jeopordizing peace in the region, the UN, United States and African Union warned Saturday. The rebels' 18-month war, during which they briefly seized the key town of Goma, capital of mineral rich North Kivu province, was brought to an end a year ago by government troops and UN peacekeepers, with fighters fleeing into neighbouring Uganda and Rwanda.","Canadiens to rest well after sweeping Lightning. Canada's only team in the National Hockey League playoffs, the Montreal Canadiens, became the first team to reach the second round, thanks to a first-round sweep of Tampa Bay. No club from Canada has won the Stanley Cup since Montreal in 1993 and the Canadiens are the only team with a hope of ending the drought this year. They now await the winner between Boston and Detroit, fellow members of the oldest NHL teams known as the \"Original Six\", and could have as much as a week off after taking their best-of-seven series with the Lightning in four games.","Baltic states use Ukraine crisis to boost LNG import capacities. By Henning Gloystein LONDON (Reuters) - Spurred by the Ukraine crisis, the Baltic region is fast-tracking plans to boost its liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports, hoping to drastically cut Moscow's grip on the region's supply. Russia's seizure of Ukraine's Crimea region has chilled political relations between Russia and the European Union, prompting governments across the bloc to look at ways to cut its reliance on Russian supplies, which meet around a third of the bloc's gas demand. Europe had in any case been looking to diversify gas supplies after Russia's state-controlled Gazprom halted deliveries to Ukraine during price disputes in the winters of 2008-2009 and 2005-2006, disrupting supplies of Russian gas that is piped to Europe via Ukraine.","U.N. urges international probe into downed Malaysian plane. UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called for \"a full and transparent international investigation\" into what brought down a Malaysian civilian airliner over eastern Ukraine on Thursday, killing all 295 people aboard. \"I am closely monitoring the reports, along with the International Civil Aviation Organization, a United Nations agency. There is clearly a need for a full and transparent international investigation,\" Ban said. (Reporting by Michelle Nichols, editing by G Crosse)","U.S. money-laundering probe draws in Putin's inner circle: WSJ. (Reuters) - U.S. prosecutors have launched a money-laundering investigation into a member of Russian President Vladimir Putin's inner circle, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday, citing people familiar with the matter. According to the report, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York is probing whether billionaire Russian gas trader and Putin associate Gennady Timchenko transferred funds related to allegedly corrupt deals in Russia through the U.S. financial system. The Justice Department is aiding the investigation, it said. ...","Israel, Hamas begin humanitarian cease-fire. JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel and Hamas have begun observing a five-hour humanitarian cease-fire, as fighting extended into a 10th day.","Mauritius to go to the polls on December 10. Mauritius is to hold general elections on December 10, the Indian Ocean island's presidency announced Friday, a month after dissolving parliament. The dissolution followed an election agreement between the Labour Party of Prime Minister Navinchandra Ramgoolam and the key opposition Mouvement Militant Mauricien (MMM) party. The agreement sets down a deal that should they win, they will submit a bill to amend the constitution to provide for the direct election of the president.","Rugby Union - Nyanga replaces Camara for Australia clash. - Flanker Yannick Nyanga will replace his Toulouse clubmate Yacouba Camara in France's squad for next weekend's international against Australia, manager Philippe Saint-Andre said Sunday.","Egypt 'bans key anti-Mubarak April 6 group'. Cairo (AFP) - An Egyptian court on Monday banned the April 6 youth movement that spearheaded the 2011 uprising against Hosni Mubarak and has protested against the current military-installed regime, a judicial official said.","Rugby-Australia squeak past South Africa in Perth. Rob Horne scored a try two minutes from time that Bernard Foley converted to give Australia a 24-23 victory over South Africa in the Rugby Championship at a rain-soaked Subiaco Oval on Saturday. Israel Folau crossed for his 15th test try after two minutes but for much of the rest of the evening Australia were chasing the game and it was only when winger Horne went over in their best move of the match that victory looked likely. Flyhalf Foley, who also kicked four penalties, stepped up to nervelessly slot the conversion and give coach Ewen McKenzie his first win over one of the southern hemisphere superpowers since he took over last year. South Africa had a try from winger Cornal Hendricks and six penalties from the boot of Morne Steyn but will rue the yellow card to winger Bryan Habana, playing his 100th test, in the 65th minute that let the home side back into the match.","Officials say 5 more people have died in Ukraine's capital, raising death toll to 18. KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — Officials say 5 more people have died in Ukraine's capital, raising death toll to 18.","Mali, Senegal evacuate hundreds from restive C.Africa. Mali and Senegal have repatriated hundreds of their nationals fleeing sectarian violence in the Central African Republic, officials in Bamako and Dakar told AFP on Monday. In the Malian capital Bamako the minister in charge of expatriate Malians, Abdramane Sylla, and two other officials welcomed a group of nearly 270 people who returned in a plane chartered by their government. Mali's ambassador to Gabon, Diadie Yacouba Dagnoko, who travelled with the evacuees from Bangui, put their exact number at 267.","U.S. military names coalition operation against Islamic State 'Inherent Resolve'. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. military has named the coalition operation against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria \"Inherent Resolve,\" a U.S. military official said on Wednesday. (Reporting by Phil Stewart; Editing by Susan Heavey)","Julia Mancuso finishes 8th in Olympic downhill. KRASNAYA POYLANA, Russia (AP) — Early in her downhill run, Julia Mancuso caught a lot of air going over a jump and had to flail her arms to keep from falling.","McIlroy confirms return to defend Australian Open title. World number one Rory McIlroy has confirmed he will be back in Sydney in November to defend the Australian Open title he snatched from Adam Scott's grasp on the final hole last year. McIlroy's duel with Scott attracted crowds not seen Down Under since the heyday of Greg Norman and his return for the 2014 tournament, which will be held at The Australian Golf Club from Nov. 27-30, is major boost to organisers. \"I'm really looking forward to coming back to Sydney in November to defend my Australian Open title,\" McIlroy said in a news release on Wednesday. Sunday's victory at Firestone put him back on top of the rankings at the expense of Australian Scott and he will be looking to reinforce his position at the U.S. PGA Championship in Louisville, Kentucky this week.","Ex-Muslim rebels seize C. African Republic town. BANGUI, Central African Republic (AP) — Officials say Muslim rebels have taken control of a town in northern Central African Republic, causing residents to flee.","China arrests driver in fatal school bus crash: Xinhua. China has arrested the driver of a school bus that crashed in the southern island province of Hainan, killing eight students and injuring 32 others, state news agency said on Friday. Zhao Caisen was arrested on suspicion of causing the accident in Chengmai County on April 10, Xinhua said, citing a warrant issued by the prosecutor of Wenchang City. Accidents involving school vehicles have drawn public anger in China in recent years after a series of fatal incidents. In 2011, 18 nursery school pupils were killed when their overcrowded van slammed into a coal truck in northwestern China.","Guinea raises Ebola death toll to 95. Guinea's government raised the death toll in the Ebola epidemic raging through its southern forests and capital to 95 on Monday. The health ministry added nine deaths to the toll of 86 given before the weekend, saying that 52 cases had been confirmed in laboratories to be the killer tropical virus. \"Up to now, the Guinean authorities have registered 151 suspect cases and 95 deaths,\" the ministry's chief disease prevention officer Sakoba Keita told AFP, without specifying the locations of the new deaths. A number of patients have been discharged from Ebola treatment centres after beating the virus, however, medical charity Doctors Without Borders, which goes by its French initials MSF, said in a statement.","UN rights office questions Israeli crackdown amid teen hunt. The UN's human rights office on Friday urged Israel and its adversaries to exercise restraint amid a crackdown on Palestinians during a hunt for three Jewish teenagers missing in the West Bank. \"Clearly these boys need to be found, that's totally understandable, but the scale of operations and the number of people they are affecting is deeply disturbing,\" said its spokesman Rupert Coville. There have been no claims of responsibility, but Israel has accused the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas of kidnapping them. The Israeli army has launched a vast hunt for them, dubbed Operation Brother's Keeper","Thai army chief summons ousted PM for talks a day after coup. By Robert Birsel BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thai army chief Prayuth Chan-ocha summoned ousted Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra to a meeting on Friday, a day after he seized power in a bloodless coup, saying he wanted to restore order following months of turmoil in the polarized country. General Prayuth launched his coup after the various factions refused to give ground in a struggle for power between the royalist establishment and a populist government that had raised fears of serious violence and damaged Thailand's economy. The military censored the media, dispersed rival protesters in Bangkok and imposed a nationwide 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. curfew. Bangkok was calm and activity appeared to be relatively normal early on Friday, although the military has ordered all schools and universities to stay closed.","Mattingly expects Gonzalez to play MLB opener. SYDNEY (AP) — Los Angeles Dodgers manager Don Mattingly doesn't expect lower back tightness to keep first baseman Adrian Gonzalez from playing in the Major League Baseball season opener Saturday against the Arizona Diamondbacks.","Germany: Journalist freed in Somalia doing well. BERLIN (AP) — Germany's Foreign Ministry says a German-American journalist who was freed this week after more than two years being held captive in Somalia is receiving medical care at the German embassy in Nairobi.","China probes 'five networks' of disgraced ex-security chief: People's Daily. BEIJING (Reuters) - An investigation into China's former domestic security chief is probing five different networks, the newspaper of the ruling Communist Party said on Friday, naming senior figures it said may have benefited from his alleged corruption. The party announced in July that Zhou Yongkang was being investigated for suspected \"serious disciplinary violations\", the usual euphemism for corruption, though it could also imply additional wrongdoing. ...","US flying aircraft over Nigeria in hunt for girls. ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — A Nigerian government official says \"all options are open\" in the search for missing schoolgirls that's supported by U.S. surveillance and reconnaissance aircraft flying over Nigeria.","Brazil election jitters may hit investments in 2014: source. By Alonso Soto and Luciana Otoni BRASILIA (Reuters) - Brazil's presidential vote will likely delay some investment decisions this year but spending on infrastructure is expected to remain strong, a senior government official told Reuters. Although President Dilma Rousseff is the favorite to win the October 5 general election, many investors could withhold funds until the next government outlines its plans for the following four years, which could hamper the country's already slow economic growth. \"But investment in infrastructure will not be affected because a lot of that construction is already under contract.\" The official, who is involved in economic policy decisions, said the government expects investment commitments of about 100 billion reais ($45.48 billion) between 2014 and 2015 in roads, ports, airports, power generation and distribution projects. Rousseff, a left-leaning technocrat, launched a multibillion dollar infrastructure package in 2012 precisely to bolster investment, which is one of the main bottlenecks holding back the economy of the once-booming emerging-market star.","Pro-Kiev activists drowned out by separatists in Ukraine's east. By Gabriela Baczynska DONETSK, Ukraine (Reuters) - When a group of pro-Kiev activists decided to hold a rally in Ukraine's eastern city of Donetsk, they found that no shops stocked ribbons in blue and yellow, the colors of the Ukrainian flag. Instead, they had to use social media to appeal to supporters in other parts of Ukraine to send the ribbons to their improvised headquarters, in a cellar near Donetsk's Lenin Square. \"I speak Russian and grew up in a region that, compared to other parts of Ukraine, may seem less patriotic. But I know that the flag of my country is in yellow and blue and I have no other flags, or nostalgia for other symbols.\" Since pro-Russian activists and gunmen in unmarked uniforms took over about a dozen public buildings around Ukraine's eastern Donbass region this month, they have grabbed international attention and dominated the debate in the east about Ukraine's future.","South Korea staring at early World Cup exit. MOGI DAS CRUZES, Brazil (AP) — For South Korea, 2002 is starting to feel like more than just a dozen years ago.","England beats Sri Lanka by 5 wickets in 3rd ODI. HAMBANTOTA, Sri Lanka (AP) — Jos Buttler and Joe Root shared an unbeaten 84-run stand to rescue England from a mid-innings collapse and lead the tourists to a five-wicket victory against Sri Lanka under the Duckworth/Lewis method in their third one-day international on Wednesday.","Obama says momentum building toward trade deal that would spur growth. BEIJING (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama said on Monday he sees momentum building toward an ambitious 12-country Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade agreement that would spur growth. Obama made the remarks after landing in Beijing for a meeting of Asia Pacific nations. The U.S. Trade Representative said on Sunday there will be no major announcement on the TPP, a Washington-backed Asia-Pacific free trade deal. A deadlock between the pact's two biggest economies, the United States and Japan, over how widely Japan will open its doors to farm exports, has hindered progress. ...","Syria army takes control of Homs as rebels leave. HOMS, Syria (AP) — Bulldozers cleared rubble Friday from the streets of battle-scarred districts in the central Syrian city of Homs after government troops entered the last rebel-held neighborhoods as part of an agreement that also granted opposition fighters safe exit from the city.","Attack at Baghdad Shiite mosque kills at least 11. Baghdad (AFP) - A suicide bomber detonated explosives Monday outside a Shiite mosque in central Baghdad, killing at least 11 people in the second such attack in the capital in 24 hours, officials said.","Brazil election poll gives Neves wide advantage over Rousseff. BRASILIA (Reuters) - Opposition candidate Aecio Neves would defeat President Dilma Rousseff by almost 13 percentage points in the Oct. 26 runoff to Brazil's presidential election, according to a poll published on Friday. The poll was conducted by Sensus, a research institute that is not as closely watched as Brazil's larger polling firms Ibope and Datafolha, whose polls show Neves and Rousseff in a dead heat. If the runoff were held today, Neves would win 56.4 percent of the valid votes - which exclude undecided voters, spoiled and blank survey responses - against 43. ...","Council of Europe to send observers to Crimea, look into Kiev unrest. By Michael Shields VIENNA (Reuters) - Ukraine has asked the Council of Europe human rights watchdog to help investigate the clashes that led to President Viktor Yanukovich's overthrow and to monitor minorities in Crimea, now controlled by pro-Russian forces. Austria said on Monday that the Council, which it chairs until May, had also agreed with Ukraine to review the legitimacy of a planned Moscow-backed referendum on whether Crimea should join Russia. ...","Takata warns of bigger loss, says air bag customers not cancelling. By Mari Saito and Maki Shiraki TOKYO (Reuters) - Takata Corp, whose potentially defective air bags have been linked to four deaths in the United States, warned of a bigger full-year loss and skipped its dividend - the first time it did not offer a payout since it listed in 2006. The Japanese automotive safety equipment maker has been beset by chronic problems with defective inflators in its air bags, which can explode with excessive force and spray metal shards inside the vehicle. The air bags, used by many leading car makers, are the focus of an U.S. ...","Edmonton police chief wants changes to social assistance cheque distribution. EDMONTON - Edmonton's police chief wants the provincial government to consider changing the way it distributes social assistance cheques to help reduce crime against the poor and the handicapped, especially in the inner city.","Man slashes 3 children, killing 1 in China. BEIJING (AP) — A man wielding a knife has slashed three children in the southern Chinese province of Guangdong, with state news agency Xinhua reporting one of the children has died.","IOC condemns suicide bomb at volleyball tournament. LAUSANNE, Switzerland (AP) — The president of the International Olympic committee has condemned the suicide attack on a volleyball tournament in eastern Afghanistan which killed at least 45 people on Sunday.","Israeli hardliners object to Kerry pressure. JERUSALEM (AP) — Benjamin Netanyahu's hardline coalition partners on Sunday stepped up pressure on the Israeli prime minister, threatening to topple the government if he caves in to American pressure to accept a key Palestinian territorial demand in U.S.-backed peace talks.","Islamist militants hit Yemeni army posts, 18 dead. By Mohammed Ghobari SANAA (Reuters) - At least eight Yemeni soldiers and 10 al Qaeda militants were killed in clashes on Wednesday when insurgents attacked two military posts in a southern province where the government mounted an offensive two weeks ago, military sources said. The sources told Reuters the fighting in Gol al-Rayda and Azzan districts of Shabwa province started early in the morning and raged for several hours. An army colonel was among the dead, a Defense Ministry source said. The Yemeni army had captured both Gol al-Rayda and Azzan, as well as the Mahfad district in Abyan province, earlier this month after heavy fighting in which scores were killed on both sides.","Takeover target Shire promises strong growth. LONDON (AP) — Takeover target Shire PLC is highlighting its potential as a standalone company, offering investors a rosy projection of its earnings potential that it believes is not reflected in either its share price or the takeover proposal made by U.S.-based drugmaker AbbVie.","Slovakia F Kopecky takes blow to head, leaves game. SOCHI, Russia (AP) — Slovakia forward Tomas Kopecky has left an Olympic hockey game against Slovenia with an injury.","Ghanaian mining company used plane seen in Iran. SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — A Utah bank confirmed Tuesday that an airplane registered to the bank was used by a Ghana mining company to take Ghanaian businessmen to Iran last week.","Hunters vow to overturn hunting ban in Trinidad. PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad (AP) — For decades, the baying of hounds and a cacophony of shotgun blasts echoed across the hinterlands of northern Trinidad, where hunters chased deer, armadillo and agouti, a cat-sized rodent.","France denies it paid ransom for Syria reporters. A French government spokesman denied on Sunday a report that it paid a ransom for the release a week ago of four French journalists held captive in Syria for more than 10 months. Focus, a German magazine, published on its website a report that France paid 18 million dollars for their release, citing NATO sources in Brussels. \"The government categorically denies this report and reiterates France's position on the question of liberation of hostages which (foreign minister) Laurent Fabius recalled last Saturday,\" a defense ministry spokesman told Reuters. Everything is done through negotiations and discussions.\" The four journalists returned home to France on April 20, where they were met at an airbase by Hollande and by their families and friends.","Cuban couple keeps rodents called huitias as pets. BAINOA, Cuba (AP) — Some people keep guinea pigs or hamsters as pets.","Clinton Foundation funds recycling plant in Haiti. PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — The Clinton Foundation has awarded a $250,000 grant to a Haitian recycling plant that seeks to clean up the country's dirty capital city.","US: Russian man who created SpyEye pleads guilty. ATLANTA (AP) — A Russian man who U.S. authorities say created a computer program used to drain bank accounts has pleaded guilty to conspiracy and wire fraud charges.","Egypt accuses Islamist group of having armed wing. CAIRO (AP) — Egyptian authorities on Sunday accused the ousted president's Muslim Brotherhood of forming a \"military wing\" to stage attacks on security forces in a southern province, as months-long street rallies by the group's supporters wane but low-level violence steadily rises.","Mexico names veteran defender Salcido to WCup team. MEXICO CITY (AP) — Veteran defender Carlos Salcido was the biggest surprise in Mexico's 23-man World Cup team announced Friday by coach Miguel Herrera.","Terror fugitive arrested in Athens shootout. ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greek police arrested one of the country's most wanted men — a fugitive convicted of terrorism — during a shootout Wednesday in Athens' central tourist district that left four people wounded, authorities said.","Irish-born priest to serve no jail time in Chile child sex abuse case. SANTIAGO (Reuters) - An Irish-born priest, found guilty last month of sexually abusing a child in his care at a religious school in Santiago, will avoid jail time under a sentence handed down on Tuesday. A judge sentenced John O'Reilly, who moved to Chile from Ireland in 1985, to four years and a day of \"supervised liberty\" for abusing the pre-teen girl at the private Colegio Cumbres in the affluent neighborhood of Las Condes between 2007 and 2009. ...","Woman accused of killing her seven-week old baby. A 24 year-old woman will appear at Oldham Magistrates Court on Monday charged with the murder of her seven-week-old baby. Katarzyna Gacek is accused of killing her son Thomas Gacek at home in Oldham's Hillside Avenue, plus child neglect. At the same hearing, Darren Butterfield, 35, and Dawid Mokrzanowski, 26, will face charges of child neglect. Thomas died from serious head injuries \"consistent with a non-accidental injury\", a post-mortem examination showed.","Australia paceman Bird cleared for South Africa tour. (Reuters) - Fit-again paceman Jackson Bird was given the go-ahead on Thursday to join the Australia team in South Africa but batsman Shaun Marsh, battling a calf strain, was yet to be cleared for the three-test series starting on February 12. Bird, who injured his back in a Big Bash match last week, was cleared by the medical team after the 27-year-old paceman underwent bowling sessions at Hobart under coach Darren Lehmann's observation. He, along with team mate Moises Henriques, will fly to South Africa on Friday. ...","Corruption probe into former French president Sarkozy suspended. Paris (AFP) - An investigation launched in July against former French president Nicolas Sarkozy for corruption and influence-peddling has been suspended, days after he dramatically announced his political comeback.","Euroskeptic UKIP wins seat in British Parliament. LONDON (AP) — The U.K. Independence Party has won a seat in the British Parliament for the first time, a significant breakthrough for the Euroskeptic, anti-immigration force.","A crumbling Sochi hides behind Olympic facades. SOCHI, Russia (AP) — A shining new $635 million highway on the outskirts of Sochi stands next to a crumbling apartment block with a red \"SOS!\" banner on its roof.","Barrier Reef won't be called endangered for now. PARIS (AP) — A decision to add the Great Barrier Reef to a list of World Heritage in Danger has been held off a year, after the U.N.'s cultural agency said Australia has made progress in protecting it.","Woman held captive, beaten for weeks in Austria: police. A Romanian woman was imprisoned, raped and repeatedly beaten in a house in Austria for more than a month before escaping when her attacker got drunk, police said on Tuesday. Badly hurt with fractured ribs, the 40-year-old woman fled to her ex-husband's house in the southern Styria area two days ago, the force added. He also threatened to kill her if she would not stay with him,\" police said in a statement. The case revived memories of Josef Fritzl, the Austrian man who was sentenced to life in jail in 2009 for keeping his daughter captive for 24 years.","EEUU evalúa respuesta a Venezuela. WASHINGTON (AP) — Estados Unidos dijo el martes que evalúa su respuesta a la decisión de Venezuela de expulsar a tres diplomáticos estadounidenses anunciada la víspera por Caracas.","Turkish teenager dies amid Kurdish infighting. ISTANBUL (Reuters) - A teenager was shot and killed in southeastern Turkey on Saturday in clashes between members of a Kurdish Islamist party and youths linked to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), security sources said. The 15-year-old's death in the town of Cizre brought the number of people killed there in fighting between Kurdish groups to three. Two others were killed on Saturday in clashes between members of the Islamist Free Cause Party (Huda-Par) and youth groups linked to PKK. The two groups are fierce rivals. ...","Exclusive: Saudi suspends aid to Yemen after Houthi takeover: sources. By Yara Bayoumy and Mohammed Ghobari SANAA (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia has suspended most of its financial aid to Yemen, Yemeni and Western sources said, in a clear indication of its dissatisfaction with the growing political power of Shi'ite Houthi fighters friendly with Riyadh's regional rival, Iran. Yemen, which is battling an al Qaeda insurgency, a southern secessionist movement, endemic corruption and poor governance, has often relied on its richer northern neighbor to help finance everything from government salaries to welfare payments. ...","Ukraine president offers PM post to opposition. KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine's embattled president is offering the country's premiership to one of the leaders of the opposition that has conducted two months of intensifying protests.","Kansas coal plant fight back in court; emission concerns cited. A long-running battle over coal-fired energy in Kansas continued Friday as the Sierra Club environmental group filed a legal challenge to the state's issuance of a permit intended to give a green light to a controversial new power plant. The complaint, filed in the Kansas Court of Appeals, names the Kansas Department of Health and Environment and its secretary, Robert Moser, as defendants, and claims the permit for the new power plant does not meet federal and state requirements. The complaint argues state regulators merely reissued a permit that was slightly modified after being struck down as invalid by the Kansas Supreme Court. So we are challenging it again.\" The fight, which has been brewing for several years, is focused on the Sunflower Electric Cooperative and its plans to build an 895-megawatt, coal-fired power plant at the site of an existing plant in Holcomb, Kansas.","Russia calls on U.S. to help stop Kiev's military drive. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has told his U.S. counterpart John Kerry that the U.S. should use its influence to make Ukraine's government immediately stop military operations in south-east Ukraine, the Russian foreign ministry said on Saturday. Lavrov, in a phone conversation with German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, also said he was concerned about reports that Ukraine's army was preparing to storm cities in south-east Ukraine including Slaviansk, according to a statement from the foreign ministry.","UK policymakers united on keeping rates steady. LONDON (AP) — Policymakers at the Bank of England voted unanimously to keep interest rates at a record low of 0.5 percent — unwilling to tamper with an economy that is returning to normal.","Egypt court bans Mubarak era leaders from running in elections. CAIRO (Reuters) - An Egyptian court on Tuesday banned the leaders of former president Hosni Mubarak's National Democratic Party from running in any coming elections, the court judge said. Judge Karim Hazem did not specify the number, names or titles of the politicians who would be prevented from running in coming elections. Mubarak's party was dissolved three years ago following an uprising that ended his rule. Egypt is due to hold a presidential election this month that army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi is widely expected to win. (Writing by Yasmine Saleh; Editing by Hugh Lawson)","Erdogan launches new attack on Israel with Hitler comparison. Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Saturday launched a fresh virulent attack against Israel over its actions in Gaza, comparing the mentality of some in the Jewish state to Adolf Hitler. Erdogan, who portrays himself as the global Muslim leader who speaks up for Palestinian rights, has intensified his rhetoric against Israel over its actions in Gaza, ahead of an August 10 presidential election in Turkey. They curse Hitler day and night, but they have surpassed Hitler in barbarism,\" Erdogan told supporters at a campaign rally in the Black Sea city of Ordu. The premier had already accused far-right Israeli politician Ayelet Shaked of sharing the same mentality as Hitler after she posted controversial remarks on social media suggesting Palestinians deserved to die.","Powerful earthquake hits near Papua New Guinea. SYDNEY (AP) — A powerful earthquake has struck off the South Pacific nation of Papua New Guinea. There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries.","Japan to address territorial claims in schools. TOKYO (AP) — The Japanese government announced Tuesday it is revising official teaching manuals to emphasize Japan's territorial rights to islands which are also claimed by China and South Korea.","Allied 'copters kill foreign troops in Afghanistan: police, Taliban. Five foreign servicemen died in southern Afghanistan, the Nato-led coalition forces said on Tuesday, and police and Taliban insurgents said they had been killed by fire from helicopters piloted by their own allies. The International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) gave no reason for the deaths on Monday in southern Zabul province, days before a run-off round in a presidential election. Local police chief Ghulam Sakhi Roghlewai said: \"ISAF troops were returning to their bases after an operation when they were ambushed by the insurgents. The air strike mistakenly hit their own forces and killed the soldiers.\" A Taliban spokesman, Qari Yousuf Ahmadi, said insurgents had been attacking the foreign forces when the helicopters intervened and accidentally killed their own troops.","Hungary: Nations get threat about Sochi attacks. BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — Hungary's Olympic Committee says it and other nations have received an email message written in Russian and English threatening their athletes with terrorist attacks at the upcoming Sochi Olympic Games.","Enbridge taps key banker to smooth way for Northern Gateway line. Enbridge Inc said on Wednesday that Jim Prentice, a senior Canadian banker and influential former federal cabinet minister, has agreed to lead negotiations with aboriginal groups opposed to the company's controversial Northern Gateway pipeline project. Enbridge said Prentice, vice-chairman of CIBC , Canada's fifth-largest bank, will look to build partnerships with aboriginal Canadians and First Nations communities in Alberta and British Columbia along the route of the planned C$7.9 billion ($7.1 billion) oil pipeline.","UK watchdog to quiz Lazard over Royal Mail float. LONDON (Reuters) - The British public spending watchdog will call up independent financial adviser Lazard this month regarding its role on the controversial Royal Mail flotation, a government spokeswoman said on Thursday. Lazard, which advised the government on the listing, will be called before the Public Accounts Committee on April 30th, the spokeswoman said. Last week a report by the National Audit Office said that the flotation had been underpriced. (Reporting By Freya Berry; editing by Kirstin Ridley)","William and Kate end Australia tour with surprise ANZAC service. Prince William and wife Kate on Friday wrapped up their tour Down Under, which has drawn crowds in the thousands, after a surprise visit to a dawn service for Australian soldiers lost in war. The young royals have been warmly received during their tour of Australia and New Zealand, in which they have travelled from beach to remote outback and shown off their nine-month-old son George. On their final day the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge were among tens of thousands at events marking ANZAC Day in Australia and New Zealand, a tribute to soldiers past and present. The day marks the April 25, 1915 landing of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) at Gallipoli in modern-day Turkey and has become a defining symbol of courage and comradeship for both countries.","Canadian organization responds to lawyers' letter. TORONTO (AP) — The Canadian Soccer Association is denying allegations that it targeted players involved in a legal challenge to the use of artificial turf at next summer's Women's World Cup.","Militant-held Iraqi area 'back in government hands'. Tikrit (Iraq) (AFP) - Iraqi security forces have retaken a northern area from militants after more than a week of heavy fighting during which parts of it repeatedly changed hands, an official said Saturday. Militants initially seized parts of Sulaiman Bek on February 13, setting off a cycle of clashes in the area which includes a town and several villages. Dozens of people -- militants, security personnel and civilians -- were killed in the fighting. Sulaiman Bek \"has now been completely liberated, and there are no longer any gunmen, just police and soldiers\", local official Talib al-Bayati told AFP.","Bombing in northern Afghanistan kills 4 civilians. KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — A bomb hidden in a push cart and detonated by remote control near a government building in northern Afghanistan killed four people on Wednesday while a rocket attack near the Kabul airport wounded four, officials said.","Toronto man convicted of killing ex-girlfriend. TORONTO (AP) — A Toronto man has been convicted of second-degree murder for killing and dismembering his ex-girlfriend, then scattering the pieces around the city and Niagara Falls.","Psychiatric test ordered for Newtown calls suspect. NEW HAVEN, Connecticut (AP) — A U.S. has ordered a psychiatric assessment of a Venezuelan man charged with making threatening phone calls to Newtown residents in the days following the 2012 school shootings that left 20 young children dead.","DR Congo police slaughtered dozens in gang crackdown: HRW. Human Rights Watch on Tuesday denounced police in the Democratic Republic of Congo for summarily killing or forcibly disappearing at least 80 people during a violent crackdown on gang crime in the capital. During Operation Likofi in Kinshasa from November 2013 to February this year, \"uniformed police, often wearing masks, dragged 'kuluna', or suspected gang members, from their homes at night,\" the New York-based watchdog reported. \"The police shot and killed the unarmed young men and boys outside their homes, in the open markets where they slept or worked, and in nearby fields or empty lots,\" HRW said. At least 51 people were killed and 33 others forcibly disappeared after President Joseph Kabila publicly pledged to halt a surge of armed robberies and other serious offences, according to HRW, which interviewed witnesses, relatives of victims and police.","Ukraine says Russia has sent in thousands of extra troops. KIEV (Reuters) - Ukraine's defence minister said on Saturday Russia had \"recently\" brought 6,000 additional personnel into Ukraine and that the Ukrainian military were on high alert in the Crimea region. Ihor Tenyukh gave no further details in comments to reporters in Kiev. The Ukrainian government has accused Moscow of deploying troops in Crimea, where Russia's Black Sea fleet has a base, but Russia says it has not violated an agreement with Ukraine that covers its forces there. (Reporting By Pavel Polityuk, Editing by Timothy Heritage)","French prosecutors open probe into Total's CEO death: source. PARIS (Reuters) - Paris prosecutors opened a manslaughter investigation following the death of Christophe de Margerie, the head of French oil group Total, in a plane crash in Russia, a judiciary source told Reuters on Tuesday. Separately, French accident investigation agency BEA said it would participate in Russia's Total air crash inquiry, sending three investigators to Moscow later on Tuesday. De Margerie was killed when his private jet collided with a snow plough as it was taking off from Moscow's Vnukovo airport on Monday night. ...","Putin put on notice at G20 summit to end Ukraine crisis. By Ian Chua and Lincoln Feast BRISBANE Australia (Reuters) - The Ukraine crisis overshadowed talks on global economic growth at a G20 leaders meeting on Saturday, with Europe calling on Russia to stop the flow of weapons and troops into the country and holding out the threat of further sanctions if it did not. European Council President Herman Van Rompuy said Europe's foreign ministers will meet on Monday to assess the situation in Ukraine and whether further steps including additional sanctions were needed against Russia. ...","Hungary's Orban retains two-thirds legislative majority. Budapest (AFP) - Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban retained his controlling two-thirds majority in parliament following last week's election, a final ballot count revealed early Sunday, giving him free legislative rein for the next four years.","Fearing graft probes, Chinese officials shun spotlight, seek retirement. By Kevin Yao and Ben Blanchard BEIJING (Reuters) - President Xi Jinping's crackdown on corruption has sown so much fear that many Chinese officials are doing anything to stay out of trouble - from dithering over approving big-ticket projects to seeking early retirement. A small number of top executives under investigation at state-owned enterprises have even committed suicide. While the campaign has been a hit with a public usually skeptical about such crackdowns, it's having an unintended consequence, said bureaucratic sources and officials at state enterprises: Those supposed to implement much-needed economic reforms and run the machinery of government are dragging their feet because they are scared of attracting unwanted attention. One reason for the fear is that Xi's 18-month-old campaign shows no sign of faltering - it claimed its biggest scalp so far last week when the government said it would court-martial a former top army general for taking bribes, the most senior officer ever felled in a Chinese graft probe.","IAEA team arrives in Tehran for nuclear visits. A team of inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) arrived in Tehran on Saturday, another step towards implementing a landmark nuclear deal between Iran and six world powers which was finalized last week, according to the semi-official Fars News agency. The team, led by nuclear engineer Massimo Aparo, will begin reporting to the IAEA on Monday, marking the official start of the deal, according to the Islamic Republic News Agency. Under the terms of the agreement with the United States, Russia, China, France, Britain and Germany, Iran will stop work on some portions of its nuclear program in exchange for relief from some international sanctions which have damaged the country's economy. The IAEA team will visit the Natanz and Fordow nuclear facilities to ensure that Iran will stop enriching uranium to 20 percent and that its stockpile of enriched uranium is diluted, according to Fars News.","Migrant group: 500 feared dead after boat rammed. GENEVA (AP) — The International Organization for Migration says about 500 migrants are feared to have died after their boat was rammed and sank off the Malta coast last week.","Saudi women activists demand end to 'absolute' male control. Saudi women activists have petitioned the country's consultative council to back a demand to curb the \"absolute authority\" of male guardians over women in the ultra-conservative Sunni Muslim kingdom, a signatory said. Saudi Arabia imposes a strict interpretation of Islamic law, forbidding women to work or travel without the authorisation of their male guardians. It is also the only country in the world that bans women from driving, and a woman cannot obtain an identification card without the consent of her guardian. Activist Aziza Yousef told AFP that \"rights activists have petitioned the Shura (consultative) Council on the occasion of the International Women's Day (on March 8) demanding an end to the absolute authority of men over women\".","Egypt's Christian minority rally behind charter. AZIYAH, Egypt (AP) — Hymns echoing from the new church in this village in Egypt's southern heartland could be heard well after sundown Wednesday, a reminder of the jubilant mood as Aziyah's Christian residents vote on a new constitution.","Cyprus faces fresh bailout uncertainty after privatization vote. Cyprus faced fresh uncertainty on Friday over the future of its bailout program after lawmakers rejected privatization plans, casting doubt on a new tranche of financial aid due in March. The 'No' vote raises the risk the island will be plunged back into fiscal turmoil just a year after the 10 billion euro lifeline from the European Union and IMF pulled it back from the brink of default. \"Above all we want to avert any adverse developments and maintain economic recovery,\" said Christos Stylianides, the government spokesman. Authorities were likely to call a new session of parliament and present modified privatization proposals.","Bombings kill at least 27 in Baghdad. BAGHDAD (AP) — A series of bombings, including three over a span of less than 10 minutes, killed at least 27 people across Baghdad on Saturday, shaking the fragile sense of security the capital has maintained despite the Sunni militant offensive raging across northern and western Iraq.","Campaigning for Afghanistan's presidential election kicks off with rallies and billboards. KABUL - Campaigning officially opened Sunday in Afghanistan's presidential election, with 11 candidates vying to succeed President Hamid Karzai in polls seen as a crucial test of whether Afghanistan can ensure a stable political transition.","With eye on Iraq, Kuwait urges end to political games. Kuwait's ruler has told his people not to threaten stability by playing \"games\" with politics, pointing to turmoil in neighboring Iraq and elsewhere as examples of the dangers of political division. \"We do not have this luxury of differences and divisions and empty arguments and political games while catastrophes are right at our doorstep,\" the emir, Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmed al-Sabah, said in the address late on Wednesday. Sheikh Sabah did not mention any country, but his comments appeared to refer to former occupier Iraq, which has been plunged deeper into turmoil by militant Islamist fighters' sudden capture this month of much of northern Iraq. The emir urged Kuwaitis not to publicly discuss an investigation into reports of a recording of people discussing an alleged plot against the governing system in the hereditary-ruled country, saying the matter was being dealt with by the courts.","GM recalls 524,384 cars and SUVs globally in two actions. DETROIT (Reuters) - General Motors Co said on Friday it is recalling 524,384 cars and sport utility vehicles globally in two actions dealing with potential latch and loose part issues. The recalls of Cadillac and Saab SUVs and Chevrolet Spark small cars raise the No. 1 U.S. automaker's total number of recalls this year to 71, affecting almost 30 million vehicles. The highest profile is the recall affecting 2.6 million cars with defective ignition switches linked to at least 23 deaths. ...","World Bank sees Ukraine's GDP up 3 percent in 2015 after reforms. KIEV (Reuters) - Ukraine's gross domestic product (GDP) could grow 3 percent in 2015 if the country undergoes the structural reforms needed to stabilize its economy, World Bank analyst Anastasia Holovach told a news conference in Kiev. \"If measures are taken to provide macroeconomic stabilization together with structural reforms, GDP will grow 3 percent in 2015,\" she said. Any slowdown in the implementation of reforms could lead to further depletion of currency reserves, she added. (Reporting by Natalia Zinets; Writing by Alessandra Prentice, Editing by Thomas Grove)","Kinnear resigns as Newcastle director of football. NEWCASTLE, England (AP) — Newcastle says Joe Kinnear has resigned from his position as the club's director of football.","Hong Kong mother accused of beating maids with mops, clothes hangers gets bail. By James Pomfret and Venus Wu HONG KONG (Reuters) - A Hong Kong mother of two who a court heard punched her maids, beat them with mops and threatened to kill their relatives was released on bail on Wednesday after she was formally charged in a case that has triggered outrage. Police arrested former beautician Law Wan-tung at the airport on Monday before she boarded a flight to Thailand, since when she has been jeered as a monster on trips between the police station and her home. The judge released Law on bail of HK$1 million ($128,900) despite calls from the prosecutor to keep her in custody given the severity of the suspected abuse over many years, and the risk of her leaving Hong Kong. The prosecutor described how Law had maltreated several former domestic helpers including 23-year-old Indonesian Erwiana Sulistyaningsih, who is now recovering from injuries in a hospital in Sragen, central Java.","Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan set up new alliance. MOSCOW (AP) — The leaders of Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan on Thursday created an economic union that intends to boost cooperation between the ex-Soviet neighbors, a pact which was at the source of the crisis in Ukraine.","Bangladesh vs. Sri Lanka Scoreboard. MIRPUR, Bangladesh (AP) — Scoreboard after Sri Lanka's first innings Wednesday on the third day of the first cricket test against Bangladesh at Mirpur's Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium:","Pro-Moscow protesters declare separatist republic; Kiev warns of invasion plan. By Richard Balmforth and Lina Kushch KIEV/DONETSK, Ukraine (Reuters) - Pro-Moscow protesters occupying a government building in eastern Ukraine declared the creation of a separatist republic on Monday, in a move Kiev described as part of a plan to justify a Russian invasion to dismember the country. Kiev said the seizures of state buildings in three cities in eastern Ukraine's mainly Russian speaking industrial heartland were a replay of events in Crimea, the Black Sea peninsula Moscow annexed after its troops occupied it last month.","Ukraine hopes for $2 billion tranche of Russian aid 'very soon', says acting PM. Ukraine's acting prime minister said on Wednesday he hoped \"very soon\" for disbursement of the second tranche of $2 billion from a Russian $15 billion aid package. Serhiy Arbuzov, who stepped in as interim premier on Tuesday after the resignation of Prime Minister Mykola Azarov, also said the Ukrainian central bank was assuring the stability of the financial market.","Man City loses, Man United draws in Premier League. LIVERPOOL, England (AP) — Manchester City slumped to a surprise first defeat in the defense of its Premier League title Saturday, losing 1-0 to Stoke as the problems of arch-rival Manchester United mounted despite an encouraging debut from new signing Angel Di Maria.","Asian markets weak on Wall Street cues, China. MUMBAI, India (AP) — Asian stock markets were anemic Thursday as investors waiting to see if weak Chinese economic data might prompt new economic stimulus took cues from a sell-off on Wall Street.","TSX may open lower after soft North American jobs data. (Reuters) - Canadian stock index futures pointed to a lower open on Friday following the release of weaker-than-expected U.S. and Canadian employment data. (Reporting by Samarendra Sahoo in Bangalore; Editing by Jeffrey Hodgson)","French Muslim minister wants respect after slurs. PARIS (AP) — France's new Muslim education minister called for more respect Wednesday after becoming the target of slurs, while a top Socialist politician said a magazine should be convicted of inciting racial hatred for referring to her religion and ethnic background as a \"provocation.\"","Italy's Renzi pushes for change on election law. By James Mackenzie ROME (Reuters) - Italian center-left leader Matteo Renzi called on Thursday for swift reform of an electoral system blamed for the country's bouts of political deadlock and said he expected an agreement could be completed within weeks. Renzi is not in the government but as head of the Democratic Party, the biggest party in Prime Minister Enrico Letta's left-right coalition, he will have a decisive role to play in shaping the political agenda and has already called for quicker action on reforms. Earlier on Thursday, Renzi suggested that moves to fix the economy and political system might lead to an easing of European Union deficit limits that have forced austerity measures on a resentful Italian public already coping with a long recession. Electoral reform has been one of the thorniest issues confronting Letta's coalition, formed after an inconclusive election early last year prevented any side from forming a government on its own.","Pope won't meet Dalai Lama out of China concerns. VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis won't meet with the Dalai Lama during his visit to Rome, apparently to avoid antagonizing China. But he's sending a greeting to past Nobel Peace Prize laureates gathering in the city for their annual summit.","S.Sudan army and rebels block UN peacekeepers. Warring forces in South Sudan are continuing to block United Nations peacekeepers as the civil war that has devastated the young nation continues to rage, the UN said Thursday. The UN mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) said both government and rebels had blocked their patrols, including in the flashpoint oil-state of Unity, one of the areas hardest hit by fighting.","Initial review of Iraq forces done; no decisions. WASHINGTON (AP) — Pentagon leaders are now reviewing the military's initial assessment of Iraq's security forces and it may be some time before decisions are made about what additional assistance the U.S. should provide as the Baghdad government battles Sunni insurgents.","Analysis: Emerging markets buffeted by bipolar world. For much of 2013, the investor narrative was that currencies and stock markets from Mumbai to Moscow and Istanbul to Johannesburg were running aground as Federal Reserve largesse ebbed away. As the Fed slows its printing presses and reins in global liquidity via higher U.S. Treasury yields and a rising dollar, those markets that gained most from the swell of quantitative easing would suffer from its withdrawal, it was argued. Many of the frothier and most exposed emerging markets shook as 10-year U.S. yields surged more than 100 basis points last year to top 3.0 percent as 2014 dawned and the Fed, finally, embarked on its first 'taper' in January. Yet the odd thing about the stampede out of emerging markets this year - which sent Turkey's lira, Argentina's peso, Russia's rouble and South Africa's rand all plunging last month - is that it's happened just as Treasury yields went into reverse.","Israeli vehicle explodes near Syrian frontier. JERUSALEM (AP) — The Israeli military says a civilian vehicle has exploded near the Syrian frontier in the Golan Heights, and that there are several casualties.","Pakistan appoints Aamir Sohail as chief selector. ISLAMABAD (AP) — The Pakistan Cricket Board has appointed 1992 World Cup winner Aamir Sohail as chief selector.","Zimbabwe rhino poaching drops in 2013, 750 animals remain. The number of rhinos poached in Zimbabwe dropped sharply last year but decades of illegal killing have decimated the population and only 750 remain, a senior wildlife official said on Tuesday. Poachers killed 20 rhinos in the country in 2013, a drop of 66 percent compared with the previous year, the director of the Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Authority told AFP on the sidelines of a rhino conservation meeting. But poaching has decimated the country's rhino population over the past two decades. There remain only 750 -- 450 black and 300 white rhinos -- in the country's national parks and private game reserves, he said.","Top Asian News at 10:30 p.m. GMT. WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — The plane must be somewhere. But the same can be said for Amelia Earhart's. Ten days after Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 disappeared with 239 people aboard, an exhaustive international search has produced no sign of the Boeing 777, raising an unsettling question: What if the airplane is never found?","Pope denounces Mafia, meets father of slain boy. CASSANO ALL'JONIO, Italy (AP) — Pope Francis journeyed Saturday to the heart of Italy's biggest crime syndicate, met the father of a 3-year-old boy slain in the region's drug war, and declared that all mobsters are automatically excommunicated from the Catholic Church.","Madrid ties defender Nacho Fernandez through 2020. MADRID (AP) — Real Madrid defender Nacho Fernandez has agreed to extend his contract with the Champions League winner through 2020.","Southwest looks to grow where rivals have downsized. (Reuters) - Southwest Airlines is looking for opportunities to add service in markets where other legacy carriers have scaled back, the budget carrier's Chairman and Chief Executive Gary Kelly said on Monday. Kelly said Dallas-based Southwest was paying \"close attention\" to cities such as Memphis, Tennessee - a former Northwest Airlines hub and a market where Delta Air Lines reduced flights in last year - as well as Cleveland, a city that United Continental Holdings recently said it would drop as a hub. Kelly noted that when AMR Corp's American Airlines reduced operations in Nashville in the 1990s, Southwest raised its daily departures in that market. He also said that Southwest is now the largest carrier in St. Louis, Missouri, after American scaled back there following its acquisition of Trans World Airlines.","Elton John to have 'quiet' wedding with partner. Elton John and his partner David Furnish are planning a low-profile wedding in May, following a change in British law allowing gay marriages.","Two Saudis die of MERS, taking toll to 94. Two Saudi nationals have died from MERS, taking the death toll from the coronavirus in the worst-hit country to 94, the health ministry said. A 63-year-old woman, who had suffered chronic illness, died of the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome on Saturday in the western city of Jeddah, and a 78-year-old man died from the disease in Riyadh, it said. Public concern over the spread of MERS mounted last week after the resignation of at least four doctors at Jeddah's King Fahd Hospital who refused to treat patients for fear of infection. The World Health Organisation announced Wednesday that it had offered to send international experts to Saudi Arabia to investigate \"any evolving risk\" associated with the transmission pattern of the virus.","Japan PM to attend Sochi Olympics. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is planning to attend the opening ceremony of the Sochi Winter Olympics, reports said on Friday, despite calls for a boycott over Russia's anti-gay laws. He is also expected to hold a summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of the Games, Kyodo News and the Asahi Shimbun daily said.","Thai prime minister tells senators he won't resign. BANGKOK (AP) — Thailand's acting prime minister discussed the country's ongoing political crisis with a group of senators on Monday and insisted his government will not resign.","Top Asian News at 1:00 p.m. GMT. TOKYO (AP) — Former Japanese Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama said Thursday that the landmark 1995 war apology carrying his name is an international pledge that Japan must not change, amid speculation that the current conservative leaders want to revise it. Murayama said that Japan should also keep another apology over forced prostitution before and during World War II, and urged Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to stand by both statements.","Israel's Netanyahu: Iran poses greater threat than Islamic State. A nuclear-armed Iran would pose a far greater threat to the world than Islamic State militants who have seized large swaths of Syria and Iraq, Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday. \"Make no mistake, ISIS (Islamic State) must be defeated,\" Netanyahu told the U.N. General Assembly. \"But to defeat ISIS and leave Iran as a threshold nuclear power is to win the battle and lose the war.\"","Index ranks Japan Asia's most efficient innovator. MANILA, Philippines (AP) — A new index ranks Japan and South Korea as most efficient among Asian countries in turning the building blocks of creativity into tangible innovations that benefit industry and the public while Myanmar, Pakistan and Cambodia are least efficient.","Sundby, Johaug win cross-country races for Norway. DAVOS, Switzerland (AP) — Martin Johnsrud Sundby and Therese Johaug led 1-2 finishes for Norway in men's and women's cross-country skiing World Cup races on Saturday.","'American Hustle' takes home top SAG award. Crime caper \"American Hustle\" won the top film prize at the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) awards, earning another big boost in Hollywood's all-important Oscars race. Australian Cate Blanchett won best actress for her role in Woody Allen's \"Blue Jasmine,\" while Matthew McConaughey took home best actor for AIDS activist movie \"Dallas Buyers Club.\" Jared Leto won best supporting actor for his role in \"Dallas Buyers Club\" and best supporting actress went to Lupita Nyong'o in the harrowing drama \"12 Years a Slave.\"","Norway calls off terror alert, no longer sees imminent Islamist attack. Norway's government called off a week-long terror alert on Thursday, saying an attack by a militant Islamist group with combat training in Syria was no longer seen as imminent. Security forces had been put on high alert last Thursday with armed units placed at high-risk locations after police received information that a small militant group was on its way to carry out attacks in the West, with Norway among its targets. \"The probability that the original information was correct has been reduced,\" Benedicte Bjoernland, the director of the Police Security Service, the police's intelligence unit, told a news conference. \"The threat of an attack is therefore lower.\" Scandinavian governments have repeatedly warned that several hundred people have traveled to Syria from Scandinavia for combat training since civil war broke out in Syria two years ago.","Ethnic clashes kill 2 in Algerian oasis city. ALGIERS, Algeria (AP) — Clashes between rival gangs of Arabs and Berbers left two dead near Algeria's southern oasis city of Ghardaia on Monday, the state news agency reported.","Top Asian News at 9:00 p.m. GMT. HONG KONG (AP) — Both victims in a double murder case that has shocked Hong Kong were Indonesian women, and one of the victims was frequenting a red light district on a lapsed domestic worker visa, an Indonesian consulate official said Tuesday. Consulate spokesman Sam Aryadi confirmed one of the women found dead in an upscale apartment over the weekend was 29-year-old Seneng Mujiasih, who had come as a domestic worker from the city of Muna on Sulawesi island.","Twitter suspends account of Hamas armed wing. Gaza City (Palestinian Territories) (AFP) - A Twitter account of Hamas's armed wing has been suspended by administrators, the Palestinian Islamist movement said Thursday, accusing the social media site of censorship. The account of the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, @AlqassamBrigade, appeared to have been suspended several times over the past week, and was still inaccessible with a \"suspended\" notice on Thursday. A spokesman for the armed wing of Hamas, which governs the Gaza Strip, accused Twitter of suppressing freedom of speech and of pandering to the political agenda of Hamas's sworn enemy Israel. \"Twitter's administration are exercising double standards.","Torrential rains cause over $1 million worth of damage in Nevada county. Southwest and killed two women earlier this week caused more than $1 million worth of damage to roadways in a Nevada county, officials said on Thursday. Nearly 140 homes in Clark County suffered damage following Monday's rains, and preliminary estimates from the county's public works department put the cost of cleaning and repairing area roadways at around $1.1 million, county spokeswoman Stacey Welling said in a statement. Over half of the dirt roads in Sandy Valley, some 50 miles (80.5 kilometers) southwest of Las Vegas, were hard hit and would require $427,000 worth of service alone, Welling said. The state's Division of Emergency Services is still working to provide a complete tally of the storm's damage.","New Afghan leader to name woman to Supreme Court. KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Afghanistan's new president-elect says he wants Afghan women represented at the highest levels of government, and he pledged to appoint a woman to the Supreme Court.","Romania: EU should give Moldova a date for joining. BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) — Romania's president says the European Union should give Moldova a date for joining the bloc, to give the former Soviet republic greater security.","Envoy: UN action can't replace Mideast talks. UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N.'s top Mideast envoy is warning that Security Council resolutions addressing the Israeli-Palestinian conflict cannot be a substitute for peace negotiations between the two sides.","Zwolle ends PSV's perfect start with 3-1 win. AMSTERDAM (AP) — PEC Zwolle ended PSV Eindhoven's perfect start to the season by winning 3-1 to go level on points with PSV at the top of the Eredivisie on Saturday.","Left-armer Hendricks gets World T20 call. Uncapped left-arm fast-medium bowler Beuran Hendricks was on Monday named in South Africa’s squad for the ICC World Twenty20 tournament in Bangladesh next month. Hendricks, 23, is the only newcomer in the 15-man squad, which will also play three Twenty20 internationals against Australia later this month. Hendricks took a record 23 wickets at an average of 10.28 in South Africa’s domestic Twenty20 competition which ended earlier this month. His feats earned him a US$300,000 contract with Kings XI Punjab in the Indian Premier League, where he will be in the same squad as fellow left-armer, Australia’s Mitchell Johnson.","Qatar dismisses Iraqi charges that Doha funds 'terrorism'. Qatar signalled its irritation on Tuesday with Iraq's accusation that it backed insurgents fighting Baghdad's rule, saying it was not appropriate for countries which failed to preserve national unity to accuse other Arab states of supporting \"terrorism\". The comments by Qatar's emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, were the first official Qatari reaction after Iraq's Shi'ite Muslim Prime Minister, Nuri al-Maliki, this month accused Doha and Riyadh of funding insurgency. \"It is about time for Iraq to get out of the cycle of rifts and violence and that cannot be achieved by sidelining segments of the population, or accusing it of terrorism, if they demanded equality and participation,\" Sheikh Tamim said. Saudi Arabia has already rejected Maliki's assertion this month that it and Qatar were funding Sunni insurgents fighting in Iraq's western Anbar province.","Mali leader urges ceasefire, orders three days of mourning. Mali's president called for a ceasefire in the restive north of the country and ordered three days of mourning as Tuareg separatists claimed they captured more than a key desert bastion after slaying several soldiers. Tuareg militants killed the soldiers during clashes in the rebel-held town of Kidal on Wednesday, a United Nations source told AFP, as a rebel leader said three armed groups had also taken other northern towns. After clashes during the day \"the situation is calm tonight in Kidal\", which is under the control of rebel groups, National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA) spokesman Moussa Ag Assarid told AFP from Kidal. Mohamed Ag Rhissa, one of the MNLA leaders, told AFP by telephone his group had taken \"control of the whole town of Kidal\" and that \"we have prisoners\".","Nigeria's president struggling ahead of election campaign. Nigeria's President Goodluck Jonathan is facing an uphill battle if he seeks re-election next year, after a series of unprecedented setbacks that have raised doubts about his political survival. The perceived damage to the 56-year-old's stock has led to questions about whether he can bounce back and whether his Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) could be heading for its first national electoral defeat. Last month, Nigeria's former head of state Olusegun Obasanjo accused Jonathan in a critical, 18-page open letter of failing to tackle widespread corruption and piracy as well as kidnapping and rampant oil theft. \"I think he (Jonathan) is a very weakened president at the moment,\" said political analyst Clement Nwankwo, director of the Policy and Legal Advocacy Centre, in the capital Abuja.","Strong quake kills at least 150 in southern China. BEIJING (AP) — A strong earthquake jolted southern China's Yunnan province on Sunday, toppling thousands of homes and killing at least 150 people.","Anger over Australian campervan firm's 'misogynistic' slogans. An Australian campervan firm known for the eye-catching slogans graffitied on its vehicles Monday faced outrage on social media after thousands signed an online petition against its \"misogynistic\" messages. Wicked Campers, which is popular with backpackers, has been the subject of complaints in the past, including criticism over a \"Save a Whale -- Harpoon a Jap\" slogan on one its vans in 2008. Sydney resident Paula Orbea started the online petition on Friday after her 11-year-old daughter saw the message on a van in the scenic Blue Mountains west of Sydney during the school holidays. At what point do we say no, that's not morally correct?\" she told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.","TransCanada CEO 'very pleased' as Keystone XL edges forward. (Reuters) - Transcanada Corp's chief executive said on Friday he was \"very pleased\" with the release of a U.S. State Department review on Keystone XL, which played down the impact the 1,179-mile pipeline would have on climate change. \"We are very pleased with the release and being able to move this next stage of the process,\" said Russ Girling on a conference call.","Sainsbury's to bring Netto discount chain back to Britain. British supermarket chain Sainsbury's is teaming up with Denmark's Netto to compete in Britain with \"hard discount\" retailers currently gaining market share, the companies said on Friday. Low prices will combined with \"the freshness and innovation that customers rightly associate with Denmark,\" Per Bank, the chief executive of Netto's parent company Dansk Supermarked, said in a statement. Netto operates 1,200 stores, out of which 430 are in Denmark and the rest in Germany, Poland and Sweden. The chain pulled out of Britain in 2010 after operating there for 20 years when it sold its 193 stores to Wal-Mart division Asda.","Iran prisoners' families protest in capital. The families of men incarcerated in Tehran's notorious Evin prison protested Tuesday near the Iranian president's office, citing mistreatment of their loved ones, activists said. The gathering came after reports of violence in the jail during an inspection of inmates at Section 350, which houses political prisoners. Several prisoners were beaten and hurt in Thursday's incident, according to Kaleme, an opposition website, but Iran's prisons chief said it was \"totally wrong\" to say guards had committed assault. The families, Kaleme said, want to meet government officials to discuss the alleged violence at Evin and they have also demanded a response from President Hassan Rouhani.","Sanctions will make Russia use rouble for trade: PM Medvedev. Western sanctions will galvanize Russia into using the rouble as a currency for international trade, the country's prime minister Dmitry Medvedev said in an interview published on Saturday. \"Trading for roubles - this is a definite priority,\" Medvedev said. \"This, in fact, should ultimately move the rouble from the cohort of freely convertible currencies into the ranks of reserve currencies.\" He was speaking in an interview recorded for the television program \"Vesti on Saturday with Sergey Brilev\", shown on the Rossiya channel and published on the government's website. Russia has long aspired to boosting the international status of the rouble, hoping that it will eventually become a currency widely held in governments' foreign exchange reserves, similar to the dollar and euro.","Rhode Island's popular Cliffwalk reopens after Superstorm Sandy. (Reuters) - Rhode Island's popular Cliffwalk officially reopened on Tuesday with a ribbon-cutting ceremony, some 20 months after it was heavily damaged and closed due to Superstorm Sandy. Repairing damages from the October 2012 storm cost more than $5 million, said Rose Amoros, spokeswoman for the Rhode Island Department of Transportation. One of the most famous features along the Cliffwalk is The Breakers, a 70-room summer cottage that belonged to the Vanderbilt family.","Chelsea still infatuated with Mourinho. LONDON (AP) — Jose Mourinho is perhaps the only manager who can complete a season at Chelsea without a trophy and not face any calls for his sacking or a fans' revolt.","Obama in Japan says 'Senkaku' islands covered by security treaty. US President Barack Obama Thursday told a press conference in Japan that islands at the centre of a bitter territorial dispute with China are covered by a defence treaty that would oblige Washington to act if they were attacked. \"Article five (of the US-Japan security treaty) covers all territories under Japan's administration including (the) Senkaku islands,\" he said. \"We do not believe that they should be subject to change unilaterally, and what is a consistent part of the alliance is that the treaty covers all territories administered by Japan. Obama said during the meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe the two men agreed to continue deepening security cooperation, and to working through the thorny problem of the huge US military presence in Okinawa, which is resented by many locals.","Boeing to announce more defense business consolidation: sources. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Boeing Co plans to announce further consolidation of its defense business on Tuesday, moving significant portions of its defense operations out of Washington state, according to multiple sources familiar with the matter. The consolidation would focus on defense support services and would not affect Boeing's P-8A spy plane or KC-46 aerial refueling tanker programs, the sources said. Both programs are built on commercial jetliners made in the Puget Sound region of Washington state. ...","Zambia bids final farewell to president. Tens of thousands of Zambians turned out at a state funeral Tuesday to bury president Michael Sata who died at a London hospital two weeks ago. One of Sata's sons Gerald, gave his father a moving send off, taking to the microphone to sing \"Dance With My Father\" by Luther Vandross. Overtaken by emotion, mourners dressed in black or outfits bearing the late president's portrait, openly wept as Gerald Sata sang. He is Zambia's second leader to die in office.","Downing of Malaysian plane \"unspeakable crime\" if proven - Australia's Abbott. SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said if the downing of a Malaysian airliner over eastern Ukraine was a criminal act, then \"it is an unspeakable crime\". The Australian government said in a statement it had grave concerns that a number of Australians might have been on the plane, which crashed on Thursday, killing all 295 people on board. The European head of Malaysia Airlines said at least 27 Australian were on the flight. (Reporting by Jane Wardell; Writing by Dean Yates; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan)","Eight Pakistani Shi'ites killed in sectarian attack. By Gul Yousafzai QUETTA Pakistan (Reuters) - Eight Shi'ite members of Pakistan's ethnic Hazara minority were killed and one wounded on Thursday, when gunmen opened fire on a bus in the volatile province of Baluchistan, police said. No one immediately claimed responsibility. Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, a radical Sunni militant group, has carried out many gun and bomb attacks on Hazaras in the past. The men were returning from a vegetable market when gunmen intercepted the bus. \"Two gunmen boarded the bus and shot the men,\" police officer Imran Qureshi told Reuters. ...","O'Sullivan troubled as Robertson advances. Sheffield (United Kingdom) (AFP) - Reigning champion Ronnie O'Sullivan endured a difficult opening session in his World Championship second round match against Joe Perry, while Australia's Neil Robertson eased to a first round win on Thursday. Five-time world champion O'Sullivan trailed 4-1 at the Crucible before reducing the deficit to 5-3 in his best-of-25 frame clash. Perry was quick out of the blocks, taking the opening frame before O'Sullivan levelled. That should have signalled O'Sullivan taking control, but Perry snatched the next two frames to go in at the mid-session interval 3-1 up.","Ukraine opposition lobbies West for help against Yanukovich. By Stephen Brown and Alexandra Hudson MUNICH (Reuters) - The Ukrainian opposition urged Europe and the United States on Friday to go beyond vocal support for their fight for more democracy and demand a halt to violence they blame on President Viktor Yanukovich. Opposition leaders met in Munich on Friday with German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier and European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton and were due to talk with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Saturday.","On eve of election results, Afghan candidate sends warning to rival. By Maria Golovnina and Mirwais Harooni KABUL (Reuters) - Afghan presidential candidate Abdullah Abdullah warned his rival on Sunday he would refuse to accept the outcome of the country's troubled election unless he saw firm evidence that the vote was completely free of fraud. His warning, on the eve of preliminary election results due out on Monday, sets the stage for a possibly violent confrontation with his rival Ashraf Ghani, a standoff which has threatened to divide the fragile country along ethnic lines. The deadlock over the June 14 second round run-off vote has already quashed hopes for a trouble-free transition of power in Afghanistan, a headache for the West as most U.S.-led forces continue to withdraw from the country this year. \"Nobody doubts that there was fraud in Afghanistan's election.","Scotland cricket coach aiming high ahead of England clash. Scotland coach Grant Bradburn hopes he can help his adopted country realise their \"dream\" of playing Test cricket. The New Zealander arrived in Scotland on Monday and will be in attendance when they face England in a one-day international in Aberdeen on Friday. Scotland have already qualified for next year's one-day World Cup in Australia and New Zealand. However, the International Cricket Council recently announced that the leading associate or junior nation would play the bottom-ranked Test side in 2018, with the prize of gaining Test status.","Mali opens judicial inquiry into Air Algerie crash. Mali has opened a judicial probe into the Air Algerie plane disaster as part of international efforts to determine the cause of the crash, Mali's Minister of Solidarity and Humanitarian Action said Sunday. \"Mali opened a judicial inquiry immediately after the discovery of the plane... for manslaughter,\" Hamadou Konate told AFP after visiting the family of Bakary Diallo, the only Malian killed in the crash. A total of 118 people died, with entire families wiped out, when an Air Algerie plane crashed in Mali's remote, barren Gossi area, not far from the border with Burkina Faso last Thursday.","Canada watchdog urges steps to dampen wholesale wireless roaming rates. Canada's competition watchdog is recommending that the country's telecoms regulator take steps to ensure that new players in the wireless market have fair access to wholesale wireless roaming services, saying the dominant players have the power to keep rates high. The Competition Bureau provided details on Thursday on its submission to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC), which is conducting a review of wholesale roaming services. \\\\\"The Bureau is therefore recommending that the CRTC adopt measures to address the incentives Canada's largest mobile wireless companies may have to raise their competitors' wholesale prices as these increases may be passed on to consumers,\\\\\" it said in a statement.","Iran confirms air strikes in Iraq against Islamic State: Guardian newspaper. BAGHDAD (Reuters) - A senior Iranian official has confirmed his country carried out air strikes in neighboring Iraq against Islamic State fighters at the request of Iraqi authorities, Britain's Guardian newspaper reported. It quoted Deputy Foreign Minister Ebrahim Rahimpour as saying the strikes were not coordinated with the United States, which is also waging an air campaign against the radical Sunni Muslim militants who control large parts of north and west Iraq. ...","Girls from Brazil's favelas find escape in ballet. SAO PAULO (AP) — Past the graffiti-covered overpass and subway tracks, in a slum penned in by high-rises, 8-year-old Gabriela Aparecida fixes her curly hair into a bun as she waits for a ride to her new favorite activity: ballet. Peeling back the tarp over the doorway, the skinny girl reaches out into the dirt alleyway to hug the church volunteer arriving to take her to dance class.","Canada high court to hear Chevron in $9.1 billion Ecuador lawsuit. The Supreme Court of Canada agreed on Thursday to hear an appeal by Chevron Corp of a lower-court decision that said Ecuadorean villagers could pursue in Ontario their $9.51 billion lawsuit for pollution in the Amazon jungle. The Ontario Court of Appeal ruled in December that Ontario was a proper jurisdiction for the Ecuadorean plaintiffs to press Chevron to pay up, and Chevron wants the Supreme Court of Canada to say the Ontario courts have no jurisdiction. It was the latest twist in a two-decade conflict between Chevron and residents of Ecuador's Lago Agrio region in the Amazon jungle, which want the Ontario courts to force Chevron to pay up the judgment awarded to them in an Ecuadorean court in 2011.","US driver Rossi joins F1's Marussia as reserve. BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — Marussia says Alexander Rossi of the U.S. has joined the Formula One team as its new reserve driver.","Canadian dollar extends gains as jobs data stays in focus. By Solarina Ho TORONTO (Reuters) - The Canadian dollar strengthened slightly against the U.S. dollar on Wednesday despite softer crude oil prices, as investors continued to digest last Friday's surprisingly robust domestic jobs report. The loonie extended gains made on Tuesday, when trading was muted due to the closure of bond markets for Remembrance Day in Canada and for Veterans Day in the United States. ...","Putin says troops withdraw to help Ukraine vote. MOSCOW (AP) — President Vladimir Putin said Wednesday he had ordered Russian troops to pull out from the regions near Ukraine to help create a positive environment for the nation's presidential vote, but added that it would be hard for the Kremlin to deal with its winner because of continuing fighting in eastern Ukraine.","Springboks brim with confidence in Ireland. Finally beating New Zealand set South Africa up perfectly for its northern hemisphere tour, and has allowed coach Heyneke Meyer the breathing space to joke about his apparently uncomplimentary reputation back home.","Economist Alberto Arenas named Chile's finance minister. Chilean President-elect Michelle Bachelet named on Friday the cabinet of ministers who she hopes will help her pass a planned program of wide-reaching reforms, with her trusted adviser Alberto Arenas taking the role of finance minister. Arenas, an economist and Socialist party member, will be tasked with juggling demands for increased public spending with a cooling economy after the new administration takes the reins on March 11. The 48-year-old Arenas, who was head of the budget during Bachelet's first term, had been the favorite to take the post. He has said that battling Chile's entrenched income inequality and fomenting economic growth are not incompatible.","Abandoned 'baby hatch' scheme suspended in southern Chinese city. By Grace Li HONG KONG (Reuters) - Chinese authorities have suspended operations at a \"baby hatch\", where anonymous mothers can safely abandoned new-born babies, in the city of Guangzhou as a surge in the number of infants has overwhelmed the center which only opened in late January. Many Chinese cities have set up baby hatches, which consist of an incubator and a delayed alarm, to protect unwanted newborns in a country where strict family planning laws have been blamed for the high number of baby girls being abandoned. The baby hatch in Guangzhou which opened on January 28 has so far received 262 abandoned babies, 148 boys and 114 girls, according to the city's Bureau of Civil Affairs. \"Due to an increasing number of abandoned babies at the baby hatch, the orphanage's ability to receive those babies has reached the limit,\" said Xu Jiu, director of Guangzhou Social Welfare Institute, at a briefing.","Brazil poll shows drop in support for protests. SAO PAULO (AP) — A new poll shows that support for protests in Brazil's biggest city is waning.","U.S.-led forces conduct 20 air strikes against Islamic State: Centcom. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States and partner nations have conducted 20 air strikes against Islamic State targets in Syria and Iraq since Wednesday, the U.S. Central Command said on Friday. Five of six air strikes by U.S. military forces in Syria targeted the contested city of Kobani near the border with Turkey, Centcom said in a statement. In Iraq, U.S. and partner nations conducted 14 air strikes, it said. (Editing by James Dalgleish)","General Electric details new Alstom offer. General Electric outlined an updated offer to buy French engineering group Alstom's power and grid businesses on Thursday that will include two 50:50 joint ventures in grid and renewables, and a global nuclear and steam alliance. GE said its valuation for Alstom remains unchanged and that the deal would immediately boost the U.S. company's earnings. It creates jobs, establishes headquarters decision-making in France and ensures that the Alstom name will endure,\" GE Chief Executive Jeff Immelt said in a statement.","Indonesia volcano unleashes clouds of gas; killing at least 14 people, injuring 3. MOUNT SINABUNG, Indonesia - A rumbling volcano in western Indonesia on Saturday unleashed fresh clouds of searing gas that killed at least 14 people and injured three, only a day after villagers who fled earlier eruptions returned home thinking it was safe, officials said.","Pakistan bats first against Sri Lanka in final. MIRPUR, Bangladesh (AP) — Pakistan captain Misbah-ul-Haq won the toss and decided to bat first against Sri Lanka in the Asia Cup final on Saturday.","Jihadist emir killed by Syria rebels, says monitor. Syrian rebels fighting the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in the north of the country on Wednesday killed a jihadist leader in the town of Saraqeb, a watchdog said. Meanwhile in jihadist-held Raqa, further east, ISIL set free dozens of rebels it had captured in battles over the past few days, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. \"ISIL's emir in Saraqeb (Idlib province) Abul Baraa was shot dead this morning,\" said Rami Abdel Rahman, director of the Britain-based monitoring group. Abul Baraa, a Belgian jihadist of Arab origin, last week warned Syrian rebels to halt an anti-ISIL offensive they launched early January or face suicide attacks against their positions.","2 Ukrainians captured as Crimean base stormed. KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine's Defense Ministry says Russian forces have stormed yet another Ukrainian military base on the Crimean Peninsula and taken two servicemen captive.","Malawi president alleges vote fraud. BLANTYRE, Malawi (AP) — Malawi's president is demanding a vote recount after alleging a national election this week was marred by rigging, though the election commission has dismissed the allegation.","Libya considers calling for international troops. CAIRO (AP) — Libya's interim government says it is considering requesting the international community to send troops to the country after three days of fighting destroyed large parts of the capital's airport.","China-Japan 'Voldemort' attacks up ante in propaganda war. Chinese state media warned Japan on Tuesday of an escalation in the war of public opinion after both countries compared each other to Lord Voldemort, the villain in the Harry Potter stories, in a tit-for-tat diplomatic spat. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's December 26 visit to Tokyo's Yasukuni Shrine, where Japanese leaders convicted as war criminals are enshrined along with other war dead, infuriated China and South Korea and prompted concern from the United States, a key ally.","West Indies win toss and elect to bowl first. ST. GEORGE'S, Grenada (AP) — West Indies captain Dwayne Bravo won the toss here Wednesday and chose to bowl in the first one-day international against Bangladesh at the National Stadium.","Ukraine declares national guard call-up, warns pro-Russia separatists. By Natalia Zinets and Richard Balmforth KIEV (Reuters) - Ukraine's new rulers announced on Sunday a call-up to raise 20,000 men for a newly-created National Guard, accusing Russia of sending \"touring\" trouble-makers across the border to stir up separatism in the country. Keeping tension high as pro-Russian Crimean leaders staged a referendum for the peninsula to secede to Russia, Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk vowed to bring to justice all those who were trying to destroy Ukrainian independence \"under the cover of Russian troops\". Earlier, acting defense minister Ihor Tenyukh said Russia was pressing ahead with a military build-up in Crimea in violation of an agreement covering basing rights for its Black Sea fleet which has been there since Soviet times.","Ukraine ready to talk to Russia, but Europe a priority: acting leader. Acting President Oleksander Turchinov said on Sunday Ukraine was ready to talk to the leadership of Russia to try to improve relations, but made clear that Kiev's return to European integration would be a priority. In an address to the nation, Turchinov said Ukraine's new leadership after the overthrow of Viktor Yanukovich was ready for dialogue with Russia to put their relations on a \"new, equal and good-neighborly footing, that recognizes and takes into account Ukraine's European choice.\" \"Another priority,\" he said, \"is the return to the path of European integration.\" He also said the next government would have the task of stabilizing the economy, which he said was at risk of default.","13 killed, 45 wounded in clashes in Libya's Benghazi: medics. BENGHAZI Libya (Reuters) - At least 13 people have been killed and 45 wounded in clashes between Islamists and forces of renegade general allied to the regular army in Libya's eastern Benghazi city, medics said on Monday. Islamist forces including members of Ansar al-Sharia launched on Monday a new attempt to take the city's civilian and military airport held by forces of renegade general Khalifa Haftar and army special forces. (Reporting by Ayman al-Warfalli; Writing by Ulf Laessing; Editing by Toby Chopra)","Syria court accepts Assad's presidential nomination bid. A Syrian court said on Sunday it had accepted requests from President Bashar al-Assad and two other candidates to be nominated to run in a presidential election next month. Assad's challengers are unlikely to pose a serious threat to the president in the June 3 vote, which his international opponents and the rebels fighting to overthrow him have dismissed as a farce. Syria's opposition leaders in exile are barred from standing by a constitutional clause requiring candidates to have lived in the country continuously for 10 years. The Supreme Constitutional Court had accepted nomination requests from Assad as well as Hassan Abdallah al-Nouri and lawmaker Maher Abdel-Hafiz Hajjar, court spokesman Majid Khadra said in statements broadcast on state television.","Delbonis reaches second round in Chile. VINA DEL MAR, Chile (AP) — Eighth-seeded Federico Delbonis of Argentina defeated Uruguay's Pablo Cuevas 6-3, 6-4 on Tuesday to reach the second round of the Royal Guard Open in Chile.","SOCHI SCENE: Biathletes back to bed. KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia (AP) — Biathletes have seen their daily rhythm at the Sochi Games disturbed by the rescheduling of a race — a race that then didn't go ahead as planned.","Six victims of Chile's 'Caravan of Death' identified. Six victims of an infamous \"Caravan of Death\" that executed some 75 people across Chile following dictator Augusto Pinochet's 1973 coup, have been identified, forensic experts said Friday. The remains of the six were buried in a mass grave near the town of San Pedro de Atacama, in northern Chile. Each had been shot to death, the report by the forensic medical service concluded. One of the dead was journalist Carlos Berger, the husband of a human rights lawyer, who was arrested for refusing to close local radio transmissions the day that Socialist president Salvador Allende was overthrown by the coup.","Suspended UKIP official denies allegations of impropriety. London (AFP) - A senior UKIP official denied on Tuesday allegations of impropriety after a high-profile party candidate claimed he propositioned her on the day he interviewed her.","Syria accuses rebels of planning gas attack near Damascus. By Michelle Nichols UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Syria is charging in a letter to the United Nations that opposition groups are planning a toxic gas attack in a rebel-held area near Damascus so they can then blame it on government security forces. In a letter dated March 25 and circulated by the U.N. this week, Syria's U.N. envoy, Bashar Ja'afari, said his government had intercepted communications between \"terrorists\" that showed a man named Abu Nadir was secretly distributing gas masks in the rebel-held Jobar area. \"The authorities also intercepted another communication between two other terrorists, one of whom is named Abu Jihad,\" Ja'afari said. \"In that communication, Abu Jihad indicates that toxic gas will be used and asked those who are working with him to supply protective masks.\" Ja'afari said in the letter addressed to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and the U.N. Security Council that this information \"confirms that armed terrorist groups are preparing to use toxic gas in Jobar quarter and other areas, in order to accuse the Syrian government of having committed such an act of terrorism.\" A senior Western diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity, said of the Syrian intelligence: \"I don't give any credence to that.\" A United Nations inquiry found in December that sarin gas had likely been used in Jobar in August and also in several other locations, including in the rebel-held Damascus suburb of Ghouta, where hundreds of people were killed.","Hunger striker grows weaker in Trinidad protest. PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad (AP) — An environmental activist on the 58th day of a hunger strike to protest a Trinidad highway project is rebuffing a government offer of dialogue as his health deteriorates.","Bombs against Kurds, other attacks in Iraq kill 40. BAGHDAD (AP) — A double bombing tore through Kurdish political party offices in northern Iraq in the deadliest of a series of attacks nationwide that killed at least 40 people, officials said. It was the second such assault in as many days.","Kuwait emir on mediation mission ahead of GCC talks. The emir of Kuwait visited Qatar and the United Arab Emirates Friday in a bid to bring two of the Gulf's most powerful nations closer ahead of crucial talks next week. Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, who is tasked with kick-starting rapprochement between Doha and its Gulf neighbours, met the Emirati vice president and the crown prince of Abu Dhabi before talks with Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, Gulf news agencies reported. Qatar is accused by other Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) members of supporting the Muslim Brotherhood -- several members of whom are in jail in the UAE -- and offering a safe haven to other banned Islamist groups. Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Bahrain all withdrew their ambassadors to Doha in March, sparking one of the GCC's worst diplomatic rows since its creation in 1981.","13,000 'enslaved' in Britain, says Home Office. London (AFP) - Up to 13,000 people are estimated to be kept in conditions of slavery in Britain, four times higher than was previously thought, officials said Saturday.","Mideast conflicts meet in tiny patch of Lebanon. CHEBAA, Lebanon (AP) — This small, scenic patch of land where the frontiers of Syria, Lebanon and Israel converge has long been a flashpoint, with Hezbollah fighters and Israeli troops positioned face to face in close quarters across undefined and disputed borders.","Briton with Ebola-like symptoms dies in Macedonia: official. Skopje (AFP) - A British national displaying Ebola-like symptoms died in Macedonia on Thursday, health officials said, cautioning that the diagnosis could not be confirmed until a German lab had completed its analysis.","Ukraine leader summons security chiefs to discuss Crimea. KIEV (Reuters) - Ukraine's parliament agreed on Thursday the country should be led by a coalition government and proposed former economy minister Arseny Yatseniuk to lead it as prime minister. \"Our country is on the brink of economic and political collapse,\" he told parliament after his nomination, warning that Ukraine faced threats to its territorial integrity and promising to pursue European integration. (Reporting By Natalia Zinets, Editing by Timothy Heritage)","Canada set to introduce new temporary foreign worker rules: report. Canadian Minister of Employment Jason Kenney is set to bring in at least two new rules for businesses that want to hire temporary foreign workers, including the requirement to pay those workers more, according to a CBC News report. Kenney will also tie the number of temporary foreign workers a company is allowed to the unemployment rate, said the report from late Thursday on CBC's website, which did not identify any sources. The goal is to raise the cost of hiring temporary foreign workers and to make it harder to hire them in regions with higher unemployment, the report said. Last month, Canada said it would not allow restaurants to hire any more temporary foreign workers until the government completed a review of a program set up as a last resort for employers to fill jobs when no qualified Canadians are available.","Puerto Rico to pay for chikungunya virus testing. SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Puerto Rico's health department is paying for laboratory tests that determine whether someone has the chikungunya virus amid an epidemic in the U.S. territory.","China manufacturing growth weak in April. BEIJING (AP) — A survey of Chinese manufacturers shows activity grew weakly in April, adding to signs the world's second-largest economy is cooling.","Auffarth wins eventing at World Equestrian Games. CAEN, France (AP) — Sandra Auffarth of Germany won the individual gold medal in eventing at the World Equestrian Games by riding a clear round on Opgun Louvo in the show jumping portion on Sunday.","Global warming slowdown likely to be brief: U.S., UK science bodies. By Alister Doyle, Environment Correspondent OSLO (Reuters) - A slowdown in the pace of global warming so far this century is likely to be only a pause in a longer-term trend of rising temperatures, the science academies of the United States and Britain said on Thursday. Since an exceptionally warm 1998, there has been \"a short-term slowdown in the warming of Earth's surface,\" Britain's Royal Society and the U.S. National Academy of Sciences said in a report. But, they said, that \"does not invalidate our understanding of long-term changes in global temperature arising from human-induced changes in greenhouse gases.\" The warming slowdown has emboldened those who question the evidence about climate change and ask whether a shift in investments towards renewable energies such as wind and solar power, advocated by many experts, is really needed. A build-up of greenhouse gases from human activities, mainly the burning of fossil fuels, is warming the atmosphere and the oceans, raising sea levels and melting Arctic ice, the report said, supporting the long-held view of a U.N. panel of climate scientists.","Monet, Renoir painting part of copper heiress' 400-piece private trove to be auctioned in NYC. NEW YORK, N.Y. - A New York City auction house says paintings by Claude Monet and Pierre-Auguste Renoir are among 400 items that will be sold from a reclusive copper heiress' private trove this spring.","Jets scrambled to unresponsive aircraft near Cuba. Washington (AFP) - An unresponsive aircraft flew from New York to Cuba Friday, followed by US fighter aircraft that turned away as it entered Cuban airspace, officials said.","New Zealand announces energy company sale. WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — New Zealand is closing the books on a contentious, multibillion dollar program of asset sales.","SOCHI SCENE: Waving the flag. SOCHI, Russia (AP) — When Todd Lodwick leads Team USA into the Olympic stadium on Friday night for the opening ceremony of the Sochi Games, the responsibility of the role of flagbearer won't be the only thing weighing on him.","Jordan Spieth pulls ahead at the Masters. AUGUSTA, Ga. (AP) — Jordan Spieth has holed out from a bunker and pushed himself to a two-shot lead in the final round of the Masters.","West readying sanctions after Crimea vote. LONDON (AP) — With little hope of halting a vote to separate a strategic Ukraine peninsula from the rest of the country, the West is readying to impose harsh sanctions on Russia for what U.S. officials described as Moscow's insistence in undermining the new upstart government in Kiev, and fueling tensions among those who oppose it.","Ronaldo cuts short training session for Portugal. CAMPINAS, Brazil (AP) — Cristiano Ronaldo cut short a training session with Portugal on Thursday, leaving the field with an ice pack over his left knee — indicating that his tendinitis may still be bothering the star forward.","Bradley Cooper to play mob informant in 'American Blood'. Shipped off to New Mexico as part of a witness protection program but with his safety put into jeopardy as a new case starts to unravel, potential franchise star and NYPD officer Marshall Grade is to be played by Bradley Cooper. The film is based on the fourth novel by New Zealand author Ben Sanders. Cooper is also to act as producer on the Warner Bros. film;","32 Turkish truck drivers freed in Iraq. BAGHDAD (AP) — Turkey's foreign minister has confirmed that 32 truck drivers captured in Iraq last month have been released.","UK offers extra fighter jets to Baltics to calm nerves over Russia. Britain will offer to deploy more fighter jets in the Baltic states to reassure its NATO allies in the face of Russian tension with the West over Ukraine, Prime Minister David Cameron said on Tuesday. Cameron said Britain would offer to send two more Typhoon jets to the Baltics, joining four others it sent last month to carry out air patrols over Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Britain would take part in enhanced NATO exercises in the region scheduled for the coming months, he said, and was considering other ways it could provide logistical support to the Baltic states.","German foreign minister: response to alleged U.S. spying was right. Germany's decision to ask the CIA station chief in Berlin to leave the country was an adequate, inevitable response following fresh allegations of U.S. spying on Berlin, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said on Friday. \"Our decision to ask the current representative of the U.S. intelligence services to leave Germany is the right decision, a necessary step and a fitting reaction to the break of trust which has occurred,\" Steinmeier told reporters. He would tell U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry in Vienna on the weekend that Germany was eager to revive that partnership on the basis of mutual trust.","Dark days disappear for transformed England. Drenched in champagne and surrounded by jubilant teammates, England captain Alastair Cook held his arms aloft and savored the feeling of winning a test series again.","Barcelona's Pique, Puyol to miss Osasuna match. BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Barcelona will be without defenders Gerard Pique and Carles Puyol for Sunday's Spanish league home match against Osasuna.","French transport minister: Air Algerie flight disappeared over northern Mali. PARIS (AP) — French transport minister: Air Algerie flight disappeared over northern Mali.","Top general says Russia will respond to increase in NATO activity near its border. Russia's top general said on Friday that Moscow would take steps to respond to what he said was increased NATO activity near its border amid the crisis in Ukraine. \"The intensity, the operational and combat readiness of the (western military) alliance's troops is being increased near the Russian border. In these circumstances ... We have to take retaliatory measures,\" General Valery Gerasimov, the chief of general staff of the Russian armed forces, said.","Soldiers fire on Central African Republic crowd. BANGUI, Central African Republic (AP) — Witnesses say Burundian peacekeepers in Central African Republic have fired on a crowd in the capital to disrupt anti-Muslim violence, injuring at least six people.","Spain govt warns Catalonia against using public funds for poll. A Spanish central government official on Thursday warned the wealthy region of Catalonia that it is banned from using public resources to stage a symbolic independence referendum this weekend. Spain's Constitutional Court on Tuesday ordered the Catalan government to suspend the planned vote but regional leader Artur Mas has vowed to press ahead with Sunday's ballot, which will be organised by volunteers without an official electoral roll. \"Efforts to use public resources to stage the consultation or other actions linked to it could go against the court ruling,\" the central government's representative wrote in a letter sent to the Catalan government according to a copy obtained by AFP. Mas announced the symbolic vote after the Constitutional Court suspended earlier plans for a non-binding referendum on secession in September.","Tiffany sales rise 4 percent in holiday season. (Reuters) - U.S. jeweler Tiffany & Co reported a 4 percent rise in sales through November and December, helped by strong demand in America and Asia. Comparable store sales rose 6 percent in the two-month period, excluding the impact of currency fluctuations. Net sales rose to $1.03 billion in the holiday season, helped by a 6 percent rise in sales in the Americas region and a 5 percent rise in Asia, excluding Japan.","Explosions in east Ukraine threaten ceasefire. Powerful explosions in a key frontline city in eastern Ukraine on Saturday raised fears that a day-old truce between government and rebel forces had already collapsed. Numerous explosions were heard and thick smoke was visible on the horizon of Mariupol, a government-held port city in the east of the country. A checkpoint held by Ukraine loyalists seemed to be on fire late on Saturday, according to AFP journalists close to the scene. The renewed violence came just hours after a phone call between Ukraine's President Petro Poroshenko and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, who agreed that a ceasefire signed on Friday \"was generally being observed\".","British Open underway with all eyes on Tiger. HOYLAKE, England (AP) — David Howell hit the first shot of the 143rd British Open on Thursday. He also was the first to hit in the rough, and the first to make a bogey.","S.African banks fined for lax anti-money laundering controls. South Africa's central bank fined four of the country's biggest commercial banks on Wednesday for weak controls against money laundering and financing for terrorism. The banks -- including Absa, FirstRand, Nedbank and Africa's largest operator Standard Bank -- were charged a total of 125 million rand ($11.8 million). Standard Bank was found to have failed to meet its obligations to report cash transactions above 24,999.99 rand ($2,374) to the financial intelligence centre. \"The required action plans will be closely monitored and progress will be tracked and reported to the (South African Reserve Bank) on a regular basis.\"","V. Williams out of China Open with viral illness. BEIJING (AP) — Venus Williams withdrew from the China Open with a viral illness on Thursday shortly before her third-round match against Petra Kvitova.","Messi injures leg muscle in Barcelona win. BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Lionel Messi picked up a leg injury in Barcelona's 1-0 win at Villarreal on Sunday.","Saudi deports quarter million migrants in 3 months. RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) — Saudi Arabia says it has deported \"more than a quarter million\" foreign migrant workers from the kingdom over the past three months.","Jamaica police say 3 children die in fire. KINGSTON, Jamaica (AP) — A fire that consumed a home in western Jamaica has claimed the lives of three children.","F1's latest rules leaves cars quieter, slower. MADRID (AP) — Formula One's latest changes mean the sexy purr of engines and the violent throttle of speed won't quite be what they used to be.","Bailiffs start clearing Hong Kong protest site. Bailiffs on Thursday started dismantling barricades at Hong Kong's main protest site after more than two months of pro-democracy rallies that demonstrators say have redefined the city's vexed relationship with Beijing. Police said they were preparing to move in after the bailiffs to clear the rest of the Admiralty protest camp, but hundreds of protesters remained gathered, vowing the struggle would go on in some form.","China sacks senior energy official amid corruption crackdown: Xinhua. The deputy director of China's National Energy Association (NEA), who was under investigation for taking bribes, has been sacked as a crackdown on the power body widens, state media reported on Wednesday. Xu Yongsheng was placed under investigation last week, one of a series of probes into the energy sector. The official Xinhua news agency reported on its microblog account on Wednesday that Xu had been removed from office. Three other officials, including Wang Jun, head of the NEA's renewable energy department, Hao Weiping, director of the nuclear power department, and Wei Pengyuan, deputy director of the coal department, are under investigation, Xinhua has said.","Chester gaffe sees West Ham edge 10-man Hull. West Ham United eased their Premier League relegation fears by snapping a run of three consecutive defeats with a 2-1 victory at home to Hull City on Wednesday. Hull were reduced to 10 men mid-way through the first half when goalkeeper Allan McGregor was sent off for a foul on Mohamed Diame, with Mark Noble putting West Ham ahead from the resulting penalty.","Saudi Arabian security man shot dead in Riyadh: police. DUBAI (Reuters) - A gunman holding three laborers hostage in the Saudi capital Riyadh shot dead a member of the security forces when police tried to free the captives, police said on Monday. The gunman was later arrested and the three laborers were freed, a police statement on Sunday's incident said. There was no immediate word on the man's identity or his motivation. \"An unknown man carrying an automatic weapon took three laborers hostage near al-Hamoud mosque ... and threatened to shoot passersby,\" state news agency SPA quoted a Riyadh police spokesman as saying in a statement. ...","Libya is paying for legal defense of al Qaeda suspect al-Liby: filings. By Joseph Ax NEW YORK (Reuters) - The Libyan government is paying to defend alleged senior al Qaeda figure Anas al-Liby against U.S. terrorism charges, according to court filings unsealed on Monday. Al-Liby, whose real name is Nazih al-Ragye, was seized by U.S. forces in October in Libya and brought to the United States to face criminal charges in connection with the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. No one could be immediately reached for comment on Monday at the Libyan embassy in Washington. During a court hearing last week, Al-Liby’s lawyer, Bernard Kleinman, told U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan that a foreign government was paying his fees but declined to identify the country.","France's Iliad challenges Sprint for control of T-Mobile. By Soyoung Kim and Leila Abboud PARIS/NEW YORK (Reuters) - French telecommunications company Iliad SA has made a surprise offer for T-Mobile US Inc , setting up a potential bidding war with Sprint Corp , the U.S. mobile carrier now controlled by Japan's Softbank Corp . The market and its relatively healthy margins remain alluring to some foreign operators like Softbank and Iliad, however. Iliad, which has shaken up the French mobile and broadband market in the past decade with its cheap, pared-down subscriber plans, bid $15 billion in cash for 56.6 percent of T-Mobile US at $33 per share, it said in a statement on Thursday. The Paris-based company said its offer for the fourth-largest U.S. carrier values all of T-Mobile at $36.20 per share, a premium of 42 percent over the pre-announcement share price, once expected cost savings of $10 billion were taken into account.","US seeks tougher safety standards for farmworkers. WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is seeking to strengthen 20-year-old standards aimed at protecting farmworkers from toxic pesticides.","Kosovo police jail 15 suspected Islamic radicals. PRISTINA, Kosovo (AP) — Kosovo police say they have arrested 15 people suspected of links with Islamic radicals, including Muslim clerics and a politician.","Israel president Rivlin to usher in new era, say analysts. The election of populist hawk Reuven Rivlin as Israeli president ushers in a new diplomatic era and highlights Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's growing isolation within his own party, analysts say. The 74-year-old Jerusalem native 'Ruby' Rivlin -- a veteran member of Netanyahu's rightwing Likud party -- will succeed dovish elder statesman Shimon Peres, but is unlikely to make his presence felt anywhere near as much on the international stage. Reuven Hazan, a politics chair at Jerusalem's Hebrew University, said Rivlin would respect the \"largely... ceremonial and symbolic position\" of the presidency. In two terms as speaker, Rivlin was a \"champion of the Israeli parliament against the Israeli government, even though he was a member of the majority,\" Hazan said.","May aide quits in 'Islamist' schools row. Home Secretary Theresa May's special adviser has resigned in a row between two prominent government ministers over claims that Islamists took control of some schools in Birmingham. Fiona Cunningham quit on Saturday night after Prime Minister David Cameron received the results of a civil service review into the dispute between May and Education Secretary Michael Gove.","Police: 88-year-old man shoots, critically injures wife at Nevada hospital; suspect in custody. RENO, Nev. - An 88-year-old man accused of shooting and critically wounding his wife Sunday at a Nevada hospital was placed on suicide watch at a local jail, authorities said.","Golf - Chalmers wins Australian PGA. - Australia's Greg Chalmers won the Australian PGA Championship following a dramatic seven-hole playoff against world No.3 Adam Scott on the Gold Coast.","'40 percent' of Madagascar budget lost to corruption: PM. Madagascar's Prime Minister Roger Kolo has vowed to stamp out corruption after revealing that 40 percent of his country's budget is lost to graft. \"The independent anti-corruption bureau, created in 2004, will be restructured and the second national stage of the fight against corruption will be adopted soon,\" said Kolo, who was named prime minister in April. According to Madagascar's 2014 Finance Act, its national budget should be 940 million euros ($1.3 billion).","Cricket-Australia's Hughes to undergo scans after surgery. (Adds details) SYDNEY, Nov 26 (Reuters) - Australia cricketer Phillip Hughes remains in critical condition and will have more scans on Wednesday after undergoing emergency surgery to relieve pressure on his brain at a Sydney hospital. The batsman suffered a severe head injury when he was struck by a ball during a domestic match at the Sydney Cricket Ground on Tuesday. ...","Go For the Food: Inside and outside stadium, many options in New Jersey for Super Bowl foodies. EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. - Buffalo wings and chicken fingers, take a breather. Crab dip and curly fries, sit this one out. For Super Bowl foodies, New Jersey offers a mash-up of delicacies representing just about every culture on the planet.","Putin urges end to blockade of Trans-Dniester. MOSCOW (AP) — President Vladimir Putin has urged Ukraine to reopen trade and transportation routes into Moldova's separatist province of Trans-Dniester.","Mourinho confirms Chelsea's Fabregas interest. Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho has confirmed that his side are interested in signing former Arsenal midfielder Cesc Fabregas from Barcelona. Asked if Chelsea had an interest in the Spain international, Mourinho told reporters in London: \"We have some. Fabregas, 27, returned to Barcelona, his formative club, from Arsenal in August 2011 and has won five trophies over the past three seasons at Camp Nou.","Libya parliament wants new government, cabinet demands more power. By Ahmed Elumani and Ulf Laessing TRIPOLI, April 8 (Reuters) - Libya's parliament asked Prime Minister Abdullah al-Thinni on Tuesday to form a new government within a week after the cabinet demanded more powers to tackle the disorder crippling the OPEC country. The weak central government, which must be reconfirmed by parliament every two weeks, has asked for a longer mandate to deal with Libya's competing political parties, rival militias, regional demands and rebels disrupting the oil industry. But General National Congress (GNC) spokesman Omar Hmeidan said the parliament would only decide after formation of a new cabinet whether the caretaker government could stay on until a general election expected later this year. In a sign of the confusion surrounding politics in Libya, the state news agency LANA as well as Libyan and Arab television stations had earlier reported that the cabinet had quit.","Siemens and Mitsubishi to challenge GE with Alstom offer. By Jens Hack and Benjamin Mallet MUNICH/PARIS (Reuters) - Germany's Siemens and Japan's Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) will present a joint offer to France's Alstom in Paris on Monday, challenging a General Electric bid that sparked French government concern about retaining jobs and industry expertise. Siemens chief executive Joe Kaeser and Mitsubishi chief executive Shunichi Miyanaga were due to meet Alstom officials in Paris on Monday afternoon, a source close to the Japanese firm in France said, and will meet French President Francois Hollande on Tuesday at 0825 GMT, his office said. Sources close to the bidders say they will propose that Siemens acquire Alstom's gas turbines business while MHI inject cash and industrial assets into a joint venture in steam turbines.","Egypt sets appeal hearing for Al Jazeera staff. CAIRO (AP) — The brother of an imprisoned Al-Jazeera reporter says a Cairo court has set the appeals hearing for three staffers of the Qatar-based broadcaster convicted in Egypt.","Netanyahu says Israel will intensify the Gaza campaign if Hamas rejects cease-fire. JERUSALEM (AP) — Netanyahu says Israel will intensify the Gaza campaign if Hamas rejects cease-fire.","Euro zone economy looking set to contract in the new year: PMI. By Jonathan Cable LONDON (Reuters) - Heavy discounting failed to stop euro zone business activity growing less than thought last month, a survey showed on Wednesday, suggesting the bloc's economy may contract again early next year. \"The region is on course to see a mere 0.1 percent GDP growth in the final quarter of the year, with a strong likelihood of the near-stagnation turning to renewed contraction in the new year unless demand shows signs of reviving,\" said Chris Williamson, survey compiler Markit's chief economist. A Reuters poll last month predicted 0. ...","Malawi president orders election re-run, will not be candidate. By Frank Phiri LILONGWE (Reuters) - Malawi's President Joyce Banda said on Saturday she was annulling the country's presidential election because of \"irregularities\" and ordered a fresh vote in 90 days, adding she would no longer stand for re-election. Malawi's electoral commission (MEC) had received multiple complaints of irregularities following the May 20 vote, including from Banda's People Party. The MEC released preliminary results on Saturday showing opposition Democratic Progressive Party candidate Peter Mutharika leading with 42 percent of the vote, followed by Banda with 23 percent.","New Libyan premier's home is attacked. TRIPOLI, Libya (AP) — A government official says the Libyan premier, who was recently approved in a contested parliamentary vote, was unharmed in an attack on his home that set off a gunbattle with guards.","5 Things to know about Tuesday's state dinner. WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama welcomes French President Francois Hollande to the White House on Tuesday for an awkwardly timed state dinner, coming on the heels of Hollande's recent and very public split from Valerie Trierweiler, his longtime partner and de facto first lady. Here are five things to know about the dinner:","Brandle takes another stage, but Dowsett leads. London (AFP) - Austria's Matthias Brandle clinched his second consecutive stage victory in the Tour of Britain on Friday, but Movistar's Alex Dowsett is the new overall leader.","NATO names Norway's Stoltenberg as next leader. By Adrian Croft and Balazs Koranyi BRUSSELS/OSLO (Reuters) - NATO chose former Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg as its next leader on Friday at a time when the Western military alliance must deal with a resurgent Russia following its annexation of Ukraine's Crimea. Stoltenberg will take over as secretary-general of the 28-nation grouping on October 1, succeeding former Danish prime minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen, who has led NATO since 2009. Stoltenberg, the first Norwegian to occupy NATO's top post, will take over at a time when NATO, seen by some as a Cold War relic, has gained new relevance because of concerns about what the Ukraine crisis says about a newly assertive Russia.","EU lawmakers approve Hill for finance commissioner. BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Britain's Jonathan Hill was endorsed to oversee the European Union's financial services and banking sectors on Wednesday in a vote by a committee of the European Parliament, lawmakers said. Several members of the committee tweeted that British Conservative Hill, who was forced to \"resit\" his confirmation hearing due to reservations among many lawmakers, was approved by a vote 42-16 for the post. Members earlier voted 45-13 to accept his nomination to the European Commission in general. (Reporting by Alastair Macdonald; Editing by Alison Williams)","NHC says 70 percent chance of cyclone in mid-Atlantic. (Reuters) - An area of low pressure located in the mid-Atlantic ocean, about 1,000 miles (1600 km) west-southwest of the Cape Verde Islands, has a high, or 70 percent chance, of becoming a tropical cyclone during the next 48 hours, the U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC) said on Tuesday in its latest update. \"A tropical depression could form during the next day or so while the system moves westward or west-northwest ward at 10 to 15 miles per hour (16-24 kph),\" the Miami-based weather forecaster said. (Reporting by Anupam Chatterjee in Bangalore; Editing by Sunil Nair)","Iraq's Maliki finally steps aside, paving way for new government. By Raheem Salman and Michael Georgy BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Nuri al-Maliki finally bowed to pressure within Iraq and beyond on Thursday and stepped down as prime minister, paving the way for a new coalition that world and regional powers hope can quash a Sunni Islamist insurgency that threatens Baghdad. Maliki ended eight years of often divisive, sectarian rule and endorsed fellow Shi'ite Haider al-Abadi in a televised speech during which he stood next to his successor and spoke of the grave threat from Sunni Islamic State militants who have taken over large areas of northern Iraq. \"I announce before you today, to ease the movement of the political process and the formation of the new government, the withdrawal of my candidacy in favor of brother Dr. Haider al-Abadi,\" Maliki said. Maliki's decision was likely to please Iraq's Sunni minority, which dominated Iraq under Saddam Hussein's iron rule but was sidelined by Maliki, a relative unknown when he came to power in 2006 with U.S. backing.","Wildfire near California-Oregon border 'extreme,' firefighters say. Firefighters battling a fast-moving Northern California blaze said Wednesday they expect a second day of extreme conditions, as heat and high winds spur a lightning-sparked wildfire near the Oregon border. The so-called Happy Camp Fire has been burning in the Klamath National Forest since Aug. 11, consuming 72,000 acres and costing an estimated $41 million so far in firefighting costs. \"Yesterday, we had an increase in extreme fire behavior ... and we do expect the same extreme fire today, said Paul Gibbs, a fire spokesman for the U.S. Tuesday night, the Siskiyou County Sheriff's Office expanded an evacuation order for communities threatened by the blaze, and closed a portion of State Highway 96.","Taiwan president calls on China to move toward democracy. TAIPEI (Reuters) - Taiwan's president on Friday urged China to move toward a more democratic style of development, reiterating his strong support for pro-democracy demonstrations in Chinese-ruled Hong Kong. Ma Ying-jeou used his speech at Taiwan's National Day celebrations to discuss the island's own democratic development in remarks that appeared to show Beijing that Taiwan would never give up its own democracy and rule of law. China and Taiwan have been ruled separately since defeated Nationalist forces fled to the island in 1949 after losing a civil war to the communists. ...","Moscow says NATO inventing Russian threat over Ukraine. By Gabriela Baczynska and Jason Hovet MOSCOW/PRAGUE (Reuters) - Russia accused NATO on Thursday of using the Ukraine crisis to justify its existence by creating an imaginary threat, while the alliance's head urged Moscow to pull its troops back from the Ukrainian border. NATO published satellite pictures it said showed Russia's military buildup, but Moscow immediately dismissed them, saying they were from last August. ...","Billionaire Berggruen drops stake in German chain. BERLIN (AP) — German-American billionaire Nicolas Berggruen has given up his stake in Germany's Karstadt department store chain after failing to turn the ailing company around.","Bitterly fought India election campaign enters final day. Campaigning in India's bitterly fought election entered its last day Saturday ahead of next week's final voting with the Hindu nationalist opposition already scenting victory. Rahul Gandhi, heading the campaign of the ruling Congress party which is seen heading for a crushing defeat, sought to muster a final show of strength in the holy Hindu city Varanasi. The city, on the sacred river Ganges, is being contested by Narendra Modi, tipped to lead the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to power after a decade in opposition. The broader national battle is between Congress and the BJP in the election, whose results are due next Friday.","British patient being treated for Ebola. LONDON (AP) — Scottish authorities say a health care worker who has just returned from Sierra Leone has been diagnosed with Ebola and is being treated in a Glasgow hospital.","US would be boosted with at least tie vs Ghana. NATAL, Brazil (AP) — The skies may clear by Monday night, when the United States plays Ghana in the World Cup opener.","Thailand's turmoil spotlights a colorful country. BANGKOK (AP) — Thailand's latest round of political turmoil has prompted the army to declare martial law, once again propelling into international headlines a colorful country known for its beaches and pagodas, spicy food and nightlife, and relative prosperity in a developing region. Here's a look in closer focus at some of Thailand's significance:","Honduras halts search for 8 trapped miners. TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras (AP) — The government of Honduras says it is suspending the search for eight miners trapped for six days in a collapsed gold mine in the south of the country.","US worried to very end about Bergdahl's release. WASHINGTON (AP) — Right up until the moment Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl was freed, U.S. officials weren't sure the Taliban would really release the only American soldier held captive in Afghanistan in exchange for high-level militants detained at Guantanamo Bay.","Argentine federal police stage 'mega' drug raids. BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — Argentina's federal government is making a huge show of force against drug trafficking, sending more than 3,000 federal agents to raid more than 80 drug \"bunkers\" in the city of Rosario, where the death toll is soaring from a bloody turf war.","European Parliament to honor George HW Bush. COLLEGE STATION, Texas (AP) — Former President George H.W. Bush is to receive an award from the European Parliament next week as part of events marking the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.","Ousted Libyan PM's plane stops in Malta. A plane carrying Libya's fugitive ex-prime minister Ali Zeidan stopped briefly to refuel in Malta shortly after he was ousted from power, Malta's Prime Minister Joseph Muscat said Wednesday. \"The plane stopped in Malta for two hours to refuel before proceeding to another European country,\" Muscat said in a television interview, without confirming its final destination. Libya's top prosecutor late Tuesday slapped a travel ban on Zeidan because of his suspected involvement in the embezzlement of public funds. Muscat said he met Zeidan briefly during the stopover.","U.N. Security Council demands access to Ukraine plane crash site. By Michelle Nichols UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The United Nations Security Council on Monday condemned the downing of a Malaysian passenger plane in Ukraine with 298 people on board and demanded that armed groups allow \"safe, secure, full and unrestricted access\" to the crash site. The 15-member council unanimously adopted a resolution drafted by Australia, which lost 28 citizens in the crash, demanding those responsible \"be held to account and that all states cooperate fully with efforts to establish accountability.\" \"We owe it to the victims and their families to determine what happened and who was responsible,\" said Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop, who traveled to New York to negotiate the U.N. resolution. Separatists in east Ukraine have been fighting government forces since protesters in Kiev forced out a pro-Moscow president and Russia annexed Crimea in March. Bishop told the council that Russia \"must use its influence over the separatists\" to ensure access to the site.","OECD sees plans by G20 nations topping global growth target. By Lincoln Feast and Jane Wardell BRISBANE Australia (Reuters) - The OECD said on Friday the plans of G20 nations to boost the world economy could beat their target of adding 2 percentage points to global growth by 2018, though geopolitical risks such as Ukraine and Ebola were mounting. Angel Gurria, the secretary-general of the Paris-based Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, said that the more than 1,000 measures proposed since February would exceed the target, over the next five years, if implemented. ...","Futures point to a flat opening for Canadian stocks. (Reuters) - Canadian stocks looked set to open flat to slightly lower on Thursday with June futures on the S&P TSX index down 0.07 percent at 0715 ET. Manufacturing sales data is due at 0830 ET. The index was little changed on Wednesday as a gain for gold miners on higher bullion prices was offset by weakness in the energy sector, while healthcare shares fell with Valeant Pharmaceuticals after it said it would sweeten its takeover offer for Allergan Inc . Dow Jones Industrial Average futures were down 0.06 percent at 0715 ET while S&P 500 futures were down 0. ...","Mali's first post-war premier resigns. Mali's first post-war prime minister has been replaced just six months into office after announcing the resignation of his entire government, a statement from the presidency said on Saturday. President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita made leading economist Oumar Tatam Ly his prime minister in September as the troubled west African nation began to set up a government charged with turning the page on months of political chaos and war. \"The president of the republic... has brought to an end the duties of Prime Minister Oumar Tatam Ly, upon receipt of the resignation of the government of the republic,\" a statement from Keita's office read out on state television said. Keita appointed planning minister Moussa Mara to take over from Ly and asked him to form a new government, the statement said.","McNuggets pulled from sale in HK after meat scare. HONG KONG (AP) — McDonald's restaurants in Hong Kong have taken chicken nuggets and chicken filet burgers off the menu after a U.S.-owned supplier in mainland China was accused of selling expired meat.","Holidays, lost business in Brazil WCup's lazy days. RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Instead of commuting to work, Catia Santiago spent her Monday morning on the golden sands of Rio de Janeiro's Copacabana beach, soaking up the sunshine without a pang of guilt, thanks to the World Cup.","Syria-related clashes erupt overnight in Beirut. BEIRUT (AP) — Syria-related clashes between supporters and opponents of Syrian President Bashar Assad have prompted Lebanese troops to deploy to a Beirut neighborhood to calm tensions.","World Cup debut on legendary grounds awaits Bosnia. RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Bosnia-Herzegovina will make its World Cup debut against a two-time world champion led by one of the greatest players in the game at the legendary Maracana stadium.","Wasps back in mix with bonus, Quins in control of pool. Paris (AFP) - Two-time European champions Wasps roared back into contention for a quarter-final place with a bonus point 32-17 win away at ailing French side Castres on Sunday in the European Champions Cup.","New Zealand PM storms to third term but faces slowing growth ahead. By Naomi Tajitsu WELLINGTON (Reuters) - Prime Minister John Key secured New Zealand's first majority government in almost 20 years on a promise to maintain a strong economy, but slowing growth in China may challenge his outlook and also threaten fiscal discipline. Key's center-right National party stormed to a third straight term in general elections on Saturday after promising to stay on the path of economic growth and fiscal prudence, despite one of the roughest campaigns in recent years. ...","Russia's Lavrov says Moscow concerned by German leaders. By Thomas Grove MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia said on Tuesday it was concerned by the behavior of German leaders and warned that Europe would suffer if Berlin stopped playing a constructive role in relations between Moscow and the West. Under Chancellor Angela Merkel, Berlin has taken the lead in trying to convince President Vladimir Putin to engage with the West during the crisis in Ukraine but her criticism of Moscow has sharpened in the last few weeks. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov signaled that Moscow would not be lectured to and its patience was running out. ...","Sudan release woman on death row for apostasy. KHARTOUM, Sudan (AP) — A Sudanese woman on death row for apostasy had her sentence canceled and was released by a Khartoum court on Monday, her lawyer and state media said.","US gives Lebanon Hellfire missiles, pledges aircraft. The United States has delivered Hellfire missiles to the Lebanese army and will also provide it with light aircraft including an armed Cessna, the US ambassador to Lebanon said Friday. David Hale, in a statement after meeting Prime Minister Tammam Salam, said the aircraft would be bought with Saudi funds recently pledged to the Lebanese army. \"This week brought the delivery of more Hellfire missiles to the Lebanese Army.\"","Costa Rica makes 2 changes to lineup vs England. BELO HORIZONTE, Brazil (AP) — Costa Rica has made two changes to its lineup from its wins over Uruguay and Italy, with coach Jorge Luis Pinto deciding to rest a couple of players before the knockout phase begins.","Samsung posts 48.8% drop in Q3 net profit. Seoul (AFP) - Samsung Electronics said Thursday its third-quarter net profit plunged nearly 50 percent from a year ago amid growing competition from Chinese rivals in the increasingly saturated market.","Obama speaks out on Iran, Syria struggles. WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama weighed into two international struggles Tuesday, vowing to come down like \"a ton of bricks\" on firms that violate sanctions against Iran and acknowledging that Syrian peace talks are far from reaching their goal.","Clashes between Islamists, rivals in Libya kill 31. CAIRO (AP) — A Libyan security official says clashes in the eastern city of Benghazi between Islamists and rival fighters loyal to a renegade general have killed 31 on both sides.","Mercedes pushes for Red Bull sanction in dispute. PARIS (AP) — Mercedes tore into Formula One rival Red Bull at an appeals court hearing Monday over the disqualification of Daniel Ricciardo at the Australian Grand Prix, saying the team flouted rules and must be shown a \"yellow card\" to stop it from becoming a repeat offender.","Tennis-Sharapova dumped out of Australian Open by Cibulkova. MELBOURNE, Jan 20 (Reuters) - Third seed Maria Sharapova was dumped out of the Australian Open fourth round when she suffered a 3-6 6-4 6-1 loss to Slovakia's Dominika Cibulkova on Rod Laver Arena on Monday. Sharapova's demise came a day after Serbia's Ana Ivanovic beat world number one and title favourite Serena Williams, also in the fourth round. (Reporting by Greg Stutchbury in Wellington; Editing by Peter Rutherford)","Valcke: FIFA faces 'years' to rebuild reputation. BELFAST, Northern Ireland (AP) — FIFA Secretary General Jerome Valcke acknowledged Tuesday that it will take \"years to rebuild our reputation\" following the World Cup bidding corruption investigation.","Ukraine crisis forces U.S. to bolster Europe forces. By Global Defense Correspondent Peter Apps WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Only last year, the U.S. European Command was facing some of the deepest cuts of any region in the U.S. military. Now, after Russia's annexation of Crimea, the Pentagon finds itself focusing on the continent in a way not seen in decades. Earlier this month, U.S. President Barack Obama said he would ask Congress for an additional $1 billion to increase Washington's military commitment to the continent. Last week, the U.S. Air Force said it had deployed two B-2 stealth bombers to England, joining two B-52s sent earlier this month. The two aircraft are America's premier nuclear bombers. Washington has sent additional warships to the Black Sea and the Baltic, F-15, F-16 jets and early warning AWACS aircraft to join ramped up NATO patrols near Russian airspace and troops to train in Germany and Eastern Europe. With fighting raging in eastern Ukraine between pro-Moscow forces and troops loyal to Kiev, Washington says Russia has put large numbers of troops on the border and may be preparing to deliver tanks and artillery to the separatists.","Video campaign brings stories of domestic violence to U.S. public. By Maria Caspani NEW YORK (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - One night, Ebony was lying in bed in her New York apartment, exhausted after working all day and taking care of the children, when her partner walked into their bedroom, drunk and demanding sex. As she refused, he became enraged and started hitting her. At the time, Ebony was pregnant with her fifth child. The abuse, both physical and verbal, had been going on for some time but it wasn't until that night, when her 14-year-old daughter walked into the room and saw her struggling as her partner abused her, that Ebony left. ...","Modern slavery 'traps 35.8 million people'. Or that it only exists in countries ravaged by war and poverty,\" said Andrew Forrest, chairman of the Australian-based Walk Free Foundation which produced the report. The foundation's definition of modern slavery includes slavery-like practices such as debt bondage, forced marriage and the sale or exploitation of children, as well as human trafficking and forced labour. The report, which covers 167 countries, said modern slavery contributed to the production of at least 122 goods from 58 countries. The International Labour Organization (ILO) estimates profits from this forced labour are $150 billion (120 billion euros) a year.","Israel invades Gaza after Hamas rejects truce. Thousands of Israeli soldiers invaded the Gaza Strip on Thursday, a military spokesman said, escalating a 10-day military operation to try to destroy Hamas' weapons arsenal, rocket firing abilities and tunnels under the Palestinian territory's border with Israel.","Va. AG's office says state's gay marriage ban is unconstitutional; will no longer defend it. RICHMOND, Va. - Virginia's attorney general has concluded that the state's ban on gay marriage is unconstitutional and he will no longer defend it in federal lawsuits challenging it, his office said Thursday.","Brazil's President Rousseff launches re-election bid. Brasília (AFP) - Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff formally launched her re-election bid on Saturday, leading in opinion polls despite lingering discontent over World Cup costs. Her leftist Workers Party (PT) approved her candidacy in a voice vote of 800 members meeting at a convention in Brasilia, with the popular former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on hand. She is well ahead of Social Democratic Senator Aecio Neves, with 21 percent, and socialist ex-governor Eduardo Campos, a former ally, with 10 percent. The PT convention turned into a defense of the World Cup, with promises of changes in a new Rousseff administration following protests over hosting the tournament that began June 12 and ends July 13.","Italy PM Renzi's reform plans hit resistance in Senate. By Roberto Landucci ROME (Reuters) - Prime Minister Matteo Renzi's plans to slash the powers of Italy's Senate, a key element of his reform agenda, have run into trouble, with opposition politicians submitting nearly 8,000 amendments to delay its approval. The plans to reduce the upper house Senate to a small chamber made up largely of local politicians and stripped of its power to pass most national laws or hold votes of no-confidence in the government are intended to streamline lawmaking and avoid a repetition of the deadlock after last year's election. Under Italy's current system, both houses of parliament have almost exactly equal powers but are elected under separate rules that make it difficult for one party to secure an overall majority in the two chambers.","10,000 evacuated after WWII dud bomb found near Berlin. Berlin (AFP) - About 10,000 people had to be evacuated on Thursday after an unexploded 250-kilogramme (550-pound) World War II bomb was discovered in a city near the German capital.","Van Persie sees Ferguson echo in Giggs's words. Manchester United striker Robin van Persie believes he has seen signs of Alex Ferguson's management style during Ryan Giggs's brief time in the Old Trafford hotseat. Giggs, English football's most decorated player and a one-club man, was put in caretaker charge of United after the faltering club sacked manager David Moyes. The 40-year-old oversaw his second win from three matches as interim manager when United beat Hull 3-1 at Old Trafford on Tuesday, with James Wilson scoring two goals on debut and Dutch forward van Persie also on target. Dethroned champions United finish their season away to Southampton on Sunday amid speculation that the club's owners, the US-based Glazer family, are set to appoint experienced Netherlands coach Louis van Gaal as the new permanent manager.","Sudan's Bashir hails ICC decision to halt Darfur probe. Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir Saturday hailed the International Criminal Court's suspension of its investigations into alleged war crimes in Darfur, accusing it of trying to \"humiliate and subjugate\" his country. Bashir is wanted by the ICC over alleged war crimes in the western region, where the government has been trying to crush an insurgency since 2003. The ICC's prosecutor Fatou Bensouda said on Friday she was halting investigations, and criticised the UN Security Council for failing to push for Bashir's arrest.","Early snow falls on northern U.S., cold sweeping south. By Brendan O'Brien (Reuters) - An Arctic blast began to dump heavy snows in parts of the northern Rockies and Plains and the Great Lakes regions on Monday as temperatures are expected to plummet throughout the United States, according to meteorologists. The National Weather Service has issued winter storm warnings and watches for a wide swath of the northern U.S. from northern Idaho to northern Michigan with predictions of more than a foot of snow in many areas and temperatures dipping 20 to 30 degrees below normal. ...","GM boosts truck discounts in April after sales lag Chrysler. DETROIT (Reuters) - General Motors Co again boosted discounts on its full-size Chevrolet Silverado pickups after being outsold in March by Chrysler's Ram 1500. On its consumer website, Chevrolet on Thursday was offering discounts of up to $8,162 on the light-duty Silverado 1500 and up to $8,974 on the heavy-duty Silverado 2500HD. Some dealer discounts around the United States were even higher -- up to around $10,000 -- on the Silverado and its sister model, the GMC Sierra, as many dealerships added their own cash to official factory offers. ...","Mexico conservatives replace congressional whip. MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico's conservative National Action Party has replaced its congressional minority leader after he and other party leaders were seen on a video dancing with escorts.","Atari games buried in landfill net $37,000 on eBay. ALAMOGORDO, New Mexico (AP) — What some have called the worst video game ever made has fetched thousands of dollars for a New Mexico city.","Sisi gains 93.4 percent of votes cast in 2,000 polling stations. CAIRO (Reuters) - Former Egyptian army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has captured 93.4 percent of the votes cast in 2,000 polling stations, his campaign team said in a statement on Wednesday. His only rival Hamdeen Sabahi gained 2.9 percent and 3.7 percent of the votes were deemed void. (Reporting by Yasmine Saleh)","As Ukraine crisis deepens, Russia's neighbors boost defenses. By Andrius Sytas and Pawel Bernat VILNIUS/WARSAW (Reuters) - U.S. fighter jets go to Lithuania as the crisis in Ukraine deepens. Poland talks about modernizing its military. After a sense of playing second fiddle for years while NATO's eyes were on wars such as Afghanistan, some European countries near Russia's borders are now planning to spend more money on defense as well as hoping for more NATO resources . Many government officials in the region have felt for years that their warnings of Russian assertiveness have fallen on deaf ears in Washington and with NATO.","Relatives scour crime-plagued Mexico state for students. Iguala de la Independencia (Mexico) (AFP) - The anguished families of 43 missing Mexican students knocked on doors of brick homes Wednesday, handing out pictures of the aspiring teachers who vanished after a deadly police shooting at the weekend.","Somali militants coming under deadly US pressure. MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) — A U.S. missile strike that killed a high-ranking intelligence officer for al-Shabab has illustrated the stepped-up pressure on the al-Qaida-linked militants, both from American attacks and from African Union ground troops.","Iran says ready to pardon hundreds of exiled dissidents. Iran is ready to pardon hundreds of members of an exiled Iranian opposition group based at a former military camp near Baghdad, Iran's ambassador to Iraq told the Mehr news agency on Wednesday. \"After conducting investigations, 423 members (of the People's Mujahedeen Organisation of Iran - PMOI) who do not have any legal problems can return to Iran,\" Hassan Danaeifar was quoted as saying. The number represents about 14 percent of the estimated 3,000 members of the PMOI who are living in exile at Camp Liberty, near Baghdad airport.","Tennis-Beaten Nadal's Australian Open injury jinx strikes again. By Simon Cambers MELBOURNE, Jan 26 (Reuters) - For the third time in five years, Rafa Nadal's Australian Open title hopes were ended by injury as he was beaten by Switzerland's Stanislas Wawrinka in the final on Sunday. \"Then later, he asked me what to do.","Opposition leader Anwar expects to be jailed again. KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim said he expects Malaysia's top court will dismiss his final appeal against a sodomy conviction next week and that he will be sent to prison for the second time in a decade. Anwar was sentenced to five years in prison in March on charges of sodomizing a male aide after the appeals court overturned an earlier acquittal. The Federal Court will hear his appeal Oct. 28-29.","AP PHOTOS: A glimpse at Sochi ahead of the games. A Japanese speedskater takes to the ice for a test race. Russian soldiers stand at attention during a welcome ceremony for the Olympic teams of Italy and the Netherlands. Volunteers sunbathe next to the cross country ski and biathlon track.","Iran supreme leader moves to break impasse over key cabinet post. DUBAI (Reuters) - Iran's supreme leader moved on Saturday to break a factional deadlock over the sensitive Ministry of Higher Education by reinstating President Hassan Rouhani's moderate pick as interim minister, Iranian media reported. On Tuesday, the conservative-dominated parliament rejected his fourth nominee to lead universities, which have been centers of ideological battles between pro-democracy reformers and Islamist hardliners. ...","Paul, Stella McCartney front row at Hunter's show. LONDON (AP) — It's not every day that you see not just one, but two McCartneys on the front row.","Campaign in Britain saves Wedgwood pottery collection. London (AFP) - Seven thousand private donations have helped save a historic collection of Wedgwood pottery in Britain by raising £2.74 million (3.50 million euros, $4.38 million), with a third of the money coming from the celebrated company's home region.","Australia on brink of Ashes whitewash after skittling England. Australia are on the brink of a 5-0 Ashes cleansweep after demolishing England's batting line-up on Saturday, with the hapless tourists able to muster just 155 runs in the face of hostile pace bowling in Sydney. Australia's pace trio of Ryan Harris, Mitchell Johnson and Peter Siddle took three wickets apiece as England narrowly avoided the follow-on on the second day of the final Test in response to Australia's first innings score of 326. The tourists never recovered from a disastrous morning session when they crashed to 23 for five despite valiant efforts from young guns Ben Stokes, Gary Ballance and Jonny Bairstow and it was the fifth time England had been bowled out for less than 200 in the series.","In boost to Cameron, popularity of UK opposition leader Miliband hits a low. By Andrew Osborn LONDON (Reuters) - British opposition Labour party leader Ed Miliband's approval rating has hit a record low, a poll showed on Sunday, raising further doubts about his ability to unseat Prime Minister David Cameron in a national election in just over six months. The survey was published after polling data last week showed Miliband's left-leaning party was set to be nearly wiped out in Scotland, a traditional stronghold, and after a string of polls suggested a long UK-wide lead it had enjoyed over Cameron's Conservatives has shrunk. ...","Suspected Shebab militants behead Kenyan driver. A group of suspected Shebab Islamist militants have beheaded a Kenyan driver after kidnapping a group of traders on Kenyan soil near the resort island of Lamu, police said Saturday. Local police said the body of the victim was found in the forest on Friday. According to police, the survivors said the attackers were well armed and had identified themselves as Shebab members on a mission to fight security forces inside Kenya. Somalia's Shebab rebels have vowed to step up attacks on Kenyan soil in retaliation for Kenya's military presence in Somalia as part of the African Union force supporting the country's fragile government.","Australia conducts first air strikes in Iraq. A Super Hornet fighter jet has carried out Australia's first bombing raid in the fight against the Islamist State group in Iraq, the defence ministry said Thursday.","Vatican prepares for landmark sex abuse trial of ex-envoy. Vatican City (AFP) - The Vatican has begun preparing for a landmark trial of a disgraced former archbishop at the centre of one of the Church's most damaging child sex abuse cases.","Europe's fear of U.S. hormone meat, GM food sows divide in trade talks. By Robin Emmott BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Europe's reluctance to buy hormone meat or genetically modified food from the United States has exposed an \"enormous gulf\" that threatens the world's biggest trade pact, industry and labour groups told EU and U.S. negotiators on Wednesday. Eight months into talks to create a transatlantic pact encompassing almost half the world's economy, divisions remain over opening up to each others goods, rules governing the names of foods and genetically modified food. \"There is an enormous gulf between the EU and U.S. positions,\" said Michael Dolan, a lobbyist for the U.S. Teamsters union, who rejected the idea that the European Union should be the only market to call Greek-style cheese 'feta'. He warned that a trade deal \"is likely to be smaller, more modest than its ambitions, because of so many intractable issues,\" telling negotiators in a forum also open to reporters.","Mexican club says it has signed Ronaldinho. MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexican first-division club Queretaro says it has signed former Brazil star Ronaldinho.","TSX opens lower as energy, industrials weigh; TD slips. TORONTO (Reuters) - Canada's main stock index opened lower on Wednesday as weakness in the energy and industrial sectors weighed on the market, with a slip in shares of Toronto Dominion Bank also an influence. The Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index was down 36.67 points, or 0.25 percent, at 14,923.84 shortly after the open. (Reporting by John Tilak; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Jeffrey Hodgson)","Turkey court to hear witnesses in police murder trial. Kayseri (Turkey) (AFP) - A Turkish court will hear key testimonies Monday in the trial of eight men, including four policemen, accused of beating a teenage student to death during anti-regime protests last year. Ali Ismail Korkmaz died after being pummelled with baseball bats and truncheons in the western city of Eskisehir on June 2 -- one of eight people to perish as three weeks of protests convulsed the country of 76 million. \\\\\"Almost a dozen key witnesses will give testimonies that are likely to determine the fate of the case,\\\\\" lawyer Heval Yildiz Karasu, who represents Korkmaz's family, told AFP on Sunday. The attack was recorded by security cameras and the 19-year-old student, wearing a \\\\\"World Peace\\\\\" T-shirt, suffered a brain haemorrhage and died after 38 days in a coma.","Five months later, jurors face tough task in Madoff aides' trial. By Joseph Ax NEW YORK (Reuters) - Like Bernard Madoff's Ponzi scheme itself, the trial of five of his former aides has been virtually unprecedented in its scope. A federal jury of 12 men and women on Monday began deciding whether the defendants are guilty of aiding in Madoff's massive fraud. And U.S. District Judge Laura Taylor Swain's two sets of jury instructions to help jurors understand how to apply the law to the evidence ran an astonishing 250 pages. Despite the voluminous record, experts said, the case turns on a relatively simple question: did the defendants knowingly engage in fraud, as prosecutors contend, or were they fooled by one of history's greatest con men, as their lawyers argue?","Tennis-Australian Open women's singles round 1 results. Jan 14 (Infostrada Sports) - Results from the Australian Open Women's Singles Round 1 matches on Tuesday 25-Alize Cornet (France) beat Polona Hercog (Slovenia) 1-0 (Hercog retired)","Mexico archaeologists explore Teotihuacan tunnel. MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexican archaeologists have concluded a yearslong exploration of a tunnel sealed nearly 2,000 years ago at the ancient city of Teotihuacan and found thousands of relics.","Ukraine's Prime Minister Mykola Azarov submits resignation. KYIV, Ukraine - The prime minister of crisis-torn Ukraine has submitted his resignation.","Britain opposes curb on Russian trade over Ukraine crisis: BBC says. By Kylie MacLellan LONDON (Reuters) - Britain opposes trade sanctions on Russia and does not want to shut London's financial capital to Russians in response to the Kremlin's intervention in Ukraine, the BBC reported, citing a document which was inadvertently shown to a photographer. British Prime Minister David Cameron has warned President Vladimir Putin that Russia will have to pay 'significant costs' unless the Kremlin changes course on Ukraine whose Crimea region is now controlled by Russian forces. But an official document which was photographed as a senior official carried it into a meeting in Cameron's Downing Street residence on Monday showed Britain may oppose sanctions that might undermine London's reputation as a haven for Russian capital.","Argentina tries doctors for Dirty War baby thefts. BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — Two Argentine doctors are being tried on suspicion of stealing babies from political prisoners during the country's dictatorship.","Two killed by mortar fire near Damascus opera house -state media. Two people were killed and eight wounded when mortar fire hit the grounds of the Damascus Opera House in the Syrian capital, state media said on Sunday. Government forces were also battling rebels in Damascus' outskirts including the eastern suburb of Mleiha, where government war planes carried out air strikes during heavy fighting with insurgents on Sunday. \"Two citizens were martyred and eight others wounded ... by mortars fired by terrorists at the opera house ... in Damascus,\" a report on state news agency SANA said on Sunday. President Bashar al-Assad's forces are in control of central Damascus but rebels have been able to launch mortar and rocket attacks into the city's centre, sometimes hitting heavily-secured upscale districts and embassy grounds.","No doubt that Russia behind unrest in Ukraine: UK's Hague. The destabilization of eastern Ukraine is clearly being instigated by Russia, Britain's Foreign Secretary William Hague said on Monday, and he called for further sanctions against Moscow. \"There can't really be any real doubt that this is something that has been planned and brought about by Russia,\" Hague said as he arrived at a meeting of EU foreign ministers to discuss the crisis. \"I don't think denials of Russian involvement have a shred of credibility.\" He added that events had all the hallmarks of Russia's actions to seize Crimea from Ukraine: \"It has all the appearance of a further gross deliberate, premeditated violation of the independence and sovereignty of Ukraine.\" Hague said he would be arguing for the EU to take further measures to sanction Russia for its actions. A so-called \"third phase\" of EU sanctions is expected to include restrictions on trade and finance with Russia, potentially with wide-reaching repercussions for the Russian and EU economies.","5 things to know about speedskating, short track. Speedskating has been on the Olympic program since the first Winter Games in 1924, while its unpredictable offshoot, short track, became an official sport in 1992.","Rolls Royce to cut 2,600 staff, appoints new CFO. LONDON (Reuters) - British engineer Rolls-Royce said it would cut 2,600 jobs over the next 18 months, slashing costs just three weeks after a major profit warning. The group also appointed David Smith as its chief financial officer, replacing Mark Morris who has decided to leave the company after 27 years. The job cuts will cost an extra 120 million pounds ($192 million) over the next two years, before reducing spend by around 80 million pounds once the changes have been fully implemented. ...","Flyers ink former stars to top exec posts. A week after being eliminated in the first round of the National Hockey League playoffs, the Philadelphia Flyers named former stars Ron Hextall and Paul Holmgren to executive posts on Wednesday. Holmgren, who had been the Flyers general manager since 2006, was promoted to team president, replacing Peter Luuko, who resigned last December. Hextall, who was hired as an assistant general manager last July, was promoted to general manager. \"I'm extremely excited about this opportunity to manage the Philadelphia Flyers,\" Hextall said.","Serena bounces back to best at WTA Finals. SINGAPORE (AP) — Serena Williams awoke on Thursday dreading playing tennis. By the end of the day, her doubts were defeated and she was still in the running for a third straight WTA Finals crown.","Britain says to sell more shares in Lloyds bank. London (AFP) - Britain will sell more shares in state-rescued Lloyds Banking Group over the next six months as part of its return to the private sector, the government said Wednesday.","Asia shares rise ahead of China GDP, Europe down. TOKYO (AP) — European stocks were mostly lower Tuesday, led by a decline in Germany's Software AG, after a strong day in Asia on hopes for stronger Chinese economic growth.","Ballistics expert testifies at Pistorius trial. PRETORIA, South Africa (AP) — A ballistics expert is testifying for the defense at the murder trial of Oscar Pistorius, who killed his girlfriend in his home last year.","Former number one Park nabs first LPGA win of season. Waterloo (Canada) (AFP) - Park In-Bee, motivated by her fall from the top of the world rankings, stormed to her first LPGA title of 2014 at the Manulife Financial Classic on Sunday. The South Korean star had 10 birdies in a course record-equalling 10-under par 61 on the Grey Silo Golf Course, erasing a two-stroke overnight deficit win by three strokes with a 23-under par total of 261. \"It never gets old,\" said Park, whose course record-equalling round was a career-low. \"Obviously, my last win on the LPGA Tour was about this time a year ago -- and it sure felt longer than a year.","Nepal will try to ease congestion on Mount Everest. KATMANDU, Nepal (AP) — Nepal plans to minimize the congestion of climbers near the 8,850-meter (29,035-foot) summit of Mount Everest, which gets clogged with scores of climbers during the short window of good weather, officials said Monday.","Pakistan Taliban splinter group vows allegiance to Islamic State. By Saud Mehsud and Mubasher Bukhari DERA ISMAIL KHAN Pakistan (Reuters) - (This November 17, 2014 story was refiled to correct to the Saudi-Iraq border in paragraph 8) A splinter group of Pakistan's Taliban has pledged support to Islamic State (IS), a spokesman said on Monday, in another indication of the appeal of the Iraq- and Syria-based jihadist group in a region traditionally dominated by al Qaeda and local insurgencies. Jundullah announced its backing after meeting a three-man delegation representing IS led by al Zubair al Kuwaiti, the group's spokesman Fahad Marwat told Reuters. ...","Colombia's FARC accuses ex-president of spying on peace talks. By Nelson Acosta HAVANA (Reuters) - Colombia's FARC rebels accused former President Alvaro Uribe on Wednesday of being involved in spying on government negotiators at peace talks in Cuba, and said their own delegation's communications had also been intercepted. The FARC comments came a day after President Juan Manuel Santos ordered an investigation into claims of spying on his negotiators by rogue elements in Colombia's military, saying \"dark forces\" were trying to sabotage his bid to end five decades of war with the leftist guerrillas. Uribe, Santos's predecessor, intensified the military's attacks on the FARC during his two terms in power from 2002-2010, using support from the United States to thin the rebels' ranks and push them into more remote jungle areas.","Official: Fighter jet crash kills 5 in Libya. CAIRO (AP) — A Libyan security official says a military jet has crashed in the country's eastern city of Tobruk, killing its pilot and four other people.","Maicon to start for Brazil against Colombia. FORTALEZA, Brazil (AP) — Maicon will start in Brazil's defense instead of Dani Alves when the host team faces Colombia on Friday in the World Cup quarterfinals.","Depay happy with super sub World Cup role. RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Memphis Depay is arguably one of the World Cup's most productive strikers, with two goals and an assist in just 63 minutes of play in Brazil.","Polish PM Tusk seeks confidence vote over tapes scandal. Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on Wednesday he would seek a confidence vote from parliament over a scandal involving secret recordings of senior officials that has caused Poland's worst political crisis in years. \"I'm ending my statement with a motion to the parliament speaker to conduct the confidence vote as soon as possible,\" Tusk told parliament over a week after news magazine Wprost started publishing the tapes. Tusk's ruling Civic Platform (PO) together with its junior partner Poland's Peasants Party (PSL) hold the necessary majority to secure a confidence vote with 235 MPs - four above the required parliamentary threshold.","Markets kept in check by Asian developments. LONDON (AP) — Disappointing Chinese and Japanese economic figures weighed on markets Monday.","British PM will not quit if Scots vote for independence. British Prime Minister David Cameron insisted Monday he would not resign if Scotland votes to leave the United Kingdom. Cameron ruled out standing down as premier if voters in Scotland plump for independence in the September 18 referendum. He maintained he was right to agree to the ballot, after the pro-independence Scottish National Party (SNP) of First Minister Alex Salmond won a clear majority in the devolved Edinburgh parliament three years ago and pledged to hold a referendum. \"Of course, I want to see Scotland stay in the United Kingdom but I faced a choice in 2011 when the Scottish nationalists were elected to run the Scottish government,\" Cameron said.","Hundreds protest at US embassy in London over Ferguson case. London (AFP) - About a thousand Britons protested outside the United States embassy in London on Wednesday in sympathy with demonstrations across the US over the killing of a black teenager by a white police officer.","Britain alarmed over civilian toll in Gaza: Hammond. Britain is \"gravely concerned\" by the high number of civilian casualties resulting from Israel's military operation in Gaza, Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said on Thursday. Speaking on his first official visit to the region since taking over as Britain's top diplomat, Hammond said London would do everything it could to help broker a quick end to the hostilities which have so far claimed more than 730 lives in Gaza and 35 in Israel. At a news conference with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Hammond expressed Britain's support for Israel's right to self-defence, acknowledging that the current fighting was caused by Hamas firing rockets \"indiscriminately\" at Israeli towns and cities.","Boeing to cut 747-8 production in Sept 2015; sees slow cargo market. NEW YORK (Reuters) - Boeing Co said on Tuesday it will cut production of its iconic 747-8 jumbo jet to 1.3 planes per month from 1.5 per month, starting in September 2015. The planned decrease means Boeing will produce two fewer airplanes per year, Boeing said. The cut is being made \"because the near-term recovery in the cargo market has not been as robust as expected,\" Boeing said. \"We continue to believe in the long-term strength of the freighter market and the 747-8 is uniquely positioned to capture this demand,\" it added. (Reporting by Alwyn Scott)","Australia probes 'encouraging' signals in MH370 hunt. Perth (Australia) (AFP) - Australia on Sunday sent planes and ships to investigate signals detected by a Chinese ship in the hunt for a missing Malaysian jet, saying they matched black box beacons and were an \"important and encouraging lead\". Angus Houston, the Australian head of the mission, said a second \"ping\" was also being scrutinised 300 nautical miles away in the Indian Ocean, as the one-month lifespan of batteries powering the beacons loomed. The Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 with 239 people aboard vanished on March 8 during a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. Houston said China's Haixun 01 has twice detected an underwater signal on a frequency used for flight data and cockpit voice recorders -- once for 90 seconds on Saturday and another more fleeting \"ping\" on Friday a short distance away.","French lawmakers tackle tough new anti-terror bill. PARIS (AP) — France's parliament is opening debate on a bill providing new tools to fight terrorism, including taking away passports of suspected would-be jihadis and blocking Internet sites luring French to the battlefield.","Western powers call for end to fighting in Libya. Western powers called Friday for an immediate end to fighting in Libya, where a power struggle between the central authorities and Islamist militias has plunged the country into chaos. In the latest twist in the struggle for power, the Libyan Supreme Court on Thursday invalidated the parliament and nullified a constitutional amendment that led to its election June 25. \"We are studying carefully the decision of the Supreme Court, its context and consequences,\" the statement by the Western powers said.","Publicist: Casey Kasem to be buried in Norway. LOS ANGELES (AP) — A publicist for Casey Kasem's daughter says the wife of the late radio personality plans to bury him in Norway.","China plan to gag lawyers online denounced as insult. By Li Hui and Ben Blanchard BEIJING (Reuters) - China has drafted rules banning lawyers from drawing attention to cases through the internet and media, which critics say amounts to a gag order stopping them publicizing controversial cases and miscarriages of justice. China, where rule of law is paid lip service only, has stepped up pressure on freedom of speech and on the small band of rights lawyers and campaigners in recent months, and the latest move would be a further step in that direction. Chinese lawyers have increasingly challenged the judicial system by exposing injustices ranging from undue interference by government officials to barring lawyers from meeting detained defendants. The draft rules stipulate that lawyers cannot make \"misleading\" comments, issue open letters or incite demonstrations to pressure courts or judges to review decisions.","Romanian president fined for saying Roma steal. BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) — An agency has fined Romania's president 600 lei ($185) for saying Roma avoid work and make a living by stealing.","Calgary Flames sign centre Matt Stajan to four-year contract extension. CALGARY - The Calgary Flames have signed Matt Stajan to a four-year deal worth US$12.5 million.","South Sudan rebels accuse army of attacks after ceasefire deal. By Carl Odera JUBA (Reuters) - South Sudanese rebels said on Friday government forces had attacked their positions a day after the two sides signed a ceasefire deal, but the government denied the accusation. But the reports of continuing conflict reflect the deep distrust between President Salva Kiir and rebel fighters, who include those loyal to former vice president Riek Machar as well as more autonomous groups. \"There was no single gunshot anywhere and we hope the rebels will honor their signature,\" spokesman Ateny Wek Ateny told a news conference in the South Sudanese capital Juba. The violence since mid-December, the worst in South Sudan since it won its independence from Sudan in 2011, has killed thousands of people and driven more than half a million from their homes.","Saudi Arabian security man shot dead in Shi'ite area: police. RIYADH (Reuters) - An unidentified attacker killed a member of Saudi Arabia's security forces on Sunday, police said in a statement on state media, near a village where unrest among the country's Shi'ite Muslim minority has been focused. The village, Awamiya, has been the focal point of unrest among Saudi Shi'ites since mass protests in early 2011 calling for an end to discrimination against the minority sect and for democratic reforms in the absolute Sunni monarchy. ...","Thai coup leaders' goal: Democracy on their terms. ","Petrobras bans firms amid kickback probe. SAO PAULO (AP) — Brazil's state-run oil company says it's temporarily suspending the country's biggest builders and engineering firms from bidding on contracts amid investigations into a massive corruption scandal.","Like Iran, secret diplomacy leads to US-Cuba thaw. WASHINGTON (AP) — Fresh off his 2012 re-election victory, President Barack Obama summoned senior advisers to a series of meetings, asking them to \"think big\" about a second-term agenda, including the possibilities of new starts with long-standing U.S. foes such as Iran and Cuba. Two years later, after painstaking secret diplomacy on separate but surprisingly similar tracks, efforts with Tehran and Havana are in full swing.","Veteran Crusaders eager to advance against hungry Sharks. By Greg Stutchbury WELLINGTON (Reuters) - Cold southwesterly winds are bringing snow to Christchurch but stalwarts Richie McCaw and Dan Carter are gambolling around like spring lambs as the Canterbury Crusaders prepare for their Super Rugby semi-final against a ravenous Sharks side. The 33-year-old All Blacks captain's eagerness to drive his side to an 11th Super Rugby final undoubtedly has been fuelled by a lack of playing time for a month after he broke a rib during the test series against England. \"We're going into a semi-final and we've learned from the past that it's fine being available to play,\" assistant coach Tabai Matson told local reporters. \"But we actually need people who are ready to go and be at 100 miles per hour.\" The most successful team in Super Rugby, the Crusaders have not won a title since 2008 and the closest they have come to adding an eighth was when they lost the final to the Queensland Reds in 2011 after a brilliant individual try by Will Genia.","France demands Russia stops 'dangerous' escalation in Ukraine. France on Sunday demanded Russia immediately take measures to reduce \"pointless and dangerous\" tensions in Ukraine, calling the secession referendum held in the Crimea region illegal. \"(Russia) must recognize the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine,\" Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said in a statement. \"France calls on the Russian Federation to immediately take measures that will avoid a pointless and dangerous escalation in Ukraine.\" He added that the referendum in Crimea was illegal and went against the Ukrainian constitution especially given that it took place with the threat of Russian military force.","Japan student suspected of trying to join Islamic State. TOKYO (Reuters) - Tokyo police are investigating the possibility that a Japanese student tried to travel to Syria to join Islamic State, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said on Tuesday, as the United States carries out air strikes on militant targets. Suga did not elaborate, but the Asahi Shimbun daily said police questioned a 26-year-old man, taking leave of absence from Hokkaido University in north Japan, about plans to go to Syria to join Islamic State as a fighter. \"I am aware police conducted a search based on the criminal law. ...","Santos picks 2 new, 2 old for Portugal squad. LISBON, Portugal (AP) — Portugal coach Fernando Santos keeps making over his squad, handing two players their first call-ups and bringing back two veterans for the European Championship qualifier against Armenia next week and a friendly against Argentina.","Chinese destroyer docks in Iran, first such visit. TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran's state television is reporting that a Chinese destroyer has docked in a southern Iranian port in the first such visit to the country by the Chinese navy.","Canadian farmers stuck with last harvest scramble to plant next. By Rod Nickel WINNIPEG, Manitoba (Reuters) - Western Canadian farmers still stuck with last year's harvest are turning to the government for credit help in record numbers, and insiders fear problems could cascade through the agricultural economy as the new planting season gets under way. A record-breaking harvest and harsh winter last year overwhelmed Canada's two big railways, backing up the flow of grain from western elevators to ports and leaving farmers with few buyers. Up to C$20 billion ($18.1 billion) worth of crops was stuck in storage as of late March, according to the Canadian government. Dealers and lenders are softening terms for farmers caught in the unusually severe cash crunch, but some fear it won't be enough to stop a drop in fertilizer and machinery purchases that in turn could limit crop yields and weigh on land prices.","Australian triathlete mistaken for illegal immigrant on Channel swim. An Australian triathlete was mistaken for an illegal immigrant by British residents and held up by border authorities when set to swim the English Channel, local media reported. John van Wisse was attempting to set a world record on an ultra-triathlon from London to Paris when he was swooped on by local police and the British Coastguard on Wednesday, the Dover Express reported. \"It looks like a couple of people called thinking it was illegal immigrants coming ashore because some people were seen jumping off a boat,\" a police spokesperson told the newspaper.","Soldiers' rights activist jailed in Russia. MOSCOW (AP) — A Russian rights group says an activist who investigated the deaths and disappearances of Russian soldiers in Ukraine has been jailed.","Egypt's Sisi says economic recovery needs time, patience. Ex-army chief and leading presidential candidate Abdel Fattah al-Sisi warned Egyptians on Tuesday they will have to be patient and work hard to salvage their economy after three years of unrest. The retired field marshal, who ousted the elected Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in July, said foreign debt and subsidies costs ate away much of the budget, but ruled out drastic subsidy cuts. Sisi is expected to win the May 26-27 election against his only rival, leftist Hamdeen Sabbahi, amid calls for a strong leader who can restore stability. Egypt had been slowly recovering from a sharp drop in foreign investments and tourism after a 2011 uprising that overthrew strongman Hosni Mubarak, when the military toppled his Islamist successor Morsi last year.","Morgan Stanley pays fine after index hedge topped soymeal limits. WASHINGTON/CHICAGO (Reuters) - Morgan Stanley has agreed to pay $200,000 to settle civil charges it exceeded speculative position limits in soybean meal futures for two days while attempting to hedge a commodity index investment, U.S. regulators said on Monday. The fine, while small, highlights how tougher rules meant to apply tighter speculative trading limits in other raw material markets, such as oil and metals, risk curtailing banks' business in selling broad commodity baskets to investors, one of the most lucrative niches of the industry over the past decade. Morgan Stanley Capital Group's trading on the Chicago Board of Trade in January 2013 exceeded the all-months speculative position limit established by the regulator, according to the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission. Its position \"consisted of net long positions held by its commodity index desk to hedge its financial exposure\" to the Dow Jones-UBS Commodity Index and to the holdings of the firm's other trading desks, according to the CFTC.","James Bond-style underwater drug 'plotters' in UK court. London (AFP) - Four Dutchmen appeared in a British court Wednesday charged with plotting to smuggle cocaine from Colombia to Scotland using a \"James Bond-style\" underwater vehicle.","Dahlan, exiled Palestinian leader, builds comeback. RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) — Fueled by millions in Gulf aid dollars that are his to distribute, an exiled Palestinian operative seems to be orchestrating a comeback that could position him as a potential successor to aging Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas.","South African opposition parties merge for 2014 elections. CAPE TOWN (Reuters) - South Africa's opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) will merge with the new Agang party for this year's elections, with internationally respected Agang leader Mamphela Ramphele standing as presidential candidate, the parties said on Tuesday. \"I can think of no better person to be our presidential candidate in this crucial election,\" DA leader Helen Zille told a news conference. (Reporting by Wendell Roelf; Editing by Ed Cropley)","Somalia sues Kenya at top UN court over maritime border. Somalia took its maritime border dispute with Kenya to the United Nations' top court on Thursday, which could decide the fate of potentially lucrative oil and gas reserves off east Africa. The dispute has been simmering for years, keeping investors away because of the lack of legal clarity over who owns potential offshore oil and gas reserves. The internationally-backed government in Mogadishu is seeking to claw back authority over Somalia's territorial waters, including the area bordering Kenya that is potentially rich in oil and gas deposits. Kenya, which has had troops in southern Somalia since 2011, first as an invading force and then as part of an African Union peacekeeping force, lays claim to a triangle of water stretching for more than 100,000 square kilometres (40,000 square miles) that Mogadishu also claims.","South Africa's Nobel-winning novelist Nadine Gordimer dies. South African Nobel Prize-winning writer and anti-apartheid activist Nadine Gordimer, who became an icon through her unique insights into the country's social agonies, has died at the age of 90. Through 15 novels, several volumes of short stories, non-fiction and other works published in 40 languages around the world, Gordimer eviscerated white-minority rule under the apartheid system and its aftershocks once democracy had been achieved in 1994. The writer, who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1991, died peacefully in her sleep at her home in Johannesburg on Sunday, her family said. Gordimer's reputation rests on a series of novels including \"A Guest of Honour\", \"The Conservationist\", \"Burger's Daughter\", \"July's People\" and \"A Sport of Nature\", which the Nobel committee called \"magnificent epic writing\".","Northeast digs out after big snow storm amid dangerously cold temperatures; 16 dead. BOSTON - A blanket of white provided the Northeast with little relief from teeth-chattering temperatures that forecasters said will rise over the weekend before plunging again.","Sony network hit by attack, exec's flight diverted. TOKYO (AP) — Sony says its PlayStation Network service for video games was unusable from Sunday until Monday afternoon after being flooded by an online attack.","Ukraine's Yanukovich, on sick leave, signs laws linked to protests. KIEV (Reuters) - Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich on Friday signed into law a conditional amnesty for those detained in mass unrest on the streets and approved the repeal of anti-protest legislation, his website said. The repeal of sweeping anti-protest laws by parliament has been welcomed by thousands demonstrating on the streets of Kiev, but they have rejected the amnesty because it is conditional on occupied buildings being cleared of activists. ...","Eels beat Bulldogs in Australia's NRL. SYDNEY (AP) — The Parramatta Eels beat the Canterbury Bulldogs 22-12 Sunday to help keep the National Rugby League's top eight teams a close-knit group after 14 rounds of the season.","Low expectations as China considers legal reforms. BEIJING (AP) — The most important meeting of the year for the 205 members of China's ruling Communist Party's Central Committee, beginning Monday, will focus on how to rule the country in accordance with law.","New Ukraine leader tackles gas, Obama, Putin in crunch week. Ukraine's new pro-Western leader enters a defining week Sunday seeking to head off a Russian gas cut and secure US President Barack Obama's backing with his country threatened by civil war. Confectionery tycoon Petro Poroshenko will also attempt to arrange the first meeting by a Ukrainian leader with Russian President Vladimir Putin since the February ouster of a pro-Kremlin regime in Kiev sparked the worst East-West crisis since the Cold War. The 48-year-old will cap off the pivotal week with his inauguration Saturday as the fifth president of Ukraine after a convincing May 25 election win handed him a mandate to resolve a separatist insurgency threatening the very survival of the ex-Soviet state. \"These meetings will be crucial,\" said Kiev-based political analyst Volodymyr Fesenko.","3 die in flooding in southern Romania. BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) — Authorities say three people have died and 250 were evacuated after heavy rain and flooding hit southern Romania over the weekend.","Sharks Need Healthy Coral Reefs, 10-Year Study Finds. Healthy coral reefs, known for their brightly colored spiny and soft layers, may act as critical refuges and food sources for hungry sharks swimming through Australia's Great Barrier Reef, reports a new 10-year study that captured underwater footage of sharks. Coral reefs cover just about 5 percent of the habitats in the Great Barrier Reef, but about 95 percent of the shark sightings happened near the reefs, the study found. \"Sharks need healthy reefs,\" Mario Espinoza, the study's lead researcher and a Ph.D. candidate in environmental science at James Cook University in Queensland, Australia, told Live Science in an email. Beginning in 2000, researchers deployed more than 2,500 remote underwater video stations in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park to document its marine biodiversity.","Chelsea loses 2-1 against Sunderland. LONDON (AP) — Chelsea suffered a major setback to its English Premier League title aspirations with a 2-1 home loss against last-place Sunderland on Saturday.","Haas grabs Masters lead with 68, Scott in the mix. AUGUSTA, Ga. (AP) — With dad in his ear, Bill Haas turned in the best round of his Masters career Thursday.","Gunfire, blasts near airport in C.African capital. Bangui (Central African Republic) (AFP) - Heavy gunfire and explosions from rockets and grenades erupted Wednesday at the airport in the Central African Republic's capital Bangui where protesters have erected barricades against international forces based there, an AFP correspondent said.","Contractor close to Mexico president won't rebid on train. MEXICO CITY (AP) — A construction company questioned about its links to Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto and his wife will not rebid on a high-speed rail project that was abruptly canceled under allegations of favoritism.","Google mystery barge may be homeless. A mystery barge being built by Google on a pier at a former Navy base in the San Francisco Bay may be told to cast off. It turns out that officials running the base while it is in the process of being turned over to the city of San Francisco don't have permits for the Internet titan or anyone else to construct a vessel on the shore of Treasure Island. \"This is Google's vessel, but we are not dealing with them,\" San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission regulatory affairs director Brad McCrea told AFP. McCrea was referring to the Treasure Island Development Authority, which is running the former Navy property as it makes the bureaucratic transition into the hands of San Francisco.","Hundreds of Taliban fighters begin offensive near Afghan capital: officials. Some 700 Taliban fighters armed with heavy machine guns are battling Afghan security forces in Logar province, just outside the capital Kabul, Afghan officials said on Tuesday. \"There are some 700 of them and they are fighting Afghan forces for territorial control and they have also brought with them makeshift mobile (health) clinics,\" Niaz Mohammad Amiri, the provincial governor of Logar, told Reuters by telephone.","Asian Games organizers ask IOC to bring in NKorea. SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korean organizers of the Asian Games have asked the International Olympic Committee to urge North Korea to enter more athletes.","'Life-threatening' cold bites U.S. Midwest, heads east. By Brendan O'Brien and Kim Palmer MILWAUKEE/COLUMBUS (Reuters) - As the Midwestern United States shivered through the region's lowest temperatures in two decades and forecasters warned that life-threatening cold was heading eastward, officials in Chicago and other districts said schools would be closed on Monday. Icy conditions snarled travel across the Midwest and thousands of flights were canceled or delayed, days after the Northeast was hammered by the first winter storm of the season. \"The coldest temperatures in almost two decades will spread into the northern and central U.S. today behind an arctic cold front,\" the National Weather Service said on Sunday. \"Combined with gusty winds, these temperatures will result in life-threatening wind chill values as low as 60 degrees below zero (Fahrenheit/minus 51 degrees Celsius).\" In weather that cold, frostbite can set in on uncovered skin in a matter of minutes, experts warned.","Syria ships out third load of chemical weapon materials. Syria shipped out a third consignment of chemical weapons materials on Monday and has also destroyed some materials on its territory, the international mission overseeing the elimination of its chemical arsenal said. Syria has already slipped more than a month behind schedule for the removal of its chemical weapons, agreed after a chemical weapons attack in Damascus six months ago. Western powers blame President Bashar al-Assad's forces for the August gas attack, which killed hundreds of people, but the government says rebels battling to overthrow him were responsible. Until Monday's announcement, barely 4 percent of Syria's declared 1,300 tonne stockpile had been removed.","Under fire for aid move, Russia lashes out at Ukraine, Lithuania. By Louis Charbonneau UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Russia on Friday defended its decision to send a humanitarian aid convoy into Ukraine without official permission, saying there was sometimes \"no chain of command\" in Kiev and that Moscow was fed up playing games with the Ukrainian authorities. Speaking to reporters at U.N. headquarters in New York, Russia's U.N. ambassador, Vitaly Churkin, also had sharp words about Lithuania, a temporary member of the U.N. Security Council, accusing it of systematically cutting down Russian U.N. initiatives with the aid of the United States and Britain.","Canada wins gold in women's Olympic curling. SOCHI, Russia (AP) — Canada won the gold medal in women's Olympic curling Thursday, beating Sweden 6-3 and avenging a loss to the Swedes in the final at the Vancouver Games in 2010.","Sri Lanka 104-3 in reply to SAfrica 455. GALLE, Sri Lanka (AP) — Scores Friday at lunch on the third day of the first test between Sri Lanka and South Africa:","Stasi victims still in trauma as Germany cheers 25 years since wall fell. By Alexandra Hudson COTTBUS Germany (Reuters) - Sunday marks 25 years since the collapse of the regime that imprisoned and persecuted them, but many victims of former communist East Germany are still so traumatized that celebrating the unification of their country may forever be a challenge. Thousands who were locked up for their political views, or had their children seized because the State did not consider them to be fit parents, are still deeply distressed - their condition aggravated by the fact that justice and recognition is yet to be granted, says a group lobbying for change. ...","Swedish aid to help Western Balkans meet EU entry rules. Sweden will give four Western Balkan countries 400 million euros ($546 million) in aid to carry out reforms needed to qualify to join the European Union, the Swedish ambassador in Bosnia said on Monday. Ambassador Fredrik Schiller said the funds will help Albania, Bosnia, Kosovo and Serbia to overhaul public administration and the judiciary and to protect human rights. So far only Serbia has begun talks on qualifying to join the EU. Schiller said the damage in Serbia and Bosnia caused by last month's flooding, the worst in the region in living memory, will be taken into account when it hands out the funds between 2014 to 2020.","Syrian envoy says dangerous chemical arms to be removed by March 1. Syria's ambassador to Russia said on Tuesday that the most dangerous elements of President Bashar al-Assad's chemical weapons stockpile will be removed from the country by March 1, the Interfax news agency reported. \"A large part of the chemical weapons, the most dangerous stocks, will be taken out of the country by March 1,\" Interfax quoted Syrian ambassador Riad Haddad as saying. Syria had missed a December 31 deadline to remove the most poisonous chemical agents under a deal brokered by Russia and the United States.","Auction of Hitler box, other Nazi items nixed. PARIS (AP) — A Paris auction house has dropped plans to sell a swastika-covered box that once belonged to Adolf Hitler and dozens of other Nazi-owned objects that were collected as war spoils from World War II, blaming \"political pressure.\"","Britain's Prince Charles meets Saudi officials. RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) — Official Saudi media and Buckingham Palace officials say Prince Charles has met senior members of the Saudi royal family in the kingdom.","Al-Qaida breaks with Syria group in mounting feud. CAIRO (AP) — Al-Qaida's central leadership broke with one of its most powerful branch commanders, blaming him for bloody infighting among Islamic factions in Syria, in an apparent attempt to impose control over militant factions in the country's civil war.","BRAZIL BEAT: Greece loves Japan _ at lunchtime. NATAL, Brazil (AP) — Japan and Greece were set to play a critical Group C match on Thursday night, but the Greeks got a bellyful of Japanese before they even came to Brazil.","Iraqi Kurds look to sky for breakthrough against the Islamic State. Near Jalawla (Iraq) (AFP) - A truck lies stranded on its side in a no man's land between Kurdish fighters and jihadists ensconced behind minefields, a stalemate the Kurds hope US-led air strikes can break.","At dreary Open, everyone takes aim at Rory McIlroy. HOYLAKE, England (AP) — With the nasty weather holding off and Royal Liverpool essentially defenseless, everyone took aim at Rory McIlroy.","Uranium miners at Rio Tinto Namibia mine sick. Rio Tinto workers in Namibia who mined uranium to supply the British and American militaries in the 1970s are suffering from cancer and other illnesses, a study has found. A joint study by charity Earthlife Namibia and activists at the Labour Resources and Research Institute showed that workers who were employed at the firm's Rossing mine in the Namib Desert, were now battling cancer and respiratory ailments, after years of working in one of Africa's largest mines. \"Moreover they had no knowledge about the danger uranium mining poses.\" Rio Tinto has denied knowledge of the former workers health problems, saying the company would study the report.","Egypt receives 10 Apache helicopters from U.S.: sources. CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt received 10 Apache helicopters from the United States in the past week, security sources said on Saturday, a sign of easing tensions between the long-time allies confronting Islamist extremism across the region. The United States originally announced in April that it had decided to lift its hold on the delivery of the attack helicopters, imposed last year after the military toppled elected president Mohamed Mursi and cracked down hard on his Muslim Brotherhood supporters. ...","Nice wins stateless World Cup in Sweden, refugees vanish. The County of Nice won the inaugural World Cup for stateless people, regions and other non-FIFA affiliated teams on Sunday in northern Sweden as members of one refugee team disappeared. \"We worked hard to get here and it's been a fantastic tournament,\" team captain Mansour Assoumani told Swedish radio's Sami language service. Twelve teams from four continents competed in the week-long Confederation of Independent Football (CONIFA) World Cup, a new biannual tournament which aims to raise the profile of people, nations and regions which demand greater autonomy or independence and cannot compete under their preferred banner in the FIFA World Cup. CONIFA president Per-Anders Blind said as many as six of the players -- who travelled to Sweden with the help of a US-based aid group -- may be missing and that one of them is believed to have relatives in neighbouring Norway.","Four killed in Chinese school stabbing spree. A man stabbed three children and a teacher to death and wounded several others on Monday in a rampage at a Chinese primary school that refused to enrol his daughter, state media said. The attacker killed himself by jumping from the building following the carnage at a school in Shiyan in the central province of Hubei, according to the official Xinhua news agency. Five other students have been hospitalised, one of them seriously injured, Xinhua said. A female teacher, surnamed Liu, was stabbed in the chest and stomach and died of her injuries hours later, Xinhua said.","Seventeen dead in bombings and shootings in Iraq. By Ghazwan Hassan and Kareem Raheem TIKRIT, Iraq (Reuters) - At least 17 people were killed and dozens wounded in bombings and shootings in northern Iraq and Baghdad on Sunday, police and medical sources said. In Baghdad, a bomb exploded in a second-hand market for bicycles and motorcycles in the Shi'ite neighborhood of Sadr City, killing five people and wounding 22, police and medical sources said. Gunmen attacked a police checkpoint and killed one policeman near the mainly Sunni town of Tarmiya, north of Baghdad, police sources said.","Springboks veteran Pietersen replaces Pienaar. South Africa World Cup-winning back JP Pietersen will replace injured scrum-half Ruan Pienaar for home Rugby Championship Tests against Australia and New Zealand, it was announced Sunday. Pietersen, who can operate on the right wing or at outside centre, has been playing in Japan and was unavailable for the first four southern hemisphere championship matches. \"JP has always been part of our plans and did very well in June playing at outside centre,\" Springboks coach Heyneke Meyer said in a statement. \"We have got two scrum-halves in Francois Hougaard and Cobus Reinach and decided it would be better to bring in an outside back.\" Pienaar retired hurt during a 14-10 defeat by New Zealand in Wellington this weekend and a Monday scan will determine the extent of his knee ligament injury.","Judge adjourns Pistorius trial to April 7. The judge overseeing Oscar Pistorius's murder trial on Friday adjourned the case for more than a week -- just before the star Paralympian was expected to take the stand for the first time -- because a senior court official was sick. \"One of my assessors is not well,\" said Judge Thokozile Masipa. Pistorius was expected to be called as a witness for the defence and later to face fierce cross-examination about how and why he killed his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp on Valentine's Day a year ago. The \"Blade Runner\" sprinter denies a charge of murder, saying he mistook the model for an intruder.","US, Cuba hold migration talks in Washington. HAVANA (AP) — U.S. and Cuban government officials are meeting in Washington for a new round of migration talks.","Kazakhstan nervous of tougher Russia/Ukraine oil sanctions. By Raushan Nurshayeva and Alla Afanasyeva ASTANA/MOSCOW (Reuters) - Kazakhstan, which has backed close ally Russia's actions in Ukraine, is seeking alternative routes for its oil exports which may fall if the West decides to toughen sanctions against Russia, a major transit route of Kazakh crude to world markets. A vast steppe nation of 17 million, Kazakhstan is Central Asia's largest economy and the second-largest post-Soviet oil producer after Russia, with which it participates in a customs union and plans to form the Eurasian Economic Union this year. Russia's annexation of Crimea in neighboring Ukraine has so far only elicited targeted sanctions against certain Russian and Ukrainian individuals and many believe major crude producer Russia's key position in world energy markets makes heavier sanctions very unlikely.","Gunmen storm Pakistan airport, killing at least 11. KARACHI, Pakistan (AP) — Gunmen disguised as police guards attacked a terminal at Pakistan's busiest airport Sunday night with machine guns and a rocket launcher, killing at least 11 people as explosions echoed into the night, officials said. A separate suicide bombing in the country's southwest killed 23 Shiite pilgrims returning from Iran, authorities said.","U.N. sees abductions, intimidation of election officials in Ukraine. By Gareth Jones and Gabriela Baczynska KIEV (Reuters) - The United Nations has received reports of abductions and intimidation of election officials in eastern Ukraine and fears many people will flee the region due to a mounting sense of lawlessness, a U.N. human rights official said on Monday. Ivan Simonovic sounded the alarm as Ukraine's interim government conceded that many voters in two eastern regions now under the control of pro-Russian separatists would not be able to take part in next Sunday's presidential election.","TSX opens lower on U.S. data; mining shares fall. TORONTO (Reuters) - Canada's main stock index opened lower on Wednesday as investors were disappointed by sluggish U.S. private sector job growth and as a drop in the price of copper dragged on the mining sector. The Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index was down 29.45 points, or 0.20 percent, at 14,705.24 shortly after the open. (Reporting by John Tilak; Editing by Bernadette Baum)","F1 chief Bernie Ecclestone: The ultimate survivor. Bernie Ecclestone is a man used to getting his own way.","China tells U.S. to stay out of South China Seas dispute. By Ben Blanchard BEIJING (Reuters) - China told the United States on Tuesday to stay out of disputes over the South China Sea and leave countries in the region to resolve problems themselves, after Washington said it wanted a freeze on stoking tension. Michael Fuchs, U.S. deputy assistant secretary of state for Strategy and Multilateral Affairs, said no country was solely responsible for escalating tension in the region. China claims 90 percent of the South China Sea, which is believed to contain oil and gas deposits and has rich fishery resources. China's Foreign Ministry repeated that it had irrefutable sovereignty over the Spratly Islands, where most of the competing claims overlap, and that China continued to demand the immediate withdrawal of personnel and equipment of countries which were \"illegally occupying\" China's islands.","Cyprus gets rid of all domestic capital controls. NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) — Cyprus has formally eliminated all domestic restrictions on money transfers, a watershed for the bailed-out country's recovering banking system.","Immigration poses political problem for island UK. ROCHESTER, England (AP) — Generations of British children learned history through a book called \"Our Island Story.\" Nowadays the old-fashioned Edwardian primer is experiencing a nostalgic revival — and its title sums up the mood of many as Britain heads into election season.","Moore defends CIMB Classic title, wins by 3 shots. KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Ryan Moore successfully defended his CIMB Classic title, shooting a 5-under 67 on Sunday for a three-stroke win over fellow-American Gary Woodland for the second-straight year.","Tyson wins U.S. Justice Dept antitrust nod for Hillshire deal. To win approval for the merger, the companies agreed to sell Heinold Hog Markets, the U.S. Department of Justice said. The attorneys general of Iowa, Illinois and Missouri, all big hog-producing states, joined the settlement. \"Today's proposed settlement will help ensure that hog breeders in the United States will continue to receive the benefits of vigorous competition when selling sows,\" said Bill Baer, assistant attorney general for DOJ's antitrust division.","Porto wins 2-0 at Bilbao, advances to CL knockout. BILBAO, Spain (AP) — FC Porto forward Yacine Brahimi scored one goal after setting up the opener in a 2-0 win at Athletic Bilbao on Wednesday that qualified the Portuguese side for the knockout rounds of the Champions League.","Conman steals London WWII veteran's army medals. LONDON (AP) — Police say a London conman has stolen the military service medals of a 92-year-old British Army veteran of World War II on the 70th anniversary of D-Day.","No complacency for Bayern, Barca in Champs League. LONDON (AP) — Protecting 2-0 leads from their last-16 first legs, Barcelona and Bayern Munich are huge favorites to advance in the Champions League this week when they play return matches at home.","Germany just escapes recession, France beats low expectations. By Stephen Brown and Ingrid Melander BERLIN/PARIS (Reuters) - Germany narrowly avoided recession in the third quarter of the year and France exceeded low expectations, putting the euro zone on course for anemic growth but no contraction. Europe's largest economy eked out 0.1 percent growth from the previous three months following a revised 0.1 percent fall in the second quarter, the German statistics office said on Friday. A strong rise in consumer spending and small boost from foreign trade prevented a worse result. France expanded by 0.3 percent on the quarter, beating forecasts for 0. ...","Filipinos remember typhoon dead on All Saints' Day. MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Filipinos are paying their respects to departed loved ones in All Saints' Day rituals in cemeteries around the archipelago, including at mass graves for victims of a powerful typhoon that killed more than 6,300 people last year.","Hakuho wins 30th title at Nagoya sumo tournament. NAGOYA, Japan (AP) — Grand champion Hakuho defeated his Mongolian compatriot, Harumafuji, on Sunday to win his 30th career title at the Nagoya Grand Sumo Tournament, edging closer to the all-time championship record in Japan's ancient sport.","Russia to build more nuclear reactors in Iran. MOSCOW (AP) — Russia has signed a deal to build two more nuclear reactors in Iran to be possibly followed by another six.","Factbox: Prolonged Keystone XL decision to spill into U.S. election season. The Obama administration's tricky final decision on the Keystone XL oil pipeline is several months away, guaranteeing that the project dividing many Democratic voters will be an issue in the midterm elections that could determine control of the U.S. Congress. The State Department's issuance on Friday of its last environmental review of TransCanada Corp's proposed pipeline puts in motion a few more steps that have to be completed before a final determination is made. It is not known whether the final decision on the pipeline, which would transport some 830,000 barrels per day from the Canadian oil sands and domestic oil fields to Nebraska, will come before or after the November 4 elections. While Republican voters mostly support Keystone, the project divides many pro-union Democrats who want construction jobs the pipeline would create, and those who believe the pipeline will increase emissions blamed for climate change Below are the next steps to come on the pipeline and the Congressional races it could influence: NEXT STEPS - National Interest Determination Now that the State Department has finalized the environmental review, eight federal agencies will have up to 90 days to comment on whether the Keystone XL is in the national interest.","At least two dead in Djibouti blasts, 11 injured: police. NAIROBI (Reuters) - At least two people were killed in double grenade blasts at a busy restaurant popular with Westerners in Djibouti, police said on Saturday. \"It's a criminal act. We have two people dead and 11 wounded. It was grenades,\" Colonel Omar Hassan, head of police in Djibouti city, told Reuters. (Reporting by George Obulutsa; editing by Drazen Jorgic)","U.S. hopes Ukraine crisis won't harm work with Russia on Iran. The United States hopes disagreements with Russia over the escalating crisis in Ukraine will not undermine cooperation with Moscow in negotiations with Iran on curtailing its nuclear program, a senior U.S. administration official said on Friday. \"We all hope that the incredibly difficult situation in Ukraine will not create issues for this negotiation,\" the U.S. official said in a conference call from Washington. \"We hope that whatever happens in the days ahead, whatever actions that we in the international community take depending upon the decisions and the choices that Russia makes, that any actions that Russia subsequently takes will not put the negotiations at risk,\" the official said.","4 Puerto Ricans face health care fraud charges. SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Four people including the owners of two pharmacies have been arrested on federal health care fraud charges in Puerto Rico.","Moldova to get gas supplies from Romania. CHISINAU, Moldova (AP) — Moldova's prime minister says neighboring Romania will export gas to his country this year, reducing the former Soviet republic's dependence on Russia for gas.","At least 37 killed in Congo train crash: sources. At least 37 people were killed in a train crash in Democratic Republic of Congo's Katanga province on Tuesday, a witness and a local official said on Wednesday. Dikanga Kazadi, Katanga's interior minister, gave a provisional toll of 56 dead and 69 injured but said the toll was expected to rise and a team had been sent to investigate the incident. The accident involved a goods train that was carrying people near Likasi, a mining town between Lubumbashi and Kolwezi in the copper and cobalt-rich southeast.","Syrian refugee flight to Turkey one of the worst since war began: U.N.. ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkey is facing one of the biggest influxes of refugees from neighboring Syria since the war there began more than three years ago, the United Nations' refugee agency said on Sunday, as civilians continued to flee clashes between Islamic State (IS) militants and Kurdish forces. IS fighters seized dozens of villages close to the border and advanced on the frontier town of Ayn al-Arab, known as Kobani in Kurdish, as Kurdish commanders issued a rallying cry to Turkish Kurds to join the fight. ...","Kerry opts against a Mideast mediation trip. VIENNA (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry has decided not to make an immediate trip to the Middle East to push diplomatic efforts toward a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas.","Pressel takes 1-stroke lead at Mizuno Classic. SHIMA, Japan (AP) — Morgan Pressel of the United States shot a 67 Friday to lead the Mizuno Classic at 5 under after the first round.","Japan minister resigns over campaign fund charges. TOKYO (AP) — Japan's trade minister has announced her resignation after allegations that she violated election laws.","US calls Israeli attack on UN school 'disgraceful'. WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States declared Sunday it is \"appalled\" by Israel's \"disgraceful\" attack on a United Nations school sheltering some 3,000 displaced people in southern Gaza.","U.S. calls for renewed commitment to lasting Mideast peace. CAIRO (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry called on Sunday for a renewed commitment to achieving Middle East peace, saying a lasting deal between Israel, the Palestinians and all their neighbors could be achieved. \"Out of this conference must come not just money but a renewed commitment from everybody to work for peace that meets the aspirations of all, for Israelis, for Palestinians for all people of this region. And I promise you the full commitment of president Obama, myself and the United States to try to do that,\" Kerry told a Gaza reconstruction conference in Cairo. ...","At least 30 killed in Shi'ite militia attack on Sunni mosque in Iraq: security source. BAGHDAD (Reuters) - At least 30 people were killed when a Shi'ite Muslim militia opened fired inside an Iraqi Sunni mosque in the country's eastern Diyala province on Friday, an Iraqi security source said. The security source said at least 30 bodies had arrived at the hospital in the city of Baquba in Diyala province. Witnesses said the death toll from the attack was higher, but it was not immediately possible to verify the reports. (Reporting by Raheem Salman; Writing by Alexander Dziadosz; Editing by Alison Williams)","Exclusive: U.N. should halt arms shipments via Ivory Coast after China breach - panel. By Joe Bavier ABIDJAN (Reuters) - United Nations experts have called for the world body to stop allowing arms for its Mali peacekeepers to be shipped through Ivory Coast after they said a load of military hardware sent by China violated the country's arms embargo. In a confidential report presented to the U.N. Security Council sanctions committee on Friday, the panel of experts said the shipment of weapons, ammunition and hardware which passed through Ivory Coast in November lacked proper permission and said China had understated its actual size by 21 metric tons (23.15 tons). ...","Matthew maintains LPGA lead at Mobile. Mobile (United States) (AFP) - Catriona Matthew maintained her lead in the Airbus LPGA Classic with a second-round 67 that left her one stroke in front of teenager Charley Hull. England's Hull, playing on a sponsor's invitation, teed off early and grabbed the clubhouse lead with a 67. Overnight leader Matthew teed off shortly after Hull completed her round, and Hull wasn't surprised to see the Scottish veteran take advantage of the optimum scoring conditions to post a five-under 67 of her own. \"It's a low-scoring golf course,\" Hull said.","Chinese state media says 24 coal miners killed in underground fire. BEIJING (AP) — Chinese state media says 24 coal miners killed in underground fire.","Iraq jihadists blow up mosque, booby-trap church in Tikrit. Kirkuk (Iraq) (AFP) - The jihadists controlling the Iraqi city of Tikrit have blown up a Muslim shrine and rigged one of the region's oldest churches with explosives, security sources and witnesses said Thursday.","Hawaii, Alaska, territories team up on Jones Act. HONOLULU (AP) — Lawmakers from Hawaii, Alaska, Puerto Rico and Guam are teaming up to pressure the U.S. government for relief from a maritime law passed in the 1920s.","Global infrastructure, capital spending to hit $9 trillion by 2025: study. By Moriah Costa WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Global spending on capital projects and infrastructure will shift from West to East, and jump to more than $9 trillion a year by 2025, according to a forecast released on Monday by accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers. The growth will be driven by China, which overtook the United States as the top spender on capital and infrastructure in 2009, Pricewaterhouse said. \"Emerging markets, especially China and other countries in Asia, without the burden of recovering from a financial crisis, will see much faster growth in infrastructure spending,\" Richard Abadie, global capital projects and infrastructure leader at Pricewaterhouse, said in a prepared statement. About $78 trillion is expected to be spent on capital projects and infrastructure globally between now and 2025, according to the study.","UK employment rate matches record high. LONDON (AP) — Government figures show the proportion of workers in Britain has hit its joint-highest level since records began over 40 years ago.","Chelsea, injury-hit Man City hold course. London (AFP) - Leaders Chelsea and nearest rivals Manchester City preserved the status quo at the top of the Premier League table with a pair of unspectacular victories on Saturday.","Eto'o scores 2 as Everton beats Burnley 3-1. BURNLEY, England (AP) — Samuel Eto'o scored Everton's first and last goals in a 3-1 win over Burnley on Sunday that left the promoted team still without a win in nine Premier League games.","Israeli police probing major political corruption case. JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel's police say they are investigating dozens of public figures, including some politicians, in a large corruption case that impact upcoming elections.","5 changes to New Zealand team to play Australia. BRISBANE, Australia (AP) — New Zealand's decision to leave Aaron Cruden out of the squad for Saturday's test against Australia had nothing to do with punishment, and everything to do with giving Beauden Barrett another chance to show what he can at No. 10.","Why so many police used in raid of Korean church?. SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Several thousand police officers — 6,000 on Wednesday and another 3,000 on Thursday — were mobilized to raid a sprawling South Korean church compound near Seoul to hunt for Yoo Byung-eun, a fugitive billionaire businessman and member of the church wanted in relation to the deadly ferry sinking in April. Authorities believe Yoo owns the ship and that alleged corruption may have contributed to its sinking. The government is offering a $500,000 reward for tips about his whereabouts. Here are some questions and answers about raid and background factors.","Brutally cold weather shuts schools, delays travel in U.S. Midwest. By Mary Wisniewski CHICAGO (Reuters) - Bitter cold and high winds surging down from the Arctic pushed wind chills to dangerous levels across the upper Midwest on Monday, forcing officials to close schools and warn drivers off roads, and slowing public transit and river traffic. \"We have a surge of Arctic high pressure out of Canada that has overspread the upper Midwest and central plains,\" said Andrew Krein, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service's northern Illinois bureau. The Chicago area has not experienced a winter this cold in 30 years, since 1983-1984, Krein said, adding that wind chills in Chicago overnight could approach minus 40 degrees Fahrenheit (-40 Celsius). Chicago, Minneapolis and other parts of the Upper Midwest will have two consecutive days of subzero highs on Monday through Tuesday, according to forecasters.","Trudeau's economic agenda fleshed out in caucus proposals at Liberal convention. OTTAWA - Justin Trudeau's economic agenda is coming into clearer focus through policy resolutions developed by Liberal MPs for their party's convention later this month.","Venezuela opposition protesters heed call for banned march. Thousands of Venezuelans heeded a fugitive opposition leader's call for a march in defiance of a ban Tuesday as security forces moved in to stop them and the government planned its own rallies. As opposition protesters converged on the Plaza Brion in eastern Caracas, where the march was to start, supporters of President Nicolas Maduro were set to rally nearby, raising the risk of a confrontation. The protests began in provincial cities and moved to Caracas. Maduro has blamed opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez for violent clashes that left three people dead last week, and ordered his arrest on charges of homicide and inciting violence.","Israel bars Palestinian Olympian from leaving Gaza. GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israel has barred 30 runners, including an Olympic athlete, from leaving the Gaza Strip to participate in a marathon later this week, highlighting Israel's tight restrictions on travel in and out of the Hamas-ruled territory, Palestinian officials said Tuesday.","Egypt grants citizenship to acclaimed filmmaker. Egypt granted citizenship Wednesday to one of its most renowned filmmakers, Mohamed Khan, a British national born to an Egyptian mother and a Pakistani father, the president's office said. Egyptian women married to foreigners were not allowed to pass on their citizenship to their children prior to a 2004 amendment to the nationality law. Khan has been one of Egypt's leading film directors since the 1980s, making a string of movies tackling social issues that have often revolved around female central characters. The film tells the story of Hiyam, a young factory worker living in a lower-middle-class neighbourhood of Cairo, who falls in love with her supervisor.","Sunni militants capture Iraqi city near Syria. BAGHDAD (AP) — Sunni militants captured a strategic city along the highway to Syria on Monday, moving closer to their goal of linking areas under their control on both sides of the border.","Poland says seizure of Crimea govt offices a 'dangerous step'. WARSAW (Reuters) - The seizure of government buildings by armed men in Ukraine's Crimea region could lead to a regional conflict, Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski said on Thursday. \"This is a drastic step and I'm warning those who did this and those who allowed them to do this, because this is how regional conflicts begin. This is a very dangerous game,\" Sikorski told a news conference. (Reporting by Marcin Goettig; Writing by Karolina Slowikowska; Editing by Christian Lowe)","Israel: 40 rockets in alleged Iranian shipment. EILAT, Israel (AP) — Israel's military says a cargo ship it intercepted in the Red Sea last week carried 40 rockets with a range of up to 160 kilometers (100 miles) and dozens of mortar shells.","Report: Water shortages crimp China shale gas plan. BEIJING (AP) — A research group says more than 60 percent of China's vast shale gas deposits are in regions with scarce water resources, complicating plans by the energy-hungry country to tap the natural gas.","Tymoshenko spokeswoman retracts freedom claim. KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — A spokeswoman for imprisoned former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko is backing off her claim that the opposition icon has been freed.","Colombian girl's dad had her swallow cocaine caps. BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — An 11-year-old girl is in critical condition after doctors removed from her stomach 104 cocaine-filled capsules her father made her swallow to smuggle drugs to Europe, police said Wednesday.","Cycling-Road-Tour de Romandie classification after prologue. April 29 (Infostrada Sports) - Classification from Tour de Romandie after Prologue on Tuesday 1. Michal Kwiatkowski (Poland / Omega Pharma - Quick-Step) 6:22\" 2. Rohan Dennis (Australia / Garmin) +4\" 3. Marcel Kittel (Germany / Giant) 4. Giacomo Nizzolo (Italy / Trek) 5. Tony Martin (Germany / Omega Pharma - Quick-Step) +5\" 6. Brett Lancaster (Australia / Orica) +6\" 7. Matthias Braendle (Austria / IAM Cycling) +7\" 8. Jesse Sergent (New Zealand / Trek) +8\" 9. Ramunas Navardauskas (Lithuania / Garmin) +9\" 10. Martijn Keizer (Netherlands / Belkin) 11. Alexandre Geniez (France / FDJ.fr) 12. ...","Brazil without Hulk for match against Mexico. FORTALEZA, Brazil (AP) — Brazil will be without striker Hulk in the Group A match against Mexico on Tuesday.","Lyon held 0-0 at Bastia. BASTIA, France (AP) — Lyon drew 0-0 with struggling Bastia to trail Paris Saint-Germain by three points in the French league on Saturday.","Croatia looking to spring a surprise at World Cup. ZAGREB, Croatia (AP) — Croatia will be heading to the World Cup focused on one match: the tournament opener against host Brazil.","Petrobras scandal clouds Brazil presidential vote. A multi-billion dollar kickback scandal at Brazilian oil giant Petrobras, the country's state-owned industrial jewel, could affect the outcome of next month's presidential election. Now, scandal threatens not just to hurt the company but to affect the October 5 election pitting incumbent president and former Petrobras board chair Dilma Rousseff against ecologist Marina Silva. Paulo Roberto Costa, who headed Petrobras' refining and supply unit between 2004 and 2012, has accused more than 50 politicians, mainly from Rousseff's ruling Workers Party (PT) of taking kickbacks. Former Socialist Party candidate Eduardo Campos, was was killed in an August 13 air crash and replaced on the ticket by his running mate Silva, was also mentioned in the allegations.","McDonald's, Yum release supplier data after China food safety scare. Five fast food chains including McDonald's and Yum Brands Inc have published details of their suppliers on their Chinese websites, following a request from Shanghai authorities after the latest food safety scare. Shanghai's Municipal Food and Drug Administration said on Saturday that it had asked the two chains, along with Burger King , Dicos and Carl's Jr, to publish the usually closely-guarded information as part of efforts to strengthen oversight of food suppliers. The five firms were among a range of companies that were supplied meat by Shanghai Husi Food, a unit of U.S.-based OSI Group LLC, which was alleged by a TV report to have improperly handled meat and used expired food.","Cameron condemns 'inexcusable' killing of Israeli teens. The killing of three Israeli teenagers is an \"inexcusable act of terror\" and Britain will back Jerusalem as it seeks justice, Prime Minister David Cameron said on Monday. \"This was an appalling and inexcusable act of terror perpetrated against young teenagers.","Russia says deeply disappointed Obama signed new sanctions bill. MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia's Foreign ministry said on Friday it was deeply disappointed U.S. President Barack Obama had signed into law a new bill on sanctions against Moscow over the Ukraine crisis. \"We do not leave hostile actions by Washington without a reaction,\" it said in a statement. \"Decisions on a possible response will depend on how the U.S. use the new law in practice.\" (Reporting by Polina Devitt, Editing by Timothy Heritage)","Cricket-Australia's Coulter-Nile undergoes surgery on hamstring. Australia fast bowler Nathan Coulter-Nile has had surgery on his left hamstring and will miss the team's one-day tri-series against Zimbabwe and South Africa in August, the country's cricket board said on Wednesday. \"Nathan has had a recurring left hamstring tendon injury over the past four months and required surgery to repair the damaged tendon to give it the best chance of recovery,\" Australia physiotherapist Alex Kountouris said in a statement. Australia will play an ODI series against South Africa and a tri-series against India and England at home to prepare for next year's World Cup, which they host with New Zealand in February and March.","Boko Haram fears hold a city hostage. Maiduguri (Nigeria) (AFP) - The Nigerian city of Maiduguri may be calmer than this time last year but locals in Boko Haram's spiritual home still feel under siege, afraid to venture beyond the city limits because of the high risk of attack. A bomb also ripped through a crowded market in January, as Boko Haram's violent campaign to create an Islamic state in northern Nigeria entered its fifth year. Despite the relative calm in the northeastern city, resident Ari Kaka said: \"We are practically under Boko Haram siege. \"It is always a nightmare leaving the city because Boko Haram often set barricades on major roads, robbing and killing travellers,\" he told AFP.","French journalists jailed in Indonesia's Papua. JAYAPURA, Indonesia (AP) — An Indonesia court has sentenced two French television journalists to two and a half months in jail for illegal reporting in the easternmost province of Papua.","US school teacher stabbed to death in Abu Dhabi. DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — An American school teacher was stabbed to death in a public restroom at a mall by a suspect wearing the traditional black robe, full-face veil and gloves commonly worn by local women throughout the Arab Gulf region, local police said Tuesday.","China's Dalian Wanda in talks to buy stake from Lions Gate: Bloomberg. BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese conglomerate Dalian Wanda Group Co, one of the biggest theatre operators in the United States, is in talks to buy a stake in U.S. film studio Lions Gate Entertainment Corp, Bloomberg News said on Monday. Discussions between Lions Gate and Wanda are \"at an early stage and may not lead to a deal\", Bloomberg reported, citing an interview with Wanda's Chairman Wang Jianlin. Wang's comments are the latest sign of the company's interest in making further inroads into the U.S. film industry. ...","Commerzbank weighs cuts to London investment bank activities: sources. FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Germany's second biggest lender Commerzbank is considering cutting back its fixed income and currencies (FIC) activities in London as it adjusts to declining demand, two sources familiar with the matter said. Commerzbank plans to shift around half of its roughly 250 FIC staff in London - which already saw a headcount reduction of about 20 percent this year - to Frankfurt, said two sources who declined to be named because they are not authorized to speak to the media. ...","World Cup means big money for drug traffickers. Drug cartels in Peru and Bolivia, two of the world's top producers of cocaine, are drooling over the bountiful market being served up next door by the World Cup in Brazil. \"We have observed very intense drug trafficking activity as the World Cup approaches,\" General Vicente Romero, director of Peru's anti-drug agency, known as DIRANDRO, told AFP. Since the start of the year there has been a huge increase in the number of so-called \"drug flights\" by small planes from Peru carrying cocaine to Bolivia. From there, it is transported over land to Brazil.","Iraqi leader calls for united front against IS. NEW YORK (AP) — Iraq's president has applauded the international coalition supporting his country against Islamic extremists who have taken large parts of northern and western Iraq.","Deutsche Post aims for top spot in e-commerce logistics: paper. Deutsche Post is aiming for a top spot in the global logistics market for online shopping, its chief executive told a German weekly, adding small acquisitions could help achieve this. \"Indeed, we want to be a global leader in logistics services for the e-commerce sector. In Germany, we're the number one already,\" Frank Appel told Euro am Sonntag in an interview published on Saturday. Deutsche Post, the world's biggest postal and logistics group, is best known internationally for its DHL parcel delivery business but it is keen to win more work from the global boom in online shopping.","Kiev warns of terrorism threat amid protests. KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine's security agency is warning of a heightened risk of terrorism amid nearly three months of anti-government protests.","Iraqi officials say militants seize city of Tikrit. BAGHDAD (AP) — Al-Qaida-inspired militants seized effective control Wednesday of Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit, expanding their offensive closer to the Iraqi capital as soldiers and security forces abandoned their posts following clashes with the insurgents.","Czech Republic beats Italy 3-0 in Fed Cup semis. OSTRAVA, Czech Republic (AP) — The Czech Republic has reached the Fed Cup final by defeating defending champion Italy after Petra Kvitova won the first reverse singles on Sunday.","Bangkok boating lake park becomes focus of protests. By Nick Macfie BANGKOK (Reuters) - A green park in downtown Bangkok was slowly beginning to resemble a tent city on Saturday, a day after anti-government protesters said they would clear camps blocking key intersections and congregate in the park instead. The protesters have blocked some streets since mid-January in their bid to push out Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra and eradicate the influence of her brother, ex-premier Thaksin Shinawatra, seen as the real power in Thailand. \"We will stop closing Bangkok and give every intersection back to Bangkokians. We will stop closing Bangkok from Monday,\" protest leader Suthep Thaugsuban told supporters on Friday.","Draghi says a stronger euro would trigger looser ECB policy. By Jan Strupczewski and Krista Hughes WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The European Central Bank will ease monetary policy further if the euro keeps strengthening, President Mario Draghi said on Saturday as world finance chiefs ramped up pressure on Europe to ward off deflation. In the clearest signal yet the ECB was prepared to launch a stimulative asset-purchase program, Draghi said the euro's exchange rate had become increasingly important to policy and would act as a trigger. \"The strengthening of the exchange rate would require further monetary policy accommodation. If you want policy to remain as accommodative as now, a further strengthening of the exchange rate would require further stimulus,\" he told a news conference.","After 5th case, IOC says anti-doping program works. KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia (AP) — At the midpoint of the Sochi Games, not yet marred by a single case of doping, the IOC's top medical official said its efforts to catch drug cheats were so successful they had scared them all away.","Betis' late goal earns 1-1 draw at Villarreal. MADRID (AP) — Ruben Castro's late goal gave bottom side Real Betis a 1-1 draw at 10-man Villarreal in the Spanish league on Sunday.","Hamas-hired workers in Gaza strike for wages in test for unity deal. By Nidal al-Mughrabi GAZA (Reuters) - Some 40,000 public servants hired by Hamas went on strike in Gaza on Thursday in a pay dispute that could test the resilience of the new Palestinian government, formed just weeks ago under the Islamist group's unity pact with President Mahmoud Abbas. All government offices in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip were closed as a result of the one-day strike, but hospital emergency rooms remained open and police continued to patrol the streets. The new government, based in the West Bank city of Ramallah, infuriated public workers on Hamas's payroll by saying it would vet them before paying out salaries - a process that could take months. Earlier this month, Gaza's public sector union suspended protests that lasted nearly a week, saying it would resume its action if its members were not promptly paid.","Asian shares off to slow start, investors look to earnings. By Hideyuki Sano TOKYO (Reuters) - Asian stock markets got off to a slow start on Monday after a U.S. market holiday but held near three-year highs on optimism about the U.S. economy, with investors now shifting their focus to corporate earnings. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was little changed, staying just under Friday's peak and two percentage point below its 2011 peak, having risen about 7 percent so far this year. While some people say the valuations of U.S. shares are becoming a bit expensive, I think there's further upside potential given U.S. interest rates are still low,\" said Tsuyoshi Shimizu, chief strategist at Mizuho Asset Management. In addition, two other major central banks -- the European Central Bank and the Bank of Japan -- are committed to stimulus, keeping cheap money sloshing around possibly for years.","Egypt's Mubarak in court, denies seizing public funds. Ousted Egyptian leader Hosni Mubarak appeared in court on Wednesday and denied charges of stealing public funds, one of four cases against him, state television showed. Former president Mubarak, 85, and his sons Alaa and Gamal are accused of seizing and facilitating the seizure of more than 100 million Egyptian pounds ($14.37 million) originally allocated for presidential palaces, among other charges. Mubarak was sentenced to life in prison in 2012 for complicity in the killing of demonstrators in the uprising that toppled him in 2011. Mubarak's successor, Mohamed Mursi, served as president for a year before he was ousted by the army in July after mass protests against his rule.","TSX opens lower as Fed concerns weigh. TORONTO (Reuters) - Canada's main stock index opened lower on Wednesday, led by declines in financial and energy shares, as investors waited anxiously for a decision by the U.S. Federal Reserve about its monetary stimulus program. The Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index was down 94.78 points, or 0.69 percent, at 13,592.88 shortly after the open. (Reporting by John Tilak; Editing by James Dalgleish)","New Chile bombings hit resort city. Two homemade bombs have exploded at a shopping center in the Chilean resort city of Vina del Mar, adding to panic after a subway bombing in Santiago wounded 14 people. The latest explosion came Wednesday inside a bathroom at the Open Plaza mall in Vina del Mar. The twin bombings in Vina del Mar, a picturesque city on the Pacific coast, have added to a growing climate of fear after Monday's attack on the Escuela Militar (Military School) subway station in the capital. Monday's blast in Santiago, which the government condemned as a \"terrorist act,\" was the second on the Chilean capital's subway system in less than two months.","Police stole watch, bungled evidence at Pistorius home. Oscar Pistorius's murder trial heard that police officers were clumsy with evidence and even stole a watch from the scene where Reeva Steenkamp was killed, in testimony from an ex-colleague on Friday. Former station chief Giliam van Rensburg, who retired from the police last year, testified that an officer stole a watch worth as much as $10,000 (7,000 euros), in a damning indictment of his ex-colleagues. The watch went missing while forensic experts were examining a blood-splattered box containing seven other timepieces and occurred even after Van Rensburg warned his staff against theft. \"I saw those watches and I said this is tempting for any person because this is expensive watches,\" he told the court.","Taliban attack kills 1 NATO soldier in Afghanistan. KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Officials say a Taliban attack on a joint NATO-Afghan base in eastern Afghanistan has killed one NATO soldier.","Barclays chief applauds claw-back idea on bonuses. LONDON (AP) — The CEO of Barclays said having provisions to claw back bankers' bonuses, as outlined by regulators on Wednesday, is a good idea in principle.","Colombian rebels urge on national soccer team. BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — They proclaim Marxism on the battlefield but Colombia's largest rebel group is all nationalism come World Cup time.","New NYC Mayor de Blasio's administration moves to drop appeal of police stop-and-frisk verdict. NEW YORK, N.Y. - New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio's administration has filed court papers seeking to drop an appeal of a judge's decision ordering major reforms to the police department's stop-and-frisk policy. The judge ruled the practice discriminated against minorities.","Venezuelans clash as jailed opposition leader sits. CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Violent clashes flared up across Venezuela on Wednesday as the nation waited to learn what charges jailed opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez will face for organizing mass protests that have breathed new life into the movement challenging socialist rule in the oil-rich nation.","France tries to rally mistrustful African states against Boko Haram. By John Irish DAKAR (Reuters) - France will step in to help coordinate a regional taskforce against Nigeria's Islamist group Boko Haram, amid signs of mistrust among West African neighbors, Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said on Tuesday. Boko Haram has stepped up attacks across much of Nigeria's north ahead of presidential elections in February. Their operations have spilled over Nigeria's borders into Niger to the north and Cameroon to the east, and stirred fears that Chad could be dragged into the conflict. ...","Thai satellite spots 300 objects in Indian Ocean. BANGKOK (AP) — A Thai satellite has detected about 300 objects floating in the Indian Ocean near the search area for the missing Malaysia Airlines jetliner.","Debate on protecting Great Lakes from Asian carp unresolved by Army Corps' report. TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. - The debate over how to protect the Great Lakes from voracious Asian carp appeared no closer to settlement Tuesday following release of a federal report with options that could cost billions and require extensive re-engineering of Chicago's busy waterway network.","Court orders Lalit Modi's passport to be restored. NEW DELHI (AP) — Former Indian Premier League commissioner Lalit Modi can return to India after the Delhi High Court asked for his passport to be restored.","Israel strike kills Gaza family as Egypt readies new talks. Israel kept up the pressure on Hamas in Gaza on Saturday, carrying out multiple air strikes that killed seven Palestinians, three of them children, as Egypt prepared to convene new truce talks. Since a previous round of frantic Egyptian diplomacy collapsed, shattering nine days of calm, 84 Palestinians and a four-year-old Israeli boy have died as a result of the violence. \"Egypt is going to invite delegates to return to the negotiating table to consider a long-term truce,\" Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas said after talks with Egyptian leader Abdel Fattah al-Sisi. Abbas's meeting with Sisi came after he held two rounds of talks in Qatar on Thursday and Friday with exiled Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal, whose Islamist movement is the de facto ruler of Gaza.","UN surveillance drone crashes in eastern DR Congo. Kinshasa (AFP) - A surveillance drone from the United Nations peacekeeping mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo crashed in the east of the country Monday without causing any injuries, the UN said.","U.S. aims to keep Iran atomic talks separate from Islamic State conflict. By Arshad Mohammed WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. officials hope to prevent two diplomatic challenges with Iran from colliding next week: the Iranian nuclear program and the threat posed by the Islamic State militant group. Their basic dilemma is how to keep Iran from hardening its stance in the nuclear talks out of a belief, which U.S. officials say would be misguided, that Washington might make nuclear concessions in exchange for help against IS. ...","First 'orange' pollution alert as smog rolls into Beijing. China's capital Beijing, under fire to take effective measures against air pollution, raised its four-tiered alert system to \"orange\" for the first time on Friday, as heavy smog was forecast to roll into the city over the next three days. The alert was raised after the Beijing government faced criticism from state media and on the Internet for failing to act against high pollution levels last weekend. Data from the U.S. embassy put levels of PM2.5 particles, those measuring less than 2.5 micrometers across and the most noxious form of air pollution, at 378. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency considers levels above 300 to be hazardous.","IBM starts rolling out Watson supercomputer in Africa. By Tim Cocks LAGOS (Reuters) - IBM began rolling out its Watson supercomputer system across Africa on Thursday, saying it would help to address continental development obstacles as diverse as medical diagnoses, economic data collection and e-commerce research. The world's biggest technology service provider said \"Project Lucy\" would take 10 years and cost $100 million. The undertaking was named after the earliest known human ancestor fossil, which was found in east Africa, \"I believe it will spur a whole era of innovation for entrepreneurs here,\" IBM Chief Executive Ginni Rometty told delegates at a conference on Wednesday. International Business Machines Corp has so far failed to convert that genius into substantial revenue growth, with the system contributing just $100 million over the past three years as overall revenues declined.","Tennis - Aussie Tomic pulls out of US Open. - Australian wildcard Bernard Tomic pulled out of the US Open on Thursday with a left hip injury, handing fourth-seeded David Ferrer a third-round berth. Tomic, 21, said he'd also been battling flu prior to his first round victory over Dustin Brown, and when the hip pain flared he opted to take a conservative approach. It's painful,\" said Tomic, who retired after the first set of his first round match at the Australian Open against Rafael Nadal in January and underwent double hip surgery shortly thereafter.","Mexico prepares first illegal drug financing blacklist. (Reuters) - Mexico is preparing to implement new regulations that will allow the government to identify individuals and businesses linked to drug trafficking and ban financial firms from doing business with them, the finance minister said on Saturday. Mexican Finance Minister Luis Videgaray said banking authorities would provide further details in coming days. \"For the first time, we have the capacity to issue a list and this list will impede any financial institution from carrying out transactions with these people,\" Videgaray told a news conference in Washington D.C., according to a transcript. The U.S. Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) periodically issues blacklists of individuals and businesses alleged to be laundering drug gang profits.","Car bomb kills 2 soldiers in eastern Libyan city. TRIPOLI, Libya (AP) — A Libyan security official says a car bomb has exploded in front of a military compound in the restive eastern city of Benghazi, killing two soldiers.","Greek Prime Minister Samaras says early general elections to be held Jan 25. ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greek Prime Minister Samaras says early general elections to be held Jan 25.","Ukraine President to watch W. Cup final in Brazil. SAO PAULO (AP) — Brazil's Foreign Ministry says Ukraine's president Petro Poroshenko has confirmed he will watch Sunday's final World Cup match in Rio de Janeiro's Maracana stadium along with Russian President Vladimir Putin and other world leaders.","Ban to remain on IOC member visits to bid cities. LONDON (AP) — The IOC pushed forward Thursday with plans to revamp the troubled Olympic bidding process by making it more of an \"invitation\" rather than an \"application\" — but upheld the ban on member visits to candidate cities.","With far right rising, France holds urgent meeting. PARIS (AP) — French President Francois Hollande is holding an emergency meeting with top government ministers after the far right National Front emerged as France's most popular party in voting for the European Parliament.","Asia-Pacific navies sign communication agreement. QINGDAO, China (AP) — Naval officials from the U.S. and nearly two dozen Asia-Pacific nations have adopted an agreement aimed at heading off accidents and miscommunication at sea.","Africa's women entrepreneurs take the lead. KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) — Madinah Nalukenge recalls the day she set out to sell food on the filthy edges of a bus terminal in the Ugandan capital in 2004. She had just $10 left over from a failed attempt to sell bed sheets.","Egypt president raises cigarette, alcohol prices. CAIRO (AP) — Egypt's president has issued a decree raising the sales tax on cigarettes by up to 50 percent and on beer by 200 percent.","One dead as two bombs strike Cairo telecom centre. Two bombs exploded Saturday in a Cairo suburb killing a teenager and wounding a woman, officials said, the latest in a string of blasts to hit the Egyptian capital this week. Militants have stepped up attacks in Egypt after the army ousted Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in July 2013 and a deadly crackdown by authorities on his supporters. Saturday's blast comes after five makeshift bombs exploded at four Cairo metro stations on Wednesday, while a sixth one blew up at a courthouse.","Arab League criticizes Syrian election plan. Holding an election in Syria while civil war rages will only obstruct international efforts to resolve the conflict, the head of the Arab League said on Tuesday. President Bashar al-Assad's government announced on Monday that a presidential election would take place on June 3 - an event that is certain to extend his grip on power. \"This step could suspend the desired efforts of maturing negotiations for a political solution to the Syrian crisis,\" Nabil el-Araby, the head of the Cairo-based Arab League, said in a statement.","Insight: Credit Suisse sticks with money-losing U.S. brokerage. By Jed Horowitz NEW YORK (Reuters) - Credit Suisse Group AG is betting it can turn around its unprofitable U.S. private wealth business with new loan products and a focus on the ultra-rich, a strategy greeted with skepticism by some securities analysts and former officials at the bank. Bank executives say Credit Suisse Securities (USA) can make money by focusing on ultra-wealthy clients who use multiple investment banking and personal investment services, and by introducing products that generate relatively high and sustainable interest income even when rates are low. The U.S. wealth business is a small part of revenue at Switzerland's second-largest bank, but getting it into the black is becoming increasingly important to Credit Suisse. Wealthy investors worldwide have been closing their Swiss accounts as U.S. and European regulators investigate the complicity of financial firms in helping customers evade taxes, hurting the profitability of the private wealth business in Switzerland.","SOCHI SCENE: Snowboarder crashes. KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia (AP) — Here are two images of snowboarder Jackie Hernandez being helped by medics after she crashed during a seeding run in the women's snowboard cross competition on Sunday morning. These were taken by AP photographer Andy Wong.","Palestinian university expels Israeli visitor. RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) — The expulsion of an Israeli journalist from an academic conference hosted by a top Palestinian university has unleashed a fierce debate about academic freedom in the West Bank.","BRAZIL BEAT: International flavor in Sao Paulo. SAO PAULO (AP) — Is it \"Let's Go\" or \"Les Bleus\"? It's getting hard to tell in a Bohemian neighborhood of Brazil's largest city where foreigners have taken over the streets to improvise a big outdoor festival of fans.","Burkina Faso: Transitional president inaugurated. OUAGADOUGOU, Burkina Faso (AP) — Burkina Faso has sworn in former U.N. ambassador Michel Kafando as transitional president to help lead the land-locked West African country to stability after a brief military takeover last month.","Ukraine says fulfilled all conditions for first IMF tranche. Ukraine Finance Minister Oleksander Shlapak said on Thursday that Kiev has fulfilled all conditions to receive the first portion of the financial aid package from the International Monetary Fund. \"We're here to speak in more specific terms about time and conditions of (international) support,\" Shlapak told journalists on the sidelines of the World Bank-IMF spring meeting in Washington. \"Moreover, Ukraine has fulfilled all the conditions set by the IMF for the first tranche.\" (Reporting by Lidia Kelly and Anna Yukhananov;","Canadian Press NewsAlert:Premier of Newfoundland and Labrador resigns. ST. JOHN'S, N.L. - Kathy Dunderdale is stepping down as premier of Newfoundland and Labrador and leader of the province's Progressive Conservative party.","Serbian ex-security men held over Milosevic-era killing of journalist. By Aleksandar Vasovic BELGRADE (Reuters) - Two former Serbian state security agents were detained on Tuesday over the killing of opposition newspaper publisher and journalist Slavko Curuvija during the rule of strongman president Slobodan Milosevic in 1999. The arrests arose from a series of investigations, led by the deputy prime minister, into politically-tinged organized crime and corruption as Serbia seeks to improve democratic credentials needed for entry into the European Union. Miljko Radisavljevic, Serbia's prosecutor for organized crime, told a news conference that former state security operatives Ratko Romic and Milan Radonjic had been arrested in connection with Curuvija's death.","Napoli forward Insigne has torn ACL, needs surgery. NAPLES, Italy (AP) — Napoli forward Lorenzo Insigne has been diagnosed with a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee and is undergoing surgery, ruling him out for several months.","Oxlade-Chamberlain targets Uruguay return. Manaus (Brazil) (AFP) - England midfielder Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain has expressed optimism that he will recover from a knee injury in time for his side's second World Cup game against Uruguay on Thursday. \"It's coming along,\" said the Arsenal player, who damaged knee ligaments in a friendly against Ecuador last week and sat out England's opening Group D game against Italy on Saturday. Asked about his chances of featuring against Uruguay in Sao Paulo, he told British newspaper journalists: \"We are not sure about timescales.","Continental AG CEO says Audi recall no threat to guidance. MUNICH (Reuters) - Continental said a fault with airbags installed at premium sportscar maker Audi could cost a double-digit million euro amount to fix, a sum which the German automotive supplier could absorb without revising its earnings guidance. Earlier this month Audi said it was recalling 850,000 cars worldwide, because potentially faulty software may prevent airbags on its A4 model from deploying. \"We are the supplier of the system\", Continental's Chief Executive Elmar Degenhart told journalists in Munich on Thursday evening, in remarks which were embargoed for Friday. ...","Jamaican officials say unresponsive US plane has crashed on the island. MIAMI (AP) — Jamaican officials say unresponsive US plane has crashed on the island.","Thieves pry off ancient fresco from Pompeii walls. ROME (AP) — Thieves have pried off a chunk of an ancient fresco of the Greek goddess Artemis from the walls of Pompeii.","Putin says US sanctions stalemate bilateral ties. MOSCOW (AP) — Russia's President Vladimir Putin has lamented the latest round of U.S. sanctions against his country. He says they are stalemating bilateral relations and hurting not only Russian but also American businesses.","Interpol chief says Malaysia incident unlikely to be terrorist incident. LYON, France (Reuters) - The head of international police agency Interpol said on Tuesday he did not believe the disappearance of a Malaysia Airlines plane at the weekend was a terrorist incident. \"The more information we get, the more we are inclined to conclude it is not a terrorist incident,\" said Interpol Secretary General Ronald Noble. He also said two Iranian passport holders had swapped their passports in Kuala Lumpur and used stolen Italian and Austrian passports to board the now missing Malaysian airliner. ...","IOC: No clash between 2022 World Cup and Olympics. LAUSANNE, Switzerland (AP) — The IOC says it has received assurances from FIFA President Sepp Blatter that the 2022 World Cup will not clash with the Winter Olympics.","24 Arab Israelis in court for rioting after shooting. Twenty-four Arab Israelis, 10 of them minors, appeared in court Monday on charges of rioting in Arab areas of northern Israel after police shot dead a young man. Police said all of them had been arrested on Sunday and were in court for a hearing to decide whether their custody should be extended. Kheir Hamdan was shot dead after he attacked a police vehicle as officers tried to arrest a relative. His death set off two days of widespread rioting across Arab towns and villages in Israel.","Australia target new gold medal drive at Commonwealth Games. Swimming and cycling dominate the action on the second day of the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow with Scotland and Australia looking for more gold in the pool and Australia and England the powerhouses on the track Those three nations sparked Thursday's opening day with Australia topping the medals chase with six golds, England second on five and hosts Scotland delighted with four. Thomas Fraser Holmes was also well-fancied for the men's 400m individual medley, whilst Cameron McKay will battle with home favourite Robbie Renwick in the men's 200m freestyle.","5 dead after truck slides off hill in Haiti. PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — Authorities in Haiti say that five people have died and four others were injured in a traffic accident.","Guyana hearings set for Walter Rodney death probe. GEORGETOWN, Guyana (AP) — The government of Guyana has scheduled the first hearings for an in-depth investigation into the 1980 assassination of local historian and black activist Walter Rodney.","Blue Angels will fly at Kentucky Derby Festival's Thunder Over Louisville on April 12. LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The Blue Angels will perform at the Kentucky Derby Festival's Thunder Over Louisville this year for the first time since 2006.","Uran wins 12th stage of Giro d'Italia. BAROLO, Italy (AP) — Rigoberto Uran won the 12th stage of the Giro d'Italia on Thursday and took the overall lead in the race.","Russia says its economy feeling effects of Western pressure. MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov said \"informal pressure\" exerted by the West was having serious consequences for Russia's economy, RIA news agency reported on Thursday. \"We sense and understand that the informal character of the pressure, which is being exerted by the United States and countries of the European Union, it is all causing serious consequences for our economy,\" Shuvalov was quoted as saying on the sidelines of the St Petersburg Economic Forum. (Reporting by Thomas Grove, editing by Elizabeth Piper)","Official: 129 drown after boat sinks on Congo lake. KINSHASA, Congo (AP) — Authorities say at least 129 people are dead in Congo after a boat sank on a lake in a remote corner of the enormous country.","UK authorities briefly evacuate train station. LONDON (AP) — Emergency services in London briefly evacuated Charing Cross train station after a fire broke out on a small section in the front carriage of train. There were no injuries.","Scott matches Bay Hill record with sizzling 62. Reigning Masters champion Adam Scott of Australia matched the Bay Hill course record with a 10-under par 62 Thursday to seize command at the US PGA Arnold Palmer Invitational. World number two Scott, hot on the heels of top-ranked Tiger Woods just three weeks before defending his Masters crown at Augusta National, fired seven birdies, two eagles and a bogey. That was level for the course record set by American Andy Bean in 1981 and matched by Aussie Greg Norman in 1984. And Scott had not played at Bay Hill since 2009.","North Iraq car bomb kills five. A car bomb in a Kurdish-majority neighbourhood of the ethnically mixed northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk killed five people on Wednesday evening, security and medical officials said. Twenty more people were wounded by the blast in the northern part of the tinderbox oil hub, which lies at the heart of territory Iraq's Kurds want to incorporate into their autonomous region over the objections of Baghdad. While the federal government has not abandoned its opposition to Kurdish claims, Kurdish peshmerga forces are now responsible for its external security after the army abandoned its positions in the face of a Sunni Arab militant offensive led by the jihadist Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.","Small plane crashes in northern Mexico, 6 dead. MEXICO CITY (AP) — Authorities in the northern Mexican state of Tamaulipas say six people, including two 15-year-old girls, have been killed in a small plane crash.","Palestinians to leave Cairo on Sunday unless Israel resumes Gaza talks. By Stephen Kalin CAIRO (Reuters) - Palestinian negotiators will leave Cairo on Sunday unless Israel agrees to return to Egyptian-mediated negotiations to end the war in Gaza, senior delegation member Moussa Abu Marzouk said. \"Within the next 24 hours, the delegation's presence in Egypt will be determined,\" Abu Marzouk, the deputy chairman of Hamas' political bureau, told Reuters in an interview late on Saturday at the delegation's hotel near the Cairo airport. Delegation head Azzam Ahmed told Al Arabiya television the Palestinian factions in Cairo for the negotiations would leave \"if it is confirmed to us that (Israel) will not return except with conditions.\" Israel has said it will not take part in truce talks while violence is ongoing. The Palestinians refused to extend the cease-fire, saying Israel was stalling and had refused to accept demands including an end to the blockade of Gaza and the opening of a seaport.","Palestinian families bear brunt as Israel hunts teens. Taffuh (Palestinian Territories) (AFP) - It was the sound of the front door being kicked in that woke the Izrayqat family early Wednesday as Israeli troops barged into their home in Taffuh village near Hebron. \"They kicked in the doors at 7:30 am (0430 GMT) and told us to get out,\" Umm Omar Izrayqat told AFP, describing the moment when troops came searching for signs of three Israeli teenagers believed kidnapped by the Islamist militants from Hamas. Like elsewhere in the southern West Bank, life in this village west of Hebron has been turned on its head since the three teenagers went missing late last week, prompting a massive military search operation. Over the past six days, troops have turned properties upside-down and arrested more than 240 Palestinians, leaving no stone unturned in the search for the students, who disappeared while hitchhiking on Thursday.","US-Philippines launch war games after Obama pledge. Thousands of American and Philippine troops launched large annual exercises on Monday after US President Barack Obama vowed \"ironclad\" backing for its Asian ally, locked in a tense maritime row with China. Filipino Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario said the 10-day drills were necessary to deal with the challenge of \"aggressive\" neighbours intent on \"changing the status quo\". He did not mention China directly, but Beijing has been robust in its efforts to assert territorial claims over most of the South China Sea, putting a strain on its relationships with neighbouring countries. \"In recent years tensions in the Asia-Pacific region have increased due to extensive and expansive maritime and territorial claims undermining the rule of law,\" del Rosario said at the opening ceremony.","Venezuelan president follows Chavez's NY footsteps. NEW YORK (AP) — Venezuela's Nicolas Maduro is following in the footsteps of the late Hugo Chavez in his first presidential visit to New York.","Reports: Vladimir Putin orders test of combat readiness of troops in central, western Russia. MOSCOW (AP) — Reports: Vladimir Putin orders test of combat readiness of troops in central, western Russia.","Writer Gabriel Garcia Marquez dead at 87. Mexico City (AFP) - Colombia's Nobel-winning novelist Gabriel Garcia Marquez died Thursday in Mexico City at the age of 87, Mexican and Colombian media reported.","Boeing's jetliner deliveries slowed in April. By Alwyn Scott NEW YORK (Reuters) - Boeing Co's pace of commercial airplane deliveries slowed to 56 in April, or 10 fewer than the month before, keeping it under the target needed to meet its annual delivery forecast. The company remained the world's biggest plane maker, however, besting the 52 jets that rival Airbus delivered in the month. Investors watch jet deliveries because Boeing and Airbus receive the bulk of the cash for jet sales when customers fly them home. Boeing investors are particularly keen to see deliveries rise to supply cash for share buybacks and dividends and to work off $25 billion in deferred costs associated with the 787 Dreamliner.","U.S., allies launch barrage of airstrikes against Islamic State: CENTCOM. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States and its allies launched a barrage of attacks against Islamic State over the weekend, conducting 23 air strikes in Syria and 18 in Iraq against the militant group since Friday, U.S. Central Command said. In a statement, U.S. Central Command said the strikes in Syria included 13 aimed near the key border down of Kobani and 10 hit near Dayr Az Zawr. In Iraq, seven strikes hit near Baiji while others hit in or near Falluja, Mosul, al-Qaim, Haditha, Ramadi and Rutba, according to the statement. (Reporting by Susan Heavey; Editing by Doina Chiacu)","Malaysia military tracked missing jet to Strait of Malacca: source. Malaysia's military believes it tracked the missing Malaysia Airlines jetliner by radar over the Strait of Malacca, far from where it last made contact with civilian air traffic control off the country's east coast, a military source told Reuters. It made it into the Malacca Strait,\" the military official, who has been briefed on investigations, told Reuters.","Belgian defender, 36, key in plans to stop Messi. BRASILIA, Brazil (AP) — Daniel Van Buyten has been written off as too old and too slow many more times than Lionel Messi has been crowned the best player in the world.","Islamic State group issues new curriculum in Iraq. BAGHDAD (AP) — The extremist-held Iraqi city of Mosul is set to usher in a new school year. But unlike years past, there will be no art or music. Classes about history, literature and Christianity have been \"permanently annulled.\"","Obama threatens Karzai with full US withdrawal. WASHINGTON (AP) — Frustrated with his Afghan counterpart, President Barack Obama is ordering the Pentagon to accelerate planning for a full U.S. troop withdrawal from Afghanistan by the end of this year. But Obama is also holding out hope that Afghanistan's next president may eventually sign a stalled security agreement that could prevent the U.S. from having to take that step.","Centrowitz, Cain spark mile fields for Millrose Games. By Larry Fine NEW YORK (Reuters) - World silver medalist Matthew Centrowitz and teenage sensation Mary Cain will headline the featured Wanamaker Mile fields at the Millrose Games at The Armory on Saturday. Centrowitz will be joined by three-time Olympian Nick Willis of New Zealand in the men's race, and triple U.S. champion Morgan Uceny will challenge Cain in the women's race in what has become the trademark event in the 107-year-old New York indoor meeting. \"The Wanamaker Mile will be the pre-eminent indoor mile race in the world this year so it will be great for Mary to continue to experience running in a large field against very good runners.\" The Millrose Games is the second stop of the 2014 Indoor USATF Championship Series, which will conclude at the USA Indoor Track & Field Championship and world trials on February 22-23 in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Willis also switched after initially planning to run in a special 2,000 meters race to honor Finland's Paavo Nurmi, who won gold medals at three Olympics and set a 2,000 meters world record at The Armory in 1925.","BRAZIL BEAT: In Curitiba, few signs of World Cup. CURITIBA, Brazil (AP) — Four years ago, the small South African town of Potchefstroom strung up welcome banners and draped the red and yellow Spanish flag from lampposts when the European champions came to train for the World Cup.","South Korea ferry disaster may cloud Obama visit. TOKYO (AP) — When President Barack Obama arrives in South Korea on Friday, he will be thrust anew into the role of consoler in chief in a time of crisis, a responsibility he has become all too accustomed to in the United States.","IRA Hyde Park bomb suspect walks free as deal revealed. London (AFP) - A man suspected of carrying out a 1982 IRA bomb in London which killed four cavalry soldiers walked free on Tuesday after it emerged prosecutors had guaranteed he would never face trial.","In Exxon suit, judge leaves opening for villagers. WASHINGTON (AP) — A U.S. judge has left a small legal opening for some Indonesian villagers to pursue a lawsuit against Exxon Mobil Corp. over alleged human rights abuses by Indonesian troops guarding an Exxon natural gas field.","Palestinian knifeman wounds two Israeli police. Jerusalem (AFP) - A knife-wielding Palestinian wounded two Israeli police officers on Friday in Jerusalem's Old City, the scene of months of tensions, authorities said.","South Africa's AMCU union, platinum firms resume wage talks. By Olivia Kumwenda-Mtambo JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Wage talks between South Africa's AMCU union and the world's top three platinum producers resumed on Tuesday to try to end a nearly two-week strike that has seen outbreaks of violence and is costing the country an estimated $36 million a day. Members of the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU) walked out at Anglo American Platinum (Amplats), Impala Platinum and Lonmin in January, demanding that monthly wages be more than doubled. Police fired rubber bullets and stun grenades to disperse about 3,000 striking miners at an Amplats shaft on Tuesday, and have been involved in several clashes since the strike started. The government has been unable to soothe tensions in the mining area, 120 km (70 miles) northwest of Johannesburg, where miners are angry about their lack of economic progress two decades after the end of apartheid.","LG bets on pricey OLED technology as future of TVs. SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — LG Electronics Inc. is sticking with its strategy of using the exceptionally expensive OLED display technology for TVs, announcing two new giant models with ultra-high definition screens.","US government wary of sanctions on Venezuela. WASHINGTON (AP) — As sanctions legislation against Venezuela advances in Congress, the Obama administration is finding itself wedged between pressure from Capitol Hill to punish officials over human rights and regional governments that think such a move would only add to tensions in the South American country.","Dubai charges six Iranians with businessman's kidnap. Dubai prosecutors have charged six Iranians with kidnapping a British-Iranian businessman who went missing in the emirate last year, the government said on Thursday. Authorities said in January they had detained three Iranians suspected of being part of a group that had kidnapped Abbas Yazdi, a businessman who owns a general trading company in the Gulf Arab emirate and who disappeared last June. Yazdi's wife, Atena, has told media in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), a federal state comprising seven emirates including Dubai, that she feared he might have been kidnapped by Iranian intelligence officers. Iran has denied any role in Yazdi's disappearance.","Jamaica sees success in curbing killings by police. KINGSTON, Jamaica (AP) — Jamaican police have often been viewed with suspicion and fear, routinely accused of indiscriminately using their weapons and intentionally killing suspects as the island struggled with soaring violent crime.","G-20 leaders to tackle corruption at summit. BRISBANE, Australia (AP) — Corruption is a perennial topic for the G-20, with leaders dubbing it a threat to global growth, and activists arguing it hurts the poorest countries the most by siphoning away desperately needed money that could be used to improve health systems, schools and roads.","Qatar Emir tells Saudi King he met terms to end GCC rift: Gulf source. (Reuters) - Qatar's emir told Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah this week his country had done everything it could to resolve a dispute over Doha's links with Islamist groups, but the monarch appeared unconvinced, a Gulf security source said on Tuesday. The source said Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani flew to Jeddah on Monday for two hours of talks on the dispute in the U.S.-allied Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), an unusual schism among the Arab world's wealthiest countries that has ramifications across the Middle East. ...","Israel boosts security for Sharon funeral near Gaza border. By Dan Williams and Matt Spetalnick JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel beefed up security for former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's funeral near the Gaza border on Monday and warned the enclave's Palestinian rulers not to allow rocket fire during the ceremony, which U.S. Vice President Joe Biden will attend. Sharon died at the age of 85 on Saturday after eight years in a coma caused by a stroke. A memorial service will be held on Monday in parliament in Jerusalem and an afternoon funeral near the Sharon family farm some 10 km (6 miles) from Gaza. An Israeli security source said Israel had \"passed the message\" to Gazan authorities to prevent any rocket fire during the funeral.","Iraq withholds pay for employees in militant-held areas. Iraqi government employees in areas overrun by militants will not receive their salaries until after the end of hostilities, when they will be given back pay, the cabinet decided Tuesday. \"Employees in areas not subject to government control\" will have their salaries held back and \"distributed to them... after the end of military operations,\" a cabinet statement said. Civil servants in major areas of five provinces overrun in a militant offensive led by the Islamic State of Iraq may not have been receiving salaries already due to difficulties on the ground. Iraqi security forces are struggling to hold ground and have only conducted localised offensive operations since the crisis began on June 9, meaning the conflict could drag on for months or longer.","Suspected member of ETA arrested in Spain airport. MADRID (AP) — Officials say Spanish police have arrested a suspected member of Basque separatist group ETA as she arrived at Madrid's airport.","The war that never ends between the Koreas. By James Pearson and Ju-min Park YEONPYEONG South Korea (Reuters) - On a clear day, residents of Yeonpyeong Island can see North Korea, 10 kms (six miles) away. They can also sometimes watch South Korean warships chase North Korean and Chinese fishing boats. These waters in the Yellow Sea are among the world's richest for blue crab. Lately, however, North Korea has been making life riskier for residents of this fishing community. On May 22, they were ordered into bomb shelters after the North fired artillery shells around the island, without hitting anything.","Namibia defends black rhino hunt. Namibia wildlife authorities on Friday defended the auction of permits to hunt black rhino, saying the kill was aimed at conserving the endangered species. The auction conducted in the US by The Dallas Safari Club is part of a government approved annual quota, in place since 2012. It gives permission for the killing of five black rhino per year. \"We have been confronted by individuals and organisations who express their dissatisfaction about the programme...they sometimes think that we do things randomly,\" said the Deputy Minister of Environment Pohamba Shifeta.","All Blacks pick Pulu for Aussie Test squad. The All Blacks drafted promising scrum-half Augustine Pulu into the squad for next week's Test against Australia on Friday to replace the injured Tawera Kerr-Barlow.","Pistorius allegedly fired gun in eatery, tried to shift blame. Paralympian star Oscar Pistorius fired a gun in an upmarket restaurant, grazing his boxer friend's foot, then asked another to take the blame, a South African court heard Wednesday. Three days into the athlete's trial for his lover's premeditated killing, the state called his friend Kevin Lerena to testify about one of three other charges against Pistorius. A bullet Pistorius allegedly fired in a Johannesburg eatery Tashas in January 2013 grazed the 21-year-old professional boxer's foot, he testified before Judge Thokozile Masipa. \"A shot went off in the restaurant, then there was just complete silence,\" said Lerena, the state's fourth witness in Pistorius's murder trial.","Turkish truck drivers held in Iraq thought to be unharmed: official. A group of Turkish truck drivers being held by suspected militants from an al Qaeda splinter group in northern Iraq are thought to be unharmed and could be released soon, a Turkish official said on Tuesday. \"These truck drivers were taking fuel to an energy storage and distribution hub. When they arrived, ISIL (militants) were already there,\" the official told Reuters, adding that Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu was in contact with Iraqi, Kurdish and U.S. officials to try to ensure their safe release.","U.S. judge orders discovery to begin in some GM ignition switch cases. By Jessica Dye (Reuters) - A federal judge in Manhattan on Friday ordered discovery to begin for some cases filed against General Motors Co in connection with its recall of millions of cars for a faulty ignition switch. U.S. District Judge Jesse Furman in the Southern District of New York said plaintiffs could begin requesting documents from the company related to accidents, injuries and lost vehicle value linked to the switch that allegedly occurred after GM emerged from bankruptcy in 2009. ...","French forces arrest Mali jihadist ex-leader. BAMAKO, Mali (AP) — Authorities in northern Mali say a former jihadist leader in the town of Gao has been arrested by French military forces.","Airplane crashes on takeoff in Iran, killing 48. TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — An Iranian regional passenger plane crashed Sunday while taking off from the capital, Tehran, killing 48 people onboard, state media reported.","Sarajevo Film Festival kicks off. SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina (AP) — The Sarajevo Film Festival, born amid the terrors of the Balkans wars, is marking its 20th anniversary with its longest lineup of movies.","Tropical depression churns toward Mexico's Pacific coast. MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - A tropical depression was headed for the Pacific coast of Mexico on Monday, close to where national oil company Pemex has its largest refinery. The tropical depression is forecast to become a tropical storm by Tuesday, the Miami-based U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC) said. The weather system was about 210 miles (340 km) south-southeast of Salina Cruz, where Pemex has its largest refinery which can process up to 330,000 barrels of crude per day. ...","China first-quarter economic growth slows to 7.4 percent. BEIJING (Reuters) - China's annual economic growth slowed between January and March 2014 to 7.4 percent from 7.7 percent in the previous three months, but beat market expectations for growth of 7.3 percent, data showed on Wednesday. Other data released alongside GDP showed industrial output rose 8.8 percent in March from a year ago, versus expectations of a rise of 9 percent in a Reuters poll. Retail sales in March rose 12.2 percent on a year ago, above expectations for a 12.1 percent rise. Fixed-asset investment rose 17. ...","Blatter condemns Cyprus referee club bomb attack. NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) — FIFA President Sepp Blatter has condemned a \"cowardly\" pipe bomb attack on the Cyprus Referee Association's clubhouse.","IMF leader calls for bold policies to aid recovery. WASHINGTON (AP) — The head of the International Monetary Fund warned Wednesday that leading nations need to embrace bold policy steps to accelerate a still-modest and fragile global economic recovery.","Bank of Korea cuts key rate for 1st in 15 months. SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea's central bank has lowered its key interest rate for the first time in 15 months.","Four Israeli troops hurt in Golan blast, Israel blames Syria. A roadside bomb wounded four Israeli soldiers patrolling the occupied Golan Heights on Tuesday, and Israel retaliated with artillery fire on Syrian army positions, the army said. It was not clear who had planted the bomb in an area where the Syrian military, Lebanese Hezbollah guerrillas and Syrian rebels fighting President Bashar al-Assad all have a presence. Israel captured the Golan from Syria in the 1967 war and annexed the strategic plateau in a move the world has not recognized. Violence in Syria has spilled over the Golan frontline in the past but Tuesday's casualties were the worst Israel has suffered in there since the Syrian uprising began three years ago, army spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Peter Lerner said.","3 million shares in Man U up for sale. MANCHESTER, England (AP) — A son of Malcolm Glazer, the Manchester United owner who died in May, is selling three million shares in the club.","Ailing incumbent invisible frontrunner in Algeria campaign. With Algeria's election campaign in full swing, ailing President Abdelaziz Bouteflika is conspicuous by his absence but remains the firm favourite as high-profile allies criss-cross the country to make his controversial case. The 77-year-old incumbent, who secured landslide victories in the three previous elections, is too sick to take to the campaign trail, barely leaving home after a minor stroke confined him to hospital in Paris for three months last year. A frail-looking Bouteflika appeared on state television on March 3, his voice barely audible, to announce that he was seeking a fourth term despite concerns about his capacity to govern. In a very rare demonstration of its size, thousands of people took to the streets of Algiers last Friday, two days before the campaign opened, to call for a boycott of the April 17 election in protest at Bouteflika's candidacy.","Tennis-Australian Open women's singles round 3 results. Jan 17 (Infostrada Sports) - Results from the Australian Open Women's Singles Round 3 matches on Friday 28-Flavia Pennetta (Italy) beat Mona Barthel (Germany) 6-1 7-5 9-Angelique Kerber (Germany) beat Alison Riske (U.S.) 6-3 6-4","11 ancient burial boxes recovered in Israel. JERUSALEM (AP) — The Israeli Antiquities Authority has unveiled 11 ancient burial boxes that were confiscated by police in an overnight raid last week.","U.S. condemns attacks by Boko Haram in Nigeria. By Will Dunham WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Sunday condemned last week's attacks in Nigeria by the Islamist group Boko Haram and underscored a commitment to help Nigerian authorities crack down on the militants the United States deems a terrorist organization. \"Unspeakable violence and acts of terror like the ones committed by Boko Haram last week in northern Nigeria are horrific, wrong and have no place in our world,\" Kerry said in a statement. Boko Haram gunmen killed about 100 people in the northeastern Nigeria town of Bama on Wednesday, storming the town, firing on a school, shooting or burning to death dozens of people and trashing the palace of a traditional ruler of one of West Africa's oldest Islamic kingdoms. Last Sunday, Boko Haram gunmen killed more than 100 people in the village of Igze, spraying homes with bullets, detonating explosions and burning down dozens of houses.","EU agrees to work more closely with NATO. LUXEMBOURG (AP) — Spooked by Russia's actions against Ukraine and what the Kremlin may attempt in the future, European Union defense ministers agreed Tuesday to step up cooperation with the U.S.-led NATO defense alliance.","Nadal-slayer Kyrgios sends Australia into a frenzy. The hype over tennis's \"next big thing\" Nick Kyrgios exploded in Australia on Wednesday as news of the teenager's stunning upset of 14-times grand slam champion Rafa Nadal at Wimbledon broke. Once a global super-power in the sport, Australia has waited in vain for a new men's talent to take the mantle from an aging Lleyton Hewitt and 19-year-old Kyrgios's stylish advance to the Wimbledon quarters propelled a tidal wave of accolades from former players, Hollywood celebrities and politicians. Australia couldn't be prouder of you - what a win & what an amazing attitude!\" Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott tweeted. Such composure and class! But hard off to @RafaelNadal ... one of the greatest of all time!\" Australian actor Hugh Jackman also posted on Twitter.","Obama offers support after Pakistan terror attack. WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama is offering the U.S.'s continued support to Pakistan in its fight against extremism after a terrorist attack that killed scores of schoolchildren.","Scottish independence leader Salmond to run for UK parliament. London (AFP) - Alex Salmond, who quit as Scotland's first minister after losing the independence referendum, announced Sunday he will run for a seat in the British parliament in the May general election.","EU signs up for military mission in Central Africa. The European Union agreed Monday to send hundreds of troops to the Central African Republic in a rare joint military mission aimed at ending months of sectarian violence. Once a UN mandate has been obtained for the mission, which may be approved as early as Thursday in New York, EU planners hope to get troops on the ground by late February, diplomats said.","Three Gulf Arab states recall envoys in rift with Qatar. By Angus McDowall and Amena Bakr RIYADH/DOHA (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain withdrew their ambassadors from Qatar on Wednesday in an unprecedented public split between Gulf Arab allies who have fallen out over the role of Islamists in a region in turmoil. Qatar's cabinet voiced \"regret and surprise\" at the decision by the fellow-members of the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council, but said Doha would not pull out its own envoys and that it remained committed to GCC security and stability. The Saudi-led trio said they had acted because Qatar failed to honor a GCC agreement signed on November 23 not to back \"anyone threatening the security and stability of the GCC whether as groups or individuals - via direct security work or through political influence, and not to support hostile media\". Saudi Arabia and the UAE are fuming especially over Qatar's support for the Muslim Brotherhood, an Islamist movement whose political ideology challenges the principle of dynastic rule.","C. African Republic peacekeeper injured in clash. BANGUI, Central African Republic (AP) — A Burundian soldier has been wounded while trying to stop an attack by a Christian militia in Central African Republic's capital.","Egypt arrests Brotherhood leader as crackdown intensifies. CAIRO (Reuters) - Egyptian police on Thursday arrested Mohamed Ali Bishr, one of the few Muslim Brotherhood leaders to escape jail after last year's overthrow of Islamist President Mohamed Mursi, in the latest sign of a crackdown on political dissent. Bishr, a veteran politician who served as a cabinet minister under Mursi, was accused of calling for mass protests on Nov. 28, state media said. Since the army toppled Mursi in July 2013, Egypt has banned the Brotherhood, its oldest Islamist movement, labelled it a terrorist organisation and rounded up thousands of its members. ...","Olympic torch nears Sochi amid protests over anti-gay law. Sochi (Russia) (AFP) - The Olympic torch was due to arrive in Olympic hosts Sochi Wednesday two days ahead of the Winter Games opening, on a global day of planned protests against Russia's anti-gay legislation. Russian President Vladimir Putin was also set to visit athletes settling into the Olympic villages as the authorities rush to make the finishing touches ahead of Friday's opening ceremony in the Fisht stadium. Putin has vowed that Russia will ensure hospitable and top class Games for everyone but the $50 billion project has long been overshadowed by Russia's law outlawing \"gay propaganda\" to minors. Gay rights group All Out is organising protests in 19 cities around the world -- including Saint Petersburg in Russia but not Sochi itself -- urging sponsors to \"break their silence\" on the controversial legislation.","Internal Syrian opposition group rejects Geneva 2 talks. By Erika Solomon BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syria's centrist internal opposition group, which rejects the armed insurgency against President Bashar al-Assad, said on Thursday that it will not attend peace talks in Switzerland next week, in a setback for the negotiations. Khaled Dahowd, an executive member of the National Coordination Body (NCB), accused Russia and the United States of rushing the conference to promote their own interests in the region, rather than those of the Syrian people. The NCB has tense relations with the main umbrella opposition body in exile, known as the National Coalition, which is rife with internal divisions and will only decide whether it will send representatives at a meeting on January 17. The peace talks are set to start in Montreux on January 22.","Russia's Binbank can take over Moskomprivatbank in two weeks: report. Russian mid-sized lender Binbank plans to buy Moskomprivatbank, a Russian unit of Ukraine's largest lender Privatbank, and may close the deal in two weeks, Interfax news agency quoted Binbank's co-owner as saying on Wednesday. Mikail Shishkanov also said Moskomprivatbank would change its name to Binbank after the deal is closed. Last month, Russia put Moskomprivatbank into temporary administration, a move Privatbank's chairman said was due to \"political tensions in relations\", but which the Russian central bank said was aimed at controlling its assets.","Valeant says plans to 'improve' offer for Allergan. (Reuters) - Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc said it planned to \"improve\" its $47 billion takeover offer for drugmaker Allergan Inc , a day after the U.S. company rejected the bid. Canada's Valeant said it remained committed to getting the deal done but would remain \"financially disciplined. Allergan, which makes the popular anti-wrinkle treatment Botox, said on Monday that Valeant's business model was unsustainable and the offer was too risky because of uncertainty about the company's long-term growth. (Reporting by Esha Dey in Bangalore; Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty)","German Foreign Minister to meet Russia's Lavrov in Vienna: ministry. BERLIN (Reuters) - German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier is to meet Russia's Sergei Lavrov in Vienna later on Tuesday for talks on Ukraine, a spokeswoman for the foreign ministry in Berlin said. Steinmeier will also hold talks with his Ukrainian counterpart in the Austrian capital. Steinmeier warned earlier that Ukraine was close to war. Dozens of people died in the Ukrainian city of Odessa last week when pro-Russian militants clashed with their opponents, and Kiev forces are fighting separatists who have seized control of towns in the east of the country. ...","Dennis Rodman apologizes for Kenneth Bae comments during trip to North Korea. PYONGYANG, North Korea - Dennis Rodman has apologized for comments about captive American missionary Kenneth Bae in an interview with CNN.","Ukraine crisis puts Britain's Cameron on spot over Russian donations. By Andrew Osborn and William James LONDON (Reuters) - British Prime Minister David Cameron came under pressure over the Ukraine crisis on Wednesday after he was forced to defend a party political donation from the wife of a former minister in Russian President Vladimir Putin's government. Lyubov Chernukhina, the wife of Vladimir Chernukhin, a former deputy finance minister in Putin's government, agreed to pay 160,000 pounds ($272,500) to Cameron's Conservative Party at a fund-raising gala this month in exchange for a game of tennis with Cameron and Boris Johnson, the mayor of London.","Kerry warns U.S. is evaluating role in Middle East peace talks. By Lesley Wroughton RABAT (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Friday that Washington was evaluating whether it was worth continuing its role in Middle East peace talks, signaling his patience with the Israelis and Palestinians was running out. There was a limit to U.S. efforts if the parties themselves were unwilling to move forward, Kerry said during a visit to Morocco after a week of setbacks. It is reality check time, and we intend to evaluate precisely what the next steps will be,\" Kerry said, adding he would return to Washington on Friday to consult with the Obama administration. White House spokesman Josh Earnest acknowledged that President Barack Obama shared Kerry's frustration over \"unhelpful\" actions by both sides and the two men would discuss the path forward in the eight-month-old talks after the secretary of state's return to Washington.","Barcelona coach wants Suarez to debut in friendly. BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Barcelona coach Luis Enrique says he plans to let Luis Suarez debut in a friendly on Monday while the Uruguay forward completes his competitive-match ban for biting another player.","EU to ban fish from Sri Lanka, saying lax on illegal fishing. By Julia Fioretti BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Commission proposed a ban on imports of fish from Sri Lanka for not tackling illegal fishing properly and lifted a ban on fish imports from Belize following the reform of its vessel inspection practices. The Commission on Tuesday also lifted warnings on Fiji, Panama, Togo and Vanuatu, saying they had implemented concrete measures to combat illegal fishing. The four countries thus avoided being placed on the \"red list\" of nations that are not allowed to sell fish to the 28-nation European Union, the world's biggest fish importer. ...","Journalist in limbo fears returning to Botswana. CENTURION, South Africa (AP) — Journalist Edgar Tsimane says he faces danger if he returns to his home country of Botswana, where the government has criticized his reporting. The government in Botswana says it isn't out to get him and he can return anytime from South Africa, where he has sought asylum.","Co-operative Group boss resigns in fresh crisis. Britain's Co-operative Group announced Tuesday that chief executive Euan Sutherland has resigned, throwing the troubled mutual into a fresh crisis. He will be temporarily replaced by chief financial officer, Richard Pennycook, until a new CEO can be found, the Co-operative said in a statement.","Maradona's 'Hand of God' helps beat England. On this day: Diego Maradona's 'Hand of God' helps Argentina beat England in Mexico City in 1986.","Polish leader sees temptation for Putin in Ukraine. WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Poland's foreign minister says he sees a temptation for Russia to create a land bridge to Crimea because it is having trouble managing the peninsula, which isn't connected to the Russian mainland.","South Sudan children survive on waterlilies as crisis escalates. By Emma Batha LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Around 1 million children in South Sudan have been forced to flee their homes since conflict erupted a year ago, some are surviving on waterlily roots, and there may be famine next year, the U.N. children's agency warned on Friday. Some 12,000 children are being used by armed groups and others are increasingly vulnerable to violence, sexual abuse and exploitation, the agency added. \"The situation on the ground is horrific,\" UNICEF spokeswoman Doune Porter said from the capital Juba. ...","Danish man shot and wounded in Saudi capital. RIYADH (Reuters) - A Danish man was shot and wounded in the Saudi capital Riyadh on Saturday by an unknown assailant as he left work in his car, state news agency SPA said. The victim, who was shot in the shoulder, was taken to hospital and is in a stable condition, a Riyadh police spokesman told the news agency. An investigation was underway, he said. The attack comes a month after an American citizen was shot dead in Riyadh and another was wounded. Police have said initial information showed the gunman who killed the American had no ties to extremist groups. ...","South Korea steps up cyber security at nuclear plants. By Jack Kim and Meeyoung Cho SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea boosted cyber security at the country's nuclear power plants on Tuesday following what President Park Geun-hye described as a series \"grave\" data leaks, and prosecutors said they were investigating a new online threat. Korea Hydro and Nuclear Power Co Ltd (KHNP), which runs South Korea's 23 nuclear power reactors, said on Monday its computer systems had been hacked, raising alarm in a country that is still technically at war with North Korea. ...","93-year-old former Auschwitz guard charged. BERLIN (AP) — German prosecutors say they've charged a 93-year-old man with 300,000 counts of accessory to murder for serving as a guard at the Nazis' Auschwitz death camp.","Friend: Pistorius shot gun out car without warning. PRETORIA, South Africa (AP) — Oscar Pistorius became furious with a police officer who handled his licensed gun after pulling the car he was in over for speeding, and the athlete later fired the gun out of the car's sunroof without warning, a friend of Pistorius said Tuesday at his murder trial.","Magnate Carlos Slim opens aquarium in Mexico. MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexican magnate Carlos Slim has inaugurated a four-level, underground aquarium that is the biggest in Latin America, housing 3,000 animals belonging to 230 species.","G7 agrees new sanctions on Russia as observers held in Ukraine. By Thomas Grove SLAVIANSK, Ukraine (Reuters) - Leaders of the Group of Seven major economies agreed to impose more sanctions on Russia over the crisis in Ukraine, where armed pro-Moscow separatists have detained a group of international observers they accuse of being NATO spies. The pro-Western Kiev government said a Russian special forces operative was behind what it called a kidnapping in the eastern city of Slaviansk that is under the separatists' control, and said the detainees were being used as a \"human shield\". Ukraine's state security service said the observers for the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) were being held \"in inhuman conditions in the basement of the terrorists' headquarters,\" and that one needed medical help. Russia denies it is to blame for the crisis in eastern Ukraine, where armed pro-Russian separatists have taken control of about a dozen official buildings.","Ukraine will treat any Russian incursion an invasion: presidential aide. Ukraine will regard any incursion by Russian forces across the border as an invasion and the attackers will be killed, an aide to acting president Oleksander Turchinov said on Friday. \"We will consider any crossing of the Ukrainian border by Russian troops into the territory of Donetsk or any other region as a military invasion and we will destroy the attackers,\" Turchinov's chief-of-staff Serhiy Pashynsky was quoted as saying by Interfax-Ukraine news agency.","UK ends combat operations in Afghan province. LONDON (AP) — Defense officials say Britain has ended combat operations in the Helmand province in Afghanistan.","Saudi-Egypt power link project to start in new year. A project to link the electricity grids of Egypt and Saudi Arabia will start next year at a cost of at least $1.5 billion, officials said on Monday. \"The project will be awarded mid-2015, and take three years to complete,\" Saleh al-Awaji, an undersecretary in the kingdom's Ministry of Water and Electricity, said at an energy technology conference in the Red Sea city of Jeddah. It will cost $1.5-2.0 billion, Awaji told reporters during the 4th Saudi Arabia Smart Grid and Green Energy conference. \"The power link project with Saudi Arabia is in the final stages of the award,\" said Gaber Desouky, chairman of the Egyptian Electricity Holding Company.","'Islamic State' extremists murder second US reporter. Washington (AFP) - \"Islamic State\" jihadists have murdered a second American reporter, releasing another video Tuesday showing a masked militant with a British accent cutting the throat of a US captive. In the latest footage, the 31-year-old reporter Steven Sotloff calmly addresses the camera to say he is a victim of President Barack Obama's decision to press on with air strikes in Iraq against the jihadists. Obama later Tuesday authorized about 350 more American troops to beef up security at US diplomatic facilities and protect personnel in the Iraqi capital Baghdad. At the end of the five-minute video recording, discovered online by the SITE terrorism monitoring group and seen by AFP, the militant threatens another captive, identified as British citizen David Cawthorne Haines.","New driver sends Aussie Chalmers to National lead. Australian Greg Chalmers made the most of a new driver Thursday by shooting a five-under par 66 to seize a one-stroke lead after the opening round of the US PGA National. The $6.5 million event at Congressional Country Club is best known for being the site of 14-time major winner Tiger Woods making his comeback following three months off after back surgery to relieve a pinched nerve.","China's Xi vows to address poverty, ethnic unity in troubled Xinjiang. By Megha Rajagopalan BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese President Xi Jinping has pledged to alleviate poverty and improve ethnic unity in restive Xinjiang, the most direct indication yet that China's leaders want to address the causes of violence in the remote western region. Xi's comments, made in a speech to Communist Party leaders on Thursday and quoted heavily in Chinese media again on Friday, came after five suicide bombers killed 39 people and wounded 94 in an attack on a vegetable market in the Xinjiang capital, Urumqi, last week, the deadliest such incident in years. Experts have long said economic marginalization of Xinjiang's large Muslim Uighur ethnic group is one of the main causes of the violence. However, until now, China's leadership had not openly expressed an intention to address the poor economic conditions faced by Xinjiang's Uighurs.","Pro-Russian crowds seize 3 Ukrainian warships. KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — Pro-Russian forces seized three Ukrainian warships Thursday and Ukraine said its troops were being threatened in Crimea as the U.S. announced a new round of sanctions against Russia for its annexation of the Black Sea peninsula.","Dutch, Costa Ricans advance to quarterfinal match. RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Regulation time doesn't seem to mean much at this stage, judging by the way Netherlands, Costa Rica and Brazil have advanced through the first of the World Cup knockout rounds.","China says Mercedes guilty of price abuses. BEIJING (AP) — China's government said Monday it has concluded Mercedes-Benz violated anti-monopoly law and charged excessive prices for parts, adding to a growing number of global automakers snared in an investigation of the industry.","Detained Mali coup leader on hunger strike. BAMAKO, Mali (AP) — Lawyers for Mali's detained former coup leader say he is on a hunger strike to protest being moved to a town south of the capital.","Court orders arrest of Kenyan over ICC bribing charge. Kenya's high court on Wednesday ordered the arrest of a journalist wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) on charges of trying to bribe witnesses in the prosecution of deputy president William Ruto. Officials said a Kenyan hearing would now rule on whether to transfer reporter Walter Barasa to the global tribunal in the Hague - a decision that will test the East African country's commitment to the court. Nairobi has in the past rallied African countries against the ICC, saying it has charged only Africans. Barasa has dismissed accusations by ICC prosecutors that he offered money to prosecution witnesses to try and persuade them to withdraw testimony against Ruto.","Activists: Myanmar clinging to political prisoners. YANGON, Myanmar (AP) — Myanmar has freed more than a thousand political prisoners since former military rulers handed over power three years ago, a move that has smoothed the former pariah state's international rehabilitation. Now the government says the job is done. Human-rights activists and the U.S. say, not so fast.","Ebola orphans facing grim fight for survival. Monrovia (AFP) - Hundreds of children have been killed by the Ebola epidemic ravaging west Africa, yet for the thousands spared, the grim struggle for survival has only just begun.","Shell to sell Australian energy interests. Energy giant Royal Dutch Shell announced on Monday the sale of stakes in Australian natural gas assets for more than one billion US dollars to a Kuwaiti state company. Shell said it had agreed to sell its 8.0-percent equity interest in the Wheatstone-Iago gas field and 6.4-percent interest in the Wheatstone liquefied natural gas project for $1.135 billion (837 million euros) to the Kuwait Foreign Petroleum Exploration Company. Despite the sales, \"Shell will remain a major player in Australia's energy industry\", Shell's new chief executive officer Ben van Beurden said in a statement.","Top Asian News at 2:30 p.m. GMT. KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Authorities are expanding their search for a missing Malaysia Airlines plane to the Malacca Strait, far from its last confirmed location, the airline said Tuesday, injecting new mystery into an investigation that so far has failed to come up with any answers. More than three days after the Boeing 777 disappeared en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, no trace of the plane has been found in waters between Malaysia and Vietnam that have been scoured by more than 40 planes and ships from at least 10 nations.","Conte isn't sending a message to Balotelli. FLORENCE, Italy (AP) — Italy coach Antonio Conte was not trying to send a message to Mario Balotelli by leaving him off the squad.","US dismisses charges against Indian diplomat. A US judge has thrown out charges against an Indian diplomat whose New York arrest and strip-search sparked a bitter diplomatic row with Delhi. Devyani Khobragade was arrested on December 12 outside her children's New York school, accused of defrauding her Indian housekeeper's visa application. An outraged India claimed full diplomatic immunity on her behalf after Khobragade said she was subjected to a cavity search while in custody. Employed at the Indian consulate in New York, she acquired in January the full diplomatic immunity granted to diplomats at the Indian mission to the UN.","Sierra Leone peacekeepers to leave Somalia mission. FREETOWN, Sierra Leone (AP) — A Sierra Leone military official says the country is withdrawing from the African Union peacekeeping force in Somalia after being blocked from rotating its soldiers over concerns about the spread of Ebola.","Novartis reshapes business with GSK, Lilly dealshe. GENEVA (AP) — Swiss pharmaceutical firm Novartis AG launched a major overhaul of its business Tuesday, unveiling a series of multibillion-dollar deals with Britain's GlaxoSmithKline PLC and the U.S.'s Eli Lilly & Co. that heralds more restructuring in the fast-changing industry.","Residents of devastated Gaza sector wary as truce nears end. Sat on a dusty rug outside the ruins of their home in Gaza's devastated Shejaiya, the Habib family was pessimistic a ceasefire between Israel and Palestinian factions would be extended. Their neighbourhood was the scene of some of the fiercest fighting and bombardment during Israel's Operation Protective Edge before it was halted by a fragile, 72-hour ceasefire between the two sides. It can say today that there is a truce and it can change its mind the next day,\" said Naji al-Habib, the night before the humanitarian truce was due to expire. \"We want a truce based on a correct foundation in order to let everybody live in peace,\" he says.","France chief hopes Ribery reconsiders retirement. PARIS (AP) — French Football Federation president Noel Le Graet hopes Franck Ribery will reconsider his decision to retire from internationals.","German minister compares Crimea to Sudetenland. BERLIN (AP) — Germany's influential finance minister says Russian President Vladimir Putin's annexation of Crimea employed tactics reminiscent of those used by Adolf Hitler to expand Germany's territory before World War II.","Russia beats Latvia 4-1 at hockey at worlds. MINSK, Belarus (AP) — Forward Viktor Tikhonov scored two first-period goals and added an assist to lead Russia to a 4-1 win over Latvia on Saturday and a spot in the quarterfinals of the ice hockey world championship.","Pele critical of Brazil's World Cup organization. MEXICO CITY (AP) — Brazil football legend Pele says the country has spent unwisely preparing for the World Cup.","Mexico to monitor satellite images of 'La Bestia' trains used by migrants. Mexico said on Monday it would use satellite imagery to monitor key railway lines running toward the U.S. A top interior ministry official said a dozen satellite-monitored vehicles are to be deployed ahead of cargo trains near Mexico's southern border with Guatemala that Central American migrants often jump on as they journey north. The new technology aims to \"prevent migrants from putting at risk the safety of the trains which are for cargo, not passengers,\" Humberto Mayans, the interior ministry's southern border coordinator, told reporters. Following a surge of migrants earlier this year, the number of Central American migrants crossing illegally into the United States has fallen over the past couple months.","Malaysia Airlines posts 4Q loss, sees tough times. KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Malaysia Airlines said Tuesday it suffered its fourth straight quarterly loss in the three months ending in December, and warned of tougher times ahead as its full-year loss expanded nearly three-fold from the previous year.","Gaza official: 10 dead after strike near UN school. RAFAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — A United Nations school sheltering displaced people in the southern Gaza Strip was hit Sunday by what a U.N. official said appeared to be an Israeli airstrike, as the military struck the Hamas-ruled territory despite signaling a possible scaling back of its 27-day offensive.","Canada to report on long quest for national securities regulator. Canada's Conservative government will make an announcement soon on progress in its push to create a national securities regulator, Finance Minister Joe Oliver said on Wednesday, and it could include more backing for the initiative from the country's provinces. Regulation of financial markets in Canada is a provincial, not a federal responsibility. Last September, after decades of failed attempts to get all 10 provinces to agree to a national regulator, Ottawa and the governments of the provinces of Ontario and British Columbia announced they would go it alone and set up a common capital markets watchdog, similar to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The hope was that more provinces would join in over time and that the current patchwork system of regulators in each province and territory would be replaced with a national system.","Pliskova beats Lepchenko to win Korea Open. SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Second-seeded Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic defeated fifth-seeded Varvara Lepchenko of the United States, 6-3, 6-7 (5), 6-2 on Sunday to win the Korea Open.","London's FTSE closes lower. London's leading share index slid on Wednesday on concerns that recent rises may have been sharper than warranted against a backdrop of geopolitical unrest and fresh banking strains. After two days of gains, the benchmark FTSE 100 index shed 0.69 percent to close at 6,636.16 points. \"A perfect storm of low volumes, geopolitical worries and pulled mergers is conspiring to keep markets on the back foot,\" said Chris Beauchamp, market analyst at IG trading group, in reference also to news that 21st Century Fox group had withdrawn its bid for Time Warner. Precious metal miners on the other hand profited as the price of gold on the London Bullion Market rose to $1,290.85 an ounce from $1,284.75.","Cuba says infected doctor overcomes Ebola. HAVANA (AP) — Cuba's Health Ministry says a doctor who contracted Ebola during an aid mission in Africa has overcome the disease and will be brought home soon.","Top Russian opposition channel faces closure. Russia's top opposition channel known for its critical coverage of President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday faced the prospect of closure after a major cable operator said it would take the station off the air. On Monday, the main satellite provider Tricolour TV said it would be dropping the channel from February 10. Dozhd editor-in-chief Mikhail Zygar said the move threatened the very existence of the channel. \"Tricolour TV is the largest operator,\" he told AFP.","Poor safety record faulted in China factory blast. BEIJING (AP) — Chinese investigators faulted poor safety measures for an explosion at an auto parts factory that killed 71 people and injured more than 180, with news reports Sunday revealing that workers had long complained of dangerous levels of dust and inadequate cleaning practices at the facility.","Hollande popularity plumbs new low in mid-term French poll. PARIS (Reuters) - Half-way into his five-year mandate the popularity of French President Francois Hollande hit a new low on Thursday, hours before the Socialist leader addresses the nation to defend his shaky record on the economy. In the worst score for a president in modern-day polling, Hollande received a 12 percent approval rating in the monthly survey by pollster YouGov, down 15 percent from the prior month. Other recent polls have put his popularity at 13 percent. ...","Italian charged with killing Irishman in chess row. DUBLIN (AP) — An Italian man was charged Monday in Dublin with killing and mutilating his Irish landlord in an alleged argument over a chess game.","Top UN envoy: 'Iraq can be saved' if leaders act. UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The top U.N. envoy in Iraq says \"Iraq can be saved\" if political leaders reach across religious and sectarian lines to bring the country together, take military action against Sunni extremists who have captured large areas, and stick to the constitution.","Croatian police arrest Zagreb mayor on corruption charges. ZAGREB (Reuters) - Croatian anti-graft police arrested the mayor of Zagreb, Milan Bandic, and several of his associates on Sunday on suspicion of corruption and abuse of office, Croatian media reported. The police and the state prosecutor said only that several people from the Zagreb administration had been arrested but did not name them, in line with usual practice. But all local media and the national televisions named Bandic as one of those arrested. Reports have linked Bandic to a number of corruption probes in the past decade but he has never been interrogated or detained until now. ...","Fla. Gov. OKs bill to prohibit use of foreign law. TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Florida is becoming the eighth state to outlaw the use of foreign law in the state's courts under a bill signed by Gov. Rick Scott.","South Africa set up Cup quarter against England. Defending champions South Africa continued their inspired World Sevens form on home soil on Saturday, winning all three of their matches against USA, Kenya and Wales to set up a quarter-final against England. Seabelo Senatla scored six tries on day one to stay top of the try-scoring charts in this season's series. Springbok Sevens coach Neil Powell was full of praise, however, for winger Senatla.","Storm toll jumps to 43 in Nepal's worst trekking disaster. Kathmandu (AFP) - The death toll from a devastating snowstorm in Nepal's Himalayas climbed to 43 on Saturday, in the worst trekking disaster ever to hit the mountainous country.","Diame, Jelavic score again, Hull beats Palace 2-0. HULL, England (AP) — Mohammed Diame's third goal in four matches and Nikica Jelavic's fourth of the season handed Hull its first win since the opening day of the Premier League season, beating a lackluster Crystal Palace 2-0 Saturday.","MBIA says some client information may have been illegally accessed. NEW YORK (Reuters) - Bond insurer MBIA said on Tuesday it had been notified that some client information at its Cutwater Asset Management unit may have been illegally accessed. The company said it was conducting a \"thorough investigation\" and would take all measures necessary to protect customer data and secure systems. The breach was earlier reported by the KrebsOnSecurity website. (Reporting by Megan Davies; Editing by Meredith Mazzilli)","Pakistani protesters reach parliament as police look on. By Katharine Houreld and Syed Raza Hassan ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Thousands of protesters marched to the Pakistani parliament on Tuesday as part of a bid to force the prime minister to resign, using a crane and bolt cutters to force their way past barricades of shipping containers in the capital Islamabad. Riot police and paramilitaries had tried to seal off the diplomatic and government zone before the march began, and were told not to intervene as protesters, some of them women throwing rose petals, moved all obstacles in their way. The protests were led by former international cricketer Imran Khan, head of the country's third-largest political party, and cleric Tahir ul-Qadri, who controls a network of Islamic schools and charities. Hours before the protesters set off, the interior minister announced that soldiers would be deployed to stop them.","Invasive lizards threaten Florida's turtles, alligators. By Zachary Fagenson MIAMI (Reuters) - An invasive lizard first spotted in southern and central Florida about a decade ago has become the latest concern for wildlife officials after the four-foot-long, black-and-white tegu was caught on video stealing alligator and turtle eggs from their nests. Scientists from the University of Florida during the spring and summer of 2013 planted several cameras in the Everglades around nests containing dozens of eggs. “We captured images of tegus removing (up to) two eggs per day until an examination of the nest on Aug. 19 revealed no remaining eggs,” University of Florida professor Frank Mazzotti wrote of one alligator nest in a forthcoming study, conducted with the U.S. Geological Survey and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, to be published in journal Biological Invasions this summer. Mazzotti said the species, found naturally in Argentina and parts of South America, is thought to have first arrived in the U.S. via pet traders sometime in the early 2000s.","Insight: At Syrian peace table, embittered enemies face off. By Dominic Evans and Khaled Yacoub Oweis GENEVA (Reuters) - When Syria's political foes met across a negotiating table for the first time in nearly three years of conflict, the top priority was to keep them from walking out. Diplomats had talked up the importance of getting the two sides in the same room in Geneva, but at one point things were so bad that it looked like that room might be the departure lounge at the city's airport. \"If this conference fails then the situation will explode regionally,\" said one diplomatic source, like others speaking on condition of anonymity because of the delicate negotiations. U.N. mediator Lakhdar Brahimi began by focusing on a deal on humanitarian access to the besieged and starving city of Homs before steering the talks towards the highly contentious question of a political settlement of a war that has killed 130,000 and forced millions to flee their homes.","London shares broadly flat in early trade as Iraq looms. London (AFP) - London shares opened broadly flat on Monday in choppy trade in line with other markets as Iraq jitters loomed.","Boeing sees aircraft funding market remaining strong. LONDON (Reuters) - Boeing Co forecast continued strong demand for aircraft funding, with commercial jet buyers using capital markets to fund a third of the $124 billion of the sales expected in 2015, the company said on Tuesday.","Bayern advance, but Arsenal earn draw in Munich. Munich (Germany) (AFP) - Holders Bayern Munich booked their place in the Champions League's quarter-finals, despite Arsenal earning a 1-1 draw in Bavaria in Tuesday's last 16, second-leg clash.","Jonathan promises free, fair Nigerian poll in 2015. Abuja (AFP) - Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan on Thursday assured the international community that his government will stage free and credible elections next year, a statement said.","Philips' first quarter sales, earnings slip. AMSTERDAM (AP) — Royal Philips NV says its first-quarter profits declined as growth slowed in several divisions and consumers spent less on light bulbs.","Prosecution pillories Pistorius expert. The prosecution on Wednesday derided a forensic expert hired by Oscar Pistorius, accusing him of being unqualified to testify and rubbishing his account of the circumstances in which Reeva Steenkamp died. State prosecutor Gerrie Nel sought to prove that forensic geologist Roger Dixon was out of his depth in testifying about the lighting, sound and physical evidence inside Pistorius's home. Dixon, a university professor, told the court about the sound made by Pistorius's cricket bat hitting his toilet door, visibility in the star sprinter's bedroom and blood splatter. Pistorius's defence team has argued that neighbours who testified to hearing \"bloodcurdling screams\" followed by gunshots were mistaken.","UN health agency: Ebola outbreak over in Senegal. GENEVA (AP) — The U.N. health agency has officially declared an end to the Ebola outbreak in Senegal.","Activists say Syrian airstrikes on Islamic State group stronghold of Raqqa kill at least 60. BEIRUT (AP) — Activists say Syrian airstrikes on Islamic State group stronghold of Raqqa kill at least 60.","Russia awards cars to its Olympic medalists. MOSCOW (AP) — Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has given a Mercedes-Benz to each Olympic medalist from the host country of the 2014 Sochi Games.","Westerners head to Gabon for drug-fueled 'spiritual' tourism. Libreville (Gabon) (AFP) - Some in Gabon believe the bitter iboga root comes from the Tree of Knowledge in the Garden of Eden. Today a growing number of Westerners are travelling to the central African country to sample it themselves as part of an ancestral rite called Bwiti, one of Gabon's official religions. Among them is Remy Causse, who at 45 made the long journey from France in hopes that the ritual would help him to \"see more clearly\".","Japan OKs easing of military-related exports. TOKYO (AP) — Japan has approved relaxing a decades-old ban on military-related exports in a bid to expand joint arms development with allies and equipment sales to Southeast Asia and elsewhere.","McIlroy wins and goes back to No. 1. AKRON, Ohio (AP) — Rory McIlroy rallied from a three-shot deficit to win the Bridgestone Invitational and return to No. 1 in the world.","Iraqi forces clash with IS group over small town. BAGHDAD (AP) — A military spokesman says fierce clashes are underway between Iraqi forces and extremists from the Islamic State group in and around a small western town.","Freed Christian woman, family detained in Sudan. KHARTOUM, Sudan (AP) — A lawyer for the Sudanese Christian woman sentenced to death and later freed says the woman and her family have been detained at an airport while trying to leave the country.","France deports Tunisian accused of jihadist recruitment for Syria. France has deported a Tunisian national suspected of recruiting young French people for jihadist forces in Syria's civil war, the interior ministry said on Saturday. France, home to Europe's largest Muslim population, is clamping down on jihadist networks operating on its soil amid fears that people who go to fight in Syria may return home dangerously radicalised. It has arrested several people suspected of recruiting fighters for Syria. \"He played a key role in the recruitment of young jihadists in the Grenoble area (in southeast France) to go to Syria,\" the ministry said in a statement.","IS pillaging Iraqi artefacts, UNESCO warns. Paris (AFP) - Islamic State jihadists occupying parts of Iraq are destroying age-old heritage sites and looting others to sell valued artefacts on the black market, experts gathered at UNESCO's Paris headquarters warned Monday.","Anti-jihadist coalition widens as strikes hit Syria oil assets. London (AFP) - The US-led coalition against the Islamic State group widened on Friday with Britain, Belgium and Denmark approving plans to join air strikes in Iraq.","Cambodian floods kill 45 people since last month. PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) — Officials say floods in Cambodia have killed at least 45 people since last month.","EU, US seek Putin Achilles' heel on Ukraine. BRUSSELS (AP) — Months after Russia annexed Crimea and stepped up support for separatists in eastern Ukraine, Europe and the United States are still searching for a way to persuade Russian President Vladimir Putin to change course.","Bahamas reopens Mayaguana airport with new runway. NASSAU, Bahamas (AP) — The government of the Bahamas has reopened the airport on Mayaguana island to commercial carriers one year after a crash that killed three people.","Injured Austrian pulls out of slopestyle. KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia (AP) — Austrian snowboarder Adrian Krainer withdrew from the Olympics after suffering an inch-long cut on his chin and hurting his heels during training Friday on the rugged slopestyle course.","Obama warns Russia against further Ukraine advance. THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — President Barack Obama says the United States is concerned about further encroachment by Russia into Ukraine.","Iraschko-Stolz again dominates jumping training. KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia (AP) — Daniela Iraschko-Stolz of Austria dominated Sunday's women's ski jumping training sessions at the Sochi Olympics, proving her first-day performance was no fluke.","In West Bank, teen offenders face different fates. BEIT UMAR, West Bank (AP) — The boys were both 15, with the crackly voices and awkward peach fuzz of adolescence. They lived just a few minutes away from one another in the West Bank. And both were accused of throwing stones at vehicles, one day after the other.","Official: Gunmen attack Pakistan's Karachi airport. KARACHI, Pakistan (AP) — An official in Pakistan says gunmen have attacked a terminal at Karachi's international airport.","EU should consider its business in Russia when deciding on sanctions: Kremlin. The European Union should consider the interests of European companies working in Russia when deciding on whether to impose sanctions on Moscow over its involvement in Ukraine, President Vladimir Putin's top economic aide said on Saturday. \"I hope very much that when making these decisions ... the dependence and interests of European companies that are working in Russia (will be considered),\" Andrei Belousov told the St Petersburg International Economic Forum. \"These are European companies, which are working here, working for European markets for the most part, and which are taking suitcases full of cash to Europe.\" Belousov also said that Russia may take legal action if sanctions were to restrict the country's foreign trade.","Gaza truce collapses, fighting erupts, Israel orders negotiators home. By Nidal al-Mughrabi and Jeffrey Heller GAZA/JERUSALEM (Reuters) - A ceasefire in the Gaza Strip collapsed on Tuesday, with Palestinian militants firing dozens of rockets at Israel and Israel launching air strikes that health officials said killed three people including a woman and a young girl in Gaza. Accusing Gaza Islamists of breaking the truce, Israel promptly recalled its negotiators from talks in Cairo, leaving the fate of Egyptian-brokered efforts to secure a lasting peace hanging in the balance. Rockets were fired from Gaza nearly eight hours before a ceasefire - extended by a day on Monday - was due to expire. Later dozens of rockets took aim at a number of cities and one missile hit open land in the greater Tel Aviv area, causing some damage but no casualties.","U.S. storm Arthur to pack hurricane winds by July 4 holiday. Tropical Storm Arthur was expected to reach hurricane strength by Thursday, dousing some July 4 holiday plans on the U.S. East Coast as officials closed beaches and tourist sites and delayed fireworks shows in anticipation of heavy rain and fierce winds. Hurricane and tropical storm watches were in effect on Wednesday from Florida to North Carolina after the first named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season strengthened overnight, U.S. forecasters said on Wednesday. Arthur could bring up to 2 inches (5 cm) of rain across the eastern Florida peninsula and coastal North Carolina, and produce dangerous rip currents along the coasts of several Southern states, according to the National Hurricane Center. The storm remained out at sea with maximum sustained winds of 60 miles per hour (95 km per hour) early on Wednesday, about 100 miles (160 km) east-northeast of Cape Canaveral, Florida, and 275 miles (445 km) south of Charleston, South Carolina.","Colombia tops World Cup group by beating Japan 4-1. CUIABA, Brazil (AP) — Substitute James Rodriguez scored a brilliant goal and set up two more for Jackson Martinez as Colombia beat Japan 4-1 on Tuesday to confirm top spot in Group C and eliminate the Asian champions from the World Cup.","Official: UN lifts judge's immunity in Kosovo case. PRISTINA, Kosovo (AP) — A senior international official in Kosovo says the United Nations has lifted an Italian judge's partial immunity to allow a probe into alleged corruption inside the European Union's police and justice mission in Kosovo.","Indonesia expands search for missing AirAsia jet, U.S. sends warship. By Gayatri Suroyo and Fergus Jensen SURABAYA, Indonesia/JAKARTA (Reuters) - Countries around Asia on Tuesday stepped up the search for an AirAsia plane carrying 162 people that is presumed to have crashed in shallow waters off the Indonesian coast, with Washington also sending a warship to help find the missing jet. Soelistyo, head of Indonesia's search and rescue agency, told local television the search area between the islands of Sumatra and Borneo would be expanded. The air force said authorities would investigate an oil spill sighted on Monday. ...","Japan criticized as 2 ministers visit war shrine. TOKYO (AP) — Two Japanese Cabinet ministers paid respects Friday at a Tokyo shrine that honors the war dead including convicted criminals, a move that drew immediate criticism from South Korea, although Japan's prime minister stayed away.","2 UK men charged with going to Syria for terrorism. LONDON (AP) — Two men appeared in London court on Saturday charged with traveling to Syria intending to commit acts of terrorism.","For Iraq Yazidis, a frantic search for the missing. SEMALKA, Syria (AP) — Trucks and jeeps trundled slowly across the pontoon bridge, packed with refugees, with children poking their dusty heads out of the windows and truck beds. Nearby, a distraught father frantically scanned them as they passed, hoping to catch sight of his missing son.","Militant Sunni group claims latest Lebanon bombing. BEIRUT (AP) — A militant Sunni group says it was behind a car bombing the previous night in a predominantly Shiite town in Lebanon.","Sharif asks Obama to play role on Kashmir issue. ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Friday asked the U.S. President Barack Obama to play a role in resolving the issue of Kashmir when he travels to neighboring India, the Pakistani foreign ministry said.","UN: 45 Fijian peacekeepers freed in Syria. BEIRUT (AP) — Al-Qaida-linked militants released 45 Fijian peacekeepers captured two week ago in Syria, ending the U.N.'s fourth crisis over abducted soldiers in the Golan Heights since March 2013 amid questions about the future of the 40-year-old monitoring mission there.","Icelandic volcano alert raised to red after eruption, no volcanic ash detected. A volcanic eruption has occurred near Iceland's Dyngjujokull glacier, prompting authorities to raise the warning code for aviation to red, the highest level, but no volcanic ash has been detected, Iceland's authorities said. There has been heightened seismic activity in the area for about a week. \"The Icelandic Met Office has raised the aviation colorcode over the eruption site to red and the Icelandic Air Traffic Control has closed down the airspace from the earth up to 18000 feet,\" Iceland's National Crisis Coordination Centre said. \"No volcanic ash has been detected with the radar system at the moment....Seismic eruption tremor is low indicating effusive eruption without significant explosive activity.\" Ash from the eruption of Iceland's Eyjafjallajokull volcano in 2010 shut down much of Europe's airspace for six days.","Seoul calls for high-level talks with North Korea. SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea has proposed high-level talks next week with rival North Korea to discuss resuming reunions of Korean War-divided families.","Suicide bomber blows himself up outside Afghan interior ministry. A suicide bomber blew himself up outside the Afghan interior ministry building in the center of Kabul on Wednesday, wounding several police officers, the ministry said in a statement. \"A suicide bomber wearing a military uniform ... detonated his explosives at the main gate of the interior ministry,\" it said. Details will be announced later.\" (Writing by Maria Golovnina;","Cambodia's top court rules against Russian tycoon's extradition. Cambodia will not extradite Russian real estate tycoon Sergei Polonsky to Russia to face embezzlement charges, the Supreme Court ruled on Friday. The court said Polonsky, who was once worth $1.2 billion, will not be sent back because Cambodia had no extradition treaty with Russia. Polonsky is accused of fraud in a case in which authorities say 5.7 billion rubles ($175 million) was stolen from investors in a Moscow real estate development project. Cambodian authorities detained him in November last year and police said they were planning to extradite him at Moscow's request.","Oil industry offers crude-train testing standards. BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — The oil industry's lead trade group released new standards on Thursday for testing and classifying crude shipped by rail after prior shipments were misclassified, including a train that derailed in Canada and killed 47 people.","Forest fire blacks out downtown Caracas' work day. CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — A forest fire knocked out electricity in parts of Venezuela's capital for most of Tuesday.","India, Pakistan exchange fire over Kashmir border. SRINAGAR, India (AP) — Indian and Pakistani troops have fired bullets and mortar shells across the border between Kashmir and Pakistan for a second day, with both accusing the other of provoking the violence.","Munich ski races canceled due to warm weather. OBERHOFEN, Switzerland (AP) — A special World Cup skiing city event slated for New Year's Day in Munich has been canceled due to warm weather.","Iraq political and military fightback stumbles. Iraqi forces struggled to regain ground lost last month to jihadist-led militants and politicians remained divided Monday despite mounting pressure to unite and agree on a new leadership. Nearly a month after militants led by the group now calling itself the Islamic State (IS) swept through northern Iraq, plunging the country into one of its worst crises in years, the prospect of either a military or a political solution still looked distant. Iraqi forces have regrouped after the debacle that saw some soldiers abandon their positions, weapons and uniforms as militants conquered Iraq's second city of Mosul and advanced to within about 80 kilometres (50 miles) of the capital Baghdad. The government has received fighter jets from Russia and Iran, intelligence from Washington and enlisted the help of Shiite militias it once shunned or fought to strike back at the loose alliance of IS fighters, other jihadist groups and former Saddam Hussein loyalists who now control swathes of territory.","U.S.-led forces launch 13 air strikes in Iraq, three in Syria. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S.-led forces attacked Islamic State targets on Sunday with 13 air strikes in Iraq and three in Syria, using fighter, bomber and other aircraft, the U.S. military said. Four of the Iraq strikes were near Sinjar in northern Iraq, which destroyed Islamic State buildings, tactical units and vehicles. Other Iraqi cities targeted included Tal Afar, Ramadi, Mosul and Baiji, according to the Combined Joint Task Force. The strikes in Syria focused around the contested city of Kobani near the Turkish border, it said in a statement. (Reporting by Doina Chiacu)","Donaire takes world featherweight title. Nonito Donaire became the new world featherweight champion Saturday after defeating South Africa's Simpiwe Vetyeka in Macau in a fight that saw the Filipino boxing star take victory on an anti-climactic technical decision. The bout was stopped after four rounds due to an \"accidental headbutt\" which left 31-year-old Donaire's left eye swollen and cut. According to the rules of the World Boxing Association, if such an incident happens after four rounds, the match goes to the scorecards. The fight had started off slow, but Donaire floored his opponent in the second round with a right hook.","Controversy over Australian Corby's TV interview deal. Seminyak (Indonesia) (AFP) - Freed drug trafficker Schapelle Corby faced criticism Tuesday that she is cashing in on her crime, as reports she has been offered millions for her first post-jail interview were played down by the Australian network trying to sign her up. Channel Seven was widely reported to have secured the first interview with the 36-year-old for up to AUS$2 million (US$1.8 million) following her release on parole Monday from prison on Indonesia's Bali island. But reporter Mike Willesee said Tuesday that no deal had been finalised, calling reports of the sums involved \"silly\" and insisting the money being discussed was \"considerably lower\". His comments came as controversy builds about whether Corby should be allowed to profit from her more than nine years behind bars, with experts divided on whether Australian law would permit it.","Link-up between Yemen and Syria Islamists of 'extreme concern': US. US Attorney General Eric Holder said Sunday that intelligence suggesting bomb makers from Yemen have teamed up with militants in Syria was \"more frightening than anything\" he had seen before. In an interview with ABC television's \"This Week,\" Holder called the alleged cooperation between expert bomb-makers in Yemen and jihadists fighting in Syria's civil war a \"deadly combination.\" ABC News, citing unidentified sources, said US intelligence suspects Yemeni bomb makers in Syria have designed an explosive device small enough to fit in a laptop computer. Holder expressed \"great concern\" about the influx of Europeans and Americans into Syria to fight and the \"potential impact\" they could have back in their home countries.","Talisca replaces injured Lucas in Brazil squad. SAO PAULO (AP) — The Brazilian football confederation says Benfica midfielder Anderson Talisca has been called up to replace Paris Saint-Germain forward Lucas Moura for Brazil*s friendlies against Turkey and Austria this month.","Almost 100 killed during attacks in China's Xinjiang last week. By Ben Blanchard BEIJING (Reuters) - Masked militants attacked civilians, police and officials last week in China's far western region of Xinjiang leading to almost 100 deaths, the government said on Sunday, giving fresh details on one of the worst incidents of unrest in years. The Xinjiang government said 59 \"terrorists\" were gunned down by security forces in Shache county in Xinjiang's far south, while 37 civilians were killed in the attacks on July 28. \"This was a serious terrorist attack incident which has links to domestic and overseas terrorist organizations and was organized, premeditated, carefully planned and evil,\" the Xinjiang government said on its official news website (www.ts.cn) in the early hours of Sunday morning. Police confiscated long knives, axes as well as banners calling for jihad, the government said.","Fiat's access to Chrysler funds curbed by dividend cap, debt covenants. Indebted Italian carmaker Fiat said on Monday that its access to the cash of U.S. subsidiary Chrysler, which it took full control of last month, was limited by a cap on dividends from the unit and its debt covenants. Part of the motivation for the auto group's $4.35 billion deal to take full ownership of the No. 3 U.S. carmaker was to give Fiat access to Chrysler's finances so it could invest in new models to revamp its loss-making operations in Europe. Analysts have raised concerns about Fiat's growing debt pile and its ability to fund a strategy that will shift the automaker's focus to its upscale Maserati and Alfa Romeo brands from an over-reliance on low-margin mass-market models. Responding to a request for clarification from market regulator Consob, Fiat said that beyond the cap, dividend payments were also subject to the condition that Chrysler's liquidity exceeds a threshold of $3 billion.","Sri Lanka put up 302-6 vs England in final ODI. COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — Tillakaratne Dilshan struck his 18th century in his 300th one-day international and Thisara Perera smashed 54 off 26 balls to steer Sri Lanka to 302-6 against England in the seventh and final match on Tuesday.","Western banks toughen payment options for Russia steel, grain trade. By Maytaal Angel and Silvia Antonioli LONDON/LAUSANNE, Switzerland (Reuters) - Western banks involved in global commodity trade flows are tightening payment procedures for steel and grain deals with Russia, having already taken similar steps for Ukraine due to its political upheaval. Russia's moves to annex Ukraine's Crimean peninsula have marked the biggest East-West crisis since the Cold War and while the risk of a military conflagration has receded in recent weeks, banks in commodity trade finance remain cautious. \"Until the geopolitical situation is clear, most banks are reducing risk in Russia as well as Ukraine. They are concerned either that the situation deteriorates into unrest, or about being forced out through sanctions (against Russia),\" a senior steel industry source said.","Jailed ex-strongman Noriega says damaged by video game portrayal. Former dictator Manuel Noriega may be serving time in a Panamanian prison for the killing of political opponents, but that doesn't mean he likes being portrayed in a video game as a murderer. Noriega, 80, has filed a lawsuit against video game publisher Activision Blizzard Inc, saying the company is using his image in its wildly popular \"Call of Duty: Black Ops II\" game without his permission, in an effort to “increase the popularity and revenue” from the title. The lawsuit was filed Tuesday in Los Angeles Superior Court. In the complaint, Noriega said he had been damaged by Activision’s portrayal of him as “the culprit of numerous fictional heinous crimes,” including kidnapping and murder, adding that Activision was using his likeness to heighten the game’s realism and increase sales.","Calm comes to troubled Ferguson; protests dwindle across U.S.. By Daniel Wallis and Edward McAllister FERGUSON, Mo. (Reuters) - Tensions eased in the St Louis suburb of Ferguson on Thursday after two nights of violence and looting sparked by racially charged anger over a grand jury's decision not to charge a white police officer for fatally shooting an unarmed black teenager. Protests also dwindled elsewhere in the United States as the Thanksgiving Day holiday and wintry weather kept many indoors. ...","White House hails Tiananmen Square protesters. WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House is paying tribute to pro-democracy protesters who stood up against the Chinese government in Beijing's Tiananmen Square 25 years ago, and calling on Chinese authorities to account for those who were killed, detained or went missing during and after the protests.","Senate confirms US ambassador to Russia. WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate has confirmed President Barack Obama's nomination for U.S. ambassador to Russia, but not before a Republican senator blocked the appointment and several others.","Gaza doctors save baby from her dead mother's womb. When the doctors gently pulled the tiny newborn from her mother's womb in an emergency Caesarian section, the woman had already been dead for an hour. Twenty-three-year-old Shayma al-Sheikh Qanan was eight months pregnant when an Israeli tank shell hit her home in the central Gaza Strip town of Deir al-Balah, reducing it to rubble. Doctors performed an immediate Caesarian section and saved the baby, who was named after her late mother. For 43-year-old Mirfat Qanan, it was a tragedy to lose her daughter, but she was delighted at becoming a grandmother for the first time.","Brussels Jewish museum suspect in custody for 3 months. Brussels (AFP) - Frenchman Mehdi Nemmouche, suspected of killing four people at Brussels' Jewish Museum in May, was remanded in custody for another three months on Friday, judicial officials said.","Filipino ex-senators ask court to scrap new U.S. defense pact. Two former senators, who voted to evict two large U.S. military bases from the Philipiines in 1991, asked the Supreme Court on Monday to declare unconstitutional a new defense pact clinched with Washington, the first legal challenge to the pact. The case will draw new attention to President Benigno Aquino's battles with the courts, which have blocked many of his administration's reforms since he came to power in 2010, including a landmark law creating a truth commission to examine the wrongdoings of past administrations. Manila and Washington last month signed a new Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) to allow U.S. forces wider access to local bases and construct facilities to store logistics for maritime security and disaster operations. On Monday, Rene Saguisag and Wigberto Tanada filed a 63-page petition alleging that the government had failed to uphold and protect the country's sovereignty and national interests.","Merkel warns Russia of long-term damage over Ukraine. Germany warned Russia Thursday of long-term damage to its interests if it continued to violate international law with its seizure of Ukraine's Crimean peninsula. \"If Russia continues its course of the last weeks, it would not only be a catastrophe for Ukraine,\" she told the Bundestag lower house of parliament. \"It would not only change the relationship of the European Union as a whole to Russia.","Sentencing delayed in Iraqi wife's beating death. EL CAJON, California (AP) — Sentencing has been delayed by more than a month for an Iraqi immigrant convicted of the beating death of his wife in what police initially believed was a hate crime.","S&P raises Spain credit rating as economy improves. MADRID (AP) — Standard & Poor's rating agency has upgraded Spain's sovereign credit grade a notch, the third agency to do so in recent months and a further sign the country is turning the corner after five years of economic turmoil.","Italy ready to seek vote over EU foreign policy job: official. Italy is ready to demand an open vote on whether its foreign minister should be the European Union's next foreign policy chief if any member states oppose her selection by the usual consensus method, a senior Italian official said on Tuesday. Poland and the Baltic states are uneasy about Federica Mogherini's candidacy to replace Catherine Ashton as the 28-nation EU's top diplomat, concerned that she may be soft on Russia, diplomats said on Monday. Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi lobbied EU leaders over the weekend to back Mogherini, 41, for the sensitive post, whose tasks include coordinating the six world powers' nuclear negotiations with Iran. EU leaders will hold a summit on Wednesday to nominate a successor to incumbent Ashton under the new European Commission chief, Jean-Claude Juncker.","Ukraine's Poroshenko to visit Brussels on Aug 30 at EU's invitation: website. KIEV (Reuters) - Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko will pay a working visit to Brussels on August 30 at the invitation of top European Union officials, the presidential website said on Tuesday. Poroshenko confirmed he would accept the invitation in a telephone conversation with European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, it said. (Writing By Richard Balmforth, editing by John Stonestreet)","Putin warns against letting West use anti-Kremlin groups. President Vladimir Putin told the FSB security service on Monday to ensure Russia did not follow what he said was Ukraine's example by letting the West use local groups for \"destructive\" purposes. Putin's remarks signaled his lingering concern that the West could use non-governmental organizations to fuel dissent in Russia, despite a clampdown on groups funded from abroad since big protests against him in the winter of 2011-12. He also urged the FSB, the main successor to the Soviet KGB security police, not to drop its guard against militant attacks following the Sochi Winter Olympics and to strengthen vigilance in the Arctic and to the south to prevent attacks on Russia.","Tunisia PM says election is target for jihadists. Tunisia's prime minister warned Saturday of possible jihadist attacks during a landmark election this weekend, as security was tightened for a vote he said offered hope to the entire region. It brings hope,\" Mehdi Jomaa told AFP during an inspection of security forces ahead of Sunday's poll. Tunisia's transition to democracy since the 2011 toppling of longtime strongman Zine El Abidine Ben Ali \"is the alternative to these people and these groups\", Jomaa added. \"They know that the success of (this election) is a threat to them, not only in Tunisia but throughout the region.\"","US military chief to visit Israel. The chairman of the US joint chiefs of staff is heading to Israel for talks on mutual strategic interests after Israel's defence minister upset Washington with remarks criticising US foreign policy. \"General Martin Dempsey will be departing this weekend for a visit to Israel,\" an Israeli military statement said. \"In Israel, the chairman will meet with the Israel Defence Forces as part of the United States' unwavering commitment to Israel's security, and will discuss issues of strategic importance.\" The statement gave no details, but Israeli public radio said Dempsey would meet Sunday with Defence Minister Moshe Yaalon, who earlier this month enraged US Secretary of State John Kerry by saying Washington's foreign policy showed weakness in global hotspots.","Profit warning shows remodeled Fiat-Chrysler faces rocky road. By Agnieszka Flak and Bernie Woodall MILAN/DETROIT (Reuters) - Fiat has cut its 2014 profit forecast after a slump in Latin American earnings, underscoring the task the carmaker faces as it completes a merger with U.S. arm Chrysler and shifts its focus away from Italy to create a true global player. Turin-based Fiat, which this month bought out Chrysler's minority investor in a $4.35 billion deal, said on Wednesday the new Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) group would have its primary listing in New York, with a secondary listing in Milan. The holding group will be registered in the Netherlands and have its tax domicile in Britain, cementing a politically sensitive shift away from Italy. Unions and politicians have been concerned about any potential job cuts, but Fiat said the merger would have no impact on jobs in Italy or elsewhere.","Canadian Pacific to fight reinstatement of worker who tested positive for cocaine. Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd will challenge an arbitration decision ordering the company to reinstate a locomotive engineer who tested positive for cocaine, the rail operator said late on Wednesday. \"The arbitrator's decision is an outrage and, as a railroader, I am appalled we would be forced to place this employee back in the cab of a locomotive,\" said Canadian Pacific Chief Executive Officer, Hunter Harrison, in a statement.","Hitler's wife Eva Braun may have had Jewish ancestry: documentary. Nazi leader Adolf Hitler's wife Eva Braun may have been of Jewish descent according to DNA analysis carried out for a British television documentary, the makers said Saturday. The anti-Semitic German leader responsible for the Holocaust married his long-term lover Braun shortly before they committed suicide in a Berlin bunker in 1945. But the programme to be screened by Britain's independent Channel 4 on Wednesday said hair samples show Braun may have had Jewish ancestry herself. Scientists commissioned by the Dead Famous DNA programme tested hair said to have come from a brush used by Braun and found at Hitler's mountain retreat.","Owner of closed California sushi spot pleads guilty to selling whale meat. By Alex Dobuzinskis LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The owner of a shuttered Los Angeles-area sushi restaurant has pleaded guilty to allowing meat from the endangered sei whale to be served at the upscale establishment, in a case that outraged animal rights activists, a federal prosecutor said on Tuesday. Brian Vidor pleaded guilty in federal court in California on Monday to one count of illegally selling whale meat at his Santa Monica restaurant, The Hump, according to assistant U.S. Attorney Dennis Mitchell. ...","Flooding kills 9 in southern Brazil. RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — At least nine people have been killed by floods in southern Brazil that has washed away bridges and left hundreds homeless.","Indian court commutes death sentence of Sikh rebel. NEW DELHI (AP) — India's top court on Monday commuted the death sentence of a Sikh separatist convicted in a 1993 bombing to life in prison.","Renegade general says Libya needs crisis government to oversee elections. ABYAR, Libya (Reuters) - A renegade Libyan general said on Wednesday the North African country needed to form a national crisis government to oversee the upcoming elections. \"We need a crisis government,\" Khalifa Haftar told reporters in Abyar in eastern Libya, adding that a military campaign to fight Islamist militants would continue. (Reporting by Ayman al-Warfalli, Feras Bosalum and Ulf Laessing; Editing by Kevin Liffey)","PGA president refers to Poulter as 'lil girl'. ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Georgia (AP) — The PGA of America president referred to Ian Poulter as a little girl on two social media accounts Thursday evening for his criticism of the jobs Nick Faldo and Tom Watson did as Ryder Cup captains.","Sharks extend lead in Super Rugby by beating NSW. WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — A series of surprise results compacted the standings in the Super Rugby tournament after the weekend's seventh round and shone a harsh light on the form of teams in the Australian and New Zealand conferences.","Qatar allowing freed Taliban men to move freely in country: Gulf official. Qatar has moved five Afghan Taliban prisoners freed in exchange for a U.S. soldier to a residential compound and will let them move freely in the country, a senior Gulf official said on Tuesday, a step likely to be scrutinized by Washington. U.S. officials have referred to the release of the Islamist militants as a transfer and said they would be subject to certain restrictions in Qatar. One of the officials said that would include a minimum one-year ban on them traveling outside of Qatar as well as monitoring of their activities. \"All five men received medical checks and they now live with their families in an accommodation facility in Doha,\" the Gulf source, who declined to be identified, told Reuters.","Merkel urges Europeans to speed up TTIP trade talks with U.S.. SYDNEY - German Chancellor Angela Merkel urged European nations on Sunday to speed up their negotiations with the United States over a Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) agreement between the U.S. and EU. Speaking a news conference in Sydney following the Group of 20 Summit in Brisbane, Australia, Merkel said the EU should negotiate in a \"speedy and determined\" way with the U.S. to complete the trade deal. Merkel's remarks follow comments by British Prime Minister David Cameron, who spoke out at the G20 Summit against opponents of the trade deal, where Cameron, Merkel, U.S. ...","Gatlin wins 100, 200 double at Van Damme meeting. BRUSSELS (AP) — Justin Gatlin ran the fastest 100 meters of the year at the Van Damme Memorial before winning the 200 only an hour later to extend his unbeaten streak to 18 races through the season.","Bode Miller poised to hit Olympic peak in downhill. KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia (AP) — Bode Miller's career in the Olympics has twisted and turned through five Winter Games, 15 races so far and five medals won — including one gold.","Portugal considering tax hikes after court ruling. LISBON, Portugal (AP) — Portugal's government is considering raising taxes after the country's highest court rejected austerity measures included in its 2014 budget.","U.S. urges Moscow to immediately withdraw convoy from Ukraine. The United States is very concerned about the movement of a Russian convoy into Ukraine in violation of its territorial integrity and is calling on Moscow to withdraw its equipment and personnel immediately, the Pentagon said on Friday. \"This is a violation of Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity by Russia,\" Rear Admiral John Kirby, the Pentagon press secretary, told a briefing. \"Russia must remove its vehicles and its personnel from the territory of Ukraine immediately.","Tunisian assembly approves new electoral law. By Tarek Amara TUNIS (Reuters) - Tunisia's national assembly on Thursday approved a new electoral law, to take one of the last steps in the country's move to full democracy after the 2011 uprising that inspired the \"Arab Spring\" revolts. Members of the 217-seat assembly voted 132 in favor and 11 against the new electoral law. \"This is an important step,\" said Mehrzia Labidi, vice president of the assembly. With its new constitution and a caretaker administration governing until elections later this year, Tunisia's relatively smooth progress contrasts with the turmoil in Egypt, Libya and Yemen, which also ousted long-standing leaders three years ago.","Detained Americans in North Korea seek help in interviews with CNN. Kenneth Bae, who was arrested 18 months ago and sentenced to 15 years hard labor for attempting to bring down the state, told CNN he was working eight hours a day, six days a week, and was the only inmate at a prison camp staffed by more than 20 officials, including a doctor. Tourists Matthew Miller and Jeffrey Fowle, who were arrested this year, told CNN they were being treated well as they awaited imminent trial. Jeffrey Fowle, a middle-aged man from Miamisburg, Ohio, said he was being treated well: \"I hope and pray that it continues, while I'm here, two more days or two more decades.\" He was arrested in May after he left a bible under a bin in the toilet of a sailor's club in the northeastern city of Chongjin.","Indonesia: Air search for missing AirAsia jet suspended for night; some boats still looking. JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Indonesia: Air search for missing AirAsia jet suspended for night; some boats still looking.","Australia sends 2 unarmed support planes over Iraq. CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Australia's prime minister says the air force is sending two unarmed planes to support U.S.-led coalition combat operations over Iraq, but will not yet launch its own airstrikes.","Nun to see doctors, mother in Canada after kidnapping. A Canadian nun will return home for a \"battery of tests\" after being released along with two Italian priests by kidnappers in Cameroon, her congregation said Monday. Gilberte Bussiere, 74, and her fellow hostages were released Saturday, two months after being kidnapped near Cameroon's border with insurgency-wracked Nigeria in April. Josephine Badali of the Notre-Dame parish in Canada's Quebec province told a press conference Bussiere would return here \"as soon as possible.\" Bussiere joined the congregation in 1957.","'American Hustle' wins Golden Globe for best comedy film. BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. - \"American Hustle\" has won the Golden Globe for best picture, comedy or musical.","Agency continues ban on US flights to Tel Aviv. WASHINGTON (AP) — The Federal Aviation Administration says it will continue its ban on U.S. airline flights to Tel Aviv while assessing the danger of rocket attacks.","McCaw back for Crusaders in Super Rugby semifinal. WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — All Blacks captain Richie McCaw has been named at blindside flanker in the Crusaders' starting lineup for Saturday's Super Rugby semifinal against the Sharks.","Westwood, still chasing a major, shares PGA lead. LOUISVILLE, Kentucky (AP) — There were plenty of reasons to believe the window was fast closing on Lee Westwood's sometimes-heartbreaking campaign to win a major.","Dilshan fined for dissent to umpire in T20 win. CHITTAGONG, Bangladesh (AP) — Sri Lanka allrounder Tillakaratne Dilshan has been fined 20 percent of his match fee for showing dissent to the umpire in the win over New Zealand.","Egypt's Ansar militants swear allegiance to Islamic State: statement. CAIRO (Reuters) - Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis, Egypt's most active militant group, has sworn allegiance to Islamic State, a statement from Ansar said Monday night. Ansar had previously told Reuters that it sought inspiration and advice from Islamic State, the radical al-Qaeda offshoot that has taken over swathes of Iraq and Syria, drawing U.S.-led airstrikes as it tries to remake the map of the Middle East. \"After entrusting God we decided to swear allegiance to the emir of the faithful Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, caliph of the Muslims in Syria and Iraq and in other countries,\" the statement said. ...","U.S. lawmaker says deeply troubled by Russia-Iran talks on oil swap. U.S. Representative Elliot Engel said on Friday he was \"deeply troubled\" about a new report that Russia is negotiating an oil- for-goods swap with Iran, saying it raises questions about Russia's commitment to end Iran's pursuit of nuclear weapons. Reuters reported on Friday that the deal being negotiated is worth $1.5 billion a month, and would let Iran raise its oil exports by up to 500,000 barrels per day. U.S. and European sanctions on Iran's disputed nuclear program have combined to cut Iran's oil exports by about 1 million bpd.","Turkey: packages sent to consulates test negative. ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkey's Health Ministry says initial tests indicate that suspicious packages that were sent to five consulates in Istanbul last week did not contain bioterrorism agents.","West Ham's Morrison made 'acid threat'. West Ham United midfielder Ravel Morrison threatened to throw acid in his ex-girlfriend's face and have her killed, a court in Manchester heard on Thursday. The 21-year-old former Manchester United player is also accused of threatening to blow up the house of Reah Mansoor, his former partner, during a campaign of harassment that lasted four years. Morrison was initially arrested and charged with two counts of common assault for allegedly attacking Mansoor, 19, and her 39-year-old mother, Parveen Mansoor, after a night out in Manchester on July 26. Morrison spoke only to confirm his personal details during a brief hearing at Manchester Magistrates' Court, when an allegation of harassment was added to the charges he faces.","Google News to go dark in Spain over 'Google Tax'. MADRID (AP) — Google says it will shut down its Google News service in Spain to prevent content from Spanish publishers from appearing on it ahead of a law due to go into effect requiring the Internet search company to pay news organizations for linked content.","Hong Kong police move to close last protest site. HONG KONG (AP) — Hong Kong police have given protesters 30 minutes to clear out of the third and final pro-democracy protest camp, putting an end to demonstrations that have blocked traffic in the southern Chinese city's streets for 2 1/2 months.","Kansas becomes Team USA for World University Games. LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — Everyone figures to become a fan of Kansas basketball next summer.","3 climbers missing on New Zealand's tallest peak. WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — One Australian and two German climbers are missing on New Zealand's tallest mountain after failing to return from a summit attempt.","Afghan official says insurgents kill 6 soldiers. KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — An Afghan army officer says that six soldiers have been killed in the north-western province of Badghis after insurgents launched several attacks on guard posts.","London considers ban on smoking in parks, squares. London (AFP) - Smoking should be banned in London parks and landmarks including Parliament Square and Trafalgar Square, a report by the London Health Commission said on Wednesday.","Isner edges Ginepri to reach Atlanta Open quarters. ATLANTA (AP) — Top-seeded John Isner narrowly avoided an upset loss in his Atlanta Open title defense on Thursday, edging wild-card entry Robby Ginepri 4-6, 7-6 (5), 7-5 in the second round.","French president slams accusations by ex. NEWPORT, Wales (AP) — France's Socialist President Francois Hollande is defending himself against accusations by his ex-first lady that he despises the poor.","Obama faces advocate demands on immigration. WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama faced immediate demands for bold action to stem deportations Tuesday, a day after declaring immigration legislation dead and announcing plans to act on his own.","Rare bombing in Iraq Kurdish region targets general. Sulaimaniyah (Iraq) (AFP) - A bombing targeting a general in northern Iraq Sunday damaged his vehicle but left him unharmed, an official said, the latest of several attacks in the normally peaceful Kurdish region in recent months. The magnetic \"sticky bomb\" attached to Brigadier General Bakhtiyar Fayikh's car detonated around 8:00 am (0500 GMT) outside his home in eastern Sulaimaniyah, the second-biggest city in the three-province autonomous region of Kurdistan. Fayikh is a member of the asayesh, Kurdistan's internal security force. Asayesh spokesman Rizgar Hama Amin said the blast damaged Fayikh's car but left him unharmed, while Fayikh himself told journalists the blast was a \"terrorist operation\".","EU executive led by Juncker approved by parliament. STRASBOURG (Reuters) - The European Parliament approved the new European Commission headed by Jean-Claude Juncker in a vote on Wednesday, clearing the way for the EU executive to take office on Nov. 1. Juncker, a former prime minister of Luxembourg, will succeed outgoing Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso. The 28-strong executive, featuring one member from each EU member state, sets policies for the bloc in coordination with national governments. (Reporting by Alastair Macdonald; editing by Adrian Croft)","India diplomat indicted, asked to leave U.S.. By Nate Raymond and David Brunnstrom NEW YORK/WASHINGTON D.C. (Reuters) - The Indian diplomat whose arrest and strip-searching in New York caused a major rift between India and the United States was indicted for visa fraud on Thursday, and the U.S. government immediately asked her to leave the country. A U.S. government official said Washington accepted a request by India to accredit the diplomat, Devyani Khobragade, at the United Nations and then asked New Delhi to waive the diplomatic immunity that status conferred. India denied the request, leading Washington to ask for her departure, the official said.","Brunei embraces strict Islamic laws. BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN, Brunei (AP) — Brunei on Thursday embraced a form of Islamic Shariah criminal law that includes harsh penalties, a move slammed by international rights group as a step backward for human rights.","Weekley upstages Scott to lead weather-hit Australian PGA. (Reuters) - American Boo Weekley upstaged home favorite Adam Scott to take an early two-shot lead at the Australian PGA Championship on Thursday before the first round on the Gold Coast was suspended because of thunderstorms. Weekley, a three-times winner on the U.S PGA Tour, fired five birdies and an eagle two for a six-under-par 66 at the Royal Pines course in Queensland to lead the $1 million OneAsia season ending event. ...","2nd priest arrested for abuse in northern Mexico. MEXICO CITY (AP) — Authorities in the northern Mexican state of San Luis Potosi say they have arrested a Roman Catholic priest on charges of sexual abuse of a minor.","Japan Fukushima nuclear worker dies in mudslide. TOKYO (AP) — A worker died Friday after getting buried in a mudslide at the Japanese nuclear plant devastated by the 2011 tsunami, in the first death during efforts to control and decommission the facility.","Iran still stalling as nuclear deadline looms: U.N. agency. By Fredrik Dahl VIENNA (Reuters) - Tehran has yet to explain away allegations it conducted atomic bomb research, the head of the U.N. nuclear agency said on Thursday, four days before a deadline for Iran and six world powers to reach a deal on the Iranian nuclear program. As U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry flies to Vienna for what are meant to be final talks to clinch a deal with Iran, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief Yukiya Amano said he was still unable to provide \"credible assurance\" Iran had no undeclared nuclear material and activities. ...","In World Cup allegiances, Japanese-Brazilians face dilemma. Daniel Hirata walked down the street in Sao Paulo's Japanese district wearing a Japan football jersey, but in the World Cup there is no question where his allegiance lies: Brazil. Hirata, the 35-year-old son of Japanese migrants, said he was born in Brazil and would root for his beloved Selecao if they face off with the Blue Samurai in the tournament. \"But if Japan beat Brazil, I wouldn't be sad,\" said the kung fu academy manager. Hirata and other Japanese-Brazilians do not have to worry about such a matchup for now as the two teams are not in the same group and do not risk crossing paths until at least the quarter-finals.","China destroys 6 tons of ivory in landmark move. DONGGUAN, China (AP) — China has destroyed about 6 tons of illegal ivory in its stockpile.","Thai assembly votes itself the power to impeach politicians, sideline critics. By Amy Sawitta Lefevre BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thailand's military-dominated legislature gave itself the power to impeach political office holders on Thursday, edging a step closer to rooting out the influence of controversial former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra. The army seized power on May 22 in a bid to restore order and kick-start Southeast Asia's second-largest economy after months of political infighting that killed nearly 30 people. ...","City, Southampton enjoy big wins in Premier League. MANCHESTER, England (AP) — Southampton crushed Sunderland 8-0 in one of the biggest wins in the Premier League's 22-year history, overshadowing Sergio Aguero's four-goal haul in Manchester City's latest thrashing of Tottenham on Saturday.","Mozambican workers strike, claim abuse by Chinese employers. More than 200 Mozambican construction workers have downed tools in protest at alleged beatings by their Chinese employers and poor working conditions, some of the strikers said Wednesday. The 230 workers, who are employed by a Chinese state-owned construction company to build a three-kilometre (two-mile) bridge and a 74-kilometre ring road in the Mozambican capital Maputo, have been on strike since Saturday. They insult us, beat and send us away when they want and for no reason,\" said Antonio Mavila, a worker who claims to have suffered repeated assault.","Double-ton Younis piles agony on Australia in second Test. In-form Younis Khan continued his imperious form with a double hundred to pulverise Australia on the second day of the second Test in Abu Dhabi on Friday. At the break, Younis was not out on 205 for his fifth double ton and with him Asad Shafiq not out on one as Pakistan reached 517-4 at tea on a flat Sheikh Zayed Stadium pitch. Younis hit Glenn Maxwell for a towering six and in the spinner's next over took a single to complete 200. When on 181, Younis completed 8,000 runs in his 93rd Test, becoming the third Pakistani batsmen to reach the milestone behind Javed Miandad (8832) and Inzamam-ul Haq (8829).","Man City fined 60 million euros by UEFA. NYON, Switzerland (AP) — Premier League champion Manchester City has been fined 60 million euros ($82 million) by UEFA and ordered to limit its Champions League squad to 21 players next season for breaching the body's financial fair play rules.","Canada intelligence-sharing on suspects curbed by court ruling. By David Ljunggren and Mark Hosenball OTTAWA/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Canada did not share some intelligence with the United States about two men who mounted fatal attacks last week because of a 2013 court ruling limiting the transfer of personal data, a Canadian official said on Saturday. U.S. authorities therefore knew little about Michael Zehaf-Bibeau, who killed a soldier on Wednesday before attacking Parliament in the capital Ottawa. They also did not realize that Canada had withdrawn the passport of Martin Rouleau, who ran over and killed a soldier in Quebec on Monday. ...","Quebec police finish Lac-Megantic rail disaster investigation. By Randall Palmer OTTAWA (Reuters) - Quebec police have concluded their investigation into last July's oil-by-rail disaster in the Quebec town of Lac-Megantic, in which 47 people were killed, and have turned the file over to the public prosecutor's office, a police spokesman said Monday. \"The investigators of the Surete du Quebec (police) have sent the investigation report to the director of criminal and penal prosecutions,\" spokesman Claude Denis said. Neither he nor the prosecutor's office would give details on what was in the report, or say whether, or when, criminal charges might be laid. The news agency QMI reported over the weekend that an unidentified police source said police were confident prosecutors would lay criminal negligence charges as a result of the investigation.","2 former Navy SEALs dead on ship died of drugs. NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Seychelles police say a mixture of heroin and alcohol caused the deaths of two former U.S. Navy SEALs.","London shares advance in subdued Christmas trade. London (AFP) - London shares ended higher on Tuesday in thin holiday trade as dealers ignored sharp falls in Asia to focus on stellar US growth figures.","Japan plans giant Gundam robot. A team of Japanese animators and engineers on Wednesday unveiled plans to build a moving 18-metre (60-foot) tall Gundam robot, in a nod to millions of science fiction fans. The \"Mobile Suit Gundam\" anime series first aired in Japan in 1979, and spin-offs featuring robots locked in intergalactic battles have won legions of enthusiastic fans in Asia, Europe and elsewhere. \"When I created Gundam 35 years ago, I used my imagination freely because it wasn't real,\" Yoshiyuki Tomino told reporters in Tokyo Wednesday.","More knee problems for Italy forward Rossi. FLORENCE, Italy (AP) — Fiorentina forward Giuseppe Rossi is having more problems with his right knee, which has been operated on three times.","Yandle scores second goal late in overtime, Coyotes rally to beat Oilers 4-3. GLENDALE, Ariz. - Keith Yandle scored his second goal with 6.5 seconds showing on the overtime clock and set up Mikkel Boedker's tying goal with 70 seconds left in regulation, helping the Phoenix Coyotes rally for a 4-3 victory over the Edmonton Oilers on Tuesday night.","French PM vows tax cuts for companies, households. PARIS (AP) — France's new prime minister, facing a confidence vote Tuesday, promised an economic turnaround built on plans to let corporations keep more profits, cut taxes for all households, and redraw a new, less bureaucratic map.","Boko Haram leader says ruling Nigerian town by Islamic law. The leader of Nigeria's Islamist group Boko Haram said his fighters were now ruling the captured northeastern town of Gwoza \"by Islamic law\", in the first video to state a territorial claim in more than five years of violent insurrection. The Nigerian military was quoted in local press as denying that Boko Haram was in control of the town, although security sources and some witnesses said police and military there had been pushed out. Abubakar Shekau's videoed speeches, often as chilling for a rambling incoherence as for any message they contain, have become a regular feature of the militant leader's bid to project himself as public enemy number one in Africa's biggest economy. In the latest one released through his network late on Sunday, the militant who says he is fighting to create an Islamic state in Nigeria, said his forces were now in control of the hilly border town of Gwoza, near the frontier with Cameroon, after more than a week of fighting there.","Palestinians apologise for illegal arms at Prague embassy. Palestinian diplomats have apologised for hiding illegal weapons at the Prague embassy where a blast killed the ambassador on New Year's Day, the Czech foreign ministry said on Tuesday. \"A high-ranking Palestinian foreign ministry official... issued an official apology from the Palestinian side for the illegal presence of weapons on the premises of the Palestinian embassy,\" the ministry said in a statement. After the deadly blast, police found 12 firearms at the embassy, including submachine guns and sidearms that were not officially registered in the Czech Republic. The DNES newspaper said police found Skorpion VZ61 submachine guns and VZ82 sidearms produced in the former Czechoslovakia and supplied to the Palestine Liberation Organisation before communism fell in Czechoslovakia in 1989.","Obama to meet with Jordan's king at Calif. estate. WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama with host King Abdullah II of Jordan for talks in California next month.","UK drops terrorism case for ex-Guantanamo inmate. LONDON (AP) — British prosecutors dropped terrorism charges Wednesday against a former Guantanamo Bay detainee who is a high-profile advocate for the rights of terror suspects.","Euro zone crisis propels German immigration to 20-year high. By Annika Breidthardt BERLIN (Reuters) - Net immigration to Germany leapt by over 18 percent to a 20-year high in 2013, fuelled largely by migrants from euro zone debt-crisis states Italy and Spain as well as a continued influx of Poles, data from the Statistics Office showed on Thursday. With Germany's population shrinking and ageing, industry has actively called for immigration to help fill the gaps. But abuse of the welfare system has also been a hot topic, especially before European Parliament elections this week. Net migration - the balance between immigration and emigration - rose to 437,000 people, the highest level since 1993.","Asian stocks lower ahead of US earnings. BEIJING (AP) — Asian stock markets were mostly lower Monday as investors looked ahead to U.S. corporate earnings following last week's strong job numbers.","Qualcomm posts higher quarterly results, outlook weighs. By Noel Randewich SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Leading mobile chipmaker Qualcomm Inc posted higher fiscal third-quarter results, but its revenue outlook for the September quarter was below Wall Street's expectations, depressing its stock price. The chipmaker on Wednesday reported third-quarter revenue of $6.81 billion, up 9 percent from the year-ago period. Analysts on average had expected third-quarter revenue of $6.52 billion, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. Qualcomm had third-quarter net income of $2.24 billion, up 42 percent. GAAP diluted earnings per share were $1.31. ...","Ecclestone blames himself for F1's 'piranha club' crisis. Bernie Ecclestone admits he knows what's wrong with Formula One -– but he can't fix it on his own any more. Two decades after Ron Dennis greeted Eddie Jordan by quipping \"welcome to the Piranha Club\" and four since Ecclestone took control to build one of global sport's first TV-based cash machines, F1 faces a crisis that may signal the end of the Ecclestone era and F1 in its modern image. The sport's 84-year-old commercial ringmaster, who was the designer of the original Concorde Agreements that bound together the teams and the ruling body, has blamed himself for the current financial crisis that has reduced the grid for Sunday's United States Grand Prix to 18 cars.","At Weekly Exorcisms, Egypt’s Muslims and Christians Unite Against the Demons. Tensions between Muslims and Christians have been high in Egypt, ever since a military coup against the country’s first democratically elected Islamist President on 3 July unleashed a spasm of violence that saw churches burned, priests murdered and Christians threatened in hate speeches broadcast across the country. But there is at least one sphere of Egyptian contemporary life where interfaith cooperation perseveres, and that is at weekly exorcisms performed by one of the country’s most celebrated priests, Father Sama’an Ibrahim. He is one of the few priests in Egypt who can preform exorcisms — not even the Coptic Pope can — and his reputation for expelling demons of all kinds extends well beyond his Christian flock. Muslim Imams can do exorcisms as well, explains the woman, who declined to give her name, but her mother’s case required some extra muscle.","Thai army tells radio, TV to air only army material. BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thailand's army told all television and radio stations in the country to halt normal programs on Thursday and only broadcast army material, shortly after it staged a coup to take over the government after months of political turmoil. \"All radio and television stations, satellite and cable, must stop normal programming and broadcast army content until told otherwise,\" Winthai Suvaree, a deputy army spokesman, said in a televised statement. (Reporting by Amy Sawitta Lefevre; Editing by Alan Raybould and Ron Popeski)","Report: 17 gays killed in Peru since 2012. LIMA, Peru (AP) — A Peruvian gay rights group says at least 17 gays have been killed in the Andean nation since 2012 because of their sexual preference.","Israel premier warns of bad nuclear deal with Iran. JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel's prime minister says Iran remains \"unrepentant\" and \"unreformed,\" warning the West against rushing into a deal with it on its nuclear program.","U.N. chief urges respect for democratic principles in Hong Kong. UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged on Tuesday that democratic principles be respected in Hong Kong, where tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters have taken to the streets demanding greaters freedoms and less interference by Beijing. \"He understands that this is a domestic matter, but urges all stakeholders to resolve any differences in a manner that is peaceful and safeguards democratic principles,\" U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters. (Reporting by Michelle Nichols)","Global stocks bolstered by US earnings, home sales. SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Global stocks mostly rose Wednesday, bolstered by solid U.S. earnings and home sales as tensions between Russia and the West over Ukraine eased.","Magnitude 6.9 quake strikes off Indonesia. SINGAPORE (Reuters) - A shallow 6.9 magnitude earthquake struck at sea 96 miles northwest of Ternate in the Indonesian Moluccas on Friday, the U.S. Geological Survey said. There was no threat of a tsunami, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said. The quake was only 6.2 miles deep. A 7.3 quake was recorded off the Moluccas on Saturday, causing residents near the quake to flee their homes. Indonesia is located inside the so-called \"Pacific Ring of Fire,\" a seismically active zone where different plates of the earth's crust meet and create a large number of earthquakes and volcanoes. ...","Russia's Zubkov has lead after 2 runs of 2-man. KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia (AP) — Alexander Zubkov has a commanding lead at the halfway point of men's Olympic two-man bobsled.","Woman held for murder after children's bodies found. A woman has been arrested on suspicion of murder after three children were found dead at a house in London, police said on Wednesday. \"A 43-year-old woman has been arrested on suspicion of murder and remains in custody at a south London police station,\" the Metropolitan Police said in a statement.","Israel steps up talk of threat of force on Iran. JERUSALEM (AP) — A rising chorus of Israeli voices is again raising the possibility of carrying out a military strike on Iran's nuclear facilities in what appears to be an attempt to draw renewed attention to Tehran's atomic program — and Israel's unhappiness with international negotiations with the Iranians.","Collins strikes as West Ham beats Norwich 2-0. LONDON (AP) — West Ham continued its revival with a third consecutive 2-0 win in the Premier League on Tuesday after late goals from James Collins and Mohamed Diame secured victory over Norwich.","SOCHI SCENE: An IOC view. KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia (AP) — The door to the van opens, and Anita DeFrantz takes a seat and stares at the soaring mountains before her.","A drone pilot faces a crisis in 'Good Kill'. VENICE, Italy (AP) — It's such a banal word: drones.","IMF lowers estimate of US economic growth in 2014. WASHINGTON (AP) — The International Monetary Fund foresees the U.S. economy growing a modest 2 percent this year, below its previous estimate of 2.7 percent.","Detained Chinese-Australian artist to be deported: Canberra. A Chinese-Australian artist detained after making an artwork about the Tiananmen crackdown ahead of its 25th anniversary is to be deported, Canberra said Friday. Guo Jian, a former Tiananmen Square protester, was taken away on Sunday night from his home in Songzhuang, an art colony on the eastern fringe of Beijing, according to two of his acquaintances. Consular officials had visited Guo on Thursday as they \"sought an explanation for his detention\" from authorities, Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said in a statement emailed to AFP Friday. Guo's detention came just days before the 25th anniversary of the June 4 military crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in Tiananmen Square, during which hundreds of people were killed -- by some estimates, more than 1,000.","Soldiers storm Venezuelan protesters' stronghold. By Esteban Israel and Deisy Buitrago CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuelan troops stormed a Caracas square on Sunday to evict protesters who turned it into a stronghold during six weeks of demonstrations against President Nicolas Maduro. National Guard soldiers fired tear gas and turned water cannons on hundreds of demonstrators who hurled rocks and some petrol bombs before abandoning Plaza Altamira, in affluent east Caracas, which has been the scene of daily clashes. \"We are going to carry on liberating spaces taken by the protesters,\" the 51-year-old successor to late leader Hugo Chavez said in a speech at a pro-government rally in a different part of Caracas on Sunday. Militant opposition leaders and students have been urging Venezuelans onto the streets to protest issues ranging from crime and shortages of goods to the presence of Cuban advisers in Venezuela's army and other state institutions.","Christians mark Holy Fire rite on eve of Easter. Thousands of Christian pilgrims thronged the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem's Old City Saturday amid tight security to celebrate the Holy Fire ceremony on the eve of Easter. Believers hold that a divine fire from heaven ignites a flame in the church, built on the site where Christians say Jesus Christ was crucified, buried and resurrected. The flame is then passed between worshippers, candle to candle. The crowd roared as the Holy Fire was lit, in an ancient annual rite dating to the 4th century AD to symbolise the resurrection of Christ on Easter Sunday, an AFP correspondent said.","Pope pens letter to comfort, encourage Mideast Christians. VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis is urging Mideast Christians to remain in the land of Christ's birth, despite the \"previously unimaginable\" attacks against them by Muslim extremists.","Pregnant Pakistani woman stoned to death by family. LAHORE, Pakistan (AP) — A pregnant woman was stoned to death by her own family in front of a Pakistani high court on Tuesday for marrying the man she loved.","Thai prime minister insists she won't resign. BANGKOK (AP) — Thailand's prime minister insisted Tuesday she wouldn't quit as protesters seeking her ouster blocked key roads in the heart of Bangkok for a second day, leaving the country's political crisis firmly deadlocked.","Kuwait royal court urges calm over 'plot' video. Kuwait's royal court appealed for calm Wednesday as the country was abuzz with rumours about a videotape allegedly showing former senior officials plotting to overthrow the oil-rich Gulf state's government. The appeal comes two days after Sheikh Ahmad Fahad al-Sabah, a senior member of the family and former minister, was questioned by the public prosecutor for five hours about the tape, which he said he had handed over to Kuwait's leaders. The Amiri Diwan (royal court) acknowledged that there were reports of a tape and said the matter \"is currently being handled by the public prosecution.\" After his questioning, Sheikh Ahmad said he told the prosecutor he had a videotape dealing with financial and political matters as well as the ruling family and regional issues.","Bomb blast kills five at bus station in north Nigeria: police. ABUJA (Reuters) - A bomb exploded at a bus station in northern Nigeria's Bauchi state overnight, killing at least five people and wounding 12, police said. The blast, which struck the town of Azare late on Wednesday, is likely to be blamed on Islamist Boko Haram militants, casting further doubt on government reports that it had reached a temporary ceasefire with the rebels in order to release 200 schoolgirls they are holding hostage. Police did not comment on who was behind the attack.","Israel expands Gaza ground offensive; no sign of truce. By Nidal al-Mughrabi and Maayan Lubell GAZA/JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel said on Sunday it had expanded its ground offensive in Gaza and militants kept up rocket fire into the Jewish state with no sign of a diplomatic breakthrough to end the worst fighting between Israel and Hamas in two years. Gaza residents said land and naval shellings were the heaviest in 13 days of fighting. Explosions rocked the coastal enclave overnight and shells fired by Israeli naval forces lit up the sky. An Israeli air strike there on the house of senior Hamas official Khalil al-Hayya killed his son and daughter-in-law and two children, hospital officials said.","Status of rebel-held regions in Ukraine not discussed at Minsk talks: rebels. MINSK (Reuters) - All sides showed a commitment to securing peace at talks on the conflict in east Ukraine on Friday, Kiev's envoy said on Friday, but a rebel leader said the status of the breakaway regions in the east was not discussed. Speaking after talks at which the rebels and Ukraine agreed a ceasefire, Kiev's envoy, former President Leonid Kuchma, said the first delivery of humanitarian aid under the deal would be sent to east Ukraine on Saturday. ...","Tropical Storm Boris nears Mexican coast, heads toward key refinery. MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Tropical Storm Boris drew closer to the southern Pacific coast of Mexico on Tuesday night, churning northward toward the largest refinery of national oil company Pemex, Salina Cruz. A Pemex spokesperson said the Salina Cruz refinery, where Pemex can refine up to 330,000 barrels of crude per day, was operating normally and that it did not expect any disruption on Wednesday. The U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC) said Boris was heading north at 5 miles per hour (7 km per hour) and was about 85 miles (140 km) southeast of Salina Cruz. ...","Russia condemns NATO for 'Cold War-era rhetoric'. MOSCOW (AP) — Russia has condemned the secretary general of NATO for \"zealously reproducing Cold War-era rhetoric,\" as tensions between the 28-nation alliance and Moscow simmer over the ongoing crisis in Ukraine.","Man returning from Mideast 'combat zones' held at French airport. Nice (France) (AFP) - A young man was detained Friday at an airport in southern France as he returned from Iraqi or Syrian \"combat zones\" via Turkey, a source close to the case said.","'Blind Massage' big Golden Horse winner in Taiwan. TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — A Chinese-French film about blind masseurs and Chinese actor and director Chen Jianbin scooped the most accolades at Taiwan's 51st Golden Horse movie awards.","Bolivia mudslide buries village; 4 dead, 9 missing. LA PAZ, Bolivia (AP) — Local officials in Bolivia say that heavy rains have caused a mudslide that's buried a small settlement, killing at least four people. Another nine people are missing.","KKR pulls two funds in retail investor pitch setback. By Greg Roumeliotis NEW YORK (Reuters) - KKR & Co LP disclosed on Monday it would liquidate two funds targeting individual investors, in a blow to the private equity firm's efforts to widen its appeal beyond institutional investors such as pension funds and insurance firms. Developing offerings for retail investors has historically been challenging for KKR and other private equity firms, such as Blackstone Group LP and Carlyle Group LP , because the average buyout fund is illiquid, with a typical life span of 10 years.","Mali PM: France, U.N. must step up fight against Islamists in Mali. By John Irish PARIS (Reuters) - Mali's prime minister said on Monday Islamist militants had been given an opportunity to return to the north of the country after France redeployed troops across the region and urged French and U.N. forces to go on the attack to stop their resurgence. Nine U.N. peacekeepers from Niger were killed on Friday when gunmen on motorbikes ambushed their convoy on Friday, the deadliest attack yet on them in the west African nation. ...","Marathon suspect: Statements should be thrown out. BOSTON (AP) — Lawyers for Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev say statements he made to authorities at a hospital after his arrest should be thrown out because his constitutional rights were violated.","Iran dismisses Khomeini link to pope shooting. BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — Iran has rejected claims by Mehmet Ali Agca that late Iranian leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini ordered him to assassinate Pope John Paul II.","British queen honours actor Hurt and trendsetter Quant. London (AFP) - Veteran actor John Hurt was given a knighthood and 1960s fashion designer Mary Quant, pioneer of the mini-skirt and hotpants, made a dame in Britain's New Year Honours List released Tuesday.","Pro-unity voices in east Ukraine struggle to be heard. Donetsk (Ukraine) (AFP) - Overshadowed by a vehement pro-Russian camp, those who would like to see the eastern city of Donetsk remain part of Ukraine are struggling to make themselves heard. They are a minority voice in a region that is mostly Russian-speaking and closer to the Russian border than to Kiev, where pro-European demonstrators ousted pro-Kremlin president Viktor Yanukovych last month. \"People are afraid to protest,\" said Tetyana Zarovna, a Donetsk journalist who is active in the anti-Yanukovych movement born on Kiev's Independence Square, or Maidan, in November. Some 10,000 pro-Moscow demonstrators filled the streets of Donetsk on Sunday, loudly calling for the Donbas mining region to become part of Russia, just like Ukraine's southern peninsula of Crimea, which will hold a referendum on Sunday on joining the Russian Federation.","700 Egypt Islamists on trial after mass death sentences. An Egyptian court that sentenced 529 people to death began the trial on Tuesday of another 700 more alleged supporters of deposed president Mohamed Morsi, including the leader of his Muslim Brotherhood movement. Lawyers said they would demand the judge step down after he delivered the unprecedented death sentences on Monday in a court in the southern province of Minya after only two hearings. The roughly 1,200 defendants in Minya are accused of the murder and attempted murder of several policemen during riots on August 14, as police killed hundreds of Morsi supporters when dispersing two Cairo protest camps. Mohamed Badie, the Muslim Brotherhood's supreme guide, is among the defendants, but he was not brought to court for security reasons, security officials said.","Police in eastern China remove church's cross. BEIJING (AP) — Hundreds of police took down a church's cross in eastern China early Monday amid a crackdown on church buildings in a coastal region where thousands of people are embracing Christianity.","How nations are tackling nuclear waste storage. TOKYO (AP) — For years, Japan has struggled to find a site to safely store highly radioactive waste from nuclear power plants for as long as 100,000 years.","Kurds say Iraq presidency their 'right'. Arbil (Iraq) (AFP) - Iraqi Kurds have a \"right\" to the federal presidency, the country's autonomous Kurdish region said on Sunday, signalling the start of public jockeying for positions following parliamentary polls. President Jalal Talabani, a Kurd, has held the position since 2006, but his term is at an end, leaving the question of who will succeed him in doubt. The federal presidency \"is a right of the people of Kurdistan, and we affirm this right to the Kurdish people,\" the region's presidency said in an online statement. It is also a link between their three-province autonomous region and Baghdad, which are at odds over various long-running disputes.","Ebola aid held up at port in Sierra Leone. FREETOWN, Sierra Leone (AP) — A shipping container filled with medical gear and mattresses to help in the Ebola outbreak in Sierra Leone has been held up at a port for more than a month, an opposition politician said Tuesday.","Polish factory contraction slows amid improvement in Central European PMIs. By Gergely Szakacs BUDAPEST (Reuters) - Manufacturers in the Czech Republic and Poland are doing better than expected, surveys showed on Wednesday, but activity in the region's largest economy still contracted, cementing expectations for a reduction in Polish interest rates next week. Low inflation and an economic slowdown have encouraged some of the region's central banks to further cut interest rates already at record lows and launch measures to stimulate growth in the face of weaker European activity and the Russia-Ukraine crisis. ...","Dimitri Mascarenhas appointed Otago coach. WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Former England all-rounder Dimitri Mascarenhas has been appointed head coach of New Zealand's Otago province for two years.","Ireland to rule on pregnant woman on life support. DUBLIN (AP) — Dublin judges are deciding whether a brain-dead pregnant woman should be kept on life support to give her 17-week-old fetus a chance at life, a case that has reignited debate over Ireland's abortion ban.","China's Xi talks business in Germany. BERLIN (AP) — Chinese President Xi Jinping presided over the signing of a string of deals with automakers and others as he started a visit to Germany on Friday, while Chancellor Angela Merkel prodded him on the importance of free speech.","Kenya rangers murder ivory poachers: report. NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — A rights group alleges that corrupt Kenyan wildlife rangers are killing poachers to cover up the officers' collusion with the gangs slaughtering the country's elephants.","Mondelez to separate cheese, grocery business in Europe: Bloomberg. (Reuters) - Oreo cookies maker Mondelez International Inc is separating its European cheese and grocery business into a standalone entity in a move that could lead to a sale or spinoff, Bloomberg reported, citing a source. The creation of this unit, which has about $1.4 billion in sales, comes at a time when the company is shifting its focus to faster-growing snack brands, the source with knowledge of Mondelez's deliberations told Bloomberg. (http://bloom.bg/1kLXXr8) Mondelez could not be immediately reached for comment. (Reporting by Siddharth Cavale in Bangalore)","Ukraine calls on Moscow to halt 'provocative actions' in east Ukraine. Ukraine's foreign minister urged Russia on Saturday to end what he called \"provocative actions\" by its agents in eastern Ukraine after pro-Russian militants seized two buildings in the city of Slaviansk. Acting foreign minister Andrii Deshchytsia said he had spoken in a phone call with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. Russia denies providing any support to the militants, who have seized four government buildings in the east of the former Soviet republic, apparently emboldened by Russia's annexation of Ukraine's Crimea region last month.","Syria rebel fire on Aleppo 'kills 50 in 2 days'. At least 50 people, including nine children, were killed in two days of rebel mortar and rocket fire on regime-held areas of Aleppo in northern Syria, a monitoring group said Monday. The latest toll from the main northern city comes the day before a presidential election expected to keep incumbent Bashar al-Assad in power. \"At least 50 people, including nine children, were killed in mortar and rocket fire on regime-held areas of Aleppo on Saturday and Sunday,\" the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. The Britain-based monitoring group said the casualties on Saturday and Sunday came after 230 people had been killed in two months of rebel bombardments of areas of Aleppo controlled by the government.","Officials: Bomb in Baghdad shopping street kills 3. BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraqi officials say a bomb planted on a street full of shoppers in the capital, Baghdad, has killed three people and wounded five.","Britain announces Scottish debt pledge. Britain vowed Monday to honour all government debt up until the date of Scotland's possible independence, should Scottish people vote to break away from the United Kingdom later this year. Voters head to the polls on September 18 in a crucial referendum to decide whether Scotland should scrap the 300-year union with England. Prime Minister David Cameron is urging Scots to reject independence, while the devolved Scottish government of First Minister Alex Salmond is pushing for separation. \"In the event of Scottish independence from the United Kingdom (UK), the continuing UK Government would in all circumstances honour the contractual terms of the debt issued by the UK Government,\" said a statement from Britain's Treasury on Monday.","Some Sri Lankans want Pope's visit postponed. COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — Some Roman Catholic priests and lay people in Sri Lanka are seeking the postponement of Pope Francis' visit to the island nation in January, citing its closeness to a presidential election and possible violence linked to the polls.","French woman vows to take fight to marry ex-stepson to Europe court. Metz (France) (AFP) - A woman who wants to marry her former stepson but cannot do so under French law vowed Thursday to take her fight right up to the European Court of Human Rights if necessary. Eric Holder, 45, and Elisabeth Lorentz, 48, appeared in court in the northeastern city of Metz in a bid to overturn a law stipulating that parents and their children -- whether natural or not -- cannot marry. The law states that exceptions to the rule can be made by presidential decree for unions like the one envisaged by Holder and Lorentz, but only if they have the blessing of the person through whom they are linked. In this case, that would be Holder's father and Lorentz's ex-husband, who is now dead.","New Zealand Maori cancel Singapore match. WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — The New Zealand Maori rugby team has cancelled a Nov. 15 match against the Asia-Pacific Dragons because of concern over the state of the playing surface at Singapore's national stadium.","18 dead in India train accident: official. A passenger train derailed in western India on Sunday, killing at least 18 people and injuring more than 100 as rescue workers raced to free those still trapped, a police official said. The train's engine and four of its carriages jumped the tracks in the western state of Maharashtra 110 kilometres (70 miles) south of Mumbai, police control room official Ramchandra Kamre told AFP in Raigad district, where the accident occurred. Railways Minister Mallikarjun Kharge ordered an investigation into the accident, which occurred in the mid-morning as the train was travelling from Diwa on the outskirts of Mumbai to the city of Sawantwadi in Maharashtra. India's underfunded rail network -- one of the world's largest -- has a notoriously bad safety record but remains the main form of long-distance travel in the huge country despite fierce competition from private airlines.","South Sudan army admits loss of key oil town of Bentiu. South Sudan's army said Wednesday rebels had wrested control of the key oil town of Bentiu, one of the most bitterly contested regions in the four-month-long conflict. The town, capital of oil-producing Unity state, is the first major settlement to have been retaken in a renewed offensive by forces of rebel leader Riek Machar, a former vice-president. \"We are moving forward to retake the town from the forces of Riek Machar, who entered the town on Tuesday after our forces withdrew,\" army spokesman Philip Aguer told AFP, accusing the rebels of \"committing atrocities including the killing of civilians.\" Rebels had previously seized Bentiu in December at the beginning of the conflict, but were chased out of it a month later.","Katie Walsh gets late Grand National ride. Katie Walsh picked up a last minute ride in the world's greatest steeplechase the Grand National on Saturday at Aintree racecourse, Liverpool, when she came in for the injured Michael Fogarty on outsider Vesper Bell. Walsh, part of an Irish racing family including Grand National winning trainer father Ted and whose brother is riding great Ruby, went close to becoming the first woman jockey to win the race when she finished third on Seabass in 2012. \"Michael Fogarty was meant to ride him and I am sure he will get plenty of rides in the race in the future,\" Walsh told Channel Four. Walsh had faith in her ride, trained in Ireland by champion trainer Willie Mullins, despite being around a 50/1 chance and having fallen at the first in a race over the fearsome National fences earlier this season at Aintree.","Iraqi officials say suicide bomber has targeted an outdoor market south of Baghdad, killing 13. BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraqi officials say suicide bomber has targeted an outdoor market south of Baghdad, killing 13.","White House: Obama to call Putin, not considering lethal aid for Ukraine. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House on Monday said President Barack Obama would speak to Russian President Vladimir Putin soon, perhaps later in the day, and made clear the United States was not considering lethal aid for Ukraine. \"We are looking at a variety of ways to demonstrate our strong support for Ukraine including diplomatically and economically,\" White House spokesman Jay Carney told reporters. \"We're not actively considering lethal aid but we are reviewing the kinds of assistance we can provide,\" he said. (Reporting by Jeff Mason and Jim Loney; Editing by Doina Chiacu)","Sony hackers make threats in first phase of new leaks. LOS ANGELES (AP) — Hackers calling themselves Guardians of Peace have released another round of data leaks Tuesday, including ominous threats against the premiere of Sony Pictures' film \"The Interview,\" in which the group references the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.","Indonesian militants fighting in Syria: report. Indonesians who have joined fellow extremists fighting in Syria could help reinvigorate a once-powerful militant group responsible for major bombings in the world's most populous Muslim country, a report said. \"The conflict in Syria has captured the imagination of Indonesian extremists in a way no foreign war has before,\" said a report by Jakarta-based Institute for Policy Analysis of Conflict published this week. \"The enthusiasm for Syria is directly linked to predictions in Islamic eschatology that the final battle at the end of time will take place in Sham, the region sometimes called Greater Syria, or the Levant, encompassing Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine and Israel,\" the report added. This notion has attracted Indonesians from different radical streams to go or try to go to Syria, including the Jemaah Islamiyah, or JI, a group responsible for the 2002 bombings on the resort island of Bali which killed 202 people, mostly foreigners.","Israel says it is cancelling prisoner release. JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel's chief negotiator with the Palestinians says it will not release the fourth batch of Palestinian prisoners because of the Palestinians' push for recognition at the United Nations.","Suarez tells teammate he expects to be fit at WCup. LONDON (AP) — England defender Glen Johnson has bad news for his country: his Liverpool teammate and Uruguay striker Luis Suarez has told him he expects to be fit for their World Cup match.","Ministers call for extension of 12-hour Gaza ceasefire. PARIS (Reuters) - Foreign ministers from seven nations on Saturday called for an extension of the 12-hour ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said. \"All of us call on the parties to extend the military ceasefire that is currently underway,\" Fabius told reporters after a gathering that included the foreign ministers of Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Qatar, Turkey and the United States. An EU official also attended the meeting at the French foreign ministry. (Reporting by Arshad Mohammed; editing by Michel Rose)","Top Asian News at 1:30 p.m. GMT. KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Two men traveling with stolen passports on a missing Malaysia Airlines jetliner were Iranians who had bought tickets to Europe and were probably not terrorists, law enforcement officials said Tuesday. The announcement is likely to dampen, at least for now, speculation that the disappearance of the Boeing 777 was linked to terrorism. Police said both men bought their tickets in Thailand and entered Malaysia together.","Former Chinese aluminum boss facing graft charges. BEIJING (AP) — The former boss of China's biggest aluminum producer has been expelled from the ruling Communist Party on corruption charges, the party announced Tuesday, as an anti-graft campaign that has brought down oil executives spreads to other state-owned resource industries.","Jordan bombed IS in Syria on Wednesday: US officials. Washington (AFP) - Jordanian warplanes carried out a bombing raid against the Islamic State group in Syria on Wednesday as part of a second day of US-led air strikes against the jihadists, two US defense officials told AFP.","UN Security Council to vote Saturday on Ukraine resolution. United Nations (United States) (AFP) - The UN Security Council will meet in an emergency session Saturday to vote on a Western-backed resolution denouncing the upcoming referendum in Ukraine's Crimea on switching over to Kremlin rule, diplomats said Friday. Diplomats say they expect Russia to veto the resolution. The position of veto-wielding China -- which often backs Russia at the council, especially on Syria-related votes -- is more uncertain this time around, one Western diplomat said.","Barca charged with tax fraud over Neymar transfer. MADRID (AP) — A Spanish court has charged Spanish league champion Barcelona with tax fraud of 9.1 million euros ($12.5 million) over the transfer of Brazil forward Neymar.","Shootout in eastern Ukraine leaves 1 dead. DONETSK, Ukraine (AP) — The Ukrainian and Russian governments are reporting a shootout at a checkpoint set up by pro-Russian insurgents in eastern Ukraine that has left one person dead and others hospitalized with gunshot wounds.","Egypt accused of using detention to silence opponents. Alexandria (Egypt) (AFP) - In his white prison uniform, Sherif Farag was forced to present his thesis behind bars where he spent months without trial, a procedure Egypt's government is accused of using to silence its opponents.","Cricket-Neesham, Latham benefit from Auckland bar incident. All-rounder Jimmy Neesham and batsman Tom Latham have been named in New Zealand's squad for the second test against India after Jesse Ryder and Doug Bracewell were dropped for a late night drinking session in Auckland last week. Both replacements are uncapped at test level and the 21-year-old Latham comes in for Ryder as cover for Ross Taylor, whose wife is expected to give birth to their second child this week and may have to leave the team before the game begins. \"Tom's an incredibly exciting prospect and is constantly pushing for selection,\" national selection manager Bruce Edgar said in a New Zealand Cricket (NZC) statement on Tuesday.","Tensions rise in Lebanon as Syria extends control over border. The Lebanese army reopened a road between two towns near the Syrian frontier on Wednesday to try to calm sectarian rivalry that has been aggravated by a Syrian government campaign to tighten its grip on the border region. Shi'ite Muslims from the Lebanese Bekaa Valley town of al-Labwa had erected sandbag barriers at the weekend to cut off the road to Arsal, a Sunni town about 5 km (3 miles) east where they believed hundreds of Syrian rebels had taken refuge. Tensions have been especially high in and around Arsal after Syrian forces and the Lebanese Shi'ite militant group Hezbollah recaptured the Syrian border town of Yabroud from rebels on Sunday, sending a stream of refugees and fighters across the border. Lebanon's border area has been steadily sucked into Syria's three-year-old conflict as President Bashar al-Assad's forces attack nearby rebel bases and suspected Syrian rebels fire rockets at Shi'ite towns to punish Hezbollah for sending fighters to support Assad.","Syria's children starving and scared as war drags on. Kab Elias (Lebanon) (AFP) - Mirvat Ibrahim fled Syria's Aleppo for Lebanon four months ago. Now she is safe, but struggling to feed her eight children including malnourished nine-month-old Shorouq. \"I want to feed my children, but what can I make them to eat? Her children are among the estimated 5.5 million people that aid groups say have been affected by the Syrian conflict, which entered its fourth year on Saturday.","Car bomb explodes outside a Greek central bank building, no injuries. ATHENS (Reuters) - A car bomb went off outside a Bank of Greece building in central Athens early on Thursday, causing damages but no injuries a police source said. Police cordoned off the area after a Greek newspaper received a warning call from a person saying that a bomb containing about 70 kilograms of explosives would detonate at the central bank, the police official added on condition of anonymity. The explosion comes hours before Greece plans to return to bond markets for the first time since its international bailout began four years ago. ...","Ukraine to seek international help to trace Yanukovich accounts, assets. KIEV (Reuters) - Ukraine will urgently contact international organizations with an official request to help trace bank accounts and assets controlled by ousted President Yanukovich and his allies, the acting prosecutor general said on Wednesday. Accusing Yanukovich and his aides of stealing \"not millions but billions\" of dollars, Oleh Makhnytsky told Reuters in an interview that all major commercial deals concluded during his time in power would be reviewed. \"We will check everything: all the schemes of the ex-regime ... ...","What we know, and still don't, on Malaysian plane. A summary of the questions answered, and still pending, about the disappearance of Malaysian Airlines Flight 370 after Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak's Monday announcement:","Top Asian News at 8:30 p.m. GMT. SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — The roof of a resort auditorium collapsed during a welcoming ceremony for South Korean university freshmen, killing nine and likely trapping about 10, officials said Tuesday. The dead included seven students and an adult; officials weren't sure yet if the ninth victim was a student. About 80 people were sent to hospitals with minor injuries, according to officials at the state-run National Emergency Management Agency who spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to speak to the media.","EU holds largest-ever cyber security exercise. ATHENS, Greece (AP) — A European Union cyber-security agency was in Athens to conduct the largest exercise ever held on the continent to prevent attacks on Europe's public utilities and communications networks.","New Egypt PM says to 'crush terrorism'. CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt's prime minister-designate said on Tuesday his government would work to \"crush terrorism\" and that he hoped to form his new cabinet quickly. \"We will work together to restore security and safety to Egypt and crush terrorism in all corners of the country,\" Ibrahim Mahlab told a news conference after interim head of state Adly Mansour asked him to form the new government. (Writing by Tom Perry; Editing by Angus MacSwan)","Colombia, rebels say making progress in talks over drug trade. By Rosa Tania Valdés HAVANA (Reuters) - The Colombian government and FARC guerrilla negotiators said on Thursday that they had made progress toward an agreement on combating illegal drug trafficking, a sign that peace talks were making headway before elections. The joint statement by President Juan Manuel Santos' government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) said there had been \"advances\" in the negotiations, the latest round of which concluded on Thursday. \"We have been working nonstop throughout this round of conversations and we have started building agreements on the point 'solving the illicit drugs problem,'\" the statement said. Sustained progress could help President Juan Manuel Santos in his campaign for re-election in May. Santos has been criticized by opposition candidates for his decision to negotiate with the guerrillas rather than defeat them militarily.","Australian PM denies government in crisis. Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott on Monday denied a cabinet reshuffle was a sign his government was in crisis as he came under fire for saying his biggest achievement for women was axing a carbon tax. Abbott on Sunday unveiled sweeping changes to his ministry, dumping Defence Minister David Johnston, promoting Immigration Minister Scott Morrison and appointing only his second woman to cabinet. It came after recent opinion polls showed his personal approval rating and that of his conservative government had plunged over tough spending cuts and perceived broken promises since coming to power late last year. Since assuming power in September 2013, the government has announced savings across the board to rein in a growing budget deficit.","Knox co-defendant Sollecito at hotel near border. FLORENCE, Italy (AP) — Police have found Amanda Knox's ex-boyfriend at a hotel near Italy's border with Slovenia and Austria after he and the American student were convicted for a second time in the death of British student Meredith Kercher.","Deportivo beats lowly Elche 1-0 in Spanish league. LA CORUNA, Spain (AP) — A goal by midfielder Luis Farina gave Deportivo La Coruna a 1-0 win against last-place Elche in the Spanish league on Monday.","Al Qaeda groups urge warring militants in Iraq, Syria to unite. By Amena Bakr DOHA (Reuters) - Two al Qaeda branches urged warring militant factions in Iraq and Syria to stop fighting each other and unite against a U.S.-led alliance preparing to attack the ultra hardline Islamic State armed group, according to a joint statement posted online. \"Stop the infighting between you and stand as one rank against America's campaign and that of its satanic alliance that lies in wait for all of us, to break us stick by stick,\" al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) and Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) said in a rare joint statement. ...","Islamic State siege of Syrian town threatens Turkey's Kurdish peace. By Daren Butler and Humeyra Pamuk MURSITPINAR Turkey (Reuters) - The siege by Islamic State militants of a largely Kurdish Syrian border town has become a rallying point for Turkey's Kurds, not just against the Sunni insurgents but against the Turkish state, endangering a fragile peace process with Ankara. Fueled by suspicions that Turkey is supporting the Sunni Muslim militants, the Kurds have clashed at Mursitpinar in Turkey with security forces who have fired water cannon and tear gas partly in a bid to prevent them joining the fight across the border in the Syrian town of Kobani. ...","As caliphate is declared, Iraqi troops battle for Tikrit. Iraqi troops battled to dislodge an al Qaeda splinter group from the city of Tikrit on Monday after its leader was declared caliph of a new Islamic state in lands seized this month across a swath of Iraq and Syria. Underscoring rising tensions in the region, the United States said it had sent about 300 additional troops into Iraq along with a detachment of helicopters and drone aircraft. Alarming regional and world powers, the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) claimed universal authority, declaring that its leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was now caliph of the Muslim world, a mediaeval title last widely recognized in the Ottoman sultan deposed 90 years ago after World War One.","Amateur Minjee Lee wins Women's Victorian Open. MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Seventeen-year-old amateur Minjee Lee shot a final-round 68 Sunday to win the Women's Victorian Open by six shots, claiming her first victory in a professional event.","Israel attack kills family of 5 in Gaza: medics. Gaza City (Palestinian Territories) (AFP) - An Israeli air strike hit a house in central Gaza before dawn on Saturday killing five family members, including two women and two children, Palestinian medics said.","Three Americans killed in Kabul hospital attack - U.S. embassy. KABUL (Reuters) - Three Americans were killed on Thursday when a security guard opened fire at an international hospital in the Afghan capital Kabul, the U.S. embassy said, in the latest of a series of attacks against foreign civilians in the country. \"We can confirm three Americans were killed,\" said an embassy official, without providing further details. An interior ministry official said at least one other person, a female nurse, was wounded. (Reporting by Jeremy Laurence and Hamid Shalizi; Editing by Kim Coghill)","Uruguay's roll-out of marijuana experiment faces election risk. By Malena Castaldi MONTEVIDEO (Reuters) - Uruguay is struggling to roll out the commercial production and sale of marijuana and its ground-breaking experiment could be dropped or watered down if an opposition candidate wins this month's presidential election. The South American country is the world's first to permit the cultivation, distribution and use of marijuana, aiming to wrest control of the trade from drug gangs while at the same regulating and even taxing its consumption. ...","Islamic State group says it'll mint its own coins. CAIRO (AP) — The Islamic State group says its leader has ordered that the organization start minting gold, silver and copper coins for its own currency — the Islamic dinar.","Romania charges teen after woman swung by bathrobe. BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) — Romanian police have filed criminal charges against a teenager who allegedly grabbed a terrified middle-aged woman by her bathrobe collar and swung her around while his friends chronicled it on video.","Man United buries Galaxy 7-0 in Van Gaal's debut. PASADENA, California (AP) — Manchester United made an impressive debut under coach Louis van Gaal on Wednesday night, with Wayne Rooney scoring twice late in the first half of a 7-0 friendly victory over the LA Galaxy.","Canada police search for 30 missing elderly in retirement home fire. By Matthieu and Belanger L'ISLE-VERTE, Quebec (Reuters) - Police were sifting overnight through burned remains of a wooden, three-story old-age home in the eastern Canadian province of Quebec, searching for 30 elderly residents who were still missing after a fire killed at least five people. Fanned by high winds, the fire early Thursday morning engulfed an older section of the Residence du Havre in the small community of L'Isle-Verte on the south shore of the St. Lawrence River, about 230 km (140 miles) northeast of Quebec City. The building only had a partial sprinkler system, according to a document filed by the residence.","Islamic State says carried out Baghdad suicide bombing. Islamic State militants claimed responsibility on Wednesday for an overnight suicide bombing in a Shi'ite district of Baghdad which killed 33 people, one of the deadliest recent attacks in the Iraqi capital. The hardline Sunni Islamist group which has led an offensive through northern and western Iraq said the explosion in Kadhimiya, site of a major Sh'ite shrine, was carried out by a fighter it named as Abu Abdul-Rahman al-Tunisi (the Tunisian). The Islamic State has claimed responsibility for a wave of bombings in Baghdad, including several blasts on Saturday which killed 27 people. Sunni fighters led by the Islamic State swept through most of Iraq's Sunni Muslim provinces towards Baghdad last month, their advance halted less than 100 km from the capital.","At least 32 die in stampede during Indian festival. PATNA, India (AP) — At least 32 people were killed Friday in a stampede in eastern India triggered by rumors that an electrical wire had fallen on people during a religious festival, an official said.","Jamaica: More drugs seized on Curacao flights. KINGSTON, Jamaica (AP) — Jamaican police say they are foiling a rising number of attempts to smuggle drugs to and from the southern Dutch Caribbean island of Curacao.","'Qaeda' gunmen kill 12 Yemen soldiers, civilian. Suspected Al-Qaeda gunmen killed 12 Yemeni soldiers and a civilian on Thursday in a southern province where troops have been battling the jihadists since late April, a security official said. The militants attacked a checkpoint near the Shabwa province village of Bayhan with automatic rifles, also wounding a number of soldiers, the official said. The army has been engaged in a major ground offensive against Al-Qaeda in Shabwa and neighbouring Abyan province in a bid to expel it from smaller towns and villages that escaped a previous sweep in 2012. Al-Qaeda took advantage of the collapse of central authority during a 2011 uprising that forced veteran strongman Ali Abdullah Saleh from power to seize large swathes of the south and east.","Libya Islamic militias declare control of Benghazi. CAIRO (AP) — Islamic hard-line militias are claiming to have taken control of Libya's second largest city, Benghazi, after defeating army units, taking over military barracks and seizing tanks, rockets and hundreds of boxes of ammunition.","Winnipeg woman at centre of baby corpses mystery. Forensic examinations started Friday may reveal who gave birth to six babies whose corpses were discovered in a storage locker in the Canadian plains city of Winnipeg, and how they ended up there. Andrea Giesbrecht, 40, was arrested and charged with concealing the bodies of the newborn children and breaching probation on Wednesday, two days after the gruesome discovery. U-Haul employees at the facility made the discovery at the start of the week while taking inventory of a delinquent storage locker. The babies -- possibly newborns or fetuses -- had been placed in the storage locker between between March 7 and October 20, according to investigators.","Al Qaeda in Yemen denies government claim 70 percent of fighters are foreign. Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) has denied a claim by Yemen's president that 70 percent of its fighters in Yemen are foreigners, according to SITE Intelligence Group which monitors radical websites. President Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi said on Tuesday that 70 percent of al Qaeda fighters in Yemen were foreigners naming Brazil, the Netherlands, Australia and France among the countries where militants came from. Yemen launched a new military offensive this week against Islamist militants in the south of the country.","Thailand fails to clean lead-poisoned creek despite court order: HRW. By Thin Lei Win BANGKOK (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Hundreds of families in western Thailand are suffering from lead poisoning near a polluted creek that the government has failed to clean up despite a court order two years ago, Human Rights Watch said on Tuesday. In 1998, Lead Concentrates (Thailand) closed a mine in Klity Creek in Kanchanaburi province, but the 400 or so ethnic Karen subsistence farmers living in a nearby village struggle with health problems and continue to fight for a cleanup, the watchdog group said in a report. ...","Lost game marks Hazard's World Cup. BRASILIA, Brazil (AP) — When Belgium needed a final push to stay in the World Cup, off went Eden Hazard — off to the bench that is. The player touted to become one of the defining figures in the tournament never was a match for Argentina's Lionel Messi in Saturday's quarterfinal match, and never an inspiring leader to his team.","S.African govt livid at university's 'Nazi salute' initiation. South Africa's higher education ministry on Tuesday condemned an alleged Nazi-style salute staged recently by first year students during an induction at a university southwest of Johannesburg. Students at one of the campuses of the North West University had performed the Nazi-style \"Sieg Heil\" salute during a supposed orientation ceremony, the local Beeld newspaper reported last week. It said the pictures showed a group of students \"dressed in uniforms, marching in unison like troopers and, most disturbingly doing the ... Nazi-style fascist salute\". The university authorities have apologised for any offence caused by the images, according to government, and they denied it was a Nazi salute, but a tradition of first year students \"singing a greeting\" to the head of their residence committee.","Congo ex-militia boss insists on innocence at ICC appeal. The Hague (AFP) - Congolese ex-militia boss Mathieu Ngudjolo Chui on Tuesday protested his innocence at an appeal hearing before the International Criminal Court, where he was acquitted nearly two years ago of war crimes charges.","Iraq Kurd secession bid faces major obstacles, say experts. Iraq's Kurds would face enormous challenges if they were to secede, but the threat of an independence vote amid chaos nationwide could squeeze concessions from the federal government, experts say. Their autonomous three-province northern region expanded its control over a swathe of territory that Baghdad also claims when Kurdish peshmerga fighters moved in last month to areas from which Iraqi soldiers withdrew during a sweeping Sunni militant onslaught. One of the biggest obstacles to Kurdish secession is money, with oil revenues from areas they control insufficient to pay for the region's numerous civil servants, and future revenues in doubt because of objections from Baghdad, which considers independent Kurdish energy exports to be illegal. The dispute with the federal government has led Baghdad to withhold the 17 percent share of the national budget allocated to the Kurdish regional government (KRG), and the landlocked region's ability to augment its income relies on exporting oil through the Turkish port of Ceyhan.","South Africa platinum firms issue strike ultimatum. South Africa's top three platinum companies issued a take-it-or-leave-it wage ultimatum to striking miners Wednesday, hoping to break a month-long stoppage that has crippled production. In a joint statement Anglo American Platinum, Impala Platinum and Lonmin said they would not raise an already rejected wage offer and warned of impending job losses.","Pakistani officials: Gunmen attack court complex in Islamabad, killing 11 people. ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistani officials: Gunmen attack court complex in Islamabad, killing 11 people.","Hollande warns African leaders who cling to power. DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — French President Francois Hollande is taking to task African leaders who seek ways around term limits to extend their reigns.","Syrian Electronic Army says hacked into Skype's social media accounts. By Dan Whitcomb LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The Syrian Electronic Army, an amorphous hacker collective that supports Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, claimed credit on Wednesday for hacking into the social media accounts of Internet calling service Skype. The group also posted the contact information of Steve Ballmer, Microsoft Corp's retiring chief executive, on its Twitter account along with the message, \"You can thank Microsoft for monitoring your accounts/emails using this details. #SEA\" That message was an apparent reference to revelations last year by former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden that Skype, which is owned by Microsoft, was part of the NSA's program to monitor communications through some of the biggest U.S. Internet companies.","Hospital: Teen wounded in school shooting dies. MARYSVILLE, Washington (AP) — One of the teenagers wounded in a Washington state high school shooting died Sunday night, raising the number of fatalities from when a student opened fire in a cafeteria to three.","Yara, CF in talks to create $27 billion fertilizer giant. OSLO (Reuters) - Norway's Yara International is in talks with Chicago-based CF Industries about a possible merger of equals, the firms said on Tuesday, a deal that would create a fertilizer giant with market value over $27 billion. \"The discussions are at an early stage, and there can be no assurances that these discussions will result in any transaction,\" Yara said in a filing to the Oslo bourse. The Norwegian company added that it was forced to go public because information about the talks had leaked. Yara, with market capitalization of $14. ...","U.S. soldier free after almost five years captivity in Afghanistan. By Warren Strobel WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Army Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl, held for nearly five years by the Taliban after being captured in Afghanistan, has been released and is now in U.S. custody after years of on and off negotiations, U.S. officials said on Saturday As part of Bergdahl's release, the United States is turning over five Taliban detainees at the U.S. prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to the custody of Qatar, the officials said. Bergdahl's freedom followed a renewed round of indirect U.S.-Taliban talks in recent months, with Qatar acting as intermediary, the officials said.","Puerto Rico sees jump in cruise ship passengers. SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — The number of cruise ship passengers who visited the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico has jumped more than 15 percent in nearly one year.","Saint-Etienne wins 1-0 at Lorient in French league. PARIS (AP) — Midfielder Fabien Lemoine scored a late winner to help Saint-Etienne win 1-0 at Lorient on Saturday and move provisionally into fourth place.","French troops battle Muslim rebels in Central African Republic town. BAMBARI, Central African Republic (Reuters) - French peacekeeping troops in Central African Republic using helicopter gunships and mortars fought Muslim rebels on Saturday at a bridge in the town of Bambari northeast of the capital Bangui, a Reuters witness said. Photographer Goran Tomasevic said he saw at least five people injured, four of them fighters of the mostly-Muslim rebel Seleka coalition, who have been resisting attempts by the French forces to disarm them. (Reporting by Goran Tomasevic; Editing by Pascal Fletcher)","China jails US businessman 20 years in mob trial. BEIJING (AP) — A Chinese court sentenced a Chinese-American businessman on Thursday to 20 years in prison on charges of heading a mob that kidnapped rivals and operated illegal casinos, and rejected his claim that he was tortured by police.","Official: Ebola kills senior doctor in Liberia. MONROVIA, Liberia (AP) — One of Liberia's most high-profile doctors has died of Ebola, a government official said Sunday, highlighting the risks facing health workers trying to combat the deadly disease.","Ivanovic stuns Serena at Australian Open. By Ian Ransom MELBOURNE (Reuters) - Serbia's Ana Ivanovic stunned world number one Serena Williams at the Australian Open on Sunday with a 4-6 6-3 6-3 fourth-round upset at Rod Laver Arena. Ivanovic ended the American's 25-match winning streak to reach her first grand slam quarter-final since the 2012 U.S. Open with an inspired display of clean hitting. I just tried to play the best I could,\" a thrilled Ivanovic said in a courtside interview. Ivanovic, a former world number one, had never taken a set off Williams in their four previous encounters.","Jaguars stumble, fall to Cowboys in London. LONDON (AP) — After watching his team miss tackles, drop a punt, fumble the ball and fall into another big hole on the scoreboard against the Dallas Cowboys, Jaguars head coach Gus Bradley let loose on his team at halftime.","Brazil upset with Adidas' World Cup T-shirts. SAO PAULO (AP) — Brazil's tourism board says it has asked Adidas to stop selling World Cup products that use sex appeal to promote the host country.","New Italy PM makes Tunisia his first port of call. Tunis (AFP) - Italy's newly appointed Prime Minister Matteo Renzi visited Tunisia on Tuesday in his first official trip abroad, saying the Mediterranean should be the heart of Europe and not its border.","Mine collapse in Central African Republic kills 25. At least 25 people have died in a collapse at a gold mine 60 km (40 miles) north of the Central African Republic town of Bambari, Ahmat Negat, spokesman for the mainly Muslim Seleka rebels, said on Friday. The mine at Ndassima is carved deep into a forested hilltop north of Seleka's military headquarters in Bambari.","Sudan riot police break up demo for detained ex-PM. Club-wielding police broke up a protest Friday by supporters of jailed Sudanese opposition leader Sadiq al-Mahdi, beating up demonstrators, an AFP correspondent said. Mahdi, an ex-premier who heads the opposition Umma Party, was arrested on May 17 for alleged treason after he reportedly accused a counter-insurgency unit, the Rapid Support Forces, of rape and other abuses of civilians in the Darfur region of western Sudan. Hundreds of youths after weekly Muslim prayers emerged from a mosque in Omdurman, Khartoum's twin city, chanting slogans of support for Mahdi and calling for the fall of the government. Anti-riot police equipped with sticks and clubs gave chase, beating them up and forcing them to flee to side streets, the correspondent said.","Iraqi Shi'ite militias use hit lists to pick off foes: police. By Ahmed Rasheed BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraqi Shi'ite militias have drawn up hit lists of suspected Sunni insurgents to be kidnapped, executed and hung in public, security and police officials said, raising the stakes in a sectarian war tearing the country apart. The militias became a vital line of defense for the Shi'ite-led government after the army collapsed in the face of a June advance by Sunni Islamic State militants who seized large swathes of land in the north and aim to march on Baghdad. The militias' increasingly ruthless tactics, in towns north of the capital, near the front line with insurgents, could radicalize Sunnis who say innocent people are being swept up in the fighting. \"They have a hit list of Sunni individuals that are considered a threat to security forces and the Shi'ite population,\" said a senior security official in Diyala Province who works with the militias.","Fox-Pitt takes lead in eventing. CAEN, France (AP) — William Fox-Pitt of Britain took the overall lead in the eventing competition at the World Equestrian Games with a clean ride in the cross-country portion on Saturday.","Putin says hopes political tension won't hurt economic ties. NOVO-OGARYOVO, Russia (Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday he did not want political tension to detract from economic cooperation with Russia's \"traditional partners\". \"We are seeing known political tension, it should not affect our current economic cooperation,\" Putin told cabinet members. \"It's not necessary to add to the difficult situation, we need to cooperate with all our traditional partners - while providing for our own interests, of course. It is not necessary to whip things up,\" he said. ...","Murray beats Querrey; Brits top US in Davis Cup. SAN DIEGO (AP) — Wimbledon champion Andy Murray beat Sam Querrey 7-6 (5), 6-7 (3), 6-1, 6-3 to clinch Great Britain's opening-round Davis Cup victory against the United States on Sunday at Petco Park.","Pope likely to address year of conflicts in Christmas message. Vatican City (AFP) - Pope Francis will celebrate Christmas on Thursday by sending the world's 1.2 billion Catholics and millions of others his traditional \"urbi et orbi\" message at the close of a year plagued by war and religious fundamntalism.","Morgan State nips Liberty 51-50 with late hoop. CANCUN, Mexico (AP) — Cedric Blossom scored 20 points and Donte Pretlow hit the game-winner with 3 seconds left as Morgan State edged Liberty 51-50 on Wednesday for third place in the Mayan Division of the Cancun Challenge.","Israel responds to rocket fire from north. JERUSALEM (AP) — The Israeli military says it has opened fire into Lebanon in response to rocket fire.","AC/DC drummer says he wants to keep his job. AC/DC drummer Phil Rudd described allegations he tried to hire a hitman as \"ludicrous\" Monday and said he wanted to keep his job with the top-selling rock band. Rudd faces charges of threatening to kill and drug possession in New Zealand and fellow band members, including guitarist Angus Young, have hinted he will be dropped for AC/DC's upcoming world tour.","Thousands of workers protest Belgian labor reform. BRUSSELS (AP) — Tens of thousands of demonstrators are converging on the Belgian capital to protest government policies that will extend the pension age, contain wages and cut into public services.","Bernier strengthens grip on Leafs' net with strong performance in Winter Classic. ANN ARBOR, Mich. - Jonathan Bernier battled the elements in the Winter Classic and did so in style.","Turkey charges 20 police in wiretapping probe. Turkish prosecutors have charged scores of police officers with illegally eavesdropping on top officials including Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, media said Saturday. At least 20 former police officers have been indicted since Friday and remanded in custody pending a possible trial, the private Dogan news agency reported. Over 100 serving and former police officers were detained last week in dramatic raids as part of the wiretapping probe. The officers are accused of fabricating an investigation as cover for wiretaps on prominent figures since 2010, including Erdogan, journalists, cabinet members and the head of Turkey's National Intelligence Organisation (MIT), Hakan Fidan.","Spanish civil war nostalgics join fight alongside Ukrainian rebels. By Kazbek Basayev DONETSK Ukraine (Reuters) - Angel Davilla-Rivas, a Spaniard who came to east Ukraine to fight alongside pro-Russian rebels, proudly shows off two big monochrome portraits of Soviet leaders Vladimir Lenin and Joseph Stalin, tattooed on the right and left side of his torso. Davilla-Rivas and his comrade Rafa Munez, both in their mid-twenties, traveled by train from Madrid to eastern Ukraine where they joined the Vostok battalion, the most prominent and heavily armed unit fighting Ukrainian troops.","Greece confirms plan to return to bond markets. ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greece has confirmed that it is tapping international bond markets for the first time in four years.","Factory activity in Europe, Asia cools; demand lull a concern. By Sumanta Dey and Wayne Cole BANGALORE/SYDNEY (Reuters) - Factory activity in Europe and Asia cooled in August after a strong July, as new orders dwindled in the face of escalating tensions in Ukraine and a patchy recovery in China, purchasing managers indexes showed. Despite euro zone manufacturers barely raising their prices, growth in the region slowed slightly more than initially thought, and activity in China's vast factory sector slackened on weak foreign and domestic demand, stoking speculation that further policy stimulus would be needed. \"A concerted slowdown in the China, euro zone and UK manufacturing PMIs as the second quarter gets under way raises alarm bells about global demand conditions,\" said Lena Komileva, chief economist at G+ Economics in London.","Peru's finance minister Castilla resigns: government source. LIMA (Reuters) - Peru's Finance Minister Luis Miguel Castilla is resigning and President Ollanta Humala is now considering \"other options\" to replace him, a government source said on Monday. Castilla, a former World Bank economist and one of Humala's original cabinet picks, had remained in office after two and a half years and was widely praised by investors. (Reporting By Marco Aquino, Writing by Mitra Taj; Editing by Chris Reese)","Petrobras says probe may implicate pension fund; cuts off contractors. RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) - Brazil's state-run oil company Petrobras on Monday said a growing corruption scandal may implicate its employee pension fund and has led to a freeze on payments to 23 contractors allegedly involved in the scheme. Petros, the 66 billion real ($24 billion) employee-pension fund of Petroleo Brasileiro SA, as Petrobras is formally known, was singled out by an internal investigation, Petrobras said in a statement. ...","Palmer opens with a 63 to lead in Boston. NORTON, Mass. (AP) — Ryan Palmer has felt all year that something special was going to happen. For now, he'll take his lowest round of the season.","Google wins bid on which court to fight Rockstar over patents. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Google Inc will fight patent holder Rockstar Consortium in a California court instead of a Texas court that lawyers consider more friendly toward plaintiffs. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on Thursday ordered proceedings stayed in Texas over whether handsets made by Samsung Electronics , HTC Corp , AsuSTEK Computer , LG Electronics and ZTE Corp infringed on Rockstar's patents because they used Google's Android operating system. Rockstar had filed the lawsuits in a Texas federal court, which is generally viewed as a friendly forum for patent owners. ...","Russia calls UN meeting to seek Ukraine cease-fire. UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Russia has called an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council to introduce a resolution calling for an immediate cease-fire in Ukraine.","Chile copper mines weather quake; some ports shut. By Alexandra Ulmer and Fabian Cambero SANTIAGO (Reuters) - Copper operations in Chile, the world's top producer, were unscathed by a major earthquake that struck the mineral-rich north on Tuesday night and prompted the evacuations of some workers. But several ports that ship metals from the Andean country remained closed on Wednesday following a tsunami evacuation, suggesting some exports and trade flows may be disrupted. Chile supplies one-third of the world's red metal. None of the quake-proofed mines in the Andean country reported structural damage following the earthquake, which killed six and triggered the tsunami that pounded the shore.","Iran FM says will not scrap Arak reactor. Tokyo (AFP) - Iran is pinning its hopes on the success of talks with the West about its nuclear programme but insisted it would not scrap a controversial reactor, its foreign minister said Wednesday.","Weakened US team aims for world basketball title. BILBAO, Spain (AP) — The bad news just kept coming, the only difference whether the culprit was injury or interest.","3 killed in Ukraine offensive near Slovyansk. SLOVYANSK, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine launched what appeared to be its first major assault against pro-Russian forces who have seized government buildings in the country's east, with fighting breaking out in the early hours on Friday around a city that has become the focus of the insurgency. Three deaths were reported in early fighting.","Ukraine predicts 'yes' vote in UN on its unity. UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Ukraine is predicting that the U.N. General Assembly will adopt a resolution Thursday reaffirming the country's territorial integrity and calling the referendum that led to Russia's annexation of its Crimean Peninsula illegal.","Businesswoman Budge completes Hearts takeover. Scottish businesswoman Ann Budge has completed her takeover of Hearts, the Scottish Premiership club's fan group the Foundation of Hearts (FoH) announced on Friday. \\\\\"Four historic words for all Hearts supporters 'deal done, thank you'. More info to follow,\\\\\" the FoH wrote on its Twitter account. Budge had been working to tie up a £2.5 million ($4.2 million, 3.1 million euros) deal for the Edinburgh club, which will take them out of administration.","Fox's revenue rises as cable business grows. Rupert Murdoch's 21st Century Fox, the television and film company that split from News Corp last June, posted higher December quarter revenue, driven by advertising growth at its sports channels and European satellite business. The company, which owns cable networks such as Fox News and FX, said its domestic advertising revenue increased 7 percent in the quarter to December 31. That beat U.S. cable network rivals Viacom and Time Warner Inc, which each reported slower growth than Fox in the quarter.","Cricket-McCullum scores triple-century as NZ post record score. By Greg Stutchbury WELLINGTON, Feb 18 (Reuters) - Brendon McCullum became the first New Zealand batsman to score a test triple-century as the hosts declared their second innings on 680-8 before lunch on the fifth day of the second test against India on Tuesday. Captain McCullum's 302 virtually ensured his team will win the two-match series, having won the first game by 40 runs at Eden Park, while giving them a chance of bowling India out in the two remaining sessions at Wellington's Basin Reserve to clinch a second victory. The tourists began their second innings needing 435 runs in 67 overs to win the test and went to the lunch break on 10 for none with Murali Vijay on seven and Shikhar Dhawan on two. Debutant all-rounder Jimmy Neesham, who had resumed on 67 on Tuesday, quickly raced through to his first test century and was 137 not out when McCullum called an end to the innings about 25 minutes before the break.","Hodgson wary of England regeneration talk. Glasgow (AFP) - England manager Roy Hodgson admitted on Monday that his players are still digesting the disappointment of their World Cup group-stage exit despite their impressive form since the tournament.","Veterans, supporters plan protests at Veterans Affairs officials set to close. OTTAWA - Veterans and their supporters will muster outside most of the Veterans Affairs offices slated to close today to voice their opposition to the federal government`s decision.","Satisfied Australia marks six months with no boatpeople. Prime Minister Tony Abbott said Thursday he was \"very satisfied\" as Australia marked six months since the last asylum-seeker boat arrival, but warned it was not yet \"mission accomplished\". Abbott's conservative government came into power in September vowing to stop the flood of asylum-seekers arriving on rickety boats from its Southeast Asian neighbours, with hundreds of people dying en route. Under its offshore detention policy, asylum-seeker vessels are now controversially turned back to Indonesia and would-be refugees sent to Papua New Guinea and Nauru in the Pacific for processing and resettlement. There is no hint of mission accomplished about today,\" Abbott said in praising Immigration Minister Scott Morrison for \"a really outstanding job\".","Kurdish leader urges world to protect Syrian town from Islamic State. By Seyhmus Cakan DIKMETAS Turkey (Reuters) - Iraqi Kurdish leader Masoud Barzani called on Friday for international intervention to protect a Kurdish town in neighboring Syria from Islamic State fighters who have driven many Syrian Kurds to flee across the border to Turkey. Several thousand Kurds began crossing the frontier on Friday fearing an imminent attack on the border town of Ayn al-Arab, known as Kobani in Kurdish, after Islamic State (IS) fighters seized dozens of nearby villages over the past two days. ...","Mozambique rescues kidnapped 'drug baron'. Mozambique police have rescued a wealthy businessman branded a \"drug baron\" by the US government who was kidnapped in Maputo more than a month ago, state media said Sunday. Momade Bachir Suleman was freed in a dawn operation Saturday in Macia town, some 130 kilometres (80 miles) north of the capital Maputo. Interior Minister Alberto Mondlane had earlier confirmed his release in an interview with public radio. He was subjected to a US assets freeze and visa ban, but remains well connected to Mozambique's political and economic elite.","Israel army says resuming Gaza strikes as lull ends. Jerusalem (AFP) - The Israeli army said on Monday it was resuming its strikes on the Gaza Strip, after the end of a seven-hour humanitarian lull.","Georgia offers 150 troops to EU's Central Africa mission. Georgia is contributing 150 troops to a European Union military force 800 to 1,000-strong to be sent to the troubled Central African Republic, saying it is \"morally right\" to do so. Speaking to AFP, Georgian Defence Minister Irakli Alasania said that for the small ex-Soviet Caucasus state neighbouring Russia \"this is not only to give help to the EU but for us it is also a moral mission\". Georgia's contribution to the force to help French and African Union troops head off a horrific spiral of sectarian violence in CAR will be the nation's first involvement in an EU security and defence mission, and its first operation in Africa. French General Philippe Ponties, the operation commander, said the aim was to get the first troops on the ground in early March with the French-led force at full capability end April when its four-to-six month mandate begins.","Machine gun, heavy weapons fire heard in flashpoint north Mali town. Machine gun and heavy weapons fire broke out on Wednesday in the northern Mali town of Kidal, a rebel stronghold where the army has been reinforcing its positions ahead of an expected drive to retake it, an army officer and the United Nations said. \"As you can hear... gunfire has started up again between the soldiers and rebels in Kidal. A spokesmen for Mali's defense ministry and the country's United Nations peacekeeping mission both confirmed that fighting had restarted but declined to give further details. \"From my room I hear heavy weapons fire.","Air raid sirens wail in Jerusalem, signaling rocket attack. JERUSALEM (AP) — Air raid sirens wail in Jerusalem, signaling rocket attack.","Canada businesses beginning to spend again, Flaherty says. OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canadian businesses, which former Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney once accused of sitting on piles of cash, are beginning to spend again, Canadian Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said on Wednesday. \"We're beginning to see some life and some action,\" he said of the businesses' investment activity, at a conference examining the budget he delivered on Tuesday. However, he said there was not as much business investment as he would like. (Reporting by Randall Palmer; Editing by James Dalgleish)","Valcke: Don't waste time at Brazil WCup stadium. SAO PAULO (AP) — FIFA's top World Cup official visited the delayed stadium that will host the opener in less than two months and said there is \"not a minute\" to waste to get the venue ready.","Kenya gov't: 2 dead in 2 explosions in Nairobi. NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Two people were killed and 62 wounded when two homemade bombs exploded on buses along one of the busiest highways in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, authorities said Sunday, as this East African nation struggles to stop a series of terrorist attacks.","At least five injured in Sao Paulo World Cup protests: police. SAO PAULO (Reuters) - At least five people have been injured at anti World Cup protests in Sao Paulo on Thursday, a military police spokesman told Reuters. The spokesman said authorities would only be able to provide an exact number later Thursday when protests against the soccer tournament calm down. (Reporting by Caroline Stauffer; Editing by James Dalgleish)","London shares higher as Anglo American, Burberry surge. London shares closed higher on Wednesday as mining giant Anglo American and fashion firm Burberry surged, dealers said. The benchmark FTSE 100 index gained 53 points or 0.78 percent to end the day at 6,819.86 points. The World Bank boosted stock markets around the world by upgrading its economic growth forecasts. \"Equity markets welcomed the international financial organisation's outlook for 2014,\" said analyst David Madden at traders IG.","Vatican: Tourists harming Sistine Chapel frescoes. VATICAN CITY (AP) — The Vatican says the Sistine Chapel's precious frescoes are starting to turn white from the air pollution caused by so many visitors passing through each day.","Suicide bomber kills four Malian, Chadian troops in Mali. Bamako (AFP) - A suicide bomber killed at least four Malian and Chadian soldiers at a military camp in rebel-infested north-eastern Mali on Wednesday, army sources told AFP.","Hamas denies running 'shadow government' in Gaza. The exiled leader of Hamas denied Friday that the Islamist movement was running a \"shadow government\" in Gaza as charged by Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas. Khaled Meshaal was speaking in the Tunisian capital days after Abbas threatened to break off a unity agreement with Hamas, saying it was not allowing the government to operate in the Gaza Strip. \"There is a national unity government;","New GM team says US, China growth to offset costs in tougher regions. By Paul Lienert DETROIT (Reuters) - General Motors Co's new executive team said modest growth in the United States and China this year would help it fund about $1.1 billion in restructuring costs in other harder-hit regions, including Europe and Australia. A new management team led by Chief Executive Officer Mary Barra and President Dan Ammann took the reins Wednesday, saying the company expects a slight uptick in pretax profits this year, while margins likely will remain flat until 2015. China remains GM's strongest market. In comparison, GM built 3.3 million vehicles in North America last year.","Swiss divided in referendum on immigration. GENEVA (AP) — First projections indicate that a plan to limit immigration to Switzerland was approved by a razor-thin majority Sunday. But authorities said the final result was still too close to call and might be subject to recounts.","Duncan in NZealand, not ready to discuss US ruling. WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan isn't ready to discuss the stunning ruling on American college athletics issued while he was traveling to New Zealand.","Obama tells Xi: U.S., China have big stake in each other's success. BEIJING (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama told Chinese President Xi Jinping on Wednesday that he welcomes a China that is peaceful, prosperous and stable. Obama added that China and the United States have important differences, but he was encouraged by Xi's willingness to engage constructively, and that the two countries have an enormous stake in each other's success. \"There are important differences that we have... but what I've been very encouraged by is your willingness, Mr. ...","South Korean sect submits to search for leader linked to doomed ferry. By Ju-min Park ANSEONG, South Korea (Reuters) - Hundreds of followers of a religious sect submitted on Wednesday to a search of their rural commune by South Korean authorities seeking the arrest of the head of the family that operated a ferry which capsized last month killing more than 300 people. The sect's leader Yoo Byung-un is wanted on charges of embezzlement, negligence and tax evasion stemming from a web of business holdings centered around I-One-I, an investment vehicle owned by his sons that ran the shipping company Chonghaejin Marine. Believed to be in his 70s, Yoo is the leader of the Evangelical Baptist Church that runs the sprawling Anseong compound about two hours south of Seoul. On Tuesday, prosecutors conceded they had no confirmation of the whereabouts of Yoo or his eldest son, and said they were probably no longer in the Anseong commune.","Thousands gather in Nepal for human flag record. KATMANDU, Nepal (AP) — Tens of thousands of people have gathered in Nepal's capital holding colored boards in an attempt to break the record for the largest human national flag.","Officials: 2 bombings kill 7 people in Iraq. BAGHDAD (AP) — Authorities in Iraq say two bombings targeting Shiites have killed seven people around the capital, Baghdad.","Congo army attacks Ugandan Islamist rebels in lawless east. By Kenny Katombe and Chrispin Mvano BENI, Democratic Republic of Congo (Reuters) - Democratic Republic of Congo forces attacked Ugandan Islamist rebels in the lawless east on Friday, launching a U.N.-backed offensive to clear insurgents from the mineral-rich zone. Reuters correspondents outside the town of Beni, in North Kivu province, heard heavy gunfire as government troops moved in on positions held by ADF-NALU rebels who have been based in Congo for years and are seen as a major obstacle to peace. Another rebel movement, M23, that had operated to the south of Beni was defeated late last year, highlighting how Kinshasa and U.N. forces have begun to take the fight to gunmen that have plagued eastern Congo for nearly two decades. \"The Congolese army has launched operations against ADF-NALU in Beni and as usual (U.N. troops) will support the army to neutralize these rebels, who have been very active recently in this zone,\" said U.N. forces spokesman Colonel Felix Basse.","China loses 27.8 million microblog users last year. BEIJING (AP) — The number of online microblog users in China dropped by more than 27.8 million last year, marking the first major decline in popularity of a social media genre that has offered a way to share unfiltered information in a country with strict controls.","EU court adviser rejects Mastercard's appeal on card fees. An adviser to Europe's top court rejected on Thursday an appeal by MasterCard against a European Union ban on its cross-border card fees. \"I propose that the court should dismiss the main appeal and the cross appeals,\" Advocate General Paolo Mengozzi said in his opinion. Judges at the Luxembourg-based European Union Court of Justice, who follow the advisers' recommendations in the majority of cases, will rule in the coming months. The European Commission had said that MasterCard's cross-border multilateral interchange fee, levied on retailers' credit and debit card transactions, violated EU antitrust rules and had to be changed.","Libya contracts U.S. firm to extinguish port storage tanks fire. TRIPOLI (Reuters) - Libya's recognized government has contracted a U.S. firefighter firm to help extinguish fires at storage tanks at the Es Sider oil port, a spokesman said on Monday. Work would start within five days, government spokesman Mohamed Bazaza said, confirming a statement on a government website. The value of the contract was $6 million, the statement said, without naming the company. ...","Russia urges Ukrainian president to launch talks. MOSCOW (AP) — Russia's foreign minister says Moscow is ready to assist efforts by Ukraine's president-elect if he moves to negotiate a peaceful end to the unrest in eastern Ukraine.","U.S. general says cannot rule out larger ground role in Iraq. By Phil Stewart WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The most senior U.S. military officer raised the possibility on Tuesday that American troops might need to take on a larger role in Iraq's ground war against Islamic State militants, but the White House stressed they would not deploy on a combat mission. General Martin Dempsey, chairman of the U.S. military's Joint Chiefs of Staff, said there was no intention now to place American military advisers on the ground in direct combat. U.S. assistance is taking other forms, including air strikes. ...","Charlottetown ranked No. 1 on 2014 list of best places to travel in Canada. TORONTO - Travel magazine Vacay.ca has ranked Charlottetown No. 1 on its list of the \"20 best places to travel in Canada\" in 2014.","U.S. military advisers deployed to Somalia to help African forces. The U.S. military has established a unit of fewer than five troops in Mogadishu to advise African and Somali forces as they try to take control of Somalia from the al-Qaeda-affiliated al Shabab militant group, a spokesman said on Friday. Army Colonel Tom Davis, a spokesman for U.S. Africa Command, said U.S. forces began establishing the Mogadishu Coordinating Cell in October and it became fully operational in late December. The unit's establishment marks the first time U.S. troops have been deployed to Somalia since 1994, when the last American forces withdrew from the country several months after the so-called \"Black Hawk Down\" incident in which Somali militants shot down two helicopters and killed 18 U.S. troops. \"The U.S. has established a military coordination cell in Somalia to provide planning and advisory support to the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) and Somali security forces to increase their capabilities and promote peace and security throughout Somalia and the region,\" Davis said in a statement.","US says Iran's pick for UN envoy is 'not viable'. TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — The United States notified Iran's government on Tuesday that Tehran's pick for a new U.N. envoy is \"not viable,\" a day after the U.S. Senate voted against letting the diplomat enter the country.","Mexico to open first-ever bidding for TV networks. MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexican regulators say they have approved plans to open bidding for two new nationwide TV channels, challenging the long-standing dominance of the country's main network.","Ramprakash hired as England batting coach. LONDON (AP) — Former England international Mark Ramprakash has been hired as batting coach for the national team with immediate effect.","Thousands of NHS workers strike for pay rise. London (AFP) - Thousands of British nurses, midwives and hospital cleaners went on a four-hour strike Monday calling for a pay rise, weeks after walking out for the first time in 32 years.","Obama says chaos in Iraq could endanger US interests, is weighing options to help. WASHINGTON (AP) — Obama says chaos in Iraq could endanger US interests, is weighing options to help.","Lendl not returning to coaching anytime soon. MILAN (AP) — Ivan Lendl is not planning on returning to coaching \"anytime soon\" after turning down a request from fellow Czech Tomas Berdych.","Al-Qaida claims attack on Tunisian minister home. TUNIS, Tunisia (AP) — Al-Qaida's North Africa branch has claimed responsibility for an attack last month on the home of Tunisia's top security official that killed four police guards.","Obama meeting with European allies on Ukraine. BRUSSELS (AP) — President Barack Obama is meeting with two of his most important European allies as they try to navigate shifting conditions in the Ukraine crisis including the new government's rise to power.","Talks to end South African miners' strike collapse. Johannesburg (AFP) - Talks aimed at ending a crippling six-week-long platinum miners' strike in South Africa fell apart on Wednesday after producers rejected a revised wage demand.","Climate Investment Funds get $765 million injection. LIMA (Reuters) - The Climate Investment Funds (CIF), an institution that finances programs to cut greenhouse gas emissions, has received an injection of $765 million that increased CIF's total pledges to $8.3 billion, according to Mafalda Duarte, who manages the funds. The CIF, which gets its money from development banks and 14 donor countries, maintains five financing lines to 63 middle income and developing countries. ...","U.S. Trails Belgium in Ranking of Global Good. Seriously?. This is where the United States and Ireland fall out on something called the Good Country Index, a creation of Simon Anholt and Robert Govers — self-described independent policy advisors and professional repairers/improvers of national and local place reputations. The Good Country Index ranks 125 countries across 35 data sets broken into seven areas of performance: health and well being; In the overall rankings, the U.S. also falls behind nations including Finland, Switzerland, New Zealand, the U.K., and even Iceland and Cyprus — and just two spots ahead of Malta. The U.S. ranking suffers because it places near the bottom in “International Peace and Security” and a weak 53rd when it comes to prosperity and equality.","Bomb blast aboard Egyptian train kills 4. CAIRO (AP) — Egyptian security officials say a bomb blast aboard a train traveling in the Nile Delta north of Cairo has killed four people and wounded nine.","Powerful earthquake hits off northern Indonesia. JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — A powerful earthquake struck off the coast of northern Indonesia late Wednesday, but officials said a tsunami was unlikely.","Royal visit puts NYC's first lady on world stage. NEW YORK (AP) — The eyes of the world will follow the Duchess of Cambridge when she tours a children's development center in New York next week.","Western U.S. states brace for more lightning-sparked wildfires. By Courtney Sherwood PORTLAND Ore. (Reuters) - Dozens of new wildfires could break out across U.S. west coast states on Monday and into Tuesday, officials warned, just as crews begin to get a handle on conflagrations that have burned more than 500,000 acres in California, Washington and Oregon. The National Weather Service said on Monday that dry thunderstorms, which bring lightning but little rain, are likely to spark new fires across a tinder-dry region that has been suffering severe drought.","Obama seeks solace at Stonehenge. President Barack Obama sought solace Friday at the mystical, prehistoric English monument of Stonehenge, relaxing after stressful days confronting Russia and rising jihadism in the Middle East. \"How cool is this?\" Obama exclaimed as he toured the iconic stone circles, believed to have been built across different eras from around 3,100 BC, as he stopped off on Salisbury Plain on the way back to Air Force One after the NATO summit in Wales. It's a special place,\" Obama said, as he strolled past the huge erect stones, some weighing up to 25 tons, set up in two concentric rings.","Obama and other leaders wrap up Asia summit. NAYPYITAW, Myanmar (AP) — U.S. President Barack Obama and other world leaders wrapping up a series of summits in Myanmar on Thursday are expected to offer tepid expressions of concern about issues ranging from territorial disputes in the South China Sea to the Islamic State group and no firm recommendations.","Bitter Canadian cold snap chills skaters and stirs climate debate controversy. Canadians are accustomed to cold weather to the point where many take pride in knowing that their particular region is colder then another.","Israel, US locked in spat over Kerry boycott remark. Israel and Washington were at loggerheads on Sunday after senior Israeli figures attacked US Secretary of State John Kerry for warning of a growing boycott threat if peace talks fail. The latest spat erupted a day after Kerry warned of the potential economic impact on Israel if theUS-brokered negotiations with the Palestinians collapsed, in which he made reference to \"talk of boycotts.\" His remarks sparked several outspoken reactions from senior cabinet ministers in Israel, which prompted an unusually pointed response from the US State Department urging Kerry's critics to get their facts straight. \"For Israel there’s an increasing de-legitimisation campaign that has been building up.","Baucus switches roles for hearing on China post. WASHINGTON (AP) — Sen. Max Baucus is going before fellow senators for a confirmation hearing on his nomination to be U.S. ambassador to China.","7 priests suspended in Mexico pending abuse probe. MEXICO CITY (AP) — The Catholic Church in Mexico has suspended seven priests, including one who served in Los Angeles, from its diocese in the border city of Tijuana while it investigates them for alleged sexual harassment and abuse.","Volosozhar and Trankov of Russia win pairs gold. SOCHI, Russia (AP) — Tatiana Volosozhar and Maxim Trankov won the Olympic gold medal in pairs figure skating Wednesday as Russia took the top two spots to reclaim its dominance of the sport.","Argentina rules out another devaluation of peso. BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) - The Argentine government on Thursday ruled out a second sharp devaluation of the peso this year, rebuffing calls for a weaker currency from employers who say runaway inflation is hurting trade competitiveness. President Cristina Fernandez's government implemented a shock 20 percent devaluation of the peso in January. The widening gulf between the official rate and the black market rate since Latin America's third-biggest economy defaulted on its debt have fueled expectations of another hefty intervention. At 2:35 p.m (1335 GMT) the peso traded at 8. ...","Patrick Chan is a different person from the \"puppy\" at the Vancouver Olympics. OTTAWA - Patrick Chan said he was like a \"puppy in puppy daycare\" at the Vancouver Olympics four years ago, a wide-eyed teenager at his first party, where everyone was cool and everything was free.","Latvians honor Nazi allies from World War II. RIGA, Latvia (AP) — About 1,500 Latvians on Sunday celebrated Legionnaires Day — which their government abolished in 2000 — by paying tribute to World War II veterans who fought alongside Nazi troops.","Grubhub's IPO could value online food delivery firm at $1.72 billion. (Reuters) - GrubHub Inc said it expects to price its initial public offering of 7.03 million shares at $20-$22 per share, valuing the largest U.S. online food delivery services provider at up to $1.72 billion. The Chicago-based company said the IPO is expected to raise about $155 million, based on the top end of the price range. GrubHub had about 28,800 restaurants and 3.4 million active users in its network as of December 31, and processed an average of 135,000 orders daily in 2013. GrubHub is the latest consumer dotcom name to tap public markets in 2014.","South African police make record $190 million heroin bust. South African police have seized heroin worth more than two billion rand ($190 million) and arrested two Chinese nationals in the biggest drugs bust in the country's history, a spokesman said on Wednesday. Police officers also arrested one South African during a raid late on Tuesday at a house in Kloof, 25 kilometers (15 miles) from the coastal city of Durban, home to the Africa's largest and busiest port. \"We got a tip-off from community members and officers went to the house and found this large amount of heroin,\" police spokesman Thulani Zwane said. South Africa is the continent's biggest market for recreational drugs and the use of narcotics is on the rise, according to the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence.","Monsanto to pay Pacific Northwest wheat farmers. PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Monsanto Co. said Wednesday it will pay nearly $2.4 million to settle a dispute with farmers in the Pacific Northwest over genetically modified wheat.","Yemen rebels, tribes clash after govt mediator resigns. Fresh clashes between Shiite rebels and tribesmen backed by Sunni Islamists erupted near the Yemeni capital on Friday, the rebel Ansarullah group said, a day after a government mediator resigned. The rebels have been advancing from their mountain stronghold in the far north to other Zaidi Shiite-majority areas nearer Sanaa in a bid to expand their hoped-for autonomous zone in a future Yemen. Intermittent clashes pitted \"our supporters against hostile elements\" north of Arhab, 35 kilometres (20 miles) from the capital and near its international airport, Ansarullah spokesman Mohamed Abdessalam said, without saying if there had been casualties.","Rwanda court sentences presidential guard to life. KIGALI, Rwanda (AP) — A military court in Rwanda has sentenced several former members of President Paul Kagame's presidential guard to prison.","German FM and Ukraine PM meet to discuss easing of crisis. KIEV (Reuters) - German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said on Saturday the international community must not allow the Ukraine-Russia crisis to create a new division of Europe. Speaking at a briefing in Kiev after talks with Ukraine's Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk, Steinmeier said he hoped the first OSCE monitors would arrive in Ukraine to support de-escalation efforts in the next couple of days. ...","With heat and humidity, areas will be 'unsuited for outdoor activity'. By Sharon Begley NEW YORK (Reuters) - The old adage, \"it's not the heat, it's the humidity,\" will come into play more often and in more places because of climate change, with life-altering results in southern U.S. cities from Miami to Atlanta to Washington and even northern ones such as New York, Chicago and Seattle. \"As temperatures rise, toward the end of the century, less than an hour of activity outdoors in the shade could cause a moderately fit individual to suffer heat stroke,\" said climatologist Robert Kopp of Rutgers University, lead scientific author of the report. \"That's something that doesn't exist anywhere in the world today.\" That result emerges from the heat-and-humidity analysis in \"Risky Business,\" the report on the economic consequences of climate change released on Tuesday. The analysis goes beyond other studies, which have focused on rising temperatures, to incorporate growing medical understanding of the physiological effects of heat and humidity, as well as research on how and where humidity levels will likely rise as the climate changes.","Crocodile close calls: UK man walks length of Nile. JUBA, South Sudan (AP) — Close calls with crocodiles, a brutal civil war and even the death of a fellow traveler have not deterred a British man from attempting to walk the length of the Nile River.","S&P reaffirms Greece rating; outlook stable. ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Ratings agency Standard & Poor's says it believes Greece's economy is gradually rebalancing and that it will grow over the coming three years despite ongoing high debt levels.","Argentina plans debt swap for restructured debt. BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — The Argentine economy minister said Tuesday the government is working on a debt swap that would make payments in Argentina to creditors who accepted previous debt restructurings.","Morocco's unions unite to protest gov't austerity. CASABLANCA, Morocco (AP) — Thousands of workers, teachers and civil servants are marching through downtown Casablanca to protest austerity plans put in place by the Moroccan government to control runaway spending.","Obama to host new Ukrainian PM at White House. WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama is hosting the new Ukrainian prime minister at the White House Wednesday, a high-profile gesture aimed at cementing the West's allegiance to Ukraine's fledgling government.","Russia diplomat says U.S. high-tech export curbs will be a blow. U.S. restrictions on high-tech exports to Russia under its latest Ukraine-related sanctions will be a blow to Russian companies in the sector, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said on Tuesday. The White House said on Monday the United States would deny export licenses for any high-technology items that could contribute to Russian military capabilities and revoke existing licenses. Washington, locked in a Cold War-style conflict with Russia over Ukraine, and Moscow are still cooperating on space exploration. Russian rockets are the only way astronauts around the world can get to the International Space Station since NASA ended shuttle flights in 2012.","EU ready to provide Ukraine aid worth $15 billion. BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union is ready to give Ukraine 11 billion euros ($15 billion) in loans and grants over the coming years to help stabilize its economy, the head of the bloc's executive arm said Wednesday.","EU: many more health workers needed for Ebola. BRUSSELS (AP) — Thousands more physicians, especially epidemiologists, and other health professionals are needed to halt and eradicate Ebola, European Union officials said Tuesday after returning from countries in West Africa hit by the deadly epidemic.","Ukraine crisis gives NATO alliance new purpose. BRUSSELS (AP) — With a deafening thunder, the first NATO AWACS surveillance plane pierces the milky morning sky over Germany's Geilenkirchen base, on its way to monitor the skies above Ukraine.","EU ministers urge Ukraine to form new government and reform constitution for elections. BRUSSELS - In a sharp rebuke to Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, the European Union on Monday called for the formation of a new, inclusive government and constitutional reforms that would pave the way to \"free and fair presidential elections.\"","U.N. urges end to Syria's 'convoluted' aid restrictions. By Louis Charbonneau UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The United Nations humanitarian chief Valerie Amos on Friday urged Syria's government to end needless restrictions on access to areas where besieged Syrians are in desperate need of aid after three years of civil war. She also voiced concern about opposition groups, especially those such as al Qaeda-linked extremist al Nusra, which has said it will not allow foreigners to operate in Syria. \"The administrative arrangements that have been put in place for clearance for our convoys are quite convoluted,\" Amos told Reuters in an interview after briefing the U.N. Security Council about how much-needed aid is still not reaching many in Syria. And even when the Syrian government approves deliveries, it can still be difficult to reach besieged areas.","Starbucks eyes booze, food and technology to boost U.S. growth. By Lisa Baertlein SEATTLE (Reuters) - Starbucks Corp, aiming to give cooling U.S. traffic a jolt, on Thursday announced it will add beer, wine, and evening snacks to thousands of domestic cafes, widen lunch offerings and roll out mobile ordering. Such efforts are part of the world's biggest coffee chain's plan to broaden its appeal as a destination with consumers who are spending more time shopping online rather than in malls and Main Street stores. The company, which is hosting its biennial investor meeting in Seattle, said it would lay out its five-year plans to double U.S. ...","Japanese men suspected of backing Islamic State. TOKYO (AP) — News reports say Japanese police have questioned a university student and several others over alleged plans to travel to Syria to join the Islamic State group.","U.S. indicts five in China's secret 'Unit 61398' for cyber-spying. After years of complaining that China is engaged in stealing trade secrets from American companies, the United States on Monday for the first time filed cyber-espionage charges against individuals belonging to a unit of the Chinese military, accusing them of hacking trade secrets since 2006 from five domestic manufacturers and the steelworkers union. The indictment, filed by the US Attorney's Office for the western district of Pennsylvania, where several of the US companies are based, names five Chinese nationals who worked for China's People's Liberation Army (PLA) in Unit 61398, a cyber-intelligence-gathering section. The PLA workers named in the indictment are not in US custody, and probably never will be. By taking this legal action, the US is signaling to China that its tolerance of economic cyber-spying, which results in loss of American firms' competitive position on the world market, is at a breaking point.","Report: ARU hints at 4 conferences in Super Rugby. BRISBANE, Australia (AP) — Australian Rugby Union chief Bill Pulver expects the Super Rugby tournament to expand into a four-conference format with two based in South Africa and 18 teams in the competition by 2016.","Adviser to France's Hollande resigns after fraud accusations. PARIS (Reuters) - An adviser to French President Francois Hollande resigned on Wednesday after being summoned to answer charges of fraud by a Paris criminal court, the second Hollande ally to step down in the last month. Faouzi Lamdaoui, an equality and diversity advisor with close ties to Hollande, is suspected of misusing corporate assets, money laundering and forgery from 2007 to 2008 related to a transport company he founded, the Paris prosecutor's office told Reuters. The presidential palace confirmed his resignation in a brief statement. ...","As hazardous waste swells with energy boom, funds bet on Clean Harbors. By David Randall NEW YORK (Reuters) - Even as its share price has slumped 8 percent in the year to date, hazardous waste manager Clean Harbors, Inc. has cleaned up in terms of fund-manager interest as more of them bet on one of the down sides of the energy boom. The refinery businesses along the Gulf Coast, including those of Valero Energy Corp, Marathon Petroleum Corp and Exxon Mobil Corp, have thrived as a result of higher oil output. That's helped to lure a swarm of fund managers to Norwell, Massachusetts-based Clean Harbors, which controls about 70 percent of commercial incineration capacity in North America and about one-fifth of the landfills that can accept hazardous material, according to analyst estimates, putting it ahead of competitors like Veolia Environmental Services SA. Indeed, 43 mutual funds added a position in Clean Harbors over the last quarter, sending its total ownership up 15 percent to 460 funds, according to fund tracker Morningstar.","Bank of Canada's Poloz eyeing global deflationary risk. By Louise Egan WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Policymakers are closely watching the risk of deflation in several advanced economies but they are encouraged by signs of a continuing improvements in the economic outlook, Bank of Canada Governor Stephen Poloz said on Friday. While not talking specifically about Canada, where inflation has been below the central bank's 2 percent target for nearly two years, Poloz's comments shed some light on his thinking about a top concern domestically ahead of the bank's next interest rate decision on Wednesday. \"The risk of deflation is something that we all carry around when inflation is as low as it is,\" Poloz told reporters after a meeting of finance ministers and central bank governors from the Group of 20 leading economies. \"But the outlook continues to heal and to be giving us encouragement that we are on our way back home,\" he said, referring to the risk of deflation in Canada and elsewhere.","Portuguese police quiz Maddie case witnesses. Lisbon (AFP) - Portuguese police, accompanied by their British counterparts, questioned a group of witnesses Thursday over the 2007 disappearance of three-year-old Madeleine McCann, a year after reopening the baffling case, Portuguese media reported.","Hezbollah commander killed in Iraq: sources. A Hezbollah commander has died during a mission in Iraq, sources familiar with the incident said on Wednesday, indicating the Lebanese group that is already fighting in Syria's civil war may be involved in a second conflict in the region. Hezbollah, an Iranian-backed Shi'ite Islamist group, has not previously announced any role in the conflict in Iraq, which escalated last month when radical Sunni militants seized large areas of territory from the Shi'ite-led government in Baghdad. Four sources in Lebanon named the Hezbollah commander as Ibrahim al-Haj, a technical specialist involved in training. They said he was \"martyred\" in a battle near Mosul, a city in northern Iraq seized from government control last month by an al Qaeda offshoot known as the Islamic State.","Analysis: Petrobras fuel woes make Brazil dependent on U.S., India. By Jeb Blount RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) - In October 2007, Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff, then chairwoman of state-run petroleum company Petrobras, proudly predicted that giant new offshore oil fields would usher in an age of Brazilian energy independence. As a result, Petroleo Brasileiro SA , as Petrobras is formally known, has been forced to look abroad for fuel. With a dozen decades-old domestic refineries running at what experts say are dangerously high rates to keep pace with expanding demand, Brazil's cars and trucks are increasingly powered by gasoline and diesel refined in the United States or India. All four refineries planned by Petrobras are years behind schedule or on hold.","Meyer hails young Springboks after close call. South Africa coach Heyneke Meyer hailed newcomers Handre Pollard and Lood de Jager after starting their Rugby Championship campaign Saturday with a laboured 13-6 home win over Argentina. It was a Test the Springboks were expected to win convincingly, but monsoon-like conditions put paid to any hopes of a try fest at Loftus Versfeld stadium in Pretoria. The result gave South Africa an early lead in the southern hemisphere championship with four points, two more than Australia and title-holders New Zealand, who drew 12-12 in Sydney.","Western Force send bruised Bulls home with another loss. (Reuters) - Western Force capped the Bulls' miserable tour of Australia and New Zealand with a 15-9 win over the South Africans in an attritional Super Rugby match played in pouring rain in Perth on Saturday. With the dismal weather reducing the match to an error-strewn battle for territory, flyhalf Sias Ebersohn kicked all the home side's points as the much-improved Force shored up their place in the southern hemisphere tournament's top six to boost their hopes of a maiden playoffs campaign. Flyhalf Jacques-Louis Potgieter slotted two early penalties to put the Bulls 6-0 up after the 13th minute, and his replacement Handre Pollard slotted a third in the 62nd minute to put the visitors within a converted try of snatching the match.","U.S. lays out vision for 2015 climate pact to U.N.. By Valerie Volcovici WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States on Wednesday submitted to the United Nations its vision for a new international climate agreement that is \"built to last,\" outlining what it thinks should be the main elements of a climate deal to be agreed upon in Paris in 2015. The U.S. delegation was the first to share its ideas for what the 2015 climate deal could look like, and made clear that a future framework should not use the \"bifurcated approach\" of the 1997 Kyoto protocol, which placed different burdens on developed and developing countries to reduce pollution. Governments of over 190 countries agreed last year that a new deal would consist of a patchwork of national contributions to curb emissions that would blur the 20-year-old distinction between the obligations of rich and poor nations. The United States said it wants the new framework to be more nimble than its predecessor so that amendments to the agreement do not require consensus-based support, which in the past has repeatedly bogged down negotiations.","Rodman apologizes for not helping US missionary. BEIJING (AP) — Former basketball star Dennis Rodman apologized on Monday for not being able to help an American missionary detained in North Korea during his trip there to play in a game to celebrate the birthday of his friend and leader Kim Jong Un.","Malaysia says ocean objects are new lead in MH370 hunt. The discovery by satellite of two objects in the southern Indian Ocean is being treated as a lead in the search for a Malaysian airliner missing for 12 days, the top official in charge of the investigation said on Thursday. \"I can confirm we have a new lead...and I am meeting the Australian delegation now,\" acting Transport Minister Hishammuddin Hussein told reporters in Kuala Lumpur, where the investigation into the missing airliner is based.","White House: Obama calls Italy's Renzi to discuss Ukraine. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama called Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi on Wednesday to discuss the situation in Ukraine, the White House said. The United States and the European Union are mulling further sanctions against Russia for its intervention in Ukraine. (Reporting by Jeff Mason; Editing by Bill Trott)","Kerry to meet with top diplomats on Ukraine. WASHINGTON (AP) — Secretary of State John Kerry agreed Monday to meet with top diplomats from Russia, Ukraine and the European Union in a new push to calm tensions in eastern Ukraine, as the White House threatened further sanctions if Moscow intervenes.","Brazil police go on trial for prison massacre. SAO PAULO (AP) — Trial has begun for 15 Brazilian police officers accused of killing inmates during a 1992 prison riot that left 111 inmates dead at Sao Paulo's now-defunct Carandiru prison.","Poland bars Russian plane from its airspace. WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Poland has prevented a plane carrying Russia's defense minister from traveling through its airspace, leading to a complaint from Moscow.","Ukraine's defense ministry says rebels shoot down army cargo plane. DONETSK Ukraine (Reuters) - Ukraine's Defence Ministry said on Saturday rebels had shot down a military cargo plane overnight carrying troops and supplies to the airport of the eastern city of Luhansk with a local TV station citing sources saying around 30 killed. \"On the night of June 13-14, the terrorists...fired from an anti-aircraft weapon and a large caliber machine gun, shooting down military transport aircraft...IL-76 as it was about to land,\" the ministry said in a statement that did not name the number of fatalities. (Reporting by Aleksandar Vasovic; Editing by Alessandra Prentice)","Feds move toward extradition of Mexico ex-governor. DALLAS (AP) — Federal prosecutors have indicated they will seek the extradition of a former Mexican governor indicted in the United States for racketeering and money laundering.","Obama to act on Keystone in 'a couple of months'. WASHINGTON (AP) — Governors are quoting President Barack Obama as saying he expects to decide on the proposed Keystone XL oil pipeline in the next couple of months.","Uncertainty reigns in Australian parliament as mining king holds sway. By Matt Siegel SYDNEY (Reuters) - It took mining magnate Clive Palmer only three days to show Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott just how uncomfortable life can be in a parliament in which he holds the balance of power. The neophyte Palmer United Party (PUP), set up by the eccentric billionaire little more than a year ago, on Thursday blocked the repeal of Australia's controversial carbon tax just hours after Abbott publicly said it would pass that day.","Governments hold key to unlocking billions for social good: G8 report. By Astrid Zweynert LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Governments can unleash billions of dollars to tackle social problems more effectively if they take bold steps to reduce barriers to investing for both profit and social good, a task force set up by the world's richest nations said on Monday. In its first report, the G8 Social Impact Investment Task Force calls on governments to make tax and regulatory reforms to catalyze the market in investments that generate social or environmental benefits alongside financial returns. \"This is not about increasing or reducing public expenditure, but helping government to benefit from innovation and private sector capital in order to achieve more impact with the money it has,\" Ronald Cohen, the chair of the year-old task force, said in a statement. The report highlights the potential of so-called \"impact investing\" to help solve some of society's most pressing issues, such as caring for children and the elderly, community regeneration, financial inclusion, housing and prisoner reoffending.","Rugby-Australia hold on to see off Pumas on Gold Coast. (Adds details, quotes) * Australia hold off late Pumas surge * Captain Hooper scores two tries Sept 13 (Reuters) - Captain Michael Hooper grabbed a brace as Australia held off a late surge from Argentina to register a 32-25 victory in the Rugby Championship at Robina Stadium on the Gold Coast on Saturday. The home side looked to be cruising to victory when they took a 29-17 lead after Peter Betham scored their third try on the hour mark but the Pumas charged back in the last 20 minutes to take the game down to the wire. ...","Uganda 'gay' trial dimissed due to lack of evidence. Kampala (AFP) - A Ugandan judge dismissed the case Wednesday of two men accused of having homosexual sex, the first since tough laws were repealed, their lawyer said.","Players' union hopes Ched Evans gets another chance. London (AFP) - England's Professional Footballers' Association said Friday they hoped convicted rapist Ched Evans would be allowed to return to the sport after Sheffield United withdrew an offer to let their former striker train with the third-tier club.","Sun withdraws from China relay team at Asian Games. INCHEON, South Korea (AP) — Olympic gold medalist Sun Yang has withdrawn from the Chinese men's 4x100-meter freestyle relay team at the Asian Games.","New Zealand set up Australia semi in Glasgow rugby sevens. Four-time champions New Zealand moved into the semi-finals of the Commonwealth Games rugby sevens after seeing off Kenya 19-7 at Ibrox Stadium on Sunday. The all-conquering All Blacks will play Delhi silver medallists Australia, who secured a last-gasp 21-19 victory over 2009 world champions Wales. DJ Forbes, as he'd done in the Kiwis' narrow 17-14 pool win over Scotland on Saturday, mustered his teammates to cool heads after Kenya pulled back to 12-7. The impressive Ben Lam scored New Zealand's third try to appease any concerns, but victory came at a price after Pita Ahki sustained a hamstring injury.","EU call for views on U.S. trade deal draws huge response. The European Commission's call for views on a contentious part of a planned EU-U.S. free trade deal has drawn almost 150,000 responses that will take months to process, a senior EU official said on Friday. Many advocacy groups oppose aspects of the planned Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) that they say would prevent national governments from intervening to protect consumers and the environment. The Commission, the EU's executive body which is negotiating the deal with the United States on behalf of the 28 EU countries, launched a public consultation, concluding on Sunday, on the pact's investment protection provisions. The EU's chief negotiator, Ignacio Garcia Bercero, told a news conference at the end of a sixth round of negotiations over the pact that the Commission had received nearly 150,000 responses and would not be able to produce a report on its findings until November.","India says U.S. snooping 'completely unacceptable'. India has raised the issue of U.S. surveillance activities in the South Asian nation with Secretary of State John Kerry, the foreign minister said on Thursday. \"Yes, I raised this issue (U.S. snooping) with Secretary John Kerry ... I have also conveyed to him that this act on the part of U.S. authorities is completely unacceptable to us,\" Sushma Swaraj said at a joint news conference in New Delhi.","Afghan presidential vote result to come Sunday. KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — A spokesman for Afghanistan's election commission says the final results of the country's presidential election will be released on Sunday following a weeks-long audit for fraudulent ballots.","IMF throws Ukraine financial lifeline, Russian economy to slump. By Natalia Zinets and Elizabeth Piper KIEV/MOSCOW (Reuters) - Ukraine won a $27-billion international financial lifeline on Thursday, rushed through in the wake of Russia's annexation of Crimea, as Moscow's economy minister spoke of the cost of military action in its former Soviet neighbor. The International Monetary Fund announced agreement on a $14-18 billion standby credit for Kiev in return for tough economic reforms that will unlock further aid from the European Union, the United States and other lenders over two years. The IMF deal, to be approved by the global agency's board next month, was a political boost for the pro-Western government that replaced ousted Russian-backed President Viktor Yanukovich last month, prompting Moscow to seize the Black Sea peninsula.","China lifts quarantine after man dies of plague. BEIJING (AP) — A nine-day quarantine imposed on parts of a northern Chinese city where a man there died of bubonic plague has been lifted, China's official news agency reported Thursday.","British Museum shows Vikings' softer side. The Vikings are renowned as bloodthirsty warriors, but a new exhibition at the British Museum aims to show the cultural achievements and trading skills that spread their influence far and wide. \"They are the filthiest of God's creatures,\" wrote Arab diplomat Ahmad ibn Fadlan in 921. But at the British Museum in London, some of the finery on show includes a splendid -- if well-used -- iron sword, alongside jewellery, amulets, religious images and exquisite objects. The exhibition -- the museum's first on the Vikings in more than 30 years, costing £16.50 ($27.50, 20 euros) to enter -- shows how the Nordic warriors created an international network of trade, plunder and power spreading across four continents.","Ukraine says 15 rebels killed in border clashes. KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — An aide to the Ukrainian interior minister says 15 pro-Russian rebels were killed in clashes with government troops at a border crossing with Russia.","Mexican vigilantes search caves for cartel leader. MEXICO CITY (AP) — Members of a self-defense group in western Mexico are searching an extensive cave system in the hunt for the last fugitive leader of the Knights Templar drug cartel.","EU's Juncker team faces make-or-break hearings. By Alastair Macdonald BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The next 10 days could make or break a plan to reshape the European Union under new management in an attempt to revive the economy and regain trust among its half-billion people. From Monday, members of a European Parliament elected on a wave of anti-Brussels protest will subject nominees for posts on executive European Commission to hearings that could wreck the line-up and a complex new structure proposed by its incoming president, Jean-Claude Juncker. ...","Bulgaria slams Ukraine for regional language ban. SOFIA, Bulgaria (AP) — Bulgaria has criticized Ukraine's decision to cancel the recognition of regional languages, a move aimed at limiting Russian influence in the conflict-torn country.","Atletico wins Spanish title with 1-1 draw at Barca. BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Atletico Madrid rallied for a dramatic 1-1 draw at Barcelona on Saturday to secure its first Spanish league title in 18 years.","No Wimbledon coronation for Eugenie Bouchard. LONDON (AP) — Eugenie Bouchard sat in a room just off Centre Court watching the engraver etch the champion's name onto the Wimbledon trophy.","Kerry seeks to revive US-India ties after friction. US Secretary of State John Kerry on Thursday holds his first meetings with India's right-wing government as he seeks to reboot a relationship seen as a bulwark against a rising China. Kerry's visit to New Delhi comes after an unusually large number of disputes between the world's largest democracies, including charges of US surveillance against Indian politicians and a trade rift that could scuttle a global customs deal. The top US diplomat plans to hold a full day of talks with senior Indian leaders before meeting Friday with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, a Hindu nationalist who was shunned by Washington until soon before his sweeping election victory in May. Stressing the theme of US-India cooperation to find solutions on climate change and other global challenges, Kerry is also expected to tour laboratories of the prestigious Indian Institute of Technology Delhi.","Norbord upbeat on Europe but sees no uptick in prices for now. By Ashutosh Pandey and Sneha Banerjee (Reuters) - Canadian wood panel maker Norbord Inc sees little chance of an improvement in prices for its main product in Europe this year as the industry diverts production that formerly went to Russia and Ukraine to markets such Germany and the UK. Norbord, which makes wood-based panels known as oriented strand board (OSB), has been focusing on Europe to compensate for a weak house-building market in North America. ...","Iranians celebrate anniversary of 1979 revolution. TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iranians are marking the anniversary of the 1979 Islamic revolution with the same old chants of \"Down with the U.S.\" and \"Death to Israel.\"","Oil edges up as investors weigh Russia sanctions. The price of oil crept higher on Tuesday as investors weighed sanctions by the U.S. and allies against Russia over Ukraine.","Exclusive: Emergency food drops eyed for quarantined Ebola region of West Africa. By Stella Dawson WASHINGTON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - International agencies are looking into emergency food drops and truck convoys to reach extremely hungry people in Liberia and Sierra Leone, who are cordoned off from the outside world to halt the spread of the Ebola virus, a top World Bank official said on Thursday. Truckers scared of the highly infectious disease halt deliveries. The Mano River region, home to about 1 million people and an epicenter for the deadly disease, is a major concern and the issue was raised on Wednesday with U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki Moon, said Tim Evans, senior director for health at the World Bank. “There has been a lot of inflation in food prices and a lot of difficulty in getting food to the quarantined population,” he said in an interview.","Roadside bomb kills 11 after Afghan vote. KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — A roadside bomb killed 11 people in Afghanistan, including four election workers, and the Taliban cut off the fingers of nearly a dozen people to punish them for voting in this weekend's presidential runoff, officials said Sunday.","Canada Supreme Court to revisit decision banning assisted suicide. By Randall Palmer OTTAWA (Reuters) - The Supreme Court of Canada agreed on Thursday to take another look at a decision it made in 1993 upholding a ban on assisted suicide, setting up a new battle over the right to die. The case involves Gloria Taylor, an Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) patient and activist, who joined the right to die lawsuit in 2011. Assisted suicide is legal in Switzerland, along with a handful of other European jurisdictions and a few U.S. states. \"This is a big one dealing with something we will all one day face - how, when and under what circumstances we head for the exit sign,\" said constitutional lawyer Eugene Meehan, who has argued numerous cases before the court.","Image of Asia: Watching Mount Sinabung erupt. In this photo by Rio Siregar, Indonesia's Mount Sinabung spews a column of volcanic ash as people watch from Tiga Serangkai village in North Sumatra province. The volcano erupted again Friday, a day after releasing an ash cloud that reached 2.5 kilometers (1.9 miles) into the sky. Sinabung has erupted sporadically since 2010 after being dormant for 400 years. Its alert status remains at the third-highest level, advising people nearest the volcano to be ready to evacuate if conditions worsen. Lying in the Pacific \"Ring of Fire,\" Indonesia has 127 active volcanoes, more than any other country.","Canada court upholds extradition of bomb suspect. OTTAWA, Ontario (AP) — An appeals court has upheld a judge's decision that a Canadian man should be extradited to France in connection with a 1980 Paris synagogue bombing that killed four people.","Singapore casinos brace for battle as VIP volumes fall. By Rachel Armstrong and Anshuman Daga SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Singapore's two glitzy casinos are fighting for a shrinking pool of high rolling players as China's corruption crackdown and economic slowdown reduce the number of VIPs at their tables, and the battle is starting to turn ugly. Gaming mogul Sheldon Adelson, whose Las Vegas Sands runs the Marina Bay Sands resort, has accused rival Genting Singapore's Resorts World Sentosa of relying on overly generous incentives and credit to entice big money players. ...","Baird condemns barbaric Ukraine kidnapping, as Russian Olympics approach. OTTAWA - Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird says Canada will be keeping a close eye on Russia's involvement in the turbulent Ukraine as it hosts next week's Winter Olympics.","3 men charged over Tottenham pitch invasion. NYON, Switzerland (AP) — British authorities have charged three men over a pitch invasion stunt which caused Tottenham's Europa League match to be temporarily suspended last week.","Truce declared in battle for Ukraine airport. KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian security officials say a cease-fire has been declared in the fight for the airport in the separatist rebel stronghold of Donetsk.","Bayern tops team poll; player vote shared. LONDON (AP) — Sergio Aguero and Alberto Aquilani shared first place in this week's Associated Press global soccer poll, while Bayern Munich is back on top of the team rankings.","Carberry back in England fold for Sri Lanka games. LONDON (AP) — Michael Carberry is back in contention for England after being included in the Twenty20 and one-day international squads to play Sri Lanka.","Slain actress: Symbol of Venezuela's crime woes. CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — A popular soap-opera actress and former Miss Venezuela, 29-year-old Monica Spear surely could have afforded to vacation elsewhere.","NATO chief says alliance suspends meetings with Russia, puts 'entire cooperation under review'. BRUSSELS (AP) — NATO chief says alliance suspends meetings with Russia, puts 'entire cooperation under review'","Venezuela cuts commercial ties to Air Canada. The Venezuelan government said Tuesday it is severing commercial relations with Air Canada after it suspended flights to the country for security reasons. \"We are putting an end to this commercial relationship with Air Canada until President Nicolas Maduro decides otherwise,\" Venezuela Transportation Minister Herbert Garcia said. Air Canada said Monday on its website it was suspending its flights to Venezuela for security reasons at a time when anti-government unrest has left 29 dead. Garcia said the Venezuelan government was \"surprised\" by Air Canada's decision to suspend the flights, which was taken without consulting it.","Brumbies beat Force 27-14 in Super 15. PERTH, Australia (AP) — ACT Brumbies bolted from the starting gate then eased up for the last hour in an underwhelming 27-14 win over the Western Force in Super 15 rugby on Saturday.","US brands Foley beheading a 'terrorist attack'. Washington has declared the beheading of an American journalist a \"terrorist attack\", upping the stakes in its confrontation with the Islamic State (IS) jihadist group, as Shiite militiamen gunned down 70 people at an Iraqi Sunni mosque. The apparent revenge attack at the mosque in Diyala province Friday will increase already significant anger among Iraq's Sunni Arab minority with the Shiite-led government, undermining an anti-militant drive that requires Sunni cooperation to succeed. It came as the US, which is carrying out airstrikes against IS, ramped up its rhetoric over the grisly killing of journalist James Foley, which was carried out by the jihadist group and shown in a video posted online. In Washington, Deputy National Security Advisor Ben Rhodes said the beheading of Foley \"represents a terrorist attack against our country\".","Strong earthquake shakes Mexico's Pacific coast. ACAPULCO, Mexico (AP) — A strong earthquake shook the southern Pacific coast of Mexico and several states, including the capital on Thursday, sending frightened people into unseasonal torrential rains that were also bearing down on the coast.","British Euroskeptics say: We're not racist. LONDON (AP) — Britain's main Euroskeptic party has taken out a full-page newspaper ad to declare that it is not racist after its leader said Britons should be concerned if Romanians moved in next door.","UN fund pays $1.03B in Kuwait compensation. GENEVA (AP) — A U.N. panel that settles claims for damages resulting from Iraq's 1990 invasion of Kuwait has paid out another $1.03 billion — bringing the total so far to $44.5 billion.","Palace hangs on to beat Everton 3-2. LIVERPOOL, England (AP) — Crystal Palace came from behind to cling on for its first Premier League win of the season on Sunday, beating Everton 3-2 at Goodison Park.","South Sudan says orders army to halt attacking rebels. By Aaron Maasho ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) - South Sudan's government said it ordered its army on Wednesday to halt attacking rebel forces for a month, amid mounting international pressure for a deal to end ethnic violence that risks spiraling into genocide. South Sudan's Information Minister Michael Makuei Lueth said that the government's commitment to honor a \"month of tranquility\" meant it could still fight back if attacked. There was no immediate word from the rebels. (Writing by Richard Lough; Editing by Edmund Blair, John Stonestreet)","UN wants dignified return of Afghan refugees. ISLAMABAD (AP) — The head of the United Nations' refugee agency says he hopes Afghanistan will prioritize the \"safe and dignified\" return of Afghan refugees from Pakistan and other countries.","Gunmen attempt to storm Kashmir army unit; 6 dead. SRINAGAR, India (AP) — Gunmen disguised as Indian soldiers hijacked a car Friday in Indian-controlled Kashmir, killing the driver and a passenger, and used it to try to storm an Indian army artillery unit, triggering a firefight that left four more people dead, authorities said.","Iraqi army shells Falluja to try to dislodge Qaeda, tribes. The Iraqi army shelled the western city of Falluja with mortar bombs overnight to try to wrest back control from Sunni Muslim militants and tribesmen, killing at least eight people, tribal leaders and officials said on Saturday. Falluja has been held since Monday by militants linked to al Qaeda and by tribal fighters united in their opposition to Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, in a serious challenge to the authority of his Shi'ite-led government in Anbar province. Medical sources in Falluja said another 30 people were wounded in shelling by the army.","South Africa platinum strike talks to resume. Talks to end a crippling strike by South African platinum miners will resume on Thursday, government mediators said, raising faint hopes for an end to the stoppage, now in its third week. \"We remain confident that a mediated solution will be found,\" said Nerine Kahn, director of the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration. The commission will hold talks with three firms hit by the strike -- Anglo American Platinum, Impala Platinum and Lonmin -- on Thursday and separate talks with the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union on Friday. \"About 80 percent of our people are on strike,\" said Impala Platinum spokesman Johan Theron.","Turkish women protest against deputy PM's no laughing comments. Hundreds of Turkish women posted pictures of themselves laughing on Twitter on Wednesday to protest against comments by Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc who had urged women not to laugh in public to \"protect moral values\". Melda Onur, a lawmaker from the main opposition party CHP said on Twitter Arinc's comments portrayed laughing as a dishonourable act and left women exposed to violence. Opponents accuse Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan's government of ruling in an increasingly authoritarian manner and meddling in people's private lives, which has long been a source of conflict between the country's secularists and Erdogan's conservative supporters.","Germany advises against travel to all of Egypt's Sinai Peninsula. Germany's foreign ministry said on Wednesday it strongly advised against travel to all regions of Egypt's Sinai Peninsula. Previously the ministry had made a warning against travel in the north of the Sinai peninsula and the Egyptian-Israeli border area as well as the resort of Taba. The ministry said it advised travelers on the ground to contact their travel agent to organize an earlier departure from Sinai. Until then they are encouraged to keep movement to a minimum and follow instructions from travel agents and the Egyptian security forces, it said.","Germany factory orders up more than expected. BERLIN (AP) — German factory orders rebounded more than expected in January, driven by demand from outside the 18 countries using the euro.","Mexico honors Octavio Paz 100 years after birth. MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexicans honored Nobel Prize poet and essayist Octavio Paz on Monday, marking the 100th anniversary of the late writer's birth.","SKorea suspects crashed drone from North Korea. SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea suspects that an unmanned drone that crashed on a frontline South Korean island was flown by rival North Korea.","Rebels kill two soldiers in Mali: government. Two Malian soldiers have been killed and four wounded by an improvised bomb in the conflict-torn west African nation's restive northern desert, the government said. The troops died on Sunday morning when they were blown up by the device in the town of Almoustrate, about 120 kilometres (75 miles) north of Gao, the largest city in the north. \"One of the positions held by armed forces in Almoustrate was the target of an attack by an explosive device placed by unidentified individuals. The toll is two dead, four wounded,\" a government statement issued late Sunday said.","EU cancels visits, halts deal to protest Thai coup. BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union is suspending all official visits to and from Thailand and shelving important agreements, to protest last month's military coup.","Toll in Syria-linked clashes in Lebanon rises to 11. Tripoli (Lebanon) (AFP) - Eleven people have been killed in three days of clashes in the northern Lebanese town of Tripoli linked to the conflict in Syria, security sources and the Lebanese army said on Sunday. The clashes, which have also injured 50 people, pit the Alawite district of Jabal Mohsen against the neighbouring Sunni quarter of Bab al-Tebbaneh. But tensions between the districts have run high for decades, only increasing with the outbreak of the conflict in Syria, where Alawite President Bashar al-Assad faces a Sunni-dominated uprising. The Lebanese army has deployed in the city, arresting several people overnight and responding to sources of fire.","Rape still 'alarmingly prevalent' in DR Congo. The Democratic Republic of Congo is working to rein in the sexual violence that has plagued the country for two decades, but rape remains rampant, UN rights chief Navi Pillay said Tuesday. \"Sexual and gender-based violence remain alarmingly prevalent, ... both in the eastern provinces and in the rest of the country,\" Pillay told the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva. In the conflict areas in the eastern part of DR Congo, which have been wracked by violence for nearly 20 years, \"sexual violence is used as a weapon of war to intimidate local communities and to punish civilians for real or suspected collaboration with rival forces,\" she lamented. In her address to a session focussing on how to end the scourge, Pillay noted that the DR Congo government itself had tallied 26,339 incidents of rape and other gender-based violence in 2011 and 2012 in seven provinces.","Top Asian News at 7:30 p.m. GMT. BANGKOK (AP) — Thailand's government announced Tuesday it will go ahead with an election this weekend despite an opposition boycott, months of street protests and the likelihood of more violence in the country's political crisis. The government made the announcement after Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra met with the Election Commission, which had sought a delay in the polls.","Osisko rejects Goldcorp's unsolicited takeover bid. Osisko Mining Corp on Monday rejected an unsolicited C$2.6 billion ($2.37 billion) takeover bid from its larger rival Goldcorp Inc , saying the offer was financially inadequate and not in the best interests of its shareholders. \"Goldcorp's offer significantly undervalues Osisko's world-class Canadian Malartic mine, and the rest of the company's portfolio of high-potential projects in North America,\" Osisko said in a statement. The company advised its shareholders to reject the hostile bid and not tender their shares into the Goldcorp offer.","Thai PM stands by investigation into murders of British tourists. By Amy Sawitta Lefevre BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha defended a police investigation into the murder of two British tourists on Friday, amid criticism of shoddy forensic work and concern that two arrested Myanmar men may have admitted the crimes under duress. Zaw Lin and Win Zaw Htun, both 21, were arrested last week for the murders of British backpackers Hannah Witheridge, 23, and David Miller, 24. The bodies were found on a beach on the southern island of Koh Tao, or Turtle Island, famous for its coral reefs and diving. ...","Exclusive: Leader of Far-Right Ukrainian Militant Group Talks Revolution With TIME. Take the smell of an army barracks, add a bit of char and gasoline, and you’d have a rough idea of the air on the fifth floor of the House of Trade Unions, the headquarters of the revolution in Ukraine. When protesters first occupied the building in December, their leaders divvied up its floors among the political parties and activists involved in the revolt. Since then, the only floor off limits to journalists has been the fifth, which houses the militant arm of the revolution, Pravy Sektor (Right Sector), the coalition of right-wing radicals that grew out of the uprising. ...","World Health Organization: Spread of Ebola in West Africa is an international health emergency. LONDON (AP) — World Health Organization: Spread of Ebola in West Africa is an international health emergency.","India, Japan each seek deals during Modi's visit. TOKYO (AP) — Japan and India both have much to gain from a visit by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and more than a dozen Indian steel, energy and IT tycoons that begins Saturday in the ancient capital of Kyoto.","Chileans spend second night outdoors after new quake. Iquique (Chile) (AFP) - Thousands of shaken Chileans spent a second night in the streets and makeshift shelters early Thursday following a 7.6-magnitude earthquake that struck 24 hours after an even stronger tremor killed six. President Michelle Bachelet, who was assessing damage from Tuesday's massive 8.2 jolt, was among those forced to flee late Wednesday as the latest temblor sowed terror among already exhausted and nervous residents. The new quake struck in the Pacific Ocean at 11:43 pm (0243 GMT Thursday), 19 kilometers (12 miles) south of the northern coastal city of Iquique, the US Geological Survey said. There were no reports of fatalities or major damage and authorities lifted a tsunami alert after two hours.","Feds: US company tried to export rifle scopes. SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Federal authorities say a business in a small Utah town tried to ship rifle scopes to Russia and China without a license.","Pakistani fighter jets bomb suspected militant hideouts. ISLAMABAD/PESHAWAR (Reuters) - Pakistani fighter jets bombed suspected militant hideouts in the tribal region of North Waziristan near the Afghan border on Wednesday, killing at least 32 people, military sources said. Disagreement over how to handle the Taliban insurgency has soured relations between Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Pakistan's powerful army, which has been pushing for a major military offensive against militants. Sharif has been trying to engage the Taliban in talks but negotiations have failed repeatedly since he came to power a year ago. \"Fighter jets started bombing militant positions early on Wednesday,\" said a senior military official in Miranshah, the capital of North Waziristan.","Britain wins 3 International Emmys. NEW YORK (AP) — British TV productions took three trophies Monday night at the 42nd International Emmy Awards, including best actor for Stephen Dillane and best drama for the thriller \"Utopia.\"","On home ice and snow, Russians win medals tally. SOCHI, Russia (AP) — Russia's post-Soviet athletic decline hit bottom at the Vancouver Olympics, where the once dominant winter sporting nation left with only three gold medals and the daunting task of rebuilding its team in time to host the Sochi Games.","Suspected French jihadi arrested in Turkey. PARIS (AP) — A French security official says authorities in Turkey detained a French-Moroccan national believed to be a leading recruiter of jihadis for the civil war in Syria.","US sending Iraq humanitarian aid, weighing strikes. WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. officials say President Barack Obama has approved sending humanitarian supplies by air to thousands of religious minorities in Iraq who are under siege from Islamic militants.","West Ham have potential to be a top six side - Carroll. By Mike Collett LONDON (Reuters) - West Ham United can push on from their excellent start to the Premier League season and contend for a top six place, club record signing Andy Carroll said. The burly frontman is recovering from a freak ankle injury he suffered in pre-season training in New Zealand but believes he can win his place back in the team that are eighth in the table after five games. ...","Nigeria launches national identity card scheme. Nigeria's President Goodluck Jonathan on Thursday launched a national electronic identity card scheme, which backers said would boost access to financial and government services in Africa's most populous nation. A number of Nigerian government agencies, from the police to the Independent National Electoral Commission, have embarked on their own separate ID card schemes. Only 32 percent of Nigeria's adult population are thought to have bank accounts, according to a 2012 study. Nigeria's central bank has been pushing for a move away from cash to electronic payments and has trialled a scheme in the financial capital, Lagos, with the help of private partners.","Ex-AG in Dominica cleared of corruption charges. ROSEAU, Dominica (AP) — A former attorney general in Dominica has been cleared of longstanding charges of conspiring to fraudulently obtain and sell passports.","Syria Kurds 'sever jihadist supply route to Kobane'. Kurdish forces fighting the Islamic State group in the flashpoint Syrian town of Kobane on Wednesday cut off a key supply route used by the jihadists, a monitoring group said. \"The (Syrian Kurdish) People's Protection Units (YPG) targeted IS positions behind the (strategic) Mashta al-Nur hill and cut off the Halanj-Ain al-Arab road south of the town,\" said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, using the Arabic name Ain al-Arab for Kobane. The YPG has been fighting the IS since mid-September in Kobane. The Syrian Kurds are backed by Iraqi Kurdish peshmerga fighters and Syrian rebels.","Migrant arrives in Uruguay thinking he got to US. MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay (AP) — Uruguayan officials say a Nigerian man seeking to migrate to the United States wound up in the South American nation instead.","Syrian planes bomb border post near Israel captured by rebels. Syrian jets shelled rebel positions near a border crossing close to the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights that was seized by rebels in some of the heaviest clashes in the strategic area this year, rebels and residents said on Thursday. Al Qaeda's Syria wing Nusra alongside moderate rebel groups who had launched the attack early on Wednesday on the border post were \"holding ground\" despite the heavy bombardment, according to a source in the Islamist Beit al Maqdis brigade, whose fighters were involved in the fighting. Abu Iyas al Horani, a spokesman for another rebel group operating in the area, said at least six rebels were killed in the latest spillover of violence in the area that lies almost 20 kilometers west of the town of Quneitra, the main urban center, which is under state control. During the fighting, two Israelis were wounded by stray bullets, a soldier and a civilian, both in the Golan Heights.","Benedict attends cardinal-making ceremony in 1st retirement appearance at liturgical rite. VATICAN CITY (AP) — Benedict attends cardinal-making ceremony in 1st retirement appearance at liturgical rite.","Tim Hortons profit misses forecast; shares up after dividend hike. By Solarina Ho TORONTO (Reuters) - Canadian coffee and doughnut chain Tim Hortons Inc reported higher-than-expected quarterly revenue on Thursday and announced a dividend increase and a share buyback plan. Shares of Tim Hortons, which faced investor pressure last year to return capital, were up 3 percent at C$59.66 ($53.90). Tim Hortons, which says it sells eight out of 10 cups of coffee in Canada, has been expanding its food menu in pursuit of growth, but is ending its partnership with Cold Stone Creamery in Canada, where it had performed below expectations. Tim Hortons has long battled Starbucks Corp in the coffee arena.","Value of European listings hits 10-year average. LONDON (AP) — In another sign that Europe's economy is turning the corner, a leading ratings agency has found that the value of new stock market listings in 2013 recovered to match the 10-year average.","Morocco rabbi beaten up over Gaza. A young man beat up a Moroccan rabbi in the economic capital of Casablanca over Israel's deadly air war on Gaza, a newspaper reported on Sunday. Tel Quel said on its website that the attack took place on Friday as Moshe Ohayon was walking towards his synagogue. Moroccan authorities had no immediate comment on the incident, which took place hours before a demonstration held in Casablanca in solidarity with the Palestinians. Rabat has condemned as \"unjustified and inadmissible\" Israel's raids on Gaza, whose declared aim is to halt rocket attacks on its territory, that have cost more than 160 Palestinian lives since Tuesday.","Meteor medals an extra incentive in Sochi. SOCHI, Russia (AP) — There are gold medals, and there are those of the meteoric kind.","In Myanmar shops, old tires find many new lives. YANGON, Myanmar (AP) — The air in the dark, dingy room is thick with the acrid smell of rubber. Aung Nyunt and a half-dozen other workers toil away there day and night, turning discarded tires into flip-flops, buckets and hard-to-find spare parts for used cars.","Australia, Japan agree on free trade deal. TOKYO (AP) — Japan and Australia say they have agreed a free trade deal after overcoming differences on autos and agriculture.","'Friends' star Cox to marry Northern Irish rocker. LONDON (AP) — Courteney Cox says she is engaged to marry Snow Patrol's Johnny McDaid.","Guyana to buy more cameras, help fight crime. GEORGETOWN, Guyana (AP) — Officials in Guyana plan to install about a dozen new closed-circuit TV cameras to help fight crime in the South American country's capital and other coastal areas.","New US strikes in Iraq include land-based bombers. EDGARTOWN, Massachusetts (AP) — The U.S. has expanded its air campaign in Iraq with attacks aimed at helping Iraqi forces regain control of the strategic Mosul dam.","Chinese military plane crashes, 2 deaths reported. BEIJING (AP) — A Chinese military plane has crashed in the country's northwest and a news website says at least two people were killed.","Mourinho admits Lampard is impossible to replace. Jose Mourinho admits it will be impossible to find a replacement for Chelsea legend Frank Lampard. Lampard was released by the Blues at the end of last season and has since signed for new MLS franchise New York FC, while also agreeing to play for Manchester City on loan until his new club start training in January. The 36-year-old established himself as one of Chelsea's all-time greats during his 13-year stay at Stamford Bridge, becoming the club's record goalscorer and winning the Champions League, Europa League, Premier League, FA Cup and League Cup. Mourinho knows Lampard's departure has left a significant hole in his squad, and the Blues manager claims even new signing Cesc Fabregas won't be able to replace the England international on his own.","AP Interview: El-Sissi ready to back anti-IS fight. CAIRO (AP) — Egypt's President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi has told The Associated Press he is prepared to give whatever support is needed in the fight against the Islamic State group but says military action is not the only answer.","U.S. senator sees American prisoner in Cuba 'closer' to release. By Daniel Trotta HAVANA (Reuters) - An American government contractor jailed in Cuba for crimes against the state may be closer to returning home, in part because he has threatened to end his life if he is not released, a U.S. senator said on Tuesday. The detention of Alan Gross since December 2009 has increased tensions in already troubled U.S.-Cuban relations and prevented the historic adversaries from resolving wider differences. Gross, 65, a former subcontractor for the U.S. ...","England wins toss, chooses to bowl vs South Africa. CHITTAGONG, Bangladesh (AP) — England captain Stuart Broad won the toss and chose to bowl first in the World Twenty20 match against South Africa on Saturday.","East Ukraine militants say detained U.S. reporter 'not hostage but guest'. Pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine on Wednesday confirmed they are detaining a U.S. journalist working with Vice News. The self-declared separatist mayor of Slaviansk told reporters the journalist, Simon Ostrovsky, had been detained for reporting what he said was false information that was \"destabilizing for us\" but that he was being treated well. He is with us, he is feeling well and in a clean place,\" Vyacheslav Ponomaryov said.","U.S. ship to start loading Syrian chemical agents next week. An American cargo ship converted into a mobile chemical weapons destroyer is expected to take charge of some of Syria's most dangerous materials next week, a U.S. defense official said. Syria on Monday handed over the remaining 8 percent of a total 1,300 tonnes that Syria declared to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW). The handover had faced repeated delays, leaving the Cape Ray docked in southern Spain awaiting a green light to proceed. The cargo will then be transferred from the Danish ship to the Cape Ray in a pier-side operation next week.","U.S. forces attempted but failed to rescue U.S. hostages in Syria. The mission, authorized by President Barack Obama based on U.S. The incident, in which a number of militants were killed, appeared to be the first direct ground engagement between the United States and Islamic State militants, who Obama sees as a growing threat in the Middle East.","Theater community mourns Hoffman with vigil, Broadway light dimming as 3 face drug charges. NEW YORK, N.Y. - While three of four people arrested amid the investigation of the Philip Seymour Hoffman's death were arraigned on drug charges, the New York theatre community mourned the actor with a dimming of Broadway's marquee lights and a candlelight vigil.","Toyota tells dealers to stop selling 6 models. DETROIT (AP) — Toyota has told North American dealers to stop selling six popular models with heated seats because the fabric doesn't meet flammability standards.","Malaysia corrects last words from Flight MH370. Malaysia's civil aviation department said late Monday the last words spoken by one of pilots of missing Flight MH370 were \"Good night Malaysian three seven zero\", and not the more casual \"All right, good night\" originally reported. The admission is likely to add to criticism of the Malaysian authorities' handling of the search for the Malaysia Airlines flight which vanished on March 8 during a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. Chinese relatives of those on board the missing plane have been particularly scathing, accusing Malaysia of incompetence and even a cover-up. Malaysia Airlines CEO Ahmad Jauhari Yahya had said on March 17 the last words from the cockpit were believed to have been spoken by the co-pilot.","Ford says November China auto sales up two percent year-on-year. SHANGHAI (Reuters) - Ford Motor Co and its Chinese joint ventures sold 100,834 vehicles in China in November, up 2 percent from the same period a year earlier, the U.S. carmaker said on Friday. That follows a 1.0 percent year-on-year fall in October and a 0.2 percent dip in September. Ford's sales in the first 11 months of the year totaled 1,007,425 vehicles, up 20 percent from the same period a year earlier. Ford has said its growth in China has been constrained by shortages in manufacturing capacities. ...","Gold, diamonds feed Central African religious violence. By Daniel Flynn NDASSIMA Central African Republic (Reuters) - Three young rebels, their AK47s propped against wooden stools in the afternoon heat, guard the entrance to the giant Ndassima goldmine carved deep into a forested hilltop in Central African Republic. The mine, owned by Canada's Axmin , was overrun by the mainly Muslim Seleka rebels more than year ago. Months of killing and looting provoked vicious reprisals by Christian militia, known as \"anti-balaka\", that pushed the rebels back, splitting the landlocked country of 4.5 million people into a Muslim north and the Christian south. If there is a problem there, we intervene,\" said Seleka's local commander Colonel Oumar Garba, sipping tea outside a villa in Axmin's abandoned compound.","China hands out record fine to six polluters: Xinhua. BEIJING (Reuters) - A Chinese court on Tuesday fined six companies in eastern Jiangsu province a total of 160 million yuan ($26 million) for releasing chemical waste into rivers, said state news agency Xinhua, the biggest fine of its kind ever handed out in China. The firms in Taizhou city had discharged 25,000 tonnes of waste acid into two rivers, Xinhua reported late Tuesday, without identifying the companies. The Jiangsu Provincial Higher People's Court ordered the polluters to pay the fines into an environmental protection fund within 30 days. ...","Undersea drone hunt for Malaysian plane foiled by depth. By Lincoln Feast and Byron Kaye SYDNEY/PERTH, Australia (Reuters) - A U.S. Navy underwater drone sent to search for a missing Malaysian jetliner on the floor of the Indian Ocean had its first mission cut short after exceeding its 4.5 km (2.8 mile) depth limit, Australian search authorities said on Tuesday. The launch of the Blue-fin 21 autonomous underwater vehicle on Monday marked a new phase in the six week search for Malaysia Airlines MH370 which disappeared on March 8 and is presumed to have crashed thousands of kilometers (miles) off course with the loss of all 239 people on board. \"After completing around six hours of its mission, Bluefin-21 exceeded its operating depth limit of 4,500 meters and its built in safety feature returned it to the surface,\" the Australian agency coordinating the search and recovery operation said. \"The six hours of data gathered by the Autonomous Underwater Vehicle is currently being extracted and analyzed.\" Malaysian authorities have still not ruled out mechanical problems as causing the plane's disappearance, but say evidence suggests it was deliberately diverted from its scheduled route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.","Philippines lifts ban on 9 Hong Kong journalists. MANILA, Philippines (AP) — The Philippines has lifted a ban against nine Hong Kong-based journalists, following criticism from media and Hong Kong's government.","Australian PM to return 'stolen' statues to India's Modi. Australia's prime minister will on Friday hand back to his Indian counterpart two statues allegedly looted from ancient temples, ending a long-running battle over the pieces, his office said. Tony Abbott will return the sculptures during his meeting with Narendra Modi in New Delhi, following allegations the pieces, which had been displayed in Australian galleries, were part of an audacious art fraud. Returning the objects \"is testimony to Australia's good citizenship on such matters and the importance with which Australia views its relationship with India\", Abbott's office said. Abbott is in India to meet Modi's new right-wing government and sign a deal to supply uranium nuclear fuel to the energy-hungry country.","Newcastle's Cisse dashes Chelsea's invincible dream. Newcastle (United Kingdom) (AFP) - Chelsea were denied a club-record 24-game unbeaten run as Papiss Cisse's second-half double earned Newcastle United a stunning 2-1 win over the Premier League leaders on Saturday.","Halep faces Kerber in Qatar Open final. DOHA, Qatar (AP) — Seventh-seeded Simona Halep of Romania is chasing her seventh career title when she plays sixth-seeded Angelique Kerber of Germany, pursuing her fifth trophy, in the Qatar Open final on Sunday.","Daughter of Australian Labor great charged with murder. The daughter of long-serving former Australian state premier Neville Wran was Thursday charged with murder over the stabbing death of an alleged small-time drug dealer in Sydney. Harriet Wran, 26, was also charged with attempted murder of a second man and aggravated break and enter. They are accused of killing Daniel McNulty, who was stabbed at a public housing block in inner-city Redfern on Sunday. Wran, the goddaughter of late media mogul Kerry Packer, was last seen in public at the state funeral in May of her father, which was attended by a roll call of heavyweight political figures.","Martins Indi has tests for suspected concussion. PORTO ALEGRE, Brazil (AP) — Netherlands defender Bruno Martins Indi has been taken to a hospital for tests after suffering a suspected concussion in his team's hard-fought 3-2 victory over Australia at the World Cup.","Pistorius murder trial enters fourth week. PRETORIA, South Africa (AP) — A neighbor of Oscar Pistorius testified at his murder trial on Monday that she heard gunshots as well as screams from both a man and a woman on the night that the double-amputee runner fatally shot girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp.","Syria talks bring offer of exit from siege of Homs. By Khaled Yacoub Oweis and Stephanie Nebehay GENEVA (Reuters) - The Syrian government said women and children could leave the besieged rebel city of Homs on Sunday as negotiators from the warring sides discussed humanitarian gestures on a second day of face-to-face talks in Geneva. Government and opposition delegates also spoke of releasing prisoners and enabling access for aid convoys during what the U.N. mediator acknowledged was a slow process but one which he hopes will lead on Monday to broaching the central issue that divides them after three years of civil war - namely Syria's political future and that of President Bashar al-Assad. Homs, occupying a strategic location in the center of the country, has been a key battleground. Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad told a news conference after Sunday's meetings that the government would let women and children leave the city center if rebels gave them safe passage.","Lundqvist fined $5,000 for water incident. NEW YORK (AP) — Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist of Sweden has been fined $5,000 for emptying his water bottle onto Sidney Crosby while the Pittsburgh Penguins captain was involved in a scrum in front of the New York net.","Tanker with piped Iraqi Kurdish oil U-turns away from U.S.. By Julia Payne LONDON (Reuters) - A crude oil tanker at the center of a dispute between Iraqi Kurdistan and Baghdad has reversed course from its route towards the United States, ship-tracking data showed on Friday, indicating that the shipper may not have a buyer. The United Leadership oil tanker has become a symbol of a wider conflict between Baghdad and Iraqi Kurdistan over oil sales from the autonomous northern enclave, as it contains the first crude to come out of the region's newly built pipeline into Turkey. Since loading at the Turkish port of Ceyhan last week, the United Leadership set course for the U.S. Gulf Coast, according to ship-tracking and market sources.","Boat found in US might be tsunami debris. OCEAN SHORES, Washington (AP) — U.S. authorities are working with the Japanese consulate to determine whether a small boat found on a beach in Washington state might have crossed the Pacific from the March 2011 tsunami.","U.S. rules out major Trans-Pacific trade announcement at APEC. By Michael Martina BEIJING (Reuters) - There will be no \"major announcement\" on a Washington-backed Asia-Pacific free trade deal during a meeting of leaders from the region in Beijing this week, U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman said on Sunday. Few expected that a deal on the ambitious 12-country Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) could be reached this year, largely because of a deadlock between the pact's two biggest economies, the United States and Japan, over how widely Japan will open its doors to farm exports. ...","Venezuela: arrest in slaying of German businessman. CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuela's chief prosecutor's office says it has arrested a man in the death of a German businessman who apparently was shot while resisting a robbery in his hotel room.","Barcelona signs Suarez from Liverpool despite ban. Barcelona prides itself in upholding high moral values and being \"more than a club.\" The Catalan giants, though, have decided to overlook a litany of misdemeanors by Luis Suarez to sign football's most high-profile outcast.","World reacts to death of Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Reaction to death of writer Gabriel Garcia Marquez:","French Parliament debates recognizing Palestine. PARIS (AP) — France's government is pushing to revive Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, amid growing pressure across Europe for recognition of a Palestinian state after decades of Mideast stalemate.","Pakistan begins talks to end protest crisis. Pakistani ministers and opposition politicians met anti-government protesters on Wednesday in a bid to end a week-long political crisis that has rattled the restive nuclear-armed nation. Thousands of followers of cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan and populist cleric Tahir-ul-Qadri are demonstrating outside the parliament building, trying to force Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif from office. Khan and Qadri say last year's general election that swept Sharif to power by a landslide was rigged and are demanding his resignation. A cross-party delegation met members of Qadri's team on Wednesday evening to try to resolve the standoff, but Khan struck a defiant note, insisting Sharif must go before he would negotiate.","Eurocontrol seeks more info sharing for airspace safety. By Alwyn Scott WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Europe's air-traffic control organization on Tuesday fleshed out a plan for countries to share non-public intelligence in conflict zones to help airlines avert tragedies such as the one that claimed 298 lives over Ukraine in July. Frank Brenner, director general of Eurocontrol, told Reuters that his organization is pressing the task force of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), the United Nations aviation agency, for member states to share the background information they use in assessing airspace risk. ...","French troops in C.Africa clash with armed men. Bangui (Centrafrique) (AFP) - French peacekeepers deployed in the restive Central African Republic opened fire in capital Bangui after coming under attack from unidentified gunmen, sources told AFP Friday. The soldiers were on patrol in the mainly Muslim PK5 district when they were shot at by unidentified gunmen late Thursday, triggering a riposte, an official in the African peacekeeping force MISCA said. However the spokesman for the Muslim community in PK5, Abakar Moustapha, said five residents were killed and several other people were wounded. \"French soldiers were searching a house suspected to be an arms cache in the Cameroonian district (of the PK5) when they were attacked by angry youths because the Senegalese owner of the house is not in Bangui,\" he said.","Israeli military says it's resumed Gaza airstrikes. JERUSALEM (AP) — The Israeli military says it has resumed airstrikes on Gaza after Hamas militants violated a de-escalation brokered by Egypt.","After news of ordeal, sea survivor talks with elated Salvadoran family for first time in years. GARITA PALMERA, El Salvador - The family of a Salvadoran fisherman who says he survived at least 13 months at sea in an open boat had thought he was dead after losing touch with him eight years ago and are calling his astonishing story of survival a miracle.","Twelve dead in south Brazil violence. Ten public buses were destroyed Monday after 12 people were shot and killed overnight in the Brazilian city of Campinas, police said. A group of about 20 assailants, most hem hooded and armed with sticks and stones, ransacked a Campinas bus terminal where five of the overnight deaths occurred.","US police: More than 100 rounds fired. AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — A gunman attempted to set the Mexican Consulate ablaze and fired more than 100 rounds at downtown buildings early Friday before he died, Austin authorities said.","British deputy PM faces calls to quit. Britain's Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg came under pressure Sunday to step down as leader of the Liberal Democrats after the centrist party took a pounding in local elections. Two would-be Lib Dem parliamentary candidates -- staring at a much-reduced prospect of winning a seat at next year's general election -- have put heir names to an online letter, signed by more than 200 party members, calling for Clegg to step aside. The unashamedly pro-EU party is expected to take another battering when the European Parliament election results are announced later Sunday. The anti-EU, anti-mass immigration United Kingdom Independence Party is now the chief beneficiary of protest votes, while many of the Lib Dems' left-leaning voters are disgruntled at the current coalition with the Conservatives.","Germany wins European Team Championships. BRAUNSCHWEIG, Germany (AP) — Germany won the two-day European Team Championships ahead of defending champion Russia on Sunday with 10 individual wins from 40 events.","Industrialist Villar Mir glimpses new dawn in Spain. By Elisabeth O'Leary and Jose Elías Rodríguez MADRID (Reuters) - Billionaire industrialist Juan Miguel Villar Mir has been buying into Spain's battered property and wind power sectors, marking a change in domestic sentiment after a six-year crisis. The 82-year-old Villar Mir, the chairman of builder OHL and its private conglomerate parent Grupo Villar Mir, prospered abroad during the crisis. With the economy growing at its strongest pace since 2007, he is now borrowing to fund acquisitions that may signal a new wave of investment in Spain. \"Spain is an investment opportunity now because things are cheap and the economy is recovering and hardly anyone has realized,\" the engineer told Reuters from a plush office near the top of his Torre Espacio, one of four landmark skyscrapers that dominate Madrid's skyline.","Gunmen kill 5 in attack in eastern Saudi Arabia. RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) — Saudi Arabia's state news agency says masked gunmen opened fire on a group of people in the east of the kingdom, killing five and wounding nine others.","France ends Mali offensive, redeploys troops to restive Sahel. France said Sunday its military offensive that freed northern Mali from the grip of Islamists would be replaced by an operation spanning the wider, largely lawless Sahel region to combat extremist violence. The so-called Serval offensive kicked off in January last year when French troops came to the help of Malian soldiers to rid the country's vast desert north from Islamists and Tuareg rebels who seized control after a coup. France had initially planned to put an end to Serval and redeploy troops to the Sahel region in May but a fresh bout of clashes between rebels and the army in the flashpoint northern town of Kidal forced Paris to delay the pull-out.","California universities to start sustainable agriculture programs. By Jennifer Chaussee BERKELEY Calif. (Reuters) - University of California campuses would buy food from local growers, grant more scholarships to agriculture students and teach farmers in the United States and around the world how to grow food with less water under a new initiative announced Tuesday. The program gives the university a voice in global policy discussions about how to grow food in the face of severe drought and rising temperatures, said Janet Napolitano, the former Homeland Security chief who took over as president of the 10-campus system last year. \"Another 1/2 billion - primarily in the industrialized nations of the world - are obese.\" The food initiative is one of several steps taken by Napolitano to raise the university's profile, modernize its course offerings and shore up its shaky finances since taking the helm last fall.","Jaguar recalls 1,571 sedans in U.S. for possible braking issue. DETROIT (Reuters) - Jaguar Land Rover is recalling 1,571 Jaguar XJ luxury sedans in the United States for a possible braking issue, according to documents posted by U.S. safety regulators.","Washington working with allies to make next Russia sanctions painful. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States is working with its allies so that the next round of sanctions against Moscow will put more pain on the Russian economy, Treasury Secretary Jack Lew said on Friday. \"We are working with our international partners to make sure that when we do it, we do it in an effective way,\" Lew told Marketplace, a radio show produced by American Public Media. (Reporting by Jason Lange; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)","FA set to reject Hull's request for name change. HULL, England (AP) — The English Football Association says it has recommended that a request by Premier League club Hull City to change its name to Hull Tigers be rejected.","Chinese military ordered to buy locally-made vehicles. Chinese leader Xi Jinping has ordered the military to choose domestic brands when procuring vehicles, part of a broad effort to reduce costs and buy locally-produced goods, state media reported. The decision, contained in a circular issued late on Monday, follows a ban in April on the use of military license plates on luxury cars, most of which were foreign brands. Xi, who became Communist Party chief in November 2012 and also serves as president and top military leader as head of the Central Military Commission, has launched a government-wide drive to encourage frugality and fight corruption. The purchase of new military cars should be arranged through a centralized system, it said.","Thai anti-coup protesters say it with sandwiches. BANGKOK (AP) — Activists protesting last month's military takeover in Thailand face a possible two-year jail term if they get too strident, so they've found a new way to show their sentiments: handing out \"sandwiches for democracy.\"","Moscow criticizes U.S. sanctions on Russian bank over Syria. Moscow said on Tuesday sanctions imposed by Washington on Russian bank Tempbank over its dealings with the Syrian government were \\\\\"absolutely unacceptable\\\\\". The U.S. Treasury put the small Moscow-based lender on its list of sanctioned entities last week, in effect cutting the bank off from the U.S. financial system. \\\\\"The U.N. Security Council has adopted no resolutions banning cooperation with Damascus, which means bilateral economic and financial ties are completely legitimate,\\\\\" the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement. Moscow has blocked efforts at the U.N. Security Council to mount pressure on the Syrian government, including by imposing sanctions, to end a three-year-old civil war.","Wash, rinse, repeat: the Southern Hemisphere's cycle of storms. What might come as a surprise is that the storm cycles in a huge part of the Southern Hemisphere are not haphazard. That's the finding of U.S. researchers who studied three decades of atmospheric data and found this pattern across a wide expanse of the Southern Ocean, spanning from the southern reaches of South America, Africa and Australia down to the coast of Antarctica. The scientists examined the large-scale atmospheric circulation in the mid-latitudes of the Southern Hemisphere. This temperature disparity causes atmospheric instability and unleashes storms.","AP PHOTOS: Who won the game? No poker faces here. Who won the big World Cup soccer tilt between the Netherlands and defending champion Spain? You don't need to look further than the fans.","Africa sees violent, deadly start to 2014; Thousands killed, children beheaded. NAIROBI, Kenya - The death tolls are huge and the individual incidents gruesome. One estimate says nearly 10,000 people have been killed in South Sudan in a month of warfare, while in neighbouring Central African Republic combatants in Muslim-vs.-Christian battles have beheaded children.","Top Asian News at 5:00 a.m. GMT. HONG KONG (AP) — The students whose calls for democratic reforms sparked the most dramatic challenge to authorities since Hong Kong returned to Chinese control are vowing to keep up the fight. But as the numbers of protesters dwindled Monday from tens of thousands into the hundreds, it was unclear where the tumult of the past week would lead.","'Happy' Iranians get suspended jail, lashes sentences. Tehran (AFP) - Seven young Iranians featured dancing to Pharrell Williams' hit \"Happy\" in a video that went viral on the Internet have been given suspended jail and lashes sentences, a lawyer said Friday.","Old school to new wave: Spain under King Juan Carlos. From old-school family values to women's rights and gay marriage, Spanish society was transformed in the four decades of King Juan Carlos's reign. The democratic rebirth he oversaw spawned fast but fragile economic growth that later plunged Spain into economic crisis, however. When a 37-year-old Juan Carlos was crowned on November 22, 1975, he took the throne of a deeply conservative society. After 40 years under the dictator General Francisco Franco, Spain was just starting to reap the fruits of industrial development.","Group decries India's reliance on waste cleaners. NEW DELHI (AP) — Hundreds of thousands of impoverished, low-caste Indians are still working with their bare hands to clean human excrement from open roads and millions of dry pit latrines across the country, despite Indian laws prohibiting such work, an international rights group said Monday in urging reform.","Yemen federation deal gives autonomy, not independence, to south. By Mohammed Mukhashaf ADEN, Yemen (Reuters) - Yemen's president on Monday formally approved turning the country into a federal state, giving the south more autonomy and completing a milestone in his planned transition to democracy. But the move was immediately rejected by some southerners who insist on a separate state, raising fears the impoverished country may face further instability on top of the challenges it already has from Islamist militants and a northern rebellion. Demands by southern separatists to restore the state that merged with North Yemen in 1990 had delayed an agreement on broad reforms ahead of general elections. Under the new system approved by President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, Yemen will be split into six regions.","New plays to debut at Britain's National Theatre. LONDON (AP) — New plays by theatrical giants Tom Stoppard and David Hare and the stage return of Ralph Fiennes are highlights of the next year at Britain's National Theatre.","Leading European truckmakers operated cartel for 14 years: FT. (Reuters) - Top European truckmakers operated a cartel for 14 years to delay the progress of emissions-reducing technology, the Financial Times reported, citing leaked documents in a European Commission investigation. The newspaper said that one of the documents states that DAF Trucks, Daimler, Iveco, Scania, Volvo and MAN \"agreed the timing and price increase levels for the introduction of new emission technologies\" to comply with Euro 3 rules on nitrogen oxide and other emissions in 2000. (http://on.ft. ...","Factbox: The effect of Russia sanctions on European companies. (Reuters) - The European Union and the United States are tightening sanctions against Russia, targeting its energy, banking and defence sectors in the strongest international action yet over Moscow's support for rebels in eastern Ukraine. Below are recent comments and decisions showing the impact on European companies of the Western sanctions and Russia's retaliatory measures: * Rheinmetall slashed its 2014 operating profit target after the German government withdrew its approval for a contract with Russia and the group shifted some of its automotive business to a joint venture. ...","12 Nigerian soldiers sentenced to death for mutiny: court martial. Abuja (AFP) - Twelve Nigerian soldiers were on Tuesday sentenced to death for mutiny after shots were fired at their commanding officer in the restive northeast city of Maiduguri earlier this year.","Russia preparing counterproposals over Ukraine. KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia said Monday it is drafting counterproposals to a U.S. plan for a negotiated solution to the Ukraine crisis, denouncing the new Western-backed government as an unacceptable \"fait accompli\" and claiming that Russian-leaning parts of the country have been plunged into lawlessness.","South Korea passenger ship with 350 on board sends distress signal. South Korea's coast guard has received a distress signal from a passenger ship with about 350 people on board off the southwest coast, an official said on Wednesday, with Korean media reporting the vessel was sinking. Korean television news reports also said many of the passengers on board were students on the way to Jeju island on school trips. Those reports could not be confirmed immediately by the coast guard.","Pro-Russia protesters seize third state building in eastern Ukraine: Ifax. MOSCOW (Reuters) - Protesters waving Russian flags seized the regional administrative building in the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, the third state premises in eastern Ukraine to be occupied by pro-Russian demonstrators on Sunday, Interfax reported. Earlier in the day, similar groups had seized the regional administrative building in Donetsk and the offices of the state security services in Luhansk, demanding that regional lawmakers carry out a referendum on joining Russia. Ukraine accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of orchestrating the seizures. ...","Protesters angry at Mexico massacre clash with police. Protesters angry at the suspected massacre of 43 missing Mexican students threw stones and a firebomb at riot police in the Pacific resort of Acapulco on Monday, injuring 11 officers. Around 300 students, some wearing masks and armed with sticks and machetes, were joined by some parents of the 43 missing young men as they marched toward the city's airport, but police blocked their way. Protesters launched rocks and a Molotov cocktail, an AFP correspondent said. The clash followed violent protests in Guerrero's capital Chilpancingo and Mexico City on Saturday after authorities announced that gang suspects confessed to killing the 43 students and incinerating their remains.","Kenya detains two Iranians on suspicion of planning attacks. NAIROBI (Reuters) - Kenyan anti-terror police have detained two Iranian men using forged Israeli passports to enter the East African country, on suspicion that they may have been involved in a plan to carry out an attack there, officials said on Friday. Kenyan security agencies have been on alert following several gun and grenade attacks and the killing of 67 people in an attack by Islamist gunmen on Nairobi's Westgate shopping mall last September. ...","McDowell loses in Match Play, Stenson rallies. ASH, England (AP) — Defending champion Graeme McDowell's comeback fell short, while Henrik Stenson rallied from three holes down with success at the World Match Play Championship on Thursday.","Vatican calls Israeli teenagers deaths hideous, threat to peace. The Vatican on Monday condemned the killing of three Israeli teenagers in the West Bank as a \"hideous and unacceptable crime\" and a obstacle to peace. In an usually strong statement, the Vatican spokesman said Pope Francis, who visited Israel and the Palestinian territories in April, was united with the families of the victims who were suffering \"unspeakable pain\". \"The killing of innocent people is always a hideous and unacceptable crime, a grave obstacle on the path towards peace ...,\" Father Federico Lombardi said, calling the news of the deaths \"terrible and dramatic\". The three missing teenagers were found in the occupied West Bank by Israeli forces after a nearly three-week-long search and a sweep against the Islamist Hamas group that Israel says abducted them.","Conservation group demands U.S. restore grizzly bears to native range. By Laura Zuckerman SALMON Idaho (Reuters) - A conservation group pushed U.S. wildlife managers on Wednesday to take steps to restore grizzly bears to western states such as California or be sued for failing to comply with provisions of the Endangered Species Act. The Center for Biological Diversity argued in a formal petition submitted to the U.S. Interior Department that grizzlies should be restored to their native range in such places as California's Sierra Nevada and the Grand Canyon in Arizona. There is so much more to do to see the bears restored to more of their range in the western United States,\" said Noah Greenwald, endangered species director for the Center for Biological Diversity.","Suspect in Petrobras scandal turns himself in. RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — A suspect wanted in the widening corruption probe at Brazil's state-run oil giant Petrobras has turned himself in to police.","Seoul: N. Korea fires projectiles as pope visits. SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea said Thursday that rival North Korea had fired two additional projectiles into the sea.","Golf-U.S. PGA Tour Tampa Bay Championship scores. March 14 (Infostrada Sports) - Scores from the U.S. PGA Tour Tampa Bay Championship at the par-71 course on Thursday in Palm Harbor, Florida 68 Matt Every (U.S.) 68 Pat Perez (U.S.) 68 Greg Chalmers (Australia) 68 Danny Lee (New Zealand) 68 69 Matteo Manassero (Italy) 69 James Hahn (U.S.) 69 Nicolas Colsaerts (Belgium) 69 Bill Haas (U.S.) 69 Tommy Gainey (U.S.) 69 Michael Putnam (U.S.) 69 Robert Garrigus (U.S.) 69 70 Russell Knox (Britain) 70 Ben Crane (U.S.) 70 Kevin Na (U.S.) 70 Rory Sabbatini (South Africa) 70 Charley Hoffman (U.S.) 70 Brendon Todd (U.S.) 70 Ricky Barnes (U.S. ...","Iraq PM urges people of Fallujah to expel al-Qaida. BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraq's prime minister is urging residents and tribes of Fallujah to \"expel\" al-Qaida militants from this western city to avoid an all-out battle.","Palestinian official says 10 people, including children, killed in strike on park in Gaza. GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — Palestinian official says 10 people, including children, killed in strike on park in Gaza.","Palmeiras hires former player Dorival Jr. as coach. SAO PAULO (AP) — Palmeiras says it has hired former player Dorival Jr. to replace Ricardo Gareca, the Argentine coach fired only three months into the job after losing seven of nine Brazilian league matches.","France preparing for action, president visits Iraq. PARIS (AP) — French President Francois Hollande is en route to Iraq, as his country prepares possible airstrikes with a U.S.-led coalition against extremists who have seized territory around the region.","Utah school district apologizes after taking lunches from students who owed money on accounts. SALT LAKE CITY - Erica Lukes and other Utah parents were outraged when their children had their deep dish pizzas and other food taken and thrown away at their elementary school after a cashier said they owed money on their lunch accounts.","Sunderland out of bottom three. Sunderland climbed out of the Premier League relegation zone with a 4-0 win at home to 10-man fellow strugglers Cardiff on Sunday. Connor Wickham headed north-east side Sunderland, who kicked off bottom of the table, into a 26th-minute lead at the Stadium of Light but the match turned decisively in favour of the home side on the stroke of half-time. Wickham burst clear and was bearing down on goal when his shirt was tugged by Cardiff centre-back Juan Cala, whose poor back-pass had let him in. Phil Dowd played an initial advantage but when Wickham, who had stayed on his feet and not gone down, was forced wide and saw his cross blocked, the referee blew for a penalty and sent off Cala.","Goodbye Texas. Zeppelin's Robert Plant comes home to England. Robert Plant has come home to England from Texas. The Led Zeppelin frontman has been pining for his roots -- familiar landscapes, the distinctive \"Black Country\" accent of where he grew up and people who call him \"Planty\". He wrote nine of the tracks on his latest album \"lullaby and... The Ceaseless Roar\", due to be released on Monday, his first original compositions since the \"Mighty ReArranger\" in 2005. A year on, he says his return home and a reunion with his \"Mighty ReArranger\" collaborators -- his backing group the Sensational Space Shifters -- has fostered an atmosphere in which he's been able to \"experiment a lot more\".","Declassified papers: Gorbachev made unplanned visit to UK's 10 Downing St; Thatcher was out. LONDON - In the scripted world of high-profile diplomacy, every move is planned weeks in advance, with seating charts, menus and toasts subject to careful scrutiny.","SKorea ferry toll hits 146 as search gets tougher. JINDO, South Korea (AP) — The grim work of recovering bodies from the submerged South Korea ferry proceeded rapidly Wednesday, with the official death toll reaching 146, though a government official said divers must now rip through cabin walls to retrieve more victims.","U.S.-led mission in Afghanistan ends combat role; thousands of foreign troops remain. By Kay Johnson KABUL (Reuters) - The U.S.-led coalition in Afghanistan formally ended its combat mission on Sunday, more than 13 years after an international alliance ousted the Taliban government for sheltering the planners of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on American cities. About 13,000 foreign troops, mostly Americans, will remain in the country under a new, two-year mission named \"Resolute Support\" that will continue the coalition's training of Afghan security forces. The Afghan army and police are struggling to fight against Taliban militants who this year killed record numbers of Afghans. ...","Afghan government says West holds prisoners illegally in south. By Hamid Shalizi and Jeremy Laurence KABUL (Reuters) - Afghanistan has accused British and U.S. forces of secretly holding Afghans in jail, saying one man had been held for more than two years while others had \"disappeared\", further souring ties between Kabul and its Western allies at a sensitive time. The latest dispute could complicate relations as Washington seeks to implement a security agreement allowing a small force to stay in the country for counter-terrorism and training purposes, a pact incumbent leader Hamid Karzai refuses to sign. The allegations, presented in a state-backed document obtained by Reuters, were made as Afghanistan prepares to induct a new president more than 12 years after U.S.-led forces drove the Taliban from power. \"This a clear violation of Afghanistan's sovereignty,\" Karzai's spokesman Aimal Faizi told Reuters.","France's National Front sees town halls in its grasp. By Mark John PARIS (Reuters) - France's anti-immigrant National Front (FN) has surged to power in one former Socialist town-hall bastion and expects more victories in local elections where voters punished President Francois Hollande for failing to tackle unemployment. In what leader Marine Le Pen called a breakthrough for her protectionist anti-EU party, the FN won power in the northern former coal-mining town Henin-Beaumont in a first-round vote on Sunday, and leads in at least six other towns before run-offs scheduled for next week. With turnout levels close to record lows after a series of political scandals that have hit mainstream French politicians of both left and right, Hollande's Socialists and their allies won just 43 percent of the national vote, behind 48 percent for opposition conservatives, exit polls showed. The FN won 7 percent of the national vote - a proportionately high amount, given that it fielded candidates in just 600 of the some 36,000 constituencies across France.","AP names news director for east-central Europe. LONDON (AP) — Fisnik Abrashi, an Associated Press correspondent and editor who covered wars and their aftermath on three continents, has been appointed all-formats news director for central and eastern Europe, responsible for leading video, photo and text coverage in a region stretching from the Balkans to Poland.","US bobsledder calls Olympic selections 'corrupt'. KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia (AP) — A bobsledder who failed to make the U.S. team calls his country's selection process for the Sochi Games \"corrupt.\" He says men and women who deserved spots were passed over.","CIA, FBI agents 'advising Ukraine government': report. Dozens of specialists from the US Central Intelligence Agency and Federal Bureau of Investigation are advising the Ukrainian government, a German newspaper reported Sunday. Citing unnamed German security sources, Bild am Sonntag said the CIA and FBI agents were helping Kiev end the rebellion in the east of Ukraine and set up a functioning security structure. The FBI agents are also helping the Kiev government fight organised crime, it added. A group specialised in financial matters is to help trace the wealth of former Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych, according to the report.","Saudi religious police in rare apology after Briton beating. Saudi Arabia's religious police issued a rare apology Wednesday after members roughed up a British resident of Riyadh over paying at a women-only cash desk. The Commission of the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice, known unofficially as Mutawaa, also vowed to punish the assailants, after an investigation prompted by a YouTube video showing members attacking the man and his Saudi wife. A man accompanied by female family members can stop at such desks so long as a woman deals with the cashier. Commission members enforce a strict segregation of the sexes and have traditionally forced women to cover from head-to-toe when in public.","UN's Ban presses Netanyahu, Abbas over peace talks. United Nations (United States) (AFP) - UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has spoken separately with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas to encourage them to keep alive the faltering peace process.","7 dead as battle erupts in Somali capital. MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) — Combat shook Mogadishu early Friday as government troops launched a dawn attack on a house belonging to a former warlord as part of a disarmament campaign. Seven people died in the violence.","Chipmaker SanDisk forecasts lower revenue. By Soham Chatterjee (Reuters) - Chipmaker SanDisk Corp forecasts current-quarter revenue below analysts' estimates due to supply constraints. SanDisk's shares fell 5 percent in extended trading, after the company also reported lower-than-expected revenue for the third quarter. SanDisk, a supplier of memory chips for Apple Inc's iPhones, in June bought Fusion-io Inc, a solid-state storage products maker. Rival Samsung Electronics Co Ltd said last week that it would spend $15 billion to build a major new factory in South Korea to make either memory chips or logic chips. ...","U.S. strikes Islamic State convoy near Mosul: officials. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. air strikes destroyed a moving, 10-vehicle Islamic State convoy near the Iraqi city of Mosul but U.S. officials said on Saturday it was unclear whether the group's top commander Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was present at the time. Colonel Patrick Ryder, a spokesman at the U.S. military's Central Command, said the U.S. military had reason to believe that the convoy was the product of a gathering of Islamic State leaders. The convoy consisted of 10 Islamic State armed trucks. (Reporting by Phil Stewart; Editing by Sandra Maler)","Russian choppers in China for multinational drills. BEIJING (AP) — Russian army helicopters have landed in northern China to take part in multinational anti-terrorism drills, underscoring the close ties between Beijing and Moscow despite tensions with the West over Ukraine.","China, Japan stimulus hopes boost Asian stocks. SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Asian stocks were mostly higher Monday on expectations China and Japan will take new steps to spur economic growth.","Somalia launches offensive against extremists. MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) — Military officials say the Somali army, backed by African Union forces, has launched a long-awaited operation against al-Qaida-linked al-Shabab fighters in southern Somalia.","UN delivers food to district of Syria's capital. BEIRUT (AP) — The relief agency supporting Palestinian refugees resumed food distribution inside the rebel-held district of the Syrian capital that has suffered from crippling shortages of food and medicine for months, a United Nations spokesman said Thursday.","Former general rejects Indonesian election process. JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Indonesian presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto says he rejects the election process and accused it of being unfair as nearly complete results showed his opponent Jakarta governor Joko Widodo leading with 52 percent of the vote.","Israel says Iran nuclear deal unlikely by July 20 deadline. By Dan Williams and Fredrik Dahl JERUSALEM/VIENNA (Reuters) - Israel does not expect world powers to reach a nuclear agreement with Iran by a late July deadline, a government minister said on Friday, accusing Tehran of maintaining a \"hard line\" at talks under way in Vienna. Strategic Affairs Minister Yuval Steinitz spoke on the second day of what could be the final round of talks aimed at ending a decade-old international dispute over Iran's nuclear program that Israel sees as a threat to its existence. Steinitz led a high-level Israeli delegation to Washington on Monday, meeting U.S. negotiators Deputy Secretary of State Bill Burns and Under Secretary of State Wendy Sherman. Israel has repeatedly made clear its scepticism about the diplomatic push to reach an accord that would see Tehran scale back its nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief.","Turkish mine operator says no negligence in mine disaster. The operator of the Turkish mine where 284 workers were killed this week in Turkey's worst ever mining disaster said on Friday there was no negligence on the part of the company and that it still did not know the exact cause of the accident. There is no negligence of ours in this incident. We all worked heart and soul,\" said Akin Celik, the plant manager of the mine, run by Soma Holding. Writing by Daren Butler;","Key function of crashed Virgin spacecraft deployed early: investigators. By Irene Klotz MOJAVE Calif. (Reuters) - An investigation into the deadly crash of a Virgin Galactic spaceship has found that a function to help the craft descend into the atmosphere was deployed early, a federal safety official said on Sunday, adding pilot error could not be ruled out. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is leading the investigation into what caused the spacecraft to crash in California's Mojave Desert during a test flight on Friday, killing one pilot and badly injuring the other. ...","Thirteen bodies found in ex-rebel camp in C. Africa capital. Bangui (Central African Republic) (AFP) - Thirteen decomposing corpses have been discovered in a camp housing ex-rebels in the strife-torn Central African Republic, a prosecutor told AFP on Friday. The bodies \"were found in different places in the tank, which suggests that the people were thrown in there alive and struggled to get out,\" Ghislain Grezenguet, lead prosecutor in the capital Bangui, told AFP.","Australian ex-PM Howard 'embarrassed' by 2003 Iraq war dossier. Sydney (AFP) - Former Australian leader John Howard has said he was embarrassed that the US intelligence on weapons of mass destruction he used to send troops to Iraq in 2003 proved to be unfounded.","White House unveils dire warning, calls for action on climate. By Valerie Volcovici WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Obama administration on Tuesday released an updated report on how climate change requires urgent action to counter impacts that touch every corner of the country, from oyster growers in Washington State to maple syrup producers in Vermont. \"Climate change, once considered an issue for a distant future, has moved firmly into the present,\" the report said. Some environmental and public health groups hailed the National Climate Assessment as a possible “game changer” for efforts to address climate change, in part because it makes the impact less abstract to many Americans. The extensive report detailed how consequences of climate change are hitting on several fronts, including health, infrastructure, water supply, agriculture and especially in more frequent severe weather such as floods and droughts.","De Beers' new Canadian diamond mine delayed. (Reuters) - First production at De Beers' Gahcho Kue diamond mine in northern Canada could move to early 2017 because of shipping delays, the Anglo American Plc unit's chief executive, Phillipe Mellier, said in an interview. The mine had once been expected to start producing around December 2015, but regulatory restrictions limited shipments to Gahcho Kue this winter, delaying construction. Having missed this year's short shipping season, De Beers is hoping to get the approvals it needs to truck in more equipment and material next winter. Mellier said he expects production to start at the end of 2016 or the beginning of 2017.","Father kills son at cricket training in Australia. A mother spoke of her shock on Thursday after her estranged husband killed their 11-year-old son at cricket practice before being shot dead by police in front of horrified onlookers in suburban Australia. Luke Batty was beaten, reportedly with a cricket bat to the head, soon after training with his junior team on Wednesday evening at the Tyabb oval on the Mornington Peninsula, 100 kilometres (60 miles) southeast of Melbourne. \"I confirm that the male shot by police is the father of the child who is deceased and we're not looking for anyone else,\" police commander Doug Fryer told reporters. The tragedy left mother Rosie Batty, originally from Britain, traumatised.","South African Airways turns again to state for survival. Hapless and helpless, South Africa's struggling national carrier awaits news on a state cash injection vital to stay in the skies, but which shows up its inability to make money. Eighty years after its creation, loss-making South African Airways (SAA) battles with an ageing fleet and a weak national currency. \"It's not a secret that our balance sheet is very weak,\" chief financial officer Wolf Meyer admitted. \"There are currently discussions with the national Treasury, we hope that we get good news soon on the capitalisation,\" he said.","Former Real Madrid striker Joselu joins Hannover. HANNOVER, Germany (AP) — Hannover has signed former Real Madrid forward Joselu from Bundesliga rival Hoffenheim.","Germany's Gabriel says in Putin's hands whether we return to Cold War. German Vice-Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel said it was in Vladimir Putin's hands whether the Cold War era returned and a weekend referendum in Crimea, likely to violate Ukraine's territorial integrity, would bring a second stage of EU sanctions on Moscow. \"Germany is doing everything to prevent a third round of sanctions against Russia,\" he said, but added that at the same time if diplomacy failed, Europe should not hesitate to impose a third round of massive economic sanctions of Russia.","Official says sub will be used in search for jet. PERTH, Australia (AP) — Search crews will for the first time send a sub deep into the Indian Ocean to try to determine whether signals detected by sound-locating equipment are from the missing Malaysian plane's black boxes, the Australian head of the search said Monday.","Third of South Sudanese face starvation as conflict rages: U.N.. By Gwladys Fouche OSLO (Reuters) - More than a third of South Sudan's population, 4 million people, will be on the edge of starvation by the end of the year as fighting rages on in the world's newest country, U.N. officials said on Tuesday. Farmers should be planting their crops right now,\" Valerie Amos, the United Nations' aid chief, told a donors' conference in Oslo. \"If they don't, and if livestock herders are not able to migrate to grazing areas, people will run out of food.\" Violence erupted in the oil-producing country in December following a long power struggle between President Salva Kiir and his sacked deputy Riek Machar. Kiir told the BBC that \"the civilian population is going to face one of the worst famines that has ever been witnessed in South Sudan\" and appealed to Machar for an end to the conflict.","Spain arrests 13 more people in football fan fight. MADRID (AP) — Spanish police have made 13 more arrests of members of radical football groups who allegedly participated in a massive street brawl that left one man dead before a match between Atletico Madrid and Deportivo La Coruna last month.","IAEA says Iran agrees to address issues in nuclear bomb probe. Tehran has agreed to address by August 25 some issues related to a long-stalled IAEA investigation into suspected Iranian atomic bomb research, the U.N. International Atomic Energy Agency said on Wednesday. In a potentially important step forward in the IAEA's efforts to advance its investigation, it said Iran would exchange information \"with respect to the allegations related to the initiation of high explosives, including the conduct of large-scale high-explosives experimentation in Iran\". The issue was part of a landmark report issued by the IAEA in 2011 that included a trove of intelligence information pointing to past work in Iran that could be relevant for the development of nuclear weapons. Iran denies having worked on a nuclear weapons capability in any form.","Life in prison for killer of India's Bandit Queen. NEW DELHI (AP) — The upper-caste killer of India's famous \"Bandit Queen\" has been sentenced to life in prison by a court for gunning down the outlaw-turned-legislator who was idolized as a champion of the lower castes.","Nearly third of Indian cabinet charged with crimes, despite Modi pledge. By Andrew MacAskill NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Attempted murder, waging war on the state, criminal intimidation and fraud are some of the charges on the rap sheets of ministers Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi appointed to the cabinet on Sunday, jarring with his pledge to clean up politics.Seven of 21 new ministers face prosecution, taking the total in the 66-member cabinet to almost one third, a higher proportion than before the weekend expansion. At least five people in the cabinet have been charged with serious offences such as rape and rioting. ...","Kerry peace proposals 'unacceptable': Palestinian source. Ramallah (Palestinian Territories) (AFP) - Ideas proposed by US Secretary of State John Kerry to Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas cannot \"serve as the basis for a framework accord\" with Israel, a Palestinian official said Friday. \"The ideas proposed cannot be accepted by the Palestinian side as the basis for a framework accord between the Palestinians and Israel as they do not take into account the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people,\" he told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity, after Abbas and Kerry met in Paris this week.","South Africa's ANC rolls to victory, boosting Zuma reform clout. By Helen Nyambura-Mwaura and Xola Potelwa PRETORIA (Reuters) - The ruling African National Congress (ANC) swept toward victory in South Africa's fifth post-apartheid election on Thursday, handing President Jacob Zuma the clout to push through pro-business reforms in the face of union and leftist opposition. Burdened with sluggish economic growth and damaging strikes in his first term, the scandal-plagued Zuma has devoted less and less time over the last year to the wishes of unions, whose long walkouts have hit confidence in Africa's most developed economy. He has also batted away opposition from the far left, squelching some expectations the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) - led by his former protégé Julius Malema - would ride a wave of populist anger over widespread poverty and unemployment. The ANC, the liberation movement that swept to power two decades ago under the leadership of Nelson Mandela, had won 63 percent of Wednesday's vote with 85 percent of districts counted, the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) said.","NZ makes 303-5 in 5th ODI vs. India. WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — New Zealand made 303-5 batting first Friday in the fifth one-day international against India at Westpac Stadium:","NY court: No asylum for Chinese child-counter. NEW YORK (AP) — A federal appeals court has rejected asylum for a woman who it says helped the Chinese government limit childbirths.","Return to African (hair) roots in Ivory Coast. Remember the afro, the natural hairstyle forever synonymous with the \"black is beautiful\" movement championed by African-Americans in the 1960s? A group in Ivory Coast is trying to persuade black women to turn the page on their expensive hair-straighteners, extensions and wigs and go natural instead. Blending \"natural\" with \"happy\" to produce \"Nappy\", the group calls itself Nappys de Babi -- Babi being a nickname for Abidjan, Ivory Coast's bustling economic capital. Founded more than two years ago, the support group now boasts some 2,400 members, meeting every two months in Abidjan's trendy Cocody district to share advice, tips, and practical help about keeping their hair natural.","New US sanctions on Russian officials, companies. MANILA, Philippines (AP) — The White House says the United States is sanctioning seven Russian government officials and 17 companies with links to Russian President Vladimir Putin's inner circle.","Ukraine launches air strikes at eastern gunmen. DONETSK, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine's new president-elect promised Monday to negotiate an end to a pro-Russia insurgency in the east and said he was willing to begin talks with Moscow. Yet he described the separatists as \"Somali pirates\" and authorities in Kiev launched an airstrike against the militants occupying a major eastern airport.","Cricket-Test Series Pakistan v New Zealand scoreboard. Nov 19 (Infostrada Sports) - Scoreboard at tea on the third day in the second Test between Pakistan and New Zealand on Wednesday in Dubai, United Arab Emirates New Zealand 1st innings 403 (T. Latham 137; Z. Babar 4-137) Pakistan 1st innings (Overnight: 34-2)S. Masood b Sodhi 13 T. Umar st Watling b Craig 16 Az. Ali not out 57 Y. Khan c Craig b Neesham 72 Misbah-ul-Haq not out 23 Extras (lb-1) 1 Total (for 3 wickets, 78 overs) 182 Fall of wickets: 1-28 S. Masood,2-32 T. Umar,3-145 Y. KhanTo bat: A. Shafiq, S. Ahmed, Y. Shah, Z. Babar, E. Adil, R. AliBowling T. Boult 14 - 5 - 26 - 0 T. ...","Rising star Davies signs Ospreys deal. Cardiff (United Kingdom) (AFP) - Ospreys have signed International Rugby Board (IRB) junior world player of the year Sam Davies on a three-year deal, the Welsh region announced on Friday. The 20-year-old fly-half starred for Wales in last summer's Junior World Championship, helping them reach the final, and was subsequently honoured by the IRB. \"This is my home region and it's somewhere I am really happy to be,\" said Davies, who made 20 Ospreys appearances this season, and agreed a deal that will run until 2017.","Tears, shock as Netherlands mourns plane crash victims. Distraught and sobbing relatives poured into Amsterdam's Schiphol airport as the nation reeled from the news 154 of its citizens were aboard a Malaysian plane believed to have been shot down in Ukraine. Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur disappeared from radar screens before crashing with 298 people on board in strife-torn eastern Ukraine.","Physicist wins $1.3M tech prize for data storage. HELSINKI (AP) — British-American physicist Stuart Parkin has won the 1 million-euro ($1.3 million) Millennium Technology Prize for discoveries leading to a thousand-fold increase in digital data storage on magnetic disks.","Neymar and Rodriguez to duel in World Cup quarters. FORTALEZA, Brazil (AP) — Brazil striker Neymar and Colombia playmaker James Rodriguez have led their teams to the World Cup quarterfinals, dominating the attention and the scoring.","Nigeria set to overtake S.Africa as Africa's biggest economy. Nigeria, Africa's most populous country and largest oil producer, is set to emerge as the continent's biggest economy on Sunday when the results of an overdue rebasing of its gross domestic product are announced. Although United Nations statisticians recommend that countries rebase their GDP calculations every five years to reflect changes in the structure of production and consumption, Nigeria last carried out the exercise in 1990. So the new figures expected to be unveiled by Finance Minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iwela and top government statisticians from 2:00 pm (1300 GMT) are expected to place Nigeria ahead of continental powerhouse South Africa as new and fast-developing sectors such as telecoms, music and local film industry, Nollywood, are considered in the GDP rebasing. Following the adjustment, Nigeria's economy is expected to increase by as much as 60 percent, taking it from $264 billion past South Africa's $384 billion.","Alberta human rights tribunal should hear transgender teacher's case: judge. EDMONTON - A judge says a discrimination complaint filed by a transgender teacher who was fired from a Catholic school district for religious reasons should be heard by an Alberta human rights tribunal.","Piers Morgan interviewed by police in hacking case. LONDON (AP) — CNN host Piers Morgan has been interviewed by British police investigating suspected conspiracy to intercept telephone voicemails.","Allison Ross claims final Tournament of Hearts berth, will represent Quebec. VAL-D'OR, Que. - Allison Ross will be the hometown favourite at the 2014 Scotties Tournament of Hearts next month in Montreal after winning her second consecutive Quebec provincial women's curling championships on Saturday.","Image of Asia: Indonesian leader's personal trip. In this photo by Wong Maye-E, Indonesian President Joko Widodo, popularly known as \"Jokowi,\" and his wife Iriana congratulate their son Kaesang Pangarep, who received an international baccalaureate diploma at the Anglo Chinese School (International) in Singapore. The president attended Friday's ceremony after flying in economy class on a commercial flight from Jakarta. At the school, he also posed with VIPs and took selfies with other graduates. Cabinet Secretary Andi Widjojanto said Widodo chose not to take the presidential plane because it was a personal trip.","Official: Salvadoran gangs buying automatic rifles. SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador (AP) — A Salvadoran official says the country's street gangs are arming themselves with high-powered rifles and that some members have tried to join the army to get military training.","Stockholm old town shut down in bomb scare. HELSINKI (AP) — Stockholm police say they have closed off and evacuated parts of the city center because of threatening behavior by a man who claims he has a \"dangerous object\" on him.","Canadian retailers bet on technology in fight with U.S. giants. By Sayantani Ghosh and Solarina Ho TORONTO (Reuters) - Canadian retailers, scrambling to keep pace with the likes of Wal-Mart Stores Inc and Amazon.com Inc in an increasingly crowded market, are investing heavily in high-tech tools to lure shoppers. Companies have ramped up their efforts to address consumers' evolving shopping habits and to compete with rivals such as Wal-Mart, which is pouring more than C$30 million ($27.4 million) into Canadian e-commerce projects this year. Canadian Tire Corp , Hudson's Bay Co and Metro Inc are among those making technology investments. The tools, which include data analytics, mobile apps and online stores, have long been used by U.S.","Two held for killing S.Africa farmworker 'with oranges'. Two farmworkers have been arrested for allegedly killing a colleague by pelting him with oranges, South African police said Wednesday. A quarrel on a farm outside Tzaneen in the northern Limpopo province on Monday turned deadly when the two men armed themselves with fruit, said Lieutenant-Colonel Moatshe Ngoepe. \"Babanto Chauke, 38, and two men had a quarrel. The two allegedly started throwing loose oranges at him until he died,\" Ngoepe said.","Rebel leader in Ukraine: Black boxes found, will be given to international aviation authority. DONETSK, Ukraine (AP) — Rebel leader in Ukraine: Black boxes found, will be given to international aviation authority.","Real Madrid punished for fans' racist behavior. NYON, Switzerland (AP) — Champions League winner Real Madrid was punished by UEFA on Friday for racist behavior by its fans during a semifinal match against Bayern Munich.","NATO says 5 service members killed in Afghanistan. KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — NATO says five service members have been killed in attack in southern Afghanistan.","Toronto replaces disgraced mayor, rejects brother's bid for top job. By Andrea Hopkins TORONTO (Reuters) - Toronto voters replaced their notorious mayor, Rob Ford, on Monday and rejected an attempt by his brother to take the city's top job, electing instead a conservative politician and broadcaster who promised to unite a city divided by four years of scandal and vitriol. John Tory, a former Progressive Conservative party leader in Ontario, won the election in a closer-than-expected race, according to local media including CBC radio, fighting off a strong challenge by the mayor's brother, Doug Ford. ...","Syrian air strikes kill three near Lebanese border. Syrian air strikes near the Lebanese border town of Arsal killed three people and wounded seven on Friday, security sources said, in further spillover from Syria's civil war that has raised tensions across Lebanon. The sources said the dead were believed to be rebels involved in Syria's conflict but their nationality remained unclear. Mainly Sunni Syrian insurgents and Sunni allies from Lebanon are fighting to topple President Bashar al-Assad and they often use Arsal as a border crossing. Rockets fired by Sunni militants inside Syria later in the day wounded a woman and her two children in the Lebanese town of Britel, a stronghold of the pro-Assad Shi'ite Muslim militant group Hezbollah, 35 km (20 miles) south of Arsal.","Ukraine offensive sparks deadly clashes in Odessa. SLOVYANSK, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine's offensive to recapture an eastern city controlled by pro-Russia forces sharply escalated the crisis in the country's east and set off a clash Friday in the southern port of Odessa that police say killed 31 people.","Fitch Ratings downgrades Puerto Rico's debt. SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — The last of three credit rating agencies has downgraded Puerto Rico's debt by two notches to junk status.","Rwanda's island drug rehab centre -- or reform prison?. Surrounded by glittering waters, Rwanda's remote Iwawa island appears idyllic, but it has housed thousands of drug users, as well as reputedly those the authoritarian government deems unsuitable for society. Isaac Mugange was an alcoholic and heavy smoker of cannabis, but the 24-year computer technician was sent to the Iwawa Rehabilitation and Vocational Training Centre, a tiny island in the vast waters of Lake Kivu, to wean himself off drugs. Critics say Iwawa, officially set up to help drug addicts, also houses beggars, homeless people, street children and petty criminals -- or anyone who might taint the clean image Rwanda seeks to promote.","Venezuela's Maduro vows legal action against Harvard professor. By Andrew Cawthorne CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has called for legal action against a former government official who now teaches at Harvard University and wrote an opinion piece that contributed to a fall in the nation's bond prices earlier this week. Ricardo Hausmann, a Venezuelan planning minister in the 1990s, wrote that Venezuela was in arrears across various sectors of the economy and had \"defaulted\" on its people. \"So, should Venezuela default on its foreign bonds?\" he asked. Combined with pessimism on Wall Street over lack of market-friendly reforms, last week's article on Project Syndicate, a web portal that carries opinion pieces on global affairs, hit Venezuelan bond prices.","U.S. not ready to determine whether Burkina Faso takeover is a coup. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States said on Monday it was not ready to determine whether the takeover by Burkina Faso's army of the country amounted to a coup, a step that if taken could require a cutoff of U.S. assistance to the country. \"Right now the precise makeup of Burkina Faso's transitional government is an outstanding issue,\" State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said. \"We are certainly encouraging movement to a civilian-led transition and then of course elections,\" she added. ...","Militants attack near Pakistan border, killing 3. KHAR, Pakistan (AP) — Militants killed a Pakistan army captain and two soldiers in an attack early Saturday in a tribal region near its border with Afghanistan, an official said.","James carries Heat past Spurs to tie NBA Finals. SAN ANTONIO (AP) — LeBron James had 35 points and 10 rebounds in a powerful bounce back from cramps in the opener, and the Miami Heat leveled the NBA Finals with a 98-96 victory over the San Antonio Spurs in Game 2 on Sunday night.","World Cup title ends 10-year project for Germany. RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — The World Cup title for Joachim Loew and his \"golden generation\" crowned a process that was 10 years in the making. With a talented crop of new players coming through, the future looks bright for Germany.","Scottish MP says soft drink not as sugary as Celine Dion, Justine Bieber. SASKATOON - A brouhaha over Irn-Bru has prompted a Scottish politician to send crates of the popular Scottish soft drink to Justin Bieber and Celine Dion as an apology for dragging their names into the stew.","Bach: IOC sending troubleshooter to Rio next week. BELEK, Turkey (AP) — IOC President Thomas Bach is sending a senior troubleshooter to Brazil next week as part of a series of urgent measures to tackle the delays threatening the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.","Al Qaeda-backed group releases video of kidnapped U.N. peacekeepers. By Matt Siegel SYDNEY (Reuters) - An al Qaeda-backed militant group that seized 45 U.N. peacekeepers two weeks ago on the Golan Heights has posted a video in which the hostages, from the South Pacific nation of Fiji, say they expect to be released soon. The video, which was posted on the Nusra Front's Twitter and YouTube accounts on Wednesday but was apparently recorded a day earlier, appears to show the troops in a good condition, at points smiling and waving at the camera. On Wednesday, the head of Fiji's army said the Islamist militant group had dropped all of its demands to free the hostages, but at least slightly back-pedalled later in the day as the situation appeared to deteriorate. It was unclear whether the video, carried by the SITE monitoring service, was made before or after the confusion surrounding those comments, but a U.N. source earlier told Reuters that the militants had insisted on such a video as a condition for the peacekeepers' release.","Obama: Battle-hardened militants pose threat to US. WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama sees a rising threat that battle-hardened militants who have spent time in Syria and Iraq will be able to enter the United States on European passports.","Chile says tsunami alert to stay in place at least six hours. SANTIAGO (Reuters) - Chile's Interior Minister Rodrigo Penailillo said a tsunami alert for the country's coastline will remain in place for at least another six hours following a major earthquake. The magnitude 8.2 quake struck off the northern coast of Chile on Tuesday, triggering a tsunami that hit the northern part of the country, but the government said there was no serious damage and no reports of deaths. (Reporting by Anthony Esposito; Editing by Kim Coghill)","Down with a virus, McCartney cancels Tokyo concert. TOKYO (AP) — Paul McCartney has canceled a Tokyo concert after coming down with a virus, but has added a performance to make up for the loss.","Islamic State ordered 'demonstration killings' in Australia: PM. Sydney (AFP) - A series of anti-terror raids across Sydney and Brisbane were sparked by a senior Islamic State militant ordering \"demonstration killings\" in Australia, Prime Minister Tony Abbott said on Thursday.","Fukushima nuke worker life gets recorded as manga. TOKYO (AP) — First off, no one who works at Japan's wrecked nuclear power plant calls it Fukushima Dai-ichi, comic-book artist Kazuto Tatsuta says in his book about his time on the job. It's ichi efu, or 1F.","CIA chief visited Kiev at the weekend: White House. Washington (AFP) - Central Intelligence Agency director John Brennan visited Kiev at the weekend, the White House said Monday, amid US ire over the storming of official buildings in eastern Ukraine by pro-Russian gunmen.","AP PHOTOS: Jamboree events teach Cuban kids skills. HAVANA (AP) — Cuban children wearing red or blue neckerchiefs dance, jump and play in a complex of blocky, Soviet-style buildings with a giant red \"Che\" scrawled above the entrance.","Mexico doubles prison terms for kidnapping. MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico has doubled prison sentences for kidnapping after a surge in such crimes in recent years.","Arrest made in slaying of Venezuela ex-spy chief. CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Police say they have arrested a suspect in the murder of a former Venezuelan intelligence chief with close ties to the late Hugo Chavez.","Afghan leader's two-man government raises concerns. KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — President Ashraf Ghani has promised a complete overhaul of Afghanistan's government to root out corruption and incompetence, but after three months in office, three missed deadlines and countless promises, he and his election rival-turned-deputy have yet to appoint a single Cabinet minister.","US sends health official to Cuban Ebola meeting. HAVANA (AP) — The United States has sent a health official to a Cuban meeting on coordinating Latin America's response to Ebola. The participation of the Centers for Disease Control's Central America director is the most concrete sign to date of the two nations' expressed desire to cooperate against the disease.","C.Africa crisis risk to global security, says UN refugee chief. UN refugee chief Antonio Guterres warned Wednesday that the conflict in Central African Republic could embroil the whole region and threaten global security. \"It's not easy to put Central African Republic on the map of concerns of public opinion in general and governments in particular,\" Guterres told AFP. \"But the truth is that Central African Republic has the potential of generating levels of insecurity at regional level that can bind with other crises,\" he said in an interview. The resource-rich but impoverished country borders violence-wracked South Sudan, Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo, while other countries in the region such as Nigeria and Mali have also been mired in conflict and drought.","Albania takes 1st hurdle to EU membership. BRUSSELS (AP) — A senior official says the European Union has confirmed Albania as a candidate for EU membership.","Walker takes Volvo Ocean Race 1st-leg lead. ALICANTE, Spain (AP) — British skipper Ian Walker took the halfway lead in the first leg of the Volvo Ocean Race from Alicante to Cape Town on Sunday.","Air France pilots decide to end strike: union official. PARIS (Reuters) - Air France pilots have decided to end to a two-week strike that crippled the French airline, a union official told Reuters on Sunday. Air France had been locked in a dispute with pilots over plans to create a low-cost operation, triggering a walkout that has cost it up to 20 million euros ($25 million) a day. \"I can confirm that the SNPL (the airline's main union) has decided to put an end to the strike,\" Julien Doboz, spokesman for the sister Air France pilot union SPAF, told Reuters. Nobody at SNPL was immediately available for comment. ...","France has a point to prove; Messi set for action. RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — France is preparing for its first World Cup match since leaving South Africa in disgrace four years ago following a player strike and a group-stage exit.","Shiite cleric urges Iraqis to defend country. BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraq's Shiite clerical leadership Friday called on all Iraqis to defend their country from Sunni militants who have seized large swaths of territory, and a U.N. official expressed \"extreme alarm\" at reprisal killings in the offensive, citing reports of hundreds of dead and wounded.","Russia says no control over pro-Moscow force in Crimea. Madrid (AFP) - Russia said Wednesday it has no authority over pro-Moscow forces that have taken de-facto control of the Ukraine's majority-Russian Crimean Peninsula.","Cyprus president opts for limited reshuffle. NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) — Yiorgos Lakkotrypis will stay as Cyprus' energy minister after the country's president opted against a wide-ranging reshuffle to his Cabinet.","Saracens put Clermont to the sword to reach final. English side Saracens reached their first ever European Cup final with a record 46-6 victory over last year's finalists Clermont at Twickenham on Saturday. Saracens, who were beaten at Twickenham by Toulon in last year's semi-final, ran in six tries with England wing Chris Ashton scoring two of them to break the record for tries in a European Cup season with 11. Saracens made light of England fly-half Owen Farrell being unable to kick because he had not fully recovered from a right foot injury he suffered a fortnight ago with those duties going to fullback Alex Goode.","Volcano erupts on Cabo Verde island of Fogo: PM. PRAIA (Reuters) - A volcano in the Cabo Verde archipelago erupted on Sunday morning, prime minister Jose Maria Neves said in a government statement. It was not immediately clear if there were injuries or deaths following the eruption. The volcano on the island of Fogo last erupted in 1995. (Writing by Emma Farge; editing by Andrew Roche)","London theater to reopen after ceiling collapse. LONDON (AP) — The owner of a London theater whose ceiling partially collapsed in the middle of a performance says the venue will reopen next month.","TSX ends up in subdued trade; banks, railways rise. TORONTO (Reuters) - Canada's main stock index ended slightly higher on Friday, not far from all-time highs from earlier in the week, as banks and railway shares provided support and trading was quiet with U.S. markets closed for the July Fourth holiday. The Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index unofficially closed up 7.85 points, or 0.05 percent, at 15,214.96. (Reporting by Alastair Sharp; Editing by David Gregorio)","Canada approves Enbridge pipeline to West Coast. (Reuters) - The Canadian government approved the construction of Enbridge Inc's C$7.9 billion ($7.22 billion) Northern Gateway pipeline on Tuesday, contingent on the company meeting all conditions set out in a report by a regulatory panel. The federal review panel had urged the government to approve the project, which would link Alberta's oil sands with a Pacific port, after concluding that it would pose little risk to the environment if the company complied with 209 environmental, technical and social conditions.","Authorities break up pedophile ring. LONDON (AP) — Child abuse investigators say authorities have dismantled an organized crime group that live streamed child sexual abuse to order from the Philippines.","Activists in court over access to Sochi Games. SOCHI, Russia (AP) — Two Russian activists have filed a lawsuit against the Sochi Olympics organizers after they were barred from the games.","Australian teenager Kyrgios stuns Gasquet with comeback win. Australian teenager Nick Kyrgios staged a stunning comeback to beat French 13th seed Richard Gasquet 3-6 6-7(4) 6-4 7-5 10-8 in the second round of Wimbledon on Thursday after surviving nine match points. Having fended off a succession of match points, one of which was saved after a successful Hawkeye appeal on a second serve, he broke former semi-finalist Gasquet's serve at 8-8 in a deciding set that captivated the crowd for 71 minutes. The highly-rated Kyrgios, one of a batch of young Australians hoping to revive the fortunes of the former powerhouse nation, was serenaded by the yellow-clad Aussie fans who were set for a double-header on the bowl-like court with old favorite Lleyton Hewitt in action later on day four.","U.S. Senate panel votes to advance Bay, LaFleur at FERC. The U.S. Senate Energy Committee on Wednesday voted to advance the nominations of Norman Bay to be a commissioner of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, and of Cheryl LaFleur to a second term as commissioner at the utility agency. Bay's nomination was approved by a 13 to 9 vote and that of LaFleur, who is currently acting chair of FERC, advanced easily, by a 21 to 1 vote. Most Republican members voted against Bay, taking their lead from Alaska's Lisa Murkowski, the panel's top Republican.","2004 tsunami: Horror of 'colorful mess' revealed. Some 230,000 people were killed in the Indian Ocean tsunami set off by a magnitude 9.1 earthquake on Dec. 26, 2004. A dozen countries were hit, from Indonesia to India to Africa's east coast. Scores of Associated Press journalists covered the disaster, and as the 10th anniversary approached, the AP asked 10 of them to describe the images that have stuck with them the most. This is the third of their stories, which are being published daily through Dec. 26.","Britain says Russia has pushed Ukraine to the brink. Russia has deliberately pushed Ukraine \"to the brink\" in recent days and increased the risk of violent confrontation there, British Foreign Secretary William Hague will say on Tuesday in a speech in London. Hague's comments, released in advance by his office, come after Russia declared Ukraine to be on the verge of civil war and as Kiev said an \"anti-terrorist operation\" against pro-Moscow separatists was under way. \"In recent days Russia has deliberately pushed Ukraine to the brink, and created a still greater risk of violent confrontation,\" Hague will say, according to the extracts. \"Russia's behavior has laid bare the danger of the creation of concentrations of Russian economic, political and media power that subvert democratic institutions, particularly in South-Eastern Europe,\" he will say.","Iran's opposition leader transferred to his home. Iranian opposition figure Mehdi Karroubi, detained for three years at a safe house for orchestrating anti-government protests, has been moved home but still kept under house arrest, his son said Sunday. Karroubi and fellow opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi and Karroubi have been held incommunicado under separate house arrests since February 2011 for orchestrating massive, unprecedented street protests sparked by a disputed presidential election in 2009. Karroubi \"was transferred to his home last night,\" his son, Hossein Karroubi told ISNA news agency. The fate of Mousavi and Karroubi -- both of whom are reportedly suffering health problems -- has attracted global attention and triggered heated debates at home.","Fisherman killed by crocodile in Australian river. DARWIN, Australia (AP) — Police say a 57-year-old fisherman has been killed by a 4.5 meter (15-foot) crocodile in front of his wife while the couple fished in a northern Australian river notorious for the deadly predators.","Asian shares tumble as Obama authorizes air strikes in Iraq. By Lisa Twaronite TOKYO (Reuters) - Asian shares tumbled on Friday as investors sought out safe-haven assets on growing fears that conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East could sap global growth, extending losses after U.S. President Obama authorized air strikes in Iraq. The European Central Bank said after its monthly policy-setting meeting on Thursday that it stands ready to take further easing steps to stave off deflation, and warned that the Ukraine crisis poses a serious risk.","Asia shares falter on China PMI, bonds in demand. By Wayne Cole SYDNEY (Reuters) - Asian share markets took a turn lower on Monday after a survey of Chinese manufacturing disappointed, while the simmering conflict in Ukraine kept gold and bonds well bid. Australia's market reversed course to be down 0.2 percent , while MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan dipped 0.3 percent. Market holidays in Japan and South Korea thinned trade, as did caution over the crisis in Ukraine. On Wall Street, the Dow ended Friday 0.28 percent lower, while the S&P 500 lost 0.13 percent and the Nasdaq 0.09 percent.","Canada taxpayer data stolen in Heartbleed breach. Canada's tax-collection agency reported on Monday that the private information of some 900 people had been stolen from its computer systems as a result of vulnerabilities caused by the 'Heartbleed' bug. The breach allowed someone to extract social insurance numbers, which are used for employment and gaining access to government benefits, and possibly some other data, the Canada Revenue Agency said. \"Based on our analysis to date, Social Insurance Numbers (SIN) of approximately 900 taxpayers were removed from CRA systems by someone exploiting the Heartbleed vulnerability.","Key developments in disappearance of AirAsia jet. An AirAsia jet with 162 people on board disappeared Sunday morning while flying from western Indonesia to Singapore on a scheduled two-hour flight. Here's a look at the key developments:","Canadian home prices edge higher in December:Teranet. Canadian home prices edged up in December, reversing the loss seen the month before and returning the index to its all-time high, the Teranet-National Bank Composite House Price Index showed on Tuesday. The index, which measures price changes for repeat sales of single-family homes, showed national prices rose 0.1 percent last month from November.","England players told: Don't mention Falklands war. England's players have been ordered to avoid answering questions on the Falklands at the World Cup finals following Argentina's provocative actions, a British newspaper has claimed. Argentina's players unfurled an inflammatory banner ahead of their 2-0 friendly victory over Slovenia in La Plata on Saturday, expressing their belief the Falkland Islands, known as Las Malvinas in Argentina, belong to the South American nation. Britain and Argentina fought a short but bitter conflict in 1982 over the islands after the South Americans invaded the British territories. But according to the Daily Mail, England's management told their players: \"Don't answer questions on (the) Falklands.\"","NYC cabbie guilty of arranging Pakistan killings. NEW YORK (AP) — A New York City taxi driver was convicted Thursday of arranging two killings in Pakistan because he was dismayed that his daughter had left an arranged marriage.","Germany draws up plans to withdraw extremists' ID. BERLIN (AP) — Germany is drawing up plans to withdraw the identity cards of Islamic extremists suspected of planning to travel to Iraq or Syria to join terrorist groups.","BNP Paribas CEO tells employees bank facing heavy U.S. penalties. BNP Paribas Chief Executive Officer Jean-Laurent Bonnafe in a message to employees has warned that the French bank is facing heavy penalties following a U.S. probe into breaking sanctions which should end \"very soon\", a French TV channel reported on Saturday. BNP Paribas declined to comment but sources this week said the French bank is expected to plead guilty to a federal criminal charge and pay nearly $9 billion as part of a larger settlement with multiple enforcement authorities that could be announced as early as next week. \"I want to say it clearly, we are going to be heavily sanctioned,\" broadcaster iTele quoted Bonnafe as saying in an internal message posted on June 27. This will allow us to turn the page on these events.\"BNP Paribas is likely to be suspended from converting foreign currencies to dollars on behalf of clients in some businesses for as long as a year, sources familiar with the matter said this week.","China's Lu beats Garcia 6-2, 6-3 in Valencia Open. VALENCIA, Spain (AP) — Yen-Hsun Lu of China eased to a 6-2, 6-3 win over Spain's Guillermo Garcia-Lopez in the first round of the Valencia Open on Monday.","Israel says ready to keep up Gaza war after tunnels razed. JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel is prepared to continue fighting Palestinian guerrillas in the Gaza Strip after the army completes its primary mission of destroying cross-border tunnels from the territory, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Saturday. \"After completing the anti-tunnel operation, the IDF (Israel Defence Forces) will act and continue to act, in accordance with our security needs and only according to our defense needs, until we achieve our objective of restoring security to you, Israel's citizens,\" he said in a televised speech. ...","Polish PM says EU discussions on Russia sanctions 'stormy'. WARSAW (Reuters) - European Union leaders' decisions about sanctions on Russia at a meeting on Thursday may not go as far as some people would like, but they were still significant, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on Thursday. \"The discussions were stormy,\" Tusk told a news conference in Brussels broadcast on Polish television. \"Maybe not everybody will be satisfied, but we achieved more than could have been expected just a few hours ago.\" He also said that European leaders agreed to suspend preparations until further notice for a Group of Eight meeting in the Russian city of Sochi. ...","Canada sending troops to Poland for NATO exercise. LONDON, Ontario (AP) — Canada's prime minister says Canadian soldiers will take part in military exercises next week in Poland as part of NATO's response to the Ukraine crisis.","Estoril beats Maritimo to stay in 4th in Portugal. LISBON, Portugal (AP) — Estoril beat Maritimo 1-0 at home despite playing with 10 men for 50 minutes, increasing its hold on fourth place in the Portuguese league on Saturday.","Iran oil exports will be in line with sanctions target: U.S.. By Louis Charbonneau UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The United States on Friday dismissed suggestions that Iran was exporting much more oil than it is allowed to sell under a preliminary nuclear deal with world powers and predicted that aggregate Iranian oil sales would meet targets set for Tehran. The remarks from a senior U.S. official came ahead of a new round of senior-level negotiations between Iran and the United States, Britain, France, Germany, China and Russia in Vienna on April 8-9. It will be the third round of talks this year in the Austrian capital on a long-term deal with Iran. Under the interim nuclear deal agreed in November in Geneva, Iran's exports are supposed to be held at an average 1 million barrels per day for the six months to July 20.","Putin says Russia should aim to sell energy in roubles. YALTA Crimea (Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday Russia should aim to sell its oil and gas for roubles globally because the dollar monopoly in energy trade was damaging Russia's economy. \"We should act carefully. At the moment we are trying to agree with some countries to trade in national currencies,\" Putin said during a visit to the Crimea region, which Moscow annexed from Ukraine earlier this year. (Reporting by Alexei Anishchuk; Writing by Dmitry Zhdannikov; Editing by Christian Lowe)","10-man Romania beats host Greece 1-0. PIRAEUS, Greece (AP) — Ciprian Marica's 10th-minute penalty kick was enough to give Romania a 1-0 away victory over Greece in their opening Euro 2016 qualifier Sunday.","Steve Cherundolo ends career due to knee problems. HANNOVER, Germany (AP) — Hannover's United States defender Steve Cherundolo is ending his career immediately because of persistent knee problems.","20 die in Yemen Sunni tribe-Shiite rebel clashes: local officials. Sanaa (AFP) - Clashes between tribesmen and Shiite rebels advancing into the mainly Sunni southwestern province of Ibb killed 20 people Friday, local government officials said.","Chile creates DNA bank for Pinochet-era adoptions probe. Chilean authorities have created a bank of DNA data to help investigate suspected illegal adoptions under the regime of dictator Augusto Pinochet, in power 1973 to 1990. Chilean courts are probing more than a dozen cases of suspected illegal adoptions of newborns declared stillborn but in reality given to new families, according to the online newspaper Ciper.","Obama holds talks with Myanmar democracy champion Suu Kyi. US President Barack Obama began talks Friday with Myanmar's democracy champion Aung San Suu Kyi, in a show of support for the opposition leader as the nation turns towards elections next year with uncertainty over the direction of reforms. Obama met fellow Nobel laureate Suu Kyi at her lakeside villa in Myanmar's commercial capital Yangon, after arriving from the capital Naypyidaw where he discussed the nation's troubled reform process with President Thein Sein. Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) party is widely expected to sweep polls in late 2015, but its figurehead is banned from the presidency by a constitutional clause. Obama and Suu Kyi are due to hold a press conference after their talks in the garden of her villa in a reprise of their landmark meeting in 2012 which saw the US leader throw his political might behind Myanmar's transition from junta rule.","Saudi foreign minister says has invited Iranian counterpart to visit. Saudi Arabia has invited Iran's foreign minister to visit, Riyadh said on Tuesday, hinting at the possibility of a thaw between the Gulf's two biggest, most bitter rivals, who are at loggerheads over Syria's civil war. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has adopted a conciliatory tone towards Tehran's neighbors since taking office last year, but while Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has visited other Gulf Arab states, he has not yet been to Saudi Arabia. Relations between Iran and most of its Gulf Arab neighbors have been improving since Tehran agreed preliminary limits on its nuclear activity last year, but ties with arch-rival Saudi Arabia remained chilly.","CEO of Berlin's troubled new airport to step down. BERLIN (AP) — The chief executive of Berlin's troubled new airport has announced that he will step down, ending a two-year stint in charge of the project days after officials said it will begin operating in the second half of 2017.","Rights group publishes anti-Rohingya policies. YANGON, Myanmar (AP) — An independent human rights group says it has obtained documents directly implicating the Myanmar government in abusive and discriminatory policies targeting the country's minority Rohingya Muslim community.","Chile amends constitution to allow expat voting. SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) — Chile has reformed its constitution to give voting rights to citizens living outside the country. The measure was more than 20 years in the making, and is seen as a major victory for the many Chileans who left the country during its long dictatorship.","Belgian strike paralyzes traffic, idles industry. BRUSSELS (AP) — Trade unions are capping a month of labor action against government austerity policies with a general strike that has paralyzed air and rail traffic and idled companies throughout Belgium.","N. Korea marks end of Kim Jong Il mourning period. PYONGYANG, North Korea (AP) — North Korea marked the end of a three-year mourning period for the late leader Kim Jong Il on Wednesday, opening the way for his son, Kim Jong Un, to put a more personal stamp on the way the country is run.","Greek market overhaul angers retailers, opposition. ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greek associations of bakers, pharmacies, booksellers, and milk farmers expressed angry opposition to plans to overhaul trading rules, fearing they will wipe out independent stores and producers — as unions and opposition parties readied new anti-austerity protests.","Turkish president vows crackdown on pro-Kurd protests. Istanbul (AFP) - Turkey's government will seek new powers to crack down on violent demonstrations, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Sunday, after dozens died in a wave of Kurdish-led protests over Ankara's policies in Syria.","Suicide bomber kills four soldiers in Pakistan's tribal northwest. By Haji Mujtaba MIRANSHAH Pakistan (Reuters) - A suspected Taliban suicide bomber rammed a truck into a Pakistan military checkpoint on the border with Afghanistan on Monday, killing four soldiers, military officials said. The assault, which took place in Pakistan's North Waziristan tribal region, came just hours after Taliban militants disguised as security forces stormed Pakistan's busiest airport in the city of Karachi. \"The death toll could increase,\" a military official told Reuters.","Marine murder case reveals US-Philippine sore spot. MANILA, Philippines (AP) — American forces are guarding Marine Pfc. Joseph Scott Pemberton, yet a ring of Filipino troops surrounds them. The seemingly redundant security effort around the suspect in a Philippine murder case reflects Manila's uneasy ties with Washington, its former colonial master.","81 babies evacuated after Dominican hospital fire. SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic (AP) — A small fire at a hospital prompted authorities in the Dominican Republic to evacuate 81 babies from a neonatal intensive care unit. No one was injured.","Cuba: We're open to every part of Obama's detente. HAVANA (AP) — Cuba says it's open to every one of U.S. President Barack Obama's moves to improve relations between the two countries and strengthen private enterprise and civil society on the island.","Senate leader opposes Obama on quick trade deals. WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid says he opposes President Barack Obama's proposal for legislation letting Congress vote quick approval of trade deals with other countries.","Morocco's king urges partners to reactivate Maghreb Union. Morocco's King Mohamed VI Saturday called for the reactivation of the Arab Maghreb Union, which has been frozen since its 1989 launch, saying the five-nation body is key for regional development. The union, which is made up of Algeria, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco and Tunisia has stumbled over disputes among member states since its inception. The issue of the Western Sahara -- a former Spanish colony controlled by Morocco and claimed by the Algeria-backed separatists the Polisario Front -- is the main obstacle for the union. \"The Arab Maghreb Union is not an option or political luxury, it is a pressing popular demand and a strategic regional need that cannot be ignored,\" the king told Tunisia's national assembly.","Algeria triumph over Malawi in Africa qualifier. Johannesburg (AFP) - Algeria moved closer to qualifying for the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations with a 2-0 victory over Malawi in Blantyre Saturday.","Sochi activists detained ahead of closing ceremony. SOCHI, Russia (AP) — Two Russian activists have been detained in Sochi several hours ahead of the Winter Olympics closing ceremony.","Head of Mexico's federal police force resigns. MEXICO CITY (AP) — The Mexican official in charge of the nation's federal police force has resigned.","Iran's Rouhani donates $170,000 to Jewish hospital. TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has donated $170,000 to the country's only Jewish hospital, his second such gesture since taking office.","Ukraine president, in uniform, says determined to boost military. Ukraine's acting president, dressed in combat fatigues as Russia's military tightened its grip on the Crimea peninsula, said on Friday that the former Soviet republic was taking every possible measure to strengthen its military. Oleksander Turchinov, elected by parliament as speaker last month after the removal of a Moscow-backed president last month, praised troops taking part in exercises north of Kiev, saying they were \"carrying out their duties with honor\".","Saudi bans books at fair in wide-ranging crackdown. Saudi authorities have banned hundreds of books, including works by renowned Palestinian poet Mahmud Darwish, as part of a crackdown on publications deemed threatening to the conservative kingdom. Saudi Arabia clamped down on dissent following the Arab Spring uprisings of 2011, from which it has been largely spared, and has adopted an increasingly confrontational stance towards the Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamist groups it has long viewed as a threat to its security.","China shares plunge, other Asian markets falter. BEIJING (AP) — Chinese stocks plunged Tuesday in a break from a months-long boom and other Asian markets were lower on concern about feeble Chinese trade and Japan's recession.","World stocks mostly down as ECB, jobs report loom. World stock markets mostly retreated Thursday as investors awaited a European Central Bank policy meeting and a U.S. jobs report that might deliver a verdict on whether the Federal Reserve's withdrawal of stimulus was warranted.","UN warns Spain against migrant deportations. The UN on Tuesday warned Spain over plans to instantly deport migrants who clamber over the border fence into its north African territories, saying Madrid could end up breaking international law. \"UNHCR is concerned over a proposal by Spain to legalise automatic returns of people trying to cross border fences into its enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla,\" said the UN refugee agency's spokesman William Spindler. Spindler told reporters that UNHCR understood the \"complexity\" of border management in the two enclaves, which are tucked into Morocco's Mediterranean coast. \"UNHCR stresses the importance of permitting access to territory to seek international protection,\" he said.","UN's Ban calls for arms embargo on Syria. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Friday urged the Security Council to impose an arms embargo on Syria and called on neighboring countries to stop the flow of weapons across the border. Ban delivered a rallying cry for concerted international action to end Syria's devastating civil war, which has paralyzed the Security Council and killed more than 160,000 people. \"It is irresponsible for foreign powers and groups to give continued military support to parties in Syria that are committing atrocities. \"I urge the Security Council to impose an arms embargo.","Officials: Fire kills 21 in South Korean hospital. SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korean officials say 20 patients and a nurse have died in a fire at a hospital in the southwestern city of Jangseong.","24 African migrants drown off coast of Yemen. SANAA, Yemen (AP) — Yemen's Interior Ministry says coast guards have found the bodies of 24 African migrants whose boat has capsized off the country's western coast.","Chile: some services restored after quake. IQUIQUE, Chile (AP) — Chile says water, fuel, electricity and other essential services are being re-established three days after a magnitude-8.2 earthquake and hundreds of aftershocks that have rattled the country's far northern regions.","England wins toss, bowls 1st against India. CARDIFF, Wales (AP) — England has won the toss and will bowl first against India in the second one-day international in Cardiff on Wednesday as the two countries begin their long build-up to the World Cup.","Mexico manhunt after politician slain in Acapulco. ACAPULCO, Mexico (AP) — Mexican investigators are looking for at least three suspects in the weekend killing of a regional political leader at a historic Acapulco hotel.","Taiwan president invites protesters to talk about China trade pact. TAIPEI (Reuters) - Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou has invited the leaders of a student protest movement to his office in a bid to resolve an impasse about a controversial trade pact with mainland China. \"Without setting any preconditions, President Ma Ying-jeou is willing to invite student representatives to the presidential office for a dialogue about the cross-strait services trade agreement,\" Lee Jia-fei, Ma's spokesperson, said in a statement. ...","Ukraine minister moots state of emergency after activist raid. By Richard Balmforth KIEV (Reuters) - Ukraine's justice minister threatened on Monday to press for a state of emergency if protesters did not vacate a ministry building they occupied overnight in the third such action in street protests against President Viktor Yanukovich's rule. A State of Emergency would limit movements of people and vehicles, ban rallies, marches and strikes, suspend the activity of political parties and introduce a curfew. But about 50 masked men stormed into the justice ministry building in downtown Kiev and refused police orders to leave. Raising tension ahead of an emergency session of parliament on Tuesday called to defuse the crisis in which six people have been killed, Justice Minister Olena Lukash said: \"If the justice ministry building is not vacated immediately, I will be forced to appeal ... to the Council for National Security and Defense with a demand that introduction of a state of emergency in the country be discussed.\" The occupation of the ministry building was the third such action in four days.","Ryder Cup win 'icing on cake' for McIlroy. Edinburgh (AFP) - Europe's star-man Rory McIlroy said Sunday that winning next week's Ryder Cup would be \"the icing on the cake\" of a brilliant year.","Nadal, Azarenka into 4th round at Australian Open. MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Top-seeded Rafael Nadal and two-time defending champion Victoria Azarenka looked as if they were in a hurry to get out for late dinners Saturday while posting straight-set victories in their night matches at the Australian Open.","Senate approves new US ambassador to SKorea. WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate has confirmed Pentagon chief of staff Mark Lippert as the new U.S. ambassador to South Korea.","Brazil security forces raid Rio slum before WCup. RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — More than 2,000 Brazilian soldiers stormed into a Rio de Janeiro slum complex with armored personnel carriers in a bid to improve security two months before the start of the World Cup.","Outrage as French teens film assault on disabled man. Grenoble (France) (AFP) - Three French teenagers have been detained after they filmed themselves assaulting a young mentally disabled man and posted the footage on Facebook, sparking widespread outrage, a police source said Tuesday. The video filmed on Sunday in the southeastern town of Fontaine shows two of the boys pushing the 18-year-old in a park, making him fall and shouting at him before shoving him into a stream, from which the bewildered-looking victim emerges and walks away. The victim was not hurt in the incident, which Marie-Arlette Carlotti, junior minister for the disabled, described as \"hugely shocking\" and a \"barbaric assault\". The outrage over the filmed incident follows a similar outcry over a video posted on the Internet showing a 24-year-old Frenchman hurling a kitten through the air.","Russia replies to Canada's colorful map tweet. TORONTO (AP) — It began with Canada tweeting some not-so-friendly travel tips for the Russian military: a map showing Russia and labeling Ukraine as \"not Russia.\"","Thai justice minister questions latest court case threatening PM. By Amy Sawitta Lefevre BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thailand's justice minister on Wednesday questioned the validity of a court case that could lead to the scrapping of a February 2 election the ruling party looked set to win, one of many pending cases that could bring down the beleaguered government. The election was disrupted by anti-government protesters and any decision by the Constitutional Court to scrap it would add to the political chaos after 4-1/2 months of street rallies aimed at ousting Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra. The petition was brought by Kittipong Kamolthamwong, a law professor at Bangkok's Thammasat University, and forwarded by the state ombudsman's office. The Constitutional Court rejected a similar petition from the Democrat Party last month.","Keys out of Wimbledon with left thigh injury. LONDON (AP) — Madison Keys of the United States has withdrawn from her uncompleted third-round match at Wimbledon because of a left thigh injury, allowing Yaroslava Shvedova of Kazakhstan to advance.","Fog again delays Olympic men's biathlon. KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia (AP) — The men's 15-kilometer mass-start biathlon at the Olympics has been delayed for at least another 5 1⁄2 hours because of fog.","Malala, Satyarthi receive Nobel Peace Prize. OSLO, Norway (AP) — Malala Yousafzai of Pakistan and Kailash Satyarthi of India have received the Nobel Peace Prize for risking their lives to fight for children's rights.","Iran says UN experts to inspect Gachin mine this month. Iran's Atomic Energy Organisation said on Friday that UN nuclear experts will inspect its Gachin uranium mine this month, almost nine years since they last visited the site. \"The inspectors of the International Atomic Energy Agency will travel to Tehran on January 29 to visit Gachin mine,\" AEO spokesman Behrouz Kamalvandi said, quoted by the official IRNA news agency. Iran and the IAEA agreed a framework deal in November that includes six steps Tehran must carry out by February 11.","Sprenger withdraws from Aussie squad for Pan Pacs. BRISBANE, Australia (AP) — World champion Christian Sprenger has withdrawn from Australia's squad for the Pan Pacific championships due to a shoulder injury.","Bahrain bans three clerics from preaching; opposition condemns move. Bahrain has banned three Muslim clerics from preaching in mosques, accusing them of violating the \"ethics and principles of religious discourse\", in what opposition activists said was part of a crackdown on dissent. State news agency BNA said the Ministry of Justice and Islamic Affairs and Interior Ministry of the Sunni Muslim-ruled kingdom had forbidden Sheikh Kamel al-Hashemi, Adel al-Hamad and Mohammed al-Mansi to preach in and around the capital Manama. It said the three had ignored warning from authorities to stick to rules set for preachers. Majority Shi'ites led mass protests in the island state in 2011.","England calls up Fijian-born soldier. LONDON (AP) — England has given Fijian-born soldier Semesa Rokoduguni his first call-up and left out Chris Ashton and Danny Cipriani from a 33-man squad for the November tests against the southern hemisphere's heavyweights.","Yahoo second-quarter net revenue declines to $1.04 billion. SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Yahoo Inc's revenue declined in the second quarter as the Internet company's rates for online display ads plummeted by 24 percent, it said on Tuesday. Yahoo's net revenue, which excludes fees paid to partner websites, decreased 3 percent year-on-year to $1.04 billion in the three months ended June 30. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S were looking for net revenue of $1.084 billion. (Reporting by Alexei Oreskovic; Editing by Richard Chang)","TSX opens lower as banks, industrials fall. TORONTO (Reuters) - Canada's main stock index opened lower on Thursday after reaching a 2-1/2-year high in the previous session, as declines in the financial and industrial sectors weighed on the market. The Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index was down 20.40 points, or 0.15 percent, at 13,752.18 shortly after the open. (Reporting by John Tilak; Editing by James Dalgleish)","China court raps clinic over 'gay conversion' therapy. A Beijing court Friday ordered a psychological clinic to pay compensation to a homosexual man for administering electric shocks in an attempt to make him heterosexual, an unprecedented ruling on so-called conversion therapy. The plaintiff, a gay man named Yang Teng, said he felt traumatised when he received the shocks after being told to have sexual thoughts involving men. Yang said the court also ruled it wasn't necessary to administer the shocks since homosexuality did not require treatment. \"I'm going to take this verdict and show it to my parents so they can see a Chinese court said homosexuality isn't a mental illness,\" Yang told AFP.","Ex-Goldman director Gupta loses appeal of $13.9 million fine, heads to prison. By Joseph Ax and Jonathan Stempel NEW YORK (Reuters) - Former Goldman Sachs Group Inc director Rajat Gupta on Tuesday lost his challenge to a $13.9 million civil penalty and a permanent ban from acting as an officer for a public company, the same day he was scheduled to begin serving a two-year prison sentence. In a brief order, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected Gupta's claim that the penalty and ban were excessive. A federal jury convicted the 65-year-old in June 2012 of passing confidential information he learned from Goldman board meetings to Raj Rajaratnam, the former billionaire and founder of the Galleon Group hedge fund. Rajaratnam is serving an 11-year prison sentence.","Oil price falls to near $97 a barrel. The price of oil dropped Monday after a survey released on the weekend showed a slight deterioration in China's manufacturing.","Ariel Sharon, former Israeli PM, dies at 85. JERUSALEM (AP) — Ariel Sharon, the hard-charging Israeli general and prime minister who was admired and hated for his battlefield exploits and ambitions to reshape the Middle East, died Saturday, eight years after a stroke left him in a coma from which he never awoke. He was 85.","First major voting in India as anti-graft party faces test. Voters went to the polls in New Delhi Thursday on the first major day of India's marathon national election, with the capital a key battleground for an anti-corruption party which shot to fame last year. As well as the capital and its 17 million residents, ballots were cast in densely populated rural constituencies in northern India where the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) -- seen as the election frontrunner -- is expected to poll strongly. But Thursday was of particular importance for the 18-month-old anti-corruption Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) which triumphed in the Delhi state election last December and is now contesting more than 400 parliamentary seats nationally. Seen as a potential challenge to India's established political parties earlier this year, there were signs of disillusionment among some early voters after AAP's troubled time running the Delhi government.","Morgan baffled by England's sorry show against Sri Lanka. Chester-le-Street (United Kingdom) (AFP) - Eoin Morgan, England's captain in place of the injured Alastair Cook, was left bemused by the scale of their defeat in the second one-day international against Sri Lanka at the Riverside. England were beaten by 157 runs after scoring only 99 -- their fifth-lowest score in ODI cricket in reply to the tourists' 256-8. At one stage, England were in danger of failing to beat their worst-ever innings of 86 against Australia in 2001, but Morgan's defiant 40 avoided that humiliation. He was the only batsman to cope with Sri Lanka's attack, underlining the failings of his teammates, with Ian Bell the next highest scorer with just 12 runs.","Thai stocks sink as martial law declared. HONG KONG (AP) — Thailand's stock market and currency fell Tuesday after the military declared martial law in what it called an attempt to stabilize the country's precarious political situation.","Gonzalo strengthens into major hurricane, aims for Bermuda: NHC. (Reuters) - Gonzalo strengthened into a major hurricane over the open Atlantic on Tuesday and was on a path toward Bermuda, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said. It said the Category 3 hurricane was expected to strengthen further on its way to the British territory, which is the world's reinsurance center. It was expected to reach Bermuda on Friday morning. The Miami-based hurricane center said the storm was located about 770 miles (1,240 km) south of Bermuda in late afternoon and had maximum sustained winds of 115 miles per hour (185 kph). (Reporting by Sandra Maler; Editing by Jim Loney)","Germany organizing conference on refugee crisis. BERLIN (AP) — Germany's Foreign Ministry says it is organizing an international conference on the refugee crisis resulting from the conflicts in Syria and Iraq.","Penguin-bot is a happy feat for science. An international team tested the rover, with and without the fake chick addition, on king penguins on Possession Island in the Indian Ocean, and on Emperor penguins in Antarctica. \"When the rover was camouflaged with a penguin model, all adult and chick emperor penguins allowed it to approach close enough for an electronic identification,\" they wrote. A picture of the penguin-bot shows a ball of fluff complete with flippers, sharp beak and face painted in the distinct black-and-white colouring of Emperor penguin chicks perched on top of a small frame with four wheels.","'Do not disappoint', Nigeria's new top brass told. Nigeria's President Goodluck Jonathan on Wednesday called on his new military top brass not to disappoint the nation in their task to crush the Boko Haram insurgency. The previous chief of defence staff and the three heads of the army, navy and air force were dismissed on January 16, two days after a car bomb ripped through a market in Maiduguri, killing 19. The capital of Borno state, in northeast Nigeria, was also targeted in early December last year, when Boko Haram fighters stormed military installations near the city's airport. The fight against the Islamist group, deemed an international terrorist organisation by the United States, is Nigeria's most pressing security concern.","Israel approves new housing in east Jerusalem. JERUSALEM (AP) — Jerusalem's city government says it has granted building permits for 184 housing units in Jewish areas of east Jerusalem.","Officials: 10 killed in exchange of fire in Sinai. EL-ARISH, Egypt (AP) — Egyptian security officials say seven civilians and three militants have been killed in an exchange of fire between militants and the army in North Sinai.","Austrian Airlines dealt setback by EU court ruling. The European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruled on Thursday that collective wage agreements also apply to labour contracts after a transfer of operations, Austrian Airlines (AUA) said, in what appeared to be a setback to its cost-cutting plans. The ruling addressed a dispute over whether AUA, owned by Germany's Lufthansa , could unilaterally cancel a previous labour agreement when it transferred its flight operations to its lower-cost Tyrolean Airways unit in 2012.","Train believed to be carrying propane derails in eastern Canada. A train believed to be carrying propane has derailed in the eastern Canadian province of Nova Scotia, but the containers are not leaking, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police said on Monday. Two people were aboard the train and no injuries have been reported, said Corporal Scott MacRae. \"Some containers are on their side and are believed to contain propane. Both Canadian National Railway, the country's largest rail operator, and Canadian Pacific Railway, the No. 2 carrier, said they did not operate the train nor own the line involved.","Russia says Ukraine forces seeking to disrupt its humanitarian mission. Russian on Friday accused Ukraine of attempting to disrupt a Russian humanitarian aid mission to eastern Ukraine and called for a ceasefire in the region to allow for the deliveries. \"We draw attention to the sharp intensification of military action by Ukrainian forces with the apparent aim to stop the path, agreed on with Kiev, of a humanitarian convoy across the Russia-Ukraine border,\" the Foreign Ministry said in a statement. Ukraine's President Petro Poroshenko earlier said artillery destroyed a \"significant\" part of a Russian armored column that crossed into Ukraine during the night.","EU imposes new sanctions against Russian officials. BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union agreed Tuesday to impose new sanctions against officials deemed responsible for Russia's actions in Ukraine, amid mounting international anger after a Malaysia Airlines plane was shot down over rebel-held territory.","Egypt military offensive kills 8 Sinai militants. EL-ARISH, Egypt (AP) — Egyptian military officials say that troops backed by helicopters and armored vehicles have killed eight militants in the northern Sinai Peninsula, part of a continued offensive against rising militancy in the volatile region.","Australia's foreign affairs dept evacuated over suspicious package: police. SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade in the capital, Canberra, was evacuated on Tuesday after a suspicious package was found in the building's canteen, police said. Few other details were available. Australia is on high alert after heavily armed police stormed a Sydney cafe early on Tuesday morning and freed terrified hostages being held there at gunpoint for 16 hours. Two hostages and the gunman were killed, police said. (Reporting by Matt Siegel; Editing by Paul Tait)","India's opposition headed for election landslide. NEW DELHI (AP) — Indian opposition leader Narendra Modi appeared headed for a landslide win Friday as results began pouring in from the country's weekslong general election, with his party easily driving out the long-dominant Congress party in the world's biggest democracy.","Fiat shares plunge over Chrysler merger worries. MILAN (AP) — Fiat shares have been suspended temporarily after an excessive drop due to investor concerns that a planned merger with Chrysler may be blocked.","Moderate Muslim leader killed in Kenya. NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Gunmen shot and killed a moderate Muslim leader on Tuesday, an official said, the fourth prominent Muslim to be shot dead in the coastal city of Mombasa in two years.","England fined for slow over rate at T20. CHITTAGONG, Bangladesh (AP) — England has been fined for maintaining a slow over rate during its World Twenty20 win against Sri Lanka at Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium.","Japan's lower house elects Shinzo Abe as prime minister for another term after election win. TOKYO (AP) — Japan's lower house elects Shinzo Abe as prime minister for another term after election win.","Thousands stranded as Filipinos brace for super typhoon Hagupit. MANILA (Reuters) - Ports were shut across the Philippines, leaving thousands of travelers stranded, and some local governments ordered forced evacuations on Friday as super-typhoon Hagupit swept towards eastern coasts of the island nation. More than 2,000 passengers were stuck in ports in Manila, the central Philippines and Mindanao island in the south after the coastguard stopped sea travel ahead of the category 5 storm, which could hit areas devastated by typhoon Haiyan last year. ...","India has 4th shooting gold at Commonwealth Games. GLASGOW, Scotland (AP) — India won its fourth shooting gold medal of the Commonwealth Games when Jitu Rai won the 50-meter pistol event Monday.","UN chief urges Israel to 'do far more' to spare Gaza civilians. United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon urged Israel to \"exercise maximum restraint\" and spare the lives of civilians in its campaign in Gaza, where Sunday's Palestinian death toll passed 100. He also condemned the \"atrocious action\" of Israel in Shejaiya, near Gaza city, where a blistering hour-long assault at dawn left 62 people dead and at least 250 people wounded. \"While I was en route to Doha, dozens more civilians, including children had been killed in Israeli military strikes in Shejaiya. I condemn this atrocious action,\" he told a press conference in Doha, his first stop on a regional trip aimed at bringing an end to the fighting.","Brazil police arrest suspected Mexican trafficker. SAO PAULO (AP) — Brazilian police say they have arrested a suspected Mexican drug trafficker in Brazil for the World Cup.","Protesters in Hong Kong to vote on government proposals. By Diana Chan and Donny Kwok HONG KONG (Reuters) - Pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong say they will hold a straw poll on government proposals they had rejected earlier in the week as the campaign in the Chinese-controlled city entered the fifth week on Friday. With crowds likely to swell at the weekend, student leaders late on Thursday announced a plan for an electronic poll of protesters on reform proposals tabled by senior city government officials in talks on Tuesday that failed to break the deadlock. ...","Florence official: Kardashian-West to wed May 24. ROME (AP) — Kim Kardashian and Kanye West will get married at Florence's imposing 16th century Belvedere Fort on May 24, a spokeswoman at the Florence mayor's office said Friday.","Cricket-Australia 178-8 (20 overs) v West Indies - World Twenty20. MIRPUR, Bangladesh, March 28 (Reuters) - Australia scored 178 for eight against West Indies in their World Twenty20 Super 10 Group Two match at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium on Friday. Australia won the toss. Score: Australia 178-8 in 20 overs (Glenn Maxwell 45, Brad Hodge 35; Sunil Narine 2-19, Marlon Samuels 2-20, Samuel Badree 2-37) (Reporting by Amlan Chakraborty; editing by Tony Jimenez)","Thai junta to explain itself to international rights groups. By Amy Sawitta Lefevre and Pracha Hariraksapitak BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thailand's junta said on Monday it had ordered the Thai ambassadors to the United States and Britain to meet human rights groups in an effort to \"create understanding\" about last month's seizure of power. Rights groups have urged the ruling National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) to curb its powers to detain and prosecute civilians. \"The NCPO has ordered Thailand's ambassadors in New York and London to meet representatives from Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International to create understanding,\" Yongyuth Mayalarp, a spokesman for the NCPO, told reporters.","U.N. says at least 2,417 Iraqis killed in June. At least 2,417 Iraqis were killed and 2,287 wounded in \"acts of violence and terrorism\" in Iraq in June, the United Nations said in a statement on Tuesday. \"The staggering number of civilian casualties in one month points to the urgent need for all to ensure that civilians are protected,\" the Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General for Iraq Nickolay Mladenov said.","Islamic militants claim this week's Nigeria blast. LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) — Islamic extremists Saturday claimed responsibility for the massive rush-hour explosion earlier this week that ripped through a busy bus station in Nigeria's capital, Abuja, killing at least 75 people and wounding 141.","Chrysler names Bigland to head Alfa Romeo brand in North America. Chrysler Group LLC said on Monday its head of U.S. sales, Reid Bigland, has been appointed to lead the Alfa Romeo brand for North America, as it prepares for a relaunch aimed at reaching sales of 150,000 in four years. Bigland, 47, joined Chrysler in 2006 as the head of its Canadian operations, a position he continues to maintain. He will be in charge of relaunching the sporty Alfa Romeo brand, which has not been sold in the United States and Canada since 1996. Chrysler, which is owned by Fiat SpA , also announced that Robert Hegbloom will head its Ram Truck brand.","FIFA says World Cup unfair demo target. Anti-World Cup campaigners in Brazil have threatened demonstrations during the showcase tournament next month but FIFA insisted Monday that it would be an unfair target. Insecurity and fears of a repeat of demonstrations last year involving hundreds of thousands of people have bedevilled the buildup to the World Cup already hit by stadium delays. FIFA secretary general Jerome Valcke says Brazil has social problems and that new demonstrations cannot be ruled out but that people are wrong to say the $11 billion cost is a waste of money.","Acting Libyan PM refuses to yield power, calls for Congress ruling. Libya's acting prime minister, Abdullah Al-Thinni, on Wednesday refused to hand over power to newly elected premier Ahmed Maiteeq, and called on lawmakers to hold a session to resolve the political conflict. Thinni said he had received conflicting orders from Libya's divided parliament and would continue in his caretaker post until the situation was clarified by lawmakers. \"The conflict is mainly taking place under the roof of the Congress,\" Thinni told a news conference. \"I call on Congress members to wisely discuss their dispute, step away from their interests, and to give priority to the interests of the country to avoid bloodshed.\" (Reporting by Ahmed Elumami;","Russia to complete troop pullback from Ukraine border 'within days': deputy defense minister. Russia will pull back all forces deployed to regions near its border with Ukraine \"within a few days\", its deputy defense minister said on Friday, a move that if carried out could ease tensions before Ukraine's presidential election on Sunday. Moscow has concentrated tens of thousands of troops across the border from eastern Ukraine where pro-Russian separatists have declared two independent states. Asked whether Russia would comply with Western calls for a withdrawal of its troops near the Ukraine frontier, Deputy Defense Minister Anatoly Antonov told Reuters: \"They will see it - 100 percent ... We will leave less than nothing behind.\" He said that Russia had already moved 20 transport planes and 20 trains worth of personnel and military equipment out of the provinces of Rostov, Belgorod and Bryansk flanking Ukraine after completing what he said were military exercises there.","Groundhog handlers say Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow, forecasting 6 more weeks of winter. PUNXSUTAWNEY, Pa. - The handlers for groundhog Punxsutawney Phil say he's forecasting six more weeks of what already has felt like a brutally long and cold winter.","Bulgarian Socialists face fourth no-confidence vote. Bulgaria's Socialist-led government is expected to survive a confidence vote in parliament next week, the fourth in seven months filed by the opposition. The main opposition party, GERB, filed the motion on Friday. It accuses the government of failing to overhaul the country's opaque energy sector and conduct its South Stream pipeline project in line with EU rules. The future of the 2,400-km (1,490-mile) pipeline would carry gas from Russia via the Black Sea to Europe, avoiding Ukraine, but its future is unclear since Russia's annexation of Crimea.","Biden in Central America to discuss migrant crisis. GUATEMALA CITY (AP) — The Obama administration moved Friday to stem a flood of Central American children and families that has overwhelmed the U.S. immigration system, sending Vice President Joe Biden to the region to warn against the perils of the trip and announcing it will start to detain families at the border instead of releasing them on their own recognizance.","Al-Jazeera America logs first anniversary. NEW YORK (AP) — Al-Jazeera America marks its first anniversary on the air next week, and if you haven't watched much, you're not alone.","Caymans-bound cruise ship plucks Cuban migrants from wooden boat. By Peter Polack GEORGE TOWN, Cayman Islands (Reuters) - Twenty-four Cubans were rescued from a rickety wooden boat by a passing cruise liner which took them to the Cayman Islands, ship owner Carnival Corp said, as growing numbers of migrants try to sail to Central America and eventually reach the United States. Officials in the Caymans said last year more Cuban boats were being spotted in its territorial waters, often headed for Honduras, from where migrants make the long journey overland to reach the U.S. border with Mexico. \"In keeping with a longtime tradition of aiding mariners in distress, Carnival Paradise altered its course and brought on board 24 individuals from Cuba who were provided with food, water, fresh clothing and accommodations and evaluated by the ship's medical team,\" Carnival said in a statement emailed to Reuters on Thursday. Under an existing agreement between Cuba and the Cayman Islands government, the rescued Cubans will likely be repatriated.","Campaigners call for end to 'illegal' corruption court in Senegal. Rights campaigners have called for a special anti-corruption court trying the son of former Senegalese president Abdoulaye Wade to be disbanded, claiming it violates international law. Karim Wade is due to go on trial on July 31, accused of corruptly acquiring a fortune of $242 million (178 million euros) when he was a \"super minister\" in his father's cabinet. A group of campaigning organisations including the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and the Senegalese League of Human Rights (LSDH) released a statement late Friday claiming the court did not conform with international legal standards. \"Fighting against corruption and illicit enrichment is legitimate but the (court) allows no possibility of appeal, and its rules and procedures reverse the burden of proof,\" Assane Dioma Ndiaye, president of the LSDH, said in the statement.","Japan export growth slows, maintains policy pressure on Abe. By Tetsushi Kajimoto TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's exports grew for a third straight month in November from a year earlier, but much more slowly than expected and despite a sharp fall in the yen, maintaining economic policy pressure on Prime Minister Shinzo Abe days after his ruling coalition's big election win. The 4.9 percent rise in exports was much weaker than a 7.0 percent gain seen by economists in a Reuters poll, slowing from a 9.6 percent gain in October, Ministry of Finance data showed. ...","Crimea asks to join Russia as West readies sanctions. Simferopol (Ukraine) (AFP) - Crimea declared independence Monday and applied to join Russia while the Kremlin braced for sanctions after the flashpoint peninsula voted to leave Ukraine in a referendum that has sparked the worst East-West crisis since the Cold War. Officials results from Sunday's poll showed 96.6 percent of the voters in the mostly-Russian speaking region opting to switch to Kremlin rule in the most radical redrawing of the map of Europe since Kosovo's 2008 declaration of independence from Serbia. \"Crimea appeals to the United Nations and to all countries of the world to recognise it as an independent state,\" said a declaration adopted by the region's Russian-backed assembly. Ukraine's interim president Oleksandr Turchynov denounced the vote as a \"great farce\" and watched from a podium as agitated lawmakers approved a partial mobilisation of the army aimed at countering Russian troops' effective seizure of Crimea at the beginning of March.","Afghanistan cracks down on advertising in favor of U.S. troops. By Hamid Shalizi KABUL (Reuters) - Afghanistan's government, increasingly at odds with Washington, is cracking down on advertisements that promote keeping U.S. troops in the country after 2014 and has already shut down a spot aired by the country's most widely watched broadcasters. The commercials - some funded by a U.S. organization - have drawn official criticism because they urge President Hamid Karzai to abandon his refusal to sign a security pact with the United States that would enable the troops to stay. \"We have launched an investigation into broadcasters to find out where they receive money from for such advertisements,\" Basir Azizi, a spokesman for the attorney general, told Reuters on Wednesday. Despite Karzai's refusal to sign the Bilateral Security Agreement (BSA) unless several conditions were met, many Afghans are uncertain the army is able to fend off Taliban insurgents without help from the NATO-led ISAF coalition of troops.","Kremlin says Russia is sending humanitarian convoy into Ukraine in cooperation with Red Cross. MOSCOW (AP) — Kremlin says Russia is sending humanitarian convoy into Ukraine in cooperation with Red Cross.","Lorde surprised with Billboard nominations. MEXICO CITY (AP) — Pop singer Lorde says she's surprised to hear she is one of the most nominated artists for next month's Billboard Music Awards.","Flood-hit Zimbabwe seeks $20 million in relief aid. Zimbabwean authorities on Tuesday launched an international appeal for $20 million to help some 20,000 people displaced by flooding in the south of the country following torrential rains. \"The government of the republic of Zimbabwe is appealing for US$20 million from the international community to meet urgent humanitarian needs for affected communities,\" Local Government Minister Ignatius Chombo told Western diplomats and aid agency officials in Harare. No death has been recorded so far, but President Robert Mugabe declared a state of national disaster on Sunday. Tokwe-Mukorsi dam, 400 kilometres ( 250 miles) south of Harare, is being built by an Italian contractor, Salini S.p.A.","Netherlands to contribute F-16s to mission against IS: report. AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - The Dutch government on Wednesday will discuss contributing four F-16 fighter jets to the U.S.-led military operation against Islamic State, national news agency ANP reported. A special cabinet meeting was called by the government of Prime Minister Mark Rutte for later on Wednesday to consider what role the Netherlands should play in the air strikes against insurgents in Iraq and Syria. The U.S. on Tuesday launched air strikes against militant targets in Syria for the first time. The Netherlands was not among the nations approached by U.S. ...","Ex-NFL lineman tops bill for Pyongyang fight night. TOKYO (AP) — Former NFL player Bob \"The Beast\" Sapp isn't exactly a household name back home in the United States. But he's big in Japan. Very big. And soon he hopes to be living large — for a week, anyway — in North Korea.","Etihad Airways sees 29% revenue surge in Q3. Abu Dhabi (AFP) - Abu Dhabi's Etihad Airways said Tuesday it posted a 29 percent surge in revenue to $1.8 billion in the third quarter, thanks to rising numbers of passengers and cargo volume.","Australia, New Zealand boost cycling dominance. Oceanic powerhouses Australia and New Zealand added to their already impressive Commonwealth Games cycling medal hauls with another dominant day on the track on Friday. Australia's Jack Bobridge claimed his second gold of the Games as he retained his men's 4000m individual pursuit title to add to the team pursuit gold he won on Thursday. New Zealand claimed bronze as veteran Marc Ryan powered home ahead of Owain Doull from Wales. There was more success for the Kiwis as Sam Webster won a thrilling men's sprint final against England's Jason Kenny.","Eleven dead in Valparaiso blaze, 500 houses destroyed. By Anthony Esposito VALPARAISO, Chile (Reuters) - At least 11 people were killed and 500 houses destroyed over the weekend by a fire that ripped through parts of Chilean port city Valparaiso, as authorities evacuated thousands and used aircraft to battle the blaze. Pushed by strong Pacific coast winds, the fire rampaged over 700 hectares (1,729 acres) of forest and hilly residential neighborhoods including La Cruz and Las Canas, local authorities said. Some 1,200 firefighters were battling the blaze, using three planes and four helicopters to drop water on the flames. At daybreak on Sunday, Valparaiso was a stench-filled scene of smoke, ash and sirens as residents picked through the remains of their homes and firefighters struggled to put out active points of the blaze that stubbornly remained.","Greece secures votes to pass reform bill demanded by EU/IMF lenders. Greece's government secured enough votes in parliament early on Monday to pass a key reform bill demanded by its international lenders, in exchange for further bailout loans to avoid default. A majority of deputies voted in favor of the reform measures Athens agreed earlier this month with the European Union and the International Monetary Fund, after more than six months of tough negotiations. Passing the bill was a condition for Greece to qualify for fresh bailout aid it needs to repay 9.3 billion euros of debt maturing in May. But it also gives a boost to Prime Minister Antonis Samaras' government before local and EU elections in May, as it includes a 527-million euro windfall to be spent on poor, austerity-hit Greeks.","Yemen rescue failed as captors alerted to approaching U.S. commandos: officials. By Jeff Mason and Mohammed Ghobari WASHINGTON/SANAA (Reuters) - It could have been something as simple as a barking dog that alerted the al Qaeda guards as U.S. special operations forces approached the compound just after midnight. Within seconds, as they neared the building, intense gunfire erupted. Those details and others provided by U.S. ...","Rummenigge: Bayern open to Mandzukic departure. MUNICH (AP) — Bayern Munich chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge says the club is open to Mario Mandzukic leaving the club due to the imminent arrival of Robert Lewandowski.","Froome crashes; Schleck out as Tour enters France. LILLE, France (AP) — One former Tour de France champion dropped out of this year's race and another crashed but recovered as the cycling showcase got back on home turf Tuesday after a boisterous three-day start across the channel in England.","Pope to theologians: Listen to ordinary faithful. VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis has urged the Catholic Church's top theologians to listen to what ordinary Catholics have to say rather than just making their own pronouncements on hot-button issues.","Iraq officials: Suicide attack in busy commercial area in Baghdad kills at least 14 people. BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraq officials: Suicide attack in busy commercial area in Baghdad kills at least 14 people.","EU reaches preliminary deal on Russia economic sanctions. By Adrian Croft and Barbara Lewis BRUSSELS (Reuters) - European Union ambassadors reached a preliminary agreement on Friday to push ahead with hard-hitting economic sanctions against Russia over the Ukraine crisis but details remained to be worked out, diplomats said. The 28-nation EU has toughened its stance towards Moscow since last week's downing of a Malaysian airliner in an area of eastern Ukraine held by Russian-backed separatists. After a discussion that lasted all day Thursday and part of Friday, ambassadors asked the EU's executive Commission to draw up a legal text setting out economic sanctions that the EU would impose for possible agreement next week.","French president vows to fight racism and anti-Semitism. PARIS (AP) — French President Francois Hollande has used his New Year's Eve television speech to say that the fight against racism and anti-Semitism will be his national cause for 2015.","Arab summit opens, leaders struggle with multiple rifts. By Sylvia Westall and Amena Bakr KUWAIT (Reuters) - Arab leaders struggling with an array of foreign policy disputes opened an annual summit on Tuesday to try to forge a common stand on regional crises such as Syria's war, and on what many of them see as the menace of Iranian-U.S. rapprochement. The gathering in Kuwait follows an unprecedented row among members of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) alliance of Gulf Arab states over Qatari support for Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood, and a verbal spat between Iraq and Saudi Arabia over violence in Iraq's Anbar province. The annual meeting of the 22-member League of Arab States is expected to agree on more humanitarian action in response to Syria's war, which has entered its fourth year and put a severe strain on neighboring countries hosting refugees. However the row among Gulf Arab states is unlikely to take centerstage at Tuesday's gathering.","Hospital: Former Israeli PM Sharon is critical. JERUSALEM (AP) — The director of the hospital where the comatose former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is being treated says he is in critical condition and his life is in danger.","Suspected Nazi guard's death a blow to prosecutors. PHILADELPHIA (AP) — German efforts to prosecute aging war criminals suffered a setback this week with the death of a retired Philadelphia toolmaker who had long been in the crosshairs of Nazi hunters.","Nigeria Islamists attack village near Chibok, 10 dead-witnesses. Suspected Islamist militants killed at least 10 people on Sunday in an attack on a Nigerian village less than 5 km. (3 miles) from Chibok, the scene of a mass abduction of more than 200 school girls in April, survivors said. Violence in Nigeria's northeast has been relentless in the past year, and has gained in intensity since April, the month that more than 200 schoolgirls were snatched by Boko Haram rebels from Chibok. Samuel Chibok, a survivor of the attack on Kautikiri village, in the Chibok community, said that around 20 men in a Toyota pick-up truck and motorcycles rolled into town. Boko Haram, which is fighting for an Islamic state in largely Muslim northern Nigeria, has killed thousands since launching an uprising on 2009, and many hundreds in the past three months.","French presidents' holiday retreat open to public. PARIS (AP) — It's an old fortress on a tiny island, surrounded by pine trees and the turquoise waters of the Mediterranean Sea: The Fort de Bregancon has been the very private holiday retreat of French leaders for decades. And now it's open to the public.","Afghan presidential candidates both say they're leading. By Mirwais Harooni and Hamid Shalizi KABUL (Reuters) - Rival camps in Afghanistan's presidential race each proclaimed to be leading the contest on Sunday, a day after the run-off was held and as officials were still tallying the hundreds killed or injured in election-related violence. Observers and other officials in Kabul are worried that both candidates are setting the stage to complain about fraud and refuse to accept defeat should the outcome of the vote be close. The United Nations on Sunday urged the candidates, former Northern Alliance leader Abdullah Abdullah and former finance minister Ashraf Ghani, to honor the election procedures, in the tallying of votes. \"The Secretary-General encourages the candidates and their supporters to respect the electoral process,\" the U.N. said in a statement.","Spain, Chelsea striker Diego Costa injured. MADRID (AP) — Spain's football federation says striker Diego Costa has injured his left hamstring and will miss the country's first qualifier for the European Championship.","UN panel slams Vatican on priest sex abuse scandal. GENEVA (AP) — A United Nations committee says the Vatican has effective worldwide control over bishops and priests who must comply with a U.N. anti-torture treaty, a finding that could expose the Catholic Church to new lawsuits by victims of clerical sex abuse.","Clegg faces calls to expel Lord Rennard over 'harassment'. Beleaguered Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg faced calls to expel Lord Rennard from the party on Friday after the peer apologised to four women who accused him of harassment. Rennard, a former Lib Dem strategist, confessed that he \"may well have encroached upon 'personal space'\" of the female party members, though he stopped short of admitting to sexual harassment. Three of the four party members who made the allegations, which emerged over a year ago, are now calling for Rennard to be permanently expelled from the party, according to BBC reports. \"The real question here is, 'Should the Lib Dems accept him back on the benches in the House of Lords?' And I don't think the answer to that is yes,\" she told BBC News.","Deutsche Telekom unimpressed by Iliad bid for US mobile unit: sources. By Harro Ten Wolde and Philipp Halstrick FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Deutsche Telekom has serious doubts about the overall attractiveness of a bid by French telecom group Iliad for its U.S. mobile unit, despite lower regulatory hurdles than a rival offer, said two people close to the company. Iliad made a surprise bid on Thursday for 56.6 percent of T-Mobile US , the fourth-largest carrier in the United States, at $33 per share, crashing deal talks between Deutsche Telekom and Sprint that have been going since last year. Sprint Corp, the third-place U.S. mobile carrier, has been planning an offer that values T-Mobile at roughly $40 per share, sources earlier told Reuters, though that bid is likely to face more regulatory challenges as it would whittle down the number of big players in the market to three from four. The German operator has been looking for a way to exit the United States for more than three years because it sees T-Mobile's fourth-place position behind Verizon, AT&T, and Softbank's Sprint as limiting long-term profitability.","UK fraud office probes GSK after claims of foreign bribery. By Ben Hirschler LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's fraud office has launched a formal criminal investigation into GlaxoSmithKline , posing a new challenge to the drugmaker, which already faces claims of bribery in China and four other countries. The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) said late on Tuesday that its director had \"opened a criminal investigation into the commercial practices of GlaxoSmithKline and its subsidiaries\", confirming an earlier brief statement from the company. \"GSK is committed to operating its business to the highest ethical standards and will continue to cooperate fully with the SFO,\" the company said. Neither the SFO nor GSK gave any further details about the case, and a company spokesman declined to elaborate.","US wants China 'to do well', Obama says in announcing visa deal. President Barack Obama announced a deal Monday to extend visas for Chinese visitors to the United States for up to a decade, insisting he wants China \"to do well\" despite simmering tensions between the world's two largest economies. \"The United States welcomes the rise of a prosperous, peaceful and stable China,\" Obama said in a speech at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Beijing. \"Our primary message has been to make sure violence is avoided,\" he told reporters, adding that the US would \"continue to have concerns about human rights\" in China.","Cease-fire over, Ukraine renews attacks on rebels. KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian officials say they have renewed a military offensive against armed pro-Russia separatists after the country's president called off a unilateral cease-fire.","Call for dialogue over Central Africa conflict. All sides involved in the deadly conflict in the Central African Republic need to work together if the country is to get over the current gridlock, the president of neighbouring Chad said Friday. \"The situation is at a stalemate,\" Chadian President Idriss Deby Itno said after a meeting with other leaders from the region at the sidelines of an African Union summit in Malabo. The Central African Republic has seen more than a year of unrest, with violence between mostly-Muslim ex-Seleka rebels and largely Christian anti-balaka militias leaving thousands dead and about a quarter of the almost 4.5 million population displaced. The country has been excluded from the AU's summits since the start of the crisis in 2013 -- but transitional president Catherine Samba Panza was invited to the latest meeting in Equatorial Guinea.","Thai Senate to draft crisis 'road map'; protesters urge 'neutral' PM. By Amy Sawitta Lefevre BANGKOK (Reuters) - Six months of political turmoil has created Thailand's biggest ever crisis, the leader of the country's Senate said on Monday, amid calls from anti-government protesters for a new interim prime minister after Yingluck Shinawatra was ousted last week. Yingluck's caretaker government has remained in office since the Constitutional Court ordered her and nine cabinet colleagues to step down over a nepotism case. But the protesters say the entire administration has lost legitimacy and want to replace it with a \\\\\"neutral\\\\\" interim prime minister who would oversee electoral reforms aimed at keeping Yingluck and her brother, ousted former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, out of power.","Wozniacki, Venus Williams to start 2015 in NZ. WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Former top-ranked Caroline Wozniacki and Venus Williams will open their 2015 tennis seasons at the ASB Classic in Auckland from Jan. 5.","Rugby union - RugbyU: Lambie penalty gives Boks thrilling win over All Blacks. - A 55-metre Patrick Lambie penalty gave South Africa a thrilling 27-25 victory over New Zealand Saturday in the Rugby Championship, condemning the world champions to a first defeat in two years.","EU's Juncker says South Stream pipeline can still be built. BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The South Stream gas pipeline can still go ahead despite Russia saying it had scrapped the $40 billion project to supply gas to Europe, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said on Thursday. \"As regards South Stream, the European Union and Bulgaria are working together to solve the outstanding issues. These outstanding issues are not insurmountable,\" Juncker told reporters after talks with Bulgarian Prime Minister Boiko Borisov. \"South Stream can be built. The conditions have been clear since a long time ... The ball is in the court of Russia,\" he said. ...","Goldman tightens conflict-of-interest rules as scrutiny mounts. (Reuters) - Goldman Sachs Group Inc has tightened rules on investments its bankers can make in individual stocks and bonds, a company spokesman said on Friday, as a U.S. Senator called for hearings into the Wall Street bank's conflict-of-interest policies. Goldman's decision, announced internally on Friday, also bars bankers from investing in activist or event-driven hedge funds, Andrew Williams, a Goldman Sachs spokesman, told Reuters. The rule will be effective immediately, he said. Separately on Friday, U.S. ...","IS jihadists boast of enslaving Yazidis. Baghdad (AFP) - The Islamic State jihadist group says that it has given Yazidi women and children captured in northern Iraq to its fighters as spoils of war, boasting it had revived slavery.","Salsa great Cheo Feliciano dies in car crash at 78. SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Police say Puerto Rican salsa legend Cheo Feliciano has died in a car accident in the U.S. territory. He was 78.","Zimbabwe: Former US Rep Reynolds pleads not guilty. HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) — Former U.S. Rep. Mel Reynolds appeared in a Zimbabwe courtroom Wednesday where he pleaded not guilty to a charge of possessing pornography and must remain in custody for another day at least.","Surprise presidential victory for Romania's Iohannis. Romania's Prime Minister Victor Ponta conceded defeat in a presidential runoff against his conservative opponent Klaus Iohannis, who secured a clear victory, early results released on Monday showed. \"I congratulated Mr Iohannis on his victory. \"We've won!\" wrote Iohannis, the ethnic German centre-right mayor of the medieval Transylvanian city of Sibiu, on his Facebook page. According to the first partial results announced by the electoral office early on Monday and based on voting at a third of polling stations, Iohannis secured an overwhelming victory with 55.8 percent of the vote against 44.2 percent for Mr Ponta.","Ted Ligety wins World Cup giant slalom. ST. MORITZ, Switzerland (AP) — Ted Ligety of the United States put together two nearly flawless runs to win a World Cup giant slalom on Sunday, the last men's race before the Sochi Olympics.","3rd test: Bangladesh reaches 91-0 at lunch, day 1. CHITTAGONG, Bangladesh (AP) — Openers Tamim Iqbal and Imrul Kays batted steadily as Bangladesh reached 91 without loss at lunch Wednesday on the opening day of the third cricket test against Zimbabwe.","Standard Chartered warns H1 profits to stay 'challenged'. Standard Chartered said it expects income and profits to remain \"challenged\" in the first half of this year after the Asia-focused bank reported its first drop in annual profits for a decade on Wednesday. The bank said it expects \"modest growth\" in 2014, but said market and trading conditions will remain difficult. \"While current performance momentum is ahead of the second half of last year, performance in the first half of 2014 will remain challenged both at an income and profit level,\" it said. The bank said its pretax profit was $7 billion in 2013, down 7 percent from the year before.","Obama remarks defending his foreign policy. MANILA, Philippines (AP) — President Barack Obama launched a vigorous defense of his foreign policy on Monday, responding to critics who cast him as weak and ineffectual on the world stage.","Arizona protesters hope to stop immigrant transfer. ORACLE, Arizona (AP) — Protesters carrying \"Return to Sender\" and \"Go home non-Yankees\" signs faced off with immigrant rights activists Tuesday in a small Arizona town after a sheriff said a bus filled with Central American children was on its way.","Taiwan company cancels Chinese ship application over security concerns. TAIPEI (Reuters) - Opposition lawmakers in Taiwan citing security concerns have forced a Taiwanese company to withdraw its application on Thursday to use a Chinese vessel on a renewable energy project off the island. The \"Huadian 1001\", a Chinese platform vessel, and a towing vessel, departed China's Nantong in Jiangsu Province earlier this month for Taiwan's Taichung port. Taiwan's Maritime and Port Bureau had previously granted permission for the Chinese vessel to dock in Taichung. ...","Egypt courts jail 87 pro-Morsi protesters. Courts on Thursday jailed 87 supporters of Egypt's deposed president Mohamed Morsi to three years for taking part in unauthorised and violent protests, judicial sources said. One Cairo misdemeanour court condemned 63 supporters of the Islamist to three years in prison and fined them 50,000 Egyptian pounds ($7,200, 5,250 euros) over protests in November, the officials said. The government installed by the military after Morsi's ouster passed a law in November banning all but police-sanctioned protests, amid a crackdown on Islamists that has killed more than 1,000 people in street clashes. Another Cairo court sentenced 24 Morsi supporters to three years for being in a \"terrorist gang\" and attacking policemen in a protest, the officials said.","Prince speaks out over alleged racist incident. LONDON (AP) — South African batsman Ashwell Prince says his on-field dispute with an opponent during a county match in England is being investigated by authorities because of \"racial connotations.\"","AstraZeneca says DOJ closes probe into drug trial. WASHINGTON (AP) — British drugmaker AstraZeneca says the U.S. Department of Justice has closed its investigation into a clinical trial of the company's blood thinner Brilinta, and plans no further action.","Ukraine military says 648 POWs freed by rebels so far under ceasefire. Pro-Russian separatists have released 648 Ukrainian prisoners of war so far under the terms of a ceasefire struck with government forces that came into effect last Friday, a Ukrainian military spokesman said on Tuesday. Andriy Lysenko told a daily briefing the Ukrainian side was working to secure the release of about 500 more POWs. He did not comment immediately on how many rebel POWs the government side would hand over under the ceasefire deal. President Petro Poroshenko said on Monday the rebels had handed over about 1,200 POWs.","Iran's president dodges question on held reporter. TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran's President Hassan Rouhani has declined to answer a question about a detained Washington Post journalist.","Spain smashes Iran missile material export plan. MADRID (AP) — Spanish police say they have arrested four people who allegedly planned to send to Iran industrial machinery that could be used to make missiles.","Israel raids kill 5 in Gaza, toll exceeds 2012 war: medics. Gaza City (Palestinian Territories) (AFP) - Five Palestinians were killed in Israeli air strikes in Gaza Monday, medics said, raising the toll from a week-long offensive to 184, more than in the last conflict in 2012.","4 dead after Cambodian police fire on protesters. PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) — At least four people were killed Friday when police outside Cambodia's capital opened fire to break up a protest by striking garment workers demanding a doubling of the minimum wage, police and human rights workers said.","NY Fed: Puerto Rico should seek economic reforms. SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — New York's Federal Reserve Bank released a report Thursday in which it warned that Puerto Rico needs to improve its financial health soon or face what it called a \"painful adjustment.\"","Iraq PM says Syria carried out air strikes inside Iraq: BBC. BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Syria has carried out air strikes inside Iraqi territory this week, Iraq Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki was quoted on Thursday as telling the BBC. The article said Maliki confirmed that Syrian jets had bombed militants near the border town of al-Qaim. Maliki said he did not ask for the raid but \"welcomed\" any strike against the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) militant group, the BBC said. Syrian state media has denied the country has carried out attacks on Iraq. (Reporting by Oliver Holmes: editing by John Stonestreet)","Malala vows to fight on as she shares Nobel Peace Prize. Malala Yousafzai vowed Wednesday to struggle for every child's right to go to school as she became the youngest ever Nobel laureate, sharing the Peace Prize with Indian campaigner Kailash Satyarthi. \"I will continue this fight until I see every child in school,\" the 17-year-old Pakistani schoolgirl told an audience in Oslo City Hall after receiving the award. Malala became a global icon after she was shot and nearly killed by the Taliban in October 2012 for insisting that girls had a right to an education. \"The so-called world of adults may understand it, but we children don't.","Getafe salvages 1-1 draw with Cordoba in Spain. MADRID (AP) — Getafe substitute Baba Diawara scored two minutes from time to salvage a 1-1 draw at home against Cordoba in the Spanish league on Friday.","European Parliament tie-up complicates UK Cameron's reform push. By Kylie MacLellan LONDON (Reuters) - British Prime Minister David Cameron's Conservatives have voted to align themselves with two nationalist right-wing parties in the European Parliament, a move that risks alienating allies Cameron needs if he is to win back powers from Brussels. Cameron has pledged to try to renegotiate Britain's EU relationship if re-elected in a national vote next year, ahead of giving Britons an in/out referendum on membership by 2017. The European Conservatives and Reformists group, set up by Cameron in 2009, voted on Wednesday to accept five new parties including the anti-immigration Danish People's Party (DPP) and the right-wing nationalist Finns party from Finland. Political parties in the European Parliament are in the process of forming groups with other parties following last month's European elections.","Militant attack deaths soar to all-time high: report. By Peter Apps WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The number of people killed in militant attacks worldwide jumped more than 60 percent last year to a record high of nearly 18,000 and the figure could rise further in 2014 due to an escalation of conflict in the Middle East and Nigeria, a report showed on Tuesday. ...","Equatorial Guinea to host 2015 African Cup. CAIRO (AP) — The Confederation of African Football says Equatorial Guinea has been chosen to host the 2015 African Cup of Nations in place of Morocco.","U.S. SEC probes alleged fraud at fast trader Infinium: SEC letter. By Tom Polansek CHICAGO (Reuters) - The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has launched an inquiry into whether high-speed trader Infinium Capital Management violated federal securities laws, according to a SEC letter obtained by Reuters. The SEC has sought documents and recordings related to a lawsuit that former Infinium employees brought against the firm in January, the February 27 letter said. The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Chicago, alleged Infinium and company executives committed \"securities fraud\" by tricking the employees into investing millions of dollars into the firm while hiding financial troubles. \"This inquiry is a non-public, fact-finding inquiry,\" the SEC letter said.","German policeman on trial in dismemberment killing. BERLIN (AP) — A German police handwriting expert is on trial over accusations he killed and chopped up a man he met in an Internet cannibalism chat forum.","Obama tells Netanyahu of concern Gaza fighting could escalate. US President Barack Obama on Thursday told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu he was worried fierce fighting with Hamas in Gaza could escalate, and offered US help to broker a ceasefire. Obama spoke to the Israeli leader after Israeli warplanes pounded the Palestinian enclave but did not stop militants firing rockets at cities inside the Jewish state, and as global concern over rising Palestinian casualties mounted. \"The president expressed concern about the risk of further escalation and emphasized the need for all sides to do everything they can to protect the lives of civilians and restore calm,\" the White House said in a statement. The 2012 deal, brokered by former secretary of state Hillary Clinton and Egypt, ended eight days of Israeli airstrikes on Hamas targets in a previous showdown.","At least 1,000 people in Brazil's largest city protest against World Cup. SAO PAULO - Waving flags, carrying banners and chanting \"there will be no Cup\" at least 1,000 demonstrators protested in Sao Paulo on Saturday against the World Cup that Brazil will host later this year.","Ukraine may force changes in Russian gas transit to Europe. By Pavel Polityuk KIEV (Reuters) - Ukraine said European companies would have to agree on a major revision of gas contracts with Russia if Kiev slaps sanctions on Moscow and Gazprom, a measure that may lead to disruption in gas transit to Europe. Ukraine Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk said last week that parliament would debate sanctions against Russia on Tuesday, which could include bans on Russian gas and sanctions against Russian banks. Ukraine gas grid Naftogaz said on Monday that the sanctions could limit or even exclude some companies from piping gas through the country, which would allow other companies to take over transit operations.","Witness: Teen's plane didn't show obvious distress. PAGO PAGO, American Samoa (AP) — A man who saw a plane flown by a U.S. teen seconds before it crashed and killed the boy and his father during an around-the-world flight attempt said the aircraft was flying low but didn't show any obvious signs of distress before diving into the ocean off American Samoa.","Slovenia puts freak ice storm damage on woods at 194 million euro. Damage wrought on Slovenia's forests during a heavy ice storm earlier this month is estimated at 194 million euros ($266.77 million) and will take months to repair, officials said on Wednesday. The devastation occurred mostly in west Slovenia as a three-day freak storm brought down electricity lines and trees and coated parked cars, petrol stations and street signs in thick ice. According to figures issued by Slovenia's forest management agency ZGS, around half a million out of 1.18 million hectares (2.91 million acres) of Slovenia's forests were damaged by the ice storm. Almost 60 percent of the territory of Slovenia, a small Alpine country squeezed between Austria and the Adriatic Sea, is covered by woods.","Belgium thwarts jihadist attacks: report. Brussels (AFP) - The Belgian authorities have prevented several attacks by jihadist fighters returning home from Syria and by sympathisers with the Islamic State extremist group, a report said Saturday.","Australian tycoon's 'rape' tirade against Chinese firm. Outspoken resources tycoon Clive Palmer condemned the \"rape and disrespect\" of Australia by foreign firms Friday in a spat with a Chinese miner which warned the case was being watched closely in Asia. Palmer is locked in a long-running dispute over royalties and port operations with Hong Kong-based Citic Pacific over its Sino Iron magnetite project, a partnership with China's state-owned Metallurgical Group Corporation. Citic is mining for magnetite iron ore on Palmer's sprawling Australian Mardie Station cattle farm under a 25-year lease. But the two parties have clashed over what share of the proceeds are owed to the Australian businessman and whether his company, Mineralogy, is the legal operator of the project's export terminal at Port Preston.","China aims for top of podium in women's aerials. KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia (AP) — When China decided to hand over its fledgling aerials program to Peter Judge 11 years ago, the Canadian helped unleash what former Chinese coach Dustin Wilson called a \"Pandora's Box.\"","Malaysia widens search for missing plane. KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Malaysian authorities expanded their search for the missing jetliner into the Andaman Sea and beyond on Thursday after saying it could have flown for several hours after its last contact with the ground.","Obama says he does not see a military solution in Syria right now. U.S. President Barack Obama said on Tuesday the United States does not see a military solution in Syria at the moment. In a joint news conference with French President Francois Hollande, Obama also said Washington had delivered a strong message to Russia regarding the well-being of Syrian civilians in that country's civil war. \"Secretary (of State John) Kerry and others have delivered a very direct message to the Russians that they cannot say they are concerned about the well-being of the Syrian people when there are starving civilians,\" Obama said.","Panama presidential candidates tied ahead of May vote. Panama's ruling party presidential candidate and an opposition challenger are in a dead heat ahead of the Central American country's May 4 vote, a poll showed on Monday. Jose Arias, from the ruling Democratic Change (CD)party, and Juan Navarro, from the moderate left opposition Democratic Revolution Party (PRD), both won 32 percent support in a poll by Ipsos and Canal 13. The country's current vice president, Juan Varela, took 26 percent in the poll. Varela broke with current President Ricardo Martinelli and ran on the ticket of the Panamenista Party.","Samsung may launch first Tizen phone in India. SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — A report says Samsung Electronics Co. will released its long-delayed Tizen-powered smartphone in India.","Movie on boy's Holocaust fate premieres in Poland. WARSAW, Poland (AP) — A stirring movie by German Oscar-winning director Pepe Danquart about a Jewish boy struggling to survive the Holocaust is having its world premiere in Warsaw on Wednesday.","Russia backs Ukrainians separatists' election. DONETSK, Ukraine (AP) — Russia gave its backing Monday to a contentious election held by separatists in eastern Ukraine, setting the stage for renewed diplomatic tensions with the West.","Attack in Libya kills 9 soldiers, police officers. TRIPOLI, Libya (AP) — Gunmen attacked a security forces headquarters in Libya's eastern city of Benghazi early Friday, killing nine people and wounding 24, authorities said, blaming an Islamic extremist group allegedly behind the attack of a U.S. diplomatic post there.","Romanian president summons gov't over Russia. BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) — Romania's president has invited the government for a lesson on foreign policy after the prime minister said he had personally closed national airspace to a senior Russian official.","African Union calls for Ebola travel bans to be lifted. African Union members said Monday travel bans imposed to stem the deadly Ebola epidemic should be lifted to ensure the economic impact of the restrictions do not add to continent's woes. \"It was agreed that as African member states we should urge all member states to lift all travel bans, so that people can move between countries, and to trade, and to open up the economic activities,\" AU commission chief Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma told reporters. \"But it was also stressed that whilst the travel ban should be lifted, there should be proper screening mechanisms put in place, both at the countries where citizens will be departing and at the ports of entry, whether it's airports, or land ports of entry, or sea ports.\"","Britain pledges new funding to contain Ebola. LONDON (AP) — Britain has announced 3 million pounds (US$5 million) in new funding to help contain the spread of Ebola in West Africa.","New play 'Camp David' retraces 1978 peace accord. WASHINGTON (AP) — Thirty-six years after President Jimmy Carter made peace between Egypt and Israel, \"Camp David\" is now both history and theater.","13 children among Afghan Sikhs found in UK shipping container. The frail survivors found inside a shipping container at a British port at the weekend following a \"horrific ordeal\" are Sikhs from Afghanistan and include 13 children, police said Sunday. Staff at Tilbury Docks east of London on Saturday discovered one dead man and 34 others alive after hearing banging and screaming coming from the container. The container had arrived by truck at Zeebrugge seaport in Belgium around 12 hours before the people inside were discovered at Tilbury, having crossed the North Sea on a ferry. \"Now they are well enough, our officers and colleagues from the Border Force will be speaking to them via interpreters so we can piece together what happened and how they came to be in the container.","Quake strikes off Panama, no major damage reported. A powerful earthquake struck in the Pacific off the coast of Panama early on Tuesday, shaking buildings, but there were no initial reports of major damage or casualties. The quake of 6.8 magnitude hit about 130 km (81 miles) south of the western city of David in Chiriqui province at a depth of 10 km, the U.S. Geological Survey reported. An official from Panama's emergency services said goods had fallen off shelves in parts of Chiriqui but there were no immediate reports of serious damage or casualties in the area.","Everton beats Aston Villa 2-1 in Premier League. LIVERPOOL, England (AP) — Late goals from Steven Naismith and Kevin Mirallas helped Everton bounce back from their Merseyside derby drubbing with a 2-1 victory over Aston Villa in the Premier League on Saturday.","Red Light Secrets Museum opens in Amsterdam. AMSTERDAM (AP) — On any given evening, thousands of tourists stroll down the narrow canal-side streets of Amsterdam's famed Red Light District, gawking at ladies in lingerie who work behind windows, making a living selling sex for money. Now a small educational museum is opening Thursday in the heart of the district to show reality from the other side of the glass.","Kerry faces tough sell in China on NKorea, tension. BEIJING (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is in China on a difficult diplomatic mission.","Well-known Bahrain activist sentenced to prison. MANAMA, Bahrain (AP) — A top Bahraini prosecutor says that the country's higher criminal court has sentenced well-known activist Maryam al-Khawaja to one year in prison for assaulting police officers during questioning.","Vietnamese riot in industrial zones in anti-China protest. Rioting broke out at industrial zones in southern Vietnam during protests by thousands of workers angered by Chinese oil drilling in a contested area of the South China Sea, officials said on Wednesday. Workers smashed gates in the rioting on Tuesday and entered industrial parks housing factories in Binh Duong and Dong Nai provinces, which are central to Vietnam's sizable manufacturing interests. The destruction comes amid high tensions between China and Vietnam, which have close trade and political ties despite a history of incursions and territorial battles that are the source of deep resentment among Vietnamese. Vietnam's state-run newspapers and its television channels reported the rioting on Wednesday, but did not show photographs or any video footage.","Sweden arrests two men on Rwanda genocide suspicion. Stockholm (AFP) - A Swede of Rwandan origin and a Rwandan national were held in custody Wednesday in Sweden under suspicion of involvement in the African country's 1994 genocide, prosecutors said.","More popular than French leader, selling his ideas. PARIS (AP) — France's new prime minister is a Socialist who has disavowed the word, a cipher on the economic policy he must sell to both the French people and the European Union, and an unapologetically ambitious climber more popular than his conciliatory boss.","Madrid spanks Atletico 3-0 in Copa semifinal. MADRID (AP) — Real Madrid spoiled crosstown rival Atletico Madrid's short honeymoon as Spanish leader by winning a bad-tempered Copa del Rey semifinal first leg 3-0 on Wednesday.","U.S. construction spending posts surprise decline in August. WASHINGTON, Oct 1 (Reuters) - U.S. construction spending unexpectedly fell in August, hit by weaker private spending outside the housing sector and a pullback in public investments. Construction spending dropped 0.8 percent to an annual rate of $960.96 billion, the Commerce Department said on Wednesday in a report that also revised downward spending estimates for the prior two months. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast construction spending increasing 0.5 percent in August. The surprise decline was largely due to a 1. ...","Oil tanker missing off Ghana coast amid report of piracy. By Kwasi Kpodo ACCRA (Reuters) - A Liberia-flagged oil tanker has gone missing off the coast of Ghana and a senior port official told Reuters on Saturday the captain sent a distress call to say the vessel was attacked by pirates. The Liberia-flagged MT Fair Artemis last made contact with its manager, Fairdeal Group S.A., at 6 p.m. (1800 GMT) on Wednesday when it was operating off the coast of Ghana, the company said. We would like to assure their families and all stakeholders that we are fully committed to returning the crew and vessel to a safe port,\" said Fairdeal fleet director John Gray in a statement. A senior official at the port in Tema, east of Ghana's capital, told Reuters: \"We had a distress call from the master of the ship yesterday (Friday) saying he was 36 nautical miles away from our waters after he was hijacked and looted in Togolese waters early Wednesday.\" The official declined to be identified.","Mexican gets 30 years in border agent's death. PHOENIX (AP) — A Mexican man has been sentenced to 30 years in federal prison in the 2010 killing of a U.S Border Patrol agent that revealed the botched gun-smuggling investigation known as Operation Fast and Furious.","A new generation emerging at golf's oldest major. HOYLAKE, England (AP) — Tiger Woods is the big show at the British Open, especially now that he is back from another injury.","EU, Ukraine sign aid deals worth $1.78 billion. BRUSSELS (AP) — Ukraine's prime minister and European Union officials on Tuesday closed deals for a total of 1.3 billion euros ($1.78 billion) in EU assistance that Kiev could use to pay its energy bills, combat corruption and reform its institutions.","Sierra Leone says another doctor dies of Ebola. FREETOWN, Sierra Leone (AP) — Authorities in Sierra Leone say a doctor has died of Ebola — the fifth local doctor in the West African nation to succmb to the disease.","Manchester City game against Sunderland postponed. MANCHESTER, England (AP) — Manchester City's home Premier League match against Sunderland was called off Wednesday because of bad weather conditions in northwest England.","Ten Egyptians jailed over anti-constitution vote protest. Ten Egyptians, including a journalist working for a Muslim Brotherhood newspaper, were each sentenced on Monday to a year in jail for protesting against a constitutional referendum, judicial sources said. Egypt adopted in January a new constitution after the previous one, approved during the presidency of Mohamed Morsi, was suspended when he was ousted last July. The 10 defendants were found guilty of \"attempts to derail the constitutional referendum\" held on January 14 and 15, and \"disturbing public order,\" the sources said. Journalist Samah Ibrahim was arrested while covering a demonstration by supporters of Morsi, Egypt's first elected and civilian president who ruled for a year before his overthrow.","Doubts raised over Boko Haram sanctions. Boko Haram is probably beyond the reach of global sanctions but attempts to curb the Nigerian Islamists' reign of terror is an indication of growing international commitment, analysts said. But with sanctions designed to cut off overseas funding and support for Boko Haram, which kidnapped more than 200 schoolgirls last month, there are doubts about what impact they might have on the ground. \"Boko Haram has for several years now existed beyond the formal parameters where an arms embargo or asset-freeze would affect the group,\" Jacob Zenn, from the Jamestown Foundation think-tank in the United States, told AFP. Omoyele Sowore of Nigeria's Sahara Reporters website told BBC radio on Friday that Boko Haram was different from global extremist groups such as Al-Qaeda in terms of structure and funding.","Golfer aces par-4 hole in Kuala Lumpur tournament. KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Malaysian golfer Mohd Nazri Zain had a rare hole-in-one on a par-4 hole during the SapuraKencana National Qualifier tournament on Wednesday.","Ukrainian president: Confidence vote Thursday. KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine's President Petro Poroshenko says the government of Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk will face a vote of confidence in a special session of Parliament next week.","Arab ministers in Saudi discuss Syria, IS crises. Arab foreign ministers held a meeting in Saudi Arabia on Sunday to discuss the Syrian conflict and the rise of \"extremism\" in the region, the official SPA news agency reported. The meeting came as US media reported that Washington, which has launched air raids in northern Iraq against Islamic State, could consider similar action against IS jihadists in Syria. The closed-door talks in the Red Sea city of Jeddah was attended by the foreign ministers of Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Qatar, as well as an advisor to Jordan's foreign minister, said SPA.","Search area for lost Malaysia jet shifts on new radar data: Australia. Australian search authorities said on Friday they were shifting the area of search for a Malaysian airliner missing for almost three weeks with 239 people on board due to a \"new credible lead\" from analysis of radar data provided by Malaysia. The new information was based on analysis of radar data between the South China Sea and the Strait of Malacca before radar contact was lost, AMSA said in a statement. \"As a result today's search will shift to an area 1,100 km (685 miles) to the northeast based on updated advice provided by the international investigation team in Malaysia.\" Analysis indicated that the aircraft was traveling faster than previously estimated, resulting in increased fuel usage and reducing the possible distance the aircraft traveled south into the Indian Ocean, it said.","8 positive doping case from weightlifting worlds. BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — Eight weightlifters — including two gold medalists — have been provisionally suspended after failing doping tests at last month's world championship in Almaty, Kazakhstan.","Georgian prosecutors charge ex-president Saakashvili. By Margarita Antidze TBILISI (Reuters) - The prosecutor's office in Georgia has filed criminal charges against former President Mikhail Saakashvili in what the opposition says is a political witch-hunt by the ex-Soviet republic's new leaders. Dozens of former officials, including a former prime minister, have been arrested on charges such as abuse of power and corruption since Saakashvili's party lost an election two years ago. Saakashvili was charged with exceeding his authority but left the South Caucasus country of 4.5 million after his second presidency ended last November. Saakashvili, 46, had failed to appear at the prosecutor's office on Monday after being summoned for questioning for the second time in four months.","South Sudan government, rebels say each other violating ceasefire. By Carl Odera JUBA (Reuters) - The government and rebels in South Sudan traded accusations on Saturday of breaking a ceasefire deal supposed to calm violence that has driven half a million people from their homes. \"The rebel forces are still continuing to attack our forces,\" Information Minister Michael Makeui Lueth said on arrival from Ethiopia where President Salva Kiir's government signed a deal on Thursday with the rebels led by former vice president Riek Machar. The deal came into effect on Friday night after a 24-hour window under an agreement brokered by regional grouping of nations IGAD. \"If nothing is done by the IGAD, then definitely our forces will not fold their hands,\" Lueth said.","Donetsk rebel leader appeals for Russian aid. The head of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic, Alexander Zakharchenko, said Friday that the inhabitants desperately need Russian humanitarian aid and accused Ukraine of deliberately stalling its arrival. \"At the moment, the Donetsk people's republic has a very bad humanitarian situation and the help that Russia is sending us and we have still not received, we just need it like air,\" Zakharchenko said at a briefing in Donetsk. The aid is needed by \"the wounded, the sick, the military,\" said the steely-eyed leader in military khakis who took the post of \"prime-minister\" last week after the former rebel leader Alexander Borodai quit. The rebel republic has seen some leadership changes recently, with even the influential commander Igor Strelkov suddenly disappearing from top ranks.","125 presumed dead in Bangladesh ferry sinking. DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) — Families of scores of people presumed dead after their ferry capsized in central Bangladesh accused authorities on Tuesday of launching a feeble rescue effort and leaving their loved ones trapped inside the vessel for more than 24 hours.","U.S. backs off statement that Egypt, UAE were behind Libya air strikes. State Department on Tuesday backed off an earlier statement that Egypt and the United Arab Emirates were behind air strikes on Islamist militants in Libya. At a regular State Department briefing, spokeswoman Jen Psaki said: \"We understand there were air strikes undertaken in recent days by the UAE and Egypt\" in Libya.","Topless activists on trial over Notre Dame protest. PARIS (AP) — French prosecutors want activists who bared their breasts in Notre Dame Cathedral to pay thousands of euros in fines for damages.","Mumbai double gang-rapists jailed for life. An Indian court handed down life sentences Friday to three gang-rapists who attacked a photographer and a phone operator in an abandoned mill compound in the centre of Mumbai. Mohammed Salim Ansari, Vijay Mohan Jadhav and Mohammed Kasim Hafeez Shaikh were given the sentences a day after their conviction for the attacks in July and August last year which triggered worldwide headlines and reignited anger about women's safety in India. \"This court has to take a stern view of crimes against women so that a proper message is sent to society,\" Judge Shalini Phansalkar Joshi told a packed hearing of the sessions court in south Mumbai. The sentences handed down on Friday only relate to the gang-rape of the phone operator and the judge said that separate tariffs would be announced on Monday for the assault on the photo-journalist.","Western corporate bosses pull out of Russian economic forum. By Megan Davies and Tom Bergin MOSCOW/LONDON (Reuters) - Around a dozen chief executives and chairmen of major U.S. and European corporations have withdrawn from an economic conference in Russia as pressure between Moscow and the West grows over the crisis in Ukraine. Eleven business leaders who were listed in late March as scheduled to attend the May 22-24 St. Petersburg International Economic Forum are no longer on the forum's website. The cancellations, however, coincide with the United States and Europe considering further sanctions on Moscow over violence in eastern Ukraine, which western governments have blamed in part on Russia. Sanctions have already been imposed in reaction to Russia's annexation of Crimea.","WHO eyes mass Ebola vaccines by mid-2015. Hundreds of thousands of Ebola vaccine doses could be rolled out to west Africa by mid-2015, the World Health Organization said Friday, after new cases of the virus were reported in New York and a two-year-old girl died in the first case in Mali. Two American nurses were declared cured of Ebola and one -- Dallas-based Nina Pham -- hugged President Barack Obama at the White House to prove it. \"All is being put in place to start efficacy tests in the affected countries as early as December,\" WHO assistant director general Marie-Paule Kieny said.","Whiff of betrayal stalks Conservative Party. Birmingham (United Kingdom) (AFP) - Talk of treason cast a shadow over Britain's Conservative party conference this week, where gossip raged over who might be next to defect to the anti-EU UK Independence Party (UKIP).","Greek borrowing costs decline ahead of bond issue. ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greece's Finance Ministry says the lower cost and stronger investor appetite for the country's latest short-term debt issue bodes well for a planned return to bond markets in coming months.","'Modern Family' actress Elizabeth Pena dies at 55. LOS ANGELES (AP) — Elizabeth Pena, the versatile actress who shifted between dramatic roles in such films as \"Lone Star\" and comedic parts in TV shows like \"Modern Family,\" has died. She was 55.","Size Records giving songs for free via Google Play. NEW YORK (AP) — International DJ-producer Steve Angello is giving away his record label's entire catalog with the help of Google Play.","18 dead in fierce clashes in Libya's Benghazi: hospital. Benghazi (Libya) (AFP) - At least 18 people were killed in fierce clashes Friday between Islamist groups and forces loyal to the army and an ex-general in Libya's second city of Benghazi, hospital sources said.","Peru interior minister faces murder investigation. LIMA, Peru (AP) — The newly named Peruvian interior minister says he has no intention of resigning despite a formal accusation he took part in the 1988 murder of a journalist as an army intelligence officer.","Canada wrestles with low-key security approach after attacks. By Randall Palmer, Richard Valdmanis and Scott Malone OTTAWA/HAMILTON Ontario (Reuters) - Just over a week after an armed man charged into Canada's Parliament and fought a gun battle with guards as lawmakers were meeting with Prime Minister Stephen Harper, there are few signs of increased security in the nation's capital. Leading politicians and top officials can still be seen in the streets without any obvious protection. The visible new security measures at the Parliament building have been modest, and some have even been eased in recent days. ...","Obama says China's Xi has consolidated power quickly, worrying neighbors. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama said on Wednesday that Chinese President Xi Jinping has consolidated power more quickly than any Chinese leader in decades and that is raising human rights concerns and worrying China's neighbors. Obama, who met Xi last month in Beijing, told the Business Roundtable he found the Chinese leader wanted to have good relations with the United States. However, Obama said, \"He taps into a nationalism that worries his neighbors.\" He said Xi's rise has been comparable to that of Deng Xiaoping, who led China from 1978 to 1992. ...","Syria's National Coalition says U.N. chief to make statement on Iran. Syria's main political opposition in exile said on Monday it would decide whether to attend the Geneva 2 conference in Switzerland after an announcement by U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Iran's attendance at the talks. \"It is expected that the Secretary-General of the UN will be holding a press conference during the next few hours in order to show the position of the United Nations from the invitation sent to Iran to attend Geneva 2,\" the National Coalition's statement said. \"The Coalition will send its final position on the basis of the statement of the Secretary-General.\" The National Coalition had said it would pull out of the talks scheduled this week unless Ban revoked his invitation to Iran, President Bashar al-Assad's main backer, setting a deadline of 1900 GMT for the invitation to be withdrawn.","Ukrainians gawp as Yanukovich's luxury estate is opened to public. By Richard Balmforth NOVI PETRIVTSI, Ukraine (Reuters) - A sprawling forested estate of graceful waterways and summer houses - half the size of Monaco but just one hour's drive from Kiev - stands as a symbol of the folly of Ukraine's fugitive president. Even the most cynical Ukrainians, who on Saturday streamed to see Viktor Yanukovich's luxury estate, rubbed their eyes in disbelief when they were confronted by the scale of the opulence he built around him and kept secret from the outside world. Yanukovich, 63, who fled into hiding on Saturday as the turmoil of three months confrontation with his people caught up with him, relaxed at weekends in luxury behind high walls patrolled by scores of security guards. When the dream ended and Yanukovich's staff fled the Gatsby-like mansion in the early hours of Saturday, the Kiev protest movement that had opposed him invited Ukrainians to go to see the opulence Yanukovich lived in.","HK leader reopens talks offer after police brutality video. Hong Kong (AFP) - Hong Kong's embattled leader made a dramatic u-turn Thursday reopening his offer of talks with student protesters a week after the government abruptly pulled out of discussions aimed at ending more than a fortnight of mass democracy rallies.","NKorea tries on the charm to avoid ICC referral. UNITED NATIONS (AP) — For an envoy of the North Korean government, which virtually bans the average citizen's contact with the outside world, Kim Ju Song looks breezily connected. A tablet computer is propped on his table in the United Nations' bustling delegates lounge. He hands out his name card with a Gmail address and mobile number and suggests a \"coffee meeting to exchange views.\"","Northern Ireland shocks Greece 2-0 in qualifier. PIRAEUS, Greece (AP) — Northern Ireland continued its surprise run in Euro 2016 qualifying on Tuesday by beating Greece 2-0 for its third straight win in Group F.","Soccer-Team-by-team guide to the A-League. SYDNEY, Oct 9 (Reuters) - Factbox on the A-League teams ahead of the start of the 10th season of the Australian top flight on Friday (teams listed in order of finish in 2013-14 regular season standings): - - BRISBANE ROAR Founded: 2005 (as Queensland Roar) Best finish: Champions (2011, 2012, 2014) Manager: Mike Mulvey Notable players: Thomas Broich (Germany), Matt McKay (Australia). ...","Malta player's life ban for fixing cut to 10 years. GENEVA (AP) — Sport's highest court has reduced Malta player Kevin Sammut's life ban to a 10-year sanction for helping fix a European Championship qualifying match.","Cricket-South Africa v Australia - first test scoreboard. PRETORIA, Feb 12 (Reuters) - Scoreboard at the close of playon the first day of the first test between South Africa andAustralia at SuperSport Park on Wednesday: South Africa won the toss and elected to bowlAustralia first innings C. Rogers c Duminy b Morkel 4 D. Warner b Steyn 12 A. Doolan c Peterson b McLaren 27 S. Marsh not out 122 M. Clarke c Philander b Steyn 23 S. Smith not out 91 Extras (b-4, lb-7, w-6, nb-1) 18 Total (four wickets, 90 overs) 297 Fall of wickets: 1-15 2-24 3-72 4-98 To bat: B. Haddin, M. Johnson, P. Siddle, R. Harris, N. Lyon Bowling: D. Steyn 20-4-54-2, V. ...","U.N. agency says unable to deliver aid despite Syria government assurances. A United Nations agency seeking to deliver humanitarian aid to a besieged district of Damascus said on Sunday state checkpoint authorities had hampered its work, despite government assurances it would allow the distributions. The foundering agreement highlights the challenges that lie ahead for humanitarian workers should President Bashar al-Assad's government and the opposition agree on localized ceasefires at peace talks in Geneva this week. Humanitarian efforts in Syria have been hampered by fighting and by combatants on both sides, who often try to block deliveries to areas held by their opponents. Some aid workers say Assad's forces have used a siege on rebel-held areas around the capital to starve out those inside - an indiscriminate tactic that hurts civilians.","Bomb explodes outside crowded mosque in north Nigeria's Kano. KANO, Nigeria (Reuters) - A bomb exploded outside the central mosque of north Nigeria's biggest city, Kano, just as residents were packing into the area for Friday prayers, witnesses said. \"These people have bombed the mosque. I am face to face with people screaming,\" said Chijjani Usman, a local reporter who resides inside the old city where the blast took place, and who had gathered there for prayers himself. (Reporting by Nnekule Ikemfuna; Writing by Tim Cocks; Editing by Kevin Liffey)","Saudi police arrest 400 illegal migrants: reports. Police in Saudi Arabia have arrested at least 400 mostly African illegal migrants south of the capital Riyadh, local media reported on Friday. The authorities have been cracking down on illegal migrants since the expiration in November of a seven-month amnesty during which they had to regularise their status or leave the kingdom. The Arab News reported that \"more than 400 undocumented expatriates, including women and children living in the Manfuha district (of Riyadh)... were rounded up during operations\" early on Thursday. Nearly one million foreign migrants took advantage of last year's amnesty to leave voluntarily, while another four million were able to find employers to sponsor them, a legal requirement in Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states.","Russian TV channel says photos show MH17 shot down by fighter jet. By Jason Bush MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian state-controlled TV has broadcast what it called \"sensational\" photographs, which it said supported Moscow's theory that Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 was shot down by a Ukrainian fighter jet. Several commentators who have examined the photographs have described them as forgeries, however. The photographs, said to be taken by a Western satellite, appear to show a fighter jet firing a missile at a passenger plane over eastern Ukraine where the Malaysian airliner was shot down on July 17, killing all 298 people on board. ...","Thousands flee fresh Nigeria clashes: UN. Thousands of people have fled across Nigeria's borders with Cameroon and Niger amid renewed clashes between the Nigerian military and Boko Haram insurgents, the UN's refugee agency said Friday. Adrian Edwards, spokesman for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, said that 4,000 people had fled to Cameroon since mid-January, and 1,500 to Niger. In northern Cameroon, UN aid workers met with refugees from around the town of Banki, which lies just over the border in Nigeria.","Islamist militants attack army base in Libya's Benghazi. Islamist militants attacked an army base in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi on Monday, triggering fierce clashes involving helicopters and jets that killed at least one person and wounding 20 others, sources said. A week of fighting between rival militias for control of Tripoli International Airport in the capital has killed at least 47 people and prompted the government to appeal for international help to stop Libya becoming a failed state. Tripoli was calmer on Monday, but in Benghazi, militants linked to Islamist group Ansar al-Sharia attacked an army camp and were repelled by troops and forces loyal to renegade retired general Khalifa Haftar, who has been carrying out a self-declared war on Islamist fighters, security sources said. \"Ansar al-Sharia tried to take over one special forces camp, but the special forces and Hafter's forces fought back, using helicopters and military aircraft in their attack,\" one source said.","Mexico: Sex abuse at group home house of horror. ZAMORA, Mexico (AP) — Mexican prosecutors said Wednesday that victims told harrowing tales of sexual abuse, beatings, hunger and filth in a once well-regarded group home where authorities freed a total of 607 adults and children in a raid.","Burkina Faso: Transitional president inaugurated. OUAGADOUGOU, Burkina Faso (AP) — A former U.N. ambassador was sworn in as Burkina Faso's transitional president Tuesday, tasked with organizing elections after the military briefly took power when the country's leader of nearly three decades was forced into exile.","Israeli military will hold fire in parts of Gaza. GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — The Israeli military says it will hold fire for seven hours in parts of the Gaza Strip beginning at 10 a.m. (0700 GMT).","Athletic looks dominate Milan runways. MILAN (AP) — Designers are offering alternate realities for men next winter.","UK opposition party hires top Obama adviser. LONDON (AP) — Britain's opposition Labour Party has recruited David Axelrod — a key figure behind Barack Obama's two presidential victories — to help with its leader's election bid next year.","A look at the winner of the 2014 literature Nobel. WHO WON THE LITERATURE NOBEL?","Kim to go 17th, Julia 25th in Sochi short program. SOCHI, Russia (AP) — Defending Olympic champion Yuna Kim of South Korea will skate 17th in a field of 30 in the short program Wednesday at the Sochi Games.","Yanukovych insists 'not overthrown', will fight on. Rostov-on-Don (Russia) (AFP) - Deposed Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych on Friday insisted he \"had not been overthrown\" and would \"continue to fight\" for the future of Ukraine.","Three more Ukrainian soldiers killed despite truce: Kiev military. KIEV (Reuters) - Three Ukrainian soldiers were killed and eight wounded in attacks by pro-Russian separatists in the past 24 hours, a military spokesman said on Thursday, further marring a truce which began with a \"Day of Silence\" on Tuesday. Military spokesman Andriy Lysenko said the army had registered 22 shelling attacks by separatists in the past 24 hours. He said this indicated that the first point of a peace plan, mapped out in the Belarussian capital Minsk in September, had not been fulfilled. (Reporting by Pavel Polityuk; Writing by Richard Balmforth; Editing by Janet Lawrence)","Barclays bank fined almost £38m, regulator says. London (AFP) - Britain's financial watchdog on Tuesday said it had fined Barclays bank almost £38 million for putting client assets at risk, dealing a further blow to the troubled lender.","Woman who drove with dying man on windshield guilty of murder, DUI. LOS ANGELES, Calif. - A substance-abuse counsellor who drove three kilometres through a Los Angeles suburb with a dying man on her windshield was convicted Tuesday of second-degree murder, drunken driving and hit-and-run.","Europeans pressing for Gaza harbor development. BRUSSELS (AP) — A European idea to help end the devastating conflict in Gaza is gaining traction: Develop Gaza's port to reopen the besieged territory to the rest of the world through a Cypriot port, with international monitors assuring that no weapons get through.","Syrian rebels declare new assault on Aleppo after Assad gains. Rebels announced a new military campaign in the northern Syrian province of Aleppo on Thursday, a few days after government forces stepped up air attacks in a bid to recapture territory and drive residents out of opposition-held areas. The largest Syrian rebel coalition, known as the Islamic Front, joined forces with the Nusra Front, al Qaeda's franchise in Syria, to launch an assault dubbed \"The promise of truth approaches\", a reference to a Koranic verse about Judgment Day. President Bashar al-Assad's forces recently mounted a series of attacks on Aleppo city, once Syria's business hub, using barrel bombs - oil drums or cylinders packed with explosives and metal fragments. They are a particularly indiscriminate weapon activists say is being used to push out civilians as the army tries to seize the initiative on the long-stalemated Aleppo battlefront.","2 Turkish clubs face Europa League expulsion. NYON, Switzerland (AP) — Turkish clubs Sivasspor and Eskisehirspor face Europa League expulsion for involvement in a domestic match-fixing scandal in 2011.","Suicide attack in Iraq kills at least 11 people. BAGHDAD (AP) — A suicide bomber rammed his explosives-laden car into a police checkpoint south of Baghdad on Thursday morning, killing at least 11 people, officials said, the latest episode in an uptick in violence in the run-up to next week's parliamentary elections.","Canadian team down 2-1 to Japan after losing doubles match at Davis Cup. TOKYO - Canada is down 2-1 to Japan in its best-of-five World Group Davis Cup series following a doubles match loss on Saturday.","U.S. biofuel mandate cuts would raise carbon pollution -lawmakers. By Ayesha Rascoe WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Obama administration's proposed cuts to U.S. biofuel use targets could undermine the White House's plan to tackle climate change, according to two Democrats on the Senate committee that oversees the renewable fuel mandate. The Environmental Protection Agency's plan, slashing requirements for blending ethanol and biodiesel into U.S. fuel supplies in 2014, would lead to increased oil use and carbon emissions, Senators Barbara Boxer and Edward Markey said in a letter sent to White House late on Wednesday. ...","Reward for tips on ferry owner boosted to $500,000. SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea has boosted to half a million dollars a reward for tips about the mysterious billionaire who prosecutors say owns a ferry that sank last month","Several rebel groups in battle for northern Mali. A coalition of rebel militias fought together to wrest control of the flashpoint town of Kidal from Mali's army, an African security source said Thursday, a day after it fell to armed separatists. The National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA) and the High Council for the Unity of Azawad (HCUC) claimed on Wednesday to have captured the bastion of the Tuareg separatist movement, slaying several soldiers. The source told AFP that the HCUC was the main force among \"separate armed groups were involved in the fighting against the Malian army\", adding that the MNLA and Arab Movement of Azawad (MAA) also took part. Military operations against militant groups in Mali are complicated by the fact that fighters move between separatist and Islamist causes, while even the Malian army employs thousands of former Tuareg rebels.","French journalist killed in C.Africa: Hollande. A French photojournalist has been killed while on a reporting assignment in conflict-torn Central African Republic, probably in an ambush, French President Francois Hollande said Tuesday. Speaking to the press in Tbilisi on his visit to Georgia, Hollande said that the journalist, Camille Lepage, \\\\\"was taking photographs, doing her job and no doubt fell into an ambush\\\\\". Her body was found by a patrol of French peacekeeping troops, who were checking a vehicle driven by \\\\\"anti-balaka\\\\\" militia in the region of Bouar, in the west of Central Africa, a French presidency statement said, referring to militamen from the mainly Christian vigilante group. Hollande has ordered the immediate dispatch of a French team as well as African police deployed in Central Africa to the scene to ensure that all measures are taken to find and punish the assailants.","Soldiers occupy Brazil slum ahead of World Cup. Thousands of soldiers in armored vehicles, trucks and on foot fanned out in Rio de Janeiro's most notorious slums on Saturday to shore up security before the start of the World Cup games. The move is the latest attempt to drive drug gangs out of the notorious Mare shanty town, a haven for organized crime and one of the city's most dangerous neighborhoods, located near Rio de Janeiro's international airport. The Mare complex, home to 130,000 people, is a potential through route for tens of thousands of football fans flying in and out of the metropolis, which will stage seven World Cup matches, including the July 13 final. Members of the feared Special Police Operations Battalion, with guns at the ready and backed by helicopters and naval armored vehicles, had stormed into the Mare favela on March 30.","2 living popes to honor 2 dead ones: The Ceremony. VATICAN CITY (AP) — In a historic match-up of papacies past and present, Pope Francis and emeritus Pope Benedict XVI will honor Popes John XXIII and John Paul II in the first ever canonization of two popes. For such a momentous occasion, the ceremony is actually quite short and surprisingly straightforward, with the added benefit that the relics of the two new saints will be presented for universal veneration by the church for the first time. Here are five things to look for — though beware, the rite is celebrated mostly in Latin, the official language of the Catholic Church.","2 freed of gay charges in Nigerian Shariah court. BAUCHI, Nigeria (AP) — A Nigerian Shariah court has freed two men accused of gay sex and belonging to a homosexual club, saying the prosecution failed to prove its case.","Merkel to travel to Brazil for World Cup final. BERLIN (AP) — Chancellor Angela Merkel will travel to the World Cup final in Brazil to watch Germany attempt to lift the trophy on Sunday.","Islanders F Tavares out for year with knee injury. SOCHI, Russia (AP) — John Tavares has had an NHL-season-ending injury at the Olympics.","NATO expresses concern over Italian marines' case in India. NATO warned India on Wednesday that using anti-terrorism legislation to try two Italian marines accused of killing two fishermen would undermine international efforts to combat piracy. India has announced its Supreme Court will hold a hearing next week on whether to charge marines Massimiliano Latorre and Salvatore Girone under its maritime security law, provoking criticism from the European Union and Italian authorities. NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen on Wednesday called for an \"appropriate resolution\".","McEvoy stunner as Phelps strikes gold at Pan Pacs. Australia's Cameron McEvoy upset a star-studded field to win the 100m freestyle at the Pan Pacific Championships Friday as Michael Phelps claimed his first international gold medal since coming out of retirement. McEvoy swam the race of his life to hit the wall in the third-best time this year of 47.82 seconds ahead of US Olympic champion Nathan Adrian (48.30) and dual world champion James Magnussen (48.36). Phelps, the 18-time Olympic champion, led to the turn before finishing fourth in 48.51sec, which clinched his place on the US team for the event at next year's world championships.","Neymar: World Cup 'dream interrupted by one play'. BELO HORIZONTE, Brazil (AP) — Brazil star Neymar says his World Cup dream was \"interrupted by one play\" but \"is not over yet,\" and he hopes to be celebrating the title along with his teammates at the Maracana Stadium next Sunday.","India all out for 465, trail Australia by 65. India were all out for 465 to trail Australia by 65 runs on the first innings early on Monday, the fourth day of the third Test in Melbourne.","Travolta, Spacey in US for 'Bollywood Oscars'. TAMPA, Florida (AP) — Hollywood stars John Travolta and Kevin Spacey made appearances at an International Indian Film Academy event Saturday as thousands of fans prepared for an extravagant awards show that celebrates the best in Indian cinema.","World Cup chill in Colombia: alcohol bans, curfews. BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — Local authorities fearful of more World Cup-related violence banned liquor sales on Tuesday in Bogota and other Colombian cities. Some mayors also imposed game-day curfews for minors.","Duchess Kate returns to duties with black tie do. LONDON (AP) — Duchess Kate returned to her public duties with a black tie fundraising dinner in aid of the National Portrait Gallery in London.","America's Cup Challengers of Record Australia withdraw. (Reuters) - The next America's Cup in 2017 has been thrown into turmoil with the official Challengers of Record withdrawing from the regatta. Organizers said on Saturday that Australia's Hamilton Island Yacht Club has withdrawn its challenge for the 35th America's Cup event, which is to be sailed in 2017 in either San Diego or Bermuda. The Challengers of Record represent all of the challenging teams with the holders of sport's oldest sporting trophy, currently Oracle Team USA, to negotiate the rules and format for the America's Cup. \"The America's Cup organizers have received notification from the principals of Hamilton Island Yacht Club of their intention to withdraw Team Australia from the 35th America's Cup,\" America's Cup Event Authority chief executive Russell Coutts said in a statement.","White House says very concerned about Gaza developments. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House on Friday urged Israel and the Palestinians to resume talks and do what they can to protect civilians after Egyptian-mediated negotiations failed to extend a ceasefire and rocket fire resumed. \"The United States is very concerned about today's developments in Gaza,\" White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters. \"We condemn the renewed rocket fire and we are concerned about the safety and security of civilians on both sides of that conflict,\" he said. (Reporting by Roberta Rampton and Annika McGinnis; Editing by Sandra Maler)","Futures point to lower open for TSX. (Reuters) - Stock futures pointed to a lower opening for Canada's main stock index on Tuesday with September futures on the S&P TSX index down 0.19 percent at 0720 ET. Manufacturing sales data for July is due at 0830 ET . Canada's main stock index fell on Monday as weakness in commodity prices and worries about the pace of growth in China's economy weighed on sentiment, pulling down shares in every major sector. Dow Jones Industrial Average e-mini futures were down 0.09 percent at 0720 ET, while S&P 500 e-mini futures were down 0.08 percent. Nasdaq 100 e-mini futures were down 0.15 percent. [. ...","Mali bomb blast kills five Chadian UN peacekeepers. Bamako (AFP) - Five United Nations peacekeepers from Chad were killed on Thursday when their truck drove over a mine in rebel-infested northeastern Mali, a Chadian military source told AFP.","Iran defends oil production in face of sanctions. Iran's oil minister robustly defended the country's production capabilities on Tuesday and said if sanctions are lifted foreign companies would mostly be confined to a supporting role. With some of the world's biggest oil and gas reserves, the industry is the cornerstone of Iran's economy, but it was heavily hit by an American and European embargo on the energy and banking sectors in 2012. Major energy firms have since left or been stifled from doing business because of economic sanctions imposed over the country's disputed nuclear programme. With high hopes of an end to the decade-long nuclear dispute between Iran and the West, around 600 foreign companies registered for the International Oil, Gas and Petrochemical Refining Exhibition, three times more than last year.","In Liberia village, shunned Ebola victims left to die. The only sounds in the abandoned Liberian village were the cries of a little girl, shut up with her mother's body inside the family home, starving and thirsty as she waited for death. Eventually even the girl -- 12-year-old Fatu Sherrif -- fell silent as she too succumbed to the deadly Ebola virus that is ravaging her country and other parts of west Africa. A few villagers remained, including Momoh Wile, a septuagenarian local chief, who told AFP Fatu's harrowing story. More than 1,000 people in west Africa are now believed to have died from Ebola since the start of the year.","Alibaba's Jack Ma rises to top of China rich list as tech tycoons gain. By Gerry Shih BEIJING (Reuters) - Jack Ma, executive chairman of Alibaba Group Holding Ltd , has become China's richest man with a fortune estimated at $25 billion, underscoring the ascension of tech tycoons over real estate peers in the world's second biggest economy. Ma knocked Wang Jianlin, head of the Wanda property group, into second place with $24.2 billion, according to this year's list of China's super-rich published by Hurun Reports Inc. Tech billionaires accounted for half of the top 10 names and included Tencent Holdings Ltd founder Pony Ma in fifth place with a $18. ...","Biden tells Ukrainian leaders US stands with them. KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — Vice President Joe Biden told Ukrainian political leaders Tuesday that the United States stands with them against \"humiliating threats\" and encouraged them to root out corruption as they rebuild their government.","Putin says ready to meet new Ukrainian President in France. Paris (AFP) - President Vladimir Putin is ready to meet Ukraine's president elect on the sidelines of the D-Day commemorations in France, the Russian leader said in an interview broadcast here on Wednesday.","China kills nearly 5,000 dogs to control rabies. BEIJING (AP) — Chinese authorities have killed almost 5,000 dogs after blaming five human deaths on rabies in southwestern Yunnan province.","Cricket-New Zealand v India, second test - scoreboard. WELLINGTON, Feb 14 (Reuters) - Scoreboard at lunch on the first day of the second test between New Zealand and India at the Basin Reserve on Friday. India won the toss and chose to bowl New Zealand first innings P. Fulton lbw b I. Sharma 13 H. Rutherford c Vijay b I. Sharma 12 K. Williamson not out 15 T. Latham c Dhoni b I. Sharma 0 B. McCullum c Jadeja b Shami 8 C. ...","Imperial Tobacco to buy U.S. cigarette brands for $7.1 billion. LONDON (Reuters) - Imperial Tobacco Group plans to buy U.S. cigarette brands including Winston and Kool for $7.1 billion as part of Reynolds American's $27.4 billion purchase of Lorillard . Imperial's purchase, meant to ease antitrust concerns from the marriage of the United States' No. 2 and No. 3 tobacco firms, also includes Maverick, Salem and the international and U.S. rights to the nation's leading e-cigarette brand, blu. After adjusting for the present value of tax benefits, expected at $1.5 billion, Imperial said the net price of $5.6 billion implies a multiple of 6. ...","Canada's Amaya Gaming to buy Briton's Oldford for $4.9 bn. Montreal (AFP) - The Canadian gaming equipment and services supplier Amaya Gaming has agreed to acquire the company that owns online sites PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker for $4.9 billion, according to a statement.","Ebola cost to W.Africa economy could top $32 bn: World Bank. Washington (AFP) - The deadly Ebola epidemic could deal a $32 billion-plus blow to the West African economy over the next year if officials cannot get it under control, the World Bank warned Wednesday.","Russia's Putin to visit Japan in the autumn: PM Abe. Russian President Vladimir Putin will visit Japan in the autumn, Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said on Saturday, a sign of improving ties between the two countries whose relations have been strained by territorial disputes. Abe invited Putin to visit Japan in 2014 while on a trip to Moscow last April, during which they agreed to revive talks on resolving a seven-decade dispute over a chain of islands known in Russia as the Southern Kuriles and in Japan as the Northern Territories. \"It has been decided that President Putin will visit Japan this autumn,\" Abe told reporters after his talks with the Russian president in the Winter Olympics host city of Sochi.","Murdoch's BSkyB looks to secure base in UK. LONDON (AP) — British Sky Broadcasting PLC sought Thursday to secure its base against its insurgent rival BT PLC by securing some sports rights and a long-term deal with U.S. pay-TV network Home Box Office.","Venezuelan leader says coup plot generals arrested. CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro says officials have arrested three air force generals on charges of plotting a coup at a time of nationwide anti-government protests.","Swedish doctors transplant wombs into 9 women, will soon transfer embryos into new wombs. STOCKHOLM - Nine women in Sweden have successfully received transplanted wombs donated from relatives and will soon try to become pregnant, the doctor in charge of the pioneering project has revealed.","France beats Switzerland 3-2 in Fed Cup. PARIS (AP) — Alize Cornet and Kristina Mladenovic beat Belinda Bencic and Timea Bacsinszky 7-5, 6-4 in doubles Sunday to give France a 3-2 win over Switzerland in their first round tie in Fed Cup World Group II.","Maltese worker kidnapped in Libya freed. A Maltese worker who was abducted by Libyan rebels on the outskirts of Tripoli on July 17 has been freed and arrived home safely in Valletta on Monday, authorities said. Martin Galea, 40, a health and safety professional who worked for an oil and gas company, appeared to be in good health but was taken to hospital for a thorough examination. \"I don't have words to thank all those who helped in whatever way to save my life,\" Galea said after being welcomed home by his wife and friends. Maltese Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, who also met Galea at the airport, said no ransom had been paid for his release.","Exclusive: Commerzbank close to settling U.S. sanctions probes. By Karen Freifeld NEW YORK (Reuters) - German lender Commerzbank AG is nearing agreement with U.S. The bank is expected to pay about $650 million to resolve the U.S. Margarita Thiel, a spokeswoman for the Frankfurt-based bank, declined comment. Reuters previously reported Commerzbank, Germany's second largest lender, was expected to pay U.S.","Palestinians briefly hold group of Jewish settlers. JERUSALEM (AP) — Palestinians say residents of a West Bank village captured and briefly held more than a dozen Jewish settlers after the two groups traded blows.","Rising home prices send China's 'Rat Race' scurrying underground. By Koh Gui Qing and Aileen Wang BEIJING (Reuters) - Zig-zagging left and right through a maze of dark, narrow corridors in a high-rise's basement, 35-year-old kitchen worker Hu has joined the many thousands of Chinese fleeing fast-rising property prices by heading down - down underground. Hu lives here beneath an affluent downtown apartment building, in a windowless, 4 square-meter (43 square-foot) apartment with his wife. Living in basement apartments isn't illegal in China, but like anywhere else it is nothing to brag about and Hu, who guts fish for 2,500 yuan a month at a popular Sichuanese hotpot restaurant on the street above, declined to provide his given name. Residential property prices rose 10 percent in November from the same month of 2012, according to data released last week, and have been setting new records every year since 2009.","Vettel makes disastrous start to F1 title defense. MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — World champion Sebastian Vettel could not have made a worse start to his Formula One title defense after the Red Bull driver was forced to retire with engine problems just five laps into the season-opening Australian Grand Prix on Sunday.","Ukraine 'round table' meeting to be held on Wednesday: German government. A \\\\\"round table\\\\\" of Ukrainian politicians and civil groups will meet on Wednesday, Germany's government spokesman said, welcoming the move as a potential step towards easing the crisis after referendums on self-rule in east Ukraine did the opposite. \\\\\"We need national dialogue in Ukraine with the participation of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) to discuss crucial themes like decentralization, constitutional questions, constitutional reforms,\\\\\" spokesman Steffen Seibert told reporters at a regular government press conference on Monday. \\\\\"We welcome the fact that preparations for a round table have progressed and that on Wednesday a first round table meeting will be held,\\\\\" he added.","Hyundai Mobis to build plant in Czech Republic. PRAGUE (AP) — South Korea's Hyundai Mobis has signed a deal with the Czech government to build a car lights plant in the eastern part of the Czech Republic.","India says to respond to U.S. trade action at WTO. India said on Tuesday it will respond to any U.S. trade action it, a day after Washington said it would take India to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) in order to gain a bigger foothold for U.S. manufacturers in its fast-growing solar products market. \"India will respond at the WTO adequately,\" Trade Minister Anand Sharma told reporters. We may also have an application or may move the WTO.\" The Obama administration said on Monday it was filing its second case at the WTO over the domestic content requirements in India's massive solar program, which aims to ease chronic energy shortages in Asia's third-largest economy.","Iran's Zarif says legal experts advising nuclear negotiators. Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on Tuesday that Tehran's negotiators were being assisted by experts in international law during the \"difficult\" nuclear talks being held in Vienna. The Vienna meeting, which began on Tuesday, is aimed at reaching a lasting accord to end a decade-long standoff over Iran's nuclear programme. \"Therefore, I formed an advisory group in legal affairs which comprises many prominent and well-known professors specialised in international law ... to assist the negotiating team in that important matter,\" he said. Western nations and Israel have long suspected Iran is pursuing a nuclear weapons capability alongside its civilian programme, charges denied by Tehran.","Historic buildings blown up in Syria's Aleppo. Several historic buildings, including a colonial-era structure, have been blown up in Syria's second city of Aleppo, where fighting has wrought massive destruction, reports said Wednesday. Rebel fighters destroyed \"several old buildings on Tuesday night by placing explosives in a tunnel leading under the Old City of Aleppo,\" state television said. State television said \"terrorists were trying to erase the archeological remains of Aleppo.\" The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitoring group, also reported the damage but said the regime was responsible.","Gunmen free at least 50 inmates in central Nigeria prison raid. Lagos (AFP) - Gunmen armed with dynamite freed at least 50 inmates in a raid on a prison in central Nigeria's Kogi state, the same facility attacked by Boko Haram Islamists in 2012, police said Monday.","WTA's Paris tournament renamed, moves to Toulouse. PARIS (AP) — The Open GDF Suez women's tennis tournament has been renamed and will move from Paris to Toulouse next year.","Burundi dismisses 'crackdown' report as 'outright lies'. Burundi's government on Thursday rejected reports the ruling party is carrying out a crackdown against the opposition ahead of elections, calling an Amnesty International report \"biased and partisan.\" Amnesty has said the ruling CNDD-FDD party's youth wing, known as the Imbonerakure, has strong links to the security service, accusing it of \"perpetrating human rights abuses with impunity.\"","Yemen panel agrees on federal state of 6 regions. SANAA, Yemen (AP) — A key panel tasked with coming up with a system of federalism for Yemen has agreed to transform the impoverished, strife-torn Arabian Peninsula nation into a state of six regions.","4 charged in Germany on suspicion of terrorism. BERLIN (AP) — German authorities say they've charged four Turkish men with belonging to a leftist terrorist organization believed to be behind the suicide bombing on the U.S. Embassy in Ankara last year.","Total CEO keeps costly drilling strategy to end: 2014. By Michel Rose PARIS (Reuters) - The chief executive of French oil major Total is giving himself until the end of the year to strike oil at a big new field somewhere in the world before considering whether to change direction and cut the exploration budget. \"It's not a success in terms of results for the moment,\" Christophe de Margerie told Reuters in an interview. \"But exploration takes more than two years to yield results.\" De Margerie was asked whether the group could drop the expensive strategy, which had been a shift from Total's previous, more cautious approach. \"If we have to change, we'll do it, but there won't be a revolution where we stop everything and start over,\" he said, adding that the company had yet to drill so far in countries such as Angola, South Africa and Bulgaria.","China sentences prominent rights activist to four years. BEIJING (Reuters) - A Chinese court sentenced one of China's most prominent rights advocates to four years in prison on Sunday after he campaigned for the rights of children from rural areas to be educated in cities and for officials to disclose their assets. The Beijing No.1 Intermediate People's Court found Xu Zhiyong guilty of \"gathering a crowd to disturb public order\", the court said on its official microblog. Xu was tried on Wednesday. (Reporting by Sui-Lee Wee; Writing by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Paul Tait)","Rebel attacks in Aleppo kill scores ahead of vote. DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — A Syrian official and activists say dozens of people have been killed or wounded over the past three days in stepped-up rebel attacks on government-held areas in the northern city of Aleppo.","Immigrants build document trails to remain in US. SAN DIEGO (AP) — Electricity bills. Speeding tickets. Dentist records. Money order receipts.","BRAZIL BEAT: Born in Brazil, Motta feels Italian. MANGARATIBA, Brazil (AP) — Thiago Motta got a taste of what he was in for when he was jeered every time he touched the ball during a World Cup warmup match with Brazilian club Fluminense.","Bubba roars back to claim dramatic win at WGC-HSBC Champions. Masters winner Bubba Watson roared back to beat Tim Clark in a playoff Sunday after seemingly blowing his chances down the back nine of the WGC-HSBC Champions in Shanghai. Watson had started the day two shots behind long-time leader McDowell at nine-under and got off to a shaky start with a bogey five at the first.","Life sentence in slaying of lawmaker in Curacao. WILLEMSTAD, Curacao (AP) — A judge in Curacao has sentenced one man to life in prison and acquitted two others in the May 2013 slaying of a prominent political leader on the southern Caribbean island.","U.S. banks on strong Iraq coalition, but allies are hesitant. By John Irish PARIS (Reuters) - The United States says it is \"comfortable\" it can forge an international coalition to fight Islamic State, but with Western and Middle Eastern allies hesitant, it risks finding itself out on a limb. President Barack Obama this week unveiled a rough plan to fight the Islamist militants simultaneously in Iraq and Syria, thrusting the United States directly into two different wars in which nearly every country in the region has a stake. The broad concept of a coalition has been accepted in Western capitals and on Thursday 10 Arab states, including rivals Saudi Arabia and Qatar, signed up to a \"co-ordinated military campaign\". \"I'm comfortable that this will be a broad-based coalition with Arab nations, European nations, the United States, others,\" U.S.","European Central Bank keeps rates steady. FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — The European Central Bank has kept its main interest rate at a record low of 0.25 percent, holding off on more stimulus as economic indicators suggest the modest recovery is gaining strength.","Rural Sierra Leone waits for help as Ebola does its worst. Eleven months into the worst Ebola outbreak in history, the response to the epidemic in one of the worst-hit rural corners of Sierra Leone is being patched together with branches and bits of cloth. This will be Lokamasama's new isolation centre, where the sick will be looked after and their relatives kept apart from other villagers. \"We have neither an ambulance nor a burial team,\" said Chief Maro Lamina Angbathor, the \"paramount chief\" of 368 villages in the province of Port Loko, three hours by road northeast of the capital Freetown. He had called the town of Port Loko, an hour from Lokamasama, to ask for a burial team to take away the body of a man who had died that morning from the virus.","Likely U.S. listing to further sideline Italy in Fiat-Chrysler group. By Agnieszka Flak and Deepa Seetharaman MILAN/DETROIT (Reuters) - Chief Executive Sergio Marchionne's merger of carmakers Fiat and Chrysler will probably entail a U.S. share listing that cements North America as the group's new centre of gravity and further sidelines Italy. Two sources close to Fiat said it was likely to move its primary listing to New York as early as 2015 after a merger with Chrysler, the third-largest U.S. automaker, heralding a politically delicate shift of focus that reflects the operating facts. Chrysler already made more than half the group's first-half revenue, turning what would have been a 501 million euro ($690 million) loss for Fiat alone into a 435 million euro profit, while Fiat plants in Italy tick along at just 41 percent capacity, according to 2013 estimates from IHS Automotive.","Egypt election commission says first round of voting for new president on May 26 and 27. CAIRO (AP) — Egypt election commission says first round of voting for new president on May 26 and 27.","UK loath to pressure China over Hong Kong because of trade: former governor. By Kylie MacLellan LONDON (Reuters) - Britain is not putting enough pressure on China to stick to its side of an agreement on the transfer of Hong Kong's sovereignty because it is worried about damaging trade links, former Hong Kong governor Chris Patten said on Tuesday. China took back control of the former British colony in 1997 through a \"one country, two systems\" formula which allows wide-ranging autonomy and specifies universal suffrage as an eventual goal. ...","Populist advances set to hobble EU integration. By Paul Taylor BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Stunning gains by anti-EU and populist parties in the European Parliament elections will prevent any new treaty on deeper euro zone integration for the foreseeable future and may tilt Europe's economic policy mix more towards expansion. With the 28 European Union leaders meeting in Brussels later on Tuesday to digest the results of a widespread vote against the pro-European establishment, the first policy consequences are becoming clear: NO MORE TREATIES The EU will not risk a revision of its governing treaties any time soon that would require ratification by parliaments and referendums in some member states, given the risk of \"no\" votes. While that means British Prime Minister David Cameron is unlikely to achieve his goal of removing the aim of \"ever closer union\" from the EU treaty, in practice integration is likely to be on hold, if not in reverse, for years to come. \"We're going to see a spread of the British disease,\" said Fabian Zuleeg, chief executive of the European Policy Centre think-tank in Brussels.","Pistorius arrives at psychiatric hospital. PRETORIA, South Africa (AP) — Oscar Pistorius has arrived at a psychiatric hospital in South Africa to begin the period of mental evaluation he was ordered to undergo by the judge at his murder trial.","U.S., Iran say major disputes remain in Vienna nuclear talks. By John Irish and Lesley Wroughton VIENNA (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Sunday major differences persist between Iran and six world powers negotiating on Tehran's nuclear program, remarks echoed by Tehran, with a July 20 deadline for a deal approaching. The United States, Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China want Iran to reduce its nuclear fuel-making capacity to deny it any means of quickly producing atom bombs. In exchange, international sanctions that have crippled the large OPEC member's oil-dependent economy would gradually be lifted. Iran says it is enriching uranium for peaceful energy purposes only and wants the sanctions removed swiftly.","Sports chief: Brazil government must act on Rio. BELEK, Turkey (AP) — The head of Olympic summer sports federations has called for urgent action to resolve the critical delays facing the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro and accused the Brazilian government of failing to support the project.","Burkina Faso authorities to decide on transitional president. OUAGADOUGOU (Reuters) - Authorities in Burkina Faso met on Sunday to name an interim president to lead the country back to civilian rule after former head of state Blaise Compaore was toppled by protests last month and replaced by a military ruler. A 23-strong committee drawn from the army, traditional and religious groups, civil society and the political opposition was expected to decide between five candidates, comprising a retired diplomat, a sociologist, two journalists and a priest. \"It's expected that the leader will be chosen tonight even if it gets late. ...","New Italy PM calls for 'radical change'. Prime Minister Matteo Renzi called for a \"radical and immediate change\" in recession-hit Italy as he outlined his new government's programme before winning a vote of confidence in the Senate early Tuesday. He told senators Italy would become a \"country of opportunity\" and later won the vote of confidence, with 169 votes in favour and 139 against, according to Senate speaker Pietro Grasso. No-one has an alibi anymore,\" said the 39-year-old -- Italy's youngest ever prime minister. \"This is an Italy of possibilities, an Italy of fundamental change,\" he said, stressing the \"urgency\" of implementing reforms in \"a rusty country... gripped by anxiety\".","Two Israelis held in W.Bank over olive pickers attack. Jerusalem (AFP) - Two Israelis were arrested in the occupied West Bank Saturday after a mob attacked a Palestinian family picking olives at the start of harvest season -- a frequent source of tension.","US posts $18 mn bounty for four African militants. Washington (AFP) - The United States on Friday posted $18 million in rewards for the capture of four African militants involved in the kidnapping of foreigners and attacks on Western targets.","UN demands end to military action in Golan Heights. UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N. Security Council is strongly condemning the recent intense fighting between the Syrian government and opposition forces in the Golan Heights and demanding an end to all military activity in the area that has separated Syrian and Israeli forces since 1974.","Deep water search for jet could turn on robot subs. Two miles down or more and darker than night, the ocean becomes a particularly challenging place for human searchers.","Foxconn to let workers in Vietnam take three days off. TAIPEI (Reuters) - Foxconn Technology Group, a major manufacturer of Apple Inc's iPhones and iPads, will let workers in its Vietnam facilities take three days off, starting from Saturday, for safety reasons, the company said in a statement on Friday. Foxconn, whose flagship unit is Hon Hai Precision Industry, did not elaborate. Anti-China protests, triggered by a dispute in the South China Sea, have led to vandalism, factory shut-downs and some deaths in several industrial parks in Vietnam. (Editing by Clarence Fernandez)","Fate of UN peacekeepers in Syrian Golan unclear. UN peacekeepers caught up in heavy fighting on the Golan Heights were evacuated Saturday as the fate of 44 colleagues captured by Syrian rebels remained uncertain. An AFP photographer heard intense small arms and missile fire in the buffer zone separating the Israeli-occupied part of the strategic plateau and the Syrian part, where soldiers with the UN Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) are being held. Irish soldiers with UNDOF, which is responsible for ensuring the maintenance of the armistice line between Israel and Syria, took part in an evacuation of UN troops during Saturday's fighting, the Irish military said in a statement.","Foal of Frankel sold at London auction. LONDON (AP) — A foal of undefeated race horse Frankel was sold along with its mother Crystal Gaze for 1.15 million pounds ($1.96 million) in an auction at Kensington Palace on Monday.","China ups its medics in Ebola-hit Sierra Leone to 174. Geneva (AFP) - China will send more medics to Ebola-hit Sierra Leone to help boost laboratory testing for the virus, raising the total number of Chinese medical experts there to 174, the UN said Tuesday.","Strong earthquake hits off eastern Indonesia. JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — A strong earthquake has hit off the coast of Sulawesi island in eastern Indonesia, but there were no immediate reports of injuries or damage.","Abbott named to make cricket return on Tuesday. SYDNEY (AP) — Fast bowler Sean Abbott has been named to play for New South Wales against Queensland in a Sheffield Shield cricket match from Tuesday on the ground on which test batsman Phil Hughes was struck by his bouncer two weeks ago.","Top Asian News at 8:30 a.m. GMT. HONG KONG (AP) — Lines of Hong Kong police on Thursday tore down tents as they closed in on the heart of a pro-democracy protest camp spread across a busy highway as part of a final push to retake streets occupied by activists for two and a half months. Police had earlier overseen workers acting on a court order clear barricades from the edges of the site. The students and other activists are protesting Beijing's restrictions on the first election for Hong Kong's leader.","Putin's gallantry upstages Chinese host at APEC. BEIJING (AP) — It was a warm gesture on a chilly night when Vladimir Putin wrapped a shawl around the wife of Xi Jinping while the Chinese president chatted with Barack Obama. The only problem: Putin came off looking gallant, the Chinese summit host gauche and inattentive.","Attacks push Iraq death toll to 26. Late night attacks in Sunni Arab areas north of Baghdad pushed the overall death toll from violence in Iraq a day earlier to 26, security and medical officials said Monday. The protracted surge in nationwide unrest, coupled with a deadly standoff in Anbar province between security forces and anti-government fighters, has left more than 850 people dead so far this month. Diplomats and foreign leaders have urged Iraq's Shiite-led government to address long-term grievances in the disaffected Sunni community to undercut support for militants, but with elections due in April, Prime Minister Nuri-al-Maliki has taken a hard line. Violence in Anbar, as well as Baghdad and several areas north of the capital on Sunday left at least 26 people dead and dozens more wounded, officials said on Monday, updating previous tolls.","Report: Iran detains Spaniards for illegal hunting. TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran's official news agency is reporting that authorities have detained two Spaniards for alleged illegal hunting after they were found with a captured alligator.","Iran, powers resume expert-level nuclear talks Wednesday. Tehran (AFP) - Expert-level talks between Iran and world powers aimed at clearing the path toward a nuclear deal will be held Wednesday and Thursday in Vienna, a top Iranian official said.","Retired US generals urge Guantanamo closure. Thirty-one retired US military officers urged President Barack Obama on Tuesday to make good on his promise to close the Guantanamo prison by speeding up efforts to transfer detainees. \"We appreciate your leadership this past year in recommitting to closing Guantanamo,\" the former generals and admirals wrote in a letter released by Human Rights First. \"Guantanamo does not serve America’s interests. As long as it remains open, Guantanamo will undermine America’s security and status as a nation where human rights and the rule of law matter.\"","Sony's PlayStation store suffers suspected hack. TOKYO (AP) — Sony's online PlayStation store was inaccessible to users for part of Monday in the latest possible cyberattack on the electronics and entertainment company.","Japan, South Korea condemn Sony hack; Chinese paper says movie is senseless. By Linda Sieg TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan and South Korea condemned a hacking attack on Sony Pictures that the United States has blamed on North Korea and said they would cooperate in international efforts against cyber-crime as asked for by Washington. The government of China, North Korea's only major ally, has yet to respond to the U.S. call, but a state-run newspaper denounced Sony's comedy woven around a fictional plot to assassinate North Korean leader Kim Jong Un as senseless and arrogant. ...","West-backed Syria rebels shaken on multiple fronts. BEIRUT (AP) — During a key battle in the rugged mountains of a northern province earlier this month, U.S.-backed Syrian rebels collapsed before an assault by al-Qaida fighters. Some surrendered their weapons. Others outright defected to the militants.","Bodies of 48 Sunni tribal fighters found in Iraq. BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraqi authorities on Thursday found the bodies of 48 Sunni tribesmen killed by the Islamic State group in the restive western province of Anbar, an official said.","Dead parrots and lumberjacks please Python fans. LONDON (AP) — Comedy is a bit like history. It repeats itself, and what started out as satire can mellow into farce.","Russian troop convoy on road to Crimea's capital. SIMFEROPOL, Ukraine (AP) — Associated Press journalists on Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula have seen a convoy of hundreds of Russian troops heading toward the regional capital, Simferopol.","Surprising Brazil election keeps zigging, zagging. RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — It's the presidential election that just keeps surprising.","Iran says Syria vote will boost legitimacy of ally Assad. Iran said Friday that next week's presidential election in Syria, branded a farce by Western governments, will boost the legitimacy of its ally Bashar al-Assad. \"God willing, the elections in Syria will be carried out without a hitch,\" said Ali Akbar Velayati, the senior foreign policy adviser to Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.","Minister: 75 dead in blast at Nigerian bus station. ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — Nigeria's health minister says three wounded victims have died, raising the toll to 75 dead in the massive blast at a busy bus station in Nigeria's capital.","Air India flight lands safely after engine fire. NEWARK, New Jersey (AP) — Officials say an India-bound flight out of New Jersey was forced to return to the airport because of an engine fire.","New NATO chief says wants constructive ties with Russia. WARSAW (Reuters) - NATO wants constructive relations with Russia even as it increases its presence in its member states in eastern Europe, the alliance's new secretary-general told a Polish newspaper on Monday. Jens Stoltenberg, who is visiting Poland, said NATO would still respect its international commitments, which include a post-Cold War deal with Moscow about Western military deployments in former members of the old Soviet bloc. ...","1 detained for attacks on Albanian shops in Serbia. BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — Serbian police say they have detained one person suspected in a spate of attacks on Albanian-owned businesses in northern Serbia after a soccer brawl this week at a game between Serbia and Albania.","Federer beats Goffin for 6th Swiss Indoors title. BASEL, Switzerland (AP) — Top-seeded Roger Federer won a sixth Swiss Indoors title, comfortably defeating David Goffin in straight sets to end a run of two successive final defeats at his hometown tournament.","BRAZIL BEAT: Italy gets warm welcome in Natal. NATAL, Brazil (AP) — The girls squealed for Mario Balotelli. The locals chanted for their hometown team.","Rights group asks UN to oppose Nigerian executions. LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) — A leading Nigerian human rights group is asking U.N. rapporteurs to act urgently to try to stop the mass executions of soldiers sentenced to death for refusing to fight Islamic militants.","Chinese lawyer detained for invoking constitution. BEIJING (AP) — At least 260 Chinese lawyers have protested after a fellow attorney was detained by police for invoking the constitutional rights of free speech and religion in court.","Panamanians vote in close presidential elections. Voters in Panama went to the polls Sunday to elect a new president amid a seeming consensus in favor of the free market policies of outgoing President Ricardo Martinelli. The frontrunners -- ruling party candidate Jose Domingo Arias, opposition politician Juan Carlos Navarro and Vice President Juan Carlos Varela -- all cast their ballots soon after polls opened at 7:00 am (1300 GMT). Turnout among Panama's 2.5 million eligible voters, who are also tasked with electing dozens of mayors and members of Congress, was expected to be high \"because there's even greater interest\" than usual,\" said Erasmo Pinilla, head of the country's election authority. Martinelli, speaking from the presidential palace on Sunday urged Panamanians to \"vote for whomever you want, but vote.\"","3 Hong Kong protest leaders to surrender to police. HONG KONG (AP) — Three protest leaders in Hong Kong — two professors and a pastor— are calling for an end to street demonstrations to prevent violence and take the campaign for democratic reforms to a new stage.","U.N. says Libya rivals agree 'in principle' to peace talks: envoys. By Louis Charbonneau UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The United Nations informed the Security Council on Tuesday that rival factions in Libya have agreed \"in principle\" to holding a new round of peace talks aimed at ending the escalating political crisis early in the new year, council diplomats said. The world body had planned to hold a second round of talks last week to end a confrontation between two rival governments and parliaments, but it said a military escalation was undermining its efforts. The new talks have been repeatedly delayed due to difficulties getting the parties to agree to meet. ...","Abkhazia elects opposition leader as president. Georgia's Russian-backed breakaway province of Abkhazia elected opposition leader Raul Khadzhimba as president on Sunday, the head of the region's election commission said. Commission head Batal Tabagua told journalists that Khadzimba received 50.57 percent of the vote, while his main rival Aslan Bzhania received 35.91 percent. According to Russia's Itar-Tass news agency all four candidates are proponents of closer relations with Russia, but none advocates the region becomes part of Russia. Former leader Alexander Ankvab was forced to resign over allegations of corruption and misrule.","General Motors CEO Barra to earn $14.4 million in 2014. General Motors Co's Mary Barra, the auto industry's first female chief executive officer, will be paid $14.4 million in cash and stock this year, 60 percent more than her predecessor, the automaker disclosed on Monday. GM had previously said Barra, 52, would receive up to $4.4 million in cash and stock compensation this year, but that amount did not include what she would receive under the company's long-term compensation plan, which totals $10 million. GM said Barra's total is an increase of 60 percent over her predecessor, Dan Akerson, who stepped down last month. GM said it was releasing the figures ahead of its proxy filing in April \"to correct misperceptions created by comparisons that used only a portion of Barra's overall compensation.\" \"As a new CEO, Mary's total compensation is in line with her peer group and properly weighted so that most is at-risk,\" GM Chairman Tim Solso said in a statement.","Oil falls on weak China trade data, US supply rise. The price of oil fell from a five-week high Thursday after China reported weak monthly trade data and a report showed a big increase in U.S. crude supplies.","Israel destroys homes of Palestinians suspected of killing Israeli teens. By Ori Lewis JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israeli troops on Monday demolished the homes of two Palestinians it suspects of the abduction and killing of three teenagers in the occupied West Bank in June, the army said. Troops set charges to destroy the homes of Hussam Kawasme and Amar Abu Aysha in the southern West Bank before dawn and sealed off the home of a third suspect, Marwan Kawasme, the army said. Israel accuses Hamas Islamist militants of the abduction and killing of Jewish seminary students Gil-Ad Shaer, Naftali Fraenkel and Eyal Yifrah, who went missing on June 12 and were discovered dead a couple of weeks later in the West Bank.","Dutch party down at 'King's Day' for new monarch. AMSTERDAM (AP) — The Dutch donned orange-colored outfits and celebrated their first ever \"King's Day\" on Saturday — a national holiday held in honor of the Netherlands' newly installed monarch, King Willem Alexander.","Angry at austerity? Imagine you're a walrus. ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Trouble at work?","African-American historian aims to honour 150th anniversary of emancipation in Annapolis, state. ANNAPOLIS, Md. - Janice Hayes-Williams doesn't forget easily, so she makes it a habit to remind others.","2 cases of mosquito virus contracted in US. WEST PALM BEACH, Florida (AP) — Health officials say that for the first time, an American has been infected with chikungunya by a mosquito in the United States.","England's winless streak reaches ten Tests. London (AFP) - England's 95-run defeat by India in the second Test at Lord's on Monday made it 10 successive Test matches without a win for the team -- their worst winless streak in the format for 21 years.","Libyans called to polls amid mounting anger over insecurity. Libyans go to the polls on Thursday to elect a constituent assembly in the latest milestone in the chaotic political transition from the ousted dictatorship of Moamer Kadhafi. But there was none of the voter enthusiasm that marked Libya's first free election in July 2012 as public frustration mounts over the post-Kadhafi government's failure to restore order.","Austria reaches pay deal with civil servants after protests. Austria's government agreed on Friday to raise the wages of its 200,000 civil servants by 1.9 percent this year after big protests against the new government. Finance Minister Michael Spindelegger said the agreement, which will cost the government more than 190 million euros ($258 million), would not endanger his goal of eliminating the structural budget deficit by 2016. Spindelegger's conservative People's Party and Chancellor Werner Faymann's Social Democrats scraped to power with a combined majority in September elections but then spent more than two months thrashing out a coalition agreement. Faymann had promised to protect pensions and Austria's high standard of living, while Spindelegger wanted to impose spending cuts that would allow for tax reductions in a few years' time.","NZ 503, India slump to 45-3 on day 2 of 1st test. AUCKLAND, New Zealand (AP) — India crumbled to 45-3 at tea on Friday on the second day of the first test, replying to New Zealand's daunting first innings of 503.","US drops new aid to Iraqis fleeing militant surge. IRBIL, Iraq (AP) — The U.S. launched a new airdrop Saturday to aid thousands of members of an Iraqi minority group who fled the advance of the Islamic State group, trying to stem a worsening humanitarian crisis in a country reeling from the extremist offensive.","British report raises questions about ties between currency traders, brokers. By Jamie McGeever LONDON (Reuters) - An independent report into the Bank of England's role in the global currency market has raised questions about the relationship between commercial bank dealers and brokers for the first time since regulators began investigating trading practices. The report of an inquiry led by commercial lawyer Lord Anthony Grabiner shows how an unidentified trader raised a range of concerns with the British central bank three years ago, including over the role of brokers in deals struck at the \"London fix\". Investigations by international regulators into the $5. ...","Defense forgotten in opening round of NRL season. SYDNEY (AP) — Points and more points: the first weekend of Australia's National Rugby League season saw defense take a back seat to some high-scoring matches.","UK 'Google tax' will target inter-company payments. By Tom Bergin and William James LONDON (Reuters) - A new British tax on companies that shift profits out of the country and into tax havens will target inter-company fees for services like use of intellectual property, according to a Treasury document seen by Reuters. Companies will also be required to report their potential liability to the new tax, which the note said will sit outside the existing corporate tax system. That is intended to avoid legal challenges under existing tax treaties with countries like Ireland, a major conduit for shifted profits. ...","Thailand's army declares martial law, says not a coup. By Apornrath Phoonphongphiphat BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thailand's army declared martial law on Tuesday to restore order after six months of anti-government protests which have left the country without a proper functioning government, but the move did not constitute a coup, military officials said. The caretaker government was still in office, said deputy army spokesman Colonel Winthai Suvari, following the surprise announcement on television at 3 a.m. (4.00 p.m. ET Monday). \"This martial law is just to restore peace and stability, it has nothing to do with the government. Thailand has been stuck in political limbo since Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra and nine of her ministers were dismissed on May 7 after a court found them guilty of abuse of power.","Ronaldinho abuse reveals soccer racism in Mexico. MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexican football got a boost in September when former Brazil and Barcelona star Ronaldinho — a two-time FIFA player of the year — joined modest local club Queretaro.","Hamas' deputy chief says it has patched up ties with Iran. By Nidal al-Mughrabi GAZA (Reuters) - Hamas and Iran have repaired a close political and military relationship frayed by the Syrian civil war, the Palestinian Islamist group's deputy leader said on Wednesday. Patching up ties with Tehran could ease Hamas's financial and political isolation. Israel is blockading the Gaza Strip, while Egypt, battling Islamist militants in neighboring Sinai, has largely kept its Gaza frontier closed. ...","Ukraine says Russia issues Crimea ultimatum. Ukraine's military said Monday that Russia had given its forces an ultimatum to surrender in Crimea or face an all-out assault on the strategic Black Sea peninsula that has been overrun by Kremlin-backed troops. But Russia's Black Fleet swiftly denied any such demand and the country's parliament speaker said there was no need yet for Moscow to use its \"right\" to launch military action in Ukraine. Ukraine has accused Russia of pouring more troops into Crimea as world leaders grappled with Europe's worst standoff since the Cold War.","Guinea-Bissau run-off vote pits ex-finance minister Vaz against Nabiam. By Bate Felix and Alberto Dabo BISSAU (Reuters) - Jose Mario Vaz, Guinea-Bissau's former finance minister, will face Nuno Gomes Nabiam, a candidate seen closest to the army, in a May 18 presidential run-off due to complete the country's return to civilian rule. The presidential and parliamentary vote is meant to offer the nation a fresh start after decades of instability since independence from Portugal. Its last vote in 2012 was abandoned after the military seized power between rounds of voting. ...","Laid-off worker quizzed after Spain politician shot dead. Leon (Spain) (AFP) - Spanish police on Tuesday questioned a struggling, laid-off council worker and her mother over the public gunning down of a ruling party politician, a murder that halted campaigning for European elections in the country. Isabel Carrasco, renowned as a strong character who led the ruling Popular Party in Leon province, was shot repeatedly Monday in what appeared to be an act of personal vengeance as she crossed a footbridge in the university city, police and witnesses said. Newspapers splashed on their front pages images of her body lying under a white sheet on the bridge, some highlighting concern over growing public hatred of Spanish politicians.","Ghana defender Akaminko misses WCup. ROTTERDAM, Netherlands (AP) — Defender Jerry Akaminko is out of Ghana's final World Cup squad after being injured in a tuneup game against the Netherlands.","Palestinian PM offers to quit, easing way for unity government. RAMALLAH, West Bank (Reuters) - Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah offered his resignation on Friday, the official news agency WAFA said, a move which may pave the way a unity government agreed between President Mahmoud Abbas and Hamas. Israel on Thursday suspended peace talks with the Palestinians, saying it could not negotiate with an administration that embraces a militant group sworn to Israel's destruction. (Reporting By Noah Browning, Editing by Ori Lewis and Angus MacSwan)","Diego Costa set to start against Barcelona. MADRID (AP) — Atletico Madrid coach Diego Simeone says striker Diego Costa has recovered from a hamstring injury and will start against Barcelona on Saturday in the Spanish league title decider.","Increase in activity at DRC's Nyamulagira volcano. Goma (DR Congo) (AFP) - A volcano in the Democratic Republic of Congo has seen some \"strong activity\" and could erupt in the next few days, the Volcanic Observatory in Goma said on Friday. Experts said seismic activity at Mount Nyamulagira, in the east of the country, does not currently pose any risk to the local population, although Goma, a city of over a million people devastated by an eruption in 2002, sits just 20 kilometres (12 miles) away. Scientists said the volcanic activity should not affect the neighbouring Nyiragongo volcano, which erupted 12 years ago.","Army Chief: US must avoid civilian deaths in Iraq. WASHINGTON (AP) — The top U.S. Army officer says it will become increasingly difficult to target and launch precision airstrikes against Islamic State militants hiding among the Iraqi population.","Set to rule divided Egypt, Sisi faces biggest test. By Michael Georgy CAIRO (Reuters) - Along a busy Cairo roundabout, a poster portrays presidential frontrunner Abdel Fattah al-Sisi as a teacher, engineer, doctor and judge, reassuring supporters who see him as Egypt's savior. But in other neighborhoods, opponents splash red paint on the image of the face of the man who toppled Egypt's first freely-elected president, and who they say has blood on his hands for ordering a violent crackdown. The former army chief is expected to easily win a May 26-27 presidential election, taking over a polarized country with immense challenges: from an energy crisis to an Islamist militant insurgency that has sharply worsened since he overthrew the Muslim Brotherhood's Mohamed Mursi last year. Sisi has gained cult-like adulation among backers since removing Mursi.","At least 49 killed in Saturday's protest clashes in Egypt - state media. CAIRO (Reuters) - The death toll from clashes during protests in Egypt on Saturday rose to 49, state-run Al-Ahram website quoted a health ministry official as saying on Sunday. The fighting erupted on the third anniversary of the popular uprising which toppled autocrat Hosni Mubarak. Security forces fought opponents of the army-backed government which replaced Islamist President Mohamed Mursi in July. (Reporting by Maggie Fick; Editing by Louise Ireland)","Syrian Islamist group names new leader after blast: video. Syrian Islamist insurgent group Ahrar al-Sham has appointed a new leader and military chief after their predecessors were killed in a blast on Tuesday, a video statement from the group said. The explosion in northwestern Syria killed at least 12 including Ahrar al-Sham's leader Hassan Aboud, according to the hardline group, part of the Islamic Front alliance that has been fighting Islamic State militants as well as the Syrian army. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a group that monitors the conflict, said an explosion killed 28 of Ahrar al-Sham's commanders, dealing a major blow to the group that is believed to have received funds from Gulf states. In a video statement, Ahrar al-Sham said its council had appointed Hashem al-Sheikh, also known as \"Abu Jaber\", as leader and Abu Saleh Tahan as military chief.","Carroll brace gives West Ham 3-1 win over Swansea. LONDON (AP) — Striker Andy Carroll's headed brace helped West Ham to a 3-1 victory against Swansea at Upton Park on Sunday.","US court issues partial win to bin Laden assistant. WASHINGTON (AP) — A U.S. appeals court on Monday set aside two of three convictions against a former personal assistant to Osama bin Laden.","Gunmen fire grenade at Libya PM office: aide. TRIPOLI (Reuters) - Unidentified gunmen fired a rocket propelled grenade (RPG) at the office of new Libyan Prime Minister Ahmed Maiteeq on Wednesday, one of his aides said. Nobody was hurt when the RPG hit the building, the aide said, adding that Maiteeq had not been in the office. (Reporting by Ulf Laessing, Writing by William Maclean; Editing by John Stonestreet)","PAOK beats Kerkyra 2-1 in Greek league. ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Ergys Kace blasted a powerful shot from outside the area in the 81st minute to give PAOK a 2-1 victory over visiting Kerkyra in the Greek league Sunday.","Ex New Zealand IOC member Tay Wilson dies at 89. LAUSANNE, Switzerland (AP) — Former International Olympic Committee member of New Zealand Tay Wilson has died. He was 89.","Israel charges chief suspect in W.Bank teens' kidnap. A prime suspect in the kidnapping and murder of three Israeli teenagers in the West Bank has been charged with organising and financing the crime, Israeli security officials said Thursday. The deaths, which Israel immediately blamed on Hamas, triggered a series of events that led to a devastating 50-day war in Gaza that killed more than 2,100 Palestinians and 71 Israelis. Israel's internal security service Shin Bet accused Hossam Qawasmeh, who was arrested on July 11, of organising the June 12 kidnapping and spending some 220,000 shekels ($61,300, 47,200 euros) on weapons and cars used in the crime. According to the charge sheet seen by AFP, Qawasmeh was charged in a military court for \"transferring enemy funds\", carrying out services for an illegal organisation (Hamas) and \"deliberately causing the death\" of the three Israelis.","Poland opens probe into electoral hacking. WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Prosecutors are investigating a hacking attack on the website of Poland's voting commission, while a top official has resigned over irregularities that are delaying the vote count in recent local elections.","UN: 3.5 million Syrians desperately need aid. UNITED NATIONS (AP) — United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says almost 3.5 million civilians in Syria have virtually no access to desperately needed humanitarian aid and people are dying needlessly every day as violence and extremism escalate.","Hospital: Ariel Sharon's health worsens. JERUSALEM (AP) — The condition of the comatose former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has taken a turn for the worse, the hospital treating him said Wednesday.","Google's Motorola misstep could be Lenovo's boon. SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — An expensive mistake by Google could turn into a golden opportunity for China's Lenovo Group as it expands beyond its success in the personal computer industry.","Japan finds halfpipe twice as nice. KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia (AP) — A year ago, Ayumu Hirano was known as the young kid who might someday beat Shaun White.","Kreuziger denies passport anomalies due to doping. PRAGUE (AP) — Czech cyclist Roman Kreuziger says independent experts have found that anomalies in his biological passport are not due to doping.","Mourinho points De Bruyne towards Chelsea exit. Cobham (United Kingdom) (AFP) - Kevin de Bruyne moved one step closer towards leaving Chelsea after Jose Mourinho revealed the Premier League club were close to striking a deal to sell the player. Belgium international De Bruyne is a target for Bundlesiga club Wolfsburg, who are believed to have lodged an £18 million (21.7m euros, $29.7m,) bid for the midfielder. Mourinho confirmed on Friday that the Stamford Bridge club had received two offers for the player who has not started a league game since August. And the Chelsea manager admitted the midfielder could be on his way with Chelsea set to make a substantial profit on a player who has made just three league appearances for the club since arriving from Genk in a £7m move in January 2012.","Bouteflika sets Algeria presidential vote for April 17. Algeria's ageing leader Abdelaziz Bouteflika on Friday called a presidential election for April 17, a day after returning from medical treatment in France, without indicating if he himself would stand. With Bouteflika's health woes making his own participation increasingly unlikely, the leadership contest is likely to be one of the most important in years in the energy-rich North African country, which is a key player in the fight against Islamist militants plaguing the region. \"Bouteflika today proceeded with the signing of the presidential decree convening the electoral body for Thursday, April 17, 2014, for the election of the presidency of the republic,\" a statement from his office said. Bouteflika has never named a favoured successor and has not ruled out the possibility of accepting his nomination by the ruling National Liberation Front (FLN) in November to stand for a fourth term despite his failing health.","Frenchman on trial over ailing patients' deaths. PAU, France (AP) — A French doctor is on trial on poisoning charges, accused of administering lethal injections to help seven terminally ill patients die.","Former Ferrari chairman headed to Alitalia. MILAN (AP) — Italian newspaper Il Messaggero says Ferrari's long-time chairman, Luca Cordero di Montezemolo, is heading to Alitalia as the new chairman.","Court rules against gag on 'frank' letters from UK's Prince Charles. The possible publication of potentially embarrassing letters written by British heir-to-the-throne Prince Charles moved a step closer on Wednesday when a gagging order on them was declared unlawful by a court. The 27 letters were written by Charles to members of the previous Labour government and have been described by Attorney General Dominic Grieve as \"particularly frank.\" The 65-year-old prince has long held strong views in areas like the environment and urban planning and has been criticized for apparently using his unelected position to persuade ministers to change official policies through private letters, nicknamed \"black-spider memos\" because of his scrawled handwriting. He has said that any perception that Charles had disagreed with the previous government of Tony Blair \"would be seriously damaging to his role as future monarch because, if he forfeits his position of political neutrality as heir to the throne, he cannot easily recover it when he is king\".","France draws 1-1 with Serbia in Euro 2016 friendly. BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — Dick Advocaat's first match in charge of Serbia ended with a 1-1 draw against Euro 2016 host France in a friendly on Sunday.","Sweden: Protesters injured by mounted police. COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — Swedish police say several people were injured, including one seriously, when mounted police charged demonstrators in the southern part of the country.","Yemen's Houthis block airport road, army bombs their rebel positions in north. SANAA (Reuters) - Protesters from the Shi'ite Muslim group the Houthis cut off the road between the capital and Yemen's main airport while warplanes bombed Houthi rebel positions in the north on Sunday in a sharp escalation of weeks of tensions with the government. Tens of thousands of Houthis, a religious insurgent group from northwest Yemen, have spent weeks camping around Sanaa in protest at the government against whom they fought a decade-long on-off war. ...","Israel stops Palestinian PM convoy for 'reckless driving'. Ramallah (Palestinian Territories) (AFP) - Israeli police pulled over the convoy of Palestinian premier Rami Hamdallah on Tuesday for \"reckless driving\" in a move the Ramallah government blasted as harassment, saying he was deliberately targeted. \"An Israeli military vehicle accompanied by police and settlers stopped Rami Hamdallah's convoy today between Ramallah and Nablus,\" government spokesman Ihab Bseiso told reporters in Ramallah, saying the convoy was held up for about an hour. Hamdallah was informed that he personally could leave but that his seven bodyguards must stay behind, but he refused until all of them were free to go, Bseiso said. Israel police spokeswoman Luba Samri confirmed the convoy had been pulled over but denied that Hamdallah had been prevented from leaving, saying he had refused to move on until receiving an apology.","China sentences 55 in Xinjiang mass trial. Local officials in China's western Xinjiang region held a public rally for the mass sentencing of criminals on Tuesday, handing out judgments for 55 people and at least three death sentences for crimes such as \"violent terrorism\", state media said. The public sentencing, reminiscent of China's revolutionary era rallies, attracted a crowd of 7,000 at a sports stadium in Yining city in the northern prefecture of Yili. China is waging a year-long anti-terrorism operation nationwide after a series of attacks, but has focused on Xinjiang, home to a large Muslim Uighur minority, following a series of bloody attacks that Beijing blames on Islamists and separatists from the region. The public sentencing made clear the determination of the ruling Communist Party to strike hard at \"violent terrorism, separatism and religious extremism\", the prefecture's deputy Party secretary Li Minghui said at the rally.","German police clash with far-right protesters. Berlin (AFP) - German riot police Sunday clashed with far-right hooligans who rallied against Islamist extremism, with authorities using water cannons and tear gas against the rock-throwing protesters.","U.N. seeks Libya ceasefire talks; protesters oppose Congress. By Patrick Markey and Aziz El Yaakoubi TRIPOLI (Reuters) - A U.N. delegation held talks in Tripoli on Friday to try to broker a ceasefire between armed factions that have turned the Libyan capital and Benghazi into battlegrounds. The violence has sharpened Libya's political divisions, and on Friday several thousand people marched in Tripoli, Benghazi and Misrata, to protest against the newly elected parliament that Western countries hope will facilitate reconciliation. The U.N. delegation, led by a representative of the United Nations mission in Libya, UNSMIL, aims to end the violence, help displaced Libyans and alleviate shortages of food and basic services, it said in a statement.","Italy has no time to celebrate after England win. MANAUS, Brazil (AP) — Italy can't afford to celebrate too much after opening the World Cup with an impressive win over England.","Federal ban sought for animal testing on cosmetics. WASHINGTON (AP) — Hoping to build off recent bans in Europe and India, opponents of animal testing for cosmetics plan to make a big push for a similar prohibition in the United States. The effort could be a tough sell in a Republican-controlled Congress.","Palestinian envoy killed by explosion at Prague home. By Jan Lopatka and Jason Hovet PRAGUE (Reuters) - The Palestinian ambassador to Prague was killed on Wednesday in an explosion that was triggered when he opened the door to a safe, Czech police said. Jamal al-Jamal, 56, died in hospital after the incident at his home on the morning of New Year's Day. \"According to information from the investigation so far, this was definitely not a terrorist attack,\" national police president Martin Cervicek said on Czech Television. Police spokeswoman Andrea Zoulova said an explosive - which may have been part of a security mechanism - went off after the safe was opened.","Column: A pop quiz for things learned in Sochi. SOCHI, Russia (AP) — You've just spent two weeks of your life watching things you won't even think about for another four years.","Newly signed Juventus forward Morata injured. TURIN, Italy (AP) — Newly signed Juventus forward Alvaro Morata has been ruled out for 50 days with a torn ligament in his left knee.","Valls says France would never ask Germany to solve its problems. By Annika Breidthardt and Michelle Martin BERLIN (Reuters) - French Prime Minister Manuel Valls sought to reassure Berlin on Tuesday that his country was making progress on economic reforms and would not ask Germany to solve its problems. Speaking after a German industry leader said Germany was not responsible for France's economic problems, Valls pledged in a speech that won a standing ovation to pursue reforms to revive an economy often characterised in Germany as \"sick\". \"Do you think that if I thought Germany was to blame for the problems in France ... ...","Afghan journalist, family killed in hotel attack. KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — The luxury hotel was considered one of the safest spots in the Afghan capital. Yet four gunmen walked in, proceeded to the restaurant and pulled out pistols hidden in their shoes. They killed nine people, including an AFP journalist, his wife and two children who were shot in the head.","Nesbitt, Morrison fit again ahead of Olympics. SOCHI, Russia (AP) — Between their gold-medal performances in Vancouver and the start of the Sochi Olympics, both Christine Nesbitt and Denny Morrison have been battling health problems.","China unexpectedly cuts rates to support economy. BEIJING (AP) — China's central bank unexpectedly slashed interest rates on Friday to shore up the world's No. 2 economy, joining a growing list of major economies that are trying to bolster growth amid a global slowdown.","Japan ends Dreamliner query without specifying cause of battery glitch. TOKYO (Reuters) - The Japanese government has ended its investigation of a January 2013 battery incident aboard a Boeing Co 787 Dreamliner jet without specifying the cause of the battery's overheating, the Japan Transport Safety Board said on its website. The Boeing aircraft operated by ANA Holdings Inc was forced to make an emergency landing in western Japan due to the battery glitch, which followed another battery-related incident less than two weeks earlier in Boston and prompted authorities to ground the global fleet of Dreamliners for more than three months. ...","War planes attack Libyan capital again as airport terminal is destroyed. By Heba al-Shibani and Ahmed Elumami TRIPOLI (Reuters) - Fire destroyed the terminal at Tripoli's main airport on Sunday, one day after it was seized by militia fighters from the Libyan city of Misrata, witnesses said. Unidentified war planes also attacked targets in the capital, residents said, the latest stage of the worst fighting in Libya since the overthrow of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011. All planes in front of it were damaged, as well as many houses and office buildings on airport road. A militia called Operation Dawn, consisting mainly of fighters from Misrata, said on Saturday that it had captured the airport from a rival faction from Zintan in western Libya.","China-bound Malaysian jet vanishes with 239 aboard. KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — A Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777-200 carrying 239 people lost contact over the South China Sea early Saturday morning on a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, and international aviation authorities still hadn't located the jetliner several hours later.","China: No open nominations for Hong Kong leader. BEIJING (AP) — China's legislature has ruled out open nominations in elections for Hong Kong's leader.","Afghan official: Taliban free 33 professors. KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — An Afghan official says the Taliban have released 33 university professors and students abducted nearly two weeks ago in the country's east.","13 killed in Central African Republic, U.N. envoy says Muslims vulnerable. By Emmanuel Braun BANGUI (Reuters) - At least 13 people were killed in Central African Republic on Monday as the top U.N. human rights official warned of escalating reprisals against Muslims and urged foreign governments to do more to stop the country being torn apart. Almost one million people, or a quarter of the population, have been displaced by fighting since the mostly Muslim Seleka rebel group seized power in March in the majority Christian country. In recent days, Seleka fighters have steadily abandoned the riverside capital Bangui, leaving Muslim civilians at the mercy of Christian militia, known as 'anti-balaka' or 'anti-machete' in the local Sango language. Looting and mob violence mainly targeting predominantly Muslim neighborhoods of Bangui have intensified despite the presence of a 1,600-strong French intervention force and thousands of African peacekeepers.","Italian journalist killed in eastern Ukraine. ROME (AP) — Italy's foreign ministry says an Italian photojournalist has been killed in eastern Ukraine, where he was covering the conflict ahead of the presidential election.","Real Madrid cruises, Chelsea beats Arsenal. LONDON (AP) — Cristiano Ronaldo can't stop scoring in Spain. Paris Saint-Germain can't hold on to a lead in France. And Arsene Wenger still can't beat Jose Mourinho in England.","Ukraine's Poroshenko urges more sanctions if Russia backs referendum. By Madeline Chambers BERLIN (Reuters) - Ukrainian presidential candidate Petro Poroshenko urged Europe and the United States to agree on a third wave of sanctions against Russia if the Kremlin supports a referendum planned by separatists in eastern Ukraine on May 11. Separatists in the Donbass region say the Sunday referendum on secession will be similar to the one that preceded Russia's annexation of Crimea in March. Such a move could complicate Ukraine's May 25 presidential elections. \"If Russia will support this referendum we need absolutely agreed action about the third wave of sanctions, well-coordinated between the United States of America and the European Union,\" Poroshenko told reporters in Berlin shortly before meeting Chancellor Angela Merkel.","Russia: Yanukovich asks Putin for Russian military in Ukraine. Ukraine's ousted leader Viktor Yanukovich has sent a letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin requesting that he use the Russian military to restore law and order in Ukraine, Moscow's U.N. envoy said on Monday. \"Under the influence of Western countries, there are open acts of terror and violence,\" Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin quoted the letter from Yanukovich to Putin in an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council. \"So in this regard I would call on the President of Russia, Mr. Putin, asking him to use the armed forces of the Russian Federation to establish legitimacy, peace, law and order, stability and defending the people of Ukraine.\" Churkin held up a copy of the letter for council members to see.","Hull wins replay to set up FA Cup QF vs Sunderland. LONDON (AP) — Hull will play English Premier League rival Sunderland in the quarterfinals of the FA Cup after beating Brighton 2-1 on Monday.","Senior Hungarian Socialist suspended over undeclared funds. A senior Hungarian Socialist opposition politician was forced to suspend all his positions and membership in the party on Tuesday after a media report said he held funds in a foreign bank account that he failed to declare. The Socialists are the main force in a leftist alliance that will run against Prime Minister Viktor Orban in a parliamentary election on April 6. The alliance faces an uphill struggle to defeat Orban's ruling Fidesz party, which has a firm poll lead. Without naming its sources, the daily newspaper Magyar Nemzet reported on Tuesday that Gabor Simon, deputy chairman of the Socialist party, held an account at a bank in Austria since 2008 where he had around 770,000 euros in October 2013.","Argentina officials stage 11th-hour talks in NYC. NEW YORK (AP) — Argentina's economy minister has resumed efforts to solve the South American nation's financial crisis without a default.","Morocco journalist in Qaeda video case vows to relaunch website. A Moroccan journalist accused of aiding \"terrorism\" said Wednesday he would replace his news website, blocked by the authorities after his arrest, if they prevented him from reopening it. Ali Anouzla was arrested on September 17 after publishing an article on his website Lakome about, and with links to, an inflammatory video attributed to Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb which called for jihad in Morocco. He stands accused of defending and inciting terrorism, with the authorities saying he was giving the jihadists a platform, accusations the journalist has described as \"surreal.\" Known for his criticism of the Moroccan establishment, and the monarchy in particular, Anouzla was released on bail in October after an outcry at home and abroad over the case, which has become a test of the authorities' pledge to increase press freedom.","Two former senior Murdoch editors charged over UK phone-hacking. Two more senior journalists from Rupert Murdoch's defunct British tabloid the News of the World have been charged with phone-hacking, prosecutors said on Wednesday, weeks after the paper's ex-editor was jailed for the crime. Neil Wallis, the paper's ex-deputy editor, and former features editor Jules Stenson, have been charged with conspiracy to intercept voicemails on mobile phones of well-known figures or people close to them, the Crown Prosecution Service said. The charges come after Andy Coulson, who edited the paper from 2003 until 2007 before later working as Prime Minister David Cameron's media chief, was jailed for 18 months for encouraging staff to hack phones in a bid to get exclusive stories.","Brazil mobilizes 157,000 security force for World Cup. Brasília (AFP) - Brazil said Friday it is mobilizing 157,000 soldiers and police to ensure security during the World Cup, which opens in 20 days against a backdrop of violent protests and strikes. Justice Minister Jose Eduardo Cardozo said he did not believe the recent string of demonstrations and strikes across Brazil would escalate to the level of protests that gripped the country last year during the Confederations Cup, a World Cup dress rehearsal. The protesters are angry over the more than $11 billion being spent to host the World Cup in a country with glaring inequality and pressing needs in education, health care, housing and transport. The security forces will be spread among the 12 host cities and state capitals Vitoria, Aracaju and Maceio, which will all have base camps for teams playing in the tournament.","Valeant's cash profit jumps as U.S. drug sales rise. (Reuters) - Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc , Canada's largest listed drugmaker, reported a 35 percent jump in cash earnings, helped by robust drug sales in the United States and in its Bausch & Lomb eyecare business. Cash earnings rose to $600 million, or $1.76 per share, excluding a $135 million charge related to the Bausch acquisition and other one-time items. \\\\\"The U.S. delivered positive organic growth this quarter, despite the negative generic headwinds of losing three of our top 10 products in 2013 including our largest product,\\\\\" Chief Executive Michael Pearson said in a statement on Thursday. Analysts had expected cash earnings of $1.72 per share and revenue of $1.97 billion, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. The Laval, Quebec-based company teamed up with activist investor Bill Ackman in April to make a cash-and-stock offer worth $47 billion for Allergan Inc , the maker of Botox.","Dutch police detain 28 anti-nuclear protesters at reactor. AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Dutch police said they detained 28 anti-nuclear demonstrators at a reactor on Tuesday ahead of a visit by a delegation of energy sector bosses. The protesters blocked the entrance to the site in Petten, north of Amsterdam, where two reactors are used for research. The delegates, including chief executives from global energy firms, are visiting the Netherlands in conjunction with a two-day security summit in The Hague that concludes on Tuesday. ...","US oversees its 3rd airdrop of supplies in Iraq. WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. military has dropped food and water for a third time to thousands of Iraqi refugees stranded on Mount Sinjar.","Turkish coup trial convicts freed amid political turmoil. By Ece Toksabay and Gareth Jones ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkey ordered the release of five men convicted of plotting a coup, days after an ex-military chief was freed in a case that has come to highlight a power struggle between Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan and a U.S.-based Islamic cleric. The five - a journalist, two lawyers, a retired colonel and a convicted gang leader - were among hundreds convicted in the \"Ergenekon\" case, which played a central role in Erdogan's drive to break the political power of Turkey's military. Cleric Fethullah Gulen is widely believed to have helped Erdogan by using a network of supporters in the judiciary and police to drive the Ergenekon trial forward. In emotional comments on his release after six years jail, journalist Tuncay Ozkan said: \"Turkey is today in a very dramatic situation, resembling a country on the edge of a cliff.","Poll: Brazil president gaining in tight race. RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — A new poll shows Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff edging ahead in a tight re-election race, although the contest remains in a technical tie.","Turkey brushes off criticism over Iraqi Kurdish oil. Ankara on Monday brushed off criticism from Baghdad that it is being \"driven by greed\" in an escalating row over oil pumped from Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region and shipped overseas via Turkey. Hussein al-Shahristani, Iraq's deputy prime minister for energy affairs, on Sunday threatened legal action against firms that purchased what he called \"smuggled oil\", which Turkey started to export through its territory on May 22. His remarks represent a significant ratcheting up of rhetoric after Baghdad filed an arbitration case against Ankara in a widening dispute over Iraq's prized natural resources. But Turkish Energy Minister Taner Yildiz dismissed claims that Ankara was trying to illegally profit from the exports, saying: \"This oil is not Turkey's, it is Iraq's.\"","Britain says it believes Russia is trying to destabilise Ukraine. Britain said on Tuesday events in eastern Ukraine looked to be part of a Russian strategy to destabilise the country, saying it was \"gravely concerned\" by pro-Russian protesters' seizure of government buildings. \"There can be no justification for this action, which bears all the hallmarks of a Russian strategy to destabilise Ukraine,\" British Foreign Secretary William Hague told parliament, saying the seizures looked like part of a strategy to damage the credibility of Ukraine's forthcoming presidential election. Police detained 70 people occupying a regional administration building in eastern Ukraine overnight, but pro-Moscow protesters held out in a standoff in two other cities in what Kiev called a Russian-led plan to dismember the country.","Planes race to fresh MH370 search zone after 'credible new lead'. Perth (Australia) (AFP) - Planes and ships were racing Friday to a fresh search zone after a \"credible new lead\" that Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 was flying faster than first thought before it plunged into the remote Indian Ocean. Ten aircraft from six countries -- Australia, China, Japan, New Zealand, South Korea and the United States -- altered their flight paths to an area 1,100 kilometres (685 miles) northeast of where they have been looking for a week, far off western Australia. Five Chinese ships and an Australian naval vessel were also steaming to the new zone of interest after the weather cleared following the suspension of the search on Thursday due to thunderstorms and high winds, the Australian Maritime Safety Authority said. \"The new information is based on continuing analysis of radar data between the South China Sea and the Strait of Malacca before radar contact was lost,\" AMSA said.","Security Council urges Gaza truce; no sign of lull. GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — Ignoring international appeals for a cease-fire, Israel on Saturday widened its range of Gaza bombing targets to civilian institutions with suspected Hamas ties and announced it would hit northern Gaza \"with great force\" to prevent rocket attacks from there on Israel. More than 150 Palestinians have been killed in five days of bombardment.","FIFA keeps Brazil city in World Cup despite delays. FLORIANOPOLIS, Brazil (AP) — A southern Brazilian city will host matches during this year's World Cup despite serious problems with a stadium renovation that put it on the brink of becoming the first venue ever to be kicked out because of delays, FIFA said Tuesday.","Japan announces additional sanctions on Russia. TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan said on Wednesday that it is imposing additional sanctions on Russia, toughening its stance against Moscow to bring it more in line with steps taken by other nations, including its key ally the United States. The new measures include banning certain Russian banks from issuing securities in Japan and increasing inspections to prevent arms being shipped to Russia, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said. ...","US, UK urge UN probe of Israeli rocket seizure. UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.S. and Britain are calling for a U.N. investigation of Israel's claim that it intercepted an Iranian shipment of rockets headed for the Gaza Strip.","Stock exchange says Malaysia Airlines shares suspended ahead of an announcement. KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Stock exchange says Malaysia Airlines shares suspended ahead of an announcement.","Maliki tells Iraq forces to stay out of 'political crisis'. Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki on Tuesday ordered Iraq's security forces to stay out of a \"political crisis\" over who will form the next government, amid fears they could intervene. The two-term premier, whose bid to stay in power has faltered, urged security personnel \"to stay away from the political crisis and continue in their security and military duties to defend the country,\" a statement on Maliki's website said. Maliki is the commander in chief of the armed forces. UN Iraq envoy Nickolay Mladenov on Monday warned Iraq's military against political interference, after special forces, police and soldiers deployed around strategic installations in Baghdad.","Vodafone report shows extent of gov't snooping. LONDON (AP) — Vodafone, one of the world's largest cellphone companies, has revealed the scope of government snooping into phone networks, saying authorities in some countries are able to directly access an operator's network.","Ukraine ups stakes in Russian gas standoff. Ukraine stuck to its guns Thursday in a fierce gas standoff with Russia that could impact Europe and wreak further havoc on the nation's economy as it battles a separatist insurgency in the east. Another acrimonious round of EU-mediated talks broke up Wednesday in Brussels with Ukraine calling Russian President Vladimir Putin's offer to lower Kiev's fuel price by more than 20 percent a \"trap\". The third \"gas war\" between the two neighbours in less than a decade flared when Moscow nearly doubled Kiev's gas rate in the wake of the February ouster of Ukraine's Russian-backed president.","Darker U.S. homebuilder mood not just due to bad weather. A plunge in U.S. homebuilder confidence reported on Tuesday reflects a range of problems facing the construction industry seven years after the housing crash, challenges that go deeper than the severe winter weather blamed for much of the gloom. The National Association of Home Builders said on Tuesday that builder confidence dropped 10 points between January and February, from 56 to 46, the largest drop since the survey began in 1985. But economists, analysts and builders say the decline in confidence is deep-seated and has lingered due to the widespread destruction suffered by the construction sector when the housing market collapsed. The housing crash has left in its wake a glut of vacant existing homes in many cities that has done more than the weather to dampen new home construction, experts say.","Syria army in hot pursuit of rebels on Lebanon border. Syrian regime forces were Monday readying an assault on the last rebel-held areas in the Qalamoun mountains, strategically located on the Lebanese border, after overrunning key opposition bastion Yabrud. The capture on Sunday of Yabrud by Syrian troops and fighters of Lebanon's Hezbollah marked a significant setback for the rebels as it severs their important supply lines from across the Lebanese border. These included Rankus, south of Yabrud, and Ras al-Maarra and Flita, northwest of the town. \"The aim of the army operation is to entirely secure the border and to close all corridors to Lebanon,\" the source added.","Sinopec to use $17.5 billion proceeds to grow retail business, cut debt. State-controlled oil giant Sinopec Corp plans to use the $17.5 billion it is raising from the sale of a stake in its retail unit to optimize its retail fuel business, boost non-fuel sales and pay down debts owed to its parent, an executive said. Sinopec, Asia's largest refiner, on Sunday unveiled a plan to sell a $17.5 billion stake in its retail unit to 25 domestic and foreign investors, marking the country's biggest privatization push since President Xi Jinping came to power almost two years ago. The retail unit will use part of the proceeds to \"strengthen and develop\" its existing network of petrol stations, partly by adding stations in newly developed urban areas, Chai Zhiming, deputy chief executive of the retail unit, told Reuters on Monday. It will also use the funds to pay down debts owed to Sinopec Corp and expand its non-fuel business - convenience stores plus services such as fast food and car washes - that currently accounts for less than 1 percent of the retail arm's revenue, he said.","New safety measures at stadium marked by death. SAO PAULO (AP) — Brazilian organizers are adding safety features where a worker died in the stadium hosting the World Cup opener, hoping to quickly reverse an order that halted construction in part of the venue.","Gunmen open fire on jet landing in Pakistan, one dead. Gunmen opened fire on a passenger jet as it landed in Pakistan's troubled northwest, killing a woman passenger and wounding two crew in an attack staged as the military wages an anti-militant offensive. The Pakistan International Airlines flight, landing in Peshawar from Riyadh in Saudi Arabia, came under fire late Tuesday as it descended with more than 170 passengers on board, airline spokesman Mashud Tajwar said.","2 ticket touts arrested at FIFA hotel in Rio. RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Two people have been arrested selling World Cup tickets in a hotel used by FIFA staff in Rio de Janeiro.","Three Iranian Revolutionary Guards killed near Pakistan border. DUBAI (Reuters) - Three members of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), sent to reinforce border police, were killed in an attack in the southeast of Iran near Pakistan, according to Iranian media reports on Monday. Armed \"bandits\" killed the IRGC members late on Sunday near the city Saravan in the Sistan-Baluchistan region, according to a Revolutionary Guards statement carried by Fars news agency. Similar attacks, usually against police officers and border guards, happen in the border region several times a year. ...","Mexico readying legal defense in sugar dispute with U.S.. Mexico is getting ready to defend its sugar producers in a dispute over allegations of dumping made by U.S. competitors, Economy Minister Ildefonso Guajardo said on Monday. Mexico and the United States are still open to dialogue in the matter, Guajardo told reporters. \\\\\"I wouldn't be surprised if Mexican sugar producers and national fructose producers look at fructose competitors in the United States and don't necessarily see terms they consider fair.\\\\\" Guajardo said that while it is not up to him to push for retaliatory trade measures, he would have to investigate any requests of that kind from the industry. Carlos Blackaller, president of Mexico's national cane growers' union, stopped short of requesting such measures in an interview on Monday.","Libyan raids could herald bolder Arab action as U.S. wavers. Egypt publicly denied involvement in the attacks on targets in its western neighbor and sensitivity over the strikes led to confusing statements from the administration in Washington. Later in the day the State Department backed off comments on Libya made at a regular briefing, saying they were \"intended to refer to countries reportedly involved, not speak for them.\" In a joint statement on Monday, the United States and its European partners Britain, Germany, Italy and France had urged outsiders not to interfere in Libya, which is suffering its worst violence since the overthrow of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.","Spain busts group accused of plans to send arms machinery to Iran. Spain said on Monday it had dismantled a group it accused of plotting to send industrial equipment to Iran that could be used for weapon manufacture in violation of international sanctions. The Spanish interior ministry and civil guard said in a joint statement they had arrested four people from the group, which is also accused of sharing technological information through a complex business network, including engineering projects, which may be used to build missiles. \"Officials confirm that the machinery was introduced illegally into Spain in an attempt to hide its real destination, and with the goal of waiting for the right moment to send to Iran,\" the statement said. Western powers want Iran to significantly scale back its nuclear activities in order to deny it any capability of quickly diverting them to the production of a nuclear bomb, if it decided to \"weaponize\" its enrichment of uranium.","Iran, 6 powers seek to unblock nuclear talks. UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Iran and six world powers are launching a fresh effort to try to narrow stubborn differences on what nuclear concessions Tehran must agree to in exchange for full sanctions relief.","Obama stops short of calling Russia actions in Ukraine an invasion. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama said on Thursday the United States and its allies would look for ways to expand economic sanctions on Russia after Kiev accused Moscow of moving troops into southeastern Ukraine, but stopped short of calling the recent Russian aggression an invasion. Obama also ruled out military action against Russia. \"I think it is very important to recognize that a military solution to this problem is not going to be forthcoming,\" he said. (Reporting by Roberta Rampton, Steve Holland, Mark Felsenthal; Editing by Peter Cooney)","Gibraltar: It's as if we are a 'pariah state'. GIBRALTAR (AP) — At halftime, it's FIFA 1, Gibraltar 0.","Canada threatens court fight, import tariffs over U.S. food labelling. OTTAWA - Canada's agriculture minister says he's hoping to avoid an all-out trade war with the United States over food labelling.","Pardew bids to avoid unwanted record for derby defeats. Newcastle (United Kingdom) (AFP) - Newcastle manager Alan Pardew has set his sights on avoiding an unwanted record in the Tyne-Wear derby against Sunderland on Sunday.","Saudi authorities on Ebola watch as millions gather for haj. By Amena Bakr MECCA (Reuters) - Anxious to safeguard Islam's haj pilgrimage from the threat of Ebola, Saudi authorities are screening pilgrims arriving from West Africa and have deployed mobile laboratories to test any suspected cases quickly. The kingdom expects nearly 3 million pilgrims in Mecca this year, including 1.4 million from abroad. The health ministry said on Thursday it has been working with the World Health Organization and U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to contain the threat of Ebola, which has killed 3,300 people in West Africa this year. ...","Bailey braces for Pakistan's spin challenge. MIRPUR, Bangladesh (AP) — Australia captain George Bailey is confident of a good showing at the World Twenty20 but is nonetheless concerned about facing Pakistan's renowned spin attack in his team's first match on Sunday.","Marshall Islands withdraw Lebanese general's UNESCO nomination. The Marshall Islands have withdrawn their nomination of a former Lebanese army general as their ambassador to UNESCO, a well-placed diplomatic source told AFP on Wednesday. The general, Jamil El Sayed, spent four years in prison on suspicion of involvement in the 2005 murder of the former Lebanese prime minister Rafic Hariri. The Marshall Islands' move to nominate him to UNESCO, the UN's cultural arm, was revealed by French daily Le Figaro, which noted that acquiring diplomatic immunity could enable El Sayed to avoid potential prosecution by the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, an international UN-backed criminal tribunal looking into Hariri's murder.","Canada to strengthen rail-safety rules, report says. The Canadian government will require a rapid phase-out of older-model tank cars commonly used to haul crude oil by railroad, responding to recommendations made after last year's deadly train accident in Quebec, a newspaper reported on Wednesday. The federal government will also require railways to prepare for catastrophic explosions by making emergency response plans mandatory for all crude-oil shipments that pass through Canada, according to the Globe and Mail. The rule changes would mean Canada is acting ahead of the United States, which has yet to set a timetable for any regulatory changes. In the past, the Canadian government has emphasized the tight integration of North American rail industry.","British Museum: Prototype for Noah's Ark was round. LONDON (AP) — It was a vast boat that saved two of each animal and a handful of humans from a catastrophic flood.","Contador back on top of his game ahead of Tour. LEEDS, England (AP) — Chastened by a miserable season on his bike last year when all he saw of chief rival Chris Froome was his back, Alberto Contador vowed to do better and changed his training.","Deportation appeal for ex-Salvadoran general. FALLS CHURCH, Virginia (AP) — The nation's highest immigration court is hearing an appeal from a former Salvadoran defense minister who is trying to halt his deportation after being found responsible for a series of human rights abuses.","Morocco insists on delaying African Cup over Ebola. RABAT, Morocco (AP) — Morocco has insisted on delaying the African Cup of Nations because of the Ebola outbreak in West Africa.","Villa gets nod in last Spain match vs. Australia. CURITIBA, Brazil (AP) — David Villa was selected to start his last international match for Spain, which was using mostly backup players against Australia in a World Cup Group B match between two teams already out of contention in Brazil.","Australia may ease immigration rules as it eyes Chinese millionaires. By Swati Pandey SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australia may ease rules on a visa scheme aimed at luring investment from wealthy Chinese to help clear a backlog of applications and in the wake of complaints that disclosure requirements are too strict, lawyers and migration agents said. The 18-month-old Australia may ease rules on a visa scheme aimed at luring investment from wealthy Chinese to help clear a backlog of applications and in the wake of complaints that disclosure requirements are too strict, lawyers and migration agents said. ...","Japan commissioner apologizes over livelier ball. TOKYO (AP) — The commissioner of Japanese baseball has apologized after random tests showed the official ball is livelier than it should be.","Premier League braced for bumper Boxing Day. London (AFP) - While professional footballers in the rest of Europe sleep off their Christmas hangovers, the Premier League ploughs on regardless on Friday with a bumper schedule of traditional Boxing Day fixtures.","Putin sits down with Ukrainian president for talks. MINSK, Belarus (AP) — The presidents of Russia and Ukraine sat down for talks Tuesday, meeting face-to-face for the first time since June on the fighting that has engulfed Ukraine's separatist east.","Palestinian women join West Bank anti-riot police. Jericho (Palestinian Territories) (AFP) - Instructors bark orders to a column of Palestinian women recruited to an anti-riot unit, part of an effort to tackle problems caused by conservative attitudes in the West Bank force. \"There is no difference between the training for men and women for combat abilities and searching cars and houses,\" said one of the instructors, Lieutenant Naama Shalalfat. The recruits, who are taking classroom lessons to supplement the training exercises, belong to a new all-female anti-riot unit, which will be made up of 220 members and will be deployed across the West Bank when it is operational. Colonel Ramadan Awad, deputy police chief for the West Bank, says the unit was formed in response to problems caused by old attitudes towards women in the territory.","Mali armed groups in 'strong position' ahead of talks. Armed groups from northern Mali will be in a \"position of strength\" when they begin peace talks with the Bamako government in Algiers on Wednesday, an Algerian diplomat said. \"After the major defeat of the Malian army,\" which lost around 50 soldiers in the Tuareg region of Kidal in May, \"the armed movements now occupy nearly two-thirds of the country... and come to Algiers in a position of strength,\" the diplomat told journalists. He was speaking on the eve of the talks between Malian government negotiators and rebel groups aimed at striking an elusive peace deal, with the country mired in conflict a year after returning to democracy. He said the parties needed to reach a power-sharing consensus between, \"on the one hand, armed groups who want autonomy for northern Mali ... (and on the other) a government open to any idea except independence.\"","Ecclestone wins F1 damages case. LONDON (AP) — Formula 1 boss Bernie Ecclestone has won a multimillion-dollar case at London's High Court relating to the sale of F1 in 2005 but the judge nevertheless said it was a corrupt deal.","Tourism main topic at annual Antarctic Treaty meeting. Increased tourism on the world's iciest continent and its impact on the environment were set to top discussion at an annual Antarctic Treaty meeting that began Monday in Brasilia. \"Some countries view the question with concern and believe that there is too much tourism in the region,\" said Manoel Silva Rodrigues, secretary of Brazil's commission on maritime resources. The Antarctic Treaty sets out terms for the continent to remain a non-military zone and free for scientific research, to protect its environment, and to affirm Antarctica's territorial sovereignty.","Youths pillage mosque in Central African Republic protest over church attack. By Serge Leger Kokpakpa BANGUI (Reuters) - Youths in the Central African Republic plundered a mosque in the capital and barricaded streets with burning tyres on Thursday in protest at an attack by Muslim gunmen on a church that left about a dozen people dead, witnesses said.","Islamic State kill 16 from Iraqi tribe. BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Islamic State fighters kidnapped and killed 16 members of an Iraqi tribe which has fought the Sunni militant group in the western province of Anbar, a tribal leader and a hospital source said on Saturday. Tribal chief Sheikh Naeem al-Ga’oud told Reuters Islamic State captured the men from the Albu Nimr tribe three days ago. Responding to a tip, tribal members searched a location about 10 km (6 miles) north of the town of Hit, and found their bodies in a water well. ...","South Africa reaches 80 from 7 overs vs Australia. DURBAN, South Africa (AP) — Quinton de Kock and Faf du Plessis hit six sixes between them as South Africa posted 80-1 after its second Twenty20 international against Australia was reduced to seven overs per side due to rain on Wednesday.","Not even Navas can rescue Costa Rica this time. SALVADOR, Brazil (AP) — Not even Keylor Navas could rescue Costa Rica this time.","Renzi chooses Tunisia for first trip abroad. ROME (AP) — Premier Matteo Renzi told lawmakers on Tuesday that his first foreign trip as Italy's leader will be to Tunisia, not Brussels or Berlin, though he underlined Italy's place in Europe.","Carnival Cruise Lines to return to the Port of Baltimore. ANNAPOLIS, Md. - Carnival Cruise Lines is returning to the Port of Baltimore.","UN set to adopt sanctions against Yemen obstructionists. United Nations (United States) (AFP) - The United Nations Security Council is set to adopt a resolution ordering sanctions against figures seeking to undermine Yemen's state-building drive, diplomats said. The draft resolution hits offenders with a travel ban and an asset freeze \"for an initial period of one year.\" Sanctions would be aimed at those who are found to be \"obstructing or undermining the successful completion of the political transition\" in Yemen, who commit \"attacks on essential infrastructure or acts of terrorism\" and who violate human rights and international humanitarian law, the document said. Some countries had wanted former president Ali Abdullah Saleh, often blamed for the unrest, named in the document, but the draft resolution refrains from listing any specific individuals or entities.","Chivas USA disbands after 10 troubled years. LOS ANGELES (AP) — Chivas USA has ceased operations after 10 years in Major League Soccer, with the league planning a new franchise for Los Angeles that will begin play in 2017 with new ownership and a new soccer-specific stadium.","Wood panel maker Norbord to buy Ainsworth Lumber. (Reuters) - Canadian wood panel maker Norbord Inc will buy Ainsworth Lumber Co Ltd in an all-stock deal valued at C$762.6 million ($666.6 million). Ainsworth shareholders will receive 0.1321 of a Norbord share for each Ainsworth share held, the companies said on Monday. The deal value of C$3.16 per share represents a 6 percent premium to Ainsworth's closing share price on Friday. (Reporting by Ashutosh Pandey in Bengaluru)","Fatah: Hamas violently breaks up rally in Gaza. GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — Fatah activists say troops from the rival Palestinian movement Hamas broke up a Fatah gathering in the Gaza Strip, beating participants.","Gignac scores twice as Marseille goes top. PARIS (AP) — Marseille striker Andre-Pierre Gignac continued his excellent form as he notched a brace in a 3-0 win over Rennes that provisionally lifted his club top of the French league on Saturday.","N.Zealand FM says he was misled in diplomat sex attack row. New Zealand's foreign minister said Thursday that his own officials misled him about delicate discussions with Kuala Lumpur over the fate of a Malaysian diplomat accused of attempted rape in Wellington. The accused envoy, Muhammad Rizalman Ismail, caused a storm when it emerged that he left New Zealand after invoking diplomatic immunity, with Prime Minister John Key weighing in to condemn his departure. Malaysia on Wednesday agreed to send Muhammad Rizalman back to Wellington, but New Zealand officials have been left red-faced by revelations that they were the ones who suggested he leave in the first place. \"If you think I'm thrilled about the performance of the ministry on this matter, you're seriously mistaken,\" Foreign Minister Murray McCully told Radio New Zealand.","Champions Ahly need a ground and a victory. Egyptian giants Al-Ahly do not know where they will host Tanzanians Young Africans -- just three days before a crucial CAF Champions League clash. Record eight-time African champions Ahly reacted by trying to secure a venue in second city Alexandria for the first round, second leg qualifier. Ahly supporters injured 25 policeman last month during clashes after a CAF Super Cup victory over Tunisians CS Sfaxien at the Cairo Stadium. Virtually all football fixtures in Egypt since the 2013 ousting of President Mohammed Morsi have been played behind closed doors.","Am. Samoa passes first anti-human trafficking law. PAGO PAGO, American Samoa (AP) — Legislators in American Samoa have approved the territory's first anti-human trafficking law after several unsuccessful attempts over more than a decade.","Man found dead, others alive in shipping container at UK port. One man was found dead and 19 people, including seven children, were taken to hospital Saturday after they were discovered inside a shipping container at a British port. Some 31 people, the dead man included, were found inside the container at Tilbury Docks, east of London. The container arrived on a ship from the Belgian port of Zeebrugge and was being unloaded by the Port of Tilbury authorities.","BRAZIL BEAT: Spain's team plane hit by lightning. RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — After being unceremoniously booted from World Cup competition, Spain's national team had a tough ride home when the plane most players were traveling in was hit by lightning just before it landed in Madrid.","Nigeria senate demands military explanation on emergency rule in NE. Nigerian senators on Wednesday demanded to hear testimony from top military brass before voting on a government request to extend emergency rule in the restive northeast. President Goodluck Jonathan has asked for a six-month extension of the special measures to continue an offensive against Boko Haram, but critics say emergency rule has been a complete failure with violence worsening since it was imposed in May last year.","Putin seizes Ukraine, but loses Ukrainians. The Kremlin leader's stern features stare from novelty rolls sold for 20 hrvyna (1.5 dollars) in Kiev gift shops. \"He's popular,\" jokes Svitlana Khotumsova, 25, who runs a small shop under Maidan Square, epicentre of Ukraine's pro-Western street revolts. Putin hoped to keep Ukraine in Russia's orbit, but triggered the opposite, Ukrainians say -- a patriotic movement that has transformed the way they see themselves forever.","World Bank slashes Thai growth forecast on unrest. HONG KONG (AP) — The World Bank has slashed its economic growth forecast for Thailand because of ongoing political strife that is crimping domestic demand.","Correction: Argentina-Economy story. BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — In a story Feb. 13 about the Argentine government's report that consumer prices rose 3.7 percent in January, The Associated Press miscalculated the equivalent annual inflation rate as 44 percent. Annual inflation compounds monthly inflation, so if Argentine prices were to continue rising at this rate throughout 2014, the annual rate would be 55 percent.","Kim leads Webb by 1 shot at Evian after 3 rounds. EVIAN-LES-BAINS, France (AP) — Hyo-Joo Kim of South Korea goes into the final round of the Evian Championship with a one-shot lead over veteran Karrie Webb.","Global warming not stopped, will go on for centuries: WMO. By Robert Evans GENEVA (Reuters) - There has been no reverse in the trend of global warming and there is still consistent evidence for man-made climate change, the head of the U.N. World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) said on Monday. A slow-down in the average pace of warming at the planet's surface this century has been cited by \"climate skeptics\" as evidence that climate change is not happening at the potentially catastrophic rate predicted by a U.N. panel of scientists. But U.N. weather agency chief Michel Jarraud said ocean temperatures, in particular, were rising fast, and extreme weather events, forecast by climate scientists, showed climate change was inevitable for the coming centuries.","Libya's government says forces will retake capital. TRIPOLI, Libya (AP) — Libya's internationally recognized government says its forces are getting ready to retake the capital, after Islamist-allied militias from the western city of Misrata took over Tripoli in August.","China antitrust regulator says Microsoft not transparent with sales information. By Gerry Shih BEIJING (Reuters) - A Chinese antitrust regulator said on Tuesday that Microsoft Corp had not been fully transparent with its sales data on the software it distributes in China, including information on sales of its media player and web browser software. Microsoft has expressed willingness to cooperate with ongoing investigations, Zhang Mao, the head of the State Administration for Industry and Commerce (SAIC), told reporters at a briefing in Beijing. The Microsoft investigation comes amid a spate of anti-trust probes against foreign firms in China, including mobile chipset maker Qualcomm Inc and German car maker Daimler AG's luxury auto unit Mercedes-Benz. The investigations have renewed fears of Chinese protectionism.","Iraqi president to visit Saudi Arabia amid hopes of diplomatic thaw. RIYADH (Reuters) - Iraqi President Fouad Masoum will visit Riyadh on Tuesday, Saudi state media reported, raising hopes of a tentative thaw in long-chilly relations between the Arab neighbors. Real power in Iraq resides with the country's Shi'ite-led government and prime minister, but the first presidential visit to Sunni Muslim Saudi Arabia since 2010 opens the door to a possible rapprochement, political analysts say. The Saudi media reports gave no details on the visit of Masoum, a Kurdish Sunni Muslim. ...","Russia says its nuclear contracts could be affected by sanctions. MOSCOW (Reuters) - The head of Russia state nuclear corporation Rosatom said on Thursday some of its international contracts could be affected by Western sanctions, RIA news agency reported. Rosatom is building nuclear plants in several foreign countries. RIA, which cited Rosatom chief Sergei Kiriyenko, did not immediately give any details. (Writing by Steve Gutterman, Editing by Timothy Heritage)","Nadal and Sharapova out at Indian Wells. INDIAN WELLS, California (AP) — Defending champions Rafael Nadal and Maria Sharapova were upset in the third round of the BNP Paribas Open on Monday.","Report: North Korea fires short-range projectiles. SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea's Yonhap news agency says North Korea has test-fired three short-range projectiles into the Sea of Japan.","Recovery from Balkans floods will take billions. SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina (AP) — Receding floodwater in Bosnia and Serbia is revealing the next shock: recovery from the historic flood will cost billions of euros that neither of the countries has.","Japan shares rebound after U.S. megadeals, dollar steady. By Hideyuki Sano TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese shares led a tentative recovery in Asian markets on Tuesday, drawing some support from two U.S. blockbuster acquisitions and anticipation of more European monetary stimulus. A day after shock data showing Japan slipping into recession had rattled financial markets, Japan's Nikkei rose 1.7 percent, erasing about a half of Monday's 3.0 percent fall. ...","Norwegian Air suspends talks to buy 20 new Boeing Dreamliners. Low-cost carrier Norwegian Air has put on hold talks to buy 20 new Dreamliners from Boeing because of a delay in receiving U.S. Department of Transportation approval for its long haul plans, Chief Executive Bjoern Kjos said in a letter. The airline has launched flights from Europe to Asia and the U.S. based on a license issued by non-EU Norway, but has applied to fly to the U.S. on an Irish license, wanting to take advantage of wider traffic rights offered by the so-called open skies agreement between the EU and the U.S. American labor unions and competing airlines have voiced strong opposition to the plan, which in part cuts costs by using Asian crews, and the U.S. Department of Transportation has yet to decide on Norwegian's application. In an April 23 letter to Irish transport minister Leo Varadkar and released on Monday, Kjos asked for \"assistance and support in order to find a solution\" with the U.S. Department of Transportation. \"Unfortunately, the delay in the DOT process has given us no other choice than to put our ongoing negotiations with Boeing to purchase 20 new 787-9 Dreamliner aircraft - due to be registered in Ireland - on hold until Norwegian Air International's future in the U.S. has been decided,\" Kjos wrote.","AP sources: Russian troops leaving Ukraine border. ABOARD A U.S. MILITARY AIRCRAFT (AP) — U.S. defense officials said Thursday that Russia has pulled most of its forces away from the Ukraine border, a withdrawal that the U.S. has been demanding for weeks.","Oscar-winning actor Philip Seymour Hoffman dies in apparent drug overdose in NYC. NEW YORK, N.Y. - He was only 46, busy as ever and secure in his standing as one of the world's greatest actors.","'Gravity' named best British film at UK awards. LONDON (AP) — Space thriller \"Gravity\" was named best British movie at the British Academy Film Awards Sunday, taking the first trophy of the night.","Royals beat Orioles 6-4 for 2-0 lead in ALCS. BALTIMORE (AP) — Alcides Escobar doubled in the winning run in the ninth inning, Mike Moustakas extended his home run-binge and the Kansas City Royals remained perfect in the playoffs, beating the Baltimore Orioles 6-4 Saturday for a 2-0 lead in the AL Championship Series.","In plot reversal, Sony sends 'The Interview' to 200 theaters. By Eric Kelsey and David Brunnstrom LOS ANGELES/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Sony Pictures will allow \"The Interview\" to play in more than 200 U.S. theaters as of Christmas Day, reversing its decision to pull the film, after coming under criticism from President Barack Obama and others for caving into pressure from North Korea. The White House praised Sony's about-face, which the studio said would result in \"a limited theatrical release\" of the film, which stars Seth Rogen and James Franco and is about a fictional plot to assassinate North Korea leader Kim Jong Un. ...","Rwanda's foreign adventures test West's patience. By Edmund Blair and Jenny Clover KIGALI (Reuters) - Rwandan President Paul Kagame may dress in the sharp suits of a company CEO, but his language can be more like a drill sergeant when he grills his cabinet on its performance. Western nations offer only modest remonstrations over what they see as democratic shortcomings in Rwanda, thankful for the oasis of order that has replaced the genocide they failed to prevent 20 years ago this month. But they quietly express concern that Kagame's assertive style at home is being translated into brazen meddling in a volatile region and threatening a potential model for Africa. Now Rwanda is blamed for sending hit squads to assassinate opponents in South Africa, killing one of two alleged targets.","South Africa, Rwanda expel diplomats over attack on dissident Rwandan general. JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa has expelled three Rwandan diplomats it says were linked to an attack by gunmen this week on the Johannesburg home of an exiled dissident Rwandan general, a diplomatic source told Reuters on Friday. The source, who asked not to be named, said Rwanda had retaliated by ordering out six South African diplomats. (Reporting by Pascal Fletcher; Editing by Ed Cropley)","Suicide bomber kills five outside northeast Nigeria mosque. A suicide bomber targeting worshippers in a mosque in a remote village in northeast Nigeria killed five people and wounded dozens, a security source said on Saturday, in an area where Islamist insurgents are mounting near daily attacks. A security source, who declined to be named, said Muslims in the village of Konduga were observing Friday prayers when the pickup truck drove toward it.","Sue Townsend, creator of Adrian Mole, dies at 68. LONDON (AP) — British comic author Sue Townsend, the creator of teenage angst-ridden Adrian Mole, has died after suffering a stroke. She was 68.","World Cup focuses minds on concussion management. RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Felled by an opponent's knee to the head as they both chased the ball, a player is seemingly out cold on a World Cup pitch. The clock is ticking. Millions are watching. National honor, careers and sponsorship dollars are at stake.","Iran's top leader pardons controversial blogger. TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iranian semi-official ISNA news agency is reporting the country's top leader has pardoned a controversial Iranian-Canadian blogger.","McCoy waits to decide Grand National mount. Multiple champion jockey Tony McCoy will delay a decision on his mount for Saturday's Grand National until the last moment, reports said Tuesday. McCoy, who won the Aintree spectacle in 2010 on Don't Push It, is deliberating between Irish challengers Colbert Station and Double Seven. Both run in the Don't Push It colours of Irish owner J.P. McManus and were among the 65 horses left at Monday's declaration stage for the gruelling four-and-a-half mile (7.2 kilometer) steeplechase. Frank Berry, racing manager to McManus, told The Guardian newspaper that McCoy would make up his mind \"about half an hour before the jockeys have to be declared\" on Thursday.","Man executed for pipe bomb death of US trooper. STARKE, Florida (AP) — A drug trafficker who placed a pipe bomb in a gift-wrapped microwave oven in a plot to kill two potential murder witnesses was executed Wednesday for the 1992 death of a Florida highway trooper who became the unintended victim.","Pakistan's Lions get Champions League T20 invite. Pakistan will send its domestic Twenty20 champions Lahore Lions to play in the Champions League to be held in India in September, an official said Wednesday. The Lions, led by former Pakistan Twenty20 captain Mohammad Hafeez, beat Misbah-ul Haq's Faisalabad Wolves in the final of the event held in February. The Twenty20 champions of Australia, South Africa, England, New Zealand, Sri Lanka and the West Indies will also take part in the event.","Australian swim great Hackett out of rehab. Australian swimming great Grant Hackett has left rehab after seeking help for an addiction to sleeping pills and says he learned a lot during his time in treatment. Hackett, who won the 1,500m freestyle at both the 2000 and 2004 Olympics and claimed four world titles in the event, fled to the United States in February, days after he was pictured half-naked in a hotel lobby looking for his young son. His admission for treatment came just weeks after fellow Australian swimming star Ian Thorpe sought help for depression after a mixture of painkillers and anti-depressants left him disoriented on a Sydney street. \"It just gets to a situation in life where you're not coping too well, and you need to put your hand up and ask for help -- I certainly got to that situation,\" Hackett told the Nine Network at Los Angeles airport on Tuesday.","One in four Japan tsunami children needs psychiatric care. One in four nursery school children caught up in Japan's 2011 tsunami disaster has psychiatric problems, a report said Monday, with experts warning the effects could last a lifetime if left untreated. Researchers found 25.9 percent of children aged between three and five suffers from symptoms including vertigo, nausea and headaches, with some exhibiting worrying behaviour such as violence or withdrawal. The health ministry study said youngsters were scarred by losing friends, seeing their homes collapse, by separation from parents or by the sight of the huge wall of water that crashed ashore, the Mainichi Shimbun reported. The team, led by professor Shigeo Kure of Tohoku University School of Medicine, said young children who do not receive necessary care could develop much worse problems in later life.","Egypt's Sisi warns against Gaza 'escalation'. Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi warned Saturday that escalating the conflict between Israel and Hamas in Gaza would cost more \"innocent lives,\" as the death toll climbed to 127 Palestinians. Sisi's spokesman said the government was in touch with both sides after the president met Mideast Quartet envoy Tony Blair in Cairo. Israeli air strikes on the Gaza Strip killed 22 people Saturday, bringing to 127 the toll on the fifth day of violence, medics said.","Forget high-tech gadgets, crime-hit South Africans go for coffins. Cullinan (South Africa) (AFP) - Many properties in crime-ridden South Africa are secured by electronic burglar alarms and high concrete walls topped with high-voltage electric fences, but in the quaint small diamond mining town of Cullinan, coffins are the latest security gadgets.","Relegation battles take center stage in Bundesliga. BERLIN (AP) — The relegation battle takes center stage in the Bundesliga as the season enters its final phase. Eintracht Braunschweig, Hamburger SV, Stuttgart, Nuremberg, Freiburg and Hannover are all in danger of the drop, with just seven points between the sides with six games still to play. Bayern Munich, which has already wrapped up the title in record time, aims to maintain its unbeaten run and will use Saturday's Bavarian derby against Augsburg to prepare for Wednesday's Champions League quarterfinal return leg against Manchester United. Here are five things to know about the Bundesliga's 29th round of games:","Broken neck forces Wallaby McCabe to retire. Wallaby back Pat McCabe has retired from rugby after fracturing his neck for a third time, his ACT Brumbies coach Stephen Larkham said on Wednesday. The 26-year-old suffered a jarring knock on Saturday night in Australia's 51-20 loss to the All Blacks at Eden Park and Larkham said a meeting with a specialist on Tuesday had confirmed another fracture. McCabe first fractured his neck in 2012 on the Wallabies European tour and suffered another neck injury in the 23-21 loss to the British and Irish Lions at Brisbane last year which ruled him out for the season. \"The good thing is he's in a neck brace at the moment and will stay in that neck brace for the next couple of months and the neck should heal up fine, but (it's) devastating that he won't play rugby again,\" said Larkham.","Tottenham attempt to revive domestic campaign as Newcastle visit. London (AFP) - Mauricio Pochettino will demand his Tottenham Hotspur side forget about Erik Lamela's stunning Europa League goal and attempt to revive their Premier League campaign when Newcastle United visit White Hart Lane on Sunday.","Union calls 3-day strike at German Amazon centers. BERLIN (AP) — A union has launched a three-day strike at five Amazon.com distribution centers in Germany, the latest in a string of walkouts in a long-running wage dispute with the American online retailer.","FIFA not criticizing Japanese referee over penalty. RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — FIFA's head of refereeing has declined to criticize a controversial penalty decision in Brazil's opening World Cup win over Croatia — but said everyone makes mistakes.","What to watch at US Open: Bellis, 15, back at it. NEW YORK (AP) — American teen CiCi Bellis returns to action at the U.S. Open on Thursday, two days after becoming the youngest player to win a match in the tournament since 1996.","Akmal century guides Pakistan to 248-8. FATULLAH, Bangladesh (AP) — Umar Akmal hit a scintillating one-day century and lifted defending champion Pakistan to 248-8 in the Asia Cup match against a spirited Afghanistan on Thursday.","Monaco signs goalkeeper Stekelenburg. MONACO (AP) — Monaco has signed Dutch goalkeeper Maarten Stekelenburg on a one-year loan from English club Fulham.","US consulting with European partners on Ukraine. WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States raised the prospect Wednesday of joining partners in Europe to impose sanctions against Ukraine in an attempt to end the deadly violence that has raised fears of a civil war in the country.","After zero rates, Sweden ponders next steps to avoid deflation. By Simon Johnson STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - What should a central bank do next when it already has zero interest rates and arguably still faces the threat of Japanese-style deflation? If it's the Swedish Riksbank, it should keep cutting, and do so soon, says Lars Svensson. Svensson no longer has a say; he quit as a deputy Riksbank governor last year after failing to persuade fellow board members to cut rates aggressively. ...","A Masters for the ages at Augusta National. AUGUSTA, Ga. (AP) — Bubba Watson is going for his second green jacket. Jordan Spieth is trying to become the youngest major champion in 83 years. Plenty of others are in the mix.","Belgians prepare for another standoff after polls. BRUSSELS (AP) — The national mood in Belgium right now is like two different worlds. A giddy sense of unity has overtaken the country because the national soccer team is going to the World Cup, but a parliamentary election campaign has left the nation divided like never before.","WHO: Death toll from Ebola in W. Africa hits 887. DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — The World Health Organization says the death toll from the worst record outbreak of Ebola has reached 887.","Prostitution bill to be introduced 'well before' December deadline: MacKay. HALIFAX - Justice Minister Peter MacKay says the government will introduce its new prostitution legislation well ahead of the December deadline.","Oxford wins 160th Boat Race. LONDON (AP) — Oxford won its fifth Boat Race in seven years on the River Thames on Sunday after an early clash of oars damaged university rival Cambridge's hopes of victory.","Eight run for Central African Republic presidency, violence flares. By Paul-Marin Ngoupana and Emmanuel Braun BANGUI (Reuters) - Central African Republic lawmakers shortlisted eight candidates, including two sons of former leaders, to run for interim president in a vote on Monday and pull the country out of months of turmoil and sectarian killings. The Red Cross also said it had buried around 50 bodies within the past 48 hours after fighting flared in the northwest. Seleka and the anti-balaka groups have continued to launch sporadic tit-for-tat killings, despite the presence of 1,600 French troops and nearly 5,000 African Union peacekeepers. CANDIDATES Members of the transitional assembly were expected to select one of the candidates as interim president on Monday after former Seleka leader Michel Djotodia resigned as president under international pressure over his failure to end the bloodshed.","Libyan fund sues France's SocGen for $1.5 bln. Libya's sovereign wealth fund is suing French bank Societe Generale in a British court for $1.5 billion (1.1 billion euros) for allegedly channelling bribes to allies of the son of slain dictator Moamer Kadhafi, officials said on Monday. The Libyan Investment Authority is seeking compensation from the bank and from Walid Giahmi, an alleged associate of Saif al-Islam Kadhafi, for what it says is money that it lost on trades between 2007 and 2009. Societe Generale denied the \"unfounded\" claims by the LIA, which was set up in 2006 to handle Libya's oil revenues.","African nations agree need for economic 'transformation'. African governments and the International Monetary Fund on Friday agreed on the urgent need to harness the continent's rapid economic growth, as unrest and a plethora of challenges temper exuberance about the continent's rise. At a major meeting in Maputo, the IMF, finance ministers and central bank governors said a deeper \"structural transformation\" was needed so that ordinary citizens can benefit from the boom. While sub-Saharan Africa is among the world's fastest-growing regions, pervasive poverty and recent serious unrest in Nigeria, South Sudan, the Sahel region and possible recession in South Africa have tempered previous exuberance about \"Africa's rise.\" \"Policies need to be designed in such a way to ensure that a surge in growth can also spur structural transformation,\" according to the Maputo Joint Declaration, agreed following the meeting.","Clash at Sikh shrine in India wounds half a dozen. NEW DELHI (AP) — An official says half a dozen people were wounded as members of a Sikh group brandishing swords and wooden sticks clashed with guards of the Sikh's holiest shrine in India.","Putin insists Sochi is set for Winter Olympics. SOCHI, Russia (AP) — President Vladimir Putin says Russia is ready, at long last, to host the Winter Games.","Argentina beat Australia for first Rugby Championship win. Mendoza (Argentina) (AFP) - Argentina defeated Australia 21-17 after trailing by 14 points during the first half to achieve a first Rugby Championship win.","Tottenham deny De Boer reports. Tottenham Hotspur declared on Wednesday that they have not made any moves to appoint a new manager, after British media reports linked them with Ajax coach Frank de Boer. Several British media outlets on Tuesday cited an interview given by De Boer to Dutch broadcaster NOS in which he reportedly said that he had agreed to hold talks with Tottenham. The BBC subsequently reported that an Ajax spokesman had confirmed contact between Spurs and the Dutch club's director of football Marc Overmars on the subject of De Boer's availability.","Jury to be picked in NY trial of Egyptian preacher. NEW YORK (AP) — Jury selection is set to begin in the New York trial of an Egyptian Islamic preacher extradited from Great Britain on charges he conspired to support al-Qaida.","China plans railway to India, Nepal borders by 2020. China plans to extend a railway line linking Tibet with the rest of the country to the borders of India, Nepal and Bhutan by 2020 once an extension to a key site in Tibetan Buddhism opens, a state-run newspaper reported on Thursday. China opened the railway to Tibet's capital Lhasa in 2006, which passes spectacular icy peaks on the Tibetan highlands, touching altitudes as high as 5,000 meters (16,400 feet) above sea level, as part of government efforts to boost development. The Global Times, published by the ruling Communist Party's official People's Daily, said that an extention to Shigatse, the traditional seat of Tibetan Buddhism's second-highest figure, the Panchen Lama, would formally open next month.","Argentina might be forced to negotiate bond fight. BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — Argentina's president has objected to the conditions of a U.S. judge's ruling requiring a $1.33 billion debt repayment, but analysts say she may ultimately have to negotiate with the holdout investors she calls \"vultures\" to avoid an impending default and a new blow to the country's reputation.","Israeli prime minister says Israelis must be ready 'for a long campaign' in Gaza Strip. JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli prime minister says Israelis must be ready 'for a long campaign' in Gaza Strip.","2 Thai students indicted in anti-monarchy case. BANGKOK (AP) — A lawyer says prosecutors have charged two Thai university students with defaming the country's monarchy in a stage performance.","Messi guides Barca past City into Champs quarters. BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Lionel Messi and Dani Alves scored second-half goals as Barcelona beat 10-man Manchester City 2-1 to reach the Champions League quarterfinals with a 4-1 victory on aggregate on Wednesday.","Sex slavery pushes Iraq IS victims to suicide: Amnesty. Women and girls from Iraq's Yazidi religious minority forced into sexual slavery by the Islamic State jihadist group have committed suicide or tried to, Amnesty International said on Tuesday. IS militants have overrun swathes of Iraq since June, declared a cross-border caliphate also encompassing parts of neighbouring Syria, and carried out a litany of abuses in both countries. The group has targeted Yazidis and other minorities in north Iraq in a campaign that rights group Amnesty said amounted to ethnic cleansing, murdering civilians and enslaving others for a fate that some captives consider even worse than death. \"Many of those held as sexual slaves are children -- girls aged 14, 15 or even younger,\" Donatella Rovera, Amnesty's senior crisis response adviser, said in a statement.","Malaysia: Abductors want $11.3M for Chinese woman. KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Gunmen have demanded a ransom of 500 million pesos ($11.3 million) for the release of a Chinese tourist abducted last week from a Malaysian resort off Borneo island, a Malaysian minister said Thursday.","Political prisoners routinely tortured in Uzbekistan: Human Rights Watch. By Dmitry Solovyov ALMATY (Reuters) - Torture of political prisoners is widespread in ex-Soviet Uzbekistan, a Central Asian country courted by the West as a transit point for forces fighting in Afghanistan, the U.S. campaign group Human Rights Watch said in a report on Friday. President Islam Karimov, 76, tolerates no dissent in the ex-Soviet state of 30 million people, which he has ruled since 1989. ...","White House warns Russia of more 'costs' over Ukraine. By Jeff Mason and Arshad Mohammed WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House warned Russia on Monday that it would face further costs over its actions in Ukraine and said U.S. President Barack Obama would speak with Russian President Vladimir Putin soon. U.S. officials stopped short of announcing a new set of sanctions against Ukraine but said they were in consultations with European partners about the prospect. The European Union agreed on Monday to step up sanctions against Moscow by expanding a list of people subjected to asset freezes and visa bans. \"Russia continues to engage in provocative actions in Eastern Ukraine.","European Aviation Safety Agency lifts warning on Tel Aviv flights. Paris (AFP) - The European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) on Thursday lifted its recommendation for airlines to stop flights to Tel Aviv due to the conflict in Israel and Gaza.","Jury to decide fate of man charged with murder of Manitoba snowbirds. EDINBURG, Texas - A jury in Texas will soon be deliberating in the murder trial of a man accused of killing a Manitoba couple 25 years ago.","UN: Afghan civilian death toll up so far this year. KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — The U.N. says the number of Afghan civilians, including children, killed in violence has risen by nearly 17 percent in the first half of this year, compared with the same period in 2013.","UEFA charges Atletico Madrid for racist abuse. NYON, Switzerland (AP) — UEFA has begun disciplinary action against Atletico Madrid for alleged racist abuse by fans against Manchester City youth team players.","UK says Iraqi murder allegations against its troops a conspiracy. Allegations British troops unlawfully killed up to 20 Iraqi men at an army camp in 2004 were part of a conspiracy to pervert the course of justice, the British government told a public inquiry into the deaths on Wednesday. \"The untruthful allegations cannot be attributed to honest mistakes or misunderstandings,\" lawyers for Britain's Ministry of Defence said in a closing submission to the inquiry, which has cost at least 27 million pounds ($45 million). \"They are the product of a conspiracy between a number of the Iraqi core participants to pervert the course of justice.\" Almost three years after the final British troops left Iraq in 2011, costly inquiries about the war have helped keep alive a public debate about why Britain got involved in the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq and how the war was conducted. Despite their allegations, lawyers for relatives of the dead Iraqis said last month there was insufficient evidence to back their clients' main claim of unlawful killing, which relates to events during and after a battle in southern Iraq on May 14, 2004.","Ousted Brazil candidate meets, endorses challenger. SAO PAULO (AP) — The former environment minister who briefly led Brazil's presidential race threw added support on Friday to the man who beat her for second place and a spot in a runoff election against President Dilma Rousseff.","As G20 chases growth goal, members differ on how to get there. By Lincoln Feast and Gernot Heller CAIRNS Australia (Reuters) - As the Group of 20 leading economies meet to change no less than the \"destiny\" of the global economy, members remain divided on how to get there with Germany pushing back at U.S. calls for more government stimulus. Opening the meeting of finance ministers and central bankers, Australian Treasurer Joe Hockey outlined an ambitious agenda of boosting world growth, fireproofing the global banking system and closing tax loopholes for giant multi-nationals. ...","President says discontent in Sao Tome army, plays down fears of uprising. Sao Tome and Principe's president warned of discontent in the island nation's military after striking soldiers boycotted his presidential guard in protest at rising prices, but played down fears of a new uprising. The presidential honor guard failed to report for duty at the airport as President Manuel Pinto da Costa left on a state visit to Congo Republic late on Monday. \"There is discontent in the barracks,\" Pinto da Costa said, saying the strike was a reflection of economic difficulties. Since holding its first multi-party elections in 1991, Sao Tome and Principe has avoided the political violence that has plagued neighbors on the Central African mainland.","16 Puerto Rico policemen face corruption charges. SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Sixteen former and current police officers in Puerto Rico have been charged with running a criminal ring to generate money through bribes, robberies and drug sales, authorities said Thursday.","Hungarians rally against corruption, Orban government. By Sandor Peto BUDAPEST (Reuters) - More than 10,000 Hungarians rallied in Budapest on Monday to demand the resignation of Prime Minister Viktor Orban, accusing him of employing corrupt public servants and cosying up to the Kremlin. The numbers who turned up at parliament for the rally - billed by organizers as a \"Day of Public Outrage\" - were much smaller than the crowds which protested a planned tax on the Internet last month and forced Orban to shelve the plan. ...","Puerto Rico sees increase in cruise ship visits. SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Officials in Puerto Rico say the number of summer cruise ship passengers visiting the U.S. territory has increased in the past three years.","Hurricane Vance begins to weaken in Pacific. MIAMI (AP) — Hurricane Vance is beginning to weaken as it swirls in the Pacific off the coast of Mexico.","Israel says naval raid seizes Iranian shipment of advanced rockets bound for Gaza militants. JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel says naval raid seizes Iranian shipment of advanced rockets bound for Gaza militants.","Hamas warns of 'explosion' if Israel prevents Gaza reconstruction. The military wing of the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas warned Thursday of renewed violence unless Israel allows the reconstruction of the war-battered Gaza Strip. \"We are saying to all sides -- if the siege on Gaza and the obstacles for reconstruction remain, there will be a new explosion,\" said Abu Obeida, spokesman of the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades. A devastating 50-day war between Israel and Hamas that ended on August 26 killed more than 2,140 Palestinians, most of them civilians, and 73 on the Israeli side, mostly soldiers. Gaza has been under a stringent Israeli blockade since 2006, with construction materials tightly restricted for fear militants could make use of them to forge arms or build fortifications.","Federer wins 2nd round-robin match at ATP Finals. LONDON (AP) — Roger Federer made the most of Kei Nishikori's erratic play Tuesday to secure a 6-3, 6-2 victory and move closer to a semifinal spot at the ATP Finals.","TMX to move into private market in race with rival Aequitas. By Euan Rocha and Cameron French TORONTO (Reuters) - TMX Group Ltd, the operator of the Toronto Stock Exchange and the TSX Venture Exchange, said on Tuesday it plans to launch a new business to allow capital raising and the trading of securities of privately owned entities. The move to launch the business appears to be a pre-emptive gambit to thwart the threat posed by privately-held Aequitas Innovations Inc, which is in the process of seeking regulatory approval in order to launch a new Canadian stock exchange. Toronto-based TMX said the new business dubbed TSX Private Markets will serve companies throughout their evolution from the start-up stage, and further down the road. \"We are always looking for ways to facilitate companies and this is one more tool in that toolbox,\" Kevan Cowan, president of TSX Markets and group head of equities at TMX Group, told Reuters.","Egypt sentences alleged al-Qaida member to life. CAIRO (AP) — An Egyptian court has sentenced an alleged al-Qaeda bomb-maker with ties to the group's offshoots in Yemen and Somalia to life in prison.","Australian police say no contact with hostage-taker in Sydney cafe. SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australian police said on Monday they had not had direct contact with an armed offender holding an undisclosed number of people hostage at a cafe in central Sydney. \"We have moved to a footing that would be consistent with a terrorist event,\" New South Wales Police Commissioner Andrew Scipione told reporters in Sydney. Scipione said the siege was contained to a single event in Sydney's central business district and that the city remained open for business. (This story was refiled to remove typographical error from headline) (Reporting By Jane Wardell; Editing by Paul Tait)","Yuvraj lifts India to 159-7 vs Australia. MIRPUR, Bangladesh (AP) — Yuvraj Singh struck a fine half-century under pressure to help India reach 159-7 against Australia in their World Twenty20 Group 2 game on Sunday.","Ukraine insurgents reject call to quit buildings. DONETSK, Ukraine (AP) — Dashing hopes of progress raised by a diplomatic deal in Geneva, pro-Russian insurgents who have occupied government buildings in more than 10 Ukrainian cities said Friday they will not leave them until the country's interim government resigns.","Legia Warsaw reveals UEFA ineligible player probe. WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Legia Warsaw's place in the Champions League playoff round is at risk from a UEFA probe into a possible ineligible player having been fielded against Celtic on Wednesday.","Glazer puts 3 mln United shares up for sale. London (AFP) - Edward Glazer has put three million shares in Manchester United up for sale six months after his father Malcolm's death, and stands to recoup in the region of 45million US dollars (£28.7million).","Israeli parliament votes on new president to succeed Peres. By Jeffrey Heller JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel's parliament voted on Tuesday for a new head of state to succeed President Shimon Peres after a scandal-tinged race for a largely ceremonial post that is supposed to serve as a moral authority for the nation. None of the five candidates to take over from Peres, a Nobel peace prize laureate whose term expires next month, captured the required 61 votes in the 120-seat legislature, to win outright, and a run-off will be held later in the day. In the second round, Reuven Rivlin, a former speaker of parliament who garnered 44 votes, will face Meir Sheetrit, an experienced centrist politician, who took 31. Rivlin, 74, is a member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's right-wing Likud party.","Palestinian killed in Israeli raid in West Bank. JERUSALEM (AP) — The Israeli military says its forces shot and killed a Palestinian in an overnight raid in the West Bank.","Merkel says Russia has sought to exploit weakened Ukraine. BERLIN (Reuters) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel said in a speech in parliament on Thursday that instead of acting as a partner for stability in the Ukraine crisis, Russia had sought to exploit the weakness of its neighbor. \"The territorial integrity of Ukraine cannot be called into question,\" she said, making clear that the situation in Ukraine's southern region of Crimea was not comparable to the case of Kosovo in the Balkans. (Reporting by Madeline Chambers, Stephen Brown; Writing by Noah Barkin)","Murdered aid worker's brother says Islam 'not to blame'. The brother of British hostage David Haines murdered by Islamist militants issued Sunday a tearful video statement about growing religious radicalisation in which he quoted a verse from the Koran. It is not a race, religion or political issue, it is a human issue,\" Mike Haines told British media. \"ISIL are extremely dangerous and pose a threat to every nation, every religion, every politics, every person,\" Mike Haines said, adding that British jihadists who return to the country should \"face the consequences of their actions\".","Support for Britain's anti-EU UKIP hits record high. By Andrew Osborn LONDON (Reuters) - Support for the anti-EU UK Independence Party hit a record high of 25 percent, an opinion poll showed on Sunday, days after it won its first elected seat in Britain's parliament at the expense of Prime Minister David Cameron's party. The survey suggested that UKIP, which favors a British exit from the European Union and tighter immigration controls, could pick up more seats than previously thought in a national election next year. ...","Australia sport pledge to fight gay discrimination. SYDNEY (AP) — Chief executives of Australia's major sports leagues have signed a commitment to eliminate discrimination against gay people among their teams, players and spectators.","Saudi clerics urge faithful to shun 'Islamic' superhero series. Saudi Arabia's top clerics have declared an Islam-inspired cartoon series, which earned praise from US President Barack Obama, a \"work of the devil\" that Muslims should not watch. The television version of superhero comic book \"The 99\" is being aired by Saudi-owned satellite channel MBC3, based in Dubai in the neighbouring United Arab Emirates. \"The 99 is a work of the devil that should be condemned and forbidden in respect to Allah's names and attributes,\" the clerics, led by the kingdom's mufti, Abdulaziz al-Sheikh, said. The original comic strip version, first released in 2006, had already ran into opposition from Muslim hardliners not only in Saudi Arabia but also in neighbouring Kuwait, where it was created and produced by media executive Nayef al-Matawa.","Bank of Canada sees broadening recovery, oil price risk. By Randall Palmer and Leah Schnurr OTTAWA (Reuters) - The Bank of Canada held its main policy rate at 1 percent on Wednesday, declaring that while Canada's economic recovery is broadening to include exports and business investment, lower oil prices could cut inflation more than expected. The bank's statement was seen as slightly more optimistic than recent communiques, and it helped boost the Canadian dollar. Economists were cautious, however, about how much of a bearing it would have on the timing of any policy tightening by the bank. \"It's a pretty even-handed policy statement. ...","EU lawmakers endorse new 'Mr. Euro' for executive. BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Parliament endorsed former Latvian prime minister Valdis Dombrovskis on Wednesday in the new role of vice president of the European Commission in charge of the euro, lawmakers said after a vote in committee. The support for the center-right nominee completed a near clean sweep for the incoming president of the EU executive, Jean-Claude Juncker. He has seen all but one of his 27-strong team broadly accepted by the legislature following the repair of a left-right pact between the biggest parties in parliament. ...","Bianchi has traumatic brain injury - family. Yokkaichi (Japan) (AFP) - French Formula One driver Jules Bianchi remains in a critical but stable condition in hospital in Japan after suffering a traumatic brain injury, a joint statement by his family and the hospital said on Tuesday.","Russian ruble will firm at start of 2015: finance minister. MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said on Friday the rouble would definitely firm at the beginning of next year. He also confirmed the ministry had been selling foreign currency and it could buy some for its own purposes at the start of 2015. The ruble has suffered steep falls against the U.S. dollar this year. (Reporting by Elena Fabrichnaya, Writing by Lidia Kelly, Editing by Timothy Heritage)","Shots fired at Israeli embassy in Athens. ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greek authorities are investigating a pre-dawn, drive-by gunfire attack on the Israeli embassy in Athens, which caused no injuries or damage.","Kurds thwart new IS bid to cut off Syria's Kobane. Kurdish forces have thwarted a new attempt by Islamic State group fighters to cut off the Syrian town of Kobane from the border with Turkey before Iraqi Kurdish reinforcements can deploy. The pre-dawn assault marked the fourth straight day the jihadists had attacked the Syrian side of the border crossing as the Iraqi Kurdish peshmerga fighters prepare to head for Kobane, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. The peshmerga forces are \"ready to go\", but they are not expected to deploy to Kobane before Monday at the earliest, Kurdish news agency Rudaw reported. \"Technical issues\" concerning their transit through Turkey still had to be resolved, Rudaw said without elaborating.","Britain urges quick Syria chlorine probe. British Foreign Secretary William Hague on Wednesday pressed the world's chemical weapons watchdog to finish its probe into the alleged use of chlorine gas in Syria as urgently as possible. The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons announced Tuesday it is sending a fact-finding mission to Syria after claims that President Bashar al-Assad's forces may have unleashed industrial chemicals on civilians. \"The UK pushed hard to secure an investigation and we call on the OPCW to carry out its mandate with urgency,\" Hague said in a statement. Britain said it would give the OPCW any assistance it needed to investigate the \"sickening\" allegations.","Libyan officer's son freed a month after kidnap: army. Benghazi (Libya) (AFP) - The son of the commander of Libya's special forces was freed Wednesday, more than one month after being kidnapped in the eastern city of Benghazi, a military spokesman told AFP. \"The son of Wanis Abu Khamada has been released. He is on his way home,\" special forces spokesman Milud al-Zwei said. Zwei was unable to give any further details about the kidnapping and release of Ali Abu Khamada.","Talks open to revise Algeria constitution. Consultations opened Sunday to reform Algeria's disputed constitution, which President Abdelaziz Bouteflika amended to win a third term in office in 2008 and a fourth in April. A revised charter, promised by Bouteflika after his re-election, would bar any future president from serving more than two consecutive terms and introduce several other changes. The national news agency APS said talks to amend the constitution headed by former prime minister Ahmed Ouyahia kicked off at the presidential compound. Ouyahia held his first meeting with Seguir Babes who heads Algeria's National Economic and Social Council and was due to hold also talks with other figures.","Detained China rights lawyer facing 'inhuman torment', wife says. BEIJING (Reuters) - A prominent Chinese human rights lawyer arrested this year has had to endure hours of interrogation and his health has suffered, his wife wrote in a letter released on Friday, calling for his immediate release. Pu Zhiqiang, one of China's most outspoken dissidents, was arrested in June on charges of causing a disturbance and illegally accessing personal information in a case that drew international condemnation. He has denied the accusations, which have since been upgraded to include inciting ethnic hatred and separatism, charges which could lead to life in jail. ...","Hollande: Investors visiting Iran made own choices. WASHINGTON (AP) — French President Francois Hollande is pushing back against criticism about French businessmen who visited Iran last week.","Housing sector turning the corner; jobs market firming. By Lucia Mutikani WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. home resales rose in April and the supply of properties on the market hit its highest level in nearly two years, hopeful signs for the stalled housing market recovery. The National Association of Realtors said on Thursday existing home sales increased 1.3 percent to an annual rate of 4.65 million units, marking only the second gain in sales in nine months. While that was a bit less than the 4.68-million unit pace economists had expected, it suggested the sector was regaining its footing after stumbling in the second half of 2013 under the weight of higher mortgage rates and house prices.","Nazi restitution fraud case stirs anger at Vienna court. By Derek Brooks VIENNA (Reuters) - A journalist critical of Austria's record in returning Jewish property seized by the Nazis failed on Friday to gain his freedom after conviction on charges he defrauded the state in illicitly increasing his mother's claim on a building. Disappointed at an appeal ruling, allies of Stephan Templ shouted \"Nazi state\" and \"Aryanization\" at judges in a crowded courtroom. Templ, who co-wrote a book in 2001 listing Jewish properties looted by Austrian Nazis and never returned, alleges Austria is punishing him for his criticism. \"Even the main judge said this case is a dilemma, that the verdict is not correct, that Austria is not damaged.","Report: Former Iran vice president convicted. TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran's former vice president has been convicted of a charge that includes a prison term and a cash fine, a spokesman for the Islamic Republic's judiciary said Monday, though details about the case were not announced.","Putin to quit G20 summit after rebukes over Ukraine. Russian President Vladimir Putin is to walk out of a G20 summit in Australia, an aide said Saturday, after he faced scorn and scepticism from Western leaders over Ukraine despite venturing to paper over Europe's deepest chill in relations since the Cold War. The Group of 20 nations, which includes the United States and China, found agreement in vowing to \"extinguish\" the Ebola outbreak -- albeit without any promise of hard cash -- as it worked to reboot growth in the world economy after the shock of the 2008 financial crisis. There was no immediate comment from the G20's Australian hosts or other delegations such as US President Barack Obama's to Putin's decision, which came after some testy exchanges in Brisbane on Saturday.","UN calls for $1.27 billion in South Sudan aid. JUBA, South Sudan (AP) — The United Nations' humanitarian coordinator in South Sudan says a full-blown humanitarian disaster is set to hit the world's newest country unless $1.27 billion is raised to ramp up vital relief before the approaching rainy season.","Militias vow to repel assault in eastern Libya. CAIRO (AP) — Islamist militias in Libya's war-ravaged Benghazi have vowed to repel advancing pro-government forces who have been fighting them for nearly two weeks for control of the eastern city.","Ugandan court rules anti-homosexuality law unconstitutional. KAMPALA (Reuters) - A Ugandan court on Friday struck down an anti-homosexuality law that punishes gay sex with long jail sentences after Ugandans opposed to the law filed a constitutional petition alleging that the law violates fundamental rights. \"I can confirm the anti-homosexuality law has been struck down. The judge said there were irregularities in the process of its enactment and also there was no quorum in parliament,\" said Nicholas Opio, a lawyer for the petitioners. (Reporting by Elias Biryabarema; Writing by James Macharia; Editing by Janet Lawrence)","Keurig recalls more than 7 million brewing machines in North America. (Reuters) - Keurig Green Mountain Inc said it would recall about 7.2 million hot beverage-brewing machines that could overheat and cause injury by spraying hot liquids on users. The affected machines are Keurig Mini Plus brewers made between December 2009 and July 2014 with the model number K10 and serial numbers starting with 31, the company said on its website. (http://bit.ly/1GT8a1G) The recall affects 6.6 million machines in the United States and 564,000 in Canada. Keurig's shares were down 3.3 percent at $135.15 in light premarket trading on Tuesday. ...","Palestinian ambassador in Prague injured in explosion: Czech media. PRAGUE (Reuters) - The Palestinian ambassador to the Czech Republic was injured in an explosion at his residence in Prague on Wednesday, CTK news agency and website idnes.cz reported. The blast occurred before midday, the reports said. (Reporting by Jason Hovet; Editing by Louise Ireland)","US deploys military advisers to Somalia: officials. Washington (AFP) - The United States has deployed a handful of military advisers to Somalia in recent months to help bolster the African Union force there, officials said Friday.","Israeli leader calls for Jerusalem holy site calm. JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel's prime minister is calling on Israeli leaders to \"show responsibility and restraint\" to try and calm tensions around a Jerusalem holy site.","SOCHI SCENE: Been there, done that. KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia (AP) — Chris Klug remembers a brief period when, as a snowboard racer in America, he didn't have to scrape for every little thing he got.","UK joins U.S., France in pulling out of G8 preparatory meetings. Britain will suspend its participation in preparations for a G8 meeting in Sochi after Russia violated Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity, British Foreign Minister William Hague said on Sunday. The United States has already said it will not take part in the meetings, and a source in President Francois Hollande's office said France has also pulled out. Western countries are scrambling to respond to developments in Ukraine's Crimea, where Putin has claimed the authority to send Russian troops in the biggest confrontation between Moscow and the West since the Cold War. \"The United Kingdom will join other G8 countries this week in suspending our co-operation under the G8, which Russia chairs this year, including ... meetings this week for the preparation of the G8 summit,\" Hague told media before boarding a flight to Kiev to meet with the pro-Western government that took power when Russian ally Viktor Yanukovich fled last week.","Rugby-Nine teams to launch Australian third tier competition. Australia will launch a new domestic rugby competition aimed at bridging the gap between the club and provincial game later this year, the Australian Rugby Union (ARU) announced on Monday. Initially featuring nine teams, the competition will bid to emulate New Zealand's National Provincial Championship and South Africa's Currie Cup, which have proved highly successful in breeding talent for Super Rugby and the test arena. Despite having produced two World Cup winning sides, Australian rugby has always had less playing depth and a relatively restricted geographic spread compared to its two major southern hemisphere rivals. The National Rugby Championship (NRC) will run for 11 weeks from August this year and feature teams in five of Australia's eight states and territories.","Court rejects Argentina's appeal of $185M award. WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court has rejected Argentina's appeal of a British natural gas company's multimillion dollar award against the government.","Killick has strong showing at Canadian cross-country skiing Olympic trials. CANMORE, Alta. - Graeme Killick made his case for representing Canada at the 2014 Winter Olympics on Sunday after dominating the field in the men's skiathlon race in Canmore, Alta., which is doubling as Cross Country Canada's Olympic trials.","Over 1,000 Madagascar reptiles stranded in South African transit. Over 1,000 tree frogs, chameleons and lizards from Madagascar are stranded in South Africa after storms in the United States forced their connecting flight there to be canceled, Johannesburg zoo said on Friday. About 400 of the 1,685 reptiles flown in from the Indian Ocean island nation on Wednesday have already died from the stress of air travel and shock of being removed from their natural habitat, a zoo official said. The surviving reptiles have found a temporary home in the Johannesburg zoo, where they will be quarantined for 30 days. \"They are not fit for travel, they cannot leave, there is nowhere to go at the moment,\" the zoo's chief veterinarian Katja Koeppel said as another staff member took a dozen buckets of live crickets from her office to feed the newcomers to the zoo.","Cricket-Injured Watson out of Australia's series against Pakistan. * All-rounder ruled out with calf injury * Hilfenhaus named replacement for tests (Adds quotes, details) MELBOURNE, Sept 21 (Reuters) - Injury-prone all-rounder Shane Watson has been ruled out of Australia's entire series against Pakistan in the United Arab Emirates with a calf injury, the country's cricket board said on Sunday. Watson, recovering from a sprained ankle that kept him out of the tri-series in Zimbabwe, has suffered a new setback and is experiencing soreness in his right calf, Cricket Australia (CA) physiotherapist Alex Kountouris said in a statement. ...","Norway says Islamist militants planning attack in West have left Syria. A group of militant Islamists planning to carry out attacks in the West is on its way from Syria, possibly heading towards Norway, police said on Friday. Norwegian armed police were deployed for a second day at high-risk locations including airports and train stations, after the police's intelligence unit said on Thursday it received credible information that an attack might take place in the country in coming days. \"We have received information that a group of fighters have left Syria with the aim of carrying out terror attack in the West and Norway was specifically mentioned among their targets,\" Jon Fitje Hoffmann, the chief analyst for the Police Security Service told TV2 in an interview on Friday. Hoffmann would not say if the fighters had a specific connection to Norway or if they were part of the country's Muslim community.","Kidnapped Italians freed in Libya: ministry. Two Italian construction workers kidnapped in Libya last month have been released, Italy said on Friday, with Foreign Minister Emma Bonino thanking Italian officials operating in \"a difficult environment\". \"I feel great joy and satisfaction over the release of Francesco Scalise and Luciano Gallo,\" Bonino said in a statement that gave no details on the release but said it was thanks to \"joint activities\" by Italy and Libya. The two, who are expected to return to Rome later on Friday, were in Libya working on a road building project in the city of Derna for the contractor General World and had only been in Libya for a few months. They were seized from their van by armed men on January 17 outside Derna in eastern Libya, reports said.","Newspaper alleges corruption in 2022 WCup vote. LONDON (AP) — A British newspaper says it has obtained millions of documents proving that a former member of FIFA's executive committee made payments totaling $5 million to senior football officials in return for support for Qatar's successful bid for the 2022 World Cup.","Cruise ship rescues Cuban migrants adrift at sea. GEORGE TOWN, Cayman Islands (AP) — The government of the Cayman Islands says 24 Cuban migrants rescued by a cruise ship appear to be in good health.","Pakistani forces escort protesters out of PTV headquarters. ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Pakistani paramilitary forces escorted anti-government protesters out of the headquarters in Islamabad of the state television channel PTV on Monday and placed the building under army protection, a Reuters witness said. There were no signs of violence and the protesters were seen leaving the building peacefully. (Reporting by Zohra Bensemra Writing by Maria Golovnina; Editing by Robert Birsel)","Veteran diplomat takes over as Burkina's interim leader. Michel Kafando, a veteran diplomat and former foreign minister, was sworn in Tuesday as Burkina Faso's interim president to oversee a one-year transition back to civilian rule in the west African country. Kafando's appointment ended weeks of uncertainty after violent protests late last month brought down the 27-year regime of president Blaise Compaore and the military seized power. Ahead of the swearing-in, the army-installed leader, Lieutenant-Colonel Isaac Zida, was awarded the country's top honour normally reserved for heads of state, the Order of the Grand Cross. Kafando's appointment early Monday came ahead of a deadline imposed by the African Union, which had warned the deeply poor country would face sanctions unless it chose an interim leader.","Bach slams politicians over Sochi Olympics. SOCHI, Russia (AP) — IOC President Thomas Bach has criticized politicians for attacking the Sochi Olympics \"on the backs of the athletes.\"","US: Venezuela sanctions may be 'important tool'. WASHINGTON (AP) — Venezuela had the full attention of North and South American diplomats Thursday.","US arrives in congested Sao Paulo for World Cup. SAO PAULO (AP) — The 4,080-mile overnight flight to Sao Paulo was easy for the U.S. World Cup team.","Malaysia says will extradite suspect if necessary. KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Malaysian Foreign Minister Anifah Aman has confirmed that a military official at the country's diplomatic mission in New Zealand has been charged with sexual assault and that he returned home last month using diplomatic immunity.","Samsung, Apple call end to patents war outside U.S.. By Hyunjoo Jin and Dan Levine SEOUL/SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Samsung Electronics Co Ltd and Apple Inc said on Wednesday they had agreed to drop all patent litigation outside the United States, scaling down a protracted legal battle between the smartphone rivals. The South Korean and U.S. tech giants declined to disclose the terms of the deal but said it did not involve \"any licensing arrangements and the companies are continuing to pursue the existing cases in U.S. courts.\" The agreement ends patent disputes in Australia, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, South Korea, Spain and the United Kingdom, countries where the smartphone market leaders had engaged armies of lawyers for what analysts said were questionable gains. Apple and Samsung together dominate the global smartphone market with a combined market share of 37.1 percent in the second quarter of 2014, according to Strategy Analytics. Their legal battle began in the United States in 2011 when Apple first filed a suit alleging Samsung \"slavishly\" copied elements of its iPhones, the device which launched the industry.","Pope beatifying Paul VI at remarkable synod's end. VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis is celebrating the beatification Mass for Pope Paul VI, concluding the remarkable meeting of bishops that has drawn parallels to the tumultuous reforms of the Second Vatican Council which Paul oversaw and implemented.","Nigeria president to visit town where girls abducted: officials. ABUJA (Reuters) - Nigeria's President Goodluck Jonathan will on Friday visit the northeastern village from where more than 200 schoolgirls were abducted a month ago by Islamist rebels from Boko Haram, senior government officials said. It will be Jonathan's first visit to Chibok village, epicenter of a growing international effort to rescue the girls, since they were abducted. Officials said he will travel on to a regional security summit in Paris at which Boko Haram will be discussed. (Reporting by Felix Onuah; Writing by Matthew Mpoke Bigg; Editing by Bate Felix)","Algeria leads Belgium 1-0 at halftime. BELO HORIZONTE, Brazil (AP) — Sofiane Feghouli converted a penalty to give Algeria a surprising 1-0 halftime lead against Belgium in the Group H opener on Tuesday.","Nuremberg documents sold in Jerusalem auction. JERUSALEM (AP) — An American collector has purchased a trove of some 500 pages that include documents used to convict top Nazis at the Nuremberg Trials.","TSX set to open higher as Ukraine tensions ease. (Reuters) - Stock futures pointed to a higher opening for Canada's main stock index on Monday as the threat of wider conflict in Ukraine appeared to diminish. September futures on the S&P TSX index were up 0.19 percent at 0715 ET. June data on foreign investment in Canadian securities and Canadian investment in foreign securities is due at 0830 ET. Canada's main stock index was little changed on Friday as signs of an escalation of conflict in Ukraine, but a jump in the price of oil boosted energy producers.Dow Jones Industrial Average e-mini futures were up 0.51 percent at 0715 ET, while S&P 500 e-mini futures were up 0.50 percent and Nasdaq 100 e-mini futures were up 0.50 percent.","Bouteflika rival condemns Algeria campaign violence. Batna (Algeria) (AFP) - Ali Benflis, the main challenger to incumbent Abdelaziz Bouteflika in Algeria's presidential election, on Sunday deplored violence that erupted at a rally for his rival east of the capital. Campaigning for the April 17 election was launched two weeks ago, with the 77-year-old Bouteflika widely expected to clinch a fourth term without taking to the road due to health concerns. Benflis condemned the violence, which prompted Bouteflika's campaign manager, former prime minister Abdelmalek Sellal, to scrap the rally.","Remaining cattle released to Nevada rancher after armed standoff: witness. The U.S. Bureau of Land Management released on Saturday the remaining cattle of a Nevada ranching family that the agency had seized in a dispute over grazing on federal land, according to a Reuters witness. The close to 300 cattle were led through a wash under Interstate-15 near Bunkerville, Nevada, and back onto the grazing land where rancher Cliven Bundy's herds have grazed for decades. The action by U.S. officials, who had earlier ended a roundup of Bundy's cattle, followed the arrival of armed supporters of the ranching family.","Italy's Gtech buying IGT for $4.7B. LAS VEGAS (AP) — The Italian lottery operator Gtech is buying slot machine maker International Game Technology for $4.7 billion in cash and stock.","Talks ongoing with Hamas for Gaza truce: Abbas aide. A senior Palestinian official said Tuesday talks were ongoing with Hamas for a truce to end its war in Gaza with Israel, adding both sides have refused a humanitarian ceasefire. Azzam al-Ahmed, an aide to Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas, landed again in Cairo on Tuesday where he could meet US Secretary of State John Kerry, already in the Egyptian capital pushing for a truce. Hamas has said it would not accept an Egyptian proposal that calls for a ceasefire followed by indirect talks, insisting instead on firm commitments first to end Israel's eight-year blockade of Gaza.","Crosby grows into leadership role with Canada. SOCHI, Russia (AP) — Sidney Crosby and Canada coach Mike Babcock slowly circled the Olympic rink before practice, two serious men enmeshed in a no-nonsense discussion about defensive zone coverage.","Gaza mourns, seeks justice for generations lost in Israeli strikes. By Nidal al-Mughrabi GAZA (Reuters) - Sitting at home for dinner or running for their lives in dark streets, generations of the same families are dying in Israel's bombardment of Gaza. Survivors are witnessing large numbers of relatives killed in a single strike and in their grief seek justice. Israel says it seeks to target only militants who are firing rockets from the coastal strip into its territory, but the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay said on Wednesday that the killing of over 400 Gaza civilians in the last two weeks may constitute war crimes.","Poroshenko asks Canada to support Ukraine-NATO tie-up. Ottawa (AFP) - Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko went to Canada on Wednesday where he sought support for his country's bid to ally with NATO in a speech to parliament.","Australia bowls first against India at World T20. MIRPUR, Bangladesh (AP) — Australia captain George Bailey won the toss Sunday and decided to bowl first against India in their World Twenty20 Group 2 game.","WHO chief promises transparency on Ebola failures. GAMMARTH, Tunisia (AP) — The head of the World Health Organization says the agency will be upfront about its handling of the Ebola outbreak, following an internal report that details failures in containing the virus.","UN, Palestinians call for $550 mn in Gaza aid. The United Nations and the Palestinian government called Tuesday for international donors to provide $550 million in aid to help hundreds of thousands of Gazans affected by a devastating war with Israel. The appeal comes two weeks after Israel and Hamas ended 50 days of bloodshed that killed more than 2,100 people, mostly civilians, and a month ahead of a donors' conference in Cairo. \"The scope of damage and devastation is unprecedented in the Gaza Strip,\" James Rawley, the UN's humanitarian coordinator for the Palestinian territories, said in a statement. Rawley and Palestinian deputy prime minister Mohammed Mustafa outlined the humanitarian needs for post-war Gaza, calling for $551 million (427 million euros) for food aid, access to clean water, healthcare and education.","Egypt bars HRW head ahead of Rabaa killings report. Egypt has barred the head of Human Rights Watch from entering the country ahead of the release of a report on a mass killing of protesters, HRW officials said Monday. Kenneth Roth, executive director of the New York-based NGO, and HRW Middle East director Sarah Leah Whitson were held overnight in Cairo airport before being denied entry, Whitson wrote on Twitter.","20 Yemen Shiite rebels killed in Qaeda clashes, attack. Sanaa (AFP) - At least 20 Shiite rebels were killed in clashes with Al-Qaeda militants and a car bombing in Yemen's central town of Rada, tribal sources said Monday.","Cheika close to being named new Wallabies coach. Sydney (AFP) - Michael Cheika is on the verge of taking charge of the Wallabies after the shock resignation of Ewen McKenzie, with the Super Rugby-winning coach on Monday confirming he was in talks and close to agreement.","London shares fall on fresh eurozone fears. London (AFP) - London shares staged a late rally in a turbulent session on Thursday, after fears the eurozone could be heading toward a fresh crisis spread turmoil through financial markets, traders said.","Seven charged in N. Ireland for 'terrorist offences'. London (AFP) - Seven men have been charged with \"terrorist offences\" in Northern Ireland and were due in court on Monday, the police said following an investigation into militants opposed to peace.","South Korean soldier kills 5 comrades at border. SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korean media say a South Korean soldier is at large after killing five comrades and wounding another five at the border with North Korea.","Cyber Monday gears up to get online shoppers hyped. NEW YORK (AP) — After a busy holiday weekend in shopping malls, millions of Americans are expected to log on and keep shopping on the day dubbed Cyber Monday.","Putin arrives at Elysee Palace for talks with Hollande. Paris (AFP) - Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived Thursday at the Elysee Palace in Paris for talks with French President Francois Hollande, as world leaders engaged in a bout of shuttle diplomacy over Ukraine ahead of D-Day ceremonies.","Manly goes top in NRL with 26-0 win over Cronulla. SYDNEY (AP) — Reserve forward Tom Symonds scored two tries with his first two touches of the ball to help Manly to a 26-0 win over Cronulla, lifting them to the top of the table after the 15th round of Australia's National Rugby League.","French group wins Balzan humanitarian prize. MILAN (AP) — The International Balzan Foundation says a French organization dedicated to helping disadvantaged children in Africa has won its periodic humanitarian award.","Canadian soldier dead after hit by 'radicalized' driver. OTTAWA (Reuters) - One of two Canadian soldiers run down by a car driven by a suspected Islamic militant has died, police said on Tuesday, the first such incident in Canada since the country joined the fight against Islamic State militants. A police spokesman said the soldier died late on Monday. His name, age or rank was not released. The soldier was one of two walking near a Quebec strip mall when they were run down by a car. (Reporting by Jeffrey Hodgson in Toronto, David Ljunggren and Randall Palmer in Ottawa and Allison Lampert in Montreal; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe)","Brazilian leader Rousseff slips in poll on economic woes. By Anthony Boadle BRASILIA (Reuters) - Support for President Dilma Rousseff is slipping among Brazilian voters who are increasingly pessimistic about their country's economy and disappointed with her performance, according to a poll published on Saturday. While Rousseff is still on track to win re-election outright in elections on October 5, she has lost six points among potential voters since last month, a survey by local Datafolha polling firm said. The poll showed more Brazilians want a change of course in government policies, and twice as many Brazilians think Rousseff's predecessor and mentor Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva is more qualified than her to carry out those changes. The leader of the main opposition party Aécio Neves was unchanged at 16 percent of voter intentions and Eduardo Campos, governor of Pernambuco state, edged forward one point to 10 percent.","US blacklists Gaza-based extremist group. WASHINGTON (AP) — The Obama administration has placed a Gaza-based extremist group on several terrorism blacklists, freezing any assets it may have in U.S. jurisdictions and barring Americans from transactions with it.","Israeli soldiers kill Palestinian at Jordan crossing. JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israeli soldiers shot and killed a Palestinian on Monday at a crossing point between Jordan and the occupied West Bank, Israeli and Palestinian security officials said. The Israeli military said the man had tried to seize a soldier's gun at the Allenby bridge, which spans the Jordan River, and that troops had then shot him. A Palestinian security source confirmed the death and gave the man's age as 40. Two weeks ago, Israeli soldiers killed a Palestinian they were seeking to arrest in the West Bank town of Bir Zeit. ...","527 DNA tests planned over French high school rape. PARIS (AP) — Male students and staff at a high school in western France — 527 people in total — were asked to give DNA samples beginning Monday as police search for the assailant who raped a teenage girl.","Unspoken trauma paralyses Rwanda genocide survivors. Nyamata (Rwanda) (AFP) - Sitting very still, hands folded and with a soft voice, Jean-Bosco Rurangirwa relives the trauma of seeing his family hacked to death as they sheltered with thousands of others in a church. Countless others were raped or maimed, and trauma is said to affect a third of the population. \"Sometimes I still feel human, but other times I feel crazy,\" said Rurangirwa, whose family died at Nyamata church, some 35 kilometres (20 miles) from Rwanda's capital Kigali.","US spacecraft enters Mars orbit, India probe next. CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (AP) — NASA's Maven spacecraft entered orbit around Mars for an unprecedented study of the red planet's atmosphere following a 442 million-mile (710 million-kilometer) journey that began nearly a year ago.","Yellen hopeful for 3 percent GDP growth in 2014: Time magazine. (Reuters) - Janet Yellen, set to take over as head of the Federal Reserve next month, is \"hopeful\" that U.S. economic growth will accelerate in 2014 to reach 3 percent or more and persistently low inflation will move up toward the central bank's target, according to a Time magazine interview released Thursday. \"I think we'll see stronger growth this year,\" Yellen said in the interview, released online ahead of the Time edition's January 20 publishing date. \"Most of my colleagues on the Fed's policymaking committee and I are hopeful that the first digit (of GDP growth) could be 3 rather than 2.\" U.S. gross domestic product growth has averaged 2.6 percent through the first three quarters of 2013, but appears to have gathered momentum in the second half the year. Yellen, who will succeed Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke on February 1, also said she believes that the persistently low level of inflation, a worry for policy-makers, will pick up.","Real IRA man charged with 29 Omagh bomb murders. DUBLIN (AP) — An Irish Republican Army veteran was charged Thursday with 29 murders over the 1998 car bomb attack on Omagh, the deadliest bombing of the entire Northern Ireland conflict.","Drone kills 5 militants in Yemen. SANAA, Yemen (AP) — A suspected U.S. drone in Yemen's south targeted a car carrying al-Qaida militants Saturday, killing all five passengers, Yemeni security officials said.","German sports head Manfred von Richthofen dies. BERLIN (AP) — Manfred von Richthofen, the honorary president of Germany's national Olympic federation who presided over a shake-up in German sports management, has died. He was 80.","World champion Nematpour suspended for doping. CORSIER-SUR-VEVEY, Switzerland (AP) — World champion wrestler Taleb Nematpour of Iran has been provisionally suspended by the sport's governing body after failing an anti-doping test.","Alibaba seeks to raise up to $24.3B in IPO record. SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — E-commerce company Alibaba Group is seeking to raise up to $24.3 billion to set a new record for an initial public offering of stock.","Bhopal demands justice 30 years after deadliest industrial disaster: TRFN. By Nita Bhalla BHOPAL, India (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Hundreds of people marched through the central Indian city of Bhopal late Tuesday, waving flaming torches to commemorate the thousands who perished in the world's deadliest industrial disaster and demanding justice for survivors who continue to suffer three decades on. In the early hours of December 3, 1984, around 40 metric tonnes of toxic methyl isocyanate gas accidentally leaked from a pesticide factory owned by U.S. multinational Union Carbide Corp. and was carried by the wind into the surrounding slums. ...","Cold War past shapes complex Merkel-Putin relationship. By Noah Barkin BERLIN (Reuters) - After one of her first encounters with Vladimir Putin in 2002, Angela Merkel joked to aides that she had passed the \"KGB test\" by staring straight into his eyes without averting her gaze. Unlike presidents in Washington - George W. Bush claimed to have gotten a glimpse of Putin's soul and Barack Obama promised to \"reset\" relations with Russia - the German chancellor has never harbored any illusions about the former Soviet agent, nor hopes that she might change him. It is this hard-nosed realism, born of Merkel's own experience growing up in a Soviet garrison town in East Germany and reinforced over a turbulent 14-year relationship with Putin, that has earned her respect in the Kremlin and thrust her into the potentially risky role of chief mediator in the Ukraine crisis.","Italian police shut down counterfeit money ring. MILAN (AP) — Police in Naples have broken up a counterfeit money ring that allegedly printed millions worth of fake euro bills and coins distributed in Europe and North Africa.","Rwanda says kills five Congolese soldiers after border incursion. KIGALI (Reuters) - The Rwandan government said on Wednesday it had killed five soldiers from neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) after a group of them crossed the border into their country and opened fire. \"These actions by the DRC are jeopardizing the region's extensive efforts to ensure peace, stability and development for all our citizens,\" said Louise Mushikiwabo, Rwanda's Foreign Affairs Minister and government spokesperson. Kinshasa said earlier on Wednesday that fighting began after Rwandan troops entered Congolese territory and seized one of its soldiers. ...","Iraqi leader retires 2 senior security officers. BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraq's prime minister removed the chief of the army's ground forces and the head of the federal police from their posts Saturday as part of his promised shakeup in the security forces following their near collapse in the face of a militant blitz last month, an official said.","Banned carry-on items get through Russian security. SOCHI, Russia (AP) — Despite a temporary Russian ban on liquids in carry-on luggage, some air travelers heading to the Sochi Olympics through Moscow have brought toothpaste and other toiletries past security checkpoints without any problems.","Sudan frees jailed opposition leader Al-Mahdi. Sudanese authorities released opposition leader Sadiq al-Mahdi on Sunday, Sudan's State Minister of Information Yasser Youssef told Reuters. Al-Mahdi, who was arrested in mid-May, was accused of undermining the constitution, a charge that could have led to the death penalty, after he said the government had committed violence against civilians in the Darfur region. Al-Mahdi, a former prime minister in Sudan's last elected civilian government, is the head of the Umma Party, the most prominent party opposing President Omar Hassan al-Bashir, who ousted him in 1989. His Umma party canceled national dialogue talks called by Bashir earlier this year that were meant to ease political tensions - especially over the handling of Darfur - ahead of parliamentary and presidential polls due next year.","Kurdish rebels ramp up pressure ahead of Turkey vote. Kurdish rebels in Turkey's southeast are ramping up attacks in a bid to pressure Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to speed up reforms ahead of presidential elections, analysts say. A recent spate of ambushes, kidnappings and roadblocks by Kurdish militants threatens to further erode the fraught relationship between Ankara and the Kurdistan Worker's Party (PKK) ahead of Turkey's first direct presidential election in August. The PKK declared a ceasefire in March 2013, but peace talks stalled in September after the rebels said they were suspending their retreat from Turkish soil, accusing the government of failing to deliver on promised reforms. The upsurge in violence in the southeast is seen as a sign that the PKK -- blacklisted as a terrorist organisation by Ankara and much of the international community -- is raising the stakes in order to secure greater concessions.","Top Asian News at 5:00 a.m. GMT. TOKYO (AP) — At least six people were confirmed dead and 22 were missing after rain-sodden hills in the outskirts of Hiroshima gave way early Wednesday in several landslides. Video footage from the national broadcaster NHK showed suburban homes in the western Japanese city surrounded by streams of mud and debris, and residents picking their way over piles of rocks and dirt.","Pakistani police arrest 6 suspected militant assassins. By Katharine Houreld ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Pakistani police said on Friday they have arrested six men suspected of being behind a string of high-profile killings and assassination attempts linked to a banned sectarian group. They are also thought to be behind an attack last month in which writer Raza Rumi, a vocal critic of the Taliban, was wounded and his driver killed. The men are connected to banned sectarian group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, the police statement said, and have admitted receiving instructions from its leader Malik Ishaq. The statement identified Abdul Rauf Gujjar as the main hitman in the killings.","Farah to run in Commonwealth Games. Double Olympic and world champion Mo Farah announced Monday he would compete at this year's Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. \\\\\"Hi guys! I will be running in the Commonwealth Games this year..!! See you in Glasgow..!! Shabba....!!\\\\\" Farah told his Twitter followers. However, the 31-year-old, who won both the 5,000 and 10,000 metres gold medals at the 2012 London Olympic Games before completing the same double at the following year's World Championships in Moscow, has still to decide in which events he will run in Glasgow. Last month Farah made his marathon debut, in front of his home crowd in London.","Canadian home sales rise again in July: CREA. TORONTO (Reuters) - Sales of existing homes in Canada rose in July from June, notching the sixth straight monthly increase after a slow winter and taking sales to their highest level since March 2010, the Canadian Real Estate Association said on Friday. The industry group for Canadian real estate agents said sales activity was up 0.8 percent last month from June. Actual sales for July, not seasonally adjusted, were up 7.2 percent from July 2013. CREA's home price index rose 5.3 percent from July 2013, a slight deceleration from June's 5.4 percent gain. ...","Abstention a challenge in Costa Rica's election. SAN JOSE, Costa Rica (AP) — Nobody stands between Luis Solis and the presidency of Costa Rica.","Biggest Brazil city desperate for water in drought. ITU, Brazil (AP) — It's been nearly a month since Diomar Pereira has had running water at his home in Itu, a commuter city outside Sao Paulo that is at the epicenter of the worst drought to hit southeastern Brazil in more than eight decades.","Hazard, Liverpool top AP weekly football poll. LONDON (AP) — Liverpool's 5-1 mauling of Arsenal helped it return to the top of The Associated Press weekly football poll on Tuesday, while Eden Hazard's hat trick for new English leader Chelsea earned him the top player vote.","Toyota aims to replicate Prius success with fuel cell Mirai. By Nichola Groom and Chang-Ran Kim NEWPORT BEACH California/TOKYO (Reuters) - Toyota Motor Corp will introduce its first mass-market fuel cell car next month, hoping to replicate the success of its Prius hybrid with a vehicle that runs on hydrogen instead of gasoline. The four-seater sedan, named Mirai, the Japanese word for \"future\", will first go on sale in four cities in Japan on Dec. 15. Sales in the United States and Europe will follow in the fourth quarter of 2015, the world's biggest automaker said, unveiling the car simultaneously in California and Tokyo. ...","Australia bars Chinese swim star Sun after doping ban: report. Chinese swimming sensation Sun Yang has been barred from training in Australia and his coach plans to sever ties with the Olympic champion after he was banned for doping, it was reported Wednesday. The double Olympic champion and 1,500 metres world record-holder served a three-month penalty after testing positive for the banned stimulant trimetazidine in May. He completed his ban on August 17, but it was only revealed by Chinese authorities last week. Swimming Australia high performance boss Michael Scott met Sun's Australian coach Denis Cotterell and advised him the star swimmer was no longer welcome to train in Australia. \"I met Denis last Tuesday,\" he told the Brisbane Courier-Mail in remarks published Wednesday.","Attorney says former Bergdahl grateful to Obama for freedom. By Laura Zuckerman SALMON Idaho (Reuters) - U.S. Army Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl is grateful to President Barack Obama for the prisoner exchange that freed him from five years as a captive of the Taliban and wishes for privacy concerning family matters, his attorney said on Wednesday. Bergdahl was cleared to return to a desk job at a Texas military base this week after the Army said he had completed counseling and a reintegration process. He has retained Eugene Fidell, a specialist in military law, to represent him as the Army investigates the circumstances surrounding his disappearance and capture in Afghanistan on June 30, 2009. In response to a question about Bergdahl's state of mind, Fidell pointed to the Army's decision to place him on regular duty.","Iran, West hold unscheduled second day of nuclear talks. By Warren Strobel DUBAI (Reuters) - Iran, the United States and the European Union began an unscheduled second day of talks on Monday over disagreements blocking the resolution of a confrontation over Tehran's nuclear programme, U.S. and Iranian officials said. With two weeks to a deadline for an overall agreement, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and EU envoy Catherine Ashton met in Oman's capital Muscat to tackle a decade-long dispute which has raised the risk of wider conflict in the Middle East. ...","Eight killed in clashes between rival Yemeni sects. At least eight people were killed north of the Yemeni capital Sanaa on Tuesday in fighting between Shi'ite Muslim tribesmen and Sunni Muslim rivals and the army, local government sources said. Bouts of intense sectarian conflict since last year have undermined attempts at national reconciliation in Yemen, a neighbor of major oil exporter Saudi Arabia and home to one of al Qaeda's most active wings. The fighting on Tuesday was between fighters loyal to the Shi'ite Houthi tribe and Sunni tribesmen who back the Yemeni army. Fighters loyal to the Houthis, who have repeatedly fought government forces since 2004, are trying to tighten their grip on the north as Yemen eyes moves towards a federal system that will devolve more power to regions.","Greece moves debt talks to France. ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greece's next meetings with international debt inspectors will take place in Paris instead of Athens, the government said Tuesday, calling the move a sign that the country is no longer under \"intense pressure\" to make austerity measures.","Soccer-Australia will lift at Asian Cup, says Emerton. By Nick Mulvenney SYDNEY, Nov 20 (Reuters) - Australia will raise their game in front of their own fans at next year's Asian Cup and deserve to be among the favourites despite their poor recent form, according to former Socceroos stalwart Brett Emerton. Expectations of Asian Cup success have dived in Australia during a year in which the Socceroos managed to win just one of 11 matches as coach Ange Postecoglou overhauled the squad. Emerton, who played in two Asian Cups and won 95 caps before retiring in January, believes enough quality remains despite the departure of his 'golden generation'. ...","Wales hold on to nip 14-man Fiji. Wales held on to edge a Fijian side reduced to 14 men in the 52nd minute by 17-13 in a one-off Test at Cardiff's Millennium Stadium on Saturday. In a disappointingly error-ridden game, the home side scored three first-half tries through wingers George North and Alex Cuthbert, and a penalty try, the latter converted by Rhys Priestland. Fiji, who saw prop Campese Ma'afu sent off with almost 30 minutes to play after a second yellow card, replied with two Nemani Nadolo penalties, the giant centre grabbing a 78th intercept try he also converted. North opened the scoring after a schoolboy midfield move left the Fijian defence out of shape, Scott Williams drawing the last man and playing in the winger for his 19th Test try.","US: Too soon evaluate Pakistan offensive. KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — U.S. military leaders say it's too soon to tell if Pakistan's offensive against militants in North Waziristan has been effective or simply symbolic.","Strachan hails Scots' little big men, now for England. Glasgow (AFP) - Gordon Strachan hailed his Scotland side after they edged a pulsating Euro 2016 duel with the Republic of Ireland in Glasgow.","U.N. decries reports Australia handing back Sri Lanka Tamil asylum seekers. By Lincoln Feast and Shihar Aneez SYDNEY/COLOMBO (Reuters) - The United Nations has expressed \"profound concern\" about Australia's handling of asylum seekers amid reports that scores of Sri Lankans will be handed over to their country's navy after only a brief assessment by Australian authorities. Two boats carrying more than 200 Tamil asylum seekers from Sri Lanka were intercepted by Australian border security forces in the Indian Ocean in recent days and either have been or will be transferred to the Sri Lankan navy, Australian media said. The prospect of a risky mid-ocean transfer of Tamil asylum seekers and their return to Sri Lanka has sparked criticism of Australia's tough immigration policy.","Leaders meet in Paris to win help for Lebanon. PARIS (AP) — The Lebanese and French presidents have appealed for international help to cope with the huge influx of Syrian refugees into the fragile country and bolster its defense and economy.","Qaeda's Nusra lays out conditions to release captured Lebanese soldiers. BEIRUT (Reuters) - The Syrian Nusra Front has offered to free Lebanese soldiers it has captured in exchange for Islamist prisoners held in Syria and Lebanon, the SITE Intelligence Group reported on Sunday. The al Qaeda-linked front said in a statement monitored by SITE that it had presented a Qatari negotiator with three proposals for the release of the soldiers, taken when its fighters and their Islamic State allies briefly seized the border town of Arsal in August. ...","Wolfsburg beats 'Gladbach to consolidate 2nd. BERLIN (AP) — Robin Knoche's first half-strike was enough for Wolfsburg to beat Borussia Moenchengladbach 1-0 on Sunday, underlining the side's credentials as the closest challenger to Bayern Munich in the Bundesliga.","Gerrard earns Liverpool 2-1 win vs Ludogorets. LIVERPOOL, England (AP) — Steven Gerrard converted a penalty in the third minute of stoppage time to earn Liverpool a 2-1 victory over Ludogorets Razgrad in the Champions League after a frantic finish to the Group B game at Anfield on Tuesday.","US welcomes Egypt's cease-fire plan for Israel. WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States is welcoming a cease-fire plan proposed by Egypt to end heavy fighting between Israel and Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip.","18-year-old Australian Barty to take tennis break. SYDNEY (AP) — Australian teenager and former Wimbledon junior champion Ashleigh Barty says she is taking a break from tennis.","Lawyer: Bahrain rights activist detained for tweet. MANAMA, Bahrain (AP) — The defense lawyer for the head of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights says his client was ordered detained for seven days over a tweet in which he said that many Bahraini men who joined terrorist groups like the Islamic State group came from the country's own security institutions.","Russian lawyer says Snowden in danger after hostile remarks. By Steve Gutterman MOSCOW (Reuters) - Edward Snowden needs better security after a news report quoted unnamed U.S. intelligence officials saying they wanted the former spy agency contractor dead and discussing ways to kill him, his Russian lawyer said on Tuesday. Snowden was granted asylum in Russia last summer after fleeing the United States, where he is wanted on espionage charges for leaking information about government surveillance practices. Russia's decision to shelter him damaged already strained ties between Moscow and Washington. In these statements ... they openly call for physical reprisal against Edward Snowden,\" lawyer Anatoly Kucherena said on state-run Rossiya-24 television.","Hyundai Motor to build two vehicle factories in China. SEOUL (Reuters) - Hyundai Motor Co said on Tuesday it would build two plants in China each with a production capacity of 300,000 vehicles.","Ukraine says Crimea transport halt temporary. KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — A Ukrainian security official says suspension of transport connections with Crimea is expected to be only a temporary measure.","NATO to protect Baltics but no treaty change with Russia: Merkel. German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Wednesday NATO would guarantee the sovereignty of the Baltic States at a summit in Wales this week but would not change its treaties with Russia. \"We can count on the sovereignty of the Baltic states being guaranteed,\" Merkel said at a news conference with Myanmar President Thein Sein. She said that all measures decided by NATO at the summit would comply with treaties between NATO and Russia, but NATO also had to improve its ability to react quickly in the region.","Snowden relaxed, jocular on revelations, book says. Edward Snowden was \\\\\"profoundly at peace\\\\\" with his decision to leak national security documents, and even joked about the consequences, journalist Glenn Greenwald says in a new book. \\\\\"I call the bottom bunk at Gitmo,\\\\\" Snowden joked, referring to the US detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, says the book to be released Tuesday, excerpts of which were published Monday in The Guardian. Greenwald, recounting the series of discussions last year in Hong Kong when the former National Security Agency contractor decided to reveal his identity, said Snowden appeared to sleep soundly and was \\\\\"completely refreshed the next day\\\\\" despite the tension. \\\\\"When we asked him about his ability to sleep so well under the circumstances, Snowden said that he felt profoundly at peace with what he had done and so the nights were easy,\\\\\" said Greenwald, who met with Snowden in Hong Kong with Laura Poitras and Ewen MacAskill.","A century later, mythic thud of ball still heard. PLOEGSTEERT, Belgium (AP) — On the side of a wind-swept field covered with scorpion weed, a simple wooden cross marks a unique event in football history.","The Antarctic Ocean Today Looks a Lot Like It Did 14,000 Years Ago—When Sea Levels Suddenly Rose 13 Feet. The currents surrounding Antarctica appear to be reverting to an old pattern—14,000 years old—and that doesn’t bode well for the future.","Iran's solar car challenge depends on US plane ticket. Qazvin (Iran) (AFP) - It is not easy for an Iranian to visit America. With no US embassy in Tehran since 1979, obtaining a visa usually requires two costly trips to Dubai or Turkey.","Defying allies, Qatar unlikely to abandon favored Syria rebels. By Amena Bakr DOHA (Reuters) - Qatar's backing for Syrian rebels widely regarded as jihadi militants might appear a diplomatic liability at a time when global alarm about al Qaeda is on the rebound. But that is not the way things are viewed in the Gulf Arab state, which is proud of its self-declared campaign to back the Arab Spring revolts against autocratic rule that began in 2011. The tiny but wealthy gas exporting country is under fierce pressure from some Gulf Arab neighbors to curb its support for Islamists of all stripes, principally the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt and more radical rebel groups with al Qaeda ties in Syria. The two most powerful Gulf Arab states, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) are incensed by Qatar's hosting of Doha-based Youssef al-Qaradawi, an influential pro-Brotherhood preacher whom they see as a potent political menace.","Bayern closes in on Bundesliga as Dortmund loses. BERLIN (AP) — Bastian Schweinsteiger scored one goal and set up another as Bayern Munich moved ever closer to the Bundesliga title with a 2-1 win over Bayer Leverkusen on Saturday.","UN: Pro-Russian rebels, Ukraine target civilians. GENEVA (AP) — The U.N. human rights office says around three dozen people a day are being killed in eastern Ukraine where the death toll has risen to at least 2,220.","Rose hears cheers as US beats Brazil 95-78. CHICAGO (AP) — Derrick Rose showed some of his old form, fellow Chicago product Anthony Davis scored 20 points as the Unityed States beat Brazil 95-78 in a warmup for the World Cup of Basketball on Saturday.","Libya's Interior Ministry backs renegade general. TRIPOLI, Libya (AP) — The official Libyan news agency says the Interior Ministry has announced its support for a renegade general's campaign against Islamist lawmakers and extremist militias.","Sparks fly as Di Grassi wins first electric car race. A spectacular crash at the last corner that ended leader Nicolas Prost's race and sent ex-F1 driver Nick Heidfeld flying into the fencing gave Brazil's Lucas di Grassi victory in the first ever Formula E electric race in Beijing Saturday. Heidfeld, racing for the Venturi team backed by Hollywood star Leonardo DiCaprio, had clawed his way up from 17th on the grid to push Prost in the final few laps. Frenchman Frank Montagny from the Andretti team finished second, while Briton Sam Bird of Virgin Racing, the team backed by British tycoon Richard Branson, took third. Bruno Senna -- the nephew of Ayrton Senna, a huge rival of Alain Prost's -- suffered a miserable afternoon after the front left side of his axle appeared to give way after he collided with another car in the first lap.","West Indies seeks urgent crisis talks with India. NEW DELHI (AP) — Caribbean cricket authorities are seeking urgent crisis talks with their counterparts from India who have vowed to take legal action and suspend bilateral ties in the wake of a player-driven tour cancellation.","Bahrain court sentences 5 in alleged F1 bomb plot. MANAMA, Bahrain (AP) — A Bahraini defense lawyer says a criminal court in the Gulf kingdom has convicted and sentenced five people to five years in prison each on terrorism charges over what authorities say was an attempt to bomb last year's Formula One race.","U.N. General Assembly declares Crimea secession vote invalid. By Louis Charbonneau and Mirjam Donath UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The U.N. General Assembly on Thursday passed a non-binding resolution declaring invalid Crimea's Moscow-backed referendum earlier this month on seceding from Ukraine, in a vote that Western nations said highlighted Russia's isolation. Western diplomats said the number of yes votes was higher than expected despite what they called Moscow's aggressive lobbying efforts against the resolution. Before the vote, one senior Western diplomat had described a result with 80-90 yes votes as successful for Ukraine. Other Western diplomats agreed, saying the result showed how few active supporters Moscow has around the world.","Irish-American stronghold Boston stunned by Gerry Adams' arrest. By Scott Malone BOSTON (Reuters) - In the bars of South Boston, Irish-Americans reacted with shock on Thursday to the news that Gerry Adams, a man some regard as a hero for his role in the peace process, had been arrested in Northern Ireland in connection with a murder committed 42 years ago. Some were worried that Adams' arrest would cause trouble back in Ireland and expressed anger that the U.S. government had cleared the way for the release of a trove of documents by Boston College researchers that may have paved the way for the arrest. They had no reason at all to go after him after all these years,\" said Jerry Byrne, the barman at Croke Park, just down the block from a mural of a map of Ireland that reads \"Ireland unfree will never be at peace.\" Byrne said he viewed Adams, a former Irish Republican Army spokesman who reinvented himself as a populist opposition politician, as a hero for his role in ending the 30 years of sectarian violence in Northern Ireland known as \"The Troubles.\" \"They always wanted to get him,\" Byrne, 55, and originally from Dublin said of Adams.","Hong Kong protesters steadfast in final hours before police clearance. By Donny Kwok and Clare Baldwin HONG KONG (Reuters) - Bands of determined protesters and hundreds of wet tents pitched near Hong Kong government headquarters were all that remained on Wednesday of months' long pro-democracy protests in the final hours before police clear the main protest site. \"We'll Be Back,\" proclaimed a large yellow banner painted by a handful of students the night before. ...","Canada Bread rises on news Grupo Bimbo to buy it for $1.7 billion. Mexico's Grupo Bimbo will buy Canada Bread Company for C$1.83 billion ($1.66 billion) in cash, allowing the Canadian company's parent Maple Leaf Foods to focus on its meat products business, Canada Bread said on Wednesday. Grupo Bimbo, one of the world's largest bread makers, will pay C$72 a share for each share of Canada Bread, a 7 percent premium to the Canadian company's closing price on the Toronto Stock Exchange on Tuesday. The purchase builds on Grupo Bimbo's large U.S. acquisitions in recent years and strengthens its position as a top breadmaker in North America. Bimbo has expanded its footprint in recent years, acquiring Sara Lee Corp's North American bakery business for $959 million in 2010 and buying Hostess Brands' Beefsteak bread in 2013.","AP Interview: Afghan candidate will respect vote. KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Afghan presidential hopeful Zalmai Rassoul says he won't challenge the results of next month's elections even if he suspects fraud and urged his opponents to do the same \"for the sake of Afghanistan.\"","Big credit card issuers defeat collusion lawsuit in U.S.. By Jonathan Stempel NEW YORK (Reuters) - Consumers suffered a setback on Thursday as three big credit card issuers won the dismissal of U.S. lawsuits accusing them of colluding to require that disputes be settled in arbitration rather than class action lawsuits. U.S. District Judge William Pauley in Manhattan said cardholders failed to show that American Express Co, Citigroup Inc and Discover Financial Services conspired to violate the Sherman antitrust law.","Ukraine pipeline explosion caused by bomb - interior minister. At explosion at a pipeline in Ukraine's Poltava region on Tuesday was caused by a bomb, Interior Minister Arsen Avakov said on Wednesday. \"We assume that the explosive device was placed under a concrete block supporting the pipeline and that there were two explosions,\" Avakov said in a report to a government meeting. Ukraine said on Tuesday it believed that the attack on a pipeline carrying Russian gas to the rest of Europe had been intended to discredit Ukraine as a reliable supplier.","Ex-Soviet officials call on Russia to pull troops. PRAGUE (AP) — Officials from five ex-Soviet republics called on Russia to withdraw its troops from border areas near Ukraine, and they backed a free and fair Ukrainian presidential election on May 25.","EU's Juncker reaches target for woman commissioners. By Alastair Macdonald and Philip Blenkinsop BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Two nominations on Thursday for seats on the European Commission, the EU's executive arm, should allow its president, Jean-Claude Juncker, to appoint as many women as in the outgoing team, meeting a demand from legislators. Juncker's office confirmed that Belgium and Romania had put forward Marianne Thyssen and Corina Cretu respectively for their countries' places on the 28-strong Commission, bringing the total of women nominated to nine, the same number as in the present team headed by outgoing president, Jose Manuel Barroso. The European Parliament had threatened to deny confirmation to the new team if it contained significantly more than the 19 men on the present panel.","UN weighs laws for future 'killer robots'. GENEVA (AP) — Diplomats are urging new international laws to govern the use of \"killer robots\" if the technology becomes reality someday.","Canada third-quarter industry capacity use hits 83.4 percent, best since 2006. OTTAWA (Reuters) - Stronger manufacturing and construction boosted Canada's industrial capacity use to 83.4 percent in the third quarter of 2014, the highest for almost nine years, Statistics Canada said on Thursday. Market analysts had expected capacity utilization of 83.1 percent. The increase - the fifth consecutive quarter of growth - pushed the rate up to its most elevated level since the 84.2 percent seen in the first quarter of 2006. The manufacturing sector operated at 83.8 percent of capacity, up 1.0 percentage points from the second quarter, and the highest since the 84. ...","Islamic State drags Obama back into Mideast quagmire. By Samia Nakhoul BEIRUT (Reuters) - American-led and Arab-backed air strikes carrying the fight against Islamic State from Iraq into Syria have dragged Washington into a new Middle East war - exactly the kind of conflict Barack Obama spent his presidency trying to avoid. Analysts who have watched Islamic State take parts of Syria and seize territory in Iraq believe it may be possible to contain the group but it will hard to dislodge it. Washington is clearly bracing for the long haul. The sudden blitz on Tuesday was only the start of a “campaign to degrade and ultimately destroy” Islamic State, said General William Mayville, the Pentagon operations director.","Obama: Pope seems uncomfortable with trappings. ROME (AP) — President Barack Obama says he left a meeting with Pope Francis feeling like the pontiff is a little uncomfortable with the trappings of the position.","Miami-Paris flight diverted to unruly passenger. BOSTON (AP) — Police in Massachusetts say a man from France has been arrested after causing a disturbance on a Miami-to-Paris flight.","Top Asian News at 2:30 p.m. GMT. KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Afghanistan's two presidential candidates signed a power-sharing deal on Sunday that makes one president and the other chief executive, ending months of political wrangling following a disputed runoff that threatened to plunge the country into turmoil and complicate the withdrawal of foreign troops. Ending an election season that began with first-round ballots cast in April, the election commission named Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai as the winner and next president. But the commission pointedly did not release final vote totals amid suggestions that doing so could inflame tensions.","Soccer diplomacy? Putin, Poroshenko at WCup final. RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — It just might be a case of soccer diplomacy.","Bank of England keeps rates steady. LONDON (AP) — The Bank of England has voted to keep its main interest rate at a record low 0.5 percent even as Britain's economy recovers at a brisk pace.","All Black coach defends Sonny Bill rule change. New Zealand coach Steve Hansen on Wednesday defended special treatment given to code-swapper Sonny Bill Williams, saying it was needed to ensure he is ready to join the All Blacks' World Cup defence next year. Williams, who is returning to rugby union after a second stint in Australia's National Rugby League, has been exempted from a rule that forces players to participate in the domestic ITM Cup before being eligible for All Blacks honours. The move, announced this week, will allow Williams to slot straight back into the world champions' end-of-year tour to the United States and Europe. Hansen said Williams, who was part of New Zealand's 2011 Rugby World Cup triumph, was a proven performer in rugby union.","Canadian home prices rise in July -Teranet. TORONTO (Reuters) - Canadian home prices rose in July and the pace of 12-month home price appreciation accelerated, the Teranet-National Bank Composite House Price Index showed on Wednesday. The index, which measures price changes for repeat sales of single-family homes, showed national home prices rose 1.1 percent last month, exceeding the historical average for July. Prices were up 4.9 percent from a year earlier, a pickup from June's 4.4 percent price gain. (Reporting by Andrea Hopkins Editing by W Simon)","Across Egypt, 1 question today: What time is it?. CAIRO (AP) — Egypt's sudden flip to daylight saving time has everyone asking the same question: What time is it?","Minister: Sri Lankan leader OK'd for 3rd campaign. COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — A Cabinet minister says Sri Lanka's highest court has found no impediment to President Mahinda Rajapaksa seeking an unprecedented third term in office.","Crisis is 'life-threatening for Iraq': UN envoy. A week-long militant offensive that has overrun swathes of Iraq is \"life-threatening\" for the country and a danger to the whole region, the UN envoy to Baghdad told AFP. Nickolay Mladenov's remarks came as militants made gains north of the capital and fighting reached the confessionally-mixed city of Baquba, just 60 kilometres (35 miles) from Baghdad, with security forces struggling to halt the assault. The crisis has displaced hundreds of thousands of people and sparked fears the violence could affect the country's critical oil production, with militants having declared they will push on towards Baghdad and the southern Shiite holy city of Karbala. \"Right now, it's life-threatening for Iraq but it poses a serious danger to the region,\" Mladenov said in an interview on Monday.","Lufthansa to resume flights to Tel Aviv on Saturday. Germany's Lufthansa said it would resume flights to Israel's Tel Aviv airport on Saturday July 26, lifting a ban imposed in response to fears that rockets being fired from the Gaza strip could pose a threat to aircraft. \"On the basis of the most up-to-date information we have available and our own assessment of the local security situation, the airlines of the Lufthansa Group will resume their flights from and to Ben Gurion International Airport,\" the airline said on Friday. Lufthansa Group also operates Germanwings, Austrian Airlines and Swiss. Earlier this week the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) lifted a ban on flights by U.S. airlines to Ben Gurion, Israel's main hub.","Ex-president wins Uruguay election, pot plan safe. MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay (AP) — Tabare Vazquez's victory in Uruguay's presidential election is a show of support for the leftist coalition that has governed the country for the past decade and allows the government to proceed with its plan to create the world's first state-run marijuana marketplace.","US stock futures head lower on Wall Street. NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. futures are drifting lower after yet another record day of trading in the stock markets. Shares of RadioShack are plunging as the retailer's losses begin to mount.","Quintana and Rodriguez lead Giro entry list. MILAN (AP) — Tour de France runner-up Nairo Quintana and Spanish rider Joaquin Rodriguez headline the entry list for the Giro d'Italia next month","Total CEO de Margerie killed in Moscow as jet hits snow plow. By Vladimir Soldatkin and James Regan MOSCOW/PARIS (Reuters) - Christophe de Margerie, the charismatic and outspoken chief executive of the French oil company Total , was killed when his private jet hit a snow plow as it was taking off from Moscow's Vnukovo airport on Monday night. His death leaves a void at the top of one of the world's biggest listed oil firms at a difficult time for the industry as oil prices fall and state-backed competitors keep them out of some of the best oil exploration territory. ...","Germany's Karstadt eyes supervisory board head as new CEO: source. FRANKFURT (Reuters) - German department store chain Karstadt is set to appoint its supervisory board head as chief executive, a person familiar with the process said on Sunday, as it battles to get back to profitability. Stephan Fanderl, 51, a former manager at German supermarket chain Rewe , would be the best candidate to bring the struggling company back on track, the source said. He will be Karstadt's third chief within a year. Former IKEA executive Eva-Lotta Sjostedt stepped down in July after only a few months in the job. No-one at Karstadt was immediately available for comment. ...","Mortar fire kills 2 near opera of Syrian capital. DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — Syria's state-run media says mortar fire has exploded near the Damascus Opera House, killing two people.","IS jihadists close in on town west of Baghdad. Baghdad (AFP) - Islamic State fighters closed in Tuesday on the Iraqi town of Amriyat al-Fallujah, one of the last still controlled by the government in the troubled western province of Anbar, its police chief said.","Shelling of UN school kills 15 as Gaza war rages. JEBALIYA REFUGEE CAMP, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israeli tank shells slammed into a crowded U.N. school Wednesday sheltering Gazans displaced by fighting, killing 15 and wounding 90 after tearing through the walls of two classrooms, a spokesman for a U.N. aid agency and a health official said.","200 Gazans enter Egypt as Rafah reopens for two days. Around 200 Palestinians left Gaza and entered the Egyptian Sinai through the Rafah crossing on Sunday after Cairo authorised a temporary reopening of the border, a Palestinian official said. It was only the second time in two months that Egypt had opened the Rafah terminal. All of those crossing were either seeking medical treatment or were holders of a permit to stay overseas, according to Maher Abu Sabha, director of border crossings in the Gaza Strip.","Turkish parliament gives nod for possible military action in Syria, Iraq. ANKARA (Reuters) - The Turkish parliament approved a motion on Thursday enabling the government to authorize cross-border military incursions into Iraq and Syria to battle Islamic State militants, although there was little sign that such action was imminent. The motion, approved by a three-quarters majority, also allows foreign soldiers to be stationed in Turkey and to use its military bases for the same purposes. Ankara has come under pressure to play a more robust role in the U.S. ...","Germany: Bieber pays bill for former pet monkey. BERLIN (AP) — German authorities say Justin Bieber has paid 8,000 euros ($10,700) he owed after attempting to bring a pet monkey into the country last year without the necessary papers.","Egypt: Muslim Brotherhood formed 'military wing'. CAIRO (AP) — Egypt's Interior Ministry has accused the ousted president's Muslim Brotherhood group of forming a military wing to stage attacks on the security forces.","Cambridge holds weight advantage for Boat Race. LONDON (AP) — Cambridge will hold a slight weight advantage of about 20 kilograms (44 pounds) in the annual Boat Race against Oxford next month.","England skittle Australia PM's XI for morale-boosting win. Canberra (AFP) - England's bowlers ripped through the Australian Prime Minister's XI for a morale-boosting 172-run victory on Tuesday.","Explosion reported at airport in northwest China. BEIJING (AP) — An explosion has occurred in the parking lot of an airport in China's northwest but there was no immediate word of any injuries.","Blasts targeting Shiites in Iraq's Kirkuk kill four. A series of blasts outside Shiite prayer halls killed four people and wounded 19 others on Friday in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk, police and medical sources said. Three roadside bombs near the Zahraa husseiniya in west Kirkuk wounded four people, while a roadside bomb near the Jaafar al-Sadeq husseiniya in the city's south caused no casualties. Islamic State jihadists who overran swathes of northern and western Iraq last month have not taken Kirkuk.","Hamas frees Fatah prisoners to mend Palestinian ties. Gaza City (Palestinian Territories) (AFP) - Gaza's Hamas government freed seven imprisoned Fatah members Wednesday, as part of efforts to mend relations between the Islamist movement and its West Bank-based Palestinian rival, officials said. \"The release of these condemned men comes as part of the prime minister's decisions to strengthen national reconciliation,\" Hamas interior ministry spokesman Islam Shahwan told reporters. The releases came two days after Hamas prime minister Ismail Haniya reached out to Fatah, saying that those of its members who had fled Gaza when the Islamists seized the territory in 2007 would be allowed to return, except for those accused of killing Hamas members.","Missing Israeli boy's family pleads for safe return. Nof Ayalon (Israel) (AFP) - The uncle of a missing Israeli teenager made a heartfelt plea for \"mercy\" to his suspected kidnappers Monday, after the family spent a fourth sleepless night worrying for his safety. Naftali Frenkel, 16, who holds joint Israeli and US citizenship, is one of three teenagers Israel says were kidnapped last week from the southern West Bank by militants from the Islamist Hamas movement. \"I'd just like to send a message to anyone who listens... about human mercy, about a belief I think all of us share in God above... (and) mercy to young children,\" Yishai Frenkel told AFP. \"The abduction of 16-year-olds is a terrible crime,\" he said, standing outside the family home.","Israeli leader: 'Hamas will pay'. JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel's prime minister says the Hamas militant group will pay a heavy price for the deaths of three Israeli teenagers who were kidnapped in the West Bank.","Cleric leads anti-government protest in Pakistan. ISLAMABAD (AP) — A fiery anti-government cleric led a massive rally Saturday in Pakistan's capital, demanding the country's prime minister step down over alleged fraud in last year's election in front of thousands of protesters.","EU military mission for Central Africa not ready. PARIS (AP) — The European Union peacekeeping mission in Central African Republic can't start next week as scheduled because some countries haven't provided the troops and resources they promised, France's government said Friday.","Marine aircraft ferries Americans from South Sudan. WASHINGTON (AP) — The Pentagon says Marines used a KC-130 cargo plane to evacuate about 20 Americans from the U.S. Embassy in Juba, South Sudan, in a move prompted by what the State Department calls a deteriorating security situation.","Media Advisory: Pew Launches Global Program to Protect Penguins. WASHINGTON, April 22, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Penguin lovers around the world will unite to observe World Penguin Day on April 25th, and The Pew Charitable Trusts is joining the celebration by announcing the launch of the first global effort aimed at protecting penguins wherever they live. Eighteen species of penguin range from the cold of Antarctica to the equatorial heat of the Galapagos Islands. Interference from humans in the form of pollution, habitat degradation, introduced predators, and overfishing is affecting the health of penguins. \"Penguin protection is critical, not just for these iconic species, but for entire ocean ecosystems,\" said Andrea Kavanagh, director of Pew's global penguin conservation and Southern Ocean work.","For largest U.S. companies, jobs growth has lagged profits, revenues. By Howard Schneider WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Employment growth at the largest U.S. companies has lagged far behind increases in revenue and operating profit since the start of the century, as firms reaped the benefits of globalization, technology, and other ways to operate more productively, according to a Reuters analysis of corporate data. From 2001 to 2013, inflation-adjusted revenue at 100 of the largest publicly traded companies grew 71 percent and inflation-adjusted operating profit rose 150 percent. Their headcount grew faster globally than overall employment in the United States, but it is unclear from corporate disclosures how much of the hiring took place outside the United States. Information from individual companies suggests a lot of the new jobs were created overseas, especially given that in this period there was offshoring and outsourcing of work that was done previously in-house and in the U.S. There was also substantial growth in sales in foreign markets and a resulting expansion of operations overseas.","Men's Wearhouse seals $1.8 billion deal to buy Jos. A. Bank. (Reuters) - Men's Wearhouse Inc said it would acquire rival Jos. A. Bank Clothiers Inc for about $1.8 billion, ending a five-month merger saga that started with Jos. A. Bank offering to buy its larger menswear rival. The increased offer price of $65 per share represents a premium of 1.3 percent to Jos. A. Bank's Monday closing price. (Reporting by Siddharth Cavale in Bangalore; Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty)","Highlanders edge Hurricanes 18-16 in Super Rugby. WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Flyhalf Hayden Parker added a dropped goal to a succession of five penalties to propel the Highlanders to an 18-16 win over the Hurricanes on Friday, adding impetus to their bid for a playoff place in Super Rugby.","Voldemort invoked in China-Japan feud over shrine. TOKYO (AP) — Diplomats from China and Japan are invoking the evil Lord Voldemort from the bestselling \"Harry Potter\" series in their feud over the Yasukuni war shrine in Tokyo.","Egypt military council discussing Sisi's political fate. CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt's top military council is discussing the public's request for army chief Field Marshal Abdel Fattah al-Sisi to run for president, the state news agency said on Monday. Sisi, who toppled Egypt's first democratically-elected president last year, is expected to announce his candidacy for the presidency within days and to easily win elections due within six months. (Writing by Michael Georgy; Editing by Catherine Evans)","Militants kill 15 Yemeni soldiers in southern city. SANAA, Yemen (AP) — A Yemeni military official says suspected al-Qaida militants have launched a surprise attack on an army checkpoint in a southern city, killing 15 soldiers and wounding five others.","Analysis: Hardest yet to come for France's Hollande on reforms. By Mark John and Jean-Baptiste Vey PARIS (Reuters) - French President Francois Hollande has won cautious backing from Berlin, Brussels and financial markets for a centrist reform push that could be his last chance to get the euro zone's second largest economy motoring. A week after his January 14 announcement, it is not clear how and when he will pull off the public spending and tax cuts at the heart of the plan. It is also uncertain whether French business will play ball with his goal of cutting unemployment. Moreover, the new determination to cut taxes opens a whole new Pandora's box: the question of whether Paris will bring its public deficit into line with EU targets next year as promised.","U.S. presses sides in South Sudan to sign pact to cease hostilities. The White House on Thursday urged both sides in the deadly conflict in South Sudan to sign an agreement to cease hostilities immediately. South Sudanese rebels rejected a government plan on Wednesday to end a dispute over detainees and unblock peace talks aimed at halting fighting that has killed at least 1,000 people in the world's youngest state. Three weeks of fighting, often along ethnic faultlines, has pitted President Salva Kiir's SPLA government forces against rebels loyal to former vice president Riek Machar and brought the oil-exporting nation close to civil war. President Barack Obama's national security adviser Susan Rice said in a statement it was the responsibility of both leaders to make sure their country was not marred by more violence.","Russian Deputy PM says no plans to ban McDonald's: report. MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian authorities are not planning to close down the McDonald's chain of fast food restaurants in the country, Itar-Tass news agency quoted Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich as saying on Saturday. Russia's food safety watchdog has launched sanitary inspections of McDonald's restaurants across the country against the backdrop of a standoff with the West over Ukraine. It has closed down three restaurants in Moscow citing breaches of sanitary regulations. (Reporting by Vladimir Soldatkin; Editing by Christian Lowe)","Puerto Rico general obligation bonds downgraded. SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Fitch Ratings has downgraded $13.4 billion worth of Puerto Rico's general obligation bonds as well as bonds issued by the island's water and sewer company.","Polish PM says threat of Russia's intervention in Ukraine has risen. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on Wednesday the threat of a direct intervention by Russia's military in Ukraine has risen over the last couple of days. \"We have reasons to suspect - we have been receiving such information in the last several hours - that the risk of a direct intervention (by Russia's military in Ukraine) is for sure higher than it was several days ago,\" Tusk told a news conference. Russia has been conducting exercises near the border with Ukraine, raising concerns on the ground and in a number of Western capitals. Moscow has also called an emergency meeting of the United Nations' Security Council over what it described as a \"humanitarian situation\" in Ukraine.","Nadal wins Qatar Open, beats Monfils in 3-set final. DOHA, Qatar - Rafael Nadal opened his 2014 campaign by winning his first title of the year in defeating Gael Monfils 6-1, 6-7 (5), 6-2 at the Qatar Open on Saturday.","Canada's Valeant again ups bid for Botox maker. Canadian pharmaceutical firm Valeant on Friday upped for the second time in a week its hostile bid for Allergan, the US maker of Botox, to $53.5 billion. The new offer translates to $72 per share in cash, plus 0.83 of its shares for each Allergan share. That puts the total value for the bid at about $179 per share in cash and stock, based on Valeant's latest share price. Valeant also announced that Pershing Square, Allergan's largest shareholder with a 9.7 percent stake, has agreed to sell its holdings, but will only take shares and not cash.","Barkley named in England World Cup squad. Luton (United Kingdom) (AFP) - Everton breakthrough star Ross Barkley, 20, was named in a youthful England World Cup squad on Monday, but Manchester United midfielder Michael Carrick only made the standby list.","Missing girls: Protesters boosted by Nigerian military claims. Protesters campaigning in support of more than 200 schoolgirls abducted by Boko Haram militants on Tuesday welcomed military claims that they had located the teenagers. The comments by Chief of Defence Staff Alex Badeh on Monday that they had located the girls was the talk of activists and pressure groups who gathered for their regular march in Abuja. \"When the defence chief said that we have identified the location and the camp of these terrorists, hope was restored,\" said the head of the National Youth Council of Nigeria, Abdullahi Abdulmajeed. Atoye Ariyo Dare, secretary-general of the Grand Alliance Against Terrorism, agreed, saying they were \"reassured, hopeful, happy\".","Kerry heads to Ukraine as West ponders sanctions. WASHINGTON (AP) — Secretary of State John Kerry on Tuesday will be reinforcing Washington's support for the new government in Kiev, as the U.S. and its top allies grapple with whether to slap Moscow with sanctions for its military takeover of Ukraine's strategic Crimea region.","Froome's success reverberates through old training base. Mai-ai-hii (Kenya) (AFP) - The rusty iron buildings that shelter the Safari Simbaz cycling team in a village outside the Kenyan capital may not immediately catch the eye. But inside and around the simple dwellings an ambitious plot is being hatched: to challenge the Europeans for places in some of the world's most prestigious and lucrative races, including the Tour de France. Inspired by one-time local boy Chris Froome and confident that Kenya's legendary prowess in endurance sports can translate to the bicycle, Safari Simbaz founder David Kinjah says it is only a matter of time before an all-African team will bring some fresh colour to the peloton. \\\\\"Froome's success in the Tour de France has inspired many boys who want to take up cycling as a sport.","Musician Jack Bruce, bassist from the 1960s band Cream, has died at age 71. LONDON (AP) — Musician Jack Bruce, bassist from the 1960s band Cream, has died at age 71.","Asian stocks mixed after Wall Street decline. BANGKOK (AP) — Asian stocks were mixed Wednesday after Wall Street slid and South Korea reported factory output contracted, while markets in China and Hong Kong were closed for a holiday.","Sanctions-hit SMP says Visa, MasterCard stop providing services. Visa Inc and MasterCard Inc have stopped, without notification, providing services for payment transactions for clients at Russia's SMP bank, whose main shareholders were hit by U.S. sanctions, the bank said on Friday. Washington imposed additional sanctions on Thursday against 20 Russians for involvement in the Ukraine crisis, including Boris Rotenberg and his older brother Arkady, who received large contracts for the Sochi Winter Olympics. \"Due to the fact that the sanctions were imposed on shareholders and not on the bank, we consider the moves by the payment systems unlawful and we are confident that we can resolve the encountered difficulties in the near future,\" the bank said in a statement.","Malaysia says it will send back diplomat accused of sexual assault in New Zealand. KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Malaysia says it will send back diplomat accused of sexual assault in New Zealand.","Russia may restrict Greek fruit, U.S. poultry imports: reports. MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia's Veterinary and Phytosanitary Surveillance Service (VPSS) may restrict fruit imports from Greece next week, RIA news agency reported, citing the watchdog agency. VPSS may also suspend U.S. poultry imports next week, Interfax news agency said, citing the same service. The service could not be reached for immediate comment. (Reporting by Polina Devitt; Editing by Maria Kiselyova)","Two cops dead, two wounded in California shooting spree. Two police officers were killed and two people wounded in California when a man went on a shooting spree, officials said, having finally caught up with the suspect after he went on the run. The violence -- which was stretched over several bloody hours and at least two counties -- began around 10:30 am when a police deputy went to investigate a suspicious vehicle parked at a hotel in Sacramento. As he approached, the driver opened fire and struck the deputy in the forehead, Sacramento Sheriff Scott Jones told a news conference. The deputy, Danny Oliver, a 15-year veteran who was married with two daughters, was killed.","Jilted man finds travel partner with ex-fiancee's name. Dumped by his fiancee last month, Jordan Axani lost not just his future bride, but a travel companion for the round-the-world trip he had been planning to leave on next week. Six weeks after placing the ad, news reports said the Toronto resident had received replies from not just one Elizabeth Gallagher, but 18 -- all eager to accompany him on the trip.","Saudi being tested for Ebola dies in hospital. RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) — A Saudi national, who fell ill after returning from Sierra Leone, died early Wednesday in his hospital isolation ward where he was being tested for the Ebola virus, said the Saudi Health Ministry.","Sri Lanka beat Afghanistan to lift Asian Games cricket gold. Incheon (South Korea) (AFP) - Test nation Sri Lanka denied Afghanistan their first ever Asian Games gold medal as they overcame a batting slump to win the cricket final by 68 runs on Friday.","Father of Norway's mass murderer asks: What if?. COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — The father of Anders Behring Breivik, the Norwegian who killed 77 people in 2011, has written a book that questions his behavior as a parent.","US-bound flight from Italy diverted over sick crew. PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A US Airways flight from Italy to Philadelphia has been diverted to Ireland after several flight attendants fell ill.","IS jihadists within 5 km of key Syria border town. Beirut (AFP) - Islamic State jihadists advanced Monday to within five kilometres (three miles) of the key Kurdish town of Ain al-Arab on Syria's border with Turkey, a monitor said.","FIFA confirms David Luiz as Brazil's scorer. RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — FIFA has confirmed David Luiz as the scorer of Brazil's goal in the World Cup match against Chile.","Global stocks gain after China rate cut. BEIJING (AP) — Asian stocks rose Monday after China's surprise interest rate cut as investors looked ahead to European inflation data due out this week and an OPEC meeting to discuss oil production levels.","Relatives of Iraqi victims: Blackwater guards deserve death. Four former Blackwater guards found guilty for their role in the 2007 massacre of at least 14 civilians in Baghdad's busy Nisur Square should be executed, relatives of victims said Thursday. Their convictions followed a two-month trial that heard how they opened fire with sniper rifles, machine guns and grenade launchers in Baghdad's bustling Nisur Square as they escorted a diplomatic convoy. The shooting exacerbated Iraqi resentment toward Americans and exemplified the impunity enjoyed by private security firms on the US payroll in Iraq. \"They should be executed in the same place in Nisur Square where they committed the crime,\" said Hussein Ali Abbas, the brother of one of the victims.","Attack on park in Gaza war kills 10, most children. GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — A strike on a Gaza park killed 10 people Monday, nine of them children, as Israeli and Palestinian authorities traded blame over the attack and fighting in the Gaza war raged on despite a major Muslim holiday.","Car bomb attack kills four in Somali capital. Mogadishu (AFP) - At least four people were killed in a car bomb attack outside a cafe in the Somali capital Mogadishu on Sunday, police said.","T-Mobile to buy some spectrum licenses from Verizon for $2.4 billion. (Reuters) - T-Mobile US Inc said it would buy some spectrum licenses from Verizon Wireless for about $2.4 billion in cash. The deal includes certain 700 Megahertz A-Block spectrum licenses in the United States, T-Mobile said in a statement. Verizon Wireless is owned by Verizon Communications Inc and Vodafone Group Plc . (Reporting by Neha Alawadhi in Bangalore; Editing by Savio D'Souza)","Airstrikes not end threat from Syrian terror cell. WASHINGTON (AP) — The barrage of U.S. cruise missiles last month aimed at an al-Qaida cell in northern Syria killed just one or two key militants, according to American intelligence officials who say the group of veteran fighters is still believed to be plotting attacks against U.S. and European targets.","Rockets fired at Israel from Lebanon, drawing Israeli fire. BEIRUT/JERUSALEM, (Reuters) - Rockets were fired at Israel from southern Lebanon on Monday, drawing retaliatory artillery fire from Israeli forces, Lebanese security officials and the Israeli army said, in the third such rocket attack from Lebanon since Friday. The attacks from Lebanon have coincided with an Israeli offensive on the Hamas-run Gaza Strip which Palestinian officials say has killed at least 160 people. Palestinian groups have fired hundreds of rockets into Israel from Gaza during the latest hostilities. The Lebanese national news agency said two rockets had been fired just after midnight in the latest salvo from Lebanon.","American, Southwest beat forecasts, JetBlue disappoints. (Reuters) - American Airlines Group and Southwest Airlines posted profits that beat forecasts in the first quarter, even though harsh winter weather prompted many flight cancellations in the seasonally weak period. JetBlue Airways disappointed as wage increases raised its costs. United Continental Holdings posted a wider loss as revenue fell. United said it expects unit revenue to rise 1 percent to 3 percent in the three months ending in June, while American forecast a rise of 4 percent to 6 percent.","Four bodies found in India's volatile northeast, army deployed. By Biswajyoti Das GUWAHATI India (Reuters) - The bodies of four men have been recovered from a river in a remote part of northeastern India that saw sectarian violence in the run-up to the national election in May, police said on Sunday, raising fears of a fresh round of clashes. Any new flare-up would be an early test of whether new Prime Minister Narendra Modi, a Hindu nationalist who swept to power in late May, can manage the tensions that sporadically erupt among India's diverse population of 1.2 billion people. Forty-one Muslims were killed by suspected Bodo militants two months ago in and around Baksa, during the five-week general election that brought Modi to power. The then prime minister, Manmohan Singh, condemned the violence but Modi did not comment upon it during his daily rallies.","Official: India nears deal for French fighter jets. NEW DELHI (AP) — An Indian defense spokesman says India is close to finalizing a deal to buy 126 Rafale fighter planes for about 12 billion euros ($15 billion). It would be France's first foreign sale of the combat-tested planes.","Burundi creates reconciliation body that divides public opinion. By Patrick Nduwimana BUJUMBURA (Reuters) - Burundi, locked in its worst political crisis since its civil war ended in 2005, has created a reconciliation commission that opposition parties say will shield the ruling party from accountability for past crimes. The ruling CNDD-FDD party voted late on Thursday to launch the commission and let President Pierre Nkurunziza pick its members, who are to establish the truth about conflicts wracking Burundi since independence from Belgium in 1962. Lawmakers from the CNDD-FDD's junior coalition partner parties, Uprona and Frodebu, boycotted the vote, a reflection of sharp differences over proposed constitutional changes they say will concentrate power in the ruling party's hands. Concern over the constitutional changes - which could upset the volatile country's delicate ethnic power balance and allow Nkurunziza to run for a third term - prompted the United States and the United Nations to warn against them last week.","Hamburg loses 3-1, drops to 2nd last in Bundesliga. BERLIN (AP) — Borussia Moenchengladbach came from a goal down to beat Hamburger SV 3-1 and leave the visiting side mired in the Bundesliga's relegation zone on Sunday.","All Blacks zero in on record wins against Wallabies. World champions New Zealand are chasing a record-breaking 18th consecutive win while Australia wants to end their Bledisloe Cup misery in Saturday's Rugby Championship Test in Sydney. The New Zealanders, following a 36-13 victory over England in their last match, are equal with the 17-Test winning runs of the 1965-69 All Blacks and 1997-98 Springboks. The all-conquering Kiwis have not tasted defeat since going down to England at Twickenham in December 2012, and have not lost a match in the two four-nation Rugby Championship seasons, which also includes South Africa and Argentina. What adds spice to this weekend's tournament kick-off is that the Wallabies are sensing their time has come after 11 years without the Bledisloe Cup, a symbol of trans-Tasman supremacy.","Witness of Syrian atrocities testifies in Congress. WASHINGTON (AP) — Graphic images of emaciated and bloodied corpses in the Syrian civil war were presented to uncharacteristically silent members of Congress Thursday as a former military photographer testified about the signs of savagery he witnessed.","Belfast braces for trouble over Protestant parade. BELFAST, Northern Ireland (AP) — Belfast is bracing for possible riots next week after a Protestant parade was barred from passing a hostile Catholic district.","BaaBaas to finish 125th anniversary with Pumas. LONDON (AP) — The Barbarians will round off their 125th anniversary next year with a rugby match against Argentina at Twickenham.","Renamo rejects Mozambique election result, African observers endorse vote. By Pascal Fletcher and Manuel Mucari MAPUTO (Reuters) - Mozambique's main opposition group Renamo on Friday rejected as fraudulent results showing the ruling Frelimo party had won national elections but African observers endorsed the vote as largely free and acceptable. \"We don't accept the results...the results should be annulled and new elections held,\" Renamo spokesman Antonio Muchanga told Reuters in Maputo. Wednesday's vote had been marked by irregularities, such as ballot stuffing, he said. ...","Romanian ex-prison chief fails to show for trial. BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) — A former Romanian prison commander charged with torturing and causing the deaths of 12 political prisoners in the 1950s and 1960s has failed to show up for his trial, saying he is sick.","Algeria identifies suspects in Frenchman's beheading. Algiers (AFP) - Algeria has identified suspects in the kidnapping and beheading of French tourist Herve Gourdel, the justice minister said Tuesday, as the North Africa country widened its probe into the brutal execution.","Murray breaks down in tears at Scottish ceremony. DUNBLANE, Scotland (AP) — His victory speech at Wimbledon was easy compared to this.","Japan says gained G7 understanding on its stance on North Korea. TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan has gained understanding from the Group of Seven industrialized nations on its stance on North Korea, top government spokesman Yoshihide Suga said on Thursday. After talks with North Korea in Stockholm, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe announced last week that Pyongyang would reopen a probe of missing Japanese. In return, Japan will ease some economic sanctions when the probe starts and consider humanitarian aid later. ...","Cricket-Recent form of Australia batsman David Warner. Dec 12 (Reuters) - Australia opening batsman David Warner scored his sixth century in 11 test innings on day four of the first test against India on Friday. Here is a list of Warner's recent scores. Australia v India, Adelaide - 145 & 102 Australia v Pakistan, Abu Dhabi - 19 & 58 Australia v Pakistan, Dubai - 133 & 29 Australia v South Africa - 135 & 145 Australia v South Africa - 70 & 66 Australia v South Africa - 12 & 115 (Compiled by Ian Ransom; Editing by Sudipto Ganguly)","Wildfire rips through 150 homes in Northern California. By Alex Dobuzinskis LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Fire crews in California battled on Tuesday to halt the advance of wildfire that has already destroyed about 150 homes, lapped at rural schools and caused power outages that left an evacuation shelter without electricity, authorities said. The day-old blaze, one of about a dozen major fires raging across the drought-parched state, prompted authorities to order the evacuation of about 1,000 households in and around the Northern California town of Weed, which has a population of about 3,000. ...","Fed, OCC differ in enforcing leveraged lending guidelines. Banking and regulatory sources with direct knowledge of the situation said the U.S. Federal Reserve and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) appear to be taking different approaches to implementing a set of guidelines on leveraged loans, even though they issued them jointly in March last year. The OCC, a division of the U.S. Treasury Department, is zealously implementing them, while the Fed is more relaxed about it, the sources said. While all major Wall Street banks are regulated by the Fed, the OCC oversees only those with national bank charters, which allow a bank to build a nationwide branch network.","What to watch at US Open: Williams in semifinals. NEW YORK (AP) — There are so many ways to measure how Serena Williams stands apart from the three other women who will be playing in the U.S. Open semifinals Friday.","Hyundai Motor's 2Q profit dips due to strong won. SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Hyundai Motor Co. says its second-quarter profit fell 7 percent as the appreciation of South Korean diluted its overseas earnings.","Man City wins Premier League title. LONDON (AP) — Manchester City won the Premier League for the second time in three seasons on Sunday while newly crowned champion Juventus beat Roma 1-0 in Serie A.","Putin talks tough but cools tensions over Ukraine. MOSCOW (AP) — Stepping back from the brink of war, Vladimir Putin talked tough but cooled tensions in the Ukraine crisis in his first comments since its president fled, saying Tuesday that Russia has no intention \"to fight the Ukrainian people\" but reserved the right to use force.","Stormy start to Indian parliament's last session before election. By Shyamantha Asokan and Angus MacSwan NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Congress party hopes of pushing through new laws to tackle corruption stalled on Wednesday when the Indian parliament's last session before a general election was adjourned amid rowdy scenes over the proposed creation of a new state. The session, which will go through to February 21, is seen as a final chance for Congress, which leads the ruling United Progressive Alliance (UPA) coalition, to convince voters it is taking action on graft and to showcase leader Rahul Gandhi. The main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) calls it a lame duck government that is merely making a last-ditch attempt to shore up support. It should leave decisions to the next government, BJP leaders say.","Willett, McGrane have Dubai club lead at 8 under. DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — English golfer Danny Willett has soared to the top of the Dubai Desert Classic leaderboard four days after a 4,000-meter (13,000-feet) sky dive over Dubai.","Madrid's Jese Rodriguez has 2nd knee operation. MADRID (AP) — Real Madrid forward Jese Rodriguez has undergone more surgery on his injured right knee.","Business looks to Modi to defuse India's jobs time bomb. By Manoj Kumar and Douglas Busvine GURGAON, India (Reuters) - When Narendra Modi talks about creating jobs in labor-intensive manufacturing, textile entrepreneur Sudhir Dhingra hopes the Indian opposition leader means business. Early on, Dhingra survived a change of fashion that saddled him with a pile of unsold stock. Learning his lessons - to keep close tabs on the market and control costs - he built Orient Craft into $250 million business making 200,000 garments daily. That success has come despite, and not thanks to, India's politicians, who Dhingra says are obsessed by the size of investments but have given \"no serious thought\" to how jobs are actually created.","China rejects US criticism on South China Sea. BEIJING (AP) — China rejected U.S. allegations that it is using vague territorial claims to gradually assert control in the disputed South China Sea, and in turn accused Washington of exaggerating tensions in the region.","Bangladesh beats Zimbabwe by 5 wickets. DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) — Scores Monday after Bangladesh beat Zimbabwe by 5 wickets in the fifth one-day International at Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium:","China arrests thousands in porn, gambling crackdown: Xinhua. SHANGHAI (Reuters) - China has detained over 30,000 people during a two-month clamp down on pornography and gambling, state news agency Xinhua reported on Sunday. In the latest arrests, police in the southern province of Guangdong arrested 3,014 and put more than 8,000 in criminal detention as of Dec. 15, Xinhua reported the Guangdong Provincial Public Security Department as saying. In Huizhou City, police busted an online gambling ring involving funds of 30 million yuan ($4.82 million) on Nov. 24. Gambling has been illegal on mainland China since 1949, though a state lottery does operate. ...","SOCHI SCENE: Mistaken identity, Alpine edition. KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia (AP) — Call it like you see it?","Five big challenges for Modi's new government in India. By Shyamantha Asokan and Rajesh Kumar Singh NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Hindu nationalist Narendra Modi was sworn in as India's prime minister on Monday, taking charge of the world's largest democracy as it struggles with an economic slowdown and a severe shortage of jobs for its booming young population. Indian voters and foreign investors alike have high hopes for Modi, whose slick campaign presented him as a business-friendly leader who would jump-start investment. Public finances are in dire straits as government spending has outpaced revenues.","Ukraine bans 14 Russian TV channels for airing war 'propaganda'. KIEV (Reuters) - Ukraine has banned 14 Russian television channels including Russia Today and Life News from broadcasting on cable networks in Ukraine, accusing them of spreading war propaganda, Ukrainian interior ministry aide Anton Gerashenko said on Tuesday. The fourteen channels are banned temporarily for \"broadcasting propaganda of war and violence,\" Gerashenko said in a Facebook post. (Reporting by Natalia Zinets; Writing by Alessandra Prentice; Editing by Richard Balmforth)","Groundwater levels drop in Southwestern U.S. in ongoing drought. Underground stores of water in the southwestern United States have receded dramatically amid ongoing drought that has parched states from Oklahoma to the Pacific Coast and is costing California billions in lost crops and jobs, a new study shows. The study released Thursday by the University of California, Irvine, shows that groundwater in the Colorado River basin has dropped by 40 million acre-feet over the past five years, the equivalent of two of the nation's largest reservoirs. \"If drought conditions like this continue, there is a possibility we will entirely deplete our groundwater storage,\" said researcher Stephanie Castle, the report's author. Using satellite data, Castle tracked the ebbing water in the Colorado River basin, which stretches through seven states.","Czech president says he will appoint new PM within days. By Robert Muller and Jan Lopatka PRAGUE (Reuters) - Czech President Milos Zeman will appoint Social Democrat leader Bohuslav Sobotka as prime minister within days, he told Reuters on Thursday, opening the way for a center-left coalition to try to revive the economy after months of political stalemate. The Czech Republic has been without an elected government since Prime Minister Petr Necas stepped down in June over a bribery and wiretapping scandal.","Islamic State offensive poses problems for Turkey. SURUC, Turkey (AP) — Fierce fighting Monday between the Islamic State militant group and Kurdish forces just over the border in Syria brought the battle closer to Turkey, triggering a surge of tens of thousands of refugees and raising pressure for the government to step up efforts to take on the Sunni extremists.","U.S. says needs to see hard evidence Russia ready to engage on Ukraine. The United States needs to see concrete evidence Russia is ready to engage on U.S. diplomatic proposals to end the crisis in Ukraine following Russia's bloodless seizure of Crimea, the U.S. State Department said in a statement on Monday. Separately, State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki told reporters it was conceivable U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry might meet Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov this week but he wanted to ensure Russia would engage seriously on U.S. diplomatic proposals.","Minister: Flights between Aruba, Venezuela resume. ORANJESTAD, Aruba (AP) — Flights between Aruba and Venezuela have resumed after the South American country suspended them following the arrest of the highest-ranking Venezuelan official ever detained on a U.S. warrant.","Woeful Liverpool suffer more pain at Palace. London (AFP) - Liverpool's Selhurst Park curse returned to haunt them on Sunday as late goals from Joe Ledley and Mile Jedinak earned Crystal Palace a 3-1 victory in rain-soaked south London.","Peyton Manning avenges last year's playoff slip by leading Broncos past Chargers 24-17. DENVER - Peyton Manning welcomed Wes Welker back into the lineup with a touchdown toss and the Denver Broncos narrowly avoided a repeat of their playoff slip from last year, advancing to the AFC championship game with a 24-17 win over the San Diego Chargers on Sunday.","Markets take breather, watching for China moves. TOKYO (AP) — Share rose in Asia on Friday, though trading was lackluster as investors watched for moves by China to counter its economic slowdown.","Brazil looking to regain top form in World Cup. TERESOPOLIS, Brazil (AP) — Brazil goes into its decisive Group A match against Cameroon on Monday with more at stake than a spot in the next round of the World Cup.","SOCHI SCENE: Luge family. KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia (AP) — Armin Zoeggeler's storied Olympic luge career appears to be at an end. But his family may be represented on the sliding circuit for years to come.","9 killed in train accident in Turkey. ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Media reports say a train has crashed into a minibus that was carrying personnel to work, killing at least nine people and injuring several others.","Aussie Bowditch holds on to capture Texas Open. San Antonio (AFP) - Australia's Steven Bowditch claimed his maiden win on the US PGA tour on Sunday, carding a four-over 76 for a one-shot victory in the Texas Open.","With violence at new heights, Nigerians weary of military's claims of success. As he waited outside a hospital on Wednesday for the body of one of his friends to be released for burial, Basiru Youseff, a young toy salesman, was bitter about government claims that they crushing the insurgency. Violence in Nigeria reached new heights this week, with the biggest attack on the capital in the city’s history, gun battles in the countryside, and the abduction of at least 129 girls from their schoolhouse by militants. It is not known who perpetrated these attacks, though Boko Haram insurgents are widely blamed. While the military may make such comments in an effort to keep up morale, it feeds public frustration with a military that seems incapable of stemming what appears to be a widening conflict. “The skepticism in the public mind is increasing, perhaps even about the government’s culpability with the security concerns that Nigerians have,” says Clement Nwankwo, who heads the Policy and Legal Advocacy Center in Abuja.","U.S. rights report highlights China, Myanmar reforms, abuses. By David Brunnstrom WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. State Department noted some positive reforms in Myanmar and China and other parts of Asia in its annual human rights report released on Thursday but said that serious abuses and severe restrictions on basic freedoms persisted. The report for 2013 said that despite some progress in Myanmar, conflict-related abuses in ethnic minority areas, politically motivated arrests and widespread discrimination and violence against Muslim populations continued. It said 1,100 political prisoners had been released in Myanmar, but that politically motivated arrests continued as a result of \"flawed laws.\" \"The continuing humanitarian and human rights crisis in Rakhine State remained the most troubling exception and threat to the country's progress during the year,\" the report said.","ECB letters shed new light on 2010 Ireland bailout. DUBLIN (AP) — Newly published letters between European Central Bank and Irish government leaders document how Dublin's cash-starved banks were threatened with collapse unless Ireland sought an international bailout.","Rapes surge by 29% as overall crime falls. London (AFP) - The number of rapes recorded by police in England and Wales has soared by nearly a third to the highest level since the current method of collecting data was introduced, figures showed Thursday.","Netanyahu makes cost-of-living promise ahead of Israeli election. By Luke Baker JERUSALEM (Reuters) - In nearly nine years as Israel's prime minister spread over three terms, Benjamin Netanyahu has been a security hawk, promising to do whatever it takes to combat the threat from Palestinian militants or a nuclear-armed Iran. But as he opened his campaign for a fourth term ahead of elections set for March 17, Netanyahu stepped away from his security base to make a pitch for the large number of Israelis who are more worried about the high cost of living. ...","Damon's role in 'Monuments Men' movie inspired by real-life Met museum director James Rorimer. DALLAS - As part of an Allied mission tasked with saving works of art during World War II, a homesick James Rorimer told his wife in a December 1944 letter from liberated Paris that he was working hard but worried about how much he was achieving.","Yemen ceasefire breached as violence flares anew. SANAA, Yemen (AP) — A Yemeni Defense Ministry official says fierce clashes have erupted in a northern city close to the capital between rebels and tribes backed by an army unit, breaching a week-old ceasefire.","FAA wants to restore Chicago air traffic site by mid-October. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Federal Aviation Administration said on Sunday that it has set a target of October 13 to restore to service a Chicago-area air traffic control site that was set ablaze by a field technician, as delays and cancellations continued at Chicago airports. Air traffic controllers managed about 60 percent of typical traffic on Sunday at O'Hare International Airport and over 75 percent at Chicago Midway International Airport, the FAA said. More than 600 flights were canceled at O'Hare and Midway on Sunday, and delays were about 30 minutes, the city's aviation department said. ...","FACTBOX: The boy is back? El Nino expected within months. (Reuters) - The U.S. weather forecaster said on Thursday the El Nino weather phenomenon could surface within one or two months and last into the Northern Hemisphere spring, though it will remain weak throughout its duration. El Nino, Spanish for \"the boy\", is a warming of sea-surface temperatures in the Pacific Ocean. Below are some key commodities that could be affected by its return. GRAINS, OILSEEDS, LIVESTOCK El Nino could bring dry weather to Australia, which is already struggling with a drought, and it could also curb the country's wheat, sugar and cotton production. ...","Huntelaar hits hat trick for Schalke; Bayern wins. BERLIN (AP) — Klaas Jan Huntelaar's hat trick helped Schalke to a 4-1 win over Mainz, while Bundesliga leader Bayern Munich grinded out a 1-0 win at Hertha Berlin on Saturday.","US basketball reigns in Spain, awaits Rio Olympics. MADRID (AP) — It feels like so long ago, though it's been only a decade.","Fracking communities to receive financial sweetener. Communities affected by fracking could be offered £20,000 for every well drilled under plans outlined by the government Friday aimed at easing access to shale gas. Shale oil and gas companies would only be granted access to land below 300m under the plans which ministers say would have \"no negative impact on landowners\". With the average site containing 10 wells, communities could be set to receive an additional £800,000, media reports said. The payments, to be made following consultations with community groups, would come on top of the £100,000 one-off lump sum already on offer to pro-fracking communities along with a 1 percent profit-share.","Germany's Schaeuble says doesn't oppose France's Moscovici for EU post. German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said on Friday he had nothing against his former French colleague Pierre Moscovici for the top economic job at the European Commission but believed France must get its finances in order without further delay. Schaeuble appeared to question Moscovici's suitability to be the new commissioner for monetary and economic affairs last week in Freiburg, when he linked this to France's persistent failure to reduce its budget deficit to within European Union limits.","Boy in Spain with brain tumor to fly for treatment. MADRID (AP) — Doctors in a Spanish hospital caring for a British boy with a serious brain tumor are finalizing details to enable him to fly for treatment in the Czech Republic.","Canadian convicted of murder seen through webcam. TORONTO (AP) — A man accused of attacking a Chinese student in her Toronto apartment as her ex-boyfriend watched via webcam from China was convicted Monday of first-degree murder.","U.S. forecasts more than 500,000 Ebola cases in West Africa. By Sharon Begley and Tom Miles NEW YORK/GENEVA (Reuters) - Global experts issued stark new warnings of the scale of West Africa's Ebola outbreak on Tuesday, with the U.S. government estimating between 550,000 and 1.4 million people might be infected in the region by January. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said its projection was based on data from late August and did not take into account a planned U.S. mission to fight the disease, so the upper end of the forecast was unlikely. ...","Gassing badgers 'nicer' way to cull, says Princess Anne. Princess Anne said gassing badgers was a \"much nicer\" way to cull them than shooting, in an interview to be aired Sunday. An independent report on the pilots found the level of culling needed to bring about a reduction in bovine TB had not been achieved by the shooting of free-running badgers. The princess said that leaving the cattle issue aside, badgers were getting out of control in some areas, causing problems for bees, ground-nesting birds and hedgehogs. Humane Society International UK executive director Mark Jones said: \"Any attempt to reintroduce gassing would doubtless result in a slow and painful death for many badgers, and potentially other non-target animals.\"","Nigerian police hunt for Briton believed to have been abducted. Nigerian security forces said on Sunday they were searching for a British construction worker they believe was kidnapped in the central Plateau state. The search began after the man failed to show up for work on Saturday morning, said Captain Ikedichi Iweha, a spokesman for the Special Task Force, which is made up of both military and police personnel. It was not known whether the alleged kidnappers were members of Islamist group Boko Haram or just bandits. Boko Haram gained worldwide attention when it abducted more than 200 girls from a school in northeast Nigeria in April.","Brazil tries to stay confident after losing Neymar. BELO HORIZONTE, Brazil (AP) — Still coping with the loss of its biggest star, Brazil is trying to find ways to remain upbeat about its prospects at the World Cup.","Shareholder group critical as Roche and Novartis chiefs top Swiss pay table. ZURICH (Reuters) - The bosses of drugmakers Roche and Novartis both earned more than 13 million Swiss francs ($13.6 million) last year, according to a study published on Wednesday, 18 months after the Swiss voted for some of the world's strictest controls on executive pay. The pay packets of Roche CEO Severin Schwan and Novartis counterpart Joe Jimenez topped the list of Switzerland's best-paid managers and prompted criticism from shareholder group Ethos, which conducted the study. \"Double-digit sums are difficult to accept in Switzerland,\" Ethos director Dominique Biedermann told reporters. ...","'Another World' star Charles Keating dies at 72. LOS ANGELES (AP) — Shakespearean actor and soap opera star Charles Keating has died at the age of 72.","Croatia issues 'name and shame' list of firms that cheat staff. Croatia has published a \"name and shame\" list of more than 5,000 organizations which have withheld more than one monthly salary from their employees this year, in an effort to stamp out widespread cheating of staff. The list of some 5,400 companies and 1,600 individual employers was posted on the tax office's website on Tuesday and included attorneys, kindergartens, churches and convents, a local unit of the Red Cross and many medium-sized companies. \"If the state were functioning properly, no company would have a chance to withhold salaries and there would be no need for such lists.\" Croatia, which joined the EU in July last year, has had five years of recession and no growth is expected again this year. Two years ago, the tax office published a list of around 100,000 alleged tax evaders, including companies and individuals.","Former Greek finance minister to head central bank. ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greece's former finance minister Yannis Stournaras has been tapped to head the financially troubled country's central bank, two days after he was replaced in a cabinet reshuffle.","Russia tightens squeeze on Ukraine with gas price rise. By Vladimir Soldatkin MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian natural gas producer Gazprom announced a more than 40 percent increase in the price of gas for Ukraine on Tuesday, stepping up economic pressure on Kiev in its crisis in relations with Moscow. Price rows have in the past led to cuts in Russian gas supplies to Ukraine and decreases in onward deliveries to Europe, but this time the financial blow to Kiev is set to be cushioned by a new International Monetary Fund loan package. Ukraine will now have to pay $385.5 per 1,000 cubic meters of gas in the second quarter, an increase from the $268.5 agreed in December and higher than the average price for clients in the European Union but around the level Kiev had expected. The decision, which had been clearly flagged by President Vladimir Putin, ended a discount that the nations agreed on in December, before the crisis over the ouster of Ukraine's Moscow-backed president and Russia's annexation of Crimea.","UN says South Sudan civilians tied and shot in war. UNITED NATIONS (United States) (AFP) - A UN rights envoy in South Sudan said Thursday he had seen bodies in the streets that had been tied before being shot as the global body stepped up warnings over rights abuses. The UN has accused forces of President Salva Kiir and former vice president Riek Machar of carrying out atrocities in the conflict that started on December 25. Amid mounting reports of mass killings in several towns, UN assistant secretary general Ivan Simonovic said 92 UN investigators are in the country and a first report would be released in about two weeks. Speaking after a visit to the Unity state capital of Bentiu, Simonovic said it had been left a \"ghost town\" by successive raids by the rival forces.","Costa Ricans fill streets to celebrate Cup win. SAN JOSE, Costa Rica (AP) — Thousands of Costa Ricans waving the country's blue, white and red flag are pouring onto the streets of their capital to celebrate the national soccer team's historic 1-0 victory over Italy in the World Cup.","Cuba: Rappers targeted by USAID program 'victims'. HAVANA (AP) — Cuba says that rappers who were targeted by a clandestine U.S. program are \"victims\" unknowingly swept into an effort to spark an anti-government youth movement.","Gaza reconstruction shipments to begin next week. RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) — A senior Palestinian official says Israel will allow more building materials into Gaza under a U.N.-brokered deal to facilitate reconstruction of the war-battered territory.","Pistorius channel goes on air in South Africa. PRETORIA, South Africa (AP) — A TV channel dedicated to the murder trial of Oscar Pistorius has gone on air in South Africa just over 12 hours before the double-amputee Olympian is expected in court.","Italy insists on widening Russia sanctions, says foreign minister. SARAJEVO (Reuters) - Italy has proposed an additional package of sanctions against Russia that it will present to European Union ambassadors on Thursday, Italian Foreign Minister Federica Mogherini said. \"Italy insists that sanctions be widened, to have a package that will include additional sanctions against Russian citizens and firms,\" Mogherini, whose country took the rotating EU presidency in July, said after talks with Bosnian over officials. (Reporting by Daria Sito-Sucic; Writing by Zoran Radosavljevic, editing by John Stonestreet)","Nuremberg stenographer's mementos to be auctioned. ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — The old trunk was locked when it was found by auction house workers clearing a long-vacant home in Alaska that was about to be listed for sale.","Russia intervention in Ukraine would spark more sanctions: U.S. official. Russian intervention into eastern or southern Ukraine would be the clearest trigger for additional sanctions, as would violence in Crimea, a U.S. official said on Monday. He told Reuters that that G7 leaders, at their meeting in The Hague, had discussed the need for NATO to provide reassurance and support for Eastern European allies. G7 leaders, he said, had discussed consequences to other countries from potential sectoral sanctions on Russia, and had agreed that the costs would be worth it. Leaders of the G7 said in a statement on Monday they were ready to intensify sanctions on Russia in case of a further destabilization of Ukraine, whose southeastern Crimea Peninsula was annexed by Moscow last week.","Circus acrobats plan suit, say lives have changed. BOSTON (AP) — Four of the acrobats seriously injured in a hair-hanging stunt gone awry are planning a lawsuit and are coming to terms with the idea their lives might never be the same, they said Tuesday from the hospital where they're recovering.","Spain to restore nationality to Sephardic Jews. MADRID (AP) — Spain has announced new measures to speed up the naturalization of Jews of Sephardic descent whose ancestors fled the Iberian peninsula five centuries ago when they were told to convert to Catholicism or go into exile.","Song joins West Ham on loan from Barcelona. BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Alex Song is returning to the Premier League after Barcelona agreed to loan the Cameroon midfielder to West Ham.","Afghanistan says 88 prisoners to be freed, despite U.S. concern. By Hamid Shalizi KABUL (Reuters) - Afghanistan will release 88 prisoners as planned even though the United States considers them dangerous and wants them to remain in detention, the board reviewing their cases told Reuters. The prisoners are being held at a jail at the Bagram air base north of Kabul. The United States only recently transferred the prison to Afghan control after it had become a serious source of tension with the Afghan government. President Hamid Karzai instructed Afghan intelligence officials to provide the review board with more evidence against the prisoners, after the United States said there was proof of their involvement in the killing of foreign troops and they posed a serious threat to security.","Brazil meets Mexico as 2nd games get started. RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Neymar and his Brazilian teammates will be back in action for their second match at the World Cup, before Russia and South Korea have even kicked off their campaigns.","Nishikori, Gulbis storm into Barcelona semifinals. BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Kei Nishikori of Japan and Ernests Gulbis of Latvia overpowered opponents to reach the Barcelona Open semifinals on Friday.","Indian court proposes Gavaskar as cricket boss. NEW DELHI (AP) — A Supreme Court has proposed test great Sunil Gavaskar as a temporary replacement for Narayanaswami Srinivasan to lead India's cricket board until the completion of an investigation into match-fixing in a domestic Twenty20 league.","Siemens starts 4 billion euro share buyback program. Germany's Siemens said on Monday it is starting a share buyback program of up to four billion euros ($5.5 billion). The share buyback was announced in November last year, but was put on hold as the engineering giant drew up a restructuring program to catch up with more profitable competitors. Until 31 October 2015, Siemens will repurchase up to 47.8 million shares, the company said. \\\\\"The buyback serves the sole purpose of cancelling and reducing the capital stock, issuing shares to employees, board members of affiliated companies, and members of the Managing Board of Siemens AG as well as servicing convertible bonds and warrant bonds,\\\\\" the group said in a statement.","Ecuador's humble Aucas returns to big league. ","Italian police arrest 2 for anti-Semitic graffiti. ROME (AP) — Italy's president has condemned threats against Rome's Jewish community in recent days, including the delivery of packages containing pig heads, as a \"miserable provocation\".","Christina Kim wins Lorena Ochoa Invitational. MEXICO CITY (AP) — Christina Kim won the Lorena Ochoa Invitational on Sunday for her first LPGA Tour title in nine years, beating China's Shanshan Feng in a playoff after blowing a five-stroke lead in the final round.","China jails filmmaker of constitution documentary. BEIJING (AP) — A Chinese court has given a one-year jail sentence to a filmmaker who produced a documentary on the country's 100-year quest for constitutional rule.","Nigeria's Boko Haram kills at least 13 in village: witness. MAIDUGURI, Nigeria, May 6 - Gunmen suspected to be from Islamist group Boko Haram shot or hacked to death more than 13 people in a raid on a market town in Nigeria's troubled northeast, a witness said on Tuesday. Talatu Sule said the attackers arrived in his town of Gamburu early on Monday morning wearing military uniforms, before opening fire on people as they tried to flee. Boko Haram has claimed responsibility for the abduction of more than 200 schoolgirls last month and has threatened to sell them into slavery.","Mayor of eastern Ukraine city shot in the back. KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — The mayor of Ukraine's second-largest city was shot in the back Monday and pro-Russia insurgents seized yet another government building as tensions rose in eastern Ukraine ahead of a new round of U.S. sanctions.","Newspaper of Bashir's uncle banned again in Sudan. A Sudanese newspaper run by an uncle of President Omar al-Bashir has been suspended again after printing just one edition following an earlier ban, the publisher said Monday. The blocking of Al-Saiha comes after it published on Sunday commentary critical of Bashir's national dialogue. \"Our newspaper was suspended indefinitely\" by state security agents, Al-Saiha publisher Al-Tayeb Mustafa told AFP. Paris-based watchdog Reporters Without Borders said in May that security agents ordered Al-Saiha's suspension after it reported accusations of corruption in Sudan's justice ministry.","Top seed Jankovic advances at Tianjin Open. TIANJIN, China (AP) — Top-seeded Jelena Jankovic overcame a second-set lapse to defeat Russian Alla Kudryavtseva 6-2, 0-6, 6-0 in the first round of the Tianjin Open on Tuesday.","Fed suggests lower end-point for rate-hike cycle. By Howard Schneider and Jason Lange WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Federal Reserve on Wednesday hinted at a slightly faster pace of interest rates increases starting next year, but suggested rates in the long-run would be lower than it had indicated previously. \"Economic activity will expand at a moderate pace and labor market conditions will continue to improve gradually,\" the Fed said in a statement. \"Household spending appears to be rising moderately and business fixed investment resumed its advance.\" Updated economic forecasts from Fed officials reflected an economy slammed by bad weather at the start of the year but poised to continue growing. Fed officials maintained their growth projections for 2015 and 2016, and foresaw a faster drop in unemployment and tame inflation.","French president's reported mistress denied post. PARIS (AP) — France's Culture Ministry has denied an actress a coveted spot at a prestigious French cultural institution over reports that she's having an affair with the president.","West Indies beats NZ by 39 runs to draw series 1-1. ROSEAU, Dominica (AP) — Andre Fletcher hit 62 off 49 deliveries while Sheldon Cottrell and Sunil Narine starred with the ball as West Indies beat New Zealand by 39 runs on Sunday in their second and final Twenty20 match to draw the series 1-1.","Mauritania expected to re-elect Aziz as president. NOUAKCHOTT, Mauritania (AP) — Mauritanians voted Saturday to choose their next president, but the incumbent seems certain to retain power because of a boycott by major opposition parties.","South Korea cautions Japan on easing military limits. SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea said on Tuesday it would not accept Japan's exercise of collective self-defense that affects the security of the Korean peninsula without its request or agreement, after Tokyo moved to drop a ban on its military from fighting overseas. South Korea's foreign ministry also urged Japan to ensure regional peace and stability in formalizing an end to the ban on the use of its military abroad. (Reporting by Ju-min Park and Jack Kim)","British fighters in Syria being taught jihadism: defector. Al-Qaeda is training hundreds of British people fighting in Syria to become jihadists and urging them to carry out attacks when they return home, according to an interview with a defector published in Monday's Daily Telegraph. The defector, known as Murad, from the hardline Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) said other recruits from Europe and the US were also being trained to make car bombs before being sent home to form terror cells. \"They talked often about terrorist attacks,\" he said of his former ISIS instructors. \"The foreigners were proud of 9/11 and the London bombings.","EU slashes mobile data roaming fees by 55 percent. BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union says the surcharges for surfing the Internet on mobile devices while traveling across the 28-nation bloc will be more than halved.","Nickname for roving chef spawns Paris food dream. PARIS (AP) — Food nourishes the tiny Rue du Nil from the dim light of morning — when the first deliveries start going out to Paris' most sought-after restaurants — until well after midnight, when the young chef who transformed an unchic side street into a culinary destination finally closes up.","Nepal to ink India power deal during Modi visit. KATMANDU, Nepal (AP) — Officials say Nepal's government will sign an agreement with an Indian company to build a hydroelectricity plant that will export power to India.","Death threats for Saudi pilots after raids on jihadists. Riyadh (AFP) - Saudi pilots who conducted air strikes on jihadists in Syria received online death threats Wednesday after photos were published of those involved, among them a son of the crown prince.","Lebanon Sunnis refuse to join Hezbollah-Qaeda war: Hariri. Former premier Saad Hariri said Saturday Lebanon's Sunni Muslims refuse to be a part of any conflict between Al-Qaeda and Shiite movement Hezbollah, denouncing sectarian attacks on civilians anywhere in the country. The war in neighbouring Syria has inflamed sectarian tensions in Lebanon, with Hezbollah backing President Bashar al-Assad and many Sunnis supporting the rebellion against him. Hariri's statement came a day after a jihadist group warned that all areas where Hezbollah operates are \"legitimate targets\", telling Sunnis to avoid them.","Gunmen kill 2 Swiss men at Philippine beach resort. OPOL, Philippines (AP) — Philippine police say gunmen have killed two Swiss men at a beach resort in the country's south.","SOCHI SCENE: Above it all. Far beyond even the nosebleed seats, far above the highest Olympic mountain, here is what the Sochi Winter Games look like from space.","Italy cheers Oscar return amid funding angst. ROME (AP) — Italians celebrated Monday after \"The Great Beauty\" ended the country's 15-year hiatus and won the Oscar for best foreign-language film, even as they fretted over budget cuts to a national film industry that has won more foreign Oscars than any other.","Iran's rising executions dim U.N. hopes for reforms. By Stephanie Nebehay GENEVA (Reuters) - At least 80 people and perhaps as many as 95 have been executed in Iran already this year, a surge in the use of the death penalty that has dampened hopes for human rights reforms under President Hassan Rouhani, the United Nations said on Friday. Rouhani, who won a surprise election last year on a platform of more openness with the West, clinched an interim deal in November with world powers over Iran's nuclear program. In September, dozens of political prisoners were released, raising hopes that he would also improve human rights in a country that ranks second after China on Amnesty International's list of states with the highest use of capital punishment.","Kate Bush sets stage return after 35 year absence. LONDON (AP) — Singer Kate Bush is coming back to the London stage after a 35-year break in performing.","Thai PM, Election Commission agree new vote in July, opposition defiant. By Amy Sawitta Lefevre BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thailand's Election Commission and the prime minister agreed on Wednesday to hold a general election in July, but anti-government protesters who disrupted a vote in February said they still wanted to see electoral reforms before a new poll. The protesters have been trying to oust Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra since November, part of a long-running crisis that broadly pits Bangkok's middle class and royalist establishment against the mainly poor, rural supporters of Yingluck and her brother, former premier Thaksin Shinawatra. \"The prime minister and the Election Commission agree on a July 20 election,\" Puchong Nutrawong, secretary-general of the commission, told reporters after a meeting with Yingluck. He said the commission would ask the government to issue a royal decree and get the king's endorsement for the vote.","England hires psychiatrist for World Cup. LONDON (AP) — A psychiatrist can't transform players into Johan Cruyff or Diego Maradona, but the England staff are confident Dr Steve Peters will help the team be ready for the World Cup.","Froome considering skipping 2015 Tour. Paris (AFP) - Chris Froome has said he may skip the 2015 Tour de France because the course, which was revealed in Paris on Wednesday, doesn't suit him.","No full Russian withdrawal from Ukraine border yet: White House. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Russian troops are withdrawing from the Ukraine border but the pullback is not complete, White House spokesman Jay Carney said on Friday. \"There continue to be indications of activity on the border including a number of units that appear to have withdrawn and that activity has continued,\" Carney said at his regular briefing. \"We do not have confirmation that this represents a full withdrawal yet,\" he said. (Reporting By Mark Felsenthal; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)","Firebrand Hanson back as One Nation leader in Australia. Australian firebrand politician Pauline Hanson, who once claimed Asians were in danger of swamping the country, said Wednesday she was returning to lead the One Nation party after a 12-year hiatus. Hanson, who rose to prominence in the 1990s as head of the right-wing, anti-immigration party she co-founded, said the time was right as she hit out at multiculturalism, halal beliefs and foreign ownership of land and property. \"I was terribly concerned for Australia when first in parliament, but more so now,\" she said on the One Nation website after being re-elected by the party executive. \"We are witnessing large amounts of our prime farming land and housing sold to foreign ownership.","Mathews and Perera lift Sri Lanka to 310-9. HAMBANTOTA, Sri Lanka (AP) — Angelo Mathews missed his maiden one-day international century as Sri Lanka posted a healthy 310-9 in the second one-day international against Pakistan on Tuesday.","Post, Guardian win Pulitzers for NSA revelations. NEW YORK (AP) — The Washington Post and The Guardian won the Pulitzer Prize in public service Monday for revealing the U.S. government's sweeping surveillance efforts in stories based on thousands of secret documents handed over by National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden.","Chinese premier says there is 'friction' with the United States. BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese Premier Li Keqiang said there is \"friction\" with the United States and the world's two biggest economies must respect each other's core interests. Li was speaking at a media conference at the close of China's annual parliamentary session on Thursday. (Reporting By Sui-Lee Wee, Ben Blanchard and Megha Rajagopalan; Editing by Paul Tait)","Polls open in Syrian presidential election. DAMASCUS (Reuters) - Syrians began voting on Tuesday in an election expected to deliver an overwhelming victory to President Bashar al-Assad in the midst of a civil war that has fractured the country and killed more than 160,000 people. Polling stations opened at 7 a.m. (12.00 a.m. ET) in parts of Syria under Assad's government control. Assad is running against two relatively unknown challengers who were approved by parliament to participate in the election, which the president's international opponents have dismissed as a sham. (Reporting by Marwan Makdesi; Editing by Matt Driskill)","Nigerian gunmen kidnap 20 women in northeast. MAIDUGURI, Nigeria (AP) — Suspected Boko Haram gunmen have reportedly kidnapped 20 women from a nomadic settlement in northeast Nigeria near the town of Chibok, where the Islamic militants abducted more than 300 schoolgirls and young women on April 15.","Two expats die of MERS in Saudi commercial hub. Jeddah (Saudi Arabia) (AFP) - Two foreigners died of MERS in the Saudi city of Jeddah, the health ministry said Saturday, as fears rise over the spreading respiratory virus in the kingdom's commercial hub. The latest deaths of a 64-year-old and 44-year-old, whose nationalities were undisclosed, bring to 76 the overall number of people to have died of MERS in Saudi Arabia, from a total of 231 infections. Panic over the spread of MERS among medical staff in Jeddah this month forced the temporary closure of a hospital emergency room, prompting Health Minister Abdullah al-Rabiah to visit the facility in a bid to calm the public.","London FTSE ends higher on Ukraine news, ECB rate prospects. London's leading share index ended higher on Wednesday on reports of a ceasefire in Ukraine and renewed prospects of eurozone monetary easing on the eve of a European Central Bank rate decision, traders said. The benchmark FTSE 100 gained 0.65 percent to end on 6,873.58 points. \"Europe has had a major kick-start as news of a ceasefire agreement in the Ukraine hits the wires,\" IG sales trader Will Hedden said. Ukraine's beleaguered President Petro Poroshenko announced on Wednesday that he and Russia's Vladimir Putin had agreed to a \"permanent ceasefire\" in the east of the former Soviet country.","Poland's president appoints Ewa Kopacz as new PM. WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Poland's president has appointed Parliament Speaker Ewa Kopacz to be the next prime minister and given her the task of assembling the new Cabinet.","Turkey's Erdogan slams birth control as 'treason'. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan described efforts to promote birth control as \"treason\", saying contraception risked causing a whole generation to \"dry up\", reports said Monday. Erdogan made the comments on Sunday, directly addressing the bride and groom at the Istanbul wedding ceremony of the son of businessman Mustafa Kefeli, who is one of his close allies. He told the newly-weds that using birth control was a betrayal of Turkey's ambition to make itself a flourishing nation with an expanding young population. We need this to take Turkey above the level of modern civilisations,\" Erdogan said.","Tight security in Kashmir for India prime minister. SRINAGAR, India (AP) — Thousands of government forces have fanned out across the Indian portion of Kashmir to provide a security shield for Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is scheduled to make a campaign speech Monday ahead of local elections.","Greek coast guard shoot dead suspected migrant smuggler on speedboat. A man believed to be a migrant smuggler was shot dead by Greek coast guard officials on Tuesday as they tried to intercept him on his speedboat heading towards neighboring Turkey, the Greek coast guard said. Tuesday's pre-dawn incident occurred after the man transported seven migrants to a remote part of the southeastern Aegean island of Kos, the coast guard said in a statement. \"Warning shots were fired in a safe area towards the speedboat's engine and as a result the smuggler was fatally injured, possibly by a bullet ricochet,\" the coast guard said. Prime Minister Antonis Samaras has made tackling illegal immigration a priority during Greece's six-month stint as holder of the rotating EU presidency.","17 years of Champions League no joke for Arsenal. LONDON (AP) — Yet again this season, especially if it fails to win the FA Cup final on May 17, Arsenal's report card will read: \"Could have done better.\"","Polish foreign minister calls Russia's moves in Ukraine 'aggression'. WARSAW (Reuters) - Poland's Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski said on Thursday that Russia's actions in eastern Ukraine were an \"aggression\" that has created the most serious security crisis in Europe in decades. \"This for sure is an aggression,\" Sikorski told state radio. \"Poland's position will be worked out in the next couple of hours. We do not need strong words here, but actions, best if actions of the whole international community.\" Sikorski said the actions needed to be firm, but prudent, because the consequences could potentially be \"unfathomable\". ...","How does Ebola virus spread and can it be stopped?. LONDON (AP) — As a deadly Ebola outbreak continues in West Africa, health officials are working to calm fears about how the virus spreads, while encouraging those with symptoms to get medical care. Typically, outbreaks of the disease have been in other parts of the continent, not in West Africa.","2-time defending Australian Open champion Azarenka beaten in quarterfinals by Radwanska. MELBOURNE, Australia - Victoria Azarenka's run as Australian Open champion ended in a yelling, screaming quarterfinal defeat to Agnieszka Radwanska on Wednesday, continuing the flow of stars tumbling out of the season's first major.","German home-school family won't be deported. NASHVILLE, Tennessee (AP) — An attorney for a German couple who lost their bid for U.S. asylum in order to home-school their children says deportation proceedings against the family have been deferred indefinitely.","NZ 347-5 at lunch on day 4, 2nd test vs. India. WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — New Zealand was 347-5 at lunch Monday on the fourth day of the second cricket test against India at the Basin Reserve:","Mahmudullah hits 50 but West Indies secures lead. CASTRIES, St. Lucia (AP) — All-rounder Mahmudullah hit 53 Monday as Bangladesh's lower order battled gamely but the West Indies secured a first innings lead of 219 on day three of the second test at Beausejour Stadium.","China probes more than 25,000 people for graft in first half of year. China investigated more than 25,000 people for corruption in the first six months of 2014, state media said on Friday, amid a nationwide crackdown on graft. Nearly 85 percent of the cases investigators pursued involved bribes of more than 50,000 yuan ($8,000) or embezzlement of 100,000 yuan, the official Xinhua news agency said, citing the country's top prosecutor, the Supreme People's Procuratorate (SPP). China's leadership under President Xi Jinping has presided over an anti-graft campaign to shore up a ruling mandate shaken by suspicion that officials waste taxpayer money or use their positions for personal advantage. Xi has said graft threatens the survival of the ruling Communist Party.","Lebanese army tightens grip on border town as militants withdraw. By Tom Perry and Mariam Karouny BEIRUT (Reuters) - The Lebanese army tightened its grip on a town seized by hardline Islamists at the weekend as a truce appeared to hold on Thursday, and the military was assessing how many of the gunmen had left to the adjacent border zone. One of the militants said by telephone that the gunmen had entirely withdrawn from the border town of Arsal. A Syrian witness in the town said the same. A Lebanese security source said the militants appeared to be pulling out gradually, but the army was still assessing the situation. ...","Team of disgraced Tour leader Rasmussen closes. COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — A second-tier UCI professional continental team captained by disgraced Danish rider Michael Rasmussen, says it is closing because of Denmark's cycling federation.","TSX futures point to modestly lower start. Stock futures indicated a modestly lower start for Canada's main stock index on Thursday, with December futures on the S&P TSX index down 0.08 percent at 0730 ET. No major economic events are scheduled for Thursday . The Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index was little changed on Wednesday as a fall in the financial sector offset the benefit of a jump in shares of Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc after the drugmaker gave a bullish quarterly outlook. Dow Jones Industrial Average e-mini futures were down 0. ...","Car bomb kills 18 in Syria's Hama province: NGO. A massive car bomb killed 18 people in the village of Kafat in Syria's central Hama province on Thursday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights NGO said. The huge explosion, which was heard in the nearby city of Hama, took place near a village school, the Observatory added. The Observatory said the death toll could rise because many of those wounded in the blast were in critical condition.","India clamps down on unregistered taxis after Uber rape claim. By Aditya Kalra and Malini Menon NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India ordered state governments to halt the operations of all unregistered, web-based taxi companies on Tuesday after a female passenger reported she was raped in New Delhi by a driver contracted to U.S. cab company Uber. The move in India was followed by separate government and court actions against Uber in Thailand, Spain and the United States on a variety of issues. ...","WHO calls for humanitarian corridor to evacuate Gaza wounded. The World Health Organization (WHO) called on Friday for a humanitarian corridor to be set up in Gaza to allow aid workers to evacuate the wounded and bring in life-saving medicines. \"WHO calls for the creation of a humanitarian corridor for the evacuation of the injured, as well as for the supply of life-saving medicines. The humanitarian corridor should extend to protect the safe passage of patients to access crossing points and exit outside the Gaza Strip for medical care.\" (Reporting by Stephanie Nebehay;","French opposition chief quits amid party funding probe. By Sophie Louet PARIS (Reuters) - The chairman of France's conservative opposition party UMP, Jean-Francois Cope, bowed to pressure on Tuesday to step down amid an investigation into party funding, opening the race for the UMP nomination for president in 2017. Aside from a possible come-back by former president Nicolas Sarkozy, contenders include former prime minister Francois Fillon and Alain Juppe, who held the same post in the 1990s. Marine Le Pen's National Front, already riding high after winning Sunday's European Parliament elections in France, leapt on the news to back its argument that the political establishment is self-serving and distant from voters. UMP finances have been the subject of a legal inquiry after allegations earlier this year that an events company hired for Sarkozy's 2012 re-election bid was ordered by party officials to produce millions of euros' worth of fake invoices to cover campaign cost over-runs.","Portugal ex-premier held in prison in fraud case. LISBON, Portugal (AP) — A judge sent former Portuguese Prime Minister Jose Socrates to prison Monday while the ex-leader fights accusations of corruption, money-laundering and tax fraud.","PHOTOS: Quiet moments in Sochi ahead of games. Solitary beachgoers stroll on a pier along the Black Sea. A woman sweeps the walk in front of a boardwalk souvenir shop. Police stand watch on rainy streets as the Olympic rings greet travelers leaving Sochi's central train station.","UK inflation slows again to 1.5%: data. Britain's 12-month inflation slowed to 1.5 percent in May, which was the lowest level for four and a half years, official data showed on Tuesday. Although Britain is not in the eurozone, the unusually low trend for 12-month inflation shadows even lower inflation in the 18-member single currency area. That has pushed the European Central Bank into exceptional measures to try to push money through the economy and support prices and ward off the threat of deflation. However, in Britain, there is now talk that the central bank, the Bank of England, may have to raise rates to slow down overheating, mainly in the property market.","Sisi to be sworn in as Egypt president Sunday. Ex-army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who ousted Egypt's first freely-elected leader, will be sworn in as president on Sunday after he overwhelmingly won last week's election, state media reported. The electoral commission on Tuesday said Sisi won 96.91 percent of the vote with a turnout of 47.5 percent, nearly one year after he overthrew Islamist Mohamed Morsi. His crushing victory over sole rival, leftist leader Hamdeen Sabbahi, had never been in doubt, with many lauding the retired field marshal as a hero for ending Morsi's year of divisive rule 11 months ago. Sisi will be sworn in at 0730 GMT on Sunday before the general assembly of the Supreme Constitutional Court, state news agency MENA reported on Wednesday, quoting Maher Sami, deputy head of the court.","Jordan calls for Security Council meeting on Gaza. UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Jordan has called for an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council following Israel's ground invasion of Gaza.","Canadian found guilty of murder, dismemberment of Chinese student. By Nelson Wyatt MONTREAL (Reuters) - A Canadian man was found guilty of first-degree murder on Tuesday in a case in which a Chinese student was killed and dismembered in Montreal in 2012. Luka Magnotta, 32, had admitted to killing engineering student Jun Lin, 33, but pleaded not guilty on grounds of mental illness. Magnotta was also found guilty of committing an indignity to a human body, publishing and mailing obscene material, and criminally harassing Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and other members of Parliament. ...","Obama prods Republicans on border issue. WASHINGTON (AP) — With one week left before Congress' August recess, President Barack Obama is prodding Republicans to help ease the influx of unaccompanied minors and migrant families from Central America, but with chances dimming that border legislation will reach his desk before the break, he also is focusing on other ways to stem the flow.","Attacker kills two soldiers guarding Sudan's presidential palace. KHARTOUM (Reuters) - An attacker with a knife killed two soldiers guarding a gate at Sudan's presidential palace before being shot dead by other troops on Saturday, the president's press secretary said. President Omar Hassan al-Bashir was not in Khartoum's Republican Palace at the time of the attack, press secretary Emad Ahmed told Reuters \"A little while ago someone attacked soldiers who guarded one of the gates of the palace and (the soldiers) fired on him,\" he said. (Reporting By Khalid Abdelaziz; Writing by Maggie Fick; Editing by Andrew Heavens)","No excuse for military intervention in Ukraine: British PM. London (AFP) - British Prime Minister David Cameron on Saturday warned that there was \"no excuse\" for armed intervention in Ukraine, after Russia's parliament approved the deployment of troops into the ex-Soviet state.","Pakistan 392-9 at lunch in second Test. Pakistan were 392-9 at lunch on the fourth day of the second Test against New Zealand in Dubai Thursday, just 11 runs behind the Black Caps' first innings total of 403.","Stoke held 1-1 at home by Swansea in EPL. STOKE, England (AP) — Swansea came from behind to earn a 1-1 draw at Stoke in the Premier League on Wednesday.","Eighty percent of Syrian chemical weapons shipped out: monitors. Syria has shipped out or destroyed approximately 80 percent of its declared chemical weapons material, the head of the international team overseeing the disarmament process said on Saturday. Sigrid Kaag, special coordinator of the joint mission of the United Nations and the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), said if the momentum was sustained, Syria should be able to meet its April 27 deadline to hand over all declared chemical agents. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad agreed with the United States and Russia to dispose of the chemical weapons - an arsenal which Damascus had never formally acknowledged - after hundreds of people were killed in a sarin gas attack on the outskirts of the capital last August. The government blamed the rebel side in Syria's civil war, which is now in its fourth year.","Suicide, allegations stun US border agent's family. MISSION, Texas (AP) — Esteban Manzanares was working his regular day shift as a U.S. Border Patrol agent along the busiest stretch of Mexican border when a trio of Honduran immigrants spotted him and offered to surrender.","Russian fighter jets violated Ukraine's air space: ministry. KIEV (Reuters) - Russian fighter jets twice violated Ukraine's air space over the Black Sea during the night, Interfax news agency quoted the Defence Ministry as saying on Monday. It said Ukraine's air force had scrambled a Sukhoi SU-27 interceptor aircraft and prevented any \"provocative actions\" but gave no further details. (Reporting By Timothy Heritage)","North Korea fires missiles ahead of S. Korea holiday. North Korea on Saturday test-fired three short-range missiles off its east coast, putting the South's military on alert ahead of a traditional harvest holiday. They are believed to be new tactical missiles which the North has been testing in recent weeks. The South's military is keeping a close watch over the North ahead of the Chuseok holiday, which begins on Monday and ends on Wednesday, he added. North Korea has fired a total of 111 missiles, all short- or middle-range, in 19 launches this year alone, Yonhap said.","London FTSE ends higher on ECB, China measures. London (AFP) - London stocks surged on Friday after the European Central Bank signalled it is ready to act quickly to deter deflation and China cut benchmark interest rates for the first time in more than two years.","Egypt eases spectator ban for football league matches. Egypt will allow some fans to attend Premier League football matches for the first time since imposing a spectator ban after a deadly 2012 stadium riot, the football federation said Sunday. \"The interior ministry and the minister of youth and sports have agreed (to allow) the presence of spectators at Premier League matches,\" when the second round resumes, the Egyptian Football Federation said. Egypt imposed a supporter ban after 74 fans were killed and hundreds wounded when a stadium riot broke out in February 2012 in Port Said between supporters of local side Al-Masry and Al-Ahly of Cairo.","Iran: Initial deal on implementing nuke agreement. GENEVA (AP) — Iran's nuclear envoy in Geneva said Friday that an initial agreement has been reached on implementing a nuclear deal with six world powers.","Two Israeli soldiers wounded by gunfire from Egypt: army. Jerusalem (AFP) - Two Israeli soldiers were wounded on Wednesday when unidentified gunmen in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula fired shots and an anti-tank missile at their vehicle near the border, the army said.","Egypt court rejects new judges for Morsi trials. An Egyptian appeals court rejected Wednesday a request that new judges be appointed for two trials involving ousted Islamist president Mohamed Morsi, judicial officials said. The trials are part of a sweeping crackdown waged against Morsi and his Muslim Brotherhood since the army overthrew him in July, and the former president could face the death penalty if convicted. Defence lawyers had requested that a new panel of judges examine both cases involving Morsi and Brotherhood figures, complaining about a soundproof glass cage in which the accused are held when the court is in session. The special dock is designed to stop Morsi and other defendants from interrupting the proceedings, as they have done in the past.","NATO commander says must consider permanent troops in Eastern Europe. By Randall Palmer and David Ljunggren OTTAWA (Reuters) - NATO will have to consider permanently stationing troops in parts of Eastern Europe as a result of the increased tension between Russia and Ukraine, the alliance's top military commander said on Tuesday. NATO has arranged a number of short-term army, air force and naval rotations in Eastern Europe, including the Baltic republics, Poland and Romania, but these are due to finish at the end of this year. Asked whether NATO might have to look at permanently stationing troops in the alliance's member states in Eastern Europe, U.S. Air Force General Philip Breedlove said: \"I think this is something we have to consider and we will tee this up for discussion through the leaderships of our nations to see where that leads.\" NATO leaders are due to hold a summit in Wales in early September.","Kenya's Terer wins Prague marathon. PRAGUE (AP) — Patrick Kipyegon Terer of Kenya won the Prague International Marathon on Sunday while Firehiwot Dado of Ethiopia dominated the women's race.","Rosberg beats teammate Hamilton to Bahrain pole. SAKHIR, Bahrain (AP) — Mercedes locked out the front row for the Bahrain Grand Prix as Nico Rosberg claimed pole position on Saturday, qualifying ahead of teammate Lewis Hamilton.","Suncor first-quarter profit rises on oil prices, weak currency. Suncor Energy Inc , Canada's largest oil and gas company, said on Monday its first-quarter profit rose 36 percent on strong oil prices and a lower Canadian dollar The company, Canada's dominant oil sands producer, reported net income of C$1.49 billion ($1.35 billion), or C$1.01 per share, up from C$1.09 billion, or 72 Canadian cents, in the first quarter of 2013. Nearly all its output during the quarter was crude oil, compared with 92 percent in the year-prior period, though production lagged as its operations in Libya remained shut in. The company produced 545,300 barrels of oil equivalent per day, down from 596,100 boepd. The price of Western Canada Select crude, the Canadian benchmark, averaged $75.55 per barrel in the first quarter, up 21 percent from a year earlier, while the Canadian dollar was worth an average of 91 U.S. cents, compared with 99 U.S. cents in the first quarter of 2013.","Russia retaliates with sanctions on 13 Canadians. Russia announced on Monday that it was barring 13 Canadian officials, lawmakers and public figures in retaliation for sanctions imposed by Canada over Russia's annexation of Crimea. The Canadians prohibited from entering Russia include aides to Prime Minister Stephen Harper, members of parliament and the head of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress, Paul Grod, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.","BMW expects further sales growth in 2015. By Irene Preisinger MUNICH (Reuters) - Germany's BMW expects its luxury car sales to increase in 2015, building on this year's solid expansion, even as economic growth in core European markets stalls and geopolitical risks persist. Business activity is restrained in large parts of Europe, destination of more than 40 percent of BMW's sales, yet the Munich-based company expects demand for its luxury models such as the 3-Series, 5-Series and X5 to continue luring customers into its showrooms. \"The world has got a few bumps in the road at the moment,\" BMW sales chief Ian Robertson told Reuters. ...","Tunisia dissolves pro-Islamist group. A court decided Monday to dissolve a pro-Islamist group accused of inciting violence, as sought by Tunisia's powerful UGTT workers union. The court ruled that the League for the Protection of the Revolution (LPR) \"was contravening laws on the organisation and creation of associations, and decided to dissolve it and all its branches,\" court spokesman Soufiene Sliti told AFP. LPR leader Mounir Aroudji lashed out at what he called a purely \"political\" ruling by the judiciary. LPR founder Mohamed Maalej has said its aims are to \"preserve the gains of the revolution\" that toppled dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali in 2011 and reinforce Tunisia's Arab and Muslim identity.","Rabbi's tomb vandalised in northern Israel. Graffiti was found Tuesday on a rabbi's tomb in northern Israel in what appeared to be an act of revenge following a recent string of similar attacks targeting Arabs. A swastika was painted on the tomb near the town of Karmiel, along with the words: \"The price to be paid... will be paid,\" police spokeswoman Louba Samri told AFP. It appeared to be a reference to \"price tag\" attacks carried out by Jewish extremists against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and against Israel's Arab citizens. Over the past week, vandals sprayed racist graffiti over two mosques in northern Israel and also targeted an ancient Christian church on the Sea of Galilee, damaging crosses and threatening clergy.","US reviews military ties with Thailand after coup. WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States said Thursday there was no justification for Thailand's military coup and it is reviewing its military relationship and other assistance and engagement with its Asian treaty ally.","CSX third-quarter profit, revenue up, topping forecasts. CHICAGO (Reuters) - No. 3 U.S. railroad CSX Corp on Tuesday reported third-quarter profit that rose from a year earlier, beating forecasts, driven by a 7 percent increase in freight volumes across most of its markets as the U.S. economy continued to grow. CSX reported earnings per share of 51 cents, up from 45 cents a year ago and beating the 48 cents expected by Wall Street analysts. Revenue for the quarter rose 8 percent from a year earlier to $3.2 billion, above the $3.15 billion analysts had forecast. ...","Report says Apple smartwatch to come this fall. NEW YORK (AP) — Apple is likely to launch a computerized wristwatch this fall that includes more than 10 sensors to take health measurements and other data, according to a published report.","Guam spends $128M on Pacific island migrants. HAGATNA, Guam (AP) — Guam spent $128 million on education, health care and other services for people from the Pacific island nations of Micronesia, the Marshall Islands and Palau during the last fiscal year.","Mozambique mulls sovereign wealth fund. Mineral-rich Mozambique is considering the establishment of a sovereign wealth fund, the country's finance minister said Thursday. \"We think it's a good idea,\" Manuel Chang told AFP on the sidelines of an International Monetary Fund (IMF) conference on Africa. \"But we won't do what others have done,\" he added, suggesting Mozambique would not rush into creating the fund given other pressing demands that will require huge injections to fix, such as the infrastructure. Mozambique's reserves are believed to be the world's third largest.","Cricket-McCullum scores 224 as NZ bowled out for 503. (Updates at end of NZ innings) AUCKLAND, Feb 7 (Reuters) - Captain Brendon McCullum scored his second test double century to push New Zealand to an impressive 503 before they were bowled out shortly after lunch on the second day of the first test against India at Eden Park on Friday. McCullum, whose highest test innings is 225 scored against India in 2010, was last man out for 224 when attempting to slog another six to add to the five in his 307-ball innings. McCullum's innings was the highest by a New Zealander at Eden Park and fourth highest overall. England's Wally Hammond scored 336 not out on the ground in 1933.","UK 'Breaking Bad' fan cleared of murder plot. LONDON (AP) — A jury has convicted a British woman of buying poison over the Internet, but cleared her of trying to kill her mother in a plot that prosecutors said was inspired by TV show \"Breaking Bad.\"","Greece's first public revenues chief steps down. ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greece's first public revenues chief, whose job was created in 2012 at the insistence of bailout creditors, has stepped down citing \"personal grounds,\" the country's finance ministry says.","Bangladesh Islamist prisoners snatched from police. DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) — Unidentified attackers in central Bangladesh on Sunday opened fire on authorities transporting three convicts who are members of a banned Islamist group, snatching the men and killing a police officer, an official said.","FIFA medical chief wants 3-min concussion breaks. MANCHESTER, England (AP) — FIFA's medical chief is calling for three-minute breaks in matches when concussion is suspected.","Ebola spread due to 'relaxation' of efforts. The recent rapid spread of Ebola in three countries in West Africa has come in part because efforts to contain the deadly virus have been relaxed, Pierre Formenty, a World Health Organisation specialist, told AFP on Saturday. Question: We have around 530 cases of hemorrhagic fever, mostly from the Ebola virus, in the region, compared to 225 at the end of April. Since the start of May we have had a sort of resurgence with an increase in the number of cases and notably also with an epidemic which has spread to Sierra Leone and Liberia. We are seeing a second wave of cases for West Africa.","China and Russia condemn unilateral missile defense buildup. DUSHANBE (Reuters) - A security bloc led by China and Russia condemned any unilateral buildup of missile defense systems on Friday in a statement that appeared aimed against the United States. The Shanghai Cooperation Organization, which comprises four former Soviet republics in Central Asia as well as Russia and China, also supported efforts to build on a ceasefire in eastern Ukraine to secure a lasting settlement. (Reporting by Darya Korsunskaya, Writing by Timothy Heritage, Editing by Thomas Grove)","1901 San Francisco Bay ship wreck found. SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Scientists have located the wreckage of a passenger ship that crashed in 1901 near the site of what is now the Golden Gate Bridge, killing 128 people.","Syria ousts rebels from site of alleged killings. BEIRUT (AP) — Syrian state media says government troops have regained full control of a village in the central province of Hama after ousting rebels accused of killing dozens of people there, mostly members of the minority Alawite sect.","Timeline - The search for missing Malaysian jet. Here is a timeline of events in the disappearance of a Malaysia Airlines jetliner which vanished from radar screens on a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing early on Saturday: SATURDAY, MARCH 8 - Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 Flight departs at 12:41 a.m. (1641 GMT Friday), and is due to land in Beijing at 6:30 a.m. (2230 GMT) the same day. - Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam says plane failed to check in as scheduled at 1721 GMT while flying over sea between Malaysia and Ho Chi Minh City. - Flight tracking website flightaware.com shows plane flew northeast over Malaysia after takeoff and climbed to altitude of 35,000 feet. - Malaysia search ships see no sign of wreckage in area where flights last made contact.","Thailand set for advance voting despite rally disruption. Thai voters are due to cast advanced ballots on Sunday despite plans by opposition demonstrators to surround polling stations and uncertainty over whether controversial elections will ultimately go ahead. Over two million people are registered for the advanced vote ahead of the February 2 election, which was called by Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra in an attempt to defuse rising political tensions after weeks of mass anti-government protests. Demonstrators, who have staged a near two-week so-called \"shutdown\" of the Thai capital in an effort to derail the vote, have rejected the election and vowed to congregate around polling stations. They want to topple the government and install an unelected \"people's council\" to implement loosely-defined reforms that they hope would rid Thailand of the influence of ousted former leader Thaksin Shinawatra -- Yingluck's older brother.","UN rights body urges new push to stem migrant sea deaths. Geneva (AFP) - The UN Human Rights Council on Friday urged countries to step up efforts to stem the string of sea tragedies that claim the lives of thousands of desperate migrants.","Russian warships wait out storm in English Channel. MOSCOW (AP) — The Russian defense ministry says its warships have entered the English Channel to wait out a storm following a week of maneuvers in the North Sea.","Evra warns teammates not to behave \"like stars.\". RIBEIRAO PRETO, Brazil (AP) — The atmosphere in France's World Cup squad is far removed from the shambles of four years ago. Patrice Evra even jokes that \"this one is scary because everything's going well.\"","Seoul: North Korea again test-fires projectiles. SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea launched two projectiles presumed to be ballistic missiles into the sea on Sunday, South Korea said, the latest in a series of test-firings seen as expressions of anger over its failure to win talks on receiving outside aid, and over ongoing U.S.-South Korean military drills.","Iran needs to score against Bosnia at World Cup. BRASILIA, Brazil (AP) — Iran can still reach the second round of the World Cup by beating already relegated Bosnia-Herzegovina on Wednesday, but it needs to do what it hasn't done so far in the tournament — score goals.","Global stocks lower on growth worries, Fed jitters. BEIJING (AP) — Global stocks sank Wednesday under the weight of worries about the possible timing of a U.S. rate hike, economic weakness in China and an impending referendum on Scottish independence.","EU fines producers of key automobile parts. BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union has fined two EU and four Japanese companies a total of nearly 1 billion euros ($1.4 billion) for rigging the market of key components in the car and truck industry at the expense of consumers.","Al Qaeda-linked rebels bomb Syrian defense minister's town. A suicide bomber from an al Qaeda-linked rebel group killed 13 soldiers in an attack on the Syrian defense minister's hometown, an opposition monitoring group said on Tuesday. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said a Saudi militant who came to Syria to fight with the country's al Qaeda affiliate, the Nusra Front, blew himself up late on Monday at an army checkpoint in the village of Rahjan in central Hama province. Syria's nearly three-year conflict began as peaceful protests against President Bashar al-Assad's rule but has devolved into civil war that has killed more than 130,000 and brought violence to every region. \"This is a message from the Nusra fighters to Freij: 'You cannot protect your own relatives,'\" said Rami Abdelrahman, head of the Observatory, a Britain-based group with a network of sources across Syria.","Spain: Body of Paco de Lucia arrives in Madrid. MADRID (AP) — The body of world-renowned flamenco guitarist Paco de Lucia has arrived in the Spanish capital where there will be a memorial ceremony before his wake and burial in his native southern town of Algeciras.","Bayern signs Frankfurt midfielder Sebastian Rode. MUNICH (AP) — Bayern Munich has confirmed the arrival of midfielder Sebastian Rode from Eintracht Frankfurt.","12 killed as 2 trains collide in northern India. LUCKNOW, India (AP) — Two express trains have collided in India's northern Uttar Pradesh state, killing at least 12 people and injuring dozens.","India tells Malaysia found no sign of missing jet - sources. India has formally told Malaysian investigators it has found no evidence that a missing Malaysia Airlines jet with 239 people on board flew through its airspace, several people familiar with the matter said. The first formal notification that India has come up empty-handed after checking its radar records leaves the two-week-old investigation dependent on increasingly fragile hopes that an object spotted in the southern Indian Ocean comes from Flight MH370. Malaysian Defence Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said earlier that after two days without confirmation, his \"biggest concern\" was that the search for the missing plane would have to focus once again on two corridors stretching north and south. Any radar data from India could have proved crucial in identifying whether the aircraft went north or south from its last known position after disappearing on March 8, but the issue is seen as sensitive because of the presence of military radar.","Poland to look into new allegations about secret CIA jail. By Wojciech Zurawski KRAKOW, Poland (Reuters) - Polish prosecutors investigating allegations the CIA ran a secret jail in a Polish forest said on Friday they will look into a newspaper report that gave new accounts about the alleged \"black site.\" Human rights groups and lawyers have argued for years that Poland allowed the Central Intelligence Agency to use the site, an intelligence training academy in north-east Poland, to detain and interrogate men it suspected of being al Qaeda leaders. The Washington Post newspaper cited what it said were former CIA officers as saying that the agency paid $15 million to Polish intelligence in 2003 for use of the site, handing over the cash in two cardboard boxes. Piotr Kosmaty, spokesman for prosecutors in the Polish city of Krakow who are pursuing a criminal investigation into allegations about the facility, said it was possible the newspaper report contained evidence about the case.","Russian forces 'part-seize' Ukrainian missile units. Simferopol (Ukraine) (AFP) - Russian forces partly seized two Ukrainian missile defence units in Crimea on Wednesday, Ukrainian defence ministry officials told AFP, insisting that their missiles remained under Ukrainian control.","Canadian Press NewsAlert: Stanislas Wawrinka beats top-ranked Rafael Nadal to win the Australian Open. MELBOURNE, Australia - Stanislas Wawrinka beats top-ranked Rafael Nadal to win the Australian Open.","Online gambling in Manitoba generating a lot less money than expected. WINNIPEG - The Manitoba government's venture into the world of online gambling is generating a lot less money than expected.","Jury deliberates fate of Palestinian bomb convict. DETROIT (AP) — A federal jury in Detroit is resuming deliberations on whether a Palestinian immigrant broke U.S. law when she failed to disclose her conviction and imprisonment in a Jerusalem supermarket bombing that killed two people.","Silicon Valley builds up in Microsoft's backyard. By Bill Rigby SEATTLE (Reuters) - In the last week of August, Twitter entertained dozens of potential young recruits at a chic studio, while Facebook served drinks and snacks to job-seekers at its own office. More than 175 showed up to a similar event at Google in June. No, Seattle, home of Microsoft Corp and Amazon and fast becoming a second home for Silicon Valley companies looking to access the city's plentiful pool of relatively cheap tech talent. Microsoft alumni are now running the Seattle offices of Facebook Inc, Twitter Inc and Google Inc, and they look to their former employer as a source for new talent.","WHO declares Ebola epidemic an international health emergency. Geneva (AFP) - The World Health Organization on Friday declared the Ebola epidemic sweeping across western Africa, where it has already killed nearly 1,000 people, an international health emergency.","Cuban cabinet change aims to boost flagging economy. By Daniel Trotta HAVANA (Reuters) - With Cuba's economy flagging, President Raul Castro has turned to his most trusted economic adviser, Marino Murillo, granting him more authority to carry out ambitious reforms to the socialist economy. Castro on Thursday added the title of economy minister to Murillo's brief. Murillo, 53, was already one of Cuba's vice presidents, part of the powerful 14-member Political Bureau of the ruling Communist Party, and chief of the commission charged with carrying out Cuba's market-style economic reforms. ...","Chelsea boss Mourinho praises 'complete' Costa. Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho hailed Diego Costa as the complete striker after his side's 6-3 Premier League win over Everton but is concerned opponents will try to get the Spain international sent off. Brazil-born Costa scored twice in a thrilling match at Goodison Park to take his tally to four goals in three games, and maintained Chelsea's winning start to the season. Mourinho bought Costa for £32 million ($53.1 million, 40.4 million euros) from Atletico Madrid during the close season to add more firepower to a Chelsea side that managed 71 goals last season.","Ugandan doctor with Ebola treated in Germany. FRANKFURT (AP) — A Ugandan doctor who contracted Ebola while working in Sierra Leone has been flown to Germany for treatment.","Forensic exam of Korea ferry owner's body inconclusive. South Korean forensic experts said Friday they were unable to determine a cause of death after examining the body of a fugitive tycoon at the heart of the inquiry into April's ferry disaster. The body of Yoo Byung-Eun, 73, was found June 12 in a fruit orchard in an extremely advanced state of decomposition. At first, local police had no idea it was Yoo's body and a nation wide manhunt for the reclusive billionaire continued for six weeks before DNA and fingerprint evidence revealed the corpse's identity. Yoo was the patriarch of the family that owned and operated the Sewol ferry that sank April 16 with the loss of around 300 lives -- mostly schoolchildren.","Lawyer: Snowden gets 3 more years in Russia. MOSCOW (AP) — Edward Snowden's lawyer says the NSA whistleblower has been granted permission to stay in Russia for three more years.","Hong Kong teen protest leader ends hunger strike. HONG KONG (AP) — A prominent teenage leader of Hong Kong's pro-democracy protests says he's ended his hunger strike after 4 1/2 days at his doctor's urging.","Chelsea beat Arsenal 2-0 to extend league lead. LONDON (AP) — Chelsea extended their lead at the top of the Premier League table on Sunday to 5 points over Manchester City, after beating Arsenal 2-0 in a feisty London derby.","Canadian grocer Metro reports slightly higher revenue. (Reuters) - Canadian grocer Metro Inc reported slightly higher quarterly revenue as a reorganization of its Ontario store network helped increase sales in a competitive market. Same-store sales rose 1 percent. Metro's net income was flat at C$144.5 million ($132.27 million), or C$1.63 per share in the third quarter. Analysts on average had expected a profit of C$1.64 per share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. The Montreal-based company's revenue rose 1.4 percent to C$3.62 billion. Metro, which is facing stiff competition from U.S. ...","Palestinians to submit draft for UN vote. RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) — The Palestinian foreign minister says an Arab-backed draft on ending Israel's occupation of lands captured in 1967 will be submitted later in the day to the U.N. Security Council.","British warplanes destroy IS targets in Iraq. LIMASSOL, Cyprus (AP) — A British military officer says Royal Air Force warplanes flying out of a UK air base on Cyprus have destroyed four Islamic State group targets in Iraq over the last two days.","Boshoff's dream debut as Lions shock Cheetahs. Bloemfontein (South Africa) (AFP) - A last-minute drop goal from debutant Marnitz Boshoff earned the Golden Lions a shock 21-20 triumph over the Central Cheetahs on Saturday in the opening 2014 Super 15 match. The fly-half, playing only because first-choice Elton Jantjies is injured, also succeeded with all six penalty attempts to emerge as the star at Free State Stadium in Bloemfontein. Few gave the Lions a chance of victory as they returned to the southern hemisphere inter-provincial championship having won a promotion play-off against the Southern Kings. But the accurate goal-kicking of Boshoff kept them in touch against opponents, who wasted a chance to build a late five-point lead when fly-half Elgar Watts fluffed a kickable penalty.","Russia committed to Ukraine peace plan despite EU sanctions: Ifax quoting Kremlin. Russia is committed to help enforce a peace initiative in Ukraine despite a new set of economic sanctions imposed by the European Union against Moscow, Interfax news agency said on Thursday, citing a Kremlin spokesman. \"Despite the EU position being non-constructive, Russia will continue to do its utmost to help enforce the existing peace plan, as well as to stabilize the situation in the south-east of Ukraine overall,\" Dmitry Peskov was quoted as saying.","Iranians play role in breaking IS siege of Iraqi town. By Isabel Coles AMERLI Iraq (Reuters) - Kurdish peshmerga fighters and Shi'ite militiamen paraded through Amerli on Monday, a day after breaking the two-month siege of the northern town by Sunni Islamist militants. The scenes in Amerli and the surrounding area of Suleiman Beg offered a window into the teamwork among Kurdish fighters, the Iraqi army and Shi'ite militias and into Iran's role in directly assisting their campaign against Islamic State (IS) forces. The swift end to the Islamic State's encirclement of the Shi'ite Turkmen town of 15,000 came on Sunday amid a push by Kurdish peshmerga, Shi'ite militias and Iraqi troops, after U.S. Militia fighters spoke of a new alliance with the Kurds, who had been shaken by the Islamic State's offensive on Kurdish-controlled territories last month.","Man linked to UN deaths agrees to be deported. DETROIT (AP) — A man suspected in the deaths of two United Nations peacekeepers in 1980 admitted Monday that he entered the United States without proper documentation and agreed to return to his native Lebanon.","China 'to build Antarctic airfield'. China is to build its own airfield in Antarctica, media reported Monday, as Beijing continues to expand its footprint in the most remote corners of the globe. The airstrip will be built to assist China's four research stations on the frozen continent, the Beijing Evening News said, without giving details such as runway length or capacity. \"China has built four Antarctic research stations, but does not have its own fixed-wing airport,\" the newspaper said. The facility will be built near China's Zhongshan Station, it said without citing a source.","Last month was world's hottest August on record: US. Washington (AFP) - Last month was the hottest August on record for global average temperatures over land and ocean surfaces, the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said on Thursday.","Boycotter Constant included in Guinea squad. Conakry (AFP) - Former AC Milan midfielder Kevin Constant was Wednesday included in Guinea's Africa Cup of Nations squad despite boycotting the qualifiers.","German cop to go on trial over cannibalism website killing. A German police officer will go on trial Friday accused of murdering a willing victim he met on a website for cannibalism fetishists. In a lurid case that made international headlines, prosecutors say the 56-year-old defendant, Detlef Guenzel, confessed to stabbing the throat of a man last November and then cutting his body into small pieces and burying them in his garden. The indictment against Guenzel cites \"satisfaction of sexual lust\" as a motive but there is no evidence that the suspect ate any part of the victim.","Analysis: What next for Algeria after new Bouteflika hospital visit?. By Lamine Chikhi and Patrick Markey ALGIERS/TUNIS (Reuters) - Abdelaziz Bouteflika's second visit to Paris for hospital treatment has reignited speculation the president who oversaw Algeria's emergence from almost a decade of civil war may be unable to run for reelection in April. Bouteflika, a Western ally against militant Islamists in North Africa who suffered a stroke last year, flew to France on Monday for what state news agency APS called a planned check-up, saying his condition was \"progressively\" improving. But Anis Rahmani, a media owner close to Bouteflika, said on Thursday the president had already returned and one source described his condition as \"fine\". The ruling FLN party says Bouteflika, 76, is their only candidate for April's presidential election, in which he would run for a fourth term and almost certainly win due to the nationalist party's dominant role.","Convicted Israeli politicians glance. JERUSALEM (AP) — When Israel's ex-Prime Minister Ehud Olmert was sentenced to six years on Tuesday for his part in a bribery case he became the country's first former premier to be given jail time.","Russia dismisses US sanctions as 'bullying'. MOSCOW (AP) — Russia's foreign ministry has dismissed the latest round of U.S. sanctions for its actions in Ukraine as 'bullying' and says it is ready to push back.","Maliki's allies reject new Iraqi prime minister. BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Nuri al-Maliki's political allies said on Monday the man replacing him as Iraq's prime minister has no legitimacy, cranking up political tensions as a Sunni insurgency threatens the country. Reading a statement on state television, Khalaf Abdul-Samad, a member of Maliki's Dawa Party, said new prime minister Haider al-Abadi \"only represents himself\", as a grim-faced Maliki stood beside him. (Reporting by Ahmed Rasheed; Writing by Michael Georgy; Editing by Alison Williams)","Militants storm government office in Baghdad. BAGHDAD (AP) — An Iraqi official says militants have stormed a government office in eastern Baghdad, triggering a firefight with police and a siege of the building by security forces.","Ex-Murdoch reporter escapes jail over UK phone-hacking crimes. By Michael Holden LONDON (Reuters) - A former tabloid reporter who admitted hacking hundreds of phones to find stories for two Sunday newspapers was spared jail on Thursday for helping secure the conviction of Prime Minister David Cameron's ex-media chief Andy Coulson. Dan Evans gave evidence for the prosecution during the eight-month trial of Coulson, who was jailed for 18 months earlier in July for his role in widespread phone-hacking at Rupert Murdoch's News of the World title. Giving evidence, Evans said his targets included the likes of James Bond actor Daniel Craig, and he said \"even the office cat\" knew that phone-hacking was rife at the News of the World under Coulson. \"I would not have done that had Mr Evans not made a clean breast of his involvement in these offences,\" he told London's Old Bailey court, adding the lack of witnesses prepared to testify about hacking made Evans's position unique.","Italian businessman disqualified from buying Leeds. LONDON (AP) — The Football League has blocked Italian businessman Massimo Cellino from taking over second-tier club Leeds.","Jamaica gets new lending program from World Bank. KINGSTON, Jamaica (AP) — The Caribbean director of the World Bank says Jamaica will receive $510 million under a four-year lending program.","Palestinians submit UN resolution, open to negotiate: envoy. United Nations (United States) (AFP) - The Palestinians on Wednesday submitted a draft UN resolution paving the way to a final peace deal with Israel, but the Palestinian representative said there could still be negotiations on the text.","'I'm no quitter,' says England's Hodgson. England manager Roy Hodgson has vowed not to quit and said he is determined to lead the team forward despite its worst World Cup campaign since 1958. England returned home on Wednesday after finishing bottom of Group D with a single point following 2-1 defeats by Italy and Uruguay and a 0-0 draw with Costa Rica on Tuesday. Italy coach Cesare Prandelli resigned after his side were beaten to a last-16 berth by Uruguay, but Hodgson said he would not follow suit. \"He's been there a long time,\" Hodgson said of Prandelli's decision to step down during a tetchy post-match briefing with journalists at Belo Horizonte's Estadio Mineirao.","Liberia shuts schools, quarantines communities in bid to halt Ebola. Liberia announced on Wednesday the closure of all schools across the country and the quarantine of a number of communities in a bid to halt the worst Ebola outbreak on record spreading across West Africa. As of July 23, Liberia had recorded 129 of the 672 deaths blamed on Ebola across Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone, according figures released by the World Health Organisation.","Church of England likely to back women bishops: Welby. The head of the world's Anglicans, Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, said on Sunday he was confident the Church of England would vote in favour of women bishops this week. Welby said the first female bishops could be appointed as early as 2015 if Monday's vote at the General Synod goes as planned after decades of division. There was public outcry in Britain when the mother church of some 80 million Anglicans worldwide voted against women bishops in 2012. The church approved women priests in 1992.","Pope cleans house at bank with new cardinals. VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis has made another move to clean house at the troubled Vatican bank, naming a new roster of cardinal advisers to replace ones who had been confirmed just last year.","Favorite Kearney cruises through moguls qualifying. KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia (AP) — Hannah Kearney's bid for another Olympic gold medal in women's moguls is off to a flawless start.","British Conservative lawmaker arrested on suspicion of rape. LONDON (Reuters) - Mark Pritchard, a British lawmaker from Prime Minister David Cameron's Conservative Party, has been arrested on suspicion of rape, according to official parliamentary records and police. Details in Hansard, parliament's official account of proceedings, recorded that London police had sent a letter on Wednesday to the Speaker of the House of Commons \"relating to the arrest of Mark Pritchard\", 48, who represents the Wrekin constituency in Shropshire, western England. Pritchard could not be reached at either his office in parliament or his constituency office. ...","Indonesians pray for Hong Kong stabbing victims. HONG KONG (AP) — More than 100 Indonesians in Hong Kong have held a prayer vigil and demanded justice for two Indonesian women found stabbed to death in a luxury apartment.","U.S. Treasury's Lew calls for euro zone, Japan to do more on growth. By Lincoln Feast and Leika Kihara CAIRNS Australia (Reuters) - U.S. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew on Friday called on the euro zone and Japan to do more to spur growth as the global economy continues to disappoint, highlighting what is sure to be a bone of contention as Group of 20 ministers gather in Australia. While lauding the strength of the U.S. economy, Lew said more work was needed to achieve faster and more balanced economic growth and to boost demand. ...","Qatar insists World Cup question of 'when not if'. Qatar organizers insist there's no prospect of the country being stripped of the 2022 World Cup, dismissing a warning by a FIFA executive committee member.","Egypt military court sentences 7 to death. CAIRO (AP) — An official in Egypt says a military court has sentenced seven alleged militants to death and two to life in prison for their roles in a pair of attacks that killed nine soldiers.","Obama opens Europe trip in the Netherlands. SCHIPHOL, Netherlands (AP) — President Barack Obama is opening a European trip that will be dominated by the West's dispute with Russia.","Iraqi Kurds reinforce Kobani; U.S. planes pound IS targets. By Mariam Karouny and Michael Georgy BEIRUT/ BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Syrian Kurds welcomed the arrival in Kobani of Iraqi Kurdish fighters with their heavy weapons, hoping they might tip the balance in the battle to defend the town against Islamic State, as U.S.-led air strikes continued to bomb the ultra-hardline group in Iraq and Syria. Air strikes have helped to foil several attempts by the al Qaeda offshoot, notorious for its beheading of hostages, to take over Kobani. ...","US teen Shiffrin leads 1st run of Olympic slalom. KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia (AP) — American teenager Mikaela Shiffrin took the lead in the first leg of the Olympic slalom on Friday.","APNewsBreak: NKorea unresponsive to US envoy offer. WASHINGTON (AP) — North Korea is not accepting American offers to send a high-level envoy to seek the release of three detained Americans, a senior U.S. official said Wednesday.","Bahrain jails 22 Shiites 15 years over police death. The 25 were accused of involvement with a bomb that targeted police in the Shiite village of Akr, and of attacking security forces with iron rods and petrol bombs, BNA state news agency said. Since the 2011 Shiite-led uprising, which called for democratic reforms, demonstrations have regularly been held in villages around the capital, often sparking clashes with security forces.","BOJ's Kuroda: Weak yen contributing a lot to price gains. TOKYO (Reuters) - Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda said on Friday that a weak yen and high energy prices are contributing a lot to gains in consumer prices. Kuroda, speaking in the lower house financial affairs committee, also said that gains in consumer prices are spreading to a broader range of goods, indicating that domestic demand is expanding. (Reporting by Stanley White; Editing by Dominic Lau)","Art agenda: 'Bright Matter,' 'African Cosmos,' 'Sublime'. The Museum of Fine Arts in Boston welcomes Shinique Smith's multidisciplinary output, contemporary and classical artworks by Africans are displayed at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and a touring installation collection arrives at the Queensland Art Gallery in Australia.","Prosecutors try to prove Pistorius girlfriend ate before death. Prosecutors in the Oscar Pistorius trial on Thursday sought to show that his girlfriend was awake and ate approximately two hours before her death, which would contradict the Paralympian's version of events. State prosecutor Gerrie Nel has argued that the Paralympic gold medallist shot Reeva Steenkamp in a fit of rage, in the early hours of Valentine's Day last year. Nel alleges that Pistorius and his girlfriend argued during the night and that Steenkamp took refuge in the toilet, where she was shot dead by Pistorius. But earlier on Thursday, defence witness Aina Lundgren tried to cast doubt on the state's claim, testifying under cross-examination that gastric emptying -- the speed at which the stomach digests food -- is an \\\\\"inexact science\\\\\".","Exclusive: Duo tracks double-dipping in U.S. oil firms' toxic tank cleanup. By Mica Rosenberg BIRMINGHAM, Alabama (Reuters) - A pioneer in cleaning up toxic messes, Thomas Schruben long suspected major oil companies of being paid twice for dealing with leaks from underground fuel storage tanks - once from government funds and again, secretly, from insurance companies. Schruben, a detail-oriented Maryland environmental engineer who helped draft government pollution rules going back 30 years, looked for a lawyer to help ferret out what he believed could in some cases be fraud. He found a partner in Dennis Pantazis, a buoyant, mustachioed son of Greek immigrants in Alabama known for bringing environmental and civil rights cases. \"Together we started unraveling the mystery,\" Schruben said.","AP PHOTOS: Donkey barber grooms Cairo's animals. CAIRO (AP) — In the shadow of Cairo's medieval aqueduct, Mohamed Mustafa teaches his 5-year-old son the family's trade, one shear at a time.","German, French, Polish ministers conclude talks with Yanukovich. WARSAW (Reuters) - The talks of German, French and Polish foreign ministers with Ukraine's president Viktor Yanukovicz have ended, the spokesman for the Polish foreign ministry said. The ministers have come to Kiev to try to find a compromise between the Ukrainian leader and opposition protesters after clashes in Kiev left dozens dead. (Reporting by Pawel Bernat; Writing by Marcin Goettig)","South Sudan: War and misery continue a year later. NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — One year after mass violence broke out in South Sudan, battles between government forces and rebels continue, and aid officials say international assistance is needed to help residents stave off hunger.","EU ministers discuss trade deal with US, Ukraine. ATHENS, Greece (AP) — European Union government ministers were discussing Friday the progress made in negotiations on a free trade deal with the United States as well as the 28-country bloc's relationship with Ukraine, in light of the turmoil there.","Officials say car bomb in Iraq's capital kills 11. BAGHDAD (AP) — Authorities in Iraq say a car bombing in a neighborhood of Iraq's capital, Baghdad, has killed 11 people.","British journalist purportedly shown in IS propaganda video. BEIRUT (Reuters) - Islamic State militants fighting in Iraq and Syria released a video on Thursday that they said shows British journalist John Cantlie in captivity saying he will soon reveal \"facts\" about the group to counter its portrayal in Western media. The Islamic State, which controls territory in Syria and Iraq, has already beheaded two American journalists and one British aid worker in recent weeks in what it said was reprisal for U.S. air strikes against it in Iraq. ...","5 Afghan police officers killed by fellow officer. KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Afghan authorities say a border police officer has opened fire on fellow officers, killing five and wounding two at a checkpoint in western Afghanistan.","State in northeast Nigeria shuts schools after Islamist killings. By Lanre Ola MAIDUGURI, Nigeria (Reuters) - Nigeria's northeasterly Borno state has ordered all of its schools to shut to protect children after Islamists killed dozens of pupils in an attack last month, an official from the state Education Ministry and several parents said on Friday. Security officials said the militant Boko Haram group had shot or burned to death at least 29 pupils in a boarding school in northeast Nigeria, although a journalist who counted bodies in the morgue after the attack put the figure at 59. \"All public and private schools have been directed by the state ministry of education to end their second-term academic calendar latest this week,\" said a senior official in the ministry who declined to be named. Boko Haram, the militant group's widely used nickname, means \"Western education is forbidden\".","Malaysia Airlines to trim staff, routes under reform plan. Malaysia Airlines will slash thousands of staff, trim routes, replace its CEO and consider strategic stake sales to outside investors under plans announced Friday to save it from bankruptcy after two devastating disasters. \"The combination of measures announced today will enable our national airline to be revived,\" said Azman Mokhtar, head of state investment fund Khazanah Nasional, which has taken over the struggling company. He said the airline would carry out a \"route rationalisation\" -- a term Malaysia Airlines has used previously for cutting unprofitable routes -- and to pick a new CEO by the end of 2014. Khazanah Nasional, which already owns 70 percent of Malaysia Airlines (MAS), announced plans in early August to acquire all remaining shares and de-list the company as it works to revive it.","Luxury hotel offers no comfort for South Sudan misery. As war rages in South Sudan, government and rebel peace delegates have spent weeks holed up in luxury in neighbouring Ethiopia, a far cry from the thousands of dead and half million homeless back home. Despite weeks of all-expenses paid hospitality at the opulent Sheraton Hotel -- where rooms start at $450 (330 euros) per night -- and much mediation by diplomats from the region and across the world, haggling over the price of peace dragged on, until South Sudan's government and rebels on Thursday finally signed a ceasefire agreement, pledging to halt fighting within 24 hours. \"Partially, it's a reflection of what has led us to this position in the first place, the fact that internal elite fighting within South Sudan has enabled a violent conflict to spread,\" he said, voicing frustration with the pace of the talks. \"It's certainly time to start thinking about South Sudanese and the country of South Sudan.\"","Tunisia qualify for Africa Cup of Nations. Gaborone (Botswana) (AFP) - Tunisia became the third country to secure a place at the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations when they drew 0-0 in Botswana Friday.","Ship leaves Libya rebel port carrying oil, official and gunmen say. By Ayman al-Warfalli ES SIDER, Libya (Reuters) - A North Korean-flagged tanker that loaded crude oil at a rebel-held port in eastern Libya is now in international waters, rebels at the harbor and a state oil company official said on Tuesday. If confirmed, the news would be a huge embarrassment for the government after top officials including Prime Minister Ali Zeidan said late on Monday the navy had seized the tanker and would escort it to a harbor controlled by Tripoli. The tanker had docked on Saturday at Es Sider, one of three ports controlled by rebels who want to sell oil independently to get a greater share of Libya's mineral wealth. The Libyan navy and oil-related government officials contacted by Reuters declined to comment.","Kenya raises Mombasa attacks death toll to four. Mombasa (Kenya) (AFP) - Kenyan officials on Sunday raised the death toll from twin attacks in Mombasa to four people confirmed dead and 15 wounded as police responded to more bomb scares in the coastal city. \"Last night, innocent civilians were targeted yet again by terrorists in twin attacks in Mombasa. Four deaths have been confirmed in this attack,\" Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta said in a statement, raising the previous death toll of three. Kenya will not allow it.","Russia has no major racism problem, says minister. MOSCOW (AP) — Russia has no particular problem with racism in football as it prepares to host the 2018 World Cup— despite a series of recent incidents, Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko said Wednesday.","Nintendo apologizes for lack of virtual equality. Nintendo is apologizing and pledging to be more inclusive after being criticized for not recognizing same-sex relationships in English editions of a life-simulator video game. But the publisher said it was too late to change the game.","Experts nix Canada move for sad Argentine polar bear. Mendoza (Argentina) (AFP) - A polar bear said to be depressed in Argentina will not move to Canada, after veterinary experts said the trip would be too dangerous to his health. The fate of Arturo the bear, 29 years old and weighing in at 400 kilograms (900 pounds), has for months been the subject of controversy, as Greenpeace and zoo visitors questioned the animal's living conditions at the Mendoza site. He is the last polar bear in captivity in Argentina, and critics feared the temperatures, particularly in summer when they can soar to between 35 and 40 degrees Celsius (95 and 104 degrees Fahrenheit), were unhealthy for an animal typically found in arctic climates.","TMX writes down options investment, posts quarterly loss. TMX Group Ltd , the operator of the Toronto Stock Exchange, took a massive writedown on its U.S. options investment that pushed it to a net loss in the second quarter, but its adjusted profit rose 13 percent on flat revenue. Technology services also took a hit, mostly due to a TMX company losing the contract to run SEDAR and other market databases early this year. \"We continue to focus on new initiatives to further diversify our business and deliver increased value to our customers,” Tom Kloet, the retiring chief executive, said in the earnings release. Along with the Toronto bourse, the company owns the Montreal derivatives exchange and the small-cap TSX Venture Exchange, where listings are heavily weighted toward the resource sector.","ING to seek separate listing for insurance arm. AMSTERDAM (AP) — ING Groep NV says it is moving ahead with a plan to move its remaining insurance operations into a separate listed company.","Obama: Russia's military now controls Crimea. THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — President Barack Obama says there's no expectation that Russian forces will be dislodged from Crimea by force.","Future of Olympic golf course in hands of court. RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — A Brazilian court is set to decide the future of the golf course for the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics, a layout that is being carved out of a nature reserve with luxury high-rise apartments planned around the edges.","Basketball without Borders camp to NY for All-Star. NEW YORK (AP) — The NBA says there will be a Basketball without Borders camp in New York in February during All-Star weekend.","Russian police kill Islamist militant leader before Olympics. Police have killed a senior Islamist militant in a shootout in Russia's North Caucasus ahead of the Winter Olympics in Sochi, the National Anti-terror Committee said on Tuesday. The shooting of Eldar Magatov, a suspect in numerous attacks on Russian targets, at a house where he had taken refuge in the Dagestan region was part of an intensifying security clampdown as the Games approach. President Vladimir Putin has staked his political reputation on organizing a successful Olympics and tightened security nationwide after insurgents who hope to create an Islamist state in the North Caucasus threatened to attack the Games.","Masters' 1st father-son duo at opposite ends. AUGUSTA, Ga. (AP) — Craig Stadler didn't get a chance to see his son hit a single shot Thursday. Barring a significant turnaround, the elder Stadler will get to see plenty of Kevin's game this weekend.","German conductor Gerd Albrecht dies at 78. BERLIN (AP) — German conductor Gerd Albrecht, who led orchestras in the Czech Republic, Japan and Denmark and worked to bring music to children, has died. He was 78.","London's FTSE opens down. London's leading share index opened down on Friday following losses on Wall Street as the crisis in Iraq weighed on investors. The FTSE-100 index fell 0.29 percent to 6,822.98 points at the beginning of trading. US President Barack Obama raised the prospect of possible air strikes when he said his national security team \"is looking at all the options\".","India's BJP shakes up election race in disputed Kashmir. By Sanjeev Miglani and Fayaz Bukhari SRINAGAR India (Reuters) - Accompanied by half a dozen guards, Hina Bhat knocks on doors in Srinagar, the heart of a revolt against Indian rule, to persuade Kashmiris to vote for the Bharatiya Janata Party in this month's state election. After winning the biggest national mandate in 30 years, Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Hindu nationalist BJP has launched its most audacious election project yet - to win power in Muslim-majority Jammu and Kashmir and integrate the disputed region fully into India. ...","Air Canada reaches tentative 10-year deal with its pilots. By Solarina Ho TORONTO (Reuters) - Air Canada has reached a tentative agreement on a new 10-year contract with its pilots' union, 1-1/2 years ahead of the expiration of the current contract at Canada's largest airline. The Montreal-based carrier said on Monday the new deal, which is subject to ratification by about 3,000 pilots, will allow it to accelerate its growth plans. Air Canada has been pushing expansion of its international flights and of Rouge, its low-cost vacation carrier. ...","Iraq city seizures illustrate Qaeda group's resurgence. The seizure by Al-Qaeda-linked militants of a major Iraqi city and parts of another illustrates their resurgence, and harkens back to the darkest days of the insurgency that followed the 2003 US-led invasion. The Al-Qaeda franchise in Iraq fell from the height of its influence in the years after the invasion, suffering defeats by American forces, especially after Sunni tribesmen joined them from late 2006 in a process that became known as the \"Awakening.\" But it has made a striking comeback in its latest incarnation, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), which spans more than one country and has been bolstered by the cross-border ties it has established in Syria during the country's civil war, analysts say. It is now a major force in the Syrian conflict, and has also carried out operations in Iraq ranging from brutal bombings of civilians to brazen prison assaults.","Australian champ Wawrinka out in French 1st round. PARIS (AP) — Australian Open champion Stan Wawrinka lost in the first round at the French Open on Monday, surprised by Guillermo Garcia-Lopez of Spain 6-4, 5-7, 6-2, 6-0.","Kerry, Afghan candidate discuss vote impasse. KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — A campaign manager for one of two presidential contenders in Afghanistan says U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry spent 25 minutes on the phone with Abdullah Abdullah and his leadership council in an effort to break the country's political deadlock.","Electoral reform in Chile passes lower house in key step forward. A bill to reform Chile's dictatorship-era electoral system took an important step forward late Wednesday night, when it was approved by the lower house of Congress. The current electoral system was created by General Augusto Pinochet toward the end of his 1973-1990 period in power to ensure right-wing parties retained an important say after the return to democracy. Although the right-wing UDI party still opposes reform, President Michelle Bachelet's center-left government was able to push the bill through with the support of center-right and independent representatives. \"This is a historic and important day for the strengthening of our democracy... it is a reform that we have been waiting for more than 24 years.\" The reform would increase senator seats to 50 from the current 38, and increase the size of the lower house to 155 from 120.","Kenya Muslim leaders say attacks 'tearing country apart'. Kenya's top Muslim leaders warned Tuesday that Islamist attacks and a harsh government response risked dividing the country along ethnic and religious lines that could trigger a repeat of the deadly post-election violence six years ago. \"The continued violence risks tearing the country apart... while little has come from the government to address these concerns,\" Abdullahi Abdi, chairman of the National Muslim Leaders Forum, told reporters. At least 15 people were reported to have been killed Tuesday in a new attack near Kenya's coast, a day after Somalia's Al-Qaeda-linked Shebab rebels massacred close to 50 people in the same area. \"Some of these attacks are aimed at planting seeds of discord and animosity among Kenyans and (to) divide the country along ethnic and religious lines,\" said Sheikh Mohammad Khalifa, of the Council of Imams and Preachers.","Iraq crisis deepens; U.S. directly arms Kurds. Iraq's president snubbed incumbent Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and picked another politician to form the next government Monday, setting up a fierce political power struggle even as the country battles extremists in the north and west.","Yemeni parties and Houthi rebels sign deal to end fighting, form new government. By Mohammed Ghobari SANAA (Reuters) - Yemen's Shi'ite Muslim rebels on Sunday signed an agreement with other political parties to form a more inclusive government and end days of fighting on the streets of the capital. Prime Minister Mohammed Basindwa had earlier submitted his resignation to President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi to pave the way for the deal, as rebel Houthi forces advanced on government buildings in the capital Sanaa to little resistance from the troops and security forces guarding them. ...","Republicans strike early in midterm Senate battle. Republicans took first blood Tuesday in the midterm battle to seize the US Senate, winning a key Democratic seat and heaping pressure on President Barack Obama's party to hold its ground. With most polls closed in the eastern third of the nation, confident Republicans enjoyed a huge sigh of relief when Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, the man who could lead the chamber should the GOP win the majority, brushed aside Democrat Alison Lundergan Grimes, his toughest challenger in more than 30 years. Republicans also romped to victory in West Virginia -- where retiring Democrat John Rockefeller had held the seat for decades -- marking the first of six pickups that the party would need in order to take control of the 100-member Senate. The first results confirmed that Obama's adversaries were on course to win a majority in both chambers of Congress for the first time since 2006 and blight the president's last two years in office.","Elusive Muscovite with three names takes control of Ukraine rebels. In a leaflet distributed this week in the rebel Donetsk region, \\\\\"Colonel Igor Strelkov\\\\\" assumed command of all rebel forces there and called for Russian army help to ward off what he calls the threat from the Kiev \\\\\"junta\\\\\" and from NATO. To Kiev and its Western allies, Strelkov is living proof that Moscow is behind the uprising in eastern Ukraine, despite its denials, and trying to replay the scenario that saw it seize the Crimea province in March. Kiev says he is actually an agent of Russia's GRU military intelligence.","Netherlands freezes hundreds of millions in Ukrainian assets: report. AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - The Netherlands has frozen hundreds of millions of euros (dollars) in Ukrainian assets, Dutch media reported Thursday night, citing the finance minister. Finance Minister Jeroen Dijsselbloem told the ANP news agency the assets were suspect. The Dutch media reports did not provide any details. A Finance Ministry official could not immediately be reached for comment. (Reporting By Anthony Deutsch; Editing by Chris Reese)","Rodman apologizes for comments on jailed American. PYONGYANG, North Korea (AP) — Dennis Rodman apologized Thursday for comments he made in North Korea about a detained American missionary, saying he had been drinking and was under pressure as he organized a game with former NBA players.","Canada businesses impatient for China growth as Harper promotes trade ties. By Andrea Hopkins HANGZHOU China (Reuters) - Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper kicked off his trade mission to China on Friday facing criticism from businesses that the troubled diplomatic relationship between the two nations has hampered their efforts to tap China's burgeoning market. Harper, on his first visit to China in two years, announced the opening of four new trade offices in the cities of Hangzhou, Xian, Xiamen and Tianjin to help the entry of Canadian businesses into the fastest growing regions of China. The trip is Harper's third to China since he took office in 2006. ...","Mourinho to contest charge of misconduct. LONDON (AP) — Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho will contest a Football Association charge of misconduct related to his post-match comments following his team's loss to Sunderland this month.","Indonesia, Australia sign new security agreement. BALI, Indonesia (AP) — Indonesia and Australia have signed a new security agreement to mend ties damaged last year by spying allegations.","Nigerian woman suspected of Ebola dies in UAE. DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Health officials in the Emirati capital of Abu Dhabi say that a Nigerian woman who arrived on a flight transiting the city and who may have been infected with the Ebola virus has died.","Brahimi to meet senior U.S., Russian officials over Syria on Thursday: U.N.. International mediator Lakhdar Brahimi will hold talks on Syria with senior Russian and U.S. officials on Thursday, a day earlier than planned, a U.N. statement said. \"The trilateral meeting with Mr. (Gennady) Gatilov and Under Secretary of State Wendy Sherman of the United States will now take place on Thursday ...in the afternoon,\" it said. Brahimi scrambled to keep the diplomatic push in Geneva alive on Wednesday, meeting with Gatilov and then jointly with the delegations of the Syrian government and opposition.","Lennon blasts 'holiday' Celtic players. Neil Lennon says a half-time dressing-down inspired his players to come from two behind to seal a dramatic 3-3 draw with Motherwell at Fir Park. The Scottish Premiership champions trailed 2-1 at the break after they fell behind to goals from John Sutton and Zane Francis-Angol. Kris Commons missed a penalty before Anthony Stokes pulled one back for Celtic in first half stoppage time. However, following a heated team talk at the interval the Hoops came out fired up and soon found themselves level when Georgios Samaras prodded home in the 56th minute.","Rosicky and Mertesacker sign new deals at Arsenal. LONDON (AP) — Per Mertesacker and Tomas Rosicky have signed new contracts with Arsenal.","China to re-open embassy in Somalia closed in '91. BEIJING (AP) — China is re-opening its embassy in Somalia some 23 years after evacuating its diplomats as the East African nation plunged into civil war.","Jihadists kill 31 rebels in Syria. Jihadists killed at least 31 rival rebels in northern Syria as clashes raged on a new front in the country's brutal war, a monitor said Sunday, citing insurgents and medics. Fighting flared on Friday between rebels and forces loyal to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, an Al-Qaeda affiliate that moved into Syria amid the armed uprising against President Bashar al-Assad in late spring last year. Near Tal Rifaat, a village in the northern province of Aleppo, at least 10 rebels were killed Saturday when ISIL attacked their vehicles, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. In nearby Hreitan, five rebels were killed Saturday in an ISIL car bombing, the Britain-based Observatory said, citing rebels and medical sources on the ground.","Mali PM, northern armed groups prepare for peace talks. BAMAKO/DAKAR (Reuters) - Mali's new prime minister pledged on Tuesday to revive long-delayed peace talks on the troubled north while armed groups from the region said they would hold a preparatory meeting with Algeria ahead of the negotiations. Critics of Malian President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, in power since August, say he has missed a chance to build lasting peace with northern rebels by failing to honor a commitment to start talks with armed groups. \"We will invite the armed groups and also legitimate representatives of the north so that any agreement has the best possible chance of being the last one concluded for northern Mali,\" said Prime Minister Moussa Mara in a speech before parliament outlining the government's priorities. Mali, a vast landlocked former French colony of 16 million in West Africa, descended into turmoil when Islamist fighters took advantage of a 2012 Tuareg-led rebellion and seized control of the country's north.","Sweden's Blixt on leaderboard at Masters. AUGUSTA, Ga. (AP) — Jonas Blixt gave the Masters an international presence on the leaderboard for most of the opening round.","Canada sees budget surplus despite tax cuts, low oil prices. By Solarina Ho TORONTO (Reuters) - Canada will emerge from seven years of budget deficits that followed the 2008 financial crisis and show a C$1.9 billion ($1.7 billion) surplus next year, despite lower oil prices and a package of previously announced tax cuts. Finance Minister Joe Oliver announced the projections on Wednesday in the fall update of the February budget, as parties stake out positions ahead of an election next October. The update showed surpluses rising to C$13.1 billion by the year ending in March 2020. The government is expecting a C$2.9 billion deficit for this fiscal year. ...","New York Times backs Snowden in US online spying row. The influential New York Times hailed fugitive intelligence leaker Edward Snowden as a \"whistleblower\" on Thursday and threw its weight behind calls for him to be shown clemency. The editorial was quickly seized upon by activists campaigning to persuade President Barack Obama's administration to drop its bid to prosecute the former National Security Agency contractor.","Censors delay Nigeria release of Biafran war film. LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) — The movie director says censors are delaying the Nigerian premiere of the movie \"Half of a Yellow Sun.\"","Trophies stolen in break-in at Red Bull factory. MILTON KEYNES, England (AP) — More than 60 trophies won by Red Bull have been stolen in a burglary at the Formula One team's factory in southern England.","Speedskater Sven Kramer breaks with coach Kemkers. THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — Dutch speedskater Sven Kramer says he is parting ways with coach Gerard Kemkers, five weeks after he won two gold medals at the Sochi Winter Olympics.","Austria: Imam alleged to recruit Islamic fighters. VIENNA (AP) — An Islamic preacher has been arrested on suspicion of recruiting young Chechens living in Austria to fight for Islam in Syria.","Japan PM Abe wants to confirm further cooperation with Australia. TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said on Monday he wants to confirm further cooperation on defense and the economy with Australian premier Tony Abbott, who is visiting Tokyo. Japanese media reported that Abe and Abbott will announce the basic bilateral agreement later in the day, featuring cuts to Tokyo's tariffs on Australian beef and Canberra ending its duty on cars. Abe also said during a meeting with fellow ruling party members that he will exchange views on issues over the economy, North Korea, and defense with U.S. ...","Ecclestone offers 25 mn euros to end German trial. Formula One magnate Bernie Ecclestone offered on Tuesday to pay 25 million euros ($36 million) in damages to settle the corruption trial against him in Germany, according to a local news agency. The 83-year-old's defence team filed a surprise motion at the Munich court to dismiss the charges in exchange for paying the sum to BayernLB bank, German news agency DPA reported. State prosecutors indicated they were open to the proposal but would have to review it in detail, according to the report which cited Ecclestone's lawyer Sven Thomas. Ecclestone is accused of paying German banker Gerhard Gribkowsky $44 million (33 million euros) in 2006 and 2007 to ensure his continued grip on the motor sports empire he had built up over four decades.","Top finance officials hoping to boost growth. WASHINGTON (AP) — Finance officials from the world's largest economies are being urged to prevent the global economy from falling into a \"new mediocre,\" where growth remains stuck at subpar levels for years to come and millions of people remain trapped on unemployment rolls.","Merkel to push back against EU if green energy support questioned. BERLIN (Reuters) - Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Wednesday she would push back decisively against the European Commission if it raises further objections to Germany's system of green power subsidies. \"You can't simply start to question support systems which have been in place for years without thinking about how we make the transition. We'll campaign for that decisively in Europe,\" she said in a speech to the Bundestag lower house of parliament. ...","Canadian soldier run over by suspected Islamic radical dies. Montreal (AFP) - One of two Canadian soldiers run over by a driver suspected of having jihadist sympathies has died, police said Tuesday.","Obama, Putin circle each other warily in China. BEIJING (AP) — On the surface, President Barack Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin are all niceties — a pat on the back here, a pleasantry there. But away from the cameras, the two leaders are circling each other warily at a global summit in China, coming face to face just as relations between their countries continue to deteriorate.","China's Li in Kenya to boost trade, wildlife protection. Chinese Premier Li Keqiang arrived in Nairobi Friday on the final leg of a four-nation Africa tour, in a visit expected to boost trade, transport links and conservation, Kenya's presidency said. The Chinese official is on a four-country tour of Africa, his first since taking office last year, with the world's second-biggest economy keen to boost its presence on the continent to find new markets and opportunities. Li will also meet regional leaders on Sunday in Kenya, including Paul Kagame of Rwanda, Salva Kiir of war-torn South Sudan, Jakaya Kikwete of Tanzania and Yoweri Museveni of Uganda. Li and Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta will sign over a dozen deals to \\\\\"deepen the ties\\\\\" between the two nations, including \\\\\"financing for infrastructure, agriculture and wildlife conservation,\\\\\" Kenya's presidency said in a statement.","Nadal withdraws from IPTL because of health. NEW DELHI (AP) — Rafael Nadal has withdrawn from the inaugural International Premier Tennis League competition, citing health reasons.","Fiercest fighting in days hits Syrian border town. By Humeyra Pamuk URFA Turkey (Reuters) - The fiercest fighting in days shook the Syrian border town of Kobani overnight, sources inside the town and a monitoring group said on Sunday, as Islamic State attacked Kurdish militants with mortars and car bombs. Islamic State, which controls much of Syria and Iraq, fired 44 mortars at Kurdish parts of the town on Saturday, some of which fell inside Turkey, according to the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. It said four more were fired on Sunday. The month-long battle for Kobani has ebbed and flowed. ...","White House reports drop in minors crossing border. WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House says the number of unaccompanied minors crossing the border is dropping significantly.","French court bars return of expelled Roma family. KOSOVSKA MITROVICA, Kosovo (AP) — A French court has barred the return to France of a Roma family including the teenage girl whose expulsion to Kosovo became a cause celebre.","Openings set to start in trial of bin Laden kin. NEW YORK (AP) — Opening statements are expected to start in the New York trial of Osama bin Laden's son-in-law on charges he conspired to kill Americans after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.","Finance ministers: Economy stronger but fragile. WASHINGTON (AP) — The world's top financial officials say they believe the global economy is strengthening but growth remains fragile and open to risks of new geopolitical strife, as in Ukraine.","Cost of Somali piracy slumps as attacks fall: report. By Peter Apps LONDON (Reuters) - The cost of Somali piracy to the global economy fell by almost half last year as attacks slumped, but piracy in West Africa was on the rise, an annual security report said on Wednesday. The Oceans beyond Piracy report put the total cost of Somali piracy - by far the largest single threat to international shipping in recent years - at only $3.2 billion in 2013. Gauging the level of threats in the Gulf of Guinea was difficult because of incomplete reporting but it was clear that rising numbers of seafarers were being kidnapped, it said. At the height of Somali pirate attacks in 2011, up to a dozen or more merchant ships were being held captive at any one time, often for multimillion dollar ransoms.","Malaysia Airlines says changes route for planes. KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Malaysia Airlines says that in the wake of the shooting down of one of its passenger jets over Ukraine, it has changed the route it planes will take on flights to and from Europe.","Hospital says former Israeli PM Ariel Sharon is in critical condition. JERUSALEM - The director of the hospital where the comatose former Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon is being treated says he is in critical condition and his life is in danger.","U.S. forces carry out operation against al-Shabaab in Somalia. Department of Defense spokesman said. \"We are assessing the results of the operation and will provide additional information as and when appropriate,\" Pentagon spokesman Rear Admiral John Kirby said in a statement. Al Shabaab is an Islamist group affiliated with al Qaeda that wants to impose its own strict version of Islam in Somalia. It ruled most of the southern region of Somalia from 2006 until 2011, when African peacekeeping troops marched into the capital, Mogadishu.","Democracy protesters clash with Hong Kong police. HONG KONG (AP) — Pro-democracy protesters have clashed with police in Hong Kong for the first time in more than two weeks.","Conservatives upbeat after holding off UKIP in Newark. Newark-on-Trent (United Kingdom) (AFP) - British Prime Minister David Cameron's Conservatives claimed their by-election win on Friday was an endorsement of their deficit-cutting economic plan, after they fended off a stiff challenge from the anti-EU party UKIP. The Conservatives retained the seat of Newark, a mid-sized town in central England, though their majority was slashed from 16,152 to 7,403 by Nigel Farage's UK Independence Party. Cameron's centre-right party mobilised extensive resources in their bid to hold on to the seat, after the anti-European Union, anti-mass immigration UKIP topped the polls at last month's European Parliament elections, rattling the main three parties. The Conservatives bombarded constituents in the rural Nottinghamshire seat with mailshots, phone calls and visits by heavyweight government ministers.","Cholera kills six in northern Nigeria. A cholera outbreak in northern Nigeria's Kano State has killed six people and infected scores, the state health commissioner said Sunday, although a local charity put the toll higher. \"Six people died out of the 46 cases recorded,\" Abubakar Labaran Yusuf told AFP of the outbreak this week in Kafin Dalawa village, 70 kilometres (43 miles) outside the state capital of Kano. \"We have recorded 16 deaths from the cholera outbreak in the past six days, which has so far infected 701 people with 20 severe cases,\" Surajo Alkassim of ISMA Medicare Initiatives told AFP.","Uganda street kids 'abused by police'. Street children in Uganda suffer from systematic abuse by the country's police and other officials, including beatings and sex attacks, Human Rights Watch said in a report Thursday. Human Rights Watch said it had documented how police and officials threaten street children at night, and beat them with batons, whips, or wires to extort bribes or as a punishment for vagrancy. Homeless children are also at risk of beatings and forced drug use from older homeless children or adults, and both boys and girls living on the street reported being raped or sexually assaulted by men and older street boys, the report said. \"Ugandan authorities should be protecting and helping homeless children, not beating them up or throwing them in police jails with adults,\" said Maria Burnett, senior Africa researcher at Human Rights Watch.","UK regulator imposes caps on payday loans. LONDON (AP) — Britain's financial regulator has announced new limitations on what payday lenders can charge their customers, the latest step in moves to tackle poor conduct in the short-term credit industry.","China seeks West's help to fight graft during APEC. China's graft busters want foreign help in their \"fox hunt\" for corrupt officials who have fled the country and stashed their ill-gotten loot abroad, but misgivings about Chinese justice may ...","Francis names new camerlengo. VATICAN CITY (AP) — The pope has named French Cardinal Jean Louis Tauran to the role of camerlengo, or chamberlain, who takes over the day-to-day running of the Holy See as soon as a papacy ends.","Environmental regulator ends US contract ban on BP. Washington (AFP) - The US Environmental Protection Agency announced Thursday an end to its ban on BP obtaining government contracts following the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster in the Gulf of Mexico.","Egypt warns against travel to Saudi Arabia due to MERS virus. Egypt's Health Ministry issued a warning on Friday against children, elderly people and anyone suffering from chronic heart and chest diseases travelling to Saudi Arabia due to an outbreak there of a deadly new virus. Saudi Arabia said on Thursday the number of cases of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), an often fatal disease caused by a coronavirus, had nearly doubled in April, with 26 more infections reported on Tuesday and Wednesday. Of the more than 370 people who caught the disease in Saudi Arabia, 107 have died since MERS first emerged two years ago. The first case of the disease in Egypt was reported on Thursday, in a 27-year-old man who lives in Saudi Arabia but returned ill to Egypt last week after having been in contact with an uncle in the kingdom who died of MERS.","Burkina Faso opposition challenges president's bid to extend term. By Mathieu Bonkoungou OUAGADOUGOU (Reuters) - Opposition parties in Burkina Faso called on Wednesday for nationwide protests against moves to lift a two-term limit on the presidency, accusing President Blaise Compaore of preparing a \"constitutional coup d'etat\". In power for over 27 years, Compaore has positioned himself as a senior regional mediator and his landlocked country is an important base for Western counter-terrorism operations in West Africa. However, the referendum plan has split his nation. ...","Neymar on path to greatness with Brazil. SAO PAULO (AP) — Despite being only 22 years old, Neymar has already done enough to be ranked among Brazil's greatest players of all time.","Italian diplomat's kin: abuse complaint a mistake. MANILA, Philippines (AP) — The family of an Italian ambassador detained in the Philippines on human trafficking and child abuse complaints has denied the accusations, calling the case \"a big mistake.\"","Suspect in Schumacher records probe found dead. ZURICH (AP) — An air ambulance employee who was arrested in connection with the suspected theft of former Formula One champion Michael Schumacher's medical records was found dead in his cell on Wednesday, prosecutors said.","Eclectic mix makes up new European Parliament. A Dane who lives in an amusement park. A Gypsy who vows to ban short-distance air travel. A Pole who wants to turn the European Parliament into a brothel.","Guam man sentenced to life for stabbing rampage. HAGATNA, Guam (AP) — A Guam man convicted of killing three Japanese tourists in a crash and stabbing rampage last year was sentenced Thursday to life in prison.","Pope baptizes 32 babies in Sistine Chapel. VATICAN CITY (AP) — With wails resounding amid the splendor of the Sistine Chapel, Pope Francis on Sunday baptized 32 infants, and at one point in the ceremony telling mothers to feel free to feed their crying babies.","Ukraine detains 15 suspected of planning unrest in Russian-dominated east. Ukraine's state security service said on Saturday it had detained 15 people suspected of planning to overthrow the authorities in a mostly Russian-speaking eastern region and had confiscated hundreds of rifles, grenades and petrol bombs. The service said those arrested were planning to stir up unrest in the region of Luhansk which, like most of Ukraine's eastern regions, has been tense since the ouster of pro-Russia former president Viktor Yanukovich in February. \"The group of attackers planned to carry out an armed seizure of power on April 10 in the Luhansk region through the intimidation of the peaceful population and the use of weapons and explosives,\" the service, which has intelligence and policing functions, said in a statement. Eastern Ukraine's population is largely made up of Russian-speakers who are culturally close to Russia.","Sudan rebel chiefs sentenced to death in absentia: lawyer. These include Malik Agar and Yassir Arman,\" said Al-Tigani Hassan, a lawyer who was present for the verdict in Singa town, the capital of Sennar state. Agar, formerly the elected governor of Blue Nile state, is chairman of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N), and Arman is secretary general of the movement. The rebels have been fighting in South Kordofan and Blue Nile for almost three years. \"It is a drama, baseless drama,\" SPLM-N spokesman Arnu Ngutulu Lodi told AFP after the verdict.","UN Security Council meets on rights in North Korea. UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N. Security Council is meeting to discuss an unprecedented U.N. report that accuses North Korea of crimes against humanity.","UN investigator, called banned by Iran, not fazed. UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The United Nations special investigator on Iran is not fazed by a senior official's announcement that he is banned from the country, saying, \"He loves banning me.\"","Bonds shine again as Great Rotation gives way to Asset Reflation. By Jamie McGeever and Mike Dolan LONDON (Reuters) - Last Thursday morning investors queued around the block to buy the bonds of recent defaulter Greece, and by the end of the day were selling U.S. tech stocks furiously. Many stock markets around the world, including those in both developed and emerging countries, are at or near their highest levels ever thanks to central banks propping up the global economic recovery with their ultra-loose monetary policy. In the United States the S&P 500 has almost tripled its level since the post-crash trough in March 2009, while the Nasdaq Composite index weighted more towards technology stocks has gained almost 250 percent in that time. In its latest monthly poll of global fund managers, Bank of America-Merrill Lynch said the proportion of investors who think stocks are \"over-valued\" is now the highest since July 2000, just when the Nasdaq was in the early stages of collapse.","Aussie Tomic pulls out of US Open. Australian wildcard Bernard Tomic pulled out of the US Open on Thursday with a left hip injury, handing fourth-seeded David Ferrer a third-round berth. Tomic, 21, said he'd also been battling flu prior to his first round victory over Dustin Brown, and when the hip pain flared he opted to take a conservative approach. It's painful,\" said Tomic, who retired after the first set of his first round match at the Australian Open against Rafael Nadal in January and underwent double hip surgery shortly thereafter.","42 African migrants drown off Yemen coast. Forty-two illegal African migrants drowned when their boat overturned off Yemen's southern coast late on Sunday, the defence ministry reported. The boat smuggling dozens of African migrants \"overturned off the coast of Beer Ali,\" in the southern Shabwa province, the ministry said in a brief statement on its news website 26sep.net. African migrants, especially Ethiopians and Somalis fleeing poverty and unrest at home, generally slip into southern Yemen by boat before heading north towards the Saudi frontier.","Dubai focuses on technology in 'smart city' bid. DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — After years of chasing the biggest and the best, the fast-growing Mideast city of Dubai is turning to technology to help the little things in life run more smoothly.","On edge of default, Kyrgios advances at US Open. NEW YORK (AP) — Nick Kyrgios came back from three code violations — just one outburst away from default — in a 7-5, 7-6 (4), 2-6, 7-6 (1) opening-round U.S. Open victory Monday against Mikhail Youzhny.","UK company to track planes after Malaysian loss. LONDON (AP) — Inmarsat, the global mobile satellite provider, says it will offer free basic tracking services for planes flying over oceans to prevent another incident such as the loss of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370.","Nationalist gets punched in Ukrainian parliament. KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — A Ukrainian parliament member who cultivates the image of a fighter against separatists didn't fare well against one of his legislative colleagues, taking a punch in the face and staggering into the arms of spectators.","Investigators seek answers after California transit officer kills colleague. DUBLIN, Calif. - Investigators are working to determine the circumstances that led a Bay Area Rapid Transit police officer to accidentally shoot and kill a fellow officer, the first on-duty fatality in the department's 42-year history, authorities said.","Ukraine hopes for aid soon, crucial to fulfill IMF conditions-PM. Ukraine hopes to begin receiving international financial aid soon and is determined to fulfill conditions needed to secure support from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk said on Friday. An IMF mission is due in Kiev next week for talks with Ukraine's new leaders, who have said the heavily indebted country needs at least $35 billion to stave off the bankruptcy. Yatseniuk told reporters that \"clear steps\" to provide Ukraine with financial aid are now being prepared.","EU sanctions 15 politicians and military leaders over Ukraine. By John O'Donnell BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union imposed asset freezes and travel bans on 15 Russians and Ukrainians, including a Russian deputy prime minister, Dmitry Nikolayevich Kozak, over Moscow's action in Ukraine, but steered clear of any sanctions on business leaders. The latest list included Ludmila Ivanovna Shvetsova, a deputy chairman of the State Duma, the lower house of Russia's parliament, Valery Vasilevich Gerasimov, chief of staff of Russia's armed forces, as well as separatist leaders in Ukraine. But it did not include the heads of Russian energy giants such as Rosneft's Igor Sechin, who had been included on a new U.S. sanctions list on Monday.","Rooney's 100 for England, Ibra scores in return. Wayne Rooney celebrated his 100th appearance for England by scoring in a 3-1 win over Slovenia, while Zlatan Ibrahimovic netted in his return for Sweden in a 1-1 draw at Montenegro in European Championship qualifiers on Saturday.","Haiti's long-delayed election likely postponed again. Port-au-Prince (AFP) - As Haiti prepared Tuesday to bury a former dictator who had little use for elections, it seemed all but certain that a long-delayed legislative vote due later this month will again be postponed.","Egypt sentences 3 Al-Jazeera reporters to 7 years. CAIRO (AP) — An Egyptian court has convicted three journalists for Al-Jazeera English and sentenced them to seven years in prison each on terrorism-related charges.","Austria's foreign minister brings Facebook age to U.N. stage. By Rodrigo Campos UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Austria's youthful foreign minister began his address to the U.N. General Assembly on Saturday by acknowledging his place in the world and offering something rarely seen during the annual meeting of world leaders. \"I look a bit younger than most of the other speakers before,\" said Sebastian Kurz. \"Indeed, I believe I am the only person under the age of 30 who has the privilege of speaking here this week. ...","Russia cannot achieve security through force: Obama. Russia will not be pushed out of Ukraine's Crimea region by military means but, if the West stays united, Russians will realise they cannot achieve security through brute force, U.S. President Barack Obama said on Wednesday. Obama, in a speech in Brussels, said the Ukraine crisis showed the United States and Europe were again confronted with the belief that bigger nations can bully smaller ones. Russia would not be \"dislodged from Crimea or deterred from further escalation by military force. But with time, so long as we remain united, the Russian people will recognize that they cannot achieve security, prosperity, and the status they seek through brute force,\" he said.","Obama urges world to fight IS 'network of death'. United Nations (United States) (AFP) - President Barack Obama urged the world Wednesday to unite to defeat a jihadist \"network of death\" in Iraq and Syria, as militants defied air strikes and executed a French hostage.","Russia demands payment for next month's gas on June 2: Russian media. Russian state-controlled gas company Gazprom has reiterated its threat to stop supplying Ukraine with gas if it does not pay in advance for June deliveries, Russian news agencies reported on Monday. Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller said Gazprom will present Ukraine's state energy company Naftogaz with a bill for June on Tuesday, demanding payment by June 2, the reports said. \\\\\"If Ukraine does not pay for June supplies, Gazprom will, by 10am (0600 GMT) on June 3, inform the Ukrainian side what amount of gas will be supplied in accordance with the pre-payment,\\\\\" Itar-Tass quoted Miller as saying. Gazprom says Ukraine owes it $3.51 billion and has warned in recent weeks that it would demand pre-payment for gas from next month.","Ten injured in van attack on French Christmas market. A driver ploughed into a Christmas market in western France Monday, injuring 10 people before stabbing himself, a day after a man shouting \"Allahu Akbar\" ran down pedestrians in another French city. At least four people were badly hurt in the latest incident in the city of Nantes, the third attack in three days by individuals against civilians or security forces in France, sparking fears of possible copycat action. Authorities were quick to stress there were no apparent terrorist motives in the Christmas market attack. He too had yelled \"Allahu Akbar\".","Ireland captain O'Connell returns for Wales match. DUBLIN (AP) — Ireland captain Paul O'Connell returns for his side's home Six Nations match against Wales on Saturday after fighting off a chest infection.","Egypt: 98.1 percent of voters approve constitution. CAIRO (AP) — Egypt's election committee says 98.1 percent of voters have approved a new, military-backed constitution in the first vote since a coup toppled the country's president.","Egypt widens military trials of civilians to cover 'terrorism'. Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on Monday enacted a decree allowing military trials for civilians suspected of attacking state infrastructure, after a string of deadly attacks on soldiers. The decree came after Sisi promised a tough response to what he called an \"existential threat\" to Egypt posed by militants, following an attack Friday on an army checkpoint in the Sinai that killed at least 30 soldiers. It places state infrastructure including electricity towers, major thoroughfares and bridges under military protection for two years, allowing the army to try anyone suspected of attacking the public facilities. Egypt has witnessed a surge in militant attacks since the army, then led by Sisi, ousted Islamist president Mohamed Morsi from power in July 2013.","Insight: Armed militias hold Libya hostage. By Patrick Markey and Ulf Laessing TRIPOLI (Reuters) - When a militia holding Libya's eastern ports loaded a North Korean-flagged tanker with oil earlier this month, the Libyan parliament sacked its own prime minister and turned to U.S. commandos to bring its cargo back. But that failed, and when the tanker reached international waters Libya's parliament fired Prime Minister Ali Zeidan, who fled to Europe. The Morning Glory affair is one of the starkest symbols yet of how weak Libya's central authority is. Three years after a NATO-supported revolt toppled Muammar Gaddafi, Libya is at the mercy of rival brigades of heavily armed former rebel fighters who openly and regularly defy the new state.","India slaps anti-dumping duty on US, China solar imports: govt. NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India has imposed anti-dumping duties of between 11 U.S. cents and 81 U.S. cents per watt on solar cells imported from U.S, China and Malaysia, in a bid to protect domestic solar manufacturers, the government said in a statement seen by Reuters on Friday. (Reporting by Manoj Kumar; Editing by Frank Jack Daniel)","US immigration debate upended by flood of children. WASHINGTON (AP) — The sudden rise in the number of families and unaccompanied minors from Central America crossing the border has dramatically redefined America's yearlong debate on immigration.","England physio injured during goal celebration. MANAUS, Brazil (AP) — England's physiotherapist required treatment himself after being injured while celebrating a goal during Saturday's World Cup game against Italy.","Iraq bombings kill at least 22. Baghdad (AFP) - Bombings in and near the Iraqi capital and a blast in the northern city of Kirkuk killed at least 22 people on Friday, security and medical officials said.","Libyan militias threaten to dissolve parliament, protesters close airport. Security guards forced Benghazi airport in eastern Libya to close for six hours on Tuesday to demand back wages as well as an investigation into the crash of a helicopter which took off from the airport last week, officials said. Members of the armed unit in charge of protecting the Benina airport blocked the runway and prevented staff from entering the passenger terminals, according to an airport official who said he was in contact with the group. The protesters allowed the airport to reopen after officials promised to look into their demands and get back to them within two days, the airport official said. The government of Prime Minister Ali Zeidan is struggling to control armed militias who helped overthrow Muammar Gaddafi in 2011 and have retained their weapons to make financial and political demands.","'Terrorists' help U.S. in battle against Islamic State in Iraq. By Isabel Coles MAKHMUR Iraq (Reuters) - Washington has acquired an unlikely ally in its battle against Islamic State militants in Iraq - a group of fighters it formally classifies as terrorists. The outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), condemned for its three-decade insurgency against the Turkish state, says it played a decisive role in blunting the militants' sweep through Iraq, which triggered U.S. \"This war will continue until we finish off the Islamic State,\" said Rojhat, a PKK fighter speaking from a hospital bed in Arbil, the capital of the Kurdish region in Iraq. The involvement of the PKK has consequences not only for rival Kurdish factions who failed to stop the Islamic State's advance, but also for Turkey and the international community, which is being lobbied by the PKK to drop the terrorist tag.","Astana feeder squad suspended after doping cases. ASTANA, Kazakhstan (AP) — Kazakhstan's cycling federation says it suspended the Astana team's development squad and fired a senior official after multiple doping cases.","Tretiak, Rodnina light Sochi Olympics cauldron. SOCHI, Russia (AP) — Russian hockey great Vladislav Tretiak and three-time gold medalist Irina Rodnina have lit the Olympic cauldron in Sochi, officially kicking off the two-week celebration of winter sport on the shores of the Black Sea.","Factbox: Juncker aside, who else might become Commission president?. By Jan Strupczewski BRUSSELS (Reuters) - EU leaders will meet on June 26-27 to discuss who they should nominate as the next president of the European Commission. Whoever they choose must then be approved by a majority in the 751-seat European Parliament. The front-runner is Jean-Claude Juncker, the former prime minister of Luxembourg, who is the candidate of Europe's largest center-right political group, the EPP, which came first in elections to the European Parliament last month. However, British Prime Minister David Cameron is adamantly opposed to Juncker, who he says does not have the right skills to overhaul how the European Union does business.","A Turkish teenager arrested for allegedly insulting the president has been released. ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — A Turkish teenager arrested for allegedly insulting the president has been released.","Ganguly to help panel probing IPL fixing claims. NEW DELHI (AP) — Former India captain Sourav Ganguly will help in an ongoing probe into allegations of spot-fixing in the Indian Premier League.","Hundreds of young people have weight loss surgery. London (AFP) - Hundreds of people aged under 25 have gone under the knife to have weight loss surgery in the last three years, but the procedures are so beneficial they often pay for themselves, a report said on Monday.","Russia proposes international 'support group' on Ukraine. Russia proposed on Monday creating an international support group to mediate in the Ukraine crisis but outlined terms that are unlikely to be acceptable for Kiev and the West. In response to Western calls for a \"contact group\" to mediate in the crisis, Russia's Foreign Ministry suggested the \"support group\" could push for Ukraine to recognise the outcome of a referendum in which the Crimea region voted to join Russia. The ministry also said the support group should urge Kiev to implement parts of a peace deal concluded by President Viktor Yanukovich and his opponents on February 21, hours before he fled Kiev and one day before he was removed from power by parliament.","Reward in Calgary animal abuse cases capped at $20K; dog, cat mouths taped shut. CALGARY - A reward fund set up to find the person responsible for the brutal killing a dog and cat in Calgary has been capped at $20,000.","Fire officers probe major blaze at Oxfordshire power station. London (AFP) - Fire officers are investigating the cause of a major blaze at a gas-fuelled power station near Oxford.","Canada restricts booze at sea, ups prices in port. OTTAWA, Ontario (AP) — Booze will not be as cheap or flow as freely aboard Canadian warships after the review of an incident last summer in which a coastal defense vessel was ordered home from a U.S. exercise because of its sailors' bad behavior.","Libya conflict revives front lines from 2011 civil war. By Ulf Laessing RAS JDIR, Libya (Reuters) - His Kalashnikov across his back, Libyan soldier Adel Howas rushed to the front line when air strikes targeted his comrades at a border crossing with Tunisia. For Howas, it was a return to familiar territory from 2011 when he joined rebels in a NATO-backed uprising to topple Muammar Gaddafi. But where Howas once fought Gaddafi loyalists on the coast road to the capital, the grizzled veteran now finds himself defending the same route against former comrades-in-arms using jets to seize Tripoli. ...","Soccer-Australia goes for youth in preliminary squad for Brazil. By Nick Mulvenney SYDNEY, May 14 (Reuters) - Australia coach Ange Postecoglou was true to his word in picking a youthful 30-man Socceroos preliminary squad for the World Cup finals on Wednesday. Postecoglou took over from German Holger Osieck just six months ago and had promised to ease out Australia's ageing golden generation in favour of younger players. He has selected a provisional party with an average age of 25 for the June 12-July 13 tournament in Brazil, where Australia have been drawn with Spain, the Netherlands and Chile in the opening round. ...","France not worried about U.S. probe of other banks: minister. AIX-EN-PROVENCE (Reuters) - France's finance minister said on Sunday he was not worried about French banks being investigated by U.S. authorities after a record fine was imposed on BNP Paribas for violating U.S. sanctions against several countries. According to U.S. sources, French banks Societe Generale and Credit Agricole and Germany's Deutsche Bank are being investigated for having potentially violated U.S. economic sanctions. Asked if he was worried about the French banks being probed, Finance Minister Michel Sapin said: \"No.\" \"I think the risk is rather being perceived by other very big European banks.\" (Reporting by Alexandre Bokesenbaum-Granier;","Kenyan witnesses: Gunmen spared Muslims. NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Witnesses in a small Kenyan town where gunmen killed nearly 50 people overnight say the attackers gave residents religion and language tests before slaughtering those who gave incorrect answers.","7.3-magnitude undersea quake hits Indonesia waters; monitoring agency says tsunami possible. JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — 7.3-magnitude undersea quake hits Indonesia waters; monitoring agency says tsunami possible.","Sources: EU adopts tough new sanctions on Russia. BRUSSELS (AP) — Frustrated by the apparent ineffectiveness of previous sanctions and outraged by the deaths of 298 people aboard the Malaysia Airlines plane downed over eastern Ukraine, the European Union adopted tough new economic sanctions against Russia Tuesday, two diplomats said.","Police: Retired officer shot 2 people, 1 fatally, at Fla. movie theatre in fight over texting. WESLEY CHAPEL, Fla. - An argument over texting in a Florida movie theatre Monday triggered a retired Tampa police captain to fatally shoot a man sitting in front of him, as about 25 horrified moviegoers looked on, sheriff's officials said.","Blast hits Afghan Interior Ministry compound. KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — A suicide bomber wearing a military uniform struck the entrance gate of the Interior Ministry compound Wednesday in the heart of the Afghan capital, officials said, the latest in a wave of violence to rock Kabul as the Taliban threaten to disrupt this weekend's elections.","Trial opens for Belgian terror suspects. ANTWERP, Belgium (AP) — A radical Muslim organization in Belgium was a well-structured terror group that brainwashed youngsters and sent them to fight in Syria, prosecutors said Monday as a trial started for dozens of suspects.","EU lawmakers to complete financial system overhaul. BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Parliament is set to approve legislation that will complete the biggest overhaul of the bloc's financial system since the introduction of the euro currency.","Alberta premier to discuss oilsands, climate change with Al Gore in Switzerland. EDMONTON - Alberta Premier Alison Redford is going to get a chance to talk climate change with high-profile oilsands critic and former U.S. vice-president Al Gore.","Kim makes history with lowest major score of 61. EVIAN-LES-BAINS, France (AP) — South Korean teen Hyo-Joo Kim made history look easy, with barely a glitch as she posted the lowest score ever in a major with a 10-under 61 to open the Evian Championship on Thursday.","Police: Man stabs 6 to death in China, hurts more. BEIJING (AP) — Police say a man involved in a property dispute has stabbed six people to death in a Beijing district and injured others.","France warns Russia of 'targeted measures' if tensions persist. The European Union will consider \"targeted measures\" against Russia if tensions do not start easing in Ukraine's Crimea region, France's foreign minister warned Moscow on Monday. \"If there is not in the coming hours a very quick de-escalation, then we will decide concrete measures such as the suspension of all talks on visas, suspension of economic agreements and concretely that means that ties will be cut on lot of subjects,\" Laurent Fabius told BFM TV. In emergency talks convened after Russian President Vladimir Putin seized the Crimean peninsula and said he had the right to invade Ukraine, EU foreign ministers met in Brussels on Monday to try to strike a balance between pressure on Moscow and finding a way to calm the situation.","Sierra Leone charges 14 soldiers with mutiny. A Sierra Leone military court has charged 13 soldiers and a captain with mutiny and denied them bail, a judge said on Monday, eight months after they were arrested for planning a protest against the president. The men, who all pleaded not guilty, were arrested last August in the northern town of Makeni for planning a protest during a visit by President Ernest Bai Koromo to his hometown.","BRAZIL BEAT: Watching World Cup from Wimbledon. LONDON (AP) — Andy Murray says the World Cup is a big focus of conversation at Wimbledon.","Israel warns of new Hamas violence if Cairo talks fail. Jerusalem (AFP) - Israel's deputy foreign minister warned Thursday that Hamas was likely to resume \"violence\" if it feels it has made no political gains from upcoming talks in Cairo.","Sweden calls off weeklong search for suspected submarine in Stockholm archipelago. STOCKHOLM (AP) — Sweden calls off weeklong search for suspected submarine in Stockholm archipelago.","UN rights chief alarmed by Iraq extrajudicial killings. The UN's human rights chief on Friday condemned reports of summary executions and extrajudicial killings in Iraq amid fears of mounting abuses by jihadists as they advance across the north of the country. \"The High Commissioner Navi Pillay is expressing extreme alarm at the dramatic deterioration of the situation in Iraq,\" Rupert Colville, her spokesman, told reporters in Geneva. The rights chief was especially concerned by verified reports of \"summary executions and extrajudicial killings and the massive displacement of an additional half a million people\" by militants from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), he added. According to the UN mission in Iraq, \"the number of people killed in recent days may run into the hundreds and the number of wounded is said to be approaching one thousand,\" Colville said.","Kurds in new Islamic State group offensive in Iraq. BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraq's Kurdish authorities say peshmerga forces have launched a large-scale military operation against Islamic State group extremists in country's north.","Egyptian vote set to revive strongman rule. By Tom Perry CAIRO (Reuters) - Egyptians vote next week in an election expected to make former army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi president, marking a revival of strongman rule three years after the downfall of Hosni Mubarak. Widely regarded as Egypt's de facto leader since removing the Muslim Brotherhood's Mohamed Mursi from the presidency in July, Sisi faces one challenger for the May 26-27 vote: Hamdeen Sabahi, a leftist defeated by Mursi in the 2012 election. Though critics are deeply concerned by the tough political crackdown since Sisi deposed Egypt's first freely elected president, many still view him as a savior for ending Mursi's divisive year in office, which had triggered mass protests that led to his overthrow. \"His history in the military, positions of responsibility and role as an intelligence man mean he knows where our country's interests are,\" said Ahmed Arafa, 61, newspaper vendor in Cairo.","Iran blames outside influences for rise of Islamic State. By Parisa Hafezi and Michelle Nichols UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Iran President Hassan Rouhani blamed the rise of the Islamic State group and other militants on \"certain intelligence agencies\" but also said the solution to stopping them must come from the Middle East region itself. \"The extremists of the world have found each other and have put out the call, 'extremists of the world unite'. But are we united against the extremists?\" Rouhani asked in a speech to the 193-member United Nations General Assembly on Thursday. ...","APNewsBreak: Ecuador expels US military group. QUITO, Ecuador (AP) — Ecuador has ordered all 20 Defense Department employees in the U.S. Embassy's military group to leave the country by month's end, The Associated Press has learned.","Vietnam detains Australian for drug trafficking. HANOI, Vietnam (AP) — Customs officials in Vietnam's southern commercial hub of Ho Chi Minh City have detained an Australian woman for heroin trafficking.","UK: Crude bombs sent to army recruitment offices. LONDON (AP) — The British government says it believes Northern Ireland terrorists sent crude but viable package bombs to British Army recruitment offices.","Villa, Newcastle draw 0-0 in Premier League. BIRMINGHAM, England (AP) — Aston Villa remained unbeaten in its start to the Premier League season despite not having a shot on target in a 0-0 draw against Newcastle on Saturday.","Ukrainian officers join NATO drills in Bulgaria. NOVO SELO, Bulgaria (AP) — Ukraine has dispatched 16 senior officers across the Black Sea to Bulgaria to join a NATO military exercise in a demonstration of cooperation between the alliance and the crisis-torn former Soviet republic.","Juventus midfielder Pirlo out with injured thigh. TURIN, Italy (AP) — Juventus midfield maestro Andrea Pirlo is out for at least five days with an injured left thigh muscle, ruling him out of Sunday's match against Parma and possibly Italy's key European Championship qualifier against Croatia next weekend.","Iraqis vote on Wednesday as violence grips country. By Ned Parker BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraqis head to the polls on Wednesday in their first national election since U.S. forces withdrew from Iraq in 2011 as Prime Minister Nuri Maliki seeks a third term amid rising violence. The country's western province of Anbar is awash in violence as Sunni Muslim militants challenge the Iraqi military and Shi'ite militias for territory surrounding Baghdad. The country's economy is struggling and Maliki faces criticism that he is aggravating sectarian splits and trying to consolidate power for political gain. On Wednesday voters choose among 9,012 candidates and the parliamentary election effectively serves as a referendum on Maliki, a Shi'ite Muslim who has governed eight years.","Burkina Faso leaders meet to discuss transition. OUAGADOUGOU, Burkina Faso (AP) — Opposition leaders and members of civil society are meeting in Burkina Faso to decide the composition of a transitional government and what they expect from its leader.","Invoking Gandhi, Modi vows to 'Clean India' by 2019. Is that possible?. Outside of New Delhi's largest train station heaps of garbage lie in the streets and in front of nearby shops and restaurants. In one corner, a sign reads \"Deluxe Toilet,\" which is actually a filthy public bathroom.","Ukraine rebels free Swedish hostage; Obama seeks unity against Russia. By Matt Spetalnick and Thomas Grove KUALA LUMPUR/SLAVIANSK, Ukraine (Reuters) - Pro-Russian rebels paraded European monitors they are holding in eastern Ukraine on Sunday, freeing one but saying they had no plans to release another seven as the United States and Europe prepared new sanctions against Moscow. U.S. President Barack Obama called for the United States and Europe to join forces to impose stronger measures to restrain Moscow. In a move senior U.S. officials said may come as early as Monday, the White House said it would add names of people close to President Vladimir Putin and firms they control to a list of Russians hit by sanctions over Ukraine, and also impose new restrictions on high-tech exports.","Kenyan writer hopes to boost gay rights with bold coming out. With hair dyed red and blue and shaved into a mohican, leading Kenyan author Binyavanga Wainaina is no stranger to making a powerful statement. The timing of his announcement, in a short story published online and entitled \"I am a Homosexual, Mum\", was prompted in part by the passing of a controversial anti-gay law in Nigeria, a country he admires and considers his second home, the influential literary figure said. In neighbouring Uganda, President Yoweri Museveni recently refused to approve a divisive bill that would have seen homosexuals jailed for life. And under a new law adopted in Nigeria this month, same-sex couples who live together or attempt to solemnize their union with a ceremony can be punished with 14 years in prison.","Runner-up in El Salvador presidential election wants vote to be annulled. SAN SALVADOR (Reuters) - The runner-up in El Salvador's presidential election said on Tuesday he was asking the country's electoral tribunal to annul the tight contest after refusing to accept the outcome. \"We're going ahead and presenting a motion to have the elections on March 9 annulled,\" Norman Quijano, candidate of the right wing Nationalist Republican Alliance (Arena), told reporters in San Salvador as squabbling over the vote continued. On Sunday Quijano finished 0. ...","BRAZIL BEAT: Discount diplomacy at the World Cup. OLINDA, Brazil (AP) — The nearly 500-year-old coastal community of Olinda is a UNESCO World Heritage site where narrow, cobblestone streets climb a hillside past stucco-sided buildings painted in cheerful shades of yellow, orange, green and blue, finished off with white trim highlighting old-world architectural detail.","Defense in NY case calls drug site search illegal. NEW YORK (AP) — Lawyers for a man charged with operating an online marketplace for illegal drugs are asking a judge to toss out most of the evidence against him, saying the constitutional protects their client from \"indiscriminate rummaging\" through his entire online history.","McDonald's confronts its junk food image. At a dinner McDonald's hosted for reporters and bloggers, waiters served cuisine prepared by celebrity chefs using ingredients from the chain's menu. A Kung Pao chicken appetizer was made with Chicken ...","UK fraud office liaising with China on GSK bribery case. By Kirstin Ridley LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's fraud office is working with authorities in China in a first for such Anglo-Chinese cooperation as it carries out its own investigation into alleged corruption at drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline . \"Certainly, so far as I am aware it is the first time we have had cooperation with the Chinese on an SFO case,\" David Green, the head of the Serious Fraud Office (SFO), said in an interview with Reuters on Wednesday. Green, who said he had visited China earlier this year, said the Chinese government had a clear interest in rooting out bribery and corruption although it might have \"slightly different perspectives\" than the SFO.","All Blacks' Barrett to stay with Hurricanes. All Blacks fly-half Beauden Barrett will stay with the Wellington Hurricanes after rejecting offers to lure him away from the New Zealand capital, the Super 15 club said Thursday. The Hurricanes said Barrett, 23, who has emerged as a major force for the All Blacks since his debut in 2012, had agreed to a two-year contract extension. \"Having him in the number 10 jersey for us really strengthens the Hurricanes team, on and off the field,\" club chief executive James Te Puni said. Auckland Blues coach John Kirwan has made no secret of his admiration for Barrett and was widely reported to be seeking his signature after the attempt to turn rugby league star Benji Marshall into a union fly-half ended in failure.","Greenpeace ship Arctic Sunrise released by Russia. MOSCOW (AP) — Greenpeace International says a ship held by Russian authorities for nearly a year has been released and is on its way back to the Netherlands.","Soccer-Good, Sarota and Brillante cut by Australia. * Australia cut squad to 27 * Jedinak pleased with progress of injury (Adds detail, quotes) By Nick Mulvenney SYDNEY, May 26 (Reuters) - Australia coach Ange Postecoglou cut Curtis Good, Josh Brillante and Adam Sarota from his preliminary squad for the World Cup on Tuesday, leaving a 27-strong party to depart for Brazil. Defender Good suffered a hip flexor injury in Australia's friendly against Ecuador in March and has not played since, while midfielder Sarota has been on the comeback trail after knee reconstruction. Postecoglou, who will cut a further four players on June 2 to leave the final 23, said Brillante was considered dispensable because of the number of midfielders in the squad.","Mars rover photos featured in new exhibit at Smithsonian museum, marking 10th year of mission. WASHINGTON - Ten years after NASA landed two rovers on Mars on a 90-day mission, one rover is still exploring, and the project has generated hundreds of thousands of images from the Martian surface.","Somalia rains failing, hunger coming, say groups. NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Weak and erratic rains, military conflict and little aid funding from the international community could lead to mass hunger in Somalia, aid groups warned on Wednesday.","Exclusive: Canada's PSP back in the race to buy TDF's French unit - sources. By Sophie Sassard and Gwénaëlle Barzic LONDON/PARIS (Reuters) - Canadian pension fund PSP Investment is making a surprise comeback in the race to buy broadcasting masts group TDF's French unit, opening a new episode in a protracted selloff saga, said three sources familiar with the matter. PSP Investment is taking advantage of rival bidder Dering Capital's difficulties in financing its bid, which sources previously said came at about 3.7 billion euros ($5.07 billion). Dering has, however, not thrown in the towel and is still trying to raise more equity for its bid, said one of the sources who asked not to be named because the talks are private. PSP and Arcus expressed interest in buying TDF's French unit last year during the first round of the auction but then walked away because they did not feel they could match the sellers' price expectations, given the uncertainty in the French telecom market.","China says may have citizens fighting in Iraq. By Ben Blanchard BEIJING (Reuters) - Muslim extremists from China's far western region of Xinjiang have gone to the Middle East for training and some may have crossed into Iraq to participate in the upsurge of violence there, China's special envoy for the Middle East said on Monday. China has repeatedly expressed concern about the upsurge in violence in Iraq and the march of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), which has seized much of the north of the country as Baghdad's forces there collapsed. ...","SOCHI SCENE: Hard on himself. KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia (AP) — Even Stefan Luitz called himself an idiot.","Nigerian weightlifting winner fails doping test. GLASGOW, Scotland (AP) — The Commonwealth Games Federation says Nigerian female weightlifting gold medalist Chika Amalaha has failed a doping test.","Bomb attacks kill at least 24 in Iraq capital. At least 24 people were killed in bomb explosions in the Iraqi capital late on Monday, including blasts near two Shi'ite Muslim mosques and at a busy bus station, police and medics said. No group immediately claimed responsibility for any of the attacks, but Shi'ites are often targeted by Sunni Islamist insurgents who have been regaining ground in Iraq over the past year and overran several towns in recent weeks. In Monday's deadliest attack, a minibus packed with explosives blew up at a bus station in the mainly Shi'ite district of Ur in northern Baghdad, killing at least 11 people, police and medical sources said. A further nine people were killed in car bomb attacks targeting mosques in Baghdad's predominantly Shi'ite districts of Amil and Karrada, police and medical sources said.","Supreme court orders new PCB chairman election. ISLAMABAD (AP) — The Pakistan supreme court directed Najam Sethi on Monday to continue as the country's cricket board chief for one week before an acting Pakistan Cricket Board chairman can be appointed to oversee new elections.","Colombian priest who ran far-right militia nabbed. BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — Colombian authorities say they have captured a Roman Catholic priest who ran a far-right militia and has been sentenced in absentia to 19 years in prison.","Cheng Ji first Chinese rider in Tour de France. PARIS (AP) — Cheng Ji will become the first Chinese rider to race in the Tour de France when he lines up for Team Giant-Shimano at the start July 5 in Leeds, England.","Malaysian jet search resumes, U.S. sends second Poseidon plane. The disappearance of the Malaysia Airlines jet, which vanished from civilian radar screens less than an hour after taking off from Kuala Lumpur on a routine flight to Beijing on March 8, has gripped the world and baffled investigators. Chinese insurance companies have started paying compensation to the families of passengers, Xinhua reported separately.","Jamaica reviews public hospital after 2 deaths. KINGSTON, Jamaica (AP) — Health authorities are reviewing operations at a major public hospital in southern Jamaica days after two patients died while waiting for care.","China targets ordinary Uighurs with beards, burkas. AKSU, China (AP) — Outside a mosque in China's restive west, a government-appointed Muslim cleric was dodging a foreign reporter's question about why young men of the Uighur ethnic minority don't have beards when one such youth interrupted.","Groves says Wembley win 'written in the stars'. George Groves said he believed it was his destiny to defeat Carl Froch in their eagerly anticipated 80,000 sell-out world title re-match at London's Wembley Stadium on Saturday. The first fight between the two English boxers was back in November when Froch, the International Boxing Federation and World Boxing Association super-middleweight champion, won on a hugely disputed ninth round stoppage of Groves having been stunningly sent to the canvas by the challenger in the first round. \"Maybe it's written in the stars that after not getting the win the first time, I'll win the world titles at Wembley in my home city in front of a huge crowd,\" Groves said at Friday's weigh-in.","Tokyo shares skid as Japan slips into recession. By Lisa Twaronite TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese stocks skidded on Monday, helping the yen rebound from a fresh seven-year low against the dollar touched after news Japan unexpectedly fell into recession in the third quarter. Meanwhile, Shanghai and Hong Kong opened around 1 percent higher but quickly erased gains on suspected profit-taking by traders who had positioned for the launch of the Stock Connect scheme that will let Hong Kong and Shanghai investors buy and sell shares on each other's bourses. ...","US World Cup players buoyed by large audience. SAO PAULO (AP) — The last time the U.S. played in a World Cup in Brazil, just one American reporter was on hand, using vacation time and paying his own way.","Pistorius: Last witness testifies for defense. PRETORIA, South Africa (AP) — The defense team for Oscar Pistorius plans to close its case after its last witness, a physician who has treated the athlete, completed his testimony at the murder trial on Monday, a lawyer said.","Seeds Matosevic, Istomin advance at ATP Atlanta Open. Atlanta (AFP) - Australian eighth seed Marinko Matosevic and Uzbek sixth seed Denis Istomin advanced to the second round of the $568,000 ATP Atlanta Open with straight-set triumphs.","Most Canadian seniors now use a cell but few have a smartphone: poll. TORONTO - A majority of Canadian seniors now own a cellphone but only a small number have made the leap to using a smartphone, suggests a report by the Media Technology Monitor.","Two RCMP officers hurt in confrontation with three suspects near Vegreville, Alta.. VEGREVILLE, Alta. - Two RCMP officers have been injured in what police are terming an \"ongoing situation\" near Vegreville, Alta.","Heavily polluted India launches national air quality index. By Aditya Kalra NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India has launched a new air quality index to help citizens understand complex pollution data and its implications for their health, the environment minister said on Friday. A World Health Organization (WHO) study of 1,600 cities released in May found India's capital New Delhi had the world's dirtiest air with an annual average of 153 micrograms of small particulates, known as PM2.5, per cubic meter. Thirteen of the dirtiest 20 cities worldwide were in India, the WHO said. India rejected the report. ...","Scotland complains over British handling of nuclear leak. By William James LONDON (Reuters) - A Scottish nationalist leader accused Britain on Sunday of disrespecting the Scottish parliament over its handling of a problem with a Scotland-based nuclear reactor, stoking tension between London and Edinburgh before an independence referendum. Alex Salmond, the leader of Scotland's devolved parliament, demanded an apology from Prime Minister David Cameron after not being told that an internal leak was found in 2012 at the Dounreay site in Scotland where a test reactor identical to those on Britain's nuclear submarine fleet is housed.","Sri Lanka's Rajapaksa wins 2015 budget vote despite defections. By Shihar Aneez and Ranga Sirilal COLOMBO (Reuters) - Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa, who is facing a split in his ruling coalition ahead of a snap presidential poll on Jan. 8, won the final vote on the 2015 budget Monday with a strong majority. Rajapaksa is aiming for a budget deficit of 4.6 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP), its lowest since 1977, from this year's revised 5 percent. However, the opposition said the figure would be much higher after the budget was loosened. ...","French train crash: Signal problems, uneven speed. PARIS (AP) — France's transport chief says faulty maintenance on a signal and hot weather may have played a role in the collision of two trains in southwest France, which left 25 injured.","Australia judge probed for saying incest 'may be accepted'. An Australian judge will be investigated for his \"appalling\" comments on incest, in which he reportedly said sex between siblings was gaining social acceptance just like homosexuality, authorities said Friday. New South Wales state Attorney-General Brad Hazzard said he was \"extremely concerned\" about District Court judge Garry Neilson's alleged comments in a case where a man was accused of repeatedly raping his younger sister, which were reported in the Sydney Morning Herald.","Not guilty plea in South Africa honeymoon killing. JOHANNESBURG (AP) — A British man accused of arranging for the murder of his wife during their honeymoon in South Africa has pleaded not guilty to all charges.","Exclusive: Fred Willard Guest Stars on The Bold and the Beautiful. The Bold and the Beautiful...and the hilarious? Comedy great Fred Willard has been set for a four-episode guest appearance on the hit CBS soap opera playing John Forrester, younger brother of fashion king Eric Forrester (John McCook). John is also the father of jewelry designer Ivy Forrester (Ashleigh Brewer), the show's new Aussie beauty who was recently brought to America by Eric to help out with the family business. Read More > Other Links From TVGuide.com Fred Willard The Bold and the Beautiful","Lille snatches 2-2 draw at Evian in French league. Lille rescued a 2-2 draw at relegation-threatened Evian in the French league on Sunday to boost its Champions League hopes.","Facebook's WhatsApp acquisition now has price tag of $22 billion. By Alexei Oreskovic SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Facebook Inc closed its acquisition of mobile messaging service WhatsApp on Monday, with the final price tag rising an additional $3 billion to roughly $22 billion because of the increased value of Facebook's stock in recent months. WhatsApp founder Jan Koum will receive nearly $2 billion in stock, vesting over a four-year period, as an inducement for him to stay with the company, according to a regulatory filing on Monday. ...","Campbell leads confident Costa Rica to upset. FORTALEZA, Brazil (AP) — Joel Campbell hasn't played a game for Arsenal since he signed with the Premier League club three years ago.","Australia says nothing spotted in search for plane. KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Search planes flying deep into the southern Indian Ocean have found nothing so far that could be from the missing Malaysia Airlines jet, Australia's acting prime minister said Friday.","Yemen armed forces on alert as rebel deadline nears. President Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi urged Yemen's armed forces Thursday to \"raise their level of vigilance\" on the eve of the expiry of a rebel deadline for the government to quit. The rebel commander warned on Sunday that the authorities must address protesters' grievances by the end of the week or face \"legitimate action\". Thousands of armed Shiite rebels, also known as Ansarullah or Huthis, strengthened their positions in Sanaa on Wednesday as they pressed their campaign to force the government, which they accuse of corruption, to step down. Fearing increased tensions during the weekly Friday prayers, Hadi urged the armed forces to \"raise their level of vigilance\" and \"be prepared to deal with any development\".","Iran warns Pakistan after abducted soldier feared executed. Tehran on Wednesday issued a warning to Islamabad after reports emerged that one of five Iranian soldiers abducted and taken across the border into Pakistan by Sunni extremists had been executed. President Hassan Rouhani in a telephone call with Pakistan's Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif demanded \"serious and swift action\" by Pakistan to secure the release of the soldiers. Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif had earlier expressed \"grave concern\" about the fate of Jamshid Danayifar, who was kidnapped along with four other border guards on February 6 by rebel group Jaish-ul Adl.","Brazil's maternal milk banks model for globe. RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Thirty years ago, poor Brazilian women were paid for their breast milk, leaving their children at risk of malnourishment. Equipment at the few milk collection centers was so costly it limited the country's ability to expand the program's reach.","Britain announces tougher new rules on bankers' bonuses. British banks will be able to claw back employee bonuses up to seven years later if the recipient is found guilty of serious recklessness, the Bank of England announced on Wednesday. The rules, amongst the toughest in the world, were finalised by the BoE's Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA), which is also proposing further rules to allow the clawback period to be extended beyond seven years. Banks have also faced a slew of new regulations after the onslaught of the global financial crisis revealed the scale of the recklessness in London's financial centre. The British Bankers' Association hit out at the rules, saying they would weaken London's position as a global financial centre.","Ukraine rebels agree to temporary ceasefire: separatist leader. Kiev (AFP) - A top Ukrainian separatist leader said on Monday that the pro-Russian rebels would agree to a temporary ceasefire and seek talks with the new Western-backed president on ending 10 weeks of fighting in the industrial east.","Bangladesh ferry sinks with up to 200 on board. An overloaded ferry carrying up to 200 passengers sank Monday on a river in central Bangladesh, police said. \"We have heard that the ferry was overloaded with passengers and the river was rough,\" local police chief Tofazzal Hossain told AFP.","2 Uganda cricketers missing after WCup qualifiers. WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — New Zealand immigration officials say they will deport two Uganda cricketers who went into hiding last week after playing in a World Cup qualifying tournament.","Five-try Northampton reclaim Premiership summit. Inspired by their powerful pack, Northampton won 39-13 at home to Gloucester on Saturday to return to the top of the English Premiership table at the expense of Saracens. Saracens had taken over at the summit following a 23-10 victory at Bath on Friday, but Northampton moved back above them thanks to a five-try bonus-point win that extended their club-record unbeaten run to 13 matches. Northampton rugby director Jim Mallinder believes the return of England full-back Ben Foden, who made his first appearance since November after knee ligament trouble, can bolster his team's bid for silverware. \"I was really delighted to see Ben Foden back, he was particularly sharp,\" Mallinder said.","Costa leads Spain attack against Dutch at WCup. SALVADOR, Brazil (AP) — Brazilian-born Diego Costa will lead World Cup holder Spain's attack against the Netherlands on Friday in a Group B rematch of the 2010 final.","Indian nurses abducted in Iraq released, to fly home: India official. Nearly 50 Indian nurses who were abducted by suspected Islamist militants in Iraq have been released and will soon be flown home, an Indian official said on Friday. The nurses, all from the southern Indian state of Kerala, were being moved from the northern city of Mosul to the city of Erbil, some 80 km (50 miles) away, said P. Sivadasan, an aide to Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy. Officials at India's foreign ministry were not immediately available to comment on the status of the nurses.","Former hostage tells London imam's U.S. trial about escape in Yemen. By Joseph Ax NEW YORK (Reuters) - With her Yemeni captor lying on the sand with a gunshot wound, Mary Quin hesitated for only a few seconds. \"I thought, 'This is a chance to make a run for it,'\" she told jurors in New York on Wednesday at the terror trial of London imam Abu Hamza as-Masri. U.S. prosecutors accuse Abu Hamza of providing a satellite phone and advice to the kidnappers. Prosecutors have introduced evidence that the kidnappers planned to trade the tourists for prisoners in Yemen, including Abu Hamza's son and stepson.","Prison uprising ends in southern Brazil. SAO PAULO (AP) — Officials say an uprising at a prison in southern Brazil has ended after more than two days.","Japan sent packing by revamped Colombia. Cuiabá (Brazil) (AFP) - Jackson Martinez scored twice as Colombia beat Japan 4-1 to end their World Cup Group C campaign with a perfect three wins and boot the Asian champions out of the tournament. The match made World Cup history when Farid Mondragan beat Roger Milla's record as the oldest player at any finals tournament. Martinez's two second-half goals broke Japanese hearts after the Blue Samurai had equalised on the stroke of half-time to keep their hopes alive in Cuiaba. Colombian fans decked out in yellow turned the stadium into a home fixture, hugely outnumbering their Japanese counterparts as coach Jose Pekerman made eight changes to his starting line-up.","Senegal police fire teargas on supporters of ex-president's son. Senegalese police used teargas to disperse hundreds of supporters of Karim Wade, the son of former President Abdoulaye Wade, as his corruption trial entered its second day on Monday. Witnesses said police fired teargas after Wade's supporters became angry at being refused entry to Dakar's Palais de Justice where a special court is handling the case that has raised political tensions in the usually stable West African state. His supporters say the trial is part of a plot by the government to purge its political rivals.","Iran rules out 'backward steps' on nuclear programme. Tehran (AFP) - Iran will not accept any \"backward steps\" on its nuclear programme, specifically on the enrichment of uranium, a top official said Saturday, dismissing US calls for more curbs.","UK government lends hand to BP in U.S. Gulf oil spill ruling. (Reuters) - The British government has urged the U.S. Supreme Court to review an appeals court ruling against BP Plc over a 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill that produced one of the largest class actions in American history. In a friend of court brief, the UK government said the ruling by U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier raises grave international concerns by undermining confidence in the \"vigorous and fair resolution of disputes.\" The filing said BP, which has \"gone to great lengths to restore the Gulf Coast\", was now being required to pay large sums to others who were not injured by the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.","U.S. housing, jobs data bolster economic outlook. The National Association of Realtors said existing home sales increased 2.4 percent to an annual rate of 5.15 million units. Home resales have now increased for four straight months after the housing market recovery stalled in the second half of 2013 following a run-up in mortgage rates. In a separate report, the Labor Department said initial claims for state unemployment benefits fell 14,000 to a seasonally adjusted 298,000 for the week ended Aug. 16.","Kerry: Address climate change before it's too late. BOSTON (AP) — Secretary of State John Kerry said Wednesday that the U.S. and the world need to confront the threat of climate change while there's still time.","Bayern pays off stadium debt almost 16 years early. MUNICH (AP) — Bayern Munich chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge says it has \"completely paid off\" its stadium debt nearly 16 years ahead of schedule.","Military chiefs warn Scotland over evicting nuclear weapons. By Belinda Goldsmith GLASGOW (Reuters) - The Scottish government's plan to evict Britain's nuclear submarine base if it wins a vote for independence would cost billions of pounds, cut thousands of jobs and create resentment internationally, former defense chiefs said on Monday. The Scottish National Party, which runs Scotland's devolved parliament, has vowed to remove and ban all nuclear weapons in the first parliament of independence, that would start in 2016 if Scotland votes Yes at a September 18 referendum. But the former top brass said the proposed timescale would create \"huge practical problems\" over the cost and jobs lost and such a stance would be \"unacceptable\" to NATO allies. The concerns raised by four former chiefs of defense staff, six former first sea lords, a former chief of the general staff, and a former chief of the air staff, come after a narrowing in opinion polls this year, which have made independence seem a possibility even though nationalists still lag in support.","Iran mulls replacement for Russian S-300 missile system. Tehran is considering a replacement for the Russian S-300 missile defence system, a senior Iranian lawmaker told Fars news agency Monday. Russia signed a contract with Iran in 2007 to deliver five S-300 advanced ground-to-air missiles -- which can target aircraft or guided missiles -- at a cost of $800 million (590 million euros). In 2010, Russia's then-president Dmitry Medvedev cancelled the contract because of UN sanctions and strong US and Israeli pressure over concerns about Tehran's disputed nuclear programme. \"We had a meeting with the Iranian ambassador to Russia and held talks over the (delivery) of a substitute system for S-300,\" Fars quoted Esmaeel Kosari, the head of parliament’s Defence Committee, as saying.","Activists: Islamic State group may have warplanes. BAGHDAD (AP) — Syrian activists say the Islamic State militant group has captured some MiG fighter jets and is test-flying the warplanes in Syria with the help of former Iraqi air force pilots.","Asia documentary makers ride wave of 'civil awareness'. Hong Kong (AFP) - A wave of \"civil awareness\" across Taiwan, Hong Kong and China is inspiring more documentary makers to unearth stories that otherwise would not be told, according to an award-winning Taiwanese director.","India's industrial output picks up slightly. MUMBAI, India (AP) — India's industrial production data have shown an unexpected uptick as elections loom in the world's most populous democracy.","German households get small break on green power surcharge. FRANKFURT (Reuters) - A surcharge included since 2000 on German household power bills to help fund renewable energy will be trimmed for the first time, network companies said on Wednesday. Germany has expanded renewable energy as part of sweeping changes that will include switching off nuclear power by 2022. The green energy surcharge will fall 1.1 percent in 2015 to 6.17 euro cents per kilowatt-hour from 6.24 cents, the transmission system operators (TSOs) said in a joint statement. Sources had told Reuters on Tuesday the surcharge would fall to 6. ...","China slams Hong Kong democracy poll despite 800,000 votes. Hong Kong (AFP) - Organisers Monday urged Hong Kong's government to take seriously an unofficial referendum on democratic reform after nearly 800,000 people voted in the Chinese city, but state media in Beijing dismissed the ballot as unpatriotic.","Scientists to study Amazon rainforest fate if CO2 levels rise. A group of scientists from more than 20 institutions around the world will gauge the impact on the world's largest rainforest if a time comes when the planet has 30 percent more carbon dioxide (CO2) than today, according to a project launched on Wednesday. Sensors and field observation will evaluate the reaction of the trees when subject to a concentration of carbon dioxide 200 parts per million (ppm) higher than the current 400 ppm, already the highest level ever. Predictions by the U.N.'s panel on climate change (IPCC) indicate that 600 ppm could be the level of CO2 concentration in 50 years time. Tropical forests around the world are a key aspect on global warming.","Japan's Beethoven apologizes before cameras. TOKYO (AP) — The man lauded as \"Japan's Beethoven,\" who has admitted he never wrote his compositions, appeared before cameras for the first time since the scandal surfaced — clean-shaven and minus his trademark sunglasses.","Nets edge Kings 97-95 in China. SHANGHAI (AP) — Mirza Teletovic sank a 3-pointer with less than a minute remaining to lift the Brooklyn Nets to a 97-95 preseason win over the Sacramento Kings on Sunday in the first of two NBA exhibition games to be played in China this year.","Real and virtual exploration of Munich's dark past. MUNICH (AP) — With all of the cheery things to see and do in this sumptuous city just north of the Alps — drink beer, admire palaces and old churches, visit museums, soak up Bavarian hospitality, and drink more beer — why would anyone want to visit sites associated with Adolf Hitler?","Russia says will not reconsider absorption of Crimea. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Thursday that Crimea's absorption into Russia will not be reconsidered and must not be questioned, the ministry said. In a telephone call, Lavrov \"stressed that the decision on the reunification of Crimea with Russia, which reflects the will of an absolute majority of (Crimea's) residents, is not subject to review and should be respected\", the ministry said.","Polls open in historic Scottish independence vote. EDINBURGH, Scotland (AP) — Polls have opened across Scotland in a referendum that will decide whether the country leaves its 307-year-old union with England and becomes an independent state.","Rescuers fight to help crash victims in Moscow's deepest metro. In a small park near Moscow's Victory Park metro station, five medics huddled around a man stretched out on the grass. Twenty people died and over 100 were injured in the metro derailment in a tunnel more than 80 metres underground, the deadliest accident in the transport system's history, which transformed the normally placid, affluent Victory Park neighbourhood into a disaster scene. Emergency workers were battling to free trapped bodies from the crumpled wreckage of the front carriage in a tunnel leading from Victory Park station, the city's deepest. - Day of mourning in Moscow -","Obama schedules 4-country trip to Asia in April. WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama plans to visit Japan, South Korea, Malaysia and the Philippines in April.","Car bomb kills 10 troops in Egypt's Sinai. A car bomb killed 10 Egyptian soldiers and wounded 27 others in an attack by suspected jihadists on an army checkpoint in the Sinai Peninsula on Friday, security officials said. The sources, revising an earlier death toll of five, said the attack took place near El-Arish, the main town in the restive north Sinai. Jihadists based in the Sinai have killed scores of policemen and soldiers since the army overthrew Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in July 2013. Last Sunday, a roadside bomb exploded near an armoured vehicle guarding a gas pipeline in north Sinai, killing seven soldiers.","Malawi corruption suspect faces charges. BLANTYRE, Malawi (AP) — The chief suspect in a government corruption scandal that has rocked the southern African nation of Malawi faces charges of fraud and money laundering.","Moscow hails Ukraine self-rule olive branch for east. Moscow (AFP) - Russia hailed Wednesday Ukraine's offer of self-rule for separatist rebels in the east under a peace plan seen as the best chance yet of halting five months of bloody warfare.","Russia's biggest concern over Ukraine is it joins NATO-Putin. ST PETERSBURG, Russia (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday that Moscow's biggest concern over the crisis in Ukraine was that the former Soviet republic would join NATO. \"Tomorrow Ukraine may join NATO, while the day after tomorrow parts of the U.S. anti-missile system could be deployed there,\" he told an investment forum. Russia has long been wary of the expansion of the military bloc into eastern Europe, and in particular former Soviet republics. Putin said last month Russia's decision to annexe Crimea from Ukraine was partly influenced by concerns over NATO ...","Berdych falls to Lopez in Queen's quarters. LONDON (AP) — Spanish left-hander Feliciano Lopez upset second-seeded Tomas Berdych 6-4, 7-6 (7) to reach the Queen's Club semifinals on Friday.","Slovak president race: known quantity vs. upstart. Slovakia's presidential runoff on Saturday pits the country's best-known politician — a prime minister whose party has a lock on parliament — against a businessman-turned philanthropist who is hoping to capitalize on a corruption scandal that reached up into high levels of government.","Factbox: U.S. weather forecaster's El Nino/La Nina watch. (Reuters) - The U.S. weather forecaster said on Thursday the chances of El Nino striking during the Northern Hemisphere summer exceed 65 percent, three months after issuing its first alert that the weather pattern could return this year. The latest outlook is broadly inline with Australia's Bureau of Meteorology (BOM), which said this week the weather pattern is likely to emerge as early as July. The anomaly heats up tropical oceans in East Asia, sending warm air into the United States and South America, often causing flooding and heavy rains. Here are some details about recent weather alerts by the Climate Prediction Center (CPC), an agency of the U.S. National Weather Service.","22 killed in mine accident in southwestern China. BEIJING (AP) — Chinese authorities say 22 people have died in a mining accident in the southwestern city of Chongqing.","Europeans debate common stand on Palestine. BRUSSELS (AP) — Frustrated by deadlock in the Middle East peace process, a growing number of European leaders and lawmakers are calling for unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state.","Barcelona needs goals to keep pace with Madrid. MADRID (AP) — With Real Madrid still playing at the Club World Cup in Morocco, Barcelona will have a chance to close the gap on the Spanish leaders on Saturday.","'No leniency' for acts of violence: Egypt's President Sisi. Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi warned on Sunday, hours after being sworn in, that there will be \"no leniency\" for those who commit acts of violence. In a televised address to the nation, Sisi promised to work toward \"reconciliation\" but not with those who have \"shed blood\". Sisi ousted Islamist president Mohamed Morsi last July, since when authorities have crushed his Muslim Brotherhood movement, jailed its leaders and put them on trial. Sisi said there will be \"no leniency and truce with those who resort to violence\".","Berlin says U.S. spy allegations no threat to EU-US trade talks. BERLIN (Reuters) - The German government does not expect allegations that U.S. secret services used a German intelligence official as a double agent to threaten ongoing talks on a free trade deal between the European Union and United States, a spokeswoman said on Monday. \"The Americans are important partners for Germany including of course in economic terms, so the TTIP (Translatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership) talks ... are not in question or in doubt,\" said government spokeswoman Christiane Wirtz. (Reporting by Stephen Brown and Alexandra Hudson)","French defence minister says new mass grave found in Central African Republic. PARIS - France's defence minister says French intelligence services have reported the discovery of a new mass grave in Central African Republic.","Court hears legal challenge to Ottawa's health-care cuts for refugees. TORONTO - A federal court judge is questioning whether provincial governments have truly filled in the gap left by cutbacks to health-care coverage for refugee claimants announced 18 months ago.","Ashley Cole looks forward to new life at Roma. ROME (AP) — Former Chelsea left back Ashley Cole is looking to forward to a new life with Serie A runner-up Roma.","Hamburger SV wins shootout over 3rd-tier club. FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — Goalkeeper Rene Adler saved two penalties as Hamburger SV squeezed into the second round of the German Cup by winning a shootout over third-division Energie Cottbus.","Rugby league - RugbyL: New Zealand beat Australia 22-18 in Four Nations final. - New Zealand beat defending champions Australia 22-18 to win the Four Nations rugby league tournament final in Wellington on Saturday.","Boxing - Golovkin crushes Geale to retain WBA title. - Unbeaten Kazakh star Gennady Golovkin stopped Australian Daniel Geale in three brutal rounds on Saturday to retain his World Boxing Association middleweight title. In round three he responded to a hard right to the head from the Aussie challenger with his own punishing right to the nose, followed by a quick left that sent Geale down. Geale, whose record fell to 30 wins and three losses with 16 knockouts, had no complaint when referee Michael Ortega called a halt 2min, 47sec into the round.","SOCHI SCENE: Bigger than life. KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia (AP) — Kate Hansen is not lacking for Olympic personality.","Video of child beating boy in Lebanon goes viral. Lebanon has arrested a man who spurred his two-year-old son to beat up a Syrian child after a video of the shocking blows went viral, state media reported on Sunday. The cousin of the boy named Abbas, who taped the video which was posted online overnight Friday, was also arrested, the National News Agency said, quoting a police statement. Justice Minister Ashraf Rifi ordered an investigation and late on Saturday police arrested \"Abbas's father and his cousin who taped the video after a probe involving online activists,\" the news agency said. The video caused outrage across Lebanon with angry comments posted on Facebook and Twitter, and one user saying she was \"ashamed of being Lebanese\".","ECB and BoE plan to revive EU securitization, boost investment. By David Milliken and Eva Taylor LONDON/FRANKFURT (Reuters) - The European Central Bank and the Bank of England set out proposals on Friday to resurrect the European Union's market for asset-backed securities and help the flow of credit to smaller businesses. Europe's ABS market has not recovered from the stigma created by the global financial crisis, which was triggered by doubts about the quality of assets in supposedly rock-solid U.S. mortgage-backed securities. The ECB and the BoE aim to get European banks and investors to agree common standards for safer ABS, which could help build a stronger economy by providing credit to firms that are too small to raise investment funds direct from capital markets. \"Securitization can support greater funding diversification, free up capital to allow banks to extend new credit to the real economy, and provide ... insurance companies and pension funds with access to a broader pool of assets,\" the BoE said.","Five killed in fresh clash between Azeris, ethnic Armenians. Azerbaijan said Saturday it had lost four troops in new clashes with arch-foe Armenia near the disputed Nagorny Karabakh region as mediators sounded the alarm over a spike in tensions in the protracted conflict. The fresh clashes come after Azerbaijan said Friday that eight troops had been killed in three days of fighting with Armenia, with Moscow and Washington expressing concern over the violence. The two ex-Soviet Caucasus nations have been locked in a long-simmering conflict over Nagorny Karabakh, a majority Armenian region within Azerbaijan that is de facto independent, with occasional skirmishes along the front. The sudden surge in tensions in a region that has been on a knife-edge for years comes as Armenia's ally Russia is locked in a confrontation with the West over the future of ex-Soviet Ukraine.","Court filing: Taiwan man to change plea to guilty. CHICAGO (AP) — A Taiwanese man accused of trying to bypass bans on supplying weapons machinery to North Korea is expected to change his plea to guilty.","After month of war, Gaza's disabled face shortages, isolation. By Sylvia Westall GAZA (Reuters) - The attack came from the air in the afternoon, smashing Jamal Doghmosh's Gaza workshop to pieces, pitting his chest with shrapnel and severing his left arm. \"It is not possible for me to work without my hands,\" he said from his hospital bed in Gaza City, three days after the Israeli army bombed his district. He is one of thousands of Palestinians who have been left physically disabled by the conflict with Israel in the Gaza Strip, which began on July 8 after a surge in Palestinian rocket salvoes into the Jewish state. Authorities in tiny, densely populated Gaza say 1,890 Palestinians have been killed and at least 9,000 wounded by Israeli air strikes and shelling, a toll worse than the last two bouts of war combined, dating to 2008-09.","Spain looks to avoid worst ever World Cup defense. CURITIBA, Brazil (AP) — Spain will take on Australia in its final Group B match Monday in the knowledge that defeat will officially make its defense of the World Cup the worst in history.","Veteran Catalan leader reveals family kept money abroad. A former premier of Spain's Catalonia region and one of its biggest political powerbrokers said Friday his family kept undeclared money abroad for over 30 years and apologised for the \"mistake\". In a statement Jordi Pujol, who headed the regional government of Catalonia from 1980 to 2003, said his father left an undisclosed amount of money which he stored outside of Spain to his wife and seven children on his death in September 1980. \"In recent days members of my family have regularised this inheritance,\" he added. Before the last regional elections held in Catalonia in November 2012, centre-right daily newspaper El Mundo published a police report whose origins were unknown that claimed that Pujol and his family had bank accounts in Switzerland.","Libya to elect new parliament on June 25. Tripoli (AFP) - Libya's electoral commission announced Tuesday that polls will take place on June 25 to elect a new parliament to replace the contested General National Congress, Lana state news agency said.","Guatemala sees opium poppies as potential revenue-spinners. By William Schomberg LONDON (Reuters) - Guatemala is considering the possibility of earning taxes from the sale of opium poppies to help fund drug prevention programmes and other social spending, the country's interior minister said on Wednesday. The Central American state is looking at ways to legalize poppy and marijuana production, part of a broader shift in attitudes across Latin America away from the huge financial and social costs of the U.S.-backed war on drugs. \\\\\"That is one idea that has been raised,\\\\\" said Mauricio Lopez Bonilla, a retired lieutenant colonel who served with Guatemala's special forces, when asked if the government would tax the sale of poppies if it opted to allow their cultivation for medical purposes. Almost all of Guatemala's poppy production is concentrated in three municipalities located close to the border with Mexico and has been funded traditionally by Mexican drug gangs.","UN urges Europe to bolster Mediterranean plan as migrant toll hits 800. UN refugee agency chief Antonio Guterres on Thursday urged European governments to step up efforts to rescue and host migrants who cross the Mediterranean, as this year's death toll reached 800. \"Europeans need to take urgent action to stop this catastrophe getting worse in the second half of 2014,\" the UNHCR chief said. All-told, UNHCR said that 800 people have died this year alone in the Mediterranean. UNHCR said that 75,000 refugees and migrants arrived in Italy, Greece, Spain and Malta by sea in the first half of 2014.","Spain heads FIFA rankings, Brazil rises to No. 3. ZURICH (AP) — Defending World Cup champion Spain will travel to Brazil as the No. 1 team in the FIFA rankings, and the host nation will kick off as No. 3.","Microsoft board close to naming Nadella as new CEO. By Nadia Damouni and Bill Rigby NEW YORK/SEATTLE (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp is close to naming a new chief executive, most likely its cloud-computing head Satya Nadella, a source close to the matter said on Thursday, concluding a five-month long search for a heavy-hitter to lead the world's largest software company. As part of the move, co-founder Bill Gates may step aside as chairman but remain on the board, while lead independent director John Thompson will take on the chairman role, the source said on condition of anonymity because the process is private. Nadella, a native of Hyderabad, India - where Microsoft has its largest non-U.S. research center - was promoted to run the company's fast expanding cloud, or internet-based, computing initiatives in July last year as part of current CEO Steve Ballmer's radical re-organization of the company. Before his role in shaping Microsoft's cloud computing business, Nadella was in charge of the company's growing server and tools unit, following on from high-level roles in Microsoft's Office and Bing search engine teams.","BHP Billiton set to spin off unwanted assets. By Sonali Paul and Silvia Antonioli MELBOURNE/LONDON (Reuters) - Diversified mining company BHP Billiton declared its preference for a demerger of its aluminum, manganese and nickel assets on Friday, setting the stage for the formation of a separate business that could be worth at least $12 billion. An Australian newspaper said those plans were well advanced and would include the Nickel West business that the world's biggest miner has been trying to sell. \"A demerger of a selection of assets is our preferred option,\" the company, which has a market capitalization of $185 billion, said in a statement to the Australian stock exchange. It makes me more willing to have it as a significant bet within my fund,\" said Christopher Moore, portfolio manager of Fidelity Global Industrials Fund.","Water builds up in China quake zone, brings new danger: Xinhua. An earthquake in China on the weekend triggered landslides that have blocked rivers and created rapidly growing bodies of water that could unleash more destruction on survivors of the disaster that killed 410 people, state media reported on Tuesday. The earthquake has formed a huge barrier lake containing more than 49.6 million cubic metres (1,750 million cubic feet) of water, and 4,200 residents threatened by it had been evacuated, Xinhua reported, quoting an expert in charge. On Monday, an army doctor went missing while trying to swim across another lake to help a villager search for his missing wife, Xinhua said. Premier Li Keqiang went to the disaster zone on Monday and media broadcasts and websites have been carrying pictures and footage of him trudging through devastated areas and offering condolences to survivors.","Pellegrini turns on ref as City lose to Barca in Champions League. Manchester (United Kingdom) (AFP) - Manchester City manager Manuel Pellegrini risks a UEFA sanction after launching a scathing attack on the match referee after his side's 2-0 loss to Barcelona in the Champions League. Barcelona took charge of the last 16 tie thanks to a second-half penalty from Lionel Messi and a late Dani Alves strike at the Etihad Stadium in Tuesday's first leg, and Pellegrini blamed match official Jonas Eriksson for his side's defeat. In a wide-ranging attack, Pellegrini accused Eriksson of making two mistakes over the penalty decision and even questioned why a Swedish official had been given control of the game.","Parts of Britain 'unrecognisable' due to immigration: UKIP leader. Parts of Britain have become \"unrecognisable\" due to mass immigration, the leader of the eurosceptic UK Independence Party told activists in a rallying cry ahead of European elections in May. Nigel Farage, speaking at UKIP's spring conference in Torquay on Friday, claimed the opening the UK's borders to migrants from new EU members in eastern Europe had damaged social cohesion across the country. \"Eighty percent of us in this country believe open door immigration is irresponsible, against the interests of the people in this country and that it must stop,\" he told the annual conference. \"All of this has happened because we now have a totally distorted labour market in Britain, because of the massive oversupply that has come to us from eastern Europe.\"","Russia is working on more retaliatory measures: Kremlin. Russia is working on possible additional retaliatory measures in case Western nations impose new sanctions, President Vladimir Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Tuesday. We have repeatedly said that Russia is not an advocate of the sanctions rhetoric and did not initiate it. He said the scope of further Russia sanctions would depend on the type of measures that Western nations may adopt in the future.","Hull draws 1-1 at Brighton in FA Cup 5th round. BRIGHTON, England (AP) — Yannick Sagbo equalized five minutes from time as Premier League side Hull snatched a 1-1 draw at Championship side Brighton in the fifth round of the FA Cup on Monday.","Germany leads Portugal 3-0 at halftime. SALVADOR, Brazil (AP) — Thomas Mueller scored twice on either side of Mats Hummels's headed goal as Germany took a 3-0 lead at halftime of its opening World Cup Group G match against 10-man Portugal on Monday.","155 European cities join Bloomberg ideas contest. NEW YORK (AP) — Unemployment, energy efficiency and obesity are the top concerns targeted by some 155 European cities competing to out-innovate each other in a lucrative contest launched by former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, his foundation announced Wednesday.","Clashes at Egypt rallies kill 2 ahead of election. CAIRO (AP) — Clashes in Egypt between Islamist protesters and their opponents killed two protesters after midday prayers Friday, authorities said as the country saw the final day of campaigning ahead of next week's presidential election.","Report: Fire in Iranian prison kills 11 inmates. TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran's official IRNA news agency reports that a fire at a prison in the center of the country has killed 11 inmates.","Fund managers turn gumshoe as forensic short-selling pays off. By Francesco Canepa LONDON (Reuters) - Fund managers are increasingly turning to investigative tactics, detailed accounting analysis and corporate sleuthing in a bid to uncover skeletons in company closets that can offer an investment edge in a low-yield world. While billionaire investors such as Bill Ackman and David Einhorn have made such tactics famous by respectively betting against nutrition group Herbalife - which denies Ackman's allegations it is a pyramid scheme - and Lehman Brothers in 2008, the broader industry is now adopting them. Investors say the frustrating market environment - with interest rates at rock-bottom and stock markets holding near multi-year highs - and an impressive recent success rate from investigative hedge funds, which are on course to deliver their best returns in years, are pushing them to make deeper dives. \"The use of forensic accounting and investigative research techniques is noticeably increasing,\" said Bruce Harington, senior analyst at hedge-fund investor Stenham Asset Management, adding that investment funds were hiring former forensic accountants and investigative journalists.","Federer returns to Davis Cup action this week. NOVI SAD, Serbia (AP) — Roger Federer will return to the Davis Cup this week in Switzerland's first-round match in Serbia.","Cameron ready to force EU vote on Juncker. Prime Minister David Cameron will force fellow EU leaders to vote on who should head the bloc's executive body if they try to impose Jean-Claude Juncker, Downing Street sources said Sunday. Cameron, who views the former long-serving Luxembourg prime minister as a federalist who will not adopt the modernising reforms he says the European Union badly needs, has vowed to \"fight this right to the very end\". London feels Juncker is an EU insider to the bone, who will not heed the backlash voters inflicted in last month's European Parliament elections, but instead press on regardless with Brussels business as usual. European centre-left leaders meeting in Paris on Saturday backed Juncker -- who is from the centre-right -- and the row is set to dominate the two-day summit of all 28 EU leaders starting Thursday.","Liberia complains of harassment of citizens in Nigeria over Ebola. The Liberian government complained Thursday that its citizens were being harassed and \"stereotyped\" in Nigeria following the death in a Lagos hospital of one of its citizens infected with Ebola virus. \"The attention of our embassy has been brought to several cases of harassment of Liberians especially in Lagos and other places. This harassment borders on stereotyping and sometimes expression of collective guilt,\" Liberian ambassador to Nigeria, Martin George, said. The patient who brought the virus to Lagos on July 20, Liberian finance ministry employee Patrick Sawyer, was placed under quarantine at a private hospital.","Kerry in Jordan to meet King Abdullah. Aqaba (Jordan) (AFP) - US Secretary of State John Kerry arrived in Jordan on Friday for talks with King Abdullah II on the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, a US spokeswoman travelling with him said. Kerry, who arrived from Rome from where he also brought back his Jordanian counterpart Nasser Judeh, will discuss the Middle East peace process with the monarch, spokesperson Marie Harf said. \"We are arriving in Aqaba, Jordan, with Foreign Minister Judeh today to see King Abdullah to talk about the peace process,\" Harf said.","Norwegian strong in Nordic combined training. KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia (AP) — Haavard Klemetsen of Norway finished first in two of three ski jumping sessions on the opening day of Nordic combined training for the individual Gundersen normal hill event at the Sochi Olympics on Sunday.","English FA director adds to pressure on EPL chief. LONDON (AP) — A leading English Football Association director has called on the head of the Premier League to consider his position after the leak of apparently sexist emails.","4th US citizen with Ebola to be treated in Atlanta. ATLANTA (AP) — A hospital in Atlanta is preparing to treat its third Ebola patient.","Bulgarians seize 112 kilograms of heroin. SOFIA, Bulgaria (AP) — Bulgarian officials say they have seized 112 kilograms (246 pounds) of heroin hidden near the border with Turkey.","Uruguay president set to sign pot law. MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay (AP) — Uruguay's president is set to sign a law creating the country's legal marijuana market.","Thousands of Filipinos refuse to leave Libya jobs. MANILA, Philippines (AP) — The Philippines' top diplomat says fewer than 2,000 of about 13,000 Filipino workers and their dependents have expressed a desire to leave Libya despite their government's frantic effort to evacuate them from the strife-torn country.","Chelsea beats Cardiff 2-1 on final day of season. CARDIFF, Wales (AP) — Fernando Torres scored his first Premier League goal since January as Chelsea finished the campaign with a 2-1 victory at already-relegated Cardiff on Sunday.","Control of South Sudan oil state capital contested, says government. By Carl Odera JUBA (Reuters) - The capital of South Sudan's main oil-producing region is divided between government troops and rebels, the president's spokesman said, after an escalation in fighting that has added to jitters in global oil markets. Rebels loyal to former Vice President Riek Machar on Tuesday attacked Malakal, which lies on the fringes of Upper Nile state's oil fields, triggering the heaviest outburst of fighting since both sides signed a January 23 ceasefire deal. Global oil prices have been supported in part because of the conflict in South Sudan, which cut its crude output by about a fifth to around 200,000 barrels per day before the latest flare up in violence, as well as unrest in Libya. \"Malakal town is divided now between the government forces and the rebels\" spokesman Ateny Wek Ateny told Reuters late on Wednesday.","Magath fears for Fulham's future. Felix Magath admits the thought of relegation is scaring him ahead of Fulham's trip to Stoke City on Saturday. The second-bottom Cottagers must win their penultimate match of the season at the Britannia Stadium, according to their German manager, if they are to avoid bowing out of the Premier League. Magath, who has never dropped down a division in his career, was brought on board by Fulham with just 12 games of the season left in a desperate bid to preserve the London club's top-flight status after they sacked former Manchester United coach Rene Meulensteen as their manager. Now former Bayern Munich boss Magath finds himself in a charge of a Fulham side who are in 19th place, one point from safety.","Colombia mayors regulate World Cup merrymaking. BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — Authorities in major Colombia cities are again imposing bans on alcohol and curfews for minors Saturday to discourage mayhem on a big World Cup game day. At least one is even banning motorcycles.","Liverpool's Balotelli axed for West Brom clash. Liverpool (AFP) - Mario Balotelli paid the price for a poor start to his Liverpool career as the Italy striker was dropped for Saturday's Premier League clash against West Bromwich Albion.","Lifestyle disorders top health issues in Arab world. Heart disease and stroke have replaced infectious disease as the top causes of early death in the Arab world, tracking the West in a trend towards lifestyle disorders, The Lancet reported Monday. An international consortium of scientists compared the state of health in the 22 countries of the Arab League in 1990 and in 2010, using data from a vast study -- the 2010 Global Burden of Diseases report. In 1990, respiratory infection headed the list of concerns, accounting for 11 percent of deaths, while stillbirths and poor nutrition also featured high on the mortality list. But overall, infectious diseases -- with the exception of HIV -- have receded, the paper said.","Global shares fall on weaker oil, China losses; S&P steadies. By Sam Forgione NEW YORK (Reuters) - Global equity markets fell on Tuesday after China's market posted its worst day in five years and political turmoil hit Greece, while the U.S. S&P 500 erased losses to end mostly flat on gains in technology and energy shares. The drop in Chinese shares hurt risk sentiment, while a fall in oil prices to levels not seen since 2009 contributed to a second straight daily loss in European stocks and suggested global economic weakness. The yuan currency took its biggest hit against the dollar since 2008, adding to the gloom pervading emerging markets. ...","Ireland lauds Obama's immigration reform move. DUBLIN (AP) — Ireland is lauding President Barack Obama's executive orders granting new rights to millions of people living illegally in the United States, saying the reforms will allow thousands of Irish citizens to attend Irish weddings and funerals without fear of being barred from returning to their American lives.","Tesla offers leasing options for new Model S in U.S.. (Reuters) - Tesla Motors Inc unveiled a leasing policy for its new Model S with an option for buyers in the United States to return the car within three months of purchase. U.S. Bank will offer a lease for buyers of the new Model S, lowering monthly lease payments by as much as 25 percent, Tesla Chief Executive Elon Musk said in a blog post dated Oct. 25. If not satisfied and the car is returned within three months of purchase, the remaining lease obligation will be waived, Musk said. ...","Obama expresses worry Russia moving on Ukraine. THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — With no sign of Russia abandoning the Crimean Peninsula, President Barack Obama said Tuesday he's concerned that Moscow will move deeper into Ukraine and warned Russian President Vladimir Putin that that would be a bad choice.","Republican leaders to block US immigration measure. WASHINGTON (AP) — House Republican leaders intervened Friday to prevent a vote on U.S. immigration legislation, dealing a severe blow to election-year efforts to overhaul the widely denigrated system.","Qatar court overturns ruling against American couple over death of adopted daughter. DOHA, Qatar (AP) — Qatar court overturns ruling against American couple over death of adopted daughter.","UN agency prepares for largest Syria aid shipment. DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The United Nations refugee agency says it plans to send its aid largest shipment yet to Syria.","Saudi liberal gets 10 years in jail, 1,000 lashes. A Saudi court sentenced Raef Badawi, the founder of a human rights group, to 10 years in jail and 1,000 lashes Wednesday over allegations of \"insulting Islam,\" an activist said. Badawi, who has been behind bars since June 2012, was also ordered to pay a fine of one million riyals ($266,666/191,846 euros), the rights group's chief, Suad al-Shamari, told AFP. \"He is a prisoner of conscience,\" Shamari said, noting that there was \"no criminal charge against him.\" Badawi was sentenced in July 2013 to more than seven years in jail, in addition to 600 lashes, for insulting Islam, the religion of the ultra-conservative kingdom.","Marijuana-smoking Mountie found dead. Ottawa (AFP) - A Royal Canadian Mounted Police officer with a medical marijuana prescription for job-related stress has died of an apparent suicide after provoking a nationwide debate over his smoking in uniform.","Briton jailed 27 years for Florida murders seeks to reopen case. By David Adams MIAMI (Reuters) - Lawyers for a British man convicted in Florida for a 1986 double homicide sought to reopen the case on Tuesday, claiming that three Colombian drug traffickers were the real killers. Krishna Maharaj's lawyers have contended for years that Colombian cartels were responsible for the shooting deaths of Derrick and Duane Moo Young, but the defense motion filed in state court represents the first time the lawyers were specific in their allegations. Lawyers for Maharaj mounted a private investigation in Colombia that they say resulted in three Colombian drug traffickers coming forward to claim the killings were done \"at the behest of Pablo Escobar,\" the former head of the Medellin cartel gunned down by police in 1993. \"Krishna Maharaj was not involved in the murder of the Moo Youngs, and they had to be eliminated because they had lost Colombian drug money,\" according to one of the drug traffickers quoted in the defense motion.","Michelle Obama's 2nd inaugural gown joins first ladies' collection for 1 year at Smithsonian. WASHINGTON - Michelle Obama's fashion is making history again, at least for the next year, as her second inaugural gown will be displayed at the Smithsonian Institution.","Boko Haram fighters kill 18 in northeast Nigeria: witnesses. MAIDUGURI Nigeria (Reuters) - Boko Haram militants on motorcycles have killed at least 18 people in an attack on the northeast Nigerian town of Shaffa, witnesses said on Thursday. The attack late on Wednesday left bodies in the street, witness Amos Mshelia, who escaped by running into the surrounding bush and on to the nearby town of Biu, told Reuters by telephone. \"People ran out of their houses in fear, but unknown to many of us the insurgents were nearby and they were pursuing people, shooting as we were fleeing,\" he said. ...","T-Mobile posts lower-than-expected quarterly earnings. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - T-Mobile US Inc on Monday posted lower-than-expected quarterly earnings, as the company faced stiff competition from its rivals. T-Mobile reported a third-quarter loss of 12 cents per share, up from a loss of 5 cents per share a year earlier. Revenue rose 10 percent to $7.35 billion. (Reporting by Marina Lopes; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)","EU 'greatly concerned' as Sudan tightens restrictions. The EU expressed \"great concern\" Wednesday over tighter restrictions in Sudan since ex-premier Sadiq al-Mahdi was detained in mid-May after reportedly accusing a counter-insurgency unit of abuses against civilians in Darfur. But Mahdi was arrested on May 17 for alleged treason after he reportedly accused the Rapid Support Forces of rape and other abuses of civilians in Sudan's western Darfur region. \"The arrest and continued detention of opposition leader Al-Sadiq al-Mahdi in particular risks having an adverse effect on the process of national dialogue.","UN says Bolivia coca acreage down to 12-year low. LA PAZ, Bolivia (AP) — The area under coca cultivation in Bolivia in 2013 dropped to its lowest in 12 years, decreasing 9 percent from 2012, the United Nations reported Monday.","Mexico president vows to reform police, battle organized crime. MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexico's embattled President Enrique Pena Nieto said on Thursday he would propose constitutional changes to simplify the country's chaotic policing structure following the abduction and apparent massacre of 43 trainee teachers. Pena Nieto has been under growing pressure from protesters to end impunity and brutality by security forces since the 43 students were abducted by corrupt police in the southwestern city of Iguala on the night of Sept. 26. ...","Nordion's deal with Sterigenics clears U.S. antitrust hurdle. (Reuters) - Nordion Inc, a Canadian supplier of medical isotopes, said it had cleared a U.S. antitrust hurdle, paving the way for the company to be acquired by Sterigenics. The U.S. Federal Trade Commission terminated the waiting period for the acquisition under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act, Nordion said in a statement. Nordion also said on Friday that it received a no-action letter from the Canadian Competition Bureau. Nordion is a leading producer of molybdenum-99, an isotope used in medical imaging, while Sterigenics is a sterilization services provider owned by private equity firm GTCR LLC. Nordion's U.S.-listed shares were up 3 percent at $12.80 in premarket trading.","Holocaust experts work to preserve WWII-era items. JERUSALEM (AP) — With survivors dying in growing numbers and their live testimonies soon to be a thing of the past, Holocaust commemoration efforts are increasingly focused around preserving the belongings that contain their stories.","Jittery Israel gears up for war crimes battle. TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — A jittery Israeli military is gearing up for what could become its next big battle: dealing with U.N. investigations that could result in war-crimes allegations.","Mexican official charged with organized crime. MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexican federal prosecutors say they have charged the former interior secretary in Michoacan state with participating in organized crime.","Press groups urge probe of Honduras reporter slay. TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras (AP) — Press freedom groups are urging Honduran authorities to thoroughly investigate the slaying of a broadcast journalist who was shot to death outside his home last week.","Puerto Rico aims to retain young entrepreneurs. SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Puerto Rico's governor has signed a law that aims to keep young business owners on a U.S. territory struggling with population loss.","Germany says to keep up to 850 soldiers in Afghanistan. BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany plans to keep up to 850 soldiers in Afghanistan in 2015 to help train local armed forces, a defense ministry spokesman said on Tuesday, a slightly larger contingent than it had previously expected. Germany has had some 3,200 soldiers in Afghanistan as part of a NATO-led mission there. It had been planning to reduce that to a force of 600 to 800 soldiers from January. ...","London stocks end lower before bank 'stress' tests. London (AFP) - London shares closed lower on Friday at the end of a week of gains as investors awaited the results of European bank \"stress tests\" this weekend.","Basques form 123-km human chain calling for independence vote. By Arantza Goyoaga BILBAO Spain (Reuters) - Tens of thousands of Basques held hands on Sunday to form a 123-km chain stretching across the northern Spanish region calling for the right to hold a vote on independence. Organizing group \"It's in Our Hands\" estimated some 100,000 people joined the chain, which echoed a similar demonstration on Sept. 11 last year in Catalonia, another Spanish region with a large independence movement. Demonstrators draped in red-white-and-green Basque flags raised their linked hands as helicopters flew over the line stretching from the city of Durango to Pamplona some 76 miles away, which is not in Basque Country but is in the neighboring Navarra region considered part of Basque cultural and linguistic territory. A long economic crisis and political corruption scandals have triggered broad public disenchantment with key institutions that anchor Spain's democracy, formed in the 1970s after a long dictatorship.","Key militant leader killed in U.S. air strike, Somalia says. By Abdi Sheikh MOGADISHU (Reuters) - The leader of a unit of the Somali militant group al Shabaab was killed by a U.S. air strike in Somalia, Somalia's National Intelligence and Security Agency said on Tuesday. \"With the help of the Somali national security and intelligence agency and its U.S. counterpart, an al Shabaab leader was killed last night,\" the security agency said in a statement. The U.S. Defence Department said on Monday it had launched an air strike in Somalia that targeted a senior al Shabaab leader and was \"assessing the results of the operation. ...","Michael Garcia sends World Cup report to FIFA. ZURICH (AP) — FIFA says ethics investigator Michael Garcia has submitted his report into alleged corruption in the 2018 and 2022 World Cup bidding contests.","Mexico City sees raise in $5 per-day minimum wage. MEXICO CITY (AP) — It doesn't sound like much, but Mexico City's mayor has raised hackles with a proposal to increase the country's $5 per-day minimum wage to $6 per day.","Thousands rally in Kenya against president's rule. NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Thousands of people rallied Monday in Kenya's capital against President Uhuru Kenyatta's rule, with some calling for him to step down because he had failed to improve the lives of Kenyans more than a year after he came to office.","Yemen president sacks two top army commanders. Yemeni President Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi has sacked the military chiefs of two regions following sweeping advances by Shiite rebels and a surge in Al-Qaeda attacks, state media reported Sunday. Major General Mohammed al-Makdishi, who headed the sixth military command based in the northern city of Amran overrun by Shiite Huthi rebels, was sacked Saturday, Saba news agency said.","Iraq violence kills 17. Attacks in Iraq, including a series of shootings in the north, killed at least 17 people Sunday, officials said, as the country struggles to curb a year-long surge in violence. The deadliest single attack was a bomb that exploded on a highway between Baghdad and the northern city of Mosul, killing three police and four detainees who had been captured during a raid. Six shootings in Mosul itself -- one of the most dangerous parts of the country -- killed seven people, including the brother of a provincial councillor, a health directorate employee and three security forces members. In north Baghdad, a roadside bomb exploded near bicycle shops in the Sadr City area, killing at least two people and wounding at least seven, while another bombing in the Hurriyah area wounded at least three more people.","End of the Wirtschaftswunder? Germany's sudden slowdown. By Noah Barkin BERLIN (Reuters) - The German soccer team's romp to victory in last month's World Cup was hailed at home as a symbol of the country's emergence as a confident global economic power. In recent weeks, the economy that proud German politicians have taken to describing as a \"growth locomotive\" and \"stability anchor\" for Europe, has been hit by a barrage of bad news that has surprised even the most ardent Germany skeptics. \"The euphoria that we've seen, the perception that the German economy is booming is simply misplaced,\" said Marcel Fratzscher, director of the DIW economic institute in Berlin. So why is Germany suddenly ailing?","Canada's Milos Raonic loses in third round at Australian Open tennis tournament. MELBOURNE, Australia - Canada's Milos Raonic lost in his third-round match at the Australian Open on Saturday, going down 6-3, 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (10) to the 22nd-ranked Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria.","Iraqi militants take border post with Syria. ANBAR Iraq (Reuters) - Sunni fighters seized a border post on the Iraq-Syria frontier overnight, security sources at the border said on Saturday, a strategic gain which will allow them to move heavy weapons between territory they control in both countries. The militants, led by the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant, first moved into the nearby town of al-Qaim on Friday, pushing out security forces, the sources said. Once border guards heard that al-Qaim had fallen, they left their posts and militants moved in, the sources said. ...","Cameroon says kills 27 Boko Haram militants in border clashes. Cameroon's army has killed 27 members of Nigerian Islamist group Boko Haram near a northern town, state radio said on Wednesday, in a sign of growing cross-border activity by the militants. The Boko Haram fighters crossed the border into Cameroon earlier this week, after attacking a military base and police station in Nigeria and apparently sending some 480 Nigerian troops retreating across the frontier. \"Cameroon soldiers have killed 27 Boko Haram elements during an attack in a locality near Fotokol in the far-north,\" state radio CRTV said, adding that the deaths occurred on Monday and Tuesday. A Cameroonian soldier in the region said the militants had been pushed back into Nigeria, with calm returning to the area on Wednesday.","Seventeen South African gold miners trapped a mile underground. South African gold producer Harmony Gold launched a rescue operation on Wednesday to free 17 miners trapped a mile underground after a fire at its Doornkop mine near Johannesburg. The company said it had made contact with eight miners, who had managed to flee to a refuge bay at a depth 1,700 meters. The whereabouts of the remaining nine miners was unknown, a company spokesman said. South Africa's gold mines are among the deepest in the world.","Parliament approves new govt in Kosovo. PRISTINA, Kosovo (AP) — Legislators have approved a new coalition government in Kosovo, including the first prime minister who has had no association with the guerrilla fighters who won the territory's independence from Serbia in 2008.","Thai army chief: elections could occur in 1 year. BANGKOK (AP) — The head of the military junta that took control of Thailand in a coup last week says elections may not take place for more than a year because peace and reforms must be achieved first.","Indian gang rape case highlights lack of toilets. LUCKNOW, India (AP) — The two teenage girl cousins had walked out together at night, as they did every night, into the wild bamboo fields 10 or 15 minutes from their mud-and-straw huts to relieve themselves. Like millions of families across India, they had no toilet at home.","Attacks on journalists soar in Mexico: rights group. Attacks against journalists and news organizations soared by 59 percent in Mexico last year, with 330 cases reported for the most violent year since 2007, a media rights group said Tuesday. The London-based Article 19 organization said the media face an act of aggression every 26.5 hours in Mexico. The number of attacks against journalists, media workers and facilities of news organizations rose from 207 in 2012 to 330 in 2013. The report came after a weekend break-in at the house of the media rights group's director for Mexico and Central America, Dario Ramirez, whose computer and documents were stolen.","Russia says Ukraine aid delivered to its destination. Russian Foreign Ministry said on Saturday that humanitarian aid has been delivered to its intended destination in south-eastern Ukraine, and said it intended to continue cooperation with the International Committee of the Red Cross. \"We confirm our intention to continue cooperation with the ICRC in attempts to provide humanitarian aid to the people of south-eastern Ukraine\", it said in a statement.","East Ukraine militants confirm they are detaining U.S. reporter. Pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine on Wednesday confirmed they are detaining a U.S. journalist working with Vice News. The self-declared separatist mayor of Slaviansk told reporters the journalist, Simon Ostrovsky, had been detained for reporting what he said was false information that was \"destabilizing for us\" but that he was being treated well. Mayor Vyacheslav Ponomaryov attempted to joke about the situation.","Inmarsat to publish lost plane's final flight data. British satellite company Inmarsat said it will release all the data it used to determine the final path of missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 to help reassure relatives that authorities are searching in the right location. Inmarsat said in a joint statement with Malaysia's Department of Civil Aviation (DCA) on Tuesday the data communication logs, or raw data, would be released along with an explanation of the analysis used to work out the route. In the hours after the aircraft disappeared, an Inmarsat satellite picked up a handful of pings from it, indicating that the plane continued flying for hours and helping narrow the search to an area of the Indian Ocean. An Inmarsat spokesman said the data communications log comprised 14 pieces of data from seven \"handshakes,\" or pairs of numbers, between the aircraft and the satellite.","Marin stuns Li to win world badminton final. COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — Ninth-seeded Carolina Marin pulled off a huge badminton upset by defeating Li Xuerui, the top-seeded Olympic champion, in the world championship women's singles final on Sunday.","Europe's order to mute Google angers US. MOUNTAIN VIEW, California (AP) — Google is already getting requests to block links that someone might find embarrassing in Europe thanks to a new, popular ruling that says the search giant has to provide this service.","Fighting flares up in South Sudan after rains recede. By Carl Odera JUBA (Reuters) - Government troops and South Sudanese rebels have been fighting for more than a week in a remote northern region of the country, a United Nations official said on Thursday, in the worst clashes since the rainy season receded in recent weeks. The conflict in South Sudan, which declared independence from Sudan in 2011, has killed more than 10,000 people, driven 1 million from their homes and led to a severe food shortage. ...","German President questions Left's credentials to run eastern state. By Stephen Brown BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany's President made a rare foray into party politics on Sunday, questioning whether the party descended from the communists who once controlled East Germany is ready to run one of the reunified country's 16 states. A week before celebrations marking a quarter century since the fall of the Berlin Wall, Joachim Gauck said he still did not trust the radical Left party to govern well. Gauck, whose post as head of state is largely ceremonial, is a former Lutheran pastor who campaigned for civil rights in the East during communist rule. ...","21 injured in clashes with police in Mexican state. MEXICO CITY (AP) — Clashes between federal police and protesters organizing a concert in solidarity with 43 missing college students left at least 21 people injured and several cars in flames Sunday in the southern state of Guerrero.","Downward social mobility on rise as top jobs shrink: study. London (AFP) - Younger people are increasingly at risk of tumbling down the social ladder as the number of top jobs shrinks, a study showed on Thursday.","Rescue teams search for DR Congo train crash survivors. Rescue teams and medics on Thursday attempted to save survivors trapped in the mangled wreckage of a train that flew off the rails in the Democratic Republic of Congo, killing at least 57. \"A special crane with a team specialised in derailments arrived on site at 11:00 pm (2100 GMT Wednesday) to lift up the wagons,\" health ministry official Felix Kabange Numbi said, after visiting the remote accident site with other officials. A newly purchased locomotive hurtled off the track in a swampy region Tuesday as the goods train, bursting with illegal passengers, rounded a bend about 65 kilometres (40 miles) north of Kamina in the southeast of the country. The high speed on a curve caused 15 of the train's 19 cars to overturn, government spokesman Lambert Mende said.","Gaza PM's relative in Israel for medical treatment. JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel said Tuesday it allowed the mother-in-law of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh into the country for medical treatment.","Canadian couple detained by China safe but closely watched, says son. By Ben Blanchard DANDONG China (Reuters) - A Canadian couple detained in China on suspicion they stole state secrets are safe but under constant guard, according to messages they passed on via the Canadian embassy, their son said on Wednesday. Kevin and Julia Garratt, who ran a coffee shop on the Chinese border with North Korea, were detained on Monday, their family members have said. \"A Canadian representative has met with both my mother and father for 30 minutes each and they passed on messages saying they are safe and eating well and have a nice place to stay, although they are under constant guard,\" Peter Garratt told Reuters. In a separate interview, he said: \"It seems so surreal and kind of crazy, like where did this come from?\" The couple, from Vancouver, opened a cafe called Peter's Coffee House in Dandong, an important gateway to reclusive North Korea, in 2008.","No direct combat for Iraqi Kurds in Kobani, ISIS loses ground in Iraq. By Isabel Coles and Ahmed Rasheed ARBIL/BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraqi Kurdish forces will not engage in ground fighting in the Syrian town of Kobani but provide artillery support for fellow Kurds fending off Islamic State militants there, a Kurdish spokesman said on Sunday. Islamic State fighters have been trying to capture Kobani for over a month, pressing on despite U.S.-led air strikes on their positions and the deaths of hundreds of their fighters. ...","Eric Betzig, Stefan W Hell and William E. Moerner win the Nobel Prize for Chemistry. STOCKHOLM (AP) — Eric Betzig, Stefan W Hell and William E. Moerner win the Nobel Prize for Chemistry.","Hoy cops for Foy Chelsea abuse. London (AFP) - Olympic champion cyclist Chris Hoy found himself yet again on the receiving end of Twitter abuse directed at football referee Chris Foy as angry Chelsea fans vented their frustration on social media.","Ireland's Labour leader quits after bad election. DUBLIN (AP) — The foreign minister and deputy premier of Ireland, Eamon Gilmore, says he's quitting as leader of the Labour Party after a terrible showing in local and European elections.","Arab League calls Israeli attack in Gaza \"war crime\". The head of the Cairo-based Arab League, Nabil el-Araby, described Israeli attacks on Gaza that killed at least 60 Palestinians on Sunday as a \"war crime\". Palestinian witnesses and officials said at least 62 Palestinians were killed in shelling of a Gaza neighborhood that left bodies strewn in the streets and thousands fleeing for shelter. The Israeli military said militants from Gaza's dominant Hamas group responded with anti-tank missiles and heavy weapon fire in some of the bloodiest fighting since Israel launched its Gaza offensive 13 days ago.","Crawford stops Gamboa, keeps lightweight belt. OMAHA, Nebraska (AP) — Terence \"Bud\" Crawford stopped Cuba's Yuriorkis Gamboa in the ninth round Saturday night to successfully defend his WBO lightweight belt in a match of unbeaten fighters.","1990 arson-murder rap tossed, man is set free. A South Korea-born man whose arson-murder conviction was overturned in the death of his daughter was freed from prison Friday after 24 years behind bars, following a judge's ruling that the case against him had been based on now-debunked arson science.","Top seeds take centre stage at World Twenty20. The World Twenty20 steps up a gear Friday as cricket's top eight sides enter the fray, with Pakistan seeking a historic win against India in the second round's standout clash. Minnows of international cricket have been slogging it out in the expanded 16-nation tournament so far with two qualifying spots and a chance to join the big boys up for grabs from round one. In the Super-10 stage, Asian giants Pakistan and India will be joined in Group Two by the West Indies, Australia and one of the successful qualifiers. The other qualifier will join South Africa, Sri Lanka, England and New Zealand in Group One with two sides from each group advancing to the semi-finals.","Iran reports first MERS cases weeks before Ramadan. Iran has recorded its first two cases of the deadly MERS virus, both among patients who had been in hospital with a pilgrim returning from Saudi Arabia, reports said Wednesday. The two infected women are sisters and one is in a critical condition, transmissible diseases unit chief Mohammad Mehdi Gooya told the Fars news agency. The vast majority of MERS cases worldwide since the virus's discovery two years ago have been in Saudi Arabia. Iran's first reported cases come just a month before the Muslim holy fasting month of Ramadan when pilgrim numbers are expected to rise sharply.","Stars at S. Laurent, Valli makes Clooney wife coup. PARIS (AP) — Beginning with Stella McCartney and ending with powerhouse Saint Laurent, Paris fashion shows packed a creative punch Monday — luring in myriad front row stars such as Salma Hayek, Lenny Kravitz, Catherine Deneuve and Neneh Cherry.","Russia says U.S., EU have violated 1994 agreement on Ukraine. MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia accused Western states of violating a pledge to respect Ukraine's sovereignty and political independence under a 1994 security assurance agreement, saying they had \"indulged a coup d'etat\" that ousted President Viktor Yanukovich last month. The Foreign Ministry said actions by the United States and European Union ran counter to assurances granted by the United States, Britain and Russia in exchange for Ukraine's commitment to give up its nuclear arsenal after the Soviet collapse. (Writing by Steve Gutterman, editing by Elizabeth Piper)","Blast targets troops near Egypt-Gaza border. EL-ARISH, Egypt (AP) — Two military officials say an explosive device went off near Egyptian troops demolishing houses in a town on the border with the Gaza Strip where Egypt is clearing a buffer zone to halt weapons smuggling.","US, Russia exchange threats at tense UN meeting. UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Russia and the United States exchanged threats Wednesday at a tense U.N. Security Council meeting over the Ukraine crisis, with the Russian envoy saying the U.S. ambassador's \"insults\" are jeopardizing Moscow's willingness to cooperate with Washington on other diplomatic matters.","Russia's Lavrov says no agreement with US on Ukraine. Moscow (AFP) - Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Thursday said there was so far no agreement between Moscow and Washington on the situation in Ukraine, after talks in Rome with US Secretary of State John Kerry.","Thai court dismisses murder charges against former PM, deputy. A Thai criminal court on Thursday threw out charges of murder and abuse of power faced by a former prime minister, Abhisit Vejjajiva, and his then deputy over a deadly crackdown on street protesters in 2010. The decision, three months after the army seized power in a bloodless May 22 coup, is sure to spark the anger of Thailand's \"red shirt\" activists, who have spotlighted the country's long culture of impunity for holders of political office. \"The court has no jurisdiction to consider the case because the two were a prime minister and deputy prime minister,\" a judge said on Thursday. \"The charges relate to political office holders.","Camilla's brother dies in US after head injury. LONDON (AP) — Royal officials in Britain say that the brother of Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, has died after sustaining a serious head injury following a fall in New York.","Mexico arrests businessman in Citigroup fraud case. MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexican prosecutors have filed fraud charges against a businessman linked to a $400 million loss at Citigroup's Mexican bank subsidiary.","Top Asian News at 4:00 a.m. GMT. KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — The missing Malaysian jetliner may have attempted to turn back before it vanished from radar, but there is no evidence it reached the Strait of Malacca, the country's air force chief said Wednesday, denying reported remarks he said otherwise. The statement suggested continued confusion over where the Boeing 777 might have ended up, more than four days after it disappeared en route to Beijing from Kuala Lumpur with 239 people on board.","Gonzalo becomes a major hurricane over open Atlantic: NHC. (Reuters) - Gonzalo has become a major hurricane over the open Atlantic, the U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC) said on Tuesday afternoon. Gonzalo, now a Category 3 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson scale of hurricane intensity, was located about 770 miles (1,240 km) south of Bermuda with maximum sustained winds of 115 miles per hour (185 kmph), the NHC said. \"Interests in Bermuda should monitor the progress of Gonzalo,\" the Miami-based weather forecaster said. (Reporting by Kevin Jose and Koustav Samanta in Bangalore; Editing by Chris Reese)","N 347-5 at lunch on day 4, 2nd test vs. India. WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Captain Brendon McCullum and wicketkeeper BJ Watling continued their marathon sixth-wicket partnership Monday as New Zealand fought its way back into the second test against India, moving to 347-5 at lunch on the fourth day, an overall lead of 101.","Suicide bomber targets rogue Libyan general's home. TRIPOLI, Libya (AP) — Libyan military officials say a suicide bomber has targeted the residence of a rogue general who has been leading an offensive against Islamists dominating the country's political scene in the eastern city of Benghazi, killing three people.","Aid group gets $18 million from Canada to help house Haitians displaced by 2010 earthquake. PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti - A humanitarian group has received $18 million from Canada to help Haitians displaced by the 2010 earthquake return to their old neighbourhoods.","BRAZIL BEAT: Eliminated England reveals team early. BELO HORIZONTE (AP) — Rarely before at the World Cup has a coach revealed his team in public the day before a match. With nothing to play for, England coach Roy Hodgson did just that Monday for the Group D finale against Costa Rica.","Greece evacuates embassy staff, foreign nationals from Libya. Greece safely evacuated embassy staff and more than one hundred Chinese and European nationals from Libya early on Friday with a navy frigate sailing back to the Greek port of Piraeus, its defence ministry said. Athens had sent a frigate and two other vessels to Libya to evacuate workers at its embassy in Tripoli on Thursday. The past two weeks of fighting between rival militias in Libya have been the worst since the civil war that ousted Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, prompting Western governments to follow the United States and the United Nations in pulling their diplomats out of the North African country. Frigate Salamis with 77 Greeks, including embassy staff, 78 Chinese, 12 Cypriot, 10 British and seven Belgian nationals on board, was expected to reach Piraeus port early on Saturday, the defence ministry said.","UN says CO2 pollution levels at annual record high. GENEVA (AP) — The U.N. weather agency says carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere reached a record high in 2013.","AP PHOTOS: Ecuador picks its best pork roaster. RIOBAMBA, Ecuador (AP) — Thousands of Ecuadoreans crowded into a city park Monday to watch experts decide an issue of overriding national importance — who makes the country's best roasted pork.","Bing Crosby's kids recall dad's duet with Bowie. BEVERLY HILLS, California (AP) — David Bowie's duet with Bing Crosby on the entertainer's 1977 Christmas television special left an indelible impression on Crosby's teenage children.","Turkey to seek Islamic cleric's return. ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan says Turkey will ask the United States to extradite an Islamic spiritual leader he has accused of orchestrating an alleged plot aimed to undermine and bring down his government.","Journalists remember 32 colleagues slain in the Philippines. MANILA (Reuters) - Dozens of foreign and local journalists lit candles on Sunday to remember the 2009 murder of 32 journalists in the southern Philippines, the biggest recorded killing of media workers in history. No one has been convicted of the murders. Wearing black shirts with the words \"End Impunity\", the journalists gathered outside a Catholic shrine in Manila, the site of two popular uprisings in modern times. The journalists also protested against what they called growing press restrictions in the Philippines. ...","Change of plea hearing set in sensor case. ALBUQUERQUE, New Mexico (AP) — A change of plea hearing has been scheduled for a Chinese national accused of trying to smuggle sensors made for the U.S. military.","South Africa: president's son tied to fatal crash. JOHANNESBURG (AP) — South African media say a son of President Jacob Zuma is being investigated for culpable homicide, or negligent killing, after his luxury car collided with a minibus taxi on Feb. 1, killing one woman.","Kuwait warns against violent protests after rally. Kuwait vowed on Friday to take all necessary measures against \"any signs of disturbance and violence\" after police dispersed demonstrators the Gulf Arab state said had thrown stones, burned car tyres and blocked roads. Dozens of men staged a march on Thursday night to demand the release of prominent politician Musallam al-Barrak, who has been detained for questioning over allegedly insulting the judiciary, Kuwaiti media reported. A court hearing for Barrak, a former opposition lawmaker, has been set for Monday. \"A crowd and troublemakers organized an unauthorized assembly last night violating the laws that ban such marches,\" Kuwait's Interior Ministry said in a statement carried by state news agency KUNA.","Pakistan airstrikes kill 60 militants. ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistani warplanes and helicopters pounded militant hideouts near the Afghan border on Wednesday, killing 60 fighters, while a shootout between security forces and militants left four soldiers dead, the army said.","Al-Qaida in Yemen kills comrade accused of spying. SANAA, Yemen (AP) — Al-Qaida militants in Yemen killed one of their own men Thursday, hanging his body from a street light after accusing him of spying for the United States, officials said.","Baghdad blast kills 11. Baghdad (AFP) - A bomber detonated a motorcycle rigged with explosives in north Baghdad on Thursday, killing 11 people, officials said.","T-Mobile US adds record 552,000 postpaid customers in August. By Marina Lopes WASHINGTON (Reuters) - T-Mobile US added 552,000 postpaid customers in August, more customer additions than any other month in the history of the company, Chief Executive John Legere told investors at a conference in New York on Friday. The fourth largest U.S. wireless carrier also added 208,000 pre-paid customers in August. Valuable postpaid customers pay for their service after usage, while pre-paid customers pay in advance. The company has turned around years of subscriber losses through aggressive promotions in the past year and a half. ...","Pints with politics as Scottish pubs debate independence. Glasgow (AFP) - Talking politics in British pubs can be a tricky subject but Scotland's independence referendum has prompted two Glasgow bars to pin their \"Yes\" and \"No\" colours to the counter.","Honey, there's a nuclear bomb in the yard. When a nuclear bomb landed in the Gregg yard in South Carolina in 1958, it left a big crater, killed a few chickens, caused the family minor injuries and wrecked their Chevrolet. Luckily, the device that had fallen out of a B-47 bomber after Captain Bruce Kulka accidentally grabbed a lever opening the bomb bay -- almost falling out himself -- was not fully armed with a fissile core. \"We were lucky to get out of the Cold War without a nuclear detonation,\" US author Eric Schlosser, who recounts this episode and many others in his recent book \"Command and Control\", told the gathering. The resulting centrifugal forces pulled a lanyard that released a fully operational hydrogen bomb -- a super-powerful nuclear bomb -- over North Carolina.","Swiss Lindt buys US candy maker Russell Stover. GENEVA (AP) — Swiss chocolate maker Lindt & Spruengli says it is buying U.S. manufacturer Russell Stover Candies, Inc., for an undisclosed sum.","Thai police fail to reach deal with protesters. By Amy Sawitta Lefevre and Panarat Thepgumpanat BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thai police and a prominent protest leader failed to reach a deal on Sunday to reopen state offices and roads in Bangkok that have been occupied for months by protesters seeking to overthrow Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra. Talks with Buddhist monk Luang Pu Buddha Issara, a protest leader, failed to free up an occupied government complex in the north of the capital as a third day of a security operation designed to retake sites occupied by protesters drew to a close. Buddha Issara said the government was using a request to reopen roads as an excuse to crack down on protesters. Or will you blame it on provocateurs?,\" Buddha Issara asked police representatives.","Iran expects deal soon on Russia building new nuclear reactors. Iran said on Tuesday it expected to sign a deal with Russia in late August on the building of two new 1,000-megawatt nuclear reactors in the Islamic Republic, potentially boosting its case that it is refining uranium for civilian energy, not atom bombs. Russia is one of six world powers negotiating with Iran on a long-term agreement to end a decade-old dispute over Tehran's nuclear program, which the country says is peaceful but the West fears may be aimed at developing a nuclear arms capability. Ali Akbar Salehi, the head of Iran's atomic energy organization, will go to Moscow to finalize the reactor contract and construction may start early next year, according to the official news agency IRNA. There was no immediate comment from Russia.","Griezmann can hardly believe his World Cup luck. RIBEIRAO PRETO, Brazil (AP) — Antoine Griezmann can hardly believe he's playing at the World Cup.","EU scales down 2030 climate and energy goals. By Charlie Dunmore BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union scaled back its long-term climate and energy ambitions on Wednesday, proposing less stringent targets than in the past, because of tougher economic conditions and the need to curb rising energy costs. The European Commission - the bloc's executive - said EU governments should face a single binding target to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 2030 to a volume that is 40 percent lower than 1990 levels. That represents a doubling of the goal in the existing 2020 target, but it is still below what some scientists and environmentalists say is needed to prevent the worst effects of climate change and is less than some policymakers wanted. \"What we are presenting today is both ambitious and affordable,\" Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso told a news conference in Brussels as the goals were unveiled.","Julie Chu leaves US hockey practice nursing hand. SOCHI, Russia (AP) — U.S. forward Julie Chu left the Olympic women's hockey team's practice early on Saturday after an apparent injury to her left hand.","Obama meets with Israeli President Peres. WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama has discussed Iraq, Iran and Mideast peace with outgoing Israeli President Shimon Peres.","Ukraine says Russian tanks flatten town; EU to threaten more sanctions. By Richard Balmforth and Adrian Croft KIEV/BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Ukraine said Russian tanks had flattened a small border town and pro-Russian rebels had made fresh gains in its east, as EU leaders signalled on Saturday they would threaten more sanctions against Moscow over the crisis. Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, attending an EU summit in Brussels, said he was hoping for progress in finding a political solution, but told journalists there were now thousands of foreign troops in his country. Russia has repeatedly dismissed accusations from Kiev and Western powers that it has sent soldiers into its neighbour, or supported pro-Russian rebels fighting a five-month-old separatist war in Ukraine's east.","Chevron expects second-quarter profit to rise. (Reuters) - Chevron Corp expects second-quarter profit to rise as asset sales in Chad and elsewhere offset spiking currency charges, the No. 2 U.S. oil company said on Thursday. Output from oil and natural gas wells rose in the United States but slipped internationally due to the shutdown of an Angolan liquefied natural gas project and repairs at its Kazakhstan operations. Chevron, which operates in about 180 countries, expects foreign currency exchange charges to soar to as much as $300 million for the second quarter from $79 million in the first quarter.","Bailey-Cole fills Bolt void, but Okagbare ruins double. Kemar Bailey-Cole made up for the absence of Jamaican teammate Usain Bolt by winning gold in the men's 100m at the Commonwealth Games on Monday, although there was no Caribbean delight in the women's sprint. Bolt, a six-time Olympic medallist and double sprint world record holder, did not race in his country's national championships which doubled as trials for the Games in Glasgow, and will only compete in the 4x100m relay. Bailey-Cole did not disappoint, clocking, as he had done in the semi-final, 10.00sec in a close men's race, England's Adam Gemili claiming silver in 10.10sec, with another Jamaican, Nickel Ashmeade, taking bronze (10.12). It's just the start of the individual medals,\" Bailey-Cole told BBC.","US urges online fight against IS as strikes hit jihadists. The US-led coalition carried out fresh air strikes Monday against jihadists in Syria and Iraq as Washington called for the battle against the Islamic State group to be taken to the Internet. In Iraq, a car bomb explosion killed at least eight people in a Baghdad square after a suicide bombing reportedly left dead at least 14 pro-government fighters south of the capital. An AFP reporter in Turkey just across the border from Kobane said fierce clashes were raging in the strategic Syrian town, where Kurdish fighters have been holding off an IS offensive for weeks. A senior Iraqi Kurdish official said the deployment was being held up by Turkey, which has agreed to allow the peshmerga to pass through its territory.","Syria media: Rebels killed preparing car bomb. DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — Syria's state-run media say several rebels were killed while they were rigging a car with explosives in the central city of Homs.","2 members of punk group Pussy Riot released. SOCHI, Russia (AP) — Two members of the punk group Pussy Riot ran out of a police station in their trademark garish balaclavas Tuesday after being released following several hours of questioning in Sochi, the host city of the Winter Olympics.","Cockerill demands mauled Tigers hit back. London (AFP) - Leicester coach Richard Cockerill has urged his injury-hit side to \"show some steel\" when they try to bounce back from their shock 45-0 defeat by Bath at home to London Irish in the English Premiership on Saturday.","Italy adds Immobile for decisive game vs. Uruguay. NATAL, Brazil (AP) — Ciro Immobile is joining Mario Balotelli in attack for Italy, while Uruguay will rely on Luis Suarez and Edinson Cavani again for their decisive Group D match at the World Cup on Tuesday.","Car bombs kill 13 civilians in Iraqi capital. BAGHDAD (AP) — A string of car bomb attacks hit commercial areas in Baghdad on Thursday, killing at least 13 people, said Iraqi officials.","Lego bricks here to stay, CEO tells AFP. London (AFP) - Generations of children worldwide have grown up loving Lego and the popularity of tablets and video games will not change that, the company's chief executive told AFP in an interview.","Sanchez leads Adelaide to 2-0 win in A-League. SYDNEY (AP) — Spanish forward Pablo Sanchez twice in a two-minute span at the start of the second half Sunday to lead Adelaide United to a 2-0 away win over the Central Coast Mariners in Australia's A-League.","4 Palestinians killed after Gaza truce begins. GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — A three-day Gaza cease-fire went into force on Friday as diplomats worked to broker a lasting truce in the 25-day-old Israel-Hamas war, but Gaza officials said the lull was broken after nearly two hours when Israeli tank fire killed at least four Palestinians.","UK parliamentary committee urges action on Gaza. LONDON (AP) — British Prime Minister David Cameron is coming under increased pressure over his government's policies on Gaza, after a cross-party parliamentary committee urged him to press Israel to lift restrictions on trade and travel in the territory.","Panathinaikos up to 3rd in Greek league with win. ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Panathinaikos jumped to third in the Greek league after Mladen Petric headed in a late goal for a 1-0 win over Panetolikos on Thursday that kept its hopes for a title upset alive.","Hundreds killed as ISIL insurgents gain ground in east Syria. A six-week offensive by the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) against rival Islamists in eastern Syria has killed 600 fighters and driven 130,000 people from their homes, a monitoring group said on Tuesday. ISIL, which is battling to control a huge area of east Syria and western Iraq, has advanced along the Euphrates River in the oil producing Deir al-Zor province, driving back militants from al Qaeda's Nusra Front and other Islamic brigades. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said ISIL now controls most of the northeast bank of the Euphrates from close to the border with Turkey down to the town of Busayra nearly 200 miles (320 km) to the southeast. It aims to extend that control all the way to the town of Albukamal on the Iraqi border, strengthening links between its Syrian and Iraqi wings, the Observatory's Rami Abdelrahman said.","Venezuela govt moves forces into protest plaza. CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Security forces on Monday took control of a Caracas plaza and surrounding neighborhoods that have become the center of anti-government protests that have shaken the country for a month.","England's women win Ashes against Australia. Hobart (Australia) (AFP) - England's women's team did what their men couldn't by winning their Ashes series with a nine-wicket Twenty20 victory over Australia in Hobart on Wednesday. After winning the toss and electing to bat, the home side made 150 for three from their 20 overs which England chased down scoring 151 for one with 13 balls to spare. With two WT20 international matches remaining in the multi-format series, England have an unassailable points lead of 10-4. Australia needed to win the opening T20 match to keep the series alive but, after hopes were raised by two straight one-day wins, England retained the Ashes they won back at home last year.","Explosion damages French cultural center in Gaza. GAZA (Reuters) - An explosion damaged a French cultural center in the Gaza Strip on Friday and wounded a Palestinian policeman, security sources said. The sources said the blast, the cause of which was unclear, damaged a wall of the building, which also provides consular services for the French government. Palestinian police deployed a cordon of officers around the building as they investigated the cause of the explosion, the second at the site since October. ...","Jordan: 4 vehicles destroyed on Syria border. AMMAN, Jordan (AP) — Jordan's state-run news agency says border guards opened fire on four vehicles trying to enter illegally from Syria after they ignored orders to stop, without saying whether anyone was killed or wounded in the incident.","Americans complete flop with team pursuit losses. SOCHI, Russia (AP) — The American speedskating flop is complete.","Cossack 'held accountable' in attack on Pussy Riot. SOCHI, Russia (AP) — Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Kozak said Saturday the Cossack who horsewhipped members of Pussy Riot has been \"held accountable\" for the attack.","Champions League: Arsenal held, Leverkusen wins. LONDON (AP) — Arsenal held on with 10 men to draw 0-0 at Besiktas in the Champions League playoff round Tuesday, while Bayer Leverkusen is better placed to advance after winning 3-2 at FC Copenhagen.","Exclusive: U.S. to sanction both sides of South Sudan conflict in days - sources. By Louis Charbonneau and Lesley Wroughton UNITED NATIONS/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Amid warnings that ethnic violence in South Sudan risks spiraling into genocide, the United States expects to impose sanctions on individuals on both sides of the conflict in the coming days, U.S. and other diplomatic sources said on Monday. The sources, who spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity, said that the sanctions would involve a ban on travel to the United States and the freezing of any assets under U.S. authority. \"In the coming days,\" a U.S. official said about the expected timing of the move. The other sources confirmed that the United States had already made a decision to sanction several individuals and it was now a question of timing.","US-Egyptian detainee moved to Cairo hospital. CAIRO (AP) — The London-based rights group Amnesty International says an Egyptian-American prisoner on hunger strike for more than eight months has been transferred to an intensive care unit after his health deteriorated dramatically.","Russia mulls lawsuit against United States in WTO over sanctions. Russia is looking at the possibility of filing a lawsuit against the United States in the World Trade Organisation over sanctions hitting Russian banks, Economy Minister Alexei Ulyukayev said on Wednesday, according to Russian news agencies. St Petersburg-based Bank Rossiya was sanctioned alongside its chairman and largest shareholder Yuri Kovalchuk in March as part of punitive measures by Washington over Russia's annexation of Crimea. Russian bank SMP was also indirectly affected as co-owners Boris Rotenberg and his older brother Arkady fell under U.S. sanctions. SMP chief executive Dmitry Kalantyrsky has said that an estimated 9 billion rubles ($249 million) had been withdrawn after the sanctions were imposed.","Nine killed in train crash in southern Turkey: local media. ANKARA (Reuters) - Nine people were killed and several injured on Thursday when a train crashed into a bus carrying workers in Turkey's southern province of Mersin, the Dogan News Agency (DHA) reported. Video footage on the DHA website showed a crushed minibus on the side of the tracks and medics trying to reach the injured. (Reporting by Humeyra Pamuk; Editing by Nick Tattersall, John Stonestreet)","UN chief calls Mideast leaders, urges restraint. UNITED NATIONS (AP) — U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says he urged restraint in a blitz of phone calls to the Israeli, Palestinian and other regional leaders, warning that a new wave of Israeli-Palestinian violence raises the risk of another full-blown war.","Swiss agency approves trial for Ebola vaccine. GENEVA (AP) — The Swiss agency that regulates new drugs said Tuesday it has approved an application for a clinical trial with an experimental Ebola vaccine at the Lausanne University Hospital.","Tunisia divided over Jews' use of Israel passports. TUNIS, Tunisia (AP) — Tunisian lawmakers say they plan to question the country's tourism chief over his decision to permit Jewish religious pilgrims to visit the country using Israeli passports.","Activists say airstrike on Syrian school kills 19. BEIRUT (AP) — A Syrian government airstrike hit a school in the northern battleground city of Aleppo on Wednesday, killing at least 19 people, including 10 children, activists reported.","Relentless Pakistan eye Test series win in Dubai. Pakistan will continue to attack a hapless New Zealand with spin as they eye a series win in the second Test starting in Dubai on Monday. Pakistan inflicted a big 248-run defeat on the Kiwis in the first Test in Abu Dhabi for a 1-0 lead in the three-match series with left-arm spinner Zulfiqar Babar and leggie Yasir Shah posing serious problems. Besides a spin web, paceman Rahat Ali, man-of-the-match for his six wickets in the game, reverse swung the ball to pile further problems on the New Zealand batting, which folded for 262 and 231 on a flat Sheikh Zayed Stadium pitch. There seems to be no change in fortune for the tourists as the Dubai stadium pitch promises more help for spin and in turn multiplies the problems for the struggling New Zealand batsmen.","China to conduct naval drills with Russia in East China Sea. China said on Wednesday it would conduct joint naval drills with Russia in the East China Sea off Shanghai in late May, in what it called a bid to deepen military cooperation. China's defense ministry did not give an exact location in the East China Sea, where Beijing is locked in an increasingly bitter dispute with Japan over the ownership of a group of uninhabited islets. \"These drills are regular exercises held by China and Russia's navies, and the purpose is to deepen practical cooperation between the two militaries, to raise the ability to jointly deal with maritime security threats,\" the ministry said on its website. China alarmed Japan, South Korea and the United States last year when it announced an air defense identification zone for the East China Sea, covering the islands.","Mexico to spend millions in violence-plagued state. Morelia (Mexico) (AFP) - Mexico's President Enrique Pena Nieto announced plans Tuesday to spend $3.4 billion to build roads, schools and other infrastructure to shore up a troubled state where vigilantes have battled a drug cartel. Pena Nieto said the massive project, which includes hospitals, reservoirs and an energy innovation center, aims to \"reverse the conditions of institutional weakness\" in the western state of Michoacan. The president made his announcement from the state capital, Morelia, amid efforts to restore security in Michoacan following the deployment of troops and federal police to an agricultural region known as Tierra Caliente, or Hot Land. Civilians began to form \"self-defense\" militias last year to oust the Knights Templar drug cartel, which terrorized the population with murders, kidnappings and extortion rackets.","Auxilium Pharma adopts poison pill after Endo's unsolicited bid. (Reuters) - Auxilium Pharmaceuticals Inc adopted a poison pill with a 15 percent trigger, a day after an unsolicited $2.2 billion buyout offer from Endo International Plc. Poison pills, or shareholder rights plans, are designed to stop hostile takeover attempts by triggering the issuance of new shares, which dilutes the holdings of all investors if any one exceeds a set threshold. Auxilium said on Wednesday its board will review Endo's proposal, but it would not modify or withdraw its bid for Canadian eye drug maker QLT Inc. ...","Isner takes 19-17 tiebreaker, wins at Wimbledon. LONDON (AP) — After taking a tiebreaker by the score of 19-17 on the way to reaching Wimbledon's third round for the first time, John Isner put it quite succinctly: \"I'm no stranger to matches like this.\"","India exit polls point to huge swing to opposition BJP. New Delhi (AFP) - Indian voters have swung massively behind Narendra Modi's right-wing opposition Bharatiya Janata Party which may be able to secure a parliamentary majority with existing allies, exit polls indicated Monday.","Oligarch Berezovsky was 'broken man' after court battle, inquest hears. Russian oligarch Boris Berezovsky was a \"broken man\" after losing a multi-billion dollar court case to fellow Russian Roman Abramovich and regularly talked about killing himself in the months before his death, an inquest heard on Wednesday. Berezovsky's bodyguard Avi Navama said his employer had asked him about the best ways to commit suicide and told him he was \"the poorest man in the world\" after losing a $6 billion damages claim to the Chelsea football club owner in 2012. Berezovsky, who became a Moscow powerbroker under the late President Boris Yeltsin only to fall foul of Vladimir Putin, was found dead a year ago in the bathroom of his former wife's home near Windsor, west of London, with a scarf around his neck. Navama said the court case against Abramovich triggered a change in the personality of 67-year-old Berezovsky who suffered from depression for six months before his death and often talked about taking his own life.","China police seize activist who runs rights site. BEIJING (AP) — The mother of a veteran activist in southwestern China says police have taken away the campaigner and seized his computers and mobile phones.","251 Congolese perish in Lake Albert boat disaster: DRC. More than 251 Congolese refugees perished in the weekend sinking of a crowded boat on Lake Albert, between the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda, Kinshasa said Thursday. Government spokesman Lambert Mende also declared three days of national mourning starting Thursday in the wake of Saturday's disaster. Uganda had said Tuesday it had recovered 107 bodies including 57 children after the sinking of the boat, which was packed with refugees from the DRC hoping to return home from a camp in Uganda.","Chinese media outlet uses racial slur at US envoy. BEIJING (AP) — A major Chinese government news service used a racist slur to describe the departing American ambassador in a mean-spirited editorial on Friday that drew widespread public condemnation in China.","FBI seeks victims of pedophile who taught in UK. The FBI was Thursday hastily seeking to identify victims of a serial paedophile who drugged and molested dozens of children over four decades teaching in Britain and at other schools around the world. William James Vahey, 64, committed suicide in March in a Minnesota hotel room while the subject of an international sex crimes probe covering his teaching in nine countries, the Federal Bureau of Investigation said. \"When Vahey was confronted about the images, he reportedly admitted molesting boys throughout his entire life and said he gave the minors sleeping pills prior to the molestation,\" the FBI said in an alert. Vahey taught overseas from 1972 until days before his death including at private academies that served children of American diplomats and military personnel, as well as locals, according to the FBI.","Suicide car bomber kills 9 Afghan police, soldiers. KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — An Afghan official says at least nine members of the country's security forces have been killed in suicide attack in eastern Logar province.","U.S. and Iranian officials to hold nuclear talks in Geneva on Thursday, says U.S. State Department. U.S. and Iranian officials will hold nuclear talks in Geneva on Thursday, the U.S. State Department said in a statement issued late on Wednesday, as leaders seek to break a logjam between Tehran and six major powers on the nuclear issue. The U.S. delegation will be led by Deputy Secretary of State Bill Burns, the State Department statement said.","Barthel vs. Scheepers for Swedish Open final. BASTAD, Sweden (AP) — Mona Barthel of Germany will face Chanelle Scheepers of South Africa in the Swedish Open final.","Palestinian foreign minister requests 'terrorist' label for militant settlers. By Noah Browning RAMALLAH, West Bank (Reuters) - Palestinian Foreign Minister Riad al-Malki said on Monday he had asked world powers to label Israeli settler groups who attack Palestinian communities and holy sites as terrorist organizations. The move comes as part of a Palestinian drive to refer their demands for an independent state in Israeli-occupied territory to more international bodies since U.S.-backed peace talks collapsed last month. Malki said militant settlers known as the \\\\\"Hilltop Youth\\\\\" and vigilantes who use the \\\\\"price tag\\\\\" slogan \\\\\"practice terror ... constantly against the Palestinian people, their land, holy places and property.\\\\\" \\\\\"Price tag\\\\\" refers to retribution the settlers say they will exact for any attempt by the Israeli government to curb settlement in the West Bank, an area Palestinians seek as part of a future state. \\\\\"These groups play a role in killing, incitement to violence and spreading the culture of hatred and racism,\\\\\" he said in the letter sent to Russia, the United States, Canada, the European Union, the United Nations, the Arab League and the Organization of Islamic States.","Hillary Clinton compares Putin actions to Hitler's. LONG BEACH, Calif. (AP) — Former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has likened Russian President Vladimir Putin's actions on the Crimean peninsula of Ukraine to those of Adolf Hitler in the 1930s.","Grenade attack hurts four at cafe in Lebanon's Tripoli. A grenade thrown into a cafe hurt four people on Wednesday in Lebanon's often-restive northern city of Tripoli, security officials said. The motive for the attack was not immediately clear, but there were suspicions the cafe was targeted for opening its doors during the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan. \"Four people, including two Syrian nationals, were injured when unknown assailants threw a grenade into a cafe in the Bab el-Tebbaneh district\" in Tripoli, a security official said. The assailants approached the cafe on a motorbike and tossed the device in before escaping.","Can the world produce enough food for 2 billion more people?. By Chris Arsenault ROME (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - With the world population rising, demographers are grappling with one of the most pressing issues of the century - will there be enough food for an extra two to four billion people? Projections of global population growth vary widely with the United Nations last month forecasting numbers rising to 9.6 billion in 2050 and around 10.9 billion by the end of the century from 7.2 billion currently. That is about 1. ...","Brisbane airport bans corruption ad ahead of G20. CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — A day after saying an ad highlighting climate change was too political for world leaders gathering in Brisbane for a major economic summit, local airport authorities say they have also rejected an advertisement highlighting corruption problems.","Conservatives will not form another coalition. Prime Minister David Cameron does not want his party to form another coalition, preferring to rule as a minority government if he falls short of an outright election win, the Daily Telegraph reported Tuesday. The Conservatives will fight next May's general election on a promise not to form another coalition in the event of a hung parliament, the paper reported. It is expected that a minority government would soon collapse, triggering a second election. \"He's very clear, he doesn't want another coalition,\" a Cameron confidant told the paper.","Canada's PM says shooting rampage was terrorism. OTTAWA, Ontario (AP) — Two deadly attacks in three days against members of the military stunned Canadians and raised fears their country was being targeted for reprisals for joining the U.S.-led air campaign against an extremist Islamic group in Iraq and Syria.","Australia gives visas to 500 Afghans who helped in war. Australia has granted refugee visas to more than 500 Afghans for their help during its mission in the war-torn nation, saying their safety would be jeopardised by remaining in the country. \"Many of these employees were placed at significant risk of harm by insurgents in Afghanistan, due to the highly visible and dangerous nature of their employment,\" Defence Minister David Johnston said. \"This policy reflects Australia's fulfillment of its moral obligation to those who provided invaluable support to Australia's efforts in Afghanistan,\" he said. The last Australian combat troops left Afghanistan in December, marking the end of the nation's longest war which left 40 of its soldiers dead.","Canadian John Fairbairn slides to bronze at skeleton World Cup event. ST. MORITZ, Switzerland - John Fairbairn became just the fifth Canadian male to win a World Cup medal in skeleton since the sport made its Olympic debut in 2002 after winning the bronze on Sunday.","War-torn South Sudan marks third anniversary as famine looms. South Sudan marks its third anniversary of independence on Wednesday, with civil war raging, the young nation divided by ethnic atrocities and on the brink of famine. The streets of the capital have been lined with banners proclaiming \"One People, One Nation\", with the government of President Salva Kiir due to put on a show of force with a military parade and speeches delivered to celebrate the breakaway from the repressive government in Khartoum. South Sudan has been wracked by war since mid-December, when presidential guards loyal to Kiir clashed with troops supporting ousted vice-president Riek Machar, who fled to the bush and rallied a huge rebel army.","Russian troops moving towards Ukraine border: NATO's Stoltenberg. BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Russian troops are moving closer to the border with Ukraine and Moscow continues to train rebels in the east of the country, providing them with equipment, NATO's secretary-general said on Tuesday. \"We see Russian troops moving closer to the border with Ukraine,\" Jens Stoltenberg, the leader of the Western alliance, told a news conference with EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini. \"Russia continues to support separatists by training them, by providing equipment and support them by also having Russian special forces inside eastern parts of Ukraine,\" he said. ...","Sina plans New York IPO for Weibo microblog. HONG KONG (AP) — Chinese internet company Sina plans to spin off its Twitter-like microblog service, Weibo, in a U.S. initial public offering to raise $500 million.","Suicide blast kills eight in northwest Pakistan. Peshawar (Pakistan) (AFP) - Eight people were killed and 26 injured when a suicide bomber blew himself up outside a hotel in a Shiite minority neighbourhood in Pakistan's northwestern city of Peshawar on Tuesday, officials said. \"Eight people were killed and twenty six have been injured in a suicide blast outside a local hotel yards away from an Imambargah (worship place of the Shiites),\" senior police official Faisal Mukhtar told AFP. Shafqat Malik, chief of Peshawar's Bomb Disposal Unit, confirmed that it was a suicide blast. Jamil Shah, a spokesman for the city's government-run Leady Reading Hospital confirmed the casualties.","Australian parents shocked as son caged in Egypt. The parents of an Australian journalist jailed in Egypt said Thursday they were haunted and depressed by images of their son caged in a Cairo courtroom. Peter Greste is one of three Al-Jazeera English ...","Ban Ki-moon arrives for talks in Libya's capital. TRIPOLI (Reuters) - U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon arrived in Libya's capital Tripoli on Saturday for talks with the country's warring factions fighting over control of the oil producer, in the highest-level visit of a foreign visitor for three months. The top U.N. diplomat \"will urge (the) Libyan parties to push forward with political dialogue to restore stability to (the) country,\" the United Nations said in a tweet. ...","Newcastle soar as Burnley remain winless. London (AFP) - Newcastle climbed out of the Premier League bottom three with a 2-1 win away to Tottenham Hotspur while winless Burnley remained rooted in the relegation zone after a 3-1 loss at home to Everton on Sunday.","Thieves in Mexico steal truck with dangerous radioactive load. Thieves in central Mexico on Thursday stole a pick-up truck carrying dangerous radioactive material, authorities said. The load of iridium 192 was normally used in industrial radiography, Mexico's interior ministry said in a statement. In December, thieves in Mexico made off with a truck containing dangerous radioactive medical material - Cobalt-60 - that the United Nations' nuclear agency said could provide an ingredient for a \"dirty bomb\", in which conventional explosives disperse radiation from a radioactive source. The U.N. International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which has stepped up calls on member states to tighten security to prevent nuclear and radioactive materials from falling into the wrong hands, had no immediate comment on Friday.","Lisicki to play Pliskova in Hong Kong Open final. HONG KONG (AP) — Top-seeded Sabine Lisicki hit 12 aces and broke her opponent five times to beat Francesca Schiavone of Italy 6-3, 3-6, 6-2 Saturday to reach the final of the Hong Kong Open.","Moroccan journalist ready to replace banned site. RABAT, Morocco (AP) — A prominent Moroccan editor known for his taboo-breaking coverage is ready to start a new online news site to replace the one blocked by authorities.","Pakistan sentences four to death for honour killing of Farzana Parveen. A Pakistan court on Wednesday sentenced four men to death for bludgeoning to death a pregnant woman in the centre of the country's second-largest city for marrying against her family's wishes. A mob of more than two dozen attackers, among them numerous relatives including the victim's father and brother, battered Farzana Parveen to death with bricks outside the High Court in the eastern city of Lahore in May. So-called \"honour\" killings are commonplace in Pakistan but the brutal and brazen nature of the attack on 25-year-old Parveen meant the case made headlines around the world. \"The court today awarded death sentences to four accused -- the father, brother, cousin and ex-husband of the victim -- for murder and terrorism,\" prosecutor Rai Asif Mehmood told AFP.","Gerrard slip lets Chelsea back into race. An untimely slip by Steven Gerrard inadvertently helped Chelsea claim a 2-0 win over Premier League leaders Liverpool at Anfield on Sunday that reignited their title ambitions. The Liverpool captain lost his footing in first-half injury time, enabling Demba Ba to run through and score, with Willian adding a late second as Jose Mourinho's side moved to within two points of the summit. The result brought Liverpool's 11-game winning streak to an end and although it resurrected Chelsea's title chances, the chief beneficiaries by the end of the day were Manchester City.","Berlusconi lawyers pleased with community service ruling. MILAN (Reuters) - An Italian court ruling ordering former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi to do community service once a week at a center for the elderly is \"satisfactory\" given the center-right politician's need to carry out political activity, his lawyers said. \"The decision of the Milan court appears to be balanced and satisfactory with regards to Berlusconi's political activity needs,\" lawyers Franco Coppi and Niccolo Ghedini said in a statement on Tuesday. ...","Exclusive: U.S., Brazil close to ending cotton trade rift - sources. By Alonso Soto BRASILIA (Reuters) - The United States and Brazil are close to settling a decade-old trade dispute over cotton subsidies, three Brazilian sources close to the talks told Reuters, in what would be the first concrete step to repair ties hurt by an espionage scandal. Washington is within hours of reaching an agreement with Brazilian cotton producers demanding compensation for cotton subsidies enjoyed by U.S. growers, a senior Brazilian government official said. He asked not to be named because negotiations are ongoing. ...","China takes no sides on Ukraine crisis, Xi tells Europe. By Stephen Brown and Annika Breidthardt BERLIN (Reuters) - President Xi Jinping said on Friday China would not take sides with the West or Russia over Ukraine, disappointing any hopes Beijing might add its weight to international pressure on Moscow for annexing Crimea. \"China does not have any private interests in the Ukraine question,\" Xi told a news conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel. \"All parties involved should work for a political and diplomatic solution to the conflict.\" China has adopted a cautious response to the Ukraine crisis, not wanting to alienate its ally Russia or make comment directly on a referendum in which Crimea voted to join Russia, lest it set a precedent for restive regions of its own such as Tibet.","High-Res Satellites Help Track Whale Populations. New high-resolution satellite imagery now allows researchers to spot and count whales from space, greatly expediting population analyses used in conservation efforts, according to a new report. \"If you are very skilled, you can judge how far away it is and work out the species from the size and shape of the blow,\" said Peter Fretwell, a researcher for the British Antarctic Survey. To make whale counts more accurate and efficient, Fretwell's team used what is known as very-high-resolution (VHR) satellite imagery to count a group of southern right whales breeding halfway up the coast of Argentina. The team chose to analyze southern right whales — a large species that grows to be roughly 45 to 55 feet (14 to 17 meters) long and travels around southern regions of the Pacific and Antarctic oceans — during this proof-of-concept study because the species tends to bask at the surface and breed in calm waters, making these whales relatively easy to spot from above.","Spain squad will reveal World Cup intentions. MADRID (AP) — Spain coach Vicente del Bosque's squad list for the upcoming friendly against Italy will give the clearest indication yet of the team that will go to Brazil to defend their World Cup title.","No getting away from it all on the Appalachian Trail. By Barbara Goldberg HARRIMAN STATE PARK N.Y. (Reuters) - Maybe it was guilt over alarming her parents when she inadvertently dialed 911 from the Appalachian Trail, but Caitlin Belcher wishes she could ditch her cell phone for the rest of the 2,180-mile (3,508-km) hike. I just want to be out in the woods, isolated,\" said Belcher, 23, who has called home to Fredericksburg, Virginia, twice weekly since her journey began in April and gets constant texts from her parents, who even call her hiking partner's phone as well. Then Governor Mark Sanford of South Carolina used \"hiking the AT\" as an excuse for disappearing for six days in 2009, while in fact he was on a rendezvous in Argentina with his mistress. Today camping gadgets such as a twig-fueled stove that can charge a smartphone while it heats baked beans, and online tips such as using an empty foil-lined potato chip can to boost Wi-Fi signals, mean there is no need to go off the grid while on the trail. With Twitter, Instagram and blogs, hikers may be safer but lose the solitude and silence once found in the woods. \"The whole idea of the Appalachian Trail is to get away from it all,\" said Bill Bryson, whose best-selling 1998 book \"A Walk in the Woods\" about the trail is being made into a movie starring Robert Redford and Nick Nolte. \"I am all in favor of gadgets, but my fear is that most people spend all their rest time texting and staring at little screens and miss out on all the glorious solitude around them,\" Bryson said. Summer is high season on the trail that draws up to 3 million visitors a year, including 1,100 \"thru hikers\" like Belcher who hope to conquer the entire 14-state route.","Asian stocks steady, dollar wobbles near six-week lows. The dollar index stood at 80.114 near its lowest level so far this year while gold and silver stood near 3 1/2-month highs on the back of the dollar's weakness. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was barely changed at 459.77 after a U.S. market holiday on Monday, though it stood near its January 13 peak of 460.93 after posting solid gains in the past 10 days. Japan's Nikkei stock average rose 1.1 percent thanks to a pullback in the yen, building on a 0.6 percent rise the previous day. \"There is a bit of a fault line between the currency market and the stock market at the moment.","Democrats expected to drop IMF from Ukraine bill. WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid says Democrats are considering removing a major roadblock preventing Congress from passing legislation authorizing sanctions on Russia and providing aid to Ukraine.","Yen at around 110 to the dollar a key pain point for Japan firms: Reuters poll. By Tetsushi Kajimoto TOKYO (Reuters) - Nearly half of Japanese firms think the government should start defending the yen at this month's dollar high of 110, a Reuters survey shows, underscoring the threat that rising fuel and other import costs pose to a fragile economy. Over the past two years, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has sought to boost the economy and cure deflation with bold monetary stimulus that has successfully wrought a much weaker yen. But the yen's descent against the greenback to a six-year low of 110.09 on Oct. ...","Bitter cold closes Canada's largest airport. Montreal (AFP) - Cold weather halted all flights at the Toronto international airport -- Canada's busiest commercial air hub -- Tuesday morning, after temperatures plunged overnight, stranding thousands of passengers.","Bahrain lifts travel ban on top activist, detains another. Dubai (AFP) - A Bahrain court lifted Wednesday a travel ban on a prominent activist charged with assaulting airport police as she flew in to try to visit her jailed father, a judicial source said.","Slovakia signs deal to send some gas to Ukraine. By Jan Lopatka BRATISLAVA (Reuters) - Slovakia and Ukraine signed a deal on Monday that allows the European Union to send a limited amount of gas to Ukraine, but provides Kiev with less than it hoped for to cushion the blow should Russia turn off supplies. Ukraine has sought to secure alternative supplies to those from Russia's Gazprom since Moscow annexed Crimea last month and Gazprom raised prices for its gas to levels Ukraine is refusing to pay.","Australia police launch massive 'counter-terrorism' raids. SYDNEY (Reuters) - Hundreds of heavily armed Australian police raided homes in Sydney and Brisbane before dawn on Thursday, launching a large-scale \"counter-terrorism operation\" just days after the country raised its threat level to high for the first time. Australian police said the raids were focused on suburbs in Sydney's northwest, while local media reported raids were also taking place in the Queensland city of Brisbane. ...","Air Cote d'Ivoire in talks with Airbus, Bombardier. By Loucoumane Coulibaly ABIDJAN (Reuters) - Ivory Coast's national carrier Air Cote d'Ivoire is in discussions with Airbus and Canada's Bombardier Inc to renew its existing fleet and provide new aircraft for a planned expansion, the company's chief executive said. The company, which launched last year, currently services 17 destinations in West Africa with its fleet of four leased aircraft, including three Airbus A-319s and an Embraer 170. It will open domestic routes next month with two Q400 NextGen aircraft purchased from Bombardier last year. ...","Canada's Bilodeau repeats in Olympic men's moguls. KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia (AP) — Canada's Alex Bilodeau has defended his gold medal in Olympic men's moguls.","Sochi still scrambling to sell tickets for Olympics amid signs spectators staying away. LONDON - What if they held an Olympics and nobody came?","Large Russian troop convoy moves to base near Simferopol: witnesses. SIMFEROPOL, Ukraine (Reuters) - A convoy of hundreds of Russian soldiers in about 50 troop trucks drove into a base near Crimea's capital Simferopol on Saturday, a Reuters reporting team in the Russian-occupied Ukrainian province said. The convoy was accompanied by 8 armored vehicles, two ambulances, petrol tankers and other hardware. Russia says its only troops in Crimea are those normally stationed there with its Black Sea Fleet, an assertion Washington calls \"(President Vladimir) Putin's fiction\". Kiev says there are 30,000 Russians in Crimea. ...","Ukraine seeks concrete steps from Russia on truce. Ukraine on Saturday sought concrete steps from Russia to back up a tenuous truce it extended with pro-Moscow rebels in the hope of calming a deadly insurgency sparked by its new westward course. President Petro Poroshenko returned triumphant from Brussels on Friday having opened the way to Ukraine's eventual membership in the European Union by signing the final chapters of a landmark free trade and political association accord.","Gaza gunmen execute 18 'collaborators' in Gaza; Israel pursues air strikes. By Nidal al-Mughrabi and Allyn Fisher-Ilan GAZA/JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Hamas-led gunmen in Gaza executed 18 Palestinians accused of collaborating with Israel on Friday, a day after Israel tracked down and killed three top Hamas commanders, the highest-ranking militants to be killed in the six-week war. Seven people were shot dead in front of worshippers outside a mosque in one of Gaza's main squares, witnesses said, the first public executions in the Palestinian enclave since the 1990s. A further 11 were killed at an abandoned police station near Gaza City, Hamas security officials said. In the public execution, militants wearing masks and dressed in black gunned down the suspects, whose faces were covered and hands bound, as worshippers emerged from the Omari mosque on Palestine Square, one of Gaza's busiest districts.","Airbus jet re-launch heralds busy aerospace show. By Tim Hepher and Victoria Bryan PARIS (Reuters) - Airbus will kick off the Farnborough Airshow with up to 100 commitments for its revamped A330neo wide-body jet, industry sources said, deepening a contest with Boeing for up to $250 billion of orders at the core of the long-haul jet market. Airbus Group declined to comment. The upgraded A330 is Airbus’s attempt to prolong the life of its profitable twin-aisle jet, as the European company tries to preserve market share against Boeing's much newer 787 Dreamliner. Analysts say it also plugs a potential future gap in the Airbus wide-body jet portfolio after poor sales of its A350-800 - the minnow of the next-generation A350 family whose development looks set to be halted or suspended as a result.","Factbox: Chile's incoming president Bachelet and her policies. Michelle Bachelet, who takes over the presidency of Chile for the second time on Tuesday, plans to spend $15 billion on ambitious reforms aimed at redressing steep income inequality. Center-left Bachelet, who governed as Chile's first female president from 2006 to 2010, won an easy victory in December's election and takes over from the conservative Sebastian Pinera. A moderate socialist, Bachelet has moved further to the left since the end of her first term, a shift that has coincided with massive protests for free and improved education in Chile over the past two years. Bachelet is promising to hike corporate taxes to fund an education overhaul.","Peru's Humala backs minister despite murder probe. LIMA, Peru (AP) — President Ollanta Humala on Thursday backed his newly named interior minister after revelations the former army general has been formally accused in the 1988 murder of a journalist while a young intelligence officer.","France appoints new Libya envoy to stem terrorism. PARIS (AP) — France has appointed a special envoy for Libya as part of its efforts to address growing violence in the country and to deter Libya-based terrorism from spreading in Africa.","Lion Group set to buy ATR planes in nearly $1 billion deal: source. SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Indonesia's Lion Group is expected to sign a deal on Thursday to buy about 40 ATR 72-600 aircraft for nearly $1 billion at list prices, a source familiar with the matter said on Thursday. The order is part of a strategy by Lion Air, one of the world's fastest-growing airlines, to use turboprop planes in remote locations in Indonesia and Malaysia. ATR is co-owned by Airbus group and Italian industrial conglomerate Finmeccanica. It competes for turboprop sales with Canada's Bombardier. Officials from ATR and Lion Group had no immediate comment. ...","Gary Oldman slammed for 'anti-Semitic' comments. Jewish groups blasted British actor Gary Oldman for alleged anti-Semitic remarks defending Mel Gibson and suggesting that Hollywood is run by Jews. The \"Dark Knight\" star made the comments in an interview with Playboy magazine, talking about Gibson's notorious 2006 anti-Semitic rant at a US sheriff's deputy who had arrested him for drunken driving. \"Mel Gibson is in a town that's run by Jews and he said the wrong thing, because he's actually bitten the hand that I guess has fed him -- and doesn't need to feed him anymore because he's got enough dough,\" Oldman told the magazine. \"Gary Oldman's remarks irresponsibly feed into a classic anti-Semitic canard about supposed Jewish control of Hollywood and the film industry,\" said ADL national director Abraham H. Foxman.","Shebab militants in Somalia ban Internet. Militants from the Al-Qaeda-linked Shebab on Wednesday banned citizens in the areas of Somalia they control from using the Internet. They gave all communication companies providing web services a 15-day ultimatum to shut down their operations. The Internet is widely used in Somalia, which has been wracked by civil war for more than two decades, with the Shebab considered the biggest obstacle to peace. The Shebab once controlled most of southern and central Somalia but withdrew from fixed positions in Mogadishu two years ago.","China's president says Xinjiang is front line on terrorism, hails police. Police are the \"fists and daggers\" in the fight against terrorism, China's President Xi Jinping said on a trip to the western Xinjiang region where authorities say members of a Muslim minority are waging a violent separatist campaign. Xi's tour, reported in state media late on Monday, was his first to the region since a ruling Communist Party conclave in November in which he ushered in a national security commission to combat foreign and domestic threats. \"The Kashgar region is the front line in anti-terrorism and maintaining social stability,\" the official Xinhua news agency citied Xi as telling paramilitary police in the Silk Road city of Kashgar in western Xinjiang that has been at the center of much of the unrest. The local level police stations are fists and daggers,\" Xi said.","Donaire takes world featherweight title. Nonito Donaire became the new world featherweight champion Saturday after defeating South Africa's Simpiwe Vetyeka in Macau in a fight that saw the Filipino boxing star take victory after an anti-climactic technical decision. The bout was stopped after four rounds due to an \"accidental headbutt\" which left 31-year-old Donaire's left eye swollen and cut. According to the rules of the World Boxing Association, if such an incident happens after four rounds, the match goes to the scorecards. A trio of judges scored 49-46 for Donaire.","EU sanctions hit Russian oil majors, lawmakers. BRUSSELS (AP) — New European Union sanctions curbing access to western financial markets for some of Russia's largest firms are targeting banks, arms manufacturers, the country's leading oil company, Rosneft, as well as the crude subsidiary of its state-owned energy giant Gazprom.","SOCHI SCENE: One-man team. KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia (AP) — There is no men's aerials program in Australia. There is only David Morris, a former gymnast — \"I wasn't amazing at it,\" he says — whose persistence turned into history.","Japanese Cabinet OKs easing North Korea sanctions. TOKYO (AP) — Japan's Cabinet has given formal approval to easing sanctions on North Korea.","Tories pick London Mayor Boris Johnson to run for parliament. London Mayor Boris Johnson was on Friday chosen by his Conservative Party as their candidate to fight for a west London seat at next year's parliamentary election, raising the spectre of a future tilt at becoming prime minister. Johnson said he was\"obviously thrilled\" after seeing off the challenge of three rivals to win the backing of the Tories in the safe seat of Uxbridge and South Ruislip. Many see the 50-year-old, known for his unkempt shock of blond hair and frequent gaffes, as a potential successor to Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron, given his high profile and popularity with grassroots party members. The first step to this goal -- a return to parliament -- looks virtually assured, with the Conservatives having held the seat since 1970, but the mayor played down talk that he was a threat to former school companion Cameron.","High-end 'micro-flats' latest trend for Hong Kong home buyers. At a glitzy show stall for a new residential development in Hong Kong, property agents with loudspeakers are promoting the latest trend in the overcrowded city -- high-end \"micro-flats\" which still come with an eye-watering price tag. Hong Kong's poorest residents are used to making their homes in cramped accommodation, but now developers are touting minuscule upmarket apartments to reel in young middle-class buyers. Although they are part of swish modern complexes, some of the newly-built studio flats measure as little as 16 square metres (177 square feet) and are on sale for HK$1.5 million -- almost $200,000. Single entrepreneur Mike Ko is typical of the buyers that developers are targeting: aspiring home owners who are priced out of the overheated Hong Kong housing market.","Spain's World Cup reign ended by 2-0 loss to Chile. RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Defending champion Spain, the dominant global football power for the past six years, was eliminated from World Cup contention Wednesday with a 2-0 loss to Chile.","Exclusive: EU warns Ireland it could expand tax probe beyond Apple - source. By Foo Yun Chee BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Commission has told Ireland it may investigate more companies as part of a probe into the country's tax practices, after announcing a formal probe into Apple Inc's Irish subsidiaries, a person familiar with the matter said on Friday. The EU is investigating whether Ireland, Luxembourg and the Netherlands have attracted investment and jobs by helping big companies avoid tax in other countries, including EU members. Corporate profit-shifting has come under the international spotlight in recent years following reports of how companies such as Apple and Google Inc use complex structures to slash their tax bills. The Commission suspects Ireland was too lenient in rulings it gave to Apple and which helped the company shield tens of billions of dollars in profit from tax and has asked Dublin for information on the rulings it gave the iPhone maker.","IKEA's next style revolution: itself. By Mia Shanley ALMHULT Sweden (Reuters) - Having redesigned kitchens, bathrooms and sitting rooms around the world, IKEA has decided to redesign itself. The store that inserted Scandinavian design into millions of households from Beijing to Boston needs to come up with something new to keep its leading position in an industry which is fast being transformed by travel and the Internet. Says its head of design Marcus Engman: \"I think we have to - and we are - rethinking what's Scandinavian for tomorrow. ...","Two dead in Iran arms factory fire. Tehran (AFP) - Two people were killed in a fire at a defence ministry plant east of Tehran for the production of explosives, Iran's state news agency IRNA reported Monday.","German 1Q GDP grows robust 0.8 pct. BERLIN (AP) — Germany's economy grew a robust 0.8 percent in the first quarter of 2014, doubling the rate of the previous quarter with help from mild winter weather and a strong labor market.","Croc hazard on Australian golf course. Golfers are facing an unusual feature on a links in tropical northern Australia -- crocodiles that live in the course's lakes. \"Ever since the course was formed in 1969 we've had crocs around the area,\" manager Greg Ferry told AFP Friday. Ferry said while a \"nasty\" crocodile measuring about 2.6 metres long was removed a couple of years ago, the present reptilian guests were more of a novelty than a threat. Nonetheless, there are signs up alerting people that crocodiles have recently been sighted on the course, which is on the banks of the Half Moon river.","Moscow bans US journalist. An American journalist said he had been banned from Russia after he reported on mass protests against Ukraine's scrapping of an EU pact. The US Embassy in Moscow has been informed of the move against David Satter and has lodged a formal diplomatic protest, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty president and CEO Kevin Klose said. It has sought and not obtained an explanation from Russian authorities. The move, coming on the eve of the Sochi Winter Olympics next month, was likely to further strain already tense ties between Washington and Moscow.","Islamic State fighters extend gains in north Iraq. BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Islamic State militants extended their gains in northern Iraq on Thursday, seizing three more towns after residents fled the area in fear, witnesses said. The advance came after the Sunni militants inflicted a humiliating defeat on Kurdish forces in a weekend sweep in the north. (Writing by Michael Georgy; Editing by Alison Williams)","Snowden calls on UN to protect privacy, rights. HELSINKI (AP) — Edward Snowden, co-winner of the Right Livelihood Award, has called on the United Nations to propose new measures to protect individual privacy and human rights.","Libyan air controllers strike to protest against airport shelling. Air controllers in western Libya have gone on strike to protest the shelling of Tripoli's main airport, halting flights in much of the oil-producing country, a government official said on Thursday. The strike puts pressure on rival militias to end four days of heavy fighting over control of the country's biggest airport, during which at least 20 aircraft have been damaged in the worst violence in the Libyan capital for six months. The Tripoli air controllers refused to go to work at the control tower in Tripoli, which regulates traffic for all of western Libya, said Tarek Arwa, a spokesman for the transport ministry.","Balkan 'Wild Beauty' Montenegro faces waste woes. PODGORICA, Montenegro (AP) — Montenegro takes pride in its majestic Adriatic coastline and towering mountains rising from the sea, lined with rivers, streams and lakes. But the so-called Balkan Wild Beauty is now faced with the problem of waste disposal that is threatening both its natural wonders and its lucrative tourism industry.","Suspect in Lebanon car bombings killed in shootout. A \"dangerous terrorist\" wanted in connection with car bomb attacks against the powerful Lebanese Shiite group Hezbollah was killed Thursday in a shootout as security forces tried to arrest him, the army said. Army intelligence had tracked Sami al-Atrash to a hideout in the town of Arsal near the Syrian border and closed in on him Thursday afternoon, a statement said. Atrash was wanted for \"preparing car bombs, firing rockets and mortars at Lebanese towns and villages, kidnapping civilians and involvement in the murder of four\" people. Hezbollah is allied with the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and has sent fighters to help him in that country's civil war.","Deans backs Cheika to fill Wallabies hot seat. Wellington (AFP) - Former Wallabies coach Robbie Deans on Wednesday endorsed Michael Cheika to take over the Australia job, saying the New South Wales mentor could turn the side into World Cup winners but must curb his fiery behaviour.","Wushu gold medalist caught doping at Asian Games. INCHEON, South Korea (AP) — The Olympic Council of Asia says a wushu gold medalist from Malaysia has been kicked out of the Asian Games for doping and stripped of her medals.","Son of Ukraine's ex-president says Swiss bank freeze will hit coal exports. By Stephen Grey KIEV (Reuters) - Switzerland's freezing of bank accounts linked to the family of ousted Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich could reduce coal exports from Ukraine, a company owned by his son warned on Friday. In a statement to Reuters, a Ukrainian conglomerate, the Mako Group, based in Yanukovich's political stronghold Donetsk, in eastern Ukraine, confirmed it was 100 percent owned by Oleksander Yanukovich, a son of the former president. His and Oleksander's foreign assets were frozen by Switzerland, Austria and Liechtenstein earlier in the day. Mako said that its Swiss arm - the Mako Trading Company (Switzerland) - \"carries out legal trading activity (coal exports) from Ukraine to more than 20 countries\".","Cricket- Australia make positive start to record chase. (updates at tea) By Nick Said PORT ELIZABETH, South Africa, Feb 23 (Reuters) - A 126-run opening stand between David Warner and Chris Rogers gave Australia an excellent start to their pursuit of a record 448 for victory on the fourth day of the second test against South Africa on Sunday. The touring side went to tea on 141 for one after the dismissal of Warner for 66 was South Africa's only success during an afternoon session in which the batsmen looked largely untroubled and scored at nearly four runs to the over. Chris Rogers, coming off three successive failures, was not out on 69 and will resume after the break with Alex Doolan (one). South Africa had declared their second innings on 270 for five with Hashim Amla striking an elegant unbeaten 127.","Nebraska court hears questions about Keystone XL pipeline plan. By Carson Vaughan LINCOLN Nebraska (Reuters) - Nebraska's Supreme Court heard arguments on Friday about whether Governor Dave Heineman acted properly when he blessed a route for the Keystone XL oil pipeline, and the court's decision could weigh on the controversial project. Keystone opponents who watched the proceedings from an adjacent room, were not so subdued. \"It just makes sense, how can they not see that,\" said Shannon Graves, a Nebraska landowner who opposes the plan and was in the viewing room. Siting issues are typically a matter for the state's Public Services Commission (PSC) but the legislature authorized Heineman to settle the Keystone issue and he blessed a route for the 1,700-mile pipeline early last year.","Southwest Airlines flight lands at wrong airport in Missouri. BRANSON, Mo. - A Southwest Airlines flight that was supposed to land at Branson Airport has instead landed at a smaller airport just outside of the southwest Missouri town.","UK-led probe cracks Philippine child web sex ring. A British-led probe has cracked a paedophile ring which streamed live sexual abuse of Filipino children over the Internet, leading to dozens of arrests, police in the Philippines, Britain and Australia said Thursday. Under Operation Endeavour which spanned a dozen nations, 29 people have been arrested including 11 in the Philippines, while three other ongoing probes have identified 733 suspects, Britain's National Crime Agency said. \"This is part of our intensified efforts to end this scourge... of live streaming of child sexual abuse\" to order by foreign paedophiles, said Senior Superintendent Gilbert Sosa, head of the Philippine police's anti-cybercrime unit.","Farah faces marathon baptism of fire. Britain's double Olympic and world champion Mo Farah makes his eagerly-awaited marathon debut in London on Sunday, but has his work cut out with the jump-in distance and competition from top Kenyans and Ethiopians. Kenya's elite runners say they have little to fear from the newcomer to the distance, predicting a baptism of fire for Farah as he grapples with uncharted racing territory coupled with seasoned marathon veterans setting a punishing pace. The 32-year-old 5,000 and 10,000m track star spent the better part of the winter training in Kenya's high-altitude Rift Valley region in a bid to raise his game and compete against the world's best. Leading the elite field is Kenyan Wilson Kipsang, who holds the world record after clocking a spectacular 2:03.23 in Berlin last year and has won London in 2012.","Egyptian policeman shot dead during Islamist protest. A policeman was killed in one of several small Islamist protests that erupted across Egypt on Friday, days after former army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who toppled Islamist president Mohamed Mursi after demonstrations, was sworn in as president. Islamist protests, a daily occurrence in the immediate aftermath of Mursi's fall last July, have become rare after a massive security crackdown on supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood.","Al-Qaida has changed shape, but is it weaker?. WASHINGTON (AP) — Al-Qaida has decentralized, yet it's unclear whether the terrorist network is weaker and less likely to launch a Sept. 11-style attack against the United States, as President Barack Obama says, or remains potent despite the deaths of several leaders.","India 105 for 2 at lunch, trail Australia by 258. Adelaide (Australia) (AFP) - India were 105 for two and trailing Australia by 258 runs at lunch on the final day of the opening Test in Adelaide on Saturday.","US questioning more than 100 from 'stash house'. HOUSTON (AP) — U.S. immigration authorities are questioning more than 100 people presumed to be in the country illegally after they were discovered crammed into a small house in south Houston.","Davis Cup: Australia back into World Group in 2015. PERTH, Australia (AP) — Lleyton Hewitt and Chris Guccione put Australia back in the top-tier Davis Cup World Group for 2015 after beating Uzbekistan's Denis Istomin and Farrukh Dustov 6-3, 7-6 (5), 6-2 in doubles on Saturday to complete a 3-0 victory.","Palestinian salaries dispute puts Gaza peace at risk. By Nidal al-Mughrabi and Luke Baker GAZA/JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Tensions between Fatah and Hamas, the two main Palestinian parties, are close to breaking point over the non-payment of salaries to Gaza's public sector workers, raising the risk of a return to conflict in the territory, officials say. The ceasefire struck last month to end Israel's war with Hamas included stipulations that the Palestinian Authority, led by President Mahmoud Abbas of Fatah, should take over civil administration in Gaza from Hamas, an Islamist movement.","Iraq bombings kill at least 16. Baghdad (AFP) - A car bomb in a Shiite-majority district of Baghdad and a motorcycle bombing in the northern city of Kirkuk killed at least 16 people Friday, security and medical officials said.","Mexican mining firm complains about probe of spill. MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexican mining conglomerate Grupo Mexico is complaining about what it calls \"punitive\" legal actions by environmental authorities after one of the company's mines spilled of millions of gallons of copper sulfate and heavy metals into two rivers and a reservoir.","City without Aguero for trip to Hull. Manuel Pellegrini has confirmed Manchester City will be without Sergio Aguero at Hull on Saturday after the Argentina striker suffered a hamstring injury against Barcelona in midweek. Aguero, who has scored 26 times this season, was forced off at half-time in the Nou Camp on Wednesday as City slumped to a 2-1 defeat that confirmed their exit from the Champions League. He has undergone a scan and although City are still waiting for results to assess the severity of the problem, Pellegrini on Friday admitted Aguero will definitely miss the trip to the KC Stadium. Pellegrini is hopeful Aguero, who missed five games with a hamstring injury in February, will be back within a fortnight, although a two-week absence would see him miss the derby against Manchester United on March 25.","Seppi retires at Moselle Open. METZ, France (AP) — Igor Sijsling advanced to the second round of the Open de Moselle on Tuesday after Andreas Seppi retired with a lower back pain.","Saudi Arabia: fire at Medina hotel kills 12. RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) — Authorities in Saudi Arabia say a fire at a hotel housing religious pilgrims in the western city of Medina has killed 12 people and injured at least 130.","Bus collision in Bangladesh kills at least 20. DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) — Two passenger buses collided head-on in northwestern Bangladesh on Monday afternoon, killing at least 20 people and injuring 25 others, an official said.","Japan, Australia eye sub deal, closer defense ties. TOKYO (AP) — Japan and Australia are set to move ahead with plans to jointly develop stealth submarine technology, as Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe wants his country to play a more assertive military role abroad.","Canada central bank keeps 1% interest rate. Ottawa (AFP) - The Bank of Canada announced Wednesday it was keeping its key lending rate at one percent, the same low rate it has maintained for the past four years.","Iraq strategy: Obama, Congress leaders meeting. WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama has shifted his focus away from airstrikes in Iraq as an imminent option for slowing the Islamist insurgency, in part because there are few clear targets the U.S. could hit, officials say.","Militants apologize for killing Lebanese civilians. BEIRUT (AP) — A militant group has issued an unusual apology for a twin suicide bombing in Beirut that killed four people and wounded dozens, including children from a nearby orphanage.","Obama, Francis find common ground, sharp divisions. VATICAN CITY (AP) — Sharp differences over abortion and birth control surfaced as President Barack Obama held his first meeting Thursday with Pope Francis, even as the president sought to emphasize common ground issues like economic inequality during a much-anticipated Vatican visit.","Cameroon frees 18 hostages seized by Central African Republic rebels. Cameroon's army has freed 18 civilians seized in the country's east last week by rebels from neighboring Central African Republic, state television reported on Monday. Last week, state radio in Bertoua - the capital of Cameroon's East Region - had reported that the group was captured in the border zone between May 1-2. State radio reported at the time that the captors had demanded the release of their leader, Abdoulaye Miskine, in detention in the capital Yaounde. Miskine's Democratic Forces for the Central African People was aligned to a mostly Muslim rebel group known as Seleka which overthrew President Francois Bozize in March 2013 before being forced to cede power themselves in January.","Lifting World Cup can boost stocks in home market. LONDON (AP) — Winning the soccer World Cup can bring instant rewards to that country's stock market investors. But they better be quick as the post-victory rally doesn't last long.","Candy Crush maker King in $500 mn Wall Street debut. King Digital Entertainment raised a sweet half-billion dollars on Wall Street, and now it is time for the market to show its taste for the makers of mobile game Candy Crush. The British game developer priced its initial public offering at $22.50 per share on the eve of the start of public trading Wednesday on the New York Stock Exchange. King will trade under the ticker \"KING\" with an opening market valuation of $7.1 billion. King's arrival on the stock market comes as investors are keen to buy into the next Internet rising industry star but wary of young companies being overvalued, especially in the world of games where popularity can be fleeting.","Serbia's centre-right to tighten grip on power, promising reform. By Matt Robinson BELGRADE (Reuters) - Serbia's center-right Progressive Party, led by former ultra-nationalist Aleksandar Vucic, bids in an election on Sunday to cement its grip on power for the next four years as the ex-Yugoslav republic embarks on talks to join the European Union. The Progressive Party (SNS) forced the snap election after just 18 months in coalition government, saying it needed a stronger mandate to pursue a much-needed overhaul of the Serbian economy. Opinion polls suggest it may win more than 40 percent of the vote, a haul unprecedented in the almost 14 years since Serbia came in from the cold with the ouster of strongman Slobodan Milosevic. Critics, however, are unnerved at the power amassed by a man who up until five years ago was a virulent anti-Western disciple of the Greater Serbia ideology that fuelled the wars of Yugoslavia's bloody demise in the 1990s.","Milicic switches from NBA to kickboxing. BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — Former Serbian center Darko Milicic, known as one of the biggest flops in the history of the NBA draft, is switching from basketball to kickboxing.","Syria moves to ensure Iranian oil supplies do not falter. BEIRUT/DUBAI (Reuters) - The Syrian government took steps on Tuesday to ensure oil imports from major ally Iran will continue to meet its needs as winter approaches, sending a high-level delegation to Tehran for talks with Iranian officials including President Hassan Rouhani. Oil production in Syria, which is under U.S. and European sanctions, has dropped sharply since the start of the conflict nearly four years ago and insurgents have taken over many energy installations. ...","Merkel says US spy allegations 'a serious case'. BEIJING (AP) — German Chancellor Angela Merkel says that if allegations a German intelligence employee spied for the United States are proven true, that would be a \"clear contradiction\" of trust between the allies.","Wary China keeps close watch as Tiananmen anniversary arrives. By Sui-Lee Wee BEIJING (Reuters) - Twenty-five years ago, Wang Nan took his camera and headed out to Beijing's Tiananmen Square, where tens of thousands of people had gathered calling for democratic reforms. As his 77-year-old mother, Zhang Xianling, prepares to mark the 25th anniversary of her son's death, she is under around-the-clock surveillance by eight police and security officers. As early as April, police officers barred foreign journalists, including Reuters reporters, from visiting her home. What is there to be afraid of?\" The Chinese Communist Party's harshest crackdown on political dissent in recent years would suggest plenty.","Hannover striker Diouf to miss rest of season. HANNOVER, Germany (AP) — Hannover says striker Mame Diouf will miss the remainder of the Bundesliga season after shoulder surgery.","Venezuelan protesters camp outside UN office. CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Dozens of students have pitched camp outside the United Nations office in Caracas to complain the international community is siding with Venezuela's government by not speaking out against rights abuses during a bloody, two-month political standoff.","Pope leads crowd in silent prayer for Mideast. VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis has led tens of thousands of people in St. Peter's Square in unannounced, silent prayer for an end to the warfare in the Mideast.","Thailand's main opposition party petitions court to annul election, disband ruling party. BANGKOK - Thailand's main opposition party has petitioned a court to annul last weekend's national elections on constitutional grounds.","Parents of American held by Islamic State release photos, letter. By Daniel Wallis (Reuters) - The parents of an U.S. aid worker held hostage by Islamic State militants on Sunday released photographs of their son and parts of a letter he wrote them from captivity in which he says he is scared to die but at peace with his belief. Peter Kassig, 26, was taken captive a year ago while doing humanitarian work in Syria, his family has said. He was threatened in an Islamic State video issued on Friday that showed the beheading of a British aid worker. Ed and Paula Kassig of Indianapolis, Indiana, appealed for his release on Saturday in a video message. ...","U.S. opposes supply of shoulder-fired missiles to Syria rebels. The United States is opposed to the supply of shoulder-fired missiles, capable of taking down warplanes, to rebel forces in Syria, a senior Obama administration official said on Tuesday. The official, traveling with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry in Tunisia, was responding to a report in the Wall Street Journal on Friday which said Saudi Arabia had offered to give Syrian rebels Chinese man-portable air defense systems, or MANPADS, and anti-tank guided missiles from Russia. The Obama administration official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said, \"The administration remains opposed to any provision of MANPADS to the Syrian opposition.\" The paper said that Arab allies of the United States, disappointed with Syria peace talks, had agreed to arm the Syrian rebels with more sophisticated weaponry. The United States has long opposed supplying rebels with anti-aircraft missiles due to concern they may fall into the hands of forces that may use the weapons against Western targets or commercial airlines.","Hong Kong police charge pro-democracy march organizers. By Clare Baldwin and Nikki Sun HONG KONG (Reuters) - Five organizers of a massive pro-democracy rally in Hong Kong were charged by police on Friday with a range of minor offences, as pressure builds on Communist Party rulers in Beijing to introduce political reforms in the former British colony. Tuesday's pro-democracy march, which organizers said attracted more than half a million people, and a subsequent sit-in by mainly student groups rank among the biggest challenges yet to China which resumed control over the former British colony on July 1, 1997. Police said the charges brought against the organizers included failure to comply with instructions from a police officer, obstructing officers performing their duties, leaving a running vehicle and providing false information to an officer.","Putin demands access for experts at Ukraine crash site. Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Monday the downing of a Malaysian airliner in east Ukraine must not be used for political ends and urged separatists to allow international experts access to the crash site. \"Everything must be done to guarantee the security of international experts at the site of the tragedy,\" Putin, wearing a dark suit and a black tie, said in televised comments.","Satellites and seafood: China keeps fishing fleet connected in disputed waters. By John Ruwitch TANMEN China (Reuters) - On China's southern Hainan island, a fishing boat captain shows a Reuters reporter around his aging vessel. He has one high-tech piece of kit, however: a satellite navigation system that gives him a direct link to the Chinese coastguard should he run into bad weather or a Philippine or Vietnamese patrol ship when he's fishing in the disputed South China Sea. By the end of last year, China's homegrown Beidou satellite system had been installed on more than 50,000 Chinese fishing boats, according to official media. On Hainan, China's gateway to the South China Sea, boat captains have paid no more than 10 percent of the cost.","Japan, North Korea in 2nd day of abduction talks. PYONGYANG, North Korea (AP) — The second and final day of talks was underway Wednesday between North Korean and Japanese officials assessing progress into an investigation of the fates of Japanese citizens abducted by North Korea in the 1970s and '80s.","South Africa shock New Zealand to claim sevens gold. By Michael Hann GLASGOW (Reuters) - South Africa ended New Zealand's dominance of the Commonwealth Games rugby sevens with a 17-12 victory at Ibrox Stadium on Sunday to win the gold medal. New Zealand had not lost a Commonwealth match since the sport made its debut in 1998 and they looked to be heading for a fifth consecutive gold when Sherwin Stowers crossed in the first half. South Africa, who beat Samoa 35-7 to reach the final, came storming back and Seabelo Senatla grabbed two quick tries either side of halftime before Cecil Afrika scored with three minutes remaining. Joe Webber pulled a late try for New Zealand, setting up a nervous few minutes for Neil Powell's side but the Africans held on for victory.","Before Korean family reunions, fears of false hope. BUCHEON, South Korea (AP) — Kim Se-rin is sure he'll recognize his sister when they reunite — if they reunite — in North Korea this week, more than 63 years after war drove them apart. And he knows what he'll say.","Michelle Obama unveils new US food label plan. Calories in bold print, added sugar amounts and realistic serving sizes may soon be portrayed on food labels aimed at fighting America's obesity epidemic, First Lady Michelle Obama said Thursday. \"This will be the new norm in providing consumers with information about the food we buy and eat,\" Obama said at a White House event. The final format of what the First Lady described as the \"label of the future\" has not been formally decided upon, through two draft versions were unveiled at the White House. After that, the changes will likely take two years or more to implement, administration officials said.","Police officer boasted of 'toppling govt': Plebgate MP. Andrew Mitchell, the former minister who resigned amid the \"Plebgate\" scandal, alleged that one the police officers at the centre of the row had boasted he could \"topple the Tory government\". The former chief whip made the claims in a letter written to Metropolitan Police Commissioner Bernard Hogan-Howe, in which he urged the top policeman to release all evidence on the incident. Mitchell said that full disclosure of hearings held by the police would reveal that an officer texted a friend two days after the incident saying: \"I can topple the Tory government\". Police constable Keith Wallis is serving a 12-month jail sentence after he falsely claimed to have witnessed a row between Mitchell and an officer at the gates of Prime Minister David Cameron's Downing Street residence in September 2012.","New York to probe high-frequency trading: Bloomberg. (Reuters) - New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman is investigating whether U.S. stock exchanges and alternative trading venues provide improper advantages to high-frequency traders, Bloomberg reported, citing a person with direct knowledge of the matter. Schneiderman's office is examining the sale of products and services that offer faster access to data and richer information on trades than what is typically available to the public, the report said. The stock exchanges are the latest parties to come under scrutiny as part of Schneiderman's campaign to ensure a level playing field for all investors.","Pope calls for global cooperation on migration crisis. VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Francis called on Tuesday for countries to join forces to help the rising number of migrants, thousands of whom have died this year on perilous journeys to flee poverty and war. The pontiff's message comes as seaborne migration from North Africa to Europe is at a record high and the United States is seeing a surge in the number of children from Central America attempting to cross its southern border. ...","US airdrops aid for Sunnis in western Iraq: Pentagon. US cargo planes have parachuted aid to a beleaguered Sunni tribe in western Iraq, the Pentagon said Tuesday, in a sign Iraqi government forces remain in a tenuous position against Islamic State jihadists in Anbar province. American C-130 aircraft carried out an airdrop of food near Al-Asad air base early on Monday at the request of the Baghdad government, Pentagon spokesman Rear Admiral John Kirby told reporters. US aircraft delivered more than 7,000 Halal meals that were retrieved by Iraqi forces and then delivered to the Albu Nimr tribe, which had been forced to flee homes near Heet due to Islamic State (IS) group's \"aggression,\" Kirby said. \"This assistance is just another example of our resolve to assist the people of Iraq and deny ISIL (IS) key terrain and safe haven, as well as our commitment to assist those forces who are opposing\" the group, he said.","Quotes from the Syrian peace conference. MONTREUX, Switzerland (AP) — Exchanges during the opening day of peace talks in Switzerland aimed at ending Syria's civil war have been tense. Here are some of Wednesday's most notable quotes:","Emirates airline H1 profit up 8 percent to $514M. DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The Middle East's biggest airline, Emirates, says it earned $514 million in the first six months of its fiscal year as it grew its fleet and more passengers and fuller planes pushed its sales higher.","Iraqi Sunnis flee Anbar turmoil for Shiite Karbala. Ain Tamr (Iraq) (AFP) - A steady stream of families fleeing fighting in Ramadi and Fallujah is arriving at a checkpoint in Iraq's Karbala province, seeking shelter from the deadly violence. As militants hold parts of Ramadi and all of Fallujah, in Anbar province, Sunni families are now seeking safety in the Shiite-majority Karbala province, in a country that has been plagued by sharp sectarian divisions. The checkpoint in the Ain Tamr district has the look of a border crossing, manned by police and soldiers supported by armoured vehicles.","Turkish PM Erdogan says rivals will be crushed. By Nick Tattersall and Humeyra Pamuk ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan, rallying hundreds of thousands of cheering supporters in Istanbul, said on Sunday that political enemies accusing him of corruption would be crushed by their own immorality. Massed supporters cheered, called Erdogan's name and waved red Turkish flags and the blue and gold emblems of the AK Party he founded in 2001 and led to power a year later vowing to root out the corruption that had dogged his rivals. The prime minister accuses the U.S.-based cleric Fethullah Gulen and his followers of manufacturing a police corruption investigation that touched on business associates, government members and Erdogan's own family. \"The people can see the game that is being played.\" The size of the crowd, which he put at 2 million, suggested AK Party was well placed to keep control of Istanbul.","UN Syria aid resolution not working, official warns. United Nations (United States) (AFP) - UN humanitarian chief Valerie Amos said Wednesday that a Security Council measure designed to provide aid to millions of desperate Syrians was not working. Amos was grilled by reporters who asked why she was not demanding more and accused her of accepting the political stalemate.","Mexico's World Cup team bus breaks down. SANTOS, Brazil (AP) — Mexico's World Cup squad had to use taxis to get to training on Monday after the team bus wouldn't start.","Iran, Japan hold 'fruitful' talks on frozen assets: Zarif. Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said Thursday he had held \"constructive and fruitful\" talks in Japan on repatriating some of Tehran's assets frozen under international sanctions. Iran and world powers reached a deal in November under which Tehran agreed to temporarily curb parts of its controversial nuclear programme in exchange for limited relief from international sanctions, which included effectively shutting Iran out of the international banking system. Iran has had said it wants to use Japanese, South Korean and Swiss banks to handle international trade exempted from Western sanctions under the November deal.","Trade deficit widens in May: data. Britain's trade deficit for goods grew in May on the back of unusually high aircraft imports, official data showed Thursday. The deficit rose to £9.2 billion ($15.7 billion, 11.5 billion euros) in May, the Office for National Statistics said in a statement. Economists polled by Dow Jones Newswires had forecast a smaller deficit of £8.9 billion. The ONS added that £1.2 billion worth of aircraft was imported into the country in May, up from £800 million in April.","AP probe: Handling of military sex-crimes chaotic. TOKYO (AP) — After a night of partying in Hiroshima City, the woman agreed to share a room at the Tokyo Inn Hotel with the U.S. Marine.","Seized 'Iran arms ship' to arrive in Israel Saturday. A ship allegedly carrying advanced rockets from Iran to Gaza that was intercepted by the Israeli navy will reach the port of Eilat on Saturday evening, the military said. \"The ship may be carrying other weapons as well but we can only know this when it reaches Eilat,\" he said, referring to the resort city at the southernmost tip of Israel. \"There is clear and unequivocal information that this (shipment) came from Iran,\" he said, without giving further details. Major General Aviv Kochavi, head of military intelligence, was to give a news conference on the ship later Thursday.","German fugitive detained in Dominican tourist town. SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic (AP) — Interpol agents in the Dominican Republic have taken into custody a suspected German fugitive in a popular tourist town of the Caribbean country.","Italy navy finds 30 corpses in migrant boat. ROME (AP) — The bodies of some 30 would-be migrants were found in the hold of a packed smugglers' boat making its way to Italy, the latest deaths in a surge of immigration to Europe, the Italian navy said Monday.","Obama to face blunt talk in Saudi Arabia. Blunt talk over the US opening to Iran and reticence in Syria will be on the menu when President Barack Obama travels to Saudi Arabia next month to meet King Abdullah. Obama's White House years have caused frustration and incomprehension in Riyadh and a rocky ride for Washington's key strategic relationship with the Gulf kingdom. His nuclear diplomacy with Iran, Sunni Saudi Arabia's Shiite-led foe in a swirling regional proxy war, and his last gasp reversal on striking Syria last year infuriated the Saudi court.","Bahrain says expels representative of Shi'ite Ayatollah Sistani. Bahrain expelled a prominent Shi'ite religious figure on Wednesday, accusing him of acting as a representative of influential Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani without permission. A statement by the interior ministry said it had received information from top Iraqi government officials that Sheikh Hussein al-Najati was Sistani's representative and had carried out activities such as fund-raising in that capacity. Bahrain, which is ruled by the Sunni Muslim al-Khalifa dynasty, accuses Shi'ite power Iran of fomenting unrest in the country since a 2011 uprising led by the Shi'ite Muslim community demanding reforms and more share in running the kingdom.","Bright prospects? China's rooftop solar goal looks too ambitious. Beijing's goal of tripling solar power from small-scale operations such as rooftop panels looks overly ambitious, risking disappointment for investors who have bid up shares in Chinese solar panel makers in the past year. China has a target of installing 14.5 gigawatts (GW) of solar generating capacity this year - close to Finland's entire power capacity. The aim is to redress an imbalance caused by a glut of large solar farms in China's vast western region, where there is plenty of sunshine but not enough infrastructure to harness and transmit the power to the densely populated south and east. But unless China promises bigger subsidies and financing support, and streamlines the process of acquiring rooftop rights, companies say the rooftop installations just aren't worth it.","Time Warner moves to bar shareholders from calling meetings. (Reuters) - Time Warner Inc's board moved to prevent its shareholders from calling special meetings, effectively throwing up a hurdle to any quick move to approve a potential takeover by Rupert Murdoch's Twenty-First Century Fox. Fox made an offer for Time Warner for about $80 billion or about $85 per share in a mix of stock and cash that Time Warner rebuffed, both companies disclosed last week. Time Warner previously allowed as few as 15 percent of its shareholders to call a special meeting, factors that could help a takeover bid. The move, revealed in a regulatory filing on Monday, was not preempted by any particular investor buying large amounts of Time Warner shares but rather to give the board the ability to defend itself from an unsolicited bid, two sources close to the matter said.","ARU backs Ewen McKenzie as Wallabies coach. SYDNEY (AP) — The Australian Rugby Union has rejected reports it is preparing to replace Ewen McKenzie as Wallabies coach.","Syrian doctors struggle to care for mentally ill and traumatized. (The identity of the correspondent has been withheld for security reasons) DAMASCUS (Reuters) - It was cold and dark in the psychiatrist's office in downtown Damascus. But Syria's civil war means many can no longer reach the capital across frontlines. When pro-democracy protests started three years ago, Syrians had access to government-subsidized health care. Like other Arab countries, Syria had a long tradition of community involvement in the individual's wellbeing.","Iraq PM to visit Iran for talks on fight against IS. Baghdad (AFP) - Iraqi Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi is to visit Iran on Monday for talks on Baghdad's battle against the Islamic State group, which holds swathes of the country, his office said.","Thai firms feel squeeze from crisis, seek solution. BANGKOK (AP) — Hotel occupancy rates in central Bangkok have plunged. Conventions have been canceled. Business deals have been postponed. Tourist bookings for coming months are way down.","Calm, safe waters, but ill-fated Korean ferry may have been going too fast. By Joyce Lee and Sohee Kim JINDO/INCHEON, South Korea (Reuters) - It should have been plain sailing for a South Korean ferry carrying hundreds of children and their teachers on an outing to the sub-tropical island of Jeju, an annual trip for Danwon High School. The Sewol had 476 passengers and crew on board, including 339 children and teachers. It had an experienced captain, was navigating well-known waters and had passed its annual inspections since it was bought second hand in 2012 by Chonghaejin Marine Co. Ltd. But prosecutors believe the vessel capsized after turning at too high a speed. According to fishermen and others who navigate the tidal waters around Jindo island where the Sewol started to sink last Wednesday, the route followed by the ferry from the port of Incheon to Jeju was regularly used by ferries and larger vessels such as oil tankers.","EU adds 15 to sanctions list over Russia's actions in Ukraine. By Adrian Croft BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union imposed asset freezes and visa bans on 15 more Russians and Ukrainians on Monday as part of expanded sanctions on Moscow over its actions in Ukraine. The decision brings to 48 the number of people that the EU has put under sanctions for, it says, helping undermine Ukraine's territorial integrity. EU diplomats said they would not include the heads of Russian energy giants such as Rosneft's Igor Sechin, who was included on a new U.S. sanctions list on Monday. The EU decision coincided with a White House announcement that the United States was imposing sanctions against seven Russians and 17 companies linked to Russian President Vladimir Putin.","Hugh Jackman expects more bouts of skin cancer. BEIJING (AP) — Hugh Jackman says he will probably have many more skin cancerous growths following the removal of a second one from his nose.","Gulf meeting ends without clear end to Qatar spat. RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) — A high-level meeting of Gulf foreign ministers has ended without a clear end to a monthslong diplomatic spat with Qatar, but some envoys are signaling that progress has been made.","Giant Waves Breaking Up Antarctica's Sea Ice. Major waves from ocean storms can fracture ice hundreds of miles from its edge, researchers say. Sea ice is frozen seawater that floats on the ocean. It forms on the water, setting it apart from ice shelves, which flow down to a coastline from the land into the ocean. On average, sea ice covers an area about 9.6 million square miles (25 million square kilometers), or about two-and-a-half times the area of Canada.","Floods kill 10 in southern Brazil but rain easing. By Caroline Stauffer SAO PAULO (Reuters) - Flooding had killed 10 people in southern Brazil's Parana state by Wednesday, and state officials declared an emergency in 130 cities including World Cup host Curitiba and popular tourist attraction Iguazu Falls Torrential rainfall started on Saturday in the state bordering Paraguay and Argentina, but the sun was shining in most regions by Wednesday, according to Curitiba-based climate institute Simepar. A new cold front will likely bring more rain to much of the state starting on Friday afternoon, Simepar Meteorologist Ana Beatriz Porto da Silva told Reuters, though she said it was too early to say if the first soccer match scheduled at the state's Baixada Arena will be affected. Iran plays Nigeria in Curitiba on June 16, four days after the month-long tournament that will bring some 800,000 foreign visitors to Brazil kicks off in Sao Paulo. The World Cup is taking place in an unusual weather year for Brazil.","Yonhap news agency says North Korea has test-fired 3 short-range projectiles into Sea of Japan. SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Yonhap news agency says North Korea has test-fired 3 short-range projectiles into Sea of Japan.","Egypt delays Gaza talks after Israel soldier 'captured'. Cairo (AFP) - Egypt told Palestinian officials Friday it is delaying ceasefire talks in Cairo after Israel said militants captured one of its soldiers in Gaza, a senior Islamic Jihad official said.","Full Moon Blocks Saturn for Stargazers Down Under Wednesday: Watch Live Online. The May full moon will rise on Wednesday (May 14), giving stargazers with clear skies in Australia and New Zealand a special treat: a view of Saturn slipping behind the moon. The Virtual Telescope Project in Italy has teamed up with stargazers in Australia to stream live views of Saturn and the moon in a free webcast early Wednesday. Weather permitting, the occultation of Saturn by the moon should be an amazing event, especially in telescopes that reveal Saturn's brightest moons. \\\\\"I'm pleased to confirm this amazing occultation live feed, via the Virtual Telescope Project, thanks to a few observers in Australia,\\\\\" astrophysicist Gianluca Masi, host of the Virtual Telescope Project webcast, told Space.com in an email.","UN concerned Rohingya excluded from Myanmar census. SITTWE, Myanmar (AP) — The U.N. agency helping Myanmar carry out its first census in decades says it is \"deeply concerned\" members of the long-persecuted Rohingya Muslim population are not being counted.","Yemen president urges Iran to stop interference: newspaper. Yemen's president called on Iran to stop supporting separatists in the south and religious groups in the north of the Arabian peninsula country, which is trying to stabilize after more than two years of political upheaval. The comments by Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi published in pan-Arab daily Al Hayat newspaper will likely further strain relations with Iran, which has repeatedly denied interfering in Yemen. \"Unfortunately, Iranian interference still exists, whether through its support for the Hirak separatists or some religious groups in northern Yemen,\" Hadi told Al Hayat, apparently referring to the Shi'ite Muslim Houthi rebels who are trying to capture more territory in the northern part of the country. \"We asked our Iranian brothers to revise their wrong policies towards Yemen, but our demands have not borne fruit.","Turkey says it airspace not used for U.S. airdrops over Kobani. ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkish airspace was not used during airdrops carried out by the United States to support Kurdish fighters defending the Syrian border town of Kobani, a Turkish foreign ministry official said on Monday. Kobani has been surrounded by Islamic State militants for more than a month, and Turkey has up to now refused calls from Kurdish forces to allow arms to flow through its territory to help the defenders. U.S. officials said on Sunday the airdrops included medical supplies and weapons provided by the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) in Iraq. ...","Report: Iranians protest burying American scholar. TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — An Iranian news agency says dozens of people have protested against the expected burial of an American scholar in the country's historic city of Isfahan.","Special Report: Their nation in pieces, Iraqis ponder what comes next. By Isabel Coles, Ahmed Rasheed and Ned Parker SALAHUDDIN PROVINCE, Iraq (Reuters) - The machine gun poking out from between a framed portrait of a Shi'ite imam and a stuffed toy Minnie Mouse was trained on anyone who approached the checkpoint. Like dozens of other communities in Iraq, this small Sunni settlement in northern Salahuddin province’s Tuz Khurmatu district has been reduced to rubble. In October, Shi'ite militiamen and Kurdish peshmerga captured the village from the Sunni militant group Islamic State. The Shi'ite and Kurdish paramilitary groups now patrol the scorched landscape, eager to claim the most strategic areas or the few houses that are still intact. For now, the two forces are convenient but uncomfortable allies against the nihilist Islamic State.","RBS poaches Credit Suisse banker as finance chief. Britain's state-rescued Royal Bank of Scotland revealed Friday it has poached Credit Suisse banker Ewen Stevenson, a key advisor in the group's vast bailout, to be chief financial officer. RBS said in a statement that Stevenson, who is currently Credit Suisse's London-based co-head of investment banking for Europe, Middle East and Africa, will join on May 19. Stevenson, 47, was a senior member of the Credit Suisse team advising the British government in 2008 and 2009 on the recapitalisations of both RBS and Lloyds Banking Group.","Maduro congratulates Castro brothers on new ties with US. Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, a frequent critic of the United States, congratulated the Castro brothers Friday on Cuba's rapprochement with Washington, but warned that the embargo on the island would remain for a long time. This month's historic announcement that the United States and Cuba were restoring diplomatic relations after half a century of hostility undercuts the stridently anti-American stance Maduro has adopted as his country slides into a deepening economic crisis. Venezuela had long found in its close ally Cuba a comrade in its anti-American diatribe, but the dynamic has now changed. \"Much more than good news is the real possibility that the United States recognizes the sacred right of Cuba to be free and sovereign,\" Maduro said in a letter to President Raul Castro published by Cuban media.","Sept. 11 suspect pushes for details of FBI inquiry. FORT MEADE, Maryland (AP) — The lead attorney for the self-proclaimed mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks said Thursday he might withdraw from the case unless the judge orders the government to share details about FBI investigations of defense team members.","California investigators: homeless man's injuries suggest he was attacked by mountain lion. PERRIS, Calif. - Investigators say a critically injured homeless man may have been the victim of a mountain lion attack at a Southern California encampment.","One suspect on missing jet is Iranian, no terror link: Malaysia. Kuala Lumpur (AFP) - Malaysian police said Tuesday they had identified one of two men who boarded a missing Malaysian jet with fake passports as a 19-year-old Iranian believed to be seeking to emigrate to Germany.","Journalists charged with defaming Thailand's navy. PHUKET, Thailand (AP) — Thai authorities have charged two journalists with defaming Thailand's navy in an online news report about the trafficking of refugees from Myanmar.","Britain's Prince William to visit China in 2015. London (AFP) - Britain's Prince William is to visit China next year, though his pregnant wife Kate is thought unlikely to go with him, reports said Monday.","Big wreck in final IndyCar practice at Fontana. FONTANA, Calif. (AP) — Rookie IndyCar driver Mikhail Aleshin was taken away from the track in an ambulance and airlifted to a hospital Friday night after a frightening crash in the final practice session for the series season finale.","Iran's unwelcome dogs find care at rare shelter. TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Man's best friend is seen as anything but in Iran, where city workers gun down strays and conservatives view pet dogs as a corrupting Western influence. But in a rare animal shelter in the countryside west of Tehran, hundreds of lucky pups have found mercy, and a growing number of Iranians are learning to love them.","Malaysia's top court: 'Allah' for Muslims only. KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Malaysia's top court on Monday upheld a government ban forbidding non-Muslims from using \"Allah\" to refer to God, rejecting an appeal by the Roman Catholic Church that argued that the ban failed to consider the rights of minorities in the mostly Muslim nation.","American Apparel creditor demands loan repayment. Lion Capital has asked American Apparel to repay a $10 million loan four years early after the retailer ousted its founder and CEO Dov Charney on June 18, said a source close to the matter Friday. Allan Mayer, co-chairman of American Apparel's board, says that talks with Lion Capital are ongoing \"but if they do decide to call the loan, we have sufficient capital to pay it off.\" American Apparel shares rose 30 percent on Friday to close at 97 cents on the American Stock Exchange, the highest level since February. \"I think Wall Street is betting right now that Dov does not come back.\" Lion Capital, a British investment firm that focuses on the consumer sector, has made no public statement on the loan. \"Lion is either looking for an exit strategy, or it is looking for Dov to come back,\" said Eric Beder, an analyst who specializes in retail and consumer products for Brean Capital.","Lunches dumped to avoid food-poisoning scare. SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Asian Games organizers say they discarded 76 packaged lunches prepared for athletes after inspectors found salmonella in meat samples.","Turkey sacks defense official involved in China missile talks. Turkey has removed Murad Bayar, Defence Ministry undersecretary for the state-run defence industries, from his post with immediate effect, the official gazette showed on Thursday. Bayar had been influential in Turkey's negotiations with China over the procurement of a missile defence system. Turkey's NATO allies voiced concern when it said in September it had chosen China's FD-2000 missile defence system over rival offers from the Franco/Italian Eurosam SAMP/T and U.S.-listed Raytheon Co. It said China had offered the most competitive terms and would allow co-production in Turkey.","Obama hails 'vision' of Iraqi PM at first meeting. United Nations (United States) (AFP) - US President Barack Obama on Wednesday hailed the \"political vision\" of new Iraqi Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi as the two leaders met for the first time.","Comoran elections delayed two months without explanation. Moroni (Comoros) (AFP) - The Comoran president has decreed a two-month postponement of general elections without explanation, the interior ministry of the chronically unstable east African archipelago said Monday.","India to kick off world's biggest election in remote northeast. By Shyamantha Asokan LAHOAL, India (Reuters) - Indians start voting in the world's biggest ever election on Monday, with a Hindu nationalist opposition party that has promised economic rejuvenation and jobs tipped to emerge as the clear leader but likely to fall short of an absolute majority. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), led by Hindu nationalist Narendra Modi, and its allies are forecast to win the biggest chunk of seats but fall shy of a majority, according to a poll released this week by respected Indian pollsters CSDS. In such a situation, a coalition government led by the BJP is seen as the most likely outcome. India's 815 million voters are set to inflict a resounding defeat on the ruling Congress party, led by the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty, surveys show, after the longest economic slowdown since the 1980s put the brakes on development and job creation in a country where half of the population is under 25 years old.","Obama: US to boost military presence in Europe. WARSAW, Poland (AP) — President Barack Obama announced Tuesday that the United States plans to boost its military presence in Europe as tensions simmer in the region over Russia's actions in Ukraine.","Ex-Madoff aide testifies at own trial, denies he knew of fraud. By Joseph Ax NEW YORK (Reuters) - Only minutes into the prosecution's questioning of former Bernard Madoff aide Daniel Bonventre at trial on Wednesday, it was clear he was in for a long day. Assistant U.S. Attorney Randall Jackson asked Bonventre repeatedly whether he was \"close friends\" with one of four co-defendants accused of helping to conceal Madoff's decades-long, multibillion-dollar fraud, former portfolio manager Annette Bongiorno. Bonventre repeatedly said he did not know what Jackson meant. \"Do you have any difficulty with the definition of the word ‘close'?\" A flustered Bonventre eventually said, \"Yes, I struggle with the meaning of ‘close.'\" Bonventre did, however, acknowledge that he and Bongiorno were friendly colleagues.","Dutch speedskater Ter Mors advances in short track. SOCHI, Russia (AP) — Jorien ter Mors of the Netherlands finished second in her heat of 1,000-meter Olympic short track to advance about two hours after skating in the long track team pursuit on Friday night.","Horse Racing - Derby-winner Australia retires. - Leading race horse Australia, which won both this year's English Derby and the Irish Derby, has been retired just a week before the colt was due to bow out at the British Champions Day meet at Ascot, it was announced Saturday.","Russian police kill Islamist militant leader before Olympics. Police have killed a senior Islamist militant in Russia's North Caucasus ahead of the Winter Olympics in Sochi, where security forces searched on Tuesday for a woman they fear is planning an attack during the games. Eldar Magatov, a suspect in attacks on Russian targets and alleged leader of an insurgent group in the Babyurt district of Dagestan, died in a shootout, the National Anti-Terror Committee said on Tuesday. President Vladimir Putin has staked his political reputation on organizing a successful Olympics and tightened security nationwide after insurgents who hope to create an Islamist state in the North Caucasus threatened to attack the games, which start on February 7. Putin had a phone call on Tuesday with U.S. President Barack Obama in which they discussed how best to have a \"safe and secure\" Winter Olympics, the White House said.","U.S. officials say Iran can play helpful role on Syria. Iran could improve its chances of playing a role on the sidelines of Syria peace talks this month by working with Damascus to stop the bombardment of civilians and improve humanitarian access, U.S. officials said on Monday. \"There are ... steps that Iran could take to show the international community that they are serious about playing a positive role,\" one of the officials said in Brussels. It includes calling for and encouraging humanitarian access.\" Another official made clear that the comment on bombardment referred to Syria's biggest city, Aleppo. However, one U.S. official said Washington still believed it was \"less likely than likely\" that Iran would play any role at the January 22 peace conference on Lake Geneva in Switzerland, even on the sidelines.","Ukraine rising gas debt a concern, no grounds for contract review: Kremlin. MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia is concerned about Ukraine's rising debt for gas but sees no grounds to review deals if Kiev fulfills existing agreements on gas purchases, President Vladimir Putin's spokesman said on Wednesday. \"Of course we are concerned by the growing debt for gas supplies ... but we hope that our Ukrainian partners will stick to all the clauses of the current agreement,\" the spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, told Kommersant-FM radio. ...","In China, top US diplomat talks maritime tensions. BEIJING (AP) — A top U.S. diplomat says China needs to work with its neighbors to cool rising tensions over its claims to territory in surrounding seas.","Athens court jails 4 Turkish suspected terrorists. ATHENS, Greece (AP) — An Athens court has jailed four Turkish nationals pending trial on terrorism and weapons-related charges after they were arrested during raids on an Athens apartment that netted automatic weapons and several kilograms (pounds) of explosives.","Murray breezes past Kyrgios on return to action. Britain's 2013 Wimbledon champion Andy Murray made light of an absence from the ATP tour of over a month to defeat promising Aussie teenager Nick Kyrgios 6-2, 6-2 in less than an hour on Wednesday in the second-round of the Toronto Masters. Murray, the eighth seed who won the Canadian title in 2009 and 2010, had been seen as a poential scalp for the dangerous Kyrgios since losing to Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov in the Wimbledon quarter-finals. He also signed former top French woman player Amelie Mauresmo to a long-term coaching contract after an experimental period through the grass season. Murray showed in Toronto that his work was starting to pay off, as he hammered Kyrgios, who upset Rafael Nadal in the fourth round at Wimbledon.","PSG beats Bastia 3-0 in French league. PARIS (AP) — Paris Saint-Germain thrashed Bastia 3-0 in the French league to keep an eight-point lead over Monaco, which edged Sochaux 2-1 on Saturday.","Taliban shoot dead Supreme Court official in Afghan capital. KABUL (Reuters) - Taliban insurgents gunned down a top official of Afghanistan's Supreme Court as he left his home in Kabul on Saturday, the latest in a spate of strikes by the hardline Islamists on a broad range of targets in and around the Afghan capital. Heavily fortified Kabul is on high alert after insurgents stepped up attacks in recent weeks, targeting guesthouses, government officials and civilians as most foreign troops prepare to leave the country by the end of this month. ...","Brutus the giant crocodile attacks shark in Australia. Tourists in northern Australia have been left stunned by two fierce animals going head-to-head -- a massive saltwater crocodile wrestling with a bull shark in its jaws. Andrew Paice was on an hour-long wildlife cruise on the Adelaide River with his partner and seven-year-old daughter on Tuesday when they spotted something unusual on the riverbank. Earlier they had watched as crocodiles, including the huge 5.5-metre (18-feet) male known as Brutus, leapt out of the water to eat a piece of buffalo meat held out on a pole to them. \"It was on the way back to the jetty, we went past Brutus again, he was up on the bank,\" Paice told AFP from Kakadu National Park in the Northern Territory on Wednesday.","Car bombings in Iraq kill at least 13 people. BAGHDAD (AP) — A new series of car bombings in and around Baghdad on Monday killed at least 13 people, officials said, as Iraq's Shiite-led government grapples with a stubborn Sunni extremist-led insurgency in the western Anbar province.","Texas executes Mexican despite diplomatic uproar. Washington (AFP) - The US state of Texas executed a Mexican man convicted of murder despite a diplomatic outcry and pressure from the federal government to further review his case.","Central African sugar factory reopens amid strife. Ngakobo (Central African Republic) (AFP) - A sugar refinery -- the wartorn Central African Republic's biggest factory -- is back in business after soldiers recaptured it from former rebels who occupied it for more than a year. They had fled to the capital Bangui amid sectarian violence sparked by a March 2013 coup by the mainly Muslim Seleka movement. We were bored, so we are happy to be back,\" said 30-year-old Solange Ngortene, a secretary at the factory. Under a blazing sun, workers are busy cutting sugar cane on four hectares (10 acres) of rolling green fields.","AP chief urges governments to support free press. SHARJAH, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The Associated Press' executive editor called on governments around the world to support an independent press, warning Monday that efforts to silence the media through intimidation and violence are \"in effect an attack on a nation's people.\"","AP Photos: Pakistani protesters sleep on streets. ISLAMABAD (AP) — They swarmed into Pakistan's capital in their thousands, protesters calling for Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's resignation and the dissolution of parliament.","India main importer of Nigerian oil, overtakes US. LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) — Nigeria's state oil company says India has overtaken the United States as the biggest importer of Nigerian crude.","Ukraine's Naftogaz plans to buy 1 bcm of Russian gas by end of year. BRATISLAVA (Reuters) - Ukraine will buy 1 billion cubic meters (bcm) of natural gas from Russia by the end of the year, Naftogaz Chief Executive Andriy Kobolyev said on Monday. Kobolyev also said Ukraine was in talks to get so-called reverse gas flows from Hungary resumed in the coming months. \"We plan to buy 1 billion cubic meters of Russian gas from now until the end of the year,\" he said at a news conference during an energy conference in the Slovak capital. \"We hope the supply of gas from Hungary will resume in December or January next year. ...","India: Girls died by suicide, not slain by rapists. NEW DELHI (AP) — India's top federal investigating agency says that two teenage girls believed to have been raped and hanged by their attackers actually committed suicide.","Islamic State beheads four men for blasphemy in Syria: monitor. BEIRUT (Reuters) - Islamic State's self-declared police force in western Syria decapitated four men after accusing them of blasphemy, a rights group monitoring the Syrian conflict said on Saturday. The men were beheaded in the countryside east of the city of Homs by the militant group's \"Islamic Police\", the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. The Observatory, which monitors the conflict using sources on the ground, reported a similar killing on Tuesday, when Islamic State beheaded a man in a town square in the north of the country. ...","Quebec provincial police investigating two deaths are led to one more dead. ST-CROIX, Que. - Quebec provincial police are trying to determine the connection between three suspicious deaths in the province's Beauce region.","Tunisia arrests 4 militants after firefight. TUNIS, Tunisia (AP) — Tunisia says four militants have been arrested after late-night gunbattles between militants and security forces in the southern city that was the cradle for the Arab Spring revolutions.","Ex-DR Congo warlord Mutebusi dies in Rwanda. Jules Mutebusi, a former DR Congo rebel leader often described as a Rwandan proxy, has died in Kigali where he had been exiled for a decade, relatives and officials said Sunday. It looks like he had been sick, that's what Rwanda is saying,\\\\\" one of Mutebusi's uncles told AFP. Mutebusi, from the ethnic Tutsi group in the Democratic Republic of Congo's South Kivu region known as Banyamulenge, was a top military leader of the Rally for Congolese Democracy (RCD). When his forces were defeated, Mutebusi and 300 of his men fled to Rwanda, which Kinshasa had accused of backing the RCD rebellion, including by providing armoured vehicles.","Iraq forces have begun clearing cities of 'terrorists', says PM. Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said Friday Iraqi security forces have begun clearing cities of \"terrorists,\" after militants seized swathes of territory and brought the military to the brink of collapse. Security forces \"began their work to clear all our dear cities from these terrorists,\" Maliki said in a statement, without giving details of where or when operations had started. A major militant offensive, spearheaded by powerful jihadist group the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, has overrun all of one province and chunks of three more since Monday. Security forces have so far failed to halt the push, with some abandoning their vehicles and positions and discarding their uniforms.","China fines eye-care companies on pricing charges. BEIJING (AP) — China has fined Johnson & Johnson, Nikon and five other foreign makers of eyeglasses and contact lenses on price-fixing charges in its latest effort to use anti-monopoly law to control consumer prices.","Bradley off to a good start at a great time. NORTON, Mass. (AP) — In the final tournament before Ryder Cup teams are set, Keegan Bradley did his best Friday to make an impression in the Deutsche Bank Championship.","Canadian employers' fourth-quarter hiring outlook softens: Manpower survey. Canadian companies expect to hire new employees in the fourth quarter at the weakest quarterly pace since 2010, a survey released on Tuesday showed. The ManpowerGroup Inc report, which measures the difference between employers that say they will hire employees and those that expect to cut jobs, said the net employment outlook for the fourth quarter, adjusted for seasonal variations, was 8 percent. \"The hiring climate is expected to be more modest in the fourth quarter, with the weakest net employment outlook we've seen since the second quarter of 2010,\" Byrne Luft, vice president of operations for Manpower Canada, said in a statement.","Exclusive: Credit Suisse deal with U.S. authorities could top $2 billion - sources. By Karen Freifeld and Aruna Viswanatha NEW YORK/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - New York state's banking regulator is seeking hundreds of millions of dollars from Credit Suisse in its probe of potential tax evasion involving the Swiss bank, according to sources close to the matter, which could push an eventual settlement with U.S. authorities over $2 billion. The settlement with the New York State Department of Financial Services would be in addition to the fine that Credit Suisse is discussing with the U.S. Justice Department. Reuters reported last week that the Justice Department is seeking as much as $1.6 billion from the bank. The talks between Credit Suisse and Benjamin Lawsky, New York's financial services superintendent, are ongoing, people familiar with the matter said.","U.S. warns South Sudan: Strike a peace deal or face U.N. sanctions. By Michelle Nichols UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The United States warned South Sudan's president and rebel leader on Tuesday to engage in serious peace talks to end nearly a year of violence in the world's newest state or face United Nations sanctions. Fighting erupted in December in South Sudan - which declared independence from Sudan in 2011 - after months of political tension between President Salva Kiir and his sacked deputy and political rival, Riek Machar. Peace talks brokered by African regional bloc IGAD resumed last week. U.S. ...","Venezuela's Maduro posts foreign minister Ramirez to UN. Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro announced that he was moving Foreign Minister Rafael Ramirez to serve as his United Nations envoy. The move, which sees former communications minister Delcy Rodriguez appointed new chief diplomat, was announced on the eve of Venezuela joining the UN Security Council on January 1 as a temporary member on a rotating basis, representing Latin America. Ramirez, a 51-year-old engineer by training, had only served as foreign minister since September 3.","German 'Autobahn sniper' sentenced to 10 1⁄2 years. BERLIN (AP) — A court in Germany has sentenced a trucker to 10 1⁄2 years in prison for shooting at fellow drivers more than 700 times over a five-year period.","Russia hopes for Ukraine gas deal this week. ATYRAU Kazakhstan (Reuters) - Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said on Tuesday he hoped Moscow and Kiev would this week settle their differences over a timetable for Ukraine to pay its natural gas debts to Russia. Russia stopped gas flows to Ukraine in June in a standoff over the gas price with its neighboring former Soviet republic, through which Europe receives about half of its gas imports from Russia. After several rounds of talks brokered by the European Union, Moscow and Kiev reported progress at a meeting last week in Berlin. ...","Masked gunmen kill police chief in Libya's capital. TRIPOLI, Libya (AP) — Masked armed men killed the police chief of Libya's capital Tuesday, the Interior Ministry said, amid an ongoing battle for the city's international airport.","Alstom loss is PR win for new Siemens chief. By Jens Hack and Maria Sheahan MUNICH/FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Within weeks of taking the helm at Siemens in 2007, Peter Loescher splashed out $7 billion for U.S. diagnostics firm Dade Behring. Joe Kaeser replaced Loescher less than a year ago, promising a more disciplined approach. On Friday, the French government announced it had chosen U.S. conglomerate General Electric over Siemens and its bidding partner Mitsubishi Heavy Industries in the contest to acquire the energy assets of Alstom. Siemens may have missed out on Alstom, giving its biggest global competitor GE a stronger foothold in its European backyard.","UK summons Spanish ambassador over Gibraltar. LONDON (AP) — Britain has summoned the Spanish ambassador as a sign of displeasure in the latest spat over Gibraltar.","Australia declare, set India 384 runs to win. Australia declared their second innings at 318 for nine at lunch to set India 384 runs to win the third Test on the final day in Melbourne on Tuesday.","US puzzled by Iran's mock-up of an aircraft carrier. Iran is building a crude mock-up of an American aircraft carrier at a ship yard on its Gulf coast and US officials said Friday the goal of the project remains a mystery. Iran has made no attempt to hide its \"curious\" construction effort near Bandar Abbas on the Gulf, as commercial satellite imagery has shown a vessel gradually taking shape, resembling the outlines of a Nimitz-class carrier, three administration officials said. \"We find it very curious...We don't know what Iran hopes to gain by building it.\" Defense officials stressed that the vessel was not a working aircraft carrier, had no nuclear propulsion system and was essentially a barge outfitted to look -- but not operate -- like a carrier.","Crimeans overwhelmingly vote for secession. SIMFEROPOL, Ukraine (AP) — Fireworks exploded and Russian flags fluttered above jubilant crowds Sunday after residents in Crimea voted overwhelmingly to secede from Ukraine and join Russia. The United States and Europe condemned the ballot as illegal and destabilizing and were expected to slap sanctions against Russia for it.","Canada new housing prices climb for a seventh month. New housing prices in Canada rose 0.2 percent in June from May, as analysts expected, gaining for a seventh consecutive month, Statistics Canada said on Thursday. On a year-over-year basis, prices were up 1.5 percent, the same as in May. The combined metropolitan region of Toronto and Oshawa, which accounts for 28 percent of the overall market, was the top contributor to June's growth. Calgary - capital of Canada's booming energy industry - posted a 0.3 percent advance over May. Prices in the city rose by 7.3 percent year-over-year, by far the highest growth across the country. The Canadian government, which has intervened in the mortgage market several times since 2008 to cool the sector, has long expressed concerns the housing market might overheat though it thinks a soft landing is more likely.","Poor Saudi slums highlight wider housing problems. JIDDAH, Saudi Arabia (AP) — Saudi Arabia is quietly planning to raze slums in one of its largest cities to make way for newer, restored neighborhoods as part of a wider plan to keep up with soaring demand for affordable housing.","SKorean roof collapse kills 10 at college meeting. SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — A resort auditorium's roof loaded down with snow and rain collapsed during a welcoming ceremony for South Korean university freshmen, killing 10 and injuring more than 100, officials said Tuesday.","Israeli official: No cease-fire efforts in Gaza. JERUSALEM (AP) — A senior Israeli Cabinet minister says that Israel will not halt its military offensive in the Gaza Strip until rocket fire is halted.","Gaza calm as Israel braces for Palestinian youth's funeral. By Nidal al-Mughrabi GAZA (Reuters) - Shelling across the Gaza Strip's border tapered off on Friday while Israel braced for violent protests by Palestinians in Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank at the funeral of a youth they believe was killed by far-right Jews. Hostility that had simmered since three Israeli teenagers were abducted on June 12, triggering army sweeps of the West Bank, boiled over this week upon the discovery of their bodies and the Palestinian's slaying after they were laid to rest. Surging short-range rocket salvoes from Gaza had drawn Israeli air strikes as well as a mobilisation of ground forces which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday threatened to use unless the enclave's dominant Hamas Islamists held fire. Israel said three rockets were launched at it on Friday, one of which was intercepted by its Iron Dome interceptor.","Iraq hosts arms exhibition as it battles militants. Iraq on Saturday hosted an international arms exhibition for the third year in a row, as it seeks to obtain weapons to bolster its forces in their battle against militants. \"The companies that contributed today in the exhibition will have priority in contracting over other companies in filling the needs of the armed forces,\" acting Defence Minister Saadun al-Dulaimi said. More than 50 companies from nine countries, including the United States, Britain, France, China and South Korea, are taking part in the exhibition. Iraq's armed forces -- plagued by shortcomings ranging from insufficient training to problems with logistics and maintenance -- have so far failed to check rising violence in the country.","Pakistani couple killed over love marriage. ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistani police say a 17-year-old girl and her husband have been murdered by her family for marrying without its consent.","Hamilton beats Rosberg in 2nd Belgian GP practice. SPA, Belgium (AP) — Lewis Hamilton posted the fastest time in the second practice of the Belgian Grand Prix on Friday, finishing ahead of Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg as their positions from the morning session were reversed.","Obama says military campaign will take time. WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama says it will take time to eradicate Islamic State extremists but is offering no timetable for how long the United States will conduct airstrikes against the group in Iraq and Syria.","Bombing kills 4 Afghan civilians; vote count halts. KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — An Afghan official says a bomb blast has killed four civilians in the country's south as a recount in the presidential election halted before a major holiday.","Ford, IBM to face renewed U.S. lawsuit over apartheid-era abuses. By Jonathan Stempel NEW YORK (Reuters) - Ford Motor Co and IBM Corp will again have to face a U.S. lawsuit claiming they encouraged race-based human rights abuses in apartheid-era South Africa, despite a series of recent court decisions limiting the right to pursue such cases. Reviving a 12-year-old lawsuit, U.S. District Judge Shira Scheindlin in Manhattan accepted an argument from a group of plaintiffs that corporations may be held liable under a 1789 law, the Alien Tort Statute (ATS), that lets non-U.S. citizens pursue some cases in U.S. courts over alleged violations of international law.","Norwich skipper says players stuck with Hughton. Norwich captain Russell Martin insisted the team hadn't 'stopped playing' for Chris Hughton after the Canaries manager was dramatically sacked by the Premier League strugglers. Hughton was dismissed on Sunday after Norwich's 1-0 loss at home to West Bromwich Albion on Saturday left the East Anglian club just one place above the relegation zone. Norwich chiefs, having seen the side win just one of their last six matches, said they had to take drastic action with the club now having a mere five league games left in which to retain their top-flight status. Hughton has been replaced by former Norwich youth team manager Neil Adams but Martin was adamant the players hadn't given up on their former boss.","Arab resolution on Israel defeated at IAEA meeting. VIENNA (AP) — An Arab-backed resolution singling out Israel for special attention over its alleged nuclear arsenal was defeated Thursday at an annual conference of the U.N. atomic agency.","Extremists in Nigeria lining up elderly and shooting them. MAIDUGURI, Nigeria (AP) — Witnesses say Islamic extremists in northeast Nigeria are lining up elderly people and shooting them — a new tactic instilling fear in areas the militants call an Islamic caliphate.","5 dead, 15 injured in Philippine bus accident. MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Police say at least five people including a 2-year-old boy were killed and 15 others were injured when a passenger bus rammed a stalled truck along the highway in eastern Philippines' Camarines Sur province at the start of the Easter week exodus of vacationers to provinces.","Roma has sections of stadium closed for 2 matches. ROME (AP) — Roma has had two sections of its stadium closed for two matches following anti-Neapolitan chants by the clubs' fans.","Talks on Ukraine settlement break down. MINSK, Belarus (AP) — The foreign ministry of Belarus, which has been hosting Ukraine peace talks, says the much-anticipated round of negotiations on Friday has been scrapped.","Police went to woman's home 86 times before death. CHICAGO (AP) — Police were called dozens of times to the suburban Chicago home of a woman whose body was found in a suitcase in Bali, Indonesia.","Algeria want to write 'new story' after 1982. Algerian midfielder Nabil Bentaleb said Saturday Algeria wanted to write a \"new story\" when they face Germany in the World Cup last 16 and weren't seeking revenge for their controversial ousting of 1982. Monday's match is a chance to right the wrongs of 32 years ago, when West Germany and Austria were suspected of conniving in a group stage result which knocked Algeria out. With Algeria beating West Germany 2-1 earlier in that competition, the sense of injustice is strong. For me, this is the past,\" said 19-year-old Bentaleb, who plays for English Premier League club Tottenham Hotspur.","Homs displaced dream of return home after rebel retreat. Feiruzeh (Syria) (AFP) - Wafa al-Tarshi dreams of the \\\\\"palace\\\\\" she calls home in the Old City of Homs from which she was ejected by Syria's brutal conflict but could now finally go back. Her dream could soon come true as the third and final convoy of rebel fighters was poised Thursday to leave the Old City under a deal negotiated with the Syrian regime. Government troops are due to move into Homs, Syria's third largest city, and Wafa and other families who sought refugee in the tiny Christian hamlet of Feiruzeh could go back home. But for the last two years I have been living in this room with my family,\\\\\" Wafa, 40, told AFP, as she followed the news from Homs.","Ukraine hosts US-led military drills as truce teeters. US-led military exercises began in Ukraine on Monday as fighting rumbled on in the restive east between government forces and pro-Russian rebels, despite a 10-day-old ceasefire. Civilian casualties were reported in heavy shelling around the rebel stronghold of Donetsk in eastern Ukraine on Sunday, with Kiev accusing the separatists of jeopardising the truce by intensifying attacks against government positions. In a show of solidarity for the pro-Western leadership in Kiev, soldiers from 15 nations including the United States began military exercises dubbed \"Rapid Trident 14\" near the western city of Lviv on Monday, about 620 miles (1,000 kilometres) from the conflict in Donetsk.","Pakistan ex-captain Malik voices World Cup hopes. Discarded former Pakistan captain Shoaib Malik Wednesday said he wanted to play in next year's World Cup, but needed clarity on his role and must be told what is expected of him. The 32-year-old played the last of his 216 one-day internationals in June 2013, but was included in Pakistan's 30-man preliminary squad for the upcoming tournament. Pakistan's selection committee is likely to announce the final 15-man squad on January 7 after watching some of the probables in the Pentangular Cup competition, which started in Karachi on Wednesday. Australia and New Zealand co-host the World Cup from February 14 to March 29.","Israel to buy second batch of US F-35 fighters. Israel and the United States have agreed the sale of a second batch of Lockheed Martin F-35 stealth fighters to the Jewish state, Israeli media reported Tuesday. Haaretz newspaper said the deal, concluded by US Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel and his Israeli counterpart, Moshe Yaalon, was for \"at least 20\" of the planes. The Jerusalem Post said Israel signed a $2.75 billion (2.17 billion euro) deal in 2012 to buy a squadron of 19 F-35s from Lockheed Martin and received Pentagon approval to purchase an additional 75.","Syria war causes $21.4 bn losses to oil industry. Syria's oil and gas industries have suffered total losses of $21.4 billion since the outbreak of the country's war three years ago, Oil Minister Suleiman Abbas said Tuesday. \"The circumstances the country is going through have caused considerable losses to the oil and gas sectors,\" said Abbas in a statement. Abbas said the war had caused a $3.5 billion direct loss, in terms of stolen and wasted oil and gas, and damage or theft of infrastructure, pipelines and vehicles. He added that indirect losses, or lost profits, accounted for $17.9 billion.","Asian leaders see fitful progress on trade pact. TOKYO (AP) — Asian leaders say talks on a Pacific Rim trade pact are making progress, but the outlook for a deal this year remains uncertain.","Syria rebels seize al-Qaida base in Aleppo. BEIRUT (AP) — Syrian rebels on Wednesday seized control of a hospital in the northern city of Aleppo that was used as a base for the area by their al-Qaida rivals, activists said.","Lebanon medical costs mean Syria refugees untreated: NGO. Funding shortfalls and medical care gaps in Lebanon are forcing Syrian refugees to forego treatment, run up huge debts or return to their war-ravaged homeland, Amnesty International said Wednesday. The rights watchdog said the international community bore a large share of the blame because of its \"shameful failure\" to fully fund UN refugee programmes in Lebanon. \"Hospital treatment and more specialised care for Syrian refugees in Lebanon is woefully insufficient, with the situation exacerbated by a massive shortage of international funding,\" said Audrey Gaughran, Amnesty's head of global issues.","Libya demands US to handover Benghazi suspect. TRIPOLI, Libya (AP) — The Libyan government has denied it had prior knowledge of the U.S. capture of a top suspect in the deadly 2012 assault on Americans in Benghazi and demanded his return.","Texas town passes ban on fracking in its birthplace. By Marice Richter DALLAS (Reuters) - Voters approved a ban on hydraulic fracturing in the North Texas town of Denton on Tuesday, making it the first city in the Lone Star State to outlaw the oil and gas extraction technique behind the U.S. energy boom. The vote in the city of 123,000 was highly symbolic because hydraulic fracturing, better known as fracking, is widely used in Texas, the top crude producer in the United States. Green groups said the result, which is sure to face legal challenges, served as a wake-up call to the industry. ...","Saudi authorities detain activist after court appearance: wife. By Rania El Gamal DUBAI (Reuters) - A prominent Saudi rights lawyer and activist, Waleed Abu al-Khair, has been detained incommunicado by authorities after appearing in court in Riyadh on sedition charges, his wife said on Wednesday. His wife Samar Badawi said Abu al-Khair had gone to the Special Criminal Court on Tuesday for a hearing and she had not been able to communicate with him since then. The sedition charges include breaking allegiance to King Abdullah, disrespecting authorities, creating an unauthorized association and inciting public opinion.","Brazil trying to shift focus to 3rd-place match. BELO HORIZONTE, Brazil (AP) — The Brazilian players are trying to put the devastating loss to Germany behind them as quickly as possible, turning their focus to the farewell match at their home World Cup on Saturday.","Egypt: 3 policemen killed in blast. CAIRO (AP) — Egypt's state-run news agency says three police conscripts have been killed in a rocket-propelled grenade attack in the Sinai Peninsula.","SOCHI SCENE: House of champions. SOCHI, Russia (AP) — The Holland Heineken House has always been one of the top party spots at the Olympic Games, with Dutch fans, athletes and sponsors getting together for raucous celebrations night after night.","Hungary mayor wants drug tests for 12-18 year olds. BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — The mayor of a Budapest district wants to introduce mandatory annual drug tests for children between the ages of 12 and 18, as well as for elected politicians and journalists.","Sri Lankans win temporary reprieve from Australia. SYDNEY (AP) — Australia's government has promised not to hand over a group of asylum seekers to the Sri Lankan government without three days' notice amid a court challenge and uproar from human rights groups.","Pistorius defense tries to rebuild case. PRETORIA, South Africa (AP) — Oscar Pistorius' lawyers tried to roll back the prosecution's momentum at his murder trial Wednesday following the star athlete's shaky testimony, presenting a forensic expert who quickly found his own credentials and findings sharply questioned.","Jihadist claims responsibility for attack on UN in Mali. Bamako (AFP) - A Malian jihadist close to the al-Qaeda-linked militia MUJAO on Sunday claimed responsibility for an attack that killed nine UN peacekeepers in the country's restive north.","Kenya court charges 70 with being Shebab members. Mombasa (Kenya) (AFP) - Seventy men arrested during a raid on a mosque in the Kenyan port city of Mombasa were formally charged Wednesday with being members of Somalia's Al-Qaeda-linked Shebab rebels, officials said.","Demonstrators clash ahead of Brazil fare hikes. More than 1,000 demonstrators protesting hikes in public transport fares overran the main train, metro and bus station in Rio Thursday, in the latest flare-up of simmering social tensions ahead of this year's World Cup in Brazil. I saw one attack a guy just for carrying a banner,\" said Natacha de Pina, who works at a bank in the station. The demonstrators fought running battles with police, who charged the crowd attempting to clear the area around the main bus station. An AFP reporter saw an injured policeman being evacuated and also saw officers beating demonstrators.","China leader inaugurates Sri Lankan port project. COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — Chinese President Xi Jinping on Wednesday inaugurated a $1.4 billion port city being built in Sri Lanka with loans from Chinese banks, underlining his country's growing role in the region ahead of a state visit to India.","6 police officers abducted in Pakistan clashes. LAHORE, Pakistan (AP) — Authorities in Pakistan say six police officers have been abducted and two people killed in clashes between supporters of an anti-government cleric and security forces.","Iraq forces launch push for insurgent-held city. BAGHDAD (AP) — The Iraqi government launched its biggest push yet to wrest back ground lost to Sunni militants, as soldiers backed by tanks and helicopter gunships began an offensive Saturday to retake the northern city of Tikrit.","Euro zone private sector on strong footing but still slashing prices: PMIs. We are looking at 0.5 percent quarter-on-quarter GDP growth if we continue to see this level,\" said Chris Williamson, chief economist at Markit. Inflation fell to just 0.5 percent in March, its sixth straight month in what European Central Bank President Mario Draghi has called a \"danger zone\" below 1 percent and keeping pressure on the ECB to intervene. However, Markit's flash Composite Purchasing Managers' Index, which is widely regarded as a good gauge of growth, suggested the economic support, at least, may not be necessary.","Khan to fight Collazo on Mayweather undercard. England's Amir Khan, unhappy with Floyd Mayweather after being snubbed for a May 3 fight with the unbeaten US star, said Monday he will fight on the Mayweather undercard. Khan will face US southpaw Luis Collazo ahead of Mayweather's match-up with Argentina's Marcos Maidana in Las Vegas. The fight will be Khan's first moving up into the welterweight category and will in some ways be an audition for a big-money fight against Mayweather. Last month, Khan took to Twitter to vent his anger with Mayweather after he was snubbed for Maidana having being forced to wait for months for the American to make up his mind.","Dusautoir to miss Top 14 kick-off with thigh injury. Toulouse and France captain Thierry Dusautoir will miss the opening three games of the Top 14 with a thigh injury, according to club coach Guy Noves. There was further bad news for the four-time European champions with South African Schalk Ferreira ruled out for at least five months after rupturing a bicep tendon in Toulouse's friendly victory over Biarritz on Saturday. Ferreira's injury was the third of its kind to have hit Toulouse in recent months, Dusautoir and New Zealand playmaker Luke McAlister having been sidelined last season.","Tap water fix in West Virginia still days away, official says. By Ann Moore CHARLESTON, W., Virginia (Reuters) - Tap water in Charleston, West Virginia, and nearby communities will remain unsafe in the coming days, an official said on Saturday as residents spent a third day unable to bathe, shower or drink from the faucet due to a chemical spill tainting the Elk River. As much as 5,000 gallons (18,927 liters) of industrial chemical 4-methylcyclohexane methanol, or Crude MCHM, leaked into the river on Thursday, state officials said. The spill came from a tank belonging to Freedom Industries, a Charleston company that produces specialty chemicals for the mining, steel and cement industries, authorities said. Governor Earl Ray Tomblin on Friday declared a state of emergency for nine counties, with the affected area including Charleston, the state's largest city and its capital.","House OKs bill calling for weather, not climate, forecasts. The Republican-led U.S. House of Representatives on Tuesday advanced a bill that would require U.S. government weather agencies to focus more on predicting storms and less on climate studies. The bill to \"prioritize weather-related activities\" at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and other agencies was introduced in 2013 by Oklahoma Republican Jim Bridenstine after dozens of state residents were killed in a series of severe tornadoes. Although the term \"climate\" does not appear in the text of the bill, Bridenstine's office has said the intent of the measure was \"shifting funds from climate change research to severe weather forecasting research.\" The measure also directs the Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research (OAR) to develop better forecasting capabilities and improve tornado and hurricane warning systems. Opponents, including some environmental groups, have criticized the bill as a way to undermine efforts to address climate change.","Indonesia says 2 dressed as bombers at int'l talks. JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Indonesia admits two of its marines wore bombers' names on their uniforms while on duty at international talks this week, an action that prompted the Singapore delegation to leave.","Oil markets face uncertain future as OPEC targets competitors. Abu Dhabi (AFP) - The determination of powerful Gulf OPEC members to stifle competition from new oil producers has left the global energy market reeling and sparked unprecedented uncertainty, officials and experts say.","Fan group banned from sports events in Brazil. SAO PAULO (AP) — A Brazilian judge has indefinitely banned a football club's fan group from attending sports events because of its involvement in a brutal fight last year.","Video purports to show Islamic State beheading. CAIRO (AP) — An Internet video purports to show an Islamic State group fighter beheading British hostage Alan Henning.","Scotland unchanged for test against All Blacks. EDINBURGH, Scotland (AP) — Scotland has selected an unchanged team for the test match against New Zealand on Saturday as it goes in search of a first win against the All Blacks.","'Green and clean' tech Finland looks to Israel for inspiration. By Luke Baker BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Finnish Prime Minister Jyrki Katainen is determined to overhaul his economy, and cites Israel's success as a \"start-up\" nation brimming with high-tech innovation as his model. With just 5.4 million people, a world-class education system and an international mindset, Finland can be more nimble than many of its competitors at a time when its industrial output is in decline and productivity falling. \"We have to reinvent our country,\" Katainen told Reuters, discussing Finland's tendency for 20-year economic cycles, the end of the last marked by Nokia's decline after a decade of global domination. Katainen is banking on several high-tech sectors, in at least one of which Finland has already made a name for itself - the gaming industry, where companies such as Rovio, the designer of Angry Birds, are reknown.","EU ministers threaten Russia with sanctions but action unsure. By Justyna Pawlak and Adrian Croft BRUSSELS (Reuters) - European Union foreign ministers threatened Russia on Tuesday with harsher sanctions over Ukraine, but tougher talk may not be matched by much action after France's president signaled the disputed delivery of a warship to Moscow would go ahead. The 28 EU ministers met under growing pressure from the United States and Britain to step up sanctions after the downing of a Malaysian Airlines plane last week in an area of eastern Ukraine controlled by Russian-backed separatists. German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said that while Berlin was still willing to talk with Russia, greater economic pressure was needed to make Moscow change course.","U.S. eases some sanctions on Iran, including oil. The United States on Monday eased some sanctions on Iran, pausing efforts to reduce Iranian crude oil exports, as part of a nuclear deal between Tehran and world powers that went into effect. The Treasury Department said that now that Iran has fulfilled its initial nuclear commitments under the deal, \"the administration has taken the necessary steps to pause efforts to further reduce Iranian crude oil exports.\" This will allow the six current customers of Iranian oil to maintain their purchases at current reduced levels for the six-month duration of an interim nuclear deal between Iran and world powers, the Treasury Department said.","Mourinho slams ball boys after Chelsea loss. Newcastle (United Kingdom) (AFP) - Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho accused the St James' Park ball boys of taking too long to return the ball after his side's 2-1 loss at Newcastle United on Saturday.","Magnitude 5.7 earthquake strikes France's Guadeloupe: USGS. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A magnitude 5.7 earthquake struck the Basse-Terre island of the France's Guadeloupe archipelago in the Antilles on Friday, the U.S. Geological Survey said. It said the quake's epicenter was located three miles (4.8 km)northwest of Lamentin on Basse-Terre and was 69.5 miles (111 km)deep. It struck at 3:49 p.m. (1949 GMT) (Reporting by Sandra Maler in Washington)","IAEA asks member states to pay extra cost of Iran nuclear deal. By Fredrik Dahl VIENNA (Reuters) - The U.N. atomic watchdog said on Friday it needed extra money from member states to fund the 6 million euro ($8.2 million) cost of verifying a landmark nuclear agreement between Iran and six world powers. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) will play a pivotal role in checking that Iran lives up to its part of the interim deal by curbing its disputed uranium enrichment activity in exchange for some easing of international sanctions that are severely damaging its oil-dependent economy. Israel, the United States and other western governments have long suspected Iran of using its nuclear energy program as a cover to develop atomic weapons. Tehran denies this, saying it needs nuclear power to generate electricity.","Ukraine has no plans to steal Russian gas bound for Europe: minister. Ukraine has no intention of stealing Russian natural gas destined for Europe, the country's energy minister said on Wednesday, after a senior Russian official said he expected Kiev to start stealing the fuel when its own supplies ran low. \"We are not taking such gas today and have no plans to take it,\" news agencies reported Energy Minister Yuri Prodan as saying. Russia, which sends some of its gas to Europe via pipelines through Ukraine, halted gas supplies to Ukraine last month after Kiev missed a deadline to start paying off its gas debts, estimated by Gazprom at $5.3 billion.","Hamilton fastest in 1st practice at Monaco GP. MONACO (AP) — Formula One leader Lewis Hamilton posted the fastest time in the first practice session at the Monaco Grand Prix on Thursday, with Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg second.","Tensions soar in Hong Kong as police bring in rubber bullets. Hong Kong (AFP) - Tensions in Hong Kong soared Thursday after police were seen unloading boxes of tear gas and rubber bullets close to the city's besieged government headquarters as the authorities urged pro-democracy demonstrators to disperse \"as soon as possible\".","Ex-Ecuadorean president calls charges political. QUITO, Ecuador (AP) — Former Ecuadorean President Jamil Mahuad says an arrest warrant issued for him on corruption charges is unfounded political persecution.","Taiwanese steel plant in Vietnam attacked by rioters: media. TAIPEI (Reuters) - A steel plant owned by Formosa Plastics Group, Taiwan's biggest investor in Vietnam, was attacked by rioters overnight, Taiwanese media reported on Thursday. Hundreds of rioters broke into the plant in Tỉnh Hà Tĩnh province before the Vietnamese military and police stepped in, Taiwan's Commercial Times reported. Officials from Formosa Plastics were not immediately available for comment. ...","Rare North, South Korea talks end with accord on reunion. High-level talks between the rival Koreas ended on Friday with a rare agreement to go ahead as planned with a reunion for divided families, despite the North's objections to overlapping South Korea-US military drills. The two sides also agreed to stop exchanging verbal insults and to continue their nascent dialogue at a convenient date, according to a joint statement read to reporters in Seoul by South Korea's chief talks delegate Kim Kyou-Hyun. The agreement, which was also carried on the North's official KCNA news agency, suggested a significant concession by North Korea which had wanted the South to postpone the February 24 start of its annual military drills with the United States until after the reunion. \"Agreement was reached today after North Korea accepted our position that the family reunion event is important ... as the first step to build trust\" Kim said.","Mozambique's Renamo opposition leader to run for president. By Manuel Mucari MAPUTO (Reuters) - Mozambique's Renamo opposition leader Afonso Dhlakama said on Friday he intended to run as a candidate in the October 15 presidential election, but he accused government forces of preventing him from leaving his hideout in the bush. Dhlakama, who led the former Renamo rebel movement in the 1975-1992 civil war and has been repeatedly defeated by the ruling Frelimo party in subsequent elections, has lived in a bush base in central Sofala province for more than a year to escape what he says is government persecution. The Renamo leader told reporters by phone he was surrounded by government forces, which have clashed with his armed partisans several times over the last few months. Since April last year, Renamo guerrillas have carried out sporadic raids on police and military posts in parts of central and southern Mozambique.","Bottega Veneta looks are lovingly distressed. MILAN (AP) — A beloved sweater left on a deck chair washes away in a storm, only to be returned much later with the tides, alongside driftwood and smoothed pieces of glass. Reclaimed, it is like a wish fulfilled.","Killing and preaching, Nigerian militants carve out 'caliphate'. By Isaac Abrak GOMBE Nigeria (Reuters) - First comes the killing, then the preaching. Islamist Boko Haram militants carrying automatic rifles and machetes roar into northeast Nigerian towns or hamlets in columns of pickup trucks and motorbikes and fire at all adult men they see. When they have hoisted their black flag inscribed with Koranic verses over government offices or the local emir's palace, they tell the surviving women they will marry them and \"live in peace\", according to survivors who escaped from the town of Gwoza, seized by Boko Haram last month. Slaughtering and preaching a \"better life under Islamic rule\", the jihadist group has taken over a string of locations in recent weeks in Nigeria's remote northeast, in what looks like a plan to seize and hold a \"Muslim territory\" or caliphate, apparently inspired by the Islamic State (IS) in Iraq and Syria.","US skier Nyman has special feeling for Val Gardena downhill. VAL GARDENA, Italy (AP) — When Utah native Steven Nyman arrives in the heart of the Dolomite Range each year the week before Christmas, he gets a special feeling.","Barenboim bids La Scala farewell with 'Fidelio'. MILAN (AP) — La Scala's gala season premier \"Fidelio\" on Sunday marks Daniel Barenboim's final opening-night bow as musical director as Italian opera enters one of its most tumultuous seasons in memory.","2 men nabbed in Guatemalan anthropologist's death. GUATEMALA CITY (AP) — Guatemalan authorities have detained two men accused of participating in the killing of an anthropologist during Guatemala's civil war.","At least 21 hurt in Guinea power outage riots. Conakry (AFP) - At least 21 people, including three police officers, were injured in rioting that broke out after electrical power broke down in the Guinean capital on Monday, medics and witnesses said.","M. Mulder leads another Dutch speedskating sweep. SOCHI, Russia (AP) — Michel Mulder led another Dutch sweep at the Olympic speedskating oval Monday, edging teammate Jan Smeekens by one-hundredth of a second, while Mulder's twin brother Ronald got the bronze.","Obama: Iraq will need additional US assistance. WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama said Thursday that Iraq will need additional assistance from the U.S. to push back an Islamic insurgency.","S. Africa minister slams 'useless losers' after cup exit. A livid South African Sports Minister chastised the national squad Monday as \"useless bunch of losers\" after it crashed to Nigeria in the group stages of the African Nations Championship. Fikile Mbalula said Bafana Bafana's performance on Sunday, when it suffered a 3-1 defeat to the Nigeria to exit the tournament, was \"not even lacklustre, it was useless,\" and a \"disaster\". Hosts South Africa needed only a draw to advance to the quarter finals of the continental tournament, with includes only locally based players. Nigeria now proceeds from the group stage to join Group A winners Mali in the next round.","Algeria opposition calls for new elections. ALGIERS, Algeria (AP) — A coalition of Algerian opposition parties and political figures has called for new presidential elections because of the continued hospitalizations of the country's leader.","Ireland's economic growth slows to 3.5 percent. DUBLIN (AP) — Official figures show Ireland's economic growth is slowing but the country remains on course to record the biggest gain in the European Union in 2014.","U.S. mulling ways to use natural gas resources in Ukraine crisis: top official. U.S. Deputy Secretary of State William Burns said on Thursday there are discussions at high levels within the U.S. government on how to use U.S. natural gas resources as the country addresses the crisis in Ukraine. U.S. Senator Bob Corker, a Tennessee Republican, asked Burns if \"it would be fair to say\" there are active discussions at such levels about how to use natural gas to assist in dealing with European reluctance to enact sanction over the Ukraine crisis, as well as with Ukraine.","Pogba adds a new entry to Juve's French connection. ROME (AP) — Juventus and Roma are the two clear title favorites after 10 rounds of Serie A.","India angered by basketball's no turban rule. NEW DELHI (AP) — India's sports minister has criticized the 'no-headgear' rule of basketball's world body FIBA after two Sikh players on the national team were told to remove their turbans during the recent Asia Cup in China.","Taliban offensive picks up as Afghan run-off campaign begins. By Hamid Shalizi and Jessica Donati KABUL (Reuters) - The last two men in the race to become Afghanistan's next president on Thursday began a second round of campaigning ahead of the run-off election on June 14. The election will take place at the height of the summer fighting season when the insurgency is at its most violent, stoking fears the Taliban may be more able to disrupt the vote after failing to prevent a high turnout in the first round. \"Our reaction to this process will be very strong and we will make (the election) fail,\" Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told Reuters by telephone. Fighting has intensified since the launch of the Taliban's summer campaign, which has claimed dozens of lives this week and included the capture by insurgents of a district in northern Badakhshan province.","Guyana orders probe into Walter Rodney's death. GEORGETOWN, Guyana (AP) — Guyana's government has appointed a team of three Caribbean lawyers to investigate the 1980 assassination of local historian and black activist Walter Rodney.","Death toll hits 28 from flooding in Indian Kashmir. SRINAGAR, India (AP) — The death toll from severe flooding in Indian-controlled Kashmir has risen to at least 28 people, as authorities asked for help from federal rescue officials as relentless rains continue to lash much of the Himalayan region, forcing thousands to abandon their homes in search of shelter.","Nishikori, Raonic, Simon into Japan semis. TOKYO (AP) — Kei Nishikori moved closer to a second Japan Open title by defeating unseeded Jeremy Chardy of France 6-4, 6-2 in the quarterfinals on Friday.","Bouygues lifts bid for French mobile operator SFR. PARIS (AP) — French conglomerate Bouygues is raising the stakes in a bidding war to take control of France's number-two mobile phone operator SFR.","Hulk leaves Brazil practice with injury. TERESOPOLIS, Brazil (AP) — Brazil starting striker Hulk has left the team's training session with an apparent muscle injury in his left leg.","EU moves to sanction more Russians over Ukraine. LUXEMBOURG (AP) — European Union foreign ministers decided Monday to sanction more Russians with asset freezes and visa bans as a sign of the trade bloc's outrage over Moscow's ongoing interference in Ukraine, a high-ranking EU official announced.","WHO advises no flight restrictions, low risk from Ebola: IATA. The World Health Organization is not recommending travel restrictions or border closures due to the Ebola outbreak and there would be a low risk to other passengers if an infected person flew, the airlines association IATA said on Thursday. The International Air Transport Association issued the statement after consultation with the WHO and the U.N. aviation agency ICAO, following the case of a man who died of Ebola after taking a flight from Liberia to Nigeria with a stopover at Lomé. \"In the rare event that a person infected with the Ebola virus was unknowingly transported by air, WHO advises that the risks to other passengers are low,\" IATA said in a statement. It said Ebola is only transmitted when patients are displaying severe symptoms.","Airlines look for ways to swiftly adopt aircraft tracking system. By Victoria Bryan and Siva Govindasamy DOHA (Reuters) - Mystified by the loss of Malaysian jetliner MH370, some airlines will not wait for an industrywide solution to keeping track of their aircraft flights in real time, provided products are offered at the right price, industry executives said on Monday. The disappearance of Malaysian Airline Systems' flight MH370 almost three months ago has prompted calls for real-time tracking of planes and even continuous streaming of black box data. \"It must not happen again,\" Tony Tyler, director general of the International Air Transport Association (IATA) said at its annual meeting in Doha on Monday. IATA, which brings together over 200 airlines accounting for 84 percent of the world's air traffic, is planning to put aircraft tracking proposals to the UN's International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) in September, which in turn says a standard could be in place in two to three years.","Austrian police arrest 9 suspected extremists. VIENNA (AP) — Austrian police have arrested nine foreigners suspected of seeking to join Islamic extremists fighting in Syria.","Dubai port firm to buy free-zone company for $2.6B. DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Dubai-based port operator DP World says it has reached a deal to buy the government-linked operator of free trade zones in the emirate for $2.6 billion and will also pull its stock listing from the London Stock Exchange.","Tanaka triumphs in return to Yankee mound. New York (AFP) - Masahiro Tanaka, making his first start since early July, pitched five plus solid innings as the New York Yankees cruised to a 5-2 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays on Sunday.","Explosive issue: how to deal with giant whale carcass. What do you do with a rare blue whale weighing up to 180 tons that has died and is threatening to explode its stinking innards all over your town? That is the unusual quandary the 600 bemused residents of a Canadian fishing town have been wrestling with since the 25-meter-long (80 feet) creature washed up last week on the shores of Trout River, Newfoundland. Town manager Emily Butler told AFP on Tuesday that \"there is a concern it can explode\" and the close-knit community in the North Atlantic -- which now reeks of dead whale -- lacked the resources to safely dispose of the carcass. Then the Fisheries Minister Gail Shea announced that scientists from the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto would head to Trout River next week to recover the carcass.","U.S. judge casts doubt on HP-shareholder settlement in Autonomy lawsuit. District Judge Charles Breyer said the settlement contained a \"potentially fatal\" provision, under which HP would hire shareholder attorneys to pursue claims against ex-Autonomy executives. Breyer said he would not approve the proposed fees for shareholder lawyers. Additionally, Breyer said that in order to approve the remainder of the deal, the judge may have to conduct a separate inquiry into the merits of dismissing claims against HP officers, including current Chief Executive Officer Meg Whitman. HP announced a $8.8 billion writedown in November 2012, just over one year after buying Autonomy, and linked more than $5 billion to accounting fraud and inflated financials by Autonomy executives.","Investigation continues into plane crash that killed popular pastor, eight others. By Neil Hartnell NASSAU Bahamas (Reuters) - The investigation continues into the plane crash that killed Myles Munroe, an influential and popular religious leader, and eight others in the Bahamas on Sunday. An official investigation into the crash continued on Monday, with police having said that bad weather is suspected to have been a factor. \"It has left the country reeling,\" said Bahamas Foreign Minister Fred Mitchell in a statement. \"Reverend Munroe was a giant of a Bahamian.\" His wife and top deputy were also among the casualties, authorities have said. ...","Lebanon sharply limits Syrian refugee entry. Beirut (AFP) - Lebanon has all but closed its borders to refugees fleeing Syria's civil war, overwhelmed by an influx of over one million people displaced by fighting, UN and Lebanese officials said Saturday.","Low over Bay of Campeche has 20 percent chance of becoming cyclone: NHC. (Reuters) - An area of low pressure centered over the southern Bay of Campeche has a low, or 20 percent chance, of becoming a tropical cyclone during the next 48 hours, the U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC) said on Wednesday in its latest update.","US Secretary of State heads to India to end relationship rut. US Secretary of State John Kerry forecast a transformation Wednesday in Washington's troubled relations with India as he headed to New Delhi for ice-breaking talks with new Prime Minister Narendra Modi. For the past two decades, the world's two largest democracies have described themselves as natural allies, sharing similar concerns over China's rise and Islamic extremism. A new row is brewing over a customs deal but the Obama administration has been keen to emphasize areas where the two sides can make common cause in the build-up to the visit by Kerry and US Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker who is already in India.","Crimea sets up central bank, to get Russian money. MOSCOW (AP) — Crimea's deputy prime minister says the region has set up a new central bank and is expecting to get $30 million in support from Russia.","Gen. Dempsey: NSA leaks will cost billions. WASHINGTON (AP) — The top U.S. military officer says it will take two years of study and billions of dollars to overcome the loss of security to military operations and tactics that were revealed in the massive stash of documents taken by former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden.","Exclusive: Deutsche Bank moves closer to settling Kirch dispute. By Philipp Halstrick FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Deutsche Bank took a decisive step toward ending a dispute with the heirs of late media mogul Leo Kirch on Wednesday after the top committee on the bank's supervisory board prepared to discuss an out of court settlement, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters on Wednesday. The proposed settlement, which has been mostly concluded with Kirch representatives, would cost Deutsche Bank between 800 million euros ($1.10 billion) and 1 billion euros, the source said. Any final settlement with Kirch would be a major breakthrough for Germany's biggest bank, whose management team led by co-Chief Executives Anshu Jain and Juergen Fitschen has vowed to shorten a long list of investigations and cases. The acrimonious case has dogged Deutsche Bank for more than a decade and most recently threatened to cost it as much as 1.5 billion euros.","Halfway into Olympics, US ski racers have 1 medal. KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia (AP) — As Julia Mancuso and other Alpine skiers from the United States muddled their way through some less-than-auspicious results in pre-Olympic races on the World Cup circuit, the team's thinking — well, the hope, really — was that they'd get in gear at the Winter Games.","New Zealand challenges England to open game. HAMILTON, New Zealand (AP) — All Blacks coach Steve Hansen has challenged England to take on New Zealand at its own, fast-paced game in the third rugby test in Hamilton on Saturday.","Russian PM warns Moldova after border incident. MOSCOW (AP) — Russia's prime minister has warned that Moscow could punish Moldova after a Russian politician's plane was briefly held while traveling in the region over the weekend, according to state news agency ITAR TASS.","Clergy plead for interfaith tolerance in Jerusalem. JERUSALEM (AP) — Clergy representing Christians, Jews and Muslims met Wednesday near the Jerusalem synagogue where five people died in a grisly Palestinian attack to plead for tolerance amid spiking regional tensions.","T-Mobile US to reject Iliad's $15 billion bid as early as tomorrow: FT. T-Mobile US is planning on rejecting Iliad's $15 billion offer for the carrier because its parent company, Deutsche Telekom","Funeral set for 2nd NYPD officer killed in ambush. NEW YORK (AP) — The second of two New York City police officers to be buried after a daylight ambush will be mourned at a funeral this weekend.","U.S. urges Colombia to make quick progress to peace. By Patricia Zengerle BOGOTA (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry urged Colombian negotiators on Friday to move quickly in peace talks aimed at ending 50 years of war so that the Andean country can move on and achieve \"enormous potential\". Colombia's government has been in talks with leftist FARC rebels for more than two years in a bid to draw a line under a conflict which has killed more than 200,000 and stirred optimism through agreements already made on about half the talks' agenda. \"I would urge everybody to use time to advantage and to move. ...","Israel bombs Syrian posts over Golan attack on its troops. JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel attacked several Syrian military sites on Wednesday in retaliation for a roadside bombing that wounded four of its troops on the occupied Golan Heights on Tuesday, the Israeli military said. It said targets included a Syrian military headquarters, a training facility and artillery batteries. Lieutenant-Colonel Peter Lerner, an Israeli military spokesman, said aircraft carried out the overnight strike. He described targets as military facilities on the Syrian-held side of the Golan. (Writing by Dan Williams; Editing by Eric Walsh)","San Siro to host 2016 Champions League final. NYON, Switzerland (AP) — UEFA has chosen the San Siro in Milan to host the 2016 Champions League final.","Tropical Storm Dolly moves ashore off Mexico Gulf. MEXICO CITY (AP) — Heavy rains from Tropical Storm Dolly threatened flash floods and mudslides in mountainous areas as it moved in from Mexico's Gulf coast, where authorities had readied shelters and suspended school classes on Wednesday.","Boult's triple strike for NZ leaves Pakistan in tatters. New Zealand seamer Trent Boult took three wickets in 18 balls to leave Pakistan struggling at 30-3 at lunch on the fourth day of the third and final Test in Sharjah on Sunday.","AP PHOTOS: Parts of Berlin Wall around the world. BERLIN (AP) — The wall that once separated East from West Berlin has largely disappeared from the city. The few sections that remain stand as potent monuments to the ideological divisions of the Cold War.","FIFA reviews use of TV graphic after offside error. RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — FIFA acknowledges its television production team was wrong to broadcast a graphic that suggested Brazil forward Fred was offside when scoring in the 4-1 win over Cameroon.","Pakistan launches new strikes near Afghan border; warns militants. By Jibran Ahmed and David Brunnstrom PESHAWAR, Pakistan/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Pakistani military launched new air strikes targeting militant hideouts in the North Waziristan tribal region on Tuesday, killing at least 30 people, and a senior government official warned of a big offensive unless the Taliban showed they were serious about negotiations. Pakistani fighter jets have been pounding targets in the region since the government's efforts to engage Taliban insurgents in peace negotiations broke down this month. North Waziristan residents have been fleeing the area on the Afghan border in recent days, anticipating a full-scale military offensive, leaving homes, shops and villages behind and settling in safer areas, such as Bannu, a town on the edge of the region. \"The militants had captured a stretch between South Waziristan and North Waziristan and had established training centers where they were also preparing suicide bombers,\" said one military official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.","US: Russian directing new offensive in Ukraine. WASHINGTON (AP) — The Obama administration believes Russia is leading a new military counteroffensive in Ukraine.","Japan's emperor turns 81, renews peace commitment. TOKYO (AP) — Japan's Emperor Akihito says he \"ardently\" hoped Japan will strive hard as a peaceful country, as he celebrated his 81th birthday ahead of the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II next year.","Syrians line up to vote in presidential election. DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — Thousands of Syrians lined up outside polling centers in government-controlled areas around the country to vote Tuesday in the presidential election that Bashar Assad is widely expected to win but which has been denounced by critics as a sham.","Police: 6 injured in Rwanda grenade attack. KIGALI, Rwanda (AP) — A grenade blast in a northern Rwandan town wounded at least six people, two of them critically, police said, blaming the attack on rebel forces believed to have bases in eastern Congo.","Tropical Storm Ana weakens but still on track to hit Hawaii. By Malia Mattoch McManus HONOLULU (Reuters) - Tropical Storm Ana weakened unexpectedly as it churned across the central Pacific, but meteorologists said the storm was still forecast to gain strength and hit Hawaii in what could be its first hurricane in more than two decades. Ana was about 590 miles (945 km) southeast of Hawaii's Big Island on Wednesday evening local time, packing winds of up to 60 miles per hour (97 kph). Tropical storms get classified as hurricanes when maximum sustained winds reach 74 mph (119 kph). ...","Loblaw-Shoppers deal approved by Canada's Competition Bureau. Loblaw Cos Ltd , Canada's largest grocer, said on Friday Canada's competition watchdog has approved its C$12.4 billion ($11 billion) acquisition of Shoppers Drug Mart Corp , the country's biggest pharmacy chain. The deal cements Loblaw's No. 1 position in Canada at a time when competition from domestic retailers such as Sobeys and U.S. retailers such as Wal-Mart Stores and Target is heating up. To win approval from the Competition Bureau, Loblaw has agreed to sell 18 stores and nine pharmacy operations.","South Korea drawn into Group A with host Australia. SYDNEY (AP) — Australia's prospects of winning the Asian Cup on home soil in 2015 became significantly more difficult when the Socceroos were drawn into Pool A with 2002 World Cup semifinalist South Korea.","Goffin upsets Melzer in 1st round at Winston-Salem. WINSTON-SALEM, North Carolina (AP) — Belgian qualifier David Goffin extended his winning streak to 23 matches Monday when he beat defending champion Jurgen Melzer of Austria 6-3, 6-4 in the first round of the Winston-Salem Open, a tuneup for next week's U.S. Open.","Russian sailors in limbo in French port. SAINT-NAZAIRE, France (AP) — Scores of Russian sailors are training on a French warship in an Atlantic port even though its transfer to the Russian Navy is now in doubt.","Italy edges Malta 1-0; Croatia routs Azerbaijan. TA' QALI, Malta (AP) — Italy labored to a 1-0 win at tiny Malta and Croatia crushed Azerbaijan 6-0 Monday as both squads remained perfect atop Group H of European Championship qualifying.","Denmark to send six fighter jets to Baltics in May: ForMin. COPENHAGEN (Reuters) - Denmark is to send six F16 fighter jets to the Baltic countries Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia to help patrol their airspace, Foreign Minister Martin Lidegaard said. Patrols will begin on May 1 and will be part of an expanded NATO air policing mission to reassure eastern members of the alliance following Russia's annexation of Crimea. (Reporting by Teis Jensen and Erik Matzen; Editing by John Stonestreet)","Digital brands woo Sundance filmmakers with new platforms. By Piya Sinha-Roy PARK CITY, Utah (Reuters) - When newcomer filmmaker Cutter Hodierne won the Sundance Film Festival special jury prize for his short film on Somali pirates in 2012, he decided to release the movie on video-hosting site Vimeo, charging viewers $1. Hodierne's successful exposure illustrates how companies such as Netflix, YouTube and Vimeo are stepping in to provide filmmakers with a new platform for distributing films, expanding alongside the traditional path of theatrical release. This year, movie studios have been slow to snap up some of the buzzed-about Sundance films. None of the films acquired yet have hit the eight-figure level, unlike last year when Fox Searchlight purchased quirky Steve Carell comedy \"The Way, Way Back\" for $10 million.","Obama: U.S., EU must commit to ambitious emissions targets. U.S. President Barack Obama on Tuesday touted new proposals from his administration to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from power plants and said the United States and Europe had to lead by example in fighting global warming. \"This has to be a global effort,\" Obama said after a meeting with Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk. \"As we work to shape a strong global climate agreement ... it's important for the United States and the EU to set an example by committing to ambitious goals to reduce emissions beyond 2020,\" he said.","ICC refuses to release rebel leader Bosco Ntaganda. THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — The International Criminal Court has refused to release a Congo rebel leader nicknamed \"The Terminator\" from pre-trial detention.","Report: Mortar shells kill 6 in Syrian capital. BEIRUT (AP) — Syria's state media and an activist group say several mortar shells have struck the capital of Damascus and its suburbs, killing at least six people.","Malaysia's air force jet may have turned back. KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Malaysia's air force chief has denied remarks attributed to him in a local paper that a passenger jet missing for more than four days had been tracked by military radar to the Malacca strait.","Mountains May Suck Up Carbon Better Than Thought. Given that soil is involved in removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, the results suggest that mountains may have the potential to influence global climate, researchers say. Previous research had suggested there's a \"speed limit\" to the rate of new soil production and weathering on rapidly eroding mountain ranges. To test if this speed limit can be broken, researchers analyzed soil samples from the western Southern Alps of New Zealand. Through tectonic activity, these mountains uplift, or grow, faster than most others on Earth — this phenomenon also erodes rocks and exposes new soil that is able to extract carbon dioxide from the atmosphere through a process called chemical weathering.","With win at Roma, Man City signals rise in Europe. ROME (AP) — English champion Manchester City is finally starting to show it can compete in Europe.","Israel urges rising European right to shun 'neo-Nazi' parties. Israel urged Europe's rising right-wing parties on Sunday not to ally with \"neo-Nazi, racist\" parties, saying it would not recognise political blocs with ties to such groups. After their resounding victories in the May 22-25 election for the European Parliament, various nationalist and anti-immigration parties have been negotiating on forming coalitions within the assembly. \"The significant strengthening of parties that have a neo-Nazi, racist character is very troubling,\" Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman told visiting German politican Stephan Weil, according to a statement from Lieberman's office. \"European countries should examine closely the trends that brought this about, and how it might be dealt with.\" Lieberman named Hungary's Jobbik and Greece's Golden Dawn as among parties that Israel deemed \"illegitimate\", and called on more moderate European rightists not to join forces with them.","Pakistan forces kill 10 separatist militants in Baluchistan. Pakistani forces killed at least 10 separatist militants in the volatile province of Baluchistan on Monday, paramilitary officials said. Baluch rebels have waged a decades-long insurgency in the remote, sparsely populated and mineral rich southwest province, bordering Iran. The Frontier Corps, the main state security force in Baluchistan, said it launched an operation against militant hideouts in the mountainous Panjgur district on Monday morning. \"Ten militants were killed in heavy exchange of fire this morning,\" said Frontier Corps spokesman Wasay Khan.","Germany turns up pressure in suspected US spy case. BERLIN (AP) — Germany's top security official is adding to pressure for an American response to a case in which a German intelligence employee is reported to have spied for the U.S.","Suspicious powder sent to Hungarian consulate in Istanbul. ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Hungary's consulate in Istanbul received packets of an unidentified yellow powder on Monday, the city governor's office said, after similar envelopes sent to five Western consulates in Turkey's largest city last week prompted security alerts. The consulates of the United States, Canada, France, Germany and Belgium have also received suspicious packages containing powder. Sixteen people from three of those missions were hospitalized as a precaution. ...","Thai protesters obstruct vote; 1 dead in violence. BANGKOK (AP) — Anti-government demonstrators trying to derail Thailand's contentious general elections scheduled next week swarmed dozens of polling stations to stop advance voting Sunday, chaining them shut and preventing hundreds of thousands of people from casting ballots.","Ukraine lawmakers offer protester amnesty. KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine's parliament has passed a measure offering amnesty to arrested protesters, but only if demonstrators vacate most of the buildings they occupy.","Panama diplomat killed in Belize; suspect detained. BELIZE CITY (AP) — Authorities in Belize say they have detained a man suspected of killing a Panamanian diplomat.","Syrian opposition urges probe into torture charges. Montreux (Switzerland) (AFP) - The Syrian opposition, backed by the United States, on Wednesday called for an international inquiry into allegations of mass torture and killings of detainees held by the regime. We do call for an international inspection to visit places of detention and see the facts of torture that our citizens face every day,\" Syrian opposition leader Ahmad Jarba told the end of the first day of a landmark peace conference in Switzerland. \"We must work together for a Syria, which will be a pluralist country excluding no one, not excluding any ethnicity Alawites, Druze, Christians and others,\" Jarba told world leaders gathered in the Swiss city of Montreux. He was speaking after the publication of a report alleging the \"industrial-scale\" torture and murder of 11,000 detainees by the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.","FedEx indicted for shipping illegal online pharmacy meds. The US Justice Department announced Thursday that package-delivery giant FedEx has been indicted for allegedly facilitating the distribution of controlled substances and prescription drugs sold by illegal online pharmacies. A federal grand jury in San Francisco indicted the company for having \"knowingly and intentionally conspired to distribute\" the substances from unauthorized pharmacies, the Justice Department said. US authorities had warned FedEx of the illegal activities of some online pharmacies which were not authorized to market products in the United States, the department said. \"From at least as early as 2004\" the indictment alleges, federal authorities and members of Congress \"informed FedEx that illegal Internet pharmacies were using its shipping services,\" a statement from the department said.","Cardenas leaves Mexico leftist party he founded. MEXICO CITY (AP) — A pillar of leftist politics in Mexico and son of a revered former president has resigned from the political party he founded, citing disagreements with its leadership.","Calgary Humane Society investigators search house 'of interest' in abuse case. CALGARY - The Calgary Humane Society says its investigators have searched a \"residence of interest\" in an animal abuse case involving a starved dog and cat.","South Sudan peace talks set to resume in Ethiopia. ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (AP) — Negotiators for two warring parties in South Sudan are scheduled to return to the negotiating table two weeks after agreeing to a cease-fire.","South Korea coastguard denies divers have entered capsized ship. South Korea's coastguard said on Friday divers have not yet entered the hull of the capsized ferry where more than 270 people, most of them school children on a field trip, are missing. South Korea's YTN television earlier said divers had entered the hull and were searching the dining hall and cafeteria of the Sewol ferry where many of the passengers were believed to be at the time of Wednesday's accident.","Injuries, arrests in Barcelona on third night Barcelona clashes. Thirty people were arrested and 14 others hurt when police clashed with stone-throwing youths in a third night of riots sparked by a squat eviction in Barcelona, officials said Thursday. Rioters then tipped over and burned bins, broke windows and pelted police with missiles. Regional government spokesman Francesc Homs blamed the violence on well-organised radicals on the fringes of the protest.","Judge weighs recombining trials for 9/11 suspects. FORT MEADE, Md. (AP) — A pretrial hearing for suspects in the Sept. 11 terror attacks is in recess until mid-week while the military judge decides whether to reconsider his decision to try one of the men separate from the other four.","TSX set to open higher as Ukraine tensions ease. Stock futures pointed to a higher opening for Canada's stock market as traders saw hopes of easing of tensions between Russia and the West after rebels in Ukraine handed over the black box recorder from Malaysia flight 17 to Malaysian authorities. September futures on the S&P TSX index were up 0.13 percent at 0755 ET. The stock index took a step back from last week's all-time high on Monday, as a 3 percent jump in Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc was more than offset by declines across most major industries. No major economic events are scheduled for the day. ...","Suarez's initial absence no tragedy for Barcelona. BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Barcelona coach Luis Enrique says the team will be able to cover the absence of new signing Luis Suarez in the early part of the upcoming season as he serves his biting ban from the World Cup.","Economy grew 0.2 per cent in November, fifth straight monthly increase: StatsCan. OTTAWA - Statistics Canada says the economy grew by 0.2 per cent in November.","Deutsche Bank fined £4.7m for mis-reporting: regulator. German lender Deutsche Bank has been fined more than £4.7 million ($7.8 million, 5.9 million euros) for incorrectly reporting some financial transactions, regulators said on Thursday. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) said in a statement that it had fined the bank's London branch £4,718,800 for failing to properly report more than 29.4 million equity swap contracts-for-difference (CFD) transactions between November 2007 and April 2013. \"There is simply no excuse for Deutsche's failure to get this right,\" said Tracey McDermott, Director of Enforcement and Financial Crime at the FCA. Deutsche Bank is the eleventh group to be fined by the FCA for transaction reporting breaches.","Speeding truck overturns, kills 10 in India. New Delhi (AP) — Police say a speeding truck has overturned and crushed to death 10 people, including seven children, sleeping on a sidewalk in northern India.","Father of Chelsea's Terry due at Old Bailey on assault charge. London (AFP) - The father of former England football captain John Terry's will appear at London's Old Bailey on Tuesday on the second day of his trial for racially aggravated assault.","Burkina Faso's transitional government to review mine permits. By Mathieu Bonkoungou OUAGADOUGOU (Reuters) - Burkina Faso's transitional government will review some mine contracts signed under former President Blaise Compaore, responding to concerns that exploration permits were granted in opaque conditions, new mines minister Colonel Boubacar Ba said. Gold is the West African nation's top commodity and the country exported 32 tonnes in 2013. It had been expecting to increase output this year with new projects from developers TrueGold, Gryphon and Roxgold. ...","Al Qaeda announces India wing, renews loyalty to Taliban chief. Al Qaeda leader Ayman al Zawahri on Wednesday announced the formation of an Indian branch of his militant group he said would spread Islamic rule and \"raise the flag of jihad\" across the subcontinent. In a 55-minute video posted online, Zawahri also renewed a longstanding vow of loyalty to Afghan Taliban leader Mullah Omar, in an apparent snub to the Islamic State armed group challenging al Qaeda for leadership of transnational Islamist militancy. Zawahri described the formation of \"Al Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent\" as a glad tidings for Muslims \"in Burma, Bangladesh, Assam, Gujurat, Ahmedabad, and Kashmir\" and that the new wing would rescue Muslims there from injustice and oppression.","Clooney, wife make newlywed appearance in Venice. VENICE, Italy (AP) — Wedding bands were glinting under the Venetian sun on the hands of George Clooney and his new bride, Amal Alamuddin, as the actor and the human rights lawyer emerged from the luxury hotel where they were married a day earlier in the lagoon city.","HK pro-democracy leaders shave heads in protest. To the sound of whirring clippers, Hong Kong democracy activists shaved their heads Tuesday in a symbolic act of protest against China's increased political control over the city. Dozens of pro-democracy campaigners gathered in a church hall packed with supporters and press for the ritual, declaring that the removal of their hair represented their willingness to make sacrifices for Hong Kong's political future. Among those who had their heads shorn were the three founders of Occupy Central -- a grassroots network which has vowed to take over the streets of the city's financial district following China's recent decision to restrict who can stand for the city's top post. \"It is our determination to show we can give something up in order to fight for something more important,\" said Benny Tai, an Occupy co-founder and local academic.","Soccer-Australia's Williams facing more World Cup heartbreak. Australia defender Rhys Williams could miss his second successive World Cup finals after suffering a freak Achilles tendon injury in Middlesbrough's 0-0 draw with Wigan Athletic on Tuesday. The full extent of the injury was not immediately known but his English Championship (second tier) club coach Aitor Karanka expressed \"deep sympathy\" for the player who missed the 2010 World Cup finals after damaging his pelvic area. Williams, expected to be part of Ange Postecoglou's squad for the finals in Brazil, was carried off on a stretcher just before halftime after twisting his body sharply in the league match at the Riverside Stadium. \"All our feelings are with him, mine, the team's, the staff's. He will get all the support we can give him.\" Williams, 25, has played 14 times for Australia after representing Wales at Under-21 level through having mixed parentage.","Terminally ill US woman kills herself. A young American woman with terminal cancer has committed suicide, following promises to do so that had triggered shock and controversy over the right to die. Brittany Maynard, a 29-year-old brain cancer sufferer, made headlines earlier this month when a video of her making her suicide threat went viral and was seen by millions of Web users. \"Goodbye to all my dear friends and family that I love. Today is the day I have chosen to pass away with dignity in the face of my terminal illness, this terrible brain cancer that has taken so much from me... but would have taken so much more,\" she wrote in a message circulated widely on social media.","Attack over land dispute leaves 10 dead in India. GAUHATI, India (AP) — Police say at least 10 people were shot to death when a mob attacked a village over a land dispute in a densely-forested area in India's remote northeast.","France proposes 1 bln euro credit line for India projects. France has proposed to give India a 1 billion euro ($1.4 billion) credit line to fund sustainable infrastructure and urban development projects, Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said on Tuesday. The credit line would be available over three years and would be delivered through the French Development Agency, Fabius, who began his India visit on Monday, told reporters in New Delhi. India, which has said it needs $1 trillion of investment by 2017 to upgrade its creaking infrastructure, is keen to attract foreign development agencies and companies to help finance new roads, railways and cities.","31 killed in attack in China's Xinjiang region. BEIJING (AP) — Thirty-one people were killed and more than 90 injured in an attack Thursday on a busy street market in the capital of China's volatile northwestern region of Xinjiang, the local government said, the bloodiest in a series of violent incidents blamed on radical separatist Muslims.","Floods force thousands to flee homes in Brazil. SAO PAUL0 (AP) — The civil defense office in Brazil's southern state of Rio Grande do Sul says floods caused by torrential rains have displaced more than 18,000 people across more than 100 cities.","Nepal halts cremation of Buddhist monk after Chinese pressure: report. Nepal has reversed a decision to allow a monk prominent in Tibetan Buddhism to be cremated on its soil after what media reports said was pressure from China and his organization said on Monday they were in talks with the government in Kathmandu. Shamar Rinpoche, also known as the Shamarpa, died of a heart attack in Germany aged 62 on June 11, according to his office. He was scheduled to be moved on Sunday to Nepal, where he ran a monastery, for his final rites. \"Because of his will and advice we're supposed to bring his body to Nepal,\" Khenpo Mriti, an administrator at the Karmapa International Buddhist Society in New Delhi that Rinpoche was closely associated with, said on Monday.","Calls mount for UN help in Afghan election crisis. KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — A proposal for the U.N. to mediate a crisis over allegations of election fraud gained momentum Friday as President Hamid Karzai backed the idea and the U.N. said it stood ready to help.","Heavy snow kills 5, disrupts travel in Japan. At least five people have died in heavy snow that has blanketed swathes of Japan, reports said on Thursday, with more than two metres (6ft 7ins) lying in some places and more forecast. Two elderly women were killed on the northernmost island of Hokkaido, Kyodo News reported, with one hit by a snow-plough and another buried when a warehouse collapsed under the weight of fallen snow. Two men, meanwhile, died in traffic accidents on snow-bound roads, one in Hokkaido and the other in Hiroshima further south, police said. The mountain town of Tsunan in Niigata prefecture, near the Sea of Japan (East Sea) coast, was smothered in 204 centimetres of snow, with parts of Hokkaido getting as much as 70 centimetres in 24 hours, the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) said.","China convicts hospital workers after high-profile labor protest. By John Ruwitch GUANGZHOU (Reuters) - A Chinese court on Tuesday convicted 12 hospital security guards of \"disturbing social order\" after staging a labor protest last year, sentencing several to light jail terms in what was seen as a test case for labor rights in China. The guards had been part of a group of more than 100 healthcare workers embroiled in a months-long dispute with the Guangzhou Chinese Medicine University Hospital over labor conditions and compensation. The ruling by the district court in the southern city of Guangzhou, convicting the guards of \"gathering a crowd to disturb social order\", comes against a backdrop of growing labor activism in China and was calibrated to send a message, said Duan Yi, a labor lawyer and counsel for one of the guards. Six were jailed for eight months, which, including time spent, means they will be freed on Friday, and the remaining three were jailed for nine months and will be free in mid-May. Han Dongfang, founder of the Hong Kong-based NGO China Labour Bulletin, said relatively light sentences in this case were likely a way for the government to save face as it tries to find new ways to defuse growing labor activism without aggravating blue-collar resentment at heavy sentences.","GMO critics protest at Monsanto meeting; resolutions fail. Critics of genetically modified crops protested at Monsanto Co's annual shareholders meeting on Tuesday, calling for the world's largest seed company to provide a report on contamination in non-GMO crops and to stop fighting mandatory labels on foods containing GMO ingredients. The requests came in the form of two shareholder resolutions that were backed by environmental, food safety and consumer activist groups. The resolutions come at a time of heightened debate over the spread of genetically modified crops. Outside the meeting at Monsanto's headquarters in suburban St. Louis, Missouri, about two dozen protesters waved signs criticizing the $15 billion agrichemical and seed company, and 10 people were arrested as they attempted to disrupt traffic.","IMF's Lagarde: 'I am not candidate' for European chief. IMF managing director Christine Lagarde said Friday she was \"not a candidate\" to become head of the European Commission. \"On this EU thing, I am not a candidate. I have a job, I happen to think it is a rather important job and I intend to complete my term,\" Lagarde said at an International Monetary Fund event in London. Lagarde, from France, has been mentioned as a possible alternative to Luxembourg's Jean-Claude Juncker as president of the executive body of the European Union.","Malaysia, Ukraine separatists agree on MH17 victims retrieval - PM. By Siva Govindasamy KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Malaysia has reached an agreement with Aleksander Borodai, leader of the separatist group in eastern Ukraine, to retrieve the bodies of the victims of MH17, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak said on Tuesday. They have also reached an agreement to hand over the two black boxes from the Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777-200ER, which crashed in Ukraine on 17 July with 298 people on board, Razak told a news conference. \"In recent days, we have been working behind the scenes to establish contact with those in charge of the MH17 crash site. \"Under difficult and fluid circumstances, we have been discussing the problems that have occupied us all: securing vital evidence from the aircraft, launching an independent investigation, and above all recovering the remains of those who lost their lives.\" Under the agreement, the remains of 282 people will be moved by train from Torez to Kharkiv.","Obama aide Rice says recent troubles shouldn't derail U.S.-India ties. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A top White House adviser attempted to smooth over troubled ties between the United States and India on Friday, saying the two countries should not allow the dispute over an Indian diplomat to \"derail the future we are working diligently to build.\" The diplomat, Devyani Khobragade, was arrested on December 12 on charges of visa fraud and lying to U.S. authorities about what she paid her housekeeper. She was stripped-searched while detained in a Manhattan federal courthouse, an incident that triggered a major rift between India and the United States. ...","Ivory Coast to send Ble Goude to The Hague court. By Loucoumane Coulibaly ABIDJAN (Reuters) - Ivory Coast will send Charles Ble Goude, a close ally of ex-President Laurent Gbagbo, to the International Criminal Court to face charges of crimes against humanity, the justice minister said on Thursday. The ICC, based in The Hague, Netherlands, said in October it had issued an arrest warrant for Ble Goude, who headed the Young Patriots street militia during Gbagbo's presidency, for his alleged role in violence after a disputed 2010 general election. \"The cabinet has agreed to send Ble Goude to the International Criminal Court,\" minister Gnenema Mamadou Coulibaly told reporters.","Trail carrying oil derails, burns in Canada. PLASTER ROCK, New Brunswick (AP) — Canadian officials prepared aerial surveillance of a derailed freight train carrying crude oil and propane Wednesday morning to see if it was still burning, while dozens of nearby residents remained evacuated from their homes. There were no reports of deaths.","Iran won't accept 'nuclear apartheid': Rouhani. Iran will not accept \\\\\"nuclear apartheid\\\\\" but is willing to offer more transparency over its atomic activities, President Hassan Rouhani said Sunday ahead of new talks with world powers. Iran and the P5+1 group of nations will start hammering out a draft accord Tuesday aimed at ending a decade-long standoff over suspicions that the Islamic republic is concealing military objectives. Our nuclear technology is not up for negotiation,\\\\\" Rouhani, referring to the West, said in remarks broadcast on state television. \\\\\"Iran will not retreat one step in the field of nuclear technology... we will not accept nuclear apartheid,\\\\\" he said.","Attack at Afghan base kills US soldier, wounds 15. KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — A man dressed in an Afghan army uniform opened fire Tuesday on foreign troops at a military base, killing at least one U.S. soldier and wounding 15, including a German brigadier general and \"about a dozen\" Americans, authorities said.","Biathlon mixed relay makes Olympic debut in Sochi. KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia (AP) — After eight individual events, biathlon at the Sochi Games forges ahead with the first Olympic mixed relay on Wednesday.","Exclusive: Takata engineers struggled to maintain air bag quality, documents reveal. By Joanna Zuckerman Bernstein, Ben Klayman and Yoko Kubota MEXICO CITY/DETROIT/TOKYO (Reuters) - Manufacturing problems with Takata Corp air bags go beyond what the Tokyo-based company has disclosed to U.S. safety regulators about why the devices are at risk of exploding with dangerous force, according to internal company documents reviewed by Reuters. ...","Italy's singing nun wins 'Voice' competition. MILAN (AP) — A singing nun who became an Internet star for her unadorned pop song performances in full habit has triumphed at Italy's version of musical competition \"The Voice.\"","India to bowl first against Bangladesh in Asia Cup. FATULLAH, Bangladesh (AP) — India captain Virat Kohli won the toss and decided to bowl first against host Bangladesh in their Asia Cup match on Wednesday.","New Zealand on 159-3 in 2nd test vs West Indies. PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad (AP) — Left-handed opener Tom Latham hit a resolute 82 on Monday as New Zealand rode some luck to reach 159-3 at tea on day one of the second cricket test against the West Indies.","Philippine military says Filipino peacekeepers have escaped from rebel-threatened Golan areas. MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Philippine military says Filipino peacekeepers have escaped from rebel-threatened Golan areas.","22 killed in attack on C.Africa MSF hospital: peacekeepers. Bangui (Central African Republic) (AFP) - At least 22 people including three staff members of medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres were killed during a weekend attack by gunmen on a Central African hospital, an officer from the MISCA peacekeeping force told AFP on Monday.","2 Bolivian miners die as police try to open road. LA PAZ, Bolivia (AP) — Police have clashed with small-scale miners during a protest in Bolivia and at least two demonstrators are dead.","Auction record smashed for Spanish cubist artist Gris. Juan Gris's Cubist still life \"Nature Morte a la Nappe a Carreaux\" (\"The Checked Tablecloth\") has sold for £34.8 million at a London sale, smashing the auction record for the Spanish artist. Other important items sold included Swiss sculptor Alberto Giacometti's bronze work of three men, which fetched £9 million, and Cubist master Pablo Picasso's 1955 portrait of lover Jacqueline Roque, which went under the hammer for £16.9 million pounds. The auction was truncated after Christie's announced earlier in the day that it had cancelled the sale of 85 paintings by Spanish master Joan Miro, valued at more than 36 million euros, over a legal dispute in Portugal.","Top seed Pennetta pulls out of Gastein Ladies. BAD GASTEIN, Austria (AP) — Flavia Pennetta pulled out of the Gastein Ladies clay-court event with an ankle injury shortly before her opening match on Monday.","Two weeks on, Kiev has no answer to separatists in east. Donetsk (Ukraine) (AFP) - On April 6, pro-Russian separatists first attacked public buildings in the east of Ukraine. Two weeks on, they now have an impressive arsenal of arms and control some 15 towns, with the Kiev government having no answer on how to regain control of the situation. The separatist activists are notably occupying the regional administration building in the million-strong city of Donetsk, the former stronghold of ousted pro-Kremlin president Viktor Yanukovych. They are also holding the town hall, police and security service headquarters in the city of Slovyansk north of Donetsk, as well as the security service headquarters in the city of Lugansk close to the border with Russia.","Matfield to set new Springbok Test record. Veteran lock Victor Matfield will on Saturday become South Africa's most capped player when he captains the side against Wales in his 112th Test match at the Mbombela Stadium in Nelspruit. The 37-year-old powerhouse was named as skipper of an experienced Springbok starting line-up which shows two changes from the team which beat Wales by 38-16 in Durban last week. Both changes are in the pack, where Tendai Mtawarira returns at loosehead prop, with Gurthrö Steenkamp reverting to the bench, while Flip van der Merwe will partner Matfield in the second row in the place of Bakkies Botha. The only other change to the team is amongst the backline reserves, where Wynand Olivier replaces the injured Johan Goosen to provide necessary midfield cover.","South Africa's ruling ANC takes early election lead. By Tiisetso Motsoeneng JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa's ruling African National Congress (ANC) held an early lead as votes were counted on Thursday, a day after millions cast their ballots in the country's first \\\\\"Born Free\\\\\" election. The ANC, the liberation party that swept to power under the leadership of Nelson Mandela at the end of apartheid in 1994, had 55.8 percent of the vote after the results from nearly 20 percent of polling stations had been counted, the electoral commission said. The ANC's nearest rival, the Democratic Alliance, held 31 percent as it looks to make up more ground after polling 16.7 percent nationwide at the last general election in 2009.","US confident Thai military won't resort to coup. WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. said Tuesday it is \"reasonably confident\" Thailand's military won't launch a coup although analysts warned the nation's political crisis could trigger armed conflict.","London bombings memorial vandalised on ninth anniversary. The stainless steel columns in Hyde Park were daubed with messages referencing former prime minister Tony Blair, who took Britain into the US-led wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as the four suicide bombers. Police were called at about 3:30 am (0230 GMT) and staff from the Royal Parks service swiftly moved to clean the pillars ahead of a memorial service planned later in the morning. The memorial consists of 52 columns, one for each victim, grouped to reflect the four bombing sites -- a packed bus and three London Underground subway trains.","Greece makes further progress on budget front. ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greece has made its second successful return to the bond markets as the government revealed Friday that it was beating a key bailout budget target — and by a big margin.","Scottish support for independence rises to 48 percent: Opinium poll. EDINBURGH (Reuters) - Scottish support for independence has risen one percentage point to 48 percent, an Opinium poll for the Daily Telegraph newspaper showed on Tuesday. The poll showed Scottish support for staying in the United Kingdom on 52 percent, down from 53 percent from its last poll at the weekend, the Telegraph said. Voters in Scotland go to the polls on Thursday to decide whether the country should break away from the United Kingdom. (Reporting by Alistair Smout, writing by Guy Faulconbridge, editing by William Schomberg)","Qatar quits basketball over headscarf ban. Incheon (South Korea) (AFP) - Qatar on Wednesday withdrew their women's basketball team from the Asian Games just before their first match over a rule banning Muslim headscarves.","Pistorius vomits during graphic testimony. PRETORIA, South Africa (AP) — Oscar Pistorius vomited in the dock at his murder trial Monday as he heard graphic details of the injuries sustained by the girlfriend he fatally shot.","Japan may suggest smaller whale catch after ICJ blow. Japan could try to rescue its Antarctic whaling program by sharply reducing catch quotas after the highest U.N. court ordered a halt, rejecting Tokyo's argument that the catch was for scientific purposes and not mainly for human consumption. The judgment by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) was a blow to Japan's decades-old \"scientific whaling\" program, although Tokyo - which said it would abide by the ruling - might be able to resume Antarctic whaling if it devises a new, more persuasive program that requires killing whales. \"We want to properly consider our country's response after carefully examining the contents of the ruling.\" The government was likely to submit to the International Whaling Commission (IWC) a new \"scientific whaling\" program with sharply reduced catch quotas in an effort to resume the annual hunts, the Asahi newspaper said on Tuesday The outlook was tough, however, with more than half of the IWC members now opposed to whaling, the newspaper said.","Turkey purges top prosecutors amid corruption scandal. Turkish authorities removed several prosecutors from key posts on Thursday in the latest fallout from the high-level corruption scandal plaguing the government. The Supreme Board of Judges and Prosecutors (HSYK), which is headed by Turkey's justice minister, said that 20 prosecutors were being reassigned including the chief Istanbul prosecutor Turhan Colakkadi. It also announced it had approved a probe into several top prosecutors who led the high-level corruption inquiry that became public last month and have already been removed from their positions. The government has embarked on a mass purge of police and prosecutors in the wake of the probe that has ensnared key allies of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.","UN mission to combat Ebola opens HQ in Ghana. DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — The U.N. mission to combat Ebola opened its headquarters on Monday in Ghana, where it will coordinate international aid to assist West Africa to combat the accelerating crisis.","Warne tells Cook to stop being 'boring'. Australia great Shane Warne has told England captain Alastair Cook to expect more defeats if he sticks with the \"boring\" approach he adopted during the 5-0 Ashes defeat in the upcoming series against Sri Lanka. A much-changed England face Sri Lanka in the first of two Tests at Lord's on Thursday -- their first Test series since they were whitewashed in Australia and the first since star batsman Kevin Pietersen, a friend of Warne, was dramatically axed from the side. Warne, widely regarded as cricket's greatest leg-spinner and one of the shrewdest tacticians of his generation, said it was vital Cook stamped his authority on the England team, now being coached again by Peter Moores after Andy Flower stepped down following the Ashes debacle.","South Sudan army loses contact with key town claimed by rebels. South Sudan's army said Friday it has been unable to contact its forces fighting in the key oil-town of Malakal as rebels claimed to control it. Malakal, the main town in northern Upper Nile state, has become one of the most bitter battlegrounds in the conflict now raging for over a month in the world's youngest nation. On Monday, rebels staged an assault to seize back Malakal -- which has switched hands twice -- but both the government and rebels have insisted they are in control. \"The commander in Malakal has not been accessible since yesterday,\" army spokesman Philip Aguer said, without giving further details.","Moment of silence for Taveras before World Series. KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — There was a moment of silence before Game 6 of the World Series to honor Cardinals outfielder Oscar Taveras, who died in an automobile accident last weekend in the Dominican Republic.","Reuters Sports Schedule at 1400 GMT on Tuesday, Dec 16. Reuters sports schedule at 1400 GMT on Tuesday: - - - - SOCCER Club World Cup, Marrakesh, Morocco Real Madrid, Cruz Azul of Mexico clash for final berth MARRAKESH, Morocco - European champions Real Madrid and Cruz Azul of Mexico, the CONCACAF champions, play for a place in Saturday's final against Argentina's San Lorenzo or part-timers Auckland City of New Zealand. (SOCCER-CLUB/REAL (PIX) expect by 2130 GMT/4. ...","Turkey seeks wider spy agency powers amid Erdogan power struggle. By Gulsen Solaker and Jonny Hogg ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkey's government sought parliamentary approval to boost the powers of the secret service on Thursday, a move seen by Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan's critics as a bid to tighten his grip on the apparatus of state as he wages a bitter power struggle. Control of the NATO member's security apparatus goes to the heart of a feud between Erdogan and Islamic cleric Fethullah Gulen, a former ally based in the United States whose network of followers wields influence in the police and judiciary. Erdogan accuses Gulen's Hizmet (\"Service\") network of orchestrating a plot to unseat him, tapping thousands of phones, including his own, over years and using leaked recordings to unleash corruption allegations against his inner circle in the run-up to a series of elections. According to an initial draft, seen by Reuters, proposals before parliament include giving the National Intelligence Organisation (MIT) more scope for eavesdropping and foreign operations, as well as greater immunity from prosecution for top agents.","Daley Blind suffers possibly serious knee injury. AMSTERDAM (AP) — Manchester United midfielder Daley Blind could face a lengthy lay-off after injuring his knee playing for the Netherlands against Latvia on Sunday.","Lille to host France-Switzerland Davis Cup final. PARIS (AP) — The Davis Cup final between France and Roger Federer's Switzerland will be held at the 27,000-capacity Pierre-Mauroy stadium in the northern French city of Lille.","Igor Strelkov: mysterious Russian who led Ukraine rebels. An alleged Russian intelligence colonel with an obsession for reenacting historical battles, Igor Strelkov, who quit as a key rebel chief on Thursday, was a driving force behind the brutal pro-Moscow insurgency tearing apart east Ukraine. The Russian citizen -- whose real name is Igor Girkin -- is a fierce nationalist and Orthodox Christian believer who reportedly honed his skills fighting in conflicts from Bosnia to Moldova's breakaway territory of Transdniestr and Chechnya, before helping Moscow seize Ukraine's Crimea peninsula in March. Normally dressed in military fatigues with a pencil moustache and a wave of oily hair, the secretive commander, 43, was accused of overseeing what the United Nations described as a \"reign of fear and intimidation\" across rebel-held areas that involved the abduction, torture and even murder of opponents.","Toyota unit declares lockout at two India plants from Sunday: NHK. TOKYO (Reuters) - An Indian unit of Toyota Motor Corp has declared a lockout of its employees at two car plants near Bangalore since Sunday saying employees have deliberately suspended production lines, Japanese public broadcaster NHK reported on Monday. Toyota Kirloskar Motor, the Indian unit of Japanese carmaker Toyota Motor, has not said for how long the lockout will continue, NHK reported. Toyota Motor was not immediately able to comment. (Reporting by Yoko Kubota; Editing by Dominic Lau)","Arms for Somalia diverted to militias, UN experts claim. United Nations (United States) (AFP) - UN monitors have found evidence that arms shipments to the Somali government have been diverted to clan militias and in one case were destined for a Shebab rebel commander. A confidential report by the Somalia and Eritrea Monitoring Group, seen by AFP on Friday, found \"high level and systematic abuses in weapons management and distribution\" by Somali authorities. In February 2013 the United Nations Security Council voted to partially lift an arms embargo against Somalia, seeking to help the beleaguered government in its battle against Islamist guerrillas. But the council imposed restrictions requiring notification of shipments, banned certain heavy weapons and mandated the Monitoring Group to watch how matters proceeded.","Many new phones coming, but Samsung hogs limelight. BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Sony unveiled a new waterproof phone that can take ultra-high-definition video. Nokia introduced three Android smartphones aimed at emerging markets. And Lenovo announced one with an all-glass exterior.","Somber mood in Brazil after Neymar injury. RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — A somber mood spread over Brazil as the reality dawned on the World Cup host nation that injured striker Neymar wouldn't play again at the tournament.","Power shakes off quake but can't close out title. It was just past 3 a.m. local time when Australian driver Will Power was awakened from a deep sleep on the top floor of his hotel in Napa, California.","Palestinian cabinet to meet in Gaza this week. Ramallah (Palestinian Territories) (AFP) - The Palestinian government of national consensus will hold its first cabinet meeting in Gaza this week, an official said Monday, after Fatah and Hamas overcame years of bitter rivalry.","Exclusive: Siemens near deal to buy Dresser-Rand - sources. By Soyoung Kim, Sophie Sassard and Anjuli Davies NEW YORK/LONDON (Reuters) - The German industrial conglomerate Siemens AG is near an agreement to acquire U.S. oilfield equipment maker Dresser-Rand Group Inc for all cash, people familiar with the matter said on Sunday. A deal for Dresser-Rand, which has a market capitalization of more than $6 billion, could come as soon as Monday, some of them said. Siemens is expected to pay low- to mid-$80s per share, the sources said, compared to Dresser-Rand's Friday closing price of $79. ...","Lebanon passes law against domestic violence. Lebanon's parliament on Tuesday passed a law making domestic violence a criminal offence, after a years-long campaign by civil society groups in a sectarian Arab country steeped in conservativism. Large sectors of Lebanese society have traditionally regarded beatings of women and children as religiously and socially acceptable. New York-based Human Rights Watch described the bill as \"historic,\" but pointed to gaps which did not ensure full protection for women. For its part, leading Lebanese women's rights organisation Kafa was critical of the law in its current form.","Many African leaders seek to extend time in power. JOHANNESBURG (AP) — Burkina Faso's longtime leader, Blaise Compaore, was toppled from power last week by demonstrators angry that he was trying to change the country's constitution to allow him to extend his 27-year rule.","Slovenian cyclist Mezgec leads Volta Catalunya. CALELLA, Spain (AP) — Slovenian cyclist Luka Mezgec won a sprint finish Monday to take the leader's jersey after the first stage of the 94th edition of the Volta a Catalunya, with the pre-race favorites grouped together close behind.","Analysis: Israel, Palestinians face hard choices. RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) — As U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry returns to the region Thursday, the American message to the Israeli and Palestinian leaders is clear: It's time to start making hard decisions.","New Egypt president sworn in, calls for stability. CAIRO (AP) — Egypt's newly sworn-in president called on his country Sunday to build a more stable future after years of turmoil and revolt, asking them to work hard so that their rights and freedoms could grow.","Japan finance minister expects stronger Japan-U.S. alliance through summit. Japanese Finance Minister Taro Aso said on Tuesday that he expects Japan and the United States will strengthen their alliance through this week's summit meeting. \"I expect the most that the Japan-U.S. alliance will be strengthened through the summit meeting in order to further promote peace and prosperity in the Asia-Pacific region,\" Aso told reporters after a cabinet meeting. U.S. President Barack Obama is scheduled to visit Tokyo from Wednesday through Friday to hold a summit meeting with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.","Sporting beats Olhanense 1-0 to stay in title race. LISBON, Portugal (AP) — Sporting Lisbon beat bottom-side Olhanense 1-0 at home thanks to Carlos Mane's first-half goal on Saturday, keeping it in the hunt for the Portuguese league lead.","India agrees with U.S. on food stockpiling, clears way for WTO deal. NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India has reached an agreement with the United States on public stockpiling of food, its trade minister said on Thursday, paving the way for the implementation of a global trade facilitation deal that has been stalled for months. \"India and the United States have resolved their differences on public stockholding of food,\" Nirmala Sithamaran said. \"This opens the way for implementation of the WTO trade facilitation deal. ...","Golf - Scott plots revenge over Rory at Australian Open. - Adam Scott has confirmed that he will contest the Australian Open in November, and try to expunge the memory of letting slip victory to Rory McIlroy last year in Sydney. Scott was the reigning Masters champion when he teed it up at Royal Sydney last December. \"I will be playing at The Australian Club with real intent to make amends for what happened at Royal Sydney,\" said Scott.","Europeans voting to choose new parliament. BRUSSELS (AP) — From Portugal to Finland, voters of 21 nations on Sunday were deciding the makeup of the next European Parliament, a sprawling exercise in democracy that will help determine the European Union's future leaders and course.","Knockoffs a headache for IPO-bound Alibaba. HONG KONG (AP) — At first glance, the Monster Tron T1 headphones sold on Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba's Taobao site are a tempting offer for audiophiles looking for state-of-the-art hi-fi equipment.","Deliberations resume in exchange student killing. MISSOULA, Montana (AP) — Jurors are set to resume deliberations Wednesday in the murder case against a Montana man who shot to death a German high school exchange student who was trespassing in his garage.","Ukraine rebels say they are poised to recapture Donetsk airport. EU officials proposed sanctions on Tuesday to starve Russian firms of cash as punishment for Moscow's role in Ukraine, where rebels said they were storming Donetsk airport, potentially their biggest prize since turning the war's tide last week. Western countries accuse Moscow of sending armored columns of troops into Ukraine, where the momentum in a five-month war shifted last week decisively in favor of pro-Russian rebels, who are now advancing on a new front towards a major port. Russia denies its troops are involved in fighting on the ground, in the face of what Western countries and Ukraine say is overwhelming evidence. According to the United Nations, the war, in which pro-Russian separatists are fighting to throw off rule from Kiev, has killed more than 2,600 people and driven nearly a million from their homes in east Ukraine.","Report: Australian lawmaker's adviser detained. SYDNEY (AP) — Australian media are reporting that the media adviser to eccentric Australian lawmaker Clive Palmer has been detained in relation to an alleged kidnapping.","Obama meets Pope Francis, looks for Catholic boost. Barack Obama will meet Pope Francis for the first time Thursday for talks on a shared agenda to fight inequality which the US President hopes will help boost support at home. The talks between the first Latin-American pope and first African-American US president will focus on tackling the gap between the rich and the poor, but are likely to spill over into thornier issues such as abortion, homosexuals and contraception. The meeting at the Vatican comes as a welcome rest-stop for Obama during a six-day European tour dominated by the crisis over Crimea, and the US leader will doubtless be hoping some of the pope's overwhelming popularity will rub off on him. Obama will also meet new Italian prime minister Matteo Renzi and the country's president Giorgio Napolitano during his visit to the eternal city, as well as going on a private guided tour of the Colosseum.","Ukrainian presidential contenders united on UK visit. Ukrainian presidential contenders Petro Poroshenko and Vitali Klitschko pledged to work together for the future of their crisis-hit country on Wednesday, after a meeting with British Prime Minister David Cameron in London. Chocolate baron Poroshenko and Klitschko, the former world heavyweight boxing champion, met with Cameron and Foreign Secretary William Hague at Downing Street to seek Britain's support following Russia's annexation of Crimea. Klitschko has previously indicated he would run for the May 25 presidential election. Poroshenko has yet to formally declare his candidacy, though an opinion poll on Wednesday suggested he would be the favourite.","4 suspects in Nairobi attack tour damaged mall. NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Court officials and four handcuffed ethnic Somalis accused of aiding the gunmen who attacked Nairobi's Westgate Mall in September have walked through the heavily damaged shopping center.","Afghan election candidate set to reject result. Afghan presidential candidate Abdullah Abdullah was set to reject preliminary election results released Monday, heightening a political crisis over fraud that threatens to trigger instability as US-led troops pull out. His poll rival Ashraf Ghani, who was reported to be at least one million votes ahead, says the result is fair and must not be further delayed. The Independent Election Commission will hold a press conference at 2:00 pm (0930 GMT) to announce the winner after a five-day delay. The United Nations and Afghanistan's international backers had lobbied hard to try to ensure a smooth election process, but the contested outcome could realise their worst fears and raises the risk of civil unrest.","Pirates suspected to have attacked tanker off Angola. ATHENS/ABUJA (Reuters) - A fuel tanker is suspected to have been hijacked by pirates off the coast of Angola, the ship's owners said on Wednesday, in what would be the most southerly attack to date by pirates off West Africa. Pirate attacks jumped by a third last year off the coast of West Africa but were mostly confined to the Gulf of Guinea, around Africa's biggest oil producer Nigeria, where most of the hijacking gangs are believed to originate. The 75,000 deadweight tonne Liberian-flagged fuel tanker MT Kerala lost contact with its Greece-based owner Dynacom on January 18.","Icahn and Ackman, foes on Herbalife, make up at conference. By Svea Herbst-Bayliss NEW YORK (Reuters) - Carl Icahn and William Ackman are friends again. The billionaire investors, who have been at odds over nutrition and diet company Herbalife, made up in public on Wednesday, ending a decade long feud that exploded on cable television 18 months ago. Icahn, 78, who made his reputation in the 1980s, and Ackman, 48, seen by some as a young version of the older corporate raider, sparred over opposing bets on Herbalife on CNBC in January 2013. On Wednesday at the CNBC Institutional Investor Delivering Alpha Conference, the men hugged and then praised each other over their investor activism.","Hunger spreads in Somalia as militants block towns. MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) — Residents and officials say that severe hunger is spreading in southern Somalia where Islamic militants have encircled several towns in the control of African Union forces, preventing food deliveries. Deaths from malnutrition and hunger have been reported.","Full-size Thomas the Tank Engine hits Japan. A full-size Thomas the Tank Engine will steam through Japanese tea fields this summer in the first service of its kind in East Asia, a railway official said Thursday. Oigawa Railway, a small operator in Shizuoka prefecture in central Japan, has converted a regular steam locomotive into the anthropomorphic British creation. Known in Japan as \"Kikansha Thomas\" (Steam Train Thomas), the blue engine was created in the early 20th century by a British clergyman and became the star of a series of books.","Thatcher's hairdo was high-maintenance. Margaret Thatcher's immaculate hairdo took intensive efforts to perfect, with the late British prime minister having her bouffant reworked every three days on average, records showed Friday. Her appointments diary for 1984, released by The National Archive three decades on, showed she had 118 hair appointments in the year. Around the G7 summit in London in June 1984, she had her hair done on five consecutive days.","Mud, rain hamper landslide rescue in India. MALIN, India (AP) — Rescue workers in India say they are having trouble using sniffer dogs and equipment to detect signs of life after a landslide engulfed a village because of continuing rain and thick, heavy mud. Dozens of people are still missing.","City of London police say suspect vehicle near Bank of England safe. City of London police said on Thursday that a previously suspect vehicle near the Bank of England was now deemed safe, and that the area had been reopened to pedestrians. \\\\\"Vehicle at Bank junction deemed safe.","Canadian company charged with breaching Iran sanctions law. By Nia Williams CALGARY, Alberta (Reuters) - A Canadian company will appear in court on Monday charged with violating international sanctions by trying to export components to Iran that could have nuclear applications. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) said they launched an investigation into manufacturing company Lee Specialties Ltd after customs officers at Calgary International Airport intercepted Viton O-rings in May 2011 that were in a cargo shipment bound for Iran.","South Sudan rebel leader in Ethiopia for talks. ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (AP) — An official says that South Sudan's rebel leader has arrived in Ethiopia for talks with President Salva Kiir.","Player union unpicks football mental health taboo. LONDON (AP) — One in four professional footballers said they suffer symptoms of anxiety and depression in a new study into the sport's largely unexplored \"dark side\" of mental illness.","Debt headache for Thai tycoon as protests bruise baht. By Saeed Azhar and Khettiya Jittapong SINGAPORE/BANGKOK (Reuters) - A local currency hit by months of political unrest, and skittish consumers spending less are keeping the pressure on Thai billionaire Dhanin Chearavanont, who heads Asia's most indebted food retailer. Dhanin's CP ALL PCL, which operates 7-Eleven convenience stores, last year took a 1-year $5.8 billion loan to fund the $6.6 billion acquisition of cash-and-carry wholesaler Siam Makro - paying 53 times earnings in Asia's most expensive consumer sector deal by multiple. At the time, Dhanin promised investors to more than halve CP ALL's leverage - its net debt to EBITDA ratio - to just above 3 times by 2017 from an estimated 8 times, the highest among all food and staples companies in Asia, Thomson Reuters data show. He hoped to do that by adding 500-600 stores a year, but that expansion is threatened by Thailand's political fragility and an economic slowdown that have seen the value of the Thai baht slide by nearly 14 percent since last April.","Libya's guns free-for-all fuels region's turmoil. TRIPOLI, Libya (AP) — At the heart of the Libyan capital, the open-air Fish Market was once a place where residents went to buy everything from meat and seafood to clothes and pets. Now it's Tripoli's biggest arms market, with tables displaying pistols and assault rifles. Ask a vendor, and he can pull out bigger machine guns to sell for thousands of dollars.","Soccer helps some young Hondurans to avoid gangs. TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras (AP) — From where he sits on a dusty soccer pitch between the fetid Choluteca River and four-lane Armed Forces Boulevard, 11-year-old Maynor Ayala can see only two ways out of the gang-controlled slums of the capital: on a professional soccer team, or in a cheap coffin.","Syrian rebels claim massive Aleppo hotel bombing. BEIRUT (AP) — A rebel-claimed bombing Thursday in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo leveled a hotel that government troops used as a military base, along with several other buildings in a government-held area, activists and militants said.","Nigeria gets first visit from UN rights chief. Nigeria, under fire internationally for banning gay marriage and alleged abuses while tackling Islamist insurgents, on Wednesday received its first visit from the United Nations human rights commissioner. But Navi Pillay said she had not come to Africa's most populous nation to pass judgement, instead vowing to encourage the government in Abuja to protect and promote basic freedoms. I'm here to encourage them (the government) to do more to protect everyone human rights,\" she told a meeting of local rights and civil society groups plus Nollywood film actors. The UN said on Monday that Pillay's visit was the first in the 20-year history of her office and she would meet President Goodluck Jonathan, senior government ministers as well as leading lawmakers.","Puig leads Dodgers to 4-2 win over Australia. SYDNEY (AP) — Yasiel Puig broke out of a spring-long batting slump to hit a two-run home run in the top of the eighth inning Thursday and lead the Los Angeles Dodgers a 4-2 win over Team Australia in an exhibition game at the revamped Sydney Cricket Ground.","Officials: Double car bomb attack kills 7 in Iraq. BAGHDAD (AP) — Authorities in Iraq say a back-to-back car bomb attack has killed seven people belonging to an ethnic minority in the country's north.","Handless cleric's own words to be used against him in U.S. trial. By Joseph Ax NEW YORK (Reuters) - Prosecutors can use radical preacher Abu Hamza al-Masri's own inflammatory words against him during his trial in New York on terrorism-related charges, including praise for Osama bin Laden and for the September 11, 2001, attacks, a federal judge ruled on Tuesday. The decision came two days before opening statements are scheduled to take place in Manhattan federal court. Lawyers for Abu Hamza had argued that video and audio recordings of Abu Hamza justifying violence against non-Muslims would unfairly taint the jurors' emotions, making it impossible for him to have a fair verdict. But U.S. District Judge Katherine Forrest said most of the tapes can be played for the jury to show Abu Hamza's state of mind and his willingness to provide aid to militant organizations.","Bulgaria elects new parliament. SOFIA, Bulgaria (AP) — Bulgarians are voting in a parliamentary election hoping a new government will end the political stalemate, revive the economy, solve a severe banking crisis, and find ways to ease Moscow's grip on the country's energy supplies.","Exclusive: Syria on track to miss deadline to destroy chemical weapons. By Anthony Deutsch AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Syria has relinquished only 11 percent of its chemical weapons in three shipments and is on track to miss a politically-loaded midyear deadline to completely destroy the toxic stockpile, sources told Reuters on Friday. Syria should already have handed over the 1,300 tonnes of toxic chemicals declared to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), the body overseeing the process with the United Nations under a Russian-American deal. A third shipment this week contained 54 metric tonnes of hexamine, a raw material for explosives, bringing the total shipped so far to a bit more than 140 tonnes, three sources at the OPCW said. The next deadline is the end of March, when the most toxic chemicals, including sarin and mustard gas and their precursors, are supposed to have been destroyed outside the country.","AP PHOTOS: A look at Greece's recession journey. The Greek recession is over.","GP practices to stay open all week. GP surgeries across the country will start treating millions of patients outside of working hours including late nights and weekends, Prime Minister David Cameron said on Monday. More than 7.5 million patients will have access to 1,147 GP practices offering new consultation methods like email, phone and Skype after the government approved a £50 million GP Access Fund.","Anyone home? Ukraine isn't taking the Pentagon's calls. By Phil Stewart WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel has been unable to get anyone on the phone at Ukraine's defense ministry over the past several days as violence flared and Kiev named a new head of the armed forces general staff, the Pentagon said on Thursday. \"We haven't been able to connect with anybody from the Defense Ministry there in Ukraine,\" spokesman Rear Admiral John Kirby told a Pentagon news briefing. \"Here in the Pentagon, we've been trying to (connect with them) pretty diligently this whole week.\" Kirby said he was also unaware of any successful military-to-military contacts between United States and Ukraine, and acknowledged it is usually not so difficult for Hagel to get a foreign counterpart on the phone.","Renewed assault on Kobani; 21 dead in Turkey as Kurds rise. By Daren Butler and Jonny Hogg MURSITPINAR Turkey/ANKARA (Reuters) - Islamic State fighters launched a renewed assault on the Syrian city of Kobani on Wednesday night, and at least 21 people were killed in riots in neighbouring Turkey where Kurds rose up against the government for doing nothing to protect their kin. Heavily outgunned defenders said Islamic State militants had pushed into two districts of the mainly Kurdish border city late on Wednesday, despite U.S.-led air strikes that the Pentagon acknowledged would probably not be enough to safeguard the town. ...","Israel frees jailed Palestinian-American boy, places him under house arrest. An Israeli judge on Sunday released from jail and placed under house arrest a 15-year-old American of Palestinian descent whose apparent beating by Israeli police in East Jerusalem has drawn U.S. concern. Tariq Khdeir from Tampa, Florida, is a cousin of Mohammed Abu Khudeir, 16, whose abduction and killing in Jerusalem on Wednesday sparked violent protests and calls from Palestinians for a new uprising against Israel. Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said Khdeir was one of six protesters caught and detained on Thursday during clashes with police. Khdeir, a high school student who had been visiting family in East Jerusalem, also denied being involved in the clashes, telling reporters in comments that aired on ABC News on Sunday that he \"was just watching\" the clashes.","Eight Ivory Coast workers die in botched demolition. At least eight construction workers have died in Ivory's Coast's commercial capital Abidjan in a botched building demolition, a municipal official said Thursday. Nine people were rescued by emergency workers of whom one was described to be in a serious condition. A top official from the construction ministry said the demolition was part of a plan to clear the city of unsafe buildings. He said the demolition had been sub-contracted to a private firm.","Asian shares mostly firmer, gold hits one-month high. By Wayne Cole SYDNEY (Reuters) - Asian shares and currencies were mostly firmer on Monday in the wake of surprisingly weak U.S. jobs numbers that revived speculation the Federal Reserve could keep policy loose for longer. Friday's soft report pulled down bond yields and the dollar, while lifting prices for gold and many commodities. It was also seen as beneficial for some emerging market countries which had been pressured by funds flocking to western assets. Activity in Asia on Monday was curbed by a holiday in Japan. South Korea managed a rise of 0. ...","India's Modi to relieve finance minister of defense portfolio: party official. NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi will replace his defense minister, a senior party official told Reuters on Thursday, in a move that would allow the minister, Arun Jaitley, to focus on his main job of steering the economy out of troubled waters. Since Modi took office in May, Jaitley has headed both ministries. He will be replaced by Manohar Parrikar, the chief minister of Goa, said Sadanand Tanavada, a general secretary of the state unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party. (Reporting by Aditya Kalra; Writing by Frank Jack Daniel; Editing by Rajesh Kumar Singh)","Deutsche tests investor patience with no-surrender strategy. By Thomas Atkins and Kathrin Jones FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Deutsche Bank's determination to be the last European in the upper echelons of global investment banking is an expensive waiting game for investors. Germany's flagship lender is holding its ground against U.S. leaders such as JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs in revenues, but its returns are trailing because it was not as quick to restructure and recapitalise in the wake of the financial crisis. ...","Neighborhood reborn amid Puerto Rico decline. SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Laura Feliciano was scouting locations for a new restaurant in the Puerto Rican capital when she discovered she was priced out of the upscale waterfront districts that were her first choice. Instead, she set up several blocks inland on a grungy street lined with discount stores and pawn shops.","Turkey refugee crisis deepens as Islamic State besieges Syrian border town. By Jonny Hogg KARACA Turkey (Reuters) - All that separates Mohammed Muslim from his village in Syria is a barbed wire fence running along the Turkish border, but the dull thud of artillery and the rattle of machinegun fire suggest he will not be going home anytime soon. Muslim, dressed in a battered suit, his mustache flecked with gray, is among more than 150,000 Syrian Kurds who have fled to Turkey over the past week to escape the advance of Islamic State militants, who have seized villages and beheaded residents as they push towards the strategic border town Kobani. ...","Conflict-hit coal sector casts shadow on Ukraine electricity market. By Svetlana Burmistrova and Alessandra Prentice KIEV (Reuters) - Intense fighting in eastern Ukraine has forced coal mines to cut production or close entirely, imperiling the country's electricity market and potentially forcing the government to cut exports or limit consumption. Around half of the 115 coal mines in Ukraine, Europe's second-largest coal producer, have halted production entirely and output fell 22 percent year-on-year in July to 5.6 million tonnes, said Mykhailo Volynets, the chairman of the Independent Union of Miners. \"The remaining mines are operating chaotically, stopping and starting production depending on the electricity supply and the proximity of fighting,\" he told Reuters. On Wednesday, the government declared a state of emergency in the electricity market due to difficulties transporting coal to thermal power plants (TPP), which provide around 40 percent of the country's electricity.","Heineken family rejected SAB Miller takeover offer: Bloomberg. AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Brewer SAB Miller has made a takeover approach to the family owners of Heineken, Bloomberg reported on Sunday. The newswire reported that SAB's approach was rejected. It was made as part of a strategy to protect itself from a bid from rival Anheuser-Busch InBev, Bloomberg said. SAB and Heineken both declined to comment on the matter. (Reporting By Sarah Young)","Mosquito-borne virus spreads rapidly in Haiti. PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — A spokesman for Haiti's health ministry says that a mosquito-borne virus has spread throughout the Caribbean nation.","Panathinaikos beats PAOK 2-1. ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Nano scored one goal and made another to help Panathinaikos beat PAOK 2-1 in the Greek league on Sunday.","Japan allows some evacuees to return to no-go zone. TOKYO (AP) — For the first time since Japan's nuclear disaster three years ago, authorities are allowing residents to return to live in their homes within a tiny part of a 20-kilometer (12-mile) no-go zone around the Fukushima plant.","Russia invites North Korea leader for May visit: paper. TOKYO (Reuters) - Russia has invited North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to attend a May ceremony marking the end of World War Two, in what would be Kim's first foreign visit since taking the helm of the reclusive state in 2011, Japan's Asahi Shimbun daily said on Wednesday. Kim would probably meet Russian President Vladimir Putin, as North Korea backs Russia in the Ukraine crisis and Moscow needs Pyongyang's cooperation in boosting natural gas exports to South Korea, the paper said, quoting unnamed diplomatic sources. ...","Senegal police disperse crowds as ex-president's return delayed. Senegalese police dispersed hundreds of supporters of former President Abdoulaye Wade who gathered at Dakar airport on Wednesday to welcome him back two years after losing power, but his return was delayed after his flight was stuck in Morocco. The return of Wade, whose son Karim is awaiting trial on corruption charges, is eagerly awaited by his Senegalese Democratic Party (PDS), which heads to local elections in June looking to capitalize on frustration at stubborn unemployment under his successor President Macky Sall. Thousands of PDS supporters later gathered outside the party's headquarters in central Dakar, some waving placards reading 'Movement to Liberate Karim'. \"President Wade's plane has not received authorization to take off from Morocco to come to Senegal,\" Oumar Sarr, coordinator of the PDS, told Reuters, condemning the decision to ban the rally.","Puerto Rico to get $11M for public transportation. SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Puerto Rico is slated to receive $11 million in federal funds to improve public transportation in the U.S. territory.","Asian shares skid, but dollar regains some traction. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fell about 1.4 percent, touching its lowest level since early September at one point and flirting with its biggest one-day decline since August. Hong Kong shares, reopening on Tuesday after the Lunar New Year holiday, caught up with plunges elsewhere. Japan's Nikkei stock average lost 3.3 percent, extending its declines into a fourth session, breaking below the key technical 200-day moving average for the first time since November 2012 and bringing losses for this year to around 13 percent.","Ten more bodies recovered from sunken Korean ferry: coastguard. Jindo (South Korea) (AFP) - Divers on Sunday recovered 10 more bodies from the submerged South Korean ferry that capsized four days ago with hundreds of children on board, the coastguard said.","Russia's FSB says bomb attacks foiled in Moscow, Crimea. By Mark Trevelyan MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia foiled \"major terrorist attacks\" on World War Two victory celebrations last month in Moscow and newly annexed Crimea, the FSB security service said on Tuesday. Details of the alleged plots could not be verified but the FSB's statements, suggesting patriotic Russian symbols were targeted, could be intended to fuel nationalist sentiment during the Ukraine crisis and rally support for President Vladimir Putin. Itar-Tass news agency quoted the FSB as saying it was investigating a number of Russian citizens suspected of preparing an attack on May 9, the Victory Day holiday, using a home-made bomb packed with bolts, screws and nails. In a separate speech to the National Anti-Terrorism Committee, FSB chief Alexander Bortnikov said the alleged Crimean plot - which the security service first made public last month - had targeted the Eternal Flame war memorial and a monument to Soviet state founder Vladimir Lenin in the regional capital Simferopol.","Ukraine says its 10 ships in Crimean port stay loyal. Ukraine said on Sunday its navy's fleet of 10 warships in the Crimean port of Sevastopol had not left the port and remained loyal to the government in Kiev. Earlier, Ukraine said it had withdrawn coastguard vessels from Sevastopol and another Crimean port and stationed them elsewhere. Russian forces have seized Crimea, an isolated peninsula, where Russia's Black Sea Fleet also has its headquarters. Several units of Ukrainian troops in Crimea have been surrounded, and Russian troops have urged them to give up arms and support the peninsula's pro-Moscow regional authorities.","Kerry in Paris to meeting with Russia on Ukraine. PARIS (AP) — After a week of travel in the Mideast, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry changed course and arrived in Paris Saturday for talks with his Russian counterpart on the Ukraine crisis.","Kenya president signs controversial new security law. NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Kenya's president signed into law a contentious bill saying it will help the country fight terrorism, but which critics say will be used to crush dissent by curbing constitutionally guaranteed civil liberties.","A slip on ice, and Daly's medal chances go awry. KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia (AP) — John Daly never saw the standing ovation he got at the finish line. He didn't see his family cheering through their anguish, either.","Sex crime inquiry against Israeli minister closed. JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel's justice ministry says it has dropped a sex-crimes investigation into a senior government minister and presidential hopeful.","Ryan Nelsen fired by Toronto FC. TORONTO (AP) — Major League Soccer side Toronto FC fired New Zealand-born manager Ryan Nelsen on Sunday.","Libya: Islamist militias called to face general. TRIPOLI, Libya (AP) — Libya's parliament chief ordered Islamist-led militias to deploy in the capital Tripoli on Monday, trying to impose control after forces loyal to a renegade general stormed the legislature's building, in a move that raises the potential for a showdown between rival militias.","AP PHOTOS: Lunar eclipse in Asia and the Americas. TOKYO (AP) — Evening viewers in much of Asia and early risers in parts of the Americas were treated to a stunning lunar eclipse, though clouds obscured it for some.","Lion Capital sends letter to American Apparel urging it to explore options: source. By Jeffrey Dastin (Reuters) - The board of American Apparel Inc has received a letter from British buyout firm Lion Capital, pushing it to explore strategic options include a sale, a source familiar with the situation said on Sunday. The letter also said that Lion Capital would nominate Lyndon Lea, one of its founders, to the clothing retailer's board of directors to replace one of its previous designees, Gene Montesano. Lion Capital, a former lender to the retailer, has the right to nominate two of American Apparel's nine board seats. ...","Hosp leads final training before super-combined. KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia (AP) — Former overall World Cup winner Nicole Hosp of Austria led the final downhill training session Sunday ahead of Monday's super-combined race at the Sochi Olympics.","17 bodies dumped in Mexico mass grave. Guadalajara (Mexico) (AFP) - Mexican authorities discovered at least 17 bodies dumped in an unmarked grave outside the western city of Guadalajara after arresting a suspected drug trafficker, a state prosecutor said Friday. Near the mass grave, police found 1,115 kilograms (2,450 pounds) of packaged marijuana hidden in the closets of a home, as well as methamphetamine and firearms, Jalisco state prosecutors said. The suspected drug trafficker, 23, who was taken in last week, is believed to be a hitman who acknowledged working for a brother of Jalisco New Generation Cartel leader Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes. The drug gang is among those more recently established in Mexico, and is locked in battles with the Knights Templar Cartel in the neighboring state of Michoacan.","SOCHI SCENE: A Shaun White hug. KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia (AP) — Hours before he went for the win, Shaun White already had delivered a gold-medal moment.","Belgium beats Australia 2-0 in friendly. LIEGE, Belgium (AP) — Belgium built on its World Cup momentum with a 2-0 victory over Australia on Thursday in a preparation game for 2016 European Championship qualifying.","Ukraine seeks to skirt political crisis amid tough MH17 probe. Ukraine sought Friday to avoid a political crisis after the shock resignation of its prime minister, as fighting between the army and rebels close to the Malaysian airliner crash site claimed over a dozen more lives. President Petro Poroshenko called on parliament to heed \"cold reason\" and pass a vote of confidence in the government, a day after premier Arseniy Yatsenyuk walked out in fury over the collapse of his ruling coalition. Yatsenyuk's resignation piles on more woes for a country already struggling to cope with a chaotic situation in the rebel-controlled east, where international experts are carrying out a complex investigation into last week's downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 that left 298 dead. The United States has already accused Moscow of supplying the missile system which it believes was used by pro-Russian separatists in east Ukraine to shoot down MH17.","Japanese zoo abandons bid to mate hyena 'couple' as both male. Tokyo (AFP) - Zookeepers in Japan have abandoned a years-long attempt to have two spotted hyenas mate and reproduce as both turned out to be male.","EU force in C. African Republic at 870 in June. LARISSA, Greece (AP) — European Union military officials say the EU expects to have more than 800 troops on the ground in the Central African Republic by mid-June.","Mummies in Egypt began long before Age of Pharoahs. The earliest evidence of mummification in Egypt suggests that the practice of wrapping bodies to preserve them after death began around 1,000 years earlier than thought, said a study Wednesday. \"This work demonstrates the huge potential of material in museum collections to allow researchers to unearth new information about the archaeological past,\" said co-author Thomas Higham of the University of Oxford.","Exclusive: EU to fine JPMorgan, UBS, Credit Suisse over Swiss franc Libor rigging. By Foo Yun Chee BRUSSELS (Reuters) - European Union antitrust regulators are set to fine JPMorgan , UBS and Credit Suisse collectively over $115 million for rigging Swiss franc Libor benchmark interest rates, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters. Royal Bank of Scotland alerted the European Commission to the wrongdoing and so would not be penalized for its own role in the cartel, the source said on Tuesday. JPMorgan will receive the biggest fine at just over 70 million euros ($89 million), the person said. ...","Lithuanian biathlete admits to doping. KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia (AP) — The International Biathlon Union says a Lithuanian biathlete who tested positive for a banned substance last year has admitted to doping.","Indian boxer apologises for Asian Games medal snub. Incheon (South Korea) (AFP) - Indian boxer Sarita Devi has made an \"unconditional apology\" for her refusal to accept her Asian Games bronze medal in protest at judging decisions, boxing's governing body said Friday.","Australia Continues Search for MH370, but Hasn't Found Anything Yet. Late Wednesday night, Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said satellite images had revealed objects that could be related to missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, and investigative teams set out to search the area. Australian search teams just ended their mission today with no sign of floating debris from a missing #MH370 @CNN — Jason Morrell (@CNNJason) March 21, 2014","British PM Cameron implores Scots not to break the United Kingdom. ABERDEEN Scotland (Reuters) - British Prime Minister David Cameron on Monday made an impassioned appeal to Scots to shun independence at a referendum on Thursday that could break the United Kingdom. \"If Scotland votes yes, the UK will split, and we will go our separate ways forever,\" Cameron said in the Scottish city of Aberdeen. He laced his emotion with a warning that separation would be painful. \"Independence would not be a trial separation it would be a painful divorce,\" Cameron said, adding that a vote against independence would trigger an unprecedented devolution of powers to Scotland. ...","Police in Brazil kill 4 suspected thieves. SAO PAULO (AP) — Officials in Brazil say residents of a small northeastern city torched an empty school bus after police shot and killed four suspected thieves.","Suicide bomber kills one on outskirts of Afghan capital. KABUL (Reuters) - One policeman was killed and two were injured on the outskirts of the Afghan capital on Thursday, in a blast caused by a suicide bomber attempting to enter Kabul in a vehicle laden with explosives, an interior ministry spokesman said. \"A patrol was sent around 7 a.m. to 7:30 a.m. to look for the suicide car bomber, but unfortunately the bomber was able to detonate his explosives,\" spokesman Sediq Sediqqi told Reuters by telephone. The attack took place in a village just beyond the airport, he said. (Reporting by Jessica Donati; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)","Egypt official says nearly 10,000 detained this year. CAIRO (AP) — A senior Egyptian interior ministry official says the country's security forces have detained nearly 10,000 suspected militants, rioters and others wanted in violent attacks over the past 12 months in a crackdown on those he said were attempting to curtail Egypt's development.","China says wants to mend ties with Vietnam: Xinhua. China's President Xi Jinping told a special envoy from Vietnam on Wednesday that both countries should be \"friendly to each other\" to help mend ties after a flare-up over sovereignty in the South China Sea, the official Xinhua news agency said. The visit to Beijing by Le Hongh Anh, a member of the Vietnamese Communist Party's powerful politburo, is the first sign of a concerted effort to heal the rift between the two countries, which share annual trade worth $50 billion. \"(I) hope the Vietnamese will make joint efforts with the Chinese to put the bilateral relationship back on the right track of development,\" Xinhua quoted Xi as telling Le Hong Anh. \"A neighbor cannot be moved away and it is in the common interests of both sides to be friendly to each other.\" Earlier, Liu Yunshan, a member of China's elite Politburo Standing Committee, was quoted by Xinhua as telling the visitor that both sides should bring bilateral relations back on track.","Futures little changed ahead of Jackson Hole meet. (Reuters) - Canadian stock futures were little changed on Friday as investors remained on the sidelines ahead of speeches by Fed Chair Janet Yellen and ECB President Mario Draghi at the annual gathering of central bankers in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. September futures on the S&P TSX index were up 0.02 percent at 0715 ET. Inflation and retail sales data are due at 0830 ET . The Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index was little changed on Thursday as investors awaited a speech from Yellen to scan for clues about the central bank's outlook for interest rates. ...","Cook suspended for 1 match for slow over rate. COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — England captain Alastair Cook has been given a one-match suspension for maintaining a slow over rate in his team's third one-day international against Sri Lanka.","Catalonia votes to ask Spain for secession ballot. BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — A European season of separatist fervor kicked off Thursday with Catalan lawmakers voting in favor of asking for the right to hold a referendum on independence from Spain. The European Union was watching closely as Belgium's Dutch speakers gear up to push for greater autonomy in May elections, and Scotland prepares to hold its own referendum on breaking away from Britain in the fall.","Socceroos ready for 'massive' challenge. Cuiaba (Brazil) (AFP) - Australia, basking in the role of world Cup underdogs, are up for the \"massive\" challenge of tackling Chile, coach Ange Postecoglou promised in Cuiaba on the eve of Friday's Group B game. \"Chile feel they can make a big impact in this tournament, they've got an exceptionally strong unit, for us it's a massive challenge,\" the Aussie boss told a press conferencne at the Arena Pantanal on Thursday evening. On the fact that his largely experimental side were already being dismissed as also rans in a group also containing world champions Spain and Holland the Socceroos boss shrugged: \"It doesn't bother us if people don't pay us atention. Australia, who made it out of the first round in 2006 before falling in extra time to eventual winners Italy, will be spurred on by a 15,000-strong travelling support.","Clashes in Libya's Benghazi kill 4 protesters. Benghazi (Libya) (AFP) - Four Libyan protesters were killed and 20 wounded in Benghazi when gunfire erupted at a demonstration outside a militia base in the eastern city, security and medical sources said Saturday. \\\\\"Angry citizens, some of whom were armed, demonstrated around the headquarters of the February 17 Martyrs Brigade,\\\\\" an Islamist militia accused by residents of being involved in attacks across Benghazi, a security official said. A security source said all the casualties were protesters. Four bodies were brought to the Benghazi Medical Centre, a source at the hospital said, as well as 16 people with gunshot wounds.","Rugby-Australia stop New Zealand streak in Sydney draw. (Adds detail, byline, quotes) * New Zealand stopped short of record winning streak * Australia fail to capitalise on late yellow card By Nick Mulvenney SYDNEY, Aug 16 (Reuters) - Australia held New Zealand to a 12-12 draw in their Rugby Championship opener on Saturday to prevent the All Blacks from claiming a world record 18th consecutive win. In a gritty encounter played out in a Sydney rainstorm, Australia benefited from yellow cards shown to All Blacks Wyatt Crockett and Beauden Barrett either side of the break. They tied the match up with flyhalf Kurtley Beale's fourth penalty 10 minutes from time after Barrett was sin-binned but were unable to make the most of their superior numbers and secure a first victory over the All Blacks for three years.","Russia's Lavrov says Moscow, Washington to work with Ukraine. Russian Foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said on Sunday that Moscow and Washington had agreed to work with the Ukrainian government and the country's people to overcome the crisis, after meeting U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, Russian agencies reported. \"We have agreed to work with the Ukrainian government and people to achieve progress in rights of minorities and linguistic rights,\" Lavrov told reporters after talks that lasted four hours, Interfax reported. Lavrov and Kerry met following a phone call between U.S. President Barack Obama and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin last week, as both sides move to ease tensions in the worst East-West standoff since the Cold War.","Did Iran Just Ban Online Chatting?. Did Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, just ban online chatting between unrelated men and women? Both the Jerusalem Post and the exiled opposition group People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran website — not exactly unbiased sources on Iranian affairs — say he has. So while Khamenei might discourage his followers from online chatting, for fear that it might lead to flirtation, or worse, he is not likely to order Iran’s religious police to start patrolling chat rooms and looking over texter’s shoulders.","Yankees' Teixeira, Gardner out of lineup. KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Yankees first baseman Mark Teixeira is out of the starting lineup so he can rest a sore left hamstring.","Marler urges England to make amends against Springboks. England prop Joe Marler has urged the 2015 World Cup hosts to channel the frustration following their defeat by New Zealand when they face South Africa in the second of four November internationals at Twickenham on Saturday. \"Our levels of frustration are high and the game review was very honest. I can't really use the words that I'd like to use!\" Marler said.","Troops retake stormed Somali presidential palace. MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) — Somalia's government said its troops have retaken the presidential palace in the capital of Mogadishu Tuesday, after Islamic militants forced their way in and exchanged heavy gunfire with troops and guards.","Stampede at China religious event kills 14 - state media. A stampede at a religious ceremony in northwestern China as food was being handed out killed 14 people and injured 10, the official Xinhua news agency reported on Monday. The stampede occurred on Sunday afternoon as traditional food was being handed out at a commemoration for a religious figure at a mosque in the Guyuan municipality in the northwest Ningxia region, Xinhua said. The Ningxia region is home to a large population of China's Hui Muslim ethnic group.","Valeant, Pershing go hostile in $53.8 billion Allergan bid. Valeant Pharmaceuticals Inc on Monday prepared to take its $53.8 billion takeover bid for Allergan Inc directly to the Botox maker's shareholders, and ally Pershing Square called for a meeting to turn over the target company's board. Pershing Square Chief Executive Officer Bill Ackman, whose hedge fund owns 9.7 percent of Allergan, said in a conference call with Valeant CEO Mike Pearson that he had requested a special meeting that could take place as early as Aug. 7. Allergan could also delay the meeting, where Pershing intends to replace a majority or more of the company's directors, to as late as November, Ackman said. Pearson said Valeant expected in two to three weeks to file an exchange offer, a means of taking the bid to Allergan shareholders, with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.","Gunmen kill two foreign women in western Afghanistan. Two foreign female aid workers were shot dead by unknown gunmen while travelling in a taxi in the western Afghan city of Herat on Thursday, officials said. \"This morning at around 11:30am (0700 GMT) gunmen on a motorcycle opened fire at two foreigners riding in a taxi and killed them,\" Sayed Fazullah Wahidy, governor of Herat province told AFP. Interior ministry spokesman Sediq Sediqqi confirmed the attack and said the perpetrators had escaped. Wahidy said the women were working as psychiatrists for International Assistance Mission (IAM), an international charity providing eye care and medical help in Afghanistan.","'Rogue rebels' surround Ukraine troops near Lugansk. Kiev (AFP) - A \"rogue\" band of pro-Russian rebels was surrounding more than 100 Ukrainian troops in the eastern Lugansk region on Wednesday, the local governor said.","Cyber case puts more strain on US-China relations. WASHINGTON (AP) — The indictment of five Chinese military officials on cyber espionage charges will intensify friction between Beijing and Washington that has been growing as China gets bolder in asserting its territorial claims in disputed seas in East Asia.","Uber must face lawsuit over gratuity charge: court ruling. By Dan Levine SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - A U.S. judge rejected a bid by the online for-hire car service Uber to dismiss a civil lawsuit that accuses the company of charging customers a 20 percent driver gratuity but pocketing most of the additional revenue instead. In a ruling late on Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Edward Chen in San Francisco said Uber must face multiple civil counts, including an allegation the company violated California's unfair competition laws. A company representative could not immediately be reached for comment. San Francisco-based Uber raised $1. ...","World stocks mostly rise amid China stimulus hopes. LONDON (AP) — Global stock markets mostly rose Tuesday on hopes that China will provide stimulus to its economy, the world's second-largest.","Israeli military opens five criminal investigations into Gaza war conduct. By Maayan Lubell TEL AVIV (Reuters) - Israel's military said on Wednesday it had opened five criminal investigations into its Gaza war operations, including attacks that killed four Palestinian children on a beach and 17 people at a U.N. school. The internal inquiries could help Israel challenge the work of a U.N. Human Rights Council commission of inquiry into possible war crimes committed by its forces and Palestinian militants in the 50-day conflict in July and August. Israel has long accused the 47-member state council of being biased against it and says Hamas Islamists, who launched rocket attacks on Israeli towns, operated in residential areas and bear ultimate responsibility for Palestinian civilian casualties. Major-General Dan Efroni, Israel's chief military prosecutor, has ordered the armed forces' investigative teams to look into a total of 99 Gaza war incidents, the military said.","NY attorney general sues Barclays, alleges deceit. NEW YORK (AP) — New York state's attorney general is suing British banking and financial services firm Barclays.","Thai army to send troops to escort protesters away from rally sites. Thailand's army is to send troops and vehicles to escort protesters away from rally sites, a senior army official told Reuters shortly after the military staged a coup on Thursday. \"We will send troops and vehicles to help protesters leave all rally sites,\" General Teerachai Nakwanit, First Regional Army Commander, told Reuters.","U.S. takes cautious line in response to Hong Kong protests. By Matt Spetalnick WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States is carefully calibrating its response to pro-democracy demonstrations in Hong Kong, showing support for peaceful protests while signaling it has little interest in seeing the situation escalate and risk a harsher crackdown by Chinese authorities. Saying it was closely monitoring the political unrest unfolding on the streets of Hong Kong, the White House on Monday urged security forces there to “exercise restraint” and also called on protesters to “express their views peacefully. ...","Lawyers boycott trial of prominent Chinese activist. By James Pomfret GUANGZHOU China (Reuters) - Lawyers representing a prominent Chinese activist boycotted the start of a long-delayed trial in protest over procedural irregularities on Friday, in a closely watched case as China ramps up a clamp-down on rights campaigners. Guo Feixiong, 48, a writer and well-known advocate of citizen's rights based in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou, was arrested for taking part in a rare public protest against media censorship outside the offices of the Southern Weekly newspaper last January. Guo will be tried alongside another activist Sun Desheng, 32, who was also at the newspaper protest, on a charge of \"gathering crowds to disturb public order\". Chen Guangwu, one of Guo's lawyers, said all four of the lawyers representing the two men would boycott the trial given a failure by authorities to grant them at least three days advance notice to prepare for the trial, and for refusing to allow him to take a laptop computer into the courtroom.","Bahraini police raid house of top Shiite cleric. MANAMA, Bahrain (AP) — Bahrain's leading Shiite opposition group says security forces have raided the home of the country's most prominent Shiite cleric in a move that could exacerbate sectarian tensions in the island nation.","Curry's 6 3s send US to basketball worlds quarters. BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Stephen Curry made six 3-pointers and scored 20 points, leading the U.S. national team into the quarterfinals of the Basketball World Cup with an 86-63 victory over Mexico on Saturday.","12 more deaths in Ivory Coast landslides. Twelve people have been killed by overnight landslides in the Ivory Coast following weeks of heavy rain, an official said Thursday. The deaths in the city of Abidjan bring the total number of victims to 23 since the rainy season began a fortnight ago. The economic hub of Abidjan saw intense showers almost continuously for 48 hours from Tuesday, when four other people lost their lives. General Fiacre Kili, an official with the National Civil Protection, confirmed the deaths and said they were caused by \"heavy rains.\"","Deutsche Bank boosts finances with new capital. FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — Deutsche Bank says it is raising 8 billion euros ($11 billion) in new capital from investors to strengthen its finances as it faces tighter regulation and seeks to invest in promising business areas.","Spanish nurse tests negative for Ebola. Monrovia (AFP) - A Spanish nurse who became the first person outside Africa to be infected with Ebola on Sunday tested negative for the virus, Madrid said, as Liberia's president made an impassioned plea for all nations to help fight the disease.","TSX futures indicate higher open. Canada's main stock index looked set for a higher start on Wednesday, with December futures on the S&P TSX index up 0.14 percent at 0730 ET. No major economic events are scheduled for Wednesday.. The Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index ended little changed on Tuesday as worries about increasing tensions in the Middle East were overcome by gains in the natural resource sectors. Dow Jones Industrial Average e-mini futures were up 0.23 percent at 0730 ET, S&P 500 e-mini futures were up 0.25 percent and Nasdaq 100 e-mini futures were up 0.29 percent. [. ...","Everton beats Fulham 3-1 in Premier League. LONDON (AP) — A second-half own goal from Fulham goalkeeper David Stockdale and strikes from Kevin Mirallas and Steven Naismith secured Everton's fifth consecutive Premier League win at Craven Cottage on Sunday.","Colombia prison fire 'kills 10 inmates'. Bogota (AFP) - A fire at a Colombian prison killed at least 10 inmates and injured more than three dozen, prison officials said on Tuesday.","DR Congo opposition figure Tshisekedi medevaced to Belgium. Etienne Tshisekedi, an 81-year-old prominent opposition politician in the Democratic Republic of Congo, left Kinshasa for Brussels early Saturday on a specially-arranged medical flight, an AFP journalist witnessed. Tshisekedi, who had not been seen in public for months, his wife Marthe, one of his children and a doctor boarded the plane, which took off at 0425 GMT. Previously, Tshisekedi's Union for Democracy and Social Progress (UDPS) party had repeatedly batted away questions about the health of the politician, and denied that any medevac was being organised. Publicly available documents said the medical flight had been authorised a week ago.","Day, Tringale win Florida shootout. Naples (United States) (AFP) - Cameron Tringale and Jason Day come away with a par on No. 18 to shoot a final round seven-under 65 and win the Franklin Templeton Shootout on Saturday.","North Korea threatens 'plot-breeding' U.N. rights office with 'punishment'. By James Pearson SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea on Monday threatened a planned U.N. field office in South Korea set up to investigate human rights abuses in the isolated country, saying anyone involved would be \"ruthlessly punished\". The United Nations in March called for the field office to monitor human rights in North Korea following the release of a 372-page U.N. Commission of Inquiry report that detailed wide-ranging abuses, including systematic torture, starvation and killings comparable to Nazi-era atrocities. \"Anyone who challenges our dignity and social system and agrees to go ahead with the establishment of the office will be ruthlessly punished,\" the North's Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea said in a statement.","Stalemate leaves Wigan and QPR with all to play for. Wigan were left frustrated as QPR ground out a 0-0 draw in the first leg of their Championship play-off semi-final at the DW Stadium on Friday. There was little goalmouth action in a tense battle between two sides desperate for promotion 12 months after crashing out of the Premier League and Wigan's Marc-Antoine Fortune spurned the only real chance in the second half. Harry Redknapp's QPR will be happier with a result which gives them a slight advantage heading into the second leg at Loftus Road on Monday. Wigan were playing their 61st game of the season after European and FA Cup exploits and looking to secure a fifth trip to Wembley in little over a year against either Derby or Brighton.","Biden: Punish Russia if it meddles in Ukraine. BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) — U.S. Vice President Joe Biden says Russia must be punished if it seeks to derail Ukraine's presidential elections this weekend.","US team arrives in Nigeria to help with hostage search: embassy. Lagos (AFP) - US experts have arrived in Nigeria to help rescue more than 200 schoolgirls being held hostage by Boko Haram Islamists, an embassy spokeswoman told AFP on Friday.","Canada sheds 29,000 jobs in April, unemployment 6.9%. Canada shed 29,000 jobs in April, but the unemployment rate was little changed at 6.9 percent as many people simply stopped looking for work, the government statistics agency said Friday. Year over year, the number of Canadians working rose 0.8 percent or 149,000, evenly split between part-time and full-time work, Statistics Canada said. Since August 2013, it noted that \\\\\"there has been little overall employment growth in Canada.\\\\\" At the same time, employment increased in business, building and other support services.","Uruguayan ruling party's Vazquez wins presidential election. By Malena Castaldi and Esteban Farat MONTEVIDEO (Reuters) - Tabare Vazquez won back his old job as president of Uruguay in a runoff election on Sunday, allowing the leftist ruling coalition to extend its decade in power and roll out a groundbreaking law that legalizes the production and sale of marijuana. Center-right opposition candidate Luis Lacalle Pou quickly conceded defeat after unofficial quick counts showed Vazquez with over 53 percent support. Lacalle Pou trailed with about 41 percent. ...","Shaw Communications stumbles on cable cost- and cord- cutting. By Alastair Sharp TORONTO (Reuters) - Shaw Communications Inc , a Western Canada-focused media and cable company, said on Thursday that net income fell almost 9 percent in the third quarter, as it lost more television subscribers despite a boost from business customers. Calgary, Alberta-based Shaw is engaged in a fierce battle for customers with telecommunications operator Telus Corp , but both have sought to avoid a price war.","United lose Van Persie for up to six weeks. Manchester United's underwhelming season received yet another setback on Friday with the news that striker Robin van Persie will be out for four to six weeks with a sprained knee. The Dutchman sustained the injury after scoring a hat-trick against Olympiakos in the Champions League on Wednesday and news of the blow fell hours after United were paired with Bayern Munich in the quarter-finals. Van Persie, 30, stands to miss both legs of the tie against the defending champions and will only be able to feature in two or three of United's final Premier League games if he is sidelined for the full six weeks. \"Following further investigation, Robin van Persie has a sprained knee, which will keep him out for around four to six weeks,\" United said in a statement on their official Twitter account.","ICC excuses Kenya's deputy president from big parts of Hague trial. By Thomas Escritt AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - International Criminal Court judges excused Kenyan deputy president William Ruto from large parts of his trial on charges of crimes against humanity on Wednesday in a ruling that could help defuse tensions with Kenya's African allies. Ruto and Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta face separate charges of orchestrating ethnic violence that swept East Africa's economic powerhouse after the country's 2007 elections, when 1,200 people were killed. Ruto has been flying from Kenya to the court's Hague-based headquarters to attend hearings since his trial began in September, requesting leave of absence from judges if he needed to remain at home to attend to his constitutional duties. The court's 122 state parties agreed to relax court attendance conditions for sitting heads of states and their deputies after a concerted lobbying campaign by Kenya and its African Union allies.","Frankfurt signs Piazon on loan from Chelsea. FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — Eintracht Frankfurt has signed forward Lucas Piazon on a one-season loan from Chelsea.","Thailand warns people to stay away from protests. BANGKOK (AP) — Thailand's caretaker government said Sunday that it would tighten security to prevent clashes that could arise between the two sides in an escalating political crisis, and warned people to stay away from protest sites for their own safety.","Under pressure, Obama vows to examine deportations. WASHINGTON (AP) — With prospects for real immigration reform fading, President Barack Obama is yielding to pressure from some of his staunchest allies and looking for ways to act without Congress to ease the suffering caused by deportation.","Mexican soldiers accused in deaths appear in court. MEXICO CITY (AP) — Seven Mexican soldiers have been formally charged with crimes stemming from the deaths of suspected gang members who were shot in a rural warehouse in June.","Official: Bangladesh hit by electricity blackout as national power grid link to India fails. DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) — Official: Bangladesh hit by electricity blackout as national power grid link to India fails.","Social Democrat leaders back Juncker for EU Commission: Gabriel. Leading Social Democrats of European states meeting in Paris agreed to back Luxembourg conservative Jean-Claude Juncker to become European Commission president but said they expected other top EU jobs to go to their party allies, German Vice-Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel said on Saturday. \"The Social Democrats agree the European People's Party won the European elections and that Jean-Claude Juncker should become president of the European Commission but we expect Social Democrats to hold other functions,\" Gabriel told reporters.","Ouattara to return to Ivory Coast on Sunday: aide. President Alassane Ouattara is due to return to Ivory Coast on Sunday after an operation in a French hospital this month, an aide said on Thursday. Ouattara, who came to power in the world's top cocoa-producer following a brief post-election civil war in 2011, underwent a successful operation to alleviate pain caused by sciatica, the government said last week. Ivorian parliament president Guillaume Soro said in statement on Wednesday he met Ouattara and that he was \"doing well, in fact very well\". Ivory Coast is emerging from a decade of political turmoil that saw the country divided between a rebel north and government-controlled south and which fractured society along political and ethnic lines.","Divisive Erdogan favorite in Turkey president vote. ISTANBUL (AP) — For the first time in its history, Turkey is directly electing its president on Sunday in a contest considered a turning point for the country of 76 million people — with its prime minister the strong favorite for a job he has pledged to transform from a symbolic role into one of real power.","Rebels say deployment of regional troops to South Sudan 'ill advised'. By Aaron Maasho ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) - South Sudan's rebels on Saturday criticized plans by east Africa's regional bloc to deploy troops to South Sudan, questioning its neutrality. Leaders from the IGAD bloc agreed on Thursday to deploy troops to enforce a much-violated ceasefire between government and rebels, though no details were provided about the size of the contingent. The force was also given the job of protecting South Sudan's oilfields, on which the government depends for almost all its revenue. Rebels attending faltering peace talks in Ethiopia criticized IGAD for failing to secure the withdrawal of the Ugandan troops who are supporting President Salva Kiir's government.","Moroccan government proposes penalties for nationals fighting in Syria, Iraq. By Aziz El Yaakoubi RABAT (Reuters) - Morocco's government proposed legislation on Thursday which would make it a crime to join an armed group or undertake training in conflict zones, in a move aimed at some 2,000 Moroccan Islamists it believes are fighting in Syria and Iraq. Like other North African countries such as Algeria and Tunisia, Morocco fears that its nationals who have joined Syria's civil war and the conflict in Iraq will pose a security challenge when they return home. ...","Rwanda disqualification from African Cup upheld. CAIRO (AP) — Africa's football body says it has upheld a decision to throw Rwanda out of African Cup qualifying for fielding a player who had two identities and was using different names and passports for club and international games.","Ricciardo 'pumped' after Red Bull lose Australian GP appeal. Red Bull on Tuesday lost their appeal over Daniel Ricciardo's disqualification from second place in last month's Australian Grand Prix. The world champions had sought to overturn the stripping of Ricciardo's runner-up finish behind Nico Rosberg in Melbourne for breaching fuel flow regulations. FIA's International Court of Appeal issued a ruling after a six-hour hearing Monday during which Mercedes had called for the punishment to be harsher. Ricciardo took the anticipated reverse on the chin, declaring on Red Bull's Twitter account: \"I'm stronger for it & hungrier than ever.","News Guide: Rise and fall of China's Zhou Yongkang. BEIJING (AP) — Chinese authorities announced at midnight Saturday that they have arrested Zhou Yongkang, a former member of the all-powerful standing committee of the ruling Communist Party's Politburo, on charges ranging from taking bribes to adultery and leaking state secrets.","Pair jailed in Britain for abusing feminist on Twitter. A man and a woman were jailed in Britain on Friday for bombarding a feminist campaigner on Twitter with abuse including rape threats and suggestions that she should kill herself. Isabella Sorley, 23, and John Nimmo, 25, sent expletive-laden messages to journalist Caroline Criado-Perez last year after she led a successful campaign for the face of author Jane Austen to appear on a new version of Britain's £10 banknote. A judge at Westminster Magistrates' Court in London sentenced university graduate Sorley to 12 weeks in prison and Nimmo, who is unemployed, to eight weeks. Judge Howard Riddle ordered the pair to serve half their sentences in custody and pay £800 ($1,300, 970 euros) each in compensation.","'12 Years a Slave' wins big at pre-Oscar Spirit Awards. Santa Monica (United States) (AFP) - \"12 Years a Slave\" won big at the Independent Spirit Awards Saturday, taking home five trophies including best feature and building up momentum on the eve of the Oscars. The searing historical drama also earned prizes for British director Steve McQueen, supporting actress Lupita Nyong'o, best cinematography and best screenplay. The film, inspired by the true story of Solomon Northup, recounts the harrowing tale of a black violinist from New York state who was kidnapped and sold into slavery before the US Civil War. Brad Pitt -- who starred in and co-produced the film -- said he had been touched from the outset by the story of a \"man trapped in completely inhumane circumstances and trying to maintain his dignity.\"","Obama arrives in Saudi Arabia, starts talks with king. By Jeff Mason RIYADH (Reuters) - President Barack Obama, making his first visit to Saudi Arabia since 2009, began a meeting with King Abdullah on Friday that White House officials said would focus on Gulf security, Syria, Iran, Middle East peace and Egypt. The elderly king, accompanied by a number of senior princes, had what appeared to be an oxygen tube connected to his nose at the start of his meeting at his desert farm at Rawdat Khuraim northeast of the capital Riyadh, witnesses said. Obama and King Abdullah said in plush chairs and talked to each other through translators. The U.S. delegation seated at Obama's side included U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and National Security Adviser Susan Rice.","Fat boys slim as curlers shape up for gold. Sochi (Russia) (AFP) - Bad raps are hard to reverse, but Brad Jacobs is doing his part to change the stereotype of the chain-smoking, beer-swilling curler who spends more time in the bar than fine-tuning his craft. Jacobs says there is a new era of athleticism emerging in curling and his Canadian crew is on the cutting edge of a fitness trend that has helped transform the sport's image ever since curling was featured in the 1988 Calgary Olympics. \"Our identity as a team is of fit young guys,\" said Canadian skipper Jacobs after Sunday's practice at the Ice Cube Curling Center ahead of their Sochi Olympic campaign which starts Monday. The image that curling bashers like to project of balding overweight men, raising another toast in the pub, won't cut it anymore at a high-performance event like the Olympics, says Denmark skip Rasmus Stjerne.","Syria talks falter as West, Russia feud. By Stephanie Nebehay GENEVA (Reuters) - A standoff between Russia and Western powers left their rival Syrian allies deadlocked in talks at Geneva on Thursday as fighting went on that has left tens of thousands under siege and hoping for relief from abroad. Russia said it had presented a draft U.N. resolution on fighting \"terrorism\" in Syria and its own plan for improving aid access, throwing down a challenge to Western states in the Security Council which proposed another formulation that Moscow said would open the way for Western military intervention. In Geneva, where a second round of peace talks has made little progress since Monday, Western diplomats and the Syrian opposition delegates complained that President Bashar al-Assad's government was refusing to discuss international proposals for a transition of power and hoped Russia would press it to do so.","Agonizing wait for last victims of S. Korean ferry. JINDO, South Korea (AP) — In a dimly lit gym on Jindo island, hundreds of families have received tragic news over the past six months, and a tormented few still wait for it.","Philanthropies, including Rockefellers and Investors pledge $50 billion fossil fuel divestment. 22-Sep-2014 - The Rockefellers, who made their vast fortune on oil, and other philanthropies and high-wealth individuals on Monday will announce pledges to divest a total of $50 billion from fossil fuel investments. The Global Divest-Invest coalition will announce new pledges and members one day before 120 heads of state address the United Nations on how their countries will contribute to a global effort to halt a dangerous rise in temperatures. ...","Soldiers lynch man at army ceremony in Central African Republic. By Media Coulibaly BANGUI (Reuters) - A group of soldiers in Central African Republic's capital lynched a man they suspected of having been a rebel, minutes after hearing the new president promise to restore security at a ceremony to reinstate the divided country's armed forces. Ten minutes earlier, about 20 meters away, the new interim president, Catherine Samba-Panza, had addressed the crowd of at least 1,000 soldiers at a ceremony meant to re-present the army to the nation after it effectively disappeared from view during nine months of Seleka rule. The Seleka, disbanded after Samba-Panza's inauguration last month, is deeply resented by the Christian majority for months of lootings and killings. 2,000 DEAD The presence of 1,600 French soldiers and 5,000 African troops has so far failed to stop the tit-for-tat violence, which the United Nations says has already killed more than 2,000 people.","Ex-British PM Brown favors more powers for Scotland, not independence. By Belinda Goldsmith LONDON (Reuters) - Former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown emerged from the shadows on Monday to argue for more powers for Scotland rather than independence, stepping up the opposition Labour party's fight to prevent a Scottish breakaway from the United Kingdom. Brown, a Scot who has kept a low profile since losing the 2010 general election, said he intended to play a major role to stop Britain coming apart at the September 18 Scottish referendum by giving voters an alternative to independence. Nationalists arguing that an oil-rich Scotland can be a prosperous, independent nation are lagging in the polls but have gained some ground this year to narrow the gap, prompting British officials to warn against complacency before the vote. In a speech delivered in Glasgow, Brown said the once-centralized union of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland had evolved and he advocated a constitutional shake-up allowing more power-sharing.","Obama: Energy diversification needed in Europe. BRUSSELS (AP) — President Barack Obama says the crisis in Ukraine points to the need for Europe to figure out how to diversify its energy sources.","Libyan parliament fails to agree on new prime minister. Libya's parliament failed on Sunday to elect a new prime minister after several inconclusive votes, lawmakers in the North African country said, adding to turmoil in the oil producer. Businessman Ahmed Maiteeq had emerged as front runner in the final vote but he failed to obtain a quorum in a separate confidence vote needed to confirm his appointment, lawmakers said. It was not immediately clear what the General National Congress (GNC) assembly would do next. Prime Minister Abdullah al-Thinni resigned three weeks ago, citing an attack by gunmen on his family.","Thousands of hard-liners in Iran protest nuke deal. TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Thousands of hard-liners in Iran have gathered at the former U.S. Embassy in Tehran to protest against the Islamic Republic's recent deal with world powers over its contested nuclear program.","China accuses former senior petitions official of graft. China's ruling Communist Party has expelled a former senior official in charge of the controversial petitioning system, accusing him on Friday of taking bribes, adultery and other violations of the law. The party's anti-graft watchdog said Xu Jie, formerly deputy head of the State Bureau for Letters and Calls, was responsible for a series of cases involving the bureau's office that receives petitioners \"severely violating party discipline and the law\". Petitioning has deep roots in China, where courts are controlled by the Communist Party, are often unduly influenced by local governments, and can be seen as beyond the reach of ordinary people. China is in the midst of a sweeping campaign against deep-rooted corruption launched by President Xi Jinping after he became head of the Communist Party two years ago, warning the problem is so serious it could affect the party's very survival.","Philippine leader backs larger Japan military role. TOKYO (AP) — Philippine President Benigno Aquino III has endorsed Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's push to expand Japan's military role.","Zangerl, Smith win ski cross events in Sweden. ARE, Sweden (AP) — Thomas Zangerl beat Austrian teammate Andreas Matt in a ski cross event Sunday for his first career freestyle World Cup victory, while Switzerland's Fanny Smith earned her second win in two days in the women's race.","Helicopter crashes into lake in Romania, 3 missing. BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) — Authorities say a helicopter carrying four people has crashed into an icy lake in southeast Romania. One person was rescued and a search is underway for the other three.","Al Qaeda seizes territory from moderate Syrian group. BEIRUT/AMMAN (Reuters) - Fighters linked to al Qaeda have seized territory from a moderate Syrian rebel group in a three-day campaign that has expanded their control into one of the few areas of northern Syria not held by hardline Islamists. Syrian opposition activist and a military commander said the Nusra Front had taken several villages in Idlib province from the Syria Revolutionaries' Front led by Jamal Maarouf, a prominent figure in the moderate opposition to President Bashar al-Assad. \"This has happened before and we came through it. ...","Slovakia agrees to deliver gas to Ukraine. BRATISLAVA, Slovakia (AP) — Slovakia has agreed to use reverse-flow deliveries to send natural gas to Ukraine, which is facing a threat from Russia to cut off supplies because of a massive debt.","Ukraine army says won't get involved in politics. The armed forces of Ukraine will not become involved in any political conflict, the military general staff said in a statement posted on the website of the defense ministry on Saturday. \"The armed forces of Ukraine are loyal to their constitutional obligations and cannot be pulled into domestic political conflict,\" it said.","Rodman 'sorry' after controversial North Korea trip. An emotional Dennis Rodman apologised Monday as he returned from a controversial trip to North Korea, where he sang \"Happy Birthday\" to regime leader Kim Jong-Un. The former NBA star was widely criticised for refusing to bring up human rights abuses or the plight of a US missionary detained in North Korea during his week-long visit. The former Chicago Bulls player was also accused of pandering to North Korean authorities during the trip, which included an exhibition basketball match to mark Kim's birthday. I am Dennis Rodman.","Thai martial law to stay until sweeping reforms in place: PM. BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha on Tuesday dismissed calls to lift martial law, saying it would continue until sweeping national reforms are in place, despite calls by tourism bodies to scrap a measure that has deterred many visitors. Martial law was declared on May 20, two days before the army seized power in a bloodless coup following months of sometimes violent street protests aimed at ousting then Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra. ...","Senators voice doubts on Asia trade deal. WASHINGTON (AP) — Senators from both parties provided a reality check Thursday to the Obama administration's optimism overs its trade agenda following some progress in key negotiations with Japan.","Senegal seizes Russian ship fishing 'illegally'. Senegal's navy has boarded a Russian ship that was allegedly illegally fishing in its waters and is towing it toward Dakar, the military said on Saturday. The ship was boarded after it was observed illegally fishing in Senegalese waters near the border with Guinea Bissau, military spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Adama Diop told AFP. \"The Navy boarded it and it is being escorted\" toward Dakar, he said, adding that it was the third time in a week that an illegal fishing boat has been stopped in Senegalese waters. The boat was named as \"Oleg Naidenov\" by the Russian state Ria Novosti news agency, which said it had 62 Russians and 20 Guinea Bissau nationals on board.","Top Asian News at 11:00 a.m. GMT. SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Pope Francis called Thursday for renewed efforts to forge peace on the war-divided Korean Peninsula and for both sides to avoid \"fruitless\" criticisms and shows of force, opening a five-day visit to South Korea with a message of reconciliation as Seoul's rival, North Korea, fired five projectiles into the sea. North Korea has a long history of making sure it is not forgotten during high-profile events in the South, and Thursday's apparent test firing off its eastern coast made its presence felt.","China, Japan slug it out in the world's press. WASHINGTON (AP) — China and Japan are engaged in a war of words that is lighting up editorial pages around the world as Beijing takes aim at a recent visit by Japan's leader to a controversial war shrine and Tokyo answers back.","China says Germans fine if their war atonement is compared to Japan. China won't make World War Two a key part of President Xi Jinping's visit to Germany this month, Beijing's envoy to Berlin said on Thursday, but added that Germans were fine for China to use their contrition over the war against Japan. Three diplomatic sources told Reuters last month that China wanted to make the war a focus of Xi's trip, much to Berlin's discomfort, as Beijing tries to use German atonement for its wartime past to embarrass Japan.","Rain holds up WIndies' second Test victory bid. Port of Spain (AFP) - Rain interrupted play 40 minutes before lunch on the fifth and final day of the second Test between the West Indies and New Zealand at Queen's Park Oval on Friday.","Morocco to sue French anti-torture group. RABAT, Morocco (AP) — Morocco's Interior Ministry has announced it is suing a French activist group that accused the North African country's intelligence chief of complicity in torture.","Suspected Islamist fighters kill two children, abduct 10. BAMAKO (Reuters) - Suspected Islamist fighters kidnapped 10 children and killed two others who tried to escape near two towns in Mali on Saturday, capping a week of violence in the West African country's desert north, a senior Malian military official said. Al Qaeda-linked Islamists seized northern Mali in 2012, forcing a French-led military intervention last year that scattered the fighters across a vast region with porous borders. However, they continue to carry out insurgent-style attacks. ...","British government announces historical child abuse inquiry. The British government has ordered a wide-ranging inquiry into historical child sex allegations stretching over several decades, Home Secretary Theresa May said on Monday. \"In recent years we have seen appalling cases of organized and persistent child sex abuse,\" May told parliament. \"The government will establish an independent inquiry panel of experts in the law and child protection to consider whether public bodies and other non-state institutions have taken seriously their duty of care to protect children from sexual abuse.\" The broad inquiry, the chair of which is still to be appointed, will look into allegations of child abuse across organizations including the health service, political parties, the Church and the BBC. Peter Wanless, the Chief Executive of anti child cruelty charity the NSPCC, has been appointed to hold a review of a 2013 investigation carried out by the interior ministry into the handling of allegations of abuse by politicians.","Ex-minister blames Merkel for rise of anti-immigrant groups. BERLIN (Reuters) - A former cabinet minister and member of Angela Merkel's conservative bloc blamed Germany's chancellor on Sunday for steering a course that has strengthened the eurosceptic AfD party and a new anti-immigrant grass-roots movement. In rare direct criticism of Merkel, Hans-Peter Friedrich, forced to resign as agriculture minister in February over leaked information, said Merkel made a \"disastrous mistake\" by wooing center-left voters and ignoring those on the right. ...","Malaysian envoy due back in N.Z. on sex charge: report. Wellington (AFP) - A Malaysian military attache who sparked outrage when he invoked diplomatic immunity to escape a sex charge in New Zealand will arrive in Wellington to face court on Saturday, reports said.","US 'mincing rascal' over hacking allegations: Chinese media. Washington is playing the victim of cyber-espionage when in fact it is the world's top intelligence power, a Chinese state-run newspaper said on Wednesday in a sharply-worded editorial. \"Regarding the issue of network security, the US is such a mincing rascal that we must stop developing any illusions about it,\" wrote the Global Times, which is close to the ruling Communist Party. On Monday, a US grand jury indicted five Chinese military officers on charges they broke into US computers to benefit Chinese state-owned companies, in the first-ever prosecution by Washington of state actors over cyber-espionage. Beijing responded furiously on Tuesday, summoning US ambassador Max Baucus and accusing Washington of double standards.","Labor protest disrupts Argentine capital. BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — A labor organization opposed to Argentine President Cristina Fernandez caused traffic jams and disrupted life for many in the capital Wednesday at the start of a 36-hour strike.","Amanda Knox: 'I will never go willingly back'. NEW YORK (AP) — Amanda Knox says she'll never willingly go back to Italy to face a 281⁄2-year prison sentence for a murder conviction that was upheld by an Italian court.","China probes another ally of retired domestic security chief. A former aide to retired Chinese security tsar Zhou Yongkang is being investigated for corruption, the government said, the latest move targeting associates of Zhou, himself the subject of a graft probe. The ruling Communist Party's anti-corruption watchdog said late on Tuesday that Ji Wenlin, a vice governor of the southern island province of Hainan, was being investigated for suspected serious breaches of party discipline and the law, the usual euphemism for graft. President Xi Jinping has launched a sweeping crackdown on corruption since taking power, warning corruption is a threat to the Communist Party's very survival. Ji was shifted to Hainan province, better known in China for its pristine beaches and resorts, late in 2010.","Kremlin hopes for dialogue after Ukraine vote. DONETSK, Ukraine (AP) — The Kremlin says Ukraine's government should engage in a dialogue with eastern regions following referendums there.","Syria state media says army kills 175 rebels. BEIRUT (AP) — State media in Syria says army troops have killed 175 rebels in an ambush south of the capital, Damascus.","Haitian, Dominican leaders to meet under citizenship threat. By Amelie Baron OUANAMINTHE, Haiti (Reuters) - Haitian and Dominican authorities were to meet for migration and trade talks on Tuesday under the cloud of a controversial court ruling that threatens to strip Dominican nationality from thousands of residents of Haitian descent. Until the last minute it was unclear if and how the citizenship issue would be raised, as Dominican officials have indicated the September ruling by the country's Constitutional Court was off the table. The talks in the Haitian border town of Ouanaminthe are being observed by Venezuela, the European Union and the CARICOM, the Caribbean's main regional organization. Haiti has expressed its concern following the court decision, which critics say could render stateless 250,000 Dominican residents of Haitian ancestry.","Man City defender Kolarov ruled out for a month. MANCHESTER, England (AP) — Manchester City defender Aleksandar Kolarov will be out for at least a month after hurting his calf last weekend while warming up for the match against Manchester United.","Sudan court orders release of woman sentenced to death over Christian faith. KHARTOUM, Sudan (AP) — Sudan court orders release of woman sentenced to death over Christian faith.","Visa profit beats Street on increased use of cards. (Reuters) - Visa Inc , the world's largest credit and debit card company, reported a better-than-expected 9 percent rise in quarterly profit as more people used cards instead of cash to make payments. Visa shares rose 3.2 percent in trading before the bell. The company also said it would continue to work to make card payments more secure as concerns mount over the safety of debit and credit cards. Last month Target Corp , the third-largest U.S. retailer, said about 40 million credit card records and 70 million other records containing data on its customers were stolen in a security breach.","Worsening war in South Sudan. The world's youngest nation South Sudan is on the brink of collapse after four months of civil war, with battles spiralling into brutal ethnic massacres. ORIGINS: The battles pitch troops loyal to President Salva Kiir against forces of sacked vice president Riek Machar, but also include many ethnic militias using child soldiers. Both Kiir and Machar were guerrilla commanders in the 1983-2005 civil war that preceded South Sudan's independence from Khartoum in 2011, fighting for many years against each other before joining forces. SCALE: Tens of thousands feared killed and over a million people have been forced to flee their homes, many as refugees to neighbouring Ethiopia, Kenya, Sudan and Uganda.","Ex-French agent is Syria jihadist, report says as Paris denies. Paris (AFP) - A former French intelligence officer who defected to Al-Qaeda was targeted by US air strikes in Syria last month, US media reported Monday, in an account promptly denied by Paris.","On campus in Egypt, a heavy security clampdown. CAIRO (AP) — At Cairo University's campus, new, black steel walls have gone up. A private security firm has put up surveillance cameras. Guards have bomb-detection devices. Just outside, heavily armed riot police have permanent positions.","Soccer-Australian championship results and standings. Oct 19 (Infostrada Sports) - Results and standings from the Australian championship matches on Sunday Sunday, October 19 Melbourne City FC 1 Newcastle Jets 1 Perth Glory 3 Brisbane Roar 2 Saturday, October 18 Central Coast Mariners 1 Wellington Phoenix 2 Sydney FC 3 Western Sydney Wanderers FC 2 Friday, October 17 Adelaide United 1 Melbourne Victory 1 Standings P W D L F A Pts 1 Perth Glory 2 2 0 0 5 3 6 2 Melbourne Victory 2 1 1 0 5 2 4 3 Sydney FC 2 1 1 0 4 3 4 4 Adelaide United 2 1 1 0 3 2 4 5 Wellington Phoenix 2 1 0 1 3 3 3 6 Central Coast Mariners 2 1 0 1 2 2 3 -------------------------7 ...","Muslim pilgrims in mass movement as hajj begins. MOUNT ARAFAT (Saudi Arabia) (AFP) - Muslim pilgrims from around the world were arriving late Thursday at Mount Arafat in western Saudi Arabia for the annual hajj pilgrimage, the spiritual peak of their lives.","Israeli PM deflects report on Lebanon airstrikes. JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel's prime minister is refusing to say whether his country carried out an airstrike against an alleged weapons shipment from Syria into Lebanon.","Israel's Iron Dome shoots down rocket fired at Eilat. Israel's Iron Dome missile defense system on Friday shot down a rocket fired at the Red Sea resort city of Eilat, an occasional target of militants in Egypt's lawless Sinai peninsula. \"The Iron Dome system intercepted a rocket fired at Eilat,\" an Israeli military spokeswoman said. \"It was probably launched from Sinai.\" Earlier this month an al Qaeda-inspired group in Egypt claimed responsibility for a similar rocket attack on Eilat and, saying it was undeterred by Egyptian security sweeps, threatened to continue to target Israel.","France's Trierweiler meets hunger experts on India visit. Former French first lady Valerie Trierweiler on Tuesday met with malnutrition experts on the second day of a charity trip to India, following her weekend split from President Francois Hollande, organisers said. Trierweiler spent the first day of her two-day trip to Mumbai visiting a hospital and a slum before attending a gala dinner at a five-star hotel in the evening. But after generating a media frenzy with her every move on Monday, a source at Action Against Hunger, the organisation behind her trip, said she would spend most of Tuesday in closed-door meetings with experts who were briefing her about the charity's projects in India.","Ebola 'easier to avoid than malaria'. The head of the US Agency for International Development said Tuesday poor understanding of Ebola was undermining the fight against the epidemic, pointing out that the fever is harder to get than malaria. USAID director Jeremy Konyndyk, in Liberia to support the fight against an epidemic which has claimed the lives of almost 1,500 west Africans, told AFP educating people on how to protect themselves was the best way to beat Ebola. \"Compared to something like malaria, it is much harder a disease to get. \"So helping people to better understand how they can protect themselves, how they can avoid Ebola, is a critical piece of controlling this outbreak.\"","Australian ISIS Leader Killed in the Middle East. The distance between Australia and the Islamic State increased over the last week, as infamous Australian terrorist Mohammad Ali Baryalei has reportedly been killed in Syria. His last known location was Raqqa, which has become the home base of ISIS.Baryalei's death has been widely confirmed on social media, though the date of his death was not specified and the Australian Attorney General would not confirm his death, per government policy. ...","UN chief urges Pakistan's leader to stop executions. UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is urging Pakistan's leader to stop the execution of convicts and re-impose a moratorium on the death penalty.","U.S. prosecutors help set record number of exonerations in 2013. ST. LOUIS - A nationwide push by prosecutors and police to re-examine possible wrongful convictions contributed to a record number of exonerations in 2013, according to a report released Tuesday.","German president honors peaceful protests of 1989. BERLIN (AP) — Germany's president has honored the bravery of peaceful protesters who stood up to the communist dictatorship in East Germany 25 years ago.","Russian lawmakers seek holiday to honor troops who seized Crimea. MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian lawmakers have called for a new national holiday to honor the troops who seized Crimea from Ukraine, reflecting a wave of patriotic support for Moscow's military intervention in its former Soviet dominion. The holiday would be on President Vladimir Putin's birthday, Oct. 7, its proponents said, and would celebrate the role of the so-called \"polite people\" - the troops who wrested the Black Sea peninsula away from Ukraine before Moscow annexed it in March. ...","Over a hundred migrants missing after boat sinks off Libyan coast. By Ahmed Elumami and Ayman al-Salhi TRIPOLI (Reuters) - A wooden boat carrying up to 200 migrants has sunk just one kilometer (half a mile) off the Libyan coast, the coast guard said on Saturday, and most passengers were feared drowned. The local coast guard said it had no boats of its own and had to commandeer fishing vessels in a rescue attempt after fishermen raised the alarm on Saturday morning. Many head for Italy, and so far in 2014, the total number reaching Italian shores has passed 100,000, the Italian government said this week. Libya is a major departure point for this journey, and human traffickers are exploiting the political chaos and lack of security that has blighted the country since Muammar Gaddafi was toppled in an uprising in 2011.","Police commissioner quits Labour, clings to job over abuse scandal. South Yorkshire's police and crime commissioner quit the Labour Party Thursday but refused to bow to calls for him to leave his job as anger over the Rotherham abuse scandal grew. Shaun Wright has faced growing pressure to step down from his £85,000-a-year post after a damning report said that some 1,400 young people had been sexually exploited in the Yorkshire town over a 16-year period. The alleged abuse relates to a period between 1997 and 2013 and Wright was the Rotherham cabinet member responsible for children's services between 2005 and 2010 before becoming a PCC in 2012. In a statement Thursday Wright said he had formally tendered his resignation from the Labour Party but remained \"committed\" to his job as commissioner.","Jordan ambassador kidnapped in Libya last month now free: TV. Amman (AFP) - The Jordanian ambassador to Libya, Fawaz Aitan, who was kidnapped in Tripoli last month, has been freed, state television in the North African country said on Tuesday.","Brazil's Congress approves internet legislation. SAO PAULO (AP) — The lower house of Brazil's Congress has approved legislation meant to ensure the privacy of Internet users and to guarantee what's called \"Internet neutrality,\" that all content be treated equally by carriers.","Israeli troops battle Hamas, uncover Gaza tunnels. GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israeli troops uncovered more than a dozen cross-border tunnels and battled Gaza militants on the second day of an open-ended ground operation Saturday as the Palestinian death toll climbed to 325 and diplomats scrambled to revive cease-fire efforts.","Brazil's leader calls Gaza conflict 'a massacre'. BRASILIA, Brazil (AP) — Brazil's president is calling Israel's conflict with Hamas \"a massacre.\"","Weapons convoys seen rolling in eastern Ukraine. KRASNODON, Ukraine (AP) — AP reporters say convoys of military weaponry and supplies have been coming from the direction of Russia into rebel-held Ukraine.","Pick-up trucks carrying bodies seen at Nigerian hospital: source. DAMATURU Nigeria (Reuters) - Several pick-up trucks carrying bodies arrived at a hospital in northeast Nigeria, a hospital source said on Tuesday, after an explosion ripped through a venue in the town of Damaturu where fans had gathered to watch a World Cup match. It was not immediately clear how many people had been injured or if anyone had been killed. A police official confirmed that there had been an \"attack,\" but he declined to give further details. (Reporting by Joe Hemba, Writing by David Dolan)","Tunisians protest after girl 'burned alive' by father. Some 300 people marched in Tunis Thursday to condemn the act of a man who allegedly burned his 13-year-old daughter to death because she was walking with a boy. \"No to violence against women and children,\" \"Nowhere is safe,\" and \"Eya is a victim of extremism and fanaticism,\" were among the messages on banners at the demonstration, dubbed \"Silent march for Eya\". According to preliminary results of the inquiry, the girl's father sprayed her with petrol last month and set her on fire after seeing her in the street with a boy, the public prosecutor's spokesman Allala Rhouma told AFP. The man was arrested and Eya, who lived in Tunis, died in hospital a few days later.","TSX opens lower as energy shares fall. TORONTO (Reuters) - Canada's main stock index opened modestly lower on Wednesday, pulled down by shares of energy and materials companies as oil prices fell. The Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index was down 22.67 points, or 0.15 percent, at 15,514.14. (Reporting by Leah Schnurr Editing by W Simon)","Austria should stand by Hypo creditors: Nowotny. By Georgina Prodhan VIENNA (Reuters) - Austria should not demand creditors of struggling state bank Hypo Alpe Adria take a \"haircut\" on the debt, central bank head Ewald Nowotny said, contradicting the country's finance minister. Nowotny, who was on Friday put in charge of a task force set up to advise the government on how to wind down Hypo after its previous chief quit, said Austria's reputation was at stake if it did not stand by its obligations. \"I believe our model of how a state should behave should be, if you like, more like Germany, should be more like Holland, and not so much Greece or Cyprus,\" Nowotny told Austria's ORF radio in an interview broadcast on Saturday. Finance Minister Michael Spindelegger had on Friday questioned whether investors who snapped up discounted Hypo debt \"to try to make a quick buck\" were worthy of protection.","Manitoba First Nation says previous council to blame for unpaid teachers. WINNIPEG - A Manitoba First Nation accused of not paying its teachers says it doesn't need the federal government to step in.","N. Korea to hold parliamentary vote in March. North Korea announced Wednesday elections to its rubber-stamp parliament in March, the first under leader Kim Jong-Un as he seeks to cement his grip on power after purging his uncle. The presidium of the Supreme People's Assembly (SPA) decided the election -- held every five years -- would take place on March 9, the North's official KCNA news agency said. It comes at a time of heightened speculation over the stability of Kim's regime and growing concern over the North's nuclear weapons programme. Kim succeeded his father in December 2011, and the March election will be closely watched for any further revelations on the changing power structure in Pyongyang.","Meat supplier in China scandal has global reach. NEW YORK (AP) — It isn't a household name, but the company that's at the center of a food scandal in China helps make some of the world's most popular foods, including the Big Macs and Quarter Pounders served at McDonald's locations.","Image of Asia: Meditating on the daily commute. In this photo by Wally Santana, a motorist practices Chinese meditation as he waits at a traffic light with thousands of scooter drivers commuting into Taipei, Taiwan. The Taipei area has 41 motorcycles or scooters for every 100 people, and the 15 million motorcycles registered in Taiwan overall are about double the number of cars, according to government data last year.","Ottawa gunman made video before attack. The shooter who rampaged through Canada's parliament took a video of himself just before the attack and was inspired by ideological and political motives, police said Sunday, contradicting the claims of his estranged mother. Michael Zehaf-Bibeau, who was shot dead by police in the parliament in Ottawa after killing a soldier Wednesday, was mentally ill and wanted to die, his mother wrote in a lengthy separate statement to the public.","Lawsuit: Bangladesh consul general abused worker. NEW YORK (AP) — A former domestic worker for the consul general of Bangladesh has sued him and his wife in New York, saying he was lured to America with false promises of $3,000 monthly wages and then was forced to work in oppressive conditions.","Sierra Leone dismisses health minister over handling of Ebola. FREETOWN (Reuters) - Sierra Leone President Ernest Bai Koroma dismissed his Health Minister Miatta Kargbo on Friday over her handling of the Ebola epidemic that has killed more than 400 people in the West African country. A presidency statement said that Kargbo was removed \"to create a conducive environment for efficient and effective handling of the Ebola outbreak\". She will be replaced by her deputy Dr Abubakarr Fofanah, the statement said. (Reporting by Umaru Fofana; Writing by Daniel Flynn; Editing by Alison Williams)","Italy warns Libya instability hampering aid efforts. Italy's new Foreign Minister Federica Mogherini warned Libya on Thursday that political instability is hampering international efforts to provide assistance to the deeply-divided country. Mogherini told Libyan Prime Minister Ali Zeidan and a large delegation of foreign ministers in Rome that \"international partners are ready to help Libya\", but the \"uncontrolled circulation of arms\" in the country was creating difficulties. The talks, attended by US Secretary of State John Kerry, were being held to weigh assistance for the transitional authorities in Libya. A US intelligence assessment in February warned that a power vacuum in Libya, where the government is struggling to counter well-armed militias, was fuelling extremist groups across the region and posed an \"acute\" terror threat.","Scott shoots 66 to move up at Australian Open. SYDNEY (AP) — Adam Scott shot a 5-under 66 Friday to move from a shaky position of possibly not making the cut to be back in contention at the Australian Open.","SOCHI SCENE: Curling's Britain rise. SOCHI, Russia (AP) — Of the 57 athletes representing Great Britain at the Sochi Games, only 12 have medals after 83 events. Ten of them are curlers, with a silver win for the men's team and a bronze for the women.","South Africa union unyielding on platinum strike. There seemed to be no end in sight for South Africa's platinum sector strike, now in its fifth week, as union workers hardened their opposition to a wage offer Thursday. Hours after top platinum mines issued a take-it-or-leave-it ultimatum, the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union said it would achieve its demand for a minimum wage of $1,125 \"however necessary\". The companies also accused AMCU of negotiating in bad faith, saying \"it was not possible to negotiate if only one party ever moves and the other party maintains its position.\" South Africa holds around 80 percent of the world's known platinum reserves.","Year after Cairo carnage, Sisi turns page on Arab Spring. A year after a bloody Cairo crackdown, President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has tightened his grip on Egypt, crushed the Muslim Brotherhood, jailed top opponents and turned the page on the Arab Spring, critics say. On August 14, 2013, after Sisi ousted Egypt's first freely elected president, Mohamed Morsi, the security forces launched a crackdown on thousands of his supporters at protest camps in Cairo's Rabaa al-Adawiya and Nahda squares that left hundreds dead. Police said eight policemen also died in Rabaa, from a total of 42 policemen killed across Egypt that day. The crackdown was launched after thousands of pro-Morsi supporters refused to end their sit-ins despite repeated warnings by the interim authorities installed by Sisi, who at the time was army chief.","U.N. refugee chief warns world powers not to forget Syria conflict. By Lesley Wroughton WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The head of the United Nation's refugee agency said on Tuesday it must be ready in case Ukraine's crisis causes refugees to flee Crimea, but his biggest worry is that \"a total disaster\" could occur if the international community diverts its attention away from Syria's conflict. Antonio Guterres, the head of the U.N.'s High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), said in an interview that little progress was being made in efforts by the United States and Russia, now at loggerheads over Ukraine, to bring Syria's warring sides together after the collapse of talks in Geneva last month. \"In the moment in which we need the most relevant countries in the world to be able to come together to narrow their differences and to try to find a way to move into peace for Syria, this tension around Ukraine will obviously not help,\" Guterres told Reuters while visiting Washington to discuss Syria's refugee crisis.","Brazil defense a concern ahead of World Cup opener. SAO PAULO (AP) — Brazil enters its final days of preparations for the World Cup paying extra attention to its defense.","Turkish journalist critical of government arrested. ISTANBUL (AP) — A Turkish journalist critical of the government has been arrested in Istanbul.","Pakistan: Airstrikes kill 40 militants. ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistan's military says it has launched airstrikes on five militant hideouts in a troubled tribal region near the border with Afghanistan, killing 40 suspected fighters as part of a massive operation launched in June.","Ukraine parliament votes in favor of return to old constitution. KIEV (Reuters) - Ukraine's parliament on Friday voted heavily in favor of returning to the constitution of 2004 under which President Viktor Yanukovich will lose some of his powers. The constitutional move was part of an EU-brokered agreement signed between Yanukovich and opposition leaders to end a crisis which has sparked mass street protests and violence in the capital Kiev. (Writing By Richard Balmforth; Editing by Timothy Heritage)","Silver, NBA celebrate India youth program success. NEW YORK (AP) — The NBA says its Jr. NBA program in India has reached more than 750,000 youth and hopes to reach 1 million by 2016.","ECOWAS official dies from Ebola in Nigeria. An ECOWAS official has died from Ebola in Nigeria, the West African regional bloc said on Tuesday, taking the total number of deaths in the country from the virus to three. \"The ECOWAS (Economic Community of West African States) Commission announces with deep regret the passing of a staff member of its Lagos Liaison Office, Mr Jatto Asihu Abdulqudir, aged 36,\" it said in a statement. \"Mr Abdulqudir, a protocol assistant, was among those who assisted the Liberian delegate to a regional meeting Mr Patrick Sawyer, who died from the Ebola Virus Disease at a Lagos hospital on 25th July 2014.\" The official had been quarantined since Sawyer was confirmed as having Ebola, which has killed more than 1,000 people since the start of the year, most of them in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia.","Hong Kong's \"milkshake murderer\" loses bid for final appeal. By Alice Woodhouse HONG KONG (Reuters) - American expatriate Nancy Kissel, who is serving a life sentence in a Hong Kong jail for the \"milkshake\" murder of her Merrill Lynch banker husband, failed in her last bid to appeal her conviction on Thursday. A panel of three judges on the city's Court of Final Appeal rejected Kissel's application - the end of a long legal road that began with her first conviction in 2005. The panel of judges said they will give their reasons later, Hong Kong broadcaster RTHK reported. The 2003 murder gripped Hong Kong's business and expatriate communities with its tales of domestic violence, rough sex and adultery that cast a shadow over the high-flying lifestyles of financial professionals in the former British colony.","Ankara says Syrian jet shot down in Turkish airspace. Turkey on Sunday said it shot down a Syrian fighter jet for a breach of Turkish airspace, as Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned of a \"heavy\" response to future violations. But the Turkish military said two Syrian MIG-23 planes approaching its airspace were warned \"four times\" to turn away and that it scrambled fighter jets when one refused to do so. \"Despite the warnings the second Syrian plane entered Turkish airspace at 1313 local time (1113 GMT) .... and breached it by approximately one kilometre and then headed to the west and kept flying 1.5 kilometres inside our airspace,\" the army said in a statement on its website.","Tanzania to grant citizenship to 200,000 Burundi refugees. Dar es Salaam (AFP) - Tanzania said Tuesday it will grant citizenship to some 200,000 refugees from neighbouring Burundi, a move hailed by the UN refugee agency.","Ex-Senegal leader's son starts corruption trial. DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — The son of Senegal's president is going on trial after more than a year in jail, accused of illegally amassing some $248 million.","Thai police detain 8 anti-coup protesters. BANGKOK (AP) — Police in Thailand have arrested eight people for protesting the nation's military junta, including a man holding up a copy of George Orwell's \"Nineteen Eighty-Four\" outside one of Bangkok's busiest malls.","Jordan Islamists slam US envoy over dabke folk dance. Jordan's Islamists on Monday criticised the US ambassador in Amman for taking part in a dabke folk dance at the inauguration of a project, describing it as \"shocking behaviour.\" Following the opening of a $140 million (100 million euro) US-funded project in the northern governorate of Irbid last Thursday, envoy Stuart E. Jones joined officials and women in dancing a Jordanian dabke. \"It was shocking behaviour for Jordanians who know very well that America and the Zionist entity (Israel) are two sides of the same coin,\" the opposition Islamic Action Front party, the political arm of the kingdom's Muslim Brotherhood, said in a statement. Performed at weddings, parties and similar occasions, Dabke is a traditional dance in Arab countries such as Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq, Syria, Turkey as well as Israel and the Palestinian territories.","China indicts eight for Tiananmen car attack: Xinhua. Prosecutors in western China have indicted eight people over an attack on the edge of Beijing's Tiananmen Square last October when a car ploughed into a crowd and caught fire, state media reported on Saturday. Three people in the car and two bystanders were killed in the attack which the government blamed on separatist militants from the western region of Xinjiang. The procuratorate of Urumqi, the capital of Xinjiang, accused the eight of \"organizing, leading and participating (in) a terrorist group and endangering public security with dangerous method\", Xinhua news agency said. China is waging a year-long anti-terrorism campaign and has focused on Xinjiang, home to a large Muslim Uighur minority, following a series of bloody attacks that Beijing blames on Islamists and separatists from the region.","Tribe in Syria border town allies with jihadis. BEIRUT (AP) — Syrian activists say rebel factions affiliated with a powerful tribe in an eastern stronghold of al-Qaida's Syrian affiliate have pledged allegiance to the rival Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.","Volunteer snow shovelers hit Buffalo streets as flooding fears rise. By Aaron Ingrao BUFFALO (Reuters) - As temperatures near Buffalo, New York, rose above freezing on Saturday, volunteers fanned out to help their neighbors clear the walls of snow that have paralyzed parts of the region this week, but the warming trend also raised the threat of flooding. More than 200 volunteers, called the Shovel Brigade Mob, armed themselves with shovels and headed into neighborhoods south of downtown Buffalo. The group said some residents were still stuck in their homes, days after a lake-effect system clobbered the region with up to seven feet of snow. ...","Giroud and Koscielny cleared to resume training. RIBEIRAO PRETO, Brazil (AP) — France striker Olivier Giroud and center half Laurent Koscielny have been cleared to take part in Thursday's training session after sitting out the previous day's practice to have some physio treatment.","Pope accepts resignation of German 'bling bishop'. Vatican City (AFP) - Pope Francis has formally accepted the resignation of Germany's controversial bishop of Limburg, the Vatican said in a statement Wednesday.","EU imposes sanctions on 12 Syrian ministers. LUXEMBOURG (Reuters) - European Union foreign ministers agreed on Monday to impose an asset freeze and travel ban on 12 Syrian government ministers, accusing them of \"responsibility for serious human rights violations\". The ministers' names will only be published in the EU's Official Journal on Tuesday, when the sanctions will take effect, the EU said in a statement. The decision brings to 191 the number of people targeted by EU sanctions on Syria, which has been plunged into civil war for the last three years. ...","Evacuations ordered after freight train derails and catches fire in northern New Brunswick. PLASTER ROCK, N.B. - Several homes in northern New Brunswick have been evacuated east Plaster Rock after a CN freight train derailed and caught fire.","Japan porn queens raise thousands of dollars from 'Boob Aid'. A group of Japanese porn actresses raised tens of thousands of dollars at the weekend by having their breasts squeezed by fans at a \"Boob Aid\" charity event for AIDS prevention. Boob Aid is part of the 24-hour \"Stop! AIDS\" campaign event in Tokyo, which was also televised live on a Japanese adult cable channel. \"I'm really looking forward to lots of people fondling my boobs,\" Rina Serina told the Tokyo Sports newspaper before the event.","Explosions, gunfire strike Afghan capital after car, compound bombed. KABUL (Reuters) - Kabul was hit by explosions and gunfire for a third time on Thursday, after a British embassy vehicle was bombed in the morning and a foreign compound in the diplomatic quarter was attacked in the evening, according to officials and witnesses. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the two earlier attacks in the Afghan capital. (Reporting by Jessica Donati)","Motor racing-Formula One Australian Grand Prix starting grid. March 16 (Infostrada Sports) - Starting grid from the Formula One Australian Grand Prix at Albert Park on Sunday 1. Lewis Hamilton (Britain) Mercedes 2. Daniel Ricciardo (Australia) RedBull - Renault 3. Nico Rosberg (Germany) Mercedes 4. Kevin Magnussen (Denmark) McLaren 5. Fernando Alonso (Spain) Ferrari 6. Jean-Eric Vergne (France) Toro Rosso - Renault 7. Nico Huelkenberg (Germany) Force India - Mercedes 8. Danill Kvyat (Russia) Toro Rosso - Renault 9. Felipe Massa (Brazil) Williams-Mercedes 10. Jenson Button (Britain) McLaren 11. Kimi Raikkonen (Finland) Ferrari 12. ...","Chilean fishermen clash with police after protest. SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) — Small-scale fishermen in Chile have clashed with police after a protest in the port of Valparaiso.","Bulgaria charges two senior magistrates with embezzlement. Bulgarian prosecutors charged two senior magistrates on Monday with embezzling European Union funds in a scandal that has further dented public trust in the judiciary system of the EU's poorest member state. Bulgaria is under fire from the EU, which it joined in 2007, over its failure to reform its inefficient judicial system and to convict senior officials of graft, managing to jail only a few crime bosses since the fall of communism in 1989. Military prosecutors said Veselin Pengezov, chairman of the Sofia appeals court, and Petar Petkov, head of the military appeals court, had been charged after a four-year investigation into misuse of the EU funds. Last week, Bulgaria's Chief Prosecutor Sotir Tsatsarov said a total of 81 witnesses had been questioned in the case.","Zambian president dies in London hospital. LUSAKA, Zambia (AP) — Zambian leader Michael Sata, a longtime opposition leader who was finally elected president in 2011, died after an illness, the Zambian government said Wednesday. The Cabinet held a meeting to discuss a political transition, which would include elections within 90 days in the southern African nation.","U.S. readies more sanctions as Ukraine costs rise for Moscow. By Gabriela Baczynska and Richard Balmforth MOSCOW/KIEV (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama will press European allies on Friday to impose more sanctions if Russia steps up action in Ukraine, while a cut in its credit rating sent a strong reminder to Moscow of the economic consequences of its involvement in the crisis. Obama said he would seek to make sure key European leaders shared his view that Russia had failed to live up to the terms of a Ukraine peace accord in Geneva earlier this month, under which Russia, the United States, Ukraine and the European Union agreed to work to disarm illegal groups. The Ukraine government launched further military operations against some of the pro-Russian separatists who have seized government buildings across eastern Ukraine, having killed up to five rebels on Thursday. Russia's foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, accused authorities in Kiev of waging \"war on their own people\".","Injured activist leaving Kiev for Riga: opposition. KIEV (Reuters) - Dmytro Bulatov, a Ukrainian opposition activist whose torture at the hands of kidnappers has angered anti-government protesters, has been allowed by police to leave hospital and will fly to Latvia for treatment, Vitaly Klitschko, an opposition leader, told Reuters on Sunday. Klitschko, speaking at the Kiev clinic where friends of Bulatov and medical staff have thwarted police attempts to arrest the activist since Thursday, said the Interior Ministry had assured him that Bulatov was now free to leave the country. ...","Correction: Slovenia-Jansa story. LJUBLJANA, Slovenia (AP) — In a story June 20 about the prison sentence for former Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Jansa, The Associated Press reported erroneously that Jansa was convicted of accepting a bribe while in office. He was convicted of agreeing to accept a bribe. A corrected version of the story is below:","China's top paper dismisses fears Hong Kong autonomy being eroded. China's top newspaper on Friday dismissed fears that the autonomy of the former British colony of Hong Kong was being eroded, saying Beijing's policy had not and would not change, following mass pro-democracy protests earlier in the week. Hong Kong returned to China in 1997 with wide-ranging autonomy under an agreed formula of \"one country, two systems\", allowing protests such as Tuesday's march to take place. China wants only pro-Beijing candidates on the ballot. The standoff intensified last month when Beijing published an unprecedented cabinet-level white paper bluntly reminding Hong Kong that China remains firmly in control of Hong Kong.","Botswana's ruling party leads in early election results. Early results from Botswana's general elections showed the ruling party in the lead but opposition parties making inroads in the diamond-rich southern African state, according to preliminary figures released by the electoral commission. With just 11 of the 57 parliamentary seats declared, the ruling Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) had won seven while newcomers, the Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC), took four. The BDP, headed by President Ian Khama, held 45 seats in the outgoing parliament.","US stocks buck turmoil weighing on global markets. NEW YORK (AP) — A burst of buying Friday in U.S. stocks defied slumps in other markets and offered hope for investors shaken by geopolitical turmoil. Major U.S. stock indexes closed up around 1 percent, buoyed by signs that tensions in Ukraine might be easing.","U.S. not seeking ICAO changes after MH17, MH370: official. (Reuters) - The United States is not currently seeking changes to the U.N. aviation body's guidelines on global aviation following the downing of a Malaysian airline over Ukraine last week and the disappearance of another airliner in March, a senior State Department official said on Thursday. The Montreal-based International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) plans a meeting of top officials from the airline industry and air traffic controllers in Montreal next week, sources said, to discuss the respective roles of each in airspace over conflict zones. \"At this time, the United States is not seeking any changes to ICAO standards or recommended practices as a result of the crash of MH17 and the disappearance of Malaysia Air 370,\" the official told Reuters.","Sparking Liverpool put Arsenal to the sword. Liverpool demonstrated that their Premier League title credentials are alive and kicking with a stunning 5-1 demolition of leaders Arsenal at Anfield on Saturday. Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers had claimed during the week that the best his side could hope for was a top-four finish, but the claim rang hollow after the hosts scored four times in the first 20 minutes against Arsene Wenger's shellshocked Arsenal. The opening goal, after 51 seconds, set the tone for a half of complete Liverpool domination, with Martin Skrtel scoring twice and Raheem Sterling and Daniel Sturridge also finding the net to raise serious questions about Arsenal's own ability to win the league.","Syria retakes Homs gas field from hardline group. Syrian army said on Sunday it recaptured a gas field east of the central city of Homs that was seized by hardline Islamic State fighters earlier this month. Syrian television showed footage of soldiers running and deploying in a vast desert area which it said was the Sha'ar gas field. The army said in a statement it retook the field after a \"precise operation in which dozens of terrorists were killed.\" However, a source from the Islamic State said the fighters pulled out after destroying the field's equipment and capturing at least 15 tanks and dozens of rockets which were used to guard the field. \"There is no point in staying there and become an easy target for the regime and its warplanes.\" Islamic State, previously known as the Islamic State in Iraq and Levant, has advanced in Syria and taken over swaths of territory in neighboring Iraq in what it has described as a bid to establish an Islamic caliphate.","Budapest: 5 free things to see, fountains to parks. BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — Since the fall of communism in 1990, Budapest's central districts, mainly those straddling the Danube River, have undergone several stages of renewal — raging from simple cosmetic improvements to full reconstructions. Development funds from the European Union over the past 10 years have helped accelerate the process, and Hungary's capital city is now stunning from many angles.","Spanish bulls in symbolic knockout victory. MADRID (AP) — Spanish bulls have scored a symbolic victory at Madrid's prestigious Las Ventas ring by injuring three matadors and forcing organizers to call off the bullfight.","Lafarge evacuates Syrian plant on security grounds. PARIS (Reuters) - French cement maker Lafarge has evacuated its Syrian factory and halted all operations there indefinitely for security reasons, a company spokeswoman said on Thursday. The cement plant is 160 km (100 miles) northeast of Aleppo, near the Turkish border, an area where the United States has carried out air strikes against Islamic State militants. Lafarge employs around 250 people in Syria - the majority at the northern plant and the rest in office buildings in the capital Damascus. The plant was evacuated on Sept. ...","China starts search for missing jet in Chinese territory. BEIJING (Reuters) - China has begun to searching for a missing Malaysia Airlines jet with 239 passengers and crew on board in Chinese territory which covers a northern corridor through which the aircraft could have flown, said state news agency Xinhua on Tuesday, quoting Chinese Ambassador to Malaysia Huang Huikang. (Reporting by Li Hui and Ben Blanchard; Editing by Michael Perry)","Beijing targets kebab vendors' grills in war on pollution. Alarmed by pollution in the Chinese capital, authorities in Beijing will crack down on smoky outdoor grills from May 1, in a move that will hit the city's popular kebab stalls, state media reported on Wednesday. During Beijing's sweltering summers, many residents gather round sidewalk tables, drinking beer and eating food cooked in the street, and the ban is bound to make an impact coming into effect on a labor day holiday. The new rules, which also target eateries serving popular cold dishes, are intended to help preserve food safety and control smog, state-owned China News Service reported on its website. Popular snacks like garlic cucumber salad and cold tofu skin will likely no longer be sold outdoors, the news report said.","EPA sets new vehicle emission, fuel standards. (Reuters) - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Monday announced new fuel and automobile rules, known as Tier 3 standards, that aim to cut soot, smog and toxic emissions from cars and trucks. The standards are expected to reduce tailpipe and evaporative emissions from cars, light trucks, medium-duty passenger vehicles and some heavy-duty vehicles. The tailpipe standards will include phase-in schedules that vary by vehicle class but generally will start between model years 2017 and 2025, the EPA said.","Kurdistan says crude cargo near Texas legally sold. A $100 million cargo of crude oil in a tanker near Texas was legally shipped and sold by Kurdistan, lawyers for the autonomous region in Iraq told a U.S. court in a letter seen on Thursday, saying Baghdad has no right to the barrels. They also told the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas that it has no jurisdiction over Kurdish affairs. Baghdad, in a lawsuit filed with the court earlier this week, said that only it has the authority to export oil under Iraq's constitution, a view that autonomous Kurdistan government rejects. \"The oil cargo in question belonged to the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) before it was legally shipped and sold pursuant to KRG's authority under the 2005 Iraqi Constitution and subsequent Kurdistan law,\" said the letter, which did not identify the buyer of the cargo.","Pakistani elders forbid fleeing women from collecting food aid. By Haji Mujtaba BANNU Pakistan (Reuters) - Some tribal elders in a city in northwest Pakistan have decreed that families fleeing a military offensive should not allow women to collect food aid, an elder said on Monday after Reuters saw him attacking women. \"If any woman comes to the ration distribution area, she will be punished,\" said Malik Kaleemullah, an elder from the Malik tribe. The decision was taken by more than 40 elders on Sunday in the city of Bannu, he said, where most of the families fleeing the fighting are staying. Last month, the military ordered the civilian population of North Waziristan, a mountainous region on the Afghan border, to leave ahead of an offensive aimed at the Pakistani Taliban.","Sony hackers issue threat in first phase of \"Christmas gift\" data release. LOS ANGELES (AP) — Sony hackers issue threat in first phase of \"Christmas gift\" data release.","Militia: Airstrikes in Libya's capital kill 15. CAIRO (AP) — Two airstrikes targeting Islamist militia positions in Libya's capital on Saturday killed 15 fighters and wounded 30, a senior Islamist militia leader and a militia spokesman said.","Germany: We've never been so close to nuclear deal with Iran. NEW YORK (Reuters) - Six world power have never been so close to a deal with Iran that would resolve the decade-long nuclear standoff once and for all, but the final phase of the negotiations will be the hardest, Germany's foreign minister said on Thursday. \"We have never been so close to a deal as now. But the truth is that the final phase of the talks that lay before us is probably the most difficult,\" Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier told reporters after meeting Iran's President Hassan Rouhani on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly. \"Now is the time to end this conflict. ...","Uganda's president fires top challenger for power. KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) — President Yoweri Museveni of Uganda has fired his prime minister, a former ally who is widely expected to seek the presidency in elections in 2016.","Egyptian militants outwit army in Sinai battlefield. AL-LAFITAAT, Egypt (Reuters) - Egypt's army says it is crushing Islamist militants in the Sinai Peninsula, but in the region's villages and towns a victory for the state feels a long way off. Almost every night, Apache helicopters fire rockets at suspected Islamist militant hideouts in the houses and farms of the largely lawless peninsula, a 61,000 sq km (24,000 sq mile) area wedged between the Suez Canal to the west and Israel and Gaza to the east.","Ukraine backs off from EU-backed Russia gas deal. Kiev (AFP) - War-torn Ukraine on Saturday distanced itself from an EU-brokered agreement with Russia that would have restored its gas supplies during winter and helped rebuild trust between the neighbouring foes.","France calls for urgent UN Security Council meeting on Iraq. Paris (AFP) - French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius called Thursday for an urgent meeting of the UN Security Council after Islamist militants seized Iraq's largest Christian town, forcing tens of thousands to flee.","Thousands attend 'March for Jesus' in Brazil. SAO PAULO (AP) — Brazilian police say hundreds of thousands of evangelical Christians are taking part in Saturday's annual \"March for Jesus\" in Sao Paulo.","Rooney on mark as England school San Marino. London (AFP) - England made it two wins from two in Euro 2016 qualifying with a routine 5-0 defeat of perennial whipping boys San Marino at a subdued Wembley Stadium on Thursday.","IS jihadists execute Iraqi journalist, 3 others: relatives. Samarra (Iraq) (AFP) - Islamic State militants executed an Iraqi news cameraman, his brother and two other civilians in public Friday in a village north of Baghdad, the journalist's relatives said.","Hopes dim Egypt to release Australian Al Jazeera journalist soon. SYDNEY (Reuters) - Hopes are fading for the release of Australian journalist Peter Greste, who has been in jail in Egypt for a year, after Cairo sent mixed signals about his case, Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said on Monday. The Al Jazeera reporter is serving seven to 10 years for crimes that include spreading lies to help a \"terrorist organization\" - an allusion to the Muslim Brotherhood group which is banned in Egypt. Bishop last week raised the possibility Greste could be freed before an appeal hearing set for Jan. 1. ...","Russia bans Ukrainian dairy imports from six companies. Russia's consumer protection agency said on Monday it had suspended imports from six Ukrainian dairy producers, the latest sign of worsening trade relations between the two countries since Russia annexed Crimea. Rospotrebnadzor said in a statement it had found that the products violated dairy regulations after conducting laboratory tests. \"To ensure consumer rights Rospotrebnadzor has suspended imports into the Russian Federation of (six) Ukrainian dairy producers,\" the agency said.","A who's who of Putin's friends hit by US sanctions. MOSCOW (AP) — The seven people from Russian President Vladimir Putin's inner circle targeted with U.S. sanctions on Monday include men who have helped Putin restore Kremlin control over Russia's economy and its political system. They have been tasked with carrying out some of Putin's most ambitious projects, most notably his plans to make Crimea an integral part of Russia after seizing the peninsula from Ukraine.","Guatemala suspends judges over election concerns. GUATEMALA CITY (AP) — Guatemala's highest court has suspended the swearing in of supreme court and appellate judges due to concerns that they were improperly selected.","NATO backs spearhead force to boost eastern defenses. By Adrian Croft NEWPORT Wales (Reuters) - NATO approved wide-ranging plans on Friday to boost its defenses in eastern Europe, aiming to reassure allies nervous about Russia's intervention in Ukraine that the U.S.-led alliance will shield them from any attack. The plan, adopted at a summit in Wales, includes creating a \"spearhead\" rapid reaction force and pre-positioning supplies and equipment in east European countries so they can be reinforced within days in a crisis. The 28-nation alliance also agreed for the first time to add cyber defense to its core mission, meaning that a major cyber attack on a member state - such as a 2007 attack on Estonia's digital infrastructure - could trigger a military response. NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said the new spearhead force would include several thousand ground troops, ready to deploy within a few days with air, sea and special forces support.","Egypt's Sisi says pardon for Al Jazeera journalists 'being discussed'. CAIRO (Reuters) - Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said on Thursday a presidential pardon for two of the three Al Jazeera journalists serving seven-year jail sentences in his country was being considered. \"Let us say that this matter is being discussed to solve the issue,\" Sisi said in an interview with the France24 network. Sisi issued a decree last week allowing him to repatriate foreign prisoners in Egypt, raising the prospect that Australian Peter Greste and Canadian-Egyptian Mohamed Fahmy could be released. ...","Top Asian News at 9:00 a.m. GMT. BRISBANE, Australia (AP) — Under pressure to jolt the lethargic world economy back to life, leaders of G-20 nations on Sunday finalized a plan to boost global GDP by more than $2 trillion over five years. The fanfare, however, was overshadowed by tensions between Russian president Vladimir Putin and Western leaders. The communique from the Brisbane summit of Group of 20 wealthy and emerging nations revealed that the plan for jumpstarting growth includes investing in infrastructure, increasing trade and the creation of a global infrastructure hub that would help match potential investors with projects.","Cyprus president answers critics over peace talks. NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) — Cyprus' president moved to ease fears that his handling of renewed peace talks with breakaway Turkish Cypriots would scuttle chances for a fair reunification accord.","Protests about N. Korea flag ahead of Asian Games. SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Asian Games organizers have taken down the flags of competing nations in South Korea following protests about the inclusion of North Korean flags.","Canadian retail sales up 0.7 percent in May to new record. OTTAWA (Reuters) - Strong car sales helped push Canadian retail trade up by 0.7 percent in May to C$41.98 billion ($39.23 billion), eclipsing April's record sales, Statistics Canada reported on Wednesday. Sales by motor vehicle and parts dealers, which account for just under one quarter of total retail sales, were up 2.5 percent. Excluding this sector, retail sales rose 0.1 percent, and excluding the auto sector and gasoline, retail sales were down 0.3 percent. The figures are adjusted for seasonal factors. ...","Growth back on the agenda for UK financial firms: industry survey. LONDON (Reuters) - Growth is back on the agenda for Britain's financial services companies, which have been posting rising profits and adding staff in recent months, an industry survey showed on Monday. Following the 2007-09 financial crisis, many of Britain's banks and financial services firms were forced to trim costs and cut jobs and cope with a raft of new regulations. According to the latest quarterly review of the industry by the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) and consultancy PwC, firms may be starting to move on from the painful period of restructuring. ...","Italy bids for Euro 2020 matches at Rome stadium. ROME (AP) — The Italian football federation is bidding with Rome's Stadio Olimpico to host matches during the 2020 European Championship.","Sierra Leone Ebola outbreak death toll now 5. FREETOWN, Sierra Leone (AP) — A British mining company says some of its personnel have left Sierra Leone amid an outbreak of the Ebola disease that has killed at least five people.","Kerry backs off Israel 'apartheid' remark. WASHINGTON (AP) — Secretary of State John Kerry says he chose the wrong word in describing Israel's potential future after coming under withering criticism for saying the Jewish state could become an \"apartheid state\" if it doesn't reach a peace deal with the Palestinians.","Syria jihadists raise rebel banner in truce suburb. Three days after rebels and the Syrian army agreed a truce at Babbila near Damascus, jihadists said they rejected the deal and hauled down and trampled on Syria's flag Thursday. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said fighters from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) -- the most radical group in Syria's revolt -- \"announced their rejection of any armistice\" with the authorities. Video footage showed ISIL members tearing down regime flags hoisted above the Babbila municipality building during the truce and replacing them with the black banner of the jihadists. On Monday, the army and rebels agreed a truce in the capital's southern suburb, the latest in a series of local ceasefires in Damascus flashpoints.","Cost pressures mount as Malaysia Airlines search drags on. By Matt Siegel SYDNEY (Reuters) - With the search for missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 entering a new, much longer phase, the countries involved must decide how much they are prepared to spend on the operation and what they stand to lose if they hold back. The search is already set to be the most costly in aviation history and spending will rise significantly as underwater drones focus on a larger area of the seabed that Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said on Monday could take six to eight months to search. But despite U.S. President Barack Obama publicly promising to commit more assets, the United States appears keen to begin passing on the costs of providing sophisticated sonar equipment that will form the backbone of the expanded hunt. That means Australia, China and Malaysia - the countries most closely involved in the operation - look set to bear the financial and logistical burden of a potentially lengthy and expensive search.","Liberia braces for worst as Ebola death toll jumps. Liberia is bracing for an upsurge in Ebola cases, following a grim World Health Organization assessment on Tuesday that the worst is yet to come in the fight against the killer virus. While the WHO predicted an \"exponential increase\" in infections across West Africa, it warned that Liberia, which has reaped the lion's share of misery with half of all fatalities, could initially only hope to slow contagion, not stop it. The UN's health arm upped the Ebola death toll Tuesday in Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea and Nigeria to 2,288 out of 4,269 cases, noting nearly half of all infections had occurred in the past 21 days. The WHO also evacuated its second infected medical expert, a doctor had been working at an Ebola treatment centre in Sierra Leone.","Putin, Ukraine president discuss possible ceasefire: Kremlin. President Vladimir Putin and his Ukrainian counterpart Petro Poroshenko discussed a possible ceasefire, the Kremlin said Tuesday, after a second member of a Russian television crew was confirmed to have died in the east of the ex-Soviet state. \"The issue of possible ceasefire in the area of a military operation in Ukraine's southeast has been touched upon,\" the Kremlin said after the talks. Putin expressed concern over the deaths of the two Russian media workers and stressed the importance of ensuring safety of reporters working in Ukraine, the Kremlin said. \"Petro Poroshenko expressed condolences over the deaths of Russian media representatives and assured the Russian president that a relevant investigation would be conducted following his order,\" Putin's office said.","Emergency crews face toxic challenge in Washington state mudslide. By Eric M. Johnson OSO, Washington (Reuters) - Recovery teams struggling through thick mud up to their armpits and heavy downpours at the site of a devastating landslide in Washington state are facing yet another challenge - an unseen and potentially dangerous stew of toxic contaminants. The official death toll rose to 24 on Monday - up from 21 a day earlier - with 30 people still listed as unaccounted for nine days after a rain-soaked hillside collapsed above the north fork of the Stillaguamish River, northeast of Seattle. We're worried about contamination,\" local fire Lieutenant Richard Burke, a spokesman for the operation, told reporters visiting the disaster site.","Asian stocks gain as China manufacturing improves. SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Japan's Nikkei led gains in Asian stock markets Thursday after a manufacturing survey suggested the slowdown in China's economy is flattening out and Fed minutes reinforced expectations the U.S. central bank won't rush to raise interest rates.","Landmine casualties fell by 25 percent over last year to 15-year low. By David Alexander WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Fewer people were killed or wounded by landmines over the past year than at any time since record-keeping began in 1999, and production of the weapons has almost stopped, the International Campaign to Ban Landmines said in a new report on Wednesday. The drop in casualties caused by landmines, victim-activated explosive devices and unexploded weapons left behind after war came despite the spread of conflicts in the Middle East, Africa and Eastern Europe over the past year. ...","European Commission cuts deep sea fishing quotas for next two years. By Julia Fioretti BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Commission proposed on Friday an overall cut in quotas for deep sea fishing in the northeast Atlantic for the next two years, but environmental groups said it should have reduced some catch limits to zero to allow stocks to recover. In its proposal, to be discussed by member states in November, the Commission suggested increasing total allowable catches for four species, decreasing them for nine stocks and leaving them unchanged for five fish stocks, compared to 2014. If agreed by member states, the limits would take effect from Jan. ...","Malaysians lose latest UK court battle over 1948 killings. Relatives of 24 Malaysian rubber plantation workers killed by British troops in 1948 lost on Wednesday the latest stage of their legal fight to win a public inquiry into the deaths. England's Court of Appeal dismissed an attempt by campaigners to overturn an earlier High Court ruling that upheld the British government's decision not to hold a formal probe into the Batang Kali killings in then British-controlled Malaya. The incident, which has been referred to as \"Britain's My Lai\" after the infamous Vietnam War massacre, happened during the so-called Malayan Emergency, when British troops conducted military operations against communist insurgents. Families of those who died have challenged the official account that the men were killed as they tried to escape, and want a full public inquiry to establish what happened.","CN Rail profit rises, affirms full-year outlook. TORONTO (Reuters) - Canadian National Railway Co , the country's biggest railroad, reported a 12 percent increase in first-quarter earnings on Tuesday and reaffirmed its 2014 financial outlook, even as an extremely cold winter hampered operations. Net earnings rose to C$623 million, or 75 Canadian cents per share, from C$555 million, or 65 Canadian cents per share, in the same period a year ago. (Reporting by Solarina Ho; Editing by Steve Orlofsky)","Germany: no Iraq combat troops or weapons to PKK. BERLIN (AP) — Chancellor Angela Merkel has ruled out sending German combat troops to Iraq and is dismissing suggestions her country could send weapons to the separatist Kurdish PKK movement.","Egypt must prove it wants democracy: Kerry. Egypt's military-installed leaders must prove they are serious about bringing democracy to the world's largest Arab nation, US Secretary of State John Kerry insisted Tuesday. He delivered the stern warning as he met with Foreign Minister Nabil Fahmy -- the highest level visit to Washington by an Egyptian official since the army ousted elected Islamist leader Mohamed Morsi in July, throwing US policy towards Cairo into disarray. \"We all know there have been disturbing decisions within the judicial process,\" Kerry said, highlighting recent mass death sentences against hundreds of alleged supporters of Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood. \"Clearly Egypt has been going through a very difficult transitional process,\" Kerry said at the start of the two men's talks in the State Department.","U.S. bombs Islamic State after Obama call to prevent Iraq 'genocide'. By Raheem Salman and Isabel Coles BAGHDAD/ARBIL Iraq (Reuters) - U.S. warplanes bombed Islamist fighters marching on Iraq's Kurdish capital on Friday after President Barack Obama said Washington must act to prevent \"genocide\". Islamic State fighters, who have beheaded and crucified captives in their drive to eradicate unbelievers, have advanced to within a half hour's drive of Arbil, capital of Iraq's Kurdish region and a hub for U.S. oil companies. They have also seized control of Iraq's biggest dam, Kurdish authorities confirmed on Friday, which could allow them to flood cities and cut off vital water and electricity supplies.","Inside besieged Donetsk, civilians shelter from bombardment. Seven employees of a fitness centre huddled in its basement in the heart of rebel-held Donetsk on Thursday as the centre of the besieged city came under sustained shelling for first time. A security guard told AFP that no one was hurt, as the boom of artillery fire started up again. The streets of Donetsk were deserted for the most part, but those still out were shocked by what was happening. \"Donetsk is being bombarded and the hospital was targeted,\" said one of the few local residents to be seen.","Neo-Nazi group banned in Germany's Bavaria state. BERLIN (AP) — Authorities in the German state of Bavaria say they have banned a neo-Nazi group that operated in the region.","Putin 'may' meet Ukraine leader at World Cup. Russian President Vladimir Putin could meet with his Ukrainian counterpart Petro Poroshenko at the World Cup final, his spokesman said Saturday as the crisis between the two countries escalated. After Brazilian officials said Poroshenko had accepted an invitation to attend Sunday's final in Rio de Janeiro, Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov said a meeting between the two could not be ruled out. \"We haven't prepared any separate meeting, but we have been informed that he will also be there,\" Peskov told journalists in Buenos Aires, where the Russian president met with his Argentine counterpart Cristina Kirchner ahead of his visit to Brazil to watch the World Cup final.","Greek former economy czar questioned on Swiss list. ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greek former finance minister George Papaconstantinou has appeared before an investigating judge to answer criminal charges over his handling of data on Greeks with Swiss bank accounts.","Iran volleyball woman held for 'links with foreigners'. Iran's judiciary said Tuesday an Iranian-British woman arrested in June after trying to attend a men's volleyball match was being held for security reasons and over \"links with foreigners\". Ghoncheh Ghavami's lawyer said earlier this month that the 25-year-old law graduate from London had been sentenced at the start of November to a year in prison, but the judiciary on Monday denied any verdict has been reached. The woman was arrested for having \"acted against the security of the country and for links with foreigners\", Hadi Sadeghi, deputy chief of the judiciary's cultural affairs department, said Tuesday. He denied the lawyer's account that Ghavami was detained over her presence near the volleyball stadium in Tehran.","Turkey president urges shift in Syria policy. Turkish President Abdullah Gul called on Tuesday for a shift in government policy towards Syria after years of vocal opposition to the Damascus regime. His comments came just a week ahead of peace talks aimed at ending the civil war in Syria that are due to open in Switzerland on January 22. \"I am of the opinion that we should recalibrate our diplomacy and security policies given the facts in the south of our country (in Syria),\" Gul told Turkish ambassadors gathered in Ankara. Turkey has long called for the ouster of President Bashar al-Assad but he remains in power in the face of an increasingly fragmented rebel movement almost three years since the uprising against his regime erupted in 2011.","Thai trial begins for 2 accused of killing UK pair. BANGKOK (AP) — The trial of two Myanmar migrant workers accused of killing two British tourists on a popular resort island in southern Thailand has begun, in a case seen as a test of Thailand's justice system.","Man arrested over death of Afghan in container. LONDON (AP) — Northern Ireland police say they have arrested a man on suspicion of smuggling 35 Afghan immigrants into England in a shipping container, during which one man died.","Panasonic extends as Olympic sponsor through 2024. SOCHI, Russia (AP) — The IOC says Panasonic has extended its sponsorship of the Olympic Games through 2024.","Liverpool beats West Brom 2-1 in Premier League. LIVERPOOL, England (AP) — Jordan Henderson scored one goal and set up another to lead Liverpool to a 2-1 win over West Bromwich Albion on Saturday, ending his team's three-match run without a Premier League victory.","Ahly desperate to avoid second African blow. Johannesburg (AFP) - Egyptians Al-Ahly want to avoid a second African exit within two months when they defend a one-goal CAF Confederation Cup lead at Moroccans Difaa El-Jadidi this weekend.","Palestinian unity government to be unveiled Monday: Abbas. Ramallah (Palestinian Territories) (AFP) - Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas said the line-up of a unity government will be announced Monday, after a delay over who will head the foreign ministry. Islamists Hamas and the Western-backed Palestine Liberation Organisation, which is dominated by Abbas's secular Fatah party, signed a surprise reconciliation agreement in April to end years of rivalry. Under the deal, the sides are to work to form an \"independent government\" of technocrats, paving the way for long-delayed elections. \"The unity government comprising technocrats and independents will be revealed on Monday,\" Abbas said on Saturday during a visit by a French delegation to his Ramallah headquarters on the West Bank.","US, allies seek to isolate Russia; Moscow shrugs. THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — As the United States redoubled efforts to pressure Russia out of its aggressive pose, the Russian annexation of Crimea began to take root and Moscow shrugged off President Barack Obama's drive to isolate Vladimir Putin's government.","UK man wins 16-year legal battle over laptop. LONDON (AP) — It started with an unwanted laptop, and it ended in Britain's Supreme Court.","Iran shows openness to improving Saudi ties. DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran on Wednesday appeared to welcome an offer by Saudi Arabia to thaw relations between the two countries, a day after the kingdom's top diplomat invited his Iranian counterpart to visit.","U.S., allies stage 15 air strikes on Islamic State in Iraq, Syria: U.S.. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. military forces again focused air strikes on the area near the Syrian city of Kobani in their campaign to turn back Islamic State forces and also hit oil facilities held by the militant group, the U.S. Central Command said on Thursday. A total of 15 strikes were staged against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria on Wednesday and Thursday, according to a statement from Central Command. The statement said U.S. ...","UN envoy calls for 'total ceasefire' in Libya. UN envoy to Libya Bernardino Leon called Thursday for an immediate ceasefire in the chaos-hit country, which is being torn apart by rival militia fighting and a deep political crisis. On August 22, the mainly Islamist alliance Fajr Libya (Libya Dawn) seized Tripoli airport south of the capital after weeks of fierce fighting with a nationalist militia. Three days later Libya's embattled interim authorities said Tripoli was in the hands of armed militias who have since spread their influence across the capital. Fajr Libya launched an offensive against Warshefana last week, charging that diehard loyalists of slain dictator Moamer Kadhafi are holed up there.","U.N. watchdog seeks to advance Iran nuclear inquiry in talks. The U.N. nuclear watchdog and Iran began talks on Monday ahead of a deadline later this week for Tehran to provide information about the development of detonators that can be used to help set off an atomic device. Reza Najafi, Iran's envoy to the International Atomic Energy Agency, made no comment as he arrived shortly after 3 p.m. (1300 GMT) at the U.N. agency's Vienna headquarters for Monday's meeting with senior IAEA officials. Under a transparency and cooperation pact agreed between the two sides in November, Iran was to take seven practical measures by May 15 in a phased process to help allay international concern about its nuclear program. Diplomatic sources told Reuters on Friday that the IAEA was seeking further clarification from Iran about one of those steps, concerning fast-acting detonators that can have both military and civilian applications.","Chelsea wary of Maribor threat in Champions League. London (AFP) - Chelsea may be five points clear at the top of the Premier League and unbeaten in top-flight domestic action this season but they are determined not to be caught off guard when they face Maribor in the Champions League at Stamford Bridge on Tuesday.","Cuba says U.S. created other 'Cuban Twitter' projects. By Marc Frank HAVANA (Reuters) - Cuba said on Sunday the United States continues to use social media to \"subvert\" the island's government and that the revelation this week of a U.S.-created, Twitter-like service for Cuba was just one of several examples. The U.S. government has admitted it created a social media network called ZunZuneo, which takes its name from Cuban slang for the tweet of a hummingbird. The program, built by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) using shell companies to hide U.S. government involvement, went dark in 2012 due to a lack of funds. U.S. officials confirmed it on Thursday, calling ZunZuneo a \"democracy promotion\" program that was neither \"secret\" nor \"covert\" under the U.S. government's definitions of those terms.","Pistorius trial starts after delay. PRETORIA, South Africa (AP) — Proceedings in the Oscar Pistorius murder trial began after a delay of over an hour Tuesday as the court waited for a police photographer who took pictures of the scene of Reeva Steenkamp's shooting death to continue testimony.","Honduran migrants ask Mexico to allow free passage. MEXICO CITY (AP) — About a dozen Honduran migrants who lost legs and arms after falling from trains during northbound journeys across Mexico asked the country's Senate on Tuesday to stop the government's persecution of Central Americans, protect them from criminal gangs and contribute money to shelters for their care.","Algerian opposition parties urge election boycott. By Lamine Chikhi ALGIERS (Reuters) - Three Algerian opposition parties have called for a boycott of elections in April after the government announced President Abdelaziz Bouteflika would run for a fourth term to extend his 15 years in power. Bouteflika, the independence veteran and Washington ally, has rarely appeared in public since a stroke sent him to a Paris hospital last year, but the government said the 76-year-old will run again in the April 17 vote. Almost assured of re-election, Bouteflika has support of the powerful ruling National Liberation Front (FLN) party and is seen by loyalists as the man who delivered them peace and stability after a civil war with Islamists in the 1990s. The opposition RCD movement, Islamist MSP party and Ennahda party - who pose no real challenge to the FLN and its party machinery - called for a boycott of a vote they say will not be fair with Bouteflika running.","6 soldiers killed in Ukraine; Germany pushes peace. KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — An insurgent ambush killed six soldiers Tuesday in eastern Ukraine as Germany moved to jumpstart a possible plan toward peace that includes launching a dialogue on decentralizing the government in Kiev.","Things should get easier for Bosnia at World Cup. BRASILIA, Brazil (AP) — Ultimately sunk by a moment of magic from Lionel Messi, the Bosnia-Herzegovina squad emerged with plenty of credit — but no points — from its World Cup debut against Argentina.","NY storms end Electric Zoo music festival, halt U.S. Open, delay flights. Severe thunderstorms on Sunday forced an early end to New York's Electric Zoo music festival, delayed flights at area airports and injured two people after a lightning strike near a Bronx beach. Open in Queens, New York, interrupted the Made In America outdoor concert in Philadelphia and shut down the Electric Zoo electronic music festival on Randalls Island in New York, which ended early for a second year in a row. \"We apologize to fans, but your safety is our main concern,\" Electric Zoo organizers said in a Tweet explaining why the three-day festival was cut short by \"extreme weather.\" Thousands of concertgoers were told to leave.","EU cracks down on corporate tax avoidance scheme. BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union is closing a loophole that allows companies to shift their profits between different country divisions to avoid taxation.","S&P cuts Italy's credit rating citing weak economy. Standard & Poor's has lowered Italy's credit rating one notch, saying it expects much slower economic growth than official forecasts.","Biden firmly backs Colombia peace effort. BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — U.S. Vice President Joe Biden on pledged firm support Wednesday for Colombia's newly re-elected leader and the process on which he has bet his presidency.","Greece says is confident, market turmoil not based on fundamentals. ATHENS (Reuters) - Market turmoil in recent days does not reflect the fundamentals of Greece's economy or its prospects, Finance Minister Gikas Hardouvelis told parliament on Thursday, saying he was confident the country would follow through on its pledges. He was speaking after a dramatic slide in Greek stocks and bonds over the past three days that have pushed 10-year bond yields close to 9 percent, their highest level since January. \"I believe that we can make it. ...","Rouble rocked, strong U.S. job numbers awaited. By Patrick Graham LONDON (Reuters) - A deepening crisis of confidence in the ruble dominated European financial markets on Friday, with signs the head of Russia's central bank was discussing her options helping the currency recover some of this week's more than 10-percent slide. As investors awaited monthly U.S. jobs data, European shares saw choppy trade, with bank stocks falling back and miners and metals firms improving. The FTSE Eurofirst index of leading European shares was marginally lower, having given back some early gains. U.S. markets were set to open flat. [. ...","Kerry pledges security help to Tunisia. TUNIS, Tunisia (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry congratulated Tunisia on its new post-revolutionary constitution and promised American assistance Tuesday in the North African nation's battle against terrorists.","Energy change is key to meeting UN climate goal: panel. The world can still meet the UN goal to limit global warming provided it cuts annual greenhouse gas emissions by 40-70 percent by 2050, a top expert panel said Sunday. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) warned starkly that on present trends the planet would be 3.7-4.8 C warmer by 2100 -- a level many scientists say could be catastrophic. While most scenarios for meeting the target \"require substantial investments\", he said, this \"does not mean that the world... needs to sacrifice economic growth.\" UN climate chief Christiana Figueres said the findings challenged governments to make the world carbon-neutral in the second half of the century.","Separatists seize buildings in east Ukraine's Horlivka. KIEV (Reuters) - Pro-Russian separatists seized control on Wednesday of the local government building and police headquarters in the eastern town of Horlivka, a police official in the regional capital Donetsk said. The official confirmed local media reports that separatists had taken over the buildings, but was unable to provide details. \"They've taken them. The government administration and police,\" he said, adding that there were no weapons in the police HQ. (Reporting by Pavel Polityuk; Writing by Matt Robinson)","UN approves peacekeepers for Central African Republic. United Nations (United States) (AFP) - The Security Council voted unanimously Thursday to send 12,000 UN peacekeepers to the Central African Republic, where violence between Christians and Muslims has triggered fears of genocide.","Tunisia MPs slam 'light' verdicts for Ben Ali officials. Tunisian lawmakers on Monday condemned as excessively lenient appeal sentences handed to top security officials in Zine El Abidine Ben Ali's ousted regime for their part in repressing protests during the 2011 uprising. The military court in Tunis ruled on Saturday in several appeals trials of officials implicated in the bloody crackdown on protesters that left more than 300 people dead in Tunis and Sfax during the revolt that ousted Ben Ali and ignited the Arab Spring. The former head of presidential security, Ali Seriati, was given a three-year prison sentence, as was Rafik Belhaj Kacem, the interior minister at the time. Former chief of Tunisia's special brigades, Jalel Boudriga, originally jailed for 10 years for pre-meditated murder, also saw his sentence reduced to three years, after the allegations against him were re-defined as non-assistance to people in danger.","European satellite to begin corrective maneuvers. BERLIN (AP) — The European Space Agency says one of two navigation satellites that accidentally launched into the wrong orbit will begin corrective maneuvers this month.","Lyon in lockdown mode ahead of Chinese President Xi's visit. Xi chose to kick off a lavish three-day French trip with a whistle-stop tour of a city which, as a former silk centre, forged links with China from the 16th century that have endured until today. And while the Chinese leader and his glamorous wife Peng Liyuan were only staying just over 16 hours before travelling up to Paris to sign major deals, authorities had left nothing to chance. \"This is going to hurt us, hurt the clients and people working here,\" said shop employee Lydie Cacciatore, looking on to empty streets being soaked by a grey drizzle. It is not the first time that a Chinese president has visited Lyon.","U.S. says cannot corroborate Nigerian claim it has located girls. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States said on Tuesday it did not have independent information to confirm Nigeria's claim to know the whereabouts of more than 200 kidnapped girls and questioned the wisdom of making public such information. \"We don't have independent information from the United States to support these reports you referenced,\" U.S. State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said when asked about Nigerian Chief of Defense Staff Air Marshal Alex Badeh's statement that the military knew where the abducted girls were. ...","String of small morning explosions in Cairo hurt eight. By Shadia Nasralla and Stephen Kalin CAIRO (Reuters) - Eight people were hurt in northern Cairo when homemade explosive devices blew up at four metro stations and a courthouse on Wednesday morning in the first attacks in Cairo since Abdel Fattah al-Sisi became president earlier this month. Three people were slightly wounded when a device - described by officials as \"primitive\" - exploded at Shubra El-Kheyma station in a northern district of Greater Cairo during morning rush hour, security sources said. Egypt has been hit by a wave of violence, mainly by militants based in the Sinai peninsula against security forces, since the army ousted President Mohamed Mursi of the Muslim Brotherhood in July. Shubra El-Kheyma appeared to be operating normally shortly after the blast, with passengers filing onto trains and a blackened, tattered cloth believed to have contained the device the only visible sign of the incident.","S.Africa dodges recession, posts 0.6% growth in Q2. South Africa narrowly avoided slipping into recession in the first half of the year, official data showed on Tuesday, as the economy grew by a meagre 0.6 percent in the second quarter. Africa's most advanced economy had shrunk in the first quarter of the year by 0.6 percent, amid a crippling mining strike. A country is widely considered to be in recession after two quarters running of negative growth. Other mining activities as well, overall performed very poorly,\" said Statistics South Africa's Gerhardt Bouwer \"it's actually a combination of all the industries.\"","Osvaldo & Pogba score as Juve beats Trabzonspor. PARIS (AP) — Forward Pablo Osvaldo and midfielder Paul Pogba each scored as Juventus beat Trabzonspor 2-0 in the first leg of their round-of-32 Europa League tie on Thursday.","Probe splits from orbiter and heads for historic comet landing. Darmstadt (Germany) (AFP) - The European probe Philae on Wednesday was on course to make the first-ever landing on a comet after separating from its mother ship, mission control said.","Residents evacuated as wildfire burns in forest east of Los Angeles. Firefighters rushed to gain control of a fast-moving wildfire in the mountainous Angeles National Forest in an area east of Los Angeles on Thursday that has damaged at least one home and led to the evacuation of nearby residents, a fire official said. The blaze broke out about an hour before sunrise in the Angeles National Forest north of Glendora and quickly spread to 125 acres, Los Angeles County Fire Department spokesman Keith Mora said. Glendora is located about 40 miles east of downtown Los Angeles, near the southern edge of the Angeles National Forest.","How the US has justified overseas military action. WASHINGTON (AP) — A look at the domestic legal justifications the U.S. has used for military action around the world:","Contract awarded on long-delayed Deodoro cluster. RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — A contract has finally been awarded for construction on the long-delayed second major venue complex for the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.","Review: Lots of innovations beyond iOS and Android. BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — When it comes to smartphones, consumers have an array of choices from Apple to... well, Android.","Lebanon army says jihadist commander arrested. Lebanon's army on Wednesday announced the arrest of a commander loyal to Al-Qaeda, adding he was involved in an attack against the military last month. \"The army intelligence command successfully arrested at dawn today (Wednesday) a commander of the Abdallah Azzam Brigades, the wanted terrorist Jamal Daftardar, in a raid... in a village in the western Bekaa valley,\" an army statement said. The statement said the Daftardar's whereabouts were discovered in the course of an investigation \"into the attack by a terrorist group against an army checkpoint in Sidon (southern Lebanon) on December 15\".","British mining company fined $4.5M in Chile. SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) — Regulators in Chile have ordered British mining company Anglo American Plc to pay a fine of $4.5 million for violations at one of the five copper mines it operates in the country.","Japan's Abe unleashes new stimulus to spur growth. TOKYO (AP) — Japan's Cabinet has approved about 3.5 trillion yen ($29 billion) in fresh stimulus, including subsidies and job creation, to help pull the world's third-largest economy out of recession.","Japan orders military to strike any new North Korea missile launches. Japan has ordered a destroyer in the Sea of Japan to strike any ballistic missiles that may be launched by North Korea in the coming weeks after Pyongyang fired a Rodong medium-range missile over the sea, a government source said on Saturday. Japanese Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera issued the order on Thursday, but did not make it public in order to avoid putting a chill on renewed talks between Tokyo and Pyongyang, the first in more than a year, local media reported earlier. Onodera, the source said, did not deploy Patriot missile batteries that would be the last line of defense against incoming warheads. The firing of the Rodong coincided with a meeting in The Hague between U.S. President Barack Obama and the leaders of South Korea and Japan and followed a series of short-range rocket launches.","Russian aid convoy starts moving into Ukraine. The first trucks from a Russian aid convoy on Thursday passed a Russian border check point and started moving towards the border crossing with Ukraine, a Reuters reporter at the scene said. The trucks have moved into the no man's land between the Russian and Ukrainian border checkpoints and it was not immediately clear if the trucks had entered Ukrainian territory, or stopped at the Ukrainian checkpoint.","Bombings and shootings kill 10 in Iraq. BAGHDAD (AP) — Bombings and shootings killed 10 people in areas around the Iraqi capital on Monday, authorities said.","Protests as Brazil stars arrive at World Cup camp. Teresópolis (Brazil) (AFP) - Dodging 200 striking teachers, Brazil's World Cup squad headed for their tournament headquarters Monday, seeking football glory against a backdrop of social tension at the cost of staging the event. \"An educator is worth more than Neymar\" -- Brazil's star striker -- the teachers chanted as the team bus headed from Rio de Janeiro's international airport towards the squad's base about 90 kilometers (60 miles) away at Teresopolis in the hills north of Rio. At the squad's Granja Comary training complex, where they were met by more protests, coach Luiz Felipe Scolari said his charges have what it takes to win the country's sixth World Cup. To ensure Brazil have the best possible conditions in which to prepare, the Brazilian Football Confederation earlier this year gave the training complex a multimillion-dollar facelift.","United States welcomes release of jailed Vietnam blogger. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. government on Tuesday welcomed Vietnam's decision to release jailed blogger Nguyen Van Hai, who staged a hunger strike to protest treatment of political prisoners, and said he was set to travel to the United States. Hai, better known by the pen name Dieu Cay, was set to arrive in the United States on Tuesday, State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf told a daily briefing. \"We welcome the decision by Vietnamese authorities to release this prisoner of conscience,\" Harf told reporters. ...","Syria rebels storm Sunni village, kill 14. BEIRUT (AP) — Syrian rebels rampaged through a Sunni village in the central province of Hama Wednesday, firing indiscriminately at civilians and killing 14 people, including seven women, state media and opposition activists said.","US woman dead in Bali; daughter, 1 other arrested. BALI, Indonesia (AP) — The body of a 62-year-old American woman has been found stuffed inside a suitcase on the Indonesian resort island of Bali, and police have arrested her daughter and her daughter's boyfriend in relation to the death.","Quebecor to sell Sun Media newspaper assets to Postmedia. TORONTO (Reuters) - Quebecor Inc said on Monday it has agreed to sell its Sun Media English-language operations that consist of about 175 newspapers and publications to rival publisher Postmedia Network Canada Corp for C$316 million ($281.82 million). The sale will include the Sun chain of dailies, the Ottawa Sun, Toronto Sun, Winnipeg Sun, Edmonton Sun and Calgary Sun, as well as The London Free Press, the 24 Hours dailies in Toronto and Vancouver, and community dailies and weeklies, along with some other assets. (Reporting by Euan Rocha)","MP & Silva keeps Serie A world TV rights to 2018. MILAN (AP) — MP & Silva has won the vote to distribute Serie A TV rights internationally for another three seasons.","Venezuelan official ruffles feathers in Brazil. CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Brazil is asking the Venezuelan government why it did not provide notification before one of the socialist country's cabinet members met with a Brazilian rural workers organization.","IOC debates changes to Olympic bidding process. SOCHI, Russia (AP) — IOC members are debating changes to the Olympic bidding process, including the possibility of joint bids and the reinstatement of visits to candidate cities.","Mosquito-borne virus arrives in Dominican Republic. SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic (AP) — Health authorities in the Dominican Republic have reported the first outbreak of a mosquito-borne virus that has spread quickly in the Caribbean in the weeks since it was first detected in the region.","William and Kate surprise at Australian ANZAC service. Prince William and wife Catherine were surprise guests at a dawn service in Canberra on Friday to remember Australian soldiers lost in war, on the last day of their three-week tour Down Under. The April 25, 1915 landing of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) at Gallipoli in modern-day Turkey has become a defining symbol of courage and comradeship for both countries. Each year thousands attend services to remember the campaign which ultimately took the lives of more than 10,000 Australian and New Zealand servicemen. \"I said to them it means a great deal to our nation that you should honour us by attending the dawn service,\" Australian War Memorial director Brendan Nelson said.","U.S. tells citizens to leave Yemen, reduces embassy staff. DUBAI (Reuters) - The United States told its citizens in Yemen to leave and said it was reducing the number of U.S. government staff there due to political unrest and fears of a possible military escalation. President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi has said Yemen may be heading for civil war after Houthi rebels overran the capital Sanaa, allowing them to dictate terms to his weakened, fractured government. Over 100 people have been killed in fighting. The Department of State warned \"U.S. ...","PSG needs European success to be truly convincing. PARIS (AP) — Paris Saint-Germain could offer new recruit David Luiz something Chelsea couldn't: the near certainty of being a league winner next season.","King bids to reassure Saudis as MERS deaths hit 85. The Red Sea city has seen a spate of cases among health staff in recent weeks that have sparked fears that the virus has mutated to make it more transmissible from person to person. The World Health Organisation announced on Wednesday that it had offered to send international experts to Saudi Arabia to investigate \"any evolving risk\" resulting from the apparent change in transmission pattern. Public concern has been fuelled by the reported resignation last week of at least four doctors at Jeddah's King Fahd Hospital after they refused to treat MERS patients for fear of infection with the deadly coronavirus. National Guard Minister Prince Mitab said his father King Abdullah was in Jeddah \"to reassure the public and to prove that the exaggerated and false rumours about coronavirus are not true.\"","IOC: Black armbands, helmet stickers not allowed. SOCHI, Russia (AP) — The IOC is telling Olympic athletes they may not wear armbands or stickers during competition to commemorate the dead.","UnitedHealth says quarterly profit rose and it sees 2014 growth. (Reuters) - UnitedHealth Group Inc , the largest U.S. health insurer, on Thursday reported a higher fourth-quarter profit and the addition of 170,000 members, and said 2014 earnings would improve as well. The insurer, which provides both employer-based plans and government health programs, said that revenue rose to $31.12 billion, up from $28.77 billion a year earlier. Both earnings and revenue came in slightly ahead of analyst expectations, which were for earnings of $1.40 per and revenue of $31.07 billion, according to ThomsonReuters I/B/E/S. United Health said it continues to expect revenue of $128 billion to $129 billion and earnings of $5.40 to $5.60 per share in 2014.","Prosecutor recommends 51⁄2 years prison for Hoeness. MUNICH (AP) — Prosecutors are asking for more than five years in prison for Bayern Munich president Uli Hoeness, who has admitted to evading millions of euros (dollars) in taxes.","Palestinian driver hits Israeli soldiers in West Bank. A Palestinian drove into a group of soldiers in the occupied West Bank on Wednesday, the army said, injuring three, hours after a similar attack killed a Jerusalem policeman. \"One is in critical condition, two with moderate wounds,\" army spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Peter Lerner said on his official Twitter account. A police statement said they were hit by a vehicle with Palestinian licence plates as they stood guard outside El-Arub Palestinian refugee camp, south of Bethlehem. The attack took place at around 10.00 pm (2000 GMT), around 10 hours after a Palestinian slammed his car into pedestrians in Jerusalem, killing a border policeman and wounding nine other people in the second such attack in a fortnight.","Banderas: Chile miners taught world a life lesson. SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) — Antonio Banderas says the 33 Chilean miners who were trapped deep underground for 69 days in 2010 taught the world a huge lesson about the value of human life.","Ukraine prime minister resigns over coalition break up. Kiev (AFP) - Ukraine's Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk on Thursday resigned in protest at the disbanding of the ruling parliamentary coalition.","Report: 51 killed in Congo police sweep vs. gangs. KINSHASA, Congo (AP) — Human Rights Watch says in a new report that police in Congo's capital conducted dozens of extrajudicial killings in a three-month crackdown against organized crime gangs.","Tears and threats as Ukrainians quit navy HQ. Sevastopol (Ukraine) (AFP) - Ukrainian servicemen filed out of navy headquarters in Sevastopol on Wednesday with tears in their eyes after the base was seized by pro-Moscow militants, Russian troops and Cossack forces. Russian troops and Cossacks then arrived on the scene and sailors including one whose eyes welled up were seen leaving their barracks without their weapons and taking a few belongings with them. \"We have been temporarily disbanded and everyone now has to make a choice\" -- serve the new pro-Moscow government of Crimea or leave the peninsula altogether, one of them, Vlad, told AFP as he walked away in his military uniform. Where am I going to go?\" said Vlad, one of an estimated 22,000 Ukrainian military personnel stranded in Crimea as it transitions to Russian rule.","Egypt court bans Palestinian Hamas group. Cairo (AFP) - An Egyptian court on Tuesday banned the activities of the Palestinian militant Hamas group that rules the neighbouring Gaza Strip and ordered its assets seized, a judicial source said.","Sudden Cambodian worker exodus to hit Thai businesses. By Amy Sawitta Lefevre and Vorasit Satienlerk BANGKOK/SA KAEW Thailand (Reuters) - Thai officials said on Tuesday that the mass departure of Cambodian laborers would dent the economy as thousands more migrant workers, fearing reprisals from the new military government, poured across the border. Many left after hearing rumors that Thailand's junta was bent on cracking down on illegal migrants. The generals who seized power on May 22 to end six months of political turmoil have promised no action against those working legally in Thailand. \"I admit there must be some impact on business, but I don't know to what extent,\" Sihasak Phuanketkeow, the foreign ministry's permanent secretary, told reporters after assuring Cambodia's ambassador that the military planned no crackdown.","French President Hollande meets with Pope Francis amid tabloid reports of affair. VATICAN CITY - French President Francois Hollande met Friday with Pope Francis amid tensions in his private life over a gossip magazine's report about an alleged affair with an actress.","Boko Haram denies truce, kidnapped girls married. MAIDUGURI, Nigeria (AP) — The leader of Nigeria's Islamic extremist group Boko Haram has denied agreeing to any cease-fire with the government and said more than 200 kidnapped schoolgirls all have converted to Islam and been married off.","'Increasing hope' of solving MH370 mystery: Australian PM. Sydney (Australia) (AFP) - Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott voiced increasing hope Sunday of discovering the fate of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 and the 239 people on board after unidentified debris was sighted in the search zone. The prime minister spoke after several unidentified objects were seen in the search zone for the Boeing 777, about 2,500 kilometres (1,500 miles) off Perth. The comments came hours after the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) announced that \"further attempts will be made to establish whether the objects sighted are related to MH370,\" on Sunday.","Sanchez inspires Arsenal to 2-1 win over QPR. LONDON (AP) — Alexis Sanchez scored one goal and set up another to make up for a moment of madness from teammate Olivier Giroud and help Arsenal beat Queens Park Rangers 2-1 in the Premier League on Friday.","British warship brings 110 citizens to Malta from Libya. The British survey ship HMS Enterprise has arrived in Malta carrying 110 Britons evacuated from Libya, where fighting between rival armed factions has spread in the capital. The British ambassador to Libya, Michael Aron, said in a message on social media website Twitter the group included 30 children, 12 infants, four pregnant women and one elderly and sick person. Fighting in Tripoli and the eastern city of Benghazi is the worst since the 2011 civil war that ended four decades of Muammar Gaddafi's rule, increasing international worries Libya is becoming a failed state. Three years after the war, Libya's fragile government and nascent army are unable to control heavily armed brigades of ex-rebels who refuse to disband and have allied themselves with competing political factions to become powerbrokers.","Albania cracks down on marijuana production in key southern village. By Benet Koleka LAZARAT Albania (Reuters) - The smoke from burning marijuana plants billowed from a dozen houses on Day Five of Albania's most serious move yet against a southern village, armed to the teeth, that has churned out weed on an industrial scale for more than 15 years. Lazarat has long blighted Albania’s efforts to shed the image of a Balkan badlands since it threw off communism in 1991. With the fruits of its labor turning up in Italy, Greece and, last year, Germany, Albania has come under increasing pressure from the European Union to crack down on drug producers long considered untouchable, out of reach of the law thanks to a web of corrupt connections to the police and politicians. Albania hopes to get approval later this month from each of the EU’s 28 member states to become an official candidate for inclusion in the group.","Japanese in North Korea for talks on abductions. PYONGYANG, North Korea (AP) — A high-ranking Japanese delegation arrived in Pyongyang on Monday to assess the progress of a North Korean investigation into the fates of Japanese citizens who were abducted by North Korean agents in the 1970s and '80s.","U.N. seeks to locate followers of slain Congo warlord. By Peter Jones KINSHASA (Reuters) - The U.N. mission in Democratic Republic of Congo is seeking to locate a group of militia fighters who surrendered to the Congolese army, after their leader was killed in custody. Militia leader Paul Sadala, also known as \"Morgan\", died on Monday in disputed circumstances two days after surrendering with around 40 of his followers whom the U.N. mission now wants to locate. A spokesman for Congo's U.N. mission (MONUSCO) said a team would travel to Morgan's stronghold in Orientale province to locate the surrendered fighters whom the government says are in army custody in the militia leader's remote village.","Villa storms back to beat Norwich 4-1. BIRMINGHAM, England (AP) — Striker Christian Benteke scored twice as Aston Villa stormed back from a goal down to hammer Norwich 4-1 in the Premier League on Sunday.","Facebook to buy Android app monitoring tool maker. (Reuters) - Facebook Inc is buying India-based Little Eye Labs, a startup that builds performance analysis and monitoring tools for mobile Android apps, to help boost its technology as it focuses on growing revenue from its mobile business. A Facebook spokesman said the company would not comment on the terms of the deal. \"The Little Eye Labs technology will help us to continue improving our Android codebase to make more efficient, higher-performing apps,\" Subbu Subramanian, Facebook's engineering manager said. Bangalore-based Little Eye Labs' team will move to Facebook's headquarters in Menlo Park, California, the company said in a statement on its website.","Oil slips as Crimea tensions ease, dollar rises. The price of oil slipped back slightly on Thursday as concerns waned over the Ukrainian crisis and the economic slowdown in emerging markets.","Taliban says captured US soldier was treated well. KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — The Taliban says U.S. Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl was treated well during the five years they held him captive in Afghanistan and was even allowed to play soccer with the men holding him.","White House official urges Mideast talks continue. JERUSALEM (AP) — U.S. President Barack Obama's national security adviser has opened a visit to Israel by telling leaders that peace with the Palestinians can only be reached through direct negotiations leading to the establishment of an independent Palestinian state.","Ukraine leader's sick leave prompts guessing game. KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — Is Ukraine's president just sick? Or is he leaving the limelight in preparation for something? And if so, what — cracking down or stepping down?","Israel PM calls Abbas, says expects help finding teens. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday telephoned Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas and said he expected him to help ensure the safe return of three kidnapped teenagers, a statement said. Abbas's office also issued a statement condemning both the kidnapping of the three youths and the results of a massive Israeli crackdown to find the perpetrators. \"I expect you to help in the return of the kidnapped youths and the capture of the kidnappers,\" Netanyahu told the Palestinian leader. It was their first telephone conversation in nearly a year, and came as Israeli forces conducted the biggest arrest operation in years, focusing predominantly on the Islamist Hamas movement which Netanyahu has accused of kidnapping the three youths in the southern West Bank.","Zimbabwe's vice-president hits back at criticism in state-owned media. By MacDonald Dzirutwe HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwe's vice president Joice Mujuru hit back at charges of plotting to challenge President Robert Mugabe and said calls for her to resign were unconstitutional, her first public response to weeks of attacks by state-owned media. Mujuru, vice president in government and of Mugabe's ZANU-PF party since 2004, was until last month seen as a leading contender to succeed the 90-year-old leader, but Mugabe's wife Grace and state media have accused her of treason, graft and plotting to oust the president. ...","Co-founder of marathon charity says $70,000 raised for Newtown is missing. HARTFORD, Conn. - A charity formed after the shooting massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School has been unable to account for more than $70,000 it raised through marathon running, one of its co-founders said Friday.","High-rise destruction to open Commonwealth Games. LONDON (AP) — The Commonwealth Games in Glasgow are to open with a bang.","US expands air strikes to Iraq Sunni Arab heartland. Washington said Sunday it had carried out air strikes against jihadists in Iraq's Sunni Arab heartland, expanding its month-long air campaign and its involvement in the conflict. It was a significant escalation for President Barack Obama, who made his political career opposing the war in Iraq and pulled out US troops in 2011. Previous strikes since Obama launched the US air campaign on August 8 had been mainly in support of Kurdish forces in the north. US warplanes bombed Islamic State (IS) jihadists around a strategic dam on the Euphrates River in an area that the jihadists have repeatedly tried to capture from government troops and their Sunni militia allies.","Egypt foils attempt to smuggle Jewish antiquities. Egypt has foiled an attempt to smuggle out of the country Jewish antiquities used during religious ceremonies, the antiquities ministry said on Friday. Among them are 11 wooden cases for the Torah, Judaism’s holy book, four censers bearing Hebrew inscriptions, a silver crown decorated with stars of David and a silver knife, it said. They are not registered with the ministry, despite all being antiquities and more than a century old,\" ministry official Tarek Zaher told AFP. \"It seems they were taken from synagogues, as they are all related to Jewish worship rituals.\"","Pimco Total Return Fund behind 87 percent of its peers so far this year. The Pimco Total Return Fund, the world's largest bond fund run by Bill Gross, is trailing 87 percent of its peers so far this year despite returning to gains after a rough 2013, Morningstar data show on Friday. The Pimco Total Return, the Newport Beach, Calif. firm's flagship portfolio, is posting returns of 1.28 percent year-to-date as of March 27, trailing the benchmark Barclays U.S. Aggregate index by 75 basis points for the same time period, according to Morningstar. February was a particularly brutal month for the Pimco Total Return Fund, which only held 9 percent in U.S. credit which may include both high-yield and investment-grade securities. Eric Jacobson, Morningstar senior analyst, said: \"The fund was very underweight U.S. investment grade corporate bonds.","Chinese protesters march against trash incinerator. BEIJING (AP) — Several thousand people took to the streets of a southern Chinese town on Saturday, some clashing with police, to protest a proposed garbage incinerating plant, participants and eyewitnesses said.","Arrest shows Europe's challenge to track jihadi. PARIS (AP) — The suspect in the recent killings at the Jewish Museum in Brussels provides a textbook example of a longstanding fear in the West — the threat posed by radicalized citizens returning from the battlefields of Syria.","Outbreak of fighting in Nagorno-Karabakh kills 15. BAKU, Azerbaijan (AP) — A sharp escalation in fighting between Azerbaijan and Armenia over the disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh has left 15 soldiers dead and prompted Russia to issue a call for calm.","Canadian to head UN Western Sahara mission. United Nations (United States) (AFP) - Canada's Kim Bolduc was on Monday named as the head of the United Nations mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO), a statement from secretary-general Ban Ki-moon's office said.","Death toll in Quebec seniors' home fire rises to 24, eight still missing. L'ISLE-VERTE, Que. - Quebec provincial police say 24 people are now confirmed dead in a fire that ripped through a seniors' home last week.","U.S., Russia, Ukraine and EU to meet on Ukraine crisis. By Barbara Lewis BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The United States, the European Union, Russia and Ukraine will meet at ministerial level next week to discuss the Ukraine crisis, the EU said on Tuesday, offering a glimpse of possible diplomatic progress in the conflict. The meeting will involve U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Ukraine's Foreign Minister Andriy Deshchytsia, the EU said.","Venezuela government and foes talk; Vatican may mediate. By Diego Ore and Andrew Cawthorne CARACAS (Reuters) - President Nicolas Maduro's government and Venezuela's main opposition group agreed on Tuesday to begin formal talks intended to halt the nation's worst political unrest in a decade. Clashes between security forces and pro-government militants on one side, and hooded opposition demonstrators blocking streets on the other, have killed 39 people since mid-February, according to official figures. Maduro, the 51-year-old successor to Hugo Chavez, led the government team at Tuesday's preliminary talks that were the first sit-down with the Democratic Unity (MUD) opposition coalition since the troubles began. \"We are sending a good signal to our country by sitting down to talk, converse and resolve our differences,\" Vice President Jorge Arreaza said after the meeting in a 17th century colonial building that houses the foreign ministry.","Godzilla's owners, US brewery, settle beer case. LOS ANGELES (AP) — A New Orleans brewery has agreed to change the name of one of its beers after it was sued by the Japanese company that owns the rights to the movie monster Godzilla.","Fraud trial urged for husband of Spanish princess. MADRID (AP) — A Spanish prosecutor is urging that Princess Cristina's husband be tried for possible fraud and embezzlement but says there's no basis for charges against the king's sister in the corruption case that has weighed heavily on the royal family.","Kerry, Lavrov agree diplomatic solution needed. PARIS (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry says the United States and Russia agree on the need for a diplomatic solution for Ukraine.","Somali extremist threatens US, Kenya with attacks. MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) — Making a rare threat against the United States, a senior member of Somalia's Islamic insurgent group that has carried out terrorist attacks abroad said Thursday that holy war will come to America and that Islam's flag will one day fly over Washington.","Unhappy New Year: Winless so far in 2014, Canucks looking to right ship. VANCOUVER - The Vancouver Canucks had a December to remember.","Top Fidelity fund managers frowned on Valeant amid Botox bid. By Svea Herbst-Bayliss and Tim McLaughlin BOSTON (Reuters) - Two of Fidelity Investments' top stockpickers unloaded most of their holdings in Valeant Pharmaceuticals Inc after the drugmaker in April unveiled its bid for Botox maker Allergan Inc in what is one of 2014's most contentious takeovers. William Danoff, who runs the $106 billion Fidelity Contrafund , a staple in U.S. 401(k) plans, slashed his Valeant position by 83 percent to about 462,000 shares during a two-month period that ended June 30, fund disclosures show. Steven Wymer, who runs the $40 billion Fidelity Growth Company Fund , cut his position in Valeant by 58 percent to about 1.2 million shares in the one-month period that ended June 30, fund disclosures show.","China tells U.S. to reduce or halt 'close surveillance' patrols. China on Thursday urged the United States to cut back on, or even stop, its close surveillance of the Asian giant using patrol aircraft, if it seriously seeks to repair damaged bilateral ties. Ties between the world's two largest economies have been strained by competing territorial claims between China and its neighbors, some of them U.S. \"If the United States really hopes to avoid impacting bilateral relations, the best course of action is to reduce or halt close surveillance of China,\" Defense Ministry spokesman Yang Yujun said in a statement on the ministry's website.","Mali: 5 bodies discovered near military barracks. BAMAKO, Mali (AP) — Mali's top prosecutor says five bodies were discovered in two graves near a military barracks outside the capital.","Costa Rica-Greece going into extra time at 1-1. RECIFE, Brazil (AP) — Greece equalized in injury time to send its second-round game against Costa Rica into extra time at the World Cup after finishing 1-1 in regulation time.","Philippines signs military aircraft contracts for $528mn. The Philippines on Friday signed agreements to buy $528 million worth of military aircraft from South Korea and Canada amid ongoing territorial disputes with China. \"After more than four decades of stagnancy in its dream of improving its capability, our air force has found a promise of new life with the realisation of our (military) modernisation programme,\" Philippine Defence Secretary Voltaire Gazmin said. Korea Aerospace Industries will deliver 12 FA-50 jets worth 18.9 billion pesos ($421.12 million) in just over three years under a contract agreed by Philippine defence officials and South Korean government representatives. The Southeast Asian country also completed a 4.8 billion-peso contract with Canadian Commercial Corp. and Canada's Bell Helicopters to build eight helicopters for the military.","New objects spotted in Malaysia jet search: Australia PM. SYDNEY (Reuters) - An Australian aircraft scouring the southern Indian Ocean for signs of a Malaysia Airlines jet missing for more than two weeks has spotted two new objects, Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said on Monday. Abbott told parliament an Australian naval vessel was near where the objects, one circular and greenish grey in color and the second orange and rectangular, had been seen and hoped to be able to recover them soon. A Chinese search aircraft earlier reported seeing several different objects but a U.S. navy aircraft failed to find them. ...","UN tells Syria to hurry on chem. weapons disposal. UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N. Security Council is calling on Syria to speed up the removal of the most harmful chemical agents from the country for destruction.","Russian parliament curbs media's foreign ownership. MOSCOW (AP) — The lower house of Russian parliament on Friday approved a bill that would limit foreign ownership in Russian media to 20 percent amid a severe strain in Russia-West ties regarding Ukraine.","Putin says Russia will not retaliate further to US sanctions. MOSCOW (AP) — Putin says Russia will not retaliate further to US sanctions.","Leverkusen wins 1-0 at 'Gladbach in Bundesliga. BERLIN (AP) — Son Heung-min's second half strike was enough for Bayer Leverkusen to win 1-0 at Borussia Moenchengladbach and consolidate second place in the Bundesliga on Friday.","Last words from missing Malaysian jet spoken by co-pilot. The last words from a Malaysian passenger jet missing for 10 days were apparently spoken by the co-pilot, the airline said Monday, providing a glimpse into the crucial period when the plane was deliberately diverted. Clarification that the voice was most likely that of First Officer Fariq Abdul Hamid came during a press conference at which Malaysian officials hit back at \"irresponsible\" suggestions that they had misled the public -- and passengers' relatives -- over what happened to Malaysia Airlines Flight 370. Captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah and Fariq, his co-pilot, have become a primary focus of the investigation, with one of the key questions being who was in control of the aircraft when it veered off course about an hour into its flight to Beijing.","Rugby Union - Decisive Springboks penalty was fair, says Hansen. - New Zealand coach Steve Hansen said that the late penalty awarded to South Africa which cost his team a 22-match unbeaten record was a fair decision.","Syria peace talks take a break as rivals dig in. By Khaled Yacoub Oweis and Stephanie Nebehay GENEVA (Reuters) - A first round of peace talks on Syria wraps up Friday with both sides in entrenched positions and the U.N. mediator expressing frustration that it had not even been possible to get agreement for an aid convoy to enter the besieged city of Homs. After a week of talks at the United Nations headquarters in Geneva, the opposing sides in Syria's civil war were still stuck on the question of how to proceed. \"I hope that in the next session, when we come back, we will be able to have a more structured discussion,\" mediator Lakhdar Brahimi said. He was \"very, very disappointed\" that a U.N. aid convoy was still waiting fruitlessly to enter the rebel-held Old City of Homs, where the United States says civilians are starving.","VENICE WATCH: Fest supports imprisoned filmmakers. VENICE, Italy (AP) — VENICE, Italy — The Venice Film Festival is bringing 11 days of red-carpet premieres, innovative movies and Hollywood glamour to the Italian city. Here's what has been catching the eye of The Associated Press:","Fresh C.Africa violence puts new president to the test. Bangui (Central African Republic) (AFP) - Fresh Christian-Muslim violence has erupted in the Central African Republic, forcing new interim president Catherine Samba Panza to take time out Saturday from talks on forming a government tasked with ending the bloodshed. Residents said a night of fighting had shaken the capital, Bangui, following news that Christian vigilantes had killed a prominent Muslim politician Friday -- putting Samba Panza, the crisis-torn country's first woman president, to the test even before she has had a chance to choose her ministers. Aides said Samba Panza, the former Bangui mayor picked by the interim parliament to try to get the beleaguered state back on its feet, had been forced to take a break from talks on her cabinet to devote part of her day to security issues. The new violence broke out after members of a so-called \"anti-balaka\" -- Christian militia formed in response to a wave of atrocities by mostly Muslim rebel group Seleka -- reportedly killed Joseph Kalite, a Muslim ex-minister who had held cabinet posts in various governments.","Biden meets leaders on Cyprus unity, Russia sanctions. US Vice President Joe Bidens met Cyprus leaders Thursday to spur talks on ending their island's 40-year division and seek support for threatened sanctions against Russia. After talks with President Nicos Anastasiades, the Greek Cypriot leader, and Turkish Cypriot counterpart Dervis Eroglu, Biden cautioned against overstating the role of the United States in reunification efforts. Biden first held talks with Anastasiades, who has overseen an improvement in Washington-Nicosia ties since he took office last year after decades of Greek Cypriot distrust of the United States, a close ally of Turkey.","Ghana cholera outbreak at 'staggering' level. A cholera outbreak in Ghana's capital has reached \"staggering\" levels, an official said Friday, blaming poor sanitation and overcrowded health facilities for the rapid spread of the disease. Cholera has killed more than 40 people in Accra since June and infected 3,100 others, according to the Ghana Health Service. While the sprawling city has been hit by cholera before, the director of health services for the greater Accra region, Linda Van Otoo, said the current outbreak was \"staggering\". Otoo puts the blame for the outbreak on poor sanitation in Accra's more impoverished districts.","Israeli troops kills Palestinian in West Bank. RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) — A spokesman for the Palestinian Red Crescent says Israeli troops shot and killed a man in the West Bank. The military says the man attacked an army post.","The thorny issue of Valentine's Day rose pricing. If anyone knows a thing or two about buying roses, it's John Sullivan, a man who's given his wife Sally roses on every Valentine's Day for more than 40 years. He has tried grocery store flowers and online sellers and has avoided higher-end florists to keep costs under control. Indeed, red roses will be a hot commodity, come February 14. Growers, largely from Ecuador, Mexico and Columbia, scramble to meet enormous demand ahead of Valentine's Day, setting in motion an upward price push that impacts most modern-day Cupids.","N. Korean military defends missile tests. North Korea on Wednesday defended a recent series of missile and rocket tests as justifiable self-defence drills and hit back at \"vicious\" criticism of them by Seoul and Washington. The tests were largely seen as a calculated display of military muscle-flexing to reflect the North's anger over ongoing South Korea-US military exercises. In a statement carried by the North's official KCNA news agency, a Korean People's Army (KPA) spokesman said the tests -- which violated UN sanctions banning any ballistic missile test by Pyongyang -- were \"ordinary military practice\".","China plan to cap CO2 emissions seen turning point in climate talks. By Kathy Chen and Stian Reklev BEIJING (Reuters) - China will set an absolute cap on its CO2 emissions from 2016, a senior government adviser said on Monday, a day after the United States announced new targets for its power sector, signaling a potential breakthrough in tough U.N. climate talks. Progress in global climate negotiations has often been held back by a deep split between rich and poor nations, led by the United States and China, respectively, over who should step up their game to reduce emissions. The steps come ahead of a global meet on climate change starting on Wednesday in Germany. China, the world's biggest emitter, will set a total cap on its CO2 emissions when its next five-year plan comes into force in 2016, He Jiankun, chairman of China's Advisory Committee on Climate Change, told a conference in Beijing.","Malaysia Airlines to trim staff, routes under reform plan. Kuala Lumpur (AFP) - Malaysia Airlines will slash staff, trim routes, replace its CEO and consider possible strategic stake sales to outside investors under plans announced Friday to save the carrier from bankruptcy after two devastating disasters.","Russian food safety regulator shuts fifth McDonald's restaurant. Russia's food safety watchdog has ordered the temporary closure of one of McDonald's restaurants in Yekaterinburg in the Urals region, the fifth such closure in recent weeks, the fast food chain said on Tuesday. The restaurant was closed as a result of mass unscheduled inspections by Rospotrebnadzor, the regulator, a spokeswoman for McDonald's in Russia said. The state watchdog agency previously closed three McDonald's restaurants in Moscow and one in Stavropol and unveiled sweeping checks at its outlets across the country. Rospotrebnadzor was not immediately available for comment.","Image of Asia: Training to stop street harassment. In this photo by Saurabh Das, female police cadets undergo martial arts training at an institute in New Delhi. The cadets will undergo rigorous training for up to three years and then train other female cadets who will be deployed in sensitive parts of the Indian capital to prevent eve teasing, or street harassment of women, as well as molestation and other crimes. Tuesday is the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women.","Dutch aim to ease Saudi anger over Islam message. THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — The Dutch foreign minister says he may fly to Saudi Arabia in a bid to ease anger in Riyadh over anti-Islam messages distributed by firebrand lawmaker Geert Wilders.","At least 25 trapped in mine landslide in Nicaragua. MANAGUA, Nicaragua (AP) — Rescuers are working to reach at least 25 miners trapped in a gold mine landslide in northern Nicaragua.","Falcao wants to make loan at United permanent. MANCHESTER, England (AP) — Radamel Falcao says he wants to play for Manchester United \"for many years\" after joining on a season-long loan from Monaco.","Ukraine's president calls on country to resist panic in wake of Russian forces' entry. KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine's president calls on country to resist panic in wake of Russian forces' entry.","Chinese art colony's free-speech illusion shatters. BEIJING (AP) — Just a few weeks ago, oil painters in eastern Beijing's Songzhuang art district had welcomed foreign reporters into their studios and shown off works tackling such touchy subjects as China's prisons and Communist Party politics. Over lunch, they candidly lamented the state of free speech in China while chewing on chicken and downing glasses of beer.","Israeli soldier suspended after fatal West Bank shootings: reports. Israel has suspended a soldier in the fatal shootings of two Palestinian teenagers at a protest held on May 15 in the occupied West Bank, Israeli media reported on Wednesday. The incident stirred an outcry after a human rights group released video footage it said showed the youths had not posed any danger to soldiers and they were shot unlawfully. The killings took place as protests erupted across the West Bank on Nakba Day, when the Palestinians mark the loss of the 1948 war that resulted in the creation of Israel and the flight of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians. Muhammad Abu Thahr and Nadim Nuwara had both been shot in the heart, Palestinian hospital officials said, giving their ages as 16 and 17.","Obama's emissions plan could boost climate talks. BRUSSELS (AP) — President Barack Obama's new climate change program may be derided by some activists as too modest, but it could still turn into a significant leap if it results in a worldwide agreement that includes China.","US clears Kuwaiti for release from Guantanamo. WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States has cleared the release of a Kuwaiti man held at the U.S. military prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, for more than 12 years because of his suspected links to terrorism.","IPOs boost London Stock Exchange revenues. A boom in stock market flotations helped boost revenues for the London Stock Exchange Group by a fifth in the first quarter of its financial year, the LSE said on Wednesday. Revenues surged by 20 percent to £299.9 million ($514 million, 280 million euros) in the three months to the end of June, compared with a year earlier, LSEG said in a results statement. The LSEG's capital markets division posted a particularly strong performance, with revenue up 16 percent, the operator of Britain's main exchange and Italy's Borsa Italiana said. \"We have made good progress in the first quarter, delivering a strong financial performance,\" said Chief Executive Xavier Rolet in the earnings release.","Hurricane Gonzalo's damages in Bermuda estimated at up to $200 million. By Barbara Liston (Reuters) - Hurricane Gonzalo caused between $200 million and $400 million in insured losses over the weekend on Bermuda, according to an estimate by AIR Worldwide, a Boston-based catastrophe modeling company. The large eye of the storm containing calm air passed directly over the tiny island chain of 65,000 inhabitants on Friday, reducing the time the British territory was exposed to hurricane-force winds and limiting potential damage, AIR said in its estimate, which was released late Wednesday. ...","Stick-wielding protesters torch stalls near Lonmin's South Africa mine. MARIKANA, South Africa (Reuters) - About 1,000 stick-wielding protesters torched roadside vegetable stalls as they marched near Lonmin's Marikana mine in South Africa on Tuesday, according to a Reuters reporter at the scene. Thousands of striking miners in platinum belt are expected to return to work this week, in defiance of orders from their union leaders amid worries that those who return could be attacked. (Reporting by Zandi Shabalala; writing by Tiisetso Motsoeneng; editing by David Dolan)","China's popular TV journalist taken by prosecutors. BEIJING (AP) — A Chinese financial magazine says a top business reporter for the state broadcaster has been taken away by prosecutors, less than two months after his boss was detained on suspicion of taking bribes.","Croatia extradites ex-spy to Germany. BERLIN (AP) — A former top spy in Yugoslavia's feared secret service has been extradited to Germany, where he is wanted in connection with murder of a political dissident 31 years ago.","Brandao scores again as Saint-Etienne beats Bastia. PARIS (AP) — Brazilian striker Brandao's second goal in as many games helped Saint-Etienne win 2-0 at Bastia and move provisionally into third place ahead of Lille in the French league on Saturday.","Italy's Renzi expects government in place by Monday. By Roberto Landucci ROME (Reuters) - Italian Prime Minister-designate Matteo Renzi said he expected his new government to be in place in time for a formal vote of confidence in parliament on Monday, after he wrapped up consultations with the main political parties. \"I'm convinced that the conditions are in place to do good work,\" Renzi told reporters on Wednesday after completing talks with parliamentary groups. He said he expected to give President Giorgio Napolitano his formal acceptance of the mandate to form a government on Saturday, when he is likely to present his cabinet. Renzi, who met Bank of Italy governor Ignazio Visco after his meetings with the parties, said he planned to spend Thursday working on a policy document and would continue to work on naming his future ministers.","Syria's Assad signs new visa law for Arabs. Syria's President Bashar al-Assad has signed a new law regulating the entry of Arabs and foreigners into the war-torn country, newspapers said Wednesday. \"Any person entering or leaving Syria must have a valid passport or document... with a visa issued by one of our diplomatic missions or consulates abroad,\" reads the text, approved by parliament. Those exempt from the visa requirement are countries with bilateral agreements with Syria, such as Lebanon, and citizens of states with \"international treaties\" with Damascus, such as Iran. Before the law was passed, travellers from all Arab countries, as well as Turkey and Iran, could enter Syria without a visa.","Kashima beats Gamba to maintain lead in J-League. OSAKA, Japan (AP) — Brazilians Davi and Caio scored as Kashima Antlers beat Gamba Osaka 2-0 Sunday to maintain its lead in the J-League.","US warns risk of 'all-out civil war' rising in South Sudan, a country America helped create. WASHINGTON - The top U.S. diplomat for Africa says the risk of an all-out civil war in South Sudan is growing with each additional day of violence.","Activists: Rebel infighting in Syria kills 24. BEIRUT (AP) — Activists say fierce infighting between rival Islamic rebel groups in northeastern Syria along the border with Iraq has killed at least 24 fighters.","UN poised to slap sanctions on former Yemen strongman Saleh. The UN Security Council is poised to impose sanctions on Yemen's former president Ali Abdullah Saleh and two Huthi rebel leaders for obstructing peace in the country, diplomats said Tuesday. A US-drafted proposal to the council would slap a visa ban and an assets freeze on Saleh and two of his allies, Shiite Huthi rebel commanders Abd al-Khaliq al-Huthi and Abdullah Yahya al-Hakim. Saleh served as Yemen's first president after unification in 1990 before being forced to step down in February 2012 under a regional peace plan. The fighting has raised fears that Yemen -- which neighbors oil kingpin Saudi Arabia and lies on the key shipping route from the Suez Canal to the Gulf -- may collapse into a failed state.","Urawa beats Niigata to keep J-League lead. SAITAMA, Japan (AP) — Urawa Reds stayed in first place with a 1-0 win over Albirex Niigata on Saturday as the J-League resumed after a two-month break for the World Cup.","Bangladeshis use sponges to clean oil spill threatening dolphins. Bangladeshi villagers using sponges, shovels and even spoons worked Friday to clean up a huge oil spill in a protected area that is home to rare dolphins, after environmentalists warned of an ecological \"catastrophe\". Thousands of litres of oil have spilt into the protected Sundarbans mangrove area, home to rare Irrawaddy and Ganges dolphins, after a tanker collided with another vessel on Tuesday. The government has sent a ship carrying oil dispersants to the area, which is inside one of three sanctuaries set up for the dolphins.","Puerto Rico seizes pink spider, 250 other animals. SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Authorities in Puerto Rico have seized some 250 exotic animals they say were bound to be sold illegally on the island.","Rising tennis star Bouchard ready to lead Canada against Serbia in Fed Cup. MONTREAL - A recharged Eugenie Bouchard, fresh off her stunning run to the Australian Open's final four, says she's ready to lead the Canadian team against Serbia at this weekend's Federation Cup.","Donors delay some aid to Tanzania over graft claims. By Fumbuka Ng'wanakilala DAR ES SALAAM (Reuters) - A group of 12 international donors have delayed budget support for Tanzania until findings of an investigation into charges of corruption in the energy sector are released and appropriate action taken, a leading donor said. Tanzania has made big discoveries of natural gas, but its energy industry has been dogged by allegations of corruption in the past. Businesses have long complained graft is one of the main reasons for the high cost of doing business in Tanzania. ...","Nike gives up sponsorship of Manchester United. US sporting goods giant Nike said Tuesday that it will give up it clothing and footgear contract with football giants Manchester United after next season. Nike, which has sponsored the iconic British team since 2002, walked away from the bargaining table after German rival Adidas reportedly agreed to more than double Nike's current contract. \"Manchester United is a great club with passionate fans,\" Nike said in a statement. Nike had reportedly been prepared to offer $600 million over 10 years.","19 swimmers drown off Pakistan beaches. KARACHI, Pakistan (AP) — Rescuers say at least 19 people have drowned off southern Pakistan beaches because of heavy waves and strong currents.","Colombia government, FARC rebels to renew peace talks. HAVANA (Reuters) - The Colombian government and leftist rebels will renew peace talks this month, officials from guarantor nations Cuba and Norway said on Wednesday. Colombia had suspended the two-year-old peace talks taking place in Cuba while the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) had captured an army general, Ruben Dario Alzate. The rebels freed Alzate on Sunday after holding him for two weeks. (Reporting by Daniel Trotta, editing by G Crosse)","Balotelli: 'I don't want stardom, I want the Cup'. RECIFE, Brazil (AP) — Mario Balotelli couldn't care less if he's mentioned in the same breath as Neymar or Lionel Messi at this World Cup — as long as he comes away with the trophy.","One million people wounded, diseases spreading in Syria: WHO. By Oliver Holmes BEIRUT (Reuters) - One million people have been wounded during Syria's civil war and diseases are spreading as regular supplies of medicine fail to reach patients, the World Health Organization's Syria representative said. A plunge in vaccination rates from 90 percent before the war to 52 percent this year and contaminated water have added to the woes, allowing typhoid and hepatitis to advance, Elizabeth Hoff said in an interview late on Thursday. ...","Aguero consigns United to worst start in 28 years. MANCHESTER, England (AP) — Sergio Aguero kept Manchester City in range of Premier League leader Chelsea with a second-half derby winner on Sunday that consigned Manchester United to its worst 10-game start to a season in nearly 30 years.","Yemen's president warns rebels over show of force. SANAA, Yemen (AP) — Yemen's president on Wednesday warned armed Shiite rebels leading mass protests in the country's capital that the United States and other world powers oppose the \"rebellion\" and the show of force by the group.","Iraq parliament fails to approve defense, interior minister nominees: state TV. BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq's parliament failed to approve Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi's candidates for defense and interior ministers in a vote on Tuesday, according to a parliament source and state television. The men - Riad al-Ghareeb nominated as interior minister and Jaber al-Jaberi as defense minister - did not get the needed majority vote, the source said. Officials said parliament would vote again on filling the posts on Thursday. (Reporting By Ned Parker; Editing by Andrew Heavens)","Leftist candidate starts campaign to replace Ford. TORONTO (AP) — A left-leaning politician popular in liberal downtown Toronto kicked off her campaign to replace Rob Ford on Thursday, setting up a showdown with the conservative mayor who vows his support in the suburbs will carry him to re-election victory despite the drug scandal engulfing him.","Indonesia's Prabowo faces uncertain fate in opposition. By Kanupriya Kapoor and Jonathan Thatcher JAKARTA (Reuters) - After spending a decade, and a chunk of the family fortune, in trying to become Indonesia's president, an outraged Prabowo Subianto watched as leadership of the world's third-largest democracy slipped through his fingers this week. Prabowo, 62, is planning to go to the Constitutional Court over what he alleges was massive fraud during the July 9 presidential election that saw his rival, Jakarta governor Joko Widodo, win by a slim margin.","Hamas media war targets Israelis and Palestinians. The music video opens with Palestinian Hamas fighters in fatigues building, transporting and then firing rockets at Israel -- but the triumphant lyrics are being sung in Hebrew, not Arabic. \"A (nation) state of weakness and illusion can't hold out during wars,\" it continues, referring to Israel. The five-minute video is part of a slick propaganda programme designed by Hamas and its armed Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades wing. The programme is intended both to rally divided domestic Palestinian opinion behind the group during its current conflict with Israel, but also to address the Israeli public directly.","U.S., German views on spying differ but still firm allies: Merkel. German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Friday that Germany and the United States had differing views on data protection after new allegations of U.S. spying emerged this month but added that the partnership with America was nonetheless very important. \"We have different opinions on an area of cooperation between our services and also on the issue of security and protection of personal data, but that doesn't change the fact that the U.S. is our most important ally,\" she said at a news conference in Berlin.","Italy's 5-Star Movement makes first overture to PM Renzi. Italy's anti-establishment party, 5-Star Movement, said it was willing to drop its opposition to working with Prime Minister Matteo Renzi over electoral reforms if its own proposals are considered. The 5-Star Movement (M5S), led by former comic Beppe Grillo, had rebuffed repeated calls to work with other parties to reach a broad-based agreement on overhauling Italy's widely criticized electoral system. However, in a message posted on Grillo's blog, it said the situation had changed since Renzi's success in last month's European parliamentary elections, in which his center-left Democratic Party won a record 40.8 percent of the vote. The result had given Renzi, appointed prime minister following a party coup in February which deposed his predecessor Enrico Letta, a democratic legitimacy which he previously lacked, it said.","Suarez returns to Ajax with Barcelona. MADRID (AP) — After two defeats since Luis Suarez came into the team, Barcelona seeks to recover Wednesday when the Uruguayan striker returns to Amsterdam to face former club Ajax in a Group F fixture in the Champions League.","China ships depart for naval drill with US, others. BEIJING (AP) — A Chinese naval squadron has left port to take part for the first time in the world's largest naval exercises hosted by the U.S. off of Hawaii.","Insight: Deadly GM ignition switches started with 2003 Saturn Ion. By Paul Lienert and Marilyn Thompson DETROIT/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The 2003 Saturn Ion was supposed to be a pivotal car for General Motors Co. Instead, it came to represent the compromises and corner cutting that almost destroyed GM and now find the company in a global recall of some of its most popular models. The Ion debuted two years before the Chevy Cobalt, the model most associated with the current recall of 2.6 million vehicles, and it was the first car with the defective ignition switch linked to at least 13 deaths, when engines turned off, disabling airbags. Priced from $12,000, it was the automaker's answer to the class-leading Toyota Corolla and Honda Civic, a small car that could finally be built at a profit to GM, which at the time was losing up to $2,000 on every compact it sold. The all-new Ion was to be a standard bearer for GM's import-fighting Saturn brand, as well as the advance guard for a new family of compacts, code-named \"Delta,\" that eventually would include the 2005 Cobalt.","SOCHI SCENE: Shiffrin had Russian help. SOCHI, Russia (AP) — When American skier Mikaela Shiffrin became the youngest winner of an Olympic slalom, she had plenty of people to thank.","French court rules Kazakh dissident should be extradited. AIX-EN-PROVENCE, France (Reuters) - Dissident Kazakh Mukhtar Ablyazov, accused of embezzling up to $6 billion from his former bank BTA, should be extradited from France to Ukraine or Russian, a French court ruled on Thursday. Ablyazov, 50, who had been in hiding since being sentenced to prison for contempt of court by an English judge 18 months ago, was arrested near the Riviera resort of Cannes last July and has been in custody since. Kazakhstan, which wants to put him on trial, has no extradition treaty with France. However, both Ukraine and Russia have requested his extradition.","UEFA, Europol team up to fight match-fixing. NYON, Switzerland (AP) — UEFA has signed a working agreement with Europol, which says it is involved in nine investigations of organized crime syndicates linked to match-fixing.","D-Day anniversary events around US and abroad. Friday is the 70th anniversary of the D-Day landings of Allied troops in Normandy, the largest amphibious invasion in history and a turning point in World War II. Here are some of the events planned around the United States and in France:","Soccer-Injured striker Juric ruled out of Australian friendlies. SYDNEY, Oct 3 (Reuters) - Western Sydney Wanderers striker Tomi Juric has been left out of the Australian squad for friendly matches against fellow Asian Cup finalists Qatar and the United Arab Emirates next month because of a groin injury. The front man suffered the problem in the lead up to the Wanderers' 2-0 win over FC Seoul in the AFC Champions League semi-final on Wednesday and although the injury was not thought to be serious, Socceroos coach Ange Postecoglou opted against risking him for the Middle East double header. ...","Kobane clashes kill 100 IS jihadists in three days: monitor. At least 100 jihadists from the Islamic State group have been killed in three days of fighting for the strategic Syrian border town of Kobane, a monitor said on Saturday. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the deaths brought the total number of IS fighters killed in the ground battle for Kobane to 576 since clashes there began on September 16. \"Over the last three days, at least 100 members of the Islamic State and its religious police have been killed... in Kobane and its surroundings,\" the Britain-based group said. It said the IS members had come from Aleppo and Raqa provinces to take part in the battle for the town, which is being defended by members of the Kurdish People's Protection Units, or YPG.","Messi back to old self under new Barcelona coach. BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Bad World Cup memories be gone. Lionel Messi is back to his match-winning self.","Lithuania accuses Russian diplomat of spying. Lithuania's domestic intelligence department on Monday accused a Russian diplomat of spying, saying he had sought to gain access to classified information during the Baltic state's presidency of the European Union last year. The accusation was made at a time of increasing tension between the two countries as Lithuania nervously watches its former overlord asserting itself in Ukraine. In its report for 2013, Lithuania's state security department said the diplomat had sought to recruit a Lithuanian civil servant to obtain \"secret and otherwise sensitive information\" about Lithuania's EU presidency. Russian embassy spokesman Aleksandr Ivanov said the mission's policy was to not comment on reports of the state security department.","Malaysian police: Jet mystery may never be solved. KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — A police investigation may never determine the reason why the Malaysia Airlines jetliner disappeared, and search planes scouring the India Ocean for any sign of its wreckage aren't certain to find anything either, officials said Wednesday.","Kerry opens door to extended talks for Israeli-Palestinian deal. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry acknowledged on Wednesday he hopes at best to get Israel and the Palestinians to agree on a \"framework\" for a peace agreement by April 29, but that a final deal could take another nine months or more. Kerry brought the two sides back into negotiations on July 29 after a three-year gap and, at the time, said that \"Our objective will be to achieve a final status agreement over the course of the next nine months.\" As that deadline has approached, U.S. officials appear to have scaled back their ambitions, saying they are trying to forge a \"framework for negotiations\" as a first step though they still hope to hammer out a full agreement by April 29. \"We are trying to get the framework ... If we have used these seven months thus far to get an understanding of where the parties are and to be able to shape the final negotiation, then we get into the final negotiation,\" Kerry added. \"So I don't think anybody would worry if there's another nine months, or whatever it's going to be, to finish up but that's not defined yet,\" he said.","Pyeongchang ready to take the Olympic baton. SOCHI, Russia (AP) — Even before the Sochi Games come to a close, organizers of the next Winter Olympics are promising to do them Gangwon style.","Minister says Capello to be paid 'by end of year'. MOSCOW (AP) — Russian Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko says national football team coach Fabio Capello, who has gone unpaid since June, is likely to get his back pay in full next month.","Apple to buy Beats for about $3 billion. (Reuters) - Apple Inc said it would buy headphone maker Beats Electronics and streaming music provider Beats Music for about $3 billion. Beats co-founders Jimmy Iovine and rapper Dr. Dre will join Apple as part of the acquisition. The transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter, Apple said on Wednesday. (Reporting by Avik Das in Bangalore; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila)","Nudge or shove? TV fracas ignites Swedish election campaign. By Alistair Scrutton STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - It was a nudge - or an aggressive shove, depending on your politics. But it has polarized an otherwise understated campaign for Sunday's election in Sweden. With questions being raised about election favorite Stefan Lofven's statesmanship, his TV debate clash with Enterprise Minister Annie Loof could not have come at a worse time. Centre party leader Loof, 31, walked over to Social Democrat Lofven, 57, to hand him a paper on energy in a political stunt. ...","Sanofi 2nd quarter profit surges. PARIS (AP) — French drug maker Sanofi said Thursday its earnings soared in the second quarter thanks to lower accounting charges than a year earlier, and the company lifted it full-year profit forecast.","UK scientists make body parts in lab. LONDON (AP) — In a north London hospital, scientists are growing noses, ears and blood vessels in the laboratory in a bold attempt to make body parts using stem cells.","Syria medical convoy seizures an 'abomination': UN aid official. A senior UN aid official accused the Syrian government on Friday of blockading medical supplies from convoys bound for opposition-held areas and called for a fresh international push to end the conflict. \\\\\"Medical supplies are being removed from convoys as part of a strategy to deny the wounded medical care. This is an abomination,\\\\\" John Ging, the UN director of Syria aid operations, told reporters in Geneva. \\\\\"It's the government of Syria who are either not authorising the free movement of all the medical supplies that need to move, or whose officials are removing from the convoys the medical supplies that they feel could be used to treat the war wounded.","Kerry: US wants Egypt to succeed as a democracy. WASHINGTON (AP) — Secretary of State John Kerry is asking Egypt's interim government to address recent \"disturbing\" developments in the country's judicial system and prove its commitment to democracy.","Teen killed on Israeli-held Golan: defence ministry. The teenage son of a contractor working for Israel's defence ministry was killed on the Golan Heights Sunday when a blast hit a car they were travelling in, the ministry said. \"A 15-year-old Israeli was killed, he was the son of a contractor,\" a ministry official told AFP, saying the boy was travelling in a car with his father and another contractor at the time. Both contractors were also injured in the incident, he said, without saying what caused it. A statement from the Israeli army confirmed that one civilian was killed and another two injured in the \"explosion of an Israeli vehicle\" on the ceasefire line.","NATO says arms supply to Ukraine up to individual allies. It is up to individual NATO members to decide whether to supply arms to Ukraine, which is battling an armed revolt by pro-Russian separatists, NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said on Thursday. \"NATO as an alliance is not involved in delivery of equipment because we do not possess military capabilities,\" Rasmussen told a news conference at a NATO summit. \"These are possessed by individual allies, so such decisions are national decisions and we are not going to interfere with that,\" Rasmussen said when asked if NATO would supply arms to Ukraine.","English manager fired over betting breaches. TRANMERE, England (AP) — English third-tier club Tranmere has fired its manager for breaching betting regulations.","Xi tells Obama to adopt 'fair' attitude on China's maritime disputes. Chinese President Xi Jinping told U.S. President Barack Obama on Monday that the United States should adopt a \"fair\" attitude on the East and South China Seas, where China is involved in a series of increasingly bitter territorial disputes. \"On the issues of the East and South China Sea, the U.S. side ought to adopt an objective and fair attitude, distinguish right from wrong, and do more to push for an appropriate resolution and improve the situation,\" state news agency Xinhua cited Xi as saying. China is in an often angry dispute with some of its neighbors, especially Vietnam and the Philippines, over claims to parts of the potentially oil and gas-rich South China Sea. China lays claim to almost the whole of the sea, which is criss-crossed by crucial shipping lanes.","Iranian diplomat seriously injured after attack in Yemen. Gunmen fired shots at a car belonging to the Iranian embassy near the ambassador's residence in Yemen's capital Sanaa on Saturday, seriously wounding a diplomat, security sources said. Arabic news channel Al Jazeera said a diplomat was killed, but security sources told Reuters he was in a serious condition after being injured. Iran is the leading Shi'ite Muslim power in the Middle East, and its diplomatic missions in the Arab world have occasionally been targeted as sectarian violence spreads in the region. Sectarian rivalry between Shi'ite Muslim Houthis and ultra-conservative Sunni Salafis has increased in northern Yemen in the last several months, with at least 210 people killed.","Chicago Arab leader in court on immigration case. DETROIT (AP) — A Chicago-area Arab leader accused of covering up her conviction in a fatal terrorist bombing in Jerusalem when she entered the U.S. is returning to court for the first time since a new Detroit judge was assigned to her case.","Van Gaal pondering change of system for Australia. RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Should you change a winning formula?","Kiev Protester ‘Crucified’ as Ukraine’s Crisis Gets Worse. On Thursday night, Dmitri Bulatov, one of the activists who has been leading the revolution in Ukraine, came stumbling out of the darkness toward the lights of a village just south of the nation’s capital, Kiev. The gruesome images of Bulatov, 35, soon spread through the media and social networks, further infuriating the thousands of protesters who have occupied the center of Kiev since late November. Several protesters have been killed during clashes with police, at least one from apparent gunshot wounds, and their faces have now become symbols of the uprising, plastered around the massive tent camp that has paralyzed the center of the capital. With the appearance of such martyrs, the stand-off in Kiev has grown increasingly intractable, while the pressure on President Viktor Yanukovych to resolve it keeps mounting from all sides.","Sonny Bill, Cruden to start for All Blacks against U.S.. WELLINGTON (Reuters) - Code-hopper Sonny Bill Williams and humbled flyhalf Aaron Cruden have been named in an experimental-looking New Zealand side to face the United States in their rugby test at Chicago's Soldier Field on Saturday. Williams, who was playing in Australia's National Rugby League last month before crossing codes again to try to make the All Blacks' World Cup squad, was named at his preferred inside centre position in the side to face the Eagles. ...","Obama tells fundraiser Russia is financing Ukraine rebels. U.S. President Barack Obama accused Russia on Tuesday of financing Ukraine rebels and said challenges overseas were causing anxiety among Americans at home. Obama made his remarks during a fundraiser for Democrats in Seattle. The president been criticized for proceeding with a series of fundraisers outside Washington despite the crises in Ukraine and the Middle East. While high-dollar donors sipped wine and ate finger food, Obama noted conflicts in Ukraine, Syria, Iraq, Israel and Gaza had created a sense of anxiety.","Vietnam, Philippines turn to sports in Spratlys. MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Vietnamese and Philippine naval forces played football, volleyball and tug of war Sunday in a rare display of camaraderie in a South China Sea island chain where territorial rifts with China have flared alarmingly.","7 aboard Atlantic City-bound plane killed in crash. BEDFORD, Massachusetts (AP) — All seven people aboard a private plane that crashed in a Massachusetts air field and erupted into a fireball were killed, authorities said Sunday.","Gaza power plant shuts down due to fuel shortage. The Gaza Strip's sole power station stopped generating electricity on Saturday, causing blackouts throughout the territory after it ran out of fuel, officials said. The power plant is one of the main sources of electricity for Gaza's 1.8 million people and without it, daily blackouts of around 12 hours are expected. Electricity is also received directly from Israel and Egypt. Gaza lacks much basic civil infrastructure and lives under an Egyptian-Israeli blockade meant to cut off arms flows but which also curbs imports of fuel and building supplies.","Another Sierra Leonean doctor infected with Ebola. FREETOWN, Sierra Leone (AP) — An official in the Health Ministry says another Sierra Leonean doctor has been infected with Ebola, yet another blow to his country's fragile health system.","Natural disaster costs down so far in 2014: Munich Re. Floods, storms and other natural disasters claimed more than 2,700 lives and caused around $42 billion in damage worldwide in the first half of 2014, but this was well below the first half of last year and a 10-year average, reinsurer Munich Re said on Wednesday. Storm \"Ela\", which hit parts of western Europe in early June, is expected to cost insurers about 1.8 billion euros ($2.5 billion), Munich Re said. \"Of course, it is good news that natural catastrophes have been relatively mild so far,\" Torsten Jeworrek, Munich Re's board member responsible for the global reinsurance business, said in a statement. \"But we should not forget that there has been no change in the overall risk situation.\" Munich Re's assessment echoed other warnings that it currently looked as though El Nino - a warming of sea temperatures in the Pacific Ocean - would develop in the autumn.","Icelandic officials say eruption near Bardarbunga. REYKJAVIK, Iceland (AP) — Iceland authorities say there's been a fissure eruption near Bardarbunga volcano, but no volcanic ash has been detected in the radar system.","800 babies buried in septic tank at Irish home for unmarried mothers. Almost 800 babies and children were buried in a mass grave in Ireland near a home for unmarried mothers run by nuns, according to new research Wednesday which throws more light on the Irish Catholic Church's troubled past. Death records suggest 796 children, from newborns to eight-year-olds, were deposited in a grave near a Catholic-run home for unmarried mothers during the 35 years it operated from 1925 to 1961. Historian Catherine Corless, who made the discovery, says her study of death records for the St Mary's home in Tuam in County Galway suggests that a former septic tank near the home was a mass grave.","Greek writers throw the book at austerity plan. ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Austerity policies in Greece have a new enemy — but it's one which prefers civilized debate to angry street demonstrations.","Suicide car bomber kills six soldiers in southern Yemen: source. ADEN, Yemen (Reuters) - A suicide car bomber killed six Yemeni soldiers in the restive southern Shabwa province on Sunday, a military source said, as government forces push ahead with an offensive to uproot al Qaeda militants from their strongholds. The source told Reuters that 20 soldiers were also wounded in the attack. (Reporting by Mohammed Mukhashaf; Writing by Yara Bayoumy; Editing by Sami Aboudi)","Hoefl-Riesch of Germany wins 2nd consecutive Olympic gold in super-combined. SOCHI, Russia - Different American, same result for Maria Hoefl-Riesch — another Olympic gold in the super-combined.","Iraq, Turkey vow to work together against IS group. BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraq's prime minister says his country and neighboring Turkey have agreed on closer security and intelligence cooperation in the face of the threat posed by the extremist Islamic State group.","Yemen Shiite militia shelling kills 15. At least 15 people, including five women, have been killed in shelling by a Yemeni Shiite militia targeting a mainly Sunni district, local officials and tribal sources said Friday. Yemen has been rocked by growing instability since the Shiite fighters, known as Huthis, seized control of the capital Sanaa in September. The Huthis have expanded their presence throughout the strife-torn nation in the face of fierce resistance from Sunni tribes backed by Al-Qaeda's powerful Yemeni branch. Heavy Huthi shelling of a northern district of the central town of Rada killed five women late Thursday and displaced thousands, witness Jaber al-Zuba told AFP by telephone.","Three Syrian journalists killed in missile attack: CPJ. BEIRUT (Reuters) - Three journalists from the Syrian opposition television channel Orient News were killed in the southwest of the country when a missile hit their vehicle, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said late on Tuesday. The U.S.-based media advocacy group said the journalists had been killed on Monday near Sheikh Meskin, a town at the center of a battle between Syrian government forces and insurgents in Deraa province. ...","Timeline of US involvement in Cuban hip-hop. A timeline of USAID involvement in the hip-hop scene in Cuba.","Smeekens leads after 1st heat in Olympic 500. SOCHI, Russia (AP) — Dutch skaters Jan Smeekens and Michel Mulder held the top two positions after Monday's first heat of the Olympic 500-meter competition.","Eritrean bishops criticise 'desolate' nation. Such outspoken views are rarely heard from inside Eritrea, ranked worst in the world for press freedom by the rights group Reporters Without Borders. \"There is no reason to search for a country of honey if you are in one,\" the letter in Eritrea's Tigrinya language read, according to a translation from the opposition website Awate.com. Eritrea's youth were leaving in search of \"peaceful countries, to countries of justice, of work, where one expresses himself loudly, a country where one works and earns,\" the letter added, signed by four bishops from the country's influential Coptic Orthodox Church. There was no immediate response from Eritrea's Ministry of Information.","Obama to make statement 12:45 pm EDT (1645 GMT): White House. EDGARTOWN Mass. (Reuters) - President Barack Obama will make a statement at 12:45 p.m. EDT (1645 GMT), the White House said on Wednesday. The statement is in reaction to a video showing the execution of an American journalist by Islamic State. (Reporting by Steve Holland and Mark Felsenthal in Washington; Editing by Jim Loney)","Forecasters: Norbert becomes hurricane in Pacific south of Mexico's Baja California peninsula. MIAMI (AP) — Forecasters: Norbert becomes hurricane in Pacific south of Mexico's Baja California peninsula.","Former deputy PM Groysman elected as speaker of Ukrainian parliament. KIEV (Reuters) - The Ukrainian parliament on Thursday elected former deputy prime minister Volodymyr Groysman to the powerful post of speaker. Under Ukrainian law, the speaker is the first to stand in for the president if the head of state is unable to fulfill his duties. (Reporting by Natalia Zinets; Writing by Alessandra Prentice; Editing by Alison Williams)","Syria carried out Iraq border strike on militants, PM tells BBC. Baghdad (AFP) - The Syrian air force carried out air strikes targeting militants along the Iraq-Syria border this week, Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki told the BBC on Thursday.","Two Venomous Jellies Discovered in Australia. Two new species of jellyfish have been discovered off the coast of Western Australia. These two newfound creatures are thought to pack painful stings that cause Irukandji syndrome, a constellation of symptoms that includes lower back pain, vomiting, difficulty breathing, cramps and spasms. Though Irukandji syndrome usually isn't life threatening, two people who were stung in the Great Barrier Reef in 2002 died from severe Irukandji-related hypertension. Previously, only two jellyfish species from Western Australia were known to cause Irukandji syndrome.","Japanese referee a candidate for World Cup final. RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — The Japanese referee who gave Brazil a controversial opening-day penalty is a candidate to handle the World Cup final.","U.S. agency ends Nevada cattle roundup, releases herd after stand-off. By Jennifer Dobner BUNKERVILLE, Nevada (Reuters) - U.S. officials ended a stand-off with hundreds of armed protesters in the Nevada desert on Saturday, calling off the government's roundup of cattle it said were illegally grazing on federal land and giving about 300 animals back to the rancher who owned them. The dispute less than 80 miles northeast of Las Vegas between rancher Cliven Bundy and the U.S. Bureau of Land Management had simmered for days. Bundy had stopped paying fees for grazing his cattle on the government land and officials said he had ignored court orders. The bureau had called in a team of armed rangers to Nevada to seize the 1,000 head of cattle on Saturday but backed down in the interests of safety.","In UN speech, Argentina remains defiant on debt. UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Argentina's economy minister is telling a sympathetic audience of U.N. nations that his country risks plunging into another financial crisis if it complies with a U.S. court order to pay $1.5 billion in debts.","CalPERS urges judge to reject settlement in HP/Autonomy case. SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - The California Public Employees' Retirement System has asked a U.S. judge to reject a proposed settlement between Hewlett-Packard Co and shareholders over the computing giant's botched acquisition of Autonomy Plc. In a letter to U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer dated Tuesday, CalPERS said the proposed civil settlement would leave shareholders \"in the dark\" on the amount of fees plaintiff attorneys would recover. HP announced a $8. ...","British ski instructor on trial in France in landmark case. Grenoble (France) (AFP) - A British ski instructor who was arrested in one of France's poshest ski resorts for flouting local labour laws goes on trial Monday in a landmark case that has spawned accusations of protectionism. The case against 51-year-old Simon Butler goes to the heart of Europe's labour laws and has sparked outrage in his native country. Despite having the highest-rated British ski instructor's licence, Butler is for French authorities a repeat offender who stubbornly refuses to obtain the required qualifications despite repeated convictions and fines. Under French law, foreign instructors have to pass the Eurotest, an integral part of the training of ski instructors in France, Italy, Germany, Spain, Austria and Britain.","GM recalls 316,000 vehicles because of malfunctioning headlights. DETROIT (Reuters) - General Motors Co will recall 316,357 SUVs and sedans, mainly in North America, because the low-beam headlights can stop working, the company said on Monday. Affected vehicles are the model years 2006-2009 Buick LaCrosse sedans; 2006-2007 Chevrolet Trailblazer, GMC Envoy and Buick Rainier SUVs; and 2006-2008 Saab 9-7X and Isuzu Ascender SUVs. GM said it has not been able to confirm whether the loss of lights has caused any accidents. ...","Indian diplomat accused of lying about housekeeper's wages is indicted in NY, leaves US. NEW YORK, N.Y. - An Indian diplomat accused of lying about how much she paid her housekeeper has been indicted in New York City.","Abbas: US has presented no framework for Mideast peace. Bethlehem (Palestinian Territories) (AFP) - Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas said Thursday that the US had yet to present a framework for a Middle East peace deal, as a deadline ending nine months of negotiations loomed. \"Until now, we haven't received the framework agreement we were promised,\" Abbas said at news conference with British Prime Minister David Cameron in the West Bank city of Bethlehem. Israel and the Palestinians have been locked in talks that US Secretary of State John Kerry fought hard to kick-start in July after a three-year hiatus, but the negotiations have faltered over key issues. The negotiations are set to end on April 29, by which date Kerry hopes to have put a framework agreement in place so the two sides can extend their negotiations to work towards a final peace deal.","Algeria seeks first ever place in 2nd round. CURITIBA, Brazil (AP) — Thirty two years on from one of the most controversial moments in World Cup history, Algeria finally has a real opportunity to reach the second round of the World Cup for the first time.","Injured son of slain AFP reporter makes progress: doctors. The only surviving child of Sardar Ahmad, the AFP reporter who was killed with his family in an attack on a Kabul hotel, is showing signs of improvement in hospital, doctors said Monday. Ahmad's youngest son, Abuzar, aged two years and 10 months, received a bullet fragment in the head and other wounds to the body when four gunmen opened fire in the luxury Serena hotel in the Afghan capital on Thursday evening. \"Abuzar is still alive because he was brought very quickly to the hospital,\" Luca Radaelli, medical coordinator at the Italian-run Emergency Hospital, told AFP.","Ukraine to launch 'full clean-out' of corrupt officials. By Richard Balmforth and Natalia Zinets KIEV (Reuters) - Ukraine will soon begin mass firings of state officials who served under disgraced Moscow-backed leader Viktor Yanukovich and feathered their nests through corruption, the government said on Friday. Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk, with an eye to a Oct. 26 parliamentary election that Ukraine's pro-Western leaders hope will turn a new page in the country's murky post-independence history, unveiled plans for a \"full clean-out\" of government, law enforcement, the courts and state security. ...","Lawmakers, green groups weigh in on Keystone XL delay. (Reuters) - The Obama administration said on Friday it would extend the period of time for federal agencies to weigh in on the Keystone XL oil pipeline, giving no new deadline. The move, which likely delays a final decision beyond November mid-term elections, angered Republican and some Democrat lawmakers who have urged President Barack Obama to make the final decision on TransCanada's project after more than five years of government reviews. Here is a selection of key comments from various groups: LAWMAKERS: Mitch McConnell, Republican leader in the Senate: \"It is crystal clear that the Obama administration is simply not serious about American energy and American jobs. At a time of high unemployment in the Obama economy, it's a shame that the administration has delayed the construction of the Keystone XL pipeline for years.","Putin strengthens ties with Georgia breakaway region; Tbilisi protests. SOCHI, Russia (Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin signed a \"strategic partnership\" agreement with Georgia's breakaway region of Abkhazia on Monday, angering Tbilisi, which said Moscow was looking to annex the territory. Russia and Georgia fought a war in 2008 over Abkhazia and a twin region of South Ossetia, provoking the worst crisis between Moscow and the West since the fall of the Soviet Union. ...","Russia: Reserve the right to intervene in Ukraine. MOSCOW (AP) — Russia has warned again that it reserves the right to intervene in defense of ethnic Russians it says are under threat in eastern Ukraine.","Mexico to draw line on vigilantes. MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexican authorities have finally served notice to vigilantes fighting a drug cartel in western Michoacan state that their illegal tactics will no longer be allowed.","Lebanon takes steps to guard against entry of Ebola. With 20,000 citizens living in three countries affected by an Ebola outbreak, Lebanon is taking a series of measures to prevent the virus reaching its shores, government officials said Friday. Health Minister Wael Abu Faour, during a tour of Beirut airport, said the ministry \"has asked all airlines, particularly those bringing people from Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia, to inform Lebanese authorities about anyone displaying suspicious symptoms.\" Nearly 12,000 Lebanese citizens live in Sierra Leone, with another 6,500 in Liberia and 3,500 in Guinea, the three African nations worst affected by the Ebola outbreak that has killed nearly 730 people so far.","Obama, Abe under pressure to salvage signature Pacific trade pact. By Krista Hughes and Linda Sieg WASHINGTON/TOKYO (Reuters) - A meeting between U.S. President Barack Obama and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe this week in Tokyo may not seal one of the world's biggest trade pacts, but it could give it a much-needed boost. A central element of Obama's strategic shift towards Asia, the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) would connect a dozen Asia-Pacific economies by eliminating trade barriers and harmonizing regulations in a pact covering two-fifths of the world economy and a third of all global trade. After four years of talks and missed deadlines, negotiators from several TPP countries say they hope Thursday's summit will lay the groundwork for tough concessions, including a possible easing in Japan's protectionist stance on beef, sugar, dairy and wheat — a step that could breathe into the struggling TPP. \"Hopefully this will provide some clarity about the level of ambition we can expect in a hopefully successful TPP,\" New Zealand Trade Minister Tim Groser said.","Belarus' Lukashenko appoints chief of staff as new prime minister. MINSK (Reuters) - Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko has appointed Andrey Kobyakov, his chief of staff, as the new prime minister, dismissing the previous prime minister, central bank head and some other ministers, the presidential press service said. The Belarussian central bank imposed a 30 percent duty on purchases of foreign currency by companies and citizens due to a currency crisis in Russia, Belarus's main trading partner, last week. (Reporting by Andrei Makhovsky; Writing by Polina Devitt; Editing by Toby Chopra)","Turkey back in race to stage Ryder Cup in 2022. VIRGINIA WATER, England (AP) — Turkey is back in the race to host the 2022 Ryder Cup, a day after announcing the withdrawal of its bid because it would require cutting down up to 15,000 trees to accommodate grandstands at its chosen course.","Dutch return to MH17 crash site as search resumes. The Hague (AFP) - Dutch officials on Monday returned to the crash site of flight MH17 in eastern Ukraine where the search for remains and belongings resumed despite sporadic exchanges of fire.","Hamburger SV completes transfer of defender Cleber. HAMBURG, Germany (AP) — Hamburger SV says it has completed the transfer of Brazilian defender Cleber from Corinthians.","Thomas Cook shares tumble as CEO quits. LONDON (AP) — Thomas Cook Chief Executive Harriet Green has stepped down in a surprise move that wiped off around a fifth of the market value from the U.K.-based travel operator.","Mercer cuts ratings on Pimco funds, more outflows could follow. By Luciana Lopez and Jennifer Ablan NEW YORK (Reuters) - Influential pension consultant Mercer Investment Management has downgraded its ratings on five Pimco funds, possibly triggering another wave of institutional investor outflows from the Newport Beach, California, bond fund manager. It was the latest blow after Morningstar downgraded its analyst rating on the flagship Pimco Total Return Fund to \"bronze\" from \"gold\" late Monday, citing uncertainty about outflows and the reshuffling of management responsibilities after the exit of co-founder Bill Gross last Friday. ...","Taliban kill 7 Afghan policemen at checkpoint. KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — An Afghan official says seven policemen were killed in a northern province after their checkpoint came under attack by insurgents.","Dominican singer, 23, sentenced in drug case. SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic (AP) — A court in the Dominican Republic has sentenced the winner of a Latin American TV talent show to seven years in prison after she pleaded guilty to trafficking heroin.","Syrian artist shows trauma of war in charcoal sketches. By Stephen Kalin BEIRUT (Reuters) - A woman curls up in grief in a darkened room - an artist's image as powerful as any of the thousands of photos and videos from Syria's civil war flashing across the world's computer and television screens. The sketch is the work of 63-year-old painter and illustrator Youssef Abdelke, who stayed on in his Damascus studio as scores of his contemporaries left to escape a conflict approaching its fourth year. Many of them focus on small, intimate moments, rather than trying to make sweeping statements about a civil war that has killed 130,000 people, driven millions from their homes and devastated whole districts of Syrian cities.","England win toss and opt to field against Windies. North Sound (Antigua and Barbuda) (AFP) - England captain Stuart Broad won the toss and put West Indies in to bat in the first One-Day International of their three-match series at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in Antigua on Friday.","Thousands march in Western capitals to support Syrians. Thousands marched in Western capitals Saturday to support the people of Syria, who entered the fourth year of a conflict that has left at least 146,000 dead and spawned the world's largest displaced population. Around 1,000 people marched to Downing Street in London, waving Syrian flags and denouncing the international community's inaction. \"Gassed to death, starved to death, frozen to death... You watched\", \"Your silence is killing us\", \"Revolution until victory, Syrians deserve life\", read some of the banners. Hundreds also showed up in Madrid and in Paris, where messages of support to Syria were lit up on the Eiffel Tower.","Swedish PM warns of nationalist surge as EU elections loom. By Alistair Scrutton and Simon Johnson STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - Europe's failure to deliver economic growth and jobs has frayed public trust in democracy and fostered a nationalist climate that could reward anti-immigration, Eurosceptical parties in May's EU elections, Sweden's prime minister said on Thursday. Fredrik Reinfeldt also saw nationalism shaping Russia's actions in Ukraine, which he said was creating \\\\\"instability\\\\\", but despite such concerns he said Sweden was unlikely to abandon its formal neutrality and join NATO any time soon. \\\\\"(The economic crisis) has weakened the forces of integration or standing up for this European ideal,\\\\\" he said in an interview in which he also invoked the destructive nationalism that tore Europe apart 100 years ago this summer with the outbreak of World War One. \\\\\"The kind of (nationalist) thinking behind that, which has been a problem in Europe for hundreds of years ... is very much the same kind of thinking you see Russia now doing in Ukraine or you will see in many forces throughout Europe,\\\\\" Reinfeldt said.","Fed launches review of supervision of major banks. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Federal Reserve has launched a review of how it oversees major banks, calling on its inspector general to help with the probe after a series of critical reports.","Germany prospect Oztunali joins Werder Bremen on loan. BREMEN, Germany (AP) — Germany youth international Levin Oztunali is joining Werder Bremen on loan from Bundesliga rival Bayer Leverkusen.","Exclusive: Deadly pig virus re-infects U.S. farm, fuels supply fears. By Tom Polansek CHICAGO (Reuters) - An Indiana farm has become the first to confirm publicly it suffered a second outbreak of a deadly pig virus, fueling concerns that a disease that has wiped out 10 percent of the U.S. hog population will be harder to contain than producers and veterinarians expected. The farm, through its veterinarian, publicly acknowledged on Tuesday a repeat incident of Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea virus (PEDv), which has killed up to 7 million pigs and pushed pork prices to record highs since it was first identified in the United States a year ago. Matt Ackerman, whose veterinary practice is in southeastern Indiana, told Reuters the farm's operators did not want to be identified but authorized him to speak on their behalf. Nationwide, PEDv outbreaks seem to recur in about 30 percent of infected farms, the American Association of Swine Veterinarians told Reuters, confirming for the first time the likelihood of repeated outbreaks.","Somalia put on high alert after Shebab leader confirmed dead. Somalia's government warned Saturday that the country's Al-Qaeda-linked Shebab rebels were planning a wave of retaliatory attacks after it was confirmed their leader was killed earlier this week in a US air strike. \"Security agencies have obtained information indicating that Al-Shebab is now planning to carry out desperate attacks against medical facilities, education centres and other government facilities,\" National Security Minister Kalif Ahmed Ereg told reporters. \"The security forces are ready to counter their attacks and we call on people to help the security forces in standing against violent acts,\" he said, adding nevertheless that \"we congratulate the Somali people\" on the death of Ahmed Abdi Godane. Godane 37, who reportedly trained in Afghanistan with the Taliban, had overseen the group's transformation from local insurgency to major regional guerrilla threat, carrying out attacks in countries that contribute to the African Union force fighting in Somalia.","5 Jonestown victims buried in California. OAKLAND, California (AP) — Five victims of the 1978 mass suicide-murder in Jonestown, Guyana, have been laid to rest in Oakland, California, after their cremated remains were recently discovered inside an abandoned funeral home in Delaware.","IMF says Ukraine's debt is sustainable; Fund can lend to Kiev. The International Monetary Fund is able to lend to Ukraine because the country's debt is sustainable, the head of the IMF's European department, Reza Moghadam, said on Friday. \"Debt in Ukraine is sustainable,\" Reza Moghadam said in a news conference during the IMF and World Bank spring 2014 meetings. He noted that Ukraine's external debt, which has suffered as a result of the country's political crisis and tensions with Russia, was only around 30 percent of its GDP. Ukraine's total debt would be around 50 percent of GDP this year and next, he said.","First Lady ready to push education on China visit. WASHINGTON (AP) — It will be all about education and people-to-people connections when first lady Michelle Obama heads for China with her mother and daughters in tow on Wednesday. And there will be some awesome stops at historical and cultural treasures along the way.","Ukraine to raise peace plan at WWII anniversary. Ukraine's president-elect said Wednesday he would present a peace plan to leaders gathered in France this week for World War II commemorations before making it public at his inauguration. \"We'll discuss it at an inter-governmental level with the European Union and this will be wound up in Normandy,\" Petro Poroshenko told reporters in Warsaw following talks with US President Barack Obama. The chocolate baron, who won Ukraine's May 25 presidential election, formally takes office on Saturday. \"On June 7, it will be my ... plan, proposal, to establish law order and peace,\" he said, responding to questions by reporter as to whether he was considering imposing martial law in Ukraine's restive east where government troops are battling pro-Russia separatists.","Japan Airlines and ANA clash again over Tokyo landing rights. Japan Airlines said it has applied to fly from Tokyo's Haneda airport to Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam prompting a complaint from ANA Holdings, which urged regulators to deny its local rival the right to open up new routes from the world's fourth busiest hub. The latest stand off threatens to re-ignite a dogfight for dominance at the lucrative airport that in October saw ANA awarded 11 new landing slots at Haneda, worth around $20 million a year each in operating profit, compared with only five for JAL. Regulators then said that it did not want to let JAL open new routes because a state-led $3.5 billion bailout of the carrier in 2010, that resulted in most of its debt being waived, gave it a competitive edge over ANA. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's government, which was in opposition when JAL was rescued, proved sympathetic to ANA's call for a rebalance through the landing right hand out.","China court jails Christian pastor for 12 years. BEIJING (AP) — A lawyer says the pastor of a Christian church in central China has been sentenced to 12 years in prison following a dispute with local authorities.","Tsunami-ravaged Aceh rises rapidly from the ruins. Rows of new houses and beautiful mosques with glittering minarets give little clue that the sleepy Indonesian fishing town of Meulaboh was the ground zero of the 2004 Asian tsunami, highlighting the success of a multi-billion-dollar reconstruction effort. The peaceful scenes now are a contrast to those a decade ago in the community in Aceh province, on the northern tip of Sumatra island, which was closest to the epicentre of a monster earthquake that generated the killer waves. When disaster struck on December 26, 2004, thousands in Meulaboh were killed, houses reduced to rubble, trees uprooted, and the only buildings left standing were a few of the better-constructed mosques in the staunchly Islamic area. In the aftermath of the disaster, which left almost 170,000 dead in Indonesia and tens of thousands more in countries round the Indian Ocean, a huge global relief and reconstruction effort swung into action.","Finland puts 2 KHL players on Olympic roster. SOCHI, Russia (AP) — Finland has chosen Kontinental Hockey League teammates to replace Tampa Bay Lightning forward Valtteri Filppula and Minnesota Wild forward Mikko Koivu.","U.S. suspends trade, investment talks with Russia over Ukraine. The United States has put trade and investment talks with Russia on hold as a rebuke for Russia's incursion into Ukraine, a U.S. official said on Monday.","Police team turns back from Ukraine crash site. SHAKHTARSK, Ukraine (AP) — An international police team has failed to reach the crash site of a Malaysian Airlines plane for a second day running as clashes rage in a town on the road to the area.","Gazans dead in shipwreck driven out by poverty, war. Gaza City (Palestinian Territories) (AFP) - Unemployed and shattered by 50 days of war in Gaza, Yasser decided to seek a better life elsewhere, boarding a boat to Europe that sank off Malta last week.","Die's tears provide evocative World Cup image. BRASILIA, Brazil (AP) — Sobbing uncontrollably through his national anthem, Ivory Coast midfielder Serey Die provided one of the evocative images of the World Cup before his team's match against Colombia on Thursday.","Iraqi forces battle Islamic State in towns north of Baghdad. BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraqi soldiers backed by Shi'ite militia and Kurdish peshmerga forces attacked two towns northeast of Baghdad held by Islamic State fighters on Sunday, trying to clear a main road linking the capital to the border with Iran. Peshmerga and army officers said they advanced into Jalawla, 115 km (70 miles) from Baghdad, and the nearby town of Saadiya, which they have been trying to recapture from Islamic State since the radical Islamists seized them in August. ...","Park wins 1st of year in duel over Pettersen. HAIKOU, China (AP) — Inbee Park captured her first win of the year in a contest between No. 1 and No. 2 in women's golf at the World Ladies Championship.","'Poison plot' accused released from prison in Benin. Six people pardoned by Benin's president over an alleged poisoning plot against him have been released from custody, their families and a lawyer said on Tuesday. Thomas Boni Yayi announced on Sunday that the six were cleared of any involvement. He also pardoned a prominent businessman, Patrice Talon, who had been fighting extradition from France. The court of appeal in Benin's commercial hub, Cotonou, on Monday announced the release of the six, who were arrested in 2012 and last year, and ordered their personal effects to be returned, one of their lawyers, Charles Badou, told AFP.","Dubai offers $2.5 mn for ace at Desert Classic. Rory McIlroy said Wednesday he could be tempted to have a crack at winning the glittering prize on offer for a hole-in-one at the Dubai Desert Classic's short par-four 17th -- a whopping $2.5 million (1.83mn euros). Two and a half million dollars for the perfect golf shot is believed to be unprecedented.","CONCACAF says Sanz will be treated for leukemia. MIAMI (AP) — Enrique Sanz, the No. 2 official of soccer's governing body for North and Central American and Caribbean soccer, will be treated for leukemia.","Coach of Denmark's Euro '92 champs dies. COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — Richard Moller Nielsen, who led Denmark to its greatest football triumph at the 1992 European Championship, died on Thursday. He was 76.","Hannover signs French forward Jimmy Briand. HANNOVER, Germany (AP) — Hannover has signed French forward Jimmy Briand one day before its opening match in the new Bundesliga season.","Flood traps 18 in Turkey coal mine. Emergency workers were battling on Tuesday to save 18 Turkish miners trapped deep underground after a coal mine collapsed, letting in a deluge of water. Energy Minister Taner Yildiz warned that time was running out in the rescue operation at the mine in the district of Ermenek in Turkey's southern province of Karaman, with the water level rising all the time. The accident was the latest disaster to hit the Turkish mining industry after 301 workers were killed in May in an explosion at a mine in Soma in the west of the country. \"The gallery they were working in was flooded by water,\" regional governor Murat Koca told Turkish television rejecting earlier reports that the accident was caused by an explosion.","Russian sanctions retaliation bruises Polish apple farmers. By Wiktor Szary NOWE GROBICE Poland (Reuters) - Slawomir Kedzierski's workers had just finished loading 20 tonnes of Polish apples onto two trucks destined for Russia when news came through of the embargo. The fruit, and his business, had fallen foul of the geopolitical crisis over Ukraine. \"The man who had placed the order rang up and told me not to bother, because the apples wouldn't make it through customs on time,\" said Kedzierski, whose Sun-Sad company is one of 800 Polish apple producers exporting to Russia. Two days later, on Aug. 1, Russia officially closed its borders to Polish fruit and vegetables, depriving farmers and exporters of a market worth more than 300 million euros ($400 million) last year. Moscow blamed repeated sanitary infringements by Polish farmers, but the move was widely seen at the time as retaliation for Poland's staunch support of Ukraine in its fight with pro-Russian separatists and Warsaw's push within the European Union for tougher sanctions on Russia. \"This is not about an infringement of any quality norms;","C.Africa refugee numbers spiral in Cameroon: UN. Around 28,000 people have fled from conflict-torn Central African Republic to neighbouring Cameroon since the start of this month, the UN refugee agency said Friday. Most of them lack food and shelter,\" said Dan McNorton, spokesman for the UN high commissioner for refugees (UNHCR). The influx, mainly of Muslims fleeing communal bloodshed, brings to 35,000 the total number of people who have fled across the border to Cameroon since a coup in March 2013. Even before the current crisis erupted when the mainly Muslim Seleka rebel coalition seized power last year, Cameroon was hosting 92,000 refugees from unrest-prone Central African Republic.","Britain says cannot support new Palestinian U.N. draft resolution. By Louis Charbonneau UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Britain joined the United States on Tuesday, declaring that it cannot support a new Palestinian draft proposal calling for peace with Israel within a year and an end of the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories by late 2017. Jordan on Tuesday circulated to the U.N. Security Council a draft resolution prepared by the Palestinians, who said they want it put to a vote before Thursday. Washington said it could not support the draft because it was not constructive and failed to address Israel's security needs. British U.N. ...","Men's biathlon race postponed again due to fog. KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia (AP) — The men's 15-kilometer mass-start biathlon at the Olympics has been delayed again because of fog. Organizers on Monday did not immediately announce a new starting time.","Ball sports lead lock to Wales. For a time Jake Ball looked as if he might be the latest in a long line of Australia fast bowlers to terrorise England. But instead the Ascot-born Ball will try to inflict pain of a different kind on his homeland when he starts in the second row for Wales against England in the Six Nations at Twickenham on Sunday. Until the age of 16, Ball lived in Ascot, the commuter town south-west of London best known for its celebrated racecourse. And it was there that Ball, whose father played rugby for London Welsh and Harlequins and was born in the north Wales town of Pwllheli, took his first steps in sport.","White House: Speaker won't seek immigration vote. WASHINGTON (AP) — In the face of an unyielding Congress, President Barack Obama will act on his own to make changes in immigration policy, says a White House official, who indicated executive steps Obama could begin promptly as he refocuses immigration enforcement away from the country's interior and on to a Mexican border overrun by children crossing illegally from Central America.","SKorea to file complaint over Olympic judging. SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korean sports officials are preparing to file a formal complaint with the International Skating Union over the judging of the women's figure skating competitions at the Sochi Olympics.","Musician, journalist arrested in Rwanda. KIGALI, Rwanda (AP) — Police in Rwanda say they have arrested a musician and a journalist for alleged links to opposition groups.","Australian company to open gold mine in Guyana. An Australian company announced Wednesday that it plans to open a large-scale gold mine in the South American country of Guyana this year. Perth-based Troy Resources Limited said it plans to produce an ...","Bank of Canada to abandon general rate guidance: Poloz. By Randall Palmer WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Bank of Canada intends generally to abandon guidance on the direction of interest rates because doing so will lead to less volatility in normal times and less market parsing of the central bank's statements, Governor Stephen Poloz told Reuters. Poloz was speaking in conjunction with the release on Friday of a paper on integrating uncertainty into monetary policymaking, the first he has written since taking over as head of the Bank of Canada last year. ...","Saudi Arabia arrests 62 suspected militants. RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) — Saudi security authorities have arrested 62 militants with alleged links to terrorists in Yemen and Syria who are suspected of planning attacks on government installations and foreign interests as well assassinate security officials, the state news agency reported Tuesday.","10 Libya troops killed in clashes with jihadists. Jihadist gunmen clashed on Monday with Libyan troops in Benghazi, killing 10 soldiers, as the Islamists tried to advance on an airport in the eastern city, the army said. The fighting came as Libya's outgoing government said that armed militias were in control of the capital Tripoli, days after Islamists seized its international airport as the oil-rich North African nation further slipped into chaos. In Benghazi, birthplace of the 2011 NATO-backed uprising that toppled and killed dictator Moamer Kadhafi, a spokesman for the army's special forces said the jihadist group Ansar al-Sharia took part in the clashes.","Green Climate Fund hits $10 billion goal, after Australia surprise. By Alister Doyle and Megan Rowling LIMA (Reuters) - A new Green Climate Fund that aims to help poor nations cope with global warming reached a U.N. goal of $10 billion on Tuesday at global climate talks in Lima, helped by a surprise donation from Australia. Several of the 190 nations at the meeting welcomed the cash from both Australia and Belgium, but China said rich countries were not working fast enough to meet a broader goal of providing $100 billion a year by 2020 from public and private sources to help the poor cope. ...","With eye on China, Modi's India to develop disputed border region. By Tommy Wilkes NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India has eased restrictions on building roads and military facilities along its disputed border with China, as the new government seeks to close the gap on its neighbor's superior transport network and take a stronger stance on Beijing. Indian environment minister Prakash Javadekar told Reuters he had relaxed environmental rules within 100 km (62 miles) of the contested border in remote Arunachal Pradesh in order to speed up construction of some 6,000 km of roads. ...","Manila mayor off to Hong Kong to apologize. MANILA, Philippines (AP) — The mayor of the Philippine capital says he is flying to Hong Kong to apologize to the family of eight Hong Kong tourists who died in a 2010 bus hostage tragedy in Manila and to offer them compensation.","Mounting alarm over Portugal's Espirito Santo bank roils markets. By Daniel Alvarenga and Axel Bugge LISBON (Reuters) - European and U.S. stock markets fell, and bond yields of Europe's southern nations rose on Thursday as investor fears over financial troubles at the family-owned holding companies behind Portugal’s largest listed bank spilled across markets and borders. Portugal’s stock market regulator halted trading in Banco Espirito Santo after the shares fell 19 percent. The sell-off followed a decision by Espirito Santo Financial Group (ESFG), which owns 25 percent of the Portuguese bank, to suspend trading in its shares and bonds due to \"material difficulties\" at its own largest shareholder, Espirito Santo International (ESI), which is controlled by one of Portugal's most important business clans, the Espirito Santos.","HRW slams Jordan for rebuffing Palestinian refugees from Syria. Advocacy group Human Rights Watch accused Jordan Thursday of refusing entry to, or forcibly deporting, Palestinian refugees escaping Syria in what it called a defiance of the country's international obligations. In a report released in Amman, the New York-based group said Jordan has officially banned their entry since January 2013 and has forcibly deported more than 100, including women and children, who managed to enter the country since mid-2012. The report said Jordan’s rebuff of Palestinians fleeing Syria contrasts with its treatment of Syrians, more than 600,000 of whom have taken shelter in Jordan since the beginning of the Syrian conflict in March 2011.","UN sanctions expected against people behind violence in CAR. Bangui (Central African Republic) (AFP) - The United Nations was expected on Tuesday to adopt a resolution imposing sanctions against those who foment violence in the crisis-wracked Central African Republic, a French official said Monday. Meanwhile, troops of an African peacekeeping force known as MISCA were escorting out of Bangui former rebels of the mainly Muslim coalition that seized power in March last year, according to residents and a senior human rights observer. The UN measure will target \"individuals who harm peace and stability and hinder the process of political transition in the Central African Republic by fuelling violence\" and violating human rights, foreign ministry spokesman Romain Nadal said in Paris.","Ten killed, including police, as violence sweeps southeast Turkey. By Humeyra Pamuk and Ayla Jean Yackley ISTANBUL/MURSITPINAR (Reuters) - At least ten people died in eastern Turkey when gunmen opened fire on police, and Kurds angry over a siege by Islamist militants on their ethnic kin in Syria clashed with other groups in the country's sixth largest city, local media said on Friday. Intense fighting continued in the Syrian Kurdish border town of Kobani, where a more than three-week-old assault by Islamic State fighters has infuriated Turkey's 15 million strong Kurdish minority, which wants Ankara to intervene militarily. ...","Senior U.S. senator seeks study of impact of Cuba trade restrictions. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democratic Senator Ron Wyden, chairman of the U.S. Senate Finance Committee, asked the International Trade Commission on Wednesday to begin a study of the economic impact on the United States of current restrictions on exports to Cuba. He said the study, ordered in light of President Barack Obama's easing of trade restrictions on Cuba, would assess the effect of restrictions on exports of goods and services and travel to Cuba by U.S. citizens. ...","Wales lead Fiji 17-6 at half-time. CARDIFF (United Kingdom) (AFP) - Wales led Fiji 17-6 at half-time in their one-off international Test match in Cardiff's Millennium Stadium on Saturday.","Mexican self-defense members turn themselves in. MORELIA, Mexico (AP) — Two leaders and nearly three dozen members of rural self-defense forces in the western state of Michoacan who were involved in a clash that left 11 dead have turned themselves in to authorities.","Norwegian gets life for killing friend in DRC prison. A Norwegian national accused of killing his friend and cellmate in a Congolese prison was given a life sentence for murder on Wednesday. Joshua French, who also holds British citizenship, was convicted of killing fellow Norwegian Tjostolv Moland, whose body was found at Kinshasa's Ndolo military prison on August 18. Moland, 32, and his friend French, 31, were arrested in the Democratic Republic of Congo in 2009 and sentenced to death in June 2010 after being convicted of killing the Congolese driver of a car they had rented.","Tehran, world powers begin drafting nuclear deal, says Iran FM. Tehran (AFP) - Iran and world powers started drafting Wednesday a comprehensive nuclear agreement but still face many sticking points, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif was quoted by ISNA news agency as saying.","Official: Turkish soldier killed in clash. ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — An official says Turkish soldiers have clashed with a group of suspected smugglers on the Turkish-Syrian border. One soldier was killed and two others were wounded.","U.S. panel urges Guantanamo inmate be transferred to Yemen. By Ian Simpson WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. national security panel has recommended that an inmate held at the Guantanamo Bay military prison since 2002 be transferred to Yemen. Ali Ahmad al-Razihi, a 33-year-old Yemeni, had once been suspected of being a bodyguard for Osama bin Laden, a founder of the al Qaeda extremist group who was killed by U.S. forces in 2011. The board said al-Razihi's stated plans, commitment not to repeat mistakes, family support in Yemen, largely peaceful behavior as an inmate and lack of ties to at-large extremists were factors in the decision. Al-Razihi's hometown of Taiz is also one of the more stable sites in Yemen, the decision said.","Australia ratchets up sanctions against Russia. CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Australia has ratcheted up sanctions against Russia in line with the United States and European Union in response to Russian soldiers openly violating Ukraine sovereignty.","McGinley to lead Ireland's golf team at Olympics. DUBLIN (AP) — Ryder Cup-winning captain Paul McGinley will lead Ireland's golf team at the Olympic Games in Rio de Janiero in 2016.","Heavy flooding in southern China kills 12. BEIJING (AP) — The Chinese state news agency is reporting 12 people have died in widespread flooding in southern China.","Gazprom CEO says China gas deal will affect European market. Russia's landmark deal to supply natural gas to China will affect prices in Europe and have an impact on international liquefied natural gas projects, the chief executive of state-run Gazprom said on Friday. Russia and China signed a 30-year gas supply contract on Wednesday worth a total of more than $400 billion, during a visit by President Vladimir Putin to Shanghai.","Netanyahu ally says Israel may need early elections. By Allyn Fisher-Ilan JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu should seek early elections if his coalition allies continue to bicker in public, Israel's defense minister said on Sunday. Netanyahu's government has been torn by differences over proposed cuts to the 2015 budget, policy towards Palestinians in Jerusalem, and a Jewish nation-state bill that critics say would discriminate against Arab citizens. ...","Egyptian court sentences 33 Morsi supporters. CAIRO (AP) — Egyptian officials say a court in Alexandria has sentenced 33 supporters of ousted Islamist President Mohammed Morsi to six years in prison each over clashes with opponents last December.","Pakistan evacuates thousands as floods hit plains. ISLAMABAD (AP) — Officials say Pakistani troops with helicopters and boats have evacuated another 4,000 marooned people from the country's plains where raging monsoon floods inundated more villages early Thursday.","China: US, Beijing should stress mutual interests. BEIJING (AP) — Chinese Premier Li Keqiang says Beijing and Washington should focus on mutual interests and the long term, sounding a cordial note despite a spat over President Barack Obama's recent meeting with the Dalai Lama.","Malala Yousafzai says honored to win Nobel peace prize. LONDON (Reuters) - Pakistani teenager Malala Yousafzai, who was shot in the head by the Taliban in 2012 for advocating girls' right to education, said she was honored to have been chosen as joint winner of the Nobel Prize on Friday. \"I'm feeling honored that I'm being chosen as a Nobel Laureate,\" she said, speaking from Birmingham, England where she is now based. \"I'm proud that I'm the first Pakistani and first the young woman, or the first young person, who is getting this award.\" (Reporting by William James; editing by Michael Holden)","UN watchdog says rights must be respected in Ebola fight. Geneva (AFP) - The UN's top watchdog on Friday said that countries must not trample over human rights during the battle against Ebola.","Hanyu determined to build on success of Sochi. TOKYO (AP) — Yuzuru Hanyu has barely had time to dwell on the Olympic and world titles he won in the first quarter of 2014, yet he's already thinking about how to improve for next season.","Bahraini Shi'ite youth risk radicalization as political talks stall. By Rania El Gamal MANAMA (Reuters) - Dozens of black-clad, masked men parade through Bahrain's Shi'ite Muslim villages, some holding petrol bombs and others denouncing al Khalifa, the Sunni Muslim monarchy that has ruled the Gulf Arab island since the 18th century. Scenes like these, broadcast in online videos in recent months, might once have been dismissed as a cry for attention by groups from Bahrain's big Shi'ite community seeking to shore up a flagging cause for democratic reform. Nor do the bombs disturb everyday life in most of Bahrain, where explosions tend to target security forces in the mainly Shi'ite villages, far away from the capital. But we are fighting back and will kill whoever is killing us.\" The strategically vital kingdom, which hosts the U.S. Fifth Fleet, has wrestled with low-level but persistent civil unrest since a Shi'ite-led uprising was put down in 2011, becoming a front line in a region-wide tussle for influence between Sunni Saudi Arabia and Shi'ite Iran across the Gulf.","Sierra Leone cyclist tested for Ebola at Commonwealth Games. Sierra Leone cyclist Moses Sesay was quarantined and tested for Ebola at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, before being given the all-clear, the athlete has told a British newspaper. All the doctors were in special suits to treat me - they dressed like I had Ebola. \"I was admitted for four days and they tested me for Ebola. It came back negative but they did it again and this time sent it to London, where it was also negative.\"","With youthful squad, Hodgson expects bold England. MANAUS, Brazil (AP) — When the eyes of the football world turn to this city in middle of the Amazon rainforest for the first time on Saturday, Roy Hodgson wants his youthful England team to be adventurous against Italy.","India's BJP says will ban foreign supermarkets if elected; fresh blow to global chains. By Nandita Bose MUMBAI (Reuters) - The political party expected to lead India's next government confirmed on Monday it would ban foreign supermarkets from the $500 billion retail sector, a move that would deal a fresh setback to global chains such as Wal-Mart and Carrefour. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which has in recent years opposed investment by foreign firms into multi-brand retail, made the announcement in its election manifesto, which it unveiled in New Delhi earlier. If elected, the BJP said it would welcome foreign direct investment in all sectors that create local jobs, except for supermarkets. It is not clear, however, whether the BJP, which is forecast to win the most parliamentary seats in a five-week election that started on Monday, would follow through on the ban.","US general: US considering empowering Sunni tribes. WASHINGTON (AP) — The top U.S. military officer says the Pentagon is beginning to consider ways to bring the Sunni Arab tribes of Iraq's Anbar province more fully into the battle against the Islamic State group.","Japan September flash manufacturing PMI falls to 51.7, output at six-month high. TOKYO, Sept 24 (Reuters) - Japanese manufacturing activity eased slightly in September but output rose at the fastest pace in six months, a preliminary survey showed on Wednesday, suggesting industrial production is stabilising after a sharp slump in demand following a sales tax increase in April. The Markit/JMMA flash Japan Manufacturing Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) fell to a seasonally adjusted 51.7 in September from a final reading of 52.2 in August. The index remained above the 50 threshold that separates expansion from contraction for a fourth straight month. ...","Fiji coup leader heads for landmark poll victory. Suva (Fiji) (AFP) - Coup leader Voreqe Bainimarama was poised on Thursday to become Fiji's first elected leader in eight years as provisional results gave him a commanding lead after historic elections.","Japan pushes North Korea to resolve abductions. TOKYO (AP) — Japan's prime minister is turning up the pressure on North Korea to answer questions over the fate of possibly hundreds of Japanese citizens believed to have been abducted by the North's agents in the 1970s and 1980s.","World Bank review shows flaws in social, environment safeguards process. By Anna Yukhananov WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The World Bank has systemic defects in its procedures to ensure that people and the environment are not harmed in development projects, according to an internal review obtained by Reuters. Non-profit groups fear the bank may weaken its protections to speed up lending approval and better compete with development rivals, although it has said it aims to keep the safeguards as strong as ever in its efforts to combat poverty worldwide. Employees who focus on reducing social and environmental damage from projects lack independence or incentives to do a good job, and the World Bank has little oversight over how well their advice is followed and how much money is devoted to safeguards. The person's comments jibed with 77 percent of surveyed World Bank specialists, who believed the bank's management did not value their safeguards work.","Attacks against aid workers in CAR at record high: UN. Crimes against aid workers have reached a record high in the Central African Republic over the past year, a UN official said Thursday after a Red Cross volunteer was killed. Claire Bourgeois, the UN's humanitarian coordinator in the strife-torn country, said there had been around 50 attacks on aid workers in the last 12 months as she condemned the killing of a volunteer shot Wednesday in Bangui \"while he evacuated the injured.\" \"The number of humanitarian workers who have been killed, kidnapped, and seriously injured in the Central African Republic has reached a level never seen in the country before,\" she said in a statement.","France, Greece help lift eurozone growth. BRUSSELS (AP) — A surprisingly solid performance by France and the end of the brutal recession in Greece helped the 18-country eurozone grow by more than anticipated in the third quarter of the year.","Coville damages yacht in Route du Rhum. SAINT-MALO, France (AP) — Thomas Coville saw his hopes of winning the Route Du Rhum vanish during the first night of the trans-Atlantic race when he damaged his yacht in a collision with a cargo ship.","Oil sector withholding info on rail cargoes: U.S. regulator. By Patrick Rucker WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. transport regulators on Friday scolded the oil industry for not sharing important information on the kinds of rail shipments that have been involved in a number of fiery train derailments. In letters to regulators and testimony to lawmakers, leaders of trade groups like the American Petroleum Institute have said since January that they will share results of their tests on fuel from North Dakota's booming Bakken oil patch, where the derailed trains were loaded. Despite those assurances, the Department of Transportation said the industry has dragged its feet in cooperating with regulators who are trying to understand why several recent derailments of freight trains carrying crude oil also resulted in explosions. \"The overall and ongoing lack of cooperation is disappointing, slows progress, and certainly raises concerns.\" An oil industry representative denied that stonewalling was taking place and said that examining North Dakota crude was an ongoing process.","Attorney argues US man's spy sentence too severe. INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — A lawyer for a former truck driver convicted of trying to sell U.S. secrets to Saddam Hussein's Iraqi government said Monday that the 13-year sentence the man received is too harsh and he shouldn't be serving it in a federal Supermax prison.","Court in Georgia orders arrest of ex-president Saakashvili. By Margarita Antidze TBILISI (Reuters) - A court in Georgia issued an arrest warrant for former president Mikheil Saakashvili on Saturday in relation to abuse of power charges that his supporters say are politically motivated and which have prompted expressions of concern from Western leaders. The Tblisi City Court issued the order for Saakashvili, former defense minister David Kezerashvili and former prosecutor general Zurab Adeishvili on similar charges. Saakashvili, who has been living abroad since his presidency ended in November, is facing charges of abuse of power, and using excessive force against protesters in Tbilisi in November 2007 and a raid on a television station. Dozens of former officials have been arrested on charges such as abuse of power and corruption since Saakashvili's party lost an election to the Georgian Dream coalition two years ago.","No radioactivity detected in Ukraine after nuclear event: French agency. PARIS (Reuters) - French public nuclear safety institute IRSN said on Wednesday it had not detected any unusual radioactivity in Ukraine and that the incident at a nuclear power plant in Zaporizhzhya posed no danger for populations or the environment. \"We have two sensors installed on the roof of the French embassy in Kiev, and the embassy has not signaled anything unusual,\" Michel Chouha, the IRSN's special representative for Central and Eastern Europe told Reuters. \"If there was an accident, we would know,\" he said. (Reporting by Michel Rose; editing by Mark John)","Fiat Chrysler can make 6 mln cars a year, CEO says. TURIN, Italy (AP) — Fiat and Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne said Monday that the automakers will have the capacity to produce 6 million cars a year once they combine their forces.","Mexican tenor Javier Camarena marks 10-year career. MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexican tenor Javier Camarena is making a quick trip home after hitting some high notes on the road.","Image of Asia: Jakarta church checked before Mass. In this photo by Achmad Ibrahim, officers from an Indonesian police bomb squad search for suspicious materials Wednesday ahead of Christmas Eve Mass at the Messiah Cathedral in Jakarta. The cathedral, located across from Jakarta's main Istiqlal mosque, was built in 2008 and is one of the largest churches in the Indonesian capital. Christians account for about 10 percent of the 250 million people in Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation, while nearly 90 percent of the population is Muslim. Indonesia's constitution guarantees freedom of religion, but there have been reports of violence against religious minorities, including Christians, in recent years. The bomb squad officers were conducting a routine search Wednesday, and there was no specific threat reported.","UN chief wants human rights oversight in W. Sahara. UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N. chief is pushing for more human rights oversight in Western Sahara, the vast northwest African territory occupied by Morocco since 1975.","Ebola outbreak reaches Senegal, riots break out in Guinea. By Stephanie Nebehay and Tim Cocks GENEVA/LAGOS (Reuters) - The West African state of Senegal became the fifth country to be touched by the world's worst Ebola outbreak on Friday, while riots broke out in neighboring Guinea where infection rates are rising fast. At least 1,550 people have died of Ebola and more than 3,000 have been infected since the virus was detected in the remote jungles of southeastern Guinea in March, and quickly spread across the border to Liberia and Sierra Leone. The World Health Organization warned on Thursday the actual number of cases could be up to four times higher and said that a total of 20,000 people could be infected before the outbreak ends. In the Guinean city of Nevermore, riots broke out on Thursday night over rumors that health workers had infected people with the Ebola virus, a Red Cross official and residents said.","Women win crisis-ridden Ukraine's 1st Sochi gold. SOCHI, Russia (AP) — Four Ukrainian women teamed up to win their country's first gold medal of the Sochi Olympics on Friday, giving the politically divided nation some good news after days of bloody anti-government protests back home.","Leverkusen beats Zenit 2-1 in Champions League. ST. PETERSBURG, Russia (AP) — Son Heung-min scored twice to give Bayer Leverkusen a 2-1 win at Zenit St. Petersburg in the Champions League on Tuesday, putting the German team on the brink of qualifying for the knockout stages.","Swiss probe suspected arson at Islamic center. BERLIN (AP) — Swiss police say they're investigating a suspected case of arson at an Islamic center in eastern Switzerland.","Nevada lawmakers consider $1.3 billion in tax breaks for electric car maker. By Sandra Chereb CARSON CITY Nevada (Reuters) - Nevada lawmakers on Thursday moved forward a package of bills to provide $1.3 billion in tax breaks and other incentives to Tesla Motors, taking crucial steps toward clinching a deal for the electric car company to build a massive factory in the state. The biggest chunk of the deal, approved by the state senate and set to go to the assembly later in the evening, won support in day two of a special session called by Republican Governor Brian Sandoval to implement an agreement for Tesla to locate its planned $5 billion lithium-ion battery factory in an industrial park 20 miles east of Reno along Interstate 80. \"This is arguably the biggest thing that has happened in Nevada since at least the Hoover Dam,\" the mammoth Depression-era project on the Colorado River that employed thousands and provided hydro-electric power to the state in the 1930s, said Assemblyman Ira Hansen, a Republican from Sparks. Tesla, founded by entrepreneur Elon Musk, decided to locate its factory in Nevada after negotiating with several states, including Texas, Arizona, New Mexico and the company's home state of California.","Taiwan student facing firing squad over subway massacre. Taiwanese prosecutors on Monday said they were seeking the death penalty for a man accused of killing four people and wounding nearly two dozen others in a stabbing spree on the Taipei subway that shocked the island. Cheng Chieh, a 21-year-old college student, was charged with four accounts of murder and 22 accounts of attempted murder for the fatal attack on May 21, the first of its kind on the city's subway system since it began operating in 1996. The incident shocked Taiwan, otherwise proud of its low levels of violent crime, and resulted in several minor injuries as edgy commuters fled trains over false alarms in the following week. Executions are carried out in Taiwan by a single shot to the heart from the back -- or, if the prisoner agrees to donate his organs, a bullet to the back of the head.","Ex-worker at China's Forbidden City gets death. BEIJING (AP) — Chinese state media say a Beijing court has sentenced a former employee of the Forbidden City to be executed for stabbing two of his supervisors to death on the museum's grounds.","France raises number of car rampage injured to 13. PARIS (AP) — France's top security official has raised the number of people by a rampaging driver to 13, and is cautioning against jumping to conclusions about the attack.","Nigeria says India now its largest crude importer. Oil-rich Nigeria said on Thursday that India has replaced the United States as its largest crude importer, accounting for more than a quarter of its daily output. \"The US, which had traditionally taken the bulk of Nigeria's crude, has in recent months drastically reduced its demand, which now stands at about 250,000 barrels per day,\" the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) said in a statement. \"India, however, now purchases some 30 percent of Nigeria's daily crude production which currently hovers around 2.5 million barrels,\" it said, quoting senior official Tim Okon.","AP names chief of Arabic language service. CAIRO (AP) — Lamia Radi, a veteran journalist who has reported on war and transformation for three decades throughout the Middle East, has been appointed as the new chief of AP's Arabic language service, the news cooperative announced Monday.","Iran's Khamenei backs nuclear talks but not optimistic. By Mehrdad Balali DUBAI (Reuters) - Iran's supreme leader vowed to continue nuclear talks resuming with world powers on Tuesday despite some reservations, in his strongest sign of support for moderate President Hassan Rouhani's push to resolve the conflict peacefully. Iranian negotiators will hold a second round of talks with the United States and five other world powers aimed at a definitive settlement of the dispute, which led to global economic sanctions against Iran. Tuesday's talks look to build on an earlier interim accord binding Iran to suspend some sensitive parts of its uranium enrichment in return for modest sanctions relief. I have no opposition,\" said Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to a crowd in northern city of Tabriz on Monday.","LightSquared asks court not to re-open trial with Ergen. By Dena Aubin NEW YORK (Reuters) - Broadband company LightSquared has urged a judge not to re-open a trial that ended last week over Dish Network Corp Chairman Charles Ergen's purchase of LightSquared debt, saying it would delay resolution of LightSquared's bankruptcy proceedings. In a court filing on Friday, lawyers for LightSquared said the company should not have to bear the \"tremendous cost\" in money, time and distraction and have its efforts to emerge from bankruptcy imperiled. LightSquared, which filed for bankruptcy in 2012, presented closing arguments last week in a trial over whether Ergen improperly acquired $1 billion of the company's debt to take control of its wireless rights. U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Shelley Chapman has not yet issued a ruling in the trial, which ended on Monday.","Iranian plane crashes after takeoff, killing 39. TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — A regional passenger plane assembled in Iran crashed Sunday while taking off from the country's capital, Tehran, killing 39 and injuring another nine onboard, according to a senior transportation official and state media.","Sweden wins women's Olympic cross-country relay. KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia (AP) — Charlotte Kalla erased a 25-second deficit on the final leg and won a three-way sprint at the end to give Sweden the Olympic gold in the women's 4x5-kilometer cross-country relay, leaving Norway off the podium.","SOCHI SCENE: Tree Climbing. KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia (AP) — Alpine skiing coaches are also expert tree climbers.","Japan PM Abe urges military restraint in Asia in swipe at China. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe called on Wednesday for military restraint in Asia, vowing that Japan would never again wage war, while taking a veiled swipe at China's military buildup. Sino-Japanese ties, long colored by what Beijing considers Tokyo's failure to atone for its brutal occupation of parts of China before and during World War Two, have deteriorated in the past two years over a territorial dispute, Abe's visit to a shrine that critics say glorifies Japan's wartime past and a new Chinese air-defense zone. Asia's two biggest powers each accuse the other of bellicosity. \"We must ... restrain military expansion in Asia, which could otherwise go unchecked,\" Abe told the annual Davos policy forum.","Sri Lanka 453 all out against England at Lord's. Sri Lanka were bowled out for 453 in reply to England's first innings 575 for nine declared, a deficit of 122, on the fourth day of the first Test at Lord's on Sunday. Sri Lanka captain Angelo Mathews was out for 102 on Sunday after Kumar Sangakkara had made 147 on Saturday -- both batsmen scoring a Test hundred at Lord's for the first time. James Anderson led England's attack with three wickets for 93 runs in 31 overs while debutant Chris Jordan (three for 102 in 27.4) also took three wickets.","Bahrain opposition chiefs charged over US meeting. Bahrain's chief prosecutor Thursday charged the head of the largest Shiite opposition and his number two with violating a law on foreign contacts after they met a senior US diplomat. The prosecution said it questioned cleric Ali Salman, the head of Al-Wefaq association, and his political assistant, ex-MP Khalil Marzooq, on their meeting with the US Assistant Secretary of State Tom Malinowski. \"The public prosecution has charged them with contacting a representative of a foreign government in violation of the law on political associations,\" the prosecution said. Bahrain has said the meeting at the US embassy violated the law stipulating that contacts between political associations and foreign parties \"should be coordinated with the foreign ministry and in the presence\" of its representative.","European demand, higher prices drive Nike's profit beat. (Reuters) - Nike Inc , the world's largest sportswear maker, reported better-than-expected quarterly profit as strong demand for its products helped the company raise prices and revenue from Europe jumped 25 percent. The company, whose shares rose 5.5 percent in extended trading, said gross margin improved to 46.6 percent in the first quarter from 44.9 percent a year earlier. The company has been giving tough competition to Germany's Adidas AG on the hotly contested European turf. ...","Attacks in Egypt kill 4, including police, soldier. CAIRO (AP) — A bomb blast near a Cairo court killed one policeman on Friday, shortly after two suicide bombers struck in Egypt's restive Sinai Peninsula in near-simultaneous attacks that killed three people, including a soldier.","Israeli police: Palestinian stabs 2 border policemen. JERUSALEM (AP) — A Palestinian man on Friday stabbed two Israeli paramilitary border policemen at the entrance to Jerusalem's Old City, injuring them lightly, Israeli police said.","Fight against domestic violence stalls in patriarchal Turkey. Last year, 13 women in Turkey were murdered by their partners whilst nominally under state protection, according to official figures. Turkey, which aspires to join the European Union, has drafted new legislation to try to bring women's rights in line with European standards. Officials say the number of shelters has doubled in the past three years and victim support centers have been set up, allowing women like Hayat to receive protection and remain with their children. Turkey ranked 120th of 136 nations in the World Economic Forum's 2013 Gender Gap Index, down 15 places since 2006, while a 2011 U.N. report indicated domestic violence rates were almost twice those in the United States, and ten times higher than in some European countries. \"There is a real concrete, open threat to our rights.","Netanyahu and California gov sign business pact. MOUNTAIN VIEW, California (AP) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made a swing through the Silicon Valley to meet with high-tech leaders and sign a pro-business agreement with Gov. Jerry Brown.","Liberty Reserve founder faces court appearance. NEW YORK (AP) — A man accused of creating an online, underworld bank that helped launder $6 billion for drug dealers, child pornographers, identity thieves and other criminals was facing his first court appearance in Manhattan.","S&P's removes Generali from negative credit watch, affirms rating. U.S. rating agency Standard & Poor's has removed Generali from its Credit Watch list, saying Italy's biggest insurer would not exhaust its regulatory capital even if its home country were to default on its debt. In a statement, the rating agency said it affirmed Generali's rating at A-, two notches above Italy's sovereign rating, with a negative outlook. Back in November, Generali had reacted angrily at Standard & Poor's threat to downgrade it due to its sovereign exposure, a move which Generali's CEO Mario Greco had called \"a gross mistake\".","More police officers detained in Turkey's wiretap probe : media. Dozens of police officers were detained in Turkey on Tuesday as part of an investigation into alleged spying and illegally wiretapping Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan and his inner circle, local media reported. At least 25 police officers were detained in 14 provinces across the country, Turkey's state-run TRT channel reported. The detentions come just days before an Aug. 10 election in which Erdogan hopes to become Turkey's first directly elected president. The investigation is widely seen as targeting a \"parallel structure\" within the state, a term coined by Erdogan to describe members of the police, judiciary and other institutions loyal to U.S.-based Islamic cleric Fethullah Gulen.","Exclusive: Ukraine prime minister says Russians 'want us to freeze'. By Louis Charbonneau UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The prime minister of the Kiev government accused Russia on Thursday of attempting to freeze Ukraine in the coming winter by using natural gas as a weapon to subjugate the former Soviet Republic. \"They want us to freeze. This is the aim and this is another trump card in Russian hands. So, except military offense, except military operation against Ukraine, they have another trump card, which is energy,\" Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk said in an interview on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York City. ...","U.S. military monitoring Islamic State training in Libya: general. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. military is closely monitoring a nascent effort by Islamic State, the militant group that has overrun parts of Syria and Iraq, to train a couple of hundred fighters in eastern Libya, the commander of U.S. forces in Africa said on Wednesday. Army General David Rodriguez, head of the U.S. Africa Command, said it was not yet clear how closely aligned the trainees were with Islamic State or whether the effort should be targeted by U.S. forces. He said he had not recommended U.S. ...","Search for plane suspended due to bad weather. PERTH, Australia (AP) — Australian officials say search operations for the missing Malaysia Airlines plane have been suspended for the day due to bad weather.","In Ukraine's east, Soviet-style economy withers under onslaught. By Lina Kushch, Elizabeth Piper and Natalia Zinets DONETSK/KIEV (Reuters) - After pro-Russian rebels took 720 kg of explosives, 360 detonators and almost 1 km of wiring, the Skochinskiy coal mine, an ageing stalwart of the economy in Ukraine's Donbass region, was put out of action. Fierce fighting and rebel requisitioning have stopped work at many of the coal mines in and around the strongholds of Donetsk and Luhansk. Without the fuel, nearby steel factories and electricity plants across Ukraine are struggling to work. Many in Ukraine's western and central regions see the industrial east as a burden, home to an outdated Soviet economy of monolithic factories that offer little to the rest of a country where other sectors and smaller firms are more common.","Mob of doctors torture, kill suspected thief in India: police. A mob of doctors killed a suspected thief at a medical college in India by tying him up and slashing his penis with a razor, in a case of vigilante justice, police said Monday. Authorities have ordered an inquiry into the attack in the eastern city of Kolkata in which the 30-year-old man was beaten with bamboo sticks and slashed on Sunday, a senior police officer said. \"Preliminary inquiries have revealed that nearly a dozen junior doctors picked up the man on suspicion of stealing mobile phones,\" Kolkata's deputy police commissioner Dhrubajyoti De said. State deputy health minister Chandrima Bhattacharya ordered an inquiry, describing the incident as \"very shocking\".","Booby-trapped car explodes outside Bank of Greece. A booby-trapped car exploded outside the Bank of Greece in central Athens Thursday but no one was injured in the blast, police said, as Greece was set to return to the debt markets after a four-year absence. The car which was parked on the sidewalk facing the central bank building blew up around 0255 GMT. Police said the car, a Nissan, had been stolen and was fitted with 75 kilos (165 pounds) of explosives. The blast came a day before a visit to Athens by German Chancellor Angela Merkel, the head of Europe's largest economy who played a key role in ensuring Greece did not crash out of the eurozone at the height of the debt crisis two years ago.","Rugby Union - Wales ready for 'red-letter' All Blacks - Edwards. - Wales are hopefully heading for a rugby crescendo when they host \"red-letter\" world champions New Zealand on Saturday, according to the Welsh team's defence coach Shaun Edwards.","Azerbaijan jails investigative journalist. BAKU, Azerbaijan (AP) — Azerbaijan has ordered the detention of a prominent investigative journalist whose reporting has often featured the business dealings of top politicians in the country.","Festive atmosphere as fans turn up to watch France. RIBEIRAO PRETO, Brazil (AP) — Thousands of fans, some wearing Brazil's yellow shirts and others waving French flags, turned up to watch France's first World Cup training session in a festive atmosphere Tuesday.","Brazilian pair boosts bid for Chiquita to $658M. NEW YORK (AP) — Two Brazilian companies are raising their bid for banana company Chiquita to approximately $658 million.","Bankers win friends again in Europe with lure of easy money. By John O'Donnell BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Jacques de Larosiere says he is an isolated and modest man. Yet the 84-year-old former head of the International Monetary Fund is one of the most influential voices in European and global finance. An eminence grise as respected among France's political elite as in the heart of the law-drafting European Commission, de Larosiere finds himself at the nexus of finance and rulemaking, treading a fine line between lobbying and advice. Following the financial crash, his blueprint - produced by a group of experts he led at the request of the European Commission in 2009 - shaped the most ambitious round of banking reform in Europe's history.","Espanyol beats Getafe 2-0 for 1st win of season. BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Espanyol beat Getafe 2-0 for its first win in the Spanish league under new coach Sergio Gonzalez on Thursday.","Indian police arrest another 3 accused in gang rape of Danish tourist. NEW DELHI - Indian police say they have arrested three more people accused in the gang rape of a 51-year-old Danish tourist in New Delhi.","Foley's killer will be caught: former anti-terror chief. The suspected British killer of US journalist James Foley will be found and brought to justice \"sooner or later\", Britain's former anti-terrorism chief said Thursday. Richard Barrett, former head of counterterrorism at foreign intelligence service MI6, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that those who knew the suspect would be so appalled by the grisly online video of the killing that they would contact police. Prime Minister David Cameron, who broke off his holidays for emergency meetings on the threat posed by IS, called the murder \"brutal and barbaric\" and said it was \"increasingly likely\" that the killer was a UK citizen. Barrett insisted that links between the authorities and the \"vulnerable\" communities in which it is presumed the suspect lived before heading to Syria to fight with the IS militants were now \"very much stronger.\"","SOCHI SCENE: Winter, or San Francisco?. KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia (AP) — Wait, what? It actually feels like winter at the Winter Olympics.","Rome police: gangsters, corrupt pols cut deals. ROME (AP) — A former Rome mayor has stepped down from posts in his right-wing party after he was put under investigation in a sweeping probe of ties between gangsters and allegedly corrupt city politicians.","Food companies, restaurants add protein to beef up profits. By Yasmeen Abutaleb NEW YORK (Reuters) - Though diet studies disagree about what's worse for you, carbohydrates or fat, most say nice things about eating protein, including its potential for better weight control. U.S. consumers have taken note, and so have food manufacturers and restaurant chains. More than a dozen companies have introduced new products or meals that are \"enriched\" or \"fortified\" with protein in the last few years, and the protein push is accelerating. ...","UK biodiesel plant to re-open in next few months. A biodiesel plant run by major UK independent oil firm Greenergy is set to re-open in the next few months once repairs are completed after damage caused by the worst tidal flooding seen on the east coast of England for 60 years, the company said. The plant at Immingham, which makes biodiesel from waste products such as used cooking oil, was shut down safely in advance of the flooding on December 6, 2013. It declined to provide details on the capacity of the plant which was built to process vegetable oils into biodiesel but later converted to use waste products. The plant had the capacity to produce around 200,000 tonne (22,0462 metric tons) of biodiesel a year when it used vegetable oils.","German foreign minister urges Ukraine caution in military action. German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier urged Ukraine's government on Saturday to exercise caution in using military force against pro-Russian separatists in the eastern part of the country. \"The result of military operations in eastern Ukraine must not be to give more impetus to the separatists,\" Steinmeier told Tagesspiegel am Sonntag newspaper in extracts released on Saturday, the same day a new president was inaugurated in Kiev. In such a tense situation, he added, it would be \"smart to be cautious in the deployment of military force and have a sense of proportion\". Steinmeier also said Russia's behavior in the conflict had \"noticeably changed\", a comment that appeared to strike a new tone in emphasizing the importance of both Kiev and Moscow taking responsibility for a de-escalation.","U.N. sending invitations to Switzerland peace talks on Syria. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is sending out invitations on Monday to potential participants in Syrian peace talks scheduled to take place in Switzerland this month, the U.N. press office said. The U.N. statement said the list of invitees was determined at a December 20 meeting between Russia, the United States and the United Nations. The key players in the talks to try to end Syria's civil war are President Bashar al-Assad's government and opposition rebels that have been fighting for nearly three years to oust him. Earlier on Monday U.N. spokesman Farhan Haq said that there had been no agreement on whether to invite Iran though he said Ban supports the idea of Iran's participation and hopes agreement can be reached on that issue.","6 arrested in Australia and UK over amphetamines. CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Police have arrested six men in Australia and Britain for allegedly smuggling amphetamines from the United Kingdom halfway around the world through a courier service.","Mexico City braces for large demonstrations. MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico City is bracing for demonstrations as caravans of students and family members of 43 missing college students converge on the capital after several days crisscrossing the country.","WHO: Ebola death toll above 4,000. GENEVA (AP) — The World Health Organization says the number of deaths recorded in the Ebola outbreak has risen above 4,000.","Canada to impose sanctions on range of Russian firms and banks. Canada said on Thursday it will impose sanctions on \"a broad range\" of Russian companies and banks to punish Moscow for what it said was the illegal occupation of Crimea and \"provocative military activity\" in eastern Ukraine. The companies include Novatek OAO, Russia's No. 2 natural gas producer, as well as Gazprombank OAO, Russia's third largest bank by assets. The United States last week imposed sanctions on the two banks that Canada listed on Thursday and many of the same arms manufacturers, which include firms such as Bazalt, Sozvezdie, NPO Mashinostroyenia and KBP Instrument Design Bureau.","Rugby-Irish eyes smiling after Wallabies are beaten. (Adds detail, quotes) By Padraic Halpin DUBLIN, Nov 22 (Reuters) - Ireland beat Australia 26-23 in a thriller on Saturday that featured five tries in the first half and secured their first November series sweep in eight years to lay down a marker for next year's World Cup. Since Joe Schmidt took charge just over a year ago, Ireland have beaten South Africa, narrowly missed out on a first victory over New Zealand and won the Six Nations but their latest scalp may be the most hard fought yet in a remarkable game of rugby. ...","Asia Cup: Afghanistan beats Bangladesh by 32 runs. FATULLAH, Bangladesh (AP) — Afghanistan beat Bangladesh by 32 runs on Saturday in the Asia Cup at Khan Shaheb Osman Ali Stadium:","U.S. lawmakers laud Iraq strikes, question long-term strategy. By Missy Ryan and Roberta Rampton WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Lawmakers in Washington welcomed President Barack Obama's decision to attack advancing Islamist militants in Iraq, but some questioned whether his administration has a long-term strategy to arrest Iraq's disintegration. Two U.S. F/A-18 fighter jets dropped 500-pound, laser-guided bombs on Friday on an Islamic State mobile artillery piece used to shell Kurdish forces defending Arbil, the Pentagon said, and strikes later in the day involved a drone and four F/A-18s. The United States has a consulate and, since Iraq's latest security crisis erupted in June, a joint military operations center staffed by 40 U.S. servicemen in Arbil, capital of the semi-autonomous Iraqi Kurdistan region.","Syria militants claim Christians agreed to pay tax. AMMAN, Jordan (AP) — Militant fighters should not impose an Islamic tax on Christians in Syria, a radical Jordanian preacher facing terrorism charges said Thursday, days after an al-Qaida breakaway group in Syria claimed Christian leaders under its control agreed to pay the tax in return for protection.","Army wives urge Russia to come clean on soldiers in Ukraine. Several dozen women gathered outside a military base in central Russia on Thursday to demand that commanders come clean about the whereabouts of their husbands after reports of secret funerals for soldiers covertly sent to Ukraine. The women -- mostly in their 20s, a few with small children -- huddled outside a base that houses paratroopers in Kostroma, around 300 kilometres (200 miles) north of Moscow. Some 350 soldiers from the city were this month sent on military drills to the border with Ukraine and then went incommunicado, said one of the women, 26-year-old Valeria Sokolova. Commanders from the base have told her several have returned dead, she said, and around 15 wounded soldiers were also flown back this week.","Tennis star Murray boosts Scottish 'Yes' campaign. London (AFP) - Scottish tennis star Andy Murray broke his silence over the independence referendum on Thursday by appearing to lend last-minute support to the \"Yes\" campaign as polling began.","Aussie opener Rogers hits double ton in record chase. Australia Test opener Chris Rogers hit an unbeaten 241 as English county Middlesex chased down their highest fourth-innings total to clinch a seven-wicket win over Yorkshire at Lord's on Wednesday. Set a huge 472 to win, 36-year-old Rogers stormed to the third-highest fourth-innings score ever recorded by a batsman in the county championship. Neil Dexter stood shoulder with Rogers, making an undefeated 72 in an unbroken fourth wicket stand of 145. Rogers has hit 10 double-hundreds in his career, and has four centuries at Test level, but the Australian insisted that Wednesday's innings was his best ever.","Burundi orders U.N. security adviser out after violence warning. Burundi ordered a security adviser at the United Nations mission in the country to leave on Thursday, escalating a row that started with a warning by the U.N. last week of a possible outbreak of political violence. Government officials in the tiny central African state reacted angrily to the warning by the U.N. mission (BNUB) on Wednesday, saying it was baseless and possibly spread to justify an extension of its mandate beyond its December expiration date. The warning was linked to a political crisis over planned changes to the constitution that could allow President Pierre Nkurunziza to run for a third term. \"A senior security adviser for the UN mission in Burundi has 48 hours to leave the country,\" said Willy Nyamitwe, deputy spokesman for Burundi's president.","Nadal advances to Wimbledon's 2nd round. LONDON (AP) — Two-time Wimbledon champion Rafael Nadal was made to work hard for his opening-round win at Wimbledon on Tuesday, rallying from one set down before beating hard-hitting Martin Klizan of Slovakia.","Lindt CEO sees double-digit growth in North America in 2014. Swiss chocolate maker Lindt & Spruengli expects to again generate double-digit sales growth in North America in 2014, its head told Reuters on Tuesday. We should be able to generate double-digit growth there in 2014,\" Chief Executive and Chairman Ernst Tanner said in a telephone interview. Lindt & Spruengli published a forecast-beating 8.6 percent rise in 2013 sales earlier on Tuesday, notably thanks to strong growth in the U.S. and Canada, and Tanner said the company's growth was mainly due to additional volumes.","Gaza rocket hits building in southern Israel: police. A rocket fired from the Gaza Strip on Saturday hit an industrial zone in Sderot in southern Israel, setting a building on fire but without causing casualties, police said. Spokesman Micky Rosenfeld told AFP a second rocket struck open ground. A military spokesman said the building hit was a factory, and that firemen were on the scene. Saturday's attack came a day after two Palestinians in the Gaza Strip were killed in an Israeli air raid after a bomb exploded near troops manning Israel's security fence.","PMH to cease cigarette production in Netherlands. NEW YORK (AP) — Philip Morris International will end cigarette production at its factory in the Netherlands as Europeans break the smoking habit for both financial and health reasons.","Iraq insurgents use water as weapon after seizing dam. Insurgents in Iraq have added water to their arsenal of weapons after seizing control of a dam in the west of the country that enables them to flood certain areas and prevent security forces from advancing against them. The dam helps distribute water from the Euphrates river on its course through the western province of Anbar, and is located some 5 km south of the city of Falluja, which was overrun by militants early this year. Iraqi troops have since been surrounding Falluja and shelling the city in an effort to dislodge anti-government tribes and insurgent factions including the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). The militants closed all eight of the dam's 10 gates one week ago, flooding land upstream and reducing water levels in Iraq's southern provinces, through which the Euphrates flows before emptying into the Gulf.","Trade ban has Russia's knickers in a twist. MOSCOW (AP) — A trade ban on lacy lingerie has Russian consumers and their neighbors with their knickers in a twist.","Yemen Shiite rebels, tribes agree truce. Shiite rebels and Yemeni tribesmen agreed a ceasefire on Sunday after deadly clashes between the two sides in the Arhab district near the capital Sanaa, state news agency Saba said. Shiite rebels from the Ansarullah group, also known as Huthis, have been advancing from their mountain strongholds in the far north to other Zaidi Shiite-majority areas nearer Sanaa in a bid to expand their hoped-for autonomous zone in a future Yemen. The deal will also see the army deployed to positions evacuated by rebels and tribesmen, and all fighters who do not come from the Arhab area will be pulled back.","Gunshot wounds student at Mexico's main university. MEXICO CITY (AP) — A Mexico City police officer is being investigated following a shooting incident that wounded a student on the main campus of the National Autonomous University of Mexico.","Ajax wins at Feyenoord 1-0. AMSTERDAM (AP) — Defending champion Ajax beat Feyenoord 1-0 Sunday in the Dutch league as Ricardo van Rhijn scored an early goal with a free kick from 25 meters out.","Inter Milan to retire Zanetti's No. 4 shirt. MILAN (AP) — Inter Milan will retire the No. 4 jersey as a tribute to legendary former captain Javier Zanetti, who quit football at the end of last season.","Eurostar train blocked after hitting deer. Paris (AFP) - A Eurostar train from London to Paris was blocked for hours after hitting a deer in the dead of night, a company spokesman said Thursday.","Malaysian man crawls for 3 days after car smash. KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — A Malaysian man seriously injured in a car accident crawled through jungle for three days before happening upon an isolated village, authorities said Friday.","Asia stocks gain on US rally, Europe stimulus talk. Hopes for fresh stimulus from the European Central Bank and China's steady growth bolstered Asian stock markets Wednesday after the S&P 500 had its best day of the year.","IS jihadists down Syria warplane: monitor. Beirut (AFP) - Jihadists shot down a Syrian warplane conducting strikes on the Islamic State group stronghold of Raqa on Tuesday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said.","Egypt to blame if health fails, says Jazeera journalist. A jailed Al-Jazeera journalist who has been on hunger strike for over 100 days said he holds the Egyptian authorities responsible if his health fails, according to a video aired on Wednesday. Abdullah Elshamy was arrested on August 14 when police broke up a sit-in of supporters of ousted Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in Cairo, which led to clashes that killed hundreds. Elshamy, who works for the Qatar-based network, has been on hunger strike since January 21 to protest his detention and has yet to face trial, the network said in a statement. Al-Jazeera said Elshamy was \\\\\"effectively missing\\\\\" after he was moved from his prison cell on Monday morning.","Ble Goude's militants raped and murdered in I. Coast, court hears. The Hague (AFP) - Men commanded by Charles Ble Goude, henchman to Ivory Coast's former president Laurent Gbagbo, murdered, raped and burned alive hundreds during a post-electoral crisis in 2010-11, the International Criminal Court head on Monday.","Takata to comply with U.S. order to expand regional recall: Nikkei. TOKYO (Reuters) - Takata Corp is making final preparations to expand a region-specific recall in the United States of vehicles with its air bag inflators to the rest of the country, as ordered last week by regulators, the Nikkei business daily said on Tuesday. The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) ordered the nationwide recall last week, giving the Japanese air bag supplier until Tuesday to declare that its inflators are defective and issue a recall. If it does not, NHTSA could begin steps to fine the company up to $7,000 per vehicle, as well as force a recall. ...","Cricket-Kallis quits ODI format months before World Cup. * World Cup bridge too far for 38-year-old * Kallis to continue in T20 format (Adds byline, details, quotes) By Mark Gleeson CAPE TOWN, July 30 (Reuters) - South Africa's Jacques Kallis has surprisingly decided to call time on his international limited overs career six months before the World Cup. The 38-year-old, one of the greatest all-rounders in the game's history, retired from test cricket last year but had been planning to finish his South Africa career at the 50-over World Cup in Australia and New Zealand in February and March. \"I realised in Sri Lanka that my dream of playing in a World Cup was a bridge too far,\" he said in a statement.","Obama calls European allies on Russia-Ukraine. SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — President Barack Obama has told four European leaders the United States is prepared to impose new sanctions on Russia. The White House says the allies on Friday agreed Russia has not abided by an agreement to ease tensions with Ukraine and has escalated strains in the eastern parts of the former Soviet state.","Canadian Tire to sell 20 percent stake in financial services business. (Reuters) - Canadian Tire Corp said Bank of Nova Scotia would buy a 20 percent stake in the retailer's financial services business for C$500 million ($459 million) in cash. Bank of Nova Scotia will also provide a funding commitment to the financial services business with credit card receivable financing of up to C$2.25 billion.","Image of Asia: Vaccinating 13 million Filipinos. In this photo by Bullit Marquez, a health worker vaccinates a baby in the Philippines during a monthlong campaign to immunize 13 million children nationwide against measles, rubella and polio. The campaign has reached an estimated 30 percent of its target in the first two weeks. More than 16,700 measles cases have been confirmed in the Philippines this year. Health Secretary Enrique Ona said the outbreak is not an epidemic yet but they are immunizing children to prevent one. The Philippines is considered polio-free, but the World Health Organization has warned that global travel may spread the crippling disease into countries that had thought themselves free of the virus.","BofA suspends buyback, dividend increase after capital miscalculation. (Reuters) - Bank of America Corp said it would suspend its $4 billion stock buyback program and a planned increase in its quarterly dividend because it miscalculated the level of its capital after buying Merrill Lynch in 2009. The bank, whose shares were down 4 percent before the start of trading on Monday, said it had been ordered by the Federal Reserve to suspend and resubmit its capital plans for 2014. The Fed said Bank of America must address the errors in its regulatory capital calculations and ensure there were no further problems with its reporting. BofA is required to resubmit its capital plan within 30 days.","Bosnia's new leadership takes shape, faces pressure to reform. By Daria Sito-Sucic SARAJEVO (Reuters) - Bosnia's new presidential triumvirate took office on Monday in a first step to forming a government the West hopes will press economic reforms to help unblock stalled efforts to join the European Union. The presidency comprises a Serb, a Croat and a Bosniak, part of an unwieldy system of ethnic power-sharing laid down in a U.S.-brokered peace deal that ended Bosnia's 1992-95 war. ...","Western states to send low-level officials to Sisi inauguration. Cairo's most important Western allies plan to send low-level representatives to Abdel Fattah al-Sisi's presidential inauguration, officials said, a diplomatic snub meant to convey ongoing concerns about the state of Egyptian democracy. The government that Sisi installed after he removed the Muslim Brotherhood from power last July has been accused of widespread human rights abuses against the Islamist movement as well as secular activists. A U.S. official said Washington would send Thomas Shannon, counselor to Secretary of State John Kerry, to the inauguration on Sunday. On Wednesday, the United States said it looked forward to working with Sisi but reiterated concerns about limits on freedom of peaceful assembly and expression.","Vela leads Sociedad to 1-0 win at Malaga in Spain. MALAGA, Spain (AP) — Carlos Vela scored early and Real Sociedad hung on for a 1-0 win at Malaga on Monday to move in on the Spanish league's last Champions League qualifying place.","Algeria beat South Korea 4-2 in Group H. PORTO ALEGRE, Brazil (AP) — First-half goals by Islam Slimani and Rafik Halliche helped Algeria to a 4-2 victory over South Korea on Sunday, leaving the African nation second in Group H with one match left to play.","Swiss TV: Voters back limit on immigration. GENEVA (AP) — Voters in Switzerland have narrowly backed a proposal to limit immigration to the Alpine republic.","Greek prison inmate fatally stabs prison guard. ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Authorities say an inmate serving a life sentence in a prison in central Greece has fatally stabbed a guard with a makeshift knife, reportedly after being refused a furlough.","Seleka to sign ceasefire, drops call for Central African Republic split. BRAZZAVILLE/DAKAR (Reuters) - The mainly Muslim Seleka rebels in Central African Republic will sign a ceasefire with 'anti-balaka' Christian rebels on Wednesday, having dropped demands for the country to be split in two, Seleka officials told Reuters. \"We will be signing the cessation of hostilities agreement this afternoon,\" Colonel Youssouf Ben Moussa, a senior Seleka official, said by telephone from the Seleka-controled north of the country. \"What we have agreed to is a power-sharing deal.\" Members of Seleka's negotiating team at talks in Congo Republic confirmed the information but said they would only give further details after the signing of the deal, which is aimed at ending months of religious violence.","China third-quarter GDP growth seen at five-year low of 7.3 percent, more stimulus expected. By Kevin Yao BEIJING (Reuters) - China's economy likely grew at its weakest pace in more than five years in the third quarter as a property downturn weighed on demand, a Reuters poll showed, raising the chances of more aggressive policy steps that may include cutting interest rates. The economy may have expanded 7.3 percent in the third quarter from a year earlier - the weakest reading since the first quarter of 2009, when growth hit 6.6 percent during the height of the global crisis, according to a poll of 20 economists. ...","Cameron says Britain should not stay in EU 'come what may'. By Kylie MacLellan LONDON (Reuters) - Prime Minister David Cameron said on Monday that Britain should not be willing to stay in the European Union \"come what may\", as his main political rival said the promise of a referendum on membership of the bloc was creating uncertainty for businesses. In a bid to quell dissent among his own lawmakers and win back voters who have defected to the anti-EU UK Independence Party, Cameron has pledged to renegotiate Britain's EU ties before offering a membership referendum in 2017 if he is re-elected next year. ...","Pakistan cricket coach attributes three Ds for Australia success. Pakistan's head coach Waqar Younis said Tuesday that determination, dedication and discipline had been the keys to his team's first series win over Australia in 20 years. Pakistan annihilated Australia by 356 runs in the second Test in Abu Dhabi on Monday to win the two-match series 2-0, their first over their opponentssince 1994. Waqar praised skipper Misbah-ul Haq for his positive thinking. Waqar said he always respected Younis Khan, declared man-of-the-series for his 468 runs in the two Tests, including hundreds in each innings of the first Test and 213 in the second.","Trial starts for Venezuela opposition leader Lopez. By Andrew Cawthorne CARACAS (Reuters) - Jailed opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez went on trial in Venezuela on Wednesday, accused of masterminding anti-government protests that turned violent and left 43 people dead. Nearly 900 people were also injured in the worst explosion of violence in the South American OPEC member for a decade, as activists opposed to President Nicolas Maduro faced off with government supporters and state security forces. Some 87 people remain behind bars, including 16 state security officials, after a traumatic period for Venezuela that left the opposition movement divided between hardliners and moderates, and the government shaken but intact.","Dozens feared dead in Islamist attack in northeast Nigeria. Kano (Nigeria) (AFP) - Suspected Boko Haram Islamists have killed dozens of mostly Christian villagers in northeast Nigeria, an official and local villagers said Sunday. The attack took place in the mostly Christian village of Izghe in the troubled state of Borno, which has been under emergency rule since May last year in a bid to stop an Islamist rebellion that has claimed thousands of lives since 2009. From the latest information I have gathered, more than 60 people have been killed,\" local government official Maina Ularamu told AFP. They were dressed in military uniform,\" Barnabas Idi told AFP by phone.","EU should keep sanctions against Hamas: US. The United States on Wednesday urged the European Union to keep up its sanctions against Hamas, saying there was \"no change\" in US policy. \"We will continue to work closely with the European Union on Hamas-related issues. We believe that the EU should maintain its terrorism sanctions on Hamas,\" State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said. The United States was studying a ruling by an EU court ordering that the Palestinian militant group be removed from an EU blacklist, she told reporters.","Rousseff takes World Cup campaign to streets. SALVADOR, Brazil (AP) — President Dilma Rousseff, who appealed to Brazilians in a national television address to support the World Cup, took her campaign to the streets of the northeasten city of Salvador.","China sets 7.5 percent growth target. BEIJING (AP) — China's premier has announced a 7.5 percent official economic growth target for this year.","Police prepare for search in Madeleine McCann case. LISBON, Portugal (AP) — Police investigating the disappearance of Madeleine McCann have cordoned off an area of scrubland near where the British girl vanished seven years ago.","German leader: spying on allies harms security. BERLIN (AP) — German Chancellor Angela Merkel warned on Wednesday that countries who spy on their allies risk destroying trust, resulting in less rather than more security.","Canada commemorates Afghan mission. Thousands gathered in Ottawa on Friday to commemorate Canada's longest ever military engagement, in Afghanistan. With a marching band, a Chinook helicopter and Leopard tanks parked on parliament's front lawn, a memorial in the Senate chamber, a 21-gun salute, a fly-by and the presentation to the governor general of the last Canadian flag to fly in Afghanistan, Canadians paid tribute to their military. \\\\\"This mission, started the 11th of September 2001 with the death of 24 Canadians in the attacks on the World Trade Centre (in New York), has been long,\\\\\" Prime Minister Stephen Harper said in a speech. \\\\\"This National Day of Honour, the first of its kind in Canadian history, is an unprecedented opportunity for us to say thank you to the men and women who have fought and have served for Canada.","School at heart of Mexican massacre a lonely place. The teacher training college at the center of Mexico's latest spasm of gang-related violence is now a lonely and fearful place. A total of 43 of its students have vanished and are feared dead since September 26 when they attended a fund-raising rally in the town of Iguala. At the school, in the town of Ayotzinapa, the black door of one of the dorms is sealed shut. Ernesto Guerrero, a 21-year-old student at the college, survived September's maelstrom of violence in Iguala, 130 kilometers (80 miles) away.","Cooper out for 4 months with injured shoulder, hip. BRISBANE, Australia (AP) — Quade Cooper is expected to be sidelined for four months after scans Monday showed he needs surgery on a shoulder injury he sustained in the Queensland Reds weekend Super Rugby loss to the Melbourne Rebels.","Blast injures three U.N. peacekeepers in northern Mali. BAMAKO (Reuters) - Three United Nations peacekeepers were injured in northern Mali on Saturday when a blast struck their convoy near the northern desert town of Kidal, the U.N. mission said. The attack on the peacekeepers from Senegal is the latest in a string of incidents that has forced France to reinforce its presence in Mali to help the U.N. force weather a resurgence by Islamist militants. The U.N. peacekeepers were attacked as they were transporting water on a road 12 km (7 miles) southwest of Kidal. The two most seriously injured soldiers will be flown to Dakar for treatment, the U.N. ...","Kerry: US set to levy more sanctions on Russia. LONDON (AP) — Secretary of State John Kerry said Thursday that the U.S. and Europe hope Russia will play a constructive role in the May 25 presidential election in Ukraine, but if Moscow or its proxies disrupt it, the U.S. and European Union will move to impose more economic sanctions.","Marine who disappeared in Iraq in 2004 back in US. WASHINGTON (AP) — A Marine who was declared a deserter nearly 10 years ago after disappearing in Iraq and then returning to the U.S. claiming he had been kidnapped, only to disappear again, is back in U.S. custody, officials said Sunday.","Group: Thousands of women illegally held in Iraq. BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraq authorities are illegally detaining thousands of women, many of whom are subjected to torture and ill-treatment including the threat of sexual abuse, Human Rights Watch said Thursday.","Brazil poll shows Rousseff catching up with Silva in runoff. Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff has recovered support and would run a tight race with opposition candidate Marina Silva if October's election leads to a runoff vote, polls published on Wednesday showed. Silva, the Brazilian Socialist Party's candidate, would have 47 percent of voter support in a second-round vote, against 43 percent for Rousseff of the governing Workers' Party. The gap is within the margin of error of the survey by polling firm Datafolha. Rousseff nearly halved Silva's lead compared with a Datafolha poll last week, when the environmentalist received 48 percent support against 41 percent for the incumbent.","California cargo ships to slow for whales under new program. By Dana Feldman LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The massive container ships passing through the Santa Barbara Channel off the coast of Southern California will be paid a bonus of $2,500 per trip to slow down, in an effort to cut off-shore air pollution and reduce collisions with whales. The four-month pilot program started in July, run by federal and local officials and an environmental group. Last week, a dead fin whale washed up at the beach and harbor city of Port Hueneme, south of Santa Barbara. \"Slowing down ships is a good thing for air pollution, endangered species protection and human health,\" said Kristi Birney, marine conservation analyst with the Environmental Defense Center based in Santa Barbara.","Uganda says it will pull troops out of South Sudan only if Juba secured. By Aaron Maasho ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) - Uganda's president said on Friday he would pull troops out of South Sudan only if regional forces secured its capital Juba from rebel attack, as fighting in the world's newest state dragged on into a second year. Yoweri Museveni, who backed South Sudan's now-ruling SPLM in its decades-long conflict with Sudan before independence in 2011, sent his troops across the border at Juba's invitation shortly after fighting began in mid-December last year. ...","Suspect in Philippines deaths: Extradition coming. ALBANY, New York (AP) — A former U.S. Marine accused of killing a couple in the Philippines said Wednesday his extradition is looming and he looks forward to finally fighting the charges.","Exclusive: GlaxoSmithKline faces fresh drug bribery claims in Syria. By Ben Hirschler LONDON (Reuters) - GlaxoSmithKline faces new allegations that it bribed Syrian doctors and officials to boost sales of its medicines, following recent accusations of corruption in its non-prescription business in the country. GSK - one of the few big firms still supplying drugs in Syria - said on Monday it would investigate the new claims involving its own staff and local distributors. Reuters last month reported allegations of corruption in GSK's Syrian consumer business, which sells products including toothpaste and painkillers. The new corruption claims involve alleged bribes paid to boost sales of various medicines, including ones to treat cancer and to prevent blood clots.","Deadline passes for South African Al Qaeda hostage in Yemen. A deadline passed Saturday for the family of a South African man held hostage by Al-Qaeda in Yemen to pay a $3 million-ransom for his release. The 56-year-old teacher, Pierre Korkie, was abducted last may with his wife Yolande, who was released in January. \"Pierre is an innocent and honest person who served the poor people through his teaching,\" she said in a video recording, after greeting Al-Qaeda in Arabic, thanking them for treating her with respect during her captivity. He was just an ordinary man from South Africa,\" she said, flanked by the couple's teenage son and daughter.","UK sees thaw with Iran, will reopen embassy. LONDON (AP) — British Foreign Secretary William Hague said Tuesday that \"circumstances are right\" to reopen Britain's embassy in Iran, which was closed in 2011 after hard-liners overran the building and ransacked it.","China's Xi ramps up military spending in face of worried region. By Michael Martina and Greg Torode BEIJING/HONG KONG (Reuters) - China announced its biggest rise in military spending in three years on Wednesday, a strong signal from President Xi Jinping that Beijing is not about to back away from its growing assertiveness in Asia, especially in disputed waters. The government said it would increase the defense budget by 12.2 percent this year to 808.23 billion yuan ($131.57 billion), as China seeks to develop more high-tech weapons and to beef up coastal and air defenses. \"This is worrying news for China's neighbors, particularly for Japan,\" said Rory Medcalf, a regional security analyst at the independent Lowy Institute in Sydney. The 2014 defense budget is the first for Xi, the 'princeling' son of a late Communist Party elder, and the increase in spending appears to reflect his desire to build what he calls a strong, rejuvenated China.","Palestinian government draws threats from Israel. RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) — Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas swore in a Palestinian unity government Monday, taking a major step toward ending a crippling split with his Hamas rivals but drawing harsh condemnations and threats from Israel.","Hawaii lava flow hits property, threatens dozens more. By Karin Stanton PAHOA Hawaii (Reuters) - A slow-moving river of molten lava from an erupting volcano flowed through a residential property on Hawaii's Big Island, threatening dozens more homes and businesses, authorities said. The front from the Kilauea volcano has been slogging toward the town of Pahoa for weeks, with recent speeds averaging around 15 yards (13.7 meters) an hour. It incinerated an uninhabited building on Tuesday and a finger broke off toward an evacuated home that could soon be destroyed, said Darryl Oliveira, director of Hawaii County Civil Defense. The U.S. ...","Egypt court acquits Mubarak-era interior minister. CAIRO (AP) — A judicial official in Egypt says a Cairo court has acquitted the former interior minister under longtime autocrat Hosni Mubarak of charges of corruption and money laundering.","Argentine art exhibit celebrates Woody Allen. BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — While filmmaker Woody Allen deals with a scandal in New York, fans are celebrating him in Buenos Aires, Argentina.","Gunman kills six in drive-by shooting in California college town. (Reuters) - A gunman sprayed bullets from a car, killing six people, in a drive-by shooting in a southern California college town before his car crashed and he was found dead inside, authorities said on Saturday. Seven people were also wounded in what the Santa Barbara County Sheriff described as a premeditated atrocity late on Friday in the town of Isla Vista near the University of California at Santa Barbara campus. \"This incident appears to be a mass murder situation,\" Santa Barbara County Sheriff Bill Brown told a televised news conference. The sheriff said authorities were investigating a video tape posted on YouTube that appeared to be have been made by the suspect.","Levante draws 1-1 at Valladolid in Spain. VALLADOLID, Spain (AP) — Levante drew 1-1 at Valladolid on Friday to extend its unbeaten streak to seven straight games in the Spanish league.","Cricket-Pakistan 191-5 (20 overs) v Australia - World Twenty20. MIRPUR, Bangladesh, March 23 (Reuters) - Pakistan scored 191 for five wickets in 20 overs in their Group Two match against Australia in the super 10 stage of the World Twenty20 at Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium on Sunday. Australia won the toss. Scores: Pakistan 191-5 in 20 overs (Umar Akmal 94, Kamran Akmal 31; Nathan Coulter-Nile 2-36) v Australia. (Reporting by Amlan Chakraborty; editing by Justin Palmer)","Beach Boys, Pat Benatar cancel appearances at Busch Gardens, SeaWorld sister park. TAMPA, Fla. - Cancellations by recording artists are spreading to SeaWorld's sister park.","Yachting Team New Zealand overcomes cash crisis. Team New Zealand said on Tuesday it had secured the sponsorship needed to contest the next America's Cup, just weeks after pleading for an urgent government cash injection to keep it afloat. \"The team has now reached the point where it has the confidence to mount a challenge for the 35th America's Cup,\" chairman Keith Turner said. \"The team has secured sufficient private and sponsorship funding to proceed to the next stage without needing government funding during this period.\" Team New Zealand has been one of the leading contenders in yachting's most prestigious event in recent decades, winning in 1995 and 2000, and being the beaten finalist in three of the four regattas since. The government poured NZ$36 million ($31.2 million) into the last America's Cup campaign and gave Team NZ NZ$5.0 million in bridging finance to keep going after the San Francisco loss.","Japan no-hits MLB All-Stars in 4-0 win in Game 3. TOKYO (AP) — Hayato Sakamoto and Sho Nakata both hit two-run homers and starter Takahiro Norimoto combined with three pitchers on a no-hitter as Japan beat the Major League Baseball All-Stars 4-0 Saturday to take a 3-0 lead in their five-game series.","Five dead after Western NY gets year's worth of snow in four days. By Laila Kearney NEW YORK (Reuters) - An autumn blizzard dumped a year's worth of snow in three days on Western New York state, where five people died and residents, some stranded overnight in cars, braced for another pummeling expected later on Wednesday. Winter-hardy Buffalo and the surrounding area was pummeled by the storm that dumped 5 feet (1.5 m) of snow before breaking briefly for a sunny but frigid morning, said Deputy Erie County Executive Richard Tobe. The next wave was expected to arrive by nightfall on Wednesday and dump another 3 feet (1 m) of snow, he said. ...","Halep to meet Vinci for inaugural Bucharest title. BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) — Simona Halep overcame fellow Romanian Monica Niculescu 6-2, 4-6, 6-1 to reach the final of the inaugural Bucharest Open against Roberta Vinci of Italy on Saturday.","Poland volleyball head detained over corruption. WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Poland's anti-corruption office says it has detained the head of the national volleyball federation and the chief of a security firm on suspicion of corruption.","Nigeria extremists attack more villages; 48 dead. LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) — Boko Haram militants have attacked three villages in Nigeria, killing 48 people. One village is near the town of Chibok, where more than 300 schoolgirls were kidnapped last month.","Nigeria president says rivalries led to top brass sackings. Poisonous rivalries among Nigeria's top military brass hindered a fight against Islamic militants, forcing President Goodluck Jonathan to fire the army, navy and air force chiefs two weeks ago, he said. The January 16 sackings, along with that of the country's most senior military officer, had up to now gone unexplained but were interpreted as a sign the chiefs had fallen short in their mission to quash the Islamic group Boko Haram. Jonathan, during a visit to the northeastern state of Adamawa on Tuesday, said: \"We will not tolerate any unnecessary competition that will bring retrogression to this country.\" The new chief of defence staff appointed, Air Marshall Alex Badeh, has vowed to halt the bloody violence by Boko Haram by the end of April.","First Person: Is This Antarctica? No, It's Iowa. FIRST PERSON | CLINTON, Iowa -- Monday mornings aren't normally a happy time of week for most people, myself included. So I will sit back and get some writing done today and drink plenty of hot chocolate.","Three Azeri workers die in offshore platform accident. BAKU (Reuters) - Three workers were killed and one is still missing after an accident at one of the offshore oil and gas platforms in the Caspian Sea in Azerbaijan, Azeri state energy company SOCAR said on Thursday. SOCAR said that one of the platforms collapsed during repair works and a small wagon-house fell into the sea, damaging and causing a fire on a pipeline used for domestic gas deliveries. The fire was extinguished within an hour. There were 41 workers on site: 37 of them were evacuated by a rescue team, while four fell into the sea. ...","Prosecutors in Brussels Jewish museum shooting looking for 1 suspect who likely acted alone. BRUSSELS (AP) — Prosecutors in Brussels Jewish museum shooting looking for 1 suspect who likely acted alone.","Zambians pay respects to late president Sata. Zambians formed long lines on Sunday to pay last respects to their late president, Michael Sata, who died in London last week aged 77 while undergoing treatment for an undisclosed illness. Sata's body, which was repatriated on Saturday, is to lie in state for a week in the capital Lusaka until a November 11 funeral in a graveyard reserved for heads of state. Sata's widow Christine, along with other family members and officials, were among the first to view his body in the Mulungushi International Conference Centre. Vice President Guy Scott has taken over as acting president until an election is held within 90 days.","More legal woes for rideshare app Uber in Germany. BERLIN (AP) — Popular ridesharing service Uber is facing more legal issues in Germany after a Berlin court upheld the capital's ban on the app.","Activist for media freedom standing trial in China. BEIJING (AP) — A leading Chinese human rights activist is standing trial for public disturbance, more than 15 months after he was detained by police.","Egypt refers 8 to trial for inciting debauchery. CAIRO (AP) — Egypt's prosecutor general referred eight men to trial on charges of inciting debauchery after a viral video surfaced showing what authorities claim is a gay wedding.","Top Asian News at 10:30 a.m. GMT. BANGKOK (AP) — Hundreds of riot police attempted to clear out anti-government protest sites around Thailand's capital on Tuesday, triggering clashes that left three people dead and 57 others injured. Multiple gunshots were heard near the prime minister's offices, where riot police had started to remove protesters and dismantle a makeshift stage, but it wasn't clear who was firing.","US changes screening of migrant kid sponsors. SANTA ANA, California (AP) — The U.S. government has resumed checking the fingerprints of people other than parents who step forward to care for migrant children detained at the border amid concern by immigrant advocates that skipping the screening could put children at risk.","Levy wins 36-hole Portugal Masters. VILAMOURA, Portugal (AP) — Alexander Levy of France won the shortened Portugal Masters after the third and final round was abandoned because of further bad weather Sunday.","Paul Casey shoots final round 66 to win KLM Open. ZANDVOORT, Netherlands (AP) — Paul Casey shot a four-under 66 Sunday to win the KLM Open at 14 under, a single shot ahead of fellow Englishman Simon Dyson.","Zambian President Sata dies in London: private media. LUSAKA (Reuters) - Zambian President Michael Sata has died in London, where he had been receiving treatment for an undisclosed illness, three private Zambian media outlets said on Wednesday. The reports on the private Muzi television station and the Zambia Reports and Zambian Watchdog websites said the southern African nation's cabinet was about to meet. Government officials gave no immediate comment. (Reporting by Chris Ed Cropley; Editing by Robert Birsel)","Iraq PM visits militant battlefield city Ramadi. Ramadi (Iraq) (AFP) - Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki paid a visit Saturday to the battleground city of Ramadi, where security forces and allied tribesmen have for weeks fought to retake militant-held areas. Jihadist militants and anti-government tribesmen have held swathes of Ramadi and all of Fallujah to its east since January, in a major setback for the government. The prospects of a quick resolution to the crisis seem slim, with Deputy Prime Minister Hussein al-Shahristani saying security forces were settling down for a siege of militants in Fallujah.","Obama says US troop increase in Iraq signals 'new phase'. US President Barack Obama said Sunday that deploying additional troops to Iraq signals a \"new phase\" in the fight against the Islamic State group, as Baghdad investigated whether strikes killed the jihadists' leader. After earlier unveiling plans to send up to 1,500 more US troops to Iraq to advise and train the country's forces, Obama told CBS News on Sunday the US-led effort to defeat IS was moving to a new stage. \"Phase one was getting an Iraqi government that was inclusive and credible -- and we now have done that,\" Obama told CBS News on Sunday. \"We will provide them close air support once they are prepared to start going on the offence against (IS),\" Obama said.","Thorbjorn Olesen wins Perth International. PERTH, Australia (AP) — Thorbjorn Olesen of Denmark made a series of spectacular saves in defense of a shrinking lead to shoot a 1-under 71 Sunday and win the Perth International golf tournament by three shots.","China and Turkey fall behind in global corruption index. By Michael Nienaber BERLIN (Reuters) - Turkey and China's rating on perceived corruption has fallen steeply, according to Transparency International (TI), and the global watchdog called for closer international cooperation to root out graft and abuses of power. Transparency International issues an annual report measuring perceptions of graft rather than actual levels given the secrecy surrounding most corrupt dealings. It uses a scale where 100 stands for the most clean and 0 for the most corrupt. ...","Sebastian Coe wants independent drug-testing body. MONACO (AP) — The allegations of systematic doping in Russia should push the IAAF to set up an independent body to handle drug-testing in track and field, Sebastian Coe said Monday.","Design flaws led to 2013 lithium-ion battery fire in Boeing 787: U.S. NTSB. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A lithium-ion battery that caught fire aboard a parked Boeing 787 in 2013 in Boston had design flaws and it should not have been certified by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration, U.S. accident investigators said on Monday. The National Transportation Safety Board said the battery, manufactured by GS Yuasa Corp , experienced an internal short circuit that led to thermal runaway of the cell. This condition caused flammable materials to be ejected outside the battery's case and resulted in a small fire, the NTSB said in its report on the incident. ...","Atletico braced for counter-punching Chelsea. Atletico Madrid will expect another exhibition of ultra-disciplined counter-punching from Chelsea when the teams reconvene for the second leg of their Champions League semi-final at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday. Chelsea emerged from last week's first leg with a 0-0 draw after a cautious display in which they enjoyed only 38 percent of possession and mustered five attempts at goal to Atletico's 26. Jose Mourinho's side were at it again on Sunday, relaunching their Premier League title bid with a 2-0 success at leaders Liverpool after again surrendering possession and playing on the counter-attack. Chelsea's approach was criticised by Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers, who dismissively described their tactics as \"not difficult to coach\", but it was effective, and Atletico will be braced for more of the same.","Kang takes 1st-round lead in LPGA event at Incheon. INCHEON, South Korea (AP) — Haeji Kang shot a 5-under 67 on Thursday to take a two-stroke lead over five players, including three fellow South Koreans, after the first round of the LPGA's KEB-Hanabank Championship.","Rekindling Europe's repackaged debt market will take years. By Huw Jones LONDON (Reuters) - Reviving Europe's repackaged debt market to fund economic recovery will take years and hinge on a re-invention of the sector rather than quick regulatory tweaks, bankers and regulators say. The securitised debt, also known as asset-backed securities or ABS, is created by banks pooling mortgages, and corporate, auto or credit card loans and selling them to insurers, pension funds and even the European Central Bank (ECB). This could help wean the banks off cheap ECB money and provide funds that can be lent to other businesses, helping economies to grow. European officials will meet this month to discuss the market, which the ECB desperately wants back on its feet to help raise money for companies in the euro zone's flagging economy at a time when banks, traditionally the main source of funds, cut back on loans after the financial crisis.","Lufthansa and Austrian Airlines halt Libya flights indefinitely. The German airline Lufthansa and its subsidiary Austrian Airlines have halted flights to Libya indefinitely after a bomb exploded at Tripoli's international airport two weeks ago, a Lufthansa spokesman said on Monday. A spokeswoman for Italy's Alitalia said the airline had suspended its flights until April 15, after which the situation would be reviewed. Lufthansa, Austrian, British Airways and Alitalia suspended flights then and had left open whether or when operations would resume. \"We've decided to suspend flights to Tripoli indefinitely due to security and operational reasons,\" said a Lufthansa spokesman.","Dozen corpses found in pickup in gang-ridden Mexican state. Authorities found 12 corpses dumped in the back of a pick-up truck on Monday in the restive northwestern Mexican state of Sinaloa, where violence has been on the rise since drug kingpin Joaquin \"Shorty\" Guzman was captured in February. Sinaloa State Attorney General Marco Antonio Higuera said all of the victims were male, and none have been identified. It was the latest in a series of grisly finds that bear the hallmarks of drug gang killings in a spree of violence that has killed more than 90,000 people since 2006, when former President Felipe Calderon ordered the military to battle drug cartels. Guzman, who headed the infamous Sinaloa cartel and was the world's most wanted drug lord, was captured in February in the state’s capital of Culiacan.","Obama says some at African summit will undergo Ebola screening. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama said on Friday that the United States takes risks from the deadly Ebola virus very seriously and that some participants at an Africa summit taking place in Washington will be screened for exposure. \"We are taking the appropriate precautions,\" he said. \"Folks who are from these countries that have even a marginal risk, or an infinitesimal risk of having been exposed in some fashion, we're making sure we're doing screening.\" (Reporting By Mark Felsenthal; Editing by Sandra Maler)","Clashes erupt in Bangkok on eve of election amid fears of political limbo; 7 wounded. BANGKOK - Gunfire rang out across a busy intersection in Thailand's capital for more than an hour Saturday as protesters and government supporters clashed on the eve of tense nationwide elections. At least seven people were wounded, including an American photojournalist.","Malaysian law professor charged in crackdown on dissent. By Stuart Grudgings KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Malaysian prosecutors charged a high-profile law professor with sedition on Tuesday for an opinion he voiced on a political crisis that occurred five years ago, extending a recent crackdown on dissent from opposition politicians to academia. Lawyers said the charge against Azmi Sharom, a lecturer at the University of Malaya in Kuala Lumpur and who writes a regular newspaper column, could have a chilling effect on freedom of speech as the government wavers on its pledges to expand civil liberties. Four opposition politicians have been charged and another convicted this year under the Sedition Act, a relic of the British colonial era intended to keep a tight lid on racial tensions and social unrest in the multi-ethnic country. Four sedition charges have been pressed in the past nine days.","Amnesty accuses Cyprus of holding migrants in prison conditions. Cyprus routinely detains migrants in prison-like conditions, sometimes breaking European Union law by holding them for more than an 18-month maximum, Amnesty International said. While Cyprus is not one of the main routes for migrants to reach Europe, thousands do enter the island each year and Amnesty accused the government of using detention as a way of discouraging the flow. Socrates Hasikos, Cyprus's interior minister, said Amnesty's report was \"full of inaccuracies and sweeping generalizations\". The group said migrants, who included asylum seekers, were held in cramped conditions, and there had been cases of mothers separated from their children.","Bomber kills 11 Shi'ite pilgrims north of Baghdad: police. BAGHDAD (Reuters) - A suicide bomber killed 11 people and wounded 23 others when he detonated explosives in a crowd of Shi'ite pilgrims walking north of Baghdad to the shrine city of Samarra, police and medical officials said. The Shi'ite faithful had stopped at a tent serving pilgrims in Taji on Baghdad province's northern edge, the officials said. \"Suddenly a powerful explosion shook the area,\" said bystander Hatem Aziz. \"I saw police and civilian cars packed with wounded rushing away.\" (Reporting by Ahmed Rasheed and Ned Parker)","Sienna Miller testifies at UK phone hacking trial. LONDON (AP) — Actress Sienna Miller says she had a \"brief encounter\" with James Bond star Daniel Craig, but insists a British tabloid misconstrued the nature of the relationship based on a hacked voicemail message.Miller told Britain's phone-hacking trial on Friday that she probably did leave a message for Craig that ended \"I love you.\" But she said it was not \"some incredibly important declaration of love\" because she always signed off to family and friends that way.","Asian stocks higher on easing of Ukraine tensions. TOKYO (AP) — A sense of relief over the easing of tensions between Russia and Ukraine lifted Asian stocks Wednesday, but failed to sustain gains for European markets which were boosted the day before.","Russia says Ukraine ceasefire holds, wants talks on regions' status soon. MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Tuesday a ceasefire in eastern Ukraine was being observed \"in general\" and that Moscow hoped talks on the status of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions would begin soon. At a news conference with his Malian counterpart Abdoulaye Diop, Lavrov also said that Moscow was concerned by the buildup of Ukrainian troops in certain parts of eastern Ukraine, which could suggest they were readying a strike group. \"The ceasefire is being observed in general, but there are incidents when the sides blame each other,\" he said. ...","British pubs should open late for World Cup: Cameron. British pubs should stay open late to screen matches in the upcoming football World Cup finals in Brazil, Prime Minister David Cameron said Monday. \"I have ordered a rethink on pub opening times for England's World Cup games -- will consult with pub trade, police and councils,\" Cameron wrote on his Twitter account. The British Beer and Pubs Association (BBPA) had asked the interior ministry to push back closing time from 11.00pm to 01.00am to take account of the time difference for England's opening game against Italy on June 14.","Tymoshenko to run for president of Ukraine. Ukraine's highly-divisive opposition leader and former premier Yulia Tymoshenko announced plans on Thursday to contest snap presidential polls set for May 25 following last month's fall of a pro-Kremlin regime. \"I intend to run for president of Ukraine,\" the 53-year-old told reporters after walking into a press room with the help of a walking stick she has been forced to use because of persistent back pain. Tymoshenko -- one of the most charismatic and outspoken leaders of Ukraine's 2004 pro-democracy Orange Revolution -- lost a close presidential poll to Yanukovych in 2010 after heading two pro-Western cabinets that became embroiled in fighting and eventually lost popular support. Yanukovych's government quickly launched a series of criminal probes against his political rival that led to a controversial trial over Tymoshenko's role in agreeing a 2009 gas contract with Russia that many Ukrainians thought came at too high a cost.","Antarctica expedition: Are research and tourism a toxic mix?. A botched expedition to Antarctica that left two ships stranded in sea ice has disrupted international scientific research programs while raising questions over the future of tourism on the frozen continent as well as multimillion-dollar rescue operations.","GM sued by investor over slow ignition fix. (Reuters) - General Motors Co and its Chief Executive Mary Barra are being sued by an investor for failing to adequately address known defects in its cars that led to the recall of over 3.1 million vehicles, according to court documents. The lawsuit filed by investor George Pio seeks unspecified damages from the carmaker claiming the recalls \"triggered a sharp decline in the company's share price, wiping out billions in shareholder value\". In the last two months, GM has recalled more than 3.1 million vehicles in the United States and other markets. The lawsuit filed in a federal court in Michigan on Friday claims that \"GM's illegal and immoral activities\" during the period eroded the company's reputation for safety and quality.","NJ man 1st US referee in World Cup knockout rounds. RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Mark Geiger will become the first American to referee a knockout stage match at the World Cup.","Angry relatives clash with police as Korea recovers more dead from ferry. By Ju-min Park and Senggyu Lim JINDO, South Korea (Reuters) - Angry relatives of hundreds of missing inside a sunken South Korean ferry clashed with police on Sunday morning as coastguard divers retrieved 10 more bodies from the ship and the official number of dead rose to 46 people.","S. Korea's president vows to disband coast guard. SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea's president announced plans Monday to disband the coast guard and root out corruption and collusion between regulators and shipping companies that furious citizens believe led to a ferry disaster last month that left more than 300 people dead or missing.","Rajaratnam's brother loses bid to dismiss insider trading charges. (This story from April 18 corrects the number of counts the judge called \"inconsistent\" from four to two in 3rd, 16th and 17th paragraphs) By Nate Raymond NEW YORK (Reuters) - Rengan Rajaratnam, the younger brother of imprisoned hedge fund manager Raj Rajaratnam, on Friday lost a bid to dismiss some of the insider trading charges leveled against him last year. U.S. District Judge Naomi Reice Buchwald in Manhattan ruled that the indictment adequately alleged the essential elements of the crimes charged. A lawyer for Rajaratnam did not respond to a request for comment. A spokeswoman for Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara declined to comment.","Factbox: U.S. sanctions target Russian officials, companies. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States on Monday imposed sanctions against seven Russian government officials and 17 companies linked to Russian President Vladimir Putin in its latest action to punish Moscow for its intervention in Ukraine. For the U.S. Treasury Department's statement detailing the individuals and companies targeted, click here: http://www.treasury.gov/resource-center/sanctions/OFAC-Enforcement/Pages/20140428.aspx (Reporting by Jason Lange and Elvina Nawaguna)","Iran says it may modify Arak reactor to allay nuclear concerns. By Mehrdad Balali DUBAI (Reuters) - Iran is prepared to modify its planned Arak heavy water reactor to help allay Western concerns, its atomic energy chief said in published remarks that may signal a readiness by Tehran to compromise on the thorny issue. Western powers, preparing for negotiations with Iran on a long-term deal defining the scope of its disputed nuclear program, fear Arak could provide a supply of plutonium - one of two materials, along with highly enriched uranium, that can be used for the core of a nuclear weapon - once operational. The future of the site, near the town of Arak, some 250 km (155 miles) southwest of the capital Tehran, is expected to be one of the most difficult issues to resolve in the negotiations on a long-term nuclear deal with Iran due to begin on February 18. In an interview with Iran's state-run Press TV, Ali Akbar Salehi, head of the Atomic Energy Organisation of Iran, said he did not believe Western concerns over Arak were genuine, calling them a \"fabricated fire\" used to put Iran under political pressure.","Ring, ring: London statues want to talk to you. LONDON (AP) — Calling all London tourists: Peter Pan, Sherlock Holmes and Queen Victoria want a word with you.","Would-be FIFA president won't bow out for Blatter. PARIS (AP) — The only declared candidate for the FIFA presidency says he won't step aside if, as expected, Sepp Blatter confirms before the World Cup next month that he's seeking a fifth term.","Syrian Kurd leader sees war of 'attrition' in Kobani. BEIRUT (Reuters) - The battle for the Syrian town of Kobani will turn into a war of attrition unless Kurds defending it from an Islamic State onslaught get arms that can repel tanks and armored vehicles, a Syrian Kurdish leader told a pan-Arab newspaper. Islamic State insurgents encircled the town near the Turkish border more than a month ago and are using weapons including tanks and armored vehicles seized in Iraq to attack Kurds equipped mainly with light arms. ...","Norway wins double gold in cross-country sprints. SOCHI, Russia (AP) — Norway won a double gold in the cross-country freestyle sprints at the Sochi Olympics on Tuesday, with Maiken Caspersen Falla taking the women's title and Ola Vigen Hattestad capturing the men's in a race marred by a three-skier collision.","Ex-champ Briggs disrupts Klitschko news conference. DUESSELDORF, Germany (AP) — Former heavyweight champion Shannon Briggs disrupted a news conference on Tuesday ahead of Wladimir Klitschko's title bout against Alex Leapai — demanding a fight of his own against the reigning champion.","1,000th day in prison nearing, Marine asks retrial. DETROIT (AP) — A news agency reports that an ex-U.S. Marine from Michigan has requested a new trial in Iran, where he has been imprisoned since 2011 after being accused of spying.","Ukraine's Yanukovich promises to reshuffle government next week. KIEV (Reuters) - Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich, who is faced with mass unrest against his rule, on Friday promised to reshuffle the government next week, Interfax news agency said. Yanukovich, in comments to church leaders, also said that anti-protest laws rushed through parliament last week would be amended. Referring to a special session of parliament scheduled to take place next Tuesday, he said: \"We will take a decision at this session. The President will sign a decree and we will reshuffle the government in order to find the best possible professional government team. ...","Zambian President Sata dies in London: private media. LUSAKA (Reuters) - Zambian President Michael Sata has died in London, where he had been receiving treatment for an undisclosed illness, three private Zambian media outlets said on Wednesday. The reports on the private Muzi television station and the Zambia Reports and Zambian Watchdog websites said the southern African nation's cabinet was about to meet. Government officials gave no immediate comment. The reports said Sata had died on Tuesday evening at London's King Edward VII hospital. The hospital declined to comment. Sata, 77, left Zambia for medical treatment abroad on Oct. ...","Germany's Merkel to visit UK as Cameron seeks EU reform backing. By William James LONDON (Reuters) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel will discuss the future of the European Union with Prime Minister David Cameron on a visit to London this month, as Britain seeks support for a sweeping overhaul of EU treaties. Cameron has yet to spell out all his proposals, but has made it clear he wants to curb immigration from new member states, cut red tape and improve competition. He has so far garnered only limited backing for his reform plans among other EU states, but hopes to secure a new deal if re-elected next year before holding a referendum on Britain's EU membership by 2017.","JK Rowling says 'Harry Potter' ending may be wrong. LONDON (AP) — Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling is having second thoughts about having ended the series with heroine Hermione Granger paired up romantically with Ron Weasley.","N.Korea behind Sony hack: FBI. North Korea was responsible for a \"destructive\" cyber attack on Sony Pictures, the US Federal Bureau of Investigation said Friday, warning it would hunt down the perpetrators and make them pay. In addition to the violent threats, Sony has seen the release of a trove of embarrassing emails, scripts and other internal communications, including information about salaries and employee health records. \"We are deeply concerned about the destructive nature of this attack on a private sector entity and the ordinary citizens who worked there,\" the FBI said. The FBI said the attack involves the use of malware and rendered thousands of Sony Pictures computers \"inoperable,\" forcing the company to take its entire network offline.","Lloyd apologizes for West Indies abandoning tour. NEW DELHI (AP) — Former West Indies captain and chief selector Clive Lloyd has apologized for the national team's abrupt withdrawal from its tour of India because of a pay dispute between its cricket board and the players' union.","US prepares tough response for Russia over Ukraine. WASHINGTON (AP) — Western powers on Sunday prepared a tough response to Russia's military advance into Ukraine and warned that Moscow could face economic penalties, diplomatic isolation and bolstered allied defenses in Europe unless it retreated.","SKorea offers talks with NKorea over unification. SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea has proposed talks with North Korea to discuss what it calls a range of issues needed to prepare for the unification of the divided countries.","Ottawa girl found guilty on 30 of 33 charges in teen pimping case. OTTAWA - An Ottawa girl has been found guilty of 30 of 33 charges against her in connection with a prostitution ring involving teenaged girls.","Thousands celebrate Easter in Holy Land. JERUSALEM (AP) — Thousands of pilgrims from around the world are celebrating Easter in the Holy Land, commemorating the day when according to Christian tradition Jesus was resurrected in Jerusalem two millennia ago.","Canada to speed up plans to toughen security laws: PM Harper. OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper said on Thursday the government will expedite plans to give more powers of detention and surveillance to security agencies in the wake of an attack on Parliament. \"They need to be much strengthened, and I assure you, Mr. Speaker, that work which is already under way will be expedited,\" he told the House of Commons, one day after a gunman launched an attack on Parliament and was shot dead. (Reporting by Randall Palmer; Editing by Peter Galloway)","Ford EMEA chief and global marketing head to switch jobs: company source. By Paul Ingrassia LONDON (Reuters) - Ford Motor Co’s regional chief for Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) will switch roles with the carmaker’s global head of sales and marketing on Jan. 1, a senior company source said on Friday. The source confirmed an earlier report by trade publication Automotive News that Stephen Odell, 59, will move from his EMEA position to company headquarters in Dearborn, Michigan, switching jobs with global marketing chief Jim Farley, 52. The changes, which will be announced officially at 1400 GMT (9 a.m. ...","Jamaica police arrest 10 in lottery scam probe. KINGSTON, Jamaica (AP) — A police task force in Jamaica arrested 10 people on suspicion of involvement in the Caribbean country's lottery scam rings, authorities said Sunday.","AP Interview: Jerusalem mayor vows to calm city. JERUSALEM (AP) — Jerusalem's mayor is calling for a crackdown against a wave of Palestinian unrest, saying violence will not be tolerated in his city.","Aviation safety in spotlight after some airlines avoided Ukraine. By Jane Wardell SYDNEY (Reuters) - Airlines including Qantas Airways and Air Berlin altered their flight paths months ago to avoid Ukrainian air space after fighting flared up in the region, raising questions about why others did not do the same. The issue of whether to avoid flying over conflict zones has come into sharp focus since the downing of Malaysian Airlines Flight MH17 on Thursday with 298 people in board. International civil aviation regulators had imposed no restrictions on crossing an area where pro-Russian rebels are fighting Ukrainian forces, and the majority of carriers had continued to use a route popular with long-distance flights from Europe to southeast Asia. In addition to Qantas and Air Berlin, Asiana Airlines Inc, Korean Air Lines Co Ltd, Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd and Taiwan's China Airlines decided to avoid Ukrainian airspace several months ago.","Newcastle beats West Brom 2-0 in Premier League. BIRMINGHAM, England (AP) — Newcastle maintained its resurgent Premier League form with its fourth consecutive win, a 2-0 victory over West Bromwich Albion at The Hawthorns on Sunday.","Rugby union - All Blacks to play World Cup warm-up in Samoa. - The All Blacks will play their first ever Test in the Pacific Islands next year against Samoa as part of their build-up to the World Cup, the New Zealand Rugby Union (NZRU) said Tuesday. NZRU chairman Brent Impey said the match was a way of marking the close rugby links between Samoa and New Zealand, who have fielded numerous players of Samoan heritage including greats such as Bryan Williams, Frank Bunce, Michael Jones and current All Black Keven Mealamu.","Questions and answers about children at US border. SAN DIEGO (AP) — About 700 unaccompanied minors mostly from Central America were sleeping on plastic boards at a Border Patrol warehouse in Nogales, Arizona, this weekend, after they were arrested in South Texas and flown to the makeshift shelter. It is the latest illustration of how a wave of immigrants from Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala has overwhelmed U.S. border authorities. President Barack Obama called the surge a crisis last week and appointed the Federal Emergency Management Agency to lead the government's response. Here are some questions and answers.","Hamilton leads Bahrain test, more Red Bull woes. MANAMA, Bahrain (AP) — Lewis Hamilton steered his Mercedes to the fastest lap at Bahrain's Formula One test session, where Red Bull's preseason woes continued on Friday.","River Thames on flood alert with more rain on the way. Flooding in Britain spread along the River Thames and threatened London on Tuesday, as the Environment Agency warned that yet more rain is on the way. \"There are still 16 severe flood warnings in place along the Thames as water levels in the area are extremely high,\" the agency said. \"Two severe flood warnings also remain in place as flooding continues on the Somerset Levels.\" \"Further periods of heavy rain are expected to affect the south of England from Tuesday onwards,\" the Agency said.","Iraqi Kurds announce start of crude flow to Turkey. BAGHDAD (AP) — The authorities in Iraq's self-ruled northern Kurdish region say they've unilaterally started exporting crude oil through Turkey despite objections by the central government in Baghdad.","China denies dead dissident refused medical treatment. China's foreign ministry denied on Monday that prominent human rights activist Cao Shunli died because she was refused medical treatment while in detention, in a case which has attracted concern in the United States and Europe. Cao staged a two-month sit-in along with other activists outside the Foreign Ministry, beginning in June, to press for the public to contribute to a national human rights report. She went missing in mid-September after authorities prevented her from flying to Geneva for a human rights training program. Human Rights in China, a New York based rights group, had quoted Cao's lawyer last month as saying she suffered from tuberculosis, liver disease and other ailments.","After Santos election victory, Colombia resumes peace bid. Colombia resumed its path toward peace with leftist rebels Monday, bolstered by President Juan Manuel Santos' victory in elections seen as a referendum on his bid to end the 50-year-old conflict. Santos picked up 50.95 percent in Sunday's runoff against the more conservative Oscar Ivan Zuluaga, validating his insistence on continued negotiations with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia and the smaller National Liberation Army. Santos, a center-right politician who received the backing of some leftist parties, had staked his presidency on a negotiated peace with the FARC. Founded in the 1960s, the ELN and the FARC have been perennial protagonists in Latin America's longest guerrilla war.","Israel denies latest charge of spying on US. Israeli Intelligence Minister Yuval Steinitz on Saturday angrily denied the latest media charge of Israeli spying on its US ally and said that someone was trying to sour bilateral relations. \\\\\"One gets the impression that someone is trying to sabotage the excellent intelligence cooperation between the United States and Israel,\\\\\" state-owned Channel One TV and army radio quoted him as saying. \\\\\"In all my meetings with US intelligence chiefs and the political officials who are responsible for them, I have not heard a single complaint about Israeli spying on the United States,\\\\\" he added. Newsweek magazine on Thursday said that during a 1998 visit to Israel by then US vice president Al Gore a Secret Service agent surprised an intruder emerging from an air duct in Gore's room, before his arrival.","Taliban bomb kills 13 near main Pakistani army HQ. RAWALPINDI, Pakistan (AP) — A Taliban suicide bomber blew himself up near Pakistan's main military headquarters on Monday, killing 13 people just a day after the militants killed 20 troops inside an army compound in the northwest of the country, officials said.","Soccer-Australia's Cahill makes his mark with stunning strike. By Steve Keating PORTO ALEGRE, Brazil, June 18 (Reuters) - Australia's Tim Cahill earned a place in World Cup folklore on Wednesday with a spectacular goal, signing off in style in what was most likely his last appearance at this level. Cahill struck a spectacular left-foot volley in the first half to put Australia level with the Netherlands, the highlight of a thrilling game which the Dutch won 3-2. \"It just felt so right to hit it, and I hit it sweetly,\" Cahill, 34, said of the goal which has drawn comparisons with some of the best ever scored in a World Cup. \"That's what it's all about, defining moments, another one in my career that I'm really proud of,\" added Cahill, who has now scored in three successive World Cups.","Cathay Pacific jet stranded for 16 hours in China. BEIJING (AP) — Chinese authorities say a Cathay Pacific flight from New York to Hong Kong was stranded for more than 16 hours in a Chinese city because of bad weather and limits on the crew's work hours.","Canada's Club Coffee sues Keurig Green Mountain for $600 million. (Reuters) - Canada's Club Coffee said it was suing K-cup coffee pod maker Keurig Green Mountain Inc for engaging in anti-competitive measures to maintain a near monopoly and keep single-serve coffee prices artificially high. Club Coffee is seeking $600 million in damages and said Keurig was spreading \"baseless and disparaging lies\" about competitors' coffee pods to mislead consumers and coerce third parties into exclusive agreements. Keurig was not immediately reachable for comment outside of regular U.S. business hours. ...","Eder, Kuzmina win biathlon World Cup races. OSLO, Norway (AP) — Slovakia's Anastasya Kuzmina won the women's 10-kilometer pursuit race Saturday at the final biathlon World Cup meet of the season, while Norway's Tora Berger put herself in position to finish her career with the overall title.","British economy grew 0.8% in second quarter. Britain's economy grew by 0.8 percent in the second quarter of 2014 from output in the first three months of the year, official data showed on Friday. Gross domestic product had also expanded by 0.8 percent during the first quarter of the year, the Office for National Statistics said in a statement.","Did 2013 Mark the End of Somali Piracy?. When five armed men in a small motorboat approached an oil tanker sailing off the coast of Somalia on Dec. 9, the crew sprang into action. They increased speed and unleashed fire hoses off the side to evade the assailants, according to a report from the International Maritime Bureau (IMB). They called for help from the British Royal Navy, which dispatched a helicopter to their location. It’s a testament to the success of recent antipiracy measures that hijackings of major shipments off the coast of Somalia plummeted to zero in 2013, according to the final numbers compiled by the U.S. Navy and released last week.","Vermaelen hurt again, delays debut for Barcelona. BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Barcelona says Belgium defender Thomas Vermaelen has had another injury and will remain sidelined.","In the Cruz family, Ted is the diplomatic one. MADISONVILLE, Texas (AP) — Bursts of applause had already interrupted Rafael Cruz repeatedly, but the loudest cheer of the night came when the Cuban-born pastor finally made the Barack Obama-Fidel Castro comparison the crowd had been waiting for.","Israel Wakes Up to Ariel Sharon as Former Prime Minister Nears Death. Both admired and reviled as Israel’s signature warrior during 58 of his first 72 years of life, Sharon in his coma has been more remembered for his only term as prime minister, five years marked first by restraint, then by actions both bold and unexpected, starting with the decision to pull Israeli troops and settlers out of the Gaza Strip in 2005. “I think there are two Sharons,” says Efraim Inbar, a political scientist at Bar-Ilan University in Ramat Gan.","Markets choppy amid concerns over China. LONDON (AP) — Markets remained subdued Wednesday despite solid U.S. housing data, as concerns over the Chinese economy kept a lid on sentiment.","Canada revises lower last year's budget deficit. Ottawa (AFP) - Canada's fiscal 2013-2014 budget deficit was less than one-third of an original estimate announced in February, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said Thursday.","G-20 ready to take action to underpin global growth: Saccomanni. Italy's outgoing Economy Minister Fabrizio Saccomanni on Wednesday said market turmoil in emerging markets is a threat to global growth and the world's 20 major economies are ready do what is necessary to underpin output. \"The very recent financial turbulence in emerging markets, as a consequence of global factors and local conditions, shows that the world economic recovery is still vulnerable,\" Saccomanni said at a conference in Rome. \"The G-20 ministers of finance are confronting this new challenge and are ready to take any action that may be needed to strengthen the foundations of the world economic recovery and growth.\" Saccomanni is likely to be Italy's economy minister only for a few more days as center-left leader Matteo Renzi is currently putting together a new government to replace the one led by caretaker Prime Minister Enrico Letta, who resigned last week.","Escalating attacks jangle nerves ahead of crucial Afghan vote. By Hamid Shalizi and Maria Golovnina KABUL (Reuters) - With a week to go before Afghanistan's presidential election, escalating violence across the country risks undermining the credibility of a vote meant to mark the first democratic transfer of power in Afghan history. The Taliban have declared war on the April 5 election, calling it a Western-backed sham and threatening to do everything in their power to derail the vote through a campaign of gun attacks, bombings and assassinations. A brazen raid by a squad of suicide bombers and gunmen on an election office in Kabul this week sent a chilling message to voters as they prepared to choose a successor to President Hamid Karzai. \"Such attacks may not derail the election, but they will certainly create fear and anxiety among the people,\" said Nader Nadery, chairman of FEFA, Afghanistan's largest election monitoring group.","Merkel slams industrial spying on China visit. BEIJING (AP) — German Chancellor Angela Merkel criticized industrial spying Monday while on a visit to China, which Germany and other governments have cited as a global center for economic espionage.","Zimbabwe's opposition suspends official who asked leader to quit. By MacDonald Dzirutwe HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwe's opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) on Friday suspended a senior official who had asked party leader Morgan Tsvangirai to quit, a move which has divided a party recovering from election defeat last year. MDC Secretary General Tendai Biti said the suspension of deputy treasurer Elton Mangoma was irregular and said members had been intimidated during a meeting he said was not properly constituted. Biti, finance minister in a coalition government with President Robert Mugabe's ZANU-PF party until last July, said Mangoma had not been given a proper opportunity to defend himself and the national council members had not conducted a vote as required under party rules. \"We are very frightened about the mutation of the MDC into another ZANU-PF and in my capacity as secretary general I have a duty to protect a movement, and one which so many people believe in,\" Biti said, speaking at his law firm in Harare.","Wawrinka beats Federer to win Monte Carlo Masters. MONACO (AP) — Stanislas Wawrinka won the Monte Carlo Masters for the first time after rallying to beat Roger Federer 4-6, 7-6 (5), 6-2 in an all-Swiss final on Sunday.","Hamilton uncertain of rules of combat. Lewis Hamilton said he was uncertain about how hard he can race to beat Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg following the fallout from their Belgian crash as the pair tried to present a united front on Thursday. Briton Hamilton, who is 29 points behind Rosberg in the battle for the drivers' championship, was whimsical about how their collision had been handled by the sport's ruling body after the German had been punished by the team and later admitted responsibility and apologised. He said the decision of the International Motoring Federation (FIA) not to punish Rosberg had left him uncertain as to how they, and other drivers, can race hard against each other. \"I think the FIA have a really tough job and particularly over the last couple of years they have done an exceptional job on a majority of the calls,\" Hamilton told an at times tense news conference where he and Rosberg flanked Ferrari's Fernando Alonso.","American man arrested in Emirates over photo. DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The daughter of a 70-year-old American man who visited the United Arab Emirates to speak at a conference says he has been arrested in the Gulf nation for taking a photograph in a restricted area.","ECB's Draghi says expects lending to pick up soon in 2015. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - European Central Bank President Mario Draghi said on Thursday he expects bank lending, a key impediment to growth in the euro zone at the moment, to pick up early next year. The ECB is putting the euro zone's 131 largest banks through a thorough balance sheet review to weed out soured loans and check whether they have valued assets correctly before it takes over as their new centralized supervisor in November. ...","China says opposed to U.S. criticism of fishing rules. BEIJING (Reuters) - China said on Friday that it opposed criticism by the United States that new Chinese fishing restrictions in disputed waters in the South China Sea were \"provocative and potentially dangerous\". The legislature of China's Hainan province approved rules in November that took effect on January 1 requiring foreign fishing vessels to obtain approval to enter waters the province says are under its jurisdiction. (Reporting by Megha Rajagopalan, Writing by Sui-Lee Wee)","Ireland unites for funeral of ex-premier Reynolds. DUBLIN (AP) — Generations of Irish leaders united Monday at the Dublin funeral of Ireland's peacemaking former prime minister, Albert Reynolds, in a ceremony leavened with wit, raw emotions and barnstorming performances from Eurovision stars.","Lululemon's status as yogawear's top dog at risk. By Phil Wahba NEW YORK (Reuters) - Still hurting from last year's see-through yoga pants debacle, Lululemon Athletica Inc is about to face a new headache: stepped up competition from rival yoga retailers, department stores and hot new brands. The company is facing aggressive competition from stores such as Gap Inc's Athleta, VF Corp's lucy, Macy's Inc and others selling activewear at lower prices at far more locations. Small but hot yogawear brands such as Sweaty Betty and Lorna Jane also pose a potential threat, but the biggest competition is expected to come from Athleta, which will open some 35 stores this year, tripling its locations to 100 stores in just two years. Lululemon shares are more than 35 percent below their 52-week high on investor concerns about growing competition.","Louis van Gaal unhappy with dugout in Porto Alegre. PORTO ALEGRE, Brazil (AP) — Dutch coach Louis van Gaal has complained about what he says is an obstructed view from the dugout at the World Cup stadium in Porto Alegre where his team will face Australia on Wednesday.","Ex-US Sen. Howard Baker Jr. dies. WASHINGTON (AP) — Former U.S. Sen. Howard Baker Jr., who asked what President Richard Nixon knew about Watergate, has died. He was 88.","China's President Xi Jinping calls for more land transfers. BEIJING (Reuters) - China's President Xi Jinping has called for the acceleration of land transfers to help modernize the country's agriculture, state media reported on Saturday. Xi said family-run farms should work to raise the scale of their operations. The Chinese president also said that the fundamentals of China's economic development had not changed, and that the government would continue to manage steady growth, while promoting reform and structural adjustments, while minizing risks. Xi made his remarks on a visit to Henan province. ...","American held in Syria freed after nearly 2 years. WASHINGTON (AP) — The release of a freelance reporter who had been held hostage for nearly two years by an al-Qaida-linked group in Syria comes just days after the U.S. was rocked by the beheading of another American journalist by Islamic militants.","Hong Kong students, officials set for first talks on political crisis. By Farah Master HONG KONG (Reuters) - Senior Hong Kong government officials will meet student leaders for the first time on Tuesday in an attempt to defuse more than three weeks of pro-democracy protests which have brought parts of the Asian financial center to a standstill. Hopes are low for any breakthrough during the evening talks, which will be broadcast live, with both sides refusing to give ground in resolving the worst political crisis in the former British colony since it was handed back to China in 1997. ...","Factors that helped BJP's Modi win Indian election. NEW DELHI (AP) — Indian voters have given the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party and their lead candidate, Narendra Modi, a mammoth mandate for running the next government.","AP WAS THERE: At last, Winter gets its own 'Games'. CHAMONIX, FRANCE (AP) — A ragtag parade down the center of town marked the opening ceremonies of the first Winter Olympics.","AFP Exclusive: Colombia's Santos on making and keeping peace. Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos, campaigning for a second term, is basing his bid on his confidence he will conclude a peace deal to end Latin America's oldest leftist insurgency. Perhaps fittingly, the first round presidential vote, set for May 25, comes just two days before the 50th anniversary of the uprising by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC. But the president admitted that, even with a peace deal, the hardest work will still remain: preventing the former rebels from \"transforming themselves into a new criminal structure,\" by creating an \"efficient reintegration program\". Halfway through his first term, in late 2012, the center-right leader, who as defense minister inflicted on the FARC some of its worst military losses, announced the opening of peace talks with the rebel group.","Former Pakistani president Musharraf pleads not guilty to treason. A Pakistani court charged former president Pervez Musharraf with five counts of treason on Monday and he pleaded not guilty, in the latest chapter of a long-running drama between the country's increasingly assertive judiciary and its former military ruler. Musharraf faces the death penalty if convicted of the charges over his suspension of the constitution and imposition of emergency rule in 2007, when he was trying to extend his rule as president. Musharraf stood ramrod straight and replied \"Not guilty\" to each charge. Later his lawyer asked the court's permission for Musharraf to visit his sick mother in Dubai.","Assad to play Syria 'victor' at inauguration. President Bashar al-Assad on his inauguration on Thursday is expected to play the role of \"victor\" while trying to win over war-weary Syrians and those fearful of jihadist advances. Analysts say Assad, who was swept back to power in a June 3 election slammed as a \"farce\" by the opposition, will also try to convince the West his regime is a bulwark against the extremist Islamic State (IS) which is sowing terror in Syria and Iraq. \"Assad wants to consolidate his image as the victor\" in the regime's bid to crush a three-year rebellion, said Khattar Abou Diab, Paris-Sud University professor of international relations. The inauguration \"will be a show of defiance against countries that demanded his ouster\" ever since the outbreak of a popular revolt in March 2011, Abou Diab told AFP.","Canadian dies after jumping off Jamaica sea cliffs. KINGSTON, Jamaica (AP) — Police say a Canadian vacationer has died after jumping off seaside cliffs in a western Jamaican beach town and hitting rocks.","Italy bids for 2022 Ryder Cup with club near Rome. ROME (AP) — The Italian Golf Federation will bid to hold the 2022 Ryder Cup at Marco Simone club just outside Rome.","Mortar fire south of Baghdad kills nine, police, hospital sources say. Nine people were killed in a mainly Shi'ite town south of Baghdad late on Sunday by mortar fire that hit near a Shi'ite religious site, police and hospital sources said. The sources in the town of Mahmoudiya said eight mortar rounds landed near a \"husseiniya,\" a religious site devoted to Hussein, a martyr in Shi'ite tradition. Two roadside bombs also exploded in the Abu Ghraib area west of Baghdad, killing five Shi'ite volunteer fighters, police and hospital sources said. At least 27 people were killed in a wave of bombings in mostly Shi'ite Muslim areas of Baghdad.","18 IS jihadists killed fighting Syria Kurds: monitor. Beirut (AFP) - At least 18 jihadists from the Islamic State group were killed in overnight clashes with Kurdish fighters in northern Syria near a strategic border, a monitoring group said Saturday.","UEFA's Platini delays talks on FIFA election plans. ASTANA, Kazakhstan (AP) — UEFA President Michel Platini has pushed back his deadline to decide if he will contest the FIFA presidential election next year.","48 Kenyans dead: Witness: Gunmen killed Christians. NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Dozens of extremists attacked a Kenyan coastal town for hours, killing those who weren't Muslim and those who didn't know the Somali language, officials and witnesses said Monday. At least 48 people were killed and two hotels were set on fire.","Russian FM Lavrov says Ukraine action a matter of defending Russian citizens, human rights. GENEVA (AP) — Russian FM Lavrov says Ukraine action a matter of defending Russian citizens, human rights.","Czech government approves supply of ammunition to Kurdish forces. The Czech government approved supplying ammunition to Kurdish forces in Iraq, a government spokesman said on Wednesday, to help them fight Islamic State insurgents who have overrun wide areas of northern Iraq. The spokesman said it was agreed to send ammunition for Kalashnikov assault rifles and machine guns, as well as hand grenades and ammunition for rocket-propelled grenades. The Czech news agency CTK said the ammunition, worth about $2 million, would be transported to Iraq by U.S.","Canada offers more wireless airwaves to spark competition. By Alastair Sharp and Euan Rocha TORONTO (Reuters) - The Canadian government said on Monday it will auction more wireless spectrum early next year, with more than half the airwaves set aside for newer players that have struggled to win business from the country's three dominant telecom companies. The Conservative government hopes the auction of the high-frequency spectrum, known as AWS-3, will encourage investors to pour money into some of these smaller players, which include Wind Mobile and Mobilicity. This would help them better compete against the big three: BCE Inc's Bell, Rogers Communications Inc, and Telus Corp. Wind, Mobilicity and others entered Canada's wireless market after a 2008 auction of very similar airwaves that were also set aside for the purpose of stoking competition. Mobilicity is looking for a buyer while under creditor protection.","Iraq's Arbil Citadel granted World Heritage status. The Arbil Citadel that dominates the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan was granted World Heritage Site status Saturday in a move praised as a rare \"note of optimism\" amid the country's violence. Delegates at UNESCO's World Heritage Committee voted to grant the coveted status at a gathering in Doha, where they are considering some 40 cultural and natural wonders for inclusion on the UN list. The Arbil Citadel is a formerly fortified occupied mound in the centre of Erbil that is among the oldest continuously inhabited sites in the world, dating back at least 6,000 years. Arbil has been largely insulated from the latest unrest in Iraq, where Sunni insurgents have overrun swathes of territory north of Baghdad, displacing hundreds of thousands and threatening the country's very existence.","WIMBLEDON WATCH: US juniors outshine their elders. LONDON (AP) — The youngsters are outshining their older American compatriots at Wimbledon this year.","Suspected militant, son killed in Thailand's south. HAT YAI, Thailand (AP) — Police say a suspected insurgent and his 6-year-old son have been shot dead in Thailand's violence-plagued south.","Nigeria hostage crisis: mothers weep in agony for lost daughters. Ruth Bitrus wailed uncontrollably and fell to the floor as she recounted the pain of separation from her two daughters, kidnapped nearly two months ago by Boko Haram militants. They then caught a plane to Nigeria's financial capital, Lagos, to tell the world of their heart-wrenching stories of loss.","France to host Czech Republic at Roland Garros. PARIS (AP) — France has selected Roland Garros — the home of the French Open — as the venue for its Davis Cup semifinal series against the Czech Republic in September.","Hawaii pair took photos, prodded fiery lava with golf clubs: police. By Karin Stanton PAHOA Hawaii (Reuters) - Two Hawaii residents have been charged with trespassing after police found the man and woman snapping pictures within five feet of a slow-moving river of molten lava that is threatening a nearby village, police said. Hawaii County police responding to a report on Thursday evening also found the pair with two golf clubs, each with a ball of hardened lava stuck to its end, in the vicinity of the lava flow north of Pahoa village. ...","White House commends al-Maliki for stepping aside. EDGARTOWN, Massachusetts (AP) — The White House is commending Iraq's incumbent prime minister for stepping aside.","India's new football league making a big splash. NEW DELHI (AP) — The spectators are streaming in, the foreign players are sparkling on the pitch and the organizers are striking the right notes.","Coroner's office to hold public inquest into Burns Lake mill deaths. VANCOUVER - A public inquest has been called to look into the deaths of two workers killed when a sawmill in Burns Lake, B.C., caught fire and exploded two years ago.","Lebanon gets new government after 10-month deadlock. Lebanese Prime Minister Tammam Salam on Saturday unveiled a compromise government, capping 10 months of political wrangling during which the war in neighbouring Syria exacerbated sectarian tensions. The 24-member government, including only one woman, brings together the powerful Shiite movement Hezbollah and its allies with the Sunni-led bloc of former prime minister Saad Hariri, who back opposing sides in the Syria war. \"After 10 months of efforts, of patience, a government protecting the national interest is born,\" said Salam, who had been tasked with forming the cabinet in April. \"It is a unifying government and the best formula to allow Lebanon to confront challenges,\" he said, announcing the line-up to replace that of his predecessor Najib Mikati.","Orthodox patriarchs urge peace in Ukraine, agree on council. By Dasha Afanasieva and Tom Heneghan ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Patriarchs of the world's 250 million Orthodox Christians ended a rare summit in Istanbul on Sunday calling for a peaceful end to the crisis in Ukraine and denouncing violence driving Christians out of the Middle East. Twelve heads of autonomous Orthodox churches, the second-largest family of Christian churches, also agreed to hold a summit of bishops, or ecumenical council, in 2016, which will be the first in over 1,200 years. The Istanbul talks were called to decide on the council, which the Orthodox have been preparing on and off since the 1960s, but the Ukraine crisis overshadowed their talks at the office of spiritual leader Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew.","Good Samaritan recalls beating during Vancouver's Stanley Cup riot. VANCOUVER - When the Vancouver Canucks lost to the Boston Bruins in the Stanley Cup final nearly three years ago, Robert MacKay was disappointed, but he still wanted to walk through downtown Vancouver to take in what he thought would be celebrations of a near win.","Analysis: Iraq producing bizarre Mideast dynamic. WASHINGTON (AP) — The Obama administration has found itself in a foreign policy and national security pickle of rare complexity with the apparent entry of Syria into the Iraq conflict on the side of the U.S.-backed government in Baghdad as well as active Iranian military support for Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.","Futures edge up ahead of data, eyes on Ukraine. NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures ticked up on Wednesday after two days of sharp swings and ahead of data on the labor market and the services sector. Following the most serious confrontation between Russia and the West over influence on Ukraine and control of Crimea, a global investing flight to safety on Monday reversed sharply on Tuesday. Markets were calmer on Wednesday, but volatility was expected given the fluid situation in Ukraine. ...","Family, hometown celebrate U.S. soldier's release from Taliban. By Patrick Sweeney HAILEY Idaho (Reuters) - Balloons, symbolic yellow ribbons and celebratory signs sprouted up in the small mountain community of Hailey, Idaho, on Saturday after news that native son U.S. Army Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl had been freed after almost five years as a prisoner of the Taliban. Bergdahl's parents said they were ecstatic to hear the news from President Barack Obama, whom they later joined at a news conference in the White House Rose Garden. \"We were so joyful and relieved when President Obama called us today to give us the news that Bowe is finally coming home!\" Bob and Jani Bergdahl said in a statement released through the Idaho National Guard. \"We cannot wait to wrap our arms around our only son.\" A senior U.S. defense official said the Bergdahls, who live in Hailey, happened to be in Washington when they got the news their son had been freed in a deal that resulted in five Taliban members held at the U.S. facility in Guantanamo, Cuba, being turned over to Qatar.","US killer in Israeli prison shot dead in gunbattle. SHARON PRISON, Israel (AP) — Israeli special forces raided a prison in central Israel Sunday, killing one of the country's most notorious inmates after he seized a guard's weapon, shot three guards and barricaded himself inside the compound.","Al-Qaida-linked group releases 5 Lebanese soldiers. BEIRUT (AP) — Lebanon's official news agency says an al-Qaida-linked Syrian rebel group has released five Lebanese soldiers captured earlier this month in a cross-border raid.","EU energy chief not ruling out 'worst case scenarios' on energy security. European Energy Commissioner Guenther Oettinger warned on Tuesday he was not ruling out \"worst case scenarios\" on Europe's energy security due to Russian President Vladimir Putin's \"lies\" amid Moscow's actions in Ukraine. \"That's why I am not ruling out worst case scenarios any more,\" he added, referring to Europe's energy security. The war in Ukraine, which has led to the worst stand-off between Russia and the West since the Cold War, has heightened fears in Europe of gas shortages in the winter. Russia is Europe's biggest supplier of oil, coal and natural gas, and its pipelines through Ukraine are currently subject to political manoeuvring, not for the first time, as the West and Moscow clash over the latter's military action in Ukraine.","Officials: Concern for Bergdahl led to secrecy. WASHINGTON (AP) — Congressional and administration officials say fears the Taliban might kill Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl (boh BURG'-dahl) if word got out that he was being exchanged for five Guantanamo Bay detainees drove the Obama administration not to notify Congress about the deal in advance.","Freed nuns reach Damascus as prisoner exchange continues. By Marwan Makdesi and Khaled Yacoub Oweis DAMASCUS/AMMAN (Reuters) - Thirteen Greek Orthodox nuns arrived in Damascus on Monday after al Qaeda fighters who held them for more than three months freed them in a deal providing for the release of women prisoners held by President Bashar al-Assad's government. Activists said at least 15 women were freed from Adra prison north of Damascus, just a fraction of the 153 which some officials had said would be included in the exchange. \"All of Syria is happy today (for their return),\" Bishop Luka al Khoury told Reuters. On the contrary, they pray for people to be safe and secure.\" Eleven of the nuns later attended a service of thanksgiving for their safe return at the Greek Orthodox Church of the Holy Cross in Damascus.","Drogba assist, goal as Chelsea beats Tottenham 3-0. LONDON (AP) — Didier Drogba and Loic Remy showed Chelsea can cope without Diego Costa on Wednesday, with the backup strikers both scoring as the Premier League leaders swept aside Tottenham 3-0 to extend their unbeaten start to the season.","Kerry says to meet Russia's Lavrov in London on Ukraine. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry will travel to London to meet with Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov on Friday to discuss proposals for resolving the Ukrainian crisis days before a referendum in Ukraine's Crimea region on joining Russia. Kerry told lawmakers he was traveling at the request of President Barack Obama, who was meeting with Ukraine's Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk at the White House on Wednesday to explore ways to calm the tensions with Moscow. Russia's bloodless seizure of the Crimea has brought U.S.-Russian relations to one of their lowest points since the Cold War, with no sign that tensions are easing.","Three Palestinians killed in Israeli West Bank raid. Jenin (Palestinian Territories) (AFP) - Three Palestinians were killed in Jenin refugee camp in the West Bank Saturday after Israeli soldiers launched an operation to arrest a militant, Palestinian officials said. Medical and security sources said two of those killed were militants and the third was a civilian, and that 14 other Palestinians were wounded, two of them in critical condition. The Palestinian sources said soldiers entered the camp in the northern West Bank city to arrest Hamza Abu Alheja, 20, a member of the Hamas military wing, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades. Clashes broke out resulting in the death of Abu Alheja and another militant, Mahmud Abu Zena, 19, of the Islamic Jihad.","Dortmund loses to 'Gladbach, Bayern close to title. BERLIN (AP) — Ten-man Borussia Moenchengladbach held on for a 2-1 victory at Borussia Dortmund on Saturday, putting Bayern Munich tantalizingly close to the Bundesliga title.","Russia says deeply concerned over reports of casualties in eastern Ukraine. MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia said it was deeply concerned on Tuesday over reports of casualties in eastern Ukraine, where Kiev has launched an operation against pro-Russian separatists. \"The reports we are getting cause deep concern. To all appearances, events are beginning to develop under the worst case scenario,\" Konstantin Dolgov, the Russian foreign ministry's human rights representative, was quoted by state news agency RIA as saying. (Reporting by Alissa de Carbonnel; Editing by Steve Gutterman)","Shiffrin fastest in 1st run of World Cup slalom. KUEHTAI, Austria (AP) — American teenager Mikaela Shiffrin posted the fastest time in the opening run of a women's World Cup slalom on Monday, the final race of 2014.","Russia says U.S. \"sabotages\" WTO talks by barring its officials. MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia said on Monday that the United States abruptly withdrew an invitation for Russian veterinary officials to attend talks this week and accused Washington of \"sabotage\", an apparent sign of tension over Ukraine. Russia's veterinary oversight agency, Rosselkhoznadzor, was informed less than 24 hours before its delegation was to depart for Washington that the visit was \"unacceptable\" for the United States, Rosselkhoznadzor said. ...","U.S. hoping to help progress in Myanmar: White House. BEIJING (Reuters) - The United States hopes to \"facilitate progress\" in the democratic reform and opening up of Myanmar, with President Barack Obama set to discuss the planning for elections in the southeast Asian country, a White House spokesman said on Tuesday. ...","UK lawmakers plan to probe Pfizer pursuit of AstraZeneca. By Kylie MacLellan and Ben Hirschler LONDON (Reuters) - British lawmakers intend to investigate U.S. drugmaker Pfizer's planned $100 billion takeover of British rival AstraZeneca in a bid to ensure scientific research and jobs are protected. \"We will see how events pan out over the next few days, but clearly given the scale of the proposed merger it is important that we consider the impact not just on shareholders but also on employees and the wider interests of the UK.\" AstraZeneca, Britain's second-biggest drugmaker behind GlaxoSmithKline, is an important part of the life sciences sector and employs nearly 7,000 staff in the country. The committee's chairman Andrew Bailey said it would be looking to hold an inquiry \"pretty quickly\", and those called to give evidence were likely to include ministers such as Business Secretary Vince Cable and representatives from the Treasury. \"In AstraZeneca we have a company that amounts to 2.3 percent of our total exports, is a world leader in research in pharmaceuticals and is very strategically positioned in this country.\" Committee member Katy Clark said Pfizer's management would also probably be among those called to any inquiry.","Erroneous N. Korea quote irks Argentine officials. BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — A purported remark by U.S. Sen. Mario Rubio has ignited a national furor in Argentina. The only problem is that Rubio never said it.","Australia beats Pakistan in one-off Twenty20. DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Offspinner Glenn Maxwell polished off Pakistan's top order with the new ball and opening batsman David Warner anchored the run chase with an unbeaten 54 as Australia comfortably won the one-off Twenty20 match by six wickets on Sunday.","Taliban fighters breach Helmand base, exchange fire with Afghan troops. KABUL (Reuters) - Taliban militants breached the perimeter of a huge former U.S. and British base handed over to the Afghan army last month and were fighting soldiers there on Saturday, officials said. The attack highlights the challenges facing Afghan security forces as foreign troops draw down to a small support mission and the emboldened Taliban launch more attacks. The militants and army forces were exchanging sporadic gunfire on Saturday morning at Camp Bastion in the southern province of Helmand as fighting entered a third day, said Gen. ...","U.S. strikes, Kurdish fighters blocking Islamic State in Kobani: Pentagon. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Pentagon said on Tuesday that U.S. air strikes around Kobani, coupled with pressure from Syrian Kurdish fighters on the ground, had helped to keep Islamic State militants from taking the city but it warned the town could still fall despite U.S. assistance. \"The constant pressure from the air and ... the pressure from the ground by these Kurdish forces has done a lot to keep ISIL at bay from taking the whole town,\" said Rear Admiral John Kirby, the Pentagon press secretary, using an acronym for Islamic State. \"It doesn't mean that can forecast success. ...","China Premier Li says will target corruption, no matter how high. China will \"seriously deal with\" corrupt officials no matter how senior they are, Premier Li Keqiang said on Thursday. \"We will show zero tolerance for corrupt behavior and corrupt officials. No matter who it is, or how senior their position, everyone is equal before the law,\" Li said in remarks to reporters at the closing of the country's annual parliamentary session. \"If they violate party discipline or national law they will be seriously dealt with and punished according to the law.\" Chinese President Xi Jinping has made fighting corruption a central pillar of his administration and has said it threatens the ruling Communist Party's very survival.","Obama signs bill to sanction Venezuelan officials. WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama has signed legislation into law allowing him to sanction Venezuelan government officials who were involved in a crackdown on anti-government protesters.","Forlan not ready to leave international game. RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Diego Forlan isn't ready to announce his retirement from international football, even though he knows that at his age the clock is ticking.","Theater shooting suspect James Holmes returns to court for hearing on crime scene experts. CENTENNIAL, Colo. - Colorado theatre shooting suspect James Holmes is returning to court Friday for a hearing on whether crime scene reconstruction experts should be allowed to testify at his trial.","Iraq's Abadi optimistic on formation of new government. BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq's Prime Minister-designate Haider al-Abadi said on Monday that talks on forming a new government were constructive and predicted a \"clear vision\" on a unified administration would emerge within the next two days, state television reported. Abadi is tasked with forming a power-sharing government that can ease sectarian tensions and counter Islamic State militants who pose the biggest security threat to Iraq since a U.S.-led invasion toppled Saddam Hussein in 2003. (Reporting by Ahmed Rasheed; Writing by Michael Georgy, editing by John Stonestreet)","Greek parliament lifts immunity for Golden Dawn leader. Angry scenes unfolded in Greece's parliament on Wednesday after lawmakers voted to lift immunity for the jailed leader of extreme right party Golden Dawn and two of his deputies. \"Shame on you, pseudo-oliticians... you have ordered and organised a conspiracy,\" declared Golden Dawn leader Nikolaos Michaloliakos after the vote. All but one of the 224 deputies present backed proposals to lift the parliamentary immunity of the Golden Dawn founder, his right-hand man Christos Pappas and Yannis Lagos, according to a parliamentary source. Nikolaos Michaloliakos, who has been in provisional detention since September for belonging \"to a criminal organisation\", was transferred to parliament on Wednesday from a prison near Athens along with 16 other deputies.","Colombia rebel chief says peace talks suspension destroyed confidence. By Helen Murphy BOGOTA (Reuters) - Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos \"destroyed\" confidence in the peace process by suspending talks and violated the terms of an agreement that brought the rebels to the negotiating table, FARC guerrilla leader Rodrigo Londono said. Londono, known by his nom de guerre Timochenko, said in a statement published on Monday that Santos had \"overturned the board game\" when he halted talks last week and breached terms that allowed the negotiations to start in 2012. ...","Brazil presidential contenders face off in debate. SAO PAULO (AP) — Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff and her rival in the Oct. 26 runoff election are facing off Tuesday night in their first debate since the first-round ballot.","Work with Iran uncomfortable, needed, senator says. WASHINGTON (AP) — A Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee says Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki (NOO'-ree ahl-MAHL'-ih-kee) cannot keep his country together, and a U.S. alliance with Iran might be needed to do so.","World Cup players Gamboa, Davidson join West Brom. WEST BROMWICH, England (AP) — Costa Rica right back Cristian Gamboa and Australia left back Jason Davidson have signed for West Bromwich Albion, weeks after playing for their countries at the World Cup.","Ebola 'a regional threat' as contagion hits Guinea capital. Guinea's capital Conakry was on high alert on Friday after a deadly Ebola epidemic which has killed dozens in the southern forests was confirmed to have spread to the sprawling port city of two million people. Four people believed to have been infected after attending the funeral of a brother in central Guinea have been put into isolation centres to avoid the highly contagious virus getting into the population. \"Intensive case investigations are underway to identify the source and route of these patients' infection, record their travel histories before arrival in Conakry and determine their period of infectivity for the purposes of contact tracing,\" the World Health Organisation (WHO) said in a statement. Residents of Conakry's suburbs told AFP they feared venturing into the city centre to shop and were keeping their children home from school.","South Sudan peace talks to start Monday: officials. Formal peace talks between South Sudan's government and rebels are set to open Monday in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa, delegates and diplomats said. The talks, brokered by the East African regional bloc IGAD and aimed at ending three weeks of unrest in South Sudan, are set to start at 3:00pm (1200 GMT), Ethiopian government spokesman Getachew Reda said. Our delegation is going in with an open mind,\" rebel delegate Mabior Garang said. Government delegation spokesman Michael Makuei confirmed the planned start time but made no further comment.","Syria's Kobani less at risk but could still fall: U.S. officials. By Phil Stewart MACDILL AIR FORCE BASE Fla. (Reuters) - The Syrian border town of Kobani appears in less danger of falling to the Islamic State, but the threat still remains, U.S. officials said on Thursday, offering a measured view of a key battle against the militant group. Officials at the U.S. military's Central Command warned the Islamic State could ultimately capture the town, even after coalition air strikes and air drops of weapons and medical supplies to help Syrian Kurdish fighters fend off the militants in street battles. One U.S. ...","Rivals Hamas, Abbas in first showdown in Gaza. GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and the Islamic militant group Hamas are locked in a first showdown since the formation of their unity government last week, a sign of their volatile relations.","World court says Japan's Antarctic whaling program is not for scientific purposes. World court says Japan's Antarctic whaling program is not for scientific purposes.","South Africa braces for another year of strikes. Struggling South Africa seems set for another year of labour unrest in another body blow for an economy battling high unemployment and struggling to remain the largest on the continent. The last two years have been dark times for South African labour relations.","BP asks judge to reconsider 'gross negligence' ruling. HOUSTON (Reuters) - BP Plc on Thursday asked a U.S. court to reconsider a September ruling that found the company \"grossly negligent\" for the 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, a finding that boosted its potential liabilities by about $18 billion. The motion filed in Louisiana contends that U.S. District Court Judge Carl Barbier's ruling was based on evidence he had agreed to exclude from the ongoing trial. As such, the oil major said, he should review his decision or give it a new trial. ...","More than 450 Indian migrants dead in Qatar in 2012-13: data. More than 450 Indian migrants working in Qatar have died in the last two years, data shows as the Gulf state is under pressure over its rights record ahead of the 2022 World Cup. In response to a Right to Information request filed by AFP, the Indian embassy in Qatar gave figures detailing the number of deaths in 2012 and the first 11 months of 2013. Qatar's human rights record is under scrutiny like never before as it cranks up building work ahead of the 2022 World Cup, most of which will be done by migrant labour from South Asia. Amnesty International said in November that workers were being treated like \"animals,\" and urged football's world governing body FIFA to press Qatar to improve conditions for foreign labourers.","Britain supports Moldova's EU future. CHISINAU, Moldova (AP) — Britain believes the former Soviet republic of Moldova should progress with talks for closer ties with the European Union without being seen as a threat to Russia.","Bosnia court detains five Islamists under terrorism charges. Bosnia's state court has ordered one-month detention for five Islamists charged with organizing and recruiting people to fight for radical groups in Syria and Iraq, the court said on Monday. The five were among 16 people who were detained last week in police raids across Bosnia on charges of financing terrorist activities and recruiting and fighting abroad, the first such security sweep since jail terms of up to 10 years were introduced in April for those activities. Most Bosnian Muslims, known as Bosnia's, practice a moderate form of Islam but some young Muslims have embraced the ideas of the puritanical Sunni Wahba sect. The five detainees were suspected of \"organizing a terrorist group and ... recruiting for terrorist activities,\" the court said, adding they should be detained to prevent them fleeing, influencing witnesses or continuing their activities.","In Mexican jungle, surreal art garden Las Pozas. XILITLA, Mexico (AP) — At the end of a long, dirt road in Mexico's northeast jungle, two spiral staircases appear, leading nowhere amid an ornate concrete structure. Giant concrete fleur-de-lis flank a pathway, and tall bamboo-shaped columns surround a house with no walls. Oversize plaster orchids are in permanent bloom, while a natural waterfall ceaselessly flows down a mountain.","China's ruling party pushes for better judiciary. BEIJING (AP) — China's ruling Communist Party says it will take steps to improve judicial independence and put checks on political interference in the courts, as its Central Committee concludes its annual meeting.","Liverpool title hopes crumble at Palace in draw. LONDON (AP) — Liverpool's hopes of winning the English Premier League were dealt a hammer blow as it let slip a three-goal lead in a 3-3 draw away to Crystal Palace on Monday.","U.N. Security Council to vote on Syria aid resolution Saturday. By Michelle Nichols UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The U.N. Security Council will vote on Saturday on a resolution to boost humanitarian aid access in Syria, where the United Nations says 9.3 million people need help, although it is unclear if Russia and China will support or veto the draft. Australian U.N. Ambassador Gary Quinlan, who co-authored the text with envoys from Jordan and Luxembourg, told reporters the vote would be held at 11 a.m. (1600 GMT) on Saturday. Russia, supported by China, has shielded its ally Syria on the U.N. Security Council during the three-year-long civil war.","UN trapped inside base due to South Sudan fighting. JUBA, South Sudan (AP) — A spokesman for the U.N. mission in South Sudan says that government soldiers and rebels continue to battle in the capital of a northern oil-producing state.","Japan stages rally over disputed islands with S.Korea. Japan held an annual rally on Saturday marking Tokyo's claim to a set of tiny islands controlled by South Korea, further fuelling a long-standing territorial row between the neighbours. Some 500 people gathered at the event in Shimane prefecture in western Japan, including a high-ranking Japanese government official as well as local and national politicians, organisers said. Tokyo refers to the islands in the Sea of Japan (East Sea) as Takeshima, while they are known as Dokdo in South Korea.","Detentions of major Mexico drug chiefs. Top drug cartel captures or killings in recent years in Mexico:","AP NewsAlert. KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — NATO says roadside bomb kills 3 international service members in southern Afghanistan.","Russian troops reported on move again in Crimea. SEVASTOPOL, Ukraine (AP) — Russia on Saturday was reported to be reinforcing its military presence in Crimea as Moscow's foreign minister ruled out any dialogue with Ukraine's new authorities, whom he dismissed as puppets.","French actress linked to Hollande sues magazine over affair report. French actress Julie Gayet has initiated a privacy suit against Closer magazine over its report that she was having an affair with President Francois Hollande, the magazine said Thursday. But the Socialist leader ruled out legal action on his own behalf, saying that would not be appropriate given that he himself enjoys immunity from any legal action.","Kerry meets Iranian Foreign Minister Zarif in Munich. MUNICH (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry met Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference on Sunday morning, a spokesperson for Kerry said. No further details were immediately available. Iran reached a landmark preliminary agreement with six world powers in November to halt its most sensitive nuclear operations, winning some relief from sanctions in return. ...","From firebrand to PM-in-waiting, Greek leftist smells power. By Renee Maltezou and Deepa Babington ATHENS (Reuters) - Alexis Tsipras, leader of Greece's far-left Syriza party, recently traveled to Frankfurt and Rome to meet European leaders. He is softening his confrontational tone with Greece's international lenders. He has a drafted an agenda for the first 100 days of a future government. The 40-year-old former student Communist is acting like a prime minister in waiting. Syriza, once a fringe far-left movement, is now the most popular party in Greece, representing the many voters who feel punished by the country's EU/IMF bailout. ...","Somalia's al Shabaab says stones man to death for rape. By Feisal Omar and Abdi Sheikh MOGADISHU (Reuters) - Somalia's al Shabaab militants said on Wednesday they had stoned an 18-year-old man to death for raping a woman at gunpoint in one of their strongholds in the southern Lower Shabelle region. The group, which pledges loyalty to al Qaeda, has been losing territory in an offensive by African and Somali troops, but has been determined to demonstrate its authority over areas it still controls. Al Shabaab said the man raped a 28-year-old woman at gunpoint in the outskirts of her village three days before he was killed on Tuesday. ...","Sweeping on Shwedagon: An act of merit. YANGON, Myanmar (AP) — Every evening, more than a dozen men and women walk in a tight row in front of Myanmar's most revered Buddhist pagoda, sweeping the vast marble terrace in unison in hopes of keeping it clean for barefoot pilgrims.","Volkswagen sales up nearly 5 percent in 2013. BERLIN (AP) — Volkswagen AG says it delivered a record 9.5 million cars and commercial vehicles last year, a 4.8 percent increase, as growing Chinese and North American demand compensated for a slight decline in Europe.","Apple says online store in Russia is down due to rouble fluctuations. SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Apple confirmed on Tuesday that it has taken down its online store in Russia due to extreme fluctuations in the value of the rouble. It said in a statement that it is currently reviewing pricing. (Reporting By Christina Farr; Editing by Jonathan Oatis)","Syria army advances in Homs as car bomb kills 14. Syrian army forces advanced Friday around rebel-held areas of the Old City of Homs, as a car bomb hit a regime-controlled part of the city, killing 14 people. Around 1,200 rebel fighters and nearly 200 civilians are believed to be inside the rebel-held parts of the Old City, under army siege for nearly two years. Syrian authorities refer to all those seeking the ouster of President Bashar al-Assad as \"terrorists.\" State news agency SANA said the army had seized buildings in the Bab Hud and Wadi al-Sayeh districts and \"killed a number of terrorists in Homs city and around it.\"","South Sudan talks resume between warring sides. NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Officials say that peace talks between warring sides in South Sudan have resumed.","Eight children found dead at Australian property. Eight children have been found dead at a house in the Australian city of Cairns after a mass stabbing, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) said.","Rat poison chemical found in pills linked to India sterilization deaths. By Aditya Kalra BILASPUR India (Reuters) - Tablets linked to the deaths of more than a dozen women who visited a sterilization camp in eastern India are likely to have contained a chemical compound commonly used in rat poison, a senior official in Chhattisgarh state said on Saturday. Preliminary tests of the antibiotic ciprocin tablets were found to contain zinc phosphide, Siddhartha Pardeshi, the chief administrator for the Bilaspur district told Reuters. The antibiotics were handed out at the mass sterilization held a week ago in the impoverished state. ...","Philippines evacuates coastal areas as typhoon aims for Manila. The Philippines evacuated eastern coastal areas, suspended ferry services and closed schools in parts of the main Luzon island on Tuesday as the strongest storm to hit the country since Typhoon Haiyan last year charted a direct course for the capital Manila. Typhoon Rammasun, with gusts of up to 150 kph (93 mph) and maximum winds of 120 kph (75 mph) near the center, was expected to make landfall over the eastern province of Albay and Sorsogon within hours. Tropical Storm Risk described Rammasun, expected to bring moderate to intense rainfall of up to 25 mm per hour within its 500-km (300-mile) radius, as a category-one typhoon in a scale of one to five. It is the strongest storm to threaten the country since Haiyan, a category-five \"super typhoon\", wiped out nearly everything in its path when it crossed the central Philippines in November.","New CEO Barra a GM 'lifer' bent on tearing down walls. By Paul Lienert and Ben Klayman DETROIT (Reuters) - Mary Barra, the next CEO of General Motors Co , sent a powerful message to colleagues last year when she challenged about 250 designers and engineers at GM's Vehicle Engineering Center - to a paper sailboat race. \"She wanted them to have fun at a highly stressful time, but also encourage teamwork and collaboration ... to show that's how we run our business on a global basis,\" said John Calabrese, GM's vice president of global engineering. Patterned after an April event that Barra and team members staged with third graders at Detroit's Bates Academy, the internal \"skimmer\" competition brought together teams of executives vying for such awards as fastest boat, most creative design, best logo and most over-budget. In deceptively simple fashion, the sailboat race addressed perhaps the biggest concern to Wall Street analysts and investors and the major challenge facing the 52-year-old electrical engineer and Stanford MBA: How to continue breaking down silos and walls within the U.S. automaker's historically dysfunctional and disconnected corporate culture and remake GM into a more collaborative and customer-centric enterprise.","3 al-Shabab suspects arrested in Frankfurt. BERLIN (AP) — German authorities say they have arrested three men at Frankfurt airport on suspicion they are members of the Somalian terrorist organization al-Shabab.","Scotland becomes seventeenth country to approve same-sex marriages. By Belinda Goldsmith LONDON (Reuters) - Scotland voted overwhelmingly on Tuesday to allow same-sex marriages, becoming the 17th country to give the green light to gay marriage despite opposition from its main church organizations. The Scottish government, which will hold a referendum on independence from Britain in September, said passing the same-sex marriage bill was an important step for equal rights and paved the way for same-sex wedding ceremonies later this year. The move was opposed by the Scottish Catholic Church and the Presbyterian Church of Scotland but the law will not compel religious institutions to hold ceremonies on their premises. The approval, in a vote of 105 to 18 in Scotland's devolved parliament, follows similar legislation passed by the British parliament last year that allows same-sex marriage in England and Wales, with the first weddings to take place from March 29.","Brazil's Rousseff drops in new election poll, rivals gain. By Anthony Boadle BRASILIA (Reuters) - Support for President Dilma Rousseff among Brazilian voters has fallen and her main rivals have gained ground, reducing her chances of an outright win in the October 5 election, a new poll by Datafolha showed on Friday. The poll showed support for Rousseff slipped one percentage point to 37 percent, while Aecio Neves added four points to 20 percent and Eduardo Campos increased one point to 11 percent compared with its April poll, Datafolha said. Rousseff ́s comfortable lead at the start of the year has been undermined by concerns over rising inflation in a slow economy and political scandal surrounding management of Brazil ́s largest company, state-run Petroleo Brasileiro SA. Brazil's Congress is expected to open an investigation next week into the controversial purchase of a refinery in Texas and allegations of bribery involving SBM Offshore NV, a Netherlands-based supplier of offshore oil vessels. If the vote were held today, Datafolha said, Rousseff ́s opponents and other candidates would win enough votes to force a run-off, with a combined voter intention of 38 percent.","Managers mishandled radiation leak at New Mexico nuclear site -official. Managers mishandled a radiation leak at a New Mexico nuclear waste dump in which 21 workers were exposed to airborne radioactive particles due in part to substandard equipment and safety systems, a U.S. investigator said on Wednesday. But the contamination from the underground salt mine in the Chihuahuan Desert - where radioactive waste from U.S. nuclear labs and weapons facilities is deposited - was unlikely to have harmed the workers' health, inspectors said. Ted Wyka, chairman of a federal accident review board, said improperly placed or inoperative air monitors, a substandard ventilation system and mismanagement contributed to the February 14 leak of radioisotopes including plutonium. The preliminary findings by Wyka and other officials assembled by the U.S. Energy Department, which oversees the plant, came during a public meeting in Carlsbad, New Mexico on Wednesday.","Bay of Pigs vet, families seek billions from Cuba. MIAMI (AP) — Since the day in 1959 that Cuban government agents blackmailed his father into committing suicide, Gustavo Villoldo has been on an anti-Castro mission that included co-piloting a B-26 bomber during the ill-fated 1961 Bay of Pigs invasion, infiltrating Cuba for the CIA numerous times and tracking down Fidel Castro lieutenant Ernesto \"Che\" Guevara in Bolivia in 1967.","Dial 9 before 911? Texas grandfather seeks change after girl's despair during mother's death. DALLAS - Hank Hunt's granddaughter tried calling 911 from the East Texas hotel room where she could hear her mother dying, just as she was taught to do in an emergency. She didn't know she had to dial 9 on the hotel phone first.","Authorities in Iraq say bombs kill 35 in capital. BAGHDAD (AP) — Authorities in Iraq say a series of car bombs targeting commercial streets have killed at least 35 people in the capital, Baghdad.","NATO allies must step up defense spending, U.S. defense chief says. NATO's European members need to increase their defense spending in light of Russia's action in Ukraine, U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said in planned remarks released on Friday. \"We must see renewed financial commitments from all NATO members,\" Hagel said in excerpts of speech on the NATO alliance to be delivered at the Wilson Center and released by the Defense Department.","Argentina's Fernandez says willing to talk with all creditors. By Hugh Bronstein BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) - President Cristina Fernandez said on Friday her government would negotiate with all of Argentina's creditors in a bid to avoid a new debt default that would further weaken the country's ailing economy. \"We want to pay 100 percent of creditors,\" Fernandez said in a speech that boosted hopes of a settlement to the legal battle between her government and \"holdout\" investors who are demanding full payment following Argentina's massive 2002 bond default. Argentina's financial markets were closed for a holiday, but international bond spreads, which measure default risk, tightened sharply after she spoke. The country is locked in a 12-year-old fight in U.S. courts with the creditors who refused to accept a 2005 and 2010 revamp of debt securities.","4 students dead after South Korea roof collapse. SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Four university students died and about 10 were feared trapped after the roof of a building collapsed in a South Korean city during a welcoming ceremony for freshmen, officials said Monday.","European lawmakers assembly suspends Russia's vote. PARIS (AP) — A European parliamentary assembly has suspended Russia's right to vote and take part in election observations to punish its takeover of Crimea.","China frees artist held for Tiananmen anniversary. BEIJING (AP) — A friend of dissident artist Chen Guang says he has been released more than a month after he was detained ahead of the 25th anniversary of the military crackdown on China's pro-democracy protests.","Hungary prime minister wins 3rd term. BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban's Fidesz party won parliamentary elections Sunday and narrowly secured a new two-thirds majority, but gains by a far-right party were a cause for concern.","Citigroup to revisit U.S. court over Argentine bond payments. By Nate Raymond NEW YORK (Reuters) - A U.S. judge has scheduled a Dec. 2 hearing to weigh whether or not Citigroup Inc can process an expected interest payment by Argentina on bonds issued under its local laws following its 2002 default. The hearing before U.S. District Judge Thomas Griesa in Manhattan, set out in an order issued late Wednesday, would be less than a month before a Dec. 31 interest payment by Argentina on the bonds is due. ...","France says anti-IS coalition must turn attention to Aleppo. PARIS (Reuters) - The coalition fighting Islamic State must now save Syria's second city Aleppo as moderate rebels face destruction by attacks from forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad and jihadi militants, France's foreign minister said. In a column in French daily Le Figaro, the Washington Post and pan-Arab Al-Hayat, Laurent Fabius said the city, the \"bastion\" of the opposition, was almost encircled and abandoning it would end hopes of a political solution in Syria's three-year civil war. ...","Police lawfully killed man whose death sparked riots: inquest. A inquest jury concluded on Wednesday that a man who was shot dead by police in London in 2011 was lawfully killed, sparking angry outbursts in court from his family and supporters. Mark Duggan, 29, did not have a gun in his hand at the time of the killing in Tottenham, north London, in August 2011, the jury at the Old Bailey court found. Two days after Duggan was killed, the deprived district of Tottenham erupted in violence, and the unrest then spread across the capital and on to Birmingham, Manchester and other English cities.","Asia shares in retreat, China data darkens mood. By Wayne Cole SYDNEY (Reuters) - Asian shares took a spill on Thursday as strains in emerging markets returned with a vengeance and the Federal Reserve further scaled back its stimulus - sending investors scurrying to safety in bonds and yen. Japan's Nikkei was already down 3.1 percent at its lowest since mid-November. Markets have now shed all the gains made on Wednesday when the region had hoped that aggressive rate hikes by Turkey would shore up its currency and ease the risk of capital flight. Indeed, when South Africa's central bank surprised by lifting its rates half a percentage point investors reacted by dumping the rand.","Morocco's transgender dancer courts acceptance. CASABLANCA, Morocco (AP) — It was a slow night on the red carpet at the opening of the Marrakech film festival for the photographers and everyone was complaining over the lack of celebrities.","North Korea rescinds invitation to seek Bae release: U.S. official. North Korea has rescinded an invitation for a senior U.S. official to visit Pyongyang to seek the release of imprisoned U.S. missionary Kenneth Bae, a State Department official said on Sunday, adding that American civil rights activist Jesse Jackson had offered to go to Pyongyang to try to free Bae. \"We are deeply disappointed by the DPRK (North Korean) decision - for a second time - to rescind its invitation for Ambassador (Robert) King to travel to Pyongyang to discuss Kenneth Bae's release.","U.N. sees 'serious setbacks' in anti-drugs fight. By Fredrik Dahl VIENNA (Reuters) - The global fight against narcotics has suffered serious setbacks, including record opium cultivation in Afghanistan and a surge of trafficking-linked violence in Central America, the U.N. anti-drugs chief said on Thursday. At the opening of an international meeting on the issue, Yury Fedotov also noted some successes, such as a shrinking cocaine market. The two-day gathering will review implementation of a 2009 plan of action to combat the drugs problem before a special session of the United Nations General Assembly in 2016, amid a heated debate on the merits of drugs liberalization. Fedotov, executive director of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), said reductions in the supply and demand for some drugs in one part of the world had been partly offset by increases elsewhere.","Soaring Canadian real estate prices worry bankers. Canada's housing prices continued to surge in December, according to the latest figures released Wednesday, after warnings by bankers of an overheated real estate market and record-high debts. The Canadian Real Estate Association announced in its monthly report that the national average sale price of a home rose 10.4 percent year-over-year in December. Two of Canada's biggest cities, Toronto and Vancouver, saw the largest price gains, it said. The association's chief economist, Gregory Klump, in a statement forecast even higher prices and sales volumes this year.","China detains 160 in Shanghai healthcare scam. Authorities in China have detained 160 members of a criminal gang in the financial capital of Shanghai after the group lured patients to fake medical clinics and sold them overpriced drugs, Shanghai police said on Tuesday. Corruption is rife in China's healthcare system, hit by a scarcity of doctors, while bribery pushes up the cost of care and creates tension between healthcare workers and patients. Providing affordable, accessible healthcare is one of the key platforms of President Xi Jinping's new government, with China's healthcare bill set to hit $1 trillion (597 billion pounds) by 2020, according to a report from McKinsey & Co. More than 600 Shanghai police officials launched a sting operation on April 2, after seven months of investigation, holding 160 suspects in raids on the homes of gang members around the city and seizing crates of medicine and fake firearms, the police said.","Bouchard shrugs off 'Sharapova' heir tag. Eugenie Bouchard played down her role as heir to Maria Sharapova on Friday, 24 hours before the Wimbledon final which could transform the 20-year-old Canadian into a multi-million dollar superstar. Exactly 10 years to the day when a 17-year-old Sharapova blitzed Serena Williams on Centre Court, becoming an overnight global phenomenon and the richest woman in sport, the same fate awaits Bouchard if she defeats Petra Kvitova for the Wimbledon title. Bouchard and Sharapova are tall, blonde and photogenic with the composed and self-confident high-profiles slavishly courted by blue-chip suitors desperate for endorsement.","Progress reported in efforts to reach ceasefire in Mali. By Tiemoko Diallo BAMAKO (Reuters) - The chairman of the African Union met armed Tuareg separatist groups in northern Mali on Friday to discuss a permanent ceasefire and resumption of talks between the rebels and Mali's government, officials said. The discussions between Mauritanian President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz and the Tuaregs in the town of Kidal came after fighting this week that threatens to sink struggling peace negotiations and plunge Mali's desert north back into war. The United Nations special representative in Mali Albert Koenders accompanied Abdel Aziz in the meetings.","China premier in UK visit to boost trade ties. LONDON (AP) — Chinese Premier Li Keqiang is visiting Britain for a trip that includes an unusual meeting with Queen Elizabeth II and talks aimed at boosting fragile diplomatic relations.","Liberia suspends Ebola curfew to allow New Year's Eve worship. MONROVIA (Reuters) - Liberia's government has suspended for one night a curfew imposed to curb the spread of Ebola, so that New Year's Eve church services can go ahead, Deputy Information Minister Isaac Jackson said. The government introduced the curfew in September at the height of an epidemic that has killed more than 3,400 people in Liberia and at least 4,400 more in Sierra Leone and Guinea, according to World Health Organisation figures. \"The President has directed the Minister of Justice to suspend the curfew for today, Dec. ...","Campbell, Stone win singles in Head of the Charles. CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts (AP) — Cambridge Boat Club's Andrew Campbell and Gevvie Stone won the men's and women's singles titles Saturday on the first day of the 50th annual Head of the Charles Regatta.","Former AFL star Robbie Flower dies aged 59. MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Former Melbourne Demons captain and Australian Football League Hall of Fame member Robbie Flower has died aged 59.","Bumgarner, Giants stop Royals 7-1 in Series opener. KANSAS CITY, Missouri (AP) — Madison Bumgarner and the San Francisco Giants put a sudden stop to the Kansas City Royals' perfect postseason roll.","US envoy urges Myanmar to help aid groups return. YANGON, Myanmar (AP) — As Rohingya Muslims in western Myanmar face acute shortages of water, food and medical care, a visiting U.S. State Department official urged the government to work quickly to facilitate the return of aid groups, saying the word was watching.","A look at Iraq's key political players. BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki is under increasing political pressure to step aside as Sunni militants led by fighters from the al-Qaida breakaway Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant overrun much of northwestern Iraq. Al-Maliki, a Shiite who is looking to secure a third consecutive term after winning April elections, has proven himself to be a skilled politician and hard-nosed negotiator. But there are growing calls from all quarters — including fellow Shiite and senior clerics — for him to step aside. Here's a look at some of the names being mentioned to possibly replace him:","Yemen says strikes on al-Qaida base kill 55. SANAA, Yemen (AP) — Yemeni forces, reportedly backed by U.S. drone strikes, hit al-Qaida militants for a second straight day Monday in what Yemen officials said was an assault on a major base of the terror group hidden in the remote southern mountains. The government said 55 militants were killed so far.","US, activists voice concern over new Afghan law. KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — A new draft law in Afghanistan that would limit testimony in domestic violence cases is drawing international outcry, with activists warning it is part of a broader trend toward rolling back women's rights in the nation.","Liberia convicts 13 in cross-border attacks. MONROVIA, Liberia (AP) — A defense lawyer says a court in Liberia has found 13 men guilty of cross-border \"mercenary activity\" in neighboring Ivory Coast.","Italian government's work should not be interrupted: Saccomanni. Italian Economy Minister Fabrizio Saccomanni said on Wednesday it was important that the action of the government should not be interrupted but it was of little importance whether individual ministers remain in place. He spoke amid widespread speculation that center-left leader Matteo Renzi could take over as prime minister from the current incumbent Enrico Letta at the head of a new government. \"The political forces must realize the need to carry on with energy and effectiveness the work of the past months,\" Saccomanni told reporters in Rome.","China's Xi to talk devils and ice in Tasmania. China's President Xi Jinping fulfilled a long-held dream on Tuesday by visiting Australia's smallest state, with howling Tasmanian devils and plans for a deal on Antarctica on his agenda. The Chinese leader has visited every other Australian state and territory and has long expressed a desire to see the island of Tasmania, joking Monday that he should receive a certificate for his travels across the country.","Doping ban for Jamaican sprinter Asafa Powell. KINGSTON, Jamaica (AP) — Former 100-meter world record holder Asafa Powell has been banned for 18 months.","Pakistan court indicts ex-president Musharraf for treason. A Pakistani court Monday indicted former military ruler Pervez Musharraf for treason -- a milestone for civilian authority in a country long dominated by the army. But observers are uncertain whether authorities will allow the trial to be completed and risk angering the powerful military, which has ruled Pakistan for half its history. Musharraf had missed most of the trial's hearings due to ill-health and security threats.","Egypt calls for indefinite ceasefire in Gaza. CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt called on Israel and the Palestinians on Saturday to accept an indefinite ceasefire and resume indirect talks in Cairo to end the Gaza crisis, Egypt's foreign ministry said in a statement. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas had earlier called for a swift resumption of the Cairo-mediated talks after meeting Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi. (Reporting by Yasmine Saleh; Editing by Pravin Char)","UN says over 70 civilians executed in eastern DR Congo. KINSHASA (AFP) - More than 70 men and women have been summarily executed in the restive eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, the UN mission in the country (MONUSCO) said on Thursday.","Muslims close shops to protest Sri Lanka attacks. COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — Muslims have shut down their shops in Sri Lanka's capital to protest attacks by hard-line Buddhists on Muslims and are demanding the government punish those responsible for the violence.","FBI: 1 of 'Ten Most Wanted' returned to New York. MINEOLA, N.Y. (AP) — The FBI says one of its \"Ten Most Wanted Fugitives\" is back in New York state to face murder charges in the deaths of his 19-year-old girlfriend and her toddler son.","Russia sharply criticizes U.N. rights report on Ukraine. MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia sharply criticized a U.N. human rights report that said ethnic Russians in eastern Ukraine have falsely claimed to be under assault to justify Russian intervention, saying it was \"one-sided, politicized and not objective\". \"One gets the impression that the report was fabricated to correspond with conclusions formed in advance,\" the Russian Foreign Ministry said of the document, issued after two visits to Ukraine last month by a U.N. assistant secretary-general. (Writing by Steve Gutterman; Editing by Christian Lowe)","Central African president sees political conspiracy in attacks. Bangui (Central African Republic) (AFP) - A recent surge in violence in the Central African capital of Bangui was caused by \"agitators\" trying to \"manipulate the youth for purely political reasons\", President Catherine Samba Panza said on Sunday. Samba Panza said recent improvements in the security situation \"do not please everybody\". \"They are agitators who underhandedly try to manipulate, to use the youth for purely political reasons,\" she said. Her comments mirrored those of her prime minister, Andre Nzapayeke, who said on Thursday that recent attacks were part of \"a planned conspiracy\" by \"politicians very close to power\", including people close to his own cabinet and the presidential office.","Longtime Berlusconi ally declared fugitive ahead of mafia verdict. By Wladimir Pantaleone PALERMO, Italy (Reuters) - A longtime political ally, business associate and friend of former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has left the country ahead of a final ruling on mafia collusion charges, a Palermo prosecutor said on Friday. This week the Palermo court issued an arrest warrant for former Senator Marcello Dell'Utri, who co-founded Berlusconi's Forza Italia party in 1994, after prosecutors said they had evidence that he had already left the country and there was a \"concrete danger\" that he would not return for the verdict due next Tuesday, according to a court document dated April 8. After he could not be tracked down, the court declared Dell'Utri a fugitive, Palermo prosecutor Luigi Patronaggio told Reuters. \"Now we will start the procedure for tracking him down abroad, with help from the justice ministry and Interpol.\" When contacted early on Friday, Dell'Utri's lawyer, Giuseppe Di Peri, said he did not know his client had left the country.","Canada's Aleksandra Wozniak wins Fed Cup opener against Serbia's Vesna Dolonc. MONTREAL - Canada's Aleksandra Wozniak beat Serbia's Vesna Dolonc 7-5, 2-6, 6-4 in World Group II action at the Fed Cup on Saturday.","Afghan presidential candidate Abdullah threatens to pull out of election process. KABUL (Reuters) - One of two candidates competing to succeed Afghan leader Hamid Karzai threatened on Tuesday to pull out of a U.N.-supervised audit of a disputed presidential election, undermining a process meant to defuse a standoff between the contenders. The audit is part of a U.S.-brokered deal between presidential candidates Abdullah Abdullah and Ashraf Ghani, both of whom claim to have won the election designed to mark Afghanistan's first democratic transfer of power. ...","Springboks hooker Strauss suspended for 3 weeks. BLOEMFONTEIN, South Africa (AP) — South Africa hooker Adriaan Strauss has been suspended for three weeks for an illegal tackle, ruling him out of the first three games of the Springboks' season.","Kerry urges China to be cooperative partner. US Secretary of State John Kerry urged China Tuesday to be a cooperative partner, saying Washington was not interested in conflict or confrontation with it. Kerry, who is in Australia for annual talks on security and foreign policy, made the comments as Beijing accused Washington of deliberately stoking tensions in the South China Sea. \"We welcome the rise of China as a global partner, hopefully, as a powerful economy, as a full participating constructive member of the international community,\" he said. \"And we want China to participate in constructive ways, whether it is in the South China Sea, or with respect to Japan, and South Korea, with North Korea, with other issues that we face.\"","Ship involved in Antarctic rescue faces trouble. CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — An Australian icebreaker carrying 52 passengers who were retrieved from an icebound ship in the Antarctic was told to halt its journey home on Friday after a Chinese vessel involved in the dramatic rescue became concerned that it, too, may get stuck in the heavy sea ice.","Top Asian News at 6:00 a.m. GMT. BANGKOK (AP) — Thailand's prime minister is set to discuss with the country's polling body the possibility of postponing a general election set for Sunday. Election Commissioner Somchai Srisutthiyakorn said Tuesday that the election should be cancelled due to potential violence ahead of the vote.","US, Canadian boaters left in limbo in Mexico. MEXICO CITY (AP) — When heavily armed marines and government tax agents stormed eight marinas on Mexico's Pacific and Caribbean coasts, boaters thought they were witnessing a major drug takedown.","Decline in German car sales accelerated in 2013: KBA. The decline in German car sales accelerated last year, falling below 3 million vehicles for the first time since 2010, reflecting troubles in Europe that have sent auto demand close to a two-decade low. New car registrations in Germany fell 4.2 percent to 2.95 million last year, the German Federal Motor Transport Authority (KBA) said, after a decline of 2.9 percent in 2012. Germany's premium carmakers BMW , Mercedes-Benz and Audi each lost market share, suffering sales declines of 5.8 percent, 1.4 percent and 5.5 percent respectively. In the premium segment, updates to Porsche's 911 and Boxster models in recent years helped the sports car manufacturer to register a 1.4 percent rise in registrations.","25 dead in Central African gold mine collapse. At least 25 people died when a gold mine collapsed in the south of the Central African Republic, police said Saturday. \"In all, 27 people were buried in the collapse of the gold mine.","2nd Philippine senator face arrest for corruption. MANILA, Philippines (AP) — A Philippine anti-graft court has ordered the arrest of a second senator, one of three members of the powerful Senate to be indicted on a charge of receiving huge kickbacks from government development and anti-poverty funds.","Venezuela extends night closure of Colombia border to stop smuggling. By Andrew Cawthorne CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuela said on Thursday it would extend an overnight closure of its border with neighboring Colombia for another three months in a campaign to stop widespread fuel and food smuggling. The measures to stop traffic crossing between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m., and limit the movement of cargo vehicles during the day, were introduced in mid-August to combat the lucrative business in smuggling heavily subsidized Venezuelan products. ...","U.N. sees signs of North Korea softening in human rights dialogue. By Louis Charbonneau UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - North Korea is showing signs of a willingness to discuss the human rights situation in the country, possibly as a result of pressure created by a U.N. inquiry that accused Pyongyang of crimes against humanity, a U.N. investigator said on Tuesday. Marzuki Darusman, U.N. special rapporteur on North Korea, told the U.N. General Assembly's Third Committee, which focuses on human rights, the inquiry found that widespread human rights abuses by the North Korean government \"met the high threshold required for crimes against humanity in international ...","Palestinians accuse Israel of violating Gaza truce. By Nidal al-Mughrabi GAZA (Reuters) - The Palestinian Interior Ministry in Gaza accused Israel on Friday of a cross-border shooting in violation of a truce that has largely held since getting off to a shaky start on Thursday. An Israeli military spokeswoman said: \"We have no knowledge of such an incident.\" The Palestinian ministry in the coastal territory dominated by Hamas Islamists said Israeli troops shot at houses east of the town of Khan Younis. The ceasefire, renewed on Thursday for five days after a previous truce expired, has largely halted more than a month of fighting in which 1,945 Palestinians, many of them civilians, 64 Israeli soldiers and three civilians in Israel were killed.","Mexico says body found is that of US motorcyclist. ACAPULCO, Mexico (AP) — Mexican authorities say genetic testing has confirmed that a body found near a Pacific Coast beach town is that of a New York man who vanished while riding his motorcycle to Brazil for the World Cup.","Mali president says wreckage of Air Algerie flight spotted in north. BAMAKO (Reuters) - Mali's President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita said on Thursday that the wreckage of a missing Air Algerie flight had been spotted in his country's desert north. \"I have just been informed that the wreckage has been found between Aguelhoc and Kidal,\" Keita said during a meeting of political, religious and civil society leaders in Bamako. He did not give any more details. (Reporting by Adama Diarra; Writing by David Lewis; Editing by Daniel Flynn and Robin Pomeroy)","F-22 Raptor makes debut combat flight. WASHINGTON (AP) — Envisioned in the 1990s as crucial to U.S. military superiority in the next century — the sleek, radar-evading F-22 Raptor has finally seen its first combat.","Israel agrees to extend Gaza war truce by 4 hours. JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel agreed Saturday to extend a 12-hour humanitarian truce in the Gaza war by four hours, a Cabinet minister said. In Gaza, a health official said the Palestinian death toll in 19 days of fighting had surpassed 1,000.","India police question man for pro-Islamic State tweets. BANGALORE, India (AP) — Police in southern India have detained a man they believe is behind a popular pro-Islamic State Twitter account.","Egyptian court seeks death sentence for Brotherhood leader, 682 supporters. By Yasmine Saleh MINYA, Egypt (Reuters) - An Egyptian court handed down a death sentence on the leader of the Muslim Brotherhood and 682 supporters, intensifying a crackdown on the movement that could trigger protests and political violence ahead of an election next month. A death penalty for Mohamed Badie, the Brotherhood's general guide, will infuriate members of the Brotherhood which has been the target of raids, arrests and bans since President Mohamed Mursi was forced from power by the military in July. But some Brotherhood members fear pressure from security forces and the courts could drive some young members to violence against the movement's old enemy the Egyptian state.","Asian stocks fall on Wall Street tech losses. HONG KONG (AP) — Asian stocks started the week lower, tracking losses on Wall Street where investors knocked down internet and technology stocks over worries about valuations.","US says UN approves sanctions on Boko Haram. UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N. Security Council has imposed sanctions against the al-Qaida-linked terrorist group Boko Haram, which has carried out a wave of deadly attacks and the recent abduction of nearly 300 schoolgirls in Nigeria, the United States said Thursday.","China: Ex-security czar Zhou under investigation. BEIJING (AP) — China's Communist Party says it has launched an investigation into a former domestic security chief who was once among the country's most feared leaders.","Australian balance-of-power political party mired in internal dispute. By Jane Wardell SYDNEY (Reuters) - The political party headed by Australian mining magnate Clive Palmer, which holds the balance of power in parliament, is in danger of imploding thanks to a public spat among its lawmakers. Palmer said on Wednesday that outspoken Tasmanian Senator Jacqui Lambie had been removed from her position as deputy leader of the Palmer United Party and was barred from all parliamentary party meetings. ...","Philippines calls for construction freeze in South China Sea. The Philippines said on Monday that China's \"expansion agenda\" in the disputed South China Sea threatened security and stability in the region, calling on all claimant states to halt construction activities that may raise tensions. Albert del Rosario, foreign affairs secretary, said he supported U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for East Asia Daniel Russel's proposal for China and Southeast Asian states to get together for dialogue. \"Let's call for a moratorium in terms of activities that escalate tension,\" del Rosario told ANC Television on Monday. \"Now, let's do that while we work on an expeditious conclusion of the code of conduct and effective implementation.\" Del Rosario said China and other claimant states have been rushing construction activities in their respective claimed territories to expand, citing works in Fiery Cross Reef, Johnson South Reef, Gaven Reef, and Cuarteron Reef.","BRAZIL BEAT: Argentines' budget travel to game. SAO PAULO (AP) — Travel doesn't get any cheaper than the Argentine fans who have covered more than 1,000 miles in motorhomes and vans for days even without having tickets.","Bin Laden spokesman faces possible life term. NEW YORK (AP) — Osama bin Laden's son-in-law was due in court to face a possible life sentence for his role as the spokesman for al-Qaida following the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks.","Rebel leader in eastern Ukraine says black boxes of airliner not found. Separatist leader Aleksander Borodai said on Saturday that the black boxes belonging to the downed Malaysian airliner in eastern Ukraine had not been found. \"The black boxes have not been found and we are not touching the site,\" said Borodai, prime minister of the self-styled Donetsk People's Republic.","Widows: Probe into Peru killings stalled. LIMA, Peru (AP) — The widows of four indigenous leaders slain in Peru's Amazon say the investigation into their husbands' September deaths, allegedly by illegal loggers, is stalled.","Strong 6.7 earthquake strikes off Canada's Vancouver island. Washington (AFP) - A strong earthquake measuring 6.7 struck late Wednesday off Canada's Vancouver island in the Pacific, the US Geological Survey said.","Mourinho demands 'respect' for Chelsea. Cobham (United Kingdom) (AFP) - Jose Mourinho has said his Chelsea team deserve more \"respect\" from the rest of English football following fears his line-up at Liverpool on Sunday compromise the integrity of the Premier League title race. Having been hit by a number of injuries to key players -- including Petr Cech and John Terry in Madrid -- Mourinho indicated after the scoreless first leg he would protect key players ahead of the return match at Stamford Bridge. Sunday's clash away to leaders Liverpool will have a major bearing on the destiny of the Premier League trophy, but last weekendâ s home defeat by Sunderland means Chelsea are now ranked third favourites behind the Reds and Manchester City in the title race.","Ecclestone trying to revive South African GP. MOSCOW (AP) — Formula One boss Bernie Ecclestone says he is keen to return South Africa to the schedule.","Australian jockey dies after return from Singapore. SYDNEY (AP) — Australian jockey Nathan Berry died in a Sydney hospital Thursday after being struck down with an illness while riding in Singapore last month.","Jayawardene, Herath to miss Bangladesh ODI series. Colombo, Sri Lanka (AP) — Sri Lanka's star batsman Mahela Jayawardene and strike bowler Rangana Herath will not play in the three-match one-day series against Bangladesh starting this month.","Man cleared of honeymoon murder returns to UK. LONDON (AP) — When a commercial flight brings him back to Britain on Wednesday, Shrien Dewani will be a free man at last, cleared by a South African judge of ordering the killing of his young bride on their honeymoon.","South Africa metal workers' union to strike from July 1. JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa's largest union said on Thursday that 220,000 of its members will down tools from July 1 in a strike that will hit sectors including engineering, communications and automotive components. The NUMSA union, which represents metal workers and other artisans, said in a statement that the strike over wage demands was \"inevitable.\" (Reporting by Zandi Shabalala; Writing by Ed Stoddard; Editing by Joe Brock)","Etihad reroutes over Iraq 'conflict airspace'. BAGHDAD (AP) — Etihad Airways is re-routing its flights to avoid \"conflict airspace\" in Iraq, as Turkish Airlines says it has resumed its flights to the northern Iraqi city of Irbil.","Canada regulators will not cut threshold for reporting investments. By Allison Martell TORONTO (Reuters) - Canadian regulators have backed away from a proposal to lower the early-warning threshold at which investors must make public the size of their stake in a company, a move that could have made hostile takeovers more difficult. Canadian Securities Administrators, an umbrella group representing the country's 13 provincial and territorial regulators, said on Friday its members have opted not to cut the threshold to 5 percent of shares outstanding from 10 percent, after mulling concerns about unintended consequences. ...","Iraq denies border forces withdrew from Saudi Arabian frontier. The Iraqi prime minister's military spokesman denied on Thursday that the country's border guards had withdrawn from the frontier with Saudi Arabia, after a Saudi-owned television channel reported Iraqi forces had quit their posts.","No time limit on Malaysia jet search: Australia PM. By Michael Martina and Adam Jourdan PERTH/BEIJING (Reuters) - Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said there was no time limit on the hunt for Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370, missing for more than three weeks in the Indian Ocean with 239 people on board. A total of 20 aircraft and ships will resume scouring a massive area in the Indian Ocean some 2,000 km (1,200 miles) west of Perth on Monday, search authorities said. Families have strongly criticized Malaysia's handling of the search and investigation, including the decision last week to say that, based on satellite evidence, the plane had crashed in the southern Indian Ocean. Abbott rejected suggestions his Malaysian counterpart had been too hasty to break that news, given that no confirmed wreckage from the plane has been found and its last sighting on radar was northwest of Malaysia heading towards India.","Obama makes secret trip to Afghanistan to see American troops. BAGRAM AIR FIELD, Afghanistan (AP) — Obama makes secret trip to Afghanistan to see American troops.","Insurgents dig in; Ukraine tanks reported on move. HORLIVKA, Ukraine (AP) — Pro-Russian insurgents who have seized government buildings across eastern Ukraine dug in on Tuesday, fortifying their positions and erecting fresh barricades as Ukrainian tanks were seen within 70 kms of one city controlled by pro-Moscow gunmen.","Russia, Ukraine hold new talks to settle gas spat. BRUSSELS (AP) — Russia and Ukraine are holding new talks aimed at resolving their dispute over gas prices and prevent a possible supply cutoff this week by Moscow.","French leader dines twice with Obama, Putin seeking Ukraine thaw. By John Irish and Elizabeth Pineau PARIS (Reuters) - Criticized at home for a lack of initiative on Ukraine, French President Francois Hollande will hold separate dinners on Thursday with the U.S. and Russian leaders in an attempt to unlock Europe's worst security crisis since the Cold War. His aim is to orchestrate an ice-breaking first meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian president-elect Petro Poroshenko on French soil, diplomats said, despite continued fighting in eastern Ukraine between government forces and pro-Russian separatists. French officials have gone to elaborate lengths to keep U.S. President Barack Obama and Putin apart in Paris, at Washington's request, before Friday's 70th anniversary commemorations of the allied D-Day landings in World War Two, which will see 18 world leaders descend on the Normandy beaches. The French capital goes into security lockdown from mid-afternoon when Obama and Putin fly in, while Britain's Queen Elizabeth arrives by train from London to begin a three-day state visit, her fifth since taking the throne in 1953.","Netherlands and Mexico 0-0 at halftime. FORTALEZA, Brazil (AP) — The Netherlands and Mexico were level at 0-0 at halftime in the second round of the World Cup on a hot afternoon in northeastern Brazil.","Hungary's Orban says will scrap draft internet tax law. Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban on Friday said he was scrapping a draft Internet tax law that has sparked mass demonstrations in the central European country. \"The Internet tax cannot be introduced in its current form,\" Orban said in a radio interview. Orban has said the tax law needed to be amended, and that a \"national consultation\" on the Internet and taxes would be organised in January.","Putin to visit Cuba and other LatAm nations. President Vladimir Putin will next week begin a major Latin America tour that will take him to Cuba, Argentina and Brazil as he seeks to counter Russia's growing international isolation over the Ukraine crisis. Putin will begin his six-day tour with the July 11 visit to Cuba, where he will meet President Raul Castro and the 87-year-old father of the Cuban Revolution, Fidel Castro, the Kremlin said on Friday.","Karzai pledges aid to victims of Afghan landslide. KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Afghan President Hamid Karzai has toured the site of last week's horrific landslide, pledging to provide relief to families displaced by the disaster that killed hundreds of people.","300 houses destroyed in 'Shangri-La' Tibet village: report. A huge blaze that ripped through the centre of an ancient Tibetan town in the popular Chinese tourist area of Shangri-La has destroyed almost 300 buildings, state media said Sunday. The fire in Gyalthang -- which is situated in an area believed to be the inspiration for James Hilton's mythical Shangri-La -- flattened two thirds of the town's old centre, the Beijing Morning Post reported. The government-run Yunnan Net news service said 242 houses, mostly wooden, were burned down in the 1,300-year-old town while a further 43 were demolished to prevent the fire from spreading. The town, known in Chinese as Dukezong, has become a popular tourist destination thanks to Hilton's 1933 novel \"The Lost Horizon\" which describes a mystical lost paradise called Shangri-La.","Syrian government says opposes transitional body ahead of talks. GENEVA (Reuters) - The Syrian government reiterated its rejection on Saturday of a proposal to form a transitional ruling body as part of a political solution to the country's nearly three-year conflict. \"We have complete reservations regarding it,\" Information Minister Omran Zoabi told reporters shortly before the government was due to hold its first talks with an opposition delegation in Geneva, in the presence of international mediator Lakhdar Brahimi. \"Syria is a state with institutions,\" Zoabi said. \"A transitional governing body ... ...","Olympics-Athletes bemused by Sochi haters. By Julian Linden SOCHI, Russia, Feb 7 (Reuters) - The potshots and constant stream of criticism of the Sochi Olympics is starting to wear thin on some of the athletes at the Games, who can't understand what all the fuss is about. While Sochi has largely been portrayed as a shambles, athletes and even visitors to the Games are painting a very different picture. One American speedskater described Sochi as \"Disney World\" while a New Zealand freestyle skier said the criticism was fuelled by jealousy. \"There's so much hate online from anybody who's not here, just like 'Sochi sucks', and this and that,\" said skier Jossi Wells.","Car bombs in Baghdad, Iraqi town kill 21 people. BAGHDAD (AP) — Car bombs hit several mostly Shiite neighborhoods of Baghdad and a town south of the Iraqi capital on Wednesday, killing at least 21 people and wounding dozens, officials said, the latest bout of violence ahead of the country's first parliament elections since the 2011 U.S. troop withdrawal.","British PM Cameron rushed to his car by bodyguards after man confronts him. LONDON (Reuters) - British Prime Minister David Cameron was bundled into his official car by his bodyguards on Monday after a member of the public ran into him in what looked like a serious security breach, video footage showed. In August, Britain raised its terrorism alert to the second-highest level with Cameron saying Islamic State (IS) militants operating in Syria and Iraq posed the country's greatest ever security risk. ...","China says separatist group attacked train station. BEIJING (AP) — China says a deadly attack at a train station in the western Xinjiang region last month was planned outside the country and carried out by a separatist militant group.","Thai police question surrogacy scandal doctor. BANGKOK (AP) — Thai police are for the first time questioning a doctor at the heart of a surrogacy scandal involving a Japanese businessman who reportedly has fathered 16 surrogate babies.","Nigerian girl describes kidnap, 276 still missing. LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) — The girls in the school dorm could hear the sound of gunshots from a nearby town. So when armed men in uniforms burst in and promised to rescue them, at first they were relieved.","Malfunction closes 2 Czech nuclear reactors. PRAGUE (AP) — An official says a damaged water pipe has forced the closure of two of the four nuclear reactors at a Czech power plant.","With eye on China, Japan defense planners seek spending boost. By Kiyoshi Takenaka TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's defense planners are seeking their biggest budget ever for the coming fiscal year to pay for stealth fighters, drones and a hi-tech submarine, as Prime Minister Shinzo Abe bolsters the military amid an intensifying rivalry with China. The Defense Ministry on Friday requested a 3.5 percent increase to 5.05 trillion yen ($48.7 billion) for the year starting next April. By testing the constraints of Japan's pacifist postwar constitution, Abe has angered some neighbors, especially Beijing, which accuses him of reviving the nation's wartime militarism. Japan, in turn, is wary of the rapid military buildup in China, which has overtaken Japan in recent years as the world's second-biggest economy.","Easing of Ukraine tensions shores up markets. LONDON (AP) — An apparent easing in tensions in the Ukrainian crisis has helped buoy the mood in financial markets Tuesday, prompting a large unwind of the sizeable moves witnessed the previous session.","African Development Bank pledges $60 mn to fight Ebola. The African Development Bank on Tuesday pledged $60 million (45 million euros) to help fight the worst-ever outbreak of Ebola which is raging across west Africa. The aid will help authorities in Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Nigeria to strengthen their surveillance and response systems to halt the spread of the deadly disease, president Donald Kaberuka said. \"The Ebola epidemic is not only a public health crisis, but an economic crisis... which affects many sectors,\" he told a press conference. West Africa's Ebola epidemic is by far the deadliest since the virus was discovered four decades ago in what is now the Democratic Republic of Congo.","El Nino weather pattern will likely hit Peru next month - government. The feared El Nino weather pattern will likely hit Peru with a \"weak to moderate\" intensity starting in April, affecting the fishmeal industry on the country's northern coast, the government said on Wednesday. The prediction, by Peru's official El Nino commission, comes on top of forecasts from around the world that the climate phenomena will probably strike this year. El Nino occurs, on average, every three to five years, according to the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and is characterized by a warming of surface temperatures in the Pacific Ocean. In Peru, El Nino threatens to batter the fishmeal industry by scaring away abundant schools of cold-water anchovy.","Court decision delayed on Marine's Iraq vanishing. CAMP LEJEUNE, North Carolina (AP) — A defense attorney said Thursday that a Marine accused of deserting his unit a decade ago in Iraq was kept in Lebanon for eight years while he faced a military trial there.","Concern grows over rising piracy off West Africa. Aboard the Commandant Birot (Ghana) (AFP) - Grey, sleek, bristling with massive cannon and an assortment of machine guns, the French navy's Commandant Birot is well-equipped to patrol Africa's most dangerous stretches of ocean. Vessels like it played a key role in curbing pirate attacks off the coast of lawless Somalia, which saw a spate of cargo ships hijacked and ransomed for months and even years. But with attacks off the Horn of Africa in decline, the Birot is now needed off the continent's western coast in the Gulf of Guinea, as experts call for regional navies to shoulder more of the burden. \"It's the place where there's the most oil platforms\", which means lots of boats travelling between land and the installations, said the Birot's captain Lieutenant Commander Yves Le Goff.","As US cleans up, it's exporting more pollution. GARDI SUGDUP, Panama (AP) — Heat-trapping pollution released into the atmosphere from rising exports of U.S. gasoline and diesel dwarfs the cuts made from fuel efficiency standards and other efforts to reduce global warming in the United States, according to a new Associated Press investigation.","Toro Rosso's Vergne docked 10 places at Spanish GP. MONTMELO, Spain (AP) — Toro Rosso driver Jean-Eric Vergne has been given a 10-place grid penalty at the Spanish Grand Prix for a breach of regulations when a wheel came off his car following a pit stop during Friday's practice.","Mexico's first lady says will sell house at center of scandal. MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexico's first lady said on Tuesday she would give up a house at the center of a scandal that created a potential conflict of interest between President Enrique Pena Nieto and a company bidding for a lucrative rail contract. The Mexican government this month abruptly cancelled a $3.75-billion high speed rail contract awarded to a consortium led by China Railway Construction Corp Ltd that featured a Mexican company known as Grupo Higa. ...","US judge says nurse can leave home in Ebola row. A US judge ruled that a nurse quarantined by her home state after treating Ebola patients in Africa could leave home and frequent public places, saying she was not infectious. The decision from a district judge in the northeastern state of Maine is the latest twist in a bitter row over enforced quarantine of American medics returning from relief work in west Africa. Kaci Hickox insists that she is perfectly healthy, and since returning to the US has fought efforts by authorities to keep her in quarantine for 21 days, the incubation period for the deadly virus that has killed nearly 5,000 people, most of them in west Africa. People infected with Ebola are contagious if showing symptoms, like a fever, and Hickox has argued that since she was not showing any symptoms, there was no need to keep her under quarantine.","Russia welcomes special status for eastern Ukrainian regions. MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia's foreign ministry on Wednesday welcomed as a \"step in the right direction\" a Ukrainian parliament decision to grant special status to two regions pro-Russian separatists want to split off from Kiev. On Wednesday, Ukraine passed laws granting temporary and limited self-rule to the eastern regions of Donetsk and Luhansk in an attempt to blunt the independence drive of separatist fighters there. \"We expect that all provisions of the law will be responsibly implemented,\" the ministry also said in a statement. \"It's clear that attempts... ...","Fiji beats South Africa to win Japan Sevens rugby. TOKYO (AP) — Fiji scored five tries on Sunday to beat defending champion South Africa 33-26 and win the Japan Sevens, the seventh leg of the International Rugby Board World Series.","'Time is on our side', says EU in showdown over Ukraine. By Luke Baker BRUSSELS (Reuters) - If there is a consistent message the European Union has tried to send since Ukraine rejected a trade deal last November in favor of stronger ties with Moscow, it is that it does not want to end up in a tug-of-war with Russia. But whether the EU likes it or not, that is precisely what has come to pass and the future of Ukraine - its 46 million people and its faltering economy - hangs in the balance. In a speech to a security conference in Munich last weekend, European Council President Herman Van Rompuy laid out the nature of the struggle in simple terms. The EU, he said, had offered Ukraine a free trade and association agreement to help it build bridges with its neighbors to the west.","Strong euro dents 1st-half profits for Zara owner. MADRID (AP) — Spanish fashion retailer Inditex, which owns Zara stores, says net profit fell by 2.4 percent in the first half of 2014 despite robust sales, mainly due to the impact of a strong euro.","Hong Kong government calls off talks with pro-democracy student leaders. HONG KONG (Reuters) - The Hong Kong government on Thursday called off talks with pro-democracy student leaders, dealing a blow to attempts to ease tensions that have seen tens of thousands take to the streets to demand free elections and for leader Leung Chun-ying to resign. Chief Secretary Carrie Lam, the city's No 2 government official, was speaking on the eve of planned talks with student leaders after protests paralyzed the city. ...","Weening wins 9th stage of Giro, Evans in lead. SESTOLA, Italy (AP) — Pieter Weening of the Netherlands edged out Davide Malacarne to win the ninth stage of the Giro d'Italia on Sunday, while Cadel Evans retained the overall lead.","Turkey evacuates consulate in Iraq's Basra. Turkey evacuated its consulate in the southern Iraqi city of Basra on Tuesday, less than a week after its mission in the northern city of Mosul was overrun by militants who seized diplomats, soldiers and children. Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said on his Twitter account that the Basra staff had been evacuated to Kuwait due to an increased security risk. A foreign ministry official said the 18 staff, including the consul general, would return to Turkey. Insurgents from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and other Sunni militants have swept through towns in the Tigris valley north of Baghdad in recent days.","Explorer: Shipwreck off Haiti may be Santa Maria. PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — A shipwreck off northern Haiti may be the remains of Christopher Columbus' flagship vessel the Santa Maria, an explorer said Tuesday, though experts expressed caution about a discovery that was far from confirmed.","Williams positive after 3-4 finish in Austria. SPIELBERG, Austria (AP) — Even locking the front row on the grid of the Austrian Grand Prix wasn't enough for Williams to challenge Mercedes' dominance in Formula One.","Obama: Ukrainian separatists are heavily armed and trained because of Russian support. WASHINGTON (AP) — Obama: Ukrainian separatists are heavily armed and trained because of Russian support.","Harvard's health school to get record $350M gift. Harvard's public health school has received a $350 million gift — the largest single donation in the history of the university — to bolster research into major global health threats. Harvard president ...","China's curlers confounding expectations in Sochi. SOCHI, Russia (AP) — A pre-Olympic list of potential gold-medal winners in men's curling definitely would have included Canada, Norway and Sweden. Britain, too, and maybe even Switzerland.","How a small club like Freiburg makes ends meet. FREIBURG, Germany (AP) — Financially disadvantaged, Freiburg deploys an array of coping strategies to stay in Germany's top division. Here, at a glance, is how one of the Bundesliga's most modest clubs makes ends meet:","Award-winning Japanese actor seeks complete art. TOKYO (AP) — In person, Shota Sometani is still and quiet, speaking in a soft, almost lackadaisical voice. His ideal acting role, he says, would be one in which he couldn't rely on facial expressions, such as a character wearing a mask.","Venezuela forces take opposition protest plaza. Venezuela's authorities deployed hundreds of security forces into an opposition stronghold early Monday to stamp out protests in Caracas against the leftist government of President Nicolas Maduro. The show of force came as the death toll from a month and a half of protests rose to 29 Monday, after a National Guard captain shot one day earlier during a protest in the city of Maracay died. Government forces moved quickly established control after moving into the area around the Plaza Altamira, a focal point of nightly clashes in eastern Caracas between masked protesters and security forces.","Islamic State seizes gas field east of Syria's Homs: monitoring group. BEIRUT (Reuters) - Militant group Islamic State seized control of the Sha'ar gas field east of the central Syrian city of Homs after an assault against government forces on Thursday, a monitoring group said. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least 23 members of forces protecting the field were killed in a \"wide assault carried out by Islamic State fighters from several directions\". (Reporting by Alexander Dziadosz, editing by John Stonestreet)","Witness says Mexican army shot her daughter, 20 suspected gang members after they surrendered. ARCELIA, Mexico (AP) — Witness says Mexican army shot her daughter, 20 suspected gang members after they surrendered.","Suspected French jihad recruiter arrested in Paris. PARIS (AP) — French authorities have arrested a \"particularly dangerous\" recruiter of young jihadis for the civil war in Syria, the Interior Ministry said Thursday.","Strong quake hits Mexico, Guatemala; 4 dead. TUXTLA GUTIERREZ, Mexico (AP) — A magnitude-6.9 earthquake on the Pacific Coast jolted a wide area of southern Mexico and Central America Monday, killing at least four people and damaging dozens of homes.","Major police operation unfolding in Sydney. SYDNEY (AP) — A major police operation is underway in downtown Sydney, where several people inside a shop could be seen holding their hands held in the air.","U.N. aims to bring killers to account in Central African Republic. By Stephanie Nebehay GENEVA (Reuters) - The head of a United Nations inquiry said on Monday it was seeking to establish who should face prosecution for killings and other crimes in Central African Republic in order to halt for good bloodshed that has raised fears of genocide. \"We want to present to the Security Council a complete file so that the appropriate action can be taken,\" Bernard Acho Muna, who chairs a commission of inquiry set up by the U.N. Security Council in December, told a news briefing. \"The Central African Republic has had many coup d'etats. And basically after each coup d'etat there is reconciliation, and nobody is held accountable and then in the end we have people sitting in the cabinet, in government with blood on their hands and this has never helped the situation.\" Muna, a former judge in Cameroon, said that a team of U.N. investigators would arrive in Bangui on Tuesday to begin interviewing Christian and Muslim victims of attacks, senior political and military officials and activist groups.","Syria aircraft crashes in city held by IS group. BEIRUT (AP) — Activists say that a Syrian military aircraft has crashed in a city that is a main stronghold of the militant Islamic State group.","Ex-world 800m champion Mulaudzi dies in car crash - official. Johannesburg (AFP) - Former world 800-metre champion Mbulaeni Mulaudzi died Friday in a car crash, South African sports minister Fikile Mbulula announced in Johannesburg.","Guam police investigate fatal hit-and-run. HAGATNA, Guam (AP) — Guam police are investigating a hit-and-run that killed three teenage pedestrians in Yigo.","Ukraine crisis displaces at least 10,000: UN. At least 10,000 people have been driven from their homes since the start of the Ukraine crisis, with Crimean Tatars the hardest-hit, the UN refugee agency said Tuesday. Crimea's Muslim Tatars, generally seen as pro-Kiev, have fled the southern peninsula in their thousands since a separatist referendum that led Russia to annex the province. \"Displacement in Ukraine started before the March referendum in Crimea and has been rising gradually since,\" Adrian Edwards, spokesman for the UN high commissioner for refugees, said as he released the figure. \"Most of those displaced are ethnic Tatars, although local authorities have also reported a recent rise in registrations of ethnic Ukrainians, Russians and mixed families,\" he told reporters.","Japan to send 113 athletes to Sochi Olympics. TOKYO (AP) — Japan is sending 113 athletes to the Sochi Olympics, the largest contingent sent abroad for the Winter Games.","Obama says Putin 'not fooling anybody' over Ukraine. US President Barack Obama said Russia was not \"fooling anybody\" over the Ukraine crisis after it denied its forces were operating in Crimea, as Secretary of State John Kerry prepared to meet his Russian counterpart Wednesday. In a show of support for the new interim leaders in Kiev Tuesday, Kerry condemned Russia's \"act of aggression\" and accused Moscow of \"working hard to create a pretext for being able to invade further\". Pro-Kremlin forces are in de facto control of the strategic, majority-Russian Crimean peninsula, where Ukrainian troops remain blocked inside their barracks in the most serious stand-off between the West and Russia since the end of the Cold War. Ukraine's interim Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk announced his government had made the first \"timid\" contacts with Russian leaders aimed at resolving the crisis.","Australian Open champ Wawrinka out of French Open. PARIS (AP) — Playing in his first Grand Slam match since becoming a major champion, Stan Wawrinka lost.","South Africa's state-power firm gets new CEO. The South African government announced on Wednesday the appointment of a new chief executive to lead the troubled state-owned power supplier Eskom. Cabinet said Tshediso Matona was \"conversant with the challenges\" facing the firm which provides about 95 percent of the country's electricity. The former director general of the trade and industry ministry has held several top government jobs and was South Africa's trade negotiator at the World Trade Organization. He takes over from Brian Dames who stepped down end of March, citing personal reasons after nearly four year at the helm.","Mock executions, beatings: Journalists describe Syria ordeal. Mock executions, hunger, thirst, cold, beatings, a makeshift chess game to pass the time... and a \"surreal\" snowball fight with their jailers. Details are starting to trickle through of the ordeal experienced by the four French journalists who returned home Sunday after being held hostage for 10 months at the hands of the most radical of Syria's jihadist groups, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. According to Didier Francois, 53, an experienced and highly respected war reporter for Europe 1 radio who was kidnapped on June 6 north of Aleppo along with 23-year-old photographer Edouard Elias, the first few days were particularly tough. Francois and Elias were stopped by armed and masked men after they crossed the border into Syria from Turkey.","UN warns of potential war crimes in Libya. GENEVA (AP) — Fighting between armed groups in Libya has killed hundreds of civilians and could lead to prosecution for war crimes, the U.N.'s top human rights official said Tuesday.","Zimbabwe's vice president hits back at 'demonic' attacks. Zimbabwe's Vice President Joice Mujuru on Monday said she is taking legal action against pro-government newspapers that accused her of corruption and plotting to topple President Robert Mugabe. \"I am accused of being involved in a plot to overthrow the legitimate Zimbabwean government led by His Excellency RG Mugabe,\" Mujuru said her in first full response to sustained charges against her in the state media, including weekend reports that she is leading a plot to assassinate veteran leader Mugabe. Grace Mugabe claimed Mujuru was incompetent and that Mugabe was doing the bulk of her work. The feuding escalated following the surprise nomination of Grace Mugabe to lead the powerful women's wing, amid speculation that she could be aiming to take over from her husband when he steps down or dies.","Damaged by government, UK Lib Dems stay upbeat. Glasgow (AFP) - Battered by four years in coalition, Britain's Liberal Democrats on Wednesday set out dividing lines ahead of next year's election which they hope will boost their dismal poll ratings and allow them once again to play kingmaker.","UN chief condemns C.Africa attacks. United Nations (United States) (AFP) - UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has strongly condemned recent attacks in the Central African Republic, including at a church in the capital Bangui, his spokesman said Thursday. Ban encouraged the transitional authority to do \"everything within its means to prevent further violence in the capital and throughout the country,\" said Stephane Dujarric. The UN chief appealed to international forces in the Central African Republic \"to take all necessary measures in support of these efforts,\" Dujarric added. Ban also encourages Central African Republic's leaders and partners to work with peacekeepers towards meaningful dialogue \"to chart a sustainable path to peace,\" he said.","Storms cut power to more than 600,000 in Michigan, Illinois. (Reuters) - More than 600,000 electric customers in Michigan and Illinois lost power at the height of storms that brought heavy winds and lightning, ripping up trees, downing power lines and leaving at least two people dead, officials said on Saturday. An Illinois woman died Saturday of injuries she sustained when she was struck by a falling tree and a Michigan man was electrocuted after touching a power line, local media said. Molly Glynn, 46, died at NorthShore Evanston Hospital on Saturday, hospital spokeswoman Colette Urban said. Commonwealth Edison, an Exelon Corp unit, reported more than 174,000 customers lost power in Illinois in Friday's storms.","ZF buying TRW Automotive for about $11.74B. LIVONIA, Mich. (AP) — ZF Friedrichshafen AG is buying TRW Automotive for approximately $11.74 billion.","Cuba sentences Canadian CEO to 15 years on financial charges. HAVANA (Reuters) - A Cuban court has sentenced Canadian executive Cy Tokmakjian to 15 years in prison for bribery and other economic charges in a chilling development for potential foreign investors, his company, the Tokmakjian Group, said on Saturday. Two aides received sentences of 12 and 8 years and Cuba seized about $100 million worth of the company's assets, the Ontario-based transportation firm said in a statement. (Reporting by Daniel Trotta; Editing by Dan Grebler)","U.S. would face hurdles bringing case against Icahn, Mickelson: lawyers. By Mica Rosenberg NEW YORK (Reuters) - Questions about how to apply securities law to activist investors could complicate any potential insider trading case against billionaire Carl Icahn, pro-golfer Phil Mickelson and Las Vegas gambler William Walters, legal experts said. U.S. federal investigators are looking into whether Mickelson and Walters may have traded illegally on private information provided by hedge fund manager Icahn, a source familiar with the matter said on Friday. Icahn's style of investing is to aggressively buy stock with the aim of changing the direction of corporate boards, which makes him an outsider when federal insider trading laws have traditionally focused on corporate insiders, according to legal experts. The federal probe centers on trades in Clorox Co by Walters and Mickelson as Icahn was making moves to access the company's board in 2011, the New York Times reported.","US senators press for more sanctions on Russia. WASHINGTON (AP) — US senators exasperated with the Obama administration's response to Russia's aggression in Ukraine are threatening to act unilaterally on new sanctions.","SAfrica hits 68 in 4 overs for 196-5 vs England. CHITTAGONG, Bangladesh (AP) — AB de Villiers smashed 69 not out to guide South Africa to a massive 196-5 as England relaxed too soon in the World Twenty20 match on Saturday.","Publisher says Canadian-born short-story author Mavis Gallant has died. TORONTO (AP) — Publisher says Canadian-born short-story author Mavis Gallant has died.","Ukraine: Presidential aide says he isn't leaving. KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — A Ukrainian presidential aide says Viktor Yanukovych is not planning to leave the country and will continue to fulfill his presidential duties.","Lieutenant Colonel Zida says taking power in Burkina Faso: radio. OUAGADOUGOU (Reuters) - Lieutenant Colonel Issaac Zida said he was taking over as head of state in Burkina Faso, according to a statement read on Omega Radio, in an apparent putsch against the military chief of staff Honore Traore who had earlier said he would lead a transition. The statement came after a resident living near the presidential palace in Ouagadougou reported hearing several minutes of heavy gunfire in the early hours of Saturday morning. Burkina Faso's longtime President Blaise Compaore had resigned on Friday amid mass protests against his efforts to extend his 27-year rule. ...","Peace before economy for Russia sanctions, German Fin Min tells paper. Germans must put peace before economic considerations and accept tougher sanctions against Russia if necessary, Germany's finance minister told the Bild am Sonntag newspaper on Sunday. The European Union reached an outline agreement on Friday to impose the first economic sanctions on Moscow since the downing of a Malaysian airliner and the deaths of 298 people onboard in an area of eastern Ukraine held by Russian-backed separatists. Germany, Europe's biggest economy, sold about 36 billion euros of goods to Russia last year, almost one-third of the EU's total.","Adrian wins 100 free at US Nationals; Phelps 7th. IRVINE, Calif. (AP) — Nathan Adrian led all the way to win the 100-meter freestyle at the U.S. national championships, with Michael Phelps finishing next-to-last in a star-studded field.","Analysis: US strikes unsettling for Damascus. BEIRUT (AP) — Syrian President Bashar Assad's government is angry Washington has not taken it on as a partner in the international campaign to hit the Islamic State group, likely for a very significant reason: It is worried that once the United States has crossed the Rubicon of airstrikes in Syria, it could next turn its sights on Assad himself, aiming for his eventual downfall.","EU open to working with Palestinian unity government. By Justyna Pawlak BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union will work with the new Palestinian unity government, on condition it sticks to the principle of peace with Israel based on a two-state solution, it said on Tuesday. The U.S. administration has already said it would work with the unity government that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas swore in on Monday under a reconciliation deal with Hamas, an Islamist group that advocates Israel's destruction. Setting a policy in line with U.S. and EU demands, the Western-backed Palestinian leader said his administration would honor agreements that underlie the stalled peace process with Israel. \"We welcome ... the declaration by President Abbas that this new government is committed to the principle of the two state solution based on the 1967 borders, to the recognition of Israel's legitimate right to exist,\" the EU said in a statement.","Obama vows to keep up military pressure on Islamic State. UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama vowed at the United Nations on Wednesday to keep up the military pressure on Islamic State militants and urged those who have joined the extremist group in Iraq and Syria to \"leave the battlefield while they can.\" Speaking at the U.N. General Assembly, Obama said Islamic State must be destroyed. On Ukraine, Obama said that if Russia takes the path of peace and diplomacy, then the United States would lift its sanctions. He also called for many more countries to make concrete commitments to fight the deadly Ebola outbreak in West Africa. ...","France focused again after learning harsh lesson. RIBEIRAO PRETO, Brazil (AP) — Learning a hard lesson from its traumatic World Cup experience of four years ago has made France a stronger force, and the players are cautiously optimistic they can go far this time around.","Biden: Punish Russia if it meddles in Ukraine. BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) — Russia must be punished if it seeks to derail Ukraine's presidential election this weekend, U.S. Vice President Joe Biden said Wednesday.","DeFrantz savors Sochi after 1980 Moscow boycott. SOCHI, Russia (AP) — To say Anita DeFrantz has waited 34 years for this moment would not be an exaggeration.","Polar Explorer vs. Reality TV Crew. In ‘Chasing Shackleton’, Tim Jarvis re-enacts a hundred-year-old Antarctic journey using replica gear and clothing. Despite the raging tempests, subzero temperatures, and treacherous crevasse fields, what really tests him are the intrusions of a reality TV crew. This would seem to be a problem unique to modern explorers. But might Shackleton have sympathized?","Aruba's leader, legislators launch hunger strike. ORANJESTAD, Aruba (AP) — Aruba's prime minister and several legislators have launched a hunger strike to protest what they say is meddling by the Dutch government in local financial affairs.","Published reports: Liz Cheney to abandon her troubled effort to seek Senate seat from Wyoming. WASHINGTON - Published reports citing anonymous GOP insiders say Liz Cheney plans to quit the Republican Wyoming Senate primary and abandon her effort to unseat incumbent Sen. Mike Enzi.","Tornado damages Florida prison, injures two. TAMPA Fla. (Reuters) - A tornado touched down at a prison in Florida's panhandle region early on Monday, injuring two correctional officers as it destroyed more than two dozen cars in a parking lot, a local sheriff said. Both injuries were minor, and no inmates were harmed at the Calhoun Correctional Institution, Calhoun County Sheriff Glenn Kimbrel said. The tornado also damaged a perimeter fence and a roof at the state prison near Blountstown, Florida, about an hour west of Tallahassee. Kimbrel said the tornado hit around 4 a.m. Central Time (5 a.m. ET) as officers were reporting to work. ...","Front companies, embassies mask North Korean weapons trade: U.N.. By James Pearson SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea has developed sophisticated ways to circumvent United Nations sanctions, including the suspected use of its embassies to facilitate an illegal trade in weapons, a United Nations report issued on Tuesday said. It said North Korea was also making use of more complicated financial countermeasures and techniques \"pioneered by drug-trafficking organizations\" that made tracking the isolated state's purchase of prohibited goods more difficult. The report, compiled by a panel of eight U.N. experts, is part of an annual accounting of North Korea's compliance with layers of U.N. sanctions imposed in response to Pyongyang's banned nuclear weapons and missile programs. \"From the incidents analyzed in the period under review, the panel has found that (North Korea) makes increasing use of multiple and tiered circumvention techniques,\" a summary of the 127-page report said.","New charge in San Francisco Chinatown case. SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A California state senator charged in a sweeping organized crime and public corruption case centered in San Francisco's Chinatown faced a new charge Friday of racketeering.","Monkey selfie sparks copyright row. The Wikimedia Foundation insisted Thursday it would not remove from its website a \"selfie\" taken by a mischievous monkey, despite claims from the British photographer whose camera was used that it breached his copyright. David Slater says he is the owner of the photo of the grinning black crested macaque that went viral when he posted it online in 2011, and is threatening to sue Wikimedia for lost earnings of up to $30,000 (22,500 euros).","Reptiles, eggs banned as Australia ramps up G20 security. By Byron Kaye SYDNEY (Reuters) - Eggs, tinned food, reptiles and surfboards will be banned in parts of Brisbane this week as Australia's biggest peacetime deployment of police and soldiers braces for everything from unruly protests to mass hostage-taking at the Group of 20 summit. Bomb-detecting robots will be on hand, along with a drone for crowd surveillance, as U.S. President Barack Obama, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping join other leaders from the world's richest nations in Australia's third-largest city. ...","Hamilton oversleeps, but clocks day's fastest time. Monte Carlo (Monaco) (AFP) - World championship leader Lewis Hamilton overslept his alarm and had to be roused by two team members banging on his door on Thursday morning. But this delayed start to his working day did nothing to slow him down as he went on to clock the fastest lap overall in Thursdayâ s rain-hit practice for this weekend's Monaco Grand Prix. Hamilton was quickest in the morning with a best lap of one minute and 18.271 seconds ahead of his Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg. In a flurry of 10 minutes 'dry weather' at the end of the afternoon, he was second fastest behind a resurgent Fernando Alonso, the Ferrari driver clocking 1:18.482 to top the second session times.","Quintana & Valverde to lead Movistar at Vuelta. MADRID (AP) — Movistar says Nairo Quintana and Alejandro Valverde will share leadership roles for the team at the Spanish Vuelta.","Markets brush aside China jitters. LONDON (AP) — A stronger than anticipated start to the week on Wall Street helped shore up markets in Europe on Monday despite earlier concerns over the Chinese property market.","Japan minister calls bitcoin 'collapse' expected. TOKYO (AP) — Japan's finance minister scoffed at bitcoin woes as inevitable Friday, and Vietnam banned the virtual currency, but enthusiasm was undimmed among its supporters in the aftermath of the apparent collapse of a major exchange.","EU court takes Hamas off terrorist list. BRUSSELS (AP) — A European Union court has ordered the Palestinian group Hamas removed from the EU terrorist list for procedural reasons, but says the bloc can maintain asset freezes against Hamas members.","Everton's Martinez eager to lock horns with Monk. Everton manager Roberto Martinez admits renewing acquaintances with Swansea interim boss Garry Monk will add an extra dimension to Sunday's FA Cup fifth round clash against his former club at Goodison Park. The duo were team-mates at Swansea for a couple of seasons before Martinez left the South Wales club in 2006 to end his playing career with Chester City. Martinez subsequently took over as Swansea manager in February 2007 and the Spaniard acknowledged how Monk, as his captain, helped him lay the foundation for his early managerial success at the Liberty Stadium. Monk has remained with the Swans since, playing over 250 games for the club, and was placed in temporary charge earlier this month following the sacking of former manager Michael Laudrup.","England beats Australia 26-17 to salvage autumn. LONDON (AP) — Ben Morgan scored a try in each half to help England beat Australia 26-17 on Saturday and salvage its autumn international campaign.","Executions on rise in Iran: UN. At least 80 people have been executed in Iran so far this year, marking a rise in its use of capital punishment, the UN's human rights office said Friday. \"We are deeply concerned about the reported spike in executions in Iran since the beginning of this year,\" said Ravina Shamdasani, spokeswoman for the UN high commissioner for human rights. The majority of executions in Iran are by hanging and are handed down for drug-related offences, which fail to meet the threshold in international law for \"most serious crimes\", a category which covers acts such as murder. The case of two activists from Iran's Arab minority was of particular concern, Shamdasani said.","Russia vows to veto U.S. draft at U.N. declaring Crimea vote illegal. By Louis Charbonneau UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The United States circulated a draft resolution to the U.N. Security Council on Thursday that would declare Sunday's planned referendum on independence for Ukraine's Crimea region illegal, but Russia has vowed to veto it, council diplomats said. Diplomats said the one-page resolution would urge countries not to recognize the results of the vote in pro-Russian Crimea, whose parliament has already voted to join Russia. U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power told reporters after a meeting of the 15-member Security Council that the resolution was aimed at changing Russian calculations \"before innocent lives are lost.\" Speaking in the council, she said the resolution would \"endorse a peaceful solution to the Ukraine crisis based on international law and (the Security) Council's mandate to act, when necessary, to ensure global security and peace.\" Power described the planned referendum, which is expected to overwhelmingly back Crimea's unification with Russia, as \"hastily planned, unjustified and divisive\" and a violation of Ukrainian sovereignty.","Colombia votes in cliffhanger presidential poll. Colombians went to the polls Sunday in a cliffhanger presidential election that has become a referendum on peace talks with FARC guerrillas. Voters will choose between President Juan Manuel Santos, who is seeking a second term, and Oscar Ivan Zuluaga, a vehement critic of the president's peace talks with the leftist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). Zuluaga, 55, has long been opposed to the peace talks and campaigned under the slogan \"No to impunity.\" But he now says that he would negotiate with the rebels under stricter conditions.","Air raid sirens heard in Tel Aviv and central Israel. JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Sirens were heard in Tel Aviv and across central Israel on Wednesday during what appeared to be a heavy rocket barrage fired from the Gaza Strip. Israel said that Hamas Islamists in Gaza have dozens of long-range rockets capable of striking deeper into Israel than ever before. (Reporting by Ari Rabinovitch; Editing by Miral Fahmy)","Cobra meeting over floods. Environment Secretary Owen Paterson is set to chair a meeting of the government's Cobra emergencies committee on Thursday over the floods that have caused disruption and power cuts across swathes of Britain. Paterson said the Environment Agency and local councils were \"offering all possible support\" following the floods that caused blackouts for thousands of people over Christmas as well as widespread problems on the roads and railways. Police across Britain are searching for several people who went missing in the storms, including a 27-year-old man feared dead in Cornwall after he was swept out to sea while celebrating the new year on the beach with friends. \"We will remain in touch with local councils in at-risk areas,\" Paterson said.","Scottish leader says opinion polls show independence race tightening. Scotland's First Minister Alex Salmond said on Monday that latest opinion polls showed the race for independence was tightening as he pledged that oil and gas policy in the North Sea would be more stable under an independent Scotland. Speaking on the day the UK government is due to unveil a North Sea strategy as it tries to persuade Scotland to remain in the UK, Salmond said there had been 16 tax changes in the North Sea in 10 years and 14 oil ministers in 17 years. \"One of the things that a Scottish control of oil and gas would offer is a much more stable long-term policy,\" Salmond said in an interview on BBC radio.","Thai police question speedboat driver over British murders. Bangkok (AFP) - Thai police said they carried out a DNA test late Sunday on a speedboat driver arrested for a drug offence, as they extended their hunt for the killer of two British holidaymakers on a resort island.","China dashes Taiwan's hope of meeting between leaders at APEC. By Faith Hung TAIPEI (Reuters) - China has rebuffed a request by Taiwan for Chinese President Xi Jinping and Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou to meet at an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Beijing, saying it was \"inappropriate\", a Taiwan official said on Friday. China and Taiwan have been ruled separately since Nationalist forces, defeated by the Communists, fled to the island at the end of the Chinese civil war in 1949. China considers Taiwan a renegade province and has never ruled out the use of force to bring it under its control. At the talks in the mainland city of Nanjing, Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Minister Wang Yu-chi said Zhang Zhijun, head of China's Taiwan Affairs Office, brought up the subject of a meeting this year between their leaders.","Ukraine official: Rebels lay mines near crash site. DONETSK, Ukraine (AP) — International observers turned back Wednesday after making another attempt to reach the site where Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 went down in eastern Ukraine, and a government official said the area near the zone had been mined by pro-Russian separatists who control it.","Check-in slow at Pearson International Airport because of software glitch. It is taking longer for passengers to check in at Pearson International Airport today because of a computer glitch.","Sampdoria beats Torino 2-0 in Serie A. MILAN (AP) — Sampdoria recorded its first victory of the fledgling Serie A season with a 2-0 win at home to Torino on Saturday.","Crimea votes to join Russia amid Western outrage. Simferopol (Ukraine) (AFP) - Crimeans voted overwhelmingly Sunday in favour of joining former political master Russia as tensions soared in the east of the splintered ex-Soviet nation amid the worst East-West crisis since the Cold War. Exit polls cited by local officials showed 93 percent of the voters in favour of leaving Ukraine and joining Russia in the most serious redrawing of the map of Europe since Kosovo's 2008 declaration of independence from Serbia. Honestly, I'm 60 and I never thought I would live to see this happy day,\" said Alexander Sorokin as he strolled the waterfront of Sevastopol -- home of tsarist and Kremlin navies since the 18th century and a city that like most of the peninsula is heavily Russified. Ukraine's new pro-European leaders and the West have branded the vote as \"illegal\" because the strategic Black Sea peninsula has been under de facto control of Russian forces since the start of the month.","Factbox: Main parties in Bulgaria's election. (Reuters) - Millions of Bulgarians will cast their ballot in a snap election on Sunday, a vote that could produce another shaky coalition struggling to solve a festering bank crisis and revive growth in the European Union's poorest member state. Led by a former bodyguard and karate expert, the center right GERB party is expected to win but fall short of a majority, which could spark a period of haggling with smaller parties and the opposition to shore up support. Following is a list of Bulgaria's main parties. ...","Top Asian News at 12:30 a.m. GMT. SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — A prosecutor says the captain of the South Korean ferry that sank two days ago has been arrested. Senior prosecutor Yang Jung-jin says 68-year-old Lee Joon-seok and the crew members were detained early Saturday.","Turkey warns Syria opposition of attack risk in Istanbul: sources. Turkey has warned Syria's opposition in exile it could be the target of an attack in Istanbul by groups linked to al Qaeda or loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, opposition sources told Reuters. Turkey has been a strong supporter of the Syrian opposition, hosting the moderate National Coalition in Istanbul and maintaining an open border policy, providing a life line to rebel-held areas by letting aid in and refugees out. But the rise of al Qaeda-linked groups such as Jabhat al-Nusra and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in parts of northern Syria near the border poses a growing threat.","Saudi police say arrests made in shooting of Dane. RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) — Saudi Arabia's Interior Ministry says police have arrested three Saudis suspected of opening fire and wounding a Danish citizen last month.","Pistorius murder trial to have own TV channel. CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) — Oscar Pistorius' murder trial will have a dedicated 24-hour television channel in South Africa, the country's top cable provider said Wednesday, promising \"round-the-clock\" coverage of one of the blockbuster stories of the year.","Allardyce buoyed by West Ham board backing. West Ham United manager Sam Allardyce on Tuesday expressed his gratitude after receiving a public vote of confidence from co-chairmen David Sullivan and David Gold. The east London club are currently second from bottom in the Premier League table and saw a second-string team thrashed 5-0 by second-tier Nottingham Forest in the FA Cup on Sunday. However, with West Ham due to visit Manchester City on Wednesday for the first leg of their League Cup semi-final, Sullivan and Gold released an open letter to fans in which they confirmed their support for Allardyce.","Bio box on Nobel Peace winner Kailash Satyarthi. KAILASH SATYARTHI","Sensitive topics off agenda as China's Li goes overseas. BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese Premier Li Keqiang heads to Serbia, Thailand and Kazakhstan next week, but three of the most touchy topics he could encounter are off the agenda, including the fate of Muslims from western China who have fled to Southeast Asia. Li's trip, from Dec. 14 to 20, also takes in summits with Eastern European, Central Asian and Southeast Asian leaders. Sensitive issues Li could encounter range from the Uighurs who have left China's violence-prone region of Xinjiang, to Thailand's military government and the U.S. ...","United lose Young to shoulder injury. Manchester United manager David Moyes has admitted that winger Ashley Young is set for a spell on the sidelines with an injury suffered in the New Year's Day defeat to Tottenham Hotspur. Young hurt his shoulder in a collision with Tottenham goalkeeper Hugo Lloris that Moyes insisted should have led to a penalty for his side. The former Aston Villa player landed awkwardly as he leapt over Lloris and will certainly miss this weekend's FA Cup third-round meeting with Swansea City. \"It is a shoulder injury he received in the challenge by the goalkeeper.","JPMorgan CEO Dimon says has curable throat cancer. JPMorgan Chase & Co Chief Executive Jamie Dimon told the bank's employees and shareholders on Tuesday that he has been diagnosed with curable throat cancer. Dimon said the cancer was caught quickly and is confined, and that he will undergo radiation and chemotherapy treatment that is expected to last about eight weeks. Dimon has notified JPMorgan's board.","Gunmen kill Swiss Red Cross member in Libya. Tripoli (AFP) - Gunmen killed a Swiss national working in Libya for the International Committee for the Red Cross when they intercepted his car in the city of Sirte, the Red Crescent said.","US says Jozy Altidore available to play vs Belgium. SALVADOR, Brazil (AP) — The U.S. Soccer Federation says Jozy Altidore is available for Tuesday's World Cup second-round game against Belgium.","David Moyes: My job is safe at Manchester United. MANCHESTER, England (AP) — David Moyes says his position as Manchester United manager is safe and the club will \"rise again\" after his woeful first season in charge.","Poll says Colombia President Santos leads in election race. Colombia's President Juan Manuel Santos has gained a lead in a tight June 15 election race over right-wing opposition candidate Oscar Ivan Zuluaga, a poll published on Friday showed, hours after another indicated they were neck-and-neck. The poll, by researcher Cifras y Conceptos, showed 43.4 percent of respondents would vote for the center-right Santos versus 38.5 percent for Zuluaga in an election campaign that has centered on how to end the country's five-decade civil war. A separate survey by international researcher Gallup on Thursday evening gave Zuluaga a narrow lead with 48.5 percent versus 47.7 percent for the president, but the pair are effectively tied given the poll's margin of error. Incumbent Santos is fighting for a second four-year mandate to complete peace talks he initiated with the leftist FARC or Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia in 2012.","Corrupt Chinese hiding in Western nations elude Beijing's 'fox hunt'. By Sui-Lee Wee BEIJING (Reuters) - When Yang Xiuzhu got wind in 2003 that Chinese anti-corruption investigators were looking into her affairs, she boarded a flight to Singapore. China filed an arrest warrant through Interpol for Yang, a senior official who oversaw construction projects in the booming eastern province of Zhejiang. She was eventually detained in Amsterdam in 2005, but nearly a decade on, China has yet to get her back despite protracted negotiations with the Netherlands. Yang's case and others like it underscore the challenge for President Xi Jinping as he expands his already far-reaching anti-corruption campaign to tracking down suspects who have fled abroad, often taking their ill-gotten gains with them.","Dangerous practices spread Ebola in Sierra Leone. KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) — Dr. Michael Mawanda saw some disturbing behaviors when he was in Sierra Leone helping fight the Ebola epidemic, including relatives removing patients from the hospital where he worked.","Lancaster: 1st test vs NZ in June will be valued. LONDON (AP) — Coach Stuart Lancaster believes England's first test against the All Blacks in June won't be a write-off after all.","Truck crash kills 14 people in western Thailand. BANGKOK (AP) — A governor in western Thailand says a truck crash on a dangerous mountain road has killed 14 people.","London shares drop as BG Group's declares force majeure in Egypt. London (AFP) - Shares in BG Group plummeted almost 16 percent on Monday after it was forced to declare Force Majeure in Egypt, weighing on the FTSE 100 index.","Soccer-Australia to play South Africa, Croatia in World Cup warmups. Australia will play a friendly against South Africa in May in a farewell match to local fans before embarking on their third successive World Cup campaign. The Socceroos will play \"Bafana Bafana\" at Sydney's Olympic stadium on May 26 after a final home training camp in New South Wales state's Central Coast, Football Federation Australia said in a statement on Monday. The Ange Postecoglou-coached Socceroos will also play a warmup against fellow World Cup qualifiers Croatia in Brazil on June 6, a week before their opening match of the June 12 - July 13 finals against Chile. Australia have been drawn in the tough Group B with Spain, Chile and Netherlands.","Ten killed by twin bombs at Syria-Turkey border post. Two car bombs hit a rebel-held border post in the northwest Syrian province of Idlib on Monday, opposition activists and fighters said, killing at least 10 people and closing the frontier. The Bab al-Hawa crossing is held by a rebel alliance called the Islamic Front, which have been fighting with the al Qaeda-linked Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), a small but powerful affiliate of al Qaeda with a core of foreign fighters. Syrian rebel fighters in Bab al-Hawa said that at least 10 people had been killed and the border was shut on the Turkish side. A Syrian activist at Bab al-Hawa said that the two car bombs exploded within 10 minutes of each other.","Mexico City vets, pet owners object to animal law. MEXICO CITY (AP) — Pet owners and others in Mexico City are up in arms over a law passed by the city council requiring sterilization, chip implants and registration of cats and dogs.","Canada, Britain reach men's Olympic curling final. SOCHI, Russia (AP) — Canada and Britain will play for Olympic gold in men's curling.","United bounce back, Cardiff cut Fulham adrift. Manchester United kept their fading hopes of Champions League qualification flickering with a breezy 3-0 victory at West Bromwich Albion in the Premier League on Saturday. Goals from Phil Jones, Wayne Rooney and Danny Welbeck gave United back-to-back league wins for the first time since December, following their 2-0 success at Crystal Palace last month. Victory took the defending champions to within nine points of fourth-place Manchester City, although they have played two more games, while Pepe Mel's West Brom remain just above the relegation zone in 17th place.","Taylor says 'book-plugging' Campbell wrong on England racism. Former England manager Graham Taylor said Sol Campbell was giving his biography \"a good sell\" as he rejected the ex centre-back's claims he was not chosen as national team captain because he was black. \"During my time as England manager I never had any influence from the FA (England's governing Football Association) on who should be England captain regarding a player's race,\" Taylor told the BBC. \"I gave the captaincy to Paul Ince (the black former Manchester United and Liverpool midfielder) and I was never given the impression by the FA that I should not have given it to him,\" added Taylor, England manager from 1990-1993.","Spain repatriates priest with Ebola from Africa. MADRID (AP) — The Spanish government is preparing to repatriate a priest who has been diagnosed with the Ebola virus after working in Sierra Leone.","China tightens regulations for online films, a more freewheeling genre than traditional films. BEIJING, China - Chinese authorities are requiring makers of online films to gain licenses and report their content before it is posted, tightening regulation of what in recent years has been a more freewheeling genre than China's traditional film industry.","Liberian couples marry, a sign of less Ebola fear. MONROVIA, Liberia (AP) — Robert Kollie and his fiancee postponed their October wedding as Ebola ravaged Liberia's capital. The government had warned people to avoid large gatherings. Weddings are full of kissing and hugging and just one unknowingly sick person could infect dozens.","Rugby-Australia defeat France to sweep test series. * Folau shines with two-try effort * Skelton scores try in debut (Adds details, quotes) By Michael Perry and Colin Packham SYDNEY, June 21 (Reuters) - Australia defeated France 39-13 in Sydney on Saturday to clean sweep the three-test series, dominating possession and territory and displaying an expansive game. Criticised after their ugly, try-less 6-0 win in the second test at Docklands stadium, the Wallabies ran in five tries to one, with test debutant lock Will Skelton scoring the first within minutes. The victory in front of a record 43,188 fans at the Sydney Football Stadium marked the Wallabies' seventh successive win, their best run since the World Cup-winning days under Rod Macqueen in 1999. \"We dominated possession and territory and while we didn't make the most of every opportunity, I was pretty happy with the intent,\" said Australian coach Ewen McKenzie.","Kerry: US reconsiders role in Mideast peace talks. CASABLANCA, Morocco (AP) — The Obama administration will reevaluate its role in foundering Middle East peace talks following actions by both Israel and the Palestinians that have brought the negotiations to virtual collapse, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said Friday.","Australia name White, Foley for 1st France test. BRISBANE, Australia (AP) — Scrumhalf Nic White and flyhalf Bernard Foley have been chosen to combine in an unproven combination for Australia in Saturday's first rugby test against France at Brisbane.","Obama to show support for Ukraine's Yatseniuk in White House visit. U.S. President Barack Obama will meet with Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk at the White House on Wednesday, just days before a referendum on secession by Crimea, in a show of support for Ukrainian sovereignty, the White House said on Sunday. The leaders will talk about \"how to find a peaceful resolution to Russia's ongoing military intervention in Crimea that would respect Ukrainian sovereignty and territorial integrity,\" the White House said.","Japan signs carbon offset deal with Palau. (Reuters) - Japan has signed an agreement with Palau to allow Japanese companies to earn carbon credits by helping the small Pacific island cut greenhouse gas emissions, the Japanese government said on Monday. Under the deal, both nations will set up a joint committee of representatives to operate a bilateral offset crediting mechanism, known as the Joint Crediting Mechanism, Tokyo said in a statement. Japan has already has nine such bilateral agreements, aiming to bypass the lengthy screening process of the United Nations' Clean Development Mechanism, the world's main carbon offsetting scheme. Palau is among the small island nations in the Pacific that have been threatened by rising sea levels and are considered to be most at threat from the consequences of global warming.","Passengers leave hijacked Ethiopian plane : witness. GENEVA (Reuters) - Passengers were seen leaving a hijacked Ethiopian Airlines plane in Geneva on Monday and were searched by police as they disembarked, a Reuters witness reported. The passengers then boarded a bus near the plane, which was parked near the end of the runway away from the terminal building. (Reporting by Vincent Fribault; Writing by Richard Lough; Editing by Edmund Blair)","China names Alain Perrin new national coach. BEIJING (AP) — Former Lyon boss Alain Perrin is China's new coach.","Greece: 3 migrants drown, more than 20 missing. ATHENS, Greece (AP) — At least three people drowned and more than 20 others were missing Monday after a yacht and a dinghy crammed with immigrants trying to enter Greece illegally capsized in the eastern Aegean Sea, in the third such fatal accident in the country this year.","South Africa strike spreads to metalworkers. Metalworkers at the South African operations of Anglo American Platinum are to strike over pay, the country's largest trade union NUMSA said Sunday. Between 1,000 and 2,000 Amplats metalworkers will down tools from Monday, the union said, adding to the woes of the world's top producer of the precious metal whose South African miners are already on strike. \"The strike will start tomorrow,\" said Irvin Jim, general secretary of the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA). It also wants improved accommodation and transport for the metalworkers, double pay on holidays and to end the practice of conducting body searches at the end of a shift.","U.S. says Russian decision not to ease Ukraine crisis 'regrettable'. Russia's failure to take steps to ease the crisis in Ukraine is \"regrettable\" and the United States is ready to respond quickly following a referendum planned for Sunday on whether Ukraine's Crimea region should join Russia, the White House said on Friday. \"We have obviously not gotten to a situation where Russia has chosen to de-escalate, where Russia has chosen a path of resolving the situation peacefully and through diplomacy. We will have to see how the next several days unfold,\" White House spokesman Jay Carney told a briefing. Asked how soon the response would come, he said, \"I think without putting too fine a point on it, I'd say quickly.\" Carney's comments came as U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry met with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in London in talks aimed at reducing tensions ahead of the planned referendum.","Palmeiras draws Atletico 1-1, escapes relegation. SAO PAULO (AP) — Traditional Brazilian club Palmeiras was held to a 1-1 draw by Atletico Paranaense but escaped relegation thanks to Vitoria's 1-0 loss to Santos in the final round of the Brazilian league.","Honda ran tests on fatal air bag flaw, frustrated by Takata reticence: sources. By Norihiko Shirouzu TOKYO (Reuters) - Honda Motor Co was so concerned by mounting recalls for Takata air bags, and frustrated by its supplier's failure to explain why some have exploded, killing five people with shrapnel, that it bought used and scrapped cars in Japan to conduct its own tests. Around 21 million vehicles have been recalled globally by automakers since 2008 for defective Takata inflators. Honda alone has recalled about 14 million cars, mostly in the United States, where four of the deaths occurred. The fifth was in Malaysia. ...","No Match: Missing Mexico students not among 28 in mass grave. Mexico City (AFP) - DNA results show that 28 bodies found in a mass grave in southern Mexico are not those of a group of missing students, the country's attorney general said Tuesday.","Murray misses chance to reach French Open final. PARIS (AP) — Andy Murray headed out on court with an opportunity to reach the French Open final for the first time.","Turkish MPs pass judiciary bill amid brawl. Turkey's parliament passed a bill Saturday tightening government control over the judiciary, with lawmakers violently scuffling over the contested reforms introduced amid a major graft scandal. Fighting erupted overnight with fists flying in the air between ruling party and opposition lawmakers as the bill was debated in a marathon 20-hour sitting. Ali Ihsan Kokturk, lawmaker from the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP), got a bloodied nose in the brawl, while ruling party lawmaker Bayram Ozcelik's finger was broken. Kokturk charged that one of the most controversial articles in the reform package, giving the justice ministry greater sway over the Supreme Board of Judges and Prosecutors (HSYK), was \"unlawful\".","Asian stocks tumble as China anxiety saps confidence. By Ian Chua SYDNEY (Reuters) - Asian stocks stumbled to their lowest in five weeks on Monday after a batch of weak data out of China raised the spectre of a sharp slowdown in the world's second-biggest economy. The Australian dollar, considered a liquid proxy for China plays, also took a hammering and slumped to a six-month low. Data released on Saturday showed China's factory output grew at the weakest pace in nearly six years in August, while growth in other key sectors also cooled. \"This confirms a slowdown in growth momentum in Q3 following the Q2 rebound,\" analysts at Barclays wrote in a note to clients, adding they have cut their 2014 growth forecast for China to 7.2 percent from 7.4 percent.","Polisario says UN resolution on Sahara 'not bad'. The Algeria-backed Polisario Front on Thursday gave a guarded welcome to a UN Security Council resolution on the Moroccan-annexed disputed territory of Western Sahara for which it claims independence. \"If the resolution had expanded the mandate of the United Nations Mission for a Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO) to monitoring the human rights of Sahrawis, we would have described it as excellent,\" said Abdelkader Taleb Omar, premier of the Saharan Arab Democratic Republic declared by the Polisario. \"Sahrawis had hoped MINURSO would be tasked, like other UN missions, with monitoring human rights but that does not mean that the resolution is bad,\" he said.","Cosmic caffeine: Astronauts getting espresso maker. CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — Talk about a cosmic caffeine jolt. The International Space Station is getting a real Italian espresso machine.","Factory blast in east China kills at least 65: state TV. BEIJING (Reuters) - A factory blast in China's eastern industrial province of Jiangsu has killed at least 65 people, China Central Television (CCTV) said on Saturday on its Weibo microblog account. CCTV said the factory manufactures metal products and has foreign investors. (Reporting by Koh Gui Qing and Judy Hua)","Kurds order all civilians out of Kobane amid IS advance. Suruc (Turkey) (AFP) - Kurdish fighters on Monday ordered all civilians to evacuate the key city of Kobane in Syria as Islamic State insurgents moved into town from the east.","Results from comet lander's experiments expected. BERLIN (AP) — The German aeronautics and space research center says it will release a first evaluation of the data that comet lander Philae sent down to the European Space Center before its depleted batteries forced it to go silent.","EU, Arab League join forces against jihadi threat. ATHENS, Greece (AP) — European Union and Arab League countries have agreed to cooperate against the terrorism threat posed by radicalized foreign fighters returning home from conflicts in the Middle East.","RBS draws up rescue plan for Ulster Bank: report. Royal Bank of Scotland is working on a plan to salvage its troubled Irish business, Ulster Bank, by merging it with a number of rivals, the Sunday Times newspaper reported. Attempts to find a buyer for the business have failed and a team inside RBS is looking at tie-ups between Ulster and other lenders, such as Permanent TSB or the Irish subsidiaries of Danske Bank or KBC, the newspaper reported. Bolting the institutions together could allow the new Ulster Bank to strip out costs and mount a credible challenge to Ireland's top players, it said. Ireland's finance minister Michael Noonan said on Saturday he would like a \"significant\" new bank with a big balance sheet to enter its lending market this year to drive competition in the diminished sector.","Thousands protest at French-Romanian car plant. BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) — Thousands of people have protested at the French-Romanian carmaker Dacia-Renault factory in southern Romania demanding that the government support the industry and offer workers more legal protection.","Kerry in Afghanistan to meet feuding candidates. KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry flew to Afghanistan late Thursday on an unannounced visit to press the country's two feuding presidential candidates on the urgency of ending a bitter dispute over June elections and forming a new government by early September.","Tracing shift from everyday American to jihadis. WASHINGTON (AP) — A college dropout from Florida.","Doomed ferry's sharp turn, slow evacuation probed. MOKPO, South Korea (AP) — Investigations into South Korea's ferry disaster focused on the sharp turn it took just before it started listing and whether a quicker evacuation order by the captain could have saved lives, officials said Friday, as rescuers scrambled to find 270 people still missing and feared dead.","TSX poised to open lower. (Reuters) - The Canadian stock market looked set to start the week lower after hitting a near six-year high on Friday, with June futures on the S&P TSX index down 0.05 percent at 0717 ET. Annualized house starts data for May is due at 0815 ET. The index reached its highest level in almost six years on Friday as investors cheered a bullish U.S. jobs report and shrugged off sluggish Canadian labor data. Energy and bank shares drove the gains. Dow Jones Industrial Average e-mini futures were down 0.06 percent at 0715 ET, while S&P 500 e-mini futures were down 0. ...","Romania: Ex-prime minister jailed for 2nd time. BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) — A former prime minister who shocked Romanians when he shot himself in the neck as police came to bring him to prison was sentenced to jail for corruption for the second time on Monday.","Alaska humpback whales may lose 'endangered' status as numbers grow. By Steve Quinn JUNEAU Alaska (Reuters) - Alaska's humpback whales swam a little closer on Wednesday to losing their status as an endangered species after being federally protected for more than 40 years, a U.S. agency said. Alaska in a Feb. 26 petition asked federal fisheries managers to scrap the \"endangered\" classification of the central north Pacific population of humpbacks under the U.S. Endangered Species Act (ESA), citing population growth and existing regulations it says protect the migratory mammals. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) on Wednesday said in a statement it found \"substantial scientific or commercial information indicating that the petitioned action may be warranted.\" The so-called \"positive ruling\" comes after the agency's similar response in August to a petition by the Hawaii Fishermen's Alliance for Conservation and Tradition, which sought to delist all north Pacific whales.","Wales and South Africa level 3-3 at half-time in rugby Test. Cardiff (United Kingdom) (AFP) - Wales and South Africa were level 3-3 at half-time in their one-off Test at Cardiff's Millennium Stadium on Saturday.","Britain might learn from split of Czechoslovakia. PRAGUE (AP) — If Scotland says yes to independence in Thursday's referendum, there might be a lesson to learn from the amicable split of Czechoslovakia on Jan. 1, 1993. Known as a \"velvet divorce,\" the breakup was nothing like the secessionist wars that raged in Yugoslavia. It was as peaceful and smooth as the 1989 Velvet Revolution that threw off oppressive communist rule in Czechoslovakia, and is considered a success even by its opponents.","Alfonso Soriano says he is retiring. SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic (AP) — Seven-time All-Star Alfonso Soriano says he is retiring from the major leagues after a season in which he was released by the New York Yankees on July.","Libya MPs in new bid to oust PM after rebel oil shipment. The Libyan parliament was poised to vote Tuesday on a new motion to oust Prime Minister Ali Zeidan amid anger at his government's failure to stop eastern rebels from independently exporting oil. Zeidan's government has been repeatedly criticised for its failure to rein in the myriad of former rebel militias which have carved out their own fiefdoms since the NATO-backed uprising that ended the 42-year dictatorship of Moamer Kadhafi in 2011. Zeidan's government had threatened armed action, even an air strike, to prevent the tanker getting away with its cargo of oil bought from the rebels' self-declared autonomous regional government without the authorisation of the state-owned Libyan National Oil Corporation.","Pentagon stresses effort to limit civilian deaths. WASHINGTON (AP) — The top U.S. military officer says the United States and its allies are taking every precaution to limit civilian casualties as they continue air strikes against Islamic State group militants in Syria and Iraq.","Greek financial crisis tied to worsening health. LONDON (AP) — Researchers say they have found new evidence that Greece's financial crisis is taking a toll on the health of its citizens, including rising rates of HIV, tuberculosis, depression and even infant deaths.","Australia to send asylum seeker body home to Iran. CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — The body of an asylum seeker who was killed in a violent breakout from an Australian-run detention camp on Papua New Guinea will be repatriated to his family in Iran.","Air Algerie flight 'probably crashed' in Mali. ALGIERS, Algeria (AP) — An Air Algerie flight carrying 116 people from Burkina Faso to Algeria's capital disappeared from radar early Thursday over northern Mali during a rainstorm, officials said. France deployed fighter jets to search for wreckage and the country's president said the plane most likely crashed.","Gaza blockade key to any Israel-Hamas truce deal. GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — Ibrahim Zain was driven from his home by Israeli tank fire this week, but says he'd rather endure more Israel-Hamas fighting than accept an unconditional cease-fire he fears will leave in place the blockade of the Gaza Strip.","Explosion, gunfire heard in Kabul: Reuters witness, police. KABUL (Reuters) - An explosion and sustained gunfire resounded in an upscale residential neighbourhood in the south of the Afghan capital Kabul on Friday and police said insurgents had made their way inside a building. \"Some insurgents have entered a building. Their target is not clear yet,\" said Hashmat Stanikzai, a spokesman for the Kabul police chief. (Reporting by Mirwais Harooni, Writing by Maria Golovnina; Editing by Ron Popeski)","Kenya Westgate mall attack trial hit by assault claims. Nairobi (AFP) - The trial of four men charged in connection with Kenya's Westgate mall massacre was hit Tuesday by allegations from defence lawyers that the suspects have been assaulted in detention.","Iraq's top cleric calls on political leaders to break deadlock. BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq's top cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, called on political leaders on Friday to refrain from clinging to their posts, in an apparent reference to Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, who has defied demands that he step aside. Speaking through an aide who delivered a sermon after Friday prayers, Sistani said leaders should be flexible so that political deadlocks can be broken and Iraq can confront dangers and terrorism. (Writing by Michael Georgy; Editing by Larry King)","US to deliver more weapons to Lebanese military. BEIRUT (AP) — The U.S. ambassador to Lebanon says Washington will soon deliver additional weaponry to help bolster the Lebanese military as it faces a growing threat from militants from Syria.","IndyCar - Dixon takes last-to-first Indy win. - New Zealand's Scott Dixon, the defending IndyCar season champion, started last in a field of 22 but battled to the front to win the Indy 200. Dixon collected his 34th career IndyCar triumph, his fifth career victory at Mid-Ohio and his third at the course in four years. It was Dixon's first triumph of the year and also the first of the season for Chip Ganassi Racing, whose drivers have won six in a row at the 2.258-mile, 13-turn layout.","Venezuela's Maduro rails at 'stupid' U.S. sanctions calls. By Deisy Buitrago CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has reacted furiously to calls in the United States for punitive measures against his government for alleged rights abuses in response to three months of street protests. Some U.S. lawmakers are urging sanctions on Venezuelan officials, or even wider measures against the economy, but President Barack Obama's government has said that may harm prospects for political reconciliation here.","New tropical depression forms south of Mexico. MIAMI (AP) — A new tropical depression has formed in the Pacific south of Mexico's coast and is expected to strengthen.","Big concerns for Ewen McKenzie and his Wallabies. BRISBANE, Australia (AP) — Even as he was flanked by two high-profile Wallabies he'd just recalled to take on the All Blacks, Ewen McKenzie couldn't avoid the conversation returning to the controversy over Kurtley Beale's bust-up with a team official and her subsequent resignation.","Alibaba's growth slips to slowest pace in 6 years. SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Alibaba's quarterly revenue growth has slipped to its slowest pace in six years, a development that could dampen demand to invest in the Chinese e-commerce company's upcoming stock offering.","Russian oil giant seeks funds earmarked for pensions. By Katya Golubkova and Dmitry Zhdannikov MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia's Rosneft , which produces more oil than Iraq or Iran, is seeking a $42 billion loan from a fund earmarked for Russian pensions to help it weather Western sanctions imposed over Moscow's role in Ukraine. Analysts expected the Russian government to turn down the proposal by the world's largest listed oil producer, one fifth owned by BP and run by a close ally of President Vladimir Putin, unless political pressure is brought to bear. It was one of the most stunning of several proposals for the Russian state to help firms hit by U.S. and European sanctions over Moscow's annexation of Crimea in March and role in subsequent fighting in eastern Ukraine. Rosneft declined to comment.","BG sells Australian gas pipeline unit for $5bn. London (AFP) - Energy producer BG Group said it has sold its Australian gas pipeline business for US$5.0 billion as part of its plan to shed non-core assets.","Official: Suicide bomber kills 7 in Afghanistan. KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Afghan officials say a suicide car bomber killed seven people and wounded 42 in an attack on a crowded restaurant in the southern part of the country.","Bolivia military backtracks on sackings over protests. Bolivia's military command moved Saturday to try to defuse unrest in the ranks, announcing it would not go ahead with the planned firing of more than 400 non-commissioned officers. The announcement by the chief of the armed forces, which followed a night of violent protests in La Paz, did not account for all 700 non-commissioned officers ordered fired after protests last month, triggering a threat of further unrest. \"We are going to radicalize our protests next week,\" said Sandra Lopez, the leader of an association of wives of non-commissioned officers, without providing details. During violent clashes late Friday, relatives of the non-commissioned officers tried to storm barracks in downtown La Paz that house the headquarters of the armed forces chief, General Victor Baldivieso.","Separatists kill seven Ukraine soldiers in heaviest loss for Kiev forces. By Richard Balmforth and Alissa de Carbonnel KIEV/MOSCOW (Reuters) - Pro-Russian separatists ambushed Ukrainian troops on Tuesday, killing seven in the heaviest loss of life for government forces in a single clash since Kiev sent soldiers to put down a rebellion in the country's east. With the uprising and Russia's annexation of Crimea poisoning East-West relations, Moscow retaliated against U.S. sanctions by hitting aerospace projects, including refusing to extend the life of the International Space Station, a showcase of post-Cold War cooperation. In Kiev, Ukraine's defense ministry and state security service said the troops were killed and seven others wounded when their armored column was ambushed near the town of Kramatorsk, one of several hot spots in the largely Russian-speaking east where the army has had scant success against the rebels.","South Asian leaders gather at regional summit. KATMANDU, Nepal (AP) — South Asian leaders, including from rivals India and Pakistan, have gathered in Nepal's capital to boost cooperation in trade and energy and seek greater peace in the region, home to more than a fifth of the world's population.","Iran welcomes Saudi invitation to Islamic bloc meeting. Saudi Arabia has invited Iran to attend a meeting of Islamic bloc foreign ministers in Jeddah next month, an Iranian official said in comments published Thursday. Deputy Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian welcomed the \"friendly\" gesture by Iran's regional rival, with which relations have been strained by the Syrian conflict and the fallout from unrest in Bahrain. An exchange of visits by Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal and his Iranian counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif was high on Tehran's agenda, he told the Etemad newspaper. The two-day meeting of foreign ministers of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation opens in Jeddah on June 18.","Egypt army 'AIDS detector' instead finds ridicule. CAIRO (AP) — Egypt's military leaders have come under ridicule after the chief army engineer unveiled what he described as a \"miraculous\" set of devices that detect and cure AIDS, hepatitis and other viruses.","Canexus pays high price for winning Canadian crude-by-rail race. By Nia Williams CALGARY Alberta (Reuters) - Canexus Corp , the developer of Canada's first dedicated oil train terminal, has embraced the crude-by-rail boom with little success so far. The company's Bruderheim terminal, 55 kilometers (35 miles) northeast of Edmonton, Alberta, is one of seven unit train terminals operating or under construction in Western Canada. Although Canexus beat other midstream companies such as Gibson Energy Inc in the race to ship oil to market on mile-long trains, it is yet to see much benefit. Some industry players are speculating the Calgary-based chemicals and handling company may have to sell Bruderheim to ease pressure on its balance sheet.","Obama optimistic on change in Myanmar, more work to be done. NAYPYITAW Myanmar (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama said on Thursday that he is optimistic about political change in Myanmar but that more work was needed to push forward with reforms. \"I'm confident there will be a completely new day for Myanmar,\" Obama told reporters after meeting law makers in the country's capital, Naypyitaw. \"The work is not done here.\" Opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi was among the law makers at the meeting. Among key questions still facing Myanmar were protecting minority rights and the power of the military, Obama said. ...","UN leader begins term during period of 'tumult'. UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Sam Kutesa began his first day as president of the U.N. General Assembly Tuesday by describing the current year as \"tumultuous\" and the year ahead as \"momentous\" for the United Nations as it marks its 70th anniversary.","4 dead in crash of Philippine cloud-seeding plane. SANTIAGO, Philippines (AP) — Philippine officials say four people aboard a light plane died after their aircraft crashed while on a cloud-seeding flight over farmlands that have been scorched by the intense summer heat in the country's north.","Egypt army chief says he will run for president. CAIRO (AP) — Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, the Egyptian military chief who last summer removed the elected Islamist president, announced Wednesday that he will run for president in elections expected next month, putting him on an apparent track to lead a nation beleaguered by ongoing turmoil and violence, a dilapidated economy and concerns over the chances for building a democracy.","Asian stocks decline after US losses. BEIJING (AP) — Asian stock markets fell Monday following two days of U.S. declines and forecasts of lower American corporate profits.","Ireland's Justice Minister quits. Ireland's Justice Minister Alan Shatter resigned on Wednesday after receiving a report into claims made by a police whistleblower, Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny announced. \\\\\"The report is critical of the inadequacy of the actions of a number of agencies, notably the Garda Siochana (police), the Department of Justice and Equality and the minister.","West Germany wins World Cup in 'Miracle of Bern'. On this day: West Germany surprises Hungary to win 1954 World Cup in Bern, Switzerland.","Bastia won't punish Brandao for headbutting Motta. BASTIA, Corsica (AP) — Bastia has decided not to punish Brandao after the striker headbutted Paris Saint-Germain midfielder Thiago Motta at the end of a French league match.","Bombings in Shiite areas of Iraq kill 37. Bombings that included a suicide attack on tribal leaders in Baghdad hit Shiite areas of central and southern Iraq Wednesday, killing at least 37 people, officials said. They targeted three Baghdad neighbourhoods as well as Karbala and Basra provinces, south of the capital, the officials said. In the Sadr City area of northern Baghdad, at least 15 people died and 34 were hurt when a suicide bomber detonated explosives inside a tent where local Shiite tribal leaders were meeting. A car bomb struck another northern area of Baghdad, killing 13 people and wounding at least 24, while a roadside bomb in the capital's east killed two people and wounded three.","62 African migrants, crew drown off Yemen: UN. Sixty migrants from Ethiopia and Somalia along with two Yemeni crew members drowned on May 31 in the worst such tragedy off the coast of Yemen this year, the UN said Friday. \"The tragedy is the largest single loss of life of migrants and refugees attempting to reach Yemen via the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden this year,\" Adrian Edwards, spokesman for the refugee agency UNHCR, told reporters in Geneva. \"The victims were reportedly buried by local residents after their bodies washed ashore near the Bab El Mandeb area off Yemen's coast,\" Edwards said, adding that the UNHCR did not know where the boat begun it journey. In Sanaa, a Yemeni employee of the UNHCR said the boat went down because of bad weather conditions off Dhubab, at the entrance to the Bab El Mandeb waterway between the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea.","Colombia wants truth commission after FARC peace deal. A truth commission to probe abuses in Colombia's half-century-old conflict should be held after, not before, peace is reached with leftist rebels, Bogota's top negotiator said Sunday. Humberto de la Calle's remark was the first government reaction to a proposal raised eight months ago by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) in talks between the two sides to resolve their differences. \"There can be no end to the conflict without truth,\" said de la Calle, a former Colombian vice president. The government of President Juan Manuel Santos sees such a commission as \"a real instrument for peace and not as a tactical tool for negotiations,\" he added.","Bank of England votes to keep interest rate at 0.50%. London (United Kingdom) (AFP) - The Bank of England on Thursday said it had voted to keep its main interest rate at a record-low 0.50 percent.","Head of Brazilian volleyball federation steps down. SAO PAULO (AP) — The head of the international volleyball federation has stepped down as president of the sport's body in Brazil, although the world body said Friday the decision was made months before recent accusations that officials received money from contract negotiations with sponsors.","Ukraine prime minister demands Russia stop 'exporting terrorism'. KIEV (Reuters) - Ukraine's prime minister on Wednesday accused Russia of \"exporting terrorism\" to Ukraine by using covert forces to organize armed separatists who he said had attacked Ukrainian forces and occupied state buildings. \"The Russian government must immediately call off its intelligence-diversionary groups, condemn the terrorists and demand that they free the buildings,\" Arseny Yatseniuk told a government meeting. \"That is, if the Russian Federation is interested in stabilizing the situation, which I have significant doubts about,\" he added. ...","Student kills teacher, policeman in Moscow school. MOSCOW (AP) — An armed teenager burst into his Moscow school on Monday and killed a teacher and policeman before being taken into custody, investigators said.","Refreshed Sharks look for Super 15 points in Lions' den. The Coastal Sharks will be out to extend their Super 15 lead this weekend against the Golden Lions, while the ACT Brumbies aim to stay top of the Australian conference. Jake White's Sharks are on top of both the South African conference and the overall standings with 23 points from six games. The Durban-based outfit are coming off a bye and travel to Johannesburg where they have only lost three times in 10 encounters with the Lions. \"We've had a break now and that was very good for us as a team, getting away from things,\" flanker Marcell Coetzee said.","At Grammys, Lorde, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis win. LOS ANGELES (AP) — A 17-year-old from New Zealand has won the Grammy Award for song of the year.","EU clears French, Italian budgets after changes. BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union's head office is giving the 2015 French and Italian budgets a provisional green light, saying last-minute commitments to keep deficits down kept them within limits.","Solskjaer watches Cardiff amid job reports. London (AFP) - Former Manchester United striker Ole Gunnar Solskjaer attended Cardiff City's game at Arsenal on Wednesday, fuelling speculation that he is to be appointed as the Welsh club's new manager.","Bird conversancy group sues U.S. over 30-year permits to legally kill eagles. A bird advocacy group sued the U.S. government on Thursday over rules it says loosen protections for eagles killed by wind turbines, arguing they threaten decades of protection that saved the bald eagle, America's national emblem, from extinction. The American Bird Conservancy filed suit in federal court in California to challenge the authorization of 30-year permits to renewable energy developers to accidentally kill protected bald and golden eagles, which may die as a result of collisions with towering wind turbines. They do not have to be sacrificed for the next 30 years for the sake of unconstrained wind energy,” Michael Hutchins, coordinator of a wind energy panel with the American Bird Conservancy, said in a statement.","Businesses, markets relieved at Scottish vote. LONDON (AP) — Businesses and investors have reacted with relief to Scotland's decision to reject independence from the United Kingdom.","Regional leaders gather for South Sudan crisis summit. East African heads of state gathered Thursday in the latest push for peace in war-torn South Sudan, where almost three months of conflict has left thousands dead. Leaders from the East African bloc, the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), gathered in the Ethiopian capital to \"deliberate on the current situation in the Republic of South Sudan\", a statement read. South Sudanese media said President Salva Kiir is due to attend, but no direct talks between Kiir's government and the rebels were due to take place until next week. Ministers met late Wednesday ahead of the main summit, including officials from ‎Djibouti‬,‪ ‎Ethiopia‬, ‎Kenya‬, ‪‎Somalia‬, ‎Sudan‬, ‎South‬ Sudan and ‪Uganda.","Portugal ramps up fight against tax evasion with fancy cars draw. By Andrei Khalip LISBON (Reuters) - Asked by an attendant if she wants a personal invoice on a 15 euro purchase in a Lisbon pet shop, Lucia Miranda excitedly addresses her tiny pooch: \"Do we want to win an Audi, au-au? A state draw offering fancy cars on invoices issued with individual taxpayer numbers has firmly grabbed the attention of the Portuguese - those hopeful to win and critics alike. On April 17, the government will give away the first two Audi A4 sedans in what will then be a weekly draw for a year. \"The Lucky Invoice\" draw, which will be televised, is aimed at stimulating the fight against tax evasion and the large shadow economy in cash-strapped Portugal where the tax burden is at record levels after years of austerity.","Iraqi Yazidi girls abducted by IS endured horror. BAGHDAD (AP) — An international watchdog group says women and girls from Iraq's Yazidi minority have endured horrors while held captive by Islamic State extremists.","Wenger proud as 1,000th game tributes pour in. Arsene Wenger said on Friday that it was \"a privilege and an honour\" to reach his 1,000th game as Arsenal manager, while his contemporaries queued up to praise the achievement. The 64-year-old will become only the fourth manager -- after Matt Busby, Dario Gradi and Alex Ferguson -- to reach the milestone with one English club when his side visit Chelsea in the Premier League on Saturday. In the seventeen and a half years since he arrived from Japanese club Nagoya Grampus Eight in 1996, Wenger has led Arsenal to three Premier League titles and four FA Cups. The London club have not won a trophy since 2005, but this season they trail league leaders Chelsea by only four points -- with a game in hand -- and have reached the semi-finals of the FA Cup.","Mexican activists under fire after blogger kidnap. MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexican peace activists and bloggers who try to warn fellow citizens about drug violence say they feel under attack following the kidnapping and possible killing of one of their colleagues.","Kidnappers snatch three Dutch nationals in Nigeria's Delta. YENAGOA, Nigeria (Reuters) - Gunmen have snatched three Dutch nationals in Nigeria's volatile Niger Delta region, where armed kidnapping rings frequently operate, police said on Monday. The Dutch nationals, two men and a woman, were abducted from Bayelsa state on Sunday, police spokesman Alex Akhighe said. The kidnapping of expatriates by armed gangs seeking ransom money has been rife in the oil-producing Delta region, although it has tailed off in recent years as foreign companies have improved their security. (Writing by Tim Cocks; Editing by Kevin Liffey)","Panama warns Venezuela on $1 billion debt. Panama City (AFP) - President Ricardo Martinelli warned Venezuela Friday that its decision to break off relations with Panama was no excuse for not paying off its $1 billion debt.","Cuba builds first new church in 55 years. HAVANA (AP) — The Catholic Church says Cuba has allowed construction of the country's first new Catholic church in 55 years. Experts say it's a sign of improving relations between the Vatican and Cuba's communist government.","Kerry meets Abbas to shore up Mideast peace talks. US Secretary of State John Kerry meet Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas Wednesday as he sought to rescue his faltering Middle East peace bid, amid fears Israel may scrap plans to free Palestinian prisoners. He then went into evening talks with Abbas who had just returned from the Arab League's annual summit in Kuwait, a US official said. Under a July deal for the relaunch of the peace negotiations, Israel said it would release 104 Arabs held since before the 1993 Oslo peace accords in exchange for the Palestinians not pressing their statehood claims via the UN. Israel has so far freed 78 prisoners and is due to release the fourth and final tranche on March 29, including some Arab Israelis jailed for militant attacks.","African troops capture junior LRA rebel commander. KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) — African troops captured a junior commander with the Lord's Resistance Army and rescued 10 people, mostly children, abducted by the rebels, Uganda's military said Tuesday, the latest blow against the rebel group in an international hunt for its fugitive leaders.","South Sudan leaders' treason trial opens. Juba (South Sudan) (AFP) - The trial opened Tuesday of four top South Sudanese leaders accused of treason for allegedly attempting to topple President Salva Kiir after fighting broke out in December. The four are Pagan Amum, former secretary general of the ruling party, ex-national security minister Oyai Deng Ajak, former ambassador to the US Ezekiel Lol Gatkuoth, and ex-deputy defence minister Majak D’Agoot. South Sudan's government has been at war with rebel groups since December 15, when a clash between troops loyal to Kiir and those loyal to sacked vice president Riek Machar snowballed into full-scale fighting across the world's newest nation. Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta on Tuesday called for the release of the four men on trial, saying that the regional East African IGAD-bloc -- which is mediating peace talks -- wanted to find \"a political solution to the crisis\".","Nicaragua scraps term limits in boost for socialist Ortega. By Ivan Castro MANAGUA (Reuters) - Nicaragua's national assembly on Tuesday voted to scrap presidential term limits, which could allow socialist President Daniel Ortega to remain in power indefinitely and has stoked concerns about democracy in the Central American country. It would allow 68-year-old Ortega, a prominent Cold War antagonist of the United States, to seek a fourth term. Ortega, a former Marxist guerrilla and ally of the late Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez, has been president since 2007. He first took power after Nicaragua's 1979 revolution and was formally elected president for a single term in 1984.","Food convoy arrives in C. African Republic capital. BANGUI, Central African Republic (AP) — Dozens of vehicles carrying emergency aid from the U.N. World Food Program are making their way under French military escort to the capital of Central African Republic.","White House: Obama to delay immigration action. WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama has decided to delay any executive action on immigration until after the November congressional elections, abandoning his pledge to act on the issue by the end of summer, White House officials said.","Australia father charged with abusing surrogate twins, report says. An Australian has been charged with sexually abusing twins he fathered with a Thai surrogate, reports said Tuesday, the second case in as many months to ignite debate about commercial surrogacy. The Australian Broadcasting Corporation said the Thai mother of the children, Siriwan Nitichad, had agreed to carry a child for the man and his wife who had not been able to conceive. \"She said her husband wanted to have a baby so much, please help them, please help them,\" the woman, who is also known as Aon, told the broadcaster. Aon, who lives in Phetchabun province north of Bangkok, said she agreed to use her own eggs, was paid about Aus$5,500 (US$5,122) and gave birth to twins some years ago.","5 bodies found near site of Indian ethnic violence. GAUHATI, India (AP) — Officials say five bodies have been recovered from a river near an area where more than 30 Muslims were killed last week in the worst ethnic violence in India's remote northeast in two years.","Second Danish giraffe named Marius at risk of being put down: news agency. The Danish Jyllands Park Zoo said on Wednesday it might put down one of its giraffes, which by coincidence is also named Marius, just as the giraffe Copenhagen Zoo slaughtered on Sunday to the disgust of animal lovers around the world, according to Danish news agency Ritzau. Staff at Copenhagen Zoo have received death threats after the zoo killed the 18-month-old healthy male giraffe because the animal's genes were already well represented in an international breeding program that aims to maintain a healthy giraffe population in European zoos. Jyllands Park Zoo in western Denmark might put down its seven-year-old Marius if the zoo manages to acquire a female giraffe, which is most likely, zoo keeper Janni Lojtved Poulsen told Ritzau. She said that it might be possible to find another place for the giraffe to live, but that the probability is small.","Cricket-Test Series Australia v India scoreboard. Dec 13 (Infostrada Sports) - Scoreboard at tea on the fifth day in the first Test between Australia and India on Saturday in Adelaide, Australia Australia 1st innings 517 for 7 decl (S. Smith 162no, D. Warner 145, M. Clarke 128) India 1st innings 444 (V. Kohli 115, C. Pujara 73, A. Rahane 62, M. Vijay 53; N. Lyon 5-134) Australia 2nd innings (Overnight: 290-5)C. Rogers c Ro. Sharma b K. Sharma 21 D. Warner b K. Sharma 102 S. Watson b Shami 33 M. Clarke c Saha b Aaron 7 S. Smith not out 52 M. Marsh c Vijay b Ro. Sharma 40 B. ...","French conservatives in turmoil as far right gains. PARIS (AP) — The leader of France's conservative party is resigning amid a scandal over the financing for former President Nicolas Sarkozy's losing 2012 presidential campaign, officials said Tuesday.","Review: Lots of innovations beyond iOS and Android. BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — The \"1 percent\" is often used to disparage the American elites at the very top of the wealth scale. When it comes to smartphones, however, the \"1 percent\" is the bottom of the heap.","Tomb dating back to 1100 B.C. found in Egypt. CAIRO (AP) — Egypt's Antiquities Ministry says tomb dating back to around 1100 B.C. has been found south of Cairo.","'Going crazy': survivor tells of Europe's deadliest migrant shipwreck. Chania (Greece) (AFP) - After three days adrift, drinking his own urine to survive as he watched dozens of people sink to a watery grave, Mohamed Raad started to lose his grip.","What cease-fire? South Sudan violence persists. JUBA, South Sudan (AP) — Officials working to stop violence in South Sudan say that a cease-fire signed last month appears not to be holding.","WHITE HOUSE NOTEBOOK: Obama salutes new citizens. SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — They had come from 14 countries, their lives and loves somehow fated to end up in South Korea. Many wore a U.S. military uniform. And it was here, in Asia, that they became citizens of the United States in the presence of their president.","Barclays enlists outside help in dark pools probe. By Steve Slater and Sarah N. Lynch LONDON/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Barclays Plc has hired lawyers from the high-profile firm Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP to help the bank defend itself against accusations that it deceived investors in its \"dark pool\" trading venue, according to people familiar with the matter. Matthew Martens, formerly the chief litigator at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, is among the WilmerHale lawyers working on the case, the sources said. Martens is known for leading the SEC to victory in its civil fraud trial against Fabrice \"Fabulous Fab\" Tourre, the former Goldman Sachs vice president who was found liable by a New York jury for misleading investors in a subprime mortgage product that failed during the financial crisis. Barclays' shares slid 6.5 percent on Thursday to a 19-month low after New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman filed a securities fraud lawsuit that takes aim at the British bank's \"dark pool\" trading venue, known as LX Liquidity Cross.","Russian aid convoy waits near Ukraine. KAMENSK-SHAKHTINSKY, Russia (AP) — Hundreds of trucks in a Russian aid convoy are waiting near the Ukrainian border as complicated procedures drag on for allowing them into eastern Ukraine to help civilians suffering amid fighting between Ukrainian forces and separatists.","US says Sotloff beheading video is authentic. WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House says it has determined that a video showing the brutal killing of freelance journalist Steven Sotloff is authentic.","Hamilton repeats history to start 'new chapter'. Lewis Hamilton repeated history on Sunday when he won the British Grand Prix on the same day in 2014 that he claimed his first home win in 2008. The Mercedes driver, who went on to take the drivers championship in 2008, said: \"I did not realise the date!\" He also referred to his problems on Saturday when he pulled out of his final qualifying lap and inadvertently gifted pole position to his German team-mate Nico Rosberg, the championship leader.","Sweden beats Latvia 5-3, moves on to quarterfinals. SOCHI, Russia (AP) — Daniel Alfredsson scored a go-ahead goal late in the second period and Sweden went on to beat Latvia 5-3 Saturday, staying undefeated and earning an automatic spot in hockey quarterfinals at the Olympics.","Rugby-Australia's Kurtley Beale. SYDNEY, Oct 24 (Reuters) - Factbox on Australia back Kurtley Beale, who was fined 45,000 Australian dollars ($39,559) for sending an offensive text, but escaped a ban from the Australian Rugby Union (ARU) on Friday. PRODIGY * Born on Jan 6, 1989 in Blacktown in Sydney's western suburbs to an indigenous family, Beale signed for the New South Wales Waratahs at the age of 16 while still playing flyhalf at St Joseph's College. * Australian Schoolboys captain in 2006, he made his Waratahs debut at flyhalf the following year under then coach Ewen McKenzie. ...","Central Europeans spur energy links, joint crisis management. By Jan Lopatka and Jakub Iglewski BRATISLAVA (Reuters) - Prime ministers from central European countries on Thursday backed Polish plans for close energy cooperation and agreed to draft joint crisis management plans for the possibility of a cut in natural gas from Russia in the coming months. Central European countries are vulnerable to any interruption in supplies because they take most of their natural gas from Russia, mainly via Ukraine. Russia and Ukraine have been at odds since Russian state-controlled Gazprom almost doubled prices following protests that toppled Ukraine's pro-Moscow President Viktor Yanukovich.","Talks to save Northern Ireland power-sharing begin. BELFAST, Northern Ireland (AP) — Negotiations aimed at bolstering Northern Ireland's power-sharing government are beginning in Belfast as the 7-year-old alliance of British Protestants and Irish Catholics faces its toughest political test.","Italy's angry brigade readies for European debut. Web-savvy, combative and loud: Italy's anti-establishment \\\\\"grillini\\\\\" are headed for the European Parliament for the first time, with the polls giving their Five Star Movement a quarter of the vote. The brash party run by former comedian Beppe Grillo -- the origin of the name \\\\\"grillini\\\\\" -- is predicted to come in second behind the centre-left Democratic Party and ahead of Silvio Berlusconi's Forza Italia. In the year since they were first elected to parliament in Rome, they have become known for disruptive tactics and media stunts but also for handing back MP perks to protest the costs of Italy's weighty bureaucracy. They prefer to be called \\\\\"citizen\\\\\" instead of \\\\\"honourable\\\\\" -- the formal title for a member of parliament in Italy -- and they frequently receive temporary suspensions for flouting parliamentary rules.","Late tries give Springboks bonus-point win. Cape Town (AFP) - South Africa scored three late tries to defeat Australia 28-10 Saturday in a Rugby Championship Test at Newlands stadium in Cape Town.","Ape who has correctly predicted six straight Super Bowl winners picks Seahawks. SALT LAKE CITY - A Utah ape that has correctly picked the Super Bowl winner for six straight years is predicting the Seattle Seahawks will be the next NFL champion.","400 migrants rescued near Malta; 19 dead. ROME (AP) — Italian and Maltese naval vessels assisted by a passing cargo ship rescued some 400 migrants aboard a smugglers' boat in waters near Malta and found the bodies of 18 people inside.","US Sen. Cruz of Texas to visit Ukraine. AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas will visit Ukraine this month and meet with leaders of the protest movement that forced out the country's pro-Russian president, his office said Tuesday.","U.S. fracking firms stay in top gear despite oil price slump. By Edward McAllister NEW YORK (Reuters) - Unfazed by slumping oil prices and battering in the stock market, firms that supply sand and guar gum for shale oil and gas companies are not ready yet to call an end to a four-year boom spurred by hydraulic fracturing technology. Just putting on a brave face as a downturn looms? Perhaps, but the optimism could also reflect confidence that the U.S. shale industry is more resilient to retreating oil prices than investors might think. Oil prices have fallen 30 percent since late June and shares of such firms as U.S. ...","European Team Championships Results. BRAUNSCHWEIG, Germany (AP) — Final standings Sunday after the second and last day of the European Team Championships:","Robredo, Cilic, Rosol in Umag quarterfinals. UMAG, Croatia (AP) — Defending champion Tommy Robredo beat fellow Spaniard Albert Ramos-Vinolas 6-4, 6-4 on Wednesday to reach the quarterfinals of the Croatia Open.","Eighteen die in India stampede at home of Muslim spiritual leader. At least 18 people died in a stampede in India's financial capital of Mumbai early on Saturday after thousands gathered to mourn the death of the 102-year-old leader of a Muslim sect, a city official and television reports said. The stampede took place outside the home of Syedna Mohamed Burhanuddin, the spiritual leader of the Dawoodi Bohra Muslim community, in a wealthy part of the city. Several of the injured were released after treatment at nearby hospitals, said a city official who declined to be named as he was not authorized to speak to the media. Stampedes frequently happen at religious sites in India but they are not common in big cities such as Mumbai where there is a greater police presence to monitor the flow of people.","Tesla posts strong operating profit, says battery factory plans on track. Tesla Motors Inc , led by billionaire Elon Musk, on Wednesday posted a higher-than-expected quarterly operating profit and the electric car maker said its plans for a new battery plant are on track. The company, maker of the Model S luxury electric sedan, said the project to begin production of lithium-ion batteries at the plant, dubbed the \"gigafactory,\" is on course for 2017.","White House concerned about violence in Venezuela. WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House is expressing deep concern about violence in Venezuela and calling for those responsible to be held accountable.","Militants take control of western Iraqi town of Hit: security sources. BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Militants took control of most of the western Iraqi town of Hit in Anbar province early on Thursday, security sources and local officials said. \"Ninety percent of the town of Hit has been overrun by militants,\" said Adnan al-Fahdawi, a provincial council member. (Reporting by Rahim Salman; Editing by Janet Lawrence)","Officials: 4 Palestinians killed in West Bank. JERUSALEM (AP) — Four Palestinians were shot and killed Friday during West Bank protests against Israel's military operation in the Gaza Strip, Palestinian hospital officials said.","Nigeria's team determined after deadly attack. CAMPINAS, Brazil (AP) — Shocked by a suicide bombing attack against a World Cup viewing site in northeast Nigeria, the country's national team is more determined than ever to succeed in Brazil and provide some comfort to those at home, a team official said on Wednesday.","AP PHOTOS: Security woes plague Syrian refugees. ZAATARI, Jordan (AP) — Life in Jordan's Zaatari camp is getting harder for 130,000 Syrian refugees, most of whom have fled fighting in southern Syria.","West Brom, Sunderland open PL season with 2-2 draw. WEST BROMWICH, England (AP) — Sebastian Larsson scored a late equalizer as Sunderland snatched a 2-2 draw at West Bromwich Albion in their Premier League opener on Saturday.","Daimler revenue up; profit drops after 1-time gain. BERLIN (AP) — Automaker Daimler AG is reporting a 6 percent increase in second-quarter revenue and confirming its full-year targets, though net profit declined sharply after being boosted last year by the sale of a stake in Airbus' parent company.","South Africa hosts Lesotho crisis summit. Pretoria (AFP) - South Africa hosted an emergency meeting of regional leaders to negotiate a peace deal for Lesotho on Monday, following an attempted coup and stalled peace talks between deadlocked political parties.","Young Maple Leafs defenceman Morgan Rielly shows 'calm beyond his years'. TORONTO - Tie game, heading to overtime, and rookie Morgan Rielly couldn't have been more relaxed.","Belgium down Australia in Liege friendly. Liege (Belgium) (AFP) - World Cup quarter-finalists Belgium saw off Australia 2-0 in an international friendly on Thursday with the goals in either half coming from Dries Mertens and Axel Witsel.","Many not surprised accused bomber could face death. BOSTON (AP) — The announcement by federal prosecutors that they will seek the death penalty against the man accused in the Boston Marathon bombing came as no surprise to people who lost limbs or suffered other injuries in last year's attack.","Platini: No Champs League bans in 1st FFP cases. PARIS (AP) — UEFA President Michel Platini says clubs won't be excluded from next season's Champions League for breaking \"Financial Fair Play\" rules.","India's search for missing Malaysian plane on hold. NEW DELHI (AP) — Massive Indian navy and air search operations for the missing Malaysian jetliner were suspended Sunday until fresh search areas are identified by Malaysia's government, an official said.","NATO, Japan agree to cooperate more. BRUSSELS (AP) — The U.S.-led NATO alliance and Japan, facing mounting security challenges in their respective neighborhoods, are agreeing to cooperate more.","Report: Chinese phone comes preloaded with spyware. BERLIN (AP) — A German security firm says that a cheap brand of Chinese-made smartphone comes preinstalled with espionage software.","Intel chief calls on Snowden to return documents. WASHINGTON (AP) — The Top U.S. intelligence official wants former NSA systems analyst Edward Snowden to return the rest of the secret documents he took before making them public.","Ebola to be discussed at Washington summit next week: U.S. official. The spread of the deadly Ebola virus and assistance for affected countries will be discussed during an African summit in Washington next week, a senior State Department official said on Thursday. U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Africa Linda Thomas-Greenfield said the issue will be discussed in detail during side meetings. It is unclear whether the president of Guinea, Alpha Conde, still plans to travel to Washington.","More than 800,000 Malians starving as food crisis deepens. More than 800,000 Malians are desperate for food while another three million risk going without meals as the country struggles to emerge from months of armed conflict, 11 humanitarian groups warned on Friday. An Islamist insurgency and the after-effects of a food crisis in 2012 combined with poor recent harvests have severely limited access to basic supplies for the most vulnerable, the organisations including CARE International and Oxfam said in a joint statement. \"The number of vulnerable people facing a new food crisis is likely to double if the needs identified are not met quickly,\" said Franck Vannetelle, director of Action Against Hunger in Mali. A World Food Programme report highlighted in July last year that three-quarters of households were food insecure in the regions of Gao, Timbuktu, Kidal and Mopti and the charities say the number has continued to rise in recent months.","Aussie Gerrans promises more one-day fireworks. Ponferrada (Spain) (AFP) - Simon Gerrans may have missed out on the world champion's rainbow jersey but he promised that the three World Championship medallists would continue battling in one-day classics over the years to come.","Hong Kong students fine-tune plan to take democracy call direct to Beijing. By Clare Baldwin and Diana Chan HONG KONG (Reuters) - Students calling for full democracy for Chinese-ruled Hong Kong are hoping to take their protest to Communist Party rulers in Beijing and are expected to announce details of their new battle plan on Thursday. The move signals a shift in the focus of the protests in the former British colony away from the Hong Kong government which has said it has limited room for maneuver. ...","Cologna goes for 2nd gold in Sochi in 15K race. KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia (AP) — Dario Cologna only finished second the last time he competed in a 15-kilometer classical-style race, less than two weeks ago.","Suarez receives Golden Boot, eyes Barcelona debut. BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Barcelona forward Luis Suarez is looking forward to ending his FIFA ban and says he will be fit to face Real Madrid if selected later this month.","Fenninger edges Hoefl-Riesch in WCup training run. LENZERHEIDE, Switzerland (AP) — Anna Fenninger of Austria was faster than Maria Hoefl-Riesch of Germany in a downhill training session Monday which began their duel for major World Cup honors this week.","Train plotter accuses Canada of 'colonizing' Afghanistan. A Tunisian-born scientist accused of plotting to derail a passenger train in Canada said in a newspaper interview published Wednesday his aim was to protest the US-led military mission in Afghanistan. \"My aim is very simple: to give them a message,\" Chiheb Esseghaier told the daily National Post. \"But the problem is that Canada, the Canadian government I mean, it don't want to listen.\" \"Canada go and hurt Muslims in Afghanistan and they took their land and they kill them, and supporting Americans who kill women and babies,\" he said.","Japan PM says meeting with China's Xi a step forward. BEIJING (Reuters) - Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said on Monday that his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping was a step forward in repairing their soured bilateral ties, and was a summit desired by many Asia Pacific nations. Abe told reporters that he agreed with Xi to start preparations for a maritime crisis mechanism. The meeting between Abe and Xi, which took place in Beijing's Great Hall of the People, came three days after the two countries agreed to work on improving ties and signaled willingness to put their rival claims over disputed islands on the back burner. ...","Wheat beer and lederhosen: Bayern celebrates title. MUNICH (AP) — Bayern Munich finally celebrated winning its 24th German championship on Saturday after the last Bundesliga game of the season.","NATO commander concerned by armored convoys entering Ukraine from Russia. By Steve Scherer NAPLES Italy (Reuters) - NATO is concerned about convoys of trucks taking artillery and supplies into east Ukraine from Russia, and wants to see international borders respected, the supreme allied commander said on Tuesday. Ukraine responded to a report on Sunday by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) by accusing Russia of sending a column of 32 tanks and truckloads of troops to help the pro-Russian rebels who hold two enclaves of eastern Ukraine. ...","China warns again of dark side of the mooncakes. China's crackdown on corruption, a scourge Communist Party leaders fear threatens their hold on power, is likely to last at least another five years, an official said, warning also against the mid-autumn tradition of handing out mooncakes as gifts. Wang Qishan, secretary of China's anti-corruption watchdog, was quoted as saying the government's \"campaign against extravagance and corruption\" would continue for at least five years, the official China Daily said. President Xi Jinping has promised to go after \"tigers and flies\" in rooting out rampant graft, a campaign that has brought down politicians and company executives in industries including oil, cars and healthcare. The campaign has also dragged down sales of high-end products from the fiery sorghum-based liquor, baijiu, to mooncakes, both traditional popular gifts for smoothing business and official ties.","Putin says Russia must prevent 'color revolution'. By Darya Korsunskaya MOSCOW (Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday Moscow must prevent a \"color revolution\" in Russia and stop extremism, warning of the threat posed by illegal immigration and \"radical\" Internet sites that recruit youths. Putin's comments at a meeting of his advisory Security Council on combating extremism, underlined his wariness about Russia being hit by a popular uprising like those in other former Soviet republics known as the color revolutions. \"In the modern world extremism is being used as a geopolitical instrument and for remaking spheres of influence. ...","Russia rights group calls state legal attack an 'insult'. Moscow (AFP) - Russia's most prominent rights group Memorial on Saturday called a legal assault on their organization an \"insult\", warning it could seriously disrupt their work.","South Korea approves $7 billion reactor plans in boost for nuclear power. South Korea approved on Wednesday a $7 billion project to build two nuclear plants, a boost for an industry struggling to emerge from the shadow of Japan's Fukushima disaster and the first approval since a policy review sparked by a safety scandal at domestic reactors. The greenlight for the plants comes only two weeks after Asia's fourth-largest economy announced a policy shift to cut its reliance on nuclear power to 29 percent of total power supply by 2035, down from a planned 41 percent by 2030. A series of nuclear reactor shutdowns since last year due to safety issues have raised the risk of blackouts, putting pressure on policy makers to maintain power supplies in a economy relying on energy intensive industries such as autos, steel and electronics. The approvals will also encourage South Korea's nuclear power industry, which still aims to export its expertise into a global market dominated by France, the United States and Russia.","Iran, six powers seek nuclear progress in shadow of Ukraine crisis. By Fredrik Dahl and Parisa Hafezi VIENNA (Reuters) - Iran and six world powers will try to make headway toward resolving their nuclear dispute in talks starting in Vienna on Tuesday, with Western officials hoping the challenge will not be made even more difficult by the Ukraine crisis. So far, diplomats say, there is little sign that the worst East-West confrontation since the Cold War will undermine the quest for a deal to end the standoff over Iran's atomic activity and avert the threat of a Middle East war. But unity among the powers on Iran may be tested in the meeting of their chief negotiators on the issue in the Austrian capital Vienna, with the four Western states and Russia at loggerheads over the future of Ukraine. One Western envoy said there had been no apparent spillover from the Ukraine situation on expert level talks between Iran and the powers - the United States, France, Germany, Britain, China and Russia - held two weeks ago.","Russia has withdrawn most troops from Ukraine border: U.S. official. Russia has withdrawn most of its troops from the Ukrainian border, but seven battalions, amounting to thousands of men, remain, a U.S. defense official said on Friday. U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, in Singapore to attend a weekend security conference, has called the withdrawal of thousands of Russian troops from the border a promising sign, but said all troops positioned there earlier this year needed to be moved back. Hagel, speaking earlier on the plane taking him on a trip to Asia and Europe, said it was known that \"thousands of Russian troops have been pulled back and are moving away. We also know that there are still thousands of Russian troops still there that have not yet moved.","Mark Duggan inquest can be challenged, judge rules. The mother of Mark Duggan, who was shot dead by police in north London sparking nationwide riots, has won her bid to challenge the inquest into his death. Pamela Duggan can apply for judicial review on the grounds that the coroner's direction to the jury in the inquest was \"arguably inadequate\", a High Court judge ruled Tuesday. The inquest jury at the Royal Courts of Justice concluded in January that police acted lawfully when they shot the 29-year-old in Tottenham, in August 2011. A police marksman fired at Duggan after officers stopped a taxi carrying the father-of-six, based on intelligence that he was armed with a gun.","Amanda Knox ex-lover throws doubt on her murder alibi. Amanda Knox's former lover threw doubt on her alibi for murder on Tuesday, saying a court ruling that found the pair guilty of killing a British student proved they were not together at the time of the crime. Raffaele Sollecito unveiled his new defence strategy as the pair prepare to appeal their convictions for the bloody murder of Knox's former roommate Meredith Kercher, found with her throat slit in the Italian university town of Perugia in 2007. The 30-year-old Sollecito said he had \"always believed, and still believe, that Amanda Marie Knox is innocent.\" \"The 25-year prison sentence given to me is based entirely on the statement written by Amanda Knox in pre-trial detention.","Murder plot charge against AC/DC drummer dropped, his lawyer says. A charge alleging that AC/DC drummer Phil Rudd was involved in a murder plot was dropped Friday after New Zealand authorities found there was insufficient evidence, his lawyer said. \"The charge alleging an attempt to procure murder should never have been laid,\" barrister Paul Mabey said in a statement.","Total oil company CEO dies in Moscow plane crash. MOSCOW (AP) — Russia's Tass news agency says the CEO of French oil giant Total SA was killed when his corporate jet collided with a snow removal machine during takeoff at Moscow's Vnukovo airport.","Haiti judge: US citizen faces trafficking charges. PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — A U.S. citizen and her Haitian mother face child-trafficking charges after they were caught carrying thousands of dollars in cash and running an adoption agency without a license, a Haitian official said Tuesday.","Airbus Group nine-month profits rise, keeps targets. PARIS (Reuters) - Airbus Group reported a 12 percent rise in nine-month underlying operating profit on Friday led by its planemaking and helicopter divisions, and reaffirmed its profit forecasts for the year. Europe's largest aerospace group said operating earnings before one-off items rose to 2.6 billion euros (3.23 billion US dollar) as revenue grew 4 percent. In the third quarter, Airbus Group posted operating profit of 744 million euros, up 14 percent, and flat sales. Analysts were on average predicting third-quarter operating profit up 1.7 percent and a 1. ...","Monaco fights back to secure 1-1 draw against PSG. PARIS (AP) — Paris Saint-Germain defender Thiago Silva turned the ball into his own net as Monaco fought back to draw 1-1 against the French league leaders in their table-topping clash on Sunday.","Witness of Syrian atrocities testifies in Congress. WASHINGTON (AP) — Images of emaciated corpses, slashed necks and ripped-open foreheads are on display at a remarkable hearing of the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee.","Ford shifting truck production from Mexico to US. AVON LAKE, Ohio (AP) — Ford Motor Co. is announcing that it will build its Ford F-650 and F-750 trucks at its assembly plant in Ohio.","Pedophile teacher abused dozens as clues missed. He was one of the most beloved teachers in the small world of international schools that serve the children of diplomats, well-off American expatriates and local elites. He was often the first to arrive in the morning, and the last to leave each day. He led students on class trips to exotic places, treating them to cookies and milk at bedtime.","Israel, Palestinian peace meet postponed after killing. Jerusalem (AFP) - A meeting between Israeli and Palestinian peace negotiators scheduled for Wednesday has been postponed, an official said, after a fatal shooting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu blamed on Palestinian leaders.","Qatar Airways to get three A380s in June, A350 on track. Qatar Airways will take delivery of its first three Airbus A380 aircraft in June and inaugurate its superjumbo services with a daily flight to London, Chief Executive Akbar Al Baker said on Wednesday. He also told a news conference in Berlin that planemaker Airbus was on schedule to deliver its first A350 to Qatar \"towards the end of this year\". Qatar Airways is the launch customer for Europe's new mid-sized passenger jet, with 80 A350s on order. It has also ordered 10 of the larger A380s and says it has a total of 300 Airbus and Boeing jets on order, including options.","Antigua leader calls for June general elections. ST. JOHN'S, Antigua (AP) — The leader of Antigua & Barbuda has called for general elections next month.","Scotland's pro-independence leader vows victory. LONDON (AP) — Scotland's pro-independence leader is insisting his campaign is headed for victory — one month before the historic Sept. 18 referendum.","Australian Catholic bishop accused of abusing boy. SYDNEY (AP) — A senior member of Australia's Catholic Church has stepped down from his post after being charged with sexually assaulting a student decades ago.","New hurricane forecast maps to show flood risk from storm surge. By Barbara Liston ORLANDO, Florida (Reuters) - When the Atlantic hurricane season opens June 1, national forecasters will roll out a new feature: color-coded and broadcast-ready maps to graphically show the potential for flooding from storm surges. \"We are not a storm surge savvy nation. Yet storm surge is responsible for over half the deaths in hurricanes. So you can see why we're motivated to try something new,\" said Jamie Rhome, storm surge specialist for the National Hurricane Center in Miami.","UK wants retrial of UK DJ acquitted of assault. LONDON (AP) — Veteran British radio and television personality Dave Lee Travis will appear in court again in March despite being cleared of a dozen counts of indecent assault earlier this month.","Death sentence given in AP photographer's killing. KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — A Kabul court announced Wednesday that the Afghan police officer charged with killing Associated Press photographer Anja Niedringhaus and wounding veteran AP correspondent Kathy Gannon has been convicted and sentenced to death.","Mayor shot to death in western Mexico. MEXICO CITY (AP) — The mayor of a small mountain town in western Mexico has been shot to death and authorities say a drug cartel appears to have been involved in the killing.","Officials: Ukraine airstrike kills civilians. SNIZHNE, Ukraine (AP) — An airstrike demolished an apartment block in eastern Ukraine on Tuesday, killing at least 11 civilians, regional officials said. The attack adds to the steadily growing number of civilians killed over four months in a dogged pro-Russian insurgency.","Mobilicity backers sue Canadian government for C$1.2 billion. By Alastair Sharp TORONTO (Reuters) - Quadrangle Group, a private equity backer of Mobilicity, said it had sued the Canadian government for C$1.2 billion ($1.1 billion), accusing it of reneging on pledges to help the small wireless provider compete against the country's biggest phone companies. New York-based Quadrangle filed a statement of claim in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice against Industry Canada on Friday, claiming negligence, misrepresentation, breach of contract and abuse of public office. The Canadian government did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Quadrangle and fellow Mobilicity investor Data & Audio-Visual Enterprises Investments Inc said in the lawsuit that they had put hundreds of millions of dollars in the new entrant to Canada's wireless industry after the government body assured it of favorable terms that were subsequently breached.","Markets on edge ahead of Yellen testimony. LONDON (AP) — Concerns over Ukraine ahead of comments from the U.S. Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen weighed on markets on Tuesday.","Kerry seeks Qatari, Turkish help to find Israeli soldier. By David Brunnstrom RAMSTEIN Germany (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, fearing an escalation of violence in Gaza, called on Turkey and Qatar on Friday to use their influence to secure the release of a kidnapped Israeli soldier whose abduction led to the breakdown of a short-lived ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. Kerry called Qatari Foreign Minister Khalid bin Mohammed al Attiyah and Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu soon after being told of the abduction and the killings of two Israeli soldiers by an aide while flying back from a visit to India. The incidents led to the quick breakdown of a ceasefire Kerry had worked hard to broker. “We have urged them, implored them to use their influence to try to get the release of that soldier,” a senior State Department official told reporters traveling with Kerry.","Macedonian president wins first round of election. SKOPJE, Macedonia (AP) — Macedonian President Gjorge Ivanov has emerged as the front-runner for a second term after taking the lead in the first round of presidential elections in the Balkan country.","Spinner Babar reduces Australia to 117-7 at lunch. DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Left-arm spinner Zulfiqar Babar brought Pakistan close to victory in the first test on Sunday by reducing Australia to 117-7 at lunch on the fifth and final day.","Students fight security forces in Egypt ahead vote. CAIRO (AP) — Hundreds of students supporting Egypt's ousted president are battling security forces at a main Cairo university — two days before a planned vote on a draft constitution.","Somali president wants waiver on arms embargo extended. By Edmund Blair and Aaron Maasho ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) - Somalia's president said he wanted the U.N. Security Council to extend a partial lifting of an arms embargo beyond its March expiry because Somali troops need more and better equipment to battle al Qaeda-aligned insurgents. President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud also said in an interview that he was working to improve public finances management after the resignation of two central bank governors last year rattled Western and other donors. The election by parliament in 2012 of Mohamud, a 58-year-old ex-academic, eased two decades of political chaos and conflict, first at the hands of feuding warlords and then al Shabaab militants who vow allegiance to al Qaeda. Since he took office, the battered capital has enjoyed a building boom, some Somalis who fled have returned and, in a sign of greater international confidence, the U.N. Security Council partially rescinded an embargo, letting Mogadishu import light arms for its army for one year until March 2014.","Italy's Renzi says four more dead recovered from ferry. ROME (Reuters) - Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi said on Monday that four more bodies had been recovered from the car ferry that caught fire off the coast of Greece, bringing the death toll to five. Renzi said during an end-year press conference that about 60 passengers remained on board more than 24 hours after the fire started and they would be brought to safety within \"a few hours\". Rescue efforts of the more than 470 passengers originally aboard the ship have been hampered by high winds and rough seas. (Reporting by Steve Scherer)","Wawrinka and Nishikori crash in Shanghai openers. Shanghai (AFP) - Australian Open champion Stan Wawrinka crashed out of his second successive tournament at the first hurdle Wednesday, losing his Shanghai Masters opener after squandering a 3-0 lead in the final set.","Cinderella to couture queen: meet Mouna Ayoub. GENNEVILLIERS, France (AP) — She emerges Venus-like out of a mist of hairspray with tousled hair, a shimmering 50,000-euro Chanel jacket and a 1,000-watt smile.","Crisis deepens at Co-op Group as director quits. LONDON (AP) — The man brought in to help fix Britain's Co-operative Group has resigned from its board after five months, deepening the crisis at one of the country's most venerable businesses.","Amanda Knox: A new name for the long list of the famous and infamous caught up in extradition. WASHINGTON - Roman Polanski. Edward Snowden. Manuel Noriega. Over the years, the famous and the infamous have been caught up in the legal process called extradition, which governs whether one country will turn over fugitives from justice to another country.","Oil spill ruling knocks BP shares to worst one-day loss since 2010. BP shares were set for their worst one-day fall on Thursday since June 2010 after a judge in the United States said the oil major had been negligent in events leading up to the 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. BP's drop is poised to be the worst single-day percentage fall since June 2010, a particularly volatile month for its shares which were hit by the fallout from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico earlier that year. \"Obviously the market’s not taken it well and it was a little bit unexpected but you would expect BP to appeal the level of the fines, the decision made,\" said Manoj Ladwa, head of trading at TJM Partners.","U.S. jury orders Takeda, Eli Lilly to pay $9 billion damages in Actos case: lawyer. (Reuters) - A U.S. jury ordered Takeda Pharmaceutical Co Ltd to pay $6 billion in punitive damages and Eli Lilly and Co to pay $3 billion in a case claiming that cancer risks to the diabetes drug Actos were concealed, the plaintiffs' lawyer said. The lawyer, Mark Lanier, said there was \"stunned silence\" in the packed courtroom following the announcement of the damages. The jury in Lafayette, Louisana also order the payment of $1.475 million in compensatory damages in the suit. Takeda's shares in Tokyo tumbled 8.4 percent to 4,415 yen following news of the verdict.","After Iraq gains, Qaeda offshoot claims Islamic \"caliphate\". By Sylvia Westall BEIRUT (Reuters) - An offshoot of al Qaeda which has seized territory in Iraq and Syria has declared itself an Islamic \"caliphate\" and called on factions worldwide to pledge their allegiance, a statement posted on Islamist websites and Twitter said on Sunday. The move poses a direct challenge to the central leadership of al Qaeda, which has disowned it, and to conservative Gulf Arab rulers who already view the group as a security threat. The group, previously known as the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and also known as ISIS, has renamed itself \"Islamic State\" and proclaimed its leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi as \"Caliph\" - the head of the state, the statement said.","Japan's embrace of Russia under threat with Ukraine crisis. By Aaron Sheldrick TOKYO (Reuters) - Russia's incursion into Ukraine is setting off alarm bells in Tokyo, where officials worry that any push by Japan's Western allies to impose economic penalties will undermine its drive to improve relations with Moscow. While U.S. President Barack Obama and other G7 leaders of advanced economies talk of sanctions or other punitive responses, Japanese officials say ties with Moscow remain on track. There has been no change in the direction of economic and resource diplomacy between Japan and Russia, Trade Minister Toshimitsu Motegi said on Tuesday.","2 killed in protests in Guinea over power cuts. CONAKRY, Guinea (AP) — Angry residents of Guinea's capital who have been without electricity for a week took to the streets to demand an end to the power cuts. At least two people were killed in the clashes, when security forces intervened to break up the demonstration.","Australian PM defends secrecy over border protection. Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott defended his government's secrecy over its border protection policy Thursday after reports that boats had been turned back to Indonesia and asylum-seekers mistreated. Under the conservative government's hardline Operation Sovereign Borders programme, officials refuse to discuss \"operational matters\". This has meant reports that at least one boat was forcibly turned or towed back to Indonesia, and that members of the Australian navy subjected those on board to verbal and physical mistreatment, have not been addressed in detail. The government has also refused to confirm or deny that it is planning to buy 16 hard-hulled lifeboats to ferry asylum-seekers to Indonesia, sparking claims from the Labor opposition that it is overseeing a \"Stalinist\"-style media blackout.","Paul McGinley: the man with the Ryder Cup formula. GLENEAGLES, Scotland (AP) — If there is a formula for Ryder Cup success, Paul McGinley is a mastermind who makes it work.","London shares dip as cooling Chinese economy weighs on miners. London shares ended slightly lower on Monday, with mining stocks weighing on the benchmark FTSE index after fresh data provided further evidence of a cooling Chinese economy. The FTSE closed 36.78 points -- or 0.56 percent -- down at 6,520.39 points, with miners Randgold Resources and Fresnillo the day's biggest fallers as one of the world's most resource-hungry markets showed signs of running out of steam.","JAL to buy 32 Mitsubishi Regional Jets, order 15 Embraer aircraft. TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan Airlines said on Thursday that it will buy as many as 32 Mitsubishi Regional Jets and will order 15 regional aircraft from Brazil's Embraer SA with options to purchase as many as 12 more. Japan Airlines in a release said it will deploy the MRJs on domestic routes from 2021. (Reporting by Tim Kelly; Editing by Ryan Woo)","Defying Russia, Georgia to host NATO training center: minister. By Margarita Antidze TBILISI (Reuters) - Georgia will not allow pressure from Russia to stop it hosting a NATO training center on its territory or deter its plans to deepen ties with the West, the former Soviet republic's defense minister said. The South Caucasus country of 4.5 million, crossed by pipelines that carry Caspian oil and gas from Azerbaijan to Europe, went to war with Russia in 2008 and remains wary of antagonizing Moscow as it tries to move further out of its orbit. \"Confrontation with Russia should be avoided. ...","World Cup subs make big impact right to the end. RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — At a World Cup where substitutes have made more impact than ever, it was fitting that Mario Goetze came off the bench to win it, and another replacement supplied the inch-perfect cross.","Spain Parliament backs king's abdication. MADRID (AP) — Spain's Parliament has voted overwhelmingly in favor of urgent government legislation allowing King Juan Carlos to abdicate this month and hand over his duties to Crown Prince Felipe.","Iran says nuclear deal to take effect January 20. Tehran (AFP) - Iran's foreign ministry said on Sunday that the landmark agreement the Islamic republic clinched with world powers on its disputed nuclear programme will take effect from January 20.","Netherlands records easy win over UAE. SYLHET, Bangladesh (AP) — Stephan Myburgh smashed a half century and medium fast bowler Ahsan Malik grabbed 3-16 in the Netherlands' convincing six-wicket win over United Arab Emirates in aWorld Twenty20 Group B match.","Ukraine death toll edges up despite ceasefire. By Gareth Jones and Aleksandar Vasovic KIEV/MARIUPOL Ukraine (Reuters) - Four Ukrainian servicemen have been killed since the start of a ceasefire between government forces and pro-Russian separatists last Friday in eastern Ukraine, a defense ministry official was quoted on Tuesday as saying. The ceasefire is part of a peace plan intended to end a five-month-old conflict the United Nations says has killed more than 3,000 people. It has also caused the sharpest confrontation between Russia and the West since the Cold War. ...","Weeks to replace injured Sio in Wallabies squad. SYDNEY (AP) — Scott Sio has been ruled out of Australia's squad for the opening Rugby Championship test against New Zealand due to an ankle injury, further depleting of the Wallabies' front-row depth.","River Plate moves into top spot in Argentina. BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — River Plate moved into top spot in the Argentine first division with a 1-0 win over Velez Sarsfield on Sunday.","4 civilians killed in artillery fire in Ukraine. MARYINKA, Ukraine (AP) — Artillery fire killed at least four people in an overnight attack on a residential area in eastern Ukraine, spurring more people to flee the besieged city of Donetsk and its suburbs on Saturday to take their chances elsewhere.","Two Ukrainian parties leave parliament coalition to trigger election. Two Ukrainian parties said on Thursday they had left a majority coalition in parliament to allow President Petro Poroshenko to call a new election and clear what one politician called \"Moscow agents\" from the chamber. Politicians and activists have complained that while Ukraine has a new president, it has yet to elect a new parliament since the toppling of pro-Russian leader Viktor Yanukovich in February, and accuse his supporters of hampering its work. \"We believe that in the current situation, such a parliament which protects state criminals, Moscow agents, which refuses to strip immunity from those people who are working for the Kremlin, should not exist,\" Oleh Tyahnybok, leader of the nationalist Svoboda party, told parliament. The Udar (Punch) party of former boxing champion Vitaly Klitschko - which along with Svoboda, the Batkivshchyna party and other deputies formed the majority coalition - also announced it was leaving the coalition.","Game of EU thrones nears finale. The EU's \"game of thrones\" is nearing an end after the naming of a new president and diplomatic chief, with the rest of the incoming Brussels regime set to be decided in coming weeks. Jean-Claude Juncker, the head of the EU's executive body, will unveil his new team in early September, aiming to strike a delicate balance of politics, geography and gender. The two top roles were filled on Saturday when Polish premier Donald Tusk was appointed president of the European Council -- which brings together the leaders of the 28 EU states -- and Italian Foreign Minister Federica Mogherini was named head of the foreign affairs service. France looks set to win the prized economic affairs job for its former finance minister Pierre Moscovici.","ECB leaves rates on hold as Ukraine crisis looms. FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — The European Central Bank has left its benchmark interest rate unchanged at a record low of 0.15 percent as the crisis in Ukraine casts a shadow over Europe's modest economic recovery.","U.N. Security Council passes resolution on foreign jihadists. United Nations (United States) (AFP) - US President Barack Obama on Wednesday led the UN Security Council in approving a resolution demanding that countries take action to stem the flow of foreign jihadists to Iraq and Syria.","UK police chief claims '4 or 5' terror plots foiled. London (AFP) - British police have foiled four or five suspected terror plots this year, the country's most senior police officer said Sunday ahead of a week-long campaign to enlist the public's help in countering the threat.","No. 6 Dolgopolov ousted from first round in Chile. VINA DEL MAR, Chile (AP) — Sixth-seeded Alexandr Dolgopolov of Ukraine was knocked out of the first round of the Royal Guard Open on Tuesday, losing to Daniel Gimeno-Traver of Spain 7-6 (4), 3-6, 7-5.","Donors pledge 1.8 billion euros for flood-stricken Balkan states. A conference of international donors pledged more than 1.8 billion euros ($2.43 billion) on Wednesday to help Bosnia and Serbia recover from devastating floods in May. The European Commission, the EU executive, said the conference had mobilized pledges of 809 million euros for Bosnia and 995 million euros for Serbia, plus 41 million euros for cross-border activities. Bosnia and Serbia belong to the same river basin, which requires efficient regional cooperation. In May, the heaviest rainfall in more than a century caused rivers in Bosnia, Serbia and Croatia to burst their banks, sweeping away roads, bridges and homes. The Commission's statement estimated damage and economic losses at around 2 billion euros in Bosnia and 1.5 billion euros in Serbia.","Duff, Riise among Fulham exits after relegation. London (AFP) - Damien Duff, John Arne Riise and Mahamadou Diarra were among the casualties of Fulham's relegation from the Premier League as the west London club announced a string of departures on Friday.","World markets slide anew on emerging markets. AMSTERDAM (AP) — After a strong Asian session and positive European open, world markets shifted course and fell Wednesday as jitters over the prospects for emerging economies resurfaced.","U.S. extends Keystone XL comment period, delaying final decision. By Patrick Rucker WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. State Department announced on Friday it is extending the government comment period on the Keystone XL pipeline, a move that likely postpones a final decision on the controversial project until after the November 4 mid-term elections. President Barack Obama has said he will make a final decision on whether to allow the pipeline connecting Canada's oil sands region to Texas refiners and several government agencies had been given until the end of May to weigh in. This had raised expectations of a final decision by mid-year.","Jamaica panel charges 3 more police with murders. KINGSTON, Jamaica (AP) — A commission that investigates abuses by Jamaica's security forces says three more police officers in a central parish have been charged with murder.","Pope issues blistering critique of Vatican bureaucracy. VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis has issued a blistering critique of the Vatican bureaucracy that serves him. He has denounced how some lust for power at the expense of others, live hypocritical double lives and suffer from \"spiritual Alzheimer's\" that has made them forget they're supposed to be joyful men of God.","Russia says latest U.S. sanctions over Ukraine have no logic: agency. MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said there is no logic in the latest round of U.S. sanctions on Russia and Washington's intensified trade restrictions will not change Moscow's stance on de-escalating the situation in eastern Ukraine. \"I see no logic in the United States' actions. Except, perhaps, an attempt to take revenge for its own failures in a number of regions, including with regard to Ukraine,\" Ryabkov told the RIA news agency in an interview. ...","Sharp considering sale of U.S. solar energy unit: Bloomberg. TOKYO (Reuters) - Sharp Corp is looking to sell its U.S.-based solar energy development unit Recurrent Energy, Bloomberg reported on Monday, as the Japanese firm winds down its involvement in the solar industry to focus on profitable businesses. Sharp paid $305 million in cash in 2010 to acquire Recurrent Energy. Selling the company now would help Sharp to raise capital as it struggles to raise its equity ratio to a healthy level. This year, Sharp shut down its UK solar plant and also pulled out of a venture with Italian energy firm Enel SpA to make solar panels and generate solar power. ...","Police attacked with grenade at Tunisian consulate in Libya. Gunmen fired a rocket-propelled grenade at a police car parked in front of the Tunisian consulate in Libya's eastern Benghazi city on Saturday, security officials said. Security officials said it was not clear whether the unknown gunmen had targeted the car, which had four officers inside, or the consulate. Tunisia is one of the last states still with a mission in Benghazi. Egypt withdrew its personnel last month from its Benghazi consulate and Tripoli embassy for security reasons.","Wanted: Media directors for ancient Chinese temple. BEIJING (AP) — Help wanted: Ancient Buddhist temple famed for its kung fu monks seeks media directors to build brand. English and social media skills required. Not necessary to be a monk, practice martial arts or eat vegetarian.","China turns hit reality TV show with celebrity fathers and their children into movie. BEIJING, China - Filmmakers in China are hoping a reality TV show-turned-movie will be a Chinese New Year box office smash. But will people pay to go to the cinema to see what they've been watching by the millions at home for free?","Israel law distinguishing Christian, Muslim Arabs draws fire. A new Israeli law giving Muslim and Christian Arab citizens separate representation on a national employment commission drew fire from the Palestinians on Tuesday. \"This law aims to create a new reality among our people based on religion and not national identity,\" Palestine Liberation Organisation executive committee member Hanan Ashrawi said in a statement. Israel's parliament on Monday passed into law a bill expanding the equal opportunities commission from five to 10 members, and giving separate seats for the first time to representatives of Christian and Muslim Arab workers' groups. They’re our natural allies, a counterweight to the Muslims who want to destroy the country from within,\" Haaretz daily quoted the bill's sponsor, Yariv Levin, of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud party, as saying.","Kurdish official appeals for weapons for Kobani. MURSITPINAR, Turkey (AP) — A Syrian Kurdish official is calling on the international community to allow weapons into the border town of Kobani for the fight against Islamic State militants.","New Canada aid for auto sector not just for Chrysler: minister. The additional C$500 million in subsidies for the Canadian auto sector announced by the Canadian government is not aimed solely at Chrysler Group, which recently requested funding, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said on Wednesday. \"The money that's been set aside in the Auto Innovation Fund is not just for Chrysler, it's for some of the other automotive companies in Canada,\" Flaherty told reporters.","China defies U.S. call to stop island project in South China Sea. BEIJING (Reuters) - China on Monday hit back at \"irresponsible remarks\" from the United States which has called on Beijing to stop a land reclamation project in the disputed South China Sea that could be large enough to accommodate an airstrip. China lays claim to almost all of the entire South China Sea, believed to be rich with minerals and oil-and-gas deposits and one of Asia's biggest possible flashpoints. Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Vietnam and Taiwan also have claims. ...","5 Brazil players to watch at the World Cup. SAO PAULO (AP) — Playing at home, Brazil will be attracting more attention than usual at the World Cup.","Three dead in Egypt clashes. Three people were killed in Egypt Friday in clashes between supporters and opponents of deposed president Mohamed Morsi, and police arrested dozens of Islamists across the country, security officials said. A police officer said a street vendor was shot dead in clashes between Morsi's Islamist supporters and civilian opponents in the Mediterranean city of Alexandria. Police arrested the shooter and identified him as a member of Morsi's banned Muslim Brotherhood, the officer said, adding that 25 demonstrators were also rounded up. Two people were also killed in the canal city of Suez where clashes broke out between Brotherhood supporters, police and residents opposed to the Islamists, medics and security officials said.","Asia markets mixed, Australia touches 6-year high. HONG KONG (AP) — Asian stocks were mixed Tuesday, with Australia's benchmark briefly touching a six-year high while other markets lacked a clear focus as investors stayed on the sidelines ahead of a number of economic data reports later this week.","Thai PM to visit Myanmar on first official trip. Bangkok (AFP) - Thailand's coup leader and premier Prayut Chan-O-Cha will visit Myanmar on his first official overseas trip, an official said Friday, as the junta seeks to strengthen ties with its former military-ruled neighbour.","Officials meet over troubled African Cup. CAIRO (AP) — African football officials are meeting in Egypt over the troubled African Cup of Nations tournament after Morocco refused to host it early next year because of Ebola.","Islamic State claims beheading of British hostage: SITE. The Islamic State jihadist group claimed Saturday it beheaded British aid worker David Haines, in what would be the third such execution in recent weeks, after two US journalists were shown murdered. The Islamist group released a video, available on the website of private terrorism monitoring group SITE, purportedly showing a masked militant beheading Haines. The two-minute-27-second video titled \"A Message to the Allies of America\" blames British Prime Minister David Cameron for joining forces with the United States, which has said it is at \"war\" with the jihadists and launched air strikes against them in Iraq. \"You entered voluntarily into a coalition with the United States against the Islamic State, just as your predecessor Tony Blair did, following a trend amongst our British prime ministers who can't find the courage to say no to the Americans,\" the executioner says in the video.","Chile: Bachelet's approval rating drops to new low. SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) — The approval ratings of Chilean President Michelle Bachelet have dropped to a new low.","Palestinian killed by Israeli fire on Gaza border: medics. Gaza City (Palestinian Territories) (AFP) - Israeli troops shot dead a Palestinian man near the border fence in the northern Gaza Strip on Thursday, the Gaza health ministry said. \"Ibrahim Suleiman Mansur, 26, died after he was shot by Israeli occupation forces while he was collecting gravel... east of Gaza City,\" ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qudra told AFP. The Israeli army said the man had been seen behaving suspiciously in a restricted area close to the border fence, where explosive devices had been detonated close to troops since the beginning of this year.","French defence chief urges crackdown on C.Africa militias. French Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian on Tuesday called on the international forces deployed in the restive Central African Republic to put an end to brutal attacks by the country's militias, \"by force if needed\". \"All militias, who continue to be involved in mob violence and commit murder, must stop,\" Le Drian said during a visit to Brazzaville in neighbouring Congo. French troops and the African Union-led MISCA mission in the Central African Republic (CAR) must \"implement the UN resolutions, by force if needed\", he added. CAR, a former French colony, descended into chaos last March after rebels overthrew the government, sparking deadly Christian-Muslim violence that has uprooted a million people out of a population of 4.6 million.","Putin meets with North Korean leader's envoy. MOSCOW (AP) — The Kremlin says that President Vladimir Putin has met with a special envoy of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.","S. Africa spinners eye hard-hitting Australia in tri-series. South Africa will look to extract an advantage from their superior spin options when they take on a hard-hitting Australian side in the second match of a triangular series in Harare on Wednesday. Number one-ranked Australia issued a statement of intent on Monday when they crushed Zimbabwe by 198 runs in the series opener, exhibiting a greater degree of ruthlessness than South Africa did in winning a three-match one-day series against the hosts in Bulawayo last week. Australia showed Zimbabwe no respect in hammering 147 runs in the final 10 overs to rack up 350 for six on a slow wicket, proving that their big-hitting middle order can be particularly difficult to contain.","Bundesliga clubs reject goal-line technology. FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — Bundesliga clubs have rejected a proposal to introduce goal-line technology.","Crusaders claim referee apology for costly Super final ruling. New Zealand rugby is claiming its second referee apology in a week, with Craig Joubert said to have admitted he was wrong with a ruling that probably cost the Canterbury Crusaders the Super 15 crown. The NSW Waratahs won a tense final three weeks ago in Sydney 33-32, with the winning points coming from a penalty when flanker Richie McCaw was penalised for entering a ruck from the side with a minute remaining in the match. Had the kick missed, the Crusaders would have had possession and would have been unlikely to yield their 32-29 lead with time almost up. The contentious ruling has been widely debated since the final, with former top South African referee Jonathan Kaplan writing on his blog that the final penalty was \"incorrect\" and \"the Crusaders would have reason to feel a little hard done by\".","Alibaba close to deciding on New York as IPO venue - FT. Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding is \"95 percent certain\" to choose New York as the venue for its initial public offering, the Financial Times reported on Thursday, citing unnamed sources close to the deal. The company is no longer discussing a potential listing in Hong Kong, the newspaper added, citing the sources. Alibaba declined immediate comment on the planned IPO, which analysts have estimated could be worth more than $15 billion. The company's listing venue has been up in the air since last year, after Hong Kong regulators refused to bend on their one share-one vote stance.","Controversies involving Mario Balotelli. A football bad boy or just a youngster having some fun?","Warily, U.S. learns to live with more muscular Iran role in Iraq. By Phil Stewart and Warren Strobel WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States and Iran, which dueled viciously over Iraq during the years of U.S. occupation, suddenly seem to be working in tandem as they confront what both see as a common, even mortal enemy: Islamic State. Air strikes by Iran inside Iraq in recent days are only the latest manifestation of an increasingly muscular role by Tehran in Baghdad's war against Sunni militants. During the administration of George W. Bush, such actions would be denounced as meddling. Not now. ...","Robredo beats Isner in straight sets at Valencia. VALENCIA, Spain (AP) — Tommy Robredo advanced to the second round of the Valencia Open by beating fifth-seeded John Isner 7-6 (3), 6-3 Tuesday.","Rugby-South Africa team to play Australia in Rugby Championship. MELBOURNE, Sept 3 (Reuters) - South Africa coach Heyneke Meyer named the following team on Wednesday to play Australia in a Rugby Championship test in Perth on Saturday. ...","Syria's Assad replaces provincial governors in conflict zones. BEIRUT (Reuters) - President Bashar al-Assad has replaced five provincial governors, including some overseeing regions that include major fronts in Syria's civil war, state media said on Wednesday. The state news agency said Assad had shuffled governors of Aleppo and Idlib provinces in the north - both partly controlled by rebels and the site of frequent fighting - and in Quneitra in the south and the coastal provinces of Tartous and Latakia. ...","Zaccheroni challenges Japan to show mettle. Japan coach Alberto Zaccheroni challenged his players on Saturday to rediscover their best form as they prepare to battle to salvage their World Cup dream, scrapping training to give them a rest. The Asian champions lost their first match 2-1 to Ivory Coast and were involved in a drab 0-0 stalemate with 10-man Greece in their second, leaving them not in control of their destiny. Colombia have six points after two victories, with Ivory Coast second in Group C on three points. Japan and Greece both have a single point, though the Europeans have an inferior goal difference.","Suicide car bomb targets Libya parliament. CAIRO (AP) — A Libyan lawmaker says a suicide car bomber has rammed his vehicle into the outer gate of the headquarters of the internationally recognized parliament.","BRAZIL BEAT: Match day finally here at World Cup. RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — More than five hours before the World Cup kicked off, hundreds of fans were already lining up outside the Fan Fest space on Rio's Copacabana beach.","Sharapova wins 1st set 6-4 in French Open final. PARIS (AP) — Maria Sharapova overcame some shaky serving Saturday to win the first set 6-4 in the French Open final against Simona Halep.","Poroshenko says ceasefire in Ukraine is now 'real'. President Petro Poroshenko on Friday said a \"real\" ceasefire was in place in Ukraine after the first 24 hours in seven months without a military casualty, although he admitted the truce was fragile. Today is the first 24 hours for seven months... when we have a real ceasefire in Ukraine,\" he said in a speech during a trip to Australia. The ceasefire with pro-Russian rebels was introduced on Tuesday in the hope of ending an eight-month conflict that has claimed at least 4,300 lives and displaced close to one million people, according to United Nations figures. A Ukrainian military spokesman said on Thursday that three soldiers were killed and eight injured in the day preceding his comments.","Thai CPF gets orders from McDonald's Japan after food scare in China. Charoen Pokphand Foods Pcl , Thailand's largest meat and animal feed producer, said on Monday its business was booming, especially after it was approached by McDonald's Holding Co (Japan) to supply chicken products after a food scare in China. Strong demand for exports, especially from Japan and Russia, had boosted domestic meat prices and that could help the company post revenue growth of 15 percent this year, higher than its target of 10 percent, said president and CEO Adirek Sripratak.","Cricket-Watson's selection no longer elementary for Australia. By Ian Ransom MELBOURNE, Feb 19 (Reuters) - The perennial fitness battles of Shane Watson are likely to rule the all-rounder out of Australia's second test against South Africa. Watson's unique ability to hog the spotlight whether playing or languishing injured on the sidelines may be unmatched in test cricket, but another win for Australia in Port Elizabeth could put the 32-year-old's career at a cross-roads. Struggling to recover from yet another calf injury, Watson trained apart from the team on Tuesday. One of the game's great survivors, the barrel-chested Queenslander has clawed his way back into the team after each breakdown, but his place in Michael Clarke's team has rarely seemed so precarious.","Israeli minister slams Kerry's boycott warning. JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel's economics minister is slamming U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry for warning against a growing boycott movement against the Jewish state should peace talks fail.","Uganda holds 6 terror suspects, seizes explosives. KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) — A Uganda military spokesman says six terror suspects were arrested over the weekend in a raid on an al-Shabab cell that was apparently plotting an attack in this East African country.","Syria 'ready to participate' in Moscow peace talks. BEIRUT (AP) — Syrian state media says the government is prepared to attend peace talks that Moscow plans to hold next month.","Germany's Lufthansa plans long-haul budget airline. BERLIN (AP) — Germany's Lufthansa says it plans to expand its budget airline operation to offer long-haul flights, possibly in cooperation with Turkish Airlines.","Putin inner circle target of US, Europe sanctions. WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama ordered economic sanctions against nearly two dozen members of Vladimir Putin's inner circle and a major Russian bank that provides them support and he warned that more sweeping penalties against Russia's robust energy sector could follow.","Man who threatened Prince Harry's life sentenced to 3 years in prison. LONDON - A man who threatened the life of Prince Harry has been sentenced to three years in prison.","Canadian homebuilders look south, bet on U.S. housing recovery. Overheating worries at home are driving Canada's homebuilders south of the border where they buy up rural land, betting on a recovery in the U.S. Homebuilders such as Mattamy Homes and Brookfield Residential Properties Inc are buying undeveloped land in Florida, Texas and other states where prices tumbled during the global financial crisis and remain well below pre-crisis levels. The companies said that by moving now they give themselves enough time to prepare the land and build homes so they will be ready for sale once the U.S.","Asia stocks steady after Wall Street rally, dollar off peaks. By Shinichi Saoshiro TOKYO (Reuters) - Asian stocks were mostly steady on Tuesday, halting the previous day's slide after Wall Street rallied on upbeat earnings and relief over Portugal's rescue of its largest listed bank, while lower bond yields kept the dollar away from recent peaks. U.S. stocks rallied on Monday, lifted by Portugal's decision to rescue Banco Espirito Santo and earnings from Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway . \"If the RBA maintains a cautious tone, it could renew the decline in AUD but if the statement sounds more balanced the currency will extend its relief rally,\" Kathy Lien, managing director for BK Asset Management, said in a note to clients. The Australian dollar held steady at $0.9333, having bounced sharply on Monday from a two-month low $0.9275 touched last week after a surprisingly large increase in Australian retail sales.","Wide gap between New Delhi, Beijing smog policies. NEW DELHI (AP) — Think twice before taking a deep breath in New Delhi, where worsening air pollution has drawn comparisons with Beijing, the world's pollution poster child.","Syria election campaign to start Sunday. Campaigning for Syria's June 3 presidential election expected to return Bashar al-Assad to power begins on Sunday, the Supreme Constitutional Court said. It confirmed Saturday that the three candidates -- Assad, Maher Abdel Hafiz Hajjar and Hassan Abdullah al-Nuri -- can \\\\\"launch their election campaign from Sunday,\\\\\" state news agency SANA reported. The presidential election is theoretically Syria's first in more than half a century, as Assad and his father Hafez, who ruled with an iron grip from 1970 until his death in 2000, were named after referendums.","Lawyer: Congressman Grimm to face federal charges. NEW YORK (AP) — Republican U.S. Rep. Michael Grimm, who has been dogged by allegations of campaign violations since his first campaign for Congress in 2009 and 2010, is facing criminal charges from federal prosecutors, his lawyer said on Friday.","Bombs kill 6 Pakistani police guarding polio teams. PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — A double bombing struck convoys of tribal police assigned to guard polio workers in a northwest Pakistan on Saturday, killing six of them, police said.","Manila court enters not-guilty plea for senator. MANILA, Philippines (AP) — A Philippine court has entered a not-guilty plea for a senator and dictatorship-era martial law enforcer who has been detained on charges of economic plunder with two other prominent colleagues.","UN chief: Hillary Clinton is a champion for women. UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is calling former U.S. secretary of state Hillary Clinton a \"champion of women's rights and girl's rights\" and says she will play an important role in next year's 20th anniversary celebration of the U.N. women's conference in Beijing.","Ukraine rebel city of Lugansk on verge of 'humanitarian catastrophe'. The insurgent stronghold of Lugansk in eastern Ukraine is on the verge a humanitarian catastrophe, the mayor warned Saturday, as a siege by government troops has seen water, electricity and food supplies cut off. The hub of some 420,000 people, the second largest rebel-controlled city after Donetsk, has seen almost daily shelling claim the lives of scores of civilians as Ukraine's military tightens its grip on pro-Russian fighters hunkering down there. \"What is happening in Lugansk today... is a real war that has already taken the lives of over 100 peaceful citizens,\" the office of mayor Sergiy Kravchenko said in a statement. Seized by rebels in April at the start of a brutal conflict that has now claimed over 1,150 lives, the city close to the Russian border has now seen its water and electricity cut off and Internet and telephone connection severed, the city administration said.","Ukraine's Poroshenko says U.S. supports international humanitarian effort. KIEV (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama has lent his support to Ukraine's initiative for an international aid mission to the city of Luhansk under the aegis of the Red Cross and with the participation of the European Union, Russia, Germany and other countries, the Ukrainian presidential press service said on Monday. Obama expressed his support in a phone call with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, it said. (Writing By Richard Balmforth; editing by Andrew Roche)","Islamic State vows to 'break the American cross'. Islamic State, the Sunni militant group which seeks to establish a caliphate in parts of Iraq and Syria, released a video on Tuesday that gave the strongest indication yet it might attempt to strike American targets. The video with the theme \"breaking of the American cross\" boasts Islamic State will emerge victorious over \"crusader\" America. It follows a video posted on Monday warning of attacks on American targets if Washington struck against its fighters in Iraq and Syria. The latest footage speaks of a holy war between the al-Qaeda offshoot and the United States, which occupied Iraq for nearly a dacade and faced stiff resistance from al Qaeda.","Tropical Storm Simon expected to become hurricane. MIAMI (AP) — Tropical Storm Simon is expected to become a hurricane as it swirls in the Pacific off the coast of Mexico.","Russia 6, Japan 3 in women's hockey consolations. SOCHI, Russia (AP) — Galina Skiba scored twice, including the tie-breaking goal in the second period, to help Russia beat Japan 6-3 on Sunday and earn a spot in the Olympic women's hockey fifth-place game.","Exclusive: Chad says Nigeria deal with Boko Haram to free girls is still on. N'DJAMENA (Reuters) - Chad said it believed Nigeria's secret deal with Boko Haram Islamists to free more than 200 kidnapped schoolgirls would go ahead despite the breakdown of a truce, and added the key to the agreement was a prisoner swap. \"Quite possibly, those that are fighting are dissidents that even they aren't able to control. So far, there is no reason for others to doubt this agreement,\" Moussa Mahamat Dago, the No. 2 at Chad's foreign ministry, told Reuters late on Thursday. \"The starting condition of Boko Haram was the liberation of some of their members ... ...","RFU opens probe into alleged abuse of gay referee. LONDON (AP) — England's Rugby Football Union is investigating allegations of anti-gay abuse aimed at referee Nigel Owens during last weekend's test match between England and New Zealand.","Moyes admits United need new blood. Manchester (United Kingdom) (AFP) - David Moyes, the increasingly beleaguered Manchester United manager, admits he urgently needs to buy new players in the January transfer window but confesses that it may not be possible to do so. The Scotsman was talking in the wake of another major disappointment for his club as United, record 11-times winners of the FA Cup, were knocked out at home in the third round by Swansea. The 2-1 defeat marked United's fourth home loss in their last six games at Old Trafford and just the second time in 29 years that the club has been knocked out in the third round of the competition. Moyes only brought in Marouane Fellaini, from his former club Everton, after taking over at Old Trafford in the summer and with every growing setback, pressure is mounting on him to improve a squad that is looking well beyond par and which was without seven injured first team players on Sunday.","Ousted Thai PM indicted over rice subsidy scheme. BANGKOK (AP) — Thailand's anti-graft commission indicted ousted Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra on Thursday on charges of dereliction of duty in overseeing a widely criticized rice subsidy program, a day after a court forced her from office.","U.S. judge says RBC liable in Rural/Metro buyout case. A Delaware judge said Royal Bank of Canada should be held liable to former shareholders of Rural/Metro Corp because it failed to disclose conflicts of interest that tainted the $438 million buyout of the ambulance operator. Bankers at RBC Capital Markets were so eager to collect higher fees that they convinced Rural/Metro directors to sell the company in June 2011 to private equity firm Warburg Pincus LLC at an unreasonably low $17.25 per share, wrote Vice Chancellor J. Travis Laster of the Delaware Chancery Court. Former Rural/Metro Corp shareholders are seeking about $172 million from Toronto-based RBC, representing the difference between the buyout price and what they believe the company was worth, according to published reports.","F1 leader Rosberg signs new Mercedes deal. BRACKLEY, England (AP) — Formula One championship leader Nico Rosberg has signed a new contract with the team.","New Brazil law shores up domestic workers' rights. RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — A new law in Brazil provides fines against employers who fail to legally register their domestic workers.","HRW urges Polisario to respect Sahrawi refugee rights. Algiers (AFP) - Human Rights Watch has urged the Western Sahara's Polisario Front to make more of an effort to ensure respect for human rights in refugee camps the pro-independence group runs in the Algerian desert.","Asia, Europe ready to tee off in 1st EurAsia Cup. KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Thongchai Jaidee is confident his Asia team will not be overawed by its more illustrious European opposition when the inaugural EurAsia Cup gets underway at Glenmarie Golf and Country Club on Thursday.","Romanian foreign minister resigns in election row. BUCHAREST (Reuters) - Romania's foreign minister resigned on Monday, a day after thousands of people rallied in support of compatriots living abroad who were turned away as they tried to vote in the first round of a presidential election. Titus Corlatean, who was told by leftist Prime Minister Victor Ponta to ensure a Nov. 16 runoff vote runs smoothly or risk losing his job, said on Saturday there would be more voting booths abroad but no increase in the number of polling stations. ...","BoE's Carney ties rate rise to sustainable growth in jobs, incomes. The Bank of England will only start to increase interest rates when the economy is operating at closer to full capacity, central bank governor Mark Carney said in an interview broadcast on Sunday. \"The path of monetary policy, the path of interest rates is going to be calibrated very carefully to ensure that only when we see sustainable growth in jobs, in incomes and in spending, will we make adjustments,\" he told the BBC. On Wednesday the BoE said it would look at a broader range of measures of slack in the economy than just the unemployment rate when considering whether to raise borrowing costs.","Simpson-Daniel extends Gloucester rugby stay. Former England wing James Simpson-Daniel is one of five players to have extended their contracts at Gloucester, the English Premiership club announced on Thursday. The 31-year-old, who is currently sidelined by an ankle injury, has turned down opportunities to join France's money-spinning Top 14 in favour of extending his 13-year career at Gloucester. He joins Charlie Sharples, Elliott Stooke, Darren Dawidiuk and Shaun Knight, who have also signed new contracts with the Kingsholm outfit. \"I'm delighted they have committed their futures to Gloucester,\" rugby director Nigel Davies told the club's website.","Mayer wins downhill, Svindal takes overall lead. LENZERHEIDE, Switzerland (AP) — Aksel Lund Svindal retook the lead in the overall World Cup standings on Wednesday by placing fifth in a downhill race won by Olympic champion Matthias Mayer of Austria.","Nigeria military rejects Boko Haram jet, execution claims. Lagos (AFP) - Nigeria's military on Friday dismissed claims that a man beheaded by Boko Haram fighters in the group's latest video was an air force pilot in a fighter jet that went missing three weeks ago.","Oil rises amid hopes of solid gain in US hiring. The price of oil crept up to near $102 a barrel Friday as expectations rose for a solid increase in U.S. employment.","India captain Dhoni blamed for England debacle. NEW DELHI (AP) — Mahendra Singh Dhoni's captaincy has come under increasing scrutiny with many former cricketers blaming him for India's 3-1 test series defeat in England.","ECB policymaker: bank tests may be too tough. BERLIN (AP) — A European Central Bank policymaker is voicing concern that Europe may be too tough on banks as they undergo \"stress tests\" to measure their financial resilience.","Iranian senior commander killed in Iraq. TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran's Revolutionary Guard says one of its senior commanders was killed during a battle against the Islamic State extremist group in Iraq.","Soco, WWF strike deal to halt oil drive in Africa's oldest park. Environmental campaigners WWF and oil exploration firm Soco International announced on Wednesday that the British firm had agreed to halt its hunt for oil in part of Africa's oldest national park. In a joint statement, they said the WWF had in turn pledged not to pursue a complaint against Soco which it had filed with the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development. The two sides have locked horns over plans to tap oil in the Democratic Republic of Congo's Virunga park, home to 3,000 species including the endangered gorillas immortalised by the film \"Gorillas in the Mist\". \"Both parties look forward to working responsibly with the Democratic Republic of Congo and its people to ensure that future development benefits both people and the environment,\" Wednesday's statement said.","Premier League clubs' revenue hits new high. LONDON (AP) — The revenue generated by football clubs in the Premier League struck a record 2.53 billion pounds ($4.23 billion) in the 2012/13 season as the English topflight remained the world leader.","Suspected ETA member arrested in Germany. BERLIN (AP) — Authorities in Germany say they have arrested a suspected member of the Basque separatist group ETA who has been on the run since 2004.","US struggles to blunt Syria rebel anger at strikes. BEIRUT (AP) — The U.S. is struggling to counter anger among the Syrian opposition, where many believe that the air campaign against extremists in the country is only helping President Bashar Assad and that Washington is coordinating with Damascus, despite American insistence it backs the rebel cause.","Syria criticises exclusion from anti-jihadist talks. Damascus (AFP) - A senior Syrian official on Tuesday criticised the international community for excluding Damascus from recent talks on building a coalition to tackle the Islamic State group.","'Deluded' hostage-taker saw himself as a martyr. SYDNEY (AP) — He wrote letters to the grieving families of troops killed in Afghanistan that compared them to \"Hitler's soldiers.\" He was accused of assisting a woman kill his ex-wife, whose body was found stabbed and set alight.","Benghazi suspect pleads not guilty to murder counts. Washington (AFP) - A Libyan national accused of orchestrating the deadly 2012 attacks on the US mission in Benghazi pleaded not guilty Monday to new murder charges which carry the death penalty.","Pyeongchang's 2018 Olympic committee faced audit. SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — The organizing committee for the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang has been under investigation over its preparations for the games, South Korean officials said Tuesday.","Kerry meets Netanyahu again in an effort to revive peace talks. By Lesley Wroughton JERUSALEM (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for the second time in less than 12 hours on Tuesday in an effort salvage stalled peace talks with the Palestinians. Kerry broke into his travel schedule on Monday for a flying visit to Jerusalem and headed back to Europe again after his early morning discussions with Netanyahu. There was no immediate word of any breakthrough and a Palestinian official said Kerry might return to the region once more late Wednesday to see Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. The negotiations appeared on the brink of collapse at the weekend, when Israel failed to press ahead with a promised release of several dozen Palestinian prisoners.","Brazil upbeat against weakened Spain in Davis Cup. SAO PAULO (AP) — The absence of Rafael Nadal and David Ferrer gives Brazil extra confidence heading into the World Group playoff against Spain in the Davis Cup.","UN urges Iraq security forces to stay out of political transition. The Iraqi security forces should not get in the way of the political transition, the UN warned Monday after the president named an alternative to Nuri al-Maliki as prime minister. \"The Iraqi security forces should refrain from actions that may be seen as interference in matters related to the democratic transfer of political authority,\" top UN envoy in Iraq Nickolay Mladenov said.","Israel says it's extending Gaza truce for 24 hours. BEIT HANOUN, Gaza Strip (AP) — Hamas resumed rocket fire Saturday on Israel after rejecting Israel's offer to extend a humanitarian cease-fire, the latest setback in international efforts to negotiate an end to the Gaza war.","Leader of Syrian militant group challenges rivals. CAIRO (AP) — The leader of a powerful al-Qaida-linked jihadi group in Syria has given a rival al-Qaida breakaway a five-day ultimatum to seek arbitration by leading clerics or be expelled from the region.","Ireland line up another southern scalp. DUBLIN (AP) — Ireland rugby has enjoyed plenty of heady days. Even a great year. Then it's over, all too quickly.","Iraq mortar attack 'kills 11'. Hilla (Iraq) (AFP) - Three mortar rounds struck the Mussayib area south of Baghdad on Thursday, killing 11 people, police and a doctor said. A car bomb killed one person in Mussayib on Tuesday, one of 10 such blasts to hit central Iraq that day. And all of one city west of Baghdad and part of another have been held by anti-government fighters for weeks.","Palestinians seek action against Israel over detainees. Ramallah (Palestinian Territories) (AFP) - A senior Palestinian official has called for international action against Israel over the detention without charge of more than 100 Palestinians who have been on a long-term hunger strike. \"I am writing on behalf of the Palestine Liberation Organisation and president Mahmud Abbas to request your immediate intervention on behalf of the approximately 130 Palestinian detainees and prisoners currently on hunger strike in Israeli prisons,\" Saeb Erakat said in a letter obtained by AFP Wednesday. \"We call on you to call on Israel to annul the policy of administrative detention and to condition deepening your bilateral ties with Israel pending Israel's fulfilment of all its obligations,\" he wrote in English.","US official downplays Cuba's invitation to summit. PANAMA CITY (AP) — A senior State Department official says the U.S. is prepared to welcome Cuba for the first time to a region-wide summit but wants heads of state to focus attention on the communist government's human rights record.","Defensive Chelsea holds Atletico in scoreless draw. MADRID (AP) — Chelsea's defensive game plan proved too much for Atletico Madrid as they played out a 0-0 draw in the first leg of their Champions League semifinal on Tuesday.","Gunmen attack Johannesburg home of Rwanda's ex-general. Exiled Rwanda's ex-army boss Faustin Kayumba Nyamwasa, who was shot in 2010, has survived another assassination attempt at his South African house this week, an opposition party said Thursday. A group of armed men stormed Nyamwasa's house in southeastern Johannesburg overnight Monday to Tuesday \"looking for him\". \"General Nyamwasa and his family survived because at the time of the attack they were not in the house,\" the Rwanda National Congress (RNC) said in a statement. The party \"has no doubt that those who have always attempted to get rid of General Nyamwasa may also be behind the attack.\"","French national facing drug charges in Jamaica. KINGSTON, Jamaica (AP) — Police in Jamaica say a French woman has been arrested at an island airport and charged with attempting to smuggle cocaine.","Neymar says back improving during Japan trip. TOKYO (AP) — Showing no sign of the back injury that knocked him out of the World Cup, Neymar says he is feeling better and looking forward to the start of the Spanish season with Barcelona.","Bolivia's Morales elected to third term: exit polls. La Paz (AFP) - Bolivian President Evo Morales was elected to a third term with more than 60 percent of the vote, avoiding a runoff against a divided opposition, exit polls said.","Spurs' Vertonghen looks beyond Newcastle horizon. If footballers are supposed to \"take one game at a time,\" then Jan Vertonghen risks angering Tottenham Hotspur manager Tim Sherwood by looking well beyond Wednesday trip's to face Newcastle United. Instead Vertonghen has already identified the clash with Liverpool next month as the defining game of Tottenham's season. The weekend victory over Everton moved Sherwood's side back up to fifth where they sit three points behind Liverpool in fourth spot ahead of the latest round of matches. That has revived Spurs' hopes of forcing their way into the top four and claiming a place in next season's Champions League.","First census of Mexico's schools finds problems. MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexican officials say the first census of the country's education system found at least a third of public schools have infrastructure problems and there are thousands of school workers who can't be identified.","India-Pakistan friction at summit slows South Asia integration. By Gopal Sharma and Frank Jack Daniel KATHMANDU (Reuters) - South Asian leaders from Afghanistan to the Maldives met in Kathmandu on Wednesday for a summit that was undermined by traditional bickering between rivals Pakistan and India. In Nepal, India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi was due to hold two-way talks with every country in the volatile region except Pakistan, as neither neighbor is ready to seek talks to reduce tension between the nuclear-armed states. ...","Suicide bomber kills at least 13 in Afghanistan. KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — An Afghan official says a suicide bomber riding a rickshaw has blown himself up at a market, killing at least 13 civilians in northern Afghanistan.","Afellay joins Olympiakos on loan from Barcelona. BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Barcelona says it has agreed to loan Dutch midfielder Ibrahim Afellay to Greek champion Olympiakos for one season.","China's 2013 economic cooldown marks shift to less heady growth. China's economy likely grew in 2013 at its weakest rate in 14 years due to a deceleration in the fourth quarter as a result of flagging investment and demand, heralding more sober times ahead. Analysts say the world's second biggest economy could cool further as China's efforts to increase domestic consumption at the expense of exports and investment gather pace this year. The fourth quarter gross domestic product (GDP) data is due to be released at 10 a.m. (0200 GMT). \"It is still hard for consumption to pick up the slack from investment and exports.\" After 30 years of sizzling double-digit economic growth that lifted many millions of Chinese out of poverty but also devastated the environment, China wants to change tack by embracing sustainable and higher-quality development instead.","Chinese sneaker factory workers go on strike. HONG KONG (AP) — Workers at a Chinese factory owned by the world's largest maker of athletic footwear are striking in a dispute over benefits.","Romania premier fires official over plane rescue. BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) — Responding to public anger over the delayed response to a plane crash, Romania's prime minister dismissed a senior Interior Ministry official Wednesday while the heads of the country's air traffic control and emergency services resigned.","Hundreds mourn AP video journalist killed in Gaza. PITIGLIANO, Italy (AP) — Several hundred mourners packed the ornate cathedral of this hilltop Tuscan town on Friday to remember Associated Press video journalist Simone Camilli as a committed storyteller who had found personal and professional contentment in the Middle East.","More Brazil police patrol Rio ahead of World Cup. RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Increasing assaults in this city that will host several matches during next month's World Cup forced officials to implement part of a security plan early and put an extra 2,000 police in the street starting Monday.","Crimean Tatars condemn ban on rally to mark Stalin's persecution. By Denis Dyomkin and Alexander Winning SOCHI, Russia/SIMFEROPOL, Crimea (Reuters) - A Crimean Tatar leader condemned as \"inhuman\" an official ban on commemorations of Stalin's persecution of Tatars - hours after Russian President Vladimir Putin promised to help the ethnic group. Crimean Prime Minister Sergei Aksyonov issued a decree on Friday banning all mass gatherings in the region, annexed by Russia in March from Ukraine, until June 6. He cited violence in southeast Ukraine as the reason. The Mejlis, the Crimean Tatars' main representative body, had planned to hold a rally in regional capital Simferopol on May 18, the date Soviet deportations of Tatar families began in 1944.","Russia's embattled ruble is 3.5 percent lower at the opening of trading in Moscow. MOSCOW (AP) — Russia's embattled ruble is 3.5 percent lower at the opening of trading in Moscow.","Beverly Hills becomes first in California to ban fracking. By Dana Feldman BEVERLY HILLS Calif. (Reuters) - City leaders in celebrity-filled Beverly Hills voted on Tuesday to ban fracking, becoming the first municipality in California to prohibit the controversial technique for extracting natural gas and oil from underground rock deposits. The unanimous vote by the Beverly Hills city council gives final approval to fracking ban, which was given the initial go-ahead by the panel last month. Beverly Hills is one of the nation's most affluent cities and is home to numerous luxury retailers, but it is not untouched by the oil industry. Oil drilling has for decades occurred at Beverly Hills High School, but the city council in 2011 voted to bring that to an end in 2016.","Toronto mayor says he'll seek help. TORONTO (AP) — Toronto Mayor Rob Ford will take a leave of absence to seek help for alcohol, he said Wednesday, as a report surfaced about a second video of the mayor smoking what appears to be crack cocaine.","Ahmed smashes 76no in Pakistan 7-wicket T20 win. DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Sarfraz Ahmed's rich batting form made for a smashing Twenty20 debut as he smacked an unbeaten 76 in leading Pakistan to a comprehensive seven-wicket victory against New Zealand on Thursday.","Lawmaker: Italian spy agency paid Mafia bosses. ROME (AP) — An Italian lawmaker has decried a secret arrangement in which intelligence agents paid imprisoned top Mafiosi for information during several of the years when Silvio Berlusconi was premier.","Famed Syrian storyteller's life upended by war. DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — For more than 20 years, the Storyteller of Damascus entertained crowds in a centuries-old cafe in the Syrian capital with long, poetic tales of Arab warriors and lovers, acting out scenes with his fists thumping and a sword that he'd swing and slam on a table.","Obama 'strongly condemns' killing of British citizen Islamic State. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama strongly condemned on Friday the killing of British citizen Alan Henning by Islamic State militants fighting in Iraq and Syria and said the United States would seek to bring his killers to justice. \"The United States strongly condemns the brutal murder of United Kingdom citizen Alan Henning\" by the Islamic State group, Obama said in a statement. ...","Lebanon launches plan to cope with Syria fallout. BEIRUT (AP) — Lebanon and the U.N. have launched a plan that calls for an estimated $2.1 billion to help the country cope with the fallout from the conflict in neighboring Syria.","Burger King to save millions in U.S. taxes in 'inversion': study. By Kevin Drawbaugh WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Fast food chain Burger King will avoid hundreds of millions of dollars in U.S. taxes if, as planned, it completes its pending buyout of Canadian coffee-and-doughnuts chain Tim Hortons, a tax activist group said on Thursday. In one of the most notable of several corporate tax \"inversion\" deals this year, Florida-based Burger King announced in late August it would buy Tim Hortons and put the headquarters of the combined company in Canada. U.S. ...","Oil prices drop in Asia on demand expectations. Oil prices fell in Asia on Thursday as expectations for reduced demand due to warmer weather outweighed a smaller-than-expected increase in U.S. oil supplies.","Philippines hit by quake of magnitude 5.6: USGS. SINGAPORE (Reuters) - An earthquake of magnitude 5.6 struck off the coast of the Philippine island of Luzon on Wednesday, around 400 km (250 miles) from Manila, the capital, the U.S. Geological Survey said. The quake at a depth of 77 km, hit at 1152 GMT. There were no immediate reports of casualties. (Reporting by Clarence Fernandez; Editing by Ron Popeski)","Bulgaria strips major bank of its license. SOFIA, Bulgaria (AP) — Bulgaria's central bank has stripped the country's fourth-biggest lender of its license and announced that it will launch bankruptcy proceedings against the bank.","Ukraine rebel commander says will not pull out of Donetsk. By Maria Tsvetkova DONETSK Ukraine (Reuters) - An enigmatic Russian leading separatist rebels in the eastern Ukrainian city of Donetsk made a rare appearance in public on Thursday to say he would not abandon the city though he defended his decision to pull out of the stronghold of Slaviansk. Igor Girkin, a Muscovite who has the nom de guerre of Igor Strelkov, has been criticized by some other rebel commanders for withdrawing from Slaviansk last weekend and allowing government forces to savor a major victory. Hundreds of his men headed south to Donetsk, the region's main industrial center, after the rout and are digging in now in the city of more than 900,000 people as government forces appear to be preparing a blockade to break their resistance.","Morocco relocation of migrants stirs 'crisis' warning. Rabat (Morocco) (AFP) - Rabat's policy of relocating sub-Saharan migrants, apparently under pressure from Spain to stem a surge in illegal border crossings, is creating a potential humanitarian crisis, according to NGOs. Within 48 hours of two massive attempts to storm the border fence into Spain's North African enclave of Melilla, six buses arrived early Saturday at the main coach station in Rabat, carrying about 300 illegal immigrants, an AFP journalist reported.","South Africa beats Sri Lanka by 153 runs. GALLE, Sri Lanka (AP) — Scores Sunday after South Africa defeated Sri Lanka by 153 runs in the first cricket test at the Galle International Stadium:","U.N. warns Burundi leaders against stoking political violence. By Michelle Nichols UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The United Nations warned on Thursday that Burundi leaders who have manipulated young people to stoke violence could face international prosecution if human rights abuses are committed. Planned constitutional amendments that could allow President Pierre Nkurunziza a third term and change power-sharing arrangements have stirred the worst political crisis in the east African country since a 12-year civil war ended in 2005. \"In light of Burundi's past, we trust that the government of Burundi will thoroughly and promptly address the ongoing political violence and restrictions to human rights,\" said Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's. \"Political violence has the potential to spark fear in the population and trigger large-scale violence,\" he said.","Arianespace launches satellite for Kazakhstan. KOUROU, French Guiana (AP) — The Arianespace consortium has successfully launched a rocket that lofted an Earth observation satellite for the Central Asian nation of Kazakhstan.","Saakashvili says he will not return to Georgia. TBILISI, Georgia (AP) — Georgia's former president, Mikhail Saakashvili, says he will not return to be questioned in the 2005 death of his prime minister and other cases.","SOCHI SCENE: Homemade track. KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia (AP) — Tucker West's long slide to the Olympics began on a luge track his dad built in their backyard.","US imposes human rights sanctions on 4 Russians. WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. has imposed sanctions on four Russians under a law targeting Russian human rights violators.","Texting while walking impairs stride, poses risks: study. Researchers at the University of Queensland in Australia decided to study texting while walking since it appeared no one had actually scientifically analyzed how the modern preoccupation impacts a person's gait. Anecdotally, the evidence was clear, even among the 26 people they selected for the study: one in three admitted to having had some sort of texting accident, \"including falls, trips and collisions with obstacles or other individuals.\" The rise in the number of pedestrians injured while using their mobile phones to talk or text since 2006 has also raised concern, and some towns in the United States have gone so far as to ban the activity. Then, they did the same walk while reading on their mobile phones, and again while texting.","Absent David Bowie steals show at Brit Awards. LONDON (AP) — David Bowie stole the show at Wednesday's Brit music awards without even showing up, while Arctic Monkeys took home two big trophies at British music's leading prize night.","UEFA fines 4 clubs for crowd misbehavior. NYON, Switzerland (AP) — Galatasaray, FC Basel, Feyenoord and Standard Liege have been fined by UEFA for crowd misbehavior during games in the Champions League and the Europa League.","Catalan clubs face La Liga axe if region secedes. MADRID (AP) — The president of La Liga said Tuesday that Catalan clubs like Barcelona and Espanyol would be excluded from Spain's top tier should the region succeed in its push for independence from Spain.","Lebanon suicide bomb claimed by ISIL group: statement. A Saudi suicide bomber killed in a raid by Lebanese security forces was part of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant group, according to a statement published on Friday that Lebanese security officials said they were taking seriously. Three members of the security forces were wounded when they stormed Beirut's Duroy Hotel on Wednesday and the Saudi suspect detonated his explosives, killing himself and wounding an accomplice. It was the third bomb blast in five days in Lebanon, which has been hit by violence linked to conflict in neighboring Syria and Iraq, both fighting Sunni Muslim rebels who have seized territory straddling their disintegrating border.","Blatter discusses work for FIFA 2022 in Qatar. The Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani discussed Wednesday with FIFA president Sepp Blatter the preparations for the 2022 football World Cup which the Gulf state hosts. The FIFA website said discussions also included reforms to labour conditions in the wealthy state which has come under international pressure to clamp down on violations of the rights of migrant workers, who are mostly Asians. \"Qatar takes its responsibility as hosts seriously,\" said Blatter after the meeting, according to the FIFA website, adding that Qatar is committed to improve labour conditions. \"It was great to see his (emir's)and Qatar's commitment to use the 2022 FIFA World Cup to achieve positive social change and to promote the host country and region,\" Blatter said.","Prosecutor accuses Pistorius at end of questioning. PRETORIA, South Africa (AP) — Wrapping up five days of relentless cross-examination of Oscar Pistorius at his murder trial, the chief prosecutor insisted Tuesday that he intentionally shot his girlfriend to death after they argued and — in a final exchange — urged the Olympic athlete to take responsibility for the Valentine's Day killing.","Czechs to play Japan without Berdych in Davis Cup. PRAGUE (AP) — Defending champion Czech Republic will play without Tomas Berdych against Japan next month in the Davis Cup quarterfinals.","More graves found in case of Mexico's 43 missing. TIXTLA, Mexico (AP) — Two weeks after 43 students disappeared in a clash with police in rural southern Mexico, authorities say the suspects have led them to more mass graves, though Attorney General Jesus Murillo Karam did not say how many bodies are there.","'No' side hails Obama's Scotland comments. LONDON (AP) — Opponents of Scottish independence have reacted with delight to President Barack Obama's call for a \"robust, united and effective\" Britain.","Fiat says merger with Chrysler effective as of Oct. 12. MILAN (Reuters) - Italian car maker Fiat said on Tuesday the merger with its U.S. unit Chrysler will be effective as of Oct. 12 after all conditions for the tie-up to go through were met. Fiat said no creditors had opposed the merger and the amount of money to be paid to shareholders that chose to sell their shares had not exceeded a 500-million euro cap set by the company. Shares in the new holding Fiat Chrysler Automobiles will start trading on the New York Stock Exchange on Oct. 13, Fiat said in a statement. (Reporting by Valentina Za)","3 pit pulls kill Trinidad woman in her yard. PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad (AP) — Officials say an 84-year-old woman has been killed by three pit bulls in the yard of her Trinidad home.","Pop stars climb stairway to heaven early: Australian study. It's long been said that pop stars live fast and die young, but a new Australian study has added scholarly credibility to the adage, finding that US musicians die up to 25 years earlier than the general population.","Israeli minister questioned over sex allegations. JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli police say they questioned a government minister and presumptive presidential candidate over alleged sex offenses.","Action by \"partners\" over Ukraine not helping cooperation: Russia's Lavrov. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said attempts by \"our partners\" to take action over the Ukraine crisis via democracy watchdog OSCE and the NATO military alliance were not helping cooperation and dialogue. \"I want to very briefly say that we had a meeting with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on the situation in Ukraine in relation to the actions that our partners are trying to take via the OSCE, the NATO-Russia council and other international organizations - action that does not help create an atmosphere for dialogue and constructive cooperation,\" he said in a statement issued by the ministry on Thursday.","Benghazi attack was preventable, Senate panel says. WASHINGTON (AP) — Both highly critical and bipartisan, a Senate report declared Wednesday that the deadly assault on the American diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya, could have been prevented. The account spreads blame among the State Department, the military and U.S. intelligence for missing what now seem like obvious warning signs.","Opposition protest in Niger against President Issoufou. Thousands of people marched in the Niger capital Niamey on Sunday to protest against the regime of President Mahamadou Issoufou over the detention of six opposition figures. The six, including a former government minister, were charged on June 4 with threatening state security in the poor west African country. Opposition leader and former premier Seini Oumarou, former president Mahamane Ousmane and Hama Amadou, the current speaker of parliament, took part in the protest. \"Nothing will discourage us in our fight against the unjust government of Mahamadou Issoufou,\" Amadou said.","ICC sentences Congo warlord to 12 years. THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — The International Criminal Court has sentenced a Congolese warlord to 12 years in prison, after convicting him in March of aiding and abetting crimes including murder and pillage in a notorious 2003 attack on a village in which some 200 people were shot or hacked to death.","Pakistan officials hold direct talks with Taliban. ISLAMABAD (AP) — A Pakistani government team traveled on Wednesday to a secret location in the country's northwest where it held the first-ever direct talks with the Taliban, a senior Cabinet minister said.","2 buses fall into Indian mountain gorges; 21 dead. NEW DELHI (AP) — Two crowded buses went out of control and fell off roads in separate accidents in the Himalayan foothills in northern India, killing a total of 21 people, police said Tuesday.","Ukraine launches hearings against Tymoshenko lawyer. A Ukrainian court on Friday launched controversial hearings against jailed opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko's attorney that government critics have branded a political show trial. Former prime minister Tymoshenko's lawyer Sergiy Vlasenko is accused by his former wife of domestic violence -- a case that emerged in November just as Ukraine was deciding whether to sign a historic agreement with the European Union. President Viktor Yanukovych eventually chose to ditch the EU deal and seek closer relations with Russia in a move that triggered a wave of street protests in the former Soviet country's biggest political crisis in a decade. Prosecutors first called in Vlasenko for questioning on charges relating to three alleged cases of domestic violence dating back to 2008 just days before Yanukovych rejected the Brussels pact.","Egypt's Sisi to run for president, vows to tackle militancy. By Tom Perry and Mahmoud Mourad CAIRO (Reuters) - Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, the general who ousted Egypt's first freely elected leader, declared his candidacy on Wednesday for a presidential election he is expected to easily win. Sisi toppled Mohamed Mursi of the Muslim Brotherhood last July after mass protests against his rule and has emerged as the most influential figure in an interim administration that has governed since then. \"I am here before you humbly stating my intention to run for the presidency of the Arab Republic of Egypt,\" Sisi said in a televised address to the nation. \"Only your support will grant me this great honor.\" A Sisi presidency would mark a return to the days when Egypt was led by men from the military, a pattern briefly interrupted by Mursi's one year in office after his 2012 victory in Egypt's first democratic presidential election.","Japan favored in Super Rugby expansion in 2016. WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Japan will take the 18th spot in an expanded Super Rugby competition from 2016.","Pentagon sees no signs of Russia military drills despite buildup. By Phil Stewart WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States sees no indications that Russian forces along the border with Ukraine are carrying out the kind of springtime military exercises that Moscow has cited as the reason for their deployment, the Pentagon said on Thursday. Ukraine's government has put its heavily outnumbered and outgunned forces on alert for an invasion from Russia in the east following Moscow's seizure of Crimea, as the West moves to isolate Russia diplomatically and pressure it economically. U.S. and European security agencies estimate Russia has deployed military and militia units totaling more than 30,000 people along its border with eastern Ukraine. Although the Pentagon has cited assurances from Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu that its troops along the border were sent for exercises and that they would not cross into Ukraine, U.S. officials have acknowledged concerns about continued Russian reinforcements to the area.","'Piles and piles' of bodies in S. Sudan slaughter. NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — The U.N.'s top humanitarian official in South Sudan says he saw \"piles and piles\" of bodies after rebels belonging to one ethnic group slaughtered members of other groups in a remote town.","After chartering 787, Tanaka introduced by Yanks. NEW YORK (AP) — The latest high-priced addition to the New York Yankees stood on the dais in front of a large news conference, put on his pinstriped jersey with No. 19 and smiled.","Greece's leftist Syriza fares well in key local races. By Renee Maltezou and Deepa Babington ATHENS (Reuters) - Greece's leftist Syriza party performed strongly in the first round of local elections on Sunday, as voters poured out their anger at the government's austerity policies. The vote, along with European Parliament elections a week later, is being closely watched as a gauge of sentiment towards the coalition of Prime Minister Antonis Samaras, which came to power two years ago and holds just a two-seat majority in parliament. Official projections showed Syriza making the run-off in the race for mayor of symbolically important Athens. ...","S.Africa unveils bust of Mandela in front of parliament. South African President Jacob Zuma unveiled a bust of Nelson Mandela on Monday, a day after the 20th anniversary of the first post-apartheid elections. The president said there could be \"no better\" way of commemorating the first free elections in the country than with a sculpture of South Africa's first black president. The bronze bust, which has been placed in front of the parliament in Cape Town, was sculpted by the son of one of Mandela's close associates. \"Just a few years ago, it would have been unthinkable to install a bust or any symbol of Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela in the South African parliament,\" Zuma said at the unveiling ceremony.","Quebec provincial police raise death toll in seniors' home fire to 28. L'ISLE-VERTE, Que. - Quebec provincial police say they are not ruling out anything — including a criminal cause — in their investigation of a fire at a seniors' home in L'Isle-Verte on Jan. 23.","Bosnia-Herzegovina's 1st World Cup lasts 1 week. CUIABA, Brazil (AP) — Proclaimed an independent state in 1992, Bosnia-Herzegovina has been waiting more than two decades to appear at a World Cup.","Syria opposition re-elects Jarba as leader. Beirut (AFP) - Syria's main opposition National Coalition re-elected Ahmad Jarba as its leader during a general assembly meeting in Istanbul on Sunday, the coalition said in a statement.","'Peter Jackson's jet joins search for missing MH370'. The personal jet of Oscar-winning movie director Peter Jackson was reported Wednesday to have been called into assist with the search for the missing Malaysian airliner. After initially denying it was Jackson's jet, a spokesman for the New Zealand movie director later confirmed it was his aircraft that had been chartered to Australian authorities, the New Zealand Herald reported. Radio New Zealand said Jackson, who directed the \"Lord of the Rings\" and \"The Hobbit\" movies, had personally approved the use of his Gulfstream G650 in the search. The jet was not donated to help in the search effort, rather the company which operated the jet had accepted a charter offer, the report said.","US seeks to 'carefully calibrate' steps on Palestinian UN bid: Kerry. London (AFP) - US Secretary of State John Kerry on Tuesday called for caution in Middle East talks, saying there was a need to \"carefully calibrate\" any steps taken.","Iconic Mexican comedian 'Chespirito' dies at 85. MEXICO CITY (AP) — Roberto Gomez Bolanos, the iconic Mexican comedian who wrote and played the boy television character \"El Chavo del Ocho\" that defined a generation for millions of Latin American children, died Friday, the Televisa television network said. He was 85.","Small bomb explodes on Cairo bridge, no casualties. A small bomb went off Tuesday evening on a bridge in the Egyptian capital without causing any casualties, a security official said. The explosion in central Cairo caused only minor damage to the bridge's handrail, the official said. Since the military ousted Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in July, militants have carried out scores of attacks, including several bombings, targeting security forces. Attacks on civilian targets have remained rare in Egypt, but on Saturday a homemade bomb exploded at a tram station in eastern Cairo, wounding one person.","Nigerian president: 200,000 affordable mortgages. LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) — Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan says his government will create more than 200,000 affordable mortgages over five years and introduce rent-to-own options for low-income housing to address a massive shortage in Africa's most populous nation.","France suspends delivery of warship to Russia, citing situation in Ukraine. PARIS (AP) — France suspends delivery of warship to Russia, citing situation in Ukraine.","S.African strikers, mine owners to meet on new pay offer. The world's three biggest platinum firms made an offer last week that will increase the remuneration package of radical union AMCU's members to 12,500 rand a month by 2017. \"The producers clearly would like AMCU to take that offer to its members. A formal response is sought and discussions are continuing,\" said Charmane Russell, spokeswoman for Anglo American Platinum, Impala Platinum and Lonmin. The meeting will see company CEOs, leaders of the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU) and Labour Minister Mildred Oliphant come face to face.","Tested by scandal, Christie to be sworn in for 2nd term as NJ governor. TRENTON, N.J. - A day of celebration at the start of Gov. Chris Christie's second term could be tempered by multiple investigations into traffic tie-ups that appear to have been ordered by his staff for political retribution.","Embattled residents of flooded English village protect memories. MOORLAND, England (Reuters) - The village of Moorland in southwest England lies largely deserted, eerily silent save for the creaking of flood defenses which failed to stop the flow of muddy brown water now standing chest-high along its main street. Its residents were among thousands across England who fell victim to the country's wettest January in nearly 250 years, with heavy rain and storms damaging homes, businesses and transport links and heaping pressure on a government criticized for being too slow to react. ...","Airlines call for global tracking standards. ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The director of the International Air Transport Association says he wants to see a globally agreed-on standard for airlines to track planes in place by the end of this year to avoid another disappearance like that of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370.","Cricketer Vincent banned for life for match-fixing. WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — \"My name is Lou Vincent and I am a cheat.\"","Mortar fire wounds 14 near major Shi'ite shrine in Iraq's Samarra. At least 14 people were wounded by mortar fire near an important Shi'ite shrine in the Iraqi city of Samarra, officials and security sources said on Tuesday, as the Shi'ite-led government fights a major Sunni insurgency. A 2006 bombing at the same site, the Imam al-Askari shrine, exacerbated already severe sectarian tensions between Sunni and Shi'ite Muslims, fuelling a conflict that killed tens of thousands of people over the next two years. An official in the prime minister's office said three mortars struck the shrine's perimeter gates, killing one construction worker and wounding 14 people, including two who were airlifted to a hospital in critical condition. The shrine was untouched and the Iraqi air force \"immediately responded by targeting the perpetrators of the attack\", the official said in an emailed statement.","Ebola 'most serious' health emergency in years: leaders. London (AFP) - The Ebola epidemic is \"the most serious international public health emergency in recent years,\" British, US, French, German and Italian leaders agreed in a conference call on Wednesday.","4 accused gays whipped in north Nigerian court. LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) — A human rights network says four young men convicted of having gay sex have been whipped publicly in an Islamic court in northern Nigeria.","Capital's governor to bid for Indonesia presidency. JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — The political party of former Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri nominated the capital's popular governor as its presidential candidate on Friday, a move aimed at bolstering the party's prospects in upcoming legislative elections.","News Corp's Rupert Murdoch urges U.S. immigration reform. Media mogul Rupert Murdoch urged U.S. lawmakers to tackle far-reaching immigration reform, saying that scrapping quotas on special visas and promoting paths to citizenship would boost U.S. growth and innovation. The chairman of 21st Century Fox and News Corp has also pressed for immigration reform in his native Australia in the belief that freer borders there and in America would boost trade relationships. In an opinion piece published on Wednesday on the website of the Wall Street Journal, which he owns, Murdoch admonished opponents of such change in the United States \"as being dead wrong about the long-term interests of our country\". \"One of the most immediate ways to revitalize our economy is by passing immigration reform,\" said Murdoch, himself a former immigrant who became a naturalized American citizen in 1985.","Russia: EU sanctions weaken anti-terrorism efforts. MOSCOW (AP) — Russia is lashing out at the latest round of Ukraine-related sanctions imposed by the European Union, saying they endanger the fight against international terrorism.","Greece faces tall order to prevent early elections: analysts. A successor to 85-year-old President Karolos Papoulias must be found or under the constitution, parliament will have to be dissolved by February -- right in the middle of crucial talks between Greece and its EU-IMF creditors. The government will need 200 MPs in the first two votes to elect its candidate, former EU Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas, or 180 MPs in the third and final vote. Prime Minister Antonis Samaras hopes to find the remaining 25 deputies from among independent MPs and the deputies of two smaller parties -- centre-left Democratic Left and the Independent Greeks, a nationalist party. The prospect of early elections strikes fear into the markets and Greece's EU-IMF creditors as radical leftist party Syriza, which opposes the country's bailout agreement, has a steady lead in opinion polls.","SOCHI SCENE: Gracie's egg. SOCHI, Russia (AP) — Aside from her bronze medal for the team competition, Gracie Gold is taking away another special prize from the Sochi Games.","U.S. says more Russia sanctions not likely before Thursday meeting on Ukraine. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. State Department said on Tuesday it anticipates more Ukraine-related sanctions on Russia, but suggested no action was likely before a diplomatic meeting in Geneva this week. Envoys from Russia, Ukraine, the European Union and the United States were scheduled to meet on Thursday to discuss the situation in Ukraine. \"We're going to give an opportunity to have a discussion on Thursday\" to give diplomacy a chance, spokeswoman Jen Psaki told journalists. (Reporting by Doina Chiacu and Arshad Mohammed; Editing by Sandra Maler)","New Zealand's Earthquake Deep Drilling Project Underway. A deep-drilling project into one of the world's most dangerous earthquake faults is now underway on New Zealand's South Island. Through the drilling project, researchers hope to catch warning signs before the Alpine Fault unleashes its next earthquake. \"We're a little overdue for a big earthquake there,\" said Ben van der Pluijm, a geologist at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, who is participating in the project. Previous projects have examined the aftermath of earthquakes, such as a rapid-fire drilling expedition following the 2011 Japan earthquake and related tsunami.","Top Asian News at 3:00 a.m. GMT. WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama says a small U.S. military force may remain in Afghanistan next year, but he's promising to declare an end to the 12-year war there at the end of 2014. Obama said during his State of the Union speech Tuesday that Afghanistan will take responsibility for its own future after the end of the year.","Ford to sell Lincoln cars in China for first time. BEIJING (AP) — Ford Motor Co. says it will introduce its high-end Lincoln brand to China later this year with plans to open eight dealerships in seven cities.","Afridi may quit ODIs after 2015 World Cup. ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistan allrounder Shahid Afridi says he might retire from one-day internationals after the World Cup next year and just concentrate on Twenty20s.","Erdogan poised to win Turkey's first popular presidential vote. By Nick Tattersall and Orhan Coskun ANKARA (Reuters) - Tayyip Erdogan is set to secure his place in history as Turkey's first popularly-elected president on Sunday, but his tightening grip on power has polarized the nation, worried Western allies and raised fears of creeping authoritarianism. Erdogan's core supporters, religious conservatives, see his likely rise to the presidency as the crowning achievement of his drive to reshape Turkey. In a decade as prime minister, he has broken the hold of a secular elite that had dominated since Mustafa Kemal Ataturk founded the modern republic on the ruins of an Ottoman theocracy in 1923. Opponents see him as a modern-day sultan whose roots in Islamist politics and intolerance of dissent are taking Turkey, a member of the NATO military alliance and European Union candidate, ever further from Ataturk's secular ideals.","Hamas holds Gaza military parade, vows Israel's destruction. By Nidal al-Mughrabi GAZA (Reuters) - Vowing to destroy Israel, Hamas paraded some 2,000 of its armed fighters and truck-mounted rockets through Gaza on Sunday, marking its 27th anniversary with its biggest show of force since the end of the Gaza war this summer. A ceasefire in August halted 50 days of fighting with Israel in which local health officials said more than 2,100 Palestinians, most of them civilians, were killed. Israel put the number of its dead at 67 soldiers and six civilians. ...","South Korea airlines say flights over Ukraine rerouted since March. SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea's two major airlines said on Friday they had stopped flying over Ukraine air space since March 3 because of security concerns. Korean Air Lines Co Ltd and Asiana Airlines Inc both said they had changed flight paths to avoid flying over Ukraine since the same date. A Malaysia Airline System Bhd (MAS) plane was brought down in eastern Ukraine on Thursday, killing all 298 people on board, in what the United States said was probably a ground-launched missile strike. (Reporting by Joyce Lee and Se Young Lee; Editing by Paul Tait)","Ukraine says 30 pro-Russian insurgents killed. DONETSK, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine's Interior Minister said Tuesday that 30 pro-Russian insurgents were killed during government operations to expunge anti-government forces in and near a town in the east.","Ebola still of 'great concern' in west Africa epicentre: WHO. Top experts on the Ebola virus raised grave concerns Thursday about the worsening epidemic in west Africa as the number of people with the disease neared 10,000. The World Heath Organization said after an emergency meeting on the deadly haemorrhagic fever that the situation in the worst-hit countries of Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone \"remains of great concern\". \"It was the unanimous view of the committee that the event continues to constitute a public health emergency of international concern,\" it added. The experts have been brainstorming new ways to halt the spread of the epidemic, the third such meeting since the outbreak of Ebola in Guinea earlier this year.","Netherlands beats Costa Rica in penalty shootout. SALVADOR, Brazil (AP) — Late substitute Tim Krul made two saves in a 4-3 penalty shootout victory over Costa Rica on Saturday to give the Netherlands a spot in the World Cup semifinals following a 0-0 draw.","Even before he is crowned, India's Modi struts the global stage. By John Chalmers NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Narendra Modi will be sworn in on Monday as India's prime minister at a glittering ceremony that will be as much a show of his determination to be a key player on the global stage as a celebration of his stunning election victory. For the first time in India's history, leaders from across South Asia have been invited to the inauguration at the president's palace in New Delhi, including the prime minister of arch-rival Pakistan, Nawaz Sharif. Modi's Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its allies swept India's elections this month, ousting the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty in a seismic political shift that has given his party a mandate for sweeping economic reform. His day began with a visit to the site of independence hero Mahatma Gandhi's cremation on the banks of the Yamuna river.","Egypt officials: Militant leader killed in Sinai. EL-ARISH, Egypt (AP) — Senior Egyptian security officials say the top leader of an al-Qaida-inspired group in restive Sinai and three associates have been killed in a drive-by shooting in the peninsula.","Elite field awaits Farah in marathon debut. Double Olympic gold medallist Mo Farah makes his London Marathon debut on Sunday with the British record, rather than outright victory, in his sights. Organisers have assembled a top-class field for the 31-year-old's first competitive race over the 26.2 mile course including the Kenyan trio of Wilson Kipsang, who set the current world marathon record of two hours three minutes 23 seconds at September's Berlin Marathon. Also included are Emmanuel Mutai, who set the London course record of 2:04:40 in winning three years ago, and Geoffrey Mutai, twice winner in New York. Uganda's world and Olympic champion Stephen Kiprotich will also be on the start line as will Ethiopia's double London champion Tsegaye Kebede and compatriot Haile Gebrselassie, who, at the age of 40, will seek to take the field through to the three-quarters mark in world record pace.","Abbas asks U.S. help to free jailed Palestinian leader Barghouti. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has asked Washington to mediate with Israel for the release of Marwan Barghouti, a Palestinian leader and possible presidential contender jailed a decade ago over a spate of suicide bombings. Israel agreed last year to free 104 Palestinian prisoners in what it termed a gesture of goodwill to mark the resumption of direct, U.S.-backed peace talks. But Barghouti was excluded from this and occasional previous releases and the talks have since faltered with Washington struggling to keep them alive. Any move to free such a high-profile figure as Barghouti would probably ignite a political fire storm in Israel.","Israeli motorist killed in West Bank shooting: army. An Israeli man was killed in a shooting attack on a civilian car near the city of Hebron in the occupied West Bank on Monday, the eve of the Jewish holiday of Passover, military sources said. Israeli media reported the car was carrying a family to see relatives for the ritual Passover \"seder\" dinner. The incident could raise tensions at a time when the United States is struggling to keep troubled Middle East peace talks alive. Israeli media said several children were also in the vehicle and one was wounded.","Action on the field powers lights at soccer field. RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Kids streaking back and forth on a soccer field in scorching tropical heat promises to produce something more than buckets of sweat.","Netanyahu calls on EU to keep Hamas on terrorist list. JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called on the European Union on Wednesday to keep Islamist militant group Hamas on its list of terrorist organizations, after an EU court ruled it should be removed. \"We expect them to immediately put Hamas back on the list,\" Netanyahu said in a statement. \"Hamas is a murderous terrorist organization which in its charter states its goal is to destroy Israel.\" (Writing by Maayan Lubell; Editing by Andrew Heavens)","Brazil working on Petrobras debt refinancing plan, minister says. SAO PAULO (Reuters) - The Brazilian government is working on a plan to help state-controlled oil producer Petrobras borrow money in capital markets to help finance exploration and operational activities during next year, a cabinet minister said on Thursday. The plan, by which the Brazilian government would guarantee a debt issuance by Petrobras backed by 9 billion reais ($3.4 billion) in debt that state-controlled power utility Eletrobras owes to the oil company, Mines and Energy Minister Edison Lobão told reporters in Brasilia. Lobão expects the deal to be concluded and announced this week. ...","Ukraine asks ICC to investigate alleged crimes in late 2013-early 2014. Ukraine on Thursday invited the International Criminal Court to open an investigation into any serious international crimes that may have been committed on its territory in late 2013 and early 2014, the court said in a statement. The invitation, in the form of a declaration accepting the court's jurisdiction for the period between November 21 and February 22, does not ask the court to investigate Russia's formal military involvement in Ukraine's Crimea province, which began on February 27. Ukraine's parliament earlier this year urged the ICC to investigate crimes allegedly committed by former President Viktor Yanukovich in an attempt to put down the protests that eventually toppled him and drove him into Russian exile.","British police apologise to singer Cliff Richard over leak. The police denied they had sought to generate publicity for their investigation, saying they believed the broadcaster had been leaked detailed information and would publish it unless they cooperated, impeding their investigation. \"We had a job to do but I do apologise to Sir Cliff if we were insensitive about the way that we did that,\" South Yorkshire police chief constable David Crompton told a parliamentary committee.","Company confirms feds investigate visa use. An international tech consulting firm confirms the federal government is investigating its use of U.S. work visas.","Media: Thailand bans surrogate babies from leaving. CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Four couples from the Unites States and Australia have been prevented from leaving Thailand with surrogate babies as part of a government crackdown on the burgeoning commercial surrogacy industry, an Australian broadcaster reported Friday.","Slovakia F Tomas Marcinko injured, out of Olympics. SOCHI, Russia (AP) — Slovakia forward Tomas Marcinko has been ruled out for the rest of the Olympics because of a lower-body injury.","Ex-USVI officials gets 70 months in prison. CHARLOTTE AMALIE, U.S. Virgin Islands (AP) — A former top environmental enforcement officer for the U.S. Virgin Islands has been sentenced to 70 months in prison for using a government agency as a criminal enterprise.","Arming Syria rebels top topic as Obama, Saudi king meet. US President Barack Obama was holding talks with Saudi King Abdullah in Riyadh Friday on arming Syria's moderate opposition, as the long-time allies seek to bridge their differences over Iran and Syria. Obama arrived from Italy for an evening meeting with the monarch on a royal estate outside Riyadh. Discussions would focus on ways to \"empower\" Syria's moderate opposition, including militarily, a senior White House official said. \"That will definitely be one of the main topics of conversation is how do we best empower the moderate opposition inside of Syria politically, militarily as a counterweight to (President Bashar) Assad,\" deputy national security advisor Ben Rhodes told reporters travelling with Obama on board Air Force One.","500 migrants feared drowned off Malta coast, IOM says. GENEVA (Reuters) - Some 500 migrants are believed to have died in the Mediterranean after traffickers rammed their boat off Malta's coast last week, the International Organization for Migration said on Monday. \"Survivors have testified that the traffickers arrived aboard two boats and ordered the migrants to change vessels in the middle of the sea. The migrants said it was too dangerous and refused. There was a violent altercation and the traffickers used their boat to ram the migrants' boat,\" IOM spokeswoman Christiane Berthiaume told Reuters. ...","China says 'several terrorists' shot dead in Xinjiang. Police in China's restive far western region of Xinjiang shot dead \"several terrorists\" during an attack on Friday, state news agency Xinhua said, in the latest violence to hit a part of the country with a large Muslim population. Xinjiang, home to the Muslim Uighur people and strategically located on the borders of central Asia, has been beset by violence for years, blamed by the government on Islamist militants and separatists who want to establish an independent state called East Turkestan. Exiles and many rights groups though say the real cause of the unrest is China's heavy-handed policies including restrictions on Islam and the Uighur people's culture and language, charges the government strongly denies. China has stepped up security in Xinjiang after a vehicle ploughed into tourists on the edge of Beijing's Tiananmen Square in October, killing the three people in the car and two bystanders, unnerving the ruling Communist Party.","Obama: Not optimistic Putin will change soon. WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama says Russian President Vladimir Putin is \"improvising himself\" into a nationalist, backward-looking approach to Russian policy.","Kuwait strips citizenship of 5 opposition figures. KUWAIT CITY (AP) — Kuwait has stripped five well-known opposition figures of their citizenship, including the owner of a newspaper and television station.","Fidel Castro 'dismayed' by Garcia Marquez's death. HAVANA (AP) — Cuba's No. 2 leader says Fidel Castro was \"dismayed\" by last week's death of longtime friend and Nobel Prize-winning Colombian novelist Gabriel Garcia Marquez.","Springboks mark Read as All Blacks danger man. Veteran Springboks lock Victor Matfield has marked All Blacks backrower Kieran Read as a key figure in their \"do-or-die\" Rugby Championship clash in Wellington on Saturday. South Africa need to pull off their first win against the All Blacks on New Zealand soil since 2009 if they are to have any chance of stopping them claiming the southern hemisphere championship for a third successive year. \"It's a big game for us, a do-or-die game for us in this championship,\" Matfield, the most-capped Springbok with 114 Tests to his name, said Friday as he described the All Blacks as \"the biggest challenge out there\". His mere presence in the Springboks line-up had an influence on how the All Blacks replaced their injured line-out kingpin Sam Whitelock (rib) and blindside flanker Liam Messam (thigh).","Wal-Mart 'urgent' memo urges improvement at U.S. stores: NYT. (Reuters) - Wal-Mart stores Inc issued an \"urgent agenda\" memo to its store managers across the United States last month, laying out guidelines to boost sales of \"chilled and fresh\" food, the New York Times reported. The memo, marked \"highly sensitive\", asks Wal-Mart marketing managers to make sure they discount aging meat and baked goods to maximize chances of selling them before their expiration dates, according to the report. Wal-Mart, which has posted six straight quarters of flat or declining growth in same-store sales, has been battling a stronger dollar and a reduction in U.S. ...","Greek coast guard says death toll from Greek ferry fire rises to 5. ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greek coast guard says death toll from Greek ferry fire rises to 5.","Test cricket back on after Phillip Hughes' death. ADELAIDE, Australia (AP) — The emotional road back to competition begins Tuesday for Australia's test cricketers following the death of batsman Phillip Hughes.","Lebanese troops beat Syrian voters outside embassy. BEIRUT (AP) — Lebanese troops moved to subdue a crowd of frenzied Syrian voters who tried to storm their embassy in Beirut to vote for President Bashar Assad as expat balloting started in Syria's presidential election.","Fiery Maduro foe now fights from Venezuela jail. CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Moments before his dramatic arrest, opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez told a sea of white-shirted supporters that he doesn't fear years behind bars if that's what it takes to open eyes to the damage done to Venezuela by 15 years of socialist rule.","UN envoy in Libya urges talks in parliament crisis. TRIPOLI, Libya (AP) — The United Nations envoy to Libya is urging militias that have threatened to use force to disband the interim parliament to use dialogue in holding elections \"at the earliest possible.\"","Hawthorn open AFL title defense with a win. MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Luke Breust and Jarryd Roughead both kicked five goals as Hawthorn opened its defense of the Australian Football League title with a hard-won 48-point win over Brisbane in the second part of a split first round.","Syria builds dollar reserves, thanks partly to Assad's enemies. By Suleiman Al-Khalidi AMMAN (Reuters) - Syria's central bank has bought hundreds of millions of dollars from the domestic currency market it now tightly controls, helping to build up depleted reserves for an economy crippled by civil war, bankers and dealers say. After jailing dozens of dealers in a black market crackdown, Damascus has pulled off the purchases without provoking a new collapse of the Syrian pound - thanks partly to dollars pumped into rebel areas by President Bashar al-Assad's enemies. Relative stability of the local currency has helped the authorities to prevent a further jump in inflation which could undermine support in areas it controls, and eased economic pressure on the government before it attends talks in Switzerland next week on a political solution to the war. \"In the last three months, the central bank has bought more dollars than it is selling,\" said a banker in a local private bank familiar with central bank thinking, who estimates between $5 million and $10 million are bought daily.","Immigrant sanctuary gains popularity in Arizona. TUCSON, Arizona (AP) — A third immigrant has taken sanctuary in a church this year in Arizona, reviving a popular movement from the 1980s that sought to help Central American migrants fleeing civil wars stay in the U.S. by letting them live inside churches, where immigration officials generally do not arrest people.","SOCHI SCENE: American disbelief. SOCHI, Russia (AP) — The American women's hockey team was 3:26 seconds away from its first Olympic gold medal since 1998. Then everything went wrong.","Exclusive: Leader of Far-Right Ukrainian Militant Group Talks Revolution With TIME. Take the smell of an army barracks, add a bit of char and gasoline, and you’d have a rough idea of the air on the fifth floor of the House of Trade Unions, the headquarters of the revolution in Ukraine. When protesters first occupied the building in December, their leaders divvied up its floors among the political parties and activists involved in the revolt. Since then, the only floor off-limits to journalists has been the fifth, which houses the militant arm of the revolution, Pravy Sektor (Right Sector), the coalition of right-wing radicals that grew out of the uprising. ...","Prison for fraudster who lied about booking Bieber. NEW YORK (AP) — A New York man who stole millions of dollars from clients by falsely promising to book performances by world-famous recording artists like Rihanna, Lady Gaga and Justin Bieber has been sentenced to five to 10 years in prison.","Congo militia leader 'Morgan' surrenders: government. By Peter Jones KINSHASA (Reuters) - A militia leader accused of kidnap, rape and cannibalism has surrendered alongside around 40 of his followers in Democratic Republic of Congo, the government said on Monday. Paul Sadala, a poacher-turned-militia leader known as \"Morgan\" operating in Congo's Orientale province, has repeatedly attacked populations in the Okapi Fauna Reserve, a World Heritage site, since 2012. U.N. experts said in December Morgan changed his focus from poaching elephants to attacking gold mines.","Syrian rocket hits Turkish mosque, injures refugee. ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Officials say Turkish artillery units have fired into Syrian territory in retaliation for a rocket that hit a mosque in a Turkish border town, injuring a 60-year old Syrian woman refugee.","Cenovus Energy eyes options for its for its freehold properties. CALGARY Alberta (Reuters) - Cenovus Energy Inc , Canada's No.2 independent oil producer, said on Thursday it believes it is not realizing the full potential of its freehold lands and third-party royalty production and is now assessing options to boost their value. Brian Ferguson, the company's chief executive, said on a conference call the company will announce its plan for the properties in the next three months. The move follows EnCana Corp's spinoff of its freehold lands into PrairieSky Royalty Ltd earlier in the year. (Reporting by Scott Haggett; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)","Gay Peru politician breaks new ground. A Peruvian politician has announced he is gay -- a first in one of Latin America's most conservative countries. He is Carlos Bruce, a 57-year-old member of congress and former minister and also one of the main drivers of debate on civil unions for same-sex couples in Peru. \"Yes, I am gay and proud to belong to a group of people who are so valuable to Peru,\" Bruce said in an interview over the weekend with the newspaper El Comercio. Peru's gay and lesbian community has been more assertive in recent years in defending its rights, but it faces an uphill battle in a deeply conservative society where homosexuality is frowned upon.","Flash floods kill 6 in Vietnam. HANOI, Vietnam (AP) — A disaster official says flash floods triggered by heavy rains have killed six people, including five in a family in northern Vietnam.","EPO found with Euro 10K bronze medalist Traby. PARIS (AP) — European 10,000-meter bronze medalist Laila Traby has undergone an anti-doping test after police found the banned performance-enhancer EPO in her apartment and held her in custody.","Tunisian presidential candidates head for December run-off vote. TUNIS (Reuters) - The two front runners in Tunisia's presidential election are heading for a run-off vote in December, after failing to get an overall majority in first round results announced on Tuesday, their parties said. Incumbent President Moncef Marzouki, got 33.4 percent of the vote in the first round held on Sunday, behind Beji Caid Essebsi, from the secularist Nidaa Tounes party, who got 39.46 percent, according to preliminary results. (Reporting by By Tarek Amara and Patrick Markey; Editing by Andrew Heavens)","France: Driver slams into passersby in rampage. PARIS (AP) — French authorities say a driver deliberately slammed into passersby in several spots around the southeastern city of Lyon, injuring several people and raising national concern.","Trekking tragedy shakes Nepal's faith in shoestring tourism. By Rupam Jain Nair and Gopal Sharma KATHMANDU (Reuters) - German tourist Tobias Pantel is determined to leave soon on a five-day hike in the Annapurna region, the very place where dozens were killed by a freak blizzard and avalanches in Nepal's most deadly trekking disaster. As the search for dozens still missing on the snow-covered Himalayan slopes continues and relatives around the world wait in desperation for news of their loved ones, more foreigners are preparing to hit the trail. ...","Streb wins McGladrey Classic in a playoff. ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. (AP) — Robert Streb earned his first PGA Tour win on Sunday by closing with a 7-under 63 and making a 4-foot birdie putt on the second playoff hole in the McGladrey Classic.","Germany's Merkel gets strong party endorsement. BERLIN (AP) — Chancellor Angela Merkel's party has elected her resoundingly to a new two-year term as its leader, underlining her strength as she boasted about balancing Germany's budget for the first time in 46 years.","Iran asks UN agency condemn alleged drone probe. VIENNA (AP) — Iran is asking the U.N. nuclear agency to condemn the purported incursion of an Israeli drone.","'Impossible' for Saudi to reduce oil output: minister. Saudi Arabia, the largest producer in the OPEC oil cartel, cannot reduce its output, the kingdom's oil minister said on Thursday despite plunging prices. Ali al-Nuaimi added that commodity price fluctuations are to be expected, and he expressed optimism for the future despite crude's price drop of about 50 percent since June. \"It is difficult, or even impossible, for Saudi Arabia or OPEC to undertake any measure that would lead to a reduction in (their) share of the market and an increase in that of others\" who do not belong to the cartel, he was quoted as saying by the official Saudi Press Agency.","Khodorkovsky warns against strict Russia sanctions. PRAGUE (AP) — Former Russian tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky has warned against the use of excessive sanctions against Russia by the West.","Putin's 'statehood' gambit raises stakes in east Ukraine. By Mark Trevelyan MOSCOW (Reuters) - A shift in President Vladimir Putin's language on the conflict in eastern Ukraine reflects a transformation in the situation on the battlefield and sounds a warning to Kiev to negotiate sooner rather than later. Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov was quick to tell journalists that the Kremlin leader was not demanding independence for pro-Russian separatists when he said on Sunday that talks should take place immediately \"on the political organization of society and statehood in southeastern Ukraine\". It was the first time that Putin had publicly talked about \"statehood\" in the eastern Russian-speaking regions where rebels are fighting to break away from Ukraine, in a war that has killed some 2,600 people since April. The implication was that if Ukraine fails to reach a quick settlement with the rebels on \"federalization\", the term Moscow has previously used for enhanced autonomy in the east, then it may find itself facing demands for something much bigger.","New German defence minister eyes more family-friendly army. Germany's new defence minister wants to create a more family-friendly army by making it easier for soldiers to work part-time and extending childcare, she told a Sunday newspaper. \"My goal is to make the German armed forces into one of the most attractive employers in Germany,\" Ursula von der Leyen, Germany's first female defence minister, said. \"In doing so, the most important issue is the compatability of employment and family,\" the 55-year-old, mother-of-seven said in an interview with Sunday's Bild newspaper. Von der Leyen's move from the labour to defence portfolio came as a surprise when Chancellor Angela Merkel's new cabinet under her \"grand coalition\" with the Social Democrats (SPD) was unveiled four weeks ago.","Kramer head injury revives concussion concern. RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Germany midfielder Christoph Kramer's head injury in the World Cup final has revived concern about the way football deals with concussion.","Growth in China's services sector quickens in November but outlook still worrying. BEIJING (Reuters) - China's services sector grew slightly faster in November, two surveys showed on Wednesday, a welcome respite to a run of underwhelming data but still unlikely to allay concerns about the softening Chinese economy. The encouraging reports about the services sector, which creates more jobs than factories, contrasted sharply with data out on Monday that suggested growth in China's manufacturing industry slid to its lowest in at least six months in November. ...","New US strikes in Iraq include land-based bombers. WASHINGTON (AP) — The latest round of U.S. airstrikes in Iraq against the Islamic State extremist group includes the first reported use of land-based bombers in the military campaign.","Prosecutor says Pistorius, Steenkamp argued on night she died. Oscar Pistorius argued with his girlfriend shortly before shooting her dead, the prosecution lawyer alleged Monday as his gruelling cross-examination of the sprinter went into a second week. Prosecutor Gerrie Nel accused the 27-year-old of concocting evidence in his defence against the charge of murdering Reeva Steenkamp on Valentines' Day last year. \"It's the state's case, Mr. Pistorius, that she wanted to leave and that you weren't sleeping, you were both awake,\" said Nel. \"That's not correct my lady, that's untrue,\" Pistorius replied softly.","Conservatives maintain fundraising supremacy at end of 2014. OTTAWA - The Conservatives easily defended their position as top political fundraisers last year, taking in $5.2 million in the final quarter of 2013.","Sri Lankan opposition, unions demand pay increase. COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — Trade unions, opposition politicians and activists have protested to demand Sri Lanka's include substantial pay increases in the annual budget presented this week.","The Geneva Code - What Syria negotiators say, and what they mean. Syria's political foes are beginning to speak a shared language at peace talks in Geneva to end their country's devastating civil war, but the words they utter at the negotiating table have diametrically different meanings to the two sides. With the first round of talks now ended, here is a guide to deciphering the 'Geneva Code' - terminology that President Bashar al-Assad's government delegates and the opposition both use - and the contrasting interpretation each side attaches to their words. It called for a \"sustained cessation of armed violence\" and a political transition led by a \"transitional governing body\", which should be formed by mutual consent. International mediator Lakhdar Brahimi says the communique forms the bedrock of his efforts to end the civil war.","France shocks US women 76-72 in exhibition game. PARIS (AP) — Sandrine Gruda had 26 points and 15 rebounds to help France stun the U.S. women's national team 76-72 in an exhibition game on Sunday.","Thai army chief named prime minister. Thailand's junta-picked national assembly on Thursday chose coup leader General Prayut Chan-O-Cha as prime minister in a one-horse race that entrenched the military's hold on power. His appointment must be approved by King Bhumibol Adulyadej although royal endorsement is seen as a formality. Prayut, who is due to retire as army chief in September, is seen as a staunch opponent of fugitive former premier Thaksin Shinawatra, whose overthrow in an earlier coup in 2006 triggered Thailand's long-running political crisis. Thaksin, the elder brother of Yingluck, fled Thailand in 2008 to avoid prison for a corruption conviction.","Almost 2 tons of cocaine seized off Puerto Rico coast. A 1.8 ton cocaine shipment worth an estimated $50 million that was thought to be destined for the U.S. market was seized off the coast of Puerto Rico, federal authorities said on Wednesday, in one of the largest drug busts there in recent years. The shipment was intercepted on Monday evening on a 30-foot boat that was 12.5 miles off the resort town of Dorado on Puerto Rico's north coast. \"We have seized more than three tons of cocaine over the last month,\" Angel Melendez, head of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations office in San Juan, said on Wednesday. The great majority of cocaine destined for the U.S. market is smuggled via Mexico, but U.S. officials have said that joint U.S.-Mexican counter-drug efforts have begun to push some of the traffic back into the Caribbean, an historically popular corridor during the heyday of Colombia's Medellin cartel in the 1980s and 1990s.","Nine months on, Philippines plans $3.9-bln effort to relocate typhoon Haiyan victims. The Philippines will spend 170 billion pesos ($3.89 billion) to rehouse some 200,000 families displaced by last year's super typhoon Haiyan that killed 6,100 people, the government said in a masterplan released on Friday. It has taken a startling nine months to hammer out the plan because crippling bureaucracy entailed lengthy vetting, say government consultants, and sparse technical data on geological hazards and land use plans held up relocation decisions. Thousands of displaced families remain in makeshift tents or substandard temporary shelter areas, but all-out reconstruction will begin soon after President Benigno Aquino approves the plan, although it is not clear when this will happen. \"We are confident the rehabilitation efforts will now shift to high gear,\" said Panfilo Lacson, presidential assistant for rehabilitation and recovery.","5 things at Wimbledon: Rain; Williams vs. Kvitova. LONDON (AP) — The forecast calls for heavy showers at Wimbledon on Friday, which could create problems for a schedule that's already starting to become a bit jumbled.","US official fume as Venezuelan general slips grasp. CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — US officials are saying Venezuela may have used threats to obtain the freedom of a former general detained in Aruba at the request of the American government.","Kingman voted Europe's top horse of 2014. LONDON (AP) — Kingman has been voted Europe's top horse for 2014, beating out last year's winner Treve in the Cartier Racing awards.","EU warns British broker over alleged interest rate rigging. The European Commission said on Tuesday it believes British-based broker ICAP may have helped rig interest rates vital for the global financial markets in a global scandal which has cost billions in fines. The Commission, the European Union's executive arm, said its preliminary view was that ICAP had colluded with others to manipulate interest rate derivatives denominated in yen. The Commission gave no further details of its findings against ICAP and cautioned in a standard statement that notifying the company of its suspicions did not prejudge the outcome of the enquiry. Notification will allow the company to respond formally to the Commission.","Gaza talks to continue in Cairo as truce holds. CAIRO (AP) — A temporary Israel-Hamas truce was holding for a second day Tuesday as marathon, indirect negotiations on a lasting cease-fire and a long-term solution for the battered Gaza Strip were set to resume in Cairo.","Mexican protesters set fire to gov't offices. ACAPULCO, Mexico (AP) — Officials in a southern Mexican state say hundreds of students and teachers smashed windows at a state capital building complex before setting fire to some of the buildings.","Libya has two governments, assemblies as chaos spreads. The election was meant draw a line under another incidence of competing prime ministers in May and allow nation building to being to try to quell three years of spreading violence since veteran ruler Muammar Gaddafi was ousted. The GNC reconvened after armed factions from the western city of Misrata forced a rival faction from Zintan out of Tripoli's main airport on Saturday after a month of fighting that has come to symbolize the country's deep divisions. The Zintanis and Misratis joined forces in 2011 to topple Gaddafi but have now turned their guns on each other to monopolise power and exploit Libya's oil resources. The Misrata-led brigade, backed by an Islamist militia called Operation Dawn, had called on the GNC to resume work.","Olympic champions Rudisha, Pearson take centre stage. Olympic champions David Rudisha and Sally Pearson take centre stage at the Commonwealth Games on Thursday where seven medals are up for grabs on the fifth day of track and field. Kenya's Rudisha, who set a blistering world record when winning Olympic gold in London in 2012, will go in the 800m against arch-rival Nijel Amos of Botswana. The men's 400m hurdles also features a strong line-up for the final, with Jehue Gordon gunning for Trinidad and Tobago's first track gold, but with South African Cornel Fredericks looking strong. Australia's Olympic champion Pearson will be hoping to put the controversy over suspended head coach Eric Hollingsworth behind her when she takes to the track for heats in the 100m hurdles.","Pistorius neighbor: Bangs too quick to be bat. PRETORIA, South Africa (AP) — A neighbor of Oscar Pistorius testifying in his murder trial said Friday that the bangs he heard after a woman's screams on the night of Reeva Steenkamp's shooting were likely too quick to be the sounds of a cricket bat on a door, as the star athlete's defense team claims.","Stenson, Rose the perfect match at Ryder Cup. GLENEAGLES, Scotland (AP) — Henrik Stenson had different playing partners in all five of his team matches at the Ryder Cups in 2006 and '08.","In Asia, Obama carefully calibrates China message. KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — President Barack Obama is hopscotching through China's neighborhood this week with a carefully calibrated message for Beijing, seeking to both counter and court the rising Asian power.","Leading Bahrain activist released from jail. MANAMA, Bahrain (AP) — Bahrain's Interior Ministry says police have released human rights activist Maryam al-Khawaja, who was detained last month after landing in the Gulf Arab country on a visit to see her jailed father.","Argentine leader seeks pope's backing for debt battle. Buenos Aires (AFP) - Argentine President Cristina Kirchner will visit her compatriot Pope Francis Saturday, seeking to enlist his support for her fight against hedge fund creditors before taking her pitch to the UN.","AP PHOTOS: Balkans hit with record flooding. Entire towns and villages in the Balkans have been laid to waste as the region struggles to deal with the worst flooding on record.","Rebekah Brooks denies knowledge of private eye's contract. Former News of the World editor Rebekah Brooks told Britain's phone hacking trial on Friday she did not know that a private investigator, later convicted for intercepting voicemails, was contracted to her newspaper. The former editor of Rupert Murdoch's now-defunct Sunday tabloid said she knew nothing about Glenn Mulcaire's contract, but added that it should have been run past her given its size. Giving evidence for a second day in the trial at London's Old Bailey, Brooks talked about the huge behind-the-scenes deals signed with celebrities such as football icon David Beckham for exclusives. Mulcaire, a former footballer, worked for News of the World while Brooks was its editor.","GE unit in talks to buy Milestone Aviation: WSJ. (Reuters) - General Electric Co's finance arm is in talks to buy Milestone Aviation Group Ltd, as the U.S. conglomerate looks to expand its aircraft-leasing operation into helicopters, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter. The purchase price for Milestone could be more than $2.5 billion, according to some of the people, the Journal reported. Milestone, co-founded by NetJets Inc founder Richard Santulli, has announced plans for an initial public offering of stock, according to the report. ...","Interim prime minister named in politically fractious Haiti. PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — Health Minister Florence Duperval Guillaume was named as Haiti's interim prime minister on Sunday following the resignation of her predecessor a week ago amid a stalemate over delayed legislative elections.","China police detain 24 after anti-incinerator protest: newspaper. Chinese police detained 24 people for disturbing social order during a protest on Saturday against a proposed trash incinerator in southern China, the state-run China Daily newspaper reported.","Fox-Time Warner deal could bring the game to ESPN. Twenty-First Century Fox's plan to buy Time Warner could create an upheaval in the sports television world, creating the first meaningful challenge to Walt Disney Co's ESPN. Time Warner's board has rejected an $80 billion bid, but Fox Chairman Rupert Murdoch is unlikely to walk away quickly. A deal would bring him college basketball's \"March Madness\" championship tournament, prime time National Basketball Association (NBA) games, and Major League Baseball (MLB) games.","Juncker unveils investment plan to kick start EU growth. STRASBOURG, France (Reuters) - European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker presented a plan on Wednesday to leverage some 300 billion euros ($375 billion) of largely private new investment in the European Union, saying it was time to kick-start growth without adding to public debt.","Spieth opens up 7-shot lead at Isleworth. WINDERMERE, Fla. (AP) — Jordan Spieth rolled in a 50-foot birdie putt on the last hole to cap off a Saturday at Isleworth that was close to perfect.","River Plate draws 1-1 with Olimpio in Argentina. BUENOS AIRES (AP) — River Plate missed a chance to take a share of the Argentine league lead when it drew 1-1 with Olimpo on Sunday in round 16 of the first division.","Hamilton tops 1st practice at US Grand Prix. AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Formula One championship leader Lewis Hamilton posted the fastest time in Friday's first practice for the U.S. Grand Prix, edging Mercedes teammate and title rival Nico Rosberg.","S. Korean official arrested over nut rage incident. SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korean prosecutors have arrested a government official who allegedly leaked information about an investigation into former Korean Air Lines executive Cho Hyun-ah, who forced a flight to return over a bag of macadamia nuts.","IOC welcomes Saudi end to girls' sports ban. The International Olympic Committee on Sunday urged the Saudi government to push forward with moves to lift a ban on sports in girls' state schools. The conservative Muslim kingdom's consultative Shura Council last week recommended an end to the ban, which was relaxed in private schools last year, state media reported. \"We welcome this development and look forward to approval by the Education Ministry,\" IOC spokesman Mark Adams said in a statement. Adams noted that IOC president Thomas Bach had raised women's involvement in sport when he visited Saudi Arabia.","Turkish PM's office says Erdogan recordings are faked. Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan's office said voice recordings on YouTube purportedly of Erdogan telling his son to dispose of large sums of money on the day news broke of a graft inquiry into his government were fake and \"completely untrue\". Reuters could not verify the authenticity of the audio recordings, which were posted on the video sharing site late on Monday. In the recordings, a voice supposedly of Erdogan can be heard asking his son to remove the money from his home. The recordings are purportedly of Erdogan and his son Bilal discussing how to reduce the funds to \"zero\" by distributing them among several businessmen.","Canadian securities regulator talks moving at good pace -Oliver. Canadian Finance Minister Joe Oliver said on Monday that discussions with the country's provinces about joining a national securities regulator are \"moving at a good pace.\" Four out of the country's 10 provinces have so far signed on to the project that is designed to end a patchwork of local regulators. \"I can't comment on our discussions with individual provinces and territories except to say that a number of them are moving at a good pace,\" Oliver told reporters following a speech.","US awards Puerto Rico $5M for small businesses. SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — The U.S. Treasury Department is allocating $5 million to help small businesses grow in Puerto Rico as the U.S. territory struggles with a recession.","Google 'forgets' stories on BBC, UK newspaper sites. Google has restricted access to a BBC blog posting and several British newspaper stories under a legal ruling granting people a right to be \"forgotten\" in search engines, it emerged on Thursday. BBC economics editor Robert Peston complained that Google had \"killed this example of my journalism\" after being informed that a 2007 posting about former Merrill Lynch chairman Stan O'Neal had been removed from certain searches in Europe. The Guardian newspaper also said it had been notified that six links to its stories had been removed from search results, three of them about a 2010 controversy involving a now-retired Scottish Premier League referee. The newspaper said it was given no reason and had no appeal against the decision, the result of a ruling by the European Court of Justice in May that the paper said was a \"huge, if indirect, challenge to press freedom\".","German exports drive Q4 growth. BERLIN (AP) — Exports helped propel the German economy to 0.4 percent growth in the fourth quarter while domestic demand dropped, underlining concerns that Europe's largest economy is relying too heavily on foreign trade.","Egypt Islamists protest ahead of vote results. Protesters loyal to ousted Islamist president Mohamed Morsi clashed with police Friday as Egypt awaited official results of a constitutional referendum the army-backed government billed as an endorsement of Morsi's overthrow. The interim authorities trumpeted the two-day poll as a chance for voters to show their support for the army's overthrow of Egypt's first freely elected president last July after mass protests on the streets. Flagship state-owned daily Al-Ahram hailed a 98 percent vote in support of the new charter drawn up the interim authorities to replace the Islamist-inspired one adopted under Morsi's rule in December 2012. Morsi's Islamist supporters, who boycotted the vote, described it as a farce and predicted it would culminate in the sort of massive electoral fraud that characterised the three-decade rule of Hosni Mubarak, ended by the Arab Spring uprising of 2011.","Palestinian president to meet Egypt's Sisi over Gaza crisis. Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas was to meet Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on Thursday amid intensifying efforts to end the deadly Israeli military offensive on Gaza. The meeting, announced by Egypt's presidency, comes as Israel and Hamas, the Palestinian Islamist movement that is the main power in Gaza, agreed to briefly halt hostilities Thursday on humanitarian grounds. The brief respite comes on the 10th day of Israel's Operation Protective Edge, launched on July 8 to stamp out rocket fire from Gaza militants. Cairo has once again become a diplomatic hub to end the fighting in Gaza after Egypt initially proposed a failed truce without consulting Hamas.","Royal welcome for Obama on historic Malaysia trip. KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — President Barack Obama is opening the first visit to Malaysia by an American president in nearly half a century, underlining the important role that Southeast Asia plays in the president's efforts to forge deeper ties to the Asia-Pacific region. Excited by the occasion, Obama's hosts treated him to a truly royal welcome.","'Sons of Liberty' tells tale of America's founders. BOSTON (AP) — Don't let the powdered wigs and oil paintings fool you: Samuel Adams, John Hancock and the other eventual Americans who changed the course of history were a ragtag band of secretive and sometimes mischievous young radicals.","UK's new Folio book prize has American accent. LONDON (AP) — A new literary prize designed to find the best book published in Britain has a strongly North American accent.","Qaeda affiliate executes Lebanese soldier: govt. Beirut (AFP) - A Lebanese soldier has been executed by the Al-Nusra Front, the Syrian affiliate of Al-Qaeda, the government said on Saturday.","China holds out hope for Iran nuclear deal. VIENNA (AP) — Talks on Iran's nuclear program appear likely to run beyond their Monday midnight deadline, but China's foreign minister says negotiators are still working on elements of a deal.","Kiev, rebels sign peace plan memorandum: negotiators. Minsk (AFP) - Negotiators representing Kiev and Ukraine's separatists agreed early Saturday to stop fighting and create a 30-km demilitarised zone in order to bring lasting peace to eastern Ukraine, they said after talks in Minsk.","Canada top court rejects justice's appointment. Canada's high court on Friday rejected Prime Minister Stephen Harper's appointment of a like-minded justice to the top court, saying the vacancy must be filled by a judge or lawyer from Quebec. In a 6-1 decision, Supreme Court justices barred Marc Nadon from taking a vacant seat alongside them, noting that it is one of three reserved for Quebec judges or lawyers. The ruling is historic and a blow for the Harper government, which has sought to reshape the bench to reflect its socially conservative values. It comes at a time when the high court is wrestling with the constitutionality of anti-terror measures, proposed Senate reforms and other major legal issues facing Canada.","Syria warring sides not in same room for start of talks: sources. Geneva (AFP) - Syria's warring sides will not sit in the same room for the start of talks in Geneva Friday despite efforts by UN mediator Lakhdar Brahimi to bring them together, sources said.","E-filing of Canadian taxes shut down because of Heartbleed bug. Right in the heart of tax-filing season, the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) shut down access to online tax services on Wednesday because of an Internet bug that has made data on many of the world's major websites vulnerable to theft by hackers. \"We have received information concerning an Internet security vulnerability named the Heartbleed Bug,\" the CRA, the government's tax collector, said. The tax filing deadline in Canada is April 30, 15 days later than in the United States, but the CRA said it would give consideration to taxpayers unable to comply with their filing requirements because of the service interruption.","2 dead in Venezuela clash at barricade. CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — A National Guardsman and a civilian were killed Thursday in a clash between residents of a Caracas neighborhood and armed men who tried to remove a barricade, Venezuelan officials said.","Police in China remove church's cross. BEIJING (AP) — A Christian evangelist in eastern China says hundreds of police have taken down a local church's cross amid a crackdown on church buildings around Zhejiang province.","Ilonen birdies 18th to keep lead in Irish Open. CORK, Ireland (AP) — Mikko Ilonen of Finland birdied the last hole to stay on top of the Irish Open leaderboard after the third round on Saturday.","Iran MPs demand stronger veil enforcement. Two thirds of Iran's MPs have written to the president urging him to take measures to ensure women correctly observe Islamic dress, denouncing Western cultural influence against the veil. A defining feature of Iran's interpretation of Islamic law since the 1979 revolution, hijab obliges women to cover their hair and much of their body in loose clothing when outside, regardless of their religion. Iran's parliament is dominated by conservative males. However, President Hassan Rouhani, a self-declared moderate who was surprisingly elected last June, has expressed a desire to expand social freedoms -- to the disapproval of hardliners.","N. Korea defends missile tests, warns 'gangster' US. North Korea's top military body Monday defended its recent missile tests as a legitimate exercise in self-defence, and said South Korean and US charges of provocation were malicious and hypocritical. The North has conducted half-a-dozen missile, rocket and heavy artillery tests over the past month, earning a verbal slap on the wrist from the UN Security Council. The launches included a number of ballistic missile tests, which North Korea is banned from conducting under existing UN resolutions. \"The real provocations and threats made to the Korean peninsula are the whole gamut of political and military moves being pushed forward by the US,\" the spokesman said, citing the annual joint drills in South Korea.","Exclusive: Booming Pakistan stock market investigates staff access to trading data. By Katharine Houreld ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Pakistan's Karachi Stock Exchange is investigating whether staff profited from years of unauthorized access to real time trading data in a market that has rocketed more than 450 percent since 2009. Any suggestion that staff may have illegally profited from having access to real-time market data stands to deal a blow to the KSE, where about a third of shares freely available to investors are held by foreigners. In the first public acknowledgement of the potential breach, KSE Managing Director Nadeem Naqvi told Reuters an investigation was underway into whether any individuals profited. \"The integrity of the exchange depends on this.\" With a market capitalization of $54 billion, the KSE is Asia's third-smallest stock exchange in U.S. dollars among those monitored daily by Thomson Reuters.","SOCHI SCENE: Russia says it's safe. SOCHI, Russia (AP) — The Russian government says it's doing everything possible to make sure the Sochi Games are as safe as possible. Officials are practically guaranteeing it.","Report: surrogate baby rejected in India on gender. CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — A judge says that an Australian couple rejected their biological child born to an Indian surrogate mother because of the baby's gender. But they took home its twin sibling.","Four injured in Toronto stabbing rampage. Four people were injured Wednesday morning in a stabbing rampage at an office park in the Canadian city of Toronto, police said. Toronto police Constable Jenniferjit Sidhu said \"a person armed with scissors or a knife\" burst into a fifth floor office in a building in the city's north end.","Brazil shootout closes major road in Rio. RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — A shootout between police and suspected drug traffickers has prompted the five-hour closure of an important thoroughfare in Rio de Janeiro.","U.S. Coast Guard ends search for missing British yacht sailors. (Reuters) - A renewed search for four British sailors who vanished with their yacht a week ago in the Atlantic was called off late on Friday, hours after the overturned vessel was spotted at sea with no sign of its crew, the U.S. Coast Guard said. They had reported that their vessel, the 39-foot (12 meter) Cheeki Rafiki, was taking on water, forcing them to change course for the Azores. On Friday, a U.S. Navy search team discovered the capsized vessel about 1,000 miles off Cape Cod, Massachusetts, but detected no sign of the crew, the U.S. Coast Guard said in a statement. The Coast Guard later said that the vessel's life raft was found still stowed in its storage space aboard the yacht, confirming that the crew did not use it to escape.","Dengue fever strikes models in Japan. A worsening outbreak of dengue fever in Japan has claimed its first celebrities -- two young models sent on assignment to the Tokyo park believed to be its source. The details emerged as the government said Tuesday that at least 34 people have now caught the disease, which has not been seen in Japan for seven decades apart from cases contracted overseas. The two women -- Saaya, 20, and Eri Aoki, 25 -- were sent to Yoyogi Park last month for the Saturday variety show on which they appear, the Nikkan Sports said. The revelation that the two beauties had succumbed to the mosquito-borne disease provided fodder for the self-referencing TV shows that fill daytime schedules in celebrity-obsessed Japan.","Pope Francis condemns attacks in Australia, Pakistan, Yemen. VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Francis on Wednesday condemned what he called \"inhuman terrorist acts\" in three different countries this week and prayed that violent militants be converted to peace. \"I would like to pray together with you for the victims of the inhuman terrorist acts carried out in the past few days in Australia, Pakistan and Yemen,\" he said to tens of thousands of people at the end of his weekly general audience in St. Peter's Square. ...","FA backs Hodgson despite early England exit. Roy Hodgson will stay on as England manager until 2016 despite his side's chastening group-stage elimination from the World Cup, Football Association chairman Greg Dyke announced on Friday. \"We are supportive of Roy Hodgson and would like him to stay as manager,\" Dyke said in comments reported by British media shortly before England's exit was confirmed by Costa Rica's 1-0 victory over Italy in Recife. With England having lost 2-1 to Uruguay in their Group D clash in Sao Paulo on Thursday, Costa Rica's shock win over Italy condemned the 1966 champions to their earliest World Cup exit for 56 years.","Works by Nobel laureate Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Nobel laureate Gabriel Garcia Marquez was among Latin America's most popular writers and widely considered the father of a literary style known as magic realism.","Arab League chief: Confront Islamic State group. CAIRO (AP) — The head of the Arab League urged its members Sunday to confront Islamic State extremists \"militarily and politically,\" issuing an apparent call to arms as President Barack Obama prepares to go to lawmakers and the American public with his own plan to stop the militants.","Australia repeals controversial carbon tax. Will others follow?. Australia has become the first nation in the developed world to wind back legislation aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions, after the Senate voted to scrap the controversial carbon tax on Thursday. The scrapping of the carbon tax comes as Australia prepares to host the G20 summit in Brisbane in November. United States President Barack Obama, who recently unveiled a plan to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from power plants by 30 percent by 2030 from 2005 levels, wants climate change to be one of the main items on the G20’s agenda. The vote means that 348 companies will no longer have to pay a penalty on carbon emissions, currently just under $25 a ton.","McCoist confident of Glasgow Rangers' finances. Rangers manager Ally McCoist believes the club are doing \"reasonably well\" in financial terms despite reports the fallen Scottish giants were seeking a £1.5 million loan($2.5 million, 1.8 million euros), he said Monday. Rangers, Scotland's most successful club, were demoted from the top flight, went into administration in 2012 and, after a new operating company had been formed to take over the running of the Glasgow giants, were demoted into the old Third Division -- Scottish football's fourth tier -- for the 2012/13 season.","A closer look at some of the proposed changes to Canada's election law. OTTAWA - The Conservative government has proposed a sweeping overhaul to parts of Canada's election law. Here are a few of the notable changes:","Aussie swim star Thorpe out of hospital after battling infections. Australian swimming great Ian Thorpe has left a Sydney hospital after battling serious infections for more than three weeks following shoulder surgery, his manager said Wednesday. \"It looks as though the infections have cleared up. It can always re-infect as it's done twice before but we are hopeful,\" his manager James Erskine told Australian Associated Press in confirming he was out of hospital.","Algeria seizes 8 tonnes of cannabis smuggled from Morocco. Algerian security forces have seized more than eight tonnes of cannabis in the port city of Oran, smuggled from neighbouring Morocco, and arrested six traffickers, the police said Thursday. Those arrested were all Algerian, between 30 and 45 years old, with one of them considered the \"baron,\" police chief Salah Nouasri said, adding that the quantity seized was a record for Algeria's second-largest city. Morocco is one of the world's top cannabis producers and Europe's main source.","Police say fire damages bilingual Jerusalem school. JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli police say suspected arsonists have set fire to a bilingual Hebrew-Arabic school in Jerusalem.","FIBA denies Ukraine to give up 2015 Euro basket. MUNICH (AP) — The European basketball federation denied reports on Wednesday that Ukraine has pulled out of hosting next year's continental championship amid political and economic turmoil.","Kraft profit up on gain, cost savings. (Reuters) - Kraft Foods Group Inc on Thursday reported higher profit, helped by cost savings and a large benefit related to former employees. Kraft's stable of famous food brands includes Velveeta cheese, Jell-O desserts and Maxwell House coffee, said fourth-quarter net earnings rose to $931 million, or $1.54 per share, up from $90 million, or 15 cents per share, a year ago. Net revenue grew 2.3 percent in to $4.6 billion, due to volume gains that were partly offset by lower prices. Shares in Kraft closed at $53.61 and were virtually unchanged in after-hours trading. ...","Venezuela ex-general awaits U.S. extradition bid in Aruba jail. By Andrew Cawthorne CARACAS (Reuters) - A retired Venezuelan general wanted in the United States over drug-trafficking accusations remained in jail on the Caribbean island of Aruba over the weekend awaiting a formal extradition request, his lawyer said on Saturday. Hugo Carvajal, head of military intelligence from 2004 to 2008 during the presidency of the late Hugo Chavez, was arrested on Wednesday after flying to the semi-autonomous island that is part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Venezuela's socialist government is calling the detention of Carvajal at Washington's behest an illegal \"kidnapping\" and has threatened reprisals if he is not released. The U.S. government put Carvajal on a blacklist in 2008, accusing him of protecting cocaine shipments from seizure by Venezuela anti-narcotics authorities and providing weapons and shelter to Colombia's FARC rebels on the border.","Canada March building permits fall, housing steady. The value of building permits issued in Canada unexpectedly fell in March but plans for housing construction inched higher after a steep fall in February, according to Statistics Canada data released on Wednesday. Builders took out $6.0 billion ($5.5 billion) worth of permits in the month, down 3 percent from February and defying market forecasts for a 4.3 percent increase.","IMF mission to visit Kiev in November. KIEV (Reuters) - An International Monetary Fund mission will visit Kiev from Nov. 11 to 25 to check on the status of Ukraine's conflict-hit economy and its progress under a $17 billion bailout program, the IMF's Ukraine representative Jerome Vacher said on Friday. The IMF program was agreed in April to shore up the ex-Soviet state's foreign currency reserves and support the economy, which was blighted by years of corruption and economic mismanagement and is now struggling with the extra costs of fighting a separatist rebellion in its eastern territories. ...","FIFA and Australia's World Cup bid slammed. Australian media took FIFA to task Saturday over its contested ethics report on the 2018 and 2022 World Cup bids, but also lashed Australia's handling of the process. FIFA this week cleared Qatar and Russia of corruption and ruled out a re-vote for the tournaments despite widespread allegations of wrongdoing. \"Not for the first time, FIFA stands condemned of shamelessly laughing in the face of the people they are supposed to represent following the release of what appears to be a watered-down version of an investigation into the bidding process to host the 2018 and 2022 World Cups,\" The Australian thundered. The FIFA investigation into Qatar's successful bid for 2022 cleared the host of wrongdoing, but accused Australia of breaking ethics rules, trying to buy votes and then attempting a cover-up.","Polls show Scottish independence could be narrowly rejected. London (AFP) - Scotland could be set to narrowly reject independence, two polls indicated on Tuesday in the final 48 hours before the historic referendum.","Christie tests overseas diplomacy with Mexico trip. MEXICO CITY (AP) — New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie took a spin on the international stage Wednesday, bringing state business to Mexico City and testing his diplomatic savvy as he considers a run for U.S. president in 2016.","Chelsea stands in way of Atletico's 1st CL final. LONDON (AP) — It's not only illness that has exhausted Joe Mourinho. Defending the virtues of employing defensive tactics once again is wearing out the Chelsea manager.","As China e-commerce basks in Alibaba IPO glow, aging warehouses lure investors. By Stephen Aldred and Clare Jim HONG KONG (Reuters) - Alibaba Group Holding Ltd's plans for a giant initial public offering in New York highlight vast potential for e-commerce in China - and the weak link the logistics industry must fix if explosive growth projections are to be reached. The ageing warehouses that supply goods to customers across the world's second-largest economy are already creaking under the strain, lacking the automation and state-of-the-art technology that has fuelled the rise in the United States and Europe of Amazon.com Inc. By 2020 China's e-commerce sector will be larger than those of the U.S., Britain, Japan, German and France combined, KPMG said in a recent report. That's drawing the attention of global private equity firms like Blackstone Group LP and Carlyle Group LP as they seek to benefit from an anticipated investment boom. \\\\\"Over the next 15 to 20 years, the real cost of building warehouses is going to be staggering,\\\\\" said Jeff Schwarz, co-founder of Global Logistic Properties Ltd (GLP), the biggest foreign builder of logistics facilities in China.","Palestinian envoy's death not from safe explosion. PRAGUE (AP) — The explosion that killed the ambassador at the Palestinian Embassy complex in Prague was not caused by a booby-trapped safe as previously believed, Czech investigators said Monday.","Canada economist sees risk in lack of housing data. By Leah Schnurr TORONTO (Reuters) - A lack of comprehensive data on Canada's housing sector poses risks to the country's hot real estate market by restricting information that could help investors make sound decisions, according to a prominent Canadian economist. Benjamin Tal, senior economist at CIBC, Canada's fifth-largest bank, called on policymakers to address the issue as rising interest rates are expected to begin to test the market. He pointed to many measures of activity in the mortgage and housing markets that are tracked in the United States but not publicly available in Canada, including credit score distribution across mortgages and homeowners' equity positions. \"The gap between the importance of the real estate market to the economy and the lack of publicly available information on it is mind-boggling,\" Tal wrote in a note titled \"Flying Blind\" released Thursday.","Anadarko payment will cover environmental costs: U.S. official. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Anadarko Petroleum Corp's $5.15 billion settlement with the U.S. government will more than cover the past environmental damage caused by its Kerr-McGee unit, U.S. Deputy Attorney General James Cole said on Thursday. At a news conference, Cole, the No. 2 Justice Department official, said that the amount of the settlement was in line with a bankruptcy court ruling about liability. \"It provides us with recovery now, as opposed to years and years down the road,\" Cole said. (Reporting by David Ingram)","Fiji strongman sworn in after election landslide. By Malakai Veisamasama SUVA (Reuters) - Fiji's former military ruler was sworn in as prime minister on Monday after winning 60 percent of the vote in the South Pacific nation's first elections since he seized power eight years ago. Fiji, a tropical archipelago about 3,200 km (2,000 miles) east of Australia, has suffered four coups since 1987, the latest in 2006 led by former army chief Voreqe \"Frank\" Bainimarama, whose Fiji First Party will hold a wide majority 32 of the 50 seats in the new parliament. ...","UAE telecom Etisalat completes $5.7B Morocco deal. DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — United Arab Emirates telecommunications firm Etisalat said Wednesday it has completed a deal to buy French entertainment company Vivendi's majority stake in Morocco's Maroc Telecom.","Sprint moves ahead with T-Mobile bid plan: sources. (Reuters) - Sprint Corp is meeting with banks to work out funding for its bid for smaller rival T-Mobile US Inc, a source familiar with the situation said, as the mobile carrier works to ease regulatory concerns that the deal would hurt competition. The source said that Sprint, which is owned by Japan's SoftBank Corp, is hoping to fund the bulk of T-Mobile's estimated $50 billion price tag with corporate bonds and cover the rest with syndicated loans and convertible bonds. Sprint is currently talking to at least five banks, the source told Reuters, including JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs and Deutsche Bank. Bloomberg, which first reported that Sprint was in talks with banks on Thursday morning in Asia, said the carrier was also talking to Mizuho Financial Group Ltd and Citibank.","German FM to meet Kerry to discuss spying claims. BERLIN (AP) — German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier says he will meet U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry this weekend to discuss allegations of American spying on Germany, which have soured relations between the two allies.","Torture in Northen Ireland sanctioned by minister. Torture methods used during internment of Irish nationalists at the height of the Northern Irish Troubles were sanctioned by the British government minister, an Irish television documentary claimed Wednesday. In 1971, as violence intensified in the sectarian conflict, internment â or imprisonment without trial â was introduced by the British state as they tried to bring order to the province. The men were subjected to five techniques of deprivation: hooding, wall standing in stress positions for hours, sleep deprivation, water and food deprivation and subjection to noise, according to the report.","India's Sahara chief ordered by court to remain in custody. By Suchitra Mohanty and Devidutta Tripathy NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India's highest court on Tuesday directed that the head of the Sahara conglomerate, Subrata Roy, remain in custody over the group's failure to comply with its orders to repay investors in an outlawed multi-billion-dollar investment scheme. Roy, 65, was arrested on Friday after he did not appear last week at a Supreme Court hearing - which he says he missed to attend to his ailing mother - in its long-running battle with India's securities regulator. Sahara is best known as the former main sponsor of India's national cricket team, as well as owner of New York's Plaza Hotel and London's Grosvenor House.","Philadelphia mayor rebuked for response to fire that killed four children. By Daniel Kelley PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) - Relatives of at least two of the four children killed in a weekend fire that destroyed eight homes in Philadelphia staged a sit-in at City Hall on Wednesday, demanding the mayor apologize for comments about the blaze they decried as insensitive. Mayor Michael Nutter accused some in the mainly Liberian immigrant neighborhood of spreading misinformation when he was confronted by claims from community members that firefighters were slow or inept in responding to Saturday's blaze. “I will not tolerate under any set of circumstances, incorrect information, allegations, innuendo or lies suggesting that members of the Philadelphia Fire Department did anything less than perform admirably in their service,\" Nutter told reporters on Monday. Patrick Sanyeah, a Liberian native whose 4-year-old son and newborn infant were among the four children who perished, called the mayor's remarks disrespectful.","Abdelkader scores twice, Red Wings blank Canucks 2-0 to spoil Tortorella's return. DETROIT - Two goalies combined on a Detroit Red Wings shutout for the first time since the 2001-02 season, when they went on to hoist the Stanley Cup.","Rivalries resurface in Iraqi town recaptured from Islamic State. By Isabel Coles JALAWLA, Iraq (Reuters) - The blood of two militants killed during Islamic State's rout in the Iraqi town of Jalawla has yet to be washed away, but a turf war is already brewing between Kurdish and Shi'ite forces that jointly drove the insurgents out. The recapture of disputed territory and towns such as Jalawla is reopening rivalries over the boundary between areas of Kurdish control and those administered by the Shi'ite-led Baghdad government. Local Sunni Arabs displaced in the fighting have little choice but to align themselves with one side or the other. ...","Israeli aircraft hit more than 70 targets in Gaza. GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israel bombed five mosques, a sports stadium and the home of the late Hamas military chief across the Gaza Strip early Tuesday, a Gaza police official said, as the U.N. chief and the U.S. secretary of state launched a high-level effort to end two weeks of deadly fighting.","Fierce fighting raging in Syria's Latakia. Fierce battles raged Wednesday in Syria's coastal Latakia province near the Turkish border, days after rebels seized a frontier crossing, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. On Tuesday, the rebels captured a hill known as Observatory 45, which strategically overlooks opposition-held areas of Latakia, the historic heartland of President Bashar al-Assad's clan and his Alawite sect of Shiite Islam. The latest fighting raged around Kasab, home to the border crossing seized at the weekend, as well as Observatory 45 and Samra, also captured by rebels this week. According to Omar al-Jeblawi, an activist on the ground, the army was retaliating with heavy shelling including air strikes near the Turkish border.","Influx of asylum-seekers strains German shelters. Germany has attracted more political asylum seekers than any other EU nation, but now the massive influx is straining the system, with crowded Berlin shelters sounding the alarm. In one residential home on the outskirts of the sprawling German capital, a family of six from Bosnia-Hercegovina now share a spartan room of just 25 square metres (270 square feet). But, given the recent surge of asylum seekers, it is now expected to stay open longer. Across the city, in the tower blocks of Lichtenberg in the former East Berlin, people from 18 nations live in a 10-storey building that was converted into an asylum seekers' centre more than two years ago.","Nearly 600 Palestinians wed in mass ceremony. Jericho (Palestinian Territories) (AFP) - Nearly 600 Palestinians were married in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip Tuesday in a mass wedding funded by the Western-backed Palestinian Authority. Participating in the ceremony were 218 couples from the Israeli-occupied West Bank who were married in the historic city of Jericho, with another 80 pairs marrying at a parallel ceremony in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip. The office of Ramallah-based Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas, who attended the Jericho ceremony, said it had cost $1.5 million.","Libya autonomy groups vows to sell oil from seized ports, challenges Tripoli. By Ghaith Shennib and Julia Payne TRIPOLI/LONDON (Reuters) - A heavily armed autonomy group in eastern Libya said on Tuesday it would invite foreign companies to buy oil from seized ports and protect arriving tankers, challenging Tripoli which has promised to use force to stop them. The announcement came just hours after Libya's defense ministry said it would destroy any tankers loading oil from eastern ports in the Cyrenaica region which are under control of the armed protesters. The escalation adds to chaos as the weak Tripoli government struggles to rein in armed groups that helped oust Muammar Gaddafi in 2011 but kept their guns to demand power and a bigger share of the country's oil wealth. The conflict is hurting oil revenues, which fund the OPEC nation's government and the import of wheat and other crucial food.","Netherlands faces Mexico and humidity in World Cup. FORTALEZA, Brazil (AP) — Netherlands coach Louis van Gaal says his team faces two significant challenges in its World Cup round of 16 match in this steamy northern Brazilian city — Mexico and the weather.","Wounded France makes 7 changes for Scotland trip. PARIS (AP) — France has made seven changes to its team ahead of Saturday's visit to Scotland in the Six Nations after an embarrassing loss to Wales.","Surgeons' death rates published in NHS league tables. London (AFP) - Performance data for around 5,000 surgeons in England will be released Wednesday, revealing how many patients have died in their care.","Israel's settlement plans cast doubt on peace commitment: U.N.. By Louis Charbonneau UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Israel's decision to accelerate planning for some 1,000 new settler homes in East Jerusalem raises serious doubts about the Israeli commitment to peace with the Palestinians, a senior U.N. official said on Wednesday. An Israeli government official said on Monday that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will expedite preparations for new settler homes in East Jerusalem. The Israeli plans, along with Palestinian concerns about Jerusalem's holy sites, prompted the Palestinians to ask Jordan to request an emergency U.N. ...","Syria refugees in Lebanon protest 'blood election'. Akkar (Lebanon) (AFP) - Hundreds of Syrian refugees held a protest march Sunday in the Akkar district of northern Lebanon to condemn Syria's June 3 election poised to keep President Bashar al-Assad in power. \"Vote for the man who killed 200,000 Syrians!\" read one poster held by a protester in Kusha village, as demonstrators marched waving flags of the Syrian opposition. Men, women and children living in tents in unofficial refugee camps in and near Kusha took part in the protest march held under the banner of a \"blood election\", two days ahead of the presidential poll in Syria. Last Wednesday, tens of thousands of Syrians living in Lebanon flocked to their embassy in Beirut to cast their vote in an election branded by the Syrian opposition and its backers as a \"farce\".","Twin suicide bombings target Iran centre in Beirut. A double suicide car bombing targeted an Iranian cultural centre in Beirut on Wednesday, killing at least four people in the latest attack linked to the conflict in neighbouring Syria. The attack was quickly claimed by the Abdullah Azzam Brigades, a jihadist group inspired by Al-Qaeda which previously claimed a double suicide bombing aimed at Iran's embassy in Beirut. Jihadists have carried out a string of attacks in Lebanon targeting both Iran and the Shiite Hezbollah movement, which provide vital support to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime as it battles a Sunni-led rebellion.","Islamic State group lines up, kills 30 Iraqi men. BAGHDAD (AP) — An Iraqi official says Islamic State militants lined up 30 Sunni men in a town west of Baghdad and shot them dead.","Rains slow Sri Lankan landslide search; nearly 150 feared dead. By Shihar Aneez and Ranga Sirilal COLOMBO (Reuters) - Heavy rains hampered search operations on Friday at the site of a landslide in Sri Lanka where more than 100 people were buried under tons of mud and rubble two days ago. Fears of further landslips in the rain-sodden hills around the tea-plantation village of Haldummulla also slowed efforts to recover the dead, after a disaster that has brought offers of assistance from neighbor India and the United States. ...","Talansky holds off Contador to win Criterium. COURCHEVEL, France (AP) — American rider Andrew Talansky was the surprise winner of the Criterium du Dauphine on Sunday as he held off two-time Tour de France winner Alberto Contador in a gripping finale on the eighth stage.","Chad to pull peacekeepers from C. African Republic. BANGUI, Central African Republic (AP) — Chadian officials say they are withdrawing their peacekeepers from the regional mission in Central African Republic.","Hong Kong protesters to hold street vote on next steps. Hong Kong's pro-democracy protesters are set to hold a street poll on Sunday on the next steps for a mass movement that has paralysed parts of the semi-autonomous Chinese city. Tens of thousands of Hong Kongers spilled onto the streets in late September in anger at Beijing's refusal to grant free leadership elections to the former British colony, insisting that candidates for the 2017 vote must be vetted by a loyalist committee. The office of Hong Kong leader Leung Chun-ying said that officials \"strongly condemn this savage act\" and that police were investigating the incident. Pro-democracy group Occupy Central, which has been at the vanguard of the mass movement, has insisted that withdrawal is not an option and that Sunday's vote is not about whether or not to stay on the streets.","S. Sudan govt: Troops capture 2 towns from rebels. NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Government troops have captured a rebel stronghold and taken back control of another town, sending rebels fleeing toward the Ethiopian border, a South Sudanese military spokesman said Monday.","Ukraine says 2,000 Russian servicemen killed in Ukraine conflict. About 2,000 Russian servicemen have been killed so far in the conflict in eastern Ukraine, Ukrainian military spokesman Andriy Lysenko said on Friday, citing intelligence data. Russia denies sending its troops into Ukraine in support of pro-Russian separatists battling the Kiev government's forces. Kiev and its Western backers say there is overwhelming evidence to prove the direct involvement of Russian troops in the fighting in eastern Ukraine. Moscow said Russian soldiers recently captured by Ukrainian forces had lost their way during a training exercise.","China to build lighthouses on five isles in defiance of U.S. call. China plans to build lighthouses on five islands in the South China Sea, state media reported on Thursday, in defiance of calls from the United States and the Philippines for a freeze on such activity to ease tension over rival claims. At least two of the islands upon which China said it will put up lighthouses appear to be in waters also claimed by Vietnam. Overlapping claims in the South China Sea have fueled confrontation in recent months with China, which claims 90 percent of the sea, at odds with Vietnam and the Philippines in particular.","Fed debate on changing interest rate guidance heats up: minutes. WASHINGTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) - The Federal Reserve's debate on whether to change its interest rate guidance heated up last month, with several officials saying the U.S. central bank risked misleading investors with its current view, according to minutes of its last policy meeting. \"The concern was raised that the reference to 'considerable time' in the current forward guidance could be misunderstood as a commitment rather than as data dependent,\" said the minutes of the Fed's Sept. 16-17 meeting, which were released on Wednesday. In its Sept. ...","London's FTSE dips despite Greek bond market return. London equities fell on Thursday as investors shrugged off a successful return to the bond markets by Greece four years after the country was rescued with a bailout. In late morning deals, the benchmark FTSE 100 index slid 0.10 percent to 6,629.35 points, as caution also set in before the Bank of England's latest interest rate decision. The BoE announced at midday that it was holding its main interest rate at a record-low of 0.50 percent. The central bank added that its Monetary Policy Committee agreed to keep its quantitative easing stimulus at £375 billion ($628 billion, 455 billion euros).","Jailed Greek hunger striker turns down gov't offer. ATHENS, Greece (AP) — A jailed hunger striker in Greece demanding prison leave to attend lectures at an Athens polytechnic institute has turned down a government offer to grant him a college correspondence course.","Russia: 32 railcars carrying gas derail, on fire. MOSCOW (AP) — Russia's Emergency Situations Ministry says several dozen railcars carrying gas have derailed and caught fire northeast of Moscow, prompting the evacuation of hundreds of local resident.","Cypriot official: banks will pass stress tests. NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) — Cyprus' central bank chief says she expects the bailed-out country's top banks to pass European tests gauging their health.","Putin to focus on Ukraine during trip to Milan. MOSCOW (AP) — The Kremlin says that President Vladimir Putin will have a series of meetings with Western leaders focusing on Ukraine during his trip to Milan.","Asian stocks slide on Wall St drop, Iraq violence. HONG KONG (AP) — Most Asian stock markets slumped Wednesday after Wall Street had its biggest decline in two weeks and ongoing violence in Iraq dampened sentiment.","Hamilton-Rosberg duel hurting Mercedes says Wolff. The internal rivalry between championship leader Nico Rosberg and runner-up Lewis Hamilton is hurting Mercedes, team chief Toto Wolff hinted on Saturday after Williams dominated qualifying for the Austrian Grand Prix. After winning the first six races of the season, Mercedes were overtaken by Red Bull in Montreal, and on Saturday they also failed to secure pole position for the first time this year. Instead, Rosberg came third and Hamilton ninth. \"I think both of them are going for the max at the moment, it is a very fierce competitive battle between the two for pole position and for race wins, and then you need to push hard to beat your teammate,\" Wolff told journalists at the Red Bull Ring.","Airstrikes hit western Libyan port. CAIRO (AP) — Libya's official news agency says warplanes have struck the port of a western coastal city, a day after similar strikes killed eight people.","Oldest-known Holocaust survivor dies aged 110. Alice Herz-Sommer, the world's oldest known Holocaust survivor and the subject of an Oscar-nominated documentary, has died in London aged 110, her family announced Sunday. Herz-Sommer, originally from Prague in what is now the Czech Republic, spent two years of World War II in Czechoslovakia's Terezin concentration camp, where she entertained inmates by playing the piano. Her grandson, Ariel Sommer, said: \"Alice Sommer passed away peacefully this morning with her family by her bedside.","White House regrets Russia's absence from nuclear summit meetings. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House said on Friday it regretted Russia's decision not to attend preparatory meeting last week for the 2016 nuclear security summit. White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters in a briefing that Russia declined to participate in the meeting but that he was not aware that Moscow planned to boycott the summit itself. The fourth nuclear security summit is scheduled to be held in Chicago in 2016, returning to the United States, where the process was launched by President Barack Obama in 2010. ...","US ends effort to reclaim mummy mask for Egypt. ST. LOUIS (AP) — A 3,200-year-old mummy mask at the center of a years-long custody fight will stay at the St. Louis Art Museum now that the U.S. government is giving up its fight to reclaim it for Egypt.","Crimean leader slips into New Delhi during Putin visit. By Douglas Busvine NEW DELHI (Reuters) - The leader of Crimea, the former Ukrainian territory annexed by Russia, visited India on Thursday as a member of President Vladimir Putin's summit delegation, in a move likely to provoke the West. India does not back Western sanctions against Russia, but the unofficial trip by Sergey Aksyonov could spoil the mood before Prime Minister Narendra Modi hosts U.S. President Barack Obama for India's Republic Day festivities in January. ...","City on the edge holds key to Ukraine future. By Alastair Macdonald DONETSK, Ukraine (Reuters) - Lenin looks out on Donetsk, unmoved, anthracite grey and steely eyed. It is torn between its Soviet past, a corrupt and unhappy present and a future somewhere between Russia and the West. Below his plinth on Lenin Square, protesters bemoan the fall of a local boy made good, president Viktor Yanukovich. Some hope Russia may do for the Donbass coalfield what it did in Crimea - claim Russian-speaking borderlands for Moscow, bringing higher pensions, wages and a return to a Soviet comfort zone.","Global stock markets struggle to make gains. SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — World stock markets were subdued on Monday as investors prepared for a busy week of economic news that will give new clues about the strength of the global recovery.","N. Korea rejects UN rights report as 'fabrication'. North Korea on Friday \"categorically\" rejected a UN report on its human rights record, accusing it of being a \"sheer fabrication\" invented by the United States and its allies. A UN report released Monday said North Korea's leaders should be brought before an international court for a litany of crimes against humanity. The report by the Commission of Inquiry on North Korea found \"systemic, widespread and gross human rights violations have been and are being committed\" by North Korea, its institutions and officials.","India arrests 3rd suspect in gang rape of 2 teens. LUCKNOW, India (AP) — Police arrested a third suspect and hunted for two others Saturday in the gang rape and slaying of two teenage cousins found hanging from a tree in northern India, a case that has prompted national outrage.","Replica of Henry Hudson ship heading to Europe. ALBANY, New York (AP) — A full-scale replica of Henry Hudson's early 17th-century ship the Half Moon is heading to a new home port in the Netherlands.","Missouri woman wants to undo her teenage guilty plea in 2009 slaying of 9-year-old neighbour. JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. - A Missouri woman who wrote that killing a young neighbour was \"pretty enjoyable\" now wants a judge to overturn her guilty plea.","AT&T cuts wireless data charges for individual customers. (Reuters) - AT&T Inc said on Saturday it is cutting wireless data charges for individual customers who have no annual service contract, as the No. 2 U.S. mobile operator attempts to better compete with rival T-Mobile US Inc. Customers having one smartphone with no annual service contract will now pay $65 per month instead of $80 for a plan that includes 2GB LTE wireless data, unlimited talk and text messaging, unlimited international messaging and 50 GB cloud storage. The latest plan follows price cuts AT&T announced last month for families and customers who share large data plans, as well as its offer of a $200 credit to customers who switch to its network. AT&T has been fiercely competing with smaller rival T-Mobile U.S. after T-Mobile spent several quarters directly marketing to AT&T customers.","UK gets more time to quiz Guantanamo man over Syria 'terror'. British police were on Wednesday given an extra five days to question former Guantanamo Bay detainee Moazzam Begg and three other people arrested for suspected terror offences relating to Syria. Begg had written in a blog earlier this month about making two trips to Syria in 2012 to investigate allegations of western complicity in torture. A 44-year-old woman and her son aged 20 were held on suspicion of facilitating terror abroad, as was a 36-year-old man at a separate address, police said.","US OKs commercial drone flights over land. WASHINGTON (AP) — The Federal Aviation Administration said Tuesday it has granted the first permission for commercial drone flights over U.S. land, the latest effort by the agency to show it is loosening restrictions on commercial uses of the unmanned aircraft.","Italy issues 90 mafia arrest warrants, seizes pizza restaurants. Italian police on Wednesday issued arrest warrants for 90 suspected members of a Naples mafia clan and seized assets worth millions of euros, including dozens of well-known pizza restaurants in Rome. The suspected \"mafiosi\" are accused of involvement in drug trafficking, extortion and loan sharking, and laundering profits in 27 coffee bars and pizzerias in Rome, including \"Pizza Ciro\", one of the city's most popular chains, a police statement said. Also among the 250 million euros ($339 million) worth of assets seized were 30 petrol stations in Naples, a wholesale food warehouse, a semi-professional soccer club, jewellery stores and dozens of properties, bank accounts and cars. Together, Italy's main crime groups - Sicily's Cosa Nostra, Calabria's 'Ndrangheta and the Camorra from Naples - have an annual turnover of 116 billion euros, according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.","UN to bind nations on new foreign terrorist rules. WASHINGTON (AP) — White House officials say the United Nations Security Council is expected to pass a resolution requiring nations to prosecute their citizens who travel abroad to join terrorist organizations.","Experts look at Cambodia's Khmer Rouge trial. PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) — A U.N.-assisted court on Thursday will deliver its verdicts in a case against the two most senior surviving leaders of Cambodia's Khmer Rouge, charged with crimes against humanity. The case — covering forced movements of people and a mass execution — is just a sliver of the offenses that led to the deaths of an estimated 1.7 million people through starvation, medical neglect, overwork and execution when the group held power in 1975-79.","'Geek' helps England into women's hockey final. England will face Australia for women's hockey gold at the Commonwealth Games after a self-confessed goalkeeping 'geek' helped them beat New Zealand 3-1 on a penalty shootout on Friday. Defending champions Australia had earlier cruised into the final with a 7-1 mauling of South Africa. The two sides have already met once in the competition already with Australia running out 3-0 winners in the group stages. England keeper Maddie Hinch foiled penalties from Anita Punt, Katie Glynn and Stacey Michelsen to book her side's place in a Commonwealth final for the first time since 2002.","London stocks rise at open. London shares climbed in opening deals on Thursday as investors returned to their desks on the first trading day of 2014. London's FTSE 100 index advanced 0.11 percent to 6,756.32 points. Elsewhere in Europe, the Paris CAC 40 won 0.31 percent to 4,309.16 points, compared with the close on Tuesday -- the last trading day for both the British and French bourses before shutting for New Year's Day.","Bank of Canada sees neutral interest rate one and a half points lower. OTTAWA (Reuters) - Interest rates may have to be about 1-1/2 percentage points lower than they used to be historically to enable the Canadian economy to operate at full capacity, the Bank of Canada said on Monday in a major policy pronouncement. The central bank estimated that the neutral rate of interest, at which the economy can work at full capacity with stable inflation, is 3 to 4 percent, down from 4-1/2 to 5-1/2 percent in the mid-2000s. ...","Survey: US businesses add 230,000 jobs in October. WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. companies added 230,000 jobs in October, a private survey said, the most in four months and a sign that businesses are still willing to hire despite signs of slowing growth overseas.","Apple, Intertrust settle year-old patent suit. (Reuters) - Apple Inc has agreed to settle a year-old patent infringement lawsuit with Intertrust Technologies Corp, a software firm owned by a group that includes Sony Corp and Philips, according to court filings. Terms of the settlement were not disclosed. Silicon Valley-based Intertrust develops and licenses digital rights management (DRM) software, which is used to protect and manage content rights for companies that distribute music, movies and other digital content. Intertrust filed a lawsuit against Apple in March 2013 saying the iPhone maker infringed 15 patents relating to security. ...","Romania's ruling coalition could rupture as elections loom. By Radu Marinas and Matthias Williams BUCHAREST (Reuters) - Romania's feuding coalition government could split in a matter of days, a break-up that might disrupt five years of economic reform backed by the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The Liberal party, the second largest member of Prime Minister Victor Ponta's ruling alliance, was set to meet for crisis talks on Tuesday evening to decide whether to pull their ministers out of the government. That could shortly be followed by a formal split from Ponta's leftist Social Democrats. The meeting was the culmination of a series of rows between Romania's two biggest parties, mainly over ministerial appointments, as they jockey for position before European elections in May and a presidential election in November.","Summer test for 'Islamic State' call to young European radicals: EU official. By Steve Scherer and Ilaria Polleschi MILAN (Reuters) - The long summer break will test the ability of the militant \"Islamic State\" group led by Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi to draw radical Islamist students in Europe to fight in Iraq and Syria, an EU official said in Milan on Tuesday. In Oslo, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder urged countries in Europe and elsewhere to do more to keep their own citizens from traveling to Syria to fight. In a meeting held late Monday in Milan, nine European Union countries agreed to share intelligence and seek to fight radical Islam on the Internet to counter the risk of European citizens going to fight in Syria or Iraq bringing violence back home. In the past month, the violence in Iraq and the declaration of a caliphate, an Islamic state, across parts of Iraq and Syria have heightened the importance of the European initiative, EU counter-terrorism coordinator Gille de Kerchove told reporters on Monday.","Sri Lanka 375-5 vs. Bangladesh. MIRPUR, Bangladesh (AP) — Scores at stumps Tuesday on the second day of the first cricket test between Bangladesh and Sri Lanka at Mirpur's Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium:","Thousands march in Hong Kong in escalating battle for democracy. By James Pomfret HONG KONG (Reuters) - Thousands protested in Hong Kong on Wednesday pressing China to allow full democracy in the city as a battle intensifies over Beijing's attempts to control the outcome of a planned direct election for the city's leader in 2017. Beijing had promised direct elections in the former British colony as the goal for 2017, but the devil is in the details of the rules governing who can run. Pressure has been building between democratic forces in the financial hub, which returned to Chinese rule in 1997, and China's stability-obsessed Communist Party leaders who fear a rival democrat being voted into office. Protesters at the annual New Year's Day democracy rally shouted slogans demanding full democracy in 2017, with a key condition being the open nominations of candidates so that anyone, including China critics, can run for office.","Panama's vice president wins presidential election. PANAMA CITY (AP) — Vice President Juan Carlos Varela pulled off a surprise victory in Panama's presidential election Sunday, thwarting an attempt by former ally President Ricardo Martinelli to extend his grip on power by electing a hand-picked successor.","Romania PM says won't resign after presidential election defeat. BUCHAREST (Reuters) - Prime Minister Victor Ponta ruled out resigning after he abruptly conceded defeat in Romania's presidential election on Sunday night, and said his ruling alliance would continue until parliamentary elections due in 2016. \"I reject any rumors that I will resign as long as none of my colleagues has asked me to do so,\" Ponta told a local television station. \"I have no reason to resign.\" Ponta had comfortably beaten his opponent, center-right mayor Klaus Iohannis, in the first round on Nov 2, and led opinion polls ahead of Sunday's vote. ...","Cuba mulls economy, graft in parliament session. HAVANA (AP) — Cuban parliamentarians are meeting in one of their twice-annual sessions and the state of the economy is foremost on the agenda.","UAE official visits Qatar in sign of mended ties. DOHA, Qatar (AP) — A senior United Arab Emirates official has held talks with the Qatari emir in Doha in the highest level meeting between the two Gulf neighbors since a diplomatic spat erupted earlier this year.","Pope praises Bayern Munich after Roma rout. VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis has welcomed the victorious Bayern Munich team to the Vatican after its 7-1 Champions League rout of Roma, telling the players they \"played a wonderful game\" and receiving a signed jersey in return.","Egypt: Son of ousted president referred to trial. CAIRO (AP) — An Egyptian prosecutor has referred to trial the youngest son of ousted Islamist President Mohammed Morsi on drug allegations.","Millions back Suu Kyi call for Myanmar charter change. Myanmar's opposition has gathered millions of signatures in support of changes to a constitution that bars its leader Aung San Suu Kyi from becoming president, in a show of political strength ahead of elections next year. Suu Kyi has travelled the country drawing crowds of thousands with speeches urging the military to accept a reduced political role, as her party of democracy veterans touts its moral authority in the former army-run nation.","U.S. ship finishes neutralizing Syria's worst chemical arms: Pentagon. By David Alexander WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A specially equipped U.S. It said the Cape Ray, equipped with the U.S.-developed Field Deployable Hydrolysis System, neutralized 581.5 metric tons of DF, a sarin precursor chemical, and 19.8 metric tons of HD, an ingredient of sulfur mustard, while afloat in the Mediterranean.","Militants free 32 Turkish truck drivers seized in Iraq. By Tulay Karadeniz ANKARA (Reuters) - Thirty-two truck drivers abducted by Islamist militants in Iraq three weeks ago were handed over to Turkish officials on Thursday and Ankara is working to secure the release of other Turks held there, Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said. There was no news on the 49 remaining Turks, including special forces soldiers, diplomats and children, who were seized in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul by Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) militants on June 11, a day after the truck drivers were taken captive.","Young UN climate activists passionate, frustrated. LIMA, Peru (AP) — The increasingly hostile climate predicted by scientists — rising seas, crippling droughts, ever-stronger super storms — is the looming nightmare that drives a contingent of young environmental activists that has been seeking to make a mark on U.N. climate talks.","American Samoa warns about illness outbreak. PAGO PAGO, American Samoa (AP) — American Samoa is issuing a health alert after about 100 people went to the territory's only hospital with symptoms similar to Dengue fever.","NZ commit to Bermuda, but government funding up in air. WELLINGTON (Reuters) - Team New Zealand would have preferred the next America's Cup to be in San Diego, but will gear up for the event in Bermuda even though the amount of government funding they will receive is still up in the air. The tiny mid-Atlantic island was confirmed in New York on Tuesday as the host of the 35th America's Cup in June 2017 after being picked by holders Oracle ahead of the southern California city. \"Our preference would have been San Diego,\" Team New Zealand principal Grant Dalton told TVNZ on Wednesday. ...","Iran's Zarif not worried about pushback from hardliners on nuclear deal. By Michelle Moghtader Abu Dhabi (Reuters) - Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif said he does not fear opposition from hardliners as he leads negotiations to reach a comprehensive agreement about Iran's nuclear program with world powers by the end of July. \"I am optimistic\" that a deal will be reached in three months, he told Reuters in Abu Dhabi. Iran and six world powers - the United States, France, Germany, Britain, Russia and China - struck an interim deal in November under which Tehran agreed to limit parts of its nuclear work in return for the easing of some sanctions imposed on Iran for its disputed atomic program.","Enbridge to pay C$225 million to raise stake in two Quebec wind farms. CALGARY Alberta (Reuters) - Enbridge Inc , the Canadian pipeline company building up a portfolio of renewable power projects, said on Tuesday it has agreed to pay C$225 million ($204 million) to increase its stake in two wind-power sites it co-owns with Electricite de France SA (EDF) . Enbridge will raise its ownership in the 300-megawatt Lac Alfred wind power project by 17.5 percent, bringing its stake in the eastern Quebec project to 67.5 percent. It will also raise its position in the 150-megawatt Massif du Sud site by 30 percent to 80 percent. ...","Families of missing Mexican students still waiting. TIXTLA, Mexico (AP) — Night is the most difficult time at the rural teachers college, where families have stayed on thin, bare mattresses in classrooms since 43 students went missing a month ago. The day's distractions of meals, meetings and marches end, and the parents are left with their thoughts, questions and a simmering rage.","Report finds 1,400 children exploited in UK town. LONDON (AP) — A new report has concluded that some 1,400 children were sexually exploited in one northern England town— a damming account of the collective failure by authorities to prevent children as young as 11 from being beaten, raped and trafficked.","U.S. won't be pushed into fast Keystone decision: Kerry. WASHINGTON - The U.S. government says it won't be rushed in making a decision on the long-delayed Keystone pipeline.","US 'could free Israeli spy Pollard to save peace talks'. The United States could free Jonathan Pollard, serving a life term for spying for Israel, as a way of saving deadlocked peace talks with the Palestinians, Israeli radio reported Sunday. Citing Western diplomatic sources, the public broadcaster said officials in US President Barack Obama's administration had not ruled out freeing Pollard in exchange for a green light from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for releases of Israeli Arabs convicted of \"terrorist acts\".","AP PHOTOS: Outdoor cinemas fade to black in Greece. ATHENS, Greece (AP) — For decades Greeks have enjoyed watching the latest Hollywood blockbusters and old classics under the stars.","Irish Labour party's Burton claims victory in leadership race. Ireland's social protection minister, Joan Burton, claimed victory in the leadership contest for the junior government Labour party on Friday after her opponent, junior minister Alex White, conceded defeat. Burton, the party's deputy leader, takes over from deputy prime minister Eamon Gilmore who resigned in May after Labour were punished by voters at local polls for an austerity program that has put the country's finances back on track.","One more victim found in Washington state mudslide debris field. (Reuters) - The body of one more person killed in a Washington state mudslide was found on Friday in the debris field where searchers are scouring the muck for about 90 people missing nearly a week after the disaster, a county official said. Snohomish County Executive Director Gary Haakenson said that person was not included in the official death toll of 17, which remained steady. The new remains appeared to bring to 10 the number of victims that authorities have said have been found but not yet identified or added to the official death toll.","DNA shows ancient hunter had blue eyes, dark skin. BERLIN (AP) — A hunter-gatherer who lived in Europe some 7,000 years ago probably had blue eyes and dark skin, a combination that has largely disappeared from the continent in the millennia since, scientists said Tuesday.","Green dropped from US roster with rib injury. EAST HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — Midfielder Julian Green will miss the United States' exhibition games against Ecuador and Honduras because of a rib injury.","Oil slips to near $103, China factory index drops. Oil prices slipped Thursday after a report indicated manufacturing in China, the world's second biggest economy, shrank again in February.","Australian Ogilvy breaks drought with Stableford victory. (Reuters) - Australian Geoff Ogilvy broke out of a slump with a convincing victory at the $3 million Barracuda Championship in Reno, Nevada on Sunday. Ogilvy, the 2006 U.S. Open champion, finished on 21-under-par for 49 points in the Modified Stableford format on the Montreux course. American Justin Hicks claimed second place on 44 points, with compatriots Jonathan Byrd and John Huh equal third on 37 points. Ogilvy, 37, collected $540,000 for his eighth PGA Tour victory, his first since 2010 when he also won the Australian Open. He also earned a late invitation to next week's PGA Championship. ...","Real Madrid completes rout of Schalke with 3-1 win. MADRID (AP) — Cristiano Ronaldo scored two goals as Real Madrid completed its Champions League last 16 thrashing of Schalke with a 3-1 victory on Tuesday.","Double-ton New Zealand rule day one against India. Centuries for Brendon McCullum and Kane Williamson lifted New Zealand off the ropes and into a position of command on the opening day of the first Test against India. Captain McCullum posted his eighth Test hundred soon after tea on Thursday and Williamson followed two overs later with his fifth as New Zealand progressed to 329-4 at stumps. Williamson was eventually removed for 113 and at stumps McCullum was unbeaten on 143 with Corey Anderson on 42 in a 78-run stand for the fifth wicket. McCullum and Williamson came together when New Zealand were in trouble at 30-3 after being sent into bat on a bowler-friendly Eden Park wicket.","South African police kill two more protestors. South African police said Wednesday they had shot dead two protestors in a northern village during a seige a day earlier of their station by an angry mob throwing stones and petrol bombs. \"Our members felt that they were in danger and a command to defend themselves was given,\" police spokesman Hangwani Mulaudzi said. Fifteen police officers were injured during the clashes on Tuesday, he said. Mulaudzi said additional police officers were dispatched after receiving a tip-off about plans to burn down the police station.","Egypt court sentences two Mursi supporters to death. An Egyptian court on Saturday sentenced two supporters of former president Mohamed Mursi to death for murder during violence that broke out in Alexandria last year after the army deposed the Islamist head of state. The judge ruled that the two men's files be referred to the mufti, the country's highest religious authority to whom death sentences are always sent for review. In a separate case on Monday, an Egyptian court in the southern province of Minya sentenced 529 supporters of Mursi's Muslim Brotherhood to death, drawing strong criticism from Western governments and human rights groups.","Venezuela braces for opposition, pro-govt rallies. CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuelans are bracing for trouble as both supporters of the government and the opposition prepare for major rallies in a country that has been roiled by violence in recent days.","'Bury him': Jailed mobster's chilling execution order. \"The important thing is you have to bury him,\" Giovanni Di Giacomo was recorded saying of a suspected rival in a bugged conversation with his brother Giuseppe, who was himself killed in an ambush in Sicily last month. \"Keep hitting him on the head,\" jailed Di Giacomo said. \"Put lime on top\" and \"Take off his clothes\", Di Giacomo said when his brother visited him in prison, according to transcripts released by the police which did not say whether the man in question was killed. Giuseppe Di Giacomo had been anointed de facto head of the \"Porta Nuova\" clan by mobsters in prison and his assassination threatened to unleash \"a dangerous feud between mafia families\", the police said in a statement.","Brem of Austria leads World Cup GS after 1st run. ASPEN, Colo. (AP) — Eva-Maria Brem of Austria turned in a nearly flawless first run of a women's World Cup giant slalom on Saturday to take a mammoth lead over the field.","Iran nuclear talks to resume in early September: state TV. Iran said on Wednesday nuclear talks with six world powers would resume in early September, according to state television, after both sides agreed to continue talking for four more months to try to reach a final agreement on Tehran's nuclear program. \"The extension of talks shows this is a positive atmosphere,\" Iranian foreign ministry spokeswoman Marzieh Afkham said during a weekly press conference. Iran says it is only refining uranium to fuel nuclear power plants or research reactors, not to develop a nuclear weapons capability as the West suspects. The six powers - the United States, France, China, Russia, Germany and Britain - want Iran to reduce its uranium enrichment program significantly to make sure it cannot produce nuclear bombs.","Philippines protests over Chinese reef 'reclamation'. The Philippines said on Saturday it had filed a protest with Beijing for reclaiming land on a disputed South China Sea reef, the fourth such complaint in three months. The new protest over reclamation at the McKeenan Reef in the Spratly Islands chain further heats up an increasingly tense dispute over the waters where China has been accused of using bullying tactics against other claimants. He did not say if China had responded. The Philippines previously filed an objection against China in April after monitoring large-scale reclamation and earth-moving activity on Johnson South Reef, which it said might be intended to turn the tiny outcrop into an island with an airstrip.","Sri Lanka wins Asian Cup by 5 wickets. MIRPUR, Bangladesh (AP) — Left-handed opener Lahiru Thirimanne struck a well-paced 101 as Sri Lanka defeated Pakistan by five wickets in the final of the Asia Cup on Saturday.","Ivory Coast: Mob attacks gay rights group office. DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — An angry mob \"ransacked\" the headquarters of Ivory Coast's most prominent gay rights organization, an official said Monday, underscoring the dangers facing sexual minorities in Africa even in the few countries where homosexual acts are not crimes.","Exclusive: Boeing 787 output hiccups reemerge at assembly sites. By Alwyn Scott NEW YORK (Reuters) - Boeing has pushed some factory work on the 787 Dreamliner to the uncovered tarmac outside its assembly plant in Washington state in an effort to keep churning out the popular plane at a rate of one every three days, according to people with knowledge of the situation. The unusual shifts, details of which have not been previously reported, are partly a response to unfinished jobs building up as 787s move along the assembly line and partly an effort by Boeing to speed up the factories. Boeing spokesman Marc Birtel said outside work is not unusual when unfinished jobs build up along the assembly line, and is not unique to the 787 line. Investors are counting on smooth Dreamliner production to lift Boeing's stock, which has fallen 12 percent this year on fears that production could falter as Boeing speeds up the factories and introduces new models, and that global demand for new airplanes will taper off after years of heady growth.","Tunisia faces dilemma in anti-jihadist campaign. Tunisia has hit back at a deadly jihadist attack on troops by closing mosques and media outlets seen as sympathetic to extremists, raising fears of a return to the censorship of the old regime. In the wake of a July 16 attack which left 15 soldiers dead in Mount Chaambi near the Algerian border, the authorities have laid down a \"red line\" against criticism of the army and police. It has also decided to shut down unlicensed media outlets which had \"turned into platforms for takfiris and jihad,\" referring to apostasy charges against fellow Muslims. Hailed as the poster boy of the Arab Spring -- the wave of uprisings that swept the region from 2011 -- the authoritarian regime of Tunisia's longtime president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali was toppled in a popular uprising that year.","US, Europe impose tough new sanctions on Russia. WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama has announced new economic sanctions against key sectors of the Russian economy in the latest move by the U.S. to force Russian President Vladimir Putin to end his support for Ukrainian rebels.","Iran, US warn of hard slog in nuclear talks. Iranian and US officials in Vienna for a fourth round of nuclear talks cautioned Tuesday that there was still hard work to be done before a final deal can be reached. Arriving in Vienna for the negotiations aimed at drafting the text of an accord ahead of a July 20 deadline, Iran's foreign minister said \\\\\"a lot of effort\\\\\" was still needed. \\\\\"If there are differences of opinion, which definitely exist, we will spend time to resolve them,\\\\\" Mohammad Javad Zarif told Iranian media after touching down in the Austrian capital. A senior US official said that the talks between Iran and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany would be \\\\\"very, very difficult.\\\\\"","Government troops advance in Syria's largest city. BEIRUT (AP) — Syrian troops advanced in and around the northern city of Aleppo on Monday in what appears to be an attempt to lay siege to rebel-held parts of the country's largest city, activist said Monday.","Latino group leader: Obama is 'deporter in chief'. WASHINGTON (AP) — The president of a prominent Latino advocacy group called President Barack Obama the \"deporter in chief,\" denouncing the administration's deportation of nearly 2 million immigrants.","French support for Central African intervention fast eroding: poll. French public support for France's military intervention in Central African Republic is rapidly waning a month since Paris deployed troops to quell sectarian violence in its former colony, a poll showed on Saturday. Only 41 percent of those questioned were in favor of the operation, down from 51 percent shortly after Paris deployed 1,600 troops in the country, according to an Ifop poll. Paris sent troops to Central African Republic, a country the size of France, to disarm Christian militias and largely Muslim Seleka rebels who ousted ex-President Francois Bozize in March.","Rights group welcomes Saudi end to girls' sports ban. Human Rights Watch welcomed Saturday a recommendation by Saudi Arabia's consultative Shura Council to lift the ban on sports in girls' state schools. On Tuesday, the council recommended that the longstanding ban, relaxed in private schools last year, be ended altogether, state media in the ultra-conservative Muslim kingdom reported. All education in Saudi Arabia is single-sex, but sports in girls schools remains a sensitive issue in a country where women have to cover from head to toe when in public. \"Saudi Arabia has a long way to go to end discriminatory practices against women, but allowing girls to play sports in government schools would move the ball down the field in ways that could have major long-term impact,\" HRW's Sarah Leah Whitson said.","Germany's Merkel presses France, Italy on economy. BERLIN (AP) — German Chancellor Angela Merkel is adding to the pressure for eurozone heavyweights France and Italy to do more to get their finances and economies in order.","Scottish honeymoon a short-lived affair for the pound. By Patrick Graham LONDON (Reuters) - Sterling's rebound on Scotland's rejection of independence on Friday lasted all of about two hours before the realities of the UK's still-complicated political horizon reined in what had until recently been the world's best performing currency. The pound's exchange rate continues to outperform a weakening euro, where ongoing monetary easing by the European Central Bank contrasts starkly with speculation of UK interest rate rises early next year. But its swift retreat against the U.S. dollar on Friday was more indicative of the doubts. ...","North Korea list of Japanese abductees contains some 30 names: Nikkei. (Reuters) - North Korea has given Japan a list of some 30 missing Japanese still living in the country, Japan's Nikkei daily reported on Thursday, citing sources - three times as many names as the paper reported a week ago. The list includes known victims of North Korean state-sponsored kidnappings in the 1970s and 80s - believed to have been snatched to train spies - and, as of Wednesday, Tokyo had matched about two-thirds of them with domestic records of missing persons, the Nikkei said. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has made the abductees' fate a focus of his political career, and proof that some of them are alive would almost certainly boost his popularity. Some of those on the list are among the 12 victims of North Korean abductions recognized by Tokyo who have yet to return to Japan, the Nikkei reported.","Shell pipeline leak spills thousands of barrels into Niger delta. By Tife Owolabi BONNY ISLAND, Nigeria (Reuters) - Niger Delta fishermen are no strangers to seeing oil spill into their waters from leaky pipelines, but even they were shocked by the scale of the slick stretching for miles from a Shell facility across the swamps and into the ocean. Some 3,800 barrels spilled, according to an investigation by Shell and government officials. It ranks as one of the worst in Nigeria for years, local environmental activists said. Shell said the spill was caused by a failed crude theft. ...","Did Putin just bring Russia in from the cold?. Mr. Putin's statement flatly contradicts what the domestic media have been saying for months. Just days ago, Russian outlets were warning of a White House \"offensive against Russia and China,\" with the US trying to create \"instability on Russia's borders.\" Putin himself earlier this month claimed that Russia's annexation of Crimea was to forestall NATO from getting a foothold in Ukraine. \"If you've been reading the Russian press and watching TV over the past few months you would have gotten an entirely different impression,\" that the country was in a state of emergency and facing imminent peril, says Fyodor Lukyanov, editor of the Moscow-based foreign policy journal \"Russia in Global Affairs.\" Russia is in no mood to escalate the confrontation, and it's possible we could do some deal on non-recognition of the Ukrainian insurgents,\" he adds.","Dark pool probe builds pressure on Barclays boss. By Steve Slater LONDON (Reuters) - Barclays boss Antony Jenkins faces one of the biggest tests of his leadership this month when he decides whether the bank, Britain’s third largest, should fight accusations it deceived and defrauded customers in the United States. If Jenkins accepts the allegations, made in a lawsuit filed by New York’s Attorney General, he will face a dilemma arising from his pledge to jettison any business that does not fit into the bank’s new, squeaky-clean image. Barclays' shares are down around 9 percent, close to two-year lows, since the lawsuit was filed, compared with a 3.5 percent fall in European bank stocks in the same period. \"We are concerned about some of the revenue and cost trends and the pace of management implementation,\" said Colin McLean, managing director of SVM Asset Management, which owns Barclays stock.","China respects Taiwan's social system, senior official says. China respects Taiwan's social system and values, a senior Chinese leader said on Sunday, in the wake of sweeping protests in Taiwan over a controversial trade deal. Yu Zhengsheng, China's top political adviser and a member of the elite Politburo Standing Committee, said problems in cross-Straits relations should be resolved by China giving \"more understanding, respect and consideration from the perspective of a family\" to Taiwan, the official Xinhua news agency reported. China's top official in charge of relations with Taiwan is to make his first visit to the self-ruled island this month.","Kurdish woman leading Kobane battle against IS: activists. Beirut (AFP) - A Kurdish woman fighter is leading the battle against Islamic State jihadists in the Syrian battleground town of Kobane, a monitoring group and activists said Sunday.","China court jails four anti-graft activists for protests. A Chinese court on Friday sentenced four anti-corruption protestors to between two and three-and-a-half years in jail over their role in small-scale demonstrations, furthering a crackdown on rights activists. The four were associated with the New Citizens Movement, a loose network whose members held peaceful protests in Beijing last year, carrying banners calling for officials to disclose their assets as a measure against graft. They were sentenced for \"gathering a crowd to disturb public order\", Beijing's Haidian district court said on an official microblog. Ding Jiaxi, a well-known human rights lawyer, was jailed for three-and-a-half years, while veteran activist Zhao Changqing was jailed for two-and-a-half years, the court said.","Vasco beats Fluminense 1-0 to reach Rio final. SAO PAULO (AP) — Striker Edmilson scored with a header just before halftime to help Vasco da Gama beat Fluminense 1-0 on Sunday and reach the final of the Rio de Janeiro state championship.","South Africa ruling party leads in election tally. JOHANNESBURG (AP) — Early results from elections in South Africa show the ruling African National Congress party leading its main opposition rival, which had tried to woo voters unhappy with alleged corruption and a lack of opportunities for the poor.","Hong Kong police 'removed' over protest brutality video: govt. Hong Kong (AFP) - Hong Kong police officers involved in an apparent assault on a protester have been \"removed\" from their positions, the city's security chief said Wednesday, after video emerged of a handcuffed man being beaten and kicked.","More U.S.-led strikes hit Islamic State in Syria, Iraq, U.S. says. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States led 55 air strikes against Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria since Friday, according to U.S. Central Command. In a statement on Monday, Centcom said there were 27 air strikes against the Islamic State militant group in Syria and 28 strikes in Iraq, hitting a wide variety of targets including Islamic State buildings, vehicles, tanks and fighting units. One of the strikes in Syria hit the al Qaeda-affiliated Khorasan Group, it said. (Reporting by Washington Newsroom; Editing by Bill Trott)","100-plus people found in US home; smuggling theory. HOUSTON (AP) — A house overflowing with more than 100 people presumed to be in the U.S. illegally was uncovered just outside Houston on Wednesday, a police spokesman said.","British Ebola victim plans to return to Sierra Leone. The British volunteer nurse who survived Ebola said Wednesday he plans to return to West Africa to help fight the outbreak, urging world leaders to step up efforts to tackle the deadly virus. William Pooley made a full recovery after he was flown back from Sierra Leone on a specially equipped British military plane on August 24. Pooley thanked the British government for his treatment but urged world leaders to do more to tackle the outbreak of Ebola, which has killed more than 2,000 people.","Istanbul police fire tear gas to block May Day protesters. ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkish police fired water cannon and tear gas to prevent hundreds of protesters from defying a ban on May Day rallies and reaching Istanbul's central Taksim Square on Thursday. Citing security fears, authorities shut down parts of the city's public transport system and deployed thousands of riot police, blocking access to Taksim, a traditional union rallying point and the epicenter of weeks of protests last summer. ...","Former CIA official denies allegations on Benghazi. WASHINGTON (AP) — The former deputy director of the CIA insisted on Wednesday that he didn't edit the widely debunked talking points on the 2012 Benghazi attack due to political pressure to protect President Barack Obama and onetime Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton.","Top UK Catholic cites fear-mongering on migration. LONDON (AP) — Britain's top Roman Catholic cleric has criticized U.K. politicians for fear-mongering on immigration issues, saying it is wrong to argue that newcomers are a drain on the economy.","Obama avoids choosing between France, England. WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama says France and England are outstanding European partners and, just like his two daughters, he says he'd never choose between the countries either.","Ex-Mali prime minister: Government is incompetent. BAMAKO, Mali (AP) — Mali's former prime minister says he resigned because the country's new government is dysfunctional.","Germany warns against travel to Egypt's Sinai. BERLIN (AP) — Germany is warning its citizens against traveling to Egypt's Sinai in a further blow to tourism in the region.","German foreign minister calls for sharper sanctions on Russia. BRUSSELS (Reuters) - German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier called for harsher European sanctions against Russia on Tuesday, saying diplomatic dialogue was not enough to pressure Moscow over Ukraine. \"I say we remain open to defusing the situation with all political and diplomatic means but it will be necessary to accompany this willingness with higher pressure, which also means sharper measures,\" he told reporters ahead of a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels. ...","Ukraine president says orders army ceasefire from 1500 GMT Friday. Ukraine's President Petro Poroshenko said he had ordered the army to observe a ceasefire from 1500 GMT (11.00 a.m. EDT) on Friday in its conflict with pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine after envoys in Minsk agreed a peace plan for the region. The ceasefire must be observed by the separatists too and be monitored by international observers from Europe's OSCE security watchdog, he said in a statement published on his website.","Ousted Egypt leader shouts inside cage at trial. CAIRO (AP) — Egypt's toppled President Mohammed Morsi appeared at a new trial Tuesday wearing a white prison uniform in soundproof glass-encased metal cage, pacing and shouting angrily at the judge in apparent disbelief: \"Who are you? Tell me!\"","Up to 10,000 Egyptians stranded at Libya-Tunisia border. Up to 10,000 Egyptians fleeing the fighting in Libya are still stranded at the border with Tunisia, Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukri said Monday on a visit to Tunis. \"So far we have evacuated around 2,500... we don't have exact statistics but between 5,000 and 10,000 people\" are still waiting to leave, he said at a news conference after meeting Tunisia Prime Minister Mehdi Jomaa. Shoukri did not specify how long it will take to repatriate all the Egyptians, though Cairo promised on Saturday to take home about 2,000 people a day by air and if necessary by sea. The Egyptians are stuck on the Libyan side of the border with Tunisia after the government there said it would only let in people other than Tunisians and Libyans if they could prove arrangements were in place to get them home.","Aircraft tracking changes mulled after MH370 mystery. Tracking aircraft by satellite, cloud storage of black box data and other technological innovations are being considered by aviation officials in the wake of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370's disappearance. Despite a massive international search in the Indian Ocean, no trace of the missing Boeing 777 has been found. The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) is holding a special meeting Monday and Tuesday in Montreal to discuss how to prevent a recurrence of this tragedy as well as the mystery that surrounds it. These technologies could allow, for example, basic data such as an aircraft's position, altitude, speed and course recorded and transmitted via satellite in the event of a sudden change, said the ICAO.","Australian PM ribbed over 'cringe-worthy' Abe photo. Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott was taken to task on social media Thursday for tweeting a \"cringe-worthy\" photo of himself with Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe posing by a giant tyre. Abbott travelled with Abe on Wednesday to the Pilbara mining heartland in Western Australia where they visited Rio Tinto's West Angelas mine. The trip was designed to reinforce the importance of Australian iron ore to Japan -- but it was the leaders' pose against a giant dusty tyre, each with a leg raised to show off their new Australian boots, that drew the most attention. \"The unlikely pair certainly hit it off, giggling over glasses of West Australian wine, getting sloppy on sake, and bonding at Australia's beautiful backdrops,\" said the Rupert Murdoch-run news.com.au.","Thai legislature meets after appointment by junta. BANGKOK (AP) — Thailand's military-dominated legislature has held its first meeting in another step toward the country's slow return to electoral democracy after more than two months under the junta's rule.","Zambia in mourning for president as US urges peaceful transition. Lusaka (AFP) - Zambia holds a second day of mourning Thursday for president Michael Sata, who died in a London hospital, as his deputy Guy Scott becomes, pending elections, Africa's first white leader since South Africa's apartheid era.","Top Asian News at 7:00 p.m. GMT. PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) — They were leaders of Cambodia's infamous Khmer Rouge, the fanatical communist movement behind a 1970s reign of terror that transformed this entire Southeast Asian nation into a ruthless slave state — a place where cities were emptied of their inhabitants, religion and schools were banned, and anyone deemed a threat was executed. When the nightmare ended, in 1979, close to 2 million people were dead — a quarter of Cambodia's population at the time.","16-Foot Great White Shark Spotted Near Australian Beach. A massive great white shark has been spotted swimming close to an Australian beach, scaring the locals and forcing the beach to close, according to news reports. Signals from a satellite tag on the shark alerted authorities to its location, and city officials warned residents of Albany, Western Australia, to stay out of the water. They captured the shark again a week later and placed a more sophisticated tag in her stomach that will enable the officers to track her for at least a decade, The Telegraph reported. The shark may have smelled a dying humpback whale that was beached in the area, a spokesman for the state department of fisheries said, according to The Telegraph.","Saudi Airlines plane skids off runway in Manila. MANILA, Philippines (AP) — A Saudi Arabian Airlines plane swerved off the runway at Manila's international airport and became stuck in the mud as it prepared to take off Tuesday evening after a heavy rain, officials said. None of the 298 passengers was hurt, but at least 11 other flights were delayed by the blocked runway.","El Salvador working with Mexico to help castaway home. El Salvador said it was working to try to repatriate castaway Jose Alvarenga, a fisherman who says he survived over a year adrift in the Pacific. San Salvador is coordinating with Mexico's ambassador in the Philippines, Julio Camarena, and El Salvador's honorary consul in the Philippines, Maria Josefina Bayont Ortigas, to start Alvarenga's repatriation process, the foreign ministry said Monday in a statement.","Bollore to quadruple electric-car points in Britain. French tycoon Vincent Bollore said Wednesday he aims to introduce a car version of the \"Boris Bikes\" hire scheme in London, and quadruple the number of electric car-charging points in Britain. IER, a subsidiary of the Bollore Group, has been selected by the Transport for London authority to take over the management of the existing Source London scheme from June this year. Furthermore, Bollore said he was aiming to launch an electric car hire project in the British capital. \"We'll have Blue Cars in London within the next 12 months,\" Bollore said.","Turkish sociologist acquitted of 1998 blast for fourth time. ISTANBUL (Reuters) - A Turkish sociologist who researched the treatment of minority Kurds and has become a cause celebre for human rights groups was acquitted for the fourth time on Friday of bombing Istanbul's Spice Bazaar in 1998. Pinar Selek was arrested shortly after the explosion, which killed seven people and wounded more than 100, but freed 2-1/2 years later after experts said the blast had been caused by the accidental ignition of a gas cylinder. ...","SKorean team signs former MLB infielder Hannahan. SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korean baseball team LG Twins have signed former major league infielder Jack Hannahan.","Screaming 'rape victim' in van video prompts reflection in India. A screaming woman locked in a van sparks scant reaction from passersby in a social experiment in New Delhi, as India once again faces up to a series of gruesome rapes and murders. Experts and activists said the video posted on YouTube pointed to a general apathy in India about violence against women despite outrage in some quarters over the gang-rape and lynching of two girls in the country's north. \"There's still an apathy about what's happening to women, an insensitivity on the issue, although attitudes are changing,\" said women's activist Ranjana Kumari. The video, which has been viewed more than 1.2 million times since it was posted last week, shows a white van parked in a secluded area of Delhi with the windows blacked out at night.","Basque government proposes plan to aid ETA's disarmament. The regional Basque government on Sunday unveiled a plan to facilitate ETA's disarmament process, amid frustration over a lack of response from the Spanish government three years after the separatist group ended its campaign of violence. \"It's time to bring ETA directly into a rapid, verifiable, and effective disarmament process by making it a concrete proposal,\" the regional government said in a statement. The Basque government -- backed by the Basque parliament -- proposed the creation of a commission to which ETA would send information on the exact location and state of its arsenal.","Lille beats Montpellier 2-0 to stay in 3rd place. PARIS (AP) — Center back Marko Basa and striker Nolan Roux scored a goal each as Lille beat Montpellier 2-0 on Sunday to stay third in the French league.","U.S., China officials agree Ukraine's territorial integrity important. China agrees with the United States that the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine must be respected in its dispute with Russia, the White House said in statement on Wednesday after top-level contacts between the two countries. China is treading a cautious path in the Ukraine dispute, withholding criticism of strategic partner Russia while adhering to its traditional policy of not interfering in the affairs of other countries. President Barack Obama's national security adviser, Susan Rice, spoke to Chinese State Councilor Yang Jiechi about the Ukraine situation.","Iran says Iraq able to fight militants alone. BAGHDAD (AP) — Iran sees no need to send fighters to help the Iraqi government battle the Islamic State group, even as Sunni militants inch closer to the Iraq-Iran border, its top diplomat said Sunday.","Police: New Mexico woman placed fake 911 call to get friend out of traffic stop. ROSWELL, N.M. - Authorities say a New Mexico woman called in a fake report of a gunman near a convenience store to help a friend avoid a traffic ticket over a taillight.","Uruguayan fans wait fruitlessly for banned Suarez. MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay (AP) — Several hundred Uruguayans gathered at a Montevideo airfield Thursday night waiting on the expected return of soccer player Luis Suarez after his banning from the World Cup for biting an Italian player.","Ancient Greek tomb dig finds marble statues. ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Archaeologists slowly digging through a huge 2,300-year-old tomb in northern Greece have uncovered two life-sized marble female statues flanking the entrance to one of three underground chambers.","Canada to impose further Russia sanctions over Ukraine. Canada's prime minister announced on Monday further economic sanctions against Russian entities and individuals, saying the downing of flight MH17 was a \"direct product of Russia's military aggression and illegal occupation\" of Ukraine. \"The outrageous and criminal act of shooting down a civilian airliner last week is a direct product of Russia's military aggression and illegal occupation of Ukraine, and demonstrates the need for the international community to continue applying pressure on the Putin regime,\" Prime Minister Stephen Harper said in a statement.","DuPont profit falls 57 percent after sale of performance coating unit. (Reuters) - Chemicals maker DuPont reported a 57 percent fall in first-quarter net income due to the sale of its performance coating business, which added almost $2 billion to earnings in the year-earlier quarter. Net income attributable to DuPont dropped to $1.44 billion, or $1.54 per share, in the quarter ended March 31, from $3.35 billion, or $3.58 per share, a year earlier. Revenue fell nearly 3 percent to $10.13 billion. (Reporting by Swetha Gopinath in Bangalore)","Egypt acquits 112 on appeal over protest law. Cairo (AFP) - An appeals court in Egypt Sunday acquitted 112 people convicted of holding an illegal protest on the third anniversary of the 2011 revolt that toppled Hosni Mubarak, judicial sources said.","Israel: Biggest yet Gaza militant tunnel found. JERUSALEM (AP) — The Israeli military says it has discovered another tunnel — the biggest so far — dug from the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip that stretches into Israel and was intended for attacks on soldiers and civilians.","Yemen official says 7 suspected militants killed. SANAA, Yemen (AP) — Two separate airstrikes in Yemen's south killed seven suspected militants Saturday, a Yemeni security official said.","Serbia: 1,000 evacuated from snow-hit cars, buses. BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — Rescuers, army and police have evacuated about 1,000 people from cars and buses stranded in deep snow in northern Serbia, but several hundred people still remain stuck, the government said Sunday.","Syria troops converge as rebels ready for Aleppo showdown. Elite government forces backed by Hezbollah converged Tuesday on the north Syrian city of Aleppo as rebels bolstered their own fighters in readiness for a major showdown, a monitor said. Rami Abdel Rahman of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said it was likely that pro-regime forces were preparing to lay siege to rebel-held parts of Aleppo, the country's pre-war commercial capital. \"Commando troop reinforcements from the Republican Guard and from (Lebanon's) Hezbollah continued to be sent, in a bid to surround Aleppo city,\" the Observatory said. At the same time, \"rebel and (allied) Islamist brigades sent reinforcements of their own... through the eastern entrance to Aleppo city,\" added the Britain-based organisation.","Islamic State fight to take at least three years: U.S. general. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The general in command of U.S. forces involved in the fight against Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria said on Thursday he thought it would take a minimum of three years to achieve a turning point against the group. Asked at a Pentagon briefing about progress on the ground, Army Lieutenant General James Terry said that the first U.S. air strikes had taken place only four months ago and counseled patience, estimating it would \"at least take a minimum of three years.\" (Reporting by Phil Stewart and David Alexander; Editing by Susan Heavey)","British leader gets laughs at Aussie's expense. BRISBANE, Australia (AP) — British Prime Minister David Cameron took a playful dig on Friday at his Australian counterpart over an obscure threat to assault the Russian president at a weekend summit here.","Extra security at Jewish monuments in Amsterdam. AMSTERDAM (AP) — Amsterdam's mayor says he has ordered extra security measures at the city's Jewish monuments on advice of the national anti-terrorism office.","Central African Republic chooses capital's mayor as president. By Paul-Marin Ngoupana BANGUI (Reuters) - Central African Republic lawmakers chose their capital's mayor, Catherine Samba-Panza, to become interim president on Monday and lead the country out of months of sectarian killings towards elections. Samba-Panza called on mainly Muslim former rebels and the Christian militia battling them to lay down their weapons as people sang and danced on the streets of the riverside city, Bangui, in celebration. The 59-year old succeeds Michel Djotodia, leader of a mostly Muslim rebel coalition, Seleka, that seized power in March. \"I am the president of all Central Africans, without exception,\" said Samba-Panza, who had to show she had no link to either camp in the fighting to qualify for the post.","Controversial Ugandan official may get UN post. KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) — Sam Kutesa became known to many Ugandans after he was ousted as a junior investment minister by lawmakers over charges he abused his office. Now foreign minister, he has been implicated in at least two more scandals since 1999, including allegations that he accepted bribes from foreign companies seeking oil contracts in Uganda.","Israel's finance minister halts funds to West Bank settlements. Israel's finance minister halted the transfer of government funds to West Bank Jewish settlements on Saturday and ordered a probe into allegations that money meant to support municipalities had been funneled to a pro-settler political group. The money in question had been earmarked to cover security and building maintenance fees that were incurred when Israel froze settlement building for 10 months during 2009 and 2010, the Finance Ministry said in a statement. Finance Minister Yair Lapid, who heads a centrist party in the ruling coalition, ordered payments to be \"stopped immediately\" until the issue was cleared up, the statement said. Israel's YNet news website reported that, over the past four years, the government had transferred 148 million shekels ($42 million) to the municipalities to help compensate them for income lost as a result of the 10-month freeze, declared under U.S. pressure to help restart peace talks.","S.African police from Marikana massacre 'in new crackdown'. At least two police officers who took part in the deadly crackdown on Marikana miners in 2012 were implicated in the killing of three protesters this week, a press report said Sunday. A police crackdown on demonstrators demanding the restoration of their water supply in Mothotlung, some 50 kilometres (30 miles) from Marikana, left three dead. At least two of the officers took part in the massacre of 34 striking platinum miners in August 2012, the City Press weekly reported. Contacted for comment by the SAPA news agency, a police spokesman said: \"Let us allow IPID (the Independent Police Investigative Directorate) to do their work... We can't deal with senseless rumour-mongering.\"","Suicide bombers attack police station in Afghanistan. JALALABAD, Afghanistan (Reuters) - Suicide bombers attacked a police station in Afghanistan's eastern Jalalabad city early on Thursday morning killing at least four people and wounding 20 people, according to police and health officials. \"Five suicide bombers have been killed so far and a clearance operation is ongoing,\" said police spokesman Hazrat Hussain Mashriqiwal. A gunbattle broke out in the area after the initial explosion, security officials said. The police station was located near compounds used by international agencies, including the United Nations. ...","Producers Guild picks '12 Years a Slave' and 'Gravity' in a rare tie for top feature film. BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. - For the past six years, every feature film chosen by the Producers Guild of America for its top honour has gone on to win the best-picture prize at the Academy Awards. Sunday night, \"12 Years a Slave\" and \"Gravity\" tied for the guild's highest honour.","Suicide bomber kills 4 in Afghan capital. KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Afghan security officials say a suicide bomber has attacked an air force bus in the capital Kabul, killing at least four people.","Sri Lankan ruling coalition partner quits gov't. COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — A partner of Sri Lanka's ruling coalition has quit the government after accusing President Mahinda Rajapaksa of not heeding its call to prune his powers and implement democratic reforms.","Iran, U.S. in another round of bilateral nuclear talks in Geneva. Iran and the United States began bilateral nuclear talks in Geneva on Thursday, the second time the two sides have met since Iran and six world powers failed to meet a July 20 deadline to resolve differences in the long-standing dispute. Iran and the United States, France, Germany, Britain, China and Russia have set a new deadline of Nov. 24 to negotiate a comprehensive agreement under which Tehran would scale back its nuclear activities in exchange for gradually ending the sanctions that have crippled its oil-dependent economy. \"If there is good will and a constructive approach, we can reach a desired result before Nov. 24,\" IRNA quoted Iran's deputy foreign minister Majid Takht-Ravanchi as saying late on Wednesday.","U.S. says 'not at all concerned' about Japan's plutonium. VIENNA (Reuters) - The United States is not worried about Japan's plutonium stocks, a senior U.S. diplomat said on Wednesday, following criticism raised by China in a new dispute between the east Asian neighbors. \"We are not at all concerned that the plutonium is either being handled improperly or that there isn't a plan for disposition,\" Joseph Macmanus, the U.S. ambassador to the U.N. nuclear agency, told reporters in response to a question. ...","Saudi Arabia says 2 Americans hurt in plane crash. RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) — The civil aviation authority of Saudi Arabia says two Americans were injured when a small, private plane they were traveling in ran out of fuel and crashed near the airport of the capital, Riyadh.","Uruguay discussing taking Guantanamo detainees. MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay (AP) — U.S. diplomats are confirming sensitive negotiations \"at the highest level with the Government of Uruguay\" to provide a home for former terror suspects at Guantanamo.","Trial schedule to be discussed in marathon bombing. BOSTON (AP) — Prosecutors and lawyers for Boston Marathon suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev are headed to court to discuss a trial date and a pretrial schedule.","Syrian troops bombard town near Lebanon border. BEIRUT (AP) — Syrian troops pressed an offensive near Lebanon on Saturday, heavily bombarding a rebel-held town and forcing many residents to flee to safety across the border, activists said.","Wizards beat Israel's Maccabi Haifa 101-95. WASHINGTON (AP) — Otto Porter scored 19 points and Kevin Seraphin had 18 points and 12 rebounds to help the Washington Wizards beat Israel's Maccabi Haifa 101-95 in an exhibition game Wednesday.","Romania: 2 ministers resign amid political tension. BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) — Two ministers from the junior party in Romania's ruling coalition have resigned amid political tensions in the center-left alliance.","Turkish police fire tear gas on Istanbul protesters. Police fired tear gas on Saturday to disperse hundreds of protesters in Istanbul's central Taksim Square demonstrating mainly against a government bill that would increase controls over the Internet. A Reuters reporter saw protesters escaping into side streets after police used water cannon and tear gas. Smaller demonstrations also took place in the coastal city of Izmir and in the capital Ankara, where about 300 protesters chanted slogans opposing the government and the internet bill.","Clarke wins toss and bats in final ODI v England. Adelaide (Australia) (AFP) - Australian captain Michael Clarke won the toss and decided to bat in the fifth and final one day international against England at the Adelaide Oval on Sunday.","2.8 bln risk ill health from home air pollution. \"These smoky, dirty fuels are often used in an open fire or simple stove, resulting in high levels of household air pollution in poorly ventilated homes,\" said a statement, released Wednesday. Led by Stephen Gordon of the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine and William Martin of Ohio State University, the team concluded that 600-800 million families worldwide are at higher risk of respiratory tract infections, pneumonia, asthma, lung cancer and other ailments as a result of the air they breathe at home. Studies in India have found that household air pollution can be three times higher than on a typical London Street, and well above the World Health Organization's recommended safety levels. \"Estimates suggest that household air pollution killed 3.5 to four million people in 2010,\" wrote the team.","3rd Philippine senator arrested for graft. MANILA, Philippines (AP) — A Philippine senator and dictatorship-era defense chief surrendered Friday to face a charge of large-scale corruption, the most prominent of three top politicians to fall in a government anti-graft crackdown in recent weeks.","Norwegian idol Jansrud wins Olympic super-G. KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia (AP) — Kjetil Jansrud won his audition for Norwegian idol at the Sochi Olympics.","Ukraine's Hungarian minority nervous as crisis rages. Berehove (Ukraine) (AFP) - Ukraine's 150,000 ethnic Hungarians, feared as potential fifth columnists for ousted president Viktor Yanukovych, face a growing threat from far-right nationalists. In the region of western Transcarpathia, the large Hungarian minority has grown increasingly uneasy. Stick-wielding members of Pravy Sektor, the far-right paramilitary group that was on the frontline of bloody protests to depose Yanukovych in Kiev in February, stormed the town hall in Berehove, a town of around 24,000 people, last week.","Domracheva wins women's 15k biathlon. OSTERSUND, Sweden (AP) — Olympic champion Darya Domracheva of Belarus won the women's 15-kilometer individual race at the biathlon World Cup on Thursday.","CANNES WATCH: Rita Ora plans to soak up Cannes. CANNES, France (AP) — Rita Ora has been to Cannes before, but she can't tell you much about it because it felt like a blur.","Libya says aims to run economy, banking system on Islamic lines. By Ulf Laessing TRIPOLI (Reuters) - Libya will transform its banking and economic system to comply fully with Islamic law that bans interest payments, the economy minister and other officials said on Monday, but they gave scant details on how the plans would be implemented. Under Muammar Gaddafi, who was overthrown in 2011, the growth of Islamic banking was not encouraged and four state-controlled institutions dominated the relatively undeveloped financial sector of the OPEC oil producer. Two years after Gaddafi's ouster, Prime Minister Ali Zeidan's government says it wants to attract foreign investment and develop the non-oil sector of the economy but is struggling to assert its authority against heavily-armed tribesmen and militias and parts of the country remain outside its control. It has also been weakened by political wrangling with Islamists who dominate the parliament, the General National Congress (GNC), which strongly backs the plans to introduce Islamic law into the economy.","Monfils beats Nieminen to reach Open Sud final. MONTPELLIER, France (AP) — Fifth-seeded Gael Monfils of France fired 15 aces and overcame a second-set wobble to beat sixth-seeded Jarkko Nieminen 6-2, 3-6, 6-1 Saturday and reach the Open Sud de France final.","Qatar 'will not bow to pressure to alter foreign policy'. By Amena Bakr DOHA (Reuters) - Qatar will not bow to demands from three Gulf states to alter its foreign policy, sources close to its government said, suggesting Doha is unlikely to abandon support for Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood and Syrian Islamists. In an unprecedented move, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Bahrain recalled their ambassadors from Qatar on Wednesday, saying Doha had failed to abide by an accord not to interfere in each others' internal affairs. Hours later Qatar's cabinet voiced \"regret and surprise\" at the decision by the fellow-members of the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), but said Doha would not pull out its own envoys and that it remained committed to GCC security.","Typhoon Rammasun kills eight in China. The strongest storm to hit southern China in more than 40 years has killed at least eight people there, state media said Saturday, after causing devastation in the Philippines. Rammasun first made landfall in China on Friday afternoon as a super typhoon, packing winds exceeding 200 kilometres (124 miles) an hour and leaving five dead and 99 injured in Hainan province, Xinhua reported. Rammasun was the most powerful storm to strike China's southern areas since 1973, the country's National Meteorological Center (NMC) said, and brought torrential rains.","Argentine relishes reunion with lost 'Dirty War' grandson. Buenos Aires (AFP) - At age 83, Estela de Carlotto is enjoying what she calls a miracle. The grandson she lost decades ago in Argentina's \"Dirty War\" is suddenly back in her life.","Keane named assistant manager at Aston Villa. BIRMINGHAM, England (AP) — Roy Keane has been named an assistant manager at Aston Villa.","Germany to play a friendly in Israel in March. PORTO SEGURO, Brazil (AP) — Germany will travel to Israel for a friendly on March 25 to mark the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the countries.","CONCACAF disciplines Cruz Azul for altercation. MIAMI (AP) — Regional football governing body, CONCACAF, has fined Mexican club Cruz Azul and penalized goalkeeper Jesus Corona for an altercation after their Champions League semifinal against Club Tijuana last Wednesday.","AP PHOTOS: Rush-hour keeps billions on the move. On packed subways and crowded highways, billions of people participate in a short-distance population shift twice a day: the rhythmic ritual of the daily commute to and from work.","Microsoft 4Q earnings hurt by Nokia acquisition. REDMOND, Wash. (AP) — Microsoft is reporting fourth-quarter earnings that took a hit from the Nokia devices business that it bought in April.","Putin: Sports should be focus of Sochi Olympics. SOCHI, Russia (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin says sports should take center stage during the Winter Olympics and not debate over gay rights.","Obama touts Philippine pact amid China concerns. MANILA, Philippines (AP) — President Barack Obama said a 10-year agreement signed Monday to give the U.S military greater access to Philippine bases will help promote peace and stability in the region and that he hopes China's dominant power will allow its neighbors to prosper on their own terms.","Panama says North Korea ship in arms case paid fine, free to go. A North Korean ship detained near the Panama Canal for holding Cuban weapons is free to go after the ship's representatives on Saturday paid a $693,333 fine to the Panama Canal Authority, the authority said in a statement. The return of the Chong Chon Gang to North Korea would end part of a bizarre case involving the three countries that provoked international controversy. Since then, the ship has been moored at the Manzanillo International Terminal on Panama's Atlantic side while the canal authority waited for the payment of at least two-thirds of the $1 million fine it imposed for trying to traffic illegal weapons through the waterway. Panama's Foreign Minister Francisco Alvarez de Soto did not immediately return calls or messages Saturday and it was not clear when the ship or the crew would leave Panama.","Claudia Bokel retains athletes' seat on IOC board. SOCHI, Russia (AP) — Claudia Bokel has retained her seat on the International Olympic Committee's executive board representing athletes.","Iran, world powers reach deal opening nuke program. TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran has agreed to open the Islamic Republic's nuclear program to daily inspection by international experts starting from Jan. 20, setting the clock running on a six-month deadline for a final nuclear agreement, officials said Sunday. In exchange, Iran will get a relaxation of the financial sanctions that have been crippling its economy.","Former US President Carter 'concerned' over Egypt. CAIRO (AP) — Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter is warning Egypt that its transition to democracy after years of political turmoil is faltering ahead of presidential elections later this month.","Blasts, gunfire rock Nigeria's tense city of Maiduguri. Kano (Nigeria) (AFP) - Explosions and gunfire rocked the volatile northern Nigerian city of Maiduguri on Friday as scores of suspected Boko Haram Islamists attacked a military barracks, residents said.","Costa trains normally with Spain before departure. MADRID (AP) — Spain striker Diego Costa did not appear to be slowed by injury in training on Monday as the defending World Cup champions prepared for their final international friendly ahead of Brazil.","Coach under pressure as Nigeria stutter in qualifying. Abuja (AFP) - Pressure is mounting on Nigeria coach Stephen Keshi, with growing unhappiness about his handling of the team and as the African champions risk elimination from next year's Africa Cup of Nations.","Radiohead recording new album, deciding direction. New York (AFP) - Experimental rock icons Radiohead are back in the recording studio and \"fumbling\" about as they decide on the direction for their next album, guitarist Jonny Greenwood says.","Image of Asia: Zoo honors Philippine heroes. In this photo by Bullit Marquez, Japanese koi swim under paddling ducks at a zoo in the Philippines. Malabon Zoo owner Manny Tangco said he has opened the new koi collection to honor Filipinos who work abroad because the fish are said to symbolize perseverance. The launching of the new attraction comes in time for National Heroes' Day on Monday. About one in 10 Filipinos works abroad, supporting their families and the Philippine economy with the money they send home. The government often refers to Filipino workers overseas as the country's \"new heroes.\"","Top Asian News at 8:30 a.m. GMT. KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Search planes sent to find objects in the south Indian Ocean that may be from the missing Malaysia Airlines jet began returning without success Friday, and an Australian official said the hunt would be extended again for another day. The planes are part of an international effort to solve the nearly 2-week-old aviation mystery by locating two large objects a satellite detected floating off the southwest coast of Australia about halfway to the desolate islands of the Antarctic.","Trade deal would ease U.S. gas exports to Europe: Obama. BRUSSELS (Reuters) - A new transatlantic trade deal currently under negotiation would make it easier for the United States to export gas to Europe and help it reduce its dependency on Russian energy, U.S. President Barack Obama said on Wednesday. \"Once we have a trade agreement in place, export licences for projects for liquefied natural gas destined to Europe would be much easier, something that is obviously relevant in today's geopolitical environment,\" Obama told a news conference after meeting EU leaders, adding that it could not happen overnight. EU negotiators are pressing U.S. ...","Russian investigators want Putin foe Navalny under house arrest. MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian investigators have asked a court to place opposition leader Alexei Navalny under house arrest, the federal Investigative Committee said on Wednesday. Navalny, an anti-corruption blogger and opponent of President Vladimir Putin who helped lead a wave of protests in 2011-2012, is serving a five-year suspended sentence on a theft conviction he says was a Kremlin reprisal and was jailed until Monday for resisting arrest earlier this week at a rally. (Reporting by Alissa de Carbonnel; Editing by Steve Gutterman)","CHS expands further into Canada, buys 16 Agrium farm outlets. By Rod Nickel WINNIPEG, Manitoba (Reuters) - U.S. farm co-operative CHS Inc said on Monday it has agreed to buy 16 Canadian farm retail outlets from Agrium Inc , and plans to further expand its business in Canada. The deal includes eight stores that sell seed, chemicals and fertilizer to farmers, as well as eight ammonia tank businesses, located in Alberta and Saskatchewan, the two biggest wheat- and canola-growing Canadian provinces. The purchase bulks up CHS' modest Canadian holdings, which currently consist of three retail stores and small offices in Winnipeg and Calgary. The St. Paul, Minnesota-based company is interested in buying or building more farm retail stores, grain-handling sites and fuel sales locations in Canada, said John McEnroe, executive vice-president of CHS country operations.","Former Mexican president's brother acquitted. MEXICO CITY (AP) — A judge has acquitted the brother of former Mexican President Carlos Salinas on charges of illegal enrichment.","Five dead in New Year's Eve clashes on India-Pakistan border. SRINAGAR, India (Reuters) - Indian border forces killed four Pakistani interior-ministry troops on New Year's Eve, ending a year in which clashes between the nuclear-armed neighbors have escalated and hopes for reconciliation faded. Wednesday's incident, on the international border in Jammu and Kashmir, followed the killing earlier in the day of an Indian border guard, a senior officer from India's Border Security Force said. \"We have retaliated effectively ... ...","Smith picked for Brit gymnastics team at Glasgow. LONDON (AP) — Three-time Olympic medalist Louis Smith is in the England gymnastics team for the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow next month.","Barca unveils ?420 million Camp Nou remodel plan. BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Barcelona has unveiled plans for its 420-million-euro ($565 million) Camp Nou redesign, which will increase the stadium's capacity to 105,053 and transform the infrastructure around it.","Germany names Cologne newcomer in squad. FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — Germany coach Joachim Loew has picked Cologne defender Jonas Hector as the only newcomer in the squad for the European Championship qualifier against Gibraltar and a friendly against Spain.","US launches 4 airstrikes against Iraqi militants. WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. military says American jet fighters and drones have conducted four more airstrikes on Islamic militants in Iraq, taking out armored carriers and a truck that were firing on civilians.","Iraq political rally bombings kill 33, officials say. The death toll from twin jihadist bombings that struck a Shiite political rally in the Iraqi capital ahead of next week's parliamentary election has risen to 33, officials said Saturday. Friday's attack by a Sunni militant group came at the height of campaigning ahead of Wednesday's polls, the first since US troops withdrew in late 2011 and with Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki seeking reelection amid the country's worst violence since a brutal Sunni-Shiite sectarian war. A car bomb followed by a suicide attack hit the rally for the Sadiqun bloc, the political wing of the Asaib Ahel al-Haq (League of the Righteous) militia, killing 33 people and leaving more than 100 wounded, security and medical officials said. The League of the Righteous, a Shiite militia blamed in the past for killing US soldiers and kidnapping Britons, has been linked to groups fighting mostly Sunni rebels in Syria, whose civil war has split the Middle East's sectarian communities, particularly in multi-confessional Iraq.","Alexander out of France tests due to neck injury. SYDNEY (AP) — Tighthead prop Ben Alexander will miss Australia's three-test series against France with of a nerve compression injury.","State Dept.'s Kerry heading to Myanmar, Australia. Secretary of State John Kerry will be focusing on Southeast Asia and the Pacific next week. He'll be leaving Friday on a six-day trip to Myanmar, Australia, the Solomon Islands and Hawaii. Kerry plans ...","Cobbling coalition for Iraq, Syria no easy task. ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Assembling a coalition to fight the militants from the Islamic State group is proving to be a complicated affair.","Scuffles as Hong Kong students escalate democracy strike. Hong Kong (AFP) - Hong Kong students mobbed the city's leader Tuesday in angry scenes as they took their anti-Beijing strike to government headquarters, where more than 1,000 protested against China's refusal to grant full democracy.","Palestinian unity should be 'supported': Europe's Barroso. Herzliya (Israel) (AFP) - A Palestinian unity deal with the Islamist Hamas movement must be supported, European Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso told an Israeli security conference on Sunday. His remarks came just days after a Palestinian unity government, comprised of political independents but backed by Hamas, was sworn in -- a move welcomed by the international community but rejected by Israel as a major stumbling block to peace. \"In the interest of a future peace deal and of a legitimate and representative government, intra-Palestinian reconciliation... should be supported,\" Barroso told delegates at a conference in the coastal city of Herzliya. Any Palestinian government should uphold the principle of non-violence, be committed to a two-state solution and a negotiated settlement of the conflict, which would imply accepting existing agreements as well as recognising Israel's right to exist, he said.","Ukraine rebellion spreads as opposition snubs compromise deal. The Ukrainian opposition on Sunday said a compromise deal offered by President Viktor Yanukovych was not enough to end the country's worst crisis since independence as nationwide protests spread to the president's eastern heartland. With Ukraine shaken by a week of violence between police and protesters, all three main Ukrainian opposition leaders personally attended the Kiev funeral of one of three activists confirmed to have been shot dead in the unrest. The protests began over two months ago over Yanukovych's rejection of a pact with the European Union under Russian pressure but have now turned into an all-out bid to oust him from power. Tensions remained high in Kiev after protesters seized control of a building used by special police forces in central Kiev overnight, as masked radicals armed with baseball clubs roamed the streets.","Report: 25 more police officers detained in Turkey. ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkey's state-run news agency says 25 more police officers have been detained across Turkey as authorities press ahead with a crackdown on officers suspected of illegally wiretapping Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and other officials.","Swansea sack manager Laudrup. Swansea City have parted company with manager Michael Laudrup, the Premier League club announced on Tuesday. The 49-year-old Dane was appointed on a two-year contract in June 2012 and led Swansea to a maiden trophy in the League Cup last season, but they have won only one of their last 10 league games in the current campaign. \"It is a decision we have taken reluctantly,\" said Swansea chairman Huw Jenkins in a statement published on the club website. \"But it's a decision made in the best interests of Swansea City Football Club and our supporters.\"","Official: Man slashes 3 schoolchildren in China. BEIJING (AP) — Chinese authorities say a first-grader in the southeastern province of Jiangxi was slashed to death and two others severely injured in the latest violent attack on children in the country.","US, UN leaders urge 'more robust' fight against Ebola. Monrovia (AFP) - The US and UN leaders called for \"more robust\" international efforts to tackle Ebola, after medics in Liberia demanded danger money to treat patients in what officials termed the worst health crisis of modern times.","Germany's Protectionist wins Melbourne Cup. Germany's Protectionist, ridden by English jockey Ryan Moore, won Australia's Aus$6.2 million ($5.4 million) Melbourne Cup at Flemington on Tuesday, with Japanese race favourite Admire Rakti coming last. Protectionist, beautifully ridden, finished full of running to beat England's Red Cadeaux with New Zealand's Who Shot Thebarman third. It was Germany's first success in the famous race and a first for trainer Andreas Wohler.","US, China reach understanding on tariff deal. BEIJING (AP) — President Barack Obama says the United States and China have reached an \"understanding\" in negotiations to eliminate tariffs on high-tech goods.","Ukraine president announces early elections. KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych has announced early presidential elections and promised to form a coalition government in a bid to defuse a deep crisis in which scores have been killed and hundreds injured.","Thomson Reuters reports rise in operating profit. (Reuters) - Thomson Reuters Corp reported on Wednesday a 14 percent increase in operating profit for the first quarter on growth at its Legal and Tax & Accounting divisions. Revenue from ongoing businesses increased 1 percent to $3.1 billion, in line with analysts estimates, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. The global news and information provider affirmed its full-year outlook and expects revenue to be unchanged from last year's $12.5 billion.","SOCHI SCENE: USA, Russia gets tense. SOCHI, Russia (AP) — Icy stares, bone-crunching checks, even a skirmish or two in front of the net.","Egypt sends 41 Islamists to prison for rioting. ASSIUT, Egypt (AP) — A criminal court in southern Egypt has convicted 41 Islamists on charges of rioting in August last year, and sentenced them to prison terms ranging from one to 15 years.","Deutsche Bank co-CEO, 4 others face charges. FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — Prosecutors in Germany have charged Deutsche Bank co-CEO Juergen Fitschen and four other former top officials with lying to judges in a protracted legal battle between the bank and the now-defunct Kirch media group.","Obama's use of presidential power pales compared to historical precedents. WASHINGTON - Washington was bracing for the bang of the presidential hammer.","Sweden, Finland renew rivalry in hockey semifinals. SOCHI, Russia (AP) — Sweden coach Par Marts got his first chance to publicly reflect on his prediction that added another layer to a long-standing rivalry with Finland on and off the ice.","Annual inflation slides to 1.2%: official data. London (AFP) - Britain's 12-month inflation fell sharper than expected in September, reaching a five-year low point of 1.2 percent, official data showed on Tuesday.","Assad's supporters abroad vote in Syrian election. YARZE, Lebanon (AP) — Tens of thousands of supporters of Syrian President Bashar Assad voted Wednesday at embassies abroad, clogging entrances to the Lebanese capital for hours and clashing with soldiers overwhelmed by their sheer numbers a week before national elections widely expected to give him a third seven-year term.","Dominican agents target Pakistani trafficking ring. SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic (AP) — Authorities in the Dominican Republic have arrested a citizen of Pakistan and six others accused of running a sophisticated migrant smuggling operation in the Caribbean country.","Pakistan amends terror law amid major anti-militant push. Lawmakers passed changes to Pakistan's anti-terrorism law Wednesday, doubling the maximum prison sentence for those convicted of terror offences and allowing security forces to detain suspects for up to 60 days. The Pakistani government had faced a battle to push the tough anti-terror law through, with rights activists and opposition parties attacking it as repressive. The changes come after Pakistan's military launched a massive offensive on June 15 against insurgents in the tribal area of North Waziristan. The Protection of Pakistan Bill 2014 doubles the maximum jail time for terror offences to 20 years.","Obama promises US forces in Afghanistan war will come to close at end of year. BAGRAM AIR FIELD, Afghanistan (AP) — Obama promises US forces in Afghanistan war will come to close at end of year .","Guinean Ebola survivor tells of being 'reborn'. A woman struck down by the killer Ebola virus raging in Guinea has told of her joy at being \"reborn\" after pulling through against the odds. The 27-year-old, giving her name as Fanta, recalled how she hovered for weeks between life and death battling the tropical bug, which has killed more than 100 people this year in the poverty-hit west African nation. \"To hear that I had a disease that could not be cured, I was so afraid... It is as if I have just been reborn,\" she told reporters on Thursday outside a treatment centre in the capital Conakry, days after medics had saved her life. Guinea has been hit by the most severe strain of the virus, known as Zaire Ebola, which has had a fatality rate of up to 90 percent in past outbreaks, and for which there is no vaccine, cure or even specific treatment.","Jonathan Quick starts in goal for US vs Russia. SOCHI, Russia (AP) — Goalie Jonathan Quick will make his second start of the Olympics when the U.S. men's hockey team faces host Russia on Saturday.","French center-right wants Sarkozy re-election despite legal woes: poll. A clear majority of French center-right voters want former president Nicolas Sarkozy to seek re-election in 2017 and his support has grown despite legal troubles facing him and his party, an opinion survey showed on Thursday. The Ifop poll published by the Atlantico news web site showed that 60 percent of UMP opposition party supporters want Sarkozy, who lost a re-election bid to Socialist President Francois Hollande in 2012, to try again in 2017. Sarkozy's support has risen by 10 percentage points since early May. The poll was conducted after Sarkozy was placed under formal investigation in early July on suspicion that he tried to influence magistrates examining his 2007 election campaign finances. The UMP itself is in the midst of a legal inquiry into whether party officials used its books to cover up millions of euros of overspending on Sarkozy's 2012 election campaign.","Nearly grown calf kills Austrian farmer. VIENNA (AP) — A farmer who was attacked by a nearly grown calf has died, making him the third person killed in Austria by cattle in a little more than a month.","Without a flag, Keshavan still honoring India. KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia (AP) — The names adorning just about every available spot on Indian luger Shiva Keshavan's speedsuit are written in faint gray letters, barely visible to those even nearby.","Opinion poll shows Indian opposition winning ground in key northern states. Opposition leader Narendra Modi's chances of becoming India's next prime minister were bolstered by an opinion poll showing his Hindu nationalist party was set to make strong gains in key northern states in an election that begins on Monday. The opposition Bharatiya Janata Party, headed by Modi, has benefitted from a wave of public anger over corruption scandals and a slowing economy under the ruling Congress Party. Although the polls have repeatedly indicated that the BJP will emerge as the largest single party in the 543-seat lower house of parliament, it is unlikely to win an outright majority, and is seen as most likely to form a coalition government. The BJP and its allies are forecast to claim 36 percent of the popular vote in Uttar Pradesh, which as India's most populous state offers the largest number of parliamentary seats, according to a poll published by CNN-IBN and Lokniti at the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS) late on Thursday.","Man who caused plane diversion says was drinking. ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — A passenger whose behavior caused a commercial airline flying from Tokyo to New York City to be diverted to Anchorage told federal investigators he had been drinking on the plane, court documents state.","Iran: Messages exchanged with US over militants. TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — A senior Iranian official has confirmed that his country and the U.S. exchanged messages over the fight against the militant Islamic State group.","Libya FM calls oil region clashes serious escalation. CAIRO (AP) — Libya's foreign minister in the internationally recognized government says extremist groups are escalating their attacks in his country, including a renewed push to control oil resources, calling for concerted international efforts to stem the flow of money and weapons to them.","Tunisia's new government of independents sworn in. Tunisia's new technocratic government headed by Prime Minister Mehdi Jomaa was sworn in Wednesday, replacing an Islamist-led administration under an accord to end political turmoil and prepare for fresh elections. The formal transfer of power took place at the presidential palace after a marathon overnight parliamentary session in which 149 of the country's 193 lawmakers finally approved Jomaa's line-up. The new ministers took the oath of office in front of President Moncef Marzouki at a ceremony also attended by members of the former cabinet. Outgoing premier Ali Larayedh and Jomaa met earlier in the day to discuss government policies and pressing issues facing Tunisia three years after the revolution that toppled long-time dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.","US cold, steady China help lift oil prices. The price of oil stayed above $100 a barrel Tuesday on expectations cold weather in the U.S. and steady Chinese growth will underpin demand.","Evangelism booms, Catholicism suffers in post-genocide Rwanda. Jean-Claude Zamwita's family abandoned the solemn organ music and stained glass windows of the Catholic church in 2006, eight years after the genocide in Rwanda, and started visiting an evangelical church with tambourines and drumming. Such churches have been springing up across Rwanda, partly because the traditional churches, notably the Catholic Church, were largely discredited by the role played by some of their clerics during the killings. The new churches started when Rwandan refugees came back from neighbouring countries such as Uganda or the Democratic Republic of Congo, where evangelical churches are already well established.","Kerry in Israel to broker difficult phase of Mideast peace talks. TEL AVIV, Israel - U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry has arrived in Israel to broker Mideast peace talks that are entering a difficult phase aimed at reaching a two-state solution between the Israelis and Palestinians.","Gayle powers West Indies to victory over NZ. PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad (AP) — Left-hander Chris Gayle hit six sixes in a whirlwind 80 off 46 balls Friday to power the West Indies to a 10-wicket victory over New Zealand midway through the fifth and final day of the second cricket test.","Relegation-threatened Livorno switches coaches. LIVORNO, Italy (AP) — Relegation-threatened Livorno has fired coach Domenico Di Carlo and rehired Davide Nicola following a 3-0 loss at AC Milan.","Skier leaves Olympics, citing violence in Ukraine. SOCHI, Russia (AP) — The International Olympic Committee says it has been informed that Ukrainian skier Bogdana Matsotska has left the Sochi Games in response to the violence in her country.","Half-tonne of smuggled ivory seized in Saudi. Riyadh (AFP) - Authorities in Saudi Arabia say they have seized half a tonne of ivory being smuggled from Africa to east Asia.","Argentina Grandmothers ID 115th 'dirty war' child. BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — Argentina's leading human rights group says tests have identified the granddaughter of one of the group's late founders, whose daughter gave birth while a prisoner of the 1976-83 military dictatorship and hasn't been seen since.","U.S. training of Syrian rebels still months away: coalition chief. COPENHAGEN (Reuters) - Western plans to train and equip non-jihadi rebels in Syria will not start until at least late February, a leading opposition figure said on Friday, depriving them of support they need to counter both rival insurgents and Syrian government forces. The relatively moderate rebels loosely grouped under the \"Free Syrian Army\" label are struggling to hold their ground against much more militant groups such as Islamic State and the al Qaeda-affiliated Nusra Front and against government forces. A U.S. ...","Nasty campaign done, Colombia vote hinges on peace. BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — Colombia's nastiest presidential campaign in years has focused largely on a single issue: incumbent Juan Manuel Santos' prescription for ending the nation's half-century-old guerrilla conflict.","FBI: About a dozen Americans fighting in Syria. WASHINGTON (AP) — About a dozen Americans are believed to be fighting with extremist groups in Syria at the moment.","Syria ready to help speed humanitarian assistance: Russia. Moscow (AFP) - Russia said on Friday that Syria was ready to take a series of humanitarian steps that would lead to the quicker delivery of assistance to those suffering from the civil war.","London shares tumble on oil price slide. London (AFP) - London shares tumbled on Monday as concerns over low oil prices weighed on investors during a turbulent trading session.","Farmer's battle over raw milk sales goes to Ontario's highest court. TORONTO - A farmer and his supporters take their self-professed right to drink unpasteurized milk to Ontario's top court today.","Canada boycotts Arctic Council meeting in Moscow. Canada boycotted Arctic Council meetings in Russia this week in protest of Russia's \"illegal occupation\" of Ukraine, Minister Leona Aglukkaq said Tuesday. Aglukkaq is responsible for the Canadian Northern Development Agency and currently chairs the Arctic Council. She said the boycott of the working-group level meetings in Moscow was \"as a result of Russia's illegal occupation of Ukraine and its continued provocative actions in Crimea and elsewhere.","Kosovo ethnic divide tackled on rugby pitch. MITROVICA, Kosovo (AP) — They've been roughing each other up for over a century, but now Serbs and Albanians in this ethnically divided city are learning to work together through a sport that is all about gaining territory: rugby.","Israel brings arms ship to dock, hopes to shame Iran. A ship seized by the Israeli navy on suspicion of smuggling arms from Iran to the Gaza Strip docked on Saturday in Israel, which planned to put the cargo on display in hope of denting Tehran's rapprochement with the West. Israel said it found dozens of advanced Syrian-made rockets hidden on board in Iran and destined for the ship's next port in Sudan, from where they would have been trucked through Egypt to Gaza. Iran and Gaza's Islamist Hamas rulers, both hostile to the Jewish state, rejected the Israeli findings as fabrications. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has been dismayed at world powers' nuclear diplomacy with Iran since Tehran installed the relatively pragmatic Hassan Rouhani as president last year, voiced hope they would now rethink the outreach.","Gunmen assassinate eastern Libya security chief in Benghazi. Gunmen shot dead the intelligence chief for eastern Libya in Benghazi city on Thursday, a security spokesman said. Two masked gunmen opened fire on Colonel Ibrahim al-Senussi's car as it travelled through the port city, said Ibrahim al-Sharaa, spokesman for Benghazi's Joint Security Room. Car bombings and assassinations of soldiers and police officers have become common in Benghazi, where a suicide bomber detonated an explosives-packed minibus outside a special forces camp last week, killing two people. Libya's weak central government is struggling to control armed groups, militias and brigades of former rebels who helped oust long-time leader Muammar Gaddafi in the 2011 civil war and who now refuse to disarm.","Netanyahu tells AP he is 'troubled' by US decision. JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel's prime minister said Tuesday he is \"deeply troubled\" by the United States' decision to maintain relations with the new Palestinian unity government, urging Washington to tell the Palestinian president that his alliance with the Hamas militant group is unacceptable.","Brahimi resigning as UN-Arab League envoy to Syria. UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says Lakhdar Brahimi will resign as the joint U.N.-Arab League envoy on Syria on May 31 after a nearly two-year effort which failed to bring peace to the war-ravaged country.","Oil prices edge up, trading thin ahead of Christmas. By Henning Gloystein SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Brent crude oil prices edged up on Tuesday following a volatile session the day before that saw contracts jump over 2 percentage points before falling back to not much more than $60 a barrel. Asian trading was thin, curbed by a public holiday in Japan and as many traders close their books ahead of the Christmas and New Year holidays. Front-month Brent crude futures were trading at $60.42 per barrel at 0215 GMT (9.15 a.m. EST), up 31 cents. U.S. WTI crude was up 56 cents at $55.82 a barrel. ...","Volcanic eruption in Papua New Guinea causes flight diversions. A volcanic eruption in Papua New Guinea on Friday sent smoke and ash spewing high over the South Pacific island nation, leading some aircraft to alter their flight paths. Mount Tavurvur on East New Britain Island erupted hours before dawn, a bulletin from the Rabaul Volcanological Observatory said. Qantas said that it was altering the path of a handful of international flights in the area, but that it would add only about five minutes to their scheduled time. \"Flight paths between Sydney and Narita (Tokyo) and Sydney and Shanghai have been altered as a result of the volcanic ash cloud over Rabaul in eastern Papua New Guinea,\" Qantas spokeswoman Sarah Algar told Reuters.","Bank of England to sit tight amid cautious recovery. The Bank of England is set to begin 2014 as it has done the previous four years, by leaving its main interest rate at a record-low 0.50 percent, analysts predict. Meeting this week, the BoE is also expected to maintain its level of cash stimulus pumping around the economy at £375 billion ($616 billion, 452 billion euros), as policymakers await the extent of Britain's growth recovery amid more austerity. Finance minister George Osborne on Monday warned that Britain needs to find an extra £25 billion of painful cuts after next year's general election. Despite continued government austerity, Britain cemented its economic growth recovery in the second half of last year.","Rugby League - Virus floors Kangaroos ahead of final. - Defending champions Australia cancelled training on Wednesday ahead of the Four Nations final with New Zealand after five players were quarantined with a virus.","Caribbean adopts plan to seek slavery reparations. KINGSTOWN, St. Vincent (AP) — Leaders of Caribbean nations on Monday unanimously adopted a broad plan on seeking reparations from European nations for what they say are the lingering ill effects of the Atlantic slave trade on the region.","Brazil police capture New Zealand fugitive killer. RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Brazilian police say they've captured a convicted killer and child molester who fled New Zealand last week.","China gives 10-year sentence to leaker of military secrets. China has handed a ten-year prison term to an individual who leaked secret military documents and photographs to a foreign spy, state media reported on Monday, without naming the country involved. China is working to strengthen its internet security after revelations that the U.S. government spied on a top Chinese telecommunications firm. The individual, surnamed Li, was approached by a foreign intelligence agent via a popular social media platform, state media said. Li leaked 13 highly classified documents, the official China Daily reported, which featured in the second highest tier in the country's three-tiered system for ranking military secrets.","Hollande pledges French 'support' for forces fighting Iraq jihadists. French President Francois Hollande on Thursday pledged his country's \"support\" to forces battling Islamist militants in Iraq amid growing Western concern over an advance by Islamic State fighters. \"The president confirmed that France was available to support forces engaged in this battle,\" Hollande's office said in a statement, after the French leader spoke about Iraq by telephone with the head of the Kurdistan Regional Government, Massud Barzani. Hollande and Barzani \"expressed their willingness to cooperate to block the offensive carried out by the Islamic State in the north-east of Iraq,\" the statement added.","Obama begins four-day visit to Europe focused on historic remembrances and Ukraine's future. WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Obama begins four-day visit to Europe focused on historic remembrances and Ukraine's future.","Canada threatens to withdraw from G8 summit in Russia. Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper threatened Saturday he may join Washington in snubbing June's G8 summit in Russia over the country's military incursion into Ukraine, and recalled his ambassador to Moscow. The Russian parliament's decision to give Putin the green light to send troops into neighboring Ukraine triggered international outcry. \"We join our allies in condemning in the strongest terms President Putin's military intervention in Ukraine,\" Harper said in a statement. \"These actions are a clear violation of Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity.","Virgin Galactic could resume test flights in six months. London (AFP) - Virgin Galactic could resume test flights with a new spaceship within six months, the company said Friday, a week after the fatal crash of SpaceShipTwo in the Californian desert.","Lebanon imposes new measures against Ebola. BEIRUT (AP) — Lebanon is imposing new measures to prevent the Ebola virus from reaching the Middle Eastern nation.","British Columbia wants changes in Columbia River pact with U.S. By Nicole Mordant VANCOUVER (Reuters) - The Canadian province of British Columbia said on Thursday it wants to keep a 50-year-old Canada-U.S. pact on Columbia River flood control and power generation in place, but it urged the federal government to push for what it called improvements. The announcement of the Pacific Coast province's stance on renewing the Columbia River Treaty, which has been in effect since 1964, came three months after the agencies leading a U.S. review of the pact recommended that Washington continue the agreement, but that it reduce the payments it makes to Canada under the treaty. The Columbia River, one of North America's largest rivers by volume, has its headwaters in the Canadian Rockies and flows 2,000 km (1,250 miles) through British Columbia, Washington and Oregon before emptying into the Pacific Ocean. \"We believe continuing the Columbia River Treaty while exploring how improvements could benefit both countries is the best strategy moving forward for B.C., Canada and the United States,\" British Columbia's energy and mines minister, Bill Bennett, said in a statement.","Australia still analyzing French images in Malaysia jetliner search. By Jane Wardell SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australian authorities said on Monday they are still examining French radar images showing potential floating debris and have not yet shifted the search for a missing Malaysian jetliner in the southern Indian Ocean further north to look for the objects. The Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) said its search area continued to be defined by a U.S. satellite image of two floating objects to frame a search area some 2,500 km (1,550 miles) southwest of Perth. The AMSA is leading the international search along a southern arc for Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370, which vanished on March 8 with 239 people on board. The French images, however, were taken some 850 km (530 miles) north of the current search area.","Survey: German consumers increasingly optimistic. BERLIN (AP) — German consumer optimism is increasing, driven by a greater willingness to spend caused by this month's European Central Bank interest rate cut.","Australian police to renew bid to access Ukraine crash site. A joint Australian-Dutch probe team will renew efforts on Monday to gain access to the crash site of a Malaysian airliner in eastern Ukraine, Australian Federal Police said, after fierce fighting kept them away the previous day. Evidence could be lost if fighting continued, said Deputy Commissioner of National Security Andrew Colvin, and the chances of finding the remains of all 298 dead grew slimmer as time passed.","Hong Kong democracy protest camp shutdown looms. HONG KONG (AP) — Hong Kong pro-democracy activists have until Thursday morning to leave a sprawling protest camp that's blocked traffic in the Chinese financial hub for more than two months before authorities clear it out, a lawyer said Tuesday.","N.Korea crimes on par with Nazis, Khmer Rouge: UN probe. North Korea's regime has committed crimes as chilling as those of the Nazis, South Africa's apartheid regime or Cambodia's Khmer Rouge and must be stopped, the head of a UN inquiry said on Monday. \"Contending with the great scourges of Nazism, apartheid, the Khmer Rouge and other affronts required courage by great nations and ordinary human beings alike,\" Michael Kirby told the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva. \"It is now your solemn duty to address the scourge of human rights violations and crimes against humanity in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea,\" he said.","China says Japan's 'hype' on air defence zone spreads tension. China does not feel threatened by countries in Southeast Asia and is optimistic about the situation in the disputed South China Sea, the Foreign Ministry said, warning Japan not to \"spread rumors\" it plans a new air defense identification zone. China alarmed Japan, South Korea and the United States last year when it announced an air defense identification zone for the East China Sea, covering a group of uninhabited islands at the center of a bitter ownership spat between China and Japan.","Mexico upbeat about its World Cup chances. MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico's gold medal at the London Olympics was supposed to be a good sign for the national team as it looked ahead to the World Cup. Instead, the Mexicans barely qualified.","Nigerian president, leaders to discuss African militant threat. By Felix Onuah and Joe Penney ABUJA/MAIDUGURI, Nigeria (Reuters) - Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan, facing a mounting Islamist insurgency at home, will fly to South Africa to discuss ways of tackling militancy across the continent with African heads of state, his spokesman said. The meeting follows warnings from Nigeria and its neighbors that Boko Haram - which has killed thousands of Nigerians during its five-year-old insurgency, and last month kidnapped more than 200 schoolgirls - now threatens the security of the region. Leaders from every corner of the continent would meet before South African President Jacob Zuma's inauguration on Saturday to \"focus on collective action to effectively roll back the scourge of terrorism in Africa,\" spokesman Reuben Abati said. As well as Boko Haram, regional and world powers are increasingly worried about the growing reach of groups such as al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb and Somalia's al Shabaab, which has attacked Uganda and Kenya and this week threatened to unleash teenage suicide bombers in Nairobi.","5 things to know about the FA Cup in England. LONDON (AP) — Just when it seemed the years of gloom — by Arsenal's high standards — could be ending, there's edginess and uncertainty again within the team. The Gunners have collected just five points from their last four Premier League games to surrender the lead to Chelsea, with Manchester City and Liverpool hot on their heels.","Iraqi and Kurdish forces bid to break Islamic State siege of town. By Raheem Salman BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraqi army and Kurdish forces closed in on Islamic State fighters on Saturday in a push to break the Sunni militants' siege of the Shi'ite town of Amerli, army sources said. Two officers said Iraqi troops, militia and Kurdish peshmerga were advancing from four directions on the northern town, which has been surrounded by Islamic State forces for more than two months. In a separate incident on Saturday, a suicide bomber driving a car packed with explosives killed at least 11 people in a town just south of Baghdad. Armed residents of Amerli have managed to fend off attacks by the Islamic State fighters, who regard its majority Shi'ite Turkman population as apostates.","Russia's Lavrov says no agreement with Kerry on Ukraine: report. MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Thursday there was no agreement as yet between Moscow and Washington over the crisis in Ukraine, Interfax news agency reported. \"For now we cannot tell the international community that we have an agreement,\" Lavrov was quoted as saying after meeting his U.S. counterpart, Secretary of State John Kerry, in Rome. (Reporting by Gabriela Baczynska, editing by Elizabeth Piper)","EU says Russia, Ukraine gas deal 'very close'. BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Commission said on Thursday that a deal between Russia and Ukraine to unlock deliveries of Russian gas to Ukraine was \"very close\". European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, who spoke a number of times to Ukraine President Petro Poroshenko, earlier said in a statement that an agreement was within reach. \"There should not be any read-in to anything, about Ukraine being any obstacle to reaching agreement. ...","Sierra Leone imprisons journalist under emergency Ebola measures. FREETOWN (Reuters) - Police in Sierra Leone have jailed a journalist in the capital Freetown under emergency measures introduced to help the West African country cope with the Ebola epidemic, a senior police source said on Tuesday. David Tam-Baryoh was sent to the Pademba Road prison on an executive order from the president, according to Chief Superintendent Ibrahim Koroma. \"The powers were derived from the Ebola emergency regulations the country is currently under,\" Koroma said, without detailing the charges against the journalist or specifying the length of his detention. ...","Together at Asian Games, Koreas still far apart. INCHEON, South Korea (AP) — When the first world record fell at the Asian Games — to a North Korean weightlifter — elated South Korean fans pounded drums and stood to cheer.","Kerry accuses Assad of stonewalling in peace talks. JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is accusing Syrian President Bashar Assad of stonewalling in peace talks and is calling on Russia to push its ally to negotiate with opposition leaders.","Wanderers finish 2nd in A-League behind Brisbane. SYDNEY (AP) — Western Sydney Wanderers beat Melbourne Heart 3-2 to clinch second place in the A-League and a bye in the first round of the playoffs and an Asian Champions League berth next season.","Widodo leads as Indonesia set to declare president. JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Nearly complete results in Indonesia's presidential elections showed Jakarta governor Joko Widodo leading with 52 percent of the vote.","Obama vows intelligence cooperation to Germany's Merkel. U.S. President Barack Obama told German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Tuesday that he would be in touch about ways to improve U.S.-German intelligence cooperation after a spy row damaged relations between the two allies. Obama spoke to Merkel about their countries' bilateral relations as well as the conflict in Ukraine and talks between Iran and Western powers about Tehran's nuclear program, the White House said in a statement. \"The president and the chancellor ... exchanged views on U.S.-German intelligence cooperation, and the president said he’d remain in close communication on ways to improve cooperation going forward,\" the statement said. (Reporting by Jeff Mason;","Ukraine parliament convenes to approve new government. Ukraine's parliament convenes Thursday to approve a new pro-Western government after the United States offered economic aid to the crisis-hit country and warned Russia against military intervention. Russian President Vladimir Putin had earlier ordered snap combat readiness drills near the Ukrainian border, days after the ouster of pro-Russian president Viktor Yanukovych, as fears grew over separatism and economic default. In Kiev, a crowd of some 25,000 people in Independence Square -- the heart of three months of deadly protest that ousted Yanukovych -- cheered Wednesday as Arseniy Yatsenyuk, 39, was named interim prime minister. The new cabinet is expected to win easy and quick confirmation Thursday by parliament after mass defection from Yanukovych's ruling Regions Party put the chamber firmly in the opposition's hands.","Stem cell controversy sets back Japanese science. TOKYO (AP) — The finding that a lead researcher falsified data in a widely heralded stem-cell research paper is a setback for Japan's efforts to promote its advanced research, but also a symptom of the pressure for breakthroughs in the field, experts say.","Texas tracks 50 exposed to Ebola, 10 'high risk'. Dallas (AFP) - Texas health officials were monitoring 50 people for Ebola exposure Friday, 10 of whom are at high risk of the disease after close contact with the first diagnosed US patient.","Canada posts surprise Sept trade surplus on lower energy imports. OTTAWA (Reuters) - A sharp drop in energy imports caused by temporary refinery shutdowns helped Canada post a surprise trade surplus of C$710 million ($623 million) in September, Statistics Canada data indicated on Tuesday. Analysts had expected a deficit of C$100 million. The surplus - the third in four months - follows a revised C$463 million deficit in August. Imports fell by 1.5 percent to C$44.08 billion, pulled lower by a 19.4 percent drop in energy products. This largely reflected the fact that some refineries were shut for scheduled maintenance. Exports grew by 1.1 percent to C$44. ...","Mexico says mine did not report huge acid spill. MEXICO CITY (AP) — A civil defense official says a private mine in northern Mexico did not report a massive acid spill, allowing it to flow into a river that supplies water to tens of thousands of people.","Officials: 2 car bomb explosions kill 7 soldiers. Yemeni military officials say suspected al-Qaida militants have killed seven soldiers in two suicide car bomb attacks on a military encampment in the southern city of Sayoun.","Kurds agree on Fuad Masum for Iraq president: official. Baghdad (AFP) - Veteran Iraqi politician Fuad Masum was almost guaranteed to become Iraq's next president after the main Kurdish blocs in parliament agreed on his candidacy Thursday.","U.S. contractors in Iraq relocated due to security concerns. Top U.S. weapons maker Lockheed Martin Corp on Thursday said it was evacuating about two dozen employees from northern Iraq due to security concerns, and the U.S. State Department said other companies were relocating their workers as well. \"We can confirm that U.S. citizens, under contract to the Government of Iraq, in support of the U.S. Foreign Military Sales (FMS) program in Iraq, are being temporarily relocated by their companies due to security concerns in the area,\" State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said in a statement. \"The U.S. Embassy and consulates in Iraq remain open and continue to operate on a normal status,\" Psaki said.","Lebanon's former PM returns from exile amid crisis. BEIRUT (AP) — Former Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri, considered Lebanon's most influential Sunni Muslim politician, returned unexpectedly to Lebanon Friday after three years of self-imposed exile.","Seven bodies dumped in truck in northern Mexico. Seven bodies were dumped in a light truck in the northern Mexican state of Tamaulipas where a battle between drug gangs has sparked a wave of bloody shootouts and massacres, the government said on Monday. The bodies of four men and three women who have not yet been identified were found late Sunday in the port city of Tampico, according to a statement from a government task force set up last month to respond to the spike in violence across the state. Mexico's feared Gulf cartel has been battling the Zetas over control of drug and migrant smuggling routes around Nuevo Laredo, the biggest border crossing for trade between the United States and Mexico. Tamaulipas houses vast deposits of shale resources and major energy installations, including the smallest of the country's six oil refineries.","Bicycle bomb kills 2 people in Afghanistan. KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — A provincial official says a bomb attached to a bicycle has killed two people in eastern Afghanistan.","Smith, Badree help West Indies drub Bangladesh. MIRPUR, Bangladesh (AP) — Opener Dwayne Smith and legspinner Samuel Badree starred as the defending champion West Indies revived their World Twenty20 semifinal hopes with a 73-run win over Bangladesh on Tuesday.","Montezemolo: Alonso leaving Ferrari to win again. MILAN (AP) — Two-time Formula One champion Fernando Alonso will leave Ferrari at the end of the season in order to win again, according to the Italian team's recently-departed president.","EU worried by new Ukraine fighting despite truce. Brussels (AFP) - The European Union expressed concern Thursday about new fighting in eastern Ukraine that has killed both civilians and soldiers despite a truce agreed last month between pro-Russian rebels and government troops.","Kenya: Suspected Islamist rebels kill 36 workers. NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Kenya police say at least 36 quarry workers were killed in northern Kenya by suspected Islamic extremists from Somalia.","Number of Syria refugees registered in Lebanon over 1mn. The number of Syrians registered as refugees in Lebanon after fleeing war in their country has surpassed one million, the UN refugee agency said on Thursday. Refugees from Syria now equal a quarter of Lebanon's resident population, the UNHCR said, describing the figure as \"a devastating milestone worsened by rapidly depleting resources and a host community stretched to breaking point.\" Tiny Lebanon has now become the country with \"the highest per capita concentration of refugees worldwide,\" said the UNHCR, adding that is \"struggling to keep pace\". For Lebanon, a small nation beset by internal difficulties, the impact is staggering,\" UNHCR chief Antonio Guterres said in a statement.","BRAZIL BEAT: Fans celebrate World Cup holiday. SAO PAULO (AP) — Thursday is a holiday in Sao Paulo: Everybody is off to celebrate the start of the World Cup.","Jury selection begins in Apple-Samsung case. SAN JOSE, California (AP) — Jury selection began Monday in the latest legal battle between the fiercest rivals in the world of smartphones, with Apple and Samsung accusing each other, once again, of ripping off designs and features.","Who is to blame? Crash investigators face struggle. LONDON (AP) — To figure out why a Malaysian jetliner fell from the sky, investigators will use the wreckage of any missile found to determine where it came from and who fired it, experts said Friday. That may be easier said than done in the middle of a war zone.","Putin orders combat readiness checks for troops in Russia's east. President Vladimir Putin has ordered snap checks of troops' combat readiness in Russia's far east, the latest in a series of military drills this year as tensions have mounted over the crisis in Ukraine. Russian news agencies quoted Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu as telling the armed forces' leadership on Thursday that troops in the eastern military district, which includes Russia's maritime border with Japan and its land frontier with China, had been ordered to be on full combat readiness at 10:00 a.m. Moscow time 0600 GMT) A number of military checks and snap war drills, which Putin has implemented to test and display the armed forces' capabilities, have raised tensions as ties between Moscow and the West fray over Russia's role in the Ukraine crisis. The West has accused Putin of using some of the manoeuvres to boost Russia's troop presence along its border with Ukraine. The snap checks Russia's far east were also meant to test the ability of local branches of the trade, communications and transportation ministries to work during wartime conditions, the news reports said.","Iraqi Kurds dig frontier around disputed areas. MARIAM BEK, Iraq (AP) — As Islamic extremists seek to sweep away borders in their advance across the Middle East, Kurds in northern Iraq appear to be in the process of digging a new one, asserting their claim to hotly disputed territory and expanding their semi-autonomous region in a bid for greater autonomy or outright independence.","Climate change adaptation comes of age in U.N. talks: TRFN. By Megan Rowling BARCELONA (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - In Peru, where two weeks of U.N. climate talks begin Monday, melting glaciers and more extreme weather such as hot spells and flash frosts are already harming crops and incomes, and keeping people in poverty, aid workers say. \"From the Andes to the jungles, communities are doing what they can, but their efforts will never be enough without ambitious global action to tackle climate change,” said Milo Stanojevich, CARE International's Peru director. ...","Arrest of Sri Lankan rights activists condemned. COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — Human rights groups are urging the Sri Lankan government to release two human rights defenders, saying their arrest is an attempt to silence criticism.","Canada telecoms Telus, BCE chase down wireless leader. By Alastair Sharp TORONTO (Reuters) - Two of Canada's largest telecom companies reported strong quarterly wireless growth on Thursday as they chased down the wireless market leader, but fixed-line performance helped Telus Corp to outshine rival BCE Inc . BCE and Telus share a national network as they compete with the country's biggest wireless carrier, Rogers Communications Inc , which said last month it added 38,000 postpaid wireless customers in the second quarter. Telus said it signed up 78,000 net contract wireless subscribers, who typically pay more to use high-end smartphones, in the quarter. Telus said its average wireless customer, excluding those added in its acquisition of budget operator Public Mobile, paid C$62.51 a month, compared with C$59.49 at Bell and C$59.18 at Rogers.","Hulk returns to Brazil lineup against Cameroon. BRASILIA, Brazil (AP) — Striker Hulk is back in Brazil's lineup for Monday's decisive Group A match against Cameroon, while injured Samuel Eto'o will again start on the bench for the African team.","Rugby Union - Wales recall Davies for New Zealand. - Jonathan Davies returned from a shoulder injury as Wales coach Warren Gatland named a side showing nine changes from the team that struggled to see off Fiji last weekend for the clash with world champions New Zealand at Cardiff's Millennium Stadium on Saturday.","SoftBank considers stake in Legendary Pictures: report. TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's SoftBank Corp has been in talks to take a minority stake in privately held movie studio Legendary Pictures, entertainment trade publication The Hollywood Reporter reported on Tuesday. The talks between SoftBank and Burbank, California-based Legendary, home of hits like \"Man of Steel\" and the 2014 remake of \"Godzilla\", have been going on for weeks, according to the publication. The talks have been on a separate track from SoftBank's negotiations with DreamWorks Animation, The Hollywood Reporter said. ...","Federal ministers took action on endangered species due to lawsuit: lawyer. VANCOUVER - A federal government lawyer says the ministers responsible for protecting endangered species took action on four critically threatened species because they were facing court proceedings.","French comedian investigated for comments on James Foley killing. Dieudonne M'Bala M'Bala said that decapitation \"symbolizes before anything progress, access to civilization\" in the video that appeared on the internet last month. The Paris prosector's office said police were starting a preliminary investigation into Dieudonne on the grounds that he had condoned terrorism. In the video, called \"Foley That Was,\" Dieudonne said the 2011 killing of ex-Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi and that of former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein, who was hanged in 2006, never aroused the same indignation as Foley's death. \"The Rothschild Mafia says no, that's ok, but James Foley, that's too much,\" Dieudonne says, an apparent but unexplained reference to the prominent Jewish banking family.","Judge grants 2-month delay in Boston Marathon bombing trial, denies change of venue. BOSTON (AP) — Judge grants 2-month delay in Boston Marathon bombing trial, denies change of venue.","New York cops among 106 accused over 9/11 fraud. Former New York police officers and firefighters were among 106 people indicted over a \"massive fraud\" worth hundreds of millions of dollars, some in connection with the September 11 attacks. The accused allegedly collected tens of thousands of dollars a year in Social Security benefits -- funded by taxpayers -- by claiming they were completely incapacitated by serious psychiatric disorders and other ailments. \"Many participants cynically manufactured claims of mental illness as a result of September 11, dishonoring the first responders who did serve their city at the expense of their own health and safety,\" Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance said in a statement.","Mexico plans to extract 13,000-year-old skeleton. MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexican officials say they plan to extract the entire skeleton of a teenage girl who nearly 13,000 years ago toppled into a deep hole in a Mexican cave and died.","Vance becomes a hurricane in Pacific off Mexico. MIAMI (AP) — U.S.-based forecasters say Hurricane Vance has formed hundreds of miles off Mexico's Pacific coast, but poses no immediate threat to land.","Riske beats Bencic for 1st WTA title at Tianjin. TIANJIN, China (AP) — Alison Riske held on to defeat Belinda Bencic 6-3, 6-4 in the final of the Tianjin Open on Sunday for her first WTA Tour title.","Salmond a likely winner whichever way Scots vote on independence. By Angus MacSwan EDINBURGH (Reuters) - Alex Salmond wields no claymore sword and appears only sparingly in a kilt, and yet he has brought Scotland closer to independence than any Scottish warrior since union with England more than 300 years ago. Dressed typically in a business suit, the Scottish National Party leader has used guile, charm and persistence over many years to build a movement for independence. This campaign reaches its climax on Thursday when Scots vote in a referendum on whether to stay part of the United Kingdom or to break away. ...","Germany: thousands to attend student's funeral. WAECHTERSBACH, Germany (AP) — Thousands of mourners are expected at the funeral of a young woman who died after reportedly defending two teenage girls from male harassment.","U.S. regulator to Chrysler's Marchionne: get act in gear on Jeep recall. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. government safety regulators on Thursday told Chrysler Group LLC Chief Executive Sergio Marchionne that the company \"have to get their act in gear\" to speed up repairs of recalled Jeep SUVs that face a heightened fire risk.","Turkish police says deputy head, 15 provincial chiefs removed. ISTANBUL (Reuters) - The deputy head of Turkey's national police force and 15 provincial chiefs have been removed from their posts, police said in a statement on Wednesday, the latest move in a purge following a high-level corruption inquiry. Those removed include the heads of the local forces in the capital Ankara and the Aegean province of Izmir, the statement said. Hundreds of officers have already been dismissed or reassigned since the scandal erupted last month. (Reporting by Ece Toksabay; Writing by Nick Tattersall; Editing by John Stonestreet)","Zimbabwe pledges not to seize foreign investment capital. Zimbabwe will not take any foreign investment capital as part of its controversial indigenisation policy, the finance minister said Tuesday The indigenisation law, introduced in 2010 with the aim of empowering local people, forces foreign companies to cede majority shares to Zimbabwean partners. So far it has only been applied to mines, but critics say the policy has been a deterrent to badly needed investment. \"We are not going to get 51 percent of anyone's money, it's not the policy of this government,\" said Patrick Chinamasa.","Officials: Coca plants discovery a 1st for Mexico. TUXTLA GUTIERREZ, Mexico (AP) — Officials say the seizure of 1,639 coca plants in southern Mexico marks the first known instance of the raw ingredient of cocaine being cultivated in the country.","Russia 'optimistic' on Syria peace talks early next year: Lavrov. PARIS (Reuters) - Russia is optimistic at the prospect of renewed talks between opposition figures and the Syrian government early next year, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Tuesday. Moscow, an ally of the Syrian government, has pushed to restart talks that collapsed in Geneva in February, inviting Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moualem to visit Moscow after a similar visit by a former Syrian opposition chief in November. ...","US referee Mark Geiger gets Colombia-Greece duty. SAO PAULO (AP) — American referee Mark Geiger has been selected for his first World Cup duty when Colombia plays Greece on Saturday.","Strauss says fear of failure a problem for England. London (AFP) - Andrew Strauss said Monday a collective fear of failure on the part of England's batsmen risks damaging the team's chances at next year's World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.","Pakistan: Gunmen kill man from targeted minority sect. ISLAMABAD (AP) — A Pakistani police officer says unknown gunmen have shot dead a young man from a targeted religious minority community in eastern Pakistan.","Acclaimed Egyptian novelist Ashour dies at 68. CAIRO (AP) — Acclaimed Egyptian novelist and educator Radwa Ashour has died after a long battle with cancer. She was 68.","HK legal chief says govt 'impartial' on police brutality. Hong Kong (AFP) - Hong Kong's justice chief insisted Wednesday that any prosecution of plainclothes officers who were filmed beating a handcuffed protester would be handled impartially, as fresh clashes broke out on the city's streets.","Prosecutor: Keep extra security for Russian inmate. SEATTLE (AP) — A federal prosecutor says extra security for a Russian man charged with hacking into U.S. businesses should stay in place because prison officials say one of his lawyers illegally brought a cellphone into the Seattle facility.","Russian diplomat says U.S. sanctions statement disgusting: Ifax. MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov expressed disgust on Monday at the U.S. announcement of sanctions against Russian officials and companies linked to President Vladimir Putin over the Ukraine crisis, the Interfax news agency reported. \"The statement by the White House press secretary (about the sanctions) prompts disgust,\" Ryabkov was quoted as saying. He said it \"demonstrates a complete lack of understanding among our colleagues in Washington about what is happening in Ukraine\". (Writing by Steve Gutterman, editing by Nigel Stephenson)","Victim's kids hope Adams charged in Belfast murder. BELFAST, Northern Ireland (AP) — For most of her life, Helen McKendry has demanded that Sinn Fein chief Gerry Adams come clean about his alleged leadership role in the Irish Republican Army — and about the outlawed group's abduction, slaying and secret burial of her mother in 1972.","Chile fire toll: 11 dead, 1,000 homes destroyed. VALPARAISO, Chile (AP) — A raging fire leaped from hilltop to hilltop in this colorful port city throughout the night and day on Sunday, killing at least 11 people and destroying at least 1,000 homes. More than 10,000 people were evacuated, including more than 200 female inmates at a prison.","Humiliation at rout hits Iraqi military hard. BAGHDAD (AP) — The Iraqi soldiers tell of how they can hardly live with the shame of their rout under the onslaught of the Islamic militants. Their commanders disappeared. Pleas for more ammunition went unanswered. Troops ran from post to post only to find them already taken by gunmen, forcing them to flee.","Iran raps US report keeping it on terror list. Iran rejected an annual US report that keeps Tehran on a list of state sponsors of terrorism as reflecting double standards, media reports said Thursday. The foreign ministry was reacting to a State Department report released Wednesday that kept Cuba, Iran, Syria and Sudan on its list of so-called state sponsors of terrorism. The report also highlighted what it said was Iran's role in supporting and funding the regime of President Bashar al-Assad in its fight against Syrian rebels. \"Accusing Iran of supporting terrorism is politicised and based on double standards,\" ministry spokeswoman Marzieh Afkham said in a statement reported by the official IRNA news agency.","'Gucci Grace, PhD' stirs up race to lead post-Mugabe Zimbabwe. By MacDonald Dzirutwe HARARE (Reuters) - Soon after being shoe-horned into the top ranks of Zimbabwe's ruling party, the wife of ageing leader Robert Mugabe has gained a PhD in orphanages, seen as the latest sign that she may be destined for high office. In a country where the path to power is paved with academic letters, analysts said the timing of the first lady's surprise qualification was no coincidence. ...","Venezuelan police say recovery of stolen camera led to arrest of 7 in slaying of actress. CARACAS, Venezuela - The discovery of a digital camera stolen from the popular actress Monica Spear and her ex-husband was key to identifying the seven people arrested in their fatal shooting, the chief of Venezuela's criminal police said Thursday.","Ukraine crisis may speed defense buys, but budgets stay stuck. By Victoria Bryan and Cyril Altmeyer BERLIN (Reuters) - The crisis in Ukraine may prompt governments, especially in eastern Europe, to move more quickly on defense procurement decisions - but western Europe is unlikely to loosen its restraint on spending, industry executives said on Wednesday. With eastern European states nervous about Russia after it annexed Ukraine's Crimea region and massed 40,000 troops on Ukraine's borders, Poland already brought forward a planned decision on a new multi-billion-dollar missile defense system. Other countries close to Russia and Ukraine may also start looking to boost defenses or order more helicopters, executives at the ILA Airshow in Berlin said.","Murray downs Lopez to reach fourth round at Aussie Open. Andy Murray allayed concerns over the state of his back following surgery on Saturday as he stepped up his Australian Open campaign to reach the fourth round. Murray continued his dominance of Spanish left-hander Feliciano Lopez with a 7-6 (7/2), 6-4, 6-2 win in two hours 15 minutes on Hisense Arena.","Cease-fire in Syrian city breaks down, halts aid. BEIRUT (AP) — Two trucks carrying food and medical supplies into rebel-held neighborhoods in the central Syrian city of Homs turned back under heavy fire Saturday, leaving four paramedics wounded as a cease-fire broke down, Syrian officials said. Opposition activists said the government broke the truce by launching a rocket attack on one of the neighborhoods they hold.","Turkish court orders release of Kurdish lawmakers accused of militant links. By Seyhmus Cakan DIYARBAKIR, Turkey (Reuters) - A Turkish court ordered the release from jail on Saturday of three Kurdish lawmakers, in addition to two freed on Friday, who are being tried for links to militants in a potential fillip to a fragile peace process. The court rulings go some way to addressing criticism from the European Union and rights groups over Turkey's lengthy detentions for defendants on trial. A judge in the main southeastern city of Diyarbakir ruled in favor of freeing Selma Irmakand and Faysal Sariyildiz, Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) MPs, and independent Kemal Aktas after the constitutional court said their imprisonment violated their rights as elected officials. On Friday a Diyarbakir court ordered the release of Gulser Yildirim and Ibrahim Ayhan who won seats for the BDP in a 2011 election but have been held on remand for several years accused of supporting Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) armed rebels.","Russian weightlifter Poghosyan banned 10 years. MOSCOW (AP) — Former European champion weightlifter Gevorik Poghosyan has been handed a 10-year ban for doping.","Dempsey scores after 29 seconds vs Ghana. NATAL, Brazil (AP) — Clint Dempsey scored the fastest goal by an American in World Cup history and the fifth-quickest ever, putting the United States ahead after 29 seconds of its opener against Ghana on Monday night.","New Zealand Prime Minister John Key wins third term in office as rival Labour Party concedes. WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — New Zealand Prime Minister John Key wins third term in office as rival Labour Party concedes.","Venezuela's U.S. dollar shortage puts health sector in intensive care. By Eyanir Chinea CARACAS (Reuters) - While hemophilia sufferer Sergio Tovar lay in agony for five days at a hospital in Venezuela, his friends and family scoured hospitals and pharmacies looking for life-saving drugs. Eventually a cousin, Jenny Sequeda, helped find a substitute for the protein coagulant Tovar needs for his blood condition.","Reluctant archbishop favoured as Burkina transition leader. A Catholic archbishop emerged Sunday as a consensus candidate to serve as Burkina Faso's interim president after the ouster of longtime ruler Blaise Compaore, sources close to the process said -- despite his own misgivings. Paul Ouedraogo, the archbishop of the southern Bobo-Dioulasso diocese, was on the shortlist of army, opposition and civil society groups in the west African nation. Opposition and civil society groups are hoping that the Vatican will allow Ouedraogo to lead the west African country during a one-year transition period leading up to elections in November 2015. Lieutenant Colonel Issac Zida, the army-installed leader, had given the various parties until noon on Sunday to submit names to a panel of 23 mainly civilian electors, who are expected to appoint the interim leader early this week.","Pro-Russian mayor of Ukrainian town wounded by gunfire. Kharkiv (Ukraine) (AFP) - The pro-Russian mayor of the town of Kharkiv in eastern Ukraine was left fighting for his life after being seriously wounded by gunfire on Monday, the town hall said.","US emerges bloodied and victorious against Ghana. NATAL, Brazil (AP) — After 90 brutal minutes of end-to-end action, the Americans emerged with a thrilling 2-1 win over Ghana.","Huge hurdles in path of final Iran nuke deal. VIENNA (AP) — It took months of arduous bargaining before Iran and six world powers could agree on a first-step nuclear deal. But the two sides may find the going even tougher Tuesday, when they start to confront hurdles standing in the path of a final accord.","Bouhanni wins 7th Giro stage; Matthews keeps lead. FOLIGNO, Italy (AP) — Nacer Bouhanni of France sprinted to victory on the seventh stage of the Giro d'Italia on Friday, while Michael Matthews retained the overall leader's pink jersey.","Night fire destroys ancient Tibetan town in China. BEIJING (AP) — An inferno that raged for 10 hours early Saturday razed an ancient Tibetan town in China's southwest Yunnan province that's popular with tourists.","Olympic luger's death triggers memories. KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia (AP) — Everyone knew the danger. An uneasiness hung in the frosted Canadian air four years ago. Nerves were on edge.","EU Commission charges HSBC, JPMorgan, Credit Agricole with rigging. By Foo Yun Chee BRUSSELS (Reuters) - European Union antitrust regulators charged HSBC, JPMorgan and Credit Agricole on Tuesday with rigging financial benchmarks linked to the euro, exposing them to potential fines. \"The (European) Commission has concerns that the three banks may have taken part in a collusive scheme which aimed at distorting the normal course of pricing components for euro interest rate derivatives,\" the EU competition authority said. The three banks could face penalties of up to 10 percent of their global turnover if found guilty of breaching EU antitrust rules. In December a record 1.7-billion-euro ($2.3 billion) fine was levied on six banks including Deutsche Bank, Royal Bank of Scotland and Citigroup for similar offences.","Police killings in Rio spark security worries. RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Brazilian security officials are meeting to map out a strategy to combat a recent wave of police killings in Rio de Janeiro state.","Scientists gear up to land 1st spacecraft on comet. BERLIN (AP) — The European Space Agency is making final preparations to land the first unmanned spacecraft on a comet next week, and scientists are hoping that technology designed a quarter century ago will perform as planned.","Kaymer's US Open success mostly ignored at home. BERLIN (AP) — Martin Kaymer's historic victory at the U.S. Open has been largely met by indifference in his homeland.","Riding in bobsled is rough and tough sledding. KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia (AP) — Lolo Jones prayed between screams. Aja Evans wanted her mommy. Australia's Heath Spence had his jeans torn apart.","Thai PM meets with senators to discuss crisis. BANGKOK (AP) — Thailand's acting prime minister has met with a group of senators to seek a solution to the country's ongoing political crisis, as anti-government protesters continue to pressure the Cabinet to resign.","Pakistan cleric says his supporters will march on parliament. A Pakistani cleric said Tuesday his supporters had decided to march peacefully on parliament to try to force the prime minister to resign. Tahir ul-Qadri said a \"people's parliament\" had decided to march after he asked the crowd several times if they wanted \"a true democracy\" and \"no terrorism\" and they shouted \"yes\". Opposition politician Imran Khan has also said his supporters will march on parliament. Qadri has tens of thousands of supporters in the capital.","India jails 24 men for gang rape of teen in 1996. NEW DELHI (AP) — An attorney says one man was sentenced to life and 23 others to varying prison terms for raping a teenager who was kidnapped and held for several weeks in southern India 18 years ago.","Injured Hafeez doubtful for 2nd test against NZ. DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Opening batsman Mohammad Hafeez is struggling with a hamstring injury which may force Pakistan to try out a new left-handed opening pair in the second test against New Zealand, starting Monday.","Aussie sportswomen treated unfairly: former coach. SYDNEY (AP) — Australia's former women's field hockey coach says female Australian athletes are treated as \"second-class citizens\" when it comes to sponsorships and media coverage.","Syrians return to city shattered by war. HOMS, Syria (AP) — Syrians have begun trudging back into the Old City of Homs, where they dig among the ruins for the remains of lives shattered by heavy fighting and a grinding two-year siege that finally forced rebels to withdraw last month.","Nadal braced for 'strange' days in Australia. Rael Nadal sounded relieved on Sunday to be flying to Australia in better condition than he might have expected for the first Grand Slam event of the year and one that he described as \"strange\". A fine two-hour final at the Qatar Open, in which the world number one beat Gael Monfils 6-1, 6-7 (5/7), 6-2, dragged some of Nadal's best tennis from him and gave him a physical and psychological test he certainly needed. I hope to have a good week's preparation in Melbourne and try to adapt.\" The Spaniard believes, however, that by competing in Doha rather than travelling straight to Australia to practise or to play a tournament there, there are positives and negatives.","Costa Concordia wreck reaches final destination. GENOA, Italy (AP) — The shipwrecked Costa Concordia cruise liner has completed its final journey, reaching Genoa's port, where it will be scrapped.","Hong Kong pro-democracy tabloid blames Beijing for cyberattack. A leading Hong Kong pro-democracy tabloid Thursday blamed Beijing for a massive cyberattack on its website, just days after a series of similar attacks on an online referendum on electoral reform. The website of Apple Daily, known for its critical stance on Beijing, suffered a blackout for several hours on Wednesday after what it described as a large-scale attack launched by sophisticated hackers. The attack comes at a time of heightened tension in the former British colony as pro-democracy activists worry that Beijing will backtrack on universal suffrage promised to Hong Kong in 2017. In a front page article headlined \"We will never backtrack\", the Apple Daily accused Beijing of orchestrating the cyberattack.","Despite strong support, no timeline for Asia trade pact: U.S. official. BEIJING (Reuters) - There was strong support among international leaders to reach a deal on an Asia-Pacific trade pact called the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) in coming months, but no timeline has been set, a senior U.S. official said on Monday. After talks on the ambitious 12-nation free trade agreement conclude in Beijing, it will still take a period of time to resolve the most difficult issues, the official added. \"This is not an agreement that is about to get signed,\" the official said of the Washington-backed deal. ...","Mexican drug capo Gomez lavished gifts on hometown. Artega (Mexico) (AFP) - Drug lord Servando \\\\\"La Tuta\\\\\" Gomez may be among Mexico's most wanted men, but in his western mountain hometown, he was known for throwing parties, sending gifts and handing out cash. Nobody can say exactly the last time the leader of the cult-like Knights Templar drug cartel visited Arteaga, a small Michoacan state town where the teacher-turned-capo once taught. But Gomez is now on the run, as civilian militias allied with police hunt for him in caves and forested hills of Michoacan's Tierra Caliente (Hot Land), trying to deal a heavy blow to the cartel. While Gomez nurtured a Robin Hood image in his hometown, his gang instilled fear in other Michoacan residents who were forced to pay protection taxes or face the worst.","Newcastle: Gutierrez plays again after treatment. NEWCASTLE, England (AP) — Newcastle defender Jonas Gutierrez has returned to action after being treated for testicular cancer.","Gestapo impostor tricked Nazi sympathizers in WWII. LONDON (AP) — Hans Kohout had a plan, according to secret documents released Friday.","Qaeda executes 4 'spy' trackers for Yemen drone hits. In a video posted online by AQAP, four suspects described as \"spies\" say they placed tracking devices on the vehicles of jihadists killed in drone attacks two years ago in the southern Shabwa province. An AQAP security official named Abu Islam al-Muhajer said in the video that US and Yemeni authorities were behind the drone attacks. The United States is the only country operating drones over Yemen, but US officials rarely acknowledge the covert operations. The drone programme has been defended by both the White House and Yemeni President Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi, in the face of protests by human rights groups over civilian casualties.","G20 final document to address U.S. policy impact on emerging markets. By Lidia Kelly MOSCOW (Reuters) - The world's financial leaders will address the impact of U.S. monetary policy on emerging markets in a final document from their meeting this week in Sydney, but the wording has yet to be agreed, a Russian G20 official said. Finance ministers and central bank governors from the Group of 20 major developing and advanced economies, which acts as a steering committee for global economic policy, will meet on February 22-23.","Hertha Berlin beats Stuttgart 3-2 in Bundesliga. BERLIN (AP) — Salomon Kalou scored twice as Hertha Berlin came from behind to beat visiting Stuttgart 3-2 in the Bundesliga on Friday.","Ukraine parliament confirms new defence minister. Kiev (AFP) - Ukraine's parliament on Tuesday confirmed National Guard chief Stepan Poltorak as the former Soviet state's fourth defence minister since Russia's annexation of its Crimea peninsula in March.","Taiwan vote tests waters for pro-China government ahead of presidential polls. By J.R. Wu TAIPEI (Reuters) - Taiwan goes to the polls on Saturday to choose city mayors and local councillors in a vote that will show how much support the ruling Kuomintang (KMT) has lost with its pro-China stance less than two years before a presidential election. The election will be the first chance for the island, which giant neighbor China views as a breakaway province, to make its views known since March when thousands of young people occupied parliament in an unprecedented protest against a planned trade pact calling for closer ties with Beijing. ...","Prisoners kept handcuffed in park in Colombia. BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — It was a day in the park for about 40 prisoners — handcuffed to each other, a fence and even a children's slide.","New wealth rises in Mogadishu as millions suffer. MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) — The first ATM and the construction of modern buildings and trendy restaurants are exciting signs of growth for those living in Somalia's capital. That is, if you have money.","Shebab claim new attack in Kenya, police say at least 10 dead. At least 10 people have been killed in a new overnight attack near Kenya's coast, police said on Tuesday, with Somalia's Al-Qaeda-linked Shebab rebels claiming responsibility. The commandos have been going to several places looking for military personnel,\" Shebab's military spokesman, Abdulaziz Abu Musab, told AFP by telephone. \"The commandos have fulfilled their duties and returned peacefully to their base,\" he added, without saying if the attackers were still in Kenya or had driven back across the Somali border, around 100 kilometres (60 miles) north. Kenyan police spokeswoman Zipporah Mboroki confirmed an attack had occurred overnight, although local police and a county official said there were at least 10 dead.","Left wingers urge Swiss to reject immigration curbs. By Caroline Copley BERNE (Reuters) - Drastically limiting immigration in Switzerland would isolate the country by damaging its ties with the European Union, left-wing groups said on Monday, calling on voters to reject the proposal. Swiss voters will decide in a referendum on Nov. 30 whether they want to cap immigration at just 0.2 percent of the resident population or the equivalent of 16,000 people per year. In 2013, net immigration was five times greater at 82,800, according to the office for national statistics. ...","Martin Kaymer tees off in US Open with 5-shot lead. PINEHURST, N.C. (AP) — Martin Kaymer has teed off at the U.S. Open with a commanding five-shot lead.","Portugal interior minister resigns over 'golden visas' probe. Lisbon (AFP) - Portugal's Interior Minister Miguel Macedo resigned Sunday, three days after top officials were detained in a corruption scandal over \"golden visas\" for wealthy foreign investors.","Canada extends life of fighter jet fleet as it mulls replacements. OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canada, faced with a politically controversial decision over how best to upgrade its fleet of fighter jets, will extend the life of the existing planes to 2025, an official said on Tuesday. Canada's aging 80 or so CF-18s had been marked for retirement around 2020, but Ottawa's difficulty in making up its mind means they must now fly for longer. Some of the jets are more than 30 years old. ...","Hagel to tour China's new aircraft carrier. TOKYO (AP) — U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel is expected to get a rare tour Monday of China's first aircraft carrier, becoming the first foreign visitor to go aboard the ship.","Lego enjoying big China boon. COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — Lego says its multicolored blocks were hugely in demand worldwide in 2013, especially in China where the company plans to open a factory to meet growing interest in its products.","South Africa dismiss Australian centurions. Centurion (South Africa) (AFP) - South Africa fought back on the second day of the first Test against Australia at SuperSport Park on on Thursday, claiming three wickets before lunch, including centurions Shaun Marsh and Steve Smith. Australia were 374 for seven at lunch after adding 77 runs during the morning's play at Centurion. Marsh and Smith took their fifth wicket stand to 233, seeing off the threat of Dale Steyn and Vernon Philander with the second new ball, before Smith was out for 100, caught at second slip off Ryan McLaren. It was a crucial breakthrough because South Africa’s bowling resources looked thin with Steyn and Philander having finished their spells.","Australia transport safety chief says beach debris not from MH370: ABC Radio. MELBOURNE (Reuters) - Australia's transport safety chief said on Thursday he was confident that debris picked up on a Western Australian beach this week had not come from the missing Malaysian Airlines flight 370. Australian Transport Safety Bureau Chief Commissioner Martin Dolan told Australian Broadcasting Corp Radio that he was looking at detailed photographs of the debris taken by the police. (Reporting by Sonali Paul; Editing by Chris Reese)","World Cup Group D: battle of the champions. Group D is the only one at the World Cup to contain three former world champions in England, Italy and Uruguay. Costa Rica complete the line-up. The tone will be set by the opening game between Steven Gerrard's England and Gianluigi Buffon's Italy in the heat and humidity of Manaus on Saturday.","Presbyterian panel backs Israel divestment measure. DETROIT (AP) — A proposal to divest stock in protest of Israel's treatment of Palestinians is moving forward at a national Presbyterian meeting.","Hungary's opposition alliance chooses candidate. BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — Hungary's Socialist Party leader was chosen Saturday as the opposition alliance candidate in upcoming elections and he accused the government of having \"wrecked the rule of law\" and of sidelining democratic principles.","Goldman says its overseas hiring practices being investigated. (Reuters) - Goldman Sachs Group Inc disclosed on Friday that it was being investigated over its hiring practices outside the United States. The Wall Street Journal reported earlier this week that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission had expanded its probe into the hiring practices of at least five U.S. and European banks in Asia, including Goldman. Goldman, in a quarterly filing on Friday, did not provide any details of the investigation into whether it was in compliance with the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. Goldman also said it was a defendant in a class-action lawsuit related to high frequency trading, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York on April 18.","Colombia farmer protests a headache for Santos' re-election bid. By Peter Murphy BOGOTA (Reuters) - Farmers across Colombia began protests on Monday demanding the government enact reforms it promised last year, organizers said, demonstrations that could unsettle President Juan Manuel Santos as he runs for re-election in four weeks. Colombian producers of coffee, potatoes, rice, tomatoes and other crops say the government has failed to alleviate indebtedness and regulate prices for inputs like fertilizer, among other measures, they say were promised in August to end protests back then that turned violent. \"We are complaining about the government not fulfilling the agreements of August last year,\" Victor Correa, spokesman for the Dignidad Cafetero coffee growers' protest movement told Reuters. Nonetheless, protest organizers have called for more farmers to turn out for a second day, which could put more pressure on the government if the protests begin to disrupt public order.","Moores, Newell in contention for England post. Lancashire coach Peter Moores has emerged as a leading contender to become the new England cricket coach, although Nottinghamshire's Mick Newell has also made clear his interest. The duo are on a four-man shortlist along with current England limited-overs coach Ashley Giles and Trevor Bayliss, as the race to succeed Andy Flower hots up. Moores previously served as England coach from May 2007 until January 2009, when the breakdown of his relationship with then captain Kevin Pietersen forced the England and Wales Cricket Board to act.","4.7-magnitude earthquake hits Greece, no casualties. Athens (AFP) - An undersea earthquake with a magnitude of 4.7 struck close to the Greek island of Zakynthos in the Ionian Sea on Saturday morning, the Athens Observatory said.","US stocks edge lower in late morning trading. NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks edged lower in late morning trading as investors assessed the latest company earnings and the outlook for the economy. Investors are still troubled by the potential for escalating tensions between Russia and the West over Ukraine.","Qatar court overturns conviction of U.S. parents in death of adopted girl. By Carey Gillam (Reuters) - An appeals court in Qatar on Sunday overturned the convictions of a Los Angeles couple who were sentenced to three years in jail for the death of their adopted African-born daughter, but the government was refusing to let the couple leave the country, a spokesman for the family said. Matthew and Grace Huang were trying to return to the United States after the tribunal found the lower court had made numerous errors, family spokesman Eric Volz told Reuters. ...","Torpedo signs Australia fullback Franjic. MOSCOW (AP) — Newly promoted Russian Premier League club Torpedo Moscow says it has signed Australia fullback Ivan Franjic and Croatian goalkeeper Goran Blazevic.","Kerry in Berlin to meet with German officials. BERLIN (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is in Berlin for two days of meetings with German officials on the Ukraine crisis and other issues, including the fight against Islamic State militants, the Ebola virus and the nuclear talks with Iran.","US faces Arab reluctance in Islamic State fight. BEIRUT (AP) — Stitching together a broad coalition to tackle the extremist Islamic State group hinges on overcoming the reluctance of U.S. allies in the Middle East who are deeply frustrated with a White House that they believe has been naive and weak on Syria's civil war.","Colombia military hit by second scandal in a month. BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — Colombia's military grappled Monday with its second big scandal in less than a month after an investigation into extrajudicial killings exposed high-level corruption and raised questions over a commander's human rights record.","Sisi says Egypt truce plan 'real chance' to end Gaza clashes. President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said on Saturday an Egyptian truce plan provided a \"real chance\" to end the Gaza conflict, stressing the need for its speedy implementation. \"The Egyptian proposal is the real chance to find a solution to the crisis in Gaza and to end the bloodshed,\" Sisi told a televised news conference.","Premier League players condemn illegal wildlife trade. By Stephen Wood LONDON (Reuters) - Leading Premier League players, including Manchester City's Yaya Toure and Vincent Kompany, on Wednesday added their voices to a campaign to end the illegal trade in wildlife. \"The world must unite... to not buy ivory,\" , City's Ivory Coast midfielder Toure and Victor Wanyama, the Kenya-born Southampton midfielder, said in a video message released by the English Premier League. The campaign, run partly by World Wildlife Fund UK and the Born Free Foundation, is aiming to highlight the plight of elephants and rhinos in Africa. In the 30-second video, Wanyama and Toure were joined by Toure's brother, Liverpool defender Kolo, and City captain Kompany, who is of Congolese descent, in condemning the killing of endangered species.","Syria conflict costs Lebanon $7.5 bn: World Bank. Jeddah (Saudi Arabia) (AFP) - The conflict in Syria has cost Lebanon $7.5 billion as it struggles to cope with hosting more than a million refugees from the neighbouring country, according to World Bank chief Jim Yong Kim. \"We estimated last summer that the impact of the crisis on Lebanon was $7.5 billion,\" Kim said late on Sunday in the Saudi city of Jeddah, which he visited in the first stop of a regional tour. He said the conflict has had a \"profound\" impact on Lebanon and Jordan, which also hosts around 600,000 Syrian refugees. Kim said the World Bank is trying \"as much as possible\" to help the two countries that host the largest Syrian refugee populations.","Canada manufacturing growth slips to four-month low in May. The pace of growth in the Canadian manufacturing sector edged down to its slowest rate in four months in May as new order activity stagnated, data showed on Monday. The RBC Canadian Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' index (PMI), a measure of manufacturing business conditions, declined to a seasonally adjusted 52.2 last month from 52.9 in April. The report \"indicates that Canada's manufacturing sector is still being held back by sluggish global growth,\" said Craig Wright, chief economist at RBC.","Salafists protest at reopening of Algiers synagogues. Salafists protested on Friday against government plans to reopen synagogues which were closed for security reasons during Algeria's civil war of the 1990s. After weekly Friday prayers at Al-Mouminine mosque in the poor Belcourt district of Algiers, dozens of worshippers tried to march in the streets but were blocked by police, an AFP journalist reported. \"No to the Judaisation of Algeria!\" and \"Muslim Algeria!\" were among slogans chanted by the demonstrators, who also condemned Israel's military offensive in Gaza. They were responding to a call by Salafist leader Abdelfatah Hamadash to oppose the mooted reopening of synagogues, which he said would pave the way for \"a normalisation of relations between Algeria and Israel.\"","China commits $1 million to WADA research fund. MONTREAL (AP) — China has donated $1 million to a World Anti-Doping Agency fund for research and the development of techniques to detect prohibited substances.","Sire de Grugy wins feature race at Cheltenham. CHELTENHAM, England (AP) — Sire de Grugy won the Queen Mother Champion Chase by powering to a six-length victory Wednesday in the feature race on Day 2 of the Cheltenham Festival.","Ethiopian co-pilot hijacks plane to Geneva. GENEVA (AP) — It seemed like a routine overnight flight until the Ethiopian Airlines jetliner went into a dive and oxygen masks dropped from the ceiling. Only then did the terrified passengers — bound for Italy from Addis Ababa — realize something was terribly wrong.","Iranian official gives lower death toll for plane crash; tells state TV 39 killed, 9 injured. TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iranian official gives lower death toll for plane crash; tells state TV 39 killed, 9 injured.","Cricket-India's Sharma rips through NZ in second test. * Dhoni wins seventh successive toss * Ishant takes five wickets on green pitch (updates at tea) By Greg Stutchbury WELLINGTON, Feb 14 (Reuters) - India pace bowler Ishant Sharma took his fifth five-wicket haul in tests to hobble New Zealand's first innings as the home side lurched to 166 for eight at tea on the first day of the second test in Wellinton on Friday. Tim Southee was on 19 not out while Neil Wagner was on nought at the Basin Reserve. Kane Williamson top-scored for the hosts with 47 before he was dismissed for the third time in the innings, caught low down in the slips by Rohit Sharma off Mohammed Shami. He had been earlier given out twice, once to Zaheer Khan in the final over before lunch on 15 and then again on 23 when Cheteshwar Pujara took a good catch at forward short leg off Ishant during the afternoon session.","PSG salvages draw at Reims in French league opener. REIMS, France (AP) — Zlatan Ibrahimovic saved defending champion Paris Saint-Germain from defeat in its French league opener by scoring twice in a 2-2 draw at Reims on Friday.","Moscow questions U.S. allegations Russia shelling Ukraine. The Russian Defence Ministry on Monday cast doubt on pictures that Washington said showed Russia had recently shelled Ukrainian military positions. The United States has accused Russia of instigating the conflict in eastern Ukraine where pro-Moscow separatists are fighting central government forces. Russia has denied any involvement in the conflict. On Sunday, the U.S. State Department released images it said showed Russian forces had fired across the border at the Ukrainian military.","Report: Pro-Russian separatists put army on alert. CHISINAU, Moldova (AP) — Pro-Russian separatists in a breakaway region of Moldova have put their army on alert, claiming they fear military action from neighboring Ukraine and Moldova, a local news agency reported Thursday.","Thorgan Hazard picked as pro player of season. BRUSSELS (AP) — Eden Hazard's younger brother Thorgan has been voted Belgium's professional player of the season by his peers.","JPMorgan hires UBS's David Li to be new China head. JPMorgan Chase & Co said it has hired former UBS AG banker David Li as its new China head, reinforcing its investment banking clout in the world's second-largest economy after the departure of top China banker Fang Fang in March. Li will oversee all of JPMorgan's businesses in China, including the investment banking division that Fang ran. Li will report to Nicolas Aguzin, chairman and CEO for Asia-Pacific operations, the U.S. bank said on Thursday.","EU commission candidate defends Portugal austerity. LISBON, Portugal (AP) — European Commission presidency candidate Jean-Claude Juncker has defended Portugal's continuing austerity program as it frees itself from a three-year bailout program that saved the country from collapse.","China official met by protests, says respects Taiwan's choices. By Faith Hung KAOHSIUNG Taiwan (Reuters) - China's top official in charge of relations with self-ruled Taiwan said on Friday that he understood and respected the choices of the island's people, as he was met by noisy protests in the traditionally anti-China far south of Taiwan. Zhang Zhijun, director of China's Taiwan Affairs Office, is making the first trip ever by the head of the body to Taiwan, a visit marked by a highly unusual meeting with an opposition party stalwart and mayor of the pro-independence southern port of Kaohsiung, Chen Chu. Protesters waved placards deriding Zhang as a \"communist bandit\". While Chen has previously visited China and met Zhang there, spearheading efforts by the Democratic Progressive Party to engage with Beijing, such high-level meetings in Taiwan with opposition figures are almost unheard of.","India destroys stockpile of illegal wildlife parts. NEW DELHI (AP) — India has set fire to a stockpile of tiger skins, elephant tusks and rhino horns in an effort to discourage illegal wildlife smuggling and trade in South Asia.","Sturridge picks up new injury in training. LIVERPOOL, England (AP) — Liverpool striker Daniel Sturridge has picked up a new injury and will be sidelined for up to another four weeks.","New Zealand, South Africa launch WCup preparation. WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Two of the strongest contenders to win next year's Cricket World Cup, New Zealand and South Africa, begin their preparations for the tournament Tuesday in the first match of a three-match one-day international series.","Shi'ite militias expand influence, redraw map in central Iraq. By Ahmed Rasheed and Ned Parker BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Behind black gates and high walls, Iraqi national security agents watch 200 women and children. Boys and girls play in the yard and then dart inside their trailers, located in a former U.S. military camp and onetime headquarters for Saddam Hussein’s officials in Babel province’s capital Hilla. The women and children are unwilling guests, rounded up as they fled with their male relatives in October from Jurf al-Sakhr, a bastion of Islamic State, during a Shi'ite militia and military operation to clear the farming community. ...","London shares fall amid China gloom. London (AFP) - London shares closed lower on Monday as investors responded to gloomy economic data from China and Japan, dealers said.","Amazon expands middleman role in latest online payments push. By Deepa Seetharaman SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Amazon.com Inc will start managing subscription payments for start-ups and other companies - the latest in a series of quiet moves the e-commerce giant has made into PayPal's turf over the past year. The service, which launches on Monday, allows the company's more than 240 million active users to use credit card details stored on Amazon.com to pay for services such as a monthly phone bill or a digital music subscription. Amazon then charges a fee on each transaction. ...","Ford says December China auto sales up 35 percent on year. SHANGHAI (Reuters) - Ford Motor Co and its local partners in China sold a total of 94,838 vehicles on a wholesale basis in December, an increase of 35 percent from a year earlier, the company said on Monday. That compared to a 47 percent increase in November and a 55 percent jump in October. In 2013, sales by the Dearborn, Michigan-based automaker totaled 935,813 vehicles on a wholesale basis, up 49 percent from 2012, helped by Ford Focus, the best selling model in China last year. ...","New Canadian sanctions over Ukranian crisis. The Canadian government of Prime Minister Stephen Harper has added 14 individuals to a list of people facing economic sanctions and travel bans related to the Ukranian crisis. \"Russia's illegal occupation of the Crimean peninsula and provocative military activity remains a serious concern to Canada and the international community,\" Harper said in a statement Friday. This brings to 43 the number of Russian targeted by Canada in sanctions coordinated with the US and the EU.","Yemeni officials: Gunmen kill northern rebel envoy. SANAA, Yemen (AP) — Yemeni officials say gunmen have killed the top envoy of the country's northern rebels in the capital, Sanaa.","Gaza officials: Israeli tank fire kills 4 Palestinians after cease-fire. GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — Gaza officials: Israeli tank fire kills 4 Palestinians after cease-fire.","Australian bushfire survivors win record class action. Survivors of a devastating 2009 bushfire in Australia won final court approval Tuesday for a nearly Aus$500 million (US$407 million) payout -- the biggest class action settlement in the nation's history. The Kilmore East blaze was the largest of the \"Black Saturday\" February 2009 fires in southern Victoria state that left 173 dead and razed more than 2,000 homes, the nation's worst natural disaster of modern times. Thousands of people joined an action blaming power company SP AusNet, which until January was majority-owned by Singapore Power, over the Kilmore inferno, which killed 119 people and caused an estimated Aus$1 billion in damage. Parties including SP AusNet agreed to a settlement of Aus$494.7 million earlier this year, with the power company making the biggest payout, but the agreement needed court approval, which was given Tuesday.","Hughes scores unbeaten 202 to set Australian mark. DARWIN, Australia (AP) — Phillip Hughes set a domestic batting record when he plundered an unbeaten 202 in Australia A's one-day game against South Africa A on Tuesday.","Philippine train rams barrier, injuring scores. MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Philippine police say a passenger train has rammed through a concrete barrier and rolled into a busy road intersection, injuring scores of passengers.","Major attacks by Islamic extremists in Nigeria. Recent major attacks attributed to Islamic extremists from Boko Haram. More than 2,000 people have been killed this year in attacks blamed on the group:","Briton to go on trial for murder of girlfriend in Paris. Paris (AFP) - British businessman Ian Griffin goes on trial Monday for the 2009 murder of his girlfriend, who was found dead in the bathtub in the room they shared at a five-star Paris hotel.","Holy Land cleric: Hate crimes threaten pope visit. HAIFA, Israel (AP) — The top Roman Catholic cleric in the Holy Land is urging Israel to crack down on vandals behind a spate of hate crimes aimed primarily at Christian and Muslim sites, a week before Pope Francis visits.","Crimean military post taken over, no shots fired: witnesses. A Ukrainian military official, Vladislav Seleznyov, said by telephone that the armed men took over the base without any shooting and that no one was hurt. Another Ukrainian military official told Reuters at the post that the armed group inside had not seized any weapons and said he was mediating between the sides. Russian forces have taken over some military installations and other buildings on the peninsula, where Russia's Black Sea Fleet has a base, but both sides have held their fire.","India rebuffs 'simplistic' U.N. criticism over sex crimes. By Tom Miles GENEVA (Reuters) - India has rebuffed accusations by a U.N. investigator that sex crimes are rife in the world's biggest democracy, calling her analysis \"simplistic\" and full of \"sweeping generalizations\". India's large northern state of Uttar Pradesh has seen a wave of violence and sex crimes, including the rape and murder of two girls aged 12 and 14, which stirred national outrage. The United Nations special rapporteur on violence against women, Rashida Manjoo, said violence against women was systematic and continued \"from womb to tomb\" in a report submitted to the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva. In its response, posted on the Council's website on Thursday, India called that allegation \"baseless\".","Subbing for the champion, Lisicki advances. LONDON (AP) — A year after her loss to Marion Bartoli in the Wimbledon final, Sabine Lisicki was reunited with her victor at Centre Court on Tuesday under far different circumstances.","Exclusive: Somalia army weapons sold on open market - U.N. monitors. By Louis Charbonneau UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Somali army weapons and ammunition continue to be diverted to open markets despite the government's pledges to prevent its arms from leaking and ending up in the hands of Islamist militants, U.N. investigators said in a new report. The Somalia-Eritrea Monitoring Group, an 8-member panel of investigators that monitors compliance with U.N. sanctions on the two countries, said there had been improvements in government reports on the contents of its armories but suggested the situation remained unsatisfactory. ...","Indonesia sentences people smuggler to 7 years. JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — An Indonesian court has sentenced a Pakistani man to seven years in jail for attempting to smuggle asylum seekers to Australia on a rickety boat that sank, killing about 90 people.","Luxembourg approves same sex marriage. LUXEMBOURG (AP) — Lawmakers in Luxembourg, whose prime minister is openly gay, overwhelmingly approved changes in the small European nation's legislation governing marriage on Wednesday that will allow people of the same sex to wed and to adopt children.","Business jet sales to keep rising but some purchases delayed. NEW YORK (Reuters) - Business jet buyers are expected to take delivery of as many as 675 new aircraft worth about $20.5 billion this year, a slight rise over deliveries worth $20 billion 2013, according to a forecast by Honeywell International Inc . The outlook for the next decade shows demand for 9,450 jets worth about $280 billion. That's up from 9,250 jets worth $250 billion in last years' long-range forecast, Honeywell said. ...","Ex-president of Guinea-Bissau, Kumba Yala, dies at 61. Kumba Yala, the philosophy teacher turned president who ruled Guinea-Bissau from 2000 to 2003 and was instantly recognisable by his red bobble hat, died on Friday aged 61, his family said. He died of cardiac arrest in the early hours of the morning, the government said in a brief statement. His personal security chief Alfredo Malu had told AFP the former president fell ill on Thursday night. Yala's personal physician and nephew Martinho Kope Na Nhanca said he could do nothing to save him.","10,000 mark neo-Nazi killing of Greek rapper. Athens (AFP) - Around 10,000 people protested in Greece on Thursday to mark a year since the killing of an anti-fascist rapper by neo-Nazi Golden Dawn militants, which sparked a crackdown on the party.","Costa fells Liverpool, Mata revives United. London (AFP) - Diego Costa scored his 10th goal of the campaign as unbeaten Premier League leaders Chelsea continued their excellent start to the season by winning 2-1 at Liverpool on Saturday.","Ryder not in New Zealand's Cricket World Cup plans. Troubled batsman Jesse Ryder's chequered past came back to haunt him Monday when New Zealand selectors left him out of a preliminary 30-man World Cup squad. The 30-year-old is regarded as one of the Black Caps' few match-winners but his career has been littered with alcohol-fuelled incidents and chief selector Bruce Edgar said New Zealand were not prepared to gamble on him for the tournament. He said the final straw was when Ryder was handed a chance to break back into the national team by participating in a New Zealand A tour to Dubai last month but withdrew at the last minute citing personal reasons. We never got to see enough and as a result we cut him from the 30.\" The squad features all the players currently facing Pakistan on tour in the United Arab Emirates, including spinner Daniel Vettori, who may make next year's showcase tournament his international swansong.","Teacher admits Syria-linked terror charges. London (AFP) - A British teacher pleaded guilty on Monday to charges of funding would-be fighters going to Syria and planning to go there himself, but said he did not support the Islamic State group.","Toyota recalls 247,000 vehicles in U.S. over Takata air bag issue. By Ben Klayman DETROIT (Reuters) - Toyota Motor Corp recalled 247,000 cars, SUVs and pickup trucks in the United States on Monday because they are equipped with potentially defective front passenger air bag inflators from Japan's Takata Corp that can rupture and spray metal shrapnel, according to U.S. safety regulators. That raised the number of vehicles affected by regional recalls launched in June by several automakers due to the Takata air bags to more than 4.5 million. ...","Hamas vows revenge after 7 members killed. JERUSALEM (AP) — The Islamic militant group Hamas that rules Gaza has vowed revenge for the death of seven of its members in an airstrike.","EU lawmakers trade insults, Juncker set to survive censure motion. STRASBOURG (Reuters) - A no-confidence motion in the EU's new chief executive Jean-Claude Juncker had no chance of success after the Eurosceptic lawmakers who brought it traded insults with the bigger parties in the European Parliament on Monday. Backed by anti-EU groups including the UK Independence Party and France's National Front, the motion calls for Juncker to be removed, less than a month after taking office, because of his long tenure as prime minister of Luxembourg when the country was at the center of controversial corporate tax avoidance schemes. ...","French-German brigade to train troops in Mali. PARIS (AP) — For the first time since the start of World War I, a French-German brigade will be deployed to Africa, to help train soldiers and police in Mali in the aftermath of France's intervention to uproot Islamic extremists there.","Rio de Janeiro police posts attacked. RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Rio de Janeiro police say suspected drug gang members have attacked three of the so-called police pacification posts set up recently in slums.","Milan beats Mexico's Guadalajara 3-0. HOUSTON (AP) — Mario Balotelli bent in a free kick from long range in AC Milan's 3-0 victory over Mexico's Guadalajara in a rugged friendly match on Wednesday.","Santa Ana winds bring sky-high fire danger to Southern Calif. as blaze clears island in north. LOS ANGELES, Calif. - As Santa Ana winds made moisture plunge, plant life wither and wildfire danger soar, Southern California firefighters pounced on several small blazes before they could surge, though another day of dryness awaited.","Former Cowboy Brent gets 180 days in jail, 10 years' probation for deadly wreck. DALLAS - Former Dallas Cowboys player Josh Brent was sentenced Friday to 180 days in jail and 10 years of probation for a drunken car crash that killed his friend and teammate, Jerry Brown.","Ukraine leader consults Putin amid crisis. Ukraine's embattled President Viktor Yanukovych returned to protest-hit Kiev on Saturday after holding talks with his Russian counterpart and ally Vladimir Putin about a suspended Moscow bailout loan. The chat late Friday on the sidelines of the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympic Games in Russia's Black Sea resort of Sochi came amid intensifying pressure from the opposition on Yanukovych to cede some of his broad powers and appoint a new pro-Western government. Neither Russian nor Ukrainian officials disclosed the details of the two leaders' conversation except to say that it was brief and held at Sochi's Fisht stadium where the Games' opening ceremony was held.","Resort opponents: Chinese invade Mexico coast. MEXICO CITY (AP) — Environmentalists say the only living hard coral reef in the Gulf of California is once again under threat, just two years after activists persuaded the government to block construction of a huge 30,000-room resort nearby.","Georgia: Olympic guests must not visit Abkhazia. TBILISI, Georgia (AP) — Georgia has demanded that visitors to the Winter Olympic Games keep out of a breakaway territory that is just a few miles south of Sochi, the Russian city where the games are being held.","Bahrain Shiite activist freed, urges 'serious dialogue'. Prominent Bahraini Shiite activist Nabil Rajab issued an appeal on Sunday for \"serious dialogue\" in the Sunni-ruled kingdom following his release after serving a two-year jail term. \"The only solution is a serious dialogue between the royal family and the opposition\" dominated by the Shiite movement Al-Wefaq, said Rajab, who heads the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights. \"Attempts at dialogue undertaken in the past were not serious and were rather messages to reassure international public opinion\" about the situation in Bahrain, he said. The opposition has campaigned for the establishment of a genuine constitutional monarchy in Bahrain.","Russia, US vow to help 'unblock' Syria talks. Geneva (AFP) - High-level Russian and US diplomats have promised to help unblock the deadlocked Syria peace talks in Geneva, UN mediator Lakhdar Brahimi said Thursday.","Death toll in Solomons flooding rises to nine. The confirmed death toll from flash floods in the Solomon Islands rose to nine Saturday and was expected to continue climbing, authorities said, as reports emerged of children swept away in swollen rivers. \"We have nine bodies and a lot of people are still missing,\" Dr Alex Munamua at the Solomons' National Referral Hospital told AFP. With about 10,000 people packed into emergency shelters, the Red Cross secretary general in the Solomons, Joanne Zoleveke, described the devastation as \"a tragedy none of us saw coming\". The city's main river, the Matanikau, burst its banks in a torrential tropical storm late Thursday, sweeping away riverside communities, bringing down bridges and inundating the downtown area.","Catalan language revival fuels backlash in Spain. By Fiona Ortiz CORNELLA DE LLOBREGAT Spain (Reuters) - Francesca Munoz, the principal at Sant Miquel primary school near Barcelona, is fighting a linguistic crusade that has fueled a remarkable recovery of the local Catalan tongue – and of the region’s secessionist movement. For 30 years, public schools in Spain's Catalonia region have taught most subjects in Catalan, not the national Castilian Spanish language. There are now some 10 million Catalan speakers in or near the region bordering France and the Mediterranean, putting the language in a league with Swedish and Greek after it was repressed under the 1939-1975 dictatorship of Francisco Franco. Such is the strength of the Catalan renaissance that it is prompting a backlash among some parents concerned their children are getting short-changed on Spanish, the world’s second-most spoken language by native speakers after Mandarin.","China may lose out if Iran oil sanctions lifted. The past few years have been good to Chinese companies doing business in Iran, with the oil industry offering the biggest opportunity of all, but things might start getting tougher. As Western corporations headed for the exits when sanctions took effect and international distrust over Iran's nuclear activities deepened, Summer Lee, an energetic thirty-something from Shanghai, was among those who filled the vacuum. \\\\\"We are looking to expand our business deals with Iran,\\\\\" she said, as delegates shuttled between hundreds of exhibition stands and meeting tables where potential deals were discussed. But with a possible end in sight to the nuclear standoff that has defined Iran's thorny relations with the Western world for the past decade, Lee and her countrymen may soon have new rivals.","Israel PM wants Palestinian government isolated. JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel's prime minister on Sunday urged the world to shun the emerging Palestinian unity government due to its ties to the Hamas militant group, rejecting Palestinian pledges that it will be a government of technocrats that will accept peace agreements with Israel and eschew violence.","Asia stocks, dollar up as robust U.S. GDP lifts holiday mood. TOKYO (Reuters) - Asian stocks gained and the dollar stood tall on Wednesday thanks to surprisingly robust U.S. economic growth, helping investors head into the Christmas holidays in a more relaxed mood after the global market turbulence of the past two weeks.","Iraq chases Baghdad sleeper cells as 'Zero Hour' looms over capital. By Ned Parker and Oliver Holmes BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraqi insurgents are preparing for an assault on Baghdad, with sleeper cells planted inside the capital to rise up at \"Zero Hour\" and aid fighters pushing in from the outskirts, according to senior Iraqi and U.S. security officials. The government says it is rounding up members of sleeper cells to help safeguard the capital, and Shi'ite paramilitary groups say they are helping the authorities. A high-level Iraqi security official estimated there were 1,500 sleeper cell members hibernating in western Baghdad and a further 1,000 in areas on the outskirts of the capital. He said their goal was to penetrate the U.S.-made \"Green Zone\" - a fortified enclave of government buildings on the west bank of the Tigris - as a propaganda victory and then carve out enclaves in west Baghdad and in outlying areas.","Yemen youth demand Saleh trial over uprising killings. Hundreds rallied in Yemen's capital on Tuesday, anniversary of the 2011 killing of 45 protesters against Ali Abdullah Saleh, demanding that the former president and aides be tried for their deaths. On March 18, 2011, dubbed the \"Friday of Dignity,\" gunmen loyal to Saleh shot dead 45 protesters, most of them university students, and wounded another 200 in just three hours, according to figures compiled by Human Rights Watch. This was at the beginning of a popular uprising against Saleh's three-decade rule inspired by the so-called Arab Spring that had already swept rulers from power in Tunisia and Egypt. The demonstration was organised by the Youth Revolutionary Council, one of the groups that led the year-long uprising against Saleh.","Ricciardo beats Rosberg to win Belgian GP. SPA, Belgium (AP) — Red Bull driver Daniel Ricciardo beat Nico Rosberg to win an incident-packed Belgian Grand Prix on Sunday, while Rosberg extended his championship lead over Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton in acrimonious circumstances.","EU, U.S. to commit to remove all duties on bilateral trade: draft. U.S. President Barack Obama and European Union leaders will promise to remove all tariffs on bilateral trade at their summit on March 26, an ambitious step towards the world's largest free-trade deal, according to a draft statement seen by Reuters. The joint declaration seeks to overcome tensions following Washington's offer to cut its duties by less than the Europeans had hoped for and after Brussels pledged to remove almost all of its own tariffs. \"The EU and the United States are firmly committed to concluding a comprehensive and ambitious Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership,\" the draft statement reads, referring to U.S.-EU free-trade talks by their official name. \"Those goals include eliminating all duties on bilateral goods trade,\" says the statement, which will be delivered at the end of the day-long summit in Brussels.","UKIP councillor blames gay marriage for British floods. A local councillor for the anti-immigration UK Independence Party (UKIP) has blamed recent storms and floods across Britain on the government's decision to legalise gay marriage, it emerged on Saturday. David Silvester, who defected from Prime Minister David Cameron's Conservative party in protest at the move to allow same-sex couples to marry, made the claim in a letter to his local newspaper. \"I wrote to David Cameron in April 2012 to warn him that disasters would accompany the passage of his same-sex marriage bill,\" wrote Silvester, an elected member of the town council in Henley-on-Thames, west of London.","Endangered tiger cub triplets born in London. LONDON (AP) — At London Zoo, good news has come in threes.","Suicide bombers attack Syria gas facilities. DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — A Syrian official says two suicide attackers have targeted separate natural gas facilities in the central province of Homs, killing eight people.","OSCE sending military observer mission to Ukraine. VIENNA (AP) — A U.S. official says the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe will send a military observer mission to Ukraine at its request.","NATO's chief: Russia's actions are illegitimate. SOFIA, Bulgaria (AP) — NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen has urged Russia to pull back its troops from Ukraine's borders and enter a dialogue respecting Ukraine's sovereignty.","Canada unveils new prostitution law. Canada's attorney general unveiled a law Wednesday that makes it legal to sell sex to individuals but illegal to buy it, after the high court struck down an anti-prostitution law. \"We're targeting Johns and pimps, those that treat sexual services as a commodity,\" Justice Minister and Attorney General Peter MacKay. The Supreme Court in December struck down key provisions of the original law that effectively criminalized prostitution, saying that they endangered prostitutes. The legal challenge was brought by three sex workers who argued that Canada's restrictions on prostitution -- criminalizing keeping a brothel, living off prostitution or soliciting sex in public -- put their safety at risk.","EU leaders mark WWI centennial. BRUSSELS (AP) — Where their countrymen once slaughtered each other with machine guns, artillery and poison gas, the leaders of Britain, France, Germany and other European Union member states met Thursday to solemnly mark the 100th anniversary of World War I and rededicate themselves to peace and collaboration.","Egypt, Qatar plan reconciliation summit: diplomat. Egyptian and Qatari intelligence officials have met to arrange talks between leaders of the two countries to end a row over the ouster of president Mohamed Morsi, a diplomatic source said Wednesday. The planned summit is part of reconciliation efforts brokered by Saudi Arabia after Qatar this month pledged its \"full support\" for Egypt. Qatar's earlier backing of Morsi and his blacklisted Muslim Brotherhood movement left it isolated in the region. \"Talks are under way to organise a meeting between the Egyptian president and the emir of Qatar,\" an Arab diplomatic source told AFP.","Prominent South African politician shot in robbery. JOHANNESBURG (AP) — South Africa's ruling party says one of its prominent members has been shot.","Guyana president suspends opposition parliament. GEORGETOWN, Guyana (AP) — President Donald Ramotar has suspended the National Assembly of Guyana using an unusual constitutional procedure that averts a no-confidence vote in the opposition-dominated parliament.","Russia tells U.S. that Kiev must stop operation in east Ukraine. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Wednesday that the Ukrainian government must stop its military operation and agree a ceasefire with separatists, the Foreign Ministry said. In a phone conversation with Kerry, Lavrov also emphasised \"the importance of direct talks\" between the government and pro-Russian rebels and the need to alleviate humanitarian problems in southeastern Ukraine, the ministry said. Lavrov \"underscored the need for the swiftest halt by Kiev of its military operation in the southeast, agreement on terms of a ceasefire, a solution to acute humanitarian issues and ... real national dialogue on Ukraine's future structure.\" The statement said Lavrov and Kerry both voiced support for efforts by the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe to defuse the Ukraine crisis, which has led to dozens of deaths and driven Russian-U.S. ties to a post-Cold War low.","Canada posts December budget surplus of C$1.15 billion. Canada's federal budget registered a surplus in December 2013 of C$1.15 billion ($987 million), reflecting a strong increase in revenues from most sources, the Department of Finance said on Friday in a monthly report. The monthly balance was the first surplus since June of last year and an improvement from the C$732 million deficit in December 2012 and the C$614 million deficit in November 2013. In the April-December 2013 period, the budget deficit narrowed to C$12.70 billion from C$14.35 billion in the same period of 2012. In the federal budget presented on Feb 11, the Conservative government estimated a budget deficit of C$16.6 billion in the fiscal year ending March 31.","India, China agree to end Himalayan border face-off. By Sanjeev Miglani NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India and China have agreed to pull back troops ranged against each other on a remote Himalayan plateau, the Indian government said on Friday, ending their biggest face-off on the disputed border in a year. The two armies mobilized about 1,000 soldiers each in Ladakh this month, accusing the other of building military infrastructure in violation of an agreement to maintain peace until a resolution of the 52-year territorial row. ...","Peru declares emergency at coca-growing frontier. LIMA, Peru (AP) — Peru has decreed a 60-day state of emergency in an Amazon River region bordering Brazil and Colombia where cocaine trafficking has been on the rise.","Palestinian prisoner's wife has baby from smuggled sperm. Gaza City (Palestinian Territories) (AFP) - The wife of a Palestinian jailed in Israel gave birth in the Gaza Strip after being impregnated by sperm smuggled out of an Israeli prison, a prisoner association said on Friday. While such births have been declared among West Bank wives of prisoners in Israel, this was the first such occasion in the besieged Gaza Strip, director of the Waed Gaza prisoner association Saber Abu Karsh told AFP.","Puig beats Soler-Espinosa for 1st WTA title. STRASBOURG, France (AP) — Monica Puig became the first Puerto Rican player to win a WTA title on Saturday by beating Silvia Soler-Espinosa of Spain 6-4, 6-3 in the Strasbourg International final.","Lightning strike on Los Angeles beach injures up to nine people. (Reuters) - As many as nine people were hurt on Sunday after being struck by lightning on Venice Beach in Los Angeles, emergency officials said. The lightning hit near Ocean Front Walk, which faces the Pacific Ocean, around 2:15 p.m. local time (1715 EST), according to Los Angeles Fire Department spokeswoman Katherine Mann. Victims were being evaluated by medical personnel for injuries, she said. The severity of their injuries was unclear. That National Weather Service had predicted a chance of thunderstorms in the area on Sunday. ...","Israel, Hamas face off in new Gaza conflict. Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip fired missiles at Jerusalem and Tel Aviv Tuesday after Israel killed 21 Palestinians on the first day of a major campaign to stamp out rocket fire. It was the most serious flare-up over Gaza since November 2012 and came as Israel was struggling to contain a wave of violence at home over the grisly murder of a Palestinian teenager by Jewish extremists.rocket attacks on After a day in which Israel staged multiple air strikes on Gaza, leaving 17 people dead and more than 100 wounded, militants from the Islamist movement Hamas hit back with rocket fire on Israel's major population centres in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.","Prayers said for Briton killed by Islamic fighters. LONDON (AP) — Prayers are being offered in churches and mosques for Alan Henning, a British aid worker murdered by Islamic State militants, as another Briton is reunited with his family after being freed by captors in Libya.","UN food programme cuts back as $1 bn shortfall looms. The UN's World Food Programme (WFP) is scaling back projects in a number of countries as it confronts a $1 billion funding shortfall, with costs mounting for missions such as Syria, its director said Monday. Ertharin Cousin is in Australia as part of a tour to drum up support for the United Nations agency among donor nations and the private sector to help feed the world's hungry. Costs are mounting for complex and dangerous operations in Syria, where the WFP is aiming to reach 4.25 million hungry people at a cost of $40 million a week. An aerial mission in December involving 12 food flights from Iraq to Qamishli in the embattled Al-Hasakah region of Syria -- cut off from roads for the past 12 months -- cost $800,000 and fed only 6,000, Cousin said.","Mexico's Cemex says CEO Zambrano died in Madrid. MEXICO CITY (AP) — Cemex SA de Mexico says its CEO Lorenzo Zambrano has died in Spain of natural causes.","Muhammad Ali hospitalized with pneumonia. LOUISVILLE, Kentucky (AP) — A spokesman for Muhammad Ali says the former heavyweight boxing champion has been hospitalized with a mild case of pneumonia.","Four children stabbed to death in southern China: state media. BEIJING (Reuters) - A man killed four primary school students on Friday in the southern region of Guangxi, state media said, in the latest of a series of knife attacks that have unnerved the country. Police have launched a manhunt for the assailant, a middle-aged man, state news agency Xinhua said, citing the public security bureau in Lingshan county in the Guangxi region. Xinhua did not give details for the man's motive. The man attacked the children as they were on their way to school, Xinhua said. Three of them died at the scene and one died later at a nearby hospital. ...","News Guide: A Japanese volcano turns deadly. TOKYO (AP) — A popular hiking site in central Japan turned into a death trap Saturday when a volcano erupted. At least 31 people are believed to have been killed at Mount Ontake, though authorities have only begun recovering the bodies. Here's a summary of events and a guide to understanding them:","Labour's Ed Balls bloodies reporter in football match. London (AFP) - Labour Party shadow chancellor Ed Balls accidentally left an opponent bleeding in a football match between party politicians and journalists on Sunday.","Hundreds of Turkish army officers convicted of coup plot seek release. By Daren Butler ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Hundreds of Turkish military officers convicted of plotting to topple Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan were petitioning for release on Thursday after the country's top court ruled their trial was flawed. The 2010-2012 \"Sledgehammer\" trial marked a high-point in Erdogan's drive to tame an army that for decades had dominated politics. But in consigning a large number of senior serving as well as retired officers to jail, it also eroded NATO's second biggest army amid tension on borders with Syria and Iraq. Cleric Fethullah Gulen, a former ally of Erdogan turned bitter rival, denies any wrongdoing.","5 journalists jailed 10 years for Myanmar stories. YANGON, Myanmar (AP) — Four reporters and a magazine CEO were sentenced Thursday to 10 years of hard prison labor for violating Myanmar's national security by writing and publishing stories about a weapons factory.","Parrot missing for years returns speaking Spanish. TORRANCE, California (AP) — A pet parrot that spoke with a British accent when it disappeared from its home four years ago has been reunited with its owner — and the bird now speaks Spanish.","Defeating corruption dominates Brazil debate. Brasília (AFP) - Less than two weeks before Brazil's presidential vote, corruption concerns dominate the campaign, amid allegations that leading politicians benefited from huge kickbacks on oil deals by state-owned energy giant Petrobras.","Sisi closes on presidency on final day of Egypt vote. By Tom Perry and Yasmine Saleh CAIRO (Reuters) - Former army chief Abdel Fatah al-Sisi is expected to emerge from a second and final day of voting on Tuesday as Egypt's next president, with supporters seeing him as the man who can pull the Arab world's most populous nation back from the brink. Since the overthrow of Hosni Mubarak in 2011 raised hopes of new freedoms, the country of 85 million, where one in four Egyptians lives in poverty, has been convulsed by political, security and economic turmoil. The vote - with initial results expected hours after polls close at 9 p.m. (2 p.m. ET) on Tuesday evening - means Egypt will likely revert to rule by men from the military after Sisi toppled the country's first freely elected leader, Mohamed Mursi of the Muslim Brotherhood. Former army chief Sisi faces only one challenger: the leftist politician Hamdeen Sabahi.","Venezuela's Chavez remembered with pomp and protests. By Andrew Cawthorne and Girish Gupta CARACAS (Reuters) - Followers of the late Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez will flood the nation's streets on Wednesday to mark the anniversary of his death, a sad but welcome distraction for his would-be successor, who has struggled for a month to contain violent protests. A year after Chavez succumbed to cancer, his self-proclaimed \"son\", President Nicolas Maduro, faces a determined challenge to his rule from an explosion of anti-government demonstrations that have led to clashes with security forces and 18 deaths. \"This anniversary is enormously sad. There's not a single day I don't remember Hugo,\" Chavez's cousin, Guillermo Frias, 60, said from Los Rastrojos village in rural Barinas state, where the pair used to play baseball in the street as kids.","Murray beats Ferrer in Vienna to win 30th title. VIENNA (AP) — Andy Murray won his second title in three weeks after rallying to defeat David Ferrer 5-7, 6-2, 7-5 at the Erste Bank Open on Sunday.","Czechs oppose broad Russia sanctions, see new Iron Curtain. PRAGUE (Reuters) - New European Union and U.S. sanctions against Russia should not hurt the Czech economy, but a protracted trade war could create a new Iron Curtan between the EU and Russia, the Czech government said on Wednesday. The latest EU sanctions, which were imposed this week and will be reviewed in three months, are part of the strongest international action yet over Russia's support for rebels in eastern Ukraine - support that Moscow denies it is giving. ...","Ukraine's leader: 1-week cease-fire starts now. Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko orders his forces to cease fire and halt military operations for seven days against pro-Russia separatists in the country's east — the first step in what he hopes is a concrete plan to end the conflict that has cost more than 350 lives.","Peruvian among Goldman environment prize winners. LIMA, Peru (AP) — An indigenous activist who led a campaign to halt two hydroelectric projects that would have flooded 35 square miles of Amazon river basin, displacing some 24,000 fellow Ashaninka, is among six environmental advocates being given this year's prestigious Goldman Prize.","Russia lambasts U.N. report on rights in Ukraine. MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia criticized a U.N. report on human rights in Ukraine on Friday, saying it lacked any semblance of objectivity, and accused its authors of following \"political orders\" to whitewash the pro-Western leadership. The Foreign Ministry said the report - which found a deterioration of the situation in eastern regions where pro-Moscow separatists are seeking power and serious problems emerging in Crimea, which has been annexed by Russia - ignored \"the crudest violations of human rights by the self-proclaimed Kiev authorities. ...","Hamas executes Israel 'collaborators' in Gaza, EU seeks new truce. Hamas gunmen executed 18 Palestinians accused of collaborating with Israel in the heart of Gaza City on Friday, as the deadly war between the Islamist movement and Israel reached day 46. The Palestinian emergency services say another 75 people have died in Gaza since hostilities resumed on Tuesday following a nine-day truce. In Israel, two civilians have been wounded by direct rocket attacks. Israel has vowed to continue its campaign of air strikes until it can guarantee the security of millions of citizens who live in daily fear of rocket attacks, and Hamas is defiant over demands that the Jewish state end an eight-year blockade on the narrow Palestinian coastal enclave it controls.","Pavelski scores 2 more goals to lead Sharks to 3-2 victory over Flames. SAN JOSE, Calif. - Joe Pavelski scored two goals to move into a tie for the second most in the NHL this season and the San Jose Sharks beat the Calgary Flames 3-2 on Monday night.","Palestinian official dies amid Israeli troop clash. RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) — A witness says a member of the Palestinian Cabinet has died after being hit by a tear gas canister fired by Israeli troops during a Palestinian protest in the West Bank.","Advancing Ukraine troops take fight to heart of pro-Moscow rebellion. By Maria Tsvetkova and Noah Barkin DONETSK Ukraine/BERLIN (Reuters) - A gun battle broke out in the center of the rebel-held Ukrainian city of Donetsk and residents ran for cover from artillery fire on Tuesday, taking a government military offensive into the heart of the retreating pro-Moscow separatist rebellion. Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Ukrainian counterpart will meet next week for the first time in months to try to end their confrontation over the separatist rebellion in eastern Ukraine, their offices said. In a prelude to the talks between Putin and Ukraine's Petro Poroshenko, German Chancellor Angela Merkel is to visit the Ukrainian capital Kiev on Saturday, her office said, to show support for the Ukrainian government. Donetsk has for months been the headquarters of Ukraine's separatist rebellion, with rebel flags flying over administrative buildings and where residents strolled along the main avenue lined with flower bed and fountains.","Venezuela restores diplomatic ties with Panama. By Eyanir Chinea CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuela has restored full diplomatic ties with Panama, President Nicolas Maduro said on Tuesday, months after he angrily broke off formal relations with the Central American country. Diplomatic relations stopped on March 5 after Maduro used the anniversary of former President Hugo Chavez's death to accuse Panama's conservative government of joining the United States in an \"open conspiracy\" against him. Panama had said in May consular relations would be restored soon on Venezuela's wishes but the socialist Maduro indicated this extended to full diplomatic cooperation. We have re-established diplomatic and political relations with Panama this very day,\" Maduro said in a televised address.","Yankees put Tanaka on DL with elbow inflammation. CLEVELAND (AP) — Masahiro Tanaka was placed on the 15-day disabled list Wednesday, perhaps the biggest blow yet to the New York Yankees' battered rotation.","Militants launch attack on city north of Baghdad. BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraqi officials say militants have launched an attack on a Sunni-dominated city north of Baghdad, killing seven members of the security forces and taking control of some areas of the city.","Mubarak-era steel tycoon released on bail. CAIRO (AP) — Lawyers of an Egyptian steel tycoon who was close to Hosni Mubarak's toppled dictatorship say their client was released on bail after three years of detention.","Scores arrested in Kenya student protest. Over 100 people were arrested in the Kenyan capital on Tuesday, police said, as student protests over a fee increase descended into running battles with riot police. Protestors then poured into Nairobi's central business district, forcing traders to shut up shop for fear of being looted. \"We have arrested over a hundred of them but some have been released,\" Nairobi police official Paul Wanjama said. Police responded by storming the University of Nairobi's main campus, lobbing tear gas and breaking down classroom doors as they fought a cat and mouse game with the demonstrators.","India consults Italy over live bullet, hate mail. India's embassy in Rome has received hate mail and even a live bullet, an official said Friday, underlining fury in Italy over the prosecution of two Italian marines accused of killing two Indian fishermen. India has consulted Italy over security at the embassy after recently receiving the mail as well as discovering the bullet in the embassy's mailbox, a foreign ministry official said in New Delhi. \"We are in diplomatic communication with Italy and hope that necessary safety and security is observed,\" foreign ministry spokesman Syed Akbaruddin told reporters during a weekly briefing in New Delhi. Italy recalled its ambassador to India for consultations and summoned the Indian ambassador this week to express concerns over a delay in court proceedings against the two marines in New Delhi.","Belgium votes to join air strikes against Islamic State. Brussels (AFP) - Belgium's parliament overwhelmingly approved plans on Friday to send six F-16 fighter jets to join the US-led coalition against the Islamic State militant group.","Iraq launches drive to break jihadist siege of Amerli. Iraq launched a major operation on Saturday to liberate a jihadist-besieged town, as US Secretary of State John Kerry called for a global coalition to combat the \"genocidal\" militants. Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah warned that the West would be the next IS target unless swift action is taken, after Britain raised its terror alert level over the threat of jihadist attacks. The drive to break the more than two-month siege of Amerli came as an NGO said that the Islamic State (IS) jihadist group, which has surrounded the Shiite Turkmen-majority town, sold at least 27 women in Syria after kidnapping them in Iraq.","Greece: 20,000 join annual protest to US embassy. ATHENS, Greece (AP) — More than 20,000 demonstrators have joined a peaceful rally in Athens marking the 41st anniversary of a deadly student uprising against the country's former dictatorship.","Samsung Elec shares drop more than 2 percent on weak earnings outlook. SEOUL (Reuters) - Shares in Samsung Electronics Co Ltd dropped more than 2 percent in early trading Thursday, on continued lackluster forecasts of its Q4 earnings due to currency moves and shrinking margins in its display business. \"We expect Samsung's performance to be about 9.5 trillion Korean won, lower than the market consensus around 10.2 trillion Korean won. The biggest reason would be the won-dollar exchange rate, followed by shrinking margins in organic light-emitting diode (OLED) sales,\" Lee Seung-woo, tech analyst at IBK Investment & Securities said. ...","Rugby-Du Plessis in for Boks against All Blacks. CAPE TOWN, Oct 1 (Reuters) - South Africa coach Heyneke Meyer has made one change to his starting line-up to face New Zealand in their Rugby Championship clash in Johannesburg on Saturday but he may yet be forced into making another. Bismark du Plessis, controversially sent off in New Zealand last year, takes over at hooker from Adriaan Strauss in what is otherwise an unchanged side from the one that defeated Australia 28-10 in Cape Town at the weekend. ...","Germany ready to help Ukraine financially: Schaeuble. Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said on Wednesday that Germany is ready to help Ukraine in its difficult phase and added that this would include financial assistance. The German government wants to do everything to solve this crisis without further escalation, Schaeuble said, adding: \"We are ready and engaged to do everything to help Ukraine on its path in this difficult phase, including financially.\" Schaeuble said Berlin knew any solution had to involve Russia. He was speaking at a news conference with Austrian Finance Minister Michael Spindelegger, who advised against focusing just on sanctions against Russia.","Merkel too timid, former German chancellor Schroeder says. Former German chancellor Gerhard Schroeder has indirectly criticized his successor Angela Merkel, suggesting she is overly cautious and does not show enough political leadership. Schroeder, the centre-left Social Democrat (SPD) chancellor from 1998 until Merkel defeated him in 2005, also said in an interview with Der Spiegel magazine that the conservative leader had failed to groom a successor. Always following the mainstream is not political leadership.\" His comments echoed criticism of Merkel heard in Germany and parts of the euro zone during the bloc's debt crisis. She won a third term last year, only the third post-war German leader to do so.","Man charged in Florida movie theatre shooting over texting had praiseworthy police career. WESLEY CHAPEL, Fla. - A Florida sheriff says a retired Tampa police officer's praiseworthy career doesn't offset the severity of the charge that he shot and killed another man after an argument at a movie theatre over texting.","Man gets 8 months for One Direction bomb threat. HARRISBURG, Pennsylvania (AP) — A man will serve eight months in federal prison for calling in a phony bomb threat to a Pennsylvania arena before a concert last summer by boy band One Direction.","Israel solves water woes with desalination. SOREK, Israel (AP) — After experiencing its driest winter on record, Israel is responding as never before — by doing nothing.","Attacks kill 12 people in Iraq. BAGHDAD (AP) — An attack at a security checkpoint and a suicide car bomb in Iraq killed 12 people and destroyed a bridge on Sunday, said officials.","Belgium beats Iceland 3-1 in friendly. BRUSSELS (AP) — Belgium beat Iceland 3-1 in a friendly on Wednesday as both sides prepared for their European Championship qualifiers this weekend.","Emperor penguins waddling to extinction: climate study. Global warming will send Antarctica's emperor penguins into decline by 2100, scientists projected Sunday, and called for the emblematic birds to be listed as endangered and their habitat better protected. Declining sea ice caused by climate change would place all 45 known emperor penguin colonies into decline by 2100, according to the population simulation. \"At least two-thirds (of colonies) are projected to have declined by (more than) 50 percent from their current size\" by the end of the century, said the paper published in the journal Nature Climate Change.","Juventus hosts Sampdoria in Serie A. MILAN (AP) — With Juventus headed for a fourth straight Serie A title, little appears to have changed since Massimiliano Allegri replaced Antonio Conte as coach.","Monaco looking for Champions League respite. PARIS (AP) — Monaco's signings of Radamel Falcao and James Rodriguez last year marked the beginning of a new era on the French Riviera. Twelve months later, the stars have left and Monaco is struggling as the club returns to the Champions League following an eight-year hiatus.","Kostner skips doping hearing in Schwazer case. ROME (AP) — Former figure skating world champion Carolina Kostner risks punishment for skipping a hearing before Italian authorities investigating whether she was complicit in doping by her former boyfriend and Olympic race walking champ Alex Schwazer.","Bomb attack spurs on Nigeria players. Campinas (Brazil) (AFP) - Nigeria's footballers said Wednesday that a bomb attack that killed at least 21 people watching a World Cup game in their country gives them added determination to do well in Brazil. The bomb exploded in the midst of a crowd watching Brazil play Mexico on a giant screen in Damataru, capital of Yobe state, on Tuesday night. Nigeria's players held a minute's silence before they started training under the floodlights in Campinas, outside Sao Paulo, on Wednesday. \"It's unfortunate, especially as it concerns football,\" said team media officer Ben Alaiya of the attack.","Waters recede in Serbia to reveal a ghost town. Obrenovac (Serbia) (AFP) - The roar of an armoured vehicle ploughing through muddy water was the only sound on the deserted streets of Obrenovac, a Serbian town hit by some of the worst flooding of the past week. On the outskirts of town, teams of health experts in olive-green protective clothing were carrying out the grim task of dragging dead animals out of abandoned farmyards in a bid to prevent outbreaks of disease. Obrenovac was a town of 20,000. He fled with his family to seek shelter in Obrenovac before being evacuated to a shelter in Belgrade later that day.","U.S. warns American travelers in Russia, and border region. The U.S. State Department warned American citizens on Friday of possible military clashes along the Russian-Ukrainian border and potential anti-American activities in Russia as Crimea prepares to vote Sunday on whether to join Russia. In a \"travel alert,\" the State Department said it had no information of military conflict inside Russia as a result of regional tensions or of any threat specific to U.S. citizens. \"However,\" it said, \"all U.S. citizens located in or considering travel to the border region ... should be aware of the potential for escalation of tensions, military clashes (either accidental or intentional) or other violence.\" In the worst East-West confrontation since the Cold War, Moscow shipped more troops into Crimea on Friday and repeated its threat to invade other parts of Ukraine in response to violence the night before in Donetsk. EU diplomats will choose from a list of possible Russian targets for sanctions on Sunday, as pro-Moscow authorities who have taken power in Crimea hold a vote on whether to join Russia.","Former Romanian PM convicted of taking bribes. BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) — A court has convicted a former Romanian prime minister of taking bribes during his time in office and sentenced him to four years in prison.","Afghan presidential candidates to sign power deal. KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — The spokesman for Afghanistan's president says that the nation's two presidential candidates are set to sign a power-sharing deal nearly three months after a disputed runoff vote.","Recriminations as Algeria's presidential campaign ends. Campaigning for Thursday's presidential election in Algeria ends Sunday after incumbent Abdelaziz Bouteflika accused his only real rival of inciting violence and Ali Benflis warned about polling day fraud. The 77-year-old Bouteflika, despite ailing health and not even appearing in person on the campaign trail, remains favourite to win a fourth term in the April 17 vote in the North African nation. Presidential aides wound up the campaign on his behalf in Cherage southwest of the capital, where they praised the \"miracle\" of Bouteflika taking Algeria \"from darkness into light\". He accused him of \"terrorism via the television\", in reference to warnings the former premier made against electoral fraud.","ANC to probe alleged misuse of Mandela memorial funds. South Africa's ruling ANC party on Sunday vowed to launch its own investigation into allegations that public funds released for Nelson Mandela's memorial services may have been misappropriated. \"Our conscience is alarmed by these allegations, that at the time of sadness, there could be such alleged occurrences,\" said Mlibo Qoboshiyane, the Eastern Cape provincial government minister who is also the ANC's regional head of elections.","UEFA looks into anti-Semitic banner in Belgrade. GENEVA (AP) — UEFA is considering whether to open a disciplinary case against Partizan Belgrade after the Serbian club's fans displayed an anti-Semitic banner during a Europa League game against Tottenham.","NATO accuses Russia of escalating Ukraine conflict. NATO said on Friday that Russia, while calling for de-escalation of the Ukraine conflict, had in fact been escalating it. NATO spokeswoman Oana Lungescu said the alliance was checking eyewitness reports in two British newspapers on Friday that a column of at least 23 Russian military vehicles had crossed into Ukraine overnight. \"If confirmed, they are further evidence that Russia is doing the very opposite of what it's saying.","SOCHI SCENE: 3 things from opening night. SOCHI, Russia (AP) — Here are three things we learned from Friday night's opening ceremony of the Sochi Games.","Maths works against Greek premier in presidential gambit. By Renee Maltezou and Deepa Babington ATHENS (Reuters) - The odds are stacked against Prime Minister Antonis Samaras in his gambit over electing a new Greek president, as only by persuading at least a few opposition lawmakers to rebel can he win the parliamentary vote - and avoid a likely political crisis. However, analysts caution that the numbers could change quickly as the conservative premier tries to win enough support for the government candidate when parliament starts a three-stage vote for the head of state on Dec. 17. ...","Ex-BP executive can be charged with obstructing Congress: U.S. court. (Reuters) - A U.S. federal appeals court has reinstated a criminal charge of obstruction of Congress against a former BP Plc executive accused of downplaying the severity of the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill. The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans on Friday said a lower court judge misinterpreted the obstruction statute in dismissing the charge against David Rainey, a former BP exploration vice president. In May 2013, U.S. District Judge Kurt Engelhardt dismissed the obstruction charge, calling it uncertain whether the law, which refers to \"any committee of either House,\" applied to subcommittees as well. Michael Magner and Reid Weingarten, two of Rainey's lawyers, did not immediately respond on Sunday to requests for comment.","Correction: Ukraine-Protests-Timeline story. In a story Feb. 28 giving a timeline of events in Ukraine, The Associated Press reported erroneously that scores of people were killed on Feb. 18. The figure should have been at least 26.","Chile announces preliminary squad for World Cup. SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) — Barcelona forward Alexis Sanchez and Juventus midfielder Arturo Vidal headlined Chile's preliminary squad of 30 players for the World Cup on Tuesday.","IS has 20,000-31,500 fighters in Iraq and Syria: CIA. Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria now have about 20,000 to 31,500 fighters on the ground, the Central Intelligence Agency said Thursday, much higher than a previous estimate of 10,000. \"CIA assesses the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (IS) can muster between 20,000 and 31,500 fighters across Iraq and Syria, based on a new review of all-source intelligence reports from May to August,\" CIA spokesman Ryan Trapani said in a statement.","Turkey court orders arrest of Israel top brass over Gaza ship raid. A Turkish court on Monday ordered the arrest of four former Israeli military chiefs over a deadly 2010 maritime assault, in a move which could jeopardise reconciliation efforts between the countries. The ruling is part of an ongoing criminal trial in absentia of the four men on charges brought by aid group IHH and the victims' families in 2012, which has been denounced as a \"show\" by Israel. It also follows months of negotiations between former allies Turkey and Israel to end a diplomatic row sparked when nine activists were killed after Israeli commandos boarded the Turkish-flagged ship. \"If this is the message that the Turks want to send to Israel, it was perfectly well understood,\" said the official, declining to elaborate further on what this meant for the reconciliation process.","Wellies maker Hunter makes a splash at London show. LONDON (AP) — Watch out: The humble rubber rain boot has arrived with a big splash at the London fashion scene.","Nigeria trains 167,000 policemen for 2015 poll. Nigeria has trained 167,000 police officers to manage an election next year in which President Goodluck Jonathan is widely expected to seek another term, an official said on Saturday. In an effort to ensure a fair and peaceful vote in a country with a chequered electoral past, authorities have been trained \"on various aspects of policing elections,\" national police spokesman Frank Mba told AFP. He said Nigeria hopes to train between 350,000 and 370,000 police officers ahead of the poll. Nigeria has had a history of electoral malpractice since gaining independence from Britain in 1960.","Tourists evacuated amid Iceland volcano concerns. LONDON (AP) — Authorities have evacuated tourists from an area north of Iceland's largest glacier amid increased seismic activity around a volcano in the past few days.","Iraq isn't Syria: Congress on board this time. WASHINGTON (AP) — Little of the impassioned debate that fractured lawmakers last year over possible military intervention in Syria is happening now as American war planes strike extremist targets in Iraq.","South Africa's President Jacob Zuma in hospital for tests. JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South African President Jacob Zuma was admitted to hospital for tests on Saturday, the presidency said in a statement. \"Doctors are satisfied with his condition,\" the statement on the presidency web site said. The presidency had announced on Friday that Zuma would take a few days off from public appearances after a tiring election in May. (Reporting by Xola Potelwa; Editing by Erica Billingham)","Disruption of Russian gas to Europe unlikely, energy firms say. By Sarah McFarlane AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Europe's gas supplies from Russia are unlikely to be disrupted in the coming weeks as both sides have too much at risk, energy companies and a Russian official said. Europe's gas supplies from Russia are threatened by a dispute between Moscow and Kiev over an unpaid gas debt that has topped $3.5 billion, leading Russian producer Gazprom to demand Ukraine pay upfront for June deliveries. European countries would be vulnerable to any disruption to gas flows via Ukraine as Russia supplies around a third of Europe's gas demand, sending some of it via Ukraine.","Libya says Kadhafi regime's chemical weapons all destroyed. Tripoli (AFP) - Libya has completely destroyed the chemical arsenal it inherited from the ousted dictatorship of Moamer Kadhafi, Foreign Minister Mohamed Abdelaziz announced on Tuesday.","Taliban bombers, gunmen hit Kabul election office. KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — The Taliban launched a brazen assault in the Afghan capital on Tuesday, with two suicide bombers detonating their explosives outside an election office on the city's outskirts and other attackers storming inside the premises.","Obama condemns terror against teens in Mideast. WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama is condemning what he calls a \"senseless act of terror against innocent youth\" in the Mideast and offering U.S. help to find those who killed three teenagers.","Bangladesh 62-1 at lunch on day 1 vs Zimbabwe. KHULNA, Bangladesh (AP) — Scores at lunch Monday on the first day of the second cricket test between Bangladesh and Zimbabwe at Khulna's Sheikh Abu Naser Stadium:","Leverkusen draws 0-0 at Benfica in Champs League. LISBON, Portugal (AP) — Bayer Leverkusen drew 0-0 at Benfica in the Champions League on Tuesday, advancing in the competition but surrendering top spot in Group C to Monaco which beat Zenit St. Petersburg 2-0.","Top Asian News at 9:31 p.m. GMT. BEIJING (AP) — Scores of activists from around China have been converging on an eastern town during the Chinese New Year holiday to demand an investigation into the death of a fellow activist's father at a government building. Activists are pointing to the outpouring as a sign of resilience in their movement despite a recent spate of court convictions cracking down on rallies by fellow members of loosely knit grassroots groups. They estimate 60 to 100 activists have gone to the Shandong province city of Qufu during a period usually devoted solely to family reunions.","Kurds say Islamic State seizes Syrian villages near Turkish border. BEIRUT (Reuters) - Islamic State fighters have seized 16 Kurdish villages in northern Syria in a major advance towards the city of Ayn al-Arab at the border with Turkey, a Kurdish military official and a group that tracks the civil war said on Thursday. Ocalan Iso, a commander in Kurdish armed group YPG, told Reuters that Islamic State fighters were using heavy weapons including tanks in their attack near the city, known as Kobani in Kurdish. ...","South Africa: truck blast kills 4 police. JOHANNESBURG (AP) — South African authorities say four police officers were killed and three were seriously injured when a truck carrying blasting cartridges exploded.","Independent Scotland would struggle to keep pound informally: NIESR. By Andy Bruce LONDON (Reuters) - An independent Scotland would struggle to maintain an informal currency union with the rest of the United Kingdom for more than a year if it walked away from its share of the UK's national debt, a think tank said on Tuesday. Scottish nationalist leader Alex Salmond has said an independent Scotland might refuse to take on its share of the debt if it was not allowed to share the pound in a formal currency union. ...","Mexico president: Wife to clear up home questions. MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico's president says his wife will clarify questions about a multimillion-dollar family home that has raised concerns about a possible conflict of interest.","Ukraine leader replaces head of army after clashes between police, protesters kill 25 people. KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine leader replaces head of army after clashes between police, protesters kill 25 people.","Obama warns NKorea against nuclear threats. SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — President Barack Obama warned North Korea on Saturday that the United States \"will not hesitate to use our military might\" to defend allies, showcasing U.S. power in the region amid China's growing influence and Pyongyang's unpredictable nuclear threats.","UN chiefs outraged at attack on Gaza school. UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Top U.N. officials are expressing shock and outrage at an attack on a U.N. school in Gaza that killed 16 people and injured more than 100.","Turkish opposition seeks parliament recall over graft charges. By Gulsen Solaker ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkey's opposition demanded on Thursday a recall of parliament to hear corruption allegations against four former ministers in a move which could spell further trouble for Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan ahead of local elections on March 30. Erdogan has cast the graft scandal as a plot to smear him by Islamic cleric Fethullah Gulen, a U.S.-based former ally with influence in Turkey's police and judiciary. Erdogan has responded to the scandal by reassigning thousands of police officers and hundreds of judges and prosecutors. Mehmet Akif Hamzacebi, a senior deputy from the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP), told a news conference on Thursday his party had filed a parliamentary petition with 132 signatures for the assembly's recall.","Iran's Zarif says nuclear deal 'possible' in last-ditch round. Iran's foreign minister insisted Tuesday a nuclear deal remained possible as he arrived for a final round of talks with world powers, with differences still wide just six days before a deadline to strike an agreement. The mammoth accord being sought by Monday's deadline, after months of negotiations, is aimed at easing fears that Tehran might develop nuclear weapons under the guise of civilian activities. It could consign to history a 12-year standoff over Iran's atomic programme, silence talk of war and help normalise Iran's relations with the West after 35 years of mistrust and antagonism. It could also boost Iran's economy, improve the lives of ordinary Iranians and mark a rare foreign policy success for US President Barack Obama, five years after he offered Tehran an \"outstretched hand\".","Lavrov tells Kerry U.S. should press Kiev to rein in army. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Saturday that Ukraine must stop its military operation in southeastern regions of the country as part of efforts to defuse the crisis, the Russian Foreign Ministry said. In a telephone conversation with Kerry, Lavrov also urged the United States to use its influence to secure the release of what the Russian ministry called leaders of the \"protest movement\" in southeastern Ukraine - a reference to pro-Russian separatists.","Gucci takes direct control of Moscow shops. MILAN (Reuters) - Italian fashion and leather brand Gucci, which is owned by French group Kering , has taken direct control of its shops in Moscow and will open two new sales outlets in the Russian capital, the company said on Monday. The label founded in Florence in 1921 has six shops in Russia, including corners in luxury villages and malls. It will now manage its three Moscow stores directly while its shops in other towns will continue to be run by local partners. ...","Leading Lebanese poet Saeed Akl dies at 102. BEIRUT (AP) — Lebanon's state-run news agency says Saeed Akl, Lebanon's leading poet whose fame once spread throughout the Arab world, has died. He was 102.","Putin to meet Ukraine, EU leaders in Milan on Friday: Italy PM's office. ROME (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin will meet the leaders of Ukraine, Germany, France, Britain and Italy along with European Union officials on Friday during an EU-Asia summit in Milan, the Italian prime minister's office said on Wednesday. Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi will host a meeting between Putin and Petro Poroshenko, at which Angela Merkel, Francois Hollande, David Cameron will also be present, Renzi's office said in a statement. ...","Scottish leader urges voters to put aside politics for independence. By Belinda Goldsmith ABERDEEN, Scotland (Reuters) - Scotland's leader Alex Salmond will on Saturday urge Scots to put aside party politics in the vote on independence, as he tries to win support from Labour rivals for his bid to leave the United Kingdom. In an address to the Scottish National Party's (SNP) last conference before a September 18 referendum, Salmond will stress that a vote for independence is not a vote for him or his party but a way to put Scotland's future in its own hands. His appeal comes after a narrowing in opinion polls that has for the first time made a vote for independence look a possibility, with both sides trying to persuade the up to 15 percent of voters who remain undecided. Salmond will promise to set up an all-party \"Team Scotland\" group after any \"Yes\" vote, to negotiate the terms of independence by March 24, 2016.","Credit Suisse guilty plea likely to be announced on Monday. WASHINGTON/NEW YORK/ZURICH (Reuters) - Credit Suisse's guilty plea to U.S. criminal charges is likely to be announced after the market closes on Monday, three sources said. Under a settlement, Credit Suisse is expected to pay over $2 billion to U.S. authorities to resolve charges it helped Americans evade taxes. Spokesmen for Credit Suisse and the New York State Department of Finance as well as a spokeswoman for the U.S. Federal Reserve all declined to comment.","Ukraine’s Chocolate King president finds promise tough to keep. By Steve Stecklow and Anjuli Davies KIEV (Reuters) - The Chocolate King is finding it difficult to relinquish his throne. Petro Poroshenko, one of Ukraine's richest men and owner of a sweets empire, made an unusual promise last spring while campaigning to be president - if elected, he would sell most of his business assets. \"As president of Ukraine, I only want to concern myself with the good of the country and that is what I will do,\" he told an interviewer. Poroshenko won the election, but he hasn't succeeded yet at keeping his campaign promise. ...","Brazil's president names farmers' champion Abreu as agriculture minister. By Caroline Stauffer SAO PAULO (Reuters) - Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff named Senator Katia Abreu, a high-profile politician who has vocally defended farmers from claims they cut down the rainforest, as the country's new agriculture minister on Tuesday. Abreu has presided over the powerful Brasilia-based National Confederation of Agriculture and is expected to play a more visible role than other recent agriculture chiefs in the world's top exporter of soy, beef, coffee and sugar. ...","EU resumes aid to Mali, halted over suspected irregularities. BAMAKO (Reuters) - The European Union has resumed aid to Mali which it suspended in June due to suspected irregularities in government spending, including the purchase of a $40 million presidential jet, the Malian government announced on Friday. The International Monetary Fund had questioned the way the government acquired the plane and a $200 million state guarantee for a loan obtained by a private company which won a contract to provide supplies for the army. The IMF halted its support for the West African country. ...","Over 210 killed in fighting over Libya's Benghazi. CAIRO (AP) — A Libyan medical official says at least 210 people have been killed in fighting in Benghazi since troops loyal to the country's elected government launched an attempt to re-take the city from Islamist militias two weeks earlier.","Stanford scientists say greenhouse gases worsen California drought. By Joaquin Palomino SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - California’s catastrophic drought has most likely been made worse by man-made climate change, according to a report released Monday by Stanford University, but scientists are still hesitant to fully blame the lack of rain on climate change. The research, published in the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society as part of a collection of reports on extreme weather events in 2013, is one of the most comprehensive studies linking climate change and California's ongoing drought, which has caused billions of dollars in economic damage. ...","U.S. sees Iran nuclear talks difficult, success uncertain. By Louis Charbonneau and Fredrik Dahl VIENNA (Reuters) - The United States said on Monday that talks between Iran and six world powers on a long-term deal for Tehran to limit its nuclear program and see international sanctions lifted will be long and complicated with no guarantee of success. The remarks came from a senior U.S. official, who spoke on condition of anonymity on the eve of the first round of high-level negotiations since an interim deal struck on November 24 under which Tehran curbed some nuclear activities for limited sanctions relief. \"That can't be done in a day, a week or even a month in this situation.\" Senior officials from Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States will begin several days of talks in Vienna on Tuesday with an Iranian delegation led by Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and his deputy Abbas Araqchi. \"Our intent is to use these six months to negotiate a comprehensive agreement,\" the official said.","Kerry to host top Chinese diplomat in Boston. WASHINGTON (AP) — Secretary of State John Kerry welcomes a top Chinese diplomat to Boston on Friday.","UK bird flu strain same as the Dutch one. LONDON (AP) — British officials say a strain of bird flu found in England matches the strain found recently in the Netherlands.","Palestinian footballers determined to rise above war. For goalkeeper Ramzi Saleh, representing his Palestinian homeland on the football field is about far, far more than playing the beautiful game. \"We want to send a message to the world, to tell them that the Palestinian people exist despite all the Israeli obstacles, the destruction, the martyrs,\" Saleh told AFP last week at a friendly tournament in the Philippines. Saleh, who was born in Egypt to parents from Gaza, is a legend of Palestinian football, having played a record 103 internationals during a 14-year career. The 34-year-old was also captain when Palestine won the Asian Football Confederation Challenge Cup in the Maldives in May, keeping a clean sheet throughout the tournament.","Japan stocks soar 5 percent, yen falls on stimulus. SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Japan's stock benchmark surged 5 percent to the highest level since late 2007 and the yen slid against the dollar Friday after the Bank of Japan unexpectedly announced new stimulus to boost a flagging economy. Expectations Japan's $1.1 trillion public pension fund would boost its equity holdings gave a further boost to the market.","Europe to toughen black box rules after MH370: sources. PARIS (Reuters) - The European Air Safety Agency has drawn up proposals to make it easier to find black boxes from missing aircraft, in the strongest official reaction so far to the disappearance of a Malaysia Airlines jet, sources familiar with the matter said. The proposals will bring into force some recommendations that were put forward by France after the loss of an Air France jet in the Atlantic in 2009, but which were never implemented. These include the addition of a new pinger frequency making it easier to locate the recording devices under water. ...","Rwanda partially bans BBC broadcasts over genocide documentary. Rwanda on Friday partially suspended BBC broadcasts over a controversial documentary on the central African country's leadership and the 1994 genocide. The Rwanda Utilities Regulatory Authority (RURA) said the BBC radio services in the local Kinyarwanda language would be blocked while the affair was investigated, but English and French programmes could continue. The BBC documentary, \"Rwanda's Untold Story\", was broadcast earlier this month. It highlighted growing criticism of President Paul Kagame and revived allegations that his Rwanda Patriotic Front (RPF) -- then a rebel group, now the ruling political party -- was behind the shooting down of a plane carrying the country's then Hutu president that triggered the genocide.","World stocks subdued, Nikkei flat on profit taking. HONG KONG (AP) — World stocks were subdued Thursday ahead of a long weekend for many markets, with Japan's Nikkei faltering as investors locked in profits after a strong rally.","Green aid test for U.N. climate summit as poor seek $15 billion. OSLO, Sept 18 (Reuters) - A U.N. summit on climate change next week will test rich nations' willingness to fill a near-empty fund to help the poor, but pledges are likely to be far short of developing nations' hopes for $15 billion in 2014. Emerging nations say that cash for the Green Climate Fund (GCF), meant to help the poor with projects to curb rising greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to heatwaves, floods and rising seas, is vital to combat global warming. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon wants more than 120 world leaders to make \"bold pledges\" about climate change at the Sept. ...","Canada sees European threat to economy, largely offset by U.S. TORONTO (Reuters) - Weak European growth and the possibility of deflation there is a threat to Canada's economic outlook, but this is to some extent offset by what looks like sustainable growth in the United States, Canadian Finance Minister Joe Oliver said on Tuesday. He was speaking to reporters after meeting private-sector economists ahead of his fall fiscal update; he said they were comfortable with their previous growth forecasts. He also said he saw no housing bubble in Canada. (Reporting by Leah Schnurr; Writing by Randall Palmer; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)","Iraq: Baghdad car bombing kills at least 15 people. BAGHDAD (AP) — A car bombing in Baghdad on Tuesday killed at least 15 people and wounded 36, officials said.","Exclusive: Goldman group set to buy message system as alternative to Bloomberg. By Lauren Tara LaCapra and Jennifer Saba NEW YORK (Reuters) - Wall Street firms led by Goldman Sachs Group Inc are close to buying a stake in chat and instant messaging startup Perzo Inc in pursuit of an alternative to a similar application from Bloomberg LP, sources familiar with Goldman's plans said. Bloomberg has dominated messaging on Wall Street for years, but its application is part of a data, trading and news terminal that costs about $20,000 a year. Goldman Sachs spokespeople declined to comment on its Perzo investment, its plans to develop a chat program or its use of Bloomberg terminals. Bloomberg declined to comment for this story.","Tennis-Australian Open men's doubles semifinals results. Jan 23 (Infostrada Sports) - Results from the Australian Open Men's Doubles Semifinals matches on Thursday Eric Butorac/Raven Klaasen (United States/South Africa) beat 8-Daniel Nestor/Nenad Zimonjic (Canada/Serbia) 6-2 6-4","Armed men on a motorbike kill at least four in Mombasa. At least four people were killed in the Kenyan coastal city of Mombasa on Sunday in an attack by armed men on a motorbike, according to medical sources. \"At 8:30 pm (1730 GMT) people on a motorbike shot and killed two people and injured two others in the area of Soweto,\" Mombasa's chief of police Robert Kitur told AFP. Mombasa has been the scene of worsening unrest in recent months with a string of shootings and bombings blamed on Somalia's Shebab rebels or local supporters. The Al-Qaeda-linked group say the attacks on Kenyan soil are in retaliation for Kenya's military intervention in Somalia.","Obama challenged to act swiftly on immigration. WASHINGTON (AP) — Anger rose Tuesday over the surge in Central American immigrants entering the U.S. illegally, while President Barack Obama faced immediate demands by advocates for bold action on immigration, including a slowing the rate of deportations.","Brazil election poll shows Rousseff almost even with Silva. BRASILIA (Reuters) - Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff is running almost even with her main rival, Marina Silva, in a likely second-round runoff in the October presidential election, a poll published on Monday showed. Silva has 42 percent of voter support in the expected runoff, one percentage point ahead of Rousseff, according to a survey by polling firm Vox Populi, the same level of backing for each candidates in the previous poll five days ago. ...","Amnesty: Muslim exodus in CAR 'ethnic cleansing'. DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — The exodus of tens of thousands of Muslims from Central African Republic amounts to \"ethnic cleansing,\" Amnesty International said Wednesday, warning that the sectarian bloodshed now underway despite the presence of thousands of peacekeepers is a \"tragedy of historic proportions.\"","Execs in Asian luxury hotels fall prey to cyber espionage: study. By Eric Auchard FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Security researchers have uncovered a sophisticated industrial espionage campaign that targets business executives in luxury hotels across Asia once they sign on to computers using in-room wireless connections they consider private and secure. The attacks, which go well beyond typical cybercriminal operations, have claimed thousands of victims dating back to 2009 and continue to do so, Kaspersky Lab, the world's largest private security firm, shows in a report published on Monday. ...","Protesters seize Mexico town halls over missing students. Iguala de la Independencia (Mexico) (AFP) - Protesters occupied three town halls in southern Mexico on Thursday to demand the safe return of 43 students who disappeared after gang-linked police attacked them last month.","Relatives of ferry victims hope for papal boost. SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — The relatives of some of the more than 300 people killed in an April ferry sinking are hoping Pope Francis' visit to South Korea will provide both solace for their anger and grief — and a boost in their struggle against the government.","Pope visits Turkey amid Christian-Muslim tensions. VATICAN CITY (AP) — When a pope last visited Turkey — Benedict XVI in 2006 — Muslim-Catholic tensions were so high that the Vatican added a stop at Istanbul's famed Blue Mosque at the last minute in hopes of showing Benedict's respect for Islam.","Morocco says hundreds of migrants stormed border of Spanish enclave. Hundreds of migrants tried to force their way into Spain's North African enclave of Melilla in two attempted mass crossings during the night on Tuesday, throwing stones at police who tried to stop them, the Moroccan government said. Nearly 300 were arrested and at least 28 were injured in the two attempts, the Moroccan Interior Ministry said. The last such mass crossing of Melilla's heavily protected border took place in late February. Spain has two enclaves in Morocco, Ceuta and Melilla, and migrants from all over Africa regularly try to reach them either by swimming along the coast or climbing the triple walls that separate them from Morocco.","Iran, world powers make \"good start\" in nuclear talks: EU. Six world powers and Iran made a \"good start\" during very productive talks this week on Tehran's nuclear program and will meet again on March 17, European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said on Thursday. Ashton, speaking to reporters after three days of talks in Vienna, said the two sides had identified the issues that would need to be addressed in negotiations on a final settlement to the decade-old nuclear dispute.","Prince Harry watches as Brazil beat Cameroon. Brasília (AFP) - Prince Harry was among the spectators in Brasilia on Monday night as World Cup hosts Brazil beat Cameroon 4-1 to finish top of Group A. Harry is visiting Brazil and Chile in support of Britain's interests in the region and to build on the links he began to forge in South America during his official visit to Brazil in March 2012. The week long tour began in Brasilia on Monday with a visit to Rede Sarah Hospital where he met patients, their families and medical staff, the Prince's website said. He will visit Brazil's largest city Sao Paulo before he moves on to the Chilean capital Santiago and the city of Valparaiso during the final three days of the trip.","QPR boss Redknapp slams fair play threat. London (AFP) - Queens Park Rangers manager Harry Redknapp has labelled threats to expel the London club from the Championship if they are relegated from the Premier League as \"unrealistic\".","Palestinian U.N. moves designed to avoid U.S. retaliation. By Noah Browning RAMALLAH, West Bank (Reuters) - When Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas signed onto 15 international conventions on Tuesday, he shocked the U.S. sponsors of troubled Middle East peace talks. Abbas's action may have been designed more as a symbolic act of defiance to shore up his tenuous standing among Palestinians frustrated at the diplomatic impasse with Israel over their goal of statehood than a knife in the heart of peacemaking. As a non-member state in the United Nations, Palestinians can join 63 international agencies and accords. However, by only signing conventions dealing with social and human rights instead of seeking full membership in U.N. bodies, the Palestinians' foreign minister said they would not provoke U.S. sanctions.","Bomb blast near Egypt hospital before minister visits. Cairo (AFP) - A crude bomb exploded on Saturday near a newly built hospital just minutes before it was inaugurated by Egypt's health minister, security officials said, adding that there were no casualties.","US officials defend Obama military strategy. WASHINGTON (AP) — The top U.S. military leader on Tuesday raised the possibility of U.S. advisers joining Iraqi troops as they target Islamic extremists amid concerns in a war-weary nation of greater American involvement after more than a decade of fighting.","Brazil approves new pesticide to combat coffee beetle. Brazil's government approved the use of pesticides with the active ingredient cyantraniliprole to fight the coffee borer beetle, a note published in the country's Official Gazette said on Friday. Cyantraniliprole is approved for use in the United States, the European Union, Canada and Japan, according to a statement from Brazil's Agriculture Ministry. The U.S Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) approved toxicity levels of cyantraniliprole in February after determining it had not caused adverse health effects in humans. U.S. environmental groups led by the Center for Biological Diversity have sued the EPA, however, saying the pesticide \"risked far-reaching harm\" to many species of animals.","What's on your head matters in Myanmar Parliament. NAYPYITAW, Myanmar (AP) — The only question opposition lawmaker U Win Htein asked Parliament last session was for permission to remove his silk turban, saying it was causing him headaches and hair loss. The 72-year-old, known for his irreverent sense of humor, admits he was just teasing. But the speaker shot him down just the same.","Waqar desperate to shed Pakistan's 'unpredictable' tag. Coach Waqar Younis is desperate shed the \"unpredictable\" tag that dogs his Pakistan side ahead of this week's final two one-day internationals against New Zealand. Pakistan routed New Zealand by 147 runs in the third day-night international in Sharjah on Sunday two days after losing by four wickets in an unimpressive show in the second match. Pakistan posted 364-7 in 50 overs -- their highest total against New Zealand in all one-day cricket -- before dismissing their rivals for 217 in 38.2 overs in the third ODI. The Pakistan coach described skipper Misbah-ul Haq's hamstring injury which ruled him out of the last three games as a setback.","French PM Valls wins confidence vote in parliament. PARIS (Reuters) - French Prime Minister Manuel Valls won a parliamentary confidence vote on his reshuffled government on Tuesday, according to the vote tally read out by the parliament speaker. The centrist Valls, who earlier said in a policy speech that France's costly social model must be updated but preserved, secured a majority with 269 votes for and 244 against. The number of abstentions in his ruling Socialist Party was not immediately available. ...","EU pushes back deadlines 2 years in green energy funding scheme. By Michael Szabo LONDON (Reuters) - European government officials have approved a proposal to delay deadlines for final investment decisions and the operational launch of Europe's first commercial-scale carbon capture and storage plant and 40 renewable energy projects. The measure, proposed by the European Commission following pressure from seven EU member states including Britain, France and Germany, throws a lifeline to some projects struggling to comply with the EU's 2.1 billion euro ($2.7 billion) scheme to cut greenhouse gas emissions. ...","Ukraine expects new gas talks with Russia: government source. Ukraine is expecting Russian and European Commission delegations to arrive in Kiev on Saturday to resume talks on a natural gas pricing dispute, a Ukrainian government source said. \"The arrival of the representatives of the European Commission is already confirmed and now we are waiting for confirmation from the Russian side,\" the source said. The Commission has been mediating the talks. Ukrainian Energy Minister Yuri Prodan proposed on Friday holding new talks, starting on Saturday in Kiev or another European city.","Australia PM offers sympathy after Pakistan school raid. Prime Minister Tony Abbott on Wednesday offered sympathy to Pakistan after a deadly Taliban raid on a school, as Australia deals with the fallout from a cafe siege by a deranged Islamic gunman. \"Well it is simply impossible to put into words, the mixture of grief and fury that must be felt by people in Pakistan, and indeed around the world, at this latest terrorist atrocity,\" he told ABC radio. \"And that's what we've seen on a mass scale in Pakistan overnight.\" Abbott's comments come with Australia picking up the pieces after a near 17-hour siege in a central Sydney cafe in which an Iranian-born man, who unfurled an Islamic flag, took 17 hostages.","China's Xi says Russia can push for political solution in Ukraine. Chinese President Xi Jinping told Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin that he believes Russia can push for a political settlement to the Ukraine crisis in coordination with other parties, China's foreign ministry said. Xi said during a telephone call late on Tuesday \"the situation in Ukraine, which seems to be accidental, has the elements of the inevitable\", the foreign ministry said in a brief statement. He described the situation in Ukraine as \"highly complicated and sensitive\", with regional and global implications.","Romanian minister resigns over election protest. BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) — Romania's foreign minister has resigned amid complaints that Romanians living abroad were unable to vote in the country's presidential elections.","Pakistani polio strain threatens global campaign. PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — Just a few weeks ago, 11-month-old Shaista was pulling herself up, giggling as she took her first wobbly steps with the helping hand of her teenage mother.","Mauritania's Abdel Aziz sworn in for second term. Mauritanian President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz was sworn in on Saturday for a second term in the presence of several fellow African leaders. Abdel Aziz was handed another five years with 82 percent of the vote on June 21 in polls boycotted by much of the opposition. Abdel Aziz, a former general, seized power in an August 2008 coup and won disputed elections the following year.","Zimbabwe police quiz minister over detained editor. Police in Zimbabwe have taken the unusual step of summoning the country's information minister for questioning in the case of a state newspaper editor charged with subversion. Jonathan Moyo, whose role involves overseeing appointments at state-run media outlets, had a \"cordial\" meeting with police, his lawyer said on Friday. \"I confirm we attended the police station with the honourable minister of information,\" lawyer Terrence Hussein told AFP. Moyo was questioned about the case of Sunday Mail editor Edmund Kudzayi, who was arrested on June 19 on a raft of charges including calling President Robert Mugabe a tyrant and alleging he stole victory in 2008 elections.","Sinai militants say they have beheaded three Egyptians. CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt's most violent Islamist group released a video on Sunday showing militants beheading three Egyptians whom they accused of being informants for Israeli intelligence. In a video posted on YouTube, the Sinai-based Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis accused the Egyptian government of collaborating with the Israelis to attack their fighters in Sinai and vowed to hunt down the local informants they rely on. \"These are your sons, continuing to harvest the spies of the Jews,\" a spokesman for the group says in the video. ...","Abbott says migrants must be on 'Team Australia'. Prime Minister Tony Abbott on Monday said migrants had to be on \"Team Australia\", and warned all citizens to be vigilant to the threat of home-grown terrorism. Abbott's government is hardening its terror laws to make it more difficult for Islamic extremists to travel from Australia to fight in places such as Iraq and Syria and easier to arrest them on their return. \"Some of them will want to come back to Australia and they do pose a risk if they do, because they've been radicalised, militarised and brutalised by the experience.\" As many as 150 Australians are said to be fighting alongside militants overseas, including at least one Sydney man and his young son who have posed for photos with a severed head. \"So, we do have to be vigilant against it and my position is that everyone has got to be on 'Team Australia',\" he said, referring to a catchphrase he used when introducing the terror laws this month.","Reaction to approval of IOC's reform package. MONACO (AP) — Quotes after the International Olympic Committee approved a wide-ranging reform package Monday, including a more affordable bidding process, creation of an Olympic television channel and a more flexible sports program:","Deco may sue after being cleared of doping. SAO PAULO (AP) — Former Portugal international Deco said Thursday he may file a lawsuit against WADA and the Brazilian laboratory that said he tested positive for doping last year.","More civilians evacuated from Syria's Homs: governor. Nearly a dozen civilians were evacuated from besieged parts of the Syrian city of Homs Wednesday before the operation was halted because of shots fired by \"armed men\", the governor told AFP. \"The operation allowed the evacuation of 11 civilians from Bustan al-Diwan and Al-Hameidiya,\" Governor Talal Barazi said, but it was halted because of \"obstruction by armed men who opened fire at the crossing\". He added that the evacuation had not been coordinated with the United Nations but with \"elders and clerics\". Barazi had earlier told state TV that most of those evacuated were women, children and the elderly.","Security experts fear Sony attack to fuel more company extortion. By Jennifer Saba NEW YORK (Reuters) - Sony Pictures' decision to shelve the film \"The Interview\" in the face of cyber attacks has set a worrying precedent and is sending companies scrambling to guard sensitive data, security experts said on Thursday. Sony's capitulation could mean that more businesses will be targeted for cyber warfare and extortion, they said. ...","Sensata to buy Schrader Intl in $1 billion deal. Sensata Technologies plans to inflate its presence in pressure sensing equipment with a $1 billion deal to buy privately held Schrader International, which makes tire pressure monitoring sensors.","Smuggled phones help N. Korea defectors send money. SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — A cellphone smuggled into North Korea helped Lee Seo Yeon take on two missions: one emotional, one financial. But at first, she feared there might be some mistake.","Hoefl-Riesch harnesses her speed to grab silver. KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia (AP) — Maria Hoefl-Riesch was almost skiing too fast for her own good.","Manitoba foster father cleared in baby's death; judge rules evidence lacking. WINNIPEG - A Manitoba man has been cleared in the death of his foster son.","Attacks kill at least 15 people in Iraq. BAGHDAD (AP) — A series of attacks, including a coordinated assault on a private Shiite college in Baghdad, killed at least 15 people and wounded nearly 50 others in Iraq on Sunday, officials said.","Australia's plain package tobacco law finally to be tested at WTO. By Tom Miles GENEVA (Reuters) - An Australian law forcing cigarette companies to sell their products in plain packets is about to be tested in court, diplomats at the World Trade Organization said on Friday, ending more than two years of procedural delay. Cuba, Ukraine, Indonesia, Honduras and Dominican Republic have brought the action against Australia, the first country to ban the colorful logos used to sell tobacco brands around the world, a law aimed at reducing addiction and disease. Opponents of the law, who say it is heavy-handed and an invitation to counterfeiters, had hoped other countries would hold off from following Australia's example pending a WTO verdict, but Britain, Ireland and New Zealand have already begun drafting similar legislation. Since late 2012, tobacco products in Australia can only be sold in drab olive-colored packets that look more like military or prison issue, with brands printed in small standardized fonts.","Hong Kong marches for democracy as government says 'doing its utmost'. By James Pomfret and Grace Li HONG KONG (Reuters) - Tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters marched in Hong Kong on Tuesday, with many calling for the city's leader to be sacked, in what could turn out to be the biggest and most passionate challenge to Chinese Communist Party rule in more than a decade. Hong Kong Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying said his government would do its \"utmost\" to move towards universal suffrage and stressed the need for stability after nearly 800,000 voted for full democracy in an unofficial referendum. Tensions flared early as activists from the League of Social Democrats burned a copy of a \"white paper\" released by Beijing last month that reasserted the central government's authority over the former British colony, enraging many.","Cycling-Road-Paris - Nice stage 8 results. March 16 (Infostrada Sports) - Results from Paris - Nice (Nice - Nice, 128 km) on Sunday 1. Arthur Vichot (France / FDJ.fr) 3:06:56\" 2. Jose Joaquin Rojas (Spain / Movistar) ST 3. Cyril Gautier (France / Europcar) 4. Damiano Caruso (Italy / Cannondale) 5. Wilco Kelderman (Netherlands / Belkin) 6. Fraenk Schleck (Luxembourg / Trek) 7. Tom-Jelte Slagter (Netherlands / Garmin) 8. Carlos Betancur (Colombia / AG2R) 9. George Bennett (New Zealand / Cannondale) 10. Eduardo Sepulveda (Argentina / Bretagne) 11. Peter Velits (Slovakia / BMC Racing) 12. David Lopez (Spain / Team Sky) 13. ...","Test flight of Virgin Galactic spaceship ends in fatal crash in California. By Alex Dobuzinskis MOJAVE Calif. (Reuters) - A passenger spaceship being developed by Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic company crashed during a test flight on Friday near the Mojave Air and Space Port in California, killing one pilot and seriously injuring the other, officials said. The crash of the suborbital vehicle, undergoing its first powered test flight since January over the Mojave Desert, 95 miles (150 km) north of Los Angeles, came days after another private space company, Orbital Sciences Corp, lost a rocket in an explosion moments after liftoff in Virginia. ...","Herbalife says FTC opens inquiry, will cooperate. (Reuters) - U.S.-based nutrition and weight loss company Herbalife Ltd on Wednesday said the U.S. Federal Trade Commission opened an inquiry into its operations. Herbalife, which has been accused by hedge fund manager William Ackman of running a pyramid scheme, said it would \"cooperate fully\" with the FTC. \"Herbalife welcomes the inquiry given the tremendous amount of misinformation in the marketplace,\" the company said in a statement. \"We are confident that Herbalife is in compliance with all applicable laws and regulations.\" Trading in Herbalife shares was halted. ...","Obama: US to help Nigeria find kidnapped girls. WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama says the U.S. will do everything it can to help Nigeria find nearly 300 teenage girls who have been missing since they were kidnapped from school three weeks ago.","Latvia holds off Swiss 3-1 to reach quarterfinals. SOCHI, Russia (AP) — Oskars Bartulis and Lauris Darzins scored in the first period, and Latvia reached the Olympic men's hockey quarterfinals for the first time with a 3-1 victory over Switzerland on Tuesday night.","Ecological monitoring station proposed at Yellowstone. By Laura Zuckerman (Reuters) - Yellowstone National Park could become a site for collecting massive amounts of data on climate and land-use changes and the effects of invasive species on the Northern Rocky Mountains under a proposal submitted for public comment on Friday. ...","Vietnamese woman self-immolates to protest China. HANOI, Vietnam (AP) — Vietnamese state media say a 67-year-old woman has died after setting herself on fire in a protest against China.","Factbox: Ukrainians whose assets will be frozen by Switzerland, EU. (Reuters) - Following are the 29 Ukrainians whose assets and bank accounts have been frozen by the Swiss government, including nine additional names published on Monday, and also including the 18 whose assets European Union member states are obliged to freeze. http://r.reuters. Non-EU member Liechtenstein has also frozen the assets of members of the former Ukrainian government. 1. Serhiy Arbuzov, born 24 March 1976, former acting prime minister 2. Mykola Azarov, 17 December 1947, ex prime minister 3. Oleksii Azarov, son of Mykola Azarov 4. ...","US official: 'Number of specific threats' at Sochi. WASHINGTON (AP) — A top U.S. counterterrorist official says there are \"a number of specific threats\" aimed at the Winter Olympics that start this week in Sochi, Russia — with the greatest danger coming from the Caucasus Emirate, which has threatened to attack the games.","Nigeria's Jonathan declares state of emergency over Ebola. ABUJA (Reuters) - Nigeria's President Goodluck Jonathan declared a national state of emergency on Friday over the Ebola outbreak in Africa's most populous country, and he approved 1.9 billion naira ($11.6 million) of emergency funds to contain it. Nigeria has confirmed seven cases of Ebola since a man fell sick on arrival from Liberia, two of whom have died. Several dozens of people who came into contact with the man are under surveillance. (Reporting by Felix Onuah; Writing by Tim Cocks; Editing by Robin Pomeroy)","Fiat to focus on Italy-based Alfa revamp after Chrysler deal. By Agnieszka Flak MILAN (Reuters) - Fiat will focus on revamping its Alfa Romeo brand after its planned merger with Chrysler and will keep production of the marque in Italy as it seeks to revive its European operations and protect jobs, its chief executive said on Friday. In an interview with Italian daily La Repubblica, Sergio Marchionne sought to reassure unions and politicians worried the merger with U.S. group Chrysler could signal a shift away from the firm's home market, where Fiat was founded 115 years ago. \"Just as the Jeep is sold in the whole world but is American to the bone, so Alfa's DNA has to be authentically all Italian,\" he said. \"It will indeed remain at home.\" Marchionne is betting on the sporty Alfa brand because he believes it can deliver the global profile that the mass-market Fiat brand cannot and far greater sales volumes than top-end Maseratis, but the strategy has so far been met with skepticism.","Vatican monsignor faces further charge of money laundering. Monsignor Nunzio Scarano, a former top Vatican accountant now on trial for money smuggling, was further charged with money laundering on Tuesday, police officials and his lawyer said. The new charge pertains to alleged laundering of millions of euros through his accounts at the Vatican bank, lawyer Silverio Sica told Reuters. Scarano has been under house arrest in his native Salerno in southern Italy as part of the money smuggling trial that began on December 3. Scarano is accused in that case of plotting to smuggle some 20 million euros out of Switzerland for rich shipbuilder friends in Salerno, near Naples.","China supplier of Samsung, Lenovo denies using child workers. BEIJING/SEOUL (Reuters) - A China-based supplier for Samsung Electronics Co Ltd and Lenovo Group Ltd said on Thursday it had never hired child laborers, denying allegations by a U.S.-based activist group. Samsung Electronics also said it had found no children or students working on the Samsung production line at the Huizhou-based factory of supplier HEG Technology, which was cited as violating China's labor laws by the New York-based watchdog China Labor Watch. In a statement, China Labor Watch said it had found more than 10 children working at the HEG factory during an investigation that took place in July and August. The watchdog said it had shared the evidence with Samsung last week and that Samsung demanded the supplier pay some students' wages.","Polish mission to seek food, gas deals in US. WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Poland's Deputy Economy Minister says a mission she will lead to New York will seek deals in the food, gas and investment sectors.","Thai military tightens grip, focuses on economic woes. By Robert Birsel BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thailand's military will tighten its grip on power on Sunday as it moves to douse smoldering protests before they flare and rally commercial agencies and business to revitalize the country's battered economy. Critics say the coup will not end the conflict between the rival power networks: the Bangkok-based elite dominated by the military, old money families and the bureaucracy, and an upstart clique led by former telecommunication mogul Thaksin Shinawatra which draws much of its strength from the provinces. The military has detained leaders of the ousted government including the self-exiled Thaksin's sister, former Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, and an unknown number of her ministers, party officials, and supporters. It has thrown out the constitution, censored the media and on Saturday it dismissed the upper house Senate, Thailand's last functioning legislature, in what amounts to a clean sweep of the political landscape.","Kiev and rebels begin mass prisoner exchange. By Pavel Polityuk and Alessandra Prentice KIEV (Reuters) - Kiev and pro-Russian separatists began an exchange of hundreds of prisoners of war on Friday, a state security service source said, part of a 12-point peace plan. The agreement to swap 125 Ukrainian servicemen for 225 rebels followed peace talks between envoys of Ukraine, Russia, the separatists and European security watchdog Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) on Wednesday. \"We've prepared 225 people, which we will hand over. ...","Israel army: 13 soldiers killed overnight in Gaza. Jerusalem (AFP) - Thirteen Israeli soldiers were killed in fighting inside the Gaza Strip early Sunday as troops pressed a ground offensive to destroy militant tunnels, an army spokeswoman said.","UBS chief currency strategist leaves bank: WSJ. (Reuters) - UBS AG's chief currency strategist has left the Swiss bank as part of its efforts to cut costs and streamline operations, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday, citing two people familiar with the matter. The Journal said Mansoor Mohi-uddin, who was based in Singapore, joined Swiss Bank Corp in 1998 as an emerging-markets strategist before the company's merger with Union Bank of Switzerland. (http://on.wsj.com/1rYdo4x) A spokeswoman for UBS declined to comment on the report. (Reporting by Karen Rebelo in Bangalore; Editing by David Gregorio)","Felines meet felons: 4 kittens pull 'break-in' at maximum-security prison in upstate NY. FORT ANN, N.Y. - A litter of kittens has found a cozy home in the least cozy of places — a maximum-security prison in upstate New York.","Convicted priest says El Salvador backed gang work. MADRID (AP) — Those who love Antonio Rodriguez know him affectionately as \"Father Tony,\" the Roman Catholic priest who spent 15 years working in El Salvador's roughest neighborhoods to get vulnerable young men out of a gang lifestyle that often ends in death.","Pope prays for Korea ferry disaster victims, warns of spiritual 'cancer'. By Philip Pullella and Kahyun Yang DAEJEON South Korea (Reuters) - Pope Francis on Friday commemorated the more than 300 people killed in a ferry disaster in April, and called on South Koreans, among Asia's richest people, to beware of the spiritual \"cancer\" that often accompanies affluent societies. On the second day of his first trip to Asia, the pope met with families of victims and some survivors of the tragedy ahead of a Mass before about 50,000 people at the World Cup stadium in the central city of Daejeon. Lee Ho-Jin, the father of one of the victims, and who had been preparing to convert, asked the pope to be baptized into the Catholic Church. The pope said yes and the pontiff will perform the rite himself in Seoul on Saturday, a spokesman said.","Sacked Moyes 'proud' of Man Utd tenure. David Moyes declared on Wednesday that he was \"proud\" to have managed Manchester United, but said that he understood the \"frustration\" that had led to his dismissal. Moyes, 50, was sacked by United on Tuesday after a dismal 10-month tenure in which the reigning champions slumped to seventh place in the Premier League, denying them a place in next season's Champions League. \"During this period of transition, performances and results have not been what Manchester United and its fans are used to or expect, and I both understand and share their frustration,\" Moyes said in a statement released by the League Managers' Association (LMA). \"I have always believed that a manager never stops learning during his career, and I know I will take invaluable experience from my time as United's manager.","London shares dip on downbeat IMF, Germany outlook, Ebola fears. London (AFP) - London shares dipped on Tuesday as weak German industrial output and a downbeat International Monetary Fund economic growth forecast added to jitters over the deadly Ebola virus.","U.S. diplomat plays down leaked call, denies U.S. trains militants. KIEV (Reuters) - A U.S. diplomat whose telephone conversation about the political crisis in Ukraine was leaked on the Internet said on Friday that the recording was \"pretty impressive tradecraft\" but suggested the leak would not harm her ties with the Ukrainian opposition. Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland also denied a Russian claim that anti-government militants are trained on the grounds of the U.S. embassy in Ukraine, calling it \"pure fantasy\". (Reporting by Richard Balmforth, Writing by Steve Gutterman, Editing by Thomas Grove)","China announces birth of rare panda triplets. BEIJING (AP) — China announced Tuesday the birth of extremely rare panda triplets in a further success for the country's artificial breeding program.","Top Asian News at 8:00 a.m. GMT. KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Search and rescue crews across Southeast Asia scrambled on Saturday to find a Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 that disappeared from air traffic control screens over waters between Malaysia and Vietnam early that morning, leaving the fates of the 239 people aboard in doubt. CEO Ahmad Jauhari Yahya said at a news conference that Flight MH370 lost contact with Malaysian air traffic control at 2:40 a.m. (18:40 GMT Friday), about two hours after it had taken off from Kuala Lumpur. The plane, which carried passengers mostly from China but also from other Asian countries, North America and Europe, had been expected to land in Beijing at 6:30 a.m. Saturday (22:30 GMT Friday).","Obama says Iran talks may not succeed but threatens veto on new sanctions during talks. WASHINGTON - Negotiations to limit Iran's nuclear program will be difficult and may not succeed, President Barack Obama said Tuesday, but he warned Congress that any new economic sanctions against Tehran while the discussions are ongoing will be vetoed.","No. 18 Florida holds off UAB, 56-47. PARADISE ISLAND, Bahamas (AP) — Michael Frazier scored 14 points, Chris Chiozza added 13 points, and No. 18 Florida survived another rough offensive night to beat Alabama-Birmingham 56-47 in the consolation round at the Battle 4 Atlantis on Thursday night.","Sierra Leone leader orders arrest of Ebola talk show host. Sierra Leone said Wednesday it was holding a journalist in a maximum security prison after a guest on his radio show criticised President Ernest Bai Koroma's handling of the Ebola outbreak. David Tam Baryoh, host of the weekly \"Monologue\" programme on the private Citizen FM, was arrested on Tuesday and sent to Freetown's notorious Pademba Road jail. \"The detention came from an executive order which was signed by President Ernest Koroma and it was executed by the police,\" said government spokesman Abdulai Bayratay. The arrest followed Baryoh's show being taken off air during a live broadcast on November 1, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), citing local media.","UK's Hague says Ukraine must show determination to tackle graft. By Lesley Wroughton WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Ukraine's new leadership will need to show it is willing to tackle reforms and pervasive corruption in exchange for long-term support from the international community, British Foreign Secretary William Hague said on Tuesday. Hague was speaking after talks with his U.S. counterpart, Secretary of State John Kerry, in a hastily arranged trip to Washington to discuss events in Ukraine where the parliament ousted president Viktor Yanukovich on Saturday and handed the reins to acting president Oleksander Turchinov. Hague said he and Kerry discussed urgent financial help for Ukraine, whose economy has been hit by months of street protests and violence. He said he will meet officials from the International Monetary Fund on Wednesday.","Brazil's leader holds wide lead six months from election: survey. Despite a mushrooming scandal at state-run oil company Petrobras and bad news on the economic front, Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff is still the hands-down favorite to win the elections in October, according to a new poll on Wednesday. The survey last week by local polling firm Vox Populi indicated that rising inflation in a stagnant economy, coupled with bribery, money laundering and overpricing investigations at Petrobras have not undermined Rousseff's popularity as yet. The number of voters intending to back the left-leaning president for a second four-year term has fallen off just one percentage point since the previous Vox Populi poll in February. But the expected candidate of the main opposition party, centrist Senator Aécio Neves also slipped one percentage point to 16 percent, according to the poll published on the website of the news magazine Carta Capital.","Papadopoulos out for the year with shoulder injury. LEVERKUSEN, Germany (AP) — Bayer Leverkusen and Greece defender Kyriakos Papadopoulos is out until the end of the year with a shoulder injury.","Canada strips former publisher Conrad Black of honors. Canada has canceled two prestigious honors for Conrad Black, who once ran a newspaper empire stretching from the Chicago Sun-Times to Britain's Daily Telegraph and the Jerusalem Post but who ended up in U.S. prison for fraud. The government on Friday terminated his appointment as an officer of the Order of Canada, which recognizes a lifetime of high achievement and merit. It also removed him from the Queen's Privy Council for Canada, ostensibly a group of cabinet ministers and other prominent Canadians appointed to advise Queen Elizabeth, Canada's head of state, though for distinguished individuals outside of the cabinet it is mainly a mark of honor. He was found guilty in 2007 of scheming with business partner David Radler and other executives to siphon off millions of dollars from the sale of newspapers as they unwound Hollinger International.","Putin reassures Russians rouble will rise again. By Timothy Heritage and Alexei Anishchuk MOSCOW (Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday Russia's economy would rebound after the ruble's collapse against the dollar but warned that it could take two years for the country to emerge from crisis. Under pressure to show he has a plan to pull Russia out of crisis at his end-of-year news conference, Putin supported the actions of the central bank and government in a crisis he blamed on external factors but said further measures would be required. ...","England make 243-9 in third ODI against Australia. Sydney (AFP) - England posted 243-9 Sunday against a rampant Australia bidding to wrap up the one-day series at Sydney Cricket Ground.","Pieters extends Spanish Open lead as Jimenez lurks. GIRONA, Spain (AP) — Thomas Pieters of Belgium shot a 1-under 71 to extend his Spanish Open lead to two shots over the chasing Miguel Angel Jimenez on Saturday.","BRAZIL BEAT: Benzema's 2nd goal can't beat clock. SALVADOR, Brazil (AP) — Karim Benzema had just scored his second goal of the game and fourth of the tournament, and the sixth of the day for France.","With Chinese New Year H7N9 cases soar, but experts struggle to assess the risk. Human infections of H7N9 bird flu soared in the lead up to Friday's start of the lunar New Year celebrations in China, with fall-winter cases now overtaking the tally from last spring's first explosive outbreak of the new virus.","U.S. weather forecaster lowers El Niño chances to 60-65 percent. The Climate Prediction Center (CPC), an agency of the National Weather Service, has begun dialing back its outlook for the phenomenon since going on El Niño watch earlier this year for the first time since 2012. The agency had lowered its outlook to 65 percent for an El Nino last month. \"At this time, the consensus of forecasters expects El Niño to emerge during September-October and to peak at weak strength during the late fall and early winter,\" CPC said in the report. El Niño, the warming of sea surface temperatures in the Pacific, can cause flooding and heavy rains in the United States and South America and can trigger drought conditions in Southeast Asia and Australia.","Head of Britain's MI6 spy agency to step down. LONDON (AP) — Wanted: Spymaster. Discretion an asset.","Sardar Ahmad, charming and versatile AFP journalist. Shocked colleagues of Sardar Ahmad, the senior reporter in AFP's Kabul bureau, Friday mourned the loss of a charming and talented journalist with a deep, nuanced understanding of Afghanistan's wrenching conflict. Ahmad, 40, was shot dead along with his wife Humaira and two of their three children -- a girl and boy -- when gunmen attacked the Serena hotel in the Afghan capital on Thursday evening. He described Ahmad as a \"dedicated and courageous journalist, a cornerstone of our team in Afghanistan who delivered, every day, exceptional coverage of the news in extremely difficult conditions\". A statement from Afghan President Hamid Karzai said Ahmad's killing was \"a big crime... heartbreaking and sorrowful\".","LA Galaxy forward Robbie Keane named MLS MVP. LOS ANGELES (AP) — Robbie Keane has been named Major League Soccer's Most Valuable Player after the Irish forward's dynamic season for the Los Angeles Galaxy.","2 killed in gale-force winds in Spain's Catalonia. MADRID (AP) — Two people have been killed in Spain's northeastern region of Catalonia as winds reaching up to 120 kilometers per hour (75 mph) ripped off roof tops and tore down walls and trees.","BRAZIL BEAT: Fan mail pours in to Brazil players. TERESOPOLIS, Brazil (AP) — Brazilian players received nearly 6,000 fan letters before the team's practice Friday.","Woman in Mexican children's home probe a divisive figure. By Lizbeth Diaz ZAMORA Mexico (Reuters) - To her supporters, Rosa Verduzco dedicated her life to raising and helping thousands of children abandoned by their own parents. Mexico's government, however, says she presided over years of neglect and abused the children in her care. Verduzco, 79, was arrested this week in an army and police raid on the refuge for abandoned or troubled children in Zamora in the western state of Michoacan known as \"La Gran Familia\" (The Big Family). The government said the children were living in dire conditions and that some were sexually abused.","Jill Biden travels to east Congo on Africa tour. BUKAVU, Congo (AP) — The wife of Vice President Joe Biden has traveled to conflict-wracked eastern Congo to meet with survivors of sexual violence.","Tropical cyclones packing more punch further from the equator. By Will Dunham WASHINGTON (Reuters) - People in heavily populated Pacific and Indian Ocean coastal regions beyond the tropics should take heed, U.S. scientists said on Wednesday, because tropical cyclones increasingly are packing their biggest punch farther from the equator. Over the past 30 years, the location where these powerful storms reach their maximum intensity has shifted away from the equator and toward the poles in both the northern and southern hemispheres at a rate of about 35 miles (56 km) per decade, they said. The scientists documented the greatest migration in tropical cyclones in the northern and southern Pacific and south Indian Oceans. This march away from the equator was not seen in the Atlantic, although hurricanes have registered increases in average intensity due to factors that may be counteracting the poleward trend seen elsewhere, the researchers said.","Zambia to elect new president on Jan. 20. LUSAKA, Zambia (AP) — Zambia's interim president has announced elections will be held on Jan. 20 to choose a successor to President Michael Sata who died last month.","France unveils plan to fight jihadist threat. PARIS (AP) — French authorities are taking steps to crack down on the flow of young would-be jihadis embarking to fight in Syria's civil war.","Ukraine's new rulers dismantle Yanukovich power structure. By Richard Balmforth KIEV (Reuters) - Ukraine's new rulers, just 24 hours after ousting President Viktor Yanukovich, began speedily to unstitch his power structure on Sunday, appointing a provisional leader to replace him and sacking his key ministers. Yanukovich remained at an undisclosed location somewhere in eastern Ukraine, still protesting against the \"bandits terrorizing the country\" and declaring himself a legitimate president who had fallen victim to a coup d'état. Oleksander Turchinov, who was earlier given the duties of speaker, was temporarily handed the role of president - a particularly bitter pill for the fugitive Yanukovich since Turchinov is a confidant of his arch-rival Yulia Tymoshenko.","Panicked Gazans flee heavy Israeli tank shelling. GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — Hundreds of panicked residents have fled a Gaza City neighborhood which they say has come under heavy tank fire from Israeli forces. Some reported seeing dead and wounded in the streets, with ambulances unable to reach the area.","Americans detained in North Korea call for US help. PYONGYANG, North Korea (AP) — North Korea gave foreign media access on Monday to three detained Americans who said they have been able to contact their families and — watched by officials as they spoke — called for Washington to send a high-ranking representative to negotiate for their freedom.","Ten bodies found as boat sinks in Istanbul's Bosphorus strait: NTV. ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Ten bodies were retrieved from the sea in Istanbul's Bosphorus strait on Monday after a boat believed to be carrying about 40 illegal migrants sank, broadcaster NTV and other Turkish media reported. NTV said search and rescue operations were continuing in the area, near the Black Sea end of the Bosphorus. Coastguard officials were not immediately available for comment. (Reporting by Seda Sezer; Writing by Daren Butler; Editing by Nick Tattersall and Andrew Heavens)","Analysis: Russia deeply linked to Obama priorities. BRUSSELS (AP) — Even as he criticizes Vladimir Putin and imposes sanctions on Russia, President Barack Obama is struggling with the consequences of his own earlier quest for a fresh start between Washington and Moscow.","India successfully puts spacecraft in Mars' orbit. NEW DELHI (AP) — India triumphed in its first interplanetary mission, placing a satellite into orbit around Mars on Wednesday morning and catapulting the country into an elite club of deep-space explorers.","AP Interview: El-Sissi ready to back anti-IS fight. CAIRO (AP) — Egypt's President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi told The Associated Press on Saturday he is prepared to give whatever support is needed in the fight against the Islamic State group but called for a \"comprehensive strategy\" to tackle the roots of extremism across the region.","Big-hitting Marsh helps Australia to 282-7. Mitchell Marsh hit a brutal unbeaten 86 as Australia posted 282 for seven in a crucial one-day triangular series game against South Africa in Harare on Tuesday. Australia were battling to increase their scoring rate when Marsh arrived at the crease, but the all rounder struck seven sixes in a 51-ball innings to help his side take 94 runs from the last eight overs. Marsh’s big hitting included three successive sixes off the bowling of Dale Steyn - the first time that the fast bowler had conceded that many sixes in a single ODI over. Australia’s innings had been pedestrian up until that point, with Phil Hughes rarely getting into his full stride in the course of his 85 from 92 balls.","BRAZIL BEAT: Belgium's Lukaku has advice for Man U. MOGI DAS CRUZES, Brazil (AP) — All of 21, Romelu Lukaku is already full of coaching advice for Manchester United on how Belgium teammate Marouane Fellaini should be played.","C.Africa hatred at 'terrifying level': UN rights chief. Bangui (Central African Republic) (AFP) - The UN's rights chief on Thursday expressed horror at the level of violence in the Central African Republic, citing cannibalism, child decapitations and gruesome lynchings. \"The inter-communal hatred remains at a terrifying level,\" UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay said at a press conference in Bangui. The chronically unstable country sank into chaos when rebels who had helped topple president Francois Bozize a year ago went rogue.","England v Sri Lanka scores at tea. LEEDS, England (AP) — Scores Sunday at tea on day three of the second test between England and Sri Lanka at Headingley:","Russia must urge Ukraine separatists to disarm 'in hours': Kerry. US Secretary of State John Kerry, after meeting with France's foreign minister, said on Thursday Russia should call on separatists in Ukraine to disarm within \"the next hours\". \"We are in full agreement that it is critical for Russia to show in the next hours, literally, that they're moving to help disarm the separatists, to encourage them to disarm, to call on them to lay down their weapons and to begin to become part of a legitimate process,\" Kerry told reporters in Paris. He added that EU leaders would discuss possible sanctions moves on Russia at their summit in Belgium starting Thursday. We would like to see a cooperative effort between the United States, Europe and Russia and the Ukrainians,\" he said.","2 cars of passenger train tip over in Germany. BERLIN (AP) — Officials say two cars of a passenger train have tipped over in an accident near a station in southwestern Germany. They say there were some injuries but no deaths.","World stocks mostly decline as investors await Fed. HONG KONG (AP) — World stock markets mostly declined Monday as the turmoil in Iraq dampened sentiment and investors held back ahead of the Federal Reserve's monthly policy meeting later in the week.","SIerra Leone area to hold 2-week Ebola 'lockdown'. FREETOWN, Sierra Leone (AP) — Sierra Leone authorities say they are planning a two-week \"lockdown,\" hoping to halt the spread of Ebola in one district in the country's east.","Colombia's Zuluaga pushes Santos to presidential runoff vote. By Brian Ellsworth and Helen Murphy BOGOTA (Reuters) - Right-wing opposition candidate Oscar Ivan Zuluaga won most votes in Colombia's presidential election on Sunday but fell short of a first-round victory and will face President Juan Manuel Santos in a close runoff next month. Zuluaga, who has fiercely opposed Santos' peace talks with Marxist guerrilla leaders, took first place with 29.3 percent of the vote on Sunday. Santos trailed with 25.7 percent. The election was seen as a plebiscite on Santos' strategy of negotiating with rebel leaders to end a 50-year-old war that has killed some 200,000 people.","Time Warner to set HBO free, launch over-the-top service. (Reuters) - Time Warner Inc plans to go head-to-head with Netflix Inc and launch a standalone option in 2015 for popular pay TV channel HBO. The move to take HBO Go \"over-the-top\" - media jargon that means consumers can watch the channel with a broadband connection - is a significant milestone for a channel long dependent on cable distributors. HBO's top executive, Richard Plepler, announced that decision during an investor day on Wednesday where Time Warner's other top executives laid out plans to boost the company's growth. ...","GSK executive caught off-guard by China graft charges: sources. By Adam Jourdan and Kazunori Takada SHANGHAI (Reuters) - GlaxoSmithKline Plc executive Mark Reilly had little inkling he would be charged with leading a network of corruption in China's pharmaceutical industry, two sources with ties to the businessman and knowledge of the investigation said. The allegations against the Briton, who as GSK's China head was the firm's legal representative in the country, are the most serious charges ever laid against a foreign national for corporate corruption in China, lawyers said. \\\\\"The fact that Mark's name was on the list of people charged was definitely a surprise,\\\\\" said a source with direct knowledge of the investigation. Britain's biggest drugmaker said in a statement on Wednesday that the allegations were \\\\\"deeply concerning\\\\\" and it hoped to \\\\\"reach a resolution\\\\\" that would enable it to continue to operate in China, a key growth market for Western pharmaceutical giants.","Kenyan county wants sex offenders castrated. Authorities in western Kenya have demanded the government pass a law allowing for rapists and other sex offenders to be castrated, saying it was struggling to cope with a spike in cases of rape, paedophilia and bestiality. Legislators in Baringo County in Kenya's Rift Valley province said current punishments were far too lenient. \"We in Baringo are ready to push all the way for castration,\" top local health official and legislator Solomon Chemjor told AFP. Officials from Baringo did not give any clear statistics on sex crimes in the area, or how they compare with the rest of the country, but Chemjor said there were plenty of clear signs the problem was worsening.","China housing slump sparks fears for economy. BEIJING (AP) — Six months ago, China's housing market was so red-hot that Feng Xiaowei, a sales manager at a real estate agency in the eastern city of Hangzhou, rarely took a day off.","Philippines defends arbitration case against China. MANILA, Philippines (AP) — The Philippine president says his country's case at an international tribunal against China's sweeping territorial claims is not meant to provoke the regional giant but to peacefully defend the national territory.","Brazil investigators: death of ex-pres. accidental. RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Brazil's National Truth Commission says its probe into the 1976 death of former President Juscelino Kubitschek has shown no evidence to support claims that his fatal car crash was the work of the country's then-military dictatorship.","Desperate hunt is on for Flight 370 'black boxes'. PERTH, Australia (AP) — Four weeks after the Malaysia Airlines jet vanished, two ships deployed sound locators Friday in the southern Indian Ocean in a desperate attempt to find the plane's flight recorders before their signal beacons fall silent.","South Africa's Amplats CEO apologizes for comments on fair pay. The chief executive of strike-hit Anglo American Platinum (Amplats) apologized for saying this week his seven figure salary was justified because he was skilled whereas miners were not. His comments cause an uproar in the midst of a violent 16-week strike in the platinum companies Amplats, Impala Platinum (Implats) and Lonmin by the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU). \"My choice of words was inappropriate and a poor way to describe the extremely challenging situation we find ourselves in,\" Chris Griffiths, Amplats chief executive said in a statement on Friday. Implats said on Friday its chief executive, who earns about 7.5 million would not be taking a pay hike in light of the strike which would cripple the company's production for the rest of its financial year.","U.S. frees tech companies to give more spying data. By David Ingram WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. technology companies may give the public and their customers more detail about the court orders they receive related to surveillance under an agreement they reached on Monday with the Obama administration. Companies such as Google Inc and Microsoft Corp have been prohibited from disclosing even an approximate number of orders they received from the U.S. Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court. They could give only an aggregate number of U.S. demands that combined surveillance court orders, letters from the FBI, subpoenas in run-of-the-mill criminal cases and other requests. The deal frees the companies to say, for example, approximately how many orders they received in a six-month period from the surveillance court.","Spain police arrest 3 for illegal book publishing. MADRID (AP) — Spanish police have arrested three people on suspicion of illegally scanning and then unlawfully publishing books on a massive scale.","Moldova's pro-Europe parties to win majority in new parliament: analysts. CHISINAU (Reuters) - Moldova's three main pro-Europe parties appeared on course to be able to form a new coalition government with most of the vote from an election on Sunday counted, despite the pro-Moscow Socialist Party taking first place, analysts said on Monday. With 87 percent of the vote counted, according to the election authorities, the three parties - the Liberal Democrats, the Liberals and the Democrats - had a combined vote of 44 percent - enough for them to win more than the 51 seats required for a majority in the 101-seat parliament. ...","France, Germany offer drones to monitor Ukraine ceasefire. PARIS (Reuters) - France and Germany have offered to deploy drones as part of efforts by the Organization for Security and Cooperation (OSCE) to beef up monitoring of the ceasefire in Ukraine, France's foreign ministry said on Monday. OSCE spokesman Shiv Sharma said earlier in September the group would initially deploy two drones at the end of the month or the beginning of October, and that more would follow later. ...","Bare bones Eid al-Adha for displaced Iraqis. Garmawa Camp (Iraq) (AFP) - Imad holds his toy Mercedes pressed firmly against his heart. It's the only present he got for Eid al-Adha, a Muslim feast tens of thousands of Iraqis are spending in camps for the first time.","Top firms' greenhouse gas emissions rise, despite call for cuts. By Alister Doyle OSLO (Reuters) - Greenhouse gas emissions by the world's top 500 companies rose 3.1 percent from 2010 to 2013, far off the cuts urged by the United Nations to limit global warming, a study showed on Monday. The top 500 firms by capitalization accounted for 13.8 percent of world greenhouse gas emissions and 28 percent of gross domestic product in 2013, according to the report, drawn up by the information provider Thomson Reuters and BSD Consulting, a global sustainability consultancy. ...","China tries 5 accused cult members for murder. BEIJING (AP) — Five people stood trial Thursday in the beating death of a woman at a McDonald's restaurant in eastern China who reportedly refused to join their anti-Communist Christian sect — a high-profile crime that led to a wave of arrests of cult suspects.","Fire breaks out at Mexico City airport terminal: local media. MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - A fire broke out at Mexico international airport's Terminal 2 building on Monday, local media reported, but there were no immediate details on the scale of the damage. TV footage showed smoke billowing from an upper section of the building. Airport officials were not immediately available for comment. (Reporting by Michael O'Boyle)","Israel, Germany disagree over Iran nuclear talks. JERUSALEM (AP) — The Israeli and German leaders are acknowledging they don't see eye to eye over how to deal with Iran's nuclear program.","Earthquake strikes southern Greece, felt in Athens. A strong earthquake shook southern Greece on Friday and was felt as far as Athens but there were no immediate reports of casualties or serious damage. The Athens Geodynamic Institute also put the quake, which occurred at 0645 local time (2345 ET Thursday), at 5.7 magnitude and said it was undersea. Most cause no serious damage, but a 5.9 magnitude quake near Athens in 1999 killed 143 people.","Serie A side Parma expects points deduction. PARMA, Italy (AP) — Parma expects to be deducted points for financial instability after failing to meet deadlines to pay overdue wages.","Brains know the difference between carbs and artificial sweeteners. By Will Boggs MD NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Carbs activate brain regions that are not affected by artificial sweeteners, even when they’re only tasted but not swallowed, according to a small new study from New Zealand. “The mouth is a more capable sensory organ than we currently appreciate, able to distinguish carbohydrates from artificial sweeteners when both taste identical,” said Dr. Nicholas Gant from the Sport and Exercise Science department at the University of Auckland’s Centre for Brain Research. A sixth sense in the mouth for carbohydrates could explain why athletes respond immediately to carbs, as well as some aspects of uncontrolled eating disorders, Gant’s team writes in the journal Appetite. Scientists already knew that carbohydrate mouth rinses increased activity in certain brain regions, and some studies have shown that swishing a carbohydrate solution in the mouth and spitting it out improves performance during strenuous exercise.","Explosion rocks Nigerian capital, 2nd in 3 weeks. ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — A Nigerian official says an explosion has rocked an area of the capital near the site of an April bombing that killed at least 75 people.","Thai stock market falls 2 percent after coup. BANGKOK (AP) — Thailand's stock market fell more than 2 percent a day after the country's military seized power in a bloodless coup. Other Asian markets were mostly higher Friday, helped by weakness in the yen.","Indonesia completes probe into slaying of US woman. BALI, Indonesia (AP) — Indonesian police have completed their investigation into an American couple accused of battering the woman's mother to death and stuffing the body into a suitcase on the resort island of Bali.","Swedish tolerance tested by far-right election advance. Stockholm (AFP) - Socially liberal Sweden joined other countries in Europe Monday with a sizeable far-right party, one opposed to the Nordic nation's generous refugee policies.","CANNES WATCH: Ken Loach not done yet. CANNES, France (AP) — Ken Loach isn't done yet.","Senators look to revive climate debate in U.S. Congress. By Valerie Volcovici WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Two of the U.S. Senate's biggest environmental boosters have launched a drive to revive the issue of climate change in Congress and defend President Barack Obama's climate action plan against opposition from Republicans. Democratic senators Barbara Boxer of California and Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island told reporters on Thursday they would launch a new climate action task force with more than a dozen members and the full support of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. The task force is likely to introduce a number of small-scale bills and will push for increased discussion on climate topics in the full Senate.","Anne Frank gave away toys to neighbourhood friend before going into hiding; marbles on display. AMSTERDAM - Shortly before Anne Frank and her family went into hiding from the Nazis, she gave some of her toys to a non-Jewish neighbourhood girlfriend for safekeeping. The Anne Frank House Museum says the toys have now been recovered and Anne's tin of marbles will go on display for the first time this week at an art gallery in Rotterdam.","Malaysia says to hand over MH17 black boxes to international team. Malaysia said on Tuesday it will keep hold of the black boxes voice and data recorders from downed Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 until an international team is formed and will then hand them over. \"The Malaysian team has taken custody of the black boxes, which appear to be in good condition. They will be held securely in Malaysian custody while the international investigation team is being formalized,\" Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak said in a statement. \"At that time, we will pass the black boxes to the international investigation team for further analysis.\" (Reporting By Anuradha Raghu;","Lindsay Lohan to make stage debut in London. LONDON (AP) — Linsday Lohan is heading for the London stage — in a play about the hysteria of Hollywood.","Messi strike delights; French, Swiss win too. A breathtaking last-gasp goal; a first for goal-line technology; happy and cheering fans. What else could the World Cup want? Oh yes, a stunning goal by Lionel Messi for Argentina at the Maracana stadium in Rio de Janeiro.","Pregnant Kate back at work after morning sickness. LONDON (AP) — The Duchess of Cambridge has resumed her royal duties after spending more than two months out of the public eye while suffering from acute morning sickness.","Facing fears over extremism, Austria unveils new law on Islam. By Shadia Nasralla VIENNA (Reuters) - Austria called on Thursday for standardized German-language translations of the Koran and moved to prohibit foreign funding of Muslim organizations on its soil in a draft law aimed in part at tackling Islamic extremism. The bill will overhaul a 1912 law governing the status of Austrian Muslims, prompting concern from a major local Islamic body, which saw it mirroring widespread mistrust of Muslims. ...","Spain's Belmonte wins 1,500 race at Euros. BERLIN (AP) — Mireia Belmonte Garcia claimed gold for Spain with a continental record in the women's 1,500-meter freestyle at the European swimming championship on Saturday.","Hamas formally closes door on Egyptian proposal. GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — A senior Hamas official says the Islamic militant group has formally closed the door on the Egyptian proposal for a cease-fire aimed at ending the conflict with Israel.","French president angry over report on love life. PARIS (AP) — French President Francois Hollande is threatening legal action over a magazine report saying he is having a secret affair with a French actress.","Britain considers jail for foreign exchange rigging. Britain's government, together with the Bank of England and financial regulators, proposed on Thursday legislation to punish foreign exchange rigging with criminal sanctions, including prison. The proposal which is part of a review into market abuses comes as a number of banks worldwide are being probed over potential rigging of the foreign exchange market. This comes meanwhile after some traders have been found guilty of manipulating the inter-bank Libor interest rate. Britain has already threatened prison for those found guilty of rigging Libor.","BP second-quarter profit rises 34 percent. (Reuters) - BP Plc reported a 34 percent rise in quarterly profit and said it would pay a dividend of 9.75 cents a share for the quarter ended June 30. Underlying replacement cost profit increased to $3.6 billion for the second quarter from $2.7 billion a year earlier. (Reporting by Karen Rebelo in Bangalore; Editing by Robin Paxton)","Former Naval Academy football player back in DC courtroom for hearing in sexual assault case. WASHINGTON - Attorneys for a former U.S. Naval Academy football player accused of sexual assault are back in court to argue that political pressure influenced the decision to prosecute him.","Europe desperately seeking credible response to Russia. Europe's leaders will seek to hit back at Russia for its annexation of Crimea at a summit this week but are likely to stop short of biting economic sanctions that come with a cost to member states. At a crisis summit March 6, European Union leaders agreed a three-step scenario against President Vladimir Putin that began with the suspension of talks on easing visas into Europe for Russian travellers. This week, the EU ratcheted up its response by slapping an asset freeze and travel ban on 21 Russians and Ukrainians deemed behind Moscow's absorption of Crimea, including three top military brass. EU leaders had vowed a third stage of \"additional and far-reaching consequences\" including \"a broad range of economic areas\" should Moscow further \"destabilise\" the region.","Al Qaeda announces India wing, renews loyalty to Taliban chief. By William Maclean DUBAI (Reuters) - Al Qaeda leader Ayman al Zawahri on Wednesday announced the formation of an Indian branch of his militant group he said would spread Islamic rule and \"raise the flag of jihad\" across the subcontinent. In a 55-minute video posted online, Zawahri also renewed a longstanding vow of loyalty to Afghan Taliban leader Mullah Omar, in an apparent snub to the Islamic State armed group challenging al Qaeda for leadership of transnational Islamist militancy. Zawahri described the formation of \"Al Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent\" as a glad tidings for Muslims \"in Burma, Bangladesh, Assam, Gujarat, Ahmedabad, and Kashmir\" and said the new wing would rescue Muslims there from injustice and oppression. Counter-terrorism experts say al Qaeda's aging leaders are struggling to compete for recruits with Islamic State, which has galvanized young followers around the world by carving out tracts of territory across the Iraq-Syria border.","Suicide bombers target Iranian center in Beirut, kill six. By Laila Bassam and Alexander Dziadosz BEIRUT (Reuters) - A twin suicide bombing targeting the Iranian cultural center in Beirut killed six people on Wednesday, in an attack claimed by an al Qaeda-linked group which said it was a response to the military intervention of Iran and Hezbollah in the Syrian war. The army said the rush hour attack in the Shi'ite southern suburbs of Beirut was carried out by two suicide bombers driving cars packed with explosives. Similar tactics were used in a twin suicide attack on the nearby Iranian embassy in November. The Abdullah Azzam Brigades, a radical Sunni group, claimed responsibility for the latest attack, which wounded more than 100 people and was described by Lebanon's Sunni Prime Minister Tammam Salam as an act of terrorism.","Kaneria's appeal against life ban fails. LONDON (AP) — Former Essex and Pakistan bowler Danish Kaneria has failed in his bid to overturn a life ban from cricket for breaking anti-corruption rules.","Gunfire reported in Gambian capital as president away. DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — Heavy gunfire rang out Tuesday near the presidential palace in the tiny West African nation of Gambia, residents said, raising the specter of a coup attempt while the longtime ruler is out of the country.","'Young' at 34, Estrella wins 1st Grand Slam match. NEW YORK (AP) — Victor Estrella came to the perfect place to earn his first Grand Slam victory at the age of 34.","Barclays says will axe 7,000 jobs at investment unit. Barclays on Thursday said it would axe 7,000 jobs at its struggling investment bank unit and sell or run down about £115 billion of non-core assets, in a major strategic shake-up. Barclays had originally said that up to 12,000 jobs would be lost worldwide in 2014 out of a total workforce of about 139,000. \\\\\"This is a bold simplification of Barclays,\\\\\" chief executive Antony Jenkins said in the statement. \\\\\"We will be a focused international bank, operating only in areas where we have capability, scale and competitive advantage.\\\\\"","Maxwell snatches one-run victory for Australia. ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Glenn Maxwell bowled a breathtaking double-wicket maiden last over to earn one-run victory in the third and final one-day international against Pakistan and ensure Australia stayed on top of world ranking with a 3-0 whitewash in the series.","American fighting in IS ranks killed in Syria: reports. An American was killed last weekend in Syria, where he was fighting for the Islamic State, US media reported Tuesday, in an account only partially confirmed by US officials. Douglas McCain had joined the violent extremist group as a fighter, leaving his family \"devastated\" and \"just as surprised as the country,\" his uncle Ken McCain told CNN. He had converted from Christianity to Islam several years ago, according to the uncle, who said the US State Department informed the family of his death on Monday. Former classmates recalled McCain as a \"goofball\" who liked to play basketball and aspired to become a rapper.","Canada police rescue five children in child porn bust. Canadian federal police said Thursday they rescued five young children from sexual abuse as part of a massive pedophile porn investigation. The operation led by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and involving 40 other agencies resulted in \"the rescue of five children from sexual abuse,\" RCMP Sergeant Mike Petrilli told a press conference. More than 100 individuals have been charged in the case or are currently under investigation for sexual assault, luring, possession, distribution, making available child pornography and related offenses under Canadian law.","US court upholds BP settlement for Gulf oil spill. A US federal appeals court upheld a multibillion-dollar settlement between BP and the coastal residents and businesses hit by the company's massive Gulf of Mexico oil spill in 2010. The British energy giant reached a $7.8 billion settlement in 2012 with thousands of claimants struck by the worst environmental disaster in US history. But it had been challenging the way Patrick Juneau, a court-appointed administrator of claims, calculates companies' compensation for lost profits. The 5th US Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that US District Judge Carl Barbier was correct in rejecting a BP bid to require companies to prove that their losses were directly linked to the spill before getting a payout.","Eurovision win for Austria drag queen sparks anger in Russia. Victory for Austria's bearded transvestite Conchita Wurst at the Eurovision Song Contest prompted an outpouring of anti-gay anger from Russian politicians and stars on Sunday. Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin wrote on Twitter that the Eurovision result \\\\\"showed supporters of European integration their European future: a bearded girl.\\\\\" They have 'it',\\\\\" nationalist politician Vladimir Zhirinovsky told Rossiya-1 state television. \\\\\"Fifty years ago the Soviet army occupied Austria.","Son mourns father's fiery death, struggles with rumour his dad ignited inferno. L'ISLE-VERTE, Que. - A son struggling to deal with his father's death in a fatal fire has been forced to assume another burden: that some people in the community believe his dad's cigarette may have sparked the inferno.","Marseille man faces animal cruelty charges after uploading cat-throwing clip to Facebook. PARIS - Officials say a 24-year-old man accused of throwing a kitten high into the air and uploading a video clip of the act to his Facebook profile faces up to two years in prison and a 30,000-euro ($40,500) fine.","Albanian police battle heavily armed pot growers. LAZARAT, Albania (AP) — Near-continuous gunfire rang out Tuesday from a lawless village in southern Albania as hundreds more police arrived to battle well-armed marijuana growers who were trying to thwart a government crackdown.","Sony creates senior entertainment unit role amid restructuring. Sony Corp has appointed for the first time a president for its profitable U.S.-based entertainment business, the latest in a series of management changes at the Japanese consumer electronics giant which is trying to bolster its finances. Sony said on Friday it had appointed Nicole Seligman, the current head of its U.S. operations, to the newly created role which reports to Sony Entertainment Chief Executive Michael Lynton. She will remain as executive vice president of Sony Corp and will continue to advise on legal issues. Seligman's appointment follows a shake-up at Sony's Tokyo headquarters which included the appointment of Kenichiro Yoshida as chief strategic and financial officer, and who has been lauded by investors for spearheading a restructuring drive.","Arrest of son of 'Shorty' Guzman aide led to Mexico kingpin's capture. By John Shiffman and Gabriel Stargardter WASHINGTON/MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - The arrest of the son of Joaquin \"Shorty\" Guzman's deputy at the U.S.-Mexico border was an important break in the operation that led to the drug lord's capture, a senior U.S. law enforcement official said on Sunday. Following the arrest of Serafin Zambada-Ortiz, subsequent wiretaps and phone records of others provided investigators with leads that played a role in the arrest of Guzman, two people familiar with the matter said. Guzman, who long ran the feared Sinaloa Cartel and was Mexico's most wanted criminal, was caught on Saturday in his native northwestern state of Sinaloa with help from U.S. agents. One of several key elements in Guzman's downfall started with the arrest of Zambada-Ortiz, the son of Guzman's deputy, Ismael \"El Mayo\" Zambada, who could now be in line to take over from his boss.","Europe lifts recommendation not to fly to Tel Aviv. BERLIN (AP) — The European Aviation Safety Agency has lifted a recommendation that airlines refrain from flying to Tel Aviv airport.","Indonesia's Jokowi leads with 80 percent of votes counted: private group. By Kanupriya Kapoor JAKARTA (Reuters) - Jakarta's populist governor looks set to become Indonesia's next president, according to a private tally of eighty percent of the votes cast, as his rival lashed out at critics, including the capital's biggest English-language newspaper. The Elections Commission (KPU) is to officially announce the result on July 22, but a number of private groups are maintaining counts of the votes as they are published on the commission's website. One such group, www.kawalpemilu.org, showed Governor Joko \"Jokowi\" Widodo in front with 53 percent of the vote after 80 percent of the count. \"This is a crowd sourcing project based on open data released by the KPU,\" said Elisa Sutanudjaja, an administrator for kawalpemilu.org.","Zurich asks prosecutor to charge rival player. ZURICH (AP) — Swiss club Zurich has filed a criminal complaint against Aarau midfielder Sandro Wieser for his red-card tackle on Gilles Yapi last month.","First PLO delegation since 2007 war heads to Gaza for Palestinian unity talks. By Nidal al-Mughrabi GAZA (Reuters) - The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) sent a delegation to Gaza on Tuesday to negotiate unity with militant group Hamas for the first time since their 2007 conflict, potentially boosting Fatah leader and Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas's position. Few Palestinians expect a breakthrough in the deadlock that has paralyzed Palestinian politics, and many have low expectations of any resolution to the seemingly endless duel. A deal could restore a measure of sovereignty to Abbas in Gaza and boost his negotiating power with Israel in any future peace talks, although such a partnership could also provoke a backlash from Israel against the PLO in the occupied West Bank.","Tense Thai elections go ahead despite protests. BANGKOK (AP) — Protesters trying to derail Thailand's national elections forced the closure of hundreds of polling stations in a highly contentious vote that has become the latest flashpoint in the country's deepening political crisis.","Tornado spotted near Miami, flights disrupted. MIAMI (AP) — Severe weather in Miami has spawned one confirmed tornado and is disrupting air travel.","Ukraine's parliament move could pave way for freeing jailed Tymoshenko. Ukraine's parliament on Friday voted for amendments in the criminal code which could pave the way for the release of jailed opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko. The amendments would decriminalize aspects of the criminal code relevant to her prosecution and set Ukrainian law in line with European Union legislation, her supporters said. \"We are insisting that there is a vote on a bill which would free Tymoshenko,\" former economy minister Arseny Yatsenyuk, who has taken over as head of her Batkivshchyna (Fatherland) party since she was jailed, told parliament. Tymoshenko, a former prime minister and long-standing rival of President Viktor Yanukovich, was narrowly defeated by him in a run-off for the presidency in February 2010.","Revoking of citizenship illegal: Kuwait opposition. A Kuwaiti opposition group said Thursday the revoking of citizenship of government opponents and licences of media outlets is \"unconstitutional\" and described it as an act of \"political vengeance\". The government on Monday revoked the citizenship of former opposition MP Abdullah al-Barghash, his two brothers and a sister and their family members. It also stripped Ahmad Jabr al-Shemmari, the owner of pro-opposition Al-Youm satellite channel and Alam Al-Youm newspaper, of his citizenship. A day later, the information ministry revoked the licences of the two media outlets which have provided extensive coverage of opposition news in the past two years.","African migrants in Israel hold Passover meal. HOLOT DETENTION FACILITY, Israel (AP) — Hundreds of African migrants have gathered in Israel's Negev desert to eat matzo and recall the Passover story, mere steps away from a detention facility where they are being held.","AP PHOTOS: De la Renta's creations over the years. NEW YORK (AP) — Oscar de la Renta, who died Monday at 82, shaped American couture half a century ago when it emerged as a serious rival to European fashion designers.","U.S. eases arms embargo against Vietnam for maritime security. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States on Thursday partially lifted a long-time ban on lethal weapon sales to Vietnam to help the country improve its maritime security, a historic move that comes nearly 40 years after the end of the Vietnam War. \"The State Department has taken steps to allow for the future transfer of maritime security-related defense articles to Vietnam,\" State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki told a briefing. State Department officials told a separate briefing that sales of any specific weapons would be evaluated on a case-by-case basis. ...","Polling stations open in Ukraine's presidential election. Ukrainian polling stations opened on Sunday in a presidential election overshadowed by violence in the country's mainly Russian-speaking east and by Russia's annexation of Ukraine's Crimea peninsula. Voting began at 8 a.m. (1 a.m. EDT) across the former Soviet republic of 45 million people. Voters will find many polling stations shut in the east, where armed pro-Moscow separatists are trying to block an election they say is illegitimate. European election monitors have largely pulled out of the Donetsk region, citing a separatist campaign of \"terror\" against Ukrainian officials.","One dead in Egypt clashes. Cairo (AFP) - One person was shot dead in the Mediterranean city of Alexandria Thursday during clashes between supporters and opponents of Egypt's ousted Islamist president Mohamed Morsi, security sources said.","Paid holidays for Chinese dissidents - with minders. As top Communist leaders gathered in Beijing, veteran Chinese political activist He Depu was obliged to leave town -- for an all-expenses-paid holiday to the tropical island of Hainan, complete with police escorts. He, 57, had not been charged with any crime, but officers took him 2,300 kilometres (1,400 miles) to Hainan for 10 days to ensure he was not in the capital for this year's annual meeting of China's legislature, he said. \"We had a pretty good time, because a decent amount of money was spent on the trip, the local government paid for everything.\" In 2011 police and court staff announced they and her family were going on a trip to Hainan -- a place of internal exile for criminals, disgraced officials and renegade poets as early as the Tang dynasty of 618-907.","US military: Budget cuts hurt readiness in Asia. WASHINGTON (AP) — Top U.S. military officers in Asia-Pacific say budget cuts could hurt the ability of American forces to respond to a security crisis, including on the Korean peninsula.","NYC mayor welcomes Pussy Riot to City Hall. NEW YORK (AP) — New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio is welcoming the Russian protest punk band Pussy Riot to City Hall.","ECB to keep loose policy 'for long time': Draghi. PARIS (Reuters) - The European Central Bank will keep monetary policy loose for as long as it takes to push ultra-low inflation in the euro zone back up closer to the two percent level, its president Mario Draghi said on Wednesday. With data showing the single currency zone's economy having ground to a halt in the second quarter, Draghi told French radio the ECB would do all in its power to stimulate growth but reaffirmed that euro zone countries needed to make their economies fitter. ...","Is this the end of Japanese whaling?. Japan's whaling program hangs in the balance after the International Court of Justice on Monday ordered an immediate end to its annual slaughter of whales in the Southern Ocean. The verdict came four years after Australia petitioned the UN court to rule that the expeditions in the icy waters of the Antarctic were not, as Japan has long claimed, for scientific research, since meat from the hunts is sold in Japanese supermarkets and restaurants. A panel of judges agreed by 12 votes to four that Japan had failed to prove that its annual cull quota of almost 1,000 minke whales and 50 fin whales was of any scientific value. \"The court concludes that the special permits granted by Japan for the killing, taking and treating of whales in connection with Jarpa II [Japan's whaling program] are not for purposes of scientific research,\" said Peter Tomka, the presiding judge.","777 mystery sharpens hunt for black-box alternatives. By Tim Hepher PARIS (Reuters) - The search for Malaysia's missing jet could speed development of new ways of locating wreckage, but such technology is unlikely to replace the traditional \"black box\" any time soon, France's top crash investigator said on Wednesday. Mystery over the Boeing 777's whereabouts deepened on Wednesday when Malaysia said it was searching an area hundreds of miles from its last known position. As well as scouring the area with ships, planes and satellites, investigators are trying to pick up signals from beacons on the jet's data and cockpit voice recorders. A French probe into the crash of an Air France jet in the Atlantic in 2009, which triggered a two-year $50 million search to find its crucial black boxes, led to a series of recommendations from France's BEA crash investigation agency.","American base jumper dies in Swiss Alps. BERLIN (AP) — An American base jumper has died in the Swiss Alps after misjudging his launch, hitting a cliff and falling hundreds of meters (feet) into a gorge.","Rescuer reunited with woman he saved from U.S. mudslide with her painting. By Bryan Cohen ARLINGTON, Washington (Reuters) - In the terrifying moments after she somehow emerged alive from the wall of mud and debris that swallowed her house, the only possession that Robin Youngblood managed to salvage was a painted portrait that once hung in her now-flattened home. She and crew chief Randy Fay of the Snohomish County helicopter rescue team embraced in a tearful reunion during an afternoon news conference in the town of Arlington, site of a command post for search teams looking for scores more people still missing in the slide that engulfed dozens of homes near the river valley hamlet of Oso.","French leader in push to up Internet firms' taxes. PARIS (AP) — French President Francois Hollande says during his U.S. trip next week he'll broach the thorny issue of getting Internet companies to pay the tax man like smaller companies do.","Harper's speech to Israeli Knesset garners international attention. TORONTO - Prime Minister Stephen Harper's official tours don't often generate international headlines, but Monday's historic address to Israel's parliament was a notable exception.","Indians keep their faith with Modi, best hope for economy- poll. More than 70 percent of Indians are satisfied with the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi since he took office nearly three months ago, an opinion poll showed, seeing in him the best hope to put the economy back on track. The 'Mood of the Nation Poll' by India Today-Hansa Research stands out in contrast with the disappointment that top political economists, including those who advised the Modi campaign, have voiced over his failure to announce big bang reforms. The poll of 12,430 people conducted across India found that support for Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party had increased since it won the biggest election mandate in three decades. The vote share of the BJP and its allies would jump to 40 percent from 31 percent if a fresh election were held now, the survey showed, in a break from tradition in India's volatile politics where discontent with incumbent governments quickly sets in, especially when expectations are high.","Kobayashi unhappy with team treatment. Kamui Kobayashi said he was unhappy with the way he was treated by the Caterham team after being dropped in Belgium but reinstated for this weekend's Italian Grand Prix. The Japanese driver was dropped in favour of Audi sportscar driver Andre Lotterer in Belgium ahead of the Belgian Grand Prix. \"It's not an easy situation,\" said Kobayashi. I am a Caterham driver and it's not up to me.","Some big stock market winners emerge from Obama move on Cuba. By Dan Burns and David Randall NEW YORK (Reuters) - A tiny mutual fund based in Miami, a clutch of cruise line operators and a Canadian natural resources company are the early winners in the Obama administration's surprise move on Wednesday to thaw relations with Cuba. After more than five decades of frosty relations and U.S.-imposed economic embargoes, President Barack Obama unveiled plans to relax some aspects of commerce and transportation between the two countries. An outright end to the longstanding trade embargo, however, is not in the cards for now. ...","China's wealth finds home in Washington state. MEDINA, Washington (AP) — Savvy Seattle-area real estate agents have gained an advantage by paying attention to the growing connections between China and Washington state.","Carrefour to boost capital spend after 2013 profit rise. By Dominique Vidalon PARIS (Reuters) - Carrefour , the world's second-largest retailer, reported a rise in profits on Wednesday as work on turning round its French business started to pay off and said it would spend more this year on reviving its European hypermarkets and expanding in China and Brazil. The company said operating profits rose a slightly better than expected 5.3 percent to 2.238 billion euros ($3.1 billion) last year thanks to a sharp improvement in profitability at home as well as robust growth in Latin America, although Spain, Italy and Asia remained weak. \"The dividend hike reflects the strong results that Carrefour delivered in 2013 thanks to the good execution of its action plan in France and its multi-format strategy amid a challenging economic climate,\" Chief Financial Officer Pierre-Jean Sivignon said on a conference call. Shares in Europe's biggest retailer were 1.8 percent higher at 27.175 euros by 0830 GMT, when the French CAC 40 index was down 0.2 percent.","US governor decries French, Irish cigarette plans. RALEIGH, North Carolina (AP) — North Carolina's governor argues in letters to the French and Irish governments that farmers and manufacturers in the top tobacco-producing state would be hurt by proposals in those countries to package cigarettes in blank containers.","G20 communique to include climate change, anti-corruption plan: EU sources. BRISBANE Australia (Reuters) - The G20 communique will include a significant passage on climate change and an endorsement of an anti-corruption plan, European Union officials said on Sunday. \"The most difficult discussion was on climate change,\" an EU official said on condition of anonymity. \"This was really trench warfare, this was really step by step by step. In the end we have references to most of the things we wanted. ...","With demand for flu vaccine still high, several provinces order additional doses. TORONTO - A number of provinces and territories have asked for more influenza vaccine in an attempt to meet this season's unusually high demand for flu shots.","Costa Rica upsets Uruguay at World Cup. England knew surviving a group with two other former World Cup champions would be tough, but the team never expected to be trailing Costa Rica after the opening games.","Protesters rally in Algiers against government. Around 40 people demonstrated in Algiers Saturday calling for a change of government, as ailing 77-year-old President Abdelaziz Bouteflika seek reelection next month, an AFP journalist reported. Bouteflika, in office since 1999, was hospitalised in Paris last year for three months after suffering a mini-stroke.","Star-maker Orser finally gets his two Olympic gold. Sochi (Russia) (AFP) - Two-time Olympic silver medallist Brian Orser has finally got his two figure skating gold medals at the Winter Games.","Palestinians furious as Israel resumes punitive demolitions. By Noah Browning and Ali Sawafta HEBRON (Reuters) - Israel has revived a long-lapsed policy of destroying suspected militants' homes after the dead bodies of three Israeli teenagers missing since June were found on Monday. The army reverted to the practice to punish Marwan Qawasmeh and Amer Abu Aysha, two fugitives it accuses of killing the Israeli teens who went missing while hitchhiking on June 12. Dazed neighbors of all ages visited the shattered Abu Aysha home in Hebron on Tuesday to comfort family members and curse the Israeli perpetrators. After flames gutted the house, a chorus of Palestinians shouting a defiant \"God is Greatest!\" rang out in the darkness.","Sochi Olympics tickets surpass 1 million sold. SOCHI, Russia (AP) — Organizers say the Sochi Games have surpassed the milestone of 1 million tickets sold.","Iran says nuclear talks were useful, but more needed. Nuclear talks between experts from Iran and world powers that ended Friday were useful, but more discussions are needed before a lasting deal can be reached, Tehran's team leader said. \"Fortunately, we reviewed many topics of the nuclear issue, but it is just the beginning and more sessions... will be needed,\" Hamid Baeedinejad, who lead the Iranian experts, told state broadcaster IRIB's website. Baeedinejad refrained from giving details, except to say they focused on uranium enrichment, the unfinished Arak heavy water reactor and nuclear cooperation. \"All the involved parties view the sessions as useful,\" Baeedinejad told the official IRNA news agency, saying the negotiations are \"serious and substantive.\"","Senegal declared Ebola-free, UN appeals for cash to boost battle. Geneva (AFP) - Western countries scrambled Friday to ward off a feared global spread of Ebola amid fresh UN appeals for funds to fight the raging epidemic.","Ukraine: 2 killed in clashes despite cease-fire. KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — A Ukrainian security official says one serviceman and one civilian have been killed in the past day as rebels in the east continue attacks despite a cease-fire declared three weeks ago.","Soccer-Australia captain Neill signs for Watford. (Adds details) By Tom Hayward Feb 24 (Reuters) - Australia defender Lucas Neill has joined English Championship side Watford until the end of the season as he looks to stake his claim to lead the Socceroos at the World Cup in Brazil. The 35-year-old, who has 96 caps, impressed Watford while training with the club as a free agent. He had been without a team since leaving J-League side Omiya Ardija in November. \"I want to add my experience to the Watford squad and I'm hoping that some of my natural leadership skills can benefit the group here,\" the former Millwall, Blackburn Rovers, West Ham United and Everton fullback told watfordfc.com.","Riot police protect Blatter from student protests. ZURICH (AP) — FIFA President Sepp Blatter has been protected by riot police from student demonstrators while making a speech at a university in the football body's home city.","UN: At least 1,273 Iraqis killed in October. BAGHDAD (AP) — The United Nations mission in Baghdad says at least 1,273 Iraqis were killed in violence in October, a slight increase compared to last month amid the ongoing assault by the extremist Islamic State group.","Eredivisie leader Ajax beats rival Feyenoord 2-1. AMSTERDAM (AP) — Ajax beat arch rival Feyenoord 2-1 Sunday in Rotterdam to cement its position at the top of the Dutch Eredivisie.","Police halt 1,600 migrants at Spain-Morocco border. Police stopped more than 1,600 migrants trying to cross the border from Morocco into the Spanish territory of Ceuta on Tuesday, an official said. The migrants were the latest in a tide of desperate people trying to breach the frontiers with Ceuta and Melilla, Spanish-held cities perched on the north African coast.","eBay, Facebook and General Motors attract hedge fund buyers. By Svea Herbst-Bayliss (Reuters) - Top U.S. hedge fund managers in the fourth quarter focused on the consumer sector, with investment plays ranging from high-end auction house Sotheby's to eBay Inc , the multinational Internet consumer-to-consumer corporation. General Motors also became the flavor of the quarter with many hedge funds as the U.S. government exited its position. The quarterly disclosures of manager stock holdings, in so-called 13F filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, are always intriguing for investors trying to divine a pattern in what savvy traders are selling and buying. As a result, the public filings don't always present a complete picture of a manager's stock holdings.","Scottish nationalists storm back after referendum defeat. By Andrew Osborn and Alistair Smout LONDON/EDINBURGH (Reuters) - Just weeks after seeing their dream of an independent Scotland wiped out in an historic referendum defeat, Scottish nationalists have turned failure into a revival which could transform British politics at next year's UK general election. The Scottish National Party (SNP) may have failed to persuade voters to back independence from Britain, but appears to be winning the argument that it can do a better job fighting for Scottish interests than Scottish branches of London parties. ...","Mali violence leaves at least 30 Tuaregs dead. Armed men from the ethnic Peul community have massacred at least 30 Tuaregs in a revenge attack in northern Mali, an elected regional official said Friday. Oumar Maiga told AFP the Peul had carried out the attack on Thursday in Tamkoutat, 80 kilometres (50 miles) north of the city of Gao, \"to retaliate against the kidnapping\" of one of their own people. \"Our relatives were killed in cold blood, at least 30 people are dead,\" former regional lawmaker Assarid Ag Imbarcaouane said, while a source in the security forces said those slain included a woman and child. The Tuaregs had been on their way back from a market in two vehicles which were stopped and attacked by the Peul, the security source said.","Cambodia frees activist as ties warm with Thai junta. Cambodia on Tuesday released a jailed Thai activist whose 2011 sentence for spying stoked a long-running diplomatic row with neighboring Thailand that escalated into border skirmishes between rival troops. The pardon for Veera Somkwamkid, an ultra-nationalist jailed for eight years for espionage and trespassing, is the latest move by Prime Minister Hun Sen to develop a relationship with the military running Thailand since a May 22 coup. The gesture appears to be an abrupt change in stance by Hun Sen, a shrewd, veteran politician who caused a stir in 2009 when he offered asylum to Thaksin Shinawatra, a fugitive former Thai premier, whose sister Yingluck Shinawatra led the government toppled by the generals in May. Veera commanded a splinter faction of the \"yellow shirts\", an anti-Thaksin movement once backed by Thailand's conservative establishment and military and reviled by Hun Sen because of its fierce nationalist agenda against Cambodia.","Backlash grows over new India rape outrages. Lucknow (India) (AFP) - Outrage grew in India Friday over two shocking rape cases as the new government said it was planning to set up a special crisis cell to ensure justice for victims of sex attacks. Rights activists and politicians said that the cases highlighted that the authorities in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh were \"not serious\" about tackling sexual crimes. India revised its laws on sex attacks in the wake of the December 2012 gang-rape of a student on a bus in New Delhi which triggered outrage, but they have done little to stem the tide of sex attacks. Police in Uttar Pradesh said on Friday that three people, including a police constable, had been arrested in connection with a sex attack on the two girls in the village of Budaun earlier this week.","Australia, US launch 'needle in haystack' plane search. Australian and American authorities said Tuesday they had begun searching 600,000 square kilometres (230,000 square miles) of the remote Indian Ocean for missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, and conceded it was like looking for a needle in a haystack. The Malaysian government has revealed it believes the jet was deliberately diverted and flew for several hours after leaving its scheduled flight path -- either north towards Central Asia, or towards the southern Indian Ocean. The Australian Maritime Safety Authority has taken charge and emergency response general manager John Young said they were focusing on an area 3,000 kilometres south-west of Perth. \"AMSA has defined a possible search area with information available to us from a range of sources both nationally and internationally,\" he said.","Japan PM Abe considers sales tax hike delay, snap election: media. TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is considering dissolving the lower house of parliament and calling a snap election if he decides to delay a plan to raise the sales tax next year, the Yomiuri newspaper reported. If Abe does dissolve the lower house, an election could be held on Dec. 14 or Dec. 21, the Yomiuri reported on Sunday citing several government and ruling party sources. Abe has also told members of his party's coalition partner of this plan, the Yomiuri said. ...","Aide to China's former security chief ousted. China has placed a former close aide to the country's ex-chief of internal security Zhou Yongkang under investigation, authorities said, heightening speculation that the net is tightening around his former patron. Ji Wenlin, a vice governor of the southern island of Hainan, is being investigated for \"suspected severe violations of disciplines and laws\", the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection -- the party's internal graft watchdog -- said in a one-sentence announcement on its website Tuesday. Ji, 47, was a secretary and close aide to Zhou when he was land resources minister and then party chief of Sichuan province in the southwest in 1998-2002, according to multiple Chinese media reports. It is the latest sign of moves against Zhou, who amassed huge power during his time as China's security chief but retired from his position as a member of the Communist Party's all-powerful Politburo Standing Committee (PSC) in late 2012.","Wales switch North to centre for Australia. London (AFP) - George North is set to start at centre when Wales face Australia in the first of their November internationals at Cardiff's Millennium Stadium on Saturday.","Turkey in talks to free captives in Iraq. ISTANBUL (AP) — An official in the Turkish prime minister's office says that an intensive diplomatic effort is underway to free 80 Turkish citizens held by militants in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul.","Senators urge international monitors in Ukraine. WASHINGTON (AP) — Leading members of Congress are demanding that the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe immediately deploy international monitors to eastern and southern Ukraine.","Tibet bus accident kills 44 people, injures 11: Xinhua. Beijing (AFP) - A tour bus plunged into a Tibetan valley on Saturday after hitting two vehicles, killing 44 people and injuring 11, China's official news agency Xinhua reported.","SOCHI SCENE: The hardware. SOCHI, Russia (AP) — Most Winter Olympic events end much like a horse race: Win, place, show. First, second, third. Gold, silver, bronze.","US Asst Secretary of State 'unwelcome', should leave: Bahrain. Bahrain's foreign ministry said Monday that US Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights and Labour, Tom Malinowski, is \"unwelcome\" in the Sunni-ruled kingdom and should \"leave immediately.\" The ministry accused Malinowski of \"meddling in Bahrain's internal affairs\" by meeting \"with a particular party to the detriment of other interlocutors\", in an apparent reference to the Shiite-led opposition, according to a statement carried by BNA state news agency. State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said Malinowski is in Bahrain -- home base of the US Fifth Fleet -- and \"he remains in Bahrain.\" Bahrain, a strategic archipelago just across the Gulf from Iran, is the home base of the US Fifth Fleet and Washington is a long-standing ally of the ruling Al-Khalifa dynasty.","Oil falls to around $101 after China, Japan data. The price of oil sunk to around $101 on Monday after a surprise drop in China's exports and weaker economic growth in Japan suggested demand for crude could weaken.","Captain Cook gets Broad backing. Stuart Broad insisted Tuesday that Alastair Cook remained the right man to lead England in Test cricket as he all but disclaimed his own chances of leading his country in the five-day game. England recently went down to a 1-0 defeat in a two-Test series at home to Sri Lanka, with Cook's highest score in four innings a meagre 28.","British teen amateur Fitzpatrick ready for pros. Pinehurst (United States) (AFP) - British teen Matthew Fitzpatrick is making his last weekend as an amateur golfer one to remember. The 19-year-old Englishman, who will launch his professional career at next week's Irish Open, has sealed low amateur honors at the US Open by being the only one to make the cut at Pinehurst. \"Overall just happy to make the cut,\" Fitzpatrick said. Fitzpatrick, the reigning US Amateur champion, earned praise and plaudits from his playing partners for the first two days, reigning British Open champion Phil Mickelson and 2013 US Open winner Justin Rose of England.","Li Na moves to No. 2; Peng tops doubles rankings. SINGAPORE (AP) — Li Na set a record for Asian players by rising to a career-high No. 2 in the WTA rankings released Monday, while her compatriot Peng Shuai ensured another first for China by ascending to the top ranking in doubles.","Pakistan's Khan says will not stop protest against prime minister. ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Pakistani opposition leader Imran Khan said on Thursday he and his supporters would not abandon their protest movement against Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and would continue to rally in central Islamabad demanding his resignation. \"I will not leave here. I will not accept this monarchy. I want real democracy,\" Khan told his supporters. \"I know the people of Pakistani will not abandon me.\" (Writing by Maria Golovnina; Editing by Robert Birsel)","EU leaders to hold summit on Ukraine on Thursday. BRUSSELS (Reuters) - European Union leaders will meet in Brussels for an emergency summit on Ukraine on Thursday, European Council President Herman Van Rompuy said on Monday. EU leaders \"will discuss the latest developments in Ukraine and how to facilitate the necessary de-escalation of the situation.\" (Reporting by Robin Emmott; editing by Barbara Lewis)","HSBC paying $550M to resolve mortgage bond claims. WASHINGTON (AP) — Big British bank HSBC has agreed to pay $550 million to resolve U.S. claims that it misled U.S. mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac about risky mortgage securities it sold them before the housing market collapsed in 2007.","NATO pledges close cooperation with Ukraine. BRUSSELS (AP) — NATO has vowed to intensify cooperation with Ukraine after residents in the Crimea peninsula voted overwhelmingly to secede and try to join Russia.","Truce bypasses Donetsk airport, symbol of conflict in eastern Ukraine. By Gabriela Baczynska DONETSK Ukraine (Reuters) - While fighting in much of eastern Ukraine has been calmed by a month-old truce, it rages unabated at the airport near Donetsk, turning a shiny symbol of the country's Western integration into a shattered mirror of its future prospects. The new terminal European soccer fans used in 2012 to reach some of the matches hosted by Ukraine is now a pitted hulk, a strategic target for the pro-Western Kiev government and the rebels pulling the ex-Soviet republic back into Moscow's orbit. The airport sits some 10 km (six miles) from the city center. ...","American-Israeli prisoner killed in jail battle with police. Israeli police shot dead an American-Israeli prisoner on Sunday after he wounded three guards with a pistol at a jail near Tel Aviv, police said. Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said Samuel Sheinbein, serving a 24-year sentence for a 1997 Maryland murder, had shot the three security officers, leaving one critically injured. Israeli security forces \"returned fire and shot and killed the suspect\", Rosenfeld said. Israeli media said Sheinbein, in his early 30s, had barricaded himself inside a bathroom in his cell.","Pochettino confirms Southampton commitment. Southampton manager Mauricio Pochettino said on Thursday that he intends to stay at the club despite the resignation of his ally Nicola Cortese as executive chairman. Speaking in May, Pochettino had declared that he would leave the club if Cortese ever did, but he told reporters on Thursday that he wanted to remain in his position. \"I want to show my gratitude to Nicola Cortese. I am full of gratitude to him,\" Pochettino said.","11 detained in Portugal corruption investigation. LISBON, Portugal (AP) — Portuguese media say police have detained the head of the country's immigration service and several other senior officials in a corruption investigation centered on the granting of residence permits to investors from outside the European Union.","Kerry arrives in Kiev for talks with interim govt. Kiev (AFP) - US Secretary of State John Kerry landed in Kiev on Tuesday for talks with Ukraine's interim government, amid an escalating crisis in Crimea.","Li lays down marker on opening day at Australian Open. By Nick Mulvenney MELBOURNE (Reuters) - China's Li Na started the Australian Open like a woman on a mission on Monday by brutally dispatching Croatian teenager Ana Konjuh 6-2 6-0 in just over an hour. Another former grand slam champion, though, bid an early farewell to the tournament when American Venus Williams blew a 3-0 lead in the deciding set to crash out 2-6 6-4 6-4 at the hands of Russian Ekaterina Makarova. World number one Serena Williams begins her bid for a sixth Melbourne Park title against local Ash Barty on Rod Laver Arena later on Monday and Novak Djokovic kicks off his campaign for a fourth straight title against Lukas Lacko in the first evening match on the main showcourt.","US sanctions Islamic State group's spokesman. WASHINGTON (AP) — The spokesman for the Islamic State group, whose rapid offensive in Iraq has triggered U.S. airstrikes, was designated as a terrorist on Monday by the State Department.","Wes Anderson's new movie kicks off Berlin fest. BERLIN (AP) — The annual Berlin International Film Festival is opening with a trip back to pre-World War II Europe as Wes Anderson presents his new movie, \"The Grand Budapest Hotel.\"","Families of German MH17 victims to sue Ukraine: lawyer. BERLIN (Reuters) - Survivors of German victims of Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 downed over Ukraine plan to sue the country and its president for manslaughter by negligence in 298 cases, the lawyer representing them said on Sunday. Professor of aviation law Elmar Giemulla, who is representing three families of German victims, said that under international law Ukraine should have closed its air space if it could not guarantee the safety of flights. \"Each state is responsible for the security of its air space,\" Giemulla said in a statement emailed to Reuters. ...","MH370: What do we know? What will we ever know?. BANGKOK (AP) — At the time — the evening of March 24 — it seemed like the breakthrough the world was waiting for.","Rocket fire from Syria kills seven in Lebanese border town. By Rami Bleibel HERMEL, Lebanon (Reuters) - Rocket fire from Syria killed at least seven people in the Lebanese border town of Arsal and wounded 15 on Friday, Lebanon's state news agency said. At least 20 rockets launched from across the border struck Lebanese frontier areas, according to the Lebanese army, in further spillover from Syria's civil war, which has raised tensions across Lebanon. Lebanon, itself shattered by civil war from 1975 to 1990, has been struggling to keep itself out of the nearly three-year conflict raging in its much larger neighbor, where more than 100,000 people have been killed. But with sectarian sympathies aligning different Lebanese groups with Syria's warring parties, spillover has become increasingly frequent.","Clerics urge calm before Monday's rally in divided Kenya. By Edmund Blair NAIROBI (Reuters) - Religious leaders in Kenya have urged calm ahead of an opposition rally next week that threatens to stoke tension in a nation scarred by political violence in the recent past. Raila Odinga, the main rival Uhuru Kenyatta defeated in last year's presidential election, has set a deadline of Monday for the government to meet a demand for dialogue over militant attacks, corruption, a slow economy and other grievances. Kenyatta's aides accuse Odinga, a veteran former prime minister, of trying to engineer a crisis to claw his way back to power - a charge the opposition leader denies.","China urges public to walk, ride bikes to help cut smog. China has issued a \"behavioural standards\" guide to combat pollution and reduce environmental damage, urging people to do everything from walking and riding bicycles to buying goods with less packaging. Amendments to the country's Environmental Protection Law, passed on April, made it an obligation for all Chinese citizens to protect the environment. A local government study showed in April that 31 percent of the smog in China's capital Beijing is derived from vehicles, 22.4 percent from coal burning and 18.1 percent from industry. Beijing's environmental bureau said 14.1 percent was made up of other smaller sources like food preparation, livestock rearing and vehicle repairs.","Canada third-quarter current account deficit shrinks to C$8.40 billion. OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canada's current account deficit in the third quarter unexpectedly narrowed to C$8.40 billion ($7.43 billion), its best performance in six years, Statistics Canada data indicated on Thursday. Market operators had forecast a deficit of C$11.10 billion. Statscan revised the second quarter deficit to C$9.91 billion from an initial C$11.87 billion. The data were the latest in a string of figures suggesting the Canadian economy is starting to pick up speed after a period of sluggish growth. Canada posted a C$3. ...","East Asia tensions on display at Security Council. UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Tensions between Japan and its neighbors are flaring at a U.N. Security Council debate.","Belgium's young guns set to dazzle at the World Cup. Belo Horizonte (Brazil) (AFP) - Belgium's vibrant young team are preparing to launch their World Cup campaign against Algeria on Tuesday with competition hotting up on the training pitch ahead of the Group H clash. Seen as dark horses to lift the trophy, the richly talented squad is blessed with players such as Chelsea playmaker Eden Hazard, powerful striker Romelu Lukaku and Manchester City defender Vincent Kompany.","Russia Ups the Ante in Crimea by Sending in the ‘Night Wolves’. On Friday afternoon, the regular flight from Moscow touched down in the Crimean capital of Simferopol, in the south of Ukraine, carrying the leader of a Russian motorcycle gang known as the Night Wolves. Alexander Zoldostanov, an old friend of Russian President Vladimir Putin, was wearing his usual get-up – a flaming wolf’s head stenciled onto his black leather vest – but for once he was not the most intimidating figure on the scene. Since the morning, dozens of masked troops had been sauntering around Crimea’s main airport, armed to the teeth but refusing to identify themselves. They were sending a signal to the revolutionary government in Ukraine that there were no longer in charge on this peninsula.","Pistorius argued with cop who touched his gun, friend says. By Lynette Ndabambi PRETORIA (Reuters) - South African track star Oscar Pistorius had a row with a policeman who picked up his gun after pulling over his friend for speeding, saying \"You can't just touch another man's gun,\" the friend told his murder trial on Tuesday. Pistorius, a double amputee, is accused of murdering girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp on Valentine's Day last year. His friend, Darren Fresco, told the court in Pretoria that he had been driving south of Johannesburg in September 2012 when Pistorius, nicknamed \"Bladerunner\" for his carbon fiber prosthetics, and his then girlfriend Samantha Taylor were flagged down. \"Another officer went over to the passenger seat where Oscar Pistorius was sitting and he picked up a gun.","Former Chinese military leader to be prosecuted. BEIJING (AP) — A former top Chinese general has been expelled from the ruling Communist Party to face bribery charges, becoming the most senior figure ensnared yet in a sweeping anti-corruption crackdown.","Versatile Ter Mors leads another Dutch Sochi sweep. SOCHI, Russia (AP) — Jorien ter Mors led another Dutch sweep in Olympic speedskating, beating favorite Ireen Wust in the women's 1,500 meters Sunday and setting up a shot at becoming the first skater to win medals in both long and short track.","Solomons town first in Pacific to relocate due climate change. Under threat from rising sea levels and tsunamis, the authorities of a provincial capital in the Solomon Islands have decided to relocate from a small island in the first such case in the Pacific islands. Choiseul, a township of around 1,000 people on Taro Island, a coral atoll in Choiseul Bay, is less than two meters (6.6 feet) above sea level. Aware of these risks, communities in Choiseul Bay consulted a team of engineers, scientists and planners, funded by the Australian government, on how best to adapt to the impact of climate change. Philip Haines, project manager for BMT WBM, an international consultancy that worked on the strategy, said relocation was the only option that would keep the community safe but it would take \"many decades\" to complete.","Barcelona great Amor to help Australia's Adelaide. ADELAIDE, Australia (AP) — Barcelona great Guillermo Amor has agreed to spend a month as a consulting coach with Australian A-League side Adelaide United.","Rosberg triumphs as Hamilton loses vision, lead and more. Monte Carlo (Monaco) (AFP) - Nico Rosberg turned his controversial pole position on Saturday into a faultless victory on Sunday when his Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton lost both his vision and his lead in the driversâ championship. As mounting attention on their rivalry created a tense atmosphere around the Mercedes team, Rosberg delivered a flawless demonstration of speed, race-craft and good manners to claim a second successive triumph in the Monaco Grand Prix. His victory enabled him to regain momentum in the title race and, significantly after a difficult weekend, left Hamilton struggling in his wake, on and off the circuit. Having set himself the goal of claiming his maiden pole and a second victory on the streets of the Mediterranean principality, the 2008 winner Hamilton completed his day by not only fending off charging Daniel Ricciardo, of Red Bull, to keep second place, but also ducking probing questions in a post-race news conference.","Puerto Rico labor market statistics to be revised. SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — A researcher with New York's Federal Reserve Bank says Puerto Rico's labor market may not be as weak as previously believed.","NKorean cinema: Kidnappings and evil Americans. SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea hates the Hollywood film that revolves around the assassination of its beloved leader, but the country has had a long love affair with cinema — of its own particular styling.","British basketball gets funding boost. LONDON (AP) — British basketball is to receive nearly $2 million of government and lottery funding for its men's and women's teams through 2017.","Egypt 'uncovers Brotherhood military wing'. Egypt's interior ministry said Sunday it had broken up a \"military wing\" of the Muslim Brotherhood, allegedly formed to attack policemen, in the most detailed accusation yet implicating the group in militant attacks. The Brotherhood, the group of ousted Islamist president Mohamed Morsi, says it rejected violence decades ago and believes in peaceful protest against the new, military-installed government. The government designated it a terrorist organisation in December after the suicide car bombing of a police headquarters that killed 15 people without offering any proof of the Brotherhood's involvement in the attack. The interior ministry said on Sunday it uncovered a cell organised by a Brotherhood leader that killed five policemen in an attack on a checkpoint south of Cairo last month.","South Korea president says conduct of ferry crew tantamount to murder. By Ju-min Park JINDO, South Korea (Reuters) - South Korean President Park Geun-hye said on Monday the actions of the captain and crew of a ferry that sank last week with hundreds feared dead were tantamount to murder, as authorities arrested four more officers of the vessel. Captain Lee Joon-seok, 69, and two other crew members were arrested last week on negligence charges, with prosecutors announcing four further arrests - two first mates, one second mate and a chief engineer - on Monday. Lee, the captain, said in a promotional video four years ago that the journey from the port city of Incheon to the holiday island of Jeju was safe - as long as passengers followed the instructions of the crew. He also told a newspaper that he had been involved in a sea accident off Japan years before.","EDF Energy says shuts down nuclear reactors in Britain. EDF Energy, the British unit of French giant EDF, said on Monday it had decided to shut down four nuclear reactors at two plants in northern England as a precaution. EDF Energy said it was shutting down two reactors at each of the Heysham and Hartlepool nuclear plants for at least about eight weeks. The decision to shut down an additional three reactors was described as a \"conservative decision\" in a statement issued by EDF Energy. It comes as Britain's government is placing nuclear power at the heart of its low-carbon energy policy, in stark contrast to Europe's biggest economy Germany, which vowed to phase it out in the wake of Japan's 2011 Fukushima disaster.","Bjoerndalen wins 7th career Olympic gold in sprint. KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia (AP) — Ole Einar Bjoerndalen of Norway won the men's 10-kilometer sprint Saturday at the Sochi Games for his seventh career Olympic gold medal.","Apple shares to be fueled by new iPhone: Barron's. (Reuters) - Apple Inc shares could rise by 20 percent over the next year, fueled by sales of a new version of its iPhone smartphone that is expected to have a bigger screen, according to an article in the March 24 edition of Barron's. The iPhone 6, expected in late summer or fall, is certain to have a bigger screen than earlier versions, which could give iPhone users a major reason to upgrade or win back people who switched to other devices, according to the article. The article notes that Apple shares currently trade at a deep discount to the market.","British skating greats Dean and Torvill back in Sarajevo. British skating legends Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean were returning Thursday to the ice rink where their performance of Maurice Ravel's Bolero brought them an Olympic Gold three decades ago. \"We are so honoured to celebrate our 30th year since the Olympics, to be able to come back to the place where our lives changed,\" Dean told reporters. Dean said that for him and Torvill, Sarajevo's sports hall Zetra was a \"hallowed ground.\" On February 14, 1984, Torvill and Dean became the first pair to receive top marks from all nine judges at the Olympics finals in Sarajevo.","Gray brothers lift Scotland against Argentina. Edinburgh (AFP) - Brothers Richie and Jonny Gray paved the way for Scotland's first home win against Argentina for 24 years, marking their first game of rugby alongside one another with their country's opening two tries in what was ultimately a convincing 41-31 victory.","Strong quake shakes Thailand, Myanmar. BANGKOK (AP) — A strong earthquake has shaken wide areas of northern Thailand and Myanmar. There were no immediate reports of injuries or serious damage.","Police: Plane escorted by UK air force after reports of device on board lands safely. LONDON (AP) — Police: Plane escorted by UK air force after reports of device on board lands safely.","Queen Elizabeth II praises workers who fight Ebola. LONDON (AP) — Queen Elizabeth II will use her traditional Christmas broadcast to call for international reconciliation and to praise medical workers fighting Ebola in Africa.","Rosberg ahead of Hamilton in Brazilian GP practice. SAO PAULO (AP) — Nico Rosberg was faster than Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton in the final practice for the Brazilian Grand Prix on Saturday.","U.S. offers assistance to Turkey after mine disaster. The United States offered assistance to the Turkish government on Wednesday after a mine disaster that killed at least 238 people. The explosion and fire at a mine in Soma, Turkey, is likely to be Turkey's worst ever industrial disaster. \\\\\"Our thoughts and prayers are with the people of Turkey today in the wake of a coal mine explosion in Soma in which some 200 have been killed and hundreds more remain trapped,\\\\\" White House spokesman Jay Carney said. Carney said Turkey is a close friend and ally of the United States.","EU leaders make concessions to Britain after Juncker vote. European Union leaders offered political concessions to Britain after outvoting Prime Minister David Cameron on Friday over the nomination of Jean-Claude Juncker as European Commission president, EU and British officials said. The leaders added a paragraph to their final summit statement saying Britain's concerns about the future direction of the EU \"will need to be addressed\", and that the concept of \"ever closer union\" in EU treaties allowed for different paths of integration for different countries. They also said they would review the process for appointing the head of the EU executive once the new Commission was in place, a nod to Cameron's objection that the European Parliament had effectively grabbed the nomination power from EU leaders.","Murray hopes for crowd support in London. LONDON (AP) — Playing in England for the first time since coming out in favor of Scottish independence, Andy Murray is hoping he won't get rejected by fans.","GameSpot World of Warcraft: Warlords of Draenor ANZ Beta Key Giveaway. Australian and New Zealand fans can redeem a free key to the Warlords of Draenor beta!","Mexican vigilante movement dismisses spokesman. MEXICO CITY (AP) — Vigilantes who have spent the last year beating back a drug cartel in Mexico said Thursday they have dismissed their chief spokesman after he used unusually blunt language to challenge President Enrique Pena Nieto.","21 dead in Nigeria football viewing centre blast. Kano (Nigeria) (AFP) - At least 21 people were killed when an explosion ripped through a viewing centre showing World Cup football in Damaturu, northern Nigeria, a medical source told AFP on Wednesday. \"We received 21 dead bodies and 27 injured victims from the blast,\" the source at the Sani Abacha Specialist Hospital after the explosion in the Nayi-Nama area of the city on Tuesday night. The blast was the latest in a series at football viewing centres in Nigeria blamed on Boko Haram militants, who have been waging a deadly insurgency in the country's north since 2009. Football is Nigeria's national sport and has a fanatical following but recent blasts targeting fans in northeastern Adamawa and the central state of Plateau have seen the authorities close big screen venues on security grounds.","Israeli peace activist Ron Pundak dead at 59. Ron Pundak, a longtime peace activist and architect of the 1993 Oslo agreement between Israel and the Palestinians, died at home of cancer Friday, aged 59, Haaretz daily reported. In the early 1990s, with the approval of then foreign minister Shimon Peres, Pundak and fellow Israeli academic Yair Hirschfeld forged a secret channel of communications with the Palestine Liberation Organisation in Norway, at a time when such links were illegal for Israelis. \"The secret channel, nicknamed 'the academic talks,' which took place in an Oslo research centre with the approval of Norway's government, eventually led to the Oslo peace process,\" wrote Haaretz. Peres, now Israel's president, called him \"a warrior for peace until his last breath\" in a statement Friday.","Killers of South African politician Hani attacked in prison. The convicted killers of South African anti-apartheid hero Chris Hani were attacked by a fellow inmate wielding a kitchen spoon, a correctional services spokesman said on Wednesday. Clive Derby-Lewis and Janus Walus suffered head and hand injuries after they were attacked by an inmate at a Pretoria prison, spokesman Manelisi Wolela said in a statement. His murder threatened to derail South Africa's transition from white minority rule to multi-racial democracy, leading to riots across the country and triggering fears of a civil war. Walus, a Polish immigrant to South Africa, shot Hani dead outside his home.","British detective writer P. D. James dies aged 94: publisher. London (AFP) - British detective writer P. D. James, who was best known for her mystery series featuring policeman and poet Adam Dalgliesh, died on Thursday at the age of 94.","British court orders Richard III to be buried in Leicester. Britain's High Court ordered on Friday that king Richard III should be buried in a cathedral in Leicester, the city where his remains were found under a car park two years ago. Descendants of the infamous ruler, who died in battle in 1485, had fought for his remains to be buried in York Minster, in the northern city that gave its name to Richard's royal house. But the court ruled that there was no reason that Richard, who was immortalised as one of Shakespeare's greatest villains, should not be buried in Leicester. \"It is time for Richard III to be given a dignified reburial, and finally laid to rest,\" the judges said in their ruling.","Inter held 0-0 at home by Udinese in Serie A. MILAN (AP) — Inter Milan struggled at the San Siro again in a 0-0 draw with Udinese on Thursday in Serie A, as the visitors' 17-year-old goalkeeper Simone Scuffet blocked out the Nerazzurri.","Pussy Riot mocks Russia's Olympics in music video. By Alissa de Carbonnel SOCHI, Russia (Reuters) - Protest group Pussy Riot published their first music video since two members were freed from jail, mocking President Vladimir Putin's hosting of the Olympics as a public relations stunt papering over human rights violations in Russia. Filmed in Sochi, where the February 7-23 Winter Games are being held, the video shows five group members being beaten by Cossacks with a whip as they try to perform a song beside a wall covered in the Sochi Games logos. Maria Alyokhina and Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, who spent nearly two years in prison for protesting against Putin in a church, performed in the video released on Thursday, titled \"Putin will teach you how to love the motherland.\" \"Sochi is blocked - Olympic surveillance / Special forces, weapons, crowds of cops,\" read the song's lyrics.","Spanish bulls in historic knockout victory. MADRID (AP) — Spanish bulls have scored a symbolic victory at Madrid's prestigious Las Ventas ring by injuring three matadors and forcing organizers to call off the bullfight.","Fast bowler Harris hailed hero as Australians prevail. Ryan Harris was acclaimed Thursday as one of Australia's finest bowlers after spearheading his country to a dramatic late series victory over South Africa in Cape Town. Veteran paceman Harris bowled Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel in the space of three balls as Australia won the match as well as the series by two Tests to one. \"Late-bloomer Ryan Harris entrenched his reputation as one of the finest bowlers seen in Australia since at least the turn of the century by delivering the two wickets Australia needed to win the deciding Test and claim the series,\" Fairfax Media's Jesse Hogan wrote.","US, EU stiffen sanctions against Russia over Ukraine. The United States and Europe significantly strengthened sanctions on Moscow over Ukraine Wednesday, with Washington for the first time directly targeting Russia's banking, military and energy sectors. The new blows against Russia deepened the most serious standoff between Moscow and the West since the end of the Cold War, as fighting between the Kiev government and pro-Russian separatists threatened to escalate into all-out civil war. Kiev reported the deaths of 11 more servicemen overnight and warned that Russia had deployed thousands of troops along its entire border with Ukraine in preparation for a possible invasion.","McCullum's 202 leads NZ to 388-2 vs. Pakistan. SHARJAH, United Arab Emirates (AP) — New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum hit a whirlwind double century and shared a record-breaking 297-run stand with century-maker Kane Williamson to put the Black Caps firmly in control of the final test against Pakistan on Saturday.","Thai military ruler apologizes for bikini comment. BANGKOK (AP) — Thailand's military ruler has apologized for suggesting that foreigners visiting the country's world-famous beaches would be unsafe wearing bikinis after two British tourists were killed this week.","El Nino chances exceed 65 pct during summer -U.S. weather forecaster. The chances have increased over the past month that the much-feared El Nino weather phenomenon may strike in the Northern Hemisphere during the remainder of the year, the federal U.S. forecaster said Thursday. In its monthly report, the Climate Prediction Center, an agency of the National Weather Service, upped the likelihood of the conditions developing during the remainder the year, raising it to more than 65 percent during the summer. In April, it boosted El Nino chances above 50 percent. Global weather forecasters in recent months have increased the likelihood of El Nino, a warming of sea-surface temperatures in the Pacific, heightening uncertainty in global commodity and energy markets.","Health workers strike at Sierra Leone Ebola hospital. Health workers have gone on strike at a major state-run Ebola treatment center in Sierra Leone, over pay and poor working conditions, hospital staff told Reuters on Saturday. Sierra Leone's government is struggling to cope with the worst Ebola outbreak in history, that has killed more than 1,550 people across West Africa, with the rate of infection still rising. \"The workers decided to stop working because we have not been paid our allowances and we lack some tools,\" said Ishmael Mehemoh, chief supervisor at the clinic in the city of Kenema, in the country's east. Clothing to protect health workers being infected is inadequate and there is only one broken stretcher which is used to carry both patients and corpses, Mehemoh added.","US: Chinese economy should wean from cheap labor model. The United States on Wednesday said China needs to move away from its cheap labor and export-focused economy to maintain growth in the years ahead. US Treasury Under Secretary for International Affairs Nathan Sheets also said Europe and Japan need to take action to boost domestic demand and further a global \"rebalancing\" that would help growth in countries which run chronic trade deficits. \"The historical record highlights that some countries have been able to engineer policies -- particularly policies to suppress domestic consumption -- that have allowed their current account balances to remain in meaningful surplus for long periods,\" Sheets said in a speech at the National Press Club in Washington. He noted that China's powerful expansion over the past three decades was deeply founded on abundant cheap labor, massive investment and a focus on the export industry.","U.N. climate fund sets November goal for first cash pledges. (Reuters) - The U.N. funding vehicle for helping developing nations tackle climate change has set a November goal to receive its first round of cash pledges, a move hailed as a major step towards a global pact in 2015. The 24-strong board of the Green Climate Fund, set up to help channel at least $100 billion a year by 2020 from governments and the private sector, set a loose deadline after agreeing several procedural steps during four days of talks in Songdo, South Korea. Getting money flowing towards schemes such as building solar power plants or deploying flood management systems is seen as crucial to getting over 130 developing nations to sign a U.N. climate pact in late 2015. Environmental campaigners and investor groups said this week's meeting put the fund on track to be active ahead of December's U.N. climate talks in Lima, Peru and to start deploying cash by early next year.","Islamic State video wages psychological war on Iraqi soldiers. By Michael Georgy BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Islamic State, the al Qaeda spin-off that seized wide swathes of Iraq almost unopposed last month, has released a video warning Iraqi soldiers who may still have some fight in them that they risk being rounded up en masse and executed. Iraq's army unraveled when the Sunni insurgents staged a lightning advance through northern towns and cities, building on territory their comrades captured earlier in the west of the country, a major OPEC oil producer. Thousands of soldiers fled, prompting Iraq's top cleric to call on compatriots to take up arms against the radical faction that has declared a mediaeval-style caliphate in parts of Iraq and Syria and aims to march on the capital Baghdad. The 30-minute video clip, circulated during the holiday that marks the end of the fasting month of Ramadan, sheds light on what tactics the Islamic State is likely to employ as it presses ahead with its campaign.","UBS profit beats forecasts after big tax benefit. UBS swung to a larger-than-expected fourth-quarter profit, bolstered by a large tax benefit and its investment bank, which returned to the black. Switzerland's biggest bank said on Tuesday net profit for the quarter stood at 917 million Swiss francs ($1.02 billion), including a 470 million franc benefit from deferring its taxes. The net profit figure, compared to a 1.89 billion franc loss a year ago, is nearly three times the 354 million francs analysts expected according to a Reuters poll of 16 banks and brokerages. UBS said the earnings will allow it to pay shareholders 0.25 Swiss francs a share for the year, two-thirds more than in 2012.","Israeli mom of missing teen pleads for UN to help. GENEVA (AP) — The mother of one of three teenagers missing from settlements in the West Bank is pleading with the United Nations and the world to do more to help find the three boys.","Egypt proposes that Israelis-Hamas cease-fire. CAIRO (AP) — Egypt is proposing a temporary cease-fire as a first step in ending the latest Israeli-Palestinian conflict that has left more than 175 people dead.","Italy court overturns ban on egg or sperm donation. ROME (AP) — Italy's constitutional court has struck down a ban on egg or sperm donation for infertile couples.","Biden calls Iraq's al-Maliki about insurgent attacks. U.S. Vice President Joe Biden spoke with Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki on Monday to express support for Iraq's fight against al Qaeda-linked militants, a message Biden repeated in another call on Monday with Osama al-Nujaifi, speaker of the Iraqi Council of Representatives, the White House said. \"The Vice President expressed concern for those Iraqis who are suffering at the hands of terrorists and praised the recent security cooperation between Iraqi Security Forces and local and tribal forces in Anbar province,\" the White House said in a statement. The White House said that the United States is accelerating its deliveries of military equipment to Iraq to help the country fight the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).","After truce, rockets fired at Israel from Gaza. JERUSALEM (AP) — The Israeli military says Gaza militants have fired a barrage of at least five rockets at southern Israel shortly after a three-day truce between Israel and Hamas expired.","PAOK beats OFI 4-0 to top Greek league standings. ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Razvan Rat scored twice to lead PAOK to an easy 4-0 win over OFI in the Greek league Sunday to take sole position of first place.","Canada police intensify manhunt after 3 police officers shot dead. By David Ljunggren OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canadian police mounted a massive hunt on Thursday for a 24-year-old man armed with high-powered weapons who they suspect shot dead three police officers and wounded two more in the eastern city of Moncton. The incident was one of the worst of its kind in Canada, where fatal attacks on police are rare. A large armored police truck entered the area early on Thursday morning and a helicopter hovered overhead. Police told residents not to tweet the locations of officers for fear they could be helping the suspect, who they named as Justin Bourque.","Nepal blizzard, avalanche death toll rises to 29. KATMANDU, Nepal (AP) — Rescuers widened their search Friday for trekkers stranded since a series of blizzards and avalanches battered the Himalayas in northern Nepal early this week, leaving at least 29 foreigners and locals dead, officials said.","Kyrgyzstan grants gold mine operating permits to Centerra. Kyrgyzstan has granted a gold mine operating permit to Canada's Centerra Gold, barely making the deadline for a threatened shutdown of operations. Centerra had previously warned that it would shutter the Kumtor Gold Mine if the proper permits were not granted by June 13. \"Centerra Gold Inc. is pleased to announce that it has received the necessary approval of its 2014 Kumtor mine plan from the relevant Kyrgyz Republic agencies,\" it said in a statement.","Stocks fall across the globe on emerging-market fears, but Wall Street resists another rout. NEW YORK, N.Y. - Stock markets fell across the globe on Monday, but it wasn't another rout on Wall Street.","$1.1 trillion spending bill has dozens of trade-offs between Democrats and Republicans. WASHINGTON - The sales job is on for a bipartisan $1.1 trillion spending bill that would pay for the operations of government through October and finally put to rest the bitter budget battles of last year.","'Manager eater' dining out at once-mighty Leeds. Hours into his tenure as the latest Leeds manager, Neil Redfearn was watching the team lose when he heard the inevitable chant from opposition fans.","Djokovic ready to return from wrist injury in Rome. ROME (AP) — Novak Djokovic is ready to return from the right wrist injury that forced him to withdraw from the Madrid Open a week ago.","India's top court stays execution of two Delhi gang-rapists. India's Supreme Court on Saturday stayed the death sentence of two of four men convicted of the fatal gang-rape of a student in New Delhi, an attack that shocked the country and sparked weeks of protests. The court suspended the execution of the two men, Mukesh Singh and Pawan Gupta, while an appeal is heard and asked authorities to \"communicate the order to prison authorities\". The court held an emergency weekend sitting to hear the motion for the stay of execution. The two, Gupta and Singh, appealed to the Supreme Court after the High Court upheld earlier in the week the death penalty handed to the four men convicted of the gang rape last September.","China cracks down on medication of schoolchildren. BEIJING (AP) — China's education ministry has ordered a nationwide investigation into whether schools are giving students medication without permission after a protest by parents of kindergarteners who were given an anti-flu drug.","S.Africa's ANC in damage control over Zuma home upgrades. South Africa's ruling ANC sought Thursday to limit the damage from a damning ombudsman's report which ruled that multi-million dollar state-funded upgrades to President Jacob Zuma's private home were unlawful. There was a scathing media reaction to the report, which described the $23 million spent on renovations at Zuma's country homestead as excessive and ordered him to repay some of the costs. The African National Congress, whose popularity is flagging ahead of May 7 elections, said officials implicated in the scandal should be called to account and misspent money repaid. \"All public office bearers, officials and private sector companies involved in any maladministration must be brought to book, and all funds that were acquired inappropriately must be recovered,\" said ANC secretary general Gwede Mantashe.","No 'betrayal of US' argument for marathon suspect. BOSTON (AP) — A federal judge ruled Wednesday that \"betrayal of the United States\" should not be a factor in considering whether Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev gets the death penalty if convicted.","Canada court strikes down limits on refugee claimant health care. By Randall Palmer OTTAWA (Reuters) - A top Canadian court on Friday invalidated the Conservative government's decision to limit health coverage for many people in the country making refugee claims, declaring the federal action to have been shocking and outrageous. The policy change in 2012 amounted to \"cruel and unusual\" punishment, particularly as it affected children brought in to Canada by their parents, and therefore were unconstitutional, Federal Court Justice Anne Mactavish ruled. \"The cuts to health insurance coverage effected through the 2012 modifications ... potentially jeopardize the health, and indeed the very lives, of these innocent and vulnerable children in a manner that shocks the conscience and outrages our standards of decency,\" she decided. It was the latest major court ruling against Conservative government policies.","16 years in prison for man in NYC terror bomb plot. NEW YORK (AP) — An al-Qaida sympathizer who admitted trying to build pipe bombs in a New York City basement and aiming to blow up police stations or military installations has been sentenced to 16 years in prison.","U.S. says has fresh Russia sanctions 'ready to go'. The United States said on Wednesday it has fresh sanctions ready to impose on Russia if Moscow does not take steps to de-escalate tensions with Ukraine, including halting the flow of fighters and arms to Ukrainian separatists. A senior U.S. official said on Friday Washington and the European Union had intensified talks about \"scalpel\" sanctions on Russia's financial, defense and high-tech industries as more Russian military material has flowed into Ukraine. The U.S. State Department declined to provide details on what kinds of sanctions might be imposed.","Thai army helicopter crashes in north, kills 5. BANGKOK (AP) — A Thai army spokesman says a helicopter carrying a deputy regional army commander and eight other officers has crashed and at least five people were killed.","Jailed Mafia godfather hospitalised in Milan. Jailed former Sicilian Mafia boss Bernardo Provenzano has been taken to hospital in Milan from a maximum security prison suffering from \"neurological pathologies\", Italian media reported on Wednesday. \"For the umpteenth time, his relatives and his defence lawyers are finding out news about Provenzano from the press,\" his lawyer Rosalba Di Gregorio is quoted as saying.","Russian, Ukrainian leaders may meet in Normandy. OUISTREHAM, France (AP) — A day before his inauguration, Ukraine's incoming president was attending the same D-Day commemorations as Russian President Vladimir Putin, with all eyes on the possibility that the two men might meet.","Kerry called Cuban counterpart about Gross: U.S. official. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry made four telephone calls to Cuba's foreign minister over the summer and the talks were exclusively focused on detained American aid worker Alan Gross, a senior U.S. administration official said on Wednesday. The Vatican played a key role in facilitating conversations on Gross, including during recent talks with Kerry in Rome, the official said. (Reporting by Lesley Wroughton; Writing by Doina Chiacu; Editing by Paul Simao)","China's Fan easily qualifies in 500 short track. SOCHI, Russia (AP) — Fan Kexin of China advanced to the semifinals of the women's 500-meter Olympic short track event Thursday.","Headhunters can play role in boosting women in UK boardrooms: review. The independent review by Charlotte Sweeney, a diversity consultant, made 10 recommendations to increase the number of women on the boards of Britain's biggest companies. \"The headhunting community is a crucial catalyst to introduce more capable women in the boardroom,\" said Business Secretary Vince Cable, who commissioned the review. \"However, they can often be one of the first hurdles that talented, board-ready women face when trying to reach the top, so I welcome any efforts to improve the transparency of the industry.\" The review called on headhunting firms to share gender ratio statistics with the government at all stages of recruitment so that it can assess how successfully its gender equality \"code of conduct\", set out in a 2011 review and signed up to by 70 search firms, is being implemented. The 2011 government review, by former trade minister Lord Mervyn Davies, said all FTSE 100 companies should aim for at least a quarter of their boards to be comprised of women by 2015, though it stopped short of advocating enforced quotas.","Hundreds of striking lawyers rally in Serbia. BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — Serbia's striking lawyers are asking for European Union help to resolve a three-month old dispute with the government that has practically paralyzed the judiciary in the Balkan country seeking to join the bloc.","Egypt convicts 4 policemen over killings of 37 Islamists, sentences one officer to 10 years. CAIRO (AP) — Egypt convicts 4 policemen over killings of 37 Islamists, sentences one officer to 10 years.","Ukraine says helicopter hit on ground near Slaviansk. A Ukrainian military helicopter was hit by gunfire while on the ground on Friday at an airfield near the rebel-held eastern city of Slaviansk and caught fire, wounding the pilot, security and military officials said. Vasyl Krutov, the head of the government's joint operations Anti-Terrorism Centre (ATC), told a news conference in Kiev that a sniper bullet hit the fuel tank of the Mi-8 transport aircraft at Kramatorsk, causing an explosion.","Iran offers to help Iraq in fight against al-Qaida. TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — A senior Iranian military official says Iran is ready to help Iraq battle al-Qaida \"terrorists\" in the neighboring country's Sunni-dominated western Anbar province.","Sri Lanka's Sangakkara closes on batting record. CHITTAGONG, Bangladesh (AP) — Sri Lanka's Kumar Sangakkara hit an unbeaten 90 on Friday to close in on the single-test run-scoring record as the visitors reached 195-3 in their second innings at tea on the fourth day of the second test against Bangladesh.","Turkish activists charged over protests. ISTANBUL (AP) — Turkey's state-run news agency says a prosecutor in Istanbul has charged five prominent activists involved in last year's anti-government protests with forming a criminal gang, staging illegal demonstrations and public provocation. They face maximum 13 years in prison if convicted.","Virgin America airline flight attendants vote to approve union. SEATTLE (Reuters) - Flight attendants at Virgin America airlines approved representation by the Transport Workers of America union, with 58 percent voting in favor, the union said on Wednesday, citing a National Mediation Board tally. The decision ends the last non-union U.S. airline and marks the first union at Virgin America, based near San Francisco and started by entrepreneur Richard Branson. (Reporting by Alwyn Scott; Editing by James Dalgleish)","Saturday court appearance for Benghazi suspect. WASHINGTON (AP) — The Libyan militant charged in the 2012 Benghazi attacks faces his first court appearance amid tight security at the federal courthouse in Washington.","Singapore's Tiger Airways orders Airbus jets valued at $3.8 billion. Singapore's Tiger Airways Holdings Ltd has placed an order for 37 Airbus A320neo aircraft valued at $3.8 billion at list prices, taking delivery of the planes from 2018 to 2025, the carrier said in a statement on Monday. Tiger said an existing order for nine Airbus A320 aircraft, part of a larger order agreed in 2007, will now be cancelled. The long-term fleet renewal and expansion comes as Tiger, which is about 40 percent-owned by Singapore Airlines Ltd , takes steps to try to prevent a third straight year of losses.","Fighting rages in Ukraine eastern town, up to 35 rebels reported killed. Ukrainian troops and pro-Russian separatists fought gunbattles in the eastern town of Donetsk for a second day on Tuesday, and one rebel said separatists may have lost up to 35 of their number killed in the government military offensive. The death toll could not be independently confirmed, but Reuters journalists saw blood-spattered and bullet-riddled hulks of trucks normally used to carry fighters, indicating casualties. Ukraine used air strikes and a paratroop assault on Monday to clear rebels from Donetsk's international airport and had pushed the separatists out of the complex by the end of the day. The separatists, supporting the leadership of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic (DNR), conceded on Tuesday some of their number had been killed in the government offensive launched on Monday after Ukraine had elected a new president in a poll which the separatists disrupted in the east.","Residents evacuated after mudslide topples Utah home. By Jennifer Dobner SALT LAKE CITY (Reuters) - A mudslide toppled one home in Utah on Tuesday and forced the evacuation of 20 others and a tennis club below a hillside that city officials said had already shown signs of stress. The mudslide appears to be 200- to 300-feet wide and roughly the same length, said Len Arave, mayor of North Salt Lake, a community about eight miles north of Salt Lake City. Rocks and dirt from the slope began moving early on Tuesday, the mayor told Reuters, crashing through one house and damaging a retaining wall and the Eagle Ridge Tennis and Swim Club next door. The mudslide started about 12 hours after a heavy summer storm dumped almost an inch of rain on the area in one hour, said Mike Conger, a National Weather Service meteorologist.","Israel charges two Jews over racist attacks. A 16-year-old arrested earlier this month for scrawling graffiti on and smashing the door and windows of a dentist's practice in Yokneam, an Arab Druze town in northern Israel, was charged on Thursday, the ministry said. On Wednesday, prosecutors filed charges against Adir Yosef, 26, for damaging an Arab-owned car in Yokneam earlier in May. According to the charge sheet, Yosef's alleged felony was part of a wave of 14 racist crimes that took place in and around Yokneam over the past three months. So-called price tag attacks are nationalist-motivated hate crimes by Jewish extremists that mostly target Palestinian and Arab property, but have also included attacks on other non-Jews as well as leftwing Israelis and the security forces.","British queen in Rome, ahead of visit with pope. ROME (AP) — Queen Elizabeth II has come to Rome for lunch with Italy's president ahead of the British monarch's first meeting with Pope Francis.","Egyptians vote in constitutional referendum seen boosting Sisi. By Michael Georgy CAIRO (Reuters) - Egyptians vote on Tuesday in a constitutional referendum, the first ballot since the military overthrew Islamist president Mohamed Mursi and an event likely to spawn a presidential bid by army chief General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi. Few doubt that Egyptians, who staged mass protests against Mursi's rule before his ouster, will turn out in big numbers and vote \"yes\" in the two-day referendum, a milestone in the army-backed government's political road map. Sisi deposed Mursi, Egypt's first freely elected head of state, in July. His Islamist foes see Sisi as the mastermind of a coup that kindled the worst internal strife in Egypt's modern history and brought back what critics call a police state.","Paris riot police deployed for pro-Israel rally. PARIS (AP) — Hundreds of riot police in Paris have been deployed near the Israeli Embassy for the first major pro-Israel rally since the start of the latest Gaza war.","State makes large shark fin bust in SF. SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — More than a ton of illegal shark fins were seized from a vendor in San Francisco, state wildlife officials said Friday.","In rare move, Chinese man acquitted of murder. BEIJING (AP) — A Chinese court on Friday acquitted a death-row inmate who spent eight years behind bars for double murder in a high-profile case that observers say may be a rare exception in a court system riddled with wrongful convictions.","Canadian guard credited with killing gunman greeted as hero. By Randall Palmer and Leah Schnurr OTTAWA (Reuters) - The guard credited with killing a gunman in Canada's parliament fought back tears as lawmakers greeted him with a prolonged standing ovation, cheers and whistles on Thursday when he resumed his duties. Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and fellow lawmakers stood for a thunderous, minutes-long ovation as Kevin Vickers, Canada's Sergeant-at-Arms, led the traditional parade that opens every session of the House of Commons, dressed in ceremonial garb. ...","Striker Madine back at Wednesday after prison stint. Sheffield Wednesday striker Gary Madine is to continue his career with the English Championship club following his release from prison last week. The 23-year-old was found guilty of two separate assaults during a hearing at Leeds Crown Court in October and sentenced to 18 months. However, he served only four-and-a-half months in jail and Wednesday chairman Milan Mandaric said: \"First and foremost, Gary is remorseful and has apologised to all those affected. \"We can only condemn his actions, as a community-focused football club, and make it abundantly clear that no further breach of club rules will be tolerated.","Thai junta races to rescue, but braces for backlash. By Martin Petty BANGKOK (Reuters) - If Prayuth Chan-ocha's decision to stage Thailand's latest in a long list of coups was as impulsive as he suggests, then the stern-faced general has a Herculean task managing the fallout and deciding what happens next. Seizing power in Thailand is one thing, running the country is another, and after overthrowing populist tycoon Thaksin Shinawatra's political juggernaut for a second time in eight years, the generals should be prepared for a backlash. The military top brass appeared to have been chastened by the experience of 2010, when a crackdown on Thaksin's \"red shirt\" supporters ended in serious bloodshed. I can't see Thaksin's supporters responding peacefully or nonchalantly,\" said Andrew Walker, a 20-year Thailand expert and dean of the college of Asia Pacific studies at the Australia National University.","France in turmoil in 2010 as players go on strike. On this day: French players go on strike in Knysna, South Africa, in 2010.","World stocks slide as China manufacturing shrinks. HONG KONG (AP) — World stock markets were mostly lower Monday after a survey showed that Chinese manufacturing shrank in April for the fourth month in a row.","Turkey to support training, equipping Syrian opposition: U.S.. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Turkey has agreed to support the training and equipping of the moderate opposition in Syria, the U.S. State Department said on Friday, saying a U.S. military team would visit Ankara next week to discuss the matter. \"Turkey has agreed to support train-and-equip efforts for the moderate Syrian opposition,\" spokeswoman Marie Harf told reporters in describing a visit to Turkey by the two senior U.S. officials responsible for building a coalition to fight the Islamic State militant group in Syria and Iraq. \"There will be a (U.S. ...","Time running out for deal on Burkina Faso transition govt: AU chief. The head of the African Union held urgent talks in Burkina Faso on the west African country's transition to civilian rule following the ouster of veteran president Blaise Compaore, warning time was running short. With the military regime that took power after Compaore's exit under heavy international pressure to quickly hand over to a civilian government, delicate negotiations loomed to hammer out a transition plan. The army took control, installing Lieutenant-Colonel Isaac Zida, the 49-year-old second in command of the presidential guard, as the country's new leader on November 1.","Chile tax reform likely to remain intact despite opposition. By Anthony Esposito SANTIAGO (Reuters) - Chile's Congress will likely tweak President Michelle Bachelet's ambitious new tax reform after it moves to the Senate in the coming weeks, but the heart of the bill will remain intact, those close to lawmakers have said this month. The bill is designed to fund an overhaul of education and healthcare as Bachelet and her Nueva Mayoria coalition government, who took power in March, seek to tackle inequality in the top copper exporter. The reform is expected to pass the lower house, with minor changes already made, and will then head to the Senate where more changes are expected. It has sparked the ire of opposition politicians and local business leaders, who are demanding significant changes, arguing those already made are not enough to safeguard investment.","Okla. teens plead not guilty in Australian's death. DUNCAN, Okla. (AP) — Two Oklahoma teenagers charged in the shooting death of an Australian baseball player in Oklahoma pleaded not guilty and waived their right to a speedy trial during a brief court appearance on Thursday.","Two health workers in W. Africa cured of Ebola in Europe. Paris (AFP) - A French nurse and a Senegalese doctor who contracted Ebola while working with patients in epidemic-hit west Africa have been cured of the virus in European hospitals, health officials said Saturday.","Tennis-Ivanovic stuns Serena at Australian Open. (Adds details, quotes) * Serena stunned by aggressive Ivanovic * Serb snaps American's 25-match win streak By Ian Ransom MELBOURNE, Jan 19 (Reuters) - Serbia's Ana Ivanovic stunned world number one Serena Williams at the Australian Open on Sunday with a 4-6 6-3 6-3 fourth-round upset at Rod Laver Arena. Ivanovic ended the American's 25-match winning streak to reach her first grand slam quarter-final since the 2012 U.S. Open with an inspired display of clean hitting. I just tried to play the best I could,\" a thrilled Ivanovic said in a courtside interview. Ivanovic, a former world number one, had never taken a set off Williams in their four previous encounters.","Culture change helps Australia out of deep end. By Ian Ransom MELBOURNE (Reuters) - Encouraging performances at the Commonwealth Games and Pan Pacific Championships have continued the resurrection of Australian swimming, but head coach Jacco Verhaeren is reluctant to declare that the sleeping giant has awakened. Australia finished the four-day Pan Pacs at the Gold Coast on Sunday with 10 gold from 26 medals, second only to the United States' powerful team which reaped 40 overall, including 14 gold. Coming weeks after a predictably dominant showing in the Commonwealth Games pool in Glasgow, Australia's swimmers have lapped up the acclaim, with no less than the country's Olympic chiefs declaring them as \"world beaters\". The Australian Olympic Committee (AOC) gave the team a glowing report card halfway through the Games cycle, saying they would snatch 18 medals, including eight golds, from the Rio pool in 2016 based on current world rankings.","Argentina: Tax haven for cars probed by agents. BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — Argentine authorities say they have found a tax haven for luxury cars near one of the world's largest deposits of shale oil and gas.","Japan PM sends offering to war shrine. TOKYO (AP) — Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has sent a religious offering to a Tokyo shrine that honors the dead including executed war criminals, a center of tension with Japan's neighbors.","Nishikori follows script in Davis Cup opener against Canada. Japanese number one Kei Nishikori stuck to the script against Peter Polansky with a 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 victory, but injury-hit Canada won Friday's second singles match to leave their Davis Cup world group clash on a knife's edge. Frank Dancevic restored parity for last year's semi-finalists Canada with an impressive 6-4, 7-6, 6-1 win over Go Soeda, adding spice to Saturday's doubles, as the teams shared the spoils on day one of their first-round tie. World number 18 Nishikori never had to fully extend himself against late substitute Polansky, wrapping up the opener with a ferocious serve after two hours, 17 minutes. Japan are bidding to reach the last eight of the Davis Cup for the first time since the current 16-nation world group format was introduced in 1981.","Kiev frees British journalist working for Russian TV. A British journalist has been released without charge after being detained by Ukrainian authorities, the Russian TV channel employing him, RT, said Thursday. \"An RT journalist reporting from Ukraine, Graham Phillips, was released after almost 36 hours of detention by various Kiev security forces,\" the channel said on its website. Phillips, who was working for Kremlin-funded RT, formerly known as Russia Today, as a freelancer, wrote on Twitter that he did not face any charges or deportation. \"All my work in order, no charges, no deportation, no one laid a hand on me in anger, Ukrainian authorities treated me fairly.","Marseille edges Montpellier 3-2 in French league. MONTPELLIER, France (AP) — Marseille kept its slim hopes of a European spot alive by defeating Montpellier 3-2 in the French league on Friday.","Rapper Iggy Azalea leads American Music Award nominations. NEW YORK (Reuters) - Australian rapper Iggy Azalea scored the most American Music Award nominations with six nods, including the coveted artist of the year and favorite single and hip hop album, according to an announcement on Monday. Singers John Legend and Pharrell Williams and pop star Katy Perry were not far behind with five nominations, followed by New Zealand's Lorde with four. English pop star Charli XCX and singer Jason Derulo announced the nominations in five categories on the ABC early news show \"Good Morning America. ...","Norway wins 4 more medals; US hopefuls falter. SOCHI, Russia (AP) — The most decorated country in Winter Olympic history earned four more medals Tuesday, and the most famous snowboarder in the world had his hopes for a third straight gold in the halfpipe dashed.","German exports soar in July. BERLIN (AP) — German exports soared in July to their highest monthly value ever, helping Europe's largest economy post a record trade surplus, another sign it is bouncing back after a surprise second-quarter contraction.","A Florida first: Crocodile attacks couple during late-night dip. Lisset Rendon, 23, was bitten in her left shoulder before she could struggle out of the crocodile's jaws, after she and Alejandro Jimenez, 26, jumped into a canal, Jorge Pino, a spokesman for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. “They started swimming and apparently at some point they came face-to-face with a nine-foot crocodile,” Pino said. Though Florida is well known for incidents involving its large alligator population, American crocodiles number less than 2,000 and live mostly in the southeastern region near the Everglades. Another couple in an unconfirmed 2011 attack claimed a crocodile flipped their kayak as they paddled through the Florida Keys.","Russia sees chance of deal at nuclear talks with Iran. BRISBANE (Reuters) - A senior Russian diplomat said a deal could be reached this month between world powers and Tehran on curbing Iran's nuclear program if there is the will in Washington and Tehran. In Australia for a meeting of the G20 major and developing economies, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov told reporters six world powers and Iran had never been so close to an agreement and it could be reached by a Nov. 24 deadline. \"Therefore, from (Nov.) 18 to 24 there is enough time for such decisions to be taken,\" he said. ...","AP INTERVIEW: Canada rules out Syria airstrikes. MANAMA, Bahrain (AP) — Canada's foreign minister says his country has no plans to follow its neighbor the United States in expanding airstrikes against the Islamic State group into Syria.","Rosberg-Hamilton duel returns to roots at Monza. The Formula One duel between Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton returns to its roots this weekend at the Italian Grand Prix in Monza.","CDC: Cruise ship bug was newer norovirus strain. ATLANTA (AP) — A new strain of stomach bug was the virus responsible for almost 700 recent illnesses on a Caribbean cruise ship.","2 nations leading jet search have turbulent past. CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — The leaders of Malaysia and Australia have used warm and glowing terms to assure the world that their partnership in the desperate hunt for a missing airliner is built on a firm and abiding friendship. But it's also an odd-couple relationship that has proved brittle in the past and has been blighted by hostility, rivalries and cultural misunderstandings.","Skipper Spithill to bid for America's Cup treble. Australian Jimmy Spithill will bid for a third successive America's Cup at the helm of Oracle Team USA after turning down offers from foreign challengers. The youngest skipper to win the world's oldest sporting trophy, Spithill led the challenger \"USA\" to victory in 2010 at the age of 30 and helped the team successfully defend last year with a sensational comeback victory against Team New Zealand. Spithill had been wooed by Australian challenger of record for the 35th America's Cup, Hamilton Island Yacht Club, but said he owed it to team principal and software billionaire Larry Ellison, and CEO Russell Coutts, to remain. \"There were some very good offers out there, but at the end of the day, Russell and Larry, I wouldn't be here without them,\" Spithill said on Team USA's website (oracle-team-usa.americascup.com).","Russian TV sparks outrage with Ukraine child 'crucifixion' claim. Russian state television has provoked a storm of criticism after it aired an uncorroborated report claiming that the Ukrainian army publicly nailed a three-year-old boy to a board in a former rebel stronghold. Ukraine accused Russia of ratcheting up its propaganda war by airing an interview in which a woman gave graphic details of the alleged incident in the Ukrainian flashpoint city of Slavyansk, which neither AFP nor other media have been able to confirm. Channel One television at the weekend broadcast footage of a woman who said she recently saw Ukrainian soldiers round up people in central Slavyansk, which the army took over this month after three months of clashes with separatists, and nail an insurgent's child to a notice board. A spokeswoman for Ukraine's interior ministry, Natalya Stativko, on Monday slammed the report as \"following in the footsteps of Goebbels,\" Nazi Germany's minister of propaganda.","Exclusive: Air bag accident, lawsuit led to GM Cruze recall. By Ben Klayman and Jessica Dye DETROIT/NEW YORK (Reuters) - An accident that left a Georgia woman blind in one eye and a subsequent lawsuit led to General Motors Co's recall of about 33,000 Chevrolet Cruze sedans in North America for potentially defective air bags made by Takata Corp. The lawsuit by Brandi Owens, filed in late April in federal court in Atlanta against GM and Takata, claims her car and driver-side air bag were \"defective and unreasonably dangerous,\" citing a problem that has dogged Takata for several years - air bag inflators that explode with too much force. In documents filed on Thursday with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, GM said it had learned of a lawsuit on May 1 regarding a Chevrolet Cruze with an improperly deployed air bag. GM inspected the vehicle four days later and briefed officials at the U.S. safety agency in late May and twice in early June. GM did not identify the lawsuit in its filing, but a source familiar with the matter said it was the Owens case.","Chinese ship searching for MH370 detects 'pulse signal'. A Chinese ship searching for Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 detected a \"pulse signal\" in the southern Indian Ocean Saturday, but there was no evidence yet that it was linked to the missing plane, state media said. The announcement came nearly a month after the Malaysian jetliner disappeared off radar screens en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 people on board, triggering an unprecedented international search. Australian and British vessels are currently involved in a round-the-clock underwater search in the southern Indian Ocean, hoping to pick up a signal from the plane's black box recorder, but the battery powering those emissions is nearing the end of its roughly 30-day life span. The Chinese search ship Haixun 01 picked up the pulse signal at about 25 degrees south latitude and 101 degrees east longitude, Xinhua said in a brief dispatch.","Djokovic's pep talk swept aside 'fear,' 'demons'. LONDON (AP) — Novak Djokovic knew all along that his game was good enough to win more Grand Slam titles. It was his mind that was the problem.","Leaders in east Ukraine vote to take control of their areas. Leaders of mainly Russian-speaking regions of eastern Ukraine that are loyal to President Viktor Yanukovich challenged the legitimacy of the national parliament on Saturday and said they were taking control of their territories. The Kiev parliament has passed a series of measures that would reduce the president's powers and pave the way to the formation of a national unity government and early presidential elections. Mikhaylo Dobkin, Governor of Kharkiv region in northeast Ukraine, told regional leaders meeting in the city: \"We're not preparing to break up the country. Another said those gathered should fear reprisals if anti-Yanukovich protesters in Kiev seize power in the whole of the country.","Mugabe's wife denounces 'rogue' party officials. Harare (AFP) - Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe's wife on Tuesday denounced “rogue” ruling party officials as she launched a campaign ahead of a key congress to elect new leaders.","Greek lawmakers to start confidence debate, vote expected on Friday. ATHENS (Reuters) - Greek lawmakers will begin debating on Wednesday whether to back Prime Minister Antonis Samaras's government, which has promised an early exit from the country's EU/IMF bailout, with a confidence vote expected late on Friday. Samaras called the confidence vote in an effort to quash mounting speculation that he would be forced to call snap elections because he does not have enough parliamentary support to push through a nominee for presidential elections next year. ...","Greek leftist opposition leads ruling conservatives: polls. ATHENS (Reuters) - Greece's main leftist opposition Syriza party has widened its lead over the conservatives in the ruling coalition, polls showed on Saturday, amid rising speculation that the selection of a new president of state may lead to early elections. The pick of a new president in early 2015 has muddied Greece's political scene and could lead to snap polls before the government's term ends in 2016, given the opposition's pledge to block any candidate proposed by the government. ...","150 Iraqi tribesmen opposed to Islamic State found in mass grave. BAGHDAD (Reuters) - The bodies of 150 members of an Iraqi Sunni tribe which fought Islamic State have been found in a mass grave, security officials said on Thursday. Islamic State militants took the men from their villages to the city of Ramadi and killed them on Wednesday night and buried them, an official in a police operations center and another security official told Reuters. (Reporting by Raheem Salman; Editing by Alison Williams)","UN highlights hardships for lone female Syrian refugees. Thousands of Syrian refugee women are caught in a \"spiral of hardship, isolation and anxiety,\" widowed or separated from their husbands and struggling to survive, the UN warned on Tuesday. In a new report, the UN agency for refugees UNHCR highlighted the plight of some 145,000 Syrian refugee women who are fending for themselves and their families in dire circumstances across the Middle East. \"Forced to take sole responsibility for their families after their men were killed, captured or otherwise separated, they are caught in a spiral of hardship, isolation and anxiety,\" said the report, unveiled by UNHCR chief Antonio Guterres at a Amman news conference. Guterres said Syrian refugee women \"are suffering enormously\" and appealed for more funds to help them.","Cambodian community rallies after US fire kills 7. LOWELL, Massachusetts (AP) — The Cambodian immigrant community is banding together to help the survivors of a devastating fire that killed seven people outside Boston.","India uncovers suspected plot to assassinate Bangladeshi PM: security officials. NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India's top counter-terrorism agency has uncovered a suspected plot by a banned militant group to assassinate the prime minister of Bangladesh and carry out a coup, three senior Indian security officials told Reuters on Tuesday.India will hand over a dossier to Bangladesh with details of the plan by members of the Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen, which has carried out scores of attacks in India's eastern neighbor, the government and police officials said. ...","Herbalife to pay $15 million to settle class action lawsuit. By Devika Krishna Kumar (This Oct.31st story corrects attribution for quote in paragraph 13 to \"the plaintiffs\" from \"Judge Beverly Reid O'Connell\") By Devika Krishnakumar (Reuters) - Herbalife Ltd would pay $15 million to settle an 18-month battle over a class action lawsuit brought by a former distributor claiming that the nutrition and supplements company is running an alleged pyramid scheme, according to a U.S. court filing. The company would pay $15 million in cash, plus up to $2. ...","18 dead, 20 missing after boat sinks off Guinea. Conakry (AFP) - The death toll from an overcrowded wooden boat that sunk off the south coast of Guinea has risen to 18, with 20 others missing presumed dead, reports said late Sunday.","Nine killed in brutal Iraq assassinations. Nine people were found dead in two brutal incidents in Iraq Sunday -- one where militants forced Shiite policemen to pray before killing them, and another where decapitated heads were left in a market. The violence is among the most shocking in Iraq's worst prolonged period of unrest since it emerged in 2008 from a Sunni-Shiite sectarian war, and comes with security forces also battling anti-government fighters in western Anbar province. In Tuz Khurmatu, an ethnically-mixed town that has been hit by regular attacks, militants surrounded a police encampment protecting a stadium construction site and gathered the six policemen as a group and shot them all dead, two security officials and a doctor at the local hospital said. One of the six, however, only died at hospital, and according to a local Tuz official, said that the insurgents had attempted to find out if the policemen were Sunni or Shiite before killing them.","TS Cristobal expected to move away from Bahamas. MIAMI (AP) — Tropical Storm Cristobal is expected to move northward away from the Bahamas.","Lippi banned 1 ACL match for confronting referee. KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Italian coach Marcello Lippi has been provisionally suspended for one match for confronting a referee during his Chinese club Guangzhou Evergrande's 1-0 loss at Sydney Wanderers in the Asian Champions League quarterfinals last Wednesday.","Alibaba post-IPO structure gives insiders control. BEIJING (AP) — Control over Alibaba Group will stay in the hands of founder Jack Ma and other company veterans after the Chinese e-commerce giant goes public on the New York Stock Exchange in a record busting share sale.","Peru asks US for info in airplane corruption case. LIMA, Peru (AP) — Peru is asking the United States to provide the names of the members of the Peruvian armed forces who accepted bribes from a U.S. airplane engine maintenance company.","Pro-Ahmadinejad former prosecutor barred from office in Iran. By Michelle Moghtader DUBAI (Reuters) - Iran's Supreme Court has banned an ally of former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad from holding public office for five years over his role in the 2009 deaths of three anti-government protesters, Iranian media said on Sunday. Saeed Mortazavi, who was also barred for life from holding any judicial post, used his position as prosecutor general in Tehran to help stamp out dissent following the disputed re-election of Ahmadinejad in 2009. ...","Book Talk: Leadership in the world's most extreme workplace. By Pauline Askin SYDNEY (Reuters) - At age 34, Rachael Robertson accepted the biggest challenge of her life: to lead a large, 12-month expedition in Antarctica. Two months on, she found herself having to ask the team of 120 how they managed to get through a year's supply of condoms in just eight weeks. She also recounted some of the funnier moments in Antarctica, including an elephant seal breaking wind during a minute's silence on Anzac Day, a solemn time to remember Australians and New Zealanders who died in wars and conflicts. Antarctica is traditionally a very \"blokey\" - almost a \"command and control\" and military - style where what happens on station stays on station.","Mancuso fails to finish 1st run of giant slalom. KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia (AP) — Four-time Olympic medalist Julia Mancuso failed to finish the first leg of the giant slalom on Tuesday, skiing out fewer than 10 gates from the end of her last event at the Sochi Games.","Top Asian News at 7:30 a.m. GMT. SYDNEY (AP) — Eight dead children and a woman suffering from stab wounds were found inside a home in a northern Australian city on Friday, police said. Queensland state police said they were called to the home in the Cairns suburb of Manoora on Friday morning after receiving a report of a woman with serious injuries.When police got to the house, they found the bodies of the children inside, ranging in age from 18 months to 15 years.","Gunmen kill 6 tribal police officers in Pakistan. QUETTA, Pakistan (AP) — Officials in Pakistan say a group of gunmen have attacked a tribal police post in the country's southwest, killing six police officers and wounding three.","Russia, US set aside Ukraine crisis for Iran nuclear talks. Russia, the United States and other world powers put their sharp differences over Ukraine to one side on Tuesday as they held their latest nuclear talks with Iran in Vienna. So far, despite disagreements over the Syria conflict and other issues, the six powers have shown a united front over Iran, but events in Ukraine in recent weeks have precipitated the worst crisis in East-West relations since the Cold War. On Tuesday Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a treaty claiming Crimea as Russian territory and said the Black Sea peninsula has always been \"in the hearts\" of his compatriots. Despite the tensions, a spokesman for Catherine Ashton, the powers' chief negotiator and EU foreign policy chief, said he had seen \"no negative effect\" on the Iran talks, with the six \"still united\".","Russian defence ministry denies sending troops into Ukraine. Russia's defence ministry on Thursday denied US and Kiev claims of its troops' direct involvement in the escalating fighting between Ukrainian forces and pro-Kremlin insurgents in the separatist east. Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov told Russian news agencies that the \"information has no relation to reality\" and that army units believed by Washington to have crossed into Ukraine were conducting \"tactical training exercises on their own and outlying ranges.\" The comments were the first by issued by a senior Russian official in Moscow since the US ambassador to Kiev accused Moscow of providing air defence systems to the rebels and becoming \"directly involved in the fighting\". The defence ministry spokesman said Russian army and paratrooper forces \"were indeed capable of successfully performing assignments associated with the armed protection of the country's territorial inviolability.\"","U.S. agribusiness ADM gobbles up Wild Flavors for $3 billion. By Freya Berry and Arno Schuetze LONDON/FRANKFURT (Reuters) - U.S. agribusiness Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) has agreed to buy Swiss-German natural ingredient company Wild Flavors for 2.3 billion euros ($3 billion) to enter the flavouring and the health-conscious food sectors. ADM, one of the world's largest grain traders and a major food processor, said on Monday it would establish a new business unit called Wild Flavors and Specialty Ingredients and expected to complete the deal by the end of the year. Wild Flavors - ADM's first venture into the flavours market - specializes in natural ingredients. Sources told Reuters in May that Illinois-based ADM was among private equity and strategic bidders for Wild Flavors, which sources said expected 2014 core earnings (EBITDA) of almost 140 million euros.","Exclusive: US Ex-Im acknowledges errors in politically sensitive small biz data. By Howard Schneider and Krista Hughes WASHINGTON (Reuters) - [Refiles Nov. 13 story to fix spelling of Buffett in second paragraph) The U.S. Export-Import Bank has mischaracterized potentially hundreds of large companies and units of multinational conglomerates as small businesses, a flaw in its record keeping that could undermine the export lender's survival strategy. ...","Syria still has chemicals for 'many nerve gas attacks': Britain. Syria still has chemicals to make enough nerve agent to replicate last August's deadly attack outside Damascus \\\\\"many times over\\\\\", Britain warned the world's chemical watchdog on Thursday. Britain's deputy delegate to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), which is charged with destroying President Bashar al-Assad's chemical weapons, accused Syria of delaying the destruction of its chemical weapons.","Sweden charges Malaysian couple with child abuse. STOCKHOLM (AP) — Prosecutors in Sweden have charged a Malaysian couple with violent treatment of their four children, including beating them with belts and sticks.","Despair, poverty driving French to far-right Front National. Béziers (France) (AFP) - \"We're dying here!\" In Beziers and Perpignan the phrase has become something of a refrain of late, a shorthand way of explaining why the two southern towns are on the verge of falling into the hands of the country's resurgent far-right party, the National Front (FN). Polls suggest between 10 and 15 mid-sized French towns could have FN mayors by the time ballot boxes close on Sunday in the second round of nationwide local elections. The party of Marine Le Pen has already secured one mayor's seat, its candidate having won an outright majority in the depressed former coal mining town of Henin-Beaumont at the first attempt last Sunday.","U.N. says 43 Golan peacekeepers seized by militants, 81 trapped. By Louis Charbonneau UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Militants fighting the Syrian army have detained 43 U.N. peacekeepers in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights and trapped another 81 in the region as the world body works to secure their release, the United Nations said on Thursday. The affected peacekeepers are from the Philippines and Fiji, U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters.","Kompany is Belgium's leader, but often injured. MOGI DAS CRUZES, Brazil (AP) — There is little not to like about Belgium defender Vincent Kompany at the World Cup. He has vision, poise and leadership — all the qualities teams look for in a captain. Well, there is one downside — he is injury prone.","Brazil finds artworks smuggled from US worth $4.5M. RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Brazilian authorities say they have discovered a cache of $4.5 million worth of fine art hidden in moving containers sent from Florida.","Monaco's title bid still on after late goal. PARIS (AP) — Defender Layvin Kurzawa continued his scoring form with a goal five minutes into injury time as Monaco scraped a 3-2 home win against Reims in the French league on Friday.","Akin's 'The Cut' puts Armenian massacre on screen. VENICE, Italy (AP) — Fatih Akin's \"The Cut\" is the first movie by a director with Turkish roots to tackle an issue long taboo in the country: the early 20th-century mass killings of Armenians by Ottoman Turks.","Institute: Water woes endanger NKorea reactor. WASHINGTON (AP) — North Korea may have temporarily shut down a plutonium reactor earlier this year as it grappled with water supply problems that could threaten the safety of its nuclear complex, a U.S. research institute said Monday.","China planner says economy meeting growth target. BEIJING (AP) — China's top economic planner says major water conservancy projects and other infrastructure investment will help ensure the country meets its economic growth target of 7.5 percent for the year.","EU imposes sanctions on 12 Russians and Ukrainians over Crimea. BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union imposed sanctions on Friday on 12 people it blames for the seizure of the Ukrainian region of Crimea by Russia, including Russian deputy prime minister Dmitry Rogozin and two aides to President Vladimir Putin. The people listed will have their assets in the European Union frozen and will be banned from travelling to the EU. The two men close to Putin included on the list, which extends a previous one drawn up earlier this month, are Vladislav Surkov and Sergey Glazyev. (Reporting by Justyna Pawlak)","Malaysia jet search area too deep for submarine. PERTH, Australia (AP) — The search area for the missing Malaysian jet has proved too deep for a robotic submarine which was hauled back to the surface of the Indian Ocean less than half way through its first seabed hunt for wreckage and the all-important black boxes, authorities said on Tuesday.","Thai military ruler to meet advisers on security, economy. By Panarat Thepgumpanat BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thailand's military chief is meeting a team of advisers for the first time on Thursday, a week after he seized power, to map out a strategy for securing the country and propping up a stumbling economy. Among the advisers appointed on Tuesday were two retired generals, powerful establishment figures hostile towards former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who remains at the centre of Thailand political turmoil despite being ousted in a 2006 coup and now living in self-exile. General Prayuth Chan-ocha ousted the government of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, Thaksin's younger sister, on May 22 to end months of protests that had depressed Southeast Asia's second-biggest economy and raised fears of enduring chaos. \"General Prayuth has called his advisers for talks at 10 a.m.,\" said a senior military officer who declined to be identified as he is not authorised to speak to the media.","Gunmen kidnap Jordan envoy to Libya, wound driver. Gunmen travelling in two cars on Tuesday abducted the Jordanian ambassador to Tripoli, Fawaz Aitan, in an attack that left his driver wounded, the Libyan authorities said. It is the latest incident in which Libyan leaders and foreign diplomats have been targeted in the increasingly lawless North African country, three years after NATO-backed rebels ousted autocratic leader Moamer Kadhafi. \"Jordan has initial information that the Jordanian ambassador in Libya, Fawaz Aitan, was kidnapped,\" foreign ministry spokeswoman Sabah Rafie said, adding that it was investigating. The abduction comes two days after Libya's prime minister Abdullah al-Thani stepped down, saying he and his family had been the victims of a \"traitorous\" armed attack the previous day.","US gives ambulances to Sierra Leone to fight Ebola. FREETOWN, Sierra Leone (AP) — The United States donated five ambulances Wednesday to help Sierra Leone's fight against Ebola as the West African government acknowledged it can take up to 24 hours to pick up bodies in the spiraling crisis.","Ukraine needs $4 billion in immediate help: EU diplomat. Ukraine's new rulers have told the European Union that the country's battered economy needs an immediate infusion of some $4 billion, a EU diplomat said on Thursday. Since President Viktor Yanukovich was ousted over the weekend, Ukraine's finance ministry has said it needed $35 billion to survive this year and next and asked for the first payments to be made in the next one to two weeks, possibly alongside a donors' conference. Ukraine's new finance minister, Oleksander Shlapak, said he hoped the IMF would work on an aid package of at least $15 billion. The EU diplomat spoke as Ukraine was hit by a fresh crisis as armed men seized the local parliament in the Crimea region and raised the Russian flag, alarming Kiev's new rulers.","May Day rallies demand reform; 5 hurt in Cambodia. PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) — May Day demonstrators denounced low wages and called for reforms on Thursday during rallies that turned violent in Cambodia and in Turkey, where police cracked down on participants defying a ban on public protests.","Hungary bans conference of extremist groups. BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — Hungary has banned a conference of extremist groups organized by the U.S.-based National Policy Institute, saying the meeting's speakers advocate racist views contrary to the Hungarian constitution.","Rahane century rescues India at Lord's on day 1. LONDON (AP) — Ajinkya Rahane spearheaded India's comeback from a perilous 145-7 with a fighting 103 to help the tourists reach 290-9 against England after day one of the second test at Lord's on Thursday.","Chile's Bachelet to be sworn in again as president. SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) — Michelle Bachelet is older and wiser than she was eight years ago when she first assumed Chile's presidency, but chances are that leading her restive nation won't be any easier this time around.","Israeli motorist killed in West Bank shooting: army. An Israeli man was killed in a shooting attack on a civilian car near the city of Hebron in the occupied West Bank on Monday, military sources said.","No medal for Bjoerndalen in last Olympic race. KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia (AP) — Ole Einar Bjoerndalen started and finished his last Olympic race where he's spent much of his unrivaled biathlon career — in first place. Unfortunately for him, his teammate couldn't stay there to give him a perfect send-off.","Pakistan army starts North Waziristan ground offensive. By Mehreen Zahra-Malik ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Pakistani forces on Thursday launched their first major offensive in years against Taliban militants near the Afghan border after several rounds of government-led talks aimed at ending an insurgency in the remote region failed. The offensive targeted the Matchis Camp near the capital of North Waziristan, an area set up to house Afghan refugees but now a hub for local and foreign militants, said Siraj Ahmed, the highest government official in the region. Residents said helicopter gunships flattened houses and compounds in Matchis Camp while ground forces surrounded the area. Disagreements over how to handle the Taliban insurgency have marred relations between Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Pakistan's powerful army, which has been pushing for a major military offensive.","Dozens of foreign diplomats seek asylum in Canada. Dozens of foreign diplomats have requested asylum in Canada, the daily French-language newspaper La Presse reported Friday, citing secret government documents. They include 38 Afghanistan envoys and their families, from 2009 to 2014, as well as 16 diplomats from countries such as Syria, Iraq, Greece, Honduras, and even an American embassy staffer. Former head of Canada's consular affairs, Gar Pardy, told the Montreal newspaper this is an \"unprecedented number\" of refugee claims by foreign officials. Immigration spokeswoman Alexis Pavlich noted that Canada has \"one of the most fair and generous asylum systems in the world.\"","History beckons for Australia's Wanderers. Western Sydney Wanderers can complete a run that will go down in Asian football lore when they take a 1-0 lead into the AFC Champions League final second leg on Saturday. Just two years after their formation, the tournament debutants from Sydney's unfashionable west stand on the brink of becoming Australia's first ever Asian club champions. Victory over Saudi giants Al Hilal would be another shot in the arm for Australia's A-League, and a timely boost as the country prepares to host the Asian Cup in January. Substitute Tomi Juric's 64th minute strike took the Wanderers halfway to heaven, although there is much work to do in what will be a cauldron atmosphere in Riyadh.","Cricket-Australia brace for emotional test in Adelaide. By Ian Ransom MELBOURNE, Dec 7 (Reuters) - The first test Australia hosts against India this week is set to be fraught with conflicting emotions as players return to battle with a mixture of relief and apprehension after the tragic death of Phillip Hughes. The Adelaide Oval was Hughes' adopted home ground after his move from New South Wales, and both teams will pay tribute there to the batsman who died in hospital last month, two days after being struck by a short ball during a Sheffield Shield match. ...","Islamic State beheads 2nd captive Lebanese soldier. BEIRUT (AP) — The mother of a Lebanese soldier held captive by the militant Islamic State group says that photographs posted online purporting to show his beheading appear real.","Fugitive arrested at Puerto Rico mall; dozens flee. SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Puerto Rico police say a federal fugitive has been arrested at the largest mall in the Caribbean after a scuffle with authorities that frightened dozens of shoppers who fled the scene.","Liverpool won't curb instincts, says Rodgers. West Bromwich (United Kingdom) (AFP) - Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers wants his side to continue to play football from the back despite defender Kolo Toure's costly mistake in their 1-1 draw at West Bromwich Albion. Toure's misplaced pass allowed West Brom substitute Victor Anichebe to equalise at The Hawthorns on Sunday after Liverpool had earlier taken the lead through Daniel Sturridge. But Rodgers claimed he will still urge his players to place an emphasis on possession and retention of the ball even though it meant they dropped two valuable points in their bid to qualify for the Champions League.","Hearing set for US Marine accused of desertion. CAMP LEJEUNE, North Carolina (AP) — U.S. military officials have scheduled a hearing this week for a Marine accused of faking his own kidnapping in Iraq as well as failing to return to his base after visiting relatives in Utah.","Germany's Steinmeier fears sanctions could destabilize Russia. BERLIN (Reuters) - German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier expressed concern on Friday that EU sanctions against Moscow for its actions in Ukraine could destabilize Russia and warned against \"turning the screw\" any further. The comments to German weekly Der Spiegel suggest a possible softening in the stance of Steinmeier, a member of the traditionally Russia-friendly Social Democrats (SPD) who has stuck closely to Chancellor Angela Merkel's tough line with Moscow until now. ...","Top pathologist hired by Pistorius won't testify. A star pathologist hired by Oscar Pistorius told AFP on Thursday he will not testify at the athlete's murder trial, another blow for his defence after a week of savage cross-examination. Private forensic pathologist Reggie Perumal -- who joined Pistorius's hand-picked team soon after Reeva Steenkamp was killed on Valentine's Day morning 2013 -- will not take the stand, amid suggestions his post-mortem findings support key parts of the prosecution's case. Perumal has appeared in many high-profile cases in South Africa, where a private pathologist can cost upwards of $2,000 a day. He was hired by Pistorius in time to attend the model's autopsy.","Ukraine fighting threatens water supply to four million: OSCE. Fighting in eastern Ukraine threatens water supplies to the city of Donetsk and could have serious consequences for 4 million people, monitors for the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe said on Monday. The OSCE's Special Monitoring Mission in eastern Ukraine quoted local officials as saying a water pumping station and a section of pipeline near the town of Semyonovka, close to the bitterly contested city of Slaviansk, had been damaged in fighting between government forces and separatists. \"This pumping station and pipeline constitute the main water supply for Donetsk city's population of 1 million, and a further 3 million inhabitants of the region,\" it said in a statement following talks with Donetsk mayor Alexander Lukyanchenko. The OSCE mission quoted the mayor on its Facebook page as saying that the water supply to Donetsk had not been affected yet, but that this was set to change \"in a very short while\".","Belgium arrests Liberian ex-rebel commander. BRUSSELS (AP) — A spokesman for Belgium's prosecutors says police have arrested a high-ranking member of the rebel movement that plunged Liberia into conflict more than two decades ago, on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity.","Prior blames slipping standards for England's 5-0 Ashes defeat. England wicketkeeper Matt Prior has laid the blame for a 5-0 Ashes thumping in Australia on the team letting their standards slip. In his column for Britain's Daily Telegraph newspaper Prior -- dropped following the third Test in Perth after poor displays with both gloves and bat -- said players had shown a lack of respect for both captain Alastair Cook and coach Andy Flower. The 31-year-old Sussex wicketkeeper-batsman said seemingly minor issues such as being late for team meetings and not wearing the correct kit were symptomatic of deeper problems, even allowing for the fact Australia played by far the better cricket during the series. \"There are obvious straightforward cricketing reasons why we lost the Ashes in Australia but when assessing this defeat you have to look deeper,\" Prior wrote.","Glasgow mourns victims of bin truck tragedy. London (AFP) - Residents of Glasgow laid floral tributes and prayed at a memorial service on Tuesday for victims killed when a rubbish truck ploughed into Christmas shoppers in the city.","US advises against non-essential travel to Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone. CHICAGO (Reuters) - The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Thursday issued a travel advisory against non-essential travel to Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone in an effort to curb the spread of the Ebola outbreak in West Africa that has so far claimed more than 700 lives. Dr Thomas Frieden, director of the CDC, said his agency is stepping up its response to the outbreak and will send an additional 50 health experts to assist with efforts to control the outbreak. (Reporting by Julie Steenhuysen; Editing by James Dalgleish)","German FM hopeful on Ukraine observer mission. BERLIN (AP) — Germany's foreign minister says he's confident Western nations and Russia have resolved a key stumbling block to the deployment of international observers in Ukraine.","Rising stars make Adidas more American, less soccer-mad. By Emma Thomasson HERZOGENAURACH Germany (Reuters) - A new generation of more international Adidas executives is trying to loosen a hierarchical structure that has held back creativity at the venerable German sports brand as it tries to retaliate against Nike . But that is a tall order for a company of 52,500 employees still based in the small Bavarian town where it was founded in 1949, now struggling to keep pace with the fast-changing whims of the urban teens who are its target clientele. ...","British Pink diamond 'thief' held in Australia. Australian police said Friday they had arrested and X-rayed a British man over the theft of a pink diamond worth more than Aus$200,000 (US$180,000), with fears he had swallowed the rare jewel. The 29-year-old, reported by Australian media to be British tourist Matthew Osborne, was arrested as he attempted to board an international flight in Melbourne. \"He is expected to appear in the Cairns Magistrates Court tomorrow charged with entering premises and stealing property,\" police said. The pink diamond, from Rio Tinto's exclusive Argyle mine and valued at more than $200,000, was stolen Saturday from a jewellery store at Cairns, in northern Queensland.","Oscar-winning actor Maximilian Schell dies at 83. VIENNA (AP) — Austrian actor Maximilian Schell, who won the best actor Oscar in the early 1960s for his portrayal of a defense attorney in the drama \"Judgment at Nuremberg,\" has died. He was 83.","Chief minister of trouble Myanmar state retires. YANGON, Myanmar (AP) — The chief minister of Myanmar's Rakhine state that has been embroiled in sectarian violence has retired and the country's religious affairs minister has been fired.","Car bomb hits Syrian town of Atmeh, casualties reported. BEIRUT (Reuters) - A car bomb exploded on Sunday near a field hospital in the Syrian town of Atmeh near the border with Turkey, a witness said. He said casualties could be seen in the area. It was not immediately clear who carried out the attack. (Reporting by Khaled Oweis in Amman; Editing by Mark Heinrich)","Indian PM Modi faces US court summons over riots: rights group. New Delhi (AFP) - A New York court has ordered Narendra Modi to answer allegations of \"attempted genocide\" over deadly anti-Muslim riots, a rights organisation said Friday, as he began his first US visit as India's prime minister.","Hurricane Vance maintaining strength in Pacific. MIAMI (AP) — Hurricane Vance is maintaining its strength in the Pacific off Mexico's coast.","Crimean Tatars fear return of Russian rule. SIMFEROPOL, Ukraine (AP) — The arrival of Russian troops in Crimea has opened old wounds among the Crimean Tatars, who were deported during World War II. Fearing that once again they will be unwelcome in their homeland, some are organizing community-watch patrols to protect their families and homes in a place they strongly feel should remain part of Ukraine.","Europe alarmed as pro-Russia leaders squeeze Crimea media. By Timothy Heritage KIEV (Reuters) - When journalists in Crimea complained of a creeping climate of fear under the region's new pro-Russia rulers, a top European official on media freedoms went to investigate. \"This poster says 'Press Freedom',\" the envoy, Dunja Mijatovic, said with irony as she pored over a laptop showing a digital photo of the protesters in Simferopol, Crimea's main city. \"It was very clear they don't want me.\" Mijatovic, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe's Representative on Freedom of the Media, will deliver a report to the pan-Europe human rights watchdog next week. What she found on her one-day visit on Wednesday, she said, were signs that Crimea's self-appointed rulers are clamping down on media freedom and trying to silence their critics.","Video artists up for UK's prestigious Turner Prize. LONDON (AP) — Two video artists who mix found footage with original images are among four finalists for British art's influential Turner Prize.","Egypt's Sisi decrees law on repatriating foreign prisoners. CAIRO (Reuters) - President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi issued a decree on Wednesday allowing him to repatriate foreign prisoners in Egypt, state media said, a move that could enable the release of an Al Jazeera journalist now serving a seven-year jail term. Peter Greste, an Australian citizen, was sentenced in June along with Canadian-Egyptian national Mohamed Fahmy and Egyptian Baher Mohamed, all from the Qatar-based television network. ...","In Herbalife’s nutrition clubs, Ackman’s attacks fail to resonate. New York hedge fund manager William Ackman says Herbalife is a pyramid scheme that exploits the poor. He has taken a $1 billion bet against the company’s stock and spent millions on research to attack the nutritional supplements seller, including making a video showing former distributors who claim they were deceived and lost money trying to sell its products. Yet a visit to some of the clubs that have been set up to dispense the company’s shakes, teas and other items, largely to the Hispanic community in the U.S., shows that it has fans. These are consumers who stress their health has improved and distributors who are thankful to have the opportunity to run their own businesses. In conversations at 10 such clubs that Reuters reporters visited in recent weeks in the Los Angeles area, New York and Newark, New Jersey, more than 20 people said they had lost a substantial amount of weight while consuming Herbalife products.","South Africa 268-5 after day 1 vs. Sri Lanka. GALLE, Sri Lanka (AP) — Scores at stumps Wednesday on the opening day of the first test between Sri Lanka and South Africa:","U.S. says will work with Palestinian unity government. The United States said on Monday it intends to work with the new Palestinian unity government and will continue to disburse aid to the Palestinian Authority but will carefully monitor its policies. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas swore in a unity government on Monday in a reconciliation deal with Hamas Islamists, who advocate Israel's destruction. In its first comment since the government took office, the State Department stressed that it regarded the new Cabinet as made up of technocrats. \"At this point, it appears that President Abbas has formed an interim technocratic government that does not include ministers affiliated with Hamas,\" State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki told reporters at her daily press briefing.","Hollande ex-Royal named French energy and environment minister. PARIS (Reuters) - Segolene Royal, the ex-partner of President Francois Hollande who herself ran for president in 2007, was appointed energy and environment minister in a government shakeup announced by Hollande's chief of staff on Wednesday. Royal's return to frontline politics came in a cabinet reshuffle after heavy losses for the ruling Socialists in local elections. Farm Minister Stephane Le Foll, one of Hollande's closest allies, was reappointed in the new team and takes up additional duties as government spokesman. (Reporting By Brian Love; editing by Mark John)","Warships of rival Koreas exchange warning shots. SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Warships from the rival Koreas exchanged warning shots Tuesday after a North Korean ship briefly violated the disputed western sea boundary, a South Korean defense official said.","NATO says Russian convoy move 'only deepens crisis'. NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen sharply criticised the Russian decision to advance a \"so-called\" aid convoy into Ukraine on Friday as a \"blatant breach\" of international commitments that \"only deepens the crisis\". \"This is a blatant breach of Russia’s international commitments... and a further violation of Ukraine’s sovereignty by Russia,\" Rasmussen said in a statement. \"It can only deepen the crisis in the region, which Russia itself has created and has continued to fuel,\" he said.","Reus, Liverpool top of AP football poll. LONDON (AP) — Liverpool has taken team of the week honors for the fourth time this season in The Associated Press weekly football poll after a 3-2 victory over English Premier League title rival Manchester City.","IOC awards Aussie TV rights to Seven through 2020. LAUSANNE, Switzerland (AP) — The IOC has awarded the Australian television rights for the next three Olympics to Seven West Media.","England beats Ireland 13-10 to keep 6N race open. LONDON (AP) — England edged Ireland 13-10 in a test of breathless intensity at Twickenham on Saturday to open up the Six Nations into a four-team race at the halfway point on Saturday.","Dooley to coach Philippines football team. MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Former U.S. captain Thomas Dooley has been appointed as head coach of the Philippines national team.","Putin warns Ukraine against implementing EU deal -letter. By Robin Emmott BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Moscow will curtail Ukraine's access to vital Russian markets if Kiev implements any part of a trade agreement with the European Union, President Vladimir Putin warned in a letter, toughening his stance on a deal at the center of East-West tensions. In a letter to Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, seen by Reuters on Tuesday, Putin warned that even changing national legislation to prepare for the EU-Ukraine trade deal, known as the association agreement, would trigger an immediate response from Moscow. ...","Israel arrests Palestinian ex-minister in Hebron. Hebron (Palestinian Territories) (AFP) - Israel's army arrested a former Palestinian minister and member of Islamist movement Hamas overnight in the southern West Bank city of Hebron, local residents said on Thursday. Soldiers raided the home of Issa al-Jaabari, who served as local government minister in 2006, and took him into custody, the residents said. Jaabari has been arrested several times since 2006, with troops regularly detaining Hamas members living in the occupied West Bank.","Bahrain jails 11 'bomb-makers' for 15 years. A Bahrain court handed 15-year jail sentences to 11 defendants after convicting them of \"manufacturing bombs for terror purposes\", the official BNA news agency reported. The High Criminal Court jailed another defendant for five years on similar charges at Tuesday's hearing, BNA quoted prosecutor Nawaf al-Awadhi as saying in a statement. Bahrain, home to the US Fifth Fleet, remains deeply divided three years after a quashed Shiite-led uprising, with persistent protests sparking clashes with police, scores of Shiites jailed on \"terror\" charges and reconciliation talks deadlocked.","Immigrant lawyer hopes his effort inspires others. CHICO, California (AP) — The first known immigrant to practice law in the U.S. after entering the country illegally has opened an office in Northern California.","Hurricane Gonzalo regains strength on way to Bermuda. (Reuters) - Hurricane Gonzalo regained strength on Thursday, again reaching Category 4, as it swirled towards Bermuda, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said. Gonzalo was about 540 miles (865 km) south-southwest of Bermuda early on Thursday, the center said, with maximum sustained winds of 140 miles per hour (220 kph). The hurricane was expected to send large swells and potentially dangerous surf conditions to the U.S. east coast on Thursday before bringing hurricane-force winds to Bermuda on Friday, forecasters said. ...","Islamist militants kill 31 more in northeast Nigeria. Islamist insurgents have killed at least 31 people in attacks on a village in northeast Nigeria, a state lawmaker said on Monday, a day after 85 were killed in a wave of attacks by suspected militants nearby. Gunmen stormed Mafa village in Borno state at around 8 p.m. on Sunday, shooting fleeing civilians and throwing explosives at occupied houses, witness Auwalu Gunda said. Senator Ahmed Zannah said 29 civilians died in the raid and two policemen were killed in a bomb blast on Monday while trying to evacuate victims of the initial attack. The Islamist sect Boko Haram has killed thousands during its four-and-a-half-year-old insurgency, which has been focused in Borno, as it looks to create an Islamic state in a religiously mixed country of 170 million people.","Indian court rejects Sahara chief's plea for release from custody. India's Supreme Court on Thursday rejected a petition by the head of the unlisted Sahara conglomerate to be released from custody and said the matter would next be heard on March 25. Sahara Chairman Subrata Roy, 65, was arrested on February 28 after failing to appear at a contempt hearing in the long-running legal battle between the unlisted group and the Indian securities regulator over repayment of billions of dollars to investors in outlawed bonds. The court has asked Sahara to come up with a \"concrete and acceptable\" plan to refund investors.","AstraZeneca buys Almirall lung drugs for up to $2.1 billion. By Ben Hirschler LONDON (Reuters) - AstraZeneca took a major step to build up its respiratory medicine business on Wednesday by striking a deal worth up to $2.1 billion for the rights to Spanish group Almirall's lung drugs. The British drugmaker, which resisted a $118 billion takeover attempt by Pfizer in May, said it would pay an initial $875 million and up to $1.22 billion more if the drugs meet development and sales targets. The tie-up boosts a key therapeutic area for AstraZeneca, whose Chief Executive Pascal Soriot is determined to show his company has a strong independent future. Soriot also struck a clinical trial collaboration with Japan's Kyowa Hakko Kirin for a study that will evaluate a combination of the two companies' drugs in cancer - another important field for AstraZeneca.","Feng, Park in running for LPGA's $1m bonus prize. Park In-Bee, Stacy Lewis and defending champ Feng Shanshan highlight the field this week at the LPGA Tour Championship, the season finale that includes a $1-million bonus prize. \"It is just like everything matters this week,\" said golfer Michelle Wie. I let it take care of the rest.\" Wie was speaking about the bonus prize which could go to one of nine players, comprising Wie, Lewis, Park, Feng, New Zealand's Lydia Ko, Ryu So-Yeon, Swede Anna Nordqvist, Chella Choi and Karrie Webb, of Australia.","U.S., foreign fighters in Syria pose 'very serious threat' to U.S.: lawmaker. Hundreds of U.S., British and Canadian citizens who have trained with Islamic State fighters trying to carve out their own state in Iraq and Syria pose a \"very serious threat\" to the United States, a top Republican lawmaker said Sunday. Representative Mike Rogers, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, urged the Obama administration to aggressively prosecute U.S. He said an attack on the Jewish museum in Brussels in May had shown a new push by extremist groups to carry out attacks on Western targets, and growing efforts to recruit backers on social media. \"I'm very concerned because we don't know every single person who has gone and trained and learned how to fight,\" Rogers told \"Fox News Sunday.\" The United States carried out three air strikes on Saturday against Islamic State fighters near the besieged Shi'ite town of Amerli in northern Iraq and airdropped more than hundred additional bundles of humanitarian aid to civilians trapped there, the Pentagon said.","Goffin beats top-seeded Tsonga in Moselle quarters. METZ, France (AP) — Eighth-seeded David Goffin of Belgium rallied to beat top-seeded Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 1-6, 7-6 (5), 7-5 Friday to reach the Moselle Open semifinals.","NATO soldier killed in Afghan multiple suicide attack. Jalalabad (Afghanistan) (AFP) - Six Taliban suicide attackers launched an assault on a joint Afghan-NATO base in the east of Afghanistan on Saturday, killing one NATO soldier during a prolonged firefight, officials said. One attacker in an explosives-packed vehicle blew himself up at the entrance of the base in Nangarhar province, and five other insurgents were shot as they tried to storm the facility. NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) confirmed one fatality in a suicide attack in the east of the country, without giving further details. \"Around 8:00 am, a suicide bomber detonated himself and the other five were gunned down by Afghan security forces.","Elders to visit Iran to promote dialogue with West. A group of former global leaders known as the Elders, tasked with encouraging dialogue between Iran and the international community, is due to arrive in Tehran Sunday, their website said. The group, formed in 2007, is made up of twelve global leaders who try \"to promote peace, justice and human rights,\" according to their website. The group sees \"recent positive developments as a historic and strategic opportunity to end decades of animosity between Iran and the international community,\" the statement published on Saturday said. The group will be headed by former UN secretary-general and Nobel Peace laureate Kofi Annan, and Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif confirmed on Facebook on Saturday he would host the delegation.","New Mexico steadies past George Mason 69-58. SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Jordan Goodman had 19 points, Deshawn Delaney added 16 and New Mexico held off George Mason 69-58 in the consolation round of the Puerto Rico Tip-Off Friday.","Egypt court bans festival honoring Moroccan rabbi. CAIRO (AP) — An Egyptian court has banned an annual festival in honor of Moroccan rabbi that was regularly attended by hundreds of Jewish pilgrims, mainly from Israel and Morocco.","Maria Hoefl-Riesch wins Olympic super-combined. KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia (AP) — Maria Hoefl-Riesch won her second straight Olympic super-combined title Monday, with downhill leader Julia Mancuso settling for bronze.","French unions see modest turnout for anti-reform protests. French unions drew tens of thousands to protests on Tuesday against President Francois Hollande's latest economic reforms, substantially lower than other union-organized demonstrations of recent years. The protests, called by the CGT and Force Ouvriere unions, were among the first displays of street anger over Hollande's \"responsibility pact\", which aims to slash labor costs and kickstart job creation in Europe's second-largest economy. But turnout was a fraction of past rallies against reform plans and fell well short of demonstrations in Paris last year against same-sex marriage that drew hundreds of thousands. In Paris, where protests draw the largest crowds, police said some 10,000 protesters turned out versus an estimate of 60,000 from the CGT union.","Pro-Palestinian activists march to UN headquarters. NEW YORK (AP) — A sea of Palestinians and their sympathizers lined Manhattan streets Saturday, marching to the United Nations and shouting that Israel's response to missile attacks was genocide that took children's lives.","AP EXCLUSIVE: Inside Pakistani anti-bomb school. RISALPUR, Pakistan (AP) — Militants in Pakistan have found clever ways to hide homemade bombs. They've been strapped to children's bicycles, hidden inside water jugs and even hung in tree branches. But the most shocking place that Brig. Basim Saeed has heard of such a device being planted was inside a hollowed-out book made to look like a Quran, Islam's holy book.","Political dignitaries, family gather in memorial service for Joan Mondale in Minneapolis. MINNEAPOLIS - Political dignitaries joined family members at Saturday's memorial service for Joan Mondale, the wife of a former vice-president who wasn't shy about stepping out on her own.","CDC: The bug that hit Explorer of the Seas cruise ship was a newer Sydney strain of norovirus. ATLANTA - A new strain of stomach bug was the virus responsible for almost 700 recent illnesses on a Caribbean cruise ship.","Kenya government sued over 2007 election sexual violence. A group of survivors of sexual violence committed after Kenya's violence-hit 2007 elections took the government to court on Tuesday over its alleged failure to protect them and bring the perpetrators to justice. The six women and two men, who are supported by a coalition of four human rights organisations, have lodged a complaint in the High Court in Nairobi directed against Kenya's attorney general, director of public prosecutions, and members of the police and public health authorities.","Australian govt 'appalled' at verdict against Jazeera's Greste. Australia on Monday said it was \"appalled\" at the jail term given to Al Jazeera journalist Peter Greste by an Egyptian court, saying it undermined Cairo's claim to be transitioning to democracy. \"The Australian government is shocked at the verdict,\" said Foreign Minister Julie Bishop of the seven-year sentence imposed on the Australian for aiding the blacklisted Muslim Brotherhood. \"The Australian government simply cannot understand it based on the evidence that was presented in the case.\" Greste's Al Jazeera colleague, Egyptian-Canadian Mohamed Fadel Fahmy, was also sentenced to seven years, while producer Baher Mohamed received two sentences -- one for seven years and another for three years","No plans for Obama-Putin meeting at D-Day events. WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House says President Barack Obama has no plans to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin when both leaders attend next month's events in France marking the 70th anniversary of D-Day.","2 late goals secures Arsenal 2-2 draw at Everton. LIVERPOOL, England (AP) — Arsenal scored twice in the final seven minutes to grab a 2-2 draw at Everton in the Premier League on Saturday and avoid another demoralizing defeat on Merseyside.","Boko Haram denies truce, kidnapped girls married. MAIDUGURI, Nigeria (AP) — The leader of Nigeria's Islamic extremist group denies agreeing to a cease-fire and says more than 200 kidnapped schoolgirls all have converted to Islam and been married off.","Armed mob under guise of peaceful protest attacks U.N. in South Sudan. A mob of armed civilians pretending to be peaceful protesters delivering a petition to the United Nations in South Sudan forced their way into a U.N. base sheltering some 5,000 civilians on Thursday and opened fire, the world body said. U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said dozens of civilians were wounded in the attack on the U.N. base in the market town of Bor in northern Jonglei state, but the exact number of people killed or wounded had not yet been confirmed. Two U.N. peacekeepers were wounded repelling the armed mob, Dujarric said. \"This attack on a location where civilians are being protected by the United Nations is a serious escalation,\" Dujarric said.","China to send orbiter to moon and back. China will launch its first recoverable moon orbiter later this year, the government announced, in the latest step in its ambitious space programme. The mission will be launched before the end of the year and will travel to the moon before returning to earth, the State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defence (SASTIND) said in a statement on Sunday. The orbiter will test technology that will be be used for China's ambitious Chang'e-5 mission, which aims to gather samples from the moon's surface, the official Xinhua news agency reported. Beijing sees its multi-billion-dollar space programme as a marker of its rising global stature and mounting technical expertise, as well as evidence of the ruling Communist Party's success in turning around the fortunes of the once poverty-stricken nation.","Vietnam releases dissidents amid foreign pressure. HANOI, Vietnam (AP) — Vietnam has granted early release to two high-profile dissidents, bringing the number of democracy activists freed this month to three in what the government Monday called a \"policy of leniency.\"","Hagel in Turkey to see how far it will go in U.S.-led coalition. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel will sound out Turkish leaders on Monday on \"how far they're willing to go\" in a U.S.-led coalition against Islamic State despite the militant group's holding of Turkish hostages and domestic security fears, a U.S. Turkey was the only Muslim nation in a \"core coalition\" of 10 countries which met on the sidelines of a NATO summit in Newport, Wales last week. President Barack Obama said he would welcome Ankara's cooperation after meeting Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan on Friday. Hagel hopes to follow up on that conversation in talks today with Erdogan, as well as Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu and Defense Minister Ismet Yilmaz.","'I'm free,' says American after five years held in Cuba. By Matt Spetalnick and Elvina Nawaguna WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The messages from Alan Gross had grown increasingly ominous. In May, on his 65th birthday, the former U.S. aid worker said he would rather die than spend another birthday in a Cuban prison. Two weeks ago, his wife said he was \"literally wasting away.\" But arriving home on Wednesday, Gross - released after more than five years of imprisonment on espionage charges - looked almost giddy with joy as he told a news conference in Washington he was \"incredibly blessed\" to be free. Gross's emotional homecoming opened the way for U.S. ...","Rosberg best in 1st practice session at Belgian GP. SPA, Belgium (AP) — Nico Rosberg posted the fastest time in the first practice session of the Belgian Grand Prix on Friday, finishing ahead of Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton as their intense battle for the Formula One title resumes.","Rouhani calls Iranian critics of his nuclear policy 'cowards'. By Michelle Moghtader DUBAI (Reuters) - Iranian President Hassan Rouhani called critics of his nuclear policy \"cowards\", state news agency IRNA reported on Monday, defending his stance to engage in talks with the West. Iranian hardliners, unsettled by the shift to a more moderate foreign policy since Rouhani took office a year ago, have repeatedly knocked an interim deal with world powers under which Iran has curbed some nuclear work in exchange for limited sanctions relief.","St. Peter's overflows for historic day of 4 popes. VATICAN CITY (AP) — Tens of thousands of people have filled St. Peter's Square for a historic day of four popes, with Popes Francis and Benedict XVI honoring John XXIII and John Paul II by declaring them saints in the first ever canonization of two pontiffs.","Thousands flee as Pakistan floods spread to plains. JHANG, Pakistan (AP) — Pakistani authorities say hundreds of thousands of people are fleeing flash floods after having been warned to evacuate as the death toll from severe monsoon rains in Pakistan and neighboring India climbs to 457 people.","Brazil man says he murdered more than 40 people. RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Brazilian police say they have arrested a man who allegedly has confessed to the murders of more than 40 people since 2005.","New French PM wagers on growth, stirs deficit angst. In a 47-minute speech only days after his appointment, Manuel Valls laid out a stark appraisal of Europe's second-largest economy that earned upbeat reviews on Wednesday for its forthright tone and unflinching view of the country's mood. \"There is a clear change in tone that's very beneficial, with the clear understanding that companies will be the driver in any economic recovery,\" said Deutsche Bank economist Gilles Moec. \"But Valls is vague on how the savings will be achieved and on the deficit, he seems to say: we'll do what we can.\" If deficit targets are not kept, as some Socialist ministers have suggested, investors could grow worried about debt sustainability, prompting credit downgrades and even a reawakening of Europe's sovereign debt crisis, critics said. \"Moreover, beyond the French case, investors could lose confidence in the ability of European institutions to enforce budgetary discipline in the euro area.\" SAVINGS PLAN IS TOO VAGUE Valls' speech to parliament on Tuesday amplified measures announced in January by Socialist President Francois Hollande as he shifted toward supply-side policies in a last-ditch attempt to bring down unemployment stuck above 10 percent.","Canada faces jihadist threat after home-grown attacks. Two young Canadian men who launched deadly attacks in their own homeland were extremists tempted by war in Syria but police have found no evidence of a wider plot, officials said Thursday. \"These are difficult threats to detect,\" Royal Canadian Mounted Police Commissioner Bob Paulson said. In the House of Commons, members applauded Sergeant-at-Arms Kevin Vickers, who on Wednesday fired the shot that halted the attacker, identified as 32-year-old Michael Zehaf-Bibeau. \"The objective of these attacks was to instill fear and panic in our country and to interrupt the business of government,\" Prime Minister Stephen Harper told the chamber as business resumed.","Islamic State video shows second British hostage beheaded. By Mark Hosenball and Sylvia Westall WASHINGTON/BEIRUT (Reuters) - Islamic State militants beheaded British aid worker Alan Henning in a video posted on Friday, triggering swift condemnation by the British and U.S. governments. The footage on YouTube, highlighted on pro-Islamic State Twitter feeds, showed a middle-aged man in an orange jumpsuit kneeling next to a black-clad militant in arid scrubland, similar to past Islamic State beheading videos of two American journalists and a British aid worker. As in previous videos, Henning appears to read from a script before he is killed. ...","Kerry keeps pressure on South Sudan rebel leader as fighting rages. By Andrew Green and Phil Stewart JUBA/LUANDA (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry threatened sanctions against South Sudan rebel leader Riek Machar on Monday if he spurned peace negotiations, as government forces battled for control of the northern oil town of Bentiu. Kerry flew to South Sudan on Friday to revive talks that have made scant progress in months. He secured a commitment from President Salva Kiir to fly to Ethiopia for face-to-face talks with Machar, who held off from promising to take part. In a rare sign of progress in talks dogged by deep mutual mistrust, government and rebel negotiators in Ethiopia's capital said they had agreed to consider a \"month of tranquillity\", to start on Monday, and recommitted themselves to opening aid corridors.","Russia says talking to Ukraine about sending aid convoy to east Ukraine. The foreign ministers of Russia and Ukraine spoke on Thursday about a Russian humanitarian aid convoy heading toward eastern Ukraine, the Russian Foreign Ministry said. It said the telephone conversation between Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and his Ukrainian counterpart Pavlo Klimkin were part of \"continuing intense contacts\" involving Russia, Ukraine and the International Committee of the Red Cross.","Blast targeting gov't vehicle kills 5 in Somalia. MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) — A Somali police official says five people have died and six others wounded when a bomb believed to have been targeting a government vehicle exploded in Mogadishu, Somalia's capital.","Kejriwal quits as Delhi chief minister after 49 days. Firebrand anti-corruption champion Arvind Kejriwal was clearing his desk Saturday after quitting as Delhi's chief minister in a move that leaves him clear to lead his party into battle in a looming general election. Only 49 days after his upstart Aam Aadmi (\"Common Man\") Party took power in the capital, Kejriwal resigned on Friday night when the country's two main parties combined to thwart his efforts to bring in a new anti-corruption bill. Kejriwal, whose stunning breakthrough in the Delhi state elections in December highlighted public anger towards the political establishment, launched a blistering assault on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's Congress party and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in his resignation speech.","Eugene, Doha and Barcelona bid for 2019 worlds. LONDON (AP) — Eugene is bidding to bring track and field's world championships to the United States for the first time.","Huck defeats Larghetti to keep cruiserweight belt. HALLE, Germany (AP) — German cruiserweight Marko Huck defeated Mirko Larghetti of Italy by unanimous decision to retain his WBO belt on Saturday for the record-equaling 13th time.","Yemen: Police chief assassinated. SANAA, Yemen (AP) — Yemeni security officials say that an unidentified gunman shot and killed a police director in the southwest city of Taiz, the latest in a series of assassinations of the country's security officers.","Blockaded Gaza faces huge challenges to rebuild after war. By Nidal al-Mughrabi and Maayan Lubell GAZA/NAHAL OZ Israel (Reuters) - Fifty days of war in one of the most densely populated parts of the world have left swathes of Gaza in ruins. To do it, Gaza will have to find billions of foreign dollars, contend with Israeli limits on construction materials entering the territory, resolve internal political strife and keep aid flowing to the battered population as it rebuilds. One fact stands out: before the war, an average of 30 tonnes of cement crossed into Gaza each week. \"Some of the areas here in Gaza, unbelievably enough, look as if they were hit by an earthquake,\" said Borge Brende, the foreign minister of Norway, who visited the area this week to try to assess the humanitarian and reconstruction needs.","Report: Sudan government resumes talks with rebels. KHARTOUM, Sudan (AP) — The state news agency of Sudan is reporting that the government has resumed negotiations with the rebel coalition, the Sudan People's Liberation Army-North, after the talks were suspended last week.","Israel says no casualties after reported Hamas rocket fire on cities. JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel said it knew of no casualties from a long-range Palestinian rocket salvo on Tuesday that Hamas said targeted cities including central Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, as well as Haifa in the north. \"We are not getting reports of casualties from any of the impact areas,\" the chief military spokesman, Brigadier-General Motti Almoz, told Israel's Channel 10 television. He did not elaborate on the locations. (Writing by Dan Williams; Editing by Mark Heinrich)","Thai PM given more time to defend rice scheme charges. By Amy Sawitta Lefevre BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thailand's National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) on Thursday gave Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra more time to defend herself against charges of negligence over a ruinous rice subsidy scheme, allegations that could bring her down. Thailand's long-running political crisis broadly pits Bangkok's middle class and elite plus some southerners against the mostly rural backers of Yingluck and her brother, ousted former premier Thaksin Shinawatra, from the north and northeast. National Security Council chief Paradorn Pattanathabutr said a state of emergency in Bangkok and surrounding provinces could be lifted soon because the \"overall security situation has improved\", which would come as relief to retailers and the tourism sector, hard hit by the sometimes violent protests. Despite the easing in tension and the NACC extension, some analysts say the odds are still stacked against Yingluck.","German ex-lawmaker seeks end to child porn case. BERLIN (AP) — A former German lawmaker who quit amid a child pornography investigation says discussions are underway with prosecutors on possibly closing the case against him in exchange for a fine.","US, Canada, Russia finish hockey prelims with wins. SOCHI, Russia (AP) — While the United States and Canada finished up preliminary-round play without a defeat Sunday, Russia survived a bit more drama to keep on rolling in the Olympic men's hockey tournament.","China allows first corporate bond default. BEIJING (AP) — Chinese authorities have allowed the country's first corporate bond default, inflicting losses on small investors in a painful step toward making its financial system more market-oriented.","Aguero scores 3, Man City beats Bayern 3-2. MANCHESTER, England (AP) — Sergio Aguero scored a hat trick — including two late goals — to inspire Manchester City to a 3-2 win over 10-man Bayern Munich on Tuesday, reviving the English champions' chances of reaching the Champions League's knockout stage.","Protesters, police clash as Malawi awaits election results. Blantyre (Malawi) (AFP) - One person was killed Friday when police clashed with protesters demanding a recount of Malawi's disputed presidential elections, as the country nervously awaited a court decision on last week's vote. In the southeastern town of Mangochi, police fired teargas and rubber bullets at more than a hundred demonstrators who claimed that the election was rigged, witnesses said. A teenager was \"killed by a teargas cannister, which exploded in his hands as he was trying to throw it back at us,\" Mangochi police officer Elijah Kachikuwo told AFP. After hearing arguments from both sides, judge Kenyatta Nyirenda told the court: \"When the ruling is ready, counsel will be informed.\"","How the EU wants to isolate banks' risky bets. BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union's executive is proposing rules to contain the kind of excessive risk-taking by banks that set off the financial crisis. It aims to spare taxpayers from having to bail out large lenders again.","After years of downsizing, refining still matters for majors. By Dmitry Zhdannikov LONDON (Reuters) - When U.S. firm ConocoPhillips spun off its refining assets in 2011 to focus on more profitable oil production, it seemed only a matter of time before one of the oil majors followed suit. Three years on, the six vertically integrated global majors are still holding onto their often loss-making plants, seen as a drag by investors. Europe's oil refining guru, Marcel van Poecke, believes the move will be repeated one day. BP, once considered to be a monster of refining, has sold 13 refineries in as many years, effectively halving the number of plants in which it participates or operates.","Mexico-Cameroon 0-0 at halftime. NATAL, Brazil (AP) — Giovanni Dos Santos twice had goals disallowed as Mexico and Cameroon played through a scoreless first half in torrential rain in their opening match in Group A.","Top US envoy hails Abadi as Iraq PM nominee. A senior US diplomat with responsibility for Iraq on Monday congratulated Haidar al-Abadi on being tasked by President Fuad Masum to form a new government as prime minister. \"The United States stands ready to fully support a new and inclusive Iraqi government,\" added Brett McGurk, who is US deputy assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs. Earlier, Iraq's President Fuad Masum had asked Abadi, formerly first deputy speaker of parliament, to set up a new government, despite resistance from incumbent Iraqi leader Nuri al-Maliki. \"We welcome the decision by Iraq's President to charge the PM nominee of the largest parliamentary bloc to form a new cabinet,\" McGurk said, in a tweet.","Pro-Russia rebels force closure of Ukraine's Donetsk airport. Armed pro-Russian separatists forced the closure of Donetsk airport in eastern Ukraine, an airport representative said on Monday, a day after they prevented a majority of the region's voters from taking part in presidential elections. Earlier this month, the pro-Moscow rebels declared autonomous \"people's republics\" in the regions of Donetsk and Luhansk after holding makeshift referendums. Only about 20 percent of the two regions' polling stations functioned in Sunday's presidential election and many voters stayed at home, fearful for their safety. No polling stations were open in the city of Donetsk, home to one million people.","Search for missing jet now includes 25 countries. KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Malaysian authorities say the number of countries involved in the search for the missing jetliner has increased to 25.","Yum Brands plans KFC makeover in China market. Yum Brands Inc's fast food chain KFC is rewriting its menu and launching a publicity drive as it struggles to emerge from the shadow of a food safety scare in 2012 and see off rivals luring diners with innovative, home-grown fare. The U.S. chain is planning an \"unprecedented\" overhaul to its China menu, will leverage Chinese celebrities in its publicity and revamp its store design and packaging, Yum said in a statement on Thursday. Yum gets more than half of its overall sales in China and plans to open 700 stores there this year. KFC, Yum's key brand in the China market, has been hard-hit since official media reported that chicken it purchased had been fed excess antibiotics in late 2012.","West Indies 159-2 vs NZ in 3rd test, 134 behind. BRIDGETOWN, Barbados (AP) — Opener Kraigg Brathwaite hit an enterprising 68 while Chris Gayle (42) and Kirk Edwards (41 not out) also made positive contributions as West Indies reached 159-2 at lunch on the second day of the third test at Kensington Oval.","Iraq's new jets likely from Iran. Three Sukhoi ground attack jets shown landing in Iraq in a video released by the defence ministry are likely from Iran, a think tank said Wednesday. Iraq has purchased more than a dozen Sukhoi jets from Russia in a bid to bolster its forces in their battle against a sweeping militant offensive that has overrun large areas of five provinces. On Tuesday, the defence ministry said a second group of five Sukhoi aircraft had arrived in the country, implicitly as part of the Russian deal. The online statement was accompanied by a video showing Su-25s landing in Iraq.","Vladimir Putin says Russia has pulled back its troops from the Ukrainian border. MOSCOW (AP) — Vladimir Putin says Russia has pulled back its troops from the Ukrainian border .","US group says Philippine death squad killed 298. MANILA, Philippines (AP) — A U.S.-based human rights group said Wednesday that a \"death squad\" targeting criminal suspects in a southern Philippine city was organized by a former mayor and was responsible for nearly 300 killings in recent years.","Russia agrees with India to construct 12 nuclear reactors. NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Russia's state-owned Rosatom said it would supply 12 nuclear energy reactors for India over 20 years, under an agreement aimed at boosting nuclear energy cooperation signed by the two countries during a summit in New Delhi on Thursday. A 1,000-megawatt reactor is operating at the Russian-built Kudankulam power station in India's Tamil Nadu province, with a second due to come onstream in 2015. Russian President Vladimir Putin had been pushing for Rosatom to increase the number of reactors it could supply to as many as 25. ...","Thai election body frees some state funds to pay rice farmers. Thailand's Election Commission gave the government approval on Tuesday to use a small sum from the central budget, 712 million baht ($22 million), to pay rice farmers who have been waiting months for payment from a state buying program. \"The Election Commission has approved a 712 million baht fund to help farmers, as requested by the government,\" Somchai Srisuthiyakorn, an election official, said in a message posted on his Facebook page. \"The cabinet has approved 20 billion baht from the central budget to help farmers under the rice scheme and we will send this to the election commission for approval while the government waits for a large loan that the finance ministry is currently working on,\" Commerce Minister Niwathamrong Boonsongpaisan told reporters after a cabinet meeting. Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra dissolved parliament in December and called an election for February 2 but polling was disrupted by anti-government protesters and is unlikely to be completed for many weeks.","Malaysia's Anwar 'disgusted' by missing plane speculation. Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim condemned on Tuesday speculation that the captain of a missing Malaysian airliner -- a member of Anwar's party -- may have been driven by political motives to sabotage the plane. Describing Captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah as a \"decent man\", Anwar said he was \"disgusted\" by what he saw as an attempt to smear the pilot and somehow implicate the opposition leadership in the March 8 disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370. The investigative spotlight has focused on Zaharie and his co-pilot, Fariq Abdul Hamid, since it became clear that the plane was deliberately diverted from its intended flight path to Beijing by someone on board. Multiple media reports have noted Zaharie, 53, was an active member of Anwar's Parti Keadilan Rakyat (People's Justice Party), and some have suggested he might have sabotaged the flight as an act of political revenge.","Senior official in China's Qinghai faces corruption probe. China is investigating a senior official in western Qinghai province for graft, the ruling Communist Party's corruption watchdog said late on Friday, making him the latest target in a crackdown on corruption. Mao Xiaobing - the party secretary of Xining, the capital of Qinghai - is \"suspected of serious discipline violations\" and is being investigated, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) said in a one-line statement on its website. It gave no further details but in China the term discipline violations is generally used to denote corruption. President Xi Jinping has said endemic corruption threatens the party's very survival and has vowed to go after high-flying \"tigers\" as well as lowly \"flies\".","China to take 6 million older vehicles off roads. BEIJING (AP) — China's government plans to take 6 million older, polluting vehicles off the road this year in an effort to revive stalled progress toward cleaning up smog-choked cities.","Adam Peaty sets 50 breaststroke swim world mark. BERLIN (AP) — Adam Peaty of Britain set a world record in the 50-meter breaststroke on Friday, finishing in 26.62 seconds in a semifinal heat at the European Swimming Championship.","China's top leaders remember victory over Japan. BEIJING (AP) — Top leaders have commemorated China's World War II victory over Japan as Beijing ramps up its reminders to the world of Japan's historical aggression as relations worsen between the two.","UK to accept vulnerable Syrian refugees this year. MANILA, Philippines (AP) — British Foreign Secretary William Hague says his country is preparing to accept the most vulnerable Syrian refugees this year.","US stocks rebound in midday trading, lifted by unemployment claims news, Disney earnings. NEW YORK, N.Y. - Stocks are sharply higher on Wall Street as investors reacted to encouraging news on unemployment gains and a strong earnings report from Disney.","Man charged over abusive MP messages. London (AFP) - Police charged a 33-year-old man over abusive social media messages sent to Labour MP Stella Creasy, prosecutors said.","Japan PM Abe: not considering now visiting North Korea. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said on Tuesday he was not now considering a visit to North Korea, adding that he would adopt \"the most effective\" way of dealing with Pyongyang after the two countries moved to improve ties. Last month, North Korea agreed to reopen an investigation into the fate of Japanese citizens it kidnapped decades ago. In return, Japan will ease some economic sanctions when the probe starts and consider humanitarian aid later. \"As for my visit to North Korea, I am not considering it at this stage,\" Abe told a news conference.","Planes head home as MH370 search scaled back. Perth (Australia) (AFP) - The intensive aerial search for surface wreckage from Flight MH370 officially ended Wednesday as the hunt was drastically scaled back with ships also moving out of the remote Indian Ocean area where the plane is believed to have gone down. Australian authorities said the focus would transition \"over the coming weeks\" to a more intensified undersea search in the quest to find out what happened to the Malaysia Airlines flight with 239 people aboard that disappeared on March 8. Eight nations have been involved in the unprecedented hunt -- Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia, Japan, South Korea, the United States, Britain and China -- with more than 300 sorties flown across a vast expanse of remote ocean looking for debris. But with nothing to show for their efforts from scanning more than 4.5 million square kilometres (1.5 million square miles) from the air since March 18, the planes have been stood down.","Webb hangs onto 1-shot lead at HSBC Champions. SINGAPORE (AP) — Karrie Webb broke out of a slump with three key birdies on the back nine Saturday to hold onto a one-stroke lead after the third round of the HSBC Women's Champions.","Burkina Faso power transition deal to be signed on Saturday. Burkina Faso's army, political parties and civil groups will sign an agreement on Saturday for the west African nation's return to civilian rule after the ouster of its long-serving president. \"We feel we have really accomplished something and we are naturally very happy,\" said Lieutenant-Colonel Isaac Zida, whom the army put in power after Blaise Compaore was forced out of office on October 31 by mass protests. The transition charter, akin to an interim constitution, lays out a one-year transition to civilian rule that includes appointing a temporary president and calls for elections by November 2015.","Australian world record holder Gibson looking for new mark. By Ian Ransom MELBOURNE (Reuters) - Rhein Gibson's astonishing 55 at an Oklahoma golf course etched his name in the Guiness World Records but the unheralded Australian pro is determined to cast off the tag of \"one-hit wonder\". Gibson's 2012 round of 16-under at River Oaks Golf Club in Edmond, Oklahoma, was confirmed as the lowest 18-hole score last year, an unforgettable feat for a 28-year-old who has grafted mostly in lower-tier competitions in the United States and Asia. ...","Obama meets top aides on Islamic State threat. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama met on Tuesday with top national security advisers to discuss their strategy for countering the Islamic State extremist group, the White House said. The session came a week after the United States and its allies began launching airstrikes against Islamic State targets in Syria. Daily bombardments have ensued. \"The president is meeting with his National Security Council to discuss our comprehensive strategy to counter the threat posed by ISIL in Iraq and Syria,\" a White House official said. (Reporting By Steve Holland; Editing by Sandra Maler)","Tour de France returns home from England. LILLE, France (AP) — The Tour de France is back on home turf after a boisterous three-day start across the channel in England.","Alkmaar says Alex Pastoor won't become head coach. AMSTERDAM (AP) — AZ Alkmaar says Alex Pastoor has rejected an offer to become the club's new head coach in the wake of Marco van Basten's decision to step down from the job.","England declares overnight, sets SL 390 to win. LONDON (AP) — Sri Lanka has been set 390 to win the first cricket test on the last day at Lord's after England declared its second innings on its overnight score of 267-8.","Canada to require railways to make minimum grain shipments: source. WINNIPEG, Manitoba (Reuters) - The Canadian government will on Friday unveil plans to require railways to make minimum grain shipments over a specified time period to help deal with a massive backlog, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters. Ottawa is due to make the announcement at 1130 eastern (1630 GMT). Canadian National Railway Co and Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd say the problem is partly due to record crops of wheat and canola as well as frigid weather limiting the length of trains that pull grain cars. (Reporting by David Ljunggren; Editing by James Dalgleish)","U.S. think-tank says it located possible blast at Iran military site. VIENNA (Reuters) - A U.S. security institute has said it had located via satellite imagery a section of a sprawling Iranian military complex where it said an explosion or fire might have taken place earlier this week. Iran's official IRNA news agency on Monday cited an Iranian defense industry body as saying that two workers were killed in a fire at an explosives factory in an eastern district of Tehran. An Iranian opposition website, Saham, described the incident as a strong explosion that took place near the Parchin military complex around 30 km southeast of the capital. ...","U.N. investigators fear for children in ISIS training camps. United Nations investigators voiced concern on Wednesday at the fate of boys forced to join Islamic State training camps in Syria and said that any decision by the United States to bomb the Sunni militant group \"must respect the laws of war\". \"We are aware of the presence of children in training camps, we think this decision by the United States must respect the laws of war and we concerned about presence of children,\" Paulo Pinheiro, chairman of the U.N. panel, told a news briefing.","Gwyneth Paltrow, Chris Martin call it quits. Oscar-winning actress Gwyneth Paltrow and Coldplay frontman Chris Martin announced their separation, signaling the end of the A-list couple's 11-year marriage. In a statement entitled \"Conscious Uncoupling\" posted on Paltrow's lifestyle website Goop.com on Tuesday, the stars said they had decided to \"remain separate\" after battling unsuccessfully to save their marriage over the past year. \"It is with hearts full of sadness that we have decided to separate,\" said the couple, who moved back to Los Angeles recently after spending several years in London. Paltrow, 41, and Martin, 37, have two young children, Apple, nine, and Moses, seven, and appealed for privacy as they navigated their break-up.","32 dead, 76 missing in Indonesian landslide. Jemblung (Indonesia) (AFP) - Rescuers searching for more than 70 people missing after a landslide in Indonesia deployed bulldozers and excavators to clear roads strewn with debris as the death toll from the disaster rose to 32 Sunday.","Battle in Darfur city leaves several dead. Urban fighting between government and militia forces killed several people in Sudan's Darfur on Tuesday, sources said, ending an uneasy calm after the region's worst unrest in a decade. \"They are fighting inside El Fasher town -- heavy fighting,\" one resident told AFP by telephone, adding that he could not identify the combatants, although some were in uniform. One source familiar with the incident said six militiamen were killed along with four government troops.","Egypt panel criticizes security forces over handling of pro-Mursi sit-in. CAIRO (Reuters) - A government-appointed panel said on Wednesday that security forces did not maintain proportional use of force during the clearing of a pro-Mohamed Mursi sit-in last August where hundreds were killed. Nasser Amin, a member of the panel, said security forces largely maintained proportionality during the dispersal operation but failed to do so when confronted with heavy gunfire from the protesters. (Reporting by Noah Browning; Writing by Maggie Fick)","40 years after revolution, Portugal is angry. LISBON, Portugal (AP) — Euphoria gripped Portugal during the 1974 Carnation Revolution, when junior army officers swept away a four-decade dictatorship. The almost bloodless coup brought what for the Portuguese were novelties — the right to vote, universal health care, public education, old-age pensions and labor rights.","SOCHI SCENE: Jason Brown's patriotic attire. SOCHI, Russia (AP) — American figure skater Ashley Wagner describes teammate Jason Brown as \"the most patriotic man I have ever met.\"","Chile's GDP slows in third quarter to 2.7 percent. SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) — Chile's gross domestic product grew 2.7 percent in the third quarter compared with the same period a year earlier due to lower internal demand and investment.","Putin, Poroshenko speak on phone about southeast Ukraine: Kremlin. MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed bilateral relations and the situation in southeast Ukraine with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko on the telephone on Wednesday evening, the Kremlin said on Thursday. The Kremlin said in a statement that the call was on the initiative of Ukraine. It gave no further details. Violence in east Ukraine is continuing despite a September ceasefire agreement between Kiev and pro-Russian separatists. Ukraine and Western countries accuse Russia of backing the rebels with troops and equipment. Moscow denies this. ...","Monaco loses 2-1 to Lorient in opener. PARIS (AP) — Monaco got its title bid off to a stuttering start by losing 2-1 to Lorient in its French league opener on Sunday.","Everton manager Martinez signs new 5-year contract. LIVERPOOL, England (AP) — Everton rewarded Roberto Martinez for an impressive first season as manager with a new five-year contract on Thursday.","Islamic court clears two on homosexuality charges. Kano (Nigeria) (AFP) - An Islamic court in northern Nigeria on Tuesday cleared two men accused of violating a ban on homosexuality, according to a court official. The pair, who had denied the charge, were acquitted because of a lack of evidence, Abdul Mohammed, a clerk at the court in the city of Bauchi told AFP. \"The judge discharged and acquitted the two men for the prosecution's failure to prove their guilt,\" said Mohammed, from the Upper Sharia Court in the Unguwar Jaki area of Bauchi. They were arrested after local residents broke into a house in Bauchi and found one of them wearing shorts.","South Africa: 3 killed in plane crash. JOHANNESBURG (AP) — Authorities in South Africa say a light aircraft crashed in bad weather while trying to land at an airport in the Johannesburg area, killing all three people on board.","Veria draws 2-2 at Ergotelis in Greek league. ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Veria came from behind twice to draw 2-2 at Ergotelis in the Greek league on Saturday.","Lower costs help Germany's Lufthansa trim Q1 loss. BERLIN (AP) — Lufthansa says it narrowed its loss in the first quarter thanks to a cost-cutting program and lower fuel prices. Germany's biggest airline is sticking to its full-year earnings targets even though it took a financial hit from a pair of strikes.","Germany sees rise in anti-foreigner violence. BERLIN (AP) — The number of attacks against foreigners in Germany rose 20 percent last year to the highest level since 2006.","Focus on helmets in cricket after death of Hughes. MANCHESTER, England (AP) — As the world of cricket reels from the death of Australian batsman Phillip Hughes, it's hard to imagine that less than 40 years ago the first player to wear a full helmet during a cricket test match was booed by the crowd for his apparent cowardice.","Ex-Israel PM Ariel Sharon dies after eight years in coma. Former Israeli premier Ariel Sharon died in hospital near Tel Aviv Saturday, aged 85, after eight years in a coma, drawing tributes from Israeli leaders but contempt from Palestinians. \"The Sheba Medical Centre in Tel HaShomer announces with sorrow the passing of former prime minister Ariel Sharon that was determined approximately an hour ago,\" senior doctor Professor Shlomo Noy told a news conference at 1300 GMT. Sharon has been in a coma since January 4, 2006 after suffering a massive stroke. Sharon was one of Israel's most skilled but controversial political and military leaders, who was hailed by many Israelis as a statesman whose ruthless methods earned him the moniker \"The Bulldozer.\"","Turquoise Hill says still in talks with Mongolia to end deadlock. TORONTO (Reuters) - Turquoise Hill Resources Ltd said on Thursday it was still in talks with the Mongolian government to resolve issues that have delayed the underground expansion of its Oyu Tolgoi gold and copper mine in the country. Last month, a government official told Reuters the two sides had agreed to resolve issues around the size of a tax bill and other matters, potentially paving the way for the company to move forward on the expansion. ...","Nadal to open tennis academy in home town in 2016. MADRID (AP) — Rafael Nadal will open a tennis academy on his home island of Mallorca in 2016.","Canada businesses impatient for China growth as Harper promotes trade. By Andrea Hopkins HANGZHOU China (Reuters) - Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper kicked off a visit to China on Friday facing criticism that the troubled diplomatic relationship between the two nations has hampered trade, but promptly raised concern about human rights during the mostly business portion of his trip. Harper, on his first visit to China in two years, announced the opening of four new trade offices in the cities of Hangzhou, Xian, Xiamen and Tianjin to help the entry of Canadian businesses into the fastest growing regions of China. ...","Car bomb in mainly Shi'ite district of Baghdad kills eight: police, medical sources. BAGHDAD (Reuters) - A car bomb was detonated in a mainly Shi'ite district of eastern Baghdad on Tuesday, killing eight people and wounding 20, police and medical sources said. The bombing in the New Baghdad neighborhood followed a series of blasts in the Iraqi capital on Monday which killed more than 20 people. Police sources said the death toll from Tuesday's attack was expected to rise. (Reporting By Kareem Raheem; Writing by Babak Dehghanpisheh; Editing by Crispian Balmer)","Investigators leave Air Algerie crash site in Mali. BAMAKO, Mali (AP) — An official says international experts have wrapped up their investigation into the Air Algerie crash in northern Mali.","U.N. says 3,660 killed in Ukraine violence since April. GENEVA (Reuters) - At least 3,660 people were killed and 8,756 wounded in violence in Eastern Ukraine between mid-April and Oct 6, the U.N. Human Rights Office said on Wednesday, publishing a monthly report by U.N. monitors in the country. At least 331 fatalities were recorded after a ceasefire on Sept 5, the U.N. Human Rights Office said, although some of those deaths may have occurred earlier and been recorded only after that date. (Reporting by Robert Evans, editing by Tom Miles and John Stonestreet)","Arsenal ends 9-year title drought with FA Cup win. LONDON (AP) — Aaron Ramsey ended Arsenal's nine-year trophy drought on Saturday, completing his team's comeback in extra time in the FA Cup final to secure a 3-2 victory over Hull.","Clarke hundred keeps Australia ahead against S. Africa. Cape Town (AFP) - Australian captain Michael Clarke completed his 27th Test century as Australia continued to build a big total on the second day of the third and final Test against South Africa at Newlands on Sunday.","4.3 magnitude quake shakes Costa Rican capital. San José (AFP) - A 4.3 magnitude earthquake shook the Costa Rican capital of San Jose early Saturday morning, with no initial reports of casualties or damage.","Hagel: US strongly committed to protecting Japan. YOKOTA AIR FORCE BASE, Japan (AP) — Against the backdrop of Russia's takeover of Ukraine's Crimean region, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said Saturday that a key message he will deliver to leaders in Tokyo this weekend is that the U.S. is strongly committed to protecting Japan's security.","Ukrainian flag again flies over Donetsk HQ. Ukraine again flew its flag over the regional administration building in the eastern city of Donetsk on Thursday, and police said pro-Moscow demonstrators who had seized it had left overnight. Everyone left,\" a police spokeswoman said. Donetsk, home city of deposed President Viktor Yanukovich, has seen the most persistent pro-Moscow demonstrations in a wave of protests that erupted on Saturday hours before President Vladimir Putin declared Russia's right to invade. Kiev says the protests in its eastern and southern cities were orchestrated by Moscow as justification for a possible assault.","Isles strike late, snap Blackhawks' winning streak. UNIONDALE, New York (AP) — Kyle Okposo and Lubomir Visnovsky scored within a minute in the third period to lift the New York Islanders over Chicago 3-2 on Saturday night to end the Blackhawks' NHL-best, eight-game winning streak.","Top Asian News at 6:30 p.m. GMT. WASHINGTON (AP) — A U.S. research institute says an upgrade of North Korea's main rocket launch pad could be complete by April meaning it would be ready for new launches. The U.S.-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies says new satellite imagery shows modifications underway at the west coast site of Sohae mean it could eventually accommodate rockets up to 50 meters long. The analysis was published Thursday on the institute's website, 38 North.","Israel ups threshold for Knesset seats despite opposition boycott. By Maayan Lubell JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel approved a change to electoral law on Tuesday that raises the percentage of votes needed for seats in parliament, an amendment that critics said targets Arab and ultra-Orthodox Jewish minorities. The opposition in the Knesset, or parliament, boycotted the 67-0 vote which supporters said will bring greater stability to government. Many of Israel's governing coalitions have fallen or were disbanded before the end of their terms due to unsustainable alliances among ultranationalist, religious, centrist and left-wing legislators. Israel's 120 Knesset seats, now divided among 12 factions, are assigned in proportion to each party's percentage of the national vote.","Canadian town remembers deadly train crash one year later. By Mathieu Belanger LAC-MEGANTIC Quebec (Reuters) - Thousands of people gathered in the small town of Lac-Megantic, Quebec on Sunday to remember the victims of a fiery crude oil train crash that killed 47 people and destroyed dozens of buildings in the picturesque lakeside village. In the early morning hours, survivors and family marched in silence along a newly-built boardwalk, past construction rubble and across the train tracks, where exactly one year earlier the runaway train derailed and exploded into a wall of fire. Hours later, politicians and dignitaries, including Quebec Premier Philippe Couillard, joined local residents in the St. Agnes church for the official memorial ceremony. \"But in the middle of that personal and communal destruction, there is a rebirth underway, for this town and for its people.\" It was in the early hours of July 6, 2013 that the brakes failed on a 72-car train parked uphill from Lac-Megantic, a quaint town nestled in Quebec's hilly Eastern Township region.","TSX set to open higher; U.S. inflation data awaited. (Reuters) - Stock futures pointed to a higher opening for Canada's main stock index on Tuesday, ahead of U.S. inflation data. September futures on the S&P TSX index were up 0.15 percent at 0715 ET. Canada's main stock index hit a two-week high on Monday as concerns eased that the Ukraine crisis may expand into a broader conflict, sending up shares in most major sectors. Dow Jones Industrial Average e-mini futures were up 0.21 percent at 0715 ET, while S&P 500 e-mini futures were up 0.13 percent and Nasdaq 100 e-mini futures were up 0.17 percent. [. ...","Interpol says Ukraine seeks wanted notice for Yanukovich arrest. International police agency Interpol said on Thursday it was reviewing a request by Ukrainian authorities for it to issue a so-called \"red notice\" for the arrest of Viktor Yanukovich, who was ousted as its president. \"A request by Ukrainian authorities for an Interpol Red Notice, or international wanted persons alert, for the arrest of Viktor Yanukovich on charges including abuse of power and murder has been received,\" the France-based agency said in a statement. Yanukovich, a Russian ally, was ousted on February 22 after months of protests in Kiev over his decision to pull Ukraine out of a trade deal with the European Union under Russian pressure. Interpol uses red notices to inform its 190 member countries that an arrest warrant has been issued for an individual by a judicial authority.","Anadarko's $5.15 bln cleanup agreement clears first court hurdle. By Nick Brown NEW YORK (Reuters) - Anadarko Petroleum Corp's agreement to pay $5.15 billion to clean up nuclear fuel and other pollution moved one step closer to reality on Wednesday, receiving a bankruptcy judge's rubber stamp. The agreement reached in April, touted by the U.S. Department of Justice as the largest-ever environmental cleanup recovery, resolved a lawsuit against Anadarko and its Kerr-McGee unit from creditors of Tronox Inc, the paint materials maker that was once a subsidiary of Kerr-McGee. The lawsuit, which was joined by the DOJ, alleged that Tronox's 2009 bankruptcy was caused by the environmental liabilities it took on when Kerr-McGee spun it off in 2005. It said the spinoff was a scheme by Kerr-McGee to get the liabilities off its books and make itself a more attractive takeover target for Anadarko, which acquired it in 2006.","Senior Chinese leader to visit Vietnam amid sea tension. BEIJING (Reuters) - A senior Chinese leader will visit Vietnam this month, China's state media said on Monday, amid tension between the neighbors over competing claims in the South China Sea. Yu Zhengsheng, who heads a largely ceremonial advisory body to China's parliament but is ranked fourth in the Communist Party leadership, will be going at the invitation of Vietnam's Communist Party, the official Xinhua news agency said. It provided no other details. ...","Man arrested in Australia 'over funding US fighter in Syria'. Sydney (AFP) - A man was arrested in counterterror raids in Australia on Tuesday, with police alleging he was sending money to a US national fighting with a \"terrorist\" group in Syria.","Canada to extradite accused Paris bomber to France. Canada's top court refused Thursday to hear a university professor's final plea to halt his extradition to France, effectively ensuring he will face trial for the 1980 bombing of a Paris synagogue. The decision brings to an end 60-year-old Hassan Diab's six-year legal battle to avoid what he said would be an unfair prosecution in France for a crime he insists he did not commit. Diab, who was taken into custody Wednesday afternoon pending the announcement, could now be flown to France at any time.","Portugal PM denies financial misconduct allegation. LISBON, Portugal (AP) — Portugal's prime minister has denied allegations of financial misconduct, telling Parliament the accusation that he had undeclared income when he was a lawmaker in the 1990s was an attempt to deceive people.","Israel summons EU envoys in tit for tat after settlement protest. Israel summoned European ambassadors on Friday accusing them of pro-Palestinian \"bias\" damaging to peace prospects, in a tit-for-tat move after Israeli envoys were called in over settlement expansion plans. Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman called in the ambassadors of Britain, France, Italy and Spain to \"stress to them that their perpetual one-sided stance against Israel and in favour of the Palestinians is unacceptable and creates the impression they are only seeking ways to blame Israel,\" his spokesman said. The foreign minister asked that the envoys be told \"Israel is making great efforts to enable the continued dialogue with the Palestinians\". Last Friday, Israel announced plans for some 1,800 homes in the West Bank, including annexed Arab east Jerusalem, just days after the latest peace mission by US Secretary of State John Kerry.","Iran FM to meet EU's Ashton in Brussels Monday. Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif was to hold talks with top EU diplomat Catherine Ashton in Brussels Monday, following fresh US sanctions on entities linked to Tehran's nuclear programme. Ashton, the EU foreign policy chief, has shepherded year-long talks between Iran and major powers, aiming for a comprehensive deal to end a decade-long dispute over the Islamic republic's nuclear activities. Zarif will meet Ashton for a working lunch, Iran's official IRNA news agency said. He was accompanied by two of his deputies, Abbas Araqchi and Majid Takht-Ravanchi, both members of Iran's negotiating team.","Czech agriculture minister: Budvar's not for sale. PRAGUE (AP) — The new Czech agriculture minister says he has no plans to sell the Czech state-owned brewer Budvar.","Mathieu called up for France friendlies. PARIS (AP) — Barcelona defender Jeremy Mathieu has been called up for France's upcoming friendlies against Spain and Serbia to replace injured Arsenal center back Laurent Koscielny.","Ivorian refugees stopped from returning home over Ebola fears. Abidjan (AFP) - Around 400 Ivorian refugees who fled to Liberia during their country's 2010-2011 post-election violence have been prevented from returning home due to fears over the spread of the Ebola virus, a UN official said Monday.","Pakistani police: 10 killed in attack on air base. QUETTA, Pakistan (AP) — Pakistani police say 10 attackers were killed when security forces foiled an assault on two air bases in the country's southwest the previous day.","U.N. chief Ban meets Putin, says 'deeply concerned' over Ukraine. MOSCOW (Reuters) - U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said at a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin that he was \"deeply concerned\" by the situation involving Ukraine and Russia. Ban is on a visit to both nations to encourage all parties involved in the crisis over Ukraine and its Crimea region, which Western nations say Russia has illegally annexed, to find a peaceful solution. (Reporting by Alexei Anishchuk; Writing by Steve Gutterman, Editing by Thomas Grove)","Netherlands beats 10-man Kazakhstan 3-1. AMSTERDAM (AP) — The Netherlands struggled to a 3-1 victory Friday over 10-man Kazakhstan in a European Championship qualifier.","US stock market finishes slightly lower as uncertainty about economy lingers. The U.S. stock market is closing slightly lower after a survey on hiring did little to ease uncertainty about the health of the economy.","Comcast reports higher quarterly revenue, profit. By Jennifer Saba NEW YORK (Reuters) - Comcast Corp reported on Thursday higher quarterly revenue and income as more people signed up for its high speed Internet service. Total revenue at the largest U.S. cable operator, which owns NBC Universal, rose to $16.79 billion in the third quarter, up 4 percent from the year-ago period. Analysts had been expecting $16.81 billion, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. Comcast said it added 315,000 net high speed Internet subscribers, a 5.8 percent uptick over the same period. ...","Mexico political boss resigns amid sex scandal. MEXICO CITY (AP) — The local political chief in Mexico's capital for the country's ruling party has resigned following reports that his office hired women to have sex with him and placed them on party payrolls.","UN warns of war crimes as hundreds die in Libya fighting. Recent fighting in Libya has killed hundreds of civilians and forced hundreds of thousands to flee their homes, the UN said Tuesday, demanding justice for serious rights violations and possible \"war crimes\". There has been no effort to stop them,\" Ravina Shamdasani, spokeswoman for the UN human rights agency, told reporters in Geneva. She warned that many of the abuses being committed across Libya \"may amount to war crimes\".","Israel accepts proposal for temporary humanitarian truce, official says. JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel on Wednesday agreed to a proposed six-hour cessation of hostilities in the Gaza Strip for humanitarian reasons, a Israeli senior official told Reuters. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said it had not yet been decided when the lull would take place. Hamas had no immediate comment. The appeal was made by a United Nations official, the official said, confirming Israeli media reports, shortly after Hamas rejected an Egyptian-proposed ceasefire to end the nine-day war in which 215 Palestinians and an Israeli have died. ...","Asian shares rise, dollar on top of the heap. By Lisa Twaronite TOKYO (Reuters) - Asian shares shrugged off early losses on Wednesday, while the dollar was close to 14-month highs against a basket of major currencies after data underscored that the U.S. The Institute for Supply Management said its U.S. It opened lower after Wall Street marked a mixed day, though the upbeat U.S. Hopes that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's cabinet reshuffle will give fresh momentum to his growth-oriented policies also lifted sentiment.","Libya's Es Sider oil export port closed due to clashes: oil official. TRIPOLI (Reuters) - Libya's eastern Es Sider oil export port has stopped working due to clashes nearby, an oil official said on Sunday. The Ras Lanuf port east of Es Sider is still working, the official said. The al-Waha Oil Company running the Es Sider port had halted work, he said. (Reporting by Ulf Laessing, editing by John Stonestreet)","Soccer-Australia v Spain. CURITIBA, Brazil, June 21 (Reuters) - Australia play Spain in a World Cup Group B match on Monday. Where: The Baixada arena, Curitiba Capacity: 39,631 When: Monday, June 23, 1300 local, 1200 ET/1600 GMT Referee: Nawaf Shukralla (Bahrain) Probable teams: Australia: 1-Mat Ryan; 6-Matthew Spiranovic, 22-Alex Wilkinson, 3-Jason Davidson, 19-Ryan McGowan; 13-Oliver Bozanic, 15-Mile Jedinak, 17-Matt McKay; 11-Tommy Oar, 7-Mathew Leckie, 10-Ben Halloran Spain: 1-Iker Casillas; 5-Juanfran, 2-Raul Albiol, 4-Javi Martinez, 18-Jordi Alba; 14-Xabi Alonso, 16-Sergio Busquets; 21-David Silva, 8-Xavi, ...","HMCS Toronto intercepts massive haul of heroin in Indian Ocean off African coast. OTTAWA - The military says a Canadian Forces warship on patrol in the Indian Ocean has intercepted a vessel carrying a massive haul of heroin.","Ukraine's currency reserves fall to $17.8 billion due to debt repayments, intervention - central bank. Ukraine's foreign currency reserves fell to $17.805 billion as of Jan 31 - their lowest level since 2006 - compared with $20.416 billion at the end of December, the central bank said on Friday. The bank, in a statement, attributed the drop to total debt repayments of $1.1 billion, including $650 million to the International Monetary Fund, as well as central bank interventions totaling $1.7 billion on the interbank market. The central bank in the past 10 days has intervened regularly to help the national currency, the hryvnia, which has lost about 4 percent since the beginning of the year due to the political crisis gripping the country.","Kompany resumes group training ahead of Russia. RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Belgium captain Vincent Kompany has declared himself fit to play Sunday's game against Russia and says three days of treatment for a groin strain have put him back in match form.","Release pending for ex-Canadian general held in Kabul on gun-running claims. KABUL - A senior Afghan Ministry of Interior official has apparently signed off on the release of a former Canadian brigadier-general detained in Afghanistan for more than two weeks on allegations of gun-running, The Canadian Press has learned.","Chelsea agrees to sell David Luiz to PSG. LONDON (AP) — Chelsea says it has agreed to sell defender David Luiz to French champion Paris Saint-Germain.","Abbas: Unity with Hamas does not contradict peace talks with Israel. RAMALLAH, West Bank (Reuters) - Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said on Wednesday a unity pact he reached with the militant group Hamas earlier in the day did not contradict peace talks he is pursuing with Israel. Israel called off a session of talks in response to the deal with the Gaza-based Islamist group, which is sworn to its destruction. But Abbas said in a statement that an independent state living peacefully alongside Israel remained his goal. (Reporting By Noah Browning; Editing by Angus MacSwan)","EU neighbour Poland worried by deadly Ukraine protests. The deadly violence in Ukraine is drawing huge concern in ex-communist Poland, itself no stranger to anti-government protests and a leading proponent of its neighbour's entry into the European Union. The EU member is keeping close watch on Kiev, where several people have died this week amid clashes between the pro-Europe opposition and the security forces of the Russia-backed government. \"The situation in Ukraine is very reminiscent of Poland right before martial law,\" said Zbigniew Bujak, who was denied entry into Ukraine on Wednesday for his support of the opposition. Bujak was a leader of the freedom-fighting trade union Solidarity that Poland's last communist leader, general Wojciech Jaruzelski, tried to crush in 1981 by ordering the military crackdown.","Xi cancels Pakistan trip, but India visit still on. BEIJING (AP) — Chinese President Xi Jinping is calling off a visit to Pakistan amid political violence in that country, but is still slated to travel later this month to Pakistan's archrival India.","UN assembly calls for action on national debt. UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N. General Assembly has voted overwhelmingly in favor of a resolution that calls for adoption of a new legal framework to restructure national debts and avoid the kind of speculative action that led Argentina to a second default.","Guatemala Mayans: from victims of discrimination to perpetrators?. Fearful of losing their culture and land, ethnic Maya people in Guatemala -- who have faced centuries of discrimination themselves -- drove out a group of 230 ultra-Orthodox Jews, experts say. The Jewish group's departure from San Juan La Laguna, on the banks of Lake Atitlan some 200 kilometers (125 miles) from the capital Guatemala City, followed failed efforts reach a deal Wednesday. \"We are very pleased with the decision made by that group to avoid conflicts with (local) people,\" Miguel Vasquez, spokesman for the San Juan Council of Elders, told AFP by phone. Most members of the small Jewish community are from the United States, Israel, Britain and Russia, and around 40 are Guatemalan.","Kerry to make statement on Ukraine at 6 p.m. ET. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry will make a statement on Ukraine at 6 p.m. on Thursday, a U.S. official said, without providing details. (Reporting by Arshad Mohammed; Editing by Peter Cooney)","Jesse Ryder named in New Zealand A team. WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Batsman Jesse Ryder has made his first steps toward winning a place at next year's cricket World Cup after being included in a New Zealand A cricket team which will play matches against Ireland, Afghanistan and the United Arab Emirates next month.","Nigeria's president requests extension to state of emergency. Nigeria's President Goodluck Jonathan on Tuesday asked the country's parliament for a six-month extension to the state of emergency in three northeastern states riven by Islamist militant violence. \\\\\"I most respectfully request the distinguished senators to consider and approve by resolution an extension of the proclamation of the state of emergency in Adamawa, Borno and Yobe states by a further term of six months from the date of expiration of the current time,\\\\\" Jonathan wrote in a letter seen by AFP. Jonathan's request, which was widely expected, came on the eve of the first anniversary of the declaration of a six-month state of emergency designed to curb the threat posed by Boko Haram fighters. But attacks continued and even escalated in hard-to-reach rural areas, particularly in Borno state in border regions, with Boko Haram apparently able to strike at will.","Qatar: Small country the big new player in sport. DOHA, Qatar (AP) — Leaders of Qatar seem to have a simple formula for their plans over the next decade: money + sports = global fame.","Egypt satirist Youssef goes off air to avoid influencing voters. Egyptian satirist Bassem Youssef will stay off the air until after next month's presidential election to avoid influencing voters, his television network said on Saturday. The May 26-27 vote is widely expected to be won by former army chief Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi, who is riding a wave of popularity after ousting Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in July 2013. Youssef, nicknamed the \"Egyptian Jon Stewart\" after the American comedian he emulates, rose to prominence with his weekly show Al-Bernameg (The Programme), poking fun at Morsi and his supporters during the Islamist's turbulent year in office. The decision was taken to \"avoid influencing the Egyptian voters' opinions and public opinion\", the channel said, adding it was \"keen on respecting the electoral process\" in Egypt.","Vancouver bronze medalist Takahashi retires. TOKYO (AP) — Vancouver Olympic bronze medalist Daisuke Takahashi announced on Tuesday he is retiring from competitive figure skating.","Strong quake kills at least 26 in southwest China. BEIJING (AP) — A strong earthquake in southwestern China has killed at least 26 people and injured 79.","Sweden wins men's cross-country relay in Sochi. KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia (AP) — Sweden completed a double in Olympic cross-country relays Sunday when its men's team successfully defended its title in the 4-by-10-kilometer event.","Iraq's Shiite fighters desert over shortages. BAGHDAD (AP) — Abu Murtada al-Moussawi answered the call last summer from Iraq's top Shiite cleric to help save the country from the Islamic State group, but after less than three months on the front lines he and several friends returned home because they had run out of food.","Rape victim's mother attacked in India. LUCKNOW, India (AP) — Police say three men have been arrested in northern India for brutally attacking the mother of a rape victim after she refused to withdraw her police complaint.","Prosecutors: Misleading testimony in Blackwater. WASHINGTON (AP) — Prosecutors say a witness in the criminal case against four former Blackwater Worldwide security guards gave misleading testimony to a jury investigating the 2007 Baghdad shooting that killed 14 Iraqi civilians and injured at least 18 others.","Pro-Russian rebels capture police HQ in Ukraine. DONETSK, Ukraine (AP) — The Interior Ministry headquarters in eastern Ukraine's largest city fell to pro-Russia separatists Tuesday after a five-hour gunbattle that erupted hours after the Ukrainian president said the rebels were not serious about peace and ended a cease-fire.","Crude oil falls below $104 as Iraq risks recede. The price of oil dropped below $104 a barrel Thursday as the risk of supply disruptions in Iraq continued to recede and two key export terminals in Libya were expected to reopen soon.","Uber says will tighten driver background checks in India after ban. NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Uber, the popular U.S. cab-hailing company banned in New Delhi, said it will carry out a review of its India operations and beef up driver screening as it seeks to reach an agreement with the government to restart services. The federal government asked states to ban Uber on Tuesday amid concerns about passenger safety after one of the company's drivers was arrested for allegedly raping a young female passenger in New Delhi. The case has caused an uproar in India after it emerged that the suspect had been previously charged with sexual offences including rape. ...","Sporadic fighting, airstrikes in eastern Libyan. BENGHAZI, Libya (AP) — Masked, armed civilians have set up checkpoints across Libya's restive eastern city of Benghazi, as sporadic airstrikes and fighting between army troops and Islamist militias continued overnight and into the early hours of the morning.","Putin seizes Ukraine, but loses Ukrainians. Plenty -- but they're printed on toilet paper. The Kremlin leader's stern features stare from novelty rolls sold for 20 hrvyna (1.5 dollars) in Kiev gift shops. \"He's popular,\" jokes Svitlana Khotumsova, 25, who runs a small shop under Maidan Square, epicentre of Ukraine's pro-Western street revolts. Putin hoped to keep Ukraine in Russia's orbit, but triggered the opposite, Ukrainians say -- a patriotic movement that has transformed the way they see themselves forever.","Syrian army retakes Crusader castle from rebels: state TV. The Syrian army has retaken Crac des Chevaliers, a war-damaged Crusader castle and UNESCO World Heritage site, from rebel fighters, state television said on Thursday. \"The Syrian Arab Army raised the national flag on al-Hosn Castle in Homs province after eliminating the terrorists holed up in it,\" it said. The attack on the town of al-Hosn and the castle above it is part of a campaign by the Syrian army and allied militias to secure towns and villages along the Lebanese border as well as a highway from the capital Damascus to the coast that is vulnerable to rebel attack.","Poland's squeaky clean image post-communism threatened by secret tape. By Adrian Krajewski and Christian Lowe WARSAW (Reuters) - The furor over a secretly recorded conversation between two senior Polish officials has so far focused on comments that call into question the independence of the central bank. But businessman Zbigniew Jakubas says he is more upset about another part of the tape: a section in which, according to a transcript, Interior Minister Bartlomiej Sienkiewicz and central bank governor Marek Belka discuss how they can pressure Jakubas's company to charge less for the coins it was proposing to mint under a state contract. According to the transcript published by the Wprost magazine, Belka talks about the possibility of wielding a state \"truncheon\" against Jakubas's mint, Mennica Polska, and Sienkiewicz then alludes to organizing various branches of the government - such as the tax authorities and the central bureau of investigation - in the effort. Jakubas, 62, says that reading about the conversation made him recall Poland's days under communism, when the party imposed military rule and officials ordered his business destroyed.","US co-opted Cuba's hip-hop scene to spark change. HAVANA (AP) — In early 2009, a U.S. government contractor sent a Serbian music promoter to Cuba with these covert marching orders: Recruit one of Havana's most notorious rappers to spark a youth movement against the government.","U.N. fears rights curbed after Thai army coup. GENEVA (Reuters) - The United Nations human rights office voiced deep concern at the Thai army coup on Thursday and said that martial law and military orders being imposed may infringe on fundamental freedoms. \"We remind the authorities of Thailand's obligations under international human rights law...which strictly limit the application of emergency powers. We urge the authorities to take all necessary measures to ensure the fundamental human rights are respected,\" U.N. human rights spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani said. (Reporting by Stephanie Nebehay; Editing by Angus MacSwan)","Main Sequence narrowly wins Breeders' Cup Turf. ARCADIA, Calif. (AP) — Main Sequence repelled the late challenge of Flintshire to win the $3 million Breeders' Cup Turf by a half-length, giving the U.S. the victory in a race usually dominated by Europeans.","NGOs pledge $400 mn for Syrians affected by war. Charity organisations pledged $400 million (292 million euros) Tuesday to help alleviate the humanitarian plight of Syrians affected by their country's civil war, participants at a meeting of charitable NGOs said. Kuwait's International Islamic Charitable Organisation said Kuwaiti charities pledged $142 million, while dozens of NGOs attending the meeting promised the rest. The funds will target people inside and outside Syria, where more than 130,000 people have been killed and millions displaced during the 34-month conflict, IICO said in a statement cited by the KUNA news agency. At a similar meeting last year, NGOs pledged $182 million for Syrian refugees.","Gayle, Brathwaite lead WIndies to 103-0 at lunch. ARNOS VALE, St. Vincent and the Grenadines (AP) — Chris Gayle hit 61 not out to lead the West Indies to 103-0 at lunch on the first day of the opening cricket Test against Bangladesh on Friday.","Factbox: German cabinet agrees plan to reach 2020 climate goals. BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany's cabinet agreed plans on Wednesday to reduce CO2 emissions by up to 78 million tonnes by 2020 to help Europe's biggest economy meet ambitious targets to fight climate change. Germany aims to reduce emissions by 40 percent by 2020 from 1990 levels. Following is a breakdown of the plans which will require several laws to go through parliament. COAL Coal plant operators will be required to reduce their CO2 emissions by at least 22 million tonnes, equivalent to shutting about eight coal plants. ...","Kazakhstan on brink of WTO membership deal, Afghanistan in line. By Tom Miles GENEVA (Reuters) - The 160-member World Trade Organization is in active discussions with 10 countries aiming to become members, including Kazakhstan and Afghanistan, WTO Director General Roberto Azevedo said in a report on Tuesday. Seychelles is set to take the 161st spot, since its membership is sewn up and only needs domestic ratification. But several bigger countries are queuing up, led by Kazakhstan. \"The accession negotiations of Kazakhstan are at an advanced stage of maturity and on the threshold of conclusion, as soon as the remaining decisions are taken,\" Azevedo said. ...","Earthquake of 6.6 magnitude deep in Pacific Ocean south of Fuji: USGS. SINGAPORE (Reuters) - An earthquake with a magnitude of 6.6 struck in the Pacific Ocean on Sunday deep in the ocean about 328 miles south of Suva, Fiji, the U.S. Geological Survey said. The USGS initially estimated the earthquake at 6.8 magnitude and revised that to 6.6. It reported a second earthquake of magnitude 6.1 about 10 minutes later, further south. The second earthquake was 379 miles deep, USGS said. No tsunami warning was issued by the Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre. (Editing by Richard Borsuk)","Piri Weepu signs with London Welsh. WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — World Cup-winning All Blacks scrumhalf Piri Weepu will join English club London Welsh at the end of the Super Rugby season.","China economic growth falls to five-year low of 7.3%: govt. Beijing (AFP) - China's gross domestic product (GDP) expanded in the third quarter at its slowest pace since the depths of the global financial crisis, official data showed Tuesday, but analysts said the world's second-largest economy may have bottomed out.","Chevron fourth-quarter profit drops 32 percent. (Reuters) - Chevron Corp , the second-largest U.S. oil company, said on Friday its fourth-quarter profit dropped 32 percent as refining margins and production fell around the world. The company posted net income of $4.93 billion, or $2.57 per share, compared with $7.25 billion, or $3.70 per share, in the year-ago period. Oil and natural gas production fell 3.4 percent to 2.6 million barrels of oil equivalent per day in the quarter. (Reporting by Ernest Scheyder; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe)","China tells Hagel won't 'stir up troubles' in Japan dispute. Beijing will not act first to \"stir up troubles\" over island disputes with neighbours, China's defence minister said Tuesday at a meeting with American counterpart Chuck Hagel that was overshadowed by regional tensions. China and Japan are embroiled in a bitter row over disputed islands controlled by Tokyo in the East China Sea, raising concerns about the possibility of a clash between the Asian powers. \"We will not take the initiative to stir up troubles,\" General Chang Wanquan told a joint news conference in the Chinese capital. The ministers' meeting came a day after officers allowed the US Defense Secretary to tour the country's first aircraft carrier, a rare move by the normally secretive People's Liberation Army (PLA).","Asia stocks slip on poor US, China data. HONG KONG (AP) — Asian stocks slumped Friday after reports showed weak U.S. consumer spending and slowing Chinese industrial profit growth, casting doubts on whether the world's two biggest economies can rebound.","Philippines against South China Sea construction. BEIJING (AP) — China rejected a suggestion by the Philippines on Monday for a regionwide ban on construction in the South China Sea after Beijing began building a school on a rugged outpost it created to strengthen its claims to disputed waters.","UN: Afghan election audit done around Sept. 10. KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — A massive audit of Afghanistan's disputed presidential election won't be done until around Sept. 10, the U.N. said Thursday, quashing hopes the new president would be determined before an upcoming NATO summit.","Serena Williams edges Wozniacki to reach final. MASON, Ohio (AP) — Serena Williams rallied to advance to the Western & Southern Open final, beating Caroline Wozniacki 2-6, 6-2, 6-4 on Saturday.","Venezuelan hardliner to remain jailed during trial. CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — A prominent leader of Venezuela's opposition will remain in jail as he awaits trial on charges of inciting violence at anti-government demonstrations.","'At least 30 killed' in Baghdad area attacks. A series of attacks in the Baghdad area, including four car bombs targeting civilians, have killed at least 30 people, security and medical officials said Tuesday. The violence Monday evening was the latest in a months-long surge in bloodshed that, coupled with a deadly weeks-long standoff in Anbar province, has sparked fears Iraq is slipping back into the brutal sectarian war that killed tens of thousands in 2006 and 2007. Car bombs went off in populated civilian areas, both Sunni and Shiite, across the capital, including the Sunni district of Adhamiyah and the mostly Shiite areas of Shaab and Shuala, from about 6:00 pm (1500 GMT) onwards, the officials said. The blasts, which struck a market, a gathering marking the birthday of Islam's Prophet Mohammed and people near a string of alcohol shops, killed at least 27 people and wounded dozens more, according to security and medical officials.","Woman, child killed in Swiss landslide. BERLIN (AP) — Authorities in southern Switzerland say a woman and her 3-year-old daughter were killed when a landslide swept over their house.","ESA scientists say Philae lander has started drilling into comet but no scientific data yet. BERLIN (AP) — ESA scientists say Philae lander has started drilling into comet but no scientific data yet.","Putin vows to use influence on Ukraine rebels, rejects Western meddling. MOSCOW (Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday Russia would use its influence with separatists in east Ukraine to allow a full investigation into the downing of a Malaysian airliner, but said the West must put pressure on Kiev to end hostilities. Putin also called on Western powers not to meddle in Russia's domestic affairs and said steps were needed to strengthen the country's military capabilities because of moves by NATO and to protect the economy from \"external threats\". \"We are being called on to use our influence with the separatists in southeastern Ukraine. ...","Canada Oct trade surplus narrows to C$99 million on record imports. OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canada's trade surplus in October shrank to C$99 million ($87 million) from C$307 million in September as imports hit a new all-time high, Statistics Canada said on Friday. Analysts had expected a surplus of C$200 million. October marked the sixth consecutive month Canada had recorded a trade surplus, a feat it last achieved in November 2008. Imports increased 0.5 percent to a record C$44.82 billion, in part due to higher shipments of consumer goods. Prices rose by 0.7 percent while volumes edged down 0.2 percent. Exports grew by 0.1 percent to C$44. ...","Keita throws water bottle at Pepe before friendly. An old feud has sparked up after Roma's Seydou Keita refused to shake Pepe's hand before his side's friendly against Real Madrid in Dallas.","Venezuela set for new crisis talks. Venezuela's government and opposition will sit down Tuesday for a new round of talks aimed at ending two months of deadly protests that have rocked the oil-rich nation. Vice President Jorge Arreaza will preside over the meeting with the Democratic Unity (MUD) coalition, which agreed to begin the talks last week under the auspices of South American nations and the Vatican. Anti-government protests have rattled Venezuela since February, leaving at least 41 people dead and more than 600 injured, with opposing sides trading blame for the violence. The socialist government and the opposition held preparatory talks on April 7, which were followed by an unprecedented televised meeting between President Nicolas Maduro and opposition leaders, including the runner-up in last year's elections, Henrique Capriles.","Jordan Christians prepare for pope, hope for defender in Mideast. From Mount Nebo, with its views of the Holy Land, to sandstone churches in dusty villages, Jordan's Christians are preparing for a papal visit they hope will boost their standing in the Middle East. Pope Francis arrives in Amman on Saturday for the first leg of a three-day trip which will take him to the Palestinian Territories and Jerusalem with a message of interreligious dialogue and peace for the troubled region. While Christians in neighbouring countries have been increasingly persecuted following the Arab Spring uprisings, Christian communities in Jordan appear to be thriving, their numbers boosted by an influx of foreign workers and refugees. \"We Christians have been in this region a long time, the early Christians lived here.","U.S. pledges nearly $500 million aid for people, nations hit by Syria war. ANKARA (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry announced on Friday nearly $500 million in humanitarian aid for people and countries hit by Syria's civil war. The aid package includes more than $250 million \"to assist refugees and host communities in the neighboring countries affected by the crisis,\" Kerry said in a statement. (Reporting by Jason Szep; Editing by Nick Tattersall)","Gaza's sole power plant down after Israel attack. The only power plant supplying electricity to the Gaza Strip was knocked out of commission by Israeli shelling, deputy director of the energy authority in the Palestinian territory said Tuesday. \"Gaza's sole power plant has stopped working due to Israeli shelling last night, which damaged the steam generator and later hit the fuel tanks which set them on fire,\" Fathi al-Sheikh Khalil told AFP. The damage of the power plant exacerbated the heavy damage to civilian infrastructure in Gaza already inflicted during the 22 days of the Israeli offensive aimed at stamping out militant rocket fire and destroying attack tunnels. Besides the power plant, Gaza also purchases electricity from Israel, but many of the supply lines have been badly damaged by the recent fighting, Sheikh Khalil said.","UN Ebola czar heads to West Africa. The UN's new pointman on Ebola said Tuesday he will travel to West Africa this week to shore up health services in the four countries hit by the worst-ever outbreak of the virus. British physician and public health expert David Nabarro also told reporters that he will be holding talks with the UN mission in Liberia on ways peacekeepers could help deal with the impact of the disease. Nabarro was appointed last week by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to coordinate the global response to the outbreak that has left 1,229 dead in Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria and Sierra Leone. Nabarro said he would focus on \"revitalizing the health sectors\" in the West African countries, many of which have only recently emerged from many years of devastating conflict.","France's Diniz sets 50K world record. ZURICH (AP) — Yohann Diniz of France set a world record in the 50-kilometer walk at the European Championships on Friday.","Cuban migrant recounts nightmare voyage on raft. MIAMI (AP) — For eight days, they had no food or water.","U.S. blacklists Myanmar official ahead of Obama visit. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States on Friday imposed sanctions on a prominent lawmaker and businessman in Myanmar for undermining economic and political reforms in the country, ahead of U.S. President Barack Obama's planned visit next month. The U.S. Treasury Department said Aung Thaung, who was industry minister under the former military government and is now a member of Myanmar's lower house of parliament, has been involved in attacks on the democratic opposition. ...","Turkish hostages freed, jihadists advance in Syria. Baghdad (AFP) - Forty-nine Turks were freed Saturday more than three months after the Islamic State group kidnapped them in Iraq, as the US sought to strengthen a coalition to defeat the jihadists.","US judge orders Benghazi trial delay. A US judge ordered a delay in the trial of Abu Khatallah, accused of being the ringleader of a 2012 attack in Benghazi, Libya that killed the US ambassador and three other Americans. In a brief ruling, US District Judge Christopher Cooper granted a motion waiving Khatallah's right to a speedy trial, delaying until October 20 a hearing that had been scheduled for Tuesday. Khatallah, who faces life in prison if convicted, pleaded not guilty June 28 to conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists resulting in death during the September 11, 2012 attack on US diplomatic facilities in Benghazi. US ambassador to Libya Christopher Stevens and three other Americans were killed when militants assaulted the US consulate and a second diplomatic compound in the Libyan port.","Ryanair seeks more love, less hate from customers. LONDON (AP) — Michael O'Leary knows full well that many people consider him a provocative jerk and his European juggernaut of an airline, Ryanair, an exercise in frustration.","Vatican XI goes on tour, plays Anglicans, royals. VATICAN CITY (AP) — The Vatican's new cricket team is going on tour, playing an Anglican squad at the Kent County Cricket Club and the royal household's XI at Windsor.","Tijuana cartel leader arrested in Mexico. MEXICO CITY (AP) — Two federal officials say the head of the once-mighty Tijuana-based Arellano Felix cartel has been arrested in Mexico.","Malaysia plane flying with no problems until vanished from radar: Ukraine airspace chief. KIEV (Reuters) - The Malaysian airliner which came down in eastern Ukraine on Thursday was flying normally without problems until it disappeared from radar, the head of Ukraine's airspace regulatory body said. \"The flight was taking place normally ... There had been no word of any problems from the crew,\" Dmytro Babeychuk said at a news conference. (Writing By Richard Balmforth; Editing by Pravin Char)","Nigeria's Boko Haram blamed for 18 attacks in past two weeks: U.N.. Islamist militant group Boko Haram is blamed for at least 18 attacks on civilians in northern Nigeria in the past two weeks and the escalating violence of the insurgency threatens the security of West Africa, a senior U.N. official said on Tuesday. The U.N. special envoy for West Africa, Said Djinnit, told the U.N. Security Council that insecurity in northeastern Nigeria, coupled with growing political tensions ahead of planned general elections in 2015, had left the country at a crossroads. \"The level of violence against civilians in Nigeria continues to escalate,\" he said.","Yemeni forces free eight hostages, kill seven kidnappers: agency. SANAA (Reuters) - Yemeni security forces freed seven Yemeni hostages and one foreigner in a special operation in which seven al Qaeda kidnappers were also killed, the country's supreme security committee said. The committee, in a statement published by state news agency Saba, did not disclose the nationality of the foreign hostage and did not say where in Yemen the operation took place. (Reporting by Mohammed Ghobari, Writing by Sami Aboudi; Editing by Yara Bayoumy & Kim Coghill)","Canadian fugitives captured after brazen helicopter jail break. Canadian police said on Sunday they had captured three fugitives who earlier this month escaped from a Quebec jail by helicopter, the second airborne prison break in the Canadian province in just over a year. Provincial police in the largely French-speaking province of Quebec said in a tweet the three men had been arrested at 1:30 a.m. local time in Montreal and will be appearing in court on Monday. Police said earlier this month that the three men, who are believed to have ties to organized crime, were picked up by a green helicopter, which touched down in the courtyard of the medium-security Orsainville Detention Centre. The jail is located on the outskirts of Quebec City, the capital of the Canadian province, about 160 kilometers (100 miles) north of the U.S. border.","Delhi women's hotline at risk from cash woes, political turmoil. By Sruthi Gottipati NEW DELHI (Reuters) - A 24-hour hotline for women in India's capital, launched shortly after a fatal gang rape sparked nationwide protests in December 2012, is at risk of closing due to a lack of funds and political upheaval, its head said on Tuesday. The helpline, started in an effort to address sexual harassment and violence against women in New Delhi, is plagued by delays in payment of staff wages and uncertainty about its future, said Khadijah Faruqui. A power vacuum resulting from the resignation last month of anti-graft campaigner Arvind Kejriwal, after a brief spell as New Delhi's chief minister, has made matters worse. She said a top government official in charge of Delhi had reassured her that all the helpline's problems would be addressed: \"He said: 'Give me two days and I'll resolve all these issues.'\" The hotline receives about 55,000 calls a month and is connected to three lines, said Faruqui.","Germany has spied on Turkey since 1976: Focus magazine. Germany's foreign intelligence agency has been spying on Turkey for nearly four decades, Focus magazine said on Saturday in a report which could raise tensions further between the NATO allies. The details about the duration of possible surveillance and on the decision-making surrounding it go further than first reports earlier this week. Turkey summoned Germany's ambassador in Ankara on Monday after media reports that Berlin had identified Ankara as a top target of surveillance in a government document from 2009 and had been spying on Turkey for years. Focus magazine said the BND intelligence agency had been spying on Turkey since 1976 and that the German government under the then Social Democrat chancellor Helmut Schmidt had expressly approved the step.","Rights group urges Yemen to probe use of force. SANAA, Yemen (AP) — An international rights group urged Yemeni authorities on Sunday to investigate what it called \"unnecessary use of lethal force\" against demonstrators led by Shiite rebels in the capital who are demanding the reinstatement of fuel subsidies and the dismissal of the government.","Iraqi PM says Islamic State plans attacks on Paris, U.S. subways. By Arshad Mohammed NEW YORK (Reuters) - Iraq has received \"credible\" intelligence that Islamic State militants plan to launch attacks on subway systems in Paris and the United States, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said on Thursday. Abadi said the information, which he received on Thursday morning, came from militants captured in Iraq. He said he had asked for further details and concluded it appeared credible. The United States and France have both launched air strikes against Islamic State targets in Iraq in an effort to curb the radical Sunni militant group's territorial gains. ...","Putin brings down Crimea tensions; Kerry in Kiev. MOSCOW (AP) — Vladimir Putin talked tough but cooled tensions in the Ukraine crisis in his first comments since its president fled, saying Russia has no intention \"to fight the Ukrainian people\" but reserved the right to use force. As the Russian president held court Tuesday in his personal residence, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry met with Kiev's fledgling government and Moscow agreed to sit down with NATO.","Ex-tennis player Baltacha dies after cancer fight. LONDON (AP) — Former top-50 professional tennis player Elena Baltacha, who had been fighting liver cancer since retiring from the game, died Sunday. She was 30.","Nigeria's ruling party boosted by key state poll win. Nigeria's President Goodluck Jonathan and his embattled ruling party have wrested a key state from the opposition ahead of general polls next year, results showed Sunday. Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate Peter Ayodele Fayose was elected governor in southwestern Ekiti state, beating the incumbent John Kayode Fayemi by a two-to-one margin, the electoral commission said. The PDP -- never out of power nationally since Nigeria returned to civilian rule in 1999 -- lost Ekiti to the All Progressives Congress (APC) four years ago and until Saturday controlled none of the six southwestern states.","Turkey's disaster management center says death toll in mine accident is now 15. ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkey's disaster management center says death toll in mine accident is now 15.","Militants post photos of mass killing in Iraq. BAGHDAD (AP) — The Islamic militants who overran cities and towns in Iraq last week posted graphic photos that appeared to show their gunmen massacring scores of captured Iraqi soldiers, while the prime minister vowed Sunday to \"liberate every inch\" of captured territory.","ISIL claims bombing in Hezbollah's Beirut stronghold. The Al-Qaeda-affiliated Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant on Saturday claimed credit for a deadly bombing in the Beirut stronghold of the \"criminal\" Shiite militant group Hezbollah. ISIL said in a statement posted online that it had penetrated the \"security system of the Party of Satan (Hezbollah)... and crush its strongholds... in a first small payment from the heavy account that is awaiting those wicked criminals\".","Lew presses Beijing to ease exchange rate controls. BEIJING (AP) — The U.S. treasury secretary has pressed China to ease its politically sensitive exchange rate controls and lower barriers to foreign investment.","Syrians trade blame over 'poison' attack on town. Syrian state television and medical sources in central Hama province swapped accusations Saturday over an attack that reportedly caused \"suffocation and poisoning\" of residents. Medics quoted by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights NGO said people choking from poisoning had been hospitalised after air raids with barrel bombs Friday on the town of Kafr Zita. \"Regime planes bombed Kafr Zita with explosive barrels that produced thick smoke and odours and led to cases of suffocation and poisoning,\" Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman said. But state television reported that Al-Qaeda affiliate Al-Nusra Front had released chlorine gas in a deadly attack on the town.","Catalans demand secession vote as Scot poll looms. BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — A week before Scotland votes on whether to break away from the United Kingdom, Catalan separatists in northeastern Spain hope at least 1 million people will take to the streets in Barcelona and across Catalonia to demand a secession vote.","Mayer hopes to join Dad as Olympic Alpine medalist. KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia (AP) — Even if he's never finished better than fifth in a World Cup downhill, Austria's Matthias Mayer is catching everyone's attention ahead of the opening Alpine race at the Sochi Olympics.","Major shareholder pushes for board shake-up at Timmins Gold. A major shareholder of Timmins Gold Corp, which owns the San Francisco gold mine in Mexico, said on Monday it planned to nominate six candidates for the company's eight-member board. Asset manager Sentry Investments, which owns about 17 percent of Timmins, said the company's assets had been mismanaged and the board was not sufficiently independent. Shares of Timmins jumped 5.8 percent to C$1.46 in morning trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange. Timmins said in a release that it was considering the views of its shareholders and was confident it can resolve the issue.","Former Washington Post editor Ben Bradlee dies at age 93. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Former Washington Post editor Ben Bradlee, who oversaw the paper's coverage of the Watergate scandal that toppled President Richard Nixon, died on Tuesday at age 93, the newspaper said. As executive editor from 1968 until 1991, Bradlee became one of the most important figures in Washington, as well as journalism history, while transforming the Post from a staid newspaper into one of the most dynamic and respected publications in the United States. Bradlee died at his home in Washington of natural causes, the paper said. ...","Hong Kong police begin clearing major protest site. HONG KONG (Reuters) - Scuffles broke out on Wednesday as Hong Kong police, many with helmets and batons, began clearing protesters from a major pro-democracy demonstration site in the city, Reuters witnesses said. Police began cutting away cords binding metal barricades to clear part of Nathan Road, at the heart of the protest site in the gritty Mong Kok district, and started dismantling marquees and tents used by the protesters along the road. Hundreds of protesters remained, but were pushed back by a large numbers of police officers. ...","Philippines urges workers in Libya to leave while they can. The Philippines urged its thousands of workers in Libya on Saturday to leave the strife-torn nation now while they still can, warning that the remaining exit routes were closing fast. A ship chartered by Manila is set to sail from Malta in the coming days to pick up Filipinos from the ports of Benghazi, Misrata and possibly Tripoli, a foreign affairs department statement said. \"The (Department of Foreign Affairs) is appealing with urgency to those who have not made the decision to be repatriated to please consider doing so as the avenues of repatriation are quickly diminishing,\" the statement said. The Philippines warned Filipinos to leave Libya on May 30.","Madagascar's president takes over, blast wounds several. By Alain Iloniaina ANTANANARIVO (Reuters) - Madagascar's new president Hery Rajaonarimampianina, who won the first elections since a coup in 2009, took office on Saturday but his inauguration was marred by an explosion that injured about five people after the ceremony. We even see a severed leg there,\" Germain Ratsirombahina, commissioner at a police station in the capital told Reuters by phone. Rajaonarimampianina had earlier pledged to create an investment-friendly climate in the Indian Ocean island. The World Bank said on Friday the next step of forming a government was crucial and that a resumption of normal lending hinged on the appointment of a new prime minister.","Skeleton could solve riddle of ancient Greek tomb. ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Bones from a skeleton found in the innermost chamber of a huge, looted tomb in Greece could help archaeologists solve the riddle of who was buried in opulent splendor there, around the end of the 4th century B.C. in the twilight of Alexander the Great's reign.","UN chief in surprise visit to Libyan capital. Tripoli (AFP) - UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon arrived in the Libyan capital on Saturday for a surprise visit, a source in the UN mission in the country said.","Obama: Keystone benefits for U.S. consumers, workers nominal. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama said on Friday that construction of the Keystone XL pipeline to transport crude oil from Canada to the U.S. Gulf Coast would only nominally benefit American consumers and workers. \"There is very little impact - nominal impact - on U.S. gas prices, what the average American consumer cares about,\" Obama told reporters during an end-of-year press conference. Construction of the pipeline would create a \"couple thousand\" jobs, but there are better ways to create long-term, paying jobs for American workers by investing in infrastructure, Obama ...","Obama administration pledges to \"stem this tide'. WASHINGTON (AP) — Obama administration officials are defending their response to the immigration crisis on the southwestern border and promising to stem the tide of unaccompanied children arriving from Central America.","Top Asian News at 10:00 p.m. GMT. PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) — They were leaders of Cambodia's infamous Khmer Rouge, the fanatical communist movement behind a 1970s reign of terror that transformed this entire Southeast Asian nation into a ruthless slave state — a place where cities were emptied of their inhabitants, religion and schools were banned, and anyone deemed a threat was executed. When the nightmare ended, in 1979, close to 2 million people were dead — a quarter of Cambodia's population at the time.","Recognition of Palestine 'still long way off'. Paris (AFP) - Despite a highly-symbolic British vote to recognise Palestine as a state, the road to official recognition is still fraught with obstacles, experts say, with the hoped-for two-state solution a long way off.","Highlanders pacify Bulls to re-ignite season. (Reuters) - The Otago Highlanders re-ignited their Super Rugby campaign with a rousing 27-20 victory over the Bulls in Dunedin on Friday. Held 13-13 at halftime, the Highlanders surged ahead with tries from flanker Gareth Evans and centre Malakai Fekitoa in an eight-minute burst shortly after the break, then defended valiantly to fend off a series of late raids. Flyhalf Lima Sopoaga tallied 17 points, including the Highlanders' first try in the 33rd-minute, as the hosts improved to 4-3 on the season to keep in touch of the defending champion Chiefs in the New Zealand conference race. ...","Hopes fade for survivors after Turkish mine fire kills more than 230. By Ece Toksabay SOMA, Turkey (Reuters) - Hopes faded of finding more survivors in a coal mine in western Turkey on Wednesday, where 238 workers were confirmed killed and 120 more still feared to be trapped in what is likely to prove the nation's worst ever industrial disaster. Anger over the deadly fire at the mine about 480 km (300 miles) southwest of Istanbul echoed across a country that has seen a decade of rapid economic growth but still suffers from one of the world's worst workplace safety records. Opponents blamed Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan's government for ignoring repeated warnings about the safety of the country's mines.","Rights groups: Stop selling spyware to dictators. LONDON (AP) — A coalition of human rights groups is launching a campaign to curb the international trade in surveillance software, saying exports of sophisticated espionage programs are chilling free speech across the globe.","Activists to present petition to end SeaWorld California orca shows. By Sharon Bernstein SACRAMENTO, California (Reuters) - The battle over a proposed ban in California on using killer whales in entertainment shows at amusement parks like SeaWorld stepped up on Monday, as animal rights activists converged on Sacramento to present petitions they said were signed by 1.2 million people worldwide. The symbolic move to present the petitions by representatives of the Animal Welfare Institute and others came a day before a committee of state lawmakers was set to debate a bill to end orca shows at SeaWorld's San Diego park. The lobbying by supporters comes days after executives at SeaWorld spent two days at the state capitol presenting their case. The bill to ban orca shows was introduced by state Assemblyman Richard Bloom, a Santa Monica Democrat, who has said he was inspired by the documentary film, \"Blackfish,\" which tells the story of an orca that killed a trainer at SeaWorld's park in Orlando, Florida, in 2010.","UN says Liberia sent refugees home illegally. MONROVIA, Liberia (AP) — The U.N. refugee agency says Liberian security forces sent 14 registered refugees from neighboring Ivory Coast back to their home country in violation of international law forbidding forced repatriation.","North Korea denies role in tanker loaded with crude at rebel-held Libya port. North Korea on Thursday denied any responsibility for an oil tanker that loaded crude from a Libyan rebel-held port and fled the OPEC member state's attempt to seize it, saying the vessel that carried its flag was linked to an Egyptian firm. The incident marked the first sale of Libyan crude bypassing the government and was a huge humiliation for Tripoli as it struggled to rein in armed militias who helped oust dictator Muammar Gaddafi in 2011 but want to grab power and oil revenues. Libya's parliament ousted Prime Minister Ali Zeidan on Tuesday after rebels loaded crude at Es Sider terminal onto the North Korean-flagged tanker that later fled naval forces amid reports of a gunfight as it sailed off along Libya's eastern Mediterranean coast. North Korea said the tanker violated its laws and a contract with the Alexandria-based company by carrying contraband cargo.","Congo launches agri-business park in move to revamp farming. By Peter Jones KINSHASA (Reuters) - Democratic Republic of Congo has launched its first agricultural business park, the initial step in a plan to use its vast tracts of arable land to produce food, create jobs and wean the economy off its dependence on mining. Congo has 80 million hectares of arable land and some 70 percent of the population works in farming but most are involved in subsistence agriculture and the country spent $1.5 billion on food imports last year. The program hinges on Congo overcoming its reputation for being one of the trickiest business environments and reversing the current trend for agriculture's contribution to the economy declining as the mining sector expands. \"This initiative has potential to create durable growth and limit the vulnerability of an economy that depends on natural resources and fluctuations of international markets,\" Jean Chrysostome Vahamwiti, minister for agriculture and rural development, said on Tuesday at the launch of the 75,000 hectare Bukanga Lonzo park, 240 km (150 miles) east of Kinshasa.","Japan's economy shrinks April-June on tax raise. TOKYO (AP) — The Japanese economy shrank during the second quarter, at an annual pace of 6.8 percent, according to government data, as spending got slammed by a tax raise that kicked in from April.","Nepal bus accident kills 9, injures dozens. KATMANDU, Nepal (AP) — Police in Nepal say a bus crowded with people heading home for a Hindu festival has veered off a mountain highway, killing nine people and injuring dozens of others.","UK spy chief says web is command center for terror. LONDON (AP) — The new head of Britain's electronic eavesdropping agency says U.S.-based social media have become the command and control network of choice for terrorists and that spy agencies need to have greater support from the private sector to fight the Islamic State group.","Ontario 2013-14 budget deficit estimated to be C$11.3 billion. Ontario's budget deficit was estimated to be C$11.3 billion in 2013-14, smaller than the minority Liberal government's previous target of C$11.7 billion, the province's finance minister Charles Sousa said on Thursday. Sousa attributed the C$400 million deficit reduction - compared to the government's last fiscal update in November - to \"prudent management of spending.\" He said the government will release its 2014-15 budget in the next few weeks. That budget could to lead to an election in the coming months, as Liberal Premier Kathleen Wynne has had to deal with a scandal over the costly cancellation of two natural gas power plants by her predecessor Dalton McGuinty, whom she replaced in February 2013. The center-left Liberals have been in power for 10 years in Ontario, Canada's most populous province and home to most of the Canada's banks and a large part of its manufacturing sector.","Saudi Arabia warns of civil war in Iraq, opposes foreign intervention. Saudi Arabia said on Wednesday neighbouring Iraq faced the threat of full-scale civil war with grave consequences for the wider region and, in an apparent message to arch rival Iran, warned against outside powers intervening in the conflict. Iraq's Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has appealed for national unity with bitter Sunni critics of his Shi'ite-led government after a stunning offensive through the north of the country by Sunni Islamist militants over the past week. Maliki has also accused regional Sunni powerhouse Saudi Arabia of backing the militants of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), who want to carve out a Sunni caliphate in the heart of the Middle East. \"This grave situation that is storming Iraq carries with it the signs of civil war whose implications for the region we cannot fathom,\" Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal told a gathering of Arab and Muslim leaders in Jeddah.","Piers Morgan emailed support to Brooks on hacking. LONDON (AP) — Former News of the World editor Rebekah Brooks says she felt \"revulsion\" when she learned the newspaper had hacked the voicemails of a murdered 13-year-old girl.","Iran's oil exports surge above West's sanctions cap: IEA. By Ron Bousso and Timothy Gardner LONDON/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Iran's crude oil exports have surged to their highest in 20 months, far exceeding a 1 million barrel-per-day limit set by the West under an interim deal on curbing Tehran's nuclear program. The International Energy Agency's monthly report revised February's global crude imports from Iran upwards by 240,000 bpd to 1.65 million barrels per day, the highest since June 2012. Under an interim deal signed in November between Iran and six world powers - known as the P5+1 - that came into effect on January 20, Iran's exports are supposed to be held to an average 1 million bpd through July 20. Tough international sanctions over the past two years have cut Iran's oil exports by about half.","Fired up by Scotland, Catalans rally for breakaway vote. Fired up by Scotland's looming independence referendum, nationalists in Catalonia took to the streets on Thursday for mass protests to demand their own vote on breaking away from Spain. The first yellow- and red-striped shirts appeared in the sunny streets of Barcelona in the early morning, preparing for a late afternoon rally expected to draw half a million demonstrators. Scotland's September 18 referendum has put the wind in the sails of Catalans who want to seize sovereignty of this northeastern Spanish region from Madrid. The Scottish vote is due just a week after the most sensitive day of the year for Catalonia: Thursday's \"Diada\", the annual Catalan national commemoration.","Japan, wary of North Korea, works to secure infrastructure after Sony attack. By Tim Kelly and Nobuhiro Kubo TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan, fearing it could be a soft target for possible North Korean cyberattacks in the escalating row over the Sony Pictures hack, has begun working to ensure basic infrastructure is safe and to formulate its diplomatic response, officials said. The hacking of the U.S. ...","Column: Heirs to \"Big Red Machine\" throw a gear. SOCHI, Russia (AP) — As elite teams go, they aren't particularly big, they don't wear red much anymore, and as far as being a machine, well, the Russian hockey team is proving just as susceptible to nerves as anyone here at the Olympics.","Christmas markets _ and other Vienna freebies. VIENNA (AP) — The Blue Danube is grayish-brown, and no, Viennese do not wear lederhosen. But beyond the cliches surrounding the Austrian capital, there are plenty of sights and experiences to enjoy in this city which — if it didn't coin the word gemuetlichkeit (coziness), certainly lives it.","Thieves in Mexico steal truck with dangerous radioactive load. Thieves in central Mexico on Thursday stole a pick-up truck carrying dangerous radioactive material, authorities said. The radioactive load - iridium 192 - was normally used in industrial radiography, Mexico's interior ministry said in a statement.","Islamic state video purports to show beheading of UK hostage David Haines. BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Islamic State militants fighting in Iraq and Syria released a video on Saturday which purported to show the beheading of British aid worker David Haines. Reuters could not immediately verify the footage. Two U.S. journalists, James Foley and Steven Sotloff, have been executed by Islamic State (IS). Haines, a 44-year-old father of two from Perth in Scotland, was kidnapped last year while working for the French agency ACTED. (Reporting by Oliver Holmes and Ned Parker; Editing by Bernard Orr)","Lloyds bank takes extra £2.0bn hit for mis-selling claims. Britain's state-rescued bank Lloyds said Monday it will take an extra hit of almost £2.0 ($3.3 billion, 2.4 billion euros) to cover mis-selling claims. Lloyds will take a provision of £1.8 billion for claims relating to the mis-selling of payment protection insurance, and £130 million relating to over the mis-selling of interest rate hedging products to small businesses, it said in an update before annual results on February 13, adding it expects to make a \"small\" pre-tax profit.","Spain falls into deflation in March. MADRID (AP) — Official data show Spain's inflation rate dipped into negative territory this month, a development likely to add pressure on the European Central Bank to ease its monetary policies.","AP Interview: Adam Schantz, US Navy plane searcher. PERTH, Australia (AP) — Every day from the Perth airport and a nearby military base, about a dozen planes from several countries take flight to search for debris from missing Flight 370 — so far without success. The U.S. Defense Department alone committed $7.3 million to the effort in the first month of the search, much of it spent on two U.S. Navy P-8 Poseidon planes that cost $4,000 per hour to fly.","15 dead, hundreds trapped in Turkish coal mine. ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — An explosion and a fire at a coal mine in western Turkey killed at least 15 workers Tuesday and trapped another 200 or more miners underground, the country's disaster agency said as it launched a massive rescue operation.","Openers miss out as Black Caps opt for youth. Struggling New Zealand Test openers Peter Fulton and Hamish Rutherford missed out on central contracts as selectors on Thursday named a youth-orientated playing group with an eye on next year's World Cup. There are six new faces in the 20-man list of players contracted for 2014-15, including all-rounder James Neesham, wicketkeeper Luke Ronchi and pacemen Matt Henry and Adam Milne. Spinners Mark Craig and Ish Sodhi were also given the nod after performing strongly in the recent Test series win over the West Indies.","Ex-majority shareholder of Yukos Oil Co: court has ordered Russia to pay it over $50 billion. LONDON (AP) — Ex-majority shareholder of Yukos Oil Co: court has ordered Russia to pay it over $50 billion.","Pakistani held for cannibalism after eating baby. Lahore (Pakistan) (AFP) - A Pakistani man was arrested Monday on suspicion of cannibalism when the head of a newborn baby was found at his home -- three years after he was jailed for the same offence. Householder Mohammad Arif admitted eating the child after his brother stole the body from a graveyard in Darya Khan village, around 300 kilometres (180 miles) south of Islamabad, officers said. Arif and his brother Farman Ali were arrested for eating human corpses in the same village in April 2011 and served two years in prison, in a case that shocked Pakistan. \"Arif has been arrested and he has confessed that his brother brought the dead body of the newborn from the nearby graveyard,\" Ameer Abdullah, police chief of Bhakkar district where the village is located, told AFP.","China shares jump as Hong Kong ends yuan limit. HONG KONG (AP) — Chinese stocks jumped Wednesday after Hong Kong scrapped a daily limit on how much yuan residents can buy ahead of the launch of cross border share trading next week that widens access for foreign investors. Tokyo's Nikkei index touched a seven-year high as the yen hovered near a multi-year low amid speculation of a snap Japanese election. Other global benchmarks were lower.","Obama, Germany's Merkel discuss Ukraine. KEY LARGO, Florida (AP) — The White House says President Barack Obama has told German Chancellor Angela Merkel he welcomes the unified position of the United States and the European Union on Ukraine.","Belfast police to sue for all Boston College tapes. BELFAST, Northern Ireland (AP) — Northern Ireland police say they will sue to obtain all of the audiotaped interviews of former militants who described their wartime careers to a Boston College oral history project.","U.S. military team in Ukraine to help airliner crash probe. By Peter Apps WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A small U.S. military team has arrived in Kiev to help investigate the downing of Malaysian Airlines Flight MH17, the United States said on Tuesday, with more direct training support for Ukraine also possible. The team of about 10 people - which includes special operations, logistics, communications and air planning personnel - will operate from the capital of Kiev and will not visit the crash site in the conflict area of eastern Ukraine. Last week, the Pentagon announced it would notify Congress of plans to mount a $19 million program to train several units of Ukraine's National Guard in \"internal defense\". The request has not yet been approved by legislators. Washington has a long-running military training relationship with Ukraine but has not sent service personnel to the country aside from its regular embassy presence since the annexation of Ukraine's Crimea region by Russia in March. U.S. European Command spokesman U.S. Navy Captain Gregory Hicks said the survey and assessment team would advise the U.S. Embassy in Kiev over possible U.S. support to the Netherlands, Malaysia and Australia in the MH17 investigation and recovery. \"The team would work in coordination with and support the FBI team already on the ground,\" he said.","Chinese sailors throw bottles into Antarctic Ocean: report. Lovesick crew members on the Chinese icebreaker Xue Long marked Valentine's Day by throwing bottled notes into the pristine wilderness of the Antarctic Ocean, state media reported Wednesday. The vessel, also known as Snow Dragon, is on a scientific mission to Antarctica and last month took part in the rescue of personnel from a stranded Russian ship. The 10 men, in white full dress uniform, tossed the bulb-shaped glass bottles into the icy waters on Tuesday, the official Xinhua news agency said. According to the report in another note, Chen Xiaodong, who left behind his wife and then nine-month-old son when he boarded last year, wrote: \"A burning-hot heart is thinking of you in the blizzards in the Antarctica.","Flight bans show skittishness over trouble spots. When U.S. and European airlines quickly canceled flights to Israel Tuesday, they showed both a skittishness and a new sense of urgency in dealing with global trouble spots following last week's downing of a passenger plane over Ukraine.","Senegal seizes Russian fishing trawler, 80 crew. DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — Senegal's armed forces say marines have seized a Russian boat caught fishing illegally off the coast of the West African nation.","Madrid takes Hernandez on loan from ManU. MADRID (AP) — Real Madrid signed Mexico striker Javier Hernandez on a season-long loan from Manchester United on Monday as a last-minute reinforcement for the European champions' attack.","10 killed in rebel attack in northeast India. GAUHATI, India (AP) — A senior police official says at least 10 people have been killed and four others wounded as militants armed with automatic weapons opened fire in India's remote northeast.","German charged with murder over Internet killing. BERLIN (AP) — A German police officer has been charged with murder over the death and dismemberment of a man he met on the Internet.","Hamilton hoping to extend Mercedes contract. BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — Lewis Hamilton says he and Mercedes would like to extend his contract with the Formula One team beyond next year, although they have yet to hold formal talks about a new deal.","Late tries earn champions' Chiefs dramatic draw. Pretoria (AFP) - Replacement full-back Gareth Anscombe kicked a stoppage-time touchline conversion to salvage a 34-34 draw for Waikato Chiefs at Northern Bulls Saturday in a Super 15 thriller.","Arab Israelis clash with police over Gaza assault. Arab Israelis clashed with police in the northern city of Nazareth on Monday, police said, at the end of a protest against Israel's deadly military strikes in the Gaza Strip. The clashes came as Nazareth and cities in the West Bank observed a general strike to mourn the victims of the Gaza conflict between Israel and Hamas -- the bloodiest since 2009 -- that has cost more than 500 Palestinian lives in two weeks.","Brazil ready to quell protests during World Cup. By Anthony Boadle BRASILIA (Reuters) - Brazil has stocked up on riot gear and is ready to deploy police and military forces to contain anti-government protests expected during the 32-nation World Cup soccer championship starting next month, authorities said on Friday. Brazilian officials believe the protests will be smaller than the massive demonstrations that unexpectedly erupted in June of last year during a warm-up event for the World Cup. \"According to the information we have, our feeling is that they will be smaller than what happened last June,\" Justice Minister José Eduardo Cardozo said of the likely street protests at a news conference. President Dilma Rousseff is determined to guarantee safety for the World Cup.","UN ambassador: Others ready to fight Islamic State. WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States' ambassador to the United Nations says other nations are pledging support for the fight against Islamic State militants.","EU's Russia debate a challenge for top diplomat Mogherini. By Adrian Croft BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Italy's Federica Mogherini pledged as European Union foreign policy chief that the EU would play a stronger role in tackling world crises. Her resolve is about to be tested as the bloc debates whether it is time to mend its relationship with Russia. A year after Ukraine's former President Viktor Yanukovich backed out of an EU trade deal and lit the ongoing crisis, the EU's new top diplomat must steer senior officials to a decision whether to keep up strong pressure on Moscow or \"re-engage.\" Mogherini travels to Kiev on Tuesday for talks with President Petro Poroshenko, then attends Thursday's EU summit - new European Council President Donald Tusk's first - where Ukraine will be high on the agenda.","Macedonia: Ethnic Albanians clash with police. SKOPJE, Macedonia (AP) — Hundreds of stone-throwing ethnic Albanians protesting a Macedonian court ruling have clashed with police, who fired water cannon and tear gas at the crowd to prevent them from storming a court building.","Rosberg locked in F1 title race with Hamilton. The failure of Nico Rosberg's Mercedes at the Singapore Grand Prix has given the championship advantage to teammate and race winner Lewis Hamilton — and it raised questions about whether Formula One's proposed new radio bans are a good idea.","England lose Launchbury for November Tests. London (AFP) - England suffered a major setback ahead of their November Test campaign on Sunday when lock Joe Launchbury was ruled out of all four internationals at Twickenham with a neck injury.","UK-Spain dispute over Gibraltar threatens European skies reform. By Julia Fioretti BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The dispute between Britain and Spain over Gibraltar threatens to hold up European Union plans to merge national air corridors, diplomats say. EU member states are trying to reach agreement on the Single European Sky scheme, intended to complete the integration of some of the world's most crowded airways, cutting costs and CO2 emissions. But a wrangle over the sovereignty of the isthmus that connects the British territory of Gibraltar to Spain could delay a deal even if all other issues are agreed upon, EU diplomats said. ...","Britons, the European kings of anti-cholesterol drugs. As the home of cooked breakfasts and pints of beer, it is perhaps no surprise that Britain is the European king of anti-cholesterol drugs with some seven million users. But recommendations to widen the use of \"statins\" -- the class of drugs used to battle cholesterol -- has sparked a national debate about their merits and whether they are really a silver bullet to stave off heart attacks. Britain is the heaviest country in Europe, and the seventh fattest of developed countries worldwide, with OECD data showing 24.8 percent of adults are obese. Britons also drink more than most rich nations and despite exercising more than most, the incidence of heart attacks is only slightly below the OECD average.","Juventus joins Atletico in last 16 after 0-0 draw. TURIN, Italy (AP) — Juventus progressed to the knockout stage of the Champions League as it drew 0-0 at home to already qualified Atletico Madrid, which goes through as group winner.","F-35 engine mishap, UK 'no show' rich in lessons learned. By Andrea Shalal FARNBOROUGH England (Reuters) - The engine failure that grounded Lockheed Martin's F-35 fighter jets and the warplane's now-canceled appearance at two UK air shows provided key \"lessons learned\" for the companies that build the jets, and the military forces that use them. The $400 billion weapons program is the world's largest single arms project and encompasses three different U.S. military services, eight countries that helped fund the plane's development, two other foreign militaries, and a separate Pentagon office, as well as three separate aircraft models. U.S. military officials on Tuesday announced that they had approved limited flights of the F-35 jets but imposed mandatory engine inspections and various flight restrictions, and banned the planned flights to Farnborough air show. The latest grounding - the program's 12th to date - was not the longest, but it was complicated by the fact that U.S. and British jets were due to leave for Britain just days after the Pratt & Whitney F135 engine on an Air Force jet broke apart and caught fire at a Florida Air Force base on June 23.","China confronts U.S. envoy over cyber-spying accusations. By Sui-Lee Wee BEIJING (Reuters) - China summoned the U.S. ambassador the United States accused five Chinese military officers of hacking into American companies to steal trade secrets, warning Washington it could take further action, the foreign ministry said on Tuesday. The U.S. Ambassador to China, Max Baucus, met with Zheng Zeguang, assistant foreign minister, on Monday shortly after the United States charged the five Chinese, accusing them of hacking into American nuclear, metal and solar companies to steal trade secrets.","Taiwan challenges Canada's steel duties at WTO. Taiwan has launched a World Trade Organization challenge to Canada over duties on steel which Ottawa claims is being dumped on its market, sources said on Thursday. Taiwan informed the WTO that it had made a formal request for consultations with Canada, which is the first step towards a full-blown legal challenge at the Geneva-based body. Under the rules of the 160-economy WTO, members have 60 days to try to resolve their differences in direct talks. At issue are duties that Canada has slapped on imports of steel carbon welded pipes from Taiwan.","Special Report - Inside Xi Jinping's purge of China's oil mandarins. By David Lague , Charlie Zhu and Benjamin Kang Lim BEIJING/HONG KONG (Reuters) - Oil executive Jiang Jiemin rose to power in Communist China in time-honored fashion: by hitching his star to a mighty mentor. In Jiang's case, that patron was another oil man, Zhou Yongkang, who went on to become the chief of China's internal security apparatus and one of the country's most powerful men. Like Zhou before him, Jiang rose to the top of country’s biggest oil producer, China National Petroleum Corporation. In March last year Jiang ascended even higher, when he was named to run the agency that oversees all of China's biggest state-owned companies.","Suarez arrives at CAS to appeal ban for biting. LAUSANNE, Switzerland (AP) — Luis Suarez has arrived at world sport's highest court to appeal his ban for biting an opponent at the World Cup.","American Davis upsets Pennetta at Wimbledon. LONDON (AP) — American Lauren Davis defeated 12th-seeded Flavia Pennetta of Italy 6-4, 7-6 (4) Wednesday to advance to the third round of Wimbledon, equaling her best performance of her 10 Grand Slam tournaments.","US judge won't toss statements by Tsarnaev friends. BOSTON (AP) — A federal judge on Thursday refused to suppress statements allegedly made by two friends of Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev following the deadly 2013 bombing.","Dream come true for China's Ji at Tour de France. Ji Cheng said it will be a \"dream\" come true on Saturday when he becomes the first Chinese rider to compete at the Tour de France. \"When you come back, my wife is probably already asleep because she's got a job, so sometimes we have to find a solution and a way to have more contact.","Denmark: 1 killed, 2 wounded in stabbing. COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — Danish police have arrested a man on suspicion of stabbing to death an employee at a home for addicts and people with mental problems, and seriously wounding two other people.","In audiotape, shadowy leader of Hamas military wing rules out Gaza truce until demands are met. GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — In audiotape, shadowy leader of Hamas military wing rules out Gaza truce until demands are met.","Haiti offers treatment as virus outbreak surges. PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — The government of Haiti says it will distribute pain medication to clinics around the country amid a surge in suspected cases of a mosquito-borne virus.","US targets Shebab leader in Somalia air strike. US forces have carried out air strikes against the leader of Somalia's Al-Qaeda-linked Shebab rebels, with casualties reported but uncertainty hanging over the fate of the main target, officials said Tuesday. The Pentagon confirmed an \"operation\" was carried out on Monday against the hardline militia, and that it was \"assessing the results\". \"The Americans carried out a major air strike targeting a gathering by senior Al-Shebab officials, including their leader Abu-Zubayr,\" said Abdukadir Mohamed Nur, governor for southern Somalia's Lower Shabelle region.","VW U.S. chief says changing mindset at German HQ key for success. Michael Horn, the German executive tasked with reviving Volkswagen AG's fortunes in the United States, said the recipe for success in North America is to change the mindset at the company's headquarters in Germany. Not here, but in Wolfsburg,\" Horn said, referring to the German city where Volkswagen is based. Volkswagen is considering introducing a long-wheelbase version of its Tiguan compact sports utility vehicle because U.S. customers want three rows of seats rather than only two, Horn said.","Inmarsat offers tracking Malaysian plane's loss. LONDON (AP) — Inmarsat, the global mobile satellite provider, says it will offer free basic tracking services for planes flying over oceans to prevent another incident such as the loss of Malaysian Airlines Flight 370.","Turkey to select new PM end August. ISTANBUL (AP) — Turkey's governing party said Monday it will select a new prime minister at the end of August to replace Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who won the country's first direct presidential election in a historic vote.","Ban meets Myanmar officials, says concerned about Rohingya minority. NAYPYITAW Myanmar (Reuters) - U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon told the Myanmar government on Wednesday he is concerned about the welfare of the country's Rohingya Muslims and asked officials to ensure access for UN agencies delivering humanitarian assistance to them. Ban, in Myanmar to attend summits of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and the East Asia Forum, met senior officials in the capital Naypyitaw and urged them to respect the Rohingya's human rights. Almost 140,000 of Myanmar's 1. ...","Islamic State video wages psychological war on Iraqi soldiers. By Michael Georgy BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Islamic State, the al Qaeda spin-off that seized wide swathes of Iraq almost unopposed last month, has released a video telling Iraqi soldiers who may still have some fight in them that they risk being rounded up en masse and executed. Iraq's army unraveled when the Sunni insurgents staged a lightning advance through northern towns and cities, building on territory their comrades captured earlier in the west of the country, a major OPEC oil producer. Thousands of soldiers fled, prompting Iraq's top cleric to call on compatriots to take up arms against the radical faction that has declared a mediaeval-style caliphate in parts of Iraq and Syria and aims to march on the capital Baghdad. The 30-minute video clip, circulated during the holiday that marks the end of the fasting month of Ramadan, sheds light on what tactics the Islamic State is likely to employ as it presses ahead with its campaign.","Northern Ireland man charged as IRA faction leader. BELFAST, Northern Ireland (AP) — Police say they have charged a Northern Ireland man with directing an Irish Republican Army faction, an unusual charge that suggests detectives believe they have caught a senior militant.","Canada's border agency enlisting informants, prompts internal review. OTTAWA - Newly released documents show Canada's border agency is enlisting confidential informants, prompting internal concerns about the privacy risk to sensitive institutions such as churches, schools and Parliament.","'Specific' attack threat at Uganda's Entebbe airport, says US. The US embassy in Uganda warned Thursday of a \"specific threat\" by an unknown group to attack Entebbe international airport, which serves the capital Kampala. The alert came as travellers flying to the United States from Europe and the Middle East faced tighter security because of new concerns about the development of explosives that could circumvent airport security. \"The US embassy has received information from the Uganda police force that according to intelligence sources there is a specific threat to attack Entebbe International Airport by an unknown terrorist group today, July 3rd, between the hours of 2100-2300 (1800 GMT to 2000 GMT),\" the statement said. Although it did not name any group, Al-Qaeda linked Shebab insurgents have claimed recent attacks in Kenya and Djibouti, and at home in Somalia.","Egypt clamps hold over mosques to control message. CAIRO (AP) — In his weekly sermon, Muslim cleric Ali Abdel-Moati preached to his congregation in a southern Egyptian city about the evils of making hasty judgments. That prompted a complaint to authorities from a judge, who accused him of criticizing a recent mass death sentence issued against supporters of ousted Islamist President Mohammed Morsi.","Justice 'elusive' for Syria chemical attack victims. Human Rights Watch Thursday said that hundreds of victims of a chemical weapons attack in Syria remained without justice one year on, days after Damascus's stockpile was completely destroyed. Images of the lifeless bodies of children -- some 426 died -- shocked the world and the finger of blame was quickly pointed at Syrian troops loyal to President Basher al-Assad, who denied involvement. After a global outcry and American threats to strike regime positions, Assad agreed to an international plan to destroy Syria's chemical weapons stockpile. On Monday, Barack Obama hailed the completion of the destruction, which was carried out aboard a US Navy ship on the Mediterranean Sea.","US fund in deal to build Myanmar solar plants. YANGON, Myanmar (AP) — A U.S investment fund has signed a $480 million deal to build two solar energy plants in central Myanmar, one of the largest investments by an American firm since the easing of U.S. sanctions.","Seven dead as police storm Ukraine protest camp. Ukrainian riot police stormed the main opposition camp in Kiev Tuesday after clashes left at least seven dead in the bloodiest day in three months of protests, triggering international alarm. Opposition leader Vitali Klitschko called on women and children to quit the encampment on Kiev's iconic Independence Square as riot police began their assault. Police said five civilians and two policemen had died during a day of clashes that turned parts of central Kiev into a war zone. Protesters seized back control of Kiev's city hall, with around 30 activists setting up a first aid point inside the building, which the opposition had left on Sunday as part of an amnesty deal with the authorities, according to AFP reporters on the scene.","IS has 20,000-31,500 fighters in Iraq and Syria: CIA. Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria now have about 20,000 to 31,500 fighters on the ground, the Central Intelligence Agency said, much higher than a previous estimate of 10,000. Among those in Syria are 15,000 foreign fighters including 2,000 Westerners, some of whom have joined IS, a US intelligence official told AFP. The figures were revealed one day after President Barack Obama vowed to expand an offensive against IS extremists, a plan which foresees new air strikes against IS in Syria, expanded attacks in Iraq and new support for Iraqi government forces. \"CIA assesses the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (IS) can muster between 20,000 and 31,500 fighters across Iraq and Syria, based on a new review of all-source intelligence reports from May to August,\" CIA spokesman Ryan Trapani said in a statement.","Authorities try to prevent panic as Ebola toll passes 4,000. Madrid (AFP) - Authorities worldwide try to prevent panic as the death toll from Ebola passes 4,000 and a Madrid nurse fights for her life Saturday.","Japan PM Abe says summit with China on the cards. TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said on Friday his government was making final arrangements to hold a bilateral summit with China in Beijing next week. \"Both Japan and China are coming to the view that it would benefit not just the two countries but regional stability if a summit is held,\" Abe said in a television program. China and Japan on Friday agreed to work on improving ties and signaled willingness to put a bitter row over disputed islands on the back burner, paving the way for their leaders to meet at an Asian-Pacific summit next week. ...","Protesters in east Ukraine storm prosecutor office. DONETSK, Ukraine (AP) — Anti-government demonstrators in a major eastern Ukraine city stormed and took over the regional prosecutor's office Thursday as evidence mounts that authorities are losing control over swaths of the country.","NATO soldier killed in attack in Afghanistan. KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — NATO says one of its service members has been killed in an attack in eastern Afghanistan.","Finch, Warner star in easy Australia win. MIRPUR, Bangladesh (AP) — Openers Aaron Finch and David Warner produced well-paced knocks as Australia finally won at the World Twenty20, an easy seven-wicket win over host Bangladesh.","Tanzania to ban public officials from holding private sector jobs. By Kizito Makoye DAR ES SALAAM (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - In response to a growing outcry over corruption and abuse of office, Tanzania is working on a new law to ban elected leaders and civil servants from using their position to build business empires and enrich themselves. The law is intended to end numerous scandals that have arisen in the absence of a clear definition of conflict of interest. ...","Security forces fire on protesters near Burkina presidential palace: sources. OUAGADOUGOU (Reuters) - Security forces protecting the area near Burkina Faso's presidential palace fired live rounds and tear gas as crowds approached, diplomatic and security sources told Reuters on Thursday. Crowds marched towards the presidential palace in the Ouaga 2000 neighborhood of Ouagadougou after earlier storming the parliament building and state television, the sources said. Security forces protecting the house of President Blaise Compaore's brother opened fire as demonstrators tried to attack the building, leaving three bodies lying motionless on the ground, a witness said. ...","On the Market: This Nineteenth-Century estate in Sydney, Australia.... This Nineteenth-Century estate in Sydney, Australia just got launched into minor internet fame after being incorrectly pegged as the filming locale for The Addams Family. While the five-bedroom spread never actually housed the morose bunch, it's wonderfully spooky in its...","Brazilians struggling to explain loss to Germany. BELO HORIZONTE, Brazil (AP) — Brazilians are having a difficult time trying to fathom how it all went wrong so quickly against Germany in the World Cup semifinals.","Obama, Modi vow to boost strategic ties, create model for world. By David Brunnstrom WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama and new Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi vowed on Monday to expand and deepen their countries' strategic partnership and make it a model for the rest of the world. In a joint \"vision statement\" issued after their first meeting at a White House dinner, the two leaders said they would work together \"not just for the benefit of both our nations, but for the benefit of the world. ...","Palestinian president outlaws labor union. RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) — President Mahmoud Abbas has outlawed the West Bank's largest labor union and arrested its top two officials in what critics say is a sign of increasing heavy-handedness by the Palestinian leader.","Chinese premier says fight against pollution will be waged long-term. BEIJING (Reuters) - China's war on pollution will be waged long-term, Premier Li Keqiang said on Thursday, amid concerns about widespread air and water pollution which have fuelled public discontent. Li made the remarks at a press conference at the conclusion of the annual parliamentary session. (Reporting By Sui-Lee Wee, Ben Blanchard and Megha Rajagopalan; Editing by Jeremy Laurence)","French-Mali sweep kills Islamic radical commander. PARIS (AP) — French defense officials say a militant Islamic commander who was the subject of a multimillion-dollar bounty issued by the United States has been killed in a military sweep operation in northeastern Mali.","2 Belarusians held in Poland for alleged espionage. WARSAW, Poland (AP) — A Polish lawmaker says two Belarusians have been detained on suspicion of espionage.","Amaya shares hit record high as regulators approve Rational buy. (Reuters) - Amaya Gaming Group Inc's shares rose more than 18 percent to a record high on Tuesday, after the Canadian company said it received approval from gaming regulators for its acquisition of PokerStars operator Rational Group. Amaya said last month it would buy Rational, which owns and operates the world's biggest online poker company PokerStars, for $4.9 billion. The approvals prompted analysts at Global Maxfin Capital to raise their target price on the stock to C$35 from C$30. Amaya has said that the deal would expedite the entry of PokerStars into regulated markets, particularly the United States.","Argentine president broke ankle by slipping on wet floor. BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — A wet floor caused Argentine President Cristina Fernandez to slip and fracture her left ankle, the government said Monday, providing the first details of the South American leader's latest of several health setbacks.","Chileans split on whether Bachelet can clinch social reforms. Chileans are split on whether center-left president Michelle Bachelet will deliver on her three flagship proposals for tax, education and constitutional reforms, a poll showed on Thursday. Bachelet took office last month, vowing to tackle the Andean country's steep income inequality by hiking corporate taxes, \"working towards\" free education and shredding the dictatorship-era constitution. Around 40 percent of Chileans believe she will deliver on these promises, 20 percent think she will fail and the remaining 40 percent have doubts or declined to answer, pollster Adimark said in its report.","Israel approves 184 new settlement homes. Israel's Jerusalem municipality approved building plans on Wednesday for 184 new homes in two Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank, drawing anger from Palestinians engaged in faltering statehood talks. A municipality spokeswoman said the local planning committee had approved requests by private contractors who purchased the land years ago for the construction of 144 homes in Har Homa and 40 dwellings in Pisgat Zeev. Hanan Ashrawi, a senior member of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), accused Israel of trying to derail U.S.-sponsored peace talks in which the future of settlements on land that Palestinians want for a state is a major issue.","UEFA to restrict top-seed status to title winners. LONDON (AP) — UEFA is set to introduce changes to the Champions League so only the winners of the highest-ranked leagues and the title holder will be among the top-seeded teams.","Kidnapped women, children are 'sex slaves' in DR Congo, says MSF. Women and children are being kidnapped by armed gangs and forced to work as sex slaves in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, the medical charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said Wednesday. \"Victims have been held as sex slaves -- sometimes for months at a time -- and sexually assaulted violently by several men, several times a day,\" MSF psychologist Ana Maria Tijerino said in a statement. In just one village between May and early July, MSF said its medical teams provided consultations for 3,586 people and treated 143 women, three men and two children who had suffered sexual violence. \"Violence and sexual violence are nothing new in DR Congo,\" Tijerino said.","Hagel meets with team that rescued Bergdahl. BAGRAM AIR FIELD, Afghanistan (AP) — U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel met with more than a dozen members of the special operations team that participated in the rescue of Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl (boh BURG'-dahl), an American soldier held by the Taliban.","Burns to make debut batting sixth for Australia. MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Joe Burns will make his test debut batting No. 6 for Australia in the third test against India beginning Friday at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.","Workers at biggest Libyan oil port es sider evacuate site due to nearby clashes-worker. BENGHAZI, Libya (Reuters) - Workers at Libya's biggest oil port, Es Sider, evacuated the site on Saturday for security reasons due to nearby clashes, a worker said. Forces loyal to Libya's recognized government earlier launched air strikes on a rival force advancing toward the port in the east of the country. \"The workers have been evacuated for security reasons,\" a worker in the port's administration said, asking not to be named. (Reporting by Ayman al-Warfalli; Writing by Ulf Laessing; Editing by Jonathan Oatis)","Chinese military spending exceeds $145 bln, drones advanced : U.S. By Phil Stewart WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Chinese military spending exceeded $145 billion last year as it advanced a program modernizing an arsenal of drones, warships, jets, missiles and cyber weapons, the Pentagon said on Thursday, offering a far higher figure than Beijing's official tally. The Pentagon's estimate, using 2013 prices and exchange rates, was 21 percent above the $119.5 billion figure announced by China. China claims almost the entire oil- and gas-rich South China Sea and dismisses competing claims from Taiwan, Brunei, Vietnam, the Philippines and Malaysia. Japan also has a territorial dispute with China over islands in the East China Sea.","Pro-Russian separatists in Ukraine appeal to Kremlin to help. SLAVIANSK, Ukraine (Reuters) - Pro-Russian separatists who said they were part of a new \"Donetsk People's Republic\" in eastern Ukraine appealed on Monday for Russian President Vladimir Putin to help defend them against Ukrainian government forces. Speaking at a news conference at the headquarters of the city administration of Slaviansk, a separatist leader asked Putin \"to personally direct your attention to the unfolding situation and help us as much as you can.\" (Reporting by Thomas Grove; Writing by Conor Humphries; Editing by Angus MacSwan)","Violent crime fall 'linked to decline in binge drinking'. Increasing alcohol prices and a decline in binge drinking may be partly behind a 12 percent fall in reported injuries from violent crime in England and Wales, researchers said on Wednesday. The number of people who sought hospital treatment for injuries from serious violence fell to 234,509 last year -- 32,780 fewer than in 2012 -- the report by Cardiff University said. Professor Jonathan Shepherd, lead author of the study and director of the violence and society research group at the university, said the decline in affordability of alcohol since 2008, when the financial crisis hit, could be a factor in the continued decline. \"Binge drinking has become less frequent, and the proportion of youths who don't drink alcohol at all has risen sharply.","Iraq's highest court paves way for Maliki to serve third term. BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq's highest court ruled on Monday that Shi'ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's bloc is the biggest in parliament, meaning he could retain his position, state television reported. The president, according to the constitution, must now ask Maliki to form a new government in Iraq, which is facing a major challenge from Islamic State Sunni insurgents and widepread sectarian bloodshed. ...","Mexico president faces protests, ethics questions. MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto is facing a rising tide of angry protests over the disappearance of 43 students and increasingly sharp questions about his wife's purchase of a Mexico City mansion from a company that had won juicy government contracts.","AP PHOTOS: Popes meetings with US presidents. President Barack Obama will meet Pope Francis at the Vatican on Thursday, the first meeting between the 44th president and the head of the Catholic Church. Obama plans to express to the pope his appreciation for his leadership and his messages of inclusion and equality.","US pledges $500 mn extra aid to Syria. Ankara (AFP) - Secretary of State John Kerry said on Friday that the US would provide an additional $500 million in humanitarian aid to victims of the war in Syria, bringing total American assistance to $2.9 billion since the start of the conflict in 2011.","Muslim converts who hacked British soldier to death jailed for life. Two British Muslim converts were sentenced to life in prison on Wednesday for hacking a soldier to death in broad daylight on a London street in a gruesome killing that horrified the nation and provoked an anti-Islamic backlash. Michael Adebolajo, 29, and Michael Adebowale, 22, were found guilty by a jury in December of murdering off-duty soldier Lee Rigby, a 25-year old Afghan war veteran in Woolwich, south-east London, in May last year. \"You decided, between you, and in order to advance your extremist cause, to murder a soldier in public in broad daylight and to do so in a way that would generate maximum media coverage,\" Judge Nigel Sweeney told the court.","Obama signs funding package for Israel's Iron Dome. WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama has signed a bill granting an additional $225 million in U.S. taxpayer dollars for Israel's Iron Dome missile defense system.","Japan compiles 12,000-page bio of Emperor Hirohito. TOKYO (AP) — Japan's Imperial Household Agency has compiled a 61-volume biography of former Emperor Hirohito that portrays him as being distressed that he could not stop his country from going to war, according to Japan's Kyodo News agency.","Pakistan cricketer banned 2 years for doping. ISLAMABAD (AP) — The captain of a domestic Pakistan team has been banned for two years after testing positive for anabolic steroids during a Twenty20 tournament in November.","Contact lost with fishermen in South China Sea after interception by 'armed men': Xinhua. BEIJING (Reuters) - Contact has been lost with 11 fishermen in the South China Sea after they were intercepted by \"armed men\", China's state news agency Xinhua reported on Wednesday. They were on board the fishing boat Qiongqionghai 09063, which was \"intercepted by an unidentified armed vessel at about 10 a.m. in waters off\" the Spratly Islands, Xinhua said, citing a fishing association in Qionghai on China's southern island province of Hainan. It provided no other details. (Reporting by Ben Blanchard)","Scientists say destructive solar blasts narrowly missed Earth in 2012. Fierce solar blasts that could have badly damaged electrical grids and disabled satellites in space narrowly missed Earth in 2012, U.S. researchers said on Wednesday. The bursts would have wreaked havoc on the Earth's magnetic field, matching the severity of the 1859 Carrington event, the largest solar magnetic storm ever reported on the planet. That blast knocked out the telegraph system across the United States, according to University of California, Berkeley research physicist Janet Luhmann. A 2013 study estimated that a solar storm like the Carrington Event could take a $2.6 trillion bite out of the current global economy.","Sergio Perez excited about home Mexico GP in 2015. BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — Formula One driver Sergio Perez is confident preparations will be completed in time so his Mexico homeland will be able to host a grand prix in 2015, its first since 1992.","Bird flu outbreak reported on British duck farm. London (AFP) - Britain on Sunday reported an outbreak of bird flu at a duck breeding farm in northern England but said that the risk to public health was \"very low\".","Kurds accuse Turkey of backing IS militants. SURUC, Turkey (AP) — A Kurdish organization has accused the Turkish government of backing Islamic State militants fighting with Kurds in Syria, and suggested that could jeopardize a truce that Kurdish rebels in Turkey began in March 2013.","Munich Oktoberfest ends with a beer and a bang. MUNICH (AP) — Sixteen days of beer-soaked revelry have come to a close with the traditional gun salute that heralds the end of Munich's annual Oktoberfest.","Exclusive: Microsoft CEO Nadella to visit China amid antitrust probe - source. By Gerry Shih and Paul Carsten BEIJING (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp Chief Executive Officer Satya Nadella is set to visit China in late September, a source familiar with the matter said on Thursday, as the Chinese government conducts an antitrust investigation into the world's largest software company. It is not clear if Nadella, who took over as Microsoft CEO in February, will meet with any Chinese government representatives as part of his visit, or try to resolve issues with the State Administration for Industry and Commerce (SAIC), one of China's antitrust regulators.","Nepal's ex-crown prince caught in Thailand, again. BANGKOK (AP) — Police say the former Nepalese crown price has been arrested for marijuana possession in Thailand for a second time in two years.","Fighting in Syria's Kobane spreads to south, west: monitor. Beirut (AFP) - Fighting between Islamic State group jihadists and Kurdish militia in the key Syrian border town of Kobane has spread to new areas in the south and west, a monitor said on Tuesday.","Syrian forces hit mosque with barrel bomb, kill 11. BEIRUT (AP) — Men pull a girl from the rubble and haul her onto a dirty sheet of plastic, while another child, coated in white dust save for a red streak of blood from his nose, lies with his crushed leg dangling off a gurney — the grisly aftermath from the dropping of a crude \"barrel bomb\" by Syrian forces on the city of Aleppo.","U.N. chief to travel to Middle East in bid to end fighting. By Michelle Nichols UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon will travel to the Middle East on Saturday in a bid to end the fighting between Israel and Palestinians, alarmed at a serious escalation that includes a ground offensive by Israel, said a senior U.N. official. Israel intensified its offensive in Gaza with artillery, tanks and gunboats on Friday and warned it could \"significantly widen\" an operation Palestinian officials said was killing ever greater numbers of civilians. \"Israel has legitimate security concerns, and we condemn the indiscriminate rocket fire from Gaza into Israel that ended yesterday's temporary ceasefire.","U.S. national shot dead in Saudi capital Riyadh. By Angus McDowall RIYADH (Reuters) - A gunman killed a U.S. national and wounded another in the Saudi capital of Riyadh on Tuesday, officials said, heightening Western concerns over security in the world's top oil exporter as regional unrest rises. Police later shot and wounded an assailant and then arrested him, police said, adding there was no proven information of any ties between the man and \"extremist\" groups. The apprehended man worked at the same company as the two victims and had recently been dismissed from his job, Saudi Arabia's embassy in Washington said in a statement. ...","Police: 9 dead, 40 injured in bus crash in Germany. BERLIN (AP) — Nine people have died and 40 were injured when several buses crashed on a German highway near the eastern city of Dresden, police said Saturday.","Mel confident of achieving West Brom success. West Bromwich Albion's new head coach Pepe Mel announced his arrival at the Premier League club by insisting his team will avoid relegation and then challenge for a place in Europe. With Albion out of both the FA and League Cups, Mel's sole task for the remainder of the campaign is to stop his side slumping out of the Premier League, with the club currently 14th and three points above the relegation zone. After reportedly snubbing Mel's request to appoint fellow Spaniards to his backroom team, Albion's owners also told the former Real Betis coach that he won't be given significant funds to improve the squad despite the imminent departure of Irish striker Shane Long, who is expected to join Hull City for around £7 million ($11.5m). \"But I'm absolutely certain there is enough in the squad, without Long, to stay in the Premier League.","Pope says Israelis, Palestinians, must engage in \"undaunted dialogue\". VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Francis on Sunday told the Israeli and Palestinian presidents that they \"must respond\" to their people's yearning for peace in the Middle East and find \"the strength to persevere in undaunted dialogue\". The pope made his appeal to Shimon Peres and Mahmoud Abbas at the end of an unprecedented prayer meeting among Jews, Christians and Muslims in the Vatican gardens that marked the first time the two presidents have met in public in more than a year. (Reporting By Philip Pullella; editing by Sonya Hepinstall)","Liverpool edge Norwich to close on title. Liverpool took another step towards a first league title since 1990 after winning 3-2 at Norwich City on Sunday to pull five points clear in the Premier League. Quick-fire early goals from Raheem Sterling and Luis Suarez put the visitors in control at Carrow Road, before Gary Hooper replied for fourth-bottom Norwich in the 54th minute. Sterling appeared to have made the points safe with a deflected shot minutes later, but a late Robert Snodgrass header obliged Liverpool to endure a nervy last 10 minutes. It was Liverpool's 11th consecutive league victory and means that they are guaranteed to qualify for next season's Champions League, but Brendan Rodgers's side now have a bigger prize in their sights.","First U.N. aid trucks cross from Turkey into Syria. By Umit Bektas NUSAYBIN, Turkey (Reuters) - Several U.N. aid trucks crossed from Turkey into Syria for the first time on Thursday, a Reuters witness said, a step relief officials hope will pave the way for greater humanitarian access to area hardest hit by the country's civil war. The trucks, mostly from the U.N. World Food Programme, crossed at the Nusaybin border post taking food supplies, bedding and medicine to the ethnic Kurdish city of Qamishli in Syria, according to officials. \"It is the first time in three years of this brutal conflict that the U.N. has been able to carry aid across into Syria from Turkey,\" Nigel Fisher, the United Nations' regional humanitarian coordinator, said in a statement.","Hopes, fears, doubts surround Cuba's oil future. MIAMI (AP) — One of the most prolific oil and gas basins on the planet sits just off Cuba's northwest coast, and the thaw in relations with the United States is giving rise to hopes that Cuba can now get in on the action.","Kenenisa Bekele wins Paris marathon. PARIS (AP) — Three-time Olympic champion Kenenisa Bekele of Ethiopia won the Paris marathon on Sunday on his debut at the distance.","Libyan militia says it accepts UN call for truce. TRIPOLI, Libya (AP) — The Islamist militia in control of Libya's capital, Tripoli, says it agrees with a U.N. call for a cease-fire in this North African country but vows to resist any foreign interference in Libyan affairs.","Canada securities regulator cuts fees for some smaller issuers. Canada's largest securities regulator said on Thursday it will soon cut fees for some struggling smaller companies, good news for Canada's hard-hit mineral exploration sector and other issuers facing lower revenues and cheaper valuations. The fee relief could range between C$235 and C$17,275 ($210 and $15,600) for registered firms and between C$160 and C$13,150 for reporting issuers, the Ontario Securities Commission said. \"We are confident that this targeted relief is appropriate and responsive to the difficulties faced by some of our stakeholders,\" OSC Executive Director Maureen Jensen said. A slump in metal prices and a spike in costs has led many investors to shun the junior miners that help make Canada a center of global mining finance, and many are now badly short on cash.","Union calls strike at Frankfurt airport Thursday. FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — Germany's main public-sector union has called on workers at Frankfurt airport to go on strike Thursday to reinforce pay demands for some 2.1 million workers.","More works found at German collector's apartment. BERLIN (AP) — German authorities say they have found a few more art works at the apartment of the late collector Cornelius Gurlitt, including a sculpture apparently by Edgar Degas and another that could be by Auguste Rodin.","Older hippo at Calgary zoo delivers stillborn twins in surprise pregnancy. CALGARY - The Calgary Zoo says a hippopotamus has delivered stillborn twins — an event which came as a surprise to zoo keepers who didn`t know the animal was pregnant.","Afghan Taliban leader warns against pact with US. KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — The Taliban's reclusive leader is warning that a bilateral security pact allowing foreign troops to stay in Afghanistan beyond the end of this year will mean more fighting.","Sears Canada loss widens on low demand for seasonal products. (Reuters) - Retailer Sears Canada Inc's first-quarter loss more than doubled as sales continued to decline with low demand for spring merchandise. The struggling company, 51-percent owned by Sears Holdings Corp , said its net loss widened to C$75.2 million ($69 million), or 74 Canadian cents per share, in the first quarter ended May 3, from C$31.2 million, or 31 Canadian cents per share, a year earlier. Sears Holdings said last week it was looking to sell its stake in the company, a move that could trigger a deal for all of Sears Canada.","Bahrain: Blasts hit police 3 years after uprising. MANAMA, Bahrain (AP) — Explosions targeted police in Bahrain on Friday as clashes between security forces and anti-government protesters on the third anniversary of the Gulf nation's uprising left dozens wounded, authorities and activists said.","Iran aims to move ahead to drafting nuclear deal. Iran said Monday it aims, at talks with world powers this week, to wind up the negotiating phase and move on to drafting a final accord on its nuclear programme. \"We will try to finish the discussions in this round and start writing the draft of the comprehensive agreement from the Iranian month of Ordibehesht,\" which starts April 21, Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif was quoted as saying by state-run television upon arrival in Vienna for the Tuesday-Wednesday talks. Zarif was to hold a dinner meeting later Monday with EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, who is leading the negotiations on behalf of six world powers -- the United States, China, Russia, Britain, France and Germany. The Vienna meeting is the third round of negotiations aimed at reaching a lasting accord to end the decade-long standoff over Iran's nuclear programme.","Canadian Press NewsAlert: Lindsey Vonn says she'll miss Sochi Olympics due to knee injury. VAIL, États-Unis - Lindsey Vonn says she will miss Sochi Olympics because of knee injury.","Afghan government protests against U.S. deal to free Taliban prisoners. By Jessica Donati and Mirwais Harooni KABUL (Reuters) - Afghanistan’s government protested against a U.S. deal to free five high-ranking Taliban militants in exchange for a U.S. soldier arguing the transfer of the men from a Guantanamo Bay jail to Qatar violated international law. The five prisoners were flown to Qatar on Sunday as part of the agreement to release Army Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl, the only known U.S. prisoner of war in Afghanistan, held captive for five years.","Energy is 'game changer' in new Cyprus peace drive. Greek- and Turkish-Cypriot leaders meet Tuesday to relaunch talks on ending the island's division after a nearly two-year break, with optimism that the energy card could provide a breakthrough. Nicos Anastasiades, the Greek-Cypriot leader, and his Turkish-Cypriot counterpart Dervis Eroglu are to unveil a roadmap for the renewed UN-brokered talks, finally agreed last week after protracted haggling over the text delayed a relaunch originally earmarked for November. The talks, starting from 11:30 am (0930 GMT), are to be held in the UN-controlled buffer zone in Nicosia, the world's last divided capital. Turkish Cypriots suspended the last round of talks in mid-2012 when Anastasiades's internationally-recognised Republic of Cyprus assumed the European Union's rotating presidency.","'Death threats' for WWF staff opposing UK oil firm in DR Congo. The World Wildlife Fund on Monday condemned \\\\\"death threats\\\\\" against two of its staff fighting oil exploration in a Democratic Republic of Congo nature park just weeks after the park's director was shot. \\\\\"Unidentified callers have threatened the personal safety of two employees working in the city of Goma,\\\\\" WWF said in a statement. The staff have been involved in efforts to block oil exploration by UK company Soco International PLC in nearby Virunga National Park, an 800,000-hectare nature reserve that is among the oldest in Africa and home to rare and endangered mountain gorillas. Referring to one of the campaigners, a threatening caller said, \\\\\"We want his head,\\\\\" according to WWF.","Kim Dotcom loses ruling in New Zealand's top court. WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Indicted Internet entrepreneur Kim Dotcom has lost a ruling in New Zealand's highest court as part of his legal battle to avoid extradition to the United States.","Bitterness of Syrian war on display at talks. GENEVA (AP) — The bitterness and rancor stirred by Syria's civil war were on full display this week at peace talks in Switzerland — and not just in the closed room where rival delegations are seeking a way to end the three-year conflict.","Alibaba to buy out UCWeb in China's 'biggest' internet merger. By Paul Carsten BEIJING (Reuters) - Alibaba Group Holding Ltd [IPO-ALIB.N] said on Wednesday it will buy all the remaining shares of mobile browser firm UCWeb in the biggest merger in Chinese internet history, as the e-commerce giant steps up its spending spree ahead of its U.S. listing. Alibaba's latest deal, hot on the heels of a string of investments which already total $4.8 billion in the past six months, will be larger even than Baidu's $1.9 billion acquisition of 91 Wireless last year, Alibaba said. Alibaba's investment in UCWeb emphasises the company's push to do more business on mobile in the world's biggest smartphone market. But rival Tencent Holdings Ltd, China's biggest listed Internet firm, dominates smartphone screens with its near-ubiquitous mobile messaging app WeChat, a situation which Alibaba executives have publicly railed against.","Official: 1,800 US troops for Afghan counterterror. BRUSSELS (AP) — The U.S. military says about 1,800 of the nearly 10,000 U.S. troops the U.S. plans to leave in Afghanistan at the end of the year would be conducting counterterror operations, providing that specific breakout for the first time.","I.Coast ex-president Gbagbo's trial to open July 7: ICC. Former Ivorian president Laurent Gbagbo will go on trial for crimes against humanity on July 7 next year, the International Criminal Court said on Monday. \"Today (the) Trial Chamber set the commencement date for the trial in the case the Prosecutor v. Laurent Gbagbo for 7 July 2015,\" the Hague-based ICC said in a statement. Gbagbo, 69, faces four counts of crimes against humanity, allegedly committed at the end of his decade-long rule over the troubled west African country, after he refused to accept defeat in an election in November 2010. His supporters clashed for five months mainly in the southern economic capital Abidjan with those of President Alassane Ouattara, who was proclaimed winner of the vote by the electoral commission, at a cost of at least 3,000 lives.","Sudan ruling party names Bashir possible choice for presidency. Khartoum (AFP) - Sudan's ruling party Monday named President Omar al-Bashir as a possible candidate for the country's April presidential elections, an advisor said, despite doubts he would stand again.","Social challenges as Saudis draw throne's future. DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — While Saudi Arabia's royals work out the succession of the throne behind closed doors, a few voices are raising the most sensitive matter of all in the kingdom, questioning the ruling Al Saud family's claim to absolute power and its unchecked rights to the country's oil wealth.","French coach to take action against emir of Qatar. Lille (France) (AFP) - Stephane Morello, a French former coach, is taking legal action against the emir of Qatar for multiple contractual violations, his lawyer Frank Berton told AFP on Wednesday. Berton, based in Lille, said that Morello was pursuing Sheikh al-Thani \"for concealment of fraud, undignified working conditions and attempted extortion\" following a spell working in the Gulf state that turned sour. Morello was recruited by Doha-based side Al-Shahaniya Sports Club and was sponsored by Qatar's Olympic Committee, whose president is Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani. Without an exit visa and with no income, Morello was then put under pressure by the Qatar Olympic Committee to pay back 250,000 euros ($345,000) relating to the lodgings that had been provided to him in his contract.","Cricket-Test Series New Zealand v Sri Lanka scoreboard. Dec 28 (Infostrada Sports) - Scoreboard at tea on the third day in the first Test between New Zealand and Sri Lanka on Sunday in Christchurch, New Zealand New Zealand 1st innings 441 (B. McCullum 195, J. Neesham 85, K. Williamson 54) Sri Lanka 1st innings 138 (A. Mathews 50) Sri Lanka 2nd innings (Overnight: 84-0)D. Karunaratne not out 116 K. Silva c Watling b Southee 33 K. Sangakkara c Watling b Boult 1 L. Thirimanne c Watling b Neesham 25 A. Mathews not out 12 Extras (lb-13 nb-1) 14 Total (for 3 wickets, 94 overs) 201 Fall of wickets: 1-85 K. Silva,2-94 K. Sangakkara,3-181 L. ...","Obama visit to Asia seen as counterweight to China. TOKYO (AP) — President Barack Obama's travels through Asia in coming days aim to reassure partners about the renewed U.S. commitment to the region, with an eye both to China's rising assertiveness and the fast-growing markets that are the center of gravity for global growth.","Sharapova knocked out by qualifier at Wuhan Open. WUHAN, China (AP) — Maria Sharapova was knocked out of the Wuhan Open by Swiss qualifier Timea Bacsinszky 7-6 (3), 7-5 in the third round on Wednesday.","Afghan officials say roadside bomb kills 5 police. KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (AP) — A police official says a roadside bomb destroyed a police vehicle in Afghanistan's southern Uruzgan province, killing five policemen and wounding one.","Sudan's Bashir chosen by ruling party as candidate for 2015 elections. KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Sudan's President Omar Hassan al-Bashir has been chosen as the ruling party's candidate in presidential elections scheduled for April 2015, a senior official from the movement said on Tuesday. The 70-year-old leader, wanted on charges of genocide and war crimes by the International Criminal Court, had previously indicated he would not run for another term. But Ibrahim Ghandour, vice president of the National Congress Party, told Reuters that Bashir had been chosen by the party's decision-making council out of five candidates selected late on Monday. ...","Shakhtar midfielder says players' lives at risk. MOSCOW (AP) — Shakhtar Donetsk midfielder Douglas Costa says he and his fellow players who refused to return to the Ukrainian champion did so because the conflict in the country puts their lives at risk.","Air China, Air Canada to cooperate on flights. BEIJING (Reuters) - Air China and Air Canada aim to kick off a comprehensive joint operation scheme late next year, which will cover all flights between the two countries, the Chinese flag carrier said late on Saturday. The two carriers, both members of the Star Alliance global airline network, would cooperate in sales, marketing and airport service operations for all bilateral flights, the company said in a brief statement. Air China currently operates 11 round-trip flights to Toronto per week, while Air Canada operates 28 round-trip flights to China, mostly to Beijing and Shanghai. ...","Blackwater guards face trial in Iraq shootings. WASHINGTON (AP) — After years of delays, former Blackwater Worldwide security guards are going on trial in the killings of 14 Iraqis and the wounding of at least 18 others.","Egypt's top military body approves Sisi running for president: security source. CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt's top military council has given the army chief, Field Marshal Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, a green light to run for president, a security source told Reuters. \"The top army officials all okayed Sisi running for the presidency,\" said the source. Sisi is expected to announce his candidacy within days. (Reporting by Yasmine Saleh; Writing by Michael Georgy; Editing by Mike Collett-White)","Britain's Co-operative Bank to fail Bank of England stress test: Times. LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's Co-operative Bank is set to fail the Bank of England's stress test of eight leading lenders this month, The Times newspaper said on Monday. The eight banks are being tested on their ability to withstand a theoretical 35 percent crash in house prices and surging unemployment and interest rates, with the central bank's Prudential Regulation Authority due to announce the results on Dec. 16. The Co-op bank is thought to have acknowledged that it has insufficient buffers to withstand a very severe recession, in spite of building 1.9 billion pounds ($2. ...","Hollande: Putin still welcome for D-Day events. BRUSSELS (AP) — French President Francois Hollande says he is still inviting his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin to events marking the 70th anniversary of the D-Day landings on June 6, despite tensions between the West and Moscow over the annexation of Crimea.","274 dead in Turkey's worst-ever mine disaster. SOMA, Turkey (AP) — In a relentless procession that ignited wails of grief, rescue workers coated in grime lumbered out of a mine in western Turkey again and again Wednesday, struggling to carry stretchers laden with bodies covered in blankets.","6 wounded in explosion at Bangkok protest site. BANGKOK (AP) — Police say six street cleaners have been wounded by a small explosion at an anti-government protest site in Thailand's capital.","1st test, 2nd day at lunch: Australia 405-6. ADELAIDE, Australia (AP) — Australia was 405-6 at at lunch Wednesday on the second day of the first cricket against India at the Adelaide Oval.","Palestinian PM sets $4.2 bn 2014 budget. Ramallah (Palestinian Territories) (AFP) - Palestinian prime minister Rami Hamdallah presented Tuesday a draft budget for 2014 of $4.2 billion (3.1 billion euros) with a deficit of $1.3 billion, a statement read.","UK's Oscar-tipped Cumberbatch toasts codebreaker Turing. London (AFP) - British actor Benedict Cumberbatch, tipped for an Oscar for his performance as mathematician Alan Turing, said on Wednesday he hopes the film will be a worthy tribute to the wartime codebreaker persecuted for being gay.","CEO in apparent suicide was bitcoin fan, had other issues, too. By Jeremy Wagstaff and Rujun Shen SINGAPORE (Reuters) - A young American CEO who apparently committed suicide in Singapore was involved in the world of the bitcoin, but was also struggling with other issues prior to her death, friends and colleagues said. Autumn Radtke, chief executive of virtual currency exchange First Meta Pte Ltd, was found dead on February 26. Police said they were investigating her \"unnatural\" death, and \"preliminary investigations showed no foul play is suspected.\" Neighbors said they thought Radtke jumped to her death from a residential apartment complex near her home. Friends and colleagues said Radtke, 28, was wrestling with professional and personal pressures, not least running a start-up that was struggling to gain traction.","India out for 105 vs Bangladesh in 2nd ODI. MIRPUR, Bangladesh (AP) — Bangladesh debutant Taskin Ahmed took 5-28 to shoot India out for a record-low 105 in the second one-day international on Tuesday.","Over 10,000 Hungarians in anti-corruption protest. BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — More than 10,000 people are protesting in the Hungarian capital, demanding the ouster of the head of the tax authority and greater accountability from Prime Minister Viktor Orban's government.","Iran a threat not just to Israel, says Germany's Merkel. By Andreas Rinke JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Germany views Iran as a potential threat not just to Israel, but also to European countries, Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Tuesday at a joint news conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. But she stopped short of endorsing her host's demand that Tehran give up all sensitive nuclear projects under any negotiated deal with world powers. Germany is Israel's most important ally in Europe, where the Netanyahu government frets it is losing support given troubled peace talks with the Palestinians.","Hungary leader says NGOs serving foreign interests. BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — Hungary's prime minister says that certain civic groups financed from abroad are holding back the nation's development.","German business morale rises to top level in 2-1/2 years. BERLIN (Reuters) - German business morale unexpectedly rose in February to its highest level since July 2011 in a sign that growth in Europe's largest economy will likely accelerate in the first quarter after expanding only modestly last year. The Munich-based Ifo think tank's business climate index, based on a monthly survey of some 7,000 firms, increased to 111.3, beating the consensus forecast in a Reuters poll for the index to hold steady at 110.6. (Reporting by Michelle Martin; Editing by Noah Barkin)","Contaminated parmesan cheese seized in Italy. ROME (AP) — Italian police have seized 2,400 wheels of contaminated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese and detained four people in the latest safety problem afflicting some of Italy's most prized foods.","Ebola toll passes 4,000 as fears grow worldwide. Madrid (AFP) - The death toll from Ebola has passed 4,000, the World Health Organization said Friday, while a Madrid nurse was fighting for her life and authorities worldwide tried to prevent panic over the deadly disease spreading.","Pro-Russia demonstrations break out in Ukraine. KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — Pro-Russian demonstrations have broken out in major cities in eastern and southern Ukraine, as Russian President Vladimir Putin asked for parliamentary permission Saturday to use troops to protect Russians in the country.","Hundreds protest in Wales before NATO summit. LONDON (AP) — Hundreds of anti-war protesters have marched through the Welsh city of Newport before a major NATO summit there next week.","Brazil unveils $11 billion in 'legacy' budget. RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Brazilian government officials announced Wednesday that almost $11 billion (24.1 billion Brazilian reals) will be spent on major transportation and environmental projects, which they argue are not related to holding the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics.","US weighs refugee status for youth from Honduras. WASHINGTON (AP) — The Obama administration is considering giving refugee status to young people from Honduras as part of a plan to slow the influx of unaccompanied minors arriving at the U.S. border with Mexico.","Quotes from Pakistani families over school attack. PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — Reaction to the killings of 148 people — almost all of them students — at a military-run school in northwestern Pakistan:","Amnesty chief shoved by Chinese official at UK embassy. The head of Amnesty International in Britain and the daughter of a Chinese dissident were shoved off the step of the Chinese embassy in London on Wednesday after they laid a bouquet to mark the 25th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square crackdown. An official angrily emerged from the embassy and pushed away Amnesty's Kate Allen and Ti-Anna Wang, whose father is imprisoned in China, before throwing the red roses after them, in scenes captured by the BBC. Speaking afterwards, Allen said: \"One of the embassy officials shoved both of us very forcefully in the back so that we both flew into the journalists and photographers standing behind us. Wang, 25, the daughter of activist Wang Bingzhang, said: \"I think he yelled out 'You can't do this' and 'It's against the law'... and then he told us to get out.","At least 10 people killed in shelling on and near school in east Ukraine. By Maria Tsvetkova DONETSK Ukraine (Reuters) - At least 10 people were killed on Wednesday when shells hit a school playground and a mini-van in a nearby street in Donetsk in eastern Ukraine, city authorities and Reuters witnesses said. There were no children among those killed in the shelling at School No. 57 on the first day of the new school year, though witnesses said the dead included a biology teacher and the parent of a child at the school. Reuters correspondents saw the bodies of three adults at the school and an additional six bodies in a burnt-out mini-van and on streets nearby. ...","Play Ball! MLB heats up with full slate of openers. After a brutal winter of artic blasts and blustery snowstorms, baseball is ready to heat up Monday with its first full slate of games this season.","Germany says not approving any defense exports to Russia. Germany has decided to suspend approval of all defense-related exports to Russia in light of the West's diplomatic showdown with Moscow over Ukraine, a spokesman for the economy ministry said on Friday. Earlier this week, the government ordered defense contractor Rheinmetall to halt delivery of combat simulation gear to Russia. \"The (Rheinmetall) case that you are talking about is a one-off case. Nevertheless it is true that given the current situation in Russia, we are not approving any exports of defense goods to this country at the moment,\" the spokesman said.","S.Africa's ANC seeks damage control in Zuma home upgrades. South Africa's ruling ANC Thursday sought to minimise the damage caused by a damning ombudsman's report which showed that some of the $23 million state-funded upgrades on President Jacob Zuma's private home were unlawful. The African National Congress, whose popularity is flagging ahead of upcoming polls, said the officials implicated should be called to account and misspent money repaid, but tried to divert attention from its tainted leader. \"All public office bearers, officials and private sector companies involved in any maladministration must be brought to book, and all funds that were acquired inappropriately must be recovered,\" said ANC secretary general Gwede Mantashe. \"When we say all, we mean all,\" Mantashe told a news conference in Johannesburg, when asked if this included Zuma.","Oxford cruise to Boat Race victory. Oxford University beat Cambridge University by a crushing 11 lengths, the biggest victory margin since 1973, as they won the 160th Boat Race on London's River Thames on Sunday. The decisive point in the contest came when Cambridge's Luke Juckett lost control of his oar and was almost knocked over by onrushing water as he came out of his seat after a clash of blades between the crews near Harrods' Depository. After Cambridge trailed in they lodged an official protest but race umpire Richard Phelps rejected the complaint from cox Ian Middleton, having warned the Light Blues to move away shortly before the clash. Even before that key moment, it appeared Oxford, with four returning Blues (as those who've competed in a Boat Race are known) and four Olympic medallists, were starting to make their experience count.","Trinidad says 'several' citizens aid Islamic group. PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad (AP) — A government official in Trinidad and Tobago says several citizens from the two-island Caribbean nation have traveled overseas to help the Islamic State militant group.","Philippines arrests Australian over ties to militant group ISIS. The Philippines on Friday arrested an Australian national with suspected links to foreign Islamist militants after he urged Philippine Muslims on social media sites to support conflicts in Iraq and Syria, recruiting them to go to the Middle East. The arrest is the first known link between Islamist militants in the southeast Asian nation and foreign jihadists supporting conflicts in the Middle East. Philippine Muslims took part in conflict in Afghanistan in the 1980s. Heavily-armed Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) teams with Australian Federal Police surprised Robert Cerantonio, a Muslim convert, before dawn at his apartment near the Mactan-Cebu International Airport in the central Philippines.","Prosecutor ends cross-examination of Pistorius. PRETORIA, South Africa (AP) — The chief prosecutor in the murder trial of Oscar Pistorius has ended his cross-examination after challenging the athlete for five days of testimony about how he killed girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp last year.","Ailing Bouteflika favourite in Algerian president race. Algeria's Abdelaziz Bouteflika, who is standing for a fourth term in Thursday's presidential election, is widely expected to win despite his frail health preventing him from even campaigning. A veteran of the war of independence against France, Bouteflika came to power in 1999, but has more recently been dogged by ill health and corruption scandals. Despite efforts to reduce their influence, the army and the DRS intelligence agency are still widely considered to be the real power in Algeria. The army has chosen all of the country's post-independence leaders -- and Bouteflika was no different.","From Japan, the joy of minimalism at home. If you haven't communed with your socks lately, thanked your shoes for their hard work or bowed (at least mentally) to your home in appreciation, maybe it's time to consider it.","China's Xi says Xinjiang is front line on terrorism, hails police. Police are the \"fists and daggers\" in the fight against terrorism, China's President Xi Jinping said on a trip to the western Xinjiang region where authorities say members of a Muslim minority are waging a violent separatist campaign. Xi's tour, reported in state media late on Monday, was his first to the region since a ruling Communist Party conclave in November in which he ushered in a national security commission to combat foreign and domestic threats. \"The Kashgar region is the front line in anti-terrorism and maintaining social stability,\" the official Xinhua news agency citied Xi as telling paramilitary police in the Silk Road city of Kashgar in western Xinjiang that has been at the center of much of the unrest. \"You must have the most effective means to deal with violent terrorists,\" Xi said at a police station where he was pictured inspecting a wall of various kinds of truncheons.","How 'Big Corn' lost the ethanol battle to Philadelphia refiners. By Cezary Podkul and Jeff Mason NEW YORK/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Six months ago the U.S. oil industry scored a surprise win against farm groups when the Obama administration proposed slashing the amount of ethanol refiners must blend into gasoline, a move that could save them billions of dollars. Stunned by the reversal, producers of the corn-based biofuel and their supporters are now fighting back ahead of a June deadline for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to make a final decision on the cut. A private equity firm and an airline helped convince the Obama administration to backtrack, at least temporarily, on a policy it has supported for years: requiring steadily-rising volumes of ethanol to be blended into gasoline each year, a key to shifting U.S. energy consumption toward renewable sources. The ethanol industry, blindsided by the proposed cut, has said it was orchestrated by \\\\\"Big Oil.\\\\\" However, some of the most effective players in the fight weren't traditional oil majors but rather The Carlyle Group and Delta Air Lines, owners of two Philadelphia-area refiners.","Italy says 265 rescued from ferry, more than 200 still stranded. ROME (Reuters) - Rescue teams working through the night have pulled 265 people off a stricken car ferry which caught fire off the coast of Greece but more than 200 are stranded on board, the Italian navy said on Monday. Helicopter crews have been slowly airlifting passengers from the upper deck of the Norman Atlantic, which caught fire in the early hours of Sunday and began drifting in rough seas between Greece and Italy. A medical team and a flight operator are on the vessel to assist the 213 passengers and crew who remain aboard as the rescue continues, the navy said. ...","OSCE observers held in Ukraine being released. SLOVYANSK, Ukraine (AP) — The leader of pro-Russia insurgents in the eastern Ukrainian city of Slovyansk says the military observers from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe who were held for more than a week have been released.","'Monuments Men' in Europe as lost art in focus. BERLIN (AP) — George Clooney's World War II art-rescue drama \"The Monuments Men\" made its European debut on Saturday, coinciding with a recent upsurge of interest in the fate of art looted by the Nazis. Matt Damon, Bill Murray, John Goodman and others joined Clooney to present the movie at the Berlin International Film Festival — but attention focused squarely on the director, co-writer and star.","Key dates in US relations with Cuba. Key events in U.S.-Cuba relations:","Canada's Telus profit climbs, driven by wireless, landline growth. TORONTO (Reuters) - Telus Corp , one of Canada's largest telecommunications companies, on Thursday said its quarterly profit rose 4 percent, driven by its wireless business and TV and Internet growth. The Vancouver-based company said it had net income of C$377 million, or 61 Canadian cents a share in the three months to the end of March, compared with C$362 million, or 56 cents a share, a year earlier. Operating revenue rose 5 percent to C$2.90 billion. Excluding acquisition costs, Telus earned 62 cents a share. ...","New Zealand's Labour Party elects former union boss as leader. WELLINGTON (Reuters) - New Zealand's opposition Labour Party elected former trade union head Andrew Little as its fourth leader in as many years on Tuesday as it looked to rebuild itself and end divisions after its heaviest election defeat in more than 90 years. Little replaces David Cunliffe, who stepped down after the centre-left party slumped to its worst showing since 1922 with 25 percent of the vote in the Sept. 20 general election. ...","5 things to know about Cousteau's undersea mission. ISLAMORADA, Florida (AP) — Fabien Cousteau comes from a famous family of filmmakers, advocates and ocean explorers, and now he's added to their legacy of sea stories a 31-day expedition at an underwater laboratory in the Florida Keys. Here are five things to know about Cousteau's \"Mission 31,\" which ended Wednesday.","China court sentences Uighur scholar to life in prison for separatism: lawyer. BEIJING (Reuters) - A Chinese court on Tuesday sentenced an ethnic Uighur scholar to life imprisonment on separatism charges, his lawyer said, in a case that has raised international concern about human rights. The economics professor, Ilham Tohti, China's most prominent advocate for the rights of Muslim Uighur people, stood trial in the western region of Xinjiang last week. (Reporting by Sui-Lee Wee; Editing by Robert Birsel)","Greece: Markets hit as presidential vote in doubt. ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Shares on the Athens Stock Exchange are again suffering heavy losses after officials in the governing coalition conceded they were still short of the support needed to stop the government collapsing in a parliamentary vote this month.","Kearns wins best Edinburgh comedy show award. A former House of Commons tour guide who performs in a wig and false teeth won the £10,000 prize for best comedy show at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe on Saturday. John Kearns, 27, won the Foster's Edinburgh Comedy Awards for his show Shtick. It was the first time that a show performed for free has taken the prestigious award, previously awarded to stars like Steve Coogan and Frank Skinner. US Alex Edelman won this year's best newcomer award for his first Edinburgh show Millennial.","Romania bars Hungarian 'extremists' on eve of national day. By Radu Marinas BUCHAREST (Reuters) - Romania has barred what it says are Hungarian extremists from four different organizations from entering the country, moving to prevent possible clashes when ethnic Hungarians celebrate their national day in Romania on Saturday. Those barred include supporters of Jobbik, a far-right Hungarian party whose popularity has surged in the run-up to a parliamentary election due to take place in Hungary on April 6, according to a recent poll. Conflicting territorial claims over parts of Romania have sparked tensions and violence between ethnic Hungarians and Romanians in the past, and earlier this week clashes between Hungarians and police broke out in northeast Romania. Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban has courted the support of ethnic Hungarians across the border, including by giving them dual citizenship and the right to vote in Hungarian elections.","Sami Hyypia takes charge of second-tier Brighton. BRIGHTON, England (AP) — Former Liverpool defender Sami Hyypia says the ambition of English second-tier club Brighton was what attracted him to apply for the manager's job.","Protests mark 3rd year of Haiti leader in office. PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — More than 1,500 people are protesting in Haiti's capital on the three-year anniversary of President Michel Martelly and call for his departure.","Mexico arrests alleged drug cartel financier. MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexican federal police say they have arrested a man they believe is a high-level financial operator for the Knights Templar drug cartel.","Striker Shane Smeltz joins Sydney FC. SYDNEY (AP) — Australian A-League glamor club Sydney FC has signed New Zealand striker Shane Smeltz on a one-year deal.","US condemns Gambia's anti-gay law. DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — The U.S. State Department has condemned the decision by Gambia's president to approve a law imposing life imprisonment for some homosexual acts.","NATO says Russia considers it an opponent, prepares Ukraine aid. NATO is preparing measures to help Ukraine defend itself in its stand-off with Russia, and must adapt to the fact that Moscow now views it as an adversary, Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said in an interview published on Sunday. Kiev blames Moscow for the separatist rising in east Ukraine, where the death toll rose on Saturday after pro-Russian separatists shot down a Ukraine army transport plane, and tensions are also high following Russia's annexation of Crimea. While NATO has made clear it has no plans to get involved militarily in Ukraine, it has sent fighter aircraft and ships to eastern Europe and Rasmussen said it was considering long-term measures to ensure the protection of its allies. \"We must adapt to the fact that Russia now considers us its adversary,\" Rasmussen told El Pais newspaper.","Canadian town says 'no' to Enbridge pipeline in vote. By Julie Gordon KITIMAT, British Columbia (Reuters) - Residents of the British Columbia town of Kitimat voted against the Northern Gateway pipeline project in a blow to Enbridge Inc's efforts to expedite the flow of crude from Canada's landlocked oil sands to high-paying markets in Asia. While non-binding, Saturday's vote is likely to carry some weight with Canada's Conservative government, which is expected to decide in mid-June on the C$7.9 billion ($7.21 billion) project, the first major conduit for oil sands crude to Asia. We might not have sent the dragon to death, but we are going to continue to battle.\" If built, the Northern Gateway pipeline would carry some 525,000 barrels-per-day of crude from Alberta's oil sands across northern British Columbia to the Kitimat port, where it would be loaded onto supertankers and shipped to energy-hungry Asia.","Germany's Merkel: we are ready for sectoral sanctions on Russia. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Friday \"we are ready and prepared\" to impose sectoral sanctions on Russia. Merkel, appearing at the White House with President Barack Obama, said European Union heads of state and government are prepared to meet about Ukraine at any time if necessary. \"There is a broad range of possibilities that are being prepared for in the European Union,\" she said. \"We will move to a third stage of sanctions. I will underline this is not necessarily what we want.\"","Central African rebels release 16 hostages. BANGUI, Central African Republic (AP) — Several hostages, including a Polish priest, have been released after being held by rebels in Central African Republic.","Rooney calls for Man Utd unity as club falters. Manchester United striker Wayne Rooney has urged the club's supporters to remain behind the team as the faltering English champions seek to pull out of their current tailspin. Having been beaten by Tottenham Hotspur, Swansea City and Sunderland in their first three games of 2014, United are at risk of losing four consecutive matches for the first time since October 1961. Rooney will miss the Premier League game at home to Swansea later on Saturday after being sent away for warm weather training to help him recover from a groin problem. However, he has called on United's fans to give their full support to the team and manager David Moyes as they seek to avenge last weekend's 2-1 loss to the Welsh club in the FA Cup.","Ian Wright's family home burgled. LONDON (AP) — Former England striker Ian Wright is flying home from the World Cup in Brazil after his London home was burgled, with his wife and two children reportedly held at knife point.","Del Bosque goes with youth after World Cup fiasco. MADRID (AP) — Vicente del Bosque unveiled a rejuvenated Spain squad on Friday after the debacle at this summer's World Cup and the retirement of three key players from the team's most successful era.","Ex-girlfriend says Pistorius shot gun at traffic light. An ex-girlfriend of Oscar Pistorius testified Friday that the Paralympian star sprinter often carried a gun with him and once fired at a traffic light after a confrontation with police. An emotional Samantha Taylor, who met Pistorius in 2010 when she was 17 years old, tearfully described the sprinter as someone familiar with guns, prone to fits of anger and an unfaithful boyfriend. Taylor took to the stand, testifying that in 2010 on the way back from a day trip to a popular city getaway Pistorius was in a car that was pulled over by the police for speeding. When a police officer inspected Pistorius's weapon, left on a seat when he exited the car, Pistorius became angry, \"Oscar shouted at the policeman and said he shouldn't touch his gun,\" said Taylor.","Bertha weakens to a tropical storm : NHC. (Reuters) - Bertha, the second hurricane of the 2014 Atlantic season, has weakened to a tropical storm, the U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC) said on Tuesday. The storm is located about 475 miles (765 km) west of Bermuda, with maximum sustained winds of 65 miles per hour (100 km per hour), the NHC said in an advisory. \"Bertha will pass about midway between the U.S. east coast and Bermuda later this morning,\" the Miami-based weather forecaster said.","Volkswagen recalls over 270,000 Audi cars due to air bag issue: quality watchdog. SHANGHAI (Reuters) - FAW-Volkswagen Automobile Ltd, a Chinese joint venture of Volkswagen AG , will recall 270,635 Audi cars in China due to an air bag software issue, China's quality watchdog said on Wednesday. The recall involve both imported and locally-produced models, it said. (Reporting by Samuel Shen and Kazunori Takada)","Russian football union to meet with UEFA, FIFA. MOSCOW (AP) — The Russian Football Union says it will attend UEFA and FIFA-mediated talks next month to resolve a dispute with Ukraine over the clubs in Crimea.","Fognini and Robredo into Monte Carlo 2nd round. MONACO (AP) — Tenth-seeded Fabio Fognini of Italy and 11th-seeded Tommy Robredo of Spain reached the second round of the Monte Carlo Masters in contrasting fashion on Monday.","Danish immigrant party challenges populist right. Copenhagen (AFP) - A political party targeting the immigrant vote by advocating looser immigration laws and \"a ban on banning\" religious symbols has launched in Denmark amid record support for the populist right.","Britain's Hague says no sign of Russia withdrawing troops. British foreign minister William Hague said on Thursday there was no sign of Russia withdrawing troops from the Ukrainian border and urged pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine not to hold a planned independence referendum. Russian President Vladimir Putin called on the separatists on Wednesday to postpone the vote, scheduled for Sunday, and announced he had pulled forces back from the border. Asked about Putin's call for the independence vote to be postponed, Hague said: \\\\\"I hope that those in Donetsk and in other areas who have been planning so-called referendums will take notice of those words and will not hold such referendums.\\\\\" Hague also made clear that sanctions on Russia, beyond those already imposed by the United States and the European Union, could still be introduced.","U.S. warns China its actions in sea disputes are straining relations. By Matt Spetalnick WASHINGTON (Reuters) - China's \"provocative\" actions in maritime disputes with its neighbors are straining ties with the United States, raising questions over how the world's two biggest economies can work together, a senior U.S. official said. The strong comments from Washington on Thursday come after deadly anti-China riots broke out in Vietnam in response to China towing an oil rig into a part of the South China Sea claimed by both Hanoi and Beijing. \"This is raising some fundamental questions for us about China's long-term strategic intentions,\" the U.S. official told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity.","Israel launches new spy satellite. JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel's Defense Ministry said on Thursday that it has successfully launched a new observation satellite into orbit, one which is expected to be used to observe Iran and hostile militant groups in the Middle East.","Malaysia, Singapore grapple with prolonged dry spell. By Laura Philomin and Stuart Grudgings SINGAPORE/KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Singapore and Malaysia are grappling with some of the driest weather they have ever seen, forcing the tiny city-state to ramp up supplies of recycled water while its neighbor rations reserves amid disruptions to farming and fisheries. Singapore, which experiences tropical downpours on most days, suffered its longest dry spell on record between January 13 and February 8 and has had little rain since. Shares in Hyflux Ltd, which operates desalination and water recycling operations in Singapore, have risen 3.5 pct over the past month. In peninsular Malaysia, 15 areas have not had rainfall in more than 20 days, with some of them dry for more than a month, according to the Malaysian Meteorological Department.","Balotelli suspended 1 match for social media post. LONDON (AP) — Liverpool forward Mario Balotelli has been suspended for one game and fined 25,000 pounds ($39,000) by the governing body of English soccer for making a racially offensive online post.","Bangladesh garment workers demanding wages clash with police. By Ruma Paul DHAKA (Reuters) - Bangladeshi garment workers staging a hunger strike for nine days to press for back-pay and a holiday bonus clashed with police in the capital, Dhaka, on Tuesday, police and witnesses said. About 1,600 workers from five factories of the Tuba Group have been on hunger strike since July 28 demanding the payment of salary for three months, overtime and a holiday bonus. Police used truncheons to disperse several hundred of the workers who tried to besiege the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) headquarters, witnesses said. On Sunday, the association agreed to pay wages for two months this week, and said the Tuba Group would pay the rest of the salaries and a bonus for the Eid al-Fitr holiday later.","European markets underperform amid Crimea fears. LONDON (AP) — Rising tensions in Crimea as Russian troops seize Ukrainian ships and military installations have weighed on markets in Europe on Monday despite an earlier advance in Asia and expected gains in the U.S.","Ukraine accuses Russia of allowing tanks across border. KIEV (Reuters) - Ukraine's interior minister accused Russia on Thursday of allowing three tanks and other military vehicles to cross the border into east Ukraine to help pro-Russian separatists there. Russia did not immediately respond to the accusations but Reuters correspondents saw three tanks in the border town of Snizhnye in east Ukraine. (Reporting By Natalia Zinets and Thomas Grove, Editing by Timothy Heritage)","US seizes $1.8M worth of pot near Puerto Rico. SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Federal agents have seized $1.8 million worth of marijuana and arrested two suspected smugglers near Puerto Rico.","Ukraine: Body parts retrieved at jet crash site. HRABOVE, Ukraine (AP) — Wearing gloves and carrying blue plastic buckets, international investigators finally began gathering up body parts and victims' belongings Friday in the fields where Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 came down.","Canada's Bombardier cuts 1,700 jobs. Canadian aeronautics company Bombardier announced Tuesday it is eliminating 1,700 jobs in Canada and the United States. The 1,700 jobs to be eliminated amount to 4.4 percent of Bombardier's workforce, with 1,100 in the Montreal region and 600 at a factory in the US state of Kansas.","France, Germany show EU support for Georgia as Ukraine crisis mounts. By Margarita Antidze TBILISI (Reuters) - France and Germany assured Georgia on Thursday that a deal bringing it closer to the European Union would be sealed within weeks, moving to tighten ties with the ex-Soviet republic as tension mounts between Russia and the West over Ukraine. The two core EU nations' top diplomats affirmed plans to speed up the signing of a deal to boost trade and political ties - the same kind of pact whose rejection by Ukraine in November touched off the biggest East-West crisis since the Cold War. \"I am sure that by the end of June the agreement will have been signed and that it is an important milestone in the history of Georgian and European relations,\" German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said in Tbilisi. \"This agreement is not aimed against anyone ... The EU's economic relations with Georgia don't place economic cooperation between Georgia and Russia in doubt,\" he told a joint news conference with French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius.","Trinidad's ex-Prime Minister Robinson dies at 87. Trinidad and Tobago's former Prime Minister and President A.N.R. (Ray) Robinson, one of the architects of the International Criminal Court, died on Wednesday at age 87 after a long illness. National Security Minister Gary Griffith confirmed the death of Robinson who served as prime minister from 1986 to 1991 and as president from 1997 to 2003. Robinson is internationally recognized for his proposal, at the 44th session of the United Nations in 1989, to create a permanent international court to hear cases involving the international drug trade.","India's new finance minister Jaitley says will focus on deficits and inflation. India's new finance minister Arun Jaitley said on Tuesday that he would focus on bringing down fiscal deficits and tackling high inflation in Asia's third-largest economy. Jaitley, a 61-year-old corporate lawyer, will head India's finance and defense ministries in the new government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, a government statement said. \"\"We have to restore back the pace of growth, contain inflation and obviously concentrate on fiscal consolidation itself,\" Jaitley told reporters shortly after the list of cabinet positions was released, adding that he will only take charge of the defense ministry on a temporary basis.","American nurse with Ebola to leave Liberia Tuesday. ATLANTA (AP) — A second American medical missionary stricken with the often deadly Ebola virus is expected to be flown Tuesday to the U.S. for treatment, following a colleague who was admitted over the weekend to Emory University Hospital's infectious disease unit.","Afghan president's brother withdraws from election, backs ex-minister. The Afghan president's brother, Qayum Karzai, said on Wednesday he was withdrawing from next month's presidential election and would back former foreign minister Zalmai Rassoul. He has not offered his backing to any of the candidates.","US man guilty of conspiring to support terrorists. RALEIGH, North Carolina (AP) — A North Carolina man faces up to 15 years in federal prison over plans to travel to either Syria or Yemen to join a jihadist group.","Interpol expanding foreign fighter database. PARIS (AP) — The head of Interpol says the organization has vastly expanded its database of foreign fighters traveling to join extremists in Iraq and Syria and is testing ways to let banks, hotels and cruise lines access a separate database of lost and stolen passports.","Chinese police blame separatist group for Urumqi bombing: Xinhua. By Sui-Lee Wee BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese police blamed the East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM) for a train station attack in the western city of Urumqi last month that killed three people, Xinhua said on Sunday, the first time the separatists have been directly linked to the assault. The brief report carried by China's state news agency did not give more details. Until now China had said the attack in its troubled Xinjiang region, home to the Muslim Uighur ethnic group, was carried out by two religious extremists who were also killed in the blast. State media had said \"knife-wielding mobs slashed people\" at an exit of the South Railway Station of Urumqi, capital of Xinjiang, and set off explosives.","EU leaders to discuss Ukraine with Obama at G-20. BRISBANE, Australia (AP) — European leaders will discuss the escalating conflict between Russia and Ukraine when they meet President Barack Obama on the sidelines of an Australian summit ahead of a European Union decision on possible further sanctions against Moscow.","Ryu takes 2-stroke halfway lead in Malaysia. KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — So Yeon Ryu of South Korea shot a 6-under 65 on Friday to take a two-stroke lead halfway through the Sime Darby LPGA Malaysia, the second event of the tour's six-tournament Asian swing.","Putin orders lower borrowing costs for 'productive' Russian companies. President Vladimir Putin has instructed Russia's central bank to reduce borrowing costs for \"productive\" companies, the Kremlin said on its website on Monday. The directive may increase the pressure on central bank Governor Elvira Nabiullina to soften the bank's tough anti-inflationary policy. However, the phrasing of Putin's order, one of several issued to governmental bodies for implementation this year, suggests that he wants the central bank to come up with a targeted scheme. The order recommends the bank to work on \"stimulating a lowering of the level of interest rates on rouble loans provided to organizations active in the productive sphere\".","Syria's Assad looks to win on battlefield, not through talks: Kerry. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is still trying to win on the battlefield rather than find a solution through peace talks, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Monday. A second round of Syria peace talks ended with little progress at the weekend, and Kerry said Russia needed to be part of the solution to finding peace in Syria rather than supporting the Assad government. \"It is very clear that Bashar al-Assad is continuing to try to win this (on) the battlefield rather than to (go) to the negotiating table (with) good faith,\" said Kerry, speaking in the Indonesian capital during a trip to Asia and the Middle East.","8 of Honduran miners rescued from small gold mine. TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras (AP) — A Honduran official says eight miners have been rescued from a small gold mine while three remain trapped.","Pro-government Kenyan Muslim cleric shot dead in Mombasa. MOMBASA Kenya (Reuters) - A Kenyan Muslim cleric, who supported government efforts to stamp out radicalism among youths in the country's restive coastal region, was shot dead by unknown assailants on Tuesday, police said. Sheikh Salim Bakari Mwarangi was shot while returning home from evening prayers at a mosque in the Likoni area of Mombasa, the local police chief said. \"He was rushed to a nearby local hospital, but succumbed to his injuries,\" the Mombasa County police commander, Robert Kitur, told Reuters. ...","UK air service to compensate airlines for glitch. LONDON (AP) — Britain's air traffic service says it will compensate airlines for last week's computer glitch that briefly shut down London's busy airspace.","Froome senses pressures as Tour repeat bid looms. LEEDS, England (AP) — Defending champion Chris Froome says he's feeling the pressure on the eve of the Tour de France.","Roosters revive NRL hopes with win over Penrith. SYDNEY (AP) — Boyd Cordner scored two late tries to clinch the Roosters' 32-12 win over joint leaders Penrith, reviving their premiership campaign in the 19th round of Australia's National Rugby League.","South Korea prosecutors seek death penalty for captain of doomed ferry. GWANGJU South Korea (Reuters) - South Korean prosecutors on Monday sought the death penalty for the captain of a ferry that capsized in April, leaving 304 people dead or missing. Lee Joon-seok, 68, who has been charged with homicide, should be sentenced to death for failing to execute his duty, which amounted to homicide, the prosecution told the court, resting its case in a trial that has taken place amid intense public anger towards the crew. A verdict has not yet been handed down. ...","Bosnian vote beset by nationalism and bad economy. SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina (AP) — Bosnians are voting in general elections that will show whether people are more concerned about the 44 percent unemployment rate or still mired in wartime nationalist divisions.","Canadian Natural ponders spin off or sale of royalty income. Canadian Natural Resources Ltd said on Friday it is considering spinning off or selling its stream of royalty income from its wholly owned lands in western Canada. Steve Laut, the company's president, said on a conference call that it will have between C$140 million ($128.9 million) and C$150 million, in pretax royalty revenue from third-party oil and gas production on its properties, including those recently acquired from Devon Energy Corp. Laut said Canadian Natural is looking at selling the income stream directly or spinning it off into a separate company.","Trinidad struggles to emerge from heavy flooding. PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad (AP) — The eastern Caribbean island of Trinidad is struggling to emerge from widespread flooding as meteorologists warn of more rain that has already forced businesses and schools to close.","Obama says Iran talks may need more time. Washington (AFP) - US President Barack Obama signaled Wednesday that talks with Iran on its nuclear program may need to extend beyond a weekend deadline, saying negotiations have shown a \"credible way forward.\"","Republican pushes bill to end Palestinian aid. WASHINGTON (AP) — A Republican senator is pushing legislation that would end U.S. aid to the Palestinians unless they renounce terrorism and recognize the state of Israel.","A look at world's deadliest air disasters. A Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 disappeared from air traffic control screens over waters between Malaysia and Vietnam early Saturday morning, leaving the fates of the 239 people aboard in doubt. A look at some of the world's deadliest air disasters:","Hamas clears out of Abbas' Gaza home in unity push. GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — Hamas has cleared out of the Gaza residence of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in the most concrete sign yet that the rivals are moving toward reconciliation.","Official says beer bars are too hot in Vietnam. HANOI, Vietnam (AP) — A ministry official is proposing that the temperature in restaurants selling beer in Vietnam should not exceed 30 degrees Celsius (86 Fahrenheit), a rule that will be hard to enforce considering outdoor beer parlors are hugely popular in the country's big cities.","Libya militia attacks amount to war crimes: HRW. Libya militias which fought a fierce five-week battle for control of Tripoli's international airport committed \"war crimes\" against civilians, Human Rights Watch said on Monday. The UN mission in Libya, UNSMIL, last week reported grave human rights violations during the clashes between mostly Islamist fighters and a nationalist militia. On August 22, Fajr Libya (Libya Dawn), a mainly Islamist alliance, seized Tripoli airport from the nationalists.","Syria rebels raid Lebanese town, capture soldiers. BEIRUT (AP) — A Lebanese army general says Syrian rebels have crossed into Lebanon, raided a border town and captured several soldiers.","Brazil and Chile head to extra time at 1-1. BELO HORIZONTE, Brazil (AP) — Brazil and Chile are headed to extra time after a goalless second half left the score level at 1-1 in the second round of the World Cup.","Dominican prosecutor OKs Vatican sex abuse case. VATICAN CITY (AP) — The Dominican Republic's top prosecutor has praised the Holy See's handling of the sexual abuse case against its former ambassador to the Caribbean country and acknowledged that the Vatican is the right place to prosecute him.","England defender Walker ruled out of Denmark match. LONDON (AP) — England defender Kyle Walker has been ruled out of Wednesday's friendly against Denmark because of a groin injury.","Anti-graft chief to oversee Italy's Expo after arrests. Prime Minister Matteo Renzi has enlisted the head of Italy's new anti-bribery authority to help salvage preparations for next year's world fair Expo 2015 in Milan after a high-profile corruption scandal that risks disrupting the lucrative event. Seven former lawmakers, managers and public officials were arrested last week over alleged attempts to influence public tenders for the fair, which Italy hopes will attract 20 million visitors and help bolster a still feeble economic recovery. The center-left leader, visiting the Expo 2015 site in a show of support after the arrests, said former anti-mafia magistrate Raffaele Cantone, at the helm of an anti-corruption authority set up in March, would be charged with ensuring the smooth running of the Expo's works. The drafting of Cantone underlines the commitment of Italy's government to the Expo, which will feature 60 pavilions built by the 140-plus participant countries around the main exhibition theme of nutrition.","Brazil: best-butt runner-up hospitalized. RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — A 27-year-old Brazilian reality TV star who was runner-up in a best-buttocks competition has been hospitalized with complications from a cosmetic procedure to enlarge her thighs.","Obama arrives in Brussels for G-7 meeting. BRUSSELS (AP) — President Barack Obama has arrived in Brussels for a meeting with fellow heads of state focused on the crisis in Ukraine.","Yemen: Clashes in the north leave 17 dead. SANAA, Yemen (AP) — Yemeni security officials say renewed clashes in the north between rebels belonging to a Shiite-branch of Islam and ultraconservative Salafis backed by allying tribes have killed 17.","Iran nuke talks likely to be extended past July 20. VIENNA (AP) — Iran and six world powers have tentatively decided to adjourn their nuclear talks early but plan to extend them past the July 20 target date for a deal, diplomats said Wednesday.","Libya's UN envoy warns of 'full-blown civil war'. UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Libya's ambassador to the United Nations is warning of \"full-blown civil war\" if the chaos and division in the North African country continue.","Queues, shortages hit Venezuela's homeless and hungry. By Carlos Rawlins CARACAS (Reuters) - Huge queues at supermarkets and shortages of basic products have become the norm in Venezuela over the last year - and the most needy are increasingly at the sharp edge. Workers at soup kitchens for the homeless and hungry face an ever-more difficult task to find rice, lentils, flour and other staples to provide a free daily hot meal. \"I queue for hours every day because you can only get one thing one day, another the next,\" said Fernanda Bolivar, 54, who has worked for 11 years at the church-supported \"Mother Teresa\" soup kitchen in a back-street of downtown Caracas.","Haitian president urges his country to come together. Port-au-Prince (AFP) - Haiti's President Michel Martelly urged his fellow citizens to come together to rebuild the poverty-stricken country devastated by an earthquake nearly four years ago. \"Haiti is very sick.","Abu Dhabi airport technical failure halts flights. ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Gulf airline Etihad Airways say all flights into its hub of Abu Dhabi were diverted this morning due to a technical failure at the airport.","U.S. lawmakers press Comcast on Time Warner Cable merger. By Alina Selyukh and Diane Bartz WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Comcast Corp and Time Warner Cable Inc executives sought to reassure lawmakers on Wednesday that their planned merger would not send cable TV prices skyrocketing but found a fair amount of congressional skepticism. The Senate Judiciary Committee held the first public hearing on the proposed $45.2 billion merger between the two largest U.S. cable companies, a deal that has raised eyebrows among public interest groups and some lawmakers. Comcast promises that it will benefit consumers without eliminating any choices. \"My concern is that as Comcast continues to get bigger, it will have even more power to exercise its leverage and squeeze consumers,\" said Senator Al Franken, a Minnesota Democrat who has often opposed media concentration.","Putin rejects meddling in Ukraine. The EU and Russia agreed Tuesday to discuss their sharp differences over Ukraine and eastern Europe as President Vladimir Putin again warned against foreign meddling in former Soviet states. Putin went into a summit with European Council President Herman Van Rompuy and European Commission head Jose Manuel Barroso billed as a \"clear the air session\" only for both sides to come out stressing the positives. Apparently aiming to calm the waters in Ukraine, Putin also promised not to review crucial aid worth $15 billion (11 billion euros) even if the opposition, hostile to closer ties with Russia, takes power there.","World Health Organization declares that Nigeria is now free of Ebola. GENEVA (AP) — World Health Organization declares that Nigeria is now free of Ebola.","Crisis-hit Iraqis feel betrayed by bickering leaders. Iraq may be fracturing along sectarian and ethnic lines, but its people are uniting in anger and disbelief at protracted political haggling over government posts amid a raging Sunni Islamist insurgency. Bickering lawmakers on Monday delayed for almost five weeks a parliamentary session meant to decide a new government aimed at countering the militant onslaught, before moving the date forward again to July 13, still more than two months after April elections. After years of legislative paralysis and accusations of sectarianism, a new unity government is seen as one of the best ways of draining the resentment that has poisoned politics and allowed militants led by the Islamic State (IS) jihadist group to overrun vast tracts of the country at lightning speed. \"The postponement of the parliamentary session was a shock to Iraqis living amid a sea of blood and a lack of services and jobs,\" said Essam al-Bayati, a professor at the University of Kirkuk in northern Iraq.","China vows to strengthen education, development in restive west. Chinese President Xi Jinping said on Thursday that China must strengthen education and work to alleviate poverty in the western region of Xinjiang, as the government works to weed out extremism in a region prone to unrest. His remarks, made in a speech to Communist Party leaders, came after five suicide bombers attacked a vegetable market in Xinjiang's capital of Urumqi last week, killing 39 people and injuring 94 in the deadliest such incident in years. China heavily restricts religious worship in the region as well as the right to assembly, among other freedoms. Communist Party leaders have vowed to crack down on religious extremists and separatist groups, which they have blamed for a series of violent attacks in Xinjiang and elsewhere in the country.","Botswana ordered to register country's first gay group. A Botswana High Court Friday ordered the government to register and recognise the country's first gay and lesbian lobby group, in a case testing the country's strict anti-homosexuality laws. A group of activists approached the court to rule on the matter after the Home Affairs ministry rejected an application to register the Lesbians, Gays, and Bisexuals of Botswana (LEGABIBO) . In his verdict, judge Terrence Rannowane said \"refusal to register LEGABIBO was not reasonably justifiable under the constitution\". He said government's refusal to register the group had \"violated the applicants' rights to freedom of expression, freedom of association and freedom of assembly\" under the country's constitution.","Brazil fans celebrate win, lament losing Neymar. RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Brazil exploded into collective celebration Friday night after its soccer team won a hard-fought World Cup quarterfinal match against Colombia, 2-1 — then mourned that an injury to star striker Neymar means he's out of the tournament.","Death toll from Guinea Ebola outbreak rises to 122. CONAKRY (Reuters) - The death toll from an Ebola outbreak in Guinea has risen to 122, the World Health Organisation said on Thursday, a sharp increase from a previous figure of 108. The disease has spread from Guinea's remote southeast to the capital, Conakry, where 16 people have died. It has also crossed into Liberia but the number of dead there blamed on Ebola remains 13, the figures show. Samples tested in Mali, Ghana and Sierra Leone have been negative so far but governments in the region have restricted flights, closed some borders and imposed health checks in some airports. ...","Wozniacki defeats Vinci to win Istanbul Cup title. ISTANBUL (AP) — Caroline Wozniacki overpowered second-seeded Roberta Vinci 6-1, 6-1 Sunday to win the Istanbul Cup final and clinch her first WTA title of the year.","Pakistani judge sentences Christian to death for blasphemy. By Mubasher Bukhari LAHORE, Pakistan (Reuters) - A Pakistani judge has sentenced a Christian to death for blasphemy, lawyers said on Thursday, in the latest of a rising tide of such legal cases. Judge Lahore Ghulam Murtaza Chaudhry sentenced Sawan Masih to hang after a Muslim said he had insulted the prophet Mohammed in the eastern city of Lahore a year ago. The accusation against Masih sparked a riot in which Muslims burned more than 100 Christian homes. \"Today (the judge)announced his verdict that says that Sawan must be hanged and fined,\" said Nameem Shakir, a lawyer for the accused.","Ukraine to host US-led military drills in mid-September. Ukraine will host US-led military drills later this month as Kiev's army fights pro-Moscow rebels in the east of the country, the Polish defence ministry said Wednesday. Soldiers from fellow NATO allies Britain, Bulgaria, Estonia, Germany, Lithuania, Romania and alliance partners Norway and Moldova will join US and Polish troops for the annual event in Ukraine, which is not in NATO. The exercises come as Ukraine is struggling with a separatist rebellion and suspected Russian military operations in its east.","'20 killed' in grenade attack in Bangui. Bangui (Central African Republic) (AFP) - At least 20 people died when extremists lobbed hand grenades at a crowd of mourners during a funeral service in the Central African Republic capital Bangui overnight, the public security minister said on national radio Friday. \"Around 11:00 pm (Thursday) a group of extremists, well known to the police, threw hand grenades at a crowd that was attending a wake.","Rebel attack leaves dead and wounded among Ukraine forces - National Guard. Pro-Russian separatists attacked Ukrainian government forces with mortar fire on Friday in a city in the rebellious east of the country, killing and wounding a number of them, the National Guard said. It said the rebels, operating from the precincts of a nearby church, fired on a government forces checkpoint in Slaviansk, which has been controlled by separatists since early April. \"As a result of the mortar fire there are dead and wounded among law enforcement servicemen,\" the national guard said in a statement on its website, without disclosing a precise casualty figure.","Gloomy French data hits European stocks, Iraq keeps oil high. By Nigel Stephenson LONDON (Reuters) - European stocks fell on Monday after euro zone business activity data showed growth slowing, with France a notable laggard, in contrast with upbeat numbers from China that lifted Asian shares and the Australian dollar. Brent crude oil prices rose towards a nine-month high above $115 a barrel on concerns that unrest in Iraq, where Sunni insurgents seized control of more towns over the weekend, could disrupt supply. The euro zone's flash composite purchasing managers' index fell to 52.8 in June, below forecast, from 53.5 in May, data provider Markit said. Earlier, the HSBC/Markit Flash China PMI showed China's factory sector activity expanded for the first time in six months in June, offering new signs the economy is stabilizing thanks to Beijing's measures to shore up growth.","New US study casts doubt on West's Afghan plan. WASHINGTON (AP) — A new assessment of Afghanistan's future says the country could once again become a terrorist haven unless U.S. and international partners underwrite a much larger Afghan security force than is currently planned beyond 2014.","Pedophile teacher abused dozens as clues missed. William Vahey was a beloved teacher in the small world of international schools that serve children of diplomats, well-off American expatriates and local elites. He was often the first to arrive, and the last to leave. He led students on class trips to exotic places.","Battle edges closer to Syrian crusader castle. President Bashar al-Assad's forces have surrounded rebels near the already war-damaged Crusader castle of Crac des Chevaliers, a UNESCO World Heritage site in central Syria, residents said on Wednesday. Crac des Chevaliers suffered mortar hits last year when rebels from the town of al-Hosn below the hill-top castle hid behind its thick stone walls, built for battles hundreds of years ago. Syria's nearly three-year-old conflict has devastated whole city neighborhoods and many ancient sites, including Aleppo's medieval covered market and its Umayyad mosque. Although fighting has inched closer to Crac des Chevaliers, the castle has not been hit during the two-day-old offensive by troops and local pro-Assad militiamen besieging al-Hosn.","Factbox: Russians targeted on expanded U.S. sanctions list. Following are biographical details of some of the 20 Russians targeted on an expanded U.S. sanctions list announced by President Barack Obama on Thursday. SERGEI IVANOV, 61, is a former senior foreign intelligence officer who held the posts of Defence Minister and Deputy Prime Minister under Putin. Ivanov - an old friend of President Vladimir Putin - has known his boss since his KGB service in the 1970s and is one of the most influential conservatives from the security world, a group known as the \"Siloviki\". Ivanov was a rival to Dmitry Medvedev to succeed Putin as president when Putin stepped aside for four years to become prime minister in 2008 because of constitutional limits.","Facebook, Twitter brace for World Cup fever. NEW YORK (AP) — This year's World Cup will play out on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and messaging apps like WhatsApp just as it progresses in stadiums from Sao Paulo to Rio de Janeiro.","Low loonie will keep Canadian dollars at home, drive tourism industry: experts. TORONTO - As the Canadian dollar falls to its lowest level in more than three years this week, many are wondering how much further it has to go.","Rating agency cautious over Sochi's legacy. SOCHI, Russia (AP) — A major international ratings agency expects the local government in Sochi, Russia, to struggle with the cost of maintaining the Olympic venues despite the massive state investment.","Fourth Sierra Leonean doctor dies from Ebola. A fourth Sierra Leonean doctor, a woman, died Sunday after contracting the dreaded Ebola virus, the country's chief medical officer told AFP. Doctor Olive Buck, who was in charge of Lumley Government Hospital in the capital's west end, tested positive for Ebola on Tuesday and was admitted to the Connaught Hospital in central Freetown. \"It's another sad loss for the profession,\" Sierra Leone's chief medical officer Brima Kargbo told AFP by telephone. \"The ministry of health is in deep grief to miss another devoted Ebola fighter.\"","Thousands mourn Brazil presidential candidate Campos. More than 130,000 mourners turned out to pay their respects to Brazilian presidential candidate Eduardo Campos here Sunday after the popular socialist politician's death in a plane crash last week. A line of mourners stretching some three kilometers (1.9 miles) queued to file past Campos's coffin, placed outside Recife's local government headquarters to allow people to say a final farewell. Brazil President Dilma Rousseff was in attendance as ceremonies got under way with an open air mass. Campos, 49, died when his campaign jet slammed into houses in Santos city in bad weather on Wednesday, killing all seven people on board and setting buildings alight.","Putin says others should respect Russians' rights. Russian President Vladimir Putin, speaking in the Crimea region Russia annexed from Ukraine, said on Friday Russians' rights, including the right to self-determination, should be treated with respect. We respect their lawful rights and interests.","UAW slams decision giving anti-union workers voice in VW dispute. The United Auto Workers on Wednesday sharply criticized and vowed to appeal a U.S. agency's decision to let anti-UAW Volkswagen workers defend the results of an election that the union lost last month at a Tennessee VW plant. The UAW said it would appeal the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) decision, which it called an outrage. The union said the NLRB had deviated from its own precedent by giving two groups of anti-UAW workers a formal role as legal parties to the election dispute. The UAW has asked the NLRB to scrap the results of the election, which the union lost by a 712-626 vote, arguing that anti-union statements by politicians and outside groups compromised voting at the Chattanooga facility.","Stocks are higher on Wall Street after US unemployment rate decreases; Expedia jumps. NEW YORK, N.Y. - U.S. stocks are higher in midday trading after the government reported a decline in the unemployment rate last month.","Chelsea beats Swansea to stay in title hunt. SWANSEA, Wales (AP) — Demba Ba scored in the 68th minute as Chelsea beat 10-man Swansea 1-0 Sunday to keep its Premier League title challenge in its own hands.","Ukraine to treat any Russian military movements in Crimea as aggression. KIEV (Reuters) - Ukraine said on Thursday it would regard any movements by Russian military in Crimea outside the Russian Black Sea fleet's base in Sevastopol as an act of aggression. Acting President Oleksander Turchinov issued the warning in the national parliament after armed men seized the regional government and parliament buildings in Crimea, where some ethnic Russians want the region to join the Russian Federation. (Reporting By Natalia Zinets, Writing by Timothy Heritage, Editing by Rochard Balmforth)","Erdogan to grow more powerful as president, Turkey more polarized. By Orhan Coskun and Nick Tattersall ANKARA/ISTANBUL (Reuters) - On the first anniversary of nationwide protests that shook Prime Minster Tayyip Erdogan's rule, barely a thousand anti-government demonstrators marched in Istanbul on Saturday. Their scant numbers were an illustration of Erdogan's tightening grip on power despite a year punctuated by street protests, international criticism of his response and allegations of government corruption.","Billie Jean King, Elton John host tennis in London. NEW YORK (AP) — Billie Jean King and Elton John will host a fund-raising tennis match at Royal Albert Hall in London.","India unveils restrained pre-election budget. MUMBAI, India (AP) — India's finance minister unveiled a restrained budget for the government's remaining time in office through May. He said the government has narrowed its fiscal deficit and pledged to keep government spending steady.","European clubs unsure over 2022 WCup in winter. GENEVA (AP) — Europe's top football clubs still need to be convinced the 2022 World Cup in Qatar should move from summer.","More than 30 feared dead on Japan volcano. The first deaths were confirmed Sunday among more than 30 hikers feared killed near the peak of a Japanese volcano that erupted without warning, spewing ash, rocks and steam.","9 missing after second boat sinks off Malaysia. KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Nine people were missing after a boat carrying 27 Indonesian workers overturned Thursday off Malaysia's west coast, the country's maritime agency said, in the second such accident in two days.","All Blacks need 2 late tries to beat Wales 34-16. CARDIFF, Wales (AP) — New Zealand extended its 51-year winning streak over Wales to 26 games with a 34-16 victory under the Millennium Stadium roof on Saturday, with three late tries giving the score a flattering look.","Gunmen kill three in 'terrorist' attack on Kenyan church. By Joseph Akwiri MOMBASA, Kenya (Reuters) - Two gunmen stormed a packed church near the Kenyan coastal city of Mombasa on Sunday and opened fire on worshippers, killing three people and wounding others, in what police called a terrorist attack. I fell to the ground and could hear screams,\" said Lilian Omondi, who was leading a prayer recital at the time. The raid on Sunday took place in Likoni, located across a deep-water channel from Mombasa city, a major tourist hub. Likoni's police chief Robert Mureithi said the high number of bullet cartridges recovered for the Joy in Christ Church indicated the gunmen were armed with automatic weapons.","Sunderland hits Chelsea's title hopes with 2-1 win. LONDON (AP) — In another twist to the most unpredictable Premier League season, bottom side Sunderland damaged Chelsea's title hopes with a shock 2-1 victory at Stamford Bridge on Saturday.","Fairfax raises stake in Canada's Torstar to 22.7 percent. Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd said on Thursday it has purchased an additional 3.4 percent of Torstar Corp , pushing its total holding in the Canadian newspaper company to 22.7 percent. Fairfax, a Canadian insurer and investment firm run by well-known investor Prem Watsa, said in a statement the purchase of about 2.4 million Torstar shares at C$5.35 a share was for investment purposes. Torstar owns the Toronto Star, Canada's largest daily newspaper by circulation, as well as other publishing assets. Its stock closed at C$5.51 on the Toronto Stock Exchange on Thursday.","Japanese shares lose steam, Asian shares slip. By Hideyuki Sano TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese shares gave up early gains on Wednesday as investors booked profits after Prime Minister Shinzo Abe delayed a tax hike and said he would call a snap election to seek a fresh mandate for his economic policies. Asian shares slipped to a three-week low as resource shares were hit by fall in oil and other commodity prices and as Chinese shares lost momentum as investors continued to take profits after Monday's launch of the landmark Hong Kong-Shanghai trading link. ...","ECB invites banks to tap new funds it hopes will pep up euro zone. By Paul Carrel FRANKFURT (Reuters) - The European Central Bank invited banks on Tuesday to bid for a fresh round of long-term loans it hopes will stimulate lending to businesses and reinvigorate the euro zone economy but which may see only modest take-up. The program is a key plank of ECB efforts to stave off the threat of deflation and breathe life into the euro zone economy, which stagnated in the second quarter. At 0.3 percent, inflation is running well below the ECB target of just under 2 percent. The ECB will announce how much it is granting banks in the new loans at around 5:15 a.m. ...","2 dead in Moscow subway train derailment. MOSCOW (AP) — Emergency officials say a subway train has derailed in Moscow, killing two people and injuring at least 50.","Damage by hooligans in Warsaw exceeds $25,000. WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Warsaw authorities say that more than 50 police officers were injured and material losses reached an equivalent of some 21,000 euros ($26,000) due to hooligan violence during Independence Day celebrations.","Member of Cuba 5 says he's optimistic about deal. HAVANA (AP) — A Cuban intelligence agent who spent more than 15 years in a United States prison said Thursday that he's optimistic that softening U.S. attitudes will lead to the liberation of three fellow agents who remain behind bars.","Cricket-Australia (397) & 290-4 dec v S Africa (206) - innings. PRETORIA, Feb 15 (Reuters) - Australia declared their second innings at 290 for four wickets after just 3.2 overs on the fourth day of the first test at SuperSport Park on Friday, setting South Africa a target of 482 to win the match. Scores: Australia 397 (S. Marsh 148, S. Smith 100; Steyn 4-78) & 290-4 declared (D. Warner 115, A. Doolan 89) v South Africa 206 (AB de Villiers 91; M. Johnson 7-68). (Reporting by Mark Gleeson; editing by Amlan Chakraborty)","Spaniards protest death order for Ebola dog. MADRID (AP) — Spanish animal rights activists have scuffled with police as they tried to stop health workers from entering an apartment complex where they plan to remove the dog of a nursing assistant infected with Ebola so the pet can be killed.","Halt in expansion of Panama Canal could cause major delays: arbitrators. By Lomi Kriel PANAMA CITY (Reuters) - If work on the expansion of the Panama Canal is suspended, it could take up to five more years to finish, according to arbitrators helping to oversee the project that has been hit by a dispute over costs. Since the start of 2014, the Panama Canal Authority (PCA) has been embroiled in a public row with the consortium known as Grupo Unidos Por el Canal (GUPC) over $1.6 billion in additional costs the GUPC says have arisen during work on the project. Though the spat only recently went public, discussions over added costs have been going on since 2010, and advisers on the project's Dispute Adjudication Board (DAB) said in a letter written in December that any hold-ups would be serious. \"The enormous losses to (the PCA) - which have not only a severe financial impact but also would seriously damage its credibility and reputation - can only be imagined,\" the DAB added in the letter that was sent to both sides of the dispute.","Avalanche sweeps Everest; 4-5 believed buried. KATMANDU, Nepal (AP) — Officials say about five climbers are feared missing after an avalanche swept the slopes of Mount Everest and hit a route used to assent the world's highest peak.","Robredo, Cuevas reaches final of Croatia Open. UMAG, Croatia (AP) — Defending champion Tommy Robredo reached the final of the Croatia Open, defeating third-seeded Marin Cilic of Croatia 7-6 (10), 6-3 on Sunday.","A transcript of AP interview with Egypt's el-Sissi. CAIRO (AP) — A transcript of The Associated Press's interview with Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi.","Argentine vows to keep fighting after finding grandson. Her face aglow after finding her grandson 36 years after he was stolen by Argentina's military regime, activist Estela Carlotto vowed Wednesday to keep fighting to find hundreds of others still missing. Carlotto, the 83-year-old head of the Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo, said she had still not met her grandson Ignacio Hurban a day after news that he had been found through DNA testing. \"I don't want to force the situation,\" the white-haired grandmother told journalists outside her house in La Plata, around half an hour south of Buenos Aires.","Japanese space explorer to blow crater in asteroid. TOKYO (AP) — A Japanese space explorer has departed on a six-year roundtrip journey to blow a crater in a remote asteroid in hopes of gathering clues to the origin of earth.","Spain Ebola patient improving, 1 to be tested. MADRID (AP) — A Spanish Health Ministry spokesman says the condition of a nursing assistant with Ebola appears to be improving but a person who came into contact with her before she was hospitalized Oct. 6 has a fever and will be hospitalized and tested for the virus.","Ugandan MPs refused pay rise. Ugandan MPs have seen their controversial demand for higher salaries rejected by the finance ministry after it decided the impoverished country had more important priorities, officials said Thursday. Uganda's finance ministry spokesman, Jim Mugunga, told AFP that the request was \"not a priority, as much as we value the great work they are doing\". \"The national priorities at the moment are different. Aside from their salaries, Ugandan MPs also receive various benefits including expenses for travel and the purchase of a personal vehicle.","Price cuts no quick cure for Tesco's ills. By James Davey LONDON (Reuters) - Cheaper meat and vegetables should draw shoppers back into Tesco stores but it will take time for the new boss of Britain's biggest grocer to win back market share. Customers seeking to save money in a sluggish economy have turned away from the market leader to discounters such as Aldi and Lidl , igniting a price war in British grocery shopping and contributing to a series of Tesco profit warnings. ...","Dutchman praised for MH17 crash handling in race for top EU job. By Thomas Escritt and Anthony Deutsch AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Frans Timmermans, the Netherlands' nominee to join the European Commission, is an experienced Brussels hand who represents his country's last best hope of securing a top job in the European Union's executive. The Dutch foreign minister and career diplomat, who was entered as a last-minute candidate over eurogroup chair Jeroen Dijsselbloem, is a staunch pro-European and a talented linguist even by the standards of the famously polylingual Dutch. The most popular Dutch politician, he served as a junior officer at the Dutch embassy in Moscow and has worked at the European Commision before, serving on the private staff of a previous Dutch commissioner during the 1990s. \"He's a veteran diplomat with an enormous track record, a Russia expert and someone who is highly valued by his staff,\" said Louise van Schaik of Clingendael, the Netherlands Institute of International Relations.","F1 chief Ecclestone ends bribery trial with $100-mn payment. A German court ruled Tuesday that Formula One tycoon Bernie Ecclestone can make a controversial $100-million payment to end his trial on bribery charges. \"The proceedings will be temporarily suspended with the agreement of the prosecution and the accused,\" pending payment within one week, presiding judge Peter Noll said. Ecclestone, a diminutive businessman who has kept firm control over F1, has a fortune estimated at $4.2 billion, according to Forbes magazine, making him one of the richest 400 people in the world. Noll said $99 million of Ecclestone's payment would go to the Bavarian state coffers while $1 million would be donated to a child hospice foundation.","5 more WRs set at short-course worlds on last day. DOHA, Qatar (AP) — Five more world records were broken at the short-course world championships on Sunday, with Sarah Sjostrom of Sweden setting two on the final day.","Lyon held to 0-0 at Bastia in French league. Lyon drew 0-0 with struggling Bastia to trail Paris Saint-Germain by three points in the French league on Saturday.","Doping ban reversed for Olympic champion Lee. KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — The Badminton World Federation has reversed a one-year ban handed to Olympic gold medalist Lee Yon-dae for missing doping tests.","U.S. states probe Home Depot data breach. By Karen Freifeld NEW YORK (Reuters) - At least five states have launched a joint probe into the data breach on the payment-card processing systems of Home Depot Inc , even as the retailer works to determine the impact on its customers in the United States and Canada. The coordinated effort was disclosed on Tuesday, a day after Home Depot confirmed suspicions that its payment processing systems have been breached. A spokeswoman for Connecticut Attorney General George Jepsen told Reuters that California, Connecticut and Illinois would lead the multistate effort. \"We have had initial contact with the company,\" said Jaclyn Falkowski, director of communications for Jepsen.","French committee rules Brit's 'Chagall' painting a fake; it may be burned. LONDON - A British collector may see an expensive painting burned because a French committee has determined it is not an authentic work by Marc Chagall.","China's Hebei closes more than 8,000 polluting firms in 2013. China shut down 8,347 heavily polluting companies last year in northern Hebei province, which has the worst air in the country, state news agency Xinhua said on Thursday, as the government moves to tackle a problem that has been a source of discontent. Local authorities will block new projects and punish officials in regions where pollution is severe due to lax enforcement, Xinhua cited Yang Zhiming, deputy director of the Hebei provincial bureau of environmental protection, as saying. Hebei, the country's biggest steel producer, is home to as many as seven of its 10 most polluted cities, Xinhua said, citing statistics published monthly by the Ministry of Environmental Protection. Pollution in Hebei often spreads to neighboring Beijing and Tianjin.","U.S. home builder sentiment edges up in April, still gloomy. U.S. homebuilder sentiment edged up in April but remained mostly dour on lingering concerns about stiff credit conditions for buyers and tight supply of building lots and labor, the National Association of Home Builders said on Tuesday. \"Looking ahead, as the spring home buying season gets into full swing and demand increases, builders are expecting sales prospects to improve in the months ahead.\" \"Headwinds that are holding up a more robust recovery include ongoing tight credit conditions for home buyers and the fact that builders in many markets are facing a limited availability of lots and labor,\" NAHB Chief Economist David Crowe said.","Germany releases, deports convicted Russia spy. BERLIN (AP) — German authorities have released a woman convicted of spying for Russia and deported her after she served half of her prison sentence.","Atletico expels 7 members involved in fatal fight. MADRID (AP) — Atletico Madrid says it has expelled seven club members and a radical group identified by Spanish police as having participated in a brutal fight with rival Deportivo La Coruna fans that left one man dead.","Tunisia awaits election final, press hails Essebsi. TUNIS, Tunisia (AP) — Newspapers in Tunisia have followed exit polls in proclaiming an 88-year-old former minister the winner of the presidential election.","U.N. climate talks make shaky start to year as procedures questioned. U.N. climate negotiations resumed on a shaky footing on Monday as some delegates questioned how the meeting was being run amid calls for more urgency at the talks, which after two years have made scant progress towards a global climate change deal. Diplomats from almost 200 nations gathered in Bonn, Germany, vowed to speed up work towards agreeing a 2015 pact to cut greenhouse gas emissions that U.N.-backed scientists say is causing extreme weather events and rising sea levels. The preliminary talks are the first of a series this year aimed at working out the main elements of an agreement to bind all nations to curb greenhouse gas emissions from 2020 and raise funds to tackle climate change across the developing world. \"The challenge is ... to shift from an informal mode of work to a formal, transparent and participatory negotiating process... The time for that is now,\" said Naderev Sano of the Philippines, speaking on behalf of a negotiating group of developing countries that includes India, China, Iran and Saudi Arabia.","Islamic State claims responsibility for detaining Japanese man: Kyodo. TOKYO (Reuters) - The Islamic State militant group has claimed responsibility for detaining a Japanese man in Syria in a post on the Internet, Kyodo news agency reported on Tuesday. The Japanese foreign ministry said on Monday Japan was investigating whether one of its citizens had been captured in northern Syria by Islamic State fighters. (Reporting by Chris Gallagher; Editing by Paul Tait)","Iran hails US-Cuba thaw as proof sanctions don't work. Iran has seized on Washington's historic rapprochement with Cuba after five decades of Cold War standoff as proof that big power sanctions do not work. \"The defence by the Cuban government and people of their revolutionary ideals over the past 50 years shows that policies of isolation and sanctions imposed by the major powers against the wishes of independent nations are ineffective,\" foreign ministry spokeswoman Marzieh Akfham said. The statement, released late Saturday, was Iran's first official reaction to the rapprochement announced by the two governments on Wednesday. Washington and Havana said they would launch measures to ease a five-decade US trade embargo as well as a prisoner exchange.","Underwater search for Malaysian airliner resumes. SYDNEY (AP) — The hunt for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 has resumed in a desolate stretch of the Indian Ocean, more than six months after the jet disappeared.","Brunei announcement on controversial sharia law expected. Bandar Seri Begawan (Brunei) (AFP) - The Sultan of Brunei is expected to make an announcement on Wednesday on his plans to introduce tough Islamic criminal punishments that have been criticised by the United Nations. Authorities have said there will be an announcement on Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah's plans for sharia on Wednesday. An official told Brunei media last week that the postponement was delayed \"due to unavoidable circumstances\".","Hungary's far-right Jobbik gains in rural areas. BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — The far-right Jobbik party has made significant gains in rural areas in Hungary's municipal elections, where it has become the main challenger to Prime Minister Viktor Orban's Fidesz party.","Turkey ratifies new cabinet, no policy shift expected. Turkey's parliament gave its new cabinet headed by Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu a vote of confidence on Saturday. The cabinet was announced last week with the core team responsible for economic management remaining in place in a line-up seen to signal the continued domination of former prime minister and now President Tayyip Erdogan. The ruling AK Party holds 312 seats out of 536 in parliament so the vote of confidence was seen as a formality.","Lavrov, Kerry speak by phone about steps to resolve Ukraine crisis. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry spoke about ways to resolve the crisis in Ukraine by telephone on Monday, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement. \"They discussed steps to help resolve the crisis situation in Ukraine,\" the ministry said, describing the phone call as a follow-up to the U.S. and Russian diplomats' meeting on the Ukraine crisis in Paris on Sunday.","A prominent Libyan activist abducted amid clashes. CAIRO (AP) — Father of well-known Libyan activist says armed men abducted his son in the capital Tripoli, which is witnessing ongoing battles between heavily armed militias.","Interpol, Philippines bust cyber extortion network. MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Philippine police, backed by Interpol, have arrested dozens of suspected members of an online extortion syndicate who duped hundreds of victims worldwide into exposing themselves in front of webcams, including a Scottish teenager who committed suicide after being blackmailed, officials said Friday.","Iran's Zarif sees 'signs' nuclear deal can be reached. Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said he saw \"signs\" Wednesday a long-term nuclear deal could be reached with major powers after the latest round of talks in Vienna. \"There are signs that an understanding is possible that respects the rights of the Iranian nation,\" the Fars news agency quoted Zarif as saying. Under an interim agreement Iran struck with the six powers in November, the two sides are aiming for a long-term deal by a July 20 target date. The latest round of talks wrapped up on Wednesday, with EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton describing them as \"substantive and useful.\"","Oxlade-Chamberlain gives Arsenal 2-0 win vs Palace. LONDON (AP) — Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain sent Arsenal back to the top of the Premier League on Sunday as his first goals in more than a year clinched a 2-0 victory over Crystal Palace.","G-7: New sanctions on Russia could come next week. DONETSK, Ukraine (AP) — The United States and other nations in the Group of Seven say they could move as early as Monday to impose additional economic sanctions on Russia in response to its actions in Ukraine.","Exclusive: U.N. Security Council sanctions Islamist ADF in Congo - diplomats. By Michelle Nichols UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - A U.N. Security Council committee blacklisted Ugandan Islamist group, the Allied Democratic Forces, on Monday for recruitment and use of child soldiers, killing, maiming and sexually abusing women and children, and attacks on U.N. peacekeepers. Council diplomats said the group, which has been sheltering in volatile eastern Democratic Republic of Congo since the mid-'90s, would now be subjected to an arms embargo, asset freeze and travel ban under the United Nations sanctions regime imposed on Congo. The group's leader, Jamil Mukulu, has been subjected to targeted U.N. sanctions since 2011. Uganda's military said in April that Mukulu had fled Congo to another state after a U.N.-backed offensive destroyed several ADF camps.","Libyan forces loyal to renegade general claim Tripoli air strikes: officer. Libyan forces loyal to renegade General Khalifa Haftar are responsible for air strikes in the capital Tripoli, one of his senior officers told Reuters on Monday. \"We, the operation dignity, officially confirm to have conducted air strikes on some militias' locations belonging to Misrata militias,\" said Haftar's air defense commander, Saqer al-Jouroushi.","Tina Maze wins Olympic giant slalom. KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia (AP) — Tina Maze earned her second gold medal of the Sochi Olympics on Tuesday, winning from the front in a rainy and snowy giant slalom.","Killer avalanches hit U.S. West as fresh snow raises backcountry allure. By Laura Zuckerman SALMON, Idaho (Reuters) - Fresh powder in the U.S. West has lured thousands of skiers, snowboarders and snowmobilers to the high country at a time the risk of avalanches has been heightened by weather patterns that are making the snowpack less stable, winter recreation experts said. Government specialists say the uptick in killer avalanches stems in part from unusually dense and wet snows that have lately blanketed the mountain West after an extended dry spell weakened a base layer of snow laid early in the season. \"Storms in the past month have placed very strong, heavy snow on top of a layer that had the consistency of rock salt and the strength of potato chips. Federal avalanche centers in states such as Idaho, Montana and Colorado have in recent days stepped up warnings to winter recreationists, whose numbers in the snowy backcountry have grown in the last decade alongside advances that have made treks possible to steep winter terrain that was once nearly inaccessible.","WHO calls for action to reduce global suicide rate of 800,000 a year. In its first global report on suicide prevention, the United Nations health agency said some 75 percent of suicides are among people from poor or middle-income countries and called for more to be done to reduce access to common means of suicide. The WHO's director general Margaret Chan said the report was a \"call for action to address a large public health problem which has been shrouded in taboo for far too long.\" Pesticide poisoning, hanging and firearms are among the most common methods of suicide globally, the report said, and evidence from Australia, Canada, Japan, New Zealand, the United States and Europe shows that restricting access to these means can help to stop people from committing suicide.","Australia board to probe Clarke selection row. MELBOURNE (Reuters) - Cricket Australia boss James Sutherland will grill Michael Clarke and national team selectors after a bizarre breakdown in communication over the injured captain's availability for the first test against India next week. Selectors on Monday named the injured skipper in a 12-man squad for the Brisbane test with the proviso that he play a two-day tour match against the tourists starting on Friday to prove his fitness. ...","Russia, Belarus, UAE? Few options for Ukraine's ousted leader. By Matt Robinson and Pavel Polityuk KIEV (Reuters) - Big and burly with two convictions for assault, Viktor Yanukovich is hard to miss. One report had him ejected from a charter flight at Donetsk airport in his native east. The mystery did little to help loyalists who stuck to the line that their leader was still the president, even after parliament voted to remove him in the climax to three months of turmoil and several days of carnage over Ukraine's allegiance to Europe or Russia. \"We have a legitimate, living president, we just don't know where he is,\" Oleh Tsaryov, a member of Yanukovich's Party of Regions, said grimly on Russian television.","Myanmar camp baby a brief chapter in painful story. SITTWE, Myanmar (AP) — Hours after Shamshu Nahad gave birth to her second child, a beautiful baby girl, her husband was digging its grave.","Speedskater Bokko scoffs at Koss' second-guessing. SOCHI, Russia (AP) — Norway's speedskaters withdrew from the men's 10,000 meters at the Sochi Olympics to prepare for the team pursuit, a move second-guessed by four-time gold medalist Johann Olaf Koss.","VW in $9.2 billion offer for truck maker Scania. BERLIN (AP) — Volkswagen is offering 6.7 billion euros ($9.2 billion) to take over the rest of Swedish truck maker Scania.","Swiss UBS to delist shares, make holding company. GENEVA (AP) — Switzerland's largest bank UBS AG is moving to delist its shares from trading on exchanges in New York and Zurich as part of a reorganization to offer a safeguard against catastrophic losses.","Bank of Canada on hold, stays neutral; frets over household debt. The Bank of Canada reiterated its explicitly neutral stance and kept its overnight interest rate at 1 percent on Wednesday, but highlighted new concern over the overstretched household sector. It dropped previous references to the constructive evolution of household imbalances and said \"activity in the housing market has been stronger than anticipated.\" Yet the central bank was sanguine about inflation, which peaked at a 28-month high of 2.4 percent in June, saying recent data reinforced its view that higher inflation had been attributable to temporary effects \"rather than to any change in domestic economic fundamentals\".","Guyana in political crisis after suspension of parliament. By Girish Gupta GEORGETOWN (Reuters) - - Guyana President Donald Ramotar's decision to suspend parliament to avoid a no-confidence motion against him has plunged the small former British colony into political crisis, as foes decry the president as a dictator. Opposition parties, which have a small legislative majority, last week demanded a no-confidence vote to protest spending of some $22.5 million without parliamentary approval on items ranging from school stipends to an airport expansion project. ...","Moroccan police stop protesters setting themselves on fire. Moroccan police spraying water cannon stopped 13 unemployed blind university graduates from setting themselves on fire in Rabat on Wednesday in protest against a public sector hiring freeze. Morocco, which brought in the austerity measures in January, faces demands from international lenders to reduce deficits and cut public spending, which has risen as Rabat sought to calm the kind of popular discontent seen in the Arab Spring revolts. Those revolts began in 2011 after street vendor Mohamed Bouazizi set himself ablaze in the Tunisian city of Sidi Bouzid in a protest against police harassment there. Rabat police moved in quickly to spray the blind protesters with water cannon to dampen the fuel before chasing them away using batons.","Egyptian court jails 23 activists for violating protest law. CAIRO (Reuters) - An Egyptian court sentenced 23 young activists to three years in jail on Sunday for violating a law that forbids protesting without a permit, judicial sources said. The activists, among them a 28-year-old lawyer with a prominent local rights organization, were arrested in June after protesting against a law passed last year that bans demonstrations held without the approval of the police. They were also found guilty of blocking off a road during the protest, among other charges. The court fined those sentenced 10,000 Egyptian pounds($1,400). ...","China pushes for developing world's rights as BRICS summit opens. China will dedicate itself to \"perfecting\" the role developing countries play in international affairs to give them better representation and a greater say, President Xi Jinping said ahead of a summit of BRICS nations in Brazil. China has already started doing this by promoting international development banks which will either be led by China or will have a very strong Chinese role, as opposed to Western-dominated institutions like the World Bank. Brazil, China, India, Russia and South Africa are due on Tuesday to sign off on a new development bank being launched by the BRICS emerging market nations.","Georgian FM resigns after defense chief is fired. TBILISI, Georgia (AP) — The foreign minister of the former Soviet republic of Georgia and three of her deputies have resigned, alleging that the firing of the defense minister a day earlier was politically motivated.","Hong Kong police start clearing protest barricades: Occupy Central. HONG KONG (Reuters) - Hong Kong police began on Monday to remove barricades erected by pro-democracy protesters who have occupied several sites around the Chinese-controlled city for two weeks, according to protest group Occupy Central. At the main protest site, around government offices in the downtown district of Admiralty, scores of student protesters faced off with police who were massing in the area, a Reuters witness said. The Hong Kong government has said the demonstrations are illegal. (Reporting by Donny Kwok and Farah Master)","Iraq fears hit European shares, German bond yields fall. By Atul Prakash LONDON (Reuters) - European shares fell on Wednesday, mirroring losses in the United States and Asia, as fears violence in Iraq could escalate further prompted investors to take refuge in safer assets such as German bonds. The FTSEurofirst 300 index of top European shares fell 0.7 percent to a three-week low, while Germany's benchmark DAX shares index was down 0.6 percent by 0753 GMT. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry urged leaders of Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region on Tuesday to stand with Baghdad in the face of a Sunni insurgent onslaught that threatens to dismember the country.","De Villiers anchors South Africa to comfortable win in NZ. (Reuters) - South Africa captain AB de Villiers anchored his side to a six-wicket victory over New Zealand, whose bowling and fielding was far superior to a poor batting performance in the first game of their three match one-day series on Tuesday. De Villiers (89 not out) combined with JP Duminy (58 not out) in an efficient 139-run partnership after a tight and varied New Zealand bowling attack had given the hosts the sniff of an unlikely victory when they reduced them to 97 for four in the 25th over at Bay Oval in Mount Maunganui. ...","White House breach 'unacceptable': Secret Service chief. Washington (AFP) - The US Secret Service chief faced withering criticism Tuesday from lawmakers outraged over security breaches at the White House, as she pledged to revamp the agency to prevent an embarrassing repeat.","136 variations of Brazilian skin colors. RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — When Brazilians were given a chance to describe their skin color, they came up with 136 shades and variations. The survey was done in 1976 by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics, and was published again in a 2011 Congressional document titled: The Constitutional Commission on Justice and Citizenship.","Millions of jellyfish-like creatures wash up on western U.S. beaches. By Courtney Sherwood PORTLAND Ore. (Reuters) - Millions of jellyfish-like creatures have washed up on beaches along the U.S. West Coast over the past month, giving the shoreline a purple gleam and, at times, an unpleasant odor, ocean experts said on Thursday. Though not poisonous to most people, beachgoers should avoid the animals because their venom can cause stinging in the eyes and mouth, said Steve Rumrill, an expert at the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife. In addition to the millions that have been spotted on beaches from Southern California to Washington, millions more are floating near the ocean surface offshore, Rumrill added. Though most people think the animals are jellyfish, they are in fact colonies of much smaller creatures known as hydrozoans, Rumrill said.","After crash, Hanyu aims to repeat Grand Prix gold. BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Olympic champion Yuzuru Hanyu enters the Grand Prix Final hoping to defend his title and recover his winning form after a scary on-ice accident.","Iran to get $2.8 billion during extended talks, most sanctions stay: U.S. Iran will be allowed to access an additional $2.8 billion of its frozen assets during a 4-month period of extended talks with six powers on its nuclear program but most sanctions against Tehran will remain in place, the United States said on Saturday. \"We will continue to suspend the sanctions we agreed to under the (preliminary agreement from November 2013) and will allow Iran access to $2.8 billion dollars of its restricted assets,\" U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said after Iran and six powers agreed to extend nuclear talks by four months after they failed to reach a July 20 deadline for a deal. \"Iran will not get any more money during these four months than it did during the last six months, and the vast majority of its frozen oil revenues will remain inaccessible.","Japan, NKorea hold 1st senior talks in 16 months. BEIJING (AP) — Japan and North Korea have started high-level government talks in Beijing for the first time in more than a year.","Libya cabinet calls for new government within week, turmoil deepens. Libya's parliament has urged Prime Minister Abdullah al-Thinni to form a new government within a week, an assembly spokesman said on Tuesday, apparently rejecting a cabinet request for more powers to tackle the disorder crippling the OPEC country. A weak central government in Tripoli is locked in confrontation with parliament and unable to control militias that helped oust Muammar Gaddafi in a 2011 uprising but kept their guns and carved out autonomous fiefs. \"The General National Congress has appointed Abdullah Al-Thinni as the prime minister under a condition of forming a government within a week,\" parliamentary spokesman Omar Hmeidan told Reuters. In a typical sign of chaos and often contradictory information in Libya, the state news agency LANA as well as Libyan and Arab television stations said the cabinet had quit.","Canada adds sterling to foreign currency reserves. Canada said on Monday it will start including sterling-denominated assets in its foreign currency reserves to improve liquidity and better prepare the country against potential shocks. The finance ministry and the central bank have been assessing the possibility of including additional currencies in the Exchange Fund Account, the main repository of the international reserves. \"The addition of pound sterling assets to the Exchange Fund Account will diversify the foreign currency composition of Canada's foreign reserves and improve the liquidity of the portfolio,\" Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said in a statement. The foreign reserves exist to help protect the value of the Canadian dollar and provide the government with foreign currency liquidity.","France's Hollande 'hurt' at ex's claim he hates the poor. French President Francois Hollande on Wednesday launched a fresh salvo against a scathing memoir written by his former partner, saying he had been particularly \"hurt\" by claims he secretly despises the poor. Valerie Trierweiler claimed in the book that the Socialist leader jokingly referred to the destitute as \"toothless\" in private. In the memoir, entitled \"Thank You for the Moment\", Trierweiler writes that Hollande \"portrayed himself as the man who doesn't like the rich. In an interview with Le Nouvel Observateur, the Socialist president defended his commitment to the needy as he struggles to stop his popularity ratings from sinking to new depths.","3 Chinese inmates kill guard, break out of jail. BEIJING (AP) — Chinese state media say three inmates escaped in a rare jailbreak in China's northeast after killing a guard.","U.S. appeals court throws Arctic drilling into further doubt. By Steve Quinn JUNEAU, Alaska (Reuters) - A federal appeals court ruled Wednesday that the U.S. Interior Department wrongly awarded offshore oil leases in the Chukchi Sea near Alaska in 2008 without considering the full range of environmental risks posed by drilling in the Arctic. A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals sent the on-going dispute - pitting environmental groups and Native Alaska tribes against the federal government and energy companies - back to U.S. District in Anchorage, Alaska. It was not immediately clear what the decision would mean for the oil company Royal Dutch Shell Plc and its plans, revealed in December, to resume exploratory drilling this coming summer in the Chukchi.","Yamana, Agnico Eagle bid $3.9 bn for gold miner Osisko. Yamana Gold Inc and Agnico Eagle Mines Limited upped the ante in a bidding war for Canada's Osisko Mining Corporation on Wednesday by announcing a deal valued at Can$3.9 billion. The cash and stock offer worth Can$8.15 per share for 100 percent of the company is 11 percent higher than the latest hostile bid by rival Goldcorp for Osisko's mining and exploration assets. Osisko's main asset is a massive gold mine in Canada's Quebec province. Osisko had rejected Goldcorp's initial offer of Can$5.95 per share, or Can$2.6 billion in January, calling it insufficient.","Bosnia, Serbia hit by worst flooding in 120 years; three die. By Daria Sito-Sucic and Ivana Sekularac SARAJEVO/BELGRADE (Reuters) - The heaviest rains and floods in the past 120 years hit Bosnia and Serbia this week, killing three people, cutting off electricity and leaving several towns and villages isolated. The three casualties, one of them a firefighter on a rescue mission, drowned in Serbia. The country declared a state of emergency in 18 towns and cities, including the capital, Belgrade. Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic said on Thursday he would declare an emergency for the whole country at 1100 GMT (0700 EDT) \\\\\"This is the greatest flooding disaster ever.","Detained OSCE monitors should be freed soon, says Ukraine rebel leader. Four monitors of the Organization of Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) who went missing in eastern Ukraine on Monday are being held by pro-Russian separatists but are likely to be freed soon, a rebel leader said on Thursday. Vyacheslav Ponomaryov, whose separatist group controls the town of Slaviansk, told Interfax news agency that the OSCE had been warned not to travel in the area, but had sent a \"zealous\" four-man team out all the same. The team, which comprises a Dane, a Turk, an Estonian and a Swiss, are among a few hundred monitors sent to monitor compliance with an international accord for de-escalating the crisis in troubled eastern Ukraine, where separatists have seized control of strategic points in several towns.","Bach: 'I am still assured' of security in Sochi. SOCHI, Russia (AP) — IOC President Thomas Bach says heavy security and criticism of Russia's anti-gay law will not detract from the Sochi Olympics.","Blast outside minority Shi'ite mosque in Pakistan kills eight. By Hameedullah Khan PESHAWAR, Pakistan (Reuters) - A suicide bomber killed at least eight people on Tuesday near a mosque frequented by minority Shi'ite worshippers in a densely populated neighborhood of the Pakistani city of Peshawar, police and doctors said. Najeeb Rehman, a senior policeman, said the attack, possibly the work of more than one suicide bomber, had taken place as worshippers left the mosque and walked towards a local hotel. Hospital sources in Peshawar, a sprawling, dusty city on Pakistan's unstable frontier with Afghanistan, said at least 28 people had been wounded.","Ukraine draws Obama into Putin's long game. Days after his ally Viktor Yanukovich was ousted as Ukraine's leader, Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered a 150,000 troop Russian military exercise on Ukraine's border. The fall of Yanukovich - and Putin's potential response to it - has reignited a debate in Washington on how to respond to the assertive Russian leader. For Obama administration officials, Vladimir Putin is a concern but not a threat. \"This is a world where we need to work with the Russians,\" a senior State Department official said on Tuesday.","Australia's Johnson wins cricketer of the year award. Fiery Australian paceman Mitchell Johnson was named cricketer of the year by the International Cricket Council on Friday, matching his countryman Ricky Ponting's feat of winning the award twice. Johnson, 33, spearheaded Australia's attack during a 5-0 Ashes sweep of England last year and then helped his team beat South Africa 2-1, picking up 59 Test wickets between August 2013 to September 2014. It is the second time the left-arm paceman has picked up the Sir Garfield Sobers trophy, named after the former West Indian great, after winning the award in 2009. \"For me it's nice to be able to contribute to the team and do the job that I have always thought I have been able to do,\" he was quoted as saying in an ICC statement.","Defiant Putin drops cool demeanor in Ukraine talk. MOSCOW (AP) — In some ways, the venue Vladimir Putin chose and the emotional lecture he gave the world about Russia's actions in Ukraine said it all.","Canada says freeze on foreign workers is wake-up call. The Canadian government said on Friday companies should raise wages to encourage more Canadians to apply for unfilled jobs, saying the freeze it imposed this week on restaurants hiring temporary foreign workers is a wake-up call for all employers. The moratorium is on foreign hires in food-service businesses only. It follows media reports that McDonald's Corp restaurants turned away qualified Canadians while using Canada's Temporary Foreign Worker Program to fill job openings. Jason Kenney, the employment and social development minister, said he was distressed that wages in Canada have barely kept pace with inflation since the global economic downturn.","Signs of reprisal killings emerge in Iraq. BAGHDAD (AP) — Signs emerged Tuesday of a reprisal sectarian slaughter of Sunnis in Iraq, as police said pro-government Shiite militiamen killed nearly four dozen detainees after insurgents tried to storm the jail northeast of Baghdad.","U.S.-Philippines pact could modestly boost American arms sales. By Andrea Shalal WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A new 10-year security pact between the United States and the Philippines could lead to modest increases in U.S. weapons sales in coming years, especially for maritime surveillance equipment, analysts said on Sunday. The agreement, to be signed on Monday, establishes a framework for an increased U.S. military presence in the Philippines and is part of a \"rebalancing\" of U.S. resources toward the fast-growing Asia-Pacific region. Virginia-based defense analyst Loren Thompson noted that the deal came as China increasingly encroaches on maritime areas claimed by Manila in the South China Sea, even as a long-running Muslim insurgency in the southern Philippines is abating. \"What Manila needs most in the way of military technology is weapons that can help enforce its claim to areas in the South China Sea,\" Thompson said.","Tottenham fires Tim Sherwood after just 5 months. LONDON (AP) — Tottenham has fired Tim Sherwood less than five months into his first management job.","Ukraine's Poroshenko sworn in as president as east seethes. By Richard Balmforth KIEV (Reuters) - Petro Poroshenko took the oath on Saturday as Ukraine's president, buoyed by Western support but facing an immediate crisis in relations with Russia as a separatist uprising seethes in the east of his country. \"I pledge with all my strength to protect the sovereignty and independence of Ukraine,\" the 48-year old confectionery billionaire said at his swearing-in ceremony before parliament. Poroshenko was elected on May 25, three months after his pro-Moscow predecessor Viktor Yanukovich was toppled by street protests and fled to Russia. Within weeks, Russia annexed Ukraine's Crimean peninsula, provoking the deepest crisis in relations with the West since the Cold War.","Canadian charged with joining Islamist fighters in Syria. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police announced terrorism charges Wednesday against a 25-year-old Canadian for allegedly traveling to Syria to fight alongside Islamist fighters. The charges against Hasibullah Yusufzai, 25, are the first ever laid against a Canadian under a new law passed last year that criminalized travel abroad for the purpose of terrorist activities. \"On July 17, 2014, the RCMP Integrated National Security Enforcement Team (INSET) in British Columbia charged Hasibullah Yusufzai, age 25, a resident of Burnaby, British Columbia, for leaving Canada to take part in terrorist activity,\" Sergeant Greg Cox said in a statement. \"The accused is being sought for leaving Canada on January 21, 2014, to commit an offence for the benefit of, at the direction of or in association with a terrorist group,\" he said.","Bangladesh-Sri Lanka 2nd test. CHITTAGONG, Bangladesh (AP) — Scoreboard at lunch Wednesday on the second day of the second test between Bangladesh and Sri Lanka at Chittagong’s Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium:","Amnesty raises alarm over Red Crescent worker held by Syria. Rights group Amnesty International has raised concern about the detention of a Syrian Red Crescent worker who has not been heard from since her arrest by authorities in January. In a statement released late Wednesday, the group said Maryam Haid was arrested on January 13 by men believed to be members of the Syrian Criminal Security forces. Amnesty said Haid was initially detained at a Criminal Security branch in Damascus, but there had been no word on her whereabouts or condition since her arrest. A relative of Haid's told the group that her arrest could be related to the activities of her cousin, with whom she shared an apartment in Damascus, or other relatives active in the opposition.","In Britain, US turkey dinner is business. LONDON (AP) — Big-breasted turkeys in butcher shop windows. Harvest displays of pumpkin and corn. Sandwich boards describing groaning feasts.","Skelton stars as Wallabies win seventh straight Test. Giant Will Skelton made a big impact on debut as the Wallabies won their seventh straight match 39-13 to sweep their three-Test series against France in Sydney on Saturday. Skelton -- all six feet eight inches (203 centimetres) and 140 kilograms (308 pounds) of him -- scored a try and laid on one for Israel Folau with a deft pass as the Wallabies cleaned up Les Bleus five tries to one. \"He had a significant influence in a game against a tier one country in his first game,\" Wallabies coach Ewen McKenzie said. The Wallabies were always in command and played with more verve and tempo from the kick-off after last week's stodgy 6-0 win in Melbourne to clinch the series after winning 50-23 in Brisbane.","Lufthansa to launch budget long-haul next year. BERLIN (AP) — German airline Lufthansa on Wednesday announced plans to launch budget long-haul services at the end of next year in collaboration with SunExpress, a joint venture with Turkish Airlines.","U.S. regulator expands warning over Takata air bags, more lawsuits filed. By Ben Klayman DETROIT (Reuters) - The problems for Japanese auto parts maker Takata Corp grew after U.S. safety regulators expanded a warning about faulty air bags to 6.1 million vehicles in the United States while two more lawsuits have been filed over accidents in older Honda cars. The news came a day after Toyota Motor Corp recalled 247,000 vehicles in the United States because of potentially defective Takata air bags that can rupture and spray metal shrapnel at occupants. ...","Charges brought in Quebec railway disaster. TORONTO (AP) — Three employees of the insolvent railway company involved in last summer's runaway oil train disaster that killed 47 people are due to appear in court Tuesday to face criminal negligence charges in the small Quebec town that was partially incinerated by exploding tanker cars.","Argentina president returns after illness. BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — Argentina's president has made her first public appearance since being hospitalized more than three weeks ago for a bacterial infection of the colon.","British government vetoes RBS bank plan for higher bonuses. Shareholders of state-rescued Royal Bank of Scotland will not get to vote on allowing its bankers to earn an EU bonus cap of twice their salary, the government said Friday. UKFI, the body that manages the government's 81-percent stake in the lender, will not support the proposal and therefore a planned vote on the issue will no longer take place at the bank's annual general meeting in June, RBS said in a statement. Separately, the Treasury said that \"an increase to the bonus cap cannot be justified and the government made clear it would not have supported such a proposal\" in light of the bank's ongoing struggles. Britain is challenging the law at the European Court of Justice.","In volatile mood, EU's voters are called to polls. BRUSSELS (AP) — These days, more Europeans than ever are skeptical or hostile toward efforts to unite the continent into an economic and political superpower. In that volatile mood, voters in 28 countries on Thursday begin choosing the next European Parliament and helping determine the EU's future leaders and course.","Asylum seekers in Europe reach two-decade high. Nearly half a million people sought asylum in Europe last year, the most in two decades, with the largest number coming from Syrians fleeing civil war, the European Union said on Monday. In total, 434,160 people sought refuge in the EU's 28 member states in 2013, according to Eurostat, the EU statistics office. The European Union rejected 65 percent of the requests and granted refugee status to 15 percent of the asylum seekers. The remaining 20 percent got at least temporary permission to stay in Europe.","South's leader says NKorea could get nuke dividend. DRESDEN, Germany (AP) — South Korea's president says her country would \"be the first\" to back North Korea's membership in international financial institutions if Pyongyang gives up its nuclear program.","Wales secure battling point in Belgium. Brussels (AFP) - Wales maintained their impressive start to the 2016 European Championship qualifiers with a superb defensive display to gain a vital draw against highly-fancied Belgium in a 0-0 draw on Sunday.","Iraq Shi'ite Ashoura ritual escapes major attacks by late afternoon. By Haider Kadhim KERBALA Iraq (Reuters) - A gathering of millions of Shi'ite Muslims at shrines and mosques across Iraq for the Ashoura religious commemoration passed without any major attacks by early evening under tight security imposed for fear of Islamic State bombers. Dozens of pilgrims were killed in Baghdad alone in the run-up to this year's event, despite an increase in security since suspected al Qaeda suicide bombers and mortar attacks killed 171 people during Ashoura in Kerbala and Baghdad in 2004. ...","Arctic oil well blowout could spread more than 1,000 km: WWF study. By Nia Williams CALGARY Alberta (Reuters) - Oil from a spill or oil well blowout in the Arctic waters of Canada's Beaufort Sea could easily become trapped in sea ice and potentially spread more than 1,000 kilometers to the west coast of Alaska, a World Wildlife Fund study showed on Friday. The WWF contracted RPS Applied Science Associates to model 22 different oil spill scenarios and map the spread of the oil, potential impact on the water and shoreline, and interaction with sea ice, wildlife and the surrounding ecology. The remote Beaufort Sea is a section of the Arctic Ocean that spans the Canada-U.S. border. It comprises about 476,000 square kilometres (184,000 square miles) off the northern coasts of Alaska, and Canada's Yukon and Northwest territories, and until recently was packed with sea ice even in summer.","Turkish court orders custody for 4 following raids. ISTANBUL (AP) — Turkish news reports say a court has ordered the formal arrest of four people detained in recent raids on a newspaper and a television station affiliated with the U.S.-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, a one-time ally of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan turned foe.","Stones postpone tour after L'Wren Scott death. The Rolling Stones on Tuesday postponed indefinitely their tour of Australia and New Zealand with frontman Mick Jagger plunged into grief over the suicide of girlfriend L'Wren Scott. Jagger, who was expected to head to New York, said he was \"struggling to understand\" Scott's death as it emerged her fashion design business was grappling with multi-million-dollar debts. \"The Rolling Stones are deeply sorry and disappointed to announce the postponement of the rest of their 14 ON FIRE tour of Australia and New Zealand,\" they wrote on their website. \"Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Charlie Watts and Ronnie Wood wish to thank all of their fans for their support at this difficult time and hope that they will fully understand the reason for this announcement,\" it added.","It's hot, but runners still run in the jungle. MANAUS, Brazil (AP) — The Amazon rainforest city of Manaus was, according to many observers, the place to avoid at the World Cup.","Asia shares muted on watch for central bank moves. TOKYO (AP) — Asian stock markets were muted Wednesday as investors watched for cues from central banks in Japan and elsewhere.","Egypt drops ban on 'adults only' film. An Egyptian court has revoked a government ban on a film by Lebanese star Haifa Wehbe that had been deemed sexually provocative, judicial sources said on Wednesday. In April, Prime Minister Ibrahim Mahlab suspended screening of \"Halawet Rooh\" (Beauty of Soul), a movie said to have been inspired by Monica Bellucci's 2000 hit, \"Malena\". Several film critics lashed out at the movie when it was initially released in April.","U.S. senators offer bill improving automakers' fatality reports. As General Motors comes under scrutiny by the U.S. Congress for its handling of a long-running problem with ignition switches linked to 12 deaths, two senators on Tuesday offered legislation aimed at improving the auto industry's reporting of safety problems. Democratic Senators Edward Markey of Massachusetts and Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut introduced a bill that would require automobile manufacturers to provide more information about fatal accidents involving their vehicles and better public access to those reports. On April 1 the House Energy and Commerce Committee will hold its first hearing into GM's handling of last month's recall of 1.6 million cars because of faulty ignition switches that can shut off engines and safety equipment during operation, sometimes at high speeds. The recalls came well over a decade after the safety problem first came to GM's attention.","More US troops in Ebola-hit Liberia: airport source. Monrovia (AFP) - A second deployment of United States troops arrived in Liberia on Sunday as part of an eventual mission of 3,000 soldiers helping its beleaguered health services battle the Ebola outbreak.","Poland lodges appeal with European court over CIA jail ruling. WARSAW (Reuters) - Poland has lodged an appeal with the European Court of Human Rights against a ruling made by the court in July that Poland hosted a secret CIA prison on its soil, the Polish foreign ministry said in a statement. Poland's prosecutor-general said earlier this week that an appeal was being prepared on procedural grounds. (Reporting by Adrian Krajewski; Writing by Christian Lowe)","Fire at South Korean bus terminal kills 6. SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — A fire in a construction area at a bus terminal near Seoul killed six people and injured 38 on Monday, emergency officials said.","Ex-US diplomat under criminal investigation. WASHINGTON (AP) — The State Department says a former long-time U.S. diplomat and expert on Pakistan is the subject of a federal investigation and had her security clearance revoked last month.","Number of needy Sudanese rose 40 percent last year: UN. Khartoum (AFP) - There has been a 40 percent increase in the number of Sudanese in need of aid over the past year, boosted by worsening conflict, a senior United Nations official said Tuesday.","Assassin of Tunisian politician killed in shootout. TUNIS, Tunisia (AP) — Tunisia's interior minister says the assassin behind the death of a left-wing politician was among those killed in a shootout in a seaside suburb of the capital.","Beijing shuts big coal-fired power plant to ease smog: Xinhua. Beijing has closed the first of four large coal-fired power plants set to be de-commissioned as part of the city's efforts to cut air pollution, official news agency Xinhua reported on Wednesday, citing the local planning agency. Xinhua said the authorities had shut down the Gaojing Thermal Power Plant's six 100 megawatt generating units. The plant is owned by the China Datang Corporation, one of China's big five state power firms. In the face of growing public anger about persistent smog in the Chinese capital, the government has been under intense pressure to cut coal use and relocate industry.","Saudi activist sentenced to 15 years in jail for protests: lawyer. A judge on Thursday sentenced a Saudi blogger and activist to 15 years in jail for taking part in protests and defaming the kingdom by communicating with foreigners and through publishing articles on the Internet, his lawyer said. Fadhel al-Manasef, 26, is the latest activist to be convicted this week on charges which international human rights groups and activists in the kingdom say are part of a new drive to curb political, religious and social dissent. The Special Criminal Court in the capital Riyadh also fined Manasef 100,000 riyals ($26,700) and barred him from traveling abroad for 15 years after he completes his sentence, the lawyer, Waleed Sulais, told Reuters by email. Sulais said the court found Manasef guilty of charges that included incitement and participation in demonstrations, writing articles against state security and posting them online, signing an anti-government petition and contacting foreign judicial and media outlets without authorization and taking reporters to protests and giving them harmful information on the kingdom.","Republicans, Democrats unite in bid to save California beach bonfires. By Sharon Bernstein SACRAMENTO, California (Reuters) - It may be January, but Southern California beach-goers could be forgiven for breaking out the marshmallows early, as lawmakers moved to protect a classic rite of summer - the seaside bonfire. Under a new anti-pollution measure adopted last year by regulators in charge of air quality for Los Angeles and Orange Counties, fire rings on beaches near houses or in places where air quality was low would have to be removed. The measure prompted outrage from across the political spectrum in the coastal state, with Republicans railing that unelected bureaucrats were destroying the California way of life. Freshman Republican assemblyman Travis Allen, a surfer whose district south of Los Angeles includes several beach communities, took on the issue as one of his first efforts.","Ukraine military announces day-long halt to offensive in east. Kiev (AFP) - Ukraine's military on Thursday announced a day-long pause to its brutal offensive to oust pro-Russian rebels in the east, following a plea from the UN for a truce to allow a stalled probe into the downing of Malaysian flight MH17 to go ahead.","Indonesia's top court rejects appeal by losing presidential candidate over alleged poll fraud. JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Indonesia's top court rejects appeal by losing presidential candidate over alleged poll fraud.","Ukrainian parliament repeals anti-protest laws. KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine's parliament has repealed anti-protest laws that set off violent clashes between protesters and police after they were put in place this month.","U.S. says concerned with Thailand violence, calls for restraint. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States on Wednesday expressed concern with increased violence in Thailand and called for restraint by all sides in a conflict that shows no immediate sign of ending. Thailand has been dogged by nearly four months of around-the-clock violence between supporters of Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra and protesters who want her out. While the crisis is a long way from the running battles of April and May 2010 when more than 90 people were killed, it has stoked uncertainty and spooked investors. ...","Time running out for EU bid to engage Russia, Germany warns. By David Mardiste TALLINN (Reuters) - The European Union will start preparing further responses to Russia's actions in Ukraine if Moscow does not show signs of backing down by the weekend, Germany's Foreign Minister said on Tuesday. Russian forces have consolidated their hold on Ukraine's Crimea peninsula ahead of a Russian-backed referendum on the region's future scheduled for Sunday March 16. \"If the weekend passes without a visible change in Russia's conduct then on Monday in the European (foreign affairs) council we will have to discuss a next stage of measures,\" German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said in the Estonian capital Tallinn. \"We don't want confrontation but the action of the Russian side unfortunately makes it necessary for us to prepare, as I have just outlined to you,\" he said on a one-day visit to the three Baltic states, all EU and NATO members whose proximity to former ruler Russia makes them nervous about the situation in Ukraine.","Malian army flees Kidal amid rebel fighting. BAMAKO, Mali (AP) — Malian soldiers retreated from the northern town of Kidal on Wednesday after heavy gunbattles with ethnic Tuareg separatists, a major setback for the army less than a year after its highly unpopular return to the rebel stronghold.","U.S. steps up sanctions on Russia over Ukraine. By Arshad Mohammed and Bill Trott WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States hit Russia's largest bank, a major arms maker and arctic, deepwater and shale exploration by its biggest oil companies with new sanctions on Friday to punish Moscow for intervening in Ukraine. The sanctions target companies including Sberbank, the country's largest bank by assets, and Rostec, a conglomerate that makes everything from Kalashnikovs to cars, by limiting their ability to access the U.S. They will also bar U.S. The Russian companies affected are Gazprom, Gazprom Neft, Lukoil, Surgutneftegas and Rosneft.","McIlroy at maximum for Masters says coach. Augusta (United States) (AFP) - Two-time major champion Rory McIlroy is in the best shape of his career with mind, body and equipment entering a major event, according to his assistant coach, Dave Stockton. With McIlroy among the favorites this week in the 78th Masters at Augusta National, Stockton likes the Northern Irishman's chances after a strong final round at the PGA Houston Open. Stockton says last year's rally to beat reigning Masters champion Adam Scott at the Australian Open was a key turning point, a strong finish to a year nagged by changing equipment and poor results. \"I look back to that Australian Open win as it was pivotal because not only did it keep alive a streak of Rory having won at least one event a year since 2009 but to end his year with a win was a great lift for him,\" Stockton said.","Congolese Kumbela steals show with hat-trick. Paris (AFP) - Dominick Kumbela stole the show from African stars across Europe at the weekend with a hat-trick for German strugglers Eintracht Braunschweig.","Hijacking not ruled out in missing Malaysian jet-chief investigator. KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Hijacking could not be ruled out and all possibilities were being investigated into why a Malaysia Airlines jet carrying 239 people went missing enroute from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, the chief Malaysian investigator said on Monday. The investigator said Vietnamese authorities have not confirmed sighting any debris from the plane. Flight MH370 disappeared early Saturday about an hour into its flight from Kuala Lumpur after climbing to a cruising altitude of 35,000 feet. (Reporting by Michael Perry)","Germany to host conference on Syrian refugees. United Nations (United States) (AFP) - Germany will host an international conference next month to mobilize aid for Syrian refugees after the launch of US-led airstrikes, the foreign minister told the United Nations on Saturday.","Gaza rockets target Tel Aviv, Jerusalem. Gaza militants fired several rockets towards Jerusalem and Tel Aviv on Saturday, the army said, with no reports of injuries, as Israel continued to bomb the coastal enclave. Three of the four Tel Aviv rockets were intercepted by the Iron Dome missile defence system, and the Jerusalem-bound rockets fell short, hitting two West Bank cities. \"Three rockets intercepted above the Tel Aviv metropolitan area. Another rocket hit an open area near Rishon LeTzion,\" the army said in a statement, after sirens and explosions were heard in Israel's commercial capital.","Venezuela opposition lawmaker barred from Capitol. CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — A leader of Venezuela's opposition was barred from entering the National Assembly on Tuesday after hundreds of supporters rallied to protest her recent ouster from the legislature.","9 Niger security forces killed in militant attacks. NIAMEY, Niger (AP) — Niger's military says nine security forces have been killed in three simultaneous attacks in the country near the border with Mali.","Ukrainian minister says planned Crimea referendum illegitimate. Ukraine's economy minister said on Thursday a referendum on Crimea's status that is planned by the region's recently installed pro-Russian leaders would be illegitimate. \"My position is that this referendum is unconstitutional,\" the minister, Pavlo Sheremeta, told reporters in the Ukrainian capital Kiev, reiterating the government's stance following a decision by Crimea's new leaders to bring the referendum forward by two weeks to March 16. The deputy speaker of the regional parliament in Crimea said the referendum would ask voters whether they want to be part of the Russian Federation.","Ukraine disbands police unit accused of violence. KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine's acting interior minister says he has disbanded a feared riot police force that many accuse of attacks on protesters.","Afghanistan criticizes Pakistan; policeman killed. KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — The Afghan intelligence service has accused Pakistan of stoking instability by backing militants who stage attacks in Afghanistan.","NATO official: Russia undermining global security. WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States and some of its NATO allies see Russia's intervention in Ukraine as a post-Cold War turning point, possibly ending two decades of hope that Moscow could be made a lasting security partner.","Nobel Peace winners stress education for all. OSLO, Norway (AP) — Nobel Peace Prize winners Malala Yousafzai from Pakistan and Kailash Satyarthi of India have stressed the importance of uniting people across borders and religions by educating children and freeing them from poverty.","Greece giving up World Cup bonus. FORTALEZA, Brazil (AP) — Greece's World Cup players want their bonus money to be used to build a new training site for the national team in the cash-strapped country.","Dollar-store chain Dollarama's December same-store sales fall. (Reuters) - Dollarama Inc , a Canadian dollar-store operator, said December sales were hurt by severe winter weather and power outages. Comparable-store sales fell 7.5 percent in December. (Reporting By Sneha Banerjee in Bangalore; Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty)","Leading candidate for Bissau's April vote faces legal objection. Guinea-Bissau's attorney general is seeking to block the candidate of the country's largest party from contesting next month's presidential election, accusing him of misappropriating public funds, according to an order seen by Reuters on Friday. The attorney general says Jose Mario Vaz, who was chosen on Sunday as the candidate for the African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde (PAIGC), is suspected of embezzling a budget support grant from Angola in 2012 while he was finance minister. \"This decision is taken in order to avoid obstacles in the ongoing judicial proceedings against Jose Mario Vaz for his involvement in the embezzlement of $12.5 million,\" according to the request submitted to the Supreme Court on Thursday. Vaz was among 20 candidates who submitted their candidacies to the Supreme Court ahead of a deadline on Wednesday to register for the April 13 election in the former Portuguese colony.","Sudan leader: Talks only way forward for S. Sudan. ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (AP) — The president of Sudan said during a visit to former enemy territory on Monday that 20 years of war with South Sudan taught the people of his country that negotiations are the only way forward for the region.","Ireland unit seeking secret IRA graves finds body. DUBLIN (AP) — Forensic experts searching for the long-hidden graves of Irish Republican Army victims say they have found the remains of a body during a month-long search of bogland.","Rogue Libyan general's troops clash with militias. TRIPOLI, Libya (AP) — Libyan security officials say heavy fighting has broken out in the eastern city of Benghazi between forces loyal to a rogue general and Islamic militias.","Little hope for eight trapped Honduran miners. By Jorge Cabrera SAN JUAN ARRIBA Honduras (Reuters) - Rescuers said there was little hope that eight miners trapped underground in an illegal Honduran gold mine would be found alive, after rescue efforts were suspended on Saturday due to the risk of new landslides. Rescue workers said they had smelled foul odors coming from the mine during an operation on Friday to free three of the 11 workers trapped by a landslide at the mine in San Juan Arriba on Wednesday. \"More than 60 hours have passed now and its difficult to think that they are alive,\" rescue spokesman Oscar Triminio told Reuters. Rescue operations have been suspended since Friday night due to the risk of new landslides inside the mine trapping rescue workers, Trimonio said.","UNICEF defends $90,000 a month rent in Myanmar. YANGON, Myanmar (AP) — The United Nations' children's agency is defending a decision to pay nearly $90,000 a month for its new office — a three-story house owned by the family of an ex-army general who was slapped with U.S. sanctions during Myanmar's dictatorship.","FIFA to keep pushing for fanfests in Brazil. FLORIANOPOLIS, Brazil (AP) — FIFA says it will continue to push local officials to organize fanfests during the World Cup and could pursue legal action against the host cities that back down from their commitment.","Austria's Faymann sees government coalition lasting. VIENNA (Reuters) - Austrian Chancellor Werner Faymann expects the country's governing coalition to last until the next national elections, he said after Vice Chancellor Michael Spindelegger resigned. \"I expect it will hold until 2018,\" Social Democrat leader Faymann told a news conference on Tuesday. Spindelegger, who was also finance minister, earlier resigned from all his posts, citing lack of support from his conservative People's Party over tax reform. (Reporting by Georgina Prodhan and Shadia Nasralla; Editing by Michael Shields)","Congress to pass aid Ukraine, sanction Russia. WASHINGTON (AP) — Congress is expected to send President Barack Obama a bill to aid cash-strapped Ukraine and punish Russia for its annexation of Crimea.","Skaters try to take positives from team to singles. SOCHI, Russia (AP) — Brian Orser has won two Olympic silver medals and coached a skater to gold. All that experience did little to prepare him for the sport's newest twist.","Exclusive: SEC probing brokerages over handling of retail orders - sources. The SEC's enforcement division is investigating whether retail customers are receiving the best price and the most efficient execution for their trades, these people said. Some of the biggest retail brokerage companies are Charles Schwab Corp., TD Ameritrade Holding, Fidelity Investments' Fidelity Brokerage Services and E*Trade Financial Corp, which can get paid $100 million a year or more for selling their orders. The SEC's investigation comes as public debate has intensified over rules governing payment-for-order flow and other market structure issues that may favor high-frequency traders over retail investors, spurred in part by Michael Lewis's \"Flash Boys,\" a book that explores the rise and potential abuses of computer-driven high-speed trading. Andrew Ceresney, the director of the SEC's enforcement division, declined to comment specifically on the recent flurry of data requests in an interview last week, but confirmed the SEC is generally looking at issues surrounding retail order flow.","In second week Pistorius trial to hear from pathologists. Oscar Pistorius's trial for murder entered its second week Monday, with proceedings set to turn to harrowing evidence from pathologists about Reeva Steenkamp's injuries on the night she was killed. The state has called University of Pretoria pathologist Gert Saayman to give his account of the 29-year-old's post-mortem. In early proceedings on Monday Pistorius's defence sought to undermine the state's assertion that the sprinter told a security guard \"everything was fine\" after he shot his girlfriend. Pistorius's lawyer Barry Roux attempted to show a statement made by security guard Pieter Baba proved the Paralympic sprinter phoned security and said \"I'm okay.\"","Hungary PM to meet Russia's Putin, nuclear deal likely. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and Russian President Vladimir Putin will meet in Moscow on Tuesday, the Kremlin said on Monday, and a diplomatic source said they were likely to sign a nuclear cooperation deal. Hungarian daily Nepszabadsag reported on Saturday that Hungary could soon sign a deal for Russia's state-owned Rosatom to build new blocks at the 2-gigawatt Paks nuclear power plant south of Budapest. The Kremlin said in a statement the two countries were holding \"substantial discussions\" on nuclear energy cooperation in view of Hungary's plans to expand its capacity but it provided no details on the agenda of Tuesday's talks.","Yemen troops clash with Shiite rebels, killing dozens. Yemeni warplanes supported troops battling Shiite Huthi rebels north of Sanaa Friday as fighting intensified, with dozens killed in 48 hours, officials and tribal chiefs said. The violence in Amran province comes despite President Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi warning against a military escalation. Warplanes launched at least eight air raids on Friday to try to break the rebels' grip on army positions, some of which are just 15 kilometres (nine miles) from Sanaa, local government officials and tribal chiefs said. The army hammered rebel positions in Hamdan, Bani Matar and Iyal Sreih in Amran province with artillery, local officials said.","Ukraine leader urges crackdown as peace eludes east. By Aleksandar Vasovic and Alissa de Carbonnel SLAVIANSK/DONETSK, Ukraine (Reuters) - Ukraine's acting president accused Russia of aiding \"terrorists\" who killed a politician from his own party, urging a crackdown in the east on Tuesday that could hamper international efforts to defuse the crisis. As Vice President Joe Biden flew home from a brief visit to demonstrate solidarity with Kiev's new leaders against Moscow, Oleksander Turchinov called on security forces to relaunch an operation against pro-Russian separatists that was suspended after a deal with Moscow last week on disarming militants. In fact, Ukraine's poorly resourced forces had previously shown little sign of taking on the gunmen who started occupying towns and public buildings two weeks ago. Turchinov's call may not lead to much more action.","Asian stock markets down on China worries. MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Asian stock markets sank Wednesday as recent falls in Chinese copper and iron prices added to jitters that the world's No. 2 economy is continuing to slow.","Attacks kill 7 in Iraq, including MP candidate. BAGHDAD (AP) — Gunmen in Iraq shot to death a Shiite politician running for parliament in the upcoming elections in April, one of seven people killed in attacks across the country on Friday, officials said.","Top Asian News at 3:30 a.m. GMT. BUCHEON, South Korea (AP) — Kim Se-rin is sure he'll recognize his sister when they reunite — if they reunite — in North Korea on Thursday, more than 63 years after war drove them apart. And he knows what he'll say. \"I will first hug her and tell her that I thank her for having lived so long,\" the 84-year-old retired Seoul city official said. \"Then, I will ask her when our father and mom passed away and when our sister and brother died.\"","Confusion in France over fate of jihadist's brother-in-law. Paris (AFP) - Confusion reigned Tuesday over the fate of the brother-in-law of a notorious jihadist whose 2012 killing spree shocked France, after the interior ministry said he had been arrested at a Paris airport but police and his lawyers later denied this.","UN Council: Shiite rebels must remove Yemen camps. UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N. Security Council is demanding that a Shiite rebel group remove protest camps from Yemen's capital, expressing \"grave concern\" about the deteriorating security situation.","US ambassador to Russia stepping down. MOSCOW (AP) — The U.S. ambassador to Russia has announced that he is stepping down after two turbulent years in Moscow.","Analysis: Obama takes big risk in wider airstrikes. WASHINGTON (AP) — For a president criticized as overly cautious and reluctant to lead, Barack Obama is taking a huge risk. He is thrusting U.S. fighting forces into a growing military operation with clear dangers, unknown costs, an indefinite length and unpredictable consequences.","Senderos joins Aston Villa on 2-year deal. BIRMINGHAM, England (AP) — Switzerland defender Philippe Senderos has agreed to join Premier League club Aston Villa on a two-year deal.","Montreal cop threatens to tie homeless man to a pole in the freezing cold. MONTREAL - Montreal police will meet today with an officer who was captured on video telling a homeless man he would tie him to a pole for an hour in the freezing cold if his behaviour didn't improve.","Nissan recalls 470K vehicles for fuel leak problem. DETROIT (AP) — Nissan is recalling about 470,000 cars and SUVs worldwide to fix a problem that can cause fuel leaks.","Euro zone inflation to offer clues on ECB action. By Philip Blenkinsop BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Euro zone inflation due on Friday will be firmly in the sights of financial markets eager to establish whether the European Central Bank (ECB) has enough ammunition to ease monetary policy in the following week. The ECB cut its main refinancing rate to a record low of 0.25 percent in November and left it at that level at its meeting earlier this month, but put markets on alert for a possible move in March. ECB President Mario Draghi said the Governing Council had not acted because of the complexity of the situation and the need to have more information. Friday's February inflation figure could cause a fine-tuning of those forecasts, which form the basis of the ECB's monetary policy.","Proposal to shift surveillance phone record retention away from government drawing resistance. WASHINGTON - Telephone companies are quietly balking at the idea of changing how they collect and store Americans' phone records to help the National Security Agency's surveillance programs. They're worried about their exposure to lawsuits and the price tag if the U.S. government asks them to hold information about customers for longer than they already do.","Kieswetter replaces Wright in England T20 team. MIRPUR, Bangladesh (AP) — The International Cricket Council says its World Twenty20 event technical committee has approved England batsman Craig Kieswetter as a replacement for injured allrounder Luke Wright.","Saudi king to pay rare visit to Egypt. CAIRO (AP) — Egyptian officials say that Saudi King Abdullah will visit on Friday for the first time since the 2011 uprising, in a show of support for newly-elected President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi.","Charlesworth to quit as Australia coach in August. SYDNEY (AP) — Ric Charlesworth plans to quit as coach of the Australian men's field hockey team after the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.","WWII troop transport plane will return to Normandy. GENESEO, New York (AP) — The next time the American military transport plane known as Whiskey 7 drops its paratroopers over Normandy, France, it will be for a commemoration instead of an invasion.","Rocket in French Guiana launches 4 satellites. KOUROU, French Guiana (AP) — Arianespace has launched a rocket from French Guiana carrying four satellites that will help provide Internet and mobile connectivity to people in nearly 180 countries.","New possible sound detected in hunt for lost jet. PERTH, Australia (AP) — An Australian aircraft hunting for the missing Malaysian jet picked up a new possible underwater signal on Thursday in the same area search crews previously detected sounds that were consistent with an aircraft's black boxes.","European Commission reserves right to take action after Russia food ban. The European Commission reserves the right to take action in response to Russia's ban of EU food and agricultural products, it said on Thursday. The Commission, the EU executive, will assess the ban announced by Russia on EU products, spokesman Frederic Vincent told reporters.","Ecuador president backs indefinite re-election. QUITO, Ecuador (AP) — Ecuador's President Rafael Correa says he's backing a constitutional amendment that would allow him to run for re-election indefinitely.","Greg Norman recovering from chain-saw accident. ATLATNA (AP) — Greg Norman is recovering from a chain-saw accident that nearly cost him his left hand, but not his sense of humor.","Carla Bruni 'crazy about Israel' ahead of Tel Aviv show. France's former first lady Carla Bruni declared herself \"crazy about Israel\" and talked about Jewish family ties in an interview published by an Israeli daily on Friday. Ahead of a May 25 concert in Tel Aviv, the singer, guitarist and former model told the Hebrew-language Yediot Aharonot that she hoped to bring both her husband, former president Nicolas Sarkozy, and her son Aurelien with her. Italian-born Bruni, 46, told the newspaper that her father was Jewish and that while Sarkozy had a Jewish grandfather he also has a Jewish grandson, Solal, through his son Jean's 2008 marriage to Jewish heiress Jessica Sebaoun. \"His father is Jewish and I give him the gift of both heritages,\" she told Yediot Aharonot.","U.S. welcomes Putin's acceptance of cease-fire in Ukraine: White House. The United States welcomes Russian President Vladimir Putin's acceptance of cease-fire in Ukraine but wants to see \"tangible actions\" to de-escalate the crisis, the White House said on Tuesday. What we're focused on is the actions,\" such as ending support for separatists, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest told reporters in a briefing. Earnest also said President Barack Obama called British Prime Minister David Cameron on Tuesday to discuss Ukraine and other issues.","Lavrov and Ukraine foreign minister begin crisis talks in The Hague. Moscow (AFP) - Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov met his Ukrainian counterpart on Monday for crisis talks on the sidelines of a nuclear summit in The Hague, the Russian foreign ministry said.","EU envoy: Israel will pay price for settlements. JERUSALEM (AP) — The European Union's ambassador to Israel says a burgeoning movement to sanction Israel over its construction of West Bank settlements will gain steam if the current round of Mideast peace talks fails.","British markets spooked by poll showing Scots may vote to break up UK. By Guy Faulconbridge and Angus MacSwan LONDON/EDINBURGH (Reuters) - British financial markets tumbled on Monday after an opinion poll showed for the first time this year that Scots may vote for independence in a referendum next week, breaking up the United Kingdom. The survey prompted concern bordering on panic among Britain's ruling elite, with Prime Minister David Cameron's Conservative-led government promising proposals this week to grant Scotland greater autonomy if it stays. Cameron's job would be on the line if Scots vote on Sept. ...","Ukraine military chopper shot down near Slovyansk. DONETSK, Ukraine (AP) — A Ukrainian military helicopter was shot down by rebels Thursday over Slovyansk amid heavy fighting around the insurgent-held city in eastern Ukraine.","Bolivia villagers use fire ants on alleged thieves. LA PAZ, Bolivia (AP) — Bolivian authorities say Amazon villagers nearly killed two young men with venomous ants, tying them to a tree swarming with the insects for allegedly stealing three motorcycles.","Rugby-Nonu out with possible broken arm, Pienaar has knee injury. New Zealand inside centre Ma'a Nonu and Springboks scrumhalf Ruan Pienaar could miss the rest of the Rugby Championship after both sustained bad injuries in the All Blacks' bruising 14-10 victory at Wellington Regional Stadium on Saturday. Nonu appeared to have broken his forearm, All Blacks coach Steve Hansen told reporters, while Pienaar had damaged his knee and could be out for between six and eight weeks, his Springboks counterpart Heyneke Meyer added. The extent of both injuries would need to be determined after further medical checks, with Nonu being taken to hospital during the game while Pienaar's injury would be assessed in South Africa.","Gambia won't take passengers from Ebola-hit areas. DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — Gambian authorities have written a letter to airlines flying into the West African country saying they cannot pick up passengers from countries where there have been suspected cases of Ebola.","Dutch doctor feared to have Ebola has malaria. The Hague (AFP) - One of two Dutch doctors feared to have been infected with the deadly Ebola virus in Sierra Leone has malaria, Dutch public health authorities said on Thursday.","Taliban say they discussed prison swap with US. ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) — Washington has held indirect talks with the Taliban over the possible transfer of five senior Taliban prisoners from Guantanamo Bay in exchange for a U.S. soldier captured nearly five years ago, a senior Taliban official told The Associated Press.","Ryu bids for wire-to-wire win at Canadian Open. South Korea's Ryu So-Yeon fired a five-under par 67 Saturday to set a 54-hole tournament record and grab a four-shot lead after three rounds of the LPGA Canadian Women's Open. Ninth-ranked Ryu, the 2011 US Women's Open champion, stood on 20-under 196 entering the final round at Ontario's London Hunt and Country Club. Ryu is bidding for a wire-to-wire victory, having led by five shots after 36 holes following a course record 63 in the opening round, and trying to snap a win drought of more than two years. \"It's a really tough time for me,\" Ryu said.","Colombia rebels, govt reach agreement on drugs. HAVANA (AP) — Colombia's government and the main rebel group in the country that was long the world's leading cocaine producer announced Friday an agreement to jointly combat illicit drugs.","Ex-Salvadoran general appeals deportation order. FALLS CHURCH, Virginia (AP) — A lawyer for El Salvador's defense minister is telling the United States' highest immigration court that his client should not be deported for human rights abuses because the U.S. government supported the Salvadoran military's tactics.","Syria undecided on next round of peace talks. BEIRUT (AP) — A close adviser to Syrian President Bashar Assad says the government has not yet decided on whether to take part in a second round of peace talks tentatively scheduled for next week.","Fed Cup: Germany leads Australia 2-0 in semifinal. BRISBANE, Australia (AP) — Andrea Petkovic and Angelique Kerber had straight-set wins on Saturday to give Germany a 2-0 lead over host Australia in their Fed Cup semifinal.","Number of Syrian refugees in Turkey exceeds 1 million: minister. ANKARA (Reuters) - The number of Syrians who are housed in refugee camps and cities in neighboring Turkey has reached 1.05 million, Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Besir Atalay told a news conference on Thursday. Ankara has maintained an \"open border\" policy to refugees fleeing the conflict between President Bashar al-Assad's forces and rebels in Syria. (Reporting by Tulay Karadeniz; Writing by Daren Butler; Editing by Nick Tattersall and Toby Chopra)","Rain still falling in California after major storm breaks records. By Dan Whitcomb LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A major Pacific storm that broke records across Southern California and delivered a small measure of relief to the drought-stricken state brought more rain on Wednesday but the danger of major mudslides in wildfire-scarred areas appeared to have passed, officials said. The sub-tropical storm, which originated in the Pacific Ocean south of Hawaii, was the strongest to hit Southern California since at least February and poured at least an inch (2. ...","Malaysia opposition's Anwar convicted of sodomy. By Al-Zaquan Amer Hamzah PUTRAJAYA, Malaysia (Reuters) - A Malaysian court convicted opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim of sodomy on Friday, overturning his acquittal two years ago in a ruling that his supporters and international human rights groups say was politically influenced and aimed at ending his career. Anwar, who spent six years in jail on sodomy and corruption charges until his release in 2004, faces a jail term of up to 20 years, whipping and disqualification from holding political office. \"It's (happening) all over again after 15 years,\" Anwar, who was sacked as deputy prime minister in 1998 and convicted a year later on sodomy and corruption charges, told reporters. That poll was expected to pave the way for him to take charge of Selangor, Malaysia's richest and most populous state.","Official: British Ebola patient to be evacuated. FREETOWN, Sierra Leone (AP) — The first British citizen confirmed to be infected with the deadly Ebola disease is being evacuated from Sierra Leone on a jet sent by the Royal Air Force, a Sierra Leone official said Sunday.","British-Israeli national among those killed in Jerusalem synagogue attack. LONDON (Reuters) - A British-Israeli national was among four people killed in an attack by two Palestinians on a Jerusalem synagogue, Britain said on Tuesday, the deadliest such incident in six years in the holy city amid a surge in religious conflict. “We are aware of the death of a dual British-Israeli national in Israel on 18 November 2014,” Britain's Foreign Office said in a statement, responding to reports that a British citizen had been caught up in the violence. (Reporting by William James; Editing by Andrew Osborn)","No criminal wrongdoing in Schumacher ski accident. PARIS (AP) — A French prosecutor leading an investigation into the debilitating ski accident of Formula One great Michael Schumacher says authorities have ruled out any criminal wrongdoing in the case.","Tunisia PM designate says has formed new government. Tunisia's premier-designate Mehdi Jomaa said Sunday he has presented the president with the list of his proposed cabinet of independents, under a roadmap aimed at ending months of political crisis. \"I have submitted the list of members of the proposed government to be subjected to a confidence vote in the National Constituent Assembly,\" Jomaa announced, saying he hoped it would secure the vote \"as quickly as possible\". Jomaa, industry minister in the outgoing Islamist-led government, called his caretaker cabinet \"an extraordinary team which is aware of the challenges\", adding that its \"mission is not easy\". Under the roadmap agreed by Tunisia's divided factions, the lineup consists of non-political figures who will be responsible for leading the country to fresh presidential and parliamentary elections this year.","Oxfam accepts Scarlett Johansson's resignation. LONDON (AP) — Oxfam International said Thursday that American actress Scarlett Johansson's support of an Israeli company operating in a West Bank settlement was incompatible with her role as an Oxfam Global Ambassador.","Iran bans third reformist newspaper. Iran's judiciary banned reformist newspaper Ebtekar on Saturday for \"spreading lies\", ISNA news agency reported, making it the third such publication to be shut down by authorities in recent months. \"I received a note from media court which said a ban has been imposed on the daily for spreading lies,\" Mohammad Ali Vakili, managing director of the daily, told ISNA. ISNA said the ban was imposed because of a headline in Thursday's edition for a story about the replacement of the country's prisons chief over reports of violence against political prisoners. After the incident prisons chief Gholam Hossein Ismaili, was replaced by Asghar Jahangir and appointed to a senior post as head of the justice department in the capital.","Pakistan government, Taliban begin talks. Negotiators for Pakistan's government and the Taliban met Thursday for a first round of talks aimed at ending the militants' bloody seven-year insurgency. The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) has killed thousands of people in gun and bomb attacks across the nuclear-armed state since it launched its campaign in 2007. The start of the year has seen a surge in militant violence with more than 110 people killed, and an air force bombardment of TTP hideouts in North Waziristan fuelled speculation that a major military offensive was imminent. The surprise peace initiative, announced by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif got off to a chaotic start earlier this week.","German rail strike to end before Wall anniversary. BERLIN (AP) — A German train drivers' union says it will end a strike that has caused commuter chaos ahead of the country's celebration on Sunday of the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.","Saudi arrests 88 suspects in alleged al-Qaida cell. RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) — Saudi Arabia says it has arrested 88 men who are suspected of being part of an al-Qaida cell that was plotting attacks inside and outside of the kingdom.","Bomb strikes Pakistani police patrol on way to guard polio team, killing 6 policemen, a boy. PESHAWAR, Pakistan - A Pakistani police officer says a bomb rigged to a bicycle has hit a police patrol on its way to guard a polio vaccination team, killing six policemen and a boy.","Eritrean leaders targeted by Swedish crimes against humanity law. A Swedish law firm Tuesday reported several top Eritrean leaders to the police for crimes against humanity, as a new law took effect enabling such crimes committed anywhere else in the world to be prosecuted in Sweden. The report lists a series of alleged crimes including torture and kidnapping, and targets Eritrean President Issaias Afeworki and several of his ministers by name. We believe there are legal grounds to prosecute the people we have named,\" human rights lawyer Percy Bratt told AFP. The legal move was the first of its kind in Sweden, filed the same day that crimes against humanity were introduced into the Swedish penal code.","Philippines moves to calm panic-buying as typhoon bears down. By Rosemarie Francisco MANILA (Reuters) - Panic-buying of food broke out in the central Philippines on Thursday and schools and government offices were shut, as provinces yet to recover from last year's devastating super-typhoon Haiyan braced for another category 5 storm. The government said it was considering declaring a state of national calamity to freeze prices of basic goods and President Benigno Aquino ordered the trade department to send more food supplies to provinces at risk from typhoon Hagupit. ...","India and Pakistan ramp up aid as they jostle for influence in Kabul. By Katharine Houreld and Mirwais Harooni KABUL (Reuters) - India's most important message for Afghanistan is that it is not leaving, and it is backing that message with the biggest aid package it has ever given another country. Indian diplomats insist the message is meant as reassurance for allies in Afghanistan nervous about waning international support as NATO withdraws its troops. Yet it could equally have been chosen to send a warning to India's arch-rival, Pakistan. The nuclear-armed neighbors both want to secure influence in Kabul after foreign combat forces leave this year, and both are using aid as part of their strategy.","Burkina Faso opposition calls for quick transition. OUAGADOUGOU, Burkina Faso (AP) — Burkina Faso's new military leader is coming under growing pressure to hand over power to a civilian government.","WHO: Ebola outbreak eventually could exceed 20,000 cases, more than 6 times as many as now.. GENEVA (AP) — WHO: Ebola outbreak eventually could exceed 20,000 cases, more than 6 times as many as now.","Interpol: passports on flights must be checked. PARIS (AP) — Interpol knew about stolen passports that two passengers used to board an ill-fated Malaysia Airlines flight bound for China, but no country checked the police agency's vast database on stolen documents beforehand, it said Sunday. Interpol said it hopes authorities will \"learn from the tragedy.\"","Lebanon army expands operation in restive Tripoli. Tripoli (Lebanon) (AFP) - Lebanese troops on Wednesday moved into a restive Sunni area in northern Tripoli, in the second stage of a plan aimed at quelling deadly Syria-linked violence, a security source said. The military operation in Bab al-Tebbaneh comes a day after the army entered the Alawite district of Jabal Mohsen. Fighters in the two neighbourhoods have clashed frequently in recent months, as decades-old sectarian tensions have been exacerbated by the war in neighbouring Syria. Hundreds of people have been killed in Lebanese violence -- including bomb attacks and battles -- since the war in Syria broke out three years ago.","Be ready for 'prolonged' Gaza war, Netanyahu says. GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — Signaling an escalation of Israel's Gaza operation, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Israelis Monday to be ready for a \"prolonged\" war, and the military warned Palestinians in three large neighborhoods to leave their homes and head immediately for Gaza City.","Italian officials check on ship carrying hundreds of migrants. ATHENS (Reuters) - Italian officials boarded a cargo ship carrying hundreds of migrants on Tuesday after it left Greek waters and headed toward the coast of southern Italy, the navy said. Three coast guard officers were landed from a helicopter to assess whether the Moldovan-flagged Blue Sky M was able to navigate safely. The vessel, which the navy estimates is carrying around 600 migrants, was spotted close to the coast of Corfu earlier in the day after authorities got an alarm call about a potential incident on board. ...","Envoys report progress an Iranian nuclear talks. VIENNA (AP) — Iran and six world powers reported minor progress Friday on drafting the wording of a nuclear deal, but key sections of the document remained blank, reflecting significant differences on how much Iran needs to limit its nuclear program in exchange for full relief from sanctions.","Brumbies name unchanged side for Super Rugby semi. CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — The ACT Brumbies have named the same team that beat the defending champion Chiefs last weekend for Saturday's Super Rugby semifinal against the New South Wales Waratahs.","Air Algerie flight seen 'falling' in northern Mali: official. A missing Air Algerie plane with 116 people on board was seen \"falling\" in the region of Gossi, in northern Mali, the head of the emergency investigation into the flight said on Thursday. \"A witness informed us they had seen the plane falling at 0150 (GMT and local time Thursday),\" said General Gilbert Diendiere, coordinator of the crisis unit established in Ouagadougou to try and find the jet. Air Algerie said on Thursday that it lost contact with the aircraft flying from Ouagadougou to Algiers 50 minutes after it took off from the Burkina Faso capital. An airline source in Algiers told AFP that the plane was over northern Mali when contact was lost.","Lenovo expects IBM server, Motorola Mobility deals to be completed by year end. HONG KONG (Reuters) - Proposed purchases by China's Lenovo Group Ltd of IBM Corp's low-end server unit and Google Inc's Motorola Mobility business should be completed by year-end, Lenovo Chief Executive Officer Yang Yuanqing said on Wednesday. Last week, the Wall Street Journal reported that the $2.3 billion IBM deal was in limbo while the U.S. government investigated national security issues. The January announcement for the acquisition came nearly a decade after Lenovo bought IBM's money-losing ThinkPad business for $1.75 billion, which had also faced scrutiny. ...","Deschamps hopes young squad can handle pressure. PORTO ALEGRO, Brazil (AP) — The pressure is all on France to beat Honduras in their opening World Cup match on Sunday, and coach Didier Deschamps hopes his relatively inexperienced squad is mature enough to handle the expectations.","Owner of raided Mexico shelter freed, no charges. MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico's Attorney General's Office says the owner of a group home raided last week amid charges of abuse and other mistreatment of children has been released without charge.","Wiggins children bullied after Armstrong scandal. LONDON (AP) — Former Tour de France champion Bradley Wiggins says he had to find a new school for his children after they were \"harassed and bullied\" following the Lance Armstrong doping scandal.","US Navy chopper crashes in Kuwait, minor injuries. A US Navy helicopter has crashed during a training mission in the Gulf state of Kuwait, slightly injuring three crew members, the Bahrain-based Naval Forces Central Command said on Monday. The MH-60S helicopter went down on Sunday morning during the overland training flight at Camp Buehring in Kuwait, it said in a statement. Kuwait hosts about 15,000 military personnel from the United States, which is leading the international coalition fighting the Islamic State extremist group in Syria and Iraq.","West African states pledge regional anti-Boko Haram force. Nigeria, Niger, Chad and Cameroon pledged on Wednesday to mobilize a joint force to tackle the growing regional threat posed by Boko Haram Islamist militants operating mainly in Nigeria. Each nation is due to put forward 700 men to the force in the latest effort to improve the regional response to the militants, who have intensified the insurgency in northern Nigeria and carried out some attacks in neighboring countries. \"This step is proof of our commitment to do everything possible to eradicate this curse,\" said Karidio Mahamadou, Niger's minister of defense.","17 Guam inmates test positive for tuberculosis. HAGATNA, Guam (AP) — Prison officials in Guam say 17 inmates have tested positive for tuberculosis.","Iraq's Maliki tells army to keep out of politics. BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraq's incumbent prime minister ordered the security forces on Tuesday not intervene in the current political crisis over who will be the next prime minister, amid fears that he might go to any lengths to stay in power.","Russia optimistic over deal at nuclear talks with Iran. MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia believes there is a good chance of world powers reaching a deal with Iran on its nuclear program by a Nov. 24 deadline, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said on Wednesday. \"We aren't looking at the possibility of not reaching a deal by Nov. 24. We are focused completely on the task before us in so far as we have a chance and it's not small. We can't miss (the opportunity),\" he was quoted as saying by Interfax news agency. (Reporting by Thomas Grove, Editing by Timothy Heritage)","UK's Labour call for inquiry into Pfizer's AstraZeneca bid. By William James LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's opposition Labour party called on Sunday for an inquiry into a potential takeover of British firm AstraZeneca by U.S. drugmaker Pfizer, accusing the government of \"cheerleading\" for a deal. AstraZeneca on Friday rejected a 63 billion pound ($106 billion) bid from Pfizer, but the U.S. firm is expected to pursue its efforts to acquire Britain's second largest pharmaceutical company. \"We need a more substantive assessment of whether this takeover is in the national economic interest before the UK government allows itself to be seen to be supporting it,\" Labour leader Ed Miliband said in a letter to Prime Minister David Cameron. While the government has talked with both AstraZeneca and Pfizer, it has said it has no intention of intervening in the deal and considers it a matter for the companies' boards and shareholders.","Top Asian News at 1:00 a.m. GMT. BANGKOK (AP) — Thailand's government announced Tuesday it will go ahead with an election this weekend despite an opposition boycott, months of street protests and the likelihood of more violence in the country's political crisis. The government made the announcement after Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra met with the Election Commission, which had sought a delay in the polls.","Venezuela opposition says talks with government 'in crisis'. Venezuela's opposition warned that talks with the government of President Nicolas Maduro are \\\\\"in crisis\\\\\" due to repression of student demonstrations and officials' refusal to grant concessions that could defuse three months of street protests. Ramon Guillermo Aveledo, head of the opposition umbrella group MUD, said Socialist Party leaders have undermined the dialogue with constant insults and a refusal to consider amnesty for opposition-linked prisoners. \\\\\"We can say today, thirty days after the process started, that the dialogue is in crisis and it is the fault of the government,\\\\\" said Aveledo in a statement late on Tuesday.","De Villiers urges Boks to break through mental barrier. By Nick Said JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa must overcome a mental block they have against New Zealand if they are to triumph in Saturday's final round Rugby Championship clash at Ellis Park, captain Jean de Villiers said on Friday. The Springboks have won just one of their previous 10 meetings with the All Blacks and are now seeking to end the 22-game unbeaten run of the New Zealanders in Johannesburg. \"I truly believe we are good enough to beat them,\" De Villiers told reporters. \"Playing at home in front of a packed Ellis Park, it’s a great stadium to play at with the crowd behind ...","UN warns of resurgence of Mali jihadists. United Nations (United States) (AFP) - The United Nations' peacekeeping chief on Saturday warned of a resurgence of Islamist fighters in northern Mali, where several UN peacekeepers have been killed in a wave of recent attacks.","Exclusive: Disputed Congo report says miners owe $3.7 billion in tax, fines. By Pete Jones and Bienvenu Bakumanya KINSHASA (Reuters) - Democratic Republic of Congo is owed an estimated $3.7 billion in unpaid customs duties and fines by companies operating in its copper-rich Katanga province between 2008 and 2013, according to an unpublished report commissioned by the public prosecutor's office. The report, seen by Reuters and dated November 2013, is part of an ongoing government probe into suspected malpractice by customs agents and companies in the vast southeastern province. It accused companies there of under-declaring the value of imports and exports, and sometimes avoiding tax altogether, often with the collusion of customs officials. The head of the customs agency in Katanga also said proper consultations had not been held with the companies and the report's findings were exaggerated.","US finds $2M in truck leaving Puerto Rico by ferry. SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — A truck driver attempting to leave Puerto Rico by ferry for the Dominican Republic has been detained with more than $2 million in cash.","Canada charges 15-year-old with terrorism-related offences. MONTREAL (Reuters) - Canadian police charged a 15-year-old youth with terrorism-related offences on Wednesday, alleging that the teenager had committed a robbery \"for the benefit, or at the direction, of a terrorist group.\" The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) did not name the teenager, who they say had allegedly planned to leave Canada to join \"terrorist activity abroad.\" He appeared in a Montreal court on Wednesday. ...","Israel's ground incursion to target sites through Gaza: army. JERUSALEM (Reuters) - The Israeli army said its ground offensive in the Gaza Strip, launched on Thursday after more than a week of air and naval barrages, would hit Palestinian militant targets throughout the Hamas-controlled territory. \"We are now continuing with the ground forces to strike terrorist infrastructure, Hamas infrastructure, in multiple areas throughout the Gaza Strip,\" army spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Peter Lerner told reporters. (Writing by Dan Williams; Editing by Maayan Lubell and Robin Pomeroy)","Ferry carrying hundreds capsizes in Bangladesh. LOUHAJONG, Bangladesh (AP) — A passenger ferry carrying hundreds of people capsized Monday in central Bangladesh, killing at least two people and probably many more as horrified villagers watched from the shore, authorities said.","US levies sanctions against 12 Russians. WASHINGTON (AP) — The Treasury Department on Tuesday sanctioned 12 Russians under a U.S. law named after whistle-blowing Russian lawyer Sergei Magnitsky, who alleged in 2008 that organized criminals colluded with a Russian government official to claim a fraudulent $230 million tax rebate.","Global stocks mostly up on stimulus outlook. SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Global stock markets were mostly higher Monday after top central bankers in Europe and Japan said support for their economies would continue and additional help is possible.","Syria foreign minister to 'visit Russia before Geneva peace talks'. Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem will visit Russia ahead of the Geneva 2 peace talks on the crisis due to begin in Switzerland later this month, Damascus' ambassador to Moscow said Monday. \"He will be in Moscow prior to Geneva 2,\" Riyad Haddad told the Interfax news agency, without specifying the date. The announcement came as Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov held talks in Paris with US Secretary of State John Kerry about the Swiss conference, a follow-up to July 2012 consultations that failed to put an end to the fighting.","Clashes involving Afghan convoy kill 4 guards. KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Guards in a provincial governor's convoy traded gunfire with policemen at a checkpoint Friday in northern Afghanistan, prompting clashes that left four of the guards dead and four policemen wounded, officials said.","Sri Lanka bans NGO news conferences, releases. COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — Sri Lanka has banned civil activist groups from holding news conferences and training for journalists, with the organizations rejecting the move as unconstitutional.","58 countries urge UN to refer Syria to ICC. UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Nearly 60 countries are denouncing the widespread impunity in Syria and urging the United Nations Security Council to refer the war to the International Criminal Court for investigation of possible crimes against humanity and war crimes.","Website apologizes for Clooney mother-in-law story. LONDON (AP) — The British website Mail Online apologized Wednesday to George Clooney for alleging that his fiancee's mother opposed their marriage on religious grounds — a story Clooney called both wrong and irresponsible.","2 trains collide in Germany, passengers hurt. BERLIN (AP) — Two cars of a train tipped over following a collision late Friday near a station in southwestern Germany, authorities said, injuring a number of passengers.","U.S. grants $20 million to rebuild schools destroyed in Texas blast. By Lisa Maria Garza DALLAS (Reuters) - The federal government has awarded $20 million in grants to rebuild two schools that were destroyed last year in the central Texas town of West by a deadly fertilizer plant explosion, officials said on Monday. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) said the money will be used by the West Independent School District, which has struggled for resources to rebuild from the April 17 blast that obliterated large parts of the town. Superintendent Marty Crawford estimated two of the four campuses suffered as much as $53 million in damage from the explosion. The intermediate school and high school were within about 800 yards (meters) of the blast site and could not be salvaged.","Official: 2 witnesses in army slay wrongly jailed. MEXICO CITY (AP) — Two survivors of a mass slaying by Mexican soldiers who have been jailed for weapons possession are innocent and should be released immediately, the outgoing president of the National Commission on Human Rights says.","New Zealand early winners in rugby sevens. GLASGOW, Scotland (AP) — New Zealand extended its Commonwealth Games winning streak in rugby sevens to 26 matches with a 39-0 win Saturday over Canada to open the competition at Ibrox Stadium, the 115-year-old home of Rangers football club.","Napoli beat Juventus on penalties to win Super Cup. DOHA, Qatar (AP) — Napoli beat Juventus 6-5 on penalties to win the Italian Super Cup on Monday and deny Massimiliano Allegri a first trophy in charge of the Bianconeri.","EU sanctions on Russian banks would hit economy, business. By Megan Davies MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia's state-controlled banks would have to turn to the state, domestic borrowers or new regions such as Asia if EU sanctions shut off investment, hurting their ability to lend to local businesses and further damaging the country's fragile economy. Under measures being considered by European Union governments in response to the Ukraine crisis, European investors would be banned from buying new debt or shares of banks owned 50 percent or more by the state. While the Russian government would step in to meet banks' funding needs, longer-term financing could be hit, hurting the banks' ability to finance business projects and crimping the country's growth potential. It could also cause nervous investors to avoid Russia altogether, encouraging more capital outflows and putting pressure on the rouble.","Pope Albania visit showcases Muslim-Christian ties. DERVEN, Albania (AP) — The one-room, stone church of St. Nicholas has sat on the top of a hill here since the 16th century, destroyed three times and rebuilt in a testament to the Catholic presence in this region that dates to St. Paul. Its latest incarnation, however, is particularly poignant: 15 Muslim families chipped in to help rebuild it in a sign of the remarkable coexistence that exists in Albania between Christians and Muslims.","London shares rise at open. London (AFP) - London shares climbed at the start of trade on Tuesday after traders welcomed data showing improved Chinese manufacturing activity up last month.","Four Tunisian soldiers killed in landmine blast: state agency. TUNIS (Reuters) - Four Tunisian soldiers have been killed in a landmine blast during an operation against Islamist militants in the north of the country, TAP state news agency reported on Wednesday. Tunisian forces are battling militants from the hardline Islamist group Ansar al Sharia and other al Qaeda-linked fighters, especially since April when they began a new offensive on militant hideouts in the Chaambi mountains bordering Algeria. (Reporting by Tarek Amara; Writing by Patrick Markey; Editing by Alison Williams)","NZ under pressure after Pakistan's 566-3 decl.. ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Captain Misbah-ul-Haq hit a third successive century and Younis Khan smashed his fourth hundred in five innings before Pakistan declared on 566-3 to put New Zealand under pressure on the second day of the first test on Monday.","RFU probes 'homophobic' abuse of referee Owens. London (AFP) - The Rugby Football Union (RFU) on Thursday announced an investigation into reports referee Nigel Owens was subjected to homophobic abuse by supporters during England's game with New Zealand last weekend.","European Central Bank seen holding rates steady. FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — The European Central Bank is expected to keep its main interest rate on hold at a record low of 0.25 percent at its monthly meeting Thursday.","Crimea's leader cements power, asks Moscow's help. KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — The pro-Russian prime minister of Ukraine's Crimea region claimed control of the military and police there Saturday and appealed to Russia's President Vladimir Putin for help in keeping peace, sharpening the discord between the two Slavic neighbor countries.","Cricket-Australia v England - fourth ODI scoreboard. Jan 24 (Reuters) - Scoreboard after England beat Australia by 57 runs in the fourth one-day international in Perth on Saturday. Australia won the toss and decided to field. England innings A. Cook b Maxwell 44 I. Bell c Faulkner b Christian 55 B. Stokes c Wade b Faulkner 70 G. Ballance c Smith b Pattinson 18 E. Morgan c Christian b Faulkner 33 R. Bopara c sub b Coulter-Nile 3 J. Buttler c Johnson b Faulkner 71 T. Bresnan c Johnson b Faulkner 2 S. Broad not out 4 C. Jordan not out 0 Extras (w-16) 16 Total (eight wickets; 50 overs) 316 Did not bat: J. ...","Ming Dynasty 'chicken cup' sold for record $36M. HONG KONG (AP) — A Shanghai collector bought a rare Ming Dynasty cup that's touted as the \"holy grail\" of China's art world for $36 million at a Hong Kong auction on Tuesday, smashing the previous world record price for Chinese porcelain.","Dutch go for last 2 golds medals in speedskating. SOCHI, Russia (AP) — The Dutch have turned the individual speedskating races at the Sochi Olympics into a huge orange victory parade, winning 21 long-track medals. On Saturday, they are hot favorites to add two more golds in the closing team pursuits.","House passes clean one-year debt limit increase. The House of Representatives, by a narrow margin, on Tuesday passed clean legislation raising the government's borrowing authority for one year in order to avoid a default that was looming at the end of this month. By a vote of 221-201, the House passed the bill, adhering to President Barack Obama's demand that it have no unrelated conditions attached.","Militants attack balloting center in Iraq, kill 10. BAGHDAD (AP) — A senior Iraqi police officer says militants attacked a balloting center in a remote area in the country's north and killed 10 guards.","Haitian church killings recalled at Aristide rally. PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — Supporters of former Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide are rallying at the site of an infamous church massacre as the ousted ex-leader faces possible arrest for failing to appear at a court hearing.","Gallen fined for using expletive in tweet re NRL. SYDNEY (AP) — New South Wales captain Paul Gallen has been 50,000 Australian dollars ($44,000) and provisionally suspended from representing Australia for using an expletive in a social media post about the National Rugby League's handling of officials at his club, the Cronulla Sharks.","Cruise ship passengers recall days of misery. BAYONNE, New Jersey (AP) — Passengers aboard a cruise ship on which hundreds fell ill recalled days of misery holed up in their rooms as it returned to its home port Wednesday from a Caribbean trip cut short by what is suspected to be among the largest such norovirus outbreaks in the last 20 years.","In Kenya, police kill suspects with near-impunity. NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Kenyan officers are killing unarmed terror suspects, shakedown victims and even children — spreading fear, breeding corruption and complicating efforts to deal with terrorism, an Associated Press investigation has found.","Israel-Argentina Davis Cup tie moved to Florida. LONDON (AP) — Israel's Davis Cup tie against Argentina next month has been moved to Sunrise, Florida, because of the conflict in Gaza.","France boosts military response to Islamic State, eyes next phase. By John Irish PARIS (Reuters) - France is sending more fighter jets and a warship to strike Islamic State militants in Iraq and will discuss with the United States long-term coalition strategy to tackle the insurgency, including in Syria, officials said on Wednesday. France was the first country to join the U.S.-led coalition in air strikes on IS insurgents in Iraq, who have also taken control of large parts of neighboring Syria during the course of the three-year-old civil war there. ...","Argentines, bond holdouts emerge from NY meeting, no resolution. By Daniel Bases NEW YORK (Reuters) - Argentine officials and the holdout investors it has battled for years over its catastrophic 2002 default met separately with a court-appointed mediator on Friday, emerging after five hours of discussions without a resolution. This is the closest the two sides have come to a face-to-face negotiation, rather than just their lawyers battling it out before U.S. District Judge Thomas Griesa in New York. \"They each presented their positions to me, but not in the presence of the other side. No resolution has been reached. It is my hope that there will be future dialogue,\" Daniel Pollack, the Special Master appointed by the court to act as a mediator, said in a statement after the meeting. Argentina continues to demand Griesa reinstate a stay, or suspension, on his judgments while talks continue.","Policeman wounded in Bahrain bomb blast - ministry. A bomb blast wounded a policeman in Bahrain on Friday night in what the Interior Ministry said was a terrorist act, the latest in a string of attacks on security forces in the U.S.-allied island kingdom. Violence has been on the rise in the strategically located Gulf Arab country, which hosts the U.S. Fifth Fleet, more than three years after authorities quelled Shi'ite Muslim-led protests demanding reforms and a bigger role in the Sunni-led government. The country has been caught up in a region-wide tussle for influence between Sunni Saudi Arabia and Shi'ite Iran, across the Gulf. Bahrain's Interior Ministry said in a brief message posted on its Twitter account that the policeman was on duty when the explosion occurred in the village of East Eker, south of the capital Manama.","Ukraine peace plan to call for 10-km buffer zone on Russia border. President Petro Poroshenko will call for the creation of a 10-km (6.25-mile) buffer zone on the border with Russia under a 14-point plan to bring peace to east Ukraine, according to an unofficial copy published by media on Friday. Ukraine says fighters from Russia and supplies of guns and other military equipment have been coming into the country to support pro-Russian separatists, and tightening control of the 1,900-km (1,190-mile) border is Ukraine's main security headache. Details of the proposal to create a 10-km buffer zone, contained in a photographed copy of the 14-point plan and carried in Ukrainian media, were not spelled out. It was not clear if the whole of the proposed demilitarized no-man's land would be on Ukraine's side of the border or part of it on the Russian side.","Vanessa Mae ready for bow on Olympic stage. Rosa Khutor (Russia) (AFP) - Vanessa Mae will trade in her violin for skis and poles when she makes her bow on the Olympic stage in the women's giant slalom on Wednesday. However, strict British Olympic Association rules on team selection for alpine skiing saw Mae, who competes under her birth father's surname Vanakorn, take Thai citizenship in her bid to make the Olympics. Mae, whose full name is Vanessa-Mae Vanakorn Nicholson, made her name firstly as child classical violinist before becoming renowned for what she has described as her \"techno-acoustic fusion\". Because Thailand has no skiers ranked in the world top 500, it is allowed to send one man and one woman for the slalom and giant slalom events if they have an average of no more than 140 points over five internationally recognised races.","2 Palestinians killed as Israel raids West Bank. RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) — Israeli troops shot dead a mentally ill Palestinian during a raid in a West Bank refugee camp early Sunday, the army said, while another Palestinian was killed in unclear circumstances during a night of violent confrontations in the West Bank city of Ramallah.","Lehman's London staff win $300 million pensions fight. By Steve Slater LONDON (Reuters) - More than 2,400 former Lehman Brothers bankers based in Britain will have their pensions paid in full after winning a six-year battle to receive their money from parts of the collapsed U.S. The remains of the bankrupt Lehman group will stump up 184 million pounds ($306 million) so the pensions can be paid in full under a deal brokered by Britain's pensions regulator and announced on Tuesday. Lehman Brothers collapsed in September 2008 in the highest-profile failure of a bank during the financial crisis. Thousands of Lehman Brothers' staff had their wealth tied up in the Wall Street bank, which had long encouraged a high degree of share ownership among employees.","U.S. says forms 'core coalition' to counter Iraq militants. The United States said on Friday it was forming a \"core coalition\" to battle Islamic State militants in Iraq, calling for broad support from allies and partners but ruling out committing ground forces. Secretary of State John Kerry told a meeting of 10 nations.","Sexual assault on student sparks outrage in Egypt. CAIRO (AP) — A string of sexual assaults on women during celebrations of Egypt's presidential inauguration — including a mass attack on a 19-year-old student who was stripped in Cairo's Tahrir Square — prompted outrage Monday as a video emerged purportedly showing the teenager, bloodied and naked, surrounded by dozens of men.","Salvadoran sea survivor meets companion's mother. EL FORTIN, Mexico (AP) — A Salvadoran fisherman who says he drifted at sea for more than a year has met the mother of his companion who died during the ordeal.","Ukraine PM: Crimea conflict enters military stage. Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk said on Tuesday that the conflict in its Crimea peninsula, now under Russian control, had entered a military phase and accused Russia of committing a \"war crime\" by firing on Ukrainian servicemen. \"The conflict is moving from a political one to a military one because of Russian soldiers,\" he told a meeting at Ukraine's defense ministry. \"Today, Russian soldiers began shooting at Ukrainian servicemen and this is a war crime without any expiry under a statute of limitations.\" Yatseniuk said he had ordered Ukraine's defense minister to call a meeting with his counterparts from Britain, France, and Russia - signatories to a 1994 treaty guaranteeing Ukraine's borders to \"prevent an escalation of the conflict\".","Air strikes near Syria rebel bastion Yabrud. Syrian helicopters dropped explosives-packed barrels near rebel-held Yabrud on Tuesday, a monitoring group said, nearly three weeks into a major offensive targeting the strategic town near the Lebanese border. The strikes come a day after at least 15 rebels were killed fighting in the Yabrud area, north of Damascus, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based group relying on contacts inside the war-torn country. The mixed Muslim and Christian town of Yabrud lies on the strategic highway linking Damascus to Homs, Syria's third city, and is close to the Lebanese border and crucial rebel supply lines. The Lebanese Shiite movement Hezbollah, which is fighting alongside Syrian troops in the area, accuses rebels of using Yabrud as a gateway to send car bombs to target its strongholds in eastern Lebanon and southern Beirut.","Giorgi beats Knapp to reach Generali Ladies final. LINZ, Austria (AP) — Camila Giorgi defeated fellow Italian Karin Knapp 6-4, 6-2 Saturday to reach the final of the Generali Ladies.","Geneva talks on Ukraine aim for written 'solution': source. Four-party talks to resolve the crisis in Ukraine are working on a written document that will be published later on Thursday if the talks go well, a diplomatic source with knowledge of the talks said. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton and Ukraine's acting Foreign Minister Andriy Deshchytsia returned to their four-way meeting after lunch, changing plans for the meeting to break up after one session.","Colombia's FARC tweets over seized general, then alleges hacking. BOGOTA (Reuters) - A tweet from the account of Colombia's Marxist FARC rebel group's peace negotiators said on Tuesday that kidnapped General Ruben Dario Alzate was a \"prisoner of war\". But in a message from the same account minutes later, the FARC said its Twitter account had been hacked. It did not deny or confirm the general's status. https://twitter.com/FARC_EPaz (Reporting by Helen Murphy; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)","Rio mayor says he won't bow to sports federations. Rio de Janeiro's mayor says sports federations are making too many unnecessary demands for the 2016 Olympics.","Ukraine: top medic for protesters says at least 70 activists killed in Kiev on Thursday. KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine: top medic for protesters says at least 70 activists killed in Kiev on Thursday.","British banker charged in Hong Kong double killing. HONG KONG (AP) — Hong Kong police charged a British banker on Monday with killing two women, including an Indonesian woman whose body was found inside a suitcase on the balcony of the man's upscale apartment, authorities said.","Larrazabal jumps in water trap to avoid hornets. KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Spain's Pablo Larrazabal has been forced to dive into a water hazard to avoid attacking hornets during his second round in the Malaysian Open on Friday.","Air strikes hit Kobani as Kurdish peshmerga prepare to enter. By Humeyra Pamuk SURUC Turkey (Reuters) - U.S.-led air strikes hit Islamic State positions around the Syrian border town of Kobani on Friday in an apparent bid to pave the way for heavily-armed Kurdish peshmerga forces to enter from neighboring Turkey. The predominantly Kurdish town, besieged for more than 40 days, has become the focus of a global war against the Sunni Muslim insurgents, who have captured expanses of Iraq and Syria and declared an Islamic \"caliphate\" straddling the two. ...","Argentina bonds, peso reel on country's debt swap plan. By Hugh Bronstein and Alejandro Lifschitz BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) - Argentina's new plan to skirt U.S. The government is sending a bill to Congress replacing its New York intermediary bank with state-run Banco Nacion, the latest move in a years-old legal chess game between Argentina and holders of defaulted bonds who have sued for full repayment. Argentina's black market peso reeled on the news, falling to an all-time low as the country's benchmark dollar-denominated bonds due in 2033 slumped more than 2 percent in price. The deadlock with the holdout creditors is squeezing Argentina's foreign reserves and the availability of dollars in the market by preventing the economically ailing country from issuing international bonds.","Afghan, Pakistani leaders in fresh round of Turkey talks. Afghan and Pakistani leaders are expected to discuss security in Afghanistan after the NATO troop pullout and efforts to negotiate with the Taliban when they meet in Turkey Thursday. Turkish President Abdullah Gul hosted Afghan President Hamid Karzai and Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif over dinner late Wednesday, on the eve of the summit opening. It is the eighth in Turkey since a regular consultation mechanism was established in 2007 to encourage the neighbours to cooperate in the fight against extremist groups. The talks will primarily focus on ways to restore peace and promote reconciliation in Afghanistan, a senior Pakistani official told AFP.","European tour announces 6 new tournaments for 2015. DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The European Tour schedule will feature six new tournaments and seven new venues in a 47-tournament season in 2015.","Obama stumps in Michigan, where his popularity is still strong. By Roberta Rampton DETROIT (Reuters) - President Barack Obama made his lone campaign appearance with a Democrat running for Senate on Saturday in Michigan, urging voters to remember how his administration helped rescue the auto industry when he first took office in 2009. Obama, whose unpopularity has left him on the sidelines leading up to Tuesday’s midterm elections, spoke to a crowd of about 6,000 supporters of Democratic congressman Gary Peters, who is expected to win the seat held by retiring long-time Democratic Senator Carl Levin. ...","Egypt to try 20 suspected in terrorist attacks. CAIRO (AP) — Egypt's chief prosecutor's office says it has charged 20 suspected militants with carrying terrorist attacks that killed seven people and wounded more than 100.","Israeli military says Gaza militants sneaked through tunnel into Israel, fired at troops. JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli military says Gaza militants sneaked through tunnel into Israel, fired at troops.","Germany posts 0.4 percent 4Q growth. BERLIN (AP) — Germany's economy continued to slowly pick up steam at the end of 2013, growing 0.4 percent in the fourth quarter over the previous three months largely through exports, according to seasonally adjusted figures.","One killed in Bahrain blast, second bomb in two days. MANAMA (Reuters) - An explosion killed a Bahraini citizen and wounded an expatriate man on Tuesday, the Interior Ministry said on its Twitter account, in the second fatal attack in the Gulf Arab state in two days. Political tensions have been running high in Bahrain, which has a Shi'ite majority population but whose rulers are Sunni Muslims, since the opposition boycotted elections last month. The ministry called Tuesday's attack a \"terrorist explosion\" and said police were on the scene of the blast in a village southwest of the capital Manama. ...","Merck to sell consumer care business to Bayer for $14 billion. (Reuters) - Merck & Co Inc said it would sell its consumer care business to Germany's Bayer AG for $14.2 billion. Merck said it expects after-tax proceeds of between $8 billion and $9 billion from the sale. The deal is expected to close in the second half of 2014. (Reporting by Esha Dey in Bangalore; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila)","Rebels kill 14 in anti-election campaign in India. PATNA, India (AP) — Indian Maoist rebels killed 14 people in two separate attacks in the central state of Chhattisgarh on Saturday as they continue a campaign of violence aimed at disrupting a five-week national election.","HSBC urges government to delay bank ring-fencing: Sky News. (Reuters) - HSBC Holdings Plc is urging Britain to delay its deadline for new rules forcing lenders to separate routine retail operations from riskier investment banking activities, until the outcome of an industrywide probe, Sky News reported on Sunday citing sources. HSBC Chairman Douglas Flint has written a letter to UK Chancellor George Osborne and Bank of England Governor Mark Carney requesting a delay to the 2019 timetable for banks to ring-fence their business, Sky quoted sources familiar with the letter's content as saying.","European clubs step up match-fixing prevention. GENEVA (AP) — Europe's top football clubs have been asked to increase their commitment to prevent match-fixing.","Islamic State militants seize Iraq village, press assault on Yazidis. By Saif Sameer and Ned Parker BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Islamic State wrested a Sunni Muslim village in western Iraq on Thursday from tribal defenders who put up weeks of fierce resistance, and the insurgents tightened a siege of the Yazidi minority on a mountain in the north. The attacks showed Islamic State's continued operating resilience despite air strikes by U.S. ...","Tringale of clear mind after PGA disqualification. PARAMUS, N.J. (AP) — Cameron Tringale began the FedEx Cup playoffs with a 66 and a clear conscience.","Tunisians vote in historic presidential run-off. By Tarek Amara TUNIS (Reuters) - Tunisians vote on Sunday in a presidential run-off election that completes the country's last steps to full democracy nearly fours years after the uprising that toppled autocrat Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali. With a new progressive constitution and a full parliament elected in October, Tunisia is hailed as an example of democratic change for a region still struggling with the aftermath of the 2011 Arab Spring revolts. ...","Iran, Qatar to cooperate against 'terror'. The leaders of Shiite Iran and Sunni Qatar vowed Sunday to cooperate to fight \"terrorism in the region\", President Hassan Rouhani's office reported as Iraqi forces counter a militant onslaught. The pledge to play a \"constructive role to establish security and stability\" came in a phone call between Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani and Rouhani, a statement from the Iranian president's office said. Iran is ready, he said, to do just that and \"fight security problems and instability in the region\" that benefit only \"Zionists and the enemies of the Muslim world\". Iranian media, however, have accused Qatar and Saudi Arabia of supporting the jihadist Sunni fighters.","Amanda weakens in Pacific, poses no threat to land. MEXICO CITY (AP) — Amanda weakened more Wednesday after being downgraded from a hurricane to a tropical storm, and posed no threat to land far off Mexico's Pacific coast.","BRAZIL BEAT: Doodling through the World Cup. SAO PAULO (AP) — A bright blue letter G boots ball after ball through an O-shaped life preserver hanging from a palm tree in a makeshift version of a World Cup shootout. A red \"e'' lounges on the sand, sipping a tropical beverage through a straw.","Canadian Press NewsAlert: Passenger who tried to hijack plane to Sochi subdued. ANKARA, Turkey - Istanbul governor says passenger who tried to hijack plane to Sochi subdued, 'operation ended'","Guardiola, Mourinho back in Madrid for CL semis. Madrid will be the center of the football world this week when Real Madrid hosts Bayern Munich and Atletico Madrid welcomes Chelsea in the Champions League semifinals.","Mozambique forces accused of attacks on Renamo. MAPUTO, Mozambique (AP) — Mozambique's main opposition party and former rebel movement, Renamo, has accused government forces of attacking its positions in the central province of Sofala.","Fiat Chrysler says no plan to move Ferrari's tax base outside Italy. MILAN (Reuters) - Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) has denied a media report saying it was considering a move in the tax residence of its Ferrari luxury sportscar unit outside Italy.","Puerto Rico greets one of world's largest cruises. SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Puerto Rico is welcoming one of the largest cruise ships in the world that is capable of carrying more than 6,000 passengers.","Passenger train derails in India, killing 4. PATNA, India (AP) — Officials say a passenger train has derailed in eastern India, killing at least four people and injuring eight others.","Tripoli police chief killed in Libya. TRIPOLI, Libya (AP) — Libya's Interior Ministry says that the capital's police chief has been killed as militias continue to battle for control of Tripoli airport.","Anti-Islamist Essebsi wins Tunisia presidential vote. Tunis (AFP) - Anti-Islamist politician Beji Caid Essebsi won Tunisia's presidential election with 55.68 percent of the vote, beating incumbent Moncef Marzouki, the electoral commission said Monday.","Turkish drivers held in Iraq 'to be released'. Over 30 Turkish truck drivers seized in June by Islamist militants in northern Iraq are set to be released and are on their way to Turkey, reports and one of the drivers said. \"We are not free at the moment but we are on our way to Turkey. We expect to be on the border by the evening,\" Mustafa Tezdoner, one of the 31 truck drivers kidnapped by militants from the jihadist group the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) told Turkey's NTV television. The Turkish foreign ministry declined to confirm the release but said there were \"positive developments\" and said it would be making a statement later.","Turkey passes bill to revive Kurdish peace talks. Turkish lawmakers Thursday adopted a bill to revive peace talks with Kurdish rebels, in a move the government hopes will rally Kurdish votes to Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's bid to win presidential elections next month. The jailed leader of the outlawed rebel Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), Abdullah Ocalan, hailed the move as a \"historic development\" and called on Turkey to implement the law \"without losing time\". The law, also deemed as a \"turning point\" by the government, would grant immunity to key actors including politicians, diplomats and spies involved in peace talks with Kurdish militants. The six-article package of reforms proposed by Erdogan's Islamic-rooted government provides a \"legal framework\" to advance peace negotiations with the PKK, which is designated as a terrorist organisation by Ankara and its Western allies.","Six stabbed to death in family dispute in Beijing. Six people in Beijing were stabbed to death over a family property dispute by a man with a history of mental illness, the city's police said on Thursday, while seven others were stabbed in a separate incident in the south of the country. China is still jittery after a mass stabbing at a train station in the southwestern city of Kunming earlier this month left 29 people dead and about 140 injured. The government blamed that attack on militants from Xinjiang, the far western region that is home to a large Muslim Uighur minority. Police in Beijing said they had arrested a 34-year-old man for Thursday's stabbing.","Third shipment of chemical weapon material leave Syria. A third shipment of chemical weapons materials left Syria on Monday, and some other chemical substances have been destroyed inside the country, the joint mission of the United Nations and the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons said. Syria failed to meet an OPCW target of February 5 to move its declared chemical substances and precursors out of the country.","Cuba experiments with wholesale market for farmers. By Marc Frank HAVANA (Reuters) - Cuba opened its first wholesale market for farmers in decades on Sunday, an experiment limited to agricultural supplies in one area and the latest market-oriented reform for the communist-run island. While Cuba has allowed nearly 500,000 small business owners and their employees to operate privately and hundreds of thousands of farmers to grow their own crops, it has been slow to give them access to wholesale markets. Even though the farming sector has been the most liberalized, Cuba continues to import more than 60 percent of its food, in part because farmers still depend on state-run allocation and distribution of subsidized supplies. Since President Raul Castro took over from ailing brother Fidel in 2008, fallow state lands have been leased, and farmers are freer to sell directly to consumers.","US tech firm had 20 employees on missing plane. AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — A U.S. technology company says 20 of its employees were aboard the Malaysia Airlines plane that went missing over the South China Sea.","Iran unchanged, Bosnians make 4 changes in Group F. SALVADOR, Brazil (AP) — Iran has stuck to its defensive lineup with one striker for a World Cup match against Bosnia-Herzegovina on Wednesday that it must win to stand a chance of advancing to the knockout stages.","84 S.Africans killed in Nigeria church collapse: official. Johannesburg (AFP) - The number of South Africans known to have died in the collapse of a multi-storey megachurch in Lagos last week has risen to 84, Pretoria's high commissioner to Nigeria said Friday.","S.Africa at 'turning point' says minister, cutting growth view. Cape Town (AFP) - South Africa's economy is at a \"turning point\" and the government must cap spending and raise taxes to tackle its soaring deficit in the face of stalling growth, the finance minister said Wednesday.","Former household staffer says was insulted by Netanyahu's wife. A former maintenance man at Benjamin Netanyahu's residence has filed a lawsuit alleging abusive conduct by the prime minister's wife, Sara, another in a series of complaints faced by Israel's first lady. Aides to the Netanyahu family issued a statement denying Guy Eliahu's allegations, calling his lawsuit \"a continuation of an organized and orchestrated campaign to recruit embittered former employees\" to sue the Israeli leader and damage him politically. A copy of the lawsuit provided on Thursday to Reuters by Eliahu's attorneys, said Sara Netanyahu had chided him with the remark \"you're not elegant\" and once summoned him back to the residence after midnight to complain that he had not said \"goodnight\" to the family and demand he heat up some soup. Eliahu, the court papers said, was forced to work \"inhuman hours and endure extreme mood changes and inappropriate behavior\" by Sara Netanyahu.","Almagro, Taro reach quarterfinals in Chile. VINA DEL MAR, Chile (AP) — Third-seeded Nicolas Almagro of Spain celebrated his first competitive match in more than three months with a win to reach the Royal Guard Open quarterfinals, defeating Martin Alund of Argentina 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 on Thursday.","U.N. experts urge Texas to halt execution of mentally ill inmate. GENEVA (Reuters) - United Nations human rights investigators called on the state of Texas and U.S. federal authorities to halt the execution of a man with a history of mental illness, scheduled for Wednesday. Scott Panetti is due to be executed for killing his parents-in-law in Gillespie County, Texas, in September 1992. The U.N. experts said he had \"proven psychosocial disabilities\" and killing him would breach international norms on the death penalty, as well as a global ban on torture and cruel and inhuman punishment. ...","Ex-Wallaby Cummins lines up against Australia. LONDON (AP) — Former Australia winger Nick Cummins will go up against his old international teammates after being selected by the Barbarians for a non-cap match against the touring Wallabies in London on Saturday.","Stampede at opposition rally in Pakistan kills 7. ISLAMABAD (AP) — Officials say a stampede at an anti-government rally in central Pakistan killed seven supporters of famous cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan.","A taste of home for war-weary Syrians in Beirut. Not long ago chef Abu Wassim saw himself as king of the shawarma in Damascus with students, businessmen and even actors queueing outside his stand for a bite of his succulent wraps. Today, he is a refugee in Beirut trying to make ends meet and bringing a taste of home to fellow Syrians who sought safety in Lebanon. \"In Damascus, I used to sell 3,000 beef or chicken shawarma sandwiches a day,\" the 48-year-old said wistfully while serving customers at his small restaurant in Beirut's bustling Hamra district. While in Syria he made a 50 percent profit on each sandwich, in Beirut he scrapes 15 percent.","Majority are counting on CPP for retirement; others will rely on lottery: poll. TORONTO - A majority of Canadians recently polled say they are relying on the Canada Pension Plan, many of them heavily, to get through retirement.","Defendants plead not guilty in Casablanca building tragedy. Casablanca (Morocco) (AFP) - Ten people standing trial on charges ranging from violating building codes to manslaughter over the July death of 23 people in the collapse of three buildings pleaded not guilty Friday.","UN Security Council threatens S. Sudan sanctions. NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations says the Security Council could impose sanctions on leaders in South Sudan if gross violations of human rights continue to be carried out.","England wins toss, bowls 1st vs SLanka in 3rd ODI. MANCHESTER, England (AP) — England has won the toss and will bowl first in the third one-day international at Old Trafford on Wednesday, with the five-match series tied at 1-1.","Romania appoints diplomat as foreign minister. BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) — Romania has named a respected diplomat as foreign minister after two ministers resigned over criticism about the way voting was organized for Romanians abroad in a recent election.","Art, commerce battle over soul of London's Soho. LONDON (AP) — Madame Jojo's is dead, but the risque London institution is not passing quietly.","Environmental filmmakers have rare impact in China. BEIJING (AP) — One clip shows a girl swatting flies from a younger child among piles of trash. Another has children blowing up used medical gloves like balloons.","Botswana's ruling party favored in elections. GABORONE, Botswana (AP) — The ruling party in Botswana, which has dominated politics since independence in 1966, is again the front-runner ahead of elections Friday in the southern African nation.","Crimean crisis pushes NATO back to Russian focus. By Peter Apps and Adrian Croft LONDON/BRUSSELS (Reuters) - For defense planners in Washington, London and Brussels, the sight of Russian forces pouring into their second neighbor in six years will overturn two decades of strategic assumptions. The result of Russia's seizure of Crimea from Ukraine, following its 2008 war with Georgia, could be a modest reversal of years of European defense cuts and a bigger U.S. military presence in the NATO members of central and eastern Europe. But by the time NATO government leaders meet in September in Wales, some people believe their focus will have returned to deterring Moscow. While a major war in Europe remains extremely unlikely, it is no longer unthinkable, say officials and analysts.","Taiwan to raise fines and rewards over 'gutter oil' scandal. Taipei (AFP) - Taiwan's government said Wednesday it plans to increase tenfold the fines for food safety violations and offer whistle-blowers more rewards to tackle a widening \"gutter oil\" scandal.","Thieves try to steal Sigmund Freud's ashes in London. Thieves tried to steal the ashes of Sigmund Freud, regarded as the father of modern psychoanalysis, and his wife Martha from a Jewish cemetery in London, police said on Wednesday. \"Between December 31 and January 1, burglars attempted to steal an urn containing the remains of Sigmund Freud and his wife Martha\" from Golders Green Crematorium in northwest London, police said in a statement. Detective Constable Daniel Chandler appealed to the public for information to identify those responsible for a crime that \"defies belief\". Freud grew up in Austria but fled to London in 1938 with his wife and daughter Anna when the Nazis annexed the country.","Pakistan skipper Misbah hails 'best ever' win over Australia. Abu Dhabi (AFP) - Pakistan skipper Misbah-ul Haq rates the 2-0 series win over Australia as his country's \"best ever\" considering his team were without three key bowlers.","Malaysia detains another 3 suspected militants. KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Malaysian police say they have detained another three men, including two civil servants, suspected of being linked to the militant Islamic State group.","Pakistan court suspends detention of Mumbai attack planner. ISLAMABAD (AP) — A Pakistani court Monday suspended a detention order keeping the alleged planner of the Mumbai terror attacks in jail, possibly paving the way for his release, officials said.","SOCHI SCENE: Quick return. SOCHI, Russia (AP) — Japan figure skaters Mao Asada and Akiko Suzuki headed to Armenia to train after the team event at the Sochi Olympics.","Burnley, QPR keep pressure on leaders Leicester. London (AFP) - Burnley kept the pressure on Championship leaders Leicester thanks to a 2-1 win at Yeovil, while QPR remain in the hunt for automatic promotion to the Premier League after a 3-1 victory over Ipswich on Saturday.","UK volunteers fly to Sierra Leone to fight Ebola. FREETOWN, Sierra Leone (AP) — The first wave of volunteers from Britain's National Health Service arrived in Sierra Leone Saturday amid what the World Health Organization has described as an \"intense\" surge in cases.","Director of Malaysian plane film rushed promo. CANNES, France (AP) — The director of a movie based on the Malaysian Airlines plane disappearance says he rushed the trailer of the project so he could bring it to the Cannes Film Festival.","Samaras last minute penalty sends Greeks through. A last minute penalty from Giorgos Samaras gave Greece a place in the second round of the World Cup finals for the first time after a 2-1 win over Ivory Coast in Fortaleza on Tuesday. Samaras's penalty robbed the African side of the place in the last 16 as they had fought back to level at 1-1 through Wilfried Bony and were in sight of the point they required to go through. Greece took the lead in the first-half through Andreas Samaris and Samaras's late winner ensured they accompanied group winners Colombia, who thrashed Japan 4-1, into the knockout stages.","Syrian President Assad sworn in for 3rd term. DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — Syrian President Bashar Assad has been sworn in, marking the beginning of his third seven-year term in office.","Toronto FC signs fullback Bradley Orr, fills another hole in MLS roster. TORONTO - Toronto FC has signed English fullback Bradley Orr.","Jobless and poor, Ghana's youth turn to selling blood. Accra (AFP) - To Ghana's legions of jobless young men, Eric Bimpong has a money-making proposition: sell your blood.","Costa Rica leads CONCACAF teams in FIFA rankings. ZURICH (AP) — World Cup quarterfinalist Costa Rica has risen above the United States to be CONCACAF's highest-ranked team in the latest FIFA rankings.","Al Qaeda-linked militants in Yemen free S. Africans. Militants linked to al Qaeda have released two South Africans kidnapped in the Yemeni city of Taiz in May last year, local officials and tribal sources said on Friday. Kidnapping of foreigners in Yemen is common, often carried out by disgruntled tribesmen seeking to press the government to free jailed relatives or to improve public services, or by Islamist militants linked to al Qaeda. Yemen has been grappling with an Islamist insurgency which took advantage of unrest in 2011 inspired by the Arab Spring to seize control of some southern cities. The insurgents were beaten back by government forces but have since regrouped and mounted attacks on government officials and installations.","Ukraine's EU neighbors see US gas as Russian hedge. WASHINGTON (AP) — Four Central European nations are urging the United States to boost natural gas exports to Europe as a hedge against the risk that Russia could cut its supply of gas to Ukraine, but the White House says such a move would take more than a year.","Gul's return boosts Pakistan for New Zealand T20s. Paceman Umar Gul's return is a huge boost for former world champions Pakistan ahead of two Twenty20 internationals against an under-strength New Zealand starting in Dubai on Thursday.","Students take pro-democracy protest to Hong Kong leader. By Venus Wu and Diana Chan HONG KONG (Reuters) - Scuffles broke out in Hong Kong on Tuesday as students took their pro-democracy protest to government headquarters and called on the city's chief executive to honor his promise to listen to the people. The clash came a day after thousands of students gathered on a university campus demanding greater democracy for the former British colony from Communist Party leaders in Beijing and launching a week-long boycott of classes. ...","Russian economy, tycoons take hit in Crimea crisis. MOSCOW (AP) — Russia's most powerful businessmen waited for over an hour on Thursday to speak with President Vladimir Putin, whose decision to annex the Crimean Peninsula had cost their companies hundreds of millions of dollars in market value.","Islamist rebels blamed for car bomb in Somalia, at least seven dead. By Abdi Sheikh MOGADISHU (Reuters) - Suspected Islamist rebels detonated a car bomb in front of a popular cafe in the center of the Somali capital on Sunday evening, killing at least seven people, police and the emergency services said. There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but the Islamist militant group al Shabaab has frequently set off bombs or launched gun attacks in Mogadishu. It promised more attacks after it lost control of a major coastal stronghold a week ago. ...","Banking skills, not name, key to Ana Botin's success at Santander. By Jesús Aguado and Julien Toyer MADRID (Reuters) - Ana Botin's appointment at the head of Santander signals a continuity in strategy at the bank that has pleased analysts and investors, with banking sources expecting her to prove herself by growing the lender through acquisitions and modernizing it. The euro zone's biggest bank named Ana Botin as its new head on Wednesday hours after her father Emilio's sudden death, continuing the family's century-old rule of the Spanish bank despite owning today no more than 2 percent of its shares. Shares in the lender closed down around 0.6 percent on Thursday, underperforming peers and Spain's main index Ibex, although they are still up 25.6 percent year-to-date. A senior source at Santander told Reuters the transition had been well prepared and contacts with investors took place over the last months.","Video: Islamic State group beheads US aid worker. BEIRUT (AP) — The Islamic State group released a video Sunday of a masked, black-clad militant standing over a severed head it claimed is American aid worker Peter Kassig, a former Army Ranger, as well as the mass beheadings of a dozen Syrian soldiers.","US man rescued from remote island in Bahamas. MIAMI (AP) — The U.S. Coast Guard has rescued a man who drifted at sea for five days and ended up stranded on an uninhabited island in The Bahamas.","Turkey's Erdogan says new constitution priority after 2015 election. ISTANBUL (Reuters) - President Tayyip Erdogan said on Wednesday forging a new constitution after a parliamentary election next year would be a priority for Turkey, signaling no let-up in his drive to create an executive presidency. Erdogan, who became Turkey's first popularly-elected head of state in August after 12 years as prime minister, has made no secret of his ambition to change the constitution and bolster the powers of the presidency, a move opponents fear will herald an increasingly authoritarian rule. ...","Israeli lawmakers begin to vote for new president. JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli legislators have started voting to choose the country's next president to replace outgoing Shimon Peres.","Lawyers seek no Sept. 11 mention at terror trial. NEW YORK (AP) — Defense lawyers for an Egyptian Islamic preacher say a judge should ban mentions of Osama bin Laden and the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks at his terrorism trial.","British Virgin Islands setting up shark sanctuary. KINGSTON, Jamaica (AP) — The British Virgin Islands is setting up a sanctuary for all shark species in its territorial waters.","US and EU impose sanctions as Crimea turns to Moscow. The United States and Europe hit Vladimir Putin's inner circle with sanctions on Monday but failed to dissuade the Russian leader from pursuing his apparent goal of annexing Crimea. The White House said the measures were the toughest against Russia since the Cold War and warned it would target economic power brokers in Moscow if the Kremlin does not change course. There was no sign of Putin backing down, however, and Crimea's pro-Moscow authorities made plans to swiftly honor Sunday's 96 percent referendum vote to return to the Russian fold. Putin took a step closer to formally annexing the territory by recognizing its independence from Ukraine, opening the way for Russian lawmakers to later endorse its accession.","Spoelstra admits to 'strangeness' of facing LeBron. RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Although the Miami Heat had been downplaying the game against LeBron James all along, coach Erik Spoelstra and Chris Bosh said Saturday that they were glad it was finally out of the way.","Climate change could cut world food output 18 percent by 2050. By Chris Arsenault ROME (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Global warming could cause an 18 percent drop in world food production by 2050, but investments in irrigation and infrastructure, and moving food output to different regions, could reduce the loss, a study published on Thursday said. Globally, irrigation systems should be expanded by more than 25 percent to cope with changing rainfall patterns, the study published in the journal Environmental Research Letters said. ...","Five killed in blast in Kenyan capital Nairobi: emergency services. An explosion in an area of the Kenyan capital Nairobi popular with Somalis killed five people and wounded several others on Monday, the National Disaster Operations Centre said. \"Police are securing the area for emergency response services,\" the organization said on its official Twitter site. A police commander also reported the blast and Kenya's Red Cross said more than three people were feared dead. In the past, such attacks in the Eastleigh area of Nairobi have been blamed on Somalia's al Shabaab Islamist group, which attacked a Nairobi shopping mall in September and killed at least 67 people.","Arizona's immigrant smuggling law struck down. PHOENIX (AP) — A federal judge has struck down Arizona's 2005 immigrant smuggling law on the grounds that it's trumped by federal statutes.","N. American box office goes bananas for 'Apes'. Los Angeles (AFP) - \"Dawn of the Planet of the Apes\" clung tight to the top of the North American box office for a second week in a row, final figures showed Monday. The \"Apes\" saga, based on the Pierre Boulle sci-fi tale of humans and primates clashing to survive, earned $36.3 million in its second week out, for a total of $139 million during its two weeks in theaters so far, according to box office tracker Exhibitor Relations. Second, third and fourth places were each held by box office newcomers. In fourth with $14.6 million was rom-com \"Sex Tape,\" starring Cameron Diaz and Jason Segel as two parents trying to keep their homemade sex tape from finding its way onto the Internet.","Canada's top court rules against Wal-Mart in unionization case. Canada's top court ruled on Friday that Wal-Mart Stores Inc violated Quebec's labor code by closing a store in the largely French-speaking province after an attempt by workers to unionize it. In 2009, the high court had backed the right of Wal-Mart to close the store in 2005 after a union was certified to negotiate a collective agreement, but a fresh challenge was made that succeeded on Friday. Writing by Jeffrey Hodgson;","Rio revels in 'greatest show on Earth'. More than a million Rio Carnival revellers laid aside bitterness at Brazilian leaders to join wild festivities Saturday in what has been dubbed \"the greatest show on Earth.\" Many participants said they had resolved to forget -- at least until festivities end Tuesday -- about lingering protests over corruption and the cost of hosting the World Cup. The Rio tourist board said 1.3 million people joined the fray to cavort as the Marvelous City's oldest bloco or street party group Cordao da Bola Preta danced to a raucous samba beat. But there was a reminder of some of Brazil's social problems as festivities in the northern city of Salvador were tainted by the fatal shooting of a young man.","Libya parliament to hold 'emergency meeting' Saturday in Tobruk. Benghazi (Libya) (AFP) - Libya's new parliament, elected on June 25, will hold an emergency meeting on Saturday in Tobruk in the east of the country, MP Abu Bakr Biira told AFP.","Ukraine ready for talks with Russia, condemns referendum. Ukraine is ready for talks with Russia, but Moscow must first withdraw its troops, abide by international agreements and halt its support for \"separatists and terrorists\", Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk said on Friday. He said he had requested a second telephone call with Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev. Crimea's pro-Moscow leadership, which took power when Russian troops seized the region last week, announced on Thursday its parliament had voted to join Russia immediately and hold a referendum on the issue on March 16.","Scottish independence leader Alex Salmond announces his resignation as first minister. LONDON (AP) — Scottish independence leader Alex Salmond announces his resignation as first minister.","Uganda anti-gay ruling criticized as 'flawed'. KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) — Human Rights Watch is criticizing a Ugandan court's decision against gay activists who sued a Ugandan official for violating their rights.","Air Canada posts quarterly profit versus year-ago loss. (Reuters) - Air Canada, the country's largest airline, posted a quarterly profit compared with a loss a year earlier, helped by a C$41 million ($37.5 million) tax gain and a strong performance at its low-cost carrier, Rouge. The Montreal-based carrier posted a net profit of C$223 million, or 75 Canadian cents per share, for the three months ended of June 30, compared with a net loss of C$23 million, or 9 Canadian cents per share, a year earlier. ($1 = C$1.0923) (Reporting by Sayantani Ghosh in Bangalore; Editing by Savio D'Souza)","Italy beats Fluminense 5-3 in World Cup warm-up. VOLTA REDONDA, Brazil (AP) — Ciro Immobile scored a hat trick and also set up two other goals as Italy ended its recent slump by beating Brazilian club Fluminense 5-3 in a World Cup warm-up match Sunday.","Senior Palestinian official offers 24 hour truce in Gaza, says he's also speaking for Hamas. RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) — Senior Palestinian official offers 24 hour truce in Gaza, says he's also speaking for Hamas.","S.Africa admits Marikana errors, vows new approach on mines. South Africa's new mining minister admitted on Wednesday that the government could have handled better the strike that led to the killing of 34 mineworkers in Marikana two years ago. The massacre after violent clashes with the police at the Lonmin platinum mine, north of Johannesburg during a work stoppage, has widely been compared to apartheid-era atrocities. Minister Ngoako Ramatlhodi said he hoped there would never be a repeat of the killings and vowed to take a different approach to the country's vital but troubled mining sector. \"We will do whatever we can in the long term to contribute towards the alleviation of the pain,\" he said on the sidelines of an annual mining conference just three days before the second anniversary of the bloodshed.","Hardline Iran cleric warns against resuming US ties. A prominent hardline cleric in Iran warned on Friday against the Islamic republic resuming ties with the United States, and said any attempt to do so would prove futile. \"Some people have created an underground network for establishing relations with the America,\" Ayatollah Ahmad Janati told crowds at Friday prayers in Tehran, in comments broadcast by state media. His comments sparked chants of \"Death to the America!\" and \"Death to Israel!\" from the thousands of Friday worshippers. Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has the final say on all Iranian state matters including foreign policy and the nuclear issue.","India's onion crisis: shortages after the best-ever harvest. By Rajendra Jadhav PACHORE WANI India (Reuters) - Indian farmer Ranganath Watpade made a killing last year by putting off selling his onions until four months after he harvested them. The country has produced a record harvest, but many farmers in the onion bowl of India's western state of Maharashtra have lost a large share of their crop damaged in storage, adding to the country's inflation woes. Unseasonal weather, hoarding and price manipulation have in the past led to dramatic price rises, and the new administration of Prime Minister Narendra Modi is anxious to avoid the political fallout that has hit other governments over the cost of the food. It also underlines the irony of high food costs in India, which after China is the world's biggest fruit and vegetable producer.","Shiite alliance nominates senior Iraqi politician for prime minister to replace al-Maliki. BAGHDAD (AP) — Shiite alliance nominates senior Iraqi politician for prime minister to replace al-Maliki.","Northampton finally crowned English champions. London (AFP) - Northampton became English rugby union champions for the first time in their history on Saturday beating Saracens 24-20 with a last minute try by Alex Waller in extra-time in Saturday's Premiership final at Twickenham.","India inflation falls to 5-year low in September. NEW DELHI (AP) — India's benchmark inflation rate fell to a five year low of 2.4 percent in September as food and vegetable prices dropped.","ING to cut 1,700 jobs, take $400 million charge. AMSTERDAM (AP) — ING Group NV, the Dutch bank, says it will cut 1,700 jobs, or 2.7 percent of its workforce, to cut costs.","Crude oil above $102 as US cold underpins demand. The price of oil fell slightly but remained above $102 on Friday, underpinned by demand stemming from the severe winter weather in the U.S.","Criminal probe urged against ex-Salvadoran president. Former Salvadoran president Francisco Flores should undergo a criminal investigation for the alleged embezzlement of money donated by Taiwan, a congressional committee recommended. \"It is clear that former president Francisco Flores received checks issued directly by Taiwan in his name and therefore formed part of his estate,\" the commission wrote of Flores, who ruled from 1999 to 2004. It said it could not determine, despite questioning the former president twice, what happened to $10 million that Taiwan donated from October 2003 to April 2004. That amount was mentioned in a complaint filed in 2013 by President Mauricio Funes on the basis of suspicions reported by the US Treasury Department.","Teen to be resentenced in tourist slayings. SARASOTA, Fla. (AP) — The man who killed two British tourists in 2011 will get a new hearing that could spare him his original sentence of life in prison.","Raul Castro: Economic changes must be gradual. HAVANA (AP) — President Raul Castro reiterated Saturday that Cuba's program of reforms will remain cautious and gradual, despite recent disappointing GDP numbers that show the country's already-struggling economy slowing.","TSX futures indicate higher open on U.S. data. (Reuters) - Stock futures pointed to a flat to slightly higher opening for Canada's main stock index on Wednesday, after previous session's strong U.S. economic data boosted investor sentiment. June futures on the S&P TSX index were up 0.05 percent at 0715 ET. The index climbed on Tuesday on positive U.S. economic data and the U.S. Federal Reserve's defense of its stimulative monetary policy. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures were unchanged, S&P 500 futures were up 0.10 percent and Nasdaq 100 futures were up 0.29 percent at 0715 ET. ...","Sinn Fein ties Irish government party for 1st time. DUBLIN (AP) — An opinion poll in the Republic of Ireland has found that Sinn Fein, the Irish nationalist party long deemed an outsider in southern Irish politics, has grown as popular as the main government party for the first time.","Residents on front-line SKorean island say they've been evacuated during artillery exchange. SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Residents on front-line SKorean island say they've been evacuated during artillery exchange.","Ukrainian troops to hold exercises in central Kiev: government. Ukraine's armed forces will conduct military exercises in central Kiev on Wednesday night, the government said, following a new warning by acting President Oleksander Turchinov about the threat of a Russian invasion. A statement on the government website warned residents that \"columns of military hardware will move through the city\" and conduct exercises. Turchinov reiterated on Wednesday that Ukraine's armed forces were on full military alert, citing the \"real danger\" of a Russian land war against Ukraine.","Pellegrini fumes after sloppy Man City blow the lead. Manchester (United Kingdom) (AFP) - Manuel Pellegrini accused his Manchester City players of complacency after they allowed a two-goal lead to slip away in a costly 2-2 draw against lowly Burnley.","Horsey takes 1-stroke lead at Russian Open. MOSCOW (AP) — David Horsey birdied four of his final six holes Thursday for a 7-under 65 and a one-stroke lead in the first round of the Russian Open.","Chinese police shoot man dead at checkpoint in Xinjiang. Police in China's far-western region of Xinjiang have shot dead a man who drove through a security checkpoint, the local government said on Thursday, the latest violence to hit the troubled area with a large Muslim population. The man, Abdul Basiti Abdulimiti, was a \"terrorist\" from Keping county in Aksu prefecture, the Aksu government said on its website. Abdulimiti was killed on Saturday after he stormed two security checkpoints on a motorcycle, ignoring warning shots fired by officers, the Xinjiang government said on its local news portal, Tianshannet. The Xinjiang government spokeswoman, Hou Hanmin, did not answer calls to her mobile phone.","London Stock Exchange lifts FTSE 100 in early trade. London shares gave themselves their own boost on Thursday, with the stock exchange itself the day's biggest gainer in early trading. The benchmark FTSE 100 index was up 0.08 percent, or 5.61 points, at 6,884.10 points by 9.05am. The London Stock Exchange was 3.83 percent higher at 1,870.00 pence after announcing a near-50 percent rise in full-year revenue. The company said it had interests in Carphone Warehouse, which has agreed to merge with Dixons, and in pharmaceutical firms AstraZeneca and Pfizer, which have been the centre of intense merger speculation.","US ambassador roasted over British food jibe. The US ambassador to Britain sparked annoyance in his host country by criticising the local traditional food in a magazine interview this week. Asked what he would serve at his ideal dinner party, envoy Matthew Barzun replied somewhat undiplomatically. \"I'll tell you what I would not serve - lamb and potatoes. I must have had lamb and potatoes 180 times since I have been here.","Wenger rounds on critics of Arsenal 'rest days'. Arsene Wenger said he \"didn't have to justify\" his decision to give Arsenal players a two-day break this week as he hit out at the \"unbelievable\" criticism his move had received. \"It's not necessarily fatigue, I don't see why that's suddenly a problem,\" Wenger said Thursday.","At least seven killed in stampede in anti-government protest in Pakistan. ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - At least seven people were killed and 42 hurt in a stampede during an anti-government protest in the Pakistani city of Multan on Friday, a hospital official said. \"A total of seven dead bodies have been brought in and 42 were injured due to a stampede after a PTI procession,\" said Parvez Haider, Director of Emergency at Nistar Hospital, referring to a rally held by opposition politicial Imran Khan. (Reporting by Amjad Ali, Writing by Maria Golovnina, Editing by Angus MacSwan)","Renault sales buck Europe slump, gain in emerging markets. Renault's global sales rose 3.1 percent to 2.63 million vehicles in 2013, the French carmaker said on Tuesday, buoyed by gains in Russia and emerging markets. The company, based in the Paris suburb of Boulogne-Billancourt, said deliveries rose a more modest 2.4 percent in Europe, increasing its share of a shrinking market for cars and light trucks. Renault also posted a 10.7 percent sales increase in Russia and advances in other emerging markets, powered by new low-cost models for its budget Dacia brand.","Afghan candidates differ in style not substance. KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — One is suave, debonair, and well-groomed, often wearing bespoke suits and ascot ties. The other looks and even dresses a bit like the famously ascetic Mahatma Gandhi.","Bombings, shooting kill 20 people in Iraq. BAGHDAD (AP) — Car bombs and a shooting, mainly in Shiite areas, killed 20 people in the Iraqi capital, officials said.","Chinese journalist, lawyer win Magsaysay awards. MANILA, Philippines (AP) — A Chinese investigative journalist whose work led to the ouster of corrupt officials and a Chinese environmental lawyer are among this year's recipients of the Ramon Magsaysay Awards, often regarded as Asia's version of the Nobel Prize.","PM Key close to poll victory in New Zealand. Wellington (AFP) - Early results in a cliffhanger New Zealand election on Saturday suggested conservative Prime Minister John Key was set to claim victory, with voters ignoring campaign allegations of dirty tricks and spying.","African Super Cup moved to smaller Cairo stadium. CAIRO (AP) — The Confederation of African Football has moved the Super Cup game between Egypt's Al Ahly and Tunisia's Sfaxien to a smaller stadium in Cairo.","China's Xi ramps up military spending in face of worried region. By Michael Martina and Greg Torode BEIJING/HONG KONG (Reuters) - China announced its biggest rise in military spending in three years on Wednesday, a strong signal from President Xi Jinping that Beijing is not about to back away from its growing assertiveness in Asia, especially in disputed waters. The government said it would increase the defense budget by 12.2 percent this year to 808.23 billion yuan ($131.57 billion), as China seeks to develop more high-tech weapons and to beef up coastal and air defenses. The increase follows a nearly unbroken run of double-digit hikes in the Chinese defense budget, second only to the United States in size, for the past two decades. \"This is worrying news for China's neighbors, particularly for Japan,\" said Rory Medcalf, a regional security analyst at the independent Lowy Institute in Sydney.","S.Africa opposition parties to unite against ANC at polls. South Africa's main opposition party will unite with a smaller party led by charismatic leader Mamphela Ramphele to challenge the ruling ANC in upcoming general elections, a party source told AFP on Tuesday. Ramphele, who leads the smaller Agang party, will join the country's main opposition Democratic Alliance, said a senior source at the DA. \"An agreement has been reached... that Mamphela is joining us,\" the source said on condition of anonymity, adding that \"as I understand it Agang will disband.\" South Africa is due to hold general elections later this year, with the exact date as yet undecided.","Egyptian inquiry into political violence seeks changes to protest law. CAIRO (Reuters) - An Egyptian committee investigating political violence made a rare break on Wednesday with judicial support for heavy-handed state tactics, recommending the government should amend a law restricting protest. The government-ordered inquiry is investigating acts of violence after the army toppled President Mohamed Mursi in July 2013 and cracked down on his Muslim Brotherhood supporters. ...","Obama asks for $1B to boost US military in Europe. WARSAW, Poland (AP) — President Barack Obama called on Congress Tuesday to back a $1 billion effort to boost the U.S. military presence across Europe, as he sought to ease anxiety among NATO allies who are wary of Russia's threatening moves in Ukraine.","Pakistani court bars Imran, Qadri from holding march. A Pakistani court on Wednesday barred a cricketer-turned politician and a Canada-based populist cleric from launching a march on Islamabad in an unconstitutional way, a lawyer said. The Lahore High Court's order came as authorities blocked almost every entry point to Islamabad on Wednesday, with more than 20,000 police and paramilitary forces deployed to try to thwart a major anti-government rally. \"Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)and Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT)are restrained from launching a march/sit-in in Islamabad in any unconstitutional way keeping in view sensitivity of independence day and (the) current uncertain situation in the country,\" PTI's lawyer Ahmad Owais said in Lahore quoting from a short order by a three-judge panel headed by Justice Khalid Mehmood.","Unionized truckers vote to join Vancouver port strike. By Julie Gordon VANCOUVER (Reuters) - Unionized container truck drivers at Canada's largest port voted on Saturday to join a strike by their non-unionized colleagues, who walked off the job on Wednesday over a long-running dispute about pay and services. Unifor, which represents about 400 container truck drivers at Port Metro Vancouver, said its drivers voted overwhelmingly in favor of joining the four-day-old work action. \"Container truckers, like workers across this country, make the economy work,\" said Unifor's national president, Jerry Dias, in a statement. \"They deserve to be compensated fairly for their role in generating wealth, but if workers can't share in that wealth, we'll help shut that port down until they get it.\" Rising Asian demand for Canadian products has led to a boom at Port Metro Vancouver's facilities, which handled a record 135 million tonnes (1 tonne = 1.102 metric tons) of cargo in 2013, including about 25 million tonnes of containerized material.","US questions Maldives' commitment to democracy. COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — The United States has questioned the Maldives government's commitment to democracy after the country's highest court sacked the elections commissioner and gave him a suspended six-month jail term for contempt of court. The court also gave his deputy the same sentence.","Video shows beheading of man in Syria by al Qaeda rebels. BEIRUT (Reuters) - Rebels in Syria with ties to al Qaeda have decapitated a man believed to have been a pro-government Shi'ite fighter, an amateur video of the public beheading posted to the Internet on Saturday showed. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a monitoring group which posted the video, said the beheading was conducted by the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), a foreign-led group fighting to overthrow President Bashar al-Assad and establish an Islamic emirate in Syria. ...","Family representative says American couple cleared by Qatari court barred from leaving country. DOHA, Qatar (AP) — Family representative says American couple cleared by Qatari court barred from leaving country.","Vietnam says it may have found missing jet's door. KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Vietnamese aircraft spotted what they suspected was one of the doors of a missing Boeing 777 on Sunday, while questions emerged about how two passengers managed to board the ill-fated aircraft using stolen passports.","Newspaper says UAE holding suspected Qatari 'agents' for questioning. The United Arab Emirates is holding suspected Qatari intelligence agents for questioning on their activities in the UAE, an Emirati newspaper said on Wednesday, in a case that could further damage ties between the two Gulf Arab allies. Relations between the UAE and Qatar have deteriorated sharply in recent months over Doha's support for Islamists, who are seen by the rest of the U.S.-allied Gulf Arab oil exporters as a threat to their stability. A Qatari newspaper reported earlier this week that UAE authorities had detained and subjected to torture three Qatari citizens who were on holiday in the Gulf Arab state. On its front page the Arabic-language al-Khaleej newspaper dismissed the assertion that those arrested were tourists, quoting unnamed sources as saying that authorities were holding \"Qatari intelligence elements operating on UAE soil\".","Insurer Aviva says profits rise in first half on restructuring. British insurer Aviva said on Thursday that profits rose during the first half of 2014, extending its recovery following a major restructuring of the group last year. Underlying net profits more than doubled to £863 million ($1.45 billion, 1.09 billion euros) in the six months to June 30, in part \"due to lower restructuring costs\", Aviva said in an earnings statement. \"The half year results show that momentum in Aviva's turnaround continues,\" said group chief executive Mark Wilson.","Sony Pictures reassures staff after hackers vow 'Xmas gift'. Sony Pictures vows it will not be destroyed by a massive cyber attack, a day after hackers promised a big \"Christmas gift\" for the Hollywood studio. Staff were called together in Los Angeles to hear how the company is responding to the November 24 hacking attack, which has produced a string of damaging and highly embarrassing leaks. The meetings were also addressed by the company's co-chairwoman, Amy Pascal, who apologized again for some of her leaked email comments, according to entertainment industry news website Deadline Hollywood. In those emails Pascal notably made racially insensitive remarks about President Barack Obama.","Expanded US role in Iraq? Not without Congress' OK. WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama's new $5.6 billion plan to expand the U.S. mission in Iraq and send up to 1,500 more American troops to the war-torn nation awaits members of Congress when they return to Capitol Hill next week.","Kenya arrests leader of separatist coastal movement. By Joseph Akwiri MOMBASA Kenya (Reuters) - Kenyan police on Wednesday arrested the leader of a separatist movement seeking independence for the country's Indian Ocean coast regions, accusing Omar Mwamnuadzi of holding an illegal meeting and planning a breach of the peace. Mwamnuadzi, chairman of the Mombasa Republican Council (MRC), has regularly accused the government of socially and economically marginalising the indigenous people along Kenya's volatile coastal regions. MRC was previously outlawed by the government but in 2012 a court overturned that ban. ...","Israel, Hamas vow no let up in Gaza fighting. Both Israel and Hamas vowed Saturday to continue their bloody 26-day confrontation in Gaza, shunning efforts to broker an end to violence which has claimed more than 1,700 lives. With no end to the bloodshed in sight, a senior Palestinian delegation landed in Cairo for talks on an Egyptian ceasefire initiative, although Israel said it was not sending a negotiating team. Earlier, Israel had pulled back troops from two areas in Gaza in what was initially interpreted as a sign it was winding down its biggest military operation in Gaza in decades.","Los Angeles monsignor cleared of abuse by Vatican. LOS ANGELES (AP) — A Roman Catholic monsignor in Los Angeles who was placed on leave a decade ago after being accused of sex abuse has been exonerated by the Vatican.","Early losses raise pressure on Super Rugby coaches. WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Coaches of teams beaten in last weekend's first full round of Super Rugby have reacted with unsual swiftness and severity, meeting poor performances with a raft of selection changes.","Heavy shelling shakes Ukraine's main city in east. DONETSK, Ukraine (AP) — The heaviest shelling in recent weeks has shaken the main city in Ukraine's rebel-held east, heightening worry about the renewal of full-scale conflict despite a cease-fire signed two months ago between Ukraine and Russia-backed separatists.","UN's nuclear probe of Iran falters. VIENNA (AP) — Diplomats say that a July 20 target date for an Iran nuclear deal is in jeopardy because Tehran is not providing answers sought by U.N. experts investigating whether Tehran worked on atomic arms.","Yanukovich says Crimea breaking from Ukraine, blames his foes. ROSTOV-ON-DON, Russia (Reuters) - Ousted leader Viktor Yanukovich said on Tuesday that Crimea is breaking away from Ukraine and blamed opponents who forced him from power for developments on the Black Sea peninsula, which is holding a referendum on Sunday on joining Russia. In a statement to journalists, Yanukovich also said U.S. financial aid to Ukraine would be illegal, saying that U.S. law does not allow the government to aid \"bandits\".","NATO agrees steps to bolster security of eastern allies. BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Military alliance NATO said on Wednesday it had decided on a series of immediate steps to reinforce its forces in eastern Europe because of the Ukraine crisis. \"You will see deployments at sea, in the air, on land to take place immediately, that means within days,\" NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen told a news conference after the decisions were taken by NATO ambassadors. ...","Saudi Arabia fears Yemeni tumult may boost its main foe Iran. By Angus McDowall RIYADH (Reuters) - The capture of Yemen's capital by rebels with ties to Iran has jolted Saudi Arabia, prompting a scramble by Riyadh to prevent its Shi'ite Muslim rival from exploiting the takeover to make trouble in the kingdom's backyard. The Sunni Muslim country is also concerned that the security deterioration in its southern neighbor, where the Shi'ite Houthi fighters seized Sanaa on Sept. 21, does not benefit another old enemy, al Qaeda. For the hereditary rulers of Saudi Arabia, a stable, wealthy oil kingpin, the 1,400-km (870 mile) border with turbulent, impoverished Yemen which snakes over remote mountains and desert, has always been a security nightmare.","Obama praises Northern Ireland power-sharing deal. HONOLULU (AP) — President Barack Obama is praising a power-sharing deal reached by leaders in Northern Ireland and says it will help the country deal with issues that have plagued its past.","5 Pakistani cricketers fined $5,000 each. ISLAMABAD (AP) — The Pakistan Cricket Board has fined five of its cricketers $5,000 each for participating in an unauthorized Twenty20 tournament in the United States.","Aid groups demand humanitarian access in Syria. BEIRUT (AP) — Nearly 130 organizations have called for immediate and permanent humanitarian access to civilians throughout Syria to help relieve the immense suffering caused by the country's civil war.","Ferguson hits back at 'insulting' squad claims. London (AFP) - Alex Ferguson has described suggestions he bequeathed an \"ageing\" Manchester United squad to hapless Old Trafford successor David Moyes as \"insulting\".","25th anniversary of East German exodus to the West. PRAGUE (AP) — A former foreign minister of West Germany has arrived in Prague to meet former refugees from the East and commemorate events that led to communism's collapse in Eastern Europe and the reunification of Germany.","32 presumed dead in Quebec fire, 8 confirmed. L'ISLE-VERTE, Quebec (AP) — The painstaking search through the iced-over remains of a burned-out Quebec retirement home resumed Saturday morning, with friends and relatives of the missing awaiting news. Just eight bodies of the 32 presumed dead have been recovered.","Egypt plans blanket anti-terrorism law against 'disrupting order'. CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt's cabinet approved on Wednesday a draft anti-terrorism law that would give the government blanket power to ban groups on charges ranging from harming national unity to disrupting public order. Authorities have cracked down hard on Islamist, secular and liberal opposition alike since the army toppled elected Islamist president Mohamed Mursi last year after mass unrest against his rule, dashing hopes for a more robust democracy stirred by the fall of longtime autocrat Hosni Mubarak in 2011. ...","China gives $6 million for food in Ebola countries. BEIJING (AP) — China has contributed $6 million to the World Food Program to help stave off food shortages in countries worst affected by the Ebola virus.","Big 4 around Wimbledon's Week 2, not so for women. LONDON (AP) — The so-called \"Big 4\" men who have won 35 of 37 of the past Grand Slam singles titles — Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Andy Murray and Roger Federer — are all around for the second week at Wimbledon, joined by the new major winner on the block, Australian Open champion Stan Wawrinka.","Obama calls Merkel to check in on Ukraine crisis. ABOARD AIR FORCE ONE (AP) — The White House says President Barack Obama has spoken to German Chancellor Angela Merkel about the situation in Ukraine.","Widening rift between Somali president and premier. MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) — Somalia's president has asked cabinet ministers who were recently reshuffled by the prime minister to ignore the order in what appears to be a widening rift between the two top leaders of the country which is struggling to rebuild itself after decades of war.","Asia shares struggle as investors cautious over China, Ukraine. By Shinichi Saoshiro TOKYO (Reuters) - Asian shares lurched lower in a cautious start to the week on Monday, as investors were hobbled by the persistent tensions in Ukraine, uncertainty over Federal Reserve policy and worries about slowing growth in China. The euro edged away from a recent low hit against the dollar as traders continued to recalibrate expectations around U.S. monetary policy after Fed Chair Janet Yellen last week raised the prospect of an earlier start to interest rate hikes. Markets will also get an opportunity to check the pulse of the world's second-biggest economy later in the session when a private survey on China's manufacturing sector is released. The China HSBC flash manufacturing purchasing managers index (PMI) is due at 0145 GMT, and will be released amid increasing worries about a pullback in the economy and surprising moves in the yuan currency market that have rattled investors.","Northern Irish government not fit for purpose: first minister. Northern Ireland's devolved government is not fit for purpose in its current form and could collapse over a row between power-sharing partners on budget cuts, the British-controlled province's most senior politician said on Tuesday. First Minister Peter Robinson called for all-party talks to reform Belfast's Stormont Assembly, which he said would become untenable if an impasse over welfare cuts - primarily between his Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) and nationalist Sinn Fein - cannot be solved. \"We have now come against an issue that doesn't allow us to hang on with the present process at Stormont. The present process cannot survive the welfare reform issue,\" Robinson told the Belfast Telegraph newspaper.","Russia says Syria to ship chemical arms as civilians flee bombs. By Gabriela Baczynska and Erika Solomon MOSCOW/BEIRUT (Reuters) - Russia said its ally Syria would soon ship more chemical weapons abroad for destruction after being accused of dragging its feet, while activists said civilians in Aleppo were fleeing deadly barrel bomb raids by President Bashar al-Assad's air force. Moscow also said on Tuesday that the Syrian government would show up at a new round of peace talks next week, in a bid to allay Western concerns over Assad's commitment to negotiations which ended inconclusively in Geneva last week. The diplomatic assurances come as government forces escalate their assault on Syria's second city of Aleppo, using a near daily barrage of barrel bombs that some activists say is forcing residents to flee and slowly gaining ground for the president against rebel forces weakened by weeks of infighting. While the fall of Aleppo is not seen as imminent, Assad is keen to control it, together with the capital Damascus and his heartland along the coast.","Quake shakes central South Africa, rocks Johannesburg buildings. A 5.3 magnitude earthquake hit central South Africa on Tuesday, shaking buildings in the financial capital of Johannesburg. The U.S. Geological Survey said the tremor was centered in Orkney, 120 km (70 miles) southwest of Johannesburg, an area with a high concentration of deep gold mines. Officials at AngloGold Ashanti, Harmony Gold, Gold Fields and Sibanye Gold said they had felt the tremors in their headquarters but had so far received no reports of anything untoward in their mines. The area round Johannesburg and to its south is home to some of the deepest gold mines in the world.","Syrian air defense head killed near Damascus: monitoring group. BEIRUT (Reuters) - The head of Syria's Air Defense forces has been killed in fighting east of Damascus, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said on Sunday. It said General Hussein Ishaq died of wounds suffered during a military offensive by President Bashar al-Assad's forces against rebels in Mleiha suburb, where the Air Defense administration has a large base. State media made no mention of Ishaq's reported death but pro-Assad Internet sites said he had been killed in Mleiha, which has seen heavy fighting for several days. ...","Kerry opposes Iran role in anti-Islamic State coalition. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Friday it was \"not appropriate\" for Iran to join talks on confronting Islamic State militants, as he appeared to play down how fast countries can commit to force or other steps in an emerging coalition. Kerry met Turkish leaders to try to secure backing for U.S.-led action against Islamic State militants, but Ankara's reluctance to play a frontline role highlighted the difficulty of building a willing coalition for a complex military campaign in the heart of the Middle East. As he tours the region to gather support for President Barack Obama's plan to strike both sides of the Syrian-Iraqi frontier to defeat Islamic State Sunni fighters, Kerry said Shi'ite Iran should have no role in talks on how to go about it.","Tunisia’s Islamist Prime Minister Steps Down and Keeps the Arab Spring Alive. After months of political wrangling, Tunisia’s ruling Islamist party is poised to peacefully hand over power—a sign of compromise that has been woefully absent elsewhere in the region. Tunisia, the birthplace of the “Arab Spring” in early 2011, has struggled to find its footing since the ouster of the autocratic President Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali, even as it avoided the bloodshed that plagued other post-revolution Arab countries, most notably Egypt. The moderate Islamist party Ennahdha was swept into power in 2011 elections for an interim government, but then came under mounting criticism for failing to improve the sputtering economy and ensure security. The interim regime repeatedly missed deadlines for drawing up plans for a permanent democracy, and the deadlocked government was headed into an existential crisis. Under the plan, the Islamist-led government will relinquish power to a cabinet of technocrats ahead of a new round of elections. In exchange, the ruling party has demanded that the current legislature select the members of the board that will oversee the 2014 elections for the parliament and president — completed this week — and finalize the country’s new constitution, which it is slated to finish voting on by Jan. 13. ”As I promised to a short while ago ... I have just submitted the government’s resignation,” Prime Minister Ali Larayedh told reporters Thursday, according to al-Jazeera.","Militants briefly occupy north Iraq town; attacks kill 21. By Suadad al-Salhy BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Sunni insurgents clashed with troops and briefly occupied a town in northern Iraq on Friday night, the latest development in an escalating turf war with the Shi'ite-led government that has killed at least 21 people in the past two days, police said. Dozens of militants in SUVs drove into the small town of al-Sainiyah near Baiji, some 180 km (112 miles) north of Baghdad, after bombing the local police headquarters and fought troops for several hours overnight, witnesses said on Saturday. The militants raised the black flag of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) over government buildings in the town, recording their victory on video, before withdrawing on Saturday morning. ESCALATION Police sources said the militants came from Anbar province, where the Iraqi army has been laying siege to the city of Falluja since early this year, when militants, among them ISIL took over.","Norway partially closes Bergen airspace over terror alert. Norway closed part of the airspace over its second city Bergen and tightened border checks on Saturday, police said, two days after the country upped security following a terror alert. Norway has been on high alert since Thursday, when its intelligence service (PST) said it had \"recently received information that a group of extremists from Syria may be planning a terrorist attack\" in the country. \"Police have requested Avinor (Norway's state-owned airport operator) to ban flights over central Bergen,\" said Gustav Landro, chief of staff at the Hordaland county police department. Police said the airspace ban applied only to smaller private and recreational flights over the centre of the city in western Norway.","Activists: Syrian airstrikes in north kill 18. BEIRUT (AP) — Syrian government airstrikes struck a vegetable market in a northern rebel-held town Thursday, killing at least 18 people and wounding scores of others, opposition activists said.","German factory orders rebound strongly in April. BERLIN (AP) — German factory orders rebounded in April, rising by a stronger-than-expected 3.1 percent compared with the previous month with help from a surge in demand from other countries in the eurozone.","ON THIS DAY: Argentina beats Brazil in 1990. On June 24 in history: Claudio Caniggia slots late winner as Argentina beats Brazil in Turin, Italy, in 1990.","Rugby union - RugbyU: McKenzie resigns as Australia coach. - Under-fire Australia coach Ewen McKenzie has resigned, officials said Saturday in a shock announcement after the narrow 28-29 defeat to New Zealand.","Ebola 'out of control': Doctors Without Borders. DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — A senior official for Doctors Without Borders says the Ebola outbreak ravaging West Africa is \"totally out of control\" and that the medical group is stretched to the limit in its capacity to respond.","Barcelona recovers Mathieu and Rafina for Sevilla. BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Barcelona has recovered defender Jeremy Mathieu and midfielder Rafina from injury in time for Saturday's Spanish league match against Sevilla.","Wilkins is Jordan bound after English jobs limited. ","Saudi, UAE back Syria opposition vote to join peace talks. Saudi Arabia and the UAE gave their backing Sunday to a decision by Syria's main opposition to join peace talks in Switzerland, which both Gulf states said must lead to regime overthrow. \"In support of the rights of the Syrian people to decide their own future and defend themselves against the Syrian regime's crimes,\" Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates \"welcome the decision by the National Coalition to take part in Geneva II,\" they said a joint statement. Both Gulf states however \"affirm at the same time that Geneva II must aim to put an end to the Syrian people's sufferings through creating a real political change in which (President Bashar al-Assad's) regime will have no role.\" The statement was published by state news agency WAM after Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal met United Arab Emirates Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahayan and its Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed al-Nahayan in Abu Dhabi on Sunday.","Nigeria announces gas export landmark. Africa's largest oil producer Nigeria on Tuesday exported its milestone 3,000th liquefied natural gas cargo since it began operations in 1999, Nigeria LNG Limited (NLNG) said. The cargo was exported from NLNG's Bonny Island terminal in southern Rivers state to Marmara LNG Terminal in Turkey for Botas Petroleum Pipeline Corporation, a statement said. The company said its shipments of liquefied natural gas (LNG) has reduced gas flaring in the oil-rich region, a sore point in the operation of oil firms often criticised by residents and rights organisations. NLNG hopes to increase its production capacity from 22 million metric tonnes to 30 million per annum, as Nigeria seeks to hit a target of providing the world with 10 percent of its LNG requirements.","Russia's Gazprom plans to continue Ukraine gas talks on Tuesday. MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian natural gas producer Gazprom plans to continue gas talks with Ukraine and the European Commission in Brussels later on Tuesday after earlier talks ended without agreement, a company spokesman said. Sergei Kupriyanov said the talks would most probably start at 11:00 p.m. local time. Gas flows from Russia have continued without interruption after a Russian deadline passed for Ukraine to pay off part of its gas debt. (Reporting by Vladimir Soldatkin, editing by Elizabeth Piper)","China unveils mini stimulus as economy sputters. HONG KONG (AP) — China's leaders have unveiled a mini-stimulus aimed at shoring up sputtering growth in the world's No. 2 economy.","Yohan Blake hopes for future in cricket. LONDON (AP) — Jamaican sprinter Yohan Blake says he is eyeing a switch to cricket when he retires from athletics.","Bombardier CSeries deliveries may be delayed. (Reuters) - Delivery of Bombardier Aerospace's CSeries aircraft could be delayed as the company said the flight test phase would take more time than anticipated. The CS100 aircraft's entry-into-service is now scheduled for the second half of 2015. It will be followed by the CS300's entry-into-service about six months later, the company said in a statement. Bombardier had initially expected the CSeries aircraft to be ready for commercial use by around September this year. (Reporting by Ashutosh Pandey in Bangalore; Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty)","Israel targets symbols of Hamas control in Gaza. GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israeli aircraft, tanks and navy gunboats pounded symbols of Hamas control in Gaza City in the heaviest night of bombardment in three weeks of Israel-Hamas fighting.","Support for Quebec separatists sinks as election nears: poll. By Randall Palmer OTTAWA (Reuters) - The governing separatist Parti Quebecois would lose next month's Quebec provincial election if it were held now, a poll released on Tuesday showed, a casualty of renewed concentration during the campaign on the issue of independence from Canada. The Leger poll, taken after last Thursday's televised leaders' debate, extended a trend that began after powerful Quebec businessman Pierre Karl Peladeau said he would run for election for the Parti Quebecois, and stated baldly that he was joining the race because he wanted the Canadian province to become a country. The Leger Internet survey, which is not fully random like a phone poll, showed 40 percent of respondents supported the Liberal Party of Quebec, which wants Canada to stay united, and 33 percent backed the Parti Quebecois, with lesser support for smaller parties. The Parti Quebecois, which currently has a minority of seats in the provincial legislature, had entered the campaign with a slight edge in support over the Liberals, but the Liberals now look set to take a majority of seats.","Rivalry between Pakistani Taliban factions erupts in violence. By Jibran Ahmad and Katharine Houreld PESHAWAR, Pakistan (Reuters) - A struggle for power between Pakistani Taliban commanders divided over whether to talk to the government has erupted in violence with dozens of fighters killed along the Afghan border over recent weeks, Pakistani security officials said. The Pakistani Taliban, a loose alliance of militant groups drawn largely from Pashtun communities, have been fighting for years to overthrow the government and impose strict Islamic law. The rivals are from the same sub-group of the Mehsuds, a tribe based in the South Waziristan region that provides the Taliban the bulk of their money and many of their fighters. On one side is a commander called Khan \"Sajna\" Said, who is in his mid-thirties and acts as an arbitrator for the Taliban in Karachi, Pakistan's largest city, and controls lucrative extortion rackets there, said an analyst with extensive contacts in the insurgency.","Russia says Syria to ship more chemical arms, attend talks. By Gabriela Baczynska MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia offered assurances on Tuesday that the Syrian government will show up at a new round of peace talks next week and will soon ship more toxic agents abroad for destruction under a deal to eliminate its chemical weapons arsenal. The statements appeared intended to ease Western concerns about President Bashar al-Assad's commitment to a peace process that started last month, and to abandoning his chemical arsenal by mid-year under a deal brokered by Russia and the United States. They came as Russia hosted the leader of the Syrian opposition National Coalition for the first time in the three-year-old conflict that has killed more than 100,000 people and spawned mutual recriminations between Russia and the West. Syria plans to send a large shipment of toxic agents out of the country this month and can complete the removal process by March 1, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov said.","Yemen: Briton kidnapped by gunmen. SANAA, Yemen (AP) — A Yemeni security official says that unidentified gunmen captured a British national in the capital, Sanaa.","Hansen extra cautious after Wallabies wobbly week. BRISBANE, Australia (AP) — Steve Hansen spends a great deal of time searching for even the tiniest vulnerabilities in opposition teams for his team to exploit. The All Blacks coach has not had to look far this week.","Russian, U.S. defense chiefs discuss Ukraine: reports. MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said on Monday there had been an unprecedented increase in U.S. NATO military activity near Russia's borders during the standoff over Ukraine and urged U.S. Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel to help \"turn down the rhetoric\", Russian news agencies reported. The agencies said Shoigu told Hagel by telephone that Russia is open to contacts with all sides to seek to reduce tension. ...","Prominent journalist detained in Belarus. MINSK, Belarus (AP) — Belarussian police say a prominent journalist who has been missing for nearly two weeks is being held in jail.","U.S. sanctions set to slow Rosneft's dollar debt, not oil deals. By Joshua Schneyer and Edward McAllister NEW YORK (Reuters) - President Barack Obama aimed a direct blow at Russia's economic heart on Wednesday with sanctions on Rosneft, the flagship oil giant that generates more than 4 percent of the world's crude and over 8 percent of the country's GDP. In announcing the sanctions, which also hit No. 2 natural gas producer Novatek as well as two banks and eight defense firms, the Treasury Department said U.S. companies were only prohibited from engaging in any \"new debt of longer than 90 days maturity or new equity\" with the energy firms and banks. The result is likely to be an increase in the cost of financing for Rosneft, which has grown increasingly reliant on pre-financing oil supply deals with firms including Glencore and BP.","Obama: Female oppression crippling parts of Africa. WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama spoke out Monday against gender oppression in Africa that he said is \"crippling\" parts of the continent, urging young leaders there to empower women and eliminate traditions like female genital mutilation and violence against women.","Canada blames Hamas for Gaza dead. Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper on Wednesday blamed Hamas for the heavy loss of civilian life caused by Israel's deadly strikes on the Gaza Strip. At least 110 people were killed on Wednesday alone in Gaza, one of the most densely populated areas in the world, as the Palestinian death toll from 23 days of unrelenting Israeli attacks soared to 1,360. Israel says 56 of its soldiers have been killed. \"That said, we hold the terrorist organization Hamas responsible for this.","Swiss Klesch considers buying Canada Harvest refining unit: report. Swiss industrial group Klesch is considering buying the refining unit of Canada's Harvest Operations, a South Korean business daily said on Tuesday, as Harvest-owner Korea National Oil Corp (KNOC) trims its overseas assets. Klesch has hired Deutsche Bank to conduct so-called due diligence on a possible purchase of Harvest's refining subsidiary, North Atlantic Refining, the Korean Economic Daily reported, citing investment banking sources.","India votes in crucial phase of national elections. PATNA, India (AP) — Indians voted in the crucial third phase of national elections Thursday, with millions going to the polls in the heartland states that are essential to the main opposition Hindu nationalist party's bid to end the 10-year rule of Congress party.","New Saudi counterterrorism law alarms activists. DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Saudi Arabia put into effect a sweeping new counterterrorism law Sunday that human rights activists say allows the kingdom to prosecute as a terrorist anyone who demands reform, exposes corruption or otherwise engages in dissent.","Burkina Faso opposition calls for quick transition. OUAGADOUGOU, Burkina Faso (AP) — Burkina Faso's new military leader came under growing pressure Sunday to hand over power to a civilian government, as about 1,000 people gathered in the capital to express concern over his selection by the army after the president of 27 years was forced out.","Ukrainian prime minister announces resignation. KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk has announced his resignation following turmoil in government.","Fearing the Icefall: On Everest, dangers are clear. NEW DELHI (AP) — On Everest, everybody knows that the Icefall is dangerous. They've known it for generations, since the first great Everest mountaineer, George Mallory, turned away from the Khumbu Icefall in 1921, insisting it was impossible to pass.","Man hurt when Turkish police clash with protesters. One man was injured when Turkish riot police on Thursday fired tear gas and water cannon to disperse a group of Istanbul protesters hurling Molotov cocktails and stones. \"I have been informed that police were attacked by Molotov cocktails and a 30-year-old man was injured,\" Huseyin Avni Mutlu, the governor of commercial hub Istanbul, told reporters. Dogan said police fired tear gas and water cannon at up to 20 protesters who denounced the death of a teenage boy who fell into a coma during anti-government unrest last year.","Ukraine: arrest warrant for President Yanukovych. SIMFEROPOL, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine's acting government issued a warrant Monday for the arrest of President Viktor Yanukovych, last seen in the pro-Russian Black Sea peninsula of Crimea, accusing him of mass crimes against protesters who stood up for months against his rule.","Ukrainian PM says Russian jets violated airspace. ROME (Reuters) - Russian military aircraft repeatedly crossed over into Ukraine's airspace overnight, Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk said on a visit to the Italian capital. \"Russian military aircraft today at night crossed and violated Ukrainian airspace seven times. The only reason is to provoke Ukraine ... and to accuse Ukraine of waging war against Russia,\" Yatseniuk, who was speaking English, told reporters in Rome. (Reporting by James Mackenzie; Writing by Christian Lowe)","Total goes ahead with ultra-deep Angolan oil field. French oil group Total has found ways of reducing the cost of extracting ultra-deep Angolan offshore oil reserves by a fifth and has decided to go ahead with investment in the Kaombo project, the firm said on Monday. Total and its venture partners have found ways of reducing the overall capital cost by $4.0 billion (2.9 billion euros) to $16.0 billion, and production is set to begin in 2017, Total said in a statement.","Hollande says France to offer $1 billion to climate fund for poor. UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - French President Francois Hollande on Tuesday announced that France will contribute $1 billion to a near-empty global fund to help poor countries adapt to the effects of climate change as he addressed the United Nation's summit on climate change. \"France will contribute a billion dollars over the next few years,\" he said. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon had said he wants more than 120 world leaders to make \"bold pledges\" about climate change at the New York summit but few developed countries have offered funds. ...","Marsh brothers join forces for Australia. BRISBANE, Australia (AP) — From an early age, Shaun and Mitchell Marsh got a sense of what it would be like to play test cricket for Australia.","Hurricane Gonzalo strengthens on path to Bermuda. PHILIPSBURG, St. Maarten (AP) — Hurricane Gonzalo gathered strength moving over open water away from the eastern end of the Caribbean, and forecasters said it could become a powerful category 4 storm Wednesday as it headed toward Bermuda.","Taliban inmates break out of Afghan prison. KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — An official says three Taliban insurgents escaped from a prison in northern Afghanistan using weapons smuggled into the facility in a jailbreak that killed three police guards.","VENICE WATCH: McDormand hails female stories. VENICE, Italy (AP) — The Venice Film Festival is bringing 11 days of red carpet premieres, innovative movies and Hollywood glamour to the Italian city. Here's what has been catching the eye of The Associated Press:","Officials discussing possibility of a G7 meeting soon: Canada. The Group of Seven leading industrialized nations are discussing whether to hold a meeting in the near future, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper said on Tuesday, a move that would pointedly exclude Russia. The G7 became the G8 in 1998 when Russia was formally included. Diplomats had previously said one way for the international community to punish Moscow for its incursion into Ukraine would be to hold a G7 meeting. \"I spoke to President Obama on that on the weekend, I've suggested that, and I know there are discussions among G7 sherpas (senior officials) about the possibility of a G7 meeting in the upcoming weeks,\" Harper told the Canadian Parliament.","Panama leader's deputy-turned-rival wins presidency. By Christine Murray and Elida Moreno PANAMA CITY (Reuters) - Panama's vice-president, running as an opposition candidate, won the presidential election on Sunday after a campaign in which he took credit for outgoing leader Ricardo Martinelli's successful economic policies but promised a cleaner government. Juan Carlos Varela of the center-right Panamenista Party (PP) helped Martinelli get elected as president in 2009 but later fell out with him. Panama's election tribunal pronounced Varela the winner after he secured almost 40 percent support with more than 60 percent of votes counted. He had a comfortable lead over his two main rivals, ruling party candidate Jose Domingo Arias and left-leaning former Panama City mayor Juan Carlos Navarro of the Democratic Revolutionary Party (PRD).","Lithuania bans Russian TV station over 'lies'. Lithuania banned broadcasts of a Russian TV channel for three months on Friday for showing a film that authorities said lied about events in 1991, when the Soviet army tried unsuccessfully to remove its pro-independence government. Tensions between the Baltic states, including Lithuania, have risen since the Ukraine crisis. A Lithuanian court upheld a move by a media watchdog to suspend the Gazprom-owned NTV Mir after it broadcast the movie this month, on the eve of the 24th anniversary of Lithuania's declaration of independence from Soviet Union. \"The movie intentionally spread lies about events in Lithuania on January 13, 1991 ... mocking the Lithuanian people and scorning the memory of the fighters for Lithuanian freedom,\" Lithuania's broadcast watchdog, which asked for the ban, said in a statement.","NZ all out for 503 in 1st test vs. India. AUCKLAND, New Zealand (AP) — Scores at the completion of New Zealand's first innings on the second day of the first test against India at Eden Park:","Lawyers appeal after Australia-born baby denied refugee status. Lawyers Thursday said they will urgently appeal a court decision that a baby born in Australia to asylum-seeker parents is not entitled to refugee status, with the fate of 100 other children resting on the outcome.","Smith anchors Australia on attritional day. By Ian Ransom MELBOURNE (Reuters) - Young captain Steven Smith compiled a watchful half-century to guide Australia to 259 for five at stumps and leave the third test against India delicately poised after an attritional opening day in Melbourne on Friday. Smith won the toss and put his team in to bat but the hosts were on the back foot for much of a mild, sunny day in front of a festive Boxing Day crowd of 70,000. ...","Saudi spy chief ousted under US pressure: experts. The exit of Saudi's spy chief was the result of US pressure over his stance on Syria but does not signal a shift in Riyadh's goal of toppling the Damascus regime, experts say. Riyadh, as is usual, did not elaborate on its statement this week that Prince Bandar bin Sultan was being replaced, saying only that the veteran diplomat had asked to step down. But a Saudi expert said that Washington -- irritated for some time by Prince Bandar's handling of the Syria dossier -- had in December demanded his removal. Prince Bandar was leading Saudi Arabia's efforts to finance, arm and unify the Syrian rebellion, which after three years of fighting is still far from its goal of overthrowing the government of President Bashar al-Assad.","Vote counting underway in Indian election. NEW DELHI (AP) — Vote counting is underway in India following the country's massive national elections as exit polls predict victory for the pro-business, Hindu nationalist opposition party.","Egypt begins Gaza truce talks with Palestinian factions. Palestinian groups, including representatives from Hamas and Islamic Jihad, held their first formal meeting in Cairo on Monday with Egyptian mediators hoping to pave the way towards a durable ceasefire agreement with Israel. Talks focused on a list of demands agreed by the Palestinian factions on Sunday, including an appeal to Egypt to ease movement across its own border crossing with blockaded Gaza. It was not clear how far the talks would progress, however, after Israel declined to send its envoys as scheduled. Palestinian demands include a ceasefire, the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza, the lifting of the blockade on the area, the release of prisoners and the start of a reconstruction process, delegation members said on Sunday.","Spotify's Top 10 most streamed tracks. The following list represents the most streamed tracks on Spotify, based on the number of people who shared it divided by the number who listened to it, from Monday, Dec. 8 to Sunday Dec. 14 via Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter and Spotify.","No tsunami threat from quake between Fiji, Tonga. HONOLULU (AP) — The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Hawaii says there is no threat of a tsunami from a magnitude-6.9 earthquake that struck off the coast of Tonga and Fiji.","FARC confirms it is holding kidnapped Colombia general. Bogota (AFP) - Colombia's FARC guerrillas confirmed Tuesday that they are holding a missing general whose kidnapping caused the government to suspend peace talks aimed at ending the country's 50-year-old conflict.","UAE to make military service compulsory. The UAE cabinet approved a draft law Sunday making it compulsory for Emirati men to serve in the military for up to two years, state news agency WAM reported. The \"national and reserve service\", optional for girls, will become mandatory for men aged between 18 and 30 years, WAM said, adding that the bill must still be approved by the consultative Federal National Council. Emirati men who have finished secondary school will have to serve in the army for nine months, while others will have to enrol in military service for two years. Speaking at the cabinet meeting, UAE prime minister and ruler of Dubai, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, said the policy aims to \"strengthen the sense of belonging to the nation among young people and plant in them discipline and sacrifice.\"","Insurer Prudential posts mixed earnings. British insurer Prudential revealed rising 2013 operating profits and a dividend hike on Wednesday, sending shares surging to a record peak, but the group added that net earnings sank. Operating profit, or earnings before tax and interest payments, rose 17 percent to £2.95 billion ($4.89 billion, 3.52 billion euros) last year, buoyed by a strong performance in Asia and the United States, Prudential said in a results statement. Total sales grew by 5.4 percent to £4.423 billion, but earnings after tax tumbled by almost 38 percent to £1.346 billion on the back of falling income from Prudential's investments. The news sent its share price soaring to a record high of 1,440 pence, topping the risers board on London's falling FTSE 100 index.","Green bonds sell big in 2014 as finance bids to help climate. By Ross Kerber and Hilary Russ (Reuters) - A \"green\" bond market has taken root this year, with municipalities and corporations issuing new environmentally-focused bonds and money managers jumping in to buy them. But it's too soon to tell whether all the new activity - less than a sliver of the $91 trillion worldwide bond market - will send much new money to projects like efficient buildings and better water systems. Instead, the new bonds reflect the complexities of using finance to address issues like climate change. ...","AB InBev to regain grip on S.Korea brewer OB for $5.8 billion. Anheuser-Busch InBev SA , the world's largest brewer, has agreed to buy South Korea's Oriental Brewery Co Ltd from KKR & Co and Affinity Equity Partners for $5.8 billion including debt, regaining ownership of a key Asian asset at a time of strong growth in the industry across the region. The deal, Asia's biggest ever private equity sale through an acquisition, comes one week after Japan's Suntory Holdings agreed to buy Beam Inc for $13.6 billion, with the transactions underscoring rapid consolidation in the global liquor industry. Carlsberg , Heineken NV and SABMiller Plc have also struck deals in Asia over the past five years, lured by the region's $258 billion market that is growing twice as fast as the rest of the world. Leaven, Belgium-based AB InBev sold Oriental Brewery in 2009 for $1.8 billion to KKR, as part of its efforts to ease the debt burden incurred in the $52 billion acquisition of U.S. beer maker Anheuser-Busch by InBev a year earlier.","Typhoon Hagupit weakens as Philippines clear up operation begins. By Erik de Castro DOLORES, Philippines (Reuters) - Typhoon Hagupit weakened further on Tuesday as the storm crawled across the central Philippines, while rescue workers struggled in its aftermath to reach towns in central provinces where thousands of homes were wrecked and at least 27 people killed. Nearly 13,000 houses were crushed and more than 22,300 were partially damaged in Eastern Samar province, where Hagupit first hit land as a category 3 typhoon on Saturday, local officials said. \"Access is very difficult, roads are spotty. There are landslides, some are one-lane roads. ...","Mass power outages, man dead in storm-battered Britain. Flood-hit Britain suffered a fresh battering from storms and high winds that caused power outages to nearly 150,000 homes, the cancellation of football matches and the death of one man. Gusts approaching 100 miles per hour tore at parts of England and Wales, and the River Thames was predicted to rise to its highest level in more than 60 years in places, threatening towns and villages to the west of London. One man died after being electrocuted while attempting to move a fallen tree that had brought down power lines in Wiltshire, and 147,000 homes, mostly in Wales, were left without power after high winds knocked down power cables, the authorities said. Passenger Carol Machin told BBC radio: \"We haven't moved.","AP NewsAlert. BARI, Italy (AP) — Italian premier says evacuation of Greek ferry is complete, only captain and 4 rescuers remain.","Protesters throw stones, disrupt Nigeria gay trial. BAUCHI, Nigeria (AP) — Thousands of protesters massed outside the Shariah court in Nigeria's northern city of Bauchi, throwing stones into the building to demand the speedy convictions of seven men arrested for belonging to gay organizations.","Berlusconi investigated for judicial corruption. MILAN (AP) — Milan prosecutors say they are investigating former Premier Silvio Berlusconi for allegedly attempting to derail investigations into his infamous \"bunga bunga\" parties.","Obama hosts execs whose firms are investing in US. WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama is playing business pitchman, saluting executives whose companies have chosen to gain or expand their footprint in the United States.","Germany probing new spy case after alleged US double agent. German authorities said Wednesday they were investigating an alleged foreign spy as reports said the suspect was the second within days believed to be working for US intelligence. If confirmed, the latest case would further strain transatlantic relations, which have taken a bruising since last year with the NSA surveillance scandal sparked by revelations of fugitive US intelligence contractor Edward Snowden. \"Federal police officers have since this morning searched the residential and office premises of an accused in the Berlin area due to preliminary suspicion of intelligence activities. The case was considered \"more serious\" than that of a German intelligence operative and alleged double agent who was arrested last week on charges of spying for the CIA, said reports by the daily Sueddeutsche Zeitung and two public broadcasters.","Saudi 'seeking Pakistan arms for Syrian rebels'. Saudi Arabia is in talks with Pakistan to provide anti-aircraft and anti-tank rockets to Syrian rebels to try to tip the balance in the war to overthrow President Bashar al-Assad, a Saudi source said Sunday. The United States has long opposed arming the rebels with such weapons, fearing they might end up in the hands of extremists, but Syrian opposition figures say the failure of Geneva peace talks seems to have led Washington to soften its opposition. Pakistan makes its own version of Chinese shoulder-launched anti-aircraft missiles, known as Anza, and anti-tank rockets -- both of which Riyadh is trying to get for the rebels, said the source, who is close to Saudi decision-makers, requesting anonymity. The source pointed to a visit to Riyadh earlier this month by Pakistan's army chief of staff, General Raheel Sharif, who met Crown Prince Salman bin Abdul Aziz.","Syria minister says Geneva II 'won't solve crisis'. Syria's National Reconciliation Minister Ali Haidar said Thursday that the so-called Geneva II peace talks slated for next week will not solve the Syrian crisis. Speaking at a seminar in Damascus, Haidar said: \"Don't expect anything from Geneva II. Neither Geneva II, not Geneva III nor Geneva X will solve the Syrian crisis.\" Haidar said that Geneva II will yield no results \"for two reasons: the international community is not ready for it yet and the Syrian people will not be properly represented.\" Syria's war broke out after the army unleashed a brutal crackdown against a March 2011 peaceful uprising demanding political change.","Froome sweeps through to take Tour of Oman lead. Jabal Al Akhdar (Oman) (AFP) - Britain's Tour de France champion Christopher Froome moved a step closer to retaining his Tour of Oman crown on Saturday when he took the overall lead after winning the fifth stage. The 28-year-old Kenyan-born rider took over from Friday's fourth-stage winner, Slovakia's Peter Sagan, at the head of the overall standings. Froome came home ahead of American Tejay van Garderen and Colombian Rigoberto Uran on the stage which finished at Jabal Al Akhdar, on the side of the Green Mountain. The Team Sky leader is 26 seconds clear of Van Garderen ahead of Sunday's final stage, which finishes on the Corniche at Muscat.","Somalia airport bombing leaves at least six dead. At least six people were killed on Thursday in a suicide car bomb attack targeting a United Nations convoy close to Mogadishu's heavily-fortified international airport, officials said. Somalia's Al-Qaeda-linked Shebab rebels, who are fighting to overthrow the country's internationally-backed government, told AFP that one of their suicide bombers carried out the attack. The bomb went off near a checkpoint at the entrance to the airport complex, which also houses the base of AMISOM -- the African Union force fighting Shebab rebels -- as well as a number of foreign diplomatic missions and United Nations offices.","FIBA: Players can wear religious head coverings. International basketball's governing body says players will be allowed to wear religious head coverings, such as hijabs or turbans, on a trial basis.","Grappling with history, EU tests unity, new faces. By Alastair Macdonald BRUSSELS (Reuters) - European Union leaders meeting in Brussels this weekend, amid world war anniversaries, did not want for reminders of the continental conflicts that the bloc's founders meant to consign to history. They took another symbolic step away from the Cold War division of Europe, in choosing a Pole from the ex-communist east to run their Council. Meeting in sight of a huge EU banner commemorating the centenary of the outbreak of World War One, and on the eve of the 75th anniversary of Hitler's invasion of Poland, many cited that bloody past to focus minds on halting what Lithuania's president said was already \"a state of war\" with Russia. \"We know from European history the danger of the territorial integrity of a nation state being threatened and undermined in this way and we have to send the clearest possible signal,\" said British Prime Minister David Cameron of an agreement to review possible new sanctions on Moscow within the next week if President Vladimir Putin does not pull back forces from Ukraine.","Kerry arrives in Cairo for talks on Gaza crisis. CAIRO (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry arrived in Cairo on Monday for talks on ways to halt the fighting between Israel and the Islamist militant group of Hamas in Gaza. (Reporting by Yasmine Saleh; Editing by Angus MacSwan)","11 killed, 29 hurt in Nepal bus crash. KATMANDU, Nepal (AP) — A bus has veered off a mountain road in west Nepal, killing at least 11 people and injuring more than 29.","35 bodies found in Iraq town retaken from jihadists. Sulaiman Bek (Iraq) (AFP) - Iraqi Kurdish forces and Shiite militiamen discovered mass graves containing 35 bodies after retaking the town of Sulaiman Bek from jihadists, an officer and a doctor said on Friday.","Super Bowl extra: NYC's Metropolitan Museum of Art to showcase vintage football trading cards. NEW YORK, N.Y. - New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art is presenting an exhibition of vintage football trading cards. It opens Jan. 24 and runs through Feb. 10.","Islamic State's execution spree challenges governments' ransom policies. The divisive question of ransom-paying reared up in Britain today as a memorial service for Alan Henning, the taxi driver who was beheaded by Islamic State militants last week, dovetailed with the release of a British hostage who had been held in Libya. Media speculation soared that money was transferred to facilitate the latter's release.","Canada new home prices climb 0.1 percent in May. New home prices in Canada edged up by 0.1 percent in May from the previous month, following a 0.2 percent monthly increase in April, Statistics Canada said on Thursday. The metropolitan region of Calgary was the top contributor to the overall gain, with prices up by 0.8 percent in May. Prices were flat in the combined Toronto-Oshawa region, and fell by 0.2 percent in Vancouver.","Grace Mugabe fans speculation on presidential bid. The wife of Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe on Thursday hinted she could seek to take over the reins when his long rule finally ends, as she intensified attacks on a another possible contender. Campaigning outside Harare, Grace Mugabe, 49, said she too could be president, while accusing Vice-President Joice Mujuru of plotting to topple her husband. Robert Mugabe, 90, has been in power since 1980 and has long avoided appointing a successor. Mujuru along with powerful Justice Minister Emmerson Mnangagwa -- who in the past controlled the secret police and military -- are seen as leading contenders to succeed Robert Mugabe.","German government to 'cancel Saudi tank deal'. The German government will not approve a reported deal to sell up to 800 battle tanks to Saudi Arabia, a German Sunday newspaper said, citing government sources. The sale of the Leopard-2 tanks had been billed as one of the biggest deals for the German armaments industry, Bild reported. But Economy Minister Sigmar Gabriel, a Social Democrat in the left-right \"grand coalition\", has \"positioned himself against a tanks delivery to the autocratic royal house\", it said, citing government sources. In 2012 Bild am Sonntag had reported that Saudi Arabia wanted to buy 600-800 Leopard battle tanks from Germany, more than twice as many as originally envisaged.","Stronger Hurricane Odile aims at Mexico's Baja. MEXICO CITY (AP) — Odile has strengthened into a Category 4 hurricane that's swirling over the Pacific toward an expected close brush with the southern portion of Mexico's Baja California peninsula.","GM's Opel unit may break even before 2016: WSJ. (Reuters) - General Motors Co's loss-making European unit, Opel, may break even before its 2016 deadline, the Wall Street Journal reported, following an interview with the unit's chief executive, Karl-Thomas Neumann. Neumann he was sticking to his official target to return Opel to break-even in 2016 but did not rule out an earlier return to profitability. Analysts have suggested that Opel could turn profitable as early as next year, the Journal said. Opel has suffered for years from management disruptions, a scarcity of small cars that resonate with European consumers, and the tension between GM's desire for global economies of scale and Opel's calls for customizations for the local market.","Dantorp, Pepperell share lead at Nordea Masters. MALMO, Sweden (AP) — Sweden's Jens Dantorp and Eddie Pepperell of England both opened with 6-under-par 66s to share the lead after the first day of the Nordea Masters on Thursday.","Old US ship home to Filipinos in China standoff. ABOARD BRP SIERRA MADRE, Spratly Islands (AP) — On board the crumbling carcass of this World War II-era warship, Filipino marine 1st Lt. Mike Pelotera and his eight men make their way to a mid-level deck to raise the Philippine flag up a leaning pole and then salute it. Across the calm, turquoise waters, two Chinese coast guard ships lurk, looking on.","Gignac gets 2 as leader Marseille routs Remis 5-0. PARIS (AP) — Striker Andre-Pierre Gignac continued his excellent form with two more goals as French league leader Marseille romped to a 5-0 win at Reims on Tuesday and moved provisionally three points clear at the top.","America's foes crow over Ferguson shooting unrest. Usually, it is the United States that doles out rebukes over human rights abuses to the troublesome country of the day. Tear gas, arrests of journalists, racial tensions and footage of militarily equipped police training their weapons on protesters. These are images more easily associated with one of the nations regularly chided by Washington than the small town of Ferguson, rocked by days of violent protests. Many of the countries at the stinging end of these criticisms have seized upon the killing of 18-year-old Michael Brown and the ensuing clashes to scold the United States for hypocritically lecturing the world on human rights while ignoring the plight of its own people.","Coal spills after CP train operated by CN Rail derails in Burnaby. BURNABY, B.C. - A Canadian Pacific Railway train operated by a CN Rail crew derailed in Burnaby, B.C., sending seven cars off the tracks and spilling coal into a creek that feeds into a lake.","Kurds ask U.S. court to scrap seizure order, allow crude delivery. The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) of Iraq asked a U.S. court on Monday to throw out an order to seize some 1 million barrels of disputed crude oil and allow the cargo to be freely delivered in Texas. The United Kalavrvta tanker, carrying about $100 million worth of Kurdish crude, has been anchored near Texas for nine days, as the Iraqi region of Kurdistan wages a legal battle over ownership with the central government of Iraq.","EU seeking to find 1 billion euro fund for Ebola. LUXEMBOURG (AP) — European Union nations are working to find 1 billion euros to help fight Ebola in West Africa and seeking a common approach in dealing with the disease outbreak.","Western missions in Yemen on alert as army advances against Qaeda. By Mohammed Mukhashaf ADEN, Yemen (Reuters) - Western diplomatic missions in Yemen heightened security measures on Thursday after increasingly bold attacks on foreigners by al Qaeda even as its militants have lost ground to an army offensive in the country's largely lawless south. The government's offensive is the most concerted campaign against al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) - seen by Washington as one of the group's most lethal wings - in nearly two years. The group has been blamed for deadly attacks against security forces, foreigners and oil and gas facilities. Keen to prevent about any spillover of violence into neighboring oil power Saudi Arabia and the use of Yemen as a springboard for attacks on Western targets, government forces announced they had entered the last major militant bastion, Azzan, that they had been seeking to capture in an offensive that has lasted 10 days.","Icahn says demanding review of eBay records. By Sam Forgione NEW YORK (Reuters) - Activist investor Carl Icahn said Monday he is demanding a review of eBay Inc.'s records on its divestiture of Skype, reiterating his view that eBay board member Marc Andreessen had conflicts of interest regarding the sale, while eBay called Icahn's criticisms \"false and misleading.\" In an open letter to shareholders, Icahn said \"Mr. Andreessen's conflicts are clear and insurmountable.\" He also said his firm is \"in the process of demanding an inspection of eBay's relevant books and records pursuant to our right as stockholders under Delaware law.\" Icahn, who has a 2.15 percent stake in eBay and has called for the e-commerce giant to spin off its fast-growing PayPal payments business, has publicly feuded with the company in recent weeks over eBay's 2009 sale of a majority stake in Skype to private investors. Icahn says that Andreessen, whose venture capital firm was one of the investors in the group to which eBay sold its majority stake in Skype for $1.9 billion, subsequently benefited from the group's sale of the online phone service in 2011 to Microsoft for $8.5 billion.","Go For the Food: Paris eatery like a dinner party. PARIS (AP) — You know that dream you have of being invited into someone's home while traveling in, say, Paris, and being served the most delicious meal? Bistroy Les Papilles is that dream.","Tanker hijacked off Angola in Jan returned, minus $8 million of diesel. An oil tanker hijacked for a week off Angola in January has been returned to the country's authorities, a board member at state oil firm Sonangol said on Tuesday, adding that the hijackers had stolen diesel worth $8 million from the ship. The Liberian-flagged MT Kerala was under a time charter contract for Sonangol when it vanished off the coast of the capital Luanda on January 18 before being intercepted by the Nigerian navy a week later. Angola is the continent's second-biggest crude operator and almost all of its production is offshore. \"The MT Kerala was found in Nigerian waters, but as the coast there did not offer security it was taken to Ghanaian waters and then recovered with help from both countries' authorities and brought to Luanda,\" Sonangol board member Anabela Fonseca told a news conference.","Tunisia court doubles 2 policemen's rape sentences. TUNIS, Tunisia (AP) — A Tunisian appeals court has increased the prison terms of two policemen convicted of raping a woman from seven years to 15.","US: Case against Blackwater guard in jeopardy. WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. government says its criminal case against a former Blackwater security guard is in jeopardy.","Brazil police dismantle organized crime group. SAO PAULO (AP) — Brazilian police say they have arrested 13 people in an operation aimed at dismantling a branch of the country's strongest organized crime gang in the capital city of Brasilia.","Russia seeks meeting with U.S., U.N., Syrian delegations in Geneva. MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia has proposed that Russian, American and U.N. officials meet the Syrian government and opposition delegations at peace talks in Geneva, Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov was quoted as saying on Monday. Bogdanov said the Russian, U.S. and U.N. representatives could hold a single meeting with both Syrian sides or separate meetings with the government and opposition, state-run news agency RIA reported. (Writing by Steve Gutterman; Editing by Thomas Grove)","British car sales hit six-year high in 2013: trade data. Sales of new cars in Britain accelerated last year to the highest level since 2007, industry data showed on Tuesday, as the nation's economic recovery also picks up speed. Nearly 2.265 million new cars were registered in 2013, compared with 2.045 in 2012, industry body the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) said in a statement.","Syria security officials 'sacked' after school bombing. Beirut (AFP) - Two senior security officials in the Syrian city of Homs have been fired after a bombing that killed dozens of schoolchildren, stirring rare public protests in a loyalist area, a monitor said Tuesday.","Ukraine's president visits frontline city, vows to defend it. MARIUPOL Ukraine (Reuters) - President Petro Poroshenko visited the eastern Ukrainian port of Mariupol on Monday in a show of solidarity with its embattled citizens and vowed to defend it from pro-Russian separatists who advanced towards it last week before a ceasefire agreement. \"This is our Ukrainian land and we will not give it up to anybody,\" he wrote on his Twitter account. On arriving in the city of 500,000, which is vital for Ukraine's steel exports, Poroshenko said: \"I have ordered (the military) to secure the defense of Mariupol with ... multiple rocket-launchers, tanks ... ...","Markets mixed as deals counter gloom over Ukraine. TOKYO (AP) — Financial markets were mixed Monday, pushed higher in Europe by recent merger and acquisition activity, though Asian investors were wary of deepening troubles in Ukraine and financial indicators due later in the week.","Misbah out as Pakistan bat in third one-dayer against NZ. Sharjah (United Arab Emirates) (AFP) - Pakistan will be without regular skipper Misbah-ul Haq as they won the toss and opted to bat in the third day-night international against New Zealand in Sharjah on Sunday.","Gov't cuts 263 from India team for Asian Games. NEW DELHI (AP) — The Indian government has struck off 263 names recommended by the national Olympic association for the team to compete at the Asian Games in Incheon next week.","NATO chief doesn't see Karzai signing security pact. By Adrian Croft MUNICH (Reuters) - President Hamid Karzai is unlikely to sign a pact for U.S. and NATO forces to stay in Afghanistan after 2014 and will probably leave the choice for his successor, NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen said on Saturday. But Karzai has said he will not sign the agreement unless certain conditions are met. The delay has frustrated the United States and its allies, who want to plan the post-2014 training and advisory mission. Both the United States and NATO have said they may be forced to pull their forces out of Afghanistan entirely at the end of this year unless the agreement is signed soon.","Activists: Syrian air raid in eastern city kills 5. BEIRUT (AP) — Syrian opposition activists say that government warplanes have struck an eastern city that is a stronghold of an Islamic militant group, killing five civilians.","Suicide bomber kills 15 at Baghdad Shiite mosque. Baghdad (AFP) - A suicide bomber detonated explosives at a Shiite mosque in western Baghdad on Sunday, killing at least 15 people, security and medical officials said.","Egypt court sentences 12 Morsi supporters to death. An Egyptian court sentenced 12 supporters of ousted Islamist president Mohamed Morsi to death on Wednesday on charges connected to the fatal shooting of a police general last year. The officer was killed during a police raid on an Islamist stronghold in the capital on September 19, part of bloody crackdown in the wake of the army's overthrow of Morsi in July. The death sentences are the latest of hundreds handed down against Islamists in the crackdown since Morsi's overthrow.","Think Cuban-Americans all think alike? Think again. MIAMI (AP) — Anyone who thinks Cuban-Americans think alike on Cuba hasn't taken a close look at the community lately, poet Richard Blanco says.","Chelsea set their sights on Swansea. Chelsea's looming Champions League semi-final with Atletico Madrid will be put to one side as Jose Mourinho's side attempt to strengthen their Premier League title challenge at Swansea. The Stamford Bridge club will head to South Wales on Sunday having been boosted by this week's memorable victory over Paris Saint-Germain that took them one step closer towards clinching European football's top prize for the second time in three years. And they could receive a further lift immediately before kick-off when the outcome of Manchester Cityâ s trip to Liverpool is known. Chelsea head into the latest round of matches in second place, two points behind leaders Liverpool and two points ahead of third-placed Manchester City, who have two games in hand.","Guinea-Bissau votes in watershed elections. Guinea-Bissau held watershed elections on Sunday for a president and parliament expected to usher in a new dawn of stability in a country plagued by drugs and upended by a military coup. The polls cap four decades of chaos marked by a series of mutinies since the west African nation won independence from Portugal, and commentators have called for the new regime to finally bring the military into line. The impoverished country has been stagnating for two years under the rule of a transitional government backed by the all-powerful military, with the economy anaemic and cocaine trafficking fuelling corruption. \"We have a commitment that we all aspire to live in a new country, a country of justice, a country of freedom,\" Kadre Desire Ouedraogo, president of the commission of regional bloc ECOWAS, said on the eve of the vote.","Russian aid trucks pass into Ukraine without Kiev consent, Red Cross escort. Russian aid trucks have crossed the Ukraine-Russia border without permission from Kiev and without the previously agreed escort from the International Committee of the Red Cross, Interfax Ukraine cited a Ukrainian government source as saying on Friday. \"The convoy started to move on its own, without consent from the Ukrainian side and unaccompanied by the Red Cross,\" the unnamed official was quoted as saying. Writing by Alessandra Prentice;","EasyJet says CFM order valued at $3.3 billion. (Reuters) - British low-cost airline easyJet Plc said its order to CFM International SA for 270 engines was valued at about $3.3 billion at list price by the engine maker. EasyJet had earlier said it had negotiated a reduced price with CFM, but that the details were confidential. CFM, a joint venture between Safran SA and General Electric Co , will provide the engines for easyJet's order of 35 Airbus A320 aircraft and 100 Airbus A320neo aircraft.[ID:nBwjf9Tva] CFM's rivals include Pratt & Whitney, a division of United Technologies Corp . ...","Israeli military kill Palestinian woman near Gaza border-hospital. The Israeli military shot and killed a Palestinian woman in the Gaza Strip in an area near the border that Israel has declared a no-go zone for Palestinians, local hospital officials said on Saturday. Gaza residents said it was not clear why 50-year-old Amna Qdaih, who they said suffered from a mental illness, was near the security fence that runs between Israel and Gaza. Asked about the report, an Israeli military spokeswoman said soldiers identified a number of suspects in the area late on Friday and called on them to back away. Israel and the Islamist group Hamas, which rules Gaza, agreed in 2012 to a ceasefire after an eight-day war.","From nun to AIDS expert; crash kills hundreds. THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — International passengers from all walks of life, from a prominent AIDS researcher and soccer fans to a nun and a florist, were aboard Malaysia Airlines Flight 17.","Australia repeals controversial carbon tax. Australia's government has repealed a much-maligned carbon tax on the nation's worst greenhouse gas polluters. Thursday's Senate vote to axe the tax ends two years of contention over a measure that became ...","Invasive insect threatens iconic Florida citrus. LAKE WALES, Fla. (AP) — The tourists stream to Florida in their cars, intent on a week at Disney or a sugar-sand seashore or a nonstop party on South Beach. Road weary and thirsty, they pull over at one of the state's five official welcome centers. They walk inside, and then they look up.","Evacuation begins for civilians from Syrian city. BEIRUT (AP) — Children, elderly women on wheelchairs and other civilians were evacuated Friday from besieged neighborhoods of Syria's battleground city of Homs under a deal struck between the government and the opposition that also included a three-day cease-fire allowing aid convoys to enter.","Afghans battle for strategic Helmand after U.S. troops pull out. By Mohammad Stanekzai LASHKAR GAH Afghanistan (Reuters) - Afghan forces battled the Taliban in southern Helmand province on Monday for a second week, officials and residents said on Monday, seeking to reassert control over a strategic district just weeks after the departure of U.S. troops. The battle for Helmand contributes to a troubling security outlook for Afghanistan where the hardline Taliban, in power from 1996 to 2001, are seeking to oust foreign forces and set up an Islamic state. While Afghan forces with U.S. air support have mostly held out this year, they will be left to battle the growing Taliban insurgency alone after most foreign troops pull out of the country at the end of the year. Close to half of Afghanistan's opium is produced in Helmand, according to the United Nations, where yearly output rose by around a third in 2013.","China unveils sophisticated stealth fighter aircraft. By Fang Yan and Megha Rajagopalan ZHUHAI/BEIJING (Reuters) - China unveiled a sophisticated new stealth fighter jet at an air show on Tuesday, a show of muscle during a visit by U.S. President Barack Obama for an Asia-Pacific summit. China hopes the much-anticipated J-31 stealth aircraft, developed by the Aviation Industry Corp of China (Avic), the country's top aircraft maker, will compete with U.S.-made hardware in export markets. ...","De Blasio sworn in as mayor of New York. New York's new Democrat Mayor Bill de Blasio was sworn in Wednesday promising to restore progressive ideals and end growing economic inequality in America's biggest city. De Blasio, 52, who in November won a landslide election to become New York's first Democratic mayor in 20 years, took the oath of office one minute after midnight during a ceremony in front of his Brooklyn home, flanked by his wife Chirlane and their two teenaged children. The modest oath swearing ceremony was in stark contrast with the inauguration for his predecessor, Michael Bloomberg, who in 2002 was sworn in in Times Square just after midnight amid confetti and a massive swarm of revelers. De Blasio's second oath took place at midday Wednesday, with former US president Bill Clinton presiding.","At least 10 killed in shelling of school and mini-van in Ukraine. By Maria Tsvetkova DONETSK Ukraine (Reuters) - At least 10 people were killed on Wednesday when shells hit a school playground and a public transit mini-van in a nearby street in Donetsk in eastern Ukraine, underscoring the fragility of a ceasefire between separatists and government forces. Teachers managed to lead pupils at school No. 57 into a cellar for safety when shelling started and there were no children among those killed, municipal authorities and witnesses said. The shelling occurred at 10 a.m. ...","Canada new housing prices up 0.2 percent in April. OTTAWA, (Reuters) - Canadian new housing prices in April edged up by 0.2 percent as expected from March, matching the previous monthly rises and chugging along at an annual 1.6 percent rate of increase, Statistics Canada said on Thursday. Two hot markets saw stronger monthly jumps - 0.7 percent in the Toronto/Oshawa region and 0.6 percent in Calgary - while Edmonton and Vancouver marked declines. It marked the largest gain for Toronto/Oshawa since November 2011. ...","French parliament passes reform to ease prison overcrowding. France's parliament adopted a law on Thursday calling for more use of probation and other measures to reduce overcrowding in a creaking prison system which Justice Minister Christiane Taubira says does little to cut reoffending. The move angered right-wingers who said the reform was proof that President Francois Hollande's Socialist government was soft on crime. Far-right leader Marine Le Pen, whose National Front party beat the ruling Socialists in European elections in May, has called the prison reform proof of the government's \"laxity\". The population of France's ageing, rundown prisons has grown by a third in the past decade to nearly 70,000, largely because of tough sentencing laws introduced under former president Nicolas Sarkozy.","Rain triggers latest collapse in ancient Pompeii. ROME (AP) — A section of wall around an ancient shop in Pompeii is the latest casualty of rain in one of Italy's most popular archaeological sites.","China's water squeeze worsens as wetlands shrink 9 pct. China's wetlands have shrunk nearly 9 percent since 2003, forestry officials said on Monday, aggravating water scarcity in a country where food production, energy output and industrial activity are already under pressure from water shortages. China has more than a fifth of the world's population but only 6 percent of its freshwater resources, and large swathes of the nation, especially in the north, face severe water distress. Since 2003, wetlands sprawling across 340,000 sq. km. - an area larger than the Netherlands - have disappeared, officials of China's State Forestry Administration (SFA) told reporters. \"The investigation shows that China is facing various problems with wetlands protections,\" Zhang Yongli, vice director of the forestry body, told a news conference, adding that loopholes in protection laws imperil the shrinking wetlands.","Ebola death toll soars past 2,000: WHO. Geneva (AFP) - The death toll from the Ebola epidemic in west Africa has climbed above 2,000, the UN's World Health Organisation said on Friday after a two-day crisis meeting.","Iran's president says nuclear deal with West 'certain'. DUBAI (Reuters) - Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said on Monday a nuclear deal with the West was bound to happen and he believed it could be achieved by a November 24 deadline. \"We have reached consensus on generalities and there are only the fine details to be worked out: whether we would reach an agreement within the next 40 days, if the time will be extended, etc.,\" the president told his people in a late evening address broadcast live on television. \"Of course details are important too, but what's important is that the nuclear issue is irreversible. ...","Ugandan president removes prime minister and former ally Mbabazi. KAMPALA (Reuters) - Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni has replaced his prime minister, the government said in a statement on Friday, removing a former ally who some analysts had seen as a potential contender for the top job. Amama Mbabazi, a lawyer, had enjoyed a close relationship with Uganda's veteran leader, but relations between the two became strained recently, with Museveni accusing Mbabazi of taking decisions in the ruling party without consulting him. Museveni named Health Minister Ruhakana Rugunda to replace Mbabazi, the government statement said. ...","Exclusive: Bayer, Novartis, others eye Merck's consumer health unit - sources. By Olivia Oran, Soyoung Kim and Anjuli Davies NEW YORK/LONDON (Reuters) - A handful of consumer and healthcare companies including Bayer AG and Novartis are exploring a deal for Merck & Co Inc's consumer healthcare business, as they seek to gain scale in a fragmented industry, according to several people familiar with the matter. Reckitt Benckiser Group PLC and Procter & Gamble Co are also among the parties that have held discussions with Merck about buying the unit, best known for Coppertone sunscreen and Claritin allergy medicine, the sources said this week. The Merck business, which also includes Dr. Scholl's foot care and other consumer products, could be worth $10 billion to $12 billion in a potential sale, the people said, asking not to be identified because the process is private. Despite the large size of a potential deal and the unit's various product lines, Merck is focused on selling the consumer health business in its entirety, not in parts, the people said.","Construction under way on hall of Egypt museum. CAIRO (AP) — Egypt's antiquities minister says construction is under way on the main hall of a massive new museum by the Pyramids, the final phase of a complex that's intended to house 100,000 ancient artifacts including King Tutankhamun's mummy.","China services activity ticks up in January: HSBC PMI. BEIJING (Reuters) - Activity in China's services industry ticked up in February from a 2-1/2-year low the previous month, a private survey showed on Wednesday, confirming other data showing a pick-up in services even as manufacturing activity slows. The HSBC/Markit Services Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) rose to 51.0 in February from January's 50.7, buoyed by new orders, remaining above the 50 line that separates expansion from contraction. ...","Puerto Rico braces for rain from tropical storm. SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Tropical Storm Bertha spun toward Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic early Saturday after dumping heavy rain across the eastern Caribbean and causing several power outages in the region.","Jihadists 'worse than Saddam,' Iraqi Kurd commander says. Jihadists targeting minorities are \"worse than Saddam\", a Kurdish commander says, standing near a sand barrier at a front line in north Iraq, the militants' black flag fluttering in the distance. The desert area was until recently under control of the Islamic State (IS) jihadist group, which launched a renewed push in Iraq's north earlier this month, taking ground from Kurdish forces, attacking minority groups and forcing tens of thousands of people to flee. IS is \"worse than Saddam. Then they take over,\" says Major General Abdulrahman Kawiri, an officer in the Kurdish peshmerga forces, puffing on a cigarette as the sun slips below the horizon.","Report: Iran shuts down newspaper, detains editor. TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — A news agency in Iran says officials have detained the editor of a daily reformist newspaper after they shut it down on charge of insulting Islam.","Chinese ship leaves Vietnam with workers. VUNG ANG, Vietnam (AP) — Hundreds of Chinese workers left Vietnam on Monday on a ship chartered by their government after Beijing's deployment of a large oil rig in a disputed patch of the South China Sea triggered deadly rioting last week.","Pellegrini charged by UEFA, apologizes to referee. MANCHESTER, England (AP) — Hours after Manchester City manager Manuel Pellegrini issued a public apology for questioning the integrity of the referee who oversaw his team's Champions League loss to Barcelona, UEFA charged him with misconduct.","Pope says favors celibacy for priests but door open to change. Pope Francis on Monday said he believed that Roman Catholic priests should be celibate but the rule was not an unchangeable dogma, and \"the door is always open\" to change. Francis made similar comments when he was archbishop of Buenos Aires but his remarks to reporters on a plane returning from a Middle East trip were the first he has made since becoming pope. \"Celibacy is not a dogma,\" he said in answer to a question about whether the Catholic Church could some day allow priests to marry as they can in some other Christian Churches.","Ruling could keep Bogota mayor in office. BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — The leftist mayor of Bogota, Colombia, has won an important victory in his fight against removal from office.","First US-Cuba museum exchange in 5 decades. KEY WEST, Florida (AP) — Sandra Ramos has never wanted to emigrate from Cuba, but in her more than four decades on the island, she has seen many people leave.","India's top court turns down pleas by Italian marines. NEW DELHI (AP) — India's top court turns down travel appeals by two Italian marines accused of killing two Indian fishermen in 2012.","1 injured during mass Serbian soccer brawl. BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — Hundreds of rival soccer fans have clashed in downtown Belgrade, leaving at least one of them in hospital because of his injuries.","Thai junta appoints reform council as part of plan for polls next year. By Amy Sawitta Lefevre BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thailand's junta approved on Friday a 250-member council to draw up political reforms and approve a new constitution, main steps in a military plan for a general election late next year. Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha, the army chief who led a May 22 coup, picked the members of the council himself but declined to release their names, saying they needed royal approval first. ...","Fort Hood gunman had argument with other soldiers. FORT HOOD, Texas (AP) — The U.S. soldier who gunned down three other military men before killing himself at the Ford Hood base had an argument with colleagues in his unit before opening fire, and investigators believe his mental condition was not the \"direct precipitating factor\" in the shooting, authorities said Friday.","Pope meets Catholics sexually abused by clergy. VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis has held his first meeting with a group of Catholics who were sexually abused by clergy.","England all out for 206 vs India in 4th ODI. BIRMINGHAM, England (AP) — India bowled England out for only 206 in the fourth one day international at Edgebaston on Tuesday, setting the tourists a comfortable target of 207 to secure one-day series victory.","Court flips US state's ban on same-sex marriage. A federal appeals court has struck down Virginia's ban on same-sex marriage, in a landmark victory for the gay rights movement in the United States. The Fourth US Circuit Court of Appeals in the state capital Richmond said the ban violated the US Constitution's guarantee of equal protection under the law by infringing on the right to wed. \"This is a historic ruling ... and its effect will affirm once again that Virginia is a state that is open and welcoming to all,\" he said in a statement. Virginia effectively banned same-sex marriage when a 2006 amendment to its state constitution -- endorsed by 57 percent of its voters in a referendum -- defined marriage strictly as a union between a man and a woman.","South Korea's president calls for reunions of families separated by Korean War. SEOUL, South Korea - South Korea's president called on Monday for resuming reunions of families separated by war, expressing her hopes that the humanitarian program would improve strained ties between the rival Koreas.","Germany wants investment clause scrapped in EU-Canada trade deal. By Stephen Brown BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany will not sign a trade pact between Canada and the European Union unless an investment protection clause allowing companies to take cross-border legal action against governments is scrapped, Germany's economy minister said on Thursday. The deal with Canada could increase bilateral trade by a fifth to 26 billion euros ($34 billion) and is widely seen as a template for a larger trade pact between the EU and the United States, which would encompass about a third of global trade. ...","Ukraine: 2 dead from bullets near Kiev barricades. KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — An Associated Press reporter has seen medics declare two people dead near barricades in the capital city of Kiev, where police and protesters have clashed for more than two days.","Russian spending in Britain drops. Visitors from Russia spent an average £669 ($1,103, 800 euros) per transaction, according to Global Blue, seeing them overtaken in third place by those from Nigeria compared to 12 months ago. Spending by Russian visitors was up 16 percent for the year in 2013 but fell in February 2014. \"The unstable situation in Russia has shown its effect on tourism spend this year as the weakening economy leaves shoppers disinclined to travel,\" said Gordon Clark, Global Blue's UK country manager. \"However, Russia is still one of the top globe shopper markets in the UK as high net worth individuals are drawn to the UK's extensive offer of luxury brands, so businesses should renew their emphasis on strategies to entice these individuals and encourage high level spend.\"","Searching for new supercar, Bugatti shielded from VW cost curbs. By Andreas Cremer PARIS (Reuters) - Volkswagen keeps lavishing money on supercar maker Bugatti, its most exclusive brand, even as the German group plans painful cuts in its core auto business. Bugatti is working \"very intensively\" on a successor to the Veyron, a limited production line of 450 models that start at 1.46 million euros ($1.8 million), Chief Executive Wolfgang Duerheimer said in an interview at the Paris auto show. ...","US condemns Russian move into Ukraine. WASHINGTON (AP) — The Obama administration on Friday condemned the movement of a Russian convoy into eastern Ukraine, calling it a violation of Ukraine's sovereignty and demanding that it be withdrawn.","Four years on, something of an Arab Winter. You can blow out a candle, but you can't blow out a fire,","Jamaica police arrest 6 men in lottery scam probes. KINGSTON, Jamaica (AP) — Police in Jamaica have arrested six men suspected of involvement in the island's lottery scam rings.","UN slams jihadist abuses in Iraq as US warns of threat. The UN on Monday accused jihadists in Iraq of \"ethnic and religious cleansing\" as the most senior US military officer warned they will soon threaten America and Europe. As condemnation of the Islamic State (IS) jihadist group mounted, Syria -- a pariah over its bloody crackdown on opponents of President Bashar al-Assad's rule -- said it was ready to work with the global community against \"terrorism.\" UN human rights chief Navi Pillay said abuses by IS and affiliated groups in Iraq against non-Arab ethnic groups and non-Sunni Muslims involved targeted killings, forced conversions, abductions, trafficking, and destruction of holy and cultural sites.","China and Japan 'need each other': Abe. Beijing (AFP) - China and Japan \"need each other\", Japan Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said on Tuesday as he called for the two giant neighbours to press ahead with tentative efforts to put deep hostility behind them.","Everton overwhelms Man United in 2-0 win. LIVERPOOL, England (AP) — Everton ensured a miserable return to Goodison Park for former manager David Moyes by overwhelming Manchester United in a 2-0 win to keep pace with Arsenal in the race for Champions League qualification on Sunday.","China Communist Party expels military firm executive in war on graft. A former senior executive at a Chinese state-owned military giant has been expelled from the ruling Communist Party for taking bribes and other \"massive\" corruption, the top anti-corruption watchdog said on Tuesday. It was the latest in a series of expulsions and detentions, underscoring a crackdown by China's leadership on corruption, especially in the military and state-owned enterprise sectors. An investigation found Zhang Youren, a former chairman of Anhui Military Industry Group, used his position to obtain favours for others and took bribes, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection said in a statement. Huang Xiaohu, the former party secretary and chairman of the company, was expelled from the party in April, also on graft charges.","Russia says hopeful Malaysia jet crash investigation will be objective. MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Monday Moscow was hopeful an investigation into a downed airliner over eastern Ukraine would be objective and respect a presumption of innocence. \"Only the honest, open participation of all those who have access to information about the crash can be regarded as normal. Anything else we will consider deceitful attempts to influence the investigation, putting presumption of innocence in doubt,\" he told a news conference. ...","Italian factory makes bad mozzarella, 13 arrests. ROME (AP) — Police in Italy have shut down a mozzarella factory and arrested 13 people after finding that prized local buffalo milk was being cut with cheaper imported cow milk.","Last king of Nepal suffers heart attack. KATMANDU, Nepal (AP) — Doctors say Nepal's former king has suffered a heart attack and has been hospitalized.","Nearly 150 Japanese lawmakers visit controversial war shrine. A group of nearly 150 Japanese lawmakers visited the controversial Yasukuni war shrine on Tuesday, a move that could further worsen ties with Asian neighbours, on the eve of US President Barack Obama's arrival. Yasukuni Shrine honours Japan's war dead, including some senior military and political figures convicted of serious crimes in the wake of the country's World War II defeat. That, and the accompanying museum -- which paints Japan as a frustrated liberator of Asia and victim of World War II -- makes it controversial, especially in China and South Korea, where it is seen as a symbol of Japan's lack of penitence. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has not made a pilgrimage during the festival, but donated a tree to the shrine on Monday, sparking a Chinese charge that he was offering \"a slap in the face\" to Obama, who is flying into Japan on Wednesday for a state visit.","Mayer joins Austrian ski lore with downhill gold. KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia (AP) — Matthias Mayer added his name to Austria's rich skiing lore by winning gold in the Olympic downhill before ever earning a World Cup victory.","Kenyan elephant activist wants an ivory arrest. NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — A conservationist is urging Kenya's police to arrest what her group says is the \"ivory kingpin\" of Kenya.","IAAF nominates 7 members for new ethics commission. MONACO (AP) — The IAAF has appointed seven members to its newly-formed ethics commission for a four-year term.","Russian accused of hacking arraigned in US. SEATTLE (AP) — A Russian lawmaker's son accused of hacking computers at hundreds of U.S. businesses and stealing credit card information pleaded not guilty Friday to 29 charges.","Scrutinized officials frozen in headlights of anti-graft campaign. By Charlie Zhu and Benjamin Kang Lim HONG KONG/BEIJING (Reuters) - The sustained scrutiny of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s anti-corruption campaign has been traumatic for many Communist Party and government officials who have grown rich on their power to dispense favours. “Government officials are feeling insecure,” says Bo Zhiyue, senior research fellow at the East Asian Institute of the National University of Singapore. In Hong Kong, where officials and their families sparked a heady retail boom, luxury spending dropped 14.7 per cent in the nine months to September, compared to the same period last year, according to a November report from Fitch Ratings.","IMF's Lagarde says bank reforms slowed by fierce industry pushback. By Huw Jones LONDON (Reuters) - Progress in completing banking reforms to plug gaps highlighted by the 2007-09 financial crisis is too slow and is being hampered by fierce industry lobbying, the International Monetary Fund said on Tuesday. IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde said banks were holding more capital now than they did in the run-up to the financial crisis when taxpayers had to shore up the sector. \"The bad news is that progress is still too slow, and the finish line is still too far off,\" Lagarde told a conference on economic inclusion in London.","UN rights chief slams indifference over migrant deaths at sea. Geneva (AFP) - The UN's human rights chief on Wednesday condemned rich nations for their indifference to waves of global migration, after new figures showed more than 3,400 people died in the Mediterranean this year trying to reach Europe.","Wines inspired by 'Game of Thrones' to launch in time for next season. Need to blunt the shock and heartache of merciless character kill-offs and unexpected plot twists in the wildly popular \"Game of Thrones\" TV series? Created by faithful fans of the popular HBO fantasy series, The Wines of Westeros -- named after the fictional continent where the drama takes place -- are red and white wines linked to the show’s feuding clans. Reds are associated with houses that are headstrong and robust, while white wines are named after the cunning, mysterious and perceptive clans, said Aussie creator Jane Burlop of ad agency Common Ventures, in an interview with trendspotting site PSFK. The Wines of Westeros is the latest vino to be born from pop culture references.","Australian police monitoring social media reports of gunman demands. SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australian police said on Monday they are monitoring alleged demands made on social media by hostages being held in a siege at a Sydney cafe and the \"situation is contained in one area\". Network 10 reported that two female hostages had called with claims from the gunman that two bombs were planted elsewhere in the city. Social media posts by alleged hostages claimed the gunman wanted to speak directly with Prime Minister Tony Abbott. ...","Chelsea beats PSG to reach CL semifinals. LONDON (AP) — Chelsea overturned a two-goal deficit against Paris Saint-Germain to reach the Champions League semifinals on Tuesday, with Paris-born striker Demba Ba clinching a 2-0 win that sent the London club through on away goals with a 3-3 draw.","Iran FM condemns US, UN inaction on Israeli Gaza strikes. Iran's foreign minister has called for an \"immediate end\" to Israel's bombing of Gaza and criticized the United States for not restraining its most important Middle Eastern ally. Mohammad Javad Zarif, in a taped interview with US broadcaster NBC to air Sunday, urged Washington to use the United Nations to stop the Israeli strikes. \"Almost a hundred people have been killed, over 500 have been wounded in Gaza and the United States is not taking any action,\" Zarif said. \"We know that all the weapons that are used by Israel in order to attack civilians in Gaza have been provided by the United States and we don't see any move by the United States to condemn that, to use the Security Council in order to put an end to it,\" he added.","Brazil sees improvement despite disappointing draw. FORTALEZA, Brazil (AP) — The Brazil squad tried to focus on the positives after a disappointing draw against Mexico in its second World Cup match.","Image of Asia: Fetching water in a flood zone. In this photo by Bullit Marquez, girls in a flooded area of Bataan province in the northwestern Philippines fetch water from a communal faucet shared by neighbors who have no potable water in their homes. Typhoon Halong is worsening the seasonal monsoon rains in the Philippines, though it is forecast to stay offshore before heading toward southern Japan later this week.","Former wax tech smooths his way to bronze. KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia (AP) — Alex Deibold has always been a grinder. Four years ago, he went to the Olympics as a technician — the man with a hand in waxing, scraping and, yes, grinding the snowboards into shape for America's top riders.","Walmart to invest $500 mn to fuel Canada growth. US retail giant Walmart said Tuesday it would invest Can$500 million (US $450 million) this year into growth in Canada, with the aim of completing 35 supercenter projects by early 2015. The aggressive expansion program will generate some 7,500 jobs, mainly in construction, the company said. Walmart will put Can$376 million ($340 million) into transforming and enlarging existing stores and also add 35 supercenters, which carry some 100,000 products. The investment program will bring Walmart's stores and outlets in Canada to 395, 282 of which will be supercenters.","Portugal's BES insists family losses will not put bank at risk. By Laura Noonan and Axel Bugge LISBON/LONDON (Reuters) - Losses on loans to the troubled business empire of its founding family will not put Banco Espirito Santo at risk of running short of capital, the bank said on Thursday night. Shares in Portugal's largest listed bank were suspended on Thursday after plunging as much as 19 percent in morning trading amid fears about its exposure to companies in the wider group controlled by the powerful Espirito Santo clan. In a late-night statement that paved the way for the bank's shares to resume trading on Friday, BES attempted to diffuse a situation that many feared was spiraling out of control. \"BES Executive Committee believes that the potential losses resulting from the exposure to Espírito Santo Group do not compromise the compliance with the regulatory capital requirements,\" the bank said, adding that it had 2.1 billion euros extra capital beyond regulatory minimums as of March 31.","Dallas: 5 free things from Dealey Plaza to arts and architecture. DALLAS - Dallas is a city that likes to do things big, but that doesn't mean you'll have to sell the ranch to have a good time here.","Russia moves to make failure to declare dual citizenship a crime. By Alissa de Carbonnel MOSCOW (Reuters) - Parliament approved legislation on Tuesday requiring Russians to declare dual citizenship or face criminal prosecution after President Vladimir Putin endorsed the measure as part of a more nationalist course taken since his annexation of Crimea. Adopted in the crucial second of three readings in the lower house, the bill will impose a fine of up to 200,000 rubles ($5,800) or 400 hours of community service on Russians who have citizenship in another country and fail to tell the authorities. Putin, who has often accused Western governments of meddling in Russia's affairs, supported the idea in March by hinting at alleged divided allegiances among dual citizens, saying: \"We have every right to know who lives in Russia and what they do.\" The bill was submitted by Andrei Lugovoi, a nationalist lawmaker and former KGB officer. \"Obviously having dual citizenship reduces the significance of Russian nationality and respect for one's country,\" he said on the sidelines of the vote in parliament on Tuesday, according to Russian news agencies.","Di Maria injury setback for Argentina at World Cup. BRASILIA, Brazil (AP) — One step away from a potential World Cup final, Argentina is hoping for Angel Di Maria to recover from a thigh injury in time for Wednesday's semifinal clash against Netherlands.","Bank of Montreal reports fourth-quarter profit, raises dividend. TORONTO (Reuters) - Bank of Montreal reported a weaker-than-expected fourth-quarter profit on Tuesday, but increased its dividend by 3 percent as revenue climbed from a year earlier. Net income at Canada's fourth-largest bank was C$1.07 billion ($941.57 million), or C$1.56 a share, for the fourth quarter ended Oct 31, compared with C$1.07 billion, or C$1.60 a share, a year earlier. Adjusted earnings were C$1.63 a share. Analysts had expected C$1.68 a share. (Reporting by Jeffrey Hodgson)","Broad strikes twice as India crawl to 108-3. SOUTHAMPTON, England (AP) — Fast bowler Stuart Broad removed Cheteshwar Pujara and Murali Vijay to leave India on 108-3 against England at lunch on day three of the third test at the Rose Bowl.","Competing claims on Scottish independence 'dividend'. Residents of Scotland would be financially better off if they reject independence and opt to stay in the United Kingdom, the government said Wednesday amid competing claims by each side of the debate. Chief Secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander claimed that every man, child and woman would be £1,400 better off if voters opt for 'no' in the September 18 referendum. Alexander argued that breaking the union would mean lower tax revenues in Scotland and increased public spending, in what he called the \"UK dividend\". But Scotland's pro-independence First Minister Alex Salmond said the UK Treasury's claims had been \"blown to smithereens\" after academics claimed their data had been misinterpreted.","Ghana company says U.S. plane seen in Tehran broke no laws. By Kwasi Kpodo ACCRA (Reuters) - A U.S.-flagged plane which landed at an airport in the Iranian capital Tehran last week was carrying business executives from Ghana and did not flout international laws, according to the mining firm which leased it. The New York Times reported on Thursday that the plane, owned by the Bank of Utah, was parked at Tehran's Mehrabad Airport on Tuesday. Its presence caused a stir as the United States and Iran have been at loggerheads for decades and the Islamic Republic is subject to economic sanctions, which would generally prohibit U.S.-registered aircraft from flying to the country. It was later reported that the aircraft was leased to Ghana-based mining firm Engineers and Planners (E&P), founded by the Ibrahim Mahama - a multi-millionaire and brother of Ghana's President John Mahama.","Woods paired with Mickelson at PGA Championship. LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Tiger Woods arrived at Valhalla on Thursday with far less fanfare, and a lot more attention.","India police re-arrest fasting activist. GAUHATI, India (AP) — A lawyer says police have re-arrested a frail Indian activist who has been on a hunger strike for nearly 14 years to protest alleged military brutality in India's remote northeast.","Weed-smoking French clubber becomes US-wanted jihadist. Cachan (France) (AFP) - As a teen, Salim Benghalem smoked weed and went out clubbing. Now, the Frenchman is an Islamic State jihadist wanted by Washington which accuses him of carrying out executions for the extremist group.","Futures point to higher opening for Canadian stocks. (Reuters) - Stock futures pointed to a higher opening for Canada's main index on Tuesday on optimism surrounding corporate earnings and merger moves. June futures on the S&P TSX index were up 0.06 percent at 0715 ET. The index was little changed on Monday as weakness in shares of Barrick Gold Corp and concerns about the volatile situation in Ukraine were offset by gains in the financial and energy sectors. While Newmont Mining Corp terminated merger talks with Barrick Gold Corp on Monday, Pfizer Inc pushed ahead with its $100 billion bid for Britain's AstraZeneca Plc . ...","Muralitharan joins Australian cricket coaching team. Sri Lankan spin great Muttiah Muralitharan announced on Wednesday he will join the Australian coaching team for their series against Pakistan in the United Arab Emirates, putting old grudges aside. The world's leading Test wicket taker is already working with Australia's top spinner Nathan Lyon as part of Australia's National Cricket Centre Spin Programme, and has agreed to become more involved. His signing is a coup given his knowledge of the doosra delivery, which has long baffled the Australians, and with Pakistan's Saeed Ajmal among the game's most potent mystery spinners.","Judge: Sanfords to mediate over parenting issues. CHARLESTON, South Carolina (AP) — A judge says U.S. Rep. Mark Sanford and his ex-wife have agreed to mediate issues concerning parenting of their four sons.","Ukraine court hears Tymoshenko detention appeal. Kharkiv (Ukraine) (AFP) - A Ukrainian court began hearing an appeal Tuesday by jailed opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko to relax her detention conditions, two months into a protest movement she has vocally supported. Lawyers for Tymoshenko applied to the court in the eastern town of Kharkiv, where the former prime minister is being held, to allow her to use a mobile telephone, have more visitors and take walks around the town. Tymoshenko did not attend the hearing but journalists and supporters holding banners reading \"Stop persecuting Yulia\" packed out the courtroom. Tymoshenko was jailed in 2011 for seven years for abuse of power and has spent much of her sentence in a guarded hospital facility due to back problems.","Italy, Uruguay locked 0-0 at halftime in decider. NATAL, Brazil (AP) — Italy and Uruguay were deadlocked 0-0 at halftime of a physical and decisive Group D match at the World Cup on Tuesday.","Comet-chasing probe wakes up, signals Earth. BERLIN (AP) — Waking up after almost three years of hibernation, a comet-chasing spacecraft sent its first signal back to Earth on Monday, prompting cheers from scientists who hope to use it to achieve the first landing on a comet.","Turkey PM 'ready to quit' if party loses local polls. Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Wednesday he was ready to step down if his ruling party, in power since 2002, loses key local elections later this month. Erdogan has accused associates of ally-turned-opponent Fethullah Gulen, an influential Muslim cleric based in the United States, of concocting the probe. Opinion polls show the scandal is hurting Erdogan's Justice and Development Party (AKP), which weathered mass street protests last summer. A January survey by the Metropoll research company showed support for the AKP at 36.3 percent, far below the 50 percent it garnered in 2011's parliamentary elections.","Outgoing CEO says S.Africa's Naspers to push online business. South Africa-based global media conglomerate Naspers -- which holds stakes in China's Tencent and Mail.Ru -- will strengthen its e-commerce operations under its new CEO, outgoing chief executive Koos Bekker told AFP Monday. \"Today we have a whole bunch of e-commerce companies in different parts of the world and we want to develop and stabilise them, make them profitable, and merge some,\" Bekker said. Naspers, which has a market capitalisation of $45 billion, has shares in Tencent -- which runs social messaging service QQ -- Russian internet company Mail.Ru, Polish auction site Allegro.pl as well as Souq.com and a host of other services. The firm announced Saturday that Bekker would step down in April, making way for current Netherlands-based e-commerce head Bob van Dijk.","UN rights chief: Migrant deaths may be mass murder. GENEVA (AP) — The U.N.'s top human rights official says the deaths of up to 500 migrants in an intentional boat-ramming in the Mediterranean Sea last week could be an act of mass murder that must be properly investigated.","Australian PM hopes for 'swift, satisfactory' end to Japan trade talks. Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said on Sunday that he hoped for a quick conclusion to thorny free trade negotiations with Japan but suggested time might be needed to ensure conclusion of a \"satisfactory\" pact. Ministers from both nations took part in a five-hour session on Saturday that ended well into the evening without agreement on several substantial issues, Australian Trade Minister Andrew Robb said. \"I am optimistic about the free trade negotiations, but they have been difficult negotiations,\" Abbott said, according to a transcript provided by the Australian government. \"This government is determined to bring them to a swift and satisfactory conclusion.\" Japanese Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi, who also took part in Saturday's discussion, said there had been a \"frank exchange of opinion\" and he would be reporting on the progress to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.","Spalletti set for return to coaching in Kazakhstan. MOSCOW (AP) — Luciano Spalletti is set for a swift return to management in Kazakhstan after being fired by Zenit St. Petersburg.","Italy tells migrants 'Welcome, you're safe', tells EU to help more. By Steve Scherer ABOARD THE SAN GIORGIO (Reuters) - As night approached one evening in early May, 40 miles off the Libyan coast, Captain Aldo Dolfini trained his binoculars on a tiny vessel packed with 300 desperate men as waves whipped up by a northerly wind crashed against it. Dolfini, a 52-year-old seafarer with full beard, big belly and unquestioned authority, is on the frontline of one of Europe's biggest-ever search and rescue missions. Italy launched the mission last October as an emergency measure to prevent shipwrecks after 366 men, women and children fleeing African countries drowned when their boat capsized a mile from Sicily. The Italian government called the operation Mare Nostrum, Latin for \"Our Sea\", and hoped that other EU countries would eventually join the effort to stem the influx along one of the most popular migrant routes between Africa and Europe.","Earthquake rattles Greece, Turkey. THESSALONIKI, Greece (AP) — An earthquake beneath the sea shook northern Greece and western Turkey Saturday, with more than two dozen injuries reported on a Turkish island.","Egypt prosecutors outline allegations against Al-Jazeera journalists. CAIRO - Egypt's prosecutors say three detained journalists working for Al-Jazeera English — including a Canadian — are being interrogated on suspicion of having unlicensed equipment and broadcasting false news that harmed national security.","Police grilled as Kenya reforms vilified force. NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — The senior police officers sat in front of the vetting panel and squirmed. They could not explain how they acquired property that is in their names nor the large sums of money in their bank accounts.","Burundi opposition chief charged with rebellion: prosecutor. Bujumbura (Burundi) (AFP) - Burundi charged the leader of a key opposition party and 71 supporters with rebellion Wednesday after violent clashes last week, a prosecutor said, amid worsening tensions in the small central African nation. Party leader Alexis Sinduhije, who is on the run from police, and the other activists face life in jail if found guilty. State prosecutor Arcade Nimubona told AFP the activists from the Movement for Solidarity and Development (MSD) party were arrested Saturday after large numbers took part in a \"group jog\" to the centre of the capital Bujumbura, where they were dispersed by riot police firing tear gas.","Brazilian player racially abused after match. SAO PAULO (AP) — Fans yelled racist insults at a Brazilian football player being interviewed by reporters after a match, the latest case of racism to hit the country that will host the World Cup in a few months.","China joins counter-piracy part of Hawaii drills. ABOARD THE USCGC WAESCHE (AP) — China has been boarding ships looking for mock pirates and contraband as it joins the world's largest maritime exercises for the first time.","Outgoing president asks Indonesians to 'safeguard' election process. Outgoing President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono urged Indonesians on Sunday to \"safeguard the final chapter\" of the country's presidential election, saying the July 9 vote was democratic and peaceful. Yudhoyono made the comments at a meeting with presidential candidates Joko \"Jokowi\" Widodo and Prabowo Subianto, who indicated earlier on Sunday they would not accept the official outcome of the hotly contested vote due to alleged cheating. \"I urge all the people of Indonesia to safeguard the final chapter of the election process,\" Yudhoyono said.","UN: 50 new Ebola cases in 2 African nations. GENEVA (AP) — The U.N. health agency says there have been 50 new Ebola cases in Sierra Leone and Liberia since last week as the disease, among the deadliest in the world, keeps spreading in West Africa.","Fresh attack in Kenya's coastal Lamu region: officials. Unidentified gunmen raided a village near Kenya's restive coastal town of Lamu early Friday, Kenyan officials said, the latest in a string of attacks in the region. Officials said more than 10 raiders struck at Pandanguo village, about 40 kilometres (25 miles) from Mpeketoni -- where close to 50 people were massacred in an attack last month -- stole guns from police reservists and torched houses and other buildings. The Kenyan Red Cross said there were no reports of any casualties in the latest attack. \"The heavily armed attackers raided the village at around 1:00 am today (Friday) and disarmed six police reservists,\" Kaviha Charo Karisa, a local area assistant chief, told AFP.","S.Africa's AMCU to strike at Lonmin, Implats. Upstart worker organisation AMCU said Thursday it would serve notice to strike for higher wages at world top producers Impala Platinum and Lonmin. The Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union, majority worker group at both mines, will give the 48-hour notice on Monday, its president Joseph Mathunjwa confirmed to AFP in a text message. AMCU claims the current entry-level wage is around 5,000 rand, though gold and platinum producers give higher figures. Following official processes for strikes marks a change from AMCU's past practice of wildcat stoppages since it gained prominence on the platinum belt two years ago.","Cricket-Lusty hitting from Marsh gets Australia back on track. * Marsh hits unbeaten 86 * South Africa fall short in reply (Adds details, quotes) HARARE, Sept 2 (Reuters) - A swashbuckling innings from Mitchell Marsh helped Australia bounce back from two successive defeats to beat South Africa by 62 runs and reach the final of the triangular one-day series on Tuesday. South Africa were then bowled out for 220 in 44 overs despite 126 from Faf du Plessis who scored his second consecutive century against Australia. Australia's win came after an embarrassing defeat on Sunday to hosts Zimbabwe and a seven-wicket loss to South Africa last Wednesday. They also picked up a bonus point for their victory, ensuring them a place in Saturday's final, when they will play the winner of South Africa's match against Zimbabwe on Thursday.","Thai media call on junta to ease restrictions. By Amy Sawitta Lefevre BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thai media organizations called on the military government on Monday to ease restrictions after the junta said it would shut down news outlets putting out what it considers critical coverage. There might be changes to the announcement especially the section that gives authorities the power to close media,\" Thai Journalists Association chairman Pradit Ruangdit told reporters after the meeting. \"We'll have to wait and see if the military acts on its promise.\" The Friday order compounded difficult conditions for media since the military overthrew the government of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra.","Kidnappers free Czech doctor in Yemen. A Czech doctor was freed several hours after being kidnapped by gunmen in the Yemeni capital Sanaa, security sources said. The incident highlighted the increasing breakdown of security in the U.S.-allied country, which is struggling to restore state authority weakened since mass unrest in 2011 that forced long-serving President Ali Abdullah Saleh to step down. An intelligence officer, Colonel Ahmed Hashem, was shot dead on Saturday by suspected al Qaeda militants in Atek in the southern province of Shabwa, a security source said. Yemen, which neighbors oil giant Saudi Arabia and is home to an active al Qaeda offshoot, has long wrestled with instability, internal conflicts and poor governance.","Australia risks organic export growth as it struggles to coexist with GMO. By Colin Packham SYDNEY (Reuters) - A landmark GMO contamination ruling in Australia could usher in lower organic farming standards, stripping the country of its premier status and threatening organic exports in an industry set to double in size by 2018. Australia currently does not allow any trace of genetically modified organisms (GMO) in its organic produce. But when an Australian court ruled on Wednesday against an organic farmer's damages bid, after GMO canola seed heads blew onto his property, causing him to loose his organic licence, many believe the zero GMO standard will now be watered down. A move to a European Union model, which allows up to 0.9 percent, is being mooted to prevent farmers falling short of the required Australian organic standard and against a backdrop of increased GMO sowing in Australia.","UK panel OKs GCHQ surveillance practices. LONDON (AP) — The Investigatory Powers Tribunal has ruled that intelligence gathering practices used by Britain's GCHQ eavesdropping agency do not constitute a privacy violation.","Australian PM to make first US visit in June. CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott announced Tuesday that he will make his first visit as national leader to the United States in June.","Heavy fighting rages over town north of Baghdad. BAGHDAD (AP) — Government forces and allied Sunni tribal fighters battled to dislodge militants from a small town north of Baghdad on Monday, while two car bombs in the capital killed at least seven people, officials said.","Analysis: U.S. bankers voice new optimism as businesses line up for loans. By Michael Erman NEW YORK (Reuters) - Loans to businesses have risen to a record high and bank executives say they are increasingly optimistic about the U.S. economy. Increasing demand for bank loans often is a prelude to higher economic growth. With the U.S. government budget crisis fixed for now and Europe showing signs of economic recovery, companies feel more comfortable borrowing to invest in machinery, factories, and buildings. JPMorgan Chase & Co Chief Executive Jamie Dimon, who has long described himself as \"cautiously optimistic\" about the economy, recently dropped the modifier \"cautiously,\" he said on a conference call with investors last week.","Suarez trains for first time with Barcelona. BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Luis Suarez has begun training with Barcelona a day after the Court of Arbitration for Sport softened his suspension for biting an opponent in the World Cup.","Canadian housing starts, permits drop as market cools. By Andrea Hopkins TORONTO (Reuters) - Canadian housing starts fell more than expected in March and building permits dropped sharply in February, according to data released on Tuesday that suggests the country's robust housing market is cooling. \"The steep decline in housing starts in March was at least partly weather related, but the bigger picture is an ongoing cooling of residential construction activity in Canada,\" BMO Capital Markets senior economist Robert Kavcic wrote in a research note. Housing starts fell 17.7 percent in March to a seasonally adjusted annualized rate of 156,823 units, well below an economists' forecast for 191,000 units. February's housing starts were also downwardly revised to 190,639 from the 192,094 originally reported, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp (CMHC) said.","U.N. Security Council to meet Friday on Ukraine: diplomats. UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The U.N. Security Council plans to hold an emergency meeting on the situation in Ukraine on Friday, diplomats said, after a Malaysian airliner was brought down over eastern Ukraine, killing all 295 people aboard. Diplomats initially said the meeting would be held at 3 p.m. (4 p.m. EDT) Friday, but later said it could be arranged for Friday morning. U.N. political affairs chief Jeffrey Feltman was expected to brief the council, diplomats said. (Reporting by Michelle Nichols; Editing by Meredith Mazzilli)","Referendum on oil drilling in Ecuador preserve rejected. Ecuador's election authority has rejected a petition for a referendum on oil exploration and development in Yasuni, a unique nature preserve in the Amazon rain forest. Yasunidos, the environmentalist group that filed the petition, said it had met the law's requirements for a referendum by gathering nearly 728,000 signatures, more than five percent of the electorate. But the National Electoral Council invalidated half the signatures, citing unspecified irregularities. \\\\\"The petition does not have the number of signatures necessary to approve the consultation,\\\\\" the council said in a statement.","Burkina army chief announces creation of transitional government. OUAGADOUGOU (Reuters) - The head of Burkina Faso's armed forces announced on Thursday the dissolution of the national assembly and the creation of a national transitional government to last a maximum of 12 months, though he did not say who would lead it. \"A transitional body will be put in place in consultation with all parties. A return to the constitutional order is expected in no more than 12 months,\" General Honore Traore told a news conference after a day of violent protests in the capital. (Reporting by Mathieu Bonkougou in Ouagadougou and Bate Felix in Dakar; Editing by Daniel Flynn)","Thai PM's supporters head for huge Bangkok rally, rule out violence. By Amy Sawitta Lefevre BANGKOK (Reuters) - Hundreds of thousands of Thai government supporters are expected to descend on Bangkok this weekend in a symbolic show of force after months of sometimes violent protests aimed at bringing down Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra. The speed at which political opponents are bringing court cases against Yingluck appears to have prompted her supporters into action, raising fears of a confrontation between the two sides. Tens of thousands of Yingluck's \"red shirt\" supporters rallied at a Bangkok stadium in November to counter growing anti-government sentiment but abruptly disbanded the following month after violent clashes with anti-government protesters left five people dead and scores wounded. \"Anti-government protesters will be in inner city Bangkok whereas the red shirts will outside,\" Paradorn Pattanathabutr, a security adviser to the prime minister, told Reuters.","Britain to send jets to Iraq to help direct aid drops. Britain will send surveillance jets to help get aid to refugees trapped on an Iraqi mountain after a plane was forced to abort a supply drop for fear the packages could hit crowds below, the government said on Monday. Tornado jets will be positioned in the region to help ensure humanitarian relief can be safely dropped, Prime Minister David Cameron's office said in a statement after Britain's emergency response committee met. \"We have decided to pre-position a small number of Tornados in the region so that they could, if required, use their excellent surveillance capability to gather better situational awareness to help with humanitarian effort,\" the statement said. Britain has so far delivered one aid drop to the mountain comprising water, filtration kits and solar-powered lanterns that double as mobile phone chargers.","UK's Cameron tells Davos he can keep Britain in the EU. Prime Minister David Cameron said on Friday he was confident he could renegotiate Britain's relations with the European Union to allow it to remain in the 28-nation bloc. In some of his most pro-European remarks to date, Cameron told the World Economic Forum in Davos that changes needed to make the euro zone function better meant the EU would need to alter its treaties. That would give Britain an opportunity to recalibrate its own relations with the EU. \"I'm confident that we'll have a successful renegotiation and a successful referendum,\" Cameron told delegates, referring to his plan to reshape his country's EU ties before offering Britons an in/out referendum if his Conservative party is re-elected next year.","Suarez the target for both Uruguay and England. NATAL, Brazil (AP) — The must-win World Cup encounter between England and Uruguay could boil down to which team best targets Luis Suarez. Both former champions realize a loss Thursday could signal the end of their World Cup campaign after just two matches.","Culture Club scraps reunion due to Boy George throat. New York (AFP) - Boy George on Thursday called off a reunion tour of 1980s pop sensations Culture Club after the British singer discovered a potentially serious problem in his throat.","Suspected Saudi militant dies in Lebanese custody: sources. The suspected leader of an al Qaeda-linked militant group that claimed responsibility for bombing the Iranian embassy in Beirut two months ago died in custody on Saturday, security sources said. Majid bin Muhammad al-Majid, a Saudi national who was wanted by authorities in his own country, had been suffering from kidney failure and went into a coma on Friday, the sources said. He died in a military hospital in Beirut, they added. Majid was believed to be the leader of the Abdullah Azzam Brigades, which have claimed attacks across the region, most recently the double suicide assault on Iran's Beirut embassy, which killed at least 25 people.","One killed as suicide bomber targets Kabul school: officials. A suicide bomber detonated himself Thursday at a high school next to the French cultural centre in Kabul, killing at least one person and wounding 15 others, officials said. The attack comes just hours after another suicide bomber targeted a bus carrying Afghan troops in the suburbs of Kabul, killing at least six soldiers. \"A suicide bomber blew himself up among the audience in Istiqlal High School (French Cultural Center),\" Afghan interior ministry spokesman Sediqi Sediqqi told AFP.","Migrant surge across Med continues as Italy rescues 900. Italian authorities said Saturday that more than 900 people had been rescued at sea in 24 hours, in a blow to hopes that the approach of winter would stem the flow of migrants attempting perilous crossings of the Mediterranean. Most of the rescued were picked up from boats in the channel between Libya and Sicily, a narrow but treacherous strait in which thousands have drowned in recent years trying to reach Europe. A total of 477 migrants were delivered to Porto Empedocle on Sicily's southern coast by Panamanian tanker the Gaz Concord. The coastguard also intercepted a yacht with 80 would-be migrants on board off the port of Crotone on the southeastern \"heel\" of the Italian mainland.","Brazil police crackdown on child pornography. SAO PAULO (AP) — Brazilian police say they have set in motion an operation aimed at identifying and arresting people suspected of storing and sharing child pornography.","U.S. says G7 backs more sanctions if Russia escalates Ukraine crisis. A group of the world's leading rich nations will support increasing sanctions against Russia if Moscow escalates the crisis in Ukraine, U.S. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew said on Friday. \"There is broad and strong unity within the G7 on increasing sanctions and costs in response to escalating action from Russia,\" Lew said at a news conference, referring to the Group of Seven industrial nations. The G7 includes the United States, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and Great Britain. Top officials from the group met in Washington on Thursday and discussed the situation in Ukraine at length, Lew said.","Liberia's Taylor applies to serve jail term in Rwanda. Former Liberian president Charles Taylor has formally applied to serve the rest of his jail term for war crimes in Rwanda, saying his imprisonment in Britain breaches his human rights, his lawyer said Thursday. Taylor was jailed for 50 years in 2012 on 11 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity over acts committed by Sierra Leonean rebels he aided and abetted during the brutal 1991-2001 civil war. He was the first former head of state to be jailed by an international court since the Nazi trials at Nuremberg in Germany after World War II. A motion lodged last week by Taylor's lawyers with the UN-backed Special Court for Sierra Leone in The Hague, where he was convicted, argues he should be allowed to serve his sentence closer to his family.","Contest to host 2017 CAN cut to four nations. Johannesburg (AFP) - Algeria, Egypt, Gabon and Ghana remain contenders to host the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations (CAN) after the original list of seven countries was trimmed by the organisers Monday.","Science proves high heels do have power over men. PARIS (AP) — The well-heeled Marilyn Monroe once said, \"Give a girl the right shoes and she can conquer the world.\"","Golf - Jet-lagged McIlroy in early Australian Open hunt. - Jet-lagged Rory McIlroy believes his best is yet to come after opening with a two-under par round in defence of his Australian Open title in Sydney on Thursday.","HSBC takes $378m hit for forex scandal. London (AFP) - HSBC bank on Monday took a $378 million (302 million euro) charge linked to allegations of foreign exchange market rigging, and posted mixed earnings for the third quarter.","Mandela's ex-wife files suit disputing his will. Johannesburg (AFP) - Nelson Mandela's ex-wife Winnie Madikizela Mandela Tuesday filed court papers challenging the late statesman's will, media reported.","Pope: Enough gloom, try joy ahead of Christmas. VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis is encouraging people to strive for joy, telling his worldwide flock, \"We've never heard of a sad saint.\"","Gaza mortar bomb kills Israeli child, 4: security sources. JERUSALEM (Reuters) - A mortar bomb fired from Gaza killed a four-year-old Israeli child in a border collective farm on Friday, Israeli security sources said. The boy would be the fourth civilian in Israel to be killed in an attack from the coastal territory since the outbreak of conflict on July 8, and the first Israeli death since an Egyptian-brokered truce broke down earlier this week. More than 2,000 Palestinians have been killed in the conflict, most of them civilians. (Created by Allyn Fisher-Ilan; editing by Andrew Roche)","Sierra Leone cool on Ebola drugs as it pleads for aid. Sierra Leone on Monday urged caution over the use of experimental drugs to combat Ebola as the United Nations launched an $18 million appeal to help the country cope with the epidemic. Health Minister Miatta Kargbo told journalists that the country was following advice from the World Health Organization, which was \"lukewarm\" about using untested serums.","Leinster give O'Driscoll perfect send-off. Dublin (AFP) - Ireland rugby legend Brian O'Driscoll ended his career on a winning note as Leinster beat Glasgow Warriors 34-12 in Dublin on Saturday to take the Celtic league trophy.","Kurds again become focus of Western intervention in Middle East. (Reuters) - Saddam Hussein's use of chemical weapons against Iraqi Kurds in the 1980s was cited by Western powers as one of the justifications for the 2003 invasion that toppled him. Once again, the perilous situation of the Kurds -- this time attacked by Islamic State fighters -- has spurred the United States and its allies in Europe and the Gulf to use military force in Iraq and Syria. And once again the Kurds -- who number up to 30 million people spread through Turkey, Iraq, Syria and Iran, but with no state of their own -- are on the move. ...","Investors buy German debt at negative rates. FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — Investors have bought billions of euros in German treasury notes that pay negative interest — meaning the purchasers agreed to pay a small fee for the privilege of lending the German government their money.","Canada's Telus posts 33 percent jump in quarterly profit. TORONTO (Reuters) - Telus Corp , one of Canada's largest telecommunications companies, reported a 33 percent rise in second-quarter profit on Thursday, helped by the combination of growth in its wireless and fixed-line businesses. The Vancouver-based company said it had net income of C$381 million, or 62 Canadian cents a share, compared with C$286 million, or 44 cents a share, a year earlier. Operating revenue rose 4.4 percent to C$2.95 billion. On an adjusted basis, Telus earned 63 Canadian cents a share. ...","Germany arrests Syria returnee over extremist link. BERLIN (AP) — German authorities say they have arrested a man who returned in August from a long stay in Syria and says he spent time there with the extremist Islamic State group.","Saudi jails 13 for plan to attack US forces. Riyadh (AFP) - A Saudi court has sentenced 13 people, including an Afghan and a Qatari, to between 18 months and 30 years in prison for plotting an Al-Qaeda attack against US forces.","Manila air-drops supplies to troops on disputed shoal. The Philippines air-dropped food and water to soldiers stationed on a grounded transport ship on the disputed Second Thomas Shoal, after China blocked two Filipino supply ships from reaching the troops, a senior navy official said on Wednesday. Chinese ships patrolling waters around Second Thomas Shoal, known in China as the Ren'ai reef, on Sunday ordered the Philippine ships carrying construction materials to leave the area. Manila claims the Shoal is part of the Philippine's continental shelf. Since last year, we've been resupplying our troops using civilian ships to avoid confrontation and this was the first time China blocked them.\" On Tuesday, Manila summoned the second highest Chinese embassy official to handover its strong-worded protest, calling the blockade \"a clear and urgent threat to the rights and interests of the Philippines\".","Nigeria quarantines 2 people over Ebola. Nigeria said on Thursday it had quarantined two people who had \"primary contact\" with a man who died of Ebola in Lagos last week as west Africa battled to tame the deadliest ever outbreak of the virus. Nigeria's Health Minister Onyebuchi Chukwu said \"staff or persons who took care of him before the diagnosis\" were in quarantine and 69 have been placed under medical surveillance. Patrick Sawyer, a 40-year-old Liberian, died under quarantine in a private hospital in Lagos on Friday, sparking fears the deadly virus could spread to Africa's most populous nation. \"We are tracking all those with primary contact with a view to deciding those who must be quarantined and those who will just remain under surveillance,\" Chukwu said.","Afghan candidate tells AP vote deal will work. KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — One of two contestants in Afghanistan's deadlocked presidential election has told The Associated Press that a U.S.-brokered deal for a full ballot audit pulled the country back from the brink and put government legitimacy back on track.","Deutsche Bank mulls raising fixed pay for board: report. FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Deutsche Bank is considering raising the fixed pay of its management board members by more than a third in response to new EU regulations, a German paper reported on Thursday. The fixed pay of each board member could rise by several hundred thousand euros, Die Welt reported, citing sources close to the company. For co-CEOs Anshu Jain and Juergen Fitschen, the increase could be close to 1 million euros ($1.4 million), the paper added. ...","National lab to study virus isolated from Canada's fatal H5N1 case. TORONTO - Canada's National Microbiology Laboratory has isolated live H5N1 virus from respiratory specimens taken from an Alberta woman who died recently from infection with that bird flu virus.","Israel to stop seminary funding over conscription. JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel's finance minister says he will stop funding for ultra-Orthodox seminaries whose students do not enlist into the military.","Racing Club wins first league title in 13 years. BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — Racing Club won the Argentine first-division title on Sunday, defeating Godoy Cruz 1-0 to secure its first league championship in 13 years.","It's not just Hello Kitty: Japan's character craze. TOKYO (AP) — Hello Kitty, whom many learned last week is a girl and not a cat, may be the queen of Japan's cute characters, but she's hardly the only one.","With Crimean appeal, Putin goes head-to-head with West over Ukraine. By Elizabeth Piper MOSCOW (Reuters) - Almost certainly orchestrated by Vladimir Putin, Crimea's appeal to join Russia pits the president directly against the West in a standoff that has increasingly high stakes and unpredictable consequences. The vote by Crimea's parliament gives Putin the upper hand in the crisis over Ukraine, but risks antagonizing pro-Western leaders in Kiev who have refused to resort to military action or fan tensions in Ukraine's Russian-speaking south and east. Ukraine's leaders had no doubt who was behind the latest moves in Crimea, including a call for a referendum to decide if the Ukrainian Black Sea peninsula, which has an ethnic Russian majority, should return to its former Soviet master.","Bangladesh sentences to death 2nd senior Islamist. DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) — A special tribunal in Bangladesh has sentenced to death the second senior leader of the largest Islamist party for his role in the killings during the nation's independence war against Pakistan in 1971.","Iran's Khamenei warns supporters of Sunni extremists. Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Monday warned regional countries of the \"high price\" they would eventually pay for supporting extremist Sunni Muslim groups fighting Tehran's key ally Syria. Shiite Iran is a staunch supporter of President Bashar al-Assad's regime in its struggle against mostly Sunni rebels backed by Arab nations and Western powers. Khamenei made the comments during a meeting with the visiting Kuwaiti Emir Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad Al-Sabah whose trip to Tehran has been widely seen as an attempt to warm up the frosty ties between Iran and Sunni-ruled monarchies in the Gulf.","German FM makes surprise visit to Afghanistan. Germany's foreign minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier arrived Sunday in Mazar-i-Sharif, Afghanistan for an unannounced visit, a spokeswoman said. Most of the 3,000 German troops deployed in Afghanistan are based in this northern Afghan city. The German government decided Wednesday to extend by ten months its military presence in the country until the end of 2014. It is the first visit to Afghanistan by the Social Democrat minister since he entered the coalition government of Chancellor Angela Merkel that emerged from September's legislative elections.","Costa Rica seizes 4 tons of cocaine at sea. SAN JOSE, Costa Rica (AP) — Costa Rican officials say they have seized more than four tons of cocaine from three boats disguised as fishing vessels off the Central American country's Pacific Coast.","Turkey's PM Erdogan seen winning presidential vote. ISTANBUL (AP) — An unofficial vote count showed Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan won the country's first ever direct presidential election in the first round Sunday, ensuring he will remain at the country's helm for at least another five years.","France criticizes slow deployment of U.N. peacekeepers in Mali. BAMAKO (Reuters) - France's defense minister on Monday criticized the slow deployment of U.N. peacekeepers in Mali's volatile northern region, saying the delay had encouraged a fresh wave of Islamist militant attacks there. France dispatched thousands of troops to its former colony early last year to retake control of northern towns which had been overrun by separatists and al Qaeda-linked rebels in 2012 following a coup in the capital Bamako. Elections were held last year and a U.N. mission, known as MINUSMA, was created to help stabilize the north. ...","Canada trade surplus plummets as exports fall, imports rise. Canada's trade surplus plummeted to just C$79 million ($72 million) in March from C$847 million in February as exports fell and imports rose, Statistics Canada data said on Tuesday. Although the March figure was lower than expected, Canada has now posted two consecutive surpluses for the first time since November and December 2011. Since the end of the recession, Canada's exporters have struggled with weak markets and a stronger Canadian dollar. Bank of Canada Governor Stephen Poloz - who has long complained that weak exports are holding back the economy - said last month he was more hopeful than before about a recovery.","ISIL crucifies 9 men in Syria's Aleppo: NGO. A jihadist group in Syria has publicly executed and crucified nine men, eight of them rebels fighting both President Bashar al-Assad's regime and the jihadists, a monitor said on Sunday. The report comes amid fierce clashes on the outskirts of Damascus between the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, which is spearheading a major offensive in Iraq, and rebels, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. \"ISIL executed eight men in Deir Hafer in the east of Aleppo province\" on Saturday because they belonged to rebel groups that had fought against the jihadists as well as Assad's forces, it said. Also in Aleppo province, a ninth man was executed and crucified in Al-Bab town near the border with Turkey.","Abbas to ask UN to put Palestine under international protection. Ramallah (Palestinian Territories) (AFP) - Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas is to ask the United Nations to put the state of Palestine under \"international protection\" in light of the worsening violence in the Gaza Strip, the PLO said Sunday.","Russian swimmer tests positive for doping. LAUSANNE, Switzerland (AP) — FINA says Russian swimmer Olga Kluchnikova tested positive for a banned diuretic at the Russian national championships in May and has been serving a doping ban.","Hurricane Odile in Baja slams Baja California. CABO SAN LUCAS, Mexico (AP) — Hurricane Odile raked the Baja California Peninsula with strong winds and heavy rains early Monday as locals and tourists in the resort area of Los Cabos began to emerge from shelters and assess the damage.","Fashion district gets new cash reporting rules. LOS ANGELES (AP) — Federal authorities on Thursday slapped new financial reporting rules on 2,000 businesses in the Fashion District of Los Angeles in an effort to curtail suspected Mexican and Colombian drug money laundering after massive amounts of cash were seized in a raid.","Wise wins on halfpipe for another American gold. KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia (AP) — David Wise won the gold medal in the Olympic debut of halfpipe skiing Tuesday, cutting through heavy snow to easily outclass the field.","Saudi police kill 4 gunmen in eastern province. RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) — Saudi Arabia's Interior Ministry says government forces have shot and killed four gunmen in a restive eastern town that is heavily populated by minority Shiites.","Israel reinforces West Bank troops to search for three missing teens. By Yusri and Al-Jammal HEBRON West Bank (Reuters) - Israel was reinforcing troops in the occupied West Bank on Saturday to step up searches for three Israeli teenagers believed to have been abducted by Palestinians, a military source said. The disappearance of the three on Thursday as they tried to hitch a ride from a Jewish settlement where they were studying sparked a dragnet around the nearby Palestinian city of Hebron. It has also tested ties between Israel and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, already frayed by his power-sharing deal in April with Hamas Islamists hostile to the Jewish state. Israeli soldiers arrested at least 12 Hebron area residents, including two women, according to Palestinian officials.","Lebanese hostages threatened over Hezbollah Syria role. Beirut (AFP) - Al-Qaeda's Syria franchise Friday released a video showing nine Lebanese army and police hostages it said could pay the price for the Shiite group Hezbollah's military intervention in the Syrian conflict.","Warburg Pincus hires ArcelorMittal's ex-mining chief: FT. (Reuters) - U.S. private equity firm Warburg Pincus has appointed ArcelorMittal's former mining head, Peter Kukielski, as \"executive in residence\" to aid its plan to buy non-core assets from natural resource groups, the Financial Times reported on Sunday. According to the FT, Kukielski has already identified non-core assets at natural resources groups under pressure from subdued commodity prices. Kukielski told the newspaper that many large mining companies have decided to streamline their portfolios and divest assets that are not material to them as demand is uncertain, prices are dropping and investors are unhappy about the performance of the mining industry as a whole.","Prosecutors build Hariri bomb plot case on cellphone logs. By Thomas Escritt and Anthony Deutsch THE HAGUE (Reuters) - Four men accused of assassinating Lebanese statesman Rafik al-Hariri used dozens of mobile phones during the last weeks of his life to coordinate the massive car bombing that killed him and 21 others in 2005, prosecutors said on Thursday. The trial in absentia of the four, all members of the Hezbollah political party and militant group, began before a United Nations court in The Hague, nearly nine years after the bombing that nearly plunged Lebanon back into civil war. Hariri's son Saad - like his father, a former prime minister - said the trial would help promote justice and democracy in a country which has long been afflicted by political violence. \"We are beginning to see the unfolding of how prime minister Hariri and many others of the Cedar Revolution have been killed and assassinated because of their fight for democracy,\" he told reporters, referring to the protests after his father's death that put an end to decades of Syrian occupation of the country.","Pakistan prime minister pledges support for new Afghan president. By Syed Raza Hassan ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Looking to overcome years of mistrust and hostility between their two nations, Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and the new Afghan president, Ashraf Ghani, promised on Saturday to boost security and trade ties. The two neighbors have accused each other in the past of harboring anti-government Taliban insurgents across their shared border, and bilateral relations were often tempestuous under the previous Afghan president, Hamid Karzai. ...","Sturridge can be England centurion: Hodgson. London (AFP) - England manager Roy Hodgson has encouraged striker Daniel Sturridge to bring his superb Liverpool form to the international arena by predicting that he could go on to win 100 caps.","Germany warns over potential extremist threats. BERLIN (AP) — Germany's Foreign Ministry is warning citizens to be aware of potential threats from extremists inspired by the Islamic State group in a string of Arab, African and Asian countries.","Search for lost jet tests China, US capabilities. TOKYO (AP) — Finding the missing Malaysian jetliner would be a coup for any of the more than two dozen countries out there looking. But for China and the United States, it's a lot more than that — it has been a chance for the two rival powers in the Pacific to show off what they can do in a real-life humanitarian mission across one of the world's most hotly contested regions.","US teen Mikaela Shiffrin wins Olympic slalom gold. KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia (AP) — Mikaela Shiffrin made Alpine skiing history Friday as the youngest ever winner of an Olympic slalom gold medal after making an astonishing recovery midway through her second run.","Russian court convicts 4 in Volgograd bombings. MOSCOW (AP) — Russia's main investigative agency has announced the conviction and sentencing of four men accused of involvement in twin suicide bombings in Volgograd a year ago.","Anti-government protesters go on trial in Turkey. The trial of more than two dozen anti-government protesters began in Turkey on Thursday with one defendant blasting the charges against them as \"ridiculous\" and Amnesty International denouncing the process as a \"show trial\". Twenty-six members of the Taksim Solidarity umbrella group, including doctors, architects and engineers, face up to 29 years in prison for their part in leading the protests a year ago. The charges include founding a criminal syndicate, violating public order and organising illegal protests through social media. It is a very ridiculous charge,\" one of the key accused, Mucella Yapici, head of the Istanbul chamber of architects, told the court.","Oregon issues toxic algae warning for popular fishing lake. By Courtney Sherwood PORTLAND Ore. (Reuters) - Oregon health officials worried about the presence of dangerously toxic blue-green algae in waters used by the public issued a new warning on Tuesday, this time for a lake popular for fishing and camping. Tests on Cullaby Lake, near the northwest Oregon coast, confirmed high levels of microsystin, making waters unsafe for people and their pets, Oregon Health Authority spokesman Jonathan Modie said. ...","Christie continues Mexico trade mission. MEXICO CITY (AP) — New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is continuing a trade mission to Mexico with more closed-door meetings and a visit to one of the country's most cherished Catholic sites.","Libya PM threatens eastern protesters with troops. Libyan Prime Minister Ali Zeidan stepped up the pressure on protesters blocking eastern ports on Monday, telling them he had weeks ago ordered troops to prepare to move there. Zeidan has repeatedly warned he may use force to free up three key ports where protesters demanding more autonomy from Tripoli have cut off around 600,000 barrels per day of oil exports since summer. Armed protesters who defected from the state-run Petroleum Facilities Guard (PFG) in August seized Ras Lanuf, Es Sider and Zuetina ports, led by Ibrahim al-Jathran, a former rebel who fought against Muammar Gaddafi in Libya's uprising.","Suicide bomber kills 12 at crowded Iraq checkpoint. Hilla (Iraq) (AFP) - A suicide bomber detonated an explosives-rigged vehicle at a crowded checkpoint south of Baghdad on Sunday, killing 12 people and damaging dozens of cars, Iraqi police and a medical source said.","Double triumph for Japan in early World Cup races. DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Japanese horses dominated the two main supporting races of the $10 million Dubai World Cup.","London stocks rally as Scotland rejects independence. London (AFP) - The London stock market rallied sharply in opening trade on Friday after Scotland voted to reject independence in a crucial referendum.","Hagley Oval approved for World Cup opener. WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — The International Cricket Council has given final approval to Christchurch's Hagley Oval to host the opening match of next year's World Cup.","Australia to spend $84M on Malaysian jet search. CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — The Australian government plans to spend 90 million Australian dollars ($84 million) on the search for the missing Malaysian plane.","UN Security Council authorizes Syria aid convoys. The UN Security Council adopted a resolution Monday authorizing humanitarian convoys to assist more than one million Syrian civilians in rebel-held areas, without the consent of Damascus. The council unanimously approved the measure, including permanent members Russia and China, who have vetoed four Western-backed draft resolutions on Syria since the start of the conflict in 2011. The shipments will travel through four different border crossings -- two in Turkey (Bab a-Salam and Bab al-Hawa), one in Iraq (Al-Yarubiyah) and another in Jordan (Al-Ramtha). The resolution will allow immediate aid deliveries to 1.3 million civilians in rebel-held areas, British Ambassador Mark Lyall Grant told the Council.","Cameron and Irish PM bid to break deadlock in Belfast. London (AFP) - Prime Minister David Cameron and his Irish counterpart Enda Kenny engaged in marathon talks into the early hours of Friday in a bid to break political deadlock in Northern Ireland's fragile unity government.","Putin honors journalists as Ukraine propaganda war heats up. By Timothy Heritage and Elizabeth Piper MOSCOW/KIEV (Reuters) - Four weeks after Russia annexed Crimea to great fanfare, President Vladimir Putin quietly signed a decree honoring more than 300 journalists for their \"objective coverage\" of the region's seizure from Ukraine. The awards made under decree 279 to television, radio and newspapers loyal to Putin underline the importance of media in stirring patriotic sentiment over Ukraine. However, the decree's initial secrecy suggests Putin wishes to distance himself from the powerful Kremlin policy tool of the media onslaught. Decree 279 remained unexplained until a Russian newspaper reported its contents on Monday, a fortnight after the event, offering a glimpse into how sensitive the use of propaganda has become in the East-West standoff over Ukraine.","Four Afghan Guantanamo detainees repatriated, says Pentagon. Washington (AFP) - Four detainees held at the Guantanamo Bay US military prison have been repatriated to Afghanistan, the Pentagon said Saturday.","Spanish cargo ship slams into jetty in SW France. ANGLET, France (AP) — A military helicopter is evacuating the crew of a Spanish cargo ship that slammed into a jetty in choppy Atlantic Ocean waters off southwestern France.","One month to Scottish independence vote, Yes camp in tough fight. Glasgow (AFP) - With a month to go until Scotland votes on independence from Britain, polls suggest the plan will be defeated, leaving First Minister Alex Salmond and the Yes camp in an uphill battle to secure victory.","Female suicide bomber kills several in Nigeria. KANO, Nigeria (AP) — Witnesses say a woman blew herself up at a petrol station in northern Nigeria, killing at least three people.","Global shares start year in slow motion, yen resumes decline. By Wayne Cole SYDNEY (Reuters) - Asian markets got the new year off to a sluggish start as Chinese economic data disappointed ahead of a raft of reports on global manufacturing due out through the session. The drop in the yen has been viewed as positive for Japanese exports and corporate earnings, and a major reason its share markets outperformed all others last year. Japan's Nikkei was closed on Thursday but ended 2013 with an annual gain of 57 percent. Many analysts look for a further advance this year as the Bank of Japan remains committed to its massive stimulus campaign.","One year after Chavez, Venezuela gropes for way forward. Hugo Chavez, the charismatic ex-paratrooper who for 14 years drove a socialist-inspired revolution in oil-rich Venezuela, died one year ago -- and his deeply divided country is in crisis. Violent street protests that have left 18 dead, worsening living conditions and a darkening national mood have piled pressure on Chavez's handpicked successor, Nicolas Maduro, and raised ominous questions about where the country is headed.","Iran could provide arms to Iraq if requested: deputy minister. MOSCOW (Reuters) - A senior Iranian official said on Tuesday Tehran had no plans to send troops to Iraq but that it could provide Baghdad with arms if asked to do so in the \"fight against terrorism\". Deputy Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian also said during a visit to Moscow that events in Iraq were following a plan by the United States to turn the country into a \"second Ukraine\". (Reporting by Gabriela Baczynska, Editing by Timothy Heritage)","Final drinking water ban lifted in West Virginia. West Virginia authorities on Saturday completely lifted a 10-day-old ban on the use of tap water that was imposed after a chemical spill contaminated drinking water, but they advised pregnant women to continue using alternative water sources. The final 2 percent of the 300,000 customers affected by the spill have now been cleared to drink and wash from their tap, said West Virginia American Water spokeswoman Laura Jordan. However, out of an \"abundance of caution,\" the water utility advised pregnant women to consider an alternative drinking water source \"until the chemical is non-detectable in the water distribution system.\" Crews have been flushing out the water system around the capital of Charleston since January 9, when a chemical used to process coal leaked from a massive storage container into the Elk River, the main water source in the region.","American-Indian love story ends in death in Agra. LUCKNOW, India (AP) — Police say that an Indian man fatally stabbed his American wife before killing himself in Agra, the city that is home to the Taj Mahal and where the couple married in October.","Syria Kurds flood into Turkey, fleeing IS jihadists. Turkey-Syria Border (Turkey) (AFP) - Tens of thousands of Syrian Kurds flooded into Turkey on Saturday, fleeing an onslaught by the jihadist Islamic State group, as Kurdish and opposition officials called for international help.","Blue Bombers sign veteran defensive back Alex Suber to new contract. WINNIPEG - Alex Suber won't be hitting the CFL free-agent market Feb. 15.","Sanctions will damage Russia if not lifted quickly. MOSCOW (AP) — U.S. and European sanctions against Russia's energy and finance sectors are strong enough to cause deep, long-lasting damage within months unless Moscow persuades the West to repeal them by withdrawing support for Ukrainian insurgents.","Tropical Storm Fausto forms in Pacific off Mexico. MIAMI (AP) — Tropical Storm Fausto has formed over the Pacific Ocean far from Mexico's coast, and forecasters say it poses no immediate threat to land.","Wife of slain SAfrican hostage says she forgives. JOHANNESBURG (AP) — The wife of a South African hostage who was killed by a suspected militant in a U.S. raid on al-Qaida in Yemen says she forgives those who are responsible for his death.","Ebola-hit Liberia unveils strict border checks. President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf on Thursday announced strict checks on Liberia's borders with neighbouring Guinea and Sierra Leone, the two other countries at the epicentre of the Ebola epidemic. Liberia has been worst hit by the outbreak, with 4,665 recorded cases and 2,705 deaths, according to the World Health Organization. Cuba meanwhile has sent 49 doctors and nurses to Liberia to boost efforts to fight the epidemic.","Former China mining boss, linked to ex-security chief's son, on trial for murder. By Sui-Lee Wee and Benjamin Kang Lim BEIJING (Reuters) - A former Chinese mining magnate with links to the eldest son of retired security tsar Zhou Yongkang went on trial on Monday over charges including murder after being accused of leading a 36-member gang on a crime spree spanning two decades. Liu Han, the former chairman of unlisted Hanlong Group and once ranked the 230th richest person in China, faced trial in central Hubei province along with the other members of his \"mafia-style\" gang, state news agency Xinhua said. Xinhua said Liu, who was arrested last year, was facing charges ranging from murder to gun-running and extortion for crimes carried out in southwestern Sichuan province. His gang was responsible for nine murders, Xinhua said, without giving details.","PSG loses 1-0 at Lyon. PARIS (AP) — Paris Saint-Germain failed to get over the disappointment of its Champions League exit as it lost 1-0 at Lyon in the French league on Sunday.","Syria car bomb near Iraq kills at least 8: monitoring group. At least eight people were killed on Saturday when a car bomb exploded in a market in eastern Syria near the border with Iraq, a monitoring group said. The blast occurred in the town of al-Mayadin, which lies on the Euphrates River in the Deir al-Zor province, the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. The Observatory, which monitors violence in Syria through a network of sources, also said a number of people were seriously wounded in the blast but did not give a number. The area is a power base for the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), an al Qaeda splinter group active in Syria and Iraq, whose forces this week seized several major towns in northern Iraq and swept south towards Baghdad.","Ukraine to deploy troops in anti-terror operation. SLOVYANSK, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine is deploying troops in a \"large-scale anti-terrorist operation\" to resist attacks by armed pro-Russian forces, Ukraine's President Oleksandr Turchynov said on Sunday in a televised address.","NATO chief says 'peace at risk' as Russia faces G8 sanction. NATO's chief warned that Europe's peace and security were at risk from Russian threats of a military incursion in Ukraine as Moscow faced a barrage of warnings of reprisals, including the loss of its prestigious G8 seat. \"What Russia is doing now in Ukraine... threatens peace and security in Europe. Russia must stop its military activities,\" Anders Fogh Rasmussen said as he went into crisis talks on Ukraine with the alliance's 28 ambassadors. Speaking as the interim authorities of the former Soviet state called up all military reservists, Rasmussen said he had convened the North Atlantic Council \"because of President Putin's threats against this sovereign nation.\"","Syrian airstrikes, shelling kill 51 in Aleppo. BEIRUT (AP) — Syrian activists say 51 people, including 13 rebels, have been killed in a single day of government airstrikes and shelling of opposition-controlled districts of Aleppo.","Pistorius trial extended to May 16. Johannesburg (AFP) - The murder trial of Paralympian Oscar Pistorius for shooting dead his girlfriend has been extended until May 16, the South African court hearing the case said Sunday.","Kenyan security chiefs under fire as Islamist threat grows. Kenya's security chiefs were under mounting pressure Tuesday to resign after Islamist militants carried out another brazen attack, with the government accused of ignoring an increasingly sophisticated threat from Somalia's Al-Qaeda-linked Shebab. The Islamist group said its fighters carried out two nights of carnage that have left close to 60 Kenyans dead in a town and villages along Kenya's coast, before they \"returned peacefully to their base\" without a single arrest being made. The Law Society of Kenya said security forces were either \"incompetent or incapacitated\", and called for the resignation of police chief David Kimaiyo and the increasingly unpopular Interior Minister Joseph Ole Lenku. The Standard said it was incredulous at the scale and extreme violent nature of the attacks, the worst since last September's siege of the Westgate shopping mall in the capital Nairobi, in which 67 people were killed.","Nepal government urged to change amnesty plan. By Gopal Sharma KATHMANDU (Reuters) - Nepal's government faced calls on Friday from human rights and victims' groups not to grant amnesties over atrocities committed during the country's civil war for which nobody has been brought to justice. Wedged between China and India, the nascent republic suffered a decade-long insurgency that pitted Maoist guerrillas against the army. Eight years after the conflict ended, the new government has proposed the amnesties as part of legislation to establish a reconciliation process modeled on the approach taken by post-apartheid South Africa. \"We want the government to change the draft and ensure that those who committed serious crimes during the conflict are not given an amnesty,\" said Janak Bahadur Raut, who says he was tortured by the security forces during the conflict.","Greece: austerity bill angers neighborhood stores. ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Associations representing bakers, pharmacies, booksellers and milk producers have expressed angry opposition to a new austerity bill in Greece, a proposed overhaul of trading rules they fear will wipe out independent stores.","Items from ancient Sumerian city found in cupboard. LONDON (AP) — Amazing what you can find when you do a good clean out.","Bangladesh-Sri Lanka 1-day scoreboard. DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) — Scoreboard after Sri Lanka innings Monday in the first one-day International at Mirpur's Sher-e-Bangla Stadium:","DRCongo vigilante warning as army battles massacre rebels. Ministers appealed on Tuesday to panic-striken civilians in the volatile east of the Democratic Republic of Congo not to form militias to protect themselves after a string of massacres by Ugandan guerrillas. Defence Minister Alexandre Luba Ntambo warned that self-defence groups could further complicate the already febrile situation around the town of Beni, where as many as 120 people have been slaughtered in five weeks of night-time rebel raids. His call came as the Congolese army, backed UN peacekeeping troops, fought rebels of the Allied Democratic Forces and National Army for the Liberation of Uganda (ADF-NALU) for a second day on the edge of the town. As the fighting raged in the Virunga National Park around the town, families were burying the dead from the last attack when 11 people were killed -- mostly hacked to death with machetes -- in a raid on Saturday night.","Ireland lock O'Callaghan cited for alleged head kick. London (AFP) - Ireland lock Donncha O'Callaghan has been cited for allegedly kicking an opponent in the head, officials announced on Monday.","2022 head: No risk of Qatar losing World Cup. DOHA, Qatar (AP) — With FIFA taking a 2022 summer World Cup off the table, Qatar's tournament head now agrees that a winter tournament would be ideal.","In blow to Abbott, Australian court halt repatriation of Sri Lankan asylum seekers. A boat of 153 Sri Lankan asylum seekers remains stranded at sea today after Australia’s highest court blocked the government’s plan to return the passengers to their homeland. The Australian government yesterday pledged it would give 72 hours written notice before transferring the 153 asylum seekers to authorities there. Anyone found guilty of leaving Sri Lanka illegally faces two years in prison. Refugee lawyers said that Australia could be guilty of refoulement – the returning of refugees to countries where their lives or freedoms could be threatened – if screening was found to be inadequate. The government, which came to power last year after promising a tougher policy on illegal migration, argues that refugees intercepted outside Australian territorial waters aren't entitled to such protection.","Choi is early leader at Canadian Women's Open. LONDON, Ontario (AP) — Na Yeon Choi of South Korea chipped in for three of her nine birdies and tied the course record at 8-under 64 for the early lead at the Canadian Women's Open.","Wales coach Gatland offers up no excuses for Six Nations debacle. Wales coach Warren Gatland admitted he had no excuses after watching Ireland maul the two-time defending Six Nations champions at Lansdowne Road on Saturday. The visitors suffered their worst tournament defeat since 2006 and took 56 minutes to score, with Leigh Halfpenny's penalty alone helping them avoid a humiliating whitewash in a comprehensive 26-3 loss. Defeat dealt a huge, but not fatal, blow to Wales's hopes of becoming the first side to win three successive outright Six Nations titles. Ireland's tactics 'surprised' Gatland, the New Zealand-born coach admitted, but ill discipline and a lack of effectiveness at the breakdown also cost Wales dearly.","Russia's EU envoy says sanctions 'lead nowhere': agency. Russia's envoy to the European Union Vladimir Chizhov said on Wednesday that new sanctions imposed by the EU would lead nowhere and fail to help solve the Ukraine crisis, Russian news agency Interfax reported on Wednesday. \"Unfortunately, the decision confirms our conclusion that the European Union can not or does not want yet to abandon a course of boosting pressure through sanctions, which in itself leads nowhere and, in any case, does not contribute to de-escalation of the situation in Ukraine and around it,\" Chizhov told Interfax.","Blow for Cameron as second MP defects to UKIP. Doncaster (United Kingdom) (AFP) - Prime Minister David Cameron suffered a blow on Saturday as Mark Reckless defected to UKIP, the second Conservative backbencher to join the eurosceptic party in two months.","Chile coup anniversary leaves 14 wounded, 179 arrested. Fourteen people were wounded and 179 arrested during unrest that broke out on the 41st anniversary of the coup that brought Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet to power, police said Friday. Violent protests, gunfights and clashes with police routinely break out around events marking the day when Air Force planes bombed the presidential palace in 1973, overthrowing socialist president Salvador Allende, who committed suicide as troops stormed the building. Ten of the wounded were police officers.","Without Keystone, oil trains may cause six deaths per year: U.S. State Department report. (Reuters) - Replacing the Keystone XL pipeline with oil-laden freight trains from Canada may result in an average of six additional rail-related deaths per year, according to a U.S. State Department report that is adding to pressure for President Barack Obama to approve the line. The long-awaited study, released on Friday, focused on the environmental impact of TransCanada's $5.4 billion pipeline, but also spent several pages analyzing the potential human impact of various ways to transport oil, using historical injury and fatality statistics for railways and oil pipelines. Shipping another 830,000 barrels per day (bpd) of crude \"would result in an estimated 49 additional injuries and six additional fatalities for the No Action rail scenarios compared to one additional injury and no fatalities\" per year if Keystone XL is built, according to the report. Keystone XL would carry 830,000 bpd from Alberta's oil sands U.S. refiners, but has been awaiting a presidential permit for more than five years.","Kurds offer to export 100,000 bpd of oil in Iraq row. Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region pledged on Thursday to export 100,000 barrels of oil per day through central government-controlled pipelines in a bid to resolve an impasse with Baghdad. The move comes with Kurdish authorities in Arbil and the central government locked in a row over energy exports in which Baghdad has choked off funds to the northern region, draining its reserves. \"As a goodwill gesture, the Kurdistan regional government (KRG) has offered to make a contribution to Iraq oil pipeline exports to give the negotiations (between Baghdad and Arbil) the maximum chance of success,\" it said in a statement posted on its website.","Celtic held by late Sutton goal. John Sutton grabbed a stoppage time equaliser as Motherwell held champions Celtic to a 3-3 draw in a thrilling game at Fir Park in the Scottish Premiership on Saturday. The home side had raced into an early lead when Efe Ambrose misjudged the flight of a lofted pass to let in Sutton to fire home a fifth minute opener. Kris Commons saw his 22nd minute penalty saved by Gunnar Nielsen before Zane Francis-Angol made it 2-0 when he poked past Fraser Forster in the 44th minute. Anthony Stokes pulled one back for Celtic in first-half stoppage time with an audacious finish before Georgios Samaras prodded home an equaliser in the 56th minute.","Search resumes after Everest's worst climbing tragedy. By Gopal Sharma KATHMANDU (Reuters) - Sherpa climbers aided by helicopters resumed a search on Saturday for four missing guides after an ice avalanche swept the lower slopes of Mount Everest, killing at least 12 in the deadliest accident on the world's highest mountain. \"I sat and counted 13 helicopter lifts - 12 were dead bodies flying overhead suspended by a long line from a helicopter,\" Tim Rippel of Peak Freaks Expeditions wrote in a blog. \"Everyone is shaken here at Base Camp. Reality has set in.\" The ice avalanche struck a perilous passage called the Khumbu Icefall, which is riddled with crevasses and piled with seracs - massive ice boulders or columns that can break free without warning.","China asks foreign media to report Hong Kong unrest 'objectively'. HONG KONG (Reuters) - A Chinese official told foreign media in Hong Kong on Wednesday that China has seen interference in the city's pro-democracy protests from outside forces and called on international journalists to report \"objectively\". \"Since the occurrence of this event, from the statements and the rhetoric and the behavior of the outside forces of political figures, of some parliamentarians and individual media, I think such a kind of interference certainly exists,\" the official told reporters, speaking on condition of anonymity. ...","Vettel bewildered by qualifying flop in Melbourne. MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Reigning Formula One world champion Sebastian Vettel says he can't understand why he struggled so much in a rain-hit qualifying for the Australian Grand Prix on Saturday, pushing him down to a starting grid spot of 12th for Sunday's race.","Full-strength Bayern tune up for Arsenal. Runaway leaders Bayern Munich will be at virtually full strength for Saturday's Bundesliga clash at VfL Wolfsburg as they tune up for next week's Champions League clash with Arsenal. Long-term knee-injury victim Holger Badstuber is the only absentee as stars Franck Ribery, Arjen Robben, Thomas Mueller and Xherdan Shaqiri all return from recent knocks.","Ambrose leaving NASCAR to return to Australia. JOLIET, Ill. (AP) — Marcos Ambrose has informed Richard Petty Motorsports he will leave NASCAR at the end of this season and return to his native Australia.","Dotcom's political aspirations in New Zealand shunned in election. Internet mogul Kim Dotcom confessed his brand was \"poison\" after his aspirations of bringing down the New Zealand government were overwhelmingly shunned in Saturday's election.","Japanese archeologists unearth tomb of ancient Egyptian beer brewer in Luxor. CAIRO - Egypt's minister of antiquities says Japanese archeologists have unearthed the tomb of an ancient beer brewer in the city of Luxor that is more than 3,000 years old.","Egypt tattoo artists meet in Cairo, aim to break taboos. CAIRO (AP) — In Egypt, where tattoos are widely considered taboo, organizers have held a convention to challenge stereotypes and show-off the ink designs as an art form.","PM Cameron to make one of last Scotland visits before vote to try to keep UK intact. British Prime Minister David Cameron will make one of his final visits to Scotland later on Monday four days before a historic independence referendum to warn Scots a vote to leave the United Kingdom is a forever choice. With opinion polls suggesting the referendum remains too close to call, Cameron, the leader of the England-centric ruling Conservative party, is expected to try to appeal to Scots' emotions by likening the four-nation UK to a family. If Scotland votes \"yes\" the UK will split and we will go our separate ways forever,\" he is expected to say, according to advance extracts given to local media by his office. Cameron is likely to repeat the anti-independence \"Better Together\" campaign's core message: That inside the UK Scotland can have the benefits of belonging to a larger more influential entity while enjoying an ever increasing measure of autonomy.","Don't 'hurry' to back Palestinian govt, Israel PM says. World governments should not rush to approve the new Palestinian cabinet, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday, after the Palestinians accused the Jewish state of punishing them over a unity deal. \"I call on all responsible elements within the international community not to hurry to recognise the Palestinian government that Hamas is part of, and which relies on Hamas,\" the rightwing premier told ministers at the weekly cabinet meeting, saying it would \"strengthen terror\". Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas has said the new government, which is to be sworn in on Monday in Ramallah, will be a government of political independents that will reject violence, recognise Israel and abide by all existing agreements. Although the formal line-up has not yet been made public, it has been pieced together by Abbas's mainstream Fatah movement and Gaza's Islamist Hamas rulers in line with a reconciliation deal inked in April.","Teen queens showing signs of promise at Australian Open. By Simon Cambers MELBOURNE (Reuters) - When Martina Hingis was busy winning grand slam titles in the late 1990s, it seemed like teenage stars were ten a penny in the women's game. Fast-forward to 2014 and it is now eight years since a teenager won a grand slam title, when Maria Sharapova the U.S. Open at 19. Since then, only three teenagers - Sharapova at the Australian Open in 2007, Ana Ivanovic at the French Open the same year and Caroline Wozniacki at the U.S. Open in 2009 - have even made it to a grand slam final. More promising teenagers have bitten the dust in the first two rounds of the Australian Open but there are signs that youth may be coming of age.","Venezuela opposition leader wary of Maduro's rapprochement. By Andrew Cawthorne and Diego Ore HIGUEROTE, Venezuela (Reuters) - Venezuela's opposition leader has welcomed President Nicolas Maduro's dialogue with once-vilified political foes but also suspects it may be a ploy to defuse anger over his failure to control crime and end economic scarcities. After years of polarized politics dating from predecessor Hugo Chavez's 14-year rule, Maduro's socialist government has held a string of meetings with opposition governors and mayors since December to strategize over violent crime and other national problems. A curt handshake between opposition leader Henrique Capriles and Maduro at one meeting was the most visible sign of the rapprochement.","UCI accused of giving Froome unfair advantage. World cycling's governing body has been accused of giving British rider Chris Froome an unfair advantage in the Tour of Romandie in April by allowing him to use a steroid-based drug. According to the French Sunday newspaper, Le Journal du Dimanche, Froome, who went on to win the race in Switzerland, was suffering from a chill and was granted permission to use the steroid to treat the illness under the Therapeutic Use Exemption (TUE) rule. The request for a TUE came from Tour de France winner Froome's Sky team doctor, Alan Farrell, and was approved \"solely by the UCI medical sirector Mario Zorzoli\", the paper claimed. The World Anti-Doping Agency is apprently studying the case, the paper said.","Asia stocks muted as China trade drops. TOKYO (AP) — Asian stock markets were muted Thursday as worse-than-expected Chinese trade figures tempered optimism stemming from signs the Federal Reserve won't rush to raise interest rates.","Family: Alice Herz-Sommer, believed world's oldest Holocaust survivor, dies at age 110. LONDON (AP) — Family: Alice Herz-Sommer, believed world's oldest Holocaust survivor, dies at age 110.","TSX may open lower on Italian crisis. (Reuters) - Canada's main stock index looked set to open lower on Thursday as a fresh crisis in the Italian government coupled with disappointing European corporate results hit investor sentiment. (Reporting by Mononshila Deka in Banagalore)","Royal Bank of Scotland: $13.7 billion pre-tax loss. LONDON (AP) — Taxpayer-owned Royal Bank of Scotland has taken a whopping 8.2 billion-pound ($13.7 billion) pre-tax loss for 2013 as it announced a new plan to streamline the bank to make it smaller and safer.","Dempsey: Army may still pursue desertion charges. BRUSSELS (AP) — U.S. Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Martin Dempsey says the Army may still pursue an investigation that could lead to desertion charges against Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl (boh BURG'-dahl), who was freed from five years of Taliban captivity in a prisoner exchange last weekend.","Syria: Government forces seize key rebel town. DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — Syria said Sunday its military has seized a key town on the Lebanese border that was the target of a months-long army offensive. Activists said fighting was still ongoing but the government was in effective control of much of Yabroud.","Asian stocks lower as slowdown concerns linger. SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Asian stock markets were lower Monday, shrugging off robust Chinese trade figures as investors exited riskier assets after concerns resurfaced about the global economic outlook.","Hagel credits Iraqi security forces with progress. CAMP BUEHRING, Kuwait (AP) — U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel says Iraqi security forces have \"new momentum\" in their battle to regain territory lost this year to the Islamic State group.","Torres sparks comeback as AC Milan-Empoli ends 2-2. EMPOLI, Italy (AP) — Fernando Torres scored in his first start for AC Milan as his side came back from two goals down to draw 2-2 at promoted Empoli in Serie A on Tuesday.","Southampton chairman Cortese quits club. Nicola Cortese has resigned as non-executive chairman of Southampton, the Premier League club announced Wednesday. Saints said club owner Katharina Liebherr would take over Cortese's post while the club looked to appoint a chief executive. \"With great regret we have accepted the resignation of Mr Cortese,\" Liebherr said in a statement. Cortese joined Southampton in 2009 after playing a key role in the purchase of the south coast club by Swiss businessman Markus Liebherr -- Katharina's father.","UK government removes Lego figures from Scotland independence campaign. By Belinda Goldsmith LONDON (Reuters) - The British government has removed images of Lego figures enjoying the possible gains of Scots rejecting a vote for independence, after the Danish toy maker complained about the use of its characters in a online campaign. The government produced a list of 12 things Scots could buy with the extra 1,400 pounds ($2,300) a year it said they would have if they voted to stay part of the United Kingdom in a Sept. 18 referendum, using figures made from Lego to illustrate the options. The choices, posted on social media site Buzzfeed and an official government website, ranged from taking a holiday outside Scotland, with a Lego woman sunning herself on a beach, to watching soccer club Aberdeen play all season with a few pies thrown in. But not all Scots were amused by the campaign, venting their anger on Twitter, and Scotland's ruling Scottish National Party (SNP) decried it as typical of the attitudes of London-based lawmakers.","Blatter: Use video to punish divers, injury fakers. FIFA President Sepp Blatter wants players who dive, fake injuries or waste time to be punished retrospectively using video evidence.","U.S.: Russian planes flew near California, Guam, in upped activity. By David Brunnstrom WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The head of U.S. air forces in the Pacific said on Monday that Russia's intervention in Ukraine had been accompanied by a significant increase in Russian air activity in the Asia-Pacific region in a show of strength and to gather intelligence. General Herbert \"Hawk\" Carlisle said the activity had included Russian flights to the coast of California, and around the U.S. Pacific island of Guam. Carlisle said the number of long-range Russian patrols around the Japanese islands and Korea had increased \"drastically.\" He said there had also been \"a lot more ship activity as well.\" Speaking at Washington's Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank, Carlisle showed a slide of a U.S. F-15 fighter jet intercepting a Russian \"Bear\" aircraft over Guam. He used the Cold War NATO name for Russia's Tupolov Tu-95 strategic bomber.","Richie McCaw breaks thumb, out for 8 weeks. WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — All Blacks captain Richie McCaw will be sidelined for up to eight weeks after suffering a broken thumb Friday in the second round of the Super 15 rugby tournament.","Novartis cites momentum in 3 percent profit rise. GENEVA (AP) — Swiss pharmaceutical company Novartis AG says its second-quarter profit rose 3 percent from a year earlier, reflecting solid growth and an increased focus on core products.","Islamic militants seize 2 northern Syrian towns. BEIRUT (AP) — Syrian opposition activists say extremists from the Islamic State group have seized key towns and villages near the border with Turkey after deadly clashes with other rebels in the area.","Egyptian court jails 102 Islamists for 10 years. CAIRO (AP) — An Egyptian criminal court has sentenced 102 defendants it describes as Muslim Brotherhood supporters to 10 years in prison each on charges of violent rioting in a Cairo neighborhood and possession of weapons.","Opener Gambhir recalled for England test tour. MUMBAI, India (AP) — Indian selectors have named opener Gautam Gambhir in an 18-man squad announced for an upcoming test series in England.","Taliban bombing near Pakistan military HQ kills nine. Rawalpindi (Pakistan) (AFP) - A Taliban suicide bomber killed at least nine people in a market close to Pakistan's military headquarters on Monday, a day after one of the deadliest attacks on security forces in recent years. A further 18 people were wounded in the blast which tore through RA bazaar in Rawalpindi, Islamabad's twin city, at around 7.45 am (0245 GMT), officials said. Sajid Zafar Dall, the top government official in Rawalpindi, confirmed the blast was a suicide attack. It came a day after the Pakistani Taliban killed 20 soldiers and wounded 30 others in a suicide bombing in the northwestern town of Bannu.","Man accused of abusing, killing 7 cats that belonged to fiancee's family in Conn.. ENFIELD, Conn. - Police in Connecticut say a 20-year-old man severely abused and killed seven cats belonging to his fiancee's family, which has been rescuing cats for more than a decade.","At least 64 killed in two days of attacks on Kenyan coast. Mpeketoni (Kenya) (AFP) - At least 64 people have been killed in two consecutive nights of carnage in Kenya's coastal region, officials said Tuesday, with the Kenyan president blaming \"local political networks\" and Somalia's Shebab insisting they were responsible. Over 50 people are missing following the massacres, the Red Cross said, with scores first fleeing an attack overnight Sunday in the town of Mpeketoni in which at least 49 people were killed, and then a second in the nearby village of Poromoko late Monday where gunmen slaughtered 15 people. The Al-Qaeda-linked Islamists said its fighters had carried out the attacks, close to the tourist island of Lamu, and that its commando unit had returned to base unhindered. \"The commandos have been going to several places looking for military personnel,\" Shebab's military spokesman Abdulaziz Abu Musab told AFP by telephone, without saying if the attackers remained in Kenya or had driven back across the Somali border, around 100 kilometres (60 miles) to the north.","Russia's seizure of Crimea denounced at U.N. rights forum. More than 40 mainly Western countries led by the United States on Wednesday denounced Russia's annexation of Crimea and voiced concern for the fate of minority Tatars as well as missing activists and journalists. In a joint statement to the United Nations Human Rights Council, they urged Russia to allow international monitors to deploy across Ukraine, \"including Crimea\". Russia has agreed with the 56 other members of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) to send a six-month monitoring mission to Ukraine, but said it had no mandate in Crimea. Paula Schriefer, U.S. deputy assistant secretary of state, read a two-page statement to the Geneva forum from 42 countries, saying: \"We call on Russia and all concerned to ensure full and unimpeded access and protection for the teams to all of Ukraine, including Crimea ...\" \"We are deeply concerned about credible reports of kidnappings of journalists and activists, the blocking of independent media and the barring of independent international observers,\" she said.","Six Nations: Scotland snatches 21-20 win in Italy. ROME (AP) — Duncan Weir scored a last-gasp drop goal to help Scotland beat Italy 21-20 Saturday and earn its first victory in this year's Six Nations.","Syrian Kurds fleeing IS group cross into Turkey. ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — A Turkish official says the country has opened its border with Syria to allow up to 4,000 people, mostly Kurds, to cross to safety as they flee militants from the Islamic State group.","50 killed in bomb attack on rally, police and troops voting in Iraq. By Ahmed Rasheed and Kareem Raheem BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Fifty people were killed on Monday as suicide bombers attacked a political rally and Iraqi police and soldiers cast their votes early for a national election in two days' time, authorities and witnesses said. A suicide attacker killed at least 30 people and wounded 50 others at a Kurdish political gathering in the town of Khanaqin, 140 km (100 miles) northeast of Baghdad, security sources said. The Kurds were celebrating the television appearance of Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, a Kurd incapacitated since late 2012, who cast his vote in Germany where he was undergoing medical treatment. \"The attacker snuck among the crowds near the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan's headquarters and blew himself up, causing a tragic massacre,\" one police officer said, sobbing after he discovered his brother was among those killed.","Al-Qaeda convict flew into Britain wearing shoe-bomb. A British terror convict flew from Pakistan to London wearing a shoe-bomb that he was supposed to detonate on a US passenger jet, a New York trial heard Tuesday. Star prosecution witness Saajid Badat, testifying at the trial of Osama bin Laden's son-in-law on Tuesday, revealed he flew via the Netherlands wearing the bomb. Once back in Britain he was supposed to fly across the Atlantic and bomb a domestic US flight but a reunion with his parents, after three years in Afghanistan, changed his mind. He said he met bin Laden one-on-one to discuss the plot and admitted that he \"envied\" the 9/11 hijackers.","Indonesia says missing AirAsia plane could be at 'bottom of sea'. By Fergus Jensen and Siva Govindasamy JAKARTA (Reuters) - A missing AirAsia jet carrying 162 people could be at the bottom of the sea after it was presumed to have crashed off the Indonesian coast, an official said on Monday, as countries around Asia sent ships and planes to help in the search effort. The Indonesia AirAsia plane, an Airbus A320-200, disappeared after its pilot failed to get permission to fly higher to avoid bad weather during a flight from the Indonesian city of Surabaya to Singapore on Sunday. ...","Mosul governor urges US air strikes on militants. The exiled governor of Mosul, Iraq's second city which was seized by Islamist fighters last week, has called for US and Turkish air strikes against the militants. \"Air strikes might be conducted, not in the cities but on (the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant) ISIL bases in uninhabited areas,\" Atil al-Nujaifi said in comments published Sunday in Turkish newspaper Hurriyet. His comments came as Washington deployed an aircraft carrier to the Gulf and Baghdad launched a counter-offensive against extremist Sunni militants who have overrun all of one Iraqi province and chunks of three more since launching their offensive last Monday. Speaking from Arbil in Iraqi Kurdistan, Nujaifi said he doubted Baghdad's security forces -- some of whom abandoned their uniforms and vehicles when ISIL fighters attacked -- would be able to repel the militant advance on their own.","Kerry says he's not worried by criticism in Israel. WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said Tuesday that widespread criticism of his efforts to win a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas do not worry him and said he will continue to work toward that goal because Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu asked him to.","Pakistani woman raped, killed and hanged from tree: police. A 20-year-old woman has been gang-raped, killed and hanged from a tree in Pakistan in a case with a chilling resemblance to a double rape and murder that caused outrage in neighbouring India last month. Pakistani police said Muzammil Bibi, 20, was attacked by three men in a field in the impoverished Layyah area of densely populated Punjab province. \"This is the first time in my 22 years of service in the police that I have seen such a case, where a girl was raped in this way and found hanging from a tree,\" senior officer Sadaqat Ali Chohan told Reuters. \"We have heard of such cases in India but never in Pakistan.","China criticizes Japan over comments doubting Nanjing massacre. China's Foreign Ministry has criticized remarks by a board member of Japan's state broadcaster who said a massacre carried out by Japanese troops in China's then-capital of Nanjing in 1937 did not happen. China consistently reminds people of Japan's historical brutality, such as the Nanjing Massacre in which China says Japanese troops killed 300,000 people.","Man accused in Iranian's death depicted as violent. HOUSTON (AP) — U.S. federal prosecutors say a Jordanian-born man facing murder charges in the 2012 death of an Iranian activist also played a role in his own son-in-law's death nearly a year later.","Nishikori is 1st Japan Slam semifinalist since '33. NEW YORK (AP) — Kei Nishikori felt like he had jet lag.","Mercedes production chief quits for personal reasons -CEO. Mercedes-Benz production chief Andreas Renschler is leaving the German carmaker \"for personal reasons\" with immediate effect, parent Daimler said on Tuesday. Renschler, who took the job last April after running Daimler's trucks division for years, will be replaced by Markus Schaefer, head of production planning at Mercedes passenger cars, the automaker said in a statement. \"I very much regret that he (Renschler) is leaving the company for personal reasons,\" Daimler Chief Executive Dieter Zetsche said, noting Renschler's contribution to last year's launch of the Mercedes flagship S-Class sedan.","Thousands hold new pro-Gaza rally in Paris amid tight security. Several thousands held a fresh protest against the Israeli offensive in Gaza on Wednesday in Paris amid tight security days after similar rallies descended into violence and looting. The government, which had banned the prior protests seeking to restrain what it called anti-Semitic radicals, authorised Wednesday's march after its organisers gave \"security guarantees\", Prime Minister Manuel Valls said. A police source said more than 1,000 undercover and uniformed officers would be deployed along the march route, which ends in the upscale Invalides area where several government ministries are located. The marchers, many of whom held Palestinian flags or stickers saying \"Boycott Israel\", shouted slogans such as \"Israel killer\" and \"Long live Palestine, long live the resistance!\".","Ukraine prompts fresh U.S. look at use of Russian rocket engines. The Pentagon is going to take a fresh look at U.S. reliance on Russian-built engines to power American rockets that launch large U.S. government satellites into orbit, in light of the Ukraine crisis, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel told Congress on Thursday. U.S. dependence on Russian engines has long been a concern of U.S. lawmakers, but those worries were heightened by mounting tensions between Washington and Moscow over Russia's seizure of Crimea, an autonomous region in Ukraine. Asked at a congressional hearing about whether it was time for the United States to develop additional capabilities for making powerful rocket engines given the situation in Ukraine, Hagel said: \"You're obviously referring to the relationship we have with the Russians on the rocket motors.\" \"I think this is going to engage us in a review of that issue.","Colombia beats Greece 3-0 in Group C opener. BELO HORIZONTE, Brazil (AP) — Colombia started its first World Cup campaign in 16 years in dazzling fashion, beating Greece 3-0 with goals from Pablo Armero, Teofilo Gutierrez and James Rodriguez in the Group C opener on Saturday.","Friends of Syria group urges National Coalition to attend peace talks. The Friends of Syria, an alliance of mainly Western and Gulf Arab countries who support the Syrian opposition, on Sunday called on them to attend peace talks in Switzerland later this month. \"We urge the National Coalition to respond positively to the invitation to set up the Syrian opposition delegation sent by the U.N. Secretary General,\" the group said in a joint statement.","Storm leaves 200,000 displaced in Philippines, heads for Taiwan. MANILA (Reuters) - Storm Fung-Wong churned towards Taiwan on Saturday after killing at least five people in the Philippines, and forcing some 200,000 people into temporary shelter, including in the capital Manila, to escape massive flooding. Most schools on the main island of Luzon remained closed for a second day as a huge mopping-up operation began. Some public offices have reopened. \"Some of our things are buried in mud, it will take awhile to clean up,\" a resident in Marikina City told Reuters while clearing up layers of mud and debris inside their residence. ...","Magath wants chance to lead Fulham back to top-flight. Stoke-on-Trent (United Kingdom) (AFP) - Felix Magath wants to be given the responsibility of leading Fulham back to the Premier League despite suffering one of the worst days of his managerial career. Magath suffered his first relegation as a manager as second bottom Fulham's drop into the Championship was confirmed after a 4-1 thrashing at Stoke on Saturday. But Magath wants to be trusted with reviving Fulham in the second tier after having little time to make his mark since replacing Rene Meulensteen in February. Lacklustre Fulham went down in tame fashion at the Britannia Stadium and Magath was disappointed his side could not recover despite only trailing 1-0 at the break.","Bahrain activist Rajab released pending verdict. MANAMA, Bahrain (AP) — A Bahraini defense lawyer says prominent human rights advocate Nabeel Rajab has been released from jail pending a court verdict against him over charges his Twitter messages insulted government institutions.","Pope warns of fallout from poorly trained priests. VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis has warned that priests can become \"little monsters\" if they aren't trained properly as seminarians, saying their time studying must be used to mold their hearts as well as their minds.","EU edges to economic sanctions on Russia but narrows scope. By Adrian Croft and Barbara Lewis BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union reached outline agreement on Friday to impose the first economic sanctions on Russia over its behavior in Ukraine but scaled back their scope to exclude technology for the crucial gas sector. The EU also imposed travel bans and asset freezes on the chiefs of Russia's FSB security service and foreign intelligence service and a number of other top Russian officials, saying they had helped shape Russian government policy that threatened Ukraine's sovereignty and national integrity. FSB director Alexander Bortnikov and Mikhail Fradkov, a former prime minister who now heads the foreign intelligence service, were among 15 Russians or Ukrainians and 18 companies and other organizations named in the EU's latest sanctions list.","Bigger Russian artillery moving into Ukraine soon. WASHINGTON (AP) — The Pentagon says the movement of Russian heavy caliber artillery systems across the border into Ukraine is \"imminent\", escalating the military action there.","Japanese in North Korea for talks on abductions. PYONGYANG, North Korea (AP) — A Japanese government delegation has arrived in Pyongyang to discuss North Korea's investigation into the fates of Japanese citizens who were abducted by the North's agents in the 1970s and 1980s.","Thousands in Nepal hug trees for world record. KATMANDU, Nepal (AP) — More than 2,000 people have gathered in a park in Nepal's capital in a bid to set the record for the largest tree hug.","Deposed C.Africa leader denies orchestrating violence. Francois Bozize, the former Central African leader, denied backing Christian militias that have wreaked havoc in the country and called on the current president who deposed him to resign in an interview broadcast Thursday. The Central African Republic has plunged into chaos since mainly Muslim Seleka rebels staged a coup in March, prompting French forces to intervene last month after hundreds died in violence pitting the former rebels against Christian militias known as the anti-balaka (anti-machete). Michel Djotodia, the Seleka leader who was installed as president of the former French colony, has accused Bozize of supporting the Christian militias battling his former rebels -- a claim the latter denies. Asked whether he condemned the atrocities perpetrated by the Christian militias, he responded: \"That's what you say.","South African park considers rhino evacuation. JOHANNESBURG (AP) — Officials at Kruger park, South Africa's flagship wildlife reserve, are considering a plan to move some rhinos out of the park in an attempt to protect them from poachers.","Crowd tries to charge Hong Kong democracy protest. HONG KONG (AP) — An angry crowd was trying to charge barricades used by democracy protesters to occupy part of downtown Hong Kong as a standoff with authorities dragged into a third week.","Turkish protesters tear-gassed near Syrian border: report. Ankara (AFP) - Turkish police and troops fired tear gas and water cannon on Friday at scores of people staging a protest near the Syrian border at Ankara's refusal to take in Kurds fleeing clashes with Islamic State (IS) jihadists, local media reported.","New Anne Frank play opening in Amsterdam. AMSTERDAM (AP) — Seeking to engage a new generation with the tragic story of Anne Frank, a major new play based on the Jewish teenager's diary opens Thursday in Amsterdam.","Vatican defrocks ex-ambassador in sex abuse case. VATICAN CITY (AP) — The Vatican has defrocked its former ambassador to the Dominican Republic for sexually abusing boys. It's the first time a top papal envoy has been convicted of the crime and signals that Pope Francis is serious about imposing \"zero tolerance\" for abuse, regardless of rank.","Harris bowls Australia to S.Africa series win. By Nick Said CAPE TOWN (Reuters) - Australia's Ryan Harris took the last two wickets as South Africa came within five overs of saving the third test on a dramatic day in which a third umpire decision came close to deciding the outcome of the match. South Africa were bowled out for 265 as Australia won the series-deciding third test by 245 runs at Newlands on Wednesday, leaving their captain Graeme Smith to retire from international cricket with a defeat. Not even a controversial third umpire decision could derail Australia's victory charge, though they left it late in the day to force the win with Harris (four for 32) the hero. Vernon Philander was not out on 51 after surviving a controversial moment with 16 overs remaining that left Australia seething when third umpire Richard Illingworth overturned a decision against him.","Men's World Cup downhill rescheduled for Norway. A twice-cancelled World Cup men's downhill has been rescheduled to be run at Norway after the Sochi Olympics.","Rosneft CEO says Russian business may turn elsewhere over sanctions: report. MOSCOW (Reuters) - Igor Sechin, chief executive officer of Russia's top oil producer Rosneft, said on Tuesday Russian business could turn elsewhere in the case of western sanctions over Ukraine, Prime news agency reported on Tuesday. Sechin said he may buy more Russian shares in Rosneft to capitalize on the \"market environment\" caused by possible sanctions. Russia's stock market has plummeted since President Vladimir Putin signaled he would not back down over Ukraine. ...","Canada PM to visit Ukraine. OTTAWA, Ontario (AP) — Canada's prime minister will travel to Ukraine on Saturday to attend the swearing-in of the country's new president.","Honda ordered to give Takata air bag papers to U.S. agency. By Ben Klayman and Paul Lienert DETROIT (Reuters) - U.S. safety regulators ordered Japanese automaker Honda Motor Co Ltd on Wednesday to provide documents and answer questions under oath about potentially defective air bags installed in millions of recalled U.S. vehicles. The air bags were made by Japanese supplier Takata Corp, which received a similar order last Thursday from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. ...","3 convicted of mailing methamphetamine to Guam. HAGATNA, Guam (AP) — A Guam jury has convicted three people of mailing drugs from Las Vegas to Guam.","Malaysia's handling of lost plane irritates China. BEIJING (AP) — The search for a missing jetliner with Chinese travelers aboard has revealed the limits of Beijing's influence in its own backyard and left communist leaders facing outrage from their public.","China Reacts to Terrorism ‘Double-Standard’ After Kunming Mass Murder. On March 1, in the southwestern Chinese city of Kunming, assailants armed with cleavers, daggers and other knives brutally ended the lives of at least 29 people at a railway station, a terror spree that has been blamed on separatists from the northwestern region of Xinjiang, home to the Uighur ethnic group. On the evening of March 3, China’s state news agency Xinhua announced that three other suspects on the run had been captured. Minutes after the Kunming carnage, Chinese journalists began covering the attack online, re-posting photos from the scene of devastation. Other reporters, who happened to be in Yunnan’s provincial capital Kunming, like Lu Minghe, a journalist from the respected Southern Weekly, quickly posted their initial takes.","Al Qaeda renegade group kills 15 Kurds in northern Syria. An al Qaeda renegade group killed 15 Kurdish people, seven of them children, in an attack on a village in northern Syria, a monitoring group and a photographer at the scene said on Friday. The attack by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, which was disowned by al Qaeda's central command earlier this year, occurred during a six-month-old ISIL offensive against Syrian Kurds and various rebel groups that has weakened the revolt against President Bashar al-Assad and killed thousands. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and a freelance photographer said the attack took place on Thursday near the Kurdish town of Ras al-Ain after militants stormed a village. Ras al-Ain, 600 km (375 miles) from Damascus, is part of Syria's northeastern oil-producing province of Hasaka, home to many of the million-strong Syrian Kurdish minority.","Boko Haram leader claims blast in Nigeria's Lagos: AFP. Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau has claimed responsibility for two explosions on June 25 at a fuel depot in Lagos, Nigeria's commercial hub, AFP reported on Sunday, which, if true, would be the first recorded attack on the city by the militants. \"A bomb went off in Lagos. The two blasts minutes apart last month in the country's main port, Apapa, were almost certainly caused by bombs, three senior security sources and the manager of a major container company told Reuters. A confirmed attack by Boko Haram would be a cause for concern.","Chevron begins drilling for shale gas in Romania. BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) — U.S. oil company Chevron says it has begun drilling for shale gas at its exploration well site in northeastern Romania, a project which has drawn protests from local residents.","BOJ Kuroda: Japan getting on track towards reaching price target. TOKYO (Reuters) - Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda said on Wednesday that Japan's economy is getting on track towards achieving a 2 percent inflation target as price hikes spread to a broader range of goods on the back of a narrowing output gap. Kuroda, speaking in parliament, also said that the economy is recovering moderately. (Reporting by Tetsushi Kajimoto; Editing by Dominic Lau and Edmund Klamann)","Ukraine forces fight fierce battle with eastern separatists. Ukrainian forces and pro-Russian separatists were locked in a fierce battle in the rebellious east of the country on Thursday, Ukrainian military sources said. One military source said heavy fighting broke out at around 4 a.m. near the town of Krasny Liman, which has been under government control since early this month, and that separatists in the area appeared to have tried to break through a cordon of government troops. Dmytro Tymchuk, a military analyst who has good sources in the military, said separately that fighting had begun when separatists refused a call for them to lay down their arms in line with a peace plan outlined by President Petro Poroshenko. Asked about the report that 4,000 separatists could be involved, Seleznyov replied: \"Then, there'll be 4,000 coffins\".","Vienna Philharmonic wins Birgit Nilsson Prize. VIENNA (AP) — The Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra is the winner of this year's $1 million Birgit Nilsson Prize, officials of the prestigious classical musical award announced Wednesday.","Second European monitoring team missing in east Ukraine. A second team of European monitors was reported missing in restive eastern Ukraine on Friday despite army claims it had regained control over much of the separatist rust belt. The United States meanwhile voiced growing concern over the sudden appearance of fighters from Russia's war-ravaged Chechnya among rebels who have been waging a seven-week insurgency against Kiev's rule. The rebels for their part dismissed speculation of a rift in their ranks after a dozen local militants were evicted from their seat of power in Donetsk by a brigade comprised largely of Chechens and other Russians from the violence-plagued North Caucasus. The increasingly volatile conflict -- growing ever more complex as rivalries emerge among rebel commanders -- has ensnared a steadily climbing number of Europeans tasked with helping to resolve a crisis that has threatened the very survival of Ukraine.","6 British men charged with terrorist offences. LONDON (AP) — London police say six men have been charged with terrorist and fraud offences.","Arab League agrees to combat Islamic State group. CAIRO (AP) — The Arab League says its member states have agreed to combat, either individually or collectively, the Islamic State group and other militants in the region.","Report: Tenn. offered contingent incentives to VW. NASHVILLE, Tennessee (AP) — Documents obtained by WTVF-TV in Nashville show that Republican Gov. Bill Haslam's administration made an incentive offer to Volkswagen contingent on labor talks at the plant \"being concluded to the satisfaction of the State of Tennessee.\"","Villages along the Thames swamped as river surges in Britain's latest bout of flooding. LONDON - The River Thames has burst its banks after reaching its highest level in years, flooding riverside towns upstream of London.","Australia vows to unearth why 'sick' extremist was at large. Australia's government pledged Tuesday to determine why an Iranian-born Islamist with a history of extremism and violence was able to play out a \"sick fantasy\" by seizing hostages in a day-long siege. A giant sea of flowers was laid at a makeshift memorial near the scene in the heart of Sydney's financial quarter, where Muslim community leaders joined their fellow citizens in mourning the two victims of Monday's cafe siege. Prime Minister Tony Abbott conceded that the dead gunman, identified in reports as 50-year-old refugee Man Haron Monis had evaded greater scrutiny despite being accused of serious crimes including sexual offences and abetting in murder.","Jewish group demands return of all Nazi-looted art. BERLIN (AP) — Germany must make a stronger effort to identify and return thousands of looted art pieces the Nazis took from Jews, the president of the World Jewish Congress said Thursday as he met with top government officials in Berlin to push his case.","Anti-EU party poised to win first British parliament seat. By Andrew Osborn CLACTON-ON-SEA England (Reuters) - Britain's anti-EU UK Independence Party was poised to win its first elected seat in parliament on Friday, highlighting the threat it poses to Prime Minister David Cameron seven months before a national election. Such a breakthrough, coupled with an unexpectedly strong UKIP showing in another by-election held on Thursday, would demonstrate UKIP's ability to split the mainstream Conservative party's vote and cloud over its re-election prospects in 2015. ...","Rugby-Wellington Hurricanes 16 Canterbury Crusaders 9 - Super Rugby result. WELLINGTON, June 28 (Reuters) - Wellington Hurricanes (New Zealand) 16 beat Canterbury Crusaders (New Zealand) 9 (halftime 11-3) in their Super Rugby clash at Wellington Regional Stadium on Saturday. Scorers: Wellington Hurricanes - Tries: Blade Thomson (2); Penalties: Beauden Barrett (2) Canterbury Crusaders - Penalties: Colin Slade (3) (Compiled by Greg Stutchbury; Editing by Amlan Chakraborty)","Grocery chain's Christmas ad stirs tears, outrage. LONDON (AP) — Artillery booms. A trench comes into view. Soldiers huddle into their overcoats for warmth.","U.N. climate summit sets goals to save forests, use clean energy. By Alister Doyle UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - A United Nations summit on climate change agreed on Tuesday to widen the use of renewable energy and raise billions of dollars in aid for developing countries in an effort to increase the prospects for a wide-ranging deal to slow global warming. The one-day summit, hosted by U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, set goals to halt losses of tropical forests by 2030, improve food production and hike the share of electric vehicles in cities to 30 percent of new vehicle sales by 2030. ...","France to launch new offshore wind tender next year. PARIS (Reuters) - France will launch a third tender for offshore wind turbines in 2015, the energy and environment ministry said on Tuesday. The ministry did not detail how much capacity the tender would offer, saying only the criteria-based selection of previous tenders would be replaced by a \"competitive dialogue\". It said it would also launch a \"call for expression of interest\" procedure for floating offshore turbines next year. ...","Canada finance minister resigns, says not due to health issues. Canada's Finance Minister Jim Flaherty announced on Tuesday that he is resigning from politics, effective immediately, and will be returning to the private sector. This was a decision I made with my family earlier this year, as I will be returning to the private sector,\" Flaherty said in a written statement.","Bautista-Agut reaches 2nd round at Kremlin Cup. MOSCOW (AP) — Fifth-seeded Roberto Bautista-Agut of Spain beat local favorite Andrei Kuznetsov 6-3, 6-4 Monday to reach the second round of the Kremlin Cup.","West Ham rallies for 2-2 draw at Stoke. STOKE, England (AP) — Stewart Downing equalized in the 73rd minute as West Ham came from two goals down to secure a 2-2 draw at Stoke on Saturday in the Premier League.","Google’s Internet balloons cause panic in yet another country. Google’s Project Loon has been around for a while now, but that hasn’t stopped people from freaking out whenever they see one. Today in New Zealand, residents thought a plane was crashing when in fact a Loon balloon was landing, according to The Wall Street Journal. New Zealand is one of the test areas for the Loon balloons that Google is using to deliver web connectivity to rural areas around the world, and Google confirmed to The Wall Street Journal that one of its balloons had landed in an area where some New Zealanders had reported a plane crash to local authorities. A rescue helicopter was then sent to the site, but instead of finding a plane it found a balloon.","Kerry sees 'opportunity' in Gaza ceasefire, urges search for common ground. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Friday called the 72-hour ceasefire agreed to by Israel and Hamas in their conflict in the Gaza Strip a \"lull of opportunity\" and said it was imperative that the sides make their best efforts to find common ground. Kerry said Egypt's foreign minister will invite the Gaza ceasefire parties to take part in \"serious\" negotiations in Cairo and that the United States plans to send a small delegation to the talks. \"This is a lull of opportunity,\" Kerry told reporters. \"... It is imperative people make the best effort to try to find common ground.\" (Reporting by David Brunnstrom;","Rob Ford resurgent in Toronto mayor race; but new claims emerge. By Alastair Sharp TORONTO (Reuters) - Toronto Mayor Rob Ford has gained ground on challengers heading into an election this fall, according to a poll released on Thursday, but the boost was coupled with fresh claims about inappropriate behavior. The city's Catholic school authority released documents alleging that Ford had threatened a teacher, turned up late and inebriated to an important practice, swore at his players and made them roll in animal feces while working as a volunteer head football coach at Don Bosco Catholic Secondary School. The allegations have not been proven in court and Ford did not immediately respond to a call and email seeking comment.","Antarctic Lava Lake Huffs and Puffs Like a Sleeping Dragon. At Erebus volcano in Antarctica, a long-lived lava lake puffs steam and launches lava bombs at scientists who scale its slopes, hoping to unravel the mysteries of how volcanoes work. \"We think lava lakes are really the top of a magma chamber, so by studying lava lakes we can see what's happening in the guts of the volcano,\" said Philip Kyle, a volcanologist at New Mexico Tech in Socorro, who has visited Erebus since the late 1960s.","Resource-rich Mongolia ousts prime minister amid economic downturn. By Terrence Edwards ULAN BATOR (Reuters) - Mongolia's parliament voted on Wednesday to remove Prime Minister Norov Altankhuyag amid concerns about a serious economic downturn as gold, copper and coal prices and foreign direct investment slump. Out of 66 members of parliament who voted, 34 were in favor of ousting Altankhuyag, Mongolian television showed. Ten members of parliament, including eight members of his own coalition government, did not show up. ...","Hundreds of migrants try to enter Spanish enclave. MADRID (AP) — Spanish officials say several hundred African migrants have tried to climb barbed-wire fences to enter the Spanish enclave of Melilla from Morocco. Most were turned back by security forces from both sides.","UAE convicts 30 men of Muslim Brotherhood ties. DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — A court in the United Arab Emirates has convicted 30 men on charges of setting up a Muslim Brotherhood branch in the country and sentenced them to prison terms ranging from three months to five years.","Divers renew search for South Korea ferry dead. JINDO, South Korea (AP) — Divers on Monday renewed their search for more than 100 bodies still trapped in a sunken ferry after weekend efforts were hindered by bad weather, strong currents and floating debris clogging the ship's rooms. Investigators, meanwhile, expanded a probe into how coast guard and other rescuers responded after learning the ferry was sinking.","TransCanada plans to double dividend growth rate through 2017. (Reuters) - TransCanada Corp said on Wednesday that it planned to double its dividend growth rate through 2017 as Canada's second largest pipeline operator brings about C$13 billion ($11.47 billion) worth of small and medium-size projects on line over the next five years. TransCanada will increase its dividend by 8 percent to 10 percent a year over the next three years, up from a current 4 per cent a year, with that growth rate increasing after 2018 as larger-scale projects come on line, the company said in a presentation. ...","Italy midfielder Montolivo injured in WCup warm-up. LONDON (AP) — Key Italy midfielder Riccardo Montolivo has been injured during a World Cup warm-up game against Ireland.","Lehman brokerage unsecured creditors to see first $4.62 billion. By Jonathan Stempel NEW YORK (Reuters) - Unsecured creditors of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc's brokerage unit who have waited nearly five years to recoup their money will begin receiving an initial $4.62 billion payout next month, the trustee liquidating the unit said on Friday. James Giddens, the trustee, said distributions would begin on Sept. 10 and cover 17 percent of the $27.2 billion of unsecured claims associated with the brokerage unit, Lehman Brothers Inc. About $3.47 billion will go to creditors whose claims have been deemed valid, and another $1.15 billion will be set aside for claims that are still pending. In a statement, Giddens said a payout to unsecured creditors had been \"far from certain\" when the brokerage liquidation began soon after Lehman went bankrupt on Sept. 15, 2008. More payments to unsecured creditors are expected, he said.","Palestinian factions refuse to extend Israel truce: Hamas. Gaza City (Palestinian Territories) (AFP) - All Palestinian groups in the Gaza Strip have refused to extend a three-day truce with Israel, the militant Hamas group that dominates the enclave said Friday, as the ceasefire ended.","5 free things in Glasgow, from gardens to museums. GLASGOW, Scotland (AP) — The image of Scotland's largest city as a hard and dirty industrial center is long gone. Instead, this former European Capital of Culture is now widely regarded as one of Britain's most lively and stylish urban destinations. It boasts the best shopping experience in the U.K. outside of London and is home to a variety of annual festivals celebrating everything from rock music and comedy to literature and the arts.","US imposes visa ban on Venezuelan officials. CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Amid escalating tensions with Venezuela, the U.S. State Department on Wednesday announced a travel ban for officials of the socialist government it said committed human rights abuses during a crackdown on opposition protests.","Action against Islamic State would prevent genocide-NATO. By Adrian Croft BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Military intervention against Islamic State militants could be justified on the grounds of self-defense or preventing a campaign \"pretty close to genocide\", NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said on Monday. Rasmussen said the threat posed by Islamic State \"requires a military response to degrade and defeat this terrorist organization\" but he said NATO as an organization would not be undertaking military strikes against the group. \"We are not considering ... a leading NATO role in this operation. ...","Putin foes fear Internet crackdown as 'blogger law' sails through. By Alessandra Prentice MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia's upper house of parliament approved a law on Tuesday that will impose stricter rules on bloggers and is seen by critics as an attempt by President Vladimir Putin to stifle dissent on the Internet. The Federation Council overwhelmingly approved the tighter controls on Russian blogs and websites that attract more than 3,000 daily visits, under legislation the government says is needed to formalize the definition of blogging in Russian law. Opponents say the law will enable Putin to silence opponents who are rarely given air time on the mostly state-controlled or pro-Putin television channels, and have instead used the Internet to organize protests against the former KGB spy. \"China is much more liberal than what Russia wants to achieve,\" he said, describing the move as unconstitutional.","TV star Rolf Harris jailed for five years over sex assaults. Veteran entertainer Rolf Harris, a household name in Britain and Australia for decades, was jailed Friday for five years and nine months for a string of sexual assaults against girls. The Australian-born television star, artist and songwriter, 84, was found guilty earlier this week of indecently assaulting four victims between 1969 and 1986, including the childhood best friend of his daughter Bindi. \"You have shown no remorse for your crimes at all,\" judge Nigel Sweeney told Harris as he handed down his sentence at London's Southwark Crown Court.","California wildfire near Yosemite prompts evacuation of 700 homes. (Reuters) - A 300-acre wildfire on the outskirts of Yosemite National Park in central California prompted authorities to order the evacuation of hundreds of homes, officials said on Friday. The blaze, dubbed the \"Bridge Fire\", began in the afternoon in Mariposa County, some 14 miles (22.5 kilometers) southwest of the national park, forcing evacuations and closures of the surrounding roads, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Prevention (CalFire). The Mariposa County Sheriff's Office said in a statement that about 700 homes were in the evacuated area. Last month, Governor Jerry Brown declared a state of emergency as firefighters battled wildfires across California, including the massive El Portal blaze that charred nearly 4,700 acres on the western edge of Yosemite National Park.","Japan economy grows lackluster 1 pct in Oct-Dec. TOKYO (AP) — Japan's economy expanded at a slower-than-expected 1 percent annualized rate in the last quarter of 2013, despite a boom in housing construction and stronger public and private spending.","Matfield relishes chance to prove All Blacks are beatable. A Springboks victory over New Zealand in the fourth round of the Rugby Championship would go a long way towards changing the mindset of both teams with next year's World Cup fast approaching, according to South Africa lock Victor Matfield. The All Blacks top the southern hemisphere competition table and are unbeaten in the tournament since it was expanded to four nations in 2012, winning 14 of 15 games with their only blemish a 12-12 draw against Australia in Sydney last month. Since they won their second World Cup in 2011 and coach Steve Hansen took control of the side, they have won 31 of 34 tests, drawn twice and lost just once, to England in 2012. They've got a great record, especially this team which has a very proud record and is a very good team,\" Matfield told reporters on Friday, a day before their clash at Wellington Regional Stadium.","CDC confirms first case of MERS virus in American. NEW YORK (AP) — Health officials on Friday confirmed the first case of an American infected with a mysterious Middle East virus. The man fell ill after arriving in the U.S. last week from Saudi Arabia where he was a health care worker.","Canada's Quebecor posts 7 percent rise in adjusted operating income. (Reuters) - Canadian media and telecommunications conglomerate Quebecor Inc reported a 7 percent rise in quarterly adjusted operating income, helped by a 3.7 percent increase in revenue from its telecoms business, the company's biggest. The adjusted operating income rose to C$391.3 million ($351.5 million) in the fourth quarter, from C366.1 million a year earlier. Net income attributable to shareholders rose to C$43.4 million, or 29 Canadian cents per share, from C$7.1 million, or 5 Canadian cents per share. The company said it benefited from a C$66. ...","Russia hopeful for OSCE observers in Ukraine. MOSCOW (AP) — Russia's foreign ministry says it hopes a monitoring mission in Ukraine will help ease the tensions in Ukraine.","Libya's rogue general survives suicide bombing. TRIPOLI, Libya (AP) — A Libyan general who has been leading an offensive against Islamists dominating the country's political scene survived a suicide attack on his residence in the eastern city of Benghazi on Wednesday, military officials said.","Davutoglu: controversial architect of Turkey's foreign policy. Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, who will be Turkey's next prime minister, is a loyal ally of incoming president Recep Tayyip Erdogan and the chief architect of an assertive but increasingly controversial foreign policy. Davutoglu was named by the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) as its sole candidate to be new leader and prime minister to replace Erdogan. Davutoglu's mild-mannered and smiling demeanour belies his abilities as a tough negotiator and strategic thinker, who has been at the heart of government since Erdogan first came to power. His foreign policy defined Ankara as a regional power broker but Davutoglu, 55, has come under fire in recent months over Turkey's increasing diplomatic isolation.","Indian professor arrested for alleged Maoist links. NEW DELHI (AP) — Indian police have arrested a New Delhi university professor for alleged links with Maoist rebels.","Dutch retrieve DNA of some Ukraine crash victims. AMSTERDAM (AP) — The head of the Dutch-led international team investigating the Malaysian Airline Flight 17 disaster says his group has retrieved additional DNA samples from 25 victims at a mortuary in Donetsk in eastern Ukraine.","Saudi Arabia gives UN $100 mln to fight terrorism. Saudi Arabia on Wednesday gave $100 million to the United Nations to support counter-terrorism efforts and called on other countries to do the same. \"We have been stung by the evil of terrorism,\" Saudi Ambassador to the United States Adel bin Ahmed Al-Jubeir told reporters. The funds will go to the UN Counter-Terrorism Centre, set up in 2011 to tackle new security threats from terrorism.","Ex-British PM Gordon Brown to leave politics. LONDON (AP) — Rivals and allies are paying tribute to former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who plans to step down from Parliament at a national election in May.","Asia shares rise as Ukraine plane tensions ease. TOKYO (AP) — Asian shares rose Tuesday as tensions over the downing of a passenger jet in Ukraine eased after pro-Moscow separatists released a train packed with bodies and handed over the aircraft's black boxes.","Gunmen kill 9 on bus in Ethiopia near dam project. ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (AP) — Ethiopian officials say that attackers fired on a public bus in the country's west, killing nine people and wounding seven.","Jason Bohn takes lead into final round in Mexico. PLAYA DEL CARMEN, Mexico (AP) — Jason Bohn had a 4-under 67 on a rainy day in Mexico to take a one-shot lead over Shawn Stefani in the OHL Classic on Saturday.","Officials: Hours after Iraq gets new president, double car bombing in Baghdad kills 12. BAGHDAD (AP) — Officials: Hours after Iraq gets new president, double car bombing in Baghdad kills 12.","Troubled Myanmar state invites back aid groups. YANGON, Myanmar (AP) — Authorities in Myanmar's Rakhine state say international aid organizations are welcome to return to the area they left in April after Buddhist mobs disrupted their work helping displaced Rohingya Muslims.","Venezuela's Maduro, opposition to talk in push to end deadly unrest. President Nicolas Maduro was due to host Venezuelan opposition leaders on Thursday night at the start of mediated talks intended to stem violent protests in which dozens of people have died in the OPEC nation's worst unrest for years. Some hardline opposition groups, including the party of jailed protest leader Leopoldo Lopez, are boycotting the dialogue while demonstrators remain in jail. The meeting, brokered by foreign ministers from the Unasur bloc of South American governments, was expected to start at 8 p.m. at the Miraflores presidential palace in Caracas and be broadcast live on state TV. \"Miraflores will tremble,\" said opposition leader Henrique Capriles, who narrowly lost to Maduro in last year's election to replace late socialist leader Hugo Chavez.","Syrian troops capture village near Lebanon border. DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — Syrian troops pressed an offensive near the Lebanese border on Wednesday, capturing a village from rebels whose forces appear to be collapsing along a key central front, state media and activists said.","Kidnapped Uzbek doctor freed in northern Yemen: local official. An Uzbek doctor kidnapped in northern Yemen last week has been freed, a provincial official said on Saturday. Kidnapping is common in U.S.-allied Yemen, where the government is struggling with an array of security problems: an insurgency by Islamists linked to al Qaeda, a southern separatist movement, fighting in the country's north, and sporadic conflicts with armed tribes. On Saturday an air strike killed 10 al Qaeda militants and three civilians in central Yemen.","Feng dominates to win Ladies Masters in Dubai. China's world number five Feng Shanshan, the highest ranked player in the field, completed a dominant wire-to-wire victory at the 500,000 euros Ladies European Masters – her second win in the European Tour's season-ending championship in three years. The 25-year-old Feng, winner of the 2012 LPGA Championship and here in the same year, shot a final-round two-under par 70 to finish on 19-under par 269 for the four days. Spain’s Carlota Ciganda, who won the Order of Merit crown in 2012, made a spectacular up-and-down from the back bunker of the 18th hole to finish second at 14-under par, one better than Germany’s Caroline Masson, who shot the day’s best round of five-under par 67 to climb up to third place. England’s Charley Hull wrapped up the Order of Merit crown, just one year after she won the Rookie of the Year award.","Russia's Sberbank says can fulfill obligations despite EU sanctions. Russia's largest lender Sberbank assured clients and partners on Thursday it would continue to fulfill all obligations despite inclusion in the latest round of EU sanctions against Russia for Moscow's role in the Ukraine crisis. \"Sberbank of Russia has all the necessary resources, management experience and expertise to continue to operate successfully under the circumstances and unconditionally fulfill all of its obligations in full to Russian and international clients and partners,\" the bank said in a statement.","Luxury automakers scramble to woo young Chinese. BEIJING (AP) — At age 32, Jason Jia already is the kind of customer luxury automakers are seeking as competition grows in China's lucrative but crowded market.","Tests confirm painting is Rembrandt self-portrait. LONDON (AP) — Scientific tests have confirmed that a painting donated to Britain's National Trust by a wealthy supporter is a Rembrandt self-portrait worth tens of millions of pounds (dollars).","Severe storms forecast for Detroit, schools close early. (Reuters) - A forecast of severe thunderstorms for the Detroit metro area on Wednesday afternoon prompted Detroit public schools to dismiss students early and city officials to warn residents of possible flooding. The National Weather Service issued a \"hazardous weather outlook\" for parts of southeast Michigan, with thunderstorms, the potential of localized flash flooding and wind gusts of around 60 mph (96 kph). Detroit officials asked residents to help prevent flooding by clearing storm drains of leaves and other trash in front of homes and businesses. Storms could develop through about 8 p.m. in the Detroit area south to the Ohio border, said Bryan Tilley, a National Weather Service meteorologist.","Dulin ruled out of France's November tests. PARIS (AP) — Racing-Metro fullback Brice Dulin has been ruled out of France's November test with a stress fracture in his left fibula.","Charges reduced, Ecuadorean hopes to stay in US. HARTFORD, Connecticut (AP) — An Ecuadorean immigrant facing possible deportation said Wednesday he hopes to be allowed to stay in the United States after a court removed a felony conviction stemming from a clash with a now-disgraced police officer.","Japan sees higher chance of El Nino this summer. There is a greater possibility of an El Nino weather pattern emerging this summer, Japan's weather bureau said on Monday, after previously forecasting a 50 percent chance of the phenomenon that is often linked to heavy rainfall and droughts. El Nino - a warming of sea-surface temperatures in the Pacific - can trigger drought in Southeast Asia and Australia and floods in South America, hitting production of key foods such as rice, wheat and sugar. The potential disruption to supply would come after many crops have already been hit by adverse weather in the Northern Hemisphere that has been in the grip of a savage winter. \"The El Nino predictive model predicts the sea temperatures in the ocean area monitored for El Nino will transition from a level near standard this spring to a higher than standard level this summer,\" the Japan Meteorological Agency said in a monthly online bulletin about the phenomenon.","Ukraine protesters, Russia increase pressure on Yanukovich. By Natalia Zinets and Richard Balmforth KIEV (Reuters) - Ukrainian protesters, now in their third month of action, kept up pressure on President Viktor Yanukovich on Sunday with a mass rally where opposition leaders called for an end to his \"dictatorial\" powers. About 20,000 demonstrators rallied on Kiev's Independence Square, focal point of the protest movement, as Yanukovich searched for a new prime minister and the currency of the heavily indebted economy, the hryvnia, remained under strain. Russia piled further pressure on him at the weekend, linking disbursement of the next tranche of its $15 billion aid package for Kiev to repayment of a hefty gas bill owed to Russian firms. Opposition speakers addressed both Yanukovich's governing style and his decision to seek closer economic ties to Russia rather than sign a free trade pact with the European Union.","Family of slain B.C. hockey mom asks the public to help find killer. SURREY, B.C. - The family of a slain hockey mom from Surrey, B.C., is making an emotional plea for the public to help find the killer, saying whoever is responsible has cut out his family's heart.","Cambodian police break up rally pressing for TV station. By Prak Chan Thul PHNOM PENH (Reuters) - Cambodian military police used smoke grenades and batons on Monday to quell a protest by demonstrators demanding that a new television channel be allowed to broadcast, wounding at least eight people, witnesses said. The demonstration was in breach of a ban on public gatherings imposed by the government of Prime Minister Hun Sen, who is enduring one of the biggest challenges to his 28-year rule and mounting criticism of bloody crackdowns on dissent. Military police and guards working for Phnom Penh city authorities chased down opposition-aligned protesters near the Information Ministry, with police wielding batons and electric prods. The violence was the latest episode in a months-long political crisis in Cambodia, which was for years racked by conflict but which recently saw more than a decade of unprecedented growth and stability.","Court orders arrest of key Indian business leader. NEW DELHI (AP) — India's Supreme Court has issued arrest warrants for a key Indian business leader for failing to attend a hearing in a case relating to the refund of 200 billion rupees ($3.2 billion) to investors.","Japanese swimmer Tomita denies stealing camera. NAGOYA, Japan (AP) — A Japanese swimmer suspended for stealing a camera at the Asian Games has denied the allegations, claiming someone placed the camera in his gym bag.","Aguero to undergo scan on hamstring injury. Manchester City striker Sergio Aguero is a doubt for his side's Premier League visit to Hull on Saturday after being forced off at half-time as City lost 2-1 to Barcelona. Defeat ended City's Champions League aspirations for another season as Barca progressed to the quarter-finals 4-1 on aggregate on Wednesday. However, there could also be repercussions for their Premier League title challenge should their top scorer be missing for any significant length of time. City currently lie in fourth, nine points adrift of leaders Chelsea, but still control their own destiny as they have three games in hand on Jose Mourinho's men.","Honduras looking for a few upsets at World Cup. TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras (AP) — Looking for its first win in its third World Cup, Honduras coach Luis Fernando Suarez is ready to spring a surprise in Brazil.","Libya's intel chief resigns over power struggle. TRIPOLI, Libya (AP) — A Libyan lawmaker says the country's intelligence chief has resigned amid an intensifying power struggle between the Islamist-dominated parliament and a rival, interim government.","'Leviathan' leads a Russian invasion at Cannes. CANNES, France (AP) — Amid unrest in eastern Ukraine and a return to Cold War-like politics, a powerful satire that depicts local corruption in Vladimir Putin's Russia has stormed the Cannes Film Festival.","Costa Rica swears in president amid high expectations. San José (AFP) - Costa Rica Thursday inaugurated its new president, Luis Guillermo Solis, who faces high expectations from a population weary of the economic problems and corruption scandals under his predecessor. The 56-year-old historian took the oath of office at a ceremony in the National Stadium attended by dignitaries including presidents from Central and South America, as well as Venezuela's vice president and Prince Felipe of Spain. Dressed in a dark suit, and accompanied by his partner, six children, and his father, Solis pledged to uphold the constitution and serve his country, prompting loud applause from the thousands of Costa Ricans gathered in the stadium to witness the inauguration. Solis came out of nowhere in the polls to win the first round of balloting on February 2, staggering the political establishment in the Central American country of five million.","Cambodia arrests more opposition members after violent clashes. By Prak Chan Thul PHNOM PENH (Reuters) - Cambodian police arrested two more opposition members of parliament on Thursday on charges of leading an insurrection, taking to eight the number of government opponents being held on accusations that rights groups say are politically motivated. The arrests are the latest twist in a year-long political crisis over a disputed election which has exposed a rift between long-serving authoritarian Prime Minister Hun Sen and many young, urban voters yearning for change. Six members of the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP), five of them members of parliament and one an activist, were ordered detained in prison pending trial on Wednesday on charges of leading an insurrection, which carries a penalty of up to 30 years in prison. Two more members of parliament for the party were picked up on Thursday.","What to watch at US Open: Venus eyes 4th round. NEW YORK (AP) — Venus Williams is trying to get to the fourth round at the U.S. Open for the first time since 2010 — and at any Grand Slam tournament for the first time since 2011.","Fukushima monkeys show possible 'effects of radiation'. Monkeys near the stricken Fukushima nuclear power plant have lower blood cell counts than cousins living further away, possibly because of radiation exposure, a study said Thursday. Fewer blood cells could make the monkeys more prone to disease, they said, and \"may suggest that the immune system has been compromised to some extent\". The team had compared white and red blood cell levels in macaques living in a forest area of Fukushima City, 70 kilometres (43 miles) from the nuclear plant, with that of 31 monkeys living 400 km away in the Shimokita Peninsula. \"Compared with Shimokita monkeys, Fukushima monkeys had significantly low white and red blood cell counts,\" said the researchers.","DR Congo's tshukudu, the all-purpose transport scooter. What do you do when you need to deliver several hundred pounds of potatoes, 150 stalks of sugar cane, 30 eucalyptus saplings and eight sacks of coal, without motorised transport? For residents of Goma, in the war-scarred east of the Democratic Republic of Congo, the answer to this, and many other problems, is the tshukudu. A local but highly efficient tradition, the man-powered wooden scooters are everywhere on the paved highways and dusty sidestreets of Goma, holding their own with the motorcycle taxis. \"The tshukudu is our whole life,\" said driver Damas Sibomana.","Tennis-Australian Open order of play on Wednesday. MELBOURNE, Jan 21 (Reuters) - Order of play on the main showcourt at the Australian Open on Wednesday (play starts at 0000 GMT, prefix denotes seeding): - - Rod Laver Arena 11-Simona Halep (Romania) v 20-Dominika Cibulkova (Slovakia) 5-Agnieszka Radwanska (Poland) v 2-Victoria Azarenka (Belarus) Not before 0300 1-Rafa Nadal (Spain) v 22-Grigor Dimitrov (Bulgaria) From 0800 4-Andy Murray (Britain) v 6-Roger Federer (Switzerland) - - (Compiled by Greg Stutchbury; Editing by Peter Rutherford)","Football hero Weah eyes new goal as Liberia's political saviour. Ask George Weah about his ambitions to lead Liberia and he will deliver an impassioned speech about his nation's potential -- but turn the subject to football and his eyes really light up. Possibly Africa's greatest-ever player, Weah, who parlayed outstanding spells at Monaco, Milan and Chelsea into a career in politics, has agreed to a rare media interview to discuss his west African homeland's fragile peace process. It is not long, however, before he is reliving what is widely regarded as one of the greatest goals ever scored and enthusing about an old mentor, Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger. \"There is no doubt that our supporters ... want me to be president of this country because they believe I can change their lives,\" he told AFP at his Monrovia party headquarters, confirming for the first time that he will stand in 2017 presidential elections.","Former Kazakh minister faces U.S. racketeering lawsuit. The largest city in Kazakhstan has sued former government minister Viktor Khrapunov and several of his relatives in the United States, accusing them of systematically looting state assets for their own benefit. The lawsuit, filed on Tuesday by the city of Almaty in a Los Angeles federal court, alleges civil racketeering charges and several other counts. U.S. courts have jurisdiction because Khrapunov and his family have purchased real estate in Southern California, the documents show. Khrapunov was mayor of Almaty until 2004, and in 2007 became national Minister of Emergency Measures until he stepped down later that year, according to the lawsuit.","Chinese woman charged in US trade secrets case. DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — U.S. agents have charged a Chinese woman in a conspiracy to steal trade secrets from U.S. seed corn companies.","Messi scores 2 as Argentina beats Nigeria 3-2. RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Lionel Messi scored at the start and end of the first half as Argentina beat Nigeria 3-2 in a thriller on Wednesday to top World Cup Group F and the already-eliminated Bosnia recorded a pride-salvaging 3-1 win over Iran that meant both teams are heading home.","Saudi mufti tells young Saudis not to heed call to jihad. Saudi Arabia's Grand Mufti urged young people on Thursday to ignore calls to jihad from people representing \"deviant principles\", the latest salvo in an anti-militant campaign by the kingdom's religious establishment. Riyadh, the world's No. 1 oil exporter, is unnerved by the rapid advance in Iraq and Syria of Islamic State insurgents and fears this could radicalize some of its own citizens and eventually lead to attacks on the U.S.-allied government. The word \"deviant\" is usually used in official and religious Saudi circles to refer to the Islamist militant ideology followed by al Qaeda, of which Islamic State is an offshoot. Sheikh Abdulaziz Al al-Sheikh, the highest religious authority in the country, this month described the creed of al Qaeda and Islamic State as Islam's \"enemy number one\", a message echoed in Friday sermons across the country.","Gays march peacefully in conservative Montenegro. PODGORICA, Montenegro (AP) — Protected by hundreds of riot police, about two hundred gay activists have marched peacefully in Montenegro, a staunchly conservative Balkan country seeking EU membership.","Rugby-Savea brace for All Blacks in tight win over Pumas. By Greg Stutchbury NAPIER, New Zealand, Sept 6 (Reuters) - Winger Julian Savea scored two tries as New Zealand again struggled to put Argentina away before they eventually ground out a 28-9 win in their tightly contested Rugby Championship clash at McLean Park in Napier on Saturday. Liam Messam and Aaron Smith also scored tries for the All Blacks to secure a vital four-try bonus point, while Beauden Barrett kicked a penalty but missed four other kicks, before he was replaced by Colin Slade, who kicked a penalty and a conversion.","London's bankers battle to be lord of the ring. London (AFP) - Gasping for breath and bleeding from a thick lip, Nick \"Suicide\" Seto exits the ring. But the pain of defeat will be forgotten tomorrow when he returns to work at a London bank.","Duval crashes in Le Mans practice. LE MANS, France (AP) — The Audi No. 1 of defending champion Loic Duval was smashed to pieces an hour into a practice session at the 24 Hours of Le Mans on Wednesday.","Hurricane Rachel forecast to weaken in Pacific. MIAMI (AP) — Hurricane Rachel is forecast weaken over the Pacific off Mexico's coast and poses no threat to land.","Islamic State claims it has beheaded U.S. hostage Kassig. CAIRO (Reuters) - Islamic State militants fighting in Iraq and Syria claimed in a video posted online on Sunday that they had beheaded American hostage Peter Kassig. The video did not show the beheading but showed a masked man standing with a decapitated head covered in blood lying at his feet. Speaking in English in a British accent, the man says: \"This is Peter Edward Kassig, a U.S. citizen.\" Reuters could not immediately verify the authenticity of the footage, which appeared on a jihadist website and on Twitter feeds used by Islamic State. ...","Glamour of Italian fashion on show in London. LONDON (AP) — The grace and glamour of Italian fashion are on display in London — and the attitude, too.","Venice to close area for Clooney wedding. MILAN (AP) — Venice city officials are closing a walkway fronting the picturesque Grand Canal on Monday to keep crowds away from George Clooney's wedding to human rights lawyer Amal Alamuddin.","Another South African soccer star targeted in armed robbery. Gunmen have robbed the parents of another South African international football star, Sibusiso Vilakazi, while he was sleeping at their Johannesburg home, in an attack he claims was targeted at him. Police and the midfielder for the national team Bafana Bafana said the robbers held up his family at gunpoint at his parents' house in Soweto township and stole an array of valuables. The attack shortly after midnight on Saturday came just under a week after national football captain and goalkeeper Senzo Meyiwa was gunned down in what police said was a robbery that went \"horribly wrong\". The burglars stormed in and asked for Vilakazi by name while he slept in a backyard room.","Human rights complaint accuses Toronto police of racial profiling. TORONTO - A class action complaint has been filed with the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario alleging racial profiling by Toronto police.","Head of UK child sex abuse inquiry steps down. LONDON (AP) — The head of an inquiry into allegations of past child sex abuse high up in Britain's parliament has stepped down after criticism of her links to leading establishment figures at the time.","Egypt 'destroys 1,370 Gaza smuggling tunnels', says army. Egypt's military said Wednesday it has destroyed 1,370 smuggling tunnels under its border with the Gaza Strip, as Cairo's ties remain sour with the Hamas movement that rules the Palestinian enclave. Ties took a turn for the worse after the military's July ouster of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi, who belongs to the Muslim Brotherhood, with which Hamas is affiliated. The statement did not say when the tunnels were destroyed, but the military has poured troops into the adjacent Sinai Peninsula to counter militancy that has grown since July. But Hamas and other militant groups reportedly use their own more secret tunnels to bring in arms and money.","South Africa's ANC set for two-thirds majority: poll. The African National Congress (ANC) is on course to win nearly a two-thirds majority in May 7 elections, a poll showed on Sunday, confounding analysts who had predicted a fall in support for South Africa's ruling party 20 years after the end of apartheid. The poll, published by South Africa's Sunday Times newspaper, said the ANC was likely to win 65.5 percent of the vote, only a shade lower than the 65.9 percent it won at the last national elections in 2009. The survey was conducted on April 4, after Public Protector Thuli Madonsela - South Africa's top anti-corruption watchdog - published a damning report into a $21 million state-funded security upgrade to President Jacob Zuma's private home.","Thousands denounce HSBC board member's likening of Hong Kong people to freed slaves. By Anne Marie Roantree and Lisa Jucca HONG KONG (Reuters) - Thousands have signed an online petition denouncing reported comments by an HSBC Holdings board member in which she likened Hong Kong protesters' demands for democracy to the emancipation of slaves. Laura Cha, who is also a member of Hong Kong's policy-making Executive Council, chairwoman of the city's Financial Services Development Council and a member of China's parliament, was quoted as making the comments at an event in Paris. ...","Colombia's FARC rebels hope World Cup fosters 'reconciliation'. Colombia's Marxist FARC rebels hope the thrills of the national team's participation in the World Cup soccer tournament will help foster a spirit of reconciliation in the Andean country where the group has waged a five-decade-long insurgency. \"We all have the dream that football, on the path of respect and tolerance, can at this time offer us a moment of rejoicing and entertainment that cools consciences and helps find the path of reconciliation in a better way,\" the FARC leadership said in a letter of goodwill to national team coach Jose Pekerman. Colombia play Greece on Saturday at 1600 GMT in Brazil's southeastern city of Belo Horizonte, their first appearance in the World Cup since 1998 with high hopes for a strong performance even without injured striker Radamel Falcao. Political analysts say the euphoria in Colombia if the team wins on Saturday could benefit President Juan Manuel Santos in the presidential election the next day.","Blast hits top meeting of Islamist group in Syria: monitor. BEIRUT (Reuters) - A number of people were killed or wounded by an explosion at a meeting of leaders of an Islamist insurgent group in Syria on Tuesday, according to a group that monitors violence in the Syrian civil war. The leader of the Ahrar al-Sham group, Hassan Aboud, was at the gathering in the northwestern province of Idlib, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported. Syrian state TV reported that he had been killed. (Writing by Tom Perry; Editing by Larry King)","French Open Watch: Smashing success for Gulbis. PARIS (AP) — Ernests Gulbis is not ashamed at all about destroying rackets during matches.","Two explosions rock Yemeni capital Sanaa. SANAA (Reuters) - Two large explosions were heard in Yemen's capital Sanaa on Sunday, close to the defense ministry and the central bank, locals told Reuters. \"The explosions were followed by heavy gunfire,\" a resident in the area said. There was no immediate word on casualties or the cause of the blasts. One of the poorest countries in the Arab world, Yemen has been in turmoil since mass protests in 2011 forced long-serving President Ali Abdullah Saleh to step down. In December last year, a suicide bomb and gun attack near the defense ministry killed 52 people. ...","Syria's Assad visits recaptured Christian village. BEIRUT (AP) — Syria's president marked Easter with a tour Sunday of an ancient Christian village recently recaptured by his forces, state media said, as the country's Greek Orthodox Patriarch vowed that country's Christians \"will not submit and yield\" to extremists.","Argentine dinosaur may shed light on huge beasts. NEW YORK (AP) — Researchers studying the remains of an enormous dinosaur — a creature that was bigger than seven bull elephants — have given it an equally colossal name: Dreadnoughtus, or \"fearing nothing.\"","U.N. watchdog urges Obama to curb drone use, surveillance. By Stephanie Nebehay GENEVA (Reuters) - A U.N. human rights watchdog called on the Obama administration on Thursday to limit its use of drones targeting suspected al-Qaeda and Taliban militants and to curb U.S. surveillance activities at home and abroad. U.S. drone strikes have led to excessive civilian casualties and unrestricted data collection has eroded the right to privacy, the U.N. Human Rights Committee said in its first report on Washington's rights record since 2006. \"A lot has to do with lack of transparency and oversight,\" Swiss lawyer Walter Kaelin, who is among the panel's 18 independent experts, told a news briefing where the findings were issued. Referring to surveillance by the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA), Kaelin said: \"What we are calling for is that if surveillance is undertaken, it has to be done in line with principles of legality, that there is the need for very clear detailed regulation containing safeguards for those under direct surveillance.","Arsenal, Porto head Champions League playoffs draw. GENEVA (AP) — Arsenal and Porto are among the big clubs that will enter the Champions League qualifying campaign when the draw for the last-round playoffs is held Friday.","Britain closer to EU referendum as bill clears hurdle. Britain's planned referendum on membership of the European Union passed its first hurdle in parliament's upper house on Friday, but lawmakers warned that the bill could be killed off by delays. The bill -- which is backed by Prime Minister David Cameron's Conservative party and guarantees a public vote on EU membership by 2017 -- passed the \"second reading\" stage unopposed in the House of Lords after a marathon seven-hour debate. But there were warnings from members of the Conservatives' coalition partners, the pro-EU Liberal Democrat party, as well as opposition Labour peers that the bill could face such heavy delays that it could be scuppered altogether. Lawmakers intend to table a series of amendments to the European Union (Referendum) Bill.","Ukraine: Russian military blocking airport. SIMFEROPOL, Ukraine (AP) — Russian military were blocking an airport in the Black Sea port of Sevastopol in Crimea near the Russian naval base while unidentified men were patrolling another airport serving the regional capital, Ukraine's new Interior Minister Arsen Avakov said on Friday.","Taliban attack kills 4 Afghan soldiers in Kabul. KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — At least four Afghan soldiers have been killed in a roadside bomb attack on a bus in the capital.","Neymar, Julio Cesar to the rescue for Brazil. RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Neymar pointed his right index finger in the air and then formed the shape of a heart with his thumbs and fingers loftily raised above his head.","Stakes high for Indonesia as aviation safety in spotlight again. By Siva Govindasamy JAKARTA (Reuters) - The disappearance of an Indonesia AirAsia passenger jet comes at a sensitive time for Jakarta's aviation authorities, as they strive to improve the country's safety reputation to match its status as one of the airline industry's fastest growing markets. The Airbus A320, with 162 people on board, is presumed to have crashed into the Java Sea on a flight from Indonesia's second city Surabaya to Singapore on Sunday, putting renewed scrutiny on the regulation of airlines in a country that remains on the European Union's aviation blacklist. ...","Obama, Palestinian leader meet as deadline nears. WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama is seeking to ease the jam in elusive Mideast peace talks and keep Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas from walking away, despite few signs that either Palestinians or Israelis are prepared to budge on key points.","Ford's Russian joint venture cuts about 950 jobs. Ford Motor Co. says its Russian joint venture is cutting 950 jobs due to falling sales and the declining value of the ruble.","Putin watches Russian war games amid Ukraine tensions. By Alexei Anishchuk KIRILLOVSKY TRAINING GROUND, Russia (Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin on Monday watched Russian tanks and armored vehicles trundle across a training ground in the north-west of the country, as Moscow flexed its muscle in a geo-political face-off with the West over Ukraine. Putin attended the final day of war games he ordered on February 26 to test the combat-readiness of his armed forces in western and central parts of Russia, regions adjacent to Ukraine. Accompanied by his Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu, Putin flew by helicopter to the Kirillovsky training ground outside Vyborg, a town on Russia's border with Finland.","Both sides bury dead as Ukraine slides towards war. By Matt Robinson and Aleksandar Vasovic KRAMATORSK/ODESSA, Ukraine (Reuters) - Both sides have been burying their dead as Ukraine slides further towards war, with supporters of Russia and of a united Ukraine accusing each other of tearing the country apart. It was generally quieter on Tuesday than past days in most of eastern and southern Ukraine, but violence flared at dusk in the eastern port of Mariupol, where a spokesman for pro-Moscow militants told Russia's Itar-Tass news agency that one person was killed and three wounded in an attack on a checkpoint. Because we don't want to live with fascists?\" asked 58-year-old passport photographer Sergei Fominsky, standing with his wife among the mourners. We kneel to no one.\" In Odessa, a previously peaceful, multiethnic Black Sea port where more than 40 people were killed on Friday in the worst day of violence since a February revolt toppled Ukraine's pro-Russian president, pall-bearers carried Andrey Biryukov's open casket from a van to the street corner where he was shot.","Sweet 15: Lipnitskaia soars to stardom. SOCHI, Russia (AP) — The descriptions range from enchanting to fearless, from \"the real package\" to \"a diamond.\"","Factbox: What Iran must do, and get in return, under nuclear talks extension. Iran will receive $2.8 billion of its cash previously frozen abroad in return for action to limit its atomic activities during a four-month extension of talks with six world powers over its nuclear program. After more than two weeks of negotiations in Vienna, Iran and the powers announced early on Saturday that they would extend an interim deal that they hammered out in Geneva late last year. They agreed to continue talking until Nov. 24 after realizing that remaining wide gaps in negotiating positions - especially over the permissible scope of Iran's uranium enrichment capacity - meant they would miss a self-imposed July 20 deadline for a comprehensive agreement. The United States, Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China want Iran to significantly scale back its uranium enrichment program to make sure it cannot produce nuclear bombs.","Jamaica police arrest teen in killing of boy, 9. KINGSTON, Jamaica (AP) — Police in Jamaica say they have arrested a 14-year-old boy in connection with the fatal stabbing of a 9-year-old boy.","US Marshal: Missing banker accused of losing millions told authorities he was homeless. BRUNSWICK, Georgia - A bank director accused of losing millions of investor dollars before vanishing was homeless and worked odd jobs before his arrest earlier this week, a U.S. marshal told a federal judge Thursday.","Mallinckrodt buying Questcor for about $5.6B. ANAHEIM, California (AP) — Mallinckrodt is buying California-based Questcor Pharmaceuticals Inc. for a combination of stock and cash valued at about $5.6 billion that will help to further diversify the Irish company's business.","Top Asian News at 3:00 a.m. GMT. BAIKONUR, Kazakhstan (AP) — A Russian capsule carrying three astronauts from Russia, the United States and Italy has blasted off for the International Space Station. The Soyuz capsule roared into the pre-dawn darkness just after 3 a.m. Monday (2100 GMT Sunday) from the Russian manned space facility in Baikonur, Kazakhstan.","Italy again pushes back balanced budget goal. ROME (AP) — Italy has again pushed back its balanced-budget goal, now aiming for 2016.","Djokovic takes 2-1 set lead in Wimbledon final. LONDON (AP) — Novak Djokovic won the third set 7-6 (4) to take a two sets to one lead over Roger Federer in the Wimbledon final Sunday.","GM ignition switch fund gets 63 death case claims: AP. (Reuters) - The lawyer overseeing a General Motors Co fund set up to compensate victims of accidents caused by faulty ignition switches in its cars has received claims for 63 deaths cases, the Associated Press reported, citing a spokeswoman for the fund. Lawyer Kenneth Feinberg, who is overseeing the fund, received 125 claims by Friday afternoon since it was set up a week ago. The AP said 62 others were seeking payments for injuries, citing the spokeswoman Camille Biros. GM earlier this year recalled 2.6 million cars for the faulty ignition switches, which can cause engine stalls and stop power steering and power brakes from operating and air bags from deploying.","UN Security Council begins Iraq crisis talks. United Nations (United States) (AFP) - The UN Security Council on Thursday held talks on the unraveling crisis in Iraq, where Kurds seized control of the contested oil city of Kirkuk and Arab jihadists pushed towards Baghdad. The consultations behind closed doors began shortly after 11:30 am (1530 GMT) and were due to include a briefing by video link from the UN special representative to Iraq, Nickolay Mladenov. It remains deeply unclear what further steps, if any, the UN Security Council can take. \"It's obviously an extremely dramatic situation, clearly rooted in what happened in Iraq in 2003-2004,\" Russian ambassador Vitaly Churkin told reporters on his way into the meeting.","Home Depot names Craig Menear CEO. (Reuters) - Home Depot Inc named Craig Menear its chief executive, replacing Frank Blake, who will stay on as chairman. The appointment of Menear, a retail industry veteran and president of Home Depot's U.S. retail business, is effective Nov. 1, the company said in a statement. (Reporting by Siddharth Cavale in Bangalore)","Suspect in 2011 Elko killing arrested in Mexico. ELKO, Nev. (AP) — A man suspected of strangling his estranged wife to death in Elko more than three years ago has been arrested in Mexico.","Under-fire Australia coach McKenzie quits. By Nick Mulvenney SYDNEY (Reuters) - Under-fire Australia coach Ewen McKenzie resigned on Saturday a few hours before the Wallabies were beaten 29-28 by world champions New Zealand in Brisbane, the Australian Rugby Union (ARU) said in a statement. McKenzie, who took over from Robbie Deans just over a year ago, had come under pressure over the last two weeks for his role in the row over offensive text messages Kurtley Beale allegedly sent to a team official in June. ...","Russia's Lavrov says NATO forces in Eastern Europe would violate agreements. MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Thursday said the deployment of NATO forces in eastern European countries close to Russia would violate of agreements between Moscow and the alliance, the Interfax news agency reported. Lavrov said even the fact that NATO was discussing deploying troops or installations on territories \"closely adjacent\" to Russia ran counter to the Founding Act agreed by Russia and the military alliance in 1997, Interfax reported. (Reporting by Gabriela Baczynska and Steve Gutterman)","65 victims of MH17 identified, last experts home. Dutch forensic experts have identified a total of 65 victims of downed flight MH17, the government said on Saturday, as the last of the investigators returned from eastern Ukraine. Forty-two more victims were identified from remains taken from the crash site of the Malaysia Airlines jet, where an operation to recover body parts has been halted because of rising clashes between the Ukrainian government and pro-Russian separatists. \"A team of specialists are working around the clock, but again, it could still take months before each victim has been identified,\" the Dutch government said. The Malaysia Airlines 777 exploded over Ukraine on July 17, killing all 298 on board, 193 of them Dutch, with the West accusing Russia-backed separatists of shooting it down.","US: Iran launches airstrikes into eastern Iraq. WASHINGTON (AP) — The Pentagon says that Iran has launched airstrikes against Islamic State militants in eastern Iraq.","Gadget Watch: LG Lifeband Touch needs a purpose. SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Smart capabilities have become the latest marketing pitch to sell more wristwatches, TVs, eyeglasses, refrigerators, cars and even toothbrushes. But have we figured out why they need to be smart?","Juncker elected as new EU Commission President. BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Parliament has elected former Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker as the new leader of the 28-nation bloc's executive arm.","Bosnian vote beset by nationalism and bad economy. SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina (AP) — Bosnians are voting Sunday in general elections that will show whether people are more concerned about the 44 percent unemployment rate or still mired in wartime nationalist divisions.","Honeymoon murder suspect set for extradition. Murder suspect Shrien Dewani is due be extradited to South Africa on Monday to face charges he arranged to have his wife killed during their honeymoon. Dewani, 33, is expected touch down in South Africa on Tuesday, when prosecutors and police are expected to call him to appear at the Western Cape High Court.","Uruguay president asks US to free Cuban prisoners. MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay (AP) — Uruguay's president is asking the United States to free three Cuban prisoners in exchange for receiving five Guantanamo Bay detainees.","Valverde rebounds with San Sebastian Classic win. SAN SEBASTIAN, Spain (AP) — Alejandro Valverde rebounded from missing the podium at the Tour de France by winning the San Sebastian Classic on Saturday.","UN calls for end to Bangui violence. United Nations (United States) (AFP) - The UN Security Council on Friday called for an end to the violence engulfing the Central African Republic's capital and condemned the killing of a Pakistani peacekeeper near Bangui.","Australia summons Egyptian diplomat to protest over journalist's jailing. By Matt Siegel SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australia summoned a senior Egyptian diplomat on Tuesday to protest against the sentencing of an Australian reporter, one of three Al Jazeera journalists jailed for seven years by an Egyptian judge in a verdict that left his family \"shattered\". The three journalists, including Australian Peter Greste, all denied the charge of working with the now-banned Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt. Sentenced in a Cairo court on Monday, they have been held at Egypt's notorious Tora Prison for six months, with the case becoming a rallying point for rights groups and news organizations around the world. A spokeswoman for Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said Bishop had called in the deputy Egyptian ambassador so that Australia could continue to \"express their disappointment\".","South Sudan peace talks delayed as rebels deny massacre. By Carl Odera and Michelle Nichols NAIROBI/UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - South Sudan peace talks were delayed again on Tuesday as United Nations peacekeepers battle to protect some 22,000 civilians at a base in Bentiu, where dead bodies lined the dusty streets after an ethnic massacre during rebels' seizure of the oil town. The U.N. base, guarded by 500 peacekeepers, has come under rocket fire and the number of civilians seeking refuge there has quadrupled since the start of April, U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters in New York. The United Nations accused the rebels of hunting down men, women and children a week ago in a hospital, church and mosque in the capital of the oil-producing Unity state and then killing them based on ethnicity and nationality. He also accused the U.N. mission of \"cheap propaganda\" to win favor with South Sudanese President Salva Kiir.","Most Filipinos asked in poll back case vs. China. MANILA, Philippines (AP) — A Philippine official says a poll showing high support among Filipinos for the decision to legally challenge China's massive territorial claims in the South China Sea has bolstered Manila's resolve to pursue the case.","Wallabies name 30-man squad, Polota-Nau included. SYDNEY (AP) — Australia has announced a 30-man squad for the next two Rugby Championship matches, including the return of New South Wales Waratahs hooker Tatafu Polota-Nau.","Egyptian court upholds 5-year sentence for author. CAIRO (AP) — An Egyptian official says an appeals court has upheld a five-year sentence for a Coptic Christian author convicted on charges of contempt of religion.","Britain's first motorway pub opens its doors. The Hope and Champion, run by pub chain J D Wetherspoon, is on the M40 motorway linking London and Birmingham. Manager Steve Baldwin said the pub primarily serves motorway users, \"but its facilities are also available to the surrounding community\". Cans and bottles of alcoholic drinks can already be bought in shops at motorway services but The Hope and Champion is the first dedicated bar at a service stop. The RAC roadside breakdown service said a survey of 2,000 people showed that only 12 percent supported putting pubs into motorway service stations.","Police to deploy ahead of S.Africa platinum strike deadline. Marikana (South Africa) (AFP) - A large police contingent will deploy to South Africa's platinum belt overnight Tuesday, a spokesman said, to help end a five month strike at a Lonmin mine. \\\\\"There's going to be a massive deployment just to make sure we ensure the constitutional right of those who want to go back to work,\\\\\" police spokesman Thulani Ngubane told AFP. Three mineworkers have been killed in the past few days in attacks ahead of a Wednesday strike deadline set by mining giant Lonmin that saw about 80,000 workers walk off the job in January. Protesters from the Lonmin mine on Tuesday burnt down shops in Marikana, northwest of Johannesburg, an AFP photographer reported.","Neighbor accuses Justin Bieber of egging home; singer investigated for assault, vandalism. LOS ANGELES, Calif. - Sheriff's deputies are investigating Justin Bieber for yet another dispute with his neighbours that could land him in court.","Australian troops to Iraq held up by legal matters. CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Australia's prime minister says that special forces sent to Iraq haven't been able to enter the country yet because the Iraqi government has not provided the necessary legal guarantees.","Visa hurdles limit Wanderers fans at ACL final. KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Football's continental governing body says it has no power to intervene in visa issues for fans amid reports that only 14 Western Sydney Wanderers supporters — including one woman — were traveling to the Saudi capital for the Asian Champions League final.","Milan vice president says club may sell Balotelli. MILAN (AP) — AC Milan vice president Barbara Berlusconi has not ruled out selling Italy striker Mario Balotelli.","Russia would veto Syria aid resolution in current form: RIA. Russia believes a draft U.N. resolution on aid access in Syria is aimed at creating grounds for military intervention and would veto the document in its current form, RIA news agency quoted Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov as saying on Wednesday.","UK buyer may see 'Chagall' painting burned as fake. LONDON (AP) — A British collector may see an expensive painting burned because a French committee has determined it is not an authentic work by Marc Chagall.","Iraqi Kurdish peshmerga head for Kobane. SURUC (Turkey) (AFP) - Some 150 Iraqi peshmerga fighters on Friday left a Turkish military warehouse where they spent the last three days to head across the border to join the fight against jihadists for the Syrian town of Kobane.","Syria vows chemical disarmament despite missed deadlines. Syria's said Wednesday it remains committed to destroying its chemical weapons despite \"difficulties\" caused by its conflict, as it missed another deadline under an international deal which averted US military action. \"Difficulties that Syria faces, particularly in the framework if its fight against terrorism, may at times prevent it from implementing some of its commitments,\" said Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Muqdad. But the Syrian government is committed to the deal under which it must turn over all its chemical weapons by mid-2014, he said, quoted by state news agency SANA. Despite the delays, Muqdad said Syria was working \"with determination, strength and credibility to fully implement the agreements with the United Nations and the Organisation for the Prohibition on Chemical Weapons (OPCW).\"","Brazil's Ronaldinho puts mansion up for WCup rent. RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Brazilian soccer midfielder Ronaldinho is putting his Rio de Janeiro mansion on the rental market during the last half of the World Cup.","Bloomberg lands in Israel in show of support. JERUSALEM (AP) — Former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg has landed in Israel, despite a U.S. ban on flying there amid rocket fire during the war in Gaza.","Greek isles: Views, beaches, sunsets and crowds. SANTORINI, Greece (AP) — Whitewashed houses stacked like sugar cubes on the cliffs. Colorful sunsets and black-sand beaches. Donkeys, windmills and a local winemaking tradition that goes back to ancient times.","Syria car bombings kill 18, including 11 children: state media. Damascus (AFP) - Suicide bombers blew up two vehicles in central Syria on Friday, killing at least 18 people, including 11 children, state media reported.","Chile's Bachelet promises to return land to indigenous people. President Michelle Bachelet on Tuesday announced a plan to buy and return disputed ancestral lands to Chile's indigenous communities as part of a strategy to better incorporate them into the country's political process and economic development. Chile's indigenous peoples, which include the Mapuche, Aymara and Diaguita, have an underweight representation in Congress and often face a harsh economic reality in what is otherwise one of Latin America's wealthiest countries. Years of conflict over land claims have increasingly flared into violence between the Mapuche, the largest indigenous group, and local farmers, forestry companies and police, putting pressure on the government to act. \"It has been nearly 25 years since we got back our democracy,\" Bachelet said at the presidential palace in Santiago, flanked by representatives of indigenous communities.","Lambert goal earns Southampton 1-0 win at Swansea. SWANSEA, Wales (AP) — England striker Rickie Lambert scored a fortuitous goal in the third minute of injury time to give Southampton a 1-0 win at Swansea in the Premier League on Saturday.","Government of Bahamas says all 9 people on board killed when plane crashes off Grand Bahama. FREEPORT, Bahamas (AP) — Government of Bahamas says all 9 people on board killed when plane crashes off Grand Bahama.","Somali Islamists say they attacked Kenya coastal town. MOGADISHU (Reuters) - Somali Islamist group al Shabaab claimed responsibility on Monday for an overnight attack on the Kenyan coastal town of Mpeketoni that killed at least 50 people, some of them soccer fans at a venue screening World Cup matches. \"Commandos last night carried out a successful raid on the town of Mpeketoni,\" al Shabaab said in a statement sent to Reuters. As reasons, it cited the deployment of Kenyan troops to Somalia and what it called Kenya's extra-judicial killings of Muslim scholars, a charge Nairobi has denied. ...","Malaysia working with U.S. to get any satellite information on lost plane. KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Malaysia is working with U.S. investigators to establish if there is any satellite information that could help locate an airliner with 239 people on board that has been missing for nearly a week, a senior government official said on Friday. \"They indicated they were studying the possibility of satellite communication. Whatever they have and will share with us,\" Azharuddin Abdul Rahman, the head of Malaysia's Civil Aviation Authority, told a news conference. ...","Ashley-Cooper shifts to center for Wallabies. SYDNEY (AP) — Veteran back Adam Ashley-Cooper has shifted from wing to center to replace the injured Tevita Kuridrani in one of three changes to Australia's starting lineup for its tour-ending test against England on Saturday.","UPDATE 1-Golf-U.S. PGA Tour Texas Open scores. March 28 (Infostrada Sports) - Scores from the U.S. PGA Tour Texas Open at the par-72 course on Friday in San Antonio, Texas 67 Andrew Loupe (U.S.) 67 68 Pat Perez (U.S.) 68 Danny Lee (New Zealand) 68 69 Noh Seung-Yul (South Korea) 69 Will MacKenzie (U.S.) 69 Steven Bowditch (Australia) 69 Justin Hicks (U.S.) 69 Bo Van Pelt (U.S.) 69 Miguel Carballo (Argentina) 69 Cameron Beckman (U.S.) 69 Chesson Hadley (U.S.) 69 70 Matt Kuchar (U.S.) 70 Kevin Na (U.S.) 70 Scott Brown (U.S.) 70 Brian Harman (U.S.) 70 Trevor Immelman (South Africa) 70 Fred Funk (U.S. ...","MP Nigel Evans cleared of sexual assaults. The former deputy speaker of the House of Commons was cleared on Thursday of charges of sexually assaulting seven young men. Nigel Evans, 56, had been accused of using his \"powerful\" political influence to take advantage of the men. But a jury at Preston Crown Court found Evans not guilty of one count of rape, five sexual assaults, one attempted sexual assault and two indecent assaults. Peter Wright, Evans' defence lawyer, suggested the complainant had fabricated his evidence because he regretted having sex with a man more than twice his age.","Blast hits capital of China's western Xinjiang region: Xinhua. A explosion hit a park in the regional capital of China's western region of Xinjiang on Thursday morning, the official Xinhua news agency reported on Thursday. It was not clear yet whether there were casualties in the blast, which took place in a park in Urumqi at around 8 a.m. local time (8.00 p.m. ET), Xinhua said. China has blamed a series of knife and bomb attacks in recent months on separatist militants from Xinjiang, which is the traditional home of the ethnic Uighur people. Xinjiang has been plagued by violence for years, but rights activists and exile groups say the government's own heavy handed policies in the region have sowed the seeds of unrest.","Hearing into controversial labour law in Alberta delayed 1 day by travel problems. EDMONTON - A hearing to deal with a labour law that imposes a contract on Alberta government employees will start one day late.","Transcript of communications between Malaysia Flight MH370 and ground control. KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Below is the full transcript of communications between missing Flight MH370 and air traffic controllers in Kuala Lumpur, released on Tuesday by Hishammuddin Hussein, minister of defense and acting transport minister. \"The transcript has been shared with the families, and is attached as an Annex to this press release. There is no indication of anything abnormal in the transcript,\" said Hussein in an email. The last words from the cockpit were \"Good night Malaysian three seven zero\", changing the account from the previous \"All right, good night. ...","Yemen Shiite rebels expand control as south seeks breakaway. Sanaa (AFP) - Shiite rebels seized a strategic port city Tuesday to widen their fast-expanding zone of control, hours after a new premier was named in a bid to defuse Yemen's escalating political crisis.","US names Syria-Iraq campaign \"Inherent Resolve\". WASHINGTON (AP) — Weeks into its air campaign against Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria, the U.S. Defense Department has announced a name for the operation: \"Inherent Resolve.\"","After days of searching, volunteer pulls sister's body from Washington mudslide. By Jonathan Kaminsky DARRINGTON, Washington (Reuters) - Days after risking his own life and defying arrest by joining the search for Washington state mudslide victims in a vast, mucky debris field near Oso, Dayn Brunner retrieved the body of the No. 1 person he had been looking for - his sister. Brunner, 42, recounted the tragic coincidence in an interview with Reuters on Friday, two days after it unfolded on the enormous mound of mud and rubble left by last Saturday's disaster, which has claimed at least 26 lives and left 90 people still missing. Brunner said he was on the mud pile on Wednesday afternoon when other rescue workers found a blue object and called him over to the spot. It was the same color as the car his sister, Summer Raffo, 36, was known to have been driving through the area when the slide struck.","Canada, France, China and Serbia advance. ISTANBUL (AP) — Canada advanced to the quarterfinals of the women's world championship for the first time in 20 years after knocking off the Czech Republic 91-71 on Wednesday.","Quotes reacting to Pakistan attacks. Reactions from around the world to the attacks in Peshawar, Pakistan where Taliban gunmen stormed a military-run school on Tuesday, killing 126 people.","German university rector faults Snowden doctorate. BERLIN (AP) — The rector of a German university where academics voted to award NSA leaker Edward Snowden an honorary doctorate is trying to have the decision reversed — arguing that his actions don't fulfill the required criteria.","Indian man pedals cycle rickshaw to Himalayan peak. KOLKATA, India (AP) — It took 68 days for Satyen Das to laboriously pedal his rickety, self-remodeled bicycle rickshaw from the seaside Indian city of Kolkata to the roof of the world — a 5,369-meter (17,600-foot) Himalayan pass. His goal: to promote the vehicle as an environmentally sound travel option.","Costa guides Chelsea to 2nd straight win. LIVERPOOL, England (AP) — Diego Costa kept up his prolific start to his Chelsea career on Saturday, setting the title favorites on their way to a 2-0 win over Leicester and a second straight victory to open the Premier League.","James O'Connor, Hunt sign with Queensland Reds. BRISBANE, Australia (AP) — Former Wallaby James O'Connor and ex-rugby league international and Australian Rules player Karmichael Hunt have signed contracts to play with Super Rugby's Queensland Reds next season.","New and old stars vie -- or team up -- for Grammys glory. Music's top stars gather Sunday for the Grammys, with artists ranging from the Beatles and veteran rapper Jay-Z to French electro duo Daft Punk and newcomers like New Zealand's Lorde up for honors. Rapper Kendrick Lamar, pop diva Taylor Swift, chart-topper Justin Timberlake and Seattle hip hop duo Macklemore & Ryan Lewis are also among those vying for prizes at music's version of the Oscars in Los Angeles. The show will also feature some eye-popping collaborations, including rockers Metallica with acclaimed Chinese pianist Lang Lang and Lamar with the Imagine Dragons rockers.","Suicide bomber kills eight in Iraqi city of Baiji. BAGHDAD (Reuters) - A suicide bomber killed eight people, including six soldiers, on Tuesday in the northern Iraqi city of Baiji, which the army is trying to control in order to break an Islamic State siege of the country's largest refinery nearby, officials said. The bomber targeted a crowd gathering around soldiers who had retaken parts of the city center, Baiji Mayor Mohammed Mahmoud told Reuters. Security officials said two civilians and six soldiers were killed. (Reporting by Ahmed Rasheed; Writing by Michael Georgy; Editing by Hugh Lawson)","Experts cast doubt on Nicaragua meteorite reports. MANAGUA, Nicaragua (AP) — Outside experts are raising doubts about whether a 39-foot crater found in Nicaragua's capital this weekend was caused by a meteorite strike, as the country's government has said.","China says U.S. appropriations bill violates rules, sends bad signal. SHANGHAI (Reuters) - China is unhappy with the U.S. spending bill passed by the House of Representatives last week, saying it contains discriminatory clauses that violate the rules of fair trade and \"send the wrong signal\".","Gaza's sole power plant knocked out by Israeli strike: official. Israeli tank fire hit the fuel depot of the Gaza Strip's only power plant on Tuesday, witnesses said, cutting electricity to Gaza City and many other parts of the Palestinian enclave of 1.8 million people. \"The power plant is finished,\" said its director, Mohammed al-Sharif. He said the local fire brigade was not equipped to extinguish the blaze. The plant had already been hit last week and was working at a reduced capacity of about 20 percent, allowing only a few hours of electricity a day for Gaza's residents.","Police and Albanians clash in Macedonia over murder trial. Police in Macedonia fired teargas and stun grenades on Friday in clashes with around 2,000 ethnic Albanians who took to the streets of the capital to protest against the jailing of six people for murder and terrorism. The protesters, who pelted police with stones, were angry at what they say was the unfair conviction of six ethnic Albanians for the murder of five Macedonian fishermen at a lake near the capital, Skopje, in 2012. Writing by Aleksandar Vasovic;","Dutch rightist politician quits over anti-Moroccan chants. By Anthony Deutsch and Thomas Escritt AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - A parliamentarian for the Dutch hard-right Freedom Party resigned from the party on Thursday amid uproar over the way leader Geert Wilders led supporters in racist chants against Moroccans during an election night rally. Wilders' eurosceptic, anti-Islam Freedom Party made huge gains in municipal elections on Wednesday, and polls suggest it will become the largest Dutch party in the European assembly in elections in May. On Wednesday night in The Hague, Wilders asked a crowd of supporters: \"Do you want more or fewer Moroccans in this city?\" They chanted \"Fewer! Fewer! Fewer!\" Wilders smiled and responded \"I'll take care of that.\" Roland van Vliet, who will remain in parliament as an independent, said Wilders' views on Muslims were becoming more extreme, moving from criticism of Islamic militancy to claims that statistics showed Moroccans committed a disproportionately high number of crimes.","Venezuelan student protest ends in dramatic clash. CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — A university protest in Venezuela has ended with a policeman hurt and at least one student badly injured.","Soldiers killed, taken prisoner by rebels in Mali. Tuareg militants killed several Malian soldiers during clashes in the rebel bastion of Kidal on Wednesday, a United Nations source told AFP, as the insurgents claimed to have taken control of the town. The fighting shattered an uneasy calm which had held since the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA) took 32 civil servants hostage during a battle which left eight Malian soldiers and 28 rebels dead. \"The noise of gunfire has stopped... There are prisoners and deaths among the Malian army's ranks,\" a source from the MINUSMA, the United Nations peacekeeping mission in Mali, told AFP, adding that the rebels appeared to have the upper hand. Mohamed Ag Rhissa, one of the leaders of the separatist MNLA, told AFP by telephone his group had taken \"control the whole town of Kidal\", adding that \"we have prisoners\".","White House will have to answer petition's call for Justin Bieber deportation. WASHINGTON - It looks like another major political hot potato has just landed on President Barack Obama's desk: what to do about Justin Bieber.","FIFA V-P calls for Garcia probe to be published. ZURICH (AP) — FIFA vice president Prince Ali bin Al-Hussein wants key parts of an investigation into allegations of World Cup bid corruption to be published.","Kurds say Iraqi bid to thwart oil exports via Turkey will fail. Iraq's bid to thwart exports of oil from Kurdistan via Turkey by filing for arbitration is a \"hollow threat\" that will fail, the autonomous region said in a statement on Sunday. The Iraqi Oil Ministry said on Friday it was taking legal action against Turkey and state-owned pipeline operator BOTAS after the first cargo of crude to be piped from Kurdistan was sold without Baghdad's consent. The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) said it was undeterred by \"hollow threats\" from Baghdad and accused the Iraqi Oil Ministry of flouting the country's constitution.","Israel says it foiled al-Qaida plot on U.S. Embassy. JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel on Wednesday said it had foiled an \"advanced\" al-Qaida plan to carry out a suicide bombing on the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv and bomb other targets, in what analysts said was the first time the global terror network's leadership has been directly involved in plotting an attack inside Israel.","Georgia road officials apologize for overreacting to snow risk. By David Beasley ATLANTA (Reuters) - Georgia state transportation officials, reeling from the snow and ice that paralyzed Atlanta highways last week, said they \"overreacted\" on Thursday by warning motorists of a winter storm watch that had not in fact been issued. After weather forecasts mentioned a chance of more snow, officials posted winter storm watch and warning messages on electronic roadway signs in Atlanta late on Wednesday and early Thursday. But the National Weather Service had predicted only light snow, possibly mixing with rain. \"The term 'winter storm' was never used,\" weather service meteorologist Kent Frantz said.","Image of Asia: Tools for an 'Umbrella Revolution'. In this photo by Wong Maye-E, umbrellas are stacked for pro-democracy activists to use to shield themselves from pepper spray and tear gas in Hong Kong's financial district. The protesters participating in what's been called the \"Umbrella Revolution\" have also donned surgical masks, goggles and plastic wrap to protect themselves while defying authorities' calls to end their demonstrations against Beijing's decision to limit democratic reforms in Hong Kong.","ECB action alone can't lift gloom over Europe. LONDON (AP) — Europe has gotten another dose of stimulus. But the latest medicine by itself will not bring life to an economy that over the past six years has slid from crisis to crisis.","Blas Pinar, Spanish far-right leader, dead at 95. MADRID (AP) — Blas Pinar, a Spanish far-right politician who voiced support for Gen. Francisco Franco's military dictatorship after the introduction of democracy and was elected to the Spanish Parliament under the slogan \"God, country and justice,\" has died. He was 95.","India PM says serious about peace with Pakistan. UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi says he's serious about holding peace talks with Pakistan but says the neighboring country must create an \"appropriate environment\" for the dialogue.","After border town attack, Syrians' welcome in Lebanon wears even thinner. By Alexander Dziadosz BEIRUT (Reuters) - When Syrian Islamist rebels seized the Lebanese border town of Arsal last month, it was bad news not only for Lebanon but also for the more than 1 million Syrians living there, most of them refugees from the war raging next door. Equivalent to a quarter of the pre-war population, the Syrians were already resented for taking jobs, driving down wages, overloading schools and hospitals, and even worsening an electricity shortage. To some, Arsal was the last straw. ...","Canada transports allied military equipment to Kurds. Ottawa (AFP) - Two Canadian military transport jumbo jets, along with their crew of 30, were deployed Friday to deliver allies' arms to Iraqi Kurds fighting Islamic State jihadists.","AP WAS THERE: US breaks relations with Cuba. EDITOR'S NOTE — When the United States severed its diplomatic relationship with Cuba on Jan. 3, 1961, it kicked off a year in which CIA-funded counterrevolutionaries would try to invade Cuba at the Bay of Pigs, and after that, the withdrawal or ouster of almost all American and European media from the island, including The Associated Press' American staff.","Mexican vigilantes brace for cartel reprisal. NUEVA ITALIA (Mexico) (AFP) - Vigilantes toting assault rifles guarded the entrance of a town in western Mexico on Monday, bracing for a possible counter-attack from a drug cartel they chased out a day earlier. The militiamen were protecting their new prize in their year-long struggle against the Knights Templar drug cartel, a gang whose reign of violence and extortion prompted civilians to take up arms in the restive state of Michoacan. Hundreds of self-styled \"self-defense\" forces, armed with AK-47s and other assault rifles, rolled into the town of Nueva Italia on Sunday, sparking a gunfight that lasted almost two hours and left two of their men wounded. But soldiers did not act in Sunday's assault in Nueva Italia, and an AFP correspondent did not spot a military presence in the area on Monday.","Iceland raises volcano aviation alert again. REYKJAVIK, Iceland (AP) — Iceland's authorities have raised the aviation warning code for a region close to the subglacial Bardarbunga volcano after a small fissure eruption in the area.","US, Australia sign military cooperation pact. SYDNEY (AP) — The U.S. and Australia signed an agreement Tuesday that will allow the two countries' militaries to train and work better together as U.S. Marines and airmen deploy in and out of the country.","First MH17 victim identified, grieving relatives visit site. Forensic experts have identified the first of 298 people killed in the MH17 disaster, the Dutch government said, as grieving relatives defied safety concerns to pay an emotional visit to the crash site in eastern Ukraine. A truce has been called in the immediate area around the site by both the Kiev forces and pro-Russian separatists, but combat was raging just 60 kilometres (35 miles) away, with loud explosions heard at regular intervals in western and northern suburbs of rebel stronghold Donetsk. \"She was full of life,\" said Angela Rudhart-Dyczynski of their 25-year-old daughter Fatima, an aerospace engineering student who died when the Amsterdam-to-Kuala Lumpur plane was shot down July 17, killing all 298 people on board. She and her husband Jerzy Dyczynski, who wore a T-shirt with the words \"Fatima: We Love You\", were overcome with emotion as they walked among the wreckage and scorched earth, and laid a large bouquet of flowers on part of the debris.","Presidents meet to discuss peace in South Sudan. JOHANNESBURG (AP) — South Africa's government says President Jacob Zuma has travelled to East Africa for talks on the South Sudan peace process.","British schoolboy jailed for stabbing teacher to death in class. By Michael Holden LONDON (Reuters) - A teenage British schoolboy was jailed for at least 20 years on Monday after pleading guilty to stabbing to death a teacher he had developed a hatred of in front of horrified pupils during a lesson at a college in northern England. William Cornick, then aged 15, murdered Ann Maguire, 61, in April in what was believed to be the first killing of a British teacher by a student in almost 20 years, sending shockwaves around the country where violent school incidents are rare. ...","Showtime for Apple: Big phones, smart watches and high expectations. It has been four years since Apple Inc introduced a completely new gadget and the pressure is on for the world's largest tech company to wow at its \"special event\" in Cupertino, California, on Tuesday. Apple has fed the high expectations, with promises by executives that the company's best product pipeline in 25 years is being readied inside its secretive facilities. Those now ubiquitous gadgets were created under the innovative and famously meticulous eye of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, who died in 2011. When Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook takes the stage on Tuesday, technology aficionados, investors and rivals will be watching closely to see whether Jobs' handpicked successor inherited the magic touch or whether Apple's winning streak is coming to an end.","Report: Journalist killed in eastern Ukraine. MOSCOW (AP) — Russian news agencies say a correspondent of a state-owned TV channel has been killed in eastern Ukraine, which is overrun with pro-Russian insurgents.","Activision hires Giuliani to fight Noriega lawsuit. LOS ANGELES (AP) — Former New York City Mayor Rudy Guiliani is joining videogame maker Activision's legal team in seeking to dismiss a lawsuit filed by former Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega against the popular \"Call of Duty\" franchise.","Hungary's Fidesz tipped to win big in Sunday vote. BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — Hungary's governing party is tipped to win parliamentary elections Sunday, while a far-right party is expected to make further gains, according to polls.","Bomb blast wounds six Tunisan security force members. Six members of the Tunisian security forces were wounded when a roadside bomb exploded Tuesday in the mountainous Kef region near the Algerian border, the interior ministry said. \"A roadside bomb exploded as a military vehicle passed by, wounding four soldiers and two members of the National Guard,\" it said. At the time, the security forces were combing the mountains in the provinces of Kef and neighbouring Jendouba \"where the remnants of a terrorist group is holed up,\" the ministry added. Since late 2012, security forces have been battling jihadists hiding out in the remote western region.","US, NATO to mark end of mission to Afghanistan. KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — The United States and NATO will formally end 13 years of war in Afghanistan with a ceremony at their military headquarters in Kabul.","Coyotes hold off Oilers for 4-3 win; Edmonton's losing skid stretches to six. EDMONTON - Mike Ribeiro had a goal and an assist as the Phoenix Coyotes held on to snap a two-game losing streak with a 4-3 win over the Edmonton Oilers on Friday.","17 killed as Philippine troops battle militants. MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Philippine security forces battled Abu Sayyaf militants in the south on Thursday in fierce clashes that killed seven troops and 10 rebels in the latest confrontation in the insurgency-wracked region, military officials said.","Iraqis flock to volunteer to fight insurgents. BAGHDAD (AP) — Hundreds of young Iraqi men flocked to volunteer centers across Baghdad Saturday to join the fight against Islamic militants who have advanced across the country's north this week.","SOCHI SCENE: Into the air. KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia (AP) — An evening of fog produced this stunning image from Associated Press photographer Matthias Schrader. In it, Germany's Andreas Wank launches through heavy fog during men's ski jumping training.","Satellite images show 290 heritage sites in Syria damaged by war: U.N.. BEIRUT (Reuters) - Satellite imagery indicate that 290 cultural heritage sites in Syria, whose history stretches back to the dawn of civilization, have been damaged by its ongoing civil war, the United Nations' training and research arm (UNITAR) said on Tuesday. Syria's heritage spans the great empires of the Middle East but cultural sites and buildings around the country, such as Aleppo's Umayyad Mosque, have been looted, damaged or destroyed in the three-year-old conflict. ...","Guantanamo prisoner pleads guilty in bombing. FORT MEADE, Md. (AP) — A Guantanamo Bay prisoner is pleading guilty to war crimes charges for allegedly helping plan the suicide bombing of an oil tanker off Yemen in 2002 that killed a crewman and wounded a dozen others.","UN Security Council demands Fiji peacekeepers' release. The UN Security Council on Wednesday demanded the release of 45 Fijian peacekeepers held in the Golan Heights by Syrian Al-Nusra Front rebels. They were captured almost a week ago, when the rebels stormed a Golan Heights crossing. The council \"reiterated their call for the peacekeepers' immediate and unconditional release,\" adding in its statement that \"there can never be any justification for attacks on or the detention of UN peacekeepers.\" The government of Fiji also has called for their release, stressing that the neutral peacekeepers do not take sides in any conflict.","Putin, China's Xi hold 'close' views on Ukraine, Kremlin says. Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping discussed the situation in Ukraine by telephone on Tuesday and their positions on the issue are \"close\", the Kremlin said. It said the presidents of the veto-wielding U.N. Security Council nation expressed hope that \"the steps taken by the Russian leadership will allow for the reduction of ... tension and provide for the security of Russian-speaking citizens living in Crimea and the eastern regions of Ukraine.\" (Writing by Steve Gutterman;","South Africa's NUMSA union agrees wage deal to end four-week strike. By Zandi Shabalala JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa's main manufacturing union, NUMSA, has agreed to end a four-week strike after accepting a wage increase offer from employers, union leader Irvin Jim said on Monday. More than 200,000 members of the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA) downed tools on July 2 to demand higher wages, halting production at automakers including General Motors and hitting work at new power plants. Members of South Africa's largest union will return to work on Tuesday after it accepted a 10 percent annual pay rise fixed for three years for its lowest-paid workers. A smaller union, the 20,000-strong United Association of South Africa (UASA), earlier said it had accepted the wage increase offer.","US state woman charged in terror case detained. RICHMOND, Virginia (AP) — A Virginia woman charged with lying to federal investigators about supporting the Islamic State militant group will remain in jail while she awaits trial.","US says North Korea releases 2 detained Americans. WASHINGTON (AP) — The two remaining Americans who had been held in North Korea have been released and are on their way home, U.S. officials said Saturday.","Russian workers find man hiding in plane's engine. MOSCOW (AP) — Prosecutors say workers preparing a plane for a flight from Siberia to an Egyptian resort city discovered a man hiding in one of the engines.","Pope writes to U.N. to highlight 'the tears and cries' of Iraqi Christians. Pope Francis renewed his appeal on Wednesday for international action to stop suffering among religious minorities in war-torn northern Iraq, calling for help in a letter to U.N. Secretary General Ban-Ki Moon. \"I write to you, Mr Secretary General, and place before you the tears, the suffering and the heartfelt cries of despair of Christians and other religious minorities of the beloved land of Iraq,\" the Pope said in the letter. The Vatican called on Muslim religious leaders on Tuesday to condemn the activity of Islamic State militants in Iraq, said the international community was compelled to do all it could under international law to prevent the violence.","Lao defense chief, 4 others killed in plane crash. BANGKOK (AP) — A Lao air force plane carrying senior government officials crashed Saturday, killing at least five people on board, including the country's defense minister, Thai officials said.","Afghan president signs key money law needed to avoid blacklist. The Afghan president has signed a key package of legislation aimed at combating financial crime, a statement said on Wednesday, making it less likely the country will be added to an international blacklist this week. The laws have been rushed through both houses of parliament in a last-ditch bid to meet the deadline set by the international watchdog, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), after the draft was wrangled over by ministers for over a year. \"I put my signature to it ... this decree is to be published in the national gazette along with the parliament drafts,\" the statement by President Hamid Karzai said. The government is hoping the eleventh-hour breakthrough will convince the FATF it has done enough to prove it is serious about cracking down on money laundering and terrorist financing.","Egypt orders arrest of men over 'gay marriage' video. Egyptian authorities have ordered the arrest of nine men who appeared in a video purporting to show the country's first gay marriage, accusing them of inciting debauchery and undermining public morals. Gay marriage is not legal in Egypt, a conservative Muslim society where the footage, which went viral on social media sites last month, has caused a stir online. Though homosexuality is not specifically outlawed in Egypt, discrimination is rife.","Reporter says he 'routinely' hacked Daniel Craig. ","Thousands abandon their Gaza homes. Thousands of Palestinians were fleeing northern Gaza on Sunday after a night of intense Israeli strikes and an explicit warning from the army that the raids were set to intensify. In Beit Lahiya, whole streets were emptying, with residents fleeing with all the belongings they could carry -- by car, by donkey- and horse-drawn carts, and on foot. Mohammed Sultan packed his family's belongings onto a horse-drawn cart, with five children sitting among the hastily assembled items. He walked alongside the cart, with other adult relatives, heading for a school run by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine refugees (UNRWA).","New center-left Slovenian govt voted into office. LJUBLJANA, Slovenia (AP) — Slovenia's parliament has voted into office a new center-left government in the small eurozone nation that narrowly avoided bailout last year.","Kurds retake Christian villages from Iraq jihadists. Arbil (Iraq) (AFP) - Kurdish peshmerga forces on Tuesday recaptured several Christian villages in northern Iraq in clashes with Islamic State (IS) jihadists, an officer and a cleric said.","G7 leaders agree to 'move swiftly' to impose additional sanctions on Russia over Ukraine. WASHINGTON (AP) — G7 leaders agree to 'move swiftly' to impose additional sanctions on Russia over Ukraine.","Union appeals Volkswagen workers' rejection in US. WASHINGTON (AP) — The United Auto Workers on Friday challenged last week's close vote by workers at a Volkswagen plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee, that rejected the UAW's bid to represent them.","Asian stocks drift as US jobs report, ECB awaited. MUMBAI, India (AP) — Asian stock markets drifted lower Wednesday, following the lead of Wall Street as investors awaited confirmation of new stimulus from the European Central Bank and a crucial U.S. jobs report.","Japanese androids take us closer to 'Blade Runner' future. A future in which it is difficult to tell man and machine apart could soon become reality, scientists say, after recent robotic breakthroughs in Japan. \"Already computers have surpassed human ability,\" leading Japanese roboticist Hiroshi Ishiguro told AFP. Robots already perform a wide variety of tasks in Japan: they cook noodles, help patients undergo physiotherapy and have been used in the clean-up after the 2011 nuclear meltdown at Fukushima.","Gays scoff at St. Patrick's Day Parade decision. NEW YORK (AP) — A decision by organizers of the city's St. Patrick's Day Parade to allow one gay organization to march is a disappointment after decades of fighting by gay groups for full participation, several advocates said Wednesday.","Yemen: Suspected al-Qaida militants kill 14 troops. SANAA, Yemen (AP) — Yemeni officials say suspected al-Qaida militants have attacked a security checkpoint in southeastern Hadramawt province, killing at least 14 troops and wounding several others.","Russia protests over photographer's \"barbarous\" killing in Ukraine. The Russian Foreign Ministry accused Ukrainian forces on Wednesday of responsibility for the \"barbarous\" killing of a Russian photojournalist and demanded an investigation. Andrei Stenin, 33, was confirmed dead earlier on Wednesday by his employers, state-run Rossiya Segodnya, or Russia Today, and by Russia's Investigative Committee. The Investigative Committee said in a statement it believed Stenin was killed on Aug. 6 while traveling with a convoy of refugees that was fired on by Ukrainian tanks close to the town of Snizhne in the Donetsk region. \"He did everything so that people, the whole world, knew the truth about the tragic events in Donetsk,\" President Vladimir Putin said in a letter of condolence to Stenin's mother published on the Kremlin website.","World Bank warns of risks for Russia's economy. MOSCOW (AP) — The World Bank is warning that Russia's economy could contract this year if the country is hit with more serious sanctions following its annexation of Crimea.","Blasts kill officer near Egypt presidential palace. CAIRO (AP) — Two homemade bombs went off on Monday near Egypt's presidential palace in Cairo, killing a senior police officer and wounding six people, security officials said.","US envoy in Libya amid political turmoil. A top US diplomat was visiting Libya on Wednesday to meet government officials, amid political upheaval in the North African country, the State Department said. Deputy Secretary of State William Burns was in Tripoli to meet with senior Libyan officials including interim prime minister Abdullah al-Thani and leaders of Libya's parliament, the General National Congress, the State Department said in a statement. Burns, who is the deputy to Secretary of State John Kerry, is the most senior US official to visit Libya since the 2012 assault on a US mission in eastern Benghazi in which four Americans, including the ambassador Chris Stevens, were killed.","Imagine all the artwork: Lennon trove auctioned. NEW YORK (AP) — Whimsical drawings, poems and short stories from two humorous books John Lennon produced in the 1960s fetched skyrocketing prices at auction Wednesday, including $209,000 for a nine-page parody of Sherlock Holmes.","Bilbao wins 1-0 at Shakhtar in Champions League. LVIV, Ukraine (AP) — Athletic Bilbao beat Shakhtar Donetsk 1-0 in the Champions League on Tuesday after the group's other result had already put the hosts through to the knockout stage.","Sudan's Bashir calls opponents to talks. Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir on Thursday urged opponents to join him in \"national dialogue\" talks, days after it was announced he would be seeking to extend his 25-year rule. Bashir, who took power in a 1989 coup, was named the presidential candidate for the ruling National Congress Party (NCP) on Tuesday, ahead of a presidential vote due next April. The 70-year-old is wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for alleged war crimes in the violence-plagued Darfur region and has been accused of jailing opponents and limiting press freedom. He has been pressing sceptical opponents to take part in a \"national dialogue\" and repeated that call to party faithful at a congress in Khartoum.","British hate preacher managed London strip club. British hate preacher Abu Hamza told his US terror trial how he once jointly managed a London strip club in his quest to live a Western, movie-style life. Mustafa Kamel Mustafa, 56, better known in Britain as Abu Hamza al-Masri, has pleaded not guilty to 11 kidnapping and terror counts that pre-date the 9/11 attacks. Blind in one eye and with both hands blown off in an explosion in Afghanistan, he faces life in a maximum security US prison if convicted by jury at the New York court.","Russian deputy PM doubts France's reliability as arms supplier. By Vladimir Soldatkin and John Irish MOSCOW/PARIS (Reuters) - Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin criticized France on Tuesday for saying it may cancel a 1.2 billion euro ($1.67 billion) helicopter-carrier contract with Moscow over the Ukraine crisis, and France seemed to back down on the issue. French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius raised the possibility on Monday of scrapping the deal depending on further sanctions against Moscow over its seizure of Ukraine's Crimea region, but later said he was only considering delaying it. \"France is starting to undermine confidence in it as a reliable provider in the very sensitive sector of military and technical cooperation,\" Rogozin, who oversees Russia's defense industry, said on Twitter. French officials have shied away from discussing whether the 2011 contract for two Mistral helicopter carriers with an option for two more with Russia could be suspended, a potentially politically awkward sacrifice, to show French resolve.","London shares rally for fifth straight day. London (AFP) - London shares ended higher on Monday for the fifth day in a row, benefiting from a renewed \"Santa rally\" powered by a modest recovery in oil prices early in the day.","US Ebola victim exposes Liberia failings. Monrovia (AFP) - The story of how the first Ebola victim diagnosed in the US caught the disease has exposed the multiple failings in his home country of Liberia, where poverty, an overloaded healthcare system and an unresponsive government have deepened the crisis.","Immigration foes dig in amid expectations. WASHINGTON (AP) — A chief Republican foe of immigration legislation says it would be a \"colossal mistake\" for the House to consider any measure this year and shift attention from President Barack Obama's health care law. For months, Republicans have been focused on attacking the health care law, sensing a political boost in its problem-plagued rollout.","Cargo ship with 100s on board issues distress call. ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greek authorities say a cargo ship believed to be carrying hundreds of migrants has issued a distress call in bad weather northwest of the Ionian island of Corfu Tuesday.","Keystone Senate vote hangs in balance after Obama remarks. By Timothy Gardner and Richard Cowan WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Supporters of the Keystone XL pipeline in the U.S. Senate scrambled on Monday to gather one last vote to pass a bill that authorizes the project that would help send Canadian oil to the U.S. Gulf, a task that became harder after President Barack Obama made his toughest comments yet on the topic. Momentum appeared to be going against the pipeline as Democratic Senator Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia told reporters late on Monday that he would vote against it on Tuesday. ...","France says EU-Russia summit scrapped over crisis. BRUSSELS (AP) — European Union leaders said Thursday they would widen the number of people hit with a travel ban and frozen assets in response to Russia's annexation of the Crimea peninsula, and announced plans to scrap a scheduled EU-Russia summit.","Yemen hands 29 Qaeda militants to Saudi Arabia: website. Yemen has handed to Saudi Arabia 29 al Qaeda militants who were wanted by the Saudi authorities, the Yemeni defense ministry website said on Tuesday, citing informed sources. The website quoted the sources as saying the militants had Saudi nationality and that they had been handed over to the Saudi security apparatus in the past few days. Saudi interior ministry spokesman Major General Mansour Turki said he had no information on the matter, but was seeking to verify the report. Yemen, which neighbors top oil exporter Saudi Arabia, is home to one of al Qaeda's most active branches, known as 'al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula', who have plotted unsuccessfully to attack Western targets, including international airliners.","Haiti leader vows to hold polls if forced to rule by decree. Haiti's President Michel Martelly vowed Sunday to call elections early next year if a political impasse that saw long-delayed polls postponed last week forces him to rule by decree. The impoverished country's government announced last Sunday that it was postponing legislative elections that were already three years overdue because the National Assembly failed to pass an electoral law in time.","Mother stabs French teacher to death in front of students. A female teacher was stabbed to death Friday in front of her pupils at a primary school in the southern French town of Albi by a student's mother, who was immediately detained. \"This morning, a mother showed up with a knife and stabbed a 34-year-old teacher in front of her students, for reasons that will be determined by the investigation,\" Albi prosecutor Claude Derens told AFP. President Francois Hollande immediately sent Education Minister Benoit Hamon to the school to take charge of the government response. The stabbing took place as morning classes began at Albi's Edouard Herriot primary school, which is attended by 284 students aged from three to 11.","Turkish protesters rough up US sailors in Istanbul. ISTANBUL (AP) — Anti-American protesters shouting \"Yankee, go home!\" roughed up two U.S. sailors in Istanbul near where a U.S. warship was docked on an inlet of the Bosphorus Strait in the Black Sea.","Bomb blast at French cultural centre in Gaza. A bomb attack slightly damaged the shuttered French Cultural Centre in Gaza City Friday night without causing casualties, two months after a fire forced its closure, police and an AFP photographer said. Police spokesman Ayman Betjeni said \"this was a cowardly attack and unfortunately the second incident of this sort in... two months.","Peace talks 1st goal: Aid to besieged Syrian city. GENEVA (AP) — Syrians on opposite sides of their country's civil war are trying again to find common ground, with talks focusing on an aid convoy to a besieged city and possible prisoner exchanges.","UN: Iran gets rid of sensitive nuclear material. VIENNA (AP) — The United Nations says Iran has turned all enriched uranium closest to the level needed to make nuclear arms into more harmless forms.","Asia stocks muted as China-Vietnam tensions bubble. TOKYO (AP) — Shares were muted in Asia on Tuesday as tensions flared between China and Vietnam, while hopes for further monetary easing in Europe helped push Japan's benchmark to its highest level in seven weeks.","Regime threatens to quit troubled Syria peace talks. Syria's regime threatened to quit peace talks in Geneva on Friday as UN-backed efforts to bring the country's warring sides together stumbled on their first day. Syrian state television said Foreign Minister Walid Muallem had told UN mediator Lakhdar Brahimi that \"should serious sessions fail to take place tomorrow, the official Syrian delegation will leave Geneva.\" Muallem told Brahimi \"the Syrian delegation is serious and ready to start, but the other side is not,\" it said. Pulled together by the United Nations, Russia and the United States, delegations from President Bashar al-Assad's regime and the opposition had been due to sit down Friday morning at UN headquarters in Geneva.","Venus beats Ivanovic in Dubai 2nd round. DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Venus Williams pummeled Ana Ivanovic 6-2, 6-1 in a second-round match between former world No. 1s at the Dubai Championships on Wednesday.","Oil price fall a 'golden' chance to shift to clean energy: IEA. By Mitra Taj LIMA (Reuters) - World leaders have a \"golden opportunity\" with plunging oil prices to put a price on carbon emissions since cheaper fuel makes the move less risky politically, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said on Tuesday. Crude prices have dropped about 40 percent since June to their lowest levels since 2010 and the IEA is concerned that the fall could threaten a transition to renewable energy, Maria van der Hoeven, the IEA's executive director, said on the sidelines of the Lima climate summit. ...","China tightens church control ahead of Christmas. BEIJING (AP) — Two days before Christmas, members of a rural Christian congregation in the eastern city of Wenzhou welded some pieces of metal into a cross and hoisted it onto the top of their worship hall to replace one that was forcibly removed in October.","Iraq Kurds seize Kirkuk; Sunni militants surge toward Baghdad. By Ahmed Rasheed and Isabel Coles BAGHDAD/ARBIL Iraq (Reuters) - Iraqi Kurds seized control of the northern oil city of Kirkuk on Thursday, while surging Sunni Islamist rebels advanced towards Baghdad, as the central government's army abandoned its posts in a rapid collapse that has lost it control of the north. Peshmerga fighters, the security forces of Iraq's autonomous Kurdish north, swept into Kirkuk after the army abandoned its posts there, a peshmerga spokesman said. \"The whole of Kirkuk has fallen into the hands of peshmerga,\" said Jabbar Yawar.","Peshmerga troops start entering Syrian border town. SURUC, Turkey (AP) — Activists say 10 Iraqi peshmerga fighters have entered a northern Syrian border town, the first from among a group of 150 Kurdish troops on their way into the embattled Kobani.","Guam attorney seeks to stop marijuana referendum. HAGATNA, Guam (AP) — A Guam attorney is asking the U.S. District Court in Guam to stop a referendum on medical marijuana scheduled to be on the November ballot.","Rugby-Cruden named co-captain of Chiefs with Messam. All Blacks flyhalf Aaron Cruden has been named co-captain of the Chiefs with loose forward Liam Messam, the reigning Super Rugby champion team said on Tuesday. The 25-year-old Cruden replaces lock Craig Clarke, who left to play in Ireland, while Messam retains his co-captaincy. \"Aaron has been a massive influence in our success to date,\" Chiefs coach Dave Rennie said on the team's website (www.chiefs.co.nz) on Tuesday. He is greatly respected, a natural leader and will thrive with this added responsibility.\" Cruden, capped 29 times for New Zealand, won the Chiefs' Player of the Year award in both years of their back-to-back championship seasons in 2012-13.","Libyan colonel shot dead in Benghazi. TRIPOLI, Libya (AP) — A Libyan security official says gunmen have shot dead an officer in the air defense branch in the eastern city of Benghazi.","AP PHOTOS: Post-crackdown, Peru mining town limps. HUEPETUHE, Peru (AP) — This nearly half-century-old Amazon boomtown has gone bust with the government's recent crackdown on illegal gold mining.","Germany scores 4 without a striker in lineup. SALVADOR, Brazil (AP) — Coach Joachim Loew left Germany's all-time leading scorer on the bench in the World Cup opener against Portugal and it proved to be the right move.","Egypt gunmen kill policeman in country's north. CAIRO (AP) — Egyptian security officials say unidentified assailants have killed a policeman in a drive-by shooting in the country's north, the latest attack on security forces.","China orders nationwide probe of meat supplier. BEIJING (AP) — China's food safety agency on Tuesday announced a nationwide inspection of processing factories and meat suppliers used by a company accused of selling expired beef and chicken to McDonald's and KFC.","Australia rejects claims that navy mistreated asylum seekers. By Matt Siegel SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australia on Wednesday rejected claims by a group of asylum seekers that they were beaten and suffered burns while being returned to Indonesia by the Australian navy under a policy that has strained ties between the countries. The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) on Tuesday aired video of asylum seekers getting treatment for burns they said were caused by navy personnel forcing them to hold onto hot pipes coming out of their boat's engine while it was being towed back to Indonesian waters. \"The Australian government is not going to put up with people sledging (verbally abusing) the Australian navy,\" he told reporters in Sydney. \"I've been given assurances about their conduct and I believe those assurances because I believe in those individuals.\" Indonesian police confirmed that a group of asylum seekers had required treatment for severe burns on their hands after they were picked up in Indonesian waters on January 6.","Israeli air force strikes Syrian army targets. JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli warplanes unleashed airstrikes Wednesday against Syrian army targets in response to a roadside bombing in the Golan Heights that wounded four soldiers the day before, the military said.","4 Indonesians in rape case retract confessions. JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Four janitors charged with raping a kindergartner at a prestigious international school in Indonesia have retracted their confessions, saying they were tortured by police during questioning.","Saudi Cabinet shakeup targets key ministries. RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) — Saudi King Abdullah announced on Monday a Cabinet shakeup, naming new ministers to key portfolios overseeing the kingdom's universities and mosques where ultraconservative clerics and their supporters hold sway.","Goergl beats Fenninger to win WCup super-G; Vonn crashes. VAL D'ISERE, France (AP) — Elisabeth Goergl beat Anna Fenninger by .05 seconds to lead an Austrian 1-2 in a women's super-G race on Sunday, while American Lindsey Vonn crashed during her bid for a record-equaling 62nd career win.","Scotland's pro-independence campaign gains on final TV debate: poll. Support for Scottish independence has risen by 4 percent after the final TV debate before a breakaway referendum in less than three weeks' time, one opinion poll showed on Friday, halving the anti-independence campaign's lead. Alex Salmond, the leader of the pro-independence Scottish National Party, was widely judged to have got the better of Alistair Darling, the head of the anti-independence \"Better Together\" campaign, in the TV debate on Aug. 5. A poll for the Scottish Daily Mail newspaper published on Friday, the first survey since the debate, showed support for the pro-independence side had risen to 47 percent from 43 percent since a similar Survation poll was released on Aug. 9 after the first such TV duel.","TSX little changed as banks offset drop in gold miners. TORONTO (Reuters) - Canada's main stock index was little changed on Thursday, with strength in the financial sector offsetting a decline in gold-mining shares, a day after the U.S. Federal Reserve decided to further scale back its stimulus program. The Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index was up 17.01 points, or 0.12 percent, at 13,660.23 shortly after the open. (Reporting by John Tilak; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)","Takata says president stepping down to streamline air bag recall response. TOKYO (Reuters) - Takata Corp , the air bag maker embroiled in millions of recalls worldwide, said its president Stefan Stocker would step down and its chairman would assume the role to unify the company's response to the crisis. Stocker, who joined Takata last year, will remain with the company as a board member. Shigehisa Takada, the grandson of the company founder, will become president. The company also said that Takada will take a 50 percent pay cut for four months. Stocker and three other executives will also take a pay cut, the company said. ...","Israel ex-PM recounts 2008 talks with Palestinians. JERUSALEM (AP) — Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Friday that if talks he held with Palestinians in 2008 had produced a peace deal, it would have forced tens of thousands of Jewish settlers to leave their homes in the West Bank.","Sans first lady, French leader to US on business. PARIS (AP) — France's suddenly single president arrives Monday in the U.S. for a state visit, hoping the glaring absence of his first lady won't steal the limelight from his focus on major policy issues with President Barack Obama.","APNewsBreak: UN's Iran nuke probe stalls _ again. VIENNA (AP) — Diplomats say that the U.N.'s latest attempt to probe allegations that Iran worked on atomic arms has stalled.","SOCHI SCENE: Shaun White, betting favorite. KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia (AP) — Just give him the gold. The betting parlors around Europe pretty much already have.","Netherlands thrashes Spain 5-1 in World Cup opener. SALVADOR, Brazil (AP) — The Netherlands tore Spain apart in a dominant second half performance to thrash the defending World Cup champion 5-1 on Friday and gain a measure of revenge for its 2010 World Cup final loss to Vicente Del Bosque's team.","German court refers ECB bond program to EU court. BERLIN (AP) — Germany's top court has asked an EU court to decide whether the European Central Bank's bond-buying program breaches EU law.","UN to meet on humanitarian situation in Ukraine. UNITED NATIONS (AP) — At Russia's request, the U.N. Security Council has scheduled an emergency meeting on the humanitarian situation in Ukraine.","Lost German survives on flies in Aussie Outback. Stranded by floods and lost, a German backpacker survived for around two weeks in Australia's inhospitable Outback on a diet of insects, police said Friday. Daniel Dudzisz, 26, went missing in February south-west of Longreach in remote Queensland as he reportedly tried to walk solo more than halfway across Australia. Dudzisz -- who is diabetic and insulin-dependent -- told police he waded through floodwaters and ate flies to survive his ordeal in the vast and wild Outback. \"If you hadn't heard it with your own ears -- and my officers have -- you certainly wouldn't believe it,\" Inspector Mark Henderson told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.","Obama: With help, democracy in Ukraine can thrive. WARSAW, Poland (AP) — President Barack Obama says Ukraine can be a vibrant, thriving democracy if the United States and the international community stand behind it.","IMF says Israel-Gaza conflict already having economic costs. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Israel and Gaza are already facing economic costs from the fighting between them that has raged for the past two weeks, a spokesman from the International Monetary Fund said on Thursday. The fiscal cost to Israel is estimated at 0.2 percent of its gross domestic product, though that number could increase if the fighting continues for long, IMF deputy spokesman William Murray said, citing figures from \"various sources. ...","Plushenko, Chan eye golden start in Olympic figure skating team event. Sochi (Russia) (AFP) - Russian figure skating legend Yvegeny Plushenko and Canadian world champion Patrick Chan will both be battling to get their nations off to a golden start in the Olympic figure skating team competition starting on Thursday. We're definitely looking for our team to win gold in this event,\" said Canadian pairs skater Dylan Moscovitch. Other medal hopes include Japan, France and China, with the biggest challenge being to maintain energy levels through to the individual events. \"We will have four competitions during these Olympic Games.","Mortars fired at Israel during Gaza cease-fire. JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel's military says three mortar shells were fired from Gaza after a humanitarian cease-fire went into effect.","Timeline: How Malaysia's Flight MH370 went missing. (Reuters) - Here is a timeline of events in the disappearance of a Malaysia Airlines jetliner which vanished from radar screens on a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on Saturday, March 8: (all times are local Malaysian, eight hours ahead of GMT) - 0041: Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 departs from Kuala Lumpur International Airport and is due to land in Beijing at 0630 the same day. - 0119: Someone in the cockpit says \"All right, good night\" to Malaysian air traffic control. - 0121: The plane drops off air traffic control screens as its transponder - which responds to civilian radar - is switched off. The Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam says the plane failed to check in as scheduled at 0121 with air traffic control in Ho Chi Minh City.","Bitcoin plunges after major platform indefinitely halts withdrawals. By Sam Forgione NEW YORK (Reuters) - The price of the digital currency bitcoin slid to its lowest level in nearly two months on Monday after bitcoin digital marketplace Mt. Gox said a halt on withdrawals it announced on Friday would continue indefinitely after it detected \"unusual activity.\" The bitcoin price varied dramatically from one exchange to another, with Tokyo-based Mt. Gox, the best known operator of a bitcoin digital marketplace, recording one of the biggest drops for the day. The price started falling fast on Friday when Mt. Gox said it was temporarily halting withdrawals due to unexplained technical issues. In an updated statement on Monday, Mt. Gox said withdrawals were on hold indefinitely after it \"has detected unusual activity on its bitcoin wallets and performed investigations during the past weeks. A bitcoin wallet is an application that stores bitcoins for the currency's users.","AP NewsAlert. Israeli parliament approves preliminary motion to disband itself ahead of early elections.","Army must do more to protect pipeline, says Iraq deputy PM. Iraq's army must do more to protect a northern oil pipeline and should pay as much attention to it as it does to fighting militants, Iraq's top energy official told AFP Sunday. The rare criticism of the security forces comes with the pipeline, which connects the northern province of Kirkuk to the Turkish Mediterranean port of Ceyhan, having been disabled for three months as a result of militant attacks as the army grapples with a year-long nationwide surge in violence. \"I have pointed out repeatedly that this -- protection of the export pipeline -- should be a national priority, no less than confronting the terrorists in Fallujah or elsewhere,\" Hussein al-Shahristani, deputy prime minister responsible for energy affairs, said in an interview. He was referring to battles between security forces and anti-government fighters who have held sway over Fallujah, a city a short drive west of Baghdad, since the beginning of the year.","Iran says US-led strikes violate Syria sovereignty. Tehran (AFP) - Iran condemned the US-led strikes on jihadist militants in Syria on Tuesday as a violation of the country's sovereignty.","Design flaw led navigation satellites off course. PARIS (AP) — An investigation is blaming a design flaw for the inaccurate deployment of two satellites intended to bolster Europe's answer to the GPS.","Ukraine warns of worsening security situation. KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine warned Thursday that the security situation in rebel-held areas in the east has steadily worsened as separatist fighters move closer to demarcation lines separating them from government forces.","Thai prime minister, an ex-general, is millionaire. BANGKOK (AP) — Asset disclosures by members of Thailand's military-dominated post-coup Cabinet reveal they are quite well-off, a trait shared with the civilian politicians they accused of corruption.","Polish composer of movie music laid to rest. WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Poland's First Lady Anna Komorowska and the culture minister are attending the state funeral of pianist and composer Wojciech Kilar, who wrote classical music and scores for many films, including Roman Polanski's Oscar-winning \"The Pianist\" and Francis Ford Coppola's \"Bram Stoker's Dracula.\"","Australia and Indonesia agree on code of conduct. CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Australia and Indonesia have settled their disagreement over what to call their latest agreement.","Four last copies of Magna Carta united for first time. London (AFP) - The British Library will bring together the four remaining copies of the Magna Carta for the first time in February as Britain celebrates the 800-year anniversary of the famous constitutional charter.","German consulate seeks justice in student's death. GREAT FALLS, Montana (AP) — A German consulate spokeswoman says she hopes for justice after the death of a 17-year-old exchange student who was shot by a homeowner in Montana.","Somali suicide bomber attacks newly captured town: security official. A suicide bomber in Somalia rammed a car packed full of explosives into a hotel in a southern town, days after it was recaptured from the Al-Qaeda-linked Shebab, security officials said Tuesday. \"There was a suicide attack involving terrorists at a hotel in Buulo Burde,\" security official Sulieman Adam told AFP, of the attack that took place late on Monday. \"A suicide bomber drove his car packed with explosives into the hotel, and there was a big explosion, and then gunfire afterwards,\" said resident Moalim Mohamed Adan, saying eight people were reportedly killed by the gunmen. The UN-backed AU force this month launched a fresh offensive against Shebab bases, with the gunmen largely fleeing ahead of the assault, only to later stage guerrilla attacks.","Netherlands and Costa Rica head to extra time. SALVADOR, Brazil (AP) — The Netherlands and Costa Rica are heading to extra time after staying even at 0-0 through 90 minutes of play Saturday in the World Cup quarterfinals.","Top Asian News at 9:00 p.m. GMT. TOKYO (AP) — The ghostwriter for the musician lauded as Japan's Beethoven said Thursday he became fed up and ended their 18-year collaboration last year and he questioned if Mamoru Samuragochi really could hear. Samuragochi, 50, had previously claimed to be the sole author of his classical works and sound tracks for video games, such as Biohazard, despite having lost his hearing by age 35. His story resonated in Japan, where perseverance is greatly admired. But he admitted Wednesday that he did not write the powerful \"Hiroshima Symphony\" and other works credited to him.","Foreign adoptions by Americans decline sharply. NEW YORK (AP) — The number of foreign children adopted by U.S. parents plunged by 18 percent last year, to the lowest level since 1992, due in part to Russia's ban on adoptions by Americans.","Central African Republic journalists protest murders of colleagues. Journalists in the Central African Republic held a one-day strike on Wednesday to protest at the killings of two of their colleagues amid clashes between Muslims and Christians in the capital Bangui last week. Thousands of French and African troops have failed to stop the waves of intercommunal violence that erupted after predominantly Muslim Seleka rebels seized power in the majority-Christian former French colony in March 2013. Désiré Sayenga, a journalist with the Bangui daily Le Démocrate, was tortured and shot by a suspected group of armed Muslims who attacked him as he was returning home on the evening of April 29. Over 100 journalists staged a protest march through Bangui, accusing the government and the international forces deployed in the country of failing to live up to their responsibility to protect the population.","International police team abandons effort to reach Ukraine crash site as heavy fighting erupts. SHAKHTARSK, Ukraine (AP) — International police team abandons effort to reach Ukraine crash site as heavy fighting erupts.","Lloyds bank to float 25 percent of TSB unit. LONDON (AP) — State-backed Lloyds Banking Group Plc says it plans to float 25 percent of its unit TSB, another step forward in its burgeoning recovery.","Hezbollah says will respond to Israeli strike. Hezbollah will respond to an Israeli air strike on Monday night that hit one of its bases, the militant group said on Wednesday. \"The new aggression is a blatant assault on Lebanon and its sovereignty and its territory...The Resistance (Hezbollah) will choose the time and place and the proper way to respond to it,\" a statement on Hezbollah run Al-Manar television said.","Canadian government urged to support Bangladesh trust fund. TORONTO (Reuters) - A group of more than 50 Canadian organizations, including labor unions, are urging the Canadian government to ask domestic companies to give to a trust fund for the survivors of a disastrous garment factory collapse in Bangladesh that killed more than 1,100 people nearly a year and a half ago. As of Sept. 1, a fund set up for more than 2,500 injured workers and families of the dead has raised less than half its $40 million target, according to The Maquila Solidarity Network, a labor and women's rights group that helped organize the effort. ...","Hundreds ignore ban in Paris to protest Israeli offensive in Gaza. Pro-Palestinian protesters clashed with police in central Paris on Saturday when hundreds of marchers defied a ban by French authorities to rally against Israel's offensive in the Gaza Strip. French interior minister Bernard Cazeneuve warned organizers in a television address that they would be held responsible for any clashes and could be prosecuted for ignoring a ban that was confirmed by the country's top administrative court. Marchers clashed with riot police in and around Paris in recent weeks, with some targeting synagogues and Jewish shops. The photographers saw one police officer slightly injured, the front windows of the Crowne Plaza hotel smashed and a bus shelter wrecked.","Pilots at Lufthansa to start 35-hour strike Monday. BERLIN (AP) — A union representing Lufthansa's pilots has announced a new 35-hour strike against the airline's short-haul fleet starting Monday, the latest in a string of walkouts over retirement benefits.","Christians celebrate restored Algeria basilica. Hundreds of Christians in Muslim Algeria attended a ceremony Friday at the newly restored Basilica of St Augustine in Annaba, the city of Hippo in ancient times, APS news agency reported. Pope Francis was represented at the celebration by special envoy Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, chairman of the pontifical council for inter-religious dialogue. The papal nuncio in Algiers, Thomas Yeh Sheng Nan, bishops and representatives of the Algerian foreign and religious affairs ministries were also present. Pilgrims came from far and wide to walk 700 metres (yards) up from the foot of the hill on which the basilica is perched to celebrate mass there.","Radwanska knocks champ Azarenka out of Australian Open. Two-time defending champion Victoria Azarenka was bundled out of the Australian Open in the quarter-finals on Wednesday by fifth seed Agnieszka Radwansa in another big tournament upset. The determined Pole battled to a 6-1, 5-7, 6-0 win to send the Belarusian packing with the top three seeds now out of the Grand Slam following the defeats of Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova. It was a major scalp for Radwanska, who had lost all seven previous meetings with the Belarusian, and now goes into a semi-final with Slovak 20th seed Dominika Cibulkova. The win also ensures the tournament will have a new champion with none of the semi-finalists -- Radwanska, Cibulkova, Li Na and Eugenie Bouchard -- having won before.","Possible Ebola case in Canada: health official. Montreal (AFP) - A person returning to Canada from western Africa has been hospitalized after displaying symptoms consistent with those of the Ebola virus that has killed 59 people in Guinea, a health official said Monday.","TSX may open higher on positive euro zone data. (Reuters) - Canada's main stock index looked set to extend an eight-day rally on Friday as investors took cheer from evidence of a gradual acceleration in euro zone growth and a resolution to Italy's most recent political crisis. TOP STORIES * Slightly stronger-than-expected growth in Germany and France pushed the euro zone's recovery up a gear in the fourth quarter and offered potential for a more robust 2014, albeit with risks. ...","Australia's Tinkler sells horse stud in coal comeback bid. By Jane Wardell SYDNEY (Reuters) - Nathan Tinkler, a former pit electrician who became Australia's youngest billionaire by riding the country's mining boom before losing it all, is narrowing his focus as he attempts a comeback. Tinkler said on Wednesday he had found a buyer for his beloved thoroughbred racing and stud empire, one of many sidelines on which he splurged millions of dollars after making his fortune. The deal comes just a week after Tinkler announced his return to mining, with the purchase of a closed thermal coal mine from Peabody Energy for next to nothing. The sale of Patinack Farm for an undisclosed sum to a mystery consortium led by UAE-based investment firm Cibola Capital would help fund his renewed coal ambitions, Tinkler said.","Cheetahs feel cheated by ref rulings in Super 15 loss to the Blues. The Central Cheetahs are demanding an explanation from referees boss Lyndon Bray after two controversial decisions in their 40-30 Super 15 loss to the Auckland Blues on Saturday. The Cheetahs' outrage comes after Bray, the SANZAR (South Africa, New Zealand and Australia Rugby) referees co-ordinator warned officials they had to be accountable and faced being dropped for making blunders. Coach Naka Drotske believes two rulings by Argentine referee Francisco Pastrana -- one in favour of a try to the Blues and the other a yellow card against the Cheetahs -- cost his side their best chance of a win on tour.","FIFA extends global ban on 2 players for fixing. ZURICH (AP) — FIFA has imposed worldwide lifetime bans on two English players convicted of match-fixing in Australia.","Japan PM Abe's ruling bloc keeps two-thirds majority in election: exit polls. TOKYO (Reuters) - Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's ruling coalition won a massive victory in Sunday's election, media exit polls showed, in a vote the Japanese leader has dubbed a referendum on his reflationary recipe for reviving the world's third-biggest economy. Exit polls showed the coalition would win a two-thirds majority in the 475-seat lower house, but Abe's Liberal Democratic Party fell short of such a \"super-majority\" on its own. ...","Top Asian News at 7:30 a.m. GMT. TOKYO (AP) — Japan's top government spokesman says Tokyo may consider re-examining a 20-year-old study that led to a landmark apology over its forced prostitution in World War II. Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said Thursday that Japan would consider verifying the authenticity of the interviews with 16 South Korean women who said they were forced to serve as prostitutes for Japan's wartime military. The interviews, conducted at the request of South Korea's government, were key to Japan's 1993 statement and apology in which it acknowledged Japan's wartime government coerced women into prostitution for the army.","UK Parliament recalled to discuss Iraq airstrikes. LONDON (AP) — Prime Minister David Cameron's office says Parliament is being recalled to debate Britain's response to a request from Iraq's government to support air strikes to thwart Islamic State group extremists.","Super Bowl ads tread lightly so as not to offend millions of viewers. NEW YORK, N.Y. - What Super Bowl ads will people discuss over the water cooler a day after the big game?","EU elections put focus on eastern Europe. Latvia, Malta and Slovakia, who all joined the European Union in 2004, voted Saturday in European Parliament elections expected to provide a major boost to anti-EU parties in several countries. \"I always vote whenever there is an election,\" Maria Cauchi said in tiny Malta which has six seats in the new parliament. Voting began on Thursday in Britain and the Netherlands and continued twenty four hours later in the Czech Republic and Ireland. Most countries go to the polls at the weekend as Saturday sets the stage for the remaining 21 EU states to vote on Sunday for a parliament equipped with new powers and a key say in who gets to head the European Commission, the EU's executive arm.","Malaysian parents in prison for child abuse. COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — A Swedish court has sentenced a Malaysian couple to prison for beating their four children with sticks and clothes hangers.","Rugby Union - Cooper signs new deal with Australian rugby. - Wallabies fly-half Quade Cooper on Friday recommitted to Australian rugby for another year in a deal that will take him through until the end of 2015.","Alibaba makes Wall Street debut. New York (AFP) - Alibaba made its long-awaited Wall Street debut Friday on the heels of a record stock offering that opens the door to global expansion for the Chinese online retail giant.","Iraqi parliament squabbles over when to next meet. BAGHDAD (AP) — With political leaders deadlocked, Iraq's parliament squabbled Monday over when to hold its next session, potentially delaying the formation of a new government for weeks despite the threat from extremists who have seized control of a large chunk of the country and declared the establishment of an Islamic state.","Xi says China 'not looking for trouble' in South China Sea. Chinese President Xi Jinping said on Friday his country would not act aggressively regarding territorial claims in the South China Sea but was determined to safeguard its interests there. \"On the issue of the South China Sea, we will not provoke trouble ourselves but we will not fear troubles provoked by others either,\" he said in a speech during a visit to Berlin. \"When it comes to our sovereignty and territorial integrity we will strongly safeguard these interests,\" said Xi. China's claims over islands, reefs and atolls in resource-rich waters of the South China Sea have set it directly against Vietnam and the Philippines, while Brunei, Taiwan and Malaysia have claims too.","Malaysia Airlines renames 'bucket list' promotion. KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Malaysia Airlines has renamed a promotional campaign asking people what countries are on their \"bucket list\" to visit after acknowledging it was inappropriate given the two deadly disasters it has suffered this year.","Bahrain court upholds five-year jail terms for activists. Dubai (AFP) - A Bahraini appeals court Sunday confirmed five-year jail terms imposed on nine Shiites, among them a photojournalist and an online activist, for calling for the overthrow of the Sunni monarchy, a judicial source said.","Ghana captain apologises for World Cup failure. Ghana’s captain Asamoah Gyan apologised on Sunday for the Black Stars’s World Cup collapse which saw them finish bottom of their group amid money disputes in the squad. Coach Kwesi Appiah expressed similar sentiments. Before the team’s final match against Portugal, the Ghana Football Association kicked key players midfielder Sulley Muntari and striker Kevin-Prince Boateng out of the squad. Ghana went on to lose to Portugal 2-1.","Saudi Arabia sentences eight to death for 2003 attacks: SPA. A Saudi Arabian court on Monday sentenced three more men to death, raising the number of people condemned for their involvement in a suicide attack on expatriate residential compounds in Riyadh in 2003 to eight, the state news agency reported. Another 40 people were sentenced to terms of two to 35 years for assisting the attacks in northeastern Riyadh, which were part of a three-year campaign by al Qaeda that killed hundreds and was aimed at destabilizing U.S. ally Saudi Arabia. Riyadh crushed the campaign in 2006, detaining more than 11,000 people in its security prisons, it has said. The remnants of that al Qaeda group fled to Yemen where in 2009 they joined local militants to form Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, now seen as one of the most dangerous branches of the movement around the world.","Boat capsizes in Indonesia; 7 dead, 30 rescued. KUPANG, Indonesia (AP) — Police say a boat loaded with people in a Good Friday procession has capsized in eastern Indonesia, and at least seven people have died.","Major Venezuelan newspaper to be sold. CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — One of Venezuela's most prestigious newspapers has been sold at a moment of increasing pressure on the country's independent press.","Sociedad's 4th-place hopes hit by 3-2 loss to Rayo. MADRID (AP) — Real Sociedad's hopes of returning to the Champions League next season took a hit on Monday after it fell 3-2 at home to bottom-table Rayo Vallecano in the Spanish league.","Ukraine's Poroshenko says will urge rebel withdrawal at Minsk meeting with Putin. Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said on Thursday he would call on Russian President Vladimir Putin to take action for pro-Russian separatists to be withdrawn from Ukraine when the two men meet next week, his website said. Poroshenko is scheduled to see Putin in the Belarussian capital Minsk on August 26 at a meeting that will also include top leaders of the European Union and of the Russian-led Customs Union. Though he did not mention Putin by name, Poroshenko was quoted by his website as saying that the Ukrainian side \"would call for the (rebel) fighters to be withdrawn from Ukraine.\" Poroshenko's pro-Western leadership accuses Russia of orchestrating separatist rebellions in Ukraine, in which more than 2,000 people have been killed, and of arming the rebels.","Manila's Philex plans to drill in disputed waters even without partner. A unit of Philippine firm Philex Petroleum Corp plans to start drilling two more wells in disputed waters in the South China Sea even without a partner and despite rising tensions with Beijing, its chairman said on Wednesday. London-listed Forum Energy Plc will likely start drilling the appraisal wells in its Sampaguita gas field in the Reed Bank, which the Philippines calls Recto Bank, in early 2016, said Philex chairman Manuel Pangilinan. That means the exploration firm will seek another extension of a drilling permit for the area from the Philippine government.","Former Fed Chair Bernanke takes stand in AIG bailout trial. By Aruna Viswanatha WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Former Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke took the stand on Thursday to defend the U.S. government's bailout of American International Group in 2008, describing how policymakers sought to avoid giving AIG shareholders a \"windfall\" through a rescue. Bernanke's comments came in a fourth day of testimony by former top government officials looking to convince a federal judge that the rescue of the insurance company was legal. ...","AstraZeneca shares soar on Pfizer interest. LONDON (AP) — AstraZeneca shares have jumped 15 percent in early trading after U.S. pharmaceutical firm Pfizer publicly disclosed details of a $100 billion bid approach.","Senate wants US probe of Cuba role. WASHINGTON (AP) — The head of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee said Tuesday that he has asked the Justice Department to investigate whether the Cuban government had a role in allegations against him that have made him a target of a federal probe.","Romania president invites U.S. Vice President Biden: local media. Romania's President Traian Basescu on Monday said he had invited U.S. Vice President Joe Biden to visit the Black Sea state, local television station quoted him as saying in an interview with online paper adevarul.ro. Reuters was not able to independently confirm whether Biden would visit Romania, as the U.S. embassy in Bucharest declined to comment when contacted. Romanian news agency Mediafax separately reported that Biden would visit Romania next week, with the crisis in Ukraine on the agenda. Basescu met Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) deputy director Avril Haines earlier in the day in Bucharest \\\\\"to discuss the situation in the region\\\\\", Basescu's office said on its website.","Syrian opposition says air strikes will help fight against Assad. ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Syria's Western-backed National Coalition opposition group welcomed air strikes by the United States and Gulf Arab allies on Islamic State strongholds in Syria on Tuesday, saying they would strengthen its struggle against President Bashar al-Assad. The targets of the air and missile strikes included Raqqa city in eastern Syria, the headquarters of Islamic State, an extremist Sunni Muslim force that has seized large expanses of territory in Iraq and Syria and proclaimed a caliphate erasing borders in the heart of the Middle East. ...","Scottish independence battle draws 'day of reckoning' warning to business. By Guy Faulconbridge and Angus MacSwan EDINBURGH (Reuters) - The campaign battle over Scottish independence took a bitter turn on Saturday when a senior nationalist warned businesses such as BP that they could face punishment for voicing concern over the impact of secession. With the fate of the United Kingdom on a knife edge, the economic future of Scotland has become one the most fiercely debated issues less than six days before Scots decide on whether to break away. Nationalists accuse British Prime Minister David Cameron of coordinating a scare campaign by business leaders aimed at spooking voters while unionists say separation is fraught with financial and economic uncertainty.","Spain playing for World Cup survival vs Chile. RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — The magnitude of Spain's opening 5-1 loss to Netherlands comes into sharper focus Wednesday when the defending champions must fend off World Cup elimination against Chile, less than a week into the tournament.","Israeli soldier missing as Gaza fighting rages on. JERUSALEM (AP) — An Israeli soldier is missing following a deadly battle in the Gaza Strip, a defense official said Tuesday as Israeli airstrikes pummeled a wide range of targets in the coastal strip and diplomatic efforts intensified to end more than two weeks of fighting that has killed at least 585 Palestinians and 29 Israelis.","Australia's Hend beats Que in playoff for Hong Kong crown. (Reuters) - Scott Hend clinched his maiden European Tour title at the Hong Kong Open on Sunday when the Australian saved a par on the crucial 18th hole to force a playoff in which he prevailed over Filipino Angelo Que. Hend, 41, holed a par putt on the first play-off hole after Que had missed the green on the 18th and ended with a bogey. The pair finished tied on 13-under-par 267 at the Hong Kong Golf Club in Fanling with Ireland's Kevin Phelan finishing third two strokes behind in the tournament, co-sanctioned with the Asian Tour. ...","Tennis-Australian Open men's singles round 2 results. Jan 15 (Infostrada Sports) - Results from the Australian Open Men's Singles Round 2 matches on Wednesday 7-Tomas Berdych (Czech Republic) beat Kenny De Schepper (France) 6-4 6-1 6-3","EU foreign ministers to meet on Ukraine. BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union is calling an extraordinary meeting of foreign ministers to decide the 28-nation bloc's reaction including possible sanctions to the recent escalation of violence in Ukraine.","Sands websites restored a week after hacking. LAS VEGAS (AP) — Casino giant Las Vegas Sands Corp. has restored its websites a week after they were hacked.","Shares drift as US indexes pull back from highs. LONDON (AP) — Stock markets fell Tuesday as U.S. indexes pulled back from record highs ahead of the start of the quarterly U.S. corporate earnings reporting season.","More Ukrainian soldiers killed; France, Germany press Putin. By Richard Balmforth and Maria Tsvetkova KIEV/DONETSK Ukraine (Reuters) - Ukrainian forces regained more ground but sustained further casualties on Thursday in clashes with separatists, while two Western allies urged Russia's Vladimir Putin to exert more pressure on the rebels to find a negotiated end to the conflict. Government forces have recently gained the upper hand in the three-month conflict against separatists in the Russian-speaking eastern regions in which more than 200 government troops have been killed as well as hundreds of civilians and rebel fighters. The Ukrainian military says it has a plan to deliver a \"nasty surprise\" to the heavily-armed separatists who have dug in Donetsk, a city of 900,000 people, after being pushed out of their bastion in Slaviansk at the weekend.","Japan's wrestler-senator on a visit to Pyongyang. A Japanese professional wrestler-turned-lawmaker left on a visit to North Korea Sunday for talks with officials after a high-profile leadership purge in the reclusive communist state. \"I will just check the faces of people standing on the stage after some change in the (North Korean leadership) structure,\" the senator, Antonio Inoki, told reporters before leaving Tokyo's Haneda airport, according to Jiji Press. He is to fly into Pyongyang on Monday after a stopover in Beijing. Inoki, 70, is a frequent visitor to North Korea.","WIMBLEDON WATCH: Tsonga makes it 5 in a row. LONDON (AP) — Jo-Wilfried Tsonga was on court for the fifth consecutive day when he beat Jimmy Wang on Friday at Wimbledon.","Nantes draws 1-1 with Rennes. NANTES, France (AP) — Nantes missed an opportunity to leapfrog Saint-Etienne into fourth place in the French league by drawing 1-1 with Rennes on Sunday.","Italy fights mafia with new strategy: banish sons. LOCRI, Italy (AP) — First Italy fought its mafia mobsters by confiscating their wealth. Now judges are taking away something more precious: their sons.","Cambodia arrests 2 men with 80 kg of illicit ivory. PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) — Cambodian police have arrested two men allegedly trying to smuggle almost 80 kilograms (176 pounds) of illicit ivory from Africa.","Egypt prosecution refers 20 'militants' to trial. Egypt's prosecution on Saturday referred to trial 20 alleged militants from shadowy jihadist group Ajnad Misr, over several attacks in which six policemen and a civilian were killed. Ajnad Misr (Soldiers of Egypt) is one of the main jihadist groups to have targeted the security forces since the army ousted Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in July last year. The group has said it was behind several attacks on police in the capital, including the killing of a police general near Cairo University in April. In June, Ajnad Misr warned it had planted bombs near a Cairo presidential palace.","Iraq bill sparks fury over child marriage claims. A bill before Iraq's parliament that opponents say legalises child marriage and marital rape has sparked controversy ahead of elections as secular activists face off against the draft law's backers. The bill, the Jaafari Personal Status Law, sets out rules to do with inheritance, marriage and divorce. Supporters of the draft, named after a Shiite Muslim school of jurisprudence, say it simply regulates practices already existing in day-to-day life. Opponents say the bill represents a step back for women's rights in Iraq, and worry that it could further fray already fragile sectarian ties between the country's various communities amid heightened violence ahead of April parliamentary polls.","Haitian businesswoman, 25, crowned Miss Haiti 2014. PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — The crowd was already chanting her name before 25-year-old restaurant owner Carolyn Desert was crowned Miss Haiti 2014 Sunday in Port-au-Prince.","California wildlife officials seek cougar that mauled homeless man. By Steve Gorman LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Wildlife rangers in Southern California were hunting on Monday for a mountain lion that mauled a homeless man at his roadside encampment over the weekend in a rare attack that left the victim in critical condition, fish and game authorities said. The mauling of the 50-year-old man, believed to have occurred on Friday or Saturday in the Riverside County town of Perris, about 70 miles east of Los Angeles, marks only the 15th cougar attack on a person reported in California since 1986, the state's Department of Fish and Wildlife said. Rangers set up baited box traps over the weekend, scoured the area for cougar tracks and scanned the vicinity with infrared cameras at night from a helicopter, but have so far found no signs of a mountain lion, said Lieutenant Patrick Foy of the wildlife agency. The injuries found on the victim - lacerations, puncture wounds and bite marks at the base of his skull - \"are very consistent\" with a cougar mauling, Foy said, adding, \"We are comfortable confirming it as a lion attack.","Britain misses deficit target but raises growth outlook. London (AFP) - Britain unveiled its last major budget update before next year's general election, admitting a key deficit-cutting target had been missed but revising up economic growth forecasts.","HK in unofficial democracy vote, alarming Beijing. HONG KONG (AP) — Tens of thousands of Hong Kongers have voted in an unofficial referendum on democratic reform that has alarmed Beijing and sets the stage for possible mass protests to shut down the Chinese capitalist enclave's financial district.","Not as bad as it looks: 3 reasons to feel better about the January jobs report. WASHINGTON - The January jobs figures were a downer: Employers added just 113,000 jobs last month, far fewer than economists had expected. Job cuts by retailers and government agencies lowered overall hiring.","Iran moves to cooperate in U.N. nuclear bomb probe. By Fredrik Dahl and Mehrdad Balali VIENNA/DUBAI (Reuters) - The U.N. nuclear agency said on Sunday that Iran had agreed to start addressing suspicions that it may have worked on designing an atomic weapon, a potential breakthrough in a long-stalled investigation into Tehran's atomic activities. The development - although limited for now - marked a step forward in an international push to settle a decade-old dispute over Iran's nuclear programme. Tehran says this is peaceful, while the West fears that Iran wants to develop atomic arms. The deal could also send a positive signal to separate, high-stakes negotiations between Iran and six world powers which are due to start on February 18 in Vienna, aimed at reaching a broader diplomatic settlement with the Islamic state.","New Afghan president to head to China. KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — The new Afghan president travels to China this week, signaling the pivotal role he hopes Beijing will play in Afghanistan's future, not only in the economic reconstruction of the war-ravaged country after U.S. and allied combat troops leave by the end of the year but also in a strategic foreign policy aimed at building peace across a region long riven by mistrust and violence.","Fernandez wins short program at Skate Canada. KELOWNA, British Columbia (AP) — Spain's Javier Fernandez won the men's short program Friday at Skate Canada International, and Canada's Meagan Duhamel and Eric Radford took the short dance.","Liverpool boss Rodgers revels in Gerrard influence. Leicester (United Kingdom) (AFP) - Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers said Steven Gerrard's goal-scoring display in a 3-1 win away to Leicester was proof he could still be a key player for the Merseysiders, albeit in a changed role.","All Yemen parties agree on technocrat cabinet. The U.N. special adviser on Yemen has praised the agreement of all Yemeni parties and political groups on the formation of a technocrat cabinet by Khaled Bahah, the nominated prime minister.","Novelist PD James dies aged 94. LONDON (AP) — Publisher Faber and Faber says mystery writer P.D. James, who brought realistic modern characters to the classical British detective story, has died. She was 94.","A 2nd victim added to pope's sex abuse commission. VATICAN CITY (AP) — A second survivor of sexual abuse has been appointed to Pope Francis' sex abuse commission.","Germany eases immigration rules for Ukrainian Jews. BERLIN (AP) — Germany is easing its immigration restrictions for Jews from Ukraine amid reports of an increase in anti-Semitic incidents there since crisis broke out.","Ukrainian government moves to ban Communist Party. KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — A court in Kiev is holding a hearing on Thursday on the government's request to ban the Communist Party of Ukraine.","Same course, new cast of players at Pinehurst. PINEHURST, North Carolina (AP) — The sounds at Pinehurst No. 2 were the first indication that the second week of U.S. Open golf would not be exactly the same as the first one.","Yemen army kills 3 militants north of the capital. SANAA, Yemen (AP) — Yemeni military officials say anti-terrorism units supported by regular army troops have launched an attack against hideouts of suspected al-Qaida militants in the mountainous Arhab region north of Sanaa, killing three of them and arresting three others.","C. African Republic: New PM urges reconciliation. BANGUI, Central African Republic (AP) — The new prime minister of Central African Republic says he will meet with all fighting factions to bring an end to atrocities throughout the country.","Iran's Rouhani: Islamic State beheadings a concern for mankind: NBC. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Iranian President Hassan Rouhani denounced Islamic State's beheading of innocent people, saying the militant group's shameful actions violate Islamic principles, NBC News said in excerpts of an interview released on Wednesday. \"From the viewpoint of the Islamic tenets and culture, killing ... innocent people equals the killing of the whole humanity,\" Rouhani told the television network, according to NBC. ...","Police hunt for tiger on the loose near Paris. Police and firefighters were desperately hunting for a tiger on the loose near Paris Thursday after a local resident took a photo of the fearsome animal and sounded the alert, authorities said. Backed up by a helicopter overhead, firefighters armed with paralysing weapons were mobilised for the search in the Seine-et-Marne district near the French capital.","Ukraine grapples with despair in Crimea takeover. KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine's leadership simmered with a mix of hopelessness and anger at losing Crimea, tempering an influx of eager young men signing up as reservists with the growing certainty that no savior would deliver them from the Russian takeover.","US: Syria peace talks test credibility for parties. PARIS (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry says a meeting next week on peace for Syria is a credibility test for necessary participants who are threatening to skip it.","ICC Congo witness on hunger strike over asylum bid. A Congolese witness who implicated President Joseph Kabila in testimony at the International Criminal Court has gone on hunger strike over his stalled Dutch asylum bid, his lawyer said on Wednesday. Floribert Ndjabu has been placed under medical observation at the ICC's detention unit in The Hague, where he has been held for over three years after seeking asylum in the Netherlands, fearing prosecution if he is sent back to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), lawyer Ghislain Mabanga told AFP. \"This is the last option, all other paths have been blocked, all procedures at the ICC have been exhausted,\" Mabanga said. \"He will be on hunger strike until a solution is found,\" he said: “He’s doing badly, he’s very weak.\"","Turkish President casts self as heir to reformer who died on gallows. By Ayla Jean Yackley ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Whether stirring crowds with fiery election speeches or, as on Thursday, swearing an oath as Turkey's first popularly elected president, Tayyip Erdogan casts himself as the heir of one man above all others - a man whose life ended on an army gallows. On the forsaken island of Yassiada off the shores of Istanbul, a military tribunal sentenced to death Adnan Menderes, Turkey's most popular prime minister by share of vote, a year after a 1960 coup that would set the stage for military interventions lasting another two generations. He is in our hearts.\" To Erdogan's supporters his inauguration is the culmination of a half-century struggle by popular governments against unelected generals and other parts of the secular elite who saw themselves as the true keepers of Turkey's republican values. It is a schism in Turkish society reaching back to the 1920s when Mustafa Kemal Ataturk forged a secular republic from the ruins of an Ottoman theocracy, banishing Islam from public life.","New Finnish government after prime minister quits. HELSINKI (AP) — Former European affairs minister Alexander Stubb has taken over as the head of Finland's conservative-led government after Prime Minister Jyrki Katainen resigned to pursue a position in the European Commission.","Portugal in 2nd attempt to sell national carrier. LISBON, Portugal (AP) — Portugal's government is trying for the second time in two years to sell flag carrier TAP Air Portugal.","SKorean prosecutors to arrest 'nut rage' official. SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korean prosecutors are seeking to arrest the former executive at Korean Air Lines Co. who forced a flight to return over a bag of macadamia nuts and a current executive for attempts to cover up the \"nut rage\" case.","Gaza cease-fire takes hold as negotiators gather. CAIRO (AP) — As a new temporary truce took hold, negotiators from Israel and the Hamas militant group resumed indirect talks Monday to reach a long-term cease-fire in the Gaza Strip.","Afghanistan and US sign long-delayed troop pact. Afghanistan and the United States on Tuesday signed a deal to allow some US troops to stay in the country next year, signalling that new President Ashraf Ghani intends to mend frayed ties with Washington.","Sherpas consider boycott after Everest disaster. KATMANDU, Nepal (AP) — Sherpa guides on Mount Everest are considering a boycott after the deadliest avalanche in the mountain's history, a move that could seriously disrupt the rest of the climbing season, a mountaineering official said Monday.","Fiji says 45 peacekeepers held by Syrian rebels to be released soon. SUVA (Reuters) - The head of the Fijian army said on Wednesday he expected 45 Fijian peacekeepers seized by the al Qaeda-linked Nusra Front on the Golan Heights two weeks ago would be released within days. \"Al Nusra has confirmed to the UN headquarters in New York that the Fijian peacekeepers will be released within the next few days,\" Brigadier General Mosese Tikoitoga told a media conference in the Fijian capital, Suva. (Reporting by Malakai Veisamasama; Writing by Lincoln Feast in Sydney; Editing by Paul Tait)","Zimbabwe's Mugabe warns suspected plotters. HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) — President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe said Thursday that any top official or civil servant who plots against him will face dismissal and prosecution.","WestJet raises prices as weaker Canadian dollar swells costs. By Susan Taylor TORONTO (Reuters) - WestJet Airlines Ltd's chief executive said on Tuesday that the low-cost carrier recently raised ticket prices to compensate for climbing expenses caused by a weaker Canadian dollar, and may do so again if the currency falls further. Chief Executive Officer Gregg Saretsky made the comments after Canada's second-largest carrier reported fourth-quarter results on Tuesday that largely met expectations, though WestJet warned it sees the currency and an accelerated maintenance schedule swelling costs in 2014. Its stock rose 3 percent as healthy yield growth allayed concerns that WestJet's expansion would dent profits, said independent airline consultant Robert Kokonis. WestJet, which is working to grow beyond its low-fare origins to lure business customers and add more fees to plump up revenue, said it introduced a system-wide 2 percent fare increase last week, which was matched by competitors.","Kickstarter raised $480 million in 2013. The crowdfunding site's popularity continues to grow as people from all around the world pledged enough money to see nearly 20,000 projects become a reality. A total 3 million people pledged a combined $480 million to Kickstarter projects over the course of 2013. Although Kickstarter doesn't yet have dedicated sites for every worldwide region, projects have still received pledges from consumers in 214 countries across all seven continents -- even Antarctica is in on the act. What's more, just like eBay before it, Kickstarter has an addictive quality.","UN envoy: Up to 700 children in Iraq killed, hurt. UNITED NATIONS (AP) — A U.N. envoy says up to 700 children have been killed or maimed in Iraq since the beginning of the year, \"including in summary executions.\"","Tacopina and Saputo presented as Bologna owners. BOLOGNA, Italy (AP) — New York lawyer Joe Tacopina and Montreal Impact president Joey Saputo are promising to restore cash-strapped Serie B football club Bologna to its former glory.","Italy region, island seek 220 million euros in Concordia disaster damages. FLORENCE (Reuters) - Officials for Italy's Tuscany region and the island of Giglio said on Monday they would seek a total of 220 million euros ($274 million) in damages from Costa Cruises, a unit of Carnival Corp, for the 2012 Concordia cruise liner disaster. The Costa Concordia was carrying more than 4,000 passengers and crew when it struck rocks off the Tuscan island of Giglio and capsized, killing 32 people. ...","Syria army, rebels clash as UN bids to free Golan monitors. Syrian troops and Islamist rebels battled close to the armistice line with Israel in the Golan Heights on Monday, as the UN pressed efforts to free 44 peacekeepers held by the insurgents. The unrest on Israel's doorstep followed a spillover of mortar and gunfire into Israeli-controlled territory, putting the Jewish state on high alert and prompting it to shoot down a drone over the occupied plateau on Sunday. Several mortar rounds struck on the edges of the ceasefire line early Monday as the combatants exchanged rocket, mortar and tank fire near the Quneitra crossing, which Al-Qaeda-linked rebels seized last week, an AFP correspondent reported. Israel had closed off the area around the crossing after an officer was wounded by stray fire last Wednesday when insurgents led by the Al-Nusra Front took over the crossing into the Israeli-occupied sector of the Golan.","Libya oilfields to resume production after attacks. Oil production is due to resume Wednesday at two oilfields in southwestern Libya, where activities were halted last week when gunmen attacked the facilities, an official said. Workers at the Al-Sharara oilfield said gunmen launched the attack \"motivated by political considerations\", forcing guards to withdraw from the site and from the adjoining Al-Fil field.","Nigeria detains Russian cargo plane with military shipment to Chad. KANO, Nigeria (Reuters) - Nigeria detained a Russian cargo plane and its French-speaking crew on Saturday after it made an unauthorised landing in the northern city of Kano with military hardware bound for neighbouring Chad, a security source said. An air force spokesman confirmed the plane had been detained but gave no further details. The plane had been travelling from Bangui, the capital of Central African Republic, to the Chadian capital N'Djamena but was forced to make an emergency landing in Kano because N'Djamena airport was closed, the security source said. ...","Kenyan school note to parents: don't mutilate your daughter. Kenyan school children have ended school for December holidays accompanied with a stern warning to parents: carry out female genital mutilation and be prosecuted. The often deadly practice, which ranges from slicing off the clitoris to the mutilation and removal of the entire female genitalia, is banned in Kenya but still regularly carried out. Kenya outlawed FGM in 2011, with practitioners punishable by a minimum three-year jail term or fine, and life imprisonment if the procedure causes death. Earlier this month UN chief Ban Ki-moon launched a global campaign in Kenya to end FGM within a generation.","East Jerusalem home of Palestinian car attacker demolished. Israeli forces Wednesday razed the east Jerusalem home of a Palestinian who killed two Israelis with his car last month as it speeded up the application of a controversial demolition policy. \"The home of the terrorist, who killed an Israeli baby and a young woman on October 22 in a tram station in Jerusalem, was destroyed in Silwan,\" an army statement said. The demolition came after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed a harsh response to a deadly attack on a Jerusalem synagogue on Tuesday, the city's bloodiest in year. Two Palestinians armed with a gun and meat cleavers ran amok among worshippers, killing four of them and a policeman.","Iran sticks to 'inadequate, unworkable' stances in atom talks: U.S.. Iran has stuck to \"inadequate and unworkable\" positions in nuclear talks with six world powers despite a looming deadline for a deal to end sanctions against Tehran in exchange for curbs on its atomic program, a U.S. official said on Saturday. \"We are very far apart on some issues\", including on uranium enrichment, the senior U.S. administration official told reporters on condition of anonymity. Another senior U.S. official added that it was difficult to consider extending the negotiations with Iran beyond the July 20 deadline without first seeing \"significant progress on key issues\" negotiations between Iran and the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China.","Iran and powers to resume nuclear talks on July 2. World powers and Iran will resume negotiations over Tehran's disputed nuclear activities on July 2, after a round of talks in Vienna this week, a senior Chinese official at the talks said on Friday. \"The next round will start from July 2,\" Wang Qun told reporters. Senior diplomats from the United States, Russia, China, France, Britain and Germany met Iranian and European Union officials in Vienna between June 16 and 20 to try to resolve their decade-old dispute over Tehran's nuclear ambitions.","African court postpones Malema's corruption trial. Polokwane (South Africa) (AFP) - A South African court on Tuesday suspended the corruption trial of firebrand politician Julius Malema, pushing back the high-profile case of a self-appointed graft buster for nearly a year.","Experts oppose festival at Pakistani ancient site. KARACHI, Pakistan (AP) — Several leading Pakistani archeologists say a government cultural festival at an ancient site in the country's south is putting the ruins at risk.","World of crises awaits leaders at UN. United Nations (United States) (AFP) - World leaders are gearing up to confront grim life or death challenges this week at the United Nations, seeking ways to halt jihadist militants in Iraq and Syria and stem the spread of Ebola.","Iraqi Kurdistan oil firms pull out staff, shares fall. By David Sheppard and Karolin Schaps LONDON (Reuters) - Oil companies in Iraqi Kurdistan withdrew more staff on Friday as the United States launched airstrikes to defend the regional capital Arbil from Islamic State militants and Britain told its citizens to leave. London-listed Afren and Toronto-listed Oryx said on Friday they were cutting production at oilfields closest to the fighting. Genel, led by ex-BP CEO Tony Hayward and one of the biggest producers in Iraqi Kurdistan, said it was withdrawing \"non-essential\" workers but maintaining the combined 230,000 barrel per day output from its large Taq Taq and Tawke fields. U.S. military aircraft bombed Islamic State artillery attacking Kurdish positions southwest of Arbil, the Pentagon said, the first U.S. airstrike since the militants started their advance across northern Iraq in early June.","Protesters heckle Hong Kong leader on National Day. HONG KONG (AP) — Pro-democracy protesters kept behind police barricades heckled Hong Kong's embattled leader on Wednesday when he attended a flag-raising ceremony on China's National Day.","Government eyes Libor abuse powers for oil, gold markets. London (AFP) - The government on Thursday said new powers to punish rigging of Libor interest rates with criminal sanctions should be extended for seven major benchmarks, drawing in oil, gold and currency markets.","Poll: New Spanish leftist party is most popular. MADRID (AP) — A poll shows the recently-formed Spanish leftist party Podemos has risen to become the most popular choice among Spanish voters.","Gulbis keeps perfect record to win Open 13 title. MARSEILLE, France (AP) — Third-seeded Ernests Gulbis of Latvia showed he has the temperament for big matches, extending his perfect record in finals to 5-0 after beating defending champion Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France 7-6 (5), 6-4 to win the Open 13 title on Sunday.","Kerry shrugs off Israeli criticism. WASHINGTON (AP) — Secretary of State John Kerry said Tuesday widespread criticism of his efforts to win a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas don't worry him and said he will continue to work toward that goal because Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu asked him to.","Taghrooda wins English Oaks. EPSOM, England (AP) — Taghrooda won the English Oaks fillies classic by 3 3/4 lengths ahead of Tarfasha to give owner Sheikh Hamdan Al Maktoum a one-two finish on Friday.","Get introduced to three of the gun-less fighters in Bethesda's BattleCry. BattleCry, the upcoming class-based free-to-play, gunless game from Bethesda, gave a teaser of its gameplay earlier this week, now it's back, from PAX Australia, with a longer look at three of its classes and how they operate in an alternate vision of World War I without firearms. Then there is the Tech Archer, whose bow appears to make her the lone fighter with a truly ranged attack. BattleCry's beta will begin in 2015 in Australia and New Zealand, spreading to the rest of the world from there.","Argentina president says country will not default. BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — Argentina's president says her country will not default because it has paid its debts to bondholders.","Barcelona loses 1-0 at Valladolid before City game. BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Barcelona's title defense took a blow when it stumbled to a 1-0 defeat at Valladolid, missing the chance to move top of the Spanish standings on Saturday ahead of its Champions League clash with Manchester City at Camp Nou.","Factbox: Buildings under control of pro-Russian separatists in Ukraine. (Reuters) - The following buildings and strategic facilities under control of pro-Russian separatists in Ukraine as of 1000 GMT on Monday April 14. ...","Tens of thousands in Yemen Shiite protest. Tens of thousands of people joined an anti-government rally in Sanaa on Monday in response to a call by Shiite rebel commander Abdulmalik al-Huthi, an AFP journalist reported. The protesters assembled in Change Square then paraded in the centre of the capital, where supporters of the rebels, who are known as Huthis or Ansarullah, had converged during the morning after travelling from outside the capital. A tight security cordon was thrown up around Sanaa, with increased security along the main roads, though no incidents had been reported by the middle of the day. The demonstrators chanted slogans against the government, which has struggled to manage the political transition since the ouster in 2012 of veteran president Ali Abdullah Saleh.","Hodgson to shuffle England pack against Ecuador. England are expected to give a start to Liverpool's Raheem Sterling and several other young contenders when they face Ecuador in their pre-World Cup friendly on Wednesday. Manager Roy Hodgson will use the game against the South Americans at SunLife Stadium to give a chance to those players who did not start in Friday's 3-0 win over Peru at Wembley, and plenty of attention will be on the exciting Sterling. England face Honduras on Saturday at the same venue, home to the NFL's Miami Dolphins, before heading to Brazil where they will face Italy, Uruguay and Costa Rica in Group D. The 19-year-old Sterling emerged as one of England's brightest young talents with some electrifying performances for Liverpool last season.","Jacobellis falters again in women's snowboardcross. KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia (AP) — Lindsey Jacobellis' tough luck in the Olympics continues.","Ronaldo reveals Ferdinand's United request. Newly crowned Ballon d'Or-winner Cristiano Ronaldo has revealed that he was pestered to rejoin Manchester United last year by former team-mate Rio Ferdinand. Ronaldo scored 117 goals for United between 2003 and 2009 before leaving for Real Madrid and he suggested that he had contemplated returning to Old Trafford last year. We played many years together at Manchester United and we were neighbours when I was there in Manchester. I did think about United.","France: Talks between Iran, U.N. atomic watchdog not advancing enough. By John Irish PARIS (Reuters) - Iran is cooperating \"too slowly\" with a U.N. watchdog investigation into suspected nuclear weapons research, France said on Tuesday, warning that world powers will not seal any long-term deal with Tehran until there were tangible results. The International Atomic Energy Agency said on Friday that Iran had cut its most sensitive nuclear stockpile by around 80 percent under an interim pact agreed in November with world powers and had begun engaging with the IAEA inquiry after years of stonewalling. Iran's discussions with the IAEA are separate from its talks with the powers, but both are aimed at ensuring that it does not develop nuclear weapons, an intention it strongly denies. \"(The IAEA report) shows that Iran is respecting its commitments according to the Geneva agreement,\" French Foreign ministry spokesman Romain Nadal said, referring to last year's pact under which Tehran curbed parts of its nuclear program in exchange for some easing of sanctions battering its economy.","Family Dollar says state attorneys general to probe Dollar General bid. (Reuters) - (Story refiled to add paragraph that says certain state attorneys general are also investigating Dollar Tree's bid) Family Dollar Stores Inc said certain state attorneys general have notified the company that they will investigate larger rival Dollar General Corp's takeover bid over competitive concerns. Family Dollar spurned Dollar General's sweetened $9.1 billion all-cash bid earlier this month, saying the offer still did not address antitrust concerns. Family Dollar instead said it was sticking with a lower $8.5 billion cash-and-stock offer from Dollar Tree Inc . ...","US justices hit Argentina with double blow on debt. BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — Argentina suffered a stunning double defeat at the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday as the justices refused to consider its plea to extend a decade of litigation over defaulted debt. Argentine stocks plunged as economists, analysts and opposition politicians practically begged President Cristina Fernandez to comply.","NATO says 'over 1,000 Russian troops' in Ukraine. A senior NATO official said on Thursday that \"well over a thousand\" Russian troops were operating inside Ukraine. \"They support separatists, fighting with them and fighting amongst them,\" the official said on condition of anonymity, adding that the supply of arms by Russia had increased in both \"volume and quality\". The official, who was speaking to reporters ahead of a NATO summit next week in Britain, said the situation was made even more worrying because the key route between Donetsk and Novoazovsk, on the Sea of Azov close to the Russian border, had been cut off by pro-Kremlin forces. The official warned that the latest events in Ukraine \"have made clear that the security paradigm in Europe has fundamentally changed\" in the face of a \"very aggressive Russia\".","U.S. judge orders RBS unit stop using software in copyright case. By Nate Raymond NEW YORK (Reuters) - A U.S. judge ordered a unit of Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc on Friday to stop using a key piece of software used for its trade finance business after finding the bank liable for copyright infringement. U.S. District Judge Katherine Forrest in Manhattan entered a permanent injunction requiring RBS's ABN Amro unit to stop using the BankTrade software within a year, and not to use it to process new trade finance transactions received 60 days from now. \\\\\"ABN may not continue benefiting from its blatant and ongoing infringement simply because stopping that infringement will be disruptive to its business,\\\\\" Forrest wrote in a decision favoring Complex Systems Inc, which produces the software and had sought the injunction.","15 jailed for life in Argentina 'dirty war' trial. BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — An Argentine court has convicted and sentenced to life in prison 15 former military, police and civilian officials for abductions, torture and killings of dozens of dissidents during the country's 1976-83 dictatorship.","Asian shares off to slow start, gold hits month high. By Wayne Cole SYDNEY (Reuters) - Asian share and bond markets were in a cautious mood on Monday in the wake of surprisingly weak U.S. jobs numbers that revived speculation the Federal Reserve could keep policy loose for longer. Friday's soft report pulled down bond yields and the dollar, while lifting prices for gold and many commodities. Activity in Asia early on Monday was stunted by a holiday in Japan and Australian stocks were little changed . The jobless rate fell sharply to 6.7 percent though largely because of a fall in the participation rate as people dropped out of the labor force.","Hamilton on pole for Australian F1 GP. Melbourne (AFP) - Britain's Lewis Hamilton pipped Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo for pole position in a dramatic qualifying session for the Australian Grand Prix on Saturday.","5.5 million children impacted by Syria conflict: UN. The UN said Tuesday the number of children impacted by Syria's war has doubled in the past year to 5.5 million, many of them trapped in besieged areas and beyond reach. In a report entitled \"Under Siege -- the devastating impact on children of three years of conflict in Syria,\" the UN children's agency UNICEF warns that the situation was likely to get worse. \"Cut off from aid, living in rubble and struggling to find food, many Syrian children have been left without protection, medical care or psychological support, and have little or no access to education. It said a million children are now trapped in areas of Syria that are under siege or that are hard to reach with humanitarian assistance, while some two million children are in need of psychological support or treatment.","US OPEN 2014: Capsules on top women's players. Women to watch at the U.S. Open, which begins Monday:","Hungary's Orban faces tough 2015 after opinion polls nosedive. With three election victories in less than a year under his belt, along with a rosy economic outlook, a weak opposition and a comfortable parliamentary majority, Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban looked invincible just a few months ago. After the legislative blitz of his first term, which sent alarm bells ringing about the state of democracy in the EU member state, the charismatic right-winger had carte blanche to cement his vision of Hungary. \"Unity has triumphed over disunity,\" Orban declared in October after his Fidesz party swept the board in local elections, adding to triumphs in legislative and European elections in April and May.","Egypt Brotherhood leader jailed for prosecutor insult. An Egyptian court on Saturday sentenced an Islamist leader on trial for murder alongside deposed president Mohamed Morsi to a year in jail for insulting a prosecutor, judicial sources said. Top Muslim Brotherhood member Mohammed al-Beltagui and Morsi were both in court Saturday accused of inciting the killing of opposition protesters outside the presidential palace in Cairo in December 2012. Their trial is part of a relentless crackdown targeting Morsi and the Brotherhood since the military ousted him on July 3, ending a turbulent single year in office. It is the first time a senior member of the Brotherhood has been given a jail sentence since Morsi's ouster.","Malaysian church attacked amid Allah dispute. KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — A Malaysian church was attacked with firebombs early Monday, police said, escalating tensions in a long-running dispute over the use of the word \"Allah\" by non-Muslims.","Pistorius trial returns to neighbor testimony. PRETORIA, South Africa (AP) — A neighbor of Oscar Pistorius has returned to the stand to give evidence in the star athlete's murder trial in South Africa.","Bodies from downed jet piled in boxcars in Ukraine. TOREZ, Ukraine (AP) — Pro-Moscow rebels piled nearly 200 bodies from the downed Malaysian jetliner into four refrigerated boxcars Sunday in eastern Ukraine, and cranes at the crash scene moved big chunks of the Boeing 777, drawing condemnation from Western leaders that the rebels were tampering with the site.","Austrian not on Malaysia plane, passport stolen: Foreign Ministry. An Austrian reported to have been aboard the Malaysia Airlines plane missing off the Vietnamese coast is safe at home and his passport was stolen, a Foreign Ministry spokesman in Vienna said on Saturday. \"Our embassy got the information that there was an Austrian on board. That was the passenger list from Malaysia Airlines. Our system came back with a note that this is a stolen passport,\" he said.","Ackman, other shareholders ask Allergan to call special meeting. By Svea Herbst-Bayliss and Caroline Humer BOSTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) - Investors owning 31 percent of Allergan shares have asked the Botox maker to call a special shareholder meeting, activist shareholder William Ackman said on Friday, giving the hedge fund manager a victory in his fight to acquire the Botox maker. Ackman, whose Pershing Square Capital Management is Allergan's largest shareholder, said 35 shareholders including some of Allergan's \"longest-standing\" and \"largest\" investors handed in paperwork on Friday to compel Allergan to call the meeting. Pershing Square and Valeant Pharmaceutical made a $52 billion hostile offer for Allergan in April.","US State Dept. condemns Cuba detentions. HAVANA (AP) — The US State Department has condemned the first coordinated crackdown on Cuban dissidents since the two countries declared they were moving toward full relations.","Honduras looking forward to heat in Manaus. MANAUS, Brazil (AP) — If there is one team looking forward to playing in the hot and humid conditions of the Amazon rainforest, it's Honduras.","FIFA to decide if Brazil city stays in World Cup. FLORIANOPOLIS, Brazil (AP) — Football's governing body FIFA is set to decide whether a delayed stadium in Brazil will still host matches during this year's World Cup.","Police disperse protesters outside Brazil World Cup match. Brazilian police used tear gas and water cannons to disperse a small group of anti-World Cup protesters blocking a road to the stadium where Brazil played against Mexico on Tuesday. At least 30 people were arrested in the demonstration after the group of about 100 tried to block the main street to the Castelão stadium in the northeastern city of Fortaleza, local police spokesman Fernando Albano told Reuters. Some masked protesters threw rocks and sticks at buses emblazoned with logos of soccer's governing body FIFA before riot police and an armed vehicle moved in to disperse the crowd, television images showed. In another demonstration in Rio de Janeiro, police used pepper spray to disperse a crowd of about 100 people and detained at least seven, local police said.","Russia race walking chief banned over doping. MOSCOW (AP) — The head of Russia's race walking center has been banned for four years following an investigation into claims of systematic doping.","Malawi court clears release of election results. Blantyre (Malawi) (AFP) - Malawi's high court Friday refused to delay the release of results of the country's disputed presidential elections for a recount. \"The law is clear, there is no extension,\" said high court judge Kenyatta Nyirenda. Riot police patrolled key areas of the commercial capital Blantyre as the court decision was announced after earlier demonstrations turned violent, leaving one protester dead. President Joyce Banda -- shown in early results last week to be running third -- had claimed the vote was marred by \"serious irregularities\" and declared it \"null and void\".","Factbox: Canadian links to militant plots or attacks. (Reuters) - A suspected radicalized Islamic convert in Quebec on Monday drove over a Canadian soldier, who died of his injuries. Below are other incidents in which Canadians have been linked to militant plots or attacks. SEPTEMBER 2014 - Naturalized Iranian Canadian Hiva Mohammad Alizadeh receives a 24-year-sentence in Ottawa for possession of explosives for the benefit of a terrorist group, the judge telling him he effectively had been convicted of treason. JULY 2014 - An Ontario court sentences Mohamed Hassan Hersi to 10 years in prison for attempting to join a terrorist group abroad. ...","Hong Kong protests at crossroads as traffic, frustration pile up. By Donny Kwok and John Ruwitch HONG KONG (Reuters) - Hong Kong pro-democracy demonstrators risked a backlash from commuters and retailers on Tuesday as lingering protests caused traffic chaos and sales slump in the global financial hub, with preliminary talks with the government suggesting no quick solution. Hundreds of protesters remained camped out on the main road leading into Hong Kong's main government and business districts, the last holdouts after more than a week of rallies that attracted tens of thousands on to the streets at their peak. ...","Brian O'Driscoll bids perfect farewell to Ireland. PARIS (AP) — Centre Brian O'Driscoll bowed out in his beloved green jersey a champion by helping Ireland to the Six Nations title after a gripping 22-20 win against France on Saturday.","Liberia minister in quarantine after driver dies of Ebola. Monrovia (AFP) - A Liberian minister said Thursday she had gone into quarantine voluntarily after her driver died of the Ebola virus sweeping west Africa.","Benedict joins Francis in cardinal-making ceremony. VATICAN CITY (AP) — Former Pope Benedict XVI has joined Pope Francis in a ceremony creating the cardinals who will elect their successor in an unprecedented blending of papacies past, present and future.","Facing U.S. safety probe, Honda expands air bag recall. By Paul Lienert DETROIT (Reuters) - Honda Motor Co, facing a U.S. safety probe, strengthened its recall of U.S. cars to replace potentially defective Takata Corp air bags linked to several deaths. Japan's third-biggest carmaker said late on Thursday it was adding to its recall an undisclosed number of cars from model years 2001-2006 that were sold or registered in humid areas where the air bag inflators are thought to be most vulnerable to rupture. Honda said \"it is not aware of any claimed injuries or fatalities that have been confirmed\" related to the issue. ...","Malaysian jet disaster hits Australian family again -reports. An Australian couple who lost a son and daughter-in-law on a Malaysian Airlines jet that disappeared in March are again mourning after more relatives were killed when their plane was downed in Ukraine, media reported on Friday. Irene and George Burrows, from Biloela in central Queensland state, were the parents of Rodney Burrows, who vanished along with his wife Mary and the other 237 passengers and crew of Flight MH370 in March. The couple's step-granddaugther, Maree Rizk, and her husband Albert were on board MH17 which crashed in Ukraine on Thursday with the loss of all 298 people on board, Australian media reported.","Wallaby McCabe retires after another neck injury. SYDNEY (AP) — Australia and ACT Brumbies back Pat McCabe has been forced to retire from rugby because of a neck injury suffered in last weekend's 52-10 Bledisloe Cup loss to New Zealand.","World markets capped by earnings disappointment. LONDON (AP) — World markets struggled to rise on Friday as weak corporate earnings results made investors cautious of chasing stocks to new highs.","Matos, Cuban rebel leader turned Castro foe, dies. MIAMI (AP) — Huber Matos Benitez (OO'-ber MAH'-tos ben-EE'-tez), who was a leader of the Cuban Revolution before becoming an opponent of Fidel Castro, has died. He was 95.","Valcke smiling, but WCup still a concern for FIFA. SAO PAULO (AP) — FIFA Secretary General Jerome Valcke ended his final visit to Brazil before the World Cup with an upbeat message, saying that in a few weeks he would be celebrating the start of a successful tournament by drinking a \"caipirinha\" cocktail with Brazil's sports minister Aldo Rebelo.","Public enters grounds of Yanukovich residence outside Kiev. Hundreds of people entered the grounds of Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich's sprawling residence outside Kiev on Saturday but had not gone inside the building itself, a Reuters photographer said. The residence is in Mezhyhirya, some 15 km (10 miles) from the capital, Kiev. Yanukovich's whereabouts were not known.","Italy seeks EU foreign ministers' meeting on Iraq, Libya. Italy's foreign minister said she had asked the European Union's foreign policy chief, Catherine Ashton, for an extraordinary meeting of EU foreign ministers to discuss support for Iraqi Kurds and the fighting in Libya and Gaza. Italy holds the rotating presidency of the EU, and Foreign Minister Federica Mogherini is Prime Minister Matteo Renzi's candidate to take the Ashton's job.","Ukraine's parliament appoints new central bank chief. KIEV (Reuters) - Ukraine's parliament appointed Stepan Kubiv, a member of parliament with experience in banking, as the new chairman of the central bank. A total of 310 deputies in the 450 seat chamber backed Kubiv after his predecessor, Ihor Sorkin, resigned following the overthrow of President Viktor Yanukovich. (Reporting by Pavel Polityuk, Editing by Timothy Heritage)","Chinese engineer killed in Libya's Benghazi: security. Benghazi (Libya) (AFP) - A Chinese construction engineer has been killed by unidentified gunmen in Libya's restive second city Benghazi, medical and security sources said on Wednesday.","U.S. Navy to join search for passengers missing from South Korean ferry. SEOUL (Reuters) - The U.S. Navy has sent a ship to join the search-and-rescue operation for more than 300 passengers missing after a South Korean ferry capsized on Wednesday. The U.S. Seventh Fleet said the amphibious assault ship USS Bonhomme Richard, which has helicopters on board, was on a routine patrol off South Korea's west coast and was on its way to the scene of the accident. (Reporting by Jack Kim; Editing by Paul Tait)","Arrest warrant for ex-Korean Air exec in nut rage. SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — A South Korean court on Tuesday approved the arrest of a former Korean Air Lines Co. executive who delayed a flight over a bag of macadamia nuts.","Nearly half of people around world fear torture in custody: Amnesty. By Michael Nienaber BERLIN (Reuters) - Nearly half of people around the world fear becoming a victim of torture if taken into custody, a poll for human rights organization Amnesty International showed on Tuesday. Concern about torture is highest in Brazil and Mexico, where 80 percent and 64 percent of people respectively said they would not feel safe from torture if arrested, and lowest in Australia and Britain, at 16 and 15 percent each, the poll showed. Of the more than 21,000 people in 21 countries surveyed for Amnesty by GlobeScan, 44 percent said they would not feel safe from torture if arrested in their home country. Amnesty said 155 countries have ratified the 30-year-old United Nation Convention Against Torture which was started 30 years ago but many governments were still \\\\\"betraying their responsibility\\\\\".","Turkey wants anti-Assad rebels to control Kobane: PM. Turkey wants the anti-Damascus Free Syrian Army (FSA) to control the Syrian border town of Kobane if Islamist jihadists are defeated, and not the forces of separatist Kurds or President Bashar al-Assad, Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said. In an interview with the BBC broadcast on Tuesday, Davutoglu called for an \"integrated strategy\" with the United States to equip and train the FSA and oust Assad from power. He indicated that Turkey would only offer its air bases and other facilities for the international coalition fighting Islamic State (IS) if such a strategy were pursued.","Lebanon security forces launch new push to halt Tripoli violence. Lebanese security forces set up checkpoints and patrols in the northern city of Tripoli, raided homes and arrested more than 20 people in a push to control sectarian violence fuelled by the war in Syria. At least 27 people have been killed over the past three weeks in Tripoli in clashes between Sunni Muslims and members of the Alawite sect, an off-shoot of Shi'ite Islam. The long-standing rivalry between the two sides has been worsened by the violence in Syria, which is sunk in a three-year-old conflict that has killed over 150,000 people and become increasingly sectarian. Syria's President Bashar al-Assad is an Alawite and the rebels fighting to overthrow him are overwhelmingly Sunni.","Sunderland through to last 8 of FA Cup. SUNDERLAND, England (AP) — Sunderland has advanced to the FA Cup quarterfinals with a 1-0 victory over Southampton, thanks to Craig Gardner's long-range strike in the 50th minute.","Nigeria says player bonus issue is sorted out. RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — The Nigeria Football Federation says it has reached an agreement with its World Cup players over bonus payments, an issue that caused the team to arrive days late for the Confederations Cup last year and nearly threw that tournament into chaos.","Japan's Muji aims to open up to eight Canadian stores in five years. By Atsuko Kitayama TORONTO (REUTERS) - Japanese retailer Muji aims to build a network of seven or eight stores across Canada over the next five years, part of a broader plan to generate more revenue outside its home market, a senior executive told Reuters. Muji, which expects to open its first Canadian store in November in Toronto, wants to have more stores overseas than in Japan within the next two years. At the end of February, the unit of Ryohin Keikaku Co Ltd operated 255 stores outside of its home country, including 100 in China, according to its website. ...","Asian stocks boosted by China trade, Yellen stance. SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Asian stock markets were mostly higher Thursday after China's trade improved and Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen vowed low interest rates would continue until the U.S. job market is healthy.","Magnitude 6.4 quake strikes off coast of Greece: USGS. LONDON (Reuters) - A magnitude 6.4 earthquake struck off the coast of northern Greece on Saturday, some 77 km (48 miles) south-southwest of Alexandroupolis, the U.S. Geological Survey said. The USGS said the quake's depth was 10 km (six miles). There were no immediate reports of casualties or serious damage. Residents in Istanbul in neighboring Turkey felt a small tremor that lasted around 10 seconds. No further details were immediately available. (Reporting by Karolina Tagaris, Editing by Alison Williams/Mark Heinrich) nL6N0OA08M","Nigeria Senate leader blocks ruling party defections. The leader of Nigeria's upper chamber of parliament on Tuesday blocked 11 lawmakers from defecting, saying their break from the ruling party to the main opposition would not go through until a court challenge was resolved. Senate leader David Mark, a heavyweight in President Goodluck Jonathan's Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), has been lobbying the group to reverse its decision to defect announced in a letter on January 29.","Hospitalized Nazi guard suspect gets bail in US. PHILADELPHIA (AP) — An 89-year-old Nazi war crimes suspect who was jailed while awaiting extradition to Germany has been granted bail after being hospitalized.","Former Iraqi pilots train IS fighters on MiG jets. BEIRUT (AP) — The Islamic State group is test flying, with the help of former Iraqi air force pilots, several fighter jets captured earlier from air bases belonging to the Syrian military, a Syrian activist group said Friday.","BMW CEO Reithofer moves to chairman's job. FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — Luxury automaker BMW says that CEO Norbert Reithofer will leave his post early to become chairman of the board.","New effort to halt spread of HIV in the Caribbean. KINGSTON, Jamaica (AP) — A handful of sex workers sit on discarded cardboard along a filthy sewer channel, sharing food and razors to shave their legs and faces as they prepare for the night's labor on the streets of Jamaica's capital.","Missing plane search operations in waters off Vietnam: Xinhua. BEIJING (Reuters) - Vietnam, Malaysia and Singapore are conducting joint search and rescue operations for a missing Malaysia Airlines plane in waters south of Vietnam's Tho Chu island, China's Xinhua news agency said on Saturday. The report said that the information was relayed to China's civil aviation regulator by its Vietnamese counterpart. The aircraft went missing while on a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. (Reporting by Ben Blanchard)","Weakened Odile heads over Mexico toward Arizona. MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico's government airlifted thousands of stranded foreign tourists out of the hurricane-ravaged resort of Los Cabos, as a weakened Odile headed over the Gulf of California Wednesday on a path toward the U.S. state of Arizona.","Giggs takes charge at Man United with Ferguson's backing. Manchester (United Kingdom) (AFP) - Ryan Giggs takes charge of his first Manchester United match on Saturday, with Alex Ferguson suggesting his temporary role as manager should be made long-term. Giggs will take charge of Unitedâ s remaining four games of the season as the club begins their search for a permanent successor to manager David Moyes, whose dismissal was confirmed on Tuesday. The 40-year-old will lead the team for the first time against relegation-threatened Norwich City at Old Trafford on Saturday, adding another chapter to his remarkable United story, which has seen him become English footballâ s most decorated player in almost 1,000 appearances for the club.","Islamic State targeted in 17 air strikes by U.S., allies. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States led 17 air strikes on Islamic State targets in Iraq and Syria since Monday, the U.S. Central Command said on Wednesday. The strikes, part of Operation Inherent Resolve against the militant Islamic force, included 10 attacks near Kobani, Syria. They destroyed four staging areas and six fighting positions, and also hit Islamic State units, according to Central Command. In Iraq, U.S. and allied forces destroyed vehicles, buildings and a fighting position near Mosul and also hit a large Islamic State unit in two air strikes. ...","Morocco to beef up security checks for US-bound flights. Morocco said Monday it will tighten security measures for US-bound flights from Casablanca at Washington's request, amid fears in the United States that Islamist militants could be planning new attacks. The measures will come into force on Tuesday following a request from the US Transportation Security Administration, the Moroccan transport ministry said, cited by official media. The measures will affect flights to the United States from Casablanca's Mohammed V airport, Morocco's largest, and from where all its trans-Atlantic flights depart. These include daily flights to New York's JFK airport.","Bombardier revenue rises on higher aircraft, train sales. (Reuters) - Canada's Bombardier Inc reported a higher quarterly revenue as it sold more planes and trains. Revenue rose to $4.35 billion in the first quarter ended March 31, from $4.34 billion a year earlier. Net income fell to $115 million, or 6 cents per share, from $148 million, or 8 cents per share, a year earlier. (Reporting by Solarina Ho and Narottam Medhora; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila)","Australia's Doolan hits hundred as Clarke fails in warm-up. Top-order batsman Alex Doolan hit a fighting hundred, but skipper Michael Clarke failed in Australia's four-day warm-up game against Pakistan 'A' in Sharjah on Thursday.","Quirky bunny on Mandela statue causes stir. JOHANNESBURG (AP) — A new, 9-meter (29.5-foot) sculpture of Nelson Mandela is billed as the biggest statue of the South African leader. It also has a tiny, barely visible quirk: a sculpted rabbit tucked inside one of the bronze ears.","Israel says might not carry out Palestinian prisoner release. By Allyn Fisher-Ilan JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel told Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Tuesday it might not carry out a final stage of a Palestinian prisoner release unless he commits to prolonging peace talks beyond an April deadline for a deal. Israel's chief negotiator, Tzipi Livni, issued her warning just a day after Abbas, at a White House meeting with U.S. President Barack Obama aimed at keeping the talks alive, voiced hope the prisoners would go free by March 29. \"There was never any automatic commitment to release prisoners unrelated to making progress in negotiations,\" Livni said in a speech in southern Israel that could complicate Washington's efforts to salvage peacemaking. She was referring to Israel's agreement, as part of U.S. efforts to revive Palestinian statehood talks frozen for three years, to free 104 inmates jailed for attacks, many of them deadly, against Israelis before a 1993 interim peace deal.","Yemen warplanes strike Shiite rebels positions in north. Yemeni warplanes hit Shiite rebel positions in the north for the second day running on Tuesday, after clashes between troops and the insurgents, local and tribal sources said. Fierce clashes first erupted in Amran on Monday after government forces tried to expel rebels from a strategic position controlling the road to Sanaa. Huthis are suspected of trying to expand their sphere of influence as Yemen is split into six regions, pushing out from their mountain strongholds in the far north to areas closer to Sanaa.","Edinburgh airport closed in security alert. Scottish police closed the airport in the capital Edinburgh on Tuesday and were diverting incoming flights after finding a suspicious bag, officials said. Bomb disposal experts were called in to inspect the piece of luggage which was discovered in the main search area of the airport at 1350 GMT, police said. \"We are currently investigating a suspect package,\" an airport spokesman told AFP. \"The airport has been closed and flights have been diverted to other airports.\"","Nigeria orders audit for billions of petrodollars. ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — Nigeria's Senate is ordering a forensic audit to track down billions of missing petrodollars.","Turkey: 5 suspects released in corruption probe. ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkey's state-run news agency says the five remaining suspects jailed in a vast corruption investigation that has shaken Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's government have been released on parole pending trial.","Couple cleared of daughter's death attend church. PASADENA, California (AP) — An American couple detained in Qatar before being cleared in the death of their 8-year-old daughter attended a church service in Southern California where worshippers greeted them with a standing ovation.","Mediator proposes Feb. 10 for 2nd round of Syrian peace talks; govt not ready to accept. GENEVA - U.N.-Arab League mediator Lakhdar Brahimi has suggested Feb. 10 as the return date for continuing the peace talks between Syria's warring sides.","Report: Iran to send warships to Atlantic. TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran's state TV says the navy has sent warships on a mission to the Atlantic Ocean for the first time in the Islamic Republic's history","Turkish parliament authorises military action in Syria, Iraq. Ankara (AFP) - Turkey's parliament on Thursday gave the government the green light to deploy Turkish armed forces to combat Islamist jihadists in Syria and Iraq.","Valbuena signs for Dynamo Moscow. MOSCOW (AP) — France midfielder Mathieu Valbuena has signed for Dynamo Moscow, the Russian club says.","Venezuela says 13 inmates die of overdose after robbing infirmary ward. CARACAS (Reuters) - Thirteen inmates have died after breaking into a Venezuelan jail's infirmary and ingesting medical products including antibiotics and pure alcohol in the latest outbreak of unrest in the country's turbulent prisons. A total of 145 prisoners were intoxicated during a revolt in the David Viloria penitentiary center in the western state of Lara on Monday, the government said on Thursday. Inmates had launched a hunger strike to demand the dismissal of an official, and the protest quickly spiraled. \"Around 8.30 a.m. ...","Pakistan says it will release Taliban prisoners. ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistan's interior minister says the government will release 13 Taliban prisoners to aid ongoing peace talks with militants.","EU set to help Ukraine pay gas bills: Oettinger. European Energy Commissioner Guenther Oettinger is working on a plan to help Ukraine pay its gas bills to Russia, he told Austria's ORF radio on Friday, saying there was \"no reason to panic\" about Russian gas supplies to Europe. \"We are in close contact with Ukraine and its gas company to ensure that Ukraine remains able to pay and the debts that the gas company has to Gazprom do not rise further,\" he said, adding he would meet Ukraine's energy and foreign ministers on Monday. \"I am preparing a solution that is part of the aid package that the IMF, the European Union and the World Bank is giving to Ukraine and from which payment for open bills will be possible.\" (Reporting by Michael Shields;","Pistorius to take stand as murder trial resumes. Star Paralympian Oscar Pistorius is expected to take the stand for the first time when his murder trial resumes on Monday under the glare of the world's media. As the defence opens its case, the 27-year-old Paralympian will give the court his first account of why he shot dead his model girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp in the early hours of Valentine's Day in 2013. In the five weeks since the trial began, Pistorius has appeared fragile and annoyed, frequently crying in court and being physically sick when the gruesome details of Steenkamp's death were discussed. Pistorius, who denies murder, has to explain why he fired four shots at Steenkamp through a locked toilet door at his home.","Reports: 280 Russian aid trucks leave for Ukraine. MOSCOW (AP) — A convoy of 280 Russian trucks headed for eastern Ukraine early Tuesday, one day after agreement was reached on an international humanitarian relief mission.","Wall Street rebounds but caution prevails on Ukraine. The CBOE Volatility index VIX , Wall Street's so-called fear gauge, rose 3.9 percent to 16.81. \"The numbers, certainly on the face of it, look compelling,\" said Jade Fu, investment manager at Heartwood Investment Management.","Pakistan diverts rivers to save cities from floods. ISLAMABAD (AP) — Officials say military specialists have blown up dikes in central Pakistan to divert swollen rivers and save cities from raging floods that have killed nearly 500 people in Pakistan and the Himalayan region of Kashmir and affected over 2 million others.","Search on in Greece for Europe's oldest village. ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Archaeologists seeking traces of what could be Europe's oldest settlement in waters off southern Greece say they have located promising indications of human activity and sections of a deep-sunken prehistoric coastline.","Transponder loss key question in missing plane. JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — As the search continues for the missing Malaysian Airlines flight, a key question is what happened to the Boeing 777's transponder.","Feud erupts between Palestinian leader, arch foe. RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) — A long-running feud between Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and a powerful former operative in his Fatah movement has burst into the open, with Abbas accusing him of deceit, corruption and selling out Palestinian national interests to foreign powers.","5 things to know about the Sochi Olympics. SOCHI, Russia (AP) — Fast five, Thursday edition: Things you'll want to know about the 2014 Winter Olympics.","Facebook goes express to mega-cap status - now valued more than AT&T, Coke. By Chuck Mikolajczak NEW YORK (Reuters) - In the days after its infamously mishandled initial public offering in May 2012, it looked as if Facebook would struggle to become a must-own for fund managers. The gains represent a reversal of fortune for the social media company.","Wales drop Phillips for France Six Nations match. Wales scrum-half Mike Phillips has been demoted to the bench for Friday's crunch Six Nations international against unbeaten France in Cardiff. Phillips, who has won 82 caps and was the British and Irish Lions Test number nine in Australia last year, was replaced by Rhys Webb, who will make his first Wales start, in the team announced by coach Warren Gatland on Wednesday. In the absence through injury of Scott Williams, George North moves from wing to centre, with Liam Williams replacing North out wide.","Image of Asia: Child's play in ragpickers colony. In this photo by Altaf Qadri, a man lifts a child to help her sit on a wooden toy horse at an impoverished resettlement colony in New Delhi. The colony known as Gazipur on the eastern outskirts of the Indian capital is inhabited by nearly 1,000 people, overwhelmingly ragpickers. They are poor migrants from West Bengal state in eastern India. They salvage items such as toys, polythene bags, plastic and electronic goods from landfills. They keep whatever they find useful for their families and sell the rest for recycling.","Rouhani: extremists want to destroy civilization. UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Iran's president says the goal of extremists who are creating chaos in the Mideast is the destruction of civilization and rise of Islamophobia.","Senator presses Kerry on safety of journalists. WASHINGTON (AP) — A Democratic senator is pressing Secretary of State John Kerry about the safety of journalists working abroad and investigating attacks to ensure that they don't go unpunished.","Final arguments begin in Oscar Pistorius trial. PRETORIA, South Africa (AP) — Final arguments have begun in the South African murder trial of Oscar Pistorius, the once-celebrated athlete who fatally shot his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp, through a toilet cubicle door in his home.","NASA Hosts Media Teleconference on West Antarctic Ice Sheet Findings. WASHINGTON, May 9, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- NASA will host a media teleconference at 12:30 p.m. EDT Monday, May 12, to discuss new research results on the stability of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet and its potential contribution to future sea level rise. For dial-in information, media should email their name, affiliation and telephone number to Steve Cole at stephen.e.cole@nasa.gov no later than 11:30 a.m. Monday.","US-Japan trade talks suspended without agreement. TOKYO (AP) — Talks between the United States and Japan on a Pacific Rim trade pact have halted for now without any resolution in sight, spoiling plans for a showcase deal during President Barack Obama's visit to Tokyo.","Bank of Canada seen sticking to neutral pledge few see as credible. By Randall Palmer OTTAWA (Reuters) - The Bank of Canada will likely repeat on Wednesday that it is just as likely to cut interest rates as raise them, but a growing number of market players see this so-called neutral stance as fiction designed to keep a lid on the currency. In its last rate statement in July (http://bit.ly/1n4tq9q), the central bank said in July it was \"neutral with respect to the timing and direction of the next change to the policy rate\" but virtually no one believes there is actually a 50 percent chance of an actual rate cut. A Reuters survey of 39 economists unanimously predicts the Bank of Canada will keep its overnight rate at 1 percent on Wednesday, and the median forecast is that it will bump it up in the third quarter of 2015. Governor Stephen Poloz last year dropped the language of his predecessor, Mark Carney, suggesting the central bank's next rate move would be a hike when soft economic data made it clear no such move was imminent.","13 die in attacks on troops, police in Pakistan. PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — A militant attack on a security checkpoint in northwestern Pakistan, a roadside bomb and a drive-by shooting targeting policemen killed at least people on Friday, including a civilian, officials said.","China backs Hong Kong leaders against 'illegal' acts: govt. Beijing (AFP) - China on Tuesday described major pro-democracy demonstrations in Hong Kong as illegal, adding that it supports the Hong Kong government's handling of the protests.","Nigerian senator says police shot rubber bullet. WARRI, Nigeria (AP) — A Nigerian senator charges police shot him in the chest with a rubber bullet but police deny using ammunition to break up a protest in oil-rich Rivers State.","Imperial Metals shares slip on concerns about costs, delays at Red Chris. Shares of embattled Canadian miner Imperial Metals Corp slid nearly 4 percent on Tuesday, due to worries about delays at its Red Chris copper project in British Columbia and concerns about higher capital costs. The miner has been caught in a storm this month following a major spill of mine waste at its Mount Polley copper and gold mine, also located in the same province in Western Canada. The accident has stretched an already-tight balance sheet and Imperial last week said it was raising about C$100 million ($92 million) in debt to cover cleanup costs and finish building its new Red Chris mine. On Thursday the company reported quarterly results and said it was expecting capital costs at Red Chris to rise by some C$60 million.","Canada's housing party plays on as world warns of risk. By Andrea Hopkins TORONTO (Reuters) - Jeff Lowry and his family left a sedate housing market in Tennessee last year and moved to Canada in the midst of a housing boom, where bidding wars and soaring prices were an unpleasant reminder of his American roots. Trading in his suburban home outside Nashville for a smaller $600,000 house in Waterdown, Ontario, about 40 miles outside of Toronto, the 39-year-old regional manager wonders if he's just bought into another bubble. \"Obviously it is risky, and we're concerned,\" said Lowry. \"The housing market is skyrocketing and we wonder, are we paying the top price? I guess it's a gamble.\" Experts ranging from Fitch Ratings and Morningstar to the International Monetary Fund and economist Paul Krugman have warned about the risks of the housing boom in Canada, where the average home price has doubled in 11 years.","Amid political turmoil, Thailand's election body takes center stage. By Amy Sawitta Lefevre BANGKOK (Reuters) - As Thailand tries to resolve a debilitating political stalemate, five unelected officials have been armed with the power to over-rule its government in key areas and chart a route out of the mess left by this month's disrupted election. For three-and-a-half months, protesters, mostly from Bangkok and the south, have been seeking to overthrow Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra and rid the country of the influence of her brother, ousted former premier Thaksin Shinawatra. At the general election on February 2, the protesters disrupted polling or blocked candidates from registering in almost 70 of the 375 voting constituencies, leaving the new House of Representatives without the required quorum of members. The commission's main role is to ensure the smooth running of elections in Thailand.","Big predictions for A-League at season launch. SYDNEY (AP) — Football Federation Australia launched its 2014-15 A-League season Tuesday, predicting it will more than hold its own in the contest for audience share in Australia's packed sports market.","Blasts, clashes in China's restive region kill 12. BEIJING (AP) — Six people died in explosions and another six were shot dead by police in fresh violence in China's restive western region of Xinjiang, home to the ethnic minority Uighurs, state media reported.","Sprint 4Q loss shrinks, helped by device additions. OVERLAND PARK, Kansas (AP) — Sprint Corp., the third-largest U.S. wireless carrier, said Tuesday its fourth-quarter loss shrunk, helped by the addition of more wireless devices to its network.","UAE developing drones for citizen services. DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — An adviser to Dubai's ruler says the United Arab Emirates intends to develop drone technology for government services and has launched a $1 million international competition for the best innovative use of unmanned aircraft to help improve the lives of people.","Canadian agency expects lower e-book prices after publishers deal. Canada's business competition watchdog said on Friday it has reached an agreement with four major e-book publishers that it expects will lower e-book prices in the country. The Competition Bureau said the publishers have agreed to remove or amend clauses in their distribution agreements with individual e-book retailers that had the effect of restricting retail price competition. The four publishers that have agreed to the deal include Lagardere SCA's Hachette Book Group Inc;","Text of Prime Minister Stephen Harper's speech to the Israeli parliament. JERUSALEM - The following is a condensed version of Prime Minister Stephen Harper's remarks to the Israeli Knesset on Monday:","15,000 nationalists march in Kiev. KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — About 15,000 people marched through Kiev on Wednesday night to honor Stepan Bandera, glorified by some as a leader of Ukraine's liberation movement and dismissed by others as a Nazi collaborator.","Rooney loses patience with media critics. England's Wayne Rooney hit out at the British media on Tuesday for suggesting that training with the squad's substitutes indicated his team place was under threat. \"Sometimes (I) wonder what the press are getting at,\" the Manchester United striker wrote in a post on his official Facebook page. Rooney's status as an automatic pick has come under scrutiny after his subdued display on the left side of England's attack in their opening World Cup defeat by Italy on Saturday. He trained with the substitutes from that match at England's Rio de Janeiro training base on Monday, prompting newspaper reports that he may be dropped for his side's second Group D game against Uruguay on Thursday.","U.S. military planes carry out strikes near Iraq's Haditha Dam. TBILISI (Reuters) - The United States has begun carrying out air strikes near Iraq's Haditha Dam which was under threat from Islamic State militants, a U.S defense official said on Sunday. \"At the request of the Iraqi government and in keeping with our mission to protect U.S. personnel and facilities, U.S. military planes have begun striking ISIL terrorists near the Haditha Dam,\" said the official who declined to be identified. \"These strikes are being conducted to prevent the terrorists from further threatening Iraqi security forces in control of the dam.\" (Editing by Robert Birsel)","Japanese online gaming firm Nexon's incoming CEO eyes U.S. acquisitions. By Malathi Nayak SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Japanese online gaming firm Nexon Co Ltd will begin to aggressively explore U.S. acquisitions to further a long-standing plan to expand in Western markets, its CEO-elect Owen Mahoney said. \"We continue to believe that North America is a big, big opportunity for us,\" Mahoney said in an interview with Reuters late on Wednesday ahead of the company's announcement that he would succeed current Chief Executive Officer Seungwoo Choi in March. Mahoney, currently Nexon's chief financial officer, led mergers and acquisitions and business development at Electronic Arts Inc for about a decade before joining Nexon, which is known for free-to-play PC games like combat title \"Dungeon&Fighter\" and \"MapleStory.\" He said Nexon would be open to using its cash balance to acquire games that would help it build a strong footprint in the West.","Powerful aftershock hits Greek island of Cephalonia. A strong aftershock rattled the island of Cephalonia in western Greece early on Monday, just a week after a slightly more powerful earthquake hit the region, sending panicked residents fleeing from their homes and damaging buildings. The tremor measured 5.7 in magnitude according to the Athens Geodynamic Institute, and struck at 10:08 p.m. ET, 12 km (8 miles) northwest of Lixouri, a popular tourist destination. So far, about 500 homes have been deemed temporarily uninhabitable, the Infrastructure Ministry said on Monday. \"All evidence shows that this was the strongest quake to follow the main one, which struck last week,\" Gerasimos Papadopoulos of the Geodynamic Institute told Skai TV.","Hosts say student slaying doesn't reflect US. MISSOULA, Mont. (AP) — The husband and wife who hosted a 17-year-old exchange student killed a block from their Montana home have a message for the citizens of Germany.","Australian leader warns jihadists they face prison. CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Prime Minister Tony Abbott on Tuesday warned Australian extremists who fight with the Islamic State group in the Middle East that they will be \"jailed for a very long time\" if they return to Australia.","Kazakhstan says detected no unidentified planes when Malaysian jetliner vanished. Kazakhstan said on Monday it had not detected any \"unsanctioned use\" of its air space by any planes on March 8, making it unlikely that a missing Malaysia Arlines jetliner could have been diverted along a northern route via Thailand. Malaysia Airlines MASM.KL Flight MH370, which vanished with 239 people aboard, could hypothetically have reached the Central Asian nation's air space, but it would have been detected there, the Kazakh Civil Aviation Committee said in a detailed statement sent to Reuters. Malaysia Airlines planes had made nine regular flights to and from Europe over Kazakhstan's territory on March 8, it said.","Rugby-Australia unchanged for re-match with New Zealand. (Adds detail, quotes) * No changes to matchday 23 * McKenzie looks to pack to front up again By Nick Mulvenney SYDNEY, Aug 19 (Reuters) - Australia coach Ewen McKenzie has given a vote of confidence to the players who earned a 12-12 draw with New Zealand last weekend by naming an unchanged side for Saturday's Rugby Championship return match in Auckland. \"There's no doubt that the French referees will favour the team going forward at scrum time, that's sort of the French philosophical approach,\" he said.","Lawmaker: Germany asks top US spy in Berlin to leave country in response to spy case. BERLIN (AP) — Lawmaker: Germany asks top US spy in Berlin to leave country in response to spy case.","Fire at hospital for elderly kills 21 in latest major South Korea accident. A fire at a rural South Korean hospital for chronically ill elderly patients on Wednesday killed 21 people and injured eight in the second major fire this week as the country still mourns victims of a ferry disaster last month. The midnight blaze at the hospital in the southwest region of Jeolla was put out relatively quickly, but most of the victims were elderly patients unable to walk or move freely, leading to the large number of casualties, fire officials said. All the victims were on the second floor of one building, and most of them suffered smoke inhalation, a local fire department official said by telephone. South Korea, Asia's fourth-largest economy and a leading manufacturing powerhouse, has developed into a vibrant and technically advanced democracy, but it faces criticism that regulatory controls and safety standards have not kept pace.","Gunmen attack Kenyan coastal town. Mombasa (Kenya) (AFP) - Gunmen in Kenya attacked a busy coastal town late Sunday, opening fire from two minibuses, the army said, adding the attackers were suspected to be Islamist insurgents. Kenyan army spokesman Major Emmanuel Chirchir said the gunmen entered the western town of Mpeketoni, a trading centre on the main coastal road, and started \"shooting people around in town\". The \"assailants (are) likely to be Al-Shebab,\" Chirchir said, referring to Somalia's Al-Qaeda-linked insurgents.","India's foreign ministry says 40 Indian construction workers have been kidnapped in Iraq. NEW DELHI (AP) — India's foreign ministry says 40 Indian construction workers have been kidnapped in Iraq.","UK legislator pans no-guitar prison policy. LONDON (AP) — A guitar-loving British legislator has challenged a policy that he says makes it impossible for prisoners to play steel-stringed or electric guitars.","British abortion group fined over personal data hack. Britain's biggest abortion provider was fined Friday by a data protection watchdog after a computer hacker obtained the details of thousands of women who had sought its help. Convicted hacker James Jeffery threatened to publish the names of those who sought advice from the British Pregnancy Advice Service (Bpas) charity. The Information Commissioner's Office watchdog criticised the provider for not storing personal data securely and fined it £200,000 ($335,000, 240,000 euros) for a \"serious breach\" of the Data Protection Act. The ICO said Bpas \"didn't realise\" that its own website was storing names, addresses, dates of birth and telephone numbers, how long the information was being retained for, nor that the website was not sufficiently secure.","City's title hopes hit with 2-2 draw vs Sunderland. MANCHESTER, England (AP) — Manchester City's hopes of winning the Premier League took a big hit after it drew 2-2 at home to last-place Sunderland on Wednesday, with the title chasers needing an 88th-minute goal from Samir Nasri to earn a point.","Hospitalized US Nazi guard suspect, 89, gets bail. PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A judge has granted bail to an 89-year-old Nazi war crimes suspect who's been hospitalized while awaiting extradition to Germany.","A breakdown of $45K cost of Alberta premier's trip to Mandela funeral. EDMONTON - A cost breakdown of Alberta Premier Alison Redford's trip to Nelson Mandela's funeral in December:","Malaysia's new transport minister thrust into unwelcome spotlight. By Al-Zaquan Amer Hamzah and Siva Govindasamy KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Three weeks into his job as Malaysia's transport minister, Liow Tiong Lai was in Beijing to meet Chinese officials about the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 when an aide phoned to tell him another passenger plane had crashed. He wanted to get a clear overview of what happened, with that, he was cautious and consistent with his earlier statements,\" said Wee Ka Siong, Liow's right-hand man in the Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA) party. The MCA is a junior partner in the Barisan Nasional coalition that has ruled Malaysia for nearly 60 years since independence, and is typically awarded the cabinet positions of health and transport.","Amateur Knox plays alongside McIlroy at Masters. AUGUSTA, Ga. (AP) — This is when membership really does have its privileges.","Striker Welbeck absent from England open training. RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Danny Welbeck was missing from the opening section of England's World Cup training session on Wednesday after being reported to have an injury.","Croatia fighter jet crashes, pilot ejects. ZAGREB, Croatia (AP) — Croatia's defense ministry says a military fighter jet has crashed near the capital and its pilot has ejected.","18 executed in Gaza for 'collaborating' with Israel: Hamas TV. Gaza City (Palestinian Territories) (AFP) - Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip executed 18 men on Friday for allegedly helping Israel in its six-week assault on the territory, Hamas TV reported.","5 famous moments for Germans in the British Open. HOYLAKE, England (AP) — No one had a brighter smile than Martin Kaymer when he stepped onto the practice green outside the clubhouse at Royal Liverpool.","US Air Force: Stowaway triggers security review. WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. Air Force secretary says something obviously \"fell through the cracks\" in the security of a military cargo plane that allowed a young boy to stow away and die in a compartment near the landing gear.","Obama orders targeted air strikes, humanitarian aid drops in Iraq. President Barack Obama said on Thursday he had authorized \"targeted\" U.S. airstrikes against Islamic State fighters in northern Iraq and military airdrops of humanitarian supplies to besieged religious minorities there to prevent a \"potential act of genocide.\" Speaking after meetings with his national security team, Obama - in his most significant response to the Iraq crisis – said he approved limited use of American air power to protect American personnel if Islamic State militants advance toward the Kurdish capital Arbil where they are based. The airstrikes would be the first carried out by the U.S. military in Iraq since the withdrawal of its forces at the end of 2011, but Obama insisted he would not commit any ground forces and had no intention of letting the United States get dragged back into a war there. Obama took action amid international fears of a humanitarian catastrophe engulfing tens of thousands of members of Iraq’s minority Yazidi sect driven out of their homes and stranded on Sinjar mountain under threat from rampaging militants of Islamic State, an al Qaeda splinter group.","S. Korea concert planner found dead after 16 die. SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — A South Korean man involved in planning an outdoor pop concert where 16 people were killed after falling through a ventilation grate was found dead Saturday in an apparent suicide, officials said, as doctors treated eight others facing life-threatening injuries from the disaster.","Kerry: US drone strikes 'may well be' an option to stem ISIL advances in Iraq. WASHINGTON (AP) — Kerry: US drone strikes 'may well be' an option to stem ISIL advances in Iraq .","Bomb blast at NE Nigeria bus station 'kills at least 20'. A bombing at a bus station in Gombe city in northeast Nigeria killed at least 20 people on Monday, the latest violence in the region repeatedly targeted by Boko Haram, the Red Cross said. The Red Cross mobilised with 20 body bags and they have all been exhausted,\" said Abubakar Yakubu Gombe, area secretary for the Red Cross. The bomb was planted near a bus that was parked and filling up with passengers, said Mato Yakubu of the National Orientation Agency, a government body responsible for the media.","Kenyan separatist chief arrested. Nairobi (AFP) - The leader of an outlawed secessionist group on Kenya's coast was arrested Wednesday along with a dozen supporters, a local government official said.","Zimbabwe, 80-2, frustrate South Africa. Harare (AFP) - Nightwatchman Donald Tiripano was the only batsman to fall in the opening session as Zimbabwe frustrated South Africa to reach 80 for two on day four of the one-off Test at Harare Sports Club.","German couple killed near vacation home in Tobago. PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad (AP) — Police in Trinidad and Tobago are investigating the slaying of an elderly German couple who were found hacked to death on a beach near their vacation home on Tobago.","Japan's Abe to co-opt rival, draft more women in cabinet reshuffle. By Linda Sieg TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is expected to co-opt a rival and draft more women to spruce up his image while keeping key ministers when he reshuffles his cabinet on Wednesday, a rejig dictated more by political dynamics than policy matters. Abe has not revamped his cabinet since returning to office in December 2012, a record for a post-World War Two premier. Abe, who surged to power promising to revive the economy and bolster Japan's security stance in the face of a rising China, has seen his support slip to around 50 percent, still high for a Japanese premier but off early peaks of around 60 percent. Core members such as Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, 65, Finance Minister Taro Aso, 73, Economics Minister Akira Amari, 65, and Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida, 57, are likely to stay on, signaling policy continuity.","Polish Catholic Church working on abuse procedures. WARSAW, Poland (AP) — The head of Poland's Catholic news agency says the nation's Catholic Church is preparing to publish a book on internal procedures to deal with child sex abuse by priests as cases come to the fore in the staunchly Catholic country.","6 die as bus catches fire in India. NEW DELHI (AP) — Indian police say at least six people were burned to death and another 12 seriously injured when a bus caught fire in southern India.","Singer jailed for child sex crimes loses appeal bid. British rocker Ian Watkins of the band Lostprophets on Wednesday failed in his bid to reduce his 35-year jail sentence for a string of child sex crimes including the attempted rape of a baby. Court of Appeal judges in Cardiff told the 37-year-old singer they would not grant leave for appeal. \"These offences against children were of shocking depravity... a very lengthy prison sentence was demanded,\" said Christopher Pitchford, one of the judges considering the bid. Last year, judge John Royce handed Watkins a 29-year jail term as well as an additional six years on licence after he admitted 13 offences, saying he had \"plumbed new depths of depravity\".","French Open Watch: Blame it on the rain .... PARIS (AP) — When it's raining at the French Open, spectators have more options than the players.","Referee Rodriquez gets Italy-Uruguay duty. RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — FIFA has picked Marco Rodriquez of Mexico to referee the Italy vs. Uruguay game that will decide which team advances from Group D with Costa Rica.","Gunfire, explosions near protest wound three in Bangkok. Three people were wounded by explosions and gunshots close to a standoff between supporters and opponents of Thailand's government on Saturday, a Reuters witness said, ahead of an election some anti-government elements are seeking to derail. One person was seen wounded by gunshot and two were injured by explosions when two blasts and dozens of rounds of gunfire were heard in northern Bangkok, according to a Reuters journalist, who saw some demonstrators carrying handguns. It was not immediately clear whether the demonstrators or those wounded were the government's supporters or its opponents. The attack took place in Bangkok's Laksi district, close to the Don Muang airport, a stronghold of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra's Puea Thai Party.","Maui tour operator recognized for responsibly helping tourists see wild dolphins. HONOLULU, Hawaii - The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and its partners are recognizing a Maui company for practicing responsible wild dolphin tourism.","Brazil WCup host city declares state of emergency. SAO PAULO (AP) — Brazilian World Cup host city Manaus has declared a state of emergency as the waters of an Amazon River tributary swell, though officials say they don't expect it to flood.","Indonesia anti-terror police question four foreigners. JAKARTA (Reuters) - Indonesian anti-terror police are questioning four foreign nationals in a sign of tightening security in the country with the world's largest Muslim population, officials confirmed on Tuesday. Indonesia grappled with a string of militant attacks during the 2000s, including a bombing at a Bali nightclub that killed 202, with 88 Australians among them. Since then, it has been largely successful in cracking down on homegrown militant cells. ...","Clashes in Yemen capital suburb kill at least 20: sources. SANAA (Reuters) - At least 20 people were killed when Shi'ite Muslim rebels clashed with army soldiers and allied tribesmen in an outer suburb of the Yemeni capital of Sanaa, tribal and medical sources said on Wednesday. Tribal sources told Reuters the rebels had gained control of Wadi Dhahr suburb in the fighting, the latest in an escalating conflict between the Sunni-dominated government and Houthi Shi'ites fighting for more territory and control in the north. ...","Sevilla fans attacked in Slovenia, 4 injured. LJUBLJANA, Slovenia (AP) — Police in Slovenia say hooligans have attacked Sevilla fans after a Europa League match against Maribor, injuring four people.","U.S. bombs Islamic State after Obama call to prevent Iraq 'genocide'. By Raheem Salman and Isabel Coles BAGHDAD/ARBIL Iraq (Reuters) - U.S. warplanes bombed Islamist fighters marching on Iraq's Kurdish capital on Friday after President Barack Obama said Washington must act to prevent \"genocide\". Islamic State fighters, who have beheaded and crucified captives in their drive to eradicate unbelievers, have advanced to within a half hour's drive of Arbil, capital of Iraq's Kurdish region and a hub for U.S. oil companies.","How the wheels came off for Sanofi's CEO. By Noëlle Mennella and Carolyn Cohn PARIS/LONDON (Reuters) - Chris Viehbacher speaks plainly. \"We had somewhat of a mess in Brazil,\" he told financial analysts in August 2013, \"so that's why I decided to change management.\" Fifteen months later he has gone the same way as the Brazilian employees he sacked so decisively - fired as chief executive of French drugmaker Sanofi at a dawn board meeting, with the \"mess in Brazil\" cited as one of the reasons. The whirlwind week began on Monday Oct. 27 with a leaked letter to the board, dated Sept. 4, in which Viehbacher wrote of rumours of a plot against him at board level and demanded clarity. There was no opportunity for shareholders to say they did not want him to go.\" In truth, Viehbacher's downfall was a rather more slow-burn affair.","Death toll rises to 23 in Philippine road attack. MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Officials say the death toll in a brazen road attack by Abu Sayyaf extremists on some 50 villagers traveling in the southern Philippines to celebrate the end of Ramadan with their families has climbed to 23 after a 3-year-old boy and his father died from their injuries.","Malaysian envoy bailed on New Zealand sex charge. A Malaysian diplomat extradited to New Zealand to face an attempted rape charge was granted bail on Tuesday after his lawyer denied he fled the country under the cloak of diplomatic immunity. Muhammad Rizalman Ismail agreed to strict conditions, including a curfew, not contacting his alleged victim, surrendering his passport and remaining under the supervision of two Malaysian military attaches. He is accused of stalking and attempting to rape 21-year-old Tania Billingsley last May at her home in the same Wellington suburb where Malaysia's High Commission is located. The envoy, who was a defence staff assistant at the commission, was charged at the time with burglary and assault with intent to rape but left Wellington after Malaysian authorities told their New Zealand counterparts they would not waive diplomatic immunity in the case.","Opposition leader closes in on Brazil's Rousseff ahead of vote. By Eduardo Simões and Bruno Federowski SAO PAULO (Reuters) - Opposition leader Aecio Neves, who vows to shake up Brazil's stagnant economy with fiscal austerity and pro-market policies, is chipping away at President Dilma Rousseff's lead four months from election day, a poll published on Saturday showed. Neves, a senator and former governor of Brazil's second richest state Minas Gerais, will be nominated later on Saturday by his centrist PSDB party to run for president and challenge Rousseff's re-election bid.","Deutsche Telekom accepts Softbank's offer to buy T-Mobile: Kyodo. (Reuters) - Deutsche Telekom AG has agreed to a plan by Japanese mobile company Softbank Corp to buy T-Mobile US Inc, the fourth-largest U.S. mobile carrier, Kyodo news agency reported, citing industry sources. Deutsche Telekom owns two-thirds of T-Mobile US. A spokesman for Deutsche Telekom declined to comment. Softbank Chairman Masayoshi Son proposed the buyout in a meeting with top executives of T-Mobile and Deutsche Telekom in mid-May and received a positive response, Kydo reported. ...","No police action on Newcastle manager's headbutt. Newcastle manager Alan Pardew will not face police action for his headbutt on Hull's David Meyler, it was announced Monday as he waited to discover what action, if any, football chiefs would take. The Magpies boss was involved in the nasty altercation when he clashed with Meyler during Newcastle's 4-1 away Premier League win at the KC Stadium on Saturday. Humberside Police said it had received no complaint from either Hull or Meyler and were happy to let the matter rest with England's governing Football Association. \"There has been no complaint received from the player involved or Hull City Association Football Club at this time.","Iranian satellite case in NY takes complex turn. HOPEWELL, Va. (AP) — Federal agents intercepted the wealthy Iranian entrepreneur at a U.S. airport, questioned him about his business and charged him with illegal export of American-made satellite equipment to his native country.","Japan CO2 emissions hit record yearly high: official. Japan's carbon dioxide emissions hit a record high in the year to March due to the nation's reliance on fossil fuels following the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster, an official said Monday. CO2 emissions related to the use of non-renewables reached 1.224 billion metric tonnes, up from 1.208 billion metric tonnes for the previous fiscal year, said an official of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. They were also up more than 15 percent from 1990, the base year for emission cuts previously targeted under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. The country's CO2 emissions have been steadily rising due to growing demand for fossil fuels following the nuclear accident.","Anglo American restarts Los Bronces mine in Chile. SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) — British mining company Anglo American Plc is resuming operations at its Los Bronces copper mine in Chile after violent protests by contractors.","Putin spokesman tells press to 'shut trap' on cancer rumours. President Vladimir Putin's spokesman on Wednesday ridiculed US media reports that the Russian strongman may be suffering from cancer, saying he was fine and that journalists should \"shut their trap\". Dmitry Peskov blasted those behind speculation that the 62-year-old Putin -- who has long cultivated an action-man image -- was in ill health. The New York Post on Friday cited \"sources\" as saying Putin was suffering from pancreatic cancer, one of the deadliest forms of the disease.","China finds nearly 2,000 firms in breach of anti-pollution rules. Nearly 2,000 Chinese enterprises were found to be in violation of state pollution guidelines following a nationwide inspection campaign covering 25,000 industrial firms, the environment ministry said on Thursday. With the environment identified as one of the government's top priorities after years of unfettered economic growth, Beijing has promised to enhance its powers to monitor and punish industries accused of ignoring state regulations. Beijing has struggled to make local governments and industries comply with laws and has long been criticized for relying on national campaigns to bring industrial sectors like coal, steel or rare earth to heel. The Ministry of Environmental Protection (MEP) has targeted firms that fail to install pollution control technology or provide fraudulent emissions data to try to avoid punishment.","6.5-quake shakes Puerto Rico's northern coast. SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — A strong earthquake out to sea has shaken Puerto Rico's northern coast, causing minor damage in some places.","Fleeing Syrians face 'new level of hopelessness'. UNITED NATIONS (AP) — A new report says the plight of people fleeing Syria's civil war has reached \"a new level of hopelessness\" as overstretched neighbors make it more difficult to leave and developed countries resettle a tiny number of refugees.","Afghan presidential contender threatens boycott. KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — An adviser to a leading Afghan presidential contender, Abdullah Abdullah, says the candidate is threatening to boycott the country's ballot audit, which has been mired in obstacles.","Zetas member arrested in northern Mexico state. MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexican authorities have arrested an alleged member of the Zetas drug gang who they say is one of 12 cartel members fueling an increase of violence in the border state of Tamaulipas.","French baby's head bitten by circus camel. A four-month-old baby boy is in hospital after a circus camel bit him on the head, French police said on Thursday. The mother was carrying the boy in a front sling and was looking at the camel in its enclosure when suddenly it bit the baby on the head. \"We weren't feeding it or stroking it,\" the mother told the local Dauphine Libere newspaper. The mother told Dauphine Libere that he had sustained \"multiple fractures\" but \"should not suffer any after-effects.\"","Watchdog: Syrians lack medical care in Lebanon. BEIRUT (AP) — An international watchdog says Syrian refugees in Lebanon are going without treatment for chronic illnesses like diabetes and cancer because of a shortfall in funding to provide them with medical care.","Risk of 'gas war' grows as Ukraine halts payments to Russia. By Pavel Polityuk and Conor Humphries KIEV (Reuters) - Ukraine said on Saturday it was suspending payments to Russia for deliveries of gas, ratcheting up the tension in a standoff that has the potential to leave European Union states cut off from the Russian gas supplies on which they depend. In eastern Ukraine, where groups of pro-Russian activists have been emboldened by the Kremlin's annexation of the Crimean Peninsula, a band of armed men in mismatched camouflage outfits seized a police station in the town of Slaviansk. Russia and Ukraine have been locked in confrontation since protests in Kiev forced the Moscow-backed president from office, and the Kremlin sent troops into Crimea. A large proportion of the natural gas which EU states buy from Russia is pumped via Ukrainian territory, so if Russia makes good on a threat to cut off Ukraine for non-payment of its bills, customers further west will have supplies disrupted.","Nigerian opposition picks southerner as party chief ahead of election. Nigeria's main opposition elected a veteran politician from the Christian south as its inaugural chairman on Saturday, as it looks to win voters on both sides of a religious divide and unseat President Goodluck Jonathan's party next year. At its first national convention since being formed by the merger of four opposition parties last year, the All Progressives Congress (APC) elected 74-year-old John Odigie Oyegun to its top post in the early hours of Saturday, party officials said. Tension between Nigeria's oil-rich, largely Christian south and the poorer, mostly Muslim north have been a longstanding characteristic of politics in what is now Africa's largest economy. The APC is expected to give the ruling People's Democratic Party (PDP) its sternest test since it swept to power at the end of military rule in 1998 and, like its rival, has been keen to portray itself as a national party, rather than a regional one.","In Iran, love is rarely a many-splendoured thing. Like an increasing number of Iranians, Mahnaz divorced after marrying young because of the pressures of a conservative society that she feels often ignores a relationship's most important ingredient: love. From the first meeting with my husband's family I had a bad feeling about it,\" she says. Iran's average divorce rate peaked at 21 percent last year, with big cities showing far higher rates.","Iraq's Kurdish region has supplied military aid to Kurds in Kobani: Iraqi Kurdish official. BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq's Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) has provided military aid to Kurdish fighters in the embattled city of Kobani, a senior Iraqi Kurdish official said on Tuesday. \"We helped them in roughly every arena. We sent them aid, including military,\" said Hamid Darbandi, the KRG official responsible for Syrian Kurdish affairs. He declined to provide further details. (Reporting By Ned Parker; editing by Janet McBride)","Iran nuclear negotiations 'going well': foreign minister. Iran's nuclear negotiations are \"going well\", Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said Thursday, ahead of a crucial meetings to negotiate a comprehensive nuclear deal. Iran and a group of world powers agreed last week on a timetable and framework for the negotiations for an accord that would allay Western concerns about Iran's nuclear programme in return for the lifting of crippling sanctions. Under a landmark interim deal clinched in November, Iran agreed to curb parts of the programme for six months in exchange for limited sanctions relief. \"The (nuclear) negotiations are going well ... I'm hoping by the first deadline (July 20) we will reach an agreement,\" Zarif told reporters on the sidelines of an event in New Delhi.","U.S. slaps sanctions on five Central African Republic officials tied to violence. President Barack Obama has imposed sanctions on Central African Republic's former president, François Bozizé, and four other men linked to violence and human rights abuses in the country, the White House said on Tuesday. Also sanctioned were Nourredine Adam, a former minister of public security, and Levy Yakete, an \\\\\"anti-balaka\\\\\" Christian militia leader. Bozize, Adam and Yakete were blacklisted by the United Nations on Friday. The United States also sanctioned Michel Djotodia, former transitional president of the Central African Republic and leader of the Seleka rebellion, and Abdoulaye Miskine, leader of the Democratic Front of the Central African Republic People, the White House said.","Juventus secures title, Madrid clubs falter. Without evening playing, Juventus clinched its third consecutive Serie A title on Sunday as the team's lead in the Italian league became insurmountable.","Pope takes 1st step to reform of Vatican finance. VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis has taken the first major step toward reforming the Vatican's outdated and inefficient bureaucracy, creating an economics secretariat responsible for all economic, administrative, personnel and procurement functions.","Brazilian team tries to improve through hypnosis. SAO PAULO (AP) — A second-division team in Brazil is resorting to hypnosis to try to avoid relegation.","US back to old suits hoping turn to things around. SOCHI, Russia (AP) — U.S. speedskaters were looking to rebound from an awful start at the Sochi Olympics by slipping back into old suits that should have been made obsolete by new high-tech gear.","Shareholder ends lawsuit against IBM over China risks, NSA scandal. An IBM Corp shareholder has voluntarily ended a lawsuit accusing the company of concealing how its cooperation with a National Security Agency spying program cost it business in China and led to a nearly $13 billion plunge in the company's market value. The dismissal follows \"an extensive additional investigation into the matters alleged, which included investigations conducted in the United States and China, as well as information obtained through discussions with defense counsel,\" John Browne, a lawyer for lead plaintiff Louisiana Sheriffs' Pension & Relief Fund in Baton Rouge, said in a letter made public on Monday. IBM shares fell 6.4 percent last October 17, wiping out $12.9 billion of market value, a day after the company posted disappointing quarterly revenue, including drops in China of 22 percent in sales and 40 percent in hardware sales. According to the complaint, IBM lobbied Congress to pass a law letting it share the personal data of its customers in China with the NSA to help protect its intellectual property rights.","Jordan hopes papal visit would push for regional peace. Jordan expressed hope Wednesday that Pope Francis's visit to the Holy Land would help the cause of regional stability, including the advancement of the stalled Middle East peace talks. \"The pope's May 24-26 visit carries a lot of meanings of peace,\" government spokesman Mohammad Momamni told a news conference. \"We hope the visit will push for achieving peace and stability in the region, including the Israeli-Palestinian peace process,\" said Momamni, who is also information minister. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Abdullah Nsur told a group of journalists that \"the pope's visit will show Jordan's civilised image and will show that the kingdom is an oasis of peace and security in a turbulent region with a sea of blood, wars and repression.\"","Thai capital braces for protest shutdown. BANGKOK (AP) — Thailand's capital is bracing for traffic chaos as anti-government demonstrators plan to occupy major road intersections in what they describe as an effort to shut down the city.","PM hints at more Russian defense spending after sanctions. Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev suggested on Thursday Russia could increase defense spending in response to \"evil\" new Western sanctions over the Ukraine crisis. He said Russia would not be bowed by the sanctions announced by the United States and the European Union but told a government meeting such moves could set relations back to the 1980s - the latter stages of the Cold War. Medvedev said the sanctions would not help Ukraine, where pro-Russian separatists have rebelled in eastern regions, and would fuel anti-U.S. sentiment in Russia.","Shoring up defense key for front-heavy Argentina. Argentina has enough firepower to shatter any defense at the World Cup. How its own defense holds up could decide whether the team clutches the trophy for the first time since 1986.","Fugitive's wife arrested over S. Korean ferry disaster. South Korean police on Saturday made apparent headway in the manhunt for a fugitive businessman wanted over April's ferry disaster with the capture of his wife. Kwon Yun-Ja, 72, was arrested at a flat in the southern suburbs of Seoul following a successful ambush, Yonhap news agency said. YTN TV showed Kwon, her face covered with a dark brimmed hat, being taken into custody at the Incheon Prosecutor's Office. Yoo is the patriarch of the family behind Chonghaejin Marine Co., which owned and operated the 6,825-tonne Sewol ferry which sank on April 16 with the loss of around 300 lives, most of them schoolchildren.","Syrian Kurd forces withdraw from around 60 villages: monitor. BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syrian Kurdish forces have withdrawn from around 60 villages in the face of an advance by Islamic State militants in northern Syria, a monitoring group said on Friday. The Islamic State militants were using heavy weapons including artillery and tanks, said Rami Abdulrahman, director of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. A Kurdish official contacted by Reuters said he did not know how many villages had fallen to Islamic State militants but that it had not been that many. ...","At least 10 killed in Bangui fighting. Bangui (Central African Republic) (AFP) - At least 10 people were killed and several others wounded in clashes Wednesday in the capital of the strife-torn Central African Republic, officials said.","Western U.N. envoys blast Russian 'fantasy narrative' on Ukraine. By Louis Charbonneau UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Western ambassadors on the U.N. Security Council demanded an end to what they said was Russia's false propaganda and \"fantasy narrative\" on the escalating crisis in Ukraine, warning that such distortions could inflame the volatile situation. \"The systematic and targeted propaganda war against Ukraine and its provisional leadership, is an extremely dangerous game,\" Lithuania's U.N. Ambassador Raimonda Murmokaite, who requested Wednesday's special meeting, told the 15-nation council. \"As we have seen time and again, including in Central African Republic, it is much too easy to release the arms-wielding genie of incitement and hate, but so much more difficult to contain it afterwards,\" she added. The council voted last week to send U.N. peacekeepers to the Central African Republic where the United Nations has warned that the sectarian violence could spiral into genocide.","Thai court sentences five to death in war-torn south. BANGKOK (Reuters) - A Thai court sentenced to death five suspected Muslim separatists convicted of killing four soldiers, prompting Human Rights Watch to accuse the government of applying \"double standards\" in the turbulent south. Thailand is predominantly Buddhist but parts of the south, in particular the three southernmost provinces of Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat, are majority Muslim. A low-level insurgency in the region has claimed more than 6,000 lives since 2004 following the resurgence of a dormant Muslim separatist movement. ...","Van Gaal calms expectations ahead of United move. Brasília (AFP) - Louis van Gaal on Saturday sought to temper expectations among Manchester United fans excited about his impending arrival at Old Trafford after the Netherlands ended their World Cup campaign on a high. Holland ran out convincing 3-0 winners against hosts Brazil in the third-place play-off at the Mane Garrincha National Stadium thanks to a Robin van Persie penalty and further goals by Daley Blind and Georginio Wijnaldum. They go home unbeaten, with their semi-final exit against Argentina only coming after a penalty shoot-out, but van Gaal warned United supporters that they will inevitably find themselves on the losing side from time to time. \"I couldn't do it with Ajax, Barcelona or Bayern Munich.","Russian opposition activist convicted for protest. MOSCOW (AP) — Russian opposition activist Alexei Navalny has been sentenced to seven days in prison after participating in an anti-government protest.","Kuwait shuts down pro-opposition TV, newspaper. Kuwait said it revoked the licences of pro-opposition Al-Youm television and Alam Al-Youm newspaper and ordered them to shut down immediately on Tuesday. The information ministry said in a statement that the licences of the two media outlets had been revoked \"for losing some of the terms and conditions for obtaining a licence\". Al-Youm confirmed it had received the closure notice. \"We received a letter from the information ministry stating that the licence of the channel has been revoked and we must stop immediately,\" a source at the station told AFP, requesting anonymity.","McIlroy bids to defend Australian Open title. SYDNEY (AP) — Rory McIlroy has confirmed he'll return to defend his Australian Open title in November.","Israel experts in hunt for Nigeria girls. Israel has sent two anti-terror experts to Nigeria to join the search for hundreds of schoolgirls kidnapped by extremist Islamist group Boko Haram, an Israeli security source said on Tuesday. \"There are in Nigeria two advisers who have dealt in terrorist matters in the past,\" he told AFP. The pair were not currently serving as intelligence personnel for the Israeli government. On May 11, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan with an offer to help search for more than 200 schoolgirls kidnapped by Boko Haram.","Germany, France to send aid to Iraqi Kurds. Germany will send four planes with humanitarian aid to Kurds in northern Iraq on Friday, the Ministry of Defence said, while France said it would boost support to Kurdish fighters battling Islamic State militants. \"The federal government has decided to provide rapid and effective humanitarian aid to people in need in the north of Iraq,\" it said. Defence Minister Ursula von der Leyen said this week that Germany may also send non-lethal military hardware such as armoured vehicles, helmets, security vests and night-vision gear.","Peru volcano prompts evacuation of 4,000. LIMA, Peru (AP) — Peruvian authorities have ordered the preventative evacuation of 4,000 people living near the Ubinas volcano, which has been spouting ash clouds up to 2 miles (nearly 4 kilometers) high.","Zimbabwe's president fires more cabinet members. HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) — Zimbabwe's government says the president has fired two cabinet ministers believed to be loyal to the ousted vice president, while thousands of civil servants have not been paid Christmas bonuses.","25 years on, balloons to illuminate 15 km of Berlin Wall. Highlighting Berlin's long and painful division, 8,000 illuminated balloons will light the course of the old East-West border to mark 25 years since the fall of the Wall, organisers said Monday. The inflated balloons, fixed to the ground with ropes to resemble lamps, will mark a 15-kilometre (9.3-mile) stretch of the Wall's route for three nights leading up to November 9. Berlin mayor Klaus Wowereit said at the project's presentation that the day the Wall fell had been special not only for Berlin, Germany and Europe but for the whole world. On that day, he said, people across the globe had \"their eyes fixed on Berlin to see how a peaceful revolution managed to tear down this wall\".","Singapore gays rally to counter opposition. SINGAPORE (AP) — Gay rights activists have gathered in downtown Singapore for a rally that this year drew unprecedented criticism from religious conservatives, with one influential Christian pastor calling on the government to ban the event.","Canada watchdog clears sale of Standard Life assets to Manulife. TORONTO (Reuters) - Canada's Competition Bureau said on Friday it would not challenge Manulife Financial Corp's bid for the Canadian operations of Britain's Standard Life Plc , a deal that will significantly expand Manulife's presence in Quebec. The federal watchdog said it issued a no action letter after concluding the transaction is unlikely to result in a substantial lessening of competition. Manulife and Standard life announced the C$4 billion ($3.54 billion) cash deal in early September. (1 US dollar = 1.1299 Canadian dollar) (Reporting by Jeffrey Hodgson)","Mugabe opens southern Africa summit with call for growth. Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe on Sunday opened a summit of southern African leaders by calling for countries to drive growth by exporting more finished goods instead of raw materials. The 90-year-old leader took over as chairman of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) from Malawi's Peter Mutharika after almost a decade of being excluded from positions of power in the 15-member bloc. He is also in line to lead the 54-nation African Union from next year. Southern Africa must \"wean itself from exporting raw materials and create value chains that will lead to the exportation of finished products,\" he told the opening of the two-day summit.","Iraq's Maliki says will not quit without court ruling. Baghdad (AFP) - Iraq's caretaker prime minister Nuri al-Maliki said Wednesday that it will take a federal court ruling for him to leave power, defying the president's decision to task a rival with forming the next government.","Flowers and fury in tragedy-stricken Odessa. Odessa (Ukraine) (AFP) - Flowers, candles and photos of the dead pile up outside a charred building in the scenic Ukrainian port city of Odessa where anger simmers a day after brutal clashes claimed 42 lives. Under a warm spring sun, several thousand gathered outside the blackened trade union building, where dozens perished in an inferno that marked the culmination of a day of confrontation. You can't stop me saying that these people were assassinated,\" screamed 53-year-old Elena Petrova at riot police, her eyes wide with rage. The events leading up to the tragedy in Odessa, a well-known Black Sea city of more than one million people, are still not totally clear.","Britain summons Spanish envoy over Gibraltar 'incursion'. The British government summoned the Spanish ambassador to London on Wednesday to explain a fresh \"incursion\" by Spanish vessels into Gibraltar's territorial waters. Ambassador Federico Trillo was hauled in to explain why a Spanish state research vessel and its police escort entered the waters off the tiny British peninsula on Tuesday, the Foreign Office said in a statement. It comes barely four months after Trillo was summoned to discuss a day-long stand-off also involving a Spanish research vessel, which defied repeated Royal Navy orders to leave Gibraltarian waters. \"I am extremely concerned to hear of another incursion into British Gibraltar territorial waters on 1 April by a Spanish state research vessel, which sought to undertake survey activity,\" said Britain's Europe minister, David Lidington.","Fresh sanctions will freeze big foreign oil projects in Russia. On Friday, the United States imposed sanctions on Gazprom, Gazprom Neft, Lukoil, Surgutneftegas and Rosneft, banning Western firms from supporting their activities in exploration or production from deep water, Arctic offshore or shale projects. The new measures, designed to put further pressure on President Vladimir Putin over Russia's actions in Ukraine, are a major broadening of the previous sanctions, which only banned the export of high technology oil equipment into Russia.","Ukraine reports overnight rebel attacks on border. MOSCOW (AP) — The Ukrainian army has reported rebel attacks overnight throughout the restive east, claiming that at one border crossing the rebels were supported by artillery fire from the Russian side.","Mosul falls to militants, Iraqi forces flee northern city. By Ziad al-Sinjary MOSUL Iraq (Reuters) - An al Qaeda splinter group seized control of the Iraqi city of Mosul on Tuesday, putting security forces to flight in a spectacular show of strength against the Shi'ite-led Baghdad government. The capture of the northern city of 2 million by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant - Sunni Muslims waging sectarian war on both sides of the Iraqi-Syrian frontier - complements ISIL's grip on key western towns and followed four days of heavy fighting in Mosul and the border province of Nineveh around it. The United States, which pulled out its troops two and a half years ago, pledged to help Iraqi leaders \"push back against this aggression\" as the government of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki asked parliament to declare a state of emergency that would give him extraordinary powers to tackle the crisis.","Driver arrested after school bus crash in China. BEIJING (AP) — Chinese state media say the driver of a school bus that overturned, killing eight children and injuring 32 others, has been arrested for allegedly causing the casualties.","Israel finance minister: peace talk failure costly. JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel's finance minister says if peace talks with the Palestinians breakdown and lead to a European boycott, Israel's economy will suffer badly.","Egypt army chief says to run for president if 'public demands'. Egypt's army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said he would run for president if the people demand it and the military supports him, state media quoted him as saying on Saturday. An official close to the general told AFP Sisi has not made up his mind but feels he \"would not have the luxury or choice\" to stand aside in the election if there is a palpable demand for him to run in the poll. \"If I nominate myself, there must be a popular demand, and a mandate from my army,\" the state newspaper Al-Ahram quoted him as saying at a meeting with Egyptian officials.","French president in trouble, in public and private. PARIS (AP) — Things can't get much worse for French President Francois Hollande: The economy is lagging; his new government is already under fire; and his private life has just been exposed in a ravaging book by the former first lady.","U.N. anti-drugs chief praises Iran fight despite executions. The U.N. anti-drugs chief has praised Iran's fight against narcotics trafficking despite what human rights groups describe as a surge in executions in the country, many of people convicted of drug-related offences. Yury Fedotov, executive director of the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), said the Vienna-based agency opposes the death penalty and he planned to raise the issue again with Iranian officials later this week. \"But on the other side, Iran takes a very active role to fight against illicit drugs,\" he told reporters before a international meeting in Vienna on March 13-14 on global efforts to combat narcotics. In 2012, Iran seized 388 metric tons of opium, the equivalent of 72 percent of all such seizures around the world.","86-year-old Serb guards over WWI dead in Greece. THESSALONIKI, Greece (AP) — Stooped and unsteady, Djordje Mihailovic walks among rows of discolored marble crosses of Serb soldiers slain a century ago in the horrors of World War I.","IS releases interview with captive Jordanian pilot. BEIRUT (AP) — The Islamic State group has published in its monthly English-language magazine an interview with the Jordanian pilot captured last week after his plane crashed in northern Syria.","Men flee forced circumcision in western Kenya. NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — The circumcision season in Kenya's Bukusu ethnic group brings a festive atmosphere: music, food and free-flowing beer. For uncircumcised men from other tribes in the area, however, it is not time to party, it's time to flee.","Pakistan wins toss, elects to field in first ODI. DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Pakistan captain Misbah-ul-Haq won the toss and chose to field in the first one-day international against New Zealand on Monday.","Police fire tear gas at protest outside World Cup match. Police in Brazil fired tear gas Saturday to break up hundreds of protesters outside Rio de Janeiro's Maracana Stadium, where Colombia and Uruguay were playing a World Cup knock-out-stage match. About 350 anti-World Cup protesters marched toward the Maracana closely guarded by about 250 police, who fired tear gas to disperse them just as they came within sight of the stadium. An AFP correspondent saw police detain at least three demonstrators and frog march them away from the crowd. Mass protests erupted just over a year ago in Brazil, at first drawing hundreds of thousands of people into the streets to condemn the record $11 billion spent on the World Cup and shoddy schools, hospitals and public transport.","5 die in Mozambique floods. MAPUTO, Mozambique (AP) — Mozambican authorities say five people have died in floods in the capital Maputo, after days of torrential rain.","Palestinians mull war crime charges against Israel. GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — Palestinian officials say President Mahmoud Abbas is seeking broad political support, including from rival Hamas, before making any attempt to press possible war crimes charges against Israel.","China auto sales hold steady in October. BEIJING (AP) — China's auto sales growth held steady in October, taking a break from a long, steady decline, while local brands regained market share from global rivals.","Carlyle and Warburg Pincus to buy credit rating agency DBRS. (Reuters) - Carlyle Group LP and Warburg Pincus LLC said they would buy DBRS Ltd, the world's fourth-largest credit rating agency, in partnership with a consortium of Canadian investors including the firm's founder. Reuters reported earlier this month a private equity consortium of Carlyle and Warburg Pincus was in advanced talks to buy Toronto-based DBRS for more than $500 million. The deal is the second in the credit rating industry this month, after U.S. publisher Hearst Corp said it would raise its stake in Fitch to 80 percent from 50 percent in a deal valued at about $2 billion. ...","Man United agree Falcao loan deal - reports. Manchester United have agreed a sensational deal to sign Colombia striker Radamel Falcao on a season-long loan from Monaco, according to widespread British media reports on Monday. The prolific 28-year-old forward, who missed the World Cup with a serious knee injury, has also been linked with Real Madrid, Manchester City and Arsenal. United will pay Monaco a fee of around 10 million euros ($13.1 million) for the loan and will have an option to make the deal permanent for 55 million euros at the end of the season, sources at Monaco told AFP. Falcao, who has scored 20 goals in 51 appearances for Colombia, is under contract at Monaco until 2018.","Iran to help Lebanon army fight extremists. BEIRUT (AP) — A senior Iranian official says Tehran will supply the Lebanese army with military equipment to be used in fighting Muslim extremist groups.","Russia says open to talks if Ukraine pays off some gas debt. By Darya Korsunskaya MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia will restart gas talks with Ukraine if its new leaders pay off at least part of its gas debt, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said on Wednesday, softening Moscow's stance in a dispute that has raised fears of a new \"gas war\". Suggesting that Russia would be open to a price revision, Medvedev struck the most conciliatory tone yet since Russian state-controlled Gazprom almost doubled prices after protesters toppled Ukraine's pro-Moscow President Viktor Yanukovich. ...","Didier Drogba retires from international football. LONDON (AP) — Didier Drogba has announced his retirement from international football after 12 years playing for the Ivory Coast.","Exclusive: Wells Fargo to raise charge on brokerage accounts. By Jed Horowitz (Reuters) - When the almost 11,000 financial advisers in Wells Fargo & Co's branch brokerage system get their 2015 compensation plan on Wednesday they may grimace at one change that could hit their pay, or cost their customers a little more. Wells is raising the minimum commission size on which it will allow brokers to be paid on a stock trade to $125 from $95, according to people familiar with the plan. Wells brokers, who receive 50 percent of most of the commissions they charge, risk customer backlash for the higher charge. ...","Greenpeace members on trial in France for daring nuclear break-in. Fifty-five Greenpeace activists from some 20 countries go on trial in France on Thursday for an audacious break-in at the country's oldest nuclear power plant to highlight weaknesses at atomic installations. The March 18 protest at the Fessenheim power plant in eastern France near the border with Germany and Switzerland resulted in the government ordering stronger security at nuclear facilities. The activists include 21 Germans, seven Italians and others from France, Turkey, Austria, Hungary, Australia and Israel and several other nations. The court in the eastern French city of Colmar will try and determine whether the Greenpeace members had smashed a metal security gate with their truck to enter the plant or simply broken a lock to get in as they claim.","US says North Korea releases 2 detained Americans. WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. intelligence officials say two American citizens are on their way home from North Korea after their release from prison there.","CIBC profit falls on Caribbean charges; bank raises dividend. TORONTO (Reuters) - Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce said on Thursday its second-quarter profit fell by nearly two-thirds, hurt by C$543 million in charges related to its Caribbean banking unit. However, adjusted profit topped estimates, and the bank unexpectedly raised its dividend by 2 percent. ...","GE, Bombardier share South Africa train deal with Chinese firms. South Africa's state-owned logistics company on Monday awarded General Electric , Bombardier and two Chinese firms a contract to supply over 1,000 trains, as part of a $28 billion expansion plan. South Africa's Transnet is in the midst of a seven-year plan to expand the railways, ports and pipelines that move commodities for export from Africa's top economy by 2019. Transnet Chief Executive Brian Molefe told a media briefing the contract would also go to China's top two train makers, CSR Corp and China CNR Corp . The contract was worth 50 billion rand ($4.7 billion) in total for the supply of 599 electric trains and 465 diesel trains, Transnet said.","China April data to show growth stabilizing, for now. Growth in China's factory output and investment likely stabilized in April as the government uses targeted policy measures to underpin growth, while the pace of declines in exports and imports may have eased, a Reuters poll showed. However, the world's second-largest economy may only get a temporary boost from such policy support, as growth will inevitably slow while the government seeks to tackle high debt levels and excessive factory capacity. China's industrial output may have grown 8.9 percent in April from a year earlier, slightly ahead of the 8.8 percent rise in March, according to the poll of 18 economists. The government has in recent weeks hastened construction of railways and affordable housing and cut taxes for small firms to support the slowing economy, but top leaders ruled out any forceful policy measures in favor of reforms.","Killings force change in focus for Mexico leader. MEXICO CITY (AP) — Since taking office nearly two years ago, President Enrique Pena Nieto has sought to project an image of Mexico on the move, beating back chronic drug violence and pressing ahead with historic constitutional and economic reforms, even offering to contribute soldiers to UN peacekeeping missions in other parts of the globe.","Spain's king attends last parade before abdication. MADRID (AP) — Spain's King Juan Carlos presided over his last military parade before abdicating in favor of his son.","Egypt to release reporter on hunger strike. CAIRO (AP) — Egypt's Prosecutor General has ordered the release of an Al-Jazeera journalist who has been on hunger strike for more than 100 days to protest his prolonged detention without trial.","Opening ceremony tribute to MH17 victims at Commonwealth Games. The 2014 Commonwealth Games opening ceremony in Glasgow on Wednesday will include a tribute to victims of the Malaysia Airlines MH17 flight disaster, organisers said. Prince Imran from Malaysia, president of the Commonwealth Games Federation, said all the victims, many of whom were from Malaysia and other Commonwealth countries, would be recognised. It comes after Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 disappeared in March, with 239 people on board.","Russia urges UN to demand cease-fire in Ukraine. UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Russia is pushing the U.N. Security Council to demand a cease-fire in eastern Ukraine, where government forces have launched an offensive against pro-Russian separatists, Moscow's ambassador to the world body said Friday.","Quebecor profit beats estimates as telecom revenue rises. (Reuters) - Canadian telecom and media conglomerate Quebecor Inc reported a better-than-expected quarterly profit, helped by higher revenue in its telecommunications business. Revenue in the telecommunications business rose 3.3 percent, compared with a 6.2 percent fall in the media business. Total average monthly revenue per user (ARPU) from all services in the company's Videotron cable and wireless unit rose 5.7 percent in the quarter ended September. ARPU from mobile telephone services rose 6.5 percent during the period. Mobile telephony revenues increased 30.5 percent, the company said. ...","HP executives held in Pakistan tax probe: WSJ. (Reuters) - Two executives of the Pakistani arm of computer giant Hewlett-Packard Co were arrested by local officials in Karachi on Friday on suspicion of corporate tax evasion, the Wall Street Journal reported. The arrested executives were identified as Shahid Ali Khan, HP Pakistan's country general manager for printing and personal systems and country controller, Salim Rawjani. Hewlett-Packard had no comment when contacted about the Journal report. The arrests followed a raid at a large Pakistani computer seller's offices in Karachi that revealed records allegedly showing equipment as not being properly taxed, the Journal reported.","Top Asian News at 1:30 a.m. GMT. BEIJING (AP) — China's ruling Communist Party announced an investigation into a feared ex-security chief, demonstrating President Xi Jinping's firm grip on power and breaking a longstanding taboo against publicly targeting the country's topmost leaders. If he goes to trial, Zhou Yongkang would be the highest-level official to be prosecuted since the 1981 treason trial of Mao Zedong's wife and other members of the \"Gang of Four,\" who mercilessly persecuted political opponents during the chaotic 1966-76 Cultural Revolution.","Lawmakers to press Pfizer CEO for job guarantees. LONDON (AP) — British lawmakers are getting their chance to pressure the chief executive of Pfizer to guarantee to secure jobs should the American company succeed in taking over London-based AstraZeneca.","Sen. Ted Cruz 'looking forward' to soon completing process of renouncing Canadian citizenship. AUSTIN, Texas - Canada-born U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz has yet to renounce his birth country's citizenship as promised — but a spokeswoman said Saturday the conservative tea party favourite plans to finish the process soon.","EU cuts growth forecasts as big economies falter. BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union cut its already low economic growth forecasts further on Tuesday, indicating the recovery will remain sluggish amid problems for the bigger countries, particularly France and Germany.","Bangladesh snatch 65-run lead over Zimbabwe. Khulna (Bangladesh) (AFP) - Zimbabwe, replying to Bangladesh's first innings total of 433, were bowled out for 368 before lunch on the fourth day of the second Test in Khulna on Thursday.","Claudia Pechstein going for records in 3,000. SOCHI, Russia (AP) — Still cursing the suspension which ruled her out of the Vancouver Games four years ago, German veteran Claudia Pechstein is back at the Olympics with a realistic shot at a record-breaking win in Sunday's 3,000 meters.","U.S. adds seven Ukrainians, Russians to sanctions list. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States has added seven Ukrainians and Russians to its list of people subject to sanctions over the rebellion in eastern Ukraine, the U.S. Treasury Department said on Friday. (Reporting by Eric Beech; Editing by Doina Chiacu)","Former Tour winner Cadel Evans announces retirement. Ponferrada (Spain) (AFP) - Former Tour de France winner Cadel Evans on Thursday confirmed he will retire from cycling in February.","Greek PM faces confidence vote, seeks to quell snap election fears. By Deepa Babington and Renee Maltezou ATHENS (Reuters) - Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras seeks a confidence vote on Friday to rally support for his plan to abandon a widely-reviled EU/IMF aid package and end mounting speculation that his government is on its last legs. After dodging various crises and lawmaker defections during his nearly two and half years in office, Samaras faces the prospect of snap polls if he fails to push through his candidate in a presidential election in early 2015. ...","SKorea fires shells at NKorean waters after drills. SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea on Monday returned fire into North Korean waters after shells from a North Korean live-fire drill fell south of the rivals' disputed western sea boundary, a South Korean military official said.","Obama says US supporting Chilean solar power plant. WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama said Monday that the United States wants to help Chile build Latin America's largest solar power plant.","Syrians die at record rate as leaders talk: activist group. While the Syrian government and rebels have been at peace talks in Geneva, Syrians have been killed at the fastest rate since the country slid into conflict in 2011, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Wednesday. At least 4,959 people died in the three-week period between January 22, when the first round of 'Geneva 2' peace talks began, and February 11, the pro-opposition monitoring group said. \"After reaching the highest death toll since the revolution started, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights calls for the Geneva 2 talks to be suspended if (the talks do) not include an immediate halt to all military operations,\" said the British-based group, which uses a network of sources across Syria. Rami Abdelrahman, the head of the Observatory, said an average of 236 people had died each day in that time period.","Hearts open commanding lead after Rangers win. Edinburgh (AFP) - Hearts opened a commanding nine-point lead at the top of the Scottish Championship as they defeated nearest challengers Rangers 2-0 in a fiercely-contested clash at Tynecastle on Saturday.","Daimler, VW dampen speculation about imminent CEO succession. MUNICH (Reuters) - Succession is not an imminent topic at Daimler or Volkswagen, the chief executives of both carmakers said on Thursday, adding that any potential candidates would most likely come from within their respective companies. Daimler chief Dieter Zetsche and Martin Winterkorn, who heads up Volkswagen, were both asked during a panel discussion in Munich whether succession was imminent and whether a suitable candidate had emerged. ...","Street dogs transform lives of Bucharest elderly. BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) — They say that a dog is a man's best friend. Alexandrina, an elderly resident in a home in the Romanian capital found not only a new friend, but a new outlook on life after one of the city's infamous street dogs walked into her life.","Donaldson wins Czech Masters, makes Ryder Cup. VYSOKY UJEZD, Czech Republic (AP) — Jamie Donaldson shot 4-under 68 Sunday to win the Czech Masters and secure a spot on the European Ryder Cup team.","Mayor of central Ukrainian city shot dead. The mayor of the central Ukrainian town of Kremenchuk was shot dead on Saturday and the house of another mayor in Lviv to the West was hit by fire from a grenade launcher, the Interior Ministry said. Ukraine, fighting pro-Russian rebels in its east and dealing with the aftermath of an airliner crash, has undergone turmoil since November, when thousands protested against former President Viktor Yanukovich. Anton Gerashchenko, an aide to the country's Interior Minister, said the mayor of Kremenchuk, Oleh Babayev, was killed when a car pulled up to his own, and an unidentified person fired three shots from a gun with a silencer. \"It is well know that Oleh Babayev was supported by a significant number of people in Kremenchuk.","Obama prods Republicans on border plan. WASHINGTON (AP) — With one week left before Congress' August recess, President Barack Obama is prodding Republicans to help ease the influx of unaccompanied minors and migrant families from Central America.","Cold War spy scorned as a traitor to Poland portrayed as hero in new movie. WARSAW, Poland - For many Poles, Col. Ryszard Kuklinski was a traitor for passing secrets to the Americans during the Cold War — and even Solidarity leader Lech Walesa refused to honour him after he became president. A new Polish movie casts Kuklinski in a different light, as a hero who acted on conscience and helped avert bloodshed.","14 killed in Nepal bus crash. KATMANDU, Nepal (AP) — A bus veered off a mountain highway in Nepal and plunged into a river, killing 14 people and injuring seven others.","Armed mission to MH-17 crash site 'not realistic': Dutch PM. The Netherlands, Australia and Malaysia have ruled out sending an international armed mission to secure the site in eastern Ukraine where Malaysia Airlines flight MH-17 crashed, the Dutch prime minister said on Sunday. \"We concluded there was a real risk that an international mission would immediately be involved in the conflict in Ukraine,\" he said, adding that it was \"not realistic\" to attain military dominance over heavily armed separatists in an area so near the Russian border.","Turkey struggles as 'lone gatekeeper' against Islamic State recruitment. By Nick Tattersall and Mariam Karouny ISTANBUL/BEIRUT (Reuters) - As Islamic State insurgents threaten the Turkish border from Syria, Turkey is struggling to staunch the flow of foreign jihadists to the militant group, having not so long ago allowed free access to those who would join its neighbor's civil war. Thousands of foreign fighters from countries including Turkey, Britain, parts of Europe and the United States are believed to have joined the Islamist militants in their self-proclaimed caliphate, carved out of eastern Syria and western Iraq, according to diplomats and Turkish officials. The militants, who seized an air base in northeast Syria on Sunday as they surge northwards, are trying to secure control of the area bordering Turkey above the city of Raqqa, their major stronghold, in a bid to further ease the passage of foreign fighters and supplies, sources close to Islamic State said. Some of the foreign fighters in their midst reached Syria via Turkey, entering the region on flights to Istanbul or Turkey's Mediterranean resorts, their Western passports giving them cover among the millions of tourists arriving each month in one of the world's most visited countries.","Saudi hits back at Russia criticism on Syria arms. Saudi Arabia has hit back at Russian criticism of its reported plans to supply shoulder-launched missiles to Syrian rebels, saying it was Moscow's support for Damascus that was prolonging the conflict. A spokesman told the official SPA news agency late Friday that the foreign ministry had been \"astonished by Russian criticism of Saudi Arabia for its support of the Syrian people\". He said it was persistent Russian backing for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, and its repeated use of its veto at the UN Security Council, that was blocking a peaceful solution. \"This support is the principal reason for the barbarity of the Syrian regime and for the conflict dragging on for three years without hope of a settlement or of an end anytime soon to one of the most serious humanitarian crises of our time.\"","Sri Lanka beats Bangladesh in 1st 1-day match. DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) — Captain Angelo Mathews led from the front, claiming 3-21, while Thisara Perera hit a career-best 80 not out to help Sri Lanka beat Bangladesh by 13 runs in the first one-day international at Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium on Monday.","Mali: New Ebola case confirmed, 2 more suspected. BAMAKO, Mali (AP) — Mali has confirmed a new case of Ebola and identified two new suspected cases, raising concern about further spread of the disease which has already killed at least five people in the country.","US planes, Iraqi ground forces battle IS jihadists. Mursitpinar (Turkey) (AFP) - US-led warplanes pummelled jihadists in Syria on Friday as local forces fought the Islamic State group on the ground in neighbouring Iraq, which the US military declared its top priority.","6 dead, 21 missing in landslide in southwest China. BEIJING (AP) — Chinese state media report that six people have died and 21 remain missing after a landslide hit a village in southwestern China.","Cavs defeat Heat in Rio in marquee preseason game. RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — The NBA got what it came to Rio de Janeiro for: a marquee preseason game, superstars like LeBron James and Dwayne Wade on show, and the flavor of the beachfront city that will host the Olympic Games in two years.","Russia says small military mission in east Ukraine at Kiev's request: RIA. MOSCOW (Reuters) - A Russian general said on Wednesday a small Russian military mission in eastern Ukraine is there at the invitation of Kiev and is assisting the OSCE security group in efforts to secure peace, RIA news agency reported. General Valery Gerasimov, Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces, told a meeting with foreign diplomats in Moscow that \"representatives of Russian Armed Forces\" had been sent to the town of Debaltseve in east Ukraine at the request of Ukraine's Joint Staff. ...","11 killed, 5 injured in 2 Albania car accidents. TIRANA, Albania (AP) — Albanian police say 11 people died in two separate accidents in different parts of the country.","Arsenal's Giroud says sorry for affair. Arsenal's French striker Olivier Giroud issued an apology on Sunday after a British tabloid newspaper alleged that he had an extra-marital affair. The Sun on Sunday claimed that Giroud spent a night in a hotel with lingerie model Celia Kay prior to Arsenal's 2-0 home win over Crystal Palace in the Premier League earlier this month. The article was accompanied by a photograph, reportedly taken by Kay, which apparently showed Giroud in his underpants in a hotel room. \"I apologise to my wife, family and friends and my manager, team-mates and Arsenal fans,\" Giroud wrote on his Twitter account.","Toronto Maple Leafs welcome Shanahan as new president. Toronto (Canada) (AFP) - The Toronto Maple Leafs introduced Brendan Shanahan as the new team president, saying the three-time Stanley Cup winner has what it takes to turn the club around. \"I look at his track record, his accountability and his career,\" chairman Tim Leiweke said. Shanahan, who was named to the position on Friday, takes over one of the National Hockey League's original six franchises. Leiweke said Shanahan would be in charge of all decisions for the Leafs, who have missed the playoffs eight of the past nine seasons and have not won a Stanley Cup since 1967.","Exodus of French volunteers for Syria jihad growing: judge. By Nicholas Vinocur and Chine Labbé PARIS (Reuters) - Growing numbers of French youths are leaving to fight with Islamist rebel groups in Syria as a first wave of volunteers returns home and steps up a recruitment drive for jihad, a top anti-terror judge said on Wednesday. Several Western European countries are struggling to contain a trend that has seen as many as 2,000 youths travel to Syria to combat President Bashar al-Assad's government since a rebellion started nearly three years ago. With Europe's largest Muslim population, France has become a major center for recruitment and judicial authorities are grappling with a fresh wave of adolescent volunteers, some of whom are as young as 15 years old. \"Major events like the use of chemical gases have inspired many people\" to join Islamist groups in Syria, said Marc Trevidic, an investigating judge specialized in counter-terrorism and Islamist radicalization.","Earthquake of magnitude 6.1 strikes off Alaska -USGS. LONDON (Reuters) - An earthquake with a magnitude of 6.1 struck on the coast of Alaska on Friday, the United States Geological Survey reported. The USGS said the quake's epicenter was 55 kilometers west-northwest of Elfin Cove and 35.4 kilometers deep. (editing by John Stonestreet)","Banned Anelka to leave West Brom. Banned French striker Nicolas Anelka on Friday revealed he will leave West Bromwich Albion with immediate effect. \"Following discussions between the club and me, proposals have been made to me that I rejoined the group under certain conditions,\" Anelka wrote on his official Twitter account. Wishing to keep my integrity, so I decided to free myself and to terminate the contract linking me with West Bromwich Albion until 2014 as of now.\" Anelka's contract with the Baggies was set to expire at the end of the season and it had already been reported that he was considering quitting the Hawthorns after growing disillusioned over the controversy surrounding his now infamous use of what many regard as an anti-semitic gesture to celebrate a goal in West Brom's 3-3 draw at West Ham on December 28.","South Korea extends cyberattack emergency system for nuclear plants. By Meeyoung Cho SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea's nuclear operator and the energy ministry will keep emergency teams on stand-by to the end of this year in case of any cyberattacks on nuclear plants as threatened by a hacker. Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power, part of state-run utility Korea Electric Power Corp, said on Monday that its computer systems had been hacked but only non-critical data had been stolen, and operations were not at risk. ...","Algeria coach: Belgium defenders not all Ferraris. BELO HORIZONTE, Brazil (AP) — Turning down the hype on Belgium as the clear favorite in Group H, Algeria's coach risked insulting his opponents Monday by saying they're not all \"Ferraris.\"","Sweden goes for gold without Nicklas Backstrom. SOCHI, Russia (AP) — Sweden is even more short-handed in the Olympic hockey gold-medal game.","Lack of passport checks expose air security flaw. PARIS (AP) — When you travel, airport security agents may pat you down, inspect your deodorant and scan your body from head to toe. But there's a good chance that no one's checking whether you're using someone's lost or stolen passport.","Official: Many killed in attack on Nigerian town. LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) — A Nigerian state government official says \"many, many\" people have been killed by Islamic militants who attacked a northeastern border town.","Ireland bids to reopen British army 'torture' case. Dublin (AFP) - The Irish government will ask the European Court to reopen a landmark case that alleged the British army tortured Irish prisoners during the sectarian conflict in Northern Ireland, Dublin said on Tuesday.","Protest grows at US authors' exclusion from UK syllabus. More than 57,000 people had by Friday signed a petition protesting the removal of works by the late Maya Angelou and American literary giant John Steinbeck from the syllabus for British secondary schools. Education Secretary Michael Gove's directives have seen some of the classics of American literature removed from the syllabus for GCSE English and replaced by works by British authors. Another leading US writer, Toni Morrison, attacked the changes and warned it was wrong to divide literature into \"nationalistic categories\". Three leading examination boards have added Meera Syal's \"Anita and Me\" and Kazuo Ishiguro's \"Never Let Me Go\" to the list of books to be studied, in place of Harper Lee's classic \"To Kill a Mockingbird\" and \"The Crucible\" by Arthur Miller.","Time deepens agony for Flight 370 relatives. BEIJING (AP) — In the more than 100 days since her husband disappeared along with Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, Zhang Qian's world has collapsed. She quit her job, sleeps rarely and prefers not to go out, except to the Buddhist temples where she has found some solace.","England, South Africa win again at junior worlds. AUCKLAND, New Zealand (AP) — Scrumhalf Henry Taylor and winger Nathan Earle scored two tries each as defending champion England beat Australia 38-24 on Friday to take control of Pool A at rugby's Junior World Cup.","St. Lucia: No visitors from Ebola-stricken nations. KINGSTON, Jamaica (AP) — The prime minister of the Caribbean island of St. Lucia has given an order to bar entry to anyone coming from three West African nations struggling with Ebola epidemics.","Britain to open new military base in Bahrain. London (AFP) - Britain is to open a new military base in Bahrain, both countries announced, its first permanent base in the Middle East since it formally withdrew from the region in 1971.","Police face security breach probe after Kabul attack. Afghan officials vowed on Sunday to investigate how three suicide attackers penetrated one of the most secure districts of Kabul, as about 100 protesters rallied at the restaurant where 21 people were killed. Three police chiefs responsible for the Wazir Akbar Khan district have been suspended over the security breach that allowed the Taliban militants to gun down 13 foreigners and eight Afghans on Friday evening. \"The police officers will be questioned to see how this attack happened,\" interior ministry spokesman Sediq Sediqqi told AFP at the rally outside the Taverna du Liban restaurant. Demonstrators holding signs reading \"We denounce terrorism\" gathered at the scene of the attack to protest at the Taliban insurgency against the US-backed Kabul government.","Montreal Liberal MP Cotler won't run again, putting Mount Royal riding in play. OTTAWA - Veteran Montreal MP Irwin Cotler says he will not run in the next election, expected late next year.","Neymar anxious ahead of Brazil's World Cup opener. SAO PAULO (AP) — Neymar says he is already getting goosebumps when the Brazil star thinks about the World Cup opener.","Liverpool v Oldham, a Rodgers family affair. Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers will come up against his own son, Anton, on Sunday when his side host third-tier Oldham Athletic in the FA Cup third round. Anton Rodgers, a 20-year-old midfielder, joined Oldham from Brighton and Hove Albion last July and has made 13 appearances for the League One outfit this season. However, with Oldham having stunned Liverpool 3-2 in the fourth round last season, Brendan Rodgers says he will not allow his players to go easy on his son.","England captain Cook a fitness doubt for 2nd ODI. LONDON (AP) — England captain Alastair Cook is a doubt for the second one-day international against Sri Lanka on Sunday because a right groin injury.","Egypt signals parliament election to be held by March. CAIRO (Reuters) - Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has told visiting U.S. businessmen that a parliamentary election will be held by March, his spokesman said on Tuesday, trying to reassure them that the delayed poll would not be put off indefinitely. Egypt has been without a parliament since June 2012, when a court dissolved the democratically elected main chamber, reversing a major accomplishment of the 2011 uprising that toppled autocrat Hosni Mubarak. Under Islamist President Mohamed Mursi, legislative power was transferred to the upper house pending a fresh election. ...","Qatar, Saudi rulers meet on Gaza cease-fire talks. RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) — A senior Saudi official says Qatar's emir has flown to Saudi Arabia and met with King Abdullah to discuss cease-fire efforts to end the war in the Gaza Strip.","Uighur entrepreneur confronts prejudice in China. Ambitious and apolitical, self-described \"good Uighur\" entrepreneur Abdulhabir Muhammad initially conceals his proud ethnic identity from his Chinese clients. \"After I solve everything I will tell them, 'Hey, I'm a Uighur, I'm from Xinjiang,'\" he says, revelling in their astonishment even while poignantly aware of the prejudice it implies. Violence is escalating in and beyond Xinjiang, the mostly Muslim Uighurs' homeland, blamed by the government on separatist \"terrorists\" -- with the executions of eight announced at the weekend. In the rest of China Uighurs are generally stereotyped as happy ethnic dancers, curbside kebab-sellers or, increasingly, Islamist militants.","Egyptian riot police fire tear gas, clash with rock-throwing supporters of ousted president. CAIRO - Riot police clashed with supporters of Egypt's former Islamist president across the country on Friday, leaving two dead as the Muslim Brotherhood renewed calls to protest ahead of a key referendum later this month.","27,000 Russians stranded abroad after tour operator fails. More than 27,000 Russian tourists have been stranded abroad, a tour operators association said Monday, as the latest in a series of travel companies failed amid strains over the Ukrainian crisis. \"All the tourists are abroad without return tickets\" after the Labirint (Labyrinth) company announced Saturday it halted operations, said the Tourhelp service of Russian foreign tour agencies which is trying to help those stranded find seats on flights chartered by other travel firms. Labirint is the fourth Russian tour operator to go bust in the past three weeks as jitters over the conflict in Ukraine has led to a slide in bookings for Russians to travel abroad. A spokeswoman for Russia's Federal Tourism Agency, Irina Shchegolkova, said on Echo of Moscow radio that \"we worry that this is only the beginning and that there will be a domino effect.\"","Egypt jails orphanage head 3 years for beating children. A court jailed the head of a Cairo orphanage for three years after a video emerged on the Internet showing him beating children. Ossama Mohamed Othman was arrested in August after the video allegedly showed him hitting children with a stick and kicking them as they ran away. The court convicted Othman of assaulting seven children with a stick and endangering their lives. The prosecution said some children had accused Othman of beating them for failing to seek his permission to watch television.","Nigeria military clears and releases 125 'Boko Haram detainees'. Nigeria's military on Saturday released 125 people it said were arrested in an operation against Boko Haram but were later found to not be part of the Islamist group. Throughout Boko Haram's five-year uprising, Nigeria's security services have been criticised for carrying out mass arrests and holding alleged Islamist rebels indefinitely with little or no evidence. Rights groups have pressured Nigeria to either charge in court or release the suspected militants it has in custody. Northeast army spokesman Sani Usman told journalists the 125 individuals were picked up on September 23 in the town of Biu in Borno state, Boko Haram's stronghold.","Gunman kills 3 Americans at Kabul hospital. KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Three Americans — a pediatrician and a father and son — were killed by an Afghan government security officer at a hospital Thursday, the latest in a series of attacks on foreign civilians that has rattled aid workers, contractors and journalists.","IMF begins aid talks with Ghana. Washington (AFP) - The International Monetary Fund said Tuesday it was holding talks with government officials in Ghana on possible aid to surmount the African nation's fiscal and economic challenges.","London's FTSE index opens lower in line with European stocks. London's benchmark FTSE 100 index fell in early trading on Wednesday in line with other European stock markets roiled this week by uncertainty over Ukraine. Melrose Industries, an investment company that specialises in turning around manufacturing companies, warned in its full-year earnings on Wednesday of a challenging year ahead, partly due to the strength of the pound. Housebuilder Persimmon's shares were 2.66 percent down at 1,430 pence.","APNewsBreak: Domingo to sing ahead of Cup final. SAO PAULO (AP) — Placido Domingo is scheduled to sing ahead of a World Cup final for the sixth time, a person familiar with the planning told The Associated Press Wednesday.","Cuba signals that extradition of US fugitives off the table. HAVANA (AP) — Cuba's point person on U.S. relations says anything is up for discussion as the two countries move to re-establish diplomatic ties, from anti-drug cooperation to joint environmental agreements.","Ukraine police find 42 kg of gold in home of ex-energy minister. Ukrainian police have seized 42 kilograms of gold and $4.8 million in cash during a search of the apartments of Ukraine's former Energy Minister Eduard Stavytsky, Interior Minister Arsen Avakov said on Saturday. Avakov said the searches had been conducted in connection with a corruption investigation in the energy sector. Stavytsky's career blossomed under the presidency of ousted Viktor Yanukovich and was appointed energy minister in December 2012. Ukrainian police on Friday detained another energy official - the chief executive of state energy company Naftogaz, Yevhen Bakulin, as part of the investigation into corruption that it says may have cost the Ukrainian state about $4 billion.","Mexico eager to try its 'luck' against Croatia. RECIFE, Brazil (AP) — Mexico coach Miguel Herrera says he's happy to be lucky if that means advancing in the World Cup.","Man City crushes Tottenham 5-1 to go top of EPL. LONDON (AP) — Free-scoring Manchester City stormed back to the top of the Premier League with a high-tempo 5-1 victory at 10-man Tottenham on Wednesday.","Basement club Fulham make Magath manager. London (AFP) - Fulham, the Premier League's bottom club, announced Friday they had appointed Felix Magath as first team manager on an 18-month contract with immediate effect.","London shares open higher ahead of US jobs figures. London (AFP) - London shares opened higher on Friday as investors anticipated strong US non-farm payroll figures later in the day.","Queen welcomes Chinese premier at Windsor Castle. LONDON (AP) — Queen Elizabeth II has greeted at Windsor Castle the Chinese premier, Li Keqiang, who is in Britain to boost trade ties and mend diplomatic relations.","Boko Haram attack in NE Nigeria kills 21: senator. Twenty-one civilians were killed after Boko Haram fighters clashed with troops in the restive northeast of Nigeria, a local lawmaker said on Thursday. The fighting erupted at about 5:00 pm (1600 GMT) on Wednesday in Malam Fatori, a commercial hub known for fishing and farming in the remote north of Borno state near the border with Niger. \"Boko Haram tried to attack Malam Fatori... but they met stiff resistance from the Multi-National Joint Task Force who initially repelled the attack after prolonged fighting,\" said senator Maina Maaji Lawan. \"They pushed back the insurgents and people in the town and the soldiers thought it was over but the insurgents mobilised more men and weapons including an APC (armoured personnel carrier) and launched a renewed attack.","BlackRock's Fink jolts ETF business with 'blow up' warning. BlackRock Inc Chief Executive Larry Fink this week dropped a stink bomb on a small corner of the $2.5 trillion global market for exchange-traded funds. Fink, who runs the world's largest asset manager and ETF provider, said structural problems with leveraged ETFs have the potential to \"blow up the whole industry one day.\" Sponsors of leveraged ETFs and related products, which make up only about $60 billion of global industry assets, called his remarks an exaggeration. Fink, who was speaking at a Deutsche Bank conference in New York, drew parallels between the embedded leverage in some ETFs and two obscure Bear Stearns hedge funds that collapsed in 2007. A systemic risk could emerge from packaging inherently hard-to-trade securities, such as leveraged bank loans, into ETFs.","TSX opens sharply lower; banks, Valeant lead retreat. TORONTO (Reuters) - Canada's main stock index opened sharply lower on Monday, with the heavily weighted financial stocks and Valeant Pharmaceuticals International leading the retreat. The Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index was down 112.33 points, or 0.75 percent at 14,914.44 shortly after the open. All 10 of the index's main groups were in negative territory. The financial group was down 0.8 percent, while health care was off 1 percent. (Reporting by Solarina Ho Editing by W Simon)","Marines investigate corporal who vanished in Iraq. CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C. (AP) — Marine Corps officers have launched a formal investigation into whether a Lebanese-American Marine deserted his unit in Iraq or months later after returning to the United States, a military spokesman said Thursday.","Jean Chretien celebrates his 80th birthday with 80 family and friends. MONTREAL - Former prime minister Jean Chretien is celebrating his 80th birthday today.","Raonic rips Pospisil in first all-Canada final. Wimbledon semi-finalist Milos Raonic captured his sixth ATP title Sunday at the Washington Open, defeating Vasek Pospisil 6-1, 6-4 in the tour's first all-Canadian final. In his first event since producing his best Grand Slam showing, Raonic took the top prize of $316,400 (235,635 euros) from the $1.9 million (1.4m euros) hardcourt event, a warm-up for the US Open starting later this month. Raonic, who said he was \"far ahead\" of where he hoped to be in US Open preparations, had not won an ATP crown since last September at Bangkok and had not reached a final since losing to Juan Martin del Potro last October in Tokyo. Pospisil, coming off a Wimbledon men's doubles title alongside American Jack sock, played in his first ATP final after upsetting Czech top seed Tomas Berdych in the third round and playing four sets Saturday after completing a rain-halted quarter-final and beating Richard Gasquet in the semi-finals.","Djokovic upset by Wawrinka in Aussie quarterfinals. MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Three-time defending champion Novak Djokovic has been upset in a dramatic five-setter against Stan Wawrinka in the Australian Open quarterfinals, ending his 25-match winning streak at Melbourne Park.","German industrial union seeks 5.5 percent raise. BERLIN (AP) — Germany's largest industrial union is calling for a 5.5 percent pay increase next year for some 3.7 million workers in Europe's biggest economy.","Shortages hinder Venezuela's battle against fever outbreaks. By Corina Pons CARACAS (Reuters) - Shortages have complicated Venezuela's efforts to treat severe outbreaks of mosquito-borne fevers this year, creating long lines at pharmacies to buy medicines and leaving the ill without treatments for swollen joints and aching bones. Venezuela has South America's highest incidence of chikungunya, a virus of African origin that is rarely fatal but whose name comes from a Tanzanian term for being doubled-over in pain. The country has also seen an upsurge this year in the similarly harsh dengue fever. ...","With Olympics a month away, 'Putin's Games' could still become compliment or curse for Russia. After a journey of joy across nine time zones and into space, the Olympic torch relay is approaching something the 2014 Winter Games' organizers and Russia's leaders didn't plan for and certainly didn't want: a city in mourning.","South Sudan warring forces trade blame over UN helicopter crash. Warring forces in South Sudan traded blame Wednesday for the crash of a UN helicopter in which three crew died, although investigations have yet to confirm if it was shot down. A UN team was investigating the wreckage of the Mi-8 helicopter on Wednesday, but have made no comment on the cause of the crash, in which three were killed and one wounded. Army spokesman Philip Aguer said rebels \"shot it down\", but provided no further evidence. Rebel spokesman Mabior Garang, son of South Sudan's first president John Garang who died in a helicopter crash in 2005, dismissed the claims as \"malicious allegations\".","Gunmen kill at least 62 in Nigeria, including in church. By Imma Ande YOLA, Nigeria (Reuters) - Suspected insurgents armed with guns and explosives killed at least 62 people in northeast Nigeria, including at a church service, in a region where Islamist sect Boko Haram is resisting a military crackdown, witnesses said on Monday. They killed 22 people by setting off bombs and firing into the congregation in the Catholic church in Waga Chakawa village in Adamawa state on Sunday, before burning houses and taking residents hostage during a four-hour siege, witnesses said. President Goodluck Jonathan is struggling to contain Boko Haram in remote rural regions in the country's northeast corner, where the sect launched an uprising in 2009. Boko Haram, which wants to impose sharia law on a country split roughly equally between Christians and Muslims, has killed thousands over the past four and a half years and is considered the biggest security risk in Africa's top oil exporter and second largest economy after South Africa.","Highlights of U.S. State Department review of Keystone XL pipeline. WASHINGTON - A quick look at some of the highlights from the U.S. State Department's report on TransCanada Corp.'s proposed Keystone XL pipeline:","Son-in-law admits involvement in murder of Monaco heiress. The son-in-law of an elderly Monaco heiress gunned down in a Mafia-style hit has admitted to a role in her murder, in the latest twist to a case that has shaken the principality's super-rich. Wojciech Janowski, a 64-year-old who served as Poland's honorary consul in Monaco, \"recognised his involvement\" in last month's killing of 77-year-old Helene Pastor while in detention this week, Marseille prosecutor Brice Robin told AFP on Friday. Polish Foreign Ministry spokesman Marcin Wojciechowski announced on Twitter Friday that Janowski's honorary title had been withdrawn \"because of the loss of his good reputation and trustworthiness\". Janowski has been in custody since Monday, when he was arrested along with 22 others by police investigating the shooting of Pastor multiple times with a sawn-off shotgun as she was leaving a hospital in the French Riviera city of Nice.","NSA: Co-worker provided a digital key to Snowden. WASHINGTON (AP) — A National Security Agency employee resigned from the agency after admitting to federal investigators that he gave former National Security Agency analyst Edward Snowden a digital key that allowed him to gain access to classified materials, the NSA has told Congress. Snowden has previously said he did not steal any passwords.","Durant's 51, late 3-pointer lift Thunder to win. Toronto (Canada) (AFP) - NBA scoring leader Kevin Durant poured in 51 points, capped by a game-winning 3-pointer with 1.7 seconds remaining in double overtime, to lift Oklahoma City over Toronto 119-118.","5 Switzerland players to watch at World Cup. GENEVA (AP) — Perhaps this is Switzerland's best chance to make an impression at the World Cup.","Japan lawmaker wrestles with N. Korea 'sport diplomacy'. A Japanese wrestler-turned-politician hopes his vision of \"sports diplomacy\" can repair his country's fraught relationship with North Korea, as he prepares to host an extraordinary sporting event in Pyongyang. Standing 1.9 metres (six feet three inches) tall, with a square jaw and a penchant for red scarves, Inoki is instantly recognisable on Japanese television, but is best known abroad for taking on world heavyweight champion Muhammad Ali in a zany wrestler-versus-boxer match in Tokyo in 1976. The grappler also organised and competed in a \"Sports and Cultural Festival for Peace\" in Pyongyang in 1995, featuring bouts between Japanese and American pro wrestlers publicly staged for the first time in the reclusive country, with an ailing Ali as a guest.","African Asylum-Seekers Demand Rights in Israel, Which Vows to Kick Them Out. African refugees living in Israel are staging a series of protests, marching on public squares, foreign embassies and government offices in the hope that international attention will provide what Israelis have not: An opportunity to remain in the country they risked their lives to reach. Israel does not want them, and last year completed a formidable fence on the Egyptian border that’s doing an effective job of keeping what Israelis call “infiltrators” from reaching the Promised Land. If Israel acted according to its obligations under 1951 Convention on Refugees – which, as a freshly minted nation of refugees, Israel played a significant role in creating – the government would review the individual claims of refugees, and either designate them officially as refugees or send them back home, provided they do not face persecution there. The problem is that most of the refugees are from Sudan, where simply entering Israel carries a 10 year prison sentence, or Eritrea, where the threat of retaliation to returnees is regarded as so real that in countries where their claims are viewed, 90 percent of pleas for asylum are granted, according to human rights groups.","Herath strikes early to give Sri Lanka the edge. COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — Sri Lanka's Rangana Herath picked up an early wicket to put South Africa under pressure as the visitors chasing 369 to win the second test finished day four on 38-1 Sunday.","Mexican telecoms bill to raise pressure on Slim: draft. By Simon Gardner and Dave Graham MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexico will give its new telecoms regulator sweeping powers to police dominant telecommunications companies, right down to their prices and discounts, according to a draft bill that fleshes out a constitutional reform passed last year. The spearhead of efforts to curb the power of telecoms mogul Carlos Slim, the Federal Institute for Telecommunications (IFT) will be able to force phone companies to seek approval every year for interconnection and infrastructure-sharing terms, according to a draft of the legislation obtained by Reuters. It is part of a massive remit granted to the IFT that allows the watchdog to order phone and TV companies to sell assets, share networks and infrastructure and revoke concessions. The local mobile and fixed-line units of Slim's firm America Movil as well as broadcaster Televisa are widely expected to be declared dominant by the IFT.","Tennis-Paris Open women's singles round 1 results. Jan 28 (Infostrada Sports) - Results from the Paris Open Women's Singles Round 1 matches on Tuesday Daniela Hantuchova (Slovakia) beat Marina Erakovic (New Zealand) 6-3 3-0 (Erakovic retired)","Cuban boat people land in Cayman, headed for Honduras. By Peter Polack GEORGE TOWN, Cayman Islands (Reuters) - A 30-foot (9 meter) sailboat with about 30 Cuban refugees aboard docked in the Cayman Islands on Sunday and passengers said they were hoping to reach Honduras. Ranging in age from teenagers to retirees, said they decided to leave the island because of economic conditions in Cuba, and complained that recent private sector reforms had not been as broadly implemented in the eastern end of the island, far from the capital, Havana. They were provided with supplies after landing in East End, on the island of Grand Cayman, and continued on their journey. Under an agreement between Cuba and the Cayman Islands signed more than a decade ago, Cuban migrant boats are allowed to pass through Cayman waters as long as they do not seek any assistance.","US prohibits airlines from flying over Iraq. WASHINGTON (AP) — The Federal Aviation Administration said it is prohibiting U.S. airlines and other commercial carriers from flying over Iraq as the U.S. launched its first airstrikes there Friday.","Bank of England seeks more transparency on rate calls. London (AFP) - The Bank of England on Thursday said it would change the way it conducts meetings to decide on the level of British interest rates, in the interest of more transparency.","Dutch NATO F-16s intercept Russian transport plane. THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — The Dutch defense ministry says two of its F-16 fighter jets taking part in a NATO mission to protect the skies above the Baltics have intercepted a Russian military transport plane.","U.S. could free Israeli spy in deal to save peace talks: source close to talks. An Israeli spy serving a life sentence in the United States and groups of Palestinian prisoners could be freed under an emerging deal to salvage Middle East peace talks, sources close to the negotiations said on Monday. The sources, who spoke as U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry prepared to meet Israeli and Palestinian leaders, said under the proposed arrangement that Jonathan Pollard, a former U.S. Navy analyst caught spying for Israel in the 1980s, could be released by mid-April. In addition, Israel would go ahead with a promised release of a fourth group of Palestinians, among the 104 it pledged to free in a deal that led to the renewal of peace talks last July. Another group of jailed Palestinians would also go free - and the peace talks would be extended beyond an April 29 deadline, the sources said.","Asian Games prepares for opening ceremony. INCHEON, South Korea (AP) — Incheon, South Korea, is making final preparations for a lavish Asian Games opening ceremony featuring 10,000 athletes, a fireworks display and performances by \"Gangnam Style\" singer PSY and other Korean pop stars.","Egypt court acquits police as Morsi goes back on trial. An Egyptian court acquitted six police on Saturday of killing protesters during the 2011 uprising against Hosni Mubarak, as his now deposed Islamist successor Mohamed Morsi went back on trial. The acquittal of the six officers on charges of killing 83 protesters outside police stations in the Mediterranean city of Alexandria, came as a Cairo court resumed the trial of Morsi on charges of plotting violence during the revolt. Morsi was toppled by the military in July last year following mass protests demanding his resignation. Since then he and his Muslim Brotherhood have been retroactively accused of committing much of the violence during the anti-Mubarak uprising.","Several wounded as Congolese police open fire on demo. The shooting erupted when several thousand demonstrators led by Vital Kamerhe, head of the opposition Union for the Congolese Nation (UNC), arrived in the city of Bukavu, the capital of South Kivu province, an AFP correspondent there said. Hundreds of police stopped Kamerhe's caravan as it arrived on Independence Square at the entrance to the city, preventing the demonstrators from proceeding.","Lava flow from Hawaii volcano just 70 yards from nearest residence. By Karin Stanton KAILUA-KONA Hawaii (Reuters) - Lava flow from the Kilauea volcano that has been creeping toward inhabited areas of Hawaii's Big Island for months is now just 70 yards (meters) from the nearest residential property, authorities said on Monday. Residents in the path of the lava have been placed on alert for possible evacuation, and smoke advisories have been issued for downwind areas, the County of Hawaii said in a civil defense alert. ...","Provincial deputy governor shot dead at south Afghanistan university. KABUL (Reuters) - The deputy governor of Kandahar province in south Afghanistan has been shot dead at a university in the provincial capital, a spokesman for the governor said on Monday. Sunday's shooting was the latest in a string of deadly attacks this year on officials and powerbrokers in Kandahar, once a base for the Islamist Taliban's leader, Mullah Omar, and where the insurgency has its roots. Abdul Qadim Patyal, a celebrated writer, was studying Pashto literature and in his final year at Kandahar University when his attacker fired at him through a window, the spokesman said. ...","Eurozone inflation rate drops to 0.5 percent, raising pressure on European Central Bank to act. BRUSSELS (AP) — Eurozone inflation rate drops to 0.5 percent, raising pressure on European Central Bank to act.","Moldova to sign EU accord on June 27. CHISINAU, Moldova (AP) — A Moldovan official says the former Soviet republic will sign an association agreement with the 28-nation European Union on June 27.","Duchess of Alba, wealthy aristocrat, dies at 88. MADRID (AP) — The Duchess of Alba, one of Spain's wealthiest and most colorful aristocrats and listed as the world's most titled noble, has died at the age of 88.","US meat supplier in China withdraws products. NEW YORK (AP) — The U.S.-based company at the center of a food scandal in China says it is pulling all of the products produced by its Shanghai Husi unit from the marketplace.","Al Qaeda group fights back against Syria rebel assault. By Dominic Evans BEIRUT (Reuters) - Al Qaeda-linked jihadists struck back against rival rebels in eastern and northern Syria on Friday after a week of internecine fighting among opponents of President Bashar al-Assad in which 500 people have been killed, a monitoring group said. A coordinated offensive by armed groups had seized several strongholds of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant in Aleppo, on the border with Turkey, and further east in Raqqa - the only city under control of Assad's foes. But the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said ISIL fighters pushed back rival rebels on the eastern approaches of Raqqa on Friday. They also killed 20 fighters in the town of Al-Bab, north-east of Aleppo, the monitoring group said.","5 Chinese students die after school wall collapses. BEIJING (AP) — Authorities in an eastern Chinese province say five middle school students have died after a school wall collapsed on them.","EU negotiators try again on bank resolution agency. BRUSSELS (AP) — European Union officials say they have come up with a set of proposals to break a deadlock over a new agency to wind down busted banks.","Hong Kong protesters weigh next move as one suggests blocking government, not roads. HONG KONG (Reuters) - Pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong weighed their options on Friday, whether to call off more than two months of street demonstrations or change tactics, as one leader suggested a campaign of withholding tax to \"block government\". Leaders of the Hong Kong Federation of Students will decide in the next week whether to call on protesters to pull up stakes from camps straddling some of the Chinese-controlled city's main thoroughfares which have created havoc for transport and business and tried residents' patience. ...","German banker testifies in Ecclestone bribery case. BERLIN (AP) — A German banker who alleges he was bribed by Bernie Ecclestone testified for the first time Friday in the Formula One boss' corruption trial.","Top airlines shun Israel for second day. Major airlines shunned Israel for a second day on Wednesday while Washington renewed a ban on US flights to Tel Aviv due to the Gaza conflict. In a Notice to Airmen, or NOTAM, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) prohibited all flights by US operators to Ben Gurion International Airport for another 24 hours until 1615 GMT on Thursday. It issued its initial ban on Tuesday after a Hamas rocket fell on a neighborhood to the north of the airport, raising fears that a commercial flight risked being struck. Delta, United and US Airways all cancelled their scheduled flights for Wednesday, as did a raft of European carriers including Lufthansa.","Egypt, Saudis seek united front against militant Islam. The leaders of the Arab world's most populous state and its richest state met on Sunday to talk over joint efforts to counter Islamist militancy across the Middle East, including the turmoil now shaking Iraq. President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi of Egypt and Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah are sworn enemies of the Muslim Brotherhood. They see the recent success of militants in Iraq as a threat to their stability and undermining security in the region. Sisi's spokesman, Ehab Badawi, said the two leaders agreed to work together promote the \"true and moderate values of Islam that reject extremism and terrorism\".","Jobless claims at seven-year low, signal firming economy. By Lucia Mutikani WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The number of Americans filing new applications for unemployment benefits tumbled last week to the lowest level in nearly seven years, strengthening views of faster job growth. Initial claims for state unemployment benefits dropped 32,000 to a seasonally adjusted 300,000 for the week ended April 5, the Labor Department said. The report joined other indicators such as automobile sales and employment data in suggesting the economy ended the first-quarter on a stronger footing, positioning it for faster growth in the April-June quarter. Growth was also seen crimped by the expiration of long-term unemployment benefits, cuts to food stamps and weak exports.","Canadian soldier killed in Ottawa Parliament attack to be laid to rest. By Scott Malone HAMILTON Ontario (Reuters) - Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and hundreds of mourners are expected to pack into a cathedral in industrial Hamilton, Ontario, on Tuesday for the funeral of the soldier shot dead in last week's attack on the nation's seat of government. Corporal Nathan Cirillo, 24, was one of two soldiers killed in a pair of attacks police said were carried out independently by radical recent converts to Islam at a time when Canada's military is stepping up its involvement in air strikes against Islamic State militants in the Middle East. ...","Li beats Bouchard to make Australian Open final. China's Li Na advanced to her second successive Australian Open final with a 6-2 6-4 victory over Canadian teenager Eugenie Bouchard on Thursday. The 19-year-old Bouchard had advanced to her first grand slam semi-final after an impressive run through the tournament, which included a victory over former French Open champion Ana Ivanovic. The experienced Li never allowed Bouchard to settle in the opening exchanges, taking a 5-0 lead that allowed her to seal the first set in 28 minutes.","IMF: Canadian economy to grow, slightly, by 2.2 per cent in 2014. WASHINGTON - The International Monetary Fund expects the Canadian economy to improve in 2014, albeit very slightly.","Yemen: Militants assassinate intel officer. SANAA, Yemen (AP) — Yemeni security officials say militants have assassinated a senior intelligence officer in the country's capital, Sanaa.","75,000 families evacuated due to Paraguay floods. ASUNCION, Paraguay (AP) — Floods caused by torrential rains have forced the evacuation of 75,000 families living in low-lying areas near the Paraguay River.","Israeli settlers take over 25 homes in E.Jerusalem: residents. Jerusalem (AFP) - Israeli settlers forcefully took over 25 apartments in Arab east Jerusalem Tuesday, residents and Palestinian leaders said, with the new occupants claiming they had legitimately bought the properties.","Iran's Bushehr nuclear plant to shut within days to refuel: IRNA. Iran's first nuclear power plant at Bushehr is expected to shut down in the next few days for an annual refueling outage, the IRNA news agency reported on Tuesday. Built near the Gulf coast city of Bushehr, the plant had been scheduled to shut in mid January. But the outage was delayed because cold weather meant there was not enough gas available for other power plants to compensate for the loss of nuclear output, a spokesman for Iran's Atomic Energy Organization told the state news agency IRNA. Iran's oil minister warned before winter set in that the country faced a serious gas supply crisis which would force it to burn costly and contaminating oil products, such as fuel oil and diesel.","Two charged in Malaysia with stealing from MH370 victims. A Malaysian bank officer and her husband were charged Wednesday with forgery, theft and other offences after allegedly stealing more than $30,000 from the accounts of four people who were aboard missing flight MH370. Nur Shila Kanan, who has worked for the Malaysian operations of British banking giant HSBC for 10 years, and her mechanic husband Basheer Ahmad Maula Sahul Hameed pleaded not guilty in a Kuala Lumpur court to a total of 16 charges, their lawyer Hakeem Aiman Affandi said. The couple, who have three children and are both aged 33, are alleged to have withdrawn a total of 110,643 ringgit ($34,850) from the accounts of two Malaysians and two Chinese nationals who were on the Malaysia Airlines flight. The case has provoked outrage in Malaysia, which has seen an outpouring of sympathy for MH370 victims and their families.","Air New Zealand's half-year profit up 40 percent. WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — New Zealand's national airline has posted a record profit on slightly lower revenues over the first six months of the financial year.","Indian film awards arrive in Tampa, but why?. TAMPA, Florida (AP) — The so-called Bollywood Oscars have been held in Macau, Singapore, London and now ... Tampa?","Injured Ovechkin to miss at least 1 game at worlds. MINSK, Belarus (AP) — Alex Ovechkin will miss at least one game at the ice hockey world championship after sustaining a right leg injury in a collision during Russia's game against Germany on Sunday.","Hamas admits kidnapping Israeli teens. JERUSALEM (AP) — A senior Hamas leader says the group was behind the kidnapping and killing of three Israeli teens in the West Bank in June — the first time anyone from the Islamic militant group has said it was behind an attack that helped spark the current war in the Gaza Strip.","Philippine central bank raises interest rates. MANILA, Philippines (AP) — The Philippine central bank has raised key interest rates by a quarter percentage point for the second time in six weeks to stifle inflation.","Migration outlier: How Nicaragua escaped neighbors' deadly spiral. By Ivan Castro MANAGUA (Reuters) - Victor Toruno was just 12 when he ran away from an abusive father to join a local street gang in Nicaragua, graduating from thief to drug dealer. It is a far cry from the fate of 17-year-old Jorge who lives just 150 miles (240 km) away in neighboring Honduras, surrounded by gang members in a neighborhood where nine people were murdered in three months, including a 22-year-old relative. Jorge rarely ventures out into the streets and dreams of riding a migration wave north to the United States. Both countries are among the most impoverished in the Americas, but Honduras is also blighted with the world's highest murder rate, at 90.4 homicides per 100,000 people, according to the United Nations, while Nicaragua's rate is just 11.3.","Pakistan airstrikes hit targets in northwest. ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistani officials say the air force pounded militant targets in North Waziristan, killing about ten militants.","U.N. Security Council members push to put North Korea rights on agenda. By Michelle Nichols UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Two-thirds of the U.N. Security Council's members pushed on Friday for the human rights situation in North Korea to be added to the council's agenda and for a formal meeting to be held this month, a move that cannot be blocked by Pyongyang ally China. A U.N. Commission of Inquiry report in February detailed abuses in North Korea that it said were comparable to Nazi-era atrocities, and a U.N. committee last month urged the Security Council to consider referring North Korea to the International Criminal Court (ICC) alleging crimes against humanity. ...","Canada's Eugenie Bouchard advances to semifinals at Australian Open. MELBOURNE, Australia - Eugenie Bouchard is the first Canadian to reach a Grand Slam semifinal in 30 years after a stunning upset of Ana Ivanovic at the Australian Open.","Disney Latin America's Violetta gives free concert. BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — A free concert by the teen who portrays Disney's \"Violetta\" is expected to draw thousands of fans in Argentina's capital, especially young girls who can't wait to see their idol.","Global stocks tumble amid Ukraine tensions. BEIJING (AP) — Global stocks tumbled Friday after tensions over Ukraine mounted and Standard & Poor's cut Russia's credit rating, warning of capital flight and risks to investment due to the crisis.","NATO plans high-readiness force to counter Russia. BRUSSELS (AP) — NATO's chief says the alliance's leaders will be asked this week to approve the creation of a high-readiness force and the stockpiling of military equipment in Eastern Europe to help protect member nations against potential Russian aggression.","Coffee fungus raising prices for high-end blends. WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. government is stepping up efforts to help Central American farmers fight a devastating coffee disease — and hold down the price of your morning cup.","Contador pulls out of Beijing race with injury. MILAN (AP) — Alberto Contador will miss the season-ending Tour of Beijing with a knee injury, ensuring that fellow Spaniard Alejandro Valverde will finish the season as the world's top-ranked cyclist.","Pliskova beats Kirilenko to reach final in Korea. SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Second-seeded Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic rallied from a set down on Saturday to beat Russia's Maria Kirilenko 4-6, 7-6 (5), 6-3 and reach the final of the Korea Open.","Holder: Threat from Syria endangers Europe, US. WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder called on European nations Tuesday to deal more aggressively with the threat posed by the thousands of Westerners who have traveled to Syria to join the fighting there.","Iglesia dominicana pide justicia por pederastia. SANTO DOMINGO, República Dominicana (AP) — El arzobispado de la provincia dominicana de Santiago manifestó el miércoles su esperanza en que se aplique justicia en el proceso contra el sacerdote Wojcieh Waldemar Gil, arrestado en Polonia por denuncias de abuso sexual contra niños de ese país y de República Dominicana.","Moyes set for tricky Everton return. Manchester United manager David Moyes will be under the spotlight when he returns to Everton on Sunday for the first time since he left the club for Old Trafford at the end of last season. Moyes was in charge at Goodison Park for 11 years before leaving when his contract expired to replace Alex Ferguson, British football's most successful manager, at United following his fellow Scot's retirement. While Moyes's successor, Roberto Martinez, has guided the Everton to a challenge for a Champions League place, something Moyes achieved in 2005, United have slipped into mid-table after winning the Premier League by 11 points last season.","Assad future blocks progress in Syria peace talks. GENEVA (AP) — The key issue of a transitional government to replace President Bashar Assad blocked any progress Monday in Syrian peace talks, described by one delegate as \"a dialogue of the deaf.\"","Quake jolts sparsely populated area in Iran. TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran's state TV says a magnitude-5.3 earthquake has jolted a sparsely populated district in the south without causing casualties.","World champ Chan, Virtue and Moir seek Olympic spots. Three-time men's world champion Patrick Chan and reigning Olympic ice dance champions Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir top the line-up at the 100th anniversary Canadian Figure Skating Championships that begin on Friday. A century after Canada's capital first hosted the event, Ottawa again becomes the nation's figure skating focus with tickets even being sold for Thursday's practice sessions. Skaters will seek berths at next month's Sochi Winter Olympics with the largest line-up of Canadian figure skaters at an Olympics since the 1988 Calgary Winter Games. \"Skate Canada is proud to be sending the biggest figure skating team in the world to Sochi and the largest Canadian team since 1988,\" Skate Canada chief executive Dan Thompson said.","Rangers manager McCoist resigns. London (AFP) - Ally McCoist has quit as manager of troubled Scottish Championship club Rangers, it announced Monday.","Kidnappers in Nigeria's Delta release three Dutch nationals: police. Kidnappers in Nigeria's Niger Delta region released three Dutch nationals held since May 4, Anka Mustapha, a spokesman for Bayelsa state's Joint Task Force, which includes the military and police, told Reuters on Saturday. The kidnapping of expatriates by armed gangs seeking ransom money has been rife in the oil-producing Delta region, although it has tailed off since a 2009 amnesty was signed with militant groups there. Nigeria has Africa's largest population and it has become the biggest economy on the continent, overtaking South Africa.","EU's Juncker pledges investment plan for jobs. By Gilbert Reilhac STRASBOURG France (Reuters) - The incoming head of the EU executive, Jean-Claude Juncker, told the European Parliament on Wednesday that he would present his 300-billion-euro plan for investment to bolster growth and jobs by the end of this year. Switching significantly to German during a keynote address ahead of a parliamentary vote to endorse his new European Commission, Juncker said investment was vital to restoring growth and creating jobs. Germany, Europe's dominant economy, is resisting calls for it to spend more to kick-start growth. ...","Clashes kill 34 civilians in Ukraine's Donetsk region: official. Kiev (AFP) - Fierce fighting between government forces and pro-Russian rebels has killed 34 civilians over the past 24 hours in east Ukraine's Donetsk region, local authorities said Wednesday.","Kershaw, Dodgers set to make opening-day history. SYDNEY (AP) — Two months after signing a contract that makes him the richest pitcher in baseball, Clayton Kershaw starts his fourth consecutive opening day for the Los Angeles Dodgers in a game that carries a historical significance all its own.","First talks on long-term Iran nuclear deal expected in NY in Feb - envoys. UNITED NATIONS/BRUSSELS (Reuters) - - The first round of talks between Iran and six world powers on a long-term deal for Tehran to curb parts of its nuclear program in exchange for a gradual lifting of sanctions is expected to take place next month in New York, Western officials said on Monday. Last week the United States and the European Union began following through on promised sanctions relief for Iran covering oil exports, trade in precious metals and automotive services as part of a nuclear agreement signed in November that began taking effect on January 20, U.S. officials said. In exchange for steps that Tehran had taken to halt its most sensitive nuclear-related activity, the White House said the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Russia, China and the European Union will \"follow through on our commitment to begin to provide the modest relief agreed to with Iran.\" (Reporting by Louis Charbonneau and Justyna Pawlak;","About 80 injured as two trains collide in S.Africa. Johannesburg (AFP) - Two trains crashed into each other in a suburb outside South Africa's eastern coastal city of Durban on Tuesday, injuring about 80 people, rescuers told AFP.","New Dominican law aids some 'stateless' migrants. SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic (AP) — Human rights groups say a new law in the Dominican Republic creating a path to citizenship for the descendants of tens of thousands of migrants who came from neighboring Haiti fails to address the plight of many more people.","Libya PM presents new cabinet to rival Tripoli govt. Benghazi (Libya) (AFP) - Libya's internationally recognised premier presented Wednesday a new cabinet to parliament in the eastern city of Tobruk, in opposition to a Tripoli government, as the strife-torn country's political divisions deepened.","'I let the country down' - Australia keeper Ryan. Australia goalkeeper Mat Ryan was on the verge of tears after letting through the goal that dumped the Socceroos out of the World Cup and is no less hard on himself after a few weeks to reflect. On the last line of an inexperienced Socceroos' defence, the 22-year-old conceded nine goals from three matches and is still tormented by the Memphis Depay strike that gave Netherlands a 3-2 win. Ryan was slow to pick up midfielder Depay's speculative shot from well outside the box and the lunging keeper managed only to get a hand to it. \"It's never easy for a goalkeeper to make a mistake and unfortunately in the Netherlands game, the third goal, I was pretty disappointed with my effort,\" Ryan, who plays for Brugge in Belgium's top flight, said in comments published by News Ltd. \"It was probably the hardest five days of my life yet.","Mining exports drive Australian growth. The Australian economy expanded a better-than-expected 1.1 percent in the first quarter of 2014 with a strong rise in mining exports driving growth, data showed Wednesday. The mining sector made up 80 percent of growth in the March quarter as net exports contributed 1.4 percentage points to GDP. Consumption added 0.3 percentage points, but some of the gains were partially offset by inventories, which subtracted 0.6 percentage points. The improved GDP figures were foreshadowed by the Reserve Bank of Australia in its monthly meeting on Tuesday, where it held the cash rate at a record low of 2.5 percent for the 10th straight month.","Young DJ set to be first black African in space. Mabopane (South Africa) (AFP) - No one in Mandla Maseko's family has ever stepped outside South Africa, but the young township DJ is set to rocket into space next year. From the dusty district of Mabopane, near Pretoria, 25-year-old Maseko has landed a coveted seat to fly 103-kilometres (64 miles) into space in 2015, after winning a competition organised by a US-based space academy. The \"typical township boy\", who still lives at home with his parents and four siblings, was named one of the winners on December 5, only a few hours after the death of the country's first black president, Nelson Mandela. \"'Continue running the race and here's the title to go with it, go be the first black South African to space'.\"","China promises to rein in executive pay. BEIJING (AP) — China's president has promised to rein in \"unreasonably high\" pay for executives at government-owned companies in an apparent effort to mollify public frustration at the wealth of state industry.","Getting used to the 'new mediocre'. By Mike Peacock LONDON (Reuters) - Evaporating inflation and slowing growth have put financial markets into such a spin that they could inflict further damage on the world economy. Until a dramatic selloff, exuberant markets had raced well ahead of the economies that underpin them, partly because the U.S. Federal Reserve and other central banks flooded the financial system with new money. ...","Airbus delivers first A350 jet, at long last. PARIS (AP) — Airbus has at last delivered its first A350 jet, handing over the wide-body plane to Qatar Airways after years of delays and a multibillion-dollar redesign.","Gunmen attack port in Libya's eastern Benghazi. CAIRO (AP) — A security official in Libya says gunmen have attacked the port of the restive eastern city of Benghazi, firing wildly with small arms into the area for hours.","Hundreds flee north Nigeria town fearing attack. Kano (Nigeria) (AFP) - Residents of a northeast Nigerian town said Saturday hundreds of them have fled their homes for fear of attacks by Boko Haram militants who killed 43 people this week in a nearby village. About 400 men fled Bama on Friday to Maiduguri, the Borno state capital, 35 kilometres (22 miles) away following warnings from residents of Gombale village, where Boko Haram Islamists gathered for a planned attack on Bama, Usman Adam, one of the fleeing residents said. \"All able-bodied men, around 400 in all, have fled to Maiduguri after we received warning from Gombale residents across the river that Boko Haram were converging in the town for an impending attack on Bama,\" Adam told AFP. Adam said only men are fleeing because they are mostly the victims of Boko Haram attacks as the assailants believe that some men, recruited as members of a vigilante group (or civilian JTF – Joint Task Force), are aligned with the army.","Zimbabwe wins toss, puts South Africa in to bat. BULAWAYO, Zimbabwe (AP) — Zimbabwe won the toss and put South Africa in to bat in the second of three one-day internationals on Tuesday.","British police search home linked to Syrian suicide bombing. Police searched a home in southeast England on Wednesday as part of an investigation into reports that a British man was responsible for a suicide bombing in Syria. The BBC named the bomber as 41-year-old Abdul Waheed Majid from Crawley in West Sussex, a town located between London and the coastal town of Brighton. He reportedly carried out a suicide truck bombing on February 6 as part of an attack by rebel fighters on the jail in the divided northern city of Aleppo. Rebel fighters are held in the prison.","10 dead after train crashes into minibus in Turkey. ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — A passenger train crashed into a minibus that was carrying workers to a factory in Turkey, killing 10 people and injuring five others, officials said.","Central European countries to hold summit on Ukraine: Slovakia. PRAGUE (Reuters) - Slovakia said an extraordinary meeting of the prime ministers of central European countries that are part of the Visegrad group would take place in Budapest on Wednesday to discuss the situation in Ukraine. Prime Minister Robert Fico will attend, the government office said. The Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland are also members of the Visegrad group. ...","Factbox: Candidates in Colombia's presidential election. Reuters - Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos is fighting for re-election in a runoff vote after losing to right-wing challenger Oscar Ivan Zuluaga in a close first round. Zuluaga, a former finance minister, won 29.3 percent of the vote in the first round. JUAN MANUEL SANTOS As defense minister for former President Alvaro Uribe, Santos led a successful campaign against the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) rebels. Born into one of Colombia's most powerful families, the president, 62, has followed market-friendly economic policies, helping to sustain solid growth.","Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac to lose market share to private capital: CBO. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - America's government-controlled mortgage finance giants, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, will likely guarantee a shrinking share of new loans over the next decade, congressional analysts said on Tuesday.","What is known about plane crash in Ukraine. BRUSSELS (AP) — Here's what is known, and what has been claimed, about Thursday's crash of a Malaysian jetliner carrying 295 people in eastern Ukraine:","Britain's Clegg rebuffs quit calls after European debacle. British Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg insisted Tuesday he would not step down as leader of the Liberal Democrat coalition partners despite a terrible performance in the European elections. Pressure has been building on Clegg since the Lib Dems lost 11 of their 12 European Parliament seats, which came hot on the heels of the party losing hundreds of seats in local council elections. Emerging for his first public appearance since the vote debacle, Clegg said during a low-key visit to a youth club that he wanted to \"finish the job\" and dismissed calls to dissolve the coalition or modify his party's pro-EU approach. Voters appear set to inflict more pain on the centrist Lib Dems for their decision to enter a coalition with the centre-right Conservatives after the inconclusive 2010 general election.","German government approval rating at record high: poll. Germans' satisfaction with their government has reached an all-time high, a survey has found, with 59 percent declaring themselves happy with Angela Merkel's right-left coalition, and 74 percent saying they specifically approved of the chancellor. According to a Deutschlandtrend poll of 1,003 people for broadcaster ARD, approval ratings for the coalition government, in power since December 2013, rose by 7 percentage points from June to reach the highest level since records began in 1997. Merkel's approval rating increased by 3 percentage points, her highest rating in almost seven years. Key ministers such as Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier and Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble also won high satisfaction ratings, at 74 percent and 65 percent respectively.","Myanmar orders aid group to stop work, patients at risk: MSF. By Jared Ferried YANGON (Reuters) - Myanmar has ordered Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) to halt all its work in the country, leaving tens of thousands of people without vital care, the medical aid group said on Friday. MSF did not give a reason for the suspension, but local media reported government officials had been angered by the charity's public comments on the western strife-torn state of Rakhine. The Nobel Prize-winning aid group has been giving care there to both ethnic Rakhine Buddhists and Rohingya Muslims, a mostly stateless minority who live in apartheid-like conditions and who otherwise have little access to healthcare. The United Nations and human rights groups say at least 40 Rohingya were killed by security forces and ethnic Rakhine Buddhist civilians in a restricted area of the state in January.","Activists: Death toll in Syria's war tops 160,000. BEIRUT (AP) — An activist group says the number of people who have died in the Syrian conflict so far has exceeded 160,000.","China probes Uighur mayor of restive Xinjiang city for graft. BEIJING (Reuters) - The ethnic Uighur mayor of a major city in China's unruly far-western region of Xinjiang is being investigated for corruption, state media said on Thursday, one of the few minority officials to be caught up in the government's war on graft. Adil Nurmemet, mayor of Hotan city in the heavily Uighur southern part of Xinjiang, is being investigated for \"suspected serious discipline violations\", the official Xinhua news agency said, using the usual euphemism for graft. ...","UK tourist recounts 'hellish' time in Sri Lanka over Buddha tattoo. A 37-year-old British nurse recounted Tuesday her \"hellish\" experience in Sri Lanka after she was arrested and sent to a deportation centre for sporting a Buddha tattoo deemed offensive by authorities. Naomi Coleman was arrested at the country's main international airport on Monday shortly after her arrival on a flight from neighbouring India and appeared before a magistrate who ordered her deportation, police said in a statement.","Japan sees lower chance of El Nino this summer, high chance in autumn. Japan's weather bureau said on Thursday that the possibility of an El Nino pattern forming this summer is lower than previously forecast, but it sees a high chance in autumn. The Japan Meteorological Agency, which said last month that the El Nino phenomenon could emerge this summer and last at least until autumn, now expects one could only emerge sometime between September and November. The El Nino - a warming of sea-surface temperatures in the Pacific - can trigger drought in Southeast Asia and Australia and floods in South America, hitting production of key foods such as rice, wheat and sugar. The weather bureau lowered its forecast for sea surface temperatures in the monitoring area for summer as it expected the temperatures in July and August would be closer to average, Ikuo Yoshikawa, weather forecaster at the Japan Meteorological Agency said by phone.","'Dead' Mexican drug kingpin likely killed in shootout: official. A Mexican drug lord who was reported dead more than three years ago was likely killed in a shootout in western Mexico early on Sunday, a government official said. Nazario Moreno, a leader of a powerful criminal gang that has ravaged the western state of Michoacan, was reported killed by the government in a firefight in December 2010. Authorities were checking on reports that Moreno was shot dead early on Sunday during a gunfight in Michoacan, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. A spokeswoman for the state government of Michoacan also said there was no confirmation yet.","Back to cricket: everyone's unsure how it will go. ADELAIDE, Australia (AP) — Attempting to judge the effect that Phillip Hughes' death from a short-pitched delivery has had on cricket might be best illustrated by the disparate reactions of Australian teammates Mitchell Johnson and Shane Watson.","Former FIFA boss paid millions by Qataris - report. A former senior official of FIFA and his family were paid almost $2 million (£1.2m) from a Qatari firm liked to the Gulf state's successful bid for the 2022 World Cup finals, according to a report in Tuesday's edition of Britain's Daily Telegraph newspaper. The Telegraph said Jack Warner, the former vice-president of FIFA, appeared to have been personally paid $1.2 million (£720,000) from a company controlled by a former Qatari official shortly after the controversial decision to award the country the tournament. Payments totalling almost $750,000 (£450,000) were made to Mr Warner’s sons, according to documents seen by the Telegraph. The Telegraph also said a company owned by Mohamed Bin Hammam, the then FIFA executive member for Qatar, appeared to pay $1.2 million (£720,000) to Mr Warner in 2011.","US presses Russia over weapons flow to Ukraine. WASHINGTON (AP) — Secretary of State John Kerry on Saturday pressed his Russian counterpart to make clear Moscow's commitment to end the flow of weapons and other support to separatists in Ukraine, the State Department said.","Tennis-Nadal to face local hope Tomic in Australian Open. * Champion Djokovic has smooth path until quarter-finals * Nadal faces tough draw * Serena could face Stosur in fourth round (recasts with men's draw) MELBOURNE, Jan 10 (Reuters) - World number one Rafa Nadal will play local hope Bernard Tomic in the first round of the Australian Open as he bids for a 14th grand slam title. The Spaniard faces a tough draw, with a potential fourth round clash with 16th-seeded Japanese Kei Nishikori before a possible quarter-final with Argentine Juan Martin del Potro. Defending champion Novak Djokovic will play Slovakia's Lukas Lacko in the first round as he bids for his fourth successive title at Melbourne Park, according to the draw released on Friday. The second seeded Serb has a relatively kind draw until the quarter-finals, where a likely clash against eighth seed Stanislas Wawrinka, who pushed him in a five-set marathon in last year's tournament, looms.","Iceland to drop EU membership bid. Iceland will drop its EU membership bid without holding a referendum that was earlier promised by the two ruling Euro-sceptic parties, the government said Friday. The centrist Progress Party and the right-wing Independence Party agreed on a draft bill asking the government \"to retract the application for membership of the European Union\", which the island nation presented in 2010. The foreign minister at the time presented the proposal for application, so it is natural that I will present the proposal to retract it,\" Foreign Minister Gunnar Bragi Sveinsson told Icelandic public broadcaster RUV. \"Another application will not be made without first holding a referendum to decide if the Icelandic people intends to join the European Union,\" the draft bill read.","South Sudan warns U.N. that sanctions could fuel confrontation. By Michelle Nichols UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - South Sudan warned the United Nations Security Council on Tuesday that imposing sanctions to try to end nearly a year of violence in the world's youngest state would likely \"harden positions toward confrontation rather than cooperation.\" Fighting erupted last December in South Sudan after months of political tension between President Salva Kiir and his sacked deputy and rival, Riek Machar. The conflict has reopened deep fault lines among ethnic groups, pitting Kiir's Dinka against Machar's Nuer. ...","U.S. accuses Russia's Putin of making \"false claims\" about Ukraine. By Arshad Mohammed WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. State Department dropped its diplomatic niceties on Wednesday and all but accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of lying about events in Ukraine, publishing a list of what it said were 10 of his \"false claims.\" A \"fact sheet\" released by the State Department's press office said Putin had ignored or distorted the facts in \"justifying Russian aggression in the Ukraine.\" The publication of the document, entitled \"President Putin's Fiction: 10 False Claims about Ukraine,\" is highly unusual for the State Department, which typically does not issue statements in public that a foreign leader is being untruthful. Russia and the West face their most serious confrontation since the end of the Cold War over influence in Ukraine, a major commodities exporter and strategic link between East and West.","Turkish coal mine fire kills 20, hundreds feared trapped -lawmaker. A fire in a coal mine in Turkey's western province of Manisa killed 20 miners on Tuesday, a local lawmaker said, and rescue workers said as many as 300 more may still be trapped. Local member of parliament Muzaffer Yurttas told broadcaster NTV that the bodies of 20 workers, believed to have died from suffocation and burns, had been retrieved from the mine and that at least another 20 workers had been taken to hospital. They say it is an electrical fault but it could be that coal is burning as well,\\\\\" Tamer Kucukgencay, chairman of the regional labor union, told Reuters by telephone.","Blackberry U.S. shares fall after the bell. NEW YORK (Reuters) - BlackBerry's U.S.-listed shares were down 4 percent at $10.85 after the closing bell and the stock was set to open at its lowest in a week. Earlier, International Business Machines Corp said it will partner exclusively with Apple Inc to sell iPhones and iPads loaded with applications geared at enterprise clients. IBM shares were up 1.9 pct while Apple shares were up 1.3 percent after the bell. (Reporting by Caroline Valetkevitch; Editing by Diane Craft)","Cold War-style spy games return to melting Arctic. OSLO, Norway (AP) — In early March, a mysterious ship the size of a large passenger ferry left a Romanian wharf, glided through the narrow Bosporus that separates Europe and Asia, and plotted a course toward Scandinavia.","Honda, others recall another 2.9 million vehicles over air bag flaw. By Yoko Kubota TOKYO (Reuters) - Honda Motor Co and other Japanese automakers on Monday recalled more cars with potentially explosive air bags supplied by Takata Corp, bringing the total recall so far to around 10.5 million vehicles over the past five years. The series of recalls cover both passenger-side and driver-side air bags, which the world's second-biggest automotive safety parts maker manufactured in 2000-02.","A look at the ECB, eurozone monetary authority. FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — The European Central Bank on Thursday loosened its monetary policy to bolster the 18-country eurozone's economic recovery.","Instant View: Canada finance minister resigns, says not due to health issues. Canadian Finance Minister Jim Flaherty announced on Tuesday that he is resigning from politics, effective immediately, and will be returning to the private sector. MARK CHANDLER, HEAD OF CANADIAN FIXED INCOME AND CURRENCY STRATEGY, ROYAL BANK OF CANADA: \"We know nothing that would suggest that there's any schism between himself and anybody else in the party on policy, so I would say that this is not policy related. So whoever's coming in will be, definitely, a big part of that discussion.\" DOUG PORTER, CHIEF ECONOMIST, BMO CAPITAL MARKETS: \"It's not a complete shock, the only question was over the timing. I think the conventional wisdom was he'd hang in there for another budget to show he had balanced the books, but obviously he didn't, he decided now was the time.\" \"I would say continuity (is what the market wants).","Ukrainians pull back from airport; Poroshenko slams Russia. By Richard Balmforth and Pavel Polityuk KIEV (Reuters) - Ukraine's military said on Monday it had pulled its forces back from defending a vital airport in the east against Russian tanks, as President Petro Poroshenko accused Moscow of \"direct and open aggression\". The withdrawal from the civilian airport outside the city of Luhansk was the latest in a string of reverses for Ukrainian forces fighting pro-Russian separatists who Kiev says have the direct support of hundreds of Russian troops and armor. A military statement said Ukrainian paratroopers were engaging a Russian tank battalion near the airport.","Uruguay edges Italy 1-0 to advance at World Cup. NATAL, Brazil (AP) — Captain Diego Godin scored in the 81st minute as Uruguay edged 10-man Italy 1-0 Tuesday to reach the second round of the World Cup.","Obama: US to boost military presence in Europe. WARSAW, Poland (AP) — The United States is preparing to boost its military presence in Europe and at a cost of up to $1 billion, President Barack Obama said Tuesday, as tensions in the region simmer over Russia's aggressive actions in Ukraine.","Angry Chinese relatives of missing jet passengers blame Malaysia. Angry relatives of Chinese passengers aboard the missing Malaysia Airlines plane denounced the Kuala Lumpur government and its national carrier as \"executioners\" on Tuesday and said they would march on the Malaysian Embassy. Early in the morning, just hours after Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak said the plane had crashed in the Indian Ocean, an unidentified family member read out a statement at the Beijing hotel where many of the relatives of those on board were staying, denouncing the airline, the Malaysian government and military for \"constantly trying to delay, hide and cover up the truth\". It was \"an attempt to deceive the families of the passengers and an attempt to deceive the people of the world\", said the statement, which was later posted on a Chinese microblog by the \"Malaysia Airlines MH370 Family Committee\". In a later statement, the families said they would head to the Malaysian Embassy in Beijing on Tuesday morning to \"protest, seek the truth and the return of their family members.\" The families, in a statement, said they would \"take all possible means\" to pursue the \"unforgivable guilt\" of the airline, the Malaysian government and the military.","Sweden recognizes Palestinian state, hopes will revive peace process. STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - The Swedish government officially recognized the state of Palestine on Thursday, saying it hoped the move would help to revive the stalled Israeli-Palestinian peace process. The decision drew praise from the Palestinian president and criticism from Israel. \"Our decision comes at a critical time because over the last year we have seen how the peace talks have stalled, how decisions over new settlements on occupied Palestinian land have complicated a two-state solution and how violence has returned to Gaza,\" Swedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom told reporters. ...","Vietnamese tycoon held on suspicion of fraud: sources. By Mai Nguyen HANOI (Reuters) - Police in Vietnam have detained one of the country's biggest tycoons, the founder and chairman of conglomerate Ocean Group, on suspicion of financial irregularities, banking sources and state media said on Friday. Vietnam's central bank said it had suspended Ha Van Tham from his role as chairman of the group's unlisted subsidiary, Ocean Commercial Joint Stock Bank, for \"serious violations\", but made no mention of his arrest, or what the breaches were. ...","Ukraine confirms negotiator with Russia as foreign minister. Ukraine's parliament on Thursday confirmed as foreign minister Pavlo Klimkin, the current ambassador to Germany who also represents Kiev in peace negotiations with Russia. Klimkin, 46, replaces acting foreign minister Andriy Deshchytsya, who became embroiled in controversy at the weekend when he used a swearword to describe Russian President Vladimir Putin while trying to restrain protesters who attacked Moscow's embassy compound in Kiev.","Italy can breach EU deficit limits if it reforms, Renzi says. Italy can negotiate a relaxation of European Union deficit limits if it shows it is serious about effective reforms to its economy and political system, Matteo Renzi, the new head of the center-left Democratic Party said in an interview on Thursday. Renzi is not in the government but as head of the biggest party in Prime Minister Enrico Letta's left-right coalition, he will have a decisive role to play in shaping the political agenda and has already called for quicker action on reforms. Despite its worst recession since World War Two, Italy has managed to bring its deficit within the EU's limit of 3 percent of gross domestic product, at the cost of deep public resentment at the tax hikes and other austerity measures required to meet the target.","Boeing gets $2.8 billion contract from NASA. (Reuters) - Boeing Co said it signed a $2.8 billion contract with NASA to develop the core stage of the Space Launch System (SLS). The agreement comes as NASA and Boeing complete the Critical Design Review on the core stage, the last major review before full production begins, Boeing said. (Reporting by Sweta Singh in Bangalore; Editing by Kirti Pandey)","Thai police and protesters clash, leaving 1 dead. BANGKOK (AP) — Emergency medical officials say that one civilian was killed and 50 people were injured in clashes between Thai police and anti-government protesters in Bangkok.","Milan designers nudge men to dress with derring-do. MILAN (AP) — Milan designers are gently inviting men to add just a little derring-do to their dressing.","Defiant Chinese bishop dies at 97 while under house arrest. A Shanghai bishop who was imprisoned for decades by Chinese authorities died Sunday evening at his home, a Catholic group said in a statement. Bishop Fan Zhongliang, 97, was ordained by Pope John Paul II but not recognized by Chinese authorities. China is home to between 8 and 12 million Catholics, divided between the state-backed Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association, which appoints its own bishops, and an \"underground\" church that is loyal to the Vatican. Fan spent more than 30 years in prisons and labor camps over the course of his life, starting in 1955, according to the U.S.-based Cardinal Kung Foundation, which reports on the treatment of Catholics in China.","At least 8 dead after massive US snowstorm. A massive snowstorm stranded motorists, canceled flights and left at least eight people dead in the northeastern United States, officials said Wednesday. Areas east and southeast of Buffalo, in northern New York state, could receive a year's accumulation of snow or even more in just two days, Erie County executive Mark Poloncarz told reporters. US media reported two other deaths in the states of New Hampshire and Michigan. Temperatures will remain below normal from the Midwest to the East Coast until the weekend, with all 50 states recording below freezing temperatures on Tuesday, the National Weather Service said.","Egypt charges 200 Islamist militants with bombings, other violence. Egypt's public prosecutor charged 200 suspected Islamist militants on Saturday with \\\\\"founding, leading and joining a terrorist organization\\\\\" and launching bomb and rocket attacks across the country. The accused belong to Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis, or Supporters of Jerusalem, a group that has claimed some of the deadliest attacks of the last nine months and is listed as a terrorist organization by the United States. Militant violence has spiraled in the Sinai Peninsula, Cairo and other cities since the army toppled Islamist president Mohamed Mursi last July after mass protests against his rule. The army-backed government accuses Mursi's Muslim Brotherhood of perpetrating violence.","Boko Haram leader claims Nigeria capital bombing in new video. Kano (Nigeria) (AFP) - The leader of Nigeria's Boko Haram Islamists Abubakar Shekau claimed responsibility for a bombing in Nigeria's capital that killed at least 75 people, in a video message obtained by AFP on Saturday.","AP PHOTOS: The die-hard fan of Brazil's Flamengo. RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Everything inside and outside Maria Boreth de Souza's small home in Rio de Janeiro's lower middle class neighborhood of Olaria screams Flamengo — Brazil's most popular soccer team.","Qaeda kills 3 Yemen 'spies' for allegedly aiding US drones. Al-Qaeda militants have executed three men they accuse of planting electronic chips in the network's vehicles to help US drones target them, a security official said Monday. Scores of Al-Qaeda suspects, including some of the network's leaders, have been killed in drone strikes in Yemen. The United States is the only country operating drones over Yemen, but US officials rarely acknowledge the covert programme. \"Al-Qaeda militants executed the three men with gunfire after having tortured them,\" the security official told AFP.","MH17 search suspended over security concerns: Dutch PM. The Hague (AFP) - MH17","Palestinians halt 62-day hunger strike after deal. Dozens of Palestinian prisoners who had refused food for 62 days have suspended their hunger strike after reaching a deal with the Israel Prisons Service, their lawyer told AFP. The prisoners began refusing food on April 24 in protest at being held by Israel without charge or trial under a controversial procedure called administrative detention, which can be indefinitely extended for years. \"The strikers, who have reached an agreement with the Israeli prison authorities, have decided to suspend their action with the approach of Ramadan,\" Ashraf Abu Snena said, referring to the Muslim fasting month which begins this weekend. Israel confirmed the agreement, details of which were to be made public later on Wednesday.","Deutsche Bank reshuffles management board, names new CFO. FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Deutsche Bank will reshuffle top management by naming Marcus Schenck, former finance chief at energy group E.ON and Goldman Sachs banker, as chief financial officer and putting current CFO Stefan Krause in charge of operations and strategy, the bank said on Tuesday. Henry Ritchotte, age 51, will continue as chief operating officer with responsibility for technology and operations, and will in addition assume responsibility for the bank's global digital agenda, Deutsche said in a statement. The changes will take place on May 21, 2015. ...","Italy's Montezemolo says becoming Alitalia Chairman a possibility. Outgoing Ferrari Chairman Luca Cordero di Montezemolo said on Wednesday that taking on the chairmanship of Alitalia was a possibility but he would decide only after leaving the sports car maker in October. The CEO of UniCredit , one of the main shareholders of Alitalia, said on Wednesday Montezemolo would be a good candidate for the chairmanship of the Italian carrier. Montezemolo will step down as chairman of Ferrari on October 13.","Sudan peace talks with rebels to resume this week: AU. The African Union said Tuesday it hopes a resumption of peace talks between Khartoum and rebels this week will lead to their joining a broader dialogue about Sudan's political future. The AU-brokered negotiations are to resume in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa after a first round adjourned on February 18 without a single face-to-face meeting between the combatants. \"This week we will continue the negotiations between Sudan and SPLM-North, and hope that this will open the door for the movement to join the national dialogue process,\" AU chief mediator Thabo Mbeki told reporters after meeting President Omar al-Bashir in Khartoum. Bashir's aide Ibrahim Ghandour, who is also Sudan's chief negotiator, said his team would return to Addis Ababa on Thursday to continue the dialogue.","Drought could push millions more Syrians into hunger: U.N.. By Stephanie Nebehay GENEVA (Reuters) - A looming drought in Syria could push millions more people into hunger and exacerbate a refugee crisis caused by years of civil war, the United Nations said on Tuesday. Syria's breadbasket northwestern region has received less than half of the average rainfall since September and, if it stays dry up to wheat harvest time in mid-May, the country - already reliant on aid for millions of people - will need to import even more food. \"A drought could put the lives of millions more people at risk,\" Elisabeth Byrs, spokeswoman for the U.N. aid agency World Food Programme (WFP), told a news briefing. Based on rainfall data and satellite images, and with the smallest area planted with wheat in 15 years, output of the cereal is likely to be a record low of between 1.7 million and 2 million tonnes, as much as 29 percent less than last year and about half of pre-conflict levels, the WFP said.","Storm forces closure of Florence museums for damage checks. FLORENCE Italy (Reuters) - Florence officials ordered the closure of many of the Tuscan city's museums on Friday, including the famed Uffizi Gallery, while technicians checked for damage after a particularly violent storm. The museums house some of the greatest treasures of the Renaissance and the Uffizi is home to masterpieces by Fra Angelico, Boticelli, Raphael and others. ...","Pay-TV giant BSkyB scores lower profits. British pay-TV group BSkyB announced a drop in half-year net profits Thursday as higher costs linked to coverage of live English Premier League football offset rising revenues. BSkyB said profit after tax fell almost 16 percent to £411 million ($678 million, 500 million euros) in the final six months of 2013 compared with the equivalent period in 2012. \"We are moving through a year of investment in which we are absorbing the one-off step up in Premier League costs,\" chief executive Jeremy Darroch said in the group's earnings statement. BSkyB dominates the market for screening live Premier League football to homes and pubs across Britain.","2 British students stabbed to death in Malaysia. KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Officials say two British medical students have been stabbed to death in Malaysia after a quarrel with four local men.","China exports up 11.6 percent, imports 4.6 percent. BEIJING (AP) — China's trade growth slowed in October but remained robust, with exports rising 11.6 percent compared to the same period the previous year.","Challenges await Egypt new cabinet ahead of presidential poll. Egypt's new premier worked Wednesday to form a government tasked with organising a presidential election expected to bring the army chief to power at a time of insecurity and economic woes. The new government faces a host of challenges, ahead of an election seen as a major step in a roadmap outlined by the interim authorities after the military ousted Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in July. Army chief Field Marshal Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who has since emerged as the country's most popular political figure, is widely expected to run in the election, scheduled this spring. Ibrahim Mahlab, who replaced Hazem al-Beblawi after his surprise resignation on Monday, is \"pursuing his meetings with candidates to ministerial portfolios\", state TV reported.","Japan logs 23rd month of trade deficit in May. TOKYO (AP) — Japan has logged its 23rd successive month of trade deficit, as exports and imports both declined in May.","Mexican president signs law restricting telecoms. MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto has signed into law a communications overhaul with tough restrictions on dominant companies in the telephone and television sectors.","Kidnapped Ugandan priest's remains ID'ed in Mexico. MEXICO CITY (AP) — Roman Catholic authorities in Mexico say the remains of a Ugandan priest kidnapped more than six months ago have been found in a mass grave.","Obama to set out Islamic State strategy on Wednesday. US President Barack Obama says he will make a speech Wednesday to lay out his \"game plan\" to deal with and ultimately defeat the Islamic State militants, but warned he was not going to wage another ground war in Iraq. \"I'm preparing the country to make sure that we deal with a threat from ISIL,\" Obama said in an interview aired Sunday on NBC's \"Meet the Press,\" using an alternative name for the jihadist group. \"On Wednesday, I'll make a speech and describe what our game plan's going to be going forward,\" Obama said in the interview, in which he gave his most explicit rundown yet of his strategy for taking on IS. Two days after returning from the NATO summit in Wales, Obama said he was confident he would be able to build a broad-based international coalition to take on Islamic State, which has carved out a stronghold in large areas of Syria and Iraq.","Neil Young continues tour as criticism mounts over his oilsands comments. WINNIPEG - Rock legend Neil Young brings his aboriginal fundraising tour — and his criticism of the oilsands — to Winnipeg today.","Syrian government forces advance as rebel infighting rages. By Oliver Holmes BEIRUT (Reuters) - The Syrian government has retaken territory around the northern city of Aleppo, the military said on Tuesday, after two weeks of rebel infighting that has weakened the insurgency against President Bashar al-Assad. The internecine conflict among some within the chaotic plethora of rebel groups will allow Assad to portray himself as the only secular alternative in Syria to a radical Islamist regime when peace talks begin in Switzerland on January 22. His military advances will give the Syrian government delegation greater leverage at the negotiating table. An army statement said government forces had pushed out from their base at Aleppo's international airport, southeast of the city, and were moving towards an industrial complex used as a rebel base and the al-Bab road, urgently needed by insurgents to supply the half of Aleppo under their control.","Ukraine rebels: a disunited front run by warlords. PEREVALSK, Ukraine (AP) — They don't call Nikolai Kozitsyn \"Daddy\" for nothing. In this rebel-held eastern Ukrainian town, the mustachioed Cossack lords it over the locals and pays little heed to the bosses of the breakaway movement.","Singapore's parliament approves haze bill. Singapore's parliament has passed a bill proposing to fine companies that pollute the country's air, regardless of whether the companies operate on the island. The bill was drafted after Singapore suffered the worst haze on record last year as smoke from forest clearing in neighboring Indonesia shrouded the city.","British 'jihadist' mum threatens to behead Christians: reports. A middle-aged British mother-of-two and former rock band member has joined jihadists in Syria and wants to behead Christians with a \"blunt knife\", British media reported. The reports identified the woman as Sally Jones, 45, from Kent in southeast England, and said she now goes by the name Sakinah Hussain, or Umm Hussain al-Britani. Security experts estimate that hundreds of Britons have gone to the Middle East to join the Islamic State (IS) militant group, the most brutal to emerge out of Syria's bloody civil war and the most successful. The well-funded group controls large swathes of Syria and Iraq and has proved adept at using social media to boost its profile, attract recruits and terrify enemies with images of mass executions and battlefield victories.","Arab summit lays bare serious cracks on Syria. KUWAIT CITY (AP) — An Arab summit that ended Wednesday exposed cracks in what was once solid Arab support for Syrian rebels, with Saudi Arabia and Qatar divided over which factions to back and Syria's neighbors increasingly expressing fatigue with the flood of refugees from the country's civil war.","China detains scholar on charge of troublemaking. BEIJING (AP) — A Chinese scholar and rights advocate who founded an influential non-governmental think tank has been detained on the criminal charge of provoking troubles, his lawyer said Sunday.","Labour party lays out battle plan for 2015 election. London (AFP) - Labour party leader Ed Miliband is to lay out his battle plan for the May 2015 election on Tuesday in a bid to become the next prime minister.","5 Dutch players to watch at the World Cup. AMSTERDAM (AP) — Netherlands coach Louis van Gaal's greatest triumph came when he led Ajax to the Champions League title in 1995 by blending a nucleus of experienced veterans with highly talented youngsters like Patrick Kluivert, Clarence Seedorf and Edgar Davids.","New Toyota Tundra pickup emphasizes strength, durability. In its first major update since 2007, the full-size Toyota Tundra pickup truck is redesigned with a bold, American-style exterior, a refined, quieter interior and standard backup camera and Bluetooth phone and audio connectivity.","Police blamed for fifth death in South Africa protests. A South African man Thursday was wounded and later died after police fired shots at a protest march that turned violent near Johannesburg, a police spokeswoman said. Residents of Durban Deep, an informal settlement near Johannesburg, barricaded roads with burning tyres and tree trunks after rumours that they were going to be forcibly evicted from their dwellings. \"When police arrived and tried to remove the barricades, the protesters descended upon them and then warning shots were fired,\" said police spokeswoman Katlego Mogale. Four others were killed last week in a police crackdown on protests over poor municipal service delivery in a town near Pretoria.","Poland protests joke at swimming event in Berlin. WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Polish officials have complained to the organizers of the European Swimming Championships in Berlin after an announcer introduced the Polish team by joking that they would return home with stolen cars.","'Hungary is not Guantánamo,' ruling party tells U.S.. By Marton Dunai BUDAPEST (Reuters) - Hungary's ruling Fidesz party on Monday dismissed U.S. allegations of corruption against six officials in its government, saying Hungary was \"not Guantánamo\", where Washington could make accusations without proof. The United States last month barred the six from entry, saying they were involved in or had benefited from corruption, and that Hungary's commitment to transparent democracy was waning. Hungary's tax chief Ildiko Vida last week said she was one of the six, but denied any wrongdoing. ...","Aqunio urges support as scandal threatens to hurt Philippine economy. By Manuel Mogato and Karen Lema MANILA (Reuters) - Philippine President Benigno Aquino called on the nation on Monday to support his reforms as he faced the biggest political crisis in his four years in power, a spending scandal that could damage his anti-graft image and undermine reforms. The Supreme Court this month declared partly illegal a 145 billion pesos ($3.34 billion) economic stimulus fund that Aquino created in 2011 from budget savings, sparking a storm of controversy that put into doubt his commitment to fighting corruption. Economists are concerned the controversy over the Supreme Court's ruling is slowing public spending because officials are more wary about accusations of recklessness and are subjecting decisions to more scrutiny, putting at risk big infrastructure projects.","Tretiak, Rodnina light Olympic flame to end Sochi opening ceremony. SOCHI, Russia - Russia gave its highest Olympic honour to two of its greatest champions.","Family Dollar rejects Dollar General's sweetened offer. (Reuters) - Family Dollar Stores Inc rejected Dollar General Corp's $9.1 billion sweetened takeover offer, saying the offer did not address antitrust concerns and was unlikely to be approved. Dollar General raised its offer for Family Dollar Stores on Tuesday by 2 percent to $9.1 billion, or $80 per share, and said it was willing to sell up to 1,500 stores to address competition concerns. Dollar General also warned it may take the offer directly to Family Dollar's shareholders if it was rejected. \"There is a very real and material risk that the transaction proposed by Dollar General would fail to close, after a lengthy and disruptive review process,\" Family Dollar Chief Executive Howard Levine said in a statement on Friday.","Lawmakers weigh US role against Islamic fighters. WASHINGTON (AP) — Islamic militants' growing influence in Iraq and Syria are a threat to Americans, lawmakers from both political parties agreed Sunday even as they sharply disagreed on what role the United States should play in trying to crush them.","Reigning champion Kearney eases into moguls final. Rosa Khutor (Russia) (AFP) - Reigning champion Hannah Kearney did not disappoint as she topped the rankings in qualification Thursday for the Olympic Games moguls final. The American twice world champion and Vancouver 2010 gold medallist scored 76.83 percent to easily qualify directly for Saturday's final. Canada's Chloe Dufour-Lapointe was second with 75.46, just ahead of her teenage sister Justine, thought to be Kearney's main competitor having beaten her at the Calgary World Cup event earlier this year, with 74.26. The third Dufour-Lapointe sister, Maxime, also moved safely into the final after coming eighth with 69.60.","Top Asian News at 1:30 p.m. GMT. SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea threatened Thursday to cancel reunions of Korean War-divided families because of upcoming U.S.-South Korean military drills and accused the United States of raising tensions by flying nuclear-capable B-52 bombers near the Korean Peninsula. The apparent about-face a day after the rival Koreas agreed on dates for the emotional meetings fits a pattern analysts describe of North Korea agreeing to things South Korea covets and then pulling back until it gets what it wants — in this case a ratcheting down of massive military drills by Seoul and Washington that are seen as a huge drain on the impoverished North's military.","Mexico goalkeeper Corona not seriously injured. MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico goalkeeper Jesus Corona has been cleared of any major injury following a collision in a friendly against Israel and was able to travel with the squad to Texas on Thursday ahead of three more World Cup warmup games.","South Africa changes 5 for rugby test vs Wales. CARDIFF, Wales (AP) — South Africa has made five changes to its starting lineup for its year-ending rugby test against Wales, including the return of world player of the year nominee Willie le Roux.","Pro-Russians storm Ukraine government buildings. KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — Crowds of pro-Russian demonstrators stormed government buildings Sunday in two major cities in eastern Ukraine, where secessionist sentiment has sparked frequent protests since Ukraine's Russia-friendly president was ousted in February.","Sharks lose to Brumbies but stay atop Super Rugby. WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — The Sharks held their place atop an increasingly compact Super Rugby table after the weekend's 13th round but again displayed an Achilles heel in losing away from home, taking a consolation bonus point from a 16-9 loss to the ACT Brumbies.","Europe, Asia stocks up ahead of US data. SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — European and Asian stocks rose Tuesday ahead of a string of U.S. and Chinese economic reports later this week and despite the possibility of more sanctions on Russia. Wall Street was expected to rise on the open.","Block Quebecois to pick new leader in May to replace Daniel Paille. MONTREAL - The Bloc Quebecois will select a new leader in May.","Germany welcomes Putin's 'constructive tone' on Ukraine. German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier on Thursday welcomed Russian President Vladimir Putin's call on pro-Moscow separatists in Ukraine to delay a vote in secession, saying now Putin had to deliver. \\\\\"We are perhaps at a crucial point,\\\\\" Steinmeier said in a statement, adding that while the situation in Ukraine remained critical, there was a chance diplomacy could prevent a further escalation of violence and a loss of control in eastern Ukraine. \\\\\"I welcome the constructive tone that President Putin struck after his meeting with the head of the OSCE (Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe).","Miners battle to keep Ebola at bay in West Africa. Mining companies are acting swiftly to keep the Ebola virus at bay, screening employees and restricting access to remote mining camps while production ticks over in the iron ore and gold fields of West Africa. A prolonged outbreak, however, will threaten mineral production in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea if essential supplies are disrupted and employees stay away from work too long. \"I think everyone is mindful that it's something that has the potential to impact businesses,\" said Mark Bristow, chief executive of Randgold Resources Ltd, which mines gold in Mali, across the border from Guinea. Though it has no mines in countries affected thus far, Randgold is among several miners in West Africa to have launched preventive measures against an outbreak that has killed more than 900 people in four countries.","Malaysian leader: plane's disappearance deliberate. KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Communications on a missing Malaysian airliner were deliberately disabled and the last signal from the plane came more than seven hours after takeoff, meaning it could have ended up anywhere from the southern Indian Ocean to Central Asia, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak said Saturday.","Advantage David as Massaro slumps to defeat. World champion Laura Massaro’s title defence was ended in bitter-sweet fashion by her friend and team mate when she lost in four up-and-down games to a Alison Waters in the quarter-finals. Massaro's defeat means that Nicol David is odds on for her eighth world title after the Malaysian star beat Camille Serme, the sixth-seeded Frenchwoman, 11-9, 11-7, 13-11.","Daughters: Mexican reporter threatened for stories. VERACRUZ, Mexico (AP) — The daughters of a reporter slain in the Gulf coast state of Veracruz are saying their father had been threatened because of his work.","Israel bars Gaza patients over 'Palestine' letterhead. Israel has denied entry permits to some 50 Palestinian medical patients from the Gaza Strip because the words \"State of Palestine\" appears on the letterhead of their application, officials said on Wednesday. Israel does not recognize a Palestinian state, whose creation it says should stem from peace negotiations. It voted against a U.N. General Assembly resolution in 2012 that gave de facto recognition to a sovereign Palestinian state. \"On Sunday (the Palestinians) filed a range of requests ... on a document that said 'State of Palestine'.","Landmine kills Tunisian youth in closed military zone. A 19-year-old Tunisian was killed overnight by a landmine in the western border region where the army has been battling Islamist militants, an interior ministry source said on Wednesday. The man \"entered a closed military zone and was killed when a landmine exploded\", the source said, without elaborating. The incident came a day after six members of the Tunisian security forces were wounded by a roadside bombing in the mountainous Kef region, farther north. Since late 2012, security forces have been battling jihadists hiding out in the remote western region, parts of which were declared \"zones closed for military operations\" in April.","Volkswagen to launch over 20 green vehicle models in China by 2018. By Samuel Shen and Norihiko Shirouzu SHANGHAI (Reuters) - Volkswagen AG , Europe's biggest carmaker, plans to launch more than 20 models of battery-driven cars in China by the end of 2018, as it capitalizes on Beijing's support for low-emission vehicles in the country's campaign against pollution. By 2020 there could be \"some hundred thousand\" pure electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles in China under Volkswagen Group, most of which would be locally made, Jochem Heizmann, head of Volkswagen Group China, said on Tuesday. ...","Rooney doubtful for Bayern game with toe injury. MANCHESTER, England (AP) — Manchester United striker Wayne Rooney has been ruled out of Saturday's Premier League game against Newcastle with a toe injury, and is doubtful for the Champions League return leg against Bayern Munich next week.","C.Africa militia chiefs' jailbreak foiled. Bangui (Central African Republic) (AFP) - African peacekeepers on Sunday thwarted an attempt by leaders of the Central African Republic's anti-balaka militia to break out of Bangui prison with the help of the facility's head, sources said. The jailbreak was stopped \"thanks to the vigilance of the Rwandan unit\" in the African MISCA force, said a statement by the peacekeepers. Armoured vehicles of the MISCA force later patrolled the area. Other leaders of the mainly Christian militia which has been terrorising the country's Muslim minority told AFP the prisoners were complaining about the lack of food.","Snowden rejects German panel's Moscow meeting plan. BERLIN (AP) — National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden is rejecting calls to meet in Moscow with a German parliamentary inquiry into the extent of surveillance by the U.S. and its allies.","U.N. trade agency says U.S. court ruling on Argentina debt doesn't comply with U.S. law. GENEVA (Reuters) - United Nations trade agency UNCTAD said on Wednesday that the recent U.S. court ruling on Argentina's debt erodes sovereign immunity and is not in compliance with the country's own U.S. Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act It said in a statement the rulings \"set legal precedents which could have profound consequences for the international financial system\". The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled last week that Argentina cannot continue to pay creditors who agreed to restructure their bonds after its 2001-02 default on $100 billion in debt unless it also pays $1. ...","Argentina's Mayer vs Israel's Botzer in Davis Cup. SUNRISE, Florida (AP) — Argentina's Leonardo Mayer will play Israel's Bar Botzer to open Davis Cup play on Friday.","U.S. watchdog finds Pentagon broke law in Bergdahl transfer. By David Alexander WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Defense Department violated U.S. The Government Accountability Office said the Pentagon broke the law by using money appropriated by Congress to carry out the transfer of Guantanamo prisoners without giving lawmakers the required 30-day notice.","Saudi records 11 cases of MERS virus in Jeddah. Saudi Arabia said on Wednesday it had recorded 11 cases infected with the potentially deadly Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) virus in Jeddah, including hospital staff. Two of the patients died, six have recovered, while three are undergoing treatment, the official Saudi Press Agency reported quoting the Jeddah health authority. The emergency department of King Fahd hospital in Jeddah was closed for disinfection after one health worker there tested positive for the virus and subsequent tests on other staff members showed further infections. Some patients were transferred to other hospitals while the disinfection was carried out, the health authority said.","5 Algeria players to watch at the World Cup. Under coach Vahid Halilhodzic, Algeria has more flair and scores more goals.","Australian agency OKs plan to dump tons of sediment on Great Barrier Reef. SYDNEY - The government agency that oversees Australia's Great Barrier Reef on Friday approved a plan to dump vast swathes of sediment on the reef as part of a major coal port expansion — a decision that environmentalists say will endanger one of the world's most fragile ecosystems.","No fare, pollution: French public transport free. PARIS (AP) — Air pollution that has turned Paris skies a murky yellow is giving a break to millions of French travelers — all public transportation in the Paris region and two other cities is free for the next three days.","Jet search expands north, south; mystery persists. KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — The search for the missing Malaysian jet pushed deep into the northern and southern hemispheres Monday as Australia scoured the southern Indian Ocean and China offered 21 satellites to respond to Malaysia's call for help in the unprecedented hunt.","Ukraine: Yanukovych can't allow Russian troops. UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Ukraine is refuting the authority of fugitive President Viktor Yanukovych to authorize Russia to use its armed forces to restore peace and defend the Ukrainian population.","US, regional mediators meet rebel leader Machar in S.Sudan. US and regional mediators in the South Sudan conflict met with Riek Machar, who heads the rebel forces that have been fighting government troops for the past month, the rebel delegation said. \"The American Special envoy to South Sudan and Sudan, Donald Booth together with (regional) mediators travelled to an undisclosed location in South Sudan to meet Dr. Riek Machar,\" said a statement, received Sunday and signed by Machar's former press officer Miyong G. Kuon. The meeting with Machar comes as talks in the Ethiopian capital, aimed at reaching a ceasefire agreement, appear to be treading water. Fighting erupted in South Sudan on December 15.","China names new envoy to Iceland after Japan spying report. BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese President Xi Jinping has appointed China's new ambassador to Iceland, a month after overseas Chinese media reported that the previous envoy had been arrested for passing secrets to Japan. The announcement by China's Foreign Ministry on Thursday was the first official confirmation that Beijing had replaced its previous envoy to Iceland, Ma Jisheng. New York-based Chinese language portal Mingjing News reported in September that Ma and his wife had been taken away by Chinese state security earlier this year. ...","Hagel rejects idea of Afghan drawdown flexibility. STUTTGART, Germany (AP) — Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel is rejecting suggestions that the military should have greater flexibility to rethink its complete withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2016 based on the conditions in the country.","Top Asian News at 10:00 a.m. GMT. KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Four military search planes were dispatched Thursday to determine whether two large objects bobbing in a remote part of the Indian Ocean are debris from the missing Malaysia Airlines flight. One of the objects spotted by satellite imagery was 24 meters (almost 80 feet) in length and the other was 5 meters (15 feet). There could be other objects in the area, a four-hour flight from Australia's southwestern coast, said John Young, manager of the Australian Maritime Safety Authority's emergency response division.","Syria state newspaper criticizes visiting UN envoy. DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — A Syrian state newspaper has criticized the United Nations envoy to Syria for pursuing a plan that involves halting fighting in certain areas of the war-ridden country.","Hong Kong woman faces additional charges in maid abuse case. By Alice Woodhouse and Venus Wu HONG KONG (Reuters) - A Hong Kong woman charged with assaulting her domestic helper was charged on Tuesday with failing to pay wages and not granting public holiday leave in a case that has triggered outrage and highlighted the rights of maids. Former beautician Law Wan-tung, 44, arrived at court in sunglasses and a surgical mask, shielding her face from the media with a newspaper. In January, prosecutors laid seven charges against Law including assault of Indonesian domestic helper Erwiana Sulistyaningsih and two other maids, also from Indonesia. Erwiana left Hong Kong in January for Indonesia where her doctors said burns on her body were caused by boiling water.","Li ends Bouchard dream to make Australian Open final. China's Li Na swept into her second consecutive Australian Open final on Thursday, using her all experience to brush aside Canadian teenager Eugenie Bouchard in straight sets. The fourth seed ended the 19-year-old's inspiring run at Melbourne Park 6-2, 6-4 and will play either fifth seed Agniezska Radwanska or 20th seed Dominika Cibulkova in Saturday's final. But Li has never taken the next step, beaten by Kim Clijsters in 2011 and agonisingly by Victoria Azarenka in the final last year, when she dramatically twice rolled her ankle and briefly blacked out. She now has a golden opportunity to win her second Grand Slam after overcoming Bouchard, who has turned heads and won plaudits from the tennis community with her composure and all-court game here.","Roma agree $10m Bradley deal with Toronto. Rome (AFP) - Roma agreed to sell US international midfielder Michael Bradley to Major League Soccer club Toronto for $10 million on Thursday.","Ferrari's revival tested by intriguing partnership. The biggest rivalry of the Formula One season might be found on the same team, with former world champions Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen racing with and against each other for Ferrari.","Revival for Japan's tsunami wrecked fishing ports. TONI, Japan (AP) — When the tsunami smashed the seafood processing factory where Shoichi Sato was working, he lost his job but eventually found a new life. Three years later, Sato is among the businessmen helping to bring back the fishing industry, long a mainstay livelihood for coastal towns along Japan's northeastern coast.","Kenya police: Car bombers linked to mall plotters. NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — A Kenyan police official says two men arrested with a car bomb on Kenya's coast nearly three weeks ago were in contact with plotters of the September terrorist attack on a Nairobi mall that killed at least 67 people.","Iraqi town holds out against militant juggernaut. BAGHDAD (AP) — As Islamic militants rampaged across northern Iraq in June, seizing vast swaths of territory and driving hundreds of thousands of people from their homes, the Shiite Turkmens living in the hardscrabble town of Amirli decided to stay and fight.","UN: Syrian children hardest hit by civil war. BEIRUT (AP) — The United Nations' agency for child protection says 5.5 million Syrian children have been affected by the civil war, losing lives, limbs, parents, teachers, schools, homes and virtually every aspect of their childhood.","Dissident Cuban blogger plans to launch digital paper. Cartagena (Colombia) (AFP) - Dissident Cuban blogger Yoani Sanchez said she plans to launch a digital newspaper in her homeland later this year, hoping it will strike a blow for press freedom on the Communist island. The prominent critic of Cuba's rulers, famed for her \"Generacion Y\" blog, said she wanted her new project to \"raise awareness of information.\" Cuba tightly regulates all media and regularly ranks near the bottom of the annual Press Freedom Index released by Reporters Without Borders each year. Sanchez was barred from traveling outside the island nation for many years by Cuban authorities.","Presbyterians in key moment on Israel, divestment. NEW YORK (AP) — The divestment movement against Israeli policy toward Palestinians could soon have one of its most significant American victories to date.","Iveco launches light truck to rival Mercedes. VENARIA REALE, Italy (AP) — Italian truckmaker Iveco has invested 500 million euros to redesign its flagship small truck for Europe, aiming to catch the upswing in the European truck market and seeking to rival market-leader Mercedes.","UN: still a way to go in Iran nuke probe. VIENNA (AP) — A senior U.N. nuclear inspector describes Iran's decision to answer some questions about its alleged work on nuclear weapons as encouraging.","Factbox: U.S. wins more pledges in war against Islamic State. (Reuters) - U.S. and Arab air forces struck Islamic State fighters in Syria for a third day on Thursday, as Washington won further pledges of military support for its battle against the radical group in neighboring Iraq. U.S. Central Command said Bahrain, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar have participated in or supported strikes against Islamic State targets since the opening day of the campaign in Syria on Tuesday. ...","Putin reserves right to use force in Ukraine as last resort. By Alexei Anishchuk NOVO-OGARYOVO, Russia (Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday defended Russia's right to send troops into Ukraine to protect compatriots living in \"terror\", but said he would only use force as a last resort. Breaking his silence since the removal of Russian-backed President Viktor Yanukovich from power, the former KGB spy defended a strategy that has drawn charges from the West that events in Ukraine have exposed his Cold War-style thinking. Looking relaxed, he tried to turn the tables on the West, wondering out loud what would result from Washington's latest experiment in democracy with \"lab rats\" in Ukraine. \"There can be only one assessment of what happened in Kiev, in Ukraine in general.","Mauritania opposition plans to boycott election. NOUAKCHOTT, Mauritania (AP) — A coalition of Mauritania's most prominent opposition parties says they will boycott next month's presidential election, complaining that opposition leaders were not sufficiently consulted before the date was set.","Once unthinkable, civil strife stalks tropical Thailand. By Amy Sawitta Lefevre BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thailand is hurtling towards a dark and unfamiliar place. That raises the chances of low-intensity civil strife wiping the grin off the \"Land of Smiles\" as Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra's grip on power appears to slip away. Critics have branded Yingluck a prime minister on the run due to her absence from Bangkok after she was hounded by protesters last week, adding to the uncertainty after some of the deadliest attacks since the protests began. In its strongest signal since the crisis began, the military said on Monday it would not step in despite a weekend of violence that saw five people killed, four of them children, in separate attacks in Bangkok and eastern Thailand.","Philippine rebels seize gold prospectors. Communist rebels waging one of Asia's longest running insurgencies seized dozens of prospectors in a remote Philippine gold rush site and used them as \"human shields\" against pursuing troops, a military official said Sunday. About 80 members of the New People's Army (NPA) \"prevented\" 39 miners, including four children, from leaving the mining site in Compostela Valley Saturday to stop troops from advancing and capturing them, regional army chief Lieutenant Colonel Michael Logico told AFP. \"They are using them as human shields. The mountainous area in the southern Philippines where the offensives took place is a mineral-rich site that has over the years attracted thousands of prospectors who operate illegal gold mines.","10 Islamists sentenced to death in Egypt. CAIRO (AP) — An Egyptian court has sentenced ten supporters of ousted President Mohammed Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood movement to death in absentia on charges of inciting violence and blocking a road last July.","Palestinian leadership pays price of Israel hunt for teens. A massive Israeli search and arrest operation in the occupied West Bank launched after the suspected abduction of three teenagers is sapping support for the Palestinian leadership, analysts say. Israel blames Islamist movement Hamas for the kidnappings and has detained most of its West Bank leaders in its crackdown but a mounting backlash in Palestinian public opinion is undermining the authority of president Mahmud Abbas. On Sunday night, angry youths torched a police station in the city, displaying growing anger at the search operation for the missing teenagers which has seen the army round up nearly 270 members of Hamas and lock down major city Hebron and other towns. It has been Israel's largest operation in the West Bank since the end of the second Palestinian intifada, or uprising, in 2005.","McDonald's February same-restaurant sales fall 0.3 percent. (Reuters) - McDonald's Corp on Monday reported a bigger-than-expected drop in comparable global sales at established restaurants for February, with competition and bad weather battering U.S. sales. The world's biggest restaurant chain by revenue said worldwide sales at restaurants open at least 13 months fell 0.3 percent last month. That was below analysts' average estimate for a fall of 0.1 percent, according to Consensus Metrix. (Reporting by Phil Wahba in New York; Additional reporting by Lisa Baertlein; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe in Los Angeles)","Exodus campaign to Berlin sparks outrage in Israel. A group of young Israeli expats have unleashed a storm of controversy back home by encouraging others to join them in Berlin, touching on two of the most sensitive issues in Israel: the country's high ...","Fire in China food plant kills at least 18. BEIJING (AP) — Chinese state media report that at least 18 people have died after a fire broke out in a carrot-packaging plant in eastern China.","Mortar shells hit northern Syrian city, killing 14. DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — A barrage of mortar shells hit government-held areas of the northern city of Idlib on Monday, killing 14 people and wounding at least 40, Syrian state media said.","Afghan journalist's baby survives hotel attack. KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Family members say the nearly 2-year-old son of a prominent Afghan journalist who was killed with the rest of his family in an attack on a Kabul attack has emerged from a coma after being shot five times by militants and is improving.","Dirty water raising health risk in flooded Kashmir. SRINAGAR, India (AP) — Experts worry a health crisis could be looming nearly two weeks after massive flooding engulfed much of Kashmir, with countless bloated livestock carcasses now floating across the waterlogged region.","Canada's medical marijuana market heats up as public listings near. By John Tilak TORONTO (Reuters) - Four Canadian medical marijuana producers are working on transactions that will allow them to go public in the next few weeks, according to industry sources and filings, giving investors fresh paths into a growing industry. Mettrum Ltd, OrganiGram Inc, Bedrocan Canada Inc and PharmaCan Capital, a holding company involved with three licensed producers, will join Tweed Marijuana Inc , now the only listed producer, on the TSX Venture Exchange (TSX-V). Once these companies become public, investors will be able to directly or indirectly own shares in seven, including the three associated with PharmaCan, of the 13 medical marijuana producers licensed by Health Canada. Several medical marijuana firms are listed on the less actively regulated over-the-counter market in the United States.","Obama authorizes airstrikes in Iraq. WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama says he has authorized the U.S. military to launch targeted airstrikes if Islamic militants advance toward American personnel in northern Iraq. He also has announced that the military carried out airdrops of humanitarian aid Thursday to Iraqi religious minorities threatened by the extremists.","Swedish premier says he will call snap elections after Parliament rejects government budget. COPENHAGEN, Sweden (AP) — Swedish premier says he will call snap elections after Parliament rejects government budget.","Dunga returns for second stint as Brazil coach. RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Brazil is bringing back Dunga to coach the national football team, four years after he was fired from the same job.","U.S. Sec of State Kerry says Iraqi leaders must regain citizens' confidence. US Secretary of State John Kerry said on Tuesday the Iraq's leaders need to regain the confidence of its citizens by taking steps to demonstrate its resolve. Kerry's comments in Sydney follow a statement from President Barack Obama that Iraq had taken \"a promising step forward\" in designating Haider al-Abadi as its new prime minister. The United States has supported the end of current Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's 8-year-rule, even as Maliki shows no sign of relinquishing power. It has blamed Maliki for failing to forge consensus and fuelling sectarian violence that is breaking Iraq apart.","Libyan militias extend ultimatum to parliament. TRIPOLI, Libya (AP) — Two powerful militias that earlier demanded that Libya's interim parliament step down or face arrest now say the country's political factions have 72 hours to resolve their crisis, while the United Nations urged Wednesday that the deadlock be resolved by holding new elections.","Ex-US soldier who killed Iraqi family hangs self. LOUISVILLE, Kentucky (AP) — A medical examiner says a former soldier hanged himself at a federal prison where he was serving life sentences for raping and killing a teenage Iraqi girl and using a shotgun to slay her family.","Zuccarello making name for Norwegian hockey in NHL. NEW YORK (AP) — Hockey rarely gets much attention in Norway, a skiing-obsessed nation that turns to soccer when the snow melts. Mats Zuccarello is changing that.","Pinto leaves Costa Rica; fails to agree contract. SAN JOSE, Costa Rica (AP) — Jorge Luis Pinto, who produced the surprise of the World Cup by coaching tiny Costa Rica to the quarterfinals, is leaving after failing to agree to a new contract.","2 teenagers leave Austria, seek to fight in Syria. VIENNA (AP) — Austrian police say they are conducting an international search for two teenage girls who left farewell letters announcing plans to \"fight for Islam\" in Syria.","Parties sign deal on new Czech coalition govt. PRAGUE (AP) — The left-wing Social Democrats, the first-place party in October's parliamentary election in the Czech Republic, have signed a deal with two other parties to form a new coalition government.","Bolivia's Morales urges troops to end their strike. Bolivian President Evo Morales on Friday urged striking members of the armed forces to return to their barracks, calling for a return to military \"discipline\" by the soldiers. Morales demanded that the troops end a strike that has lasted several days, calling their refusal to obey orders \"a betrayal of the homeland.\" \"A military without discipline, ceases to be a military,\" Morales declared at an event marking the anniversary of an army military college. \"The people need you,\" Morales pleaded to the soldiers and low-ranking officers.","Cuban outfielder Despaigne re-signs with Chiba Lotte. TOKYO (AP) — Cuban outfielder Alfredo Despaigne has re-signed with the Chiba Lotte Marines, inking a two-year deal with the Japanese Pacific League club.","3 Libya soldiers killed in clashes with Islamists. Benghazi (Libya) (AFP) - At least three Libyan soldiers were killed in clashes Wednesday with Islamists in the eastern city of Benghazi, a medic said, as the country voted in parliamentary elections aimed at ending chronic violence.","Matches to start late for Hillsborough anniversary. LONDON (AP) — English football matches will start seven minutes later than scheduled over the weekend of April 11-14 to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Hillsborough disaster.","Croatian mayor detained on suspicion of corruption. ZAGREB, Croatia (AP) — Authorities in Croatia say that the mayor of the capital, Zagreb, has been arrested on suspicion of corruption.","3 Secret Service agents benched before Obama trip. WASHINGTON (AP) — The Secret Service sent three agents home from the Netherlands just before President Barack Obama's arrival after one agent was found inebriated in an Amsterdam hotel, the Secret Service said Tuesday.","Cricket-Australia 217-9 in 50 overs v England - fifth ODI. Jan 26 (Reuters) - Australia made 217 runs for nine wickets in their 50 overs in the fifth and final one-day international against England in Adelaide on Sunday. Scores: Australia 217-9 in 50 overs (George Bailey 56; Stuart Broad 3-31, Ben Stokes 3-43) v England (Compiled by Sudipto Ganguly; editing by Nick Mulvenney)","Ciganda, Granada tied for lead at LPGA finale. NAPLES, Fla. (AP) — Michelle Wie suddenly is in a position to consider a million ways how a great year can get even better.","Europe set to add names to Russia sanctions list, weigh energy issues. By Luke Baker and Adrian Croft BRUSSELS (Reuters) - European leaders will agree to expand a list of those subject to travel bans and asset freezes on Thursday but stop short of harder-hitting measures against Russia over Crimea, biding their time to retain EU unity and gauge Moscow's reaction. With Russian officials so far mocking the EU's response to the seizure of Crimea, leaders are expected add around a dozen names to the 21 Russians and Crimeans placed under EU travel bans and asset freezes last week. While agreeing to expand the list to include figures closer to Putin would be a step forward, it is a long way short of the powerful financial and trade sanctions diplomats and analysts say are needed to make Moscow pay attention. German Chancellor Angela Merkel said a discussion of financial sanctions - what the EU refers to as phase three of its response - would take place at the summit, but no agreement on imposing the measures is expected.","Kenya says kills militants after bus ambush that killed 28. By George Obulutsa NAIROBI (Reuters) - Kenyan security forces have pursued and killed more than 100 militants and destroyed their camp in Somalia after the ambush of a Nairobi-bound bus that killed 28 people, Deputy President William Ruto said on Sunday. Somalia's Islamist al Shabaab militants have claimed responsibility for the attack on Saturday, when gunmen ordered passengers on the bus to recite Koran verses and shot dead non-Muslims - 19 men and nine women - who could not. ...","Italy issues arrest warrants, seizes assets in Rome mafia crackdown. Italian police on Tuesday issued arrest warrants for 16 suspected mafia members and seized millions of euros in assets as part of a crackdown on organized crime clans in Rome. Police seized about 6 million euros ($8.26 million) in assets from the so-called Fasciani clan suspected of controlling criminal activity in Rome's seaside neighborhood of Ostia. The assets were acquired with money earned mainly through extortion and international drug trafficking, Renato Cortese, the head of Rome's mobile police squad, told reporters. While Italy's traditional crime groups - Sicily's Cosa Nostra, Calabria's 'Ndrangheta and the Naples Camorra - are all rooted in the deep south, a series of recent investigations has underlined their growing influence in the capital.","Trans-Pacific trade ministers say progress made but issues remain. Ministers in 12-nation Trans-Pacific trade talks said on Tuesday they have made progress trying to finalize a deal during a four-day meeting in Singapore but several issues remain, particularly questions over market access. \"While some issues remain, we have charted a path forward to resolve them\",\" said New Zealand Trade Minister Tim Groser, reading from a joint media release at the end of the meeting.","Turkey to grant Syrian refugees work permits. Turkey is to issue work permits for some of the 1.5 million Syrian war refugees it is hosting, its labour minister said on Thursday, dismissing fears it would harm local workers. \"We will grant a certain number of our Syrian brothers work permits to allow their employment within a legal framework, without hurting the local workforce,\" Faruk Celik told private NTV television. \"It will have absolutely no affect on the chances of our citizens getting a job,\" he added, responding to concerns that Syrian refugees would take jobs from Turkish citizens. He said the proportion of Syrian refugees in any given workplace will not be allowed to rise higher than 10 percent.","US indicts five in China military for hacking. The United States on Monday indicted five members of the Chinese military on charges they stole US secrets through hacking to help state-run companies, the Justice Department said. A grand jury filed charges against five people in the People's Liberation Army's shadowy Unit 61398 for allegedly stealing steel industry secrets to benefit Chinese state-owned companies. Attorney General Eric Holder said the charges were the first of their kind against state actors and should serve as \"a wake-up call.\" \"The indictment makes clear that state actors who engage in economic espionage, even over the Internet from faraway offices in Shanghai, will be exposed for their criminal conduct and sought for apprehension and prosecution in an American court of law,\" he said.","Cycling-Australia's Gerrans wins third Tour Down Under title. Australian Simon Gerrans stayed out of trouble in Sunday's final stage to finish ahead of compatriot Cadel Evans and become the first rider to win the Tour Down Under for a third time. German sprinter Andre Greipel won the 18-lap race around the 4.75km street circuit in Adelaide for his 16th tour stage win. Going into the last stage, 2006 and 2011 winner Gerrans held a one-second lead over 2011 Tour de France-winner Evans and was five seconds ahead of Italian Diego Ulissi. The overall standings for the top three remained unchanged after the sixth and final stage of the race in and around Adelaide.","Broadway welcomes 3 NFL stars - Randall Cobb, Joique Bell and Ahman Green. NEW YORK, N.Y. - Three current and former NFL stars — Randall Cobb, Joique Bell and Ahman Green — are about to get in touch with their inner thespian.","South Sudan government, rebels set for New Year's Day talks. By Carl Odera and Aaron Maasho JUBA (Reuters) - South Sudan's government and rebels are set for New Year's Day peace talks in Ethiopia's capital, Addis Ababa, to thrash out a ceasefire to end weeks of ethnic bloodletting in the world's newest state. Both sides agreed to a ceasefire on Tuesday, mediators said, but fighting between government troops and militias loyal to former Vice President Riek Machar raged in Bor, the capital of the vast Jonglei state and site of an ethnic massacre in 1991. \"I'm worried that the continued fighting in Bor might scupper the start of these talks,\" said Ethiopian Foreign Minister Dr. Tedros Adhanom, who is chairman of the regional Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) bloc that is mediating the talks. Western and regional powers have pushed both sides to end the fighting that has killed at least 1,000 people, cut South Sudan's oil output and raised fears of a full-blown civil war in the heart of a fragile region.","Gold medal swimmer Ye enrolls in top China college. BEIJING (AP) — China's two-time Olympic gold medalist swimmer Ye Shiwen has a new title: College freshman.","Korean Air to halt Kenya flights. SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Korean Air Lines Co. will suspend flights to Kenya in what it said Thursday is a measure to prevent the spread of Ebola.","Somali prime minister voted out of office by lawmakers: speaker. MOGADISHU (Reuters) - Somali lawmakers voted Prime Minister Abdiweli Sheikh Ahmed out of office on Saturday, the parliament speaker said, after a row with the president over a cabinet reshuffle that Western donors said threatened the war-torn nation's fragile recovery. \"The prime minister and his government are out of office,\" Speaker Mohamed Sheikh Osman Jawari said after 153 members of parliament voted against the premier and 80 backed him. It is the second time in a year that a prime minister was voted out. (Reporting by Feisal Omar; Writing by Edmund Blair; Editing by Louise Heavens)","Volunteers quietly help families of ferry's lost. JINDO, South Korea (AP) — The mother, slightly drunk, sits on the edge of a windblown dock and wails. A Buddhist monk approaches and wipes the tears from her face as she pours out her grief and longing for her missing son. He leads her away from the dock's edge and, as she weeps, chants Buddhist scriptures and sounds a wooden gong in a prayer for her son's return.","Diplomats: Syria can meet chemical weapons target. UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Diplomats say the head of the mission charged with destroying Syria's chemical weapons is telling the U.N. Security Council that Syria can still meet the April 27 deadline to remove all chemical agents from the country, but it is becoming increasingly challenging.","Search widened as Malaysia air probe finds scant evidence of attack. By Eveline Danubrata and Mark Hosenball KUALA LUMPUR/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The so-far fruitless search for a missing Malaysian airliner entered its fourth day on Tuesday, as sources in Europe, the United States and Asia voiced growing skepticism that the flight lost with 239 people on board was the target of an attack. The massive search has drawn in navies, military aircraft, coastguard and civilian vessels from 10 nations, but failed to turn up any trace of the Boeing 777-200ER that vanished about an hour into a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing early on Saturday. \"Until now, with all of our efforts, there is very little hope for any good news about this plane,\" said the head of Vietnam's search and rescue effort, Pham Quy Tieu. The search was widened on Tuesday to a larger swathe of the Gulf of Thailand and the South China Sea, around where the plane lost radio contact and vanished from radar screens.","Woods stumbles to a 77 in his return. WINDERMERE, Fla. (AP) — Tiger Woods returned to golf Thursday and it was as if he never left — except that he looked healthy.","Iran hails Palestinian truce, but silent on unity government. DUBAI (Reuters) - Iran, a staunch enemy of Israel, greeted on Saturday the reconciliation pact between the two main Palestinian factions, but kept silent on their deal for a unity government. \"The Islamic Republic of Iran welcomes any act of unity, solidarity and national reconciliation among Palestinians against the Zionist occupiers,\" foreign ministry spokeswoman Marzieh Afkham said in comments carried by Iranian media. But she made no direct reference to the deal between Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and militant group Hamas for a unity government. ...","Canadian couple set up agency to help fund North Korean aid trips: friend. By Nicole Mordant and Cameron French VANCOUVER/TORONTO (Reuters) - A Canadian couple detained in China amid spying allegations made regular trips to deliver goods to North Korea, their close friend and pastor said on Wednesday, and set up a British Columbia-based organization to collect funds for their work. Rich Kao, head minister at a small church just outside Vancouver that backs the Garratt's North Korea-focused charity, North Star Aid, said the trips were humanitarian ventures. Kao said the Garratts, who moved to China in 1984, had been doing missionary work in the country but came back to Canada about seven years ago. Soon after, they joined his church and then launched North Star Aid, the North Korea-focused aid group that has come under the spotlight since news of the Garratts' detention emerged.","Indonesia election poll shows no easy PDI-P win, rise in Islamic party support. In another surprise, Islamic parties appeared to have won more support than predicted. Though Indonesia is home to the world's largest Muslim population, many analysts thought Islamic parties were losing their appeal because of graft scandals and the greater popularity of more pluralist parties. The main opposition Indonesian Democratic Party-Struggle (PDI-P) had been expected to easily win enough votes to nominate popular Jakarta governor Joko Widodo, who is widely known as Jokowi, as its candidate in a July presidential election.","Ukrainian policeman dies from gunshot wound: ministry. KIEV (Reuters) - A Ukrainian policeman has died from a gunshot wound to the neck in clashes with anti-government protesters on Tuesday, the Interior Ministry said in a statement. (Reporting by Pavel Polityuk and Marcin Goettig)","Turkish opposition candidate congratulates Erdogan on election result. ISTANBUL (Reuters) - The main opposition candidate in Turkey's first presidential election congratulated Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan on Sunday after results broadcast by Turkish media showed Erdogan had won. \"I congratulate Mr Prime Minister and wish him success,\" Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu said in a brief statement to reporters in Istanbul. (Reporting by Ece Toksabay; Writing by Nick Tattersall)","'Best lead' in plane search: 2 objects seen in sea. KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — A freighter used searchlights early Friday to scan rough seas in one of the remotest places on Earth after satellite images detected possible pieces from the missing Malaysia Airlines plane in the southern Indian Ocean.","Kosovo rations water amid worst drought in decades. Kosovo started rationing water in and around its capital Pristina on Monday as it struggled with its worst shortages in at least three decades, officials said. Unusually low levels of snowfall and rain had left reservoirs at worrying levels, said state water company Prishtina.","Bombings and shootings kill 14 in Iraq. BAGHDAD (AP) — Bombings and shootings killed 14people in areas around the Iraqi capital on Monday, authorities said.","Russia sacrifices Gazprom profit for politics in Ukraine: analysts. By Vladimir Soldatkin and Denis Pinchuk MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia's top natural gas producer, Gazprom, will eventually lose more than it gains from raising the gas price for Ukraine by 80 percent, analysts said on Friday, predicting Kiev would cut purchases and fail to pay in full. Gazprom on Thursday announced a price rise for Ukraine to $485 per 1,000 cubic metres, the second increase in three days. The $485 price is the highest of any Gazprom customer and compares with around $370 on average for clients in the European Union. Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk said the increase, two weeks after Moscow annexed Ukraine's Crimea region, was unacceptable and warned he expected Russia to step up pressure by limiting supplies to Ukraine.","War-hit Ukraine schools turns to Web for education. DONETSK, Ukraine (AP) — Like most children his age, Denis Akimov spends hours daily on his computer surfing the Internet. It isn't just for fun.","Reuven Rivlin: the affable face of Israel's far right. Reuven Rivlin, who was sworn in on Thursday as Israel's 10th president, is a far-right hawk with a quirky sense of humour who is known as the guard-dog of democracy. Popular and affable, 74-year-old \"Ruby\" Rivlin was a veteran member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's rightwing Likud party and a former parliament speaker. He has made no secret of his vision of a Greater Israel encompassing all the territory between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean. \"Rivlin won't be the State of Israel's president, but Greater Israel's president,\" wrote commentator Ari Shavit in Haaretz newspaper about the largely ceremonial post.","Ackman to Allergan board: Valeant can pay more for company. BOSTON (Reuters) - Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc can pay \"substantially\" more for Allergan Inc and should get a fair shot at buying it, William Ackman, the Botox maker's biggest shareholder, said on Friday. Ackman said this in a letter to Allergan's board the day after the company said it was discussing a merger with another company, widely reported to be Actavis, to fend off hostile bidder Valeant. Ackman, whose hedge fund Pershing Square Capital Management owns nearly 10 percent of Allergan, asked the board to see which suitor comes up with the best offer. ...","Riots in Vietnam leave 1 Chinese dead, 141 injured. HANOI, Vietnam (AP) — A 1,000-strong mob stormed a Taiwanese steel mill in Vietnam overnight, killing a Chinese worker and injuring 141 others, Taiwan's ambassador and police said Thursday, the first deadly incident in a wave of unruly anti-China protests prompted by Beijing's deployment of an oil rig in disputed seas.","U.S., Saudi Arabia, UAE strike modular oil refineries in Syria. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States was joined by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates in striking modular oil refineries in eastern Syria on Wednesday, in an effort to choke off Islamic State finances, officials said. One U.S. official told Reuters that such refineries could produce about $2 million a day in oil revenue. Modular refineries are pre-fabricated and constructed off-site so they can be transported and made operational quickly. (Reporting by Phil Stewart; Editing by Sandra Maler and Ros Krasny)","Celtic 21 points clear in Scotland after rout. GLASGOW, Scotland (AP) — Leigh Griffiths scored a hat trick as Celtic hit back following the first loss in its Scottish Premier League title defense with a 5-0 victory over Inverness on Saturday.","Turkey labels YouTube leak a pre-election 'plot'. Turkey vowed action Friday against the source of a bugged recording of a security meeting on Syria leaked on YouTube, labelling it a conspiratorial \"plot\" ahead of key local elections. \"Such a cyber attack in a meeting in which military and security options are being discussed is no different than a military attack,\" charged Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, as prosecutors launched a probe into the eaves-dropping. \"We will take action against those who want to throw Turkey into chaos with political plotting,\" said Davutoglu, one of the purported figures heard in the recording of the high-level meeting. The social media release of the audio file was the latest targeting Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's government after a spate of other leaked recordings indicated a vast corruption scandal.","Kerry says Russia lacks positive steps in Ukraine. WASHINGTON (AP) — Secretary of State John Kerry is telling the Russian foreign minister that he is deeply concerned over what he describes as the lack of positive steps by the Russians to de-escalate the situation on the ground in eastern Ukraine.","Italy hails its fitness after beating England. MANGARATIBA, Brazil (AP) — If there was one image that summed up Italy's win over England, perhaps it was when midfielder Raheem Sterling dropped to the pitch in the second half due to cramps and Azzurri players Giorgio Chiellini and Claudio Marchisio were the first to come over and help him stretch out his legs.","The cups overflow in September. ATLANTA (AP) — The losing captain — usually an American — is an easy scapegoat at the Ryder Cup. Now he at least has an accomplice.","Iraqi airstrikes target Sunni militants. BAGHDAD (AP) — A spokesman for Iraqi counterterrorism forces says government airstrikes have targeted a group of Sunni militants trying to overrun the country's largest oil refinery, and claims as many as 30 insurgents were killed.","Canada's plan to defang would-be jihadists at home. By Richard Valdmanis OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canadian law enforcement officials plan to use counseling to help stop would-be jihadists and could even help them find jobs - an effort that has added urgency after Muslim converts killed two soldiers in separate attacks in Canada last week. The effort is being modeled on Britain's de-radicalization program, dubbed Prevent, which was implemented after the 2005 London bombings in which four young Britons killed 52 people. Prevent, however, has been widely criticized as ineffective. ...","Obama seeks $5.6B to fight Islamic State rebels. WASHINGTON (AP) — Congressional officials say they're expecting a more than $5 billion administration request to pay for munitions and other military requirements to combat Islamic State militants who have seized control of large swaths of Iraq and Syria.","SOCHI SCENE: Amid fans, the dead. SOCHI, Russia (AP) — Stadiums, the Olympic torch, food stalls - what else can you expect to see in an Olympic park? In Sochi: a cemetery.","Would-be bomber who caused Stockholm lock-down gives up to police. A man who had threatened to set off explosives in the heart of Stockholm on Thursday gave himself up and was taken away by police, a spokesman said. Police had sealed off large parts of the capital city and evacuated buildings as they negotiated with the man who said he was carrying explosives and had barricaded himself inside a building near the headquarters of the main government party. \"He came out, he showed he wasn't dangerous and he could be detained without drama, and he has now been taken away from there ... What remains for us is to search the premises to make sure there are no dangerous objects,\" police spokesman Kjell Lindgren said.","UN committee blasts Vatican on sex abuse, abortion. VATICAN CITY (AP) — The Vatican \"systematically\" adopted policies that allowed priests to rape and molest tens of thousands of children over decades, a U.N. human rights committee said Wednesday, urging it to open its files on pedophiles and bishops who concealed their crimes.","Renegade Libyan forces say their planes attack Tripoli again. By Heba al-Shibani and Ayman al-Warfalli TRIPOLI/BENGHAZI Libya (Reuters) - The air force of Libya's renegade general Khalifa Haftar on Saturday attacked positions of Islamist-leaning militia in Tripoli for the second time in less than a week, one of his commanders said. The faction under attack, Operation Dawn mainly from the town of Misrata, said the raids had killed 10 people and wounded dozens. Haftar launched a campaign against Islamists in the eastern city of Benghazi in May. He threw his weight behind fighters from the western region of Zintan who are battling militia from the town of Misrata, east of Tripoli. In the 2011 NATO-backed campaign to oust Muammar Gaddafi fighters from Zintan and Misrata were comrades-in-arms but they later fell out and this year they have turned parts of Tripoli into a battlefield.","Kittel wins 2nd stage of inaugural Dubai Tour. PALM ISLAND ATLANTIS, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Marcel Kittel outsprinted rival Peter Sagan to win the second stage of the Dubai Tour, and American rider Taylor Phinney took third to pad his overall lead on Thursday.","U.S. health experts in Dallas reviewing potential Ebola exposure. By Susan Heavey WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. health experts in Dallas on Wednesday were examining how many people may have been exposed to Ebola, just one day after the first case of the deadly virus was diagnosed in the United States, the nation's top public health official said. The review came after health officials on Tuesday said a man who flew from Liberia to Texas had Ebola, the first confirmation that the outbreak devastating West Africa has reached the United States. ...","From cradle to grave, Japan's Kewpie adapts menu to feed ageing nation. By Minami Funakoshi TOKYO (Reuters) - Back in 1960, Japan's Kewpie Corp began selling canned baby food, sensing a chance to catch a wave of young families raising kids in an economy roaring back to growth after the devastation of World War Two. Almost 55 years later, the Tokyo-based company sees a new opportunity opening up in rapidly ageing Japan as parents who brought kids up on Kewpie approach their sunset years - what it calls \"nursing care food\" for the elderly. Kewpie says it's on the brink of turning a profit on a range of stewed or pureed ready-to-eat meals called \"Gentle Menu\", currently sold in specialist sections of drugstores and a small number of supermarkets. Known for its signature baby mascot and mayonnaise, Kewpie estimates it now accounts for roughly 70 percent of sales in a niche food market in Japan worth nearly $30 million.","UN chief warns against aiding Central African Republic militias. By Michelle Nichols UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon warned on Monday against any support or facilitation of violence by armed groups in Central African Republic after Chadian troops were accused of opening fire on civilians and killing at least 10 people at the weekend. The shooting on Saturday was the latest in a string of violent incidents involving Chadian troops, who Central African Republic's anti-balaka Christian militia accuse of siding with Muslims and Seleka rebels and preying upon the local Christians. Ban also urged the quick establishment of a list of individuals to be sanctioned by the United Nations for undermining peace, stability and security in Central African Republic. \"The secretary-general is concerned by the latest upsurge in violence in the Central African Republic ... This further deterioration of the security situation in the country has resulted in additional fatalities, a high number of injured, and increased hardship for the population,\" Ban's statement said.","Pakistan peace talks stalled by soldier deaths. ISLAMABAD (AP) — A member of the Pakistani government committee tasked with negotiating with the Taliban says they have cancelled a scheduled round of talks after claims by militants that they killed 23 soldiers in their captivity.","5 Dutch regulars skip full training at World Cup. RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Five regular Dutch starters skipped full training for the Netherlands on Thursday as the team prepares for its Round-of-16 game against Mexico.","China loses WTO bid to overturn U.S. law against unfair subsidies. GENEVA (Reuters) - China lost its bid to overturn U.S. legislation targeting unfair trade subsidies on Thursday, its second defeat in a World Trade Organization dispute within 24 hours. A WTO dispute panel threw out China's claim that the U.S. \"Public Law 112-99\", signed by President Barack Obama in March 2012, broke world trade rules. But it won another part of the case, in which it had argued that the United States had been wrong to punish some Chinese exports twice over - once for being subsidized and once for being \"dumped\", or sold at unfairly cheap prices. ...","Libya militiaman released in Egypt after diplomats freed: sources. CAIRO (Reuters) - A Libyan militia commander was released in Egypt after Egyptian diplomats who had been kidnapped in Tripoli in reaction to his arrest were freed, Egyptian security sources said on Monday. Libyan and Egyptian government officials said there was no deal to free Shaban Hadia, who is also known as Abou Abeida, in exchange for the diplomats. (Reporting By Shadia Nasralla; Editing by Mike Collett-White)","Top Asian News at 6:00 a.m. GMT. WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — The Salvadoran man who says he spent more than a year drifting across the Pacific Ocean made a brief public appearance looking much weaker than he did earlier in the week. Jose Salvador Alvarenga greeted about 50 officials and media Thursday at the Marshall Islands Resort hotel where he is staying. Sporting a haircut and a shave, he was assisted into the room by two people while others stood by ready to help.","Lebanon detains wife of Islamic State leader. By Laila Bassam and Sylvia Westall BEIRUT (Reuters) - The Lebanese army detained a wife and daughter of Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi as they crossed from Syria nine days ago, security officials said on Tuesday, in a setback to the group as it comes under increased military pressure. The woman was identified her as Saja al-Dulaimi, an Iraqi, by a senior Lebanese political source and security official. The Lebanese newspaper As-Safir reported she had been detained in coordination with \"foreign intelligence\". ...","Bomb explodes on Musharraf's route from hospital. ISLAMABAD (AP) — A bomb struck along a route used by Pakistan's former President Pervez Musharraf, going off shortly after he drove by it on his way home from the hospital, a police official and the former ruler's spokeswoman said Thursday.","U.N. peacekeeper from Pakistan dies in Central African Republic ambush. ACCRA (Reuters) - A U.N. peacekeeper from Pakistan was killed and another peacekeeper was seriously wounded in an ambush in the capital of the Central African Republic on Thursday, the head of the U.N. mission (MINUSCA) told Reuters. Seven soldiers were also lightly wounded in an evening attack on the soldiers from Pakistan and Bangladesh who were on patrol in the KM-11 neighborhood of Bangui, said General Babacar Gaye by telephone. (Reporting by Matthew Mpoke Bigg; Editing by Chris Reese)","Man United job harder than I thought, Moyes admits. Manchester (United Kingdom) (AFP) - Manchester United manager David Moyes conceded that he was finding his job harder than he could have ever envisaged after a chastening 3-0 home defeat by bitter rivals Liverpool. The loss on Sunday was United's ninth of the Premier League campaign -- five of which have come at home -- and carried echoes of the 4-1 humiliation at Manchester City in September that foreshadowed the club's current struggles. The defending champions mustered just one shot on target in the entire game, while Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers claimed with some justification that his side \"could have scored five or six\". In the end the visitors had to content themselves with a brace of Steven Gerrard penalties and a late Luis Suarez strike.","Top aide to testify against ex-Israeli PM Olmert. JERUSALEM (AP) — A longtime aide to former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has agreed to turn state's witness against him just days before his verdict in a corruption case.","'Mad Men' creator to receive honorary Int'l Emmy. NEW YORK (AP) — \"Mad Men\" stars Christina Hendricks and John Slattery will be presenting a special award at the International Emmys Gala to the show's creator and executive producer Matthew Weiner who's preparing the final episodes of the 1960s Madison Avenue ad agency saga slated to air in spring 2015.","Ecuador coach Rueda wants to play 7 games at WCup. QUITO, Ecuador (AP) — Reinaldo Rueda couldn't control the tears when Ecuador striker Christian Benitez died suddenly from a heart problem last July.","Bond set for 1 of 3 asylum-seeking Afghan soldiers. BATAVIA, New York (AP) — A U.S. immigration judge set bond at $25,000 Wednesday for one of three Afghan military officers who face deportation after taking off from a Massachusetts training exercise last month to seek asylum.","US sends Guantanamo prisoner back home to Kuwait. MIAMI (AP) — A spokesman for the U.S. detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, says a Kuwaiti who has been held there for nearly 13 years in on his way back home.","Mexico bullfighter, others injured by \"smart\" bull. MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexican bullfighter Karla de los Angeles is vowing to return to the ring by mid-January, two days after she and several others were gored by what she described as a \"very smart\" bull.","Cilic, Rosol in Umag quarterfinals. UMAG, Croatia (AP) — Third-seeded Marin Cilic of Croatia beat Dutchman Igor Sijsling 7-5, 6-3 on Wednesday to reach the quarterfinals of the Croatia Open.","Rocket barrage from Gaza strikes Israel, but no one hurt: police. A heavy rocket barrage from the Gaza Strip struck southern Israel on Wednesday, police said, a day after Israeli forces killed three Palestinian militants in the enclave. In the Gaza Strip, the Islamic Jihad group claimed responsibility for the attack. \"It's a barrage such as we haven't seen for two years,\" Haim Yellin, a local municipal official in the south, said on Army Radio, which reported that some 30 rockets had been fired. Sirens sounded in parts of southern Israel to warn residents to take shelter.","South Africa 194-1 on day 1 vs. Sri Lanka. GALLE, Sri Lanka (AP) — Scores at tea Wednesday on the opening day of the first test between Sri Lanka and South Africa:","Syria: Iran sends 30,000 tons of food supplies. DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — Syrian state media say Iran has sent 30,000 tons of food supplies to help President Bashar Assad's government deal with shortages amid civil war.","Woods is back and still aiming high at Open. HOYLAKE, England (AP) — Tiger Woods was an early arrival to the British Open with hopes of avoiding an early departure.","US man pleads guilty to terrorism charges. JACKSONVILLE, Florida (AP) — A 20-year-old U.S. man has pleaded guilty to federal terrorism charges after authorities say he conspired to aid al-Qaida and traveled to the Middle East to join terrorist groups.","US launches charm offensive against wary India. NEW DELHI (AP) — Given a rare opportunity to lunch with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, Gaurav Dalmia was less interested Thursday in discussing the planned topics at hand, including climate change or even the trade dispute between India and the U.S. Instead, the Indian businessman was focused on Kerry himself — and whether he would be able to smooth over brittle relations between Washington and New Delhi for the sake of economic growth.","Ibrahimovic to miss return leg with thigh tear. PARIS (AP) — Paris Saint-Germain striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic will miss the return leg of the Champions League quarterfinals against Chelsea because of a thigh tear and faces several weeks out.","Crude in New Brunswick railcar derailment not from North Dakota. OTTAWA (Reuters) - The crude oil in the tanker cars that derailed in New Brunswick on Tuesday evening was from Western Canada and did not come from North Dakota, Canadian National Railway Co Chief Executive Claude Mongeau told a news conference on Wednesday. Pressed further on whether it might have been Bakken crude oil, he said: \"It's premature to talk about the exact content of each car, but the origin of the crude is from Western Canada. The destination was the refinery at Irving.\" (Reporting by Randall Palmer)","Wall collapse kills 11 workers in southern India. CHENNAI, India (AP) — An official says 11 people have been killed after the boundary wall of a warehouse collapsed in southern India.","The East is wed: China seeks brides for richer, for poorer. Their marriages were arranged for cash, but some of the Vietnamese women who have found unlikely Prince Charmings in remote Chinese villages say they are living happily ever after. \"Economically, life is better here in China,\" said Nguyen Thi Hang, one of around two dozen women from Vietnam who have married men in Linqi. The township is a patchwork of hamlets spaced among cornfields deep in the mountains of Henan, one of China's poorer provinces. It is some 1,700 kilometres (1,060 miles) away from Vietnam, but is a new market for an expanding -- and sometimes abusive -- marriage trade with Southeast Asia.","Ukraine loses at least $80 billion since Russia takes Crimea. By Natalia Zinets KIEV (Reuters) - Ukraine has lost at least $80 billion since Russia annexed its southern Crimea region and the price tag will be much higher when Kiev includes lost profits and the value of possible energy reserves in the Black Sea. Justice Minister Pavlo Petrenko said Kiev would press its case against Russia at the European Court of Human Rights and could take individuals to court for military crimes and those against its territorial integrity. \"Any state property located on the territory of Crimea is the property of Ukraine and Russia bears the full liability for the losses incurred by state companies, ministries and departments,\" Petrenko told a news conference. Ukraine, where a failing economy has been further weakened by months of upheaval, desperately needs to boost revenues and hopes to stave off bankruptcy by securing an aid package from the International Monetary Fund.","Honda, Mazda, Nissan issue recalls over airbags. TOKYO (AP) — Honda, Mazda and Nissan are recalling millions of vehicles globally for defective airbags manufactured by supplier Takata Corp. that could possibly explode.","With Lviv out, 3 cities left in race for '22 Games. LONDON (AP) — Three cities look certain to make the final cut in the race to host the 2022 Winter Olympics after the withdrawal of the Ukrainian bid from Lviv.","Australia prime minister says search for missing Malaysia plane enters new phase. By Matt Siegel SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said on Monday that it was highly unlikely any debris would be found on the ocean surface from a missing Malaysia Airlines jetliner, and that a new phase would now begin during which a much larger area of the ocean floor would be searched. (Reporting by Matt Siegel; Editing by Michael Urquhart)","US journalist returns home after Syria kidnapping. An American journalist held for nearly two years by militants linked to Al-Qaeda in Syria returned to the United States late Tuesday, two days after Qatar negotiated his release, his family said. Peter Theo Curtis, 45, was reunited with his mother Nancy Curtis at Boston Logan International Airport after flying from Tel Aviv to Newark, New Jersey. Curtis's family has said the Qatari government had repeatedly reassured them that it had not won his freedom through a cash payment, amid a growing debate over the US policy of refusing to pay ransoms to extremist groups. The freelance journalist and author was released on Sunday, less than a week after grisly footage emerged of the execution of another US hostage, journalist James Foley, by the Islamic State -- a separate group from the one that held Curtis.","Hard to make tweaks in time for Australian Open: Federer. By Ciaran Baynes BRISBANE (Reuters) - Roger Federer's new alliance with Stefan Edberg appears to be a sign he will be adopt a more aggressive game in 2014 but the Swiss believes it will be tough to make changes in time for this month's Australian Open. Federer's decision to bring Swede Edberg in to work alongside head coach Severin Luethi, along with a switch to a bigger racket, illustrates an unwillingness to accept the trend of the world's top pair Rafa Nadal and Novak Djokovic pounding him into submission from the baseline. There was little sign of a more pronounced net-game in Federer's 6-4 6-2 victory over Jarkko Nieminen at the Brisbane International on Wednesday and the Finn was able to blast passing shots wide of him when the Swiss did come forward. \"With your serve would be an idea, or with a second-serve chip and charge, or within the first couple shots of a point,\" said four-times Australian Open winner Federer.","As Ukraine mulls security, some say build a wall with Russia. By Timothy Heritage KIEV (Reuters) - Ukraine's leaders are puzzling over how to cut off Russian support for a separatist rebellion in the east of the country but one of its richest men thinks he has the answer. Billionaire businessman Ihor Kolomoisky has suggested building a wall along the almost 2,000 km (1,200-mile) land border with Russia to prevent fighters and weapons flooding in. The idea may sound absurd but Kolomoisky has offered to stump up 100 million euros ($136 million) to fund the two-meter (two-feet) high, 25-30 cm (10-12 inch) thick wall of reinforced steel, complete with electronic alarms, trenches and minefields. \"We can take on this project from start to finish,\" said Alexei Burik, deputy head of the Dnipropetrovsk region where Kolomoisky is the governor, offering to lead construction work.","Loss of Malaysia plane spurs calls to upload black box data to the 'cloud'. By Andrea Shalal WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The disappearance of a Malaysian plane has prompted calls for in-flight streaming of black box data over remote areas, but industry executives say implementing changes may be complex and costly. Mark Rosenker, former chairman of the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board, said this incident and the 2009 loss of an Air France flight in the Atlantic should spur reforms in what he described an outdated accident investigation process. Rosenker, a retired U.S. Air Force general, said finding a way to transmit limited information from flight data and cockpit voice recorders to a virtual \"cloud\" database would help authorities launch accident investigations sooner and locate a plane if it got into trouble while out of reach of ground-based radars. \"This is the second accident in five years where we've had to wait to get the black boxes back,\" Rosenker said.","Saudi sentenced to jail, lashes over Twitter libel: report. A Saudi court has sentenced a man convicted of defaming a Kuwaiti singer by accusing her on Twitter of adultery to three months in jail and 80 lashes, a news website reported Thursday. The Saudi national, apparently a fan of a rival pop star, was sentenced for \"accusing (Kuwaiti singer) Shams of adultery without providing proof,\" the Saudi Sabq news website cited the verdict as saying. The man was also jailed for three months and fined 10,000 riyals ($2,700), the news website said. Shams had filed a libel case against the man who owned a Twitter account titled in Arabic \"the lawyer of Queen Ahlam,\" another Gulf pop star.","Mexico nabs No. 2 in Beltran Leyva gang. MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexican police say they have captured a man identified as the second highest-ranking figure in the once-powerful Beltran Leyva drug cartel.","McCartneys and wellies at London Fashion Week. LONDON (AP) — The sun's out, and so are the celebrities, style mavens and paparazzi. London Fashion Week turned up the heat on its second day, with a hectic schedule of catwalk shows that drew stars to the front rows and had editors scurrying from one end of London to the other to see the latest trends.","Iran coach blasts referee over waving away penalty. BELO HORIZONTE, Brazil (AP) — Iran coach Carlos Queiroz has questioned how the referee in Saturday's defeat by Argentina will be able to sleep at night after ignoring claims for a penalty.","German midwife suspected of attempted murders. BERLIN (AP) — Police in Germany have arrested a midwife on suspicion of attempted murder, alleging that she administered a blood thinner to women undergoing cesarean sections.","Ukraine neighbors make proposals to diffuse crisis. BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — Poland's prime minister says the European Union should \"act consistently\" to help solve the crisis in Ukraine, which has been shaken by two months of anti-government protests.","Dujmovits rallies for women's parallel slalom gold. KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia (AP) — Julia Dujmovits of Austria inched past Germany's Anke Karstens at the finish to win gold in women's snowboarding parallel slalom on Saturday.","Kasparov likens Putin to Hitler, urges West to act. WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Russian chess master and political activist Garry Kasparov has compared President Vladimir Putin's \"one-man dictatorship\" to the rule of Adolf Hitler, warning that if the West fails to stop him now the price to do so could get much higher.","Children of Ebola dead shunned by families: UNICEF. Dakar (AFP) - Thousands of children who have lost parents to the west African Ebola epidemic risk are being shunned by frightened and suspicious relatives, the UN children's fund said on Tuesday.","Zawahiri treated me in Kabul, American tells US trial. An American Islamist told Thursday of how Osama bin Laden's then deputy treated him for a cold with honey and seeds, as a New York trial heard intriguing new details of everyday life inside Al-Qaeda. Egyptian doctor Ayman al-Zawahiri, credited with being the brains behind the extremist network, became as head of Al-Qaeda when Bin Laden was killed by US troops three years ago. James Ujaama, 48, told the trial of British hate preacher Abu Hamza that he fell ill with a \"very bad cold\" while in Kabul in late 2000, a year before the September 11 attacks on New York and Washington \"He gave me some honey and black seed,\" Ujaama told the Manhattan court where Abu Hamza is on trial for 11 kidnapping and terror charges.","Dutch mayor urges action on returning jihadis after arrests. By Thomas Escritt AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Dutch cities need more powers to tackle battle-hardened jihadis returning home from the Middle East, a mayor said on Thursday, a day after authorities announced the arrest of 12 people with suspected links to militant Islamists. Thousands of Western volunteers have traveled to Syria and Iraq to join militant groups such as Islamic State, triggering fears among European governments and security forces that returning fighters may carry out attacks on their home turf. ...","Obama urges Europe to recommit amid Ukraine crisis. BRUSSELS (AP) — Calling it a global \"moment of testing,\" President Barack Obama appealed to Europeans on Wednesday to recommit to the war-won ideals of freedom and human dignity, declaring that people voicing those values will ultimately triumph in Ukraine.","John Paul biographer, aide defend sex abuse record. VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope John Paul II's biographer and longtime spokesman are trying to defend his record on sex abuse against evidence that he grasped the scale of the scandal only late in his papacy.","US figure skater Jason Brown 9th in 1st Olympics. SOCHI, Russia (AP) — Imagine what Jason Brown could accomplish with a quadruple jump in his repertoire. Add that most difficult of elements to his programs, and the American teen could go from finishing ninth in his first Olympics to winning major championships.","Landslide gains speed, threatens Wyoming resort homes. A slow-moving landslide threatening the affluent Wyoming community of Jackson is picking up speed, with safety concerns prompting authorities to halt efforts to stabilize the area, city officials said on Friday. The landslide has displaced residents of several homes and two apartment buildings near the base of the East Gros Ventre Butte, which geologists said was slumping at a rate that this week increased to a foot a day from four inches. \"The fractured mass wants to slide down and gravity is pulling it down,\" said Peter Ward, a retired geologic hazards expert with the U.S. Geological Survey.","Head of sunken ferry's owner in S. Korea detained. SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korean prosecutors say they have detained the head of the company that owns the ferry that sank last month over an allegation of cargo overloading.","New Zealand all-rounder Cairns appears in court on perjury charge. London (AFP) - New Zealand cricket great Chris Cairns appeared in a London court on Thursday charged with perjury relating to a libel action he brought in England in 2012.","Saudi border guard killed in clashes near Yemen. RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) — Saudi Arabia's Interior Ministry says two Saudi border guards have been killed by unidentified gunmen who fired shots from inside Yemen.","Bombs hit near shuttered Egypt, UAE embassies in Libya. Twin car bombs struck near the shuttered Egyptian and United Arab Emirates embassy buildings in the militia-controlled Libyan capital on Thursday, an AFP correspondent and a UAE official said. Two guards posted outside the empty Egyptian embassy compound were wounded in the first blast, Libya's LANA news agency reported. Three more posted outside the empty UAE compound were wounded in the second, a senior official told AFP in Abu Dhabi. Both governments are considered hostile by the Islamist-led militias which seized Tripoli in August in an offensive during which UAE warplanes carried out strikes against them from neighbouring Egypt.","Iran's parliament votes out moderate minister. TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iranian lawmakers dismissed the country's science minister on Wednesday over his alleged support for pro-Western voices at universities, dealing a blow to moderate President Hassan Rouhani.","Australian mosquito appears in California. MONTEREY PARK, California (AP) — Officials say an Australian mosquito has made what is believed to be its first U.S. appearance in the Los Angeles area.","China's Xi presides over business deals in Germany. BERLIN (AP) — Chinese President Xi Jinping presided over the signing of a string of deals with automakers and others as he started a visit to Germany on Friday, while Chancellor Angela Merkel prodded him on the importance of free speech.","Haunting memories 70 years since Warsaw Uprising. WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Kazimierz Mikos ran down a Warsaw street, zig-zagging to avoid the bullets that whizzed past him. As the 14-year-old ran for his life, he was struck with terror at the sight of a dead body in the street. Even after the scrape with death, the teen volunteered for a heroic Polish struggle against the Nazis — becoming a messenger and a guard.","UN probe finds 'gross rights violations' in C. Africa. UN investigators in the Central African Republic have found a litany of gross human rights violations including killings committed by both sides in the conflict, the world body's rights chief said Tuesday. \"The widespread lawlessness and gross human rights violations highlighted in these preliminary findings confirm the need for urgent action and accountability,\" Navi Pillay, the UN high commissioner for human rights, said in a statement. Pillay is to present the investigators' findings at a special session of the UN Human Rights Council on the Central African Republic next Monday. Her spokesman Rupert Coville said the four-member team deployed in the impoverished country from December 12-24 found a \"cycle of widespread human rights violations and reprisals\".","Two explosions rock Giza district near Cairo: state TV. CAIRO (Reuters) - Two explosive devices detonated on Friday in a Cairo suburb, state television reported. A security source told Reuters the explosions occurred near a police station in Giza, a large district on the outskirts of Cairo. The source said that three people were injured. (Reporting By Maggie Fick; Editing by John Stonestreet)","Kagawa selection dilemma hangs over Japan. CUIABA, Brazil (AP) — Alberto Zaccheroni is facing arguably the most important team selection of his four-year tenure in Japan, and once again it revolves around whether to start star playmaker Shinji Kagawa.","Putin G20 decision some way off: Australia. A decision on whether Russian leader Vladimir Putin should be invited to the G20 summit in November is still some way off, host Australia said Wednesday, with NATO allies to be consulted this week. Australia's trade minister warned on Tuesday that opposition to Putin's presence at the Group of 20 meeting in Brisbane was growing over Russia's action in Ukraine. Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said she would be speaking with NATO members at their summit in Wales to canvas opinion, but there was time for the Russian president to prove why he should still be at the table.","Pacific castaway says dreams of family, food sustained him. Majuro (Marshall Islands) (AFP) - A castaway who says he survived 13 months adrift in the Pacific said Tuesday he thought about suicide but was sustained by dreams of eating his favourite food -- tortillas -- and reuniting with his family. Fisherman Jose Salvador Alvarenga also described being forced to dump the body of his teenage companion overboard when he starved to death, but said his own strong religious faith helped as he drifted some 12,500 kilometres (8,000 miles) from Mexico to the Marshall Islands. The stockily built Alvarenga looked in remarkably good physical shape when he arrived in the Marshalls capital Majuro five days after landing on the remote Ebon Atoll. Speaking from hospital Alvarenga said he would dream of eating all his favourite foods as he drifted across the Pacific.","Radio reporter slain at his home in northern Peru. LIMA, Peru (AP) — Peruvian authorities are investigating the slaying of a radio reporter whose body was found with indications of torture in a northern coastal city plagued by crime and corruption.","TSX steady as U.S. data offset by China fears, Empire Co drop. By John Tilak TORONTO (Reuters) - Canada's main stock index was little changed on Thursday as bullish economic signals from the United States were undermined by data from China and a decline in shares of grocery chain operator Empire Co Ltd . In China, growth in investment, retail sales and factory output slipped to multiyear lows, reinforcing concerns raised by a recent wave of weak economic figures in the world's second-biggest economy. Data showing that the number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits dropped to a three-month low last week failed to lift investor sentiment. Despite Thursday's modest decline, the Toronto stock market's benchmark index is up about 5 percent this year, increasing concern among some investors that its runup could result in a correction.","Business trip to Iran \"not helpful\", Kerry tells France. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry has told his French counterpart a trip to Iran by French business executives was \"not helpful\" and gave the wrong impression that Tehran was open for business as usual, a U.S. official said. Under an interim deal reached between Iran and six world powers last November, Tehran agreed to limit parts of its nuclear program in exchange for the easing of some international sanctions. The relaxation in penalties has triggered a race among Western firms to explore lucrative business opportunities. On Monday Iran welcomed more than 100 executives from France's biggest firms - Paris's most senior trade delegation in years.","Tiger suspected of killing three shot dead in India. Forest officials in southern India have shot dead a tiger suspected of killing three people, ending its three-week reign of terror which forced dozens of schools to close, police said Thursday. Forest workers spotted and shot the female tiger in a tea plantation in Tamil Nadu state after trying to trap it with the help of elephants and sniffer dogs, motion detection cameras and cages laced with meat. The tiger had killed a woman working on the tea plantation in Nilgiris district last week -- the third victim since January 4 -- prompting 45 schools and popular holidaymaker resorts in the area to shut down. \"Last evening, we spotted the animal in a forest area near a village and had to shoot it,\" Nilgiris police chief Senthil Kumar told AFP from the area, some 50 kilometres (30 miles) from the city of Coimbatore.","Samsung earnings hit by slowing China sales. SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Samsung Electronics Co. said operating profit declined to a two-year low in the second quarter, hit by the strong local currency and slowing demand for smartphones in China.","Villa draws 0-0 with Southampton in Premier League. BIRMINGHAM, England (AP) — Aston Villa ended a difficult week by earning a valuable point with a 0-0 draw against Southampton in the Premier League on Saturday to end a four-game losing streak.","Israeli military says it has launched ground operation in Gaza Strip. JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli military says it has launched ground operation in Gaza Strip.","Biden at center of US diplomacy with Ukraine. WASHINGTON (AP) — Two days before he fled Ukraine's capital, President Viktor Yanukovych huddled on the phone for more than an hour with Vice President Joe Biden, his primary conduit with the U.S. government throughout the political crisis consuming the former Soviet republic.","Baby killed by Palestinian driver in Jerusalem was American: U.S.. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A 3-month-old baby killed in Jerusalem when a Palestinian man slammed his car into pedestrians was an American, the U.S. State Department said on Thursday. Eight other people were hurt on Wednesday when the driver crashed the vehicle at a light railway stop and then fled before being shot by police, officials said. He later died of his injuries. \"The baby was an American citizen,\" State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki told reporters in a briefing on Thursday. She gave no other details on the infant or the family, citing privacy concerns. U.S. ...","Campaigners push for pacifist Japanese to win Nobel Peace Prize. Campaigners are pushing for Japan's population to win this year's Nobel Peace Prize in a nod to the country's long-held pacifism, even as Tokyo controversially expands the scope of the military in a move that has sparked protests at home. By Friday, the group had amassed a support petition with more than 150,000 names, and organisers say Japan's 128-million residents are now among the possible candidates for the prestigious award. It was not possible to nominate Japan's pacifist constitution -- put in place after the end of World War II -- so activists moved to get the peace-loving population on the prize list instead. \"The idea came to me when I was watching a TV report about the Nobel Peace Prize awarded to the European Union,\" she told AFP.","Pentagon says 20,000 Russian troops may be in Crimea. The Pentagon on Friday estimated as many as 20,000 Russian troops may be in Crimea but acknowledged its information was imperfect, as U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel praised the restraint of Ukrainian forces. Russian President Vladimir Putin denies that the forces with no national insignia that are surrounding Ukrainian troops in their bases are under Moscow's command. Pentagon spokesman Rear Admiral John Kirby, asked about the number of Russian forces in Crimea, cited estimates of up to around 20,000 of them. Ukraine's border guards have put the figure far higher.","US seizes ancient Roman sarcophagus lid in NYC. NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. officials have seized an ancient Roman sarcophagus lid from a New York City storage facility on behalf of Italian officials who say it was looted from Italy decades ago.","Lebanon presidential vote postponed to May 15. Lebanon's parliament will hold a new session on May 15 to try to choose a president, after the Hezbollah-led bloc boycotted Wednesday's meeting, leaving lawmakers without the necessary quorum. \"Speaker Nabih Berri has announced May 15 as the next date for a parliament session, given the lack of quorum Wednesday,\" said a statement published by the official National News Agency. President Michel Sleiman's mandate expires on May 25, and Lebanon is coming close to being left without a president at all, given the lack of consensus between the country's two rival blocs, one led by Hezbollah and the other by pro-Western parties. Lebanon is sharply divided over the conflict in neighbouring Syria, where Hezbollah is fighting alongside Syrian troops.","Former Myanmar religion minister jailed for 13 years: lawyer. By Paul Mooney YANGON (Reuters) - A former minister of religious affairs in Myanmar was sentenced to 13 years in prison on Friday on charges of misappropriation of state funds and sedition, his lawyer said. Hsan Hsint, who was sacked on June 19, was handed a 10-year prison term and 100,000 kyat ($100) fine for sedition, lawyer Tin Tun told Reuters, and an additional three-year sentence for a charge of siphoning off state funds worth $10,000. Tin Tun said prosecutors failed to provide concrete evidence of Hsan Hsint's guilt. ...","Softbank quarterly profit up despite Sprint woes. TOKYO (AP) — Softbank Corp. says its July-September profit more than doubled despite costs for job cuts at money-losing U.S. mobile operator Sprint Corp., in which it owns a majority stake.","Israel reassures Jordan on Al-Aqsa as extremists rally. Israel on Thursday promised Jordan that it would not allow Jews to pray at Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa mosque compound as scores of Jewish extremists tried to march to the flashpoint shrine. With clashes raging in several Palestinian neighbourhoods in annexed east Jerusalem, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke by phone with Jordan's King Abdullah II to personally reassure him there would be no changes to the decades-old status quo.","Australia all out for 154 in 2nd ODI vs. SAfrica. PERTH, Australia (AP) — Australia was dismissed for 154, batting first Sunday in the second one-day cricket international against South Africa at the WACA Ground:","Top Asian News at 12:00 a.m. GMT. WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — The manager for banned U.S. rap group Odd Future says Tyler, The Creator, and his fellow members in the collective have changed over time and aren't being given credit for growing up. New Zealand immigration authorities Thursday banned the Los Angeles rappers from entering the country after deciding they pose a threat to public order. The group was due to play an open-air concert with headline act Eminem on Saturday in Auckland.","Allardyce gets Hammers backing. West Ham manager Sam Allardyce received something close to the dreaded vote of confidence from the club's co-chairmen on Monday following the Premier League club's embarrassing 5-0 FA Cup defeat by second-tier Nottingham Forest. In an open letter on the east London club's website, David Gold and David Sullivan backed Allardyce to turn around the fortunes of the Hammers, currently second bottom and facing relegation from English football's lucrative top flight. \"We know Sam has not lost his ambition or desire and is committed to making West Ham United a great Premier League club,\" the open letter read.","Islamic State has lured 550 Germans into fighting: spy agency. BERLIN (Reuters) - The number of Germans fighting alongside Islamic State militants in Syria and Iraq has increased sharply to 550 and around 180 have returned, the head of Germany's domestic intelligence said in a newspaper interview published on Sunday. \"We are concerned about the high number of departures. Especially in the last six weeks, it has risen further,\" Hans-Georg Maassen told Welt am Sonntag. \"By now we are counting 550 people, that is how many have left Germany to go to Syria and Iraq,\" he added. The previous number was 450 people. ...","13-year-old girl: My father gave me to Boko Haram. KANO, Nigeria (AP) — A 13-year-old says her father gave her to Boko Haram extremists and that she was arrested after refusing to explode a suicide bomb in Kano, Nigeria's second largest city in the north.","Nikkei leads gains in Asian shares after solid U.S. data. By Hideyuki Sano NEW YORK, (Reuters) - The Nikkei led Asian shares higher on Tuesday, supported by solid U.S. and Chinese manufacturing data, while the euro dragged its feet near a 3 1/2-month low on expectations of fresh monetary easing by the European Central Bank. Japan's Nikkei rose 1.0 percent to hit a two-month high while MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was flat, not far from a one-year high hit last week. Asian shares were bolstered by the U.S. Institute for Supply Management's manufacturing activity index May rising to 55.4 in May from 54.9 in April.","$2.3 bn loss rogue trader loses bid to contest conviction. Former UBS trader Kweku Adoboli, jailed for seven years for gambling away $2.3 billion (1.7 billion euros) in Britain's biggest ever fraud, on Wednesday lost a bid to appeal against his conviction. Adoboli, 34, had his application for permission to challenge his 2012 conviction rejected at the Court of Appeal in London. \"The case was in truth overwhelming and the applicant can have no complaint,\" judge Brian Leveson said in announcing the decision of three judges.","Credit Suisse has $779M loss in 2Q due US tax case. GENEVA (AP) — Credit Suisse AG has posted a second-quarter net loss of 700 million Swiss francs ($779 million) after paying the largest penalty ever imposed in a U.S. criminal tax case.","Google seeks help defining 'Right to be Forgotten'. MADRID (AP) — Google Chairman Eric Schmidt and privacy and freedom of information experts on Tuesday held the first of seven public sessions to help the company define a new \"Right to be Forgotten\" established by the European Union's top court.","Top Iraq lawmaker to visit Washington next week. By Missy Ryan WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The speaker of Iraq's parliament, Usama al-Nujaifi, will visit Washington next week to meet with senior Obama administration officials as Iraq seeks to fend off a surge in violence. A U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that Nujaifi, one of most senior politicians from Iraq's Sunni Muslim minority, would make the visit in response to an invitation made last fall by Vice President Joe Biden. Biden has played a leading role in U.S. dealings with Iraq as Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has sought to reverse a surge in violence over the last year, and especially as the Iraqi leader hopes to rebuff a campaign by al Qaeda-linked militants to take over parts of western Iraq.","19-year-old in leaf-pile deaths avoids deportation. PORTLAND, Oregon (AP) — An immigration judge has dismissed the case against a 19-year-old Oregon woman who faced possible deportation to Mexico after she drove an SUV into a leaf pile, accidentally killing two young girls playing in it.","Local organizer of match-fixing syndicate jailed. MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — A Malaysian man who organized an international match-fixing syndicate involving Australian state football games in 2013 has been jailed for at least a year.","Iran unveils new missiles, drones. Iran on Sunday unveiled two new missiles and two new drones it said have been added to its arsenal, in a ceremony attended by President Hassan Rouhani. Iran has developed a major missile programme in addition to producing different types of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), including attack drones. \"Iran has no intention to interfere in, dominate or attack other countries or plunder their resources,\" he said in a speech broadcast on state television, adding that the country's military doctrine was defensive. In May, Iran said it had succeeded in copying an American RQ-170 Sentinel drone that it forced down and recovered nearly intact in December 2011.","Nigeria government 'considering all options' after Boko Haram proposal. ABUJA (Reuters) - Nigeria's government is reviewing all options in response to the Islamic militant group Boko Haram's offer to trade the schoolgirls it abducted last month for jailed comrades. \"The government of Nigeria is considering all options towards freeing the girls and reuniting them with their parents,\" Mike Omeri, director general of the National Orientation Agency, part of the Ministry of Information, told a news conference. (Reporting by Matthew Mpoke Bigg; Editing by Robin Pomeroy)","United States subpoenas Brazil's Petrobras. SAO PAULO (AP) — Brazil's state-owned oil company says it has received a subpoena from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission asking for documents tied to the investigation of Petrobras, which has been engulfed by corruption allegations.","Netanyahu orders Israeli response to Gaza rocket fire: official. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered the Israeli military to respond to Gaza rocket fire moments before a three-day truce expired on Wednesday, an Israeli official said. \"With the breach of the ceasefire by Hamas, the prime minister and defense minister ordered the Israeli military to act in response. Hamas had denied involvement in one of two incidents of rocket fire aimed at Israel just before the truce expired at 2100 GMT.","Irons takes on added importance at British Open. HOYLAKE, England (AP) — When Tom Watson remembers his favorite shots from the British Open — and, given he's a five-time champion, there are plenty — one stands above all the others.","China accuses tycoon of murder in major gang bust. BEIJING (AP) — Authorities have accused a Chinese tycoon and his associates of running one of the country's biggest mafia gangs in recent years whose takedown has exposed ties between organized crime, police and officials.","Puerto Rico policeman charged with bribery. SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — A police officer in Puerto Rico has been charged with bribery and intimidating a witness for allegedly seeking sex from a 22-year-old woman in exchange for dropping a charge against her.","Bahrain questions opposition leader after expelling U.S. diplomat. By Yara Bayoumy DUBAI (Reuters) - Bahrain interrogated its top opposition leader on Wednesday after expelling a senior U.S. diplomat for meeting him, a remarkable slap at Washington from an ally that hosts the U.S. Navy's Middle East fleet. U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor Tom Malinowski left Bahrain late on Tuesday, the U.S. Embassy said, after the foreign ministry ordered him out because he had \"intervened flagrantly\" in the country's internal affairs by \"holding meetings with one party\". Bahrain's opposition al-Wefaq group said late on Wednesday that its leader Sheikh Ali Salman had been summoned to meet the public prosecutor on Thursday.","Congolese 'plotters' claim abuse in S.Africa prison. A group of Congolese men complained Monday of abuse at the hands of South African prison officers while awaiting trial for an alleged plot to kill DRC President Joseph Kabila and overthrow his government. \"I have received complaints of physical abuse, verbal abuse and naturally it would lead to emotional abuse of my clients,\" Thesigan Pillay told AFP.","RBS to shed up to 30,000 jobs, shrink investment bank -sources. By Matt Scuffham LONDON (Reuters) - Royal Bank of Scotland is to shrink its investment banking and international operations in a revamp in which the group could shed up to a quarter of its 120,000 workforce, sources familiar with the matter said. The part-nationalized bank has given in to demands from politicians that it focuses on lending to British households and businesses and maintains only a downsized investment banking business to service corporate clients, one source said. RBS, which is 81-percent owned by the British government, could reduce its headcount by up to 30,000 as part of the reorganization, according to sources familiar with the matter. RBS was rescued by a 45.5 billion pound ($75.80 billion)government bailout during the 2008 financial crisis.","Luis Enrique puts stamp on new Barca with Munir. BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — New coach Luis Enrique put his stamp on Barcelona in his winning debut.","Algeria coach: fasting up to players at World Cup. PORTO ALEGRE, Brazil (AP) — Algeria coach Vahid Halilhodzic says it is up to his players whether or not they choose to observe the Ramadan fast during Monday's World Cup game against Germany.","Cameron looking increasingly isolated in EU battle. By Jan Strupczewski and Giselda Vagnoni BRUSSELS/ROME (Reuters) - British Prime Minister David Cameron looked increasingly isolated on Wednesday in his drive to prevent Jean-Claude Juncker becoming head of the European Commission, with potential allies softening their opposition. Cameron said on Tuesday he would \"fight right to the end\" against the principle of giving the most powerful job in the EU to the candidate of the strongest party in last month's European Parliament elections. Cameron has failed to win over new allies despite intensive efforts to woo Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, whom he telephoned again on Wednesday. Renzi, who also met European Council President Herman Van Rompuy, has not publicly endorsed a candidate and is making his support conditional on changes in the euro zone's economic policy mix to favor pro-growth policies.","Iraqi general killed in fighting west of Baghdad. BAGHDAD (AP) — The Iraqi military says a general has been killed during an operation west of the capital, Baghdad.","Gagnon hurts shoulder in slalom run of super-combi. KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia (AP) — Marie-Michele Gagnon of Canada fell in the slalom portion of the Olympic super-combined on Monday and hurt her shoulder.","IS group is target at Impoverished Lebanese city. TRIPOLI, Lebanon (AP) — Jamal Hayak is finally fixing up his restaurant, damaged a month ago in clashes between the army and militants in this northern Lebanese city. But he has little doubt violence will erupt again, and he says he fears next time it will be Islamic State group fighters battling in Tripoli's streets.","Serbia and Albania hold icebreaking talks. BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — Serbian and Albanian officials are holding icebreaking talks after decades of tensions between the Balkan foes that have been further fueled by a recent drone incident at a soccer match.","Vatican bank admits widows fell victim to glitch. VATICAN CITY (AP) — Dozens and perhaps hundreds of widows and Vatican pensioners recently came in for a rude surprise: The Vatican bank told them they had to close their accounts or risk losing access to their money — all in the name of Pope Francis' reform efforts, The Associated Press has learned.","Egypt: car bomb hits Cairo police HQ, killing 4. CAIRO (AP) — A car bomb struck the main Egyptian police headquarters Friday in the heart of Cairo, killing at least four people in a hugely symbolic attack on the eve of the third anniversary of the 2011 uprising that toppled longtime autocratic ruler Hosni Mubarak.","Monte Paschi, Carige to present recovery plans soon: Bank of Italy. ROME (Reuters) - Italy's Monte dei Paschi and Carige , the two banks that fared worst in the ECB's recent stress tests, will soon unveil plans aimed at strengthening their capital bases, and the Bank of Italy will oversee those plans' implementation, the head of the Italian central bank said on Friday. Ignazio Visco added that bad loans were still a problem for Italy's banking sector. He said that small and medium-sized banks that were not part of the ECB's stress tests would have to improve their capital base, their governance, risk controls, efficiency and productivity. ...","French magazine reveals Hollande 'affair' with actress. French magazine Closer on Friday said President Francois Hollande was having an affair with actress Julie Gayet, promising to back its claim with photographs after months of swirling rumours. Closer, echoing reports published on various websites in recent days, said Hollande routinely drives through Paris on his scooter to spend the night with his 41-year-old mistress. The French presidency did not immediately respond to AFP's request for a comment. Closer said the pictures raise security concerns by showing that the head of state is accompanied by only one bodyguard when he treks halfway across Paris to Gayet's flat.","Crowds flock to vote in Scotland's crucial referendum. Edinburgh (AFP) - Queues formed outside polling stations as Scots came out en masse on Thursday to vote for or against independence, with the \"Yes\" and \"No\" campaigns still vying to the last to win over voters in a blizzard of flags, posters and badges.","Iraq insurgent advance slows, U.S. sends carrier to Gulf. By Ahmed Rasheed and Raheem Salman BAGHDAD (Reuters) - An offensive by insurgents that threatens to dismember Iraq seemed to slow on Saturday after days of lightning advances as government forces regained some territory in counter-attacks, easing pressure on the Shi'ite-led government in Baghdad. As Iraqi officials spoke of wresting back the initiative against Sunni militants, neighboring Shi'ite Iran held out the prospect of working with its longtime U.S. arch-enemy to help restore security in Iraq. U.S. President Barack Obama said on Friday he was reviewing military options, short of sending troops, to combat the insurgency. Secretary of State John Kerry told Iraq's foreign minister in a call on Saturday that U.S. assistance would only succeed if Iraqi leaders set aside their differences and forged the national unity needed to confront the insurgent threat.","David Moyes takes over as coach of Real Sociedad. SAN SEBASTIAN, Spain (AP) — David Moyes says the chance to work abroad persuaded him to take over at Real Sociedad and return to coaching six months after being fired by Manchester United.","Algeria can settle Spain 1982 score with Germany. Underdogs Algeria have the chance to settle a 32-year-old World Cup score and create a major upset by knocking out Germany in Monday's last 16 clash. The sides meet at Porto Alegre's Beira-Rio Stadium, but the 1982 World Cup in Spain remains a sore point in Algeria, three decades after 'the shame of Gijon'. Despite beating West Germany 2-1 in their group games, Algeria were eliminated after the Germans played out a mutually beneficial 1-0 win over Austria in Gijon. Coach Joachim Loew has played down any talk of Algerian revenge being a factor as the Germans chase a first win against the north Africans at the third attempt.","Saudi Arabia's Grand Mufti denounces Iraq's Islamic State group. Saudi Arabia's Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdulaziz Al al-Sheikh, the highest religious authority in the country, said on Tuesday the militant groups Islamic State and al Qaeda were \"enemy number one of Islam\" and not in any way part of the faith. Although the mufti and other senior Saudi clerics have condemned Islamic State, al Qaeda and other groups before, the timing of Al al-Sheikh's statement is significant given the gains by militants in Iraq. \"Extremist and militant ideas and terrorism which spread decay on Earth, destroying human civilization, are not in any way part of Islam, but are enemy number one of Islam, and Muslims are their first victims,\" he said in a statement carried by the official Saudi Press Agency. Saudi Arabia follows the ultra conservative Wahhabi school of Sunni Islam but sees Islamist militants, who staged attacks in the kingdom last decade, as posing a threat to its own stability.","Report: Former Rangers owner arrested. LONDON (AP) — British media are reporting that the former owner of Scottish club Rangers has been arrested in London following his detention by police in Mexico.","Israeli police: Palestinian stabs 2 in West Bank. JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli police say a Palestinian has stabbed two people in a supermarket in the West Bank before a private security guard shot him.","Only small changes possible to EU-Canada pact investor clause: EU. BERLIN (Reuters) - Only small changes can be made to an investment protection clause in a trade pact between Canada and the European Union, European Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom said on Monday. \"There can be minor clarifications and adjustments,\" she told a news conference in Berlin with German Economy Minister Sigmar Gabriel. Gabriel added that the investor protection clause in the EU-Canada Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) could not be changed totally. The clause is disputed because it would allow companies to take cross-border legal action against governments. ...","Kuwait detains Muslim cleric suspected of funding militants: security source. Kuwait detained a prominent Sunni Muslim cleric at the Gulf state's airport on Wednesday after the United States included him on a sanctions list on suspicion that he is funneling money to militants in Iraq and Syria, a security source told Reuters. Hajjaj al-Ajmi was detained at the airport on his arrival from Qatar, whose leadership supports Islamist groups such as Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood and gives refuge to prominent figures from Hamas and the Taliban but does not back the militant Islamists operating in Iraq and Syria.","Rugby-Australia coach McKenzie resigns after New Zealand defeat. SYDNEY, Oct 18 (Reuters) - Under-fire Australia coach Ewen McKenzie resigned after the Wallabies were beaten 29-28 by world champions New Zealand, the Australian Rugby Union (ARU) said on Saturday. McKenzie, who took over from Robbie Deans just over a year ago, had come under pressure for his role in the row over offensive text messages back Kurtley Beale allegedly sent to a team official in June. (Editing by Sudipto Ganguly)","Rio court puts Olympic golf course in turmoil. RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Rio de Janeiro's Olympic golf course faces an uncertain future after a court proposed Wednesday that the under-construction layout should be modified to meet environmental concerns.","Algeria arrests 200 Syrian would-be migrants near Libyan border. Algeria has arrested 200 Syrians who had been hoping to reach Italy with the help of Libyan Islamists who had promised to smuggle them by boat, a security source said on Tuesday. Algeria, like other countries in North Africa, is worried that militant Islamists are exploiting Libya's chaos to smuggle weapons, train fighters and send migrants to Europe - possibly to bring in cash to fund their operations. Algeria has closed its land border with Libya and reinforced its military presence in the south.","EU calls on Russia to stem flow of arms into Ukraine. The European Union called on all sides in Ukraine on Monday to immediately agree and respect a ceasefire and urged Russia to adopt effective measures to stop the flow of fighters and arms into the country. \"The EU calls on all sides to agree and honor a ceasefire immediately in order to stabilize the security situation, achieve a genuine de-escalation and create the necessary conditions for President (Petro) Poroshenko's peace plan to be implemented,\" the bloc said in a statement.","General Motors ordered new switches months before recall: WSJ. NEW YORK (Reuters) - General Motors Co had ordered a half-million new replacement ignition switches nearly two months before it told federal safety regulators about the safety issues which prompted a recall of millions of vehicles this year, The Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday. The automaker placed an \"urgent\" order for 500,000 replacement switches to fix Chevrolet Cobalts and other small cars, one day after a meeting of senior executives last December, the Journal said, citing e-mails viewed by the publication. ...","Teens confess burglaries before US shooting. MISSOULA, Montana (AP) — Prosecutors say two teens, ages 16 and 18, have confessed to burglarizing a residence in the weeks before a German exchange student was shot to death in the garage.","Kerry leaving Iran talks to meet with European partners in Paris. VIENNA (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry will leave the Iran nuclear talks in Vienna on Friday to meet with European partners on the issue in Paris four days ahead of a deadline for a deal between Tehran and six world powers, his spokeswoman Jen Psaki said. \"He will also stay in close touch with his inter-agency colleagues in Washington,\" Psaki said. \"His future travel schedule is still being finalized, and we have not yet determined when he will return to Vienna.\" (Reporting by Louis Charbonneau and Jonathan Allen)","Blast hits bar district in north Nigerian city of Kano. KANO (Reuters) - An explosion struck a street full of popular bars and restaurants in the northern Nigerian city of Kano on Sunday, in an area mostly inhabited by southern Christians, police said. Kano police spokesman Musa Majiya said it was too early to say if the blast in the Sabon Gari or 'foreign quarter' of the north's biggest city had caused any casualties. (Reporting by Ibrahim Shuaibu and Isaac Abrak; Writing by Tim Cocks; Editing by Bernard Orr)","New Americans turn to goats to address food demand. COLCHESTER, Vermont (AP) — When Karen Freudenberger realized that the roughly 6,000 new Americans from Southeast Asia, Africa and elsewhere living in her area were buying what amounted to 3,000 goats a year from Australia and New Zealand, she saw an opportunity.","Syrian opposition: Hit Assad, not just IS group. BEIRUT (AP) — The Western-backed Syrian political opposition is criticizing U.S.-led airstrikes in Syria for focusing on the Islamic State group and other extremists while leaving President Bashar Assad's government untouched.","Fiji says Syrian rebels issue demands for captives. SUVA, Fiji (AP) — Fiji's military commander says Syrian rebels have issued three demands for the release of 45 Fijian peacekeepers they've held captive for five days.","Kenya hit by new travel warnings. Several countries have stepped up their warnings against travel to Kenya's restive port city of Mombasa following a wave of attacks and unrest linked to Islamist extremists. Advice from Britain, France and Australia to their nationals to avoid the coastal city deals a fresh blow to Kenya's already embattled tourism sector, as avoiding Mombasa complicates travel to nearby beach resorts. Britain's Foreign Office on Wednesday became the latest this week to warn against \\\\\"all but essential travel to Mombasa\\\\\", citing \\\\\"recent terrorist attacks and the continuing terrorist threat in the area.\\\\\"","Brazil mocks Mick Jagger's World Cup flop picks. RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — The Rolling Stones' Mick Jagger can't get no soccer satisfaction.","Kirkuk bombings death toll rises to 28, says Iraq official. A suicide car bombing and a roadside bomb killed 28 people and wounded 25 in Iraq's disputed northern city of Kirkuk Friday, the head of the local health directorate said. Many of the victims, who included women and children, were refugees who had fled a jihadist-led onslaught in neighbouring provinces and were seeking to travel to safer areas in the south, Sabah Mohammad Amin told AFP.","Saudi stock market to allow foreign investment. RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) — Saudi Arabia's Cabinet has approved opening the country's stock market to foreign investors next year.","Syrian opposition elects Hadi el-Bahra as new leader. The Syrian National Coalition, the main exiled opposition group seeking the overthrow of Bashar al-Assad, on Wednesday elected Saudi-based Syrian opposition figure Hadi el-Bahra as its new president. \"Hadi el-Bahra was elected president of the coalition with 62 votes,\" the coalition said in a statement on its Facebook page after the early morning vote at the meeting in the Black Sea resort of Sile outside Istanbul in Turkey. His nearest rival, Mowafaq Nayrabiyeh, won 41 votes, it added. He succeeds Ahmad Jarba, who headed the coalition from July 2013 but failed in efforts to unite the opposition and obtain significant Western military support.","Syria strikes militants as US targets them in Iraq. BEIRUT (AP) — As the U.S. military strikes the Islamic State group in Iraq, Syrian President Bashar Assad's forces have significantly stepped up their own campaign against militant strongholds in Syria, carrying out dozens of airstrikes against the group's headquarters in the past two days.","No firm indication of transfer of power in North Korea: U.S. official. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States has not seen any definitive indication of a transfer of power in North Korea, where state media have not mentioned leader Kim Jong Un's activities in weeks, a top U.S. official said in an interview broadcast on Sunday. Kim's absence from the public eye has fueled speculation over the state of his health and whether he may have been sidelined in a power struggle. \"Obviously we are watching very carefully what's happening in North Korea,\" national security adviser Susan Rice said in an interview broadcast on NBC's \"Meet the Press\". ...","Displaced Iraqis brace for onset of Kurdish winter. Displaced Iraqis who escaped a jihadist-led onslaught north of Baghdad during the scorching summer are braced to face another enemy: the onset of winter in the mountains of Iraqi Kurdistan. At the newest camp in Khanke, a few kilometres (miles) from the Turkish border in Iraq's Dohuk province, lorries have been ferrying in equipment to house the displaced people with some degree of winter-proofing. Run by authorities from the three-province autonomous Kurdish region of north Iraq with the help of the United Nations refugee agency, the UNHCR, Khanke aims to house 18,000 people, said the agency's Liena Veide.","New Zealand opt to field in second T20. Roseau (Dominica) (AFP) - New Zealand won the toss and put the West Indies in to bat in the second and final T20 International at Windsor Park in Dominica on Sunday.","Some things to know about the Spanish league. MADRID (AP) — Real Madrid and Barcelona have been in scorching scoring form lately, and more can be expected this week in the Spanish league.","Internet a crucial Venezuela battleground. LIMA, Peru (AP) — The battle for Venezuela is being fought as vigorously online as in the streets, with authorities cutting off the Internet to a clash-torn university city and blocking selected websites and a \"walkie-talkie\" service widely used by protesters.","Kerry meets with Palestinian leader in London. LONDON (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas (mahk-MOOD' ah-BAHS') for the first time since peace talks with Israel collapsed last month.","India 223-3 in reply to Australia's 515-7 dec. on day 3. ADELAIDE, Australia (AP) — India was 223-3 in its first innings at lunch Thursday on the third day of the first test against Australia at the Adelaide Oval.","EU's Barroso warns Putin against military action in Ukraine. BRUSSELS (Reuters) - European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso warned Russian President Vladimir Putin against military intervention in Ukraine in telephone talks on Monday, the Commission said. \"President Barroso warned against any unilateral military actions in Ukraine, under any pretext, including humanitarian,\" it said in a statement. Barroso also made a separate phone call to Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, the statement said. ...","NZ prosecutor drops charge against AC/DC drummer of attempting to procure murder. WELLINGTON (Reuters) - A New Zealand prosecutor on Friday dropped a charge against AC/DC drummer Phil Rudd that he attempted to procure the murder of two people, but Rudd still faces charges of threatening to kill. One day after Rudd was arrested and charged with attempting to procure murder, threatening to kill and possession of narcotics, a New Zealand government prosecutor said the most serious charge had been dropped because of a lack of evidence. ...","Armani says a white bag is a must-have next summer. MILAN (AP) — Giorgio Armani's fashion must-have for men next summer: A white bag.","4 dead, 45 wounded in train collision near Moscow. MOSCOW (AP) — A train collision near Moscow killed at least four people and left 45 others wounded Tuesday, officials said.","Europe votes on 'Super Sunday' with far-right in spotlight. By Luke Baker BRUSSELS (Reuters) - European elections culminate on \"Super Sunday\" when the remainder of the EU's 28 countries go to the polls, with the vote expected to confirm the dominance of pro-European Union centrists despite a rise in support for the far-right and left. Germany, France, Spain, Italy and Poland are among the major EU member states voting on Sunday, representing the bulk of the 388 million Europeans eligible to cast ballots and elect the 751 deputies to sit in the European Parliament from 2014-2019. The last ballots will be cast in Italy, where polls will remain open until 5 p.m. EDT. Turnout - the most basic measure of citizens' engagement with Europe - is expected to fall again, dropping to just over 40 percent, marginally down from 43 percent in 2009.","Obama says all NATO members need to do fair share of defense spending. TALLINN (Reuters) - European members of NATO need to do their fair share of defense spending to bolster the alliance, U.S. President Obama told a news conference in Tallinn on Wednesday, a day before the start of a NATO summit. Obama said the United States has already bolstered its military activities in the Baltics -- three former Soviet republics now part of NATO and the EU -- and it was continuously rotating both personnel and aircraft through the region. (Reporting by Balazs Koranyi, David Mardiste and Steve Holland, editing by John Stonestreet)","US: Militants use beheadings to make up for losses. WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. officials say the Islamic State group is using images of beheadings to maintain its edge in a propaganda war even as it suffers losses on the battlefield in Syria and Iraq.","Column: Victory shows Brazil's limitations. BELO HORIZONTE, Brazil (AP) — Once the elation of victory and the sugar cane rum hangovers wear off, Brazil should feel the cold shiver of World Cup disaster narrowly averted.","Burkina parties in talks to agree transition leader. Burkina Faso's political parties and civil society groups met for a second day Thursday to agree on a civilian leader to lead a transition government after the ousting of president Blaise Compaore. Stormy talks between the military, politicians and democracy groups in Ouagadougou on Wednesday ended with an agreement for elections in November 2015. Ghana's President John Dramani Mahama, who mediated alongside his Nigerian counterpart Goodluck Jonathan and Senegal's President Macky Sall, voiced optimism.","North Korea detains US citizen: KCNA. North Korea has detained a US citizen for \"rash behaviour\" while passing through immigration, the official KCNA news agency said Friday as President Barack Obama started a two-day visit to South Korea. In a brief despatch, KCNA said the American, identified as Miller Matthew Todd, 24, had been taken into custody April 10 for \"his rash behaviour in the course of going through formalities for entry\" into North Korea. KCNA said he remained in detention and was under investigation. North Korea is currently holding US citizen Kenneth Bae, described by a North Korean court as a militant Christian evangelist.","Kerry says Russia has made 'constructive moves' on Ukraine in recent days. LONDON (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Tuesday that Russia had made constructive moves towards possibly reducing tensions in Ukraine. \"Let me say that Russia has made constructive moves in the last days,\" Kerry told reporters in London. \"There are some indications that whether it is line of control negotiations, or calm that is in place in a number of places, the withdrawal of certain people ... there are signs of constructive choices. That can only be helpful. ...","Bayern beats Dortmund 2-0 in German Cup final. BERLIN (AP) — Arjen Robben and Thomas Mueller struck in extra time for Bayern Munich to beat Borussia Dortmund 2-0 in the German Cup final on Saturday for the double in Pep Guardiola's first season in charge.","UN council not intimidated by terrorist murders. UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The United Nations Security Council says \"the heinous and cowardly murders\" of an American humanitarian worker and at least 15 Syrian captives by the Islamic State group is stiffening its resolve to defeat all al-Qaida-linked terrorists.","West seeks to inflict more economic pain on Russia. WASHINGTON (AP) — Citing Russia's stalled growth rate and a flow of foreign capital out of Moscow, U.S. and European officials hope a new round of sanctions targeting energy and defense entities, as well as major banks, will deepen Russia's economic pain even further and force President Vladimir Putin to end provocations in Ukraine.","High chance of cyclone off southern Windward islands. (Reuters) - An area of well-defined low pressure located about 650 miles east of the southern Windward Islands has a 70 percent chance of becoming a tropical cyclone during the next 48 hours, the U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC) said on Thursday. \"Interests in the Lesser Antilles should monitor the progress of this disturbance as it moves west-northwestward at 15-to-20 miles per hour,\" the Miami-based weather forecaster said. (Reporting by Debasis Mohapatra in Bangalore, Editing by Franklin Paul)","Bomb at funeral kills 16 north of Iraq's capital. BAGHDAD (AP) — Authorities say a bomb blast at a funeral north of Iraq's capital has killed at least 16 people, the deadliest of a series of attacks that have killed at least 37.","Arab Israeli gets 15 months for training in Syria. An Arab Israeli has been sentenced to 15 months in prison after being convicted of travelling to Syria and receiving training with the Al-Qaeda affiliated Al-Nusra Front. According to the court ruling seen by AFP on Tuesday, Abdel Kader al-Taleh, 27, from the Arab village of Taibe in northern Israel, was convicted of \"entering an enemy territory\" and \"illegal training for combat.\" He was arrested by Israel's Shin Bet internal security service when he returned from Syria in July 2013. In July last year, he travelled to Turkey and from there crossed into northern Syria.","Leaders get immunity at new African rights court. LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) — Leaders at an African summit have voted to give themselves and their allies immunity from prosecution for war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide at a new African Court of Justice and Human Rights.","Kenyan coast tense, divided amid massacre whodunnit. More than a month after attackers stormed into a Kenyan town and executed dozens of residents, lingering uncertainty over exactly who was responsible has left the coastal region nervous and divided. The Shebab, Somalia's al-Qaeda-linked insurgents, were quick to claim responsibility for the string of gruesome massacres near the tourist island of Lamu, saying the 87 murdered by knives and gunfire were retaliation for Kenya's military presence in their country. Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta, however, insisted the Shebab had nothing to do with it and instead blamed \"local political networks\" and ethnic hatred. The differing scenarios have only served to underscore the wide range and potentially explosive array of challenges faced by Kenya: an external Islamist threat, homegrown terrorism, religious, ethnic and tribal tensions, and bitter, long-running land disputes.","Canada's Kennady Diamonds says has pick of investors in tough market. By Allison Martell TORONTO (Reuters) - In a year when many mineral explorers found it nearly impossible to raise significant funds, Canada's Kennady Diamonds Inc actually turned some investors away, according to Chief Executive Patrick Evans. Kennady's shares are more than triple what they were a year ago, thanks to strong exploratory drilling results at its Kennady North project in Canada's Northwest Territories. Kennady has not yet filed a resource estimate, the first major milestone for mineral projects. \"What we want to try and avoid is sort of irrational buying of the stock,\" he said on the sidelines of the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada convention in Toronto, the biggest annual mining industry gathering.","Ecuador President Correa hints at 2017 re-election bid. Ecuador President Rafael Correa on Saturday said he may seek re-election in 2017, despite previously supporting constitutional measures limiting the country's leader to only two consecutive terms. Correa said in his weekly radio address he was considering running for office after local elections last week saw his ruling Alianza Pais party suffer a series of reverses. Correa's party, which has an absolute majority in Ecuador's congress, plans to introduce a constitutional amendment which would allow the leader to stand again. Correa said any re-election bid was justified to block unspecified international right-wing forces.","Iraq says slows Islamist rebel advance, regains some territory. By Ahmed Rasheed and Raheem Salman BAGHDAD (Reuters) - A Sunni Islamist offensive threatening to dismember Iraq seemed to slow on Saturday after days of lightning advances as government forces reported regaining territory in counter-attacks, easing pressure on Baghdad's Shi'ite-led government. As Iraqi officials spoke of wresting back the initiative against Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant insurgents (ISIL), neighboring Shi'ite Iran held out the prospect of working with its longtime U.S. arch-enemy to help restore security in Iraq. In a visit to Samarra, a major town in ISIL's sights 100 km (60 miles) north of Baghdad, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki vowed to defeat the rebels who caused international shock waves when they overran the Sunni northwest of Iraq earlier this week.","Ebola death toll soars to 4,555 out of 9,216 cases: WHO. Geneva (AFP) - More than 4,500 people have died in the deadly Ebola outbreak that began in west Africa at the beginning of the year, fresh World Health Organization figures showed Friday.","Explosions heard in Donetsk after Ukraine election: mayor. DONETSK Ukraine (Reuters) - Heavy shelling rocked the outskirts of the pro-Russian rebel stronghold of Donetsk in eastern Ukraine on Monday, one day after Ukraine held a parliamentary election, the city mayor's office and officials in Kiev said. \"Powerful firing has been heard from high-calibre guns and explosions,\" the Donetsk mayor's website said. Despite a Sept. 5 ceasefire between Kiev and pro-Russian separatists in the east, tensions remain high. (Reporting by Thomas Grove, Editing by Timothy Heritage)","Mercedes wishes Schumacher well on new car. JEREZ, Spain (AP) — Mercedes has included a message of support for its former driver Michael Schumacher on the side of its new Formula One car, which was unveiled on Tuesday.","Democrats' Florida push calls for US shift on Cuba. MIAMI (AP) — When Charlie Crist went to Miami's Little Havana recently, the Democratic candidate for governor stood before a crowd and said what few politicians have in decades of scrounging for votes in the Cuban-American neighborhood: End the U.S. trade embargo against Cuba.","Canada to double UN contribution to fight Ebola. Ottawa (AFP) - Canada has promised to double its financial contribution to the United Nations' fight against Ebola in West Africa, the country's health minister announced Friday.","Magnitude 7.8 earthquake hits off Papua New Guinea. LONDON (Reuters) - An earthquake with a magnitude 7.8 was recorded off Papua New Guinea on Saturday, the U.S. Geological Survey said. The quake, at a depth of 10 km (6 miles), hit 68 km southwest of Panguna. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said a tsunami warning was in effect for Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands. An earthquake with a magnitude of 7.3 was recorded off Papua New Guinea's remote Bougainville Island on April 11, but there were no reports of damage. (Editing by Alison Williams and Janet Lawrence) nL6N0NB0BL","Target names new CIO to oversee technology, security. (Reuters) - Target Corp on Tuesday said it has appointed a new Chief Information Officer, Bob DeRodes, to oversee the discount retailer's technology team, operations and data security enhancements. Target's previous CIO resigned in March, several months after a massive data breach late last year that led to the theft of about 40 million credit and debit card records and 70 million other records of customer details. Target said it is still looking for a chief information security officer and a chief compliance officer.","France's Levy leads BMW Masters in China. SHANGHAI (AP) — France's Alexander Levy had five straight birdies in the middle of his round and finished with a 7-under 65 to take the lead in the BMW Masters on Thursday.","Australia stop New Zealand streak in Sydney draw. By Nick Mulvenney SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australia prevented New Zealand from claiming a world record 18th consecutive win by holding the world champions to a 12-12 draw in a try-less Rugby Championship opener on Saturday that left both sides disappointed. In a gritty encounter played out in a Sydney rainstorm, Australia were handed a glimpse of an upset when South African referee Jaco Peyper showed yellow cards to All Blacks Wyatt Crockett and Beauden Barrett either side of the break. They tied the match up with flyhalf Kurtley Beale's fourth penalty 10 minutes from time after Barrett was sin-binned but were unable to make the most of their superior numbers and secure a first victory over the All Blacks for three years. All Blacks flyhalf Aaron Cruden scored all of his side's points with four penalty kicks of his own as New Zealand came up short of a win for the first time in the three years of the Rugby Championship.","Strict new Japan secrets law to take effect amid protests. By Elaine Lies TOKYO (Reuters) - Waving banners and beating drums, hundreds of Japanese took to the streets of Tokyo to protest a strict new state-secrets law taking effect on Wednesday that critics charge will help conceal government misdeeds and limit press freedom. The government of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe says the law, which was passed a year ago amid protests, is essential to convince allies led by the United States to share intelligence with Japan. Critics counter that whistleblowing on government misdeeds will be chilled. ...","Rodgers praises Suarez, says Liverpool moving on. BOSTON (AP) — Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers says the team is moving on after Luis Suarez was sent to Barcelona for a $130 million transfer fee.","Colorado River dam opening for flood experiment. LAS VEGAS (AP) — A Mexican channel that's been dry for decades as cities and farms drink up the waters of the Colorado River will once again flow in an experiment to restore the region's flora and fauna.","Ukraine protesters expand camp after talks with Yanukovych fail. Ukrainian protesters on Friday expanded their protest camp and barricades in Kiev after crunch talks between the opposition and President Viktor Yanukovych failed to end the country's deepening crisis. After the latest round of talks, protesters began enlarging their protest camp on the capital's Independence Square, as an uneasy truce held after five days of deadly clashes with security forces. \"The Maidan (Independence Square) is an island of freedom,\" opposition leader and former world boxing champion Vitali Klitschko told the crowds after talks Thursday with the president.","Figure skaters balance singles vs new team event. SOCHI, Russia (AP) — The fans in the arena loved the first Olympic figure skating team event.","Trinidad & Tobago ex-leader, coup target, dies. PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad (AP) — Arthur Napoleon Raymond Robinson, a former Trinidad and Tobago prime minister who was held hostage for days and shot during a bloody 1990 coup attempt, died Wednesday after a prolonged illness. He was 87.","Fed inspector general: NY Fed stumbled in handling of JPMorgan London Whale. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Federal Reserve's inspector general arm found several flaws in the way the New York Fed handled J.P. Morgan's huge credit derivative losses in 2012, including limited resources and competing priorities. J.P. Morgan incurred around $2 billion in losses due to a complex trading strategy involving credit derivatives in Europe that year, in a case that became known as the London Whale. ...","Russia, Ukraine hope for gas deal this week. By Vladimir Soldatkin and Denis Pinchuk MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian and Ukrainian energy companies tried again on Tuesday to settle a dispute over unpaid gas bills that is threatening supplies to Europe and stoking a political conflict setting Moscow against Kiev and the West. Russian state-owned exporter Gazprom gave Kiev some respite on Monday by allowing it six more days to pay its debts, averting the risk of an immediate cut in supplies under an advance payment system that had been due to come into force. Although the two sides disagree over the price Ukraine should pay, signs of compromise are growing after the latest talks brokered by the European Union in Brussels on Monday. \"Talks went for a long time yesterday ... There is an understanding on how to move forward - this is very important,\" Gazprom spokesman Sergei Kupriyanov told reporters in Moscow.","Exasperation in Calais as Britain-bound migrants pour in. Calais (France) (AFP) - \"Fed up\", an expression that comes up again and again in the French port city of Calais where residents are faced with a growing tide of hungry, penniless migrants sleeping rough. Up to 2,300 migrants are thought to be in Calais and surrounding areas, overwhelming security forces as they make regular attempts to mob the port en masse to try and scramble onto trucks boarding ferries to Britain. \"Today we are in a very, very, very serious situation and I'm not afraid to ask Francois Hollande, President of the Republic, to come to Calais and see for himself,\" said Laurent Roussel, a bar owner and opposition councillor. \"There's a lot of discussion, a lot of chat here and there, but nothing is changing and Calais residents are fed up.","Fed Cup: Kvitova eyes one more trophy in 2014. PRAGUE (AP) — Tasked with leading the Czech Republic to victory in another home Fed Cup final this weekend, Petra Kvitova says the considerable pressure from compatriots is much less than what she puts on herself.","Despite concerns, US restocks Israel with ammunition. The United States confirmed it had restocked Israel's supplies of ammunition, hours after finally sharpening its tone to condemn an attack on a United Nations school in Gaza. \"Obviously nothing justifies the killing of innocent civilians seeking shelter in a UN facility,\" deputy State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf acknowledged, in some of the toughest US comments since the start of the 23-day fighting in the Gaza Strip.","Mauritanian PM, cabinet resigns, state media says. Nouakchott (AFP) - Mauritania's prime minister and his entire cabinet resigned Sunday, state-run news agency AMI reported, without giving a reason for the mass departure.","Thousands flee Gaza's Shejaiya after night of terror. They walked in their thousands, barefoot and in their pyjamas, streaming out of the eastern Gaza district of Shejaiya after a night of non-stop Israeli bombing. They called ambulances, but there was no way for the vehicles to get in under the constant fire. So in the end, thousands of desperate residents fled on foot at first light, walking two hours or more into Gaza City. They left behind the bodies of the dead in the streets of their neighbourhoods -- in Nazzaz, in Shaaf and in other parts of this flashpoint area between Gaza City and the Israeli border.","Thai protest leader says no negotiations with government. Protesters seeking to overthrow Thailand's government will not negotiate over freeing up access to ministries and state agencies that they have blockaded, protest leader Suthep Thaugsuban said on Monday. The government asked them on Monday to discuss ways to free up access. \"Groups in each protest area will not negotiate with government officials to return the various premises ... So don't bother contacting us,\" Suthep said in a televised statement.","For Europe's vast unemployed, hopes remain dim. WASHINGTON (AP) — For the struggling Spanish shopkeeper or the Portuguese restaurant owner, the European Central Bank's latest economic stimulus plans won't likely provide much relief anytime soon.","France sends 2nd aid shipment to Iraq. PARIS (AP) — France says it will deliver a second shipment of humanitarian aid to northern Iraq in a bid to help religious minorities persecuted by advancing radicals of the Islamic State organization.","Unfinished war in Sri Lanka threatens paradise regained. By Nita Bhalla and Shihar Aneez JAFFNA Sri Lanka (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - In the fishing village of Oori, two mothers await news of their young daughters who were taken to a care home three months ago after their alleged rape by members of the Sri Lankan navy. In a lawyer's office in the town of Mannar, a middle-aged woman sobs uncontrollably as she recounts her five-year struggle to find her son, one of thousands of cases of young men and women who disappeared after being picked up by soldiers. ...","Canada's Dundee to expand wealth management business. By Euan Rocha TORONTO (Reuters) - Dundee Goodman Private Wealth, a unit of Dundee Securities Ltd, said on Monday a group of about 60 investment advisers and their staff are transferring to Dundee from Richardson GMP. The move will greatly expand Dundee's wealth management unit, giving the firm more than 100 investment advisers across Canada, who manage portfolios worth over C$6 billion ($5.5 billion). \"This transaction marks a valuable addition to our growing wealth management business, thereby cementing our position as a strong and independently owned Canadian securities firm,\" Jonathan Goodman, chief executive of Dundee Capital Markets, said in a statement.","UN committee urges Myanmar action on Rohingya. UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N. General Assembly's human rights committee has approved a resolution urging Myanmar to allow its persecuted Rohingya Muslim minority \"access to full citizenship on an equal basis.\"","Horror hits Hong Kong's famed red-light district. HONG KONG (AP) — For generations of Western men, Hong Kong's Wan Chai neighborhood captured all the mystery and hedonism of this financial capital known around the world as the Pearl of the Orient.","EU calls on Burkina military to respect rights, peaceful protests. The European Union called on the Burkina Faso military Sunday to respect the fundamental rights of the people, including to peacefully protest, after troops fired tear gas to disperse protesters in Ouagadougou denouncing a military power grab. Military and security forces should live up to their responsibilities by ensuring \"the security and rights of the people, including the right to demonstrate peacefully,\" the European Union's external affairs arm said in a statement. The army stepped in after mass protests forced president Blaise Compaore to resign, naming an interim leader and facing off with thousands of protestors demanding the military return to barracks and allow civilians to manage a transition through elections. This was the best course of action \"to respond to the legitimate aspirations of the Burkina Faso people and to maintain normal relations with the international community,\" the statement said.","CANNES WATCH: Uma Thurman wows; designers pop up. CANNES, France (AP) — The Associated Press is all over the Cannes Film Festival — from its glitzy premieres to the celeb parties and quirky moments in between. Here's what reporters have seen and heard:","Deportee in Saudi killed in detention center riot. RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) — A Saudi police spokesman says a foreign detainee died and nine others were injured in a riot at a center housing people awaiting deportation.","Israeli troops kill Palestinian boy during West Bank clash: relative. Israeli soldiers killed a Palestinian boy during a confrontation with rock-throwing protesters in the occupied West Bank on Sunday, a relative who witnessed the incident said. Youssef al-Anati said his 11-year-old nephew, Khalil, was shot dead even though he was not taking part in the disturbances near the city of Hebron. \"Khalil was standing outside and at a distance some kids were throwing stones at the Israeli army,\" al-Anati told Reuters. Tensions in the West Bank have run high during Israel's more than month-old war with Islamist militants in the Gaza Strip, another territory where Palestinians seek statehood.","FIFPro wants UEFA to ease Man City, PSG sanctions. LISBON, Portugal (AP) — Players' union leaders want UEFA to ease a punishment for Manchester City and Paris Saint-Germain after breaking \"Financial Fair Play\" rules.","Iranian women aim high in combative sport kabaddi. INCHEON, South Korea (AP) — Iran captain Salimeh Abdollahbakhsh visited the hospital on the eve of the kabaddi final at the Asian Games. She had fever and felt dreadful. She had no intention of missing the kabaddi title match, though, knowing her skills could tilt the match in favor of her team and against India, the creator and dominant nation in the sport.","AP Analysis: US wary over hitting Syrian militants. BEIRUT (AP) — The U.S. and its allies are trying to hammer out a coalition to push back the Islamic State group in Iraq. But any serious attempt to destroy the militants or even seriously degrade their capabilities means targeting their infrastructure in Syria.","Airstrikes hit IS near embattled Syria town. MURSITPINAR, Turkey (AP) — Warplanes believed to have been sent by the U.S.-led coalition struck positions held by Islamic State militants near a Syrian border that beleaguered Kurdish forces have been struggling to defend.","Ebola kills 84 in three days: UN. The Ebola virus killed 84 people in just three days, bringing the global death toll to 1,229, the World Health Organization said Tuesday. The death toll, which passed the 1,000-mark over a week ago, soared higher from last Thursday to Saturday. The epidemic, which has hit four west African nations since it broke out in Guinea at the start of the year, is by far the deadliest since Ebola was discovered four decades ago in what is now the Democratic Republic of Congo. As a result, Sierra Leone's total case count increased to 848 and its death toll to 365.","N. Ireland 'disappeared' laid to rest after 36 years. Belfast (United Kingdom) (AFP) - The body of a man killed by IRA militants was laid to rest after 36 years on Friday following the recovery of his remains from a bog in Ireland.","Russian Foreign Ministry suggests NATO chief 'blind'. Russia's Foreign Ministry suggested on Thursday that NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen was \\\\\"blind\\\\\" after he wrote he had seen no signs Russia was withdrawing troops from Ukraine's border. Rasmussen's statement, posted on his Twitter microblog, directly contradicted the words of President Vladimir Putin who called on Wednesday on rebels in eastern Ukraine to delay a secession vote and said that Moscow had withdrawn troops. \\\\\"For those with a blind eye we suggest to follow President Putin's statement of May 7,\\\\\" the ministry tweeted in English in response to the Rasmussen post.","Top Kosovo ex-fighters face organ trafficking, war crimes indictment. Several leaders of Kosovo's 1990s guerrilla army, some of them now senior officials, face possible indictment for crimes against humanity including murder and organ trafficking, an EU probe found Tuesday. Releasing the first details of a two-year probe, Clint Williamson, the US diplomat and prosecutor heading the inquiry into events after Kosovo's 1998-1999 war, said there was evidence \"at this moment (for) ... one indictment that would include a number of individuals.\" Since mid-2011, Williamson and a team of 25 prosecutors and investigators have been holed up in heavily guarded offices in Brussels to avoid what he termed as \"the climate of intimidation\" that has surrounded inquiries linked to the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) that fought against Serb security forces. After interviewing hundreds of witnesses and thumbing through thousands of pages on events that took place 15 years ago, \"we believe that the Special Investigative Task Force will be in a position to file an indictment against certain senior officials of the former Kosovo Liberation Army,\" he said.","FBI seeks victims of major international pedophile. The FBI was Thursday hastily seeking to identify victims of a serial paedophile who drugged and molested dozens of children over four decades teaching at international schools around the world. William James Vahey, 64, committed suicide in March in a Minnesota hotel room while the subject of an international sex crimes probe covering his teaching in nine countries, the Federal Bureau of Investigation said. \"When Vahey was confronted about the images, he reportedly admitted molesting boys throughout his entire life and said he gave the minors sleeping pills prior to the molestation,\" the FBI said in an alert. Vahey taught overseas from 1972 until days before his death including at private academies that served children of American diplomats and military personnel, as well as locals, according to the FBI.","Flight 370 search intensifies after pings heard. PERTH, Australia (AP) — With hopes high that search crews are zeroing in on the missing Malaysian jetliner's crash site, ships and planes hunting for the aircraft intensified their efforts Thursday after equipment picked up sounds consistent with a plane's black box in the deep waters of the Indian Ocean.","Russia could achieve Ukraine incursion in 3-5 days: NATO general. Russia has all the forces it needs on Ukraine's border if it were to decide to carry out an \"incursion\" into the country and it could achieve its objective in three to five days, NATO's top military commander said on Wednesday. Calling the situation on the border \"incredibly concerning\", NATO's Supreme Allied Commander Europe, U.S. Air Force General Philip Breedlove, said NATO had spotted signs of movement by a very small part of the Russian force overnight but no indication that it was returning to barracks. NATO foreign ministers meeting in Brussels had asked him to draw up by April 15 a package to reassure nervous NATO allies in eastern Europe that would include reinforcements by land, air and sea, he said in an interview with Reuters and The Wall Street Journal.","Virgin's Sam Bird wins in Malaysia Formula E race. Kuala Lumpur (AFP) - Virgin Racing driver Sam Bird put up a superb performance Saturday to clinch victory in the Formula E on the Putrajaya street circuit in Malaysia despite a raging Lucas Di Grassi hot on the Englishman's heels.","IMF: EU banking union to lay ground for more jobs. BRUSSELS (AP) — The International Monetary Fund is urging the 18-nation Eurozone to press ahead with its planned banking union reforms to lay the foundation for fresh growth and job creation.","Pakistan court dismisses Musharraf medical request. ISLAMABAD (AP) — A defense lawyer for former military ruler Pervez Musharraf says a Pakistani court hearing his high treason case has rejected a request that he be allowed to go abroad for treatment.","NYFW: highlights from the runway soundtracks. Classic horror movie music, headphone immersion and dreamy Aussie rock: here's our pick of the week's most buzzworthy soundtracks from the show's in the Big Apple!","The day Ukraine's 'Maidan' lost control. By Stephen Grey KIEV, Ukraine (Reuters) - A World War Two movie set in Crimea was playing on a giant screen in Kiev's Independence Square on Saturday when a politician stepped on the stage to break the shocking news. Yuri Lutsenko, a former interior minister who had gone over to the protesters' side to topple their country's leader, said events in Ukraine had now moved beyond their control. Their movement, launched last year, wanted to edge Ukraine closer to the European Union to share its free markets and its political rights. The hundreds who had spent winter in this amphitheatre of protest - in a movement that came to be known simply, like the main square itself, as the Maidan - had survived bitter cold, police assaults, and clashes in which dozens of their number were killed, mostly by police bullets.","Cyprus telecoms, power company workers call strike. NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) — Workers at Cyprus' state-owned telecommunications and electricity authorities say have called strikes to protest government plans to privatize the state-owned enterprises.","Continental has no plans for large takeovers in next months: CFO. German auto parts and tire maker Continental has no plans for further large takeovers in coming months after saying in February it will buy U.S. rubber firm Veyance Technologies. \"Do not expect the announcement of another larger takeover in the next months,\" the company's finance chief, Wolfgang Schaefer, told Reuters in an interview on Thursday. The Ukraine crisis is hurting business in Russia but accounts for less than one percent of Continental's group revenue, the CFO said.","India's Gandhis offer to resign after defeat, party refuses. NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India's Sonia and Rahul Gandhi offered on Monday to resign from their posts as leaders of the Congress party after its worst ever election performance, but colleagues refused to let them go. \"Sonia and Rahul offered to resign, but the Congress Working Committee rejected it,\" said Amrinder Singh, a senior party leader from the northern state of Punjab. (Reporting by Frank Jack Daniel; Editing by Douglas Busvine)","Militant leader calls for Muslims to build state. BAGHDAD (AP) — The leader of the extremist group that has swept over much of northern Syria and Iraq has called on Muslims to come to the territory his group has seized to help build an Islamic state.","Reina: Spain not dead and buried yet at World Cup. CURITIBA, Brazil (AP) — Goalkeeper Pepe Reina is fed up with all the talk surrounding Spain's shock defeat to the Netherlands.","Taiwan protesters agree to meet president over trade deal. TAIPEI (Reuters) - The leaders of student protesters who have occupied Taiwan's parliament building in the past week have accepted Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou's offer to meet to resolve an impasse about a controversial trade pact with mainland China. The students announced their decision on Tuesday at Taiwan's parliament building, where hundreds of demonstrators have gathered inside and outside the building to challenge the trade agreement. Ma had offered to meet the student leaders earlier on Tuesday, saying he was ready to talk without setting any preconditions. ...","Fugitive VP says Iraq violence part of a Sunni Arab revolt. By Nick Tattersall ISTANBUL (Reuters) - The violence in Iraq is part of a broader Sunni Arab revolt that could lead to a holy war in the country, And is not just a rampage by Islamist militants from an al Qaeda splinter group, fugitive vice president Tarek al-Hashemi told Reuters on Monday. Militants from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant have routed Baghdad's army and seized the north of the country in the past week, threatening to dismember Iraq and unleash all-out sectarian war. Arab Sunni communities over 11 years faced discrimination, injustice, corruption,\" Hashemi said, rejecting the suggestion that militants from ISIL, also known as ISIS, alone were responsible. Hashemi, a Sunni sentenced to death in 2012 after an Iraqi court convicted him of running death squads while vice president, something he denies, has long accused Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki of a witch-hunt against his Sunni opponents.","Lobbyists call for Jamaica to decriminalize pot. KINGSTON, Jamaica (AP) — Lobbyists in Jamaica are urging the government to move quickly to decriminalize pot and establish a local medical marijuana industry.","Hughes has more scans, still in critical condition. SYDNEY (AP) — Phillip Hughes, the Australian batsman who needed emergency surgery after being knocked out by a cricket ball, remained in a critical condition on Wednesday.","Justin Bieber may face more than legal repercussions from court cases; travel may be impeded. LOS ANGELES, Calif. - Justin Bieber's court cases on both sides of the U.S.-Canadian border might not just lead to more scrutiny by judges and prosecutors, but could also complicate the pop star's jet-setting ways.","Saudi 'responsible' for militant financing: Iraq cabinet. Saudi Arabia should be held responsible for militant financing and crimes committed by insurgent groups in Iraq, the Baghdad government charged on Tuesday. Comments from Riyadh indicates it is \"siding with terrorism\", the cabinet said in a statement issued by Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's office. \"We hold it (Saudi Arabia) responsible for what these groups are receiving in terms of financial and moral support.\" It continued: \"The Saudi government should be held responsible for the dangerous crimes committed by these terrorist groups.\"","Husband of slain Iraqi woman faces US sentencing. EL CAJON, California (AP) — An Iraqi immigrant could get life in prison for his wife's fatal beating, which initially drew international condemnation when authorities believed it was a hate crime.","Exclusive: JetBlue flight attendants seek to hold unionization vote. By Alwyn Scott NEW YORK (Reuters) - Flight attendants at JetBlue Airways are pushing for a vote on whether to unionize, marking a second organizing effort at the formerly non-union airline after pilots authorized joining a union on Tuesday. The flight attendants are working with the Transport Workers Union of America (TWU) to sign authorization cards that would let them hold an election under national labor rules, the TWU told Reuters. \"We're getting them in very quickly,\" Thom McDaniel, a TWU International vice president, said of the cards.","6 dead, 5 injured in hotel fire in northern Spain. MADRID (AP) — An official says six people have died and another five members of the family suffered injuries in a fire at a small rural hotel in the north of Spain.","Pope Francis, wrapping up visit, urges Korean reconciliation. By Ju-min Park and Tony Munroe SEOUL (Reuters) - Pope Francis on Monday called for peace and reconciliation on the divided Korean peninsula, wrapping-up a five day trip to South Korea and the first papal visit to Asia in 15 years. Before a Mass at Seoul's Myeongdong Cathedral, Francis prayed with a small number of \"comfort women\", who were forced to work as sex slaves for Japanese soldiers occupying the country before and during the second World War. A group of defectors from North Korea and relatives of South Koreans abducted by the North were invited to the mass, which was attended by South Korean President Park Geun-hye. \"Today's Mass is first and foremost a prayer for reconciliation in this Korean family,\" Francis said, following up on an impromptu prayer on Friday when he urged Koreans to work to unite as one family, \"with no victors or vanquished\".","UK welcomes US strikes in Iraq but rules out own action. The British air force will drop food aid to Iraqi refugees fleeing extremists in \"the next couple of days\", the defence secretary said Friday, although London has ruled out taking military action with the United States. The announcement came after the Foreign Office urged Britons in the Arbil, Sulaimaniyah and Dohuk provinces of Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region to \"leave now\" as fighting spreads north. Prime Minister David Cameron said he was \"extremely concerned by the appalling situation in Iraq and the desperate situation facing hundreds of thousands of Iraqis\". \"And I utterly condemn the barbaric attacks being waged by ISIL (now Islamic State) terrorists across the region,\" he said in a statement.","Battle of the boycott plays out in Israel, W.Bank shops. In Gaza, Israelis and Palestinians are battling it out with rockets and air strikes. Local products are flying off the shelves in the occupied West Bank while Israeli goods are being left untouched. Because of the Israeli war against Gaza, we stopped buying any Israeli products,\" said Salah Mussa, a Ramallah resident. Overseas, a Palestinian-led boycott campaign has seen growing success in recent years.","Canada suspends Commonwealth funding. Canada's government announced Monday the suspension of funding to the Commonwealth over rotating chair Sri Lanka's alleged rights abuses. While Sri Lanka remains chair of the 53-member bloc, Canada's Can$10 million (US$9 million) annual contribution to the Commonwealth Secretariat will instead go for two years toward combatting the practice of child, early and forced marriage. \"As host of the 2013 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting and current Chair in Office, Sri Lanka has a duty to take meaningful action on human rights, political reconciliation and accountability. However, Sri Lanka has failed to realize progress on any of these issues,\" said Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird.","Cruise ship returns to Houston-area port early with more than 170 sick passengers, crew aboard. PASADENA, Texas - More than 170 passengers and crew members have fallen sick aboard a cruise ship, prompting it to return two days early to a Houston-area port.","Iraq: No vote in parts of Anbar due to clashes. BAGHDAD (AP) — An Iraqi electoral official says there will be no balloting in parts of the Sunni-dominated Anbar province engulfed in clashes between security forces and al-Qaida-inspired militants.","For Australian Muslims, security crackdown is code for racial profiling. By Matt Siegel SYDNEY (Reuters) - Prominent Australian Muslims say their community is being unfairly targeted by law enforcement and threatened by right-wing groups, as the government's tough new policies aimed at combating radical Islamists threaten to create a backlash. Authorities are on high alert since massive counter-terrorism raids last week thwarted what the government said was a plot by the Islamic State militant group to publicly behead a random member of the public. ...","Israeli military launches airstrike into Gaza. JERUSALEM (AP) — The Israeli military says it carried out an airstrike in Gaza against Palestinian militants preparing to launch rockets at Israel.","Merkel ally says U.S. assurances on NSA spying 'insufficient'. A leading ally of Angela Merkel has criticized the United States for failing to provide sufficient assurances on its spying tactics and said bilateral talks were unlikely to make much progress before the German leader visits Washington next month. Reports last October - based on disclosures by former U.S. intelligence contractor Edward Snowden - that Washington had monitored Merkel's mobile phone caused outrage in Germany, which is particularly sensitive about surveillance because of abuses under the East German Stasi secret police and the Nazis. Berlin subsequently demanded talks with Washington on a \"no-spy\" deal, but it has become clear in recent months that the United States is unwilling to give the assurances Germany wants. \"The information we have so far is insufficient,\" Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere, one of Merkel's closest cabinet allies, told German weekly magazine Der Spiegel.","Ex-General: Germany needs to up defense spending. BERLIN (AP) — A retired top-ranking German general said Monday a string of recent embarrassing military equipment failures shows the country needs to spend more on defense, as another aircraft breakdown came to light.","Vatican super-charges social media for sainting of John Paul II. The Vatican is turning to social media to reach out to the millions of pilgrims expected to attend the canonisation of John Paul II, the Polish pope who attained rock star status by the time he died in 2005. Rome police expect up to five million people at the mass officially making saints of John Paul II, who was pope from 1978-2005, as well as John XXIII (1958-63) -- in the first double papal sainting ceremony in the church's history. Besides the www.2papisanti.org official website, the Vatican has set up several Facebook pages using the \"2popesaints\" theme, as well as accounts on Twitter (@2popesaints), YouTube (2popesaints) and Instagram (#2popesaints). Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi did not rule out that Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI -- who was a close confidante of John Paul II -- would attend the ceremony on April 27 in St Peter's Square.","Senate panel OKs $47B homeland security budget. WASHINGTON (AP) — A key Senate panel Thursday gave swift bipartisan approval to a $47 billion budget for the Department of Homeland Security, boosting funding to cope with an influx of Central American children who arrive in the U.S. unaccompanied by their parents.","Germany says halts Rheinmetall defense deal with Russia. Germany's Economy Ministry has confirmed it has halted Rheinmetall's export of combat simulation gear to Russia, going beyond recently imposed EU sanctions which block future defense contracts.Economy Minister Sigmar Gabriel, a Social Democrat (SPD), has blocked the deal which was approved by Germany's previous government, the ministry said. \"I can confirm that in the light of the EU sanctions, permission to export a combat training center has been revoked,\" a spokesman said. Rheinmetall said on Monday it was in talks with the German government. Rheinmetall declined to comment on the details of the contract worth some 100 million euros, nor on whether it might seek compensation from the government.","Power plays: Relationships to watch at G-20 summit. Leaders of the 20 most powerful industrialized and developing economies are due to endorse strategies for raising global growth as they meet in Brisbane, Australia this weekend. Since they represent about two-thirds of the world's population, 85 percent of global GDP and over 75 percent of global trade, they have the heft to do so. But reaching consensus can be tricky and leaders will also be fine tuning their own myriad, complex relationships during the meeting. Here are some key relationships to keep an eye on:","Iraq jihadists dynamite Shiite shrine in Mosul. Sunni militants from the Islamic State group that controls large parts of Iraq have blown up a Shiite shrine in the city of Mosul, an official and witnesses said Saturday. Jihadists destroyed the Nabi Shiyt (Prophet Seth) shrine in Mosul, the de facto Iraqi capital of the \"caliphate\" proclaimed last month by Islamic State (IS) leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.","MH370 search at 'critical juncture'. Kuala Lumpur (AFP) - The search for missing flight MH370 is at a \"critical juncture\", Malaysia's transport minister said Saturday, two days after Australia's premier said a submersible device had one week to find wreckage from the plane in the Indian Ocean.","Kremlin security aide says Ukrainian authorities are West's 'henchmen'. MOSCOW (Reuters) - A top security aide to Russian President Vladimir Putin accused the Ukrainian authorities on Tuesday of being henchman who were taking orders from the West. \"The West's henchman came to power (in February) and have now, in my opinion, lost some of their sovereignty, independence in decision-making and are acting under orders,\" Nikolai Patrushev told Putin. (Reporting by Darya Korsunskaya, Wrting by Alissa de Carbonnel, Editing by Timothy Heritage)","Gunmen shoot dead three policemen, wound nine in Cairo: ministry. Gunmen travelling in a car opened fire on Tuesday on a group of Egyptian policemen outside Cairo's Al-Azhar university, killing three and wounding nine others, the interior ministry said. The attack comes just days ahead of a presidential election on May 26-27, which former army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi is expected to win. The number of attacks targeting policemen has risen since Sisi ousted Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in July last year. The latest came as some students of Cairo's Al-Azhar university, a prestigious seat of Sunni Islamic teaching, were protesting in favour of Morsi, the ministry said in a statement.","Turkey PM tells EU he won't budge on controversial reform. Turkey's embattled leader, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, refused to budge on a much-criticised reform of the country's top judicial body on his first EU visit in five years Tuesday. Visiting EU headquarters, Erdogan stood firm on his controversial response to a massive graft scandal engulfing Turkey. At stake is a plan to reform Turkey's top judicial body, the Supreme Board of Judges and Prosecutors (HSYK), the latest chapter in a weeks-long political crisis triggered by a massive corruption investigation that has ensnared key Erdogan allies. Erdogan's response to the graft probe -- purging police and prosecutors -- has set alarm bells ringing on the state of democracy in Turkey and raised concerns in the EU and elsewhere over his increasingly autocratic actions.","Libyan port rebels demand tanker back before any negotiations. Libyan rebels who control three oil ports will not enter any talks with the government about ending their blockade unless Tripoli returns a tanker that loaded oil at one of its terminals but was recaptured by U.S. forces, they said on Monday. The Morning Glory arrived in the Libyan capital on Sunday after U.S. special forces stormed the tanker and handed it over to Libya's nascent navy.","Meyer spoilt for choice ahead of Rugby Championship. By Nick Said CAPE TOWN (Reuters) - South Africa coach Heyneke Meyer admits he faces a pleasant selection headache ahead of the Rugby Championship following the team's commanding 55-6 thumping of Scotland in Port Elizabeth on Saturday. The dominant display has also convinced Meyer that some of the debutants, including the impressive Handre Pollard at flyhalf, are good enough to compete in the Rugby Championship against Australia, New Zealand and Argentina later in the year. \"Handre is already a matured player and he combined well with (centre) Jan Serfontein today. They are pressuring the first choice players and a lot of the new guys will be contenders for the Rugby Championship.\" After leaking soft tries the weekend before in the narrow 31-30 win over Wales, Meyer was pleased with an improved defensive effort, key to any potential success in the southern hemisphere championship.","U.S. Proposal Boosts Momentum for Israeli-Palestinian Peace Talks. Glimmers of hope are appearing in the Israeli-Palestinian peace talks championed by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry. There are also indications the framework would endorse Netanyahu’s insistence that the Palestinian Liberation Organization, which in 1988 recognized Israel as a state, add recognition of it as a Jewish state—an acknowledgement Israelis say they would understand a genuine end to the conflict over the Biblical land both Jews and Palestinians claim as a homeland.","South Korea's Park weeps as she apologizes for ferry disaster. By Jack Kim SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korean President Park Geun-hye, tears rolling down her cheeks, formally apologized on Monday for a ferry disaster that killed about 300 people, mostly school children, and said she would dismantle the coast guard for failing in its duties. Park has been hit hard by an angry nationwide outcry over the government's response to South Korea's worst civilian maritime disaster in 20 years and the seemingly slow and ineffective rescue operation. Polls show support for Park has dropped by more than 20 points since the April 16 disaster.","15-year-old Bellis loses in 2nd round at US Open. NEW YORK (AP) — CiCi Bellis, the first 15-year-old since 1996 to win a U.S. Open match, could not follow that up with another victory, losing in the second round Thursday night.","4 men on trial in Germany over terror plot. BERLIN (AP) — Four men have gone on trial in Germany accused of forming a terrorist group and planning to kill a far-right politician.","Paraguay alcanza cosecha récord de soja. ASUNCION, Paraguay (AP) — Paraguay alcanzó este año una cosecha récord de 9,2 millones de toneladas de soja, superior a las 8,2 millones de toneladas de 2013, según informó el martes la patronal Coordinadora Agrícola del Paraguay.","Irish president in Britain for historic state visit. Ireland's Michael D. Higgins begins Tuesday the first state visit by a president of the republic since it gained independence from neighbouring Britain. The visit comes three years after Queen Elizabeth II made a groundbreaking trip to the republic, which helped to heal deep-rooted unease and put British-Irish relations on a new footing. Higgins' return visit will be seen as an official sign of further progress following the hard-won peace in Northern Ireland, which remains part of the United Kingdom. Higgins was met at London Heathrow Airport late Monday by Viscount Hood, lord-in-waiting to the queen.","Gaza rebuilding slowed by trickle of aid, rivalry. GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — Several dozen tons of cement bags stored in a warehouse are one of the few tangible achievements so far of a $2.7 billion plan to rebuild war-wrecked Gaza Strip.","Ukrainian president urges opposition to step away from radicals. Ukrainian President Victor Yanukovich urged leaders of the opposition on Wednesday to dissociate themselves from radicals and warned them that otherwise he will \"talk differently\" with them. Yanukovich also said in a statement some members of the anti-government opposition had crossed a line when they called on their supporters to bring weapons to the demonstration in the central square of Ukraine's capital, Kiev.","Hurricane Odile makes landfall on Mexico's Baja. CABO SAN LUCAS, Mexico (AP) — The powerful and sprawling Hurricane Odile has made landfall on the southern end of Mexico's Baja California peninsula.","As Sony prepares PCs exit, pressure mounts for reboot on TVs. Sony Corp is in talks with investment fund Japan Industrial Partners to sell its loss-making Vaio personal computer division, a source familiar with the matter said on Wednesday. A new company would be set up by Japan Industrial Partners to take over the Vaio brand's operations in Japan, according to the plan under consideration, the source said. Sony is also considering a withdrawal from overseas PC markets, the source added. The Nikkei business daily reported that the Vaio PC unit would be sold for up to 50 billion yen ($493 million) and that Sony would retain only a small stake in the new company.","Iran supplied weapons to Iraqi Kurdish forces; Baghdad bomb kills 12. By Isabel Coles ARBIL (Reuters) - Iran has supplied weapons and ammunition to Iraqi Kurdish forces, Kurdistan President Massoud Barzani said Tuesday at a joint press conference with Iranian foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif in Arbil, capital of Iraq's Kurdish region. The direct arming of Kurdish forces is a contentious issue because some Iraqi politicians have said they suspect Kurdish leaders have aspirations to break away from the central government completely. The move could also be seen by some as a prelude to Iran taking a more direct role in broader Iraqi conflict. \"We asked for weapons and Iran was the first country to provide us with weapons and ammunition,\" Barzani said.","SOCHI SCENE: The value of gold. SOCHI, Russia (AP) — So how much is a gold medal really worth to the athlete who wins one in Sochi?","Leroux always emotional when U.S. women face Canada in soccer showdown. FRISCO, Texas - Sydney Leroux gets emotional each time the U.S. women play Canada.","Obama turns attention to California drought. WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama is turning his attention to the severe drought threatening California.","In Iran, age mellows some former captors of U.S. hostages. By Parisa Hafezi ANKARA (Reuters) - Three decades after hardline students occupied the U.S. embassy and took diplomats hostage for 444 days, many of the now middle-aged revolutionaries are among the most vocal critics of Iran's conservative establishment, officials and analysts said. The role of the students is back in the spotlight following the appointment of a new U.N. ambassador who may have participated on the fringes of the siege, the event that led Washington to sever ties with Tehran shortly after the 1979 Islamic revolution. The U.S. State Department, which has yet to approve a visa for Hamid Abutalebi, said it had raised \"serious concerns\" with Iran about his nomination for the post. But Iran hopes the case can be resolved, while Abutalebi has played down his role in the hostage crisis, suggesting he was just a translator.","Sonny Bill Williams to make rugby return in NZ. WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Code-hopping star Sonny Bill Williams will return to New Zealand rugby in a National Championships match for Counties Manukau province next week, moving closer to his goal of playing for the All Blacks at next year's Rugby World Cup.","US troops head to exercises in Eastern Europe. WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. Army troops are arriving in Poland to begin what will be a series of military exercises in four countries across Eastern Europe in a move to bolster allies in the wake of Russia's annexation of Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula last month.","Root and Buttler check India before rain arrives. Joe Root and Jos Buttler held firm for England before rain stopped play in the fourth Test against India at Old Trafford on Friday. England were 237 for six in reply to India's 152 all out, a lead of 85 runs, when what became heavy rain forced the players from the field at 2:15pm local time (1315GMT) on the second day. England resumed on 113 for three after bowling out India -- who won the toss -- for just 152 before tea on Thursday, with fast-medium bowler Stuart Broad taking six for 25.","Zambia's acting president appeals for calm. LUSAKA, Zambia (AP) — Zambian security forces will not tolerate any violence or other illegal activity as the country mourns President Michael Sata, who died after a long illness, Zambia's temporary leader said Friday.","U.S. second-quarter growth much stronger; jobless claims fall again. Gross domestic product expanded at a 4.2 percent annual rate instead of the previously reported 4.0 percent pace, the Commerce Department said on Thursday, reflecting upward revisions to business spending and exports. While trade was a drag for a second consecutive quarter, export growth was raised to a 10.1 percent pace from a 9.5 percent rate.","Britain reveals £15bn roads plan before election year. London (AFP) - Britain pledged Monday to invest £15 billion in roads infrastructure over five years, as part of a major spending package before next year's general election.","Downing of airliner seen as pivotal moment in Ukraine crisis. By Matt Spetalnick and Warren Strobel WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The downing of a Malaysian airliner over eastern Ukraine could be a turning point for the Ukraine crisis, if it convinces reluctant Europeans to get behind tougher \"sectoral\" sanctions long-sought by U.S. President Barack Obama. Although it’s unclear exactly who was behind the apparent ground-launched missile that destroyed the Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777, U.S. allies who have tried to occupy the middle ground in the worst crisis in relations between Russia and the West since the end of the Cold War may now support bolder action to end the fighting in Ukraine. \"Some people thought Ukraine didn’t have anything to do with them. They are now discovering their error,\" one senior U.S. official said, adding that this could shatter the view in some European capitals that the conflict was largely contained. Current and former U.S. officials, as well as independent analysts, say the tragedy would sharpen global attention on Ukraine's raging separatist conflict and Moscow's role in fueling it.","China shows off new aircraft carrier to US defence chief. Qingdao (China) (AFP) - China will show off its new aircraft carrier to US Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel on Monday, allowing the Pentagon chief a first-hand look at a symbol of the country's growing military prowess. Hagel arrived in the port city of Qingdao to kick off a three-day tour of China with a visit to the carrier at Yuchi naval base. The carrier visit was \"significant\" as Washington has tried to forge a dialogue with China's top brass to defuse tensions and prodded Beijing to be more open about its military, said a senior US defence official. The carrier, the Liaoning, \"symbolises for the PLA their ambition to project naval power,\" the official said.","American Samoa grants amnesty to more than 4,000. PAGO PAGO, American Samoa (AP) — A U.S. territory has granted immigration amnesty to more than 4,000 foreigners who are physically present in American Samoa without current lawful immigration status.","Dubai and Abu Dhabi stocks close at lowest of year. DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Dubai's main stock market and Abu Dhabi's index closed on Tuesday at their lowest points of the year amid mounting anxiety over plunging oil prices.","Guam police review panel seeks chief's help. HAGATNA, Guam (AP) — Members of the Guam Police Review Commission decided Friday to seek more support from the police chief as it works to hear citizen complaints against police officers.","Red Bull looking for winning ways on home track. SPIELBERG, Austria (AP) — Red Bull couldn't ask for a more suitable venue to underline its return to winning ways in Formula One.","Sun, Park to meet in Asian Games freestyle final. INCHEON, South Korea (AP) — China's Olympic champion swimmer Sun Yang is on course to meet his chief rival, Park Tae-hwan of South Korea in the 200-meter freestyle final Sunday night, the first of three showdowns between the pair at the Asian Games.","Ecclestone defense seeks deal to end bribery trial. MUNICH (AP) — A German court says prosecutors and lawyers for Bernie Ecclestone are in talks about a possible deal to end the Formula One boss' bribery trial.","West Indies beats NZ by 39 runs to level series. ROSEAU, Dominica (AP) — Right-hander Andre Fletcher hit 62 off 49 deliveries while Sheldon Cottrell and Sunil Narine starred with the ball as the West Indies beat New Zealand by 39 runs on Sunday in their second and final Twenty20 match.","Austria international Schiemer retires at 28. SALZBURG, Austria (AP) — Austria international Franz Schiemer has announced his retirement because of persistent injuries, saying Sunday's domestic league game with Salzburg against Rapid Vienna will be his last match.","Islamic State jihadists fight Kurds, Sunni tribe in Syria. The jihadist Islamic State (IS), which has taken over large swathes of war-torn Syria in just a few months, was on Thursday engaged in fighting Kurds and members of a Sunni tribe. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the well-equipped Kurds, who started fighting IS soon after it emerged in Syria in spring last year, had on Wednesday taken back several hills surrounding the city of Ain al-Arab (Kobane in Kurdish) in the north. The IS has been trying to take over Ain al-Arab -- Syria's third Kurdish city -- and incorporate it into the Islamic \"caliphate\" it proclaimed last month. The fighting killed 14 members of the Kurdish People's Protection Units (PYG) and 35 IS members.","N. Korea powerful temptation for some Americans. SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — One shouted about God's love as he crossed a frozen river, clutching a Bible. Another swam, drunk and naked. Several U.S. soldiers dashed around land mines.","SOCHI SCENE: Help at home. KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia (AP) — Franz Beckenbauer. Boris Becker. Maria Hoefl-Riesch.","NHL won't discuss 2018 Winter Games while in Sochi. SOCHI, Russia (AP) — The possibility of the NHL players competing in the 2018 Olympics won't be discussed by the league during the Sochi Games.","GM to recall 1.3 million vehicles to fix electric power steering assist. (Reuters) - General Motors Co said it informed the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration that it would recall more than 1.3 million vehicles in the United States to fix defects in electric power steering assist. The company on Monday said it expects to take a charge of up to $750 million in the first quarter, primarily related to recalls announced in the quarter. (http://r.reuters.com/suz97v) GM expanded its global recall of cars with defective ignition switches to 2.6 million on Friday. That defect has been linked to at least 13 deaths. ...","Turner Broadcasting to cut workforce by 10 percent. (Reuters) - Turner Broadcasting, which operates cable news network CNN, TNT and the Cartoon Network, said on Monday it will slash its workforce by 10 percent, or 1,475 positions. The reduction includes previously announced buyouts targeting 500 to 600 workers. Turner has about 14,000 full-time employees worldwide. The job cuts \"will come at all levels from across the company's news, entertainment, kids, young adult and sports networks and businesses, as well as corporate functions in 18 Turner locations around the world,\" Turner said in a statement. ...","China puts US businessman on trial in mob crimes. BEIJING (AP) — An American businessman went on trial in China on Monday for allegedly heading a violent mob that kidnapped rivals and operated illegal casinos, charges he has said he was tortured into confessing.","Madrid tops AP Global 10 after 20th straight win. LONDON (AP) — Real Madrid replaced Barcelona at the top of the Associated Press Global Football 10 on Tuesday after its 20th straight win in all competitions.","2 Ukrainians captured as Crimean based stormed. KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine's Defense Ministry says Russian forces have stormed yet another Ukrainian military base on the Crimean Peninsula and taken two servicemen captive.","8 military dead in helicopter crash in Romania. BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) — The Romanian defense ministry says a helicopter on a training mission has crashed in central Romania, killing eight military personnel and injuring two others.","Slain actress: Symbol of Venezuela's insecurity. CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — A popular soap-opera actress and former Miss Venezuela, 29-year-old Monica Spear surely could have afforded to vacation elsewhere.","ECB's Draghi: Stronger euro could hurt recovery. FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — European Central Bank head Mario Draghi said Monday that a stronger euro would put at risk the shaky recovery in the 18 countries that use the shared currency.","Israeli killed in W.Bank stabbing, attacker shot: medics. An Israeli woman was killed and two others wounded Monday when a Palestinian stabbed them outside a West Bank settlement before being shot dead by a security guard, police said. Medics said a woman of around 25 died in the attack on a road outside Alon Shvut in the Etzion settlement bloc in the southern West Bank. It was Monday's second such stabbing incident and came several hours after a Palestinian teenager attacked an Israeli soldier with a knife in Tel Aviv, leaving him in critical condition. Police said the attacker had driven to a bus stop near Alon Shvut and began attacking people with a knife.","Cricket-Australia paceman Bird cleared for South Africa tour. Fit-again paceman Jackson Bird was given the go-ahead on Thursday to join the Australia team in South Africa but batsman Shaun Marsh, battling a calf strain, was yet to be cleared for the three-test series starting on Feb. 12. Bird, who injured his back in a Big Bash match last week, was cleared by the medical team after the 27-year-old paceman underwent bowling sessions at Hobart under coach Darren Lehmann's observation. He, along with team mate Moises Henriques, will fly to South Africa on Friday. There was no such immediate joy for Marsh, who injured his calf during Australia's one-day series against England and was undergoing treatment at Perth.","Libya's new premier Maiteeq takes office amid strife. Libya's new prime minister Ahmed Maiteeq on Monday held his first cabinet meeting at the premier's office after police forces helped him take over the building. The North African country is struggling with turmoil and a political crisis as outgoing premier Abdullah al-Thinni has refused to hand over power to Maiteeq who was elected by parliament in a chaotic vote last month. Thinni had resigned in April but has said he received conflicting orders from Libya's divided parliament over the legitimacy of Maiteeq's election and would continue in his post until the General National Congress (GNC) assembly resolved the dispute. The cabinet's tenure might be short-lived as Libya is preparing for elections later this month.","Del Potro denies tax evasion in Argentina. BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — Juan Martin del Potro denies he has committed tax evasion in his native Argentina.","Veteran B.C. New Democrat MP Jean Crowder says won't be running again. OTTAWA - New Democrat MP Jean Crowder says she won't run in the next election, expected in the fall of 2015.","Explosion kills two soldiers in Yemen's Hadramawt region. ADEN (Reuters) - An explosion near a military checkpoint in Yemen's southeastern Hadramawt region killed two soldiers and injured four others, a local official said, adding to a wave of attacks hitting the country at a moment of political turmoil. The blast took place on a public street in the city of Shibam in Hadramawt, the official said, adding that Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) or its affiliate Ansar al-Sharia is believed to be responsible. ...","Reports: Pistorius not mentally ill during killing. PRETORIA, South Africa (AP) — A panel of mental health experts has concluded that Oscar Pistorius was not suffering from a mental illness when he killed girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp in his home last year, the chief prosecutor at the athlete's murder trial said Monday.","Visa says suspending services to sanctioned Russian banks. U.S. payment-card firm Visa said on Tuesday it would suspend network services to Russian banks SMP and InvestCapitalbank, which were sanctioned on Monday by the United States, in order to comply with U.S. law. \"We regret any disruptions that the institutions, their cardholders or merchants may experience,\" Visa said in a statement. \"All of Visa's systems are processing normally, and we continue to service our other unaffected Russian clients.\" Rival MasterCard Inc said on Monday it would suspend services in the near future to cards issued by SMP bank and InvestCapitalbank. InvestCapitalbank and SMP bank were hit with sanctions on Monday in retaliation for Russia's involvement in Ukraine.","Turkish attempt to ban Twitter backfires. ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkey's attempt to block access to Twitter appeared to backfire on Friday with many tech-savvy users circumventing the ban and suspicions growing that the prime minister was using court orders to suppress corruption allegations against him and his government.","Ukraine's Yanukovich says did not give order to shoot protesters. ROSTOV-ON-DON, Russia (Reuters) - Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich said on Friday he had not ordered police to shoot at protesters before he was forced out of power and the responsibility for bloodshed in Kiev lay with the demonstrators. At a news conference in the Russian city of Rostov-on-Don, Yanukovich also said he was surprised that Russian president Vladimir Putin had said nothing in public about the past week's events in Ukraine. Asked about his arch-rival, former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko, who was released from jail last Saturday, Yanukovich said he had never meant her any harm.","Ronaldo has tendinitis & leg muscle injury. LISBON, Portugal (AP) — Portugal says forward Cristiano Ronaldo has tendinitis in his left leg to go with a left leg muscle injury as the team prepares for its World Cup opener on June 16 against Germany.","S.African anti-apartheid hero awarded Tang Prize. Albie Sachs, the South African judge who rose to fame for his role in the anti-apartheid struggle, was Saturday awarded the Tang Prize, touted as Asia's version of the Nobels, for his contributions to human rights and justice. Sachs, who lost an arm and the sight of one eye in a car-bombing by apartheid forces in Mozambique in 1988 and was later appointed to South Africa's Constitutional Court by Nelson Mandela, was recognised \"for his many contributions to human rights and justice globally,\" said the Tang Prize Foundation. In particular, the foundation recognised his efforts \"in the realisation of the rule of law in a free and democratic South Africa\".","U.S. jobless claims fall, point to firming labor market. The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits dipped more than expected last week, pointing to strengthening labor market conditions. Initial claims for state unemployment benefits slipped 6,000 to a seasonally adjusted 312,000 for the week ended June 14, the Labor Department said on Thursday. The Federal Reserve said on Wednesday the job market would continue to improve gradually and hinted at a slightly faster pace of interest rate increases starting in 2015. A Labor Department analyst said there were no special factors influencing the state level data.","Palestinian, Israeli officials dispute autopsy on dead Palestinian minister. RAMALLAH, West Bank (Reuters) - Israeli and Palestinian officials issued conflicting accounts on Thursday over the results of an autopsy on a Palestinian minister who died after being shoved and grabbed by the neck by an Israeli policeman at a West Bank protest on Wednesday. Hussein al-Sheikh, a top Palestinian official, told Reuters that Jordanian and Palestinian doctors involved in the late night examination of the body said Ziad Abu Ein, 55, had died from being struck, inhaling tear gas and not receiving prompt medical attention. ...","Commonwealth Games - Pickett claims 50m breaststroke gold for Australia. - Australia's Leiston Pickett retained her 50m breaststroke Commonwealth title on Friday as she edged out Jamaica's Alia Atkinson in a time of 30:59sec.","UN experts say world's mangrove forests at risk. ATHENS, Greece (AP) — U.N. experts are warning that the world's mangrove forests are being destroyed at a more rapid rate than other forest ecosystems because of land conversion, development and pollution.","Coke to soften marketing if unrest hits World Cup. LONDON (AP) — World Cup sponsor Coca-Cola has disclosed contingency plans to soften the celebratory tone of its sponsorship of football's showpiece event in Brazil if unrest returns to the streets.","Ivanovic beats Wozniacki to win WTA Pan Pacific. Tokyo (AFP) - Ana Ivanovic charged the net repeatedly to overcome US Open finalist Caroline Wozniacki 6-2, 7-6 (7/2) in the final of the WTA Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo on Sunday.","As China gets tougher on fuel economy, some carmakers may be left behind. By Samuel Shen and Norihiko Shirouzu SHANGHAI/BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese automakers from state-owned FAW Co to Zhejiang Geely are racing to sell more eco-friendly cars as they try to meet tough fuel economy rules due next year as part of Beijing's battle against pollution. But many of China's smaller indigenous automakers will struggle to make the costly upgrades needed to meet the new rules, which aim to push more efficient energy use and which are expected to be toughened every year through 2020. ...","Singapore grapples with smartphone addiction. Easily distracted? Can't be separated from your smartphone? Psychiatrists in Singapore are pushing for medical authorities to formally recognise addiction to the Internet and digital devices as a disorder, joining other countries around the world in addressing a growing problem. Singapore and Hong Kong top an Asia-Pacific region that boasts some of the world's highest smartphone penetration rates, according to a 2013 report by media monitoring firm Nielsen.","Representative for Iraq's most senior Shi'ite cleric urges people to take up arms. BAGHDAD (Reuters) - A representative of Iraq's most influential Shi'ite cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani urged people to take up arms and defend their country from insurgents. Sheikh Abdulmehdi al-Karbalai was delivering the sermon at Friday prayers in the city of Kerbala. (Reporting by Isra al-Rubei'i; Writing by Isabel Coles; Editing by Janet Lawrence)","Bombs targeting soldiers, shoppers kill 11 in Iraq. BAGHDAD (AP) — A suicide bomber has attacked an army checkpoint north of Iraq's capital, part of a day of violence that's killed 11 people across the country.","Over 1,000 Europeans a day ask Google to scrub Web. SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Google is being swamped with requests from Europeans trying to erase unflattering links to their past from the world's dominant Internet search engine.","Tennis-China's Li takes first set in Australian Open final. China's Li Na overcame some poor serving and an errant forehand to capture the first set of the Australian Open final in a tiebreak against Dominika Cibulkova on Saturday. The fourth seed Li broke Cibulkova twice and had set point on serve at 6-5 but the feisty 20th seed survived to take the opener into a tiebreaker on a cool, breezy night at Rod Laver Arena.","U.S. weighing airstrikes to stem Iraqi Islamist offensive. By Phil Stewart and Doina Chiacu WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama is considering airstrikes in northern Iraq in response to advances by Islamic State militants and the ensuing humanitarian crisis, a U.S. military official said on Thursday. White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters earlier that Obama had met members of his national security team on Thursday. Earnest declined to say whether U.S. military intervention in Iraq was being considered. Any airstrikes would represent the first combat action by the United States in Iraq since it pulled out the last of its troops in 2011 to end eight years of war.","US and Australia drop sanctions against Fiji. The U.S. and Australia have removed sanctions against Fiji following democratic elections last month in the South Pacific nation. Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop on Friday began a two-day visit ...","Palestinians meet in Gaza for reconciliation talks. GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — A senior Hamas leader based in Egypt is in Gaza for talks aimed at reaching a reconciliation agreement between the two rival Palestinian groups, Hamas and Fatah.","Toronto man guilty of dismembering ex-girlfriend. TORONTO (AP) — A Toronto man was convicted Thursday of second-degree murder for killing and dismembering his ex-girlfriend, then scattering body parts around the city and Niagara Falls.","Richard III faces final battle in London court. The final battle of British king Richard III, who died at war in 1485, began Thursday at London's High Court, which must decide where his remains will be laid to rest. Distant relatives and supporters of the infamous ruler, whose body was found under a car park in Leicester, central England, in 2012, are fighting for his remains to be buried in York Minster, the city that gave its name to Richard's royal house. The Plantagenet Alliance claim it was the wish \"of the last medieval king of England\" that he be interred in the historic northern England city.","Biden to reassure Romania, Cyprus of U.S. support in Ukraine crisis. Vice President Joe Biden's visit to Romania and Cyprus aims to reassure European allies of the U.S. commitment to the region in the face of Russia's role in the crisis in Ukraine, a senior administration official said on Monday. Biden's journey Tuesday through Friday is part of an outreach effort that has included trips to Ukraine, the Baltic states and Poland. \"He is making these trips, these calls, taking these meetings all as a way of showing the United States' continuing solidarity and growing partnership with all of our European partners at a complicated and challenging time in Europe,\" the official told reporters, speaking on condition of anonymity. Russia's annexation of Crimea and its support for separatist movements in the east and south of Ukraine have drawn economic sanctions from the United States and the European Union.","UN seeks $274 million for Central African Republic. GENEVA (AP) — The United Nations and aid groups launched an appeal for $274 million Wednesday to help people fleeing the conflict in the Central African Republic, warning that the dire needs of hundreds of thousands can't be met with existing funds.","Britain's Sky signs new 5-year deal with NFL. LONDON (AP) — British broadcaster Sky Sports has signed a new expanded five-year deal with the NFL to show more than 80 games per season from 2015.","Syria, UN in Homs aid deal as Aleppo fighting hots up. Syria and the UN have struck a deal for aiding besieged areas of Homs, officials said Thursday, as an NGO said more than 250 people have died in regime barrel-bomb attacks on Aleppo. Also in northern Syria, clashes between rebels and troops raged inside Aleppo's central prison, after Islamist fighters assaulted it and freed hundreds of prisoners, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. A week after the situation in besieged districts of Homs was discussed at peace talks in Geneva, state news agency SANA said agreement has been reached to allow aid in and safe passage out for civilians. \"Homs Governor Talal al-Barazi and UN resident coordinator Yaacoub El Hillo have reached an agreement securing the exit of innocent civilians from the Old City and the entrance of humanitarian assistance for civilians who choose to stay,\" it said.","UK warns travelers they could be terror targets. LONDON (AP) — Britain has taken the unusual step of issuing a general terror warning to all U.K. travelers overseas because of fears that they could be targeted by Islamic State group terrorists seeking revenge for coalition actions in the Middle East.","Cruzeiro beats Botafogo to maintain lead in Brazil. SAO PAULO (AP) — Cruzeiro scored twice in the first 15 minutes and held on to defeat Botafogo 2-1 in the Brazilian league on Sunday, maintaining a five-point lead over second-place Sao Paulo going into the competition's final rounds.","More belongings found at Ukraine disaster site. AMSTERDAM (AP) — The head of a team of international investigators says more personal belongings of victims of the Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 disaster in eastern Ukraine have been found, but no human remains.","Iraq will take action if Kurds export oil before deal reached. Iraq will take action, including fiscal measures, if the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) exports oil before an agreement is reached with Baghdad, Deputy Prime Minister for Energy Hussain al-Shahristani said at a conference in London on Tuesday. Shahristani reiterated that only Iraqi state marketer SOMO is authorized to export the country's oil. \"Any oil that leaves Iraq without the permission of SOMO is illegal and Iraq will have to take action to protect its oil wealth,\" Shahristani said.","Syrian peace talks yield hard stances, slight hope. GENEVA (AP) — Syria's government said stopping terrorism — not talking peace — was its priority, while the Western-backed opposition said \"the road to negotiations\" had begun, offering a glimmer of hope Thursday for a way to halt the violence that has killed more than 130,000 people.","Western anger at anti-gay law hits Uganda's currency. By Philippa Croome and Elias Biryabarema KAMPALA (Reuters) - Uganda's currency tumbled on Wednesday on concerns that a new anti-gay law will damage relations with Western countries alarmed at what they see as a government-backed violation of human rights. President Yoweri Museveni's approval of the law on Monday, imposing jail sentences of up to life for gay sex, reflects a gulf in social attitudes between conservative Africa and the West, with Washington saying the law complicated its \"valued relationship\" with Uganda and several European countries withholding aid. The shilling fell 2 percent on Wednesday before Uganda's central bank intervened to stop the slide, after Denmark and Norway said they would hold back on aid and others threatened to follow. The currency movement appeared to confirm the prediction by Swedish Finance Minister Anders Borg who said on Tuesday the law was a \"financial risk\" for Uganda.","Slovenian PM wants early elections by July. Slovenian Prime Minister Alenka Bratusek said on Tuesday she would remain in her post until early elections which she said she would like to see by July. Bratusek, whose policies helped stave off an international bailout last year, lost the leadership of her center-left Positive Slovenia party at the weekend, plunging the euro zone state into political crisis and rattling bond market investors. Analysts say elections are likely to hold up key reforms designed to reduce the budget deficit to 4.2 percent of gross domestic product this year, in line with EU demands and down from 14.7 percent in 2013 when the deficit soared due to state injections in local banks. Slovenian President Borut Pahor said he would not exercise his right to nominate a new prime minister-designate.","Insurgents clash with Hezbollah near Syria-Lebanon border. BEIRUT (Reuters) - Lebanese Shi'ite group Hezbollah clashed with hundreds of Sunni Islamist insurgents trying to capture land in a mountainous area near the border with Syria on Sunday and both sides suffered casualties, security sources said. The insurgents, linked to the militant group Islamic State and al Qaeda's Syria wing, launched a major offensive on Hezbollah-controlled areas near the Lebanese border town of Arsal, the sources said. Hezbollah had called on fighters to mobilize to defend the area, they added. The Sunni insurgents see Iran-backed Hezbollah among their chief foes. ...","Reckitt Benckiser says emerging markets crimp profits. British household goods firm Reckitt Benckiser reported on Wednesday that profits dipped last year amid slowing demand in emerging markets. That compared with £1.82 billion in 2012, Reckitt said in a results statement. Chief executive Rakesh Kapoor said in an earnings statement that the group was helped by its so-called powerbrand products.","Diepsloot: Where South Africa's problems meet. Diepsloot (South Africa) (AFP) - The tavern in Diepsloot township on the outskirts of Johannesburg starts filling up early on a Friday. There's no job!\" says unemployed 29-year-old Elias, summarising the dashed hopes of many tens of thousands who flock to South Africa's economic hub from surrounding provinces. Diepsloot (\"deep ditch\" in the Afrikaans language) northwest of Johannesburg has become a face of the social ills that beleaguer the country governed by the late Nelson Mandela's African National Congress (ANC). The latest census conducted three years ago found that 13.6 percent of South African households lived in makeshift dwellings.","Top Muslim leader urges broader action against Islamist militants. CAIRO (Reuters) - A prominent Muslim cleric said on Wednesday the U.S.-led coalition carrying out air strikes on Islamic State insurgents should widen its scope to include all other militant groups that were tarnishing Islam. Islamic State, an offshoot of al Qaeda, has seized wide areas of Iraq and Syria and declared a caliphate to try to revive theocratic rule that prevailed in the region more than 1,000 years ago. Its militants have beheaded some prisoners and been accused of massacring and enslaving non-Sunni Muslims. ...","2 face life in prison for USVI policeman killing. CHARLOTTE AMALIE, U.S. Virgin Islands (AP) — Two men arrested 11 years after the disappearance of a U.S. Virgin Islands policeman have been sentenced to life in prison for his murder.","C. African Republic chooses mayor as new leader. BANGUI, Central African Republic (AP) — Members of a national transitional council chose the female mayor of Central African Republic's capital to lead the country out of chaos Monday, as a top U.N. official urged the international community to keep the nation from \"crossing the tipping-point into an all-out sectarian conflict.\"","Lebanese army battles Syrian militants near border. LABWEH, Lebanon (AP) — Hundreds of Lebanese civilians are fleeing an eastern border town that was overrun by militants from neighboring Syria as Lebanese troops fight to liberate the area.","'Here comes the mayor!' - Greek far right fires up Athens campaign. By Renee Maltezou and Deepa Babington ATHENS (Reuters) - Greek far-right Golden Dawn lawmaker Ilias Kasidiaris strode into a packed hotel room in central Athens last month to the sound of a marching song and supporters' cries of \"Here comes the mayor!\" \"In less than 100 years, Greeks will become a minority in their country. The only way to strike at the root of evil is through the municipal elections,\" Kasidiaris said, pledging to rid the Greek capital of \"thieves and immigrants\". ...","Report: NSA spied on Merkel's predecessor too. BERLIN (AP) — German media are reporting that U.S. intelligence began spying on current Chancellor Angela Merkel's predecessor in 2002 because of his opposition to the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.","Merkel sees more Ukraine rebels on sanctions list. BERLIN (AP) — German Chancellor Angela Merkel is indicating that more rebel leaders in eastern Ukraine could be added to lists of people targeted by European Union sanctions following much-criticized weekend elections.","Vatican defrocks 2 Chilean priests for sex abuse. SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) — The Vatican has defrocked two Chilean priests for committing sex abuse against adults and at least one underage minor.","Family says slain reporter gave voice to voiceless. PINECREST, Florida (AP) — The family of a journalist slain by Islamic State militants says Steven Sotloff dedicated his life to portraying the suffering of people in war zones, but was \"no hero.\"","London 'beheading' suspect may have tried to attack others. A man suspected of carrying out the grisly murder of an elderly woman in London may have tried to attack two other people, police said on Friday. The body of Palmira Silva, 82, was found on Thursday in a back garden in Nightingale Road, Edmonton, north London. \"Our investigation is looking into the circumstances leading up to (the) murder,\" Scotland Yard said. \"Part of that investigation includes an attempted attack on two people in another address in Nightingale Road.","Scott relishes role as defending Masters champion. AUGUSTA, Ga. (AP) — For some, the burden of defending a championship can be overwhelming.","Asian stocks perked by record US close. TOKYO (AP) — Asian stock markets mostly rose Tuesday, with Tokyo closing at a seven-year high, as investor sentiment got a boost from another record close on Wall Street.","S. Korea 'shocked' as citizens killed in Egypt bus bombing. South Korea voiced shock and outrage Monday at the bombing of a tourist bus in Egypt that killed three of its nationals as well as the Egyptian driver. The bomb tore through the bus carrying 31 South Korean tourists and their guide near an Egyptian border crossing with Israel in South Sinai on Sunday, in what is believed to be a suicide attack. It was the first attack on tourists since the ouster of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi by the army in July sparked civil unrest and a spate of attacks across the country that have mainly targeted security forces. \"We are shocked and enraged at the terrorist bombing on the bus... and strongly condemn the act,\" Seoul's foreign ministry said in a statement.","Obama tells Saudi king U.S. will not agree bad deal with Iran. RIYADH (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama and Saudi King Abdullah discussed \"tactical differences\" in their approach to some issues during a meeting in Riyadh on Friday, but agreed both sides remain strategically aligned, a senior U.S. official said. Obama also assured Abdullah that the United States would not accept a bad nuclear deal with Iran, the official said, adding that Washington remained concerned about providing some shoulder-mounted anti-aircraft weapons to Syrian rebels. ...","Kurdish peshmerga forces take over two Kirkuk oilfields. BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Kurdish peshmerga forces took control of two oilfields near Kirkuk on Friday, expelling Arab workers and replacing them with Kurdish personnel, the oil ministry in Baghdad and sources in the Northern Oil Company said. They said Kurds took over production facilities at Bai Hassan and Kirkuk oilfields early on Friday. (Reporting by Raheem Salman; Editing by Louise Ireland)","At least five Tunisia soldiers dead after militant attack. TUNIS (Reuters) - At least five Tunisian soldiers were killed after gunmen armed with rocket-propelled grenades and rifles attacked military checkpoints in the Mount Chaambi area, where the army has been conducting an operation to flush out Islamist militant fighters, the TAP state news agency and a defense official said on Wednesday. ...","Rapid Warming Hits Antarctica's Shallow Seas. Ocean waters around Antarctica have warmed steadily for the past 40 years, according to a new study. The changes have spurred dramatic melting of ice shelves and could be a factor in Antarctica's record-breaking seasonal sea ice growth, the scientists said. The study is the first comprehensive survey of temperature and salinity records for the Southern Ocean, said lead study author Sunke Schmidtko, an oceanographer at GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research in Kiel, Germany. The research confirms earlier findings of rapid warming in deep offshore currents in the Southern Ocean near Antarctica.","Bayern visits slumping Schalke in Bundesliga. FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — Despite predicting that his injury-hit team would struggle in the first half of the season, Pep Guardiola's Bayern Munich got off to a winning start in its bid to win a third consecutive Bundesliga title.","Ukraine, Alstom on agenda as Hollande meets Merkel. BERLIN (AP) — The crisis in Ukraine featured prominently as French President Francois Hollande began a two-day visit to Germany on Friday.","U.S. House backs Ukraine aid, sanctions. By Patricia Zengerle WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly on Tuesday to provide aid to Ukraine, back a $1 billion loan guarantee for the Kiev government and impose sanctions over Russia's annexation of Crimea. The 378-34 vote was in support of a package approved by the U.S. Senate, meaning it will be sent to the White House for President Barack Obama to sign into law, ending weeks of haggling in Congress over how best to support Ukraine. Besides the loan guarantee, the legislation provides $150 million in aid to Ukraine and surrounding countries and requires the State and Justice Departments to help the Kiev government recover assets amassed by corrupt Ukraine officials.","Iraq's Maliki says hopes for deal on government that could see him go. By Ahmed Rasheed and Alexander Dziadosz BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, who is fighting for his political life as a Sunni insurgency fractures the country, said on Wednesday he hoped parliament could form a new government in its next session after the first collapsed in discord. Baghdad can ill afford a long delay. Yet the mounting concern and pressure from the United States, Iran, the United Nations and Iraq's own Shi'ite clerics have done little to end the paralyzing divisions between Iraq's main ethnic and sectarian blocs. Sunnis and Kurds walked out of parliament's first session on Tuesday, complaining that Shi'ites had failed to nominate a prime minister;","Amid Ukraine tension, U.S. F-16 fighters land in Poland. U.S. F-16 fighter jets landed at Poland's Lask air base on Thursday in a gesture of support for NATO's eastern members after Russia's intervention in Ukraine, the U.S. Embassy in Warsaw said. \"Augmenting the aviation detachment was a deliberate choice to demonstrate to our allies that U.S. commitments to our collective defense responsibilities are credible and remain in force,\" the Warsaw embassy said in a statement, confirming earlier media reports. \"A total of twelve aircraft are scheduled to arrive by the end of this week.\" The drills were beefed up at Warsaw's request after Russian forces seized control of Ukraine's Crimea peninsula. Earlier this week, the United States and Poland began war games in Lask.","Israelis, Gaza militants fight on, defying truce efforts. By Nidal al-Mughrabi and Allyn Fisher-Ilan GAZA/JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel launched more than 20 aerial attacks in Gaza early on Saturday and militants fired several rockets at Israel in a second day of violence since a failure to extend an Egyptian-mediated truce that halted a monthlong war earlier this week. The Israeli military said that since midnight it had attacked more than 20 sites in the coastal enclave where Hamas Islamists are dominant, without specifying the targets. Medical officials in Gaza said a Palestinian man was killed in one of these bombing, his body found beneath the rubble of one of three mosques that were bombed. Gaza militants fired five rockets at towns in Israel's south on Saturday setting off alarm sirens and causing no damage or injuries, a military spokeswoman said.","Indian search finds no trace of Malaysian plane. NEW DELHI (AP) — Indian navy ships supported by surveillance planes and helicopters are scouring Andaman Sea islands for a third day without any success in finding evidence of a missing Malaysia Airlines jet.","Brazil's Rousseff: If re-elected, 'new government, new team'. Brazil's president Dilma Rousseff said she would make changes in her cabinet if elected for a second term after a reporter asked her on Thursday if she planned to replace Finance Minister Guido Mantega. Mantega has lost credibility with investors after years of giving what are widely considered overly optimistic economic forecasts.","G7 leaders: No recognition of Crimea referendum. WASHINGTON (AP) — The Group of 7 world leaders say they won't recognize results of a referendum for the Crimea region to split from Ukraine and join Russia.","South Sudan rebels launch major attack on key oil town Malakal. Juba (AFP) - Rebel forces in South Sudan launched a major assault early Tuesday against the key town of Malakal, the government-controlled capital of the oil-rich Upper Nile state, witnesses told AFP.","Bankers sidestepping bonus cap face regulator action: EU's Barnier. By Huw Jones LONDON (Reuters) - Bankers who sidestep a cap on their bonuses will face action from the European Union's banking regulator, the bloc's financial services chief said on Tuesday as he fought off calls to toughen up the measure. EU financial services commissioner Michel Barnier said the allowances, which he described as a \"new category of invented revenue\", were being examined by the European Banking Authority (EBA), an EU watchdog. Britain's HSBC has said it will give new \"allowances\" - expected to take the form of monthly or quarterly payments in cash or shares - to senior staff to boost their fixed pay, meaning that higher bonuses could then be awarded. \"If we note any deviations or sidestepping of the law then ... the EBA needs to assume its responsibility and react,\" Barnier told the European Parliament's economic affairs committee.","Poland's PM says NATO to boost military presence within weeks. NATO will strengthen its presence in Poland within weeks, Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on Saturday, a move that could help allay fears in eastern European states for their security after Russia's seizure of Ukraine's Crimea region. Tusk spoke three days after foreign ministers from the U.S.-led alliance ordered military commanders to devise plans for reinforcing NATO defenses among its eastern European members, including Poland, a neighbor of Ukraine. Russia's annexation of Crimea after the fall of Ukraine's pro-Russian president to mass protests has caused the deepest crisis in East-West relations since the Cold War, when most east European countries were under Soviet domination from Moscow.","Hungary tax chief admits ban from visiting US. BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — The head of Hungary's tax authority has admitted being banned from entering the United States because of suspected links to corruption.","Four people confirmed dead on Japan volcano. Tokyo (AFP) - The first deaths from the sudden eruption of a volcano in Japan have been confirmed, national media reported Sunday.","Clouds over French far-right party as father and daughter row. The unity of France's far-right National Front has cracked as founder Jean-Marie Le Pen and his daughter and party leader Marine exchange an unprecedented public war of words, just as she struggles to create a new EU eurosceptic group. The crisis kicked off last week when a video was posted on the National Front (FN) website in which Le Pen made an apparent anti-Semitic pun -- the latest in a series of controversial statements by the 85-year-old who has had multiple convictions for inciting racial hatred and denying crimes against humanity. But this time, members of the FN itself also rose up in anger, including Le Pen's daughter Marine, who took over the party leadership in 2011. She has since sought to rid the National Front of its reputation for racism and anti-Semitism in a move known as the \"de-demonisation\" of the party.","Used to rebuild Warsaw, Jewish tombstones return to cemeteries. Two-year-old Krzys zooms down a slide in Warsaw and shrieks with delight, paying no mind to the workmen who are busy demolishing the playground walls. The tombstones, known as Matzevot, from hundreds of Jewish cemeteries across Poland -- that were abandoned or destroyed following the Holocaust -- were used to pave roads and put up walls during the communist era. It was part of an effort to rebuild a capital city that had been razed to the ground by Nazi Germany during World War II, a conflict that also all but wiped out Poland's Jewish community. At the small playground in Warsaw's Praga neighbourhood, the stones were used to build an arbour and the walls surrounding a nursery school as well as a dance floor.","Top Asian News at 10:30 p.m. GMT. KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — The missing Boeing 777 jetliner changed course over the sea, crossed Malaysia and reached the Strait of Malacca — hundreds of miles from its last position recorded by civilian authorities, Malaysian military officials said Tuesday, citing military radar data. The development added confusion and mystery into one of most puzzling aviation incidents of recent time, and it has raised questions about why the Malaysia Airlines flight apparently was not transmitting signals detectable by civilian radar, why its crew was silent about the course change and why no distress calls were sent after it turned back.","Syria's Assad says foreign states will pay for supporting 'terrorism'. President Bashar al-Assad, who was sworn in for a new term on Wednesday, said Western and Arab states that have supported \"terrorism\" will pay a \"high price\" and that he would fight insurgents until security was restored to the whole country. \"Soon we will see that the Arab, regional and Western states that supported terrorism will pay a high price,\" he told his supporters at the presidential palace. Assad, supported by Russia and Iran, has defied calls by Western states to step aside during the conflict that started in 2011 with protests against his rule before descending into a war that has killed at least 170,000 people.","U.S. gasoline prices fall to four-year low: Lundberg survey. By Michelle Conlin (Reuters) - The average price of a gallon of gasoline in the United States has dropped one dollar since early May, the lowest price in more than four years, according to the Lundberg survey released Sunday. Prices for regular-grade gasoline fell to $2.72 a gallon, down 12 cents since the last survey two week ago. The recent drop has been compared by many to the extreme price plunges that took place after the 2008 recession. The decline in prices was driven by slower demand coupled with dramatic growth in oil supply production, especially in North America and Canada. ...","Chaos over premier's post as Libya slides into uncertainty. By Patrick Markey and Ahmed Elumami TRIPOLI (Reuters) - Libya stumbled deeper into chaos on Thursday uncertain over who runs the country after rival prime ministers both claimed legitimacy in a confrontation threatening to turn into violence among rival factions. Even by Libya's tumultuous standards, the North African oil producing state has veered closer to its most dangerous crisis in the three years since a NATO-backed uprising helped rebels put an end to Muammar Gaddafi's one-man rule. After a contested vote in parliament three weeks ago, businessman Ahmed Maiteeq was appointed as Libya's third prime minister in two months with backing from Islamists and independents in the splintered General National Congress (GNC). On Wednesday, his predecessor acting Prime Minister Abdullah al-Thinni refused to hand over power after questioning the legality of Maiteeq's appointment by a parliament that many Libyans blame for their slow democratic advance.","Arrest shows Europe's challenge to track jihadists. PARIS (AP) — The suspect in the recent killings at the Jewish Museum in Brussels provides a textbook example of a longstanding fear in the West — the threat posed by radicalized citizens returning from the battlefields of Syria.","Institute: More digging at NKorea nuke test site. WASHINGTON (AP) — A U.S. research institute says that North Korea has accelerated excavation at a remote mountain site used for underground nuclear test explosions.","Japan February exports seen accelerating; trade gap to narrow. By Tetsushi Kajimoto TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's export growth is forecast to have accelerated in February as shipments recovered from a Lunar New Year slowdown, which along with slower import growth is expected see the trade deficit narrow from record levels, a Reuters poll shows. Lackluster exports have been a concern for policymakers, who are counting on shipments to help cushion an expected dent in domestic activity from next month when the sales tax rate rises to 8 percent from the current 5 percent. The Reuters poll found exports are expected to have risen 12.4 percent in February from a year earlier, led by brisk car shipments to the United States. If realized, it would be the first time since October that export growth has accelerated from the previous month.","Shahzad, Shafiqullah spur Afghanistan to victory. CHITTAGONG, Bangladesh (AP) — Afghanistan earned its first win in the World Twenty20 and kept alive slim hopes of making the Super 10 with an emphatic seven-wicket victory over Hong Kong on Tuesday.","Norwegian museum agrees to return looted Matisse. AMSTERDAM (AP) — A Norwegian museum says it has agreed to return a Matisse once looted by Hermann Goering to the family of Jewish art dealer Paul Rosenberg.","Philippines regrets Hong Kong sanction. MANILA, Philippines (AP) — The Philippine government says it regrets new Hong Kong sanctions, but cannot accept a demand that it apologize for the deaths of eight Hong Kong tourists in a 2010 hostage tragedy.","Lebanon army attacks gunmen in historic Tripoli market. Lebanese troops attacked Islamist gunmen holed up in the historic market of the northern city of Tripoli Saturday, after deadly clashes rocked the longtime tourist attraction, an AFP correspondent reported. It was the first time since the civil war in neighbouring Syria erupted in 2011 that violence had spread to the market in Tripoli's historic centre, which is on the shortlist for possible nomination as a UNESCO world heritage site. The AFP correspondent heard shelling and heavy gunfire as the army launched its assault on the gunmen's positions. Tripoli has seen repeated clashes between Sunni militants sympathetic to the rebels in neighbouring Syria and Alawites who back the Damascus regime.","Belgium's Lukaku looks fit after ankle strain. MOGI DAS CRUSES, Brazil (AP) — Striker Romelu Lukaku resumed training with Belgium's World Cup squad on Wednesday showing no apparent effect from a right ankle strain he sustained last weekend.","England 486 all out against India. London (AFP) - England were bowled out for 486 in reply to India's 148, a first-innings lead of 338 runs, on the third day of the fifth Test at The Oval on Sunday.","Gunmen kill Shiite rebel Yemen talks envoy. Unidentified gunmen on Tuesday shot dead a law professor who has been representing Shiite Huthi rebels at Yemen's thorny reconciliation talks, a security official said. Ahmed Sharafeddin, a leading figure in the rebel group, was gunned down as he drove from his house in the capital Sanaa to the hotel where the talks are being held, the official said. He was attacked at the Saba roundabout, in central Sanaa, and died instantly, the official added, speaking on condition of anonymity. Sharafeddin is the second representative of the Huthis to the talks to be killed, after gunmen shot dead MP Abdulkarim Jadban in a similar attack in November.","Police shoot dead three criminals near U.N., U.S. sites in Nairobi. Police killed three people trying to steal a truck near a United Nations complex and the nearby U.S. Many Kenyans and foreigners in Nairobi have been vigilant since Islamist gunmen attacked the Westgate shopping mall in the capital in September last year, leaving at least 67 people dead. Other attacks have targeted Nairobi and other areas since then. Our officers were following them in a car and when they intercepted the criminals, they started firing at the officers,\" Nairobi Deputy Police Commander Moses Ombati said, adding three were fatally injured.","Burnt bodies dumped in Central African Republic's capital: Red Cross. By Emmanuel Braun BANGUI (Reuters) - The Red Cross in the Central African Republic said on Wednesday it had found 11 corpses, most burnt beyond recognition, dumped in the capital Bangui, underlining the challenge the new interim president faces in restoring peace. A French military source also said its soldiers were involved in overnight clashes after coming under attack from unidentified gunmen. Close to one million people, or a quarter of the population, have been displaced in the former French colony by clashes that began when mostly Muslim Seleka rebels seized power in a coup in March. Christian self-defense groups known as \"anti-balaka\" (anti-machete) have since taken up arms against them, and the United Nations estimates that tit-for-tat violence has claimed more than 2,000 lives.","Obama upbeat on Ukraine vote, but Russia's stance seen pivotal. By Arshad Mohammed and Jeff Mason WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama suggested on Sunday that Ukraine's election may help unify the country, but analysts said that would depend largely on Moscow's influence and Kiev's ability to deal with daunting domestic challenges. \"The Ukrainian people have repeatedly demonstrated their desire to choose their leaders without interference and to live in a democracy where they can determine their own future free of violence and intimidation,\" Obama said in a clear allusion to Russian efforts to shape events in Ukraine. \"This election is another important step forward in the efforts of the Ukrainian government to unify the country and reach out to all of its citizens to ensure their concerns are addressed and aspirations met,\" he added, saying Ukrainians voted \"even in parts of eastern Ukraine, where Russian-backed separatist groups sought to disenfranchise entire regions.\" U.S.-based regional analysts voiced deep doubts that Russian President Vladimir Putin, having annexed Crimea in March and since pursued what the West regards as a policy of destabilizing eastern Ukraine, would reverse course.","Israeli police kill Palestinian suspected of shooting far-right Jew. JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israeli police shot dead a Palestinian on Thursday after he fired at them resisting arrest in East Jerusalem hours after the attempted assassination of a far-right Israeli activist, police said. \"Anti-terrorist police units surrounded a house in the Abu Tor neighborhood to arrest a suspect in the attempted assassination of Yehuda Glick, immediately upon arrival they were shot at. They returned fire and shot and killed the suspect,\" police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said. ...","Princess cites Gaza work for leaving sports world. LAUSANNE, Switzerland (AP) — IOC member Princess Haya of Jordan has cited her relief work for Gaza as a reason not to seek re-election as International Equestrian Federation president.","US says UAE bombed Libya Islamists as turmoil deepens. UAE warplanes secretly bombed Islamist militia targets in Libya, apparently catching Washington off guard, as turmoil in the North African country deepened with the Islamists naming a rival premier. US officials said on Monday that the United Arab Emirates jets launched two attacks in seven days on the Islamists in Tripoli using bases in Egypt. The air strikes signalled a step towards direct action by regional Arab states that previously have fought proxy wars in Libya, Syria and Iraq in a struggle for power and influence. The bombing raids were first reported by The New York Times, and Islamist forces in Libya had also charged that Egypt and the UAE -- two of the region's main anti-Islamist powers -- were behind them.","Moldovans granted visa-free travel across Europe. BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Parliament on Thursday approved visa-free travel across most of Europe for citizens of Moldova, marking a victory for the former Soviet republic's pro-European government.","Cricket-South Africa strike early blows in first Australia test. By Mark Gleeson PRETORIA, Feb 12 (Reuters) - South Africa captain Graeme Smith will feel vindicated in his decision to bowl first having reduced Australia to 83 for three at lunch on the first day of the first test at SuperSport Park on Wednesday. With the top three batsmen gone, Shaun Marsh (23 not out) and skipper Michael Clarke (11 not out) will be looking to rebuild in the afternoon session on a wicket that is expected to flatten out as the day progresses. Morne Morkel (1-20) in particular troubled the visitors with some exaggerated bounce, but all the pacemen were a handful at the start of a series South Africa have been anticipating to cement their status as the world's best test side. Australia handed a debut to right-handed batsman Alex Doolan as a replacement for the injured Shane Watson, while Marsh came in for the axed George Bailey.","Bubba roars back to claim dramatic win at WGC-HSBC Champions. Masters champion Bubba Watson roared back to beat Tim Clark in a playoff after seemingly blowing his chances down the back nine of the WGC-HSBC Champions on a super Sunday in Shanghai. Watson had started the day two shots behind long-time leader McDowell at nine-under and got off to a shaky start with a bogey five at the first.","Kerry in South Sudan to press for halt to conflict. JUBA (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry flew into South Sudan on Friday to push for a halt to more than four months of fighting in Africa's newest nation, a message he was expected to deliver in talks with President Salva Kiir. Kerry's trip to South Sudan, his first as Secretary of State, came a day after he renewed U.S. threats of sanctions and held out hope for the rapid deployment of more peacekeepers. He said the conflict could descend into genocide. (Reporting by Phil Stewart; Editing by Edmund Blair)","Push for federalism faces hurdles in restive Yemen. Reconciliation talks have outlined Yemen's future as a federal state, but its leaders now face the challenge of implementing change in an impoverished country grappling with multiple revolts. A political transition stipulated by a UN-backed deal that saw long-ruling president Ali Abdullah Saleh step down in the face of Arab Spring-inspired protests was supposed to culminate this February with a new constitution and free elections. In the meantime, Sanaa has struggled with an increasingly assertive separatist movement in the south, deadly clashes between Shiite rebels and Sunni Islamists in the north, and a string of attacks on security forces blamed on a powerful Al-Qaeda affiliate, all feeding a sense of crisis in the Arab world's poorest country. Yemen's parties hope to rein in the unrest by agreeing on a federal system, but remain divided on whether it should consist of two regions or six.","Canada budget deficit shrinks in first six months of 2014/15. OTTAWA (Reuters) - The Canadian government ran a budget deficit of C$744 million ($653 million) in the first six months of the 2014/15 fiscal year, down from C$10.35 billion in the April-September period of 2013, the finance department said on Friday. Earlier this month Ottawa forecast a C$2.9 billion deficit for the current fiscal year, which started April 1, and promised a C$1.9 billion surplus for the following year as Canada goes into a federal election scheduled for October 2015. In September, Canada ran a budget surplus of C$379 million compared with a shortfall of C$3. ...","Iran's most sensitive uranium stockpile falls after nuclear deal. By Fredrik Dahl VIENNA (Reuters) - The size of Iran's most contested uranium stockpile has declined significantly for the first time in four years following a landmark nuclear deal with world powers in November, the U.N. atomic watchdog reported on Thursday. As a result, Iran's holding of uranium gas enriched to a fissile purity of 20 percent - a relatively short technical step away from the level required for nuclear weapons - is now well below the amount needed for a bomb, if processed more. ...","Power cuts hit parts of Greece as electricity workers strike. Parts of Greece were hit by power cuts on Thursday evening after electricity workers began one of a series of 48-hour strikes against government plans to sell off part of the country's biggest power producer. Some Athens districts, remote villages in the island of Crete and areas in the north and south had their power cut for up to an hour during peak evening demand times, after 13 power stations were taken off line late on Wednesday, an official at power distribution agency DEDDIE said. Liberalizing the energy sector is a key condition under Greece's 240-billion euro bailout by the European Union and the International Monetary Fund and parliament is debating a bill that would allow the government to privatize the Public Power Corporation (PPC) in 2015 by spinning off 30 percent. Unions say electricity is a public good that should remain under state control and some 800 PCC workers rallied outside company headquarters in central Athens and then marched to the finance ministry against the privatization.","AP PHOTOS: Soccer stars decorate Haiti's minibuses. PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — The brightly painted Haitian minibuses known as tap-taps are getting even more colorful in the lead-up to the World Cup.","Gris, Picasso lead way in record London auction. Paintings by Pablo Picasso, Rene Magritte and Juan Gris have pushed a sale at Christie's to a record for London of nearly £177 million ($288 million, 213 million euros), the auction house said Wednesday. The second-highest sale of the night was for Pablo Picasso's 1955 portrait of lover Jacqueline Roque (\"Femme au costume turc dans un fauteuil\"), which sold for nearly £16.9 million. Other big sales tags included Swiss sculptor Alberto Giacometti's bronze work of three men, which fetched £9 million.","Korobova, Kolesnichenko win synchro event at Euros. BERLIN (AP) — Favorites Daria Korobova and Svetlana Kolesnichenko claimed Russia's first gold at the European Swimming Championship by winning the duet free routine synchronized final on Saturday.","Williams sisters reach Dubai semifinals. DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Top-ranked Serena Williams had little trouble joining sister Venus, in the Dubai Championships semifinals on Thursday.","Cup match puts Brazil into collective celebration. RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Brazil is in a state of collective and anxious celebration as its soccer team takes on Colombia in a World Cup quarter-final match — and scored an early first goal.","F1 minnows: New rules will widen competition gap. JEREZ, Spain (AP) — Formula One's sweeping rule changes may be behind defending champion Red Bull's dismal start to the preseason, but the more modest teams on the circuit don't see the makings of a major power shift.","Former All Blacks captain Frank Oliver dies at 65. WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Frank Oliver, who captained New Zealand in four tests and whose son Oliver also became an All Blacks captain, has died, his provincial rugby union Manawatu said. He was 65.","US eyes new aid to Iraq to curb insurgent march. WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States is preparing to send new aid to Iraq to help slow a violent insurgent march that is threatening to take over the nation's north, officials said Wednesday. But the Obama administration offered only tepid support for Iraq's beleaguered prime minister, and U.S. lawmakers openly questioned whether he should remain in power.","US business leaders assess Cuba business climate. LA HABANA (AP) — The president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Thomas J. Donohue is heading a group that has arrived in Cuba to assess the island's business climate.","7-person rowing team crosses Indian Ocean. NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — The skipper of a seven-man rowing crew that appears likely to set an Indian Ocean speed record says his team is looking forward to landing on the island nation of the Seychelles after 57 days on the water.","Mexico busts semi-automatic rifle assembly points. MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexican authorities say they have seized two farms that were being used to assemble semi-automatic rifles.","BlackBerry buys German anti-eavesdropping firm. Canadian smartphone maker BlackBerry announced Tuesday the purchase of German voice and data encryption and anti-eavesdropping firm Secusmart, whose customers include NATO and German Chancellor Angela Merkel and her government. The two companies had already partnered to offer Secusmart-equipped BlackBerry handsets to most German government ministries and to the chancellor herself following allegations last year of the United States spying on its ally. The deal firms BlackBerry's reputation for secure mobile communications, chief executive John Chen said in a statement.","Man linked to UN deaths agrees to be deported. DETROIT (AP) — A man suspected in the deaths of two Irish United Nations peacekeepers in 1980 has agreed to be deported to his native Lebanon.","Iran deputy foreign minister to visit Saudi Arabia on Monday: IRNA. DUBAI (Reuters) - Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian is visiting Saudi Arabia on Monday, state news agency IRNA reported, in the first such visit since the election of President Hassan Rouhani in 2013. IRNA said Abdollahian would meet Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal in Riyadh. (Reporting by Michelle Moghtader; Writing by Yara Bayoumy, editing by John Stonestreet)","Egypt to create buffer zone along Gaza border. EL-ARISH, Egypt (AP) — Egyptian security officials say authorities have ordered residents living along the country's eastern border with the Gaza Strip to evacuate so they can demolish their homes and set up a buffer zone to stop weapons and militant trafficking between Egypt and the Palestinian territory.","China police detain 18 over chemical plant protest. BEIJING (AP) — Chinese authorities say they have detained 18 people after a protest against a planned chemical plant in a southern city turned violent.","Russian fans lament hockey team's Olympic loss. SOCHI, Russia (AP) — When it was all over, when the mighty Russian men's hockey team with the big stars and the massive expectations failed to earn a medal for the third straight Winter Olympics, thousands of their demanding fans streamed out of the shiny new arena and squinted as their eyes caught the setting sun.","Russian choppers in China for multinational drills. BEIJING (AP) — Russian army helicopters have landed in northern China to take part in multinational anti-terrorism drills, underscoring continuing close ties between Beijing and Moscow despite tensions with the West over Ukraine.","24 Egypt Islamists get life for Sisi backer's murder. An Egyptian court sentenced Monday to life in prison 24 Islamists for killing a taxi driver who had put in his car a picture of Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, the ex-army chief turned president. Judicial sources said the convicted men were supporters of ousted Islamist president Mohamed Morsi who was overthrown by Sisi last July, and were accused of killing the driver by slitting his throat. The verdict was handed down by a court in the Nile Delta city of Mansoura, site of a car bombing in December which authorities blamed on Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood. Monday's ruling comes days after an Egyptian court confirmed death sentences for 183 alleged Islamists, including Brotherhood chief Mohamed Badie, over the murder of two policemen and the attempted murder of five others in the central Minya province on August 14.","U.S. defense chief, in first, to visit China's aircraft carrier. By Phil Stewart TOKYO (Reuters) - U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel will visit China's sole aircraft carrier when he arrives in the country on Monday, a U.S. official said, in an unprecedented opening by Beijing to a potent symbol of its military buildup. The official believed Hagel would be the first official visitor from outside China to be allowed on board the Liaoning, although that could not be immediately confirmed. China's Defence Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment although Chinese state television noted Hagel would visit the ship. Chinese security experts said Beijing could be trying to quell U.S. criticism that it was not transparent about its military modernization.","Germany warns security situation 'critical' due to radical Islam. By Alexandra Hudson and Sabine Siebold BERLIN (Reuters) - Radical Islam poses a critical security threat to Germany, Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere warned on Tuesday, saying the number of people capable of staging attacks in the country stood at an all-time high. Besides the risk posed by German jihadists returning from Syria, there was also the danger of violent clashes on German streets as rival extremist groups turn on each other - mirroring the conflicts of the Middle East, he told a security conference. ...","Argentine lawmakers won't impeach vice president. BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — Argentine lawmakers have rejected an effort to impeach the country's vice president, who is facing corruption charges.","Design flaws led to 2013 lithium-ion battery fire in Boeing 787 - U.S. NTSB. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board said on Monday that shortcomings in design and certification led to a 2013 fire in a lithium-ion battery on a Boeing 787 Dreamliner in Boston. The agency said the battery, manufactured by GS Yuasa Corp , caught fire after an internal short circuit that led to thermal runaway of the cell. No one was hurt in the incident aboard the Japan Airlines plane, which was parked at Boston's Logan Airport after passenger and crew had departed. (Reporting by Eric Beech; Editing by Mohammad Zargham)","Pimco appoints four more deputy CIOs after El-Erian quits. By Jennifer Ablan NEW YORK (Reuters) - Pimco on Wednesday promoted another four of its top investment managers into more strategic roles, expanding the pool of potential successors to the fund management firm's co-founder and star bond picker Bill Gross following the sudden resignation of his previous heir apparent. Mark Kiesel, Virginie Maisonneuve, Scott Mather and Mihir Worah, currently managing directors at Pacific Investment Management Co, will become deputy chief investment officers, Pimco said in a statement. The four will join Dan Ivascyn and Andrew Balls, who were appointed last week after Mohamed El-Erian, who is the chief executive officer and who shares the chief investment officer role with Gross, abruptly announced plans to resign from Pimco, the world's largest bond fund manager.","Two killed in Egypt protest clashes. Two people were killed in clashes on Friday between protesters and police in the Egyptian city of Fayoum, security officials said, in the latest Islamist demonstrations against the military-installed regime. Supporters of ousted Islamist president Mohamed Morsi have pressed a protest campaign since his overthrow last July, despite an extensive crackdown that has killed more than 1,400 people and imprisoned thousands.","North Korea sentences U.S. citizen Matthew Todd Miller to six years hard labor. By James Pearson SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea sentenced U.S. Matthew Miller joins Kenneth Bae to become the second American currently serving a hard labor sentence in North Korea. A third, Jeffrey Fowle, is currently awaiting trial. \"He committed acts hostile to the DPRK while entering the territory of the DPRK under the guise of a tourist last April,\" the short statement said, without elaborating.","Germany's Loch wins 2nd gold in Olympic luge. KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia (AP) — Felix Loch won his second straight Olympic gold medal in men's luge on Sunday, easily defeating the world's top sliders.","St. Maarten taps health inspector for Canadian body mix-up investigation. The government of St. Maarten has appointed its health inspector to investigate how the body of a Canadian woman may have been switched with an American.","Vaughan slams ECB 'charges' against Pietersen. London (AFP) - Michael Vaughan ridiculed a leaked England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) report into Kevin Pietersen's alleged misbehaviour during the Ashes whitewash in Australia as the fall-out from the controversial autobiography of England's all-time leading run-scorer showed no sign of stopping.","At least 10 dead in Boko Haram raids on Nigeria villages: local leaders. At least 10 people were killed Saturday in raids by suspected Boko Haram gunmen on two villages near the town of Chibok where Islamists abducted more than 200 girls in April, residents and local leaders said. Military fighter jets dropped bombs on the insurgents, halting the attacks after nine hours, said Enoch Mark, a Christian priest in Chibok, some 11 kilometres (six miles) from the attacked villages. \"We have picked up 10 corpses with bullet wounds\" in the bush outside the villages of Kwaranglum and Tsaha, he said. The gunmen dressed as soldiers stormed the villages early Saturday, razing them and shooting residents as they tried to flee, Mark said.","G-20 vows to boost world economy by $2 trillion. SYDNEY (AP) — Finance chiefs from the 20 largest economies agreed Sunday to implement policies that will boost world GDP by more than $2 trillion over the coming five years.","UK government plans to link northern cities. LONDON (AP) — UK Treasury chief George Osborne has made the case for creating a second economic powerhouse in the country to rival London, arguing that better rail connections in northern England would help cities pool resources and boost investment.","Floating gas terminal anchored in Lithuania. TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — A giant floating natural gas terminal arrived Monday in the Lithuanian port of Klaipeda as the Baltic country tries to further reduce its reliance on energy supplies from Russia.","Senegal says no risk of Ebola spreading from imported case. DAKAR (Reuters) - Senegal's health minister said on Friday there was no further risk of Ebola spreading in the West African country, following the end of a quarantine period for those who came into contact with an infected Guinean man. \"The risk of the Ebola virus spreading from the imported case is non-existent for our country,\" Awa Marie Coll Seck told a news conference. (Reporting by Diadie Ba; Writing by Emma Farge; Editing by Daniel Flynn)","Lugers take 1st Sochi Olympic training runs. KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia (AP) — Describing the ice as smooth, fast and by all accounts perfectly safe, luge athletes took their first formal training runs of the Sochi Olympics on Tuesday.","Brilliant Lyon bowls Australia to epic victory. (Reuters) - Australia beat India by 48 runs in a thrilling end to the first test at Adelaide Oval on Saturday, with Nathan Lyon picking up seven wickets after Virat Kohli scored an inspired century for the visitors. A match that had begun in high emotion after the death last month of Australian batsman Phillip Hughes ended in high drama after an absorbing final day in South Australia. Set 364 to win after Australia declared on their overnight score of 290-5, India seemed to be on their way to an unlikely victory after a brilliant 141 from Kohli and a gritty 99 from opener Murali Vijay. ...","1 dead, 6 Japanese divers missing in Indonesia. BALI, Indonesia (AP) — Indonesian rescuers recovered the body believed to be of a Japanese diver and searched for six others missing Saturday off the resort island of Bali, police said.","Liberia's UN mission reports 4th Ebola case. MONROVIA, Liberia (AP) — The U.N. peacekeeping mission in Liberia says one if its staffers has contracted Ebola, bringing to four the number of its members who have come down with the disease during the worst outbreak on record.","Parts of Zurich airport shut after unspecified threat. ZURICH (Reuters) - Zurich airport was partially closed on Monday evening after receiving an unspecified threat, a spokeswoman said. The airport shut Check-in 1 and 2 as well as Arrivals 2, and passengers were being redirected to Check-in 3, the spokeswoman said, adding that waiting time was still only about 15 minutes. \"A threat was received in the course of the evening,\" she said, declining to elaborate apart from saying Zurich's cantonal police were currently looking into the matter. ...","China warns US cyber charges could damage ties. BEIJING (AP) — China on Tuesday warned the United States was jeopardizing military ties by charging five Chinese officers with cyberspying and tried to turn the tables on Washington by calling it \"the biggest attacker of China's cyberspace.\"","GE's Alstom bid shows limits of French state intervention. By Julien Ponthus and Mark John PARIS (Reuters) - General Electric's overtures to the power business of France's former industrial beacon Alstom have shown again how the French state, for all its interventionist zeal, has limited room for maneuver against big business. Citing \"patriotic concern\" over loss of jobs and control of a group with a history stretching back 86 years, President Francois Hollande's government leapt into action to find ways of countering the offer after news of it emerged last week. While Germany's Siemens - billed by Paris as a possible white knight - still has a month to make its intentions clear, Alstom's decision to review GE's $16.9-billion bid makes the U.S. giant the clear favorite to secure the turbine and grid assets that make up the bulk of Alstom revenues. If GE succeeds, it will mark the latest climb-down for a two-year-old government which has already ended up on the losing side of public stand-offs in the telecom and steel industries.","Separate car bombings in Iraq kill at least 13. BAGHDAD (AP) — Officials in Iraq say separate attacks in the country's center have killed at least 13 civilians and wounded about 40.","Marin Cilic defeats Denis Istomin at Rogers Cup. TORONTO (AP) — Marin Cilic of Croatia defeated Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan 6-2, 4-6, 7-5 Monday on the opening day of the Rogers Cup.","Bahrain upholds 10 year jail term for journalist. A Bahraini appeals court on Sunday upheld a controversial 10-year-jail term against a photojournalist convicted over his presence at a 2012 attack on a police station. Human rights watchdogs say Ahmed Humaidan was merely covering the Arab Spring-inspired pro-democracy protests that erupted among the Shiite majority in the Sunni minority-ruled Gulf kingdom in early 2011. The 25-year-old photojournalist, who was in court for the appeal ruling, was convicted of attacking the police station in the Shiite village of Sitra, outside the capital on April 8, 2012. Humaidan was part of a group of 29 Shiites, tried together from February 12, 2013 for attacking the police station with Molotov cocktails and other improvised explosives.","Charity watchdog warns of Islamist threat. Islamic extremism is the \"most deadly\" problem faced by British charities, the head of the sector's watchdog said Sunday. William Shawcross, the chairman of the Charity Commission, said the regulatory body was trying to take action against charities \"sending cash to extremist groups in Syria\", in an interview with The Sunday Times newspaper. Shawcross has written to Prime Minister David Cameron urging a change in the law. He said the commission was taking tough measures against any charity found to be \"sending cash to extremist groups in Syria\" or \"dispatching young Britons for training in Syria by Al-Qaeda or other extremist groups\".","Laws misused to 'oppress' mental health patients: Lords report. Mental health laws are being used to \"oppress\" vulnerable patients, some of whom are kept against their will in hospitals and care homes, a House of Lords report warned Thursday. The Lords committee found that tens of thousands of patients had been effectively imprisoned due to the misuse of safeguards introduced in 2005, which were meant to protect high-risk patients, including those with dementia.","Obama directs funds to fight terrorists in Africa. EDGARTOWN, Massachusetts (AP) — President Barack Obama on Monday directed $10 million in emergency Pentagon spending to help France fight terrorists in northwest Africa.","Novartis, GSK, Lilly in multibillion-dollar deals. GENEVA (AP) — Drug maker Novartis says it has signed several multibillion-dollar deals with GlaxoSmithKline and Lilly that will affect some 15,000 of its employees.","Museum rediscovers ancient skeleton in storage. PHILADELPHIA (AP) — An archaeology museum in Philadelphia has made an extraordinary find — in its own storage rooms.","Balotelli leads AC Milan to 5th straight win. ROME (AP) — Mario Balotelli set a personal record with his 14th goal of the Serie A season and also set up another score as AC Milan beat visiting Livorno 3-0 Saturday for its fifth straight win.","Top Asian News at 9:00 a.m. GMT. MOKPO, South Korea (AP) — An immediate evacuation order was not issued for the ferry that sank off South Korea's southern coast, likely with about 290 people trapped inside, because officers on the bridge were trying to stabilize the vessel after it started to list, a crew member said Thursday. The first instructions from the captain were for the passengers to put on life jackets and stay put, and it was not until about 30 minutes later that he ordered an evacuation, Oh Yong-seok, a 58-year-old crew member told The Associated Press.","Germany's Mats Hummels unlikely to play vs Ghana. PORTO SEGURO, Brazil (AP) — Germany relished its crushing 4-0 victory over Portugal and celebrated hat-trick scorer Thomas Mueller, but there was a new injury worry for coach Joachim Loew.","China announces heavy investments in Argentina. Visiting Chinese President Xi Jinping announced huge investments in hydroelectric power, shipbuilding, railways and a deal to help Argentina build its fourth nuclear plant. Xi has pressed a charm offensive with Latin America since arriving in Brazil earlier this week. Friday saw Argentina in the spotlight, with Xi signing more than 20 agreements with President Cristina Kirchner on the first day of his three-day visit. Among the agreements was a bilateral \"strategic partnership,\" similar to others signed with emerging nations such as Brazil.","Israelis, Palestinians resume talks on Gaza deal. CAIRO (AP) — Palestinian and Israeli negotiators in Cairo are trying to hammer out a roadmap for the Gaza Strip after Egypt announced a 24-hour extension of the cease-fire to allow more time for the talks.","US set to unfreeze aid to Egypt. Congress is prepared to allow US President Barack Obama to restore $1.5 billion in aid to Egypt, which is on a political knife edge as the military-backed government bids to consolidate its rule. A clause inserted deep into a broad federal spending bill, which is expected to pass as early as Friday, authorizes Washington to send $975 million to the Egyptian government. This could be activated provided the US administration certifies that Egypt \"has held a constitutional referendum, and is taking steps to support a democratic transition in Egypt.\" An additional $576 million in aid would flow if and when Egypt holds parliamentary and presidential elections.","DNA test confirms identity of Beirut bomber: army. The army confirmed Saturday that a young man from north Lebanon was the suicide bomber who blew himself up in a deadly attack in south Beirut, a Hezbollah stronghold. \"The DNA test results on the remains of a suicide attacker found in the car used in the bomb attack... confirm they belong to the youth Qutaiba al-Satem\", an army statement said. It comes two days after four people were killed in Thursday's suicide car bombing in the southern suburbs of the capital.","China eases exchange rate controls for banks. BEIJING (AP) — China has announced a new step toward easing its tight currency controls, allowing banks to set their own exchange rates in dealings with customers.","Former C. African president en route for Cotonou: Benin. Benin's government on Saturday confirmed that former Central African Republic president Michel Djotodia was heading to Cotonou following his resignation. \"I confirm that Mr Djotodia is arriving in Cotonou this afternoon,\" Benin Foreign Minister Nassirou Bako Arifari told AFP. \"Benin accepts to welcome him at the request of member states of the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS) and it is our contribution to the search for peace in central Africa.\" Djotodia's family are already in Benin and he visits regularly, sources in the Central African Republic added.","U.N. inspectors to visit Iran uranium mine January 29: Iran TV. U.N. nuclear inspectors will soon visit an Iranian uranium mine for the first time since 2005 as part of Tehran's agreement to open its disputed nuclear program to greater scrutiny, state television reported on Friday. \"Based on our agreement with the agency (IAEA), their inspectors will visit the Gachin mine in southern part of the country on January 29,\" Behrouz Kamalvandi, a spokesman for the Atomic Energy Organisation of Iran, was quoted as saying. The Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency had no immediate comment. It previously said it wanted to visit the Gachin mine uranium mine to acquire a better understanding of the nature of Iran's nuclear program.","HK protesters refuse to budge as deadline looms to clear streets. Hong Kong (AFP) - Hong Kong's pro-democracy protesters remained stubbornly encamped on the streets early Monday, just hours before a government deadline to clear key thoroughfares they have blockaded for more than a week.","Thousands protest Israel in Jordan over killing. AMMAN, Jordan (AP) — Protesters fought with riot police Friday outside of the Israeli Embassy in Jordan, as some 2,000 demonstrators called on the kingdom to end its peace treaty with the country over the killing of a Jordanian judge.","Britain to trial driverless cars from 2015. Driverless cars will be allowed on British roads from January 2015 as part of a pilot initiative in three cities, the government announced Wednesday. Business Secretary Vince Cable, outlining the plans, said British scientists and engineers were \"pioneers\" in the development of driverless vehicles. \"Today's announcement will see driverless cars take to our streets in less than six months, putting us at the forefront of this transformational technology and opening up new opportunities for our economy and society,\" he said at the headquarters of motor industry research organisation MIRA in the West Midlands town of Nuneaton. The AA said a recent survey of more than 23,000 of its members showed that 43 percent did not agree that the law should be changed to allow trials of driverless cars.","Image of Asia: Escaping a protest in Bangladesh. In this photo by A.M. Ahad, passengers jump from the windows of a bus that was attacked during clashes between garment workers and police in Dhaka, Bangladesh, which injured several workers and journalists. The clashes occurred after police fired tear gas and used batons inside the Tuba Garments factory to disperse workers who have been on indefinite strike to demand their wages be paid. Workers from other garment factories also joined the protest. Bangladesh has the world's second-largest garment industry after China and earns more than $20 billion a year from garment exports, mainly to the United States and Europe.","Taliban ready to deal on captive US soldier?. WASHINGTON (AP) — The captors of an American soldier held for nearly five years in Afghanistan have signaled a willingness to release him but are unclear which U.S. government officials have the authority to make a deal, according to two individuals in the military working for his release. Critics of the release effort blame disorganization and poor communication among the numerous federal agencies involved.","Central America plan to stem child migration. SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador (AP) — The presidents of Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador will present the United States with a proposed plan to stem child migration from their countries.","UN panel's recommendations to Vatican. The U.N. Committee on the Rights of the Child published a report Wednesday on the Holy See's compliance with a 1989 U.N. accord on child rights. The report focused heavily on the worldwide allegations of sexual abuse of children by Catholic priests and the Vatican's handling of the cases.","Vatican studying papal trip to South Korea in August, Philippines-Sri Lanka in future. VATICAN CITY - Pope Francis may go to South Korea in August.","South Korea trains collide, killing one and injuring dozens. Two passenger trains collided in South Korea on Tuesday, killing one person and injuring dozens, a hospital official and police said, in the latest in a string of accidents that has rattled the country. A commuter train and a tourist train collided in Taebaek, a resort area about 200 km (125 miles) southeast of Seoul. A police official said more than 70 people had been injured, but declined to confirm any deaths. Nearly 200 people were injured in two subway accidents in Seoul earlier this year.","SOCHI SCENE: Music to her ears. SOCHI, Russia (AP) — As Jamie Anderson was hopping around elated at the base of the women's slopestyle course, having just completed Team USA's double gold in slopestyle, you have to think the folks back home in Cupertino, Calif., were thrilled to see those two little white earbuds hanging out of her jacket.","Sri Lanka court sentences four for murder of Briton, rape of fiancée. By Ranga Sirilal and Shihar Aneez COLOMBO (Reuters) - A Sri Lankan court convicted on Friday four men, including a ruling party town council member, of the murder of a British aid worker and the rape of his Russian fiancée and sentenced them to jail with hard labor for 20 years. Khuram Shaikh, a 32-year-old Red Cross worker based in Gaza, was shot and stabbed to death on Dec. 25, 2011, at a hotel while on holiday. His fiancée was beaten unconscious before being sexually assaulted, according to hospital and police records. Colombo High Court sentenced the four, including Sampath Vidanapathirana, a ruling party supporter and head of the council in Tangalle town, where the two were staying, to \"rigorous imprisonment\" for 20 years.","Rangers aren't Cup underdogs, insists Daly. Striker Jon Daly says Rangers will not view themselves as underdogs for Saturday's Scottish Cup semi-final against Dundee United despite the odds seemingly being stacked against the Ibrox club. The fallen Glasgow giants currently sit two divisions below Premiership side United after they were forced to drop to Scotland's bottom tier following liquidation in June 2012. United have also knocked Rangers out of the Scottish Cup in three of the past four years but, despite this, the 31-year-old Irishman Daly believes the tie is in the balance due to the number of players in their squad with top-flight experience. \"I don't think the lads will see themselves as underdogs and I don't think United will look at themselves as the favourites,\" said Daly, who was a prolific goalscorer for United for six years and was part of their 2010 Scottish Cup-winning team but joined Rangers last summer.","No pope meeting for Russell Crowe, 'Noah' makers. VATICAN CITY (AP) — Actor Russell Crowe and the makers of the big-budget film \"Noah\" have attended Pope Francis' general audience but didn't meet the pope.","Lolo Jones not minding underdog role in Sochi. KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia (AP) — Lolo Jones is part of an underdog team at the Sochi Olympics.","Senegal seizes Russian trawler for illegal fishing. Senegal has seized a Russian trawler fishing illegally in its waters, the fisheries minister said on Sunday, as it seeks to curb heavy losses from fish poaching. The trawler, the Oleg Naydenov, was captured on Saturday near the maritime border with Guinea-Bissau with 50 crew onboard, most of them from Russia or Guinea-Bissau, Fisheries Minister Haidar El Ali said. Illegal fishing, mostly by trawlers from the former Soviet bloc, costs Senegal 120 billion CFA francs ($250 million) a year, according to official figures. Russia's state television channel Rossiya 24 said Russian diplomats in Dakar would meet Senegalese President Macky Sall on Sunday to discuss the matter.","US blocks Iran's envoy to UN in rare rebuke. ","Israel hails seizure on high seas of 'Iran arms ship'. Israelis Thursday hailed the capture of an alleged Gaza-bound arms ship as a major coup in the fight to unmask Iran but thought it unlikely to scupper ongoing nuclear talks. The pre-dawn raid, which targeted a Panamanian-flagged ship in the Red Sea between Eritrea and Sudan, dominated the front pages of Israel's main newspapers on Thursday. The vessel set sail 10 days ago, allegedly carrying Syrian-made missiles \"capable of striking anywhere in Israel\" which were transported overland to Iran then sent on by sea, the military said. Pundits were quick to point out the raid coincided with a high-profile US trip by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to raise a red flag over talks between the P5+1 group of world powers and Iran.","European Central Bank leaves key rate unchanged at record low 0.25 percent. BRUSSELS (AP) — European Central Bank leaves key rate unchanged at record low 0.25 percent.","New US-led strikes on Syria's Kobane: monitor. The US-led coalition against the Islamic State jihadist group carried out a series of air strikes overnight in the embattled Syrian town of Kobane, a monitor and activists said Sunday. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights also reported intensifying clashes between Kurdish fighters defending Kobane and IS jihadists in the south of the town, which lies on the Turkish border. Kurdish activist and Kobane resident Mustefa Ebdi reported at least seven international air strikes overnight. He said the explosions could be heard 20 kilometres from Kobane, and shook the cars of people with him on the border between Turkey and Syria.","Money flows to mainland as landmark Hong Kong-Shanghai stock link opens. By Kazunori Takada and Saikat Chatterjee SHANGHAI/HONG KONG (Reuters) - International buyers snapped up Chinese stocks on Monday at the debut of an exchange link that allows Hong Kong and Shanghai investors to trade shares on each other's bourses, a major step towards opening China's tightly controlled capital markets. The so-called Stock Connect scheme gives foreign and Chinese retail investors unprecedented access to the two exchanges, which some analysts said could eventually lead to the creation of the world's third largest stock exchange. ...","2nd test: Bangladesh expects tougher Zimbabwe. KHULNA, Bangladesh (AP) — Bangladesh expects a tougher challenge from Zimbabwe in the second test starting Monday as the hosts seek to clinch the three-match series and leapfrog their opponents in the ICC cricket rankings.","French auction house pulls 'Mein Kampf' sale after protests. French auction house Pierre Bergé & Associés said Wednesday it has withdrawn from sale a rare first edition of Hitler's \"Mein Kampf\" following a protest from a Jewish watchdog body. The National Bureau for Vigilance against Anti-Semitism (BNVCA) had opposed the sale and had criticised the auctioneers for presenting Hitler's autobiography/manifesto, \"as if it was just another work or art written by a poet or a member of the French Academy\". The copy had been predicted to fetch between 3,000 and 4,000 euros ($4,200-$5,600) as part of a scheduled May 16 sale of a library of crime-related works owned by Philippe Zoummeroff, a retired industrialist. Zoummeroff, who is Jewish, said he had acquired his copy of \"Mein Kampf\" \"to show what has existed, to document the despicable\".","Czech president says he will appoint Social Democrat as PM within days. By Robert Muller and Jan Lopatka PRAGUE (Reuters) - Czech President Milos Zeman will appoint Social Democrat leader Bohuslav Sobotka as prime minister within days, he told Reuters on Thursday, opening the way for a centre-left coalition to try to revive the economy after months of political stalemate. The Social Democrats won an early election in October but took some time to negotiate a coalition with two centrist partners. \"Therefore he will, of course, be appointed prime minister.\" The new government, the first to be led by a Social Democrat since 2006, is expected to loosen budgetary policies as it tries to help the Czech Republic recover from its longest recession. Zeman said he had told Sobotka he would be appointed a week after the signing of a coalition pact between the Social Democrats, the newly formed anti-establishment ANO movement and the centrist Christian Democrats.","Death of Palestinian official blamed on tear gas. JERUSALEM (AP) — A senior official says the autopsy of a Palestinian Cabinet member shows he died as a result of tear gas inhalation and beatings allegedly sustained during a scuffle with Israeli troops.","10-man Celta rallies for 2-2 draw with Sociedad. BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Ten-man Celta Vigo fought back twice to earn a 2-2 draw with Real Sociedad at home in the Spanish league on Saturday, hurting the Basque side's hopes of earning a Champions League berth.","Malkin set to join Russia at ice hockey worlds. MINSK, Belarus (AP) — Star forward Yevgeni Malkin will join Russia at the ice hockey world championship in Minsk after his Pittsburgh Penguins were eliminated from the NHL playoffs by the New York Rangers.","Nigerian doctors suspend strike citing Ebola crisis: union. Nigerian public sector doctors on Thursday suspended a nearly five-week long strike over an Ebola outbreak which has killed two people and infected five others in Lagos. A statement from the National Medical Association union listed \"the incursion of Ebola into Nigeria\" as a main reason for suspending the strike. The emergence of Ebola in Lagos, sub-Saharan Africa's largest city with more than 20 million people, has created further panic over the worst ever outbreak of the deadly tropical disease. The densely-packed city has a weak public health system which experts say is poorly equipped to manage a significant number of Ebola patients.","Israeli leader's visit sparks protests in Norway. STAVANGER, Norway (AP) — Israeli president and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Shimon Peres has arrived in Norway amid political anger and protests over Israel's policies in the occupied territories.","Japan PM Abe says 'no change' to wartime sex slave apology. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Friday that his government would not revise a landmark 1993 \"comfort women\" apology, and said he was \"deeply pained\" by the suffering of women drawn into a system of wartime brothels. Abe, who has made similar remarks in the past, has faced criticism for his government's plan to review what is known as the Kono statement, which acknowledged official complicity in the coercion of military sex slaves, a historical legacy that draws raw resentment in neighbouring South Korea. They are sometimes called \"comfort women\". \"With regard to the comfort women issue, I am deeply pained to think of the comfort women who experienced immeasurable pain and suffering, a feeling I share equally with my predecessors,\" he told a parliamentary committee, according to a statement issued by the ministry of foreign affairs.","Norway has fundamental role in helping EU energy security: Oettinger. BRUSSELS (Reuters) - European Energy Commissioner Guenther Oettinger said on Thursday Norway could play a fundamental role in shoring up EU energy supplies in the face of uncertainty over Russian gas because of the conflict over Ukraine. He was speaking at an event in Brussels also attended by Tord Lien, Norwegian energy minister, who said he gave \"full support\" to the European Union's ambitions to achieve supply security. In the past, non-EU member Norway has said it will only help the EU with any supply crisis if it makes commercial sense. ...","I'm not going anywhere, says Wenger. Arsene Wenger has revealed there should be \"no uncertainty at all\" over his future as he prepares to celebrate his 1,000th match in charge of Arsenal. That had triggered speculation Wenger could be ready to quit if Arsenal, who have gone nine years without a trophy, once again fail to secure any silverware this term. Asked if he would still be at Arsenal after 1,010 matches, Wenger replied: \"I think so, yes. Wenger maintains he does not want speculation over his contract saga to deflect attention from Arsenal's run-in as they try to overhaul leaders Chelsea at the top of the Premier League.","Belgium faces tough coalition talks after vote. BRUSSELS (AP) — Initial results of Belgian national elections show big gains for the regionalist N-VA party in northern Flanders while the PS socialists were the biggest vote getters in southern Wallonia, raising the possibility of complicated coalition talks to form a government","China says can't confirm satellite images connected to missing plane. BEIJING (Reuters) - China's civil aviation chief said on Thursday that there was no proof that floating objects in the South China Sea seen by satellite images were connected to a missing Malaysia Airlines aircraft. \"Chinese satellites have found smoke and floating objects ... At present we cannot confirm this is related to the missing aircraft,\" Li Jiaxiang told reporters on the sidelines of China's annual meeting of parliament. He added that there was also no evidence the Malaysian military was concealing information about the missing flight. ...","Australia advances plans to sell state assets. CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Australian state governments that sell assets such as airports and utilities as part of a national policy to rekindle economic growth will get new tax arrangements to offset lost revenue, the federal treasurer said Wednesday.","US wins World Amateur Team title. KARUIZAWA, Japan (AP) — SMU junior Bryson DeChambeau birdied the final hole and Canadian playing partner Corey Conners closed with a bogey to give the United States a two-stroke victory Saturday in the World Amateur Team Championship.","China gives cautious response to Obama's Islamic State call. BEIJING (Reuters) - China responded cautiously on Thursday to a call by U.S. President Barack Obama for a broad coalition to root out Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria, saying the world should fight terror but that the sovereignty of countries must be respected. Obama also told Americans on Wednesday that he had authorized U.S. air strikes for the first time in Syria and more attacks in Iraq in an escalation of a campaign against Islamic State. ...","Brazil troops end rapid deployment maneuvers. SAO PAULO (AP) — Nearly 2,000 Brazilian Marine troops have wrapped 12 days of rapid deployment maneuvers in the central-western region of Latin America' biggest country.","Students end 24-day siege of Taiwan's Parliament. TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — Students ended their unprecedented, 24-day occupation of Taiwan's Parliament late Thursday after receiving assurances a Chinese trade pact they see as imperiling the island's autonomy would undergo legislative review.","Ukraine government reports rebel attacks despite ceasefire. Ukrainian government forces accused pro-Russian separatists of firing on Ukrainian military checkpoints in several parts of the east on Monday night despite a ceasefire declared by the rebels. No sustained fighting were reported in the incidents, nor any casualties on the Ukrainian side which is also observing a week-long ceasefire until June 27. \"(Separatist) fighters are not ceasing to shoot at the positions of Ukrainian forces,\" Vladyslav Seleznyov, a spokesman for the Kiev government's \"anti-terrorist\" operation, said on his Facebook page on Tuesday. Rebel militia, using grenade-launchers and mortar, carried out attacks on a government military post near the rebel-controlled town of Slaviansk and used small arms in an assault on another post further east towards the border with Russia, Selznyov said.","Torture by Uganda police ongoing despite new law. Incidents of torture by Uganda's police continue to be reported despite the introduction of a 2012 law banning the practice, the country's Human Rights Commission said Thursday. A report from the state-funded body, released to coincide with the United Nations' International Day in Support of Victims of Torture, said those affected were also stuck in a legal backlog and awaiting compensation, sometimes for years. \"Despite the current new anti-torture law and other efforts to fight torture in Uganda, recent reports reveal that cases of torture still rank high among other categories of human rights violations,\" the report said. Uganda's parliament passed a law outlawing torture in 2012, aimed at making police and soldiers personally liable for violations and compensation.","Skater Plushenko returns to training after surgery. ST. PETERSBURG, Russia (AP) — Two-time Olympic figure skating gold medalist Evgeni Plushenko has returned to training after announcing his retirement earlier this year due to injury.","Ceremony scheduled for L'Isle-Verte fire victims today. L'ISLE-VERTE, Que. - Several dignitaries including Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Gov. Gen. David Johnston are set to attend a ceremony today in memory of the victims of the fire at a Quebec seniors' residence.","Attempt to hijack Turkish plane to Sochi foiled. ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — A Ukrainian man tried to hijack a Turkey-bound flight to Sochi, Russia, as the Winter Olympics were kicking off Friday, but the pilot tricked him and landed in Istanbul instead, where he was stealthily detained after a four-hour stand-off on a plane full of passengers, an official said.","Yanks give Tanaka a win in Major League debut. Toronto (Canada) (AFP) - Masahiro Tanaka made a shaky start to his first Major League season, but settled down to pitch seven solid innings in the New York Yankees' 7-3 win over Toronto. Toronto leadoff hitter and former Yankee Melky Cabrera belted Tanaka's third pitch of the night over the right centerfield wall for a home run. By the end of the second inning of Friday's contest, the Blue Jays had taken a 3-2 lead -- erasing a two-run advantage that the Yankees had given Tanaka in the top of the first frame. Japan's Tanaka, who was signed in the offseason to a seven-year, $155 million (112m euros) contract after starring in Japan for the Rakuten Golden Eagles, gave up six hits and three runs -- two earned -- and struck out eight without walking a batter in his highly anticipated regular-season debut.","Police say mom kills kindergarten teacher in class. PARIS (AP) — Police say the mother of a pupil at a French pre-school stabbed a teacher to death in front of her class Friday, the last day of the school year.","Abbas seeks $1-billion Gaza deal with Russia. Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas sought on Thursday to secure a billion-dollar Gaza energy deal during talks with Russian leaders aimed at restoring warmer ties between the two Soviet-era allies. Abbas and Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev were due to sign an intergovernmental agreement that reports said included a $1.0-billion (730-million-euro) natural gas project in the Gaza section of the Mediterranean Sea. The state ITAR-TASS news agency said Russia's natural gas giant Gazprom hoped to produce 30 billion cubic metres of natural gas at the site. The report added that Russia's Technopromexport engineering firm was also considering a small oil development project near the West Bank city of Ramallah.","Syria opposition welcomes Obama plan to ramp up support. Syria's opposition National Coalition welcomed a pledge from US President Barack Obama on Wednesday to ramp up support for rebels fighting the Damascus regime of Bashar al-Assad. \"This additional support highlights the partnership between the United States and the Syrian people in ending the humanitarian disaster and putting Syria on the path to genuine democratic transition,\" the bloc's US representative, Najib Ghadbian, said in a statement. \"I will work with Congress to ramp up support for those in the Syrian opposition who offer the best alternative to terrorists and a brutal dictator,\" said Obama.","Co-operative Bank reveals new £400 mn capital hole. Britain's crisis-hit Co-operative Bank on Monday revealed that it needed another £400 million of fresh capital to help to fill a hole in its finances. Co-op said in a statement that it would seek the money via a sale of shares in the coming months.","German ex-minister gives up fight for doctorate. BERLIN (AP) — Germany's former education minister says she's ending a legal fight to regain her doctorate, which was revoked over plagiarism allegations.","Croatia edges Australia in World Cup warm-up. SALVADOR, Brazil (AP) — Forward Nikica Jelavic scored in the 58th minute to give Croatia a 1-0 win over Australia in the teams' final warm-up match before the World Cup.","Islamist militants, local men said to kill 22 in Syrian village. Islamist militants and their local supporters have killed at least 22 people in a village in northern Syria near the Turkish border, opposition activists said on Wednesday. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group quoted residents in Shuyukh, 100 km (65 miles) northeast of Aleppo, as saying that militants from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), had killed 12 fighters from rival rebel groups and at least 10 local tribesmen, including a 16-year-old. The British-based watchdog, which has a network of sources across Syria and opposes President Bashar al-Assad, said the men had been executed by gunfire and knives.","German spy agency comes clean on secret sites. BERLIN (AP) — Germany's foreign intelligence agency is officially lifting the lid on some of its worst-kept secrets by acknowledging that half a dozen facilities are in fact spy stations.","Retail success at John Lewis means staff bonus for all. Far from the astronomical incentives accorded to a select few at Britain's banks, clothes-to-food retailer John Lewis Partnership is paying all its staff an annual bonus worth 15 percent of their salaries, earning praise for its co-operative structure. From the chief executive right down to shop assistants at the group's high-end supermarket Waitrose and department store chain John Lewis, workers will share a bonus pot totalling £202.5 million ($336 million, 242 million euros) for 2013. About 91,000 staff are receiving the equivalent of about two months' extra pay after John Lewis Partnership (JLP), whose stores are popular with Britain's middle class, enjoyed a rise in pre-tax profits last year, putting more pressure on its struggling rival Marks & Spencer. Bryan Roberts, analyst at consultants Kantar Retail, said the co-operative or mutual structure at JLP, which sees the company owned by its workers, hands the group \"a very real competitive advantage... helping with staff retention, customer service and employee morale\".","Pacquiao 'crossing fingers' for Mayweather next year. Filipino boxing star Manny Pacquiao said he hoped to finally step in the ring with arch-rival Floyd Mayweather next year as he denied he was taking his upcoming opponent Chris Algieri lightly. Pacquiao, mobbed by his supporters during a promotional trip to Hong Kong, said \"I'm crossing my fingers\" that the hotly anticipated Mayweather fight could happen in 2015. \"I'm crossing my fingers that that fight will happen but right now my mind is already set to focus on my next fight with Algieri. The two regularly exchange taunts with \"Money\" Mayweather recently posting pictures of Pacquiao's losses, and the Filipino last month telling his rival to stop \"blabbing\" and fight him.","Cumberbatch says new role \"utterly different\" to Sherlock. London (AFP) - Playing persecuted genius Alan Turing was nothing like playing Sherlock Holmes, despite both characters being towering intellects and \"socially awkward\", actor Benedict Cumberbatch said on Wednesday.","State of emergency in unrest-hit Tunisian desert town. The Tunisian president has declared a state of emergency in Douz, a southern desert town swept by days of clashes between rival tribes, his office said. A statement late Thursday said an overnight curfew would remain in force until May 22 because of violence that broke out in the town. Several people were wounded in the unrest, which saw members of the two groups firing birdshot and hurling rocks and sticks at each other during clashes this week over a land dispute, interior ministry spokesman Mohamed Ali Aroui told AFP. \\\\\"Following the dangerous deterioration in the security situation... President Moncef Marzouki decided to declare a state of emergency in the South Douz region on Thursday, May 8 until Thursday, May 22,\\\\\" his office said in a statement.","Obama fuels reform on some but not all NSA spying. WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama's orders to change some U.S. surveillance practices put the burden on Congress to deal with a national security controversy that has alarmed Americans and outraged foreign allies. Yet he avoided major action on the practice of sweeping up billions of phone, email and text messages from across the globe.","Egypt: 20 'terrorists' carried out border attack. CAIRO (AP) — The spokesman of Egypt's military says 20 \"terrorists\" carried out a deadly border post attack that killed 22 soldiers, the deadliest assault on Egypt's military in years.","Egypt army blames Muslim Brotherhood for attack on army bus. Egypt's army blamed the Muslim Brotherhood for an attack on an army bus which killed one officer and injured three others in Cairo on Thursday. \"Masked armed men belonging to the terrorist Brotherhood targeted a bus of the armed forces... which led to the martyrdom of the Warrant Officer Yusri Mahmoud Mohamed Hassan,\" the army spokesman said in a statement on Facebook.","Netanyahu, showing seized rockets, says Iran fooling the world. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, displaying on Monday what Israel said were seized, Iranian-supplied missiles bound for militants in Gaza, urged the West not to be fooled by Tehran's diplomacy on its nuclear program. Netanyahu was briefed by intelligence officers during a live broadcast on the weapons and shipping documentation that connected the stockpile to Iran. Iran and Gaza's Islamist Hamas rulers, both hostile to the Jewish state, rejected the Israeli findings as fabrications. \"(The world) wants to delude themselves that Iran has changed its intention to obtain nuclear weapons,\" Netanyahu said.","Multiple arrests as Hong Kong demonstrators retake protest camp. Hong Kong (AFP) - Riot police clashed violently with pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong Saturday as demonstrators reoccupied a camp mostly cleared the previous day, leading to multiple arrests and jeopardising talks aimed at ending a political stalemate.","Xi rebukes Japan for brutality in China, Koreas. SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Chinese President Xi Jinping has highlighted Japan's brutality against China and South Korea in the last century amid worries in both countries about recent nationalism in Tokyo.","Man Utd's Moyes balks at Mourinho's Rooney exit claim. Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho and his Manchester United counterpart David Moyes have clashed over the future of United striker Wayne Rooney ahead of the sides' Premier League encounter on Sunday. Mourinho, who failed with two bids for the England striker last year, has claimed that Rooney could be allowed to leave United at the end of the season, but Moyes issued a swift rebuttal.","Gaza groups, Israel seek political gains after flare-up. Neither Israel, Gaza's Hamas rulers nor Islamic Jihad want to see the latest round of cross-border fighting escalate but each side seeks to consolidate political gains, analysts said Thursday. \"Most of the rockets fired (at Israel) by Islamic Jihad were aimed at uninhabited areas,\" said Adnan Abu Amr, a politics professor at Gaza's Ummah University. And Israel's retaliatory air strikes on the Palestinian territory mainly hit militant training bases whose occupants had deserted them hours before. After firing more than 60 rockets from Gaza into southern Israel since Wednesday evening and suffering 36 Israeli air strikes in retaliation, Islamic Jihad said on Thursday that an Egyptian-brokered truce had gone into effect to halt the spiral of violence.","RCMP lays charges against two former SNC-Lavalin executives. MONTREAL - The RCMP has filed criminal charges against two former senior SNC-Lavalin executives.","Kerry to visit China, South Korea, Indonesia and Abu Dhabi. By David Brunnstrom WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry will begin a trip this week to China, South Korea, Indonesia and the United Arab Emirates, the State Department said on Sunday, at a time of high tensions in Asia over China's increasingly assertive territorial claims. The trip, which runs from Thursday to February 18, will be Kerry's fifth visit to Asia since he became secretary of state just over a year ago, and comes before a planned visit by President Barack Obama in April to promote a strategic U.S. \"pivot\" to the region announced in 2011. Kerry will visit Seoul, Beijing, Jakarta and Abu Dhabi \"to meet with senior government officials and address a range of bilateral, regional, and global issues,\" State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said in a statement.","Mexico border state top detective, 4 others killed. MEXICO CITY (AP) — The chief of investigations for the Mexican border state of Tamaulipas is dead after a late-night gunbattle that also killed four gunmen.","Hunger is falling, but climate and conflict threaten progress: report. By Chris Arsenault LONDON, Sept. 16 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Land redistribution in Brazil, community gardens in Indonesia, and rising incomes across much of the developing world have helped end hunger for 100 million people in the last decade, new research shows. Globally, an estimated 209 million fewer people face chronic undernourishment today compared to 1990, according to The State of Food Security in the World 2014, a United Nations report released on Tuesday in Rome. \"There has been real progress,\" Ertharin Cousin, executive director of the World Food Programme, told reporters. ...","Nepal Seder gets Passover supplies in time. NEW YORK (AP) — Passover supplies made it to Katmandu, Nepal, on Monday in time for an annual Seder that typically draws more than 1,000 guests.","Evidence does not show British unlawfully killed Iraqi civilians-lawyers. There is insufficient evidence to support allegations that British soldiers unlawfully killed Iraqis detained at an army camp in 2004, lawyers for relatives of the Iraqis said on Thursday. The Al-Sweady inquiry, which has cost 22.2 million pounds ($36.91 million) so far, was set up to investigate allegations by Iraqis that British soldiers captured up to 20 men alive and later killed them at an army camp, and that British soldiers mistreated up to nine detainees. But lawyers representing the Iraqi relatives of those allegedly mistreated or killed said there was insufficient material to establish that Iraqi civilians were unlawfully killed whilst in the custody of British troops at Camp Abu Naji. \"It is accepted that on the material which has been disclosed to date there is insufficient evidence to support a finding of unlawful killing in Camp Abu Naji,\" John Dickinson, a lawyer at Public Interest Lawyers said.","Mudslides, flash floods kill at least 53 in Philippines. MANILA (Reuters) - Flash floods and mudslides have killed at least 53 people in the central and southern Philippines, the national disaster agency said on Wednesday, after days of heavy rains that have also hit neighboring Southeast Asian countries. Tropical storm Jangmi prompted the evacuation of more than 86,000 people in Surigao del Sur, Bohol and Cebu provinces before weakening into a tropical depression. A powerful typhoon killed 18 people this month and forced more than 1 million people to flee to shelters in what a U.N. agency said was one of the world's biggest peacetime evacuations. ...","Rugby-Speight to make Australia debut against Ireland. (Adds replacements confirmed) DUBLIN, Nov 20 (Reuters) - Fiji-born winger Henry Speight will make his debut for Australia against Ireland on Saturday after being named in the starting lineup for the third test of the Wallabies' tour of Europe. The tackle-busting winger qualified for Australia on residency grounds on Sept. 11 but a hamstring injury prevented him from getting any game time during the Rugby Championship. His inclusion in place of ACT Brumbies team mate Joe Tomane is one of four changes to the starting side that lost 29-26 to France in Paris last week. ...","Britain's Cameron warns Russia of isolation, further sanctions over Ukraine. BRISBANE Australia (Reuters) - British Prime Minister David Cameron said on Sunday that Europe and the United States had sent a clear message to Russian President Vladimir Putin that his country will be isolated from the world community if the crisis in Ukraine is not resolved. \"I think that Russia needs to know that there is a real unity of purpose between America and the European Union in making sure we don't have some sort of permanent frozen conflict on the continent of Europe,\" Cameron told reporters at the G20 summit in Brisbane. ...","Obama applauds Sony decision to show 'The Interview': White House. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama is pleased Sony has decided to release \"The Interview\" in some theaters, after earlier bowing to pressure from a cyberattack blamed on North Korea, the White House said on Tuesday. \"The president applauds Sony's decision to authorize screenings of the film,\" White House spokesman Eric Schultz said in a statement. \"As the president made clear, we are a country that believes in free speech, and the right of artistic expression. ...","Cotter debuts as Scotland coach against USA. New Zealander Vern Cotter makes his debut as the coach of Scotland's national rugby union team on Saturday against the United States in Houston. Three debutants will see their first action for Scotland in the match against the Americans, who will be in the same pool as the Scots in next year's Rugby World Cup. \"There's a lot of excitement within the team leading into this test,\" Cotter said. \"There are players who are going to earn their first cap for Scotland, and there are those who see this as a chance to stake a claim for the Rugby World Cup squad in 2015, as there are only a certain number of opportunities remaining for players to express and prove themselves.\"","S.Sudan army 'repulse rebel attack' on oil town. South Sudan's army has repulsed rebel attacks on the key northern oil hub town of Bentiu, the defence minster said Thursday, saying many had been killed or wounded in fierce fighting. \"We have a lot of wounded people we are trying to evacuate from Bentiu,\" Defence Minister Kuol Manyang told AFP Thursday, adding that the town remained under the command of the army. \"Bentiu is under control, there is calm now,\" he said. When rebels loyal to ousted vice president Riek Machar stormed the town in April, they unleashed two days of ethnic slaughter as they hunted down civilians sheltering in mosques, churches and a hospital, according to the UN.","Leader of Britain's UKIP picked to stand for parliament seat. The leader of the anti-EU UKIP Nigel Farage is to run for parliament in Britain's 2015 election after his party confirmed him as their candidate for an English constituency. MEP Farage will campaign for a seat currently held by the Conservative party, South Thanet, in a south eastern region where UKIP performed strongly in European parliament elections in May. UKIP currently has no seats in parliament, but is hoping to make electoral gains on a platform of curtailing immigration and an exit from the European Union. The Conservative party has chosen a former UKIP leader who defected to their party, Craig MacKinlay, to run for the seat.","Saudi minister says no role for Assad in transition. MONTREUX, Switzerland (Reuters) - Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal said on Wednesday that there can be no role in Syria's transition for President Bashar al-Assad and those whose hands are \"stained in blood\". In a speech to an international conference on Syria, Prince Saud called for the withdrawal of all foreign forces from Syria, including Lebanese Hezbollah fighters and Iranian Revolutionary Guards who are backing Damascus against rebel forces. ...","Top seed Li ousted in Qatar Open 3rd round. DOHA, Qatar (AP) — Australian Open champion Li Na was upset by Czech qualifier Petra Cetkovska 7-6 (2), 2-6, 6-4 in the Qatar Open third round on Thursday.","Cyprus peace talks to resume, leaders meet February 11: U.N.. The leaders of Cyprus's estranged Turkish and Greek Cypriot communities will resume peace talks on February 11, the United Nations said on Saturday, breaking an 18-month stalemate. President Nicos Anastasiades, the Greek Cypriot leader, and Turkish Cypriot leader Dervis Eroglu will meet at a UN compound straddling the island's divided capital city, Nicosia, the UN said. \"The joint statement is not a solution to the Cyprus problem but sets out the parameters within which the two communities must work,\" he said. The Greek and Turkish communities on the Mediterranean island have lived separately since a Turkish invasion in 1974 launched in response to a Greek-led coup.","Separatists shoot down Ukrainian Mig-29 fighter plane: military. KIEV (Reuters) - Pro-Russian separatists shot down a Ukrainian Mig-29 fighter jet in the Luhansk region of eastern Ukraine overnight, a military spokesman said on Sunday. The pilot ejected and has been found after a search, the spokesman, Oleksiy Dmytrashkivsky, said. (Reporting by natalia Zinets; Writing By Richard Balmforth; Editing by Christian Lowe)","Ukraine rebels say they are open to a cease-fire. DONETSK, Ukraine (AP) — A top rebel leader says the eastern city of Donetsk is surrounded by Ukrainian troops and his forces are willing to accept a cease-fire in order to stave off a humanitarian catastrophe.","UN alarmed by deadly Syrian protest in Jordan camp. AMMAN, Jordan (AP) — The United Nations says it is alarmed at \"violent nature\" of a demonstration in a massive Syrian refugee camp in Jordan that killed one person and wounded dozens.","Abbott to close Puerto Rico manufacturing plant. SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Abbott Laboratories is closing one of its manufacturing plants next year in another blow to the island's once-thriving pharmaceutical sector.","Topless Chamoun lets skiing do talking. Rosa Khutor (Russia) (AFP) - Lebanon's Jackie Chamoun insisted her mind was solely on skiing Friday as she competed in the Olympic slalom, days after footage of a topless photo shoot caused an uproar at home. Last week, video footage emerged online of a three-year-old photo shoot that showed the skier posing topless in ski boots and skis in Lebanon's Faraya mountains. But Chamoun said the scandal back home was of no importance as she took part in her second Winter Olympics.","BRAZIL BEAT: Van Persie defends Rooney's showing. RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Don't blame Wayne Rooney for England's early World Cup exit. That's the message from his Manchester United teammate, Robin van Persie, who knows firsthand that when a team plays badly, critics often fault the squad's biggest star.","Latin America likely to embark on needed reforms: IADB. By Alonso Soto COSTA DO SAUIPE, Brazil (Reuters) - The volatility in global markets buffeting emerging economies could push Latin American nations to move ahead with deep reforms needed to restore their dynamism, the head of Inter-American Development Bank, Luis Alberto Moreno, said on Friday. Moreno said most countries understand that reforms to improve productivity are crucial for the region to return to the annual growth rates of 5 percent over the last decade. \"Historically Latin America has been better at dealing with crises than managing the good times,\" Moreno told Reuters on the sidelines of the IADB's annual meeting in Costa do Saiupe. Precisely because of the volatility, which will likely drag on for the next 18 months, reforms become even more important.\" Latin America's economy is expected to grow only 3 percent this year after expanding a staggering 6 percent four years ago, according to data from the International Monetary Fund.","Beleaguered McKenzie calls in Leali'ifano. BRISBANE, Australia (AP) — After a week of turmoil involving a star player and speculation over his own future, Australia coach Ewen McKenzie has recalled Christian Leali'ifano to fill a void the Wallabies' midfield created by injuries and Kurtley Beale's suspension for the Bledisloe Cup test against New Zealand on Saturday.","Cameron's party set to shrug off European vote defeat to hold UK seat. By Luke MacGregor and Andrew Osborn NEWARK England/LONDON (Reuters) - British Prime Minister David Cameron's Conservatives are poised to win a vote for a parliamentary seat on Thursday despite being beaten into third place by an insurgent Eurosceptic party in last month's European elections. Cameron and his party are likely to seize on the victory in Newark, in the English county of Nottinghamshire, as proof that the outcome of the European elections was a one-off protest that will not be replicated at a national election in May next year. The UK Independence Party (UKIP), which wants stricter border controls and for Britain to leave the European Union, won the European elections, the first time that such an election has not been won by either the Conservatives or the opposition Labour party in more than a century.","Germany's tax take still rising as growth cools. BERLIN (AP) — New data show that the German government's tax receipts are still rising as Berlin faces cooling growth prospects at home and pressure from abroad to increase spending.","Iraq lawmakers approve nominees for interior, defense ministers amid Islamic State group fight. BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraq lawmakers approve nominees for interior, defense ministers amid Islamic State group fight.","Flash floods inundate Genoa, 1 reported dead. ROME (AP) — Flash floods have inundated the port city of Genoa, with two rivers bursting their banks and sending a torrent of water and mud down some streets. One person was confirmed dead in the overnight storm.","Ghana gold mine collapse kills six illegal miners. Six people were killed and three others injured when a mine collapsed in Ghana's gold-rich Ashanti region, a local official said on Tuesday. \"They got a little bit deep and the whole (thing) caved in,\" said Francis Dodovi, spokesman for the Ashanti region minister, Samuel Sarpong. Long known for its rich ore deposits, Ghana's central gold mining areas have recently seen an upsurge in illegal mining, driven by relatively high prices for gold. While small-scale mining is illegal for foreigners, thousands of Chinese and other nationalities have also flocked to Ghana's gold belt in recent years to mine.","New guard shines at F1 Australian GP. MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Daniil Kvyat became the youngest driver to score a championship point while Kevin Magnussen finished on the podium on debut as Sunday's season-opening Australian Grand Prix became a showcase for Formula One's new generation.","'Alien' artist H.R. Giger dies at 74. BERLIN (AP) — The Swiss artist H.R. Giger, who designed the creature in Ridley Scott's sci-fi horror classic \"Alien,\" has died at age 74 from injuries suffered in a fall.","Spain concerned about World Cup pitch condition. CURITIBA, Brazil (AP) — Spain is worried that poor pitch conditions in Brazil could hurt its playing style as it tries to defend its World Cup title.","Syria's Assad making gains, Kerry admits. US Secretary of State John Kerry admitted Wednesday that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was making gains on the ground, but denied US policy in Syria was failing. \"It's fair to say that Assad has improved his position a little bit, yes. \"The policy in Syria is just very challenging and very difficult,\" Kerry added. Earlier this week, the State Department denied reports Kerry told US lawmakers in a private meeting that it was time to change strategy in Syria, where some 136,000 people have died and millions have fled their homes.","Turkish PM seeking presidential post. ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkey's ruling party has nominated Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to run in Turkey's first directly elected presidential race in August.","Swaziland tops up king's personal budget. Mbabane (Swaziland) (AFP) - Swaziland's King Mswati III has increased his annual household budget for 2014 by more than 10 percent to $61 million, as a large public wage bill continues to put pressure on the impoverished country. Mswati, who rules Swaziland with an iron fist has resisted democratic reforms, his extravagant lifestyle amid vast poverty has been criticised by pro-democracy activists. In a recent report, the IMF criticised the Swaziland government's high public wage bill which totals $34 million a month. \\\\\"The country needs to look into aspects of reducing its high cost on government's wage bill which may affect the current economic status,\\\\\" said the IMF head of delegation, Jiro Honda, at the end of its mission this week.","French doctor acquitted for helping 7 patients die. PARIS (AP) — A French doctor was acquitted Wednesday of poisoning charges after giving lethal injections to help seven terminally ill patients die, adding urgency to the growing debate on who can decide when a person is beyond treatment.","China drags on otherwise buoyant Asia factory sector. By Koh Gui Qing BEIJING (Reuters) - Asian manufacturing outside China showed signs of solid expansion in January as order books swelled, but factories in the region's giant struggled for growth, heightening concerns about an economic slowdown. China's service-sector growth also slowed down - to a five-year low - in another sign of the stuttering economic momentum that has been a factor behind the emerging markets sell-off of the past two weeks. But China PMIs, released since late last week, painted a more subdued picture. The Markit/HSBC manufacturing PMI for China fell to a six-month low of 49.5 in January, suggesting the overall factory sector contracted from December.","At least eight civilians killed in Kabul hotel attack. Kabul (AFP) - At least eight civilians including children and foreigners were killed in a Taliban attack on a luxury hotel in Kabul, the spokesman for Afghanistan's interior ministry said Friday.","US troubled by Iran's choice of its UN ambassador. WASHINGTON (AP) — The Obama administration is troubled by Iran's choice for its ambassador to the United Nations and has raised concerns to Tehran about the nomination.","Ghana president calls for changes over currency pressure. Ghana needs to make \"fundamental\" changes to its economy if it is to protect its currency and allow its markets to continue growing steadily, President John Dramani Mahama said on Tuesday. That prompted Ghana's central bank last week to imposed new controls on the movement of foreign currency, including restricting the size of withdrawals. Mahama told foreign journalists in Accra that the currency's struggles were a sign that it was time to restructure the way Ghana trades. Ghana is the world's second-largest producer of cocoa and Africa's second-largest producer of gold.","US women sweep podium at High Diving World Cup. KAZAN, Russia (AP) — Americans Rachelle Simpson, Ginger Huber and Cesilie Carlton swept the top three women's spots Sunday in the inaugural FINA High Diving World Cup.","Car bomb kills 11 in Shi'ite Baghdad neighborhood: police, medics. BAGHDAD (Reuters) - A car bomb exploded in a mostly Shi'ite Muslim neighborhood of southeastern Baghdad on Wednesday, killing 11 people, police and hospital sources said. The violence came a day after Baghdad witnessed one of its bloodiest days since U.S.-led air strikes against Islamic State insurgents in Iraq began in August. The sources said the explosion, which also wounded 27 people, occurred near a local market. Eight of those killed were civilians and three were policemen. ...","US OPEN SCENE: Serena's opponent sure can sing. NEW YORK (AP) — She might have been out-hit by Serena Williams at the U.S. Open, but Vania King hit all the right notes at her news conference afterward.","Pope to take on hot EU topics in Strasbourg visit. STRASBOURG, France (AP) — Pope Francis is set to deliver his first major speech on Europe, focusing on complex continental issues such as joblessness and immigration.","Halifax named as host city for 2015 world men's curling championship. HALIFAX - Halifax was named the host city for the 2015 world men's curling championship Tuesday.","Iran nuke talk end, next round March 17. VIENNA (AP) — Iran and six world powers on Thursday announced that they have agreed on a plan meant to produce a comprehensive deal that reduces concerns about Tehran's nuclear ambitions, with officials of both sides describing their plans as \"very productive.\"","Baghdad blasts in Shiite areas kill at least 33. A wave of car bombs struck Shiite-majority areas of Baghdad on Saturday, killing at least 33 people, security and medical officials said. The six car bombs, which hit five different areas of the Iraqi capital, also wounded more than 100 people. Two car bombs also hit the Amil area of south Baghdad, and one each exploded in Ameen in the east, Zafraniyah in the centre and Sadr City in the north. Baghdad is hit by near-daily bombings and shootings, some of which have been claimed by the Islamic State (IS) jihadist group, which has overrun large parts of the country since June.","Pakistan arrests 4 suspects in woman's stoning. ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistani police say they have arrested four more people in connection with the killing of a woman who was beaten and stoned to death by her family for marrying without their permission.","Australia queries 'moral responsibility' over abandoned Down's baby. Australia's Immigration Minister Scott Morrison said Sunday a question of \"moral responsibility\" should determine the fate of a baby born with Down Syndrome, reportedly abandoned by an Australian couple with its surrogate mother in Thailand. The boy, Gammy, and a twin sister were born to Thai woman Pattaramon Chanbua in December after she was reportedly paid Aus$16,000 (US$14,900) to be a surrogate. An unnamed Australian couple took the sister, who was healthy, but left Gammy behind, according to media reports. \"I think this is an absolutely heart-breaking story, it really is,\" Morrison told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.","Iraq premier tested by political rivals, offensive. BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraq's Shiite prime minister, embattled by the militant offensive sweeping his country's north, faces a growing campaign to force him out of office as insurgents press on with their campaign.","Russian markets, ruble plummet on Ukraine fears. MOSCOW (AP) — Russia's markets have dropped about 10 percent and its currency has fallen to its lowest point ever against the dollar and the euro because of the crisis in neighboring Ukraine.","No Hanyu, Chan in men's team event. SOCHI, Russia (AP) — Three-time world champion Patrick Chan of Canada and short program winner Yuzuru Hanyu of Japan will not skate Sunday night in the men's free skate portion of the Olympic team competition.","China sacks police chief of vice hub in prostitution scandal. The Chinese government on Friday sacked the police chief of the southern \"sin city\" of Dongguan following a candid report by the state broadcaster on the underground sex industry there, the official Xinhua news agency reported. Yan Xiaokang, who was also Dongguan's vice mayor, was removed from his posts for dereliction of duty, Xinhua said, quoting Communist Party officials in Guangdong Province. \"Yan's dereliction of duty led to the persistent illegal sex trade in Dongguan, which has reflected very badly on the city, both domestically and internationally,\" Xinhua reported, citing a party statement. It added that another seven Dongguan officials were also sacked in relation to the case.","Best of Brazilian music coming to New York City. NEW YORK (AP) — The World Cup is over but the Brazilian party will go on— in New York City.","Asia shares rise on U.S. optimism, oil under pressure before OPEC. By Shinichi Saoshiro TOKYO (Reuters) - Asian stocks edged up on Wednesday after upbeat U.S. economic growth data calmed investor anxiety over a deteriorating global outlook, while the Australian dollar languished near four-year lows against the dollar. Oil prices were also under pressure as major oil producing nations failed to agree on curbs to output ahead of an OPEC meeting on Thursday. The U.S. government upgraded its reading on third quarter gross domestic product to 3.9 percent on Tuesday from 3.5 percent reported last month. ...","Sweden recognises Palestinian state. Sweden on Thursday officially recognised the state of Palestine, Stockholm's foreign minister said, less than a month after the government announced its intention to make the controversial move. \"Today the government takes the decision to recognise the state of Palestine,\" Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom said in a statement published in the Dagens Nyheter daily. Sweden's new Prime Minister Stefan Loefven announced in his inaugural address to parliament in early October that his country would become the first EU member in western Europe to recognise a Palestinian state. While the Palestinians cheered the move, Israel summoned Sweden's ambassador to protest and express disappointment.","US-Africa summit reshapes relationship: S.Africa's Zuma. This week's US-Africa leaders' summit in Washington has reshaped their relationship and holds great promise for the future, South African President Jacob Zuma said on Thursday. \"There had been a good relationship already between Africa and the US but this summit has reshaped it and has taken it to another level,\" Zuma said in a statement on his return from Washington. President Barack Obama's historic summit with African leaders and officials representing 50 nations aimed to deepening economic relations and trade between the two sides, after China and Europe had pushed ahead in the race to benefit from Africa's growing potential. \"We believe a new phase has begun, and that even future administrations, long after President Obama has completed his last term, will find it difficult to ignore Africa following this initiative,\" Zuma said.","Iran billionaire executed over $2.6B bank fraud. TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — A billionaire businessman at the heart of a $2.6 billion state bank scam, the largest fraud case since the country's 1979 Islamic Revolution, was executed Saturday, state television reported.","Ukraine's president signs amnesty bill. KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine's embattled president has signed a bill offering amnesty to protesters on condition that demonstrators leave government buildings they have occupied.","Cricket-One Day International Australia v South Africa scoreboard. Nov 16 (Infostrada Sports) - Scoreboard at close of play in the second One Day International between Australia and South Africa on Sunday in Perth, Australia Australia Innings D. Warner c de Kock b M. Morkel 0 A. Finch c M. Morkel b Steyn 8 S. Watson lbw b Behardien 11 S. Smith c Tahir b M. Morkel 10 G. Bailey c du Plessis b Philander 25 M. Marsh c M. Morkel b Steyn 67 M. Wade c de Kock b M. Morkel 19 G. Maxwell b M. Morkel 0 M. Johnson c de Kock b M. Morkel 3 N. Coulter-Nile c du Plessis b Steyn 2 J. Hazlewood not out 0 Extras (lb-5 w-4) 9 Total (all out, 41. ...","Sectarian tensions set stage for Iraq conflict, Obama says: NBC. Iraq's conflict is the result of sectarian divisions that have been allowed to fester, President Barack Obama said on Friday. \"Some of the forces that have always possibly pulled Iraq apart are stronger now, (and) those forces that could keep the country united are weaker,\" he told NBC Nightly News. \"It is ultimately going to be up to the Iraqi leadership to try to pull the politics of the country back together again.\" Obama is sending U.S. military advisers to Iraq and has threatened air strikes as Sunni Islamists have seized the north of the country and made a push toward Baghdad.","Reports say Moyes' term nearing end at Man United. MANCHESTER, England (AP) — David Moyes' tenure as Manchester United manager could be coming to an end after less than a year in charge.","Capt. of shipwrecked Concordia testifies at trial. GROSSETO, Italy (AP) — The captain of the Costa Concordia cruise ship is offering his first testimony about the 2012 shipwreck off an Italian island that killed 32 people.","Officials: US rescue mission in Syria failed. WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama sent special operations troops to Syria this summer on a secret mission to rescue American hostages, including journalist James Foley, held by Islamic State group extremists, but they did not find them, the Obama administration said Wednesday.","Lax security at crash site hampers investigations. HRABOVE, Ukraine (AP) — When international monitors and Malaysian aviation experts arrived Tuesday at the two main sites where the wreckage of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 smashed into the undulating countryside of eastern Ukraine, there was almost no perimeter tape.","Germany says violent language doesn't help in Ukraine crisis. The German government has cautioned against the use of violent language in the Ukraine crisis in response to reports that the former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko said in a leaked phone call that the Russian minority should be \"nuked\". Tymoshenko, who was imprisoned under pro-Russian president Viktor Yanukovich and released after he was ousted in February, has confirmed the phone call took place but says a reference to the 8 million Russians living in Ukraine was manipulated.","FIFA opens new phase of ticket sales for World Cup. SAO PAULO (AP) — FIFA will open a new phase of ticket sales for the World Cup on Wednesday, with entrances available online on a first-come, first-serve basis.","Jihadists confiscate non-Sunni assets in Iraq's Mosul. Mosul (Iraq) (AFP) - Jihadists ruling Iraq's northern city of Mosul are forcing residents who were in business partnerships with Christians and Shiites to hand over non-Sunni assets, witnesses said Tuesday.","India braces for big cyclone; typhoon hits Japan. HYDERABAD, India (AP) — Heavy rains and gusts ripped through a large swath of India's eastern seaboard, uprooting trees and snapping power cables as a powerful cyclone swept through the Bay of Bengal, one of two storms pounding Asia on Sunday.","Libya says total of 5 Egyptian diplomats, employees abducted in capital overnight. TRIPOLI, Libya - A spokesman for Libya's Foreign Ministry says that unidentified gunmen have seized five Egyptian diplomats and embassy employees overnight in Tripoli.","Vatican to Muslim leaders: Condemn Iraq barbarity. VATICAN CITY (AP) — The Vatican is urging Muslim leaders to denounce the \"barbarity\" of the Islamic State's attacks against Christians and other minorities in Iraq, saying their credibility is on the line.","Saudi king tells Kerry he will press Sunnis to join Iraq government. By Lesley Wroughton SHANNON Ireland (Reuters) - Saudi King Abdullah pledged in talks with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry to use his influence to encourage Sunni Muslims to join a new, more inclusive Iraqi government to better combat an Islamist insurgency, a senior U.S. official said on Saturday. After a week of frenetic diplomacy by Kerry tackling the threat of Iraq's disintegration, Abdullah's assurance marked a significant shift from Riyadh's insistence on the removal of Iraqi Prime Minister Nour al-Maliki, a Shi'ite Muslim. The U.S. official said the Saudi monarch voiced deep concern to Kerry about the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) insurgents who have overrun much of northern Iraq and its border with Syria and thrust southward, approaching the Saudi frontier. \"It was clear that the two shared a view that all of Iraq’s community should be participating on an urgent basis in the political process to allow it to move forward, and that each – both the Secretary and King Abdullah in their conversations with Iraqi leaders - would convey that message directly to them,\" the U.S. State Department official told reporters after the talks.","Neither U.S. nor EU has strategy for Ukraine. But when U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland was caught using the \"F-word\" on an unsecure telephone line to disparage European Union policy on Ukraine, it highlighted the fact that neither Washington nor Brussels has much of a strategy for handling the crisis in the former Soviet republic. Since Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich pulled out of a major trade pact with the EU in November under Russian pressure, provoking mass protests, the United States and Europe have struggled to gain any influence over the outcome. Nuland's outburst in late January, which leaked onto the Internet, was apparently directed at the EU's reluctance to impose targeted financial and travel sanctions on Yanukovich and his aides over a crackdown on the pro-European demonstrations. In another part of the conversation with the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, she discussed which opposition leaders Washington wanted to join or stay out of a proposed transitional government.","Friend of UK soldier killer admits terror offenses. LONDON (AP) — A friend of the self-styled \"soldier of Allah\" who murdered a British soldier has pleaded guilty to terrorism offenses.","BRAZIL BEAT: Neymar scores to relief of all Brazil. SAO PAULO (AP) — Fireworks went off across Sao Paulo when Neymar scored the tying goal for Brazil in the 29th minute.","Kate sails past William in race that's royal fun. AUCKLAND, New Zealand (AP) — Britain's Duchess of Cambridge has twice beaten her husband Prince William during friendly racing in America's Cup sailing boats on Auckland's Waitemata Harbour.","Samsung's profit falls as smartphones get cheaper. SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Declining smartphone prices hit profit at Samsung Electronics Co. for a second straight quarter.","Egypt says US scholar barred over visa issue. Egypt said Sunday the reason it had barred US scholar and prominent regime critic Michele Dunne from entering the country a day earlier was because she did not have a proper visa. Dunne, who arrived at Cairo airport early Saturday, was later put on a plane to Frankfurt. The foreign ministry said Dunne had applied for a non-tourist visa at the Egyptian embassy in Washington \"but then withdrew her passport,\" suggesting the former diplomat arrived in Cairo seeking to enter on a tourist visa, with tourism not the purpose of her visit.","From the dust, glittering Louvre show emerges. PARIS (AP) — For nearly a decade, one of the world's greatest palaces has also housed a dusty building site. Now, thanks to a 26 million-euro ($35.4 million) restoration, one of the Louvre Museum's most exciting collections, the 18th century decorative arts wing, has been re-opened to its full glory.","Dutch mourn as first MH17 bodies arrive in Netherlands. By Harro Ten Wolde and Thomas Escritt EINDHOVEN Netherlands (Reuters) - The bodies of the first victims from a Malaysian airliner shot down over Ukraine last week arrived on Wednesday at a military base in the Netherlands - a nation in shock and sorrow. Bells pealed and flags flew at half mast in memory of the 298 people killed when flight MH17 came down in an area of eastern Ukraine held by Russian-backed separatists, in the first national day of mourning since wartime Queen Wilhelmina died in 1962. King Willem-Alexander and Prime Minister Mark Rutte joined dignitaries on the tarmac as two military aircraft carrying 40 plain wooden coffins landed at Eindhoven in the southern Netherlands. Relatives of some of the victims were present at the airport but were shielded from the media glare, officials said.","China's Xi signs Venezuela resource deals on LatAm blitz. Chinese President Xi Jinping signed a raft of oil and mineral deals with Venezuela Monday, his latest stop on a Latin American tour showcasing China's growing influence in the region. During his four-country visit to what is often considered America's back yard, Xi has reached out to resource-rich countries such as Venezuela and Argentina at a time when they are often shunned by the United States and Europe. In Venezuela, he visited the mausoleum holding late president Hugo Chavez, an inveterate antagonist of the US, and signed 38 deals with Chavez's successor, Nicolas Maduro.","Wenger defends Ozil treatment. London (AFP) - Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger said Thursday the club had done nothing wrong in allowing record-signing Mesut Ozil to play on during a Premier League defeat at Chelsea despite complaining of a knee problem.","Canadian Christmas tree exports to rise: minister. Canada's trade minister on Friday predicted a rise in Christmas tree exports this season, amid reported shortages in the United States. \"Christmas trees represent a key export for Canada,\" Trade Minister Ed Fast said in a statement. Canada is the world's largest exporter of Christmas trees, according to the government. In 2013, it shipped over 1.5 million Christmas trees worth Can$28 million ($24 million) to the United States, Japan and other countries.","UK to Scotland: Back independence means no pound. LONDON (AP) — Scotland has been warned.","Bank of America to cut 3,000 support jobs across Latin America, Asia. Bank of America Corp said on Wednesday that it will close three foreign offices and eliminate about 3,000 jobs over the next nine to 12 months in an effort to simplify its global operations. Guadalajara, Mexico, and Taguig City, Philippines, will be shut down, a Bank of America spokesman said in an emailed statement. The closures should not have any impact on Bank of America's capital markets businesses in Latin America, the spokesman added. Bank of America employed 242,117 full-time workers at the end of 2013, down 9 percent from the 267,190 full-time staffers it had on its payroll at the end of 2012.","S Sudan talks stall again over political prisoners. ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (AP) — Officials in Ethiopia say peace talks for South Sudan are stalled over the issue of political prisoners.","Dani Alves discussing Barcelona future with coach. BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Brazil back Dani Alves is meeting new Barcelona coach Luis Enrique in hopes of locking down his future at the Spanish league club.","Six killed as Iraq civilian volunteer centre shelled. Baquba (Iraq) (AFP) - Mortar rounds on Sunday smashed into a central Iraq recruitment centre for civilians volunteering to fight a militant offensive, killing six people, police and a doctor said. Faced with a militant offensive sweeping south toward Baghdad, Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki announced the Iraqi government would arm and equip civilians who volunteer to fight, and thousands have signed up. And on Friday, influential Shiite cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani issued a call to arms for people to fight \"terrorists,\" a move that will boost recruitment.","Fans putting on a show during national anthems. TERESOPOLIS, Brazil (AP) — Go ahead, FIFA, stop the music if you want. Fans will keep singing anyway.","Dempsey in Afghanistan for transition talks. KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — The top U.S. military officer says the Pentagon has developed plans that will allow American forces to stay in Afghanistan a bit beyond the end of the year if the contested presidential election drags on and no security agreement is signed.","Syrians, Lebanese produce wine in ferment of war. BEIRUT (AP) — In his high-rise office in Beirut, Sandro Saade carefully chews a merlot grape from a vineyard hundreds of miles away in war-ravaged Syria, trying to determine if it is ripe enough to order the start of the harvest.","Italian 'mafia boss' in UK court for extradition hearing. An alleged Italian mafia boss arrested in London after two decades on the run claimed Thursday that he came to Britain for a \"good life\" on the first day of his extradition hearing. Domenico Rancadore is wanted in Italy to serve a seven-year jail term for his role in the Sicilian mafia. Italian authorities are seeking his extradition on charges including extortion, racketeering and drug trafficking at a two-day hearing at London's Westminster Magistrates Court. The 64-year-old, dressed in a grey and blue cardigan, told court he moved to Britain to give his \"children a good life\", claiming \"their life wasn't secure\" in Italy.","Honeymoon murder suspect loses UK appeals. LONDON (AP) — Shrien Dewani, accused of arranging the murder of his bride on their honeymoon trip in 2010, faces extradition to South Africa within four weeks after his last appeal was rejected by a British court.","World stock markets down on China worries. MANILA, Philippines (AP) — World stock markets sank Wednesday as recent falls in Chinese copper and iron prices added to jitters that the world's No. 2 economy is continuing to slow.","Top Asian News at 1:30 a.m. GMT. BANGKOK (AP) — A Thai court ordered the government on Wednesday not to use force against protesters who are attempting to oust the prime minister, a day after violent clashes between riot police and demonstrators left five people dead and dozens injured. The decision leaves beleaguered Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra with fewer options in dealing with the protesters, who have camped out for a month with virtual impunity in major intersections across the capital to press for her resignation.","Ukraine strengthens gas pipeline security after tamper attempts. Ukraine's state-run gas transport monopoly Ukrtransgaz has strengthened security on Ukrainian gas pipelines after discovering attempts had been made to tamper with them, the company said on Thursday. The company, which transports Russian gas through Ukrainian territory to European consumers, said it had found small gas leaks at a transit pipeline in the western part of Ukraine. Ukraine is an important transit country for Russian natural gas supplies to the European Union.","Shiite rebels capture central Yemeni city. Shiite rebels Wednesday seized a city in central Yemen seen as a strategic link to the south, security and tribal source said, further expanding the territory under their control. Yemen has fallen deeper into turmoil since an uprising ousted strongman Ali Abdullah Saleh in 2012 after a year of unrest, with rivals, including the Huthi rebels and Al-Qaeda, battling each other. The Huthis captured Radmah -- on a road linking Sanaa with the main southern city Aden -- after 24 hours of fighting against local tribesmen, a security official told AFP. Radmah is in Ibb province, where the rebels have been locked this month in battles with mostly-Sunni tribesmen.","South African economy grew 1.9% in 2013. Africa's largest economy grew 1.9 percent last year, a significant slowdown from 2012, Statistics South Africa said Tuesday. A 3.8 percent jump in fourth quarter gross domestic product was not enough for the country's strike and unemployment-hit economy to improve on the lacklustre 2.5 percent growth seen in 2012. Economists believe South Africa needs to grow at around five percent a year to bring down unemployment which remains stuck at around 25 percent and which has fuelled daily protests across the country. The quick pace of growth in the relatively strike-free fourth quarter was largely thanks to a rebound from a low third quarter growth rate of 0.7 percent.","More than 2.2 billion people 'poor or near-poor': UN. More than 2.2 billion people are \"poor or near-poor\", with financial crises, natural disasters, soaring food prices and violent conflicts threatening to exacerbate the problem, a United Nations report said Thursday. \"Eliminating extreme poverty is not just about 'getting to zero'; \"Those most vulnerable to natural disasters, climate change and financial setbacks must be specifically empowered and protected. UNDP chief Helen Clark said this was the first time that the annual study looked at vulnerability and resilience jointly \"through a human development lens\".","Iran will not give up uranium enrichment: Rouhani. President Hassan Rouhani insisted Wednesday that Iran would not abandon its enrichment of uranium, after US senators called for it to be denied any such right under a long-term nuclear deal. \"The world has admitted that Iran is, and will be, among the countries which have nuclear technology, including enrichment, and there is no doubt about this for anyone,\" state media quoted Rouhani as telling a cabinet meeting. His comment came after an overwhelming majority of US senators signed a bipartisan letter to President Barack Obama on Tuesday urging him to reject Iran's claim to the right to enrich uranium for civilian purposes in talks under way with the major powers. \"We believe that Iran has no inherent right to enrichment under the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty,\" the letter signed by 83 of the 100 members of the US Senate said.","Ottawa hospital says it treated 3 shooting victims. OTTAWA, Ontario (AP) — A hospital says it has received three victims from the shootings in Canada's capital.","Blistering Johnson rocks South Africa. CENTURION, South Africa (AP) — A breathtaking burst of fast bowling by Mitchell Johnson had South Africa 63-4 at tea and staggering in reply to Australia's first-innings total of 397 on Thursday.","Bank of Italy official says no block on foreign Monte Paschi bid. MILAN (Reuters) - The Bank of Italy would not oppose a foreign takeover of troubled domestic bank Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena , a senior central bank official said in a newspaper interview. Bank of Italy Deputy Director General Fabio Panetta said past experience showed that foreign takeovers of Italian banks had been successful. \"Any reservations on the nationality of groups that could be interested in a merger with Monte Paschi would be anachronistic and counterproductive,\" he told the Italian daily Il Messaggero. Monte Paschi is set to tap investors for up to 2. ...","AP PHOTOS: \"All of Germany is the world champion\". The party was already underway in Berlin, though there were a couple of nervous moments before the revelers could really let themselves go.","Poet, 7 others detained ahead of Hong Kong event. BEIJING (AP) — The wife of a Chinese poet says he and seven other people were detained ahead of a poetry reading planned in Beijing supporting pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong.","Spurning Gulf Arab pressure, Qatar says foreign policy 'non-negotiable'. Qatar on Monday again dismissed demands by three fellow Gulf Arab states for changes to its foreign policy, calling its independence \"non-negotiable\" in a further sign that it will continue to aid Islamists such as Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood. In an unprecedented move within the Gulf Cooperation Council of allied hereditary monarchies, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain recalled their ambassadors from Qatar on March 5, accusing Doha of failing to abide by an accord not to interfere in each others' internal affairs. The three GCC states are especially angry at Qatar's support for the Brotherhood, an Islamist movement whose ideology challenges the principle of conservative dynastic rule long dominant in the Gulf. \"Qatar is to take decisions, and follow a path, of its own,\" the official Qatar news agency quoted Foreign Minister Khaled al-Attiyah as saying in a speech in Paris.","GE recalls hundreds of baby 'warmers' in China over safety fears. A healthcare unit of General Electric Co has recalled hundreds of incubator-like infant \"warmers\" in China over safety concerns as Beijing tightens oversight of the country's fast-growing medical device sector. GE Healthcare recalled 223 of the U.S.-produced warmers after uncovering a potential safety issue that could restrict oxygen supply to the child, the China Food and Drug Administration (CFDA) said in a statement on Tuesday. The recall announcement coincides with tough messages from China's Cabinet this week that the government would increase oversight and fines in the medical device sector to address safety concerns. The crackdown could intensify the challenge for international medical device makers such as UK-based GE Healthcare, as well as rivals Siemens AG and Medtronic Inc, as they look to tap into the sector.","Berdych to open against Gasquet in Davis Cup. PARIS (AP) — Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic will open against Richard Gasquet of France in the Davis Cup semifinals.","Syrian airstrikes kill at least 7 outside Damascus. BEIRUT (AP) — Syrian airstrikes killed at least seven people in a suburb of Damascus on Friday, as government troops battled rebels in several districts along the eastern edge of the capital, activists said.","EU Commission says not to blame for surprise UK budget demand. BRUSSELS (Reuters) - EU governments created the system under which Britain has been asked to pay a surprise 2.1 billion euro bill into the EU budget and the European Commission is not to blame, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said on Friday. \"The European Commission did not create this situation. For some years we have been the ones proposing to move to a different system and this was indeed rejected by the member states,\" Barroso told a news conference. (Reporting by Adrian Croft; editing by Barbara Lewis)","Online shopping spotlights trade wishes for small businesses. By Krista Hughes WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Booming online shopping is turning more small businesses into exporters and pushing issues like duty-free limits and customs duties higher up the wish lists for upcoming free-trade deals. Retailer Colleen Rast, who sells new brand-name apparel and vintage collectibles through eBay and Amazon, was hit with a $150 customs bill when a New Zealand boutique returned a shipment with a retail value of $1,000. The duty represented 40 percent of the original cost of the goods, and Rast's Great Sky Gifts paid for the shipping too. ...","Haircuts and beef bowls helping BOJ's Kuroda win converts. By Leika Kihara TOKYO (Reuters) - Rising prices for budget haircuts and bowls of beef and rice are helping Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda win over doubters in his own ranks of his ambitious drive to cast off deflation. Sluggish exports and a sales tax increase on April 1 had some board members openly questioning Kuroda, and bureaucrats were quietly game-planning policy options. Now, as early data and anecdotes suggest the recovery in the world's third-biggest economy has not been derailed by the tax hike, investors and other BOJ policymakers are coming around. \"If gyudon shops are passing on the higher costs, that tells you something about changes in psychology,\" said a BOJ official who compared prices at the various beef-bowl restaurant chains.","GE misstated chemical harm to NY's Hudson River: federal trustees. (Reuters) - General Electric Co has understated or misstated the environmental harm of its chemical dumping into New York's Hudson River, federal officials alleged on Monday. The company's recent report to New York state officials failed to mention harm done to fish, waterfowl and groundwater, the Federal Hudson River Natural Resource Trustees said in a letter to the company that the trustees made public. The trustees said the GE report \"ignores significant natural resource injuries that have already been established by the Trustees.\" GE dumped toxic chemicals, in particular polychlorinated biphenyls or PCBs, some 150 miles north of New York City for three decades prior to discontinuing their use in 1977. In an emailed statement, GE said its report \"is a comprehensive and factual analysis of actual Hudson River data, including in substantial part the Trustees' own reports.\" (Reporting by Lewis Krauskopf;","Computer bungle leads to Mexico child porn arrest. MEXICO CITY (AP) — Prosecutors in western Mexico say a man promoting children's camping trips accidentally showed parents images of child pornography, leading to his arrest.","Man accused of trying to aid Islamic State group. ROCHESTER, New York (AP) — An upstate New York man accused of plotting to kill members of the U.S. military and others is now facing new charges that he tried to aid the Islamic State group in Syria and Iraq.","German leader suffers pelvic injury on ski holiday. BERLIN (AP) — German Chancellor Angela Merkel has suffered a pelvis injury during a skiing holiday in Switzerland, putting her on the sidelines for the next three weeks.","Miami foundation offers $10 million for phosphate pollution solution. By Zachary Fagenson MIAMI (Reuters) - A Florida environmental group is offering $10 million to anyone who can devise a method for ridding the Everglades and other waterways around the country of the fertilizer byproduct phosphorous that has caused disastrous algal blooms in Florida and the Midwest. The Miami-based Everglades Foundation announced the international challenge prize on Monday and said it also hopes to disburse a total of $1 million for other advances over the next seven years leading up to the $10 million award in 2022. ...","Russia slams Prince Charles' Putin-Hitler jibe. LONDON (AP) — Russia has criticized Prince Charles' reported comparison of President Vladimir Putin to Adolf Hitler and is protesting the matter with Britain.","Bayer signs $14.2 billion acquisition loan. By Alasdair Reilly LONDON (Reuters) - Bayer has signed a $14.2 billion acquisition loan backing its purchase of U.S.-based Merck's consumer care business, the lead banks said in a statement on Wednesday. The loan was underwritten on an equal basis by mandated lead arrangers and bookrunners Bank of America Merrill Lynch, BNP Paribas and Mizuho Bank and saw strong support from Bayer's core relationship banks with 23 banks joining in syndication. ...","Members of Jewish sect leave Guatemala village. GUATEMALA (AP) — Members of an ultra-Orthodox Jewish group were forced out of a village in western Guatemala after disputes with indigenous residents over cultural and religious differences.","Islamic State fights Syrian army for gas field, kills 30: monitor. BEIRUT (Reuters) - Islamic State militants in Syria killed at least 30 pro-government fighters in an assault on a gas field that has witnessed some of the bloodiest confrontations between the two sides, a monitoring group said on Wednesday. Islamic State seized the Sha'ar gas field in July, killing some 350 government troops, allied militiamen, guards and staff, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. Government forces recaptured the field, east of the central city of Homs, later that month. ...","Japan, South Korea finance ministers to meet in Washington on Friday. TOKYO (Reuters) - The finance ministers of Japan and South Korea will hold their first bilateral meeting in nearly two years on Friday, on the sidelines of this week's autumn IMF gathering in Washington, the Japanese Ministry of Finance said. The meeting between Japanese Finance Minister Taro Aso and his South Korean counterpart Choi Kyung-hwan, who are both deputy prime ministers, comes as their countries seek to mend relations hurt by territorial rows. ...","NATO says to deploy recon flights over Poland, Romania. Brussels (AFP) - NATO said Monday it will deploy AWACS reconnaissance aircraft to overfly Poland and Romania as part of alliance efforts to monitor the crisis in Ukraine.","Asian Muslims start Ramadan, World Cup fever undiminished. Muslims in much of Asia began celebrating the holy month of Ramadan on Sunday, but in Indonesia even threats by hardliners to raid \"sinful\" bars could not stop football fans heading to nightspots to watch the World Cup. Across the Muslim world, the faithful fast from dawn to dusk and strive to be more pious during the holy month, which ends with the Eid holiday. Ramadan got under way in Asian countries including Indonesia, which has the world's biggest Muslim population at around 225 million people, war-torn Afghanistan, Malaysia, Sri Lanka and the Philippines.","BOJ to hold fire but exports seen as a concern. By Stanley White TOKYO (Reuters) - The Bank of Japan is expected to maintain its massive monetary stimulus on Tuesday on a view the economy can weather a sales tax increase in April without extra support, although there is expected to be some concern about weakness in exports. The BOJ board can point to strength in industrial output, labor demand and consumer spending to back its view the economy will continue a gradual recovery and its 2 percent inflation target is achievable over the next 12 months or so. There is some concern within the BOJ about slow exports, but pessimists are not expected to have the numbers to tip the votes towards a downgrade of the central bank's stance that export growth will eventually rebound. The BOJ launched the stimulus last April, saying it would lift inflation to 2 percent within around two years via aggressive asset purchases as it sought to end 15 years of deflation.","Chile aims to end dictatorship-era election rules. SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) — Chilean President Michelle Bachelet says she is determined to make her country's democracy more representative, and she may have just enough votes in Congress to achieve it.","EU ministers discuss trade, Ukraine in Athens. ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Ministers from the European Union's Foreign Affairs Council are holding an informal meeting in Athens that is due to focus on a trade agreement being negotiated between the EU and United States, but is also likely to address the Ukrainian crisis.","Honeymoon slaying suspect attends SAfrican court. JOHANNESBURG (AP) — A British man accused of arranging the killing of his wife on their honeymoon in South Africa has attended a pre-trial hearing in his murder case, and a spokesman for prosecutors says his trial could start in early October.","S Sudan: U.S. doctors try to heal ethnic fractures. JUBA, South Sudan (AP) — After receiving eye surgery from the American doctors, a South Sudanese man sat with other patients who belonged to tribes he once considered enemies. The men spoke about their newly restored vision — both their eyesight and how they now perceive members of other ethnic groups as potential friends, not sworn enemies.","Attack on Thai protesters kills 2, wounds 22. BANGKOK (AP) — Explosions and an overnight shooting attack on anti-government demonstrators in Thailand's capital killed at least two people early Thursday, authorities said, the latest political violence to hit Bangkok over the last six months.","Morocco's Chamakh pens new two-year Palace deal. Morocco international Marouane Chamakh has signed a new two-year contract at Crystal Palace, the Premier League side announced Friday. The 30-year-old former Bordeaux striker arrived on a one-year deal last summer after leaving former club Arsenal and helped them to Premier League safety. Chamakh scored six goals for Palace last season, including a run of three successive league games in December, and was transformed into playing in a position behind the main striker by manager Tony Pulis. After securing top flight football next season, Chamakh had hinted that his future lay with the club.","Kerry asks Feinstein to consider CIA report timing. WASHINGTON (AP) — Secretary of State John Kerry has asked Sen. Dianne Feinstein to \"consider\" the timing of the expected release of a long-awaited report on the CIA's harsh interrogation techniques.","NZ controls 3rd test, leads West Indies by 236. BRIDGETOWN, Barbados (AP) — Kane Williamson completed his seventh test century on Sunday as New Zealand built a healthy lead of 236 over the West Indies on the fourth day of the third and final test.","Custody death to mar NYC mayor's return from Italy. ROME (AP) — New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio and his family are wrapping up a whirlwind vacation in his ancestral homeland of Italy, complete with cheering crowds, paparazzi and, yes, even proof Italians do eat pizza with a knife and fork.","Russian-born man to remain jailed in US bomb case. JOHNSTOWN, Pennsylvania (AP) — A U.S. judge has reversed himself and decided a Russian-born college student accused of building bombs in his Pennsylvania apartment will remain jailed until trial.","Modi heads to White House. Washington (AFP) - President Barack Obama gets his first chance to size up Narendra Modi Monday, as the new Indian Prime Minister, an intriguing novice on the world stage, brings a tour which wowed New York to the White House.","Today on the Hill: buzzing about jet fighters, honeybees and Liberal senators. OTTAWA - Parliament Hill will be buzzing more than usual today.","Islamic State demands for U.S. hostage cannot be met, parents say. (Reuters) - The parents of an American hostage threatened with beheading by Islamic State militants said in an interview with \"CBS This Morning\" on Monday that they are unable to meet the financial and other demands of their son's captors. The parents of Abdul-Rahman Kassig, an aid worker abducted on Oct. 1, 2013, did not elaborate on what Islamic State had demanded in exchange for their son's freedom. \"Their demands have always been ones that we cannot accommodate,\" Paula Kassig, the captive's mother, told the TV program. ...","Arrested Palestine player was courier for Hamas says Israel. By Ori Lewis JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel, looking to avoid censure at the FIFA Congress in Brazil on Wednesday, has defended its arrest of a Palestine national team player, telling the world soccer body he was a courier for Islamist militants. Sameh Fares Mohammad had intended to \"harm the state of Israel and its citizens\", Israeli Sports Minister Limor Livnat wrote in a letter to FIFA President Sepp Blatter. The Palestine Football Association (PFA) has been lobbying against Israel at FIFA over Mohammad's arrest by the Shin Bet security service in April and restrictions on the movement of other Palestinian players and officials in the Gaza Strip and the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Israel cites security concerns for such restrictions, but has drawn international calls for greater freedom of movement for Palestinians through Israeli military checkpoints.","Canada's economic growth slows to 0.3 percent in Q1. Ottawa (AFP) - Canada's economic growth slowed in the first quarter to 0.3 percent, as higher household spending was offset by lower government and business outlays, the government statistical agency said Friday.","One dead in Cairo blast: interior ministry. A driver was killed on Friday when his car exploded in central Cairo, Egypt's interior ministry said, hours after bombers killed a policeman and a soldier. Militants have stepped up their attacks against security forces since the army ousted Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in July and the military-installed authorities launched a deadly crackdown on his supporters. On Friday morning, a bomb struck a police kiosk near a courthouse in the northern Cairo district of Heliopolis, killing one policeman and wounding four others. The attack came after two suicide bombers targeted a checkpoint and a nearby bus outside the South Sinai provincial capital Al-Tur, security officials said.","Top Asian News at 7:00 a.m. GMT. BEIJING (AP) — The outgoing U.S. ambassador to Beijing urged China to respect the rights of peaceful political activists and said Washington is deeply concerned about the fate of a minority scholar charged with separatism. Gary Locke made the call at his final news conference as ambassador on Thursday following a 2 1⁄2 year tenure that included two serious diplomatic crises as well as a major expansion of trade and travel links.","Rugby-Australia halfbacks Beale, White benched for Boks. * McKenzie promotes Waratahs halfbacks Foley and Phipps * Former captain Horwill recalled to matchday 23 (Adds details, quotes) By Ian Ransom MELBOURNE, Sept 2 (Reuters) - Australia coach Ewen McKenzie has run out of patience with misfiring halfbacks Kurtley Beale and Nic White, dumping them to the bench for the Rugby Championship match against South Africa in Perth on Saturday. The pair started in Australia's 12-12 draw against New Zealand and the humbling 51-20 return loss at Eden Park last month but have been replaced by flyhalf Bernard Foley and his New South Wales Waratahs team mate Nick Phipps.","Pope ends Turkey trip seeking unity with Orthodox. ISTANBUL (AP) — Pope Francis is wrapping up his three-day visit to Turkey with a liturgy alongside the spiritual leader of the world's Orthodox Christians and a meeting with young refugees who have fled Syria, Iraq and other conflict zones.","Ukraine calls for real steps by world to help Ukraine. KIEV (Reuters) - Ukraine called on Sunday for \"real steps\" by world leaders to help his country, saying it was on the brink of disaster and that Russian President Vladimir Putin's actions amounted to a declaration of war. \"Any attempt to attack military installations is in fact direct military aggression against our country and the Russian military and the Russian leadership will be held responsible,\" Acting President Oleksander Turchinov said. (Reporting by Natalia Zinets, Editing by Timothy Heritage)","U.S. sees Middle East help fighting IS, Britain cautious after beheading. By Will Dunham and Andrew Osborn WASHINGTON/LONDON (Reuters) - Washington said countries in the Middle East had offered to join air strikes against Islamic State militants and Australia said it would send troops, but Britain held back even after the group beheaded a British hostage and threatened to kill another. Secretary of State John Kerry has been touring the Middle East to try to secure backing for U.S.","Greece: Smuggling boats capsize, 4 migrants drown. ATHENS, Greece (AP) — A yacht and a dinghy crammed with immigrants trying to enter Greece capsized Monday in the eastern Aegean Sea, leaving at least four dead from drowning and more than 20 others missing, authorities said.","Facebook's Zuckerberg to testify at N.Y. forgery trial: prosecutors. By Joseph Ax NEW YORK (Reuters) - The government will call Mark Zuckerberg to testify against an upstate New York man accused of trying to cheat the billionaire founder of Facebook Inc out of half his stake in the social media company, a federal prosecutor said on Tuesday. Zuckerberg is expected to be a key witness against Paul Ceglia, who is charged with forging a 2003 contract with Zuckerberg that purportedly entitled him to half of Facebook. “It's a witness that the government 100 percent knows it will be calling at trial,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Christopher Frey said at a court hearing before U.S. District Judge Andrew Carter in New York federal court. The charges stem in part from a 2010 civil lawsuit Ceglia filed against Zuckerberg and Facebook in Buffalo, New York, claiming the two men signed a contract when Zuckerberg was a freshman at Harvard University that gave Ceglia half of a planned social networking website.","German firm cuts outlook after Russia deal nixed. BERLIN (AP) — German defense and auto parts company Rheinmetall has cut its earnings forecast after the government revoked permission for it to deliver a field exercise simulator to the Russian military.","Syria planes strike inside Lebanon near border town. Syrian warplanes bombed gunmen inside Lebanese territory on Sunday on the border between the two countries, Lebanon's official National News Agency reported. The town of Arsal and the area around it are largely Sunni Muslim, and residents sympathise with the Sunni-led uprising against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. In April, Syrian forces backed by allied fighters from the Lebanese Shiite militant group Hezbollah retook control of most of the Qalamun region, just across the border from Arsal.","Niger: Hundreds protest French nuclear giant. NIAMEY, Niger (AP) — Hundreds of people protested against what they termed slow and opaque contract negotiations between Niger's government and the French nuclear giant Areva, which operates a uranium mine in the town of Arlit.","Chinese lawyer's aide held in Tiananmen clampdown. BEIJING (AP) — An attorney says Chinese police have taken away the aide of prominent lawyer Pu Zhiqiang, who was detained last week in a government clampdown on activists ahead of the 25th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square military suppression of protesters.","Mass DNA test of French teens fails to find rapist. PARIS (AP) — French authorities say that mass DNA testing of the entire male population of a French high school failed to find the assailant who raped a teenage girl on the closed campus.","Afghanistan to free most inmates seen by U.S. as threat. Afghanistan has enough evidence to try only 16 of 88 prisoners that the United States considers a threat to security and plans to free the remaining detainees, the president's spokesman said on Thursday. The move will further strain relations between the two countries that are already near breaking point over President Hamid Karzai's refusal to sign a security deal to shape the U.S. military presence after most foreign troops leave this year. The United States is strongly opposed to their release because it says the prisoners have been involved in the wounding or killing of U.S. and coalition troops. \"We cannot allow innocent Afghan citizens to be kept in detention for months and years without a trial for no reason at all,\" Karzai's spokesman, Aimal Faizi, told Reuters.","P&G selling rest of pet care business to Spectrum. NEW YORK (AP) — Procter & Gamble Co. is selling its Iams and Eukanuba brands in Europe to Spectrum Brands, shedding the remaining parts of its pet care business.","Verizon closes on $130 billion wireless deal. NEW YORK (AP) — Verizon on Friday completed its $130 billion deal to take over all of British cellphone carrier Verizon Wireless.","FBI arrests treasurer of Puerto Rico agency. SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — The FBI has arrested the treasurer of a debt-ridden public agency in Puerto Rico that the government is trying to bail out with help from a proposed tax increase that has angered many.","Chinese rocker Cui Jian quits state TV gala show after organizers block his song choice. BEIJING, China - The manager of a Chinese rocker known for his rebellious style says the musician will not perform at a state broadcaster's variety show for the Lunar New Year because the organizers have turned down his song choice.","Hungary's Fidesz seen dominating municipal voting. BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — Prime Minister Viktor Orban's Fidesz party is expected to maintain its dominance in nationwide municipal elections, with the far-right Jobbik party seen making gains in rural areas.","Cyprus offshore gas drilling to start before fall. NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) — Cyprus' energy minister says exploratory drilling in the first of six potential gas fields off the east Mediterranean island's coast is slated to begin before the end of summer.","Greece: suspected parcel bomb at police station. ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greek authorities say a suspected parcel bomb has been found at police station and will be examined by anti-terrorism experts.","Strong 6.0-magnitude quake hits northern California. A strong 6.0-magnitude earthquake jolted northern California early Sunday, knocking out power and causing some damage to roads in Napa and Sonoma counties, officials said. There were no immediate reports of deaths, injuries or major damage from the quake, which struck at 3:20 am (1020 GMT), rousing people from sleep as far away as San Francisco. The epicenter was near American Canyon, 40 miles (64 kilometers) northeast of San Francisco, the US Geological Service said. The California Highway Patrol closed several off-ramps to highways and at least two roads in Napa Valley because of \"significant roadway damage.\"","Obama meets Myanmar leader amid fears of backslide. NAYPYITAW, Myanmar (AP) — President Barack Obama received a hero's welcome two years ago during his historic visit to Myanmar, whose rapid rebirth after decades of repression was a source of hope for the region and beyond. Yet when he meets Thursday with President Thein Sein in the nation's sparking new capital, Obama will carry a far grimmer message as he warns of a worrisome backslide in the country's march toward a freer and fairer society.","GM's recall of mid-sized pickups affects 2,432 vehicles in U.S., Canada. DETROIT (Reuters) - General Motors Co disclosed on Friday that it recalled more than 2,400 of its new mid-sized pickup trucks in the United States and Canada to fix a previously announced air bag issue. The No. 1 U.S. automaker has announced a large number of recalls this year, mostly due to the discovery faulty ignition switches that could cause them to slip out of position, cutting power to air bags, steering and brakes. Those defective switches, which led to the recall of 2.6 million vehicles in February, have been linked to at least 36 deaths. ...","UN rights monitor criticises Bahrain over Shiite expulsion. The UN's religious freedom monitor on Thursday urged Sunni-ruled Bahrain to halt discrimination against its Shiite majority and its spiritual leader, who was expelled from the Gulf kingdom this week. The case of Sheikh Hussein al-Najati was a stark illustration of the broader mistreatment of Shiites in Bahrain, UN expert Heiner Bielefeldt said in a statement. He said that he had contacted Bahrain's government to press his \"grave concerns\" over what he said appeared to be \"religiously motivated discrimination\" against Najati. \"Targeting the most senior and influential Shia religious figure in Bahrain may amount to intimidating and thus discriminating against the entire Shia Muslim community in the country because of its religious beliefs,\" he said.","South Korean police say body of missing man believed to owner of disaster ferry has been found. SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korean police say body of missing man believed to owner of disaster ferry has been found.","In Cameroon, Boko Haram turn tourist hotspot into a ghost town. Waza (Cameroon) (AFP) - With a famous nature reserve, elephant safaris, and a reputation as a peaceful haven, the small town of Waza in the far north of Cameroon used to buzz with tourists. Located just a few kilometres from the border with Nigeria, Waza has been gripped by \"general panic\" since an attack by suspected Boko Haram Islamists who kidnapped ten Chinese in mid-May, said the secretary-general of the town, Tandjo. The security forces searching for them believe they were quickly taken back over the border, to the northeastern region of Nigeria that has become Boko Haram's stronghold. It was the latest in a series of incursions into northern Cameroon by the group, who officials say take advantage of a porous border to evade detection.","South Africa: Judge sees honeymoon slaying suspect. PRETORIA, South Africa (AP) — A British man accused of arranging the killing of his wife on their honeymoon in South Africa has attended a pre-trial hearing in his murder case, and is due back in court on June 20.","AP PHOTOS: Top pictures from Europe and Africa. LONDON (AP) — Fighting between government forces and Russian-backed rebels remained intense in eastern Ukraine last week, prompting Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko to announce plans for a one-day test truce to help build a more lasting peace.","Putin agrees to dialogue with Ukraine 'contact group': Berlin. Berlin (AFP) - Russia's Vladimir Putin has agreed to a proposal from Angela Merkel to set up a contact group on Ukraine, the German government said Sunday.","Burning wreckage, bodies scattered after airliner crashes in Ukraine. Dozens of bodies were scattered around the smouldering wreckage of a passenger jet that crashed in a field in eastern Ukraine on Thursday, a Reuters reporter said. Broken pieces of the wings were marked with blue and red paint - the same colours as the emblem of the Malaysian airline which lost track of a Boeing 777 en route from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur that was carrying almost 300 people.","Chinese icebreaker stuck after helping in Antarctic rescue. By Maggie Lu Yueyang SYDNEY (Reuters) - A Chinese icebreaker that helped rescue 52 passengers from a Russian ship stranded in Antarctic ice found itself stuck in heavy ice on Friday, further complicating the 9-day \"roller-coaster\" rescue operation. It now had concerns about its own ability to move through heavy ice, the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) said. The Australian icebreaker carrying the rescued passengers, the Aurora Australis, will remain on standby in open water in the area \"as a precautionary measure\", the rescue agency said. The Aurora Australis had meant to sail towards an Antarctic base to complete a resupply before carrying the rescued passengers back to Australia.","Cap on liability for climate damage worth a look: expert. By Thin Lei Win KUALA LUMPUR (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Developing countries in Asia are embarking on projects to assess and address future loss and damage from climate change, with the aim of convincing rich nations to compensate them and to reduce emissions, speakers at a regional climate forum said Wednesday. ...","Hong Kong leader refuses to resign but offers talks with protesters. By Clare Baldwin and Donny Kwok HONG KONG (Reuters) - Hong Kong leader Leung Chun-ying defied pro-democracy protesters' demands to step down by Friday, with pressure also increasing from Leung's backers in Beijing over one of the most serious political challenges they have faced in decades. Leung refused to bow to an ultimatum from protesters to resign and repeated police warnings of serious consequences should they try to block off or occupy government buildings. ...","Man United captain Vidic to leave at end of season. MANCHESTER, England (AP) — Manchester United captain Nemanja Vidic says he will leave the club at the end of the season when his contract expires.","Martino: Argentina won't change under his command. BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — New Argentina coach Gerardo Martino says he will not make any drastic changes to the style of play that took it to the World Cup final.","Egypt prosecutors send ex-president to new trial. CAIRO (AP) — Egypt's state news agency is reporting that the country's ousted Islamist President and 24 other politicians, media personalities, activists and lawyers will be tried on charges of insulting the judiciary.","Al Qaeda offshoot imposes strict Islamic rules in north Syria. By Stephen Kalin BEIRUT (Reuters) - A group linked to al Qaeda, emboldened by its recent victory over rival rebels in Syria, has imposed sweeping restrictions on personal freedoms in the northern province of Raqqa as it seeks to consolidate control over the region. Reuters obtained copies of four statements issued on Sunday by the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) prohibiting music from being played in public and photographs of people being posted in shop windows. ISIL is widely considered the most radical of the rebel groups fighting forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad, and increasingly each other, in Syria's civil war. The first and only city to have fallen completely under rebel control, Raqqa has been held up by many ordinary Syrians as an example of what Syria might look like in a post-Assad era.","Hungarian director and screenwriter Miklos Jancso, winner of 1972 Cannes prize, dies at 92. BUDAPEST, Hungary - Hungarian filmmaker Miklos Jancso, winner of the best director award at the 1972 Cannes film festival, has died. He was 92.","After long wait, Malaysia releases jet data. KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Close to three months after the Malaysian jetliner disappeared, the government on Tuesday released reams of raw satellite data it used to determine that the flight ended in the southern Indian Ocean, a step long demanded by the families of some of the passengers on board.","Yen says son inspired Monkey King performance. HONG KONG (AP) — Actor Donnie Yen says his toddler son was his inspiration for his performance in \"The Monkey King.\"","Nazarbayev: Ukraine conflict is 'nonsense'. MOSCOW (AP) — Kazakhstan's president says the conflict in eastern Ukraine is \"nonsense\" and is calling on Russia and Ukraine to find a way to resolve it.","Spain gets new king, Felipe VI to be sworn in in muted ceremony. By Elisabeth O'Leary MADRID (Reuters) - Spain's new king, Felipe VI, will be sworn in later on Thursday in a low-key ceremony which monarchists hope will usher in a new era of popularity for the troubled royal household. Felipe becomes king after his father, Juan Carlos, abdicated earlier this month following a series of scandals that led many Spaniards to question the role of the monarchy itself. The ceremony, at Spain's lower house of parliament, has little pomp and circumstance compared with royal handovers in other countries.","Red Cross: 4 employees missing in northern Mali. DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — A Red Cross spokesman says a vehicle carrying five people has gone missing in northern Mali.","Dolphin pod dies trapped in ice off Canadian coast. Some 30 white-beaked dolphins have died after being trapped in ice off the coast of Canada's easternmost Newfoundland province, and three remaining alive are not faring well, officials said Monday. Canadian fisheries officials twice visited the area around Cape Ray, Newfoundland where the animals were reported to have been trapped on Sunday and again Monday morning. \"All but three animals have died,\" ministry spokesman Larry Vaters told AFP. The dolphins would have struggled for air as the ice floes crushed in around them, becoming exhausted and eventually drowning.","Pistorius reports to psychiatric hospital for tests. South Africa's murder-accused paralympic hero Oscar Pistorius Monday arrived at a psychiatric hospital to begin up to 30-days of tests Monday, as ordered by a judge during his trial. A car ferrying the double amputee athlete whisked him inside the Weskoppies Psychiatric Hospital, west of Pretoria. Security was tight at the entrance of the drab red-brick public hospital, whose patients often come from poor backgrounds. In a bid to avoid media attention, the athlete ditched the grey SUV vehicle that normally drives him to court, arriving in a sedan with tinted windows.","Canada, South Korea very close to free trade deal: sources. By David Ljunggren OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canada and South Korea are very close to signing a long-delayed free trade deal after years of talks, sources familiar with the negotiations said on Thursday. Another industry source said Canadian government officials were now seeking reaction from stakeholders to a South Korean deal, a step they also took just before Canada announced it had agreed a free trade pact with the European Union last year. Canada, seeking to diversify its exports away from the United States, has long targeted the rapidly expanding economies of Asia. Canada's Trade Ministry says exports to South Korea in 2012 were worth C$3.7 billion ($3.4 billion) while imports from South Korea hit C$6.4 billion.","Olympic halfpipe could pave future of snowboarding. KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia (AP) — Behind all those dangerous double corks and flashy frontside 1080s, a battle for the soul of snowboarding is playing out at the Olympics.","Iran's Rouhani: Sanctions will damage West, too. TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — President Hassan Rouhani says sanctions imposed on Iran over its nuclear program will hurt the West as well as the Islamic Republic.","Indian police say Danish tourist allegedly gang raped in broad daylight. NEW DELHI - Police say a Danish tourist has reported being gang raped in broad daylight near a popular central shopping area in New Delhi.","Quebec separatists lose election, referendum avoided. By Randall Palmer OTTAWA (Reuters) - The anti-separatist Quebec Liberal Party won a majority government in provincial elections on Monday, eliminating the possibility of a new referendum on independence from Canada for several years and crushing the separatist Parti Quebecois. The election in the mainly French-speaking province had turned into a referendum on whether to hold another vote on separating from Canada, and the answer appeared to be a resounding \"Non.\" The Quebec Liberals had warned incessantly that the Parti Quebecois, which had called the election in a bid to turn their minority government into a majority, would launch a referendum if it succeeded. Parti Quebecois leader Pauline Marois, who is expected to lose her seat, announced she would resign as party head in view of the electoral defeat. The Liberals led in 70 of the 125 races, and the Parti Quebecois led in just 30, its lowest since 1989.","Hellas Verona draws 1-1 at Cesena in Serie A. ROME (AP) — Hellas Verona came back from a goal down to draw 1-1 at Cesena in Serie A on Monday and move to the middle of the table.","Russia says ties with EU and NATO need 'rethink'. MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia's ties with the European Union and NATO need a \"rethink\" in light of deep differences over Ukraine, Russian news agencies quoted Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov as saying on Monday. \"These relations require a substantial rethink, and together with our partners from the EU and NATO nations we are trying to conduct an analysis in order to better understand where we are, where our assessments coincide and where we disagree,\" state-run news agency RIA quoted Lavrov as saying at a meeting with Slovak Foreign Minister Miroslav Lajcak. ...","French women bid topless sunbathing 'adieu'. PARIS (AP) — France's summer is fast becoming a memory, and so is one of its iconic beach sights: topless woman.","Prominent marine biologist to be sentenced after pleading guilty to feeding killer whales. SAN JOSE, Calif. - A prominent Northern California marine biologist will be sentenced Monday in federal court in San Jose after pleading guilty to illegally feeding killer whales in the wild.","'Elders' group meets Iran's President Rouhani. TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Former United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan has led a meeting with a group of former world leaders and Iran's President Hassan Rouhani.","Encana to double oil output with $3.1 billion U.S. shale deal. By Euan Rocha TORONTO (Reuters) - Canada's largest natural gas company Encana Corp said on Wednesday it is buying producing assets in the Eagle Ford shale field in Texas from Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold for $3.1 billion, nearly doubling its oil output. Encana has been concentrating on five shale fields that are rich in oil and natural-gas liquids to lessen its dependence on lower-value gas. This transaction will add a sixth focus area and is aligned with Encana's growth strategy, the company said. \"Gaining a position in a world class, oil-rich resource play like the Eagle Ford accelerates the transition of our portfolio and underscores our investment focus on high margin assets\" said Encana's Chief Executive Doug Suttles, in a statement.","U.S. concerned about buildup of Russian troops near Ukraine. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A buildup of Russian troops along the Ukrainian border and the establishment of defense \"cordons\" by Russian authorities are troubling developments, the White House said on Friday. \"There is mounting evidence that shows a buildup of Russian military forces on the border with Ukraine,\" White House press secretary Josh Earnest said. \"We will not accept any use of Russian military forces under any pretext in eastern Ukraine.\" (Reporting by Mark Felsenthal; Editing by Eric Beech)","Hagel sees progress, setbacks against militants. WASHINGTON (AP) — Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel says the U.S. and coalition forces are making progress against Islamic State militants. But he says the American people must prepare for a long and difficult struggle.","Art festival lights up Amsterdam in dark winter. AMSTERDAM (AP) — As a canal boat slides along Amsterdam's elegant Herengracht canal, a man walking over a bridge pushes down and pulls up on a bicycle pump. As he does, a model tulip — its flower glowing purple — rises sedately from beneath the water.","Greek opposition calls for early elections. ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greece's main opposition party has formally requested an early general election after winning Sunday's vote for the European Parliament, arguing that the country's conservative government now lacks the legitimacy to implement reforms related to international bailouts.","At least 38 killed in fiery China road accident: Xinhua. The collision in Hunan province triggered a fire and explosion which destroyed five vehicles, the Xinhua news agency said. Another five people were injured in the accident, which occurred at around 3:00 am, Xinhua said, citing police. The double-decker long-distance bus, with capacity for 53 occupants, was travelling between the eastern coastal province of Fujian and Guizhou in the southwest when the crash occurred. Fatal road accidents are a serious problem in China, where the highway network and number of new drivers are expanding rapidly while traffic laws and safety are widely flouted.","Turkey to allow 200 Iraqi Kurds to cross into embattled Kobane. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Thursday that 200 Iraqi Kurd peshmerga fighters would travel through Turkey to the flashpoint Syrian border town of Kobane under assault by the Islamic State group. The regional administration in northern Iraq and Syrian Kurdish group, the Democratic Union Party (PYD) \"finally agreed according to information yesterday that 200 peshmerga would be going\" to Kobane, Erdogan told reporters in the Latvian capital Riga. There are an estimated 2,000 Kurdish fighters battling IS jihadists for control of Kobane.","Ecuador women turn to boxing to fight sexual violence. After surviving a harrowing rape attempt, Any Hurtado took up boxing -- and found herself surrounded by other Ecuadoran women using their fists for protection in a country torn by sexual violence. Lara and Vega traded hooks and jabs for 15 minutes, moving around the ring gracefully as other boxers looked on.","Neuer's composure stands out in win over France. RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — When France striker Karim Benzema burst into Germany's penalty area late in Friday's World Cup quarterfinal match, goalkeeper Manuel Neuer showed no signs of panic.","Afghan suspect in AP shootings sent to Kabul. KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — A senior Afghan official says the policeman who opened fire on two Associated Press journalists, killing one and seriously wounding the other, has been transferred to Kabul as Afghan authorities step up the investigation.","Burkina Faso names army colonel Zida as prime minister. By Mathieu Bonkoungou and Nadoun Coulibaly OUAGADOUGOU (Reuters) - Burkina Faso named Lieutenant Colonel Isaac Zida as prime minister on Wednesday, four days after he restored the country's constitution under pressure from the African Union and the West. Zida declared himself head of state on Nov. 1 after mass protests toppled President Blaise Compaore who then fled the West African country. The African Union had given Zida two weeks to restore civilian rule or face economic sanctions. ...","GE's credit card business faces two federal investigations. (Reuters) - Federal regulators are conducting two investigations into General Electric Co's credit card business for potential violations of consumer finance laws, according to a regulatory filing related to the unit's planned initial public offering. The business, now named Synchrony Financial, said it was in talks with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) regarding a review of its debt cancellation products and related marketing practices, according to the filing dated March 13. The company said that it notified the CFPB about a problem with its Spanish-language filing after spotting it as part of an internal audit. There is no assurance that the investigations will not have a \"material adverse effect\" on business and results, Synchrony said.","Australian Parliament passes counterterror laws. CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — The Australian Parliament has passed a raft of counterterrorism laws that extend secret service powers despite some lawmakers' concerns about its impact on press freedom.","Sentence cut for former Kosovo Serb police chief. AMSTERDAM (AP) — The Yugoslav war crime tribunal has reduced the prison sentence of a former Serbian police chief, but upheld his convictions in the murder of hundreds of ethnic Albanians from Kosovo in 1999 and the expulsion of thousands of others.","Canadian buyout firm Onex to buy Swiss packaging group SIG. (Reuters) - Canadian buyout firm Onex Corp said it would buy Swiss packaging group SIG Combibloc Group AG for up to 3.57 billion euros ($4.43 billion). An additional payment of up to 175 million euros will be payable based on the financial performance of SIG in 2015 and 2016, the private equity firm said. The deal is expected to close in the first quarter of 2015, subject to regulatory approvals, Onex said. Reuters reported earlier this month that Onex, Canada's largest listed private equity firm, was leading the bidding for SIG Combibloc, citing sources. ...","U.S., Russia bring meeting forward as Syria talks falter. International mediator Lakhdar Brahimi scrambled to keep diplomacy alive on Wednesday, bringing forward to Thursday a meeting with senior U.S. and Russian officials backing opposing sides in Syria's war. Brahimi first met Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov, who was holding separate talks later with Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moualem in Geneva, diplomats said. A opposition source said the National Coalition met with the Russian ambassador to the U.N. in Geneva on Tuesday evening as involvement by Moscow, President Bashar Assad's ally, is stepped up after two days of talks ended with no progress. \"The real question is can the process here address the problem of violence and get at the root cause by implementing the Geneva Communique,\" he said, referring to the roadmap agreed by world powers in June 2012 that calls for the two warring sides to set up a Transitional Governing Body.","EU to consider Ukraine request for extra 2 billion euros: Commission. BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Ukraine has requested an extra 2 billion euros ($2.55 billion) and EU authorities will consider the loan request together with the International Monetary Fund, a European Commission spokesman said on Tuesday. \"The Commission remains very committed to supporting Ukraine in line with earlier commitments,\" spokesman Simon O'Connor said in an emailed statement. Ukraine's energy minister was in Brussels on Tuesday for talks with his Russian counterpart and the European Energy Commissioner to try to resolve a dispute over Kiev's unpaid gas debts to Russia. ...","Malaysia set to release initial report into MH370 disappearance. By Siva Govindasamy KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Malaysia is expected to release a report on Thursday on the missing Malaysia Airlines plane that it has sent to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), the UN body that governs global aviation. Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak told CNN last week that the report on Flight MH370 would be released this week, and the Ministry of Transport said in a statement that a media release and preliminary report would be issued later on Thursday.","Australia sees chance of El Nino at 70 percent, some signs ease. By Colin Packham SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australia's weather bureau said on Tuesday the chance of an El Nino forming over the next few months remains at 70 percent, though the agency said some key indicators associated with the weather pattern had eased in recent weeks. \"We still believe an El Nino is likely,\" Andrew Watkins, Supervisor Climate Prediction at the Australian Bureau of Meteorology, said. \"The recent observations may suggest a later El Nino and it has perhaps reduced the chance of very strong El Nino like we saw in 1997/1998.\" The bureau said ocean warming had leveled off, counter to typical observations prior to previous El Nino events when temperatures continued to rise. However, despite the easing of some indicators, the Australian bureau said it continued to expected an El Nino in the southern hemisphere's 2014 spring.","Road to recovery still ahead for Murray. LONDON (AP) — For Andy Murray, the road leading back to the \"Big Four\" remains winding and tortuous.","Women seek justice for Chilean dictatorship rapes. SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) — Four women who say they were sexually tortured as political prisoners following Chile's 1973 military coup have filed a complaint they hope will bring to light dictatorship-era rapes that have been buried by fear, shame and silence.","London shares tumble as BG declares force majeure in Egypt. London shares closed sharply lower on Monday as BG Group plunged after the energy group declared force majeure on its gas operations in Egypt. The benchmark FTSE 100 index shed 113.08 points or 1.70 percent to end the day at 6,550.66 points. But the London market sank more than German and French indices as FTSE index heavyweight BG plummetted 13.78 percent to 1,082 pence in the wake of its revelation about problems in Egypt. \"BG Group has issued Force Majeure notices under its LNG agreements in Egypt reflecting diversions of gas volumes to the domestic market in excess of pooling arrangements,\" the company said.","Merkel and Erdogan: Ukraine sovereignty must be protected at all costs. German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan agreed in a telephone conversation on Saturday that the sovereignty, territorial integrity and political unity of Ukraine needed to be protected at all costs. They agreed that the risk of confrontation in Crimea needed to be eliminated and that a referendum planned for March 16 on Crimea joining Russia was \"extremely dubious\" and \"illegal\", according to a joint press statement issued by the German government on Sunday. Merkel and Erdogan stressed the importance of fulfilling international obligations for overcoming the crisis and said efforts to form an \"international contact group\" and a committee to investigate violent incidents of recent weeks were important. Erdogan said Turkey was prepared to help the international contact group given his country's close relationships with Ukraine and Russia, as well as its special relationship and contact with the Crimean Tatars.","Syria vote proves no solution without Assad: Hezbollah. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's re-election this week proves that any solution to the country's conflict \"begins and ends\" with the embattled leader, Lebanon's Hezbollah chief said on Friday. \"The elections proved that a political solution in Syria begins and ends with President Bashar al-Assad,\" Hassan Nasrallah, a key ally of Assad's regime, said in a televised address. Nasrallah, who has sent Hezbollah fighters to Syria to battle alongside Assad's regime, called for an end to bloodshed and new negotiations. \"Everyone should recognise and acknowledge that war in Syria will not lead to others taking control of it,\" he said, ruling out regime change through conflict.","Burkina leader's reelection bid could spark 'social explosion'. Any move by Burkina Faso's veteran President Blaise Compaore to tweak the constitution and run for office a fifth time could spark violence in the landlocked west African nation, experts say. Compaore, an often controversial titan of west African politics, has hinted he may seek a referendum to extend his 26-year reign in 2015 polls, despite a two-term constitutional limit. Growing anger over this prospect has already led to massive protests in the capital Ouagadougou and the resignation of several members of Compaore's own party. Lawyer and political analyst Siaka Coulibaly said the young were \"totally resistant to the idea of seeing the president hang on to power\".","UEFA fines Ukrainian club Dnipro for hooliganism. NYON, Switzerland (AP) — UEFA has fined Ukrainian club Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk 50,000 euros ($66,500) for the hooligan behavior of its fans during a Champions League qualifying match against FC Copenhagen.","Ukraine pipeline explosion caused by bomb - interior minister. KIEV (Reuters) - At explosion at a pipeline in Ukraine's Poltava region on Tuesday was caused by a bomb, Interior Minister Arsen Avakov said on Wednesday. \"We assume that the explosive device was placed under a concrete block supporting the pipeline and that there were two explosions,\" Avakov said in a report to a government meeting. \"We are studying the circumstances ... external interference is the main cause we are focusing on,\" he said. ...","Ukraine rebel military chief quits: separatists. Donetsk (Ukraine) (AFP) - The main military commander of pro-Russian rebels battling government forces in east Ukraine, Igor Strelkov, quit his post Thursday, the separatist leadership said.","Flamboyant Romanian mayor charged in bribery case. BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) — The mayor of Romania's Black Sea port city of Constanta has been charged with taking a bribe in return for awarding a company the tender to build 900 low-cost apartments for socially deprived residents.","France, Britain, Germany voice alarm over Crimea situation. France, Germany and Britain expressed alarm on Saturday over fast-moving developments in Ukraine's Crimea, urging all sides to avoid further escalation and calling on Russia to respect Ukraine's sovereignty. Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk on Saturday accused Russia of sending thousands of troops to the southern Crimea region. \"France is extremely concerned by the reports from Crimea, which describe significant troop movements,\" French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said in a statement.","Mugabe appears in public to mourn sister. Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe has made his first public appearance this year, quashing speculation about his health as he mourns his sister's death. State television on Monday showed images of Mugabe greeting government officials and members of his ZANU-PF party at his official residence in the capital Harare. The veteran leader, who turns 90 next month, did not show signs of declining health as he greeted those paying their condolences at State House on Sunday, after his younger sister Bridget passed away in a Harare hospital. Presidential George Charamba last week dismissed the reports, saying the long-time president, in power for 33 years, was on his annual leave and in good health.","Cricket-Chigumbura leads Zimbabwe to famous win over Australia. (adds quotes) HARARE, Aug 31 (Reuters) - Captain Elton Chigumbura hit a fluent half-century as Zimbabwe secured a shock three-wicket win over Australia in the triangular series on Sunday. Zimbabwe's only previous success against the world's top-ranked 50-over side came in their very first meeting in Nottingham in 1983 and since then have endured 27 defeats and one abandoned match. After Australia elected to bat, the tourists were restricted to 209 for nine in their 50 overs, a target Zimbabwe chased down with two overs to spare. Chigumbura came to the wicket with his side floundering on 106 for five at the halfway point of their innings, and along with number nine Prosper Utseya (30 not out), added 55 in an unbeaten eighth wicket partnership.","New Scottish poll confirms slight lead for 'No' camp. The campaign for Scotland to stay in the United Kingdom has taken the lead, a new opinion poll showed Saturday, after a shock survey last weekend put the pro-independence camp ahead. \"This poll suggests that 'No' are in the lead but that the race is far from over,\" said Blair McDougall, campaign director of the \"Better Together\" campaign.","Australia vows to keep searching to solve missing Malaysian plane mystery. By Byron Kaye PERTH, Australia (Reuters) - Australia vowed on Wednesday to keep searching for a missing Malaysian plane despite no sign of wreckage after almost seven weeks, and as bad weather again grounded aircraft and an undersea drone neared the end of its first full mission. Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott admitted the search strategy may change if seabed scans taken by a U.S. Navy drone failed to turn up a trace of Malaysian Airlines flight MH370, which vanished on March 8 with 239 people on board. \"The only way we can get to the bottom of this is to keep searching the probable impact zone until we find something or until we have searched it as thoroughly as human ingenuity allows at this time.\" The Bluefin-21 drone, a key component in the search after the detection of audio signals or \"pings\" believed to be from the plane's black box flight recorder, is due to end its first full mission, possibly on Wednesday. In a sign of the families' growing desperation for answers, a group purporting to be relatives of the missing flight's passengers published a letter to Malaysian Defence Minister Hishammuddin Hussein, urging the government to investigate old media reports that the plane landed in Kandahar, Afghanistan.","Russia's Zubkov leads after 2 runs of 2-man bob. KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia (AP) — Olympic two-man bobsled has become one man's race.","Chiefs beat Crusaders 18-10 in Super Rugby. CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand (AP) — The Chiefs opened their defense of their back-to-back Super Rugby titles with an 18-10 win over seven-time champions the Crusaders on Friday in the first match of the season in the New Zealand conference.","Israel guard shoots Palestinian at Jordan border. JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli police say a guard has shot a Palestinian who tried to grab a rifle from an Israeli soldier at the border crossing between the West Bank and Jordan. Israel Radio says the man has died of his wounds.","EU's Ashton in Iran says final nuclear deal 'challenging': state TV. By Parisa Hafezi ANKARA (Reuters) - European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said on Sunday it would be \"difficult and challenging\" to reach a long-term nuclear deal with Iran, as diplomacy intensifies before talks between Tehran and world powers on March 18. Ashton arrived in Tehran on Saturday for a two-day visit -the first by an EU foreign policy chief since 2008 - during which she said a wide range of issues, including bilateral ties and regional conflicts, will be discussed. A long-lasting nuclear deal with Iran would help put an end to years of hostility between Iran and the West, ease the danger of a new war in the Middle East, and open up vast new possibilities for Western businesses. \"The interim deal is really important but not as important as a comprehensive nuclear agreement ... which is difficult and challenging,\" Ashton told a joint news conference with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, broadcast on state TV.","Lloyds opts to sell bigger stake in TSB unit. LONDON (AP) — State-backed Lloyds Banking Group PLC has increased the number of shares it is selling in its TSB unit amid strong investor demand.","Horse sculptures by Scottish artist come to NYC. NEW YORK (AP) — It's all part of New York City events celebrating all things Scottish.","Senate approves Obama pick for surgeon general. WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. Senate on Monday approved President Barack Obama's nomination of Dr. Vivek Murthy to serve as U.S. surgeon general, despite opposition from Republicans and some Democrats over his support for gun control and past statements that gun violence is a public health issue.","France won't cancel warship deal with Russia: sources. France will press ahead with a 1.2 billion-euro ($1.66 billion) contract to sell helicopter carriers to Russia because cancelling the deal would do more damage to Paris than to Moscow, French diplomatic sources said on Monday. France has come under pressure from Washington and some European partners to reconsider its supply of high-tech military hardware to Moscow. However, French diplomatic sources said on Monday the 2011 contract with Russia for two Mistral helicopter carriers, with an option for two more, would not be part of a third round of sanctions against Moscow.","A Brazil World Cup bonanza _ for other countries. SAO PAULO (AP) — Brazil's Central Bank says spending by foreign tourists shot up 60 percent during the two months overlapped by its hosting of the World Cup, reaching nearly $1.59 billion.","Colombia's Santos would win election, but support down - poll. Colombia's President Juan Manuel Santos remains frontrunner to win a second term in office in next month's election, but his two closest rivals are gaining ground, according to a poll published on Sunday. Twenty-three percent said they would vote for the center-right incumbent in the first round of voting on May 25, one percentage point less than in the last poll in March and five less than two months ago, according to the survey by Ipsos Napoleon Franco published in weekly Semana magazine. A perceived slowdown in peace talks with Marxist FARC rebels to bring an end to five decades of conflict has also raised concern among voters. Backing for right-wing contender Oscar Ivan Zuluaga, who represents former President Alvaro Uribe's party, has risen.","Japan runs short of butter as dairy farms dwindle. TOKYO (AP) — When Japanese pose for pictures, instead of saying \"Cheese!\" some say \"Butter!\" These days, butter is more likely cause for frowning, since it is rationing that comes to mind.","World leaders vow to 'extinguish' Ebola. The world's most powerful economies vowed on Saturday to \"extinguish\" the Ebola epidemic ravaging west Africa, as the vast desert nation of Mali scrambled to prevent a new outbreak of the killer disease. Despite some hopeful signs from Africa -- where Liberia has lifted its state of emergency and the DR Congo announced the end of its own, unrelated, outbreak of Ebola -- the recent deaths of three people in Mali have fuelled fears of a new hotspot. As pop stars recorded a new \"Band Aid\" single in London to help combat a disease that has killed more than 5,100 people in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, the meeting in Brisbane made no new pledges of cash. Described as \"critically ill\", Martin Salia will be the third Ebola patient treated at the facility.","Israeli TV says rocket targets Tel Aviv. TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Israeli television stations say a rocket has targeted Tel Aviv but was intercepted.","Senate on track to pass Ukraine aid bill. WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. Senate is on track to approve sanctions against Russia and aid for Ukraine after Democrats withdrew a provision requiring International Monetary Fund reforms.","Fifth-seeded Granollers reaches second round. BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — Fifth-seeded Marcel Granollers of Spain reached the second round of the Copa Claro Monday, defeating Aljaz Bedene of Slovenia 7-5, 3-6, 6-2.","US concern over sentencing of Myanmar journalists. WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States said Friday is it very concerned that four reporters and a magazine chief executive in Myanmar have been sentenced to 10 years hard labor for investigative reporting about a weapons factory.","Arsenic pollution sows despair in Chinese cancer village. Xiong Demin could not have foreseen that the mine he worked at for 32 years would leave his home village poisoned and hundreds of residents, including himself and his wife, stricken with cancer. The 71-year-old retired mechanic and his wife, Wen Jin'e, both suffer from cancer, which they blame on arsenic pollution left by the mining and processing of realgar, also known as \"ruby sulphur\", near Heshan village in Hunan province. Mines and chemical plants mushroomed in the realgar-rich area around Heshan from the 1950s until 2011 when they were shut down due to the pollution they caused, but dust and runoff from arsenic plagues Heshan to this day, destroying crops and poisoning people. In 2010, 157 villagers from Heshan, with a population of about 1,500, had died of cancer caused by arsenic poisoning in the previous two decades, and another 190 had developed cancer due to arsenic poisoning, the villagers wrote in a letter to the local government, seen by Reuters, seeking compensation and aid.","Amanda Knox's murder conviction reinstated. FLORENCE, Italy (AP) — More than two years after Amanda Knox returned to the U.S. apparently home free, an Italian court Thursday reinstated her murder conviction in the stabbing of her roommate and increased her sentence to 281⁄2 years in prison, raising the specter of a long extradition fight.","Tennis-Australian teenager Kyrgios stuns Gasquet with comeback win. Australian teenager Nick Kyrgios staged a stunning comeback to beat French 13th seed Richard Gasquet 3-6 6-7(4) 6-4 7-5 10-8 in the second round of Wimbledon on Thursday after surviving nine match points. Having fended off a succession of match points, one of which was saved after a successful Hawkeye appeal on a second serve, he broke former semi-finalist Gasquet's serve at 8-8 in a deciding set that captivated the crowd for 71 minutes. The highly-rated Kyrgios, one of a batch of young Australians hoping to revive the fortunes of the former powerhouse nation, was serenaded by the yellow-clad Aussie fans who were set for a double-header on the bowl-like court with old favourite Lleyton Hewitt in action later on day four.","US blacklists Egyptian extremist group. WASHINGTON (AP) — The Obama administration is imposing sanctions on an Egypt-based group that has claimed responsibility for attacks against Egyptian officials, Israeli interests and foreign tourists in Cairo and the Sinai peninsula.","Oscar-winning Mexican director questions president. MEXICO CITY (AP) — Oscar-winning director Alfonso Cuaron has published a full-page ad in Mexican newspapers questioning President Enrique Pena Nieto's energy reform.","Scientists in Brazil discover new river dolphin species. SAO PAULO - Scientists say they have discovered the first new river dolphin species in nearly 100 years inhabiting the Araguaia River in Brazil's vast Amazon rainforest.","France's Total in shale deal with Russia's Lukoil. PARIS (AP) — French energy company Total SA is hooking up with Russia's largest private oil company to explore and develop a huge Siberian shale oil field.","China auto sales rise but local brands weaken. BEIJING (AP) — China's auto sales rose 11.3 percent in the first two months of the year but local brands suffered a decline in a sign of intense competition in the world's biggest auto market.","Winger Eljero Elia joins Southampton from Bremen. BREMEN, Germany (AP) — Dutch winger Eljero Elia is joining Southampton from struggling Bundesliga club Werder Bremen.","Lebanon reports first suspected case of Ebola. BEIRUT (AP) — Lebanon's health minister says a Lebanese man who arrived from West Africa is suspected of having Ebola and has been quarantined, the first such case in the country.","Nigerian army clashes with militants outside northeast city. By Isaac Abrak and Felix Onuah ABUJA (Reuters) - Nigerian government forces were fighting Islamist insurgents 35 km (20 miles) outside Borno state capital Maiduguri on Friday to try to stop any attack on the northeastern city, local residents said. Authorities were struggling to reassure frightened locals that the armed forces would defend them against the Boko Haram militants, who have overrun a string of towns and villages in the area in recent weeks. ...","Algerian election set, where are the candidates?. ALGIERS, Algeria (AP) — Algeria on Friday formally set its next presidential election for April 17, but three months before what could be one of the most important votes in the country's history, no one is sure who is running.","Ukraine's freed Tymoshenko speaks to Germany's Merkel by phone. KIEV (Reuters) - Ukrainian opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko, dramatically freed on Saturday as her arch-rival President Viktor Yanukovich fled Kiev, drew support from German Chancellor Angela Merkel during a phone call on Sunday, Tymoshenko's press service said. Merkel \"congratulated Yulia Tymoshenko on her release and expressed the certainty that her return to mainstream politics would become one of the main factors in stabilizing the situation in Ukraine\", a statement said. ...","New Tunisian leader faces economic challenges. TUNIS, Tunisia (AP) — Tunisia swore in a new caretaker prime minister Friday and he faces a multitude of challenges: organizing the country's first election for a permanent post-revolutionary government, fixing a deteriorating economic situation and placating an unhappy populace.","Dutch minister says EU is imposing new sanctions on officials over Russia's actions in Ukraine. BRUSSELS (AP) — Dutch minister says EU is imposing new sanctions on officials over Russia's actions in Ukraine.","Europe's credit squeeze shows signs of easing. FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — New data are showing that Europe's squeeze on credit to consumers and businesses may be easing slightly.","Commonwealth Games - Elliot claims gold for Australia in world record time. - Maddison Elliot sealed Australia's sixth Commonwealth Games swimming gold medal and set a new world record time in winning the women's para-sport 100m frestyle S8 on Friday.","S. Korea ends ferry wreckage searches. SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea on Tuesday ended underwater searches for nine bodies still missing from April's ferry disaster that killed more than 300 people in one of the country's deadliest disasters in decades.","Myanmar says plight of Rohingya minority a media fabrication. YANGON (Reuters) - Myanmar President Thein Sein has denied that minority Muslim Rohingya are fleeing \"torture\" in western Rakhine state, telling the Voice of America Burmese Service such media reports were fabrication. According to the Arakan Project, which plots migration across the Bay of Bengal, about 100,000 Rohingya have left Rakhine since 2012. Violent clashes with ethnic Rakhine Buddhists that year killed hundreds and left 140,000 homeless, most of them Rohingya. ...","2 of 4 new Ebola suspects in Spain test negative. MADRID (AP) — Authorities say two of four new Ebola suspects admitted to hospitals in Spain have tested negative in a first round of tests.","South Africa appoints a new reserve bank governor. JOHANNESBURG (AP) — South Africa has named a new reserve bank governor.","A year into Cuba migration reform, islanders travelling in record numbers but no sign of exodus. HAVANA - Last February, Amalia Reigosa Blanco experienced for the first time the rush of an airplane taking off. She browsed the clothing shops of Italy's fashion capital, and strolled cobblestone streets echoing with an unfamiliar tongue. She learned what snow feels like.","UK TV host Rolf Harris guilty of indecent assault. LONDON (AP) — Television entertainer Rolf Harris, known to generations of children in Britain and Australia for his friendly screen presence, was found guilty Monday of a string of indecent assaults on young girls that took place from the '60s to the '80s.","UPS CEO: Retailers could pay for late unplanned peak surge. ATLANTA (Reuters) - United Parcel Service Inc's chief executive officer said on Monday the company's closer collaboration with major retailers should bring a smooth holiday season, but he said UPS would charge customers more or even refuse packages if last-minute sales by a major customer threaten the company's system. \"With the changes we’ve made, I feel very comfortable about peak (season) this year,\" David Abney told Reuters in an interview at UPS headquarters in Atlanta. ...","Magnitude 6.0 quake hits southwestern Mexico, no damage reported. A 6.0 magnitude earthquake struck southwestern Mexico early on Saturday morning and was also felt in Mexico City, but there were no immediate reports of damage. The U.S. Geological Survey put the quake epicenter 4.3 miles west of the town of Tecpan de Galeana in the southwestern state of Guerrero at a depth of 21.7 miles just inland from the Pacific Coast. The quake comes less than two days after a 6.4 magnitude earthquake shook the capital, rattling buildings and prompting office evacuations, but the quake caused no major damage.","Francis says time to expand women's responsibilities in Catholic Church. VATICAN CITY - Pope Francis says that women should have a bigger presence in the Catholic Church, as well as in the professional and public spheres.","ICC refuses to let Gbagbo attend mother's funeral. THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — International Criminal Court judges have rejected a request from former Ivory Coast president Laurent Gbagbo to be briefly released from pretrial custody to attend his mother's funeral.","Oscar Pistorius murder trial lawyer goes viral. Oscar Pistorius's lawyer Barry Roux with his tough grilling of witnesses has emerged as the star of the athlete's murder trial, featuring in rap parodies, fake Twitter accounts and Internet memes. \"I'm Barry Roux and I put it to you / ten times in a row just to confuse you.\" Another parody song, \"Because I'm Barry\", has been set to the hit track \"Happy\" by US artist Pharrell Williams. Roux's dogged questioning has also inspired numerous Internet memes with pictures of the lawyer, who is defending Pistorius on charges of shooting to death his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp last year.","Myanmar papers protest sentencing of reporters. YANGON, Myanmar (AP) — Several private newspapers in Myanmar printed black front pages on Friday to protest the recent arrests and sentencing of journalists, in the latest sign the country's media climate is worsening.","Prankster arrested for rushing, touching Brad Pitt. LOS ANGELES (AP) — A man arrested after rushing up and touching Brad Pitt on the red carpet at the Hollywood premiere of the movie \"Maleficent\" is a Ukrainian journalist with a history of getting too close to celebrities.","Japan's nuclear re-start bogged down in safety checks and paperwork. By James Topham and Osamu Tsukimori TOKYO (Reuters) - Hundreds of technicians and engineers are camped out in Tokyo hotels trying to revive Japan's nuclear industry, shut down in the wake of the Fukushima disaster almost three years ago. A new, more independent regulator is in place, asking difficult questions and seeking to impose tougher safety rules on powerful utilities that were largely their own masters for the past 50 years. The Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA) was created in 2012 and set new safety guidelines in July last year. It now has four teams vetting reactors at nine nuclear power stations on a list of those seeking to re-start.","American Christopher Horner joins Lampre-Merida. MILAN (AP) — Spanish Vuelta champion Christopher Horner has become the first American to sign for Italian cycling team Lampre-Merida.","Macedonia's opposition boycotts new parliament. SKOPJE, Macedonia (AP) — Macedonia's left-wing opposition boycotted the inaugural session of the newly-elected parliament Saturday.","Kerry to press Arabs to back campaign against Islamic State. Secretary of State John Kerry will press Arab leaders on Thursday to support President Barack Obama's plans for a new military campaign against Islamic State militants including help with greater overflight rights for U.S. In a strong measure of support, Saudi Arabia has agreed to host training camps for moderate Syrian rebels who are part of Obama's broad strategy to combat the militants, who have taken over a third of both Syria and Iraq, U.S. The agreement, outlined by Obama's aides on the night of his speech to the American people laying out his expanded campaign against the Islamist group, appeared to reflect the depth of Saudi concern about Islamic State's threat to the region. Outlining what Kerry would seek from regional partners at a meeting of Arab powers and Turkey in Jeddah, a senior State Department official said: \"We may need enhanced basing and overflights ... there’s going to be a meeting soon of defence ministers to work on these details.\" Wider overflight permission from regional states would increase the capacity of U.S.","Rahul Gandhi disrupts Indian Parliament debate. NEW DELHI (AP) — Rahul Gandhi, heir to the political dynasty that controlled India for decades, has disrupted proceedings in Parliament, storming an area near the speaker's chair and demanding an inquiry into communal violence in the country.","Troops, vigilantes reclaim seized Nigerian towns. Nigerian troops, backed by civilian vigilantes and local hunters, have reclaimed two towns seized by Boko Haram Islamists last week, residents and a local fighter said Wednesday. The re-capture of the towns of Gombi and Hong on Tuesday was the latest success the military has recorded against Boko Haram in recent days, they claimed. \"Gombi and Hong have been liberated from Boko Haram by the combined effort of soldiers and our men,\" said Phillip James, spokesman for the local hunters' union in northeast Adamawa state. \"Boko Haram are on the run but soldiers and hunters are pursuing them,\" he said.","Image of Asia: Lighting up the track in Singapore. In this photo by Wong Maye-E, lights illuminate the Singapore Grand Prix race track at dusk as seen from the 65th floor of Swissotel The Stamford. The financial district skyline is seen on the right, while in the distance, laser lights operate on the Marina Bay Sands roof. The Singapore race is the only one on the Formula One calendar held at night. Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton are locked in a tense duel for the season championship and are among the top contenders in Sunday's race.","Israeli parliament aims to be world's greenest. JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel's parliament plans on becoming the \"greenest in the world\" by generating its own electricity and through other environmentally friendly initiatives.","EU horse-trading for bloc's new top diplomat fails. BRUSSELS (AP) — European Union leaders failed to agree on who should get the prestigious job as the 28-nation bloc's new foreign policy chief to succeed Catherine Ashton, who also chairs the international negotiations on Iran's nuclear program.","John Degenkolb wins 12th Spanish Vuelta stage. LOGRONO, Spain (AP) — John Degenkolb of Germany timed his sprint perfectly to win the 12th stage of the Spanish Vuelta as Alberto Contador retained the overall lead on Thursday.","'Significant' Iran role in Sudan arms sector. Evidence suggests Iran has played a key role in supporting war-torn Sudan's weapons production and that Tehran has also been Khartoum’s second-biggest supplier of arms, a study said Monday. Some of those imported arms, along with others from China, have reached rebel groups in Sudan as well as South Sudan, said the Small Arms Survey report based on more than two years of investigation. It said that there is \\\\\"emerging evidence that Iran has played a significant role in supporting Sudan’s weapons manufacturing sector\\\\\". Khartoum's army spokesman, Sawarmi Khaled Saad, told AFP that many countries, not only Iran, cooperate with Sudan.","Loblaw sees no letup in 'extreme' competition in first half. (Reuters) - Loblaw Cos Ltd , Canada's largest grocer, said the Canadian supermarket industry will remain \"extremely competitive\" in the first half of 2014 after it reported a 9 percent drop in quarterly net profit. U.S. retailers such as Wal-Mart Stores Inc and Target Corp have expanded in Canada over the past year, posing a threat to local retailers such as Loblaw, Canadian Tire Corp Ltd and Metro Inc . Loblaw said it expected the pace of store openings by rivals to moderate in the second half of the year. ...","Israel, Palestinians part ways in dueling speeches. JERUSALEM (AP) — In a pair of fiery speeches at the United Nations, the Israeli and Palestinian leaders appear to have abandoned any hope of reviving peace talks and instead seem intent on pressing forward with separate diplomatic initiatives that all but ignore each other.","Putin says U.S. guided by 'the rule of the gun' in foreign policy. Russian President Vladimir Putin accused the United States on Monday of being guided in its foreign policy not by international law but by the \"rule of the gun.\" \"Our Western partners headed by the United States prefer not to be guided by international law in their practical policies, but by the rule of the gun,\" he told a joint session of parliament. That they can decide the destinies of the world, that it is only them who can be right.\" (Reporting by Alexei Anishchuk;","Hall of Fame head Jane Forbes Clark says it's up to BBWAA to propose vote changes. NEW YORK, N.Y. - The chairman of the Hall of Fame said the organization remains pleased to have baseball writers vote on electees despite criticism about the process.","World's nuclear arsenal reduction slows down: Stockholm institute. The number of nuclear weapons in the world continue to decline, but at a slower pace than in previous years, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) said Monday. \"Over the past five years there has been a steady decline in the overall number of nuclear warheads in the world,\" the think tank said in its yearly report on world nuclear forces. The number of nuclear warheads in the world has dropped by 930 from 2013 to 16,300 this year, whereas in 2011 the figure fell by 2,070 to 20,530 compared with a year earlier. The United States and Russia still held some 7,300 and 8,000 warheads respectively at the beginning of this year, SIPRI said.","Russia ordered to pay another $2.5 bln for Yukos. PARIS (AP) — The European Court of Human Rights has ordered Russia to pay out nearly 1.9 billion euros ($2.5 billion) to shareholders of Yukos, the oil producer that the government had dismantled over a decade ago.","Several Arab countries offer to join air campaign on Islamic State, say U.S. officials. By Jason Szep PARIS (Reuters) - Several Arab countries have offered to join the United States in air strikes against Islamic State targets, U.S. The officials declined to identify which countries had made the offers but said they were under consideration as the United States begins to identify roles for each country in its emerging coalition against jihadists who have declared a caliphate in the heart of the Middle East. “I don’t want to leave you with the impression that these Arab members haven’t offered to do air strikes because several of them have,” a senior U.S.","Rouhani says Iran sanctions will unravel in months. President Hassan Rouhani said on Tuesday international sanctions on Iran would unravel in months following negotiations with world powers on its nuclear program, the official IRNA news agency reported. Some international sanctions imposed over Iran's nuclear program have been eased temporarily after a deal was reached last year with world powers, but Washington has said the lifting of sanctions can only happen \"in total\" after a comprehensive deal is reached. \"Today we already see the sanctions unraveling,\" he said, according to IRNA, referring to the modest easing of sanctions in return for concessions made by Rouhani's government in nuclear talks with world powers. World powers want Iran to curb its nuclear activity, which Western nations fear is aimed at giving Tehran the capability to make a nuclear weapon.","Indonesian and Australian leaders' call recorded. CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott has brushed off a media report that his telephone conversation with Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono last month was secretly recorded by a journalist.","Shares in Dutch feed company Nutreco surge. AMSTERDAM (AP) — Shares in Dutch animal and fish feed supplier Nutreco NV have surged after the company announced a management-backed 2.69 billion ($3.43 billion) takeover offer from privately-owned trading company SHV Holdings.","Rockwell Collins executive sees big market in Boeing 777 retrofits. By Alwyn Scott NEW YORK (Reuters) - Rockwell Collins Inc sees a large opportunity to retrofit current-generation Boeing Co 777 aircraft with heads-up cockpit displays it is developing for the next-generation 777X, a senior executive told Reuters on Tuesday. \"We are seeing tremendous acceleration in desire for heads-up displays\" for the 777, Kent Statler, executive vice president and chief operating officer of commercial systems at Rockwell, said in an interview after the company announced it had won an exclusive contract to supply flight displays and other cockpit systems to the 777X. ...","Global court orders Kenyan president to attend hearing. AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Judges at the International Criminal Court have ordered Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta to attend a hearing over how to proceed with his stalled trial for crimes against humanity, the tribunal said on Friday. Kenyatta and other senior officials are accused of orchestrating a wave of violence in which 1,200 people died after contested 2007 elections. He denies the charge. Two weeks ago, prosecutors asked for the case against him to be adjourned indefinitely, saying they did not have enough evidence because of obstruction by the Kenyan government. ...","Mexicans fume over missing students case. Mexico City (AFP) - The disappearance of 43 students after an attack by gang-affiliated police has triggered a wave of outrage in Mexico over a shocking example of collusion between authorities and organised crime.","U.S. mortgage applications fall in latest week: MBA. NEW YORK - Applications for U.S. home mortgages fell last week as both purchase and refinancing applications declined, an industry group said on Wednesday. The Mortgage Bankers Association said its seasonally adjusted index of mortgage application activity, which includes both refinancing and home purchase demand, fell 2.7 percent in the week ended Aug. 8. The MBA's seasonally adjusted index of refinancing applications fell 4.0 percent, while the gauge of loan requests for home purchases, a leading indicator of home sales, fell 1.0 percent. Fixed 30-year mortgage rates averaged 4. ...","Renewed Israel, Palestinian truce off to shaky start. By Nidal al-Mughrabi, Allyn Fisher-Ilan and Stephen Kalin GAZA/JERUSALEM/CAIRO (Reuters) - Israel and the Palestinians renewed a truce that had largely tempered a five-week-old war, but the deal got off to a shaky start on Thursday with rockets from Gaza slamming into Israel and Israel retaliating with air strikes. Hamas, which denied involvement in firing some of what Israel counted as eight rockets shot just as an earlier truce expired on Wednesday, and accused the Jewish state of violating the new truce by launching air strikes. Israel had no comment on the deal the Palestinians announced in Cairo. Hamas official Izzat Reshiq denied the Palestinians had breached the truce, and denounced Israel's air strikes as \"a violation of the calm.\" The Israeli military said its air strikes were \"targeting terror sites across the Gaza Strip,\" and these attacks were followed by two more rocket attacks at Israel from Gaza.","Hagel: China territorial claims destabilize region. SINGAPORE (AP) — Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel is warning an international security conference that the U.S. \"will not look the other way\" when nations such as China try to restrict navigation or ignore international rules and standards.","U.S. rebukes Rwandan leader amid scrutiny over opponent's murder. By Helen Nyambura-Mwaura and Jenny Clover JOHANNESBURG/KIGALI (Reuters) - The United States says it is deeply worried about threats made by Rwandan President Paul Kagame against political opponents after one of his exiled critics was found murdered in a hotel room in South Africa. The rebuke by Rwanda's biggest national donor comes as the tiny state - which punches well above its weight in Africa's turbulent politics - is winning Western plaudits by contributing peacekeepers to yet another conflict zone on the continent, Central African Republic. \"We are troubled by the succession of what appear to be politically motivated murders of prominent Rwandan exiles,\" State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said on Thursday, condemning the recent killing in Johannesburg of Rwanda's former Director of External Intelligence, Patrick Karegeya. Relatives of the former spy chief and other exiled opponents of Kagame blame the Rwandan president for Karegeya's murder, saying this the latest in a systematic policy of assassination of foes and defectors by the Kigali government.","A look at some passengers and crew on Flight 8501. SURABAYA, Indonesia (AP) — For many, it was a family trip to Singapore to ring in the new year, a chance to go shopping and enjoy the city's famed restaurants. One family was going to visit their 15-year-old daughter, who had just begun studying at a Christian girls' school. Others were taking a familiar flight to a city they visited often for getaways.","S. Korean ferry captain gets 36 years in prison. SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — A news report says that a South Korean district court has handed a sentence of 36 years in prison to the captain of a ferry that sank in April, killing more than 300 people.","IMF boss questioned in French corruption probe. PARIS (AP) — International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde is being questioned by Paris magistrates investigating a corruption case that also involves the chief executive of French telecoms group Orange.","Myanmar Parliament's hats reveal much about owners. NAYPYITAW, Myanmar (AP) — The non-military members of Myanmar's Parliament must wear hats on the floor, a requirement that creates a window into the many cultures that make up the Southeast Asian country of 50 million. Here's a look at seven members of Parliament and what their headgear says about them:","Speedskating at Sochi: it's all about the Dutch. SOCHI, Russia (AP) — In the last speedskating race of the Sochi Olympics, there was really no doubt about which team would win.","Indian PM says Rahul Gandhi is best candidate for next prime minister. NEW DELHI - Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh says Rahul Gandhi is the best candidate to be the next prime minister.","V Williams exits Wimbledon after 3-set battle. LONDON (AP) — For 2 1⁄2 hours, Venus Williams traded big serves and hard groundstrokes with Petra Kvitova on Centre Court. Williams was playing with some of the power and pace that had brought her five Wimbledon titles. But when it was over, she was left with a sense of disappointment.","Ukrainian rebels free four OSCE hostages, four still in captivity. Rebels in southeast Ukraine early on Friday released four out of eight international observers, captured over a month ago, in an apparent goodwill gesture that could help pave the way to a resolution of the conflict that has so far claimed hundreds of lives. Pro-Russian separatists had detained eight observers from the Vienna-based Organisation for the Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), a key security and rights body, tasked with monitoring an agreement drafted in Switzerland in April to de-escalate the crisis that has pitted the rebels against leaders in Kiev. Four observers from Switzerland, Turkey, Estonia and Denmark, part of the 100-strong mission, were brought by heavily armed rebels to a hotel in downtown Donetsk, where they were handed over to their colleagues. \"It was a long road and this release is the fruit of good will and it was unconditional,\" Alexander Borodai, prime minister of the self-styled Donetsk People's Republic, told reporters.","Runaway spy Snowden is surprise guest on Putin phone-in. By Steve Gutterman MOSCOW (Reuters) - Edward Snowden, the fugitive former U.S. spy agency contractor who leaked details of U.S. intelligence eavesdropping, made a surprise appearance on TV phone-in hosted by Vladimir Putin on Thursday, asking the Russian president if his country also tapped the communications of millions. The exchange was the first known direct contact between Putin and Snowden since Russia gave the American refuge last summer after he disclosed widespread monitoring of telephone and internet data by the United States and fled the country. Snowden was not in the studio with Putin, who angered U.S. President Barack Obama by refusing to send the American home to face espionage charges. Snowden, 30, wearing a jacket and open-collar shirt and speaking before a dark background, asked Putin: \"Does Russia intercept, store or analyze, in any way, the communications of millions of individuals?\" \"And do you believe that simply increasing the effectiveness of intelligence or law enforcement investigations can justify placing societies, rather than subjects, under surveillance?\" he asked.","France's Hollande made left-wing voters feel betrayed: ex-partner. By Andrew Osborn LONDON (Reuters) - French President Francois Hollande suffers record low popularity because he has failed to deliver promised reforms and left left-wing voters feeling betrayed, his ex-partner Valerie Trierweiler said on Sunday. In an interview to promote the English-language version of her book about her time as France's first lady and her seven-year relationship with Hollande, Trierweiler suggested the president was selfish and sometimes stretched the truth. ...","Ghana says poverty cut by half since 1992. The number of people living in poverty in Ghana halved between 1992 and 2013, the government said Friday, with the country meeting a key developmental benchmark even as its economy struggles. The figures were based on Ghana's own measure of poverty which for 2013 counted individuals living on less than 3.60 cedis -- equivalent last year to an average of $2.34 or 2.21 euros -- a day. By halving the poverty rate, Ghana becomes one of the few African countries to achieve the first of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals, a set of benchmarks that developing countries are aiming to meet by next year. Anthony Amuzu, from the Ghana Statistical Service, said anti-poverty initiatives such as cash transfers and school feeding programmes were behind Ghana's success.","Assailants attack Congo military camp in capital. KINSHASA, Congo (AP) — A Congolese government spokesman says a group of men armed with machetes has been repelled after trying to attack a military compound in the capital.","UN approves peacekeepers for Central African Republic. United Nations (United States) (AFP) - The Security Council voted unanimously Thursday to send 12,000 UN peacekeepers to Central African Republic, where violence between Christians and Muslims has triggered fears of genocide. The resolution, submitted by France, will deploy up to 10,000 military personnel and 1,800 police to the former French colony, where sectarian violence has killed thousands in the last year. The UN peacekeeping mission is scheduled to take over on September 15 from 2,000 French and 6,000 African Union soldiers already in place. The resolution authorizes French soldiers to \"use all necessary means\" to provide support to the UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA).","Iraq's Maliki drops bid for third term as prime minister: TV. BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Nuri al-Maliki has given up his fight to remain prime minister of Iraq and now supports his replacement, Haider al-Abadi, state television reported on Thursday. Maliki faced immense pressure to step aside for a less polarizing figure capable of countering Islamic State militants who are posing the biggest security threat to Iraq since the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003. (Writing by Michael Georgy; Editing by Robin Pomeroy)","German opposition goes to court on Snowden hearing. BERLIN (AP) — Opposition lawmakers have asked Germany's highest court to rule on whether former NSA contractor Edward Snowden can come to Berlin to testify about the agency's activities.","British exit from EU 'unimaginable': Germany's Schaeuble. Frankfurt (AFP) - It would be \"unimaginable\" for Britain to leave the European Union, German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble told the Financial Times in an interview published on Monday.","Craig inspires New Zealand's historic win over WI. Kingston (Jamaica) (AFP) - Mark Craig’s dream debut culminated in a 186-run victory for New Zealand in the first Test against the West Indies at Sabina Park in Jamaica on Thursday. There was an unexpected late flourish by the West Indies last-wicket pair as last man Shane Shillingford belted the fastest-ever half-century by a Caribbean cricketer in Tests and dominated a record tenth-wicket partnership against New Zealand of 82. Yet it only delayed the inevitable with New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum summoning Kane Williamson for the last over of the day.","Barcelona starts big week with CL clash vs. Ajax. MADRID (AP) — Barcelona's Luis Enrique faces one of the toughest weeks in his coaching career as his squad hosts Ajax in a Champions League Group F match on Tuesday before travelling to Real Madrid at the weekend for La Liga's first Clasico of the season.","Soccer-Australia forward Kruse likely to miss World Cup. Jan 19 (Reuters) - Australia's Robbie Kruse is likely to miss the World Cup finals in Brazil after sustaining a knee injury that will need surgery next week. The Bayer Leverkusen forward was injured at training on Friday and scans on Saturday confirmed he had torn his anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee and would miss the rest of the season, his Bundesliga club said. Similar injuries have required up to a year of rehabilitation for other athletes, though local media have reported the 25-year-old was considering a different procedure that could see him playing again in three months. ...","Effigies of Scottish leader spark complaints. LONDON (AP) — In an English town with a tradition of consigning politicians to the flames, Scotland's independence leader proved a dummy too far.","Blackwater guards found guilty in Iraq shootings. WASHINGTON (AP) — Lawyers for four former Blackwater security guards convicted in the 2007 shootings of more than 30 Iraqis in Baghdad plan to appeal, they said. The convictions stemmed from an incident that inflamed anti-American sentiment around the globe and was denounced by critics as an illustration of a war gone horribly wrong.","Barca's Vermaelen has surgery, out 4 more months. BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Barcelona says defender Thomas Vermaelen has had surgery to treat a right leg muscle injury and is expected to be sidelined for another four months.","8 cases of Ebola turn up in Guinea's capital. CONAKRY, Guinea (AP) — Health officials in the West African nation of Guinea say they're now treating eight cases of Ebola in the capital.","UN probe: IS committing 'crimes against humanity' in Syria. The Islamic State group is committing crimes against humanity on a large scale in Syria, a UN report said Friday, painting a horrific picture of beheaded minors and women held as sex slaves. In its first report focused on acts by the IS group, the independent UN Commission of Inquiry on Syria said massacres, beheadings, torture, sexual enslavement and forced pregnancy were now part of life in areas of the war-ravaged country under the control of the extremist jihadists. \"The commanders of ISIS have acted wilfully, perpetrating these war crimes and crimes against humanity,\" head of the commission Paulo Pinheiro, a Brazilian diplomat, told reporters, using an alternative acronym for IS. \"They are individually criminally responsible for these crimes,\" he stressed, calling on the perpetrators to be brought to justice, for instance before the International Criminal Court.","Report cites weather in deadly Bahamas air crash. NASSAU, Bahamas (AP) — A preliminary accident report is citing weather as a major factor in the small plane crash in the Bahamas that killed a well-known pastor and eight other people earlier this month.","Eurozone recovery holding up despite Ukraine. LONDON (AP) — Further evidence has emerged that the economic recovery across Europe is gaining some traction, providing some headroom against the potential impact from a further escalation in the crisis in Ukraine.","Germany's Merkel scrambles to heal coalition rift. BERLIN (AP) — German Chancellor Angela Merkel is scrambling to heal a rift in her new coalition government caused by the fallout from a child pornography investigation.","Analysis: Egypt vote muddies political outlook. CAIRO (AP) — For all the self-congratulatory headlines in Egypt's pro-military media, the results of last week's constitutional referendum may have fallen short of the emphatic popular mandate the nation's military chief was looking for before announcing his presidential run.","Turkey frees 12 radicals after 'ugly' attack on US sailors. Turkey on Thursday freed without questioning or charges 12 radical nationalist protesters who attacked three US sailors in the centre of Istanbul in an assault that alarmed the American military. Several dozen members of Turkiye Genclik Birligi (Turkish Youth Union/TGB) attacked the visiting US sailors on Wednesday afternoon while their vessel the USS Ross was moored in the centre of Istanbul on its way back from exercises in the Black Sea. They threw red dye and sought to force white sacks as hoods on the sailors in the Eminonu district on the Istanbul waterfront, a popular tourist hub. The case of the 12 protesters arrested over the action was referred earlier Thursday to the court of justice in Istanbul, the Dogan news agency said.","Obama will sign Russia sanctions bill: White House. US President Barack Obama will sign into law a bill passed by Congress to tighten sanctions against Russia over its actions in Ukraine, the White House said Tuesday, amid a dramatic run on the ruble. The US Congress on Saturday unanimously approved the Ukraine Freedom Support Act in both houses, which includes fresh sanctions against Moscow over its support of the pro-Russian insurgency in eastern Ukraine.","British, other evacuees from Libya land in Malta. A total of 110 British and other European nationals, including pregnant women and babies, arrived in Malta on Monday after being evacuated from strife-torn Libya by Britain's Royal Navy, British officials said. The evacuees, mostly British but including some Germans and Irish nationals, arrived in the capital Valletta on board the HMS Enterprise in a voyage organised by the British government, they said. The group included four pregnant women, 30 children, 12 infants and one elderly person, British officials said.","Corruption on rise in Turkey, China: Transparency Int'l. Corruption is feared to be worsening in China, Turkey and other fast-growing economies, an anti-graft watchdog warned Wednesday, also urging the world's banking centres to help combat sleaze and money-laundering. Transparency International released its annual Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI), which ranked Sudan, North Korea and Somalia as the worst offenders and Denmark, New Zealand and Finland as the most squeaky clean. It pointed to a rise in reports of corruption in Turkey, which suffered the year's biggest fall in rank, and low rankings for the major emerging economies known collectively as the BRICs -- Brazil, Russia, India and China.","Aust.: 'Pulses' in plane search remain unverified. PERTH, Australia (AP) — The head of the multinational search for the missing Malaysia airlines jet says that electronic pulses reportedly picked up by a Chinese ship are an encouraging sign but stresses they are not yet verified.","England tightens grip on 4th test vs India. MANCHESTER, England (AP) — England tightened its grip on the fourth test against India by moving into a 173-run lead by lunch on day three, with Joe Root and Jos Buttler passing fifty before falling to Pankaj Singh at Old Trafford.","Weeping Rwandans told 'never again' 20 years after genocide. By Jenny Clover KIGALI (Reuters) - The United Nations chief told a packed stadium of sombre and weeping Rwandans on Monday the world would \"never again\" let genocide tear their nation apart, at a ceremony marking 20 years since 800,000 people were butchered. A host of leaders and donors attended the commemoration, but France - an ally of the Rwandan government that ruled before the genocide - did not take part after rebel-turned-president, Paul Kagame, renewed charges of Paris' \"direct role\" in the killings. France has acknowledged mistakes in its dealings with Rwanda. But it has repeatedly dismissed accusations it trained militias to take part in the massacres and Kagame's comments triggered fresh outrage in Paris on Monday.","US doubts reports of Boko Haram leader's death. New York (AFP) - The United States voiced skepticism Thursday over reports from the Nigerian military that Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau had been killed in recent clashes with troops.","Israel irked by Danish parliament speaker. JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel is irked by a visit of the speaker of Danish parliament who is in the region and meeting Palestinian officials but not Israelis.","In Qatar, migrant workers paid to be sports 'fans'. DOHA, Qatar (AP) — The men grappled with each other to board the quickly filling bus. Others wriggled in through the windows, scaling the outside, using the large wheels as footholds and leaving scuff-marks on the white exterior with their shoes.","Belgian FM in Iran for talks with leaders. Tehran (AFP) - Belgian Foreign Minister Didier Reynders is in Tehran for talks with Iranian leaders, media reports said Sunday, the latest in a string of high-profile visits from the European Union.","South Africa's de Klerk: Israel must reach peace. JERUSALEM (AP) — South Africa's last president under white rule has suggested that Israel risks heading toward apartheid if it does not reach a peace deal with the Palestinians.","IAEA says needs more money to monitor extended Iran nuclear deal. VIENNA (Reuters) - The U.N. atomic agency will need more funds from member states to help pay for its monitoring of an extended interim nuclear deal between Iran and six world powers, it said on Wednesday. Iran and the United States, France, Germany, Britain, China, and Russia failed to meet a Nov. 24 deadline for resolving a 12-year dispute over Iran's nuclear program and gave themselves until the end of June for further negotiations. ...","Director Jolie wants 'Unbroken' to be tale of hope. SYDNEY (AP) — Angelina Jolie says she took on the challenge of filming \"Unbroken,\" which has defeated many before her, because she wanted to create a story of hope.","Van Gaal unhappy with Kagawa's performances. Shinji Kagawa's future at Manchester United has been plunged into doubt after Louis van Gaal admitted he was disappointed with the Japan midfielder's performances. Kagawa has been an unused substitute in the first two games of the van Gaal era at Old Trafford and the United manager even opted to leave him on the bench and send on winger Adnan Januzaj to play out of position in central midfield during the second half of Sunday's 1-1 draw at Sunderland.","Suarez told FIFA panel bite was not deliberate. RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Luis Suarez told FIFA's disciplinary panel that he did not deliberately bite Italy defender Giorgio Chiellini at the World Cup.","Exclusive: U.N. experts' report shows Iran's deceptive procurement tactics. By Louis Charbonneau VIENNA (Reuters) - A confidential new report by a U.N. panel highlights Iran's methods of evading sanctions - from concealing titanium tubes inside steel pipes to using its petrochemical industry as a cover to obtain items for a heavy-water nuclear reactor. The latest report by the U.N. Panel of Experts, which monitors compliance with the Security Council's sanctions regime on Iran, said Tehran's attempts to illicitly procure materials for its disputed nuclear and missile programs may have slowed down as it pursues talks on a long-term deal with world powers. But the experts' report, which reached the Security Council's Iran sanctions committee days ahead of a new round of Vienna talks between Iran and six world powers, said an alternative explanation could be that Tehran had merely learned how to outsmart security and intelligence services in acquiring sensitive components and materials. One example was a set of titanium tubes concealed inside a shipment of stainless steel pipes manufactured in and shipped from China.","Car bomb blast kills 15 in Syria's Homs: NGO. At least 15 people were killed and 12 others wounded in a car bomb blast in the central Syrian city of Homs on Thursday, an NGO said. \"At least 15 people were killed and 12 others injured in the Armenian district, which is home to mostly Christians and Alawites,\" said Rami Abdel Rahman, director of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. Syria's President Bashar al-Assad comes from the Alawite community, a religious minority that stems from Shiite Islam. Syria's state news agency SANA reported a \"terrorist attack\" on the main street of the district, \"which caused deaths, injuries and damage.\"","UK has become hub for illegal khat trade to U.S. and Europe: U.N. report. By Jack Stubbs LONDON (Reuters) - Hundreds of tonnes of khat, a leafy plant chewed as a stimulant in the Horn of Africa and the Arabian Peninsula, are being smuggled through Britain into Europe and North America, a UN report said on Tuesday. Up to 300 tonnes of the plant, which will be an illegal class-C drug in Britain after a ban is introduced in July this year, are transported to Britain each year before being trafficked to countries where it is a controlled substance, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) said in its Global Synthetic Drugs Assessment report. The planned government ban on khat aims to prevent Britain from becoming a hub for its illegal trade. But Mohammed Ismail, 66, a retired khat dealer previously known as the \"King of Khat\", said the ban would have little effect.","Begg-Smith chases after another Olympic medal. KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia (AP) — Moguls skier Dale Begg-Smith says he's ready to chase after another Olympic medal after taking nearly three years off to rest his aching body.","G-20 host Australia to keep agenda economy focused. BRISBANE, Australia (AP) — G-20 host Australia says climate change and Ebola will be discussed by leaders of the 20 largest economies at a weekend summit here, but those issues will not be allowed to distract from the main agenda of promoting economic growth.","Mexico imposes restrictions on Slim, Televisa. MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexican regulators declared the country's main television network and Carlos Slim's telecom company as \"preponderant\" market players on Friday, part of an effort by the government to promote competitiveness in the telecommunications sector.","Chrysler April U.S. sales up 14 percent; industry seen up 9 percent. Chrysler Group LLC, a unit of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles , reported a 14 percent rise in U.S. auto sales for April, which is higher than the expected 9 percent increase for the industry. While Chrysler reported its 49th straight month of year-over-year monthly sales growth, it missed analysts' expectations for April U.S. sales. Nine analysts told Reuters they expected Chrysler's sales to total 180,837 vehicles, higher than the 178,652 reported by the No. 3 U.S.-based automaker. Sales at Chrysler's Jeep line, which is to be the primary global brand of a merged Fiat and Chrysler expected later this year, rose 52 percent in April from a year earlier.","Microsoft to sell Xbox One console in China. SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Microsoft says it will start selling its Xbox One video game console in China in September.","Philippine court says online snooping illegal. MANILA, Philippines (AP) — The Philippines Supreme Court said online surveillance by authorities is illegal without a court order and that online libel is a criminal offense, in a ruling Tuesday that allows a cybercrime law to be enforced.","Indonesian lawmakers approve Southeast Asia smog-fighting pact. JAKARTA (Reuters) - Indonesian lawmakers have approved a pact for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to tackle smog pollution, becoming the grouping's final member to sign up to the regional co-operation effort. Indonesia has failed in previous attempts to stop the smog that results from annual slash-and-burn forest clearances which cause heavy smoke and pollution levels to rise across the region. \"We hope Indonesia will be able to control its natural resources to prevent haze pollution,\" Indonesian lawmaker Milton Pakpahan said in a statement on Tuesday. ...","Kenya Airways to suspend flights to Freetown, Monrovia due to Ebola. Kenya Airways will suspend flights to Liberia's capital Monrovia and Sierra Leone's capital Freetown due to the Ebola outbreak in West Africa, the company said on Saturday. The suspension of the flights will start at midnight on Tuesday Aug. 19, Kenya Airways said in a statement. The carrier, which is part-owned by Air France-KLM, flies a total of seven times a week to the two cities through Accra. The company said it took the decision on the advice of Kenya's Ministry of Health.","Barkley's moment of magic helps Everton down QPR. Liverpool (AFP) - Ross Barkley produced a sublime solo strike as Everton cruised to a 3-1 win over struggling QPR at Goodison Park on Monday.","Libya officer killed, family wounded when car explodes. Benghazi (Libya) (AFP) - A Libyan air force officer was killed Wednesday, and his wife and daughter seriously injured, when a bomb placed under his car exploded in the eastern city of Benghazi, officials said. Benghazi was the cradle of the 2011 revolution that ousted long-time dictator Moamer Kadhafi, and has since been plagued by violence that has killed dozens of members of the security forces, judges and foreigners. Abdelhamid Tahar al-Imam, whose rank was not given, \"was mortally wounded by the explosion,\" a source at the Benghazi Medical Centre said. A security source said the explosive device was underneath the car, but did not say if it detonated when Iman started the engine or as he was driving.","NATO official: Russia now an adversary. NATO's second-ranking official says Moscow's annexation of the Crimean Peninsula and its destabilizing actions in eastern Ukraine have compelled the U.S.-led alliance to start treating Russia as more of an enemy than a partner.","Nigeria: Borno schools closed fearing extremists. MAIDUGURI, Nigeria (AP) — Nigeria's Borno state government is closing all high schools amid fears of massive attacks by Islamic extremists, school officials and teachers said Friday, confirming a move that may be considered a victory for the Islamic extremist Boko Haram terrorist network, whose nickname means \"Western education is forbidden.\"","Sobbing Japanese politician tenders resignation. TOKYO (AP) — A Japanese politician, who was seen sobbing over dubious spending in a video that went viral, has resigned.","Obama reassures Baltic leaders on NATO defense amid Ukraine tensions. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama, speaking to Baltic leaders on Saturday amid rising tensions in Ukraine, told them that the United States supports them and is committed to its NATO defense commitments, the White House said. \"The President reaffirmed the United States' unwavering commitment to our collective defense commitments under the North Atlantic Treaty and our enduring support for the security and democracy of our Baltic allies,\" the White House said in a statement about the telephone call Obama held. ...","Obama calls for peaceful end to island dispute. TOKYO (AP) — President Barack Obama says he wants to see a dispute between China and Japan over islands in the East China Sea resolved peacefully.","Denmark compensates suspected pirates for overly long detention. COPENHAGEN (Reuters) - Denmark has compensated nine Somalis suspected of trying to hijack a Danish ship in 2013 because they were detained too long before being brought before a judge, the public prosecutor's office said on Monday. Each defendant received 19,600 Danish crowns ($3,247) for the 13 days they were detained, a spokesman from the prosecutor in Copenhagen said. Official Somali figures show 43 percent of the population lives on less than one dollar a day. ...","U.S. 'disappointed' Netherlands released Venezuelan wanted over drugs. The United States is \"deeply disappointed\" the Netherlands released a former Venezuelan military intelligence chief detained over U.S. drug trafficking allegations, and is \"disturbed\" at reports indicating Caracas used threats to obtain his freedom, the State Department said on Monday. Instead of being extradited to the United States, retired Venezuelan General Hugo Carvajal flew home on Sunday from the Netherlands' Caribbean island of Aruba after the Dutch government ruled he had diplomatic immunity, despite a court decision that he did not.","State-run TV says 5 killed at India steel plant. PATNA, India (AP) — Police say five people have been killed and another 23 injured in an explosion and a subsequent gas leak in a government-run steel plant in central India.","China investigating managers at VW joint venture. BEIJING (AP) — The Chinese anti-corruption agency said Tuesday it is investigating one current and one former manager at Volkswagen's main joint venture in China.","Czechs, Irish vote in EU poll tipped to boost eurosceptics. The Czech Republic and Ireland voted Friday in European Parliament elections expected to boost eurosceptic parties despite a surprise setback for Dutch populists on the polls' first day. With 26 million people out of work across the European Union, eurosceptic and far-right parties have picked up massive support on anti-immigration and anti-EU platforms. The latest opinion polls suggest they could secure almost 100 seats in the new parliament, trebling their number in the 751-seat assembly, and may top the polls in Britain, France and Italy. Friday results showed that the UK Independence Party (UKIP) led by Nigel Farage surged in local council elections, giving the anti-EU and anti-immigration group hope for a similar breakthrough in the European Parliament polls.","Iraqi officials say northern Baghdad car bomb blast kills 15, injures 34. BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraqi officials say northern Baghdad car bomb blast kills 15, injures 34.","6 arrests as hooded youths clash with Spain police. BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Spanish officials say police have arrested six more people after a sixth night of clashes with youths in Barcelona.","Big gaps remain in Iran nuclear talks but deal possible: U.S.. By Louis Charbonneau and Fredrik Dahl VIENNA (Reuters) - A senior U.S. official on Tuesday cautioned against excessive optimism over six world powers' nuclear talks with Iran but said disputes could be overcome and a deal reached by their self-imposed July 20 deadline. The official noted some media reports about the negotiations that have wrongly implied a deal called a \\\\\"comprehensive plan of action\\\\\" between Iran and the six powers was a virtual certainty. Iran joined talks on its nuclear dispute with big powers after President Hassan Rouhani was elected last June. \\\\\"There are some very significant gaps (but) we can get to a resolution, I believe.\\\\\" The official said delegations from Iran, United States, Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China would begin drafting an agreement this week that aims to cover specific curbs on Tehran's nuclear program in exchange for the gradual lifting of sanctions against Iran.","Sherwood ready to swing Spurs axe. Tottenham Hotspur manager Tim Sherwood has said he will have no qualms about selling players during the transfer window as he targets the goal of a top four finish in the Premier League. The north London club are currently two points adrift of the Champions League places ahead of their trip to struggling Swansea this weekend. An improved run of four wins and a draw in the last five Premier League matches has raised hopes Sherwood has got Spurs' season back on track after he was promoted from within following the decision to sack former manager Andre Villas-Boas last month. The change in the dug-out has led to a change in personnel on the pitch and a number of sidelined players including Etienne Capoue, Nacer Chadli and Lewis Holtby have been linked with moves away from the club.","Russia defense minister orders troops away from Ukraine border-report. Russia's defense minister has told troops to return to their permanent bases after military exercises near the border with Ukraine, fulfilling an order from President Vladimir Putin, Interfax news agency reported on Tuesday. The Kremlin announced on Monday that Putin had ordered Russian forces near Ukraine back to their bases, but NATO and the United States said they saw no sign of a pullback.","Rough road ahead for GM as U.S. Congress plots safety probe. GM's recall of 1.6 million vehicles, due to an ignition-switch problem linked to 12 fatalities, has put the Detroit automaker in Congress' cross hairs, with potentially dramatic hearings kicking off in April. GM Chief Executive Mary Barra is scheduled to testify on April 1 to a U.S. House of Representatives panel investigating the ignition problem. In what could be a preview of such testimony, Barra on Monday declared in a video that \"something went wrong with our process\" and \"terrible things happened.\" The handling of the defect by GM, which first noticed it in 2001, and federal regulators is the top priority of the powerful House Energy and Commerce Committee, according to aides. In early 2010, for example, Congress looked into sudden, unintended acceleration problems Toyota owners had been reporting for years, which were linked to five deaths.","Canada's Bouchard advances at Australian Open with 6-2, 6-2 win over Davis. MELBOURNE, Australia - Montreal's Eugenie Bouchard reached the fourth round of a Grand Slam for the first time on Friday as the 30th seed beat American Lauren Davis 6-2, 6-2 at the Australian Open.","Thailand's Crown Prince divorces wife. Thailand's Crown Prince has divorced his wife in a dramatic fall from grace for a senior princess that comes at a time of heightened anxiety over the health of Thailand's revered but ailing monarch. A statement published by the palace overnight in the Royal Gazette said Princess Srirasmi had relinquished her royal status, a move that ends her 13-year marriage to Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn. The announcement comes after a string of the princess' relatives were arrested in a high-profile corruption scandal that has sent shockwaves through Thailand's elite. \"The king has granted permission to announce that Princess Srirasmi, the wife of Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn, has informed in a written document that she has resigned from her royal status,\" the palace said in its short statement.","Guam man's death ruled a homicide. HAGATNA, Guam (AP) — Guam authorities say a man whose body was found in his hair salon over the weekend was the victim of a homicide.","Russia wants UN to prevent terrorists selling oil. UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Russia's United Nations ambassador says he wants the U.N. Security Council to prevent terrorists from selling Iraqi or Syrian oil to finance their illegal activities.","14-day pilot strike cost Air France $631 million. PARIS (AP) — Air France-KLM says a 14-day pilots' strike that grounded about half the airline's flights cost the company 500 million euros ($631 million).","Venezuela opposition holds new protest. Armed with cooking pots in a potent symbol of Venezuela's chronic food shortage, thousands took to the streets Saturday in the latest public rally against the government of President Nicolas Maduro. The protest, which fell on International Women's Day, consisted mostly of female demonstrators who noisily clanged their cookware to show their discontent over scarcity of basic goods and insecurity they say has become a part of daily life. The rally was called by the country's most prominent opposition leader, two-time presidential election runner-up Henrique Capriles, who lost to Maduro by a whisker in April 2013 elections. At least 20 people have now died since protests first erupted, giving Maduro his biggest test since succeeding late leader Hugo Chavez almost a year ago.","England issues health warnings over air pollution spike. High air pollution levels across England prompted the government to issue health warnings on Wednesday. The pollution, a mix of local and European emissions and dust from the Sahara, was forecast to be highest in southeast England, central England and Wales. DEFRA, the environment ministry, has a 10-point scale for measuring air quality, ranging from one for a \"low\" risk of air pollution to 10, which signifies \"very high\" levels. Most of the country was rated as five on Wednesday morning, meaning moderate, but forecasters said pollution levels could reach eight or nine later in the day.","Court lifts travel ban on Bahrain rights activist. MANAMA, Bahrain (AP) — A court in Bahrain has lifted a travel ban on a prominent human rights activist who was held for questioning and detained for several weeks on arrival in the Gulf kingdom in August.","Rising Arab wants to pitch 'ugly sport' at home. The first professional sumo wrestler from the Arab world is hoping to use his meteoric rise up the ranks of the sport he once called \"ugly\" to spread it throughout Africa and the Middle East. \"Day by day, my fans in the Middle East are growing more and more,\" said Abdelrahman Ahmed Shaalan, often called the first Muslim to enter the ring. \"They say, 'why you choose the sport in which you have to be naked.' It's strange for us as Arab people,\" he told the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan.","German investor confidence spikes higher. BERLIN (AP) — A survey is showing a sharp rise in German investor confidence, with falling oil prices and a weaker euro among factors fueling optimism in Europe's biggest economy.","U.S. condemns Mosul attack, calls Iraq situation 'extremely serious'. The United States on Tuesday condemned the seizure of the Iraqi city of Mosul by Sunni Islamist insurgents and said it supported \"a strong, coordinated response to push back against this aggression,\" offering assistance to the government of Iraq. \"The United States is deeply concerned about the events that have transpired in Mosul over the last 48 hours where elements of the Islamic State of Iraq (ISIL) have taken over significant parts of the city. The situation remains extremely serious,\" U.S. State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said in a statement. She said U.S. officials \"support a strong, coordinated response to push back against this aggression.\" She said: \"The United States will provide all appropriate assistance to the Government of Iraq under the Strategic Framework Agreement (between the two nations) to help ensure that these efforts succeed.\" The capture of Mosul, Iraq's second-largest city, by the forces of an offshoot of al Qaeda and its allies followed four days of fighting in the northern city and attacks in other towns.","Bouchard eases into French Open quarterfinals. PARIS (AP) — Eugenie Bouchard raced into the French Open quarterfinals by beating eighth-seeded Angelique Kerber of Germany 6-1, 6-2 in just 52 minutes on Sunday.","Pakistan reduces sentence for doctor. PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — A defense lawyer says a Pakistani judicial official has reduced the 33-year jail sentence of a doctor accused of helping the U.S. track down Osama bin Laden to 23 years.","At least 2 miners rescued alive in Nicaragua collapse. Rescuers in Nicaragua started pulling out miners who had been trapped deep underground for more than 24 hours after a cave-in at an unlicensed gold mine, state television reported. Using a pulley system rigged through a narrow tunnel, the emergency crews first rescued two miners named Roger Darse and Abel Herrera, according to a broadcast of the official TV channel 8 from the site of the collapse. There had been 28 \"guiriseros,\" or informal gold miners, working in the shaft when the mouth of the mine caved in because of a landslide triggered by heavy downpours, early Thursday morning. Two workers buried near the surface had earlier managed to dig their way out after the collapse in the remote village of El Comal in northeastern Nicaragua, according to the local disaster prevention committee.","Van Gaal getting through to United players. Manchester (United Kingdom) (AFP) - Manchester United manager Louis van Gaal believes his players are starting to understand what he wants from them three months into his Old Trafford reign.","Sri Lanka won't allow UN war crimes panel to visit. COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — The Sri Lankan president says he will not allow a U.N. panel investigating allegations of war crimes to visit Sri Lanka.","Rugby union - All Blacks zero in on record against Wallabies. - World champions New Zealand are chasing a record-breaking 18th consecutive win while Australia wants to end their Bledisloe Cup misery in Saturday's Rugby Championship Test in Sydney.","Thousands flee as Boko Haram militants seize Nigerian towns. Thousands of fear-stricken residents in several towns and villages in Nigeria's northeast Adamawa state have fled their homes after troops failed to retake a major town seized by Boko Haram militants, residents said Saturday. Residents of Madagali, Gulak and Michika towns and nearby villages fled their homes Friday through Saturday following a Boko Haram advance after repelling a military offensive to retake Madagali town, seized by the militants last month. \"All the residents of Madagali, Gulak and Michika have fled their homes to the mountains and Mubi town after soldiers retreated from Madagali where they made a failed attempt to push out the insurgents and the recapture the town,\" said Bello Alaramma who also ran away from Gulak to Mubi, 76 kilometres (48 miles) away.","Amnesty calls for release of pro-HK activists before APEC summit. BEIJING (Reuters) - China should release at least 76 people, detained on the mainland for supporting Hong Kong's pro-democracy protests, before the start of next week's Asia-Pacific leaders summit in Beijing, rights group Amnesty International said on Friday. Students calling for full democracy for Chinese-ruled Hong Kong have blocked roads leading into three of the city's most economically and politically important districts for weeks, drawing condemnation from Beijing and the Hong Kong government. Leaders including U.S. ...","Bombing, shooting kill 7 people in Iraq. BAGHDAD (AP) — Authorities in Iraq say a bombing and a shooting have killed seven people in and around the capital, Baghdad.","Burger King signs deal to buy Canada's Tim Hortons. (Reuters) - Burger King Worldwide Inc agreed to buy Canadian coffee and doughnut chain Tim Hortons Inc in cash and stock to create the third-largest quick service restaurant group with sales of about $23 billion. Tim Hortons shareholders will receive C$65.50 in cash and 0.8025 shares of the new company for every share they own, the companies said in a joint statement. (Reporting by Ashutosh Pandey in Bangalore; Editing by Savio D'Souza)","Islamist rebels kill 10 Somali soldiers in attack on base. MOGADISHU (Reuters) - Rebels from the Islamist al Shabaab group attacked a military base in southern Somalia early on Monday, killing at least 10 soldiers and burning three military vehicles, officials said. African Union and Somali troops launched an offensive this year that has driven al Shabaab out of its last major strongholds. Monday's attack highlights the challenge of halting guerrilla-style raids by the al Qaeda-aligned group. \"Al Shabaab attacked our military forces at 3:00 am\" in the Lower Shabelle region, Somali military officer Aden Nur told Reuters. ...","Gov. Susana Martinez travels to meeting in Mexico. SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez traveled across the international border to attend a meeting with officials from the Mexican state of Sonora.","Seven Libyan soldiers killed in suicide bombings, clashes in Benghazi: army commander. BENGHAZI Libya (Reuters) - Seven Libyan soldiers were killed and 50 wounded in a double suicide bombing and clashes in the eastern city of Benghazi on Thursday, an army commander said. Two cars loaded with ammunition drove into an army checkpoint near Benghazi's airport, killing three soldiers, Wanis Bukhamada, commander of army special forces in Benghazi, told Reuters. Four soldiers were killed in clashes with Islamist militants in the same area, he said. ...","Man United agree Falcao loan deal - reports. Manchester United have agreed a sensational deal to sign Colombia striker Radamel Falcao on a season-long loan from Monaco, according to widespread British media reports on Monday. The prolific 28-year-old forward, who missed the World Cup with a serious knee injury, has also been linked with Real Madrid, Manchester City and Arsenal. The Press Association reported that United had agreed to pay Monaco a fee of around £12 million ($19.9 million, 15.2 million euros) for the loan.","Japan and North Korea Red Cross to meet in China. TOKYO (AP) — Japanese and North Korean Red Cross officials will meet in China on Monday in what could be a first step toward resuming talks between the two nations.","Super Rugby: Reds beat Stormers 22-17. BRISBANE, Australia (AP) — Australia flyhalf Quade Cooper kicked 17 points as the Queensland Reds continued their strong play at home for a 22-17 win over the Stormers in Super Rugby on Saturday.","Coach Sutter not looking past Switzerland in world juniors quarter-finals. MALMO, Sweden - Brent Sutter seemed to be in a nasty mood at practice the morning after Canada's biggest win so far at the world junior hockey championship.","Markets rally ahead of US jobs report. SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — European markets bounced back Friday ahead of key U.S. jobs data, a day after they were hammered by the failure of the European Central Bank to announce a fresh stimulus.","UK politician's dig at 'unpatriotic' World War I satire shows conflict's legacy still debated. LONDON - Around the world, the 2014 centenary of the start of World War I is an occasion for commemoration.","Tri Bourne, John Hyden win in Berlin. BERLIN (AP) — Tri Bourne and John Hyden won their first FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour title Sunday, beating fellow Americans Ryan Doherty and Nick Lucena 21-17, 21-11.","Snubs, harsh words at Asia security meet as US and Japan rile China. By Rachel Armstrong and Raju Gopalakrishnan SINGAPORE (Reuters) - When Japan's defence minister greeted the deputy chief of staff of China's army at a regional security forum this weekend, he was undiplomatically snubbed. Lieutenant General Wang Guanzhong said he was incensed by comments from Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe implicitly holding China responsible for territorial disputes in the East and South China Seas and later by U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel's accusations that Beijing was destabilising the region. \"When Mr Abe spoke just now, there was veiled criticism targeted at China,\" Wang told Japanese Defence Minister Itsunori Onodera, according to the semi-official China News Service. It was the first such major conference since tensions have surged in the South China Sea, one of Asia's most intractable disputes and a possible flashpoint for conflict.","Saudi Arabia: Islamic State group linked to attack. RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) — Saudi Arabia's Interior Ministry says militants linked to the Islamic State group were behind a surprise attack this month that killed seven Shiites in the kingdom's east.","Train crashes into minibus in Turkey, 10 dead. A commuter train smashed into a minibus on a railway track in southern Turkey on Thursday, killing 10 people and injuring several others. The bus, which was carrying workers to an industrial zone in the Mediterranean province of Mersin, was hit because the driver proceeded to cross the track \"carelessly\", the private Dogan News Agency reported, citing witnesses. All of the dead were in the minibus. Four people were also taken to hospital with injuries, Dogan said.","Pinger locator still the best option in jet search. PERTH, Australia (AP) — Searchers looking for the missing Malaysia Airlines plane have discovered new signals consistent with those emitted by so-called black boxes in the Indian Ocean, but they do not want to send a submersible down yet to look for the plane. For now, they will continue to use the towed pinger locator to get a better fix on the location. Here's why:","Scientist Richard Dawkins in 'hate tsunami' over rape tweets. Scientist Richard Dawkins said he suffered a \"tsunami of hate\" after he tried to make a point by describing some instances of rape as worse than others. \"Date rape is bad. Stranger rape at knifepoint is worse. If you think that's an endorsement of date rape, go away and learn how to think,\" the biologist tweeted on Tuesday.","Obama increases U.S. force protecting embassy in Baghdad. By Will Dunham WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama has ordered an increase of about 350 troops in Baghdad to protect the U.S. Embassy in the Iraqi capital and is sending top officials to the Middle East to \"build a stronger regional partnership\" against Islamic State militants, the White House said on Tuesday. The White House said the additional troops heading to Baghdad would not serve in a combat role.","Chile and Peru see end to old differences as Hague verdict nears. By Rosalba O'Brien and Mitra Taj SANTIAGO/LIMA (Reuters) - A decades-old maritime dispute between Chile and Peru goes to a final ruling next week with both governments hoping it will end one of Latin America's last big border spats and improve ties between the two trading partners and longtime rivals. On Monday, the International Court of Justice in the Hague will rule on Peru's claim over 38,000 square kilometers of Pacific Ocean that Chile controls, as well as a claim over a slice of international waters. \"With the Hague ruling we'll define our maritime border with Chile, and then all of Peru's terrestrial and maritime borders will be sealed forever,\" said Jose Garcia Belaunde, who was Peruvian foreign affairs minister when the case was brought to the Hague, in the Netherlands.","Hungarians set to return maverick Orban to power in Sunday vote. By Krisztina Than and Gergely Szakacs BUDAPEST (Reuters) - Hungarians were set to return Prime Minister Viktor Orban to power for another four years in a parliamentary election on Sunday that was also expected to entrench the far-right Jobbik party as a political force. Orban, 50, has had repeated rows with the European Union and foreign investors, particularly over heavy taxes imposed on the country's mostly foreign-owned banks, telecoms and energy firms, and increased state control over the energy sector. Opinion polls show his Fidesz party is on course for a landslide victory. Two questions remain: whether Orban can retain his two-thirds majority in parliament, which allows him to change the constitution, and whether Jobbik can make a late surge and overtake the leftist opposition to become the second biggest political force.","Wales pick seasoned squad for Six Nations treble bid. London (AFP) - Defending champions Wales named an experienced squad Tuesday for the 2014 Six Nations Championships in their quest to win an unprecedented third straight title.","Roma beats Parma 4-2 to keep title hopes alive. ROME (AP) — Roma kept its faint Serie A title hopes alive with a 4-2 win over Parma on Wednesday after resuming a match in February that was stopped after eight minutes due to a waterlogged pitch.","South Africa beat Scotland 55-6 in one-off Test. Port Elizabeth (South Africa) (AFP) - South Africa beat Scotland 55-6 in a one-off Test in Port Elizabeth on Saturday.","British MPs call for overhaul of surveillance laws. London (AFP) - British surveillance laws are flawed and must be overhauled to stop police accessing the phone records of journalists, a group of lawmakers said in a report on Saturday.","South Africa elephant park accused of 'horrific' cruelty. A South African animal rights group on Tuesday accused an elephant park of cruelty after \"horrific\" video footage emerged of abusive training methods used on baby elephants. \"The footage shows elephant calves and juvenile elephants being chained, roped and stretched, shocked with electric cattle prods and hit with bull hooks,\" the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) said. \"The elephants show signs of crippling injuries with severely swollen legs and feet, debilitating abscesses and wounds,\" National Council of SPCAs inspector Wendy Willson said. The video was taken on the premises of Elephants of Eden in the Eastern Cape where they were being trained for elephant-back safaris, she said.","6.3 million eligible for Medicaid since Obamacare launch: U.S. agency. More than 6.3 million Americans were deemed eligible for government healthcare plans for the poor since the October 1 launch of President Barack Obama's healthcare law through December, federal officials reported on Wednesday. The swelling rolls for Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) reflect both an expansion of Medicaid under Obama's Affordable Care Act (ACA) and what healthcare policy analysts call an \"out-of-the-woodwork effect,\" in which people who heard about Obamacare sought to obtain health insurance and discovered that they had qualified for Medicaid even before the law expanded eligibility. \"We have people who for the first time will have some health security that they never had before,\" Kathleen Sebelius, secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, said of the Medicaid numbers at the winter meeting of the U.S. Conference of Mayors in Washington, D.C. It was not clear how much credit goes to the healthcare law, however.","Flight simulators used by enthusiasts worldwide. Malaysian authorities have asked the FBI to help analyze data from a flight simulator found at the home of Zaharie Ahmad Shah, the Malaysia Airlines pilot whose plane has been missing since March 8.","Nuns held in Syria have been freed: security source. About a dozen nuns held in Syria for more than three months have been released and are on their way to Damascus via Lebanon, a Lebanese security source said on Sunday. The source said the nuns had been transferred to the Lebanese town of Arsal earlier in the week and were on their way to Syria on Sunday. The nuns went missing in December after Islamist fighters took the ancient quarter of the Christian town of Maaloula north of Damascus.","India ends long wait for win versus Pakistan. INCHEON, South Korea (AP) — After 32 years, India finally got them back.","BP 'grossly negligent' in 2010 U.S. spill, fines could be $18 billion. District Judge Carl Barbier in New Orleans, Louisiana, who held a trial without a jury last year to determine who was responsible for the April 20, 2010 rig explosion and spill that killed 11 workers and spewed oil for nearly three months onto the shorelines of several states. Barbier ruled that BP was mostly at fault and that two other companies in the case, Transocean Ltd and Halliburton, were not as much to blame. The disaster struck when a surge of methane gas known to rig hands as a \"kick\" sparked an explosion aboard the Deepwater Horizon rig as it was drilling the mile-deep Macondo 252 well off Louisiana. Barbier has yet to assign damages from the spill under the federal Clean Water Act or rule on how many barrels spilled, but David Uhlmann, a University of Michigan law professor and former chief of the Justice Department's environmental crimes section, said the ruling “dramatically increases” BP’s liability for civil penalties under the act.","Chinese premier to attend Europe summit, sign Russia rail deal. BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese Premier Li Keqiang will attend a summit of European and Asian leaders on a trip starting next week that will also include a visit to Germany and the signing of energy and high-speed rail deals with Russia, the government said. Li's Oct. 9-16 swing through the continent is his second this year, and culminates in the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) summit in the Italian city of Milan, the foreign ministry said in a statement. ...","Top Asian News at 7:30 p.m. GMT. SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Pope Francis beatified 124 Korean martyrs on Saturday, telling hundreds of thousands of people who turned out for his open-air Mass that their ancestors' willingness to die rather than renounce their faith two centuries ago was a model for Asian missionaries today. The streets leading up to Seoul's iconic Gwanghwamun Gate were packed with Koreans honoring the lay Catholics who founded the church here in the 18th century. Korea's church is unique in that it was founded not by foreign missionary priests — as occurred in most of the world — but by members of Korea's own noble classes who learned of Christianity by reading books about it.","'Octomom' scheduled to be arraigned on welfare fraud charges. LOS ANGELES, Calif. - \"Octomom\" Nadya Suleman is heading to court in Los Angeles to face charges of failing to report $30,000 she earned while attempting to collect welfare.","US officials: White House to announce $1 billion in energy aid in economic package to Ukraine. KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — US officials: White House to announce $1 billion in energy aid in economic package to Ukraine.","Iran nuclear deal failure 'danger to world'. Tehran (AFP) - A failure by Iran and world powers to reach a comprehensive agreement over Tehran's nuclear programme would be dangerous \"for the entire world\", a senior Iranian negotiator said on Saturday.","Top Asian News at 11:30 a.m. GMT. SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Pope Francis called Thursday for renewed efforts to forge peace on the war-divided Korean Peninsula and for both sides to avoid \"fruitless\" criticisms and shows of force, opening a five-day visit to South Korea with a message of reconciliation as Seoul's rival, North Korea, fired five projectiles into the sea. North Korea has a long history of making sure it is not forgotten during high-profile events in the South, and Thursday's apparent test firing off its eastern coast made its presence felt.","'Think Like A Man Too' tops N. American box office. Comedy \"Think Like A Man Too\" topped the North American box office in its debut weekend, beating \"22 Jump Street\" in a battle of sequels, industry figures showed Monday. Starring Kevin Hart and Gabrielle Union, \"Think Like A Man Too\" has all the couples back for a Las Vegas wedding, but romantic plans go awry as their misadventures get them into some compromising situations. It raked in $29.2 million in its first weekend, pipping the buddy comedy \"22 Jump Street\" starring Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum, which pulled in $27.5 million for a two-week total of $109.9 million.","US: Beheading video shows Islamic State brutality. WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House says a new video purporting to show an Islamic State group fighter beheading a British hostage is another demonstration of the extremist group's brutality.","Vatican bank's ousted president comes out swinging. VATICAN CITY (AP) — The ousted president of the Vatican bank has come out swinging, accusing the bank's board of causing \"grave damage\" to the Holy See by firing him.","Israeli troops kill Hamas men blamed for slaying teens: army. JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israeli troops on Tuesday killed two Palestinians blamed for abducting and killing three Israeli youths in the occupied West Bank in June, the military said, an incident that spiraled into a seven-week war in Gaza. Israel had spent months searching for Marwan Kawasme and Amar Abu Aysha, militants in their 30s from the Hebron area, after naming them as the killers of the Israeli teens, grabbed and shot dead near a Jewish settlement on June 12. Hebron residents said troops had surrounded a house in the city before dawn and reported sounds of gunfire. ...","WIMBLEDON WATCH: Djokovic, Federer talk kids. LONDON (AP) — Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer talked kids after their quarterfinal wins Wednesday at Wimbledon — a pending one for Djokovic and Federer's two sets of twins.","China halts anti-dumping probe into EU, Japan dialysis kit makers. SHANGHAI (Reuters) - China has halted an anti-dumping investigation into European and Japanese makers of blood dialysis equipment, ending a six-month probe that had extended to the Chinese market leader, Germany's Fresenius Medical Care (FMC) AG & Co KGaA. The investigation, launched in June, was a potential challenge to the international firms who currently dominate the global and Chinese dialysis market. Beijing said at the time it would examine any negative impact on Chinese rivals. ...","China premier arrives in Africa eyeing better ties. ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (AP) — China's prime minister arrived Sunday in Ethiopia for a four-country tour of Africa, calling for deeper ties with his country and seeking to recast a relationship that has admittedly faced difficulties.","RugbyU - We want to be 'right dog' for World Cup repeat - Hansen. - New Zealand coach Steve Hansen has clearly marked his team's challenge after dominating world rugby again in 2014: winning an unprecedented back-to-back World Cup in 2015","Austrian vice chancellor, finance minister resigns. VIENNA (AP) — Austria's vice chancellor and finance minister has announced he is stepping down, citing criticism from his own political party over his refusal to accelerate tax reform plans.","US official: Pentagon must assume all Snowden docs compromised. WASHINGTON - A top U.S. military intelligence official said Tuesday that the Pentagon will have to make costly changes to programs and personnel because of leaks by former National Security Agency analyst Edward Snowden.","Tanaka strikes out 11, wins 10th as Yanks top M's. SEATTLE (AP) — Masahiro Tanaka struck out 11 batters and became the second pitcher in the major leagues with 10 wins, throwing a complete game Wednesday as the New York Yankees beat the Seattle Mariners 4-2.","US lawmakers raise safety concerns about Olympics. WASHINGTON (AP) — Members of Congress say they have serious concerns about Americans' safety at next month's Olympics in Russia, and they want Moscow to cooperate more on security.","Exclusive: U.S. to spend up to $550 million on African rapid response forces. By Phil Stewart WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States announced on Wednesday plans to spend $110 million a year over the next three to five years to help African nations develop peacekeeping forces that can be rapidly deployed to head off militant threats and other crises. President Barack Obama unveiled the program during the third day of a summit of African heads of state in Washington, along with another U.S. plan to spend an initial $65 million to bolster security institutions in Ghana, Kenya, Mali, Niger, Nigeria and Tunisia, the official said. The United States plans to partner with Senegal, Ghana, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda to develop rapid response forces. Those forces would be ready to deploy as part of United Nations' or African Union missions.","UK museum looks at epic, intimate sides of WWI. LONDON (AP) — It's an iconic scene of Britain at war: Thousands of Londoners huddled in Underground stations as German bombs rained down.","Turkish PM Davutoglu due in Greece for 2-day visit. ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu was heading to Athens Friday for a two-day official visit, including a joint Cabinet meeting and talks on often testy bilateral ties with his Greek counterpart.","France to foot bill for US military aid in Africa. Washington (AFP) - The United States will renew its military assistance to French forces in the Sahel region of Africa but will require Paris to pay Washington for the cost of any future aid, US defense officials said.","UK accuses Russia of stirring Ukraine crisis, tells it to end unrest. Britain on Wednesday accused Russia of fomenting unrest in eastern Ukraine with \"a torrent of disinformation\" and called on Moscow to lean on pro-Russian separatists to end their conflict with government forces. In some of its strongest comments on the subject yet, the British Foreign Office said it wasn't credible for Russia to deny responsibility for events in eastern Ukraine. \"We call upon Russia to use its influence to put an end to the instability. Russia has refused to condemn the illegal actions of armed groups that look to it for direction,\" the British Foreign Office said in a statement.","Zenit signs Man City's Javi Garcia. ST. PETERSBURG, Russia (AP) — Zenit St. Petersburg says it has contracted midfielder Javi Garcia from Manchester City for four years.","At least two killed in Somali market bomb blast: government official. By Feisal Omar MOGADISHU (Reuters) - At least two people were killed and seven wounded when a bomb ripped through a busy market in the Somali capital on Monday, a government official said. It is not clear who carried out the attack but in the past similar attacks in Mogadishu have been claimed by al Shabaab militants, who have vowed to wage a series of attacks during Ramadan, the Muslim fasting month which started on Sunday. Islamist al Shabaab gunmen shot dead three people on Sunday and said the killings were just the start of the group's Ramadan campaign. ...","French comic whose gesture touched off anti-Semitism allegations is defiant. PARIS - A French comic whose gesture touched off allegations of anti-Semitism and prompted a government ban on his shows is defiant, saying the \"quenelle\" has nothing to do with the Nazi salute.","Dewani trial adjourned as accused and witness fall ill. Cape Town (AFP) - The trial of British businessman Shrien Dewani on charges of hiring a hitman to kill his bride in South Africa was adjourned Thursday after he and a prosecution witness complained of stomach problems.","Everton dreaming big after Lukaku signing. LIVERPOOL, England (AP) — After reining in its spending in recent years, Everton splashed out a club-record fee of 28 million pounds ($47 million) on Romelu Lukaku to signal its intention to compete with the top teams in the Premier League once again this season.","Bachelet's quick Chile quake response helps her reform campaign. By Alexandra Ulmer SANTIAGO (Reuters) - Chilean President Michelle Bachelet's efficient response to this week's earthquake is a far cry from her handling of a massive quake that hit four years ago, a turnaround that analysts and citizens say has put her and her reform drive in a stronger political position. Emergency services and security forces moved quickly to limit the damage of an 8.2-magnitude quake that hit northern Chile on Tuesday. It was in stark contrast to the center-leftist Bachelet's poor management of the 8.8-magnitude quake that slammed central-south Chile in 2010 and triggered a devastating tsunami. Bachelet, who was imprisoned and tortured during Chile's 1973-1990 military dictatorship, then dithered about sending in the army to restore order.","Report: Police detain 15 in Istanbul raids. ISTANBUL (AP) — Turkish media reports say police have launched dawn raids on at least three Istanbul neighborhoods, including one that was the scene of violent anti-government protests last week, and detained at least 15 people.","Ebola-hit Guinea calls for calm after attack on aid group. Guinea appealed for calm in the Ebola-hit south of the country on Saturday after international aid workers battling to contain an outbreak of the deadly virus were attacked by a mob. Doctors without Borders, which goes by its French initials MSF, was forced to suspend treatment in Macenta in southeastern Guinea on Friday after crowds attacked one of its centres. Conakry said the crowd had gathered as rumours circulated in the town that the virus was \"imported into Guinea or that Ebola fever does not exist in our country\". Several west African countries have geared up to tackle killer haemorrhagic fevers including Ebola as new suspect cases emerged in Mali, along with Liberia and Sierra Leone.","Aerospace jamboree on tenterhooks over F-35 fighter, Airbus jet revamp. By Tim Hepher, Andrea Shalal and Jack Stubbs LONDON (Reuters) - Suspense over the appearance of America’s newest combat jet, a diplomatic chill between the West and Russia and the re-launch of an Airbus jet with a surprise tweak in its name could make the Farnborough Airshow one of the least predictable for years. While the world’s largest aerospace event is traditionally a cauldron for new technology and dazzling flying displays, technical problems forced the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter to withdraw from a warm-up event and Farnborough's aircraft list is already crossed through with several high-profile no-shows. Qatar Airways has withdrawn its Airbus A380 superjumbo, saying the still undelivered plane is not yet ready. At the July 11-13 Royal International Air Tattoo (RIAT) in England, visitors were disappointed after Lockheed Martin Corp’s F-35 fighter jet failed to make the military air show.","Killings surge in Mexico state at tip of Baja. MEXICO CITY (AP) — The normally bucolic, vacationer-crowded state at the tip of Mexico's Baja peninsula has become a battleground, with dozens of killings in a power struggle following the capture of drug lord Joaquin \"El Chapo\" Guzman nearly a year ago.","Feds, pilots warn of lasers pointed into cockpits. LOS ANGELES (AP) — Airline pilots and federal officials launched a campaign Monday to warn about the dangers of people pointing lasers into cockpits. They're promising prosecution for those who are caught, and a reward for those who turn them in.","Troubled Mideast peace effort compounds U.S. policy woes in region. By Matt Spetalnick and William Maclean WASHINGTON/DUBAI (Reuters) - Addressing the United Nations General Assembly in September, U.S. President Barack Obama declared the pursuit of Israeli-Palestinian peace one of the two main U.S. foreign policy priorities for his second term. Fast-forward to today, the Obama administration faces a stark choice: expend more energy on a faltering peace process or absorb the hit to an already-troubled record in the Middle East and walk away from negotiations. Secretary of State John Kerry, who met Obama on Tuesday for a \"reality check,\" says he hopes both sides will work with U.S. mediators to \"find a way back.\" But as optimism fades, many inside and outside the Middle East warn now is not the time for a U.S. diplomatic failure in the region.","UK PM says he's playing fair on AstraZeneca deal. LONDON (AP) — Britain's leader sought to deflect criticism that he's been working too closely with U.S. drugmaker Pfizer in its proposed $106-billion takeover of the Anglo-Swedish firm AstraZeneca.","War crimes court delays Kenyatta trial. The Hague (AFP) - The International Criminal Court's chief prosecutor on Friday asked judges to indefinitely postpone the start of Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta's crimes against humanities trial, saying Nairobi was refusing to cooperate.","Justin Rose eyes back-to-back wins after Scottish Open move. Justin Rose boosted his hopes of rare back-to-back PGA and European Tour successes after moving into the clubhouse lead on day two of the Scottish Open at Royal Aberdeen on Friday. It moved Rose to within two shots of first round leader Rory McIlroy, who is competing in the afternoon half of the draw. Rose arrived in north-east Scotland a fortnight after victory on the PGA Tour in Maryland. Now the 33-year old Orlando-based Englishman not only looks for a seventh European Tour win but also has the opportunity of a rare double in winning on the PGA Tour and then winning in his next event on the European Tour.","Move to oust Thai PM more than just a walk in the park for protesters. By Amy Sawitta Lefevre BANGKOK (Reuters) - Two months ago, Piyavadee Boonmak was living comfortably at home. But she quit her job as a civil servant and now works as a volunteer cleaning toilets at Lumpini Park, the new focal point of anti-government protests in the Thai capital. Piyavadee now lives in a khaki tent in the central Bangkok park, once a haven for joggers but now a temporary home for more than 10,000 supporters of a movement that has been trying for five months to oust Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra. Their aim is also to rid Thailand of the influence of her billionaire brother, ousted former premier Thaksin Shinawatra.","Afghans tortured, killed by U.S. troops need justice: Amnesty. By Jessica Donati KABUL (Reuters) - U.S. forces who have tortured or killed civilians in Afghanistan have not been brought to justice because of failures in the U.S. military justice system, human rights group Amnesty International said on Monday. At least 1,800 Afghan civilians have been killed by coalition troops between 2009 and 2013, Amnesty said in a report released in the Afghan capital, but only six cases against U.S. military personnel went to trial over the period. Several families seeking justice from the U.S. ...","Men convicted of Joss Stone murder plot win appeal. LONDON (AP) — Two men convicted of plotting to kill soul singer Joss Stone have had their prison sentences reduced on appeal.","EU nations favourable to joint military mission in C. Africa. European Union nations broadly agreed Friday on a plan to launch a joint military operation in Central Africa to help restore security there amid fears of civilian massacres, EU diplomats told AFP. Ambassadors from the 28 member states gave preliminary approval to plans for the rapid deployment of hundreds of troops to help African and French peacekeepers already on the ground restore \"a safe and secure environment\" in the Central African Republic. A final decision is expected to be taken by the bloc's foreign ministers at talks in Brussels on January 20.","BRAZIL BEAT: Dutch win sets off Amsterdam party. AMSTERDAM (AP) — The streets of central Amsterdam were abandoned and nearly silent during the first 69 minutes of the Netherlands' game against Chile on Monday.","India wins toss, bowls in 1st test vs. New Zealand. AUCKLAND, New Zealand (AP) — India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni won his sixth straight toss and elected to bowl against New Zealand in the first cricket test at Eden Park on Thursday.","Flamengo scores late to win Rio state title. SAO PAULO (AP) — Flamengo scored in stoppage time to draw 1-1 with Vasco da Gama on Sunday and win the Rio de Janeiro state championship.","Russia's Putin, Iran's Rouhani say substantial progress in nuclear talks: Kremlin. MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani discussed Iran's nuclear program on the phone on Monday, with the Kremlin saying \"substantial progress\" was made at talks in Vienna. The Kremlin said the importance of further \"constructive cooperation\" with the aim of reaching a final agreement on Iran's nuclear program was underlined during the talks. ...","GE to make rail signaling, grid offers to land Alstom: report. General Electric will propose selling its rail signaling business to Alstom's transport arm and have Alstom remain a shareholder of its power grid business in an improved offer for the energy arm of Alstom, French daily Le Figaro said on Thursday. GE France declined to comment on Le Figaro report. General Electric's chief executive Jeff Immelt is due on Thursday to unveil to the French government and unions an improved offer for the energy arm of Alstom, a source close to the U.S. conglomerate has said of its efforts to fend off a rival proposal.","Murdoch editor 'a man I would trust', ex-archbishop tells UK hacking trial. A former Archbishop of Canterbury took to the witness stand in Britain's phone-hacking trial on Thursday to tell a jury the ex-managing editor of Rupert Murdoch's News of the World tabloid was \"a man I would trust\". George Carey, the head of the Anglican church for 11 years until 2002, appeared as a character witness at London's Old Bailey court and said Stuart Kuttner was a man of integrity. Kuttner, 74, who was managing editor of the downmarket weekly tabloid for 22 years until 2009, is on trial with the paper's former editors Rebekah Brooks and Andy Coulson accused of conspiracy to intercept voicemails on mobile phones. Brooks, Coulson and the News of the World's former royal editor Clive Goodman, also face charges over illegal payments to public officials, which they deny.","Spliced Lula video annoys ruling party in Brazil election. Brazil's ruling party has asked Google Inc to pull a spliced campaign video from YouTube that gives viewers the impression its leader, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, is backing opposition presidential candidate Marina Silva. Silva, a popular environmentalist, has surged in the polls and is threatening to defeat President Dilma Rousseff in the October elections, unseating Lula's Worker's Party after 12 years in power. In the video, a cheerful Lula backs the election of \"Marina.\" But the candidate he is referring to is Marina Santana, who is seeking a Senate seat for the state of Goiás.","Modi seeks Japan's help for 'inclusive vision' on first big trip. By Douglas Busvine NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived in Japan on Saturday seeking to capitalize on his affinity with Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe to strengthen security and business ties on his first major foreign visit since his landslide election victory in May. Modi is one of only three people that Abe follows on Twitter, while the Indian leader admires the Japanese premier's brand of nationalist politics. \"We will explore how Japan can associate itself productively with my vision of inclusive development in India,\" Modi said before departing on Saturday for the five-day visit. In his previous role as chief minister of India's fast-growing western state of Gujarat Modi had actively courted Japanese investment. President Barack Obama in Washington as he seeks to carve out a stronger role for India as a global player.","North Korea calls US 'graveyard of human rights'. SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea is saying the police shooting of an unarmed black 18-year-old in Ferguson, Missouri, is evidence that the United States is a \"graveyard of human rights.\"","China's top graft-buster says fight will never end. BEIJING (Reuters) - China's fight against deeply engrained corruption will never end, the country's top official in charge of tackling graft said ahead of a key meeting to root out corruption in the world's second-largest economy. Since President Xi Jinping launched his high-profile campaign against corruption upon assuming office last year a series of senior official have been felled, including powerful former domestic security chief Zhou Yongkang. ...","Germany's Gabriel wants Swiss bankers who aid evasion in court. Germany's center-left deputy chancellor hailed the jail sentence for tax evasion handed to Bayern Munich soccer boss Uli Hoeness and said the directors of Swiss banks that hide such funds should be hauled before the courts. \"I hope we will now reach a new level in the fight against tax evasion,\" Sigmar Gabriel of the Social Democrats (SPD) said in an interview published on Friday, when asked about Hoeness's 3-1/2-year jail term for evading 27.2 million euros in taxes. \"It has become a regular business model to move millions in profits from speculative business to Switzerland, where they are not taxed,\" Gabriel, who is also German economy minister, told the Passauer Neue Presse newspaper. \"We should therefore force the Swiss banks to disclose everything.","Israel cracks down on Hamas amid search for teens. JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel warned Monday it would exact a heavy price from Hamas, as a massive search for three missing Jewish seminary students turned into the widest crackdown on the Islamic militant group in the West Bank in almost a decade.","Nigeria's team determined after deadly attack. CAMPINAS, Brazil (AP) — An official with Nigeria's World Cup squad says the players are more determined than ever to succeed in Brazil following a suicide bombing that killed at least 14 people in their home country.","Google buys up Dutch wind energy for data center. AMSTERDAM (AP) — Google says it will buy the entire output of an 18-turbine, 62-megawatt Dutch wind energy project in the Netherlands to supply power to a major data center it is building.","US crushes Slovakia 7-1 in men's Olympic hockey. SOCHI, Russia (AP) — Paul Stastny scored twice during a six-goal barrage in the second period, and the United States got off to a spectacular start in the Olympic men's hockey tournament with a 7-1 victory over Slovakia on Thursday.","Shanghai court says trial of GSK-linked investigators set for August 8. The public trial of a foreign couple linked to GlaxoSmithKline Plc (GSK) is set for Aug. 8, a Shanghai court said on Tuesday. Earlier this month, Chinese prosecutors accused British investigator Peter Humphrey and his American wife Yu Yingzeng for illegally obtaining private information. The couple will stand trial at 9:30 a.m. (0130 GMT) on Aug. 8 for \"illegally obtaining private information about citizens\", according to a brief statement posted on the website of the Shanghai No.1 Intermediate People's Court. Courts in China are tightly controlled by the ruling Communist Party, and defendants are almost always convicted.","Murray to face Monfils in French Open quarter-finals. British seventh seed Andy Murray defeated Spain's Fernando Verdasco 6-4, 7-5, 7-6 (7/3) on Monday to reach the French Open quarter-finals for the fourth time. Wimbledon champion Murray, whose best run in Paris was a semi-final spot in 2011, will face French 23rd seed Gael Monfils for a place in the semi-finals. Monday's win took Murray's career record over the 30-year-old Verdasco to 10-1. \"I'm looking forward to the next match, it should be a great atmosphere,\" said Murray.","Israeli PM has asked for US help on Gaza truce: Kerry. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has asked for fresh US help in trying to broker a ceasefire in Gaza, top US diplomat John Kerry said Tuesday. He raised it with me, as he has consistently,\" Kerry said. Netanyahu had said he \"would embrace a ceasefire that permits Israel to protect itself against the tunnels and obviously not be disadvantaged for the great sacrifice they have made thus far.\" The US secretary of state also dismissed a torrent of attacks in the Israeli press since his failed mediation attempt during a week-long Middle East trip last week.","South Sudan frees seven detainees accused of coup plot. By James Macharia and Richard Lough NAIROBI (Reuters) - South Sudan freed seven senior political figures on Wednesday who had been arrested on suspicion of plotting a coup, partially meeting a rebel demand at peace talks focused on ending weeks of fighting. President Salva Kiir accused his former vice president Riek Machar of starting fighting between rival groups of soldiers in the capital Juba in mid December in a bid to seize power - a charge denied my Machar. Authorities detained the 11 men, including former justice minister John Luk Jok, on suspicion of being involved, as clashes between government troops and now rebel fighters loyal to Machar quickly spread, killing thousands. South Sudan's current Justice Minister Paulino Wanawilla Unago had prepared the ground for the release on Tuesday, saying no evidence had been found against the seven.","Dozens killed in Yemen army, Shiite rebel clashes: sources. Dozens of people have been killed in weekend clashes in northern Yemen between the army, allied tribes and Shiite Huthi rebels, military and tribal sources said Sunday. The Huthis -- also known as Ansarullah -- have advanced from their mountain strongholds towards Sanaa in a suspected attempt to expand their sphere of influence as Yemen is reorganised into six regions. The clashes intensified on Saturday in the western neighbourhoods of Amran city, as well as eastern and southern outskirts, and Yemeni fighter jets bombed rebel positions around the city, various sources said. A medical official in Amran said \"at least 40 people were killed\" in the western neighbourhoods of the city.","Guam violent offender registry to go public. HAGATNA, Guam (AP) — A registry listing repeat family violence offenders in Guam is going public.","U.N. authorizes ship inspections near Somalia for arms, charcoal. By Michelle Nichols UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The United Nations Security Council authorized the inspection of boats suspected of carrying illegal shipments of charcoal or weapons to and from Somalia on Friday, though Russia and Jordan abstained from the vote over concerns about the move. The resolution, adopted by the 15-member council with 13 votes in favor, approves the use of \"all necessary measures\" - diplomatic code for military force - to carry out such inspections. ...","Five challenges for Modi's new Indian government. By Rajesh Kumar Singh and Rafael Nam NEW DELHI (Reuters) - A landslide election victory for Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has created euphoria in India's financial markets, driving shares to life-time highs and the rupee to its strongest level against the dollar in 11 months. After a decade in opposition, the BJP has promised to repair an economy growing at its weakest rate since the 1980s and tackle stubbornly high inflation. However, the most urgent challenges facing the government, from a large budget deficit to concerns that the El Nino could devastate agricultural output, have no easy solutions. DELIVERING A BUDGET THAT LIMITS THE DEFICIT Modi's government will face its first credibility test with markets when it delivers a budget by July that will need to convince investors that India can realistically contain its fiscal deficit.","BRAZIL BEAT: Germany-US happy for tennis marriage. RECIFE, Brazil (AP) — The result of the game between the United States and Germany was favorable for both teams. It was also good for a famous tennis marriage.","West looks for fresh ways to curb Russia. WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Vice President Joe Biden and European leaders unleashed a torrent of angry words Tuesday against Russia's \"dark path\" as Western allies scheduled an emergency meeting in the Netherlands next week to figure out how to punish Vladimir Putin for taking Crimea — and stop him from expanding his reach even farther.","Bach praises 'great dignity' of Ukrainian athletes. SOCHI, Russia (AP) — IOC President Thomas Bach has expressed his condolences to victims of the violence in Ukraine and praised Ukraine's Olympic athletes for continuing to compete at the Sochi Games.","As sabers rattle, Vietnamese businesses fret. HANOI, Vietnam (AP) — Like thousands of other factory owners in Vietnam, Nguyen Van Phuc relies on China for the expertise and raw materials needed to keep his production line humming. But spiking tensions between Hanoi and Beijing over maritime territorial claims are threatening that relationship and his bottom line.","US calls any threat to Ukraine navy 'dangerous'. WASHINGTON (AP) — The Obama administration said Monday that any Russian threat to Ukraine's navy would be a \"dangerous escalation\" of an extremely tense situation .","EU, US vow to help Ukraine on energy independence. BRUSSELS (AP) — The United States and the European Union have vowed to help Ukraine reduce its dependence on Russia for energy supplies.","Spurs bring Messina in as an assistant. LAS VEGAS (AP) — The San Antonio Spurs have hired Ettore Messina of Italy to be an assistant under head coach Gregg Popovich.","Gay Russian protester detained at Olympic torch relay for unfurling rainbow flag. MOSCOW - A gay Russian protester has been detained for unfurling a rainbow flag during the Olympic torch relay as it passed through his hometown of Voronezh, 910 kilometres north of Sochi, where the games will begin Feb. 7.","Poland's Tusk named EU president, Mogherini to head diplomacy. Brussels (AFP) - European leaders named Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk as the next EU president and Italian Foreign Minister Federica Mogherini to head the bloc's foreign service, current leader Herman Van Rompuy said Saturday.","Putin meets leaders over Nagorno-Karabakh. MOSCOW (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin has met separately with the leaders of Azerbaijan and Armenia as concerns mount over the escalation of fighting around Nagorno-Karabakh.","Four killed in revenge attacks after Kenya mosques raid. Four people were stabbed to death in Kenya's volatile port city of Mombasa following security raids on mosques in which a man was killed and over 200 people arrested, police said Tuesday. The gang took to the streets Monday night in apparent revenge attacks, beating some and stabbing others, following the raids earlier in the day targeting the two mosques accused of links with Somalia's Al-Qaeda affiliated Shebab militants. \"We are investigating the incident and have arrested some of the suspects,\" local police chief Richard Ngatia said. Western nations have warned their nationals to avoid all but essential travel to Mombasa, a key transport hub as well as an important tourist centre for the country's Indian Ocean coastline.","Dutch arrest girl whose tweet threatened airline. AMSTERDAM (AP) — Police in the Netherlands have arrested a 14-year-old girl on suspicion of threatening American Airlines in a tweet.","Chinese tycoon to treat NYC homeless to lunch. NEW YORK (AP) — A Chinese tycoon is set to feed hundreds of homeless New Yorkers some fancy food — in Central Park.","India's Modi looks to big US welcome, mended ties. NEW DELHI (AP) — When India's prime minister visits the United States this week, he'll see a welcome normally reserved for rock stars — a sold-out appearance at Madison Square Garden. It's a stunning rise for a former tea seller who rose to the country's top job and was once denied a U.S. visa.","Gunmen singled out non-Muslims in Kenya attack. NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — The gunmen went door to door in the Kenyan costal town, demanding to know if the men inside were Muslim and if they spoke Somali. If the extremists did not like the answers, they opened fire, witnesses said on Monday.","Tanzania court frees opposition MP on bail after protest. DAR ES SALAAM (Reuters) - A court in Tanzania granted bail to an opposition member of parliament on Wednesday and eight others after charging them with illegal protests for demonstrating last week against a draft constitution. An assembly dominated by the ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) party and its allies approved a draft constitution on Oct. 2 against the wishes of main opposition groups that boycotted the process and said they would protest against the new charter. ...","Slovenia government fate uncertain ahead of party vote. By Marja Novak LJUBLJANA (Reuters) - The fate of Slovenia's coalition government, which saved the country from an international bailout last year, hung in the balance on Friday ahead of a leadership battle in the main party due later in the day. Prime Minister Alenka Bratusek hopes to be confirmed as president of the center-left Positive Slovenia (PS) but a victory by her challenger, Ljubljana mayor Zoran Jankovic, would most likely topple the government. \"The result of the vote is entirely unpredictable and will be tight,\" said Tanja Staric, a political analyst at daily Delo. With its borrowing needs covered for 2014, Slovenia looks unlikely to have to resort to outside help even if the government collapsed, but it could delay a program of cuts and privatizations aimed at reviving an economy badly hit by the global economic crisis.","Homeland Security panel chief worried about Sochi. WASHINGTON (AP) — The chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee says safety measures undertaken by the Russian government at the Sochi site of the Olympics are the \"most impressive\" in the history of the Games.","India questioning 17 Hindus about Muslim's death. NEW DELHI (AP) — Police have arrested 17 members of a hard-line Hindu group after a Muslim man was beaten to death in western India.","Mexican Aguirre named as new coach of Japan. TOKYO (AP) — Japan has appointed Mexican Javier Aguirre as the new head coach of the national team.","Rugby-Matfield boasts of improved fitness on return to action. Victor Matfield marked his return to first class rugby more than two years after retiring from the game on Saturday and the 36-year-old South African claims to be a fitter man than the one who retired after the 2011 World Cup. The veteran lock played 20 minutes for the Bulls franchise in their 26-19 Super Rugby warm-up loss to the Stormers and said he felt fit and ready to add to his 110 Springbok caps, the last of which came at the World Cup in New Zealand. \"There are obviously many people out there that want me to fail, but I don't let it affect me,\" Matfield told South Africa's Rapport newspaper. Since my retirement, I never stopped training and at the Bulls' practices, I give some of the younger guys a run for their money.\" Matfield worked with current South African coach Heyneke Meyer between 2002 and 2007 when the latter led the Bulls and says their shared history played a role in his decision to return to the game.","Ukraine truce under pressure as Europe raises Russia fears. A three-day-old ceasefire in eastern Ukraine was under pressure on Thursday after three government soldiers were killed, while European nations raised new fears about Russia's \"unprecedented\" military build-up. Government soldiers could be seen blithely ignoring rebel forces firing on their position at the hotly contested Donetsk airport. \"Terrorists are violating agreements and continuing to fire on positions of the Ukrainian military and civilians. Rebel commanders in Donetsk denied they had carried out any attacks and said government forces had breached the ceasefire on five occasions.","14-man Sharks show mettle to beat Crusaders. WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — The Sharks showed fortitude that might carry them to their first Super Rugby title when, reduced to 14 for most of the match and to 13 in the second half, they beat the Crusaders 30-25 in a round in which the campaigns of their closest rivals suffered setbacks.","Pakistan navy: 30 bodies found near beaches. KARACHI, Pakistan (AP) — Pakistan's navy says it has recovered the bodies of at least 30 people who drowned earlier this week when strong winds swept through the country's southern beaches near the city of Karachi.","Jordanian pilot captured by Islamic State after warplane downed: relatives. AMMAN (Reuters) - A Jordanian air force pilot was captured by Islamic State fighters after his plane was downed near the militant group's stronghold of Raqqa in northeastern Syria, close relatives of the pilot said on Wednesday. Two relatives said they were notified by the head of the Jordanian air force that the pilot was held captive after his plane was shot down earlier on Wednesday in an area controlled by the militant group. (Reporting by Suleiman Al-Khalidi; Editing by Alison Williams)","Levy of France leads water-logged Portugal Masters. VILAMOURA, Portugal (AP) — Alexander Levy will start the final day of the Portugal Masters with a three-shot lead after the rest of the field failed to catch the Frenchman while finishing a rain-hit second round.","Dunga hired as Brazil coach. RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Brazil is bringing back Dunga to coach the national football team, four years after he last held the job.","Mercedes celebrates F1 success at fan event. STUTTGART, Germany (AP) — Thousands of fans helped Mercedes celebrate its success in the Formula One championship at the German manufacturer's \"Stars and Cars\" party on Saturday.","Pakistani air force pounds militant hide-outs. ISLAMABAD (AP) — The Pakistani air force pounded militant hide-outs near the Afghan border on Tuesday, killing dozens of people following deadly bombings against security forces in recent days.","Pakistan's Musharraf fails to appear in court on treason case after bomb found along his route. ISLAMABAD - Former Pakistani president and army chief Pervez Musharraf failed to appear in court Wednesday for the second hearing in his high-profile treason case after authorities said they found an explosive device near his home.","Former Spanish prime minister Suarez dies at 81. MADRID (AP) — Adolfo Suarez, Spain's first democratically-elected prime minister after decades of right-wing rule under Gen. Francisco Franco, has died aged 81.","Daughter sees foul play in death of Palestinian envoy. By Jan Lopatka and Nidal al-Mughrabi PRAGUE/GAZA (Reuters) - The Palestinian envoy to Prague was 'deliberately killed', his daughter alleged on Thursday, a day after he died in a mysterious explosion after opening a safe in his residence. Czech police said the blast that killed ambassador Jamal al-Jamal might have been caused by mishandling an explosive securing the safe. Jamal suffered lethal injuries to his head, chest and abdomen in the explosion on New Year's Day. His daughter Rana al-Jamal, 30, told Reuters: \"We believe my father was killed and that his death was something arranged and not an accident.","Mexico nabs alleged criminals posing as vigilantes. MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexican authorities said Thursday they have arrested 11 suspected criminals who disguised themselves as vigilantes from an anti-crime \"self-defense\" force in the western state of Michoacan.","Feds want video witness in Connecticut terror case. NEW HAVEN, Connecticut (AP) — A judge should allow a witness to testify by video against a British citizen who pleaded guilty in Connecticut to supporting terrorists through websites, prosecutors said.","Judo federation defends Russian sanctioned by US. LAUSANNE, Switzerland (AP) — Judo's world governing body has defended one of its officials after he was targeted by U.S. sanctions over Russia's actions in Ukraine.","City down Albion to keep pressure on leaders. West Bromwich (United Kingdom) (AFP) - Manchester City kept the pressure on Premier League leaders Chelsea with a convincing 3-1 victory at West Bromwich Albion on Friday.","Legendary Soviet interpreter Sukhodrev dies at 81. MOSCOW (AP) — The Soviet interpreter who for three decades brought the words of Kremlin leaders to the English-speaking world has died in Moscow at the age of 81.","AP Interview: Israel doctors against force-feeding. TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — The president of Israel's national association of physicians says the country's doctors will \"absolutely refuse to cooperate\" if parliament passes legislation permitting the force-feeding of prisoners on hunger strike.","Kerry says to pause, reassess after Israeli-Palestinian peace bid. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Thursday he would pause and reassess what might be possible after failing to meet his April 29 goal for an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal, saying both sides still wanted to try to negotiate. \"So we believe the best thing to do right now is pause, take a hard look at these things and find out what is possible and what is not possible in the days ahead.\" (Reporting by Phil Stewart;","Japan envoy urges calm amid tensions with China. WASHINGTON (AP) — Japan's ambassador has called for improved relations with China as the top U.S. intelligence official warned that territorial disputes and nationalist fervor are increasing the risk of conflict in East Asia.","26 S. African survivors of Nigeria church collapse back home. Pretoria (AFP) - Twenty-six injured survivors of a Nigerian church collapse were repatriated home Monday, after a tragedy that claimed 86 lives, most of them South Africans.","FIFA official Makudi's Thailand election appealed. LAUSANNE, Switzerland (AP) — FIFA executive committee member Worawi Makudi's re-election as president of the Football Association of Thailand has been challenged at sport's highest court.","Injured Shehzad ruled out of New Zealand Tests. Pakistan opener Ahmed Shehzad was Tuesday ruled out of the Test series against New Zealand, a day after suffering a minor skull fracture, team manager Moin Khan said. The 22-year-old, who made a career best 176 in Pakistan's first innings total of 566-3 declared, was hit by a bouncer during the second day of the first Test between the sides in Abu Dhabi on Monday. Shehzad fell on the ground and during his fall hit the wickets with his bat for a hit-wicket dismissal. Shehzad felt dizzy and had to be helped off the field by team physio Brad Robinson.","Bahrain: Police officer dies after bomb blast. MANAMA, Bahrain (AP) — Bahraini authorities say a police officer wounded by a bombing on the third anniversary of the start of the Gulf island kingdom's anti-government uprising has died.","Belgium ordered to pay accused bomb plotter extradited to U.S.. The European Court of Human Rights ruled on Thursday that European states should not extradite people to face the rest of their lives behind bars without the possibility of release, ordering Belgium to pay a settlement to a Tunisian man it had deported to the United States. The case was brought by Nizar Trabelsi, sentenced in Belgium in 2003 to 10 years for attempting to blow up a Belgian military base which houses U.S.","China says New York Times reporter broke visa rules, will leave. China's Foreign Ministry said on Monday that a China-based reporter for the New York Times broke rules on residence visas and would be leaving the country before the end of the week, in a case which could sour Beijing's relations with Washington. The issue of media freedom for foreign reporters in China has attracted high-level concern in the United States, especially over worries that the government is denying visas for organizations that carry negative stories about China. Last month, U.S. Vice President Joe Biden expressed concern, while on a visit to Beijing, over China's efforts to restrict the activities of foreign news organizations. Neither the New York Times Co nor Bloomberg News has been given new journalist visas for more than a year after they published stories about the wealth of family members of former Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and current President Xi Jinping, respectively.","Canada conducts first airstrikes on IS targets in Iraq. Canada conducted airstrikes on Islamic State positions in Iraq for the first time on Sunday, while reports emerged that the jihadist group had executed more than 200 tribespeople in recent days. \"Today's strike demonstrates our government's firm resolve to tackle the threat of terrorism and to stand with our allies against ISIL's atrocities against innocent women, children and men,\" Canadian Defense Minister Rob Nicholson said in a statement. Canada joined the anti-IS coalition on Thursday and conducted two days of reconnaissance before sending two CF-18s to attack jihadist positions around the city of Fallujah. Women and children were said to be among those executed over the past 10 days in western Iraq's Anbar province which has been largely over-run by IS.","Egypt: 29 killed in uprising anniversary clashes. CAIRO (AP) — A health ministry spokesman in Egypt says 29 people have been killed in clashes between security forces and anti-government protesters nationwide on the anniversary of the country's 2011 uprising.","Seismic activity calms down near Iceland volcano. LONDON (AP) — Experts say the seismic activity near the Bardarbunga volcano on Iceland is calming down while tall fountains of fire and lava continue to lick the air along a volcanic fissure, producing a huge plume of steam and gas.","Europe shares up, Asia down on business surveys. TOKYO (AP) — Asian stocks fell Thursday after China's factory output grew at the slowest pace in five months while European markets gained on a survey that showed an improvement in the region's business activity.","Obama lawyer to look into CIA officer revelation. WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama's top lawyer is looking into how the name of the CIA's top official in Afghanistan was accidently revealed to thousands of journalists.","Chesson Hadley leads Puerto Rico Open. RIO GRANDE, Puerto Rico (AP) — Chesson Hadley took the third-round lead in the Puerto Rico Open, shooting a 5-under 67 in windy conditions at Trump International on Saturday.","Kuwait says 'coup plot' video tampered with. Kuwait's prime minister told MPs Tuesday that a videotape allegedly showing former senior officials plotting a coup was \"tampered with,\" parliament speaker Marzouk al-Ghanem said after a secret session. Prime Minister Sheikh Jaber Mubarak Al-Sabah \"showed reports by specialised foreign sides affirming without doubt that the audio recordings and the videotapes which they examined had been tampered with and do not represent genuine and reliable copies,\" Ghanem said. The government informed parliament that it will hand over all the tapes and related documents to the public prosecution, which is currently conducting an investigation, he said. Parliament rejected a proposal to form an investigative panel into the videotape with a landslide majority of 50 members against seven, the speaker said.","Forest Service to allow logging of burned trees near Yosemite National Park. Forest Service said on Wednesday it would sell thousands of trees burned in last year's devastating wildfire around Yosemite National Park to loggers in an effort to reduce fuel for future blazes and stimulate the regional economy. In a draft decision, the agency said it planned to allow logging on about 33,000 acres near the park, less than initially proposed but more than environmentalists wanted. Under the plan, which is expected to be finalized next month, logging companies would remove hazardous trees in danger of falling on roads or people from about 17,000 acres in the Sanislaus National Forest, and other trees salvageable for lumber from about 15,000 acres.","Man United completes 4th successive league win. LONDON (AP) — Manchester United's revival gathered pace with a fourth successive victory in the Premier League against Stoke on Tuesday, and captain Steven Gerrard came to Liverpool's rescue against Leicester after being restored to the team.","Gunmen kill French citizen in Libya's Benghazi: security official. TRIPOLI (Reuters) - Gunmen killed a French citizen in Libya's eastern city of Benghazi on Sunday, a security official said. The man worked for a company upgrading a hospital in Benghazi, which has been rocked by car bombs and assassinations, the official said. (Reporting by Ayman al-Warfalli and Feras Bosalum; Wroiting by Ulf Laessing)","Police: US school shooter, 12, warned some away; victims appeared to be random. ROSWELL, N.M. - The 12-year-old boy who opened fire in a U.S. school gym warned some students away just before the attack, police said Wednesday.","House leader to appoint Benghazi committee. WASHINGTON (AP) — The Republican leader of the U.S. House of Representatives declared Friday he would create a special committee to investigate the Benghazi attack, providing Republicans with a high-profile forum to target the Obama administration's credibility ahead of crucial November elections.","Style goes digital as London Fashion Week opens. LONDON (AP) — What to wear to London Fashion Week? The hottest designer heels, the latest fall jacket — or perhaps a tech accessory like Google Glass?","Qaeda-linked fighters control parts of two Iraq cities. Ramadi (Iraq) (AFP) - Al-Qaeda-linked militants were on Thursday in control of more than half of the Iraqi city of Fallujah and parts of Ramadi, a security official and witnesses said. \"Half of Fallujah is in the hands of ISIL (the Qaeda-linked Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant) group, and the other half is in the control of\" armed tribesmen, an interior ministry official told AFP. A witness in the city west of Baghdad said that militants had set up checkpoints each manned by six to seven people in central and south Fallujah. \"In Ramadi, it is similar -- some areas are controlled by ISIL and other areas are controlled by\" tribesmen, the interior ministry official said, referring to the Anbar provincial capital, which lies farther to the west.","Kerry says called Egypt foreign min over journalists' 'chilling' sentence. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said that he had phoned Egypt's Foreign Minister Sameh Shukri on Monday to register Washington's \"serious displeasure\" with the sentencing of three Al Jazeera journalists to seven years in jail. \"When I heard the verdict today I was so concerned about it, frankly, disappointed in it, that I immediately picked up the telephone and talked to the foreign minister of Egypt and registered our serious displeasure at this kind of verdict,\" he said.","Counting the cost of East Africa's poaching economy. Organised crime gangs in East Africa are generating staggering profits smuggling ivory and rhino horn with impunity, experts say, threatening both an irreplaceable wildlife heritage and key tourism industries. Kenyan and Tanzanian ports are the \"primary gateway\" for ivory smuggled to Asia, where demand is fuelled by increasingly affluent markets, especially in China, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) warns. Last year, seizures of ivory shipments reached \"record levels\", according to a recent Interpol report. Poaching has risen sharply across Africa in recent years.","Car bombs strike Iraq's Kirkuk as attacks kill 17. BAGHDAD (AP) — Back-to-back car bombs rocked the ethnically mixed northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk on Wednesday, in the deadliest of a string of attacks across the country that left 17 people dead.","Rwandan rebel group says more will surrender in DR Congo. A second wave of Rwandan rebels from a group linked to the 1994 genocide in their homeland will turn themselves in on June 9 in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, a leader of the group said Thursday. The Hutu rebels are members of the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) which includes remnants of the militia, now based in the DRC, that carried out the genocide of at least 800,000 ethnic Tutsis, according to the United Nations. North Kivu's governor said they would now be given a choice between returning to Rwanda or seeking asylum in the DRC. Wilson Irategeka, interim executive secretary of the FDLR, said there would now be \"more ceremonies\" in which rebels will surrender.","S.Africa president cancels UK visit, reportedly over snub. South African President Jacob Zuma has cancelled at the last minute a visit to London set for Monday, with one newspaper claiming he was throwing a \"tantrum\" because Prime Minister David Cameron was snubbing him. Zuma's office denied Sunday that any pique lay behind the unexpected cancellation of a visit to attend an investment conference, calling the report by the City Press newspaper \"incorrect and mischievous\". South Africa is the lead sponsor of the conference, through its state-funded marketing agency Brand South Africa. The City Press daily claimed that Zuma pulled out \"after Britain refused to grant him an official audience with Prime Minister David Cameron,\" and fobbed him off instead with a meeting with Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg.","Saudi convicts 13 for plotting attack on US forces. RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) — A Saudi court has sentenced 13 people to prison for planning a series of attacks against U.S. forces in Qatar and Kuwait.","US reviewing democracy work in hostile countries. WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. State Department said Monday it was reviewing some of its secretive democracy-promotion programs in hostile countries, after The Associated Press reported that the nation's global development agency may effectively end risky undercover work in those environments.","Abdullah, Ghani lead in partial Afghan vote tally. KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Two clear front-runners emerged in Afghanistan's presidential election as partial results released Sunday showed a tight race that increasingly appears destined for a runoff vote.","Hunt for black box signals zeroes in on 'final resting place'. Perth (Australia) (AFP) - The hunt for more black box \"pings\" from missing Malaysian airliner MH370 was narrowing Thursday to a specific patch of remote ocean after two more signals were detected. The head of the Australian-led search Angus Houston raised hopes Wednesday that wreckage will be found within days even as the black box batteries start to expire. Houston's Joint Agency Coordination Centre (JACC) announced Thursday the search area off western Australia was now 57,923 square kilometres (22,364 square miles) -- some 20,000 square kilometres down on Wednesday.","Leicester draws 2-2 with Everton on PL return. LEICESTER, England (AP) — Chris Wood rescued a point for Leicester on its return to the Premier League, netting a late equalizer for a 2-2 draw at home against Everton on Saturday.","Bouchard, 2011 champ Kvitova reach Wimbledon final. LONDON (AP) — Eugenie Bouchard defeated French Open runner-up Simona Halep 7-6 (5), 6-2 Thursday to advance to the Wimbledon final against 2011 champion Petra Kvitova.","Review: Android Wear is about simplifying future. NEW YORK (AP) — In its first iteration, Google's Android Wear software for computerized wristwatches isn't so much about innovation as it is an effort at simplification.","U.S. bars Venezuelan officials accused of abuses in protests. By Doina Chiacu and Andrew Cawthorne WASHINGTON/CARACAS (Reuters) - Washington barred a group of Venezuelan officials, including government ministers and presidential advisers, from the United States on Wednesday after accusing them of abuses in a crackdown on protests against President Nicolas Maduro this spring. State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf, citing visa record confidentiality, did not identify those who would be denied entry and did not say how many officials were on the list. Demonstrators said they were protesting economic hardships and dictatorial government, but Maduro, who replaced the late Hugo Chavez last year, called them a cover for a U.S.-backed \"coup\" attempt against him. The Venezuelans barred from entry included government ministers, presidential advisers, judicial officials and law enforcement and military officials, a State Department spokesperson said.","Invasive insect threatens iconic Florida citrus. LAKE WALES, Fla. (AP) — Citrus has always been synonymous with Florida.","US man charged with holding woman at warehouse. ZEBULON, North Carolina (AP) — A man is charged with human trafficking with police saying he held a German woman against her will inside a secret room at a suburban Raleigh, North Carolina, warehouse.","Suspected Boko Haram fighters kidnap 25 girls in northeast Nigeria. By Imma Ande and Isaac Abrak YOLA/ABUJA (Reuters) - Suspected Boko Haram militants kidnapped at least 25 girls in an attack on a remote town in northeastern Nigeria, witnesses said, despite talks on freeing over 200 other female hostages they seized in April. John Kwaghe, who witnessed the attack and lost three daughters to the abductors, and Dorathy Tizhe, who lost two, said the kidnappers came late in the night, forcing all the women to go with them, then later releasing the older ones. ...","Ukraine premier to AP: Crimea must remain in Ukraine, but may get more autonomy. KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine premier to AP: Crimea must remain in Ukraine, but may get more autonomy.","UK court backs detention of journalist's partner. LONDON (AP) — Britain's High Court endorsed last summer's decision to hold journalist Glenn Greenwald's partner at a London airport on terrorism grounds Wednesday, a ruling which sent chills through free expression advocates and media groups.","Australia praises Chinese help in lost jet search. CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — China's contribution of ships and planes to the Indian Ocean search for the missing Malaysian airliner showed the trust and familiarity that had developed between the Chinese and Australian militaries, Australia's Defense Chief Gen. David Hurley said on Monday.","US to screen people from Ebola-hit regions for Africa summit. The United States will screen delegates from Ebola-hit countries traveling to Washington for an unprecedented Africa summit, President Barack Obama said Friday, voicing confidence that appropriate measures have been taken. He added there would be \"additional screening\" when they were in the United States for the three-day unprecedented summit gathering some 50 heads of state from around Africa. The United States, working through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and other health agencies, was also planning to \"surge some resources down there and organization to these countries that are pretty poor and don't have a strong public health infrastructure so that we can start containing the problem.\" Obama sought to reassure the public that the Ebola virus was not easily transmitted.","Tunisia closes media outlets for promoting jihad. Tunisia has closed a satellite television channel and a radio station for promoting jihad, a few days after jihadists killed 15 soldiers, the government said on Sunday. Many radio and television stations operate in Tunisia without permission. The government has also decided to close mosques \"working outside the supervision of the Ministry of Religious Affairs, as well as mosques, where celebrations of the death of our soldiers have been confirmed\".","China treats South Africa as business equals: Zuma. China does business with South Africa on an equal footing, unlike Western former colonial powers who still act like its master, President Jacob Zuma has said. They deal with us as people that you must do business (with), at an equal level so to speak,\" Zuma told CNBC Africa in an interview broadcast Thursday. China is the largest trading partner of the continental giant, with trade worth $21.7 billion between the two in 2012, according to official figures. Russia and China supported the country's ruling ANC when it was still a banned liberation movement during apartheid and South Africa has tended to align its international diplomacy with that of the two permanent UN Security Council members.","China appoints Xi to head national security commission. Chinese President Xi Jinping has been appointed head of the new national security commission by the ruling Communist Party's decision-making Politburo, the latest sign of his rapid consolidation of power. The move puts Xi in charge of a commission that deals with crises at home and abroad and comes nearly a month after the government said that Xi would head a leading group to steer the country's overall reforms. Premier Li Keqiang and Zhang Dejiang, number three in the party's hierarchy and head of China's largely rubber-stamp parliament, will be vice-chairmen of the commission, state news agency Xinhua said on its microblog. It will also include several other members of the Standing Committee, the apex of power in China.","Mezgec gets 3rd stage win, Rodriguez leads Volta. VALLS, Spain (AP) — Slovenian cyclist Luka Mezgec earned his third stage win of this Volta a Catalunya, edging the pack in the final sprint on Friday.","Obama envoy sees long road ahead in war with Islamic State. BAGHDAD (Reuters) - The U.S. envoy charged by President Barack Obama with building a coalition to fight the militant group Islamic State warned on Friday that the war against the jihadists was in its early stages. \"The fight will not be easy. There will be ebb and flow on the battlefield,\" retired General John Allen told reporters during a visit to Baghdad. \"This will take time and requires patience. ...","Kerry: Ukraine rebels likely downed passenger jet. WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States is putting the likely blame for the downed Malaysian passenger plane on Ukraine separatists who had Russian military help.","Quebec gives green light to drivers to put vanity plates on vehicles. QUEBEC - Quebec could be facing a bumper crop of vanity plates now that the provincial government has given the green light to the personalized licence tags.","Russian world relay champ gets 9-month doping ban. MOSCOW (AP) — Russian athlete Kseniya Ryzhova, a world champion in the 4x400 relay, has received a nine-month ban for doping.","Turkish state TV fined for favoring Erdogan in election coverage. ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkey's state-run broadcaster has been penalized for favoring President Tayyip Erdogan in its coverage of the country's first popular vote for head of state, the national election board said on Wednesday. The election was a major step for Erdogan in cementing his power after 10 years as prime minister and extending the authority of the presidency that until his accession had been largely a ceremonial position. ...","Moscow court puts off Ukrainian officer's case. MOSCOW (AP) — A court in Moscow has delayed hearings on a captured Ukrainian military officer's appeal against the authorities' decision to put her in a mental clinic for checks.","London braced for travel disruption as underground rail workers strike. Millions of commuters face transport chaos this week as workers on the London Underground rail network hold a two-day strike in a dispute over planned job cuts. Members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport workers' union (RMT) will stage a 48-hour walkout beginning on the evening of April 28 after talks aimed at resolving the row over plans to close manned ticket offices broke down earlier this month. The strike action follows the March 11 death of RMT leader Bob Crow, whose success in extracting concessions from employers through hard talk and industrial disruption has set the mould for those vying to replace him, trade union experts say. Transport for London (TfL), which argues that less than three percent of journeys on the 151-year-old tube network now involve passengers using ticket offices, has said it will run a limited service on some lines, with some stations closed.","US seeks to block Afghan prisoner release. KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — U.S. officials are seeking to block a move by an Afghan panel to free 88 detainees from a prison north of Kabul the Americans say would pose a security threat if released.","Stolen Red Bull trophies found in lake. London (AFP) - Twenty of the 60 trophies stolen in a raid on Red Bull's headquarters in the British town of Milton Keynes have been found in a lake, police said on Tuesday.","Bouteflika supporters, opponents rally in Algeria. Supporters and opponents of Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika's decision to seek a fourth term in April elections staged rival demonstrations in the capital Algiers on Saturday. They screened a documentary about Bouteflika's 15 years in power, and his former premier and election campaign manager Abdelmalek Sellal gave a speech. At the same time but on the other side of the city, hundreds of opponents of Bouteflika's re-election bid also held peaceful marches.","Japan's Abe seeks trilateral summit with Korea, U.S. By Nobuhiro Kubo TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan is trying to arrange a trilateral summit with South Korea and the United States for this month, a government official said Wednesday, in a bid to thaw Tokyo's frozen relations with Seoul. But Korea appears cool to the idea of a meeting of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Korean President Park Geun-hye and U.S. President Barack Obama on the sidelines of a global nuclear-security summit in the Hague, Netherlands, on March 24-25. Japan hopes that with mutual ally Obama in the room, Park would be willing to sit down face-to-face with Abe, something the Japanese leader has sought unsuccessfully since he took office 15 months ago. Abe has visited the leaders of all 10 Southeast Asian nations and met five times with Russia's president since taking office 15 months ago but has yet to meet one-on-one with the leaders of Korea or China.","Female suicide bomber kills three in Nigeria's Kano. A female suicide bomber killed three people and injured seven others on Monday in Nigeria's Kano city, after weekend violence blamed on Boko Haram forced authorities to cancel festivities marking a major Muslim holiday. The attacker with explosives concealed under her clothes targeted women who had lined up to buy kerosene at a petrol station in the Hotoro area on the outskirts of Kano, Nigeria's second largest city. The queue was long, said area vendor Habibu Ali, because the widely-used cooking gas is often in short supply and when a new shipment comes in women typically rush to their local vendor. Kano police spokesman Musa Magaji Majia told AFP 10 victims were rushed to the hospital after the blast that went off at roughly 10:30 am (0930 GMT) and that three had died.","CANNES WATCH: Uma Thurman wows in canary. CANNES, France (AP) — A ravishing Uma Thurman wowed the crowd at Cannes' \"Clouds of Sils Maria\" premiere in a canary yellow custom-made Atelier Versace couture gown in silk cady and chiffon.","Aid flows into Gaza after Israel-Hamas truce. Vital humanitarian aid poured into Gaza on Thursday as residents began rebuilding their lives following a devastating 50-day war between Israel and Hamas that experts say left no winners. Israel agreed to immediately lift restrictions on fishing, allowing boats to work up to six nautical miles from the shore in a move which went into effect early on Wednesday. It also pledged to ease restrictions at the two crossings into Gaza, Erez and Kerem Shalom, to allow the entry of goods, humanitarian aid and construction materials.","Indonesian court sentences Pakistani man to 7 years in jail for smuggling asylum seekers. JAKARTA, Indonesia - An Indonesian court sentenced a Pakistani man to seven years in jail Tuesday for attempting to smuggle asylum seekers to Australia on a rickety boat that sank, killing about 90 people.","Wives of ousted Venezuelan mayors run for office. CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — After years behind the scenes, the wives of two jailed mayors are looking to succeed their husbands in special elections that have come to symbolize the prominent role Venezuela's women are playing in three-month-old protests against President Nicolas Maduro's socialist government.","Funeral held for socialist stalwart Tony Benn. Comrades and relatives bade a tearful farewell Thursday to Tony Benn, the totem of the British left whose funeral was held opposite parliament where he served for half a century. There were tears and applause as Benn's coffin was driven from the Houses of Parliament in London to St Margaret's Church across the road, his coffin topped with red roses. A Labour cabinet minister in the 1960s and 1970s, Benn was a widely respected orator who clashed with his party's leadership over its drift away from the radical socialism he espoused. Aged 88, Benn died peacefully at his west London home on March 14, surrounded by his family.","Gunmen abduct Jordanian ambassador in Libya. TRIPOLI, Libya (AP) — Masked gunmen abducted the Jordanian ambassador in the Libyan capital early Tuesday, officials said, the latest in a wave of abductions in the North African nation still plagued by lawlessness more than two years after the ouster of dictator Moammar Gadhafi.","Cambodian exodus from Thailand jumps to nearly 180,000. Poipet (Cambodia) (AFP) - The number of Cambodians fleeing Thailand over fears of a clampdown on illegal migrant workers rose to nearly 180,000 Tuesday, as the two countries were expected to hold crisis talks in Bangkok The mass exodus of labourers -- who help keep major Thai industries such as agriculture afloat -- comes after a warning from Thailand's new military regime that illegal foreign workers face arrest and deportation. \"The number of Cambodians returning from Thailand into Poipet (the main Thai-Cambodian border crossing) in just over a week reached 157,000 by this morning,\" said Kor Sam Saroeut, governor of northwestern Banteay Meanchey province where the checkpoint is based. Around 20,000 others have crossed the border at O'Smach, a checkpoint some 250 kilometres (155 miles) northeast from Poipet, according to the governor and a senior Cambodian police official.","Colorado woman in terror case wants to be released. DENVER (AP) — A 19-year-old suburban Denver woman who pleaded guilty to trying to help the Islamic State militant group wants to be released from jail before she is sentenced.","US woman convicted of car bomb death of ex-husband. TUCSON, Arizona (AP) — A once-prominent U.S. socialite was found guilty Tuesday in the 1996 car bomb killing of her ex-husband after spending years abroad living a lavish lifestyle across Europe.","Taiwan match-fixing baseball players avoid jail. Several former Taiwanese professional baseball players convicted of match-fixing are expected to avoid prison terms by paying fines, after a controversial ruling on one of Taiwan's worst sport scandals. The high court said in a statement late Wednesday it had reduced the prison terms of six former players to up to three years in a final ruling. All except Tseng Han-chou -- who was convicted of extortion -- can pay fines in exchange for imprisonment. Former star pitcher Chang Chih-chia's jail term was reduced to four months, down from a sentence of two years and two months imposed by a district court in 2011.","Cyclists kidnapped, ransomed near Mexico City. MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexican authorities say seven cyclists and an assistant kidnapped while training in the mountainous outskirts of the capital have been freed.","Israel accepts cease-fire to end Gaza conflict. JERUSALEM (AP) — The Israeli Cabinet has accepted an Egyptian proposal for a cease-fire to end a week of conflict with Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip that has killed 185 Palestinians and exposed millions of Israelis to Hamas rocket fire.","Homicide charges for S. Korean soldiers over death. SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Officials say South Korean military prosecutors are charging four soldiers with homicide over the hazing death of a young army conscript in April.","Japan's main islands brace for powerful typhoon. Tokyo (AFP) - Powerful Typhoon Vongfong was churning towards Japan's main islands Sunday after strong winds and heavy rain left 23 injured in the south.","Kerry, Russian counterpart meet on Ukraine crisis. PARIS (AP) — Russia on Sunday set out demands for a diplomatic resolution to the crisis in Ukraine, saying the former Soviet republic should be unified in a federation allowing wide autonomy to its various regions as U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov met in Paris in another bid to calm tensions.","Angel Cabrera builds momentum for British Open. WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS, W.Va. (AP) — Angel Cabrera has some much-needed momentum heading to the British Open in his quest for a title in a third different major.","U.S. sending undersea drone in hunt for Malaysian jetliner. By Phil Stewart WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States is sending an undersea Navy drone capable of exploring waters nearly 15,000 feet deep to potentially help search for any sunken wreckage of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370, the Pentagon said on Monday. The U.S. disclosure that it was pre-positioning the sonar-equipped Bluefin \"autonomous underwater vehicle\" in Australia came hours after Malaysia announced that the jetliner which disappeared over two weeks ago had crashed in the southern Indian Ocean. They just got some stark news today from the Malaysian government,\" said Pentagon spokesman Rear Admiral John Kirby, adding the \"the whole world grieves with them.\" The Bluefin drone is just over 17 feet long and weighs 1,764 pounds (800 kg), according to a Navy factsheet. The decision to pre-position the equipment in Australia comes in addition to the previously announced deployment of a \"Towed Pinger Locater,\" essentially a high tech piece of sonar equipment which can detect an aircraft's black box.","Obama encouraged by Egypt ceasefire proposal for Mideast. By Annika McGinnis WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama said on Monday he was encouraged by Egypt's proposal for a ceasefire between Israel and the Palestinians and sided with Israel against what he called \"inexcusable attacks.\" Obama's comments came as he presided over an annual Iftar dinner at the White House in celebration of the holy month of Ramadan. In remarks to dinner guests, who included diplomats from the Arab and Muslim world, Obama said the U.S. goal continued to be peace and security for Israelis as well as Palestinians.","Alonso denies deal with McLaren, remains undecided. MEXICO CITY (AP) — Fernando Alonso says he has not signed with McLaren for next season and remains undecided about his future in Formula One.","Colombia's FARC kill two over memorial to ex-leader, bomb pipeline. BOGOTA (Reuters) - Leftist FARC guerrillas killed two members of an indigenous community in southwestern Colombia on Wednesday apparently for removing a billboard commemorating the death of their former leader Alfonso Cano in the region three years ago, police said. The two were killed in Toribio, Cauca province in what appeared to be revenge for removing the billboard honoring the bespectacled and bushy-bearded former FARC leader killed there in an army raid in 2011. \"An attack against the indigenous population is lamentable and to be condemned. ...","Factbox: Major banks weigh risks of Scottish independence. The world's major banks have scrambled to take seriously the prospect that the United Kingdom might be on the verge of a split as a pair of polls in the past week point to growing support for Scottish independence. A 'yes' vote could easily derail the UK economic recovery. - Could cause a \"destabilizing crisis\" in the banking system and at best leave the rest of the UK with an unstable currency union during talks on the new fiscal and monetary arrangement. - \"There is now no question that the momentum is now all with 'yes'.\" GOLDMAN SACHS - Near-term consequences of a \"Yes\" for the Scottish economy, and for the UK more broadly, could be \"severely negative\".","Breivik's father says he is partially responsible for murders. Oslo (AFP) - The father of Norwegian mass murderer Anders Behring Breivik said on Thursday he felt partially responsible and regretted not having been there for his son before he killed 77 people in 2011.","6 men arrested over international match fixing. MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Australia's Victoria state police say six men have been arrested over an alleged international tennis match-fixing syndicate.","Nigeria vigilantes kill Islamic militants. BAUCHI, Nigeria (AP) — Villagers in an area of Nigeria where Boko Haram operates have killed and detained scores of the extremist Islamic militants who were suspected of planning a fresh attack, the residents and a security official said.","French police in third day of \"big cat\" hunt. PARIS (AP) — French authorities have entered a third day in their hunt for a \"big cat\" that sparked panic this week after being sighted in the Paris suburbs.","Activists: 1,069 killed in Syrian rebel infighting. BEIRUT (AP) — A Syrian activist group says two weeks of fighting between an al-Qaida-linked group and other rebel forces in Syria has killed more than 1,000 people.","Australia aims to nearly halve budget deficit. The Australian government plans to nearly halve its fiscal deficit as part of a tough budget that includes cuts to welfare and tax hikes. Budget documents released on Tuesday show defense spending has ...","Lockheed to deliver first of 36 F-16s to Iraq this week. By Andrea Shalal WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Lockheed Martin Corp this week will deliver the first of 36 F-16 fighter jets to Iraq, marking what Baghdad's envoy to the United States called a \"new chapter\" in his country's ability to defend its vast borders with Iran and other neighbors. Iraqi Ambassador Lukman Faily will travel to Lockheed's Fort Worth, Texas, plant on Thursday for a ceremony at which Lockheed and the U.S. government will formally deliver the first F-16 to Iraq. A group of three or four new jets will be ferried to Iraq before the end of the year. \"Iraq is a large country with over 3,600 km of borders, and we need to protect them,\" Faily told Reuters in a telephone interview.","China wraps anti-Japan propaganda campaign. BEIJING (AP) — China has wrapped up its latest anti-Japanese propaganda campaign amid continuing sharp disputes over territorial claims and history.","Unresponsive, private U.S. plane crashes off coast of Jamaica. By Aileen Torres-Bennett and Horace Helps KINGSTON (Reuters) - A small U.S. A New York county official said that Larry Glazer, a real-estate executive from Rochester in New York, and his wife, Jane Glazer, were aboard the plane. The United States Coast Guard also joined the search with an HC-130 Hercules airplane and a helicopter, as well as a Coast Guard Cutter en route. The pilot stopped responding to radio calls about an hour after take-off from Greater Rochester International Airport in New York and was headed to Naples Municipal Airport in Florida, a spokeswoman for the Federal Aviation Administration said.","Threat of El Nino eases, says Australian weather agency. Pacific Ocean temperatures have eased in recent weeks and an El Nino weather event later this year is now indicated by only a slight majority of climate models, the Australian Bureau of Meteorology said on Tuesday. \"While the chance of an El Nino in 2014 has clearly eased, warmer-than-average waters persist in parts of the tropical Pacific, and the slight majority of climate models suggest El Niño remains likely for spring,\" the Australian Bureau of Meteorology said in an emailed statement. While the Australian weather agency said an El Nino cannot be ruled out, it said that if the weather event does occur, it is increasingly unlikely to be a strong event.","Dutch police: Minister's death likely a crime. AMSTERDAM (AP) — Dutch police investigating the death of former health minister Els Borst — a key champion of euthanasia rights — say she was likely the victim of a crime.","Selby edges ahead in world quarter-final. Mark Selby established a slender 4-3 lead over Alan McManus in the first session of their World Championship quarter-final at the Crucible in Sheffield, northern England on Tuesday. Scottish veteran McManus, 43, fought back from two frames down to move ahead in the last-eight encounter, only for Selby to wrestle back control in the last two frames of the session. The 30-year-old, who saw off fellow former losing finalist Ali Carter 13-9 in the previous round, recorded a break of 110 in the sixth frame to level the match before moving ahead by claiming frame seven. Barry Hawkins, meanwhile, will take a 6-2 advantage over Dominic Dale into the evening session of their quarter-final.","Chile beats Australia 3-1 in World Cup. CUIABA, Brazil (AP) — Alexis Sanchez produced a dynamic performance to lead Chile to a 3-1 win over Australia in the World Cup on Friday, scoring one goal and setting up another for one of the dangerous outsiders in the tournament.","Businesses with name 'Isis' fight bad brand image. Aeran Brent is tired of visitors asking about her store's name or snapping pictures of the sign outside.","Hardline Buddhists in Myanmar, Sri Lanka strike anti-Islamist pact. By Ranga Sirilal and Shihar Aneez COLOMBO (Reuters) - A Myanmar monk accused of inciting violence against Muslims and a hardline Buddhist group in Sri Lanka said on Tuesday they would work together to rally other Buddhist groups and defend their faith against militant Islamists. Ashin Wirathu, who once called himself \"the Burmese bin Laden\" said the agreement with Sri Lanka's Bodu Bala Sena (BBS) or \"Buddhist Power Force\", was the first step in a broad alliance against conversions by Islamists in the region. ...","Quake measuring 6.3 strikes NZ's north island. SYDNEY (Reuters) - An earthquake measuring 6.3 magnitude struck New Zealand's north island on Monday, 63 km (40 miles) southeast of the town of Palmerston, the U.S. Geological Society said. The quake, at a depth of 29 km (18 miles), hit at 02.52 GMT. (Reporting by Michael Perry)","SOCHI SCENE: Don't look down. KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia (AP) — When an Olympic official offers to take you backstage at the games, you don't think twice, especially when backstage means climbing to the very top of the ski jump hill.","U.S. warns of plan to attack hotel in Nigerian business hub Lagos. The United States has warned its citizens of a plan to attack one of two Sheraton hotels near Lagos, Nigeria's main commercial hub which attracts many foreign business people and which so far has been spared by the country's violent Islamist militants. In a statement on its website, the State Department said those behind the plot were \"groups with associated with terrorism\", but gave no further details. Nigeria is grappling with an increasingly violent Islamist insurgency that has killed thousands in the past five years. Two recent bomb attacks on the edge of the capital Abuja have heightened security concerns ahead of the World Economic Forum (WEF) for Africa that will be held there between May 7-9.","Afghan who shot AP journalists said to be pious. KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Fellow officers say the Afghan police commander who killed an Associated Press photographer and wounded an AP reporter seemed a calm, pious man who may have come under the influence of Islamic extremists calling for vengeance against foreigners over drone strikes.","Chinese theaters won't hire drug-related actors. BEIJING (AP) — Performing arts associations in Beijing have pledged not to hire any actors connected with drugs, state media reported Thursday, after an actor became the latest Chinese celebrity detained in one of China's sternest crackdowns on illegal drug use in two decades.","New and old stars vie -- or team up -- for Grammys glory. Music's top stars gather Sunday for the Grammys, with artists ranging from the Beatles and veteran rapper Jay-Z to French electro duo Daft Punk and newcomers like New Zealand's Lorde up for honors. Rapper Kendrick Lamar, pop diva Taylor Swift, chart-topper Justin Timberlake and Seattle hip hop duo Macklemore & Ryan Lewis are also among those vying for prizes at music's version of the Oscars in Los Angeles.","Church of England backs fast-tracking women bishops. The Church of England could ordain its first woman bishop by the end of the year after its ruling body on Tuesday backed legislation to speed up their introduction. In a move hailed by one member as a step towards the \"Promised Land\", legislation fast-tracking the long-awaited introduction of women bishops cleared the revision stage of the Church's general synod in a meeting in London. The decision clears the way for final approval of the legislation in July and it could come into force in November. \"We have wandered round women bishops legislation for many, many years, we are now approaching the promised land and it is exciting.\"","Chile midfielder Vidal undergoes knee surgery. BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Chile midfielder Arturo Vidal underwent right knee surgery on Wednesday, five weeks before his country's first match at the World Cup.","Federer & Nadal into Monte Carlo Masters 3rd round. MONACO (AP) — Roger Federer was happier than eight-time champion Rafael Nadal after their straight-sets wins to reach the Monte Carlo Masters third round on Wednesday.","Nine Ukraine soldiers killed as rebels down helicopter: Kiev. Kiev (AFP) - Nine Ukrainian servicemen were killed on Tuesday when pro-Russian insurgents shot down an army helicopter in the separatist east just a day after a top militia leader ordered a temporary ceasefire.","South Sudan women suggest sex strike to end war. A group of South Sudanese women peace activists has suggested that men in the civil war-torn country be denied sex until they stop fighting. The suggestion emerged after around 90 women, including several members of South Sudan's parliament, met in the capital Juba this week to come up with ideas on how to \"to advance the cause of peace, healing and reconciliation\". A key suggestion was to \"mobilise all women in South Sudan to deny their husbands conjugal rights until they ensure that peace returns,\" organisers said in a statement Thursday. Other proposals included finding ways to meet the wives of President Salva Kiir and his arch-rival, rebel chief Riek Machar, to \"ask them to join the search for peace and reconciliation by impressing upon their husbands to stop the war\".","Iraq parliament makes no progress on government. BAGHDAD (AP) — Hopes for the quick formation of a new Iraqi government were dashed Tuesday when the first session of parliament failed to make progress and was forced to disband after less than two hours when minority Sunnis and Kurds walked out.","Mali rebel groups sign truce accord in Algiers. ALGIERS, Algeria (AP) — Three northern Malian rebel groups have signed an accord in Algiers pledging to work for peace through inclusive talks in Mali.","West Ham sign Argentine striker Zarate. West Ham boss Sam Allardyce made Argentinian striker Mario Zarate his first signing of the close season on Wednesday. The 27-year-old former Lazio and Birmingham forward, who had been playing for Velez Sarsfield in his native Argetina, has signed a three-year-deal with an option for an extra year. \"My reaction is that I am very happy to be at West Ham,\" Zarate said in a statement. Zarate also cited his period at Birmingham as a reason to be positive about his West Ham career.","Father of UK hostage dies after appeal to save son. LONDON (AP) — The father of a British photojournalist held by the Islamic State group has died just weeks after he appealed from his hospital bed for the militants to release his son.","Jewish children threatened on Sydney school bus. CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Dozens of Jewish children have been traumatized by a gang of teenagers who stormed a Sydney school bus and allegedly hurled racial abuse and threats.","Mixed emotions for Christians back in Syria town for Easter. Maalula (Syria) (AFP) - Residents of Maalula returned to the historic Christian town on Sunday to mark Easter, glad that the Syrian army freed it from rebel control but pained at the widespread destruction. As they strolled into the picturesque town, flanked by reporters on a government-organised tour, President Bashar al-Assad also paid a rare visit less than a week after his troops recaptured Maalula. Ruba, a Christian woman in her 20s, cast her eyes over the destruction of her one-time home and said: \"Maalula is ours again even though it is destroyed.\" One of the Middle East's oldest Christian settlements, Maalula was caught up in Syria's brutal conflict because of its strategic location in the Qalamun mountains.","Trade sanctions would hurt Russia more than the West - German minister. German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said on Sunday that the European Union was united in its readiness to impose economic sanctions on Russia if the stand-off over Ukraine escalates, and that Moscow had much more to lose than the West, \"I don't think we are divided. None of us wants to escalate, but if Russia changes things unilaterally, then it must know that we won't accept it and that relations will be bad,\" Schaeuble told German television in an interview. \"Russia has a lot more to lose in the medium term than the West, than Europe or the United States,\" he said.","Germany beats the United States 1-0 in Group G. RECIFE, Brazil (AP) — Thomas Mueller scored his fourth goal of the World Cup on Friday as Germany defeated the United States 1-0 to win Group G ahead of the Americans, who also advanced to the knockout stage of the World Cup despite losing.","Israeli military steps up Gaza offensive. GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — The Israeli military launched what could be a long-term offensive in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip on Tuesday, striking more than 100 sites and mobilizing troops for a possible ground invasion in what Israel says is an operation aimed at stopping a heavy barrage of rocket attacks.","Tottenham sign Davies, Vorm from Swansea. Tottenham made a double swoop on Premier League rivals Swansea on Wednesday when they signed left-back Ben Davies and Dutch international goalkeeper Michel Vorm. Davies has signed a five-year contract and Vorm has agreed a four-year deal while Icelandic midfielder Gylfi Sigurdsson moves to the Welsh club where he spent time on loan in 2012. Highly-rated Davies, 21, earned his first professional contract with Swansea in 2011 and has gone on to earn 10 caps for Wales.","Sierra Leone, Liberia brace for new Ebola cases. FREETOWN, Sierra Leone (AP) — Two of the West African nations hardest hit by Ebola were bracing for new caseloads on Monday after trying to outflank the outbreak with a nationwide checkup and a large new clinic.","Moroccan film follows the path of suicide bombers. RABAT, Morocco (AP) — There's a moment in the Moroccan film \"Horses of God\" when the protagonist and a friend successfully repair an old moped and cruise around the dusty alleys of the desperately poor shantytown and experience a fleeting moment of freedom.","Italy coach makes 5 changes for Six Nations match. ROME (AP) — Italy coach Jacques Brunel has made five changes ahead of Sunday's Six Nations match against France in Paris.","2nd test: Ahmed's century lifts Pakistan to 392-9. DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Sarfraz Ahmed smashed his third test century of the year and quashed New Zealand's hopes of a big lead in the second test with a record last-wicket stand for Pakistan on Thursday.","Nadal returns from wrist injury at China Open. BEIJING (AP) — Rafael Nadal says the injured right wrist that sidelined him for two months and caused him to miss the U.S. Open is feeling better and he's ready to compete again.","Taiwan searches plane wreckage for clues on crash. XIXI, Taiwan (AP) — Firefighters uncovered ID cards and body fragments as they picked through wreckage Thursday for evidence to identify the victims of a plane crash that killed 48 people on a Taiwanese island.","IMF policies criticised over Ebola outbreak. International Monetary Fund (IMF) policies left healthcare systems in the African countries worst affected by Ebola underfunded and lacking doctors, and hampered a coordinated response to the outbreak, researchers said Monday. Links between the IMF and the rapid spread of the disease were examined by researchers from Cambridge University's sociology department, with colleagues from Oxford University and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. They found IMF programmes held back the development of effective health systems in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, the three countries at the epicentre of the outbreak that has killed over 7,370 people. Reforms advocated by the IMF hampered the ability of the health systems to cope with infectious disease outbreaks and other emergencies, the researchers found.","Plotlines emerge as Premier League reaches halfway. MANCHESTER, England (AP) — The English Premier League season is approaching its halfway point and a number of storylines are beginning to take shape.","Thousands rally in support of Libya rogue general. Thousands of demonstrators rallied Friday in support of a rogue former general whose forces have launched a \"dignity\" campaign to crush jihadist militias in eastern Libya. Ex-general Khalifa Haftar has garnered growing support amid frustration at the lawlessness in Libya three years after the overthrow of dictator Moamer Kadhafi. \"Yes to dignity,\" read banners carried by demonstrators at Martyrs' Square in Tripoli. Thousands more pro-Haftar demonstrators gathered outside Tibesti Hotel in the eastern city of Benghazi, a stronghold of the Islamists, and in Baida, further east.","McIlroy reminded of 'Sweet Caroline' at rugby match. London (AFP) - World number one Rory McIlroy saw the funny side when a crowd at a rugby match sang along to 'Sweet Caroline', a teasing reference to his ex fiancee Caroline Wozniacki.","Orthodox Arab priest sacked for backing service in Israeli army. The Greek Orthodox church in the Holy land has dismissed an Israeli Arab priest who publicly supported Israeli army service for Christian Arabs, a church spokesman said Thursday. Spokesman Essa Musleh told AFP ecclesiastical authorities decided Tuesday to fire Father Gabriel Nadaf from his post in Jesus's traditional childhood town of Nazareth, but were only now making their decision public.","Senior Iran official congratulates new Iraq PM designate. DUBAI (Reuters) - The head of Iran's Supreme National Security Council on Tuesday congratulated Haider al-Abadi for his nomination as the new Iraqi prime minister, state-run al-Alam television's website reported. Iraq's president named Abadi as the new prime minister to end Nuri al-Maliki's eight-year rule on Monday, but the veteran leader refused to go after deploying militias and special forces on the streets, creating a dangerous political showdown in Baghdad. ...","Rugby Union - Carter overcomes doubts ahead of Scotland start. - All Blacks fly-half Dan Carter said he had conquered his own doubts to regain his place in the New Zealand starting line-up for the world champions' match against Scotland at Murrayfield on Saturday.","Bombs, mortar fire kill 14 people in Baghdad. Mortar fire, car bombs and gunfire killed at least 14 people and wounded 55 in Baghdad on Saturday, police and medics said. In Baquba, 65 km (40 miles) northeast of Baghdad, gunmen badly wounded a correspondent of the opposition Sharqiya TV channel. Helicopters hovered over some areas of Baghdad after the blasts as ambulance sirens wailed and security forces closed some roads, residents said. Two years after U.S. troops left Iraq, violence has climbed back to its highest levels since the Sunni-Shi'ite bloodletting of 2006-2007, when tens of thousands of people were killed.","Muslims gather in Paris to denounce IS 'barbarism'. Paris (AFP) - Hundreds of people gathered in Paris on Friday answering a call by Muslim leaders to denounce the \"barbarism\" of Islamic State militants, as flags across France flew at half mast after the beheading of a French national.","Scientists find 800,000-year-old footprints in UK. LONDON (AP) — Scientists say they have discovered human footprints in England that are at least 800,000 years old — the most ancient found outside Africa, and the earliest evidence of human life in Northern Europe.","Witnesses in UK poisoning inquiry 'could face Russian reprisals'. LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's public inquiry next year into the 2006 murder of former KGB spy Alexander Litvinenko should not be broadcast because witnesses could face reprisals from Russia, the lawyer representing London's police force said on Friday. Kremlin critic Litvinenko, 43, died after being poisoned with a radioactive isotope slipped into a cup of tea in a plush London hotel, a crime which from his death bed he blamed on Russian President Vladimir Putin. ...","Uganda uncovers 'Al-Qaeda prison plot'. Kampala (AFP) - Uganda has intercepted communications between militants in the east African nation and Al-Qaeda groups in north Africa requesting help in a planned attack on a major Kampala prison, the country's police chief has revealed.","Greek police search garbage dump for baby's body. THESSALONIKI, Greece (AP) — Police are searching a garbage dump in northern Greece for the body of a newborn baby after a woman told authorities she had given birth at home and then hid the infant in a closet for two days before dumping it in a garbage can.","At least nine dead, 30 missing in Guinea boat accident. CONAKRY (Reuters) - At least nine people are dead and another 30 are missing following a boat accident on a river in Guinea, local residents and police said. The accident occurred on Friday afternoon near the town of Contah, in the West African nation's Forecariah district, around 100 km (64 miles) southeast of the capital Conakry. \"The boat's passengers were all inside when it capsized. We have counted nine bodies and there are around 30 unaccounted for,\" Oumar Camara, a resident of Forecariah, told Reuters by phone. Eighteen people were rescued and survived, he said. ...","Change possible at top of east Ukraine rebellion signals effort to ease tensions. A native of eastern Ukraine may replace a Russian national at the helm of pro-Russian separatists, sources told Reuters, a move that could help ease tensions around the conflict after the West slapped sanctions on Russia for supporting the rebellion. Russian nationals, including the head of the \"Donetsk People's Republic\" (DNR) Aleksander Borodai, have taken top positions at the helm of the pro-Moscow separatist rebels. One source told Reuters Zakharchenko will be named as the head of the DNR \"to beef up the military wing\" of the rebellion.","Venezuela ex-general awaits U.S. extradition bid in Aruba jail. By Andrew Cawthorne CARACAS (Reuters) - A retired Venezuelan military general wanted in the United States over drug-trafficking remained in jail on the Caribbean island of Aruba over the weekend awaiting a formal extradition request, his lawyer said. Hugo Carvajal, head of military intelligence from 2004-2008 during late president Hugo Chavez's rule, was seized last week after flying to the semi-autonomous island that is part of the Netherlands. Venezuela's socialist government is calling the detention of Carvajal at Washington's behest an illegal \"kidnapping\" and has threatened reprisals if he is not released. The U.S. government put Carvajal on a blacklist in 2008, accusing him of protecting cocaine shipments from seizure by Venezuela anti-narcotics authorities and providing weapons and shelter to Colombia's FARC rebels on the border.","Rohingya relatives says thousands missing in boats en route to Malaysia. By Amy Sawitta Lefevre BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thousands of Rohingya boat people who have left Myanmar in the past month have yet to reach their destinations, say relatives and an advocacy group for the persecuted minority, raising fears their boats have been prevented from reaching shore. About 12,000 Rohingya, a mostly stateless Muslim people, have left the western Myanmar state of Rakhine since Oct. 15, said Chris Lewa of the Arakan Project, which plots migration across the Bay of Bengal. ...","Hamburger SV signs defender Ostrzolek. HAMBURG, Germany (AP) — Hamburger SV says it has signed left back Matthias Ostrzolek on a three-year contract from its Bundesliga rival Augsburg.","UN chief demands release of observers in Ukraine. UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is strongly condemning the capture of military observers in Ukraine and is demanding their immediate release \"unconditionally and unharmed.\"","BRAZIL BEAT: Chile's Pinilla gets tattoo of miss. SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) — Tattoos are painful, but this one must have hurt even more.","Ukraine security chiefs signal allegiance to protesters. KIEV (Reuters) - The heads of four Ukrainian security bodies, including the police's Berkut anti-riot units, appeared in parliament on Saturday and declared they would not take part in any conflict with the people. They represented the paratroop unit of the military, the Berkut anti-riot police, Alfa special operations unit and military intelligence. The Interior Ministry had already signaled its allegiance to anti-government protests under a new minister from the ranks of the opposition. (Reporting by Pavel Polityuk, Writing by Matt Robinson, Editing by Timothy Heritage)","UCF loses to Penn State 26-24 on last-second FG. DUBLIN (AP) — Central Florida might have found its replacement for Blake Bortles. Unfortunately, they didn't find him until the second half Saturday in a heartbreaking 26-24 loss to Penn State in Ireland.","Poroshenko says Ukraine will not give up Crimea. Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said in a combative inaugural speech on Saturday that Ukraine would not give up Crimea, the Black Sea peninsula that Russia annexed from it in March. \"Crimea was, is, and will be Ukrainian,\" Poroshenko said in an emotional address after his swearing-in. He stressed the unity of Ukraine, which is fighting a pro-Russian separatist uprising in the east, and said it would not become a federalized state as advocated by Moscow. Poroshenko also said he intended very soon to sign the economic part of an association agreement with the European Union, as a first step towards full membership.","Italy's Renzi cuts local government in first step of ambitious agenda. By Roberto Landucci ROME (Reuters) - Italy passed legislation on Thursday to eliminated wasteful layers of government at the provincial level in the initial step of Prime Minister Matteo Renzi's ambitious reform agenda. Renzi has said his bill would cut the number of elected politicians by 3,000 and save around 800 million euros annually, calling it \"a way of restoring hope and trust among our citizens\". Italy's third premier in a year and head of the 65th government since World War Two, Renzi is also pursuing an overhaul to the electoral system to end instability that has contributed to economic stagnation and corruption in politics. The lower house of parliament voted 260-158 on Thursday to eliminate the direct election of provincial governments in favor of handing over their management to officials selected by city councilors and mayors.","Lebanon clerics seek talks to end jihadist clashes. A delegation of Sunni clerics entered eastern Lebanon's Arsal Wednesday in a bid to negotiate an end to clashes between the army and jihadists who have killed and captured soldiers. Lebanon's army says at least 22 of its soldiers have gone missing in the fighting, and are assumed to be held hostage by the militants, along with an estimated 20 Lebanese policemen. The fighting has prompted Lebanon's army chief to call for more international aid, and on Tuesday night, Lebanon's former prime minister Saad Hariri announced Saudi Arabia had pledged $1 billion. Hariri, who is Lebanon's top Sunni politician but has resided overseas since the assassination of his father Rafiq Hariri, said he would be in contact with Lebanon's prime minister, cabinet and military and security apparatus.","Mugabe says no plans to seize foreign firms. Zimbabwe's veteran President Robert Mugabe on Friday tried to assure spooked foreign investors that his indigenisation policy is not about asset seizures, softening his tone amid renewed economic troubles. \"There is no expropriation or nationalisation of shares held by non-indigenous persons,\" Mugabe said at the opening of country's main trade fair in Bulawayo. Frozen out of foreign debt markets and plagued by years of political crises and international sanctions, Zimbabwe faces what the central bank has called a \"severe and persistent liquidity crunch\". Mugabe's seizure of white-owned farms and an indigenisation law introduced in 2010 that forced foreign companies to cede majority shares to Zimbabwean partners, led to an exodus of capital.","Three killed, including shooter, at UPS facility in Alabama. (Reuters) - Three people were killed, including the gunman, in a shooting on Tuesday at a United Parcel Service Inc facility in Alabama, police said. The shooting occurred at a company facility in the Inglenook neighborhood of Birmingham, said Birmingham Police Captain Jerry Wiley. (Reporting by Jonathan Kaminsky, Colleen Jenkins and Letitia Stein)","Venezuela protests heat up amid opposition rift. CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuelan security forces arrested scores of people on Wednesday during a sweep of a busy Caracas avenue as protests against the government stepped up even as a rift opened within the opposition over whether to back U.S. sanctions.","Israel leader tries to link Hamas, Iraq extremists. JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel's prime minister is trying to capitalize on the gruesome video of an American journalist's beheading by the Islamic State extremist group, saying Hamas is an equally vicious foe as he tries to rally international support in Israel's war in the Gaza Strip. But the comparisons between Hamas and Islamic State are being met with reservations by Israel's allies and enemies alike.","Train derails on Rio's Canadian iron ore line, conductor missing. MONTREAL (Reuters) - A train operated by Rio Tinto's Iron Ore Company of Canada has derailed in Quebec, and its conductor is missing, the Canadian iron ore miner said in a release on Thursday. The miner said the train had been transporting empty cars from Sept-Iles, Quebec. It owns and operates the Quebec North Shore and Labrador Railway, which links its mine to port facilities. In a separate release, the Transportation Safety Board said it was investigating the derailment. (Reporting by Allison Lampert in Montreal; Writing by Allison Martell; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)","With sales sputtering, Apple's iPad looks to IBM alliance. By Christina Farr SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Apple Inc's iPad is losing steam just four years after its release, but an alliance with International Business Machines Corp could rejuvenate a flagging product by entering into a largely untapped corporate market. Apple shipped 13.2 million iPads in the June quarter, 8 percent fewer than a year earlier and lagging Wall Street's forecast for 14 million or more. Apple helped create the tablet market in 2010 with its first iPad. Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook described iPad sales as \"very bifurcated\" - they continue to grow at 50 percent or above in emerging markets such as the Middle East and China, but in developed countries like the United States, the \"market is weaker.\" Research firm IDC lowered its forecast for 2014 worldwide tablet demand growth to 12.1 percent - a fraction of the 51.8 percent expansion of 2013.","Amid turmoil, Libya holds parliament elections. CAIRO (AP) — Libyans trickled to the polls Wednesday in elections for a new parliament, hoping to bring some degree of stability to the North African nation, where for three years since the toppling of longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi there has hardly been any central government and violent militias have run out of control.","AP Source: Cavaliers reach agreement with Blatt. CLEVELAND (AP) — The Cavaliers went outside the box, and outside the country to find their new coach.","PSG beats Reims 3-0 to move closer to league title. PARIS (AP) — Paris Saint-Germain coach Laurent Blanc rested key players and still saw his team take a step closer to a second straight French title after coasting to a 3-0 win against Reims on Saturday.","Obama captured on video working out in hotel gym. WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Like millions of gym goers, President Barack Obama grimaces while lifting weights. Like millions, he listens to his iPod while running on a treadmill. Like millions, he does lunges and curls and step ups. Unlike millions, he gets surreptitiously captured on a video.","Oscar nominee's nerves at working with legend Faithfull. Samantha Morton may have worked with Hollywood greats including Tom Cruise and Woody Allen, but the British actress admitted to being speechless with nerves before directing the video for counterculture icon Marianne Faithfull's latest song. The two-time Oscar nominee told told AFP how she had never plucked up the courage to talk to the legendary actress and singer, despite seeing her at parties, but ended up working with her on \"Falling Back\" after they appeared together at an event in London. \"It was similar to once seeing Patti Smith reciting some poetry, and I literally couldn't talk. \"When I met her (Faithfull) just before the Spotlight Salon... in her hotel room, it was a bit like meeting the Queen.","Saint-Andre confident France will rise to title test. France coach Philippe Saint-Andre backed his side to be a much improved outfit when they face Ireland in a potential Six Nations title decider in Paris. Replacement scrum-half Jean-Marc Doussain's 79th minute penalty saw France to a fortunate 19-17 win away to Scotland on Saturday. \"It will be a different game at home at the Stade de France in front of our crowd,\" Saint-Andre said. \"We need to start well and accelerate during the 80 minutes but I am sure the guys can do this,\" the former France captain added.","Israel PM defends use of troops to hit Gaza tunnels. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Friday he had ordered the military to prepare for a possible significant expansion of the ground operation against Gaza militants. In his first public remarks since the operation began late on Thursday, Netanyahu said air strikes alone could not deal a significant blow to the network of tunnels used by Hamas militants to stage cross-border attacks on southern Israel. \"Last night our forces began a ground operation to hit the terror tunnels crossing from Gaza into Israel's territory,\" he said. \"It is not possible to deal with the tunnels only from the air (so) our soldiers are doing that also on the ground.\"","Activists: Syria conflict death toll hits 150,344. BEIRUT (AP) — An activist group says the death toll in the three-year Syria's conflict has exceeded 150,000.","PSV vence 2-0 a Arnhem y sigue líder en Holanda. AMSTERDAM (AP) — Con goles en el segundo tiempo del atacante Luuk de Jong y el centrocampista Adam Maher, el PSV Eindhoven venció el domingo 2-0 al Vitesse Arnhem y quedó con el puntaje ideal de 12 puntos tras cuatro fechas en la liga holandesa de fútbol.","Iraqi general: Forces will retake western cities. BAGHDAD (AP) — A senior Iraqi military commander says it will take a few days to fully dislodge al-Qaida-linked fighters from two key western cities.","Japan PM begins Africa tour in Ivory Coast. Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe arrived Friday in Abidjan on the first stop of his Africa tour to boost ties and business relations on an continent that has become a key trading partner with China. Abe was met at the airport by Ivory Coast's President Alassane Ouattara on this first African visit by a Japanese head of government in eight years. The Japanese leader, accompanied by about 50 executives of major Japanese businesses, according to the Jiji news agency, hailed the country as a regional economic power. \"Japanese businesses have great interest\" in west Africa, a market of some 300 million people, Abe said in an interview with an Ivorian newspaper published on Friday.","Kenya bars travellers from worst-hit Ebola countries. Kenya is closing its borders to travellers from Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, the three countries worst hit by the Ebola outbreak, the government said Saturday. Kenya Airways also announced that it would suspend its flights to Freetown and Monrovia when the government travel bar on passengers comes into effect on Wednesday. Kenyan Health Minister James Macharia said the measure is also aimed at travellers who have passed through the affected countries. \"In the interest of public health the government has decided to temporarily suspend entry into Kenya of passengers travelling from or through the three West African countries affected by Ebola, namely Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia,\" he said.","Russia, U.S. agree fighting should stop near crash site in Ukraine -Russia. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and his U.S. counterpart John Kerry agreed in a phone conversation that fighting near the site where a Malaysian airliner crashed in eastern Ukraine needs to be stopped, Russia's Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday. Russia has denied supplying such a missile.","Russia, in sanctions retaliation, bars entry to some Japanese citizens. Russia's foreign ministry said on Friday it had handed Japan's ambassador in Moscow a list of Japanese citizens barred from entering Russia. The ministry said in a statement that the list was a response to visa restrictions that Japan had imposed on a number of Russian citizens. The ministry did not say which Japanese citizens are on the barred list.","Rwanda arrests three for 'offences against state security'. Police in Rwanda said Monday they had arrested three people on charges of threatening state security, among them a radio journalist and a famous peace activist musician. In a statement police said the three are accused of connections with the Rwanda National Congress (RNC), an opposition party in exile. They are also accused of \"working for some time in collaboration with the FDLR\", Rwandan Hutu rebels who include the perpetrators of the 1994 genocide in their ranks and who are based in the forests of neighbouring DR Congo. According to the police, musician Kizito Mihigo was arrested on Friday, demobilised soldier Jean Paul Dukuzumuremyi over the weekend, while Cassien Ntamuhanga, a journalist at Amazing Grace Radio who had earlier been reported missing, was taken in on Monday.","Kenya celebrates first-ever Oscars win. Nairobi (AFP) - Kenyan actress Lupita Nyong'o was hailed as a national hero on Monday for stunning Hollywood in her big-screen debut and scooping the best supporting actress Oscar for her role as an abused servant in \"12 Years A Slave.\"","Shape-shifting Dutch baffle World Cup opponents. RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — The Netherlands has come from a goal down to win three of their four World Cup matches so far thanks in part to their swift system swaps.","US charges suspect over Chinese consulate arson attack. US investigators have arrested a Chinese-born man over an arson attack on China's consulate in San Francisco which triggered strong protest from Beijing, officials and reports said. Yan Feng, 39, who lives south of the city, surrendered to police on Friday and has been charged with criminal offenses including causing damage to a diplomatic mission, said the Federal Bureau of Investigation. According to an affidavit, he \"detonated incendiary or explosive devices in the vicinity of the front entrance of the Chinese Consulate in San Francisco on January 1, causing significant property damage,\" said an FBI statement.","Special no more? Holding Korean chaebol to higher account. By Tony Munroe and Jack Kim SEOUL (Reuters) - The uproar that forced a Korean Air Lines executive to resign after delaying a flight because she was unhappy with the way nuts were served points to growing intolerance of corporate bad behavior in a country dominated by family conglomerates. Public frustration has long simmered over a culture of impunity that saw bosses of corporate groups known as chaebol often evading jail time for more serious offences. Due to poor governance and stingy dividend payouts, shares of South Korean companies trade at discounts to peers elsewhere. ...","Texas health care worker tests positive for Ebola. Washington (AFP) - A Texas health care worker who treated a man who later died of Ebola has tested positive for the disease in a preliminary test, doctors said Sunday, the second person to be diagnosed with the illness on US soil.","China says moving 2nd oil rig closer to Vietnam. BEIJING (AP) — China said Thursday it is moving a second oil rig closer to Vietnam's coast, showing its determination to press its territorial claims and continue searching for resources in disputed waters despite a tense confrontation with Vietnam over another oil rig to the south.","Russian Energy Minister says hope for gas deal with Ukraine on Tuesday: Interfax. MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said on Tuesday he hopes to finalize gas agreement during a trilateral meeting later in the day in Brussels, Interfax news agency reports. Last week, Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Ukrainian counterpart, said they reached an agreement about Russian gas supply to Ukraine for this winter. Novak is meeting Ukrainian Energy Minister Yuri Prodan and European energy commissioner Guenther Oettinger later on Tuesday to discuss the gas deal. (Reporting by Vladimir Soldatkin; Editing by Lidia Kelly)","Court: Dutch not liable for most Srebrenica deaths. THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — A court has cleared the Netherlands of liability in the deaths of the vast majority of the 8,000 Bosnian Muslims slain in the Srebrenica massacre 19 years ago, but says it has to compensate the families of more than 300 men turned over to Bosnian Serb forces and later killed.","Syria opposition calls for 'sophisticated' arms. Kuwait City (AFP) - Syria's opposition chief urged Arab leaders Tuesday to pressure the international community to supply rebels with \"sophisticated\" weapons that would tip the balance of power on the ground.","Ex-president admits Poland hosted CIA 'black sites'. Warsaw (AFP) - Poland's former president publicly acknowledged for the first time Wednesday that his country hosted a secret CIA prison where a US Senate report says torture was used against Al-Qaeda suspects.","American Airlines plans to expand economy seats with more legroom to US Airways planes. DALLAS - Since American and US Airways announced a year ago that they planned to merge, travellers have been eager to see how the airlines will resolve differences in amenities and frequent-flier programs.","UN rights office concerned over Sudan arrests. The UN human rights office expressed deep concern on Friday about the arrests of opposition figures and rights activists in Sudan. \"We're deeply concerned about a pattern of detentions and prosecutions in Sudan in recent months that appear aimed at silencing political opposition and criticism of the policies of the ruling party,\" spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani told reporters in Geneva. Sudanese security forces arrested politician Farouk Abu Issa and civil activist Amin Makki Madani last week after they joined an alliance aimed at uniting opposition to President Omar al-Bashir's regime.","N. Korea fires projectiles before Xi's Seoul visit. SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea on Wednesday fired two short-range projectiles into waters off its east coast, South Korean officials said, on the eve of Chinese President Xi Jinping's talks in Seoul expected to focus on the North's nuclear weapons program.","Australia seeks release of artist held in China. BEIJING (AP) — Australia said Tuesday it is trying to confirm reports that a Chinese-born Australian artist had been detained in Beijing ahead of the 25th anniversary of the military clampdown on the student protest centered around Beijing's Tiananmen Square, adding it would try to persuade China to release him if he is being held.","Death toll in Guinea Ebola outbreak reaches 63. CONAKRY, Guinea (AP) — Health officials in the West African nation of Guinea say the death toll from a rare Ebola outbreak has risen to 63.","Kyrgyzstan says kills 11 Uighur militants near Chinese border. Eleven people believed to be members of a militant group of ethnic Uighurs have been killed in Kyrgyzstan after illegally crossing into the former Soviet republic from China, Kyrgyz border guards said on Friday. Kyrgyzstan, a mainly Muslim nation of 5.5 million which lies on a drug trafficking route out of Afghanistan, remains volatile after popular uprisings that have deposed two presidents since 2005 and after violent ethnic clashes in its south in 2010. But its remote, ragged border with China's restive Xinjiang province - home to the ethnic Uighurs, a Turkic-speaking mainly Muslim people - has been calm. \"According to their appearance, (those killed) were Uighurs, while things found on them showed that they belonged to an organization of Uighur separatists,\" Raimberdi Duishenbiyev, acting head of Kyrgyz border guards, told a news conference.","Attack on Somali Islamist leader seen triggering power struggle. Washington believes its laser-guided attack on Monday killed Ahmed Godane, who aligned al Shabaab with al Qaeda and authorized the group's deadly raid on a Nairobi shopping mall last year. Al Shabaab, usually vocal on social media and other channels of communication, has yet to comment. With no obvious candidate to replace the man who ruled al Shabaab with an iron fist and killed off many of his rivals, experts say there is a real chance his death would trigger in-fighting or the formation of smaller, potentially more dangerous, splinter movements. \"If it is confirmed that he is in fact dead, it is a game changer in many ways for al Shabaab,\" said Abdi Aynte, director of the Heritage Institute for Policy Studies in Mogadishu.","Granada beats last-place Real Betis 1-0 in Spain. BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Granada ended a three-game losing streak by beating Real Betis 1-0 on Sunday, leaving the Spanish league's bottom dweller 10 points from safety.","Montsho fails drugs test - Commonwealth Games federation. Former world 400 metres champion Amantle Montsho has failed a drugs test at the Commonwealth Games, the Games Federation announced on Saturday. The Botswanan, who won the world title in 2011 and finished second behind Christine Ohuruogu in Berlin last year, tested positive for the banned stimulant methylhexaneamine after the final of the 400 metres in Glasgow. A statement from the Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) said: \"In accordance with the CGF anti-doping standard for the Commonwealth Games, the CGF federation court conducted a provisional hearing this afternoon to consider an adverse analytical finding submitted by Amantle Montsho of Botswana, after the women's 400 metres final on July 29.","Grim trawl for bodies at Malaysia airliner crash site. A guidebook on Bali and a children's card game lie amid the debris of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 as emergency workers pick through the grisly carnage of the vast crash site, recovering corpse after corpse. Hours after the disaster, an AFP crew at the site saw dozens of severely mutilated corpses still lying at the crash site after eyewitnesses reported seeing the plane disintegrate in mid-air.","Sri Lanka's Catholic Church urges government not to use pope's visit to help election campaign. By Ranga Sirilal and Shihar Aneez COLOMBO (Reuters) - Sri Lanka's Catholic Church has urged the government not to use a forthcoming visit by Pope Francis to help its re-election campaign after media reported posters had appeared depicting the pontiff blessing President Mahinda Rajapaksa. Rajapaksa is seeking an unprecedented third term in a snap poll on Jan. 8, just days before the pope is due to visit Sri Lanka. ...","India 87-1 chasing 407 vs. NZ in 1st test. AUCKLAND, New Zealand (AP) — India was 87-1 in its second innings chasing 407 for victory at stumps on the third day of the first test against New Zealand at Eden Park:","Canadian labor productivity rises 1.0 percent in fourth quarter. March 7 - (Reuters) Canadian labor productivity rose by a higher-than-expected 1.0 percent in the fourth quarter of 2013, the highest growth rate since the first quarter of 2010, Statistics Canada said on Friday. The increase in productivity, which measures real gross domestic product per hour worked, surpassed the 0.7 percent productivity gain by U.S. businesses in the same period. Output of Canadian businesses expanded by 0.7 percent in the fourth quarter while hours worked fell 0.2 percent, Statscan said. Analyst surveyed by Reuters had forecast on average a 0.5 percent increase in labor productivity in the fourth quarter of 2013.","Somalia, AU troops close in on key Shebab base. Somali government forces supported by African Union troops took control of a key southern town on Saturday as they closed in on a major bastion of Al-Qaeda-linked Shebab rebels, officials and witnesses said. Barawe is situated between the capital Mogadishu, seat of Somalia's internationally-backed government, and the southern port city of Kismayo, which is controlled by Kenyan AMISOM troops. \"The national army with the support of the AMISOM peacekeepers defeated the Al-Qaida affiliated militants in the lower Shabele region, today we have taken control of Qoryoley and we are moving onto other major towns where the militants are still harassing people,\" Colonel Mohamed Amey of the Somali army told AFP. Local resident Mohamed Adan confirmed that Shebab pulled out of the town after heavy fighting with Somali and AMISOM troops.","5 newspapers suspended in Ivory Coast. ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast (AP) — Five Ivory Coast newspapers whose publications have been temporarily suspended are denouncing the measure.","Noriega sent to Panama hospital for routine exams. PANAMA CITY, Panama (AP) — Panama authorities say imprisoned former dictator Manuel Noriega has been taken to a Panama City hospital for tests.","South Africa's new visa rules spark outcry. Strict new South African immigration laws have sparked confusion and panic among foreign residents in this \"Gateway to Africa\" and forced 250,000 Zimbabweans to decide whether to return home. Walk down most streets in Johannesburg and you will hear accents and languages from across this vast African continent. Builders by the roadside waiting for work chatter away in the sweet sing-song rhythm of African Portuguese, waiters stand and gossip between orders employing the rolling Rs and whistles that mark out Shona, a language of Zimbabwe and southern Zambia. Congolese, Somalis, Nigerians, Mozambicans and above all Zimbabweans, flock to the \"City of Gold\" in search of their own little slice of the riches of the Highveld, as the surrounding region is known.","Iraq bombings kill at least 26. Baghdad (AFP) - Bombings in and around Baghdad, including a suicide attack, killed at least 26 people and wounded dozens Thursday, police and medical sources said.","UK: work to recover US bodies after copter crash. LONDON (AP) — Authorities in England cordoned off flooded marshes Wednesday to remove the bodies of four U.S. Air Force crewmen killed in a helicopter crash.","Obama says some foreign countries critical of the NSA privately rely on its data, spy on US. WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama says some of the foreign governments most loudly criticizing the National Security Agency's spying programs are relying on the data themselves.","Far right set to surge in French local elections. France goes to the polls on Sunday in the first round of local elections set to represent a landmark for women in politics and, possibly, the far-right National Front. The first nationwide vote since Francois Hollande's 2012 election as president takes place with the ruling Socialists battling record unpopularity and the main opposition UMP party grappling with scandals embroiling former president Nicolas Sarkozy. Against that backdrop, polls have suggested around one in four voters are considering casting their votes for Marine Le Pen's National Front (FN), setting the scene for what could be a breakthrough election for the anti-immigration, anti-EU party led by the daughter of its founder, Jean-Marie Le Pen.","Israeli tanks shelling Gaza rehab hospital: director. Israeli tanks are shelling Gaza's Al-Wafa hospital, whose 14 patients include some who are paralysed or in a coma, and several people have been hurt, the facility's director said Thursday. \"Israeli tanks are shelling the hospital, they have hit several of the floors, and several nurses have been injured,\" director Basman Alashi told AFP. The hospital in Gaza's Shejaiya district has come under Israeli fire several times before, and the Israeli military has called on Alashi and other doctors to evacuate it. \"There is no place safe in Gaza! If a hospital is not safe, where is?\" he said.","Woody Allen responds to Dylan Farrow's molestation claim in open letter. LOS ANGELES, Calif. - Woody Allen is again denying he molested adoptive daughter Dylan Farrow and is calling ex-partner Mia Farrow vindictive, spiteful and malevolent in an open letter published online Friday by The New York Times.","Car bombs target Egyptian, UAE embassies in Libya. TRIPOLI, Libya (AP) — Car bombs went off outside the Egyptian and United Arab Emirates embassies in the Libyan capital on Thursday, causing some damage to the long-shuttered buildings but no casualties, officials said.","Al-Jazeera Gaza office evacuated after gunshots. TV channel Al-Jazeera evacuated its bureau in Gaza when it came under fire on Tuesday, the Qatar-based network said. Two warning shots were fired at the 11-storey Jalaa building in central Gaza City, housing local and international media as well as private apartments, an AFP correspondent reported. \"Two very precise shots were fired straight into our building,\" said Al-Jazeera reporter in Gaza Stefanie Dekker, according to the channel's English-language website. The empty missiles were directed at Al-Jazeera's office, prompting journalists, along with a number of families who had sought refuge there from Sunday's fighting in Shejaiya, to leave.","Two foreign nationals shot dead in central Somalia. Mogadishu (AFP) - Two foreign nationals were shot dead on Monday at an airport in Galkaio, central Somalia, officials and witnesses said.","Nicaragua to try 3 men for stealing 2 bananas. MANAGUA, Nicaragua (AP) — A court's decision to hold three men for trial for the attempted theft of two bananas is drawing surprise and ridicule from lawyers in Nicaragua.","Venezuela leader rallies socialists at first post-Chavez congress. By Andrew Cawthorne CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuela's ruling Socialist Party began a six-day congress on Saturday with President Nicolas Maduro seeking to fire up militants and quell dissidents who say he is failing to fix the economy or end graft. It was the party's third congress since formation in 2008, but the first without its charismatic founder, former president Hugo Chavez who died last year of cancer after ruling the South American OPEC nation for 14 years.","German abducted by suspected extremists in Nigeria. LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) — A German development worker and two children of a Muslim cleric have been kidnapped this week by suspected Islamic extremists in northeastern Nigeria and neighboring Cameroon, according to a Nigerian police spokesman and Cameroon state radio.","Cyprus: Striking power workers scuffle with police. NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) — Angry electricity authority workers in Cyprus pelted parliament with fruit and rocks during a strike Monday to protest government plans to privatize the state-run organization.","Brookfield Asset Management cash flow drops, but dividend hiked. TORONTO (Reuters) - Brookfield Asset Management said on Wednesday its cash flow slumped 29 percent in the first quarter due to a decline in realized gains from asset sales, but the result beat estimates and the company raised its dividend by 7 percent. Funds from operation (FFO), a measure of cash flow for real estate management companies, fell to $492 million, or 72 cents per share, from $689 million, or C$1.03 per share, a year earlier, the Canadian property, power and infrastructure investor said. Analysts had expected FFO of 55 cents a share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. ...","NHL Panthers seek new coach, won't keep Hornacek. Peter Hornacek will not be retained as coach of the Florida Panthers after serving the National Hockey League club on an interim basis since November, the club announced Tuesday. Horachek took over after Kevin Dineen was fired following 13 losses in his first 16 games of the 2013-2014 campaign. Hornacek guided the Panthers to a season mark of 26-36-4 over the final 66 games, the Panthers finishing as the second-worst team in the Eastern Conference.","Russian sailors leaving French port without warship. PARIS (AP) — Russian sailors are leaving a French Atlantic port without the French-made warship they were supposed to take home.","Philippine army warned against 'meddling' as coup rumors swirl. Philippine soldiers should keep clear of politics, the military's new chief said on Wednesday, as rumors of a possible coup swirled in the capital after the Supreme Court declared President Benigno Aquino's economic stimulus fund illegal. Last month, rumors sprang up of a plot against the Aquino administration because of the fund scandal. \"We should be reminded that as members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, we should remain professional and non-partisan,\" military chief Lieutenant-General Pio Gregorio Catapang told troops at an air base in Pampanga province, north of Manila. \"We should not meddle (but) concentrate on our mission.\" Aquino, the only son of the country's democracy icon, former president Corazon Aquino, is facing the biggest challenge to his four-year rule after his popularity ratings dropped to the lowest levels last month.","Nordic combined athletes set for 1st gold at Sochi. KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia (AP) — Nordic combined athletes at the Sochi Olympics — the last male-only bastion of the Winter Games now that women jumpers have joined the men on the ski hill — hold their first gold medal event on Wednesday, the individual Gundersen normal hill.","Syrian novelist hurts for his country's bloodbath. BEIRUT (AP) — Sitting in a cafe in downtown Beirut, Syrian novelist Khaled Khalifa's thoughts keep wandering back to his home and favorite place in the world, the northern city of Aleppo, much of which now lies in ruins, demolished by civil war.","Tennis-Australian Open order of play on Sunday. MELBOURNE, Jan 25 (Reuters) - Order of play on the main showcourt at the Australian Open on Sunday (prefix denotes seeding): - - Rod Laver Arena 0500 GMT Mixed doubles final Kristina Mladenovic (France) and Daniel Nestor (Canada) v 6-Sania Mirza (India) and Horia Tecau (Romania) - - Not before 0830 GMT Men's singles final 1-Rafa Nadal (Spain) v 8-Stanislas Wawrinka (Switzerland) - - (Compiled by Nick Mulvenney; Editing by John O'Brien)","Sinai blast kills 11 Egypt policemen: security official. Eleven Egyptian policemen were killed when a roadside bomb blast struck their armoured vehicle in the restive Sinai Peninsula on Tuesday, security officials said. Islamist militants have claimed a string of attacks that have killed scores of policemen and soldiers, mostly in north Sinai, since the army overthrew president Mohamed Morsi in July last year. Egypt's military has sought to quell the militants in a massive operation that has killed scores of extremists and netted some of their leaders. The main militant group, Ansar Beit al-Maqdis, has acknowledged the loss of some of its leaders, but has continued to attack both the security forces and Bedouin suspected of collaborating with them.","Obama spoke with Merkel about Ukraine: White House. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama spoke with German Chancellor Angela Merkel by phone on Thursday about the situation in Ukraine, the White House National Security Council said. The White House said it would provide details about the call later. (Reporting by Mark Felsenthal; Editing by Eric Beech)","France arrests former Egyptian finance minister on Interpol warrant. Former Egyptian finance minister Youssef Boutros Ghali was arrested in France this week on an international warrant over corruption charges from his time in Hosni Mubarak's government, the French foreign ministry said on Tuesday. Boutros Ghali was sentenced in absentia to 30 years in prison for corruption and abuse of power following the uprising that unseated Mubarak in 2011. The Egyptian state press agency Mena reported that Ghali had been arrested on Monday upon arrival in Paris from London. \"We confirm the arrest on April 14 of Youssef Boutros Ghali following a request by Interpol,\" a foreign ministry spokesman said, without providing any further details.","Pistorius trial: Judge begins reading verdict. PRETORIA, South Africa (AP) — The judge in the Oscar Pistorius murder trial on Thursday read the reasoning behind her upcoming verdict on whether the double-amputee athlete intentionally killed girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp.","Crimea prepares for referendum under heavy military presence. By Aleksandar Vasovic and Mike Collett-White SIMFEROPOL, Ukraine (Reuters) - Pro-Russian leaders in Crimea made final preparations on Saturday for a referendum widely expected to transfer control of the Black Sea peninsula from Ukraine to Moscow, despite the threat of sanctions and condemnation from Western governments. Sunday's vote, dismissed by Kiev as illegal, has triggered the worst East-West crisis since the Cold War, and ratcheted up tensions not only in Crimea but also eastern Ukraine, where two people were killed in clashes late on Friday. The streets of the Crimean capital of Simferopol were calm on Saturday, despite a heavy military presence incongruous with the normally sleepy town. Crimean Prime Minister Sergei Aksyonov, whose election in a closed session of the regional parliament is not recognized by Kiev, said there were enough security personnel to ensure that Sunday's vote would be safe.","Israel to remove disputed footbridge in Jerusalem. JERUSALEM (AP) — A senior Israeli official says Israel has agreed to dismantle a wooden footbridge at a Jerusalem holy site that is at the heart of a key Mideast dispute, following an appeal from Jordan.","US teens to stand trial in Australian player death. DUNCAN, Okla. (AP) — A judge says two teenagers charged with first-degree murder must face a trial in the shooting death of an Australian baseball player. Prosecutors say a third suspect will testify against them.","Late Firmino goal helps Brazil beat Austria 2-1. VIENNA (AP) — Brazil midfielder Roberto Firmino scored his first international goal in the 83rd minute to help his team beat Austria 2-1 in a friendly on Tuesday.","River Thames breaches its banks near London. LONDON (AP) — The River Thames has burst its banks after reaching its highest level in years, flooding riverside towns upstream of London.","Cruise ship passenger lost overboard off Sydney. SYDNEY (AP) — An air search is underway for an 84-year-old passenger who has gone overboard from a cruise ship east of Sydney.","Iran: OPEC decision not good for all members but won't protest. DUBAI (Reuters) - OPEC's decision to retain its production ceiling is not beneficial to all OPEC member states, but Iran has refrained from protesting to maintain group solidarity, Iranian oil ministry news agency Shana reported the oil minister as saying.","Asian Games to open 'Gangnam Style'. Incheon (South Korea) (AFP) - \"Gangnam Style\" singer Psy will headline the Incheon Asian Games opening ceremony Friday as one of the world's biggest sports events kicks off in a blaze of music and colour.","Algeria's Bouteflika offers reforms to skeptical opposition. By Lamine Chikhi ALGIERS (Reuters) - Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, newly re-elected despite suffering a stroke last year, has proposed a raft of reforms including setting a two-term presidential limit and delegating more authority to the prime minister, a government source said on Thursday. Bouteflika, 77, won last month's election to secure his fourth five-year term, despite his opponents' arguments that his fragile health undermined his ability to govern. Analysts said the proposed reforms may be aimed at easing worries over a potential transition should Bouteflika become unable to finish his new term. The government source said the 47 proposed amendments included lifting controls on the media and giving parliament more ability to question government officials.","Malaysian Prime Minister to make 'significant announcement' on MH17. KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak is due to make a \"significant announcement\" about Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 around midnight Kuala Lumpur time (1600 GMT), according to officials in the country. No other details were immediately available. The Boeing 777-200ER, which was on a scheduled flight from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur with 298 passengers and crew, was shot down over Ukraine on 17 July. There were no survivors. (Reporting By Siva Govindasamy; editing by Mike Collett-White)","Obama says U.S. not interested in threatening Russia. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama said on Tuesday the United States was not interested in threatening Moscow but cautioned that it would take a lot of time to rebuild trust after Russia's intervention in Ukraine. Obama, speaking at a press conference in Poland, said more sanctions were being prepared against Russia if the West continued to see it engaged in activities that were destabilizing to Ukraine. (Reporting by Roberta Rampton and Jeff Mason; Editing by John Stonestreet)","US expected to announce sanctions against Russia. WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. and its allies in Europe are expected to announce sanctions against Russia, including visa bans and potential asset freezes, on Monday, one day after Crimea's vote to secede from Ukraine and join Russia.","TransAlta to build power station for Australian power plant. (Reuters) - Canadian power company TransAlta Corp has agreed to build a A$570 million ($535.97 million) gas power station in South Hedland, Western Australia. The 150-megawatt gas power station is expected to be in service by 2017, creating about 250 jobs during construction and 20 jobs when in full operation. ($1 = 1.0635 Australian Dollars) (Reporting by Sneha Banerjee in Bangalore)","Omission of Bobby Ryan was not the toughest U.S. Olympic decision. ANN ARBOR, Mich. - Bobby Ryan's exclusion from the U.S. Olympic hockey team has sparked plenty of debate given his scoring output since he entered the NHL.","Russian ties, trade lie behind EU sanctions rift. By Robin Emmott BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Germany and Italy have most to lose if the European Union makes good on its threat to impose harsher sanctions on Moscow, while Britain's overseas territories are soaking up the lion's share of capital streaming out of Russia. The picture emerging from United Nations and European Union data shows the impact of restricting trade with Russia would be far from even, with Germany dwarfing others' exposure and those urging sanctions loudest, such as Sweden, having less at stake. Wary of antagonizing its main gas supplier, the EU has used travel bans and asset freezes so far in reaction to Russia's annexation of Crimea and support for separatists in Ukraine.","US struggles to find new options for Syria. WASHINGTON (AP) — With peace talks failing, Syria's government on the offensive and moderate rebels pushed aside by al-Qaida-linked militants, the Obama administration is struggling for new ideas to halt a savage civil war.","Iraq: 15 killed in bombings in and around Baghdad. BAGHDAD (AP) — Police and hospital officials say three attacks in and around Baghdad have killed 15 people, including 10 soldiers and policemen, and injured nearly 40.","Clashes between rival militias in Libya kill 47. CAIRO (AP) — Clashes between rival Libyan militias fighting for control of the capital's international airport killed 47 people over the last week, Libya's Health Ministry said, as violence in an eastern city killed five.","Factbox: Fractured mosaic of North Africa's militant groups. ALGIERS (Reuters) - Egyptian security officials have offered military training to pro-government forces in Libya, citing what they said was a growing regional threat from Islamist militants. North Africa is one of the main sources of jihadi fighters traveling to Syria and Iraq. Several splinter groups have declared their alliance with Islamic State, while the main group, Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb has urged jihadists to put aside their differences and call a halt to infighting in Iraq and Syria. Here are the main Islamist militant organizations operating in North Africa and the Sahel. ...","Trio given first England callups as rebuild begins. LONDON (AP) — England has handed maiden callups to Moeen Ali, Stephen Parry and Harry Gurney as the rebuilding process begins.","Tunisia's Jomaa, technocrat PM tasked with ending crisis. Tunisian premier-designate Mehdi Jomaa, tasked with forming an interim government of technocrats and overseeing fresh elections, is a political newcomer who faces mounting social grievances and the persistent threat of Islamist violence. He was picked on December 14 as the consensus candidate to head the caretaker administration and resolve Tunisia's festering political crisis, nearly three years after the uprising that toppled former strongman Zine El Abidine Ben Ali. The little-known former industry minister has since avoided making any public statements or appearances, with Tunisia's political climate dogged by mistrust between the ruling Islamist party Ennahda and the mainly secular opposition. Unemployment and regional inequality were driving factors behind the revolution that unseated Ben Ali, inspiring protests across the Middle East and North Africa that toppled leaders in Egypt, Libya and Yemen.","Australian swim star Huegill apologises after drugs charge. Former Olympic swimmer Geoff Huegill apologised Tuesday after being charged with cocaine possession as he faced a professional backlash. The two-time Olympic medallist and his wife were allegedly found with the illegal drug during a police raid on a glamorous horseracing event in Sydney on Saturday. \"Some people feel that they have been let down and I deeply apologise for that,\" the 35-year-old told the Nine Network. Huegill, an inspirational figure in Australian swimming after a comeback from retirement in which he shed a whopping 45 kilograms over 18 months to win gold at the 2010 Commonwealth Games, is due to face court on May 14.","Ukraine: Opposition say 3 protesters dead. KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — A lawmaker for a Ukrainian opposition party and a coordinator for the protesters' medical team say three protesters have died in clashes with police outside the parliament building in central Kiev.","Puerto Rico Senate seeks to broadcast hearings. SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Puerto Rico's Senate has approved a measure that would allow public hearings being held at the island's Capitol to be broadcast live through the Internet.","Initial report on Ukraine plane disaster Tuesday. THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — Dutch authorities investigating the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 over eastern Ukraine say they will publish a preliminary report next Tuesday into the disaster that killed all 298 people on board.","DR Congo ex-rebels found in Uganda refugee camp. Around 1,000 ex-fighters from a Democratic Republic of Congo rebel group were found in a Ugandan refugee camp Wednesday, a day after fleeing moves to repatriate them, the Ugandan army said. The ex-rebels from the M23 group fled the Bihanga camp 300 kilometres (190 miles) southwest of Kampala on Tuesday, as the Ugandan army attempted to repatriate some of the group. Ugandan army spokesman Paddy Ankunda told AFP that around 1,000 ex-rebels were in the nearby Rwamwanja refugee camp, run by the UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), on Wednesday.","UN says ready to get aid into Syria despite gov't. UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The United Nations secretary-general says the U.N. is poised to help get long-awaited humanitarian aid across borders into Syria even at crossings outside government control, in defiance of Damascus' insistence that all aid go through its authorities.","Teen survivors haunted by S. Korean ferry sinking. ANSAN, South Korea (AP) — South Korean teenagers who survived April's ferry sinking say they are still haunted by the disaster that killed dozens of their friends.","UK buyer's 'Chagall' nude may be burned as fake. LONDON (AP) — A British collector may see an expensive painting burned because a French committee has determined it is not an authentic work by Marc Chagall.","Libyan Haftar forces seek Benghazi port's closure to cut off arms to Islamists. TRIPOLI (Reuters) - Forces loyal to retired Libyan general Khalifa Haftar in Benghazi threatened to bomb the eastern city's port unless authorities there closed it to cut off arms supplies to Islamists, a senior commander said on Monday. Haftar's forces are fighting Islamist groups including Ansar al-Sharia for control of the port city, which is the main entry point for wheat and other food imports into eastern Libya. (Reporting by Ayman al-Warfalli; Writing by Ulf Laessing, editing by John Stonestreet)","Insight: Lowball bid comes back to haunt Panama Canal expansion. By Lomi Kriel and Sonya Dowsett PANAMA CITY/MADRID (Reuters) - A bitter dispute between the Panama Canal and a Spanish-led consortium of construction companies over the spiraling cost of expanding one of the world's busiest waterways was years in the making. The two sides are at odds over who should pay for $1.6 billion in cost overruns to build a third set of locks for the canal, the main part of the expansion of the 50-mile cargo route that connects the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. The impasse over the 100-year-old waterway could delay construction, which aims to double the canal's shipping capacity and bring in billions of dollars in new revenue for Panama. Reuters interviews with people involved in the 2009 bidding for the contract, local officials and leaked diplomatic cables reveal their concerns that the Grupo Unidos por El Canal (GUPC) consortium would not be able to finish the job with a bid that was $1 billion lower than its nearest rival.","Italy scorns Indian decision to try marines with anti-piracy law. Rome harshly criticised an Indian decision to try two Italian marines accused of killing two fisherman under an anti-piracy and anti-terrorism act, in a case that has strained relations between the two countries. Massimiliano Latorre and Salvatore Girone, part of a military security team protecting a cargo ship off the coast of the southern state of Kerala, say they thought the fishermen were pirates and fired shots to warn them off in February 2012. In India, supporters of harsh penalties for the marines have marched on the streets, while in Rome the lights illuminating the Colosseum were turned off last year in a protest demanding the two be allowed to return home. On Friday, India's attorney general said the Italians would be tried under an anti-piracy and anti-terrorism act that provides for capital punishment, but that death sentences would be excluded as a possible penalty.","Sinn Fein leader arrested over 1972 IRA killing. BELFAST, Northern Ireland (AP) — Northern Ireland police say they have arrested Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams on suspicion of involvement in the Irish Republican Army's 1972 abduction, killing and secret burial of a Belfast widow.","Burkina official: Plane wreckage found in Mali. OUAGADOUGO, Burkina Faso (AP) — The wreckage of the Air Algeria plane that went missing Thursday has been found about 50 kilometers (31 miles) from the border of Burkina Faso near the village of Boulikessi in Mali, a presidential aide said.","UN: Nations hide rise in private digital snooping. GENEVA (AP) — The United Nations' top human rights official says her office sees strong evidence that governments on every continent are hiding their increasing reliance on private companies to snoop on citizens' digital lives.","Vietnam marks 'historic, golden' Dien Bien Phu victory. Dien Bien Phu (Vietnam) (AFP) - War veterans, communist leaders and diplomats gathered in Vietnam's Dien Bien Phu town Wednesday for an event to mark the 60th anniversary of the country's seminal victory over French colonial forces. The bloody, 56-day battle in this remote, northwestern valley ended on May 7, 1954, precipitating both the collapse of France's colonial empire and Vietnam's emergence as an independent nation. \"Dien Bien Phu was a victory for all the people of Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia,\" as it ended French dominance in Indochina, said President Truong Tan Sang at a colourful ceremony featuring marching bands, flower-bedecked military floats and regiments of goose-stepping soldiers.","Roads resemble parking lots after snowfall in Little Rock, Ark. By Suzi Parker Little Rock, Arkansas (Reuters) - Abandoned cars littered roads in Little Rock, Arkansas on Saturday, after heavy snowfall the night before turned thoroughfares into hazardous slalom courses and led motorists to leave their vehicles behind, police said. At the same time, residents of Pennsylvania were coping with the aftermath of wintry weather from earlier in the week that has left nearly 150,000 homes and businesses still without power in the southeast part of the state. Little Rock had two to four inches of snowfall in two hours on Friday night, according to the National Weather Service. Little Rock police said they received reports of more than 100 accidents, and some streets resembled parking lots.","Ex-British Guantanamo inmate says CIA \"torture\" report won't help. By Michael Holden LONDON (Reuters) - A former British inmate of Guantanamo Bay said CIA \"torture\" of terrorism suspects, detailed in a U.S. Senate report on Tuesday, had fueled violence and the rise of Islamic State and that cataloguing it wouldn't help. Moazzam Begg also said the release of the report, which included graphic details of \"enhanced interrogation\" techniques used by the Central Intelligence Agency, would do nothing to assuage anger about such actions across the Muslim world. \"I don't think it will be teaching us anything we didn't already know,\" Begg told Reuters. ...","What to know about Spanish league this weekend. BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Cristiano Ronaldo is on a goal-scoring tear, Lionel Messi has become Barcelona's best playmaker, and Valencia is leading the Spanish league for the first time in three years.","Finns give reindeer fluorescent antler makeovers. HELSINKI (AP) — Rudolph the reindeer is having a glittering antler makeover — the latest attempt to halt some of the thousands of road deaths of the roaming caribou in the wilds of Finland.","New Zealand raises interest rate to 2.75 percent. WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — In another sign the world economy is finally picking up steam after five years of recession and anemic growth, New Zealand on Thursday embarked on a series of interest rate hikes.","China says hopes Japan stays on 'path of peace' with new minister. BEIJING (Reuters) - China hopes that Japan continues down the \"path of peace\", the defense ministry said on Thursday, in Beijing's first direct reaction to the appointment of a new Japanese defense minister who has a desire for a stronger pre-emptive strike capability. \"We believe that no matter who leads the Japanese defense ministry, the Japanese side ought to uphold walking down the path of peace ... and make efforts to promote the development and improvement in bilateral ties,\" ministry spokesman Yang Yujun told a monthly news briefing. ...","Ex-broadcaster Hall to be sentenced. Veteran former BBC TV and radio presenter Stuart Hall will appear for sentencing at Preston Crown Court on Friday after being found guilty of one count of indecent assault and pleading guilty to another. Hall, 84, is serving his sentence for earlier sexual offences, but was last week cleared of 15 other charges of rape and four other indecent assaults at the end of his second trial.","Owen Farrell ready to put Lions loyalties aside. Bagshot (United Kingdom) (AFP) - Owen Farrell insists the fact he will be up against several former British and Irish Lions team-mates will not distract him from the task at hand when England face Wales in the Six Nations at Twickenham on Sunday. Fly-half Farrell is the only member of the England line-up who featured during last year's 2-1 series win in Australia for the combined side, who were coached by Wales boss Warren Gatland. By contrast, the Welsh starting XV includes 12 Lions from that trip 'Down Under'. \"When the game kicks off, it's just another game,\" said Farrell at England's Bagshot training base, south-west of London, ahead of a match that sees his side biding for a Triple Crown against two-time defending Six Nations champions Wales.","North Korea issues its latest nuclear threat. SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea issued its latest nuclear threat on Saturday, two days after South Korea's defense minister said Pyongyang was making final preparations to conduct its fourth nuclear test.","Moody's raises Egypt's outlook to stable. CAIRO (AP) — Moody's Investor Services said Egypt's political and security situation has stabilized, raising the country's outlook from negative to stable.","No title for Liverpool this term - Rodgers. Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers has said the club's long wait to add to its collection of English titles will have to wait for another season. Sunday's 1-1 draw against West Bromwich Albion left Liverpool eight points behind leaders Arsenal ahead of their match against the Gunners at Anfield this weekend. Liverpool's immediate priority is to maintain a top four position that will see them qualify for next season's Champions League. But Merseyside rivals Everton are just a point behind Liverpool, with Tottenham Hotspur two adrift of the Reds.","BlackBerry announces new phones, services. BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — BlackBerry says it will release a new phone in Indonesia in April, and it will make a phone that restores a beloved row of control keys with a trackpad.","Maoists kill 14 in India poll-related violence. Raipur (India) (AFP) - Maoist rebels killed 14 people in two poll-related blasts Saturday in an insurgency-hit region of central India, police said, highlighting the major security challenges faced in staging the nation's marathon general elections. Seven polling officials died when Maoists blew up their bus in the state of Chhattisgarh, senior police officer Gurjinder Pal Singh told AFP. Five security men who were carrying out an election safety sweep and who hitched a ride in an ambulance were killed in another landmine blast. \"The security men had been securing the area for polling teams to travel,\" Singh said.","Kerry cites frank cyberhacking talks with China. BEIJING (AP) — China and the United States on Thursday promised closer cooperation on climate change and North Korea, although China warned the U.S. not to take sides on its maritime disputes with Asian neighbors.","Man jailed for groping woman on US flight. NEWARK, New Jersey (AP) — A man who admitted that he groped a sleeping woman aboard a flight from Houston to New Jersey has been sentenced to eight months in prison.","Huge queues for commuters as Beijing steps up subway security. Tens of thousands of Beijing commuters are being forced to queue for up to an hour morning and night by stepped-up subway station security imposed this week after several deadly attacks and ahead of the June 4 Tiananmen crackdown anniversary. China's capital is already notoriously crowded, with a population of 20 million people, and lines outside some stations stretched for dozens of metres at rush hour. Beijing has long had hundreds of X-ray machines and security staff stationed at subway station entrances to check passengers' personal belongings, part of a series of measures imposed ahead of the 2008 Olympic Games and never withdrawn. June 4 marks 25 years since the 1989 crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in Tiananmen Square, one of China's most politically sensitive anniversaries, and authorities routinely clamp down on any attempts to commemorate it publicly.","Austria's Hirscher, Fenninger sweep at WCup Finals. LENZERHEIDE, Switzerland (AP) — The powerful Austria team justified its reputation Sunday with Austrian prodigies Marcel Hirscher and Anna Fenninger sweeping the last races and titles, in slalom and giant slalom, respectively.","Spectre of settlers' return looms over West Bank neighbourhood. Hebron (Palestinian Territories) (AFP) - Before they were evicted, the Israeli settlers threw bottles of urine, attacked children and poisoned a horse, according to Palestinian residents in Hebron- who now fear their former neighbours will return. When Israeli soldiers evicted the settlers in 2008 and took over the Rajabi building in the West Bank city -- which is still home to hundreds of radical Israeli settlers -- even the daily drag of inspections seemed civilised by comparison. But the nightmare looks set to resume for Palestinians living near here and another flashpoint property called the Abu Rajab house, both of which have been claimed by settlers in the heart of the tense city considered holy by both Jews and Muslims. The settlers were forced out of the Abu Rajab house last year, but Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recently ordered they be allowed back in after a soldier was shot dead by a Palestinian sniper.","Portugal top court rejects motion to free ex-PM in graft case. LISBON (Reuters) - Portugal's supreme court rejected on Wednesday a request for former prime minister Jose Socrates to be freed from prison after his arrest for suspected tax fraud and corruption, offences he has denied committing. He is the first Portuguese ex-premier to be detained since Portugal became a democracy 40 years ago, as prosecutors and judges intensify a campaign against corruption in a country notorious for its snail-paced justice system. ...","Argentina's Congress approves $5B Repsol indemnity. BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — Argentina is hoping to have an easier time attracting international investors to exploit its oil and gas fields now that lawmakers have agreed to pay $5 billion to the Spanish company Grupo Repsol for its controlling stake in the YPF oil company.","Ukraine dismisses defense minister over Crimea. Ukraine's acting defense minister was dismissed on Tuesday over his handling of Russia's annexation of Crimea, after it emerged that less than a quarter of soldiers on the peninsula planned to stay in the Ukrainian military. Ihor Tenyukh, appointed a month ago under an interim government that took power after the overthrow of President Viktor Yanukovich, offered his resignation in a speech to parliament following criticism of the way Ukraine pulled its military out of Crimea. Lawmakers initially rejected the offer but, after consultations between party faction leaders and parliament speaker and acting Ukrainian president Oleksander Turchinov, voted to remove him. Critics said Tenyukh should have been quicker to order the pullout from Crimea, which began on Monday, to better safeguard Ukrainian servicemen, many of whom were trapped in their bases surrounded by Russian soldiers and local militiamen.","Mexican police shoot, wound German student. MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexican police have shot and wounded a German university student in a confused series of events.","Egypt convicts 26 over Suez Canal terror plot. CAIRO (AP) — An Egyptian court convicted 26 people Wednesday of forming a terrorist group to launch an attack on the country's vital Suez Canal waterway, with almost all receiving death sentences in absentia.","3 rescuers killed when helicopter crashes in Spain. MADRID (AP) — Authorities say three policemen have died after their rescue helicopter clipped a mountainside and crashed during a mission in northern Spain, killing all aboard.","Suicide bomber attacks U.N. base in northern Mali, killing one. BAMAKO (Reuters) - A U.N. peacekeeper was killed and five others injured, two seriously, in a suicide attack on a patrol base in northern Mali, the U.N. peacekeeping mission (MINUSMA) said on Saturday. A vehicle exploded on Saturday morning next to the base in the village of Ber, about 60 kilometers east of the desert city of Timbuktu, the statement said. (Reporting by Adama Diarra; Writing by Emma Farge; Editing by Erica Billingham)","Former Cargill beef plant worker fined by Canadian court. WINNIPEG Manitoba (Reuters) - A former worker at Cargill Ltd's High River, Alberta beef plant has been fined for tampering with wastewater samples that were required by the Canadian province of Alberta, its government said on Wednesday. Cargill Ltd, the Canadian division of the privately held U.S. company, was required by Alberta to study the plant's wastewater, and limit the amount of phosphorus discharged into a nearby lake. Phosphorus can deplete oxygen needed to support aquatic life. ...","Japan stocks soar 5 percent, yen falls on stimulus. SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Japan's stock index surged 5 percent and the yen slid against the dollar Friday after the Bank of Japan unexpectedly announced new stimulus to boost a flagging economic recovery.","Qatar Airways completes move to new Doha airport. DOHA, Qatar (AP) — Qatar Airways has moved all of its operations to a new multi-billion dollar airport in its capital of Doha.","Syrian rebels give al-Qaida rivals ultimatum. BEIRUT (AP) — Activists say Islamic rebels fighting in Syria have given their rivals from an al-Qaida-linked group 24 hours to surrender.","Israeli military: soldier killed in Gaza operation. JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel's military says a soldier has been killed in a ground operation in the Gaza Strip. The circumstances of his death were not immediately clear.","Oleg Tinkov's 1 million euro challenge 'no joke'. PARIS (AP) — Russian billionaire Oleg Tinkov says his 1 million euro challenge is \"no joke\" and will help develop cycling's popularity.","Russia says EU blocked Van Rompuy trip, EU denies visit planned. Russia accused the European Union on Wednesday of cancelling a visit to Moscow by European Council President Herman Van Rompuy because his allies did not want to find out \"the truth\" about the Ukraine crisis. A senior EU official in Brussels denied Van Rompuy had been planning to go to Moscow even though Russian news agencies said on Tuesday evening that he would arrive on Wednesday. The Russian Foreign Ministry said Van Rompuy had volunteered to travel to Moscow to hear Russia's view on the crisis over Ukraine, whose Crimea region has voted to join Russia, but was prevented from doing so by other EU officials.","Singer Cliff Richard denies sex crime after police search. Veteran singer Cliff Richard on Thursday strongly denied allegations of sexual impropriety after police investigating an historic claim of abuse against a boy searched one of his properties. Richard was not present when police officers searched his apartment in a gated community in the village of Sunningdale, Berkshire, southern England. \"A search warrant was granted after police received an allegation of a sexual nature dating back to the 1980s involving a boy who was under the age of 16 at the time,\" said a spokesman for South Yorkshire Police.","Tougher Russia sanctions would mean tough choices for Obama. By Warren Strobel, Matt Spetalnick and Patricia Zengerle WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Despite levying six rounds of increasingly tough economic sanctions against Russia for its actions in Ukraine, President Barack Obama has left two rich targets untouched: Moscow's natural gas export behemoth and its main weapons exporter. Financial warfare against Gazprom or Rosoboronexport could invite Russian retaliation against U.S. European allies and negative consequences for Washington - highlighting the dilemmas Obama faces as he weighs how to respond to the shoot-down of a Malaysian airliner over eastern Ukraine on Thursday. \"The problem is that there are really limits on what Obama can do,\" said Matthew Rojansky, a Russia expert at the Wilson Center think tank in Washington.","Li Na beats Bouchard, reaches her third Australian Open final. MELBOURNE, Australia - Li Na has her third and probably best chance to win the Australian Open final after advancing with a 6-2, 6-4 win over 19-year-old Canadian Eugenie Bouchard.","Pulver has no idea on Wallaby coaching replacement. BRISBANE, Australia (AP) — Australian Rugby Union chief Bill Pulver says he has no idea who's available to coach the Wallabies following Ewen McKenzie's surprise decision to announce his resignation after Saturday's Bledisloe Cup match.","Central bank expectations lift dollar; Wall St. hits record. By Chuck Mikolajczak NEW YORK (Reuters) - The dollar reached multi-year highs against both the yen and euro on Monday, adding to gains built on the Bank of Japan's surprising stimulus announcement from last week, but equity markets slipped after weak data out of China and Europe. U.S. stocks were little changed, as investors paused after a sharp rally on Friday and ahead of U.S. elections on Tuesday, although economic data pointed to a slowly strengthening economy. The modest gains pushed the S&P 500 to a fresh record of 2,024.46. ...","Spanish priest with Ebola flown back to Madrid. MADRID (AP) — A Spanish priest who was diagnosed with the Ebola virus while working in Sierra Leone has been flown back to Spain and taken to a Madrid hospital.","World Bank trims Asia growth outlook, urges reform. BANGKOK (AP) — The World Bank has trimmed its growth forecast for developing East Asian economies this year to 6.9 percent and urged governments to improve conditions for investment and exports.","S.Korean soldier who allegedly killed 5 surrounded. SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — The parents of a runaway South Korean soldier holed up in a forest after allegedly killing five comrades near the North Korean border pleaded with him to surrender Monday as the military tightened a cordon meant to capture him alive.","Mother told kidnapped US daughter to tell police. SANTA ANA, California (AP) — A woman kidnapped 10 years ago recently reunited with her mother, who convinced her to go to authorities in California after telling her she tried to find her, police said Thursday.","Guinea-Bissau calls elections for April 13. Guinea-Bissau on Friday announced April 13 presidential and parliamentary elections to end a period of political instability which began with a coup two years ago. The date had already been announced by military chiefs from the ECOWAS bloc of west African nations at a meeting in Bissau on Wednesday but a presidential decree seen by AFP represented the first official confirmation. \"The general election in Guinea-Bissau will take place on April 13 2014,\" it said. Soumaila Bakayoko, chairman of the ECOWAS Committee of Chiefs of Defence Staff, told reporters on Wednesday the bloc would send extra troops to bolster its current deployment of 750 \"to ensure security for all during the elections to be held on April 13\".","Honda CEO says to prioritize quality over sales target. TOKYO (Reuters) - Honda Motor Co's CEO said he would prioritize quality improvements over the company's target of selling 6 million cars in the year starting April 2016, as the automaker recalls millions of cars to fix potentially defective air bags. Concerns about potentially defective air bags made by Takata Corp have led to recalls of millions of cars by 10 automakers in the United States, mainly Honda. ...","Holcomb, Zubkov expected to battle for 4-man title. KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia (AP) — Alexander Zubkov won't travel alone in his drive toward possible Olympic history. He'll carry three large teammates crammed inside his bobsled — and the weight of a nation.","Malaysia says spent $8.6 million on search for MH370. By Trinna Leong KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Malaysia has spent a total of 27.6 million ringgit ($8.6 million) so far on the search for the missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370, authorities said on Monday, giving a specific cost figure for the first time. \"The figure of 27.6 million ringgit was only the sum spent by Malaysian agencies, we do not know how much other countries spent,\" Department of Civil Aviation chief Azharuddin Abdul Rahman told a news conference, saying he was unsure of the cost breakdown. The search for MH370, which disappeared carrying 239 passengers and crew on March 8, is already set to be the most costly in aviation history and spending will rise significantly as the search expands to a wider swathe of the Indian Ocean off Australia. Azharuddin said Malaysian officials would travel to Australia on Tuesday and China later this week to discuss the latest analysis of satellite and other data being used to refine the new search area.","New videos of Toronto mayor emerges. TORONTO (AP) — A new video of Mayor Rob Ford emerged Tuesday that shows him swearing and slurring his words while apparently trying to imitate a Jamaican accent.","No. 1 Scott seeks wet weekend for Open fightback. Pinehurst (United States) (AFP) - After scrambling back to level par at the US Open, world number one Adam Scott still finds himself 10 shots behind leader Martin Kaymer and hoping for a wet weekend. The 2013 Masters champion from Australia fired a three-under-par 67 on Friday to stand on level par 140 after 36 holes at Pinehurst. But after Germany's Kaymer opened with back-to-back 65s to match the best 36-hole start in major golf history and set a new standard for the first two rounds of a US Open, Scott was searching for some weekend rain to ease scoring conditions on the typically treacherous Pinehurst tract. Scott, whose best finish in 12 US Open starts was a share of 15th two years ago, needed birdies at the third and fifth holes, his 12th and 14th holes of the day, to fight his way back to par and put himself within reach of a weekend fightback.","At least 50 dead in weekend unrest in C. Africa: ICRC. Bangui (Central African Republic) (AFP) - At least 50 people have been killed in a fresh wave of sectarian violence in the north-west of the Central African Republic over the weekend, the International Committee for the Red Cross said Sunday.","BRAZIL BEAT: More German animal oracles make picks. BERLIN (AP) — Germany is awash in animal oracles.","Venus Williams reaches 2nd round at French Open. PARIS (AP) — Venus Williams advanced to the second round of the French Open by beating Belinda Bencic of Switzerland 6-4, 6-1 Sunday.","Three Russian flags flying at Ukrainian naval base in Crimea-witness. Three Russian flags were flying at one of the entrances to Ukraine's naval headquarters in the Crimean port of Sevastopol on Wednesday, suggesting that at least some of the base was under the control of pro-Russian forces.","Nigeria can handle Boko Haram, part of 'raw democracy', says minister. By Pascal Fletcher ABUJA (Reuters) - Nigeria is preparing a special development plan for its poor, violence-hit northeast and increasing spending to counter an Islamist revolt there that could dent growth in Africa's No. 1 oil producer if it worsens, the country's finance minister said. Finance Minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala told Reuters that although the impact of the five-year Boko Haram insurgency had cut half a percentage point off Nigeria's GDP last year, she believed it could be contained and insisted the country was not facing a wider conflict as it heads for elections next year. \"There is no war ... there is an insurgency,\" Okonjo-Iweala said in an interview conducted on Sunday in her car in Abuja as she headed to the airport to fly to New York. Okonjo-Iweala said Boko Haram, who have raided schools, churches, government offices and security posts in their fight to carve out an Islamist enclave, mostly affected around 5 percent of the nation's territory, the northeast states of Borno, Yobe and Adamawa.","Czechs tied 1-1 with Netherlands in Davis Cup. OSTRAVA, Czech Republic (AP) — The Czech Republic leveled its Davis Cup World Group tie with the Netherlands at 1-1 on Friday after Tomas Berdych swept aside Igor Sijsling in the opening singles.","China's Xi ramps up military spending in face of worried region. By Michael Martina and Greg Torode BEIJING/HONG KONG (Reuters) - China announced its biggest rise in military spending in three years on Wednesday, a strong signal from President Xi Jinping that Beijing is not about to back away from its growing assertiveness in Asia, especially in disputed waters. The government said it would increase the defense budget by 12.2 percent this year to 808.23 billion yuan ($131.57 billion), as China seeks to develop more high-tech weapons and to beef up coastal and air defenses. \"This is worrying news for China's neighbors, particularly for Japan,\" said Rory Medcalf, a regional security analyst at the independent Lowy Institute in Sydney. The 2014 defense budget is the first for Xi, a so-called princeling - or a son of a late Communist Party elder - and the increase in spending appears to reflect his desire to build what he calls a strong, rejuvenated China.","Thai Airways expects further losses due to political unrest. BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thai Airways International Pcl said on Thursday it could post further losses in the second and third quarters, hit by falling passenger numbers as a result of political unrest in the country. \"The second quarter is the low season and we have been severely affected by the politics. We are still worried about the situation in the third quarter, given the political uncertainty,\" Chairman Prajin Juntong told reporters after a board meeting. He was speaking just before the airline reported its fourth successive loss in the first quarter. ...","Colombian admits importing tons of coke into US. NEW YORK (AP) — A Colombian described by authorities as one of the biggest cocaine dealers in history pleaded guilty Thursday to a drug trafficking charge, admitting that he imported hundreds of tons of cocaine into the United States.","US, Canadian jets intercept 8 Russian aircraft. COLORADO SPRINGS, Colorado (AP) — Authorities say two F-22 fighter jets intercepted six Russian military airplanes that neared the western coast of Alaska.","Long makes Southampton his 3rd club in 2014. SOUTHAMPTON, England (AP) — Ireland striker Shane Long has made Southampton his third different club in 2014 after signing from Hull for a reported fee of 12 million pounds ($20 million).","Top Asian News at 11:00 a.m. GMT. BEIJING (AP) — China said Friday it reached agreement with Japan to ramp up high-level contacts, the strongest indication yet of a possible meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at next week's Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit. China's Foreign Ministry said the two sides agreed to \"gradually resume political, diplomatic and security dialogues.\" China froze high-level contacts more than two years ago amid a dispute over uninhabited East China Sea islands and other contentious issues.","Yemen's Qaeda urges worldwide Muslim support of IS. Dubai (AFP) - Al-Qaeda's Yemen-based franchise on Friday urged Muslims worldwide to support Islamic State group jihadists in Syria and Iraq in the face of attacks by a US-led military coalition.","British footballer convicted of rape out of jail. LONDON (AP) — A former Premier League player who was convicted of rape has been released from jail amid a national debate about whether he should be allowed to play professionally again.","U.S. fourth-quarter growth raised to 2.6 percent. U.S. economic growth was a bit faster than previously estimated in the fourth quarter, displaying underlying strength that could bolster views that the slowdown in activity early in the year would be temporary. Gross domestic product expanded at a 2.6 percent annual rate, the Commerce Department said on Thursday, up from the 2.4 percent pace it reported last month. The revision reflected a stronger pace of consumer spending than previously estimated. Economists polled by Reuters had expected fourth-quarter GDP growth would be raised to a 2.7 percent rate.","Modi says al Qaeda will fail in India: CNN. NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said al Qaeda will struggle to recruit members in the world's second-most populous nation and he praised Indian Muslims for their commitment to fight for the country. Al Qaeda announced the formation of its first wing dedicated to waging jihad in South Asia earlier this month. A few days later it claimed responsibility for hijacking a Pakistani naval ship. ...","Pastore scores solo goal as PSG beats Chelsea 3-1. PARIS (AP) — Paris Saint-Germain took advantage of sloppy defending to beat Chelsea 3-1 in the first leg of their Champions League quarterfinal on Wednesday, with substitute Javier Pastore capping the win with a brilliant goal in stoppage time.","Exclusive: Small miners set to dust off drill rigs in 2014 - Reuters survey. By Allison Martell and Euan Rocha TORONTO (Reuters) - A large majority of the small Canadian-listed mining companies that help drive global mineral exploration expect to drill this year after a grim period of hibernation for many cash-strapped explorers, according to a Reuters survey. Although money has begun to trickle back, the cost of drilling is down and the price of gold is up from last year's painful lows, hopes for the sector have been muted at best. More than three quarters of the Toronto Stock Exchange and TSX Venture-listed miners and explorers that participated in the survey said they expected to have a drilling program at some point in the coming 12 months, while fewer than six in 10 said they had drilled in the previous 12 months. \"This is the best time to drill, the drilling contractors are very cheap,\" said George Topping, chief executive of Venture-listed explorer Wolfden Resources Corp .","Costa Ricans celebrate historic World Cup win. SAN JOSE, Costa Rica (AP) — From the beaches to the capital, Costa Ricans poured into the streets Sunday to celebrate the national team's historic World Cup victory over Greece that will put the team in the quarterfinals for the first time.","Police 'like' wanted US suspect's Facebook post, capture him after he shares 'wanted' photo. FREELAND, Pa. - Police in one Pennsylvania town really \"liked\" this Facebook post.","Private U.S. report accuses another Chinese military unit of hacking. By Joseph Menn SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - A private U.S. cybersecurity company on Monday accused a unit of China’s military of conducting far-reaching hacking operations to advance the country’s satellite and aerospace programs. Security company CrowdStrike said Shanghai-based unit 61486 of the People's Liberation Army 12th bureau has attacked networks of Western government agencies and defense contractors since 2007. CrowdStrike said the hacking targeted the U.S. space, aerospace and communications sectors. ...","Russia agrees to international monitors in Ukraine. VIENNA (AP) — Russia on Friday accepted the deployment of an international monitoring team to Ukraine that officials said will have free access to regions throughout the country.","Ukraine president, protest leaders agree on truce. KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — The office of Ukraine's embattled president says he and leaders of the country's raging protests have called for a truce.","Global warming threat heightened in latest U.N. report. Global warming poses a mounting threat to the health, economic prospects, and food and water sources of billions of people, a report by top scientists said, in a call for urgent action to counter the effects of carbon emissions. The latest report from the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), places an emphasis on the risks and may make the case for cutting greenhouse gas emissions clearer both to policymakers and the public by placing it in the category of an insurance policy for the planet. \"Climate change is really a challenge of managing risks,\" Christopher Field, co-chair of the IPCC group preparing the report, told Reuters before its release on Monday. \"One critical way is in decreasing the amount of climate change that occurs, and the other is finding a way to cope as effectively as we can with the climate changes that can't be avoided,\" Field said.","Time trial stage underway at Tour de France. BERGERAC, France (AP) — Riders are setting off one-by-one in the Tour de France's Stage 20 time trial, with two places on the final podium beneath yellow-jersey holder Vincenzo Nibali up for grabs.","Tablet maker DataWind plans to raise about C$30 million in IPO. By Euan Rocha TORONTO (Reuters) - DataWind Inc plans to raise about C$30 million ($27.41 million) via an initial public offering on the Toronto Stock Exchange that will value the discount tablet maker at about C$117 million, according to documents filed with regulators on Wednesday. Mississauga, Ontario-based DataWind has grabbed headlines in recent years as the maker of the world's cheapest tablet device, UbiSlate that was initially developed as a budget device for the Indian market. In documents filed with Canadian securities regulators on Wednesday, DataWind said it plans to sell between 5.2 million and 6.3 million shares, at a price of between C$4.75 and C$5.75 a share. Based on the mid-point of the offering size and price range the IPO is expect to raise about C$30 million, and up to C$34.5 million if the book-runners exercise the over-allotment options on the offering.","Lebanon says it won't accept more Syrian refugees. BEIRUT (AP) — The Lebanese government says the tiny Mediterranean country will not accept any more Syrian refugees except for what authorities deem to be \"exceptional\" cases.","Spain loses 1st qualifier in 8 years, England wins. While England left nothing to doubt, Spain is in a conundrum after it lost its first qualifier in eight years in European Championship qualifying on Thursday.","Mother, 6 kids die in Philippine refugee tent fire. MANILA, Philippines (AP) — An overnight fire razed a tent used as a temporary shelter by survivors of Typhoon Haiyan, killing a woman and all six of her children, including a 4-month-old girl, officials in a central Philippine city devastated by the massive storm said Thursday.","Stanley Ho's SJM makes fresh start with new Macau casino. By Farah Master MACAU (Reuters) - Macau gambling kingpin Stanley Ho helped put the former Portuguese colony on the map 40 years ago with the fluorescent, onion-shaped Casino Lisboa. Now, the pioneer of old Macau is creating a new landmark - a $3.9 billion resort that will be one of the final projects to open on China's booming Las Vegas-style Cotai strip. The 92-year-old Ho, through privately held company Sociedade de Turismo e Diversões de Macau (STDM), presided over much of Macau's development as a casino city, shielded by a four-decade monopoly on gambling until 2001 when the door was opened for U.S. casino moguls Sheldon Adelson and Steve Wynn. Even so, Ho's 17 Macau casinos still rake in the most revenue each year.","Bouchard gives Canada a Slam finalist at Wimbledon. LONDON (AP) — Eugenie Bouchard could have lost her focus after the fourth game of her Wimbledon semifinal Thursday, when play was delayed for five minutes during Simona Halep's medical timeout for a left ankle injury.","Suspected Islamists 'attack churches near Nigeria's Chibok'. Suspected Boko Haram Islamists armed with explosives attacked a series of churches on Sunday near Chibok, the northeastern town where more than 200 teenage girls were kidnapped in April, witnesses said. Residents said dozens of people may have been killed in the raids on villages roughly 10 kilometres, (six miles) outside of Chibok, but no one was able to offer an authoritative death toll and the military was not immediately available to comment. \"The attackers went to churches with bombs and guns,\" Timothy James, a Chibok resident said by phone. Enoch Mark, an outspoken Chibok leader since the April 14 kidnappings, gave a similar account, telling AFP in Lagos, \"presently, as we are talking now, we are under attack\".","Paraguay asks guerrillas to surrender. ASUNCION, Paraguay (AP) — Paraguay's military is asking a guerrilla group that operates in the country's north to surrender.","Despite economic fears, EU sanctions Russia again. BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union on Thursday slapped more sanctions on Russia for helping separatists destabilize Ukraine, limiting Russia's access to its financial market, hitting the country's vital oil industry, curbing high-tech exports and targeting more officials with travel bans and asset freezes.","Nigeria to free 167 held in Boko Haram raids. Nigeria's military on Friday confirmed that it was to release 167 people who were detained as part of counter-insurgency operations against Boko Haram militants in three northeast states. Defence spokesman Chris Olukolade said the suspects were to be freed after a directive from the presidency following their recommendation for release in December last year. A total of 157 people would be released from military facilities in Borno, nine from Yobe and one from Adamawa, he added. Nigeria announced on December 4 that 500 of the nearly 1,400 people who were arrested in security operations between July and September last year should be put on trial for terror offences.","Mercedes set for hat trick of F1 wins at Bahrain. MANAMA, Bahrain (AP) — The switch from a steamy Malaysia to a night race amid the sands of Bahrain is unlikely to be enough of a shift to prevent Mercedes this weekend from a hat trick of victories to open the Formula One season.","Revolution, turmoil change Egypt's pop culture scene. CAIRO - Egypt's dizzying ride over the past three years since the toppling of autocratic Hosni Mubarak has not only shaken up the country's politics. It has revolutionized its pop culture scene, from language to music and art, bringing in a vibe of rebellion and voices from the urban poor.","Merkel reiterates no new borrowing for investments. BERLIN (Reuters) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Tuesday the situation in the euro zone was still extremely fragile but reiterated that Europe's biggest economy would not borrow more to boost investment. \"The economy in the euro zone has not developed as we would have wished. This is partly down to internal factors but .. there are also some geopolitical reasons,\" she said in a speech to Germany's employers association. \"Investment is needed but not with new borrowing,\" she said. (Reporting by Madeline Chambers and Erik Kirschbaum)","New Zealand's election-day gag: no public politics. WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — A heated campaign has been running for weeks in New Zealand, but when people go to the polls Saturday, there will be no discussion of the election in the newspapers, on Twitter or even in song.","5 Australia players to watch at the World Cup. SYDNEY (AP) — Australia will be returning for its third consecutive World Cup with its toughest assignment to date — Group B matches against defending champion Spain, 2010 finalist Netherlands and Chile.","Ruling that may allow Iraq PM Maliki to retain post problematic: official. A decision by Iraq's highest court that could pave the way for Shi'ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki to serve a third term is \"very problematic\", said a senior Iraqi official. \"This will make the situation very, very complex,\" said the official, who asked not to be named due to sectarian sensitivities in Iraq. Critics say Maliki is a sectarian and authoritarian ruler who can be compared to Saddam Hussein, the man he plotted against from exile for years. Iraq's federal court ruled that Maliki's State of Law bloc is the biggest in parliament, obliging the president to ask Maliki to form a new government in Iraq, which faces a major threat from Islamic State Sunni insurgents and widespread sectarian bloodshed.","Two killed as Egyptian tribal clash resumes. Two people were killed on Sunday when tribal clashes flared for a third day in the southern city of Aswan, security sources said. At least 25 people have now been killed in the violence between members of the city's two big tribes, the Nubian and the Arab Beni Helal clans. The prime minister and interior minister travelled to Aswan on Saturday afternoon to try to quell the tension as residents demanded an end to the bloodshed. Nubian clan members blocked a main street with burning car tires on Sunday, and members of the Beni Helal tribe set ablaze carts on another main road, witnesses said.","Australia retains Women's World Twenty20 title. MIRPUR, Bangladesh (AP) — Australia put up an impressive all-round display to defeat England in the final by six wickets for a third consecutive title at the Women's World Twenty20 on Sunday.","Exclusive: SEC contacted investment companies with Russian exposure - sources. By Sarah N. Lynch Washington (Reuters) - U.S. securities regulators contacted public funds with investments in Russia to make sure they are properly managing risks and disclosing their holdings to investors as political tensions rose over Crimea, according to several people familiar with the matter. Attorneys with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission started to place calls to registered investment companies such as mutual funds and exchange-traded funds more than a week ago, the sources said. The calls are a routine part of how the SEC monitors asset managers through its Division of Investment Management, and are not related to any investigation. But they come during a period of turbulence for Russian stocks, which have been volatile since March 3 when mounting tensions with Ukraine over the Crimean Peninsula sent Russia's benchmark stock index tumbling 12 percent.","China calls on Manila to meet it halfway on fishing rules. China called on the Philippines on Friday to meet it halfway on new Chinese fishing rules in the disputed South China Sea, adding that Beijing was always willing to make efforts to resolve such issues via talks. China imposed fishing restrictions from the beginning of year, requiring foreign fishing vessels to obtain approval before entering the waters. Claims by an increasingly powerful China over most of the energy-rich South China Sea have set it directly against Vietnam and U.S. ally the Philippines. Brunei, Taiwan and Malaysia also claim parts of the waters and China has a separate dispute with Japan in the East China Sea.","Malaysian military says missing jet changed course. KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — The Malaysian military says it has radar evidence showing the missing Boeing 777 jetliner changed course and made it to the Malacca Strait, hundreds of kilometers (miles) away from the last location reported by civilian authorities.","Russian trains, planes move army away from Ukraine. MOSCOW (AP) — Russia's Defense Ministry says it already has sent several trains carrying weapons and planeloads of troops out of the regions near Ukraine.","Schalke extends Atsuto Uchida's contract. GELSENKIRCHEN, Germany (AP) — Schalke has extended the contract of Japan defender Atsuto Uchida by three years until 2018.","Plushenko extends Russia's lead in team event. SOCHI, Russia (AP) — Evgeni Plushenko won the men's free skate Sunday to increase Russia's lead in the new team event at the Sochi Olympics.","Iraq's Maliki to revive Sunni militia role against al Qaeda. By Suadad al-Salhy and Alistair Lyon BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, in a striking change of course, is embracing the Sunni Muslim tribal fighters whose role in combating al Qaeda he had allowed to wither after U.S. troops left two years ago. Al Qaeda-linked militants, feeding off widespread Sunni resentment at perceived mistreatment by his Shi'ite-led government, swept into the cities of Falluja and Ramadi two weeks ago in an embarrassing setback to Maliki. Maliki has used al Qaeda's resurgence to muster foreign support for his government, which has otherwise disappointed the United States and allies by moving close to Iran and its failure to forge consensus with the once-dominant Sunni minority. \"We are happy that the whole world stood by us in an unprecedented way,\" the 63-year-old Maliki, who has been in office since 2006, told Reuters on Sunday.","Israeli minister airs Iran nuclear concerns at Pentagon. Jerusalem (AFP) - Israeli Defence Minister Moshe Yaalon said Tuesday he shared with his US counterpart his country's concerns about the direction of talks between world powers and Iran on its nuclear programme.","India's BJP opposition party heading for majority: opinion poll. By Shyamantha Asokan NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India's Hindu nationalist BJP opposition party and its allies are set to win a narrow majority in the world's largest democratic election, the latest opinion poll showed on Monday. The Bharatiya Janata Party, led by prime-ministerial hopeful Narendra Modi, and its allies have until now been forecast to win the largest chunk of the 543 parliamentary seats but fall short of the 272-seat mark needed for a majority. That would force them to seek a coalition with some of India's increasingly powerful regional parties. But a poll for the private news channel NDTV showed the BJP and its allies winning a narrow majority of 275 seats.","CEO: Malaysia Airlines needs radical change. KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Malaysia Airlines' CEO says business has picked up four months after its passenger jet disappeared, but the flag carrier needs a radical operational overhaul in order to survive.","UN Security Council to meet Sunday on Ukraine. UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N. Security Council has called an emergency meeting at Russia's request to discuss the growing crisis in Ukraine.","Drought-stricken California agencies seek 'water cops'. Hosing down a driveway in drought-stricken California could soon mean a visit from the \"water cops,\" as agencies throughout the state begin beefing up staff to enforce strict new conservation rules set to take effect next month. The water district serving the state's Silicon Valley tech hub is considering spending half a million dollars on enforcement agents. Los Angeles' water utility said it would also be hiring more people to investigate reports that residents are wasting water. \"Our members are up to their ears in reports that people are wasting water,\" said Marty Grimes, a spokesman for the Santa Clara County Water District, which sells water to public utilities and municipalities in Silicon Valley.","UK's Hague, Prince Charles warn of wildlife crisis. LONDON (AP) — British Foreign Secretary William Hague says the illegal wildlife trade has become a global criminal industry that ranks with drugs and arms and people trafficking.","U.S., Ukraine to join international military drill in Bulgaria. SOFIA (Reuters) - U.S. and Ukrainian troops will take part in military drills with about 700 soldiers from 10 other countries at a shooting range in central Bulgaria, the Defence Ministry said on Thursday. The two-week military exercise at the Novo Selo training facility starts on Friday. It was planned before the standoff between the West and Moscow over Russia's annexation of Crimea, defence officials said. It follows joint exercises by U.S., Romanian and Bulgarian naval forces in the Black Sea that aimed to show U.S. resolve to support NATO allies. ...","Journalists in court over phone hacking scandal. Two former News of the World journalists appeared at Westminster Magistrates' Court on Thursday over allegations of phone hacking. Ex-deputy editor Neil Wallis and features editor Jules Stenson are accused of participating in a conspiracy to hack voicemails with other former colleagues including Andy Coulson. Officers first detained Wallis in July 2011 under Operation Weeting, the main phone hacking investigation but he was informed in February 2013 that no further action would be taken due to lack of evidence. Former News of the World editor and Downing Street communications chief Coulson was jailed in July for 18 months after a lengthy phone hacking trial.","Rising Russian tensions put lonely NATO base in Poland on map. By Erik Kirschbaum SZCZECIN Poland (Reuters) - There are no boots on the ground at NATO's only headquarters behind the former Iron Curtain -- just some top brass sitting at desks with maps on the walls. In fact, the alliance's lonely outpost at Szczecin in western Poland has created such a tiny footprint over the past 15 years that barely anyone noticed it even existed. But it is about to get an upgrade in response to what NATO sees as Russia's aggression in Ukraine. ...","Iraq: Signs emerge of reprisal sectarian killings. BAGHDAD (AP) — Signs emerged Tuesday of a reprisal sectarian slaughter of Sunnis in Iraq, as police said pro-government Shiite militiamen killed nearly four dozen detainees after insurgents tried to storm a jail and free them northeast of Baghdad.","Bomb blast kills 15 at funeral in Iraq. BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraqi officials say 15 people have been killed and more than two dozen have been wounded in a bomb attack on a funeral in the central city of Baqouba.","Branson pushes on with spaceship plan despite crash. Space tourism venture Virgin Galactic on Tuesday said it was pressing ahead with plans to build a second model of the SpaceShipTwo which crashed in the Mojave Desert last week. \"While this has been a tragic setback, we are moving forward and will do so deliberately and with determination,\" the company founded by British billionaire Richard Branson said in a statement. One pilot of the spaceship, Michael Alsbury, was killed in the crash on Friday. The other, Pete Siebold, survived.","Brazil orders fugitive Irish lawyer extradited. DUBLIN (AP) — Brazil's Supreme Court has approved an Irish extradition warrant for a fugitive lawyer wanted on charges of committing massive loan fraud.","Clash over development plans leaves 8 dead in Guatemala. Guatemala City (AFP) - Eight indigenous people have died in a village west of the capital after a clash that saw residents turn guns on their neighbors over plans to build a road and a cement plant.","AJC Delegation Concludes Visit to Australia. SYDNEY, Oct. 31, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- An AJC senior leadership delegation has concluded a five-day mission to Australia. The visit included stops in Melbourne, Canberra, and Sydney.Earlier, the group traveled to Japan, Indonesia, and Singapore.The program in Australia was coordinated with AJC's longstanding partner organization, AIJAC, led by its executive director, Dr. Colin Rubenstein.The visit to Canberra was highlighted by a private meeting with Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott. ...","Prominent Libyan activist abducted amid clashes. CAIRO (AP) — Armed men abducted a well-known Libyan political activist in the country's capital, his father said Friday, the latest in rampant attacks that have targeted officials, activists and foreigners in the strife-torn nation.","Thousands rally for Libya ex-general in Tripoli, Benghazi. Thousands rallied Friday in Libya's two main cities to a rogue general who has been pressing an offensive against jihadist militias in the east of the country for two weeks. The crowds chanted slogans criticising new Prime Minister Ahmed Miitig, whose cabinet is already mired in a political standoff with its predecessor. Khalifa Haftar, head of the so-called National Army, launched his assault on Islamist militias in the eastern city of Benghazi on May 16, and has won the support of units from the regular army and air force, as well as some militias who fought to oust dictator Moamer Kadhafi in 2011. In Benghazi, hundreds of people gathered outside the Tibesti Hotel, where they chanted slogans in support of Haftar's offensive and against terrorism.","U.S. scientists to map interior of Mount St. Helens volcano. By Victoria Cavaliere SEATTLE (Reuters) - A series of explosions set off by a team of scientists were expected to rattle Washington state's Mount St. Helens on Wednesday as researchers map the interior of the volcano, whose 1980 eruption was the deadliest in U.S. history. Mount St. Helens, about 95 miles (150 km) south of Seattle and 50 miles (80 km) north of Portland, erupted in an explosion of hot ash in May 1980, spewing debris over a wide area, killing 57 people and causing more than a billion dollars in damage. Scientists from across the United States are trying to get a better handle on the magma stores and internal workings of the 8,300-foot (2,530-meter) volcano to improve warning systems prior to eruption. \"Mount St. Helens and other volcanoes in the Cascade Range threaten urban centers from Vancouver to Portland,\" lead scientist Alan Levander of Rice University in Houston said in a statement.","Late to the party, Obama seeks bigger U.S. Africa role. By Aaron Maasho and Pascal Fletcher CAMP LEMONNIER Djibouti/JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Ask Major-General Wayne W. Grigsby Jr., the top U.S. military officer in Africa, how he thinks U.S. and European-backed African troops are faring in their war on Islamist militants in Somalia, and his answer comes back smartly: \"Pretty darn good!\". The Aug. 4-6 U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit, billed by U.S. officials as a first-of-its-kind event, looks like a belated imitation of Africa gatherings hosted in recent years by China, India, Japan and the continent's former colonial master Europe.","Dollar rebounds on U.S. election, Asian shares fall. By Lisa Twaronite TOKYO (Reuters) - The dollar and U.S. stock futures pushed higher on Wednesday after Republicans scored a sweeping victory in U.S. mid-term elections, while Asian shares wilted and oil prices extended losses after more soft economic data from China. Financial spreadbetters expected the equities gloom to lift in early European trade, predicting Britain's FTSE 100 and France's CAC 40 would open up as much as 0.7 percent, with Germany's DAX seen up as much as 0. ...","Iraqi army bombards Falluja in preparation for ground assault. The Iraqi army intensified its shelling of Falluja on Sunday in preparation for a ground assault to regain control over the city, which has been under the control of militants for a month. Mostly Sunni Muslim anti-government fighters, among them insurgents linked to al Qaeda, overran Falluja in the Sunni-dominated western province of Anbar on January 1, against a backdrop of deteriorating security across Iraq. Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, whose Shi'ite-led government many in the Sunni minority accuse of discrimination, had held off an all-out offensive to give local tribesmen a chance to expel the militants themselves. But security officials told Reuters on Saturday that a decision had been made to enter Falluja on Sunday.","Neymar, Modric set to start in World Cup opener. SAO PAULO (AP) — Brazil will begin the World Cup with the same starting lineup that won last year's Confederations Cup.","Jury resumes deliberating in Tsarnaev friend trial. BOSTON (AP) — Jurors in the trial of a friend of Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev have resumed deliberations in his obstruction of justice trial.","English manager admits to betting breaches. LONDON (AP) — The English Football Association says the manager of English third-tier club Tranmere has admitted to breaching rules regarding betting on matches in competitions involving his own team.","Sluggish PSG held 1-1 at Rennes. PARIS (AP) — Substitute Paul-Georges Ntep scored a second-half equalizer just 34 seconds after coming off the bench as Paris Saint-Germain produced another lackluster performance and was held at Rennes to 1-1 in the French League on Saturday.","World markets drift ahead of US data next week. MUMBAI, India (AP) — European stock markets were down Friday, while Asian markets took cheer from U.S. unemployment claims falling to an eight-year low. Traders were generally cautious at the end of the week, taking a wait-and-see attitude before another set of U.S. indicators due in coming days, including second quarter GDP.","South Sudan warring rivals miss deadline for unity government. Warring rivals in South Sudan missed a 60-day deadline Sunday to forge a unity government, despite warnings of famine and the threat of sanctions if fighting continues. Pressured by growing international condemnation of the war, the two sides had agreed on May 9 to forge a power-sharing government by Sunday. Talks will focus on signing a cessation of hostilities agreement -- after three previous deals have collapsed -- as well as on discussing a \"transitional government of national unity,\" the ministry said in a statement. \"Today, the people of South Sudan expected a political agreement that would deliver a transitional government to steer them out of conflict,\" Oxfam's South Sudan director Tariq Riebl said in a statement Sunday.","Three years after Libya revolt, 'Dubai dream' still far off. When longtime dictator Moamer Kadhafi's regime collapsed in a 2011 revolution, many Libyans looked to affluent and booming Dubai as an example of what the future could hold. On October 23, 2011, three days after Kadhafi was captured and killed, transitional authorities announced the \"total liberation\" of Libya, in a joyous declaration from the eastern city of Benghazi, birthplace of the eight-month conflict. In a country with two governments -- one internationally recognised and the other self-declared -- the anniversary comes at a time of deadly clashes between pro- and anti-government militias in Benghazi and west Libya. \"When the country's 'liberation' was announced, our ambition was to become a new Dubai thanks to oil revenues,\" said Mohamed al-Karghali, a 39-year-old teacher who fought in the revolt.","AOC appoints Fiona de Jong as secretary general. SYDNEY (AP) — The Australian Olympic Committee has appointed Fiona de Jong as its secretary general, making her the first woman to take charge of the organization's administrative and financial roles.","United still have faith in youth - Giggs. Ryan Giggs re-assured Manchester United fans on Wednesday that the club's commitment to youth development remains intact. New United manager Louis van Gaal's recent spending-spree of more than £150 million in the transfer window, culminating in the British record capture of Angel di Maria for £59.7 million ($98 million, 75 million euros, was followed by the sale of Academy graduate Danny Welbeck, the England forward, to Arsenal suggested a change of priorities. United have fielded at least one homegrown player in every matchday squad since 1937 but that record may be threatened under Dutch boss van Gaal.","Palestinians say strike hits Gaza's main hospital. GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — The Gaza police operations room and a Palestinian health official say separate Israeli airstrikes hit the compound of Gaza City's main hospital, causing casualties.","Iraqi Kurdish leader urges independence referendum. BAGHDAD (AP) — With large parts of Iraq in militant hands, a top Kurdish leader called on regional lawmakers Thursday to lay the groundwork for a referendum on independence, a vote that would likely spell the end of a unified Iraq.","Barthel advances to Swedish Open semisfinals. BASTAD, Sweden (AP) — Mona Barthel of Germany beat Kaia Kanepi of Estonia 6-2, 7-6 in the Swedish Open quarterfinals on Friday.","Women must be part of Syria talks, activists say. Syrian activists said Monday that the voice of women from the war-ravaged nation must not be sidelined at peace talks due to start next week in Switzerland. \"We have to take part in the whole process, from A to Z,\" Syrian Women's League member Sabah Alhallak told reporters in Geneva. Alhallak and around 50 female campaigners from both inside Syria and the refugee community, held a two-day meeting behind closed doors in the Swiss city Sunday and Monday. The session was hosted by The Netherlands' embassy at the United Nations as well as UN Women, an agency of the world body, which underlined that the participants came from across the Syrian spectrum.","Yemen separatists tell oil firms to stop exports from south. By Mohamed and Mukhashaf ADEN Yemen (Reuters) - Southern separatists seeking to split from Yemen's north set an ultimatum for the government to evacuate its soldiers and civil servants by Nov. 30 and asked all foreign firms producing oil and gas in the region to halt exports immediately. Southern Herak, the main group demanding the restoration of a South Yemen state that merged with North Yemen in 1990, made its demands in a statement after it staged mass rallies in the southern cities of Aden and Mukalla on Tuesday. ...","'How you dey?' Nigerian pidgin use ruffles purists' feathers. Programmes at the station are broadcast only in pidgin -- the English-based patois that's fast becoming Nigeria's lingua franca. In a country of 170 million, with hundreds of local languages and dialects, pidgin, rather than official Standard English, is the glue that increasingly binds disparate communities. \"For you to reach the common man easily you must speak in a language that they understand: break it down, give them the broken English or the Pidgin English,\" says star presenter Steve Onu. Portuguese and later English blended with local languages of the Niger Delta to create a unique linguistic mash-up.","Algerian plane crash claims 102; 1 survivor. ALGIERS, Algeria (AP) — An Algerian military transport plane slammed into a mountain Tuesday in the country's rugged eastern region. A civil defense official said 102 people on board were killed but one person managed to survive.","Scottish bid to break up UK prompts dread among North Irish loyalists. By Conor Humphries BELFAST (Reuters) - Horrified that Scotland might break up the United Kingdom by voting for independence this autumn, thousands of Northern Ireland loyalists are preparing to fight back using their favored 17th century battle regalia: drums, flutes, banners and orange sashes. Loyalists, named for their allegiance to the British throne, will march in Edinburgh five days before Scotland's Sept. 18 independence vote in a powerful expression of their concern at the threat to the union that currently underpins the troubled province's identity, struggling economy and divided politics. By breaking up the United Kingdom, Scotland would force England and Northern Ireland to reassess their constitutional relationship, whose divisive details helped to fuel 30 years of bloodshed between Protestant loyalists and Catholic republicans who wanted to unite with the Irish Republic to the south. The anti-independence umbrella group, Better Together, has urged organizers to cancel the Edinburgh march, fearing that it could be seen as anti-Catholic and runs counter to their vision of a modern, inclusive Britain.","Baird seeks Google help on unleashing Canadian diplomats on social media. OTTAWA - Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird is encouraging Canadian diplomats to experiment with social media to promote democratic freedom and trade across the globe.","JPMorgan to hike Dimon's 2013 pay: NY Times. (Reuters) - JPMorgan's board voted to raise Chief Executive Jamie Dimon's annual compensation for 2013, a turnaround from last year when it slashed his compensation by half in light of a trading debacle, the New York Times reported. A series of meetings to formulate the pay package turned heated at times, with vocal minority of directors wanting to keep Dimon's compensation largely flat, citing about $20 billion in fines the bank paid in the last year to federal authorities, the paper said, citing several executives briefed on the matter.","Justice Dept. seeks new tool against data fraud. WASHINGTON (AP) — Working to combat an increasingly lucrative crime that crosses national boundaries, Justice Department officials are pressing for a new law to help them prosecute criminals overseas who traffic in stolen credit cards.","US Secretary of State condemns severed head image. CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry has described a photograph of a Sydney-born 7-year-old boy clutching the severed head of a Syrian soldier as \"one of the most disturbing, stomach-turning, grotesque photographs ever displayed.\"","Syrian parliament speaker: President Bashar Assad declares his candidacy for June 3 elections. DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — Syrian parliament speaker: President Bashar Assad declares his candidacy for June 3 elections.","5 potential replacements for Moyes at Man United. MANCHESTER, England (AP) — A look at five potential full-time replacements for David Moyes as Manchester United manager after his firing on Tuesday:","Nine dead after gunmen storm Mexico prison: official. IGUALA (Mexico) (AFP) - Gunmen stormed a prison in southwestern Mexico on Friday in an attack that left five of the assailants and four inmates dead, officials said. Six armed men entered the prison in the Guerrero state town of Iguala by posing as public officials before firing at inmates and guards, the state prosecutor's office said in a statement. One of the dead inmates was a convicted cocaine dealer, another was a kidnapper and the two others were inprisoned for carrying illegal weapons.","UEFA hands Legia 2-game stadium ban over racism. NYON, Switzerland (AP) — UEFA has ordered Legia Warsaw to play its next two European home matches without supporters due to racism by fans.","Sri Lankan Muslim leader warns of radicalization after clashes. By Shihar Aneez and Ranga Sirilal COLOMBO (Reuters) - Sri Lanka's Muslim minority could become radicalized and turn to foreign Islamic groups for support because of violent attacks on them by Buddhist hardliners, the island nation's main Muslim leader and justice minister said on Friday. Last month, at least three people were killed and 75 seriously injured in violence between Buddhists and Muslims in two southern Sri Lankan coastal towns best known as tourist draws, with Muslim homes set ablaze. Increasing violence over the past two years against Muslims, who make up about 10 percent of Sri Lanka's population, mirror events in Myanmar, which has also seen a surge of attacks by members of its majority Buddhist community against Muslims. More than 70 percent of Sri Lanka's 20 million people are Buddhists.","Iraq: Suicide bomber kills 13 south of Baghdad. BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraqi police and hospital officials say a suicide bomber has blown himself up at an outdoor market south of Baghdad, killing 13 people and wounding 25.","Freed from mental ward, atheist gets death threats. LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) — A Nigerian atheist released from the mental ward to which his staunch Muslim family committed him by force says he is getting death threats.","White House denounces reported comments about Kerry from Israel defense minister. The White House on Tuesday denounced reported comments by Israel's defense minister that were sharply critical of U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry. White House spokesman Jay Carney responded to reports that Israeli military Moshe Yaalon said Kerry's pursuit of Middle East peace is out of an \"incomprehensible obsession and a messianic feeling.\" \"To question Secretary Kerry's motives and distort his proposals is not something we would expect from the defense minister of a close ally,\" Carney said.","Turkish central bank signaling higher rates. ISTANBUL (AP) — Turkey's central bank is signaling that it is preparing to reverse course and raise interest rates to address higher inflation and a dropping currency.","U.N. nuclear agency board to meet next week on Iran deal. The 35-nation governing board of the U.N. nuclear agency will meet next week to discuss its role in verifying the implementation of a landmark nuclear agreement between Iran and six world powers, it said on Wednesday. Yukiya Amano, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said he had requested a board meeting to be held on January 24, four days after the six-month accord is due to start taking effect. The IAEA will have a pivotal role in checking that Iran lives up to its part of the deal with the United States, France, Russia, Britain, China and Germany to curb its nuclear activity in return for some sanctions easing. Diplomats say the IAEA, which will increase the frequency of inspections in Iran, is likely to need to send more staff there and faces extra costs of roughly 5 million euros, some of which will need to be funded through voluntary member state contributions.","Putin signs laws completing procedure to absorb Crimea into Russia. MOSCOW (Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin signed legislation on Friday that completed the process of absorbing Crimea into Russia, defying Western leaders who say the Black Sea peninsula remains part of Ukraine. In a Kremlin ceremony shown live on state television, Putin signed a law on ratification of a treaty making Crimea part of Russia as well as legislation creating two new Russian administrative districts: Crimea and the port city of Sevastopol. (Writing by Steve Gutterman, Editing by Timothy Heritage)","Crowe and his Bunnies add spark to NRL grand final. New Zealand-born, Australian-based actor Russell Crowe guarantees that the National Rugby League grand final between South Sydney and the Canterbury Bulldogs on Sunday will have a genuine Hollywood feel about it, at least in the VIP section.","Venezuela announces debt deal with airlines. CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuela's government has agreed to pay part of some $4 billion owed to foreign airlines in a bid to prevent more carriers from leaving the country.","Shell CEO calls on Scots to stay in UK. The chief executive of Anglo-Dutch oil giant Shell on Wednesday dealt a blow to the campaign for Scottish independence by saying he would like it to remain part of the UK. Speaking at the company's annual reception in London, Ben van Beurden explained that a vote for independence in the September referendum would introduce greater uncertainty into the North Sea oil industry, a crucial source of income for Scotland and Shell. For similar reasons, he also said that he wanted Britons to vote to stay in the European Union during a possible referendum in 2017. \"That's the chief reason we're in favour of the UK maintaining its long-established place at the heart of the European Union: it provides greater investment stability and certainty.","French minister presses Turkey to avoid repeat of jihadi bungle. Ankara (AFP) - The French interior minister on Friday held talks with his Turkish counterpart aimed at improving intelligence and security communications after an embarrassing bungle allowed three suspected jihadists who fought in Syria to walk free.","Asian stocks muted as Japan surge tempered. TOKYO (AP) — Shares were lackluster in Asia on Wednesday as investors waited for major earnings reports and took stock of a torrid start to the year for markets.","Kerry pushes for a deal in second day of talks on Afghan vote crisis. By Lesley Wroughton and Maria Golovnina KABUL (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry scrambled to produce a deal by the end of Saturday to end Afghanistan's election crisis, meeting for the second day with the country's two presidential candidates and incumbent President Hamid Karzai. The deadlock over the June 14 election run-off between the leading contenders, Abdullah Abdullah and Ashraf Ghani, has raised concerns in Washington about a smooth transition of power in Afghanistan just as U.S. troops are withdrawing. Kerry and his aides met throughout the night, following talks on Friday with both Abdullah and Ghani, as well as with Karzai and U.N. special envoy to Afghanistan Jan Kubis.","British tourist hit by motorcycle in Brazil. SAO PAULO (AP) — Brazilian police say a British tourist was hit by a motorcycle as he was crossing a street in the World Cup host city of Belo Horizonte.","House votes to create Benghazi committee. The US House of Representatives voted to create a select committee to investigate the attacks in Benghazi, Libya that left the US ambassador and three other Americans dead. Republicans say the White House, at the height of President Barack Obama's re-election campaign, misled the American people on the nature of the attack and the US response. The chamber voted 232-186 for establishing the committee, with seven Democrats joining Republicans in favor. \\\\\"This doesn't need to be, shouldn't be and will not be a partisan process,\\\\\" insisted House Speaker John Boehner, who called for creating the panel after months of \\\\\"stonewalling\\\\\" by the White House.","Tug-of-war over city hall casts doubt on rebel referendum in Black Sea town. Barricaded behind rows of tyres and barbed wire, the city hall has been the headquarters of the separatist movement in this Black Sea port town since it was seized last month. \"I don't know why the soldiers just came in and left again but I guess those were the orders that they had,\" he said.","North Korea fires more than 500 shots of artillery, South returns with 300. North Korea fired more than 500 rounds of artillery in a drill on Monday and about 100 of them landed in the water south of a disputed maritime border off the western coast of the peninsula, South Korea's defense ministry said. The South returned fire with more than 300 rounds aimed at an area north of the so-called Northern Limit Line, ministry spokesman Kim Min-seok said, calling the North's action \"a test of the South's determination to defend the naval border\".","Couple cleared in daughter's death arrives in US. LOS ANGELES (AP) — An American couple has arrived in Los Angeles after being cleared in the death of their adopted 8-year-old daughter in Qatar.","Obama imposes sanctions on former CAR leaders. US President Barack Obama on Tuesday imposed sanctions against the former Central African Republic leaders Francois Bozize and Michel Djotodia and three other officials, the White House said. The move comes on the heels of UN sanctions announced Friday by the Security Council -- against three of the same five men. The sanctions aim to send \\\\\"a powerful message that impunity will not be tolerated, and that those who threaten the stability of the CAR will face consequences,\\\\\" the White House said in a statement. In addition to Bozize and Djotodia, Obama's order targets the leader of the anti-Balaka militia, Levy Yakete;","Ukraine says ceasefire violations hold up creation of buffer zone. By Natalia Zinets KIEV (Reuters) - The Ukrainian military accused separatists and Russian troops on Sunday of continuing to shoot at government forces despite a Sept. 5 ceasefire and said Kiev would not go ahead with setting up a proposed buffer zone until the truce violations stopped. Ukraine's warring sides agreed on Friday to withdraw artillery and other heavy weapons to the outer limits of a 30 km (19 mile) buffer zone, building on the ceasefire in a conflict in eastern Ukraine that has killed more than 3,000 people. ...","Bahrainis could be executed over deadly blast. Four Shiites who \"confessed\" to taking part in an attack that killed three policemen in Bahrain this month could face the death penalty if convicted, prosecutors said on Sunday. The public prosecution service has ordered Sami Mirza Ahmed Mushaima, Abbas Jamil Tahir Alsameea, Ali Mohammed Jamil Taher Alsameea and Yusuf Ahmed Mohammed Taher Alsameea \"jailed on remand after being charged with establishing and joining a terrorist group... (and) killing security personnel,\" a statement said. The crimes could carry the death penalty and revocation of citizenship, it said. An officer from the United Arab Emirates was among the dead, making him the first officer from another Gulf state to be killed since regional forces entered Bahrain in March 2011 to boost security personnel who later quelled the month-long uprising.","No bond for Detroit-area man linked to Hezbollah. DETROIT (AP) — A Detroit-area man accused of trying to travel to the Middle East to fight in Syria's civil war will remain in custody while his case moves through court.","Canada needs more detailed job market data: watchdog. By Louise Egan OTTAWA (Reuters) - Information on job vacancies provided by Canada's national statistics agency is not detailed enough to be of much use to policymakers and job seekers and could be improved, an official watchdog said in a report on Tuesday. The report by Auditor-General Michael Ferguson underscored the challenge facing the Conservative government as it tries to tackle what it sees as one of the country's biggest economic problems: a shortage of skilled labor in some regions and sectors. Statistics Canada's (Statscan) job vacancies report provides data on the national and provincial levels only, making it difficult to know which cities and areas are most likely to need workers. \"Users informed us that as a result of these shortcomings, available information on job vacancies is of limited value to them,\" the report added.","Govt to seize jihadists' passports, stop them returning home. Canberra (AFP) - Prime Minister David Cameron on Friday outlined plans to seize passports from British jihadists and stop them returning from fighting overseas, while proposing landing bans on airlines that fail to comply with London's no-fly lists.","Bombs in southern Thailand kill 2, wound 52. BANGKOK (AP) — Police say at least nine bombs have exploded in Thailand's restive south, killing two people and wounding dozens. The blasts were in a southern province that is facing an Islamic insurgency.","Ex-tabloid news editor jailed for hacking. LONDON (AP) — A judge has sentenced former News of the World news editor Ian Edmondson to eight months in prison for conspiring to hack the phones of celebrities, politicians and royals.","Incumbent favorite in Lithuania presidential vote. VILNIUS, Lithuania (AP) — Hard-nosed incumbent Dalia Grybauskaite is widely expected to win a second term in Lithuania's presidential election amid security concerns linked to the conflict between Russia and Ukraine.","Iraq Kurdish official: Car bomb hits city of Irbil. BAGHDAD (AP) — A Kurdish official in the northern Iraqi city of Irbil says a suicide car bomber has struck in the heart of the city, inflicting an unknown number of casualties.","California marine biologist sentenced after pleading guilty to feeding killer whales in wild. SAN JOSE, Calif. - A prominent California marine biologist was sentenced Monday after pleading guilty to violating the Marine Mammal Protection Act by feeding killer whales in the wild, a misdemeanour.","Perisic breaks shoulder, joins Wolfsburg's injured. WOLFSBURG, Germany (AP) — Wolfsburg forward Ivan Perisic has a broken shoulder and will need surgery that will put him on the long-term injured list with Patrick Ochs and Christian Traesch.","Cypriot negotiators visit Ankara, Athens. ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — A Greek-Cypriot negotiator has held talks in Turkey while his Turkish-Cypriot counterpart met officials in Greece as part of revived peace efforts to reunify the divided island.","Canada court: Police can search a suspect's phone. OTTAWA, Ontario (AP) — Canadian police can conduct a limited search of criminal suspects' mobile phones when they are arrested without getting a search warrant, but they must follow strict rules, a divided Supreme Court of Canada ruled Thursday.","Egypt arrests pro-Morsi leaders ahead of anniversary. Egyptian police arrested Tuesday five Islamist leaders who back Mohamed Morsi, two days ahead of protests their alliance has called to mark the first anniversary of his ouster, officials said. Since the military deposed Morsi last July 3, the authorities have waged a brutal crackdown on his supporters that has seen more than 1,400 people killed in street clashes and over 15,000 jailed. Magdy Hussein, a leader of the Anti-Coup Alliance that has spearheaded protests demanding Morsi's reinstatement, was arrested at dawn at his house, the security officials said. Also detained was Nasr Abdel Salam, head of the Building and Development party, the political arm of Gamaa Islamiya, a former militant group that has since renounced violence.","U.S. weighs Ukraine requests for military aid, OKs rations: sources. By Phil Stewart WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States is weighing requests for military assistance from Ukraine, including both lethal and non-lethal support, two U.S. officials said on Thursday, as a prominent U.S. senator urged approval of any arms sought by Kiev. The U.S. officials, who asked to speak on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the diplomatic discussions, said the United States had already decided to move ahead with some aid, including military food rations. The U.S. government was still weighing other requests, including for lethal aid, which were made through the U.S. State Department, the officials added, without offering more details. Earlier on Thursday, the Wall Street Journal reported that Ukraine's interim government asked for arms, ammunition and intelligence support but the United States had decided against further assistance beyond rations because of concerns about stoking tensions with Russia.","England-India 5th Test Result. LONDON (AP) — England beat India by an innings and 244 runs to win the fifth test on day three at the Oval:","2 Asian businessmen convicted of match-fixing. BIRMINGHAM, England (AP) — Two Asian businessmen have been convicted of plotting to fix matches in the lower reaches of English football.","Castaway Fisherman ‘Survives 13 Months’ at Sea on Turtle Blood and Fish. Jose Salvador Albarengo, 37, a fisherman from El Salvador, told officials that he survived more than a year adrift in the Pacific Ocean, drinking turtle blood and catching fish with his bare hands. But the acting secretary of foreign affairs for the Marshall Islands, Gee Bing, said he was skeptical of Albarengo’s account.","Russian PM Medvedev says sanctions harmful for both Russia and West. MOSCOW (Reuters) - Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said on Wednesday that Western sanctions over Ukraine were harmful for the Russian economy, but that Western economies were also affected. \"(Sanctions) damage the economies and companies of the countries imposing sanctions just as much as (they damage ours),\" he said in an interview with Russian media. Western powers have introduced economic sanctions against Russia over its actions in Ukraine, ranging from asset freezes to bans on access to foreign capital by Russian companies. ...","Uganda finalizes talks with oil companies. KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) — Uganda's government says it has finalized negotiations with foreign oil companies exploring in the country, clearing the way for to start commercial crude production.","9 attackers dead: Somalia president palace attack. MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) — Nine al-Shabab militants wearing military fatigues and carrying guns and grenades died after attacking the presidential palace with two car bombs on Friday, in an assault the president called a \"media spectacular\" by a \"dying animal.\"","A look at US military action across the Mideast. BAGHDAD (AP) — Here's a look at U.S. military action across the Middle East:","Venezuelans in MLB have their minds back home. Spring training is a time to get in shape for the upcoming major league season, work on mechanics or maybe compete for a spot on the team.","Cuba says cigar sales up 8 percent in 2013. HAVANA (AP) — Cuban cigar officials say sales of the island's famous hand-rolled stogies rose about 8 percent last year.","Australia authorities track down Thai surrogate 'paedophile'. Australian authorities said Thursday they had finally contacted a man exposed as a convicted paedophile at the centre of a Thai surrogate baby scandal, as his son defended him as a changed man. The man, 56, sparked global controversy for apparently abandoning baby boy Gammy, who has Down's syndrome, in Thailand and taking only his healthy twin sister back home, although he and his wife dispute the circumstances. An investigation was launched this week into the safety and welfare of the twin sister but authorities were unable to find the family.","Winnie launches legal claim to Mandela's home, report says. Nelson Mandela's ex-wife Winnie Madikizela-Mandela has launched a legal claim to the former South African leader's rural home, local media reported on Tuesday. Her lawyers said in a letter quoted by the Daily Dispatch newspaper that since the house in Qunu was bought while the two were still married, traditional custom dictated it should be inherited by Madikizela-Mandela and their children. \"This position becomes applicable irrespective of whether the wife was divorced or not,\" lawyer Mvuyo Notyesi wrote in the letter dated July 18 -- the late leader's birthday which is celebrated internationally as Mandela Day. \"In fact, the property in question was obtained by Mrs Madikizela-Mandela whilst the husband was in prison.\"","SOCHI SCENE: Awash in lights. SOCHI, Russia (AP) — A stadium of lights is warming up a chilly night at the Sochi Olympics.","NYC mayor calls on feds to fix Puerto Rican canal. SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio is calling on the federal government to clean a contaminated canal in Puerto Rico.","Amnesty: Haiti human rights activist threatened. PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — Amnesty International says a leading human rights activist in Haiti has been threatened for his work.","Cowboys hoping Romo healthy enough to play. LONDON (AP) — The Dallas Cowboys are a better team with Tony Romo on the field. They just don't know if he'll be on the field Sunday against the Jacksonville Jaguars.","Switzerland murder suspect arrested in New Zealand. WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — A man accused of murdering his girlfriend nearly 14 years ago in Switzerland was arrested Tuesday in New Zealand.","Canadian transport minister says having surgery, taking time off. TORONTO (Reuters) - Canadian Transport Minister Lisa Raitt will have surgery this week to remove a growth from her ovaries and will take an indefinite amount of time off from her duties to recover, she said on Sunday. Raitt, one of the higher-profile ministers in the cabinet of Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper, told Global Television's \"The West Block\" that tests suggest the growth is not cancerous, but that doctors won't know until it is removed. She said she is also uncertain how much time she will take off after the surgery. ...","BRAZIL BEAT: Dunga says Neymar must deliver. RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Former Brazil coach Carlos Dunga, who was captain of the country's victorious team in the 1994 World Cup, says Neymar must deliver for Brazil to win its sixth title.","Boycott threat over rare New Zealand dolphin. Environmentalists are threatening to call a boycott of New Zealand's billion-dollar seafood export industry unless the government boosts efforts to save the world's rarest dolphin, which has dwindled to a population of 50.","Greece reports 1st MERS case, patient critical. ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greece has recorded its first case of the potentially fatal respiratory disease known as MERS, and the patient is in critical condition.","Doubt grips Portugal after ex-premier is jailed. LISBON, Portugal (AP) — After he left office three years ago, former Portuguese Prime Minister Jose Socrates' home address was a smart apartment in Paris' classy 16th arrondissement.","SOCHI SCENE: The first gold. SOCHI, Russia (AP) — The first gold medal awarded at the 2014 Sochi Games ended up with three snowboarders on the top podium, hugging it out after grinding and spinning their way down the slopestyle course.","Dubai's Emirates halting flights to northern Iraq. DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The Middle East's largest airline is halting flights to the northern Iraqi city of Irbil as the country struggles to confront a destabilizing insurgency.","Armed men block OSCE military observers entry to Crimea. Chongar (Ukraine) (AFP) - Armed men at a checkpoint flying the Russian flag blocked OSCE observers from entering Ukraine's flashpoint Crimean peninsula for a second day on Friday, an AFP reporter said. The team of 47 military and civilian observers from the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe arrived at the checkpoint near the village of Chongar around 3:00 pm local time (1300 GMT) but were prevented from advancing. \"We are just trying to go through here as guests of the Ukrainian government under an OSCE mandate,\" the observer, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told AFP.","Ted Ligety wins GS for 2nd career Olympic gold. KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia (AP) — This was the race Ted Ligety knew he should win.","Music site SoundCloud to start paying artists. BERLIN (AP) — SoundCloud said Thursday that it will start paying artists and record companies whose music is played on the popular streaming site, a move that will bring it in line with competitors such as YouTube and Spotify.","Egyptian militants claim attacks near tourist sites in Sinai. Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis, the most active of the militant groups waging an insurgency against the army-backed government since it deposed elected leader Mohamed Mursi last summer, made the claim in a statement posted online. \"We announce our responsibility for the attacks which targeted a security checkpoint and a tourist bus in South Sinai,\" the statement said. \"We will not rest ... until we avenge Muslims' blood and honor.\" Militant attacks and other political violence have intensified since the army overthrew Mursi last July following mass protests against his rule. The militant group's statement called on Egyptians to violently oppose the government and not to rely on peaceful actions.","Canada's Loblaw posts 36 percent rise in quarterly sales. (Reuters) - Loblaw Companies Ltd , Canada's largest grocer, reported a 36 percent jump in third-quarter revenue, helped by strong pharmacy sales at recently acquired Shoppers Drug Mart Corp. Revenue rose to C$13.6 billion ($12 billion) in the quarter ended Oct. 4 from C$10.0 billion a year earlier. Adjusted net profit rose 81 percent to C$371 million. (Reporting By Tanvi Mehta and Manya Venkatesh in Bangalore; Editing by Savio D'Souza)","Dilshan hits 88 in Sri Lanka's 256-8 vs England. CHESTER-LE-STREET, England (AP) — Experienced opener Tillakaratne Dilshan struck a patient 88 to underpin Sri Lanka's competitive 256-8 against England in the second one-day international in Durham on Sunday.","Iran says serious about long-term nuclear deal. MUNICH (AP) — Iran's foreign minister said Sunday his country is prepared to move ahead in negotiations over its nuclear program, assuring Western diplomats that Tehran has the political will and good faith to reach a \"balanced\" long-term agreement.","England's Andy Moles named Afghanistan coach. Former New Zealand coach Andy Moles took charge of the Afghan team Thursday replacing Pakistan's Kabir Khan, who resigned last week citing family reasons. The announcement comes ahead of the World Cup hosted by Australia and New Zealand from February to March, with the Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) looking to the Englishman's international experience to help the fast-rising team. \"I am very excited as I take on the role of national coach for Afghanistan,\" he said.","Jennifer Lawrence's \"The Hanging Tree\" Nabs Top 20 Debuts in U.K., Australia. The 'Hunger Games: Mockingjay' track is aiming for a Top 40 on the Billboard Hot 100 Singles Chart","Approaching Philippine storm brings back nightmare. MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Government forecasters say a powerful storm will likely slam into the same central Philippine region smothered by Typhoon Haiyan last year, prompting villagers to flee from coastal homes and sparking panic-buying of food, water and gasoline.","Zakopalova and Nara face off in Rio Open final. RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Top-seeded Klara Zakopalova of the Czech Republic and fifth-seeded Kurumi Nara of Japan will face off in the final of the Rio Open.","Exclusive: Iranian oil exports rise in February, more to ally Syria. By Alex Lawler and Jonathan Saul LONDON (Reuters) - Iran's oil exports have risen further in February for a fourth consecutive month, according to sources who track tanker movements, adding to signs that the easing of sanctions pressure on Tehran is helping its oil exports to recover. The rise in shipments follows an interim deal agreed in November with world powers in return for curbs on Iran's nuclear program. A second tracking source familiar with Iran's shipments said extra cargoes had headed to Syria and South Korea in February. Two cargoes were unloaded in Indonesian waters - a location sometimes used by Iran for ship-to-ship transfers.","Pig heads sent to Israeli embassy, synagogue in Rome. Rome (Italy) (AFP) - Boxes containing pigs' heads have been sent to the Israeli embassy in Rome and the city's synagogue, Italian media reported Saturday. The package mailed to the embassy in the wealthy Parioli area of the Italian capital was intercepted by police after other similar parcels were sent to the synagogue and the Jewish Museum of Rome. \"Those who insult the Jewish community offend Rome. We reject the intimidation outright,\" Rome mayor Ignazio Marino said in a tweet.","Bencic, Date-Krumm win at Birmingham. BIRMINGHAM, England (AP) — The youngest and oldest women in the world's top 100 won their opening matches Monday at the Aegon Classic, a grass court warm-up event for Wimbledon.","Allergan asks stockholders not to act on Pershing Square proposal. (Reuters) - Allergan Inc advised its stockholders to refrain from taking any action in response to Pershing Square Capital Management's proposal to replace a majority of the botox maker's board. William Ackman's Pershing Square has been pushing for a special meeting of Allergan shareholders to consider the removal of six directors and the appointment of its slate of nominees. \"We believe Pershing Square's attempt to replace a majority of the Allergan Board is a further effort to support Valeant in its bid to acquire Allergan at a grossly inadequate price,\" Allergan said on Friday. The company has been trying to fight off a $53 billion hostile offer from Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc and activist investor William Ackman since late April.","Soccer-Australia conducted clean bid for World Cup - FFA chief. SYDNEY, Nov 14 (Reuters) - Federation Football Australia (FFA) chief Frank Lowy has rejected criticism of Australia's failed bid for the 2022 World Cup, saying the country ran a \"clean campaign\". A report by FIFA's ethics committee cleared Russia and Qatar of any wrongdoing but criticised the activities of the government-funded A$43 million ($37.43 million) Australian campaign. \"FFA did its best to run a competitive and compliant bid and to do it wherever possible hand-in-hand with the Australian Government, with the customary government oversight,\" Lowy said in a statement on Friday. ...","U.S. pushes for prison for Tunisian accused of train plot link. By Nate Raymond NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. prosecutors pushed Monday for a hefty sentence for a Tunisian man accused of ties to an unsuccessful plot to derail a Canada-U.S. passenger train who agreed last month to a plea deal that included no terrorism charges. Ahmed Abassi, 27, faces sentencing by a federal judge in New York on Wednesday after previously pleading guilty to lying to immigration authorities about his occupation upon entering the United States last year. Abassi's lawyer is expected to ask U.S. District Judge Miriam Goldman Cedarbaum to sentence him to time served, representing the period Abassi has spent in custody following his arrest in April 2013. Prosecutors in a court filing acknowledged that Abassi faces no more than six months in prison under federal sentencing guidelines.","Germany boosts UK hopes for EU reform. Britain received a boost in its bid to renegotiate its position in the EU after German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble on Friday said any closer European integration must \"guarantee fairness\" for those outside the eurozone. In a joint article with British counterpart George Osborne for the Financial Times, Schaeuble wrote: \"As the euro area continues to integrate, it is important that countries outside the euro area are not at a systemic disadvantage in the EU.\" The pair said any treaty change leading to closer integration of eurozone members must be based on reforms that provide a solid legal base and \"guarantee fairness for those EU countries inside the single market but outside the single currency.\" Prime Minister David Cameron is trying to win support for reforms that would hand more powers to sovereign governments ahead of a in-out-referendum due to take place in 2017 if he wins next year's general election.","Queen Yuna arrives: Champ Kim practices in Sochi. SOCHI, Russia (AP) — Queen Yuna has arrived.","Oil company, group agree on Congo park plan. GENEVA (AP) — An agreement announced Wednesday between a London-based oil company and a wildlife protection group could prevent oil drilling in a national park in Africa where 200 endangered mountain gorillas live.","EU lawmakers approve Katainen for executive. BRUSSELS (Reuters) - European Parliament lawmakers said they voted on Wednesday to approve the appointment of Finland's Jyrki Katainen as vice president of the European Commission with responsibility for employment and economic growth. The center-right former prime minister was approved in his post, at a committee meeting behind closed doors, by 98 votes to 52, Romanian center-right committee member Siegfried Muresan tweeted. An initial vote on Katainen's suitability to hold any post on Jean-Claude Juncker's Commission was won 123 to 40. ...","Afghanistan to free most inmates seen by U.S. as threat. Afghanistan has enough evidence to try only 16 of 88 prisoners that the United States considers a threat to security and plans to free the remaining detainees, the president's spokesman said on Thursday. The move will further strain relations between the two countries that are already near breaking point over President Hamid Karzai's refusal to sign a security deal to shape the U.S. military presence after most foreign troops leave this year. The United States is strongly opposed to their release because it says the prisoners, being held in Afghanistan, have been involved in the wounding or killing of U.S. and coalition troops. State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said on Thursday the United States considers 72 of those detainees dangerous.","Betting company severs links with Suarez. LONDON (AP) — Betting website 888poker is parting ways with Luiz Suarez after the Uruguay striker was banned from all football activities for four months for his third biting incident.","Uganda: 19 die in Lake Albert boat accident. KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) — Ugandan police say at least 19 people, most of them children, died in a boat accident on Lake Albert, which lies along the Uganda-Congo border.","Imams in NYC denounce violent extremism. NEW YORK (AP) — About a dozen imams from mosques in all five of New York City's boroughs have gathered to denounce violent extremist acts around the world.","U.S. says 'no reason to doubt' authenticity al-Baghdadi video. The United States has \"no reason to doubt\" the authenticity of a video posted on the Internet over the weekend of reclusive Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the State Department said on Monday. \"We seen, of course, the reports of the video. We have no reason to doubt the authenticity of the video,\" State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said at a news briefing. Islamic State, a Sunni militant group, has taken control of large areas of Iraq from the Shi'ite-led government.","Two held over piglets in Ugandan parliament. Police in Uganda have arrested two men who managed to infiltrate the east African nation's parliament and drop off two piglets in a protest against corruption, authorities said Wednesday. They are in our custody as we investigate how they went through security,\" police spokesman Fred Enanga told AFP. Officials said the protesters had painted the piglets in the colours of the ruling party of President Yoweri Museveni, one of Africa's longest serving leaders, and had written slogans insulting MPs as corrupt on the animals.","Toy drone disrupts aircraft fighting California wildfire. A private drone trying to film a wildfire that has charred nearly six square miles in Northern California briefly disrupted firefighting efforts, although workers had gained the upper hand against the blaze, officials said on Monday. Fire officials spotted the drone over the so-called Sand Fire on Sunday and immediately called police to find the drone's owner and have the toy grounded to avoid a possible mid-air collision, a California fire official said. \"That drone was flying within our air space and was a hazard for our aircraft,\" said California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection spokesman Kevin Lucero.","U.S. ambassador to India resigns after diplomatic row. By Frank Jack Daniel NEW DELHI (Reuters) - The U.S. ambassador to India has resigned and will return to the United States after less than two years, the embassy said in a statement on Monday, following a diplomatic row that strained relations between the world's biggest democracies. The statement did not give a reason why Ambassador Nancy Powell had resigned, saying only that she was retiring from the foreign service after 37 years, \"as planned for some time\". Last month, she ended a decade-long boycott and brought Washington's policy in line with other major powers by meeting Narendra Modi, the opposition candidate who is favorite to become India's next prime minister after elections that end in May. But her tenure was marred by a row over the arrest and subsequent strip search of an Indian diplomat in New York. The United States revoked Modi's travel visa following allegations he did not do enough to prevent some 2,000 deaths during a spasm of Hindu-Muslim violence in 2002 in the state that he governs.","Netanyahu supports Obama in IS fight, but cautions on Iran. Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressed support Sunday for the US fight against Islamic State militants, but cautioned against any softening toward Iran. The last thing we want is to have any one of them get weapons of mass destruction,\" Netanyahu said in an interview with CBS Face the Nation. His comments came shortly after IS claimed the beheading of another Western hostage, US aid worker Peter Kassig, along with that of 18 men described as Syrian soldiers. \"We want them both to lose,\" he said, insisting: \"Iran is not your ally.","Syrian govt, opposition to meet in 'same room'. GENEVA (AP) — Delegations from Syria's government and the Western-backed opposition hoping to overthrow it will face each other \"in the same room\" Saturday for the first time ever, a U.N. mediator said.","New Zealand spinner reported for suspect action. New Zealand part-time spinner Kane Williamson has been reported for a suspected illegal bowling action and ordered by the International Cricket Council to undergo official scrutiny within 21 days. Williamson was reported following New Zealand's 10-wicket defeat in the second test to the West Indies in Trinidad, the ICC said in a statement on Sunday. Match referee Chris Broad has handed New Zealand officials a copy of the umpires' report citing concerns over a number of deliveries they considered to be suspect, and saying they believed that his action needed to be tested. \"Whether he's close to the 15 degree mark, that seems to be the criteria,\" New Zealand coach Mike Hesson said.","Athletes back to India from indy in Sochi Games. SOCHI, Russia (AP) — Shiva Keshavan and two other athletes are going from indy to India at the Sochi Games.","Search for missing jet expands toward Indian Ocean. KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — India said Friday it was expanding its search for the missing Malaysian jetliner to seas west of the Andaman Islands as the international hunt shifted toward the Indian Ocean amid signs that the jet may have flown on for hours after last contact.","Jordan queen says anti-IS fight key to saving Islam. Jordan's Queen Rania on Tuesday urged support for US-led air strikes against the Islamic State jihadist group, saying the future of the Middle East and Islam was at stake. \"Our silence is the greatest gift\" for IS, which has seized large swathes of Iraq and Syria, she told participants at a media summit in Abu Dhabi. She is married to King Abdullah II, whose Hashemite kingdom has joined the US-led air campaign against IS in Syria along with Bahrain, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Queen Rania stressed the need for education reform, insisting that the followers of extremist groups are \"from classrooms in which they were never challenged to think for themselves, and where they learned an outdated curriculum\".","Argentina hits debt deadline, but not yet default. BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — Argentina will likely miss a bond payment on Monday that risks sending it into a catastrophic default.","Obama condemns Jerusalem attack as 'horrific'. WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama on Tuesday strongly condemned the attack at an Israeli synagogue that killed four people, including three U.S. citizens. He called the attacks \"horrific\" and without justification","Rugby-All Blacks told to improve or risk losing Bledisloe. By Greg Stutchbury WELLINGTON, Aug 21 (Reuters) - New Zealand's hopes of a world record dissolved in the Sydney rain last week but retaining the Bledisloe Cup remains a major motivating factor for the All Blacks ahead of the return match against Australia on Saturday. Lose their second Rugby Championship encounter at their Eden Park fortress and the Wallabies will only need to draw in the third Bledisloe test in October to regain the symbol of trans-Tasman superiority, which they have not held since 2003. Win, and the Cup returns to the New Zealand Rugby Union headquarters to a trophy cabinet that has had the women's World Cup and Commonwealth Games men's sevens titles taken out, dusted off and sent elsewhere in the last month. Such is the reverence with which the All Blacks hold the Cup - the largest sporting trophy in world rugby which reportedly holds the equivalent of 34 cans of beer - they consider it second only to the World Cup on their list of priorities.","Indonesians vote for new parliament, stage set for presidential poll. By Kanupriya Kapoor JAKARTA (Reuters) - Indonesians began voting for a new parliament on Wednesday in an election likely to be dominated by the opposition Indonesian Democratic Party-Struggle (PDI-P), which it turn should give a further boost to its popular presidential candidate. Its candidate for the presidential election on July 9, Jakarta governor Joko Widodo, widely known as Jokowi, already looks unbeatable. Voting in the world's third-largest democracy began in Indonesia's distant eastern islands and will finish two time zones away in the densely populated west at 0600 GMT. Indonesia's embrace of democracy since the downfall of former authoritarian leader Suharto 16 years ago has seen four different presidents and repeated change of the leading party.","Toronto FC supporters snap up tickets in wake of high-profile signings. TORONTO - Toronto FC supporters have wasted little time responding to the club's recent spending spree.","Hagel voices frustration with Afghan foot-dragging. WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Expressing growing U.S. impatience, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said Thursday he doesn't know what to believe about new assurances from Afghanistan that President Hamid Karzai is moving closer to signing a pact to keep American troops in his country next year as advisers.","India cracking down on foreign-funded charities. NEW DELHI (AP) — India is cracking down on foreign-funded charities after receiving an internal report alleging they are costing the country up to 3 percent of its GDP by rallying communities against polluting industries.","South Sudan refugees overwhelm Uganda aid workers. Dzaipi (Uganda) (AFP) - In the steaming heat of Uganda, just south of the border with South Sudan, long lines of tents crowd the Dzaipi refugee camp where tens of thousands have fled fighting in their war-torn nation. Dzaipi was designed for 400 people, but at one point the flood of South Sudanese refugees swelled to some 35,000 as Uganda bears the brunt of the massive exodus from the world's youngest nation. \"They wanted us to come to Uganda,\" he said simply.","Delta cancels all Israel flights over missile fear. Delta Air Lines is canceling all flights to Israel until further notice, citing reports that a rocket landed near Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion Airport.","Malaysia: Stolen passport user was asylum seeker. KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Malaysian police say one of the passengers using a stolen passport on a missing jetliner was an Iranian asylum seeker.","German court awaiting details of Gurlitt will. BERLIN (AP) — A German court says it's awaiting details of a will drawn up by Cornelius Gurlitt, the reclusive art collector who hoarded more than 1,000 artworks at his apartment and died this week.","Sudanese woman sentenced to death for converting to Christianity. A Sudanese court has sentenced a 27-year-old woman to death for converting to Christianity, judicial sources said. Mariam Yahya Ibrahim had been ordered to abandon her newly adopted Christian faith and return to Islam. Judge Abbas al Khalifa asked Ibrahim whether she would return to Islam. After she said \\\\\"I am a Christian,\\\\\" the death sentence was handed down, the judicial sources said.","Bank of England mulls clawback of bankers' bonuses. The Bank of England said Thursday it was consulting on recovering bonuses paid to bankers in the event of misconduct, with such a mechanism possibly in place as soon as 2015. The BoE said the move was aimed at maintaining financial stability after banks were accused of reckless behaviour for paying some staff huge bonuses for risk-taking in the run-up to the global financial crisis of 2008. \"The policy we are consulting on will ensure bonuses can be clawed back from individuals, where they have already been paid, if it becomes apparent they have put the stability of their firms at risk or engaged in inappropriate actions. The BoE said that it already has powers to require firms to stop payment of unvested bonuses.","Putin chairs Russian security session on Ukraine. MOSCOW (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin has chaired a meeting of his Security Council focusing on the crisis in Ukraine.","Memorial held in Imola for Senna and Ratzenberger. IMOLA, Italy (AP) — Fans and family members are gathering this week to pay their respects to former Formula One drivers Ayrton Senna and Roland Ratzenberger on the 20th anniversary of their deaths.","Fourcade clinches third World Cup title. HELSINKI (AP) — Frenchman Martin Fourcade clinched his third World Cup biathlon title after finishing second behind Norway's Johannes Thingnes Boe in Sunday's men's 12.5-kilometer pursuit in Kontiolahti, Finland.","Ex-Berlusconi government official arrested for mafia collusion. By Amalia De Simone and Steve Scherer NAPLES (Reuters) - Italian police arrested a former member of Silvio Berlusconi's government, accusing him of colluding with the mafia to quash competition against his family's petrol distribution business near Naples, officials said on Thursday. Nicola Cosentino, an undersecretary in the Economy Ministry from 2008-2010 and the ex-boss of Berlusconi's party in the region around Naples, was arrested along with 12 others on suspicion of extortion and unfair competitive practices. Seven-time Prime Minister Giulio Andreotti was acquitted of mafia charges, but found to have had ties to the Sicilian Mafia's top bosses before 1980. Berlusconi himself has been investigated, though never tried, for ties to organized crime.","Eleven EU nations call for cleaner air, less waste. BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Ministers from 11 EU member states, including France and Germany, have written to the European Commission calling on it to press ahead with a tougher air quality law and new rules on cutting waste, according to a letter seen by Reuters. As it seeks to cut down on red tape and counter Euroscepticism, the Commission is reconsidering some of the policy put forward by previous EU bosses, a draft work plan for 2015 has shown. The new EU executive, in office since Nov. ...","25 arrests in 3rd night of violence in Barcelona. BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Police have clashed with gangs of hooded youths who threw rocks and set fire to trash containers in the third night of violence in Spain's northeastern city of Barcelona. Twenty-five people have been arrested.","Panama Canal proposes joint financing to end cost row. By Lomi Kriel and Elida Moreno PANAMA CITY (Reuters) - The head of the Panama Canal on Monday proposed that it and a Spanish-led consortium expanding the major maritime cargo artery plug a financing gap between them, and said the sides had agreed to talks on Tuesday to defuse a row over huge cost overruns. The governments of Spain and Panama distanced themselves from the dispute, saying it should be resolved by the Panama Canal Authority and the consortium led by Spanish construction company Sacyr . \"We are talking about some additional funding that they would have to put up and we could also provide,\" Jorge Quijano, the head of the Panama Canal Authority which administers the waterway, told reporters after meeting with visiting Spanish public works minister, Ana Pastor, who is mediating. Earlier on Monday, Spain's ambassador to Panama, Jesus Silva, said earlier his government would provide no financial help to Sacyr in sorting out the row overshadowing one of the world's most important maritime cargo routes.","Report: 14 killed in stampede at mosque in China's north. BEIJING, China - Fourteen people have died after a stampede at a mosque in northern China, a state news agency said Monday.","FIFA: World Cup opener stadium not ready until May. ZURICH (AP) — The Sao Paulo stadium which hosts the opening match of the World Cup will not be finished until less than four weeks before Brazil plays Croatia on June 12.","Airbus says now not the time to announce production increases. BERLIN (Reuters) - The head of planemaker Airbus said on Friday there was enough demand in the market to justify increasing jetliner production, but now was not the right time to commit to a higher rate. Boeing this month announced plans to increase output of its top-selling 737 jetliner to 52 aircraft a month by 2018 from the current monthly rate of 42. The move supersedes a previous goal of raising output to 47 a month by 2017. Asked whether Airbus planned to match its U.S. ...","How Ecclestone's German trial closure was possible. BERLIN (AP) — Formula One chief Bernie Ecclestone's departure from a Munich court with a fleeting \"bye-bye\" after having bribery charges dropped in exchange for an enormous $100 million payment left a sour taste for many in Germany.","London shares close higher. London shares closed higher on Tuesday, as traders reacted to news that Britain's 12-month inflation slowed to 1.9 percent in January, the lowest level for more than four years. The benchmark FTSE 100 index ended the day 0.90 percent higher at 6,796.43 points. \"We did see some selling in sterling as falling inflation makes it less likely that the Bank of England will hike interest rates later this year, something that some analysts have been predicting will happen and that had driven the pound higher,\" said Alpari market analyst Craig Erlam. The InterContinental Hotels Group led the laggers, falling 3.22 percent to 1981.00 pence.","French court genocide sentence is milestone: Rwandan minister. Rwanda's justice minister on Saturday hailed the sentencing by a French court of a former Rwandan army captain to 25 years in prison over the 1994 genocide as a \"milestone\". In the first trial of its kind in France Pascal Simbikangwa, a 54-year-old former member of the Rwandan presidential guard, was found guilty of perpetrating genocide and of complicity in crimes against humanity. Rwanda has long accused France of being reluctant to either extradite or prosecute Rwandans accused of having taken part in the 1994 genocide, in which an estimated 800,000 people, essentially Tutsis, were killed. \"The Simbikangwa judgement is a milestone for justice for perpetrators of the 1994 genocide,\" Justice Minister Johnston Busingye told AFP.","Hamilton still in good position to clinch F1 title. SAO PAULO (AP) — Nico Rosberg won the Brazilian Grand Prix on Sunday to get within 17 points of Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton in the Formula One title race.","Messi hat trick gives Barca win at Madrid. LONDON (AP) — Living up to the \"clasico\" billing, Lionel Messi upstaged Cristiano Ronaldo on his own turf to reassert Barcelona's title credentials on Sunday.","Northern Mexico state approves same-sex marriage. MEXICO CITY (AP) — The northern state of Coahuila has become the second place in Mexico after the capital to recognize same-sex marriage.","Iraq needs internal dialogue, not external intervention: Saudi source. Saudi Arabia considers political dialogue among Iraqis and not outside intervention to be the way to solve Iraq's turmoil, a Saudi source said on Thursday, adding that several leading Western powers agreed with that position. “Saudi Arabia, the U.S., France and the UK are all in agreement that dialogue and a political solution is the way forward in Iraq,\" the source said.4 (Reporting by Amena Bakr, Writing by William Maclean;","Azam & Sohail tons swell Pakistan A lead to 338. SHARJAH, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Young batsman Babar Azam and test hopeful Haris Sohail smashed centuries as Pakistan A swelled its lead to 338 against Australia on the third day of their four-day match on Friday.","Soros, foreign funds back Bankia stake sale: source. By Carlos Ruano MADRID (Reuters) - Billionaire financier George Soros was one of the investors in bailed-out lender Bankia , after the Spanish government began selling down its stake, which was almost entirely placed with foreign funds, a source familiar with the process said. Spain made a small profit last week on the sale of a 7.5 percent stake in Bankia, less than two years after it needed the country's biggest ever bank rescue and pushed the government to ask for 41.3 billion euros ($57 billion) in aid for weak lenders. Soros Fund Management was among the six biggest investment fund buyers of Bankia shares in last week's offering, according to a breakdown provided by a source familiar with the placement. Other major investors also included asset managers such as UK-based Schroders and Henderson Global Investors, and Mainfirst Asset Management and Capital World Investors from the United States, the source said.","Exclusive: China ready to cut rates again on fears of deflation - sources. By By Kevin Yao BEIJING (Reuters) - China's leadership and central bank are ready to cut interest rates again and also loosen lending restrictions, concerned that falling prices could trigger a surge in debt defaults, business failures and job losses, said sources involved in policy-making. Friday's surprise cut in rates, the first in more than two years, reflects a change of course by Beijing and the central bank, which had persisted with modest stimulus measures before finally deciding last week that a bold monetary policy step was required to stabilize the world's second-largest economy. ...","China's manufacturing slows to seven-month low. BEIJING (AP) — China's manufacturing contracted for a second straight month in February as a mainstay of the world's No. 2 economy loses momentum amid government efforts to rein in credit and investment growth.","South Korean president wants coast guard disbanded. SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea's president pledged Monday to disband the coast guard amid mounting criticism of its failure to save hundreds of passengers trapped last month in a sinking ferry. Critics said President Park Geun-hye was trying to shift attention from her mishandling of one of South Korea's deadliest disasters in decades.","Puerto Rico seeks strict water rationing measures. SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Puerto Rico says it will implement strict water-rationing measures if a cluster of thunderstorms headed toward the Caribbean does not generate enough rain.","Nigeria gunmen free Dutch hostages: activist. Niger Delta gunmen have released three Dutch nationals who were abducted earlier this week, a Nigerian activist who had accompanied the trio but was earlier released said Saturday. Amsterdam-based environmental activist Sunny Ofehe and the three Dutch nationals, two men and a woman, were seized Sunday after armed men in a dinghy stormed their boat. Scores of foreigners have been abducted in the southern Niger Delta region, home to Africa's largest oil industry, with many released on payment of a ransom.","India gang rape case highlights lack of toilets. LUCKNOW, India (AP) — The two teenage girls had walked out together at night, as they did every night, into the wild bamboo fields 10 or 15 minutes from their mud-and-straw huts to relieve themselves. Like millions of families across India, they had no bathroom at home.","Thai voices for compromise struggle to be heard. BANGKOK (AP) — While thousands of protesters occupied major intersections around Thailand's capital to demand that the government scrap upcoming elections and step down, dozens of people donned white T-shirts and lit candles at a small park to call for peace and compromise to end the bitter and sometimes violent political conflict.","France's Hollande says east Ukraine referendum does not count. French President Francois Hollande dismissed a referendum on self-rule in east Ukraine on Sunday, saying the only vote that mattered was a presidential election on May 25. Separatist rebels went ahead with the vote in defiance of Ukraine's pro-Western government and one announced plans to form their own state bodies and military once results are announced on Monday. Hollande said the vote was so makeshift it could not even be called a referendum. \\\\\"I don't want to use the word referendum because there is no point,\\\\\" he said on arrival in Baku, capital of Azerbaijan, which, like Ukraine, was once part of the Moscow-led Soviet Union.","UN seeks probe of alleged chlorine gas in Syria. UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N. Security Council says it is gravely concerned at reports of alleged chlorine gas use in some Syrian towns, which caused deaths and injuries, and is calling for an investigation.","Exclusive: TPG seeks RentPath sale for more than $1.5 billion - sources. By Soyoung Kim and Greg Roumeliotis NEW YORK (Reuters) - Buyout firm TPG Capital LP is exploring a sale of RentPath Inc in a deal that could value the property listings company, known for its Apartment Guide and Rent.com websites, at more than $1.5 billion, according to people familiar with the matter. TPG's decision to explore a sale of RentPath comes amid soaring rents and lower vacancy rates in many U.S. cities. Rents have gone up more than 52.8 percent since 2000, while median household income has increased by just 25.4 percent, a study by real estate website operator Zillow Inc showed last month. TPG, which bought RentPath for $525 million in 2011 from KKR & Co LP, is preparing to work with investment bank Moelis & Co to find a buyer, some of the people said, asking not to be named because the matter is not public.","Death of Former Beauty Queen Prompts Soul-Searching, Anger in Venezuela. Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has publicly called Henrique Capriles, his chief political opponent, a fascist pig and a queer posh boy, out of touch with the people. Yet, on Wednesday, the pair shook hands in Miraflores presidential palace at a hastily arranged meeting of state governors, called in response to the murder of a 29-year-old former Miss Venezuela that has rocked the nation. “Nicolás,” Capriles wrote on Twitter, which has become a key vehicle for political rhetoric in Venezuela, “I propose we put aside our profound differences and meet.” Mónica Spear, 29, and her husband Henry Thomas Berry, 39, were driving with their 5-year-old daughter on holiday in Venezulea—they lived in the U.S. According to authorities, robbers on the highway between the town of Puerto Cabello and the central city of Valencia laid an obstacle on the dimly-lit road which punctured a tyre of their Toyota Corolla.","Rooney to miss Man United's penultimate game. MANCHESTER, England (AP) — Wayne Rooney will miss Manchester United's penultimate match of a lackluster English Premier League campaign against Hull on Tuesday while still struggling to overcome a groin injury.","Bodies believed to be Miss Honduras, sister found. TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras (AP) — Two bodies believed to belong to Miss Honduras 2014 and her sister have been found buried near the spa where they disappeared six days ago, the Honduras National Police director said Wednesday.","Security forces arrest Indian soldier who crossed river into Pakistan. ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Pakistani security forces arrested an Indian soldier after he crossed a river into Pakistan on Wednesday, a spokeswoman for the foreign ministry in Islamabad said, potentially heightening tensions between the two nuclear armed rivals. Tasnim Aslam said the unnamed soldier had crossed the Chenab river into the Sialkot area of Pakistan's Punjab province. It was unclear if he swam, she said, or was washed away after he and his colleagues abandoned a boat that ran into trouble, as some local media reported. ...","Eaton wins heptathlon gold, misses world record. SOPOT, Poland (AP) — Ashton Eaton has successfully defended his heptathlon world indoor championship title but a world record escaped the American by just 1.18 seconds over the closing 1,000 meters.","US releases five Guantanamo inmates to Kazakhstan. The United States has sent five detainees from the prison at Guantanamo Bay to Kazakhstan, marking a renewed push by President Barack Obama to close the controversial jail. Two Tunisian and three Yemeni inmates who had spent more than 11 years behind bars without ever being charged in a court arrived in Kazakhstan at 0415 GMT on Wednesday aboard a US military aircraft, the Pentagon said. The prison was set up to hold alleged terror suspects after the September 11, 2001 attacks, but human rights groups have condemned the jail as a \"legal black hole,\" where inmates languish for years without being tried in court. The pace of transfers from the US-run detention center at Guantanamo has picked up in recent months as Obama attempts to fulfill his vow to shut the prison, despite opposition from some lawmakers.","Mexico pollution, water disputes turn political. MEXICO CITY (AP) — Water pollution disasters in Mexico have turned into political battles as officials struggled Wednesday to blame each other for the problems.","Blatter, Valcke remain silent over Qatar bid. BRASILIA, Brazil (AP) — FIFA's top two officials Sepp Blatter and Jerome Valcke remained silent Monday over questions about the integrity of Qatar's winning bid for the 2022 World Cup.","Nigeria devalues currency amid falling oil price. ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — The Central Bank of Nigeria says it has devalued of the naira, setting the new official exchange rate at 168 to the dollar from its previous rate of 155.","Cambodian Americans relish Khmer Rouge verdict. SANTA ANA, California (AP) — Sophany Bay saw her two young daughters and son die at the hands of the infamous Khmer Rouge in Cambodia after the family was forced from their home and she was sent to toil in the fields under the movement's reign of terror.","Hamilton on top after opening Abu Dhabi practice. Abu Dhabi (AFP) - World championship leader Lewis Hamilton emphasised his superiority when he topped the times again ahead of Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg in Friday's second practice for this weekend's decisive Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.","Sky's no limit for Czech chimney climbers. DOLNI SMRZOVKA, Czech Republic (AP) — From afar, they look like ants crawling up a tower into the sky.","Israeli Arabs march against hate attacks. Umm al Faham (Israel) (AFP) - Hundreds of Arab Israelis rallied outside Umm al-Faham on Monday in protest at attacks by Jewish extremists that spread to the almost entirely Arab northern town last week. \"Umm al-Faham is a red line,\" the demonstrators chanted as they gathered outside the town, a stronghold of the radical wing of Israel's Islamic Movement. Earlier this month, suspected Jewish extremists slashed the tyres of some 40 cars in an Arab village in northern Israel.","'13 Wimbledon runner-up Lisicki beats Ivanovic. LONDON (AP) — Last year's Wimbledon runner-up, Sabine Lisicki of Germany, reached the fourth round by beating 2008 French Open champion Ana Ivanovic 6-4, 3-6, 6-1 Monday in a match that began two days earlier.","US offers $30M to Congo for upcoming elections. KINSHASA, Congo (AP) — The United States is prepared to give Congo $30 million in aid for stability and democracy-building — but wants President Joseph Kabila (kah-BEE'-lah) to agree to step down at the end of his current term in office.","Myanmar rebels, villagers destroy poppy crops. LOI CHYARAM VILLAGE, Myanmar (AP) — The rebel soldiers climbing this mountain, rifles at their shoulders, are going into battle not with government forces, but against opium crops that are destroying communities in eastern Myanmar as they succumb to drug addiction.","Last crew member of Enola Gay dies in US. ATLANTA (AP) — The last surviving member of the U.S. crew that dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima has died.","Lufthansa says to resume flights to Arbil in northern Iraq. (Reuters) - German airline Deutsche Lufthansa said it would resume flights to and from Arbil in northern Iraq starting on Monday, but would continue to avoid airspace above the area controlled by the Islamic State militant group. Flights to Asia and other parts of the Middle East also would continue to detour around Iraq, Europe's largest airline by revenue said in an emailed statement on Sunday. The changes in flight routes would apply to Lufthansa, Lufthansa Cargo, Austrian Airlines and Swiss, the carrier said, adding that the new flight routes would not significantly lengthen flight times. Lufthansa's decision came a day after Royal Jordanian - one of the main airlines serving Iraq - said it had suspended all flights to Baghdad for at least 24 hours for security reasons.","China blasts Australia over Abbott's WWII comments. China on Monday slammed a remark by Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott praising Japanese military personnel during World War II, while state-run media said Australia was once \"roamed by rascals\". China's Global Times daily, linked to the ruling Communist party, said Australia was in no position to criticise China's human rights record in part because it \"used to be a place roamed by rascals and outlaws from Europe\". The editorial came after Abbott recalled a submarine attack by Japanese forces on the city of Sydney, saying: \"we admired the skill and the sense of honour that they brought to their task although we disagreed with what they did.\" China's foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei said in a statement posted online that if reports of Abbott's remarks were true, \"no one with a conscience could agree with them\". Australia and Japan have recently stepped-up its military and economic ties, amid a tense territorial dispute between Tokyo and Beijing.","US: Hacking suspect's lawyers may face conflict. SEATTLE (AP) — The U.S. Justice Department says two attorneys representing the son of a prominent Russian lawmaker may face a conflict of interest because another attorney in their firm represented victims of a hacking scheme he's accused of running.","Conte, Hiddink debut in Italy-Netherlands friendly. BARI, Italy (AP) — Antonio Conte and Guus Hiddink will each be making coaching debuts when Italy hosts the Netherlands in a friendly Thursday with both sides missing several key players.","Report: Russian hackers steal 1.2B passwords. NEW YORK (AP) — A published report says Russian hackers have stolen 1.2 billion user names and passwords in a series of Internet heists affecting 420,000 websites.","Rwanda court's forgotten men pose challenge to international justice. By Chine Labbé, Fumbuka Ng'wanakilala and Thomas Escritt THE HAGUE/DAR ES SALAAM (Reuters) - Justin Mugenzi was legally cleared of any role in Rwanda's 1994 genocide. But an oversight in the international justice system means he remains a virtual prisoner in a United Nations safe house in the eastern African state of Tanzania. \"My wife and eight children are all Belgian citizens now,\" the 75-year-old former trade minister told Reuters in Dar es Salaam after submitting a third - and unsuccessful - visa application to the Belgian embassy there. \"I have nowhere else to go,\" said Mugenzi. ...","Russia pulls back troops from Ukraine border. MOSCOW (AP) — Vladimir Putin says Russia has pulled back its troops from the Ukrainian border.","Spain's Supreme Court gives go-ahead to Canary Islands drilling. MADRID (Reuters) - Spain's Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected seven legal appeals against oil drilling off the Canary Islands, a spokeswoman told Reuters. The ruling will open the door to exploration for oil and gas by companies like Spanish oil major Repsol. In 2012 Spain's government had granted permits for hydrocarbons exploration off the coasts of the Fuerteventura and Lanzarote islands, but they were frozen while courts decided on a number of appeals on environmental grounds. (Reporting By Sarah Morris; Editing by Fiona Ortiz)","40 Dominican fishermen detained in Bahamas. NASSAU, Bahamas (AP) — Forty Dominican fishermen have been taken into custody on suspicion of poaching in Bahamian waters.","Britain bans Saudi cleric who supports jihad in Syria. Britain has banned Mohammed al-Arifi, a conservative Sunni Muslim cleric from Saudi Arabia with over 9 million Twitter followers, as it tries to deter young Muslims from going to join Islamic militants in Syria. Arifi, who has called for jihad against President Bashar al-Assad of Syria, has visited Britain several times.","South Sudan government, rebels halt peace talks. South Sudan's government and rebels are taking a more than two-week break from key peace talks having seemingly made little to no progress in three weeks, mediators said Tuesday. The IGAD regional bloc, which is brokering the peace talks being held in Ethiopia, said both sides were halting the talks until March 20 in order \"to further reflect and consult on guiding documents of the process\". A spokesperson for IGAD, Tigist Hailu, said the two sides has yet to even finalise a framework for the talks, which are aimed at resolving the underlying causes of South Sudan's slide into conflict. The conflict broke out in the capital Juba on December 15 amid tensions within the ruling party of President Salva Kiir and former vice president Riek Machar, but quickly spread across the country.","Philippines typhoon rebuilding may cost 50 pct more this year than estimated. By Rosemarie Francisco and Karen Lema MANILA (Reuters) - The cost of typhoon reconstruction this year could reach 138 billion pesos ($3.1 billion), more than 50 percent higher than initially estimated, as the Philippines seeks to build back better and put in safeguards for future disasters, the budget secretary said on Thursday. The total cost of a four-year reconstruction effort may also end up steeper than the current estimate of 361 billion pesos, Florencio Abad said. Typhoon Haiyan, one of the strongest storms to make landfall anywhere, reduced almost everything in its path to rubble when it swept ashore in the central Philippines on November 8, killing at least 6,190 people, leaving 1,785 missing and 4 million either homeless or with damaged homes. \"I don't think they (reconstruction planners) have factored in the need to introduce resiliency.","China says willing to help Iraq in any way it can. China said on Friday that it was watching security developments in Iraq closely after Islamist fighters captured two more towns in a sweep south, and offered the government in Baghdad whatever help it can give. China is the top foreign player in Iraq's oilfields, which are the largest in the Middle East open to foreign investment, and has a natural interest in the country's stability. \"China is paying close attention to the recent security situation in Iraq and we support the Iraqi government's efforts to maintain domestic security and stability. We hope that Iraq can return to stability, safety and normality as early as possible,\" Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said.","Yemen ex-leader's party urges transparency in UN sanctions. The party of Yemen's former president Ali Abdullah Saleh, accused of impeding the country's political transition, urged transparency Sunday following a UN Security Council decision to punish obstructionists. The UN Security Council on Wednesday unanimously backed sanctions against those found to be \"obstructing or undermining the successful completion of the political transition,\" a decision said to be targeting Saleh and his supporters. The party said it was committed to \"cooperation\" to conclude the political transition through the drafting of a new constitution and holding general and presidential elections. Yemen, the Arab world's poorest country, is grappling with an increasingly violent separatist movement in the south, which was independent between the end of British colonial rule in 1967 and union with the north in 1990.","Security cameras, extra patrols await NYC visitors arriving for Super Bowl. NEW YORK, N.Y. - When Super Bowl fans fill the streets of New York City next week, police will be watching them closely — in person, in the air and on closed-circuit monitors.","Li Na loses in 1st round of French Open. PARIS (AP) — Another day on the clay at the French Open, another reigning Australian Open champion bites the red dust.","Pakistani operation to rescue students at Peshawar school is over. PESHAWAR, Pakistan (Reuters) - A Pakistani army operation to rescue students trapped inside a military-run school in the city of Peshawar ended after a nine hour battle with a group of Taliban insurgents, a military source said. \"The operation is complete,\" said the source, adding that all nine militants were dead after hours of fighting. He said seven army personnel, including two officers, were wounded. (Reporting by Mehreen Zahra Malik; Writing by Maria Golovnina; Editing by Mike Collett-White)","US hits Norwegian citizen with terror sanctions. WASHINGTON (AP) — The Obama administration says it has put a Norwegian citizen on a terrorism blacklist for traveling to Yemen to join al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula. The move underscores increased U.S. fears of Europeans and other westerners becoming involved in terrorism.","Jordan airline resumes flights to Iraq. Royal Jordanian , one of the main airlines serving Iraq, said on Sunday it had resumed flights to Iraq after a 24-hour suspension due to security concerns. The airline did not elaborate in its statement on why it reversed the decision it took on Saturday to halt flights to Iraq until further notice. Royal Jordanian has a weekly total of 30 flights to Iraq, serving Baghdad 11 times a week, as well as Basra in the south, and Irbil and Sulaymaniya in the Kurdish north. It stopped its twice-weekly flights to Mosul shortly after the northern city fell in June to the Islamic State militant group.","Thai police: 2 men admit killing British tourists. BANGKOK (AP) — Two workers from Myanmar have confessed to killing a pair of British tourists whose battered bodies were found on a beach in southern Thailand last month, and police said Friday that the suspects' DNA matched that collected from one of the victims.","Peru destroys over 31,000 hectares of coca in 2014. LIMA, Peru (AP) — Peruvian officials have announced that they destroyed 31,205 hectares (about 77,000 acres) of coca crops this year, the highest since the government eradication program began in 1983.","Syrian army planes bomb northern town killing 21: monitor. BEIRUT (Reuters) - At least 21 people were killed and around 100 wounded after Syrian army planes bombed a town in northern Syria that is controlled by Islamic State militants, a group monitoring the war said on Sunday. Syrian military helicopters dropped barrel bombs and warplanes launched air strikes on the town which lies northeast of the city of Aleppo, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. (Reporting by Sylvia Westall; Editing by Andrew Heavens)","Kremlin rep says consent to use Russian troops in Ukraine does not mean quick move. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin said on Saturday that the upper house of parliament's vote to allow President Vladimir Putin to use troops in Ukraine does not mean it will happen quickly. \"The consent which the president received does not mean literally that this right will be used quickly,\" said Karasin, whom Putin earlier on Saturday put in charge of the proposal.","Denmark says EU green energy deal best way to sanction Russia. By Barbara Lewis BRUSSELS (Reuters) - A European Union deal to cut fuel use and increase renewable energy would be a better punishment on Moscow than more sanctions as it would clearly show the EU means to cut reliance on Russian gas, Denmark's foreign minister said on Thursday. In a telephone interview, Martin Lidegaard told Reuters it was not the time to strengthen or weaken economic sanctions imposed on Moscow by the EU over Russia's actions in Ukraine. ...","U.S. Supreme Court rejects BP challenge to Gulf spill settlement. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday rejected BP'sattempt to halt payouts to certain businesses that say they are owed money because of losses stemming from the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill. The court’s refusal to hear BP’s appeal means the London-based oil company will have to make payments to companies it believes cannot trace their losses to the April 20, 2010 explosion of the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig and rupture of BP's Macondo oil well. (Reporting by Lawrence Hurley; Editing by Will Dunham)","Ukraine rebels strengthen as shelling rocks stronghold Donetsk. Artillery fire rocked east Ukraine's rebel stronghold of Donetsk on Sunday as separatists appeared to be reinforcing their frontline and fears grew of a return to all-out fighting. The boom of shelling rumbled on mid-morning on the edge of Donetsk, where government forces regularly exchange heavy fire with insurgent fighters, but was less intense than overnight when mortar fire was heard close to the centre for around two hours, an AFP journalist reported. An AFP crew saw a convoy of 20 military vehicles and 14 howitzer cannons without number plates or markings driving through the rebel town of Makiivka in the direction of the nearby frontline around Donetsk, where Ukrainian troops are struggling. The Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) voiced concern Saturday after its monitors witnessed unmarked columns of tanks and troop carriers moving through east Ukraine in territory held by pro-Russia separatists.","Quake hits South Africa. JOHANNESBURG (AP) — A 5.3 earthquake has shaken buildings in Johannesburg and surrounding areas.","Foreign ministers agree on Ukraine cease-fire path. BERLIN (AP) — Foreign ministers from Russia, Ukraine, Germany and France meeting in Berlin agreed Wednesday on a series of steps for a resumption of the ceasefire in eastern Ukraine to de-escalate a conflict that has taken over 400 lives since April.","Activists: Nearly 700 dead in Syrian rebel clashes. BEIRUT (AP) — Activists say nearly 700 people have been killed in rebel infighting in opposition-held parts of northern Syria over the past nine days.","Strongest storm in years batters California. About 150,000 people were left struggling for power as the strongest storm to lash the US West Coast in several years blew in snow, heavy rain and ferocious winds. Winds gusting up to 230 kilometers (140 miles) per hour and the biggest snowfalls for six years were reported, although it was expected to do little to compensate for a historic drought now ravaging California for a third year. Some 240 flights were canceled at San Francisco International Airport, local newspaper reports said, spelling travel misery. \"It's clearly the strongest storm to impact the West Coast in the last three years,\" Todd Morris, a spokesman for the National Weather Service, told AFP, adding that the highest winds were expected in the mountains.","Egypt: El-Sissi gives sign of presidential run. ","Libya closes eastern lifeline airport for security reasons. BENGHAZI Libya (Reuters) - Rocket fire has forced the closure of Labraq airport, the main gateway into Libya's government-held east, the airport director said on Saturday. Gunmen have repeatedly fired Grad rockets into Labraq airport, east of Benghazi, and all flights have been suspended for security reasons, director Abu Bakr al-Abaidi told Reuters. Oil-producing Libya has descended into chaos with two governments and two parliaments vying for legitimacy three years after the ousting of strongman Muammar Gaddafi in 2011. ...","5 things to look for Wednesday at the French Open. PARIS (AP) — Five things to look for Wednesday at the French Open:","Clash of values mires Thailand in cycle of coups. BANGKOK (AP) — Over the past decades, Chalad Worachat has resisted military regimes and dictatorial legislation by staging hunger strikes, five of them. Now the 71-year-old onetime parliamentarian is back on water and honey, despondent that after so many years and so much bloodshed, Thailand has been unable to break out of a vicious cycle of military coups to achieve true democracy.","Ukrainian PM heads to tragedy-hit Odessa. Odessa (Ukraine) (AFP) - Ukraine's prime minister visited the grief-stricken Black Sea port city of Odessa on Sunday, two days after 42 died in clashes between pro-Russian militants and supporters of the Kiev authorities. Arseniy Yatsenyuk's trip was to \"meet social, political, cultural and economic leaders from the Odessa region,\" his office said in a statement. Earlier Sunday, Yatsenyuk vowed a \"full, comprehensive and independent investigation\" into the tragedy, as authorities declared two days of mourning. The prime minister laid the blame for the deaths at the security forces.","Yorkshire wins English county championship. NOTTINGHAM, England (AP) — Yorkshire completed its rise back to the top of English cricket under Australian coach Jason Gillespie by winning the county championship for the first time in 13 years on Friday.","Spain's Belmonte Garcia sets 1500 freestyle record. MADRID (AP) — Spain's swimming federation says Mireia Belmonte Garcia has broken the world short-course record in the women's 1,500-meter freestyle at the Spanish short-course championships on Friday.","Sistani calls on Iraqis to unite against Islamic State danger. Iraq's top cleric called again on compatriots on Friday to unite against the \"big danger\" posed by Islamic State militants, whose advances prompted U.S. President Barack Obama to authorize limited bombing. In a weekly Friday sermon delivered through a spokesman in the sacred Shi'ite city of Kerbala, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani blamed Iraqi politicians for Iraq's biggest crisis since the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003, saying they are motivated by self-interest. \"All Iraqis should unify ranks and intensify efforts in the face of this big danger that threatens their present and future,\" said Sistani. The Islamic State, an al-Qaeda spin-off, swept through northern Iraq in June, almost unopposed by Iraq's U.S.-funded and trained army, and has made gains since then.","US judge rules for Samsung in dispute with Apple. SAN JOSE, California (AP) — A U.S. judge on Thursday denied Apple's request to permanently ban Samsung from selling 23 older-model smartphones and tablets that a jury found infringed on patents held by the maker of iPhones and iPads.","Kabylie banned from home games over Ebosse death. Algiers (AFP) - The Algerian football federation on Friday banned JS Kabylie from playing home games for the rest of the season after the death of Cameroon striker Albert Ebosse.","Thai stocks underperform as martial law declared. HONG KONG (AP) — Thailand's stock market underperformed its counterparts in Asia and around the world on Tuesday after the military declared martial law in what it called an attempt to stabilize the country's precarious political situation.","Santos hired as Portugal coach, replacing Bento. LISBON, Portugal (AP) — Fernando Santos is taking over as Portugal coach, despite his eight-game international ban for misconduct at the World Cup.","Sydney theater, Stonehenge center among 2014 Australian Institute of Architects' National Architecture Award winners. Australia has honored its best new building projects in the Australian Institute of Architects' 2014 National Architecture Awards.","Three more ex-Barclays staff charged over Libor. Britain's Serious Fraud Office announced on Monday that three more ex-employees of Barclays bank have been charged over the Libor rate-rigging affair. The scandal over Libor, an interest rate at the heart of the global economy, has damaged the reputation of London as a global financial centre and plagued big names in world banking. The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) said it had launched criminal proceedings against the three men \"for conspiracy to defraud in connection with its investigation into the manipulation of Libor\". The charged were named as Jay Vijay Merchant, Alex Julian Pabon and Ryan Michael Reich in a brief statement issued by the SFO, which added that its investigation would continue.","Comcast to bring its X1 service to L.A., New York within year of merger. By Liana B. Baker Los Angeles (Reuters) - Within a year after its $45 billion acquisition of Time Warner Cable Inc closes, Comcast Corp aims to make its advanced X1 cable service available in areas such as New York and Los Angeles and other markets where it will gain a commanding new presence. \"We'll be within the first markets in a year,\" Neil Smit, president and chief executive of Comcast's cable unit, told Reuters. The new technology would \"bring considerably higher Internet speeds to Time Warner Cable customers\" in those cities, Smit said, and give them access to such X1 services as Internet applications, viewing recommendations and voice control. Features offered by the cloud-connected X1 cable box system could help Comcast pick up subscribers in major cities where Time Warner Cable's growth has stalled in recent years.","Bangladesh top court commutes death sentence of a senior Islamist. DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) — Bangladesh top court commutes death sentence of a senior Islamist.","Top Asian News at 1:00 p.m. GMT. HONG KONG (AP) — Hong Kong police battling activists for control of an underpass in the dead of night Wednesday sparked public anger after officers were seen kicking a handcuffed protester in the worst violence since street demonstrations for greater democracy began more than two weeks ago. Officers armed with riot shields, batons and pepper spray knocked activists to the ground, dragging dozens away, and tore down barricades protesters used as roadblocks around the underpass outside the government's headquarters.","UN resolution on Ukraine faces vote Saturday. UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N. Security Council is meeting Saturday to vote on a resolution on the Ukraine crisis, but permanent member Russia is virtually certain to veto it.","In northeast Syria, Islamic State builds a government. By Mariam Karouny BEIRUT (Reuters) - In the cities and towns across the desert plains of northeast Syria, the ultra-hardline al Qaeda offshoot Islamic State has insinuated itself into nearly every aspect of daily life. The group famous for its beheadings, crucifixions and mass executions provides electricity and water, pays salaries, controls traffic, and runs nearly everything from bakeries and banks to schools, courts and mosques. While its merciless battlefield tactics and its imposition of its austere vision of Islamic law have won the group headlines, residents say much of its power lies in its efficient and often deeply pragmatic ability to govern. Syria's eastern province of Raqqa provides the best illustration of their methods. Members hold up the province as an example of life under the Islamic \"caliphate\" they hope will one day stretch from China to Europe. In the provincial capital, a dust-blown city that was home to about a quarter of a million people before Syria's three-year-old war began, the group leaves almost no institution or public service outside of its control. \"Let us be honest, they are doing massive institutional work.","Israel boosts security for rare clash of holy days. Jerusalem (AFP) - Israel is tightening security in flashpoint mixed Jewish-Muslim areas to ward off possible unrest this weekend when two important religious festivals coincide for the first time in three decades.","Max Clifford's sex assault trial 'haunted' by Savile. The spectre of shamed TV presenter Jimmy Savile has haunted the trial of Britain's top public relations guru Max Clifford, his lawyer said Wednesday as the sex assault case neared its conclusion. Richard Horwell told London's Southwark Crown Court that wealthy people like Clifford were being branded predators due to the \"Savile effect\". The prosecution has told the trial that the claims from Clifford's alleged victims emerged following revelations in 2012 that Savile -- a household name in Britain in the 1970s and 1980s -- had been a serial sex offender. Clifford, 71, denies 11 counts of indecent assault against seven girls and women.","Israel says Gaza war cost military $2.5 bn. Israeli Defence Minister Moshe Yaalon said on Tuesday that the direct cost of the 50-day military offensive in the Gaza Strip was more than $2.5 billion (1.9 billion euros). \"The expenditure on Operation Protective Edge -- military expenditure, the direct expenditure -- is more than nine billion shekels,\" Yaalon told an economic conference in Tel Aviv. \"The terror organisations in the Gaza Strip -- Hamas Islamic Jihad and others -- had 10,000 rounds at the beginning of Operation Protective Edge,\" said Yaalon. \"Today they have about a fifth of that but that's still 2,000 rounds,\" he said, adding that every interception of an incoming rocket by Israel's Iron Dome missile defence system cost $100,000.","Sammy: West Indies aiming for World T20 history. MIRPUR, Bangladesh (AP) — Buoyant captain Darren Sammy says his West Indies is highly motivated to become the first team to retain the World Twenty20 title as it prepares for the first semifinal against Sri Lanka on Thursday.","Britain reburies soldiers lost in World War I. LOOS-EN-GOHELLE, France (AP) — Twenty British soldiers are being laid to rest with full military honors in this sleepy northern French village, nearly a century after the First World War battle that claimed their lives.","18 killed in Uganda tribal clashes with police. KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) — Armed members of a tribal group near Uganda's border with Congo killed at least 12 people in multiple attacks against civilians and the security forces, Ugandan police said Sunday.","US navy hands rogue oil tanker back to Libya. Tripoli (AFP) - The US navy Saturday handed over to Libyan authorities an oil tanker it intercepted after the vessel took to sea with crude illegally loaded at a rebel-held port, the American embassy said.","Obama: Russia not abiding by agreement on Ukraine. TOKYO (AP) — President Barack Obama says Russia has not abided by the spirit or the letter of an agreement reached in Geneva last week that aimed to ease tensions in eastern Ukraine.","Fearing Iraq's downfall, power brokers chose safe bet Abadi. By Michael Georgy BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Pressure on Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki to step aside had become unbearable. Sunnis, Kurds, fellow Shi'ites, regional power broker Iran and the United States all wanted him out. Maliki calculated he may have one more chance to hold onto power after eight years in office, even though alarmed allies had run out of patience as Islamic State jihadis swept government forces aside in much of western and northern Iraq. Maliki's plan would require persuading Iraq's most influential cleric that he alone could reform and unite a country that had slid back into a civil war fueled by what critics view as his sectarian politics.","Air China profit falls as weaker yuan hits costs. HONG KONG (AP) — Air China says its six-month profit fell by more than half as the weakening yuan raised financing costs and other expenses.","Soldier shot in head is latest Venezuela unrest death. By Daniel Wallis and Diego Ore CARACAS (Reuters) - A National Guard captain who was shot in the head during a demonstration in Venezuela died on Monday, the military said, becoming the 29th fatality from weeks of clashes between protesters and the security forces. General Padrino Lopez, head of the armed forces' strategic operational command, said the captain was shot late on Sunday at a street barricade set up by demonstrators in the central city of Maracay, in Aragua state. \"Our armed forces don't repress peaceful protests, they protect them ... much more Venezuelan blood would've been shed, if it were not for the responsible actions of our National Guard.\" For six weeks, students and hardline opposition leaders have been calling supporters onto the streets in protest at President Nicolas Maduro and his socialist government. The demonstrators are demanding political change and an end to high inflation, shortages of basic foods and one of the worst rates of violent crime in the world.","Police shut Istanbul park to pre-empt protests one year after unrest. By Ayla Jean Yackley ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkish police on Saturday shut Gezi Park, the Istanbul square at the center of mass demonstrations in 2013, to prevent any efforts to mark the anniversary of the biggest anti-government protests in decades. Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan, who was the target of many protesters' ire last year, warned people to stay out of Taksim Square, which adjoins the park, saying security forces would do whatever is necessary to keep the area clear. Riot police circled the perimeter of Gezi, and hundreds of plainclothes officers carrying batons patrolled Istiklal, a major shopping street that leads to Taksim as well as a popular tourist spot. Taksim Solidarity, one of the main organizers of last year's protest movement, called for a rally at Taksim at 7 p.m. (1600 GMT).","No information on possible Islamic State subway attacks - French foreign minister. UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said on Friday there had been no confirmation of Iraqi information about possible attacks on the Paris subway system by Islamic State militants. Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi had said on Thursday his country had credible intelligence that Islamic State was planning to hit subways in Paris and the United States. Fabius, speaking at a news conference at the United Nations, said the information provided by the Iraqis was being rigorously vetted, adding \"at this stage, there is absolutely no confirmation. ...","Australian naval base in lockdown, bomb squad called. SYDNEY (Reuters) - A naval base in the Australian state of Victoria went into lockdown and a police bomb squad was sent to the scene to investigate unspecified \"hazardous material\", security officials said on Thursday. An exclusion zone of 400 meters was declared around a residential apartment at HMAS Cerberus, a naval training base on the Mornington Peninsula, 75 km (45 miles) southeast of Melbourne, Victorian police said. The incident occurred after a routine inspection at the base found the material in the apartment, the Australian Defence Force said in a statement. ...","Assange welcome in Ecuador embassy 'as long as necessary'. Quito (AFP) - Ecuador Friday guaranteed political asylum to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange for \"as long as necessary,\" one day after he lost an appeal against a Swedish warrant for his arrest.","Davis done at Sochi Games, sits out team pursuit. SOCHI, Russia (AP) — Shani Davis is done skating at the Sochi Olympics.","IOC: Flexible rules could allow baseball's return. INCHEON, South Korea (AP) — The adoption of a more flexible approach to the Olympic program could allow for the return of baseball and other sports that have been dropped from the games, International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach said Saturday.","Nadal is cautious in return following back injury. RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Rafael Nadal is taking it easy at the Rio Open, nursing a back injury and hoping it gets better.","Rooney starts for United at Bayern. Munich (Germany) (AFP) - England striker Wayne Rooney won his race to be fit for Wednesday's Champions League, quarter-final, second-leg at Bayern Munich despite struggling with a toe injury.","Blast kills 2 in southern Beirut. BEIRUT (AP) — A blast in a Shiite district in southern Beirut killed at least two people on Wednesday, security officials said — the latest apparent attack linked to the civil war in neighboring Syria.","Mezgec wins first stage of Tour of Beijing. BEIJING (AP) — Luka Mezgec of Slovenia won the opening stage of the Tour of Beijing in a sprint finish on Friday.","Car bomb outside mosque in Syria causes casualties. BEIRUT (AP) — Syrian activists say a car bomb at a mosque in a southern village has killed dozens of people, while state media confirms 3 killed in the attack in Daraa province.","Citi to pay $7 billion to settle U.S. mortgage securities probe. Citigroup Inc has agreed to pay $7 billion to settle a U.S. investigation into shoddy mortgage-backed securities the bank sold in the run-up to the financial crisis, including the largest civil fraud penalty ever levied by the U.S. Justice Department. The settlement is more than twice what many analysts had expected but less than the $12 billion the government sought in negotiations with Citi, the third largest U.S. bank. Citi said it took a related pretax charge of about $3.8 billion in the second quarter, which led the bank to report a 96 percent drop in earnings on Monday. Citi shares rose 3.2 percent at $48.52.","Ukraine's Poroshenko says will urge rebel withdrawal at meeting with Putin. Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said on Thursday he would call on Russian President Vladimir Putin to take action for pro-Russian separatists to be withdrawn from Ukraine when the two men meet next week, his website said. Poroshenko is scheduled to see Putin in the Belarussian capital Minsk on Aug. 26 at a meeting that will also include top leaders of the European Union and of the Russian-led Customs Union. Though he did not mention Putin by name, Poroshenko was quoted by his website as saying that the Ukrainian side \"would call for the (rebel) fighters to be withdrawn from Ukraine.\" \"I am sure we will succeed in this,\" he said. Poroshenko's pro-Western leadership accuses Russia of orchestrating separatist rebellions in Ukraine, in which more than 2,000 people have been killed, and of arming the rebels.","Crane makes last-minute trip with hopes of playing. HOYLAKE, England (AP) — Ben Crane traveled 24 hours to get to Royal Liverpool and he might not even get to play in the British Open.","CN Railway profit, revenue climbs; revises outlook upward. TORONTO (Reuters) - Canadian National Railway Co, the country's largest rail operator, reported an 18-percent jump in second-quarter profit on Monday and revised its 2014 financial outlook. Net earnings for the quarter ended June 30 rose to C$847 million ($789.6 million), or C$1.03 per share, from C$717 million, or 84 Canadian cents per share, in the same period a year ago. CN said it now expects to deliver \"solid double-digit EPS growth\" in 2014 over 2013 earnings per share of C$3.06, versus an earlier forecast of \"aiming for double-digit\" growth. ...","Iraq: Fighters urged to go as supplies run short. BAGHDAD (AP) — Tribal leaders in the besieged city of Fallujah warned al-Qaida-linked fighters to leave to avoid a military showdown, echoing a call by Iraq's prime minister Wednesday that they give up their fight as the government pushes to regain control of mainly Sunni areas west of Baghdad.","Scolari 'like a dad' to players in Brazil team. FORTALEZA, Brazil (AP) — Luiz Felipe Scolari didn't hesitate when he saw Neymar lying on the ground, his face buried in his hands, crying. The coach calmly walked over and picked the player up, pulled him to his chest and embraced him for a long time.","Vijay fires 50 in opening session for India. NOTTINGHAM, England (AP) — Murali Vijay blasted an unbeaten 55 from 89 balls as India reached 106-1 at lunch on day one of the first test against England at Trent Bridge.","US Sikh student: Rules bar him from Army program. MINEOLA, New York (AP) — A Sikh university student has sued the U.S. Army, saying he cannot join the Reserve Officer Training Corps unless he violates his religious beliefs by removing his turban, shaving and cutting his hair.","Ukraine president says prisoners to be freed under ceasefire. Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said prisoners could be freed as early as Saturday under a ceasefire agreement reached with pro-Russian rebels and Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday. Poroshenko said 12 steps, including a decentralization of powers, had been agreed to bring peace and stability to the mostly Russian-speaking eastern Ukrainian regions of Donetsk and Lugansk with a concrete timetable for implementation.","PLO set for crunch talks on torpedoed peace process. The Palestine Liberation Organisation was preparing Friday for weekend crisis talks to mull its options after Israel torpedoed the US-sponsored peace talks in response to a Fatah-Hamas reconciliation deal. With the peace process that US Secretary of State John Kerry has fought long and hard for apparently back to square one just days before an April 29 deadline, both sides were considering their next move. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu set the tone, telling the BBC that Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas could \"have peace with Israel or a pact with Hamas (but) he can't have both\". \"As long as I'm prime minister of Israel, I will never negotiate with a Palestinian government that is backed by Hamas terrorists that are calling for our liquidation,\" he added.","HP to resume share buyback after merger talks with EMC fall flat. (Reuters) - Hewlett-Packard Co said it would resume its share repurchase program, a day after sources told Reuters that the company had ended merger talks with EMC Corp . Shares of the company were up as much as 3 percent at $33.24 in premarket trading, while EMC's shares were marginally down at $27.28. HP, which has not acknowledged it was in talks with EMC, said it was resuming the buybacks as it was no longer in possession of \"material information\" that had led it to suspend share buybacks in August. ...","Danish former soccer coach Moller Nielsen dies. COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — Richard Moller Nielsen, who led the Danish football team to its first major title in 1992 and later coached Finland and Israel, has died. He was 76.","Deadlocked phone-hacking jury discharged by judge. LONDON (AP) — A judge has dismissed the jury at Britain's phone-hacking trial after it failed to reach a verdict on two final counts.","Wal-Mart to invest $500 million in Canada, create 7,500 jobs. (Reuters) - Wal-Mart Stores Inc said on Tuesday it would invest about $500 million this year to strengthen its presence in Canada, creating more than 7,500 jobs including construction. The company plans to complete 35 supercentre projects in Canada in the fiscal year through January 31, 2015.","Thousands of balloons rise to sky to fete Berlin Wall fall. Thousands of illuminated balloons sailed into the night sky Sunday from the former route of the Berlin Wall, as German Chancellor Angela Merkel said its fall 25 years ago proved that \"dreams can come true\". The flight of the glowing white orbs through the heart of Berlin marked the climax of a huge open-air party at the Brandenburg Gate, the symbol of German unity, which drew an estimated one million guests to the city. A quarter-century after the breach of Europe's Cold War division, artists had tethered nearly 7,000 balloons along a 15-kilometre (nine-mile) stretch of the despised concrete barrier's former 155-kilometre path, making it visible once again. As the balloons were released and floated to the heavens, the Berlin State Orchestra, under the baton of Daniel Barenboim, played Beethoven's \"Ode to Joy\".","Pistorius did not 'throw wobbly' over appeal: lawyer. Oscar Pistorius's lawyer denied Friday that the jailed athlete had \"thrown a wobbly\" after learning he could face a much harsher punishment for killing his girlfriend. Prosecutors on Wednesday won the right to appeal for Pistorius to be convicted of murder instead of the lesser charge of culpable homicide, for which he was sentenced to five years' imprisonment. If the appeal is successful the Paralympian, known as the \"Blade Runner\" for his prosthetic legs, could face at least 15 years in jail. South Africa's Times newspaper reported Thursday, under the headline \"Blade Runner throwns a wobbly in jail\", that Pistorius had \"lost his cool\" after hearing that his acquittal on the murder charge would be appealed.","Catalonia defies Spain to hold independence vote. Spain's Catalonia region voted in a symbolic ballot Sunday on whether to break away as an independent state, defying fierce challenges by the Spanish government. One of Spain's richest but most indebted regions, Catalonia's long-standing yearning for greater autonomy has swelled in recent years of economic hardship, sharpened by resistance from Madrid. \"This is an opportunity we could not miss... We have been demanding it for a very long time,\" said Martin Arbaizar, 16, queueing under blue skies to vote at a polling station in a school in Barcelona. The Spanish government challenged the vote in the courts, forcing Catalan leaders to adapt it from an official but non-binding referendum to a symbolic vote organised by volunteers.","Spanish sea rescuers find bodies of 2 migrants. MADRID (AP) — Spain's Marine Rescue service says it has found the bodies of two sub-Saharan African migrants believed to have been in a boat with eight others that had left Morocco.","Rugby-Aussie streak depends on winning forward battle - captain. By Mark Gleeson CAPE TOWN (Reuters) - Australia need to win the forward battle if they are to maintain their winning momentum when they face South Africa in the Rugby Championship at Newlands on Saturday, captain Michael Hooper said. “We’ve got to be physical. They’ve (South Africa) got a great forward pack and last year they got a lot of good momentum against us. We’ve got to get those boys on the ground and nullify their backs who have a good X-factor. We are not too sure what to expect but excited about it,” he told reporters on Friday as his team had a brief run-out at the match venue. ...","EU leaders seek long-term strategy to deal with Russia. By Alastair Macdonald BRUSSELS (Reuters) - European Union leaders gathered in Brussels on Thursday seeking common ground on a long-term strategy to deal with an unfriendly but economically wounded Russia. Summit host Donald Tusk, the new president of the leaders' European Council, said it was vital for stability on the bloc's eastern borders to start a discussion about how to handle a relationship that some warn risks becoming a new Cold War. \"The situation is really dramatic and very dynamic and of course ... ...","Russia, Ukraine inch closer to gas deal. BRUSSELS (AP) — Russia and Ukraine on Monday made substantial progress toward reaching an agreement on a lower price for gas deliveries and the payment of outstanding debt by Kiev, in a bid to avert a disruption of gas supplies that could also affect western Europe, a top EU official said.","'Hundreds dead' in Boko Haram village rampage. Maiduguri (Nigeria) (AFP) - Hundreds of people are feared dead in a suspected Boko Haram attack on four villages in northeast Nigeria, in the latest upsurge in violence claiming increasing numbers of civilian lives. Some community leaders put the death toll from the Tuesday attacks in the Gwoza district of Borno state as high as 400 to 500, although there was no independent verification because of poor communications in the remote area. They have taken over the whole area,\" lawmaker Peter Biye told AFP. \"There are bodies littered over the whole area and people have fled,\" added Biye, who represents Gwoza in Nigeria's lower chamber of parliament, the House of Representatives.","Explosion rocks train station in China's far west. BEIJING (AP) — An explosion rocked a railway station in China's restive far-western region of Xinjiang, injuring many people as President Xi Jinping wrapped up a four-day visit to the area, state media said Wednesday.","Report: Jailed Mafia boss reveals killing detail. MILAN (AP) — An Italian newspaper report says the remote control to detonate the bomb that killed anti-Mafia prosecutor Paolo Borsellino in 1992 was hidden inside the intercom at his mother's Palermo residence.","El Salvador, Costa Rica vote to elect new leaders. SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador (AP) — Presidential elections in two Central American countries Sunday are both referendums on political stagnation, with voters in Costa Rica deciding whether to oust the long-ruling party, and voters in El Salvador deciding whether to bring it back to power.","Dalai Lama marks Nobel anniversary as Western support wanes. Dharamsala (India) (AFP) - As the Dalai Lama marked his 25th year as a Nobel laureate this week, a row over South Africa's failure to grant him a visa underscored the huge challenge facing the movement he launched more than half a century ago.","'Civil war' warning for Ukraine as troops, tanks push east. IZYUM (Ukraine) (AFP) - Ukraine is on the brink of \"civil war\", Russia warned Tuesday, after Kiev's leaders ordered troops and tanks towards a flashpoint eastern city to push back a separatist surge supported by Moscow. The 20 tanks and armoured personnel carriers were most forceful response yet by Kiev's Western-backed government to armed raids by pro-Kremlin militants and the occupation of state buildings in nearly 10 cities across Ukraine's rust belt. \"They must be warned that if they do not lay down their arms, they will be destroyed,\" Ukrainian Security Service (SBU) General Vasyl Krutov told a group of reporters tracking the sudden tank movements. He insisted that the militants had been reinforced by several hundred soldiers from the Russian army's Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU).","Canadian PM sees U.S. approval of Keystone XL pipeline one day. NEW YORK (Reuters) - Logic dictates that the United States will one day approve the northern leg of TransCanada Corp's controversial Keystone XL crude oil pipeline, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said on Wednesday. He made the comments in remarks in front of an audience of business executives in New York. (Reporting by Liana Baker; Writing by David Ljunggren and Jeffrey Hodgson; Editing by James Dalgleish)","Leading Ukrainian separatist says he is stepping down. MOSCOW (Reuters) - The leader of the pro-Russian separatist rebels in Ukraine's Luhansk region has resigned, Russian state-run broadcaster Rossiya 24 reported on Thursday. The resignation of Valery Bolotov was the second in seven days by a senior separatist official. The chief separatist in neighboring Donetsk region, Aleksandar Borodai, announced he was stepping down on Aug. 7. (Reporting by Christian Lowe; Editing by Alissa De Carbonnel)","Wildfire rips through 150 homes in Northern California. By Alex Dobuzinskis LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Fire crews in California battled on Tuesday to halt the advance of a day-old wildfire that has already destroyed about 150 homes, lapped at rural schools and caused power outages that left an evacuation shelter without electricity, authorities said. The blaze, one of about a dozen major fires raging across the drought-parched state, prompted authorities to order the evacuation of about 1,000 households in and around the Northern California town of Weed, which has a population of about 3,000. ...","F1 drivers dedicate Russia race to Jules Bianchi. SOCHI, Russia (AP) — Formula One drivers say they will race this weekend's Russia Grand Prix for Jules Bianchi, who was seriously injured in an accident last week in Japan.","Pope confirms hopes for 3-city US trip in 2015. ROME (AP) — Pope Francis has confirmed he wants to go to the United States next year and is considering a three-city trip in September 2015: Philadelphia for a family rally, Washington to address Congress and New York to speak at the United Nations.","Aussie court upholds landmark Standard and Poor derivatives case. Standard and Poor's was found liable Friday for investment losses incurred by Australian councils in the lead-up to the global financial crisis, after a court dismissed its appeal against a landmark 2012 ruling. The full bench of the Federal Court of Australia threw out the appeal by the ratings agency, ABN AMRO Bank and Australian firm Local Government Financial Services (LGFS) and upheld the original judgement. The Sydney court ruled that Standard and Poor, ABN AMRO -- now a division of Royal Bank of Scotland -- and LGFS were 100 percent liable for losses sustained by the councils of 13 towns rather than 33 percent in the earlier judgement.","Egypt's Mursi to face trial on new charges: source. Deposed Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi will face trial on charges of insulting the judiciary, a judicial source said on Sunday, a signal that Egyptian authorities have no intention of easing a crackdown on his Muslim Brotherhood. Egypt has been stepping up pressure on the movement since the army toppled Mursi in July. Mursi and 25 others have been charged with insulting the judiciary, the source said.","Obama official says immigrant kids draining funds. WASHINGTON (AP) — The Homeland Security agency responsible for removing immigrants who are in the U.S. illegally will run out of money by mid-August unless Congress approves President Barack Obama's emergency request for $3.7 billion to help deal with a flood of child immigrants crossing the border illegally without their parents, Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson says.","EU delays implementing Ukraine free trade deal. The European Union said Friday it will delay implementation of a free trade deal with Ukraine by more than a year until the end of 2015. EU Trade Commissioner Karel de Gucht said, after talks with Russian and Ukrainian ministers, that while the free trade agreement would be delayed, Brussels would still extend temporary preferential tariffs on Ukraine goods. The European Council of 28 members states must now sign off on the delay. De Gucht said that once Kiev ratifies the EU Association Accord, expected next week and which was negotiated at the same time as the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Agreement, then Brussels would offer \"additional flexibility\" in the hope of meeting Russian concerns that its economy would suffer if the DCFTA deal went ahead.","Buffett puts shareholders ahead of patriotism in Canadian deal. By Luciana Lopez NEW YORK (Reuters) - Warren Buffett may be most famous for the billions of dollars he has made from investing but he is also well known as a cheerleader for the United States. The Oracle of Omaha routinely exhorts investors to put their money in America, \"the mother lode of opportunity,\" as he wrote in his annual letter this year. So Buffett's participation in fast-food chain Burger King Worldwide Inc's purchase of coffee and doughnut chain Tim Hortons Inc – complete with relocation of Burger King's domicile to Canada – might at first blush raise questions about his patriotism. Investors and tax experts say Miami-based Burger King's move to Canada through a so-called tax inversion will help curb its U.S.","Kaka 1st to top $7 million in MLS earnings. NEW YORK (AP) — Kaka is Major League Soccer's highest-paid player.","British lawmaker charged with assault. London (AFP) - A British lawmaker was charged Monday with two counts of common assault and one of criminal damage, police said.","Rebel leader released in exchange for Ukrainian security men-separatists. Pro-Russian protest leader Pavel Gubarev has been released in exchange for three members of the Ukrainian security services, a spokesman for the separatists military headquarters in the rebel stronghold of Slaviansk said on Wednesday. Gubarev, who used his Facebook page to help coordinate an uprising across Ukraine's Donetsk region and beyond, was detained by the SBU security service in March on charges of \"infringing the territorial integrity and independence of the state\". A spokesman at the separatists' military headquarters in Slaviansk, the rebels' most heavily fortified redoubt, said: \"It was a swap of hostages for prisoners of war.\" He did not say where Gubarev was now.","Chinese minority scholar indicted for separatism. BEIJING (AP) — An outspoken Chinese minority scholar has been indicted on separatism charges amid continuing anti-government violence in the country's far west.","Death toll at least 10 in Kenyan blasts: government office. NAIROBI (Reuters) - The death toll in twin blasts on Friday in the Kenyan capital Nairobi rose to at least 10 with close to 70 people wounded, the National Disaster Operations Center said. The injured were taken to nearby hospitals and the Kenyan Red Cross was setting up a blood donation center, the center said on its official Twitter feed. (Writing by Edmund Blair; Editing by Richard Lough)","Syrian rebels 'killed fleeing famed Crusader fort'. Syrian troops killed 11 rebels as they fled the village of Al-Hosn, home to famed Crusader castle Krak des Chevaliers, for the nearby Lebanese border Thursday, a military source said. \"During the operations in the Al-Hosn area, armed men (rebels) tried to flee for Lebanese territory. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported 60 people \"killed or injured as they fled areas of Al-Hosn for the Syrian border with Lebanon.\" The Britain-based group was unable to confirm a precise death toll, but said that among the casualties there were both civilians and rebel fighters.","Ukrainian on trial in Turkey for hijacking freed. ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkey's state-run agency says a court has ordered the release of a Ukrainian man from jail pending the outcome of his trial for trying to hijack a Turkey-bound flight to Sochi, Russia, as the Winter Olympics were beginning in February.","De Ridder's ban reduced to 18 months by CAS. LAUSANNE, Switzerland (AP) — Sport's highest court has reduced the suspension given to America's Cup sailor Dirk de Ridder from three years to 18 months.","North Korea calls US 'human rights graveyard' over Ferguson. North Korea has joined the ranks of America's foes who have seized on riots in Missouri, saying the nation is the \"graveyard of human rights\" and should mind its own business rather than criticise others. The police shooting of an unarmed black teenager and subsequent crackdown on protesters in the Midwestern town of Ferguson has also given China, Iran and Russia ammunition to sound off about America's flaws. North Korea, which is regularly condemned by Washington and others over allegations of gross human rights abuses, said the US had no right to pass judgement on others. \"The US is indeed a country wantonly violating human rights where people are subject to discrimination and humiliation due to their race, and are in constant fear that they may get shot at any moment,\" a spokesman from North Korea's foreign ministry was quoted as saying by state-run news agency KCNA.","Supporters of peace process won Ukraine elections: Moscow. Parties backing a peace process to end the conflict with pro-Russian rebels in east Ukraine won a clear victory at Sunday's parliamentary polls, Russia's deputy foreign minister said Monday. \"It is already clear that parties which support a peaceful resolution of the internal Ukrainian crisis received a majority,\" Grigory Karasin was quoted as saying by state-run Ria Novosti news agency. Partial results showed that pro-Western and moderate nationalist parties were on course for a thumping election victory in polls that will cement Ukraine's shift towards Europe -- and away from Moscow -- under President Petro Poroshenko.","Canada, Australia PM say economy trumps climate change. Canada and Australia's conservative prime ministers said Monday economic concerns trump climate action, with Ottawa's Stephen Harper insisting any nation claiming otherwise is lying. Both leaders have faced increased criticism over their climate policies after US President Barack Obama last week unveiled the first major regulations to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions in the United States. \"It's not that we don't seek to deal with climate change, but we seek to deal with it in a way that will protect and enhance our ability to create jobs and growth and not destroy jobs and growth in our country,\" Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper said. \"And, frankly, every single country in the world, this is their position: no country is going to undertake actions on climate change, no matter what they say, no country is going to take actions that are going to deliberately destroy jobs and growth in their country.","Germany's main Jewish leader steps down. BERLIN (AP) — Germany's main Jewish leader, who in 2010 became the first person born after the Holocaust to take the job, says he's stepping down.","Violence in Central African Republic displaces nearly 1 million: U.N.. By Paul-Marin Ngoupana BANGUI (Reuters) - Violence in Central African Republic has uprooted nearly a million people, a fifth of the population, and is hampering aid efforts, particularly in the capital Bangui, the U.N. refugee agency (UNHCR) said on Friday. A Muslim rebel group, the Seleka, unleashed a wave of killing and looting after seizing power in March, and the deployment of 1,600 French and nearly 4,000 African Union peacekeepers has done little to contain the tit-for-tat violence between religious communities. In the riverside capital alone, more than 510,000 people are displaced - equivalent to more than half the city's population, UNHCR said. \"Insecurity and chaos around the site...prevents us from doing any distribution,\" UNHCR spokesman Babar Baloch told a news conference in Geneva.","Olympics, Paralympics look for volunteers in Rio. RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — The organizers of the Rio de Janeiro Olympics and Paralympics are recruiting 70,000 volunteers for the games that begin in less than two years.","Wanted bomb maker killed by Lebanese army in shootout. A suspected bomb-maker died of his wounds after he was shot by Lebanese soldiers trying to arrest him at a house in a border town near Syria, security sources said. Sami Al-Atrash was suspected by authorities of preparing car bombs to plant in Shi'ite areas and coordinating rocket attacks on Shi'ite towns in retaliation for Lebanese militant Shi'ite group Hezbollah's role in Syria. Hezbollah has sent fighters into Syria to support President Bashar al-Assad fight a majority Sunni revolt, deepening sectarian woes in Lebanon, which suffered its own civil war from 1975 to 1990. Lebanese Sunni militants have also joined forces with Syrian rebels to attack Hezbollah in Lebanon.","Asian stocks, oil skid on growth anxiety, yen firms. By Ian Chua SYDNEY (Reuters) - Asian stocks got off to shaky start on Monday in step with a steep decline on Wall Street as worries about global economic growth sapped confidence, keeping crude oil prices stuck near four-year lows. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fell 0.5 percent, extending last week's 1.1 percent drop. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 index dipped 0.5 percent, while South Korea's KOSPI slid 0.8 percent. ...","Three Islamist protesters killed in Cairo: security sources. Three Islamist protesters were killed on Friday during clashes between police and demonstrators in Cairo, Egyptian security sources said. The men died from bullet wounds during clashes between a few hundred protesters and police in Giza on the outskirts of the capital, the sources said. Violence has polarized Egyptians since the army overthrew the elected president, the Islamist Mohamed Mursi, last year following mass protests against his rule. Mursi's Muslim Brotherhood, once Egypt's most organized political movement, was declared a terrorist organization last year, and its political wing was banned last week.","Somali militants kill 12 in Kenya border ambush. NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Kenyan officials say Somali militants have killed 12 people, including three police reservists, in a border ambush.","Rangers hunt crocodile that took 12-year-old boy, injured another in Australian water hole. DARWIN, Australia - Rangers shot two large crocodiles on Monday near where a 12-year-old boy was snatched and his friend was mauled as they swam in a water hole in a popular Outback tourist destination in northern Australia.","U.S. upbeat about talks on Turkey's role against Islamic State. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Talks between the United States and Turkey on a possible Turkish role in combating the Islamic State military group went \"very, very well,\" the Pentagon said on Thursday but declined to comment on what Turkey may actually do. \"The discussions went very, very well. They did center around looking for other ways and other contributions that Turkey can commit to this,\" Rear Admiral John Kirby, the Pentagon press secretary, told reporters. \"The discussions were positive, we think ... ...","Japan's METI minister Obuchi submits resignation: NHK. TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's trade and industry minister, Yuko Obuchi, submitted her resignation to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Monday following allegations of funds misuse by her political support groups, public broadcaster NHK reported. (Reporting by Linda Sieg; Editing by Chris Gallagher)","Cardiff relegated after losing 3-0 to Newcastle. CARDIFF, Wales (AP) — Cardiff was relegated from the Premier League on Saturday after Newcastle ended a six-game losing streak with a 3-0 victory over the Welsh club.","US warns of possible threat to airline flights to Russia ahead of Olympic games. WASHINGTON - The Homeland Security Department is warning airlines flying to Russia that terrorists may try to smuggle explosives on board hidden in toothpaste tubes.","World stocks subdued amid mixed US earnings. LONDON (AP) — World stocks were subdued Thursday ahead of a long weekend for many markets and after mixed earnings reports in the U.S.","Morocco Berbers mark New Year, call for public holiday. Thirty months after winning official recognition for their ancient Amazigh-language in a new constitution, Morocco's Berbers are pushing for January 13, when they celebrate their New Year, to be made a public holiday. Festivities are planned in several cities around the North African country, including the capital Rabat, said activist Mounir Kejji, with Monday marking the first day of year 2964 for the region's indigenous pre-Arab inhabitants. In 2011, in response to Arab Spring protests sweeping Morocco, King Mohamed VI introduced a new constitution which acknowledged Amazigh as an official language of the state alongside Arabic, a major achievement for a tongue that was once banned in schools. A decade earlier, the king had signalled his support for Morocco's indigenous Berber culture in a historic speech in the northern town of Ajdir.","Bank of Canada: financial innovation needed due to regulation. OTTAWA, Dec 11 (Reuters) - Increased regulation stemming from the global credit crisis need not stifle the financial innovation needed to help push economic growth forward, the head of the Bank of Canada said on Thursday. In prepared remarks for a speech he was giving in New York, the central bank's Governor Stephen Poloz urged the financial industry to find a balance between risk and innovation. \"What I am suggesting is that the industry be at the vanguard of positive change, and voluntarily embrace the spirit of financial regulation,\" Poloz said. ...","Australia beats New Zealand 30-18 in one-off test. SYDNEY (AP) — World champion Australia scored 18 unanswered points in the second half, rallying from 18-12 behind at halftime to beat a makeshift New Zealand team 30-18 in a one-off rugby league test on Friday.","Everton bring McGeady back to Britain. Liverpool (AFP) - Republic of Ireland international winger Aiden McGeady has joined Everton from Spartak Moscow, the Premier League club announced on Saturday.","Future ground role for US military advisors in Iraq likely: Dempsey. Washington (AFP) - US military advisors are likely to take a more direct role in the ground campaign against jihadists in Iraq once Iraqi forces are ready to go on the offensive, the top US officer said in comments aired Sunday.","Indian army soldier kills 5 colleagues, himself. SRINAGAR, India (AP) — An Indian official says an army soldier fired indiscriminately at his colleagues at an army camp in the Indian portion of Kashmir, killing five of them before fatally shooting himself.","Tennis-Pan Pacific Open women's singles round 2 results. Sept 18 (Infostrada Sports) - Results from the Pan Pacific Open Women's Singles Round 2 matches on Thursday Garbine Muguruza Blanco (Spain) beat 4-Jelena Jankovic (Serbia) 7-6(4) 6-4 Casey Dellacqua (Australia) beat Marina Erakovic (New Zealand) 6-2 6-4","AC Milan signs Van Ginkel and Biabiany. MILAN (AP) — AC Milan has had a busy final day of the transfer window as it completed the signings of Marco van Ginkel and Jonathan Biabiany.","Torrance, Smyth picked as Ryder Cup vice captains. DUBLIN (AP) — Europe captain Paul McGinley has selected Sam Torrance and Des Smyth as two of his vice captains for this year's Ryder Cup against United States at Gleneagles.","Police: Excavator driver attacks Jerusalem bus. JERUSALEM (AP) — An attacker rammed the front end of a massive construction excavator into an Israeli bus on Monday, overturning the vehicle before he was shot and killed by a police officer, authorities said. Police said one person was seriously injured.","Putin: Vote possible to get Stalingrad name back. MOSCOW (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin says a referendum could be held on restoring the historic name of Stalingrad to the Russian city, where the Red Army defeated Nazi forces in a decisive World War II battle.","McDowell skips Wentworth to be with pregnant wife. VIRGINIA WATER, England (AP) — Graeme McDowell is skipping next week's PGA Championship at Wentworth to spend time at home in Florida with his pregnant wife, Kristin.","Japan's 'Golden Bolt': 103-year-old challenges world's fastest man. Closing in on his 104th birthday, a twinkle-toed Japanese sprinter has thrown down the challenge to the world's fastest man Usain Bolt, telling him: \"let's rumble!\" Hidekichi Miyazaki -- who holds the 100 metres world record for centenarians at 29.83 seconds and is dubbed 'Golden Bolt' after the Jamaican flyer -- plans to wait another five years for his dream race and was happy to reveal his secret weapon: his daughter's tangerine jam. \"I'd love to race Bolt,\" the wispy-haired Miyazaki told AFP in an interview after tottering over the line with a joyful whoop at a recent Japan Masters Athletics competition in Kyoto. Born in 1910 -- the year Japan annexed Korea and when the Titanic was still under construction -- the pint-sized Miyazaki offered some dietary tips to Bolt, whose world record is 9.58 seconds.","C.Africa leader urges international crackdown on violence. Bangui (Central African Republic) (AFP) - The Central African Republic's interim president on Wednesday called on French and African troops in her country to make full use of their UN mandate to sideline rogue elements creating havoc in the troubled nation. The escalating Christian-Muslim violence in the CAR was \"being used by people who are not interested in restoring stability\", interim president Catherine Samba Panza told a press conference, a day after French lawmakers extended their country's military operation in the country. Also on Tuesday, the United Nations had warned of a potential new bloodbath in the African state riven by sectarian strife. \"I call on the MISCA (African force) and (French force) Sangaris to really use the mandates they have been given by UN resolutions and wipe out these unchecked elements that poison our lives,\" she told the press.","Pakistan win first series against Australia in 20 years. Abu Dhabi (AFP) - Pakistan won the second Test against Australia by 356 runs in Abu Dhabi on Monday to take their first series victory over the Australians in 20 years.","Time running out for Women's World Cup turf fight. ZURICH (AP) — Time is running out for a movement to avoid playing on artificial turf at the Women's World Cup in Canada next year.","Canada police kill 'radicalized' driver after he rams two soldiers. OTTAWA/MONTREAL (Reuters) - A man who ran down two Canadian soldiers in his car at a Quebec mall on Monday and was later shot dead by police, \"had become radicalized,\" the Canadian government said. The Canadian government did not specify what it meant by radicalized but in the past has used the term to refer to Canadians who become supporters of militant Islamic groups. Quebec police shot and killed the 25-year-old driver after a police chase following the incident. One of the two soldiers he ran over had life-threatening injuries. Police did not say whether the soldiers were in uniform. ...","Parts of Calgary hospital shut down after cougar seen on grounds. By Nia Williams CALGARY Alberta (Reuters) - A cougar was spotted in the grounds of a hospital in the city of Calgary, Alberta on Thursday, prompting police to shut down access to parts of the building. Police initially received reports of two cougars near the South Health Campus hospital in south-east Calgary at around 7:30 a.m. local time. However, Inspector Keith Cain of Calgary Police said they had only been able to verify the presence of one animal. \"It's probably one animal that moved around a bit. ...","Putin: Russia will respect Ukraine vote. St. PETERSBURG, Russia (AP) — President Vladimir Putin says that Russia will recognize the outcome of Ukraine's presidential vote.","Syrian warplanes bomb hills inside Lebanon. BEIRUT (AP) — Syrian warplanes bombed on Wednesday a barren range of Lebanese hills used by Syrian rebels and refugees to cross between the two countries, wounding at least 10 Syrians who were rushed to hospital in a nearby Lebanese town, Beirut's state-run National News Agency said.","Chinese court jails Uighur scholar for life for separatism. By Sui-Lee Wee BEIJING (Reuters) - A Chinese court on Tuesday jailed for life the country's most prominent advocate for the rights of Muslim Uighur people, a sentence that rights advocates said sent a clear signal that the government is determined to suppress dissent. Economics professor Ilham Tohti, 44, stood trial for two days last week on separatism charges in the western region of Xinjiang. His case has provoked an outcry in the West and among international human rights groups. \"This is totally unacceptable,\" Tohti's lawyer, Li Fangping, told Reuters by telephone. ...","Ally shares may face bumpy road as private investors sell. More than half of Ally Financial Inc's shares could hit the market beginning next week and lasting through August, holding back its share price. Ally went public in April, though hedge funds and other investors bought about 40 percent of the company privately in November and in January. The Treasury and some of the private investors are sitting on big profits, which give them room to sell even if the company's shares extend their recent six-day slide. A Treasury official said May 9 that the government's strategy is to get as much value from its Ally shares as soon as possible.","Asian stocks perked by record US close. TOKYO (AP) — Asian stock markets edged higher Tuesday as investor sentiment got a boost from another record close on Wall Street.","Puerto Rico to unveil new airport renovations. SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Puerto Rico's main international airport is scheduled to reopen two terminals by next year as part of a nearly $200 million renovation and security upgrade that aims to boost the island's tourism sector.","Hunt for abducted Nigerian girls 'unlikely to have happy ending'. By Matthew Mpoke Bigg and Joe Brock ABUJA (Reuters) - Nigeria's hunt for more than 200 abducted schoolgirls is not all that it seems. In public, an international operation is gathering pace while behind the scenes, officials say it is unlikely to deliver the success that global opinion demands. The United States and Britain are helping Nigerian forces in the effort to liberate the girls taken from their school in Borno state a month ago by Boko Haram Islamist militants. ...","Paris Catacombs open at night ahead of Halloween. PARIS (AP) — As if visiting the Paris Catacombs in the daytime wasn't creepy enough — you can now visit the underground maze of skeletons after nightfall, too. That is if you dare defy the warning at the entrance: \"Stop, this is the empire of Death.\"","Obama sending up to 300 military advisers to Iraq. WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama on Thursday said he was dispatching up to 300 military advisers to Iraq to help quell the rising insurgency in the crumbling state. He called on Iraqi leaders to govern with a more \"inclusive agenda\" to ensure the country does not descend into civil war.","Some US states consider returning to old-fashioned executions, with doubts on lethal injection. ST. LOUIS - With lethal-injection drugs in short supply and new questions looming about their effectiveness, lawmakers in some death penalty states are considering bringing back relics of a more gruesome past: firing squads, electrocutions and gas chambers.","Bulgaria: Socialist leader calls for snap poll. SOFIA, Bulgaria (AP) — The leader of Bulgaria's ruling Socialists is calling for the resignation of the coalition government and for early elections to be held by the end of next month.","Iran says has no information on alleged purchase of nuclear equipment. ANKARA (Reuters) - Iran's Atomic Energy Organisation said on Tuesday it had no information about the illicit procurement of equipment for the Arak research reactor as alleged in a report by a U.N. panel of experts and based on a briefing by a member country. The panel, which monitors compliance with the U.N.'s Iran sanctions regime, said in a report seen by Reuters on Monday that Tehran's illicit procurement of banned nuclear technology appeared to have continued in breach of sanctions. ...","Calif. Supreme Court to decide if immigrant in country illegally can get law license. SAN FRANCISCO - The California Supreme Court will decide whether to grant a law license to a man living in the United States illegally who graduated law school and passed the state bar exam.","Pope names Cupich as next Chicago archbishop. Pope Francis on Saturday appointed Bishop Blase Cupich, a moderate who has called for civility in the culture wars, as the next archbishop of Chicago, signaling a shift in tone in one of the most important posts in the U.S. church.","Slovakia ready to take steps for reverse gas flows to Ukraine: PM. Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico said the country was ready to take steps to enable reverse gas flows to Ukraine if its eastern neighbor meets financial obligations and contracts on Russian gas supplies to Slovakia. The Slovak government office said on Wednesday Fico made the comments in a phone call with U.S. Vice-President Joe Biden. \"Prime Minister Robert Fico confirmed Slovakia is ready to take all relevant steps on the condition that the Ukrainian side meets its financial obligations and fulfils the contractual base securing supplies of natural gas from the Russian Federation to Slovakia,\" the government office said in a statement.","India's Modi calls for greater cooperation with China. By Rajesh Kumar Singh NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged greater cooperation with China on Monday and said he planned to visit Beijing soon, underlining his administration's promise to make a new beginning with the country's giant neighbor. India and China have rapidly expanded commercial relations in recent years but political ties remain difficult, after a dispute over their Himalayan border that led to a war in 1962. But Modi, who took power last month, is seeking to engage with India's neighbors, including China. On Monday, he met Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yin, who was visiting India as a special envoy of China's president to build ties with the new administration in New Delhi.","China's Xi touts 'maritime silk road' on South Asia tour. Malé (Maldives) (AFP) - China's President Xi Jinping enlisted the Maldives' backing for a \"21st century maritime silk road\" on Monday as he began a tour of South Asia in the strategically located Indian Ocean island chain. The Maldives is best known for its tourist industry but also straddles major international shipping lanes, and Chinese investment there has grown significantly as Beijing seeks to secure vital trade routes. \"(The) Maldives was an important stop of the ancient maritime silk road,\" Xi wrote in an article published on the local Sun Online news portal late Sunday. \"China welcomes (the) Maldives to get actively involved in building the 21st century maritime silk road by leveraging its own strength.\"","Dunlop, Godolphin seek elusive Melbourne Cup win. English trainer Ed Dunlop and the wealthy global Godolphin stable have diverging backgrounds but have the same target heading into Tuesday's Melbourne Cup at Flemington. Both Dunlop and Godolphin are searching for their first win in Australia's famous two-mile (3200m) race after multiple attempts. Newmarket trainer Dunlop is saddling up nine-year-old Red Cadeaux for a fourth crack at the Melbourne Cup after finishing runner-up twice. Godolphin Racing, owned by United Arab Emirates Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum and with training establishments in Dubai, Newmarket and Sydney, has been coming to Melbourne without luck since 1998.","Rubio confident as contract deadline nears. MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Ricky Rubio has put together a strong preseason as the deadline for extending his contract nears.","Poland says Kremlin's conciliatory moves on Ukraine are empty words. WARSAW (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin's call on separatists in Ukraine to postpone a planned referendum has had no practical effect, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on Friday. \"As things stand today it seems to me that President Putin's words had no practical dimension whatsoever,\" Tusk told a news conference. (Reporting by Jakub Iglewski; Writing by Christian Lowe)","Sears says Kmart stores hit by data breach. By Jim Finkle and Nathan Layne (Reuters) - Sears Holdings Corp said it was the victim of a cyberattack that likely resulted in the theft of some customer payment cards at its Kmart stores, the latest in a series of computer security breaches to hit U.S. companies and dealing a fresh blow to the struggling U.S. retailer. The U.S. Secret Service confirmed it was investigating the breach, which occurred in September and compromised the systems of Kmart, which has about 1,200 stores across the United States. The breach did not affect the Sears department store chain. ...","Shilling discovery could rewrite Canadian history. Victoria (Canada) (AFP) - An amateur treasure hunter with a hand-held metal detector has turned Canadian history on its head after finding a 16th century shilling buried in clay on the shores of Vancouver Island. The 435-year-old coin discovered in western-most Canada has rekindled a theory that a British explorer made a secret voyage here two centuries before it was discovered by Spanish sailors. Official historical records show the Spanish were the first Europeans to set foot in what is now Canada's British Columbia province in 1774, followed four years later by British Royal Navy Captain James Cook. Retired security systems installer Bruce Campbell found the coin in mid-December, along with a rare 1891 Canadian nickel, a 1960s dime and penny from 1900.","US man to plead guilty on espionage charges. HONOLULU (AP) — A U.S. civilian defense contractor faces a court hearing Thursday on federal charges, accused of giving military secrets to a Chinese girlfriend.","Senate confirms new US ambassadors to Iraq, Egypt. WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate has confirmed new U.S. ambassadors to Iraq and Egypt after lengthy delays.","Cheyenne Woods leads Ladies Australian Masters. GOLD COAST, Australia (AP) — American Cheyenne Woods will take a one-stroke lead into the final round of the Australian Ladies' Masters after shooting a 2-under 71 on Saturday to stay on track for her first professional victory.","Obama hails close relationship between US, France. WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama is hailing America's close relationship with France.","Boeing sees Latin American market share at least 50 percent. U.S. planemaker Boeing is positive that it can reach a market share in Latin America of least 50 percent of orders in coming years, a senior regional executive told Reuters on Wednesday. \"We see this market growing an average 6.9 percent over the next 20 years,\" said Van Rex Gallard, Boeing's sales vice president for Latin American, Africa and the Caribbean, in an interview during Santiago's FIDAE airshow. Boeing's share of that would be \"minimum fifty-fifty,\" he added.","Tata Motors executive Karl Slym dies in fall from hotel. By Aradhana Aravindan and Swati Pandey MUMBAI (Reuters) - Karl Slym, managing director of India's Tata Motors Ltd , died on Sunday after falling from a high floor of a hotel in Bangkok, the company said. Slym, 51, had attended a board meeting of Tata's Thailand unit in the Thai capital, a company spokeswoman said, giving no further details. A native of Britain, Slym was hired in 2012 to revive flagging sales and market share in the domestic business of India's biggest automaker, which is part of the Tata conglomerate. \"His death comes at a time when the company seems to be close to turning the corner, with new designs and a new petrol engine family, which hasn't been Tata's strong point,\" said Anil Sharma, an analyst with IHS Automotive.","Brazil's World Cup win bests Super Bowl on Twitter. RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Nervous Brazilian soccer fans took to Twitter to breathe a collective sigh of relief Saturday, with the final, tense-filled minute of a penalty shootout against Chile generating more buzz online than Super Bowl.","Crimea besieged by Ukraine control of power, water. SIMFEROPOL, Crimea (AP) — Within days of Crimea being swallowed up by Russia, the lights began flickering out.","UAE: Paramedic dies from MERS, others infected. DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — A paramedic in the United Arab Emirates has died after contracting Middle East respiratory syndrome and five others have tested positive for the virus, the Gulf nation's interior ministry said Friday.","Attorneys ask for support in World Cup turf fight. The law firm that represents soccer players who object to playing on artificial turf at the Women's World Cup says a FIFA-commissioned survey of players shows that 77 percent feel major tournaments should be played on grass.","Divisions appear among Ukraine's eastern rebels. DONETSK, Ukraine (AP) — Divisions are appearing among the pro-Russia separatists fighting the Ukrainian government.","Futures point to a lower start to the week. Stock futures pointed to a lower opening for Canada's main stock index on Monday, with December futures on the S&P TSX index down 0.13 percent at 7.15 a.m. ET. No major Canadian economic events are scheduled . The Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index recorded its biggest weekly gain in more than a year on Friday, led by a jump in shares of Agrium Inc after an activist investor revealed early in the day it has taken a stake in the company. Dow Jones Industrial Average e-mini futures were down 0.05 percent at 7.15 a.m. ET, while S&P 500 e-mini futures were down 0. ...","Macedonia: 6 hurt in second day of riots. SKOPJE, Macedonia (AP) — Macedonian police say 27 people have been detained in a second night of riots, sparked by the fatal stabbing of a teenager by an alleged bicycle thief.","Modi touts record on economy in bid to lead India. AHMEDABAD, India (AP) — To some, the man in pole position to be India's next prime minister is a visionary reformer, while to others he's an autocrat in bed with big business cronies. Perhaps nowhere are opinions of Narendra Modi more polarized than in Gujarat, the western state he's led for more than decade and that is now touted as a model of prosperity for all of India to emulate.","SOCHI SCENE: Stat of the day. SOCHI, Russia (AP) — Your Winter Olympics stat of the day comes from the opening ceremony:","French president says hostage killed in Algeria. UNITED NATIONS (AP) — French President Francois Hollande has confirmed the killing of a French hostage in Algeria.","India names US-based economist economic adviser. NEW DELHI (AP) — India on Thursday appointed US-based economist Arvind Subramanian as the country's chief economic adviser.","American football heading to China in 2015. PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Hey, China: Are you ready for some American football?","Fallujah outside Iraq govt control. The Iraqi government has lost control of the city of Fallujah, which is now held by Al-Qaeda-linked militants, a senior security official in Anbar province said on Saturday. \"Fallujah is under the control of ISIL,\" the official said, referring to Al-Qaeda-linked group the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. Parts of Ramadi and Fallujah, west of Baghdad, have been held by militants for days, harkening back to the years after the 2003 US-led invasion when both cities were insurgent strongholds.","Udinese fights back to draw 2-2 at Verona. MILAN (AP) — A superb goal from Antonio Di Natale helped Udinese fight back from two goals down to draw 2-2 at Hellas Verona and all but end its opponent's Europa League hopes.","Drone strike kills 3 al-Qaida members in Yemen. SANAA, Yemen (AP) — Yemeni security and military officials say that an American drone strike has killed three members of al-Qaida in the northern part of the country.","Israel says close to forging new ties across Arab world. By Dan Williams JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel is holding secret talks with some Arab states that do not recognize it, looking to establish diplomatic ties based on a common fear of Iran, Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said on Monday. Amongst the countries he was in contact with were Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, Lieberman told newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth - the first such disclosure by a senior Israeli official. The two nations swiftly denied the existence of any talks with Israel. Both these states, along with most other Arab nations, have traditionally been highly hostile towards Israel, which has only signed peace deals with two neighbors - Egypt and Jordan.","Merkel warns Russia of 'massive damage' if it persists. By Stephen Brown and Madeline Chambers BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany's Angela Merkel warned Moscow on Thursday that it risked \"massive\" political and economic damage if it refused to change course on Ukraine, saying Western leaders were united in their readiness to impose sanctions on Russia if necessary. The chancellor, using her strongest language since the start of the crisis and removing any suspicion that Germany might seek to avoid a confrontation with President Vladimir Putin, said his actions would lead to \"catastrophe\" for Ukraine and much more. \"We would not only see it, also as neighbors of Russia, as a threat. And it would not only change the European Union's relationship with Russia,\" she said in a speech in parliament.","Grenade blast injures two in Kenya town near Somali border: police. NAIROBI (Reuters) - An unknown assailant threw a grenade into a cafe in a town in eastern Kenyan on Wednesday, wounding two people in violence that followed two attacks by Islamists that killed more than 60 people in less than two weeks. Provincial police commander Musa Yego said the grenade attack took place in Garissa, a town that lies near the Somali border. ...","Anglican leader Welby warns of 'irrational' Boko Haram. Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby warned Sunday of the difficulties of negotiating with an \\\\\"utterly merciless\\\\\" group like Boko Haram, but called for active contact with the Nigerian Islamists over their abduction of scores of schoolgirls. Welby has experience of negotiating with violent groups in the Niger Delta in southern Nigeria, and with a predecessor to Boko Haram around Maiduguri, the capital of northeastern Borno state where the group started out. Asked if it is possible to talk to groups like Boko Haram, he said: \\\\\"They're in many layers. He said Boko Haram has \\\\\"always been a mixture of groups united as much by a common enemy as by a common cause\\\\\".","Paraguayan journalist shot to death. ASUNCION, Paraguay (AP) — Paraguayan authorities say a journalist has been shot to death in a northern city bordering Brazil.","Farah ready for full marathon debut after NY scare. LONDON (AP) — Mo Farah had only just been draped in a Union Jack on the New York half-marathon finish line when he lost consciousness and collapsed on the chilly road. A month after being taken away in a wheelchair, Farah is preparing to race again London on Sunday after shrugging off the health scare that appeared to jeopardize his much-anticipated full marathon debut.","Betancourt signs with Japan's Orix BlueWave. TOKYO (AP) — Veteran infielder Yuniesky Betancourt has signed with the Orix BlueWave of Japan's Pacific League.","Egypt starts work on Gaza buffer after bombing. Egypt began setting up a buffer zone along its border with the Palestinian Gaza Strip on Wednesday to prevent militant infiltration and arms smuggling following a wave of deadly attacks. The move, which will see about 800 homes demolished, comes in the wake of a suicide bombing in the Sinai Peninsula Friday that killed at least 30 soldiers. A senior official in northern Sinai said the creation of the buffer with the Palestinian territory was \"vital for national security and stability.\" \"We are for national and border security, but not at the cost of our homes and interests,\" said Wissam al-Agha, a doctor in Rafah, whose house and land fall in the area demarcated for the zone.","Estonia denies leaked call implicates Ukraine protesters in killings. Estonia denied on Wednesday that a leaked telephone call showed that its foreign minister had blamed opponents of Ukraine's deposed president for sniper killings during last month's unrest - as Russian media have suggested. The Baltic state acknowledged that the audio recording of a conversation between Foreign Minister Urmas Paet and European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton was authentic, but rejected the way some have interpreted it. The recording, published on YouTube, was picked up by Russian state television and was the top item on state news agency RIA-Novosti. Rossyia-24 state TV dubbed parts into Russian and suggested the EU now had proof that sniper shootings at police and protesters had been carried out by the same people.","St. Vincent police probe death of British sailor. SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Authorities in the eastern Caribbean island of St. Vincent are investigating the death of a British man whose body was found on a life raft near his burned and sunken yacht.","Super Rugby: Western Force overwhelm Rebels. PERTH, Australia (AP) — The Western Force claimed their first victory in three Super Rugby matches this season, scoring 32 first-half points to beat the Melbourne Rebels 32-7.","Bus with Taiwanese falls into China river; 2 dead. BEIJING (AP) — Hundreds of rescuers were searching Saturday for five missing Taiwanese tourists after their bus plunged into a river in southeastern China, killing two and injuring 11, state media reported.","Foley case lays bare debate over paying ransom. WASHINGTON (AP) — The beheading of freelance journalist James Foley has forced a new debate between the longtime U.S. and British refusal to negotiate with terrorists, and Europe and the Persian Gulf's increasing willingness to pay ransoms in a desperate attempt to free citizens. The dilemma: How to save the lives of those kidnapped without financing terror groups, and encouraging more kidnappings.","Kenya's buses to go cashless to beat bribes. Bus operators in Kenya on Tuesday unveiled plans for a cashless fare system aimed at protecting passengers from theft and police extortion which they say siphon a third of their revenue away. Simon Kimutai, chairman of the Matatu Owners Association, said around a third of passenger fares is lost at the end of each route because of theft or bribery, including by Kenya's traffic police.","Indonesian court begins hearing election dispute. JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Indonesia's Constitutional Court on Wednesday began hearing a challenge of the result of the country's July 9 presidential election, in which Jakarta Gov. Joko Widodo was declared victor.","Senegal's ex-president Wade to return home. Senegal's former president Abdoulaye Wade is due to return home Wednesday after moving abroad following his election defeat, his party said, a move that comes as his son faces trial for corruption. Wade, who held power from 2000 to 2012, spent nearly two years in France after suffering a bitter defeat to current President Macky Sall, his former prime minister turned arch-rival, in March 2012. During Wade's absence, the country's new authorities have gone after his son Karim, accusing him of using corrupt means to amass a fortune when he was a so-called \"super minister\" in his father's cabinet. Karim Wade, 45, whose wealth includes land in Dakar, a fleet of luxury cars and media and finance companies operating across Africa, is due to be tried in June.","MH17 bodies expected Wednesday, IDs could take months: Dutch PM. The first bodies from the MH17 crash in Ukraine will be flown on Wednesday to the Netherlands, where their identification could take months, Prime Minister Mark Rutte said. \"Tomorrow the first plane (with bodies) will leave for Eindhoven\" in the southern Netherlands, Rutte told journalists after the bodies arrived in Ukraine's Kharkiv town from rebel-held territory. \"Preparations will be made in Kharkiv so that identification can be done in the Netherlands as well as possible,\" Rutte said. Of the 298 people killed when Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 was brought down over Ukraine, allegedly by a missile fired by pro-Russia rebels, 193 are Dutch, and the Netherlands is in charge of their identification.","Corps halts review of Oregon coal export terminal. PORTLAND, Oregon (AP) — The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has brought its review of a proposed coal export terminal to an immediate halt, a blow to the Australian company trying to get coal from the Northern Rockies to an eager Asian market.","Ukraine crisis shows divisions in old Soviet bloc. WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Poland's foreign minister had sharp words on the downing of the Malaysia Airlines jumbo jet in Ukraine — blaming the crash on Russia-backed \"bandits.\" But throughout most of central and eastern Europe, leaders withheld judgment, expressing shock but refusing to say more until more facts are in.","Wal-Mart cuts dozens of China executives to cut costs. (Reuters) - Wal-Mart Stores Inc said it has cut more than 20 mid-level jobs in China as part of its effort to lower costs in the world's second largest economy where it has been grappling with slower sales and tough price competition. Raymond Bracy, China-based spokesman for Wal-Mart, said the staff cuts were a \"necessary business reality\", adding the retailer would pay appropriate settlements to the employees affected. Wal-Mart, which has more than 400 stores in China, says it employs around 2 million people worldwide. Bracy declined to comment further on the China job cuts. ...","Barge leaks oil after collision in Houston Ship Channel. (Reuters) - A barge leaked oil into the Houston Ship Channel following a collision with a bulk carrier on Saturday near Texas City, and emergency responders have laid down floating barriers in an effort to contain the spill, U.S. Coast Guard officials said. The incident at the mouth of Galveston Bay has led to a shutdown of the channel for ship traffic entering and exiting the Gulf of Mexico, said a spokesman for the Galveston County Office of Emergency Management. The barge, which was being towed by a motor vessel, contained 168,000 gallons (636,000 liters) of fuel oil in the tank that was breached in a collision with a bulk carrier, said Coast Guard spokeswoman Petty Officer 3rd Class Manda Emery. The barge and another barge towed by the motor vessel had a total of 924,000 gallons (3.5 million liters) of fuel oil but the other tankers on board were not breached, she said.","Bulgaria election winner says ready to form minority government. SOFIA (Reuters) - Bulgaria's centre-right GERB party, which won a general election on Sunday but failed to get a majority, is ready to form a minority government and expects the support of other parties to do so, GERB party officials said at a press conference. GERB will begin talks with all other parties after the official results are out, officials said on Monday, but ruled out forming a coalition with their main Socialist opponents. (Reporting by Tsvetelia Tsolova and Angel Krasimirov; editing by Matthias Williams)","Rugby - Kiwis Spence, Braid to join Bordeaux. - Versatile New Zealand back Jayden Spence is to join Bordeaux-Begles as cover while compatriot Like Braid will arrive next season for two years, the French Top 14 outfit said Sunday.","Behind the mask of an anti-World Cup 'Black Bloc'. Their faces covered in black masks, they seized Brazil's attention last year in scenes of violence that invaded TV screens during what was supposed to be a festive football tournament. Now, one year after the protests that overshadowed the Confederations Cup, the authorities see the Black Bloc -- the masked demonstrators at the heart of some of last June's most violent moments -- as one of the main security threats to the World Cup. After getting off work -- an eight-hour night shift as a hospital lab technician -- Elizabeth arrives home exhausted to the small but well-kept apartment where she lives with her father in a northern Rio de Janeiro favela that is mainly governed by drug traffickers. Running on little sleep, she prepares her gas mask and other gear for a new protest in central Rio, days from the World Cup kick-off on June 12.","Egypt reports second bird flu death in a week. A woman has died of bird flu in southern Egypt, a health official said on Wednesday, the country's second death from the H5N1 strain of the virus in a week. H5NI is one of several deadly or potentially deadly strains of bird flu that are closely monitored by the World Health Organization. The woman died late on Tuesday after she was admitted to hospital in the southern province of Minya in a critical condition, health ministry spokesman Hossam Abdel Ghafar told AFP. Another woman died of bird flu in nearby Assiut province on Sunday.","Fighting rages between army and separatists in eastern Ukraine town. Fighting raged in eastern Ukraine for the second straight day on Tuesday as the army rolled out an offensive against pro-Russia separatists holding the city of Slaviansk and claimed to have inflicted losses on the rebels. The fighting in Slaviansk followed a day-long fire-fight on Monday in Luhansk, a town further east on the border with Russia, after an attack by separatists on a border guard camp. At least two people were killed in the city center of Luhansk, which like Slaviansk is under separatist control, by a blast which rebels said came from a Ukrainian air strike but which the Ukrainians said was caused by a misfire of a heat-seeking missile by the rebels. Reports of fresh fighting coincided with Ukraine announcing that 59 servicemen had been killed in clashes with rebels since hostilities broke out in the east in April.","Egypt arrests pro-Morsi leaders ahead of anniversary. Egyptian police arrested Tuesday four Islamist leaders who back Mohamed Morsi, two days ahead of protests their alliance has called to mark the first anniversary of his ouster, officials said. Since the military deposed Morsi on July 3 last year, the authorities have waged a brutal crackdown on his supporters that has seen more than 1,400 people killed in street clashes and over 15,000 jailed. Magdy Hussein, a leader of the Anti-Coup Alliance that has spearheaded protests demanding Morsi's reinstatement, was arrested at dawn at his house, the security officials said. Also detained was Nasr Abdel Salam, head of the Building and Development party which forms part of the alliance and the political arm of ex-Islamic militant group Gamaa Islamiya.","Iran drawing up new contracts to attract oil majors. Iran's oil ministry said Sunday it is preparing a new type of contract that would be more attractive to major oil companies in case of the lifting of international sanctions. International oil and gas companies have withdrawn from Iran since the strengthening of US and European sanctions in recent years over Tehran's controversial nuclear drive. These sanctions have drastically reduced oil exports from Iran, also lowering production to less than 3 million barrels per day. But a landmark nuclear agreement reached in November between Iran and the so-called P5+1 group of world powers has raised hopes in Tehran that the energy sector could be revived by the return of oil majors.","NATO plan to cost hundreds of millions: general. A plan to form high-readiness military units to be approved at this week's NATO summit in Wales would cost \"several hundred million euros\" a year to implement, a NATO general told AFP on Wednesday. \"Keeping people on alert carries a certain cost,\" General Jean-Paul Palomeros, who heads up one of two NATO strategic commands, said in an interview. \"We will become more efficient,\" said Palomeros, who is in charge of modernising NATO forces. Palomeros said the Readiness Action Plan being adopted in response to what NATO sees as Russian intervention in the conflict in eastern Ukraine could be in place \"by the end of the year\".","FIFA dismiss Silva plea, slam leniency claim. FIFA rejected Brazil's request to allow suspended captain Thiago Silva to face Germany in the World Cup semi-finals on Monday and hit back at claims referees had been ordered to take a lenient approach to foul play. A statement from FIFA's Disciplinary Committee dismissed Brazil's plea for Silva out of hand, stating there was \"no legal basis\" for the defender's yellow card against Colombia to be rescinded. In a further snub, FIFA disciplinary chiefs also ignored the growing clamour in Brazil for Colombian defender Juan Camilo Zuniga to face retroactive punishment over the aerial challenge that ended Neymar's tournament.","Turkish president Gul tips FM Davutoglu to be next prime minister. By Orhan Coskun ANKARA (Reuters) - Outgoing Turkish president Abdullah Gul said on Tuesday that Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu was likely to take over as chairman of the ruling AK Party, and thus become the next prime minister. Turkey's current prime minister and AKP chairman Tayyip Erdogan earlier this month tightened his grip on political power in the NATO member nation when he won the country's first direct presidential elections with more than 51 percent of the vote. \"As far as I see, Davutoglu will take over the post. Erdogan will step down as leader of the AK Party when he is inaugurated as head of state on Aug. 28, as required by the constitution;","Cayman jury convicts man of killing Swiss banker. GEORGE TOWN, Cayman Islands (AP) — A Cayman Islands jury has convicted a local man of the 2008 slaying of a Swiss banker who was working in the British Caribbean territory.","$30M worth of cocaine seized near Puerto Rico. SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Federal authorities in Puerto Rico have seized $30 million worth of cocaine and charged two men with drug smuggling.","AP PHOTOS: Iran mineral baths offer relief. SAREIN, Iran (AP) — Spring-fed mineral baths on the slopes of Iran's Sabalan mountain draw patients seeking traditional hydrotherapy and tourists seeking a relaxing getaway.","Missing Mexican students' parents agonize over fate. For 50 days, Epifanio Alvarez has had trouble eating and sleeping, tortured by uncertainty over what happened to his son Jorge and 42 other students missing in Mexico. Alvarez refuses to believe the young men were slaughtered by drug gang henchmen, and is clinging to the hope that this explanation is a cover-up by a government he and the other parents deeply distrust. Like the other parents of the 43 students who went missing in the southern state of Guerrero on September 26, Alvarez's agony has been compounded by the feeling that the truth is being hidden. He says officials' version of events -- that hitmen from the Guerreros Unidos drug gang confessed to killing the students and incinerating their bodies -- is undermined by previous versions that turned out to be false.","South Sudan rebel leader in Addis Ababa for talks: rebel source. ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) - South Sudanese rebel leader Riek Machar flew into the Ethiopian capital on Thursday for face-to-face talks with his rival President Salva Kiir, a senior member of the rebel negotiating team told Reuters. Earlier, Machar's spokesman had said the rebel leader was on his way to Addis Ababa and was committed to meeting Kiir, who sacked Machar as deputy president in July. That act reignited their long-running political feud and sparked fighting in mid-December that has killed thousands of people. ...","GSK faces bribery investigation in Poland: BBC. (Reuters) - GlaxoSmithKline Plc is facing a criminal investigation in Poland for allegedly bribing doctors to promote its asthma drug Seretide, BBC Panorama reported on Sunday. The BBC reported that 11 doctors and a GSK regional manager have been charged over alleged corruption between 2010 and 2012. \"The investigation found evidence of inappropriate communication in contravention of GSK policy by a single employee. GSK, Britain's biggest drugmaker, was accused by Chinese authorities in July of funnelling up to 3 billion yuan ($483 million) to doctors and officials to encourage them to use its medicines in a case that rocked the pharmaceuticals industry.","Indonesia shuts down massive prostitution complex. SURABAYA, Indonesia (AP) — Officials have officially shut a massive prostitution complex in Indonesia's second-largest city amid protests by sex workers, who said their livelihoods were being destroyed.","Iran and West end round of nuclear talks, outcome unclear. By Warren Strobel MUSCAT (Reuters) - Iran, the United States and the European Union ended two days of high-level talks on Tehran's nuclear program on Monday with no immediate sign they had bridged gaps ahead of a Nov. 24 deadline for an agreement. A senior Iranian official told Reuters that minimal progress was made in the talks in Oman. \"After hours of talks, we could make little progress,\" the official said. \"Still differences remain and still we have gaps over issues.\" U.S. ...","North Korea leader Kim has leg injury but is fully in charge: source. BEIJING (Reuters) - North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has aggravated a leg injury he suffered in late August or early September that needs three months to heal, but remains fully in charge of the country, a source with access to the North's leadership said on Thursday. North Korea's state media, which usually chronicles the 31-year-old's whereabouts in great detail, has not made any mention of Kim's activities since Sept. 3, fuelling speculation that he may be in ill health or his grip on power may be slipping. ...","32 killed in Syria's Daraa, Aleppo. At least 22 people were killed Friday when a car bomb exploded in front of a mosque in Daraa province of southern Syria, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. In northern Syria, the Observatory reported 10 people killed when regime helicopters dropped explosive-packed \"barrel bombs\" on Aleppo city. North of Aleppo city, the Observatory said jihadists from the Islamic State (IS) group extended their advances, seizing Baghaydin village near the border with Turkey. On Wednesday, IS fighters captured eight villages in the area between Aleppo and the border from rival rebel groups.","Food aid enters Syria's besieged Yarmuk camp. A food convoy gained entry Thursday to Syria's besieged Yarmuk Palestinian refugee camp, where dozens have died from shortages of food and medicines, the UN and Syrian state media said. UN Palestinian refugee agency (UNRWA) spokesman Chris Gunness said 600 food parcels had been delivered to the camp south of Damascus by 1 pm (1100 GMT). He said there had been \"chaotic scenes\" as the food was distributed, the first to be delivered to the camp since January 21, when UNRWA took in 138 food parcels. \"New food aid has entered Yarmuk camp, with the application of a peaceful, popular initiative supported by the Syrian government to alleviate the suffering of the residents surrounded in the camp, taken hostage by armed terrorist groups,\" it said.","Chilean is first foreign fatality in Venezuela unrest. By Andrew Cawthorne and Diego Ore CARACAS (Reuters) - A Chilean woman was shot dead while clearing a barricade put up by anti-government protesters, the first foreign fatality during a month of civil unrest in Venezuela, authorities said on Monday. The death of Gisela Rubilar, 47, who was studying in the western Venezuelan city of Merida, brought to at least 21 the total number of fatalities in five weeks of demonstrations against President Nicolas Maduro's government. \"She was ambushed by extreme right-wing groups ... She was vilely murdered with a shot in the eye,\" Alexis Ramirez, the governor of Merida state, told reporters, blaming the killing on unidentified demonstrators in the Andean city. Students and militant opponents of Maduro have been maintaining street barricades in various cities since last month, demanding the president's resignation and solutions to problems of rampant crime and economic shortages.","Pentagon says Hagel told that Russia won't invade. WASHINGTON (AP) — The Pentagon says Russia's defense chief has assured Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel that Russia will not invade Ukraine.","Argentina takes 1-0 lead vs Israel in Davis Cup. SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) — Leonardo Mayer defeated Bar Botzer 6-4, 3-6, 6-2, 6-1 Friday to give Argentina a 1-0 lead over Israel in the Davis Cup World Group playoff.","Thousands shiver in Manitoba as pipeline blast cuts gas supply. By Rod Nickel WINNIPEG, Manitoba (Reuters) - Thousands of Manitoba residents were without natural gas to heat their homes and businesses for a third frigid day on Monday, following a weekend explosion along a TransCanada Corp pipeline in the Western Canadian province. The explosion and fire happened early Saturday near Otterburne, Manitoba, about 50 km (31 miles) south of the provincial capital, Winnipeg. The incident interrupted the supply of natural gas to 4,000 residents and other customers, although TransCanada arranged for tanker trucks to deliver compressed natural gas to a hospital and nursing homes. TransCanada was working on restoring the gas supply to the area in two stages, starting with residents and other customers north of the damaged pipeline, said Scott Powell, spokesman for Manitoba Hydro, a provincial government-owned energy company.","D-Backs, Dodgers off to Australia to open season. SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. (AP) — \"G'donya\" to the Arizona Diamondbacks and Los Angeles Dodgers.","Liberty extends Europe reach with Ziggo takeover. By Philip Blenkinsop BRUSSELS (Reuters) - U.S. cable group Liberty Global has agreed to buy Ziggo in a cash and share deal valuing the Dutch operator at 10 billion euros ($13.7 billion) to expand its reach across Europe. Ziggo, which in October rejected an earlier offer from Liberty as too low, said in a joint statement on Monday that the current offer implied a price of 34.53 euros per share compared with Friday's close of 33.25 euros. Liberty, controlled by U.S. tycoon John Malone, has built its leading position in a broad stretch of Europe from Ireland to Romania via acquisitions over the past decade, and already owns 28.5 percent of Ziggo. Buying the rest will increase Liberty's presence in the Low Countries, where it owns Ziggo's Dutch competitor UPC, as well as a majority stake in Belgian group Telenet, the main cable group in the north of Belgium.","Australian leader defends government's first year. CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott has defended his unpopular government against mounting criticism, saying his administration has made achievements during its first year in power and its performance was more important than appearances.","UN urges halt to attacks on Syria's cultural sites. UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The United Nations says ancient Christian and Muslim sites in Syria are under attack and is demanding a halt to the destruction of the country's cultural heritage.","UN rights chief: Ebola, extremists 'twin plagues'. GENEVA (AP) — The U.N.'s top human rights official says the Ebola outbreak and the Islamic State group represent \"twin plagues\" upon the world.","AbbVie to pay Shire $1.64B fee over nixed merger. NORTH CHICAGO, Ill. (AP) — AbbVie is walking away from its proposed $55 billion takeover bid of Shire and has agreed to pay the rival drugmaker a $1.64 billion breakup fee.","Canada soldier, gunman dead in Ottawa: police. Ottawa (AFP) - A Canadian soldier was fatally shot Wednesday near parliament in the capital Ottawa, and his suspected attacker is also dead, police said.","Wenger's belief repaid by returning Oxlade-Chamberlain. Arsene Wenger believes Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain proved him right by scoring two goals from midfield in the 2-0 victory over Crystal Palace. Oxlade-Chamberlain, 20, picked up a knee injury in the 3-1 opening day defeat to Aston Villa and then missed the following five months of the season. But he returned to Arsenal's starting line-up against Palace and scored both goals from central midfield to send his team back to the top of the Premier League. With Aaron Ramsey and Jack Wilshere missing through injury, the former Southampton player's return is timely with crucial league fixtures against Liverpool and Manchester United on the horizon.","Reputed Guzman deputy will go to trial in Chicago. CHICAGO (AP) — A reputed lieutenant of recently captured drug lord Joaquin \"El Chapo\" Guzman abruptly reversed his plans to plead guilty Friday to federal trafficking charges, a move made out of fear for the lives of his wife and children in Mexico, according to his attorney.","Rebel leader in east Ukraine expects prisoner exchange on Wednesday. MOSCOW (Reuters) - Rebel leaders in eastern Ukraine are preparing to exchange prisoners with Ukrainian forces on Wednesday, a senior pro-Russian separatist leader was quoted as saying on Monday. Interfax news agency cited Andrei Purgin, who took part in talks at which a ceasefire deal was agreed with Kiev on Friday, said he hoped an \"all-for-all\" exchange would go ahead. Plans to exchange captives were agreed during Friday's talks. (Writing by Timothy Heritage, Editing by Thomas Grove)","Ukraine rebels close in on Donetsk airport. DONETSK, Ukraine (AP) — Rebels in eastern Ukraine appear to be successfully closing in on the government-held airport of Donetsk, a strategic victory for the pro-Russian separatists that further undermines a shaky cease-fire in the region.","Dan Loeb to nominate three directors to Sotheby's board. (Reuters) - Activist investor Daniel Loeb said on Thursday he would nominate himself and two others to the board of Sotheby's Inc , piling pressure on the auctioneer to focus more on its competitive position and management. Loeb, whose fund Third Point LLC is the biggest investor in Sotheby's with a 9.53 percent stake, has been pressuring the company since October to remove its chief executive and become more competitive against main rival Christie's. Sotheby's said it had engaged in extensive talks with Third Point over the past months to avoid a proxy battle and had offered to appoint Loeb to its board. \"Sotheby's is disappointed that Third Point has chosen this path,\" the company said. In a letter to Chief Executive William Ruprecht in October, Loeb called the auction house \"an old master painting in desperate need of restoration.\" Investment firm Marcato Capital Management, which holds a 6.7 percent stake in Sotheby's, has also been pushing the company to make changes and return $1 billion to shareholders.","Rome evacuates children from immigrant center as violence mounts. ROME (Reuters) - Rome's mayor ordered the evacuation on Thursday of 45 children from a center for immigrants that has been under attack for four days by local people. Mayor Ignazio Marino said the building, which houses around 70 people including a few homeless Italians, had been \"seriously damaged\" and the children were no longer safe there. The center in Tor Sapienza, a poor neighborhood on the eastern outskirts of the capital, has become the latest focus for resentment that has built up over years when Italians have struggled with falling incomes and rising unemployment. ...","Australia beats France 6-0 in sloppy 2nd test. MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Australia clinched its three-test series against France with a dour 6-0 win in the second match on Saturday, the lowest scoring encounter ever between the two teams.","Costa off to a fast start with Chelsea. Chelsea's new striker Diego Costa took just 57 seconds to score his first goal at Stamford Bridge as the Spaniard's double secured a 2-0 friendly win over Real Sociedad on Tuesday. Blues boss Jose Mourinho spent much of last term complaining about his lack of quality attacking options and Romelu Lukaku, Samuel Eto'o and Demba Ba have all been sent packing to make room for Costa and returning Chelsea legend Didier Drogba. On the evidence of Costa's maiden outing in west London, the £32 million ($53 million) Mourinho splashed out to sign the 25-year-old from Atletico Madrid should prove an astute investment. Although Costa was the headline act, Mourinho will also have been encouraged by a solid home debut from Spain midfielder Cesc Fabregas following his move from Barcelona and a composed outing from Belgian goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois, who is tipped to push Petr Cech for his place this season.","More activity seen at N. Korea nuclear test site. WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. researchers detect increased activity at North Korea's nuclear test site but remain unsure when an underground explosion might happen.","Lebanese army, gunmen clash at Syrian border: source. Gunmen killed at least one Lebanese soldier on Thursday when they attacked an army post at the border with Syria on Thursday near a town seized by Islamist insurgents earlier this month, a security source said. Three soldiers were wounded in the clash in the mountainous border zone just outside the town of Arsal, which was held for five days by militants, including fighters affiliated to Islamic State, in an incursion that resulted in deadly battles with the army. Overnight, the Lebanese army shelled militant positions in the same area.","Russia says EU chose to disrupt Ukraine peace process with sanctions. MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the European Union was disrupting peace efforts in eastern Ukraine by tightening sanctions on Moscow, Interfax news agency reported on Friday. \"Taking such a decision at the very moment when the peace process is gaining stability ... it means choosing the path of disrupting the peace process,\" Lavrov was quoted as telling state television channel Russia 1. He said Russia would respond to sanctions \"calmly, adequately and most of all from the need to protect our interests\". (Reporting by Thomas Grove, Editing by Timothy Heritage)","Bryan twins toppled at Australian Open. Melbourne (AFP) - Grand Slam doubles kings Bob and Mike Bryan were bundled out of the Australian Open in a major shock on Monday.","U.S. productivity rebounds in second quarter, wage inflation muted. By Lucia Mutikani WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. nonfarm productivity rebounded more strongly than expected in the second quarter, but a sharp slowdown in unit labor costs pointed to still-tame wage pressures that could give the Federal Reserve room to keep interest rates low for a while. The rebound in productivity follows a bounce back in gross domestic product in the second quarter. Compared to the second quarter of 2013, productivity increased 1.2 percent. Workers put in more hours in the second quarter, but with output rising, that lowered labor costs.","Algeria's Sonatrach recalls workers from Libya, land border closed: sources. The Algerian state energy firm Sonatrach has ordered its workers back from Libya over security concerns in the neighboring country, a source at the company said on Monday. Around 50 Sonatrach workers were working in Libya, and all will be out within two days, the source said. On Friday, Algeria sent a special forces team into Tripoli to evacuate its ambassador and embassy staff following threats. Algeria has also imposed restrictions on border crossings, allowing only Algerian citizens to cross from Libya and only Libyan citizens into Libya, a security source said.","Hungary opposed to economic sanctions against Russia: PM. Hungary is against the European Union imposing a round of economic sanctions on Russia over its intervention in Ukraine, Prime Minister Viktor Orban was quoted as saying in an interview published on Friday. The central European country of 10 million people relies on Russia for about 80 percent of its natural gas needs and recently signed a 10 billion euro deal with Moscow for Rosatom to expand Hungary's Paks nuclear plant, a major power generator. Russia is also Hungary's largest trading partner outside the European Union, with exports worth 2.55 billion euros in 2013.","Ex-Opera director Holender still calling the tunes. BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) — He's worked as a tram driver and a tennis coach but it was opera that catapulted him onto the world stage.","Chelsea beats Arsenal to consolidate league lead. LONDON (AP) — Arsene Wenger got in a push, but Jose Mourinho landed the bigger blow.","Bomb kills religious leader and guards in northwest Pakistan. By Saud Mehsud DERA ISMAIL KHAN Pakistan (Reuters) - A bomb killed a Pakistani religious leader and two of his guards during a celebration at a northwestern shrine on Monday, police said, as officers prepared for a militant backlash over a continuing military operation. Pakistan launched a military offensive in June to seize control of the Taliban stronghold of North Waziristan, a remote mountainous region on the border with Afghanistan. The United States had long urged Pakistan to move against militant hideouts there, saying the area was used to prepare attacks in both Afghanistan and Pakistan. Recent weeks have been quiet as Muslims observed the holy month of Ramadan by fasting during the day.","Special court in Madagascar approves election of new leader, rejects recount demands. ANTANANARIVO, Madagascar - A court in Madagascar has confirmed the presidential election victory of Hery Rajaonarimampianina, a candidate who was backed by the country's former strongman.","Barrick to partner with Ma'aden on Saudi Arabian copper asset. By Euan Rocha TORONTO (Reuters) - Barrick Gold said on Sunday it is forming a joint venture with Saudi Arabian Mining Co (Ma'aden) to run its Jabal Sayid copper asset in the kingdom, a move that could see the long-delayed mine finally begin production in late 2015. Ma'aden, which is controlled by the Saudi state, has agreed to buy the 50 percent interest in the project, located some 120 km (75 miles) southeast of Medina, for $210 million. The deal is a boost for Barrick as it lets the world's largest gold miner finally get back on track a project that has been mired in regulatory and licensing woes. Toronto-based Barrick acquired the Jabal Sayid asset via its C$7.3-billion ($6.8-billion) purchase of copper miner Equinox in 2011.","Police contact with murdered Canadian Aboriginal girl causes outrage. (Reuters) - Canadian police saw an Aboriginal teenager shortly before she was killed, but did not take her into custody last month even though she was on a missing person list. The news sparked outrage on Friday among Aboriginal groups and critics who said the incident was another systemic failure in a string of murdered and missing Aboriginal Canadian women dating back 30 years. Police in the central Canadian city of Winnipeg said two police officers stopped Tina Fontaine, 15, about 24 hours before the runaway disappeared in early August. ...","Flawed Canada jobs figures caused by data processing error. Statistics Canada had to withdraw July's initial jobs data due to a \"isolated\" human processing error which meant the number of full-time job losses was overestimated, the agency said on Friday. Statscan's revised figures - issued on Friday - showed a gain of 41,700 jobs in July, far higher than the 200 new positions it reported on Aug 8. Statscan withdrew the initial data on Aug 12. The agency said that as part of a redesign to improve the quality of jobs figures, a section of the data processing system had been updated.","Swedish politician says he's Mitterrand's son. STOCKHOLM (AP) — A Swedish politician surrounded by rumors of being the secret son of Francois Mitterrand has said in an interview that the late French president is his father.","Claudia Llosa shows 1st English film in Berlin. BERLIN (AP) — Peruvian filmmaker Claudia Llosa, a winner of the top prize at the Berlin International Film Festival five years ago, is back at the event with multinational new movie \"Aloft\" — her first work in English.","Algeria soccer death seen part of a wider ills. ALGIERS, Algeria (AP) — The rocks came raining down after the final whistle of the Algerian soccer match, an increasingly common ritual in stadiums across the country. This time, the violence ended in tragedy: Hit in the head, Albert Ebosse, the league's top goal scorer last season, crumbled to the ground and died in a hospital.","Separatists seize control of TV HQ in east Ukraine city. Pro-Russian separatists on Sunday seized control of the offices of regional state television in the eastern Ukrainian city of Donetsk, a Reuters reporter outside the building said. The reporter said four separatists in masks, with truncheons and shields, were standing at the entrance to the building controlling access, while more separatists in camouflage fatigues could be seen inside. About 15 police officers were standing a short distance away but were not trying to resist the separatists. A crowd of around 400 people surrounded the building and shouted \"Russia!\" and \"Referendum!,\" a reference to a vote the separatists want to hold on seceding from Ukraine.","Thailand faces trade ban over ivory failings. Thailand faces an international wildlife trade ban unless it reins in its illegal ivory sector, which is a magnet for traffickers, global regulator CITES said on Friday. \"There have been years without any real action on the ground when it comes to controlling the illegal ivory market, be it illegal imports or trade within Thailand,\" said Oeystein Stoerkersen, chairman of CITES' governing body. The Geneva-based Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora has set Thailand an August 2015 deadline to fall into line. \"Unless there is a positive outcome of strengthening of legislation... then Thailand will face a ban, and a suspension of all trade no matter what commodity it is, of the 35,000 species listed with CITES,\" Stoerkersen told reporters.","Inter-conference games lead Super Rugby round 4. WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — After three rounds made up mostly of derby matches Super Rugby goes inter-continental this weekend as injuries bite and pressure mounts on the tournament's slow starters.","Southwest Airlines flight lands at wrong SW Missouri airport. BRANSON, Mo. - A Southwest Airlines flight that was scheduled to arrive Sunday night at Branson Airport in southwest Missouri instead landed at an airport 7 miles (11 kilometres) north — with a runway half the size of the intended destination.","Canadian retail sales unexpectedly drop 0.3 percent. OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canadian retail sales unexpectedly dropped 0.3 percent in August, pulled down by lower gasoline prices and weaker sales of new cars and food, according to Statistics Canada data released on Wednesday. Analysts had forecast no change from July. August's decline marked the second consecutive month-on-month fall after six months of gains and was the largest drop since the 1.1 percent decline seen in December 2013. Sales were down in seven of the 11 sub-sectors, representing 76 percent of retail trade. Sales at gasoline stations dropped 2. ...","Australian Open tweaks Extreme Heat policy. MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Australian Open organizers have tweaked the extreme heat policy for 2015 in the wake of complaints from players about dangerous conditions during a heat wave in Melbourne during the last tournament.","Pentagon: No 'credible' evidence civilians killed. WASHINGTON (AP) — A Pentagon spokesman says the U.S. military is looking into allegations that civilians were killed in U.S. and allied airstrikes in Syria. But he said they have no \"credible\" reporting that such deaths occurred.","Cuevas reaches final of Croatia Open. UMAG, Croatia (AP) — Uruguayan qualifier Pablo Cuevas defeated top-seeded Fabio Fognini from Italy 6-3, 6-4 to reach the final of Croatia Open on Sunday.","Tornado warning issued for Washington, D.C., area: NWS. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A tornado warning has been issued for Washington and other areas around the nation's capital amid a storm that National Weather Service said could affect the nearby airport. The NWS said the warning was effective until 1 p.m. (1700 GMT). Parts of Maryland and Virginia are also affected, it said. (Reporting by Susan Heavey; Editing by Doina Chiacu)","Apple $450 million e-book settlement gets final court approval. NEW YORK (Reuters) - A U.S. judge on Friday gave final approval to Apple Inc's agreement to pay $450 million to resolve claims it harmed consumers by conspiring with five publishers to raise e-book prices. During a hearing in Manhattan, U.S. District Judge Denise Cote approved what she called an \"unusual\" accord. It calls for Apple to pay $400 million to as many as 23 million consumers if the company's appeal of a ruling finding it liable for antitrust violations is unsuccessful. ...","Avignon Festival future threatened over far-right. PARIS (AP) — The director of one of the world's biggest theater festivals, the Avignon Festival, has threatened to relocate it from the southeastern French city if the country's far-right National Front party wins this week's municipal elections there.","Off-duty captain warned ferry had stability risks. MOKPO, South Korea (AP) — An off-duty captain of the sunken South Korean ferry has told investigators that the owners ignored his warning that the ship shouldn't carry too much cargo because it wasn't very stable, a prosecutor said Wednesday.","Divided Chinese eye Hong Kong protests with admiration, anger. By Donny Kwok and Yimou Lee HONG KONG (Reuters) - For some mainland Chinese in Hong Kong, the sight of thousands of people on the streets protesting for greater democracy is an alien one that has prompted comparisons with the relative lack of political freedom back home. Others are less impressed, and see the mass show of defiance as a dangerous tactic that has shut down large parts of the city and raised the risk of serious confrontation with Hong Kong police. \"For the first time in my life I feel close to politics,\" said a Chinese tourist from Beijing who gave only her surname, Yu. ...","Israeli air strikes kill two Palestinians, 20 wounded. By Nidal al-Mughrabi and Allyn Fisher-Ilan GAZA/JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israeli air strikes launched before dawn on Tuesday killed two Palestinians and destroyed much of one of Gaza's tallest apartment and office buildings, setting off huge explosions and wounding 20 people, Palestinian health officials said. Israel had no immediate comment on the attacks that took place as Egyptian mediators stepped up efforts to achieve an elusive ceasefire to end seven weeks of fighting. Palestinian health officials say 2,125 people, most of them civilians, including more than 490 children, have been killed in Gaza since July 8, when Israel launched an offensive with the declared aim of ending rocket fire into its territory. Sixty-four Israeli soldiers and four civilians in Israel have been killed.","Obama weighs in on contentious union vote at Volkswagen plant. By Richard Cowan and Bernie Woodall CAMBRIDGE, Md./CHATTANOOGA, Tennessee (Reuters) - P resident Barack Obama on Friday waded into a high-stakes union vote at Volkswagen AG's plant in Tennessee, accusing Republican politicians who oppose unionization of being more concerned about German shareholders than U.S. workers. Obama's comments, made at a closed-door meeting of Democratic lawmakers in Maryland, came as the vote to allow union representation at the Chattanooga plant drew to a close.","Ivory Coast soldiers end protests after government concessions. By Ange Aboa ABIDJAN (Reuters) - Disgruntled former rebels now serving in Ivory Coast's army have agreed to end a protest over back pay and overdue benefits, they said on Thursday, following two days of talks with government ministers and a meeting with the president. The world's top cocoa-producing country is still emerging from a decade of political upheaval and a 2011 civil war that saw French- and U.N.-backed rebels topple President Laurent Gbagbo after his refusal to accept an election defeat. \"You have been heard. ...","A World Cup quandary: sex or abstinence. BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — If you're intending to score in a World Cup match, should you score the night before?","Thai army chief urges rivals to talk after declaring martial law. By Amy Sawitta Lefevre BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thailand's army declared martial law nationwide on Tuesday to restore order after six months of street protests that have left the country without a proper functioning government, but insisted the surprise intervention was not a military coup. While troops patrolled parts of Bangkok and army spokesmen took to the airwaves, the caretaker government led by supporters of self-exiled former premier Thaksin Shinawatra said it was still running the country. Army chief General Prayuth Chan-ocha said the military had stepped in to restore order and build investor confidence, and warned that troops would take action against anyone who used weapons and harmed civilians. \"We ask all sides to come and talk to find a way out for the country,\" Prayuth told reporters after meeting directors of government agencies and other high-ranking officials.","Israel approves new Gaza ceasefire as UN rages over school strike. Israel was on Wednesday observing a four-hour lull in Gaza several hours after a deadly strike on a school killed 16, drawing a furious response from a UN refugee agency. The humanitarian window went into effect at 1200 GMT, although the Israeli army said it would not apply to areas where troops were \"currently operating\" in a move Hamas dismissed as a publicity stunt with \"no value\". The temporary truce deal came into force just hours after two Israel shells slammed into a UN school in the northern Gaza Strip where more than 3,000 people had sought shelter, killing at least 16 of them. It was the second time in a week that a UN school had been hit, hiking the death toll in Gaza from 23 days of bloodshed to 1,306 and drawing a furious denunciation from the head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA.","Egypt jails killers of Coptic Christians. A court in Egypt Sunday jailed three people for life and two to seven years for creating a \"terrorist\" group and killing four Copts in 2010, a judicial official said. They were accused of \"forming an illegal group and using terrorist methods to target the police, foreign tourists and the Copts\". The four Coptic Christians -- who comprise up to 10 percent of Egypt's mainly Muslim population -- were killed in January 2010 in an attack on a jewellery shop in an eastern suburb of Cairo.","Communist party head shows banner at Sochi Games. SOCHI, Russia (AP) — The head of Russia's Communist Party held up a hammer-and-sickle Soviet banner during a flower ceremony at the Winter Olympics, leading to a confrontation with staff over violating Olympic rules that bar political statements at the games.","India says 1 soldier killed in firing by Pakistani soldiers. SRINAGAR, India (AP) — Officials say one soldier was killed and another wounded in Indian-controlled Kashmir when Pakistani soldiers opened fire near the cease-fire line in the disputed Himalayan region.","In the driving seat: China's yuppies are new market force for global automakers. By Samuel Shen and Norihiko Shirouzu SHANGHAI/BEIJING (Reuters) - Global automakers are scrambling to meet the demands of China's young urban professionals, who want a car that makes them stand out, yet don't always have the money to splurge on a top-end model. After nearly two decades of frenzied growth driven mainly by the very wealthy, China's auto market is maturing, yet remains ferociously competitive with manufacturers having to react quickly to shifting consumer trends. People like Zhou Wenxi, a 32-year-old Shanghai cram-school owner, and Guo Yetao, 23, a software salesman from Hangzhou, are fuelling two trends: hot demand for smaller crossover sport utility vehicles like Ford Motor Co's EcoSport; There is a potential \"seismic shift\" in the influence these young urban professionals will have on China's auto market, says Yale Zhang, head of Automotive Foresight, a Shanghai-based consultant.","Tunisians in historic vote spurred by Arab Spring. TUNIS, Tunisia (AP) — Tunisians voted Sunday for their first five-year parliament since they overthrew their dictator in the 2011 revolution that kicked off the Arab Spring, with the main secular party declaring an early victory over the once-dominant Islamists.","Inauguration of Ukraine's Poroshenko set for June 7. KIEV (Reuters) - Ukraine's Petro Poroshenko, who won an overwhelming victory in an election on May 25, will take the oath as president on Saturday, parliament ruled on Tuesday. Poroshenko, 48, a pro-Western confectionery tycoon, emphatically defeated former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko and other candidates in a vote that was disrupted in the east by pro-Russian separatists opposed to rule by Kiev. Poroshenko goes into a hectic round of diplomacy this week over the crisis in his country, meeting U.S. ...","UN chief asks Czechs for Africa peacekeepers. PRAGUE (AP) — The Czech defense minister is pledging to offer a quick response to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's appeal for troops to bolster the planned U.N peacekeeping mission in the Central African Republic.","A lifetime of perks in UAE help cushion wealth gap. UMM AL-QUWAIN, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The United Arab Emirates contains the world's tallest building, an artificial indoor ski slope and man-made islands shaped like the world. Dubai's fleet of police cars includes a $2.5 million Bugatti Veyron and a $500,000 Lamborghini Aventador.","Enel has received three offers for Slovakia asset so far: CEO. ROME (Reuters) - Italy's biggest utility Enel has received three offers for its stake in Slovakian power plant Slovenske Elektrarne but further bids could yet arrive, the group's chief executive said on Monday. \"For now three but we haven't stopped counting because, since there's no deadline, more could be on their way,\" Francesco Starace said. Enel is looking to sell more than 4 billion euros ($5 billion) of assets this year to cut its debt and hang on to its investment grade credit rating. (1 US dollar = 0. ...","Manager O'Neill backs Roy Keane over 'assault' claims. London (AFP) - Republic of Ireland manager Martin O'Neill pledged \"full support\" for his assistant Roy Keane on Thursday after the ex-Manchester United captain was accused of assaulting a member of the public.","Torino beats Verona 3-1 to boost European hopes. VERONA, Italy (AP) — Torino came from behind to win 3-1 at Hellas Verona in Serie A on Monday and boost its chances of qualifying for Europe.","Rising fears over SKorea Olympic cost. SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — A South Korean province is threatening to cut its share of the budget for building facilities for the 2018 Winter Olympics and is pressuring the national government to take on a larger burden of the costs.","Australia and Japan agree to pursue closer military technology ties. Australia and Japan will create a framework pact to cooperate on military technology, the two countries said on Wednesday, a move that could pave the way for Japan to supply stealth submarine designs and components to Australia. The agreement came during talks between Australian Defence Minister David Johnston and Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop and their Japanese counterparts, Itsunori Onodera and Fumio Kishida, in Tokyo. \"Ministers confirmed the substantial conclusion of negotiations on an agreement for cooperation in the field of defence equipment and technology,\" the countries said in a joint statement. \"We see ourselves as natural partners in many ways,\" Australia's Bishop told reporters after the meetings.","Work resumes at stadium hosting World Cup opener. SAO PAULO (AP) — Work is back at full speed at the stadium hosting the World Cup opener after labor officials allowed workers to return to part of the construction site that was closed because of safety concerns.","French Parliament debates recognizing Palestine. PARIS (AP) — French legislators are debating whether to pressure the government to recogne a Palestinian state, in hopes that helps lead to lasting Middle East peace.","Turkey's Kurds prefer peace prospects at home to perilous statehood in Iraq. By Ayla Jean Yackley ISTANBUL (Reuters) - What has long been a dream for the Middle East's Kurds, an independent state, is within reach in Iraq, but Turkey's Kurds, wearied by a 30-year conflict with Ankara, see a brighter future at home, where negotiations could deliver the rights they have fought for. At Istanbul's Kurdish Institute, where 400 students are learning Kurdish, they are riveted by events across the border in Iraqi Kurdistan, which appears to be hurtling toward independence as state forces retreat and Sunni militants, led by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), an al Qaeda offshoot, seize parts of northern Iraq. Events are not, for now at least, stirring separatist sentiment in Turkey, where many Kurds prefer to put their faith in greater autonomy within the established borders of a booming economy than in the vagaries of a new nation state surrounded by hostile neighbors.","Security software maker Symantec to split into two public companies. (Reuters) - Norton antivirus maker Symantec Corp will split into two publicly traded companies, one selling security software and the other providing data management, potentially making itself more attractive to suitors. \"Separating Symantec into two independent publicly traded companies will provide each business the flexibility and focus to drive growth and enhance shareholder value,\" the company said. Symantec's revenue growth has lagged behind the rest of the security software market in recent quarters. ...","Garcia willing to forgive Faldo; Reed's retort. GLENEAGLES, Scotland (AP) — Sergio Garcia says he is \"willing to forgive\" Nick Faldo for making critical comments about his performance in the 2008 Ryder Cup at Valhalla.","Bahrainis vote in second round of parliamentary election. MANAMA (Reuters) - Bahrainis voted in the second round of a parliamentary election on Saturday, a poll boycotted by the tiny Gulf monarchy's Shi'ite-led opposition which accuses the government of gerrymandering and says parliament lacks powers. Voters have returned to the polls in 34 of Bahrain's 40 constituencies for the parliament, which has limited direct powers in a country where ultimate decision making resides with the Sunni Muslim al-Khalifa family. Al Wefaq, the main opposition group which has widespread support among the country's Shi'ite majority, said on Oct. ...","Analysis of possible plane debris slowed by vast size of satellite data. By Andrea Shalal and Jane Wardell WASHINGTON/SYDNEY (Reuters) - Delays in identifying satellite images that may show debris of a missing Malaysian plane in the southern Indian Ocean were due to the vast amounts of data that needed to be analyzed, Australian authorities and the U.S. company that collected the images said. Australia rushed four international aircraft to an area about 2,500 km (1,500 miles) southwest of Perth on Thursday after analysis of satellite images identified two large objects that may have come from the Malaysia Airlines plane that went missing almost two weeks ago with 239 people aboard. DigitalGlobe Inc, a Colorado-based company that collects satellite imagery for the U.S. government and other countries as well as private companies, confirmed it had collected the images on March 16. It did not say when the images were provided to Australian authorities.","Egypt's Air Sinai halts Tel Aviv flights over security fears. Egypt's Air Sinai said it cancelled flights Thursday and Friday to Tel Aviv for security reasons, after a warning by Hamas's armed wing against foreign airliners flying to Israel. The Egyptian carrier operates four weekly flights to Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion international airport. \"The flights on Thursday and Friday were cancelled due to, the deteriorating security situation and shelling near Ben Gurion airport,\" said Mahmud Guda, an airline official in charge of reservations. A spokesman for the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades Wednesday warned foreign airlines against flying into Tel Aviv from 6 am (0300 GMT) in a bid to disrupt air traffic.","3 killed in attack on highway in Turkey. ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Officials and news reports say three gunmen killed a man and drove away with his van before shooting at security forces manning a roadblock. A soldier and a policeman died in the attack.","Former U.S. Afghanistan commander to lead effort against Islamic State. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama has chosen retired Marine Corps General John Allen, who served as the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, to coordinate international efforts to fight Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria, a U.S. official said on Friday. Allen has long experience working with leaders in the region, both as a commander in Iraq and as deputy head of U.S. Central Command, which controls U.S. forces in the region. ...","Main Turkish opposition rejects constitutional reform proposal. ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkey's largest opposition party said on Thursday it had rejected plans for constitutional changes to resolve a row over the judiciary, paving the way for the government to press ahead with its own plans to assert greater control over the courts. The Republican People's Party (CHP) said in a statement it had decided to reject the government proposal to change the constitution because the ruling AK Party had not halted work on pushing its own judicial reforms through parliament. (Reporting by Gulsen Solaker; Writing by Daren Butler)","Kreuziger says his provisional ban broke UCI rules. Cyclist Roman Kreuziger says the UCI broke its anti-doping rules by provisionally suspending him without a positive test.","Greek govt gambles on early presidential vote. ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greece's conservative-led government has called for a vote in parliament for the country's new president late this month — in a surprise move that will determine its survival in the recession-weary country.","Putin says Russia will rebound after economic crisis. MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin held his annual end-of-year news conference on Thursday. Below are extracts of the news conference: ECONOMY \"Clearly the current situation is caused mainly by external factors.\" \"External economic factors are having an impact, mainly the price of oil and gas. I think the central bank and the government are taking adequate measures.\" \"If the situation develops unfavorably, we will have to amend our plans. Beyond a doubt, we will have to cut some (spending). But a positive turn and an exit from the current situation are unavoidable. ...","U.N. endorses Iraq military force against advancing Islamist rebels. By Louis Charbonneau UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The United Nations on Wednesday issued an unusual call for military force, with a senior U.N. official saying the advance of Islamist militants throughout the north and east of Iraq must be dealt with militarily, though success will hinge on a broad political consensus. Nickolay Mladenov, who as U.N. special envoy to Iraq heads the world body's political mission there, said Iraq's key southern oil reserves remained safe. His remarks came as hardline Sunni militants attacked one of Iraq's largest air bases.","Liberty Global says buys ITV stake from BSkyB. US cable giant Liberty Global said on Thursday it has bought a 6.4-percent stake in ITV, Britain's largest free-to-air commercial television broadcaster, from BSkyB for £481 million ($824 million, 610 million euros). Colorado-based Liberty Global, which has made a string of European acquisitions in recent years, added in a statement however that it did not intend to make an offer to acquire ITV. Liberty Global has purchased 259.8 million ITV shares at 185 pence per share from pay-TV giant BSkyB.","German Uli Stielike appointed South Korea coach. South Korea appointed former Germany international and managerial journeyman Uli Stielike as the national team's new coach Friday, in a surprise move that completed its search for a foreign coach. Stielike, who played 42 times for West Germany but has endured a mixed coaching career, has signed a contract until the 2018 World Cup in Russia, the Korea Football Association (KFA) said in a statement.","Australia-NZ to host 2017 Rugby League World Cup. Australia and New Zealand will host the 2017 Rugby League World Cup after their joint bid was chosen ahead of South Africa on Wednesday.","Ebola kills 84 in three days: UN. The Ebola virus killed 84 people in just three days, bringing the global death toll to 1,229, the World Health Organization said Tuesday. The death toll, which passed the 1,000-mark over a week ago, soared higher between last Thursday and Saturday.","Man gets 3 months for smuggling dinosaur skeleton. NEW YORK (AP) — A federal judge in New York has sentenced a Florida fossils dealer to three months in prison for smuggling a 70-million-year-old Tyrannosaurus skeleton out of Mongolia.","Jordan protesters want peace treaty with Israel annulled. Around 1,000 people demonstrated Friday near the Israeli embassy in Amman to protest the killing of a Jordanian judge by Israeli soldiers, demanding a peace deal between the countries be annulled. Israeli troops shot 38-year-old Raed Zeiter, a Palestinian-Jordanian, at a border crossing on Monday, saying he attacked them and igniting a diplomatic row between Israel and Jordan. Opposition Islamists, youth groups, leftists and nationalists took part in the demonstration that started after Friday prayers in Kaluti mosque, near the Israeli embassy in the Rabia neighbourhood in West Amman.","Ronaldo, Diego Costa give Madrid & Atletico wins. BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Cristiano Ronaldo scored his Spanish league-leading 25th goal to give Real Madrid a lackluster 1-0 win at Malaga on Saturday, when the pacesetters extended their unbeaten run to 30 consecutive matches in all competitions.","FIFA Congress stung by Blatter resign calls. Football rulers hold their annual congress on Wednesday amid calls from top European football for president Sepp Blatter to end his reign as FIFA president and damaging corruption accusations against Qatar's 2022 World Cup bid. Michael van Praag, head of the Dutch football association, said Blatter should quit when his term ends next year. A similar demand was made by David Gill, vice-chairman of England's Football Association. Blatter, 78, officially opened FIFA's annual congress at a gala in Sao Paulo on Tuesday night without mentioning the attacks or corruption controversy.","Fewer blowouts expected in Olympic women's hockey. SOCHI, Russia (AP) — For women's hockey, the game between the United States and Canada is the highlight of the Olympics and it usually comes with the gold medal at stake.","Missing Honduras beauty queen, sister found dead. TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras (AP) — A top police official says what appear to be the bodies of Miss Honduras 2014 and her sister have been found buried near the spa where they disappeared six days ago.","Exclusive: Canadian review will recommend buying Lockheed F-35 fighter jet - sources. By Andrea Shalal WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Canada is poised to buy 65 Lockheed Martin Corp F-35 Joint Strike Fighter jets, sources familiar with the process told Reuters, marking a major renewal of Canada's fighter fleet and helping contain costs of the expensive defense program. An 18-month review of Canada's fighter jet needs has concluded that the government should skip a new competition and proceed with the C$9 billion ($8.22 billion) purchase, three sources said. The decision must still be finalized by Prime Minister Stephen Harper's cabinet. Canada's planned purchase is the 6th-largest by a country and would further safeguard the $399 billion program.","French president's complex personal life on view. PARIS (AP) — The French president's complex personal life — and what it means to be the first lady in modern society — may get a full airing as Francois Hollande answers questions for the first time since a tabloid reported he was having an affair with an actress.","Wrestling body urges ebola-hit nations be allowed to compete. Wrestling's governing body (FILA) has called on Uzbekistan to allow athletes from Ebola-hit countries to compete at next month's world wrestling championships, the Interfax news agency reported Monday. \"Wrestling's international ruling body has sent a letter to the country's Ministry of Public Health asking it to allow the athletes from the Ebola-hit countries to participate in the championships at Tashkent,\" the agency quoted an anonymous ministry representative as saying. Interfax said that seven wrestlers from Nigeria and two athletes from Sierra Leone have indicated their desire to compete at the world championships in the Uzbeki capital from September 8-14. The health department official said that Uzbekistan is taking all possible measures to prevent the penetration of the deadly Ebola virus into the country.","Canada stays unbeaten in Olympic women's hockey with 3-0 win over Finland. SOCHI, Russia - Jayna Hefford had a goal and an assist to lead Canada to a 3-0 win over Finland in the Olympic women's hockey tournament Monday.","Haggard protesters hold two-month vigil in Kiev's city hall. Stretched out on a makeshift mattress, Petro rubbed his eyes, still swollen with sleep, and sighed: \"We must hold on in order to get results.\" After two months of occupying Kiev's city hall, Ukrainian protesters may look hollow-eyed but are keeping up a ceaseless vigil. A stocky man from the city of Ternopil in western Ukraine, Petro is one of the volunteer security guards in the imposing building on Kiev's main Kreshchatyk thoroughfare, which is now dotted with tents put up by the protesters. The city hall was one of the first \"trophies\" for the Ukrainian protesters.","Gaddafi cousin hopes to participate in Libyan peace talks. By Ulf Laessing CAIRO (Reuters) - A cousin and former aide of Muammar Gaddafi said he wants to take part in proposed talks aimed at bringing together Libya's warring parties, in a rare bid by a member of the ex-ruler's inner-circle to regain influence. The Gaddafi family has kept a low profile since the 2011 uprising in which the leader was killed, ending 42 years of one-man rule. Rival armed groups have since battled for power, pushing the internationally-recognised government from the capital and raising fears of a full-scale civil war. ...","US allies condemn torture; praise report on CIA. ISTANBUL (AP) — Two important U.S. NATO allies on Thursday condemned the CIA's harsh treatment of terrorist suspects detailed in a report this week, but praised the decision to make the Senate investigation public.","Cost of Somali piracy slumps as attacks fall: report. By Peter Apps LONDON (Reuters) - The cost of Somali piracy to the global economy fell by almost half last year as attacks slumped, but piracy in West Africa was on the rise, an annual security report said on Wednesday. The Oceans beyond Piracy report put the total cost of Somali piracy - by far the largest single threat to international shipping in recent years - at only $3.2 billion in 2013. At the height of Somali pirate attacks in 2011, up to a dozen or more merchant ships were being held captive at any one time, often for multimillion-dollar ransoms. Since then, growing use of private security details and the presence of international warships have largely prevented successful attacks.","French general to command EU force in C. Africa. French Major General Philippe Ponties was named Tuesday to head a European Union military operation in the Central African Republic. He will begin operational planning for EUFOR RCA after the UN Security Council earlier Tuesday backed a resolution allowing an EU contingent to \"use all necessary force\" to protect civilians caught up in sectarian strife in the country. EU foreign ministers agreed on January 20 to send up to 1,000 soldiers to help stabilize Central African Republic, the bloc's first major military operation in six years.","Central Africa Republic appoints Muslim as new prime minister. Bangui (Central African Republic) (AFP) - The president of the Central African Republic has named a Muslim as the country's new prime minister, an official said Sunday, as part of an effort to create a more inclusive government after more than a year of sectarian violence.","Nepal to allow Indian firm to build power plant. KATMANDU, Nepal (AP) — Officials say Nepal's government has endorsed plans for Indian company GMR to build the Himalayan nation's largest hydro power plant.","French village bans clowns for Halloween after terror wave. Marseille (AFP) - A French village has banned teenagers from dressing up as clowns for Halloween after people kitted out as the colourful pranksters have sown terror and violence in several parts of the country.","Chan wants to be better father after son's arrest. BEIJING (AP) — Jackie Chan has pledged to become a better father after his son Jaycee was arrested on drug charges.","Euro tanks after surprise interest rate cut. LONDON (AP) — The euro slid sharply after the European Central Bank surprised traders by trimming its main interest rate to a record low of 0.05 percent from the previous low of 0.15 percent.","US cancels delegation to Paralympics in Russia. WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House says the United States has decided not to send a presidential delegation to the Paralympic Games in Sochi, Russia.","AP PHOTOS: Hindus celebrate Holi in burst of color. Hindus are celebrating the festival of Holi by painting each other in bright colors, distributing sweets and squirting water at one another. The holiday, celebrated mainly in India and Nepal, marks the beginning of spring and the triumph of good over evil. Bonfires are set on the eve of Holi, and the next day Hindus throw colored dry powder and water in celebration.","CAS reduces America's Cup sailor's suspension. LAUSANNE, Switzerland (AP) — The Court of Arbitration for Sport has reduced sailor Dirk de Ridder's suspension from sanctioned events from three years to 18 months.","IOC awards Olympic TV rights in Cuba for 2016. LAUSANNE, Switzerland (AP) — Cuba's state broadcaster has been awarded the country's exclusive television rights to the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.","Kuwait questions 2 on US terror-funding list. DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Kuwaiti police have briefly detained and questioned two men designated by the U.S. Treasury Department as financiers of terrorist groups in Iraq and Syria.","Mohamed Dionne named new Senegal prime minister. Mohamed Dionne, a close aide to Senegal's president who once worked for the United Nations, was named the country's new prime minister Sunday, two days after the resignation of his predecessor. Dionne, 54, will be the third prime minister serving under President Macky Sall, after former banker Abdoul Mbaye and Aminata Toure, previously also a justice minister. Toure was sacked on Friday, less than a week after her ruling party was beaten in local elections. Toure was the second woman prime minister in Senegal after Madior Boye, who headed the government between March 2001 and November 2002.","Bulgaria election winner to form minority government. SOFIA (Reuters) - The winner of Bulgaria's general election on Thursday signed an agreement to form a minority coalition government after a month of talks, a welcome breakthrough for a country reeling from a bank crisis and struggling to revive economic growth. The centre-right GERB party will partner a group of five tiny pro-market parties, paving the way for former bodyguard Boiko Borisov to become prime minister again after he was toppled by street protests early last year. ...","Ailing S. African president hands more duties to deputy. South African President Jacob Zuma, who is suffering from exhaustion, has handed more duties to his deputy as he prepares a state of the nation address, the presidency said Wednesday. Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa will stand in for Zuma at the funeral on Saturday of Epainette Mbeki, mother of former president Thabo Mbeki, and at Youth Day celebrations on Monday. Zuma spent the weekend in hospital for tests after officials from his African National Congress asked him to take a break because \"the punishing election programme was taking its toll\". The presidency said Wednesday Zuma had requested next week's state of the nation address to be brought forward from Thursday to Tuesday so he could attend the African Union summit in Equatorial Guinea.","ECB set to hold fire on rates, eyes risks from Ukraine conflict. By Eva Taylor FRANKFURT (Reuters) - The European Central Bank is set to hold fire on rates on Thursday as it waits for earlier stimulus measures to gain traction, while keeping an eye on emerging risks from the conflict in Ukraine. The ECB cut interest rates to record lows in June, became the first major central bank to charge banks for holding their deposits overnight and launched a new ultra-cheap, four-year loan program, dubbed TLTROs, to be rolled out later this year. \"After the fireworks in June, it is not the time to take fresh measures because the ECB wants to wait and see how things develop,\" said Reinhard Cluse, economist at UBS. \"The ECB wants to keep its powder dry.\" None of the 64 economists in a Reuters poll expect any change to the refinancing or deposit rates when the Governing Council meets on Thursday.","Efforts to save rare northern white rhino continue. PRAGUE (AP) — Experts will meet in Kenya next month to discuss ways to save the critically endangered northern white rhinos from extinction.","Lewis Hamilton wins Bahrain Grand Prix. Manama (AFP) - Lewis Hamilton won the Bahrain Grand Prix on Sunday ahead of Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg after a thrilling wheel-to-wheel duel.","From an Indian jail, tycoon tries to sell the New York Plaza. Indian tycoon Subrata Roy is putting up the two trophy properties and another luxury New York hotel for sale to raise $1.6 billion for the bail bond that will get him out of Tihar, a sprawling New Delhi prison complex that houses about 12,000 inmates. \"The properties are quite iconic and would be sold at the right price,\" said an international property consultant who did not wish to be named.","Poles urge Tesco boycott amid Cameron migration row. Polish lawmakers on Wednesday called for a boycott of Britain's Tesco supermarket chain amid a high-pitched British row over benefits for EU migrants. British Prime Minister David Cameron, reacting to public fears that central Europeans from poorer EU states could arrive to leach off Britain's welfare system, last month had migrants' access to unemployment benefits tightened. He recently floated the idea of ending benefit payments for children living in their home country while their parents work in Britain. He also caused an uproar in Poland by pointing the finger at Polish migrants who constitute the largest single group to have arrived in Britain after the EU's 2004 expansion.","Slovenia F Kovacevic suspended for hit on Kopecky. SOCHI, Russia (AP) — Forward Sabahudin Kovacevic has been suspended for Slovenia's next Olympic hockey game for his hit on Slovakia's Tomas Kopecky.","Barclays to reveal 20,000 job losses: reports. Barclays bank is expected on Thursday to announce 20,000 job losses over the next three years in a major shake-up of its investment division, according to media reports. Chief executive Antony Jenkins has already said that as many as 12,000 jobs would go worldwide this year out of a global workforce of about 139,000, but that could now be raised to 15,000, according to Sky News. The bank announced a results statement last week that showed pre-tax profit at the investment arm dived 49 percent to £668 million ($1.13 billion, 812 million euros) in the three months to March from a year earlier, hit by sliding revenue at its Fixed Income, Currencies and Commodities (FICC) trading business. Around a quarter of the investment bank's 24,000 employees are expected to lose their jobs in total, according to reports by the Guardian, the BBC and Sky News.","Subway strike suspended for 2 days in Sao Paulo. SAO PAULO (AP) — Leaders of striking subway workers announced Monday night the union was suspending for two days a work stoppage that has thrown traffic into chaos in Sao Paulo before the city hosts the World Cup's opening game this week.","Praise, traffic as Greece assumes EU presidency. ATHENS, Greece (AP) — European Union leaders praised Greece's efforts to fix its crisis-hit economy Wednesday, as the country formally assumed the bloc's rotating presidency amid strict police security that left traffic in the capital at a standstill for hours.","TSX futures point to lower open after GDP data. Stock futures indicated a lower open after Statistics Canada data indicated that the economy did not expand in July, breaking a six month streak of gains. December futures on the S&P TSX index were down 0.07 percent at 9:05 a.m. ET. Statistics Canada said real gross domestic product was unchanged in July from June. Producer prices increased by 0.2 percent in August over July as the weak Canadian dollar boosted prices for motorized and recreational vehicles, Statscan said. ...","McIlroy gets British Open plans back on track. Rory McIlroy got his British Open preparations back on track with a three under par 68 on day three of the Scottish Open on Saturday. The double Major winner emerged from light mist that engulfed the Royal Aberdeen course to move back inside the top 20 as the leaders were heading out. It was a positive turnaround in form for the 25-year old who heads into the 143rd British Open next week as one of the leading favourites to win the Claret Jug for the first time. McIlroyâ s return to form came a day after he posted his worst European Tour score in 51 weeks in signing for a horror seven over par 78 and just a stroke outside his 2013 British Open round of 79.","Beckham to bring MLS club to Miami. David Beckham said Wednesday that he will buy a US team to play Major League Soccer and bring it to Miami, confirming the worst-kept secret in world football. The former England and Manchester United star said he already has major players in the game phoning him up, pledging to create a \"global team\" like the European clubs where he made his name. \"I wanted to create a team where we can start from scratch,\" Beckham said, explaining his decision to bring the expanding league's 22nd soccer club to Miami. \"I know there was a team here 10 years ago that unfortunately folded, but I know that Miami is ready for football again,\" he said.","US think tank faults Myanmar on Rakhine response. WASHINGTON (AP) — An influential Washington think tank is criticizing Myanmar's government for presiding over a \"humanitarian catastrophe\" in western Rakhine state and doing little to track down perpetrators of Buddhist-on-Muslim violence around the country.","Biden flies to Central America amid migrant crisis. GUATEMALA CITY (AP) — The Obama administration moved Friday to stem a flood of Central American children and families that has overwhelmed the U.S. immigration system, dispatching Vice President Joe Biden to the region to warn against the perils of the trip and announcing that it will start to detain families at the border instead of releasing them on their own recognizance.","LeBron James humbled by fans in Hong Kong. HONG KONG (AP) — LeBron James was honored by the appearance of hundreds of fans who clutched his jersey or held up life-size cutouts of his face at a store in Hong Kong on Wednesday.","Pistorius sells home for less than hoped to pay for murder trial. South African Paralympian Oscar Pistorius has sold his Pretoria home where he killed his girlfriend last year for less than he hoped, to help pay legal fees for his ongoing murder trial, the real estate agent said on Friday. The athlete had hoped to raise at least five million rand ($470,000, 350,000 euros) when he put the small villa in a gated community on the market in March, said estate agent Ansie Louw, who is the wife of Pistorius's coach. Pistorius shot and killed his 29-year-old girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp in the house on February 14, 2013, claiming he mistook her for an intruder. His trial on charges of premeditated murder began in March this year and is expected to wrap up next week with closing arguments.","Europe's great powers and the 'suicidal' war. On the eve of World War I, Europe's great powers ruled the globe, their scientists, engineers and artists at the peak of innovation. But its roots were firmly in Europe. From the Urals to the Atlantic, these powers -- Britain, France, Germany, Austria-Hungary, Russia and the Ottoman Empire -- were in many ways unchanged since the 18th century. Many were even ruled by the same centuries-old dynasties: Kaiser Wilhelm II in Germany, George V of Britain and Russia's Tsar Nicolas II were cousins.","Norwegian Dahl wins ski marathon in Sweden. MORA, Sweden (AP) — Norwegian John Kristian Dahl won the cross-country ski marathon Vasaloppet in Sweden after a dramatic sprint.","Exclusive: Clear Channel mulls sale of European assets - sources. By Liana B. Baker and Greg Roumeliotis (Reuters) - The debt-laden parent of outdoor advertising company Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings is exploring options for its European outdoor advertising business after receiving offers from private equity firms, according to four people familiar with the matter. CVC Capital Partners Ltd is among the buyout firms that have approached Clear Channel with an offer for its European outdoor advertising assets, which could be worth as much as $3 billion, the people said in recent days. Clear Channel may decide to hold on to these assets, the four people added. ...","Oklahoma executes second US inmate of 2014. An African American man was put to death in Oklahoma for murdering a store manager with a baseball bat, prison authorities said, confirming the second US execution of 2014. The southwestern state had also carried out the last death sentence of 2013 on December 17, according to the Death Penalty Information Center (DPIC), which counted 39 executions in the United States during the year. Michael Lee Wilson, 38, was declared dead by lethal injection at 6:06 pm Thursday (0006 GMT Friday) at the McAlester state penitentiary, Oklahoma prisons spokesman Jerry Massie told AFP. Wilson is the third man put to death for the murder of Richard Yost, beaten with a baseball bat and found in the freezer of his supermarket in Tulsa in February 1995.","Miliband outlines EU referendum plans. Opposition Labour leader Ed Miliband Wednesday effectively ruled out a referendum on Britain's membership of the EU before 2020 if he wins next year's election, except in the \"unlikely\" event of a further transfer of powers to Brussels. Prime Minister David Cameron has promised an in-out referendum in 2017 provided he is re-elected, a pledge which has raised major questions about Britain's future in the European Union. In an article in the Financial Times setting out his strategy clearly for the first time, Miliband said the Conservative leader's timetable was \"arbitrary\" and would be a distraction from the economic issues facing Britain. While Labour believes Britain's future is in the EU, Miliband said he recognised concern about moves towards an ever-closer union, which \"is not Labour's vision\".","Saudis, UAE, Bahrain withdraw envoys from Qatar in security dispute. By Angus McDowall and Amena Bakr RIYADH/DOHA (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Bahrain withdrew their ambassadors from Qatar on Wednesday in an unprecedented split between the Gulf Arab allies who have fallen out over political turmoil shaking the Middle East. Qatar's cabinet voiced \"regret and surprise\" at the decision by Gulf Cooperation Council counterparts but said Doha would not pull out its own envoys in response and that it remained committed to \"the security and stability\" of the GCC. The move escalated an internal power struggle over foreign policy in the GCC, which also includes Kuwait and Oman, and represents a significant challenge for Qatar's young ruler months after he took power.","Belarus to ask Russia for warplanes in response to NATO drills. Russian military ally Belarus will ask Moscow to deploy 12 to 15 warplanes on its territory in response to increased NATO activity near its borders due to tension over Ukraine, President Alexander Lukashenko said on Wednesday. The United States and Poland, Belarus's western neighbor, began war games on Tuesday that are expected to involve at least 12 U.S. F-16 fighter jets. The drills were planned before the crisis in Ukraine but underscore support for NATO nations near Russia, which has taken control of Ukraine's Crimea region and has warned it could invade to protect Russians there after the president's ouster.","Millions of voiceprints quietly being harvested. LONDON (AP) — Over the telephone, in jail and online, a new digital bounty is being harvested: the human voice.","'Canadian psycho' convicted of first degree murder. The notorious \"Canadian psycho,\" Luke Magnotta, faced life in jail Tuesday after a jury rejected his plea of insanity and found him guilty of killing and butchering a Chinese student. Magnotta had admitted to killing 33-year-old Lin Jun in 2012, but pleaded not guilty to first degree murder. A judge said last week that Magnotta had a personality disorder and suffered from mental illness, but prosecutor Louis Bouthillier argued he was able to discern right from wrong and had planned the brutal killing. Bouthillier said Magnotta, 32, prepared the murder at least six months in advance and had acted with premeditation before, during and after the crime.","IOC president: Heavy security, gay rights issue won't detract from Sochi Olympics. SOCHI, Russia - Heavy security and Russia's anti-gay law should not detract from the Sochi Olympics, IOC President Thomas Bach said Monday.","Crossing the fence: desperate migrants' paths to Europe. Each travelled more than 2,000 miles, Abou from impoverished Ivory Coast and Mahmud from Syria after Islamist militants besieged his hometown. Each of them made it into Europe the only way he knew how: by land, past the fiercely guarded fence that closes off the Spanish city of Melilla from northern Morocco. Abou Diarrisso is still on a high days after scrambling over the six-metre (20-foot) border fence and dodging Spanish guards. Standing outside Melilla's immigrant centre, where those who make it into this enclave wait to hear whether they can stay in Europe, they tell two very different stories.","Fifth man arrested in Britain militant 'plot'. London (AFP) - Police in London on Thursday said they had arrested a fifth British man on suspicion of Islamist-linked \"terrorism\" after saying earlier they had managed to avert a \"significant plot\".","China cites Japan wartime 'confessions' in propaganda push. By Michael Martina BEIJING (Reuters) - China has posted documents online it says are personal accounts of wartime atrocities committed by Japan in China, the latest in a wave of anti-Japan propaganda efforts that comes after Tokyo ended a ban on its military from fighting abroad. The 45 \"confessions\" show Beijing's efforts to gain an upper hand in a war of words with Tokyo amid frictions over China's military rise and a bitter territorial dispute at sea. China's Central Archives plans to post one \"confession\" per day on its website, http://61.135.203.68/rbzf/. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's cabinet took a historic step away from Japan's post-war pacifism on Tuesday by ending a ban that has kept the military from fighting abroad since 1945, a move that riled China but was welcomed by the United States.","Brazil unemployment falls to record low. BRASILIA, Brazil (AP) — The government says unemployment in Brazil fell to a record low in 2013.","Germany arrests 3 Auschwitz guard suspects. BERLIN (AP) — German prosecutors have arrested three elderly men on suspicion they served as guards at the Nazis' Auschwitz death camp.","Britain's economy returning to normal. LONDON (AP) — The Bank of England dampened expectations that interest rates in the U.K. will be raised imminently as Governor Mark Carney said the country's economy has only begun heading back to normal.","US still waiting for apology from Israeli minister. WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. is still waiting for Israel's defense minister to apologize for calling Washington weak on Iran's nuclear program.","AP PHOTOS: Fashion show sweeps into West Bank. RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) — The West Bank city of Ramallah is not internationally known for fashion, but organizers hope that its Palestinian Fashion Week will draw more attention to local designers.","Canada inflation rate jumps but retail sales sag. By Randall Palmer and Leah Schnurr OTTAWA/TORONTO (Reuters) - Canada's annual inflation rate jumped unexpectedly last month to its highest in 1-1/2 years, alleviating concern that the country is headed for disinflation and reducing the likelihood the Bank of Canada will be forced to cut already low interest rates. But the impact of the positive inflation data was offset by a figures that showed a slump in retail sales in December as harsh winter weather kept consumers at home. Canada's annual inflation rate rose to 1.5 percent in January from 1.2 percent in December, Statistics Canada said on Friday, above economists' expectations for a 1.3 percent increase.","Spain files suit against Catalonia head over secession vote. MADRID (Reuters) - Spain's state prosecutor will sue Catalan leader Artur Mas for defying a court ruling and holding a symbolic vote on the region's independence from the rest of the country. If successful, the legal action against Mas - likely to be on charges of disobedience and provocation - could block him from taking part in future regional elections. An estimated two million Catalans voted on Nov. 9 on secession from Spain in a symbolic plebiscite which the Constitutional Court had suspended while it considered its legality. ...","Argentina seizes 1.5 tons of marijuana. BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — Argentine police have seized 1.5 tons of marijuana hidden inside a logging truck.","Coffee and pizza: a slice of life in troubled Libya. Since the fall of dictator Moamer Kadhafi in 2011, pizzerias and cafes have proliferated in the ex-Italian colony, which sits just across the Mediterranean Sea from its former ruler. \"I can't start the day without a coffee,\" declares Salem, clutching a Macchiato-like beverage as he sat with friends on the terrace of \"Cafe Omar al-Mokhtar\", named after Libya's anti-colonial hero. Three years after Kadhafi's removal from power -- and subsequent grisly death -- Libya has slipped into anarchy, torn apart by clashes pitting nationalist fighters against Islamist-linked militants. Until the Italians arrived, the inhabitants of Libya were known as tea drinkers.","Jeep veers off mountain road in Nepal; 11 dead. KATMANDU, Nepal (AP) — Police say a jeep has veered off a mountainous road in western Nepal, killing 11 people.","Jubilant Iraqi forces break two-month siege of Amerli: officials. By Ahmed Rasheed and Isabel Coles BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraqi security forces backed by Shi'ite militias on Sunday broke the two-month siege of Amerli by Islamic State militants and entered the northern town, officials said. The mayor of Amerli and army officers said troops backed by militias defeated fighters from the Islamic State (IS) to the east of the town. Fighting continued to the north of Amerli in several villages. \"Security forces and militia fighters are inside Amerli now after breaking the siege and that will definitely relieve the suffering of residents,\" said Adel al-Bayati, mayor of Amerli.","China discloses earlier doping ban on Sun Yang. BEIJING (AP) — China's anti-doping agency has disclosed that Olympic and world champion swimmer Sun Yang served a three-month ban earlier this year after testing positive for a banned stimlant.","Ukraine president signs law paving way for sanctions against Russia: Interfax. Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has signed a law paving the way for the imposition of economic sanctions against companies and individuals, Interfax news agency reported on Wednesday. The law, approved by Ukraine's parliament last month, is expected to target companies and individuals in Russia suspected of supporting and financing pro-Russian separatists battling Ukrainian forces in eastern Ukraine. The government has already prepared a list of 172 citizens of Russia and other countries, and of 65 Russian companies, including gas export giant Gazprom GAZP.MM, on whom they could impose sanctions \"for financing terrorism\".","Italy flies adopted Congolese to waiting parents. ROME (AP) — Thirty-one children who had been blocked from leaving Congo months with their adoptive parents have arrived in Rome for a joyful reunion with their new families.","5 ways China's slowdown will ripple across globe. BEIJING (AP) — The reaction was slow in coming, but financial markets and corporate bosses have been jolted awake to China's relentless growth decline and are scrambling to cope with wrenching changes in global business.","Long idle Rosneft oil refinery in Ukraine on fire after shelling. MOSCOW (Reuters) - An oil reservoir caught fire and two warehouses were destroyed on Friday after the shelling of the east Ukrainian Linik oil refinery, which is owned by top Russian crude producer Rosneft and has been idle for two years, the company said. The refinery, located in the region where pro-Russian separatists have been fighting Ukrainian forces, has not been operating since March 2012. The plant near the city of Lysychansk, which has a capacity of 120,000 barrels per day, was acquired by Rosneft when it bought the TNK-BP oil firm last year. ...","Carter out as All Blacks revamp for England. All Blacks coach Steve Hansen has ignored star fly-half Dan Carter's claims for a spot in a revamped side to face England on Saturday, instead entrusting Aaron Cruden as playmaker in the Twickenham cauldron. Hansen made 10 changes to the run-on side that romped to a 74-6 win over the United States last week, bringing back veterans including skipper Richie McCaw for the toughest Test of the New Zealander's northern hemisphere tour. Hansen said he also wanted to persist with Cruden's combination with Sonny Bill Williams, who completed his return from rugby league against the Americans last week, after the pair worked well together in Chicago.","Singapore tells airlines to review conflict zone risk assessment. By Anshuman Daga and Siva Govindasamy SINGAPORE/KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Singapore's civil aviation authority has asked airlines based in the city-state to review their risk assessment of conflict zones following the shooting down of a Malaysia Airlines jetliner over Ukraine last week. The deaths of nearly 300 passengers and crew in the downing of Flight MH17 have shocked the aviation industry and prompted calls for a re-think on assessing the threat to planes flying thousands of meters above fighting on the ground. Before the shooting down of the jet, which Western governments have blamed on Russian-backed separatists, the flight path it was following across eastern Ukraine was heavily used by airlines plying busy routes between Europe and Asia. Singapore Airlines Ltd (SIA) was one of the heaviest users of the route in the week before the crash, along with other international carriers such as Lufthansa, Thai Airways, Qatar Airways and KLM.","State TV says Russia could turn US to 'radioactive ash'. A leading anchor on Russian state television on Sunday described Russia as the only country capable of turning the United States into \"radioactive ash\", in an incendiary comment at the height of tensions over the Crimea referendum. \"Russia is the only country in the world realistically capable of turning the United States into radioactive ash,\" anchor Dmitry Kiselyov said on his weekly news show on state-controlled Rossiya 1 television. Kiselyov made the comment to support his argument that the United States and President Barack Obama were living in fear of Russia led by President Vladimir Putin amid the Ukraine crisis.","Rhino species to die unless science can help. OL PEJETA, Kenya (AP) — The keepers of three of the last six northern white rhinos on Earth say it is highly unlikely the three will ever reproduce naturally.","Transfer of French warships to Russia 'inappropriate': US. The delivery of French Mistral-class warships to Russia would be \"completely inappropriate\" given the West's misgivings about Moscow's role in Ukraine, the United States said Tuesday. \"We don't think anyone should be providing arms to Russia,\" deputy State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf told reporters, adding US officials had voiced their concern over the deal in recent days to French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius. In the wake of the downing of a Malaysian airliner last week, blamed by the United States on a Russian missile system which it says was given to Ukrainian pro-Moscow separatists, EU foreign ministers agreed on Tuesday to strengthen sanctions against Russia. Paris has a deal worth 1.2 billion euros ($1.6 billion) to supply Russia with two Mistral warships.","Court bans pro-Russia party from Moldova elections. CHISINAU,Moldova (AP) — Moldova's top court had upheld a decision to bar a pro-Russian party from competing in this weekend's elections on the grounds that it illegally received funding from abroad.","Sinking of Kremlin gas project leaves south-east Europe high and dry. By Michael Kahn and Tsvetelia Tsolova PRAGUE/SOFIA (Reuters) - The European Union's diplomatic victory in forcing the Kremlin to cancel its South Stream pipeline also gives Brussels a headache: how to come up with an alternative source of secure gas supply for south-eastern Europe. Though it became politically toxic after the crisis in Ukraine, the pipeline made sense for countries such as Serbia, Bulgaria and Hungary because it offered a supply of gas that did not pass through Ukraine and so was at less risk of disruption. ...","Sweden's Reinfeldt says open to deals with opposition parties. Sweden's Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt said on Tuesday he was ready to strike deals with the opposition if neither wins a majority in Sunday's national election, easing fears of political stalemate. Polls show that neither Reinfeldt's four-party center-right government nor an alliance of leftist parties led by the Social Democrats will win a majority, giving the balance of power to the far-right Sweden Democrats, who look set to win 10 percent of votes. \"I definitely think one should have the attitude of seeking cooperation also in other policy areas,\" he said on a campaign bus south of Stockholm, referring to deals with the Green Party or other opposition parties.","Bill Clinton, Blair back Colombia peace efforts. Former world leaders Bill Clinton and Tony Blair attended a special summit on Tuesday in Colombia in support of the country's bid to forge peace with FARC rebels. The one-day meeting in the Caribbean resort city of Cartagena was the initiative of Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos, who is spearheading peace talks with the Marxist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), Latin America's longest-running insurgency. Clinton, who served as US president 1993-2001, warned: \"You will never get to the final reconciliation of your country if you don't finish this peace process.\"","Wall collapses in eastern China, killing 18 people. BEIJING (AP) — Heavy rain caused a retaining wall to collapse at a recycling plant in the eastern Chinese city of Qingdao on Sunday, killing 18 people, state media reported.","Greece drops Samaras for Euro 2016 qualifier. ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greece coach Claudio Ranieri has dropped striker Georgios Samaras from the national team after a dismal start to European Championship qualifying.","Israel, Gaza militants agree to a 12-hour truce. By Nidal al-Mughrabi and Ari Rabinovitch GAZA/JERUSALEM (Reuters) - A 12-hour humanitarian truce went into effect on Saturday after Israel and Palestinian militant groups in the Gaza Strip agreed to a U.N. request for a pause in fighting, and efforts to secure a long-term ceasefire moved ahead. Israel's military said it would hold fire starting at 8 a.m. (1 a.m. EDT) but would pursue its search for tunnels used by militants. A spokesman for the Islamist group Hamas, which is dominant in the Gaza Strip, said all Palestinian factions would abide by the brief truce. Fighting had continued overnight as U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, on a visit to the region, spearheaded international efforts to end 19 days of conflict.","U.S., EU hit Russia with more sanctions despite Ukraine ceasefire. By Gareth Jones and Darya Korsunskaya KIEV/DUSHANBE (Reuters) - The United States and European Union imposed new sanctions against Russia on Friday, tightening financial measures against Moscow over its intervention in Ukraine despite a week-old ceasefire which has brought calm to the embattled east. President Vladimir Putin called the new sanctions \"a bit strange\" given the truce, part of a peace deal reached last week between Kiev and pro-Russian rebels. New sanctions from the European Union would limit access by Russian oil companies to funds. Sanctions from the United States hit Russia's biggest bank and an arms maker, and bar U.S.","Pakistan denies kidnapped Iranian guards ever on its soil. Pakistan Tuesday strongly denied that kidnapped Iranian border guards were ever on its soil, amid fresh efforts to improve fractured ties before Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's visit to Tehran. Relations between the neighbours hit a low following the kidnapping by Sunni extremists of five Iranian border guards from Iran's Sistan-Baluchestan province, which adjoins Pakistan, in February. The Jaish-ul Adl (\"Army of Justice\", in Arabic) rebel group, which says it is fighting for the rights of Sunni Muslims in Shiite-majority Iran, said last month the fifth guard had been executed in late March.","Drugmaker GSK says fined $490 mn in China graft probe. Beijing (AFP) - A Chinese court on Friday fined British drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline 3.0 billion yuan ($490 million) following a nearly year-long bribery probe, the company said.","'Let him jump' say China netizens over fake suicide scam. A Chinese man staged repeated suicide attempts to extort cash, reports said on Wednesday, provoking some online commentators to applaud his business acumen, while others called on him to jump to his death. The 47-year-old, surnamed Li, was pictured on different sets of scaffolding around tall buildings after news of his arrest emerged, and mocking media nicknamed him \"Brother Building-jumper\". The former air conditioner installer has carried out the scam in more than seven provinces since 2011, the newspaper said, without giving a total number of fake suicide attempts.","Hodgson cheered by newly dependable Wilshere. Glasgow (AFP) - England manager Roy Hodgson believes that he is finally seeing the best of Jack Wilshere following the talented Arsenal midfielder's well-documented struggles with injury.","Bomb blast wounds at least 16 at anti-government protest site in Thai capital. A bomb wounded at least 16 people at an anti-government protest site in central Bangkok on Sunday, hospital authorities said, hours after government supporters vowed to \"deal with\" the protesters. At the moment we know that at least eight people were injured but we have no idea how severe the injuries are,\" Thai national security chief Paradorn Pattanathabutr told Reuters. Supporters of Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra promised on Sunday to get tough with anti-government protesters paralyzing parts of Bangkok, raising tension in a protracted crisis.","Inaugural poet returns to Miami in new memoir. MIAMI (AP) — In Richard Blanco's Miami, memories linger outside coffee windows and in Cuban grocery store aisles.","Web inventor says Internet should be 'human right'. LONDON (AP) — The computer scientist credited with inventing the World Wide Web has called for affordable access to the Internet to be recognized as a human right, as a report showed that billions of people still cannot go online and government surveillance and censorship are on the rise.","Hagel to discuss progress of Afghanistan forces. BAGRAM AIR FIELD, Afghanistan (AP) — U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel flew to Afghanistan on Sunday to talk to commanders about the progress of the Afghan forces as the U.S. looks pull all but about 10,000 troops out of the country by the end of the year.","S. Africa rail firm in 'biggest ever train order'. South Africa's state-owned rail freight firm Transet said Monday it was ordering more than 1,000 new trains, in what it hailed as the country's biggest single corporate infrastructure investment. The total order of 1,064 locomotives was worth 50 billion rand (3.3 billion euros, $4.7 billion), Transnet said in a statement. It ordered 599 electric locomotives from China's Zhuzhou and the South African subsidiary of Canada's Bombardier, as well as 465 diesel trains from General Electric. \"The multi-billion rand acquisition is South Africa's single biggest infrastructure investment initiative by a corporate,\" the firm said in a statement.","France's far right on the rise ahead of EU vote. PARIS (AP) — For the National Front party, French towns should look French. That means no more new mosques or kebab shops.","Government eases rule for would-be immigrants who gave 'limited' support to terrorists, groups. WASHINGTON - The Obama administration has eased the rules for would-be asylum-seekers, refugees and others who hope to come to the United States or stay here and who gave \"limited\" support to terrorists or terrorist groups.","Bad News for Surfers: Climate Change Wreaking Havoc on Australia's waves. Renowned across the world, Australia's waves attract almost 3 million recreational surfers but that number could be shrinking soon– a new study has indicated that large wave events might be a thing of the past thanks to climate change. In a study published in Nature Climate Change by the Centre for Australian Weather and Climate Research, researchers have produced results for the first time that indicate large waves in the east coast of Australia are disappearing because of warmer climate. The research showed that “an increase in the concentration of atmospheric greenhouse gas is likely to lead to a reduction in the number of days with large ocean waves.” Because of greenhouse gases, 25 to 42 percent fewer storm wave events are projected to take place depending on the level of emissions.","Leon beats Pachuca to claim Mexican Clausura title. MEXICO CITY (AP) — Ignacio Gonzalez headed in from a corner in the second period of extra time as Leon beat Pachuca 2-0 to win back-to-back titles in Mexico's first division Clausura tournament.","Exclusive: Congressional probe looks at Barra's, GM executives' links to switch. By Marilyn Thompson and Richard Cowan WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Congressional investigators are examining whether General Motors Co Chief Executive Mary Barra and other senior executives were more involved than they have publicly acknowledged as the automaker considered how to deal with a deadly ignition switch issue linked to at least 13 deaths, three sources familiar with the probe say. At issue is who knew about and was responsible for an internal investigation in 2011-2013 that eventually discovered the switch issue which has led to the recall of 2.6 million cars. GM documents, including emails and internal reports released by congressional investigators, show two former Barra lieutenants, Terry Woychowski and Jim Federico, worked with the GM field engineer who ran the internal probe from August 2011 to December 2013.","NATO says seeking closer ties with Georgia as Ukraine crisis mounts. By Margarita Antidze TBILISI (Reuters) - NATO said on Thursday it was looking at ways to bring Georgia \"even closer\" to the military alliance, in the latest signal of support for the former Soviet republic as tension mounts between Russia and the West over Ukraine. James Appathurai, NATO Special Representative for the Caucasus, said he would not let Russia's words or actions influence the final decision on whether to make Georgia a full member, a likely reference to Moscow's opposition to the move. The statement came less than a week after France and Germany assured Georgia that a deal bringing it closer to the European Union would be sealed soon. Relations between Georgia and Russia were badly strained by a five-day war in 2008, when Moscow's forces drove deep into the small Caucasus country.","Three injured in knife attack in China's restive Xinjiang. BEIJING (Reuters) - Police in the capital of China's unruly far western region of Xinjiang have detained a man after three people were injured in a knife attack, state media said, in the latest incident of violence there. The man attacked the people at a bus stop in a development zone in Urumqi, the official Xinhua news agency said late on Monday. Police rushed to the scene and apprehended the suspect, before sending the injured to hospital, the report added. It did not further identify the attacker or his motivations, saying only that Urumqi remained peaceful. ...","One miner killed, 300 trapped after coal mine collapses in Turkey. Istanbul (AFP) - At least one miner was killed and as many as 300 others trapped after a coal mine collapsed in the western Turkish city of Manisa, a local official said.","Authorities: Man had stun guns, machete in luggage. NEW YORK (AP) — Safety officials say they've found two stun guns, a machete and other weapons in a man's checked baggage at John F. Kennedy International Airport.","Catholic flock thinning in Latin America. Although Argentine-born Pope Francis is largely popular in Latin America, the number of adults in the region who describe themselves as Catholic is falling, says a study published Thursday. In a study of 18 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean as well as the US territory of Puerto Rico, the Pew Research Center said the Roman Catholic church is losing adherents to Protestant faiths or seeing them abandon organized religion altogether. The study said that historical data suggest that from 1900 through the 1960s at least 90 percent of Latin America’s population was Catholic. Latin America has more than 425 million Catholics, who account for nearly 40 percent of the world's Catholic population, the center said.","Hugely popular Jakarta governor named as Indonesia presidential candidate. By Kanupriya Kapoor JAKARTA (Reuters) - Indonesia's main opposition PDI-P party named Jakarta governor Joko Widodo as its presidential candidate on Friday, the man widely seen as a shoo-in to be next leader of the world's third-largest democracy. By choosing him, former president and party chief Megawati Sukarnoputri has also likely given a significant boost to her Indonesian Democratic Party's (PDI-P) chances in the April 9 parliamentary election. The presidential election is on July 9. She has kept the country on tenterhooks for weeks over whether she would put aside her own ambitions to return to the presidential palace or back the governor, popularly known as Jokowi.","Apple bans use of 2 chemicals in iPhone assembly. SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Apple is banning the use of two potentially hazardous chemicals during the final assembly of iPhones and iPads as part of the company's latest commitment to protect the factory workers who build its trendy devices.","Russian retailer Lenta sets price range for share sale. By Olga Popova MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian hypermarkets chain Lenta, part-owned by U.S. private equity firm TPG , has set a price range for its planned London share market offer, valuing the company at up to $5 billion. Lenta is among a number of retail companies hoping to tap into a demand from foreign investors for stakes in consumer-oriented businesses in Russia and follows the successful flotation of telecoms firm Megafon back in 2012 and Russian consumer credit firm TCS last year.","Tropical storm Trudy moves inland from Mexico's Pacific coast. MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Tropical storm Trudy made landfall on Mexico's southern Pacific coast on Saturday, where it was expected to cause flash floods and mudslides before dissipating by Sunday, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said in a statement. The storm, which was heading north at about 5 miles (7 km) per hour, was around 75 miles (120 km) north east from the beach resort of Acapulco, with sustained winds of about 45 mph (75 km/h). ...","UN court postpones Australia, E.Timor spy row case. The UN's highest court on Friday postponed a hearing in a bitter spy row between Australia and East Timor after both countries said they were pursuing an \"amicable settlement.\" East Timor has dragged Canberra to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague to seek the return of sensitive documents seized by Australia in a raid on an East Timor lawyer's office in the capital. The documents relate to a controversial oil and gas treaty between the two countries which East Timor wants torn up.","Magnitude 6.9 earthquake strikes southern Peru: USGS. A magnitude 6.9 earthquake struck southern Peru on Sunday, shaking the capital Lima 300 miles away but triggering no widespread damage or injuries. The quake hit at 1921 EST at a depth of 36.6 miles (58.9 km), 27 miles (43 km) east-northeast of the town of Tambo in the southern region of Ayacucho, according to the U.S. Peru's civil defense institute said there were no reports of damage or injury. Several large mines operate in neighboring parts of southern Peru, a top exporter of copper, silver and gold.","Williams named at center for England test. WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Sonny Bill Williams has been named at inside center in the New Zealand team to play England at Twickenham on Saturday in what may be the toughest test of his stop-start rugby union career.","Ferrari leads push for F1 rule changes. SAKHIR, Bahrain (AP) — Ferrari is ramping up the pressure on Formula One authorities to change the sport's rules, saying a company survey shows most fans are unhappy with the new direction of the sport.","Catholic Church blasts Venezuela for 'brutal repression' of protesters. Venezuela's Roman Catholic Church accused President Nicolas Maduro's government on Wednesday of \"totalitarian\" tendencies and \"brutal repression\" of demonstrators during two months of political unrest that has killed several dozen people. The surprisingly strong attack is likely to revive church-state tensions that were constant during the 14-year socialist rule of Maduro's predecessor, Hugo Chavez. Monsignor Diego Padron, who heads Venezuela's conference of bishops, said the \"principal cause\" of the crisis was the government's attempt to implant a blueprint for government that Chavez left behind called \"the fatherland plan.\" \"Within it they are hiding the promotion of a totalitarian-style system of government, putting in doubt its democratic credentials,\" he said, reading a church communiqué.","Juventus hosts Olympiakos in Champions League. MILAN (AP) — Juventus needs a win to stay in touch with the top two teams in Group A of the Champions League.","Bosnians bury kin found in wartime mass grave. KOZARAC, Bosnia-Herzegovina (AP) — Bosnian families are burying the remains of 283 Muslims and one Roman Catholic Croat who were killed at the start of the Bosnian war of 1992-95.","Colombian government, rebels move closer to peace deal. By Rosa Tania Valdés and Helen Murphy HAVANA/BOGOTA (Reuters) - Colombia's FARC rebels reached an agreement with the government on eliminating the illegal drug trade and called a weeklong ceasefire on Friday, giving a political boost to President Juan Manuel Santos in his re-election bid. The unilateral ceasefire includes the first round of presidential elections on May 25. It was announced after Santos, once a clear favorite, began to falter in public opinion polls. The center-right president's lead has evaporated with the rise of right-wing rival Oscar Ivan Zuluaga, now tipped to win in two recent surveys if, as expected, the voting goes to a second-round runoff on June 15.","Obama says U.S. will deal harshly with violators of Iran sanctions. By Jeff Mason and Steve Holland WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama issued a sharp warning on Tuesday to companies eyeing business deals with Iran, saying the United States would come down like a \"ton of bricks\" on those that violated sanctions against Tehran. Obama, speaking at a joint news conference with French President Francois Hollande, said France and other allies were committed to enforcing existing sanctions even as they worked together on a possible a diplomatic deal over Iran's nuclear program. Last week the Obama administration targeted a host of businesses across Europe and the Middle East for evading sanctions against Iran, the second time Washington had done so since Western powers reached an interim deal with Tehran in November. Earlier this month Iran welcomed a delegation of more than 100 French executives, telling them the far-sighted among the group would gain in the race for businesses following an ease of economic sanctions.","Police kill 3 suspected rebels in northeast India. GAUHATI, India (AP) — Police said Sunday they killed three suspected rebels and arrested eight forest guards for alleged involvement in the killings of 31 Muslims in the worst ethnic violence in India's remote northeast in two years.","Central European nations working on gas strategy. BRATISLAVA, Slovakia (AP) — Central European leaders have agreed to come up with a plan to cooperate over gas supplies in case Russia cuts off deliveries through Ukraine.","Coach Hansen recommits to All Blacks. New Zealand coach Steve Hansen said Tuesday he had signed a two-year contract extension that will keep him with the All Blacks until the end of 2017. Hansen, who took over three years ago, said he was thrilled to stay in a job he described as the best in world rugby. Hansen was initially appointed for a two-year term in late 2011 after serving as assistant coach under Graham Henry for eight years, including the All Blacks World Cup victory on home soil in 2011. He was granted an two-year extension in April last year, giving him the chance to become the first All Blacks coach to lead the team to World Cup victory outside New Zealand when the tournament is played in England next year.","Ex-Murdoch UK CEO Brooks acquitted on Prince William picture charge. LONDON (Reuters) - Rebekah Brooks, the former boss of Rupert Murdoch's British newspapers who is on trial for phone-hacking and other charges, was acquitted on Thursday of one charge of authorizing an illegal payment for a picture of Prince William in a bikini. Brooks is still accused of four other offences relating to conspiracy to hack voicemail messages on mobile phones, authorizing illegal payments to public officials and then plotting to hinder a subsequent police investigation. She denies all the charges. (Reporting by Michael Holden; editing by Guy Faulconbridge)","Bangladesh plans to unleash spin on West Indies. MIRPUR, Bangladesh (AP) — Bangladesh captain Mushfiqur Rahim says he is banking on his spinners to pull off an upset win over defending champion West Indies in the World Twenty20 on Tuesday.","Nepal tops Afghanistan by 9 runs at World Twenty20. CHITTAGONG, Bangladesh (AP) — Subash Khakurel hit a maiden half-century Thursday to help Nepal notch its second victory in the World Twenty20 with a nine-run win over Afghanistan.","Bosnia leads Iran 1-0 at halftime in Group F. SALVADOR, Brazil (AP) — Edin Dzeko's long-range strike gave Bosnia a 1-0 lead over Iran at halftime in Wednesday's World Cup Group F match.","Li & Fung to start factory safety consulting unit: WSJ. (Reuters) - Li & Fung Ltd plans to launch a unit that consults on factory safety in the aftermath of a 2012 fire in a garment plant in Bangladesh that killed 112 workers, the Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday. The deadly blaze at the Tazreen factory was followed by the collapse of a Bangladesh building that housed factories last year in which more than 1,130 people died. Bangladesh is the second biggest clothing exporter after China in the $22 billion export business. \"The events in the last 18 months, particularly as it relates to worker safety, caused us to rethink our role in the global supply chain,\" Rick Darling, executive director of government and public affairs at Li & Fung, told the paper an interview.","No sale for signed Beatles item at NYC auction. NEW YORK (AP) — A large piece of stage backdrop signed by the Beatles during their first live U.S. concert 50 years ago has failed to sell at a New York City auction.","Brandao banned 6 months for head-butting Motta. PARIS (AP) — Bastia striker Brandao was banned for six months by the French league on Thursday for head-butting Paris Saint-Germain midfielder Thiago Motta after a league match last month.","UK says will pay off part of World War One-era debt next year. LONDON (Reuters) - Britain will pay back part of the outstanding debt used to fund World War One next year, when it redeems government bonds first issued almost 90 years ago by then-finance minister Winston Churchill. The finance ministry said on Friday that it would redeem 218 million pounds ($348 million) of 4.0 percent consols - a rare type of bond with no maturity date - on Feb. 1 next year, to be funded by issuing new debt. ...","Oil price falls below $100. Oil prices fell Friday as fresh U.S. economic data and higher-than-expected crude supplies pointed to weak demand.","Rwanda suspends BBC's local radio service over genocide documentary. KIGALI (Reuters) - Rwanda has suspended the BBC's local radio service after the broadcaster aired a documentary that questioned official accounts of the 1994 genocide, the Rwanda Utilities Regulatory Authority said on Friday. \"Rwanda: The Untold Story,\" which aired on Oct. 1, includes interviews with former aides to Rwandan President Paul Kagame, the former rebel leader, in which they accuse him of plotting to shoot down a plane carrying former President Juvenal Habyarimana, whose assassination marked the start of the 100-day genocide. ...","Israel police arrest 26 Jewish extremists at pope visit site. Jerusalem police arrested 26 Jewish extremists protesting Sunday at a holy site on Mount Zion outside the Old City that will be visited by Pope Francis, a spokesman said. The arrests took place just hours before Francis' arrival in Jerusalem. \"Demonstrators at King David's Tomb threw stones and bottles at the security forces, lightly injuring two police,\" spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said, referring to a site revered as holy by Christians, Jews and Muslims where the pope will celebrate mass on Monday. \"Among those arrested was a soldier who threatened a police officer with his weapon when one of his friends was arrested,\" he added, saying some of them had broken into the room where the ancient sarcophagus is located before being evacuated.","Palestinian militants fire rockets at Jerusalem. JERUSALEM (AP) — Air raid sirens have wailed across Jerusalem, signaling that Palestinian militants have fired a rocket at the city.","Image of Asia: Kicking for Myanmar gold. In this photo by Eugene Hoshiko, Myanmar's Phyu Phyu Than kicks the ball as Laos player Koy Xayavong blocks during the women's doubles sepak takraw final match at the Asian Games in Incheon, South Korea. Myanmar beat Laos 2-0 to win the gold medal. Sepak takraw is a centuries-old sport originating in Asia, and it resembles hands-off volleyball with kicking and martial arts moves. The sport is among several, including bowling, cricket and squash, that are part of the Asian Games competition but not the Olympics.","U.S. fishermen throw away $1 billion annually in catch: report. U.S. commercial fishermen are throwing away about $1 billion worth of edible fish each year, according to a conservation group which is advocating for incentives to stop the waste. The surprise was the quality of the bycatch that often is tossed back into the ocean dead or dying, said marine scientist Amanda Keledjian, author of the report from Oceana, a nonprofit international conservation group. We're throwing away meals,\" Keledjian said. Keledjian said fishermen throw away the unintended catch for several reasons, including lack of a permit to fish the species, quotas, size limit laws and the complication of processing an odd fish back at the dock.","EU reaches deal to expand legal basis for Russia sanctions: diplomats. European Union governments reached a preliminary agreement on Wednesday to expand the legal criteria for targeting people and companies with sanctions meant to pressure Russia over Ukraine, opening the way for new listings as soon as Monday, diplomats said. Two other diplomats also said senior EU officials were due to discuss specific names of potential targets later on Wednesday.","Bombardier's CSeries aircraft gets boost with new tentative orders. Bombardier Inc's BBDb.TO long-delayed CSeries aircraft program received a big boost on Monday, when the company announced two tentative orders for a total of up to 24 jets worth nearly $1.6 billion. Montreal-based Bombardier said it had signed an agreement with Chinese carrier Zhejiang Loong Airlines Co Ltd for 20 of its CSeries jetliners. The order for the CS100 version of the jets, which comes on the first day of the Farnborough International Airshow in England, would be worth roughly $1.28 billion, if confirmed, Bombardier said. Separately, the Canadian aircraft and train manufacturer said Petra Airlines Ltd of Jordan had also signed a letter of intent to buy up to four CS100 and CS300 planes.","Perez delivers for Giants, fallen friend Taveras. SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Juan Perez heard an upsetting rumor from a baseball official in the dugout during Game 5 of the World Series then hurried up the steps to the San Francisco Giants' clubhouse to listen to the television broadcast for the news.","Cash-strapped Morocco courts US investment. Morocco's finance minister on Monday urged US businesses to boost investment in the country and take advantage of \"unprecedented\" regional growth, as the cash-strapped government battles to fix its ailing finances. Rabat is a key regional ally of Washington, particularly in the fight against Islamist militancy. King Mohammed VI met President Barack Obama at the White House for the first time last November, although his visit came after diplomatic ties were strained over the sensitive question of human rights in the disputed Western Sahara. Speaking at the opening of a bilateral business conference in Rabat, Mohamed Boussaid said trade between Morocco and the United States had risen four-fold between 2005 and 2012, to reach $4 billion (2.8 billion euros).","US Sec of State Kerry in Beirut on unannounced visit to show support for Lebanese government. BEIRUT (AP) — US Sec of State Kerry in Beirut on unannounced visit to show support for Lebanese government.","EU calls for two states in Jerusalem as tensions soar. Europe's top diplomat Saturday called for a Palestinian state sharing Jerusalem as its capital with Israel, hours after the police killing of an Arab-Israeli further fanned tensions. The appeal by the European Union's Federica Mogherini followed the dawn killing of the man by police in northern Israel, with his family saying he was killed \"in cold blood\" and a video showing he was shot in the back. \"I think Jerusalem can be and should be the capital of two states,\" the new EU foreign policy chief told reporters in the Israeli-occupied West Bank city of Ramallah. The status of Jerusalem is a sensitive issue that has blocked peace efforts for decades.","Uganda nurse is sent to jail over spreading HIV. KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) — A court in Uganda has sentenced a nurse to three years in jail after finding her guilty of criminal negligence in a case stemming from allegations she intentionally tried to infect her patient with HIV.","After shooting, safety concerns for Napoli-Roma. ROME (AP) — Security will be tight when Roma meets Napoli on Saturday for the first time since clashes that led to a fan's death from a shooting before the Italian Cup final in May.","Goodbye 300? World Bowling eyes radical changes. INCHEON, South Korea (AP) — About a month and a half ago, Kevin Dornberger and his Swedish friend Christer Jonsson were watching a tournament in Hong Kong. They made it through most of the afternoon before Jonsson, the secretary general of the World Tenpin Bowling Association, looked at Dornberger, the president of World Bowling.","U.N.'s Brahimi starts talks with Syrian government. International mediator Lakhdar Brahimi and a Syrian government delegation led by Foreign Minister Walid al-Moualem began meeting on Friday at the United Nations in Geneva, a witness said. Brahimi is due to meet separately with the Syrian opposition delegation at 1600/1400gmt, a U.N. spokeswoman said. \"Both meetings are private,\" a U.N. statement said, later confirming that Brahimi had started talks with the government delegation. Opposition delegates told Reuters that the opposition will not meet with the Syrian government delegation until it endorses the Geneva communique of June 30, 2012 calling for a transitional governing body to be established.","Mostert, Morris win Bathurst 1000 for Ford. SYDNEY (AP) — Novice Chaz Mostert and veteran Paul Morris, co-driving a Ford, made history Sunday when they came from last place on the grid to take the lead on the final lap and win Australia's biggest motor race, the Bathurst 1000.","Bayern completes transfer of defender Benatia. MUNICH (AP) — Bayern Munich says defender Mehdi Benatia has completed his transfer from Roma and signed a five-year contract with the Bundesliga champion.","Warhol, de Kooning highlight NYC auction. NEW YORK (AP) — Two rare Andy Warhol portraits of Hollywood superstars Elvis Presley and Marlon Brando have fetched over $151 million at an auction in New York.","Conservative lawmaker Hancock becomes Alberta's interim premier. Dave Hancock, a long-serving member of Alberta's ruling Progressive Conservative dynasty, was chosen on Thursday as the Canadian province's interim premier in the wake of the sudden resignation of Alison Redford, local media reported. The party, which has ruled the oil-rich western province for 43 years, has plunged in the polls as Redford, who resigned on Wednesday after two and a half years as premier, came under fire for lavish travel expenses and faced a revolt in her caucus.","Royals clobber Giants 7-2 to even World Series. KANSAS CITY, Missouri (AP) — Salvador Perez and the Kansas City Royals came back from a Game 1 flop to beat the San Francisco Giants' brilliant bullpen and level the World Series.","China Telecom profit rises as mobile data grows. BEIJING (AP) — China Telecom Ltd., one of the country's three main state-owned carriers, said Wednesday its profit rose 11.8 percent in the first half of the year as its Internet and mobile data businesses grew.","Venus Williams makes Dubai semis in 2 sets. DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Venus Williams has reached her fourth career Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships semifinal with a 6-3, 7-5 win over qualifier Flavia Pennetta of Italy.","SOCHI SCENE: Whoa, Canada. SOCHI, Russia (AP) — From talking trash to one of America's biggest Olympic stars to boldly proclaiming they plan to win more medals than any other nation, Team Canada has taken the gold medal for confidence at the Sochi Games.","Top US Jesuit defends Vatican sex prosecutor. VATICAN CITY (AP) — The head of the Jesuits in the United States defended the Vatican's new sex crimes prosecutor Tuesday, saying he had virtually no role in the order's handling of a notorious pedophile now serving a 25-year prison sentence.","British spy agency collected images of Yahoo webcam chats - Guardian. By Julia Fioretti LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's spy agency GCHQ intercepted millions of people's webcam chats and stored still images of them, including sexually explicit ones, the Guardian newspaper reported on Thursday. GCHQ files dating between 2008 and 2010 provided to the newspaper by the former U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) contractor Edward Snowden, revealed that the surveillance program, codenamed Optic Nerve, saved one image every five minutes from randomly selected Yahoo webcam chats and stored them on agency databases. Optic Nerve, which began as a prototype in 2008 and was still active in 2012, was intended to test automated facial recognition, monitor GCHQ's targets and uncover new ones, the Guardian said.","Clashes northeast of Iraq capital kill 44 inmates. BAGHDAD (AP) — Police said Tuesday that pro-government Shiite militiamen killed nearly four dozen Sunni detainees after insurgents tried to storm a jail and free them northeast of Baghdad. The Iraqi military, however, insisted the inmates were killed when the attackers shelled the facility.","Ukraine leadership must be in \"good shape\" for ties, says Russian PM-Ifax. Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said on Thursday Russia could only have fully-fledged bilateral relations with Ukraine when its legitimate leadership was in \"good shape\", Interfax news agency reported. But at the same time for this to happen it is necessary for our partners themselves to be in good shape and for the authorities in Ukraine to be legitimate and effective,\" he was quoted as saying.","China's gift causes big trouble for tiny Tonga. NUKU'ALOFA, Tonga (AP) — It's almost 10 a.m., but the barista at this tiny Pacific kingdom's domestic air terminal has yet to make a single cup of coffee.","German biathlon team struggles after doping news. KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia (AP) — Stunned by the news that a teammate had tested positive for doping, top-ranked Germany failed to live up to expectations Friday in the women's biathlon relay.","Siemens says to make Alstom offer if it can see its books. By Natalie Huet and Maria Sheahan PARIS/FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Germany's Siemens said on Tuesday it would make an offer to French engineering group Alstom if it is given four weeks to examine its books and draw up a detailed plan to rival a move by General Electric . The interest in Alstom from U.S. competitor GE has triggered a fierce national debate about the fate of power turbine and train manufacturing in France - both integral to the nation's engineering pedigree. Siemens said it had sent a letter to Alstom in the afternoon after its managing and supervisory boards had decided to make an offer. \"The prerequisite for this offer is that Alstom agrees to give Siemens access to the company's data room and permission to interview the management during a period of four weeks, to enable Siemens to carry out a suitable due diligence,\" it said.","Mental focus for All Blacks, Pumas in Rugby Champs. NAPIER, New Zealand (AP) — New Zealand and Argentina have both placed strong emphasis on mental preparation for their first meeting of the season in Saturday's Rugby Championships test at Napier.","FA rejects FIFA World Cup report criticism. London (AFP) - England's Football Association on Thursday rejected claims by world governing body FIFA's ethics committee that it violated bidding rules in its unsuccessful bid to host the 2018 World Cup.","Colorado River venture close to final destination. PHOENIX (AP) — Water from the Colorado River is on the verge of flowing into the Gulf of California for the first time in more than 20 years.","England to name World Cup squad on May 12. England manager Roy Hodgson will reveal his squad for the World Cup on May 12, a day after the Premier League season ends, the Football Association announced on Wednesday. \"This will be an important day for Roy and the players ahead of an exciting summer in Brazil,\" said Club England managing director Adrian Bevington in a statement.","BOJ drives rates below zero, stepping up aggressive easing. The BOJ bought three-month bills for more than their redemption value on Tuesday, traders said, essentially paying to lend money to the market. BOJ officials wouldn't confirm the negative-yield purchases, which were part of a market operation that bought 500 billion yen (US$4.7 billion) of short-term bills, on the grounds they cannot disclose individual transactions. \"Basically, I don't see any problem\" with buying at below-zero rates, BOJ Deputy Governor Kikuo Iwata said on Wednesday during a visit to Kanazawa in central Japan. \"I don't think this will cause any disruptions in the BOJ's market operations.\" Having paid such a high price, the BOJ will likely have to continue doing so as banks know it is determined to meet its target of asset purchases, potentially pushing negative yields out to longer-dated debt, market participants said.","California governor takes dig at Texas guard plan. MEXICO CITY (AP) — California Gov. Jerry Brown took a not-so-subtle dig at Texas' decision to deploy National Guard troops to the border, saying Monday he expects it to be a short-lived measure and that \"wiser minds will prevail.\"","Asia stocks stabilize after China jitters sell-off. SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Asian stock markets were higher Thursday as jitters over China's slowdown eased and investors awaited new economic data to digest.","At least nine UN peacekeepers killed in Mali ambush. Bamako (AFP) - Suspected Islamists killed at least nine United Nations peacekeepers from Niger on Friday in northeastern Mali, in the deadliest ever attack on the mission, military sources said.","Siblings give family feel to Sochi Olympics. KRASNAYA GOLYANA, Russia (AP) — When Martin Fourcade won his first Olympic gold this week, the French biathlete got to celebrate in the finish area with the teammate he grew up trying to beat — older brother Simon.","Bomb blast in Cairo kills police officer: Egyptian state media. CAIRO (Reuters) - A bomb exploded in a Cairo square late on Friday, killing one police officer and wounding another, the Egyptian state newspaper Al Ahram reported on its website. There was no immediate claim of responsibility. Since the army toppled Egypt's first freely-elected president, Mohamed Mursi of the Muslim Brotherhood, in July, Islamist militants have stepped up attacks on members of the security forces, killing hundreds. On Tuesday, two bomb attacks wounded three policemen in central Cairo. (Reporting by Asma Alsharif, editing by Mark Heinrich)","Column: White's grand grab for gold comes up empty. KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia (AP) — The reign was over before Shaun White raised a hopeful finger signaling he was No. 1 as he crossed the finish line of the halfpipe.","Eyeing comeback, Sarkozy comes out fighting after legal blow. By Alexandria Sage PARIS (Reuters) - Unsmiling, with clenched fists and a set jaw, Nicolas Sarkozy found himself yet again in the stance that has so often marked his political career - his back to the wall. The French former president's aggressive, televised counter-attack on Wednesday to allegations he tried to obstruct a legal investigation into election campaign irregularities is the clearest sign yet that he intends a comeback, seeking leadership of his party this year ahead of a run for president in 2017. ...","Obama to visit China, Myanmar, Australia next week. WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama will focus on the global economy and U.S. policy toward the Asia-Pacific region during stops next week in China, Myanmar and Australia.","4 people die after Guam car crash. HAGATNA, Guam (AP) — Guam police say four people have died of injuries sustained in a car crash that also injured one other person.","Belgium's Jelle Wallays wins Paris-Tours classic. TOURS, France (AP) — Jelle Wallays of Belgium outsprinted Thomas Voeckler to win the Paris-Tours classic on Sunday.","Spain's king befriended New World despite Chavez spat. King Juan Carlos championed strong ties between Spain and its former empire in Latin America, except for the time the departing monarch told Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez to \"shut up.\" The famous clash took place during an Ibero-American summit in Chile in 2007, when Chavez angered Juan Carlos by calling Spanish conservative ex-prime minister Jose Maria Aznar a fascist. Chavez was having a tense exchange with then prime minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero when the king chimed in, waving his left hand toward the socialist Venezuelan leader and saying \"why don't you just shut up\" in front of other regional leaders. The incident caused a diplomat spat between Venezuela and Spain, with Chavez demanding an apology from the monarch and ordering a review of bilateral relations.","Profit motive big hurdle for Ebola drugs: experts. For nearly four decades, mention of the Ebola virus has evoked death and terror, yet a simple factor -- money -- has stood in the way of erasing the curse, experts say. Despite its evil reputation, Ebola breaks out only rarely in brief if murderous spurts in impoverished African countries. Today, after years of low-key progress with the Pentagon as main funder, the search for vaccines and drugs for Ebola has been thrown into higher gear and, for now, the profit factor has been put to one side. \"Until this west African epidemic, Ebola was not a public health problem and (was) a really rare disease,\" says Professor Peter Piot, director of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, who co-discovered the Ebola virus in 1976.","Memorial to London's July 7 terror victims defaced. LONDON (AP) — Vandals have defaced a memorial commemorating victims of the London transit bombings on the ninth anniversary of the rush-hour attacks that killed 52 commuters and injured hundreds.","Republican seeks answers on US Israel flight ban. WASHINGTON (AP) — A possible Republican presidential contender in 2016 says he will continue blocking confirmation of a series of State Department nominees despite the Federal Aviation Administration lifting a ban on U.S. airline flights to Israel.","Niger arrests 14 suspected Boko Haram after troop ambush. Fourteen suspected members of the Nigerian Islamist sect Boko Haram were arrested in neighboring Niger on Tuesday after an attack on an army patrol in the eastern region of Diffa, the regional governor said. Tens of thousands of refugees have fled the fighting to the arid region, and local Niger officials have repeatedly voiced concerns over Boko Haram infiltration. Yacouba Soumana Gaoh, the regional governor of Diffa, said the army had detained two Boko Haram suspects who had robbed a man at gunpoint early on Tuesday in the commune of Chetimari. \"The security forces then fell into an ambush laid by presumed members of Boko Haram.","Israel, Hamas battle over public opinion online. JERUSALEM (AP) — Beyond the boom of Israeli airstrikes and the stream of rockets fired from Gaza, Israel and Hamas are also battling to control the message emanating from this latest Israeli-Palestinian conflagration.","Wozniacki reaches US Open final as Peng quits in tears. New York (AFP) - Former world number one Caroline Wozniacki booked a return to the US Open final on Friday as China's Peng Shuai retired from their semi-final a victim of cramps.","Canada's Oliver: remains committed to Keystone pipeline project. OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canada's Finance Minister Joe Oliver said on Thursday the government remains committed to the Keystone XL pipeline project and that he believes \"at the end of the day\" it will gain approval. TransCanada Corp's $8 billion Keystone XL project would carry Alberta oil sands crude to the U.S. Gulf coast. The project has been awaiting presidential approval for more than six years, but this week's U.S. mid-term elections revived the issue after Republicans took control of Congress. U.S. ...","U.N. warns of possible humanitarian disaster in South Sudan. By Louis Charbonneau UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - If the fighting in South Sudan prevents people from planting crops over the next three months, the country will be headed for a humanitarian disaster, the humanitarian coordinator for the United Nations in South Sudan said on Tuesday. Although the warring parties agreed to a cessation of hostilities on January 23, fighting has continued in parts of South Sudan. Toby Lanzer, the deputy U.N. special representative and humanitarian coordinator for South Sudan, said it was crucial that the South Sudanese be able to plant their crops in March, April and May to ensure there is a harvest this year. \"Right now what the people of South Sudan, what the civilians need most, is the ability to move their cattle, tend to their fields and plant,\" he told Reuters in an interview.","India 301-6 vs New Zealand at tea on day 2. WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Ajinkya Rahane made an unbeaten half century to guide India to a 109-run lead over New Zealand at tea Saturday with four first-innings wickets in hand on the second day of the second cricket test.","Jordan arrests deputy head of Muslim Brotherhood for criticizing UAE. AMMAN (Reuters) - Jordan arrested the deputy head of the country's mainstream Muslim Brotherhood on Thursday for criticizing the UAE's move to designate the Brotherhood as a terrorist group in an article where he attacked the oil Gulf state's role in a regional crackdown on political Islam, official sources said. They said Zaki Bani Rushaid was detained shortly after a late night meeting of the Shura Council at the party's headquarters in Amman, and were told the state security prosecutor general had ordered his arrest on charges of \"souring relations with a friendly country. ...","Ukraine says it's agreed interim gas price with Russia. KIEV (Reuters) - Ukraine's and Russia's leaders have reached a preliminary agreement on a price for gas supplies this winter but Kiev may need international help to pay, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said on Saturday. Poroshenko met Russian President Vladimir Putin in Milan on Friday to discuss the conflict in Ukraine's eastern regions, where pro-Russian separatists are fighting Kiev government forces. Russia cut off gas supply to Ukraine in mid-June following more than two years of dispute on the price. ...","Father of British jihadist 'wants to cry' over online video. The father of a British man who left to fight in Syria said on Saturday he \"wants to cry\" after his son appeared in an online video aimed at recruiting jihadists. Ahmed Muthana identified the man in the 13-minute video, entitled \"There is No Life Without Jihad\", as his 20-year-old son, Nasser Muthana, from Cardiff. Speaking to BBC Wales, Ahmed Muthana said seeing the video made him \"want to cry\" and asked his son \"why did you do this?\" Nasser, who had received four university offers to study medicine, appears in the YouTube video -- dressed in a white turban -- using the name Abu Muthanna al-Yemen and is flanked by five other men, three of whom appear to be British.","Oil depot ablaze amid clashes in Libyan capital. CAIRO (AP) — A fire at the oil depot for the airport in Libya's capital raged out of control Monday after being struck in the crossfire of warring militias battling for control of the airfield, the latest violence to plague the country as foreigners flee the chaos.","Del Bosque puzzled over Spain's World Cup exit. CURITIBA, Brazil (AP) — Spain coach Vicente del Bosque was struggling Sunday to answer just why his team had endured failure at a major tournament for the first time in eight years.","In India, show the finger after voting, get cheaper gas and food. In India, during this general election at least, it can earn discounts at gas stations, restaurants, spas, stores and hospitals after voting. India's polling stations mark each voter's left forefinger with an indelible dot of a silver nitrate solution after casting the ballot to guard against voter fraud. In a move to increase political involvement, Young Indians, a group linked to Confederation of Indian Industry trade association, launched the \"Show the ink, See prices sink\" campaign, which gives discounts and other incentives to people who vote.","Bank of Spain sees growth but high joblessness. MADRID (AP) — The Bank of Spain predicts the economy will grow by 1.2 percent in 2014, slightly above government and EU forecasts, though unemployment is expected to dip only slightly from its near-record levels.","Hirscher wins overall WCup title; Ligety takes GS. LENZERHEIDE, Switzerland (AP) — Marcel Hirscher clinched his third straight overall World Cup title on Saturday but couldn't prevent Ted Ligety from winning his fifth season-long giant slalom trophy.","Alexander Stubb to become Finland's next prime minister. LAHTI Finland (Reuters) - Finland's ruling conservative party elected EU affairs minister Alexander Stubb as its new leader on Saturday, putting him on track to take over as the country's prime minister after incumbent Jyrki Katainen steps down later this month. Stubb, 46, won about 60 percent of delegates' votes at a congress of their centre-right National Coalition party, beating Paula Risikko, the minister for health and social services, in a run-off. ...","Clash looms between Israel and Gaza militants. Gaza City (Palestinian Territories) (AFP) - A clash seems to be looming between Israel and the radical Palestinian movement Islamic Jihad, as they abandon pledges made under a fragile ceasefire that ended the last full-scale war in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip. Israel recently targeted two of the group's militants for firing rockets at it, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promised to teach Gaza-based militants a \"lesson.\" Islamic Jihad has in turn threatened to take its war to Israel and the Israeli-occupied West Bank. It said it plans to carry out suicide attacks in Israel, for which it was notable during the Palestinian intifada that killed Israelis and thousands of Palestinians at the beginning of the last decade.","Airlines go on buying spree for 8,200 new jets; old planes get sent to desert chop shop. ROSWELL, N.M. - Capt. Paul Wannberg glides an old Boeing 757 over the New Mexico desert, lining up with the runway. A computerized voice squawks elevation warnings. Forty feet. Thirty. Twenty. Ten. Touchdown.","300 injured as police clash with protesters in Islamabad. At least 300 people were wounded in clashes between police and protesters in Pakistan's capital Islamabad, hospital officials said Sunday, as a fortnight-long political impasse took a violent turn. The violence, which began late Saturday and continued early Sunday, erupted after around 25,000 people marched from parliament to the prime minister's house, where some attempted to remove barricades around it with cranes, an AFP reporter at the scene said. Police responded with tear gas and rubber bullets. Islamabad police chief Khalid Khattak told AFP police exercised restraint but the protesters were armed with axes, wire cutters and hammers.","Canada's Telus fires on all cylinders; Quebecor results mixed. By Alastair Sharp TORONTO (Reuters) - Telus Corp , one of Canada's largest telecommunications companies, churned out another solid quarter of earnings growth on Thursday, raising its dividend on wireless strength and further expansion of its Internet-based television product, Optik. Meanwhile, regional operator Quebecor Inc handed in a mixed report card, with customer losses in cable TV and telephony and slow growth in Internet. Quebecor was still able to beat profit expectations, with a 37 percent jump in adjusting income from continuing operations to C$49. ...","Moscow threatens to block BBC Russian service, report says. Russia has threatened to block access to the website of the BBC Russian service over an interview with a Siberian activist who called on people to attend an unsanctioned protest, Izvestia daily reported Tuesday. In the BBC interview with Artem Loskutov last week the activist urged people to attend a demonstration in support of giving the Siberia region more rights within Russia. Russia's communication regulator blocked access to the interview and told Izvestia it would be forced to block the entire site if the material which Russian authorities view as extremist is not removed. \"We can block that item for good instantly and if we go down that road we can block the entire BBC Russian service website in our country,\" Izvestia quoted a source within the communications regulator Roskomnadzor as saying.","Senegal reopens border with Guinea after Ebola scare. Senegal's government on Tuesday reopened the border with Guinea, which was closed after an outbreak of Ebola fever that claimed scores of lives in the neighbouring country. \"In view of the positive progress of this epidemic, the government of Senegal has decided to open anew\" its borders from 8:00 am (0800 GMT) on Tuesday, Interior Minister Abdoulaye Daouda Diallo said in a statement. The border was closed on March 30 to guarantee the safety of people in Senegal, the minister said. He expressed \"all solidarity\" with Guinea, at the epicentre of west Africa's first outbreak of the deadly haemorrhagic fever, which has no cure.","OECD calls for more EU stimulus, relaxed rules. PARIS (AP) — A major international organization is calling on Europe to relax its fiscal rules and for governments to spend more money, saying Europe's sluggishness is dragging down the global economy.","Rugby-Broken thumb for McCaw piles on Crusaders agony. (Adds confirmation of break) March 1 (Reuters) - Richie McCaw is expected to be sidelined for at least eight weeks of the Super Rugby season after fracturing his thumb in the Crusaders's defeat by the Blues. \"He's definitely broken his thumb,\" coach Todd Blackadder told New Zealand media on Saturday. Flanker McCaw, 33, missed most of last year's Super Rugby season while taking a six-month sabbatical before he came back to help the Crusaders make the semi-finals of the southern hemisphere tournament. Expected to vie with the title-holding Chiefs for the New Zealand conference, the seven-times champion Crusaders have lost both their opening matches and are under huge pressure ahead of a home game against the Cape Town-based Stormers.","Rugby-Wallabies stand in path of All Blacks record run. By Nick Mulvenney SYDNEY, Aug 14 (Reuters) - Australia have ended lengthy New Zealand winning streaks twice in the last four years and this weekend it is again the Wallabies who stand in the path of what would be the longest the top tier of the game has ever seen. The All Blacks go into Saturday's Rugby Championship opener at Sydney's Olympic Stadium (kickoff 1005 GMT) as unquestionably the world's best team with 17 consecutive test victories behind them. ...","Mortar fire in Homs ahead of planned U.N. aid mission. Syrian activists and officials said mortars were fired early on Saturday in the besieged Old Homs despite a ceasefire intended to allow the evacuation of civilians and delivery of aid to people trapped in the city's central neighborhoods. State news agency SANA quoted Homs governor Talal al-Barazi as saying \"armed terrorist groups broke the truce this morning in the Old City of Homs, firing mortars at the police building\". Syrian authorities describe all armed opposition against President Bashar al-Assad as terrorism. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an anti-Assad monitoring group, quoted activists in Homs as blaming Assad's forces for the bombardment.","West Ham beats Aston Villa after Nolan double. BIRMINGHAM, England (AP) — West Ham moved out of the relegation zone on Saturday following its 2-0 away win over Aston Villa in the Premier League","German Chancellor Angela Merkel suffers pelvic injury on ski holiday, ordered to rest. BERLIN - German Chancellor Angela Merkel cracked her pelvis during a skiing accident in the Swiss Alps and will have to cut back on her work schedule for the next three weeks, her spokesman said Monday.","Iran cuts proliferation-prone uranium stock. VIENNA (AP) — Diplomats say the U.N. will certify later this week that Iran's ability to make a nuclear bomb has been reduced because it has neutralized half of its material that can be turned quickly into weapons-grade uranium.","India's Rahul Gandhi to lead party campaign, not formal PM candidate. India's Rahul Gandhi will lead the Congress party's campaign for national elections due by May, but he will not be formally announced as the party's candidate for prime minister, a senior party leader said on Thursday. \"The 2014 election campaign will be led by Mr Rahul Gandhi,\" Janardan Dwivedi told reporters after a meeting of the Congress Working Committee, but added that it was not in the party's tradition to name candidates for prime minister. Congress, in power for the last decade, is struggling in opinion polls with a string of corruption scandals and a reputation for poor governance engulfing its administration.","Philippine militants kill 7 troops in clash. MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Philippine security forces battled Muslim militants in the south Thursday, leaving at least seven troops dead in the latest confrontation in the insurgency-wracked region.","Hundreds infected by cholera in warn-torn S.Sudan: WHO. An outbreak of cholera in South Sudan has killed 23 people and infected at least 670, aid officials said Tuesday, warning the outbreak of the deadly disease could still get worse. The cases, all in the capital Juba, have raised fears for tens of thousands of people who have sought refuge at UN bases from a wave of ethnic violence triggered by a civil war between President Salva Kiir and rebels loyal to former vice president Riek Machar. Out of that 23 people have died from cholera,\" Abdinasir Abubakar of the World Health Organisation told reporters. A spokeswoman for the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS), Ariane Quentier, said the UN was moving displaced people to other sites to reduce the risk of an outbreak in the cramped main Tomping base in Juba.","Russian troops seize three Ukrainian navy vessels: official. Russian troops took over three Ukrainian warships in Crimea on Thursday, a Ukrainian navy official said, after Moscow's military seizure of the Black Sea peninsula and annexation of the territory. Vladislav Seleznyov, a Ukrainian military spokesman in Crimea, said the Russian forces used stun grenades as they stormed the corvette Ternopol in the port city of Sevastopol. The Russian national tricolour and the Russian navy's flag were flying on a pier elsewhere in Sevastopol where two more Ukrainian navy corvettes were anchored, indicating they were seized. More than 14,500 people serve in the Ukrainian navy, according to the country's Defense Ministry website, with most of them stationed in Crimea.","Syrian Kurdish leader urges Turkey to help fighters get weapons. Suruc (Turkey) (AFP) - The head of the main Kurdish political party in Syria on Friday called on Turkey to allow its territory to be used for passing weapons to Kurdish fighters defending the key Syrian town of Kobane.","Rouhani says Iran is ready to help Iraq if asked. TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iranian President Hassan Rouhani says his country is ready to help Iraq if asked, adding it has \"no option but to confront terrorism.\"","Ukraine says Russia has resumed sending it gas. KIEV (Reuters) - Ukraine's gas transport monopoly, Ukrtransgaz, said Russia had resumed gas flows to Ukraine on Tuesday after a six-month gap during a dispute over prices and unpaid debts. \"Ukraine has started receiving Russian gas. The volume of imports is around 43.5 million cubic meters per day,\" Ukrtransgaz spokesman Maxim Belyavsky said. Ukrainian state energy firm Naftogaz said last week it had transferred $378 million to Russia's Gazprom to buy one bcm of Russian gas in December to replenish stocks. (Reporting by Pavel Polityuk, Editing by Timothy Heritage)","Commonwealth Games lifter faces sex assault charge. GLASGOW, Scotland (AP) — A weightlifter from Papua New Guinea who competed at the Commonwealth Games faces trial over an alleged sexual assault at a Glasgow supermarket.","Thai military junta suspends constitution. BANGKOK (AP) — Thailand's new military junta has announced that it has suspended the country's constitution.","Putin critic floats Scotland option for Crimea. Scottish-style devolution could be the best solution for the crisis in Crimea, a former Russian oligarch and critic of President Vladimir Putin told an audience in Ukraine on Monday. Mikhail Khodorkovsky, released by Putin in December after a decade in jail, told university students in Kiev that giving the region the kind of autonomy from Ukraine that Scotland has inside the British state could ease Crimean demands for union with Russia, whose forces took over the peninsula a week ago. Saying Moscow risked wrecking ties with its neighbor, the former oil magnate said: \"The best option might be to keep Crimea within Ukraine, but with the broadest possible autonomy - for example, akin to what Scotland has within Great Britain.\" Crimea, transferred from Russia to Ukraine in Soviet times and home to an ethnic Russian majority, already has the status of an autonomous republic.","Exclusive: Benghazi suspect fighting anti-Islamist general before U.S. raid. By Ayman al-Warfalli BENGHAZI Libya (Reuters) - The suspected ringleader of a 2012 attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, snatched this week by U.S. forces, had been fighting a Libyan general committed to root out Islamist rebels when he vanished without trace, according to his brother. I was told that he drove away with a friend on Sunday and that was the last we heard of him,\" said the brother of Ahmed Abu Khatallah, who was seized by U.S. special forces and spirited out of the country to an American naval ship. The United States, which lost four officials including Ambassador Chris Stevens in the 2012 attack, has given few details of the operation in an area where Tripoli struggles to assert its rule - a reflection of the chaos in the oil producer three years after the ouster of Muammar Gaddafi. Abu Khatallah's brother Abu Bakr told Reuters in an interview that past U.S. operations suggested Libyans must have helped the Americans find and capture him during the chaos of fighting around the port city of one million.","Algeria's bloody past, energy wealth keep status quo for now. By Patrick Markey and Lamine Chikhi ALGIERS (Reuters) - Cramped with his young wife and three infants in a shack in Algiers' Citi Hofra slum, Amin Kerchach could be forgiven for being angry at missing out on Algeria's gas wealth. But after waiting for years to get a new state-built apartment from President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, his memories of Algeria's bloody past and the promise of state largesse to come are reasons enough to hold out a little longer. Where frustrations in Egypt, Tunisia, Libya and Syria brought the Arab Spring revolts of 2011, in Algeria, stability wins over anger at unemployment and economic torpor in a system critics say is little changed since independence in 1962. Algerians like Kerchach show why Bouteflika will likely be re-elected on Thursday by those who see him as a symbol of public spending and a guarantee of security in a country where many are still scarred by the Islamist war of the 1990s.","Syria's Assad says political Islam project has failed. The \"project of political Islam has failed,\" Syria's President Bashar al-Assad said on Monday, calling for the separation of religion from politics, state television said. Assad's regime has been battling an uprising that has come to be dominated by Islamists, ranging from moderates to radicals, who want to see Syria run as an Islamic state. \"The project of political Islam has failed, and there should be no mixing between political and religious work,\" he said in comments on the 67th anniversary of the founding of his Baath party. Assad refers to all those fighting against him as \"terrorists\" and has said that he is battling extremists with retrograde ideas.","Netanyahu to Abbas: 'Recognize the Jewish state'. WASHINGTON (AP) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday that reassuring words from Iranian officials about not wanting nuclear weapons do not square with Tehran's actions — and that the international community needs to exert more pressure to deny Iran the capability of making nuclear arms.","Reports: Balkans' suspected drug lord arrested. BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — Serbia's state TV says that the man accused of organizing an attempted transfer of about 2.7 tons of cocaine from South America to Europe has been arrested.","Mexican Senate nears final vote on oil opening. MEXICO CITY (AP) — The Mexican Senate is debating the final legislation needed to open the state-run oil industry to foreign and private companies.","Somaliland blessed by dodging aid 'curse': minister. By Ed Stoddard CAPE TOWN (Reuters) - The breakaway territory of Somaliland cannot access foreign aid because it has not yet been recognized internationally as a state, and that suits it just fine. Aid never developed anything,\" Hussein Abdi Dualeh, Somaliland's minister of energy and minerals, told Reuters on the sidelines of an African mining conference. \"Aid is not a panacea, we'd rather not have it ... How many African countries do you know that developed because of a lot of aid? Dualeh is in Cape Town trying to woo junior mining companies to come and explore for minerals in Somaliland, which Dualeh described as Africa's \"land mining frontier.","9 footballers punished for match-fixing in Vietnam. HANOI, Vietnam (AP) — A court in northern Vietnam has sentenced a professional footballer to 30 months in jail and given eight other players suspended sentences on charges of match fixing, state media reported Monday.","Water delivery drivers dice with death in war-torn Gaza. Mohammed al-Khatib fears for his life every time he gets behind the wheel. In wartime, providing drinking water to homes and schools in Gaza means dicing with death. At 23, Khatib is a veteran of two previous wars between Hamas and Israel, in 2008 and 2012, but nothing prepared him for the bombings, shredded nerves and death toll this time around. \"When I'm driving, I always feel frightened, upset and nervous,\" he tells AFP in the small warehouse where he loads up his truck with drinking water, as Israeli air strikes boom in the distance.","Russia tells U.S. that Ukraine's peace deal is under threat. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Saturday that the peace deal signed in Ukraine had been \"sharply degraded by opposition forces' inability or lack of desire\" to respect it, the ministry said. \"Illegal extremist groups are refusing to disarm and in fact are taking Kiev under their control with the connivance of opposition leaders,\" Lavrov told Kerry by telephone, according to a Russian Foreign Ministry statement. Lavrov \"reminded\" Kerry that President Vladimir Putin had urged U.S. President Barack Obama during an earlier call to \"use every opportunity to stop the illegal actions of radicals and return the situation to constitutional channels\", it said.","Poachers massacre elephants in Congo park. JOHANNESBURG (AP) — A non-profit group running nature reserves in Africa has sounded the alarm over a months-long slaughter of elephants by poachers in one of Africa's oldest national parks.","Lee Chong Wei reaches All-England badminton semis. Birmingham (United Kingdom) (AFP) - Lee Chong Wei's performance in the 21-14, 21-18 win over Kento Momota which carried him to the semi-finals of the All-England Open appeared to have increased his belief that he can win the ancient title back. \"I shall really try to win the All-England again,\" he said, and it is clear that he can, although there is first a matter of a giant-killing Korean to deal with on Saturday. Lee won his points against Momota, the world number 15 from Japan, in so many different ways - which may be just as well, because his next opponent, Son Wan Ho, appears in excellent form. The world number ten from Korea followed an opening day win over Jan Jorgensen, the fourth-seeded Dane, by today taking out Kenichi Tago, the fifth-seeded Japanese, a former finalist here, by 21-15, 21-17.","Iran execution a reprisal for prison unrest, says opposition. Iran on Sunday executed a political prisoner because authorities thought he was behind recent unrest in a Tehran prison, an exiled opposition group said. Gholamreza Khosravi Savadjani was convicted of \"waging war against God\" (moharebeh) by helping the People's Mujahedeen Organisation of Iran (PMOI) and then hanged, state media reported. The PMOI said Khosravi Savadjani had been executed on suspicion of being the alleged mastermind of an April 17 prisoners' revolt at an infamous Tehran prison. \"Khosravi Savadjani's execution is a reprisal targeting prisoners of Section 350 of Evin jail where he was placed and aimed at those who continue to resist the fascist religious regime from inside the prison walls,\" it said in a statement in French.","Hong Kong police reopen main road after clearing protest camp. Hundreds of Hong Kong police Wednesday cleared a pro-democracy protest camp, arresting Joshua Wong and another student leader and reopening a main road blocked for almost two months. Pushing back protesters, police with the help of workmen removed tents and other obstacles blocking the six-lane Nathan Road in Mongkok district. Scuffles broke out earlier in the day as police wearing helmets and brandishing batons moved in to protect the workmen, when crowds surged forward to try to stop them tearing down road barricades. The operation went ahead a day after more than 100 demonstrators were arrested as authorities cleared a smaller section of the Mongkok protest camp.","Crimeans vote to leave Ukraine, join Russia. SIMFEROPOL, Ukraine (AP) — Just two weeks after Russian troops seized their peninsula, Crimeans voted Sunday to leave Ukraine and join Russia, overwhelmingly approving a referendum that sought to unite the strategically important Black Sea region with the country it was part of for some 250 years.","Canada looks to reduce footprint in housing, sees soft landing. By Jonathan Spicer NEW YORK (Reuters) - The Canadian government aims to reduce its involvement in the country's hot housing market and agrees with the Bank of Canada's expectation that the market is headed for a soft landing, its finance minister said on Wednesday. Foreign investors have helped drive up Canadian real estate prices by parking their money in relatively cheap and plentiful properties, causing fears that a sudden withdrawal of investors could leave a glut of condos and falling prices. \"We want to move gradually to reduce the government involvement in the mortgage market,\" he said in an interview on the sidelines of an energy conference hosted by Goldman Sachs. \"I don't think (intervention) is necessary in this environment so we're not looking to do that.\" Canada's housing market has risen unsteadily for the last five years and appears to be settling down, with housing starts slowing from red-hot 2012 levels in 2013 and maintaining the slower pace so far in 2014, on average.","Ukraine official: 8 Russian cargo planes in Crimea. KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — A spokesman for the Ukrainian border service says eight Russian transport planes have landed in Crimea with unknown cargo.","Top Palestinian cleric says Israel threw stun grenades into al Aqsa; Israel denies. The most senior Islamic cleric in Jerusalem said on Sunday Israeli police hurled stun grenades into al-Aqsa mosque, Islam's third holiest site, to quell the latest in a string of Palestinian protests at the politically sensitive holy site. Israeli police denied the allegation, saying officers threw the non-lethal devices, which emit a loud noise, on a plaza outside the mosque after protesters threw rocks and firecrackers at them. The demonstrators, who have confronted police for the past four days in a bid to stop Israeli and foreign visitors from entering the holy compound, then retreated into al-Aqsa, a police spokesman said. Tensions at the site run high during Jewish holidays - Jews are now celebrating Passover - when Palestinians are on alert against any attempt by Jews to pray on the compound in defiance of a de facto Israeli government ban on such worship.","Errani, Petkovic reach Gastein Ladies semifinals. BAD GASTEIN, Austria (AP) — Sara Errani overcame a slow start to defeat Chanelle Scheepers of South Africa 2-6, 6-1, 6-3 in the quarterfinals of the Gastein Ladies on Friday.","Luxury jeweler Mauboussin sees French tax hikes blighting sales. By Astrid Wendlandt and Pascale Denis PARIS (Reuters) - French jeweler Mauboussin is braced for no better than flat sales next year as it sees higher taxes and the general economic malaise hitting discretionary spending by consumers in its home market, the company's chief executive said. French President Francois Hollande has been raising taxes since he came to power in 2012 to help plug the country's budget deficit but this year the hike has hit middle classes particularly hard. ...","APNewsBreak: US sending arms to Kurds in Iraq. SYDNEY (AP) — Senior U.S. officials say the Obama administration has begun directly providing weapons to Kurdish forces who have started to make gains against Islamic militants in Iraq.","Eurozone, EU finance ministers meeting in Athens. ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Finance ministers from the eurozone and the wider European Union are gathering in Athens amid tight security, with Greece hoping for a gesture of support for the release of long-delayed funds from the country's multi-billion-euro bailout.","Mauritius voters reject plan to change constitution: results on TV. PORT LOUIS (Reuters) - Mauritius voters rejected plans to grant more powers to the Indian Ocean island's president, handing an unassailable lead to a coalition that has rejected changing the constitution, results broadcast on television on Thursday showed. The coalition of the Militant Socialist Movement (MSM) and the Parti Mauricien Social Democrate (PMSD) had secured 43 of the 62 parliamentary seats by 2.40 p.m. (1740 GMT), while the Labour Party and its ally which backed the change had won just 11. ...","Bundle up or hunker down: Dangerously cold polar air grips Midwest, makes way for East, South. MINNEAPOLIS - The coldest, most dangerous blast of polar air in decades gripped the Midwest and pushed toward the East and South on Monday, closing schools and day care centres, grounding flights and forcing people to pull their hoods and scarves tight to protect exposed skin from nearly instant frostbite.","Algeria into 2nd round after 1-1 draw with Russia. CURITIBA, Brazil (AP) — Algeria qualified for the World Cup knockout stages for the first time, with Islam Slimani's headed equalizer giving his team a 1-1 draw against Russia on Thursday and enough competition points to move into the second round.","Germany sending 40 soldiers to Iraqi Kurdistan. Berlin is preparing to send around 40 soldiers to northern Iraq to train Kurdish fighters battling against militants from the Islamic State, the German army said on Saturday. Following a decision last month by the German government to provide Kurdish peshmerga forces with weapons, Berlin's defence ministry said it had sent six soldiers to its consulate in Arbil, northern Iraq, to \"coordinate\" joint training exercises. The first batch of German weapons, which includes \"anti-tank rockets and machine guns,\" will arrive in northern Iraq on September 24 and will be followed \"quickly\" by the military trainers, according to a defence ministry spokesman.","Toronto Mayor Rob Ford sticks up for Justin Bieber, says he's only 19. TORONTO - Toronto Mayor Rob Ford is sticking up for another headline-grabbing Canadian — Justin Bieber.","Blast hits Qatar's capital of Doha, killing 12. DOHA, Qatar (AP) — An apparent gas explosion Thursday at a restaurant near a filling station in the Qatari capital killed 12 people and wounded several more, emergency services officials in the energy-rich Gulf nation said.","Southeast Asia group calls on China to speed up maritime security talks. By Jared Ferrie and Paul Mooney NAYPYITAW (Reuters) - Southeast Asian foreign ministers voiced \\\\\"serious concerns\\\\\" on Saturday over naval clashes between Vietnam and China as the regional group's top official urged Beijing to step up efforts to advance talks on maritime security. Foreign ministers and heads of state of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) are facing a test of unity at their summit this weekend as some members express alarm over China's growing assertiveness in the disputed South China Sea and push for a strong joint statement. Tensions ratcheted up in the past week after China positioned a huge oil rig in an area also claimed by Vietnam, with each country accusing the other of ramming its ships in the region close to the disputed Paracel Islands. ASEAN Secretary General Le Luong Minh, who is Vietnamese, told Reuters the incident added urgency to concluding talks between ASEAN and China on agreeing a code of conduct in the resource-rich sea - a set of maritime rules to ease tensions.","Protests over Hungary far-right rally in former synagogue. A political rally of the Hungarian far-right party Jobbik in a former synagogue sparked protests Friday by anti-fascist demonstrators who accused the group of \"provocation\". \"It's disgusting that anti-Semites are able to get away with this provocation in modern Hungary,\" a Holocaust survivor, who didn't wish to give her name, told AFP. Jobbik became Hungary's third largest party when it won around 17 percent of the vote at the last parliamentary election in 2010, but it has often been slammed as racist towards the ethnic Roma community and for anti-Semitic remarks. In 2012 a Jobbik deputy called for a list of Jewish nationals to be drawn up for \"national security reasons\".","What is quantitative easing, or QE?. FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — The European Central Bank has said it could use quantitative easing — the purchase of large amounts of financial assets such as bonds — as a way to boost the struggling economic recovery in the 18-country eurozone.","World economic recovery struggling to gain traction. By Jonathan Cable and Adam Rose LONDON/BEIJING (Reuters) - China's vast factory sector contracted again this month and the expected acceleration in euro zone business activity failed to materialize, highlighting the fragile state of a global economy. A survey out of China reinforced concerns of a minor slowdown in the world's second biggest economy while a sister index underscored an ongoing divergence between France, the bloc's second biggest economy, and the rest of the 18-member currency union. \"The euro zone is most at risk of a global demand shock given the chills emanating from China's deleveraging across emerging markets, North America's current 'frozen' growth patch and the fact that the U.S. is exporting less of its growth to the rest of the world,\" said Lena Komileva at G+ Economics. \"Today's poor PMI numbers add to the raft of survey and activity data showing that growth momentum in China is clearly slowing after having peaked last summer,\" said Nikolaus Keis at UniCredit.","Allardyce stays at West Ham, told to improve team. LONDON (AP) — West Ham's owners have told Sam Allardyce to ensure the team is more entertaining next season after backing the manager to continue in his job following talks on his future.","China calls for boosting economic ties with Manila. MANILA, Philippines (AP) — China's ambassador to the Philippines says economic ties between the two countries are at disappointing levels and both must work to advance their common prosperity.","SOCHI SCENE: Big In Japan. KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia (AP) — For a nation that's never won a medal in snowboarding, Japan sure looked awfully strong.","Ford tells owners to park 2014 F-150 trucks for steering issue. Ford Motor Co has told owners of its top-selling current model 2014 F-150 pickup trucks to park them until a power steering issue affecting 5,675 of the vehicles is fixed, the company said on its website on Tuesday. The suspect trucks are also not to be sold until they are fixed, Ford said. As of Tuesday, Ford had delivered about 260 of the 5,675 vehicles to customers, and the rest were either at dealerships or on their way to dealers, Ford said.","Argentine president hospitalized for sprained ankle. Argentine President Cristina Kirchner was hospitalized after spraining her ankle, local media reported, the latest in a series of physical ailments that have caused her to cancel public events. The 61-year-old leader had been resting at her home in southern Santa Cruz province, from where she was taken to be treated at a hospital in the capital, according to media reports.","Mali: Tuareg rebels take 30 hostages in north. BAMAKO, Mali (AP) — Mali officials say separatist rebels killed eight soldiers, stormed a government building and took 30 people hostage in an assault on the northern city of Kidal.","Captain blames company for South Korean ferry disaster. The captain of a sunken South Korean ferry Friday pinned the blame on the ship's operator for one of the nation's worst maritime disasters, saying it was standard practice to overload the vessel and overlook safety checks. The Sewol ferry sank off South Korea's southern coast in April with a loss of more than 300 lives. Testifying at the trial of the firm's executives, Lee Joon-Seok, 69, said it had been the management's decision to overload the ferry habitually. Kim Han-Sik, the president of the ship's operator Chonghaejin Marine Co, is on trial alongside 11 other executives from the company and related firms on charges including criminal negligence and corruption.","Thai police detain 8 anti-coup protesters. BANGKOK (AP) — Police in Thailand arrested eight people Sunday for demonstrating against the nation's increasingly repressive military junta, including a man who was dragged away by undercover officers for reading a copy of George Orwell's \"Nineteen Eighty-Four\" outside one of Bangkok's most luxurious shopping malls.","Amplats will not make profit at strike-hit Rustenburg mines this year. Anglo American Platinum won't make a profit this year at its Rustenburg mines due to a 10-week strike, its chief executive said on Friday, although it is unlikely to declare force majeure on supplies to customers. \"If we run out of metal we will go to the market to buy it ... to supply our customers,\" CEO Chris Griffith told journalists, adding that output was running at 60 percent. Workers led by the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU) downed tools in late-January, demanding a doubling of wages that platinum producers have said they can ill-afford.","U.S. Consulate near hostage cafe evacuated, security warning issued. SYDNEY (Reuters) - The United States has evacuated its Sydney Consulate, which is located near a cafe in the city where hostages are being held, a spokeswoman said on Monday. The consulate has also issued an emergency warning to U.S. citizens in Sydney, urging them to \"maintain a high level of vigilance and take appropriate steps to enhance your personal security\". The spokeswoman said a couple of essential personnel remained at the consulate but all others had been sent home. (Reporting By Jane Wardell; Editing by Paul Tait)","Walsh to miss Gold Cup with arm injury. CHELTENHAM, England (AP) — Irish jockey Ruby Walsh is out of the Gold Cup after being taken to hospital with a broken arm following a fall in the JCB Triumph Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival on Friday.","Yemeni president appoints envoy to UN as new PM: aide. SANAA (Reuters) - The Yemeni president on Monday appointed the country's envoy to the United Nations, Khaled Bahah, as prime minister, an aide said, in a move that may help ease a political crisis after the Houthi Shi'ite Muslim group captured Sanaa last month. The aide said Bahah's name was among three proposed by the Houthi group last week after they rejected an earlier appointment as prime minister of the president's office director, Ahmed Awad bin Mubarak, forcing him to turn down the nomination. (Reporting by Mohammed Ghobari, Writing by Sami Aboudi; Editing by Alison Williams)","UAW gains representation at VW Tennessee plant: VW. DETROIT (Reuters) - The United Auto Workers gained a partial and unconventional recognition from Volkswagen AG after proving to the company that it represents at least 45 percent of workers at the company's plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee, a company spokesman said on Monday. It is the first time the UAW has been recognized at a foreign-owned auto assembly plant in the South, but it is short of the UAW's goal of attaining exclusive bargaining rights for all of the plant's 1,500 blue-collar workers. (Reporting by Bernie Woodall in Detroit; Editing by Chris Reese)","Vanishing Marine will be tried on desertion charge. RALEIGH, North Carolina (AP) — A U.S. Marine who vanished in Iraq and later wound up in Lebanon will be on trial in military court on desertion and other charges.","Costa Rica-Greece goes to penalty shootout. RECIFE, Brazil (AP) — Greece and 10-man Costa Rica will go to a penalty shootout after their World Cup second-round game ended 1-1 following extra time Sunday.","Israel to build more than 1,000 new settler homes: media. Israel is planning to build more than 1,000 new settlement homes in the West Bank, Israeli media reported on Thurday, following the formation of a Palestinian unity government that includes Hamas Islamists opposed to Israel's existence. Israel Radio said the Housing Ministry announced new tenders for the homes in a number of Jewish settlements on land the Palestinians seek for a future state. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas swore in the unity government on Monday. The United States said it planned to work with the administration set up by the reconciliation deal, prompting Israel to express deep disappointment.","2 killed in clash at terror-linked Kenyan mosque. MOMBASA, Kenya (AP) — Police opened fire on Muslim youths wielding daggers at a mosque linked to recruiting Islamic extremists, and at least one officer and a youth were killed, witnesses and officials said in the coastal resort and port city of Mombasa.","UK's Hague to hold talks in Ukraine on Sunday with new leadership. British Foreign Secretary William Hague said on Friday he would travel to Ukraine at the weekend to hold talks with the new leadership, after Prime Minister David Cameron told Russia to respect the volatile nation's territorial integrity. I will travel to Kyiv on Sunday for talks with the new government,\" Hague said on Twitter. Hague's announcement followed a phone call between Cameron and Russian President Vladimir Putin in which the British government said the two men had agreed that the elections that the interim government has pledged to hold were the best way to secure a positive future for Ukraine.","Official: boat with migrants spotted off Cyprus. NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) — A Cypriot defense ministry spokeswoman says a small fishing boat loaded with hundreds of suspected migrants has been located off the east Mediterranean island.","As Japan campaign opens, a look at what's a stake. TOKYO (AP) — Hundreds of candidates are fanning out across Japan on the first official day of campaigning for a national election that could give Prime Minister Shinzo Abe (shin-zoh ah-bay) a mandate for four more years.","Renewed floods renew Bosnia's troubles. ZELJEZNO POLJE, Bosnia-Herzegovina (AP) — A Bosnian man whose home was swept away by flooding has seen his attempts at rebuilding fall prey to a new round of floods.","Ultra-Orthodox Jews stage mass protest against Israeli draft law. By Crispian Balmer JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Hundreds of thousands of ultra-Orthodox Jews held a mass prayer in Jerusalem on Sunday in protest at a bill that would cut their community's military exemptions and end a tradition upheld since Israel's foundation. Most Israeli Jewish men and women are called up for military service when they turn 18, but most ultra-Orthodox Jews, or \"Haredim\", a Hebrew term meaning 'those who tremble before God', are excused from army service.","France: Police arrest 2 over jihadi propaganda. PARIS (AP) — French authorities have detained two people suspected of selling jihadi DVDs and other propaganda, under a new anti-terrorism law aimed at stopping French extremists from joining fighters abroad.","Nuns to fight child prostitution during World Cup. VATICAN CITY (AP) — A global network of religious orders against human trafficking has announced a campaign during the upcoming World Cup in Brazil to draw attention to risks that the event will encourage an increase in child prostitution.","Microbes Found Beneath Antarctic Ice: What It Means for Alien Life Hunt. The discovery of a complex microbial ecosystem far beneath the Antarctic ice may be exciting, but it doesn't necessarily mean that life teems on frigid worlds throughout the solar system, researchers caution. Scientists announced today (Aug. 20) in the journal Nature that many different types of microbes live in subglacial Lake Whillans, a body of fresh water entombed beneath 2,600 feet (800 meters) of Antarctic ice. The results could have implications for the search for life beyond Earth, notes Martyn Tranter of the University of Bristol in England, who did not participate in the study. \"The team has opened a tantalizing window on microbial communities in the bed of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet, and on how they are maintained and self-organize,\" Tranter wrote in an accompanying \"News and Views\" piece in the same issue of Nature.","Scott trails leaders by two at halfway stage of Australian PGA. (Reuters) - Expectant father Adam Scott shot a three-under-par round of 69 on Friday to close within two shots of the lead at the halfway stage of the Australian PGA championship. Scott, who revealed before the start of play that his wife is pregnant with their first child, followed up his opening-round 68 to head into the weekend at seven-under-par. That left the world number three alone in third place, just two strokes behind his fellow Australians Wade Ormsby and Scott Strange, who finished at nine-under. ...","Nation back behind harmonious France at World Cup. BRASILIA, Brazil (AP) — A country shamed by mutinous footballers four years ago has fallen back in love with its national team, with a revamped France striking the right note with fans in its free-scoring run to the World Cup's knockout stage.","Violence, boycott mar elections in Bangladesh. DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) — Voting in general elections in Bangladesh is underway as violence by suspected opposition activists who are boycotting the polls threatens to plunge this South Asian country even deeper into crisis.","U.N. defers Iraq's $4.6 billion Gulf War reparations to Kuwait. By Stephanie Nebehay GENEVA (Reuters) - The United Nations Gulf War compensation fund agreed on Thursday to defer Iraq's requirement to deposit five percent of its oil revenues for a year due to its budgetary difficulties, a senior U.N. official said. Major powers on the fund's ruling body took the decision by consensus as Iraq's economy is being battered by both low oil prices and war with Islamic State militants. ...","Feds: Sinaloa cartel member cooperating with US. CHICAGO (AP) — A high-ranking member of the Sinaloa cartel in Mexico pleaded guilty to drug trafficking a year ago and has been cooperating with authorities, federal prosecutors in Chicago announced Thursday.","Rights group: 5 seized at Crimea checkpoint freed. PARIS (AP) — Reporters Without Borders says two Ukrainian journalists and two activists who were abducted at a checkpoint in Crimea along with a driver have been freed.","Iran, powers seek to narrow gaps in new round of nuclear talks. VIENNA (Reuters) - Iran and six world powers began a new round of negotiations on Tuesday aimed at settling their decade-old dispute over Tehran's nuclear program by late July, despite wide differences on how to get there. Chief negotiators from Iran, the United States, France, Germany, Britain, China and Russia started a two-day meeting around 9:45 a.m. at the U.N. complex in Vienna, where they have held two previous such sessions since February. Both sides say they aim to start drafting a comprehensive agreement in May, some two months before a July 20 deadline for finalizing the accord. ...","Nigeria's purported Boko Haram leader says has 'married off' girls. By Isaac Abrak ABUJA (Reuters) - A man claiming to be Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau said more than 200 girls kidnapped by the group six months ago had been \"married off\" to its fighters, contradicting Nigerian government claims they would soon be freed. Nigeria's military says it killed Shekau a year ago, and authorities said in September that they had also killed an imposter posting as him in videos. In the latest recording it is hard to see the man's face as he his filmed from a distance. ...","Russia says east Ukraine must have say in preparing referendum. By Alissa de Carbonnel MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian Foreign Ministry Sergei Lavrov said on Monday Ukraine's Russian-speaking eastern regions should be involved in drafting a new state structure that Kiev has said may be put to a referendum next month. Lavrov said it was not in Russia's interests for Ukraine to break up, but that Moscow wanted Kiev to give all citizens equal treatment. He denied Ukrainian and U.S. allegations that Russia had undercover agents fomenting unrest in eastern Ukraine, and said he was seeking an explanation of media reports that the director of the CIA, John Brennan, had visited Kiev.","Embattled Thai PM to miss anti-graft hearing. Thailand's premier is set to skip an anti-corruption panel hearing Thursday into negligence charges that could lead to her removal from office, as she grapples with a four-month deadly political crisis. Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra is fighting for her political survival as pressure mounts on several fronts -- in the streets, the courts and from the National Anti-Corruption Commission. The backdrop is a long-standing struggle between a royalist establishment -- backed by the judiciary and the military -- and Yingluck's billionaire family which has strong support in the northern half of Thailand. Yingluck, who has protested her innocence, will not personally attend the appointment to acknowledge allegations linked to her government's flagship rice farm subsidy scheme, her office said.","IMF restores ties with Madagascar five years after coup. By Lovasoa Rabary ANTANANARIVO (Reuters) - The International Monetary Fund has restored ties with Madagascar for the first time since a coup on the Indian Ocean island in 2009, a vital step to rebuilding confidence in the battered economy. The election of President Hery Rajaonarimampianina in December marked an important step towards ending a five-year political crisis that saw donors suspend funds, depriving the government of cash and stunting economic growth. Finance Minister Lantoniaina Rasoloelison told Reuters on Thursday the resumption of normal relations was critical to getting aid flowing once again to its cash-starved Treasury. The IMF later confirmed it now recognized Madagascar's government.","Barca's injured Valdes to have surgery on Monday. BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Injured Barcelona goalkeeper Victor Valdes will undergo an operation to repair his torn right knee ligament on Monday.","Brazil links setbacks to greater respect from foes. TERESOPOLIS, Brazil (AP) — Brazil players are saying their World Cup difficulties are a flow-on from their convincing victory at last year's Confederations Cup.","London hosts Britain's first Scientology wedding. Britain's first wedding to be held in a Scientology chapel took place in London on Sunday, the result of the newlyweds' triumphing in the Supreme Court last year. Dressed in a traditional white wedding dress, bride Louisa Hodkin tied the knot with Alessandro Calcioli, both aged 25, in a Church of Scientology chapel in central London, despite earlier being told the venue was not legally listed as a place of religious worship. A High Court judge had ruled in 1970 that Scientology services did not count as acts of worship because they involved no \"veneration of God or of a supreme being\".","Whaling meeting votes against Japan's hunt. PORTOROZ, Slovenia (AP) — An international whaling conference has voted against Japan's plans to resume whaling in the Antarctic next year, but Japan has vowed to go ahead anyway.","China's April inflation eases to 1.8 percent, giving more room to stimulate slowing economy. BEIJING (AP) — China's April inflation eases to 1.8 percent, giving more room to stimulate slowing economy.","Van Baarle edges in front ahead of Tour finale. Dutch rider Dylan van Baarle will take a 19-second lead into the final stage of the Tour of Britain when the race concludes in London after the yellow jersey changed hands yet again on Saturday. Omega Pharma-Quick Step's Julien Vermote won the seventh and penultimate stage in Brighton, on England's south coast but the key action, as far as the overall classification was concerned, happened behind him as the peloton split in two with Alex Dowsett, who took the race lead on Friday, left behind. Vermote's team-mate Michal Kwiatkowski led a chasing pack, including Team Sky's defending Tour of Britain champion Bradley Wiggins, over the line one minute 20 seconds behind the stage winner.","Eurozone survey signals waning growth. LONDON (AP) — Further evidence emerged Tuesday to show that the 18-country eurozone economy is failing to find any renewed momentum despite a raft of stimulus measures from the European Central Bank.","South African strike talks suspended until Tuesday. \"Talks will resume on Tuesday,\" the government's Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration said in a statement. Jimmy Gama of the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU) that launched the strike of around 80,000 miners on January 23, crippling the platinum sector, told AFP: \"The employers need time to reflect on the proposals, and they will do an offer on Tuesday.\" For their part, the CEOs of the world's top three platinum producers -- Anglo American Platinum (Amplats), Impala Platinum (Implats) and Lonmin -- said they would continue efforts to resolve the dispute while raising the spectre of restructuring and layoffs if the strike persisted. \"It is imperative that a resolution is affordable, achievable and sustainable,\" Chris Griffith, Terence Goodlace and Ben Magara said in a joint statement.","Silva scores twice as City draw level with Chelsea. MANCHESTER, England (AP) — Champion Manchester City provisionally drew level on points with Chelsea at the top of the Premier League after stretching its unbeaten run to eight games with a convincing 3-0 victory against Crystal Palace.","S. Korea ruling party boosts majority with key poll wins. South Korea's ruling party celebrated Thursday after sailing through a key by-election test that increased its parliamentary majority despite lingering public anger over the handling of April's Sewol ferry disaster. President Park Geun-Hye's Saenuri Party won 11 of an unprecedented 15 by-elections contested on Wednesday, leaving it with 158 legislators in the 300-seat National Assembly. The result will boost Park's push to restructure South Korea's export-dependent economy through economic stimulus and regulatory reform.","Soccer-Australia to play Belgium in Asian Cup warmup. * Australia plan busy schedule of friendlies ahead of Asian Cup * Belgium match to take place in Liege on Sept. 4 (Adds details of Middle East friendlies) MELBOURNE, July 15 (Reuters) - Australia will play a friendly against World Cup quarter-finalists Belgium in September as the Socceroos seek a testing warmup ahead of next January's Asian Cup on home soil. Ange Postecoglou's team will face the Red Devils in Liege on Sept. 4 before heading to the Middle East to play friendlies against the United Arab Emirates (Oct. 10) and Qatar (Oct. 14), Football Federation Australia (FFA) said on Tuesday.","Syrian soldiers celebrate fall of rebel stronghold. In a house with a gutted facade, one Syrian soldier strums a guitar, another plays an accordion he found and six comrades join them to belt out a popular song. They sit around a table sipping bitter \"mate\" tea popular with soldiers, celebrating their victory over rebels in the town of Mleiha, 10 kilometres (six miles) southeast of Damascus, after months of fighting. Before Syria's civil war began more than three years ago, Mleiha had 25,000 residents. The army said Mleiha would now serve as a springboard for its bid to regain control of Eastern Ghouta, an important rebel bastion outside Damascus that has long been in its sights.","Earthquake shakes British Columbia; no injuries reported. An earthquake with a magnitude of 6.6 rattled the coast of British Columbia's Vancouver Island on Wednesday evening and was felt by hundreds of people in dozens of cities in Canada and the United States, the U.S. Geological Survey said. There were no reports of injuries or damage and no tsunami warning was in effect, the National Tsunami Warning Center said. The U.S. Geological Survey said nearly 800 people reported feeling the quake in dozens of cities, including Vancouver and Seattle.","Pistorius judge: non-custodial sentences proposed by defense witnesses 'not appropriate'. PRETORIA (Reuters) - The non-custodial sentences proposed by defense witnesses in the Oscar Pistorius trial \"would not be appropriate\", Judge Thokozile Masipa said on Tuesday, as she read out her sentence for the South African track star. (Reporting by Joe Brock; Writing by David Dolan; Editing by Pascal Fletcher)","Egyptian official: Gunmen kill policeman on patrol. CAIRO (AP) — An Egyptian security official says gunmen have shot and killed a policeman who was on patrol north of Cairo.","Korean bishop sees hope for peace in pope's visit. VATICAN CITY (AP) — Vatican radio has quoted the head of the Korean Catholic Bishops' Conference as expressing hope that Pope Francis' visit to the peninsula will help relaunch the reconciliation process between the two Koreas.","Cyprus taps markets for 1st time after bailout. NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) — Cyprus has raised 100 million euros ($137 million) through its first bond issue since international lenders rescued the country from near-bankruptcy a little over a year ago.","Indian diplomat's claim of immunity challenged by U.S. prosecutors. By Chris Francescani NEW YORK (Reuters) - The Indian diplomat whose December arrest led to a major international dispute holds no immunity from U.S. prosecution and should continue to faces charges of visa fraud, Manhattan federal prosecutors said in court papers filed Friday. Devyani Khobragade was arrested on December 12 on charges that she lied to U.S. authorities about what she paid her housekeeper. She was stripped-searched while detained in Manhattan federal courthouse, which led to a diplomatic firestorm between India and the United States that continued for weeks. Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara's office argues in the court filings that Khobragade is a former diplomat and not immune from prosecution.","60 Syria soldiers dead in battle with jihadists. At least 60 soldiers have died as the army battles to retake a gas field in central Syria where jihadists killed 270 people, a pro-regime newspaper reported on Sunday. Al-Watan, citing a military source, give a toll of \"60 martyrs\" for a counter-offensive against the Islamic State (IS) group around Shaar gas field that a security official said was launched Friday. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights also reported \"violent clashes... in and around the gas field\". On Saturday, the Observatory said it had documented \"the deaths of 270 people killed in fighting or executed\" by IS militants.","Indian politician convicted of graft gets bail. NEW DELHI (AP) — India's top court has granted bail to a charismatic southern Indian politician who was sentenced to four years in prison after being found guilty of corruption last month.","Investors seek injunction on sale of insurer by BES successor. LISBON (Reuters) - A group of bondholders of insolvent Espirito Santo Financial Group on Wednesday requested a court injunction against the sale of Portuguese insurer Tranquilidade by the successor of Banco Espirito Santo - rescued by the state last month. Investor association ATM said in a statement the injunction request reinforces their previous class action lawsuit on which the court is yet to deliberate, and is aimed at preventing U.S. fund Apollo Global Management from acquiring Tranquilidade. ...","Iraq calls for end to extremist 'sanctuaries'. PARIS (AP) — Diplomats from around the world pledged to fight Islamic State militants \"by any means necessary\" as Iraq asked allies to thwart the extremists wherever they find sanctuary. Iran and the United States ruled out coordinating with each other, leaving Baghdad's government caught between two powerful and antagonistic allies.","TSA to inspect how airliner repair shops secure planes in US, overseas; some say rule too weak. The Transportation Security Administration is gearing up to begin inspecting airplane shops all over the world, an effort aimed at stopping potential sabotage and theft of U.S. planes.","French court says Uber may infringe on taxi law. PARIS (AP) — A French court ruled Friday that Uber's ride-hailing service may infringe French law and ordered the company to make changes to its popular mobile app-based service.","Australia chase 448 for victory after Amla century. By Nick Said PORT ELIZABETH, South Africa (Reuters) - Hashim Amla plundered an unbeaten 127 as South Africa set Australia a record victory target of 448 on the fourth day of the second test on Sunday. The tourists were 31 without loss at lunch after South Africa had declared 40 minutes before the interval on 270 for five, mindful of the inclement weather predicted for the final day on Monday. Openers Chris Rogers (21) and David Warner (10) took Australia safely to lunch with few alarms on a pitch that still looks good for batting. The highest successful run chase in test history was the 418 West Indies scored against Australia in Antigua in 2003.","Australia's Mark Milligan ruled out of Dutch match. PORTO ALEGRE, Brazil (AP) — Midfielder Mark Milligan has been ruled out of Australia's World Cup clash with the Netherlands on Wednesday due to a hamstring strain.","At least 40 Palestinians dead in Gaza neighborhood: hospital official. GAZA (Reuters) - At least 40 Palestinians were killed on Sunday by Israeli shelling of the Gaza neighborhood of Shejaia, a medical official said. \"Forty martyrs have been counted so far and bodies were picked up. Medics are searching for possibly more casualties,\" Naser Tattar, director of Gaza's Shifa hospital, told Reuters. He said some 400 people were wounded in the Israeli attack. (Reporting by Nidal al-Mughrabi, Writing by Jeffrey Heller, Editing by Crispian Balmer)","2 deaths overshadow end of Chess Olympiad. STOCKHOLM (AP) — A major international chess tournament in northern Norway has ended on a grim note, with one player dying in the middle of a game and another found dead in a hotel room.","Mexico nabs suspects with 10,000 sea turtle eggs. MEXICO CITY (AP) — Environmental prosecutors in Mexico say three suspects have been detained in the southern Pacific coast state of Oaxaca with more than 10,000 illegally harvested eggs from protected sea turtles.","Mexico editor: Garcia Marquez left manuscript. MEXICO CITY (AP) — Novelist Gabriel Garcia Marquez left behind an unpublished manuscript that he chose not to print while he was alive, an editor told The Associated Press on Tuesday.","Rouhani has not stopped Iran suppressing human rights: U.N. envoy. By Stephanie Nebehay GENEVA (Reuters) - President Hassan Rouhani has made only \"baby steps\" to improve human rights in Iran where forces loyal to the supreme leader are \"working to suppress the rights of people,\" a United Nations investigator said on Friday. Ahmed Shaheed, U.N. special rapporteur for human rights in Iran, said the country was holding almost 900 political prisoners, \"including people persecuted for religious activities, lawyers and journalists.\" In his latest report to the U.N. Human Rights Council Shaheed said there were 379 political activists, 292 religious practioners, 92 human rights defenders, 71 civic activists, 37 journalists and bloggers and 24 students held as what he defined as political prisoners. Iran has refused to let Shaheed enter Iran, saying its human rights record is good and accusing the West of using the issue as a pretext to add pressure to a country already under sanctions for its nuclear activities.","Obama discusses potential new Russia sanctions with Merkel, Cameron. U.S. President Barack Obama spoke to German Chancellor Angela Merkel and British Prime Minister David Cameron on Friday about the potential need for more sanctions against Russia if it fails to take steps to de-escalate the situation in Ukraine, the White House said. \"While agreeing to continue efforts to find a diplomatic solution to the current crisis, they reaffirmed their determination to remain in close contact as they consider what additional actions may be required,\" the White House said of Obama's call with Merkel. \"They emphasized that Russia bears a clear responsibility to deny separatists in eastern Ukraine continued access to heavy weapons and other support from inside Russia,\" it said.","AP Interview: Libya FM wants Tripoli negotiations. CAIRO (AP) — Libya's newly appointed foreign minister says he hopes negotiations could resolve the standoff in Tripoli, where Islamist militias have taken over the capital and forced out elected lawmakers.","Kenya: US Embassy increases defenses amid threat. NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — The Marine stood behind a camouflaged sandbag bunker atop the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi and scanned the horizon with binoculars. What he saw was a busy street that officials fear is full of targets for an attack by al-Qaida-linked militants because diplomatic missions are in the neighborhood.","US want shoe bomb plotter to testify i. NEW HAVEN, Connecticut (AP) — Federal prosecutors want a man convicted in a failed 2001 shoe bomb plot to bring down an airplane to testify at the sentencing of two British citizens who pleaded guilty in Connecticut to supporting terrorists through websites.","Toronto crack mayor to undergo chemotherapy for cancer. Ottawa (AFP) - Toronto's Mayor Rob Ford, who won global notoriety for smoking crack cocaine in a \"drunken stupor\" while in office, will undergo chemotherapy to fight a malignant tumor, his doctor said Wednesday.","Contador wins Tirreno 5th leg, takes overall lead. GUARDIAGRELE, Italy (AP) — Alberto Contador again showed his strength in the mountains as he claimed a second successive Tirreno-Adriatico stage win to move into the overall lead on Sunday.","Spanish boat breaks in two off French coast. Anglet (France) (AFP) - A Spanish cargo ship slammed into a dyke and split in two near the French port of Bayonne on Wednesday as wild weather lashed Europe's Atlantic coasts. The local mayor's office said the boat, carrying 11 sailors, had crashed into the dyke amid heavy seas near the town of Anglet on its way to Bayonne in southwestern France. But Transport Minister Frederic Cuvillier, who rushed to the scene, said there was probably no risk \"of massive pollution\". An AFP reporter at the scene described half of the boat as resting on the dyke while the other half was lying on the beach at Anglet -- a favourite spot for surfers in France.","One Direction back with dose 'Four' of boy band pop. New York (AFP) - One Direction has returned for the fourth straight year with a holiday season album, as the boy band proves its longevity through a gradually maturing sound.","Ex-Catalan leader hit with corruption lawsuit in Spain. A right-wing Spanish public sector union filed a lawsuit Wednesday against an ex-president of the autonomous region of Catalonia, accusing him of graft involving up to 18 million euros ($24 million). Jordi Pujol, who was president of Catalonia from 1980 to 2003, stunned supporters when he announced last month that his family had hidden an inheritance from his father in offshore accounts for the past 34 years. The 84-year-old, who in recent years has become a leading advocate of Catalonia's independence from Spain, did not say how much money he had hidden abroad to avoid tax but Catalan daily newspaper La Vanguardia reported that four million euros was kept in a bank account in Andorra. Manios Limpias accuses the former head of the Catalan government of bribery, misappropriation of public funds, influence peddling, tax fraud, falsification of public documents, money laundering and breach of trust.","Germany's Schaeuble says ministers to discuss Greek credit line early Dec. BERLIN (Reuters) - Eurozone finance ministers will discuss in early December conditions for providing Greece with credit when its current aid program expires, German Finance Minster Wolfgang Schaeuble said on Sunday. Greece wants to quit the international bailout program by the end of the year, but has been at loggerheads with its lenders, the troika of the European Commission, International Monetary Fund and European Central Bank, over Greece's projected budget shortfall next year. ...","Pro-government supporters rally in Venezuela. Several hundred supporters of the Venezuelan government staged a colorful rally in the capital Caracas on Saturday, as opponents called for more protests against President Nicolas Maduro and his leftist administration. Venezuela has seen almost daily anti-government demonstrations over violent crime, shortages of essential goods such as toilet paper, and inflation, in the most serious challenge yet for Maduro since succeeding the late socialist-populist Hugo Chavez last year. At least 28 people have died and 400 have been injured in the student-led protests that started on February 4 in San Cristobal, in the west of Venezuela, and later spread to Caracas and several other cities. \"The people and the armed forces are on the streets defending the Bolivarian revolution and the legacy of Hugo Chavez, the country and our constitution,\" thundered Diosdado Cabello, speaker of the National Assembly, sporting a coat in the yellow, blue and red colors of Venezuela.","Gulf stocks reel on sliding oil prices. Kuwait City (AFP) - Share prices in energy-rich Gulf Arab states fell sharply at the start of the week Sunday, dragged down after oil prices plunged to new lows.","Senegal closes border with Guinea over Ebola fears. DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — Senegal has closed its land border with neighboring Guinea to prevent the spread of the Ebola outbreak, which has killed at least 70 people.","Two workers killed at Lonmin mine in South Africa: union. JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa's National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) said two of its members were killed on Monday as they reported for work at Lonmin's strike-hit platinum mine. \"Two mine workers were killed this morning. NUM members who went to work are being intimidated and assaulted,\" NUM spokesman Livhuwani Mammburu said. Lonmin's chief executive confirmed one employee was killed, but provided no other details on a conference call with reporters. (Reporting by Ed Stoddard; Writing by Olivia Kumwenda-Mtambo; Editing by Ed Cropley)","Two Israelis killed in Belgium museum attack. Two of the three people shot dead in an attack on the Jewish museum in Brussels were Israeli tourists, a spokesman for the Israeli foreign ministry said on Sunday. \"An Israeli couple in their 50s from Tel Aviv, who were visiting Brussels as tourists, were among the victims,\" Yigal Palmor told AFP, in reference to the deadly attack in the Belgian capital on Saturday. \"We have confidence in the Belgian authorities, in the justice system and the police to look into this horrible crime,\" he said. Three people were killed and one was critically wounded when a gunman attacked the Jewish Museum in central Brussels on Saturday afternoon in an apparently anti-Semitic act that shocked the country.","Fed nominees Fischer and Brainard stress jobs, financial stability. (Reuters) - Two nominees to top Federal Reserve policymaking posts stressed the importance of financial stability and getting Americans back to work as key goals for U.S. central bank. \"At present, achievement of both maximum employment and price stability requires the continuation of an expansionary monetary policy,\" Stanley Fischer, the former Bank of Israel chief who is nominated to be Fed vice chair, said in written testimony released on Wednesday for a Senate confirmation hearing set for Thursday. Lael Brainard, a former deputy at the Treasury Department who has been nominated to be a Fed governor, said in her testimony the Fed \"will need to carefully calibrate the tools of monetary policy to ensure an appropriate pace of normalization, while supporting the fragile recovery in our job market and ensuring inflation expectations remain well anchored.\" (Reporting by Ann Saphir and Jonathan Spicer;","Peru wants names of activists in Nazca lines stunt. LIMA, Peru (AP) — Peru's government said Monday that the environmental group Greenpeace hasn't given it the names of the activists officials accuse of damaging the world-renowned Nazca lines by leaving footprints in the adjacent desert during a publicity stunt.","Telecom Italia board unlikely to meet on Brazil before Christmas. ROME (Reuters) - The board of Telecom Italia will unlikely meet before Christmas to discuss options in Brazil, its chairman said on Tuesday, as the Italian phone group is examining a possible tie-up with Brazilian telecoms operator Oi . \"I don't think so, I would say no,\" Giuseppe Recchi said at a conference in Rome when asked about the possibility of the company's directors meeting before Christmas for an update on Brazil. (Reporting by Alberto Sisto, writing by Danilo Masoni; editing by Agnieszka Flak)","Britain launches first drone strike in Iraq against Islamic State. LONDON (Reuters) - Britain launched its first drone strike in Iraq against Islamic State (IS) fighters at the weekend, the government said on Monday, saying a Hellfire missile had been fired at militants laying improvised explosive devices. Britain's parliament approved air strikes against IS insurgents in Iraq in September and Royal Air Force Tornado GR4 fighter-bombers have since carried out dozens of combat missions as part of U.S.-led military action in the country. ...","Zimbabwe's external debt level 'precarious': IMF. The International Monetary Fund on Monday warned Zimbabwe's economy remains fragile with a \"precarious\" level of external debt that needs to be addressed. \"Zimbabwe's fragile economic situation characterised by a growth slowdown, a large external deficit, and low international reserves,\" the IMF said. \"Zimbabwe's external position remains precarious, with usable international reserves covering less than two weeks of imports,\" the Fund said in a regular \"Article IV\" report on the state of the economy. It urged Harare to clear its over $10 billion debt, to \"avoid selective debt service\" and improve the business environment.","Over 200 migrants force way into Spain's Melilla. More than 200 migrants stormed across a triple-layer border fence into Spain's north African territory of Melilla on Friday, Spanish authorities said, in one of the largest such crossings in years. \"They were singing songs of joy through various parts of the city,\" the Spanish government authority in Melilla said in a statement. Thirty-four of the migrants who took part in the border assault were taken to hospital in nearby Nador in Morocco suffering from cuts and fractures, said Adil Akid from the Moroccan Association of Human Rights who visited the hospital. It was the latest in a series of coordinated assaults by African migrants on the border of Melilla, which along with fellow Spanish territory Ceuta has the European Union's only land borders with Africa.","Poll: Israelis, Palestinians back two-state deal. RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) — A poll suggests a majority of Israelis and Palestinians supports the establishment of a Palestinian state alongside Israel, but remains suspicious of the other side.","Iraqis show no sign of uniting in response to massacre of Sunni tribe. By Raheem Salman BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Islamic State's systematic massacre of hundreds of Iraq's Albu Nimr tribe should have been an unmistakable wake up call for a country that may not be able to stabilize without long-term support from Sunni tribesmen. But nearly a month after members of the tribe were hunted down in groups and executed, the Baghdad government appears to be doing little to assimilate Sunnis in any much-needed move towards unity. The Albu Nimr were one of the Sunni tribes that helped the U.S. ...","Al Qaeda denies decline, acknowledges 'mistakes' by its branches. (Reuters) - Al Qaeda dismissed as \"lies\" a U.S. \"Whatever slip-ups or errors (regional branches)...may have committed are limited in number in the midst of mountains of good deeds and successes,\" said Hossam Abdul Raouf, an Egyptian veteran of the militant group. Raouf, who served under assassinated leader Osama Bin Laden, said the group was expanding across the world. Al Qaeda faces a challenge to its leadership of the radical Islamist struggle with the West by the Islamic State group, and may be seeking to burnish its credentials as its rival girds for a fight to protect land it has seized in Iraq and Syria.","North Korea lists athletes for Asian Games. North Korea has submitted a list of athletes for the upcoming Asian Games in the South, organisers in Seoul said Thursday, despite stalled negotiations on its participation in the event. Pyongyang has also suggested sending 350 cheerleaders to the Games to be held in the port city of Incheon from September 19 to October 4.","Bangkok braces as Thai protesters set for shutdown. BANGKOK (AP) — Residents of Thailand's congested capital are bracing for worse traffic chaos than usual, with anti-government demonstrators planning to occupy major intersections Monday in what they describe as an effort to shut down Bangkok. There is concern that violence may ensue and possibly trigger a military coup.","Cricket-Australia set England mammoth 448 to win in Sydney. Australia were dismissed for 276 in their second innings shortly after lunch on the third day of the fifth test on Sunday, setting England an unlikely victory target of 448 to avoid a 5-0 series sweep. Chris Rogers recorded his highest test score with 119 before departing caught and bowled by debutant leg spinner Scott Borthwick in the second over after the break and England then mopped up the tail. Paceman Boyd Rankin removed Peter Siddle caught behind for four to end the innings and claim his first test wicket.","India's next government may adopt Gujarat farm model. By Ratnajyoti Dutta NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India's main opposition party would, if elected, roll out a program to boost farm efficiency that its prime ministerial candidate, Narendra Modi, has championed in his home state of Gujarat. The nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which opinion polls show winning the most seats in a general election, is pushing a range of market reforms to differentiate it from the Congress-led government's focus on subsidies. \"A market-centric policy would make the promotion of self-reliance a top priority,\" said one senior source in the BJP, which hopes to win the five-week election starting on April 7 after a decade in opposition. While no decisions have been taken, a BJP-led government may also review the possibility of allowing genetically modified crops into the food chain.","Lavrov says Russia has proposals to resolve Ukrainian 'situation'. SOCHI, Russia (Reuters) - Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Monday Russia had drawn up proposals to return the Ukrainian \"situation\" back to a legislative framework which would take into account all Ukrainian interests. At a meeting with President Vladimir Putin, Lavrov also said he had invited U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry to visit Russia on Monday to continue talks, but that Kerry had said on Saturday he wanted to postpone the visit. (Reporting by Alexei Anishchuk, Writing by Elizabeth Piper, Editing by Timothy Heritage)","Cuba Church magazine editors quit over 'divisions'. HAVANA (AP) — The former editors of an influential Roman Catholic magazine in Cuba say they resigned because its critical coverage caused controversy within the ecclesiastical community.","State media says Syrian army killed 175 rebels. BEIRUT (AP) — Syrian army troops killed 175 rebels in an ambush Wednesday south of Damascus, state media reported, a major attack targeting mostly al-Qaida-linked fighters as part of a government effort to secure the capital.","Iran mulls sending observers to monitor Syria poll. Iran is considering sending observers to monitor the June 3 presidential election in its key regional ally Syria, the foreign ministry said on Tuesday. Shiite Iran is a staunch supporter of President Bashar al-Assad's regime, who has been battling mostly Sunni rebels who have been trying to oust him since the conflict erupted in March 2011. \"Sending observers is on the agenda and we are studying that,\" foreign ministry spokeswoman Marzieh Afkham told journalists during her weekly news briefing in Tehran.","Family Dollar says state attorney generals to probe Dollar General bid. (Reuters) - Family Dollar Stores Inc said certain state attorney generals have notified the company that they will investigate larger rival Dollar General Corp's takeover bid over competitive concerns. Family Dollar spurned Dollar General's sweetened $9.1 billion all-cash bid earlier this month, saying the offer still did not address antitrust concerns. Family Dollar instead said it was sticking with a lower $8.5 billion cash-and-stock offer from Dollar Tree Inc . After being spurned twice, Dollar General took its bid hostile and approached Family Dollar shareholders directly. ...","UN promises action over raging Ebola virus. United Nations (United States) (AFP) - Liberia welcomed global pledges of action on the Ebola epidemic ravaging west Africa, admitting on Friday that the government was losing the trust of its people with the outbreak still out of control.","Tennis-Heat stops play at Australian Open. MELBOURNE, Jan 16 (Reuters) - Play at the Australian Open was called to a halt on day four of the championships on Thursday with temperatures at Melbourne Park hitting 41 degrees Celsius (106 Fahrenheit) and still rising. Organisers, who have been slammed for forcing players to play on in searing temperatures on Tuesday and Wednesday, enacted the third stage of their \"Extreme Heat Policy\" at about 1.50pm local time (0250 GMT). Play would continue in all matches until the end of the ongoing set and then cease until conditions eased. (Reporting by Nick Mulvenney, editing by Patrick Johnston)","For Merkel, EU migration rules 'non-negotiable'. Berlin (AFP) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel sees the free movement of people within the EU as non-negotiable, her spokesman said Monday, after she reportedly warned Britain against restricting it.","Russia seeks life sentences for men who killed Anna Politkovskaya. By Steve Gutterman MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian prosecutors asked a judge on Tuesday for life sentences for two men convicted of the 2006 murder of journalist Anna Politkovskaya, whose killing deepened Western concerns about the rule of law under President Vladimir Putin. The two facing life in jail are Rustam Makhmoudov, who was convicted of shooting Politikovskaya in her Moscow apartment building, and his uncle Lom-Ali Gaitukayev, found guilty of organizing the logistics of the crime, the RIA news agency said. Prosecutors asked the judge to sentence Makhmoudov's brothers Dzhabrail and Ibragim, who tracked Politkovskaya on the day of the shooting, to 19 and 15 years respectively, and want a 22-year sentence for former policeman Sergei Khadzhikurbanov. Politkovskaya, who was 48 when she was shot while returning home after shopping for groceries, was best known for her revealing reporting on human rights violations in the North Caucasus province of Chechnya.","ECB's Liikanen says Ukraine crisis impact on fin markets muted: TV. The Ukraine crisis has not had very much impact on international financial markets so far, although it has hit Ukraine and Russia, European Central Bank Governing Council member Erkki Liikanen said on Saturday. Asked about the impact of the crisis in a TV interview on Finnish national broadcaster Yle, Liikanen said: \"For international, European financial markets, its impact has not been large. It has been very large for Ukraine, large for Russia, but on average it has been limited internationally.\" (Reporting by Sakari Suoninen;","Italy's Buffon set to miss WCup match v England. MANAUS, Brazil (AP) — Italy goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon says he doesn't expect to face England in their World Cup opener on Saturday, following an ankle injury in training.","Inequality, discrimination key obstacles to development: UN. United Nations (United States) (AFP) - Inequality and discrimination, particularly towards women, are among the world's biggest obstacles to development, a UN report published Wednesday said. \"The report's findings point to why governments must enact and enforce laws that eliminate inequalities and that protect human rights, why they must fulfill the commitments they made in Cairo,\" said Fund director Babatunde Osotimehin.","Rory seeks fourth win in a row as playoffs open. Top-ranked Rory McIlroy tries to become only the fifth player in PGA history to win four consecutive starts when the season-ending US tour playoffs begin Thursday with The Barclays. The 25-year-old from Northern Ireland won last month's British Open and followed with his first World Golf Championships title at Akron, Ohio, before claiming the PGA Championship two weeks ago for his fourth major title. Four players in PGA history have produced win streaks of at least four tournaments, with Byron Nelson claiming the record at 11 wins in 1945, Tiger Woods taking a career-best seven in a row in 2006 and early 2007, Ben Hogan having a run of six in a row in 1948 and Jack Burke winning four straight in 1952.","Syrian opposition seeks Arab League seat and Syrian embassies. Syrian opposition leader Ahmad Jarba urged Arab leaders at a summit in Kuwait on Tuesday to grant Syria's vacant Arab League seat to his National Coalition and let it take over Syria's embassies abroad. \"Leaving Syria's seat empty sends a message to (President Bashar) al-Assad...'Kill, kill the seat is waiting for you once the battle is settled',\" Jarba told the opening session of the Arab League summit.","Groups: Immigrant minors lack legal representation. SEATTLE (AP) — A coalition of U.S. immigrant rights advocacy groups is suing the federal government over the fact that few minors have legal representation during deportation proceedings.","Zimbabwe gets $110 mn water, power upgrades grant. Zimbabwe has received a $110 million grant from the African Development Bank to repair and upgrade ageing infrastructure including water and power supply facilities, the finance minister said Wednesday. \"This support comes at an opportune time when the country is witnessing a high level of company closures in the past few years,\" Finance Minister Patrick Chinamasa told reporters in the capital. He said projects to be funded by the grant include upgrading power generation, rehabilitating water and sanitation services and repairing the Kariba Dam wall on the border with Zambia. Zimbabwe, led by President Robert Mugabe since independence from Britain in 1980, has been seeking to climb back on its feet after a decade-long downturn which saw runaway annual inflation peaking at 231 million percent.","South Sudan retakes oil town from rebels. JUBA, South Sudan (AP) — A military spokesman in South Sudan says government troops have retaken the capital of an oil-producing state from rebels loyal to the country's former vice president.","Sixteen Pakistani soldiers killed in attack on army convoy. DERA ISMAIL KHAN, Pakistan (Reuters) - At least 16 Pakistani soldiers were killed on Sunday when an explosion hit an army convoy near the northwestern region of Bannu, intelligence sources said. At least 20 others were killed. The assault took place after the Pakistani Taliban vowed to increase attacks on security forces following the election of the group's new leader, Mullah Fazlullah, at the end of last year. (Reporting by Saud Mehsud; Writing by Maria Golovnina; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)","Airbus receives biggest ever aircraft order. PARIS (AP) — Indian budget airline IndiGo has signed a preliminary order with Airbus for 250 A320neo Family aircraft.","France's Iliad drops plan to buy T-Mobile US. PARIS (Reuters) - French low-cost telecoms operator Iliad abandoned its attempt to buy T-Mobile US on Monday because of resistance from majority owner Deutsche Telekom , becoming the third bidder to walk away in three years. Iliad had set a mid-October deadline to decide whether to improve its $33 a share bid for 56.6 percent of the fourth-biggest cellphone network operator in the United States, sources told Reuters last month. ...","Obama to announce plans to seek to leave 9,800 U.S. troops in Afghanistan. By Steve Holland WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama will announce plans on Tuesday to seek to leave 9,800 U.S. troops in Afghanistan after the formal troop drawdown at the end of this year, a senior administration official said. The number emerged after Obama held talks with U.S. military commanders at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan on Sunday as the United States winds down a war begun in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. Obama was to make the announcement in a 2:45 p.m. EDT statement in the White House Rose Garden. U.S. officials are expressing increasing confidence that the next Afghan president will sign a bilateral security agreement that Obama wants before the United States will agree to leave behind troops to help train Afghan forces and conduct counter-terrorism operations.","Western think tank praises Trudeau's Senate reform plan, disses Harper. OTTAWA - Justin Trudeau's decision to boot senators out of the Liberal caucus is being hailed as more in western Canada's interests than Stephen Harper's \"misguided\" efforts to democratize the unelected chamber.","Election coverage shows growth of Afghanistan's new media, but will press remain free?. KABUL - In a crowded room overlooking a gleaming television studio, Tolo TV's election team is strategizing for Afghanistan's presidential debate when the room suddenly goes dark. The staff doesn't miss a beat.","Cricket-Australia beat India by four wickets in second test. Dec 20 (Reuters) - Australia beat India by four wickets in the second test with more than a day to spare at the Gabba in Brisbane on Saturday to take an unassailable 2-0 lead in the four-match series. The hosts, who won the first test by 48 runs in Adelaide last week, dismissed India for 224 before tea and then successfully chased down their target of 128 in the final session. (Reporting by Nick Mulvenney, editing by Amlan Chakraborty)","FINA bans Olympic medalist Efimova for doping. PARIS (AP) — The governing body of swimming has banned Olympic bronze medalist Yuliya Efimova for 16 months for doping and voided her 50-meter breaststroke world record.","CEO: Venezuela blocks key app for protesters. LIMA, Peru (AP) — The U.S. company whose \"walkie-talkie\" application Zello has become a wildly popular organizing tool for Venezuelan anti-government protesters says the country's state-run telecom company has just blocked its use.","Family of killed US hostage criticise failed raid. London (AFP) - The British relatives of the US hostage killed by Al-Qaeda during a rescue attempt in Yemen criticised the raid Monday, saying they would have preferred negotiations.","German foreign ministry says U.S. top spy has left the country. BERLIN/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The CIA station chief in Berlin who was told to leave by Germany due to new allegations of U.S. spying has now left the country, a spokesman for Germany's foreign ministry said on Thursday. A U.S. official had previously told Reuters the spy would leave Germany by the end of the week. Last week, Berlin said it had discovered a suspected U.S. spy in the defense ministry - just days after a German foreign intelligence worker was arrested on suspicion of being a CIA informant and admitted passing documents to a U.S. contact. The scandal has cooled relations between Berlin and Washington to levels not seen since Merkel's predecessor opposed the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003.","AP WAS THERE: The Berlin Wall crumbles. EDITOR'S NOTE — The Berlin Wall came down Nov. 9, 1989, heralding not just the reunification of East and West Berlin, and East and West Germany, but the eventual fall of the USSR and the Iron Curtain.","Militias rule the day in strife-torn Middle East. Embattled governments in Iraq and Syria have come to rely on Shiite militias as their armies have crumbled in the face of mostly Sunni insurgents and rebels. In Libya, various armed groups loosely allied with two rival governments have fought over bullet-riddled airports. Shiite rebels in Yemen have swept down from the north, capturing the capital and, on Tuesday, a key port city.","Corning buying Samsung fiber optics business. CORNING, N.Y. (AP) — Corning is buying Samsung Electronics' fiber optics business, which will help bolster its portfolio of optical communications products in Asia.","Berdych beats Dimitrov to win Stockholm Open title. HELSINKI (AP) — Top-seeded Tomas Berdych beat defending champion Grigor Dimitrov 5-7, 6-4, 6-4 Sunday to win the Stockholm Open for the second time.","British-Iranian volleyball woman released on bail: brother. London (AFP) - A British-Iranian woman controversially jailed months ago in Tehran after trying to attend a men's volleyball match was released on bail Sunday pending an appeal court verdict, her family said.","Monsoon reaches India coast slightly later than usual. By Ratnajyoti Dutta NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Monsoon rains reached India's southern coast a few days later than usual on Friday, offering relief to farmers eagerly waiting for the start of the wet season that is crucial for their summer crops. But the slight delay in the monsoon's onset is unlikely to have a major impact on sowing of rice, pulses and cotton that has started in many growing areas of northwest and southern India, taking advantage of pre-monsoon showers. The formation of a possible El Nino weather phenomenon, which can cause drought in South Asia, is only expected to have an impact later in the four-month rainy season. \"We don't foresee any El Nino impact in the first month of the monsoon season,\" said B.P. Yadav, head of the National Weather Forecasting Centre at the India Meteorological Department in New Delhi.","Goalless Greece takes on resurgent Ivorians. FORTALEZA, Brazil (AP) — After a troubled start, the smiles are returning to West Africa at the World Cup.","Canada's Eugenie Bouchard survives scare, wins opener at Australian Open. MELBOURNE, Australia - Canadian Eugenie Bouchard survived a scare from a 431st-ranked challenger from China on Monday to reach the second round of the Australian Open, scoring a 7-5, 6-1 victory over Chen Tang Hao.","Ivory Coast ex-rebel profiting from banned diamond trade: U.N. experts. By Joe Bavier ABIDJAN (Reuters) - A senior Ivory Coast army officer is breaking a diamond embargo and may be using profits to buy arms, U.N. experts have found, dealing a potentially embarrassing blow to government efforts to have the ban lifted. Ivory Coast is the only country in the world still subject to a U.N.-imposed ban on diamond exports but it received a clean bill of health in November from the Kimberley Process - the body tasked with preventing the sale of so called \"blood diamonds\" from fuelling armed conflicts. But U.N. experts, charged with monitoring compliance with a sanctions regime including an arms embargo, said diamonds are being exported from Ivory Coast in breach of the ban. \"The measures and restrictions imposed by the (Security) Council ... still do not prevent the illicit trafficking of Ivorian rough diamonds,\" read the report released on Tuesday.","LG Electronics profit surges on smartphone sales. SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea's LG Electronics Inc. says its third-quarter profit jumped 87 percent over a year earlier as smartphone sales set a record high.","Palace: Queen's granddaughter Zara has baby girl. LONDON (AP) — Queen Elizabeth II's granddaughter Zara Phillips has given birth to a baby girl, Buckingham Palace said Friday. The child is 16th in line to the British throne.","France hits back at French bashers with Nobel wins. PARIS (AP) — France thinks it's time to bash the French-bashers.","Memorial service held for Mount Everest victims. KATMANDU, Nepal (AP) — Family members, mountaineers and government officials gathered in Nepal's capital for a memorial service for the 16 Nepalese Sherpa guides killed in avalanche on Mount Everest.","Chelsea big favorite in Champions League group. The start of the season could not have gone any better for Chelsea — four straight Premier League wins, the emergence of a striker who can't stop scoring and a spot into one of the easiest groups of the Champions League.","Suspected Kurdish rebels kidnap workers in southeastern Turkey. DIYARBAKIR Turkey (Reuters) - Suspected Kurdish militants kidnapped 10 power company workers in southeastern Turkey on Wednesday as tensions remain high in the region following unrest that killed at least 35 people. In a separate incident, a politician from a Kurdish Islamist party was shot dead in the eastern city of Bingol. Ethnic Kurds rioted in several southeastern cities this month over what they perceived as the government's refusal to help Syrian Kurds fighting Islamic State militants for more than a month in the besieged town of Kobani. ...","'No concrete step' yet for Homs evacuation, aid. No concrete steps have been taken to evacuate women and children or provide aid to the besieged Old City of Homs despite an agreement at Syrian peace talks in Geneva, the Red Cross said Monday. \"Until today noon, there has been no concrete step taken for any operation of this type in Homs Old City,\" Robert Mardini, head of operations for the Middle East at the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), told AFP. On Sunday at the UN-brokered negotiations in Geneva, Syria's regime agreed to allow women and children safe passage from rebel-held areas of the city of Homs where they have been under siege for nearly 600 days, with near-daily shelling and the barest of supplies.","Cuba marks Revolution Day with call for unity. HAVANA (AP) — Cuba is marking the 61st anniversary of the beginning of Fidel and Raul Castro's revolution with a call for unity.","Indian anti-corruption party targets ministers. By Sruthi Gottipati NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Friday named a string of high-ranking Indian politicians he described as corrupt and said his anti-graft Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) would target them in an upcoming general election. Kejriwal, whose year-old party swept to power in Delhi in local elections in December, is working on a national campaign that is likely to split votes for the governing Congress party and the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). On Friday, he read from a sheet of paper the names of more than two dozen powerful politicians from across the political spectrum and said his party would field strong candidates against them in the polls due by May. \"Suresh Kalmadi. Kejriwal went on to name cabinet ministers, including Finance Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram, Foreign Minister Salman Khurshid and Oil Minister Veerappa Moily.","Judge upholds suit over US Marine's missing heart. PHILADELPHIA (AP) — The family of a U.S. Marine whose body came back from Greece without his heart can pursue negligence claims against the United States, a federal judge ruled. However, the judge found that Greek officials and the Athens hospital where the autopsy was performed are immune from the family's lawsuit.","US landslide town knew risks, officials insist. Townspeople \"knew the risk, but they felt safe in the small events,\" John Pennington, head of the Snohomish County Emergency Management Department, told reporters. One volunteer firefighter described the landslide as \"quicksand, where you could easily sink up to your armpits.\"","Clashes in Libya capital leave 22 dead, 72 wounded. Clashes between rival militias in Tripoli have killed at least 22 people and wounded 72, the Libyan government said on Sunday, warning of a \"worsening humanitarian situation\" in the capital. The transitional government said \"several hundred\" families had been displaced and there was a \"worsening humanitarian situation\" in Tripoli, where petrol and bottled gas are scarce along with food supplies. Tripoli airport has been closed since July 13, and some aircraft damaged, amid clashes between rival militias which fought together in 2011 to help overthrow dictator Moamer Kadhafi.","Indian government unable to contact 40 nationals in Iraq. The Indian government has not been able to make contact with 40 Indian construction workers in the Iraqi city of Mosul, with one leading Indian newspaper reporting that they have been kidnapped. Foreign Ministry spokesman Syed Akbaruddin said dozens of Indian workers were living in areas overrun by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), and India was in contact with many of them, including 46 nurses. It has sent a senior envoy to Baghdad to support repatriation efforts. \"There are also reports which have been brought to the notice of our embassy that there are 40 Indian nationals in Mosul,\" Akbaruddin said.","Chinese bank to buy 60% in unit of South Africa's Standard Bank. South Africa's Standard Bank Group said Wednesday said it had agreed to sell a majority stake in its markets division to the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China for $765 million. \"Based on the net asset value of Standard Bank Plc and other relevant operations as at the end of June 2013, the consideration for this transaction is estimated to be $765 million,\" the bank said in a statement. For that state-backed ICBC will take a 60 percent share of the unit. The offer is subject to approval of shareholders of Standard Bank, who are expected to meet in March.","3rd US Ebola patient released from hospital. OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The third American aid worker who contracted Ebola in Africa said Thursday that he has been released from a Nebraska hospital.","Three-day Gaza cease-fire goes into effect after heavy Israel-Hamas fighting. GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — Three-day Gaza cease-fire goes into effect after heavy Israel-Hamas fighting.","Hungary's Orban retains two-thirds parliament majority. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban's party has retained its two-thirds majority in parliament, and with it the ability to change the constitution, according to a final tally of votes from last weekend's election published on Saturday. Close results in some constituencies had meant it was not clear whether the Fidesz party would reach the threshold of 133 of the 199 seats in parliament. By late Saturday, with 99.9 percent of votes counted, the National Election Office's website said Fidesz would have exactly 133 seats, the Socialist-led leftist alliance 38, and the far-right Jobbik party 23. \"Now it is certain that Fidesz will again have a two-thirds majority,\" said Peter Kreko, director of the political think tank Political Capital.","Tailenders help Pakistan put on 451 in 1st test. GALLE, Sri Lanka (AP) — Pakistan's tailenders scored heavily before the tourists were bowled out for 451 at tea on the second day of the first test against Sri Lanka on Thursday.","Israel honors war dead on annual Memorial Day. JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel has opened its annual Memorial Day for fallen soldiers and victims of terrorism.","2016 U.S. pullout gives time to build Afghan force: U.S. general. By Phil Stewart WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States believes Afghanistan has time to develop a reliable counterterrorism force before the end of 2016, when U.S. troops are due to withdraw under plans unveiled on Tuesday, the top U.S. military officer told Reuters. President Barack Obama announced plans to leave 9,800 American troops in Afghanistan at the start of next year, down from some 32,000 now. By the end of 2015, that U.S. presence would be reduced by about half. ...","Libyan official: Factions agree on early elections. TRIPOLI, Libya (AP) — The spokesman for Libya's interim parliament says the country's key factions have agreed to hold early elections, following a wave of protests against the legislature's decision to extend its mandate.","5 Things to know about Costa Rica. Costa Rica stunned the football world by beating former champions Italy and Uruguay in one of the toughest groups in the World Cup, becoming the first team from Group D to advance to the knockout stage.","South Korea unveils stimulus after ferry sinking. SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea's government unveiled stimulus plans Thursday after the shock of a deadly ferry sinking slowed economic growth to the lowest level in three quarters.","Norway wins women's team sprint at Olympics. KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia (AP) — Marit Bjoergen gave Norway a dominant victory in the women's cross-country team sprint on Wednesday for her fifth career Olympic gold medal.","U.S. sending more forces, aircraft to seek Uganda warlord Kony: report. The Obama administration is sending about 150 Special Forces troops along with military aircraft to Uganda to help in the search for warlord Joseph Kony, the Washington Post reported on Sunday. In the first deployment of U.S. military aircraft to the region, at least four CV-22 Osprey aircraft will arrive in Uganda by midweek, together with refueling planes and Special Forces airmen to fly and maintain them, Amanda Dory, the Pentagon's deputy assistant secretary of defense for African affairs, told the Post. \"While combat-equipped, they are prohibited from engaging LRA forces unless in self-defense,\" the Post said.","Yomiuri Giants sign Cuban pitcher Mendoza. TOKYO (AP) — Pitcher Hector Mendoza has signed with the Yomiuri Giants, becoming the third Cuban to join Japan's Central League team this season.","Blood and tears on Kiev's Independence Square. As fighting rages all around him on Kiev's Independence Square, a volunteer medic tears open a young protester's bloodstained T-shirt and desperately pumps his chest as the patient's grey face stares into the sky. Nearby, protesters scream wildly for people to clear a path for a stretcher carrying a man's covered body. It is the deadliest day yet in three months of anti-government protests in Ukraine and Kiev's Independence Square, known as the Maidan, is Ground Zero. Riot police fire salvos of rubber bullets at anti-government protesters who hurl back Molotov cocktails and stones, determined to take back full control of the square, the epicentre of the opposition-led protest movement.","Mexican cops scour garbage dump for missing students. Mexican authorities scoured a massive garbage dump Tuesday, searching for the remains of 43 students who have been missing for more than a month. Investigating prosecutors suspect the open-air dump, surrounded by mountains in the Guerrero state town of Cocula, could be where corrupt local police delivered the captured students to hitmen linked to the local Guerreros Unidos drug ring.","Boca wins 2-0 to inch up in Argentine standings. BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — Juan Manuel Martinez scored twice in the first half to give Boca Juniors a 2-0 victory over Defensa y Justicia on Sunday and move the Buenos Aires side into a share of fourth spot in the Argentine first division.","Morrison cleared of threatening to kill girlfriend. MANCHESTER, England (AP) — West Ham midfielder Ravel Morrison has been cleared of charges that alleged he threatened to throw acid in the face of his former girlfriend and have her killed.","Airbus logs record year, plans roomier planes. TOULOUSE, France (AP) — After a record year for sales, plane maker Airbus aims to keep business going by focusing on space — as in more legroom, not outer.","Legia seeks CAS ruling to play in Champs League. LAUSANNE, Switzerland (AP) — Legia Warsaw has filed an urgent appeal with sport's highest court to be reinstated in the Champions League playoff round next week.","Airbus conducts maiden flight of hot-selling A320neo. By Tim Hepher TOULOUSE France (Reuters) - Airbus successfully staged the maiden test flight on Thursday of an upgraded passenger jet on which it expects to generate hundreds of billions of dollars of revenue, buoyed by an increase in the company's jet demand forecast. The A320neo touched down in Toulouse, southwest France, 27 years after the original A320 first took to the skies and opened up fierce competition with Boeing's medium-haul 737 in a slice of the jet market estimated at $2 trillion over 20 years. ...","EU demands written Bosnian commitment to reform. BRUSSELS (AP) — European Union nations are demanding that leaders of Bosnia-Herzegovina commit themselves in writing to legal, social and economic reforms for the troubled Balkan country's status with the EU to be upgraded.","Continental buying Veyance Technologies for $1.91B. German auto parts maker Continental says it is buying rubber and plastics maker Veyance Technologies Inc. from private equity firm The Carlyle Group for 1.4 billion euros ($1.91 billion).","Iran gives ex-president's daughter suspended jail term. Iran on Saturday handed a daughter of former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani a suspended jail sentence for spreading lies about the authorities, her lawyer told the official IRNA news agency. \"The verdict was issued by the court and my client has been sentenced to a six-month suspended jail term,\" Vahid Abolmoalayee said. Fatemeh Hashemi's sentence was suspended for the next two years, said Abolmoalayee, adding that he would appeal against the sentence. Faezeh Hashemi, another of Rafsanjani's daughters, was arrested and imprisoned in late 2012 for six months for \"propaganda against the regime\".","Clarke to lead Australia squad to Zimbabwe. BRISBANE, Australia (AP) — Michael Clarke will lead Australia on its first cricket tour to Zimbabwe in a decade for an international tri-series also involving South Africa starting later this month.","Rugby Union - Australian turmoil overshadows All Blacks Test build-up. - Off-field distractions are overshadowing the build-up to Saturday's Bledisloe Cup clash in Brisbane with the Wallabies in a state of chaos and the All Blacks exiling a key playmaker.","Ukraine national guard: cease-fire holding. KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — The head of Ukraine's national guard says the cease-fire called in the country's rebellious east appears to be holding despite some violations early on.","USOC sponsor AT&T condemns Russia's anti-gay law. SOCHI, Russia (AP) — U.S. Olympic Committee sponsor AT&T has condemned a Russian law restricting gay-rights activity as Sochi prepares to host the Winter Olympics.","Lebanon's air traffic controllers to stop work on June 10. Air traffic controllers at Beirut airport are to hold a two-hour strike on Tuesday in protest at the Lebanese parliament's failure to approve long-delayed public sector pay increases. The increases were approved by Lebanon's government more than a year ago but have been held up by political deadlock and fears that significant wage rises will put more strain on the state's already widening budget deficit. Air traffic controllers said on Sunday they would suspend work between 11 am and 1 pm (4.00 a.m. ET to 6.00 a.m. ET) on Tuesday in protest at the repeated delays to raising their pay. Lebanon's Finance Ministry said last week that the 2014 budget deficit is expected to widen to $5.1 billion, or 10.7 percent of GDP, even without the proposed public service pay increases.","South Africa: white extremist's house stirs debate. JOHANNESBURG (AP) — A provincial official in South Africa has proposed turning the home of a slain white extremist into a museum, arguing that the \"ugly\" side of the country's apartheid past should be remembered.","Hezbollah chief warns of foreign fighters in Syria. BEIRUT (AP) — Hezbollah's leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah is warning that hard-line foreign fighters in Syria pose a global threat as they return home.","It's all about World Cup, Gatland says after 'Boks scalp. Cardiff (United Kingdom) (AFP) - Warren Gatland has long been in the media crosshairs for his failure to guide Wales to more than one win over the southern hemisphere giants of world rugby.","Defense: Boston bombing suspect's friend was naive. BOSTON (AP) — A friend of Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was a naive college kid who was prosecuted because he was a \"friend of the bomber,\" a defense lawyer said Wednesday, while prosecutors told a jury the man was an active participant in a plan to protect Tsarnaev by removing altered fireworks and other items from his dorm room.","Kazakh president's arch-foe arrested in Vienna. Rakhat Aliyev, the Kazakh president's former son-in-law, has been detained in Austria while under investigation for alleged crimes including murder and running a crime network in the Central Asian country, his lawyer said. Aliyev, once Kazakh ambassador to Austria and now a vocal critic of President Nursultan Nazarbayev, is wanted in Kazakhstan for the killings of two bankers in 2007 and could face up to 40 years in jail if extradited. Vienna has twice refused to extradite him because of the former Soviet republic's human rights record, but opened its own investigation in 2011 against Aliyev, who now lives in Malta. \"After he voluntarily turned himself in and returned to Austria, he was arrested around 11 p.m. (on Thursday) after we waited for the police at the airport,\" lawyer Manfred Ainedter told Austrian broadcaster ORF in a radio interview broadcast on Friday.","700 migrants rush at Spain's border, 140 breach it. MADRID (AP) — Around 700 African migrants charged Spain's barbed-wire border fences Thursday in the country's North African enclave of Melilla, clashing with Spanish and Moroccan border police.","Thousands flee Syrian cities ahead of election. BEIRUT (AP) — Thousands of people have fled government-held Syrian cities after opposition fighters warned they will attack during next week's presidential election to disrupt the vote, opposition activists said Friday.","Study: Asian cave drawings as old as European ones. WASHINGTON (AP) — Ancient cave drawings in Indonesia are as old as famous prehistoric art in Europe, according to a new study that shows human ancestors were drawing all over the world 40,000 years ago.","Saudis give UN $100 million to fight terrorism. UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Saudi Arabia handed over a check for $100 million to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Wednesday to help finance the U.N.'s center to combat global terrorism.","Iraqi Kurdish forces receiving western training. BAGHDAD (AP) — A senior Iraqi commander in the western Anbar province says at least 40 soldiers were killed in recent suicide bombings carried out by Islamic State militants and another 68 have been captured.","PM Abe's ruling party eyes big gains in low-voltage Japan vote. By Linda Sieg TOKYO (Reuters) - Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's party looks set for a huge win on Sunday in a low-voltage election that will allow the conservative leader to claim a fresh mandate for his reflationary policies to revive Japan's long-stagnant economy. Voting began at 7 a.m. (5.00 p.m. ET) for an election that the premier has cast as a referendum on his \"Abenomics\" strategy to end deflation and generate growth. Media exit polls, which have proved reliable in the past, will come out at 8 p.m. (6.00 a.m. ET). ...","In Syria, government pursues local cease-fires. BEIRUT (AP) — In one besieged neighborhood after another, weary rebels have turned over their weapons to the Syrian government in exchange for an easing of suffocating blockades that have prevented food, medicine and other staples from reaching civilians trapped inside.","Resistant mosquitoes may fly in to fight dengue in Australia. Australian scientists said Monday they want to fight dengue fever -- which is spread by mosquito bites -- by releasing more of the buzzing, flying insects into the environment. The mosquitoes released would be resistant to dengue and expected to quickly infiltrate the insect population in the Queensland city of Townsville and stop the spread of the disease. Small-scale trials have already been conducted in communities in northern Australia, but coastal Townsville, with its population of 189,000, would be the first time an entire city had been targeted. Professor Scott O'Neill from Monash University, who will meet with the Townsville community on Monday, said he hoped to begin the city-wide trial by the end of the year if given support.","Russia calls new U.N. Syria aid-access draft a \"non-starter\". By Michelle Nichols and Louis Charbonneau UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Australia, Luxembourg and Jordan have presented to the five permanent U.N. Security Council members a draft resolution demanding full access for humanitarian aid workers across Syria, which was quickly dismissed by Russia as a \"non-starter.\" Western diplomats told Reuters on condition of anonymity that the council's five veto powers - Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States - received the draft resolution on Thursday but have yet to hold substantive discussions on it. Russian U.N. Ambassador Vitaly Churkin made clear on Friday Moscow dislikes the draft. \"It's a non-starter, it's very disappointing, even worse than some texts we saw a couple of months ago,\" Churkin told Reuters at a Russian reception at U.N. headquarters to screen the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia. When asked what aspects of the draft resolution he didn't like, Churkin replied: \"Everything, it's a non-starter.\" One council diplomat said the draft resolution would call for full implementation of previous council demands about aid access in Syria.","Sudanese Christian woman ordered freed again. KHARTOUM, Sudan (AP) — A Sudanese Christian woman whose death sentence for apostasy was overturned was ordered freed again on Thursday after being detained on accusations of forging travel documents.","Putin under pressure as fighting rages in Ukraine. MOSCOW (AP) — President Vladimir Putin has been slammed for arming rebels and fanning flames of separatism in eastern Ukraine. But there is strong evidence recently that it's just the opposite: He now wants to bring about a truce.","Pulver has no idea on Wallaby coaching replacement. BRISBANE, Australia (AP) — Australian Rugby Union chief executive Bill Pulver says he has no idea who's available to coach the Wallabies following Ewen McKenzie's surprise decision to announce his resignation after Saturday's Bledisloe Cup match.","Blame Canada: Their game, their gold again. SOCHI, Russia (AP) — Blame Canada.","Brazilian officials present infrastructure budget. RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Brazilian government officials said Tuesday the country will spend 5.6 billion reals ($2.3 billion) on about half of all infrastructure projects needed specifically for the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics, with the total cost yet unknown.","French cave home to earliest drawings wins World Heritage status. UN cultural agency UNESCO on Sunday granted its prized World Heritage status to a prehistoric cave in southern France containing the earliest known figurative drawings. Delegates at UNESCO's World Heritage Committee voted to grant the status to the Grotte Chauvet at a gathering in Doha, where they are considering cultural and natural wonders for inclusion on the UN list. The cave in the Ardeche region, which survived sealed off for millennia before its discovery in 1994, contains more than 1,000 drawings dating back some 36,000 years to what is believed to be the first human culture in Europe.","Animal mummies displayed at California museum. SANTA ANA, California (AP) — Ancient Egyptians really loved their dogs and cats — not to mention their snakes, crocodiles and birds.","MH17 crash investigators seek local help to reach wreckage in conflict zone. AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Accident investigators looking into the July crash of a Malaysia Airlines plane in eastern Ukraine said on Thursday they would probably hire local contractors to collect wreckage still beyond their reach because of a continuing pro-Russian insurrection. The crash of flight MH17 as it flew over the conflict zone stirred angry mutual accusation between Moscow and the West over who was responsible. Investigators have had little access to the site which is under rebel control. ...","GSK shareholders to vote on Novartis deal on Dec. 18. LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's GlaxoSmithKline has asked its shareholders to vote at a meeting on Dec. 18 on its proposed major deal with Switzerland's Novartis , which will see the two pharmaceutical group trade more than $20 billion of assets. The transaction, which includes GSK buying Novartis' vaccines business, Novartis purchasing GSK's cancer drugs, and the two groups tying up in consumer healthcare, was unveiled in April. ...","GE to invest $2 billion in Africa. General Electric announced $2 billion in new investments in Africa through 2018 on Monday, as Washington kicked off the US-Africa Summit, aimed at boosting commercial relations. GE, which already has a substantial presence in the continent, said the new investments will include health training programs in several countries including Nigeria, Kenya and Ghana, a new facility in Nigeria for manufacturing and assembling machinery, mainly for the oil sector, customer support systems in South Africa and other operations. GE Chief Executive Jeffrey Immelt said Africa has become GE's most promising region for growth. GE already supplies power generation turbines and other equipment to plants from Egypt and Algeria to South Africa, and recently set a deal to buy the power generation unit of France's Alstom, which it hopes will help it gain a foothold in Africa's growing hydropower sector.","IPL to start in UAE due to national elections. NEW DELHI (AP) — The Indian cricket board says it is moving the first two weeks of the Indian Premier League to the United Arab Emirates owing to India's general elections scheduled around the same time.","Pope to baptize 10 people in Easter Vigil. VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis has presided over an Easter Vigil in St. Peter's Basilica in which he will baptize 10 people.","Civilian wounded in US military drill in Lithuania. VILNIUS, Lithuania (AP) — Lithuania's Defense Ministry says a civilian man was accidentally shot and wounded after entering a restricted military area during an exercise involving U.S. paratroopers.","US commander: More focus on Haqqani militants. WASHINGTON (AP) — Allied and Afghan forces are putting a greater focus on going after the Haqqani militant network, which has threatened to disrupt the Afghan presidential elections in April, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan said Thursday.","Egypt Al-Jazeera trial resumes March 31. CAIRO (AP) — A defense lawyer in Egypt's trial of three journalists and 17 others has cross-examined a witness over his analysis of footage shot by the Qatar-based Al-Jazeera English that the prosecution says undermines national security.","Pair of tropical storms threatens Mexico. A pair of tropical storms formed on both of Mexico's coasts on Tuesday, threatening to dump heavy rain on several states and spark floods in the northeast, forecasters warned. Tropical Storm Dolly churned in the Gulf of Mexico and was expected to make landfall in the northeastern state of Tamaulipas late Tuesday, the US National Hurricane Center said. Dolly slightly weakened as it crept toward the coast, packing maximum sustained winds of 75 kilometers (45 miles) per hour, some 95 kilometers east-southeast of the port of Tampico. The storm is expected to produce between 150 and 250 millimeters (six and 10 inches) of rainfall in Tamaulipas and the neighboring states of Nuevo Leon, Veracruz and San Luis Potosi.","Bindra set to take last shot at Asian Games gold. INCHEON, South Korea (AP) — India's top rifle shooter Abhinav Bindra confirmed on Monday that this will be his last shot at an Asian Games gold medal, although he is keeping his options open for the Rio Olympics in 2016.","Drought-parched California tightens restrictions on wasting water. By Jennifer Chaussee SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Water regulators in California approved stringent new conservation measures on Tuesday to limit outdoor water use, including fines of up to $500 a day for using a hose without a shut-off nozzle. “An emergency requires action, and today’s announcement is a much-needed response to California’s drought emergency,\" said Ed Osann, senior policy analyst with the Natural Resources Defense Council, which supported the regulations. The new restrictions will take effect on Aug. 1. Many cities and counties in the state have already imposed voluntary restrictions, but the new rules will allow municipalities to impose mandatory cutbacks and issue fines to those who do not comply.","Merkel urges Bulgaria to seek new talks with Putin on South Stream. BERLIN (Reuters) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel backed Bulgaria on Monday in its bid to seek new talks with Russia about the South Stream gas pipeline after Moscow shelved the project this month in favor of an alternative link via Turkey. The EU, at odds with Moscow over the Ukraine crisis and keen to reduce its energy reliance on Russia, had raised objections to the $40 billion South Stream pipeline, which was to run under the Black Sea and enter the EU via Bulgaria. ...","After 6 days, Malaysian jet mystery still unsolved. KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — An oil slick on the sea. A purported wrong turn to the west seen on military radar. Questionable satellite photos. Passengers boarding with stolen passports.","Reichelt holds off Jansrud in World Cup super-G. BEAVER CREEK, Colo. (AP) — Hannes Reichelt of Austria mastered a tricky World Cup super-G course Saturday, holding off Kjetil Jansrud to snap the Norwegian's three-race win streak.","Liberia orders cremation of Ebola victims. MONROVIA, Liberia (AP) — The deadly scourge of Ebola means people here no longer shake hands when greeting each other. In taxi cabs where people used to cram onto the laps of others, drivers now can carry only four people or risk fines.","Japan's Softbank sees India Snapdeal venture as another Alibaba. Japanese technology giant SoftBank said it is hoping to replicate its success with China's Alibaba through its $627-million investment in leading Indian online marketplace Snapdeal.","Bellucci defeats 3rd-seeded Lopez in Vienna. VIENNA (AP) — Thomaz Bellucci of Brazil rallied to beat third-seeded Feliciano Lopez 6-7 (9), 6-1, 6-4 in the second round of the Erste Bank Open on Thursday.","S.Sudan warring leaders agree deadline for new govt: Ethiopian PM. South Sudan's president and rebel chief met Tuesday in a bid to end six months of civil war, agreeing to forge a transitional government within a 60-day deadline, Ethiopia's prime minster said. \"They agreed to complete the dialogue process within the coming 60 days on what how, when and who... (for) the formation of the transitional government,\" Ethiopia's Hailemariam Desalegn said, after the rare meeting between President Salva Kiir and rebel chief Riek Machar alongside regional leaders. Kiir and Machar met on the sidelines of a regional leaders' summit in Addis Ababa organised by the East African IGAD bloc, which is brokering the slow-moving negotiations.","Risk of Ebola spread in West Africa, WHO warns. The World Health Organization has warned that Ebola could spread beyond hard-hit Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone to neighbouring nations, but insisted that travel bans were not the answer. \"We want other countries in west Africa to be ready,\" WHO Ebola specialist Pierre Formenty said on Friday. Those countries are among 11 nations due to attend WHO-brokered Ebola talks in Ghana next week. To date, there have been 635 cases of haemorrhagic fever in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, most confirmed as Ebola.","Ukraine orphans become pawns in civil conflict. DONETSK, Ukraine (AP) — Tamara Popova and her fellow orphans lead lives filled with uncertainty. But they know one thing: They don't want to be taken to Russia.","NYC protest planned for Jamaica custody death. KINGSTON, Jamaica (AP) — An attorney for relatives of a Jamaican man who died after a beating in a lockup earlier this month will lead a protest outside the Jamaican consulate in New York.","Hurricanes beat Rebels 25-15 in Super Rugby. MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Flyhalf Beauden Barrett kicked seven goals from nine attempts for 20 points as the Hurricanes beat the Melbourne Rebels 25-15 in Super Rugby on Friday.","Outgoing Karzai says Afghans need new president. KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Afghanistan's outgoing leader Hamid Karzai says his nation needs a new president and urged for a speedy conclusion to the ballot audit that will determine his successor.","French, German, Polish ministers to travel to Ukraine Thursday. The foreign ministers of France, Germany and Poland will travel to Kiev on Thursday to assess the situation before a meeting in Brussels to decide whether to impose sanctions on Ukraine, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said on Wednesday. \"With my Polish and German colleagues we have decided to go to Kiev tomorrow morning ... to gather the latest information before the meeting in Brussels,\" Fabius said alongside U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry. Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich accused pro-European opposition leaders on Wednesday of trying to seize power by force after at least 26 people died in the worst violence since the former Soviet republic gained independence. \"President Yanukovich has the opportunity to make a choice.","Spain police seize fake medicine from Asia, detain 13. Spanish police said Tuesday they have detained 13 people suspected of selling large quantities of fake medication, including erectile dysfunction drugs and antibiotics, made in Asia over the Internet. The fake medication included contraceptives, weight loss pills, vitamins, steroids, pain killers and Viagra, the statement added. The vast majority of the pills were made in China and India, but police also seized counterfeit medication from Malaysia, Colombia, Paraguay and the United States. Spanish police gave international law enforcement agency Interpol the web addresses of 113 Internet sites that illegally distributed medicine.","Formula One boss Ecclestone wins UK fight with German group. A High Court judge in Britain has rejected an £85 million claim against Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone from a German media company on Thursday. The judge said there had been a \"corrupt\" deal to facilitate the sale of Formula One's commercial rights to a preferred buyer, but threw out the damages claim from Constantin Medien, worth $140 million or 103 million euros. Despite ruling in Ecclestone's favour on Thursday, Justice Guy Newey also said he found it \"impossible\" to regard the 83-year-old as a \"reliable or truthful witness\". Ecclestone faces a bribery trial in Germany in April related to the case.","German foreign minister says would rather Britain stayed united. German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier made a foray into the debate about Scottish independence on Thursday, saying as he stood beside his British counterpart that he would rather see Britain remain united. \"A German foreign minister is well advised not to interfere in British domestic politics. Berlin seldom comments on Britain's internal affairs but Chancellor Angela Merkel and other German officials have often expressed concern about the possibility of Britain deciding to leave the European Union in a referendum on membership.","Waratahs winger Horne suspended for 1 match. WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — New South Wales Waratahs winger Rob Horne has been suspended for one week for making a dangerous tackle in his team's Super Rugby loss to the Sharks in South Africa on Saturday.","Today on the Hill: Controversy to persist over Veterans Affairs office closures. OTTAWA - Questions will continue today in the House of Commons over the closure of Veterans Affairs offices in eight locations across the country.","Clean-up of Israeli desert oil spill could take years - experts. JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Ecologists said on Wednesday it could take years to clean up a massive oil spill that flooded an Israeli nature reserve with up to five million liters of crude and threatened to spread to the Red Sea shore and neighboring Jordan. A breached pipeline started spewing oil into Evrona desert reserve -- famed for its rare deer and douma palms -- a week ago, causing what experts called the worst spill in Israel's 66-year history. Clean-up teams have started sucking up the slick and have dug pools and erected barriers to stop it spreading further. ...","Belgium's Verhofstadt aims to win European Commission top job. An outright victory may be beyond his reach but Liberal Guy Verhofstadt is banking on his cross-party appeal to become the next president of the European Commission. \"I think I am the best placed candidate to round up a majority,\" a feisty Verhofstadt told AFP, saying the hallmark of the Liberal group he leads in the European Parliament was its ability to build alliances with both the left and right. \"We are the centre of debate in the European Parliament and over the past five years we have managed to build majorities ... when it was necessary and when it was possible,\" he said. Verhofstadt's party, the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats (ALDE), is running a distant third in the race against main contenders Martin Schulz, candidate for the European Socialists, and Jean-Claude Juncker of the centre-right European People's Party.","Madoff trustee loses appeal on clawbacks. NEW YORK (Reuters) - Victims of Bernard Madoff's fraud may recover less money than they had hoped after a federal appeals court limited the ability of the trustee liquidating the swindler's firm to recoup \"fictitious profits\" and other transfers from customers. The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York on Monday said federal bankruptcy law did now allow the trustee Irving Picard to recoup a variety of securities-related payments made to customers by Madoff's firm before it collapsed. Picard, who has so far recouped about $10. ...","Zuma's private palace irks South African voters. By Zandi Shabalala NKANDLA, South Africa (Reuters) - Sthandiwe Hlongwane's brick house lies only a stone's throw from South African President Jacob Zuma's private home but the two hardly belong in the same country, let alone the same village. Like most homes in Nkandla, in the rolling hills of KwaZulu-Natal some 400 km (250 miles) southeast of Johannesburg, Hlongwane's is concrete and basic. A recent facelift and lick of paint were paid for by the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), an upstart opposition party led by Julius Malema, a firebrand outcast of Zuma's ruling African National Congress (ANC).","New oil pipelines key to Canada economic growth: IMF. Canada's economy will strengthen in 2014 but it is crucial for growth that new pipelines are built to transport its oil to new markets, the International Monetary Fund said Monday. As new pipelines are built, it explained, more and more Canadian heavy oil will be shipped to refineries and coastal ports for export overseas.","Norway edges Germany in Nordic combined team event. RAMSAU, Austria (AP) — Norway won a Nordic combined World Cup team event Saturday after Joergen Graabak beat Germany's Fabian Riessle by the length of a ski tip at the finish of the cross-country race.","Crimea parliament declares independence after vote. SIMFEROPOL, Ukraine (AP) — Crimea's regional parliament has declared the region an independent state, after its residents voted overwhelmingly to break off from Ukraine and seek to join Russia, news agencies reported.","Kremlin hopes Ukraine crisis will not start new Cold War. President Vladimir Putin's spokesman lashed out at the West on Friday and defended Russia's actions in Ukraine, but said he hoped a new Cold War would not break out despite \"extremely deep disagreements\". The remarks, broadcast on one main state channel while another showed the Paralympic Games opening ceremony, appeared to be part of an effort by Putin to avoid a major confrontation with the West while giving no ground in the dispute over Ukraine. Dmitry Peskov said \"extremely deep disagreements of a conceptual nature between Russia and the European Union and the United States have already been registered\". But he added: \"There still remains hope ... that some points of agreement can be found as a result of dialogue - which our partners, thank God, have not yet rejected.\" Peskov said calls for talks between Russia and Ukraine with the West as a mediator \"make us smile\".","Nigeria slashes budget as oil price plummets. Nigeria -- Africa's biggest oil producer -- is being forced to tighten its belt because of the slide in oil prices, officials said Sunday. The continent's largest economy is reviewing its fiscal and monetary policies to deal with the predicted fall in revenues after oil prices fell by a third since June. Finance Minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala said spending plans made on an oil price benchmark of $78 dollars a barrel for 2015 were being reviewed downward to $73 dollars a barrel.","US 'troubled' by Chinese blogger's sacking. Washington (AFP) - The State Department said it was \"troubled\" by reports that a Chinese blogger who met top US diplomat John Kerry had been fired by his employer.","Kane Williamson suspended over illegal action. WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — New Zealand all-rounder Kane Williamson has been banned from bowling because of an illegal action.","SADC regional bloc to send observers to Lesotho after 'coup'. Pretoria (AFP) - A Southern African regional bloc Monday agreed to dispatch a team of observers to crisis-torn Lesotho following an apparent coup, while coalition leaders agreed to restore parliament which was suspended in June.","Emirates says another family attacked in London. DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Several armed men targeted a family from the United Arab Emirates by forcing their way into their London apartment, weeks after a similar attack in the British capital, state media in the Gulf nation and police said Wednesday.","Friends: Aid worker captured in Syria knew risks. INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — An American aid worker threatened with beheading in Syria had researched the region and knew the dangers, but he believed the good he could accomplish through his relief organization outweighed the risk, his friends said Wednesday.","Spartak Moscow signs Russia captain Shirokov. MOSCOW (AP) — Spartak Moscow says it has signed Russia captain Roman Shirokov on a free transfer.","UN diplomats want NKorea rights on council agenda. UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Ten members of the U.N. Security Council are requesting that North Korea's human rights situation be placed on the council agenda for debate.","Iraq: Suicide bomber kills prominent tribal sheik. BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraqi police say a suicide bomber in western Iraq has killed a prominent pro-government tribal sheik as well as six of his militiamen.","Ukraine says OSCE military observers to go to Crimea. KIEV/VIENNA (Reuters) - Ukraine said on Tuesday that observers from a pan-European security body would travel at its invitation to the Crimea region, where Russian forces have taken control, in an attempt to defuse a military standoff. \"An OSCE mission has arrived in Kiev which will go to the Crimean peninsula to monitor the situation,\" Ukraine's national security chief, Andriy Paruby, told a news conference in Kiev. Several members of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe were set to send up a maximum of two observers each on the mission, diplomatic sources at OSCE headquarters in Vienna said. He said around 15 observers had been volunteered so far and more responses were still coming in from OSCE members.","NHC says 60 percent chance of cyclone for storm approaching Leeward Islands. (Reuters) - A small low-pressure area approaching the Leeward Islands has a 60 percent chance of becoming a tropical cyclone in the next 48 hours, the U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC) said on Thursday. \"Environmental conditions are expected to be conducive for some development during the next day or so, and a tropical depression or tropical storm could still form,\" the NHC said. The mountainous terrain of Hispaniola could limit development of the storm during the first part of the weekend, but conditions are likely to be more conducive for development by Sunday when the system is forecast to move near or over the Bahamas, the Miami-based weather forecaster said.","French nuclear executive dies after leading Areva. PARIS (AP) — The former head of France's Areva, a leading world nuclear manufacturer going through a difficult turnaround, has died, less than two months after illness forced him to step down from the company.","Tens of thousands mourn Brazil presidential candidate Campos. Recife (Brazil) (AFP) - More than 160,000 mourners turned out to pay their respects to Brazilian presidential candidate Eduardo Campos here Sunday after the popular socialist politician's death in a plane crash last week.","Top envoys insist Syria peace talks must proceed. PARIS (AP) — The head of Syria's main Western-backed opposition group says its international supporters agree that Bashar Assad has no future as the country's leader.","Crisis in tiny Nauru puts spotlight on Australia's asylum seeker policy. By Matt Siegel SYDNEY (Reuters) - It was mid-morning when the knock came at Rod Henshaw's door. He had 30 minutes to pack, police told him, then straight to the plane that would deport him from the home he'd made on the tiny Pacific island nation of Nauru. This seemingly insignificant incident set in motion events leading to the sacking of Nauru's judiciary, the kind of political crisis that history shows would usually draw a swift response from Australia. Canberra has long been the heavyweight in the South Pacific, imposing sanctions on Fiji after a 2006 coup, for example, even intervening militarily, as in East Timor in 1999.","Venus Williams outlasts bee, Date-Krumm at US Open. NEW YORK (AP) — Venus Williams started with a soft forehand, shifted to a gentle backhand and even tried to blow away a most pesky opponent. She kept moving from sideline to sideline, yet still couldn't shake free at the U.S. Open.","Iran lawmakers seek probe into alleged jail abuse. TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Several Iranian lawmakers on Tuesday demanded a probe into alleged beatings of political prisoners held at Tehran's Evin prison, the official IRNA news agency reported.","US 'concerned' by Syria chemical weapons delay: Hagel. US Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel on Thursday voiced concern over Syria's delay in handing over its chemical weapons arsenal and pressed Damascus to solve the problem. \"I do not know what the Syrian government's motives are -- if this is incompetence -- or why they are behind in delivering these materials,\" Hagel told reporters in Warsaw, adding that \"they need to fix this.\" The world's chemical watchdog said Wednesday that Damascus had handed over less than five percent of the most dangerous chemicals in its armoury. Just two shipments of around 16 metric tonnes each of so-called Category 1 chemicals have left Syria's port of Latakia this month as part of an internationally backed disarmament plan supervised by the UN and the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW).","Somalia pirates release US-German hostage. Mogadishu (AFP) - Somali pirates on Tuesday freed a German-American journalist and writer, Michael Scott Moore, two and a half years after he was kidnapped in the war-torn Horn of Africa nation, officials said.","Canada's energy minister to be named new finance minister: source. OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canada's Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver will be sworn in on Wednesday as the country's new finance minister, replacing Jim Flaherty who resigned on Tuesday, a government official familiar with the process said. Oliver, 73, has extensive experience in the financial industry, having served at the Ontario Securities Commission, Investment Dealers Association of Canada and Merrill Lynch. (Reporting by Louise Egan)","Fox exec raises questions on Comcast-Time Warner Cable merger. One of the top executives of Twenty-First Century Fox Inc has raised questions about Comcast's potential dominance of the U.S. broadband Internet market if regulators allow its $45.2 billion merger with Time Warner Cable to be completed. Speaking at an investor conference on Tuesday, Chase Carey, Fox president and chief operating officer, said the \"broadband issue\" will be front and center when U.S. regulators review the tie-up that merges the No. 1 and No. 2 cable operators. Are you really headed toward every home having simply one broadband provider, and what are the implications of that?\" If its bid for Time Warner Cable is approved, Comcast would be the Internet provider to about 40 percent of U.S. households paying for high-speed Internet access, analysts estimate. Comcast did not immediately respond to a request for comment.","US reserves judgment on Putin comments on Ukraine. WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House says it is \"reserving judgment\" on Russian President Vladimir Putin's call for extending a weeklong cease-fire in Ukraine, saying it puts more stock in Russia's actions than its words.","Police: South Korea singer dies in van accident. SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Police say South Korean singer Go Eun-bi, better known as EunB, has died after a van carrying her group Ladies' Code crashed on a rain-drenched highway near Seoul.","Obama, Abe to battle negative images at U.S.-Japan summit. By Linda Sieg and David Brunnstrom TOKYO/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - When U.S. President Barack Obama meets Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at a summit next week, they will be battling negative undercurrents that could undermine their message that Asia's most important security alliance is firm. Obama, stopping in Tokyo at the beginning of a four-nation Asian trip, must counter worries in Japan that his commitment to its defense in the face of an increasingly assertive China is weak. Abe will be trying to soothe U.S. concerns that his conservative push to recast Japan's war record with a less apologetic tone is overshadowing his pragmatic policies on the economy and security. The two leaders will also need to demonstrate at least the prospect of progress on the economic centerpiece of what the Obama administration calls its strategic \"rebalance\" to Asia - a Trans-Pacific Partnership trade pact that would bring together Japan, the United States and 10 other economies.","Russia reportedly sheltering Ukraine's president. KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia sent fighter jets to patrol the border with Ukraine, reportedly gave shelter to the country's fugitive president and pro-Russian gunmen stormed offices of a strategic region, deepening the crisis for Ukraine's new government even as it was being formed.","Lebanon army tries to halt Syria-related clashes. BEIRUT (AP) — Lebanon's state-run news agency says the army has stepped up operations in the northern city of Tripoli to try to halt clashes linked to Syria's civil war.","U.S. urges South Sudan to honor ceasefire, free political prisoners. The United States urged South Sudan's leaders on Monday to implement a January 23 ceasefire between the government and rebels as an advance team of regional monitors arrived in the country. The team of monitors arrived in South Sudan on Sunday to observe a shaky ceasefire agreed by the government of President Salva Kiir and rebels led by former vice president Riek Machar, whom he sacked in July for trying to seize power.","U.S. sending 175 Marines to Romania as part of Africa crisis team. By David Alexander WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Pentagon said on Wednesday it was bolstering the size of its Europe-based crisis response force to 675 Marines by sending 175 new troops to a Romanian base near the Black Sea at a time of tensions over Russia's annexation of the Crimean peninsula. The Marines are part of a crisis response team headquartered in Moron, Spain, and primarily meant for operations in Africa, although they can be sent anywhere, a Pentagon spokesman said. The decision to increase the force with Marines based in Romania was made last year before the current crisis, he said. Army Colonel Steve Warren, a Pentagon spokesman, confirmed the department was looking at sending a ship to the Black Sea.","White House urges dialogue, not intimidation in China rig dispute. By David Brunnstrom and Steve Holland WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House said on Wednesday that a dispute between China and Vietnam that erupted within days of President Barack Obama's visit to Asia to address regional tensions needs to be resolved with dialogue, not intimidation. While the United States was not a party to the dispute, White House spokesman Jay Carney said Obama had repeatedly stressed on his trip last month the need for peaceful dialogue on various disputes involving China and the South China Sea. The renewed tension between Vietnam and China underscores one of the biggest challenges in Asia facing Obama, who is under pressure by America's allies to accelerate a \\\\\"pivot\\\\\" of military assets to the region to counter China's rising influence.","Anelka hints at Lazio move after 'quenelle' charge. French striker Nicolas Anelka thanked Lazio for their interest on Monday and hinted at retirement but said he wanted to stay with West Bromwich Albion despite the furore over his 'quenelle' goal celebration. Last week Anelka denied making a gesture condemned as anti-Semitic and vowed to fight charges by England's Football Association, which could see the 34-year-old banned for a minimum of five games. \"Thanks to Lazio and all the others clubs who wanted to sign me these last few days,\" Anelka told his Twitter followers on Monday as he revealed the Italian club's interest in him.","Kiev says rebels downed army chopper, 2 crew killed. Kiev (AFP) - Kiev said on Friday that pro-Russian rebels shot down a Ukrainian air force helicopter near the eastern city of Lugansk this week, killing the two-member crew.","West widens contacts with Syria's Kurds but suspicion remains. By Tom Perry BEIRUT (Reuters) - The fight against Islamic State could at last win Syria's Kurds the Western help they have sought, but they must first clarify their relationship to President Bashar al-Assad and reassure Turkey that they won't cause trouble on its border. The United States has entered the war against Islamic State fighters in Iraq with air strikes, but is still trying to decide a strategy for fighting the group on the other side of the frontier in Syria. In Iraq, Kurds are one of the main Western allies against Islamic State.","Ukraine leader says to unveil peace plan soon. Ukrainian President-elect Petro Poroshenko said on Wednesday he would announce a plan for the peaceful resolution of the conflict in the east of the country soon after his inauguration on Saturday. \"Very quickly after the presidential inauguration we are ready to present our plan for the peaceful solution of the situation in the east,\" he told reporters after meeting U.S. President Barack Obama in the Polish capital.","Group: End mass arrests of Muslims in Myanmar. YANGON, Myanmar (AP) — An independent rights group on Thursday called on Myanmar to give humanitarian aid workers unfettered access to a Muslim village that was attacked last week by a Buddhist mob and end the mass arrest of Muslim men and boys.","New U.N. rights boss urges world to protect civilians in Iraq, Syria. The new U.N. human rights chief called on Monday for the world to protect women and religious and ethnic minorities targeted by Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria which he said were \"increasingly conjoined conflicts\". Zeid Ra'ad al Hussein, Jordan's former U.N. ambassador, in a hard-hitting maiden speech to the U.N. Human Rights Council, warned that any state run by Islamic State, also known as ISIL, \"would be a harsh, mean-spirited, house of blood\".","Lights set to go out in Kandahar after U.S. aid winds down. By Jessica Donati and Sarwar Amani KABUL/KANDAHAR Afghanistan (Reuters) - When the United States stops funding power generation in Afghanistan's southern city of Kandahar next year, the lights are set to go out and factories will fall idle, playing into the hands of Taliban insurgents active in the area. Bringing a stable source of electricity to Kandahar, the cradle of the hardline Islamist movement and once a base for its leader Mullah Omar, was a top U.S. \"counter-insurgency priority\" as Washington pursued its policy of winning \"hearts and minds.\" But regular power in the city is still years away, and when the United States finally ends subsidies - currently running at just over $1 million a month - in September 2015, Kandahar could lose around half its severely limited electricity supplies, Afghan power officials and U.S. inspectors say.","Asia stocks dip on Dow drop, China data cuts loss. HONG KONG (AP) — Most Asian stock markets dipped on Friday following a big sell-off on Wall Street but losses were limited by optimistic reports on China's economy.","Japanese man feared kidnapped by Syrian militants. Japan's government said Monday it was investigating a video posted online that appears to show a kidnapped Japanese man being roughly interrogated by Syrian militants. The video, which surfaced over the weekend, shows a man who identified himself as Haruna Yukawa lying on the ground with blood trickling down his face as his apparent captors question him. The man, with matted brown hair and wearing a black T-shirt stained by dust and sweat, offered brief responses to questions posed in English about why he was in Syria and the reason he was carrying a gun. Japan's foreign ministry said it was trying to verify the man's identity through its embassy in violence-wracked Syria, which is now operating out of neighbouring Jordan.","US national security team briefs Obama on Ukraine. WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House says President Barack Obama is getting regular updates on the situation in Ukraine.","Panama canal threatens to take over key expansion project. By Lomi Kriel PANAMA CITY (Reuters) - The Panama Canal Authority (PCA) said on Tuesday it might take over a key part of the waterway's expansion if the consortium in charge of the project makes good on a threat to suspend work. PCA chief Jorge Quijano told reporters the remaining work, which could be taken over as early as February, would cost about $1.5 billion. The consortium, known as Grupo Unidos por el Canal (GUPC), threatened to suspend work by January 20 unless the PCA paid $1.6 billion in cost overruns. The authority has rejected that demand and asked GUPC to withdraw the threat of suspension, but Quijano said the consortium has yet to reply.","IOC seeks explanation of Russian member's comments. LAUSANNE, Switzerland (AP) — The International Olympic Committee is asking Russian member Shamil Tarpischev for a \"full explanation\" of his comments about Venus and Serena Williams that led to him being fined and suspended by the women's tennis tour.","5 things about the Tour de France 9th stage. MULHOUSE, France (AP) — Tony Martin of Germany took stage-win honors and Tony Gallopin of France swiped the leader's yellow jersey in an up-and-down ninth stage of the Tour de France in the Vosges mountains on Sunday.","Russia may claim damages if France doesn't deliver Mistral warship: news agency. MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia may demand monetary compensation unless France delivers the first of two Mistral helicopter carriers by the end of November, state news agency RIA quoted an unnamed source as saying on Friday. RIA said a Russian delegation that had planned to travel to France on Friday to take part in a ceremony to transfer the first ship in the 1.2 billion euro ($1.5 billion) deal had stayed home and no new date for a handover had been set. ...","Georgia's ex-president called in for questioning. TBILISI, Georgia (AP) — Georgian prosecutors have ordered ex-President Mikhail Saakashvili to be questioned over the 2005 death of his prime minister.","Immigrant surge breaches Spain enclave's defences in Morocco. A wave of around 250 African migrants on Monday managed to breach the high defences of the Spanish enclave of Melilla in Morocco, with more than half making it into the EU territory, officials said. \"Around 150 sub-Saharan immigrants succeeded in entering Melilla after launching a massive border assault,\" the local Spanish government representative's office said. Melilla, and another Spanish enclave in Morocco, Ceuta, are frequently targeted by hundreds of illegal immigrants seeking refuge status or better lives in the European Union. Melilla has three layers of fences standing six metres (20 feet) high.","Rugby-Humbled Australia can still turn it around - Dwyer. By Ian Ransom MELBOURNE, Aug 28 (Reuters) - Australia's Eden Park humiliation at the hands of the All Blacks ruthlessly exposed the Wallabies' lack of depth, but Ewen McKenzie still has time to mould his team into World Cup contenders, according to former Australia coach Bob Dwyer. The Wallabies held the All Blacks to a 12-12 draw in the first Rugby Championship match in Sydney but the 51-20 trouncing in the return match last week showed the gap between the teams remained as wide as ever. A disappointed McKenzie pledged to go back to the drawing board before the next match against South Africa in Perth, and Dwyer, who guided the Wallabies to their maiden World Cup success in 1991, said the former test prop needed to consider wholesale changes. \"I think we've got some people, worthwhile members of the side though they may be, that can't get us there.\" Barring tenacious 22-year-old captain Michael Hooper, who scored a defiant second half try, the Wallabies had few players who matched their opponents at Eden Park and the halves pairing of Kurtley Beale and Nic White has come under fierce scrutiny.","Pogba primed to shine for France in Brazil. PARIS (AP) — If he seizes this golden opportunity in the engine room of a France team sufficiently talented to surprise almost any opponent on a good day, this will be the World Cup that puts Paul Pogba's name up in bright lights.","Turkey drops Euro 2020 final bid, targets 2024. ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkey has dropped its bid to host the 2020 European Championship final and semifinals, and will focus on hosting Euro 2024 alone.","Bekele aims for greatness in marathon debut. Sululta (Ethiopia) (AFP) - Ethiopian running legend Kenenisa Bekele already holds two world records, and now he says he is eyeing a third -- this time in the marathon. Bekele will be the star draw of the April 6 Paris marathon, just a week before track rival Mo Farah of Great Britain makes his own marathon debut in London -- making for two back-to-back must-watch performances. \"I want to run a world record in my first marathon,\" Bekele told AFP at his personal training camp set in the lush hills and thin air above Addis Ababa. While the Paris marathon loop is not considered a potential world record course -- unlike Berlin, Chicago, Rotterdam or London -- all eyes will be on how close he can get to Kenyan Stanley Biwott's 2:05.11 course record set two years ago.","Arab Bank says it never supported Hamas, as U.S. trial nears close. By Bernard Vaughan NEW YORK (Reuters) - A lawyer for Arab Bank Plc urged U.S. jurors to find that it never provided material support for the Palestinian group Hamas, as closing arguments began on Thursday in a closely-watched terrorism financing trial. The Jordan-based bank is accused of providing financial services to Hamas by almost 300 U.S. citizens who were the victims or family members of victims of 24 attacks the Islamic militant group allegedly carried out in Israel and the Palestinian territories between 2001 and 2004. ...","Flag raising marks unofficial start of Sochi Olympics for Canadians. SOCHI, Russia - Canada's flag has been raised at the international plaza, marking an unofficial start for Canadian athletes at the Olympic games.","Native trappers defend Canada forests from logging. Broadback Valley (Canada) (AFP) - Beyond a clear-cut in Quebec's far north -- marked by a sign that reads \"the road of destruction ends here\" -- aboriginal Canadians are fighting for an ancient forest and their traditional hunting rights. Canada's boreal forest is the largest intact forest in the world, comprising one-third of the forest circling the North Pole above the 50th parallel. In this remote part of Quebec province, just south of the frozen Broadback River, the coniferous forest is home to hundreds of wildlife species including the endangered woodland caribou.","Four Ugandans jailed for Belgian tourist murder. Four Ugandans have been jailed for up to 30 years for murdering a Belgian tourist hiking in a national park over six years ago, prosecutors said Wednesday. \"Justice has finally been delivered,\" Ugandan military prosector Captain Fred Kangwamu told AFP. \"The court... convicted the men to between 30 and 10 years for the killing of Annick Van De Venster, who was a Belgian tourist.\" The 35-year-old victim was killed in February 2008 while camping during a trek in eastern Uganda's Mount Elgon national park, where she was accompanied by an armed guide.","McLaren, Parnell vie to fill Kallis' shoes in S.Africa squad. Johannesburg (AFP) - Seam bowling all-rounders Ryan McLaren and Wayne Parnell were both named on Wednesday in a 15-man South African Test squad to play three matches against Australia next month.","Stop-start Afghan vote audit gets green light, but troubles remain. By Hamid Shalizi and Jessica Donati KABUL (Reuters) - The mammoth task of auditing eight million votes cast in the second round of Afghanistan's presidential election will restart on Saturday, the electoral commission said on Thursday, but disputes still hang over the process. The United Nations on Thursday asked both candidates, Abdullah Abdullah and Ashraf Ghani, to fully engage in the process, warning against further delays. \"Any delays, any uncertainties, have a major, negative impact on both the political and economic situation in Afghanistan,\" said Jan Kubis, the top U.N. official in Afghanistan. Preliminary results from the vote put former finance minister Ghani, a member of Afghanistan's biggest ethnic group, the Pashtuns, in the lead by about a million votes.","Bangladesh vs. Zimbabwe scores. DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) — Scores at stumps Sunday on the second day of the first cricket test between Bangladesh and Zimbabwe at Mirpur's Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium:","UK Royal baby named: It's Mia Grace Tindall, says proud father. LONDON - LONDON (AP) — Queen Elizabeth II's new great-granddaughter has been named Mia Grace Tindall.","SOCHI SCENE: Check yes or no. SOCHI, Russia (AP) — Give Jason Brown credit — he knows how to get a girl's attention.","Netherlands to deploy more police at Jewish sites after Belgium attack. Dutch authorities said on Tuesday they were deploying more police officers at Jewish sites, including cultural centers, schools and synagogues, after three people were shot dead at the Jewish Museum in Brussels this weekend. The attacker, who was caught on a security camera firing a Kalashnikov rifle before fleeing, is on the run. Security was also ramped up in France, where President Francois Hollande said there was no doubt Sunday's killings of two Israelis and a French woman were motivated by anti-Semitism.","Fife to win first cap against Wales. GLASGOW, Scotland (AP) — Dougie Fife will win his first cap against Wales in the Six Nations as Scotland made three changes to its starting XV for Saturday's game at the Millennium Stadium.","French general sees reduced regional threat from Boko Haram. By Emma Farge N'DJAMENA (Reuters) - Nigerian Islamist group Boko Haram is showing early signs of weakening, reducing the risk of a spillover into neighboring countries in West Africa's Sahel band, the head of France's military operation in the region told Reuters on Sunday. General Jean-Pierre Palasset said there are signs that the militant group's strength has peaked - even though it has staged a series of deadly raids in Nigeria since the country's military announced a ceasefire deal last week, as well as battling government forces in neighboring Cameroon. ...","Second air strike hits airport in Libya's capital. TRIPOLI (Reuters) - An air strike hit the last functioning commercial airport in Libya's capital Tripoli for a second day running on Tuesday, residents said, as a power struggle in the oil-rich nation intensified. Three years after the downfall of Muammar Gaddafi, Libya is being lacerated by rival factions, one of which has set up an alternative administration in Tripoli after seizing the city in fighting during the summer. An armed group loyal to Libya's internationally-recognized government, which has transferred to the east of the country, claimed responsibility for the air strikes. ...","Nationalist tone, protectionist promises, dominate Indonesia presidential debate. By Fransiska Nangoy and Jonathan Thatcher JAKARTA (Reuters) - Indonesia's two presidential candidates traded nationalist rhetoric on Sunday in a debate ahead of July's election, with the front-runner suggesting he would make Southeast Asia's biggest economy more protectionist. The tone of the debate, which focused on the economy and was the second ahead of the July 9 vote, is likely to add to concerns among foreign investors over how welcome they are in the resource-rich state whose fast growing, fast consuming, middle class is offering mouth-watering business opportunities. \"Every country has barriers ... (we can) make it a bit more difficult for foreign investors,\" front-runner Joko \"Jokowi\" Widodo said during the televised debate, in response to a question about the proposed opening up of Southeast Asian economies from next year. First, the investment climate has to be more open and let local investors create growth.\" Some recent opinion polls have suggested his lead is narrowing against his rival, ex-general Prabowo Subianto who has adopted a heavily nationalist campaign from the outset.","Group says 3 million Syrian children not in school. BEIRUT (AP) — An international aid group says that nearly three million Syrian children are not attending school due to the war raging in their country.","BRAZIL BEAT: German player wins big _ at poker. LAS VEGAS (AP) — Max Kruse isn't playing for Germany at the World Cup, so he found another international competition — the World Series of Poker.","Putin aide warns U.S. on Ukraine, says Russia could act. By Alastair Macdonald KIEV (Reuters) - A senior Kremlin aide accused the United States on Thursday of arming Ukrainian \"rebels\" and, urging the Kiev government to put down what he called an attempted coup, warned Russia could intervene to maintain the security of its ex-Soviet neighbor. Sergei Glazyev, an adviser to President Vladimir Putin with responsibility for relations with Ukraine, told a newspaper that U.S. \"interference\" breached the 1994 treaty under which Washington and Moscow jointly guaranteed Ukraine's security and sovereignty after Kiev gave up its Soviet-era nuclear arsenal. His characteristically confrontational comments, on the eve of an expected meeting between Putin and Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich at the opening of the Sochi Winter Olympics, could add to tensions with Washington, and within Ukraine. Asked by Kommersant-Ukraine daily whether Russia might \"actively intervene\" if the country's crisis deepened, Glazyev recalled the Budapest Memorandum of 1994: \"Under the document, Russia and the USA are guarantors of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine and ... are obliged to intervene when conflict situations of this nature arise.","Futures point to flat open for TSX. (Reuters) - Stock futures pointed to a flat opening for Canada's main stock index on Wednesday as investors found few reasons to continue buying in the absence of any major economic catalyst. September futures on the S&P TSX index were up 0.03 percent at 0715 ET. Wholesale trade data is due at 0830 ET Canada's main stock index jumped to its highest in 2-1/2 weeks on Tuesday as positive U.S. economic data helped push up shares in every major sector. Dow Jones Industrial Average e-mini futures were down 0.01 percent at 0715 ET, S&P 500 e-mini futures were down 0. ...","Philippines to pull out of Golan Heights, Liberia. MANILA, Philippines (AP) — The Philippines says it will bring home its peacekeeping forces from the Golan Heights amid the deteriorating security in the region and will withdraw troops from Liberia because of the Ebola outbreak.","Aussie Groth upsets Mahut to reach Newport semis. Australia's Samuel Groth dethroned defending champion and fourth seed Nicolas Mahut 6-3, 6-4 on Thursday to reach his first career ATP semi-final at the Hall of Fame Championships. Groth, who ousted US fifth seed Donald Young in the opening round, booked a Saturday date against the winner of a later match between Croatian second seed Ivo Karlovic and Israel's Dudi Sela to decide a berth in Sunday's final at the $474,000 grass-court event. With his run of three wins this week, Groth has matched his number of ATP match triumphs from last year and the first half of this year combined. His lone ATP win last year came in the first round at Washington.","Reports: spokesman says Putin withdraws request to parliament to sanction force in Ukraine. MOSCOW (AP) — Reports: spokesman says Putin withdraws request to parliament to sanction force in Ukraine.","Pope names moderate Bishop Blase Cupich to lead Chicago, replacing conservative George. VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope names moderate Bishop Blase Cupich to lead Chicago, replacing conservative George.","Father of Fort Hood gunman says family in shock. SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — The father Ivan Lopez says he's struggling to comprehend how his son could have opened fire on fellow soldiers at Fort Hood in Texas.","Magnitude 6.8 quake, small tsunami hit east Japan, no damage. A magnitude 6.8 earthquake hit off eastern Japan on Saturday morning, the Japan Meteorological Agency said, with minor tsunami of up to 20 cm but no reports of damage along the northeast coast that was ravaged by the catastrophic March 2011 tsunami. No irregularities were reported at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, which was damaged in the 2011 disaster in the worst nuclear accident since Ukraine's Chernobyl in 1986. The quake registered a moderate 4 on the Japanese seismic scale of 1-7, meaning that major damage was unlikely.","Day after coup, army summons Shinawatra family. BANGKOK (AP) — Thailand's ruling military made its first order of the day summoning members of the politically influential Shinawatra family to a meeting Friday morning, a day after it seized control of this volatile Southeast Asian nation in a bloodless coup.","AP PHOTOS: Editor selections from Asia. Muslims in India and elsewhere in Asia offered prayers and slaughtered sheep and goats to mark the festival of Eid al-Adha, or the Feast of the Sacrifice.","Man pleads guilty to LA murder of Chinese students. LOS ANGELES (AP) — One of two men charged with the fatal shootings of two Chinese graduate students in Los Angeles has pleaded guilty to two counts of first-degree murder.","Israel presses West Bank teen hunt with 30 new arrests. Israeli troops arrested some 30 Palestinians in the West Bank overnight as they ramped up a massive search for three teenagers believed kidnapped by Hamas, the army said on Thursday. The three teenagers, two of them minors, disappeared from a popular hitchhiking spot near the sprawling southern West Bank Gush Etzion settlement bloc late on June 12, with Israel blaming Hamas. It has launched a massive military operation to find them which also has the stated objective of crushing the Islamist movement's infrastructure in the West Bank. One of the sites targeted was the students' union at Bir Zeit University near Ramallah, the radio said.","Obama, in Estonia and at NATO summit, to send strong message to Putin. President Barack Obama will visit Estonia and attend a NATO summit in Wales next week to send a strong message to Russian President Vladimir Putin that his incursion into Ukraine must be reversed and to keep his hands off the Baltic nations. A fresh move into eastern Ukraine by Russian forces in support of separatists is rattling the region, and Obama will reassure NATO's Baltic allies Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania that the alliance will stand with them should Moscow turn its attention to them. It will be the second visit ever to Estonia by an American president, following George W. Bush's 2006 stop there.","Egypt military chief heads to Moscow in rare visit. CAIRO (AP) — Egypt's military chief is heading to Moscow in a rare visit to the Russian capital by the Arab nation's top commander — and the first since the popularly-backed coup that ousted the country's Islamist president last summer.","Europe's big banks in tentative return to growth mode. By Laura Noonan LONDON (Reuters) - Europe's big banks returned to growth mode in the first half of this year, expanding their books by 530 million euros ($685 million), in a sign they are starting to get back on their feet after the financial crisis. Europe's 30 largest listed banks, battered by the crisis and regulatory demands that followed, shrank their balance sheets by 10 percent from 2008 to 2014, shedding about 2 trillion euros of assets by selling businesses or chunks of loans. This process has contributed to a squeeze on lending which has not helped Europe's weak economies revive growth. The European Central Bank last week stepped in with a new plan to get more money flowing from banks into the flagging euro zone economy.","China must close suicide 'loophole' for corrupt officials: academic. BEIJING (Reuters) - China must close the \"judicial loophole\" of suicide for corrupt officials in its ongoing battle against graft, a well-known scholar said in the official China Daily on Wednesday. President Xi Jinping has vowed to target high-flying \"tigers\" as well as lowly \"flies\" in an anti-corruption drive that has ensnared many high-ranking officials, including the powerful former domestic security chief, Zhou Yongkang, and Jiang Jiemin, once the top regulator of state-owned enterprises. ...","Correction: Vatican-5 Things to Know-Sainthood. VATICAN CITY (AP) — In a story April 24 about the Vatican's saint-making process, The Associated Press reported erroneously that Pope Benedict XVI had canonized 44 saints during his pontificate, based on Vatican statistics. The Vatican on Friday updated its official statistics to reflect a 45th saint Benedict canonized unilaterally without going through the normal saint-making procedure.","Top Asian News at 4:00 p.m. GMT. HONG KONG (AP) — Thousands of Hong Kong college and university students boycotted classes Monday to protest Beijing's decision to restrict voting reforms, the start of a weeklong strike that marks the latest phase in the battle for democracy in the southern Chinese city. The strike comes as dozens of the city's tycoons and business leaders paid a rare group visit to Beijing to meet with China's communist leaders, who want to bolster support from Hong Kong's pro-establishment billionaire elites for the central government's policies on the semiautonomous city.","Egyptian PM to launch new government after Sisi's election. Egypt's prime minister will meet members of his new government later on Monday, the cabinet spokesman said, finalizing an appointment process following the inauguration last week of President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi. Spokesman Hossam El-Kawish said the ministers, most of them holdovers from the previous 31-member cabinet, would be sworn in on Tuesday. \"The new government includes 10 new ministers and a new ministry,\" Prime Minister Ibrahim Mehleb told reporters. Keeping the cabinet largely intact could allow Sisi to implement quickly the types of reform urged by the United Arab Emirates - among the Gulf states that gave billions of dollars in aid after Islamist President Mohamed Mursi was ousted by the army in July following mass protests against his rule.","South Africa bats first vs. Sri Lanka. COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — South Africa captain AB de Villers has won the toss and elected to bat first in the opening match of the three-match one-day international series against Sri Lanka at R. Premadasa Stadium on Sunday.","UK says to protest over Spanish incursion into Gibraltar's waters. Britain said on Wednesday it would make a formal \"high level\" protest to Spain over what the British Foreign Office described as an incursion into Gibraltar's territorial waters by the Spanish Navy earlier this week. The incident is the latest in a long line of diplomatic spats between Britain and Spain over Gibraltar, a rocky outcrop off Spain's southern coast that Madrid ceded to Britain 300 years ago, but that the Spanish authorities now want to reclaim.","Miserable Syrians in Jordan say they'd rather go home. Zaatari refugee camp (Jordan) (AFP) - Syrian refugees in Jordan say they are so miserable that they would rather face \"inevitable death\" in their war-torn country than live in conditions that have sparked riots. With Syria's war now in its fourth year, many of the 100,000 refugees in the sprawling desert Zaatari camp in northern Jordan feel the world has forgotten their struggle to survive. \"Syrian refugees would rather go home and face inevitable death than swallow the bitterness of displacement,\" Abu Isam, 52, told AFP before his cousins and other refugees boarded a bus back to Syria.","Gang kills six Egypt guards on Libya border. A gang of arms traffickers killed six Egyptian border guards on Sunday after they crossed into the country from Libya, the military said. \"The army deplores the killing of an officer and five soldiers from the army's border protection corps attacked by arms traffickers while patrolling a mountainous area,\" it said in a statement. The attack, in Egypt's northwest, happened shortly after midnight, with the assailants believed to be Egyptians, a senior security official told AFP on condition of anonymity. \"This attack comes after border guards successfully arrested 68 traffickers and seized a large quantity of weapons,\" the army statement said, without elaborating or giving a date for the operation.","6,000 ducks face cull at Yorkshire bird flu farm. Driffield (United Kingdom) (AFP) - A mass cull of 6,000 ducks was due to begin at an East Yorkshire farm on Tuesday after a confirmed outbreak of a \"highly pathogenic\" strain of bird flu.","Venezuelan voices on the troubles in their country. CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuela is deeply divided between supporters of the government of President Nicolas Maduro and members of the opposition. Here is a sampling of what people on both sides of the political chasm were saying on Saturday:","German minister accuses Qatar of funding Islamic State fighters. German Development Minister Gerd Mueller accused Qatar on Wednesday of financing Islamic State militants who have seized wide areas of northern Iraq and have posted a video of a captive American journalist being beheaded. \"This kind of conflict, this kind of a crisis always has a history ... The ISIS troops, the weapons - these are lost sons, with some of them from Iraq,\" Mueller told German public broadcaster ZDF. The keyword there is Qatar - and how do we deal with these people and states politically?\" said Mueller, a member of the Christian Social Union (CSU), the center-right Bavarian sister party of Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats. Mueller did not elaborate and presented no evidence of a Qatari link to Islamic State.","2014 frustrates US hopes for Israeli-Palestinian peace. WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is ending 2014 much in the same way he started it, frustrated in efforts to push Israel and Palestinians toward peace.","U.S. targets Islamic State in 14 air strikes in Syria, Iraq: U.S. military. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States targeted Islamic State militants on Sunday and Monday with five air strikes in Syria and nine in Iraq, according to U.S. Central Command. The strikes in Syria hit militants' fighting positions and buildings and struck a small group of fighters near the key town of Kobani along the border with Turkey, while one strike hit near Dayr Az Zawr, it said in a statement on Monday. In Iraq, the U.S.-led strikes destroyed vehicles and equipment and struck a small unit of fighters and a fighting position. ...","Swansea signs goalkeeper Fabianski. SWANSEA, Wales (AP) — Poland goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski is moving from Arsenal to Swansea after his contract expired at the north London club.","Canada defends seal hunt as it asks WTO to void EU ban. Seal-hunters must have the same rights as fishermen, Canada's Environment Minister Leonoa Aglukkaq insisted Monday, as her country battled a Brussels' trade ban at the WTO. Speaking on the sidelines of a World Trade Organization appeal hearing on the European Union's ban on the import and sale of seal products, Aglukkaq blasted opponents of hunting. All told, 6,000 people hunt seals commercially in Canada, chiefly in Newfoundland. Canada and fellow seal hunter Norway want the WTO to overturn a ruling that it issued in November, in which it said that the EU ban imposed in 2010 did not breach global trade rules.","France: Suspect in Brussels Jewish museum arrested. PARIS (AP) — The Paris prosecutor's office says a man has been arrested in the investigation of a shooting at a Jewish museum in Brussels that left at least three people dead.","Fannie, Freddie shares slump after investor lawsuits dismissed. (Reuters) - Shares of government-controlled Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac plummeted on Wednesday, the day after a judge upheld the U.S. Treasury's right to seize the mortgage finance companies' profits. Judge Royce Lamberth of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia threw out lawsuits brought by investors challenging the government's decision to force the companies to sweep their profits into the Treasury. The investors, including Perry Capital LLC and Fairholme Funds Inc, had argued the profits sweep marked a breach of contract and an unconstitutional property seizure. ...","Mourinho plays down Chelsea title talk, rejects pressure on Moyes. Cobham (United Kingdom) (AFP) - Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho insisted on Friday the club were \"not desperate to win the Premier League title\" this season, saying he was more concerned about long-term success. And ahead of his side's match at home to Manchester United on Saturday, he said there was \"no reason\" for Red Devils manager David Moyes to be in trouble, despite the champions' faltering form. Chelsea head into this weekend's matches in third place, just two points behind leaders Arsenal. United, however, are 11 points off top spot and nine adrift of Chelsea.","Russia gives approval for sanctions compensation. MOSCOW (AP) — Russia's parliament has given preliminary approval to a bill granting compensation to those affected by Western sanctions. The bill also allows the government to seize the assets in Russia of countries that have imposed the sanctions.","Jihadists kill dozens in north Iraq 'massacre', officials say. Baghdad (AFP) - Jihadists carried out a \"massacre\" in the northern Iraq village of Kocho, killing dozens of people, most of them members of the Yazidi religious minority, officials and a witness said Saturday.","Turkish villages give Syrian Kurds shelter, hope. ALANYURT, Turkey (AP) — Just eight families used to inhabit this small hamlet jutting into no-man's land on the Turkish-Syrian border, eking out a living from the land, living in mud-brick houses yards away from Turkish army lookout posts.","Germany takes aim at foreign drivers with car toll. BERLIN (AP) — Germany plans to introduce a car toll that seeks to make money off the millions of foreigners who drive through the country every year, the transport minister said Monday.","Thai coup leader warns against protests. BANGKOK (AP) — The top general in Thailand's ruling junta is warning people not to join anti-coup street protests, saying normal democratic principles cannot be applied at the time.","UK lawmakers tell queen to cut costs, boost income. LONDON (AP) — British lawmakers have criticized the financial affairs of Queen Elizabeth II and her household, urging the monarch to bring in more income by opening up Buckingham Palace to visitors more often.","Sri Lanka names squad for India ODIs. COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — Sri Lanka, minus leading strike bowlers Lasith Malinga and Rangana Herath, has named a mixture of experienced players and likely contenders in its 15-man squad for a one-day international series against India starting next week.","Egypt accuses Islamist group of staring armed wing. CAIRO (AP) — Egyptian authorities on Sunday accused the ousted president's Muslim Brotherhood of forming a \"military wing\" to stage attacks on security forces in a southern province, as months-long street rallies by the group's supporters wane but low-level violence steadily rises.","EU team urges release of long-term Palestinian prisoners. Ramallah (Palestinian Territories) (AFP) - An EU parliamentary delegation on Thursday urged Israel to release long-term Palestinian prisoners, saying it was crucial to move a fragile Middle East peace process forward. \"We believe that the release of prisoners... is central to the peace process,\" said Emer Costello, who headed the EU delegation on a three-day fact-finding mission on Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails. \"I think there is an acceptance on both sides, even with the members of the Knesset (Israeli parliament) that we met, (of the) importance of the prisoner issue,\" Costello said. The visit of four EU MPs came as Israel was mulling whether or not to release a final batch of long-term Palestinian prisoners under its commitments to US-brokered peace talks.","New satellite image boosts Malaysia plane search hopes. Perth (Australia) (AFP) - China released Saturday a new satellite image of a large floating object possibly linked to missing Malaysian Flight MH370, boosting search efforts as anger with the pace of the operation boiled over among Chinese relatives in Beijing. The grainy photo taken on March 18 released by the State Administration of Science Technology and Industry showed an object measuring 22.5 metres by 13 metres (74 by 43 feet) in the southern Indian Ocean. The location was given as just 120 kilometres (75 miles) distant from where March 16 satellite images -- released by Australia on Thursday -- had detected two pieces of possible wreckage in a remote, storm-swept stretch of ocean around 2,500 kilometres southwest of Perth.","Somalia could slide backwards if world loses interest: U.N.. By Adrian Croft BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Hard-won security gains in Somalia could be undermined unless the rest of the world steps up support to improve Somalis' lives, the United Nations' special representative for the country said on Wednesday. In the struggle against al Shabaab militants in Somalia, the Somali army and African Union forces have seized control of 10 or 11 towns from the Islamists in the last few months, Nicholas Kay told Reuters in an interview during a visit to Brussels for talks with European Union officials. Kay, a British diplomat, voiced concern that Somalia was losing out on attention and resources to other crisis-hit countries such as South Sudan, Central African Republic, Mali and Ukraine. He said funding for humanitarian work in Somalia had \"dropped off a cliff\" even though a top U.N. official had warned of \"worrying parallels\" between now and 2010 - the year before a famine which killed hundreds of thousands of people.","Athletic directors want more say in overhauled NCAA. SAN DIEGO - Athletic directors want more say in decision-making in the NCAA, which is exploring a new governance structure.","New Zealand bans shark finning. WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — New Zealand is banning the practice of shark finning, a move the Pew Charitable Trusts says is welcome and will bring the country in line with other developed nations.","France's defense could be a weak link at World Cup. RIBEIRAO PRETO, Brazil (AP) — While France's free-flowing attack is working well at the World Cup, doubts remain over the true quality of its defense.","Anti-genocide group sounds warning about Myanmar. WASHINGTON (AP) — A former U.S. congressman is warning that minority Rohingya (ROE-hin-gar) Muslims in Myanmar face a life-threatening lack of medical care and live in fear of attack.","Mexico: Alleged drug boss Beltran Leyva captured. MEXICO CITY (AP) — Military special forces grabbed alleged cartel leader Hector Beltran Leyva during a lightning raid at a restaurant Wednesday, the latest in a string of high-profile drug arrests in the country.","New Thai tourism strategy: 'I Hate Thailand'. BANGKOK (AP) — It's been a bad year for tourism in Thailand, and at first glance it looked like a new YouTube video was adding to the misery.","Ukraine military plane hit by gunfire above rebel-held town. A Ukrainian military surveillance plane was hit and damaged by small arms fire as it was on a reconnaissance flight over the rebel-held eastern town of Slavyansk, the defence ministry said on Tuesday. The attack occurred just hours after US Vice President Joe Biden left Ukraine's capital at the end of a two-day visit pledging Washington's support to Kiev's fledgling leaders. Pro-Kremlin rebels holding Slavyansk and a string of other eastern towns are ignoring a Geneva agreement between the Ukraine, Russia and the West to lay down their weapons and surrender occupied public buildings.","Egypt's Sisi says faced two assassination attempts. CAIRO (Reuters) - Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, the former Egyptian army chief expected to win a presidential election this month, said he had faced two assassination attempts, confirming rumors of plots to kill the general who deposed Islamist president Mohamed Mursi. Asked in a televised interview how many assassination attempts had been uncovered, Sisi said: \"Two attempts to assassinate me. I believe in fate, I am not afraid.\" (Writing by Tom Perry; Editing by Michael Georgy)","China's box office hits record over New Year week. BEIJING (AP) — China's box office hit a new record over the seven-day Chinese New Year holiday.","Robinho eyes return to Brazil's national team. RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Veteran striker Robinho says he still wants to play for Brazil's national team despite being left out of the World Cup squad this year.","Venezuela taps Chavez' cousin to replace Ramirez at Oil Ministry. CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro on Tuesday named Asdrubal Chavez, cousin of the late president Hugo Chavez, to replace Rafael Ramirez as the new oil and mining minister. The announcement was part of a broader cabinet shuffle in the OPEC country, as the economy sags and annual inflation soars above 60 percent. (Reporting by Caracas newsroom; Editing by Ken Wills)","British athletics great Chris Chataway dies. British athletics great Chris Chataway, best known for being one of the pacemakers for Roger Bannister's landmark four-minute mile run in 1954, died at the age of 82 on Sunday after a long battle with cancer. Chataway, who was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II for his services to the aviation industry, had a stellar year in 1954 as he also broke the 5,000 metres world record. For that achievement and for his role in Bannister's remarkable effort it was he and not Bannister who was named the first-ever BBC Sports Personality of the Year in 1954. Bannister paid a warm tribute to Chataway, who also won the Commonwealth Games three miles title in 1954, saying he was \"one of my best friends\".","Hawaii braces for double storm hit. Hawaii on Wednesday braced for a walloping by a rare duo of storms headed for the holiday paradise, with local residents rushing to stock up on water and flashlights. Hurricane Iselle, while predicted to weaken to a tropical storm, was expected to bring strong wind, heavy rains and possibly damaging swells to the archipelago's main islands by Thursday. \"Tropical storm conditions are possible on the Big Island of Hawaii on Thursday and portions of Maui County Thursday night,\" the Central Pacific Hurricane Center (CPHC) warned. A tropical storm watch was in effect for Hawaii and Maui counties, the CPHC said, adding that \"watches will likely be required for additional islands later today.\"","Ex-German education minister loses plagiarism case. BERLIN (AP) — A former education minister in Germany who resigned over plagiarism allegations has lost a legal bid to have her doctorate restored.","Swiss chocolate maker Lindt near deal to buy Russell Stover: report. Swiss-based chocolate maker Lindt & Spruengli is in advanced discussions to acquire family-owned U.S. candy business Russell Stover, and the two companies could announce an agreement as early as next week, the Financial Times reported on Saturday. Russell Stover, known for its boxed chocolates, is the third-largest U.S. candy company by sales. Lindt is the Swiss-based maker of Lindor chocolate balls and gold foil-wrapped chocolate bunnies. A deal with Russell Stover would enable Lindt to diversify further beyond the European market, where it gets a big chunk of its revenues, and get a strong presence in the U.S. market.","First flight from Georgia in more than 10 years lands in Sochi for Olympics. SOCHI, Russia - The first flight from Georgia to Sochi in more than 10 years has carried four Georgian Olympic officials to the upcoming Winter Games.","British protesters scuffle with police in central London. Thousands of anti-capitalist protesters scuffled with police in central London and outside Buckingham Palace on Wednesday after marching on parliament. Part of a \"Million Masks March\" held in several world cities and organised by activist group Anonymous, the protesters tossed traffic cones, bottles and street signs at police and pulled down metal barricades. \"One solution, revolution,\" the protesters chanted, some setting off fireworks as they faced off with lines of police.","Russia says ready for practical steps to de-escalate Ukraine crisis. MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Thursday Moscow was ready to take \"practical steps\" to de-escalate the crisis in Ukraine under proposals made by President Vladimir Putin. \"We hope that the calls (by Putin) will be heard, especially by Kiev, (and the rebel leaders of) Donetsk and Luhansk,\" he was quoted as saying by Interfax news agency. Offering to cooperate with the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, he said: \"Along with the OSCE we are ready to take practical steps towards de-escalation. ...","Q&A: A French economist's grim view of wealth gap. NEW YORK (AP) — In a new book, Thomas Piketty, the French economist who helped popularize the notion of a privileged 1 percent, sounds a grim warning: The U.S. economy has begun to decay into the pattern of aristocratic Europe of the 19th century. Hard work will matter less, inherited wealth more. The fortunes of the few will unsettle the foundations of democracy.","Israel bars Norwegian doctor, but denies life ban. Israel has blocked Norwegian doctor Mads Gilbert from entering the country and thereby accessing the Gaza Strip, but denied Monday it had imposed a lifelong ban on the outspoken medic. \"He has been banned from entering Israel,\" foreign ministry spokesman Paul Hirschson told AFP, categorically denying reports Gilbert had been blocked from entering Gaza. Access to the Gaza Strip, which has been under an Israeli blockade since 2006, is possible only through the Erez crossing from Israel, or the Rafah terminal on the Egyptian border. News of the ban was first reported last week by Norwegian media which said Israel had barred Gilbert from Gaza for life.","Dutch PM: unlikely investigators will get to MH17 crash site. By Anthony Deutsch AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Prime Minister Mark Rutte said on Friday it was increasingly unlikely Dutch investigators would be able to reach the Malaysia Airlines MH17 crash zone in eastern Ukraine due to fighting and the approach of winter. Speaking at a weekly press briefing, Rutte said he was \"still furious\" that the site of the July 17 disaster remained inaccessible nearly four months after all 298 people onboard died -- two-thirds of them Dutch nationals. ...","US-Ukraine soccer on March 5 moved to Cyprus. CHICAGO (AP) — The United States' exhibition game against Ukraine next week has been moved from Kharkiv to Cyprus following weeks of violence in the Eastern European nation.","Wozniacki doomed by slow start in US Open final. NEW YORK (AP) — Caroline Wozniacki knew she couldn't start slowly against Serena Williams.","Thai anti-graft body says PM acted wrongly on rice. BANGKOK (AP) — Thailand's state anti-corruption agency has charged Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra with improperly handling an expensive rice subsidy scheme, putting her in jeopardy of getting impeached.","Griezmann can scarcely believe his World Cup luck. RIBEIRAO PRETO, Brazil (AP) — Antoine Griezmann can scarcely believe he's playing at the World Cup.","West Indies pulls out of tour of India. NEW DELHI (AP) — Indian cricket authorities say the West Indies will quit its tour after the fourth one-day international on Friday because of a pay dispute at home with its cricket board and players' union.","U.S. says Thailand, Malaysia, Venezuela among worst human trafficking centers. By David Brunnstrom WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. State Department downgraded Thailand, Malaysia and Venezuela on Friday to its list of the world's worst centers of human trafficking, opening up the countries to possible sanctions and dumping them in the same category as North Korea and Syria. The three countries were all downgraded to the lowest \"Tier 3\" status in the U.S. State Department's 2014 Trafficking in Persons Report as they did not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking. The downgrades could cause some multinational companies to reconsider investments in industries accused of using trafficked labor such as fisheries, a lucrative business in Thailand, the world’s largest exporter of shrimp. The report said the majority of trafficking victims in Thailand - \"tens of thousands ... by conservative estimates\" - were migrants from neighboring countries \"forced, coerced, or defrauded into labor or exploited in the sex trade.\" A significant number were trafficked into the fishing industry, garment production and domestic work.","Arsenal misses chance to go top in EPL. LONDON (AP) — Arsenal and Manchester United played out a dour 0-0 draw that frustrated both teams while Liverpool snatched a last-minute 3-2 victory at Fulham to return to the title Premier League race on Wednesday.","U.S. leads 25 more air strikes against Islamic State militants: CENTCOM. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States military launched 14 more strikes against Islamic State militants in Syria and led 11 strikes in Iraq since Monday, according to U.S. Central command. The strikes in Syria, centered near the border town of Kobani, hit a large group of militant fighters as well as various fighting positions, Central Command said in a statement on Wednesday. In Iraq, the U.S-led strikes in six cities - Mosul, Ramadi, Tal Afar, Sinjar, Qaim and Falluja - destroyed bunkers, buildings, vehicles and two weapon facilities for the militant group. ...","Shiite rebels in rare clash with Qaeda in south Yemen. Dubai (AFP) - Shiite rebels who descended from northern Yemen to seize parts of Sanaa have clashed with Al-Qaeda-linked militants hundreds of kilometres (miles) south of the capital, a US monitor said Monday.","Liberia government orders Ebola victims cremated. MONROVIA, Liberia (AP) — The Liberian government is ordering that all corpses of Ebola victims must be cremated as fears rise that the disease could be spread by bodies being buried in residential areas.","McIlroys set for double success at British Open. HOYLAKE, England (AP) — Rory McIlroy might not be the only winner at the British Open on Sunday.","France's Hollande warns of Islamist threat in West Africa. By Abdoulaye Massalaki NIAMEY Niger (Reuters) - French President Francois Hollande on Friday promoted a new military operation being rolled out in West Africa to take on a multi-faceted menace from Islamist groups that he warned threatened France's interests and citizens. France led a military intervention in its former colony Mali last year, halting the advance of al Qaeda-linked fighters who had seized control of the northern two-thirds of the country in 2012. The military operation succeeded in scattering the Islamist groups in Mali, and Paris is in the process of reorganizing its deployment in the region, with its 1,700 soldiers in Mali being folded into a broader counter-terrorism force.","Indebted to America, Kosovo struggles to curb Islamist recruits. By Fatos Bytyci KACANIK Kosovo (Reuters) - Born in Germany, Blerim Heta moved to his parents' native Kosovo as a 10-year-old boy in the wake of a NATO air war in 1999 to save the territory's ethnic Albanians from Serbian repression. They settled in Urosevac, where U.S. soldiers – greeted as heroes for leading the intervention – were building a military base, a guarantor of protection for the aspiring statelet and a source of jobs for Albanians trying to rebuild their lives. ...","Bosnian police detain 11 terrorism suspects. SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina (AP) — Police in Bosnia say they detained 11 people suspected of terrorist activities including recruiting volunteers to fight for the Islamic State group in Syria.","AP Interview: Brazil's Silva wants better US ties. RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Front-running Brazilian presidential candidate Marina Silva says that if elected she'll work to repair ties with the U.S. damaged by American espionage in Brazil.","Saudi king urges Egypt to back Gulf accord. RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) — Saudi King Abdullah is calling on Egypt to back a reconciliation agreement reached between Gulf states and Qatar following months of tensions linked to last year's military overthrow of Egypt's Islamist President Mohammed Morsi.","Blues beat Hurricanes 37-24 in Super Rugby. AUCKLAND, New Zealand (AP) — The Blues scored two tries in the first six minutes of the second half to lift themselves to a 34-24, bonus-point win over the Hurricanes in Super Rugby on Saturday, severely denting the Hurricanes' playoff chances.","C.African president resigns after deadly unrest. N'Djamena (AFP) - Central African Republic President Michel Djotodia has resigned under intense pressure over his failure to stem the sectarian unrest ripping his country apart, a regional grouping announced Friday. African leaders meeting in neighbouring Chad to seek a solution to the crisis said they had \"noted the resignation\" of Djotodia and Prime Minister Nicolas Tiengaye, whose notoriously fractious relationship with the president had led to political paralysis. Djotodia was under intense pressure from his peers, who gathered in Chad Thursday in a bid to end the violence that has seen more than 1,000 people killed in the last month alone. All 135 lawmakers from the landlocked Central African Republic (CAR) had flown to Chad on Thursday at the behest of Chadian President Idriss Deby Itno to try to resolve the crisis as it threatened to spill over into neighbouring countries.","Jamaica names 1st poet laureate in 50 years. KINGSTON, Jamaica (AP) — Jamaica has appointed its first poet laureate in 50 years in a bid to revitalize the arts and preserve the Caribbean country's literary history.","UK's Cameron will lose election on ethnic minority vote: Muslim ex-minister. By William James LONDON (Reuters) - Prime Minister David Cameron's Conservatives will lose next year's election because they have neglected ethnic minority voters, Britain's first Muslim cabinet minister, who last week resigned over the government's Gaza policy, warned on Sunday. Sayeeda Warsi, a former Foreign Office minister who has played a key role in the Conservatives' appeal to Muslim voters, last week embarrassed Cameron by resigning via Twitter over what she said was the government's \"morally indefensible\" approach to the conflict between Israel and Hamas.","Wawrinka defeats injured Nadal to win Australian Open. By Ian Ransom MELBOURNE (Reuters) - Stanislas Wawrinka held firm in a match of high drama to defeat an injured Rafa Nadal 6-3 6-2 3-6 6-3 and win his maiden grand slam title at the Australian Open on Sunday. The eighth seed roared to a two-set lead after top seed Nadal struggled with an apparent back injury sustained early in the second set, but the Swiss was left stunned as his opponent suddenly revived in the third at Rod Laver Arena. Though restricted in his movement, Nadal fought back into the match with a barrage of clean hitting, completely throwing the Swiss off his game who surrendered the third set in a hail of unforced errors. Wawrinka captured a break in the fourth set, surrendered it with a terrible service game, but recovered again to earn a chance to serve for the match.","Nigeria Islamists kill 68 in two village attacks: witnesses. Suspected Islamist militants killed at least 60 people in an attack on a village in northeast Nigeria, while a separate attack killed eight people at a teacher training college, witnesses said. Boko Haram, which wants to carve an Islamic state out of Africa's most populous country, split roughly equally between Christians and Muslims, has killed thousands since launching an uprising in the northeast four and a half years ago. Witnesses said the gunmen attacked the village of Kala Balge, near the Cameroon border, on Thursday, from several different quarters, shooting sporadically as terrified residents tried to flee. \"I'm making efforts to evacuate my parents from the town,\" said Ibrahim Bukar, 35, after escaping the attack.","Syrian opposition postpones vote on peace talks. By Dasha Afanasieva ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Syria's Western-backed opposition in exile postponed until next week a decision on whether to attend talks with President Bashar al-Assad's government aimed at ending nearly three years of devastating conflict, opposition members said on Tuesday. The National Coalition is facing heavy pressure from Western powers to attend the January 22 talks, seen as the most serious effort yet to find a political solution to Syria's civil war. The latest delay came after at least a quarter of the coalition called for its newly re-elected president Ahmad al-Jarba to stand down, and threatened to resign if their demand was not met, sources at the meeting said. Saudi-backed Jarba beat former Syrian prime minister Riyad Hijab, who defected nearly 18 months ago, to win a second term as president of the coalition.","China trade dents stocks, trading link boosts HK. TOKYO (AP) — Global stocks were mostly subdued Thursday following worse-than-expected Chinese trade figures, but markets in Hong Kong and Shanghai rose sharply on plans to link the bourses that would widen access to China for foreign investors.","Flooding in south China kills 19, destroys homes. BEIJING (AP) — At least 19 people have died and seven were reporting missing Sunday in widespread flooding that's hit hundreds of thousands of people in a swath of southern China, the country's state news agency reported.","Some Ukrainians flee Crimea after Russia's annexation. By Aleksandar Vasovic SIMFEROPOL, UKRAINE (Reuters) - As jubilant ethnic Russians celebrate Russia's annexation of Crimea, Ukrainian residents are mostly staying behind closed doors and some are packing their bags to leave the Black Sea peninsula. In a small cafe in the old quarter of the regional capital Simferopol on Saturday, a group of Ukrainians gathered to watch Ukrainian news over the internet and to discuss their future. \"We are ready, packed and we can even leave tomorrow if we decide so,\" said Sergey, a 64-year-old Ukrainian businessman who has been selling kitchen appliances across Crimea. A native of the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, Sergey moved to Simferopol three decades ago where he got married.","Penn West loss widens on charges as restructuring continues. Penn West Petroleum Ltd , a Canadian oil producer in the midst of a restructuring aimed at boosting its flagging shares, said on Friday its fourth-quarter loss widened considerably as it sold producing properties and wrote down the value of other assets. Penn West, one of Canada's largest conventional oil producers, is revamping its operations after years of underperforming its rivals. New Chief Executive Dave Roberts has cut staffing by a third and put much of the company's widespread properties up for sale to concentrate on its three core regions. Penn West's cash flow, a measure of its ability to pay for new projects and drilling, dropped 27 percent to C$216 million, or 44 Canadian cents per share, from C$295 million, or 62 Canadian cents.","Verdict pending, Malaysia's Anwar visits US. WASHINGTON (AP) — Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim tells The Associated Press he's confident of acquittal in his sodomy trial, so long as the Southeast Asian nation's top court demonstrates independence.","Netherlands postpones Russian trade mission due to Ukraine crisis. AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - The Netherlands postponed a four-day day trade mission to Russia scheduled for next month because of the crisis prompted by Russia's annexation of Crimea, the foreign ministry said. Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said in March he saw no reason to cancel the trip, which was to be led by Economy Minister Henk Kamp, after Russia's parliament voted to annex Crimea. But tensions have escalated in recent days, with western powers accusing Russia of orchestrating separatist unrest in eastern Ukraine. (Reporting By Thomas Escritt; Editing by John Stonestreet)","US ambassador visits Okinawa amid base plans. NAHA, Japan (AP) — U.S. Ambassador to Japan Caroline Kennedy has made her first visit to the southernmost island of Okinawa, hoping to get support for a controversial plan to relocate a U.S. military base.","Kurdish oil exports rise as Iraq faces off with insurgents. By Orhan Coskun and Humeyra Pamuk ANKARA (Reuters) - As Iraq struggles to stop an insurgency by Islamist militants, its autonomous region Kurdistan is ramping up independent oil exports, with a third tanker set to load a cargo of crude from its disputed pipeline. The third tanker is scheduled to depart Turkey's Mediterranean port of Ceyhan on June 22 carrying oil pumped through Kurdistan's new pipeline, which by-passes Baghdad, Turkish Energy Minister Taner Yildiz said on Monday. Iraqi Kurdistan began independent pipeline exports via Turkey in May, despite protests from Baghdad which claims it has the sole authority to sell Iraqi oil via state-marketer SOMO.","Gaza rockets hit Israel after Sharon burial. Gaza militants fired two rockets that hit an area close to the ranch where former Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon was laid to rest on Monday, a military spokeswoman said. The Israeli military responded with two air raids on the central and southern parts of the Hamas-run Palestinian territory. \"Two rockets hit the Shaar HaNegev region\" but fell in an uninhabited area, the army said, referring to the area around the northern border with Gaza. Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said the militants targeted the town of Sderot, which lies very close to the Gaza border, and just four kilometres (2.5 miles) west of Sycamore Ranch, causing no injuries or damage.","Spieth wins Australian Open in 1st trip Down Under. SYDNEY (AP) — Jordan Spieth made his first trip Down Under a successful one, shooting an 8-under 63 on Sunday to win the Australian Open by six strokes.","Hong Kong protests hit city's role as finance hub. HONG KONG (AP) — Shops in Hong Kong have closed and the local stock market has plunged but protesters are gambling their agitation for greater democracy will pay off by preserving institutions that made this former British colony a profitable asset to China.","Final Scottish Parliament debate before referendum. Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond urged voters to seize the chance for independence as the Scottish Parliament met for the final time before next month's referendum. \"Today the 120 members-plus of this parliament are debating Scotland's future,\" Salmond said Thursday, beginning the last sessions before the recess. \"In four weeks' time the people of Scotland get the opportunity to decide Scotland's future.\" The Scottish National Party (SNP) leader told the Edinburgh parliament that the referendum would be \"the first time ever the people of Scotland have had democratic control over their own destiny\".","S. Korea cuts key rate for 1st time in 15 months. SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea's central bank cut its key interest rate for the first time in 15 months on Thursday, providing support to an economy dragged down by the shock of a ferry sinking that killed hundreds of teenagers.","U.N. chief concerned by Kashmir violence, loss of civilian lives. UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon expressed concern on Thursday about a recent escalation of violence between Pakistan and India, deploring the deaths and displacement of civilians in the worst fighting between the nuclear-armed rivals in over a decade. Nine Pakistani and eight Indian civilians have been killed since heavy shelling by both sides' security forces started more than a week ago along a 200-km (125-mile) stretch of border in the disputed, mostly Muslim region of Kashmir. ...","Chinese director Diao Yinan's \"Black Coal, Thin Ice\" wins Berlin film festival's Golden Bear. BERLIN (AP) — Chinese director Diao Yinan's \"Black Coal, Thin Ice\" wins Berlin film festival's Golden Bear.","Mainz draws 0-0 with Hoffenheim in Bundesliga. BERLIN (AP) — Mainz drew 0-0 with Hoffenheim on Friday as both sides missed the chance to go provisionally top of the Bundesliga.","Spain priest with Ebola stable in Madrid hospital. MADRID (AP) — A Spanish missionary priest who tested positive for the Ebola virus was in stable condition at a Madrid hospital on Thursday after being evacuated from Liberia, health officials said.","FIFA ethics judge hesitates on World Cup. GENEVA (AP) — For Qatar or Russia to be stripped of the World Cup, a key person in the legal chain needs to make use of the powers available to him.","EU optimistic Ukraine, Russia can overcome problems in gas talks. Europe's Energy Commissioner said on Tuesday he was optimistic that all sides in the talks between Ukraine and Russia over a gas price dispute can overcome differences in the next few days. \"I am quite optimistic we can solve all open questions and problems in the next few days,\" Guenther Oettinger, who is mediating the talks, told reporters on a visit to Prague. After talks in Berlin on Monday, Oettinger had said Ukraine and Russia had made further progress in the dispute and his proposal that Ukraine to pay $2 billion of back debt by Thursday could pave the way for further talks on Friday. Ukraine said on Tuesday Russian state-controlled company Gazprom owed Kiev natural gas worth around $1 billion which it had \"stolen\" when Moscow annexed Crimea.","Group: Tibetan student dies after self-immolation. BEIJING (AP) — An overseas rights group says a Tibetan student has died after setting himself on fire in the first such protest in five months.","Israel aims to break Hamas as hunt for missing youths intensifies. Israel stepped up efforts to crush Hamas in the West Bank on Tuesday as the hunt for three Israeli teenagers believed kidnapped by the Islamist movement entered its fifth day. Thousands of Israel troops engaged in the search for the youths turned their attention during the night to the northern West Bank city of Nablus and surrounding area, arresting 41 Palestinians, the army said. So far, Israel has arrested around 200 Palestinians, most of them Hamas members, as it conducts a vast search operation for the students, two of them minors. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has accused militants from the Islamist movement of kidnapping the youths last week.","Puerto Rico workers protest fiscal emergency bill. SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Dozens of government employees in Puerto Rico are protesting a bill that would impose austere fiscal measures to help strengthen the economy of the U.S. territory.","UN envoy opposes foreign intervention in Libya. CAIRO (AP) — The newly appointed U.N. envoy to Libya says he doesn't believe a foreign intervention can halt the North African country's turmoil as political divisions and infighting push it deeper into chaos.","Tornado injures nine, one critically, in North Dakota. (Reuters) - Nine people were injured, one critically, when a tornado tore through a trailer park in a northwestern North Dakota county that is part of the state's oil boom, an official said. The tornado on Monday night smashed 15 recreational vehicles that housed mainly workers who traveled to North Dakota from other states, said Jerry Samuelson, director of emergency management for McKenzie County. One person was taken to Trinity Health in Minot, North Dakota, in critical condition and eight people were treated for minor injuries at McKenzie County Memorial Hospital in Watford City and released, Samuelson said. Samuelson said everyone appeared to be accounted for from the storm after two separate searches.","Kadhafi son Saadi asks for forgiveness in prison video. Slain dictator Moamer Kadhafi's son Saadi has asked Libyans for forgiveness in an interview released by prison authorities three weeks after his extradition from neighbouring Niger. The videotaped interview, which was aired by state television late Thursday, was filmed by warders at the capital's Al-Hadba prison, where Saadi and several other Kadhafi regime figures are being held, with the blessing of the chief prosecutor, the broadcaster said. Saadi, who was extradited to face a series of charges including \"crimes to keep his father in power\" before his overthrow in the NATO-backed uprising of 2011, asked for the \"forgiveness of the Libyan people and government.\" He admitted without elaborating that he had been behind \"acts of destabilisation against the country,\" the same accusation repeatedly levelled against him by the Tripoli authorities in its long campaign for his extradition from Niger.","Meyer's World Cup plans build, youngsters need to learn. By Greg Stutchbury WELLINGTON (Reuters) - South Africa coach Heyneke Meyer was left visibly frustrated and annoyed his side had failed to end the All Blacks' five-year winning streak in New Zealand. Deep down, however, he knew the mistakes that had been made could be rectified and the youngsters in his team would only be better for their tight 14-10 defeat to the world champions in Wellington on Saturday. ...","9 missing after second boat carrying Indonesian workers capsizes off Malaysia. KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — 9 missing after second boat carrying Indonesian workers capsizes off Malaysia.","Madrid loses Ronaldo to injury at Valladolid. VALLADOLID, Spain (AP) — Real Madrid lost forward Cristiano Ronaldo to injury during its must-win Spanish league match at Real Valladolid on Wednesday.","Delta Air Lines overhauls domestic plane interiors with larger overhead bins, seat power. ATLANTA - Delta is putting new seats and bigger overhead bins on many of the planes it flies within the U.S.","Catalonia suspends formal campaign on Spain independence vote. MADRID (Reuters) - Catalonia's regional government said on Tuesday it would temporarily suspend formal campaigning for a referendum on independence from Spain, after Madrid filed a legal appeal to stop the vote taking place. Madrid argues that the vote, called by Catalan leader Artur Mas for Nov. 9, would breach Spain's rule of law because it would be held in Catalonia alone, rather than in the whole of Spain. It filed an appeal on Monday with the Constitutional Court to stop it going ahead, which Catalan officials now want to try and overturn. ...","UN threatens S. Sudan leaders with sanctions. UN Security Council envoys warned South Sudan's warring leaders they would face sanctions if a civil war that has pushed the young nation to the brink of famine does not stop. \"The council has made it very clear: that it is prepared to impose consequences if there continue to be spoilers, if there continue to be people carrying out gross violations of human rights,\" US ambassador to the UN Samantha Power said after meeting with President Salva Kiir. Representatives of the 15-member council, who were in the capital Juba on a two-day mission, were due also to meet rebel chief Riek Machar. \"We have delivered that message here, we will deliver it to Riek Machar,\" she added.","The Bundesliga is back: Some things to know. BERLIN (AP) — With defending champion Bayern Munich and runner-up Borussia Dortmund already dropping points, Bayer Leverkusen is setting the early season pace in the Bundesliga.","China tries scholar, journalist in closed hearings. BEIJING (AP) — Closed-door court hearings of a prominent journalist and a noted minority scholar held on Friday were sharply criticized for violating due process and chilling freedom of expression as Chinese authorities tighten oversight of public speech.","Mobile ad revenue lifts Facebook past Wall Street targets. By Alexei Oreskovic SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Facebook Inc delivered its strongest revenue growth in two years, beating Wall Street targets as the Internet company's mobile ad sales continued to accelerate. Shares of Facebook surged 12 percent to $59.98 in after-hours trading on Wednesday. The world's largest social networking company said that revenue from mobile ads represented 53 percent of its total advertising revenue in the last three months of the year, or $1.24 billion, versus the 49 percent proportion that mobile ads represented in the third quarter. Facebook said it now has 1.23 billion monthly users, with 945 million accessing the service on a smartphone or tablet.","No quick cure for Australia's spin woes: CA. Australia's inadequacies in playing spin in Asian conditions will take time and hard work to put right, Cricket Australia high performance chief Pat Howard said Tuesday. Captain Michael Clarke admitted his team had not learned their lesson against spin after crashing to their sixth straight loss on the sub-continent against Pakistan in the United Arab Emirates on Monday. Pakistan inflicted a 356-run defeat in the second Test in Abu Dhabi -- Australia's third heaviest loss in all matches -- to take the two-match series 2-0. He added that CA would continue to use external spin consultants, such as Sri Lanka great Muttiah Muralitharan, and undertake developmental sub-continent tours that expose Test candidates to the foreign playing conditions at an early age.","Steelworkers join police patrols in east Ukraine. KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — Steelworkers employed by Ukraine's biggest tycoon have joined police on patrol in some disputed eastern Ukrainian cities, and the company said Thursday that its officials had struck a deal with police and pro-Russian separatists in one of the cities for the insurgents to leave occupied government buildings.","Saudi's Mobily suspends CEO amid accounting errors. RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) — The CEO of telecommunications company Etihad Etisalat, known as Mobily on the Saudi stock exchange, has been suspended after accounting errors forced the company to restate 18 months of earnings.","Canada dollar firms to session high after monthly GDP data. The Canadian dollar firmed to a session high against the greenback on Monday after data showed the country's economy rebounded at a stronger-than-expected pace in December. The Canadian dollar was at C$1.1008 to the greenback, or 90.84 U.S. cents, stronger than Friday's close of C$1.1060, or 90.42 U.S. cents.","Teenage deaths trigger riots in Guinea. Mobs rioted in the Guinean capital Conakry and in a mining town further north over the deaths of two teenagers in separate incidents, police and witnesses told AFP on Thursday. A policeman in Fria, around 150 kilometres (93 miles) north of the capital, said hundreds of youths \"armed with sticks, clubs and even knives looted, ransacked and set fire to the police station\" and two local government buildings on Wednesday. Military and police reinforcements were deployed on the streets overnight. In Conakry secondary school pupils took to the streets on Wednesday after the death of one of their classmates in a hospital, accusing doctors of \"negligence\".","BRAZIL BEAT: Pele, Maradona impersonators compete. RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Just outside the Maracana Stadium's main entrance, the debate rages on: Who is the greatest football player of all time?","Bode Miller leads 1st super-combined training. KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia (AP) — Bode Miller showed signs of bouncing back from his disappointing downhill result by leading the opening training session Tuesday for the super-combined.","Putin signs Crimea treaty as Ukraine serviceman dies in attack. By Steve Gutterman and Pavel Polityuk MOSCOW/KIEV (Reuters) - Defying Ukrainian protests and Western sanctions, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a treaty in Moscow on Tuesday making Crimea part of Russia again, but said he did not plan to seize any other regions of Ukraine. On the peninsula, a Ukrainian serviceman was killed when a base still held by Kiev came under attack in the main town of Simferopol, the first death in Crimea from a military clash since Russia seized control three weeks ago. Kiev said the attackers had been wearing Russian military uniforms, and it responded by authorizing its soldiers in Crimea to use weapons to protect their lives, reversing previous orders that they should avoid using arms against attack.","Ex-Fed Chair Bernanke: wanted to stop AIG default, not punish firm. By Emily Stephenson WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Former Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said on Friday on that prior to the 2008 bailout of American International Group , he was concerned that the insurer \"was on the brink of default\" and not about punishing AIG. Bernanke's comments came in a fifth day of testimony by former top government officials, who mean to convince a federal judge that their actions in rescuing the insurance company were legal. ...","Ukrainian parliament approves economic reform program. KIEV (Reuters) - Ukraine's parliament on Thursday approved the new government's economic program of tough reforms aimed at securing billions of dollars in financial aid from the International Monetary Fund and other backers. The program, outlined by Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk, includes overhauling the tax system, raising energy tariffs and privatizing state firms in a bid to root out corruption that has helped push Ukraine to the brink of bankruptcy. \"Everything that wasn't done in the past 23 years, needs to be done in 23 months,\" Yatseniuk said. ...","Ukraine says 17 bodies recovered from shelled refugee convoy. KIEV (Reuters) - Seventeen bodies have so far been recovered from the wreckage of a Ukrainian refugee convoy which was hit by shelling on Monday, a military spokesman said on Tuesday. Six others were being treated in hospital for injuries, of whom three were in a serious condition, the spokesman, Andriy Lysenko, said. (Writing By Richard Balmforth; Editing by Mark Trevelyan)","Australia 'in deep pain' over Hughes death. Australian cricket captain Michael Clarke said Saturday the team were in deep pain at the death of Phillip Hughes, as former skipper Ricky Ponting said it would take a miracle for them to be ready for next week's Test. Speaking on behalf of the Australian cricket team and support staff, a visibly upset Clarke spoke of Hughes' parents and family and said: \"We share in the deep pain that you're feeling.","Soccer-Australian championship results and standings. Dec 27 (Infostrada Sports) - Results and standings from the Australian championship matches on Saturday Saturday, December 27 Central Coast Mariners 3 Brisbane Roar 3 Melbourne Victory 1 Newcastle Jets 0 Friday, December 26 Melbourne City FC 1 Perth Glory 1 Sydney FC 0 Adelaide United 3 Standings P W D L F A Pts 1 Perth Glory 12 9 2 1 22 12 29 2 Melbourne Victory 12 7 4 1 25 12 25 3 Adelaide United 12 7 2 3 19 10 23 4 Wellington Phoenix 11 6 1 4 21 13 19 5 Sydney FC 12 4 5 3 15 15 17 6 Melbourne City FC 11 3 4 4 15 20 13 -------------------------7 Brisbane Roar 11 3 2 6 14 16 11 8 Central ...","Australian woman survives for 17 days lost in rainforest. A woman missing for more than two weeks in a rugged Australian rainforest has stumbled out alive after surviving a chase by a crocodile and eating small fish, officials and reports said Thursday.","Aruba releases Venezuelan diplomat sought by US. BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — A former Venezuelan general detained in Aruba on U.S. drug charges was released by the Dutch Caribbean island and sent home Sunday night, authorities said.","Pope backs his new Vatican economy czar. VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis on Friday publicly backed his new economy czar, who is overhauling the Vatican's administration amid grumblings from some Holy See bureaucrats about a perceived abrasive and secretive style.","Hundreds more migrants storm Morocco-Spain border. Some 350 African migrants tried to storm a fence from Morocco into Spanish territory on Wednesday, authorities said, the latest in a wave of desperate arrivals at Europe's southern border. Just three of the migrants who charged towards the seven-metre (23-foot) fence in separate locations at dawn made it into the territory of Melilla, the Spanish government delegation there said in a statement. Most of them were intercepted on the way by Moroccan security forces and a group of about 50 who got close to the fence were seen off by Spanish police backed by a helicopter. In all, about 14,000 migrants have tried to make the crossing and some 2,000 have made into Melilla.","Female UAE pilot 'leads strikes' on jihadists. Dubai (AFP) - A female pilot has led United Arab Emirates air strikes that targeted Islamic State jihadists in Syria as part of the US-led campaign against extremists.","Etihad buys 49 percent of loss-making Alitalia. ROME (AP) — Gulf airline Etihad Airways has signed a deal to take a 49 percent stake in Italy's Alitalia airline and invest 560 million euros ($750 million) to save the loss-making national carrier, restructure it and return it to profitability.","Australian same-sex marriage support hits record-high: poll. Support for same-sex marriage has reached a record high in Australia, a poll showed Tuesday, as pressure mounts on Prime Minister Tony Abbott to allow a conscience vote on the issue. The survey by Crosby Textor -- the national pollster for the ruling Liberal Party -- found 72 percent of Australians supported marriage equality, with about half of those strongly supporting it. Pollster Mark Textor said backing for same-sex marriage had been steadily rising from the 38 percent recorded by another researcher, Newspoll, a decade ago. \"With Australians across all key demographics supporting marriage equality in record numbers, it's fair to say the public has made up its mind,\" said Australian Marriage Equality director Rodney Croome.","US: China's behavior offshore hurts its standing. WASHINGTON (AP) — China's coercive efforts to enforce its territorial claims in disputed waters are not just raising tensions but damaging its international standing, a senior U.S. official said Wednesday.","Moody's downgrades Japan credit rating. TOKYO (AP) — Moody's downgraded the Japanese government's credit rating in the wake of the Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's decision to delay an increase in sales tax.","US fans showing up in force in Brazil. RECIFE, Brazil (AP) — Some wanted to play soccer barefoot on the beach with Brazilians, experiencing for themselves those romanticized images they'd seen on TV. Others dreamed of attending meaningful games in the homeland of Pele, soaking up the passion for the game permeating not just the stadiums, but every corner of every neighborhood.","4 killed in bomb blast in Kano, northern Nigeria. KANO, Nigeria (AP) — Nigerian police say four people were killed when two female suicide bombers detonated their explosives in the northern city of Kano.","Outrage in France over Rwanda genocide accusations. Top-ranking former French officials on Monday angrily rejected claims of complicity in Rwanda's genocide, as ceremonies were held in Kigali to mark the 20th anniversary of the massacres. France had no presence at the commemorations after it cancelled a ministerial visit in response to the latest accusations by Rwandan President Paul Kagame and the French ambassador was barred from attending. The Rwandan president said French soldiers -- who helped train the Hutu nationalist-controlled Rwandan army prior to 1994, as well as being accused of aiding the killers to escape -- were both accomplices and \"actors\" in the bloodbath that left 800,000 dead. Rwandan Foreign Minister Louise Mushikiwabo also said France had to face up to the \"difficult truth\" over its involvement.","Taiwan gas pipeline blasts injure around 230, fatalities feared. Multiple gas pipeline explosions ripped through the southern Taiwanese city of Kaohsiung, leaving at least five people feared dead and injuring around 230, officials said Friday. The explosions, believed to have been caused by a gas leak, triggered a massive inferno with eyewitnesses reporting several bodies littered on the streets. \"At least 228 people who were injured have been rushed to hospitals for treatment,\" the National Fire Agency said. Premier Jiang Yi-huah told reporters that at least five people, including a firefighter, were feared dead.","New Zealand coach Hesson extends contract. New Zealand coach Mike Hesson signed a two-year contract extension on Wednesday in a major vote of confidence for the young Black Caps' mentor. Hesson, 39, took over in mid-2012 with New Zealand in the doldrums after a poor run of defeats and soon created controversy by axing the popular Ross Taylor as captain in favour of Brendon McCullum. New Zealand Cricket chief executive David White said Hesson's contract, which had been due to expire in April next year after the Cricket World Cup in Australia and New Zealand, had been extended to April 2017. Hesson, who coached provincial side Otago for six years and also had a stint in charge of the Kenya national team, said he was looking forward to taking New Zealand to the World Cup and beyond.","Cogeco Cable's profit rises as it gains from acquisitions. (Reuters) - Cogeco Cable Inc , a Canadian provider of cable TV and internet and phone services, reported an 18 percent rise in quarterly profit after recent acquisitions. The Montreal-based company's net profit rose to C$49.7 million ($45.74 million), or C$1.02 per share, in the first quarter ended November 30 from C$42.1 million, or 87 Canadian cents per share, a year earlier. Revenue rose 44.9 percent to C$475 million in the quarter. ($1 = 1.0866 Canadian dollars) (Reporting by Shubhankar Chakravorty and Kanika Sikka in Bangalore)","Toronto mayor votes against Mandela; a mistake, he says. Toronto Mayor Rob Ford is not perfect, as His Honor has freely admitted in the past, notably after confessing to smoking crack cocaine, probably while in \"a drunken stupor\". Ford demonstrated imperfection once again on Wednesday when he voted against city council motions to name a street for Nelson Mandela and congratulate Canada's Olympic athletes, drawing incredulity even as he insisted he had accidentally pressed the wrong voting button. Mistaken votes are not unheard of at Toronto city council, and members sometimes ask for them to be redone. Speaking to reporters, the mayor's brother and closest ally, Councillor Doug Ford, said voting mistakes are common.","Hijab row as controversies hit Asian Games. Incheon (South Korea) (AFP) - Qatar's women's basketball team slammed a ban on their Muslim headscarves as an \"insult\" Thursday as a doping case and football match-fixing claims also rocked the Asian Games.","Iran acts to meet terms of extended nuclear deal with powers: IAEA. VIENNA (Reuters) - Iran has taken further action to comply with the terms of an extended interim nuclear agreement with six world powers, a monthly U.N. atomic agency update on the accord's implementation showed on Monday. The report by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), seen by Reuters, said Iran had diluted more than 4,100 kg of low enriched uranium down to the level of natural uranium. ...","Japan's Cabinet approves larger military role. TOKYO (AP) — Japan took a step away Tuesday from an American-drafted constitution that has long kept its military shackled, approving a plan to allow greater use of a force that was vanquished at the end of World War II.","IMF boss hails 'remarkable' African growth. IMF managing director Christine Lagarde on Wednesday hailed the leaps made by African economies in the last decade as \"nothing short of remarkable.\" The sub-Saharan Africa region is expected to grow at more than five percent this year according to the IMF's latest projections, after similar growth last year. As policymakers take stock of Africa's strong economic performance, many are also looking at the risks that lie ahead. Ahead of the meeting, rights groups questioned the current optimistic view of \"Africa's rise.\"","British women could soon fight on front line: minister. Female British soldiers could soon be allowed to fight on the frontline after Defence Secretary Philip Hammond on Thursday announced he had brough forward a planned review. The report will advise on whether women should be able to join the infantry and the Armoured Corps divisions of the British army. \\\\\"I think that at a time when the Americans, the Australians, the Canadians, even the French -- the Israelis of course for years -- have women in their combat arms this is something we have to look at again,\\\\\" he said. It will be led by the head of the army Peter Wall, who said that the war in Afghanistan \\\\\"has highlighted the increasingly important contribution women are making to operations.\\\\\"","Philippine president defends human rights record. MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Philippine President Benigno Aquino III is pushing back against criticism that his government has done too little to address extrajudicial killings of journalists and others.","Man shot dead in Birmingham disorder. A man has been shot dead during a violent altercation in Birmingham that left two others seriously injured in hospital with gunshot and stab wounds, police said on Thursday. Officers responded after an incident broke out in the Sparkbrook area of the city last night. West Midlands Police sealed off Grantham Road and Farm Road and made a number of arrests after the incident. A police spokesman said: \"Two other men were taken to hospital, one with a gunshot wound and one with knife injuries.","Existing home sales slump to 18-month low. Home resales fell more than expected in January and hit an 18 month-low as the combination of cold weather and a lack of housing stock sidelined potential buyers. The National Association of Realtors said on Friday home sales dropped 5.1 percent to an annual rate of 4.62 million units, the lowest level since July 2012. December's sales pace was unrevised at 4.87 million. Economists polled by Reuters had expected sales to fall to a 4.68-million pace last month.","US pulls out from military exercises in Thailand. WASHINGTON (AP) — The Pentagon has canceled ongoing military exercises with Thailand as a result of the military coup in the Southeast Asian country.","FBI investigates death of 1 child, hospitalization of another after both pulled from ship pool. RALEIGH, N.C. - The FBI is investigating the death of one child and the hospitalization of another after they were pulled from a swimming pool aboard a cruise ship off the North Carolina coast.","Taxi driver charged over Boston attacks FBI probe. Boston (AFP) - A 23-year-old taxi driver was charged Friday with obstructing FBI agents investigating the Boston Marathon attacks that killed three people and wounded more than 260 others last year.","Scans deliver positive news for Michael Clarke. PERTH, Australia (AP) — Australia captain Michael Clarke is on track to play in the first cricket test against India after scans Sunday showed his hamstring injury is not as serious as first feared.","Climate change will hit nations’ creditworthiness -S&P. (Reuters) - Global warming will pressure sovereign credit ratings throughout this century with poorer, lower-rated countries hardest hit, Standard & Poor's (S&P) Ratings Services said in a report. S&P said climate change will be the 21st Century’s second global “mega-trend”, after aging populations, to put downward pressure on sovereign ratings, which could harm economic growth and government coffers. The report said extreme weather events such as typhoon Haiyan, which killed more than 5,000 people in the Philippines late last year, seem to have been on the rise since the early 1980s but none have so far caused S&P to revise its rating of any country. “However, assuming that extreme weather events are on the rise in terms of frequency and destruction, how this trend could feed through to our ratings on sovereign states bears consideration,” S&P said.","Anderson stakes Test claims in warm-up game. Sharjah (United Arab Emirates) (AFP) - All-rounder Corey Anderson reminded New Zealand selectors of his credentials with a hard-hitting half-century in the three-day warm-up game against Pakistan 'A' in Sharjah on Tuesday.","Russia, China skip Security Council talks on Syria. UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Russia is scuttling Western efforts to push through a Security Council resolution that would raise the prospect of sanctions against Syria unless the government gives unrestricted access to deliver humanitarian aid.","UBS faces fine of up to $6.3 billion in French tax probe: paper. ZURICH (Reuters) - Switzerland's largest bank UBS could face a fine of up to $6.3 billion if found guilty in a French investigation into whether it helped wealthy customers there avoid tax, a Swiss newspaper reported on Friday. A French court has already ordered UBS to deposit a 1.1 billion-euro ($1.4 billion) guarantee to cover a portion of potential fines in the case, but Swiss newspaper Le Temps said it had seen a legal document showing the bank could face a penalty of up to 5 billion euros. ...","South Africa police snare rhino poaching gang. Johannesburg (AFP) - South African investigators said Friday they have arrested the suspected ring leader of a rhino poaching gang believed to be behind the killing of at least 24 of the endangered animals.","Nibali starts Stage 7 with 2-second lead. EPERNAY, France (AP) — Tour de France riders have set off on the seventh stage, 234.5 kilometers (146 miles) from Epernay, the capital of Champagne country, to the eastern city of Nancy.","Ugandan maid pleads guilty to child torture. KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) — A Ugandan maid has pleaded guilty to charges of torturing a child who was under her care in a case that shocked Ugandans and sparked debate about the role of maids raising children.","3 killed as Venezuelan protests turn violent. CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Armed vigilantes on motorcycles attacked anti-government demonstrators in Venezuela on Wednesday, setting off a stampede by firing into crowds as the biggest protest against President Nicolas Maduro's year-old administration turned violent. Three people were killed.","10 feared dead in Denmark listeria outbreak. COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — Danish officials say a listeria outbreak caused by contaminated sausages may have killed 10 people during the past few months, and they have closed down a small meat producer in the capital, Copenhagen.","US ship on Syria chemical arms mission in Spain. ROTA, Spain (AP) — The American ship MV Cape Ray is set to arrive Thursday at the Spanish naval base of Rota to resupply ahead of an unprecedented mission to collect and destroy highly toxic substances that form part of Syria's chemical weapons program. Here are some questions and answers about the Cape Ray and its mission:","US special forces face complex challenge in Iraq. WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. teams of special forces going into Iraq after a three-year gap will face an aggressive insurgency, a splintering military and a precarious political situation as they help Iraqi security forces improve their ability to battle Sunni militants.","String of explosions rocks Iraqi capital. BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraqi police and hospital officials say a string of explosions in Baghdad has killed at least 15 people and wounded more than 30.","Attacking Syria may entangle US in rebel rivalries. BEIRUT (AP) — In expanding its airstrikes into Syria against Islamic State extremists, the U.S. could find itself entangled in a morass of jihadis, rebel rivalries and religious hatred.","HK property tycoon sentenced to 5 years in prison. HONG KONG (AP) — A Hong Kong court has sentenced a billionaire property developer to five years in prison for corruption after a high-profile trial.","U.S. says concerned about China-Vietnam incident in South China Sea. The United States said on Wednesday it was concerned about dangerous conduct and intimidation in the South China Sea after reports of a Chinese vessel ramming Vietnamese ships. State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki reiterated the U.S. view that China's deployment of an oil rig in a disputed part of the South China was \"provocative and unhelpful\" to security in the region. \"We call on all parties to conduct themselves in a safe and appropriate manner, exercise restraint, and address competing sovereignty claims peacefully, diplomatically, and in accordance with international law.\" Psaki said the United States had seen reports that Philippine police had seized Chinese and Philippine fishing boats carrying illegally harvested sea turtles in the South China Sea and detained their crews. \"Given the United States works with the international community to combat wildlife trafficking, we are concerned that the vessels appear to be engaged in direct harvest of endangered species of sea turtles.\" China has demanded that the Philippines release its boat and fishermen.","Berlusconi deal clears way for electoral revolution in Italy. Italy's chronic political instability could soon be consigned to history after a deal between Prime Minister Matteo Renzi and Silvio Berlusconi was hailed on Thursday as a breakthrough for radical electoral reform. Under an accord between the youthful centre-left premier and his disgraced right-wing predecessor a new electoral law which will guarantee strong governments with clear parliamentary majorities could be approved by Christmas. \"Italy needs an institutional system that guarantees the ability to govern (and) a clear winner on election night,\" the statement said. Renzi's ability to maintain cooperation with Berlusconi is seen as key to his ability to deliver on a wide-ranging programme of promised reforms which spans the economy and the legal system as well as the electoral system and constitution.","Nadal fights back on a rainy day at Wimbledon. LONDON (AP) — Rain played havoc with Saturday's schedule at Wimbledon everywhere except under the closed roof on Centre Court, where Rafael Nadal recovered from a slow start against a player from Kazakhstan who hadn't won a match at the All England Club until this week.","Pope appeals to UN to end tragedy in Iraq. VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis has written to the U.N. secretary-general appealing for \"action to end the humanitarian tragedy now underway\" against Christians and other religious minorities in Iraq.","Sliding phone sales keep Nokia in Q1 loss. HELSINKI (AP) — Nokia Corp. says it continued to be hit by fierce competition in the first-quarter with a 30 percent fall in sales of mobile devices, the troubled unit it sold to Microsoft last week.","Suicide bombing in Nigeria's Jos kills three. A suicide bombing on Saturday that was meant to target an open air viewing of a football match in the central Nigerian city of Jos blew up early before reaching its target, killing three people, a witness told Reuters. A spokesman for the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) said they were aware of the bomb blast but declined to comment on casualty figures. The bomber approached Jos Viewing Centre while people were watching Real Madrid play Atletico Madrid, but failed to get there before his car exploded, Mohammed Shittu, a local journalist at the scene said.","Red Bull to start Abu Dhabi GP from back of grid. ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Red Bull drivers Daniel Ricciardo and Sebastian Vettel will start Sunday's Abu Dhabi Grand Prix from the back of the grid after race stewards nullified their qualifying results because of an illegal aerodynamic influence on both cars.","Ukraine's Poroshenko expects progress on peace in coming week. Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said on Saturday he expected to see progress toward peace in the east of the country in the coming days. At a news conference in Brussels ahead of a European Union summit, he said in English: \"We are waiting that in the very next days, starting from Monday, we can demonstrate the real progress in the peace negotiations. Because we are too close to the border where from it would be no return to the peace plan.\" (Reporting by Adrian Croft;","Clinton to encourage reading in Hispanic families. WASHINGTON (AP) — Hillary Rodham Clinton is helping initiate a public service campaign encouraging Hispanic families to read, sing and talk more to their young children so they're better prepared for school.","Canada to ship experimental Ebola vaccine to WHO. (Reuters) - The Canadian government will ship 800 vials of its experimental Ebola vaccine to the World Health Organization in Geneva beginning on Monday, the Public Health Agency of Canada said on Saturday. The WHO, in consultation with health authorities in the countries most affected by the outbreak of the disease, will decide on how the vaccine will be distributed and used, the agency said in a statement. The vaccine is undergoing clinical trials at Walter Reed Army Institute of Research in the United States, it said. (Reporting By Frank McGurty; editing by David Clarke)","At 91, Greece's resistance icon eyes European parliament return. He is Greece's best-known resistance hero and at the ripe age of 91, Manolis Glezos is gearing up for a European parliamentary comeback. The anti-austerity, radical leftist party Syriza is set to top the polls in Greece on Sunday with its lead candidate, former journalist Glezos, due to become the oldest European deputy in Brussels.","Cricket-Australia batsman Finch signs for Yorkshire. Australia's hard-hitting opening batsman Aaron Finch has signed a deal to play for Yorkshire in this year's English county season. One of the top Twenty20 batsmen in the world, Finch, will join the team in May after his Indian Premier League commitments are over and is slated to be a big draw in the T20 Blast that is scheduled on Fridays from May to July. Finch, who scored handsomely against England in their recent limited-overs series, credited Australia coach Darren Lehmann for helping him make up his mind. \"When I heard Yorkshire was interested in signing me, I had no hesitation in signing,\" the 27-year-old told the club's website.","Mexican victim's family doesn't blame sea survivor. MEXICO CITY (AP) — Members of the family of Mexican fisherman Ezequiel Cordoba, who died during a 13-month sea odyssey, said Thursday they don't blame the survivor who turned up in the Marshall Islands.","South Sudan charges four high-profile prisoners with treason. By Carl Odera JUBA (Reuters) - South Sudan charged four high-profile prisoners with treason on Tuesday, dashing rebel hopes that they would be released ahead of peace talks planned in Ethiopia this month. Rebels led by former vice president Riek Machar have demanded a pardon for the four politicians, all former members of the ruling SPLM party, before the peace talks resume.","Chile: fossil whales in desert mystery solved. SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) — Scientists investigating a graveyard of marine mammal fossils near Chile's northern coast say toxins generated by algae blooms most likely poisoned the animals millions of years ago.","World stocks take China slowdown in stride. TOKYO (AP) — European stocks were higher and Asian markets meandered Tuesday after China's third quarter growth report pointed to a gradual rather than sharp economic slowdown.","U.S. anti-coal dominoes hit BRICS wall, other skeptics. By Anna Yukhananov and Valerie Volcovici WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A year ago, U.S. President Barack Obama sought to mobilize the nation behind a grand plan: fight climate change by slashing carbon pollution at home, while prodding other countries to follow. A key part of that strategy was for the United States to stop using public money to finance the construction of most coal-fired power plants abroad, seen as one of the main causes of rising pollution from heat-trapping gases. Some key lenders continue to finance coal projects, and the Export-Import Bank of the United Stastes has put its ban on hold. In the past year, Japan has approved funding for three major coal plants in energy-thirsty emerging markets.","German court nixes 3 percent hurdle for EU vote. BERLIN (AP) — Germany's top court says requiring parties to win at least 3 percent of the vote to get into the European Parliament is unconstitutional, raising the likelihood extremists could win seats.","France and Ecuador drawing 0-0 at halftime. RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — France and Ecuador went into halftime level at 0-0 in a scrappy contest in their final Group E match on Wednesday.","AP PHOTOS: Top pictures from Europe and Africa. LONDON (AP) — Last week the festive seasons of Christmas and Hanukkah kicked off around Europe with traditional street markets and ceremonies.","Arctic gas project backs political strategy as Russia turns east. By Denis Pinchuk SABETTA, Russia (Reuters) - On the Arctic tundra far to the north of Moscow, Russia is charting a course away from the West and towards Asia. In Yamal - which in the local Nenets language means \"the end of the earth\" - a $27 billion liquefied natural gas (LNG) scheme is assuming major political as well as economic significance. The project fits well with a more aggressive eastward push by Moscow since the United States and European Union imposed sanctions over its annexation of Crimea from Ukraine last month. Instead of sending gas by pipeline to long-standing EU customers, Russia aims to ship LNG from the remote Yamal peninsula by sea largely to Asian buyers such as China, which has avoided confronting Moscow since Russian troops took control of Crimea.","Judge: Toss murder conviction in daughter's death. A South Korean man convicted of killing his daughter in what authorities alleged was an arson fire 25 years ago should be released from prison or given a new trial, a federal magistrate in Pennsylvania said Friday.","Four foreigners among nine killed in Kabul hotel attack - Afghan police. KABUL (Reuters) - Nine civilians, including four foreigners, were killed in Thursday's attack on a luxury hotel in central Kabul, Afghan police and government security officials said on Friday. Ayoub Salangi, the deputy minister for security, had earlier said eight civilians were killed. (Reporting By Mirwais Harooni; Writing by Jessica Donati; Editing by Paul Tait)","Pakistan: Airstrikes kill 35 militants. ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistan's military says warplanes have struck three militant hideouts in a Taliban stronghold near the Afghan border, killing 35 fighters.","UN urges Lebanon to finally select a president. UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The United Nations Security Council is expressing concern and strongly encouraging leaders in Lebanon to show \"urgency and flexibility\" in choosing a president, as the country has been without a head of state since May.","Avalanches, flood close only highway to Alaska city; crews wait for area to stabilize. ANCHORAGE, Alaska - Alaska highway officials say access to the city at the end of the trans-Alaska pipeline will be closed indefinitely by avalanches.","Clarke out of first test vs India with back injury. ADELAIDE, Australia (AP) — Michael Clarke has retired injured on 60 runs on the opening day of the first test against India with an apparent back problem.","China, Iran defense officials pledge closer ties. BEIJING (AP) — China's defense minister met Thursday with Iran's navy commander in the latest sign of warming ties between their two militaries following their first joint naval drills in the Persian Gulf last month.","Tennis-Djokovic knocked out of Australian Open by Wawrinka. MELBOURNE, Jan 21 (Reuters) - Defending champion Novak Djokovic was knocked out of the Australian Open quarter-finals by Stanislas Wawrinka 2-6 6-4 6-2 3-6 9-7 on Tuesday. Eighth seed Wawrinka ended Djokovic's bid for a fourth consecutive title at Melbourne Park under the lights of Rod Laver Arena and will meet Tomas Berdych in the semi-finals. (Reporting by Ian Ransom; Editing by ...)","Bombing, shooting kill 6 people in Iraq. BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraqi authorities say a car bomb and a shooting have killed six people in the country's north.","Prince Charles: Romania should preserve rural life. BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) — Prince Charles has called on Romania to preserve its rural traditions, saying it could help boost the economy in the poor Europe Union nation.","Rugby union - RugbyU: Wallabies draw with the All Blacks 12-12. - New Zealand's All Blacks were held to a 12-12 draw with the Wallabies in the Rugby Championship Test in Sydney on Saturday.","Golf - Kiwi teen Ko wins Tour Championship, season crown. - New Zealand teen Lydia Ko parred the fourth playoff hole to beat Carlota Ciganda and win the LPGA Tour Championship, completing a $1.5 million haul Sunday that included a season points crown.","Georgia: Saakashvili ally sentenced to 5 years. TBILISI, Georgia (AP) — A court in Georgia has convicted a top ally of former President Mikhail Saakashvili of embezzlement and abuse of office and sentenced him to five years in prison.","European soccer clubs opening US academies. MIAMI (AP) — As the U.S. appetite for soccer grows, more American kids are harboring dreams of becoming the next David Beckham or Leo Messi. Their aspirations, realistic or not, have not gone unnoticed by top international teams, which are trying to capitalize financially.","Turkish high-speed rail opens between main cities. ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkey inaugurated a high-speed rail service Friday linking Ankara to Istanbul which will cut travel time between the country's main two cities by half. The launch suffered a mishap however, with a technical fault causing the train to stop for 15 minutes until it was repaired.","UN: Iran not yet invited to Syria peace talks. UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The United Nations says Iran is not among the \"first round\" of nations invited to attend Syria peace talks in Switzerland later this month.","Wust gives Dutch another speedskating gold. SOCHI, Russia (AP) — Ireen Wust gave the Netherlands its second straight gold medal at the Olympic speedskating oval by winning the women's 3,000 meters Sunday.","IIHF: Dropping women's hockey 'will never happen'. SOCHI, Russia (AP) — Women's hockey isn't in danger of being kicked out of the Winter Olympics because of a lack of competition, the head of the sport's international governing body said at the Sochi Games on Tuesday.","AP ANALYSIS: Hamas emerges weakened from Gaza war. GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — Hamas has entered Egyptian-brokered talks with Israel on a new border regime for blockaded Gaza from a point of military weakness: it lost hundreds of fighters, two-thirds of its 10,000 rockets and all of its attack tunnels, worth $100 million, Israel says.","Mickelson pokes fun at McIlroy lawsuit. GLENEAGLES, Scotland (AP) — Phil Mickelson couldn't resist a playful shot at the lawsuit involving Rory McIlroy and Graeme McDowell.","U.S. pledges 3,000 troops to fight Ebola; experts say more needed. By James Harding Giahyue and Jeff Mason MONROVIA/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States has pledged to send 3,000 troops West Africa, using its military muscle to battle the biggest ever outbreak of Ebola by building treatment clinics and training health workers to halt the spread of the deadly virus. President Barack Obama is expected to outline the action later on Tuesday, his second announcement of a major military operation in two weeks after his declaration that Washington would bomb Islamic State fighters in the Middle East. The U.S. ...","Rival Koreas meet again at border. SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — The rival Koreas sat down Friday for a second round of talks this week at a border village as the North's calls for a delay of annual South Korea-U.S. military drills threaten plans for the resumption of emotional reunions of war-divided families.","16 troops, 'dozens' of militants dead in Lebanon clashes. Beirut (AFP) - Sixteen Lebanese soldiers, including two officers, and \"dozens\" of militants have been killed in three days of clashes in eastern Lebanon on the Syrian border, a military source said Monday.","Terror-accused Dutch journo leaves Egypt. Dutch journalist Rena Netjes left Egypt on Tuesday after being accused of being part of a \"terror cell\" involving Qatari-owned broadcaster Al-Jazeera, her Amsterdam-based employer said. \"She has left Egypt,\" a colleague at BNR Nieuwsradio told AFP, asking not to be named. Netjes flew out of Cairo early Tuesday after several days in hiding, following a crackdown on the pan-Arab satellite broadcaster which Cairo accuses of backing the Muslim Brotherhood ousted from power by the military in July. Egyptian prosecutors announced last Wednesday they were charging 20 Al-Jazeera journalists for \"airing false news\" by portraying Egypt in a state of civil war.","UK court says Libyan can sue over rendition. LONDON (AP) — A British court says a former Libyan military commander can sue the U.K. government for its alleged role in his detention and rendition.","US demands Russian troops withdraw from Crimea. UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations says more than 20,000 Russian troops are in Crimea before a referendum on Sunday that could separate the peninsula from Ukraine and merge it with Russia.","Liberians urged to travel last mile to beat Ebola. MONROVIA, Liberia (AP) — Liberia's president is urging her countrymen to travel the \"very difficult last mile\" to rid remote areas of Ebola.","US calls on Cuba to release American contractor. WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House is calling on Cuba to release American government contractor Alan Gross on the fifth anniversary of his imprisonment.","Ukraine's Poroshenko says warns Merkel of escalating eastern conflict. KIEV (Reuters) - Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said on Friday he had told Germany's Angela Merkel by telephone that the separatist conflict in eastern Ukraine was escalating due to \"significant\" violations of a Sept. 5 ceasefire deal. \"The President noted a significant deviation from the implementation of the Minsk (ceasefire) protocol, which is leading to further escalation of the conflict,\" a statement on the presidential website said. (Reporting by Alessandra Prentice; Editing by Sonya Hepinstall)","UK leaders condemn Sudanese woman's death sentence. LONDON (AP) — British Prime Minister David Cameron and former leader Tony Blair have urged Sudan's government to lift the death sentence imposed on a Christian woman who refused to renounce her faith.","Curacao official arrested in slain lawmaker probe. SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — A former finance minister in the Dutch Caribbean island of Curacao has been arrested as police investigate the 2013 killing of a prominent opposition lawmaker.","Borussia Dortmund well-placed in Champions League. ISTANBUL (AP) — Borussia Dortmund is looking to the Champions League for refuge, even if that entails a daunting visit to Turkish league runner-up Galatasaray on Wednesday.","Mexico rights commission investigates killings. MATAMOROS, Mexico (AP) — Inquiries into the deaths of three American siblings in a northern Mexico border city continue to focus on potential government ties.","Hague war crimes court says Ukraine has not requested investigation. The International Criminal Court has not received a request from Ukraine's government asking it to investigate events leading up to the ouster of the country's President Viktor Yanukovich, a spokesman for the court said on Tuesday. Ukraine's parliament voted on Tuesday for Yanukovich and two members of his government to be sent to the court to be tried for \"serious crimes\" in relation to the deaths of more than 100 citizens from Ukraine and other states. \"A government can make a declaration accepting the court's jurisdiction for past events,\" said court spokesman Fadi El Abdallah, adding that it would then be up to the court's prosecutor to decide whether or not to open an investigation.","U.S. ambassador \"deeply concerned\" about Japanese dolphin hunt. In an unusual move, U.S. ambassador to Japan Caroline Kennedy has expressed deep concern over the traditional dolphin hunt in western Japan, where local fisherman corral dolphins in a secluded bay before killing many for meat. The annual dolphin hunt currently underway in Taiji in western Japan has long been a source of controversy and was the topic of \"The Cove,\" an Oscar-winning documentary. \"(I am) deeply concerned by inhumanness of drive hunt dolphin killing,\" Kennedy tweeted at the weekend, adding that the U.S. government opposes drive hunt fishing. Every year the fishermen of Taiji - a small fishing town in Japan's Wakayama prefecture - drive hundreds of dolphins into a cove, select some for sale to marine parks, release some back into the sea and kill the rest for meat.","Man with many piercings denied entry to Dubai. DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — A heavily tattooed German man whose face is embellished with horn implants and more than 100 piercings said Sunday he was refused entry to Dubai without reason, forcing him to skip a planned appearance at a nightclub.","France's Barnier says ready to run EU Commission. France's Michel Barnier, the European commissioner for financial regulation, has said he is ready to run for the presidency of the European Union executive succeeding Jose Manuel Barroso. \"If I am chosen by the European People's Party, I am ready to commit myself,\" the conservative Barnier told Le Figaro newspaper in an interview published on Tuesday. Barnier has for months been seen as a potential candidate but this is the first time he has explicitly confirmed his interest. Voters across the 28-nation European Union vote in late May to elect a new European Parliament.","Japan ruling bloc near agreement on security shift. TOKYO (AP) — Japan's ruling party and its coalition partner are near agreement on a major shift in the country's restrictive defensive policy that would allow the military to help defend other nations.","Ex-players say teams gave pain pills 'like candy'. Former NFL lineman Jeremy Newberry says he often hobbled into the 49ers locker room using a walking boot and crutches, then lined up behind as many as two dozen teammates for treatment — in his case, a shot of the painkiller Toradol. Ten minutes later, he sprinted onto the field to play.","Ex-rebel faces gang-fighting conservative in El Salvador vote. By Nelson Renteria and Michael O'Boyle SAN SALVADOR (Reuters) - A former guerrilla commander vies to keep his left-wing party in power in El Salvador's presidential election on Sunday, but he faces a strong challenge from a right-leaning rival who wants to use the army to battle powerful street gangs. Salvador Sanchez Ceren, a rebel commander who became a top leader of the leftist Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN), had a solid lead over his conservative adversary Norman Quijano, who stepped down as the capital's mayor to run. But with three main candidates competing, Sanchez Ceren was projected to fall short of the 50 percent support needed to win outright and so face Quijano in a run-off on March 9. Anywhere you go you are afraid, because they just kill people,\" said Zoila Guevara, a 35-year old housewife who breastfed her baby as she waited in line to vote for Quijano and his anti-crime plan after polling stations opened.","Losing candidate in Guinea-Bissau presidential vote rejects result. ABIDJAN (Reuters) - Nuno Gomes Nabiam, who lost Sunday's high-stakes presidential run-off in Guinea-Bissau according to the West African nation's elections commission, rejected the result on Tuesday. \"I will not accept the result, because the figures collected by my campaign in four of eight regions are different from those announced by the National Electoral Commission,\" Nabiam told journalists in the capital Bissau. (Reporting by Alberto Dabo; Writing by Joe Bavier; Editing by Mark Heinrich)","Egypt jihadist arrested on return from Syria. Egyptian authorities on Wednesday announced the arrest of a jihadist who returned home from the Syrian conflict to train Islamist militants in the use of explosives. Hani Shahine had fought in the ranks of the Al-Nusra Front, Al-Qaeda's franchise in Syria, the interior ministry said.","Exclusive: U.S. to increase non-lethal military aid to Ukraine - officials. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States plans to increase non-lethal military assistance to Ukraine, including the first planned deliveries of Humvee vehicles, having decided for now not to provide weapons, U.S. officials said on Thursday. The increase in non-lethal aid to Ukraine, which is grappling with a Russian-backed separatist movement in its east, is expected to be announced on Thursday during a visit to Kiev by Vice President Joe Biden. The officials, who spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity, described it as an expansion of U.S. ...","Venezuela breaks ties with Air Canada over flights suspension. Venezuela's government said on Tuesday it was breaking commercial ties with Air Canada ACb.TO a day after the airline suspended flights to Caracas citing the country's civil unrest. Air Canada said it could no longer ensure the safety of its operations. \"We will make the relevant announcements through the Foreign Ministry.\" Air Canada had operated three return flights weekly between Toronto and Caracas. German airline Lufthansa LHAG.DE said earlier in the month its 2013 financial results took a double-digit-million-euro hit from payment issues in Venezuela.","Explosion at Kosovo coal-fired power plant, injuries reported. An explosion occurred at Kosovo's second biggest coal-fired power station outside the capital Pristina on Friday and police said some people had been hurt, possibly killed. The blast at the Yugoslav-era 345 Megawatt (MW) Kosovo A plant was heard in the capital some 10 km (6 miles) away, a Reuters reporter said. This has to be confirmed.\" Kosovo A and the larger Kosovo B plant account for 90 percent of electricity generation in the Balkan country, which still suffers from blackouts 15 years since breaking free from Serbia in a 1998-99 war during the collapse of federal Yugoslavia. Some 40 years old, Kosovo A is considered one of the worst polluters in Europe.","Senior Hamas official says group abducted Israeli teens. By Noah Browning RAMALLAH West Bank (Reuters) - A top Hamas official said members of his militant group kidnapped three Israeli teenagers whose deaths in June provoked a spiral of violence that led to the ongoing war in Gaza, the first acknowledgement of the movement's involvement. Speaking at a conference in Istanbul, Saleh al-Arouri, a Hamas official from the West Bank who lives in exile in Turkey, appeared to confirm Israeli allegations that the Islamist group was behind the teenagers' abduction. \"The popular will was exercised throughout our occupied land, and culminated in the heroic operation by the Qassam Brigades in imprisoning the three settlers in Hebron,\" he said, referring to Hamas's armed wing. Hamas officials have up to now refused to confirm or deny any involvement.","Obama applauds Yousafzai, Satyarthi for Nobel win. WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama says the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to children's rights activists is a victory for everyone who strives to uphold human dignity.","Russia showers Crimea with promises of funding. SIMFEROPOL, Crimea (AP) — Russia showered promises on Crimea on Monday, sending its prime minister on a surprise visit there to promise quick funds to improve power supplies, water lines and education. In Kiev, Ukraine's acting president flatly rejected Russian pressure to turn Ukraine into a loose federation.","205 dead, many trapped in Turkish coal mine. SOMA, Turkey (AP) — Rescuers desperately raced against time to reach more than 200 miners trapped underground Wednesday after an explosion and fire at a coal mine in western Turkey killed at least 205 workers, authorities said, in one of the worst mining disasters in Turkish history.","N.Ireland rocked by Gerry Adams arrest over 1972 killing. By Maurice Neill and Conor Humphries ANTRIM, Northern Ireland/DUBLIN (Reuters) - Police in Northern Ireland questioned Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams on Thursday after arresting him under an investigation into one of the province's most notorious murders, a move that sent political shockwaves through Belfast and Dublin. Reviled by many in Britain as the spokesman for the Irish Republican Army in the 1980s, Adams reinvented himself as a Northern Ireland peacemaker and then as a populist opposition politician in the Irish parliament. His Sinn Fein party said he was arrested on Wednesday evening by police investigating the 1972 abduction and murder of Jean McConville, a mother of 10 children. Adams, 65, who has always denied membership of the IRA, said he was \"innocent of any part\" in the killing, which he said was \"wrong and a grievous injustice to her and her family\".","Abu Dhabi, China set pace in race around the world. Boats from Abu Dhabi and China – two nations with no great tradition in offshore yacht racing – have emerged as the early front-runners for the sport’s premier prize, the Volvo Ocean Race. Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing edged Chinese rivals Dongfeng Race Team by a mere 12 minutes after 25 days at sea on Wednesday in one of the closest finishes of the opening stage in the 41-year-old event’s history. Although Abu Dhabi were among the pre-race favourites when the fleet set out on the nine-month, 38,739-nautical mile (nm) marathon around the world on October 11, few expected the Chinese boat to figure among the early front-runners. Two rookies – Jin Hao Chen and Jiru Yang – were included in the crew for the 6,487nm opening leg between Alicante, Spain and Cape Town and both excelled.","Saudi beheads 83 people in 2014, the most in years. RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) — Saudi Arabia's official news agency says authorities have beheaded a Pakistani man convicted of smuggling \"large quantities\" of heroin, bringing the number of publicly announced executions to its highest level in at least five years.","Belgian king asks separatist chief to lead coalition talks. Belgium's King Philippe appointed Flemish separatist leader Bart De Wever on Tuesday to lead talks to form a government although his chances of getting French-speaking parties to work with him look limited. De Wever's N-VA was the big winner in a parliamentary election on Sunday, securing a third of the vote in the Dutch-speaking region of Flanders, which the party ultimately wants to break free from Belgium. Mr. De Wever has accepted this task,\" a statement from Belgium's royal palace said. The N-VA was already Belgium's strongest party after the 2010 election, but its demand to devolve more powers to Belgium's regions led to a record 18 months of deadlock and left it in opposition.","Italy's Berlusconi starts community service at old people's home. By Silvia Aloisi CESANO BOSCONE, Italy (Reuters) - A somber and silent Silvio Berlusconi entered a Catholic old people's home outside Milan on Friday to begin community service as part of a one-year sentence for tax fraud. Berlusconi, at 77 still the most influential politician of Italy's center-right, had a four-year jail sentence handed down last August commuted into an obligation to spend four hours a week for a year at a center for the elderly. Ignoring around 200 Italian and foreign journalists, Berlusconi left bodyguards outside as he entered the Sacra Famiglia center, a sprawling structure caring for the elderly and mentally ill. The obligation to do community service does not bar Berlusconi, who was expelled from Italy's Senate after the conviction, from campaigning for his Forza Italia party ahead of European Parliament elections this month.","Congo's army hunts assailants after attack in east. KINSHASA, Congo (AP) — A provincial governor says Congo's army is searching for the perpetrators of a new attack in the country's east that civil society groups say killed at least 50 people.","Powerful typhoon hits southern Chinese island. BEIJING (AP) — A powerful typhoon hit the southern Chinese island of Hainan on Friday after killing at least 54 people in the Philippines.","Suspected Boko Haram militants mount two deadly attacks after Nigeria 'ceasefire'. MAIDUGURI Nigeria (Reuters) - Suspected Boko Haram militants have killed several people in two attacks on Nigerian villages that occurred after a government announcement of a ceasefire, security sources and witnesses said on Saturday. In the first attack, suspected insurgents attacked the village of Abadam on Friday night, killing at least one person and ransacking homes, while another attack on the village of Dzur on Saturday morning left at least eight people dead. ...","Policy tie to U.S. depends on economy: Bank of Canada's Wilkins. TORONTO (Reuters) - How closely linked monetary policy in Canada is to that of its neighbor to the south will depend on how the economies of both countries evolve, the Bank of Canada's Senior Deputy Governor Carolyn Wilkins said on Monday. \"One of the things we've emphasized is we have our own policy regime,\" Wilkins said in a question-and-answer session following a speech in Toronto. \"Naturally, what's going to happen if your economies are somewhat correlated, your performance is correlated, that your monetary policy could be correlated. ...","India's new government unveils reform budget. MUMBAI, India (AP) — India's new government has introduced a reform-minded budget focusing on promoting manufacturing and infrastructure, expanding the tax base and overhauling populist subsidies.","Nigerians flee as Islamic extremists dig in. YOLA, Nigeria (AP) — Thirteen-year-old Sulaiman wanders the streets of Nigeria's northeast town of Yola, hungry, dusty and frightened. He has walked through the bush for days from the town of Uba where Islamic extremists raised their black and white flag last week after seizing the town, killing many and leaving the rest in a state of shock.","Shares muted as Japan surge tempered. TOKYO (AP) — Shares were lackluster Wednesday as investors waited for major earnings reports and took stock of a torrid start to the year for global markets.","No nuclear deal with Iran unless actions 'verifiable' - Obama aide. By Matt Spetalnick WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Iran must agree to \\\\\"verifiable action\\\\\" to satisfy U.S. concerns about its nuclear program or else there will be no final deal, President Barack Obama's top national security aide said on Monday on the eve of a new round of talks between Iran and world powers in Vienna. Addressing an Israeli Independence Day celebration in Washington, U.S. national security adviser Susan Rice sought to reassure a pro-Israel audience that Washington would take a tough line with Tehran, despite Israeli worries that the Obama administration is giving up too much in the negotiations.","Fred Rutten to succeed Ronald Koeman at Feyenoord. ROTTERDAM, Netherlands (AP) — Dutch club Feyenoord says Fred Rutten will replace Ronald Koeman as coach next season.","UN wants $2 bn to fight Sahel hunger. The UN launched a bid Monday to raise $2.0 billion (1.48 billion euros) from international donors in 2014 to help more than 20 million people threatened by famine in Africa's Sahel region. \"More people than ever are at risk in the Sahel and the scale of their needs is so great that no agency or organisation can tackle it alone,\" said UN Emergency Relief Coordinator Valerie Amos during a meeting in Rome. Some 20 million people \"are currently at risk of food insecurity in the Sahel\" and 2.5 million of them \"need urgent lifesaving food assistance\", the United Nations said in statement released in the Italian capital, where its food and agriculture agencies are headquartered. The bid \"seeks to mobilise an initial $2 billion from international donors in 2014\" to tackle food crises in Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Gambia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria and Senegal, the statement said.","Ruins of Quebec seniors' home scoured for clues on fatal blaze. By Mathieu Belanger L'ISLE-VERTE, Quebec (Reuters) - Canadian investigators sifted painstakingly through the charred ruins of a Quebec seniors' residence on Tuesday, seeking clues on what caused a massive blaze last week that authorities fear killed 32 people. He said the government had not received any complaints about the residence before the fire.","Turkey's Erdogan sworn in as president. ANKARA (Reuters) - Tayyip Erdogan was sworn in as Turkey's 12th president at a ceremony in parliament on Thursday, cementing his position as the country's most powerful modern leader, in what his opponents fear will herald an increasingly authoritarian rule. \"In my capacity as President of the Republic, I swear upon my honor and repute before the great Turkish nation and before history to safeguard the existence and independence of the state,\" Erdogan said, reading the oath of office. (Reporting by Gulsen Solaker; Writing by Nick Tattersall; Editing by Jonny Hogg)","Kuwait parliament passes record budget with deficit. Kuwait's parliament on Thursday passed a record $82.6 billion budget for 2014/2015 fiscal year, projecting a $11.2 billion shortfall on the basis of a conservative oil price. The spending figure of 23.21 billion dinars is 10.5 percent higher than estimates in the past fiscal year of 21 billion dinars. Wages for civil servants are projected at 5.6 billion dinars while subsidies mainly on power generation are estimated at 5.9 billion dinars, according to a budget report issued by parliament. Like the previous 14 fiscal years, oil revenues are expected to be much higher than the estimates because the actual price is above $100 a barrel and Kuwait's daily crude production is running at around 3.0 million barrels.","Asian shares rise on Fed minutes, unfazed by China exports. By Hideyuki Sano TOKYO (Reuters) - Asian shares look to extend recent solid gains on Thursday after minutes of the Federal Reserve's latest policy meeting suggested the Fed may be more cautious towards raising interest rates than markets had thought. Chinese exports and imports both undershot market expectations, but analysts said the data was likely to be distorted due to over-invoicing last year to skirt tight capital controls and markets showed muted reaction to the data. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan hit a five-month high and last stood 0.1 percent higher, while Japan's Nikkei gained 0.7 percent from a two-week low hit the previous day. The minutes showed Federal Reserve officials fretted last month that investors would overreact to policymakers' latest views on interest rates that appeared to map out a more aggressive cycle of rate hikes than was actually anticipated.","German trial of 'serial Autobahn shooter' begins. A truck driver accused of a five-year indiscriminate shooting spree on German motorways to teach other road users a \"lesson\" went on trial on Monday. Prosecutors say the man, identified as Michael Harry K., was a \"frustrated loner\" and claim he fired more than 700 times at trucks and cars, leaving several people injured, until his arrest in June 2013. The 58-year-old faces five counts of attempted murder, as well as grievous bodily harm and other charges, and could face a lengthy prison term if found guilty by the district court in the Bavarian city of Wuerzburg. The accused, who lives in western Germany, had wanted to teach other truck drivers a \"lesson\" over their road behaviour, local DPA news agency quoted senior prosecutor Boris Raufeisen as saying at the trial's opening.","Ackman, other shareholders ask Allergan to call special meeting. By Svea Herbst-Bayliss and Caroline Humer BOSTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) - Investors owning 31 percent of shares of Allergan Inc have asked the company to call a special shareholder meeting, activist shareholder William Ackman said on Friday, giving the hedge fund manager a victory in his fight to acquire the Botox maker. Ackman, whose Pershing Square Capital Management is Allergan's largest shareholder, said 35 shareholders including some of Allergan's \"longest-standing\" and \"largest\" investors handed in paperwork on Friday to compel Allergan to call the meeting. Pershing Square and Valeant Pharmaceutical International Inc made a $52 billion hostile offer for Allergan in April.","Futures indicate lower start on weak global econ data. (Reuters) - Stock futures pointed to a lower start for Canada's main stock index on Thursday as investors grew cautious after weak economic data from Europe and China raised concerns over global growth prospects. The China flash HSBC/Markit manufacturing purchasing managers' index showed factory output contracted in the world's second biggest economy for the first time in six months. ...","Next title: Elizabeth, Queen of Scots?. LONDON (AP) — Queen Elizabeth II can keep her magnificent Scottish castle at Balmoral should Scots vote for independence — and chances are she will be able to keep her role as well.","Clashes break out in C. African Republic capital. BANGUI, Central African Republic (AP) — Witnesses say clashes have broken out for a second consecutive day in Central African Republic's capital in the worst violence the city has seen since a United Nations force took over peacekeeping last month.","Thailand stops U.S. and Australian couples leaving with surrogate babies: advocate. By Byron Kaye SYDNEY (Reuters) - U.S. and Australian couples attempting to leave Thailand with babies born by surrogate mothers have been stopped at the airport and prevented from leaving the country in recent days, an Australian surrogacy advocate said on Friday. The crackdown follows the case of an Australian couple - one of whom is a convicted child sex offender - who left a male twin surrogate baby with Down Syndrome in Thailand, bringing only his sister back to Australia. The incident, made public earlier this month, unleashed an international outcry over a shadowy business that rights groups say preys on poor and vulnerable women in countries such as India and Thailand. In response, Thailand's new military government gave preliminary approval on Wednesday for a draft law to make commercial surrogacy a criminal offence.","Israeli PM meets top ministers over boycott threat: reports. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with three of his top ministers to discuss ways to deal with the threat of economic boycotts against Israel, media reported Monday. The meeting on Sunday night was attended by Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, Economy Minister Naftali Bennett and Strategic Affairs Minister Yuval Steinitz, the reports said. The meeting comes less than a fortnight after US Secretary of State John Kerry warned that Israel was facing a growing campaign of delegitimisation which could worsen if peace talks with the Palestinians collapsed. Maariv newspaper noted that Justice Minister Tzipi Livni and Finance Minister Yair Lapid, who echoed Kerry's sentiment in recent remarks, were not invited to Sunday's meeting.","Battle at Donetsk airport; new Ukraine leader says no talks with 'terrorists'. By Alastair Macdonald and Yannis Behrakis KIEV/DONETSK, Ukraine, May 26 (Reuters) - Ukraine launched air strikes and a paratrooper assault against pro-Russian rebels who seized an airport on Monday, as its newly elected leader rejected any talks with \"terrorists\" and said a robust military campaign in the east should be able to put down a separatist revolt in \"a matter of hours\". Ukrainians rallied overwhelmingly in Sunday's election behind Petro Poroshenko, a political veteran and billionaire owner of chocolate factories, hoping the burly 48-year-old can rescue the nation from the brink of bankruptcy, civil war and dismemberment by its former Soviet masters in the Kremlin. Monday's rapid military response to separatists who seized the airport in Donetsk was a defiant answer to Moscow, which said it was ready for dialogue with Poroshenko but demanded he first scale back the armed forces' campaign in the east. Even as the fighting was getting under way, Poroshenko held a news conference in Kiev where he said the government's military offensive needed to be \"quicker and more effective\".","Opposition lawmaker elected Ukrainian interior minister. KIEV (Reuters) - Parliament in Ukraine elected opposition lawmaker Arsen Avakov as interior minister on Saturday until the formation of a new coalition government. Avakov takes over the powerful post after lawmakers on Friday dismissed Vitaly Zakharchenko, an ally of embattled President Viktor Yanukovich, following two days of carnage in the capital, Kiev. (Reporting by Pavel Polityuk; Writing by Matt Robinson; Editing by Alessandra Prentice)","Newborn killer whale, first born since 2012, presumed dead in Washington. By Victoria Cavaliere SEATTLE (Reuters) - The first calf born in two years to an endangered killer whale population off the coast of the Pacific Northwest has been declared missing and presumed dead just weeks after its birth, experts said on Tuesday. The mother of the baby orca was seen for three days in a row swimming in the waters off Washington state without her calf at her side, a sign it was dead, said Howard Garrett, co-director of the Washington-based Orca Network. \"For the first two years, a calf is glued to its mother's side. ...","Suicide bomber kills at least 17 in Afghanistan. KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — A suicide bomber riding a rickshaw blew himself up outside a checkpoint near a market in northern Afghanistan on Tuesday, killing at least 17 civilians, officials said, in the latest attack in the countdown to next month's presidential elections.","Contador keeps Basque lead, Swift wins 5th stage. MARKINA-XEMEIN, Spain (AP) — Alberto Contador protected his lead of the Tour of Basque Country before the decisive time trial, while Ben Swift of England won Friday's fifth stage.","A bitter pill as China crackdowns squeeze pharma margins. By Adam Jourdan SHANGHAI (Reuters) - A crackdown on corruption and pricing in China's fast-growing pharmaceutical market has squeezed profits and margins, raising a red flag to global Big Pharma that the days of easy growth in the country may be over. A Reuters' analysis of more than 60 listed Chinese healthcare firms shows average profit margins declined to around 10 percent last year from 15 percent in 2012. China has been a magnet for the big global pharmaceutical companies and other healthcare firms as growth slows in Europe and the United States. While global drugmakers withhold their China profit figures, the analysis suggests profit growth is harder to come by - a concern as many global firms look to China as a future growth driver.","Victim's body found from sunken South Korean ferry. SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — The first body found in three months was being recovered Tuesday from the sunken South Korean ferry, increasing the official death toll to 295, officials said.","Senior Yemeni intelligence officer shot to death. SANAA, Yemen (AP) — A Yemeni security official says gunmen have shot dead a senior intelligence officer as he was riding in his car in a southern city.","India wins toss, bats against England. MANCHESTER, England (AP) — India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni won the toss and elected to bat on a hard pitch at the start of the fourth test against England at Old Trafford on Thursday, resisting the temptation to bowl with overhead cloud cover after the toss was delayed for 30 minutes by light rain.","Iraq needs more inclusive governance to end turmoil: U.N. development chief. By Dasha Afanasieva ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Iraq needs more inclusive governance across sectarian and religious divides if it is to end its turmoil, something only its own politicians can deliver, one of the United Nations' top officials said on Friday. Helen Clark, head of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and the world body's third most senior figure, said only a political solution in Iraq, and in neighboring Syria, could end the crises. \"The political leaders need to come together to plan how you can run Iraq within its current borders,\" the former New Zealand prime minister told Reuters in an interview in Istanbul. \"Iraq must solve its own problems ... People have to want one country,\" she said, when asked if that was possible without foreign military intervention.","Keys beats Kerber to claim first career title. EASTBOURNE, England (AP) — Madison Keys claimed the first title of her career on Saturday when she defeated Angelique Kerber of Germany 6-3, 3-6, 7-5 to win the Aegon Championships.","Merkel 'cautiously optimistic' on Ukraine gas deal. BERLIN (AP) — German Chancellor Angela Merkel says she is \"cautiously optimistic\" that talks to resolve differences between Russia and Ukraine about the supply of natural gas will succeed.","Thai anti-corruption body charges members of PM's party. Thailand's National Counter-Corruption Commission is to press charges against 308 politicians, most from Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra's Puea Thai Party, for trying to change the constitution to make the Senate a fully elected chamber. \"Altogether we will press charges against 308 lawmakers ... Prime Minister Yingluck will not be charged,\" Vicha Mahakun, a director of the commission, told a news conference on Tuesday.","EU sanctions 21 Russians, Ukrainians after Crimea vote. European Union foreign ministers agreed sanctions Monday against 21 Russian and Ukrainian officials deemed responsible for a contested independence referendum in Crimea, officials said. Lithuania's Foreign Minister Linas Linkevicius said in a tweet that the 21 would be targeted by travel bans and asset freezes, with \"more EU measures in few days\". Leaders of the 28-nation bloc are to hold summit talks in Brussels on Thursday and Friday, with the crisis in Ukraine expected to top the agenda. The list of those sanctioned by the ministers will be released in the EU's daily Official Journal but diplomats said 13 were from Russia and 8 from Ukraine's Crimea region.","Thailand's flagship rice buying policy turns sour. BANGKOK (AP) — An ambitious rice buying program that Thailand's ruling party hoped would uplift millions of its poor rural supporters may end up helping to bring down the increasingly cornered government.","Catalonia calls for 'permanent dialogue' on independence, economy. MADRID (Reuters) - The head of Catalonia's regional government Artur Mas proposed on Tuesday that Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy establish a permanent dialogue over Catalan independence and raft of measures to boost its economy. His proposal came after close to 2 million Catalans voted on Sunday in favor of breaking away from Spain in a symbolic consultation organized after the Spanish state blocked in courts a more formal - albeit still non-binding - referendum. \"I sent today a letter to Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy. ...","WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange says to leave London embassy 'soon'. WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who has spent over two years inside Ecuador's London embassy to avoid extradition to Sweden, said on Monday he planned to leave the building \"soon\", without giving further details. Britain's Sky News, part owned by Rupert Murdoch's 21st Century Fox, had earlier reported that Assange was considering leaving the embassy due to deteriorating health. Asked about his health, Assange said anyone would be affected by spending two years in a building with no outside areas or direct sunlight, a complaint he has made several times before.","Steinmeier hopes Ukraine elections can mark start of stabilization. German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said on Tuesday he hoped the elections in Ukraine this week will be the harbinger of a period of stabilization for the country and added that a further \"round table\" talks session will be held soon. \"We hope that in any event this election will mark the start of the stabilization of Ukraine,\" Steinmeier said at a news conference in Berlin with acting Ukraine Foreign Minister Andriy Deshchytsia. Steinmeier added that there would be another session of the \"round table\" talks before the election on Sunday bringing together the government in Kiev with regional representatives.","Toure ready for Ivory Coast World Cup opener. RECIFE, Brazil (AP) — Ivory Coast coach Sabri Lamouchi says he expects Manchester City star Yaya Toure to be ready for the team's World Cup opener against Japan on Saturday.","Aggressive Mantis Shrimp Sees Color Like No Other. The colorful mantis shrimp is known for powerful claws that can stun prey with 200 lbs. (91 kilograms) of force. In fact, the 400-million-year-old visual system of the mantis shrimp works more like a satellite sensor than any other animal eye, said study researcher Justin Marshall, a neurobiologist at the University of Queensland in Australia. Instead of processing ratios of stimulation from just a few color receptors, the mantis shrimp has 12 — and it seems to use them to recognize color with minimal effort. \"There is no other animal out there that has anything remotely like this,\" Marshall told LiveScience.","Burundi scoffs at U.N. warning on stoking of political violence. Burundi accused the United Nations on Wednesday of spreading rumors about planned constitutional changes that critics say could upset the country's delicate ethnic power balance and possibly lead to civil war. Government ministers said that warnings last week by the U.N. mission in Burundi (BNUB) about possible violence were baseless and possibly spread to justify an extension of its mandate beyond its December expiration date BNUB warned last week that leaders of tiny central African state who have manipulated young people to stoke violence could face international prosecution if human rights abuses are committed. Also last week, the United States urged Burundi President Pierre Nkurunziza to drop the planned changes that might allow him to run for a third term. We don't know where BNUB has picked up this news,\" Public Security Minister Gabriel Nizigama said in parliament.","Goldcorp reports third-quarter loss, writedown. TORONTO (Reuters) - Goldcorp Inc reported a third-quarter net loss on Thursday, as gold prices fell and it took a $36 million writedown on the value of low-grade stockpiles at its Penasquito mine in Mexico. Goldcorp, the world's biggest gold producer by market value, reported a net loss of $44 million, or 5 cents a share, in the quarter ending Sept. 30, compared to net earnings of $5 million, or 1 cent per share, in the same period a year ago. Adjusted earnings declined to $70 million, or 9 cents a share, from $190 million, or 23 cents a share. (Reporting by Susan Taylor Editing by W Simon)","US ex-nuclear chief: Fukushima lesson is phase-out. TOKYO (AP) — As radiation spewed from Japan's nuclear disaster three years ago, the top U.S. atomic energy regulator issued a 50-mile evacuation warning for any Americans in the area, a response some found extreme.","Eurozone unemployment stuck near record high. BRUSSELS (AP) — The 18-country eurozone may have emerged from recession last year, but that has done little good to the jobs market, with unemployment stuck near a record high since then.","Lyon wins 5th straight lge game to take 2nd place. PARIS (AP) — Alexandre Lacazette scored his league-leading 11th goal of the season and midfielder Nabil Fekir scored twice as Lyon beat Guingamp 3-1 on Sunday to seal a fifth straight win and move provisionally above Paris Saint-Germain and into second place.","Saudi King backs Israeli-Palestinian push, Kerry says. By Arshad Mohammed RIYADH (Reuters) - Saudi King Abdullah offered his \"enthusiastic support\" to U.S. efforts to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Sunday. The U.S. diplomat made the comment after some two hours and 40 minutes of talks with the Arab monarch, who in 2002 floated a plan to try to bring peace to the Israelis and Palestinians. \"I want to thank his majesty for ... his enthusiastic support for the efforts that are being made with respect to the peace process,\" he told reporters after seeing Abdullah at a desert palace outside Riyadh under a winter rainfall. Kerry has previously asked Israel to reconsider the 2002 Arab peace plan, originally proposed by King Abdullah, which offers Israel full recognition in return for giving up land it captured in 1967 and a \"just\" solution for Palestinian refugees.","Warplane targets Islamist base, hits university in Libya's Benghazi. A Libyan warplane under the command of a renegade former general targeted an Islamist militia base in the eastern city of Benghazi on Sunday but instead hit a university building, witnesses said. The attack was part of a campaign by irregular forces loyal to former army general Khalifa Haftar to purge the North African state of Islamist militants whom he says the weak central government has failed to control. Libya is in turmoil three years after the NATO-backed war that ousted Muammar Gaddafi, with Islamist, anti-Islamist, regional and political factions locked in conflict. But a Reuters reporter at the scene said there was no damage at the building that had been home to the crown prince when Libya was a kingdom before Gaddafi's 1969 coup.","C. African Republic: Ex-president named rebel head. BANGUI, Central African Republic (AP) — A spokesman says Central African Republic's former president has been reinstated as head of a rebel movement notorious for human rights abuses.","Low-battery probe uploading data from comet: ESA. Europe's comet probe Philae uploaded a slew of science data to Earth Friday, ending a nailbiting wait by mission controllers who feared it would run out of power before making final contact. \"Science from an alien world\" said an official tweet from ESA (European Space Agency) Operations shortly before 2300 GMT. The robot lab had been working against the clock, attempting to drill into comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko 510 million kilometres (320 million miles) from Earth, before its onboard battery runs out, expected some time Saturday. The lander and its orbiting mothership Rosetta, which relays Philae's messages to Earth, have only two communications windows per day -- the last opened around 2130 GMT.","Manger of Asian firm pleads guilty in US Navy case. SAN DIEGO (AP) — A manager of a Singapore-based company accused of bilking the U.S. Navy out of millions of dollars pleaded guilty Tuesday in the case.","TSX futures indicate stocks to open lower. (Reuters) - Stock futures pointed to a lower opening for Canada's main stock index on Friday as escalating violence in Iraq dampened risk appetite. June futures on the S&P TSX index were down 0.15 percent at 0715 ET. Manufacturing sales data is due at 0830 ET. The TSX index edged higher on Thursday as a jump in shares of energy and gold-mining companies helped offset broader market weakness fueled by sluggish U.S. economic data. Dow Jones Industrial Average e-mini futures were down 0.2 percent at 0715 ET, while S&P 500 e-mini futures were down 0. ...","Hamas fires dozens of rockets at Israel. Hamas militants in Gaza fired \"dozens\" of rockets into southern Israel late Monday, the Islamist movement said after six of its men were killed in air strikes. The bombardment was confirmed by the Israeli army which said militants had launched \"a few dozen rockets\" within a short period of time. At least four were intercepted over Netivot by the Iron Dome anti-missile system, while another 16 struck the area around the southern city of Beersheva, some 40 kilometres (25 miles) from Gaza, and which is home to 200,000 people, the army said.","Nissan recalls 16,838 trucks in North America for electrical issue. Nissan Motor Co is recalling 16,838 Frontier pickup trucks in North America to address an electrical issue that could cause a fire, according to documents filed with U.S. safety regulators. The documents said a circuit breaker in mid-sized trucks from model years 2012 through 2014 may have been installed incorrectly at an assembly plant in Canton, Mississippi, potentially causing an electrical short and fire. The power seat and sunroof functions might also be rendered inoperable, according to documents filed with the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. A Nissan spokesman said there have been no reports of accidents or injuries related to the issue, but one report of smoke coming from under a dashboard on a truck in Mexico in December.","Exclusive: The mysterious journey of the Libya oil tanker. TRIPOLI/LONDON (Reuters) - What began late last year as a routine new assignment for Pakistani sea captain Mirza Noman Baig ended in a dramatic night-time rescue as U.S. special forces seized the ship his family said he was forced to operate by Libyan rebels. Libya says gunmen demanding regional autonomy and a share of oil wealth managed to load crude onto the ship, which then escaped its navy. Industry sources say much about the tanker has been a mystery since it showed up in eastern Libya nearly two weeks ago; According to Captain Baig's $9,000-a-month contract, sent to Reuters by his family in Karachi, the operator was Dubai-based Saud Shipping, part of the ZAD Group of companies, which trades and moves oil around the Gulf.","Slim says he could exercise NY Times stock warrants. MEXICO CITY/NEW YORK (Reuters) - Mexican telecoms billionaire Carlos Slim says he could exercise stock warrants in The New York Times Co which expire early next year, a move that would more than double his stake in the media company. Slim currently owns about 8 percent of common shares, which would increase to about 17 percent if he exercises the warrants, according to a Reuters calculation using the New York Times’s latest SEC filing. \"The option is a lower price, I'm sure we should exercise the option, but we look at it like a financial investment that has been very good,\" Slim said in an interview at his offices in Mexico City late on Thursday.","Italy finds serenity in seclusion at World Cup. MANGARATIBA, Brazil (AP) — After struggling through the traffic-clogged streets of Rio de Janeiro a year ago, Italy couldn't be happier with its secluded luxury World Cup base far away from Brazil's urban chaos.","US defense contractor says guilty in secrets case. HONOLULU (AP) — A former civilian U.S. defense contractor on Thursday pleaded guilty to charges he divulged military secrets to his Chinese girlfriend and kept classified documents at his home.","Messi set to get a big raise from Barcelona. BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Lionel Messi is about to get a big raise, with reports saying the Barcelona forward is set to make about $34 million per year.","Against his will, John Paul II's notes in print. WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Pope John Paul II's secretary \"did not have the courage\" to burn all of the pontiff's notes after his death, and is now having some of them published, he said Wednesday.","Reporter injured in copter crash brought to Turkey. ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkey's crisis management agency says a New York Times reporter who was injured in a helicopter crash in northern Iraq has been brought to Turkey for treatment.","BRAZIL BEAT: Mexican fans serenading their team. FORTALEZA, Brazil (AP) — Hundreds of Mexican fans showed up the last two nights outside of the team*s hotel to serenade the players.","Dutch prosecutors summon far-right leader over alleged racist remarks. By Thomas Escritt AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Dutch authorities moved closer toward prosecuting far-right politician Geert Wilders on Thursday, naming him as a suspect and summoning him for interrogation over alleged racist remarks he made in March. Wilders will be questioned on suspicion of insulting a group on the basis of race and inciting discrimination and hatred, prosecutors said in a statement. If convicted, he could face up to a year in prison or a fine of up to 7,400 euros ($9,400). ...","Wales recall Davies for All Blacks clash. Jonathan Davies returned from a shoulder injury on Tuesday as Wales coach Warren Gatland named a side showing nine changes from the team that struggled to see off Fiji last weekend for the clash with world champions New Zealand at Cardiff's Millennium Stadium on Saturday. Davies, who has been out of action for three weeks, resumes his centre partnership with Jamie Roberts, in the only personnel change to the team beaten by Australia in Cardiff a fortnight ago. Elsewhere in the back division Leigh Halfpenny has recovered from concussion to displace Liam Williams, while fly-half Dan Biggar (groin) and scrum-half Rhys Webb (neck) are also fit to return.","Officials warn of potentially toxic algae on major Portland river. By Courtney Sherwood PORTLAND Ore. (Reuters) - Public health officials in Oregon warned recreational boaters and swimmers who on warm days flock to a river that bisects Portland to stay out of the water on Wednesday after detecting what they suspect is a potentially dangerous toxic algae. Oregon Health Authority officials said they believe the unusual film found at the Willamette River is the result of toxic blue-green algae, which is dangerous to touch, drink or inhale. Filtering the water won't make it safe, and fish from the river could be dangerous to eat. ...","Sri Lanka releases 36 who were on intercepted boat. COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — A Sri Lankan court on Tuesday released dozens of asylum seekers who were detained after being returned to their home country following the interception of their boat by Australian border patrol last month.","Sharapova advances to 4th round with 6-0, 6-0 win. PARIS (AP) — Maria Sharapova advanced to the fourth round of the French Open on Friday without losing a game, beating Paula Ormaechea of Argentina 6-0, 6-0 in 51 minutes.","Flights resume through Australian city of Darwin. DARWIN, Australia (AP) — Flights have resumed to and from Australia's northernmost city of Darwin after they were suspended for more than a day due to clouds of ash from an Indonesian volcano.","Australia win toss and bat in 1st India Test. Australia won the toss and chose to bat in the opening Test against India at the Adelaide Oval on Tuesday, a game being played against the backdrop of the tragic death of Phillip Hughes.","China, Spain ink $4 billion in business deals. BEIJING (AP) — China and Spain have signed $4 billion of business deals as Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy visits the Asian powerhouse to seek support for Spain's struggling economy.","JPMorgan Chase hackers tried infiltrating other institutions: WSJ. (Reuters) - Hackers who breached JPMorgan Chase & Co's computer network earlier this year also tried to infiltrate other financial institutions, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the investigation. Federal officials had asked financial institutions last month to check whether they had seen indications of cyberattack, the Journal said, citing the unnamed sources. (http://on.wsj. ...","Malaysia says not sure which way jet was headed. KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — More than four days after a Malaysian jetliner went missing on route to Beijing, authorities acknowledged Wednesday they didn't know in which direction the plane and its 239 passengers was heading when it disappeared, vastly complicating efforts to find it.","Slain German woman may get medal for aiding others. BERLIN (AP) — Germany's president is considering awarding a posthumous medal to a young woman killed after defending two teenage girls from male harassment.","State funeral for Phil Hughes cancelled. SYDNEY (AP) — New South Wales state premier Mike Baird says a planned state funeral for fallen cricket star Phil Hughes has been called off.","Police expand presence in Jerusalem after car attack. Jerusalem police vowed a \"zero tolerance\" policy towards violence Thursday after a Palestinian rammed his car into a crowd, killing a baby and triggering clashes across the city's annexed eastern sector. It was the second such deadly incident involving a Palestinian driving a vehicle in three months, and prompted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to order an immediate increase in the police presence across the Holy City. The driver, 21-year-old Abdelrahman Shaludi from the east Jerusalem neighbourhood of Silwan, drove his car at high speed into a group of pedestrians, killing a three-month-old girl and injuring six other people.","Bomb blast in Egypt train wounds five, say security officials. Cairo (AFP) - A bomb blast in a train in the Egyptian city of Alexandria on Thursday wounded five people, security officials said, as police crushed protests marking the anniversary of the ouster of president Mohamed Morsi.","Russia test-launches 'advanced' ballistic missile. Russia on Tuesday carried out a successful test-launch of an \"advanced\" intercontinental ballistic missile, state news agencies reported amid a fierce standoff between Moscow and the West over Ukraine. \"The purpose of the launch is to test the advanced payload of the intercontinental ballistic missile,\" Russia's three main news agencies quoted a top defence official as saying. The defence official said the launch involved the RS-12M Topol -- a road-mobile missile last reportedly tested by Russia on December 28. The defence official provided no details of the missile's advanced features, saying only that it was launched from Russia's Kapustin Yar rocket launch site near the southern city of Volgograd.","Montenegro police clash with anti-gov't protesters. PODGORICA, Montenegro (AP) — Police in Montenegro have fired tear gas and stun grenades to disperse hundreds of stone-hurling anti-government protesters.","China says Islamist militants kill pro-Beijing imam in Xinjiang. By Michael Martina and Ben Blanchard BEIJING (Reuters) - Three suspected Islamist militants armed with knives and axes killed the imam of China's biggest mosque in the western region of Xinjiang on Wednesday, the authorities said, days after a knife-wielding gang attacked state buildings in the same region. All three attackers, who were named by the government, had ethnic Uighur names and the imam, Juma Tayir, was a well-known pro-government Uighur who led prayers at the Id Kah Mosque in the old Silk Road city of Kashgar. Xinjiang, home to the Muslim Uighur people, who speak a Turkic language, has for years been beset by violence, which the government blames on Islamist militants or separatists who it says want to establish an independent state called East Turkestan. Exiled Uighur groups and human rights activists say the government's repressive policies in Xinjiang, including controls on Islam, have provoked unrest, a claim Beijing denies.","Philippine defense chief says Abu Sayyaf militants have released 2 kidnapped Germans. MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Philippine defense chief says Abu Sayyaf militants have released 2 kidnapped Germans.","Kim 're-elected' as North Korean leader. Kim Jong-Un was Wednesday \"re-elected\" as North Korea's leader, state media said, as parliament opened a session expected to endorse personnel changes after the shock execution of his once-powerful uncle. Kim was reaffirmed as First Chairman of the powerful National Defence Commission (NDC) by the new parliament, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said. Upon his re-election, \"all the deputies and participants in the session broke into stormy cheers of 'hurrah!', extending the highest glory and warmest congratulations to him,\" KCNA said. Kim also serves as first secretary of the ruling Workers' Party of Korea and supreme commander of the Korean People's Army, but his re-election as head of the top military body confers upon him ultimate power in the heavily militarised state.","New Alberta premier faces challenge winning back voters. By Scott Haggett CALGARY Alberta (Reuters) - Jim Prentice, a former key Cabinet minister in the government of Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, has firm control over the province of Alberta's governing Progressive Conservatives, but convincing voters to extend the party's 43-year rule will be more challenging. Prentice, 58, took nearly 80 percent of the votes for the party's leadership on Saturday, trouncing two rivals from the Cabinet of former Premier Alison Redford, who resigned earlier this year following a series of spending scandals. ...","Homs move doesn't improve humanitarian situation in Syria: ICRC. Syria's government and opposition still do not honor basic tenets of international humanitarian law despite the evacuation of besieged Syrians from the Old City of Homs, the head of the International Committee of the Red Cross said on Saturday. ICRC President Peter Maurer said the evacuation did not herald any wider improvement in humanitarian access in Syria, where the United Nations says it cannot access up to 3 million people in need. Maurer said there were many other besieged areas besides Homs, with over 1 million people living in extremely difficult conditions. \"Over the past year, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the Syrian Arab Red Crescent (SARC) have repeatedly attempted to gain access to Homs and other besieged areas in order to bring much-needed relief to residents,\" he said in a statement.","Disasters led to $45B in insurance losses in 2013. GENEVA (AP) — Disasters such as floods in Europe, winter storms in the U.S. and typhoons in Asia cost insurance companies $45 billion in 2013, a leading Swiss firm said Wednesday.","Sharapova returns to US Open, wins 1st-rounder. NEW YORK (AP) — Maria Sharapova made a winning return to the U.S. Open, overcoming a few wobbles with her serve tosses before taking the final 10 games to beat longtime friend Maria Kirilenko 6-4, 6-0 Monday night in the first round.","Thai protesters march on new government targets as key streets remain blocked for 4th day. BANGKOK - Anti-government protesters were on the march again in the Thai capital Thursday, targeting government offices they have not previous interfered with to keep up pressure on the prime minister to resign and call off next month's election.","UN's Ban urges Gaza 'humanitarian pause' for Muslim holiday. UN chief Ban Ki-moon on Friday called for an immediate \"humanitarian pause\" in the fighting in Gaza and Israel lasting through the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr. Ban's call came after several meetings with US Secretary of State John Kerry and Egyptian officials aimed at ending the 18-day conflict that has killed more than 845 people, most of them Palestinian civilians. \"On this, the last Friday of Ramadan, I call for an immediate, unconditional humanitarian pause in the fighting in Gaza and Israel.","Spain confirms Q1 GDP growth fastest since 2008. MADRID (AP) — The National Statistics Institute confirms Spain's economy grew at its fastest rate in six years in the first quarter thanks to increased domestic demand.","Nigeria attack to test France in World Cup last 16. RIBEIRAO PRETO, Brazil (AP) — The pace and power of Nigeria's attack will give France's defense its biggest test of the World Cup so far when they meet in Monday's round of 16 match.","US, Arab allies launch air strikes on IS jihadists in Syria. Washington (AFP) - The United States and its Arab allies early Tuesday launched bombing raids against Islamic State militants in Syria, opening up a new front in the battle against the jihadist group after more than a month of US air strikes in Iraq.","Australia defends detention of child asylum seekers. Australia's immigration minister defended his country's tough policies on asylum seekers on Friday, saying measures including the detention of children and denial of permanent visas were needed to stop dangerous people-smuggling ventures. Scott Morrison was giving evidence to an Australian Human Rights Commission (HRC) inquiry into the wellbeing of children in immigration detention centers on the Australian mainland and on remote islands in the Pacific and Indian oceans. \"Children being detained in facilities has been a consequence of the policies that more broadly have been effective in securing Australia's borders, restoring the integrity of our immigration program and stopping children dying at sea,\" Morrison told the inquiry. About 16,000 asylum seekers came to Australia on 220 boats in the first seven months of 2013, but the government says there has been just one \"illegal\" boat arrival since December.","Evacuated French, British nationals arrive in Toulon. Forty-seven French and British nationals evacuated on a French naval ship from Libya arrived early Friday in the southern port of Toulon. The group consisting of 40 French citizens, including the French ambassador, and seven Britons were received by the top maritime official in the region, an AFP journalist said. French ambassador Antoine Sivan said the operation \"passed off smoothly with perfect timing\" and added that some 40 bi-nationals holding French and other passports had chosen to stay on. \"The situation has been becoming worse over the last few months with petrol shortages, kidnappings and clashes between rival groups,\" said Mohamed Torchani, a law professor who left Libya with his wife and three young children.","South Africa's ANC rolls to victory, ultra-leftists routed. By Helen Nyambura-Mwaura PRETORIA (Reuters) - The ruling African National Congress (ANC) took a clear lead on Thursday in South Africa's fifth post-apartheid election, giving President Jacob Zuma the political clout to push through pro-business reforms in the face of union and leftist opposition. Burdened with sluggish economic growth and damaging strikes in his first term, the scandal-plagued Zuma has devoted less and less time over the last year to the wishes of unions, whose long walkouts have hit confidence in Africa's most developed economy. He has also batted away opposition from the far left, squelching some expectations the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) - led by his former protégé Julius Malema - would ride a wave of populist anger over grinding poverty and high unemployment. \\\\\"There's no deeply insightful change, but the bottom line is that by 2019 they are going to have to be growing this economy and making sure they can still raise tax revenue.\\\\\" Zuma hinted this week that the ANC needed to take a more pro-business tack, accusing the main platinum union of irresponsibility for dragging out a four-month wage strike, and he hinted at reforms in the pipeline.","Health of Egypt activist on hunger strike worsens. CAIRO (AP) — The family of a leading Egyptian activist who has been on hunger strike for more than a month to protest his imprisonment says his health is deteriorating and that he has been transferred to hospital.","Power outage affects much of Venezuela. CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Much of Venezuela is in the dark after a widespread power outage.","Top lawmaker: Russia would welcome Crimea. MOSCOW (AP) — Russia rallied support Friday for a Crimean bid to secede from Ukraine, with Russia's top lawmaker assuring her Crimean counterpart that the region would be welcomed as \"an absolutely equal subject of the Russian Federation.\" Across Red Square, 65,000 people waved Russian flags, chanting \"Crimea is Russia!\"","EU pledges support for Greece as markets plunge. BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union's executive commission has vowed continuing financial support for Greece as markets punish the bailed-out country's stocks and bonds.","Syria: Car bombing in central region kills 34. DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — Syria's state-run news agency says a powerful car bomb explosion has killed 34 civilians and wounded more than 50 others.","Feng Shanshan surges to victory in LPGA Malaysia event. Kuala Lumpur (AFP) - China's Feng Shanshan ripped four birdies and an eagle through the final eight holes to shoot an eight-under 63 and overtake Pornanong Phatlum for victory at the LPGA Sime Darby Malaysia on Sunday.","Wales looks to end barren run against Australia. CARDIFF, Wales (AP) — Scarred by 20 straight defeats to the southern hemisphere giants, Wales' inferiority complex toward New Zealand, South Africa and Australia is growing dangerously large heading toward the 2015 World Cup.","Kenyan president takes 20% pay cut. Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta has announced he and his deputy William Ruto will be taking a 20-percent pay cut and ministers' salaries will be reduced by 10 percent in a bid to rein in the country's soaring public wage bill. The pay cuts will take place \"with immediate effect,\" Kenyatta said in a speech on Friday, adding that the current spending levels were unsustainable.","Five civilians killed as Yemen battles 'Qaeda'. A shell smashed into a vehicle and killed five civilians on Thursday during clashes between Yemen's army and Al-Qaeda suspects in the country's restive south, witnesses said. The incident occurred near Al-Saeed, an Al-Qaeda stronghold in Shabwa province, destroying the vehicle and killing all five people on board, the same sources said. They identified the victims as members of the powerful Shabwa-based Awaliq tribe, from which US-born Al-Qaeda cleric Anwar al-Awlaqi, killed in a US air strike in September 2011, hails. \"Al-Qaeda elements wanted to attack an army vehicle but their shells hit a civilian car,\" he told AFP.","Australia to take psychological edge into 3rd test. MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Australia fast bowler Josh Hazlewood says his team's refusal to be intimidated by India's verbal sledges and physical play during the second test will give it an advantage when the teams meet again on Friday in the third test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.","Two Lebanese soldiers killed in RPG attack at Syrian border: sources. BEIRUT (Reuters) - Two Lebanese soldiers were killed when insurgents hit a military personnel carrier with a rocket-propelled grenade in an attack at the Syrian border on Friday, a security source said. The attack occurred near the town of Arsal, where Islamist insurgents including militants affiliated to Islamic State staged a cross-border incursion last month that triggered five days of deadly battles. (Reporting by Laila Bassam; Writing by Tom Perry; Editing by Catherine Evans)","Texas executes Mexican after appeals fail. The US state of Texas executed a Mexican national despite frantic late appeals based on possible trial irregularities and mental disability, authorities said. Ramiro Hernandez, 44, was put to death by lethal injection at 6:28 pm (2328 GMT) in Huntsville, Texas. Last week, the United States Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal from him as one of several Mexicans languishing in US prisons seeking to challenge their sentences on the grounds they were not properly advised of their right to consular assistance after their arrest. Amnesty International appealed to Texas Governor Rick Perry saying that Hernandez was mentally disabled and therefore should not be executed.","Woods keeps going wrong direction at British Open. HOYLAKE, England (AP) — Tiger Woods was the last to tee off Saturday in the British Open. He had the biggest gallery. It might have seemed like old times for Woods in the major championships except for one tiny detail.","2 Filipino sisters escape from extremists with cat. MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Two Algerian-born Filipino sisters kidnapped by Muslim extremists eight months ago escaped from their captors in the jungles of the southern Philippines with a cat that had given them company during their ordeal.","Rooney double powers United to 4-1 win over Villa. MANCHESTER, England (AP) — Wayne Rooney scored twice as Manchester United came from behind to beat Aston Villa 4-1 in the Premier League on Saturday as fans came out in support of struggling manager David Moyes at Old Trafford.","Iran rejects naming new UN envoy after US refusal. TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran rejected naming a new diplomat Saturday to represent it at the United Nations, with one lawmaker urging the Islamic Republic to stand up to \"bullying\" from the U.S., which has rejected granting its pick a visa.","Raonic lines up Wimbledon semifinal with Federer. LONDON (AP) — Milos Raonic is the first Canadian in more than a century to reach the semifinals at Wimbledon. That was the easy part — now he gets to face seven-time champion Roger Federer.","Exclusive: More well-known U.S. retailers victims of cyberattacks - sources. By Jim Finkle and Mark Hosenball BOSTON/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Target Corp and Neiman Marcus are not the only U.S. retailers whose networks were breached over the holiday shopping season late last year, according to sources familiar with attacks on other merchants that have yet to be publicly disclosed. Smaller breaches on at least three other well-known U.S. retailers took place and were conducted using similar techniques as the one on Target, according to the people familiar with the attacks. Only one well-known retailer, Neiman Marcus, has said that they too have been victim of a cyber attack since Target's December 19 disclosure that some 40 million payment card numbers had been stolen in a cyber attack. On Friday, Target said an investigation found that hackers stole the personal information of at least 70 million customers, including names, mailing addresses, telephone numbers and email addresses.","Eurocontrol says jet was 1,000 feet above closed airspace. A Malaysian airliner which crashed in Ukraine was flying at 33,000 feet, some 1,000 feet above a closed section of airspace, an agency responsible for co-ordinating European airspace said on Thursday. \"According to our information, the aircraft was flying at Flight Level 330 (approximately 10,000 metres/33,000 feet) when it disappeared from the radar,\" Brussels-based Eurocontrol said. \"This route had been closed by the Ukrainian authorities from ground to flight level 320 (approximately 32,000 feet) but was open at the level at which the aircraft was flying.\" Since the crash, all airspace in eastern Ukraine has been closed up to an unlimited height, the statement said.","Paris summit to try to rally region against Nigeria's Boko Haram. By John Irish and Bate Felix PARIS/ABUJA (Reuters) - West African leaders meet in Paris on Saturday to try to improve cooperation in their fight against the Nigerian Islamist militant group Boko Haram, which has kidnapped more than 200 schoolgirls and threatens to destabilize the wider region. Outrage over the kidnapping has already prompted Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan, criticized at home for his government's slow response, to accept U.S., British and French intelligence help in the hunt for the girls. Last week he asked France, itself a target of Islamist militants for its military intervention against Islamist rebels in Mali, to arrange a summit in Paris with Nigeria's neighbors Chad, Cameroon, Niger and Benin, and Western officials. French diplomats ruled out any Western military operation but said they expected a regional plan to take shape for countering Boko Haram, which has killed more than 3,000 people in a five-year campaign to establish an Islamic state in mostly Muslim northeast Nigeria.","UN: Envoy was threatened, not kidnapped in Crimea. SIMFEROPOL, Ukraine (AP) — A special U.N. envoy visiting Crimea was threatened by 10 to 15 armed men on Wednesday and ordered to leave the region, where Ukraine and Russia are locked in a tense standoff, U.N. officials said.","Special Report: The fighters of Iraq who answer to Iran. By Babak Dehghanpisheh BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Among the thousands of militia fighters who flocked to northern Iraq to battle militant group Islamic State over the summer was Qais al-Khazali. Khazali is the head of a militia called Asaib Ahl al-Haq that is backed by Iran. Thanks to his position he is one of the most feared and respected militia leaders in Iraq, and one of Iran's most important representatives in the country. His militia is one of three small Iraqi Shi'ite armies, all backed by Iran, which together have become the most powerful military force in Iraq since the collapse of the national army in June.","Rugby-Players warn Australian rugby chiefs against further cuts. Budget cuts being weighed for cash-strapped Australian Super Rugby clubs would mean \"all bets are off\" for the fragile labour accord struck with administrators, the players union has warned. Australian Rugby Union chief Bill Pulver told local media this week he was considering axing the A$250,000 ($231,400)allocated to each of the country's five Super Rugby teams to fund five rookie players in their squads. The ARU has already taken the knife to test match payments, with Australia's top players accepting a 23 percent cut in their fees from A$13,100 per game to A$10,000 over the next four years in a deal announced in October. However, a cut to the Super Rugby clubs' Extended Player Squad (EPS) funding would be in breach of the players' Collective Bargaining Agreement, Rugby Union Players' Association boss Greg Harris told The Australian.","Yemen army says 18 al-Qaida militants killed. SANAA, Yemen (AP) — Yemen's Defense Ministry says that the army has repulsed an assault by al-Qaida militants near a southern city, killing 18 of them and losing two soldiers.","Sideways rain no problem for Phelps at Pan Pacs. GOLD COAST, Australia (AP) — Michael Phelps added the \"crazy, sideways rain\" to the list of things he's learning from in his comeback to international competition, handling the bad weather conditions without too much trouble Saturday to qualify for the 100-meter butterfly final at the Pan Pacific championships.","PDVSA says controls fire at Curacao's Isla refinery, three injured. CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA on Wednesday said operations were normal at the 335,000 barrel-per-day (bpd) Isla refinery on the island of Curacao after it controlled a fire that injured three people. The incident took place as workers were preparing to carry out planned maintenance at a butane unit, PDVSA said, adding that two contractors and a refinery fireman suffered burns. PDVSA is the operator of the refinery. Isla mainly supplies the U.S., Central American and Caribbean markets, according to PDVSA's web site. ...","US Marines linked to Australian energy security. CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — A senior American general says the growing number of U.S. Marines in northern Australia is enhancing the security of the nation's burgeoning gas industry, which extends across the remote and sparsely populated northern coast.","S. Korea ship sinks in Bering Sea; at least 1 dead. SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — An official says at least one person has died and rescuers are searching for 52 others after a South Korean fishing boat sank in the Bering Sea.","EU names 8 Russians, three firms subject to asset freeze. By Justyna Pawlak and Barbara Lewis BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Commission published the names of eight Russians, including some of President Vladimir Putin's associates, and three companies which will have their assets frozen as part of sanctions against Russia's actions in eastern Ukraine. The people on the list include Arkady Rotenberg who is Putin's long-time judo partner, and already on a U.S. sanctions list since March. Yury Kovalchuk and Nikolai Shamalov - the two largest shareholders in Bank Rossiya, a St. Petersburg company that expanded rapidly after Putin moved to Moscow and became president in 2000 - were also blacklisted. The companies named include Russian National Commercial Bank, which was the first Russian bank into Crimea after the region's annexation by Russia earlier this year.","Israeli border shelling sends refugees pouring inland. They are among more than 50,000 civilians taken in by the main United Nations agency in Gaza, UNRWA, as they flee heavy shelling amid an Israeli ground offensive into the border areas of the Gaza Strip. UNRWA is now warning that its funds and supplies are running critically low. \"The number of those fleeing continues to rise inexorably and has more than doubled in the last 36 hours,\" UNRWA spokesman Chris Gunness told Reuters. At least 325 Palestinians, including 70 children, have been killed in the 12-day cross-border battle between Israel and Palestinians militants, according to Gaza officials.","Leverkusen beats Hertha 4-2 in Bundesliga. BERLIN (AP) — Bayer Leverkusen twice came from behind to defeat Hertha Berlin 4-2 Saturday and maintain its winning start, while newly promoted Paderborn claimed its first ever win in the Bundesliga.","C.Africa plunges into food crisis as traders flee. Bangui (Central African Republic) (AFP) - Violence in the Central African Republic has forced many traders and herders to flee, exacerbating an already alarming food crisis, relief groups said Tuesday. Oxfam and Action Contre La Faim (ACF - Action Against Hunger) said three quarters of wholesalers in Bangui had already fled. \"Most of Bangui's food trade relies on around 40 large-scale wholesalers who import food from neighbouring countries and resell on to small traders,\" a statement said.","Briton Thomas extends Team Sky deal. Briton Geraint Thomas has extended his contract with Team Sky for an extra two years, the British outfit revealed Monday. Just a day after finishing the Tour de France in 22nd position, his best ever Grand Tour finish, the 28-year-old Welshman signed on until 2016. \"I'm really happy to be staying with Team Sky for another two years,\" said Thomas in a team statement. The double Olympic champion on the track joined Sky from their beginnings in 2010 and is one of eight Britons on the team, which includes former Tour de France champions Bradley Wiggins and Chris Froome.","Argentine football president Julio Grondona dies. BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — South American soccer officials say that Julio Grondona, the longtime head of the Argentina Football Association, has died. He was 82.","Turkish special forces seize suspect on plane in Istanbul: media. ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkish special forces seized a suspect who made a bomb threat and tried to hijack a passenger plane demanding to go to the Winter Olympics venue of Sochi, CNN Turk and other Turkish media said on Friday. They said the suspect was taken away for questioning after the Pegasus Airlines plane from the Ukrainian city of Kharkov arrived in Istanbul's Sabiha Gokcen airport. (Writing by Daren Butler; Editing by Sonya Hepinstall)","EU leaders weighing sanctions against Russia. BRUSSELS (AP) — Russia will face sanctions over its military incursion in Ukraine's Crimean peninsula unless it withdraws its troops or engages in credible talks to defuse the situation, European leaders said Thursday.","Blast at bus station in Nigerian capital kills 72. ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — Suspected Islamic militants struck in the heart of Nigeria on Monday with a massive rush-hour bomb blast at a bus station that killed at least 72 people and wounded 164 in the deadliest attack ever on the nation's capital.","Hamas kills 11 suspected informers for Israel. GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — A Gaza security official says Hamas has killed 11 suspected informers for Israel.","Aguero fit after injury for City's title decider. MANCHESTER, England (AP) — Argentina striker Sergio Aguero is available for Manchester City's title-deciding match against West Ham in the Premier League on Sunday after recovering from a groin injury.","Blaze at Bahamas shantytown leaves 200 homeless. NASSAU, Bahamas (AP) — Fire officials in the Bahamas say a blaze has destroyed as many as 70 homes in a shantytown, leaving roughly 200 Haitian migrants homeless.","C. Africa political situation worsens, says UN envoy. Political conditions in the Central African Republic have worsened significantly in the past month, the special UN envoy for the country warned Tuesday. \"The political situation has deteriorated noticeably over the past month,\" Babacar Gaye, head of the UN Integrated Peacebuilding Office in the Central African Republic, told the UN Security Council. He said deep distrust among political parties \"does not bode well for the holding of credible elections early next year.\" Deeply impoverished Central African Republic has been in crisis since the mainly Muslim Seleka alliance seized power in a March 2013 coup led by Michel Djotodia.","Police: California mother, boyfriend charged in toddler's slaying stored her body in freezer. SAN FRANCISCO - A Northern California woman and her boyfriend accused of killing the woman's 3-year-old daughter a day after officers visited their apartment to check on the girl stored the tiny body in a suitcase and inside a freezer, authorities said.","Crosby, Getzlaf, Giroux finalists for MVP award. Pittsburgh's Sidney Crosby, Anaheim's Ryan Getzlaf and Philadelphia's Claude Giroux have been named finalists for the Hart Trophy as the NHL's Most Valuable Player, the league said Thursday. Canadian superstar Crosby is a finalist for the fourth time after leading the NHL with 104 points this season, registering at least one point in 60 of the 80 games he played. Crosby scored 36 goals and led the league with 68 assists to capture his second Art Ross Trophy as the NHL's top scorer. The 26-year-old Nova Scotia native captured the Hart Trophy in 2007 and finished as the runner-up in 2010 and again last year.","Czechs condemn euthanasia proposal for children. PRAGUE (AP) — A senior university lecturer and Czech government adviser has been forced to resign for proposing to legalize euthanasia for children born with birth defects.","Russia and Ukraine clash at UN over violence. UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The Russian and Ukrainian ambassadors clashed in the United Nations Security Council over the surge of violence in Ukraine's pro-Russian east and both urged the council to take action to end it.","Belgium destroys ivory stockpile, warns smugglers. BRUSSELS (AP) — Belgian authorities have destroyed over 1,500 kilos (3,300 pounds) of ivory that had been seized by customs over the past three decades to serve as a warning to international smugglers who kill elephants daily for their tusks.","Group says Myanmar's army is using rape as weapon of war, with 100 cases in last 3 years. A women's group says Myanmar's army is using rape as a weapon of war in border regions, where troops are struggling to put down ethnic insurgencies.","Hamas unveils rocket statue in Gaza City. Gaza City (Palestinian Territories) (AFP) - Hamas unveiled a rocket-shaped statue Monday showcasing its capacity to strike arch-enemy Israel, as the Jewish state boasted its own haul of captured weapons it claims were bound for Gaza. \"Hamas managed to take the battle to the heart of the Zionist entity (Israel) after developing its rocket system, succeeding where many Arab armies had failed,\" said a leader of Hamas armed wing the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, flanked by masked fighters at the statue's unveiling. The monument in Gaza City features a life-size model of a large M75 rocket, named in honour of Qassam Brigades founding member Ibrahim al-Maqadma -- who was assassinated by Israel in 2003 -- and alluding to its range of 75 kilometres.","Stadium-bound Diamondbacks bus has flat tire. SYDNEY (AP) — Some Arizona Diamondbacks players had to walk the last half mile to Sydney Cricket Ground on Saturday when one of the team buses had a flat tire ahead of their Major League Baseball season opener with the Los Angeles Dodgers.","Japan poll an uphill battle for opposition. TOKYO (AP) — Japan's six opposition parties faced off against Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on the eve of the start of official campaigning for the Dec. 14 polls, but Abe largely deflected attacks on his management of the economy and other policies.","Vietnam's sea dispute arbitration case vs China promotes peace: Manila. MANILA (Reuters) - Vietnam has helped ensure peace in the South China Sea dispute with Beijing by following the Philippines in seeking U.N. arbitration, Manila said, despite the fact that Beijing has refused to take part. Beijing claims almost the entire energy-rich South China Sea but Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Vietnam and Taiwan also have claims. Only Brunei has not occupied and garrisoned territory in the potential flashpoint in the region. Vietnam on Thursday submitted its position to a UN arbitration tribunal initiated by the Philippines over the festering dispute. ...","Fading signals add urgency to search for missing Malaysian jet. By Swati Pandey PERTH (Reuters) - The search for a missing Malaysia Airlines jetliner resumed on Saturday, five weeks after the plane disappeared from radar screens, amid fears that batteries powering signals from the black box recorder on board may have died. Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott warned on Friday that signals picked up during the search in the remote southern Indian Ocean, believed to be \"pings\" from the black box recorders, were fading. Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 disappeared soon after taking off on March 8 from Kuala Lumpur bound for Beijing with 227 passengers and 12 crew on board, triggering a multinational search that is now focused on the Indian Ocean. Search officials say they are confident they know the approximate position of the black box recorder, although they have determined that the latest \"ping', picked up by searchers on Thursday, was not from the missing aircraft.","China executes eight for 'terrorist' attacks in Xinjiang. China has executed eight people for \"terrorist\" attacks in its restive far western region of Xinjiang, including three who \"masterminded\" a dramatic car crash in the capital's Tiananmen Square in 2013, state media said. Xinjiang is the traditional home of Muslim Uighurs who speak a Turkic language, and China has attributed attacks there to Islamist separatists it says seek to establish an independent state called East Turkestan. Exiled Uighur groups and human rights activists say the government's own repressive policies in Xinjiang have provoked unrest, an accusation Beijing denies. A report by China Central Television (CCTV) on Sunday showed images of the individuals who have been executed being led into court and questioned by police.","Attack on Tunisia minister's home kills four police. Suspected Islamist gunmen killed four policemen at the family home of Tunisia's interior minister, officials said Wednesday, describing it as a \"revenge\" attack for progress in the fight against jihadists. The overnight assault on Lotfi Ben Jeddou's home at Kasserine, in the western border region, was reminiscent of violence in 2013, when two politicians were assassinated and jihadists killed 20 security force members. The assault by about a dozen gunmen shortly before midnight left dead four policemen and wounded two, interior ministry spokesman Mohamed Ali Aroui told AFP. \"The terrorist group had infiltrated from Mount Salloum to target the house of the interior minister,\" Aroui said on national television.","Iran slashes highly-enriched nuclear stock: UN watchdog. Iran has cut its stock of highly-enriched uranium by 75 percent, a new report by the UN's nuclear watchdog revealed Thursday. The monthly update by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), seen by AFP, showed Tehran remained in compliance with a November interim deal made with world powers, drawn up as part of efforts to find a lasting solution to Iran's controversial nuclear drive. Under the agreement, Iran pledged to \"dilute\" half of its highly-enriched uranium by mid-April, with the rest to be converted by mid-July. The IAEA report also said that progress on a plant in Tehran that will be used for the conversion of low-enriched uranium had been delayed, but that Iran had said this will not prevent it from fulfilling its part of the deal by the July 20 deadline.","Trial of mercy killing doctor revives euthanasia debate in France. Pau (France) (AFP) - The trial of a doctor accused of having poisoned seven terminally-ill patients opened in France Wednesday, reviving the debate on euthanasia in a country where the practice is illegal. Nicolas Bonnemaison faces life in prison if found guilty of \"poisoning particularly vulnerable people\" -- five women and two men who died between March 2010 and July 2011 soon after being admitted to a hospital in the southwestern city of Bayonne where he worked. The case came to light in August 2011 after the emergency room doctor was denounced by nurses and a carer who had noticed suspect behaviour and comments by Bonnemaison, who once reportedly said: \"I'll take care of it personally, this has lasted far too long.\" Euthanasia is illegal in France but President Francois Hollande promised during his 2012 campaign to look into legalising the hugely divisive practice.","Air Force drug probe widened to include cheating. WASHINGTON (AP) — A drug investigation of officers at six Air Force bases, including two that operate nuclear missiles, has been widened to include allegations of cheating on certification tests, defense officials said Wednesday.","Cocaine cash is polluting Peruvian politics. IRAZOLA, Peru (AP) — In his run for governor of a rough Peruvian jungle state, Manuel Gambini has repeatedly cited his plaudits from the U.S. government for promoting the cultivation of cocoa beans over coca leaves in this cocaine-producing hotspot.","Ukrainian far-right figure shot dead by police. By Matt Robinson KIEV (Reuters) - A prominent Ukrainian far-right activist, part of a hard-line nationalist movement that played a leading role in the overthrow of President Viktor Yanukovich, was shot dead by police overnight, authorities said on Tuesday. The Interior Ministry said Oleksander Muzychko, also known as Sashko Bily, was killed by officers of the 'Sokol' special unit as he tried to escape from a cafe in the western Ukrainian region of Rivne. \"At the moment of arrest, at shouts of \"Stop! Police!\", Muzychko fled, jumping through a window, and opened fire\", first deputy Interior Minister Volodymyr Yevdokimov told a news conference in Kiev. Muzychko was a member of the hard-line Right Sector and the group's coordinator for western Ukraine, the country's nationalist heartland bordering the European Union.","Australia declare on overnight 517 for 7 in 1st Test. Australia captain Michael Clarke declared on his team's overnight first innings total of 517 for seven at the start of the third day of the first Adelaide Test against India on Thursday.","Police disperse crowd after Belgium bans French comedian event. Police used water cannon on Sunday to disperse a crowd after authorities banned a rally in Brussels that a French comedian accused of anti-Semitism was due to address. Eric Tomas, mayor of the Brussels suburb of Anderlecht, told Reuters he had issued an order prohibiting the \"First European Dissidents' Congress\" scheduled to be held in the area on Sunday because there was a clear risk of a disturbance to public order. The event, organized by a small far-right group, \"Stand up Belgians!\", was to have been addressed by speakers including French comedian Dieudonne M'Bala M'Bala, according to the group's web site. The Belgian League against Anti-Semitism had lodged a legal complaint against the meeting, describing it as a \"real day of hatred which would be a framework for the worst gathering of anti-Semitic authors, theoreticians and propagandists in our country since World War Two\".","Egypt probe blames security, armed protesters for August carnage. Egypt's official human rights body on Monday blamed security forces and \"armed elements\" among protesters for the death of hundreds during the dispersal of a massive Islamist sit-in last August. The National Council for Human Rights said 632 people, including 8 policemen, were killed on August 14 when security forces dispersed Cairo's Rabaa al-Adaweya sit-in, organised by supporters of deposed Islamist president Mohamed Morsi. \"Most of the civilian victims are (protesters) who could not escape the armed clashes\" between security forces and gunmen, the council said in a report distributed to journalists during a press conference. Security forces were \"obliged to use firearms\" but \"failed in maintaining proportionality regarding the intensity of the fire\", the report said.","Turkey evacuates consulate in Iraq's Basra. Turkey said it evacuated its consulate in the southern Iraqi city of Basra on Tuesday for security reasons, a week after Islamist militants attacked its mission in Mosul and kidnapped several dozen Turks. \"In the context of the situation in Iraq, and because of the heightened security risk in the Basra region, our consulate general was evacuated today Tuesday,\" Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said on Twitter. Fighters from the jihadist group the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) kidnapped 49 Turks including diplomats and children from the Turkish consulate in Mosul on Wednesday as they captured swathes of northern Iraq.","Schweinsteiger helps Bayern win 4-0 in comeback. BERLIN (AP) — Bastian Schweinsteiger marked his injury comeback by setting up Bayern Munich's final goal as the defending champions stretched their Bundesliga lead with a 4-0 win over Hoffenheim on Saturday.","McCain: Time to ease arms sales ban on Vietnam. HANOI, Vietnam (AP) — U.S. Sen. John McCain says it's time for the United States to ease restrictions on arms sales to Vietnam, citing progress the communist country has made on human rights.","Brazil dismantles large deforestation gang. SAO PAULO (AP) — Authorities in Brazil say they have dismantled the \"largest deforestation gang\" active in the country's Amazon rain forest.","U.N. authorizes European troops for Central African Republic. By Michelle Nichols UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The U.N. Security Council approved on Tuesday the deployment of European troops to Central African Republic, where African peacekeepers and French troops are struggling to halt worsening violence between Christians and Muslims. The United Nations has warned that the conflict in the landlocked former French colony is at risk of spiraling into genocide. France sent 1,600 troops to Central African Republic last month to assist some 5,000 African Union peacekeepers, while the European Union agreed last week to send around 500 troops. French U.N. Ambassador Gerard Araud said the European troops would take over from French forces protecting some 100,000 displaced people who have sought refuge at the airport in the Central African Republic's capital of Bangui.","Sri Lanka beats England by 9 runs in T20 match. LONDON (AP) — Sri Lanka beat England by nine runs in a Twenty20 international on Tuesday at The Oval:","Montpellier lose Tuitavake for five weeks. Montpellier (France) (AFP) - Former New Zealand international centre Anthony Tuitavake will be out of action for up to five weeks after suffering a double fracture during his club Montpellier's 30-23 European Rugby Champions Cup defeat by Toulouse at the weekend.","Palmeiras selling defender Henrique to Napoli. SAO PAULO (AP) — Palmeiras says it has reached a deal to sell defender Henrique to Italian club Napoli.","New tropical depression forms off Cape Verde. MIAMI (AP) — A new tropical depression has formed in the Atlantic, west of the Cape Verde Islands, and could become a tropical storm within a day.","Futures point to higher open for TSX. (Reuters) - Stock futures pointed to a higher opening for Canada's main stock index on Thursday, with September futures on the S&P TSX index up 0.31 percent at 0715 ET. Trade balance and exports and imports data are due at 0830 ET Canada's main stock index notched a broad but shallow rise on Wednesday, boosted by news of a ceasefire agreement between Ukraine and Russia and a rebound in Chinese economic data. Dow Jones Industrial Average e-mini futures were up 0.25 percent at 0715 ET, while S&P 500 e-mini futures were up 0.34 percent. Nasdaq 100 e-mini futures were up 0.29 percent. [. ...","China says bilingual education a key for Xinjiang's stability. BEIJING (Reuters) - Bilingual education in China's unruly far western region of Xinjiang will help to preserve stability and to develop the area, a senior Communist Party official said on Wednesday, stressing the importance of a controversial policy. Xinjiang, home to the Muslim Uighur people, has been beset by violence for years, blamed by the government on Islamists who want a separate state, though rights groups say Beijing's harsh controls on Uighur culture are more to blame for the unrest. ...","ECB's Coeure: rates to stay low, Europe needs more investment. AIX-EN-PROVENCE France (Reuters) - The European Central Bank will keep interest rates very low for a long period of time to ensure monetary stability but euro zone governments must do their part to boost growth and cut debt, ECB policymaker Benoit Coeure said. The euro zone has a major investment deficit, said Coeure, a member of the ECB's executive board, adding that governments must also \"invest in Europe\" by cooperating more closely - another condition for stability. Saying the current economic situation of high debt, high unemployment and weak growth was very worrying, Coeure told an economic conference in southern France on Sunday: \"The only way out is by investing.\" But this should not be done by \"piling more debt on old debt\", he said, urging euro zone states to ensure flexibility to implement the bloc's stability pact is based on reforms that have been proven or carried out, not just on pledges. \"The ECB is taking care of monetary stability.","Prices soar as Liberia struggles to contain Ebola. Shoppers in Liberia complained Tuesday that traders were using the Ebola epidemic to profiteer by raising prices as the country enforced tough new measures to stem the spread of the disease. President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf has announced a raft of new rules aimed at halting the tropical virus, which passes from person to person through bodily fluids, including bans on bush meat and crowded taxis.","G7 says Crimea referendum would have 'no legal effect'. The Group of Seven most developed economies on Wednesday said a Moscow-backed referendum in Crimea on switching over to Kremlin rule would have \"no legal effect\" and called on Russia to back down. The G7 -- Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States -- along with European Union leaders called on Russia \"to cease all efforts to change the status of Crimea contrary to Ukrainian law and in violation of international law,\" according to a statement released by the White House. \"Any such referendum would have no legal effect,\" they said.","S&P downgrades Puerto Rico debt to junk status. (Reuters) - Standard & Poor's on Tuesday cut its credit rating on Puerto Rico, dropping the cash-strapped U.S. territory's debt to junk-bond status on concerns about its ability to access capital markets. S&P, which had placed Puerto Rico's rating on notice for a downgrade last month, said it now rates the commonwealth at \"BB+,\" or one level below investment grade. It had previously rated it \"BBB-.\" With some $70 billion of tax-free debt, Puerto Rico has a long soured economy and has for months been under threat of a ratings downgrade to junk-bond territory by all three U.S. credit ratings agencies. Moody's and Fitch Ratings have not announced ratings decisions.","Defending champion Andy Murray loses at Wimbledon. LONDON (AP) — Defending champion Andy Murray is out of Wimbledon, beaten in straight sets by Grigor Dimitrov in the quarterfinals Wednesday.","Lackluster factory data hits world stocks, dollar strong. By Nigel Stephenson LONDON (Reuters) - Stocks worldwide began the fourth quarter on a negative note on Wednesday, as lackluster economic data and civil unrest in Hong Kong kept investors cautious before a European Central Bank meeting later this week. The dollar held close to a four-year high, helped by the weak factory activity data, pushing commodity prices lower. The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 equity index was down 0.2 percent after final September purchasing manager (PMI) numbers from France, Germany and the euro zone as a whole underlined the fragility of the European recovery. ...","Bankers on the march: Hong Kong financiers join democracy fight. When huge crowds took to Hong Kong's streets this week to voice anger at Beijing's ever-tightening grip, an unlikely group was marching in step: wealthy financiers fighting mainland influence over the city's markets and political life. Joining rain-soaked protesters from all walks of life -- who by organisers' estimates numbered a record half-a-million -- was hedge fund manager Edward Chin. Chin joined the nascent pro-democracy movement now known as Occupy Central after meeting one of its leaders, legal scholar Benny Tai, in March. Occupy Central, which has grown from a handful of activists into a powerful thorn in the side of Hong Kong's government, has threatened to paralyse the city's Central financial district with mass protests if its demands for electoral reforms are not met -- so it may seem surprising that bankers are signing up.","8 people arrested in Latvia in match-fixing probe. RIGA, Latvia (AP) — Latvian police say eight people have been arrested on suspicion of fixing a Champions League qualifying-round game last year.","Crying Pistorius apologises to slain girlfriend's family. Pretoria (AFP) - An emotional Oscar Pistorius took the stand as a witness in his defence Monday, fighting through tears to apologise to the family of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp for killing her on Valentine's Day a year ago.","Plan won't save Great Barrier Reef: Australian scientists. Australian government plans to protect the Great Barrier Reef are inadequate, short-sighted and will not prevent its decline, the country's pre-eminent grouping of natural scientists said Tuesday. The draft plan, released for consultation last month, was supposed to allay concerns by the United Nations about the reef's health after UNESCO threatened to put it on the World Heritage \"in danger\" list. Environment Minister Greg Hunt has said the proposal reflects an effort to balance the priorities of protecting the reef, which is teeming with marine life, and long-term sustainable development. This is a plan that won't restore the reef, it won't even maintain it in its already diminished state,\" academy fellow Terry Hughes said.","High rate of coral bleaching seen around Hawaiian island of Oahu. By Alex Dobuzinskis (Reuters) - A survey of coral reefs off the Hawaiian island of Oahu has shown warm ocean waters recently contributed to a higher rate of coral bleaching than the state has seen in decades, sparking concerns about the ecosystem, a state official said on Tuesday. The findings from dives last week by researchers with the Hawaii Division of Aquatic Resources follows federal warnings of a possible large decline in coral cover in the archipelago this century due to climate change and warming oceans. ...","Egypt criminalizes dishonoring anthem, flag. CAIRO (AP) — Egypt's outgoing interim president issued a decree making dishonoring the Egyptian flag or not standing for the national anthem a criminal offense, punishable by sentences of up to one year in prison and a fine of more than $4,000, his spokesman said Saturday.","China police seize 1.8 tonnes of bomb material in Xinjiang: govt. Police in China's restive Xinjiang seized 1.8 tonnes of bombmaking material and detained five people, authorities said Tuesday, following a string of deadly attacks blamed on militants from the Muslim Uighur homeland. China vowed a year-long crackdown on terrorism over the weekend with violence blamed on separatists from Xinjiang increasingly targeting civilians and spreading far outside the western region in recent months. Last week five suspects killed 39 people and wounded more than 90 in a car and bomb attack at a market in the regional capital Urumqi, in an attack condemned as terrorism by both Beijing and Washington. Officers in and around Hotan in southern Xinjiang \"destroyed two explosive-making dens and seized 1.8 tonnes of raw material that the gang planned to use to make explosive devices, along with a large amount of partly finished explosive devices\", reported the regional government's Tianshan website.","Life term for UK pair in cash-grab parent killings. LONDON (AP) — A British husband and wife who murdered the woman's parents and collected their pension checks for 15 years have been sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for 25 years.","SOCHI SCENE: Ole Only. KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia (AP) — It's approaching midnight on Monday, four hours after the Olympic men's 12.5-kilometer pursuit has ended.","Neymar leads Brazil to 4-0 win over Panama. GOIANIA, Brazil (AP) — Neymar scored one goal and set up two others to help Brazil defeat Panama 4-0 in a World Cup warm-up match on Tuesday.","Australia Sends Police Officers to Guard the MH17 Site. Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott has sent 50 police officers to London, with the goal of sending them to aid the Malaysian Air plane crash investigation. From London, they will be deployed to Ukraine to help secure the crash site as part of a proposed U.N. team. Abbott has been very outspoken about the incident thus far, and extremely critical of Russia, even moving to potentially blocking them from this fall's G-20 Leaders Summit, an important economic summit for the global community. \"We are ready to deploy Australian police to Ukraine to help secure the site as part of an international team under United Nations authority,\" Abbott said. Abbott also confirmed that he personally spoke with both Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and Russian President Vladimir Putin about the crash site.","Genzebe Dibaba sets world indoor record in 1500m. KARLSRUHE, Germany (AP) — Genzebe Dibaba of Ethiopia set a world indoor record in running 1,500 meters in 3 minutes, 55.17 seconds at the Karlsruhe indoor meet on Saturday.","Syrian govt threatens to walk out of peace talks. GENEVA (AP) — Syrian state television says the government delegation at peace negotiation in Geneva will leave Saturday if \"serious talks\" do not start."]